Rose

Two weeks into my seventh and final year of Hogwarts and I was already missing nearly every breakfast the house-elves provided. This wasn’t at all intentional. Having a father who never completed his Magical education and a mother who would have flown through her final year without a worry in the world meant that I was completely unprepared for the trauma I would be facing this year.

I hadn’t been warned that I’d need to skip dinner to tackle essays and stay up half the night in attempt to complete them. I had made the unwelcome habit of sleeping in, which meant I was missing my usual four slices of toast and steaming mug of coffee. And was it just me, or was I the only one feeling this way?

Apparently, yes, I thought as I collected myself after a sprint through the castle to reach the Great Hall. Half my year was already preparing to exit the hall after their morning meal, though most did look slightly troubled and had circles under their eyes �“ this was comforting to me.

I took a seat at the nearly empty Gryffindor table and took a well deserved bite of marmalade on toast. I felt my stomach squirm in pleasure.

‘You look like hell,’ said a female voice. I looked up, not noticing the girl who sat across from me until now. Lily Potter, not one of the kindest cousin’s I could have hoped for, but we got along all right.

I rolled my eyes at her. ‘Take my advice; leave Hogwarts while you still have the chance. Seventh year is no walk in the park.’

She laughed at me, showing no signs of sympathy. I gathered a few slices of toast in my hands and set off for my Potions lesson.

Before I had even reached the exit, she was by my side again. ‘You eat like a horse,’ she said.

‘Oh, Lily,’ I said, sarcasm lacing my tone. She certainly wouldn’t be winning my cousin-of-the-year award. She wouldn’t even be nominated.

She trailed after me for a few paces, clearly not bothering to make it in time for her first lesson. ‘Seventh year can’t be that bad,’ she said.

I was about to explain to her that, yes it could, before a cloud of black and green robes flew past us, nearly knocking my precious pile of toast to the floor. I turned to see the culprit walking backwards in the direction he was already headed, staring at Lily with a smirk spread across his ruby lips.

‘Believe me, Potter,’ Scorpius Malfoy said, ‘you won’t be able to handle it.’

Lily feigned offence to his remark. ‘You’re hardly a genius yourself, Malfoy!’ she called out as he turned his back and stalked off in the opposite direction. She grinned at me mischievously before bouncing off after him in the direction of the Great Hall.

It was no more of a surprise to me than it was to anyone in my family that Lily Potter and Scorpius Malfoy had formed somewhat of a friendship. Sure, it wasn’t like Slytherin and Gryffindor were as set apart as they used to be, but the Malfoy’s and the Potter’s were hardly family friends.

But what grabbed my attention most out of that encounter was that Scorpius was clearly heading into the Great Hall to have breakfast. This meant he had slept in later than me, which obviously meant that he too had been up all night writing a Defence essay, which �“ to my satisfaction �“ meant I was not the only person already struggling through the first few weeks of seventh-year.

When Scorpius finally made an appearance in Potions that morning, he had no choice but to take the only empty seat left in the room. That seat, regrettably, was beside mine.

‘Hey,’ he breathed, as if we were the oldest of friends. I raised my eyebrows and refocused my attention to Professor Slughorn. I figured that the more time I spent paying attention in class, the less I had to waste during meal times. Scorpius Malfoy had different ideas.

‘Your cousin is really cool,’ he said. Was he really trying to make conversation with me?

‘I know,’ I whispered, not taking my eyes off Slughorn, ‘but she could probably make better choices in the friend department.’

He displayed the same amount of mock hurt Lily had shown earlier. ‘Ouch, I hope you didn’t mean me?’

I shrugged my shoulders. I really didn’t have time for this, the others were already preparing their Potions ingredients. This was when I noticed that everybody seemed to be working in pairs �“ so much for me paying attention.

‘So, you want to be my partner?’ he asked. As if I had a choice.

‘Sure, if you don’t mind working with the daughter of a blood-traitor and a Mudblood.’ I wasn’t really sure why I was being so rude to him, but I wasn’t in the mood to be polite to a Malfoy.

‘Nope, I don’t mind.’ He actually had the nerve to smile at me.

‘Wow,’ I sighed. ‘That’s really big of you, Scorpius.’

Would you believe he actually looked pleased with himself? It was as if he was helping out at a homeless shelter and the charity of it made him feel like a better person.

Well, I wasn’t about to let myself become a charity case. So I ended up doing most of the potion myself, while he gaped stupidly from the sidelines.

Slughorn did his usual rounds around the class, reaching us last. I looked up at him, it was quite clear that age had not treated this man kindly. I knew I was a favourite of his, though. When I had expressed this to my father, he had been insultingly surprised. I remember him saying something along the lines of: ‘But he still calls me Ross...’ My mother had said the fact that Slughorn had shown a liking to me was because of my exceptional skills in Potion making. Well, at least I was exceptional at something.

Slughorn awarded my potion well-earned full marks. ‘Perfect!’ he smiled.

Scorpius straightened up in his seat. ‘Well, Rose and I make a good team, sir.’

‘Kiss-arse,’ I muttered as Slughorn left us to clear up.

‘What?’ he asked sceptically, emptying my cauldron with a wave of his wand. ‘I was hardly going to tell him you wouldn’t let me help, you might have gotten in trouble.’

Right, so now he was being gallant. Any more of this and I’d be sick.

Once we’d successfully cleaned up our area, I realised we shared our next class �“ Defence Against the Dark Arts. I grudgingly slung my bag over my shoulder and left the classroom with Scorpius at my side.

I shook my head at him. ‘I don’t understand you, Malfoy.’

He smirked. ‘You don’t have to.’

This was true so I discontinued that path of conversation �“ this lead to silence. It was amazing how awkward it felt to walk with Scorpius, when really I shouldn’t let it affect me at all. But the fact that neither of us had said anything in awhile made me want to blurt something ridiculous out or simply run for it.

He broke the silence for me. ‘So, why do you even take Defence? It’s not like there’s much out there we’d need to defend ourselves against anymore.’


‘Yeah,’ I scoffed, ‘No thanks to your father.’


I glanced up at him, noticing his face fall. ‘You don’t know anything about that,’ he muttered.


‘I’m sorry,’ I forced out immediately. ‘I was out of line.’

He chuckled, as if he knew how hard it must have been for me to apologise. It seemed he enjoyed seeing me suffer.


