Chapter 10: We Were Victims Of The Night or, I Gotta Go, But My Friend Can Stick Around

Rating: M mainly for language, and I can't discount any funny business later on

Disclaimer: I work with only what the infallible J.K. Rowling has given me.

It had always been imperative to Scorpius to keep his feelings in check, under wraps. Of course, he usually preferred denying such feelings even existed and, after seventeen years, he had gotten pretty damn good at it.

He walked to Potions much like he had walked everywhere that day - with an emptiness in his chest, a numbness to his brain, though it felt as if something — no, maybe everything — was trying to get out, make itself known. He only had to stumble for a second, trip up that iron wall he worked so hard to keep up, and it would all come tumbling out.

It was thus crucial to Scorpius that he would not stumble for any second at all.

But it had almost happened once, twice — maybe more times than that. His traitorous brain refused to forget the feeling of the weight of her hands on his shoulders, the scent of her as she lifted onto her toes to whisper into his ear -

With an inhale so quick it sounded horribly like a gasp, he came to and realised he had almost dropped the wrong ingredient into his cauldron. Without thinking, he swept his hand underneath the vial as two drops spilled out, and the nightshade burned in his palm with a hiss. He wrenched his hand away and grabbed his wand, curled his fingers into a cup and whispered, "Sana ignis". He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath as his skin smoked.

Fucking stupid brain, he thought to himself viciously. Stupid teenage brain.

"Mr Malfoy? Is everything alright?"

Scorpius looked up with the intent of meeting his Professor's curious gaze, but his stupid, treacherous eyes found her instead, if only for a second. Those eyes, those deep blue eyes that could change everything if he didn't get his fucking act together, were wide, the very same ones he had seen all night, shining brightly in the club, and then hours later as sleep refused to claim him. He didn't even like blue eyes.

"Everything's fine, Professor," he muttered. "Just fine."

"I need you to do rounds with Malfoy tomorrow night."

Rose coughed violently as she inadvertently swallowed her entire cup of orange juice, and she blinked as she hastily looked around to see if anyone had noticed the commotion. Upon noticing Al's slightly amused expression, she recovered herself and eyed him. "Why? Have you two had your first friend fight?"

Al motioned for the young boy next to him to scoot along and propped his leg up on the bench. "You know that Charms essay we have due?"

"Mm."

"I haven't done it yet."

Rose shrugged. "Oh, well, me neither."

Al shook his head and crooked an arm around his knee. He pointed his fork at his cousin. "No, you haven't finished it yet, I haven't even thought about it, much less started it."

Rose sighed. "Al."

"Oh, please, Rosie. I swear, I'm not usually like this, it's just I've been a little preoccupied recently-"

Rose interrupted him with a raised spoon. "That's the second time you've talked about being preoccupied or distracted or whatever in the past few weeks. What's up with you?"

Al scratched at his ear. "Nuthin'."

"And that," Rose added lightly, "is the second time you've responded that way."

"Well, the key to truth telling is consistency."

"There is no key to truth telling, Al. That's why it's called the truth."

"Pleeeeeease."

Rose huffed, her mouth curving into a pout. "Do you even know when I have patrols? You don't even know if you'd be-"

"I can be free. Anyway, I thought you and Malfoy are sort of alright, you know, for you two-"

"I didn't even mention Malfoy-"

"But you were going to-"

"I don't think I was-"

"So you'll do it?" Al looked hopeful. He peeked over at the Slytherin table, and luckily Rose was facing towards the opposite side of the hall, not that she'd look there anyway. If Potions was any indication, looking at Scorpius didn't result in anything but even more bother.

"I-" She bit her lip.

The bother would've been bad enough on its own, but there was the guilt to contend with too. She didn't know what Scorpius was so rattled by that he could barely stand to look at her in class. It wasn't as if he knew that she was suddenly privy to the intimates of his life, intimates that she had never wanted to be in any way privy to.

"I'll owe you a favour, I swear."

They had just danced.

And talked.

And talked some more.

And laughed.

"Okay, I don't want to overstep, I can ask someone else-"

"No, I can, I mean, I-"

Maybe he hadn't been weird. She had been weird first, right? He had wanted to stay and she had wanted to go, and maybe he was just responding to her weirdness about the whole Liv thing and he'd just been weird back, or maybe it was just the whole damn thing had gotten too damn weird and too damn warm and these rounds would just make it that much weirder and so the right answer would be No, she wouldn't do it, sorry.

She sighed. "I'll do it."

When Toby remarked suspiciously that Scorpius never liked sitting on the side of the bench that faced the Hufflepuff table, Scorpius responded with a stout, "I do now."

Toby rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I hope all the good food hasn't gone. I don't know why you insisted on eating so late today."

Scorpius, who had, upon entering the Great Hall, immediately noticed the redhead seated beside a dark head of hair and realised his plan had quite backfired, grumpily muttered, "I haven't felt very hungry today."

