A/N: So sorry that this has taken me so long to update! -ducks the rotten food- I had no inspiration whatsoever, and I know that's the same old excuse, but it's true! AP classes basically took over my life, and then summer came and I still had no inspiration. But look, I finally found some! So here it is, a year and a day later.

One of the Boys

Chapter Ten – Ending It

"I don't want to do this," Rose said, her voice quaking. Her palms were sweating, her stomach was queasy, and her heart was pounding. Right now it didn't matter what her parents said, she was away at school, and they couldn't control her at Hogwarts. But what if – the beating of her heart increased when this thought crossed her mind – she and Scorpius wanted to get married sometime in the future? What would she do then?

"It's okay," Scorpius's voice floated to her ears from somewhere on her left, still hidden in the invisibility cloak. "It's all going to work out, I promise."

"Take the cloak off," Rose said as they reached the top of the hill and could see her house below.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Scorpius asked hesitantly.

"Just take it off," she said, wondering how things would work out if she strolled into the house with Scorpius in tow. Surely they wouldn't be vicious to his face? Hermione wasn't like that, but Rose had no idea what Ron would be provoked to do. She could only hope that her mother would be able to control Ron's anger for him. As the house approached quickly, Rose felt like she'd rather be anywhere else.

"Hey," Scorpius said, grabbing her hand to stop her, a few feet from the kitchen door. Rose turned to face him, and he pulled her into a hug. "Even if your parents disapprove now, they'll understand someday." He kissed her head, and Rose couldn't help noticing that it felt like a goodbye.

"What do you mean?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his middle. She didn't want to let go and enter the house, but wished they could leave now and pretend everything was fine.

"You shouldn't go against what your parents want for you," Scorpius said. "They're the two people who will always love you, no matter what you do."

"Then they'll love me even if I keep dating you," Rose answered.

"It's such a silly thing for you to fight with them about," Scorpius told her. "If they really don't want us dating, maybe you should listen to them."

"Do you want to break up?" Rose demanded, yanking herself free and taking a step back. She pushed her hair out of her face angrily and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Of course not," Scorpius said, looking surprised. "I just think... You have a good relationship with your parents, not anything like I have with mine. I want you to keep it that way, don't take them for granted."

"I'm not taking them for granted," Rose exclaimed.

"You're about to throw away a loving relationship with your father for a boy, and you're not taking that for granted?" Scorpius asked.

Rose sighed. Scorpius did have a point. "Alright," Rose said. "I will try not to take it for granted while I'm talking to my father. But I don't care what he says; I'm not going to stop dating you just because he has some grudge against your dad."

Scorpius looked uncomfortable at her statement, but just nodded his head. "Ready to go in?" he asked, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Rose sighed, leading the way up the stairs to the kitchen door. Before she let her nerves get the best of her, she opened the door and entered the kitchen, closely followed by Scorpius. Hermione was standing at the sink, filling a pot with water. She turned around at the sound of the door opening and closing, and her brown eyes grew wide as she saw her daughter and Scorpius.

"Rose," she said in a low voice, "why did you bring him along? You're just going to make things worse."

"Mum, you're not being fair!" Rose said. "Neither one of you seem to care about how I feel."

"Of course I care, my love," Hermione said, crossing the kitchen to pull Rose into her arms. She squeezed her daughter tightly, and brought a hand up to stroke Rose's hair. "It's not me that you have to talk to. It's your father."

"Can't you just talk to him for me?" Rose whined, forgetting for a moment that Scorpius was there too, listening to their conversation.

"I've tried, Rosie," Hermione whispered. "He's not listening to me, or your uncle."

"What about Aunt Ginny?" Rose asked, though she knew her aunt had less influence over her brother than Hermione or Harry did.

"Well," Hermione began uncomfortably, "she thinks that you should be allowed to make your own choices, but she isn't overly fond of the idea either. You remember what his grandfather did to her," she added, nodding at Scorpius.

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed, pulling away from her mother. "It's not like it's Scorpius' fault."

"Of course not," Hermione agreed. "I'm just telling you how your father and aunt feel."

"We're going to go talk to him," Rose said.

"That really isn't a good idea, Rose," Hermione said, crossing her arms. "You should know better than to push your father when he's already angry."

Rose opened her mouth to utter an angry retort, but Scorpius interrupted her. "Rose," he said, "Let's go talk, before you say anything to your dad."

"That sounds like a good idea," Hermione said, giving her daughter a little push towards the door. Rose glared at her, but followed Scorpius back out into the garden.

"What?" Rose demanded as soon as the door had swung shut.

Scorpius sighed. "I can't do this."

"Talk to my dad? You don't have to; I can do it on my own. I just thought you'd be a little more supportive," Rose said, glaring again.

"That's not what I mean, Rosie," Scorpius said. "I mean I can't let you do this. You're tearing your family apart for nothing."

"Nothing?" Rose asked. "I'm doing this for you."

"But I don't want you to!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Your family is the most important thing in the world. These are the people who will love you all your life, no matter what you do." He was repeating his earlier words.

"Which means they'll love me even if I stay with you!" Rose cried, repeating herself as well.

Scorpius shook his head. "I'm not going to let you do this."

"So, what?" Rose asked. "You're breaking up with me after all?"

Scorpius closed his eyes for a brief moment before saying, "I guess I am."

