A sort of deleted scene from Changes in my story.

I don't own anything.

Sitting in the empty Gryffindor common room was an odd feeling. If Scorpius had not been worried about his friend, he might have enjoyed it.

Term had ended almost a week ago, and he, Rose and Alice had the whole Gryffindor tower to themselves, with nothing to focus on but the lack of Albus's presence.

"Mind if I sit down?" asked a soft voice.

He looked up, despite knowing that it was Alice who stood there, not Rose.

"Of course I don't mind," he said with as genuine a smile as he could muster. It ended up being just as fake as hers, though.

She sat with a sigh, closing her tired eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"It's scary sometimes," she muttered to the floor. "How we all know each other so well."

"Not an answer," Scorpius said. "But yeah, it is. And anyway, you and me are like siblings."

It was true. Alice had chose to tell him about Alex first, and she was the only one Scorpius had admitted his feelings for Rose to. They had always been close.

"I figured stuff out," she murmured.

"About Al," Scorpius said. It was not a question.

"Yes," she sighed. "I think I love him."

"Took you long enough," said Scorpius, with a slight smirk.

Alice sighed again. "Why didn't you tell me being in love was this hard?"

He laughed bitterly. "I was trying to spare you, honey."

Alice smiled a little at the nickname. It was used by Scorpius the most. Her favourite food was honey, and she had even been told that she smelled like it.

"Do you think he'll come back all right?" she asked after a pause and after her smile had faded.

"You know he'll fight tooth and nail to get away," Scorpius said, nudging her shoulder in a way reminiscent of how he had nudged Rose's.

"Where's Rose?" he asked.

"Outside," Alice sighed.

"She's taking it hard," she added.

"They … are close," Scorpius said reasonably, furious at himself for almost saying "were".

"You nearly said 'were' didn't you?" Alice asked in a weary voice, showing off the power in her to see right into Scorpius's brain.

"Yeah," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I hate myself now; it feels like I've given up."

"If he is …" Alice said, unable to say what she had wanted to. "How am I going to live with myself?"

"You mean last year?" Scorpius asked. "The end of exams party?"

She nodded, and dropped her gaze to the floor. When she looked up, her eyes were shining with tears.

"And now what if he's …" she now forced herself to say it, "d-dead … and I've rejected him?"

Scorpius put an arm around her shoulders. "He'll be all right."

"But you said yourself that you felt like you'd given up," she choked.

A pause.

"I'll be ok," Alice murmured, fishing a tissue out of her pocket and dabbing her eyes. "You go and find Rose. She didn't bring a coat; she'll freeze or something."

She got to her feet and moved over to one of the windows. Scorpius took his coat from the back of a chair and obeyed his friend, leaving her alone in the common room.

Kill me now.

She totally reflects Reed during Paint (in Dalton by CP Coulter, for the unlucky few who don't know what I'm on about)

It's pretty easy to see the similarities.

Exhibit A: "I...can't even breathe right now—!" the other boy choked, paint and tears running down his face. Kurt muttered under his breath, pulling out a few of the tissues from a nearby box and wiping the paint away.

Reed swatted him away weakly. "The last thing I ever did to him—was reject him! He's—" he coughed, laughed bitterly and hissed at the same time, that confused jumble of sound being the reflection of everything he felt about himself at that moment. "—I might not have returned those feelings when he said them—but he fell in love with me and that's never even happened before! Do you have any idea how damned guilty I feel right now? It's not fair! Why is this happening?"

I've been re-reading it (Dalton, of course) again, and I've absorbed it all, I guess -shrug-

Anyway, who wants to kill me first?