Chapter 24
"Fag!" Dave yelled at Ricky in the hallway when he was on his way to his Defense class.

"Thanks, you too!" was Ricky's weak comeback. He mentally slapped himself. That sucked.

Arms itching, Ricky was doubting whether he was going to skip class or not.

He had just decided he was going to go to the Shrieking Shack, when he bumped into Rose.

"Hey!" she greeted him cheerily. Then, noticing Ricky's impatience, she added: "What's wrong?"

"I felt good today. I'm not with Scorpius anymore. They can go make love now, like they're supposed to." He sighed. "Yet, I'm still alone."

Rose looked at him, a sad expression on her face. "Come on. We're not learning anything in this state, anyway, so why bother?"

"Where are we going?"

"To the Shrieking Shack. I've had a feeling you planned on going there anyway, right?"

"Rose… I need to be alone."

Rose's eyes widened. "No. No, no, no. You're not gonna hurt yourself. Merlin, Ricky you've been doing so well."

"Rose, you know I'll be alright. I'm not gonna do anything." Lie. "I promise."

Rose still looked hesitant.

"I swear, Rose."

"Alright, but still be careful you don't get caught."

After reassuring her once more he was not going to do anything, he made his way to the shack and got his stuff from under the worn-down couch.

He put the razor to his wrist. "Fuck you, Damon. This will be the last cut I'll make because of you."

Nope, he still wasn't over Damon, although the feelings were rapidly disappearing. Mostly because Damon and Dave now also started bullying him.

He ran the blade across his wrist.

"I hope you'll stick to what you just said, Ricky."

Ricky looked up, shocked when he noticed Lily (of all people) standing in front of him.

"I noticed you going in here and decided to follow you. Out of curiosity," she said, in answer to Ricky's questioning look.

"Don't tell anyone about what you just saw. Especially not Rose."

"I won't. But only of you stop cutting." She sat beside him on the couch and grabbed his arm. "You don't cut that deep, so it'll be gone in a few days. But I have a feeling you already knew that."

"I did," Ricky said, blushing. "Why do you care?" It may have been a blunt question, but he never really considered Lily to be anything other than Albus's little sister, so for her to suddenly pay attention to him like this was kind of surprising.

"Because I think that you're too beautiful to be cut," she said, blushing.

"You what?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that." She stood up, eyes wide.

Ricky chuckled. "It's alright. Thank you. You look rather nice yourself, too."

Now that he paid attention to it, Lily looked really pretty. Her long, red hair and chocolate brown eyes all suited her perfectly. She looked quite a bit like her mother, to be honest.

"Well, since I'm really just throwing everything out here anyway, we should get to know each other better."

"Why?"

She sat back down and looked at Ricky intently. "Because you seem like a complex human being to me, and I like that."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt getting to know you a little better, no."

She stood up. "I gotta go. Hugo and Dominique are waiting for me. I'll talk to you later." She smiled at him and then exited the shack.

Ricky smiled to himself. That was a bit random.

-o-O-o-

Scorpius had spent the rest of yesterday evening and entirety of today in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

He needed a place to cry and not be disturbed. But then he met Myrtle, who also had to deal with bullies while she lived and they started talking.

Myrtle was the sweetest girl in the world, Scorpius had noticed. He didn't understand why everyone found her so annoying. Then again, he wasn't like the other students.

"It sucks. It sucks a lot," Myrtle said.

"They make you feel like right shit," Scorpius said.

"It's true."

"How bad did they make you feel?"

"Let me just say, if Olive Hornby didn't exist, I would hate being dead."

"Did you ever think about ending it all?"

"I did all the time. But I didn't have the guts. Then that creature from downstairs killed me. I swear, I may have become a ghost, but I actually welcomed death with open arms."

"Were you in love?"

"No. Well, I had crushes here and there, but I never fell for anyone. Have you ever been in love?"

"Yes. In fact, I am right now."

Myrtle squeaked in excitement. "Who's the lucky one?"

Scorpius blushed. "Albus Potter."

"Harry Potter's son?" She smirked. "I could understand that. He looks a lot like his father and his father was really handsome during his time at Hogwarts, I can tell you that." She looked as if she was going to drool all over the place.

It was when Scorpius awkwardly coughed, that she snapped out of her daydream. She continued: "Well, I can tell you this: if Albus loves you back, then you should stay strong. You shouldn't off yourself when there are people who love you. I think I would also hate to be dead if I had someone who loved me."

"You had your parents."

"That may be, but I craved the feeling of being loved like you love Albus more than anything and I didn't have that. I know it's selfish…"

"It's really not that selfish. Have your parents visited you after you died?"

"Once, to say goodbye. I think they've passed away by now."

"I'm really sorry," Scorpius said.

Myrtle was about to answer, when the door opened. Elizabeth and Danni came walking in.

"Scorp! We've been looking everywhere for you! Come on, we're gonna go to the library."

Scorpius stood up, faintly hearing the sound of Myrtle retreating to a toilet. "Don't call me Scorp."

Elizabeth blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Don't call me Scorp. Only Albus is allowed to call me that. And I'm not going with you."

"What has gotten into you?" Elizabeth asked, a warning tone in her voice.

"He told me what you were doing. I'm not your puppet. You manipulated me. I made the one I love hate me, just because you and Danni want to have your little revenge."

"How dare you speak to me like that? If it wasn't for us, you would be so miserable! We did you a favor!"

Scorpius clenched his fists in anger. "I was less miserable than I am now! I was miserable, yes, but I had friends that truly cared about me!"

"Fine then, Malfoy. Do as you please. Just so you know, Damon learned from Ricky the other day that Albus is done with you. After what you did yesterday at dinner, Albus got fed up. He let you go and, I think, so did Ricky and that Weasley chick. Surely you didn't think they actually cared about you? They only follow Albus's orders, sweetie. So basically, you're all alone now. You've made a mistake, Malfoy. You just ruined your own life." With one last threatening glare, Elizabeth and Danni left the bathroom.

Scorpius screamed. He ran over to the tap and splashed water in his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. He was disgusted by himself. Because of his sad, pathetic excuse of a heart, he drove everyone that cared about him away.

He punched the mirror and, upon its shattering, he felt relieved for a minute. Pain was indeed the only way to fight pain.

He picked up a piece of the mirror.

"Don't do it, Scorpius." He heard Myrtle say behind him.

"Why not? You heard what she just said."

"She manipulated you, Scorpius, and she just did so again. Don't believe her."

"I'm sorry, Myrtle. I honestly don't know what's real anymore."

He left the bathroom, without looking back at Myrtle.

So basically I decided to update again, because I've been hit by the feels train thanks to tumblr and I just got inspiration. That doesn't mean this was any good, though. I'm sorry. My writer's block has been going on for half a year and I decided eh yolo I'll update cuz people might still be reading. Anyway, I'm sorry and I'll try to update the next (probs the last) chapter asap!

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