It was finally over.

That was the only thought in Rose's exhausted mind as she climbed the stairs back to the Gryffindor common room. Her whole brain ached, and each step took an incredible effort, but it was alright because exams were over. Now she could collapse on her bed and stare blankly at the ceiling for as long as she wanted. All night, if she wanted to. Not even Scorpius' note to meet him in the Room of Requirement later could distract her from getting the sleep she knew she had earned.

The common room was relatively deserted. Since it was such a lovely day, most of the students were probably outside soaking up the sunshine in their second to last day at Hogwarts. Rose stifled a yawn and began to trudge up the stairs to her dormitory, already brooding over what the summer would hold. She hadn't made any progress on telling her family about Scorpius, and the prospect of an entire summer with very little contact from him made her feel depressed and sulky. Especially if she was still concealing the truth from everyone. Rose knew she had to muster up the courage and get it over with, but that was far easier said than done. The first thing to do was tell Dom. But how?

Rose opened the door to the dorm and came face to face with her part-Veela cousin.

"Speak of the devil," she muttered.

Dom, it seemed, had been just about to leave, judging from the way the door nearly knocked her over as it swung inwards. She was dressed up and wearing makeup. Rose gave her appearance a once over and bit her tongue – as a Prefect she was supposed to reprimand students who didn't wear the uniform, but for the last few days of term it just didn't seem worth the effort.

"What did you say?" asked Dom, and Rose was jerked out of her meandering thoughts.

"Nothing," she mumbled, walking past her cousin and dumping her bag on the floor next to her bed. She could tell her now, she realised with a dull ache. They were all alone. She should tell her now. But surely it wasn't the right time?

"I'm going to meet Jeb," Dom said, a little redundantly since it was obvious where she was going. Dom's exams had finished several days ago and she had spent practically every waking minute since wrapped with the Hufflepuff boy in one of Hogwarts' many broom closets.

"Okay," said Rose automatically

"I just can't believe how lucky I've been to find someone as great as him."

Rose nodded without really taking in what she was saying.

"You know he said I could come and visit him in London over summer?"

"Mh-hmm."

"Yeah, his mum works in a brothel and she said I might be able to work there for some extra money."

"That's nice."

"You know!" Dom snapped, her voice suddenly rising an octave and forcing Rose to pay attention to her. "You could at least pretend to be listening to me!"

She flushed. "Sorry. I'm just really tired from my exam and I – " I have no idea how to tell you that I'm in love with Scorpius Malfoy. "I'm sorry," she finished lamely.

"Whatever," said Dom coolly. "You've been acting weird for weeks now."

"Me?" scoffed Rose, and before she could stop she found herself retaliating. "At least I'm not gushing over some no brained yob and his amazing biceps."

Her cousin's eyes narrowed furiously. "Shut up Rose," she snapped. "What would you know anyway?"

Rose threw her hands up in frustration and pursed her lips to keep from replying. Dom made as though to storm out, before stopping and turning back to her contemptuously.

"It's pathetic, you know."

Rose raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Dom sighed.

"Look, I get it. I get that you're jealous of what Jeb and I have – "

This yanked her roughly out of her self-imposed silence. "What?" Rose stared at her, wondering if her cousin could possibly be serious. "Jealous? Me?"

"- But it's really petty of you to try and come between us like this." Dom flicked her hair over one shoulder. "You should be happy for me, not envious."

"Are you mental?" Rose demanded, too tired to try and find a diplomatic way of framing what she wanted to say. "Have you completely lost it?"

Dom glared at her.

"That…Jeb," Rose lifted her hands up mockingly when she said his name. "Has got to be the dumbest, most obnoxious, putty-brained idiot that you have ever dated. And that's saying something, given some of the male bimbos you've hung around before!"

Dom had her mouth open in shock at what she was saying, but Rose couldn't seem to stop. She had rarely felt so infuriated with her cousin.

"And don't insult my intelligence by claiming you actually like him! I know you're only using him to try and get over Calvin, and it's stupid! You're not fooling me at all!"

That had definitely struck a nerve. Dom's blue eyes flashed and for a minute Rose thought she might actually hit her. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" she screeched back, tears spilling out of her blue eyes. "JUST BECAUSE NO GUY HAS EVER GIVEN YOU THE TIME OF DAY – "

"Dom – "

"BECAUSE YOU'RE ALONE AND YOU DON'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND –

"That's – "

"AND I DO!"

Rose wanted to laugh at the absurdity of what Dom was saying. But at the same time her words filled her with a furious rage and she wanted to shake her and scream in her face.

