For the Fanfiction Idol Competition
"Rose."
Rose's head snapped up to identify her intruder, but quickly turned away. She didn't want anyone to see her crying. Especially not Scorpius Malfoy.
Scorpius didn't miss the hurried wiping of tears though. With great difficulty he sat down next to Rose. The small hole behind the Greenhouse was for a child – maybe two. But childhood had long surpassed Scorpius and Rose.
"How did you find me?" Rose asked, her head still turned away.
"We used to come here all the time. Don't you remember?"
"How could I possibly forget?"
As young First Years they had discovered the hiding place. Positioned just behind the Greenhouse was a small pocket, perfectly sized for two eleven year olds. It had become their hideaway. Why they needed to hide their friendship was beyond both of their comprehensions. Since the War, many things had changed. Whether you were Pureblood or Muggle Born was no longer important. Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers had been able to hold a position for longer than a year. However, not even the downfall of Voldemort could rid Hogwarts of the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Rose remembered the look on her cousin's face when she told him who she'd sat with on the train. James warned her not to get too friendly with the Slytherin.
"He's bad news I tell you. Your dad and his dad were sworn enemies at school." James told her this thinking he would scare her off. Rose wasn't even slightly fazed though and continued to see the boy regularly.
"Do you remember hiding notes behind that loose rock?" Rose asked, nodding in the direction of the rock in question. Scorpius nodded.
"Oh, to be innocent," he remarked. "Lots of things have changed since then."
Rose turned to face him for the first time. Scorpius couldn't help noticing how much she really had changed. She was no longer the freckled girl with childish pigtails. Her auburn hair had grown long and skin tanned from spending too long in the sun. The most amazing change was something Scorpius couldn't pinpoint to an exact feature. Over the years Rose had shed her childlike happiness, and replaced it with an air of maturity.
"Of all the things that have happened, I regret losing you as a friend the most."
"It was for the best," Scorpius said, trying not to show how Rose's comment affected him. Truthfully, he felt exactly the same. They'd thought it was the right thing to do at the time, so they agreed to part ways. As they started their Third Year they no longer met. But just because they didn't speak anymore, didn't mean he forgot. Scorpius couldn't just pretend Rose didn't exist. Not even while he watched her build a life without him.
"Why did you come, Scorpius?" Rose asked. "Of all the people to come after me I wouldn't have guessed you."
"Your friends were looking for you," Scorpius said. "I wanted to make sure you were ready to talk to them, rather than just giving away your location."
Rose buried her head in her hands. How could they possibly want to see her? After the way she had gone off at them before. She suppressed the urge to cry as the image of her screaming at Lysander in the middle of the Great Hall passed through her mind.
"It's not your fault." Scorpius seemed to read her mind. "It's NEWTs. We're all getting stressed. Your friends know that."
Rose simply grunted. She knew that no one else in their year had thrown a fit anywhere near as big as hers.
"I guess all the high expectations for you to achieve great marks can't be helping," Scorpius said, trying to prompt her to talk to him.
"I don't do well under pressure," Rose said, all her built up emotion bubbling to the surface again. "But that's all I feel at the moment. Everyone thinks I'm going to do well. It's all I hear from anyone. From my parents. From my teacher's. Even from Lysander."
"Lysander's really worried," Scorpius said, a bitter tone to his voice.
"He should've been angry, not worried," Rose mumbled, hugging her knees close to her chest.
"Lysander's too nice to get angry with you," Scorpius commented.
Rose raised an eyebrow and gave Scorpius a bemused look. In classes Scorpius had always been particularly cruel to Lysander. In fact, Rose couldn't remember Scorpius so much as mutter a good word about him.
"Don't give me that look," Scorpius said, nudging her shoulder. "As much as it pains me to admit it, that boy's good for you."
"Your cold hard Slytherin exterior is beginning to crack," Rose teased.
"Underneath I'm just a big teddy bear," he told her, his face deadly serious. "But you can't tell anyone or my reputation will be ruined."
