"Never" - A Gift for cyyt
Title: Never
Author: olgameisterfunk
Gift For: cyyt
Summary: "What makes you think I'm unhappy? You worry too much, Scorpius."
Rating: PG-13 for themes
Warnings: mild language, infidelity
Word Count: 2,700
Lyrics/Quotes Used: -I have a habit of falling too hard and falling too fast, and getting my hopes up for something I know won't last.
A/N: Candice darling, I hope you enjoy this! I tried to fill your desire for angsty goodness with a dash of humor, and I certainly hope I did your prompt justice!
A pair of calloused hands slipped under the hem of the thick cotton Hogwarts robes, encountering the softness of the jumper she wore underneath. Their proximity was near claustrophobic, the echoing of harried breath, rustling fabric and scurrying shoes sounding as loud as an explosion in the small enclosure.
"I love you, Rosie."
Rose pulled away from the increasingly heated kiss to lean against the stone wall behind her, squeezing her eyes shut. It was so much easier when he kept his mouth shut, when she was able to escape the reality of the hopeless situation she had trapped herself in and vault headfirst into pure sensation. She had left her curls long and loose that day to please him, and she regretted it now, for her bangs clung to her forehead in the midst of such sweltering heat. She pushed them up and out of the way, it only taking her a split second to retain her composure and put on a winning smile. Her heat pounded with a force unfathomable for her small frame, cheeks flushed as they did every time he forced his affection upon her.
"I love you too, Julian."
They were like celebrities, the two of them walking into the Great Hall every morning, hands and gazes tightly clasped together in the epitome of relationship bliss. For the younger years Rose was nothing short of a goddess, the petite freckled young woman morphing into a flawless statuesque beauty in their rampant imaginations- Did you see that ROSE WEASLEY helped me pick up my books? She's so smart and pretty, you can't get much more perfect than her.
Trying to approach things from the outside, Rose could see why the school had such grandiose delusions about her; the eldest Weasley child was a force to be reckoned with: top marks in her class seven years running, Prefect, president of Charms Club, head of the Yule Ball committee…
Perfection, however, is all relative.
After reaching the Ravenclaw table Julian would press a saccharine-sweet kiss to Rose's lips and then strut over to his mates, welcomed like an equally-admired hero by his fellow Gryffindors.
Rose herself would be sucked into a group of giggling young women who were more than happy to pass the breakfast hour discussing Nathan Zabini's fit arse or the latest dress robes on display in Gladrags, the brunette dutifully nodding at the appropriate moments while she munched on some whole-wheat toast.
Then it was a morning full of classes, where the professors oohed and ahhed over her achievements and placed her upon a pedestal as high as Olympus, her friends cooing appreciatively at every remark that fell from her lips, the kisses Julian would bestow upon her between every course. The routine was comforting, but Rose was continually struck by how mindless it was; No one truly listened to a word she said, and in exchange she too drifted through the halls of Hogwarts as dreamily as the Gray Lady, wrapped within the insanity of her own mind.
She felt like the most soiled of rubbish, having everything in the world she could ever want and need and wish and fathom… and yet be such an ugly, unhappy person inside. There were nights in which she dreamt of it all falling apart, screaming profanities from the Head Table and telling Julian McLaggen exactly what she thought of his persistent need for them to sleep together.
And yet she would awake every morning.
The sunlight would filter through her window, sparkling luminescence upon a delicate pale cheek.
She would breathe a deep, resigned sigh as she rose from her bed, and it would start all over again, her body going through the motions while inside, she screamed and screamed until her throat grew hoarse.
She'd never tell a soul, but from her room high up in Ravenclaw tower, the view down to the ground was positively breathtaking. It was funny that the only nights she didn't wake up sobbing were the ones she dreamt of falling, that consoling last glimpse of bliss before the ground rose to meet her.
"You're lost."