‘You still haven’t answered my question,’ he finally said.


‘Oh. I’m taking it because...’ I paused; discussing my future with him was embarrassing. ‘Well, I sort-of want to be an Auror.’


I expected him to laugh at this, too. But Scorpius simply nodded. I found this intriguing; how he could switch from resentment, to amusement, and then to consideration in a matter of minutes.

I felt a strange need to keep this conversation with him moving, not wanting to face awkward silences.


‘Because, well, soon the world will need protecting against the new generation of Malfoy,’ I blurted out, poorly portraying my sarcasm.


He stopped walking. I was afraid to see his reaction.


He glared down at me threateningly. ‘You know,’ he hissed, ‘I was going to ask you...’ he paused for a moment to think. ‘Never mind.’


As he stormed off through the crowd of students fighting their way to get to class, I realised how slow we had been walking. But it wasn’t my lateness for class that made me race after Scorpius, it was my dying need to know what he had wanted to ask me.


I darted in and out of students. ‘Scorpius!’ I called out weakly, searching for his sandy blonde hair. A friend of mine, Andrea Cole, passed and gave me a quizzical look. I didn’t have time to explain to her why I was calling out after the closest thing I had to an enemy, I didn’t think I could even explain it to myself.

When I finally caught up to him, he was waiting outside our Defence classroom �“ I clearly wasn’t at late as I’d thought. I breathed a sigh of relief, opening my mouth to apologise. But before I knew it, Professor Branstone �“ the longest lasting DADA teacher in ages �“ had opened the door and Scorpius was already inside.

Knowing it would be impossible to have a proper conversation with Scorpius while Branstone was listening in, I had no other choice but to take the empty seat beside him and wait until the class filled with talkative students.

He didn’t look at me once as we waited for the rest of the class to enter, he simply stared blankly at the black-board at the front of the room. I almost found it amusing that my words had seemed to affect him this way when we had hardly spoken to each other at all before today. But instead of being amused, I was strangely distressed. You would think that upsetting a Malfoy would lead to happiness on my part, but it didn’t... at all.

‘Scorpius,’ I said, feeling that the room was sufficiently noisy. ‘I’m sorry for being so rude. Sometimes I can’t control my mouth... or my brain, and well...’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said, still not looking at me.

The tables had completely turned since Potions; I was now the irritating one. Although I didn’t feel he was quite as bothered by me as I had been by him, despite the fact that I had been obnoxious and hurtful toward him, and he had only tried to be kind.

I decided to wait out the entire duration of the Defence class before I spoke to him again, giving him plenty of time to forgive me. I received a few looks of bemusement from my friends during the lesson. Clearly they had no idea why I had chosen to sit with Scorpius while there were available seats beside them. I returned their looks with an apologetic one, praying that they wouldn’t read too much into the situation.

I was thankful for the school bell that finally rang; I hadn’t had any luck concentrating on the lesson anyway. I collected my things slowly, matching my movements with Scorpius’. I didn’t want to make my motive obvious, but he clearly had no intention of starting up a conversation with me himself.

‘So,’ I said, as we exited the classroom together. ‘Why do you take Defence?’

To my pleasant �“ slightly too pleasant �“ surprise, Scorpius smiled.

‘I want to be a Healer,’ he said. ‘It’s one of the required subjects.’

I had to admit: I was mildly surprised by this. Although, I did love the way he sounded so sure of himself; he knew what he wanted and he was going to get it. I wished I had the same confidence, my career decisions lasted about a month before I changed my mind.

‘Scorpius,’ I started timidly. ‘What were you... what did you want to ask me before?’

He stopped walking again, we had almost reached the Great Hall. He stared down at me, without any of the hurt or fury in his eyes from before. His eyes were locked with mine, and I found myself completely oblivious to everything else around me.

‘Well,’ he began slowly. ‘I was going to ask if you had any plans to visit Hogsmeade this weekend.’

‘Oh,’ I said, taken aback.

‘So, do you?’ he pressed.

I felt the pace of my heartbeat increase slightly. ‘No, I don’t have any plans,’ I said honestly.

Scorpius stared at me for a moment. ‘Okay,’ he eventually said. Then he turned around and walked away, and I suddenly found myself wishing for so much more.

*

I was late to enter the Great Hall for the second time that day, this time during lunch. To my disappointment, my friends seemed to have already departed, leaving me to eat alone.

I started to feel pretty lonely, considering the only people I had had a conversation with that day were my cousin and Scorpius Malfoy. But I refused to think about him, and I would not let my eyes travel over to the Slytherin table just to see if he was there.

But avoiding the thought of Scorpius was proving itself to be impossible as my other cousin decided to join me.

‘Rose,’ Albus said, his emerald eyes watching me sternly from across the table.

I vaguely wondered what I had done to deserve this expression but, deciding I didn’t really care, concentrated my attention on the delicious pile of food before me.

‘Why have you been spending so much time with Scorpius Malfoy?’

This forced me to look up. ‘I haven’t.’

‘You sat with him during Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts!’ he said incredulously.

‘How did you know that?’ I said automatically. This really wasn’t a good time for Albus to become an over-protective cousin. I didn’t even know cousins came in the form of ‘over-protective’.

‘I’m in both of those classes, I watched you from the back of the class.’

I almost laughed at his seriousness. I really didn’t see what the big deal was. It wasn’t like Scorpius and I would be spending any more time together.

‘Did you also notice that in Potions, I wasn’t talking to him? And in Defence, he wasn’t talking to me?’ Albus shrugged. ‘How can you say that we’ve been “spending so much time together” when we’ve barely spoken to each other at all?’ Albus looked slightly affronted. I had proven my point.

Until now, I had not let the fact that Scorpius did not ask me to Hogsmeade get to me. I knew I was being ridiculous, it really shouldn’t have upset me at all. I wondered if, had he asked me, would I even have said yes?

I noticed Albus looking over my shoulder. ‘If nothing’s going on between you two... why is he heading this way, staring right at you?’

I purposefully did not turn my head as my heartbeat quickened again. A million thoughts flew through my mind but the one that stood out the most was: is he going to actually ask me this time?

‘Rose,’ I heard Scorpius say calmly from behind me. I turned to face him. ‘Could I have a word?’

I nodded. He didn’t speak, but instead glared at Albus.

‘Oh, right,’ Albus said, eyeing Scorpius suspiciously before standing up and leaving.