"Well, I'm starving," Toby said, beginning to load his plate. He looked around the almost empty hall, his gaze stopping on a spot just behind Scorpius' head. "So I'm guessing something decidedly scandalous went on between you two last weekend, then?"

Scorpius choked on his forkful of roast beef, and reached for his cup of water, sending his fork clattering onto the table next to him. As his hand shot out to save it, his elbow grazed the cup beside him, and Toby lunged to grab it as it teetered on its edge.

He shot Scorpius a funny look as his friend stiffly picked his cutlery back up. "I was only joking, mate." His eyes narrowed, and he folded his arms on the table as he surveyed the damage. "I seem to have struck a chord."

Scorpius met his friend's serious gaze for a moment, and then surreptitiously chanced a look back at the Gryffindor table while running a hand through his hair. "It's nothing."

Toby shook his head, still eyeing his friend. "Must be something. You're never like this."

He was right; Scorpius was never like this. He was usually good at this — whatever this was — but now there was something pesky and incessant that was giving him a constant headache, and he stared harder into nothing every time his brain thought it had the right to bring up the word 'feelings'.

Today, sneaky little feelings were trying to creep out of their tidy little boxes and badger him with all of their stupid little naggings, stupid little questions, and stupid little problems that Scorpius didn't have any of the answers to.

He had almost fucked up his potion - and he never, ever, fucked up a potion - burned his fucking hand and knocked over a full cup of water, all because he had danced with a pretty girl.

Fucking stupid.

"Miss Weasley."

Rose paused on her way out of the Transfiguration classroom the following morning and turned back to face her teacher. "Professor?"

McGonagall lowered herself down to her desk and indicated at its surface. "If I might have just a few minutes of your time."

Rose inclined her head politely and said a quick goodbye to Al before making her way back into the room.

McGonagall gave her a small smile, but broke their eye contact and searched the back of the classroom, her eyebrows raising slightly when she set on a target.

Rose's stomach gave an unfortunate lurch, and she stared harder but more blankly at her teacher, silently willing her with her eyes. If you have only the tiniest bit of affection for me, she thought desperately, please, please, please don't say-

"Mr Malfoy, if I could see you as well?"

That.

She heard the sound of footsteps pass her, and looked to see Tobias exiting the room, and then another set of footsteps stopped next to her. Well, as next to her as they could be for someone who was obviously trying their very hardest to not be next to her.

McGonagall's eyes went towards the gap between them before surveying her students slightly suspiciously, but said only, "I trust your trip was without incident."

Rose cleared her throat. "Yes, Professor. It went very well."

"And you managed to find everything you needed?"

Scorpius gave a quick affirmative. "We still have some money left over, perhaps we could leave it-"

"Miss Weasley returned the remnants of it earlier this morning," their teacher interrupted with a waved hand.

"Oh."

McGonagall nodded at them with satisfaction, but looked at Rose and narrowed her eyes, tilting her head slightly. "Are you quite well, Miss Weasley?"

Rose started, and she could see Scorpius spare her the briefest of glances. "Fine, Professor, just a little under the weather."

"I hope you haven't caught a chill from your trip out," McGonagall said, with some concern. "The day was quite brisk."

"On the contrary, Professor," Scorpius said, abruptly, and then seemed to think better of it. He continued far more subdued, "It was fine."

"Perfectly fine," Rose added after a pause.

"Well, then," McGonagall said, with an air of finality. "I am very grateful to the two of you for sacrificing your weekend recreations. Though I hope you managed to find some fun of it?"

"As much as we could've," Scorpius said levelly. Rose simply nodded.

"Well, please don't let me keep you any longer."

Rose followed Scorpius out of the room, her hands clasping the strap of her bag so hard she knew that they'd be marked, and suddenly it occurred to her that they were alone.

She kept her eyes on the floor, and her mouth pressed together in a thin line as she considered what to say, or if indeed she should even say anything.

It was only when she thought a simple, "I told Al I would take his rounds session," would at least suffice for a start and tilted her face up to look at him that she noticed Tobias leaning against the wall opposite them and that Scorpius was already making his way over.

Her voice caught in her throat, and she sighed quietly with relief; Al could tell Scorpius himself.

Still, she wondered if they were going to go their own ways without a word - she might still tell him in case Al forgot, or maybe just a look between them that acknowledged each other would do, but by the time she had talked herself into it, he and Toby were already walking down the corridor.

Rose blew the hair out of her face and set off in the opposite direction.

He didn't even look at me, she thought to herself. The least he could've done was look at me.

He only needed a week, at most.

It was perfectly logical that their time together would weigh on his mind; it wasn't everyday that you took your sworn enemy - at least, we're supposed to be, he thought dimly - out to a club, extending what he thought was already supposed to be a too long, too unbearable day. But then it occurred to him that if he had been thinking, if he had paused and thought for one fucking second when they were in Hogsmeade, he wouldn't have taken her into a club, wouldn't have bought her those drinks and he absolutely would not have danced with her.

