Author's Note: This chapter is kind of short, and it took me a while to get out because I was suffering from a serious case of writer's block. I don't especially like it, but it turned out way better than the first version I had written a few weeks ago. I have exams coming up next week, but I've already started plotting for the next chapter so hopefully I can crank it out before I go home! I will definitely make an effort to not have a month between updates next time. ) Also, I want to say sorry for any typos in the other chapters; I've gone back and fixed them, as well as some mix-ups with Gryffindor/Ravenclaw. I hope you enjoy this, even though it's not the best, and please review!
Fire and Ice
Chapter Ten: Goodbye
The end of term was upon me before I knew it. Trunks were packed, seventh years were bidding Hogwarts goodbye, and I was already anxious about my OWL results. I was also sad about having to say goodbye to Scorpius. He would be spending an entire summer in France with his maternal grandparents, which meant it was highly unlikely that we would be spending any time together whatsoever. His promise to write me a letter every day that we were apart did little to console me. After all, it was rumored that his parents were only sending him to France to keep the two of us apart.
Immediately after Scorpius and I decided to officially be a couple, I wrote home to my mum to inform her of our relationship. After all, I knew that my dad would probably be furious for quite some time and I figured he would need a good four months in order to calm down. Scorpius had agreed to do the same, but somehow one of his housemates had beaten him to it. The very next day, he received a Howler at breakfast that turned his pale face bright red with humiliation. I felt awful for him, especially when he told me that his father had threatened to disown him and was no longer giving him massive amounts of spending money to use as he pleased.
"We should go for a walk tonight," I suggested to Scorpius on the last day of classes before the end of term. We were in an empty classroom, which allowed for plenty of freedom to participate in extracurricular activities, if you catch my drift. Scorpius ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair, and pulled a face. Despite the fact that he was raised in a country manor, he detests nature and the outdoors.
"I can't. father's arranged to fetch me this evening at six o'clock," he muttered. He looked so sad and depressed that I leaned in and kissed him to cheer him up a bit. "I can't believe I'm not going to see you for an entire summer! It's going to be dreadfully boring in the country, and my cousin Anouk is probably going to bring home a thousand of her stupid girly friends to make my life a living hell. They'll all fawn over me and ask me questions about Hogwarts, and then try and compare it to life at Beauxbatons."
"Oh, stop it. It won't be as bad as all that," I tried to assure him, but he just sighed. "Well, at least you'll have our letters to keep you entertained. I'm sure that all of my wit and charm will make up for your cousin's apparent lack thereof." Scorpius shook his head no.
"Anouk isn't stupid, just her friends are…but I will definitely be looking forward to our correspondence. You can keep me updated on how things are going with your summer internship," Scorpius said, standing. "And now, unfortunately, I must go and gather my things. While you're happily eating at the Leaving Feast, I will be flying on a broom to bloody France, wishing I could still be with you."
"I really wish that you didn't have to go…I wish we could figure out a way to see each other," I said, standing as well. Scorpius pulled me into his arms for a brief embrace. "So I suppose this is goodbye, until the start of the new term…I'm going to miss seeing you every day!"
"As will I, but there's nothing I can do to change my father's mind. He wants to keep us apart, and he'll do anything to make sure of it," Scorpius said. I looked into his eyes, and realized that he looked as sad I felt. Why was this goodbye so distressing for him? As horrible as separating seemed, we would be seeing each other again in a few months, right? Scorpius squeezed me tightly one more time before extracting himself from my arms. "I'll write you as soon as I'm sure that you're at home….and don't ever forget how much I care about you, no matter what happens." With a gentle kiss on my forehead, Scorpius left the classroom. After standing there for a few more moments, I left the room as well.
Back in my dormitory, I carefully placed the last of my belongings into my trunk. I looked at the picture of Scorpius that sat on my bedside table, smiling at the memory of the photograph. He had claimed that he wasn't photogenic despite his ridiculously handsome features, but of course I hadn't believed him. Alas, he was proven right in the end. Both of his eyes were shut, and the hand that he was holding up, kept on making the weirdest movements ever. I grinned and placed it at the top of my trunk.
