Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter.
AN: I haven't updated for a while, so I sincerely apologise for the late update. It's only been a week, but I feel it's cruel to leave you hanging after Allison's crazy messed up plot. I have a feeling I've said this way too often but still, to those who reviewed, alerted and favourited, thanks:) It's been my source of inspiration to churn this out. Alright, on with the story!
GardenRiver: Don't worry, someone will definitely clear up the misunderstandings:) And I will be writing the epilogue just in case you were wondering:) Thanks for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
hpswst101: Yes! Finally someone who sees it from Scorpius's perspective! He does have a reason not to believe Rose, although Rose would never do something like that and does deserve a little sympathy. I'm glad that there's someone who understand what Scorpius is going through without having the opinion that he's way too paranoid and stuff. Hope you enjoy this chapter though:) Thanks for the review!
Cookie-Dough-Always: I'll definitely clear things up. Just hope you like the way I did it:) I will be writing the epilogue so I hope you will enjoy it as well as the rest of the story! There's only like two more chapters before it ends. Thanks for the review:)
101-silentwhispers: NO! Scorpius obviously did not tell anyone about Rose kissing Craig! He loves her too much to do that. As for Lysander, he won't be adding his two cents about Rose and get hexed by anybody! I love the characters too much to do that. Anyway, I have a feeling that you won't be so hostile towards Lysander in a moment. It's a hint, but well, read on. This chapter's quite a twist:) I know you want an epilogue, just wish that sometimes you could write your option in the review and NOT in the reply to my PM. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter:)
Chapter 12: Misgiving or Forgiving
"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out that you are here to persuade me that Rose is innocent," Scorpius muttered coldly as Albus grinned sheepishly at him.
"I have a feeling you know me too well Scorpius."
"It's kind of obvious seeing that it's the main topic of our conversation nowadays and this is relatively huge news for you."
Albus furrowed his eyebrows at Scorpius's tone.
"I was hoping that some time alone would actually help, but it seems that your mood is still as gloomy."
"It's actually better now. Just now, I felt like tearing the whole library apart with Craig along with it," Scorpius scoffed. "And you can't blame me for still being gloomy. How would you feel if someone you liked was found cheating on you?"
Albus had no reply this time. He had only been in one relationship, and it had been a fairly successful one with no break ups or major hitches, certainly no cheating was involved as well. Albus could not imagine how Scorpius felt with two betrayals, but he believed that the feeling must have been terrible.
"Come on Scorpius…"
"See? You don't know how it feels like and you want me to forget about it and happily go on a relationship with her? I can't do it, really I can't!"Scorpius said, pounding his fist against the stone walls along the corridors.
"I know the feeling is terrible, but Rose really didn't do it. Why can't you just believe that fact? She doesn't deserve the punishment for something she didn't do!"Albus defended.
"You think I don't want to? I want to, but how sure are you that Rose did not do it? It's her word against so many witnesses' word. To add on, she didn't have an alibi for that very moment. Do you know how hard it is to believe her when there is no evidence?"
"I… don't know," Albus stammered. "But Rose would clearly never do such a thing! Hasn't it come across you that she could have been framed by someone? Who knows how the person did it, but it could have been possible."
"The Rose I know would never betray me, but I'm starting to wonder if there even is a Rose I know. I'm sorry, I just can't believe you right now. You're Rose's cousin, you would say anything to help her."
Albus sighed, trying to convince Scorpius that Rose did not kiss Craig was turning out to be a near impossible task. He had his mind set so firmly on the fact that he was betrayed, that he was starting to get paranoid.
"I just wanted everything to work out between you guys."
"Thanks for the help Albus, but I really wish to be left alone now."
Albus nodded and turned away despondently. If that talk was meant to improve the relationship between Rose and Scorpius, it definitely didn't fulfil its purpose. Scorpius seemed to be scornful of even him now. The talk had been a complete failure. Albus didn't know what to do now, except hope for the best, and pray that Scorpius would finally see the light of it all.
***
Lysander knew that probably everyone who was close friends with Rose thought that he was a jerk, that he was a big fat liar, one who had cheated on Rose. What they didn't know, was that all of his actions were staged deliberately for Rose to see, so that she would form that opinion of him. He wasn't really a cheater, just a big ignorant fool who wanted to make up for his past mistakes.
