In the bowels of the school, in the middle of the winter, a year ago or so, Dark things had began to rise from their summer hibernation. They needed to save their strength. The sun would take too much energy to fight, and there was no one there in the summer, but that's beside the point. The evil rose within the pipes of the school and slithered up between bricks and mortar, looking for someone to suck on and take over. The evil smelled of mold, and would climb and slither within the school. They flourished in the Slytherin common room, where it was always wet and dark and dank. And the Slytherins were easy targets, their minds so susceptible to the influence of the Dark forces.

He hadn't understood what was going on until they came for him, the first night, and told him what to do. His eyes glowed red, instead of the usual brown, and he knew what he had had to do. The Darkness had to be passed.

Rose sat in a corner of the library, procrastinating. She knew she had schoolwork to do, but there were so many other things to think about, like Lily, and why she was dead, and about how Rose hadn't shagged anyone in months and she was beginning to get the itchy feeling. Rose needed someone. It was too hard to handle everything going on without the occasional – or not so occasional – shag. She closed the book she had been staring through with a snap that caused the third year Ravenclaws sitting at the next table to glare at her. Rose rolled her eyes, knowing that she could finish the essay later.

Right then, she was a girl on a mission.

"Mission: Get Laid," she whispered to herself, flicking through her mental little black book. She began to talk to herself as she left the library. "Let's see, there's Alec Thomas… no, he graduated. And so did Ashley Clerc. Oh, of course, I know. Dar! Daray Zabini, perfect. That's exactly what I need."

She picked up her pace, deciding to look for Al and snag the Marauder's Map before searching for Dar all over the school. Rose walked quickly down the corridor, turning and walking smack into Dar, bumping her head into his chin, and causing her to topple into him so that they fell backwards.

"Hey, Dar," Rose grinned sheepishly. The Slytherin smiled back at her. She had woken up a few times in his bed last year.

"How've you been, Rose? Getting along?" Dar knew how she felt, with Lily gone, because Dar missed the girl too. They had been… well, not friends. But they were housemates, at the least.

"I've been better. What were you looking for, perchance?"

"Oh, just wandering." The boy drove his dark blue eyes straight through her, giving Rose a tingling sensation. "How about you?" he asked.

"Mmm," she said, biting on her lower lip. "I was going to go to the kitchens. You see, I'm absolutely famished." Rose rolled her shoulders back, groaning a little bit. It was pathetic, she knew, but she needed to be fucked hard and dirty at that moment. There were too many other things going on, and she didn't want romance. She wanted to forget.

Catching onto her game, Dar took a step towards her. "That works out perfectly." He took another step, backing her into a wall, and trapping her there with his arms on either side. "I've got quite an appetite myself," he growled, lowering his lips to hers. His mouth was strong and warm and forceful, and it made Rose feel safe, or at least safer than she had been able to feel for a long time.

Her stomach clenched, needing him more. Rose was like an addict. Once she got the first taste, she couldn't stop until she ran out of her substance. Unlike her cousins, she didn't have any particular liking for drugs, or alcohol, or tobacco. She enjoyed all three, but Rose Weasley preferred the salty taste of someone else's sweat to the cool pills running down her throat. She preferred someone else's teeth nipping at her waist to the dizzy feeling of too many shots. She preferred something a little larger than a cigarette in her mouth.

Dar moved his hot mouth down her neck, sucking and biting as he went. Rose gripped the back of his shirt, feeling her body strain forward to meet his, wanting him. His tongue darted out, licking underneath her shirt. He undid the first button on her blouse, dipping his head down to suck on her sensitive skin around her collarbone.

Rose tangled her hands in his hair, gripping it tight. Merlin, she had missed this.

"Do you want to, to go somewhere?" he asked, his voice hoarse from longing as he tore his head away from her chest to look her in the eye. He had missed this Rose, the one that thirsted for skin.

