14/11/10: I have the next chapter pretty much written out in its entirety, so check back **next Saturday** for the next one!


I hated him. I positively loathed him! What the hell was he playing at? I stomped into the Head's common room, growling the password at the portrait and almost cursing her head off when she took the absurdly long time of five seconds to swing open. Really, I will positively kill him if he ever crosses my path again! Stupid, womanizing, smug, arrogant, insulting-

"-Fucking unreliable, shite Head Boy," I finished aloud once I was sure no innocent first years could overhear me. I continued to mutter obscenities under my breath as I walked to my favourite armchair in the common room and plopped my bag down on the floor.

"Rose!" I heard a male voice say in a surprised voice as I stopped to breathe.

I whirled around to see the object of my mental/vocal rant looking at me from the other armchair across from my chosen seat, his eyes wide with astonishment as he took in my presence.

"What the hell?" I asked in a flat voice, eyebrows flying up to my hairline as I realized who I had intruded upon.

"Er, Rose, what are you doing here?" asked Scorpius tentatively, shutting his book and looking at me warily. However, his gaze seemed slightly reproachful.

Whatever. He so what if he heard me cursing him within an inch of his life? He deserved it anyway. "I have a free period," I explained shortly.

Scorpius had the gall to roll his eyes at me. "Yes I know that, but what are you doing here? Why aren't you in the library?"

"It was too noisy," I said irritably.

"The library?" He smiled, but I sensed that the humour in his voice didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yes, the library, you git," I snapped angrily, "Everyone was whispering, and giggling, and it started to annoy the shit out of me so I left."

He nodded slowly.

"Hey, Malfoy, I might ask you the same thing," I said suddenly, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "What are you doing here? And, more importantly, what kind of near fatal injury did you sustain that you couldn't make it to our scheduled meeting last night in this very location?" I asked, my voice rising in volume, "Because unless you were wandless and held captive by the merpeople at the bottom of the Great Lake, I see no possible reason why it would be remotely acceptable for you to skive off our meeting!"

"Er, about that..."

"Go on," I said sarcastically, "Wow me with your fabulous story. I'm waiting and my time is limited. Chop, chop."

"Rose, look, I was-" he broke off, frowning slightly.

I pinched the bridge of my nose with my forefingers. "You were with a bird last night, weren't you?" I muttered.

"So what if I was?" Scorpius exclaimed boldly. "It's never bothered you before."

I looked up at him, shock written all over my features. "You blew me off for a snogging session?" I asked incredulously.

He didn't answer, preferring to glare at me with his steely grey eyes.

"Malfoy, look here, you can't go gallivanting off with your girlfriend-of-the week every time you feel like it!" I exclaimed.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Please, Rose. Spare me the boring lecture. I am a ponce, you are an anal rule Nazi; I get it."

"Clearly you do not!" I shouted, "If you did, then we wouldn't be having this very conversation, would we?" I finished in a superior tone, crossing my arms over chest triumphantly.

He narrowed his eyes. "I said I understood what you were saying, not that I agree with it by any means."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because it is ridiculous."

"It is perfectly reasonable!"

"Yeah sure, for someone like you who doesn't have someone to snog. As for me, on the other hand, I need certain," he paused as if searching for the right word, "intimacies on a regular basis." He smirked at me.

"I-I well, I," I started, totally at a loss as to where I was trying to get with my poorly formed sentence.

"Exactly, Weasley," Scorpius pronounced gloatingly over my stutters, "You have no room to comment as you have no experience in that area whatsoever."

"I have plenty-" I started angrily, but Scorpius cut me off.

"Please, if you're talking about that bloke you met over the holidays, then you are just grasping at quills, Weasley."

"What?" I asked in a completely different tone, entirely bewildered as to what he was talking about.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "That bloke you fancy. I ran into Natalie last night and she went on and on about your newfound fucking romance."

"The bloke I fancy," I repeated in a flat voice. I had a strange desire to laugh, which I quickly quelled. Scorpius Malfoy was talking about himself and he didn't even know it.

