A/N: Happy holidays! Here's my present to you all, another chapter. I hope this satisfies, it's quite long and contains something that you all have been voraciously complaining about since chapter 6 or so.

Merry/Happy (for all you UK people out there) Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Years too, now that I think about it. I probably won't have time to update before Jan 1, anyway.

"Glad you finally turned up," I muttered to myself, watching Scorpius set his bag down out of the corner of my eye.

Either he didn't hear me, or he chose to ignore my comment. Instead, all he said in response was: "We'd better get started."

No apology, no explanation, no "Rose, you complete me! Let me undress you and have my way with you on this table!"

Okay. Well. I didn't expect the last one, but the other two were definitely in the realm of possibility.

After a moment of silence though, I seriously rethought my last statement.

"Er, fine," I said a bit uncomfortably, reaching for the top sheet of parchment.

Scorpius nodded once.

I sighed and began to read.

We were currently in our second Head's meeting since our falling out, and it was proving just as awkward as the previous one. Well, at least I was just about suffocating on the awkwardness. As usual, Scorpius seemed as relaxed as ever.

Bloody unflappable wanker.

I angrily blew my fringe out of my eyes and settled down for the evening, throwing my legs up over one arm of my chair and resting my head on the other. I felt my skirt ride up, but I just didn't care if Scorpius got a view of a bit more skin than normal. Merlin, that was comfortable. I quickly swept my hair out from underneath my shoulders and let it hang down loose off the armrest. I shuffled my papers around a bit, and glimpsed Scorpius out of the corner of my eye.

Was he staring at me?

"What?" I asked, turning my head around irritably to look at him.

Scorpius surveyed me for a moment with his cool grey eyes, his expression turning haughty. "Nothing," he said, shrugging slightly, as he turned back to his own pile of paperwork.

I knew he was waiting for me to just go back to ignoring to him, but the tension in the room was causing my temper to rise, and my judgement to falter. I missed him. Him and his lame insults, his kind smiles no one but me ever saw, his snide comments that always made me laugh. I missed it all, and I wanted it all back. I thought about it constantly, all the little things that had made up our friendship that I longed for the most. Every time I saw him, I remembered something new, and it was becoming unbearable. The memories were constantly pressing down on me, cruel reminders of what we had, and how far we had fallen. I knew that we had passed the point of no return, but my heart seemed to have missed the memo. I still wanted him, and I couldn't delude or convince myself otherwise, no matter how hard I tried.

And so, that was why I responded instead of remaining silent as usual, in the blind hope that he could finally convince my heart that we were well and truly done; done with something that had never really begun. As perverse as it may sound, I wanted him to insult me. I wanted him to call me names. I wanted him to be as cruel and heartless as he could be, if only it stopped me from wanting him once and for all.

"Look, if you have something to say, then just say it," I said angrily. "You've never had a problem voicing your opinion around me before."

"I have nothing to say," said Scorpius coolly, lowering his papers slightly to see me better. "You're overreacting."

I gaped at him for a moment. "Oh gee Malfoy, thanks for letting everything out," I said sarcastically.

He sighed, his eyes hard. "Really, I have nothing more to say to you."

I made an impatient sound, but returned to the top piece of parchment in my hand. Nothing to say, my arse.

"Fine. Just don't blow up in my face like last time."

It seemed like I hit a sore spot. Scorpius blinked at me for a moment, and then said abruptly, "Shut up, Weasley. Just go back to your reports, and I'll go back to mine."

"Because Merlin forbid, we actually had a conversation," I finished.

He scowled. "Can't you do anything you're told?" he asked, sitting up straighter and glaring at me.

"No," I spat, "Why would I? We're not mates. I have no reason to listen to you anymore."

He looked slightly taken aback by the venom in my voice, but he was quick to recover. "Fine then," he said in a falsely casual voice, "I just thought you were a decent enough person to listen to somebody else for a change, other than yourself. I see you're still as self-absorbed as ever."

"I am not s-self absorbed!" I spluttered angrily.

"Oh yes you are," countered Scorpius instantly. "You are so focused on your own petty problems that you can't see something right in front of your nose!"

"What the fuck are you on about?" I asked him, stunned.

He blinked. "Nothing."

