A/N: Hi... I know y'all are scared... I am, too! But everyone just remember that Rose and Scorpius's story isn't nearly over. There's so much more to tell, and when all is said and done, you won't be disappointed. Thank you for reviewing and please keep it up. I love love love love hearing what everyone thinks - I have to admit I like making you guys sweat!

Chapter rated T for language and suggestive themes.

Chapter 41: Rules Were Made To Be Broken

"Okay, everyone, that's enough for today."

I checked the watch on my wrist—a gift from Scorpius after Gryffindor had won the first Quidditch match—it was about fifteen minutes before class was normally supposed to let out. I frowned up at Scorpius, but I knew more than anyone that he had been preoccupied with his own thoughts since last night.

The night before, I had found out that Hadley had told McGonagall that Scorpius and I were seeing each other, and Scorpius had lost it. He smashed most of the things in his room and roared in an anger I had never seen in him. It had taken all of my power to stop Scorpius from leaving his quarters and going after Hadley, because as much as I wanted Hadley to pay, I knew that if Scorpius found him he would probably kill him.

Everyone in the class was looking at each other in confusion, and when Albus turned to me, I just shook my head slightly and shrugged. I hadn't told him yet about Hadley, but I knew if I did, Albus would probably want to be as drastic as Scorpius wanted to be.

"For next week I want a three foot long essay on all the various types of memory potions."

A couple groans sounded up from the class, but Scorpius didn't comment on it when he normally would have. That's when I knew he truly was completely distracted by what was going on, just like I was. I had hardly listened to a word he said in class, just scribbling on my parchment and thinking about what he and I could possibly do about the impossible situation in which we had found ourselves.

We hadn't really discussed many options last night… Scorpius had mostly raged, and I had sat cross-legged on his bed watching him until he'd stomped to his bathroom and slammed the door shut and seconds later I heard the shower come on. I'd fallen into a restless sleep before he'd gotten out, but I remembered waking up a few times in the night and burying myself closer to Scorpius, who I sensed was having just as rough a sleep as I was. I wanted him to know how sorry I was—how much I wished I could take back everything that had happened.

It was my fault. All of this was my fault, and I was going to ruin the best thing in Scorpius's life because I couldn't control myself. I couldn't just leave well enough alone. He knew we were taking a risk, and he reminded me about it all the time, but I had insisted that we keep going at any cost, and now my stupid ex-boyfriend was going to ruin everything. If I had just kept Hadley at arms length from the beginning, this probably would have never happened. All of this—

"Rose."

I jumped and looked up. Everyone had filed out of the classroom and it was just me and Albus left.

"Are you okay?"

I sucked in a breath. "Yeah, fine." I started packing up my things without looking at Albus. If I looked at him, he would know I was lying, and I would have to talk about what was going on, but I just wasn't ready to voice it. If I told Albus it would become real.

"Is everything okay with you and him? He always acts weird in class when something is up with the two of you."

I shrugged. "He's probably just tired."

"All right, Rose," Albus said. I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Well I'm gonna head out to the pitch. When you're ready to tell me the truth, come find me."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, ready to explain everything to Albus, but when I opened my eyes, he was no longer standing next to me. I jumped and turned when I heard the door to the classroom slam shut.

"Albus!"

I called after him, but it was useless. He was gone, and now I had alienated my best friend when I desperately needed him right now. I needed someone to talk to other than Scorpius, and I felt like Albus might have some insight to share about the situation—he might have a solution that Scorpius and I couldn't consider because we were too involved.

I shook my head and stood up. I couldn't think about that now. I had to get to Scorpius.

When I looked at the door to his office, I saw the glowing light coming out from under his door and I sighed before I walked slowly to it. I wasn't ready to deal with this, but we had to before McGonagall came to expel me, and I wasn't able to see Scorpius for months.

For some reason, I knocked on the door to his office when I got to it. I hadn't knocked on this door in weeks—I always just went right in or went through his residence door. It felt strange to knock, but also somehow comforting. I couldn't explain it.

