Story Notes:

DISCLAIMER: I'm not JK Rowling! Nothing you see here belongs to me!

Also, I'd like to thank WrenWinterSong/Wren for her fabulous beta work, and xxbabewithbrainsxx/Soraya for looking through the fic to help me with lowering the rating for this. Thank you! :D

This fic is a sequel to my ScoRose one-shot, 'His Hero'. I'd advise reading that before you get to this, but this can be read independently too. :)

This fic, like its prequel, is for the fabulous Nadia/lairyfight, who is the best sister ever! :D *hugssss*

Author's Chapter Notes:

Hello! Welcome to my brand-new WIP!

So I got carried away, and the first chapter is mainly just ScoRose (gosh, I ship them so hard, it hurts), but I do have to, and will start the Scortoire next chapter onwards. Maybe writing Scorpius and Victoire properly will actually make me like them more. :)

Chapter 1: Falling Apart

Tap tap tap.

Scorpius Malfoy ignored the owl's raps on the window pane as he brushed his teeth at the sink. Rose was pottering about the kitchen, making toast, and he knew she'd get to the owl. He wasn't bothered until it kept tapping at the window for the next few seconds, seemingly rather impatient.

"All right, all right, I'm coming," he heard Rose say as he spat out the frothy toothpaste goo. He rinsed his mouth and was washing his face just as he heard the bathroom door open. Rose entered the bathroom in a robe, and Scorpius smiled at her through the mirror. She returned it, but her smile was rather hurried as she faced her back to him and made to take off her robe.

"What was in the mail?" he asked her, turning around and watching the robe come off and reveal a bare, freckled body with only her pants to cover a really small part of it.

"It's my patient," she muttered, undoing the bun that her hair was in and offering no further explanation as to why a patient was writing to her. These kinds of short, one-sided conversations had been going on between them for weeks. To make matters worse, sex was scarce nowadays. The last time they'd so much as shared a proper kiss was two weeks ago.

Scorpius knew that all this had a lot to do with the fact that they were both busy Healers, but he didn't know how to sort this out. True, he hated his profession; he blamed it for his divorce and the death of his first-born, but if it weren't for this profession and his frustration towards it, which had almost led him to kill a patient one day, he wouldn't have met Rose, who was a psychiatric Healer. He had been irritated with her in the beginning, but then he started confiding in her. Soon, Rose started feeling like a friend; she seemed to understand him, she was intelligent, and really pretty too, and Scorpius found himself starting to get attracted to her.

One evening, Scorpius, who was really angered by his ex-wife, Millie, got drunk, and Rose ran into him at the pub. Looking at his distress, she tried to talk to him in his room, and he, in his drunkenness, had fired her from being his Healer and kissed her. After that, the emotions came out - the true emotions behind the death of his daughter, Amber, and how he felt about Millie divorcing him. He and Rose slept together that night, and Scorpius woke up the next morning with no regrets. The rest… well, that was all history, and here they were, a year later, in love (having said the three words to each other numerous times), and still in the very same relationship, which seemed to have lost its magic (did that happen in love?).

"Would you like to join me?" Rose asked him, gesturing towards the shower and interrupting his thoughts as she proceeded to take off her pants.

"I need to get to work early," he muttered truthfully, cursing his boss as a sensation down his navel advised him to take up her offer.

"Okay," she said, a little dejected, but completely naked now. She climbed into the bathtub, pulled up the curtains, and switched on the shower. "Your breakfast is on the table," her voice said over the sound of the water. No 'see you later' or 'I wish you didn't have to leave early'. Just something about breakfast. This relationship is only getting better and better, thought Scorpius exasperatedly.

A layer of steam seeped out through the gaps in the curtains, and Scorpius could only imagine her in there. As the area near his navel gave him another nod to get into the shower with Rose, Scorpius decided that he could afford to be a little late. What the hell; St Mungo's was filled with Healers, and a single one missing would hardly make a difference.

