Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the genius behind this amazing world. I am simply momentarily occupying it.

Once Upon All Hallows' Eve

Chapter Five

A New Dawn, A New Day

"I had a decent time tonight. You know, expect for the whole noise thing," Scorpius spoke through the darkness.

"I did too, surprisingly," Rose responded.

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we'd been friends instead of competitors? If tonight is any indication it isn't that much of a stretch. We obviously can get along if we absolutely need to," Scorpius spoke after several minutes of silence. Rose took a minute to think it over before responding.

"It would be nice to work together instead of against each other. We might be able to get even higher marks, if that is even possible. And I guess you aren't all that bad; you do have your rare moments of agreeability," Rose conceded.

"What stopped us from becoming friends?" Scorpius inquired after several moments of silence. Rose had thought about that question a fair amount. Albus was always wondering why his favourite cousin and his best friend could not get along, no matter what he did. For Rose, it went back to that first train ride, and Scorpius' hostile and off-putting behavior.

"I didn't think you liked me very much," Rose admitted. She rolled over onto her side and observed the blonde in the large bed. He lay atop his covers, his arms folded behind his head. He looked like the picture of cool and calm. However, at her comment, he turned to look at her, confusion etched across his face.

"I thought you didn't want to be friends with me!" he responded, the surprise he felt at her words evident in his tone. Rose was surprised. She'd never thought that her actions towards him in those early years were hostile or would have portrayed that she didn't want to be his friend. She was only ever responding to his actions.

"Why would you say that?" she asked, after trying to find something that could lead him to think she was the reason they weren't friends.

"Well, you were never exactly friendly," he admitted sheepishly, obviously trying not to offend her too much with her words.

"You were the one who wasn't friendly, Scorpius. I was just reacting to you. You were the one who tripped me on the train that very first ride."

"I've told you that was an accident, several times," he answered, the annoyance that Rose couldn't seem to grasp that fact clear in his voice.

"And I may have been able to believe that if you hadn't then followed it up by being rude to me."

"How was I rude?"

"You insulted my favourite book and then just stared at me, obviously trying to get some sort of a rise out of me. If you hadn't acted so hostile on that first train ride, I think we could have been at least amicable with each other, if not friends."

Rose was expecting Scorpius to rebuff the claims or say that Rose was exaggerating his actions. He was arguing that it was her fault they weren't friends so it would be a logical argument. Instead, he fell silent. If Rose wasn't watching him, she might have assumed that he had fallen asleep.

Rose was just about to ask if he was okay, when he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," he started, his voice was soft, "I wasn't trying to be hostile. I didn't mean to insult your favourite book. And I was only staring at you because I couldn't find something to say to you that wouldn't make me sound like a complete idiot."

Rose hadn't been expecting that from him. She had assumed that he would turn it around on her, blame her for his staring or something. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"Oh," she spoke to fill the void.

"Yeah, well, it was six years ago. Nothing we can do about it now," Scorpius spoke, before he rolled over onto his side. Rose wasn't sure if he had fallen asleep or not, but she assumed that the conversation had ended.

She rolled back onto her back and tried to fall asleep but was unable to because her mind was too busy analyzing what had just happened.

Scorpius wasn't trying to get a rise out of her? He was just an extremely awkward 11-year-old trying to find something to say to a potential new friend. It was her fault they'd never been friends. She'd just assumed he was an ass and that made him an ass.

Rose felt terrible.

If she'd been less judgmental, more open to him, they could have been great friends. She'd ruined a possible friendship all because her father had warned her away from him and she hadn't given him a second chance.

She was a terrible person.

Rose rolled over, facing the window, in an attempt to get some sleep. She knew it wasn't going to be easy though. She felt too rotten to get any shuteye. As she gazed out across the lawn through the window, she saw a dark figure cross the grass. However, before she could fully comprehend it, her overtiredness overcame her guilt and she fell asleep.

