"I am through with your nonsense, Albus Severus Potter!"

Scorpius heard the harsh female whisper cut through the air, probably from the next corridor over, and froze midstep.

"Elsie, I—"

"I hate it when you do this to me!"

Scorpius edged up his corridor a little further and peered around the corner. Indeed, Elsie and Albus were standing there, the former almost in tears, and the latter looking defensive.

"What? What am I doing?"

"You say you want to be just friends? Fine, I can handle that. I'm handling, aren't I? But you can't have it both ways!"

"I don't want it both ways! I—" Albus took an audible breath in. "What is it that you want from me, Elizabeth?" His voice was harsh, and Scorpius noticed that it was the first time he had called her Elizabeth since he met her, two years prior.

"I want you to make up your mind! If you want me, fine, we'll figure something out. But if really want to be just friends, then you have to let me move on! Stop with the completely irrational jealousy!"

"It's not irrational! You talk to Emmett all the time!" Scorpius drew the mental picture of a gangly boy with sandy hair that Elsie was often seen with.

"He's my cousin!" She shrieked.

There was a moment of complete silence. And then, a quiet, "Wait, your cousin?" From Albus.

"Yes." Her voice was thick. Scorpius peeked around the corner again. Now she really was in tears.

"Well, how should I have known? You never said anything about it! Plus, you have different last names!"

"You and Rose have different last names, and I've never accused her of flirting with you."

"She's completely bonkers for somebody else, Elsie." His voice was quieter now, and he had stopped yelling.

Scorpius didn't hear her reply, because he suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor behind him. He turned slowly, holding his breath and praying that whoever it was didn't blow his cover.

Rose.

She had just opened her mouth to call out something, probably his name, when he leaped at her, slapping a hand over her mouth and pinning her to the wall with his momentum.

She squirmed against him, eyes wide and concerned, until he held a finger in front of his own mouth to warn her to be quiet and pointed around the corner.

He took his hand off of her mouth, and she whispered so quietly that he could hardly hear her, "Scorpius, what is going on?"

He pointed around the corner again and leaned down to put his mouth against her ear. "Albus and Elsie," he breathed, "they're arguing."

He felt her shudder against him. "Sorry," she stuttered when she met his grey gaze, "Your, um… It's… Well, it was… It's cold in here," she said finally.

She crept to the corner and peered around it and he followed, pressing into her back to crane his head out.

"Are you sure they're arguing?" She whispered over her shoulder.

Scorpius shot her a glance and looked again. They were staring at each other, silent.

And then Albus, "Fine, I lied. I lied, okay?"

Shocked by his sudden outburst, Rose stood straight up again, slamming into Scorpius' body and stumbling. He threw one arm around her waist to catch her and one hand onto her mouth to keep her from crying out.

"They don't know we're here," he whispered into her curls, and she shivered again. He could feel the sarcasm radiating from her gaze.

And then Elsie: "Oh really?" Her voice was laced with bitterness. "You know, when I met you the first time… I liked you. I really did. And I sort of thought that you felt the same. But apparently I was mistaken!"

"You weren't mistaken! I don't like you, Elsie, I bloody love you! I always have! But here I was thinking that you were terrified of that, so I said we'd be just friends, because I thought you wanted that! But I'm tired of it! I hate being your friend, when I'm sitting there wishing that I was so much more to you!"

She was sobbing now in earnest. "You are more to me! Don't you know that?"

And then there was silence again. Scorpius let go of Rose and she peeked around the corner and pulled back quickly, making a face.

"What are they doing now?" He asked impatiently, a little too loudly, perhaps, for now it was Rose covering his mouth with her small hand.

"Snogging," she said, standing on her tiptoes to whisper the word in his ear.

There is something incredibly awkward, Scorpius decided then, about being in the same room as two people who are kissing as if their life depended on it. And even though he couldn't see them and they couldn't see him, he still didn't know quite what to do with himself. He couldn't even decide where to look: down at Rose's face, inches before his, down the corridor, up at the ceiling. He tried them all and none really seemed to work.

Rose, perhaps also realizing how awkward the situation was quickly becoming, dropped her hand from his face and took a quick step back.

'Perhaps we should go,' she mouthed, pointing down the corridor they were both standing in. It was the long way back to Gryffindor tower, but it was better than walking up on Albus and Elsie.

He nodded in silent agreement.

When they had walked two staircases and three hallways away and were sure that they couldn't be heard, Rose giggled.

"You should have seen the look on your face when I walked up! I've never seen you panicked before, you always seem so cool and collected."

Scorpius grimaced embarrassedly. "I thought you might blow my cover."

She laughed again. "I might have, if you hadn't tackled me."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," Rose said, suddenly quiet. "I didn't really mind."

They didn't speak for the rest of the walk, until Rose opened the portrait hole and they were both climbing inside.

"I told you they were lying about being 'just friends,'" she told him.

And that was something with which he was forced to agree.