Scorpius wrung his hands together as he walked, his stomach in knots. Fuck. He didn't do nerves, he didn't do awkwardness, he didn't do anxiety. He was fine.

He wouldn't talk to her. Absolutely not. They could split up. To cover more distance, he would explain smoothly. He had it all planned out in his head; not too ill-mannered or that would evoke suspicion. He only had to be normal.

He could do that. He could be normal.

But as soon as he turned the corner and she looked up at the sound of his footsteps, their eyes met, and his whole plan crumbled to pieces.

For a second she looked like a deer caught in headlights, but she seemed to steel herself and she pushed off the wall behind her. "Hi."

Scorpius swallowed. "Hey."

Silence.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, lest she should see them clenched and tight. "You uh…you don't look too ill anymore. Uh, if you were ill, that is."

Rose looked at him in confusion but then seemed to understand what he meant and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I'm uh…getting there."

"Oh. Good."

Goddammit, man, Scorpius thought to himself fiercely. Pull yourself together. You're not some blabbering, floundering fifth year anymore. Act like a fucking Head Boy.

"Should we-" he started too loudly, and then exhaled sharply when he saw her taken aback expression. "Should we go, then?"

She looked relieved to walk — at least the sound of their footsteps was better than tense, uncomfortable silence.

Scorpius wondered if he should say something, but then small talk would seem unsatisfactory given that not even the week before, her cheek had been pressed so closely to his chest that he had thought she might've heard the jackhammering beat of his heart, and how it wouldn't've mattered how hard he strained to keep his face impassive, his tone carefree.

"Do you hear that?"

Scorpius turned to look at his companion, and for a second his chest seemed to convulse until he remembered where they were now, what they were doing now. "Hear what?"

Rose held up a finger. "Wait."

Scorpius squinted, and then cocked his head. "Is that…is that singing?"

Rose nodded wearily.

The sound got closer, and for a moment, Scorpius forgot that he was tense, forgot that he was so completely out of his element, and threw her a look. "If that's fucking Goldstein, I swear to Merlin-"

"That's not him," Rose said quickly, and when Scorpius looked at her, he noticed that her mouth had quirked up on one side. "Christian doesn't sound like that."

"Shame. I'm in the mood for docking some Ravenclaw points."

"Oh, stop."

Upon turning into their corridor, the boy stopped abruptly the minute he noticed the two staring at him, and pressed his mouth shut. At the sight of Scorpius' expression, he scarpered past them without a word, his footsteps not slowing as long as they could hear him.

"I'll bet you wouldn't've been so mean if you hadn't been so jealous."

Scorpius frowned, and then looked towards his left where Rose was smiling sweetly at him.

"Beg pardon?"

"Well, just because you can't sing doesn't mean you should be upset when other people do it."

"It's not technically that I can't sing," Scorpius amended, forcefully quelling whatever it was inside him that had twitched the moment she had brought it up. "It's more that I've never tried."

Rose looked at him in surprise. "You've never tried to sing? That sounds implausible."

Scorpius shrugged.

"Don't you just…catch yourself singing sometimes?"

"No."

Rose folded her arms across her chest. "Well, when I said I couldn't do anything in the realm of drawing, I meant that I had tried and failed."

"So I figured. I do, however, play the piano. Can, I mean."

"So you at least must have some sense of pitch."

"That doesn't seem unfounded."

"You should try it."

"Try what?"

"Singing."

Scorpius made a face at her. "No."

She made a face back and walked ahead of him. As she passed, the scent of her hair lingered in the air for a moment, and Scorpius halted.

She had been so close, so close it seemed ridiculous to believe any of that night had actually happened.

He took a deep breath. He could still do this.

Talking was good, talking and even being near him was, in a way, good. That way she didn't have to rile herself up thinking about all the things he might be doing as she quietly despaired by herself, or maybe even worse, if he too might be affected by what had happened between them that night - not that anything had actually happened, Rose hastily reminded herself once again. Perhaps he did things like this all the time, and she was just another notch on Scorpius Malfoy's belt.

"Have you read the Christina Hardwick novel yet?"

They were leaning against the walls of the corridor, hovering in a particularly popular rendezvous area that the fourth, fifth and sixth years tended to favour, and Scorpius lifted his gaze up from the floor when she spoke.

"I have. What did you think of it?"

Rose braced her leg behind her. "I enjoyed it, though I definitely think some of her other works are better."

"I agree, though I thought the ending was brilliantly unexpected. Out of interest, what is it that you enjoy about her novels? Given that you're the only other person I've met who's read her books."

Rose considered, wondering how she should phrase her answer so as to come across as the intellectual they both thought she was. And then she wondered when she started caring about what Scorpius Malfoy thought of her. "I think it was choosing to portray the main character as so morally ambiguous, since I've found it's more common to have a lead that's morally superior to everyone else."

"I completely agree," Scorpius admitted. "That's what drew me to her books in the first place. So, is that something that interests you? Moral ambiguity?"

Rose met his gaze. "As a matter of fact, it's something that's interesting me more and more."

