~ NINE ~

"Hey," I said, shaking Adeola's shoulder gently as I rose from my seat near Freema's bed. Addie's eyes opened blearily as she squinted up at me, "I'm going for a walk, watch Freema for me?"

She nodded quickly, "Don't get caught, okay Rose?"

"I won't, I'm a prefect, remember?" I grinned at her, pulling on my cloak over my pyjamas and glancing at the clock that told me it was almost midnight.

"Rose?" Addie whispered. I turned around to look at her. She looked completely worn out and like she had lost tonnes of weight in the last month or so. She was ghostly pale and I wasn't sure whether it was because she'd spent all of her time worrying about Freema or because she was always inside frantically trying to catch up on work.

"Yeah," I said, smiling slightly.

"Thank you," she said, "I couldn't have done it by myself."

"I would've helped whether or not you'd asked me to," I said, looking at her sadly, "I just wish that she'd talk to us about it rather than trying to off herself again and again."

Addie's eyes filled with tears, "Don't," she said and I could hear her throat constricting, "Don't talk about it like that, Rose. I don't even want to think about what it'd be like with her gone. I need her."

"Hey," I said, moving back over to the bed and putting my arm around Addie's shoulders, "She's going to be fine, we're all going to be fine in the end."

Addie sniffed, "I wish I could believe you, Rosie."

"Try to," I said comfortingly, knowing that trying to convince her of the fact that we would all be fine eventually was useless right now. Addie nodded slightly.

"Go on," she said, wiping her eyes, "I'll watch her until you get back. If worst comes to worst I'll wake up Nic or Ella."

"Okay," I said, moving back towards the door, "Don't stay up for too long, we've got school tomorrow."

Addie nodded again and pointed towards the door, pressing me to leave. I smiled at her and waved half-heartedly before shutting the door behind me and I could've sworn as I heard it click that I heard Addie sob.

I made it out of the castle without a hitch and walked slowly across the grass towards the lake where I'd seen Malfoy sitting the last few times I'd come down here in the early hours. The light wind whipped around my hair and made me shiver as I sat down on the same large rock that Malfoy always sat on. The moonlight illuminated the lake and made the ripples on the water shimmer and glint. The cool air felt fresh on my face and just for a second I forgot about everything that was going on inside the castle. I forgot about work and Freema and Jack, I forgot about Bailey, I forgot about the fact that I had classes tomorrow, I forgot that I was breaking curfew by being out here.

"I thought I'd find you out here at some point."

I turned around sharply to see Malfoy walking towards me from the castle, "Do you live out here or what, Malfoy?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"I wish I did sometimes," Malfoy said with a grin, sitting down next to me, "Much nicer out here than in there, albeit colder."

"Got that right," I said with a laugh. He didn't say anything, merely looked out over the lake and I knew that it was helping him forget too. "You were right, you know," I said, "Sitting out here, it's peaceful. It helps you to relax."

"Still think I'm insane?" he asked.

"Only slightly," I grinned, noticing for the first time the way that the skin crinkled around his eyes when he smiled back at me. "It just helps me to think, you know? To clear my head."

"Is your friend okay?" He asked softly, almost as if he didn't know whether he was allowed to ask or not.

"Yeah," I said, "She's fine."

"Are you okay?" he asked me, his eyes wide with concern. I nodded with a half-smile but at the same time felt my throat constricting and tears springing to my eyes. Maybe I wasn't as fine as I thought I was.

"Yeah," I said, hoping that I didn't sound too choked, "It's shocking, but I'll be fine, and so will she – Malfoy what are you doing?" I asked as I felt his arm around my shoulders, he gave me a deadpan look.

"I'm comforting you, Weasley, that's what people normally do when someone's upset."

"I'm not upset, Malfoy, just shocked," I said, making no effort to push his arm off of me, to be honest it kind of felt nice just to have some form of human contact that wasn't clinging on for dear life.

"Oh yeah?" Malfoy said, raising an eyebrow, "explain your voice then."

Damn. My voice had given me away. I bit my lip and refused to look him in the eye because I knew that there would be nothing but sympathy there and I didn't need sympathy.

"Okay, I'm not alright, Malfoy, you've got me," I said softly, "Just seeing Freema standing on that railing isn't something I ever want to see again. She would've done it, Malfoy. She would've jumped if we hadn't been there to coax her down, she would've jumped if the teachers weren't there at the bottom. I could be standing in a morgue right now being asked to identify her body, Malfoy." Angry tears had escaped my eyes and rolled slowly down my cheeks. I felt Malfoy's arm around me pulling me closer to him and to my surprise, I was grateful.

"It's not easy, is it?" Scorpius said quietly. I shook my head.

"I just can't stop thinking about what the outcome would've been if we hadn't been with her. She's just someone that I don't want to lose, we've been friends since the beginning and she's been through so much that she doesn't deserve to have gone through."

"It's okay, Weasley, she's fine now, it wasn't your fault."

"I know that, dipshit," I said, "I just can't help thinking that I could've done more to help her."

"I know," Malfoy said, "You weren't to know."

"Why are you so understanding about this?" I asked as I wiped the tears away.

"I know what its like," Malfoy shrugged, "Except Elena wasn't so lucky."

"I'm sorry," I said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder as he looked out over the lake bitterly, the ghost of long lost pain glistening in his eyes.

"If I'd been awake I could've talked her out of it," He said angrily, "She popped into the fire that night at about eleven. I'd gone to bed early because I'd just pulled an all-nighter with Bradley and Paul and she sat in the fire crying and calling out for me, asking me to wake up… and I didn't." He reached down to pick up a small pebble, "And then she was gone." He threw the stone into the water with such force that it splashed back up onto my jeans. I touched his shoulder gently, hoping that it would calm him down a bit. I'd seen jealous Scorpius, I'd seen amused Scorpius and I'd seen annoying Scorpius, but I'd never seen Mad Scorpius and it wasn't something I wanted to see again.

