Once again I've been abandoned by a boy. I can still taste Andrew on my lips and I feel lonely and sad now he's not here. For a few minutes I stand on my own in the darkness of the alcove to process what just happened.

In the end, I pull myself together and try to push it to the back of my mind. I know I need to hand in these bloody essays by the end of the day and I'm determined not to let anything else distract me.

Dammit, Rose. I scold myself. You don't need more drama.

I set off down to the dungeons in a slight daze. I'm not exactly sure how I feel. Numb, I guess. I wonder if I'm going to tell Lily or Clem or Jennie or Albus. Probably not Al. Andrew has a fairly promising career in Quidditch and it would be a shame for Albus to have to take that away from him.

As I enter the cold depths of the dungeons, I am suddenly gripped with the fearful notion that I might bump into Scorpius. I feel sick and on edge as my eyes dart around everywhere; every shadow, every noise, every corner.

Handing my essays in, Slughorn nods once – obviously knowing my situation. "Keep on top of it all, Rose," is the only thing Professor Slughorn says to me. "Don't loose that clever little head of yours over a boy." He adds with a wink before closing his office door.

I know I'm a favourite of Slughorn's; it's a mixture of my family and natural ability in Potions which definitely doesn't come from my father.

I've almost made it through the stone corridor which glows a ghostly green from the lake when a hand grabs mine.

I gasp and make to scream when I spin round.

"Scorpius," I splutter and then get angry. "Get off me."

I wrench my hand from his grip.

His eyes look tortured. "Rose, we need to talk." He says grimly.

"Oh," I say bitterly. "Now you want to talk."

"Please – come with me."

I wordlessly follow him through a smaller corridor into a small disused Potions classroom. It's a small and stuffy room with old broken desks pushed against the walls and a pile of cauldrons are stacked sloppily in the corner.

I'm suddenly self conscious and my arms feel awkward. Goddamn what do normal people do with their hands? I fold my arms to give myself something to do.

Scorpius clears his throat.

"So … what?" I say finally.

"My parents got in contact yesterday morning." A frown has appeared on his brow and I long to smooth it with my finger. "They, uh," Scorpius lifts a hand to his forehead to knead his temples. "Reminded me of a dinner reservation this Saturday."

I freeze all over.

"You can't expect me to do that now," I say incredulously.

The look on Scorpius' face tells me he does.

"No way." I say defiantly. "No, fucking, way."

"Rose, please." Scorpius begs. "They … they … they don't know how bad my accident was. I know its fucking brash of me to ask you but – please."

I don't know what to say. I gape for a minute.

"No." I tell him and walk out.

Scorpius looks surprised, but I'm more surprised – I just turned down an excuse to have to pretend to be his date.

Why?

Because it would be pretending and I want it to be real.

But then I start actually thinking: if Scorpius hated me so much and found it hard to believe we had been dating for the past 2 years, then why didn't he just tell his parents we were no longer dating and he was bringing Macy to the dinner instead?

He would know that his parents would probably prefer him to be dating Macy anyway…

Is it possible that Scorpius is just as hopeful as I am?

I haven't realised that I've stopped dead in my tracks and I slowly turn around to look at Scorpius.

"I'm so sorry about the other night, Rose. I really am." He whispers raggedly. Merlin knows how much I want to kiss him right now.

"I don't know what to think anymore." I say flatly and turn to leave again.

"You're not wearing the ring anymore." He says suddenly. "Why?"

I sigh and don't turn to face him. I can't.

"Things loose their meaning when you go and do exactly the same to someone else." I tell him.

"Rose, this is ridiculous, look at me –" Scorpius stands in front of me, forcing me to look into those sapphire eyes. "What on Earth are you on about?"

"You gave Macy an identical ring, Malfoy," I seethe at him playing stupid.

Scorpius looks confused. "No, I didn't." He insists.

I resist the urge to scream. "Then where did that ring come from on her hand the other day?" I yell at him. He blinks.

