A Friend In Need

Scorpius Malfoy had never been particularly found of wandering the corridors at night, in fact the castle was almost spooky in the dark. Tonight was no different as he strolled thorough the second floor corridor completing his prefect rounds. It seemed like any other night, the paintings slept and the halls were eerily silent, but there was something that seemed off about that night. Scorpius rounded the corner and all but ran into a very familiar red head. Rose and Scorpius had never been friends but over the years, they had become famous for their rows and bickering. It wasn't to say that Scorpius hated the girl, they just had never been friends. Her hair was so bright, she had too many freckles and everyone in the entire school loved her. She seemed to know the answer to every question and always had to have the last word. To put it simply she frustrated the hell out of him, she was his opposite in almost every way and yet she was the only person he'd ever met that could keep up with him, she met every one of his witty comments with an even better comeback and as much as it frustrated him, it excited him too.

"Hey Weasel" He said with a smirk on his face. But she didn't respond, she didn't even acknowledge his presence he just kept walking. She could never resist an argument with him, it was a weakness that the pair of them shared and he knew that something wasn't right with her. "Weasley?" He tried again, a slight hint of concern creeping into his voice. Again she ignored him and just kept walking. His mind started to wander through a mental checklist of his encounters with her lately, and as far as he could tell, he hadn't done anything horrible enough to her to deserve the silent treatment. "Rose?" He tried again this time the concern was fully evident in his voice. There was something wrong, Rose was never quiet. He saw her sway on her feet and grasp the wall to support herself. "Rose, what's wrong?" She said nothing as she slid down the wall that she has been grasping moments before. "Rose talk to me." He approached her slowly, squatting down in front of her and brushed a red curl out of her face.

"I...I... I don't feel so good." She stammered softly. She was shivering but her skin felt as though it was on fire.

"I think you have a fever, I should take you to the hospital wing." Rose shook her head violently. Rose had always had a particular fear of the hospital wing, he'd never really been sure why. He'd found out by accident after a mishap in potions. Finnigan's mixture had exploded and he had the unfortunate luck of being in it's path. Their potions master had charged Rose with escorting him to the hospital wing to get his burns tended to. She seemed to get more uncomfortable the closer that they got and when he asked her what was going on, she'd confessed her fear to him, but wouldn't explain why.

"Please don't take me there, I'll be fine really." She tried to stand up but couldn't get her footing.

"Rose, you're a smart girl, please don't be stupid. You can't even stand up." He told her softly.

"Please don't make me go there. I just need to lay down, I'll be fine in the morning." He looked at her, an unsure expression on his face. "Scorpius please." She looked up at him, her big brown eyes full of tears and before he knew what he was doing, he helped her to her feet, wrapped his arm around her waist. "Where are we going, Gryffindor tower is that way." Rose said softly, pointing behind her.

"I'm taking you to my common room." He put a finger to her lips before she could protest. "There is now way you're going to make it up all those stairs Rose, and we both know it." She didn't say anything in protest and let him lead her down to the dungeons.

As they waited for the passage way to appear in the stone wall Scorpius could feel more and more of Rose's weight on him. He looked over at the red head beside him, she looked so small and innocent in that moment. "Okay Rosie come on now." He swept his arm under her legs and lifted her up bridal style and carried her through the common room and into his dormitory. He laid her down on his bed and pulled the blankets up around her.

"Where..."

"Shhhh, Rose it's alright, just go to sleep, everything will be alright in the morning." He pulled a fresh wash cloth out of his trunk and conjured some water. He soaked the cloth in the cool water and rang it out before placing the cloth on her forehead before pulling the curtains around the bed and heading back to the common room.

Scorpius awoke the neck morning with a cramped neck and a sore back with his dorm mates sitting across from him staring. "What?" He asked.

"If you're sleeping here then who the bloody hell is in your bed?" Nott asked him. Scorpius ran his hands through his already messy blonde hair.

"Scorpius?" A soft female voice said from behind him. He whipped his head around and saw a very groggy Rose Weasley standing at the doorway to the boys dormitory. Scorpius smoothed his hair and stood up. "Why am I in the Slytherin boys dormitory?" She asked confused.

"I ran into you while I was doing my patrol last night you had a fever and could barely stand and you refused to go to the hospital wing and I didn't know what else to do so I brought you here and-"

"Scorpius, you're rambling." She said walking towards him ignoring the snickering Slytherins behind him. He opened his mouth to speak but she placed her finger on his lips, silencing him. "Thanks." She said softly, not making eye contact with him. "You know for taking care of me."

"Uh, no problem." He said awkwardly, scratching behind his ear.

"I mean it Scorpius." He brown eyes meeting his blue ones. "Thank you, you didn't have to do that. You could have just taken me to the hospital wing and let them take care of me."

"But you hate that place Rose, I wasn't going to leave you in a place that makes you uncomfortable when you were sick. I just thought that you'd be more comfortable here then in a hospital bed." She smiled at him, pressing up on her tiptoes and kissing him on the cheek softly.

"You're really sweet, you know that?" She said plainly before turning on her heel and walking toward the common room door. "Scorp?" She said turning back toward him. "Friends?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Friends." He repeated, and with that, she walk out of the common room leaving Scorpius there with a bunch of hysterical Slytherins.

"Oh will you idiots knock it off." He snapped at his dorm mates.

"Your father's going to kill you." Zabini choked out.

"Seriously, will you lot just piss off." Scorpius just sank down on the couch as his dorm mates returned to their room, he wasn't really sure what had just transpired but he couldn't help but wonder what being friends with Rose Weasley was going to be like.