Hello, hello! Here's chapter 28! I hope you all enjoy it. A few orders of business:

1) So, I've noticed that FF will now allow me to upload photos to serve as "story covers". I was wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing that? I'm not saying that I would be particularly good at making them or anything, but I could try. 2) I tried to respond to everyone who reviewed but for those of you who reviewed on a guest account sorry I couldn't send you a message but - thank you! all the same.

Thanks for all the support! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: disclaimed.

"You know, this really is an awful holiday." I mumbled before shoveling a handful of candy hearts into my mouth. The candy hearts were a gift from Lily who, unlike myself, was out enjoying the holiday. "It's so clearly a ruse to get us all to buy a bunch of stuff."

From across the dormitory Emily laughed, glancing at me through her mirror as she finished getting ready. "That's not what you said last year." She chimed.

"Yes well, that's because I actually had a date on Valentine's Day last year." I threw a few more candy hearts into my mouth before sinking further down into my bed.

"Wouldn't you say you're being a bit hypocritical then?" Emily asked as she started to walk towards, putting in her earrings as she strode across the room. "I didn't have a date last year nor do I have one now but you don't see me sulking in bed."

Hearing this I wrinkled my nose and, in a display of immense immaturity, stuck my tongue out at Emily. "No." Though I was quick to deny it, I knew that Emily was right. This only depressed me further and I reached for the box of chocolates Albus had given me this morning.

"Merlin's beard Rose, stop stuffing yourself with candy." Emily leaned over my bed and quickly snatched the box of chocolates out of my hand. "You'll make yourself sick and then you're really going to be a pain to be around."

"Gee, thanks a lot Emily." Narrowing my eyes I watched Emily intently as she walked the box of chocolates to the other side of the dormitory, placing them on top of her dresser.

"What else are friends for?" She teased with a light laugh.

Sighing I discreetly stuck my hand into the bag of candy hearts and took out as many as I could without drawing Emily's attention. "I suppose I should start getting used to being alone. After all, this is exactly how I will be spending all of my future Valentines." Pretending to yawn I quickly stuffed the candy into my mouth.

Hearing my latest attempt at wallowing, Emily rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "What's gotten into you Rosie?" She questioned. After grabbing a pair of boots from her trunk Emily walked over to the side of my bed and peered down at me.

With a mumble I shrugged my shoulders, "Other than the fact that I have terrible luck with guys, absolutely nothing."

Emily exhaled loudly, unable to hide her frustration with me. "Now what gave you that idea? Just because your last two liaisons didn't work out doesn't mean you have terrible luck with guys, it just means you're normal. Oh dear, alert the Daily Prophet, Rose Weasley has failed to excel in one aspect of her life." Tilting her head, Emily gave me a pointed look.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated." Though Emily was correct in what she had said, in my mind I was referring to Scorpius. Of all the boys at Hogwarts it was beyond me as to why I had to fall for Scorpius Malfoy. I was especially baffled by the fact that I had come to said realization just when he had started to revert back to his old, loathsome ways.

"Too bad. You needed to hear it." With that, Emily pulled back my covers in one swift motion. As she did so the bag of candy hearts I had hidden came into her line of vision. Pursing her lips Emily grabbed the bag away before I could stop her. "Now get up and change so we can go to Hogsmeade. I may not have a date but I refuse to sit in this tower all day listening to you mope."

Wearing a pout on my face I began to whine. "But I don't want to. You can go without me." If I managed to get Emily out of the tower then I would get to eat all of the chocolate and candy hearts that my stomach could handle.

"And wander around Hogsmeade all by myself on Valentine's Day? Seeing nauseating couples is the last thing I want to endure on my own. Get out of bed and be a good friend Rosie."

Though I had no desire to do what was being asked of me, Emily had pulled the friendship card and so, I had no choice. Blowing a few strands of hair out of my face, I threw my legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up. "Fine. If my vitriol is what you want to listen to for the rest of the day then so be it. Be careful what you wish for." Tilting my head to the side I gave her a cheeky smile before wandering off to get ready.

"Very good. I'll be waiting out here." Emily grinned and sat down on my bed. As I turned to go into the bathroom I saw her pop a few of my candy hearts into her mouth.

Three outfits and two hairstyles later I found myself wandering the streets of Hogsmeade with Emily by my side. Seeing as how Emily had made me change so many times, by the time we made it out of the castle it was already well past noon. This meant that the nauseating couples were out in full force.

"Well, they're going to last another two weeks." I muttered as two wide-eyed fifth years waltzed past Emily and I. The girl was trying to force feed her date some sort of pastry while the boy playfully refused. I watched them intently as they walked ahead of us and before they had gotten even ten feet in front of, the boy gave in and took a bite of the pastry.