Scorpius took the vacant seat beside me, his shoulder grazing mine. I found that I liked having his body so close to me, far more than I should.

‘Albus was starting to like me,’ he sighed, ‘until he noticed me sitting next to you.’
I couldn’t help but laugh, which calmed me slightly. ‘Just ignore him,’ I said.

He smiled. ‘I will.’

Having Scorpius’ face so close to mine allowed me to fully appreciate how good looking he was. I wasn’t one for swooning over boys, but the intensity in his light eyes left me breathless.

‘Rose,’ he said. His eyes finally left mine and he stared instead at his hands. He looked nervous, which only increased my own anxiety. ‘Would you come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?’

Wow, I thought. I immediately wanted to scream ‘Yes!’ but at the same time I had doubts. What if this was some sort of dare and I was being made a fool of?

He looked up at me, appearing to be hopeful. Looking at the odds, there was a good chance this was a hoax. But the look in Scorpius’ eyes made me believe his sincerity. Plus; I really wanted to say yes.

‘All right,’ I said, against all my better judgement. I hoped I had managed to conceal my insanity with a calm tone, but by the looks of things, he had seen through my charade.

‘Excellent,’ he said with a grin. He looked so pleased with himself that I had to pray my initial suspicions were wrong and that he was only happy because I had agreed to go with him.

‘So,’ he said. ‘I guess I’ll find you at the breakfast table on Saturday?

I nodded. ‘See you then.’ I knew I would see him every day during class before then, so this was rather immature. I stood up, preparing to exit when I felt his hand grab for mine.

It felt like an electric shock, only an enjoyable one. I was confused as to why he stood up next to me and began to walk towards the doors, pulling me along with him.

‘We’re late for Charms,’ he said. Oh, another class with Scorpius. On any other day, I would dread having to sit next to him three lessons in a row, but now, the idea excited me.

This feeling was soon crushed, though, as we entered the Charms classroom. Albus sat in the front row, looking from me, to the hand that held mine, to Scorpius. There wasn’t a chance in the world that Al wouldn’t tell his Uncle that I was seeing Scorpius. This could only mean one thing: I would soon be receiving a long letter from my father.

Lily

Scorpius had great hair. I noticed this as I entered the Three Broomsticks, where he sat alone at a table to the side of the pub. As I approached him steadily, ignoring the trail of friends that filed in after me, I watched how his fringe fell right above his eyes, leading him to swish it effortlessly to the side. I pictured myself curling a blond lock around my finger, leaning in to kiss him...

But I had to learn to wait, knowing it would be a while before I could do that - Scorpius was still oblivious to how I felt. I knew that if I played my cards right, I wouldn’t have to wait too long.

‘Lily.’ He smiled as I reached his table, and I ignored the calls of my friends.

‘Can’t believe you’re sitting here alone,’ I mocked.

‘Well, actually �“‘

He stopped in mid-sentence, a small smile etched on his lips. But it wasn’t directed at me, he was clearly distracted by something behind me.

I turned to witness what had left him speechless, not quite sure what to expect. And I had to admit, of all the people in the world, my cousin would have been the last on my list of expected individuals to leave Scorpius Malfoy without words.

But there she was, her cheeks splashed with a harsh shade of pink and two mugs of butterbeer in her hands. She looked �“ well - mortified to see me.

As it hit me, I felt my heart sink. Here I was, expecting the opportunity to confess my love for Scorpius in the middle of a crowded pub, when he was already there with another girl. And not just any girl, it was Rose.

My immediate reaction was, when the hell did this happen? I thought I’d been the only one in this family who was in contact with Scorpius Malfoy. What does she have to do with him? I wondered, realising that in a matter of seconds, it felt like Rose had spoiled everything.

I knew I was being totally irrational. Just because she was at his table with two drinks in her hands did not mean they were dating.

But really, it did.

‘Lily,’ she said, and I couldn’t help but notice the anxiety in her tone.

Well, if Rose didn’t want anyone to see her with Scorpius, she probably shouldn’t have chosen the most popular place in Hogsmeade to spend time with him. I glared at her.

She continued to stand there clutching the butterbeer.

‘Rose,’ I said, smiling. ‘Put the drinks on the table, and sit down. It’s what tables and chairs are for.’

Scorpius laughed, which left me feeling slightly elated. Rose did as I told her, continuing to blush. She clearly wanted me out of there, and I myself couldn’t develop a reason to impose on their date any longer.

‘My friends are waiting,’ I said pathetically, indicating to the large crowd of fifth-years taking their seats in the pub.

‘All right,’ Scorpius smiled. ‘See you.’

I grudgingly turned away and joined their rather crowded table. Nobody had bothered to order me a drink, but I did not want to risk passing Rose and Scorpius again to get one for myself. So I sat there silently, without even a drink to distract myself from my frustration with both myself and Rose.

Becoming preoccupied with the task of keeping my eyes averted from Rose and Scorpius’ table, I found it impossible to engage in any conversation with my own group. I knew that by looking over at them, I could see something I didn’t want to see. But at the same time... I really wanted to see.

I gave in, glancing over to their table. Rose’s back faced me, but I didn’t need to see her face to tell she was nervous. Noticing how much this pleased me, I began to feel slightly guilty. It wasn’t really Rose’s fault she was so terrible with the opposite sex. I wasn’t even sure how she’d managed to score herself a date with Scorpius in the first place.

I knew that I was being horribly bitchy, and I doubted she deserved my resentment. But I didn’t intend on behaving that way to her face.

I leaned further back in my chair to catch a better look at Scorpius, though trying not to be blatantly obvious about it. His expression startled me slightly, then hit me hard, awakening jealously I’d never felt before in my life. He stared at Rose, just stared, in such a way I’d never witnessed before on a person. The closest I could compare it to was the way my Dad sometimes looked at my Mum, like he could block everything else out in the world just to hear her say something that was probably completely boring.

Knowing full well that Rose didn’t have that many interesting things say, I realised that Scorpius must really like her. He never looked at me that way; he’d always glance around the room during a conversation with me, probably in search of someone better to talk to, maybe in search of Rose.

I watched how his eyes never left the vicinity of her face, even as he sipped his butterbeer. He, unlike Rose, seemed completely at ease. Of course he is, I thought. Scorpius was well aware of the fact that he could be with almost any girl at Hogwarts... he just didn’t know that I was one of them.