I nearly laughed at the horrified expression on his face. "Really Malfoy," I said, a twisted smile curving my lips, "Do tell."

Scorpius shook his head adamantly. "Like you said before, Wealsey, we're not mates. I have no reason to listen to you anymore," he parroted back at me.

The smile abruptly disappeared.

"What? Can't take what you give out? Not my problem," he said tersely while observing my expression. "Better toughen up, or else you'll get hurt."

Pity you couldn't tell me that sooner, I thought ruefully. I must've been some kind of masochist, to invite this kind of pain. Really, who goes about insulting the one person who can hurt them more than anything? Such a stupid, stupid plan.

Of course, I still fancied him more than ever. The universe liked to spite me like that.

"You are such a bastard," I told him.

"And you are an unattractive little witch who couldn't hold a bloke if she tried," he said without looking at me.

It was like he had slapped me. The verbal blow went straight through my chest to my heart. The pain was slow but raw and potent. Nothing, nothing he'd ever said before had ever caused me such anguish. Sure, he'd insulted me loads of times, but never had he voiced aloud my deepest fears, the one string of words I'd never hoped to hear from his lips. And he just sat there, as if my already broken heart wasn't shattering into a million pieces. It was like my chest was falling in on itself, all the bones splintering and muscles ripping away to fill the gaping void that was left. Bloody hell, that hurt.

I swallowed and felt the water well up behind my eyes. I quickly slipped out of my chair with the intent on quietly escaping the room, but my vision was too obstructed by unshed tears that I knocked into the table, sending pieces of parchment flying everywhere.

At the sound of the fluttering paper, he finally looked up.

For the briefest of moments, my eyes flickered first to the damage I had inflicted on his neatly stacked pile of reports, then back into his astonished face. He opened his mouth to speak, but I was already gone from the room.

The whole next week, I avoided Scorpius. The week after, I was forced to avoid Scorpius and Al. And by the time I was forced to avoid all the Weasleys in general who were eager to be let in on the family gossip, I was wearing thin. I had never realised there were so many of us.

Merlin, I suppose it was only a matter of time until I slipped up.

Just as I turned into a secret passageway on my way to my dormitory from Charms two and half weeks after our last argument, I heard someone shout my name.

"Weasley!"

I turned, and to my complete surprise saw Scorpius Malfoy himself sprinting toward me, a determined look on his face.

I increased my pace, desperately trying to reach the end of the corridor so I could disappear into the crowd of students in the Entrance Hall beyond. Who knew what he was going to say to me now?

"Rose!"

But of course, he caught up with me when I still had twelve metres to go.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" I asked, raising a hand to rub my temple as I tried to fathom what the hell he was doing. "If it's about the recent increase in unauthorized visits to Hogsmeade, then we can talk about that late-"

"No," said Scorpius quickly, cutting me off. I couldn't help but notice that his eyes were boring into mine, making it impossible for me to look away. "It's not that." He blinked, and took in a deep breath.

I fiddled with the latch closing my bag, saying hesitantly, "Okay then, what is it?"

"I want to be friends," he said abruptly.

My heart stopped. Had I heard him correctly?

I was positive I hadn't.

"Us… friends?" I asked dubiously, crossing my arms over my chest and staring him down sternly.

After all he put me through he wanted to be bloody friends?

The corner of his mouth lifted up into a half smile. "Look, I'm not sorry for what I said," he said bluntly, "and I'm pretty sure you're not going to apologise for anything you said either."

"Got that right," I muttered to myself.

"Regardless," Scorpius continued over my snide remark, "I do not see why we, as mature adults, cannot recognise the other's position and move on."

I didn't uncross my arms. "As I recall, your 'position' consisted of calling me an oppressive stickler for rules and an interfering busybody." I scowled and swallowed imperceptibly. "That's not a very good 'position' to have in starting off a friendship."

"Renewing," Scorpius cut in. "We're renewing our friendship, not starting again. Merlin, have you forgotten the past three years?" He rolled his eyes.

"Of course not," I said angrily, "But I was under the impression that our so-called 'friendship' was completely one sided on my part."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked, challenging my statement.

"Oh, let me think," I said sarcastically, "How about when you completely rejected every single thing I ever told you?"