The fanciable idiot.

"Oh I know all about you're 'pining' and how you're 'head over heels' for this mysterious bloke." He broke off into a bout of harsh laughter, and I could see outright scorn in his eyes. "Believe me, I'd never thought see the day when Rose Weasley would fall in love," he practically spat the word. "But apparently she has. Congratulations." He smiled at me, but it was twisted and filled with something that looked suspiciously like hate.

I responded in kind. "Why, because it is such a foreign emotion to a cold-hearted bastard such as yourself?" I asked spitefully, raising my eyebrows dubiously.

Merlin, why did I ever imagine that he would change? Forget it, he probably saw me as weak for succumbing to such a human emotion as love. I was delusional. He would never see fit to descend to my level. How could I ever have hoped for that?

Scorpius breathed in sharply. "Shut up, Rose. You have no idea what you're talking about," he said after a moment without looking at me.

That stung. Well, I did insult him first, after all. I supposed I deserved it.

"Anyway, as I was saying," he continued, "your whole holiday love affair does not carry any weight in our argument because you don't see him on a regular basis."

Ha!

"-However, I see Jade every day, and so you cannot possibly know about what I feel for her."

"Horny?" I cut in scornfully.

Scorpius scowled and said deliberately, "Be that as it may, you have no right."

"I can't believe you!" I said loudly, eyes widening in disbelief.

"What is the big deal, anyway?" Scorpius asked, rolling his eyes. "It isn't as if this hasn't happened before. You are overreacting."

"The big deal?" I all but shrieked. "The big deal is that you never follow through! I had some expectations when we started this together, and so far you've broken every single one of them! I thought you were reliable, I thought you were trustworthy... I didn't think you could ditch me and just stand there like nothing happened!" By now I had lost all control over my temper and was just barely censoring all the words I wanted to scream at him. Words that, my I just say, had nothing to do with Head Duties.

Scorpius snorted. "Merlin, Rose, you're one to talk about broken promises."

I was stunned. "What the hell are you on about, Malfoy?" I demanded heatedly.

"You are the one who-" he broke off suddenly, and he gave his head a little shake as if trying to dismiss something from his thoughts.

"What?" I asked after he remained silent for a moment.

"Look, it's nothing Wealsey," he said, running a hand through his smooth blond hair. "Point is, keep your bloody uptight blather to yourself, alright?" Scorpius gave me a scathing look before turning around to leave.

"No it is not alright!" I said loudly, grabbing his wrist to keep him from leaving. "What the fuck, Malfoy," I swore. "McGonagall wants both of us to do reports. She'll get suspicious if it's my handwriting all over the parchment. Maybe I could help you with Jade, work something out between you two-"

"Look, Rose," said Scorpius, an expression of complete revulsion marring his handsome face, "I don't need your help. I don't want your help."

"But-" I said, all anger leaving my voice at once as soon as I realized what he was saying.

"No, Wealsey," he said firmly, straightening imperceptibly and jerking his hand out of my grasp, "I'm so sick and tired of you sticking your freckled nose where it doesn't belong. I know you're as smart as hell, but is it actually impossible for you to mind your own business for once?"

For a moment, I was struck dumb. I stared into his dark grey eyes, now narrowed in intense dislike, and I saw no contradiction to his words. No contradiction to my deepest fears.

I blinked and looked away. "No, not impossible," I muttered, blushing a bright red from shame. So he didn't want me in his life; he didn't want my company; he didn't want to be friends.

He didn't want... me.

"Will you try it sometime then?" he asked coldly. "I cannot stand it when you pretend that you know my relationships better than I do. Frankly it's a bit insulting that you underestimate my intelligence to such a degree."

I nodded mutely, wordlessly trying to gather my bearings. How in the world had our conversation turned into this? What went wrong?

