Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Just this fanfiction.

ROSE

She believed that after losing her parents nothing could hurt so much, but she was clearly wrong. The pang in her heart at seeing Scorpius passionately kissing Val managed to fill her eyes with tears, but she hurriedly turned her gaze away from them and walked calmly to one of the tables she had to attend to. She wasn't going to act affected in front of them. He wouldn't give that pleasure to her… or him.

"Can I take your order?" Asked with a trembling voice to a woman who was with her young son

Rose pretended to write the order in her notebook even though she couldn't really understand anything the woman said, so she headed to the kitchen. Once there, and sheltered from prying eyes, she clung to a metal table full of food and took a deep breath.

"Rose? Are you ok?"

She hugged Cassandra tightly and let a couple of tears roll down her cheeks.

"Rose you're worrying me, what happened?"

"Look for yourself," she shook her head and pointed to the other side of the door

Cass nervously moved away from her side and looked into the room where the customers were. It took her just a second to locate the reason for her friend's tears, and if she hadn't been so sad, Rose would have found the expression on her face comical.

"Oh Rosie," she returned to the redhead side and led her to an unoccupied chair, "I'm so sorry. I never ever imagined that Scorpius could ..."

She stopped talking. Rose had previously told her about the kiss she had shared with Scorpius, and Cass seemed genuinely pleased with how things were developing between her closest friends.

"It's not your fault," she assured her while taking a napkin and wiping her tears

"Scorpius is a huge idiot," Cass's voice denoted anger, "I never thought he would be able ... I thought it was different with you!"

A sad smile emerged on Rose's face, "I thought the same but I was clearly wrong," she stood up and took a deep breath to calm down, "I don't want to keep talking about this anyway, at least not now and not here."

"You can go home if you prefer," her friend rushed to say, "I can cover you"

"No, there is no need for that," although part of her wanted to flee, she wasn't going to do it, "But could you go to table three and ask that lady with her son their order? I didn't really understand anything she told me."

"Of course, stay here and don't worry"

She thanked Cass and took a couple of minutes to calm down, drank some water, made sure she had her notepad with her, and went out to confront them.

Val's noisy friends kept laughing and whispering. And maybe Rose was a little paranoid but she was sure she had heard her name in their conversations. Scorpius ... Scorpius kept hugging Val and she wouldn't stop touching him. Rose felt her venomous gaze on her a few times but never dared to check if it was.

She spent the rest of her shift trying to remain in control, trying not to look at them and concentrating only on the customers. Cassandra, being as nice as ever, attended the tables where Val and her friends were. Scorpius left after a long hour of torture and Rose was able to swallow her feelings until it was time to go home.

It was inevitable not to think of Scorpius as she walked to the bus stop. After all, that journey had become their path. Nor could she stop wondering if she had done something wrong or if it had been her fault in some way. Those thoughts kept tormented her and the crying didn't take long, although fortunately there were very few passengers on the bus so she didn't have to endure piteous or curious glances from other people.

When she got off the bus she wiped her face and walked heavily towards home. Her head and chest were aching, and she was truly feeling her heart heavy and in pain. And the fact that her head kept showing her the images of Scorpius and Val kissing didn't help.

"ROSE!"

The girl jumped when she heard her cousin behind her. He looked angry as he approached where she was.

"Why didn't you text me tonight? Rose, you promised that ..." he stopped speaking when he saw her expression, "What happened? Why are you crying? Who the hell made you cry?"

"Calm down Albus, it's nothing," she replied with a sigh, "I hit my head against the bus window because I was falling asleep, and it was painful so I shed a couple of tears. Not a big deal"

"Uhmm I don't think it's just that, you seemed like you cried a lot"

"I had a hard day," she shrugged and started walking. Albus followed her

"Define hard," he insisted

"Annoying customers"

"I can take care of them if you want," he proposed

"I don't know whether to feel flatter or feel scared by the way you talk sometimes," she smiled at him however, "It's nothing Al, seriously, I can handle the clients," she swallowed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I got off work. I know how much you care. I'm sorry."

