( &. arrogant boy.)

w. @scormalfvy​ when: after curfew

in hindsight, she probably should have gotten dinner. 

it was just that she had been so busy. even before everyone else had started worrying. her stomach had turned into knots long before lily’s disappearance had been realized. her nerves had been in a tangle since the quidditch match. no– before that. since before the start of the year. since always.

it was just that there was always an endless list of things to do. it was head girl duties and sisterly preoccupations and organizing for spew and worrying about her owl (whose feathers still hadn’t stopped falling out, not that anyone else cared) as well as NEWTs and keeping up with arithmancy even though everyone kept saying that classes didn’t matter now that there was practically a war on.

loosen up and stop being so selfish, rose. there are bigger problems here than your grades— it was lily’s voice she heard now. and though she knew the voice was only imagined, rose still flinched nonetheless. and look where that got you? rose rebuked. with gritted teeth, she pictured throttling the taunting phantom, the world doesn’t stop turning just because there’s a war on. people depend of me to keep things going. not everyone is ready for a war. 

her stomach let out a low growl and she hunched herself over. as the reality of where she was and what she was doing set in, a wave of nausea washed over her. while everyone in the ma was working themself into a tizzy, where was rose? half-starved and sitting in an empty corridor after hours, surrounded by a litter of week-old chocolate frogs from her last visit to hogsmeade and imagining socking out her missing cousin for words that had certainly never been said? she felt the burn of hot tears in her eyes now, let out half of a stifled sob.

but then there were footsteps– and she had to scramble to wipe her eyes, hiding the score of chocolate frogs behind her and jumping to her feet.

“please don’t get me in trouble! it’s not what it looks like,” she burst out in protest before the person rounded the corner, “i was just finishing up patrols and i got tired. i was just sitting down for a moment. i promise– i wasn’t doing anything.”

maybe that’s the problem. the voice again. rose tried not to let it bother her.

Things just seemed to get worse as time went on. Half going too fast and too slow all at the same time. A student was taken from her dorm without actual concern from the staff-- a baffling incident if you asked him. His friends, those that found themselves sticking to their parents’ beliefs, had looked far too happy about it. And it was uncomfortable. Unbearable. It was something he hadn’t been able to swallow and for the first time it seemed that he didn’t really know them as much as he thought he did. So he found himself prolonging his rounds or just staying out as late as possible, in hopes of keeping away from the Slytherin common room. And perhaps staying out was giving him too much time to overthink how things were going - or maybe just enough time. 

Scorpius was pulled out of his thoughts, jumping at the sudden outburst. “for merlin’s sake.” He breathed out, stepping forward a bit to peak around the corner to find someone much less scary than expected. “Rose? What are you--- are you okay?” Relieved that was her while simultaneously stressed about why she seemed to be  alone in a dark corridor -- must be a Weasley and co sort of thing -- when it was dangerous out. He carefully rounded the corner, casting a cautious glance behind him and then behind Rose to make sure there were no professors around.

He let out a sigh once he’d turned back to Rose, gaze softening as he slowly gathered that she’d been crying and obviously craving chocolate frogs. “--Also how would I get you in trouble when you’re the one breaking the rules?” He asked with a scoff as he bent to scoop up the rest of the wrappers before taking the ones she had in her hands.

“Dating? Us?” Annette felt her cheeks warm and laughed, “Um, pretending… I’m not—well, it’s not that I—-you’re right, it’s not like…” She shook her head,  “What I mean is, us… dating isn’t unbelievable, but I—I’m not really that great of a liar.” And Annette was far too affectionate when she was dating someone; how could they even think to pull something like that over on their friends? “But—look, we’ll figure it out, okay? Maybe—maybe he won’t even care after tonight, he didn’t get to—scare me however he was planning to. Because of you. It was—-really sweet of  you to help me, and you didn’t have to. It probably would’ve been easier for you if you didn’t, but you did.” And at this, Annette couldn’t help but be grateful, and a bit proud. Wasn’t this what she always told Lily? That sometimes—given the chance, people could surprise you, in a good way. Scorpius had done just that. She took his hand again, giving it a light squeeze. “It was really brave of you, Scor—Scorpius.” She corrected, “You’re a good guy. But you should—probably get back to your dorm—I don’t want you to get into any more trouble because of me. But thank you, really.”

