A/N: Time jump people. Be warned! I wonder if anybody is even reading this. Haha.

I got this title chapter from a song lyric. Liar (It Takes Two) by Taking Back Sunday:

We're all choir boys at best
(Intrusive and arrogant)

Intrusive and Arrogant

Months went by slowly but surely at Hogwarts. Soon it was only a week away from Christmas break, and all the fifth year students were looking forward to the break much more than any other students. They had all been swamped with homework, assignments and difficult classes. Already a few students had been administered a calming draught.

Enry was taking everything rather well though. After the Quidditch match, she had no other reason to look at Albus. Sure, Double Potions on Mondays were the worst part of her week, but she would never let anybody know that.

But part of the reason that she was doing so well was because Etheline had finally plucked up her courage and asked Scorpius to go steady with her. Malfoy had agreed, leaving Enry with free time on her hands. She thanked Nabiki several times on that day. That didn't stop Malfoy from lurking, but after the few months of good behaviour, he insisted that she had done a wonderful turnaround.

While they sat in the Common Room one evening, his arm around Nabiki, he agreed to pen her parents the progress letter and mail it off that night.

"Good for you, Enry," Nabiki had gushed after Scorpius had got up to find a quill and some parchment. They had become friends somewhat, which was eerie to Enry. She had never had any friends at her time at Hogwarts, and Nabiki was one of those girls that could be desperately mean.

"Thanks," Enry said, weak with a bit of emotion. She knew she had been doing all of this for a reason. That she had blown off Albus so harshly and cruelly for a purpose. And though that purpose was selfish, it meant the entire world to her that her parents be proud. Here was her window.

She sat back on the couch and closed her eyes. Perhaps what Nabiki had said a while ago was true; Malfoy would be nice if you were nice to him.

"Accompany me to the Owlery?" Scorpius asked after he had finished the letter. He shoved it in her hands so she could read it on the way there.

"Yes thanks," she said monotonously.

Nabiki gave her a pat on the back and laid back on the couch in the stone Common Room. "I'll be waiting here," she said happily.

Scorpius led the way out of the Common Room and up the flights of stairs to the tall tower. Nothing was said along the way as Enry read the letter. It was nothing but praise for her and her heart pulled violently. The strange stinging behind her eyes was back as they had entered the Owlery. She put down the letter and stared at Malfoy.

"Thank you Scorpius," she said with as much meaning as possible. She looked around at the owls and remembered the last time the two of them had been in this room. "I didn't think you'd actually send this to my parents."

Scorpius turned to face her and here he smirked. "Well, that's what I brought you up here for. I never really promised that I'd send it, just that I'd write it."

This took a few seconds for Enry to process, and suddenly she was angry. "What, so you wrote it just to mess with me?" A thousand questions floated through Enry's head. What had she done? Why did he even write the letter and let her read it, if he wasn't planning on sending it at all? Staring at him with cold eyes she waited for his answer.

"Oh no. I did have full intentions to send it. I only have one condition," he snatched the letter from her hands and smiled pleasantly.

She was nearly shaking with anger. All of the months she had been so obedient to Malfoy. Everything she had done to please him, so that he would send this letter. What hadn't she already done for him, and what more did he want? "What is it?" she asked, letting her anger drain into only a resulting sadness. "What more from me could you possibly want?"

He took a few steps towards her, pushing her closer to a wall in the Owlery. "Oh it's harmless of course. Just a bit of added initiative on my part to send this." Here he held up the letter, but continued stepping closer to her. Enry didn't understand, but continued to take the steps back, unwilling to let him near her.

There was a bump on her backside and she realized he had cornered her. "Just tell me," she said, frustrated, putting her hand up to prevent him getting any closer.

"Oh like you don't know, White," he said, putting a hand on the wall behind her and leaning closer. His other hand gracefully reached for outstretched one and put it above her.

Something seized in her mind. Told her that this wasn't natural, and that she should get away. But she was frozen on the spot in Scorpius' eyes. Why had these eyes seemed so natural to her? Like she had been stared at with these eyes for a long time? "I-I honestly don't know," she said, confused and scared now.

Smirking still he backed away a little bit and produced the letter again. "How much do you want me to send this letter, Enry?" he asked pleasantly.

With all her heart she wanted him to send it. She would do anything to have it be sent, to be welcomed back to her house for the first time in her life. But something prevented her saying that. His closeness was confusing her, as was everything else he was doing. What was so obvious?

"Well?" he prompted. "How much do you want me to send this letter to your parents? If you don't tell me, I'll let this all go, and destroy the letter."

"No!" Enry said finally, breaking her protection from the wall and stepping closer to him. He was a foot taller than her, so she stared up at him. "I really want you to send that letter Scorpius. Please," she said, the stinging back in her eyes. She did not appreciate the way he toyed with her emotions by using her family, but that didn't prevent anything about how much she wanted him to send it.

"Then kiss me," he said swiftly.

"WHAT?!" Enry asked incredulously, backing away again.

