A/N: Okay, so I think things are getting a little confusing with my present day/past chapters. So technically all of the normal chapters are taking place in the "past," and the story is sort of like Rose thinking about how her and Scorpius got to where they are while she's in the present with Scorpius. In the "Present Day" chapters (and all will be labeled as such so there's no confusion that way), Rose and Scorpius are going through some drama and they're trying to sort things out after he gets back from an extended trip. As chapter two states, the actual meat of the story begins about a year and eight months before the present day chapters. So far the only chapters that take place in the "present" are chapter 1 and chapter 15. Eventually the timelines will meet up. Sorry if it's confusing! I just sort of wanted to try something a little different. Let me know if this clears stuff up!

As always, thanks to all those who reviewed, and please keep letting me know what you think (ESPECIALLY if something doesn't make sense). Enjoy this next chapter-back to the "past"!

Chapter rated M for language and mild sexual content.

Chapter 16: A Gentleman

I had sneaked back into my dormitory late the previous evening. I had hardly been able to sleep because I'd just been reliving the night over and over in my head. It had been like nothing I'd ever imagined. I remembered Meg and Lucy talking to the rest of us girls about how physically painful and painfully awkward their first times had been. I woke up with some soreness, but it was a sweet soreness—a reminder of the night before. Lucy hadn't been embarrassed to talk about sex at all, and I'd been so envious that she'd done something that I hadn't, while being too scared to do it. I remembered all the times Hadley had pushed and pushed, and I hadn't wanted to. I'd been scared and anxious and I thought it would be terrible and that I'd be terrible at it.

But it wasn't terrible, and if Scorpius's pleas for more and grunts of pleasure and sensual words in my ear were any indication, I wasn't terrible at it at all. Of course, I had nothing to compare it to, but I thought Scorpius Malfoy was a god amongst men. I remembered last night, when we'd finally collapsed onto his bed on our backs in exhaustion, I thought that there would never be a feeling like this ever again. That it had been the greatest night of my life.

But now it was the morning, and all I could think about was Scorpius, hovering above me, a bead of sweat sliding down his muscular chest, and me, instinctually, leaning forward and licking it. He'd shivered, and I'd smiled.

All I could think about were the dirty—filthy—words that Scorpius had whispered in my ear as he'd released himself inside me for the third time. I just couldn't stop thinking about how at one point, he had turned me on my front and yanked a fistful of my hair so I had been trapped, and there was nothing I could do but surrender to the pleasure. I hadn't really known what I was doing, but Scorpius was—of course—an amazing teacher.

Just as I was thinking about Scorpius nibbling the shell of my ear, a figure plopped down beside me and I jumped.

"It's weird seeing you at the Gryffindor table."

I looked up and saw Albus, hair tousled, green eyes bright.

I let out a shuddering breath and tried to get Scorpius off my mind. "Yeah," I said. "I didn't even realize I was sitting here." I looked around.

Albus reached forward, grabbed an abandoned Prophet from the table, poured himself some coffee, and started eating a piece of toast.

"So that was weird yesterday," Albus said with a mouth full of toasted bread.

I'd started thinking about Malfoy again. "What was?" I said.

"Malfoy," Albus said, reading his paper. "Why was he doing that?"

I smiled to myself. "He was rewarding you," I said, thinking about how I had rewarded him for rewarding Albus.

"For what?"

"Beating up Hadley."

Albus looked over at me, and a huge smile spread across his face. "Aww, Rose, he has a crush on you. That's so cute."

"Stop."

"I'm serious!" Albus said, laughing. "That's the stupidest, most adorable thing anyone has ever done."

I tried not to smile. "What a doof."

"What happened after class?"

Before I could answer Albus—I didn't even know if I was going to tell him everything or not—the door that the teachers came through for meals opened, and a tired but happy Scorpius Malfoy came strolling in, looking like a proud peacock. I could practically see his feathers extended behind the small smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes. I swear.

It only took about a second for his eyes to travel around the room and land on me. There was a small look of surprise on his face when he saw me at the Gryffindor table, but that surprise quickly faded and he gave me a dark look. A look that was trying to remind me what I'd done last night.