“Anyone would have done the same...” His gaze focused on their hands. When was the last time someone had comforted him? Even in this kind of situation where it was her in danger she made sure to offer him a hand. Weird. Scorpius laughed nervously and took his hand back, stuffing them into his pockets. “And don’t say things you don’t mean, Annie. We will figure it out if he get suspicious-- just obey curfew? --You still have detention, so I’ll let you take back that thank you. Goodnight.” With one last grin he stepped back towards the portrait and headed back down to his dorm.

Things were only going to get more and more complicated if he kept sticking his neck out for everyone. Arguably, he didn’t even know Annette very well. Arguably, she was too sweet to second guess her motives. Even if she didn’t mean well, no one deserved Macnair after them. But whatever! What was the big deal about them dating or pretending to date anyways?

Annette nearly stumbles on the stairs in her haste to get away; she can’t help but send a look over her shoulders, as if MacNair might hex them for daring to walk away from him. Her heart thuds in her chest and she wishes that as the distance grew between them and the professor, so did her bravery, but instead she felt a rising panic that threatened to overtake her. The silence between them was tense as they made their way to Gryffindor Toweer. Upon arriving, Annette was ready to burst, and after speaking the password, pulled Scorpius into the common room along with her, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that the common room was empty. Whirling around, Annette forced herself to speak, hands shaking.

“Scorpius, I—-why—what—-why did you—-?” She took a breath, trying to calm herself, “I know—-you helped me, thank you—thank you for protecting me, but—-but you lied to him—we lied to Walden MacNair, Scorpius! He’s—-we’re not dating, and he’s going to find out, and he’s going to know we lied to him, and—-and do you know what he’s done? He’s—-Walden MacNair is—-he’s terrible, he could—-he could hurt either of us if he thinks we—-we’re hiding something from him.”

Scorpius was focused on only getting Annette to her common room safe and sound, purposely ignoring the dread that was gnawing in the back of his mind. He was seen as a coward, not brave enough to stick his own neck out for others and maybe that’s where they were all wrong. He stupidly and foolishly stepped out in front of trouble as a shield to people he was only acquaintances with -- but what else was he supposed to do? In truth, he didn’t know where Annette’s alliance lied with but she, from what he knew of her, was good-natured and had a big heart. Walden MacNair was something worse than a monster and there was no way he could have just let her become a target.

Scorpius hesitated, following only when she pulled him through the portrait. He let her speak, waiting until she finished before offering an explanation. “I know what he’s done better than you do-- and what else was I supposed to say that wouldn’t make him more suspicious of you? Besides I don’t-- I don’t know if you were actually meeting up with them. --I doubt he’ll be that invested in us anyways? What kind of professor would be interested in student dating life? And-- I mean if it comes down to it we could always pretend...” He followed with a sigh, thinking of Gemma momentarily but perhaps this would help him out on that while keeping MacNair off Annette’s case. “It’s not unlikely that we’d...uh, date. I guess...it’s not that big of a deal, right? Us dating?”

Annette shrank in on herself, visibly flinching when the word ‘halfbreed’ was snarled at her. When she was younger, before the war and before bigotry had somehow become socially acceptable again, she sometimes forgot that there were people who saw her and her sister—even with as little Veela blood as they had—as things, animals, rather than people. She no longer had the luxury of forgetting, but having a professor say it to her, to know he would only do so if he felt sure that he could get away with it—-it just proved how little she could be protected at Hogwarts, now.

Shame bubbled up inside of her, stomach churning as she wished for something to say, anything—-not for the first time, she wished she was as strong as her cousins; why couldn’t she be as fearless as Lily? But she wasn’t; she was just frightened. “I—” Her eyes darted back and forth between Professor MacNair and Scorpius as they spoke, as Scorpius covered for her, “Scor—-” She fidgeted; she couldn’t really argue, not when he was going out on a limb for her. “Um—-it’s true.”