"If-if that's want, then fine." I paused. "But know, Malfoy," I said, gaining more momentum as spoke, "That I never meant any harm, and you never gave any indication that you disliked my advice. I know I am not perfect; have many bad qualities, as you so often illustrate," I scowled, "to the general amusement of the surrounding populace, but I had hoped the elitist in you could look beyond that. I guess I was wrong. I will never be perfect, but just know I did my best to be a good friend to you. Apparently it was entirely a waste of my time, and I'll be sure to not make the same mistake twice."

Scorpius didn't respond, instead he continued to gaze at me. I stared back, defiant. In the moment of silence between us, I sensed something lurking beyond his cool grey eyes. He seemed almost conflicted, but I couldn't dwell. My confidence was fading fast, and I knew that once my temper exhausted itself, I'd be all weepy and emotional. And nobody wanted that.

Neither of us broke the silence for a solid minute after my speech. "I think we're finished here," I concluded finally, a queer, empty feeling in my chest as I recited the same words I had said countless times before. "Don't worry, I'll take care of all the paperwork, I hope you had fun with her."

I swiftly walked the two steps to where I had dropped my belongings, and silently marched out of the common room with my head held high, trying to maintain some semblance of my dignity as I exited the portrait hole.

It didn't last long. I had barely put ten paces between myself and him before the tears started making their way down my cheeks. I swiped them away angrily as I made my way across the Charms Corridor to the staircase leading to the seventh floor. Thankfully most people were still in lessons, so I ran into very few people I knew. I quickly muttered the password to the concerned looking Fat Lady, crossed the common room, and sprinted up the girl's dormitories. I pushed open the door, drew the hangings closed and sat down on my bed, blankly staring out into space.

I remained there for a while, just sitting there on my four poster in the empty dormitory. It was nice and quiet, a world apart from the heated atmosphere I left in the Head's common room.

For the first time that day, my thoughts were not occupied by our one time snog.

No, instead they circled endlessly around our first real fight in four long years.

I flopped myself down on my bed, kicking off my shoes and untying my hair so that it cushioned my head in a voluminous red cloud of curls.

No matter how many times I replayed over the scene in my head, reconciliation looked like a more and more elusive prospect. I mean, I knew there was no way I could ever act normally around him, but I had still hoped that everything would have gone on as usual, what with his inherent male obtuseness that seemed to blind him to what a girl was usually thinking.

No, my glorious plan blew up spectacularly in my face in record time.

Bravo, Rose, you have singlehandedly destroyed the one relationship you value most, I thought disgustedly, the tears slipping down the corners of my eyes to fall over my ears and down into my hair. Even James Potter probably never messed up this bad.

"Shite," I cursed aloud as a new thought came to me. What was the middle Potter going to say? Undoubtedly Al would see our split as a challenge to make us back into one big happy family again. And of course, as Scorpius would say, no Gryffindor ever backs down from a challenge, no matter how stupid and/or pointless the cause – in fact, the stupider the better, Scorpius would add before dodging Al's pointy elbow, hell bent on attacking his ribs.

Ha, Al, I thought sourly, I don't think that any amount of spellotape or permanent sticking charms can help us now.

I don't need your help. The command echoed around my head, repeating over and over with the appalling combination of scorn and condescension in a tone that only Scorpius could deliver. One that I hadn't heard in nearly four years.

I don't need your help.

Okay then, I could give him exactly what he asked for. I mean, what was I supposed to do, annoy him even more? No, the best route would be to follow his instructions and avoid him at all costs. I would not go out of my way to give him advice; I would not go out of my way to talk to him; in fact, I would not even acknowledge his existence.

I turned over on my stomach and suddenly felt a small sharp prick right below my neck. I propped myself up onto my elbows and reached an idle hand up to feel my new emerald necklace. Fingering it gently, I was suddenly struck by everything.

And I mean everything.

The boy I fancied hated me. He positively loathed me. Abruptly the image of Scorpius with his expression of disgust flashed through my mind, and I felt a fresh wave of tears well up. I gave a small sniffle as I tried vainly to keep them in.

