Haven't written anything like this in ages. Do you have a box of tissues? Good, you may need them. As always, let me know if you cry!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an obscene amount of nail polish.

It wasn't a dreary, rainy day. There weren't grey clouds ominously foreshadowing what was to come. It was just a day, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't extraordinarily sunny, but it wasn't gloomy either.

Rose was walking back to the castle from Hogsmead. She had only intended to make a very quick trip, just a little last minute Christmas shopping, and she had made sure to do it alone. She had procrastinated quite seriously and still had yet to pick up presents for most of her friends, even though Christmas was only a few days away. So Rose made the journey alone, despite the countless offers by her friends, family, and boyfriend otherwise. She was satisfied, she thought, as she trudged up the hill towards the distant open gates. She had managed to find most everyone a gift, save for her cousin Lily, who was impossible to shop for. Instead, she decided, she'd give Lily some cookies, Lily liked cookies.

The wind was blowing at her, knocking her left and right. An especially strong gust pushed her dainty figure over, leaving her surrounded by heaps of presents in a ditch off to the side of the road she had been, just moments before, walking on. She giggled for a moment, contemplating the wisdom of getting up. It would be futile, she realized quickly, to stand when the wind was still this strong. Better to wait for a gap in the gusts, she reasoned.

And so she sat there, pushed into the slightly damp ditch and not even trying to get out. Instead, she turned her face to the sky and examined the remnants of the brilliance of the fall leaves. Just a few dangled from a tree's bough above, painting her horizon vivid red and gold. She savored the moment for total solitude, when one came from a family the size of hers, moments like this were rare. Not to mention Scorpius. Rose loved her boyfriend so much but he made it difficult, very difficult, for her to ever just have time to be herself.

After a suitable amount of time had passed, she decided it could be time to attempt to traverse the remaining distance to the castle. But, before she could stand, a voice rang out from the road.

"Hey there beautiful, need a hand?" The face of the speaker was obscured due to the lip of the ditch, but she knew well enough that the voice was entirely unfamiliar. Still, she was optimistic because that was how she was raised. Her parents believed in good overcoming and the goodness of human nature and all that. Her mother once told her that everyone was her friend until they proved otherwise.

"Oh yes please!" A hand appeared, hovering by her left shoulder. She grasped it firmly and allowed herself to be lifted until she was lying sprawled on the road. She still didn't recognize the man standing before her.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing traveling alone?" The man sneered, black robes swirling in the now weak wind. The tone of his voice held something, a hint of menace that made her stomach drop painfully. She rose quickly. Without even realizing what she was doing, she took a few steps back. "Now, now," his voice was low, threatening, she realized, "where do you think you're going?"

And that was it. She dropped the bright and cheerful presents, abandoning them on the dusty road. She broke out into a run, sprinting towards the castle with all of the strength her legs could give her. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, a frantic jolting that was alarmingly fast. Her mouth was filled with saliva and hatred as adrenaline pumped though her veins. She ran and ran and ran, but she wasn't fast enough. From behind her, colorful jets of curses and equally colorful language shot towards her moving figure.

She frantically looked behind her, trying to see how close he was. Rose wasn't stupid, she knew that nobody knew where she was and she knew that she couldn't outrun him for long, but she still kept running. And then, for the first time in her life, she prayed. She couldn't explain why she did it, exactly, but she thought that maybe some higher power would lend her a hand. But nobody answered her prayers. So she kept running.

She was falling into a rhythm, left right, left right, breathe in deeply, keep going, keep moving, RUN. From behind, she heard cursing and curses both streaming out of the man's mouth. But his words became background noise as she could only focus on one thing, running like hell.

He grunted. The sharp sound made her swivel her head around so quickly she became dizzy. In the terrifying melody that had become so familiar, the grunt was out of place and disconcerting.

"Get. Away. From. My Girlfriend." A voice, Scorpius' voice. Rose turned fully around, slowing but still jogging backwards. Scorpius had tackled the man, bringing him to the ground. The two were wrestling, sparks flying as each tried to immobilize the other.

"Scorpius!" She screamed, her voice high with fright.

And then there was red. Lots of red, an ocean, a sea, no, just a spot on Scorpius' chest. With a loud crack of violent surrender, the man dissapperated, leaving just Rose and Scorpius standing, facing each other. With a moan, Scorpius took a step forward and fell to his knees. Rose rushed forward, putting her arms around him a murmuring into his hair words of thanks and apology.

"Let's get you to the castle; Madam Shattuck will make it better. Come on, Scor, up! I'll help you, take my arm. We need to go, we need to go now. Come on! While you are strong enough, while you're ali-"

"No," he rasped, "Rosie, no."

Her eyes filled with tears, the clear blue becoming glossy, "what do you mean no?"

"Rose, we're not going to the castle, we're not going to see Madam Shattuck. I can't Rosie, it's too late. I can't." His voice, wavering and weak, held a note of certainty that caused her tears to spill and run down her freckled cheeks. He reached a hand up, and wiped away a droplet with a shaking finger. As they knelt there, the sky darkened slightly and a few snowflakes rained down from the heavens.

"You can. You have to, Scor, you have to go. How else are you going to get better?"

He took a deep shuddering breath, wincing at the pain in his ribs, "I'm not getting better, Rose."

"No!" She screamed into the silent impending darkness, "no, no, no, no, NO! Scor, look at me. Look at me! Come on, it's cold out, let's go. Let's go home, let's go home where it's warm and Madam Shattuck will fix you up and then we'll have plum pudding and open presents and, and, and we'll be happy. Let's go home, Scor." She tugged his arm slightly, hoping to move his heart enough to convince him to move his legs.

"I love you, Rosie," he whispered, his voice faint and his face pale.

"Don't say that, Scorpius, don't say that like it's the last time you are ever going to say it. Don't say you love me like that. Please, please,"

"It is the last time, Rose, this is it. I love you so much." He was slumping, his spine curving as his body became too weak to hold himself up.

"It's not! It's not! I love you Scor, I love you, but this isn't it. You're wrong! This can't be it." She clung to him, holding tightly and not trying to hide her sobs.

"Don't cry, love, please don't cry." His voice grew quieter still.

"I can't, I can't help it. You can't go." Rose's voice broke. The snow continued to fall, the flakes big and soft as they drifted down from the sky.

"Bye Rosie, I love you," he breathed, the words enunciated but lacking so much in volume that she had to strain to hear. By this time, he was lying on his back with her kneeling beside him; the red had spread all across the front of his shirt.

"I love you," she whispered as his eye fluttered shut. She pressed her lips to his, feeling his mouth curve into one last small smile.

And all was silent, the world unchanging save for the building snow. The earth kept turning, the snow kept falling, but Rose just stayed still, bound in place by the memory of her love.

"I love you," she repeated, "Scorpius!" She screamed into the quiet night. No one responded. She laid her head on his chest, thick blood sticking to her pale skin, and cried.