This was a time to be humble. Let him thing he was stronger than he actually was. Let MacNair think he was scared. Who was he kidding? He was scared. Scorpius drew in a deep breath, keeping himself in front of Annette whom seemed so small in that dark corridor. He couldn’t blame her family of their views just like he couldn’t blame his own. But-- those views put her in obvious danger these days with the staff looking to make an example out of anyone involved with that side. 

Professor MacNair glared down at him, letting a spine chilling laugh fill the hallway. “Mr. Malfoy, please do explain why you two were ‘meeting up’ after hours.” He waved a hand to give him the floor to speak.

“Uh--”Scorpius mouth grew dry, “..we’re dating.” It isn’t the best solution to a situation of the sort but it is the easiest excuse he could think of. Without missing a beat he lifts their linked hands as if that would prove that they are definitely together. “We didn’t have a chance to, uh, see each other during the Hogsmeade--” Scorpius is cut off with another glare from the professor and slowly lets their hands rest at his side. At this point his heart feels like it will beat right out of his chest, feeling as though every lie that’d come out of his mouth had been seen right through. “--Right, I’ll escort her to Gryffindor Tower before it gets even later. Goodnight, Professor.”

Scorpius is quick to step around the seething man urging Annie to go up the stairs in front of him, making sure not to give him any space near her.

It seemed as if a break was too much to ask for. Between Gemma and, now, Lily it was going to be impossible to even spare a minute to catch his breath. “Today isn’t the day.” He met a glare with one of his own and he moved to push past her. Dating Annie-- or well fake dating her had only brought more trouble onto himself it seemed, at least the parts that didn’t involve Annette at all. “Actually.” He turned, finding it considerably easier to get angrier at Lily than Gemma. “What the hell is the matter with me dating her anyways?”

@anniedelabee​:

“I’m okay—-just lost track of time—” She tried to explain; she knew he was right and normally she wouldn’t be out after hours unless it was something important, but she couldn’t really explain that. “But do you really have to? Nobody would know if you didn’t—I wouldn’t tell, I swear—” Footsteps on the stairwell Scorpius had just descended caught her attention, and when Walden MacNair appeared before them, Annette breath caught in her throat, anxiety spiking. Scorpius was one thing, but MacNair was certainly no friend of hers. She stepped closer to the boy she’d been speaking with, almost hoping she could get away with hiding in his shadow and remaining unseen.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Walden drawled, his dark eyes glinting as he gave the two students a once-over. He inched closer, stepping in between the two of them, towering over Annette especially. “ – Mr. Malfoy, I do hope you were escorting this halfbreed back to her dormitory.” he murmured, nearly spitting the word halfbreed. “Neither of you should be out. It’s well past curfew. In fact –” His fingers twitched over his wand. “I was told by the headmistress to keep a close watch over the corridors tonight. There’s been word that a certain resistance group was planning to meet tonight. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you, Ms. Delacour-Bardon? What with the friends you keep?” he asked, his eyes boring down at hers. “Detention for the both of you, I think.”

Scorpius’ lips pulled into a small smile, almost instantly agreeing to letting her off. “I guess I wouldn’t have to do the re-” He was cut off by a gruff voice that he knew to be Professor MacNair. Now this man wasn’t just a normal professor or even a normal death eater. He’d asked his father about the adults now running the show at Hogwarts and this man was the one he’d been warned especially not to mess with-- and Annette was, all in all, his enemy. As MacNair stepped in between them, Scorpius stepped around him putting himself in front of Annie taking her hand to encourage her to stay close to him. “Professor, we were just...” he rubbed at the back of his neck, letting his head drop a little. “She doesn’t even know anything about that group except for their attack before we came back to school-- she’s out because of me.” He paused pulling Annie closer to him, wondering if he was already putting his foot in his mouth. “We met up and lost track of time...”

