Chapter Twenty-Seven

                                    

                                          
Rose Weasley 
                          
"Excuse me?" Rose said, completely aghast as to what Christian had just asked. Didn't he know that she was with Scorpius? 
                          
Christian rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed. "I said, would you go out with me again?" 
                          
Rose glared at him. "No, I will not. Don't you know I'm with Scorpius now? And even if I wasn't, after how you treated Jo and Melanie I don't think I'd want to be in a relationship with you again." 
                          
"That's exactly my problem," Christian whined. "No girl wants to date me!" 
                          
Rose rolled her eyes. Clearly they had already gone over this, but Christian didn't seem to get that. Rose was starting to find that Christian had really changed since they used to date. When the two of them had first started dating, Christian was an awkward, sweet, but shy guy who Rose thought was almost like an adorable little puppy. Now, he was cocky, whiny, and clearly didn't know how to take no for an answer. She was tired of dealing with him, but she felt a little sorry for him. His life was ripping at the seams. 
                          
"Well, can you blame them Christian?" Rose almost shouted this, but didn't let her voice reach that requester because she knew it wouldn't do any good. "What you need to do is change your image, again." 
                          
"What do you mean?" he asked, clearly interested. 
                          
Rose thought for a second. "Well, when we were dating, you were this shy, sweet guy who would do sweet things for me and was just fun to be around. But now you have this whole demeanor of being cocky, a now it all, and you're very whiny. Not to mention the way you have treated your last girlfriend is absolutely not okay. You just need to try and find a way to get back to your old self." 
                          
Christian looked down at the floor and Rose felt that he perhaps didn't truly know those things about himself. She was glad that someone finally told him. 
                          
"You're right," he said, finally looking up at her, "and I'm sorry for how I keep coming to you with my problems and expecting you to magically fix them. I don't deserve to have a friend like you." 
                          
Rose smiled. "It's okay Christian, you just need to try harder at fixing your own problems. And I'll always be here for you." She leaned toward him, wrapping him in a small hug. He greatly accepted it. 
                          
"Thanks Rose," he whispered in her eye. Rose smiled to herself. She liked being the fixer. 
                          
Scorpius Malfoy 
                          
Scorpius's eye fluttered open. His eyes were met with cool sunlight pouring in through his dormitory windows. He glanced to his bedside table and saw that his clock read, 9:25am. It was the next morning, Scorpius realized. He tried sitting up, but was pushed back by a pain splitting headache. His mouth tasted of alcohol. Oh boy, he thought to himself, as he tried sitting up again, this time with success. 
                          
He looked around the dorm and saw Lawrence was also passed out on his own bed. Memories came pouring into Scorpius's head, as he remember what had happened the night before. Lawrence had come into the dorm, carrying a bottle of alcohol and Scorpius had great accepted some. The two had ended up drinking the night away, talking about complete nonsense. Scorpius remembered how relaxed he had felt. It had felt good to drink with a friend and just talk about nothing. Scorpius didn't have to worry about his father, Rose, Albus or any of his other friends and what they might be thinking. It had felt good. 
                          
Scorpius knew, however, that he needed to shape up. Especially when his father came. If his father ever caught him drinking, he'd take Scorpius out of school and keep him locked in his room for God knew how long. He didn't want that. 
                          
Scorpius pulled himself out of bed and was happy to find that this hangover wasn't as bad as previous ones had been. Or maybe he was just getting used to it. Scorpius quickly got ready, so as not to miss breakfast. It was a Saturday, so breakfast ran later than usual, but Scorpius thought it was better to be early than late.  
                          
Once he was done, he made his way down to the Great Hall. He saw Rose, who was sat by herself at the Ravenclaw table. His spirits instantly grew the minute he saw her. He walked towards her, then, wrapped his around her eyes. "Guess who?" he whispered in her ear. 
                          
"My dorky boyfriend, who I saw coming out of the corner of my eye?" she said, giggling as she turned around to face him. 
                          
"Darn it," Scorpius said, faking disappointment before planting a kiss on her forehead. He swiftly took a seat next to her at the table, grabbed his plate and started piling food onto it. 
                          
"How have you been?" asked Rose, taking a bite of her own food. 
                          
Scorpius thought for a second. Did he want to tell her how he actually was doing or just say he was fine? With his past girlfriends, they had never really talked about personal stuff, but Rose was different. He actually wanted to talk to her and wanted to share his problems with her. 
                          
"I've been better," he shrugged, taking a sip of coffee, which instantly helped perk him up. 
                          
Rose looked at him, sadness in her eyes. "Is it about your dad?" she asked, reaching over and touching his hand gently. 
                          
Scorpius nodded. "Apparently, he is coming here, to the school, to give this stupid seminar about his work as an Auror. As if seeing him during the summer isn't enough, he has to come to my school now? And of course he doesn't think anything is wrong. He just expects me to be this perfect son, who will go out to lunch with him and talk as if he hasn't done a thing wrong." 
                          
Rose leaned into Scorpius, resting her head on his shoulders. "I'm sorry love. I know you don't have a good relationship with your father, but that's better than having no relationship with him. Maybe this visit is a good thing. It will give you guys an opportunity to work everything out and just talk. Try looking on the bright side of all of this." 
                          
Scorpius sighed. "I guess you're right." 
                          
Rose turned to face him. "I'm always right," she said, smiling, as she gave him a quick kiss. 
                          
~ 
                          
After breakfast, Rose and Scorpius went their separate ways. Scorpius said he wanted to find Albus and apologize for how he'd been acting recently. The two decided to meet up that night for a "date night." 
                          
Scorpius found Albus out on the Quidditch field, which was very strange considering he wasn't much of a Quidditch player. Then Scorpius discovered Albus wasn't alone. Albus had been flying around in the air, laughing his head off. Scorpius looked and saw that Albus was laughing at the tricks someone else was making on their broom. 
                          
Scorpius waved up to Albus, who had finally looked in his direction. Albus held up his pointer finger, saying give me a second, before flying over to the other flyer. Scorpius was to far away to make out who it was, but it looked as though Albus was just saying goodbye, as he flew over, landing near Scorpius. 
                          
"Who was that?" Scorpius asked, walking over to Albus. Albus's cheeks turned a deep shade of red. 
                          
"Just a friend," he said, quickly. "Anyway, did you want something?" He started walking towards the castle, making Scorpius follow him. 
                          
"Yeah," Scorpius ran to catch up with him. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for what a prick I've been recently. You don't deserve my attitude at all, yet I've still been a complete ass. So, I'm sorry." 
                          
Albus smiled at him. "It's okay mate. I'm just worried about you, that's all." 
                          
"I know. And thanks for that. I had a talk with Rose, so I think I know how to handle everything now." 
                          
"Good." Albus smiled, then pulled Scorpius in for a "bro hug." The two pulled apart and started walking back towards the castle, both of them talking about random things. When they arrived in the front door of Hogwarts, they were greeted by a random Hufflepuff student. 
                          
"Ah, just the two I was looking for," the boy said, "Headmistress McGonagall would like you both in her office. Your fathers have arrived."