"Oh come now Rosie, they were cute." Emily chided, a smile pulling at her lips as she tried to suppress a laugh.

Wrinkling my nose I turned to Emily and gave her a look of disbelief. My actions only caused her burst into giggles.

"You really are uncharacteristically cynical today." Emily remarked.

"Yes, well…" I trailed off with a shrug of my shoulders. As I refused to let Scorpius see that I was hurt by our fractured relationship this was my method of coping. "You can't say that I didn't warn you before we left the tower."

"This is true. I guess I got what I asked for."

The two of us ducked into Spintwitches, having decided that a bit of shopping would help lift our spirits.

"So, how are the trivia practices going?" Emily asked as the two of us thumbed through the rows and rows of chasers equipment.

Hearing her question I paused for a second, allowing my face to fall into a frown. "Not well." I admitted somewhat bitterly before I resumed my browsing.

This time it was Emily's turn to freeze up. "Really?" She questioned, evidently surprised by my answer. "But we did so well on the last two challenges."

I sighed heavily, "True, but that's because Scorpius and I managed to get along for the last two challenges. Our relationship has taken a turn for the worse lately." My friendship with Scorpius had been a key factor in the success the Slythindor team had enjoyed over the past couple of months. Our friendship had pushed the two houses closer together, but now that we weren't getting along things seemed to be ripping apart at the seems. With a sigh I shrugged my shoulders and picked up a set of black, leather chasers gloves.

"I'm sorry to hear that Rosie, I know how well you two were getting along. What happened?" Emily pursed her lower lip, shooting me a sympathetic look.

For a few seconds I considered whether or not I ought to tell Emily what was going on. Lily and Molly were the only two people who knew of the fight I had, had with Scorpius. As I mulled it over I realized that it would be unfair to keep Emily out of the loop. After all, I considered her to be one of my good friends and perhaps she would be able to offer another perspective on the situation.

"Do you remember how I told you that Scorpius started ignorning me right before the ball?" I asked, trying to refresh her memory.

"Yeah."

"Well, I bumped into him the day after the ball and I wound up confronting him about it." I thought back to the fight as we made our way to the front of the store to pay for our items. "Turns out that my friendship with Scorpius didn't sit well with some of his housemates and they started to question his loyalties." I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I told the story.

"Wait, so he started acting like a prat because his idiot housemates didn't want him being friends with you?" Emily's tone of voice was heavy with disbelief.

"Pretty much." I grumbled, pursing my lips as I nodded slowly, soaking in the absurdity of the situation.

After handing over the appropriate number of galleons I grabbed the bag holding my purchases and waited for Emily by the door.

"That is most definitely one of the more idiotic things I have ever heard." Emily remarked as we left the store and once more began to wander about the town. "Though this does explain why you're been in such a foul mood today."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I questioned, indignantly. I resented the fact that Emily had noticed that my fight was Scorpius was effecting me.

"Exactly what it sounds like Rosie. You're in such a lousy mood today because of your falling out with Scorpius."

"That is most certainly not true!" I exclaimed. "Scorpius Malfoy is having no affect on my mood." Even a blind man would have been able to tell that I was lying through my teeth.

Emily rolled her eyes and gave me a sideways glance, "Oh come off it Rose. It makes perfect sense. You fancy Scorpius and so now that it's Valentine's Day you're in a foul mood because you two are no longer getting along."

As Emily's words drifted to my ears I stopped dead in my tracks. It took Emily a few moments but she soon realized that I was no longer at her side. She too soon stopped and turned around to look at me. "What are you doing?" She questioned from a few paces in front of me.

"What did you just say?" I questioned. I had, had no intention of telling Emily that I liked Scorpius in that way and I was baffled as to how she had come to that conclusion. The more people who knew that I liked Scorpius the greater the chance that it would get back to Albus and Hugo.

"Stop it Rosie, you know exactly what I said." Annoyed by my behavior Emily tried to urge me to continue walking.

"Why would you say such a thing?" I did my best to feign a look of innocence as I resumed walking alongside Emily.

"Because it's astonishingly obvious, that's why."

"Who told you?" I demanded, turning my head to the right so that I could look at Emily. I wasn't buying the idea that she had come to this conclusion on her own.

"No one!" She insisted.

"Who was it?"

"Okay fine. Lily told me." Emily finally relented.

"I knew it." I mumbled under my breath, displeased. My cousin was sure to get an earful tonight.

"Please don't be mad at Lily, Rose!" Emily pleaded, turning her upper body towards me. "It's not as if it was some big, indiscernible secret. I was starting to figure it out on my own anyway. You're not particularly adept at concealing this sort of thing."

"I resent that." I mumbled with a frown.

"Cue my speech about it being breaking news that Rose Weasley isn't perfect at every little thing."

Emily threw me a smirk and I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Just promise me you won't tell anyone else."