The pair of bright blue eyes, which had been pretending to avidly watch the wrestling match between the Potter boys, quickly changed position to rest upon a very different sort of contemplation.
"Pardon?" Rose cleared her throat in a ladylike manner, considerably startled by the nonsensical statement that Scorpius had just-
"You're lost. You may fool everyone else, but that façade of yours is one of the weakest I've ever seen." Deep brown eyes remained transfixed upon the creamy white of the sketchbook perched upon his lap, a long lock of silvery blond hair immediately falling forward to obscure his expression from her cursory gaze.
In a wild, dizzying second of clarity Rose could see herself in an alternate reality, one in which she threw herself in Scorpius's arms and wept until her tears merged with the Black Lake, his embrace the only comfort in the sweltering tempest that was her pitiful and horrible life.
She blinked, and it was over.
Cheeks flushed crimson, embarrassed not only for entertaining thoughts about a man that was decidedly not her boyfriend but the revealing analysis that Malfoy had made of her, Rose turned her head, pulling her long brown hair into her lap to serve as a distraction.
"Everything's fine, Scorpius dear. Don't you worry about me."
Even after a year Rose still wasn't quite used to the deepening of his voice, so the throaty chuckle that served as a reply to her glossing-over sent a trickling path of warmth down her spine. Scorpius looked up from his drawing to grin at her wryly, the black smudge lining his cheekbone merely accentuating the unearthly paleness of his features. "Oh Rosie," he said quietly, spinning the charcoal pencil between two agile fingers. "Always our little politician. There are some parts of you that haven't changed since we were children."
Rose had always had extraordinary control over the famous Weasley temper, but seeing as she knew the blond before her as intimately as she did her parents, she let her frustration flare full force.
"Well isn't that rich," she shot back with a smirk. "Coming from you, Mr. Brownose Slytherin Prefect, your words certainly don't have the potency you wish they possessed."
Scorpius merely laughed softly in response, his controlled, reserved personality especially infuriating in this context. "You know as well as I do that I'm not the one who goes around bleeding House Unity from my eyeballs. Besides, you're completely disregarding my entire point."
His gaze meandered up to lock with hers, the same uncomfortable lump that she got when he stared at her forming in the back of her throat. There were rumors that Malfoy Senior had uncovered some evidence pointing to Seer blood in the family bloodline, and in moments like this Rose had never felt a piece of gossip to be more valid. Scorpius was certainly something else… there were times that it felt that he could sense her deepest and most cherished thoughts.
Rose swallowed as carefully as she could, twisting the ends of her hair into an impromptu braid in an effort to dismiss the heat of his eyes on her face. "What makes you think I'm unhappy? You worry too much, Scorpius."
Keeping her eyes carefully averted, Rose heard rather than saw Scorpius's exhalation of breath, the resumed scratching of deep charcoal across parchment. "I don't worry too much; in fact, I seem to be the only one who actually worries about your sanity. Forgive me for actually trying to care, Rose."
Scorpius had always been so distant to her, a piece of frosted glass that was cold, hard and dependable but continually hidden away. Pleasantries and vital facts had been gained after years of sharing classes and the unavoidable fact that Scorpius remained Albus Severus's truest and most devoted friend, but the young man that sat beside her was not the controlled and eloquent speaker that kept Slytherin House in line, but something much more revolutionary.
Rose's mouth fell open, her brain reeling at the sudden development. Scorpius was different, someone who would be able to understand her thoughts of guilt, of self-doubt, of-
The lovely brunette's heart literally stopped as she was suddenly picked up and off the grass, her surprise emitted externally in the form of a piercing shriek. "Jaaaaaaaaaames! You wanker!"
Grinning devilishly, James swung the slight frame of his cousin around in wild circles, ignoring the harsh slapping of her palms and the squealing that continued like an emergency siren. "Oi Rosie, shouldn't you be happier to see me? I come all the way from Romania to visit you at school and this is how you repay me?!"
"I love you James, now put me down!"
