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Chapter Six

It'd been days since Scorpius had talked to Rose. Actually, it had been weeks. He was trying so hard not to care that he almost didn't. Almost, but not quite. Fall was coming to an end; most of the leaves had fallen off of the trees and the air was nippier than usual. Quidditch was taking up most of his time, since they wanted to get as much practice in before it started snowing. Either way, they would practice, but if they got extra hours in now then they could cut back when it was colder. Scorpius was very thankful for the extra long practices, for it relieved his anger and took his mind off of… other things. When he could, he refused to think her name. If he had to think of her, he'd refer to her as Al's cousin. Or Flint's girl. He tried to push any feeling for her out of him, but it wasn't easy.

He felt like the more he forgot about her, the more he lost a piece of himself. His hope, the part of him that believed anything could happen, was all but gone. He stopped believing that he could actually deserve a good, stable relationship. Over the weeks that he tried to forget, he messed around with girls. Several, in fact. Half of them, he'd just met the day they fooled around. He refused to talk to any of them after the fact. Quite a few times he'd had to make them leave when he saw a flash of blue eyes or red hair, or he heard her laughter in his mind. Once he made the girl leave, his eyes would water, he'd have to bully himself into not crying. It would be pathetic to cry. He had no reason to. It was just that he was so used to eventually getting what he wanted, that this whole thing was a bit of a shock to him. But he wasn't supposed to care. He tried his best not to.

Whenever he saw Marc Flint, he would turn and look the other way. Scorpius refused to acknowledge him in anyway, because then he'd have to admit that Rose was indeed Flint's, and not his. It was harder when he saw Rose. Sometimes it was easier. Usually Rose avoided him just like he avoided her, and it was simple; they just didn't talk to each other. Other times, she would try to catch his eye, or try to make their paths cross. Once, she had succeeded. It had been just the two of them, standing in Potions after class was over.

When he noticed they were alone, he couldn't breathe. His heart beat madly in his chest, and as a last resort he took off running. Part of him hoped she saw the pain he felt. Another part prayed that she had no clue what she did to him. Scorpius wanted her to feel guilty, but then again he didn't. He wanted her to share in his pain but knew she never would; he knew, even if she was upset with him for not talking to her, it wasn't that big of a loss to her. She didn't like him like he liked her. It was different. She'd be confused as to what his problem was, and then get over it. He wouldn't, or at least not for a while.

The only good that truly came from his attempted detachment from Rose was that he was more or less back to normal. At first he had been pretending, but soon it got effortless to break into the Professors' offices and steal whiskey and gin. It'd taken them a long time to figure out what teachers had legitimate muggle liquor, but once Scorpius found out they'd had a party. Literally. The night of the discovery, they had fixed up an abandoned class room, but all sorts of charms on it, and invited anyone who wanted to come. Scorpius couldn't remember the names of the people who he'd snogged if they had made a list of everyone in attendance. That had been the beginning of his promiscuity. If Rose could shag a guy she wasn't dating and knew nothing about in the woods, then he could get blowjobs from girls he barely knew in the Astronomy Tower.

"Malfoy, you ready?"

Scorpius had been staring intently at a spot on the wall, zoned out. He did that a lot lately; it was hard for him to think about something really hard and then continue to be conscious of things around him. Albus had to shake him for several seconds before he came to.

"What? Bloody hell, I thought I was in an earthquake for a second there."

"Funny. We've got practice in an hour, mate. Everyone's going down for breakfast before we head out. You want to come?"

Lately, Scorpius was actually eating his meals. See, he was better off without Rose. She made him sick in the head; she sucked the life out of him. That isn't true. A voice said in the back of his head, but he tried to ignore it. That bloody voice had been getting louder and louder lately. Bold little shit.

"Yeah, sure." He said, getting out of his bed."Do we have to dress, Captain?"

"I don't know, Captain. It's up to you."

