Preview: "You are divided," she said, now not even looking at him but staring at a spot just beside his right ear. "You wish the visions to cease, but you know that without them, your friend would have died by the spell that put you in that chair. You fear both knowledge of the future, and ignorance."

Raindrops on Roses

Seventh Year Part 4

2024

~*-R-*~

~*-R-*~

The next weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend. Rose and Al tried to get Scorpius to come with them to the joke shop (Rose had checked ahead to make sure none of her more volatile family members would be there) but he refused, saying he had other things to do. When Rose offered to go with him, he said no to that, as well.

"It's personal stuff," was all he would say, as he wheeled his chair away from them. "I'll meet up with you guys later."

"What on earth does that mean?" Rose demanded of her cousin, as they walked the shortcut over the hill to the western side of the village. "'Personal stuff'? What personal stuff could he possibly have in the village?"

"How should I know?" Al shrugged. He too had offered to go with Scorpius and been shot down. She could tell it hurt him, even if he would never say so for Scorpius' sake.

"I don't like it," Rose sighed. "What if one of his dad's people gets to him?"

"In Hogsmeade?" Al raised an imperious eyebrow.

"Or… or what if he's got another girl?" Rose said, flinging all caution to the winds. "I mean what else could it be?"

Al snorted. "Yeah, right. He rolls down the tower and out of the castle at night and has a secret love affair with one of the village girls -"

"He could have met someone at Durmstrang!" Rose snapped. She knew she was being ridiculous, but there was very little else she could do when every logical question she put to Scorp was met with either a scowl or a blank look. She was tired of it, but she didn't know any other way to tell him that she wanted him to talk to her.

"Don't be stupid," Al sighed. "Id' know if it was something like that - we're together enough. And you know he loves you. There was a time he wouldn't shut up about it."

Rose glared at him. "Exactly. Once upon a time."

"He's got other stuff on his mind, now, Rosie," he said, kicking a stone ahead of them on the path.

She gave up and decided to sulk in silence. It was a lot more satisfying anyway, when not faced with logic at every turn.

They went to the joke shop, but it wasn't as much fun without anyone there that they knew. Al then insisted on going to the bookshop, which wasn't much on Flourish and Blotts, but was the next best thing other than the library. "There's hardly anything on Healing in the library," he complained on the way. "Not the serious stuff, anyway, just the basic stuff you have to do for Charms."

"Did Knox give you reading homework?" Rose said, surprised. "That seems unfair, making you buy books when you won't be there after a few more months, anyway."

"Mmm," Albus murmured, but offered no further explanation. Rose sighed. One day, she thought irritably, I'll find a male of the species who will actually give me a straight answer.

Al disappeared into the stacks marked 'Healing' once they entered the store. Rose decided to browse the shelves for any more material on her Ancient Runes project. It was a lot slower going than she had expected. Scorp's wheelchair itself was the only decent research she had on mobility devices for wizards. There were plenty of examples of medieval wizarding staffs, of course, and she'd found a few vague references to charmed wooden legs, and a note about a mobile box made out of sapient pearwood, but the note itself was so short it might as well have been scribbled in the margin. The book Al had found in Flourish and Blotts, with the engraving of a wizarding wheelchair… well, as far as she could tell, there might have been only one chair ever in existence, and the one Scorp was using now was the self same one. There wasn't much information in the chapter either, other than the illustration. The runic language on the chair was only half legible, and seemed to be a mish-mash of several different languages. She'd been thinking it might be worth sending an owl to Knox, to ask where he had got it. Someone had to know something.

She had her head well into a thick volume entitled Runic engraving: one thousand and one uses through the ages, when she sensed someone coming up behind her. Flinching, she whipped round, snapping the book shut and brandishing it like a club.

"Merlin," said Jian, taking a surprised, but somehow still graceful, step back. "Someone's jumpy this morning."