"Not a soul, I promise."

"Thanks."

"Though, what are you going to do about it?" Emily asked as we quickly ducked into Honeydukes for something warm to drink on this frosty February day.

"About what? My situation with Scorpius?" I whispered, carefully eyeing my surroundings. Emily nodded, signaling that, that was in fact what she had been referring to.

"I don't know." I replied honestly with a shrug of my shoulders. "Nothing I guess."

"Nothing?" Emily exclaimed incredulously. "You're not going to do a single thing about it?" Though Emily's tone of voice had risen several octaves it wasn't as if anyone in the shop knew what she was referring to.

"Nope, I don't think so." I took a sip of my tea and quietly considered the situation for a minute. "There really isn't any to do considering his present behavior. I have absolutely no desire to make a fool out of myself by admitting my feelings to him. If we were still on good terms with each other, well, then I would have something to consider." At this point I was almost thankful that Scorpius and I weren't speaking to one another. I couldn't even imagine what I would have done had we still been spending all of that time together.

"Rose, you can't just sit around and do nothing. That's not like you at all." Emily urged as we left Honeydukes. "You two would be absolutely wonderful together."

Hearing this I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "For some reason I highly doubt that." In my mind a romantic relationship with Scorpius would be full of knock down, drag out verbal fights.

As we walked on I could see Molly and Emmanuel up ahead. "Speaking of wonderful together…" I trailed off, pointing towards the back of Molly's head, grateful for the opportunity to change the subject.

"Molly!" I called out, hoping that she would be able to hear me and subsequently save me from Emily's questions.

Molly heard my call and she spun around on her heel, turning to face me. As her eyes landed on me a broad smile stretched out over her face, putting her sparkling whites on display.

"Rosie!" She exclaimed happily, waving me over.

As I took a step towards where Molly and Emmanuel were standing, something caught my eye. Through the gap now present between Molly and Emmanuel I could very clearly see Scorpius standing in front of Emmanuel. I instantly thought better of going over to chat with the happy couple.

"On second thought, why don't we finish our shopping first?" I pleaded of Emily, grabbing her wrist in an attempt to stop her forward progress.

Emily stopped walking and turned her head towards me, a frown on her face. "What? Why?" She questioned, confused by my sudden change in demeanor. Emily turned her head back to look towards Molly and in that moment she spotted the reason for my apprehension.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Emily muttered under her breath. "Come on, we're going over there." Emily put her hand on my back and gently pushed me forward.

"No Emily, please." I begged, not wanting to deal with Scorpius today. Scorpius was such a mixed bag of emotions for me that I didn't want to pile that on to the animosity I was already feeling towards Valentine's Day.

"Oh hush up." Emily muttered out of the side of her mouth. "You're not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that you're uncomfortable around him."

Though I continued to grumble, I knew that Emily was right. Avoiding Scorpius would just give him the upper hand in this situation. So, upon coming up to where Molly was standing I plastered a smile on my face and inhaled sharply through my nose.

"Hi guys," I greeted, trading glances with both Molly and Emmanuel. However, I refused to look Scorpius in the eye. I was more than content to watch him peer at me out of the corners of my eyes.

"Hi Rosie!" Molly greeted cheerfully, extending an arm to give me a sideways hug. "Emmanuel and I were just asking Scorpius how your trivia preparations were going."

Hearing this I bit my bottom lip to refrain from grimacing. Like I had told Emily, Slythindor preparations for the trivia challenge were not going particularly well. In fact, they were hardly going at all. The challenge was only two weeks away and so far we had only had one practice during the month of February. Seeing as how Scorpius and I were no longer on speaking terms, scheduling practice times had become extremely difficult. Frank had, had to go through Adeline to schedule the last one.

"Why do you ask Molly?" I questioned, focusing my gaze onto my cousin. "You're not trying to see what the competition is up to are you?" I teased, giving her a lopsided smirk. "Playing dirty against your own family is generally frowned upon in civilized society."

Both Molly and Emmanuel started to laugh and I could have sworn that I even saw Scorpius crack a smile.

Molly held up her hands, "You got me Rosie. Very well, you don't have to tell me anything. I know when I've been beat."

Smiling at Molly, I let my eyes wander away from her face for a moment. As they did so, I found Scorpius looking at me rather intently. I let my eyes meet his and despite my pounding heart and churning stomach I kept his gaze locked. In the back of my mind I was challenging myself, trying to see just how long I could stare at Scorpius before I simply couldn't take it any longer. I wanted to know that I was strong enough to face him head on, despite the fact that my amorous feelings were unrequited.

A couple of seconds went by and then a few more. I could hear Emily strike up another topic of conversation with Molly and Emmanuel but I didn't look away. Despite the fact that I was practically torturing myself I wasn't ready to give up. This little challenge to myself had now evolved into a challenge for Scorpius. I hoped that by challenging him in this way I would be able to get him to come to some sort of realization. I wanted to get him to realize that he had done something wrong, that he had hurt me and that he needed to make things right.

