Author's note: This is a comparatively shorter chapter, but hope you like it. :)

Disclaimer: The following story is not intended for profit. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, period.


Neime snapped open his eyes and turned around in his bed. After laying still for a while, he sat up, stretching his arms and yawning widely. Outside, the sun was slowly rising up , the rays of light creeping into the room, causing the rest of the boys to tuck in even deeper into their bed covers. Neime, instead of going back to sleep, got out of his bed and left to get ready.
He had acquired the new habit of waking up early after the fight with Scorpius, since he couldn't bear to be in the same room with him for more than five minutes. Once ready, he pocketed his wand and made his way out of the dormitory.

When he reached the Great Hall, he saw that there were only a handful of students in there, most of them Quidditch players, having gotten up early to practice. He went over and sat down at his table, taking a bowl of porridge and eating heartily.

As he sat there eating, he could see some of the Gryffindors eying him skeptically. Upon looking closely he saw that one of them was Rose's younger brother. He knew Rose's family was more averted to him than Scorpius, with whom they were good friends. Although he had gotten along pretty well with James and Albus , he thought he felt a marked indifference towards him since he went out with Rose.

As he took a sip of his juice, he felt a person taking a seat next to him.

"Hey handsome," he heard a suave voice calling out.

He turned around to see who it was and found Armene Parkinson smiling at him.

"Oh. Hey Armene," he said sleepily.

"How come you're up so early?" she asked while pouring milk into her cereal.

"No particular reason," he said shrugging, taking another swig from his goblet.

"Its Scorpius isn't it? I heard what happened. Sorry to hear about that," she said looking at him sympathetically.

Neime didn't say anything but dug deeper into his pudding.

Armene, after studying him carefully, went on while pouring pumpkin juice into her goblet. "In my opinion, it was stupid of you both to fight over a girl. You guys have known each other for over ten years, and now aren't even speaking to each other anymore. All because of a girl," she spoke the last few words with a distinctive contempt.

Neime was starting to get annoyed by Armene's ramblings and was about to get up and leave when she said.

"Whats kills me though is how Rose is playing you both, mercilessly,"

"What?" snapped Neime almost knocking down his goblet as he turned around.

"I know I shouldn't be saying this. But when I see how you're being used, it just kills me," Armene said, faking a worried look.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Neime, his heart beating slightly faster.

"Yesterday when I was using the girl's bathroom, I heard two girls come in and start talking about you and Scorpius. Upon hearing their voices, I realized that it was Rose and her friend Anna. I heard Rose say that she never intended to ask you out. Apparently, she has feelings for Scorpius,"

Neime couldn't make sense of what he just heard and asked "What do you mean she never intended to ask me out,"

"I don't know, but thats what I heard. But its obvious what she's trying to do, isn't it ? I mean why else would you ask someone out if you're interested in their best friend. To make Scorpius jealous of course. Its a trick we girls often employ to get the guy we want,"

Neime couldn't believe what he was hearing. He comforted himself with the belief that Rose wouldn't do such a thing.

"I know you don't believe me. If you have any doubts, why don't you ask her yourself. Ask her whether she has feelings for Scorpius and see how she reacts,"

Neime clenched his fists. The anger he hadn't felt since the fight with Scorpius, returned, causing him to look like a bomb about to explode.

Neime got up from his seat and left to find Rose. Armene meanwhile smiled lazily, as she played around with her porridge. I'm so good at being bad, she thought to herself while chuckling.


Rose for the first time in her life, was failing to pay attention to Professor Mcgonagall. She was still going over what Anna had said and felt extremely guilty for being the cause of Neime and Scorpius's rift. Before she knew it, the class ended and she joined the group of students piling out of the classroom.
Rose in the middle of her musings, almost ran into a boy who was much taller than she was. Upon looking up, her heart sank as she saw Neime Zabini standing in front of her.

"Neime.." she said started. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a weak smile.

