Frail ❃ Albus Potter

Twenty Six

R O S E

Rose was walking to lunch when she saw him.

Scorpius.

He was walking along, like her, to lunch, and like her, he was alone.

Rose saw it as an opportunity, and one she'd been waiting for for a while.

She sidled up to him in as much of a non-creepy way as she could manage; which was probably quite creepy, judging from the look on Scorpius' face.

"Hi," Rose said, deciding to start like a normal person.

Scorpius just managed to get out an awkward "hi" before Rose launched into her pre-planned speech.

"Look, I don't really like you dating my cousin, because hey, I'm personally Team Piper. No offence to you, because you're a nice person, even if you are a Malfoy." Rose smiled angelically, as if she hadn't just insulted Scorpius' entire family. "But I'm here to talk to you because I don't have a choice in whether or not you date Albus, and at least you make him happy. Or, at least, I think you do. And right now, I think you know him the most out of me and you, seeing as I've been ignoring him because of that whole Piper thing."

Rose was kind of going off script, but she didn't care. It was worth it, just to see the look on poor Scorpius' face.

"Anyway. Is he okay? Because he's been acting really really weird even since the whole Piper and Albus thing started."

Rose waited expectantly, judging his facial expressions. Scorpius and Rose had been quite close in Rose's third year; she'd even had a bit of a crush on him when she was going through her rebellious teenage phase. It hadn't lasted long, and neither had their friendship. Rose was like fire, and Scorpius like snow, and together, they didn't work.

Scorpius looked at her uncomfortably. He was almost half a foot taller than her, Rose noticed, not like before, when Rose had been comfortably taller. It was a little distracting.

"Look, from what I know..." Scorpius spread his hands apart and then waved them around randomly, seemingly not knowing what to do with them. "He's fine. He seems okay, anyway. I mean, he was a bit upset after the whole kiss thing, because he knew it would ruin their friendship, and he kept telling me he wished Piper hadn't kissed him, but..." Scorpius shrugged. "I think he's getting better."

Rose glared. She had a good bullshit radar, and it was pinging madly. "He's just been acting weird."

She wished she'd found some of that truth-telling serum her uncle kept telling her about. Something was off with Scorpius, she just knew it. She just couldn't tell what.

"Look, Rose." Scorpius sighed. "He's happy with me. And yes, maybe he would be happier if him and Piper made up, but..." he waved his hands around again, almost hitting Rose in the face. "Sorry. Anyway, he's happy. If he wasn't, I'd talk to you. Is that good enough for you?"

They were almost at the Great Hall. Rose could see the tables, long and narrow. She remembered when they'd felt like a barrier between her and Scorpius... when their feuding houses and families had felt like a wall.

That time was over, but Rose still felt like there was something blocking her from Scorpius.

He was lying about something, Rose knew. She just didn't know what.

"It's good enough for me," Rose responded, and watched as he walked away with just a little too much relief in his step.

I'm counting down the chapters till this book is over and it makes me so sad! Shoutout to the amazing misshermione212 because she's Scorose trash and, although Scorose won't be canon in this book, this chapter was for her! Thank you for all your lovely comments, sweetie. They really make my day 💞