Rose slept fitfully and woke up several times throughout the night. By the time the sun rose the next morning, she was almost more exhausted than when she fell asleep. She would have continued to lay in her makeshift bed and tried to get some semblance of sleep if she hadn't been startled by a dark shape looming over her.

She jumped out of her bed and let out a high-pitched scream. In the process, she collided with the shape and gave herself a terrible headache.

"Ow Rose, watch where you're flailing. You could seriously hurt someone like that." It took Rose a moment to figure out that the voice that spoke belonged to the dark shape and that it was her cousin Al's voice.

"Al, what are you doing here?" she asked, holding her head where it was throbbing.

"Came to see if you two had survived," he spoke, falling back onto the large bed where Scorpius was still sleeping. As Al landed on his legs, the blonde jolted awake, looked around for the cause of his sudden awakening, and then punched his best friend in the arm.

"Thanks for the concern," Rose responded, stretching out her aching muscles. Spending a night on the floor had started out as a good idea when it meant not spending the night in a bed with Scorpius, but it turned out to be a bad idea in the long run.

"I always worry about my precious little cousin Rosie; especially since you're so naïve and innocent. The world is a scary place, Rosie. I need to make sure it doesn't destroy you." Al spoke in a very joking manner, but Rose knew that beneath his jovial façade, he really meant what he was saying. Albus was always saying that Rose didn't truly see the world, didn't see the dark gritty underbelly to everything. And that was the way Al wanted to keep her, in his words pure.

"I can take care of myself, Al. I'm not a baby, and I'm only three months younger than you. I'm not your 'precious little cousin'." She then threw off her sleeping bag cover and began packing up.

She was glad that her strange evening was finally over. She'd been scared, annoyed, surprised, confused, and had some of her longest held beliefs flipped upside down. She hadn't been looking forward to it initially. She'd gone into it thinking Scorpius was vile, repulsive and absolutely hated her guts. Now she wasn't sure what she thought with regards to Scorpius.

"So, what did you two get up to tonight?" Al asked, his eyebrows quirking so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline. Albus was obviously digging for information. Sometimes it was like he knew when something had happened, like he could sense it.

"We heard a creepy, unexplainable noise, searched for it, talked for a bit, then fell asleep. Nothing all that big," Scorpius responded, glazing over the three major points of the evening like it was not a big deal. Rose figure it was so that Al could pick what he wanted to latch onto, mostly the unexplainable noise, and leave the more personal aspects of the evening private. However, that was not Al; he always seemed to know what people didn't really want to talk about.

"So, what did you too talk about? You both look fairly exhausted, so it must have been some pretty juicy topics." Al's eyebrows rose even further. Rose was really quite surprised how high they could go.

"Careers, Merriweather's paper, and the first train ride," Rose responded, mirroring Scorpius' earlier nonchalance. She hoped that Al wouldn't pry too much more. The topics really were boring and straightforward, especially when Rose left out the more alluring aspects of their conversations.

"Oh yeah?" Al asked. Rose knew she should have known better than to expect Al not to pry; he always wanted to know everything about other people. "What exactly did you talk about?"

Rose looked at Scorpius, asking for a way out. Albus may have been her cousin, but over the past six years, Scorpius had spent more time with him than she had. She figured he would know how to stop Al before he uncovered too much.

Thankfully, Scorpius knew exactly how to do that.

"You know what Al, it's early and I haven't had my morning coffee yet. How about we discuss this later, after coffee and breakfast? I'll be much more willing to divulge all my dirty little secrets then." With a flick of his wand, Scorpius packed up all of his and her belongings. He then picked up his pack and headed towards the door.

Rose was truly amazed.

As she grabbed her bag and followed the two good friends out of the Shrieking Shack, she made a resolution to herself. From here on out, she'd give Scorpius the benefit of the doubt; she'd stop seeing him as the hostile, competitive jerk she had known, and start thinking of him as the Scorpius who had relieved himself in the darkness of the Shrieking Shack.

The end