Author's Note: The end is near! And I'm even almost on time. ;) Anyway, thanks to all who've supported me thus far—I appreciate you so much! Thanks.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios, while Drive Me Crazy is property of 20th Century Fox. I do not own them and am simply borrowing for my purposes. Please don't sue!

How to Deal
by Bether

Chapter 7: Fine Enough

It was Sunday and Rose was studying in the library. She'd honestly rather not but her Herbology assignment wasn't completing itself. She'd been working dutifully for over an hour when someone joined her. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Miles sitting across from her. "Hullo Miles," she greeted, brows furrowed a bit with confusion.

"Afternoon, fair Rose," he replied with a nod. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

Stretching, she put her quill down and shook her head. "I could use the break," she admitted. That still didn't tell her why he was there, though—Miles was Scorpius's friend, not hers, and they hadn't spoken more than a few words to each other since The Incident as it'd been deemed by most. (Rose herself liked to think of it as Scorpius's Colossal Fuck Up That Proved Her Father Right, Damn It.) "What's on your mind?"

The shyness in Miles' expression was more the sort of thing she'd expect of a Hufflepuff, not a Slytherin. "Um, I wanted to, er, speak with you about something."

He seemed nervous, so she smiled encouragingly. "Oh-kay…"

"Well, as you know, the Leaving Ball's almost here," he started, rubbing the back of his neck, "and I thought—I mean, I'm sure you've plenty of better offers but if it comes down to it and you haven't found someone you'd like to go with, I thought I'd toss my name in for contention."

The invitation was rambling and unexpected but utterly lovely as far as Rose was concerned. She opened her mouth to tell him as much when the sound of a scuffle in the stacks caught her attention. Turning, she saw Abigail pulling Scorpius down for a long kiss. (His back being to her, she didn't see his eyes widen in surprise, then confusion before he fully acquiesced.)

Rose wanted to look away, she really did, but she couldn't. Not until Abigail had dragged them far enough into the Magical Creatures section that they were no longer visible. (Sure, she'd known this was a possibility after she'd spoken with the younger girl but a part of her hadn't been prepared to see them together all the same.) Off-balance, she turned back to Miles and tried to smile as she prepared to make a belated reply.

Miles saved her the trouble. "You don't have to answer now," he told her hurriedly, standing up. "The offer's good up until dance time." He smiled at her and waved as he made for the exit.

Somehow her brain didn't process his words until he was already out the door. Rose dropped her head to her hands. Ugh, what was wrong with her? A perfectly sweet boy that she actually liked (though not as anything more than a friend) was being lovely to her and she'd let Scorpius who she didn't like (at all in any way… anymore) ruin it for her! Bloody hell, what was that about?

Deciding she didn't want to be around whenever Abigail and Scorpius appeared again, Rose packed up her things and headed for the Gryffindor common room.

Albus and Rose were cleaning up after a slight mishap in Potions when he oh-so-casually cleared his throat. "So you've been moping around for weeks now."

Scowling, she scrubbed her cauldron a bit harder than was strictly necessary. "I've not."

"Sure you have," he countered calmly. "You cover it well and most everyone is too scared of your temper to question you about it," he pointed a finger at her, "but if you think I don't see right through your act, then you're daft."

Rose glared at him. "S'not an act."

Albus gave her a Look. "You want to try again, Rosie?"

Sighing, she deflated a little. (And not because he used her father's favorite nickname for her.) "I don't want to talk about it."

He shrugged lightly. "I know."

"Then you felt the need to bring this up why?" Rose asked with a frown.

"I just hate to see you unhappy, you know?" Albus nudged her shoulder with his own. "Plus, I thought you could use this." He punctuated by wrapping her in a warm hug.

Despite herself, she smiled a little. "Corny."

"But did it help?" he questioned, tone implying he already knew the answer.

"A little," she admitted, not as reluctantly as she might've.

"Then that's all that matters." Somehow he managed to keep the smug out of his voice as he spoke, too. Rose admired that. (She doubted she'd be able to do the same if their roles had been reversed.)