In a moment, Scorpius's robe was on the bathroom floor and the shower curtains had been ripped apart. He climbed into the bathtub with her, under the shower, enjoying the warm drops of water as he entwined his arms around her waist. She turned around, locking lips with his and her hands feeling his wet hair first, and then moving down his neck and his back. His finger, in the meantime, was tracing circles around her belly button… teasing her…

Malfoy! Where the fuck are you?!

Scorpius suddenly pulled away from Rose as he heard his boss's voice reverberate around the flat. It was really something that Healer Murphy could be heard clearly, even over the sound of the shower.

"Shit," said Scorpius, trying not to slip as he hurriedly grabbed a towel and skidded out of the bathroom to talk to his boss. "I didn't know that the bastard would actually care enough to Floo…"

As he wrapped the towel around himself and went ahead to talk to his boss, he wondered what was happening to the perfect relationship he had been in. First a dead child, next a broken marriage, and now a rocky relationship. Life seemed to never want to let him be happy.

Tap tap tap.

"Scorpius, get the mail, will you? The owl's been tapping at the window forever."

Scorpius looked up from his dinner and glanced at Rose, who was sat at the coffee table on the other side of the room, looking through a file. He seemed to have learned to ignore the owl's tapping at their window these days. It was always the same owl; it came twice a day, and it was an impatient thing. Rose said that it brought letters to her from a patient, but Scorpius wondered who this disturbed person was.

He put down his fork and crossed over to the window, opening it, and letting the bird in. It stuck out its leg and left as soon as Scorpius had taken the scroll. He went over to Rose and handed the letter to her. "Who's this patient?" he asked her curiously.

"Just someone who's really going through a rough time," she replied, taking it.

"Squib?"

"Werewolf."

Scorpius bit back a wave of annoyance at the short, uninterested answers. "Since when have you been allowed to take such complicated cases?" he asked her, trying to ignore the irritation.

"Well, I can't be a junior forever, can I?" she asked, not noticing any of this. For a Healer specialised in psychiatry, she didn't notice a lot of things at times.

"Lucky you," sighed Scorpius. "I don't feel I've made any progress in the last year."

"Of course you have," she muttered, reading the letter.

"Are you even listening to me?" he asked, slightly frustrated at her lack of attention.

"Mm hmm."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin, Rose!" Why did he have to be the tolerant and patient one in every fucking relationship in his life? First, he had had to run after Millie for months just to try and save their marriage, and now this with Rose.

Rose finally looked up from her letter. "What's wrong?"

He decided to talk to her about it immediately because the more he delayed it, the worse this was bound to get. He sat himself next to her, ignoring his half-eaten dinner. He wanted to sort this out right now. "What's happening to us, Rose?"

She raised her eyebrows. "What's happening to us?"

"Don't act dumb. You're smarter than I am, and you know exactly what's going on."

She sighed. "Scorpius… I-" She looked at her watch. "I need to go somewhere. Can we talk about this later?

"Where do you have to go right now?"

"I… patient… I won't be long," she said, stuffing the letter into her handbag. "See you."

Tap tap tap.

"It's that fucking owl again, Rose."

Scorpius adjusted his lime green robes and combed his blond hair in front of the mirror as Rose rushed out to get it. He sighed as he took his time to fix his hair. Things between him and Rose were just getting worse. On the particular evening when he had pointed out that they needed to talk, Rose had come back late from wherever she had gone, by which time Scorpius had already gone to bed because he was required early at the hospital. After that, Rose had always been late from work, and they'd never had a chance to talk at all. And when she was at home, her cousin, Victoire, showed up at their doorstep, crying, and the two women would disappear into the guest room for hours together.