"Kiss me then," Scorpius repeated, shrugging his shoulders and taking a step towards her again. It was like a dance. A confusing, arrogant dance. He was toying with her.

"I will not kiss you Scorpius. You disgust me," Enry shot at him darkly. Scorpius laughed coolly.

"Well, that's what it'll take for me to send this letter," he said smiling.

"Why do you want me to kiss you?" Enry asked, eyeing the letter and calculating her chances of how far she'd get sending it herself. Scorpius wasn't tiny though, he was stronger and probably faster than her. The outlook didn't seem very good.

He shrugged. "Kind of a pride thing, I suppose."

It all made sense then to Enry. The way he made her stop hanging out with anybody else but him, the way he toyed with her and threatened with her. The way he had given in so easily at her begging. The way he had just now cornered her and was so close.

Shock crossed her face and Scorpius took this as an opportunity. He knew she responded best when she showed such emotions. "It's up to you, Enry."

Enry's heart began beating wildly. She had never kissed a boy and if you had told her months ago that had she but only to kiss one, her parents would give her the love and attention she had craved all her life, she would've done it in a heartbeat. She would not have cared.

But it was much more difficult now. Her first kiss being forced on a slug like Malfoy. It was entirely up to her. It wasn't like he stole it, but he knew what the answer would be, and so did she.

"Fine," she agreed, letting her arms hang loosely at the side. He waited expectantly, which made it all the more awkward for Enry. She had no idea how to place herself the right way, or even how to begin. And then she asked herself why she was nervous about that stuff in the first place. Scorpius had asked for a kiss, not what kind of kiss or that it had to be the best kiss of his life.

She brought herself up on her toes so she could reach his face easily, with both hands resting on his shoulders for balance. Without thinking too much about what she was about to do, she pressed her lips against his, with her eyes shut tight.

Then quickly, before giving him time to react, she sank back to her feet, wiped her mouth and looked at him expectantly.

But he wasn't ready to finish at that moment, and brought her back up and into a deeper kiss. He pushed her back against her safe wall and opened her lips up to him. Enry had no time to react with anything, and before she knew it she was kissing back naturally. She struggled away from him, but he held her firmly in place.

Her head was spinning and her body was not listening to her weak commands to free herself. Until finally...

"Ow!" Scorpius said suddenly, backing away from the girl, his hand raised to his lip. She had bit him, and hard to. There was a bit of blood.

Enry's eyes were shocked and wide. "I didn't mean to bite, Scorpius I swear!" Her hands were numb and she stared at him. Would he still send the letter? Her head was still spinning and she was sure he had smiled, but closed her eyes against the dizziness.

"No matter. I'll send it then," he said, turning on his foot and grabbing what looked like the exact same owl as before. Enry had opened her eyes and grinned widely as he tied the letter to the bird's foot and released it out the open window.

"Thank you!" she said, leaning over the sill of the window and watching the bird fly away.

Scorpius shrugged and pulled on her robes, leading her out of the Owlery and back down towards the dungeons.

And Enry wondered idly whether or not Scorpius would ever try to kiss her again.

The day before everyone was set off towards home on the Hogwarts Express for Christmas Break, Albus did it. He looked at Enry and he hurt in a million places at once. She was expressionless, cold, but she looked up at him from across the room at the same time he did. And it hurt him even more. Suddenly he was choking on the piece of roast beef he had been chewing on.

"Careful Al! Small bites remember?" Glyn teased, patting his friend on the back to help get the food out.

Albus cleared his throat and continued chewing, not able to stop staring at Enry, who was now looking down at her plate. Avoiding him? That was probably likely.

Koden raised his eyebrows at his friend and stared off in the direction. "Albus, you have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed, looking desperately back between the two. "After all this time you are still going to gaze longingly after her?"

Patrick and Glyn turned their heads and then both grinned. "The only one that got away eh?" Glyn asked.

Albus frowned at his friends. "She's the only girl in general."

That was as far as the four talked about her. Albus excused himself from his table and began walking down towards the Entrance Hall and up the Marble Staircase towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Once in the safety of his dormitory, he screamed angrily into his pillow. This was not fair at all. He had trained himself so well to not look at her. Why then? Why right before he was about to leave did he have to sneak a glance?

She would never let him even explain himself. And even if she did, he was pretty sure he did not have the courage to tell her.

"But you're a Gryffindor! You can tell her. What would be the worst thing?"

Albus was pretty sure he could not listen to his mind rationally, as it was the thing in the first place that caused everything that happened. It was the thing making staying away from Enry so hard.

It was at that moment that he sat up completely straight. He hadn't been listening to his mind at all, he had been listening to his heart. He wanted to tell her everything, and why shouldn't he?

"You'll make a blundering idiot of yourself," his mind warned.

"Right," Albus said out loud, thinking desperately. He turned on his foot and looked around his room as if it would hold the answer. And it did. In the corner of his bed was his back pack, containing ink, a quill and some parchment.

"A love letter?" his mind mocked.

