The sun glaring off the snow was hardly a flattering light for Victrola's sallow skin and admittedly oily hair, but she didn't mind right now. She wasn't entirely sure why she had asked Potter to walk with her, but she had.

The Black Lake looked absolutely frigid. The water was the color of iron, and - were those patches of ice forming around the west side?

"I wonder what it would be like to jump in," said Potter. His tone was neutral, but Victrola looked sideways at him to see that his green eyes were glinting mischeivously.

"Is that a threat, Potter?"

"You should call me Albus."

"I'll consider it. Are you going to push me in, or am I going to have to push you?"

"So, one of us has to toss the other into the lake now?"

"I don't know. All I know is that if one or both of us is not soaked in frigid lake water soon enough, I shall consider the day wasted."

"Hm. Well, I don't want to push in you in, but neither do I want to be soaked in frigid lake water."

"That is a problem."

"Seriously, though. I bet you wouldn't, anyway."

"A challenge!" Victrola instantly started removing layers of clothing. She was soon shivering righteously in her Oxford shirt and grey trousers.

Potter's eyes went wide. "You're not really going to -"

Albus watched, openmouthed, as Petracca launched herself into the lake in a perfect, arching swan dive. He watched the dark water impatiently. If she didn't surface. . .

She surfaced, her hair clinging to her face in inky strands.

"Oh, my god. Are you - ?"

"Cold? Yes." She laughed exuberantly, throwing her arms up and spalshing the edge of Albus's cloak.

"Insane?" he finished. She pursed her lips judiciously.

"That too, I suspect." She leaned back into the water, doing the dead man's float.

Petracca looked a bit like an Inferius, spread out limply against the surface of the water, but she was strangely beautiful too. Her long dark hair fanned around her face in all its glory. Even her skin looked more bronzed than sallow in stark contrast to the steely water.

Her eyes flickedered open, and she smirked when she caught Albus staring at her. "Am I a pretty snow angel?"

Albus snorted. "Hardly."

She pinwheeled her arms, evidently emulating a snow angel. Albus laughed

Petracca sank into the dark water, then resurfaced with a dramatic splash, effectively soaking Albus.

"Hey!"

"Oh, sorry, luv, did I ruin your pretty cloak?"

"It's cold," he protested.

"Damn right, it's cold. Help me out, would you."

She extended a hand, and Albus took it without thinking. Petracca pulled his arm sharply, and his stomach twisted horribly as he was submerged in freezing water.

He had to kick quite a bit to drag himself above the surface, as his heavy cloak kept pulling him down. He shook his head vigorously to get the wet hair out of his eyes.

"Dammit, Petracca!" he roared.

She laughed, treading water. "Bloody Gryffindor chivalry, you had it coming!"

Albus unfastened the dragging cloak and watched in dismay as it sank slowly into the depths of the lake.

"No, no, no! That was my only winter cloak!"

Petracca had the decency to look slightly abashed, but there was still a sinister gleam in her eyes.

"My shoes are probably ruined, too," he grumbled. Albus didn't really care about appearances so much, but now his cloak and shoes had both been ruined in one go.

"Sorry," she said cheerily.

"My parents are going to be pissed."

"Ach. I apologized already."

"James is going to -"

"Here, let me show how deeply sorry I am."

She wrapped one arm around his neck and pressed her frozen lips against his.

Scorpius wanted to scream.

Bullying, whatever. People didn't bully Scorpius, they fought him, and he fought back. It bordered on hurtful at times, but that was simply how the game was played. If you weren't man enough to take it, then you could hide behind the teachers' skirts. Everything was magically deleted the moment they graduated, or that was the way Scorpius saw it. They were just kids. Traumatic moments would become anecdotes at cocktail parties down the road.

This time, though, some intangible line had been crossed. He felt dirty. He felt degraded. Potter had messed with his emotions and his sexuality through that damn potion.

And for what? Rose?

Rose.

It had all just been a game, the teasing. Potter made it sound like he, Scorpius, had been systematically administering emotional abuse.

Yes, their relationship was messed up. Scorpius had taken an instant dislike to her, and she to him, almost before they stepped across the threshold of Hogwarts. They were both smart, passionate kids, and their rivalry was fierce.