After a few more seconds' worth of frenzied waltzing James set Rose down on her feet, smiling widely. "I saw you bothering ol' Scorp over here and figured I'd teach you a lesson!"
Rose blushed slightly at the mention of her companion, who was still drawing with ardent passion, lip curling as he overhead James mentioning his name. She stuck her hands on her hips, looking up at her cousin with an attitude reserved solely for him. "I was always under the impression that when you came of age maturity was an asset, but it seems you have yet to gain it."
Three sets of breath were sucked in simultaneously at such a retort, an amused whoop coming from Albus Severus, who had just crossed over to join the group. "Careful James! Our Rosie has quite the tongue on her!"
The eldest Potter sibling simply chortled as Albus came over to embrace his cousin, burying his face in the fragrant fields of her hair. "Bad morning, sweets, or did James actually put his foot in his mouth this time?" he laughed, smoothing a few stray strands from her brow.
As Rose continued to frown and fan the unsightly color from her face, Scorpius took the initiative to answer his best friend's question. "I reckon it was about half and half," he replied wryly, winking at the green-eyed young man. "Perhaps we should get the bonny lass out of the sun, you know well the temper that comes with the scarlet haired!"
"But I don't even have red hair!" Rose retorted, the three men around her bursting into laughter at her exasperated expression. "I don't even know why I put up with you three, such tossers…"
"For we are related, dear cousin!" Albus grinned, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Scorpius is right, though. It's lunchtime and your skin probably can't take much more exposure anyway."
James bounded off ahead of them, and the duo were about to follow were it not for the soft tone of their blond companion. "I'll be just a few minutes, Al. I want to do this landscape proper justice."
A little alarm went off in Rose's head at his words, she curious to continue their cryptic conversation from before. "Yes, do go on ahead! I have something Prefect-related to discuss with Scorp."
Preferring Quidditch practice to event planning, Albus Severus wrinkled his nose, slightly mussing his shaggy black hair. "Don't mind if I do! I find all that organization talk to be horribly tedious… see you two up at the castle!"
Rose settled back upon the grass, watching in silence as Albus's form got smaller and smaller in the midday sunshine. The minutes passed, the only sounds being that of an Owl messenger flying overhead and the steady, soothing scratch of the Slytherin's pencil.
Finally swallowing her pride, Rose began to speak. "Listen Scorpius, I didn't mean-"
Her speech was quickly cut off by the presence of a pale hand covering her own, a gentle sshing coming from her companion. He spoke in the same affection they had always shared, not the voice of a man deeply offended. "Leave it. I know dear, I know."
A faint fluttering burned in her breast at the sight of their hands so close together, it urging her to once again try and explain her cruel actions of a few minutes before. Scorpius had been nothing but devastatingly kind to her throughout the years; it would be a sad repayment of his gentleness to lecture him due to her own current insecurities.
"Scorpius," she blurted out once again, brown eyes drifting to her face at the raw desperation in her tone. "Do you ever feel like you're drowning in the circumstances of your life? I thought that if I studied as hard as my mother and tried my best to be pretty that I would be infinitely happy, but now that I have it, I've never felt so alone."
Her companion cleared his throat, but now that the dam had been broken she couldn't stop the words from flushing forward. "I-I have this awful habit of falling too hard and falling too fast for an idea, some personal achievement that will make me a better person- like dating the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, or getting top marks… but no matter what I do, it means nothing. I'm nothing, Scorpius, and it breaks my heart."
Too broken up to continue, Rose's bottom lip trembled as fat, hot tears coursed down her cheeks, her cosmetics forming the rivers of shame that she felt inside. Squeezing her eyes closed to keep from crying, the brunette didn't see Scorpius moving closer, his skillful hands reaching up to cup her chin.
"Rose, don't you dare say such a horribly untrue thing ever again. You are not nothing, you are beautiful, and kind, and so smart, so smart that you used to frustrate me beyond belief, and most of all, you have the purest and most gentle soul I have ever had the pleasure of encountering."