Deciding I couldn’t watch much more of this, I turned away, attempting to participate in the fifth-year conversations. Finding them exceptionally dull, I allowed myself a few glances at my cousin and her date throughout the afternoon. They were consistently uninteresting the entire time, talking quietly to each other and barely even touching. I was beginning to see this as a good sign, until Scorpius reached over the small table and placed a few fingers on Rose’s hand.

I watched him mutter something to her, and they both stood up, hands still touching. I craned my neck to watch them exit the crowded pub, and before I knew it, I had jumped up from my seat and excused myself from the group.

I was well aware of how neurotic this was, stalking the boy I liked while he was on a date. But I decided that if were to get caught, I could always use the ‘concerned cousin’ excuse.

I trudged through the busy Hogsmeade streets, hurrying to catch up with them. I caught sight of their heads over the stream of Hogwarts students, and rushed a few paces ahead. While plotting the easiest way to keep track of them, I also tried to convince myself that I was only going to return back to my own dormitory. It became quite plain to me that I had lost my mind.

The crowd of students thinned as each broke off into different directions of the castle. I had to keep my footsteps quiet and remain a fair way back or else they’d notice me. For a moment, I even wished that I had my father’s invisibility cloak... Yes, I concluded, my mind is definitely lost.

I shoved that thought to the farthest place in my head, and attempted to dial down the crazy. This proved itself to be impossible as I continued to follow the easily recognisable red hair of my cousin as we reached the grounds of Hogwarts. Their hands hadn’t left each other’s the entire way, and my jealousy only continued to build up. They were oblivious to my stalker activities, and while I should have been thankful for this, I realised that at this moment, they really only had eyes for each other.

I noticed that they seemed to be heading towards the lake. Scorpius’ face was turned towards Rose’s as they walked; he appeared to be listening to her with great interest again. Rose, on the other hand, had her head tilted to the ground. I could almost feel her awkwardness from my distance away.

As the two settled themselves down on the grass by the lake, bodies in a proximity that was far too close, I realised that I probably needed to stop this. This, crazy-Lily, wasn’t who I really was. Despite how I often behaved, I loved my family - Rose included. Putting my feelings for Scorpius aside, I knew that I needed to walk away.

I was about to turn, but after taking a final glance at Scorpius and Rose, I paused. I watched, motionless; distraught, as Scorpius lifted a pale hand slowly and held it to Rose’s neck. I suppose time seemed to have stopped for me, and everything else surrounding. The only movement I saw was Rose leaning in, and Scorpius doing the same.

I closed my eyes as my head started to spin; this, I could not watch. I turned, only opening my eyes when I faced the other way entirely, and sprinted through the castle grounds and up the stairs to the Entrance Hall.

The image of the two of them refused to erase itself from my mind, and all the while, I couldn’t help but think: it should have been me.

*

The Gryffindor common room was strangely quiet that evening. I found myself thankful yet irritated because of this; thankful because I didn’t exactly feel like speaking to anyone, but irritated because the quiet meant that there was nothing to distract me from my thoughts.

I stared blankly at the near empty room from where I sat by the fire, furious with, well, mostly myself. As much as I wanted to blame Scorpius for making me feel this way, I knew that I couldn’t. Despite my constant flirting, it was quite clear that he was oblivious to my feelings towards him, so how could I be mad when he dated other girls? But that was just it; I did constantly flirt, so how could he not realise? Wondering this led me to assume that I was completely rubbish at flirting, at conveying my feelings.

Or maybe I wasn’t. There was a chance Scorpius had read my signals and decided to brush them off anyway. Realising this made me cringe in embarrassment. I shut my eyes tightly, hoping in vain that this would close off my thoughts, too. But the thoughts continued to rush in and out of my mind, and I found myself over-analysing every situation that I had been in with Scorpius.

Eventually, this was interrupted by the familiar sound of the portrait hole opening. I snapped open my eyes, and had to stifle a groan upon witnessing who had entered the quiet common room.

Rose clambered in clumsily, half-heartedly adjusting her robes. As she lifted her head I noticed that her freckled cheeks were stained in a light pink, causing me to picture her practically skipping her way back to the common room after her date with Scorpius. A pang of hot jealously ran through me.

I watched her scan the room, her eyes eventually finding my spot in the corner. At first, I was unsure if she would approach me, but she soon headed my way.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, inhaling deeply. It was going to take all of my strength just to live through a conversation with my cousin, but I was not going to let my emotions show though.

She smiled as she reached me and took a seat in front of the fire. I didn’t speak as she leant forward and warmed her hands against the flame; I couldn’t quite form the right words.

Rose looked a lot like her mum. Give her brown hair and a degree in Magical Law, and they could almost be the same person. I also supposed that she also looked a bit like me. The curls of her hair that fell over her shoulders were almost the exact same shade of red as mine. Strangely enough, we both had brown eyes, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably guess that our freckles matched, too.

Rose wasn’t perfect, but she was pretty �“ pretty enough for Scorpius Malfoy. I guess I had assumed that he wouldn’t settle for just pretty, I was certain that Scorpius wanted perfection. Perhaps this was why I had still not told him how I felt about him. I knew I didn’t handle rejection well, not at all.

Now, however, it would be impossible to find out if I would be rejected or not �“ all thanks to Rose.

I stared at my cousin silently, waiting for her to speak. It was a mystery to me as to why she had joined me. If she wanted to be silent, she could have done that up in her dormitory.

I found myself irritated at her unreadable expression, and decided I may as well initiate some conversation. ‘How was your day with Scorpius, then?’ I forced out, trying extremely hard to conceal my bitterness.

Rose finally turned her head to face me, the firelight reflecting off her eyes. ‘It was... good,’ she said, smiling slightly. I still couldn’t quite interpret her expression; Rose easily hid her true feelings, save when she was angry.

I breathed in heavily, it was clear that she wasn’t going to share any further information with me. Not that I really wanted to know. ‘That’s great, Rose. I’m glad,’ I said, not really knowing why. I did want Rose to know how much it crushed me that she, of all people, got to kiss Scorpius Malfoy when I didn’t. But I couldn’t tell her.

I may have behaved horribly today and over-stepped the line completely, but I loved my cousin. And it killed me that the one thing that made her happy was something I wanted all for myself.