The words hit Rose like a bag of bricks. Suddenly she couldn't breathe, her brain stopped working, and her whole body felt numb. It took her a few tries to get the words out. "But you just said-"

"I know what I said," Scorpius interrupted, sighing again. "And I meant it. I don't want to break up with you, Rose, but you're being stupid."

"So now I'm stupid?" Rose demanded, her eyes burning with tears that would spill over at any second.

"What you're doing is stupid," Scorpius corrected.

"I'm doing it for you!" Rose repeated, her voice cracking as the tears overflowed and slid quickly down her cheeks before the dripped off her chin and onto her shirt.

"I don't want you to," Scorpius said again. "I still love you."

"No," Rose gasped. "Don't say it. You don't mean it."

"Of course I mean it," Scorpius said.

"If you meant it, you wouldn't be doing this!" she yelled, hugging herself. She could hardly see through her tears, but she just wanted to get away from there. "Just go away, Scorpius."

"Rose-"

"Go away!" she screamed. Rose turned on her heel and ran, through the garden and around the side of the house, throwing herself onto the lawn of their backyard. She was both glad and disappointed that Scorpius didn't follow her. She stopped crying almost immediately, disgusted with herself. She had never acted like this before.

As Rose dried her eyes and sat up in the grass, an almost overwhelming feeling of anger filled her. She was angry at herself, her mother, and Scorpius, but mostly she was angry at her father. This was completely and utterly Ron Weasley's fault. He was the one who had made such a big deal out of the whole thing, and he was the one who had led Scorpius to his decision. Rose got quickly to her feet, and ran to the back door. She stormed inside the house and pounded up the stairs to her father's study, where she knew he would be.

Without even bothering to knock, she burst in, startling him. "I hope you're happy!" she shouted. "Scorpius just dumped me. Is that what you wanted? To see me miserable, to have me lose my boyfriend and my best friend all in one go, just because you and his dad didn't get along in school? Well congratulation, Dad, you got your wish! He left."

To his credit, Ron didn't look happy. He didn't even look angry. It was normal for him and Rose to have near screaming matches when they were angry at one another, but he didn't so much as raise his voice. "That's not what I wanted, Rosie," he said.

"Save it," Rose snapped. "That's exactly what you wanted. You hardly wanted me to be friends with him, let alone date him! You were going to tell me to break up with him or else you'd do something to punish me for it. Guess what, Dad? You don't have to punish me now. Scorpius has already done it for you."

"Rose-"

The anger was still boiling in her blood, and Rose didn't want to listen to anything her father had to say. Instead, she blurted out, "I hate you!"

A shocked expression took over Ron's face, and he stared at Rose for several moments, as if he had no idea what to say. His blue eyes were filled with hurt, and Rose thought she saw unshed tears.

It was as if the anger inside her had been contained inside a balloon, which had suddenly deflated. Rose realized what a horrible, irrevocable thing she had done, and wished desperately that she could take it back. "Dad," she said, her voice shaking. Tears filled her eyes again and spilled over in a salty waterfall. "Dad, I didn't mean it. I was just angry, and I… I don't know why I said it. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

"I know, Rosie," Ron said, holding his arms out. Rose threw herself into them, hugging him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. She repeated "I'm sorry," over and over, while Ron stroked her hair and told her that it was okay.

"It's not okay," Rose said finally, standing up and wiping her eyes for a second time. "It was a horrible thing to say. Stop acting like everything is fine."

"I know you were just angry, Rose," Ron said. "You get your temper from me, you know."

"I bet you never told Nana or Grandpa that you hated them," Rose muttered.

"No, I didn't," Ron admitted. "But I thought it sometimes."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprised.

Ron nodded. "But I didn't mean it, either. They were just trying to do what was best for me."

"Like you're trying to do for me," Rose said softly.

Ron shook his head. "Not this time. This time, I'm being selfish and dragging you into something that happened over twenty years ago."

Rose sighed. "I wish you could have said that earlier. It's too late now."

Ron shook his head. "I'm sorry, too, Rosie. I hope you can forgive me."

Rose felt so guilty for her outburst, she would have agreed to anything. "Of course. I love you, Daddy."

Ron smiled. "You haven't called me that in years." He got to his feet and gathered Rose in another hug. "I love you, too, Rose."

. . .

Rose stayed with her parents for the remainder of the weekend, and went back to school by Floo Powder on Sunday evening. Professor McGonagall gave her a short nod when she slid into the Headmistress' office a few minutes after saying goodbye to her parents. "Welcome back, Miss Weasley."

"Professor," Rose said, nodding as well before she left the office. Just outside the statue of the eagle that guarded the Headmistress' office, Rose leaned against the cool stone wall and sighed. She was lucky that she wasn't in Slytherin, but she could hardly begin to imagine how she was going to survive the next school day. How was she going to stand seeing Scorpius after her dramatic meltdown?

Rose sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

A/N: Oh my gosh. It's actually finished. Er, the chapter, that is.

So I hope you all enjoyed it, and will forgive me for how long it took to update. I also hope none of you found Rose to be too overdramatic. I thought perhaps I was overdoing it, but when I asked a few different friends, they all said they'd react in a similar manner (to their fathers, that is).

So! Leave me a review? I'm not entirely sure what to do with the rest of the story, so if anyone has any ideas for the story, I would love to hear them! You can either leave it in a review or a PM, and I am more than willing to give credit.

Thanks so much for reading!