Rose sighed and lowered her makeshift weapon. "Oh, it's you. Sorry about that. No offence, but someone did try to kill me not so long ago."

"No one would dare," Jian said, coming forward again with the sort of self-satisfied smile she had used to find so insufferable, but had now more or less gotten used to. "Unless they want to get their head bashed in by an encyclopaedia."

"Ha ha," Rose muttered. She hefted the book and made to move past him to the counter, but he turned and caught her arm.

"Hey," he said, with an uncharacteristic note of concern. "Are you quite all right?"

Rose blinked. She was used to asking the question, once every hour or so, but it seemed like ages since anyone had bothered asking her if she was all right. "I'm fine," she said, with all the fake cheerfulness she could muster. "Just… not in the mood for jokes, right now. Sorry."

"Hey Rosie, I got the -" Albus came round the corner, frowning when he saw Jian with his hand on her arm. "Chung."

"Potter," Jian said politely, nodding.

"I'll… see you for Charms, tomorrow," Rose said, gently tugging her arm away. By the look on Al's face, it was probably a good idea to separate them before there was a repeat of the library brawl. "C'mon, Al. Didn't you want a Butterbeer?"

~*-S-*~

~*-S-*~

Neville's friend had agreed to meet him at the Three Broomsticks. It wasn't as private as Scorpius would have liked, but he thought that maybe once he met her he could ask that they move to the HogsHead. He ordered himself a Butterbeer - with some difficulty, as the bar was higher than his head - and found the quietest corner of the pub to sit in while he waited. This wasn't easy, with all the Hogwarts students around, but at least most of them probably wouldn't turn up until later, after they had done their sightseeing. He couldn't use a booth because of the chair, so he found a table in a dark corner. and made himself a space where he could see the door.

He was halfway through his Butterbeer when he started to wonder if anyone was coming. Neville had warned him it was a possibility that the woman wouldn't show up. Scorpius hadn't quite told the truth about why he wanted to meet her, making it sound as though he just wanted to thank her for helping him. Still, he hadn't really expected to be stood up. His stomach churned at the idea that he might have to think of somewhere else to look for answers. He looked down at his Butterbeer, suddenly not thirsty anymore, but when he looked up -

There was a woman sitting opposite him, pale-skinned and dark-haired, peering curiously at him through dusky blue eyes. He blinked. He couldn't have been looking away from the door for more than a few seconds. "Did you just Apparate?" he asked, forgetting all his manners in his surprise. If she had it would be the quietest Apparition he'd ever witnessed.

The woman only smiled, a piteous smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I am Emmeline," she said after a moment. "You want to speak to me." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Scorpius said, gathering himself. "Sorry - I'm Scorpius. Malfoy," he added reluctantly. At first she seemed not to have heard him. She was staring at him with a disturbingly curious gaze, as though she could see right through his head to the other side. He shifted uncomfortably. "Um…" he began, not really sure what to say or whether she would even pay attention. "I've got this… sort of problem. I thought you might be able to…"

"Yes," she said, closing her eyes. This was frankly a bit of a relief, but he was still confused all the same. "You are troubled."

"Well… yeah," Scorpius agreed. He was starting to regret this whole venture. "I've been having these dreams… visions, I guess. And they've been coming true. Most of them - there's one I'm afraid is going to happen, but it hasn't yet."

Emmeline steepled her fingers and opened her eyes only to stare at him again. "And what exactly do you wish done about these dreams?"

Scorpius swallowed and clenched his fist under the table. "I want it to stop! I'm not a Seer. I've got enough problems right now without having to know what happens!"

The woman raised a thin, dark eyebrow, ever so slightly. "Are you sure? There are many who would sacrifice much to have only the merest glimpse of what is to come. I myself much prefer to focus on what is. That is why I have a certain reputation for my ability to find lost things." She inclined her head delicately towards him, and he shuddered inwardly.

