She'd been avoiding him.

She wasn't proud of it, but there it was.

Well, two 'hims,' as long as she was being honest with herself.

As much as she wanted to see Lorcan happy, as much as she wanted to keep him in her life, she simply wasn't ready to be his friend. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye knowing it was no longer acceptable to slip her fingers through his hair. She couldn't hug him without having to suppress that urge to lean in for a kiss. She couldn't... well, she simply couldn't.

Especially not with the Memorial Ball looming in their future, growing ever closer by the day. They were supposed to go together, they'd been planning it for months. Their robes had already been fitted, their colors coordinated. It was the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, the biggest event to be held in all their years at school; and she was no longer ready for it. Lorcan would be going with Elspeth, for obvious reasons, and she couldn't fault him for it.

Trouble was, this left Rose alone with a baby blue dress and a missing match. It was... lonely. Staring at her dress as it hung beside her bed made her lonely. Putting it on and staring at herself, attempting to tame her curls, made her lonely.

While her dorm mates gossiped about their dates and experimented with hair styles, all she could think about was how her dressing robes matched Lorcan's, but Lorcan's must now match Elspeth's, and Elspeth's Mark matched Lorcan's, and Lorcan's soul matched Elspeth's, and no one's stupid skin would ever light up to match Rose's because her stupid skin was covered head to toe in marks and yet every single freckle or scar on her body had the absolute gall to not be the capital M, extra special soul Mark. She was stuck on how she and her beauty marks would always be singular, never paired for anything more than temporary. Never the one for someone, always the one just there to pass the time.

She was lonely, and she was so done with moping around about it.

Then there was Malfoy.

Now, he wasn't the person she'd least expected to comfort her, but he was definitely low on the list. It wasn't as though they hated each other, exactly; it was more that they were never friends, and she'd always thought that to be a permanent situation, purposely constructed out of mutual distaste.

They'd lived their lives constantly in each other's periphery, continuously crossing over but never quite meeting. They shared classes and friends (namely Albus), but they never spent time alone together. In fact, she was under the impression that they actively avoided it. Sure, they spoke - they shared the same circles and spent quite a lot of time near one another, but it was always in a group setting, and they'd never been overly friendly. More than anything, they bickered and battled until one of them claimed the prize; whether that prize was academic success or Albus's attention, the dynamic was the same. Bitter at worst, playful at best.

When he followed her, she'd assumed it was coincidence at first - that they'd simply been leaving at the same time, heading in similar directions - but as she fled he remained on her tail. She hadn't given it much thought, beyond figuring he wanted to tease her about something; maybe he'd gotten a better grade than her on that potions exam, maybe he thought her face looked especially funny when it was red and blotchy from holding in tears, whatever. She hadn't minded, really, except that she didn't want to let him see her cry. Crying was a private event for her, something that left her too vulnerable for the eyes of anyone less than loved. Malfoy, especially, did not fit that category. When she realized she couldn't hold the tears in any longer, and he wasn't giving up the chase despite her obvious attempts at being alone, she'd been mortified. And yet...

He'd hugged her.

He'd been there for her in a moment of weakness, one she hadn't - couldn't share with the people closest to her. Malfoy, of all people.

What was she supposed to make of that?

It was such a simple thing, and they'd parted ways without verbalizing anything further. He hadn't pressed her to confess her woes, hadn't teased her about her rain-mussed hair, hadn't lingered too long waiting for her to break the silence, hadn't gloated or tried to instigate a fight; and from what she could tell, he hadn't told anyone about it. He'd simply comforted her precisely as much as she'd needed in that moment, walked her back to the castle, and left. He'd kept her private moment just that: private, secret, and without her having to ask him to. He'd asked nothing in return.

It was, quite frankly, infuriating in its perplexity. From what she knew, this was completely uncharacteristic of him. This went against his entire reputation. It flung apart their entire dynamic, and now she had no idea how she was supposed to behave around him.

Were they... friends, now? The concept was too foreign. Was he going to hold this incident over her head for future emotional blackmail? Possible, but she wasn't about to ask him; he hadn't come forth with any demands, and it certainly wouldn't do to go putting such ideas in his head. Should she smile and greet him with a wave, or a handshake, or a hug? Should she glare and tease? Should she act like nothing happened, like that moment changed nothing? Should she simply go about her business as usual, ignoring him until he did something obnoxious enough to warrant her irous attention? Had anything changed? Should anything change?

Was she overthinking this whole thing?

Did Malfoy have an identical twin she somehow never knew about, who had a habit of hugging crying strangers?

Nothing made sense and Rose Weasley was an actual disaster.

So, one could see why - when cornered - she might panic. Rose was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or, rather, she was in the middle of a corridor with one 'him' headed straight for her, and (as she saw when she spun around to avoid the first 'him') the other 'him' at the other end of the corridor... also headed her way. There were no corners for her to dodge around, no empty classrooms for her to hide in. Besides, she was quite certain they'd both seen her anyway.