when: january 8th, 10:35pm where: kitchen corridor, hogwarts who: @scormalfvy

It was far later than advisable for Annette to be roaming the corridors, but she’d lost track of time in the Hufflepuff common room with her sister, so here she was, sneaking around in the dark and hoping the portraits and ghosts would be in a charitable mood this evening and not tell on her. A creak behind her caught her attention—maybe it was someones’ pet, out for a midnight hunt—but still, her attention focused behind her as she rounded the corner to the staircase meant running straight into the person coming down the stairs, “Ooof!” She fell back against the wall of the corridor, panic seizing her until she realize who she’d bumped into, “Scorpius! Hi!” While not ideal to be caught out of bounds after curfew by a prefect, Scorpius didn’t really look to abuse his power and Annette was hoping she could charm her way out of trouble. “I know this probably looks like I’m breaking the rules, you know, on purpose, but really—-is that a new sweater?”

Scorpius hadn’t really been paying attention during the rounds. His thoughts seemed to always be wandering away to some ‘what if’ as the hold on Hogwarts grows tighter. He’d been out ‘patrolling’ passed his own curfew but he figured that if caught-- it wouldn’t be such a big deal. At least he hoped it wouldn’t. Of course, he wasn’t doing the greatest job as he should have noticed her before she’d ran right into him. “Annette--” Scorpius glanced down at his sweater, it was new but he was sure she wouldn’t know that, and followed with a sigh. “Are you alright?” He’d save the whole ‘it’s late’ spiel for another time and took glance back behind him. The corridors were dark and he could only make out the both of them from the moon shining through the windows. “It’s not safe to be out this late-- even without..” Without death eaters as professors. No matter where he stood with his alliance of the war he honestly didn’t want anyone to get hurt. “-- anyways, you know I’m going to have to give you detention.”

when: january 5th, 2024

who: @nadiazabiniis

                                          “You have the worst survival instincts.” 

Nadia wasn’t wrong. He seemed to put everyone above himself even when it was him at the other end of their wand. He was friends with those who wore those masks and his own weakness for them is what seemed to land him in the most trouble. Scorpius found it hard to catch his breath. His hand pressed against the center of his chest where the curse had hit as he picked himself off the ground. “I didn’t...expect this.” Arrogant. To think he was important enough to them that they wouldn’t hurt him or his parents. He hadn’t even fought back-- just took the curse head on because he didn’t want to hurt whoever it was behind that mask. Weak. Gemma was right. “What do we do now then?”

MICHAEL EVANS BEHLING? No, that’s actually SCORPIUS MALFOY. A SEVENTH YEAR student, this SLYTHERIN student is sided with THE NEUTRALS. HE identifies as CIS MAN and is a PUREBLOOD who is known to be ARROGANT, DISTANT, and SELF-CRITICAL but also AMIABLE, CHARMING, and KIND.

STATS ( coming soon ) | PINTEREST

where: slytherin boy’s dorm when: december 3rd, 2023, 8:30pm who: @scormalfvy

Of course she noticed the way he lit up when she came into the room, and tried not to preen outwardly at the attention—Scor was sweet, and hot, and rich, and these all played a role in garnering her attention in the first place; what kept it was how easy he was to please and wrap around her finger. But times were changing, and Scorpius was sweet, but overall, a little too weak-willed for her taste (she blamed the Malfoy genes). The winds were shifting and Gemma was ready to take advantage, but how could she if she were saddled to such a pushover? No, it was better to cut the cord now, no matter how Scor adored her. 

Of course, she couldn’t very well say all of this to him. No, better to let him think it was something he did—-or didn’t do, rather. “Um, no.” She’d let him grasp her hand for a second before pulling away, hands fidgeting in a way that made her seem more nervous than she actually was. “I’ve been thinking, and I think—-well, I don’t—-I don’t think this is working anymore. Us.”