I blushed.

And to my mortification and annoyance (and glee, yes, okay, it made me happy), Malfoy winked.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

If you don't count the fact that by the end of the day I was so antsy from thinking about Scorpius that I had to go back to my dormitory before I was supposed to go down the pitch for practice so that I could take a cold shower.

The soreness from the night before had turned into a dull ache in between my legs—an ache that I had come to believe could only be cured by having Scorpius inside me again. Instead of the soreness being an erotic reminder of my night with Scorpius, it was now a tease, reminding me as often as it could what was missing. I tried to release some tension under the cold water of my shower.

It didn't help.

But it did almost make me late to practice, something that Hugo did not appreciate.

"Dammit, Rose."

"Sorry." I gave him a look. "What's wrong with you?"

He sighed and jerked his head. I looked over my shoulder and saw Hadley sitting on the bench watching Hugo and me. I looked back at Hugo.

"Who cares?"

Hugo whipped his head toward me angrily and stared at me. "I care," he said. "I fucking want him off the team."

"Hugo…"

"I know you said I can't kick him off, but god, Rose, I just can't stop thinking about what he did to you."

"I'm fine," I said with a smile. "Look." I twirled, and when I faced Hugo again he had the faintest hint of a smile on his face. Then it turned into a frown again almost immediately.

"I just can't—what if Malfoy hadn't showed up?"

I blushed. Even Malfoy's name sounded like a dirty word now. Luckily, Hugo didn't notice the color that went to my cheeks. "Well, he did show up. And I'm fine."

"He won't stop staring."

"Who?" My heart sped up. "Malfoy?"

Hugo gave me a confused look. "What? No, Hadley."

"Do you want me to hex his eyes shut?"

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Let's just fucking start practice," he muttered. Then he turned to the rest of the group who was waiting around, talking amongst themselves—all except Hadley—and told them to start some warm-ups.

About halfway through the practice, Hugo screamed at everyone to get on the ground. His face was red and he looked like he could spit fire. He had never looked more like our father.

"What is going on out there?" Hugo shouted. "You look like a bunch of first years at their first fucking flying lesson." I sighed, but I had to agree. I'd noticed it while I was looking for the snitch. Something was off.

One of the beaters whispered something to the other, and Hugo snapped his head in his direction.

"What?"

"Nothing… It's just… It's…"

"It's Hadley," Lucy said simply.

"Goddammit, of course it's you, Underwood!" Hadley didn't even say anything in his defense. He just stood with his head down, looking like a sad puppy dog. I rolled my eyes. It amazed me that Hadley was the one feeling sorry for himself when he was the bad guy. He had forced himself on me. I should be the one flying around like a freaking zombie.

Suddenly, Hugo charged up and grabbed Hadley by his collar. A few people took small steps back, knowing what had happened the other day, and sensing Hugo's anger.

"I swear to god, Underwood," Hugo growled in his face. "You better shape up. I want you off this team anyway, so please, just give me a fucking reason." And with that, he shoved Hadley away, mounted his broom, and screamed for everyone to get back in the air.

Hadley only got marginally better throughout the rest of practice. And Hugo only got marginally less angry. As soon as Hugo announced that practice was over ("This is pointless anyway. You guys are flying like shit."), I landed on the ground with a thud and walked up next to Hugo.

"It's gonna be okay," I murmured to him. "It's one bad day."

"Is it," Hugo grumbled before stalking off toward the castle.

I sighed, and turned to find my target. I knew there was only one way to make Hugo happy. "Hadley!" I called out. He turned, looking—pathetically—hopeful and confused. "Wait up," I said, jogging up to him.

"Hey, Rose," he said tentatively when I caught up to him. I started walking, and he followed my lead and walked toward the castle with me.

"Look," I said, cutting right to the chase. "You gotta stop this. Hugo is working really hard to make this team good, and you can't—fuck it up by... flying like an idiot and getting hit by bludgers constantly."