"I need to speak with you urgently," he said as Rose's smile faltered. She noticed how he wasn't smiling and instead looked grave.

"Okay," she said as they moved to a more lonely part of the corridor.

"Is it true that you have feelings for Scorpius?" he asked at once.

Rose felt her heart drop into her stomach as she processed what she just heard.

"Who told you?" she started, looking shocked.

"Never mind how I found out. Is it true?" he asked once again, his face swollen up due to the rage he was feeling.

Rose realized, the moment to be honest with Neime had finally come and it took her all her might to speak the next few words.

"Well yes I do, but..."

"What? You liked Scorpius? Then why the hell did you ask me out?" he yelled before Rose could finish her sentence.

"Neime, please just listen to me.."

"All along you kept playing me like a puppet. And I fought with my best friend! I broke off thirteen years of our friendship, all because of you and now I find out it was all a sick ploy to make Scorpius jealous?"

Rose stood terrified unable to reply, her eyes widening as she heard how he had interpreted the whole ordeal.

Neime had shouted so loud that he had to stop talking to calm himself down. Rose took this opportunity to defend herself.

"Neime. I swear I didn't play you," she said pleadingly. "Its true I like Scorpius. The day I came to your common room, I was planning to tell him how I felt. But when I thought of our families, of how difficult it was all going to be, I chickened out,"

"Yes, I did ask you out by accident. I never even wanted to go out with you. But every thing I said during that date was true. You have no idea how much I enjoyed it. I was going to tell you the truth by the end of it, but I really liked you and I couldn't get myself to hurt yo," she finished, tears welling up in her eyes.

Neime listened to her intently and felt sorry for making her cry. But he was still doubtful about what she said.

Rose recognized the doubt that was still lingering in Neime's eyes, which is why she continued speaking

"I know Scorpius likes me," she said, at which point Neime looked up at her in surprise.

"I heard him tell Armene the day before I asked you out. Why would I try to make someone jealous if I know he already likes me?" she asked earnestly.

Neime realized what she said did make sense. And he had known Rose long enough to know, she wouldn't stoop to such low standards.

They stood in silence for what seemed like ages before Neime said "So what are you planning to do now?" he asked in a much lower voice.

"I don't know," she replied, feeling despondent.

"So when were you planning on telling me this?" he asked.

"After the holidays," she said looking down at the floor.

"So you were planning on going out with me this Saturday, all the while harboring feelings for my best friend? Sorry, let me correct that, 'Ex best friend'? " he said, flaring up again.

Rose couldn't do anything but stare down at the floor. She had never been so ashamed of herself.

After a long interval of silence Neime resumed speaking

"You know what you have to do. Its either me or Scorpius," Neime said curtly and started walking away. He stopped midway and turned around before adding. "And I think it'll be better if we didn't see each other until then," he said desolately.

Rose, still staring down at the floor, heard Neime's footsteps retreating. She knew it all came down to a choice. A choice, which would inevitably leave one of them hurt.


"Rosie dear. Are you in there ?" she heard her mother call.
"Yes Mom." she answered and soon her mother got into the room placing down the laundry on one of her tables.

"Are you alright honey? You've been up here, all day. Your Grandma and Granddad have been asking for you," said Hermione carefully folding the clothes.

"Yeah I'm fine. I was just finishing up this book. The exams are only a month away," she replied seriously.

Hermione noticed that her daughter was looking quite sullen. She moved closer to her and sat down on her bed.

"Are you sure you're okay, Rosie. Anything troubling you at school?" she asked concerned.

"No Mom. I'm fine," she replied wearily.

Hermione eyed her doubtfully for a while, before getting up.

"Well alright. Just remember that I'm here for you, in case you need someone to talk to,"

As Hermione got up to to leave, Rose called out to her.

"Mom, would you mind giving your advice on something?" she asked nervously.

"Sure. What is it honey?" she enquired sitting down on her bed once again.