"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!" Dom continued, her face bright red. "BECAUSE YOU'RE A BOOKWORM AND I'M NOT AND YOU GOT DUMPED BY CHARLIE CORNER AND BECAUSE THERE'S NOT A SINGLE GUY IN HOGWARTS WHO WOULD – "

"I'M DATING SCORPIUS MALFOY!"

Dom's tirade came to an abrupt halt. She stared at Rose, her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth open in a comical 'oh' of shock.

"Wh-what?"

Rose covered her face, furious with herself. She had told her cousin in the absolute worst way possible. And now she couldn't take it back. Dom's eyes may have been popping with astonishment, but Rose knew there was no way she had misheard.

They stood in silence for a long time, before Dom finally made a sound of sarcastic disbelief. "Very funny."

Rose lifted her head. That wasn't the reaction she'd expected. "What?"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" said Dom, her voice acidic. Her eyes were narrowed to slits and she looked beyond furious.

"I – "

"Are you trying to impress me by lying that a cute guy likes you, Rose? If that's your plan, at least make it somewhat believable next time. As if you and Malfoy would ever work as a couple."

Her words seemed to jab into her like darts. She knew Dom was just trying to upset her, but it still hurt to hear that from her best friend. "Believe what you want," she said, her voice now dropped to a low murmur.

Dom shook her head slowly. "No. No. I refuse to believe it."

"You think I'm lying?" Rose demanded in a tone of annoyance. "You actually think I'm that pathetic?"

"No, I refuse to believe you could be such a backstabbing bitch," spat Dom, and Rose winced.

"Backstabbing? What exactly is backstabbing about it?"

"Oh I don't know," said Dom sarcastically. "Maybe that it goes against everything we've ever believed in?"

"I didn't realise we had a rule against dating Scorpius Malfoy?"

"WE HAD AN UNSPOKEN RULE!" Dom yelled suddenly, fresh tears appearing in her eyes. "How could you do this? You know what his family is!"

"Scorpius isn't like that!" Rose pleaded. "He's different, he's – "

"Don't give me that! You hate him."

"I used to hate him."

"What, and you just woke up one day and decided you actually fancied him instead?" scoffed Dom disbelievingly. "You can't just change your feelings like that!"

"Well apparently I can, since I have."

"No," said Dom again, shaking her head. "It's impossible. You can't."

"Please Dom – "

"He's a Malfoy!"

"I thought we were past this!" Rose practically begged. She so desperately wanted Dom to give her approval. But her cousin's eyes were hard and angry and unforgiving.

"Not past it to this point! Dating? I don't understand how – and you called me mental?"

Rose opened her mouth and closed it again. This was entirely different to how dealing with Albus had been. Al and Scorpius were best mates, and even if Al hadn't been pleased at first, he still recognised his friend's basic decency. But Dom had never given Scorpius the time of day.

"He's just using you," said Dom abruptly, jerking Rose back to the present.

"No, Dom – "

"He's just using you," repeated her cousin. "I've heard stories about Malfoy. The two of you have absolutely nothing in common. What do you think he's after – your brains?"

Rose could feel tears pricking behind her eyes. She shook her head, not looking at Dom, not wanting to see the poisonous glare she knew her cousin was giving her. She was so tired. All she wanted was to get away.

"I can't believe you'd even consider dating a Malfoy," Dom continued hatefully.

"Dom – "

"What about your family? Did you ever think of us? Or were you just too busy lusting after a Slytherin bad boy to give a – "

"SHUT UP!" she screamed, putting her hands over her ears to block out Dom's words and charging past her cousin towards the door. She couldn't stand another minute of listening. She had to get out. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"WITH PLEASURE!" Dom screamed back, her voice echoing through the corridor as Rose tripped down it. "YOU SLUT!"

Rose choked back a sob, her vision blinded by tears as she emerged back into the common room. Ignoring whoever was there, she ran over to the portrait hole and practically fell out of it, before sprinting down the corridor as fast as her feet would take her.

Less than five minutes later she found herself at the blank stretch of wall on the seventh floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Without stopping to think, Rose began to pace, her mind focused on the solitary thought: I need to find Scorpius. I need to find Scorpius. I need to find Scorpius. It was a terrible, unclear request, but at the end of her three laps a door appeared in the wall nonetheless. She seized the handle and threw herself into the room.

"Rose?"

Looking up, she realised that Scorpius was already there. She stared at him for a moment before bursting into tears.

"Rose!" He stood up, throwing aside the parchment he had been writing on, and was at her side in an instant. He grabbed her arms and bent down to look into her face. "What happened? What's wrong?"