It took him a moment to respond. His expression had shifted from concerned to upset before falling into confusion. In his opinion, they had been doing fine. He enjoyed her company even despite the way she’d lashed out at others. He was happy to see her and be with her and found absolutely no issue with their relationship-- at least at face value. Scorpius was aware that he was easy to pull around-- that he was essentially ‘easy’ but he trusted Gemma-- he loved Gemma. His heart dropped. They’d had plenty of similar discussions before after he’d made her mad or some other reason-- but it was almost always a ploy for attention. But this time. This time it felt different considering just how nervous she seemed.

“Oh.” He let out a sigh, letting his hands fall back onto his lap and his gaze away from hers. “I don’t...what do you mean ‘you don’t think this is working anymore’?” Scorpius made an effort to keep his voice level as to not show that he was as upset has he felt. Just stay calm and collected, he thought, you can be upset later. “I don’t think...I don’t think I feel the same, Gem. You’re gonna hav- have to tell me...” tell him what he did wrong? is there someone else?  Why did he feel so pathetic all of a sudden. “why we aren’t working?”

where: slytherin boy’s dorm when: december 3rd, 2023, 8:30pm who: @scormalfvy

It had taken no small amount of luck, finesse, or outright threats on Gemma’s part to clear her boyfriend’s dorm at this hour, and now it was just her and Scorpius—-not the first time they’d had his room to themselves since they’d started dating (this was certainly not the first time Gemma had kicked his fellow dorm mates out) but, Gemma thought wryly, she was sure whatever thoughts Scorpius had about what they’d be getting up to this evening couldn’t be more off base. 

“Hey,” Lips turned downward in an unusual frown, Gemma kept her distance, working to keep her expression somber, “Can we talk?”

A smile had curved onto his lips the moment her voice had interrupted the chatter in the dorm. As always, she commanded the room and bought them an hour or so of privacy. He carefully set aside his essay before reaching out a hand for hers. “--Oh, yeah. What’s wrong?” His smile disappeared as he studied the somber expression on her face -- weird, he thought. “Is everything okay?”

“Well, you know me, I’m a regular brawler, obviously.” Annette gave a shrug, as though she were being modest. “But don’t worry—-I think I’ve had my fill of fights tonight, so you’re safe, Scorpius Malfoy.” She set her drink down on the wall next to her before hoisting herself up onto the ledge, legs swinging as she spoke, “Um, it’s been fun—–I’m surprised your parents let you invite pretty much the whole school though. Or is this you being rebellious?”

“Yeah, obviously.” The smile on his lips widened as he shook his head. “I’m grateful, Rocky 2.0 is giving it a rest tonight though-- can’t believe you almost beat up a precious Malfoy peacock.” Well, precious to his grandparents at least. “Ah, well-- they thought it was appropriate for a date night or schmoozing with the others, or whatever they decided to get up to and rather than spending it alone I thought-- why not invite all of hogwarts?” Scorpius leaned against the ledge and gave a shrug of his shoulders. “It seemed like the right thing to do.” The truth was that he hadn’t really wanted this many people to show up-- he hadn’t counted on it at least -- and he’d taken it with stride hoping that his parents would stay gone long enough. “As long as you’re having fun I guess it’s worth it.”

when: december 31st, 11:39pm where: scorpius’ rocking new years eve party! who: @scormalfvy

She isn’t particularly looking for Scorpius when she spies him, a throng of partygoers between them. She’s bored, though, and her ex may be a fun way to pass the time this evening; she’d broken up with him only a few short weeks ago, and had spent most of winter break in Ibiza—a fact which he probably knows, and she can only imagine what he’s imagined she’s been up to. 

“Hey, Scor.” She finally reaches him, a sly smile on her face as her eyes rove his frame, “Mm, you look nice. You know I just love you in blue. Have a good holiday?”

“--Um” Scorpius avoids her gaze with a drink from the glass in his hand. “Hey, yeah it was good. What about you? Did you have a good holiday?” Not that he cared, or at least that’s what he’d been telling himself. Ever since the breakup he’d been admittedly mopey and this party was supposed to make him feel better-- despite Gemma showing up, of course. 

“Can I get you a drink or somethin’?”