He had the grace to look a little contrite. "That's not… Well, Rose the thing is…"

I blinked and stood a little straighter. "Exactly."

At my word, his mumbles died and he proceeded to listen to me, the oddest expression on his face.

"Face it Scorpius," I said in a level voice, "You don't want to be friends with me. I won't tell you I'm not a little hurt and a great deal irritated that I spent all this time on something that clearly didn't matter to you, but whatever. Go and tell Al that you did your part, and I rejected your proposal to 'renew' our friendship. "

"So, you don't want to be friends?" he asked slowly.

I sighed. "Of course I want for us to be friends, but it has to be a mutual relationship. So, no, we won't be friends." I turned to go, but Scorpius's voice called me back.

"What won't be mutual about our friendship?"

I whirled around angrily. "Honestly, do you need a vocabulary lesson, Malfoy?" I demanded, marching up to him and poking him hard in the chest. "Mutual, as in a potential friendship between us must be the goal of both parties, and not just myself!" I spat.

"Who said anything about the friendship not being mutual?"

"You fucking did!"

"I did not!"

"Oh, so replay that part again when you told me to mind my own fucking business and stay out of your life?" I said sarcastically, blinking rapidly to dispel the sudden moisture in my eyes.

"Look, I lost my temper, Rose!"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What the bloody hell does that mean?"

"Muggle phrase," I said offhandedly. "Obviously you lost your temper."

"Er, yes I did," he continued, and he reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck embarrassedly. "And Rose –"

"So what the hell are you trying to tell me?" I demanded. "You already said you're not sorry for what you said. Why are you wasting my time?"

"It's just that… I mean… Well, it didn't come out r-"

I sighed. "Just what are you trying to say?"

"Will you quit interrupting me?"

"Will you quit dithering and get to the point already?"

"Touché," Scorpius said, frowning slightly as he tried to make sense of his thoughts for a moment. "It's just…Rose," he said slowly, and haltingly, "You seem to be under the misapprehension that I somehow was against our friendship-"

"Because I-"

"What did I say about interrupting?"

I snapped my mouth shut, glaring at him. I motioned with my hands for him to proceed.

Scorpius rolled his eyes, but continued, "I liked being friends with you, Rose. Don't doubt that."

"How can I not?" I whispered inaudibly.

He heard, though. Immediately his eyes softened, and he slowly took a step closer to me. For a moment it looked like he was about to reach out and wrap an arm around me, but he refrained. He ran a hand through his blond hair, shaking his head slightly. His eyes remained trained on my face, and his expression was one of regret. The frown that had graced his mouth had abated slightly, but his pale eyebrows were raised in confusion. Perfectly still, his long white hands rested comfortably at his sides, so unlike mine which were worrying the straps of my bag almost to shreds.

"Rose," he said in a low voice, "I'm sorry I hurt you."

My mouth fell open in surprise.

It was a moment before I could string together a chain of coherent words to meld into a sentence.

"What did you say?" I choked out eventually, with my mouth still hanging open and eyes as big as Quaffles.

Oh Rose, real attractive.

The corner of Scorpius's mouth lifted up into a half smile. "I'm not going to say it again."

"But-but you said you weren't going to apologise!" I said wildly.

"Well, I just did."

"I know that."

"Yes, but you seemed to need some clarification to my absurdly simple sentence, and I thought I'd help you out."

Really, he made it just too easy to fall into our old pattern. Merlin, I missed his insults.

"What, no quip about my hair?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was getting to that," said Scorpius breezily. "I figure I'd chat you up, get back in your good graces, and then make up for all lost time."

"I'd rather you not."

"Well, as I've never taken your opinion into account, I don't see why I should start now," said Scorpius matter-of-factly. "Actually, since I'm the one who apologized for when I was an arse-"

"What do you mean was? You're always an arse," I said, laughing for what felt like the first time in years.

Scorpius smiled. "Merlin, Rose, you sure know how to make a bloke feel special."

"What can I say, it's a talent."

"One of few."

"Now that's just mean."

"It's the truth. I'm nothing if not honest."

"Right. Because that's what all Slytherins are known for. Their honesty."

"It's a little known fact."

"And a completely false one."

Scorpius shrugged.

"All joking aside," I said slowly, avoiding his eyes, "I don't want to force you into anything. If you honestly don't like my company, then-"

He sighed, and I broke off, my heart stopping in my chest.

