10. When Love Takes Over

Author's Note: Now, about Rose in this chapter. Yes, she is being stupid and she is extremely conflicted about her friendship-maybe-more thing with Scorpius against her old crush on Noel. She's not confident in her confrontational skills enough to tell Scorpius what James has said, so in this chapter she does what she thinks it for the best.

Chances are, you won't like this chapter much at all. xD And just a note in advance: the next one might take a while to be posted. Other than that, enjoy!

That year, the weeks leading up to Hogwarts' Christmas seemed lonely- especially for Rose. She'd completely alienated Scorpius. At first she hadn't meant to, it had just been an instinctive reaction to what James had told her, but she quickly fell into the habit of ignoring him. He made no move to approach her, and Rose couldn't quite tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was like the first time they'd fallen out: they adapted as well to enmity as they did to friendship.

Her relationship with Scorpius fell to the very back of her mind, however, when – on the day before Christmas Eve – Noel Hunter had stood outside Gryffindor Tower, requesting her to speak with him.

---

"Rose?" Leah Wood called, sticking her head around the archway into the seventh year Gryffindor girls' dormitory.

Rose, who was lounged on her bed reading Witch Weekly whilst brushing her blonde hair, looked up. "Oh, hey, Leah. What's up?"

"There's some guy outside the portrait, asking for you."

Rose blinked. "It's, like... half eleven."

"I know," Leah replied apologetically. "But he won't go away."

Hesitating for only a moment, Rose swung her legs off the bed, tossing the magazine onto her pillow. As she made her way into the common room with Leah, she wondered half-heartedly if it was Scorpius outside. She supposed he was too proud to come to her domain and beg for forgiveness after the Hogsmeade trip, though. Besides, if he'd been planning to do that, he would have done it as soon as they'd fallen out. As a second thought, she turned to her Gryffindor housemate. "Who is it?"

Leah shrugged. "I dunno; we wouldn't let him in."

"Great," Rose muttered beneath her breath, adjusting her clothes. She was still in her school uniform, sans the robes; a tight white shirt, short grey skirt and a tie. It was fine for hanging around in her dorm, but not so much for meeting mysterious strangers at night. Still, she pushed open the portrait and slipped outside, pulling it closed behind her. Out of the darkness came Noel. She smiled, relieved; a friend. In fact, their friendship had grown even closer since Rose's and Scorpius' had broken down. She spent most of her Hogsmeade trips in the library these days.

Despite her relief, she still felt uncomfortable in her school clothes.

"Hi, Rose," the older male greeted, pulling her close with one arm and enveloping her in a warm hug. Even after everything, she felt the butterflies from her old crush for him. It didn't help that this hug lasted particularly long. "How are you?"

"I'm, um, I'm great," Rose replied, nodding once she'd pulled back from the hug. "What are you doing here, anyway, asking for my presence in the middle of the night?" She chuckled. "For all you know, I could have been fast asleep in bed by now."

"Rosie Weasley, in bed before twelve? I don't think so," Noel laughed, shaking his head. "But yeah. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me. Just you and me, I mean."

Rose stood in shock for a moment at his request. It sounded like he was asking her on... a date or something. But that couldn't be right, could it? "Sure," she replied, still looking surprised to Noel's secret amusement. "When do you want to go?"

"Well, you haven't got another trip for a few weeks and I'm going to be working hard during the day pretty much every weekend, so how about we meet up in the Entrance Hall tomorrow at eleven and sneak out?" His eyes sparkled with mischief at just the thought of getting out of Hogwarts undetected.

"Sneak out? Tomorrow? It's Christmas Eve tomorrow." Rose repeated. It wasn't unusual to her, breaking the rules, but the idea of sneaking out with Noel Hunter...

"Yeah," Noel chuckled. "Don't worry, it's no big deal. It'll be fun. Everywhere will be covered in pretty lights."

"Okay," Rose agreed, watching as he disappeared into the darkness of the corridor. He was good at that, she thought. Disappearing. "No big deal."

