I'm submitting this for the favorite couple scenarios/speed writing challenge on the HPFC forum. This is not a one-shot, but a collection of one-shots, so it doesn't end here! Also, don't hesitate to tell me what you think! Anyway, on with the story. :)

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I do nothing but pace on the front porch as I wait for someone to answer the door. As much as I want to act calmly, I can feel the rapid beating of my heart against my chest and the unnatural shake of my jaw. I can't remember ever feeling this nervous about anything, but I continue to remind myself that I'm here for a reason. And I am not going to leave empty-handed.

I hear muffled voices coming from inside the house, and I brace myself as the door swings open. In front of me stands Rose's mother, her hair in a tight bun and her feet in fuzzy slippers. The moment we lock eyes, she immediately begins to close the door, but I put my hand out to stop it from shutting on me. Mrs. Weasley looks behind her for a moment and then turns back to me, her face livid.

"You shouldn't be here," she hisses. Her body is wedged in the crack of the door, and she keeps looking at me and then back inside, as If she's scared about someone overhearing us.

"Please," I beg, my voice just above a whisper. "Please, I need to see her."

"No." Her tone is fierce. "Go home, Scorpius."

"Please, I have to talk to her –"

Without warning, Mrs. Weasley slams the door, forcing me to stagger backward into the metal railing that lines the porch. For a moment I stand frozen against it, my breath ragged and tangled within my throat. I have no idea what to do. A part of me wants to knock on the door again and demand to be let in, but I know that doing such a thing would be useless. Not to mention that it would make me look like a crazed stalker, and her parents already hate me enough as it is.

Aggravated, I let out a sigh and slowly begin to walk down the steps of the front porch. I suppose it was a bit stupid, coming to the place unannounced and expecting to be welcomed in like an honored guest. Alright, I didn't necessarily expect that – but I also didn't think I would have the door shut in my face. There was a time when Rose's parents liked me, or at least liked me enough to let me visit on occasion. It's strange reminiscing about those days… they feel like they happened decades ago.

I've almost reached the street when I hear the door of the house open again. My fists clench in anticipation of Mrs. Weasley coming out to yell at me, but when I turn around I see Rose emerging from the house. She's in pajama bottoms and a short-sleeved t-shirt, her arms folded tightly over her chest in the bitter October chill. I can't help but smile at the sight of her.

Rose, on the other hand, does not look happy in the slightest. She walks up to me with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, and when she speaks there is nothing but contempt in her voice.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I have half a mind to simply grin and say something childish like, "I thought you'd be overjoyed at the sight of me." But as soon as I open my mouth to speak, I see the diamond on her finger and my heart stops. In that single moment, I feel as though the air is being pushed out of my lungs and replaced with shards of ice.

"I heard about your engagement," I tell her quietly.

Rose raises an eyebrow.

"Oh?" she says in mock surprise. "Did you come here to congratulate me?"

"No. I came here to…"

I don't know what I should say. I only know what I want to say, but Rose is looking at me with so much resentment that I wonder if it would just make her angrier.

"You came here to what?" she snaps at me. "To convince me that I've made a mistake?"

"Well –"

"To try and win me back?"

"Listen, if you'd just –"

"To break my heart all over again, what?"

"TO TELL YOU I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU, OKAY?"

A long silence follows. My eyes avert to the ground, where my feet play feebly with a pebble.

"God, if you'd let me get a word in edgewise," I mutter.

"Oh, please," Rose says incredulously. "You cannot be serious."

"I am."

I slowly look back up at her, terrified of what her reaction will be. For some reason there's a scenario playing in my head of her punching me in the nose and then running back into the house, but I know better. I know how furious she is with me, and Rose has never been the kind of person to strike at someone. She rips them apart with her words.

I see her take in a deep breath of air and I instantly recoil, ready for the backlash.

"You're unbelievable," she says with a sneer. "You fucking tore my heart into pieces, and now, two years after the fact, you decide to barge in on my life and confess your love for me?"

A small laugh comes out of her mouth, but it's cold and derisive.

"Tell me, do you enjoy making my life hell, or are you just completely incapable of letting other people be happy?"

I attempt to swallow the lump that's been forming in my throat. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to want to budge. It feels like it's getting bigger by the second.

"You weren't the only one who had your heart broken and you know it," I say.

"Don't give me that," she counters. "Don't stand there and act like the victim, okay? I –" She breaks mid-sentence, and for a second it seems as if she's about to cry. "I told you that day, I told you how much I loved you. I told you how I couldn't live without you and you still left."

Seeing her upset makes me ache on the inside. All I want to do is cradle her in my arms and kiss her again. All I want to do is go back in time and change everything that happened between us.

At the moment, though, I have to settle for a pathetic apology.

"I'm sorry."

A tear rolls down her cheek and she immediately brushes it away.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" she scoffs.

I'm trying desperately to think of something to say, anything that will make her understand why I did what I did. I've had two years to come up with an explanation, and in fact on several occasions I've written out the words perfectly... but now that I'm finally here, standing in front of her, those words seem meaningless. The only thing I can think to do is set the past aside and tell her the real reason I came.

"Rosie, I care about you more than anything," I say softly. "What you're doing… getting engaged to him…"

"No."

I fall silent. Her lips are pursed as they were earlier, and now she's unfolded her arms to point her finger at me threateningly.

"Don't you dare talk about Lysander." My jaw clenches at his name. "You have absolutely no right to come here and lecture me about my love life."

"I know you better than you know yourself," I say. "You don't love him."

She folds her arms again and bites the inside of her cheek, obviously attempting to hold back some scathing remark.

"Well, maybe you do love him, but not enough to marry him."

For the first time she seems to be considering my words, but then she shakes her head as if deciding against it.

"I'm not the same person I used to be," she argues. "You don't know me and you certainly don't know him, so I suggest you keep your nose out of it."

Without warning, she turns away from me and begins walking back to the house. I smirk to myself, remembering her habit of stomping away after getting in the last word. It's a peculiar thing to miss, but after all this time of being apart, I find that I miss everything about her. I can't let her go, not ever again.

"I know you still have feelings for me," I call out. "You told me yourself, Rosie - no one has ever made your heart beat faster."

I'm not surprised when she stops in her tracks. I always know just what to say to push her buttons. She slowly looks back at me, the tiniest of smiles on her face.

"You're right, I did say that," she says coolly, "before I started dating Lysander."

I feel my face drain of color. Rose doesn't wait for a response, and instead turns on her heel to continue her way toward the house. She walks back inside, but as she's closing the door, she meets my gaze for a fraction of a second and then vanishes behind it.

Apparently I'm not the only one who knows how to push someone's buttons.