Rose was still incredibly confused about Scorpius. The next Potions lesson, which was the final lesson for the day, she was just as cold towards Scorpius as he had been to her over the past few weeks. She avoided looking and talking to him and tried to be as far away as possible from him in the room. She sat on her own for most of the time, as Alice had gone to Madam Hartley that morning after large, orange spots had broken out all over her face. She claimed they'd been caused by a moss she'd touched in the forest and rushed off to the hospital wing.

At the end of the lesson, as Rose was walking out, Scorpius grabbed her wrist and pulled her off to the side, away from passing students. She tried to yank her wrist from his grip, but he was holding on too tightly. When they had reached a deserted corridor, Scorpius let go of Rose, but stood close that she wouldn't be able to run without him quickly caching her. Rose glared at him, but she was surprised to see that, for the first time in several weeks, he wasn't glaring back. Instead, he looked worried. He glanced around, looking for anyone who might be nearby, then said to Rose, "Just hear me out, just this one time. Look, I don't want to do this, but I have to. Everything I'm doing to you is killing me, and I want to tell you what is happening, but that would just put you in danger. Please, please try to understand that I'm doing this to protect you."Rose was shocked by his words. It was the first time he'd said anything remotely kind to her in ages, and she had no idea how to respond. Her resolve to ignore him crumbled. She looked at his ashen, grey eyes, full of concern, and his full lips- all she wanted to do was kiss him. For a moment, it looked as if Scorpius was going to kiss her, but his face hardened into an expressionless blank and the memories of his coldness over past few weeks returned. "So that's it?!" Rose spat. "No explanation?! You're not going to tell me why you were so suddenly cold and mean to me?" she said venomously, almost yelling. She was thankful that they were in a deserted hallway, where no one could hear them. "I've spent weeks trying to get something, anything, from you! And all you've done is ignore me, not even bothering to tell me why! If you wanted to break up with me, you could've at least had the guts to say something, rather than just shutting me out!" Rose was on the verge of tears, but she choked them down and kept her voice steady. "Well now you don't have to bother, because I'm done with you!" She didn't wait around for a reaction. Rose ran off down the hallway, away from Scorpius. She desperately hoped Scorpius would run after her, call out to her, stop her and tell her he was still in love with her, but no one came after her. She ran, not bothering to pay attention to where she was going.

Eventually, she stopped in another deserted corridor and slumped against the wall. The tears started to spill down her cheeks. She wiped them away angrily, not wanting to cry, but she couldn't stop. She sat against the wall, losing track of time. When she finally stopped crying, Rose stayed there, staring into nothing. Despite having had Scorpius ignore her for weeks, she'd never fully wanted to believe that he'd broken up with her. Even when she'd resolved to ignore him too, in the back of her mind she was still clinging to some hope that things would work out between them. Now that she'd ended it, she knew it was definitely over. She didn't want to cry so much over a boy, but the fact that Scorpius had been so cold towards her added to her heartbreak.

Rose couldn't clearly remember how she got back to Gryffindor Tower. She was so tired and worn out all she wanted to do was sleep. When she'd stood up, her legs were stiff from being in the same position for so long. She walked with heavy steps, letting her feet take her to wherever. After mindless wandering, she'd ended up back at the portrait of the Fat Lady and mumbled the password. Entering the Common Room, she saw it was empty and, glancing at her watch, realised everyone was at dinner, which explained why all the corridors had been empty on her way back. Rose didn't feel hungry anyway, so she trudged up the stairs to her dormitory, changed into her pyjamas and got into bed, hoping sleep would provide a respite from the day.