Never Give Up

Chapter Thirty-Six

‘Is that the reason you’re shutting yourself out from everyone, even me?’ James asked, standing up and putting away the books with her. He could tell Amelia was on the verge of tears but he continued, ‘is that why he’s avoiding you? What did you do?’

‘I... James, I shouldn’t have done it,’ Amelia shook her head, sitting on the desk and putting her feet on the chair. James just stared at her. He had thought that Scorpius was the one to push her away because he didn't want to be with her but he had never thought Amelia had made a mistake which in turn made him push her away.

‘Tell me,’ James said quietly.

Amelia hesitated for a second. She hadn’t talked to him about Scorpius at all but she wished more than anything to just get it out of her system. So she told him. Everything. It took her a good few minutes since her heart felt so heavy in her chest and the lump in her throat made it hard to talk but she told him about Astoria and Scorpius.

‘That’s it?’ James asked, surprised since he thought it would have been something worse, ‘he really needs to man up, don’t you think?’

‘You don’t understand, James. I thought he wanted Astoria in his life, I thought he wanted a mother. Scorpius and I never talked about her at all which is why I didn't know he didn't want to talk to her. He was very hostile towards her when he first saw Astoria but I thought after meeting her and talking to her... he would be happy,’ Amelia shook her head, ‘but he’s so angry! You should have seen his face when he yelled, James... I can’t... I think...’

‘His family is messed up,’ James commented and Amelia didn't reply to that. She just shook her head, a tear falling free and hitting her lap. James sighed and walked over, wrapping his arms around her, ‘don’t worry so much about this. He’ll get over it and if he doesn’t... I always told you that you could do so much better.’

Amelia tried not to get angry at that but she droned out whatever James said. There was a time before that she would have jumped to James, asking him for his opinion, but not when it came to Scorpius. James would never understand heartbreak.

---

‘Scorpius,’ Amelia said, watching him walk out of the exam hall and up the stairs. Scorpius didn't turn around but she yelled his name a little louder, making him stop in his tracks.

‘Hey,’ Scorpius half smiled at her, not looking genuine at all.

‘Can we talk?’ Amelia asked, stretching her hand. She had wrote so much in that exam that her hand was stiffening up. Scorpius looked behind him at nothing in particular and opened his mouth, no doubt to make another excuse. Amelia sighed, ‘please?’

‘Amelia, I have an exam tomorrow so I really have to-’ Scorpius said, but she cut him off by grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the nearest empty classroom. Scorpius watched as she slammed the door shut behind her. He sighed, ‘sure, we can talk.’

‘I don’t know how many times I have to say that I truly am sorry for what I did, Scorpius!’ Amelia yelled at him, glaring at Scorpius fiercely.

‘And I forgave you for it,’ he said calmly, sitting on one of the desks.

‘Yet you always run whenever I come close to you!’ Amelia yelled, walking towards him and jabbing a finger in his chest, ‘Scorpius, we have only two more weeks of Hogwarts let and then we’ll have to leave! Who knows if we’ll even be together after Hogwarts?’

‘Yeah, who knows?’ Scorpius shrugged, looking at her with those grey eyes. Amelia stared at him, her heart breaking once again. Scorpius sighed, looking down at her hand that was on his chest, ‘if you’re not happy with this, Amelia, you can always leave?’