"Come in," I heard Scorpius say in a shaky voice.

I opened the door slowly and stepped in.

I saw Scorpius's breath leave him in a rush and he stood up when he saw me. He was around his desk so quickly that I was slightly alarmed. When he got to me and wrapped his arms around me, I was stiff at first because he had shocked me with his response to my entrance so much, but it only took me a few moments before I relaxed into his grip and wrapped my arms tightly around him.

Scorpius kicked the door shut and pulled back to grip my face and press his lips to mine. I tightened my arms around him, but before the kiss could go anywhere else, Scorpius pulled away from me and ran his hands through his already messy, beautiful blonde hair.

"I thought…"

He glanced at the door, and it dawned on me why he had been so emotional when I'd come in the door.

"You thought I was McGonagall?"

He let out a shaky laugh and looked at me with worried eyes.

"Scorpius—"

"She'll be coming eventually," he said.

I sighed. "What are we going to do?"

Scorpius looked at me, and in that moment, I saw his expression change. It went from weak and vulnerable to hard and determined in a manner of seconds. "Rose."

"Scorpius—"

"Rose, you know there's nothing we can do."

My face fell. "What are you talking about? There has to be something! We have to—we can't just—I don't want to get expelled, Scorpius! It will kill my mum, and my father will go absolutely crazy. They'll never—no, we can't just accept it. We have to try—"

"I won't let her expel you."

I let out a humorless laugh. "Oh? And how are you going to stop her? I'm already on my last fucking chance with her. After everything I did last year and after that note—god, I bet she can't wait to get me out of here."

"Dammit, Rose, I won't let that happen."

"What do you think you're going to be able to do about it?" I threw up my hands in exasperation.

I was breathing heavily as Scorpius began to pace in front of me. One hand on his hip and the other running through his hair often. If we weren't in such a terrible situation I would think that he looked sexy—gliding back and forth in front of me, his hair tousled, his eyes bright, his strong jaw tight, and his arm flexing with each movement through his hair, making his bicep bulge.

When he didn't respond, I continued. "We broke school rules. We—"

"We didn't really break any rules, Rose," Scorpius snapped without looking at me and continuing his pacing. "I've looked into it. I was researching it all morning, and the only thing I found—there's no specific school rule against sleeping with a student—"

"And you think," I began in a tone of disbelief and incredulity and sarcasm. It amazed me that he could be this naïve. "Because there's no specific school rule against sleeping with a student that we're just going to get off scott-free? Surely you aren't that goddamn naïve, Scorpius! You must be smarter than that!"

"Rose, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying there won't be consequences. What I'm saying is that in order to get expelled, your conduct has to be pretty fucking terrible. Honestly, you'd have to practically kill someone in order to get expelled from this school."

He was pacing and talking so fast that my head started to hurt. I walked over to his desk and sat in his chair, bending my knees up in front of me and wrapping my arms around them as I watched him pace. I was afraid. Terrified, even, of what this meant. Scorpius was talking crazy, and he couldn't see how insane he sounded. And I was so tired. I had hardly slept the night before, tossing and turning all night, and this entire thing was exhausting me. I couldn't stand it.

Scorpius didn't even seem to notice that I moved. He just kept talking. "No one gets expelled—no one ever gets expelled. Rose, the last person to be expelled—god—was Hagrid. And that was whenever they thought he was killing students, okay? Nobody here gets expelled. You're not going to get expelled because Hadley saw us kissing. You wouldn't even get expelled if Hadley saw us fucking. That's not the way it works. And anyway"—he was rambling, but I didn't stop him. It felt to good to watch him and hear his voice.—"She doesn't know the extent of our relationship. All she knows it what Underwood told her."

I sighed. "Scorpius—"

"No, shut up, Rose," he snapped, still not looking at me. I gaped at him, but it didn't matter. He wasn't even paying any attention to me. "No. All she knows is that Hadley saw us kissing outside of the Room of Requirement. He saw us go into that room, and he saw us kiss. That's it. That's—that's all she knows, yeah? She doesn't know we have a relationship. She doesn't know anything. All she knows is that we kissed, and that doesn't mean that she even believes him. She knows that he's your ex-boyfriend. She knows that he's jealous. She knows… Okay. We—"

"So, what, Scorpius, do you want to lie? Do you want to deny it? Is that what you're saying?"