He sighed and looked at the ground. I was looking ahead, keeping my eyes out for any wandering eyes or ears. When he didn't say anything for a while, I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, Hadley—"

"I'm really sorry, Rose."

"It's fine," I said. "Just get it together soon because our first game—"

"No." I looked at him and he was shaking his head lightly. "No not about—Quidditch..." He paused and looked at me. "About Friday."

I almost gasped. "That's... What, that's not..."

"I fucked up, babe. And I know you're pissed at me, but I... I want to make it up to you. I just—"

I held up a hand, enraged and bemused.

"If you seri—you can't seriously think we're still together." I stopped walking and grabbed his arm to turn him to face me. I gaped when he seemed to consider it. He looked genuinely confused. It was almost that same look he had when I'd told him I'd planned the entire thing on the train.

"Wha—I knew you were mad, but we—we didn't talk. I… I mean, I assumed we were just fighting."

My jaw dropped. "You must be joking. You…" I took a deep breath and stopped myself. "Look, I don't care about what happened on Friday. I'm over it. I know who you are. I've known it for a long time. I know you're a rotten guy and you don't respect anyone—"

"Then why—"

"I was going to break up with you anyway," I said, answering his question before he could ask. "I…" I considered telling him all of it. That I was just doing it so that in the end I could hurt him, and that I was just doing it to make someone else jealous. But in that split second that I paused, I knew that if I told him that, he would be the victim. If I told him that I was just using him, suddenly, he would be the one who was hurt. It would no longer be about him forcing himself on me, it would be about me tricking him, using him. I couldn't give him that satisfaction as much as I wanted to tell him to fuck himself and that I was lying to him for two weeks and that I never loved him again and I never would. I wanted him to live with his guilt.

"I realized that you never changed," I said instead. "I realized that you… That you're a bad guy—that you don't care about any other person but yourself… But I don't care," I said quickly before he could get all weepy and apologetic. "I honestly don't care." I held up a hand again. I remembered I used to do that to him when we were together for real when we would fight. He hated that. "I don't love you, I don't want to be with you, and I don't want to dwell on it. I know who you are," I said again. "And this is who you are. You… At this point, you can't change it. So… I just don't want it to affect the team, which is why—that's why I'm talking to you. I'm not trying to make amends or anything. So…" I trailed off.

He sighed, looking defeated. "So you don't…"

I gaped at him. "Seriously? No. Of course not." I rolled my eyes. "But you either need to shape up on the team or get off. Grow up, get over it. I had to get over it when you cheated on me, so—and you have no right to be upset, so just… Honestly, get over it." And with that, I turned and walked the rest of the way up to the castle by myself.

It amazed me—thinking on it as I walked back—that Hadley was honestly dumb enough to think that I would seriously want to get back together with him after what he'd done. That he thought we were still dating when he'd done the exact thing—a worse thing—that he had done when we had been together before. That he had once again tried to force me to do something I didn't want to do. And not only that. But he thought I'd want to get back together after I'd… been with Malfoy.

Of course, he didn't know that. And he absolutely never would. But still.

When I got back to Gryffindor Tower, I walked up the steps and from the stairwell, and I could hear a tapping noise coming from inside the dormitory. Frowning with confusion, I walked through the door to my room and looked around to find the source of the noise. None of the girls were in there. They were probably at dinner or hanging out with each other or with their boyfriends. I walked toward the noise until I looked up and saw an owl pecking at my window. My frown deepened. It wasn't completely uncommon for owls to come to our windows at odd times, but if it wasn't some kind of weird emergency, they usually just waited until the morning post.

I walked over to the window and pulled it open. The bird swooped in and landed on my bed with a rolled up piece of parchment attached to its leg by a piece of twine. I didn't recognize the owl. It wasn't Mr. Owl—okay, I got an owl when I was five and named him Mr. Owl—it wasn't Ron and Hermione's and it wasn't Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny's. It didn't belong to any of my siblings or cousins. It was a stranger.

I tossed it a piece of toffee from my bedside table—Ron and Hermione always got so angry when I fed the owls candy, but it was all I had—and unrolled the parchment, standing in front of my bed so that the owl and I were facing each other.