---

It hadn't been 'no big deal' to Rose, though, when they'd had dinner at a cute little all-night place on the outskirts of Hogsmeade and Noel had told her all about his plans for the future; it hadn't been 'no big deal' to Rose when he'd put his arm around her as they walked leisurely back to Hogwarts under the light of the moon; it hadn't been 'no big deal' to Rose when he'd touched her face gently in the darkness of Gryffindor tower and kissed her on the lips. It was definitely a very big deal when he met her outside her common room the next day – Christmas day – to walk her down to breakfast, holding hands.

Somehow, overnight, Rose had gone from being somewhat miserably single to in the relationship of her dreams. Girls glared at her in envy when she walked down the corridor with Noel; even Roxanne was jealous, she could tell, though the older girl pretended not to be. The teachers noticed the couple, of course, and blatantly disapproved- but even they made no move to intervene. Noel was only eighteen, two years older than Rose, and she was sensible. They were sure that she was sensible.

So, she was in the relationship of her dreams. Why didn't it feel as amazing as she thought it would? Well, after just one Christmas morning with her library hunk of a new boyfriend, Rose had to admit that it was because of a certain blonde Ravenclaw with the blank expression and the downcast eyes. She and Scorpius still weren't speaking. If anything, it had gotten drastically worse; after they'd first fallen out, Scorpius had sent her glances and the occasional smile. Now, he wasn't even looking at her. News travelled fast, it seemed. Scorpius' absence from her life bothered her more than she liked to acknowledge, and gave her a constant clench of the stomach that she tried her very best to ignore.

The castle was awash with bright lights and colour for the Christmas holiday. The Weasleys and Potters had chosen to stay at school – much to the annoyance of all their parents – with their friends to celebrate Christmas, so Rose's morning was busy. After breakfast – a magnificent early feast – she went back up to the common room with Noel. He accompanied her and her family as they opened their presents, apologizing profusely that he hadn't bought Rose anything when she handed him a chocolate frog from her trunk that she'd wrapped in Daily Prophet before she went to bed after their date. It was odd- Rose swore that James (whom she was still cold with) was on edge the entire time that Noel was there. She supposed it was just him being protective. He'd helped her dodge a bullet with Scorpius, after all, hadn't he?

Rose's presents were a mixed pile. From Lily she received a magical makeup set with three, tiny, nail-varnish-sized bottles of love potion from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' girly section. This she rolled her eyes at. From Roxanne she received a box of blonde hair dye and some perfume. This she laughed at and assured Roxanne that, once the hair dye she currently had in had reached its limit, she was returning to her natural hair colour. From Louis and Albus she received two different Quidditch shirts; a Chudley Cannons one from Louis and a Puddlemere United one from Albus. James bought her socks. She immediately – albeit involuntarily – thought of Scorpius. The rest of her gifts faded in comparison to Hugo's, though. Hugo had, with the help of some other relative, obviously, bought her a broomstick.

And she was a stunner. Her name – Nimbus three point nought – was present in curly silver script across the broom handle, besides which there was a little custom symbol of a red rose. Rose, almost overcome with emotion, wondered how much it had cost Hugo to put such a little affectionate symbol on an already expensive racing broomstick. With nothing more than a tight hug for her brother, Rose was out of the dormitory at a run to find a place to try out her present. Screw the fact that it was slippy and wet outside; screw the fact that all her friends wanted to chat and exchange gifts; screw the fact that it was probably about to snow. The Nimbus lusted for attention; something that Rose was in no position to refuse.

As she leapt down the steps outside the Entrance Hall, Rose breathed in the crisp, cold winter air and headed towards the lake. She always loved flying above the lake- the water was so clear from the sky. Her dolly shoes – not the best footwear for flying or walking over wet terrain, she realized – crunched as she approached the shore, shielded slightly from the wind by a large tree whose branches hung low over the water. Moving the broom to her right side, Rose let go of it and watched it hover alertly in the air, waiting for her weight to settle upon it.

"So, what's your problem, then?"

The haughty voice that echoed from somewhere above her made Rose jump and she spun in circles as she looked for the source of the noise.