"Well I hate it," he muttered. "Most of them - the dreams - they aren't even interesting or important -"

"The future is rarely interesting or important, for most people," she replied, her expression never changing. "But your foresight has already changed the future, once."

Now it was Scorpius' turn to stare. "How did you…"

"You are divided," she said, now not even looking at him but staring at a spot just beside his right ear. "You wish the visions to cease, but you know that without them, your friend would have died by the spell that put you in that chair. You fear both knowledge of the future, and ignorance."

Scorpius felt a chill run down his spine. The truthfulness of his discomfort was as if someone had dunked him in ice. "In my dream… she was screaming," he explained, hoarsely. "Will that happen?"

That odd smile again. Scorpius shivered. "I told you. I See only what is. I gave up trying to See the future years ago, when I realised what pain it could cause."

Scorpius scowled. "That's less than encouraging."

"That's as may be." The Seer woman spread her hands before her on the table. "One thing I See, whether it bring you pain or comfort. The opening of your Inner Eye is a side-effect of the sickness you suffered. It will fade in time."

Scorpius didn't know what to say. Ten minutes ago he would have been happy; now he wasn't so sure. "How long?" he asked.

She only shook her head. "Right," he sighed. "Never mind." He took another long swig of his Butterbeer. When he put down the empty glass, she was staring at him again, blue eyes wide. "What is it now?" he sighed. She wasn't quite as frustratingly vague as Professor Trelawny, perhaps, and she was certainly easier to talk to than Firenze, but she gave him the uncomfortable feeling that none of his thoughts were quite private anymore. He wondered if she was in fact reading his mind - they had learned about Legilimancy in Defence Against the Dark Arts…

"A darkness in you," she said, sadly. "Not a curse, or poison. Nothing that can be cured by magic."

There was that chill again. Scorpius folded his arms, trying to disguise his discomfort. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Her expression turned a little sad, and she shook her head as she got gracefully to her feet. "There are difficult times ahead for you, my dear. I wish you luck with them."

"I thought you couldn't see the future," Scorpius shot back.

"I don't need to," was her only reply, and before he could think of a reply she was moving between the tables and out of the pub, and his chair was too bulky to follow her with any speed. Not that, he decided after a second, he particularly wanted to chase after her. He had enough to be unsettled about with what she had said already.

He was just considering whether to give up the afternoon as a waste and go on back to the castle to get a head-start on his homework for the weekend, when someone else came over and sat at his table. "Hiya Scorp!"

He blinked, utterly taken aback. "Cleo?"

"Who'd you think it was?"

She was dressed for winter, in Muggle clothes with her blue-streaked hair loose over her face and slightly wind-swept, a glass of some sort of fizzy drink in her hand. He wondered how much of the conversation she had heard. "What… are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, to see Al, officially, but I was hoping to run into you." She leaned back in the chair and sipped her drink. "You didn't answer any of my letters."

"What letters?" Scorpius asked, then thought guiltily of all the envelopes he'd been throwing away without opening. It was indeed possible that they hadn't all come from his father. He'd only opened Teddy's because he'd been expecting it - who else would owl him? Other than Hannah, and she always sent her messages through Lizzie, in letters addressed to the both of them.

"I've sent you dozens. Don't pretend you never got them. C'mon, Scorp. The band needs you."

Scorpius shook his head. He was still reeling over the conversation with the Seer - he did not have the patience to deal with this right now.

"It's been -" he did a swift calculation - "it's been nearly six months. You haven't found anyone else?"

"Oh, we tried a few people, once we realised you really weren't coming back. None of 'em have your style."

He sighed. "Cleo, you don't get it. I don't play anymore. I haven't even touched the guitar since I got back."

She frowned and learned forward onto the table, pushing her drink aside. "Well that can't be good for you. Why the hell not?"

"I just - I don't feel like it, all right? Anyway even if I wanted to, I'm stuck in this stupid…" he motioned to the chair.

"I know. Al told me. But that doesn't mean you can't play."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Right."