Rose giggled, leaning her head against him. Without thinking, Scorpius wrapped his arm around shoulder. It was a mistake. He knew that as soon as he felt her tense. Scorpius wasn't ready to let her go, but lifted his arm anyway. Rose sat up a little straighter, so once again they were sitting with an inch between them.
"You have to go talk to your friends," he said. The light hearted playfulness gone.
"I know I should," Rose murmured. "I'm just embarrassed."
"You can't just stay here forever though."
Rose didn't mention that she had momentarily considered trying this. The only reason she had decided against it was because she knew eventually she would be discovered.
"You're a Gryffindor right? Aren't you supposed to be brave? A brave person would go and face their friends," Scorpius said.
"Perhaps I'm not as brave as you think I am," Rose whispered. She knew she was being a coward, but in all honesty she didn't care.
"You are," Scorpius said. He clambered out of the hole they had been sitting in. He leaned down and offered Rose his hand. "Come on."
"Okay," Rose said, more to herself then to him. She took a deep breath and then, ignoring Scorpius's hand, awkwardly got out by herself.
"People say horrible things about you," Rose said, once she was standing. "But I wish they could know the Scorpius Malfoy that was nice to me on that first trip to Hogwarts."
"How do you know I'm still that same person?" Scorpius asked, scuffing his feet along the ground. "People change you know."
"I know he's still there. Even if it's hidden beneath your bad boy shell."
"Bad boy?" Scorpius asked, smirking at her.
"You know what I mean," Rose snapped, blushing furiously.
"I hope that once we leave school we can be friends again. Once all this inter-house rivalry's behind us," she said.
Scorpius shrugged. He didn't want to get either of their hopes up. Even out of Hogwarts, they ran in different circles.
"I mean it," Rose insisted, grabbing his hand.
Scorpius knew he should have pulled away. But he couldn't help noticing how it felt having her fingers intertwined with his. How right it felt to be holding her hand.
"We used to be best friends. Why can't we go back to the way things were? Sitting here talking to you, I feel like we've gone back in time. I've been more honest with you than I've been with anyone in a long time." Rose stared up at him. Hazel eyes filled with glimmering hope.
"It's not that simple. Our parents would ne-"
"Don't talk about our parents," Rose said angrily, pulling her hand away from his so she could throw them in the air in frustration. "This is our lives not theirs."
"Despite what you think, you don't know me that well. I'm not that kid from the train Rose." Scorpius voice rose slightly. Not quite yelling, but loud enough to startle Rose. "We're not meant to be friends."
Hurt fell across Rose's face. Scorpius looked away. He felt an urge to apologise to her, but he fought it. It's for the best, he told himself.
"I don't know who you're trying to please with this malicious act you put on. But I know there is a kind side to you, even if you refuse to show it to anyone. I hope for your sake you let people see it one day."
Rose looked like she wanted to say more, but the anger took over. She stormed back towards the castle, leaving behind her childhood friend.
Scorpius watched as she walked away from him. There was part of him that wished for her to turn around, the same part that was urging him to run after her. It was only when she had finally disappeared from his view that he turned around.
Scorpius walked over to their old secret hideaway. He smiled as the memories rushed back to him. Leaning inside, he wriggled free the stone that was their secret compartment. Wedged in the small gap, was a folded up piece of parchment.
A great weight lifted off his chest as he saw it there. Was he happy it was still there? He couldn't tell. He pulled it out, the small note weighing a ton in his hand. Scorpius had memorised what the note said. The declaration of love and all the cheesy metaphors that went with it. He'd put it there when he was thirteen, hoping that a certain Weasley would find it. At the time he had been certain she would. Now he knew he had dreamed himself up a fairytale. An unrealistic, never going to happen, fantasy.
Pointing his wand at it, he muttered the spell. A hand clenched around his heart as his secret fell to the ground as a pile of ash.