Author's Note: Hello everyone! I know, you're surprised to hear from me. I have been in the community college musical here in Wyoming, and we have been rehearsing every night since the beginning of June! Now we have performances...nine more, to be exact. So by August, I will have much more time. And I really want to get this story done! Also, there is another passion in my life that has been sucking my time away from me (in a good, fun way). Yes, I am still RP-ing. The website has been changed, and is now: harrypotterdreams . proboards . com With no spaces, of course. Come join us! We still have a lot of canon characters open, so check it out.

Chapter 21:

It was already time for lunch on the first day back at Hogwarts, and Scorpius had still seen no sign of Rose. He had asked Al and James, but they had said the same thing. They saw bits and pieces of her around; a small flash of red hair running into the loo, or her hand pulling her bag up to her shoulder just in time for her to disappear into the girls dormitories. None of them had any real idea what was going on except for James. He might have been a bloke, and a bit slow on the uptake, but he had a feeling it was something to do with Scorpius. He just couldn't put his finger on it. He was starting to get worried, though, as they all were. Especially when she didn't come down to eat. James ended up sitting by his blond friend and lowered his voice to a little more than a whisper.

"Scorp, I think you have to be the one to find Rosie and talk to her. I don't know what's happening, but I have a feeling the only person who can really help is you."

Scorpius nodded as he slowly pushed his food around his plate. He had been having that same feeling, he just didn't know how to approach Rose. If he knew what he had done, he would have better footing when he tried talking to her. But he didn't know, and he was afraid she would never tell him. Maybe she would continue hating him until the end of time. He couldn't have that...his heart would shatter into a million pieces. He missed her...he needed his Rose.

"I'll go now," he said to James. "Not like I'm eating much anyway."

It was a long walk up to Gryffindor Tower. It seemed longer than normal as Scorpius was trying to decide what to say to his best friend. Talking to Rosie had never been a problem before today. But now there seemed to be some sort of chasm between them. He even felt tears come to his eyes the more he thought about the possibility of their friendship coming to an end. No, that could never be. He would not let that happen. They were meant to be best friends for the rest of their lives, especially when it came to their schooling. Scorpius knew he could never survive Hogwarts without Rose Weasley.

After he had given the password to the fat lady, he walked into the common room and saw Rose trying to run back up to her dorm. He reached out, practically jumping for her, and ended up tumbling to the ground, landing on top of her. She looked up in surprise, and he looked down into her face, a mixture of humiliation and relief on his face. He was glad he had finally caught up to her, but he had not intended to maul her into submission. However, he was not going to let her go now. He stayed on top of her so that he could ask her his questions before she decided to run again.

"Rose, we need to talk," he said, a little breathless.

"Scorpius, get off me!" She squeaked.

He shook his head.

"Not until you tell me what I did. Please, Rosie...I'm begging you. What did I do? Let me fix it! Whatever it is, I'll make it better. I miss you...I miss you so much."

She looked indignantly into his gray eyes, but her anger didn't last long. And to her horror, she began to cry. And all she could do was wrap her arms around him as tears fell down her face. She spoke, but it all came out in muffled, incoherent sobs. And all Scorpius could do was hold her. If only he could translate emotional girl speak...

"Rosie," he said gently, sitting up and pulling her with him. "Start again."

He reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks, and she sniffled and tried to regain some composure.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Scorp. I missed you so much too. And I'm sorry I've been such a dolt."

He shook his head, still confused as ever, but he didn't want to push it. If she was sitting here talking to him again, that was all that mattered. He wanted to ask her if she was sure she didn't want to tell him what was wrong, but he was too caught up in the moment. Especially when she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his middle. He held her in return and they leaned against the sofa in the Gryffindor common room for as long as they could get away with it.

When classes began again the next day, things were better than ever. The four of them were together again, and it felt like home. They went through Charms and Transfiguration easily enough, but now it was time for Defense with Malcolm Pritchard. And Scorpius was sure he would not be able to hold his temper in check with that slimy git at the front of the classroom. But when they arrived in class, he was surprised to see that his most hated professor was sitting behind his desk, looking gloomy and beaten. His hair was disheveled, he had scratches all over his face, and ugly bruises flowering just under his collar and up his neck. Scorpius leaned over to Rose and whispered, "What the hell happened to him?"

But she shook her head, unable to come up with a reason why he would look so awful. It looked like he had been in a fight with a vampire or something, but she knew he would not be alive anymore if that had happened. It seemed so out of character that the Defense professor would not have been able to use Defense to his advantage when in a fight with a dark creature.

The class was not too bad, mainly because Pritchard seemed to not care about whether his students were doing anything or not. At one point he even fell asleep with his head against the desk. Scorpius wasn't complaining, but it was still very curious.

After all of their classes were finished and supper was over, Scorpius sat with his best friends on the edge of the Black Lake. The water seemed calmer than usual, but no one seemed overly fussed about it. They were all just grateful to be back together again. And maybe today was a sign of better things to come. With Professor Pritchard so out of it, and their other classes being fairly straightforward, it was hard not to relax. But Scorpius also couldn't help but feel some apprehension. If they got too comfortable in their situation, they could be in for a rude awakening when things finally began to speed up again. Or maybe they would get so bored that they would try to create trouble. That was all they needed.

End of Chapter

Sorry it's short, I'll get to long chapters again someday. Please review and thank you for reading!