When Rose returned to Hogwarts, she accepted the position with the Department of Mysteries. She studied for her N.E.W.T.s. She watched Quidditch practice. She oversaw prefect meetings. And she and Scorpius went back to the way things had always been. Except that they didn't. At all.
For the first month they were back at school, pretending she hadn't snogged her best friend was almost easy. Scorpius was tied up completely in getting ready for Gryffindor's match versus Ravenclaw, and Rose spent half her time in the headmistress's office filling out forms with a very somber wizard from the Ministry. When they were together, Al never left them alone. Rose couldn't be positive if her cousin was playing third wheel on purpose, but she was more than a little grateful that Al knew both she and Scorpius so well.
The second month was when they got into trouble. Gryffindor had eeked by Ravenclaw and didn't have its final match against Hufflepuff for months; Rose had finished completing the paperwork for her position; and Al was looking very harassed as he oversaw the tutoring of the younger potions students. More often than not, she and Scorpius found themselves without Al as a buffer. After a lot of intense looks across the common room, Rose had taken to wandering the corridors for a little bit of peace. She didn't dare return to her little room; the thought alone of Scorpius finding her and filling up the tiny space was too much for her imagination.
One day, she'd just emerged from a deserted third floor corridor when she rounded a corner and almost ran straight into Scorpius, his magnificent scowl replaced with grim resignation as he saw her.
"Scorpius, I - "
But she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before her back was pressed against the cold stone wall and his warm lips were moving with her own. It was a frantic few seconds before he tore himself away, turning his back to her and running his hands through his hair. When he looked at her again, his eyes were blazing. With a simple, "I'm not sorry," he turned and departed.
After that he was everywhere, even when he wasn't. She imagined footsteps every time she was alone, her heart hammering in anticipation. Every door she opened and every corner she rounded, she held her breath.
Two weeks passed before she was alone with him again. She was in the potions dungeon trying to find Al and looked up to see Scorpius standing in the doorway, flames flickering across his carefully controlled features. She watched as he stepped into the room and without thinking began walking toward him.
"I was looking for Al," Scorpious said defensively. "He said he was tutoring and I'm starting to think he made the whole thing up because this is the third time I've been down here that he hasn't been here so - "
This time Rose did the interrupting, lifting up onto her tiptoes to press her lips gently against his. There was nothing frantic about this kiss. It was slow and tender and her face was cradled in his hands in a way that made her feel infinitely precious. When she finally pulled away, she met his eyes. "I'm not sorry, either," she said before slipping from the room and sprinting back to her dormitory.
The third month, they were both so deep in N.E.W.T. preparation that, as Scorpius admitted to her, blinking blearily up from his transfiguration notes at about one am, the thought of snogging was simply exhausting. It was easier when they were studying, sitting next to each other and handing off flashcards and notes, arguing theories, fighting over practical applications for ancient runes, to remember why they became friends in the first place. But no matter how comfortable she was, there was always that tiny ball of nerves in her stomach that could explode with just a look or a brushing of hands. It was impossible to forget, and so she told herself ignoring it was practice. Practice for not having him around at all.
The fourth month, what little time they had for distraction was completely consumed with trying to figure out what was going on with Al.
"Think it's a girl?" Rose asked one day while they sat in the common room, waiting for Al to show up from wherever it was that he disappeared to. "I mean, he's never shown an interest before, but stranger things have happened with him."
"Maybe it's a bloke," Scorpious said, tapping his nose with his quill and smirking.
"Could be," Rose said thoughtfully. "But neither seems like Al. Why wouldn't he tell us?"
"And how has he managed to keep it secret."
"Well, we've been a little preoccupied," she pointed out, shuffling through her charms flash cards and not daring to meet his eyes.
"I don't like it," Scorpius said. "He tells us everything, whether we want to know it or not."
"I know his fellowship is still secure. I know his family's fine."
"Whose family is fine?" Al's voice asked, and Rose looked up just in time to see him flop down between she and Scorpius on the sofa.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?"
"He thinks it's a bloke," Rose said.
"It's not a bloke," Al said. "Or a girl."
"So then what?" Scorpius demanded.
"I told you, I've been tutoring."
"We were in the potions dungeon last month and you weren't there," Rose pointed out.
Al's ears burned bright red, and Rose frowned as he buried his face in his bag and pretended to search. "Maybe I'd just left."
"Impossible," Scorpius pointed out. "I arrived after Rose. I would have seen you in the corridors."
"All right!" Al blurted out. "I've been avoiding the pair of you."
"What?" Scorpius demanded, head rearing back in shock. "What'd we do?"
"For starters, creeping me out with all the staring."
"Al," Rose sighed.
"I think you're both idiots. Giant gits. Proper prats."
"Piss off Potter?" Scorpius drawled, and Al's eyes flashed.
"Am I supposed to sit here and pretend everything is perfectly normal while the two of you are miserably mental, Malfoy?"