Scorpius seemed to furrow his brow slightly at her look, and he tapped his wand against his palm. "Maybe we should keep walking."

"Maybe."

They set off again, and they seemed to settle back into a more familiar rhythm, but then it occurred to Rose that this was not in fact familiar at all.

"It seems pretty quiet tonight," Rose said, idly.

"Don't," Scorpius warned. "You don't want to-"

He was cut short as soon as they heard the rattling of the broom cupboard to their right.

"Jinx it," he finished, sighing.

They shared a quick look before Scorpius led them over to the offending area and aimed his wand at the door handle, after which the door was flung open, exposing the young couple inside.

"Dude," the boy said, scornfully, raising his hands. "Privacy, man!"

"Well, in that case," Scorpius said with a brittle smile. He reached out a hand and slammed the door shut again, causing Rose to jump behind him. He muttered a spell quickly and the cupboard glowed.

"What did you-"

Scorpius held up a finger, silencing her, and crossed his arms. "Just wait."

There was shuffling inside, and suddenly the door handle was jiggled, and then jiggled harder.

"What the fuck?" came the voice from inside. "The stupid knob's not working!"

"Oh, yes," Scorpius said loudly, leaning towards the cupboard. "Don't you just hate being surrounded by stupid knobs?"

Rose pressed a hand against her mouth as she tried to quiet her laughter, but Scorpius turned to issue a quick look at her when a soft giggle escaped nonetheless.

The girl with him began to shriek, and after rolling his eyes, Scorpius cast a Silencing charm, and she went quiet.

"Shall we continue?" he asked, casually. "We have more ground to cover."

Rose shook her head, pressing her lips together. "You are a terrible Head Boy."

Scorpius began to walk, sticking his hands into his pockets. "So fire me."

She caught up to him, and turned her palms upwards, studying them. "So…how did you learn to dance?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up somewhat. Rose unwittingly clenched her own fist. "I'm surprised you remember that, given that you'd just chugged three drinks."

Rose's chest went tight, and she drew in a breath, suddenly feeling shaky with nerves. Her fingers felt tingly and numb and her head heavy and she thought she was beginning to regret dredging up memories of that night. Or maybe it was because they were just...further confirming the whole bloody thing had even happened and that simultaneously thrilled and terrified her.

She continued to study the lines of her palm, and the sudden weight of her head on her shoulders seemed to fade away a little. "Well, I guess I've proved you wrong, then. I'm listening."

They turned into another corridor and Rose looked at Scorpius out of the corner of her eye. He was playing with the knot of his tie, jostling and loosening it.

"When I was younger, my mum and aunt threw a Christmas party every year, and because we held them in the hall and in the ballroom just because it was a room with a lot of space, they quickly turned into dance parties."

"Is that why you were so on the mark for Christmas ball ideas?" Rose asked.

Scorpius shrugged. "It's not a stretch. Anyway, my mum thought it would be odd - especially as I got older - for the host family's son to not be able to dance at, well, a ball, for all intents and purposes. So she made me learn." He smiled a little here, and for a moment his face lost its guarded expression, and Rose could place that smile back to where she had seen it before. "Mum thought it could help me in getting a girlfriend too. You know what they say: to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love."

"I didn't think Jane Austen was your thing."

"You're right. I didn't think it yours either."

"It's not."

"It's something my mum said to me, and for some reason it just stuck."

Rose felt that same shaky feeling crawling back over her, but before she could stop herself, she heard herself saying, "So do you believe in that? That dancing leads to…that?"

She could feel the weight of Scorpius' eyes on her, and she looked up to meet him, just to show that she could.

His gaze was unwavering.

"That remains to be seen."

Hogsmeade looked much the same as it had the week before, the lights bright and twinkling to combat the early sunset. Rose played with the hem of her coat as she stepped out of the carriage, swiping her hair out of her face as the wind blew around her.

"This," Gen said, "was a fantastic idea."

Rose cast a look at her friend, and burrowed deeper into her thick coat, shivering. "It was?"

"Was, is," Gen continued, using the side of her foot to kick up snow into the air. "I love Hogsmeade. Besides, we haven't been in ages." She paused. "Oh, well, you were here last week, weren't you? Rose?"

Rose hurriedly removed her gaze from Madam Puddifoot's window where she could see that renovations were finishing up, and looked back at her friend. "Oh, yeah, agreed."

Gen squinted at her and linked her arm through Rose's as she steered them in the right direction. "You alright, Rose? You seem a little preoccupied." She pulled in one side of her mouth. "To be honest, you've been pretty out of it all week."

Her friend sighed, and kept her eyes on the snow they stirred up as they walked. "Just, you know, tired."

Gen was quiet for a few moments. "When you're up to it, you can tell me what's really going on."

Rose gave her a sheepish but sad sort of smile, and nodded.

"Oh, hey!" Gen's tone lightened, and she pointed excitedly to her left. "They've completely revamped the place!"

"What place?" Rose said, following her friend's gaze. "Oh."

