Chapter Text
Chapter One
It was the first snowfall of the season when Scorpius Malfoy entered Rose Weasley's bakery, Cake Witch. The bell at the door gave a gentle ding as he entered, his thick billowy cloak sweeping around his shins and his boots a soft tap-tap on the welcome mat. There was enough snow that it was even visible through his white-blond hair, stuck out at all angles from the wind.
Rose hadn't seen him in ten years.
And she had flour all over her.
There was a rush of heat to her cheeks—always rounder than she wished they were, but that's just what came with the territory of baking cookies for a living—and Rose resisted a very strong urge to duck around the counter and hide in the kitchen. It was late for a bakery, nearly five in the evening, and she'd already sent her assistant home twenty minutes ago. Rose hastily dusted off her apron, making barely a difference at all by the time Scorpius met her gaze and froze.
"Rose?" he said, sounding strangled. "You work here?"
She realized she was holding her breath, and let it out quietly. "It's mine."
"I—wow." He shuffled up to the display case, looking around at the few lone loaves of bread on the shelf, the massive fire ovens still lit behind her, the espresso machine in the corner and the crumbs of sweets and pastries left behind from what had been sold that day. "It looks just like you imagined."
"Yeah." Rose swallowed a lump in her throat. "I mean… this was always the plan, right?"
"Right, right." Scorpius pulled off his gloves only to stuff his hands into his pockets. Rose noticed a large paper bag dangled from his arm. "I was just finishing my Christmas shopping."
"Shop in Hogsmeade often?"
"Yeah, I, er…" He scratched at the back of his head. "I've been at Hogwarts. I'm taking over ol' Sluggy's job this year."
"I heard he retired last year," Rose said, looking back down to the dough she'd been rolling out. Last she'd heard, Scorpius had gone into Magical Law; how he'd somehow veered into being a Potions professor, she didn't know.
And the fact that he'd been this close for a year and a half threw her off in a way she hadn't expected.
"I assisted him last year," Scorpius explained. "Took over in September."
"Hmm." She picked up the rolling pin. A few moments of silence passed, the crinkling from the baking paper filling the space before she looked up again. Scorpius still seemed flushed from the cold, and he was looking expectantly at her.
"Are you looking for something in particular?"
"I haven't been here before," he said needlessly, glancing around again. "I thought I could just pick something up."
"It was a busy day," she replied with an off-hand gesture to her mostly empty display cases. "I've been up since five in the morning. This is what's left."
"Seems like I missed the rush."
"Indeed." She paused, searching his expression. "You're looking for gingerbread, aren't you?"
His cheeks flushed deeper. "The house elves at Hogwarts are upset with me."
"Oh?" she asked, but he didn't explain, suddenly seeming very interested in the last pumpkin pasty in the display.
Rose used a pair of steel tongs to pluck it into a paper bag. "Two sickles."
He traded the coins for the pastry. "When will you have gingerbread cookies next?"
"I bake them every day of December. High demand."
"I suppose I'll be back, then." Scorpius hesitated. "Is that all right?"
Rose gave a noncommittal shrug, attempting to dust off the flour from her front again. She'd always imagined seeing Scorpius again where it seemed like she hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about him. Which was mostly true, barring the first year after graduation. She might've indulged in a quick fantasy of their reunion, perhaps taking place at an event where she looked fantastic and would subtly be able to give him the cold shoulder.
She never imagined their reunion might be in her shop. And she couldn't ask him to very well leave, could she?
"It's a bit early for Christmas shopping, isn't it?" she asked instead.
"The post will be mad later on. I'm getting a head start."
Rose nodded. He'd always been one to plan ahead. It seemed he was sending his gifts, rather than seeing his relatives in person. She hid her surprise the best she could, reaching for a snowman cookie cutter; he was quite close to his family, in a way that made her a little jealous.
He certainly cared for them far more than he'd ever cared for her.
So why wasn't Scorpius going home for the holidays?
"I'd better head back before this gets worse," Scorpius said, looking warily at the snowfall rushing past the frosted window. He placed the pastry carefully in his bag before pulling his gloves from his pockets. "You should, too."
"I'm closing in ten minutes," she said, not bothering to mention she lived upstairs. Even if she wasn't venturing outside, all she wanted to do was wrap herself up in her blankets with some hot tea and biscuits.
"And you'll have gingerbread tomorrow?"
"I can't guarantee it won't sell out."
"You can't?" he asked, and when she glanced up, he was smiling. Something flipped in her chest.
"No," she said defiantly.
"For an old friend?"
Rose chuckled despite herself; they'd been a bit more than friends, hadn't they? "I'll see what I can do."
"Great." He paused, half-turned to leave. "You look well."
