"Hey."

Scorpius slides his arm around Rose's waist, tucking her into an embrace.
He feels her body relax, and he lets himself breathe in her scent – peach and apple and sunlight and lavender. Warmth. But she straightens up and pulls away, her arms clutched to her sides, her scarlet curls rushing forwards to frame her face, hiding her from his view
"..Rose. What's wrong?"

She looks up at him, her hazel eyes open, wide. Pleading.
"Scorpius..." She opens her mouth, staring into his blue-gray ones, wanting to speak. "We can't be together. I don't…it's not working out." Her lips tremble, and suddenly, she can't meet his eyes anymore. "I don't love you. I never did. Just…leave me alone. Don't come near me again. Just go away!"
She looks down, as Scorpius, stung (no pun intended), slowly turns and walks away. She looks down, letting her hair swing in front of her face, this time not hiding her face, but a broken heart.

She doesn't notice Scorpius standing less than a corridor away from her, watching her face carefully. He's not sure if it's real or if it's just flat out denial, but he knows a lie when he sees one. And she's lying. He loves her, dammit. And he knows she loves him, too.

3 years doesn't go down the drain that fast, he thinks, and he lifts his head, preparing to show the world why exactly he remains the first Malfoy to be sorted into Gryffindor.

"Rose," he says, more harshly than he means to.

She looks up slowly, and he can tell she's been crying. All the words he's prepared stick in his throat, and instead, he grasps her upper arm, gently pulling her out of the Great Hall.

"I told you," she whispers shakily, tears pooling in her eyes. "Leave me alone." She tugs at his grip, so lightly that he can't even tell if she's trying or not. He grabs her by the shoulders, anger rising in him.

"Rose, cut the shit," he tells her softly, staring directly into her eyes. "I love you. What happened to that?" The pain in his own voice is evident, vulnerable as his words hang in the air between them.
At his words, she collapses. Her legs give out underneath her, the tears flowing freely down her face. Her eyes are closed, her eyelashes thick and full and wet against her face. Her hair tumbles around her as he catches her, her head gently lolling to the side, her body shaking softly. Before he can think twice, tears run in rivulets down her cheeks, and she shivers, even though it's warm outside. He holds her on his knees, her head pressed against his chest, neither of them saying a word. And she breaks. She clings onto him desperately, her sobs breaking against his chest, her fingers entwined in his jet black hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cries, trembling against him. And she kisses him, full on the mouth. Nothing new, for them. But he can taste the salt on her lips and the unrefined desperation in the way that she needs him, the feeling that time's running out.

A sudden crash, and he breaks away from the kiss. What he sees makes him draw back, his heart skipping a beat in spite of himself. In plain script, the opposite wall writes "SCORPIUS. 1:00 AM. COMMON ROOM." In blood.

Rose screams, and flails out with her arms. Fear kicks into overdrive, and Scorpius grabs onto her, trying to calm her down.

"Scorpius, please please please, you can't go, you can't you can't please please don't go! I'll do anything, please, just don't go."

"Rose, Rose, it's okay, it's nothing. Someone's pulling a practical joke. It's nothing. Please don't worry."

She throws off his reassuring hand, her eyes already filling again.

"You don't understand," she cries, her screams echoing off the walls, "he'll hurt you, he'll try to. Oh God, Scorpius, just don't go. Promise me you won't."

But the bells tolls, ending dinner. People rush out of the Great Hall, not even noticing them. Scorpius straightens up and helps Rose to her feet. She shouts to him, but her words are lost in the din. Grasping her hand, he leads her to the common room, noticing, deep within his heart, that the words that had marked the wall in elaborate, blood-red letters…are gone.