Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, don't own anything, blah blah blah. Wow, I'm a writing machine.
By early December, I was numb. Days passed by, and I barely noticed. I wasn't so bad as to not talk to my friends, but everything became a routine to me. They seemed to be talking about the same thing every day anyway; boys. It was a subject that I had suddenly become quite disinterested in, so they barely asked me my opinion.
Albus was a bit sore about me not explaining the sudden coolness between Scorpius, but he was just as mad at him for that. He didn't like not knowing what was going on with his two best friends.
He caught up with me one day after potions.
"Rose, what is going on?" he asked me.
"What, with the lesson?" I asked, trying to be naïve. "Well, it's simple, really. To make it work to its full potential, you need to add in two drops of dragon's blood and-"
"That's not what I was talking about," he said. "I mean, what is going on with you and Scorpius. You've barely looked at each other, let alone spoken to each other in the past month. What happened? I thought he was your go-to-guy for problems."
"Isn't it natural to fall in and out of communication with friends?" I asked, hoping that he would take that bait.
"Rose, you two have been friends since the third year, something is going on here," he insisted. "Did he do something wrong? If he did, he didn't mean it."
"Why don't you just talk to him if you're going to defend him," I snapped.
"Ok, now I know something's wrong," he said.
"Sorry Al," I apologized. "I just lost control of my temper, I guess."
"Either way, I want to know what happened," he said.
"It's not easy to explain," I told him. "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. You'd jump to the wrong conclusion and then act on it. Don't think I don't know what I'm talking about, either. If you weren't my cousin, you'd be my brother. I know how you work."
"Fine," he said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "But once this gets worked out, you will tell me every detail."
"If it works out," I said, emphasizing the 'if', "then you will be the first to know exactly what happened."
"Hey, we should hand out at Hogsmeade tomorrow," he said. "It'll be just you and me, just like we used to. How does that sound?"
I smiled and nodded, though a little confused. I hadn't realized that it was Friday already because of the way I'd been living.
I'd realized that in all of the drama and confusion that Scoprius put me through, I forgot my stand-by: When in doubt, go to Al.
The realization came with a little pain when it dawned on me that I had been neglecting one of the only people who actually understood me and how I viewed my family, since we were both quite different from the rest of them.
In all honesty, I have no idea why I didn't tell him about my situation. He would probably understand, but a part of my brain thought that it would be just as bad as telling my brother, Hugo, who, at sixteen, still told secrets as easily as a seven year-old who was offered a piece of candy as a reward for telling on people.
I no longer sat out by my regular tree by the lake anymore. It hurt a bit too much to look at. My location was changed to a rock that was far enough away from where anyone liked to go sit by anyway. Most people like to be closer to the castle, and the ones who don't care are usually by their friends who prefer to be closer to the castle.
The rest of the day went by as usual. I went to class, avoided Scorpius, walked to another class, avoided Scorpius, went to dinner, avoided Scorpius again, and I finally went up to Ravenclaw tower while avoiding Scorpius.
Yes, ever since the incident, my schedule pretty much consisted of mostly avoiding Scorpius. Trust me; it made a lot more sense when I came up with it.
I woke up the next morning and I was quite looking forward to just hanging out with my cousin. There was to be no, I repeat no thinking about Scorpius at all.
When I got to the entrance, Al was already there. "So, ready for some fun?" he asked.
"Sure," I said. "How about we go to Madame Puddifoot's?"
"Madame Puddifoot's?" he asked me. "I always thought that you preferred the Three Broomsticks."
"Well, you thought wrong, didn't you?" I asked.
"I think that we should go to the Three Broomsticks," he said.
"Why?" I asked him. Why was he trying to press this issue?
"I just like it better, that's all," he said.
"Al, you barely ever go to the Three Broomsticks," I said. "You like the Hog's Head, because no one ever questions you when you buy Firewhiskey."
"Let's just go," he said, grabbing my arm. He sat me down in a booth. "Wait here." He then left the pub. O…kay.