Chapter 20

Over the next few days Scorpius and Rose maintained a good amount of distance from each other. Both avoided each other's presence as much as possible. Although this should have given Roslyn enough cause to be happy, sadly it didn't. Scorpius had moved over from his hopeless romantic persona and seemed much more moodier now. He seemed to spent most of his time alone and only came down for lunch and supper.

Rose on the other hand was recovering from her physical injuries. Within a few days she was able to walk without support. She was also regularly visited by William which seemed to cheer her up considerably. The more comfortable William seemed with Rose the more he opened up to her.

Irwin was still cautious about letting William into his house and he would regularly pry into Rose's room to ensure William wasn't upto anything devious. However William wasn't a least bit concerned about his uncle's disdain over his presence. He was completely fixated on Rose and seemed to be in totally indifferent to anything else around him.

Scorpius tried as much as he could to avoid thinking about them together. He was still baffled by his conflicted feelings towards the Weasley. The deep feeling of envy when William came around was so severe that he had to physically lock himself in his room to prevent himself from running out and strangling the dark gimp.

After a few weeks Rose started to feel restless in the Lancelot house. She was tired of not being able to get out. She was forbidden by Irwin from stepping out as there was a chance Rupert or Bernaby would try and attack her again.

Rose tried her best to explain that she won't get herself lost again. She also suggested that William accompany her so that she would be safe. After several requests from Rose and reassurances from William, upon Kai's advice, Rose was allowed to visit the market with Irwin. Professor Kai suggested that Rose change her appearance to look more like Roslyn so that Bernaby or Rupert may mistake her for Irwin's daughter.

As much as Rose hated to look like the brown haired witch, this was her only chance to get out after a week long detention in the Lancelot lodge.

And so Irwin waved his wand and within a few seconds Rose's lush red hair transformed into a luscious chocolate brown.

Rose stared at herself in the mirror for a few seconds. The sight of herself with brown hair made her emotional. She was strongly reminded of her mother as she looked more like Hermione and looked less like Aunt Ginny.

"Shall we go then?" asked Irwin politely.

"Mr Irwin. I am terribly sorry, but I left my umbrella in my room. Kindly excuse me to go fetch it" replied Rose

Rose sprang upstairs to her room to retrieve her umbrella. She looked over at Scorpius's room, praying he doesn't come out. She knew it would be awkward and embarrasing since their last meeting. Once she got her umbrella, she quietly stepped out of the room and, to her surprise, came face to face with none other than Scorpius.

Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks. For a minute he couldn't recognise Rose. He thought it was Roslyn and was about to call her name. But it took less than a second for him to realize that there was something wrong.

His heart pounded faster than ever. His mind was racing to tell him something that he had subconsciously known all along. His breathing slowed and his veins started popping. He felt an overwhelming desire to cross the distance between him and the person in front of him. Within moments he felt like he was transported back into his dream with the brown haired witch elusively standing in front of him. But strangely he didn't feel like a lucid fool like Roslyn made him feel, but a strange sense of strength and stability overtook him.

He was wrong, completely wrong. Nothing was truer than the feeling he felt now. It was Rose that he had been dreaming about all this time. He was in love with Rose.

Rose was perplexed by his fixed gaze. In fact there was such intensity in his eyes that she couldn't look away. However, Mr Irwin chose the same moment to call out her name from downstairs, causing Rose to snap out of her stupor and run back downstairs. Scorpius moved forward and stood at the top of the stairs, clutching at the railings and coming to grips with this profund realization. Once he did, his mouth split into a wide smile, that was larger than this world.

A thin sliver cut through the woods, alarming the nearby squirrels perched upon a tree. The shadow of a petite figure gently swayed through the woods.

The figure had its head covered in a hood and flinched at the smallest sound as though terrified its footsteps would alarm the people in the nearest town.

After several glances around, the person quickly ran through the pathway that led to a dilapidated structure that some poor fool called home.

After several minutes of contemplation, the person moved towards the front door, taking giant calculated steps. To someone watching from afar, it was clear that the person was putting in every bit of effort to move forward.

Three knocks on the door and a hoarse voice came thundering through the house. The figure in front flinched but didn't back away. All of a sudden, the door flew open

"Who is it barking at my door so late!"

Bernaby Lancelot glared at the hooded figure in front of him who had now taken off the hood. Upon seeing the person's face his face broke into an evil grin.

"Ah look who it is. My beautiful niece. Did you bring what I asked for?"

Roslyn slowly but painfully took out a goblet filled with a thick potion. Looking as grim as a widow, she looked up at Bernaby and nodded.

Author's Note: Hope you liked it. I know its small, but I had to end the chapter on a cliffhanger. Hope you are excited enough to read the final few chapters! Kindly do leave a review. Nothings more encouraging than reading feedback.