I watched as Rose brought up her legs and sat cross legged on the couch, making herself comfortable. At this moment, her face became something that I could easily read. Her expression was almost blank, but I could see it in her eyes. They glistened, perhaps from the flame that was mirrored in her pupils, in such a way that made me realise her happiness, her satisfaction. This was when the anger started to build up again.

Why was it that she had to have Scorpius? What made her more worthy than me? Scorpius and I had been friends long before she’d even said a word to him! And did it even occur to her that I might have feelings for him, too? Apparently not. Either that or she didn’t give a damn. Rose should have come to me first, she knew that Scorpius and I were close. She had no right to just barge in and take what was mine.

My sudden change in mood caused me to jump up abruptly, startling Rose. ‘I’m tired,’ I announced. ‘Goodnight.’ I crossed the room in a few swift paces, not daring to glance back at Rose.

*

I awoke on Sunday morning suspended in momentary bliss, yesterday’s events forgotten for just a few sweet seconds. And then it all came back to me.

I sighed, pulling the blankets from my body and then yanking open the curtains of my four-poster bed. My eyes were immediately struck by the sunlight that filled the room �“ I’d clearly slept in a lot later than I normally would have. I glanced around and noticed that the three other beds in my dormitory were unoccupied. ‘Don’t worry about waking me up, guys,’ I grumbled sleepily to myself.

I trudged over to the dresser and pulled out some clothes. After putting them on, I took a quick glance at the mirror. I wasn’t too pleased with my reflection. I quickly grabbed a brush from my bedside table and ran it through my knotted hair. It would have to be good enough, I supposed as I grabbed my wand and headed down to the Great Hall.

It seemed to have become a habit of mine to enter an empty Great Hall, but there were no classes to be in today, so I could take all the time I needed. I didn’t much feel like eating, but I supposed I should.

Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table, I happily noticed that Rose wasn’t around this morning. As I was pouring milk into my cereal, out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure sit down beside me. At first I’d expected it to be a fellow fifth-year, perhaps someone wondering where I had gotten to yesterday. My mouth half-filled with cereal, I turned to see the bright face of Scorpius Malfoy. I nearly spat out the contents of my mouth.

I choked down the cereal, coughing as I inhaled. ‘Scorpius,’ I spluttered. Smooth, Lily, I thought to myself.

‘Lily,’ Scorpius said, poorly concealing his amusement. ‘How are things?’

I was at first slightly confused as to why Scorpius was sitting with me, after he had so cruelly broken my heart yesterday. But then it occurred to me that he had absolutely no idea that he had. As far as he was aware, we were still the best of friends.

‘Things are fine,’ I lied.

He grinned at me, and I felt my heart flutter. ‘Great,’ he said. ‘What are you up to today?’

I felt my brow furrow. ‘Nothing,’ I said warily. ‘Why?’

He shrugged casually. ‘I just thought we could hang out or something. My mates are all busy.’

I narrowed my eyebrows further, wondering why he wasn’t asking Rose instead of me. ‘Isn’t there anyone else?’ I asked.

Scorpius’ expression became slightly offended. ‘Yes, I suppose there is. But I was under the impression that you and I were friends. Clearly I was mis-’

‘No!’ I interrupted quickly �“ too quickly. ‘I mean, it’s fine. We can hang out. What did you want to do?’

His face relaxed, but I was still confused. Obviously there wasn’t anything more I’d rather do than spend the day with him, but I’d assumed he’d rather spend it with Rose.

‘Nothing in particular,’ he said, standing up from his seat. ‘How ‘bout a walk?’

I smiled and stood, my confusion being replaced by something much more pleasant. Who cared if Scorpius should be spending the day with Rose? I wasn’t about to complain that he’d decided to spend it with me.

We strolled slowly out the front entrance in silence, only speaking once we’d stepped outdoors. ‘So, did you have fun in Hogsmeade yesterday?’ he asked.

This was just the conversation I’d hoped to avoid. I hated to lie, but I couldn’t possibly imagine telling Scorpius how my day really was, that I’d stalked him while he was on a date with my cousin. ‘It wasn’t too bad,’ I said lightly.

We walked a fair distance before either of us spoke again, taking a seat on some large rocks by the lake. I didn’t want to ask how his day was, I’d already discovered enough details by myself. But it appeared Scorpius wanted to tell me anyway. ‘I had a good day, too,’ he said.
I didn’t answer.

‘Rose is...’ he began, and my stomach dropped as he mentioned her name. ‘Well, she’s something.’

I glanced up at him, not knowing what to make of this. ‘Good something or bad something?’ I questioned, sincerely wondering.

He stared back at me and grinned. ‘Great something.’

I immediately looked away. Why was he telling me this? It was the last thing I wanted to hear.

‘Lily?’ he asked, obviously noticing the hurt I had failed to hide.

Instead of looking up, I muttered, ‘Sorry, I forgot �“ I have loads of homework to do,’ and stood up from the rock.

Scorpius laughed slightly. ‘Since when do you do homework on a Sunday?’

I couldn’t help but look back at him. ‘Since I realised that there was more to life that just having fun.’ My tone was far colder that I’d intended it to be, but I still turned to walk away.

‘Lily,’ Scorpius repeated quickly, and I felt the soft touch of his hand on my arm, pulling me back.

I looked up at him, noticing that he was now standing too. ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

His gaze was intense, I felt breathless as his hard eyes looked into mine. ‘Nothing,’ I whispered harshly.

Scorpius scoffed. ‘Yeah, right. I know you, Lily. Something’s wrong.’ Now each of his hands were holding my arms, I couldn’t breathe. ‘Is it something to do with Rose?’

Her again, I thought bitterly, looking down at the ground between us.

‘Do you think she’s too good for me or something?’ he asked jokingly.

I glanced up at him again, his lips smiled playfully. ‘No,’ I said seriously, ‘quite the opposite, actually.’

As realisation finally hit Scorpius, his grip on my arms loosened slightly, but his hands remained in this same warm position. His expression was knowing, but not once did he look away.

I took this as a good sign, and all thoughts of Rose Weasley fled my mind. Our bodies were so close that I had lost all control of my mind and physical self. I wasn’t sure how long it took for my face to inch closer to his, or even if he had realised what I was doing. The last I saw before I had pressed my lips against Scorpius’ was a look of deep confusion spread across his face.

And then he had pulled away.

His eyes were suddenly wide, shocked. But he wasn’t looking at me anymore.

