Chapter 10 Confusion

Rose rolled over in bed, the sheets feeling a lot crisper than they usually did. She kept turning, and then realized, too late, that there was no more bed in that direction.

She let out a small shriek as she hit the floor, and her eyes flew open. Disoriented, she looked around. This wasn't her dorm room.

Suddenly, memories came flooding back…. The dorm room… Scorpius… Lucius….

Scorpius.

She sat up, gently rubbing the lump slowly forming on the back of her head from sitting the floor. She sat back down on her bed, thoughts of last night swimming through her drowsy brain.

Knock knock.

"Come in," she called tiredly, moving over to the window seat. She stared out the window, figuring it was her aunt Ginny coming in.

"Your hair still frizzes like a red head, but I still like it," Came a voice that sounded like it was trying not to laugh.

Rose turned and smiled, looking straight into the eyes of her wonderful boyfriend.

"Ha ha ha," She rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop smiling as he sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You really do look beautiful…" He said, twirling her frizzy hair around her fingers. "Any particular reason why I heard you shriek earlier? It scared me out of my mind."

"Oh…" She sighed, starting to blush. "I kind of rolled out of bed."

He started to laugh, and gently kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, running her fingers through her hair. How had she gotten so lucky?

There was a soft knock at the door, and they instantly lurched apart as the door began to open. Rose blushed fiercely as Harry, poked his head in, obviously trying to contain laughter at seeing both of them blushing.

"Breakfast is ready if you two are… finished." He snickered, and left the room.

"Shall we go to breakfast m'lady?" Scorpius asked, offering her his hand.

"We shall my wonderful knight." She stood up, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

They walked down to breakfast hand in hand, and Rose was surprised at how happy she was not to have to hide their relationship. It was nice to see her wonderful Aunt and Uncle smiling at them without judgement.

"Morning," Rose smiled, sitting down next to Scorpius and smiling at Ginny and Harry.

Harry snickered under his breath, looking up at them. "Guys, I know Ron would appreciate me saying this… Please limit the kissing sessions in the bedroom to an absolute minimum." Harry started laughing, no longer being able to contain it as a bright red blush spread across both their faces.

"Harry," Ginny smacked his arm playfully, smiling as breakfast floated over to them with a wave of her wand.

They began eating, but Rose barely had one forkful of eggs in her mouth when the front door creaked open.

"Sorry I'm late!" She heard her father call out from the open door, her smile faltered as he entered the room and saw Scorpius.

Well shit.

Scorpius subtly moved his chair away from Rose. Judging by the look on Ron's face, he had no idea he was staying with the Potters too.

"Oh, I didn't know Scorpius was staying too… You just mentioned Rose when I talked to you yesterday." He said, a thin smile barely masking his frustration.

"Must have slipped my mind," Harry shrugged, and Ginny chuckled.

"Gosh, just sit down Ron and have some breakfast." She said, motioning to the only empty chair next to Scorpius. Ron reluctantly sat down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Scorpius feeling more awkward by the minute.

"So… How have things been at the store?" Rose asked in an attempt to start some type of conversation.

"Fine I guess… Business has been pretty good." He grunted, shovelling another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"You started a store Mr. Weasley?" Scorpius jumped in, honestly curious. Last time Scorpius knew, he had been working with Harry in the auror department.

"Being an auror just kind of grew old, and I never really had a huge amount of talent with it. I've recently started up a store in Diagon Alley selling wizard communication objects."

"That sounds really cool!" Scorpius said enthusiastically, trying really hard to please Mr. Weasley.

"It really is!" Rose chimed in, smiling at her dad, who smiled happily back at her. Scorpius felt a pang of worry for his dad, and hastily shoved another forkful of food in his mouth.

"So business has been good then?" Harry questioned, distracting Ron away from them.

Rose quickly smiled at him, and she rested a reassuring hand on his knee under the table. Scorpius smiled to himself. Maybe he could get on Mr. Weasley's good side after all… Or at least off his bad side.

The five of them chatted for a while, and Ron left after about an hour, even saying a small good-bye to Scorpius, and complimenting him on his knowledge of business economics.

As soon as they heard the "crack" of Ron apparating away, Harry and Ginny turned to them with slightly scolding looks.

"You're going to have to tell him Rose," Ginny said, tapping her foot, "It's not fair to keep him in the dark."

"I know," Rose sighed, flopping down on the couch. "We'll tell him when he comes down to pick me up in a couple days."