"Her parents." Scorpius says calmly.

I breathe heavily. "What."

Scorpius sighs and tries to make me sit down but I'm too frustrated.

"It was her birthday 2 weeks ago but her parents had been away so the present got here late." Scorpius explains patiently and honestly.

Now I'm the one rubbing my temples.

"Are you okay?" He sounds genuinely concerned.

"No …" I say slowly. "Andrew just kissed me and left me suddenly, then I get ambushed by you asked me to go to a dinner reservation to pretend that nothing is wrong with us and now –"

"Andrew kissed you?" Scorpius looks like I've just slapped him in the face.

"Oh what do you care?" I snap. "It's not like you cared when you left me in Hogsmeade for me to walk all the way back to the Castle on my own in the pouring rain. Andrew was the one who helped me, and dried my tears, and made sure I was okay, while youran off back to your girlfriend."

I just can't seem to stop talking. Everything that I've been repressing has just tumbled out in front of the worst person.

"I don't know what you see in me." Scorpius turns his head.

I don't say anything. I'm breathing heavily and I'm suddenly scared that I've either really angered him or really upset him.

"I'm not expecting you to come to dinner. Not after the way I've treated you. It's frustrated to only remember sparks of things – certain clothes you wear, the smell of your perfume and the way you laugh and how I used to be able to do that. But I don't know anymore. It's like there's this door in my head and behind it is everything I used to be – everything we used to be. But it's locked and I don't have the right key."

"Just tell me how you find it so easy to date Macy." I whisper.

"It's not." Scorpius admits. "But it takes my mind off you."

I bite my tongue hard to stop myself from crying.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. I desperately beg myself and blink tears away furiously.

"Alright." I say unsteadily. Scorpius looks stunned. "I'll do it. I'll pretend that nothing is different for your parents on Saturday."

"Are you sure?" Scorpius looks uneasy.

I nod.

"I appreciate this."

I nod again and this time, I leave the room without looking back. "Rose." I hear from behind me. I carry on walking down the corridor. "Please don't ever call me Malfoy again."

As soon as I'm round the corner and up the stairs into the Entrance Hall, I can't stop the tears that cascade silently down my face.

"Jen, can I talk to you?"

Jennie looks up from her essay and her eyes are glazed over with concentration and take a moment to clear. "Mm?"

I sit down opposite her at the window table in Gryffindor common room. With it being a Sunday, most people are either in the library or holed up in common rooms doing last minute homework for the week.

"Scorpius asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend on Saturday to go to dinner with his parents." Jennie's jaw practically hits the table. "The night before the accident I finally agreed to meet them, but they sent him an owl reminding him of the reservation, and he's just told me ne never told his parents that he's actually dating Macy and sort of hates me right now."

"What."

"But I don't get why he wouldn't tell them?"

"Because he still loves you, Rose!"

"Wants to love me." I remind her.

"Whatever – this is good!" Jennie is excited and her eyes are bright.

I shrug. "After the other night … I'm not going to get too excited." I say weakly. "It's much less further to fall that way."

Jennie looks sympathetic and rests a hand on mine. "It'll work out okay."

"Also, Andrew kissed me."

"Rose."

With a deep breath I relay the whole story and afterwards, Jennie shakes her head.

"Have fun cleaning all that up." She says.

"Yeah thanks," I roll my eyes. "Hey, I asked Al to ask you out."
"I hate you."

"No you don't." I say immediately watching her blush furiously. "He doesn't believe me though, so you're going to have to make it clear to him –"

"No seriously, I really hate you." Jennie insists.

"Whatever."

We both look at each other and Jennie is the first to crack with a smile she tries to suppress. "Ugh, Rose Weasley." Is all she says before going back to her homework.

I get up to leave her to it and flop on the sofa, lying on my back.

"Rose, is it true you've agreed to go to dinner with Scorpius' parents?"