"I am." Her voice was quieter than she intended, but that didn't make it any less true. He smiled at her again, in the way he always had—warmly, intensely, like she was the only one he ever smiled for.
And then he was gone with a hand raised in goodbye, a jingle from the door, a gust of chilly wind that made her shiver despite the fact that the oven was still lit behind her. Rose blew out a long breath, trying to ignore how hard her heart had been beating that entire time, pulsing like she'd been sprinting, aching like she was out of oxygen.
Like she could ignore how it hadn't beat that hard for anyone else. Ever.
Rose really wished Scorpius would go back to the Slytherin Common Room.
She'd hung out with him in the kitchens more times than she could count, and while she was fine with sharing her safe space, she wished just that once that he wasn't there. There wasn't a single place in the castle that she could go to be alone.
And they were friends, she supposed, in a way neither of them could acknowledge but both knew was true. They would chat quietly and do their essays as the elves scurried around them, preparing dinners or cleaning up after meals. It had become a routine over the years, though they hardly said hello outside the dungeons.
Rose was dreading the inevitable, and even as Scorpius merely dragged his chair back and sat at the table beside her, she could sense there wasn't a chance he would let this drop.
"What happened?" As expected, he was immediately transfixed on her puffy nose and red eyes. "You look…"
"I know." She stared at a dent in the wooden table. "Don't ask."
He looked confused, but up until then, nothing about their conversations strayed very far from Quidditch, chess games and classes. Maybe there was a flirtatious moment or two, but there was rumour that Scorpius was taking Melanie Nott to Hogsmeade. Not to mention that Rose's father would be furious if he knew how she felt. She kept the distance for a reason.
And then Scorpius scooched his chair right next to her, dropped an arm around her shoulder and crossed whatever line that had been there.
"I have one question." Rose raised an eyebrow at him and he continued, "Will this be fixed with brownies, or do I have to punch someone?"
She shrugged him off. "Okay, it's not that bad. I'm probably overreacting."
"Brownies, then," he replied, standing.
When he came back from speaking to the elves, he was holding a plate with a tiny pile of Rose's favourite peppermint brownies and another plate with treacle tart. He didn't move his chair away when he sat back down.
"Thanks," she said, grabbing a promising one with white chocolate chunks sticking out at all angles. "You're probably right about these."
"They never serve enough dessert at dinner," he muttered as he began rooting through his bag for his books. "Are you going to tell me what happened, or are we just going to study?"
Impatient as ever.
"I didn't do too well on that last essay," she confessed, biting into her brownie. "And with O.W.L.s coming up…"
"It's September. O.W.L.s aren't until the end of the year," he opposed. "Was this the Defense essay?"
"Yeah."
"That one was impossible. I spent ages on it and got an Acceptable." Scorpius peered at her as she suddenly avoided his gaze. "What—you got lower?"
Rose's cheeks went hot. It was one thing to get a low grade, but to disclose it to someone she might fancy a tiny little bit? It was a touch more than humiliating.
"I got a P," she admitted, voice small.
"Oh." He considered this. "Well, that isn't so bad. It's not a Dreadful or Troll."
She nudged him in the side. "Getting a T isn't real."
"Wanna bet?"
Rose snorted and took out her books. "I just need to study harder. The more I study, the less chance I have of blanking during the O.W.L.s."
"You study harder than any of us."
"I could do better."
"Bullshit," he disagreed, tugging on her sleeve so she would look at him. His eyes were bright and grey and earnest. "You sit there for hours and hours, way longer than anyone else. I bet you study at night in your dormitory, don't you?"
"I… I can't focus." She settled her gaze between his eyebrows. "I keep thinking about how I'm going to fail. Over and over."
He didn't answer, and the mortification crept up her neck again. She was finding it particularly difficult to focus for an entirely different reason.
"I'll get it eventually," she assured, flipping open the assigned reading in her textbook. "It just takes longer."
Scorpius tugged on her sleeve again and she met his gaze again. His fingers played around her wrist, almost like he wanted to hold her hand, but settled for the little lightning bolts sparking through her skin. "You could focus on something else."
"Like what?"
"I bet you couldn't beat me in the next one," he said casually, almost smirking.
He ignited her indignation immediately. "I always get higher grades than you."
"Not this last time." And even though it should've felt like a blow, he was grinning and it just made her laugh. "Maybe this is my shot at becoming the best student in school."
"Fat chance, Malfoy." And even though she knew he wasn't serious, Rose straightened and tugged her book closer. "I've got this."
He nudged her elbow knowingly and stole a brownie from her plate. "Bring it on."
A/N: Hello! So this started off as a holiday one-shot, got way too long and then I missed the Christmas "deadline"... not to mention, it's a bit angsty haha. So I thought I'd post it in parts while it's still the season.
I hope you're all having a safe and lovely holiday so far :)