The pair continued cleaning for a few minutes before Rose spoke again. "You're going to gloat about this for a while, aren't you?"

Albus smirked. "Probably."

"Prat." Her tone was too affectionate for the insult to carry much (or any) weight.

"Rose!"

The call surprised her because of who it'd come from. Turning, she faced her ex-boyfriend with an even expression. "Dirk."

He was smiling down at her in the way she used to find sweet but now seemed vapid. "So the Leaving Ball's almost here," he commented as if feeling her out.

Rose decided she wasn't going to give him anything to work with. "It is," she agreed simply, hitching her bag higher onto her shoulder.

Dirk's smile faltered for a moment, but he pressed on. Taking her hand, he brushed some hair off her forehead. "I'd really like to go with you if you don't already have plans."

Brows furrowed slightly, Rose peered up at Dirk. "What about your girlfriend?" she asked shrewdly.

"Oh, we broke up," he replied with an easy shrug. "You were right; it's stupid to be thinking about things like love when we're so young."

Rose blinked. "Yeah." It was said quietly and without much conviction. She remembered saying something like that but it felt like a lifetime ago; now she didn't know what she believed. She caught sight of Scorpius not far away, watching them with an unreadable expression on his face. Her stomach clenched and she turned her attention back to Dirk.

Grinning widely, her real ex-boyfriend was practically beaming at her. "You'll go with me then?"

(Once the question was out there, Scorpius didn't stick around for the answer. He didn't need to watch Rose making the same stupid mistake again.)

Rose blinked once more and suddenly it was like she was seeing the boy standing in front of her for the first time—and how utterly useless he truly was. She returned his smile. "No, Thomas," she told him sweetly, pulling her hand from his grasp. Dirk's face fell. "Not a chance in hell." She headed off without so much as a glance back. A lovely boy had already asked her to the ball. It was high time she stopped acting like a twit and took him up on his offer.

Lily was lying on Rose's bed, flipping through the latest Witch Weekly when she finally couldn't take it any longer. She just had to know. "So… you're really going to the ball with Miles?"

Rose was on Roxanne's bed plaiting her cousin's hair with red and gold ribbons. "Yup."

Wrinkling her nose, Lily put down the magazine. "Really? 'Cause Kiki told me Dirk asked you. I mean, wouldn't you rather go with him?"

"Nope."

Lily made a face. "But Miles is so…"

"Miles is great," Rose interrupted sharply, silencing Lily with a cold glare, "and Dirk is a vain bore."

"Well, I guess that answers the question about whether you're fully over him or not," Roxanne remarked dryly, passing some hair ties to Rose. "But what about Scorpius?"

Rose stiffened. "What about Scorpius?"

Because her back was to Rose, Roxanne didn't bother trying to hide her knowing smirk. "He's Miles' friend. Are you sure this isn't—"

"No." She tugged on Roxanne's hair more forcefully than necessary to make certain her cousin was paying attention. "Miles asked me, not the other way around. Besides, I told you the thing with Scorpius wasn't… you know."

Rose hadn't meant to tell, it'd just kind of… come out the night she saw Scorpius and Abigail in the library. She'd left out the part where she'd orchestrated the entire ruse (more for her sake than Scorpius's—she'd felt foolish enough at the time without admitting that part) but confided that they were more friends than anything else and what really hurt her was that he hadn't had the decency to talk to her before making her look like an idiot by snogging another girl. From the expression on Roxanne's face, she hadn't bought all that Rose was selling, but she'd offered comfort and chocolate and that'd been enough.

Lily perked up—the girl was like a bloodhound for gossip, always trying to sniff out secrets. "That wasn't what?"

Both older girls ignored her and Rose shifted topics. "Hey, Lily—is it true James is coming back to escort Dreema to the ball or is he having us on?"

Lily huffed at being left out of the loop but followed her cousin's lead. It wasn't often she got to be the one to share family news first, after all. Being one of the youngest was like that.