She was expecting for him to keep talking or to make a joke, but against all odds Albus hugged her, and it was hard not to cry over her cousin's sweet gesture. She forced to remain calm or Al would realize there was another reason for her tears, and that would only mean troubles for Scorpius, and even though he had been a jerk, Rose didn't want her cousin's friends to hurt the blonde.

"Are you going home too?" she asked Albus

"Yes, it's a slow night"

Her cousin put one of his arms around her shoulders and they walked silently up to the building. Before going upstairs, Albus insisted in going to his apartment so Aunt Ginny could give her a painkiller and made her a tea. Rose thanked them both and then ran home because she wanted to be alone. She needed to be alone.

Fortunately her siblings were already asleep, so she took a bath and lay down on her bed, clinging to her pillow, and crying as much as she wanted. She was martyred trying to find explanations for what had happened. Perhaps she lacked the experience Scorpius was looking for in a girl, as clearly he and Val had gone far beyond what Rose had ever had with a boy.

Perhaps, as Albus had warned her, Scorpius just wanted to amuse himself by annoying Albus' little cousin, and he found no better way than to humiliate her in front of everyone. Rose bit back a moan of rage and pain for the ideas that ran through her head and she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning she woke up with deep dark circles under her eyes. The girl crawled out of bed; feeling very tired, and put her books in the backpack. Before going out to breakfast she took the makeup bag and applied foundationto try to disguise the fact that she had been crying, because she didn't want uncomfortable questions from her sister.

"Good morning Rosie," Hugo ran to her and hugged her, "Do you want a toast? I myself spread jam on it"

She smiled when she heard the emotion in the little boy's voice and agreed to his suggestion, willing to eat breakfast in peace with her siblings. From time to time Hope would shoot her worried glances but Rose avoided talking to her by telling her that she had to be early on the school due to an exam. Albus was no longer her ride, as he preferred to take the bus rather than go on his motorcycle; so right now that was a welcome change.

Cassandra was waiting for her at the entrance of the building, her face clearly concerned as she observed Rose's expression

"I brought you this," she said handing Rose a box of chocolates, "People often say that chocolate cures everything"

"Thanks Cassie"

"How are you feeling today?"

"I do not know. I think I'm good, or bad, I don't really know," she sighed as she put a couple of the books in her locker

"I imagine it's complicated," she sighed too, "I uh ... I tried to talk to Scorpius but he ... was very curt with me. For the first time, to be honest, because he's usually nice; but he ... he didn't exactly seem very cheerful you know? Maybe…"

"No, Cass, there's no maybe. Clearly no one forced him to kiss Val. And he knew that I was working at the restaurant yesterday. Look, I know he's like a brother to you, but he was a jerk for doing that to me. And I hate him for it".

Her voice cracked and she cocked her head, hating feeling that vulnerable.

"I'm not arguing that he behaved like a huge idiot," Cass replied. "I'm just saying that maybe he was scared."

"Scared, scared of what?"

"Of falling in love with you," Cass looked at her and shrugged, "Theo was telling me that Scorpius confessed him that he liked you very much. And Scorpius… he just doesn't know how to deal with feelings."

"Well, if he did that out of fear, it only shows that he is a coward."

Rose excused herself to Cassandra and went to her anatomy class. The words of her best friend, however, haunted her head until lunchtime when they meet again.

"I'm sorry if I upset you Rose, it was not my intention," she said with a sad voice

"No Cassie, I'm sorry for reacting that way," she took the brunette's hand, "The truth is that I don't want to create false expectations you know? I don't want to… I don't like feeling this confused. All this is so complicated and the least I want now are complications. Not when I'm beginning to adjust to this new life. Let's talk about something else please."