My desire to make Scorpius see reason wasn't even about my romantic feelings for him. I knew that Scorpius and I wouldn't make it as a couple and I had no intentions of revealing my true sentiments. However, I missed him terribly as a friend. I missed the witty retorts and the sarcastic comments, I missed our long winded intellectual discussions and all of the times we would bounce ideas off of each other until it got so late that we had to be kicked out of the library. Put simply I missed being around him and I just wanted that back.

Eventually, Scorpius looked away. Perhaps that signaled that I had made some sort of impact on him; that I had made a dent in the façade he was putting up. Or, perhaps, I was kidding myself and he had merely gotten sick of the staring contest I had challenged him to. Either way, the fact that I hadn't been the first one to flinch constituted a small, personal victory.

"What about you Rosie? Have you heard anything?" Molly asked as she gently brushed my shoulder.

Realizing that I had been tuning everyone out all of this time, I panicked. Turning my head towards my cousin I smiled, "About what exactly? I seem to have spaced out a bit." I laughed, "Long night." I added apologetically.

"We were trading stories about all of the fourth challenge speculations we've heard." Emmanuel piped up, a bemused smile playing across his lips. Though he was addressing me I took note of the fact that his eyes were firmly plastered on Scorpius' face, as if he was examining his friend.

"Oh, well, I haven't heard any amusing ones." To be honest, I hadn't heard any at all. The Slythindor trivia team was so far behind in prepping for the trivia challenge that we simply couldn't afford to look any further.

"What about you mate? You hear anything worth sharing?" Emmanuel asked of Scorpius, turning his body to face his friend.

Scorpius frowned and shook his head, "Nothing at all." He replied sounding quite bored with the conversation. It was either that or he had also spaced out at some point.

"Well, I've heard some really preposterous ones. One of the girls in Hufflepuff, well, she…"

Molly was cut short when Emmanuel reached out his hand and placed it on her back, "Would you mind terribly if we took a rain check on sharing these stories?" He asked of Molly, as well as of the rest of us. "We have a reservation to get to." Emmanuel smiled, clearly happy that he could say that.

"Not at all. You two crazy kids have fun." Emily chimed, waving off the pair.

Molly and Emmanuel took their leave and before I knew it I was standing in front of Scorpius with just Emily at my side.

For a few seconds I merely stood there, my feet glued to the floor by the sheer awkwardness of the situation. Finally, I came to my senses and I cleared my throat, "Well, best be off then." I mumbled as I widened my eyes at Emily in an attempt to give her some sort of hint.

With a curt nod in Scorpius' direction I walked straight past him with Emily at my side. Every muscle in my body tensed up as I brushed Scorpius' shoulder.

"Rose!"

I had only made it a few feet before I heard Scorpius call my name. My heart jumped up into my throat and I inhaled sharply through my nose. In that split second before I turned around part of me believed that my stare down had worked, that I had in fact knocked some sense into him.

"Yes?" I questioned, spinning around on my heel to look at him.

Scorpius hesitated with his mouth half open. It looked at if he knew exactly what he wanted to say but just couldn't get the words out.

Frowning, I took a step in his direction. "What is it?" Though I had intended for my tone of voice to be harsh and demanding the words came out softer and more inquisitive.

Again, Scorpius hesitated. He glanced off to the side before frowning and clearing his throat. "Nothing really. I just thought that we might want to schedule another practice session for the trivia team. The challenge is in two week and we're pretty far behind on our outlined material."

My heart, which had previously been sitting in my throat, plummeted into my stomach. While I had been hopeful a few seconds ago I now found myself feeling even more animosity towards Scorpius than I had this morning. "Why don't we have one on Saturday?" I suggested impatiently, crossing my arms over my chest.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes quickly, as if my reaction surprised him. "I was thinking more along the lines of tomorrow."

"I can't." I said simply, with a shake of my head. "I'm busy." In reality I had absolutely nothing to do but go to class and do homework but it was probably for the best that I gave myself some time to cool down after this conversation. Otherwise there was a high probability of me pointing my wand at one of Scorpius' housemates.

Scorpius didn't say anything right away and I got the feeling that he was tempted to ask me what exactly it was that I was so busy with tomorrow. However, he thought better of it.

Sighing, Scorpius nodded his head, "Very well. Saturday it is. Noon?"

"Very well." I replied, mimicking him. Not giving Scorpius the chance to say another word I turned around and walked away from him.

As I walked off I felt like screaming with frustration. Though I wanted to slap Scorpius clear across the face I was still head over heels for the Scorpius of three weeks ago. No one person had ever made me feel so conflicted in my entire life.