"Tell the kids to dress." Scorpius said, walking in the bathroom to brush his teeth. He didn't know why you needed to brush your teeth in the morning when you were just going to eat something and get food in your mouth anyway. Besides, toothpaste made food taste funny. He always had to rinse out his mouth over and over, and then down a glass of pumpkin juice. When he was younger he'd asked his mum why people needed to brush their teeth in the morning. "It's healthy, darling." Healthy his ass. It was a hassle, that's what it was.

By the time he was out of the bathroom, Albus had already changed into his Quidditch uniform. Scorpius quickly changed, too. They walked down into the Common Room together, where the rest of the team was all waiting for him. Scorpius half glared at, half ignored Marc Flint as he walked towards the door. As soon as they had passed them, the others got up to follow Al and Scorpius. Alex and Lorcan pushed to the front and they each went on two different spiels about a girl they'd shagged last night, and about a new broom trick they'd learned. Scorpius listened to Lorcan, the more ridiculous of the two, talk about some French girl. "Everything from there is better, man. It all tastes better; the fries, the bread, the candies, the cheese, and the pussy. Above all else, the pussy."

"You are a ridiculous excuse for a man," was what he wanted to say. It sounded like something Rose would say, but only to him. Not to anyone else.

Scorpius just laughed, nodded, and agreed, although he had never done anything more than snog a French girl. He'd been to France several times with his parents, and it seemed the girls there loved his accent. "What accent?" he'd asked, when one first bought it up.

She'd giggled and turned to her friend. In French she had said, "So cute."

"Rose, baby, do you want to come watch us practice?"

Scorpius snapped out of his thoughts; he hadn't realized that he was already in the Great Hall and sitting down at the table. Merlin, if he kept zoning out like that he'd end up killing himself.

"I-uh sure." Her voice was too close to him. It wasn't long to realize why; she was sitting right across from him. He was close enough to see that there was a bruise across her cheek. He'd heard Al telling Alex about it, since Scorpius had demanded no one bring her up to him. "Silly girl tripped and hit her face on a pile of books. That sounds just like her-"

Seeing her now, up close, he didn't believe for a second that the bruise was from falling on some bloody books. Rose was a little goofy at times, but she wasn't that daft. No one conveniently fell just the right distance from a pile of books for them to hit their face. Besides, the surface area wasn't right. If she'd hit the books, for it to bruise she'd have had to hit it really hard and on a corner. Even then, the corner wouldn't have left but a long, pinky width bruise. This bruise was round. It just didn't add up.

Scorpius heard the clattering of silverware on china and averted his eyes; he hadn't realized he'd been staring at her. He began piling food in his plate and then eating it, hoping to get out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible. Once he was out on the pitch, he wouldn't have time to think about her, even if she was going to be in the audience.

"Let's go boys!" Albus exclaimed once everyone was done eating and more or less just chatting.

"We've got a long day ahead of us, so I hope you filled up. Practice today is five hours long. You'll get a few breaks, of course, but otherwise, it's work day." Scorpius said, putting his attention on the uniformed players and not Rose.

"This is our last year, and we want to win the Quidditch Cup again this year, and we will. We know it'll be tough on you guys, all this practice, and you may think it's pointless. But trust us, when you're out on the field and two blokes are speeding toward you with beaters' bats, or if a bludger is coming your way, you'll be glad you had the extra practice. Now enough chit-chat, let's get going."

There were general noises of approval, and a few comments along the lines of, "That might have been the golden couple's best speech yet."

Scorpius thought their nickname was funny, but Albus thought that everyone was teasing their authority. "They're jealous that we're making history as the two first co-captains of any Quidditch team ever."

"I doubt that, mate. They may just think we act like a couple."

"We do not!"

"Yes, we kinda do."

"Bloody hell, one of us needs to get a girl. And fast."

"Don't worry Al; I get enough girls for the both of us."

"I mean one to actually date. Then they have solid proof that neither of us is gay."

"No one really thinks we're gay, Al. You worry too much. If it helps you sleep at night, you can get a girlfriend. It wouldn't be too hard, with your devastating good looks."

