"What are you doing?"

Scorpius glanced away from the Prophet to frown down at Daphne, "Reading?"

She was laying on her back on the couch, head propped up on his thigh. Her black hair was pulled over her shoulder and she had been spending the past quiet minutes absently braiding it. Apparently, she reached the end of her patience.

With a huff, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, "Aren't there better things we could be doing?"

Ah. "Like what?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't act cute. You've been ignoring me since school started, Scorpius." She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, looking imperious and displeased. He glanced around the common room, but it was empty. Nolan and Gerard had headed to bed early...which was likely why she'd bothered to broach the topic at all. Not that company ever stopped her before, but she did try her best to respect Scorpius's 'delicate sensibilities.' Her words.

Folding the paper, he turned toward her, lifting a leg onto the couch, "We've been hanging out every day, Daph." He knew playing obtuse would be of no use, but he at least wanted to try and avoid having a conversation he had no concrete answer to.

"Oh, now you're just being purposefully dense," she shot back with a glare.

He grinned, "Am I really?"

They stared each other down for a long moment before Daphne shook her head with a small laugh, "I never can win."

He shrugged and leaned back against the arm of the couch, "Sorry." Quiet fell for a bit and he watched his friend resume toying with her hair. He sighed, "And I'm sorry if I've been...ignoring you. I've been preoccupied. Snogging hasn't been at the top of my mind."

She frowned, "It was always intended to be a fun distraction from preoccupations, Scorpius."

He refolded the Prophet to have something else to look at, "Yeah, I know."

She reached out and stilled his hands with one of her own, "Scorpius, is everything alright?"

Fondness warmed his chest as he smiled over at her, "Yes, of course. Though, I appreciate the concern."

"Is there someone you've taken a liking to?"

A frown crossed his lips, "No." Red curls and freckles. "No one in particular." Shaking his head sharply, he looked over at her and raised his eyebrows, "If it bothers you so much that I'm busy, why don't you try and find someone to...I dunno, have an actual romantic relationship with?"

Daphne rolled her eyes, "Because I already have you trained. What would be the point in starting something new if I don't have to?" She levelled him with a serious look, "But. You know it's alright if there is someone you're interested in, Scorpius? You have to let me know, if that's the case. It's part of the deal, remember?"

He rustled the paper back open and focused on finding his place, "I remember. But there's no one. And it's like you said - what's the point in trying?"

There was a sharp moment of tension and Scorpius resisted the urge to wince at his misstep. He felt Daphne's gaze heavy on him, but then she turned away and laid back down, resuming her previous position with her head propped on his leg. She then started babbling about other inane gossip she'd heard over the course of the day. Who was caught flirting with who, what professors had awarded or taken points away for interesting antics, and more. Scorpius felt the fondness again, eternally grateful for Daphne to not press unless she deemed it emergent. Trusting him to let her know if there was really something for her to worry about.

He didn't even know why he felt guilty about telling her there was no one. It wasn't as if he'd lied. There wasn't. The fact that Rose Weasley kept creeping into his thoughts was concerning, yes, but there had never been any use in wanting things beyond his scope. He'd carefully crafted his expectations of his future with that in mind. Someone like Rose was too wild for him to safely pursue - too many variables, ways for things to go awry, too much potential attention from a serious association.

At the manor, the ease of their...acquaintance?...had been simple to take at face value. Being back at school reminded him of his overarching obligations in the scheme of things. He'd had to worry about these things since he was young. Why would that change now?

Clenching his jaw, he forced his thoughts away from that line of thinking. He just needed time to sort everything out and then he was sure he could get back to his normal routine. After all, Rose hadn't reached out in the past week to update him on the investigation. He could read between the lines and he understood the inclination. It caught him off guard just how...disappointed it made him. Which was a bad sign for the state of his interest in her.

Daphne sat up again and stretched, "I'm going to bed."

"Probably a good idea." A great idea. He would go to bed and stop running his thoughts in circles like this. It wasn't productive and all it did was make him frustrated and uncomfortable.

As they stood and gathered up their things, he savored the easy quiet that he and Daphne were able to operate in. He enjoyed his friendship with Nolan and Gerard, but what he had with Daphne ran deeper. They understood each other. When to question, when to press, and when to just enjoy the moment.

As they started across the dungeon toward where they would split ways to their respective dormitories, Scorpius reached out and tugged her into a one-armed hug. She made a sound of surprise before returning it. He pressed a kiss into her hair, "I missed you, Daph."

He could hear the smile in her voice, "Me, too, you prat."

Pulling apart, he laughed, "Have a good night."

She hesitated and he pretended he didn't see the concerned look pass across her face again before she finally nodded, "You, too."

When she disappeared through the doorway, he turned and made his way to his own dormitory.

The end of the week crept up on him more quickly than he expected. He'd only had brief glimpses of Rose in the hallways or in shared classes, but overall it felt like it had before she'd shown up in his foyer in the middle of a storm.

Except he had all these memories of her that he'd never had at school prior to that. Studying together, washing dishes in the kitchen, Skilt's tantrums at every mess she somehow brought with her. He just needed to figure out how to meld the two versions of Rose in his mind so he could stop having the urge to stop her in the hallway to ask how she was doing or share stories that Skilt wrote to him since they had left the Manor. Or even that the house-elf had vaguely referenced the fact that he missed having them around, though he was looking forward to Scorpius's parents returning the next week and bringing normalcy back to the estate.

Scorpius wanted to see Rose's face light up in hearing that.

He groaned quietly and pressed his forehead into the table he was set up at in the library. It was late morning on Saturday and the corner he was in was thankfully empty of any witnesses to his mental exhaustion. Everyone else was either trying to get last minute practice in before the quidditch tryouts next week or were watching said practice.

Scorpius had declined the invitation to join Nolan in watching Daphne and Gerard go through their paces, knowing they were practically shoo-ins for the Slytherin team. He'd see enough of their aerial acrobatics come November. He'd decided to take the morning's solitude to work ahead on class assignments, but he still had the occasional mental distractions, as proven by the cool wood against his forehead as he considered the problem without any successful solutions.

Aside from one.

He was pretty sure he had to talk to Rose. Find out if she was intentionally excluding him from helping her even after he'd told her his decision or if it was just the busyness that seemed to catch everyone off-guard at the beginning of the year. And as a prefect...even more so, he could imagine. Maybe that was it.

Sitting up, he rubbed at his forehead and started gathering his things. Maybe he could chat with her cousin, Albus, about passing a message to her. He needed to get himself out of this limbo in the unknown. Scorpius preferred sooner rather than later. It seemed his mental wellbeing was starting to depend on it.

AN:

And Daphne has officially made an appearance! She is a character I've made a point of filling out and representing a bit better in this version of the story because she is really just...cool. She's Scorpius's ride-or-die, bff, will hurt you if you hurt the cinnamon roll. And I love her for it. I'm hoping I can do better justice to their friendship this time around.

And poor Scorpius is just trying to flail through his own feelings and responsibilities right now. Which...is really the crux of his whole arc in this entire fic. haha I feel bad for what I do to these characters sometimes. All the angst!

Anyways, thank you all again for continuing to enjoy the story! Your lovely comments make my day whenever one pops up, even if I'm terrible at replying to them in a timely manner. Have a great rest of the weekend and see you in March!