Author's note: Please forgive me if you or anyone you know owns a funeral home. I just wanted to choose a job for Matthew's parents that I know for sure I wouldn't enjoy and dealing with deceased people and their grieving families is definitely one of these jobs. Again, sorry if this offends anyone.

Chapter 25: Anger Turned Into Fear

(Rose's pov)

Merlin, what was I even doing here? I just spent the past twenty minutes of my date at Madame Puddifoot's with Matthew listening to him talk about his family's funeral home. It had been owned by Matthew's mother's – who was a muggle – family, and even thought he was a wizard, Matthew would be inheriting it. To be honest, I don't think I could have cared less, since owning a funeral home is just about one of the most boring, creepy jobs I ever heard of, but every time I tried to explain my own parents' careers, – which were much more interesting – Matthew interrupted me.

"My dad is –" I'd begin, but Matthew just wouldn't listen. I was getting sick of it.

As Matthew was talking, I found myself glancing out the window. Suddenly, I say a large barn owl hovering outside. "Hey, look!" I said, interrupting Matthew for a change. "I… I think it's for me."

We went outside, and sure enough, the owl dropped a single yellow rose into my hand. Attached to the rose was a note.

Rose,

According to muggles, a yellow rose means friendship between the sender and the receiver. It took a long time for our friendship to bloom, but I was sure glad when it did. And that was the first step in our relationship…

The note was not signed. My heart sank at the message. It couldn't be from Scorpius… could it? Just to make sure, I asked Matthew, "Did you send this?"

Matthew shook his head angrily. "Now, but I'm going to find out who did." With that, he stormed off towards the castle.

"Matthew, it says right in the note that yellow means friendship, nothing more than that!" I exclaimed, although I wasn't too sure of that myself.

"It doesn't matter." Matthew snapped. "Only one person can give you roses, and that is me."

He speed up his pace, leaving me far behind and forgotten. There was only one person who could have sent me that rose, and that was Scorpius. Of course, I wasn't about to tell Matthew that.

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The following Friday night, I managed to leave the head common room before Scorpius, so I didn't have to do my nightly rounds with him. It was peaceful to be alone, and I rather enjoyed it. As I was walking down an abandoned corridor, I heard the unmistakable sound of two students being out later than they should be. I rounded the corner, only to find Matthew and Zoey Chang-Lee, a girl from my dorm, embraced in each other with their lips locked together in a passionate kiss.

Matthew broke away from Zoey as soon as he saw me. "Rose… I – I can explain."

"Don't even bother!" I snarled, and took off in the opposite direction, heading for the outside of the castle because I didn't know where else to go. I knew Matthew was following me, but I didn't stop running.

Outside, the moon was full and bright, but I barely noticed. I ran straight into the forbidden forest, not quite sure where I was headed. Perhaps to Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother, a pure-blooded giant who was affectionate towards Hagrid, Albus, James, Lily, Hugo, and I, but aggressive towards anyone he didn't know. "Please, Rose, just let me talk!" Matthew called after me.

Since I didn't know for sure where I was headed, I stopped and turned to face Matthew. "What?" I snapped.

"Look," Matthew sighed. "I know I should have told you before, but I'm just not feeling the chemistry I thought I'd feel with you. I was going to tell you tomorrow, honestly, I was."

"So you cheated on me?" I asked angrily.

"Well… sort of…. I –" suddenly Matthew's eyes grew wide, and he started backing up very slowly. Then, he turned around completely and bolted back toward the castle.

"Where do you think you're –" I yelled, but froze when I heard a low-pitched, frightening growl behind mind.

Slowly turning around, I saw I was just three or four meters away from a monstrous creature with large pointy teeth, and long sharp claws. The creature looked like a wolf, except it was larger and much more frightening. Suddenly, I knew what had scared Matthew off. It was a werewolf, and now it was after me.

The werewolf lunged at me, placing its front paws on me and knocking me to the ground. I closed my eyes and waited for the horrifying pain of the werewolf's bite, which would either kill me or infect me with lycanthropy, but it didn't come. I felt the weight of the werewolf be lifted off my body, and I opened my eyes to see why the werewolf didn't bite. The werewolf was standing upright, with his ears erect and alert and his nose sniffing the air. Then I heard a horrible, frightening noise. It was a long, eerie howl, most likely from another werewolf. The werewolf took off in the opposite direction from the castle towards the source of the howl just as my mind slipped into darkness.

(Scorpius's pov)

Roses. I couldn't think of a better way to win back Rose's heart than to give her the flower after which she was named. I was in a gift shop in Hogsmeade with Luke and Ben when I spotted them. Albus was on a date with Alana, and since I didn't want to interfere, I wandered around the wizard village with Luke and Ben. Luke hand wanted to buy some roses for his mother's birthday so that was what we were doing in the gift shop in the first place. That was where I got my brilliant idea.

"Is there any reason why there are so many colors of roses?" I asked Luke curiously.

"Well each color has a different meaning, such as love, friendship, gratitude, purity, and desire. For example, I'm buying pink roses to show my mother my gratitude and appreciation towards my mum. It's a muggle thing, I guess." He explained.

After asking more about which color meant what, I bought three roses, each a different color. I then took the yellow rose, the one symbolizing friendship to Rose by owl right away. She didn't seem to acknowledge that I had sent it to her, but I know she kept it because I saw it sitting in a vase on top of her bedside table whenever her dormitory door was open.

About a week after I sent Rose the yellow flower, she decided to be sneaky and leave the dorm without me to do nightly rounds, but I outfoxed her by following directly after her. The events that followed proved that it was a good idea.

When Matthew was spotted cheating on Rose with Zoey Chang-Lee, I, of course, was furious. But I couldn't do anything about it, because then my cover would have been blown. Instead, I followed Rose and Matthew out to the Forbidden Forest. They finally stopped, and began to argue, so I slowly walked around them to get a better view.

I saw the werewolf before Rose and Matthew did, and not knowing else what to do, I quickly climbed the nearest tree. Suddenly, Matthew saw the monstrous beast sneaking up on Rose, and being the coward he was, he turned and fled.

"Where do you think you're –" Rose yelled, but was interrupted by the werewolves growl.

In a panic, I tried to think of a plan to save Rose from being attacked and severely injured, or worse, killed. It wasn't until the werewolf lunged at her and forced her to the ground that I thought of something. Taking a deep breath, I let out a long and mournful but very convincing howl. The werewolf got off of Rose to listen better and smell the air. I howled again, and the werewolf ran off in the opposite during of the castle and Rose. But then I looked down and saw that Rose was still. Quickly, I climbed down from the tree, hoping and praying that she was alright.

Author's note: Just in case anyone's wondering, the werewolf who attacked Rose is unnamed. I suppose it could be Grayback, a random, new werewolf who doesn't know how to control himself, whatever you want to think. That nice thing about reading other people's work… you get to make your own inferences. :)