He looked at me with furious tears in his eyes, "She was my best friend, and she killed herself because I wasn't awake." And just like that tears were spilling from his eyes as he hid his face in his hands. His body racked with sobs and before I knew what was happening, my cheeks felt wet and I was leaning across and wrapping my arms around him in comfort. It felt strange but in that moment, it was exactly what the both of us needed.

"Rose," I woke to Ella shaking my shoulder, "Come on, everyone's already down at Breakfast."

I rubbed my eyes as I turned over in bed and pulled the covers over my head, "Not hungry," I mumbled, "Tired, Ella. Leave me alone."

"You need to eat, Rosie, come on!" Ella said, tugging at my covers. I swatted at her half-heartedly.

"Go snog Corey and let me sleep Els," I mumbled and I felt Ella's hand connect rather painfully with my shoulder, "Jesus Christ, Ella, Okay! I'm getting up, refrain from the abuse please."

Ella rolled her eyes as I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking around the room. Just as Ella had said, everyone was at breakfast.

"Where's Freema?" I asked, wondering if she'd been able to go down to breakfast after last night… basically the whole school had stood there and watched her as she'd tried to jump.

"Hospital wing," Ella said as she stood in front of the mirror and plaited her hair, "She woke up at about five and started to freak out, Addie and Nic took her."

"Is she alright?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little more awake.

"Yeah, Nic told me that Madam Pomfrey gave her a sleeping potion and she went straight back to sleep."

I let out a breath of relief as I noticed that Ella hadn't changed her uniform.

"Where were you last night, Ella?"

Ella looked sheepish, "Corey's dorm."

"Gross, Ella," I said, dragging myself out of bed and walking over to my dresser to get changed.

"We didn't do anything," Ella said insistently, "We just cuddled."

I snorted, "Ella, you spent the night in your Boyfriend's dormitory… I'm pretty sure you two did a lot more than 'just cuddle'."

"Okay, you've got me; he fucked me completely senseless while his four other roommates watched on and masturbated," Ella said sarcastically, "Is that what you want to hear?"

"No," I said, shaking my head fervently, "That's disgusting."

"Can't bloody please you, can I?" Ella said with a grin.

"How about you come back here once in a while, we miss you, El. You're always with Corey nowadays and we never really get to see you."

"But Rose, that would involve being around you." Ella teased. I stuck my tongue out at her, just like we used to do when we were eleven.

"Watch it, you," I said sternly as I let my hair out of its braid and let it hang down past my shoulders, I didn't have the energy to put it up at the moment.

"I'm going down, see you down there?"

I nodded as I gathered my books from my bedside table for the day, hoping that the teachers would give me an extension on the homework that we had due today, it was really the only hope I had of completing it at the moment.

As I placed them in my bag my hand ran along something sharp and I withdrew it quickly to see blood trickling down my thumb.

"Shit," I said, grabbing a tissue and wiping the blood away before sticking it into my mouth and sucking it. Grabbing the bag one handed, I shook it upside down, letting my books, and ink bottle and quills tumble out onto the bed along with a razor. I looked at the razor with a puzzled expression for a second, wondering how it could've gotten into my bag. I glanced down at the black bag in my hand only to realise that it wasn't my bag at all, it was Freema's.

I pulled my wand out of my pocket and pointed it at the razor with shaking hands.

"Reducto," I whispered, ignoring the tears stinging in my eyes as I put Freema's bag back down next to her bed and picked mine up, still trembling as I thought about what Freema did with that razor in her bag during the day and for the first time, I was glad that Freema was in the hospital wing.

"Wow, you look like shit," Malfoy said as I walked grumpily down the marble staircase into the entrance hall about ten minutes later.

"Nice to see you too, Malfoy," I said, throwing him a glare.

"Weasley, you're not going to make any friends if you keep up this hostile attitude," Malfoy said, walking alongside me like he hadn't been up half the night.

"I'm just tired, Malfoy. Tired and hungry," I said, pushing past him to get to the Great Hall, hoping that breakfast wasn't over yet.

"You're such an amateur," he teased, "I'll have you staying up all night and not being affected by it at all by Christmas… that's a promise!"

"Malfoy, just go play with Paul and Bradley or something…" I said, walking down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. Malfoy's enthusiasm seemed to die down a bit, but nonetheless, he still continued to pursue me like a lost puppy.

"Hey, Weasley," he said finally as we reached the Gryffindor table where Nic, Jack and Albus sat.

"Yeah?" I asked tiredly.

"I was wondering… there's a Hogsmeade visit next month. Did you want to accompany me… just as friends, of course?"

"Sorry, Malfoy, I'm already going with Bailey Creevey," I said apologetically, biting my lip.

"Oh," Malfoy said, slightly disappointed, "I guess I'll see you in transfiguration, then?"

"Yeah, for sure," I smiled. He gave a short wave and turned back to the Slytherin table. I turned to face Nic, Jack and Al, all who had looks of complete and utter shock on their faces… this was going to be a fun one to explain.

AN: I tried to make this one as humorous as I could given the subject matter but I've found Rose just wanting to be more and more sassy when it comes to her being around Scorpius… Do you guys like Sassy!Rose? I might keep her around a bit longer, she's easier to write. Also, do you think I'm introducing too many things too fast? I don't want this to become like Glee haha :P

Any feedback you have on places where I can improve/people or things you'd like to see more of, feel free to let me know in a review! I'd really appreciate it.

DFTBA,
Best Wishes

Nayla xx