Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I never will, either…
3
"Do you love me?" Chris whispered in her ear, his hands wrapped around her bare waist.
"Of course I love you," she whispered back, her lips inches from his neck.
"Do you love me enough to show me?"
"To show you?"
His hands slipped off her waist and unbuckled his belt, letting his pants fall to his ankles.
"To show me," he said, gently brushing the hair away from her face.
Rose's heart pounded painfully against her chest. What did he want her to do? "I…I don't know…"
"It's easy," he whispered, resting his head against her bare shoulder. "Really easy."
"What do I…?"
"Use your mouth…your hand…" He kissed her collar bone.
"I don't…"
"Don't you love me?"
"Of course…"
"Don't you want to show me?"
"I…I…"
He pulled away from her, a hard look in his eye. Without a word, he bent down and pulled up his pants and buckled his belt.
"Fine," he said, his voice hard. "If you don't love me…"
He walked by her towards the door of the locked classroom.
"Chris, no, please…" She chased after him, reaching out to grab his shoulder. He turned around and hit her hand away. "Chris!" She grabbed his arm. "Chris…"
"Ugh." He slapped her across the cheek. "Don't touch me."
Rose stared at him, silent, her cheek throbbing, as he turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Her heart thumped against her chest, the feeling numbing. For a moment, she couldn't move. She couldn't look around. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't blink. She couldn't believe she had let him leave.
Finally, she tore herself away from the closed door and grabbed her discarded shirt. She slid her tee-shirt over her head, her breath catching in her chest and her eyes blurring slightly. She turned the handle of the door and walked down the deserted hallway, her arms wrapped tightly around her body, her legs weak beneath her, her cheeks wet with tears.
3
"Damn it, Rose, get out of your fucking bed," Libby snapped. "You haven't moved all weekend!"
Rose groaned and rolled over. It was Sunday. She had every right to sleep all day if she wanted.
"I think we're going to have to get Fred and James," Annie said.
"Please don't," Rose muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around her body.
"Look, we know something happened," Diane said. "Just tell us what it was."
"It wasn't anything!"
"What did you do to your eye?" Tony asked, plucking Rose's hand from under the blanket.
"Bludger," Rose muttered, tugging the blanket over head with a slight wince. Chris had hit her harder than he intended, she was sure. He didn't know his own strength.
"Give me that," Libby said, still snappy. "This isn't an accident, Rose."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"He's abusing you?" Annie asked, her voice incredulous.
"No! Merlin, why can't you leave me alone!"
"You need to break up with him, Rose," Libby said. "He isn't doing you any good."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Rose growled.
"No?" Libby said. "Trust me, I know well enough. This has to stop."
"Why don't you just leave me the fuck alone?"
"Because obviously you can't be left alone!"
"Ugh."
3
Rose pushed her potatoes around on her plate. She wasn't hungry. Still.
"So what're we going to do this weekend?" Annie asked. "It's a Hogsmeade weekend, right? I can't wait. I need to go to honeydukes and get some more lollipops."
"More, Annie? Are you kidding? That's way too many lollipops for one girl to eat," Diane teased.
"Hardly when you have Fred going through your stuff when he's looking for someone's pillow." Annie shot a glance at Tony.
"Isn't my fault the kid doesn't know my pillow's the only white one. Oh, wait, it isn't, is it, Annie?"
"Oh, shove it, you."
"Hey, Rose, are you coming this weekend?" Diane asked.
"Um…I guess so…"
"You really should eat something," Tony said.
"I'm not really hungry."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Rose watched Chris walk into the Great Hall with his usual swagger. There was something off about him, like he wasn't completely happy or something. She wanted to get up and go over to him, to apologize and beg him for his forgiveness. Instead, she bowed her head, staring at her plate full of eggs and bacon, and struggled not to succumb to the tears threatening to overwhelm her.
3
It seemed he was everywhere. He was in the Great Hall whenever she was in the Great Hall. He was in the same corridor that she was in at any time of day. He was out on the grounds when she went for a walk. He was in the abandoned classroom she almost stumbled into to let out the tears she had been holding back. He was everywhere. And every time she saw him, she got closer to giving in, to apologizing, to offering to show him how much he meant to her. It was pathetic. Three days without him and she was a blubbering mess. It was like three days without a part of her body, a very large piece of her.