"I'm not miserable, Al," Rose said, needing to stop their bickering before either of them had a chance to get on a roll. "And I'm sorry if we've worried you."
"Don't apologize to him," Scorpius bit out, jumping to his feet and scowling at Al.
"Scorpius," Rose said, bewildered. "What's - "
"No. We made a decision like adults and I won't have - "
"Like adults? Merlin, Scorpius, adults understand that with relationships - "
"Seeing as you've never had a relationship, Al, I don't think - "
"Oh, real nice. I'm too busy with you two to have time to - "
"I'm sorry we're such a block to your love life that - "
"I'm sorry that you were too much of a coward to - "
"So now I'm a coward? You, who's never - "
Rose put her hands over her ears, not able to take the verbal sparring. The three of them almost never fought, and never about anything that mattered. Abruptly, she stood up. "Stop it! Both of you. I have barely three months left at Hogwarts and I won't have seven years of friendship ruined over this. I won't. Go have a duel. Punch each other. I don't care. Just work it out!"
With that, she gathered her bags and stormed out of the common room. The entire walk she fought tears and, unable to think of anywhere else to run, she went straight for her nook. When she got there, she slammed the door, putting every locking spell on it that she knew. She collapsed onto her window seat, buried her face in her hands, and had a good cry. It felt good to let go, just for a moment, of the cultivated calm she'd forced since she returned to Hogwarts. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the soft, leather bound journal that had been her Christmas present from Scorpius. She flipped it open, running a finger over the inscription.
For all the secrets you'll never tell. Love, Scorpius
Absently, still staring at the tidy script, she reached for a quill and started to write.
They spent the fifth month ignoring each other, and it broke Rose's heart. Al spent most of his time with Katie Finnegan, arguing obscure potions theory, and she had no idea what Scorpius was up to. She saw him in classes, of course, but he spent most of his time staring at his notes and none of it so much as glancing at her or Al. Once, she'd finally broken down and tried to call out to him in the hall but he'd simply walked away. When she'd turned around, Al was watching her, the betrayal clear on his face as he swept away in the opposite direction.
Every night she'd trudged to her hiding spot, no longer finding comfort in its tight quarters and quiet. Every night she'd take out her books and study, pausing every so often to glare at the little stack of envelopes from the ministry she'd hidden in her cupboard. Every night she'd sit waiting for Scorpius to turn up, Al in tow, and every night she'd pack up her bag, disappointed, and make her way back to Gryffindor tower. The solitude as terrifying. It was the first time she'd not spoken to either Scorpius or Al for more than a few days, and she suddenly didn't know who she was. The thought of having to make it another day let alone months and months had her in tears.
It had been almost three weeks since she'd spoken to either Al or Scorpius when a knock on the door of her little room came.
"Rose, come on, let me in."
She was startled to hear Al's voice and got up to crack the door. "Please, Rose."
Al stood, sheepishly holding up the Maurader's map and chewing on his lip. Sighing, she swung the door open, frowning at the still forming bruise on his right cheek.
"What happened?" she asked, ushering him in and making him a cup of tea.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I went mental; I am going mental. I just don't know what to say to the pair of you. I don't know if I'm supposed to be supportive of your decision or if I'm supposed to be convincing you that we've all got this one life to live and you need to be living it."
"Neither, I expect," Rose said. "You're just supposed to be Al."
"Well, Al is worried that the pair of you are making yourselves miserable. At first it was just annoying. I never hang out with anyone else, not really, and I was afraid you two'd pair off and leave me behind. Then I started getting angry, because the more you both tried to act like nothing was going on, the more you shut down."
"I'd never shut you out. Neither would Scorpius."
"You'd never mean to, but you have been," Al said.
"And your solution was to ignore me for a month?"
"You ignored me, too!"
"And Scorpius is still ignoring the both of us," she sighed.
"No," Al said darkly. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as ignoring someone if you punch them in the face."
"No!" she exclaimed, looking again at his bruised cheek.
"In fairness, I bat bogeyed him first."
"Al!"
"What? He went all typical Malfoy on me and lost his temper."
"Typical Malfoys," said a voice from the doorway, "do not lose their tempers in public. They tend to leave that to Weasleys."
"Oh har har. Very funny. Bet you were the cleverest boy in the village."
"I was, come to think on it," Scorpius said. His tone was light, but he didn't come inside, and he didn't look at either of them.
"If you've come to hit me again, could you aim for my left side this time? That way I can have a matched set."
"My dad always said bruises make a bloke mysterious," Scorpius said.
"I guess two will make me doubly mysterious."
"You two are unbearable," Rose sighed, exasperated.
"And yet we're still your best mates," Al remarked. "Doesn't speak very highly of you, does it?"
"Does this mean we're done fighting now?" Rose asked. "I'm exhausted of avoiding the pair of you."
"So am I," agreed Scorpius. "But can we not ignore each other some place with a little more room to breathe?"