"It doesn't! You've heard of… Ray Charles, right? Stevie Wonder?"

"Those guys are both blind."

"Well… I couldn't think of anyone who's in a wheelchair. Wait - that guy from Def Leppard had his arm cut off."

He made a face. "You're making that up."

"I am not! He had one arm and he was a drummer. Its not like you even need your legs to sing!"

Scorpius bit his lip hard. He clenched both his fists under the table. "You're not hearing me. I'm not coming back. Its not me, anymore."

"Don't be stupid, of course it - "

"Cleo, I said NO." He said it so loud that several other patrons turned to stare, even with the general noise throughout the bar.

She sat back, still frowning. "At least tell me you're still writing," she said, after a moment, with no change in her tone whatsoever.

"I - " Scorpius began to say no, but that would not, after all, be entirely honest. He had filled two notebooks at Durmstrang, and another one since leaving the hospital, but none of it was any good, in his opinion. Just scribblings. He told her so, and she shook her head at him.

"Send it anyway. I bet its better than you think. We'll credit you if we use it."

Scorpius gave up. "Fine," he mumbled. "Much good may it do you."

She beamed, apparently satisfied that she had at least partially got her way. "Great! And hey, listen, there's always a spot in the band for you if you change your mind. Whatever dweeb we get to fill your spot, we can always kick him out when you're ready. And if you'll excuse me, I do believe that's my boyfriend coming in…"

Scorp watched dully as she got up and went to greet Albus, who was just coming in the door behind Rose. The resulting snog received several wolf whistles from nearby students. When they broke apart, Al was red to the ears, but grinning. Rose rolled her eyes and came over to Scorp's table. He winced inwardly at the look on her face. "Were you meeting Cleo?" she demanded, hands practically on hips.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say no, to protest that she'd basically ambushed him, but then realised that he would have to explain the real reason he was there, and that was about ten times more complicated. "Yeah," he sighed eventually. "She wanted to talk about band stuff."

"Well why wouldn't you just say that?" she said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

Unable to think of any answer that wouldn't get him in further trouble, he shrugged. This did not seem to placate her, however.

"Butterbeers?" Al said, a little breathlessly, as he approached the table with Cleo hanging off his arm.

"I had one," Scorpius pointed out, lifting his empty glass.

"Well, have another," his friend said, a little too cheerfully. "Live a little."

Scorp sat back in the chair, steeling himself for an awkward afternoon. It was going to be a long one.

~*-A-*~

~*-A-*~

The day after Hogsmeade, Albus had scheduled an extra-long Quidditch practice. The team needed the practice, as the first game of the year was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and the green-and-silver side were coming up remarkably well already from what he'd heard. After the practice he stayed a little longer in the showers, letting the blissfully steaming hot water soak his aching muscles; his body tired from more than just Quidditch.

He was tired. He was tired from going to the hospital every week, from his coursework which already seemed unrealistically heavy, from staying up all night listening to Scorpius groan and whimper in pain, but most of all from putting all his remaining energy into trying to make up for almost getting his best friend killed. Tired of smiling all the time, of putting on a brave face he couldn't really feel. Every minute from getting out of bed in the morning to crawling bone-tired under the sheets every night was becoming such an effort. It was nice to be alone for a few minutes, just him and the hot water and the steam that leeched the lethargy from his bones.

By the time he emerged from the showers, skin wrinkled from the water, everyone else had already gone up to the castle.

He went up slowly, carrying his broom over his shoulders. He could hear the noise from the Great Hall before he even reached the big oak doors. He sighed as he went through them, letting the warmth of the castle settle over him. He looked towards the Hall, where the clatter of knives and forks almost drowned out the buzz of conversation, and realised with a dull slowness that he couldn't go in. He couldn't take another evening of pretending everything was fine while Scorpius pushed food around his plate and winced with every movement.

