11. She Cries

Author's Note: I tried to explain in the first part of this chapter a little more about how Rose is feeling about the whole situation, in case anyone thought she was sounding a little crazy. xD

& Oh jeez, fail. I accidentally named Harry was Rose's father in chapter three; that has been changed to uncle.

The rest of Christmas day passed miserably. Rose was in an emotionless daze the entire time, impossible to talk to and frustrating to interact with. Her family were worried and quietly curious and Noel seemed a little concerned, but James... James could be mistaken as smug. He seemed completely uncaring about Rose's situation and wholly unsuspicious. It was almost as if he had some idea of what had been going on.

Rose went to bed early, that night, retiring to her dormitory at just eight o'clock. She'd snatched her presents up into rigid arms and carried them with her, dumping them sloppily into the trunk at the end of her bed. Her cousins and brother watched every sulky move until she was out of sight.

Rose lay on her bed for almost two and a half hours, unable to sleep but desperate for some release from reality. It had been her decision to break her friendship with Scorpius, she knew, so she had to live with it. She just couldn't understand why it was plaguing her so. She'd liked Scorpius, sure; he was funny and intelligent and attractive. There had never been anything between them that was actively more than just friends, but Rose found herself having to acknowledge the fact that there could have been. If he'd made a move, she wouldn't have said no.

Perhaps that's what worried her so; being the first Weasley to break the ranks and love someone just a little bit different. Noel was safe. Noel was every 'normal' girl's living dream. He was good-looking, pleasant, somewhat smart... but Rose couldn't help but get the feeling, now that she was able to see him from such an intimate point of view, that he was more than a little shallow. He was nice, but there was nothing interesting about him.

And if Scorpius Malfoy was anything, it was interesting.

It was eleven o'clock before any of the other sixth year Gryffindor girls dragged themselves up to bed, exhausted from their Christmas celebrations. Leah Wood, one of Rose's friendly acquaintances, was one of the last in. She twirled to her four-poster, singing Christmas carols and laughing about all the hilarious things Louis Weasley had been getting up to in the common room all evening. As she slipped into her pyjamas and got into bed, she turned to Rose's bed-curtains as a second thought and told her, "Oh, yeah, and Rose? Someone left something for you down in the common room."

Immediately – just glad for something to do besides lie there, really – Rose sat up, pulling the curtains back and poking her head out. "Who did? What is it?"

"I dunno what it is," Leah replied, sitting in her bed and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "Just a package, I guess. A Christmas present. It doesn't have a tag on it so I don't know who brought it- someone's just written 'Rose Weasley' across the wrappings with a quill. I don't even know how it got into the common room, to be honest. I just noticed it when I went to put my drink on the end table."

"Okay," Rose said thoughtfully, feeling something other than blank sorrow for the first time all day. "Thanks, Leah." She swung her pyjama-ed legs out of bed and went downstairs. The common room was in disarray; Christmas present paper, common room ornaments and general litter was slung all around the place, but it was otherwise empty. Rose could hear muffled voices from all around her, though. She supposed people had decided to take the party elsewhere. It took a couple of minutes of searching before she finally found the package left for her.

It sat, fat and squat, on an end table by the fireplace. Blue paper shielded its insides from the public eye, and her name was written across the top in a script that, though it looked messy scribbled across the bumpy present, was clearly neat and precise in real life. The object itself looked quite battered; the paper was creased and ripped in a couple of places, and the ribbon around the gift was distorted. It looked, actually, as if it had been wrapped with great care but then given to a hopelessly clumsy owl that sent it halfway around the world.

A little apprehensive, Rose sat down on one of the big red couches and simply held it in her hands for a couple of moments. It went again everything her parents had taught her to open something when she didn't know what was inside. She'd heard tales of cursed necklaces and innocent female victims. Still, curiosity got the best of her and she tore the paper off in one with a deep breath.

The Honeydukes logo screamed brightly at her from its place atop a pretty, pink box of chocolates. Beneath the chocolates was quite an ordinary History of Magic book, apart from the fact that it was clearly a collector's edition. There were various historical illustrations on the cover, as well as the title: 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord.' Flipping open the front cover and dreading what she knew was inside, Rose let her blue eyes wander over the scribbles and drawings that Scorpius Malfoy had added to the book. He'd doodled in the margins – and was quite an artist, she noticed through eyes blurred with regretful tears – and given her little pointers and tips in 'did you know?' type boxes. There was a note in the inside blank page, dated the eleventh of October- the Saturday after Rose and Scorpius had met in the kitchens during a storm.

"Red,

It's not much of a surprise, I know.

Since I told you about it, and all.

But still, maybe you'll have forgotten about our chat by the time it's Christmas.

Oops, maybe not.

Merry Christmas, Rosie Posy, and here's to hoping you won't be as abominable at History of Magic the next time we have an essay to write.

Malfoy."

He'd slipped the milk chocolate bar that he'd bought her that day in Hogsmeade between the pages of the book, as well.

Cursing herself for allowing him to get to her still and cursing him for sending her this gift even after all that had happened, Rose let her tears fall onto the page. They blurred her vision and smudged Scorpius' swirling handwriting, allowing her just a moment of serenity in her blindness. The reality of her circumstances suddenly closed in on her and she was left breathless, clutching the book tightly in both hands. The chocolate and the wrapping paper fell to the floor, and she let them go, experiencing nothing but the overwhelming grief at the friendship – and possible love – that she had most definitely lost.