She bowed her head to her book, trying to forget about that piece, trying to finish a potion's essay, trying to get through this year in one piece. OWL's were coming up and if she failed them, then she didn't have a career. Professor Longbottom had wasted no time in reminding his fifth years of that. She bit back the panic rising in her throat at the thought of the Ordinary Wizarding Levels. That was the last thing she wanted to think about just then.
Chris walked in. She didn't have to look up from her book to know it. She could smell his cologne, hear his step, feel his breath stirring the room. Her hands trembled under the strain of not looking, her mind faltered from her task at hand. She could only think of his warm hand around hers, his arms around her body, his tongue in her mouth. Her breaths came hard.
She looked up. Her lungs froze. He was right there. At the bookshelf. Picking one out. Potions. She forced herself to look back to her text.
"Fuck," she muttered. It was useless. She slammed her book closed and walked up to Chris, surprised that her legs could carry her.
"What it is?" he asked stiffly, anger still evident in his tones.
"I want to show you how much I love you," Rose said, whispered, her voice quaking with the effort not to cry out, to jump on him, to sob. "I need you so much, Chris. I'm sorry I…I…I refused before I just…I'm sorry."
He looked over at her, his eyes soft. He dropped the book he held and wrapped his arms tightly around her, pressing her against his chest. She cried, then, unable to restrain her emotion.
"I forgive you," he whispered in her ear. "I'll give you one more chance, Rose. But if you disappoint me again…"
"I know…I-I won't…"
"Good. I love you, Rose."
"I-I love you, t-too."
3
Chris pinned her against the wall next to the portrait of the fat lady.
"You're amazing," he muttered, his lips inches from hers.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Honestly, Rose. You're amazing." He pressed his lips onto her neck, sending a shiver through her body. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend." His hands wrapped around her wrist. Rose looked up at him, uncertain. His grip tightened slightly. Air rushed into her lungs. His eyes widened. "Will you?"
"Yes."
He gathered her hands and kissed them gently.
"I'll see you around," he said, gently dropping them. He turned away and headed down the staircase, skipping the trick stair, and heading to the Ravenclaw tower. She smiled after him, content and perfectly happy again. She wrapped her arms around herself, secure in the fact that everything was as it should be.
"Vice Virgo," she said to the fat lady and the portrait swung open. She crawled through the hole.
Six unhappy people crowded around her, all of them united in outrage.
"How could you go back to him?" Libby shouted, her face red.
"He beat up Greg and you go running back to him?" James added.
"He's dangerous, Rose. Dangerous! What don't you understand about that? Huh? What?" Diane yelled, getting in on the action.
"He's going to hurt you even more," Annie said softly.
"More?" Fred demanded, his voice echoing through the common room. "Come on, James. We have a Ravenclaw to teach a lesson."
"I'll go send a message to Hugo," James said, running for the stairs.
"What? No! Get back here!" Rose shouted.
"Did he really hurt you?" Fred asked, grabbing her shoulders and staring into her eyes.
"No!"
"Look at her face," Annie said.
"You told me you got that from forgetting to duck on your way into the common room!" Fred screamed.
"She lied," Annie said, crossing her arms.
"He did fucking hurt you! He fucking hurt her, James!"
"I'm sending an airplane to Al now," James called downstairs. In seconds, a paper airplane, a message written inside, zipped by their heads out of the common room. "Hugo's too young to get involved, I think."
"I can't believe this! Greg was fucking right!"
"Greg is a pathological liar," Rose said.
"Greg cares more about you than I think you realize," James said, his invisibility cloak tucked under his arm. "Come on, I told Al we'd meet him in the abandoned classroom by the divination room."
"You can't do this!" Rose shouted.
"We made a promise, Rose," James said. "We told your father we would look after you, make sure nothing happened, keep you safe. Evidently we didn't do a good enough job at that. Fred, come on before you have an aneurism. Under the cloak."
The pair disappeared under the shimmering cloth and the portrait swung open.
"Get back here!" Rose called after them. "What do you think this is going to accomplish? It isn't going to do anything!" She felt tears rise in her eyes, the hopelessness of the situation washing over her. Chris was going to leave her again, abandon her. "You guys are such idiots!"
The portrait door slammed closed.