"Think we could sneak in some time?" Gen said, waggling her eyebrows conspiratorially. "Charlie told me Lux is the best club in town."

Rose considered. "It looks a little warm."

"Magic, my dear, magic."

Rose hmphed. "They probably keep it warm on purpose. Muddle the mind. Dull the senses. Make you do stupid things."

"Oh, Rose, I know you're not one for going out, but you haven't even tried it."

Rose drifted over to the dress shop they were approaching and rubbed her cold arms over her coat. "Yeah."

"Oh, good, I thought I might find you here."

Scorpius paused, his quill hovering above his parchment, and he put it down before fully turning to face the person who had unceremoniously plonked down next to him. "Potter?"

"Yep."

Scorpius craned his neck forward, furrowing his brow. "Are you lost?"

Al laughed quickly and a touch uncomfortably. "Nope, and this is really, really weird, but I uh…I need to talk to you. Well, to someone, and for some reason, I'm here."

Scorpius squinted at him. "Oooooookay. What about your red-headed cousin?"

"I have a lot of those," Al said. "But no, I can't talk to Rosie. Actually, it's really, really important that she doesn't know about this."

Scorpius' eyes widened in somewhat ill-conceived panic. "This isn't anything to with uh…" And here his eyes flicked rapidly down into his lap by way of explanation.

"Oh, no, no, no. It's nothing like that."

Scorpius glanced at his ink pot and twirled the lid in his fingers. "Alright, I'll bite. What is it?"

"It's uh…Gen."

Scorpius gaped at him. "You're here to talk to me about Chang?"

"Uh, yeah, and it's awfully good of you to-"

"Don't you have a herd of cousins to talk to about this?" Scorpius interrupted.

"One of them will tell Rose," Al said, flatly. "None of them can keep their bloody mouths shut. Also, I need an unbiased opinion."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "You realise that I would be slightly biased, right?"

"Why?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Nevermind. Just uh…yeah, what about Chang?"

Al leaned back into his chair so that it balanced precariously on its back legs. "I think I might like her."

"That doesn't seem so complicated."

"And she thinks she might like me too."

"Again, not so complicated."

Al shot him a look, and Scorpius spread his hands. "Okay, sorry, go on."

"I mean, we think we must be attracted to each other since we sort of uh...you know, on the night of the Quidditch game. You know, where you made out with Rosie."

"Do you want my help."

Al grinned sheepishly.

"So what's the problem?"

Al sighed. "We tried to go on a date the last time we went to Hogsmeade, but it was just so…awkward. We didn't know what to say, all we could talk about was school and Rose even though we weren't supposed to, and then we left early since Gen didn't feel so well."

While Al had been talking, Scorpius had been slightly distracted by the heads that were beginning to turn their way. At first it was just one or two people, but when it became apparent that Al was staying longer than a passing, people were really starting to stare. And while Scorpius had become somewhat accustomed to staring, he was not so accustomed to this kind.

"People are looking," he said, flicking his eyes around the room.

"Oh, yeah," Al said. "I saw that. But anyway, the next day when Rose asked how Gen's date was, she said it was "fine", which apparently in girl talk doesn't actually mean "fine"!"

Scorpius' mouth pulled up into a small grimace as he brought his attention back to Al. "And what did you say?"

Al rubbed at his temples. "I said that there wasn't any chemistry, but I didn't mean Gen! I was just trying to throw Rose off, but the way Gen looked at me…I think she probably agreed."

"And you're keeping this from Weasley because the three of you are all besties and it would be weird."

Al pursed his lips, and leant back even further. "Yeah. And we don't even know if anything will become of it, anyhow."

Scorpius frowned. "Is there anything wrong with your relationship as it is now?"

"Well, no, not really-"

"And do you actually need to do anything more than to just let things take their course?"

"I mean, I don't want to overcomplicate it, but it just seems silly to stay in this like...limbo, you know?"

"Trust me," Scorpius said, and for some reason, Al did, "I have a little bit of experience when it comes to forcing a relationship that doesn't necessarily need to evolve." When Al's eyebrows raised and his mouth opened, Scorpius raised a finger. "We're here for your problems."

"So that's your advice?" Al said, after a few seconds. "To do nothing?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Take it or leave it."

Al pursed his lips again, and then nodded once. He seemed to be deliberating some more, and then he nodded again. He suddenly bowed forward, setting his chair noisily back onto its front legs. He drummed his fingers on the table, and studied Scorpius' notes. "Hey, thanks. And sorry for interrupting your work on, uh…do you even take Runes?"

"These aren't Runes," Scorpius said, smirking. "They're hieroglyphics."

"You don't say," Al said, craning his head over in interest. "You know, that's funny cos—er. You know what, nevermind."

Scorpius frowned slightly, but let it slide. "Is that, uh…all you needed?"

Al started, and straightened up. "Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, that was it. I'll let you get back to your...—that. Thanks again." He stood, and raised a hand before heading for the exit. A second later, he paused, and swung around. "Hey, man, now that you know about me and Gen, I mean…I feel weird just—"

"You ought to call me Scorpius."