His nubile fingers gently rubbed up and down the outline of her bone structure, the intimacy of the moment feeling so organic, so natural to the brunette sobbing like a child on the grass. The fact that she was in a relationship with someone else didn't matter; nothing did, as long as he kept touching her, brushing away the wetness that lined her cheeks, the feeling of his strong arms clutching her to him in a comforting embrace.
"I love you, did you know that?" Scorpius spoke softly, in a tone that was scarcely a whisper. "I have for a very long time, and I can't bear to see you as a shell of the wonderful girl that lies beneath, the girl that I played Hide and Seek with so many years ago."
Rose's heart stopped for the second time that day, all of time and space seeming to collide in that one momentous second. The final barrier, the last constriction around her gave way gently, it suddenly becoming clear that those compounded feelings of admiration for the young man currently holding her was something quite different, quite extraordinary. She had never felt this way before; Not about Julian, not about anyone on the planet except for Scorpius, the quiet and logical Scorpius that had always been beside her and had gently stolen her heart.
"Oh Scorpius!" she sobbed, burying her face in his broad shoulder, the soothing hands slipping up her back in a tight embrace. "Please don't leave me, I can't bear feeling so alone anymore!"
"Never," Scorpius replied fiercely, in a tone so serious it shocked Rose to the core. "I've always been here for you, and I will never leave you."
Reaching down to where her hand was bunched up in his sweater, Scorpius took Rose's palm into his own. Drawing it close, the blond kissed her fingers with such tenderness she nearly burst into another round of inconsolable sobbing. "Never," he whispered, pressing a feather light caress to her pointer finger. "Never. Never leave you."
It was Rose who drew the blond's face to her own, their lips meeting in the purest expression of budding love. Their hands stayed tightly clasped, with Rose's other hand pressed up against Scorpius's chest, where she could feel his heart. His beautiful noble heart.
"Never."
Author: olgameisterfunk
Gift For: cyyt
Summary: "What makes you think I'm unhappy? You worry too much, Scorpius."
Rating: PG-13 for themes
Warnings: mild language, infidelity
Word Count: 2,700
Lyrics/Quotes Used: -I have a habit of falling too hard and falling too fast, and getting my hopes up for something I know won't last.
A/N: Candice darling, I hope you enjoy this! I tried to fill your desire for angsty goodness with a dash of humor, and I certainly hope I did your prompt justice!
A pair of calloused hands slipped under the hem of the thick cotton Hogwarts robes, encountering the softness of the jumper she wore underneath. Their proximity was near claustrophobic, the echoing of harried breath, rustling fabric and scurrying shoes sounding as loud as an explosion in the small enclosure.
"I love you, Rosie."
Rose pulled away from the increasingly heated kiss to lean against the stone wall behind her, squeezing her eyes shut. It was so much easier when he kept his mouth shut, when she was able to escape the reality of the hopeless situation she had trapped herself in and vault headfirst into pure sensation. She had left her curls long and loose that day to please him, and she regretted it now, for her bangs clung to her forehead in the midst of such sweltering heat. She pushed them up and out of the way, it only taking her a split second to retain her composure and put on a winning smile. Her heat pounded with a force unfathomable for her small frame, cheeks flushed as they did every time he forced his affection upon her.
"I love you too, Julian."
They were like celebrities, the two of them walking into the Great Hall every morning, hands and gazes tightly clasped together in the epitome of relationship bliss. For the younger years Rose was nothing short of a goddess, the petite freckled young woman morphing into a flawless statuesque beauty in their rampant imaginations- Did you see that ROSE WEASLEY helped me pick up my books? She's so smart and pretty, you can't get much more perfect than her.
Trying to approach things from the outside, Rose could see why the school had such grandiose delusions about her; the eldest Weasley child was a force to be reckoned with: top marks in her class seven years running, Prefect, president of Charms Club, head of the Yule Ball committee…
Perfection, however, is all relative.
