(A/N: I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. School started, so that plus work made it hell. Okay, Here's the next one, expect the next one out in 3 days. This time I mean it. Enjoy!)

The Funeral Bells

Chapter 4

Worlds Are Ruined

My eyes are glistening with the ghosts of my past

The memories that we once had

Now that you've turned the world against me

I'm only trying to win them back

He woke covered in cold sweat and gasping for air, which was not entirely uncommon. He dreamt again. Dreamt about that night 2 years ago. The night he was told that his mentor, Charles Kunsler, was a neo-Death Eater. The night he was asked to kill his best friend.

Yes, he had no intention of joining those group of those evil "blood purist". Yes, he had successfully plotted against them - acting as a double agent of sorts. Yes, he turned his back on Kunsler's way of thinking as soon as he realized he worshipped the fallen dark lord. But still, being there in that room, being surrounded by people engulfed in the same darkness his father swore to fight, and being asked to kill his best friend is not something he could easily shake off. It's been two years, but those dreams made it seem like two minutes.

Al wiped the sweat off his face as the light of a new day shines through his window as he turned to the bed not too far from where he was. He was somewhat shocked to realize it was empty.

He smirked to himself.

They better have not done something that they'll later regret, he thought.

There was no point in him falling back asleep; breakfast would start in another hour.

With my eyes sewn shut

To shut down and bathe in these words about me

And now you're standing alone with your eyes to the sun

Worlds are ruined this way

And we've all been there time and time again

He ate alone for a few minutes at the Slytherin table. Normally he would have been joined by his two best friends - which usually causes a disagreement on which table to sit at - but they are both most peculiarly absent. Every minute or two he'd gaze around the dining hall looking for a blonde and red head side by side.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a red head, then quickly shook it off upon realizing that it was just a Hufflepuff girl he was not familiar with.

In all honesty, Al wasn't quite sure what to make about this. Up until now, Rose and Scorpius always had an somewhat-innocent relationship. They weren't like those couples who are all over each other in the hallways of the school. They never rushed away from Al or anyone else just because they had an 'urge to be alone'. They were pleasant couple to be around, although certain people from their respective houses - not to mention certain members of the Potter-Weasley family - didn't think so.

And all of this was mostly because they two have never taken that next step in their relationship yet. And quite frankly, Al was nervous that last night, they had.

He knew that it was none of his business and that he shouldn't worry about it. However, he knew (not through experience) that sex has the power to change everything, especially within relationships. He's seen it happen to certain members of his own family, and if that last night had been the night, Al couldn't help but wonder how this could change things…

Suddenly, another red head caught his eye heading out of the dining hall. Shoulder length. Gryffindor robes. It was Rose.

Al quickly got up from his seat a speedily approached her. He did not see Scorpius at her side. Perhaps he was still asleep, wherever that may be.

"Have fun last night?" Al asked his cousin in a very silly matter.

The look she gave him cut up his words and shoved them back down his throat, which took Al back a bit. She didn't make a sound. She simply walked away.

"Wait, Rose!" He called for her dumbfounded.

Once again, she didn't respond. She just increased her pace away from her cousin.

"Rose!" he called once again as he quickly tried to catch up to her.

She continued to increase her pace.

"Hey!" he said as he finally caught up to her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Let go of me," she said as she tried to shake off his grip.

"What happened!?" he asked sounding slightly nervous. "Where's Scorpius?"

"Like I would know?" she asked him. He knows that look on her face. She was furious.

"What do you mean?" he asked, getting slightly annoyed. "What happened?"

"He stood me up last night," she spat at him spitefully.

Al didn't speak right away. In fact, he wasn't even sure he had heard her right.

"What?" Was the first thing he could think of to say. "Impossible!"

She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Apparently not," she said with a roll of her eyes as she turned away from her cousin.

"Rose, wait!" He called to her once more.

Before he could grab her again, she quickly turns to face him.

"When you see him," she began with a mixture of sadness and fury in her voice. "Tell him not to bother coming to find me."

"Rose, he wasn't in his bed," he said quickly so she couldn't turn away from him.

She didn't skip a beat with her response.

"Well, maybe he crawled into a cave like the rest of the monsters out there."

She turned away again, but this time she ran.

"Rose!" He yelled once again, but this time she didn't turn around.

Al decided that for now, it would be pointless to chase after her. Although Rose was practically a natural-born genius, she wasn't exactly logical when she was upset. Besides, too many thoughts were running through his head, he didn't know which one to address first.

First and foremost, Scorpius standing Rose up is just something that doesn't happen, especially now. Scorpius is head over heels for this girl - Al would know, since he pokes fun at him about it constantly.

Second of all, he was not in his bed this morning, and Scorpius was never known to wake up before sunrise. (Al isn't even sure if Scorpius knows that the hour of 5 am actually existed)

"She's been like that all morning," came a small female voice from behind Al. He did not need to turn around to know who it was. "I said hi to her this morning in the common room and she just stormed right past me! She's not even talking to our teammates."

Al turned around to face a different red-headed girl. However, she was considerably shorter than Rose, not to mention two years younger.

"Did Malfoy do something?" asked the red-head donning Gryffindor robes.

14 year-old Lilly Potter - bless her soul - was probably the only other child of the Potter-Weasley family who had absolutely no problem with Scorpius, even though most of the children of the family tried to change her mind. Lily's logic is simple: "He seems nice", "he didn't do anything wrong", and most famously, "it's just a last name". At first glance, no one would ever consider that she is one of the most fierce Quidditch players of her year.

"I'm not entirely sure," Al responded to his sister's question. "But it's best not to think about it. It's none of our business, you know."

He tells himself that every time his two best friends have a row, however he always went back to the conclusion that he can no longer imagine a life in Hogwarts without being a third wheel.

