Never Be The Same {SCOROSE}

Chapter 16 - Scorpius [UPDATED]

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Was I a complete idiot? Sometimes I feel like I was colossally stupid about the whole thing."

I heard my best friend laugh, but it had a melancholic edge. "Perhaps... but 'We are all fools in love,' according to Austen. So don't think yourself too special."

Smirking, I turned to look at the dark-haired boy. "Are you quoting a fucking romance novel at me right now?"

The corners of Al's lips turned up as he rolled his eyes. "Jane Austen was the best writer of her time, all right? Don't you dare dismiss her work as romance novels. Merlin's pants... for all your bragging about being classically educated as a child, you have shit taste in books."

I glared playfully at him. "Don't go ragging on my education just because you're jealous you never learned French."

"Oh, don't get me started on what an overachiever you were, making me drag Dominique over just so you could prove you were fluent as a twelve-year-old!"

"I wasn't trying to be cool, I was reassuring myself that my Grandmother wouldn't be embarrassed by me when I went to visit her in France and had to make social calls with her!"

"Rich people problems," Albus scoffed.

I threw a pillow at him, and he yelped in protest. "You say that like you don't have a trust fund sitting in Gringotts, too," I laughed.

He rolled his eyes again and acknowledged the truth of my statement with a bemused nod, but then he exhaled, and I watched his smile fade. "Those vaults might as well be empty for all the good they do us."

I ran a hand through my hair and let out a quiet scoff. "Turns out money can't buy love," I said, my tone dry. "Who knew?"

---

The end of the school year had snuck up on us without warning. N.E.W.T.s were beginning, and in a way I found myself grateful for them -- between taking exams and revising in preparation for the exams yet to come, my mind was too exhausted to spend much thought on Rose or her relationship with Andy MacDowell. And when I did find myself drifting towards the subject, I simply decided to fill my mind with something else. Sometimes I just doubled down on my studies -- but sometimes I needed more of a distraction.

Which was why, the night before my Potions N.E.W.T., I found myself in a closet near the Hufflepuff common room with Riley Carrington.

It wasn't the first time she and I had hooked up. She was in the same year as me, so we'd known each other since we were eleven and she was in my Herbology class. She was obsessed with Quidditch (played chaser for Hufflepuff) and Muggle celebrities. Notoriously, she'd spent most of the years we'd been acquainted crushing (simultaneously) on Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet.

I liked Carrington. She was cute, she made good jokes, and she never acted like she was getting attached — which was more than could be said for Prissy. It was always lowkey with her; no stress whatsoever. And, well... she did give a first class--

"You didn't open your eyes once, you know."

I lifted my eyelids, furrowing my brow at the perplexed look on the girl's face. "Huh?"

She smirked, twisting her dark blonde hair back into a knot while she spoke. "You normally have your eyes open at least some of the time. Today, they were practically glued shut. What's the deal?"

I frowned. "I dunno. Didn't even notice what I was doing with my eyes... My senses were all rather distracted, you know."

The Hufflepuff snorted. "Bullshit. Spill the beans, Malfoy." She turned her attention to buttoning her shirt back up, but glanced at me again when I didn't respond. "Oh, come on. I can see you naked but I can't know what's on your mind?"