Al gave him a look that would have made him shut up if he didn't know him so well. Instead, he just laughed and pat Albus on the back. "I'm serious."

"I'm sure you are."

They were out of the castle and across the grounds in no time, it seemed. Scorpius was sure that if he hadn't had Albus it would have been an excruciatingly long walk. Once inside of the pitch, they walked under the stands to the broom cupboard. Scorpius and Albus grabbed their brooms first; two with smooth, shiny wood. "Rose, go on up to the stands," Scorpius heard Al say, "You might want to Accio a book or something; it could get pretty boring.

Rose nodded and headed up the stairs. "Good idea." What was she supposed to do, watch them? Who would she watch? She had always liked watching Al and Scorpius flying around at the burrow during summer, but this was different. Then, she could admire Scorpius without feeling weird about it. She knew for sure that she didn't like him, and she probably never would, but she'd liked seeing the way his muscles worked, how his sweat was more like a light mist highlighting all of his features than sweat at all. She'd watched Marc before, too. He was good, he had to be to get on the team, but he didn't have the same gracefulness as Scorpius. Or maybe that's just how she saw it, because she knew that he didn't have a graceful bone in his body. He was all brute strength and anger. Scorpius was a whole medley of things, strength and anger included. Anger that was most likely directed at her.

She'd noticed that ever since the last time they'd fought, Scorpius was back to normal. And happier. At least that's how it seemed to her. He was almost always with a girl, but a different girl each day. Not that it mattered to her; it just irritated her a bit. She'd also noticed that he was back to being the sarcastic git who bought breaking the rules to a whole other level. Before, she had admired his free spirit. Now, she felt it'd be wrong to admire him. Her admiration had always been something you felt towards a super hero, or a celebrity, or someone who had saved you from getting beat up once. She didn't like him, but maybe admiring meant more than liking. It didn't matter, though. None of it mattered, because he hated her.

She missed their silly banter more than she missed her old self. Marc had drained everything out of her. She barely talked to Albus anymore, at least not about anything important. Al was always around Scorpius, and Marc didn't want her around Scorpius. She wished she could tell him the truth. Rose hadn't done anything to upset him, but when Marc suspected that something was up, he would hit her. The last time, she'd tried to reason to with him and it just made him madder. He usually hit her where it wasn't visible, but his rage had made him hit her in the face. Then he'd blamed her and raped her. Again. For the fourth time. Rose wished with all her heart that he'd get so mad that he'd kill her. It was a little dramatic, sure, but the thoughts going through her mind tortured her every minute of every day. Even when she was asleep.

Rose found a seat in stands and looked down at the pitch. Scorpius was on the ground, unlocking the chest that held the quaffle, two bludgers, and the snitch. Albus was the seeker, and Scorpius was a beater. Alex was the other beater, Lorcan was keeper, Marc was a chaser, and a couple of the younger girls were chasers. There were back up players in case someone got hurt, and they were also there but Rose didn't know their names. Scorpius glanced up at the stands, and when he saw her, he looked down again. It amazed her that he could make her so angry; she wasn't that kind of person. She usually just got sad, but never mad. Well, unless it was Lucy and Louis. They pissed her off.

Most of the players were up in the air, except for Scorpius and Marc. Scorpius was getting ready to kick off when Marc walked by him bumped his shoulder. Scorpius looked like he would explode, and then he gripped his bat with both hands and got ready to swing. Rose hope he got him dead in the face. It didn't happen though, because Al had flown down and said something to Scorpius. Al was the only one who could calm him down, it seemed. Scorpius usually didn't have such a short fuse, and because of that, Rose realized that despite all the girls he messed around with, he wasn't happy. Not even close. She just wasn't sure why not. It was a little relieving to know she wasn't alone in her misery, but she was sad that she couldn't talk to him about it. It was true, if she grew a pair and decided to force him to talk to her, they might be able to fix things. Maybe it was just wishful thinking that he didn't hate her completely.

Merlin, she thought about him a lot.