This was it. He was going to break my heart all over again.

He took a step closer and put a hand on my shoulder, all the while looking down into my eyes with a serious expression on his handsome face. "Rose, why do you keep insisting that you know what I want?" he asked, shaking his head. "You have absolutely no idea. I'd suggest that you stop trying. Just let it go."

I narrowed my eyes in anger. "So why don't you tell me?"

Evidently this absurdly obvious course of action had not occurred to him.

"What?" he asked, looking like I'd just hit him over the head with a frying pan.

"Tell me what you want, since I have no bloody clue," I said, irritated.

Momentarily stunned, he gaped at me before saying with a small smile, "I'd rather not."

"You'd rather not," I repeated flatly.

"Nope," he said blithely.

I grimaced and knocked his hand off my shoulder. How could I possibly be friends with such a secretive wanker?

More importantly, how could I not?

"Honestly Scorpius, you are the most confusing, infuriating bloke I've ever met," I sighed, wrinkling my nose as I looked him up and down.

He smiled at my name-calling. "Handsomest too. You forgot that one."

"So that eliminates modest-est?" I frowned as I actually considered what I had just said.

Merlin, why didn't think before I spoke? Modest-est? Honestly! Just Avada me right now.

He laughed at my word gaff. "That's not a word, Rosie," he said condescendingly, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

I blushed crimson and looked away. "Whatever," I muttered, trying to ignore the sudden tugging feeling in the pit of my stomach at his touch as well as the tingles on the back of his neck where I could feel his bare arm against my skin.

Ahh…

"So, where are you off to this fine Saturday?" asked Scorpius after a moment as we started to continue down the corridor.

"I was thinking about heading down to the library and revising for a bit," I said nervously.

Scorpius cast me an appraising look. "Revising for what, exactly?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That Charms exam," I said defensively.

"Rose," he said seriously, "that's not for another four days. You're completely mad."

I shrugged. "Fine then, mister. What did you have planned for today, if my proposal was so dissatisfactory?"

"I was heading for Hogsmeade actually," he said calmly. "Do you want to come with me?"

"But it's not a Hogsmeade weekend!" I said instantly.

"So?"

"It's against the rules." As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Didn't this whole thing start because I could never ignore the bloody rule book for once? Why couldn't I learn anything, for Merlin's sake?

"Come on, Rose," began Scorpius, but I cut him off.

"Forget that, let's go to Hogsmeade," I said abruptly.

Scorpius paused for a moment, staring at me. "Really?" he asked, not quite believing what was happening. "That's it? No hour long pep talk? No bribery? No blackmail?"

I scowled. "No. Let's go, Malfoy, before I change my mind."

He smirked. "There we go. Thought you were suffering from a temporary loss of personality. The passageway's over here," he said, motioning up the stairs to the fourth floor.

"So, why are you going to Hogsmeade?" I asked curiously.

Scorpius shot me a brief look, before focusing on the stairs in front of him. "If my attempts with you failed, I was going to drown my sorrows in a mug of firewhiskey. If they succeeded, I was going to celebrate with you," he said swiftly. "Now, come on." He indicated a rather large mirror just off the first landing.

I was stunned. He had been planning to drink himself into a stupor if I hadn't agreed to renew our friendship? I was suddenly struck by an idea. Maybe he had missed me. Probably not as much as I missed him, but just the fact that he had some sort of self-destructive course of action if I had spurned him, buoyed my spirits considerably.

He looked askance at my wide smile while moving to stand in front of his reflection.

I paused before the mirror as well. "Now what?" I asked dubiously, turning to look at Scorpius.

"Watch," he said, the corner of his mouth lifting up into a half-smile. He pulled out his wand and tapped the heads of our reflections, muttering, "Pereium Inesia."

Suddenly our reflections shivered and distorted. They seemed to be melting away, until there stood two people-shaped gaps in the glass of the mirror. I took a hesitant step forward, and felt a slight draft coming from what was undoubtedly a secret passageway beyond.

"Oh, go on then," Scorpius said, and I barely had time to whip my head around and take in his wicked grin, before he shoved me head first through the hole.