Scorpius never bothered to ask Rose where she went, or who those letters were from. He rarely even bothered to talk much to Rose these days because he was tired of always being the one to initiate conversation when she was clearly uninterested. He also didn't care why Victoire made her appearances, and he didn't bother to find out. He decided that if Rose wanted to talk to him about it, she would. As for the sex, that was just non-existent these days. They did it once after Rose's evening take-off, but she didn't seem to enjoy it much. He gave up after that. If she felt up to it, she'd come to him herself.

All in all, the two of them were slowly falling apart.

Tap tap tap.

"I've got to go get the letter, Scorpius… oh!"

Glad that Rose was finally paying attention to him over that wretched owl, Scorpius worked his hands over her, teasing her, and thrilling her. At last, bit his lip and shut his eyes, and she gasped.

"Oh, Scorpius… oh, oh, my…"

Tap tap tap.

Ignoring the owl again, Scorpius kissed Rose's jawline, and then her neck as she panted and writhed beneath him. He moved his own body in synchronisation with hers, earning more moans of pleasure. He groaned too, beads of sweat forming on his bare back and forehead, with the passionate effort of it all. He could feel her fingernails digging into his skin. "Oh… Scorpius…"

She gasped again, her body arching slightly, and her breaths coming faster and faster…

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"Scorpius? Wake up. It's almost dinner time."

Scorpius woke up with a start and an all-too familiar feeling down his navel. The hospital had let him off early today, and he had collapsed on the bed as soon as he reached home.

Rose was standing at his bedside, and her eyes travelled to the obvious spot between his legs, her eyebrows rising at the sight there. Scorpius realised that the blanket had slipped off him at some point of his rather active dreaming and quickly pulled the comforter around him. "Er… sorry." He leaned against the headboard, the uncomfortable feeling down below still painfully apparent, and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. "Thanks for waking me up. I'll help you with dinner."

"I already made it," she said. "You seemed tired, so I didn't want to wake you."

"Thanks," he said. His arousal from the dream had receded now, but the silence was unnerving. "So… you're home tonight, are you?" he asked Rose.

She nodded. "I got let off early too."

"No kidding, how come?"

"I was taken ill at work."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What was there to tell?" she asked him. "It was nothing big anyway. I just had a fainting spell. I hadn't had anything to eat-"

"Sure, it was nothing big," he said under his breath, his temper rising. "I do hope the bloke you're doing is big."

She heard it. "Say that again?"

He looked up at her, his eyes narrowing. He didn't care anymore. This was getting ridiculous. He was pissed beyond words. He needed her to know exactly how he felt. "Well," he said acidly, "You seem to have more time for this patient of yours than you do for me."

"I've just been busy," she said.

"Yeah, with exchanging letters."

"This person needs my help, Scorpius! What do you suggest I do?"

He pulled away the comforter and sat up properly. "I suggest you counsel them thenormal way."

She put her hands on her hips. "This is normal."

"Really? You could have fooled me."

She ran her hand through her red curls. "Scorpius, don't complicate things."

"Fine!" he said, throwing up his arms. "I won't complicate anything. I'll just leave, shall I?"

Her jaw dropped. "What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me? You're the one who's been sleeping with her patient!"

"What?" Her eyes had widened. Her mouth opened and shut many times. "Where - where is that even coming from?" she whispered.

"Oh, don't act as though you don't know," he snarled. "The letters, the 'extra time at work'… and of course, your history of dating patients…"

A hand clasped her mouth and tears filled her eyes. "I can't believe you'd say that. I can't believe-"

"Yeah? Believe it, then!" he said, blinking back his own tears. "I should have known that this was a wrong step. But with all the drinking and the grief about Amber-" A tear fought all his resolve and made its way down his cheek at the memory of his daughter.

Tears were streaming down Rose's face now, falling freely and bringing down black trails of mascara with them. "What haven't I done for you?" she whispered, wiping away the tears roughly, so that they left black stains on her cheeks. "I love you! Even today, I saw that you seemed tired, and I wasn't even well-"

"I never asked you to do any of those things," said Scorpius, swiping at his own eyes, and taking deep breaths to prevent more tears from spilling out. "You don't have to do my chores for me, or go out of your way for anything! I love you too, Rose. But can't we talk? Just for a while?"

