5AN: For Claire (ClaireBear1982) as you said you liked Rose/Scorpius. :)
"You're breaking up with me?" Rose echoed, hating the way she sounded like one of those ridiculous girls in novels, the ones she swore she'd never be.
"Rosie, don't look at me like that. Being with you is the best thing I've ever known, but can you imagine what my parents would say if they found out? Or your dad, he'd go ballistic, probably bring the entire Auror Department down on my head."
She opened her mouth to respond, then shut it again, turning away from him to look out across the lake, where the water rippled softly, and she could see the Giant Squid resting just below the surface. The entire scene was tranquil, as she had felt, until a few moments ago.
"So let me get this straight," she said, facing him again. Her eyes were steely, and not wet with tears like he'd expected, and her face was set in determination. With her fiery red hair fanning out behind her, she looked formidable, like she could take on the world, like she was burning bright and she'd never stop. "You've decided to end this – whatever we were – because you think our families wouldn't approve?"
Scorpius sighed inwardly. That determination was one of the things he loved most about her. One of many things, he reflected, and all of them he was voluntarily giving up with a few carefully chosen words, a painful conversation he justified by telling himself he was doing them both a favour in the long run.
"Well?" She snapped with impatience, "do you have anything to say?" He'd been lost in his thoughts, staring at her.
"Yes, that's about right. Your cousins don't approve, Hugo doesn't approve. I won't make you alienate your family for me. We're a Weasley and a Malfoy, Rose. We were doomed from the start."
"What a load of crap! Don't bullshit me, Scorpius Malfoy. Hugo will get used to the idea, Albus already has, and the rest of my family is a lot more open-minded than you're giving them credit for. It's not them you're worried about. I think you just don't want dear old Lucius to disapprove! The Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor, Scor, and it wouldn't have done if you couldn't hold your head high and face a little controversy."
She yelled in his face, her cheeks becoming flushed in her fury, but he didn't take the bait. They were opposites that way, he was the perfect off-set to her quick temper, she the voice of reason when he lost sight of what mattered, like he had now. They were a Weasley and a Malfoy, yes, but that didn't mean they couldn't work, and in fact, Rose thought, it made them all the better together.
He eyed her steadily, noting the way she clutched her books to her chest like a shield, as she always did when she was upset. She used them as protection, he knew, with her nose buried in a book and her heart locked away, the world couldn't hurt her.
Scorpius had broken through those barriers, broken down her defences bit by bit and dared her to let the world in, showing her how rewarding it could be. It hadn't happened overnight – the daughter of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had inherited her mother's brains and her father's insecurity – he'd become friends with her first, before either of them had even considered the possibility of something more.
Even that took time, though little effort. She was funny and smart and possessed a feistiness that made her instantly likeable, despite what she believed. And then he'd looked at her across the Common Room in their sixth year, and for the first time he noticed how she bit her lip when something confused her, how her eyes would light up when comprehension dawned, how there were a million tiny details about Rose Weasley that he hadn't noticed until that moment, and that he never wanted to forget.
Shame coursed through him as he realised that with his words he'd be putting those walls back up, confirming every cynical notion she'd ever held about the world, shutting her away in an invisible tower of logic and detachment from which she might never venture out again.
And yet, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't take back what he'd said. The words were out of his mouth now, and that was the thing about words – once you voiced them, they became real and powerful and impossible to undo. So he did the only thing he thought he could. He kept going.
"I can understand that you'd be angry, I should have broken this off ages ago. Contrary to what you might think, this has nothing to do with my grandfather. It's just that you and I, Rose, we're impossible." Even to his own ears he sounded stiff and formal and false.
She frowned at him, though he could see the tears she was struggling to keep at bay. "Impossible is just a word, until you give it meaning. You don't have to, Scor. You don't have to let stupid long-dead traditions, or stupid narrow-minded people rule your life. You have a choice. We have a choice. Let's just talk about this, okay?"
"There's nothing to talk about. I've said all I needed to say, and heard more than I needed to hear. There is no more we, no more us. End of discussion."
She took several steps forward, until she was standing immediately in front of him and he could feel her breath on his cheeks, count every freckle on her face. "Forget about everything else for a second. Don't I mean anything to you?"
He looked out at the horizon, past her shoulder, then at the grass beneath his shoes, anywhere except at her and her earnest eyes. "No," he answered unconvincingly, taking a step back. And then, resisting the urge to give her one last kiss - "goodbye, Rosie."
She snorted. "This isn't goodbye, you noble git. You'll come to your senses at some point, you'll see it the way I do. Who cares what anyone else thinks?"
Sure though she was, as she watched him walk slowly away towards the Castle's open doors, she couldn't help feeling a hint of fear that maybe this was the end of them. Maybe Rose and Scorpius were never meant to be, or maybe they would prove stronger than the past they never wanted. Only time would tell, and all Rose could do was wait.
Written for:
The HP Potions Competition: Heartbreakers Teardrops – write about a break-up
The Legendary Gods and Goddesses Competition: Posiedon – write about something that happened near the sea or a lake
The Bookshelf Competition/Challenge: Pride and Prejudice – write about a love that can't happen because of a difference in society or blood status
The Greenhouses Competition: Sweet pea – write about a parting of ways
Hugs and Happiness Challenge - Claire