"No," Scorpius said firmly. Finally, he turned to me, and the look in his eyes was so intense. It scared me for a moment before I remembered that this was my man—this was my Scorpius. He loved me more than anything, and he was scared. I couldn't blame him because I was scared as hell, too.

"No," he said again. "I don't want to deny it. I want to admit it."

I stared at him. "You want to admit what?"

He took a deep breath. "I want to admit to McGonagall that you're my girlfriend and that I love you."

I leapt up from my chair so quickly that it almost toppled backwards.

"WHAT!" I threw my arms up. "Scorpius, you have lost it. We are not just going to go to McGonagall, and say, 'hey, yeah, it's true. We're together. Sorry!' Are you insane?" I shook my head as he watched me. I took a deep breath and then glared at him. "No. We are not doing that. That is stupid. My god, Scorpius," I said, my ire going up again. "I thought you had a real plan—something—god not this, 'oh, I'm going to admit it because I love you." I let out a short laugh. "Because of some sort of warped sense of romance. You think you're just going to tell her and everything's going to be okay?"

"No, but I'm tired of lying. I'm tired of keeping us a secret."

I walked around the desk so I could stand in front of him. "She will make us break up, Scorpius," I said angrily. "She's not just going to let us live our lives in a relationship together while I'm here at school. That's not okay. She won't want any of the students to find out. She won't want any of the faculty to find out. Christ—it will make a mockery of this school! If she finds out we are sleeping together. Scorpius she went out—"

"First of all," Scorpius held up a hand. His eyes were blazing. "We aren't just sleeping together. This is so much fucking more than that, and that's the point. I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone or anything. I can't live without you. And I don't want to keep it a secret—"

"We have to!" I could feel the knot forming in my throat and threatening to rise up and choke me. I could feel the backs of my eyes burning, but I held my emotions at bay. "There's no way that we can't! McGonagall is not just going to let us do this. Okay, even if it's not against any specific school rules, I'm sure there are dozens of school rules that it fits underneath. What about decorum of students, proper behavior, respecting this school—we haven't been respecting this school, we've been fucking on every surface we can get our hands on! God!"

Scorpius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them and looked at me, there was an anger there that I hadn't seen before. He was losing his mind. Clearly, all of this had Scorpius going crazy. Involuntarily, I took a step back.

"Okay," he began, his voice dangerously low. "I understand you're upset. But you standing here demeaning our relationship with every breath you take… Rose, I'm not going to listen to it. I won't allow it." He took a step forward, regaining the space we had lost when I had stepped back. He put a hand to his heart. "I want to admit it. I want to tell McGonagall I love you, and that's it. And if she—if what this means is that I have to quit my job to be with you, then I will. I will quit this fucking job—"

"No, Scorpius. No, no, no." I took two eager steps toward him and tried to reach out for him, but he grabbed my wrists.

"I will quit my job if that means I don't have to keep my love for you a secret. I—I'm ti—I'm done!" he said loudly. "I want everyone to know that you're mine. I have to have that. I've wanted it for so long, and this is the opportunity—the push—that I've been waiting for."

"But why?" I said desperately. "Why are you so insistent on this? This—I'm okay with keeping it a secret a little while longer if that means that you can have—Scorpius, this job is your dream." I decided to try a different tactic. I stepped a bit closer, but he still held my wrists next to my head. "This job—you have wanted it for so long. You fought for it. It gave you so much. It gave you so fucking much to have this job. It gave you stability. It gave you freedom." I looked up into his beautiful gray eyes and begged him with my blue ones. "It gave you me."

He sighed and shook his head, but I just pressed on, hoping that I was breaking his resolve.

"Scorpius, this job gave you so many things that were taken from you when you were here—it gave you closure and I can't—I won't be responsible for you losing that—I—I'll break up with you."

