Rose leant back in her chair, closing her eyes. Recently, she'd been having trouble sleeping and there wasn't really any question of why. Whenever she closed her eyes, he was there. It had been three days, and she'd had about three hours sleep.
"Are you alright, Rose?" Lucy asked, concern seeping onto her face.
Rose nodded "Sure, I'm just not looking forward to this."
"Would Neville not change it?"
Rose shook her head.
Roxanne rolled her eyes "He can be an idiot sometimes."
Lily shrugged, smiling "I'm guessing she'd rather she was doing it with him than another girl. I think Neville knew that – he's really clever."
Roxanne opened her mouth but they were interrupted by Lorcan, jumping onto the back of Lily's chair and landing on the arm. He grinned at how smoothly it had gone.
"Alright, Potter?"
"Fine, thank you, Lovegood." Lily smirked, not looking at him as if his entrance to their conversation had been as simple as him saying 'hello'.
He smiled and draped an arm around her "Hogsmeade was fun on Saturday wasn't it? You want to sneak out tonight?"
She looked bored "How do you plan on doing that?"
He leant closer to her and mumbled something only she could hear. Her eyes lit up "Really?"
He jumped off the chair and held out his hand "Sure."
Lily took it and pulled him out of the room, smiling.
"Lucky bitch." Roxanne said, shaking her head.
Rose and Lucy looked at her in shock and she smirked "What? He's gorgeous!"
Lucy shrugged "She has a point...being Lily, I wouldn't say no."
Rose shook her head and laughed incredulously "Right, okay then. Bye."
Lucy looked at her sympathetically "Is there any point wishing you luck?"
"Nope." She said, pulling on her jumper as she walked away.
Outside, it was getting dark and the corridors were cool. She found her position, by the bust of Willabus the Great on the fourth floor and took a deep breath, dreading what was to come.
She waited a few minutes before his strained voice cut through the air between them "Hey."
Rose nodded "Hi."
"You alright?" He asked, moving close enough for her to see his face. He had bags under his eyes and he looked paler than usual. His grey eyes were filled with an awful lot of nothingness, as if he'd not smiled for years and never would again. He scratched the back of his neck.
"Stupid question, Scorpius."
"Of course." He looked at the floor and said nothing for a while, before breathing heavily "Did you not want to swap with anybody?"
Rose shook her head "He wouldn't let me. Lily has a theory – she thinks that I'd rather stand here with you than let somebody else stand here with you, as in, another girl."
"And how do you feel about her theory?"
"She's right."
"Oh."
They stood in silence for the next hour, both remembering what they would have been doing if this had been only last week.
At eleven, they looked at each other. Rose nodded and turned away but he called her back.
"Rose, you don't understand how sorry I am...and I know it won't mean anything to you, but it does to me. I...If you ever want to...well...I'm always here. You're the only girl that's ever got close enough for me to say that and I know that you hate me right now, but if you change your mind...I'm honestly sorry. I've never regretted anything but that...you don't understand...if I had any chance whatsoever of it working then I'd break into the ministry right now and steal a time turner to go back and-"
Rose stopped him "Scorpius."
"Yes?"
She smiled slightly "I don't hate you."
The shock on his face was evident "Oh. Do you mind me asking why?"
"You may be a cold hearted bastard for actually kissing that thing, but I understand that, given the choice now, you probably wouldn't have done it."
"Definitely not."
"Yeah, well there we go. I don't forgive you, by any stretch of the imagination...but I do understand how much you regret it. I hate her though. That really is hatred."
"Me too."
"You weren't saying that on Saturday night."
"On Saturday night she hadn't destroyed my life."
Rose looked at him "Was Lily there, when every male member of my family tried to kill you the other day?"
He smiled slightly, but the amusement didn't reach his eyes "Yeah."
"And did you talk to her, did she tell you any more theories?"
He thought for a minute. "Yes, actually."
Rose nodded "Well, she's almost always right. She's only ever wrong when she's ill. Was she ill?"
"No."
"Right then, trust her and be patient. Miracles don't happen overnight."
Scorpius smiled, and his face seemed to light up this time as the realisation of what she was saying hit him "Night Rose."
"Good night Scorpius."
X
It was a long three months. It was a very, very long three months filled with work, homework, revision, work, homework, revision, work, homework and a bit more revision. They had three months absolutely crammed with spells that befuddled even the brightest and potions that were actual hell on earth to brew correctly – one extra drop of dragon blood and your potion would either blow up in your face or immediately turn to liquid ash, too much thought behind a certain spell and the rat would turn into a cup, rather than a fully functioning desk with drawers and hinges. It was a horrible three months.
It was the end of June and Rose was celebrating with all the rest of the older Gryffindor's under a large oak tree by the lake. Many people were proceeding to get drunk after their victory against Slytherin in the Quidditch cup, but Rose had spent many a journey on the Hogwarts Express throwing up from parties the night before and she didn't want to start the summer with a hangover.
She was stood on the wooden deck, with only a white t-shirt and denim shorts on. She felt someone beside her nudge her waist and she smiled, immediately recognising his smell.
"Hey."
"Jacket?
"Please."
He shrugged it off his shoulders and draped it around her own. It was dark now and he was the only person she could see.
"You alright Rosie?...It's been a while."
"I'm knackered, and slightly pissed off with the amount of work we have, but yeah I'm good. Sorry about your horrible defeat by the way. We really are great."
He shrugged "You are...but I feel sorry for you."
"What do you mean?"
He grinned, his eyes crinkling "I don't have any work."
She stared at him in disbelief, the jacket falling off her shoulders as she span around "Why not?"
He shrugged, picking it back up and giving it her back. He laughed as she forced it on, frowning "Because I've done it all...apart from Transfiguration."
Rose turned her back to him, crossing her arms.
"Are you sulking?"
"Yes." She said pointedly.
He chuckled "Oh, okay then."
They stood in silence for a minute before somebody else joined them "Rose, Scorpius...can I have a word?"
Rose turned around to see Neville Longbottom striding through the grass "Hi!" He said, very unprofessionally.
Rose laughed "Hey."
"Rose, I know that you've been given an awful lot of work and I also know how your organisational skills are. You may well have your mother's brain, but you take after your Father. Am I right in assuming you've done none of the work set?"
"It's called summer work, because it's for summer." She pointed out, still frowning.
Neville ignored her "Scorpius, have you done yours?"
"Everything except Transfiguration." He grinned.
Rose rolled her eyes.
Neville smiled "Perfect. Now, I know you struggle with Charms, Rose, so I've arranged it with your families and Scorpius is going to be bobbing over a few days a week to help you. Rose, in return, you can help him with his Transfiguration. Also," He handed over a large stack of parchment "Here's a small project to work through, seen as you'll be spending so much time together."
Rose spluttered, trying desperately to intake all this information "You are joking, aren't you?"
"No, Rosie."
Scorpius grinned "Yeah, Rosie, embrace it."
"Shut up." She snapped "And I do not struggle with Charms!"
"Well you certainly don't excel in it."
"I've got exceeds expectations in every mock we've done!"
Neville smiled "Isn't an outstanding though, is it?"
Rose huffed "My Dad's agreed to this?"
"Your Mother has."
Scorpius winced and Rose grinned triumphantly as he wondered off to the group by the tree "Well, at least one thing will come of this."
Scorpius looked at her out of the corner of his eye "Yeah? What's that then?"
"You'll finally get to meet my parents."
And then she strode off towards the castle.
X
Review please!