Al's expression went slack, but then he recovered and nodded a few times. "Yeah."

They paused, and Scorpius bit his tongue against his teeth, deep in thought and yet not really thinking anything at all. "Maybe not today though."

A slow smile worked its way across Al's face. "Yeah."

"You have possibly the worst sense of direction I've ever come across, Toby," Liv said as she reached out a hand to redirect him. "This way."

Toby scrunched up his nose and led the way to the shop door. "I knew that."

He opened it and waited for her to pass him before stepping through himself, looking up as a bell tinkled above them.

When he looked back down, he saw that Liv had already found herself in the middle of three dress racks, and moved to join her. "It's very quiet," he said, looking around. "Are we the only ones in here?"

Without taking away her gaze from the dresses, Liv nodded at the till. "Us and those two."

The two girls at the counter coincidentally chose that moment to turn around.

"Ah," Toby said.

At his tone, Liv looked up at him and then towards where he was looking, and for a brief second, she seemed to freeze, but then her face hardened back to its usual expression.

"Liv," Genevieve said as she and Rose passed them, and she nodded at Toby.

"Rose," Liv said, evenly, after acknowledging her friend.

Rose said nothing, but she too nodded as she passed them, and then they were gone.

Toby let out a low whistle, and turned to face his companion. "That was weird."

Liv continued to nonchalantly ruffle through outfits. "What was?"

"Okay, I know you two aren't the best of friends, but that was downright awkward. What's up with you two?"

Liv shrugged. "Haven't a clue what you mean. What do you think about this one?"

Toby made a face, and Liv put it back.

He sighed. "So, do you know what we're even supposed to wear to this thing?"

"It's a Christmas ball, right? So think Christmas."

Toby nodded seriously. "I'll be right back. I just need to ask the nice shop owner where she keeps her red and green suits."

Liv laughed before she could stop herself, and she did a sweep of the room. "I don't know, light colours maybe?"

Toby nodded, making his way back towards the men's section, and after subtly peeking through a mannequin's crooked elbow to see what Liv was picking out, grabbed a few white suits.

He had put on the suit and shuffled around with it for a minute or two when Liv's voice rang out. "You've been in there for ages, what's taking so long?"

Toby pulled back the curtain and posed weakly. "I look like I'm getting married. Help, please."

Liv laughed again, resting her chin against her hand and laying her dresses down on the seat next to her. "Well, you're the saddest bridegroom I've ever seen, good fucking luck to the poor woman at the alter."

"Ho ho. Help."

"Alright, wait there."

She walked around the shop as Toby watched her from the dressing area, and she circled once before pulling a creamy-gold waistcoat with flowery detailing ("Does it have to be shiny?" Toby asked) off its hanger and offered it to him. "Try that with the stuff you got earlier."

As Toby slid out of the outfit he was wearing and searched for slacks to pair with his waistcoat, he said nonchalantly, "So, are you and Scorp gonna colour coordinate?"

He waited with a furrowed brow as there was only silence. He wondered if perhaps she hadn't heard him. But then there came a somewhat lacklustre laugh, and then a noncommittal sort of noise, but before Toby could read too much into it, she asked, "Are you ready yet?"

He took another look at himself in the mirror before drawing open the curtain. "Almost."

Liv's eyes went to the untied bow tie around his neck, and she shook her head with a little smile before standing on her tiptoes to help him with it.

"So," he said when she was finished, upturning his palms to her. "How do I look?"

Liv surveyed him, and then picked up the dresses from where she had left them. "I think you look very handsome, Toby." She walked past him with her arms full into the dressing room he had just vacated. "Maybe you won't have to go stag after all."

"Hey, I choose to go stag."

Toby lowered himself down into the chair that Liv had been sat in and rested his arm behind him as he waited. "So, I know Scorp couldn't make it, but don't you have another best friend whose opinion you actually care about?"

"Yeah." Toby heard some rustling, and then Liv peeked her head out from the curtain. "You."

She disappeared again briefly, and then stepped out. "What do you think of this one?"

Toby raised a brow. "Nice, but I think we could do better."

Liv pursed her lips, but retreated back inside. Soon after, she reappeared in another silver number. "This one?"

Toby scrunched up his nose. "There's nothing wrong with it," he said, and when Liv sighed, he held up a hand and rose out of the chair. "Okay, wait—wait there."

He made a beeline for the dress that had caught his eye when they had first entered the shop, and he walked it back over to her. "Maybe try this one." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I dunno, I saw it, and it sort of reminded me of you a little, and I think gold suits you more than silver does-"

He broke off when she took the dress from him, and after a moment, sat back down.

He listened to the muffled rustling, and after there was a minute of silence, ventured, "How does it look?"

Liv's hand appeared on the fringe of the curtain, and she pulled it back. "You tell me."

Toby was silent for a moment. "Well, if you want to go with one of the others, that's cool, but uh…I like this one. I think it looks pretty."