"Up here."

She looked up to see Scorpius sitting on one of the higher branches of the lakeside tree, all wrapped up in a black coat and boots. He was wearing his grey hat, like always. For a moment, Rose could say nothing. All she could do was stare- stare up at him in complete an utter shock. Why was he near her? Why was he looking at her, let alone talking to her? "What?" she managed to force out, the sight of him so close bringing back memories good and bad.

"What's your problem?" he shuffled on the branch and then leapt down, landing gracefully in front of her. His black boots dug into the soggy ground a little. "We don't talk anymore. Was it because of that stupid Hogsmeade thing? You know I was sorry about that." By his tone, she knew he was putting on the tough, nonchalant thing he always did when he was nervous or upset. She felt herself doubting the things that James had told her for a brief moment. How could the little boy beneath the hard exterior bear to hurt her so badly when he couldn't even really take being away from her?

"It's not about that," Rose said, her guard still very much up as she took hold of her broomstick again.

"Then what is it?" Scorpius' face looked hard and annoyed; Rose could feel the frustration emanating from him.

Rose bit her lip. "I'm going out with Noel now," she told him, as if breaking some awful truth to him. As if he didn't already know.

"Yeah, I know," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. He tried to ignore the heat that tinged his brain and provoked his anger at her words. "It's not like I'm asking for a shag off you, Rose. We were friends, weren't we? Didn't you say that yourself? Why has anything changed just because of this library guy? If he's telling you we can't meet up..."

"No, he's not," the Gryffindor girl cut across. "But have you heard what people have been saying about us? Everyone's getting the wrong idea..."

"Everyone?" Scorpius repeated. "Who the hell's 'everyone'? I have no idea what you're on about, Rose, but even if I did I'd think you were some crazy-ass imposter. Since when does Rose Weasley care about what other people think?" He spat the last words at her, eyes sparkling with the hostility that protected the weakness beneath.

"Ever since I've been known as 'Malfoy's slag!'" Rose snapped back, her voice cracking and wetness springing into her eyes. She left out the fact that she was sure Scorpius had been the one spreading rumours. "Ever since people have been repulsed by me because of all the horrible things I've apparently been getting up to with you!" The display stunned Scorpius into silence for just a moment.

"Who said that about you?" he asked her, his voice trembling with anger. "Who?!"

"What does it matter to you, Scorpius?" she asked, countering his question with one of her own. "You can't do anything about it."

"I can," he insisted. "If you'd just-"

"No. Let it go, Scorpius. We don't work anymore. Our friendship isn't worth it." The emotion she'd been feeling, all the memories she'd been desperately suppressing... it all disappeared. It was better, she decided, to end it and feel nothing. Grief and regret attempted to consume her as she spoke but she pushed them back. If she cut her ties with Scorpius then he couldn't hurt her anymore. She wouldn't feel irrational longing for him whenever they stopped talking or whenever he was behaving like a prat; she wouldn't have to worry about what people thought of her, or what impression she was giving out; she wouldn't have to constantly worry and wonder whether this was what it felt like to be falling for a Malfoy. She could go back to the castle and endure the Christmas holidays with Noel, her boyfriend.

Yes. Life would be a lot simpler without Scorpius Malfoy in it.

"Please, Rose, what are you doing?" Scorpius responded, finally showing cracks in his proud facade as he reached out a hand and snatched at her wrist. "I don't give a shit what 'everybody's' saying. Forget them."

"Just leave me alone, Malfoy," Rose cut in, in such an uncharacteristically dead voice that it caused even the usually unmoveable Scorpius to drop her wrist like it was burning him. "I don't need you anymore."

Her words visibly stung him as he moved back, face trying in vain to shield his pained expression. His proud nature wouldn't let her have the last word, though. Once he'd pulled himself together, the hard-faced self-importance took over his features again, as he said low and dangerously, "Fuck you, then, Rose Weasley. Fuck you."

Then he walked away, leaving Rose deflated on the shoreline of Hogwarts' great lake.