Merlin! I was going to die alone. All alone and probably with a million cats.

Damn my cat allergies! What did that matter; I'm pretty sure that my overdeveloped sense of poetic irony would override my practical side any day. My future was beginning to look very grim indeed.

Blame my mother and her secret stash of crappy Muggle romance novels.

Still the matter still stood that I was facing a life of eternal loneliness and itchy eyes. Really, right now it seemed just like hell only with hairballs and kitty litter.

Did that not sound like eternal torment? I think it did.

I continued to fiddle with my necklace, twisting it this way and that.

What right did Scorpius have to say all those things to me anyway? Abruptly a surge of righteous anger coursed through my veins. It was his entire fault anyway, him and his too-good-to-be true snogs. Got a girl expecting radical, impossible things. This whole emotional meltdown of mine was entirely his fault. I mean, wasn't it Scorpius who led me on? He never pulled away; he never said a word of protest while we were snogging. How was I supposed to react? Just pretend that nothing happened, like he clearly could?

It plainly baffled me. How could he possibly act like everything was normal?

Because that sort of thing was normal for him, I instantly answered my question. My heard stopped in my chest. He snogged girls all the time. How could I ever have deluded myself that I was anything special to him?

Damn him.

I tugged at the necklace that Scorpius had given me, jerking it so hard that the clasp broke, and in a fit of anger, threw it across the room.

As I sat there on my bed, staring at the space where the jewellery had fallen, all of my fury seemed to drain from me.

I was being ridiculous and childish, what so often happens when I get too emotional. Okay, so my heart was broken, what right did that give me to throw things across the room?

Blinking away the last of my tears, I slowly got up from my bed and bent down to pick the silver chain back up. I held it at eye level and inspected it closely.

The clasp was definitely broken. I whipped out my wand and muttered, "Reparo," watching as the chain mended itself. I moved to reattach it on my neck, and then stopped halfway.

Was it appropriate for me to wear his present when we were no longer friends?

I couldn't help thinking that he wouldn't appreciate my parading of gifts around the castle. Of course he would never openly call me out, but I'm sure that he would not be pleased. The worst he could do would be to glare at me as I had seen him do so often to his ex-girlfriends who continued to wear his old scarf or Slytherin sweater that she stole while they were still together. Still, I thought wryly, his eyes were certainly cutting when he wanted them to be. They were enough to rip my heart to shreds, after all.

On second thought, maybe I wouldn't wear it. I lowered my hands, and stared at the necklace. It winked back at me in the torchlight, green and glittery.

Oh sod it all, I could wear anything I pleased. I was Rose Wealsey, Head Girl and top of her class. Who was I to be scared of Scorpius Malfoy?

For the second time, I raised the necklace and then lowered it. It still didn't feel right.

Suddenly an idea came to me. I pointed my wand at my necklace for a second time and cast an elongating charm. I smiled slightly as the chain grew in front of my eyes. I lifted the charm once I was satisfied with the length, and finally fastened the necklace where it belonged. The emerald pendant slipped underneath my school sweater and oxford shirt and out of sight.

What Scorpius didn't know couldn't hurt him, after all.

I walked back to my bed, pleased, and resumed my musings. My sighed as I remembered how well things were going just a few days ago.

What was that he told me?

Suddenly my mind was called back to that scene at my kitchen table, that moment two weeks ago that now seemed ages gone.

His eyes were happy, I remembered with a twinge of nostalgia. "It's not like I'll be chucking you before Valentine's Day," he had teased.

Well, it looked like he had spoken a month too soon, hadn't he?


A/N: A couple of people have been saying that they're confused as to what the hell Scorpius is thinking while he acts like a total idiot concerning Rose. Most people are loving my Scorpius but hate his actions and constantly criticise him for it, so I was thinking about writing this whole story from his perspective. Of course I'd write it after Compliments was finished as to not spoil anything.

Would any of your readers read it? Please reply!