Liv smiled at him, and then turned back towards the mirror, patting the dress down with her hands. "I like this one too."

As Toby left to go and pay for his suit, Liv lingered at the mirror for a moment longer, drawing her hand across the gold detailing on her shoulder and trying to remember the last time Scorpius had ever told her that she looked pretty.

Scorpius was already collecting ingredients when Rose arrived, and he turned around at the sound of her footsteps.

"You're very efficient," she commented, lifting her sling bag off her body and putting it on the table.

"Proactive," he corrected, measuring out the dragon blood and setting it aside.

She crossed the room to join him at the countertop, peering into the cauldron as she arrived. "Looks good." She turned her gaze towards Scorpius' open textbook and then back to the potion. "Perfect, I'd say."

"I'm just saying, it wouldn't look this good if we'd added the five Lionfish Spines."

"I guess we'll never know."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows as he met her smug smile, but - in a rare show of….something - said nothing. He reached past her to grab the thermometer from where it lay beside her hand, and as he did so, the scent of his cologne was suddenly discernible above the smell of the brew.

Rose turned back towards the textbook, trying to make out the original instructions hidden underneath much of Scorpius' writing.

"I see you've shortened the brewing time from eighteen minutes to sixteen after the aconite leaves are added."

Scorpius nodded, still doctoring with the potion. "Madam Sprout realised that the leaves are more potent at an earlier stage of development, but that also means that the leaves are slightly smaller, so this is compensating for that."

Rose looked at him in disbelief. "How do you even know stuff like this?"

Scorpius shrugged, still not looking at her. "I voiced my suspicions in Herbology and Sprout confirmed it with me." He finally looked up to meet her stare. "I guess she's singled me out as the only student worthy of the information."

His cologne didn't even smell that nice.

"Yeah, well, try not to make too many alterations, alright? We're supposed to follow the textbook."

Scorpius snorted. "We're being graded on how well this potion does what it's supposed to do, not how loyally we follow the instructions."

Rose didn't have a retort for that.

"Look in here - does this look right to you?"

Rose leaned in, surveying it. "Looks good." She eyed him suspiciously. "You didn't need my help."

Scorpius shook his head. "I thought you'd like to feel included."

"How kind of you," Rose said, flatly. "That thermometer has a slight crack in it, by the way."

"What? Where?"

She pointed to it. "I hope it hasn't affected the potion."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "I'll grab us a new one."

He returned in a few seconds, switching the old one out. "I think it still looks fine. You?"

Rose - who had shifted back to allow Scorpius greater mobility - angled her torso towards him. "Looks alright."

While they were both assessing the potion, they had unconsciously moved so close together that she could feel the heat of his arm pressing into hers through the fabric of their clothes. She stepped slightly away, lowering her hands down onto the tabletop to lean on.

"Weasley!"

Scorpius grabbed her arm and pushed it away, eyeing her with trepidation. Rose's mouth fell open in surprise and she glanced down at the spot his fingers had touched her, the imprints of him fading as the skin regained its colour. "What was that for?"

Scorpius looked calm again; he was stirring the potion with aplomb. "Leaves of aconite are incredibly toxic."

Rose glimpsed at him, and then lowered her gaze to the remaining flower on the countertop. "But not to skin, I thought."

Scorpius nodded at her arm. "You have a cut on your thumb, I didn't think it wise to risk it."

Rose was still staring at him like she couldn't process what had happened, but when her silence caused him to briefly scrutinise her, she hastily turned to study the textbook for the next instruction. With her focus so solely on the words in front of her, she couldn't see Scorpius' distraught expression as he screamed "Idiot" repeatedly in his head.

"You'd be a useless partner from the Hospital Wing," he said, abruptly. "It'd be no good doing this paired project by myself."

"I thought that was what you wanted," Rose said, cryptically.

Scorpius continued stirring and motioned towards the textbook. "Perhaps if you didn't talk so much, you'd work faster."

"You act like I'm the slowest partner you've ever had," Rose grumbled, lowering the heat of the flames. "It could be worse, you know."

Scorpius was silent, and Rose sighed as she wondered if they'd actually made any progress at all.

She moved past him and made her way over to the sink, turning on the faucet and sticking her thumb underneath it. She thought she heard him mumble "Could be", and she hesitated before turning the water back off.

But it was probably just her imagination.

Scorpius was exhausted.

He hadn't slept well for a week now, his robes smelled like burnt aconite leaves, and his mind was still reeling with that stupid voice and that stupid laugh and that stupid face and all he wanted was to go the fuck to sleep.

He trudged up the staircase leading to the fourth floor, remembering with a sudden wistfulness how much easier it was to trudge down stairs than up them, and he wondered if he had the strength or willpower to change out of his clothes instead of flopping down onto his bed as he was.

He was looking at his feet as he walked, listening to them as they rapped against the stone, and he frowned as suddenly his view was obstructed by two more pairs of feet. He raised an eyebrow almost lazily, but there was something familiar about those shoes and that scent when put together-

He blinked and then lifted his gaze to look up directly in front of him.