True, he was guilty of ignoring Rose and being caught up in his quidditch training, but his faults ended there. It was only after he had made up with Rose, (the day when Posse and Scorpius got together) when he found out by chance that she liked Scorpius. Thus, he decided to play the matchmaker to bring the two together, knowing that Rose would never be truly happy with him. Hence, the decision of breaking up with Rose was made. Not wanting Rose to feel guilty because he thought she was cheating on him, he decided to pretend that his was two-timing her, so that he in turn would be the guilty party. Therefore, only he and Linar was aware of the ploy up till then.
The break up had went smoothly as planned, Rose ran to Scorpius and Lysander could barely disguise his delight went he found Rose kissing Scorpius at the corner of the school. He knew it wouldn't be long before Scorpius broke up with his own girlfriend and the two could be together. But as though the road for the pair wasn't treacherous enough, this new problem had to pop up.
The news that Scorpius witnessed Rose kissing Craig.
When he had heard of the news, he was appalled, unable to believe his ears. Not that many people could believe it either. Firstly, Rose had never appeared to be the type who had the habit of kissing guys that she met, whether she found them good looking or not. Secondly, there was no way the Rose he knew would have betrayed Scorpius by kissing his arch-enemy, Craig. The fact that she would do something like that was preposterous.
Lysander believed that Rose was innocent, she would never do something like that. But everything about the plot was so confusing, Lysander could feel his head spinning just thinking about it. There were more than one witness to the scene and all of them had claimed it was Rose, the chances of it being a simple misidentification was very low. So what could it have been? Perhaps Rose had been hexed into doing it, and then cast with a memory charm so she wouldn't remember a thing. Lysander guessed it would be something to that extend. If only he could find evidence for it. The whole thing was frustrating.
He was no longer with Rose, her friends and family probably hated him to the core, she probably did to, but he still loved her, and he was willing to do anything to make her happy, even if that meant breaking up with her and pinning the blame on himself. So what was finding a little bit of evidence? If you exclude the fact that it was going to be tough to actually acquire it.
Lysander sighed and sauntered into the potions dungeon for lessons.
The dungeon was still empty as there were still five more minutes till class started. Lysander settled his bag on the floor and whipped out his textbook to do a little revision. It was his worst subject so he made it a habit that he went through his notes occasionally when there was spare time.
Just then, a long dark shadow draped over him and Lysander looked up to see a weary and beaten Professor Slughorn with a frown etched on his face.
"Erm… good afternoon Professor Slughorn," he greeted, still rather shocked by the Professor's sudden appearance.
"Oh… you're here. Afternoon," Professor Slughorn didn't seem to have noticed him until just then. After a moment the Professor turned back to face him. He paused for a while and Lysander watched him with a quizzing expression.
"Did you happen to see a cylinder containing polyjuice here in the dungeon?"
Polyjuice? Lysander shrugged, he had never seen one in his life. But something was nagging at him, like there was something he had to remember. Something that had been holding his attention rather recently.
"Where could that bottle have gone to? I'm sure it was still there yesterday morning," Professor Slughorn mumbled to himself.
Lysander shot up upon hearing that. The thing that was nagging him finally clicked and he realise what it was.
"Professor Slughorn, do you mean it disappeared yesterday?"Lysander enquired.
Professor Slughorn nodded. "Most probably. It wasn't there this morning." More enthusiastically, he added, "Did you see it somewhere?"
Lysander shook his head apologetically. "I didn't, I'm sorry."
Professor Slughorn slouched with disappointment and walked away. Although, Lysander felt rather sorry for Professor Slughorn, he couldn't help but feel a sense of ecstasy as an idea rushed into his head. Potions may have been one of his worst subject, but he knew the purpose of a polyjuice potion, it could be used to acquire the form of another person. And according to the Professor, it had gone missing yesterday.
Lysander smiled, if his hunch was correct, Rose was innocent, and he knew how she could have been framed. Now all he had to do was find Scorpius and tell him about it.
***
Scorpius held back a scowl as Lysander popped into his sight.
"What do you want from me? I didn't steal your ex-girlfriend in case you haven't heard the rumours yet."
Lysander frowned, "Looks like you still haven't forgiven Rose. I heard the rumours and decided to come here to talk to you about it. Not because I thought you stole my ex-girlfriend."
"Another one of those people trying to convince me that Rose is innocent," Scorpius grumbled before continuing. "What's it to you anyway? You cheated on Rose."
"Oh god, this is going to be hard to explain," Lysander rolled his eyes.
Scorpius was getting annoyed with peering out of the door, staring at the one person who wasn't exactly his friend. He deliberated slamming the door on his face, but at that instant, Lysander spoke up.
"Forget about me first. I just want to tell you that Rose is innocent, and that she was most probably framed."
"Many people told me that. If you have nothing else to tell me, maybe you could do me the favour of leaving first," Scorpius hissed and pushed the door forward.