"And then Rose can come to my house to tell my mom… And hide out for a couple days." Scorpius smiled at Rose.

"Now Rose, don't you take off on your dad… You know that won't help anything." Harry advised solemnly.

"Try to be understanding about his situation Rose, the Malfoys were responsible for a lot in the war, and Ron has a hard time letting things go." Ginny said, sitting down on a chair across from Rose.

"We'll just have to show him how awesome I am." Scorpius smiled, but Rose only returned his smile half-heartedly.

"Well, I'm going to go do some work in my office," Harry said, standing up and leaving the room, Ginny following close behind him.

Scorpius wrapped his arms around Rose, and she leaned against his shoulder. "What's wrong?" He murmured, concern obvious in his voice.

"My dad," She whispered, "He's never going to be able to see what an awesome guy you are."

"Your dad isn't heartless Rose… You saw him today, he was only mildly unfriendly instead of completely hostile."

"That's when he thought you were just a friend, and he obviously still isn't super thrilled about that… You're going to have to deal with Normal-Protective-Dad and Completely-Prejudiced-Dad at the same time, and I feel completely awful about you having to deal with that." She sighed, looking up at him with a sad look in her eyes, almost like she was offering him the option to back out if he wanted to.

"Rose, I would face an entire death eater army if I had to in order to be with you." He smiled, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You're amazing," She sighed.

Emily looked at the letter, and frantically scribbled out a reply as tears welled in her eyes.

TF

How could you do this?

I know you are probably beyond guilt at this point, but how could you do this to friends, family and those you care about? I never believed this could ever happen to you.

I will not accept your offer, and will stand against you and the deatheaters' twisted ideas. It is literally killing me inside to be put against you like this, and I can't believe you would ever do that to me.

As of this letter you will hear from me no more, and don't even think about trying to bring me into this twisted plot of yours. As of right now we are no longer family or friends and I'm moving on from any affection I have for you.

You made your choice, now I'm making mine.

E

She tied the letter to her owl's leg, fumbling with the tie as tears blurred her vision.

She ran from the Owlery, tears flowing freely as her feet carried her forwards. She didn't care where she was going, and she didn't care; she just needed to get away from everything and everyone.

She soon found herself in some garden past Hagrid's Hut, and collapsed onto the ground, leaning back against a large purple plant. She sat there and cried for what seemed like forever… Just wanting the hurt to go away.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She heard someone call, but she just ignored them, staring off into space.

How could he have done this to her? Forced her to choose between her friends, and him? Did he care about her at all?

"Ummm, are you okay?" She a voice asked, and she flinched, startled at how they had snuck up so close to her.

"I'm fine, go away." She said, frantically trying to wipe her eyes.

"You don't look fine," He said awkwardly, sitting down next to her. She looked up, curious at who was so concerned that she wasn't okay.

"James?" She cried, absolutely shocked. Why did James give a shit about

whether or not she was okay? "What are you doing here?"

"I come here to a lot when I need to get away, and then I heard you crying so I thought I would see if you're okay." He said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"No offense, but why do you care? You kind of hate all of us,"

"I don't hate you guys, Beth does… And I wanted to… Ummm… support her I guess." He stuttered, looking down at his shoes. "I actually dont't think you guys are half bad, and I feel kind of bad about how Beth and I have treated you."

Oh. My. Gosh.

James was apologizing? And actually talking to her? A day could only get so weird.

"Actions speak louder than words." She said, looking him straight in the eye.

"I know," He said, his eyes boring into hers.

And he bent down and kissed her.

She didn't pull back, too shocked to even think about what was happening. And within a couple seconds she realized she didn't one hundred percent want to pull away…

And he was on his feet, his face white as a ghost, and his eyes looking scared. Emily just sat there, in a shocked silence not knowing what to do.

James started backing away, staring at her. "Don't tell," He whispered and took off up the hill.

Thoughts started sifting through Emily's head, and she struggled to sort them out.

Number One:

She desperately wanted TF to change his mind, but knew she needed to accept that he never would.

Number Two:

She needed to tell Rose what James had said,

Number Three:

James had kissed her.

Number Four:

JAMES FREAKING POTTER HAD KISSED HER! And she had to admit that she kind of liked it…

And Number Five:

She really wanted to see James again.

Yup, this day really sucked.

AN: I honestly really loved writing that chapter… I really felt inspired to write it, and I just love this chapter in general

Please review! And I hope to update soon!