Scorpius gaped at me, and I yanked my wrists from his grip and took a step back.

"What?"

"If you—if this is what it means—I'm not going to let you quit this job. I'll break up with you if that's what it takes. I swear to you. I promise you I will not let you lose this job."

"Rose. You might think that this job means everything, but you're wrong." He stepped toward me and cupped my face in his hands. I sighed and blinked slowly, loving the feel of his warm hands on my face. "You mean more to me than this job ever could. Ever. This job is nothing—makes me feel nothing compared to what I feel for you. Do you understand that?" His grip on my face tightened a bit, and I just looked up at him, tears flooding my eyes as he looked down at me with complete sincerity. "Do you understand that you are the absolute most important thing in my life and losing you would kill me? Losing this job… yeah, it would suck for a few days—a few weeks, maybe—but losing you. My god, I would die. It would kill me."

One tear slipped out of my eye, and Scorpius reached up with his thumb to wipe it away.

"Okay," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Babe, you don't have to lose me, but I don't want you to quit this job." I took a deep breath. "I know it's unbearable… keeping this secret—I know, I know. Trust me. Believe me, I want everyone to know that you're mine, but… we… can't." I sighed, and then fear lanced through me when I realized how absolutely devastating it would be if he actually did tell.

If we admitted this—if McGonagall found out, and Scorpius quit his job or was fired… He would have to leave Hogwarts.

NO! The voice in my head screamed. NO YOU NEED HIM HERE. DON'T LET HIM DO THIS!

"Scorpius," I said desperately. "People knowing the truth about us isn't as important as us being able to be together. If you quit"—I let out a choked sob—"Baby, if you quit, you're gone. If you quit, you can't stay at Hogwarts, and then I'll have to be here for months without you!" I saw the horror and dawning flash on Scorpius's beautiful face, but I went on. "I can't—No, Scorpius, I can't be without you! If you quit, that's it! I won't see you until, what, June? No! I'm not going to do that! What we—what it means—Scorpius, we have to be together." I reached forward and gripped his shirt at the waist as I bared my soul to him. "If I really am the most important thing to you, then you will do anything to make that happen. And if that means that we have to keep us a secret, then that's what we'll do."

"Rose." Scorpius leaned down and put his forehead on mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I breathed quickly, trying to mask my relief. I had finally gotten through.

"But it's not that simple," he whispered.

I had to withhold my sob of disappointment. He was still hell bent on this—fucking suicide mission!

"Yes it is!" I pulled back to look at him. I was still gripping the material at his waist and he still had my face tightly in his hands.

"No, what about McGonagall. She still knows. She still might fire me."

"I—" I shook my head frantically, desperately. "Why can't we just take her memory like we did to Hadley?"

"No," Scorpius said firmly. He released my face and took a step back from me, out of my grip. I moved to get close to him again, but he didn't touch me. He just stared down at me. "I'm not going to perform a memory charm on Minerva McGonagall. I'm not going to do that. I refuse."

"Why?" I begged in exasperation. "It's the only way. It's the only thing we can do!"

Scorpius blinked slowly and stared at me. "There are other things we can do. We might be punished—"

"I don't want you to get fired, Scorpius," I interrupted quickly. "I don't want you to get fired, and if this means you'll be fired—I mean, I might not get expelled. Okay. I might just get detentions or suspension, or whatever, but you will lose your job for this. It's not allowed, Scorpius! No matter what you think the rules say, she's not just going to let us do this, yeah? I don't… I don't want you to leave—I—I need—" I cut my self off with a sob, and Scorpius closed the gap between us, enveloping me in his arms as I buried my head into his chest and cried. "I need you, Scorpius," I said in a voice shaking and thick with emotion. "I don't want you to go. I need you here. You're my strength. Without you… Pl-please, Scorpius. We just—we have to…" I trailed off, no longer able to speak and dissolving into tears. I sobbed into his chest for several moments before I was able to choke out, "There h-has to be something else."