His stomach rumbled. Resigned, he turned away from the Great Hall and slumped towards the kitchens. Knowing where they were was one of the perks of being both a Potter and a Weasley. The House Elves set up a cheer of sorts when he came in, and immediately started piling food into a bag when he mentioned he'd quite like something to eat.

He was just on his way out, chewing on an eclair - because why bother eating things in a specific order? - when he found himself face to face with Lizzie Longbottom, coming past from the Hufflepuff dormitories. He stood there stupidly with pastry half hanging out of his mouth while she raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms. "Albus Potter, what on earth are you doing?" she sighed.

He chewed his mouthful and swallowed before he was quite finished. He felt it go down his throat in an uncomfortable lump. "I… dunno really," he said, after a moment's thought. Suddenly, looking at her face, he felt utterly miserable. He'd been so busy with everything else, he'd barely had time to feel guilty about his indiscretion with her in the hallway. Except yesterday, when he'd seen Cleo at Hogsmeade. He should have broken up with her, probably. But Scorpius needed Cleo. Al had asked her to come meet them in Hogmeade, because he had some crazy idea that getting his friend back into music would somehow help him. But he hadn't quite thought it through, and he'd ended up having to kiss her and smile and put his arm around her waist, all while thinking about the way Lizzie had looked at him after they kissed. "I don't know what I'm doing," he said, slumping against the wall.

The anger went out of Lizzie's eyes and she took a step towards him, putting a small hand on his shoulder. Her hair was curling slightly under her chin. It really did make her look older. Albus knew he was of age, technically a man now, but he thought he had never felt quite so young. "Al?" she said softly, trying to meet his eyes despite his constant efforts to look away. "Al, what's wrong?"

"What isn't wrong?" he said, and the words came out harsh and choked, and before he knew it there were tears in his eyes, and her arms were around his waist, and he was crying into her shoulder like a child.

"Come on," she said after a minute, kinder than he might have expected. "Come to our dormitory. There's no one there - everyone's at dinner."

"Why - why weren't you at dinner?" Albus asked, wiping furiously at his eyes as she turned him around and began to lead him the other way.

"Greenhouse incident. Took me ages to wash up."

He leaned on her a little as they walked, and she did indeed smell strongly of some kind of flowery soap. It wasn't at all unpleasant. She led him into the Hufflepuff common room, and down a side corridor that seemed to lead to her dormitory. "Will your door let me in?" he asked doubtfully.

She giggled. "Oh, someone figured out how to undo the anti-boy charms down here ages ago. Shhh, House Secret."

"What? But, in Ravenclaw - "

"Oh yes, you lot think you're so clever, but you aren't the only ones with brains, you know. The teachers renew the charms occasionally but the counter charm has been passed down from generation to generation."

Dumbfounded, he could think of very little else to say as she closed the door behind them and led him by the hand until they were both lying on her bed, his head on her shoulder and her arm across his waist, almost as though they had never broken up, at all. "Now," she said, in a practical tone that was such the perfect imitation of her mother that he almost laughed, "tell me what's going on."

So he told her. He told her everything, from his sleepless nights and his guilt over Scorpius to his worries about having to give up professional Quidditch to become a Healer. He told her about how he wasn't sure they could win the match the next week, and his fear that he wouldn't be able to lead the team to glory in his final year like he had always wanted. And finally he told her how, although he had spent several hours with his girlfriend in the town the previous day, he hadn't been able to enjoy a single second of it.

"Why not?" she asked, in her soft voice, stroking his hair away from his forehead.

"Because I love you," he burst out, cringing a little at how pathetic even his own voice sounded.

She giggled, and he looked up at her in hurt surprise. "You do not," she told him, with a little smile.

"I do!"

"Maybe you love the idea of me," she admitted dryly. "But Alby, we were awful together. Don't pretend you weren't bored to tears by the end of it."

"I wasn't - not to tears" he protested, red-faced. "Lizzie, I was a stupid git back then. Just a kid. I can be better, I promise, if you just - could you - give me another chance? Please?"