After reaching the Ravenclaw table Julian would press a saccharine-sweet kiss to Rose's lips and then strut over to his mates, welcomed like an equally-admired hero by his fellow Gryffindors.
Rose herself would be sucked into a group of giggling young women who were more than happy to pass the breakfast hour discussing Nathan Zabini's fit arse or the latest dress robes on display in Gladrags, the brunette dutifully nodding at the appropriate moments while she munched on some whole-wheat toast.
Then it was a morning full of classes, where the professors oohed and ahhed over her achievements and placed her upon a pedestal as high as Olympus, her friends cooing appreciatively at every remark that fell from her lips, the kisses Julian would bestow upon her between every course. The routine was comforting, but Rose was continually struck by how mindless it was; No one truly listened to a word she said, and in exchange she too drifted through the halls of Hogwarts as dreamily as the Gray Lady, wrapped within the insanity of her own mind.
She felt like the most soiled of rubbish, having everything in the world she could ever want and need and wish and fathom… and yet be such an ugly, unhappy person inside. There were nights in which she dreamt of it all falling apart, screaming profanities from the Head Table and telling Julian McLaggen exactly what she thought of his persistent need for them to sleep together.
And yet she would awake every morning.
The sunlight would filter through her window, sparkling luminescence upon a delicate pale cheek.
She would breathe a deep, resigned sigh as she rose from her bed, and it would start all over again, her body going through the motions while inside, she screamed and screamed until her throat grew hoarse.
She'd never tell a soul, but from her room high up in Ravenclaw tower, the view down to the ground was positively breathtaking. It was funny that the only nights she didn't wake up sobbing were the ones she dreamt of falling, that consoling last glimpse of bliss before the ground rose to meet her.
"You're lost."
The pair of bright blue eyes, which had been pretending to avidly watch the wrestling match between the Potter boys, quickly changed position to rest upon a very different sort of contemplation.
"Pardon?" Rose cleared her throat in a ladylike manner, considerably startled by the nonsensical statement that Scorpius had just-
"You're lost. You may fool everyone else, but that façade of yours is one of the weakest I've ever seen." Deep brown eyes remained transfixed upon the creamy white of the sketchbook perched upon his lap, a long lock of silvery blond hair immediately falling forward to obscure his expression from her cursory gaze.
In a wild, dizzying second of clarity Rose could see herself in an alternate reality, one in which she threw herself in Scorpius's arms and wept until her tears merged with the Black Lake, his embrace the only comfort in the sweltering tempest that was her pitiful and horrible life.
She blinked, and it was over.
Cheeks flushed crimson, embarrassed not only for entertaining thoughts about a man that was decidedly not her boyfriend but the revealing analysis that Malfoy had made of her, Rose turned her head, pulling her long brown hair into her lap to serve as a distraction.
"Everything's fine, Scorpius dear. Don't you worry about me."
Even after a year Rose still wasn't quite used to the deepening of his voice, so the throaty chuckle that served as a reply to her glossing-over sent a trickling path of warmth down her spine. Scorpius looked up from his drawing to grin at her wryly, the black smudge lining his cheekbone merely accentuating the unearthly paleness of his features. "Oh Rosie," he said quietly, spinning the charcoal pencil between two agile fingers. "Always our little politician. There are some parts of you that haven't changed since we were children."
Rose had always had extraordinary control over the famous Weasley temper, but seeing as she knew the blond before her as intimately as she did her parents, she let her frustration flare full force.
"Well isn't that rich," she shot back with a smirk. "Coming from you, Mr. Brownose Slytherin Prefect, your words certainly don't have the potency you wish they possessed."
Scorpius merely laughed softly in response, his controlled, reserved personality especially infuriating in this context. "You know as well as I do that I'm not the one who goes around bleeding House Unity from my eyeballs. Besides, you're completely disregarding my entire point."