"Okay," he whispered. He held me tighter and I clutched at his shirt, crying quietly and wishing more than anything that Hadley hadn't ruined the best thing that had ever happened to me.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard Scorpius say, "Come on," and then he guided me from his office into his quarters. I could hardly see in front of me because I was so blind with my tears, but Scorpius had me, and he guided me through the room and into his common area where he sat me on the plush couch. I immediately curled into him, clutching at his shirt once again as my tears and sobs renewed once more. He ran his hands down my hair as he whispered soothing words that I couldn't hear.

I just wanted things to be different. I wanted Scorpius not to be my teacher. I wanted Hadley to never have been in my life to begin with. I wanted Scorpius and I to not be a secret—I wanted to shout from the rooftops that I loved him more than anything. I wanted Hadley to have never seen us, and I wanted for McGonagall to never know. I wanted to be out of Hogwarts because for as many times as this place had brought me joy, it had brought me an equal amount of devastation, and I was finished with it.

I just wanted everything to be easier, and I knew it couldn't be. Chances were that Scorpius was going to get fired, and he was going to have to leave Hogwarts, and then what would I do? Where would I run to? Who would be my strength? Who would love me wildly as no one ever had?

Maybe he would be able to come to Hogsmeade, but even if he could it would only be on the weekends, and what would I do while I waited? Scorpius and I saw each other every single day. I couldn't even remember my life before seeing him every day. What would it be like? How would it feel? Would I survive.

I don't know how long I laid there, sobbing into Scorpius shirt and wishing for my life to change, but I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes, Scorpius was gone, and I had the quilt his mother had knitted for him draped over me. I was sure my face was puffy and red to match my eyes, but before I could really consider my appearance, I heard voices coming from Scorpius's office.

I swung my legs over the couch and ran my fingers through my hair before I stood up and quietly walked to Scorpius's office where the door was slightly ajar. Through the crack in the door, I could see the back of McGonagall's head—her gray hair pulled back into a tight, fierce bun at the nape of her neck, and her black robes flowing over her thin frame. She was sitting on the chair on the opposite side of Scorpius's desk, while Scorpius was sitting in his desk chair, staring at her.

"That's all you have to say, Mr. Malfoy? You don't care to excuse your behavior at all?"

Scorpius blinked slowly. "There's no way to excuse it. I love her."

I covered my mouth to withhold a gasp, but I saw Scorpius stiffen marginally, and I knew he sensed my presence. I wanted to run in and put a stop to this madness, but I was frozen—rooted to the spot and paralyzed with fear.

From where I was standing behind her, McGonagall seemed to deflate a bit. I heard her sigh. "Scorpius… I can't have this. I can't have you in a relationship with one of my students. It's… Improper. And it doesn't fall in line with our standards at this school. I'm afraid… Scorpius, you're a wonderful teacher, and the students adore you, but… I just don't think it would be wise if you stayed on here."

Scorpius paled even more than his natural hue, and I thought he might be sick. It had been different before—when we had been talking about it, it hadn't been real, but now that it was, I could see the devastation all over Scorpius's beautiful features.

He nodded. "I understand."

But I refused to understand. I refused to allow this to go on—Scorpius didn't deserve this. He had told me over and over after McGonagall got my note that it wasn't wise for us to be together, but I hadn't taken no for an answer. I had begged and pleaded, and I had thrown myself at him the night my father woke up. Scorpius didn't deserve to suffer and lose his career while I ended up with just a few measly detentions.

Scorpius had done so much for me, and loved me so much since we had been together. He had done nothing but support me and cherish me and make me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. Scorpius had changed me. He had melted the cold shell around my heart and made me warm and open again. And he had made love to me and taken me to places I had never, ever been before. I wouldn't let any harm come to him. Not while I still had air to breathe.

So with deep and profound concentration, I pulled my wand out of my back pocket and concentrated hard on the specific memories I wanted before I pointed to McGonagall and murmured, "Obliviate."

Next chapter:

Scorpius isn't too happy about that memory charm...