His eyes settled on his girlfriend, and his girlfriend was not alone. He thought he recognised the boy she was with - or rather, around - and he thought his name might be Horatio and that he was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, though he had never seen him play, so perhaps he was only a reserve. That said, he couldn't really see his face from behind Liv's curtain of hair, but he thought it might be him.

And he considered leaving without saying one fucking word.

But then Liv suddenly stilled, and she craned her neck to face him. She caught sight of his expressionless face, and she recoiled from Horatio Reed as if his touch had burned her.

There was silence, until-

"Shit, Olivia!" Horatio was turning a scalding red, and he scrambled to pick up his tie from the floor. "You said he was already in bed two floors up!"

Liv said nothing — she didn't even look at him as he scooted past Scorpius and shot her another horrified look.

The two listened as the pounding of rubber on stone faded, neither removing their gaze from the other.

Scorpius really, really wasn't going to say anything, but it was that indignant, defensive look on her face that sent the blood coursing through his veins.

"You coward," he said, quietly.

Liv's eyes flared, and she shifted her weight so that she was standing stick straight, and from where Scorpius was standing, she didn't have to look up to meet his gaze. She sneered. "How do you figure that?"

"You knew I was coming this way at this time. The Slytherin dormitories are on the other end of the castle; there's no reason for you to be in this wing." He liked the way that his tone was calm, almost blasé.

"Don't you dare - don't you dare stand there and act like this is unwarranted." Liv took a few steps closer to him, and her eyes were still blazing a frightening blue. She pushed away the hair from where it had fallen in her face, and Scorpius could see a vein throbbing hard at her temple. "Why did you agree to us dating, huh?"

Scorpius, not one to be outdone, found himself moving forward. His expression was unwavering. "Because you wanted me to."

"I didn't want this!"

"Want what."

"You were my friend, Scorpius, you were someone I could count on when I needed you! But I have absolutely no idea what I ever saw in you, not only as my boyfriend but as my fucking friend."

He had never fought with Liv like this - he didn't much care for fighting like this - and what was he fucking doing here, he just wanted to go to bed-

"You could've said something."

Liv laughed humourlessly, bitterly. "Don't fuck with me, Scorpius. I know you. Don't pretend for one second that you would give half a damn about my feelings."

"Well, you never gave me the chance, did you?"

"I gave you plenty of chances! I asked you to come to my aunt and uncle's anniversary, specifically as my boyfriend because I wanted you to know that it meant something to me, and then all you want to know is whether or not Toby's coming, and then you ask if coming as my boyfriend even matters!"

"You're trying to make me feel bad because I cared whether or not our best friend was coming to that stupid wedding-"

"IT'S AN ANNIVERSARY!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"YES IT DOES!"

Liv took a few deep breaths, and rolled out her fingers. "You never want to talk anymore, all you care about is fooling around with me. I didn't sign up to be your side piece, Scorpius!" She was red in the face, and in all their years together, Scorpius had never seen her quite like this. "So yes, I kissed someone else, I danced with someone else, I fooled around with someone else."

It was getting increasingly, impossibly difficult for Scorpius to keep his face impassive - he wasn't used to being on the receiving end of comments that wrenched into him like little knives, no matter what he tried to tell himself - but he was doing his very best.

"Does that matter to you, Scorpius?" Liv said, in a very different tone, a tone that was so quiet and indifferent that Scorpius could feel his hands going slick with sweat. "Does it matter to you now?"

No.

"You know what, Liv?" They were now almost toe to toe, and Liv had to crane up to meet his gaze. Up this close, her eyes were shining so fiercely they looked as if they were glistening. "I'm going to bed. You can do whatever the fuck you want."

He turned away and walked past her, his hand clasping his wand so hard he wondered if he might break it.

He thought that was the end of it until she spoke just before he turned the corner.

"God," she said, her voice still that deadly calm. "Rose was wrong. You don't deserve anyone."

Her footsteps stormed off in the other direction, and perhaps it was that arguing with Liv had taken all of what little energy Scorpius had left, for her last words didn't sink in until he was lying awake underneath the covers as the clock struck three.

A/N:

Heeeeeeey guys, sorry this chapter was up much later than the last, but I had an unprecedentedly good writing week for the previous update and that doesn't actually happen too often. (Also this chapter was haaaaard, guys. Aftermath stuff is always tricky. I spent like three days just trying to get Scorpius' opening to not sound so terrifically stupid and I'm still not 100% happy with it.) Oh, also, I took a bit of a risk deviating from the main ship of this fic with the Liv/Toby scene, but I thought it made for a nice change, especially given how heavy the RxS was in the previous chapter. But, as always, hope everyone's still enjoying the fic - uni's starting again and updates will probably get back to longer waits so I'm soooorry in advance. Chapter titles come from Walk the Moon's Shut Up and Dance and The Band's The Weight.

As always, tyfyt :)

~ Rach