His gaze meandered up to lock with hers, the same uncomfortable lump that she got when he stared at her forming in the back of her throat. There were rumors that Malfoy Senior had uncovered some evidence pointing to Seer blood in the family bloodline, and in moments like this Rose had never felt a piece of gossip to be more valid. Scorpius was certainly something else… there were times that it felt that he could sense her deepest and most cherished thoughts.
Rose swallowed as carefully as she could, twisting the ends of her hair into an impromptu braid in an effort to dismiss the heat of his eyes on her face. "What makes you think I'm unhappy? You worry too much, Scorpius."
Keeping her eyes carefully averted, Rose heard rather than saw Scorpius's exhalation of breath, the resumed scratching of deep charcoal across parchment. "I don't worry too much; in fact, I seem to be the only one who actually worries about your sanity. Forgive me for actually trying to care, Rose."
Scorpius had always been so distant to her, a piece of frosted glass that was cold, hard and dependable but continually hidden away. Pleasantries and vital facts had been gained after years of sharing classes and the unavoidable fact that Scorpius remained Albus Severus's truest and most devoted friend, but the young man that sat beside her was not the controlled and eloquent speaker that kept Slytherin House in line, but something much more revolutionary.
Rose's mouth fell open, her brain reeling at the sudden development. Scorpius was different, someone who would be able to understand her thoughts of guilt, of self-doubt, of-
The lovely brunette's heart literally stopped as she was suddenly picked up and off the grass, her surprise emitted externally in the form of a piercing shriek. "Jaaaaaaaaaames! You wanker!"
Grinning devilishly, James swung the slight frame of his cousin around in wild circles, ignoring the harsh slapping of her palms and the squealing that continued like an emergency siren. "Oi Rosie, shouldn't you be happier to see me? I come all the way from Romania to visit you at school and this is how you repay me?!"
"I love you James, now put me down!"
After a few more seconds' worth of frenzied waltzing James set Rose down on her feet, smiling widely. "I saw you bothering ol' Scorp over here and figured I'd teach you a lesson!"
Rose blushed slightly at the mention of her companion, who was still drawing with ardent passion, lip curling as he overhead James mentioning his name. She stuck her hands on her hips, looking up at her cousin with an attitude reserved solely for him. "I was always under the impression that when you came of age maturity was an asset, but it seems you have yet to gain it."
Three sets of breath were sucked in simultaneously at such a retort, an amused whoop coming from Albus Severus, who had just crossed over to join the group. "Careful James! Our Rosie has quite the tongue on her!"
The eldest Potter sibling simply chortled as Albus came over to embrace his cousin, burying his face in the fragrant fields of her hair. "Bad morning, sweets, or did James actually put his foot in his mouth this time?" he laughed, smoothing a few stray strands from her brow.
As Rose continued to frown and fan the unsightly color from her face, Scorpius took the initiative to answer his best friend's question. "I reckon it was about half and half," he replied wryly, winking at the green-eyed young man. "Perhaps we should get the bonny lass out of the sun, you know well the temper that comes with the scarlet haired!"
"But I don't even have red hair!" Rose retorted, the three men around her bursting into laughter at her exasperated expression. "I don't even know why I put up with you three, such tossers…"
"For we are related, dear cousin!" Albus grinned, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Scorpius is right, though. It's lunchtime and your skin probably can't take much more exposure anyway."
James bounded off ahead of them, and the duo were about to follow were it not for the soft tone of their blond companion. "I'll be just a few minutes, Al. I want to do this landscape proper justice."
A little alarm went off in Rose's head at his words, she curious to continue their cryptic conversation from before. "Yes, do go on ahead! I have something Prefect-related to discuss with Scorp."
Preferring Quidditch practice to event planning, Albus Severus wrinkled his nose, slightly mussing his shaggy black hair. "Don't mind if I do! I find all that organization talk to be horribly tedious… see you two up at the castle!"