"Your dorm is closer," she said, biting her lip, and weaving his tie around her hand. Suddenly, she yanked his head back down towards hers. Her tongue licked around his lips, before she bit down quickly. Just a quick taste of what he's in store for, she thought with a smirk. "Come on."

Rose walked in front of him, her too-short skirt swaying and hypnotizing Dar. He shoved his hands into his pockets, trying not to think about what was about to happen.

Rose Weasley had always been the only one that could make Dar react this way. She was beautiful, and amazing, and fiery. She was full of life. She was perfect to him. He didn't love her, but he could. He so easily could, but he knew that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted this. Passion, here, there, now. Not a relationship.

Dar trotted forward a ways, catching up to Rose and draping his arm around her shoulders. She immediately tightened up, wondering what the hell he thought he was doing.

"Relax," Dar laughed. "You looked a little cold." She smiled, and they kept walking to his dorm. When they got there, they glanced around the common room, checking that no one was missing. He grabbed her hand and they raced up the stairs to his dormitory. They fell on the bed, lips crashing and hearts beating. Rose could feel her pulse double in anticipation, and her mind suddenly clear itself.

Dar lowered his mouth to Rose's neck, biting and sucking, giving her chills down her spine. She tore off his clothes and then hers. He slipped a condom on quickly and they quickly fumbled for each other. Rose tucked her head into his neck, trying not to let a tear slip down her cheek. She hated herself for doing this but she had to forget.

She had to forget Lily.

Because she was Rose Weasley, bright and alive and full of life, as much as she could wish, she couldn't become Lily.

She dug her nails into the boy's back, as he shuddered above her, his arms straining as he thrust into her. And it wasn't great but it would work because Rose was sick and tired of feeling empty and cold and the boy over her made her feel full and warm if only for a moment.

And then it was over and her tears had dried and he was asleep. She was a shadow, stealing out of the room and back to the Ravenclaw dorms, back to Scorpius, the only one who knew how she loved Lily and how she was jealous of her.

Scorpius had loved Lily, and had wanted her more than anything from the depths of his heart. Rose had loved her, sure, she always would. But more than anything, she wanted to be Lily. To become her, in the truest sense of the word.

Sure, Rose seemed happy being herself. The secret, though, that she hadn't been able to admit to anyone but Scorpius, lingered in her head as she ghosted down the empty corridors, not even caring what time it was. She didn't even know, at that point.

She had been jealous of Lily, and Dom, too, to some extent. They had become beautiful, and even if Dom did sink into herself, she had turned into the most beautiful ghost Rose had ever seen. And Lily was beautiful and popular and Scorpius loved her and Rose wanted someone like Scorpius to love her like that.

Because he was perfect and kind and sweet and the least messed-up person that she had ever met.

And to some extent, maybe Rose was in love with Scorpius. But not like Scorpius was in love with Lily.

Rose had once, only once, dreamed about Scorpius. And, as we know, Rose's dreams mean more to her than the average flower. They were walking along a beach, her in a long black dress, almost the twin of the one she wore to Lily's funeral, him in a suit. And they weren't talking, or touching, and Rose didn't even think Scorpius could see her. She tried to move her hands to grab for him, but all she could do was keep walking beside him, trying in vain to get her muscles to move toward him, to hold him close, to comfort him, for she could see the tears rolling down his face as he walked along the beach, looking out toward the fog that surrounded him.

"Scorpius," she tried to say, wanting him to see her. But his tears only rolled faster, bigger, and longer, down his suit and down the slope of the beach, into the sea. His tears started running, and his form started melting away.

He became two long tracks of tears running into the ocean.

"SCORPIUS!" she had screamed, wanting to throw herself into the ocean, to hold him close.

And then, she jerked awake, feeling the tears running down her own face.

xxSarah

PS I'll be posting other things soon, read them if you want? They're not like this at all. There's one next gen, and some Jily (my OTP, thank you very much)

Also much love to any and all reviewers from the last chapter!