I turned my head around, perplexed that something else could have caught his attention after that moment. But it all made sense as my eyes met a tall male figure that was approaching us at a rapid pace. I didn’t need a close view to figure out whom that messy black hair belonged to. From this distance away I could clearly tell that Albus Potter was quickly closing in on Scorpius and I, a look of pure fury etched on his face.

Scorpius

‘Malfoy!’ Albus Potter yelled, striding through the Hogwarts grounds furiously. He was now just metres away from our spot near the lake and I could see no way of avoiding him other than diving into the lake’s cold depths and swimming for my life. I decided I’d rather have to face Albus than be eaten by the Giant Squid.

So I remained stationary behind Lily, watching him come further into view at an exceptionally fast pace. ‘What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” he thundered as he ran.

I opened my mouth to speak, to inform him that it wasn’t me who was doing anything, but Lily’s shrill voice forced me to close my lips instantly. ‘Go away, Al! This is none of your business!’

But Albus has reached us by now, and was already shoving past her. He stepped right up to me, his body heaving. ‘You’ve got some explaining to do.’

I stepped back slightly, not appreciating the closeness between us. ‘Believe me, mate,’ I said, ‘I couldn’t explain this if I wanted to.’ This was true, I’d barely been given the time to process the fact that Lily Potter had just kissed me.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he fumed, and then turned back to Lily. ‘What’s he on about?’

Lily looked distraught, and I suddenly felt a strong need to comfort her, but that would be impossible with Albus around. ‘Al,’ she pleaded, ‘just get out of here, will you?’

As Albus shook his head, I noticed a small group of people heading towards us. I recognised them as Albus’ little gang of friends. My heart seemed to skip a beat as I saw that Hugo Weasley was amongst the approaching faces. What if he had seen, too? Rose couldn’t find out about this, not when things were going so well between us.

‘What’s goin’ on, Al?’ asked one of the boys that had joined us.

Albus turned back to me, his emerald eyes narrowed. ‘I’ve just seen Malfoy here getting a bit too close to my sis-’

‘Albus!’ Lily screeched, her cheeks a flaming red. ‘Shut up, now.’

I lifted a hand and ran my fingers through my hair tensely and quietly said, ‘You should probably calm down, Albus. There’s really no need to cause a scene.’

Albus’ mouth snapped open immediately to retort, but he was once again cut off. ‘Hang on,’ I heard Hugo Weasley shout over the chaos. ‘I though you said Malfoy was with my sister?’

I heard numerous agreements with this statement, and felt my frustration starting to build up. Bloody Gryffindors, I thought to myself. There wasn’t a chance in hell that this wouldn’t get back to Rose. And I had to admit that the situation Lily and I were found in must have looked bad. But I hadn’t wanted to kiss Lily, though I supposed they’d think I only pulled away because Albus saw us. It was an infuriatingly impossible situation, and I couldn’t think of a way to escape it.

‘You’re right, Hugo,’ Albus said. ‘I was under that impression, too.’

His eyes didn’t leave mine, they stared cold and hard. And he really had just started to like me. I supposed any chance of a friendship with him was now sufficiently ruined.

‘Look,’ I began slowly, looking between Albus and Hugo, ‘whatever you just saw, it isn’t what it looked like.’

Both pairs of eyebrows shot up immediately; each face showed that they were expecting me to explain it all. But that I could not do �“ at least not with Lily around.

I took a moment to glance at her then, noticing that her expression was similar to those of her cousin and brother. Expectations for answers I could not give.

I tried desperately to keep the sympathy from showing on my face. I didn’t want to hurt Lily, but it seemed that now it was inevitable that I would. I liked Lily... but just not in the way that she wanted me to.

My efforts were clearly wasted as Lily read my expression and, I could have sworn, my mind. She nodded her head once, but the movement was so slight that I was sure I was the only one who noticed it. Lily then turned away from me and strode quickly through the small crowd of Gryffindors, lifting a hand to her face as if to wipe away tears.

And I found that I was beginning to feel angry.

I turned back to Albus Potter, not bothering to conceal my emotions now. ‘I hope you realise, Potter,’ I seethed, ‘what an absolute idiot you are.’

He stepped forward, as if he were begging for a fight. Potter’s little gang had also closed in on me slightly, and the younger one, Hugo, even made to reach for his wand.

I laughed darkly. ‘You don’t have the nerve to hurt me, Potter. Nor do you, Weasley. Don’t you think you’d both be better off taking a moment to apologise to Lily for embarrassing her?’ They were both silent. ‘That’s what I thought. Now, if you’ll excuse me...’

I stepped to the side, out of Albus’ way, and walked out of the situation that could have potentially had me hospitalised.

*

I didn’t plan on speaking to Lily again that day, knowing I’d made myself fairly clear without having to speak at all. And although I still wanted to clear the air with her, I decided to prolong the amount of time the air would be hazy �“ sensitive conversations were not my specialty.

I did, however, plan on finding Rose fairly quickly. It would be best that I informed her of that morning’s events, rather than her having to hear it from jump-to-conclusions Albus.

I didn’t exactly know where to find her, but it was now around lunch time, so I headed for the Great Hall.

Sure enough, Rose was seated at the Gryffindor table with a friend that I didn’t know the name of. Thankfully, neither Albus nor Hugo were anywhere in sight. Breathing in slowly, I approached Rose before I could think of an excuse not to. I leaned down over her right shoulder and quietly said, ‘Could I have a quick word?’

She turned to face me, and I watched in pleasure as her face seemed to light up somewhat. She quickly masked this, though, transforming her face into a straight expression. ‘Of course,’ she said.

Rose informed her friend that she would be back in a moment, and together she and I exited the Great Hall. I was careful not to stride too closely to her, afraid that Lily would turn a corner and catch us.

I paused once we’d reached the outside courtyard, and she did the same, causing our bodies to be closer in proximity than what would have been ideal. But, looking down at her, I almost didn’t care.

Standing now with Rose nearly allowed me to forget about Lily and the rest of her crazy family. However, I soon remembered why I had asked Rose out here in the first place. It was easy to be distracted while standing so close to her, it would be so easy to lean down and kiss her...

I shook off those thoughts. ‘Rose,’ I began, ‘there’s something you should know.’

She shifted her weight from foot to foot uneasily. ‘What is it?’

I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t avoid this. Not if I really wanted things to work with Rose. ‘Your cousin tried to kiss me today.’