"Oh hey, Albus," I say wearily. "And yes."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Albus asks me unsurely.

"Nope." I admit. "But he really needed this. Anyway, I'm going to grab some lunch, see you later."
And with that I escape from yet another lecture about Scorpius from my cousin. I know that Albus is only trying to look after me but it's ever so slightly annoying.

As I slowly slump down to the Great Hall, I try to keep a look out for Andrew. I'm torn between avoiding him and demanding an explanation.

When I enter the Great Hall, I'm hailed by Clem and Lily who are stuffing their faces with pizza. I settle myself next to Clem and opposite Lily. The hall is always more or less empty on Sunday lunchtimes; people either have massive breakfasts, sleep in really late, go to Hogsmeade or just don't bother at all.

"How you doing, Rosie?" Clem asks before shovelling another load of food into her mouth. I look at her body enviously. Skinny bitch, I think.

"Oh you know." I flounder for the end of my sentence and they both look at me expectantly. "Nothing out of the ordinary." I lie. I'm too exhausted to tell them everything.

"So is it not true that you and Andrew were seen coming out of the same kissing corner then?" Lily looks far too excited about this.

I open my mouth to lie but the fact I'm blushing betrays me and my friend squeal.

"Shut up!" I hiss desperately. "Look, there's nothing going on, and besides –" I go on to tell them about Scorpius and Saturday and they're both annoyingly jovial about it.

"What happened to that green dress?" Clem enquires. "You should wear that again."

"That would be difficult." I admit to them. "I ripped it."

"You did what!?" They both say in unison.

"I ripped it all." I repeat simply. "After the other night I didn't have the energy to take it off properly and I needed an outlet and ripping it felt fitting."

"Ugh, Rose," Clem complains. "That dress was so pretty."

I shrug. I vaguely remember throwing it down the chute with the towel so the probability of it still being some where in the castle is fairly high. Maybe I should look into it?

"Anyway." I shake myself out of my daydream. "I want a new dress to make new memories. There's no point in trying to relive the past, we can only go up from here."

I definitely sound a lot more definite than I feel.

"So when can we go shopping then? Today? Great idea," Clem decides for me and I don't bother replying because she's already set her mind on it.

"Whatever," I mutter and help myself to pizza and salad.

A hand taps me on the shoulder and when I turn my head, it's Andrew.

"Oh." I say. "Hi."

Andrew looks highly uncomfortable and extremely apologetic. "Can we talk?" I look longingly at my pizza and nod.

"It's alright, I'll sit here." Andrew seats himself next to me. I glance over to Lily and Clem who are shamelessly staring at us.

"I'll see you two in the common room in an hour, okay?" I say meaningfully, flashing my eyes at them.

They get the hint. "Sure, later guys." They jump up and head out.

The atmosphere and tension between me and Andrew is unbearable.

"I'm so sorry for last night, Rose." Andrew puts his head in his hands. "I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have taken advantage like that."

I flail for words. "I enjoyed it." I admit quietly. "I shouldn't, but I did."

Andrew shakes his head sadly. "No. You think you enjoyed it. But let's face it, Rose; you and I both know you wanted it to be Scorpius the whole time."

I keep quiet. I'm a dreadful liar and it would be cruel.

"Andrew –" I start but he cuts me off.

"Please don't. I'm beating myself up about it. I really, really like you, Rose, but I can't move in on you knowing how you were with Scorpius. I hope it works out between you both."

I pause. "No you don't." I say quietly.

Andrew gives a bitter laugh. "Well, true." He admits sadly. He tries for a cocky smile which doesn't meet his eyes. "Until the next time you need saving, Weasley."

"Yeah. See you round, Knight Hallam." I tease weakly.

With an empty smile he gives my hand a squeeze and leaves the table. I watch him walk back to Ravenclaw table with slumped shoulders and I can't help but feel a slight heartbreak.

But it's only because Andrew had numbed the original pain for a while.