She had to choose, and quickly. Her panic was entirely natural, she told herself in retrospect; although the thought brought her little comfort.

Admittedly it wasn't her finest moment, but she chose confusion and potential embarrassment over predictable doses of heartbreak in a split second. Which is how she ended up marching up to Scorpius Malfoy, hooking her arm around his elbow, and pulling him past a tapestry she could have sworn led to an old, haunted History of Magic room...

However, considering: A. the distinct downward slope that knocked off their balance and sent them tumbling, entangled, down some sort of large, spiraling slide; B. the utter lack of desks; and C. the entrance which promptly sealed up upon depositing them onto the cold, stone floor... She'd been wrong.

Rose and Scorpius lay in a stunned heap for a solid twelve seconds before he smirked down at her. "You know, if you wanted to take this somewhere more private, you could have just asked."

Rose rolled her eyes and groaned, taking in their surroundings. "Where even are we?"

Scorpius shrugged one shoulder, raising his eyebrows at her. "You tell me. You're the one who dragged me in here like you were on a mission from Merlin himself."

Her cheeks burned. She avoided his gaze, but it didn't last long - he ducked his head to catch her eye. "You okay, Weasley? What was that all about?"

Try as she might, she couldn't dodge eye contact forever, what with him being maybe three inches from her face whilst the rest of her was a combination of pinned by and tangled up in his chest and limbs. Rose shook her hair out of her face, their foreheads bumping gently in the process. "I could only avoid one-" No, nope. She stopped herself from telling far more than he needed to know with another shake of her head. "I thought that tapestry hid an abandoned classroom."

He blinked, eyebrows slowly rising in the silence.

"Aaaand, you... felt the sudden need to show me some desk graffiti from the 1800s?" he probed. His upper body was getting heavier with every second of this conversation, she was sure of it. Any moment now, her bones would start cracking under the weight of this boy and all his silly questions.

"Precisely," she snipped. "Now are you going to get off of me?"

"If I do, will you tell me the real reason you've just abducted me?"

"I did no such thing!" Scorpius smirked, lips parted to speak again, but she cut him off with, "And probably not, but I'm going to have to insist you do it anyway."

"M'fraid I can't." She scoffed. He willed his smirk to bend into something vaguely resembling a grimace. "Think you broke my spine somewhere around the third bend."

Heaving a groan, she shoved at his hip with the one hand she could actually move. "Malfoy, get up."

"Or what?"

"Or I start biting."

"Oof. Don't threaten me with a good time."

Rose gaped at him for approximately 0.73 seconds, then kicked at his shin with all the momentum she could find.

"Ow!" Yet he had to drop his forehead to her shoulder to hide his smile. Why he even tried, Rose wasn't sure - she could still feel the laughter in his shaking torso. Just when she began to contemplate a better attack, Scorpius threw his weight to the side, and suddenly their positions were reversed.

Surprised into meeting his twinkling eyes, she tilted her head. "What?" he asked, laughter fading. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Trying to figure out what game you're playing, she almost said. Instead, she paused.

He lifted a hand to brush her hair behind one ear. "Even covered in dirt you look a lot better than you did last time."

She began untangling their limbs, pulling her head back from his. "Is that a compliment?"

"I take it you're feeling better?"

Palms pressed to the stone floor, she paused mid-lift. "Do you have a twin?"

"Wow, where did you learn to segue?"

"Have you been replaced by an alien?"

"Really gotta work on your subtlety, there, Weasley."

"You're acting weird."

"You're always weird."

"That's more like it," but barely. Rose shoved herself off the floor and stepped away to examine the room. Before she could get too far, he lifted his hand. She narrowed her eyes.

"What, you can yank me down a suicide slide but you can't help me up?" His usual teasing tone was there, but it wasn't quite the same. Did this mean things had, in fact, changed? If so, how much?

Better to think about it once they found a way out, she decided, and gripped his hand. She barely pulled. He was definitely capable of getting up on his own. She squinted at him again, but he simply winked and then turned from her. She cleared her throat and stepped away.

Running their hands along opposite stone brick walls in search of hidden doors, they settled into a silence like heavy static; both occupied by their own thoughts and questions, neither willing to be the first to risk a spark.

AN: this took ten million years and I am so sorry. On the plus side, we got some dialogue, and a somewhat lighter tone for the moment. Don't worry, next chapter will pick up right where this one left off, with Scorpius's POV! Thank you so much to everyone who's favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. Every notification brings my heart so much joy and helps motivate me to put this story in my head into shareable words. Apologies for any formatting or typi issues I may have missed, I've been slowly writing and editing this entirely on mobile. Please, stick with me y'all! I have a lot planned, and this story won't leave me alone until it's finished. We're just getting started. ;3