Rose’s mouth fell open instantly, but she quickly closed it �“ she was always trying not to reveal her reactions, her feelings. ‘Which cousin?’ she asked after a moment.

Her question, of course, took me by surprise. Who else could it have been but Lily? I was hardly an invitation for homosexuality.

‘The girl cousin,’ I said simply.

‘Oh,’ she said, as if she were slightly disappointed. And this was the first moment I was able to decipher her reaction. It was Lily who kissed me, and out of all of her cousins, Lily was the only possible one I had a chance of falling for. In Rose’s eyes, at least.

‘I stopped it, though,’ I continued. ‘I don’t see her that way. But then Albus came...’

‘Al saw you?’ she interrupted quickly. ‘I’m sure that didn’t go down well.’

I smiled hesitantly. ‘Not really, no.’

Rose didn’t speak for a few moments, though she appeared to have a lot to say.

‘Tell me what you’re thinking,’ I told her. I needed to know.

She stared at my face, but not into my eyes. I watched hers closely, the brown orbs were mesmerising. ‘You don’t like Lily?’ she finally asked.

I shook my head. ‘No, not like that. She’s a mate.’

Rose nodded, and again there was silence.

I sighed. ‘Albus is mad because he thought you and I were supposed to be together.’ I hoped saying this would open a train of conversation, get Rose to open up so I didn’t have to.

She eventually took the bait. ‘And... are we?’

I smiled, though I was hesitant to answer that question. ‘It’s up to you, I suppose.’

Rose looked down at her feet, her cheeks stained with pink as she failed to hide her grin.
For a moment, she stayed like that, but she soon looked up with that blank expression of hers. ‘Lily obviously likes you.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It sure seemed that way.’ But where did that leave us?

‘I’d never want to hurt my cousin,’ Rose said, finally allowing her eyes to view mine. ‘But I also... Well, I like this - you and me.’

I couldn’t help but breathe a long sigh of relief. ‘I like it too. And we can take things easy, for Lily’s sake.’

Rose nodded. ‘I’d like that.’

We both began to smile, and her eyes quickly darted away from mine. I desperately wanted to kiss her right then and there, but we were supposed to be taking things slow �“ plus, this place was full of nosy Gryffindors. So, instead I touched my hand lightly to hers and held it in my palm. I leaned in closer, taking in her sweet scent, and kissed her softly on the cheek. It was almost impossible to pull away, but I somehow managed it.

We even managed to whisper goodbye, and I reluctantly turned away and headed back to the Slytherin common room.

*

The next few days were far more difficult than I expected them to be, as it turned out that I really didn’t want to take things easy with Rose. It was infuriating to be with Rose, but never really be with her. Everywhere we turned there was a bloody Weasley or Gryffindor who anticipated a kiss between us that they could run off to tell Albus about. But those kisses rarely occurred, because both Rose and I knew that something like that could easily get back to Lily. I almost hated Lily for making things so hard.

So, while I was ecstatic that Rose and I were finally “together”, the effect soon wore off as I realised I wouldn’t so much as be able to hold her hand in public, or join her at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

There had been, of course, a few stolen moments together in corridors while no one was around. But those times, those taste tests of what could really be if the rest of Rose’s family weren’t around, were almost as hard as not being with her at all.

I wanted to tell Rose, “Fuck it,” but I knew she’d disapprove. The girl really meant it when she said family was the most important thing to her. I really couldn’t blame her, though; I supposed that when you had a family that size with that strength in connection, it was pretty painful to even consider hurting one of them. So I kept my hands to myself, so to speak.

Rose and I did meet up after breakfast on the fourth day of our secret “relationship”, and we even ended up walking to Potions together. I walked especially close to her today, wondering how soon it would be before we had to separate.

Entering the classroom, I walked down the aisle of desks past Albus, who shot me a dark look. I expected to feel Rose peel off to the side somewhere as I continued to walk, but to my surprise, she kept her pace close to mine. I slid into my usual chair, and she joined me at the same desk.

I tilted my head slightly and raised my eyebrows at her. ‘You’re being particularly brave today,’ I muttered.

Her ruby lips spread into a smile. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘and I don’t even feel that bad.’

I grinned and shuffled my chair closer to hers, so that our shoulders were just touching. ‘You should do this more often, a guy could get used to it.’

Rose laughed. ‘What? Arm touching? Scorpius, I think this is moving too fast,’ she mocked.

I feigned an apologetic look, but reached out and grabbed her hand that was placed on top of the desk, entwining my fingers with hers. ‘Way too fast,’ I said.

She immediately jolted her hand to the side, but I had my fingers locked with hers. ‘Scorpius, please,’ she begged. ‘Albus will see.’

I frowned, but grudgingly untangled our fingers and placed my own hands together. I didn’t say anything to her after that, partly because Professor Slughorn had entered the classroom and was giving out instructions for today’s potion.

‘Now,’ the professor said after a brief description of the potion, clasping his hands together and staring around at the class, ‘I’d like one student from each pair to come and collect the ingredients, while the other prepares their cauldron.’

Rose smiled at me tentatively. ‘I’ll go get the ingredients, then.’

I nodded at her, and she turned and headed for the storeroom.

I pulled my wand out of my pocket and leaned over to light the bottom of the cauldron with it. Once the flame was lit, I pulled my arm back, but my elbow then hit something and I heard it fall to the ground. Looking down, I realised that I’d knocked Rose’s bag off the table, the contents of it spilled over the floor.

Hopping off my chair, I knelt down and began to scrape things back into the bag. I looked around as I did this, and noticed that Albus was staring down at me coldly from the next row of desks, ignoring his partner and potion.

I quickly averted my eyes and concentrated on collecting the rest of Rose’s things �“ which she seemed to have a lot of; I wondered how she fit it all into this small shoulder bag. Once I thought I’d put everything back into place, I caught sight of something else on the floor.

It was just a short piece of parchment, which I assumed had fallen from the bag as well. So I reached out to retrieve it, but something stopped me before I could put it back in the bag. I could have sworn I’d seen my name on that parchment. I couldn’t help but scan the sheet again, disgruntled by each word I read.

Dear Rose, the untidy scrawl read,

I was recently informed by your uncle that you have become friends with Scorpius Malfoy. You know that I have dealt with the Malfoy family many times in the past, and if he is anything like his father, or grandfather for that matter, he is definitely not to be trusted. Our family has a very unpleasant history with his, and I’d hate to see you have to go through the same things we did. Please, keep this in mind and be careful!
Much love,
Dad.
P.S. Your mother has something she’d like to say.