"Sure, as you like"

They took their food trays and went to their usual table. Rose shared the box of chocolates with Cassandra as they discussed going to the movies one of these days.

"Hello lovely ladies, I hope I'm not interrupt anything"

Albus nonchalantly sat next to her cousin and gave them a wide smile that made Rose smile too.

"You are not," she assured him

"Hmm, were you two perhaps whispering about this?" He placed on the table a flyer for the Winter Ball, "Have you already planned to go shopping and all that activities the girls like to do?"

Rose and Cass giggled.

"You need something?" Rose asked him

"Can't I stop by to give you a kiss and see how are you doing?" He made a face of feigned indignation as he brought his hand to his chest

"Considering that you haven't done it for a single day in the time I've been studying here, no, I guess not," she retorted scathingly

"I wanted to know if your headache was gone," he smiled at her

"Headache?" Cass interjected

"Ah yes, yesterday my head hurt a lot after work," Rose looked at her with wide eyes

Cassie seemed to understand her look because she just nodded and said no more

"I'm fine," Rose said turning to her cousin, "The pill that Aunt Ginny gave me helped a lot"

"Mmm that's good, I'm glad to hear that" he nodded. "Because your headache has nothing to do with certain rumors I've heard about you and Malfoy, right?" He took a chocolate from the box and removed the wrapper, "You would have told me if that was the case, wouldn't you Rosie?"

"Sure, Albus, I promised you I would," she agreed calmly, maintaining eye contact and feeling internally guilty for lying to him.

"Well then, I guess I have nothing to worry about," he shot her a glance before shrugging, "Anyway, we can go to the ball together if you want"

"Go to the ball with my cousin as my date?" Rose giggled, "That would be too depressing Albus. Besides, surely you have many girls waiting for you to invite them."

"I'm not very interested in those things," he shrugged again, "And it's your first ball here so I thought about asking you."

"Thanks cousin, really. But if I go I'll go with Cassie," he looked at the other girl, who smiled at him, "And maybe we'll go alone because we don't have dates. Not yet anyway."

Albus smiled at her and then turned to Cassie

"Kitten if you go to the ball you should wear that white dress. It suits you very well"

Cassandra's face turned red and she looked away from him. Albus gave Rose a kiss on the top of her head and walked away after reminding her that he could take her home after school.

"What do you think of the idea?" Rose asked Cass when they were alone again

"What idea?" She asked, totally confused

"Well, going to the ball together!" Rose clicked her tongue, exasperated

"Ah I don't know Rose," Cassie shrugged, "You know I don't like dancing very much"

"Mmm," the redhead stared at her and moved closer to her friend, "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while ... I know you're shy Cassie but sometimes it seems like something is frightening you"

Cassandra turned pale after hearing Rose's words and looked away. She clearly had touched a sensitive topic.

"I don't want to bother you Cass but if something happens, I want you to know that you can count on me, that I can help you," she took her hand, "You are so beautiful and such a good person but sometimes you can be so ... absent and disinterested about everything" Cassie looked at her with her big blue eyes, "No, not disinterested," Rose corrected her words, "You seem to isolate yourself. You never want to accompany me anywhere, you don't like anyone bumping into you in the hallways, and you don't do like to work with anyone else in school projects… Sometimes you even tremble if your brother touches your shoulder. Cass, I want to know, did something happen to you?"

"Rose I really don't want to talk about this, and I'm not going to talk this," her voice sounded firm but she added, "Please"

"Cassandra ..."

"Please," she repeated

Rose ended up nodding because she didn't want to keep bothering her but she was going to insist. Her refusal to tell her about whatever was going on made her imagine different explanations, although she prayed internally that it was nothing of what she was thinking of.

But I'll find out and I'm going to help her, she said internally as they went to literature class. After all, it was better to focus her attention on something other than Scorpius.

A/N: I'll post another chapter 11 as well, currently working on translating it. Please leave a comment, it's helps me to keep going :)