"Malfoy!" I shrieked, stumbling into the mirror, and nearly falling flat on my face in the room beyond.

I turned my head to see him step gracefully through his entrance, laughing quietly to himself at my misfortune. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the two openings closed behind him.

"That wasn't very nice," I said a bit breathlessly, scowling heavily as I flattened my hair and smoothed my skirt. Merlin, I didn't even want to contemplate the embarrassing positions he could have found me in if I hadn't luckily found my balance in time.

"I'm not always a nice person," he continued calmly, smirking at me. "Lumos," I heard him murmur, and wide cavern was filled with light. He was leaning against the back of the mirror.

I let out a noise of disbelief. "Whatever," I said. "Just where are we, anyway?" I asked.

"Secret passageway," he said unhelpfully. "Al and I found it third year with some map James nicked from Mr. Potter," he explained, starting to move towards the exit on the opposite wall. "Anyway, this secret passage was on that map, but it was completely caved in. I was all for finding a secret passage that was still a passage, but Al insisted on clearing this one out, the stubborn arse. We worked in the library for a couple of days, and then finally found a spell to reverse the cave in." Scorpius paused in his tale, looking at several doors that had appeared out of the gloom. After a split second decision, he chose the one on the far right. He opened it, and politely ushered me through before following himself. "We should reach Hogsmeade in a bit."

"Alright," I said, squinting in the gloom to make out the rather large tunnel we found ourselves in. "Lumos," I said after a bit, when my eyes were starting to feel the strain.

We continued on our way, talking about nothing, until the passage abruptly ended.

"Now what?" I asked, looking around at the dead end. "Where are we?"

"You'll see," Scorpius said mysteriously, holding his lit wand aloft. "Nox," he cast, instantly causing the light at the end of his wand to go out. He looked around for a moment, blinking in the dim light from the tip of my own wand. "Nox," he repeated, directing the spell at me.

My light silently went dark as well. "Bloody hell," I swore, walking in the direction where I thought Scorpius was standing. "I can't see a damn thing. What are you playing at, Malfoy?"

"Oof," I heard Scorpius sigh as I walked straight into him.

"Whoops, sorry," I said, straining to see his outline in the pitch darkness.

"Merlin, Weasley, watch where you're going," his voice said from right above me as hands reflexively shot out to keep me steady. Fortunately, as he couldn't quite see me, his hands, er, missed the intended mark.

"I would if I could see a blasted thing," I retorted. I paused a moment, basking in the pleasure of his hands on me. "Are you groping me, Malfoy?" I asked amusedly, reaching out to feel his long slender fingers which were currently resting on my arse. "I'm not that short, you know." I assumed he had been aiming for my waist.

"Shite, Weasley," Scorpius said, hurriedly releasing me. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I said ruefully. I instantly cursed my mouth as I felt his touch leave. "No harm done."

"Er, right," he said embarrassedly.

"So…" I began, straining my eyes once more to make him out, "What exactly are we doing in the dark?"

"Waiting," he replied calmly.

I nodded, and then realised he couldn't see me. "Waiting?" I repeated, my voice lilting the word up into a question.

"Right."

I sighed exasperatedly. "Waiting for what, you smartarse?"

"That," he said unexpectedly.

I abruptly felt his hands encircle my waist, and he spun me around in place to face his desired direction. I blinked, not quite sure what I was seeing. After a moment, I realised I was looking at a glowing ladder that had apparently appeared out of nowhere. "Oh," I said dumbly.

"You have to wait in the dark a bit, before the Disillusionment Charm lifts," explained Scorpius. "Don't know why, but that's what James's Map told us."

"Er, should I go first?" I asked tentatively.

He nodded, taking my hand and leading me towards the shimmering rungs. "Go on," he urged, "I'll be right behind you."

I reached out and rested my foot experimentally on the first step. "Are you sure this is sa-" I began, but Scorpius cut me off.

"Just go, Weasley."

"I'm going, I'm going."

A/N: So there you go! I'm sure some of you pictured the make up scene a bit more dramatic and probably with a lot of snogging, but I have delightful bits of sexual tension planned in the chapters ahead (planned, yes I finally planned, as in Veri actually knows where the hell her story is going!) so no snogging. Yet.

Please leave your thoughts, I'm anxious to know what you guys thought about this one.