Then, in fifth year, Scorpius started to notice things about her. The light in her expressive brown eyes. Her soft, wild red hair. Her laugh. (It also didn't hurt that she had developed breasts over the summer.) He had been encouraged, almost trained to dislike her, so the new development just felt wrong. He tried to push his feelings aside. Scorpius knew emotions, and they brought nothing but pain. Their enmity and teasing suddenly felt very safe compared to what they might have otherwise.

That she might feel the same . . . was a possibility that he had never entertained.

He wanted Rose against his will and against his better judgment, and there was nothing to be done about that. Teenagers were teenagers, lust was lust. But he wouldn't fall in love, so he was okay.

Or he would be okay, if Potter hadn't ruined everything!

Scorpius's retreat, when he needed to be alone, was the Astronomy Tower. Sure, at night students would stargaze, and occasionally some seventh years would make out, but during daylight hours it was abandoned.

Nicky knew this, and had never bothered him there before. But today was exceptional.

It wasn't that she thought he would try to off himself or anything, but . . . it was probably best if he wasn't left alone for a long period of time.

She paused at the door, then leaned her palm against it, pushing it open a few inches.

Socrpius was curled in the fetal position under the wide, open window. Harsh daylight cast stark shadows over his body, making the scene all the more real. Pain tore at Nicky's throat. She didn't want to, she shouldn't, see her friend like this. No one should.

Hadn't the poor kid been exposed enough today?

She slipped quietly away, hoping he hadn't seen her see him.

Shaken, she wandered aimlessly around the school for a while. Today had beeen simply unreal. Poor Scorpius. He would probably associate today with all other Valentine's Days to come.

After hearing Albus's grand little sermon, she understood why he had done it. Whatever else he was, Scorpius was a little piece of shit to Rose. Sexual tension, stupid Quidditch rivalry - whatever it was, it was just bad for everyone involved. Nicky usually just went along with it; Rose seemingly led a charmed life, and it wasn't so bad to see her get her feathers ruffled every so often.

She supposed the conflict had to come to a culmination at some point. It had been terribly public, though.

"Um, are you okay?"

Nicky almost bowled over the concerned citizen in her distracted state. "What?" she snapped.

Her well-meaning assailant was a Gryffindor sixth year, one of Rose's friends. She was a short, slightly chubby Indian girl with curly hair and a perfect Cupid's bow mouth.

"I - I just asked if you were okay."

Nicky straightened her glasses. The girl was cute.

"Yeah, why? Do I look frightening?" she teased.

The girl flashed a quick smile. "A bit, yes. You're Rose's cousin, right? Dominique?"

Rose always called her by her full name. "Yes, but almost everyone calls me Nicky."

"Nicky, that's cute." She extended her hand. "I'm Ruby."

"Nice name."

"You're on the Slytherin Quidditch team, right?"

"Yeah, Chaser."

"You must be excited for the match next week."

"We've been practicing a lot. Are you going to the match?"

"Of course! I love Quidditch!" Ruby smiled again.

Nicky wondered if she liked Quidditch players as well.

"You'll be cheering for my team, right?" she said dramatically, striking a pose with one hand on her hip.

The smile vanished. "Er, sorry, no. My boyfriend's in Ravenclaw, see . . ."

Boyfriend, dammit.

"Oh, sure, I get it. Gryffindors never cheer for Slytherin anyway."

Nicky had meant it as a joke, but she failed to coax another smile from Ruby.

A brunette Gryffindor with curly hair like Ruby's - was that a trend now, curling one's hair? - bounded up to them.

"Oh, my gosh, you're not going to believe this," she gushed, taking Ruby's elbow. "Lysander asked Lily out!"

"Really?" said Ruby, her voice going higher. "I thought he was gay!"

"That's what everyone thought! Come on, we have to go talk to her."

"Lily's my cousin," put in Nicky helpfully. Ruby nodded distractedly in her direction as the other girl all but dragged her away. Ruby's friend completely ignored her.

It was probably for the best. Ruby had a boyfriend. She was almost certainly straight.

Technically, one in ten Hogwarts students was gay, the same statistical likelihood as everywhere else. Most didn't realize it until after they graduated, though. The Wizarding world was even more heteronormative than the Muggle one. Apparently gay rights and general awareness took a backseat to critical issues like magical creature control and goblin diplomacy.

