Rose's POV

She felt like she was floating all morning. From waking up to the warm glow of happiness as memories came flooding back into her brain, to the smiles she got from her friends as she walked down to breakfast with him.

Who knew life could be this sweet.

Who knew he could be this sweet.

Everything she'd heard about his relationships must be false; no man could go straight from being a player to commitment. Everyone else must have been wrong about his propensity for cheating.

And he certainly was committed to her; that was for sure. Meeting her outside of the Gryffindor common room to walk down to breakfast with her, holding her hand even as people stared at them, whispering jokes in her ear to distract her from the murmurs, these were not the actions of an uncommitted person.

And how distracting he was…

Rose shook her head, struggling to focus. He wasn't even with her anymore, and still she couldn't pay attention.

She was seated at a table in the library, attempting to write an essay on the properties of Vanished objects while Scorpius was in Ancient Runes. Oddly enough, she felt lonely, even though mere days before she had routinely studied alone without issue.

Now, however, it was like she became somehow less when Scorpius wasn't there.

Sighing, Rose gave up on getting more work done. Planting her chin in her hand, she stared dreamily at the shelves, allowing herself to daydream.

Suddenly, her imaginings were interrupted. The chair across from her was pulled out, and a girl sat down in a puff of perfume.

Jasmine Nott, Slytherin and well known for being a bit of a slag. Well, really, more than a bit.

Rose couldn't imagine what possessed this girl to come to talk to her; they had hardly exchanged a word before.

"Hey, Rose, sweetie." Jasmine smiled, looking almost wolfish with her teeth bared.

Rose smiled weakly back. "Hi, Jasmine."

"I just wanted to congratulate you," Jasmine said, still all smiles. "Scorpius Malfoy is quite the catch; there's hardly a girl in Hogwarts who isn't scheming for him."

Rose waited patiently to see where this was going.

"But, you know, it takes a certain kind of girl to be with Scorp," she continued. "Someone who can handle all his fire in bed, but won't get upset when he takes that fire elsewhere, too. Girls like that are rare; for some reason, all of them want him all to themselves." Jasmine laughed throatily. "Can you even imagine? Something that good should be shared."

Heart sinking, Rose felt she had to ask. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"What do I mean about the fire? Oh, sweetie, you have no idea." Jasmine laughed again, speaking over Rose's soft protests that it wasn't what she meant. "Has he kissed you yet? Oh, of course he has, what am I saying. Scorp isn't one to wait, is he? But just wait until he has you naked, spread on his bed, and he does that thing with his tongue—"

"Jasmine!" Rose broke in desperately, cheeks flaming, unwilling to hear any more about Scorpius's talents in bed from this girl. "That wasn't what I meant!"

Jasmine stopped, looking at Rose. "Oh, you were talking about Scorp's relationships, weren't you. I thought you would've known." She smiled without humor.

"Known what?" The words dripped from Rose's tongue, flavored by the bitter taste of dread.

"He doesn't really have them, of course. The word 'relationship' implies a certain amount of commitment and caring, doesn't it? And that's not what Scorpius does."

She couldn't be telling the truth…could she? Rose would've sworn that Scorpius had changed for her, but how could she know, really? "What does Scorpius do, then?"

Jasmine smiled vindictively this time. "He fucks you. And then he moves on."

Rose shook her head now, not wanting to hear anything more. Part of a relationship was trust, and that she would not give up on. "No, that's not true anymore. He really likes me, I can tell. He wouldn't do that."

"Oh, wouldn't he?"

Fear settled in her stomach like a lead brick at the certainty in the other girl's voice.

"Then what was he doing with me last night?" Jasmine said.

Silence.

There was a roaring in Rose's ears, almost eclipsing the damning words. This couldn't be happening…

"W-What do you mean?" she asked, afraid to hear the answer.

There was a gleam of triumph in Jasmine's eyes as she looked straight at Rose and grinned, showing all her teeth. "Exactly what I said."

Something funny was happening in Rose's chest. When, mere moments before, she had been perfectly fine, now there was a strange aching feeling in her chest, and her throat felt dry. It was like a ton of rocks suddenly landing on her spirit, pushing it down and burying all of the good feelings of the morning under a horrible sense of inevitability.

How had she ever thought that Scorpius would've changed for her? He didn't even like her. He spent his days looking for ways to annoy her, anger her. He loved to make her miserable. This could only be his newest prank.

She blinked back tears, unwilling to show Jasmine just how affected she was by her hurtful words.

Unfortunately, Jasmine saw anyway.

"Aw, poor wittle baby," she said in a baby voice. "Is you a wittle bit sad?" Then her tone changed to pure scorn. "Did you honestly think he liked you? Did he leave you last night with kisses and promises? Because he must have come running right to me after that. Looks like you weren't even worth a single night to him before he moved on." She planted her hands on her hips, looking supremely smug.

"No…No…I…" Rose stuttered, struggling to cope with this.

"It's okay. You're not his type anyway, right, sweetheart? Scorp likes his girls a little bit more…endowed. And less stuck up. What I don't understand is—" here she laughed, "—how you honestly thought he liked you. Liked you. I guess he just wanted a bit of a challenge for once, but really, I would've thought an intelligent girl like you would've realized what he was really after."

Losing the battle with her emotions, Rose couldn't keep the tears from spilling out any longer. She slammed her textbook shut, picked up her parchment, and shoved both into her bag, practically running out of the library before Jasmine could make things any worse.

"Don't worry, sweetie!" Jasmine called after her, determined to have the last word. "I'll take care of him now that he's done with you!"

As Rose ran off, the other girl smirked. Purpose fulfilled. Now that the Weasley girl was out of the picture—and Jasmine was sure that she was, after that conversation—Scorpius would come running back to her.

"Never should've left in the first place," Jasmine grumbled, still smarting a bit over the rejection. And even if he didn't, then she'd already gotten her revenge on him.

Oh, being a bitch was just so much fun.