"You remember Anna, my best friend?"

"Sure I do. Quite a charming girl," said Hermione smiling.

"Well she's sort of in a predicament," said Rose putting down her book and turning around to face her mother.

"She likes this guy at school, whom she found out, likes her too. But he's quite shy about displaying his affections and hasn't told her how he feels. So she took it upon herself to tell him she feels the same way. But kind of freaked out at the last moment,"

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"Because of their families. See, the boy is a pureblood Slytherin and Anna is a Muggle born," she answered.

"And what's this boy's name?" asked Hermione skeptically.

"Scorpius..Scorpius Malfoy," she said and saw that her mother was eying her suspiciously before asking her to go on.

Rose continued with her story replacing her name with Anna's and trying to sound as confident as possible while lying.

"So now Neime has given me...I mean her, a choice and she's confused and unable to make the proper one," she finished looking up at her mother expectantly.

Hermione couldn't suppress her smile. She knew from the moment Rose started, that she was the protagonist of her little story. Initially she was slightly shocked to hear that she had fallen for Malfoy's son, but having heard a lot about Scorpius from her, she was sure he wasn't anything like Draco.

"Well I guess I might be able to give your friend some advice, having been in a similar situation myself," said Hermione smugly.

"You were in a similar situation?" Rose asked surprised.

"Yes. I had feelings for your father ever since our fourth year at school and according to Harry, so did Ron. But we never told each other about it, each expecting the other to make the first move. Meanwhile I met another person who seemed quite interested in me and asked me out,"

"Who was it?" asked Rose eagerly.

"Viktor Krum." said Hermione flushing slightly.

"Whoa.. Uncle Viktor fancied you once?" she exclaimed, not being able to believe their family friend had the hots for her mother once.

"So did you agree to go out with him?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, I didn't see why I shouldn't. I kept hoping your father would ask me first. But he didn't have the courage to tell me how he felt for the next three years," she said, scowling.

"So did you like Uncle Krum?" she asked, praying her mother would say no.

"I did like him. But it was nothing serious. For me, it was always your father, " she said while smiling.

"But how did you know for sure Dad was the one?" she asked, wondering whether there was a secret spell to finding out who was the perfect partner.

"I just knew. When it comes down to it, you'll realize that its probably the easiest choice you've ever had to make. Thats how it was for me and your father," she said, gleaming.

Hermione kissed Rose on her forehead and looked at her quite affectionately. On her way out of the room she spoke in a more serious tone.

"You better tell your friend Anna, that if she gets distracted by this Scorpius/Neime business and stops paying attention to her studies, her mother is not going to be very happy about it," she said quite sternly.

Rose gulped upon seeing her mother's expression and wondered if she had done a good job at lying effectively.


" So, ready for the confession?" asked Anna, while cutting up her sausages as they sat at the table in the Great Hall.

"Anna. We've only just returned from the holidays. Would you at least let me breathe?" Rose said, exasperated.

"Well, seeing as you're not one of the bravest people in the world, I would have to keep reminding you of your task, lest you chicken out, like always," remarked Anna.

Rose scowled as she got up, gorging down her food quickly, claiming she wanted to go to the library and do a bit of reading before attending her first class.

Just as she was about to take her bag and leave, Scorpius Malfoy strode right in front of her and caught hold of her hands.

"Rose. I need to have a word with you," he said, his face deceiving the panic thundering through his body.

Rose was so taken aback by this gesture that she couldn't get herself to say a word.

Scorpius took this as an 'okay' and dragged her along with him, a thousand eyes following the two of them as they left the Great Hall.

Scorpius kept looking for an empty classroom and when he finally found one, dragged Rose into it, his mind finally prepared to let out everything he had been holding in for the past three years.


Author's note: Please, please review. I noticed that a lot of you are reading my story without commenting. As I'm an author who relies heavily on your feedback, I would request you to please tell me what you thought of it. Constructive criticism is welcome as usual.