She shook her head, unable to speak, and he gathered her into his arms, wrapping her tightly in an embrace. Rose felt her tears soaking into his robes, but couldn't seem to stop. Dom's words reverberated in her head, each time more painful than the last. She had known her cousin would be mad, but she hadn't been prepared for that confrontation. And she was already so exhausted…

"Shh," whispered Scorpius, stroking her hair with one hand. "It's alright."

But it wasn't. Slut. How could Dom have said that to her? Rose sucked in a deep breath and bit down on her lip, hard. She tasted blood, but at least it had stopped her loud, anguished sobs. He's only using you. She was such an idiot.

Rose pulled out of his embrace, taking a step back and wiping her sleeve ungracefully across her face. For some time she simply stared off to one side, breathing in deeply and trying to calm her thoughts and restore some semblance of sanity to her frazzled mind.

When she finally looked back at Scorpius, he had a wary expression on his face.

"What happened?" he asked, in a tone that told her he wasn't going to take 'nothing' for an answer.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out besides a pained squeak. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Dom."

Scorpius scowled. "You told her?"

"I kind of…blurted it out," she admitted miserably. "We got into a fight and…we were both yelling at each other and I – I – " a fresh wave of anguish washed over her, and she scrunched up her face against further tears. "Oh, God."

He reached out and made to pull her back to him, but she stepped away instead. Scorpius frowned at this, and dropped his hand. "What did she say to you?" he asked roughly.

Rose shook her head helplessly, and a moment later she covered her face with her hands again. She didn't want to look at him, to see the combination of worry, anger and bitterness on his face. She could still feel him though, his eyes burning into her skin.

"Don't listen to her," he said at last, his voice low and deep.

"How can I not?" she spoke into her hands, her voice muffled. "She – she said…that – "

"No," he cut across her. "Whatever she said, it doesn't matter. It's not worth thinking about."

"She was so angry," whispered Rose. "I – I can't believe some of the things she said." Except that wasn't quite true; she could believe them. She just didn't want to.

After a moment or two Rose pulled her hands away from her face. But she still couldn't quite meet his eyes, not with Dom's words so fresh in her head, like a bad song on a magical loop. "I'm sorry," she said, staring at a spot on the wall behind him. "That was really childish of me, to cry like that. I – I think I must be sleep deprived or…something."

"It's fine."

Her hysteria was beginning to be replaced with embarrassment. She knew what she must look like, with her face flushed and her hair a frizzy mess. If Scorpius really was just using her, then he certainly wouldn't appreciate having to deal with her melodrama like this. The thought made her feel nauseous. "I know this probably wasn't what you had in mind, when you said we should meet up."

He didn't reply, so she was forced to look back up at him. Scorpius was staring at her with an inscrutable expression; Rose couldn't shake the feeling that she had somehow disappointed him. "And what exactly did you think I had in mind?" he asked softly.

She shrugged. "I dunno. I guess…" He's just using you. "Celebrating?" Her eyes flicked to the couch where he had been sitting, her mind recalling the many times they had sat there together, wrapped in one other, oblivious to the world…

Scorpius growled. "I told you not to listen to what she said."

The anger in his voice surprised her, and her eyes snapped back to his. "Wh-what?"

"It's dragon dung Rose, and you know it."

"You don't even know what she said!"

One corner of his mouth lifted derisively. "Maybe not. But I think I can make a pretty good guess."

Rose blinked, not sure what to say. Was she really that obvious?

"Besides," he continued, the anger gone from his voice now. "You don't need to be Dumbledore to figure it out. Just how many nasty things could Dominique Weasley think up about me to make you cry like that?"

She flushed. "She's not that bad…"

"Whatever," said Scorpius coldly. "I really couldn't give a knut about that screeching Veela. But I do care when whatever she says makes you look at the couch as though it's about to transfigure into a werewolf and bite you."

Rose felt her cheeks burn, but she knew she couldn't deny what he was saying. How he had read her so easily, she wasn't sure. "Am I that transparent?"

"You forget I've lived with you for six years," said Scorpius dryly. He stepped forward again and put his hands on her arms, his grip strong, and this time she didn't pull away. "And yes, you are that transparent."

"Right." She looked up at him and bit her lip, knowing she had to spit it out now they had started this conversation. "Your dad said it too," she forced out, feeling as though she had swallowed a goblet of sticking solution. "And Albus. They all seem to think that I'm just – just some phase that you're going to get over…that – that I'm…that it'll pass, once you get…bored of me."

"They're wrong."

"I guess."