Her smile faded and she reached out to touch under his chin with one fingertip. "Last I checked you still had a girlfriend who wasn't me," she said seriously. "Did you break up with her?"

Albus bit his lip guiltily and she sighed and let her hand fall. "Alby…"

"I would, Liz, honestly I would, only… Scorpius…"

She frowned at him and sat up. "Albus, you cannot keep going out with this girl for Scorpius' sake, if you're unhappy. And especially not if you're also seeing me. That's despicable, and if you'd even consider it, then…" she sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter how much you think what happened to Scorp is your fault. It certainly wasn't all your fault, and you don't owe him a doomed relationship. He wouldn't want you to keep it going if he knew."

Albus sat up too, and sat in an awkward cross-legged position on her bed. "Okay," he said, after a moment's agonised decision. "I'll… I'll tell her it's over. I'll send her an owl in -"

"In person."

"What? But that's another few weeks before I'll even see her!"

She hesitated. "Well… get permission to Floo-call, then. Dad'll let you use his fireplace. But I can't start seeing you until it's over with her. Okay?"

Al felt a little spark of hope, and his lips twitched into almost a smile. "So… you will start seeing me, then?"

"Maybe. I have to think about it."

"Maybe?"

"Al… are you sure you even want a relationship right now? With all this other stuff you have going on - Quidditch, school, the hospital -"

"But that's exactly why I do need you," he said, reaching out to touch her hand. She didn't pull away, which he took to be a good sign. "I need you to keep me sane."

"Oh?" she looked him a little more fondly, but he could still sense a hesitance. He wondered if it had anything to do with his tear-stained face and no doubt red, puffy eyes. He must look a right mess. "And what do I get out of it?"

Al deflated. He had to admit he didn't have a great answer to that. "I… dunno," he said lamely. "Just me, I guess." He winced. "Doesn't seem like much of a deal, I admit."

She smiled and stroked back the last lock of his hair with one finger. Then she leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "Maybe not," she said. "But I suppose I could settle for just that."

He brightened. "Really?"

Her expression twisted, as though she might be changing her mind, but then she let out a loud sigh and ran an exasperated hand through her hair. "Damnit," she said, and kissed him again, this time on the lips, and much more forceful. "You swear you'll break up with Cleo?"

"Tomorrow," he promised.

"Damnit," she said again, and suddenly his hands were inside her robes, her hands were undoing his tie, and there was very little room for any more conversation.

~*-R-*~

~*-R-*~

When Rose came downstairs early the next morning, she was surprised to see Scorpius sitting in his chair in the Common room alone, with a face like thunder. "Where's Al?" she asked, a little nervously.

"Came in late," he grunted, his thumb running stiffly along the runes on the arm of the chair. "Reckon he's skipping breakfast this morning."

"Oh." She picked up her Charms book from where she'd left in on a table the previous night and tucked it into her bag. When she turned back, he was glaring at her as if she'd just cursed him. "What?" she asked, completely nonplussed. "What's wrong?"

He stared angrily into her eyes for a few more seconds, then shook his head and spun the chair around. "Never mind," he muttered, and started to float the chair towards the door. "We should go to breakfast."

"No, wait -" She hurried towards him and spun the chair around. This was easier than it might have been since it was floating slightly above the ground. "Tell me," she demanded. "I'm sick of this - you never tell me anything anymore. If something's wrong, I want to know."

"Like you don't know," he snapped, his expression twisting into a kind of sneer that she had never seen before on his face. He looked for a moment like his father, the man who had tried to kill her, and she let go of the chair quickly and took a step back.

"I don't!" she cried, not caring that people were staring, and others were starting to poke their heads out of their dormitory doors at the noise. "I don't know, Scorp! Because you never -"

"I know about you and Chung," he said, so suddenly that she was struck dumb.