Then written in much tidier print below was:

Rose,
Please ignore your father, but do remain vigilant.
Love, Mum.

I inhaled deeply, trying to not to let my fury show. I stood up from the ground and placed Rose’s bag on the table where she had left it, still holding the letter in my hands as I sat.

Rose’s father had suggested that I was untrustworthy, and basically advised her not to associate with me at all. How dare he? I thought angrily. Who did these people think they were, warning Rose against me? And all because I was a Malfoy.

I glanced over to the storeroom, and noticed that Rose was heading back to our table. I reached over and put the letter on top of her bag, not bothering to conceal the fact that I had read it. I did, however, try to rid the expression of rage I knew was showing on my face. How dare he? a voice echoed in my head.

Rose sat down, putting the ingredients down next to the cauldron. I waited for her to notice the letter, and it didn’t take her long. She froze, eyes locked on the parchment.

‘Yeah,’ I mumbled, ‘your bag fell on the floor. I cleaned your stuff up for you.’

She turned her head in my direction, though her eyes would not meet mine. ‘You read this?’ She inclined her head to the parchment.

I shrugged slightly. ‘It was on the floor, and I noticed my name.’ I didn’t mean for the words to come out in such a harsh tone, but I couldn’t control it.

‘Scorpius �“’ Rose started.

‘Let’s get on with this potion, shall we?’ I interrupted quickly, hardly in the mood to discuss the contents of the letter.

Rose nodded, and together we worked silently to create our potion, too lost in our own thoughts to truly recognise what we were doing.

*

Rose managed to find me by the lake during lunch that day. I sat by the rocks, attempting to send small pebbles skipping across the water, but only rarely did they not plummet through the surface without bothering to try a second leap.

When Rose reached me, she didn’t try to speak. She simply sat on the ground at least a foot away from me, watching me gain no luck with the pebbles. I eventually surrendered to the fact that I was only concentrating on throwing rocks into water because I was trying to avoid my thoughts of Rose. But now that she was right here beside me, my efforts were useless.

‘I’m really sorry,’ she finally said, and I could tell that she was watching me. ‘My dad... he’s protective, and really doesn’t know when something is none of his business.’

‘Well, yeah,’ I said flatly, still keeping my eyes on the vast lake before me. ‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t agree.’

‘I know.’ Rose sighed. ‘But really, Scorpius, can you blame him? Our fathers were enemies during Hogwarts, of course he’s going to be worried.’

I grumbled something even I could not discern. It didn’t matter to me how our fathers had behaved while they were teenagers, what did it have to do with now?

‘I mean,’ she continued hastily, ‘I have to admit that even I was reluctant to acknowledge my feelings for you at the start. I thought, well, he’s a Malfoy!’

I was finally unable to keep myself facing straight ahead, and automatically snapped my head to face her. ‘Merlin, Rose. What does my bloody surname have to do with anything?’

Her brown eyes were wide with confusion, she stuttered in attempt to recollect the situation. ‘I just meant that... well, because of our families’ history and everything...’

I shook my head and stared back at the lake. ‘I really thought you wouldn’t let that bother you.’

‘But it doesn’t!’ she said, and I felt her inch closer to me. I breathed her in and was suddenly furious that I could want her so badly, but at the same time be upset by the fickle things that she said.

‘Then why must you always mention the fact that I’m a Malfoy?’ I asked bitterly, glancing at her again. ‘I can’t help who I am, Rose. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. I wish you could just forget where we came from and focus on who we are, right now.’

Rose seemed to recognise the fierceness of my tone, and as I suspected, she didn’t plan to back down. ‘There are some things I can’t forget, Scorpius, as much as I’d like to. I’ve heard stories �“’

‘From who? I interrupted. ‘Your father, I suppose. Yes, very reliable.’

Rose narrowed her eyes, and this time I refused to look away from them. ‘My father would have no reason to lie about those things. Yours, on the other hand...’

I could have laughed. ‘You really can’t help yourself, can you, Rose? You know, I’ll be the first to admit that my family has taken part in some pretty awful stuff �“’

‘Taken part?’ She scoffed. ‘More like organised.’

‘- but nobody’s perfect. Yeah, my family is far from it �“ but at least we can be realistic about things. Not everyone’s parents can be war heroes!’

‘Oh, right,’ she cut in again. ‘So you either had to save the world or become a Death Eater, life must have been so straightforward.’

By now, I was entirely sick of this, of her. We weren’t going to get anywhere by arguing, not that I was exactly sure where I wanted things to go �“ not now.

I stood up, brushing small bits of rock off my robes. I turned and stared down at Rose, her freckled complexion now red to match her temper. ‘I think your family has created some ridiculous expectation for perfection. And you and I both know this is not something I can live up to.’ I began to back away from her, and she didn’t bother to contradict me. ‘This never would have worked out, anyway. So don’t lose sleep over it.’

I turned from Rose, but not before catching a quick glimpse of her angry expression. But there was something else within that look, something I couldn’t help but hope was disappointment, even longing.

I pushed that thought away quickly, knowing that what I had just done was for the best.

Practically jogging through the Hogwarts grounds, I didn’t once look back to see if Rose was still watching me. As I stormed up the castle steps, I almost ran into someone as another wave of irritation came over me. I glanced up from the ground to see who it was, and possibly apologise, but my face was met with Lily’s.

I couldn’t help but groan upon seeing the look on her face. Lily looked smug, and I could tell that she had just witnessed me storming away from her cousin. ‘Trouble in paradise?’ she asked conceitedly.

A part of me recognised that Lily must have somehow discovered that Rose and I had been seeing each other, but a more dominant part overwhelmed this. ‘Please, Potter, just stay the hell out of my sight.’

Her features that held her smugness didn’t falter, and I determinedly shoved passed her. Bloody Gryffindors, I thought. As I marched down to the Slytherin common room, I realised that not only had I lost myself a girlfriend today, but also a best mate. I slammed my fists against the stone wall that concealed the entry to the common room, but soon realised I hadn’t even given a password. I couldn’t for the life of me remember it, so I started back the other way, all the while trying to convince myself that losing Lily Potter and Rose Weasley was somehow for the best.