Slipping Fate

A tragedy of missed opportunities and words spoken too late.

Author's Notes: This was a random drabble I had in my head and I found myself playing with the words so much in my mind that I had to type them out. I thought it would just be a short thing that I could write down and then just be satisfied to have penned them, but then my fingers began flowing nonstop over the keyboard and a drabble-story grew out of it. I do not feel that I was able to grasp the degree of angst and sadness I was going for, but I wanted to post it now anyway because I do not like pouring over stories laboriously after crunching them out. This story has more personal attachment since I recently found myself accepting that the person I dreamed I would "end up" with was likely just that- a dream, and that reality is harsher but must be accepted sooner than later. Since I have always loved the concept of Rose and Scorpius, I guess here is another short story starring them as tortured lovers. I would love to get feedback since reviews are an amazing means of connections in this big wide world we know of as the INTERNET. Even a simple "I read your story" lights up a connection! Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter--- these all belong to JK Rowling. I play with her characters because I love them. In this case, I play with Rose and Scorpius because as next-generation characters, they are practically OC's, which allows me to have a lot of freedom with them. :]

Slipping Fate

"Don't you see?" she whispered, tears streaming down her sad face. She reached for him, placing a hand on each of his shoulders, her eyes gazing into his-imploring, brimming with desolation. She took a shuddery breath, "Didn't you know that I was always supposed to be with you in the end?"

There were no words for him to say. The lump in his throat grew as he stared down at his best friend. He had never seen her so broken; yet, now he realizes that she always was since they were never 'together.' Deep down, he knew the truth of her words.

"Sometimes, things don't turn out the way they were meant to," he told her gently. He was trying to be strong now for them both.

She smiled through her heartbreak. "I always knew in the back of my mind that I was meant to end up with you." She closed her eyes. "And I had thought that you were meant to end up with me, too. But I guess I was wrong." She smiled at him. She didn't need to force it. "I want you to be happy."

"No," he lifted her chin to make her look at him. "No, you know I love you. I've always loved you." He was rambling now. Somehow, he had to explain it to both himself and her; somehow he had to make sense of the unexplainable web of emotions that no science or logic could ever fully comprehend because now that she had broken down this wall that they had always avoided, he had to see it through. "Bloody hell, I don't know...maybe all we can say is Life happened. Maybe decisions we've made, maybe it's through the interactions with other people...maybe every step we took in life affected the outcome. Believe me," he whispered desperately, pressing his forehead down against hers. "I knew damn well we were made for each other. I've always known it, too."

"But I know you love her."

"I do." He felt as if his heart were exploding. Did the love he felt for each of them differ from one another? Was it a different type of love, or did he love the same but for different reasons? Could one love outweigh the other? This was too much building in his chest for him to handle. He squeezed his eyes closed to shut out the pain and ran a shaky hand through his hair, out of his face.

She nodded as if she understood, but he knew she didn't. She couldn't possibly. It was easy for her, harboring a love for him and him alone all her life, but he had love for two people now competing against one another for that one spot in his heart. Before when he thought he only saw her as his best friend, he easily fooled himself that that was all he felt for her, but now that the can of worms had been opened, he knew it would never be the same. He leaned back and hit his head against the wall angrily, as if that would bring about an instant solution to his angst.

The emotions and thoughts were all swimming in his mind, weighing everything down on him at once. He felt as if his inner battle had been raging for hours but he knew it had really only been a minute. He barely heard her whispered apology, and only the sound of her footsteps made him realize she was leaving him.

"I want you to be happy," she stated again. She glanced back at him one last time. "And I just had to say this to you because it was killing me to keep it bottled inside." She reached the door. "I'm sorry to cause you any pain." Her back was to him as he slid down against the wall as his legs seemed to lose feeling. "It will be as if I never brought this up, don't worry. I love you, goodbye."

And she was gone.

"But I love you, too," he whispered to the dark. A tear slid down his cheek and crashed into the stone floor.

After the epilogue, it was as everyone expected. Albus Severus Potter befriended Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy because he had seen their dads exchange a silent greeting at King's Cross, and the boy had taken this as a sign of them being friends. With his favorite cousin and confidant, Rose Weasley, the three of them became their own Golden Trio of sorts. Over the years, it was always the cusp of jokes that Scorpius Malfoy, a milder version of his father, would end up with Rose Weasley, an amusing combination of her famous parents. Scorpius, with his pale blonde hair and surprisingly warm grey eyes, had a playfully arrogant attitude masking his thoughtfully intelligent (albeit sometimes sneaky) nature. Rose Weasley, with her mother's thick brown hair and somewhat bossy personality and her father's bright blue eyes and sensitive (but sometimes insecure) persona, and both her parents' short temper, was a sweet tomboy that fit in with her two best friends perfectly. Yet, immediately, everyone could see that she and the Malfoy boy had a chemistry that rivaled even that of her parents back in the day. Maybe it was because she was a girl, and Albus, as a boy, was not so quick to be sensitive to their proud friend's problems, but she seemed to always be in tune with Scorpius' feelings, and he, in return, was always quick to stand up for her when she was overlooked. Like everyone knew Ron and Hermione would end up together, it was clear as glass that Scorpius and Rose would eventually pair up as well. After all, they were made for each other. A Malfoy with a Weasley/Granger...a daughter of "blood traiters" and and muggleborn...it was the perfect opposite.

But, as Scorpius would later point out in that darkened tower of the castle, life happens and sometimes, if you don't grab the opportunities when they present themselves, you can find yourself swept up in an entirely different future. It's not to say that he didn't love the beautiful girl waiting to walk down the aisle to him in the Great Hall downstairs, nor that he would be living a lie when he went down and said his vows to her. It's not to say that he would purposely avoiding looking at the section of red-headed Potter-Weasleys, just, really, there were so many people to see. And it's definitely not to say that as he and his bride swept out onto the grounds amid the crowd of their adoring friends and family, he would look back and immediately lock eyes in THAT manner just once more with the girl with the wet forget-me-not-blue eyes and wavy brown locks that, in the back of his mind, he always knew he was in love with. It's just a shame-not that his current life was anything to be ashamed of- that he never drew that knowledge from the back of his mind to face head on and realize, sooner.