That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together

Worlds are ruined this way

And we've all been there time and time again

He had not spoke to his cousin for some time after that. As the day went on, Al found it hard to concentrate in school that day: without a single word, Scorpius Malfoy had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

All throughout the day, Al had looked in all of the obvious places Scorpius would be while in between classes. Not in class. Not in the Slytherin common room. Not in the green house. Not in the mess hall. Not in the D.A. Club practice room.

On any other day, Al wouldn't worry nearly as much. So what if Scorpius disappeared for a little bit? It's not like Al has never done it before himself. But he disappeared on the night of his anniversary. Sure, Al supposed that Scorpius getting cold feet on a very important night might have been a possibility, but even if that was the case, then Scorpius would not have just let Rose wait there for him, not to mention stay out from the castle all night and day.

Al checked his watch as he stood near the locker rooms of the Quidditch pitch.

3:58

The Gryffindor team will be starting their practice very shortly, and Al decided that this was the only way to get Rose to speak to him. She had been avoiding him all day, which annoyed Al considerably. He decided that he had enough playing hide and seek with her. He had decided that something serious must have happened to his friend. Their friend.

Soon enough, he saw over a dozen people - all wearing Gryffindor Quidditch uniform - exit the locker rooms in unison. He saw his older brother, captain and star player seeker of the team right next to Cousin Louis, the fairly intimidating beater. He also saw his younger sister, the miracle chaser that has been getting a massive amounts of attention in those recent weeks.

But his full attention was on Rose and the look on her face when she saw the boy wearing black pants, white shirt, green tie, and a grey sweater vest. He didn't care how unwilling she was to listen to him right now. Al needed to get through to her.

"Can we speak?" he asked simply when the two became face to face, surrounded by other Gryffindors - including members of his family.

"Can this wait?" she asked, although she quickly walked passed him before he could give an answer.

"No," he said firmly as he placed a stiff hand on her shoulder, blocking her from moving another step. "It can't."

She gave him a look that could slay a hundred men. He didn't care. He gave her the same glare right back, letting his brilliant green eyes do the talking.

"James," Rose called to her team captain, making Al feel at ease. "Can I have a moment?"

James Potter glanced at his younger brother.. As the proud captain of Gryffindor Quidditch team, he didn't like when one of his players took time off Quidditch practice for any reason. At any other moment, he would have told his players that whatever it is can wait until after practice. However - although he and his brother rarely see eye-to-eye - James knew that Al wouldn't have needed to speak to her so badly at this moment unless he had a good reason.

"Five minutes," James said swiftly as he and the rest of his team continued walking pass the two, complete with peculiar looks coming from both Louis and Lily.

Rose didn't have to tell him to hurry with whatever he wanted to say…her look said it all.

"Rose, Scorpius-"

"Albus, I don't want to deal with this right now." She called him Albus. She was very upset. "I got practice now, I got a million papers to write, and I'm still not in the mood to speak to him."

Al wanted to smile at the irony. She thinks I've come to apologize for him. It's not very surprising, since the blonde tends to ask his best friend to tell Rose how bad he feels about whatever row they just had. Moreover, it would seem like everything he had told her earlier that morning flew right over her head. Also not very surprising; Rose tends to get that way when she's upset.

"He's missing, Rose," he says quickly before she could find another excuse to leave. "He wasn't in his bed this morning. He wasn't at breakfast or lunch. We have 3 classes together today, and he wasn't in any of them. Not even Care for Magical Creatures."

She didn't respond, and Al knew why. They both knew that he made a good point, and now they both knew that something must have happened. Something not good.

"Listen, I know your angry about last night," Al continued to speak as Rose opted not to. "But I'm beginning to think that not making a reservation to Clark's with a girl he just gave a very nice piece of jewelry to might not have been his intention."

She paused once more. She placed her hand right about her neckline, touching the pendant he gave her. She had almost forgotten about it. She had been so enraged about Scorpius (assumingly) standing her up that she didn't even remember she was wearing it. Then, something else pierced her mind.

"Did you say Clark's?" she asked with a very noticeable change in her voice.

"The very same," he answered her without skipping a beat.

She softly bit her lower lip and focused her eyes downward in thought. Al did not to say anymore; he just hoped that was enough to get through to her.

All of the evidence was right in front of Rose, clear as day. She always knew Scorpius

wouldn't skip their anniversary for anything; and even if he did, he would have been on his hands and knees begging for forgiveness before breakfast. The two cousins now both shared the feeling that something is differently wrong, and they couldn't call themselves friends - let alone girlfriend - if they did not do something about it.

"Should we tell the teachers?" she asked, displaying a very worried look in her blue eyes.

"I'd rather not," Al said after taking a quick second to think about it. "Not yet, anyway. I say we investigate ourselves first. For all we know, it might be nothing."

"Rosie!" called James from a distance. "It's been 6 minutes now!"

"One more moment!" she called back, just before focusing her attention back on to her cousin. "Well, then? What do you suggest?"

"You practice Quidditch," Al began. "And then we go to dinner. If he still doesn't show up…" he trailed off for a second in deep thought. "I say we go check the bell tower. He left an hour earlier than you did…something might have happened there."

"Now I'm supposed to play Quidditch…" she whispered to herself under her breath. How could she possibly play knowing that her boyfriend had gone missing? Not to mention the fact that she now felt guilty for blaming him so harshly.

"Rosie!"

"I'm coming!" She called back loudly as she began to walk towards her teammates. "Okay, we'll leave once the castle falls asleep."

"You have the map?" he asked quickly.

"In my room," she quickly responded as she went off to practice…or at least attempt to practice.

(A/N: I hope you enjoyed. More ocming very soon! I feed off your feeback, so please please Review!)