He didn't say anything, just continued to hold her at arm's length, studying her. She gnawed her lip, uncomfortable under his scrutiny, her mind going in endless circles over the same questions.

"Scorpius…" she began hesitantly.

"What?"

"I…I have to ask you something." Merlin, she was burning up. It was absolutely impossible to meet his eyes.

There was a long silence before he finally spoke. "Go on."

"I – " she took a deep breath, staring at the snake on his tie as though her life depended on it. "I have to know…how many girls have you slept with?"

The words hung in the air between them, heavy and stifling. Rose waited, the green of the snake blurring and seeming to move in her vision. Scorpius' hands on her arms had gone stiff.

Finally, she forced herself to look up at him. "Well?"

He let out his breath in a long, low sigh. "Why are you asking me this?"

Her cheeks burned and she stepped backwards out of his grasp. "I think I have a right to know."

"It's not important."

"Yes it is!" Her heart was thudding painfully hard against her ribcage.

He shook his head. "It's not."

"It is if I say it is," she continued, her voice high-pitched. Rose winced at the sound of herself, but she couldn't seem to help the insecurity flowering inside her. What do you think he's after, your brains?

Scorpius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You're only asking this because of what she said."

"That's not the point."

"Isn't it?" he challenged. "You've never been interested in this before."

She glared at him. "Stop avoiding the question."

"I'm avoiding it because it's stupid."

"No it's not," she hissed, feeling a deep burn ignite within her in response to his evasiveness. "It's a perfectly valid question and I don't understand why you won't just answer it."

He stared off to the side, his jaw clenched. "Because you'll be upset."

The blood was pounding in her ears now, making it difficult to think. "I'm already upset. You can't upset me any further."

"Rose – "

"Just tell me, Scorpius!"

"Fine!" he snapped, his eyes flashing. "Four. I've slept with four girls."

Something painful seemed to be squeezing like an iron band around her stomach. Rose blinked, swallowed, and blinked again. Four. Her mind couldn't seem to grasp what this actually meant. It was a meaningless number. Four faceless bodies swam into her vision, like those mannequins she saw sometimes in Muggle London with her mother. Four.

Scorpius cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Are you happy now?" he asked, his tone lacking its usual acerbic undertone.

Her own throat had stopped working as well. Rose coughed and opened her mouth but found she wasn't sure quite what to say. There was nothing, just nothing. Not relief, not anger, not sadness. Four. Was that a lot? She didn't really know.

"Rose – "

A question floated into her mind and she seized upon it. "Who were they?"

She could feel the frustration and annoyance radiating from him. "You honestly want to know?"

"Yes."

"Fine," his voice was hard and distant. "Arabella, Brienne, Sally Harper….and Flora."

Something clicked in Rose's mind and there it was, the rush of anger she had been looking for. The shock of what he said hit her and she couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Her eyes lifted to his and finally, finally she could feel it.

"Flora?"

Scorpius stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and scowled. "You wanted honesty. You got it. Sorry to ruin your little Gryffindor fantasies." The bitterness in his voice was intense.

"You told me she was just your friend!"

"She is."

"Oh, is that what you call being friends in Slytherin?"

Scorpius took half a step forward before seeming to think better of it. "It was in the summer, and if I remember correctly you'd vowed never to speak to me again at that stage. I haven't slept with her since the start of the year."

This conversation was not going at all how she had wanted it to go. Rose wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry at the irony – she had run here, hoping that Scorpius would be able to reassure her that Dom's words were meaningless. And instead here she was, debating whether four was a reasonable number of girls to have slept with and whether having slept with your current best friend constituted some kind of relationship code breaker. He couldn't have been less reassuring if he'd tried.

She laughed softly to herself and then blinked as a fresh wave of tears stung at her eyes.

Scorpius cleared his throat again. "Look, I know it – "

"I don't want to talk about it," she interrupted him harshly. She couldn't remember why she had come here, how it had ever seemed like a good idea. "I'm just…going to…" She made a hasty movement toward the door before she felt him grab her wrist and spin her around.

"What, so now you're just going to leave? What happened to 'you can't upset me any further'?" He looked angry. Rose couldn't blame him. Deep down, very deep down, a small voice inside her was whispering quietly about how unreasonable she was being. But she couldn't listen to it. Not right then.

"I just need to think," she said, pulling her arm and feeling her wrist slide out of his grasp. "About things. Maybe – maybe you and Flora can make up while I'm at it." It was a low blow, and she knew it. Scorpius' face hardened and his eyes narrowed.

"Maybe," he said coolly.

She nodded once and turned toward the door. "I…" but she had no real idea what to say. So instead she simply fled.