She sniffed and nodded. "Okay." She sat down next to him. "I'm not cheating on you. You have to believe me."

"Then what-?"

"I can't tell you," she said. "Healer-patient confidentiality."

"Then what's the matter with us?" he asked her. "What's going wrong here?"

She hesitated and bit her lip. "I'm not sure. I feel like this relationship-" The doorbell rang suddenly, interrupting her mid-sentence. She stood up. "Got to get that."

"Don't kid me, Rose, we're in the middle of a fucking talk."

"But it's Vic-"

"Fine," he said, not letting her finish the sentence. He stood up too. "Fine."

Her eyes widened as she read the expression on his face. "Scorpius…"

"You know what?" he said. "You can go talk to Victoire. You can go talk to that other patient of yours too; maybe sleep with him like you did me, if that's not already happening-"

"That's not fair!"

"Nothing is," he retorted. "But I'm done here. I'm leaving."

She broke down. "Please, Scorpius… we'll t-talk…"

"I'm sorry," he said, "but your priorities are clear to me." He went over to his wardrobe and pulled out a robe. "I'll be gone in the morning. Your cousin doesn't need to see any of this."

She didn't argue, and he grit his teeth against the next wave of tears. Why couldn't she fucking argue? Why couldn't she say, that they could start fresh? Why was she just standing there, crying, and saying nothing? He loved her, for fuck's sake, and she said she did too. Wasn't this worth fighting for?

The doorbell rang again, and Rose wiped away her tears, sniffing slowly and still looking at him. She stood there for an unsure moment but before she could leave the room to get it, Scorpius had walked out. "Good, I'll answer the door, and leave straight from there," he muttered, and she heard it.

"Scorpius!" she came after him, following him, but he didn't stop. "Scorpius, please!"

She followed him to the living room and halted behind him as he reached the door and opened it. A beautiful blond woman stood outside, her face streaked with tears. "Is Rose here?" Victoire Lupin asked Scorpius, and despite his anger, he realised that this was the first time he had seen her up close, and that she was gorgeous.

"Vic?" Rose called out from behind Scorpius. She had managed to magic away the stains of her own tears and mascara, and she gasped when she saw Victoire's tears. "What's wrong?"

"I-I think we're getting a d-divorce," replied the other woman, breaking down and rushing over to Rose, who enclosed her in a hug. Rose looked up at Scorpius and then looked away.

"It's going to be okay, Vic. Teddy won't-"

"He will," replied Victoire. "It's not okay… I don't know what to do!"

"Well," said Scorpius, before Rose could reply, "what you could do, Vic, would be to not cheat on your husband and talk to him about your problem, rather than avoiding it. Am I right, Rose?"

Rose's lips quivered as Victoire turned slowly to Scorpius. He shrugged. "Oh, I forgot. This is Rose's job. She has time for this, apparently, even on the days that she's ill." Victoire was still looking at him with shock in her stunning eyes.

"I should leave," Scorpius shrugged. "That's what Rose wants anyway."

Not looking back at the two women, Scorpius left the flat, seating himself on the stairs outside and burying his face in his hands. If Rose claimed to love him but couldn't even attempt to salvage what they had, there was no use for him to try. It was very evident that he loved Rose more than she loved him, and it was time to quit. He, Scorpius Malfoy, was giving up on his relationship.

"What's wrong with him?" he heard Victoire ask Rose concernedly. "Everything okay between you two?"

"No," Rose replied, her voice thick. "I think we may have just broken-up."

Rose had given up on them too. It was over.

Chapter End Notes:

So, what do you think? Reviews are love! :D

Oh, and I did write some Scortoire in chapter 2. They'll work, but ScoRose is love. I wish I could claim Rose, but she disappeared in the beginning of the challenge. :(