Rose settled back upon the grass, watching in silence as Albus's form got smaller and smaller in the midday sunshine. The minutes passed, the only sounds being that of an Owl messenger flying overhead and the steady, soothing scratch of the Slytherin's pencil.
Finally swallowing her pride, Rose began to speak. "Listen Scorpius, I didn't mean-"
Her speech was quickly cut off by the presence of a pale hand covering her own, a gentle sshing coming from her companion. He spoke in the same affection they had always shared, not the voice of a man deeply offended. "Leave it. I know dear, I know."
A faint fluttering burned in her breast at the sight of their hands so close together, it urging her to once again try and explain her cruel actions of a few minutes before. Scorpius had been nothing but devastatingly kind to her throughout the years; it would be a sad repayment of his gentleness to lecture him due to her own current insecurities.
"Scorpius," she blurted out once again, brown eyes drifting to her face at the raw desperation in her tone. "Do you ever feel like you're drowning in the circumstances of your life? I thought that if I studied as hard as my mother and tried my best to be pretty that I would be infinitely happy, but now that I have it, I've never felt so alone."
Her companion cleared his throat, but now that the dam had been broken she couldn't stop the words from flushing forward. "I-I have this awful habit of falling too hard and falling too fast for an idea, some personal achievement that will make me a better person- like dating the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, or getting top marks… but no matter what I do, it means nothing. I'm nothing, Scorpius, and it breaks my heart."
Too broken up to continue, Rose's bottom lip trembled as fat, hot tears coursed down her cheeks, her cosmetics forming the rivers of shame that she felt inside. Squeezing her eyes closed to keep from crying, the brunette didn't see Scorpius moving closer, his skillful hands reaching up to cup her chin.
"Rose, don't you dare say such a horribly untrue thing ever again. You are not nothing, you are beautiful, and kind, and so smart, so smart that you used to frustrate me beyond belief, and most of all, you have the purest and most gentle soul I have ever had the pleasure of encountering."
His nubile fingers gently rubbed up and down the outline of her bone structure, the intimacy of the moment feeling so organic, so natural to the brunette sobbing like a child on the grass. The fact that she was in a relationship with someone else didn't matter; nothing did, as long as he kept touching her, brushing away the wetness that lined her cheeks, the feeling of his strong arms clutching her to him in a comforting embrace.
"I love you, did you know that?" Scorpius spoke softly, in a tone that was scarcely a whisper. "I have for a very long time, and I can't bear to see you as a shell of the wonderful girl that lies beneath, the girl that I played Hide and Seek with so many years ago."
Rose's heart stopped for the second time that day, all of time and space seeming to collide in that one momentous second. The final barrier, the last constriction around her gave way gently, it suddenly becoming clear that those compounded feelings of admiration for the young man currently holding her was something quite different, quite extraordinary. She had never felt this way before; Not about Julian, not about anyone on the planet except for Scorpius, the quiet and logical Scorpius that had always been beside her and had gently stolen her heart.
"Oh Scorpius!" she sobbed, burying her face in his broad shoulder, the soothing hands slipping up her back in a tight embrace. "Please don't leave me, I can't bear feeling so alone anymore!"
"Never," Scorpius replied fiercely, in a tone so serious it shocked Rose to the core. "I've always been here for you, and I will never leave you."
Reaching down to where her hand was bunched up in his sweater, Scorpius took Rose's palm into his own. Drawing it close, the blond kissed her fingers with such tenderness she nearly burst into another round of inconsolable sobbing. "Never," he whispered, pressing a feather light caress to her pointer finger. "Never. Never leave you."
It was Rose who drew the blond's face to her own, their lips meeting in the purest expression of budding love. Their hands stayed tightly clasped, with Rose's other hand pressed up against Scorpius's chest, where she could feel his heart. His beautiful noble heart.
"Never."