Secret Santa 2010 - for Nanii
Rose/Scorpius
You were told "Don't get too friendly with him, Rosie," so, of course, you became the best of friends. Grandad Weasley might never forgive you for marrying a pureblood, but marry Scorp? Yes, he was your bestbest friend, but you wouldn't marry him, he was like your brother.
You were eleven when you met him, and by the time you were twelve you had put the animosity aside and become inseparable. Even Lily's arrival at Hogwarts didn't stop the two of you being together, no matter how many times your mother wrote to you, telling you to "spend some time with Lily, she's having a hard time adjusting."
But Lily was a Slytherin, you were a Gryffindor and you were in different years too, so you didn't have the opportunity, or so you told your mother, every time she asked. Of course, Scorpius being in Slytherin didn't stop you from seeing him, but you could never let your parents find out how close you were, anyway.
Somehow, though, something changed, gone were the playful smiled, the easy banter. You couldn't be with Scorpius now without feeling awkward, out of place, as if you didn't belong. You felt jealous every time he asked a girl out, but you didn't know why because you didn't (shouldn't) love him.
Sometime, in your sixth year, he asked Lily out, and you felt that green eyed monster sitting on your shoulder raise its head and roar. But when she said yes, that monster paled in comparison to the pain of your heart shattering into millions of tiny pieces.
For two years you watched them be happy together, the two Slytherins, perfectly compatible for each other. Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't mix, putting the two of them together was like trying to mix oil and water, and the Slytherins always came out on top.
But they could never be completely perfect because Lily had always belonged to somebody else, the boy (or should that be man now?) staring at her every time they were in a room together, his hair flashing from green to orange to brown, his heart breaking right along with yours as you watch the double act that is Scorpius&Lily.
Teddy get's his girl though, because he's Teddy, and everybody loves him. All it took were a few whispered words from you, and Lily's eyes were opened. She left Scorpius for Teddy, she left and she never looked back.
You were left to deal with Scorpius's broken heart, trying to pick up the shattered pieces and put them back together in a way that spells Rose&Scorpius, instead of Scorpius&Lily, because Lily doesn't belong to him anymore, doesn't want him anymore, but he just can't deal with that. You had thought that when Lily had skipped off into the sunset with her Prince Charming then Scorpius would look up and see you, and realise that you were the one.
It didn't work like that though, you saw him watching Lily as she shone brighter and brighter, her wild girl habits never quenched by Teddy and growing more and more into the perfect girl for Scorpius. But her love for Teddy burnt so much brighter than any love she had ever felt for Scorpius, and so she clutched Teddy's hand slightly harder, hugged Scorpius goodbye, and disappeared into the sunset to chase her happily ever after.
So you were left with Scorpius, trying to deal with his new habit of drinking firewhiskey straight from the bottle, trying to save him from the downwards spiral he was on. He wouldn't listen to you though, he was a Malfoy and their pride always had drowned out any ounce of common sense.
And when it came it wasn't beautiful, it wasn't perfect, it was a drunken mistake that he swore would never happen again. You had thought that it had meant that he loved you, that you were finally the perfect couple you had dreamed of being for so long.
But it happened, and it happened again and again, you let it because it was something, a crumb of hope for you to cling to when everything else in the world was so shit, and he let it because he was so fucking in love with you but you had your eyes closed to that, darling, never thinking that he had settled for Lily as second best, never thinking that it was always you he was watching, not Lily.
He tries to make you see; you try to make him see, going round and round in the most horrific comedy of errors that the world had ever seen. The lipstick stains on his mugs, and the mascara stains on your pillow tell the story of an age old cliché, Romeo&Juliet, the star crossed lovers, but somehow, someday, you swear you'll open his eyes.
So, darling, take that bottle from him, and drink as deep as you like, because somewhere, somehow, you've opened your eyes. And he pulls you to him, and kisses you, the firewhiskey burning in your mouth, tears of pain mingling with tears of happiness, because somewhere, somehow, he's opened his eyes too.
You might never be another Lily&Teddy, but you're Rose&Scorpius, and that's enough for now.