"What?" she gasped, when she regained the ability to speak.

"Yeah. What did you think - because I'm a cripple, I wouldn't find out?"

Rose felt tears come into her eyes, but was suddenly too furious to care. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. "You're insane!"

"Oh, I'm crippled and crazy now, am I? Thanks a lot. You know if you wanted to drop me you could have just said, not kept me hanging on, like some sort of -"

"Stop!" she yelled, clenching her fists. "Just stop it! I don't know where you're getting this from, but I am not seeing Jian and I never was!"

"Give it up, Rose," he sighed, the sneer fading into a look of sad betrayal that was almost even worse. "I saw you."

"I'm tutoring him!"

"You're snogging him!"

"I am NOT! Shut UP!"

Tears streaming down her face, she pushed past him, knocking the chair back a few inches, and ran towards the door. She tripped over some first years on the way out, but she ignored them, careening down the stairs and through the corridors until she reached the library. Everyone was either just getting up or having an early breakfast, and there was no one in there at that time in the morning. Or almost no one.

She had just found an armchair in the reading area and curled up to have a good cry where no one could see, when the sound of soft footsteps alerted her to a presence. Unthinking she pulled out her wand and pulled it out as she jumped up to face the intruder.

"Bloody hell, Weasley," Jian sighed, holding up both empty hands in self defence. "This is the second time in three days. You've got to stop pulling wands and heavy books on people who are just walking innocently past."

"Sorry," she said, struggling to put her wand back under her robes and wipe her eyes at the same time. "It's just - I - I thought you were Scorpius."

He gave her a look. "Oh? Attacking your boyfriend now, are we? What did he do, hex you in class again?"

Rose sniffed, wand still in hand, and looked up at him. "You remember that?"

"Everyone remembers that. You threw what my mother would have called a 'lovely tantrum'."

She sniffed. "Well… no. It wasn't that. I'm sorry, it's just… oh, he said the most horrible things…"

Jian looked momentarily confused. "Malfoy did?"

"Well who do you think?" she practically shouted, stamping her foot. Luckily it was too early for the elderly librarian, or he surely would have appeared to shush her, tears or no tears.

"Sorry. It's just I thought you and him were… well, you know." He held up one hand and crossed his middle and forefinger. For some reason the sight of those two crossed fingers made her want to kick something.

"We were," she said, furiously. "But he - he - oh, it's so stupid…"

Jian uncrossed his fingers. "So… not any more?"

She held up her hands hopelessly. "I don't know. Maybe. I didn't give him the chance to actually break up with me, but he obviously wanted to. He thinks…oh, I don't know…"

He took a step towards her. "Does it matter what he thinks?"

"No - yes - I don't…"

She looked up into face, his almost feline nose and sharp jaw, his dark eyes, and felt a brief moment of indecision, but it was too late. She was already kissing him. Or he was kissing her. He wasn't sure who had started it, but their lips were touching and then his tongue was in her mouth and she could barely breathe. Her back came up against a bookcase, and the books dug into her shoulder blades as he pressed against her, one long-fingered hand coming around to cup her head under her hair. For a moment she lost herself in that kiss, fuelled by her anger, by the unfairness of it all, by her secret desire to be wanted by someone with whom there was no guilt, no family feud, no potentially fatal consequences.

But then his hand moved inside her robe and all that went away, and suddenly all she could see in her mind's eye was the terribly hurt look on Scorpius' face. He had known.

She lifted her hand still holding the wand, and with a thought she pushed Jian away from her, so hard that he went sprawling onto a table and a pile of books went thumping to the floor. "Sorry!" she gasped, fumbling her robes back into position and grabbing her bag. "I can't - I'm sorry - I just - can't." She ran back out of the library, her bag thumping against her side, not sure where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there. Now what was she going to do?

—

So sorry for the epic delay, everyone… I hope you all haven't lost your patience with me! Hopefully I should now have a little more time for some more regular updates.