Albus did not respond. Instead, he set to work. There were a million things to think about. What exactly he would tell her, what he wouldn't tell her so that she wouldn't be scared off by him, and explaining everything that had happened up until that point in his point of view.

This was his last chance.

Koden took one last glance at Albus before boarding the train as dramatically as possible. "I hate breaks," Koden muttered.

"You could've stayed back," Albus said absently.

"I know I could've, but remember in third year when I did? It was really awkward. Would rather go home than do that again," he said grinning. They followed Patrick and Glynn to a nearby compartment that was empty.

Rose followed eagerly after them, her Prefect badge gleaming and a book bag heavy on her shoulders.

"Oh Weasley," Glyn said shaking his head in disappointment at Rose. "No homework allowed on the train."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Like you would know anything about rules," she said sarcastically, setting her bag down with a thump and taking a seat next to her cousin.

The two set off on a regular quarrel, and Koden took his eyes off the Ravenclaw. "You sure you want to do this then, mate?" he whispered, leaning to the side in order to be heard over the shouting. "Even after everything?"

His friend barely nodded. "Scared as shit though," he said now smiling.

"Girls will do that to you," Koden agreed. The train gave a jolting start and they set off, back towards King's Cross and back to their families. Koden gave a last, longing look at Hogwarts and wished that there was some way this break would go by as quickly as possible.

The trip started harmlessly enough. Koden played Patrick in a game of Wizard's Chess, Rose and Lily were talking animatedly about something carrying no interest to any boy, and Glyn was asleep in a corner, his mouth hanging open.

Albus was sitting so straight it was as if they had had detention with Roach the day before. Finally, after winning Patrick at the game, Koden stood up and walked back over to his friend. "Well go and do it!" he prodded.

His friend gave him a horrified look. "What am I even doing?" he asked. "I can't go up to her. Not after all this time."

Koden stared at his friend. "Buck up!" he said, smacking him across the head. "You're a Gryffindor. Now go out there and do it!"

Nodding, Albus got up, thanked Koden and marched out of the compartment.

Turning back around he spotted Lily and Rose's looks. "Had to be done I'm afraid."

Enry sat in her empty compartment content. She was finally eager to go home, and she had been stirring in the thoughts and fantasies about her parents and the wonderful happy endings she'd have.

There was a brief knock on the door and Enry looked towards it, saying nothing. She would have told the person to come in, but she was not interested in seeing anybody at that moment. So she remained silent, hoping the visitor would pass.

But things were never that simple, and through the door marched a very purposeful looking Albus Potter. Exactly what she needed.

"Albus?" she asked as if uncertain that the figure in front of her was real. Why now in the compartment of a train heading home did he have to approach her. Had he not ignored her so fully for the last few months?

"Hullo," Albus greeted gloomily. All sense of purpose seemed to wash from his face as Enry continued to stare at him. It had been a long time since she had seen his face. Not like she was used to staring at it, of course. But not being allowed to see something only makes you want to see it more.

It was better than what she had remembered. His green eyes still sparkled magically as he looked at her and she could not believe that any of this was happening in her compartment. That the boy that had so eagerly expressed his interest in her, and that she had rejected so cruelly, was standing once again in front of her. The same determined look she was used to.

"What are you doing here?" she asked carefully, making sure to choose her words so as not to let him assume anything.

"I came to give you this," he said, producing a long piece of parchment. It was folded neatly into a square, and he took a few steps forward, tentatively. He was clutching it like a mother to a child and Enry eyed it warily. She was not sure if she had wanted to read it. "I know you probably won't look at it," Albus continued, voicing her thoughts, "but it's worth a try I reckon."

Enry continued to stare up at him, causing Albus to stir even more uncomfortably.

"I know that you want nothing to do with me, as you've made apparent these last months, but..."

"You're the one who's been doing the avoiding," Enry pointed out, ready to whip a few month's worth of frustration at him.

Albus' mouth dropped open, but he seemed to have a desperate need to continue. "So I wrote you this in hopes that you can understand my story." He stood awkwardly in front of her, still clutching the note. Enry waited patiently for him to continue. "If you still don't want to be around me, that's fine. No harm done."

Enry shook her head in disbelief. "If only you knew, Albus, what I was going through..." she mumbled, trailing off.

"Then tell me," Albus said eagerly, shoving the note away and taking a seat.

She did not think he had heard her, and now instantly regretted it. "Oh, I can't tell you. You of all people."

"Why?" Albus challenged, now clearly frustrated.

She needed to get rid of him fast, before she could lay down her naturally cruel rejections once more for the poor boy.

"I'm not going to tell you. But you came to give me a letter and I promise I will read it if you give it to me quickly and then be on your way." A tanned hand reached out in the air impatiently.

Albus debated whether or not he should pry further, it was clear in his hesitation, but he must've thought better, because he placed the note carefully in her hands.

"Happy Christmas, Enry!" he called after him, pushing through the compartment door and back out into the corridor.

"Happy Christmas," Enry replied, stuffing the note hastily into her robes pockets.

A/N: This was actually pretty fun to write.

Review please!