"Hey, we're going down to the feast in a moment, if you want to accompany the lot of us," Gloria offered when I settled into bed with the latest book my mum had sent for me in the mail. I wanted to finish it up before I got home, because my dad was insisting that I help out my uncle at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for the entire summer as a shopgirl. Not exactly the way I had intended to spend my summer, but I didn't have any choice in the matter. My dad was adamant that I make myself useful and start helping out with family related business instead of holing up with books for three months. My mum had agreed that it was time for me to get some "real life experience", but she had made certain that I only had to work for three to four hours a day, so I didn't fall behind in any of my studies. Thank Merlin for that, or my dad would have had me working like a house elf!
"Oh, no thanks. I think I'm just going to finish this, and snack on some of the cookies my grandmother sent me a few days ago," I told her, rejecting the invite. After all, reading is way more important than hearing the same old speech about the same old stuff, year after year after year. Yet, it seemed like Gloria and the rest of the girls had just left the dormitory moments ago when they returned chattering loudly about the feast. I rolled my eyes. Hadn't they eaten enough to keep them quiet for a while?
"Oh my goodness, Red, you will not believe what happened at dinner!!" Callista, one of the girls in my year, exclaimed as she flopped onto my bed. Gloria joined her soon after. I raised my eyebrows. It couldn't be that exciting, could it? "Well…do you want to tell her, Gloria? She might take it better from you than from me…" what? What was she talking about?
"What's going on, you two?" I asked, when Gloria shook her head and widened her eyes in fear. What had happened at the feast that was so monumental that they were both afraid to tell me? "Come on, out with it! I want to finish this book before I have to go home and you aren't making it any easier to achieve that goal. Say what you have to say, or get off of my bed."
"Fine! If neither of you will do it, then I will," said Angela Longbottom, my "uncle" Neville's daughter. I usually saw little of Angie during the school year because she was glued at the hip to her Hupplepuff boyfriend, Harry Creevey. She took a deep breath. "Professor Twiddlethumb announced tonight at dinner that Scorpius Malfoy isn't coming back to Hogwarts next year. His dad's sending him to school in America…something about him mixing with the wrong sort, and other oddments. Anyway, the professor only announced it because it seems that Scorpius managed to beat you as top student this year, and Twiddlethumb considered a great loss to the Hogwarts student body. I'm so sorry, Rose." She added this apology only after noticing how stricken I must have looked. After all, Scorpius hadn't mentioned the fact that he was leaving.
"It's fine, I'll be fine," I lied, trying to put on a brave face. After several reassuring pats and a big kiss on the cheek from Gloria, the girls left off to do the last of their packing.That night, when everyone else was asleep, I cried until I could cry no more.
"Oi, Rosie! There's a customer out front and your dad's too busy stuffing his face to ring them up! Hop to it for me, won't you love?" my uncle George called out to me. Ever since the death of my uncle Fred, my dad has been helping out Uncle George with his shop. I stopped restocking the shelves with Animatus Pimple Cream and went over to the register to help the next customer. It was Francis Finnegan, son of an old chum of my dad's. Frankie was a Gryffindor, finished up at Hogwarts recently. I smiled and totaled up all of his purchases.
"How've you been doing about the whole Scorpius thing? Right shame it was that he never told you he was leaving, I think. If I was him, I would've never allowed meself to let you go, but that's just personal opinion," he said, giving me a bright smile of his own. I shrugged. Ever since the end of term two months ago, I had tried not to think of Scorpius. He had sent me a letter a day, as promised, but I had only opened the first one. I was sorely disappointed when I realized that he hadn't even bothered to give an explanation. According to that first letter, he had chosen to go to school overseas, with some bullshit claim about "wanting to see the world". The only reason I could think of for that blarney was that his dad was forcing him to lie. All of the other letters, I returned to him, not even remotely interested in hearing any more rubbish from his lying motuh.
"Er, thanks for the support," I said, feeling my face flush. Frankie nodded. "Well, good luck with your Auror training! I hope it goes well for you." With a salute in my direction, Frankie left the store. I sighed. Why, why, why had the gods cursed me with such a miserable existence? The first boy that was ever interested me had up and left me, and the first boy that had shown interest in me since Scorpius was such a dear family friend that I couldn't think of him as anything more than a brother. Brilliant. When I said goodbye to Scorpius, I might as well have said goodbye to my love life as well.