Lysander placed his foot between the door and the wall. "Well, I have a hunch on how she was framed. You can choose not to listen, but I'll say it anyway."
Scorpius sighed and released his grip on the door before he headed for his desk, pretending he wasn't interested.
"Say whatever you want. And when you leave, close the door."
He heard a soft laugh escaping Lysander's mouth before he continued with what he wanted to say.
"Professor Slughorn told me before Potions class started that a bottle of his Polyjuice Potion had disappeared probably yesterday."
"Yeah, like I care. What's the use of telling me all this?" Scorpius said darkly.
"The Polyjuice could have been used to turn someone with a grudge on Rose into a replica of her, so that it would appear to be her who was kissing Craig. And the potion was missing this morning when Professor Slughorn searched his cabinet. It could have been stolen yesterday."
"How sure can you be?" Scorpius asked doubtfully.
"I can't. It's all a hunch. You can choose to believe it or ignore it. You're given the benefit of doubt. But ask yourself, do you think that Rose would really kiss other guys? I personally find that difficult to believe," Lysander told him.
"Why are you doing this? I want to know."
Lysander swallowed a gulp of air. "I love Rose. But I had been such a fool, ignoring her all the time. And then when I finally started to pay attention to her, I found out that she likes you. So I pretended to cheat on her, forcing her to break up with me and go with you."
Scorpius could barely believe his ears.
"Why don't you fight for her?"
"She will only be happy with you. If I wasn't sure of it, I wouldn't have done so."
Scorpius was rendered speechless, he didn't know if it was because he now knew that Rose actually liked him, or that Lysander was actually a nice person.
Seeing that Scorpius needed time to digest what he had just heard, Lysander made his way away from the door.
"I'm not sure what you're going to do now, but I hope you can display some trust in Rose. And please don't let anyone know about what I did, especially Rose. I'll leave you alone to think about it."
Scorpius heard the door close and he let out a loud groan of frustration. He was clueless on what to do now. To go out with Rose, tell her that he believed she was innocent, or deny his feelings and remain his cold exterior towards her. He was confused. If only there was someone who could tell him what to do.
I hope you can display some trust in Rose.
Lysander's words sounded in his mind and Scorpius gritted his teeth. He was wrong, there were people who were telling him what to do. It just happened that he was way too stubborn to listen. Now, he prayed that it wasn't too late to listen to their advice.
***
Rose could see them heading towards her. A devious smirk perched on their lips as they sashayed over.
Leading the group of five was Posse, her blonde hair swayed with the wind and her eyes eyed Rose with contempt. Rose felt a quiver run down her spine as she backed into wall behind her.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice trembled slightly as she faced them.
Posse spoke, "Oh look, the little flirt is a coward. Scared of us, Weasely? You should be. Nobody messes with our Scorpius and gets away with it." The girls beside her nodded in agreement.
"If you are talking about the library incident, it really wasn't me who kissed Craig," Rose said in her defence.
"Oh yeah, and it was someone who looked like you," Posse commented sarcastically. "Don't lie, we know it was you. Slut!"
"I'm not a slut!" Rose protested. "If anyone is one, it's got to be you!"
Posse gasped, "What… what... what did you say?"
"Calm down Posse, there's no need to get angry with her. She's just some idiotic flirt," her friend reminded her.
"No. We must help Scorpius take revenge on her," Posse snapped, then turning to Rose, she said. "Scorpius dumped me to go with you. And you, instead of going out with him, you broke his heart by kissing that wretched Craig."
"I repeat for the last time. I did not kiss Craig. You may not believe me, but I don't care, I'm going to the library. Excuse me," Rose said and tried to squeeze out of the tight semicircle of people that surrounded her.
"No chance. You are not leaving for anywhere until we get our revenge," Posse said and whipped out her wand.
Rose whipped out her wand as well and glared at Posse, poised to defend if a spell was cast at her. But before either party could make their move, a low bellow was heard.
"Leave Rose alone. Anyone who touches her is going to have to go through me first."
Rose was paralyzed with shock when she saw who was her knight in shining armour. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was him. Scorpius.
Twelve chapters down, now only two more to go. Chapter 13 and the Epilogue! Yes, I'll be writing the epilogue, in case you were wondering:) Alright, for all those people who used to hate Lysander because he 'cheated' on Rose, since you already the know the reason why he did it, I hope you won't hate him anymore. He's actually quite nice. Ok, the next chapter should come rather soon, maybe in two days, since I'm halfway through with it, so until then:) Thanks.