It only took me a moment to recognize the scrawl in front of me.

R—

Come to my office. I need to see you.

-S

I gaped. Was he serious? Was he seriously summoning me to his office? For what? A bootie call? I rolled my eyes. I was completely gross, besides. I hadn't showered after practice because I had needed to talk to Hadley. I was covered in dirt and sweat, and it was almost 10 o'clock. I was exhausted.

But that didn't stop the jolt of excitement I got at the thought of seeing him. I wanted to see him. I wanted to go. But if there was anything I'd learned from Muggle romance novels and movies and television shows, it was that I had to be coy.

I bent over to grab my quill and inkpot from my bag. I sat down, turned the parchment over and wrote him a brief response.

S—

It's late. A girl needs her beauty sleep.

-R

I grinned at my own cleverness, tied the parchment to the owl, and shooed it off. I then sat down on my bed and waited, grinning like a fool the entire time. A few minutes passed before I heard that tapping at my window again.

I can't stop thinking about you. You don't want to give me a sleepless night, do you? A guy needs his beauty sleep, too.

-S

I smiled and put a hand to my mouth as my fingertips—on cue—began to tingle. I wanted to go. I wanted him to kiss me, I wanted him to touch me… I wanted him to make me feel the way he'd made me feel the night before. But there was a stronger motivation, and I felt it so strongly I knew that I couldn't go: I wanted him to want me.

I wouldn't want to be caught out after hours. Who knows what a professor would do to me if he found me?

-R

I bit the corner of my lower lip as I tied the parchment to the owl's foot.

This time, the response came even quicker than it had the first time.

I'll protect you from any big, bad professors that come along.

I replied quickly, too.

Hmm, bad, I think. But I didn't say anything about big.

I grinned at the innuendo and sent the owl on its way.

After five full minutes—while I shook my legs and checked my watch impatiently, giggling occasionally for no apparent reason—the owl was finally back, looking agitated. It clearly didn't like flying back and forth in service of the flirtation between a student and her teacher.

Interesting. I remember hearing you say something quite to the contrary last night. You were saying it rather loudly. Maybe you thought I couldn't hear you?

You can come to my office and I'll show you how right you were.

-S

I blushed as my mouth dropped open slightly and my heart stuttered a bit. I remembered the exact moment he was talking about. It had been late in the night. I was exhausted and incoherent with pleasure. And we had been on his bed, and he'd been on his elbows, on top of me, pushing in and out so torturously slow. And I had been moaning so loudly each time he pushed in because my brain was mush and I couldn't think about controlling my sounds or being aware of what I was doing—I'd been a slave to the pleasure, giving into all of it. And I could remember—I blushed fiercely—him asking me if I liked what he was doing, if this was what I wanted. His words—whispered roughly into my ear—wove deep into me and I'd cried out and dug my hands into his blonde hair as he pushed in again, deeper. Somehow, through my haze, I told him how it felt like nothing I'd ever felt before and how he was so big and how he felt so good and—again—how big he was. I hadn't even known what I was saying. And he'd smiled, bit my shoulder, pumped in deeper, in, out, again and again, until I was crying out a string of curses, losing count of how many times he'd made me come unwound like this, and succumbing, once again, to the pleasure.

I inhaled a deep, shuttering breath before turning the clean parchment over and responding.

You, sir, are no gentleman, recounting a lady's moment of weakness. I'll see you tomorrow, and when I do, you'll have to answer for your indiscretions.

After I tied the parchment onto the owl's leg, I sat on the edge of my bed, willing myself to stay seated. I wanted to go. My legs were quivering, telling me to get up and walk down to the dungeons. Thinking about last night had my neck and chest heating up and my eyes fluttering and my heart pounding. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him. I took several deep breaths.

Make him want you, Rose, I told myself. You can do this.

About a minute later, the owl swooped in and landed next to me, looking a bit less agitated. Scorpius must have given him a snack. I opened the parchment.

See you tomorrow, baby.

-Your Gentleman

My heart nearly exploded.

Next chapter:

Rose is in a great mood, and once again she catches Malfoy in the shower.