Prologue - Of Truth and Temptation

I don't want to repeat my innocence, I want the pleasure of losing it all over again

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

I wasn't until that day in mid August that I truly believed in karma. Of course Mum had taught us from an early age that the things we did would always be remembered and that our bad deeds would come back to haunt us. Grandma Weasley would remind us of this forcefully, using that age-old adage 'What goes around comes around,' whenever she heard we'd teased, pranked or stolen from each other. It wasn't a punishment receiving the Head Girl badge, far from it. In fact, some would have believed it was the greatest praise of all. Nevertheless, it was my karma. It increased my temptation. Nana Granger had taught us about that. She had taken it upon herself to provide us with the Sunday School morals that were so important to her that she feared the more unconventional side of us might prevent.

I thought I had understood. After all, of all my cousins I was the one that seemed to do everything they asked for and more. Good old Rosie. I was always the mature one, the reliable one, and the one that never seemed to let them down. They thought that I had grasped the concepts they were trying to teach us the best. It was only when I began to break their rules that I realised I was wrong. I had learnt everything but I knew nothing. That's the problem with being on a pedestal there's always further to fall.

Scorpius. I looked to the boy sleeping to my left as I buttoned up my shirt. He undid me in a way that I wasn't sure was possible. He had a way of making me forget every lesson I had ever been taught. Yet, through him I had learnt more about myself than I ever thought possible. He was the greatest contradiction of them all. Yet he understood me. Without even trying he broke into my defences and broke me, dismantling my perfect life one card at a time. The choices, more correctly the mistakes, I made were mine. Everything was ours.

I found my tie, loosely tying it around my neck. He still did not stir. Instead I placed a small kiss on his forehead and told myself never again. I was lying. We both knew it. I wouldn't grant myself the freedom to be date him, I wasn't even sure if he wanted to date me. Yet we both seemed addicted. It was wrong but we kept coming back. Nana Granger was right. Temptation was a dangerous thing.

I threw the invisibility cloak around my shoulders. I still felt the guilt in the bottom of my stomach knowing the lie I had told Albus to borrow it as I made my way out of the Slytherin Boys Dormitories and down into their Common Room.

Family. The final, and unspoken. barrier that we hid behind. It wasn't forbidden but no matter what the Ministry was preaching about forgiveness and unity I feared there were some wounds that ran to deep. For a second I deliberated how my Dad would react if I told him I was dating Draco Malfoy's son. Sure, he had saved Harry's life in the war and they were civil enough at Ministry events and social engagements but I still wasn't convinced how welcome he'd be at the dinner table, let alone Grandma and Granddad's. Not whilst I was dating Jack at least. Last year's Head Boy who was now working for the Ministry or a Malfoy. I was sure it wouldn't be a difficult choice.

I looked down at the Head Girl badge pinned so neatly to the front of my robe as I pushed open the Slytherin portrait hole and wondered how many school rules I was currently breaking. I knew should have listened them, to their early warnings about the Malfoys, temptation and everything in between. But as I walked up the stairs away from the dungeons and towards the heart of the school I decided no. I wouldn't have listened.

I wasn't going to listen. Not this time. For it was worth it. He was worth it.