Those who did realize they were gay, like Nicky, almost never came out until they were well away from Hogwarts. Some people would be perfectly understanding, of course, but it was a boarding school for teen witches and wizards. In other words, quite a hostile environment for your average queer wizard.

She hadn't told Scorpius, but it was a near-certainty that he had figured it out already. They steered clear of romantic topics, but her marked lack of interest in dating young men was evident enough.

Her gender-neutral nickname and pixie cut were also indicators, if one believed in stereotypes. The shortened name had been her preferred one for as long as she could remember, but the haircut was deliberate. It was a sort of subtle indicator to any gay girls at Hogwarts who were looking for support - or potentially romance.

That was too much to hope for, though.

Ruby looked over her shoulder at Nicky as Annabelle led her away. It had been rude of Annabelle to not even acknowledge the Slytherin . . .

Nicky was pretty weird. The word was that she was dating Malfoy, and she had definitely been very distressed by the statue incident, but somehow they didn't seem like a couple. At all.

Maybe it was because Nicky looked like a boy!

Ruby snickered quietly at the thought, but stifled her amusement quickly because it was a mean thought.

Still, though, her hair was really short, and her glasses obscured her pretty eyes. They were really exceptional eyes; Ruby had noticed instantly. Blue, like a postcard of the French Riviera she had seen one time.

"Ruby!"

She looked up to see Zach walking to catch up with them. The girls stopped. Annabelle shot Ruby a look that was equal parts excitement and knowing-ness.

"Yes, Zach?"

"Um, it seems like our date was cut a little short. Want to go, like, finish it?" He cringed slightly, having made it sound dirtier than he meant.

"Sure," said Ruby. "Annabelle, do you mind if Zach and I go for a walk?"

"Go on, that's a great idea!" She beamed dazzlingly at both of them.

Zach seemed content to wander around the courtyard, but Ruby was cold. She rubbed her arms pointedly. Zach was looking rather seriously at the ground.

"Do -" Her voice broke slightly. "Do you want to go inside?"

"Huh?" He looked up. "Oh, yeah, yeah, sure."

He held open the door to the Great Hall, and Ruby ducked inside self-consciously.

Ruby ransacked her brain for conversation topics as they walked aimlessly along the mostly-empty corridors. She was about to make an inane comment about the weather when Zach stopped abruptly in front of a tapestry featuring some unicorns.

"I really like you, Ruby. You're cute and nice and smart. A little quiet . . . I like you a lot."

She smiled shyly, meeting his blue eyes. "I like you too."

Right?

"We've only been on one date . . . but I was wondering if I could . . ." He leaned in and planted a kiss on her mouth.

Ruby's eyes widened, but she didn't pull away. Zach's eyes were closed, and his lips were warm and soft. It was nice.

He pulled back after several seconds, grinning like an idiot.

"Thanks, Ruby."

"For what?"

"For not, like, slapping me or something."

She giggled. "No problem."

It was her first kiss.

It was nice, but really, kissing was seriously overrated.

It was just two people touching mouths.

Boring.

Potter made a small surprised sound in the back of his throat when Victrola kissed him. It was adorable.

The lake was really very cold, and Victrola was starting to lose feeling in her extremities, but she kept kissing him anyway. She wasn't sure why she had done it in the first place, just as she didn't know why she had decided to take Potter for a swim. Things were just happening today, and it was probably best not to question why.

The kiss wasn't good. Probably because damp kisses weren't hot, especially in frigid water. Titanic was very misleading.

Potter broke away, looking totally nonplussed. A blush started spreading itself patchily across his face. Adorable.

"Wh- what -"

"Do you accept my apology?"

"I - yes."

"Good." She swam to the edge of the lake. "Now, I'm getting out before I die of hypothermia."

When they were both safely out of the lake, Potter turned to Victrola, still looking bemused.

"That was a very unorthodox apology."

"I thought you would like it. Was it your first?"

"Apology or kiss?"

"Ha, ha."

"No."

Victrola, suddenly aware of her transparent white shirt, pulled her cloak back on. "Well, now I'm all jealous."

"I bet."

"This is awkward."

"Agreed."

"I'm leaving now."

"Me too."

"I'm walking this way."

"I'll walk the other way, then."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."