The Walnut Tree

Chapter 4: Realisations

The week after that incident, I was sitting in my Astronomy classroom, listening as Professor Jade explained the new assignment that would require us to be with partners. I scowled at this, looking around at the people who could potentially be my partner for this. There was Robert (he was duller than box of quills), Susan (I swore on my life that if I was paired with her that I'd transfer to Durmstrang), James (I'd prefer not to associate with the Potters...), Helen (she wasn't too bad, I suppose), Dalia (she was from Ravenclaw and I didn't know her all that well), Harold (also duller than a box of quills) and then there was Rose. I knew that if I was paired with her she'd tear my eyes out, and I certainly wouldn't want that experience to happen. After thinking about it for a moment, I had no other choice to hope I was pair with Helen.

"Alright, class. Here are your partners! Susan and James, Robert and Dalia, Helen and Harold, and...Rose and Scorpius," Professor Jade cried out with a smile. "Everyone meet with your partners and start mapping out your own constellation!"

I looked over at Rose, and I could practically feel my eyes being ripped from their sockets. I cringed and turned away. I would have even taken Susan over Rose, and now I was stuck with the person who hated me more than my father hated happy people, and that was saying something. Instead of moving over to where she was now sitting, waiting for me, I stayed where I was. I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of making me move when she could just as easily come to where I am.

"Scorpius, please meet with Rose," Professor Jade gently said to me.

I glared at Rose, who had a smile across her face for succeeding. I rolled my eyes and took my sweet time getting over to where she was impatiently waiting.

"Let's just get this over with," I said to her.

"Agreed," she replied.

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"Your mum honestly said that in front of your cousins? That's embarrassing!" I cried rather loudly.

Rose and I were the last to finish, we had to stay late in class. She had pulled two butterbeers out of her bag, we got sugar rushed and then we got to talking about everything and nothing. It was strange. We never really had a civil conversation before, let alone one that lasted longer then five minutes. And as much as I wanted to say I hated it, I really could find no way to. I never realized how nice it was to have conversations with people. It was different, and to tell you the truth, I probably wouldn't mind doing it again.

"I know! My mum is mad! Even worse than my dad sometimes," she laughed back to me.

"Well, at least your parents are easy-going. My dad is uptight. He wants to be sure I do well at Hogwarts, but you want to know something? I don't really want an official job cooped up in an office. I want to travel the world, take pictures," I told her.

"Wow...and your parents wouldn't support that?" she asked me.

"If anything, they'd disown me," I replied glumly. "They want me to do well with my N.E.W.T.S and work at the ministry like dad."

"Well, you do what you're passionate about. Who cares what your parents think?" she said happily. "You don't need their support."

"If I don't have their's, then whose do I have? I don't really know anyone else close enough," I asked, giving her a sceptical look.

"You have mine," she answered. "I can be your friend."

At this moment, something in me clicked, as if I had a switch on my back controlling whether I was nice or not. "I don't need friends," I said in a mere whisper.

"Everyone needs friends, Scorpius, even you. Why is it that every time we get too close you pull away? Why can't you just accept the fact that I want to get to know you and be friends?" she demanded of me, trying to reach for my hand.

I snapped it back, glaring. "Why do you assume that I want your friendship? I don't need your pity, Rose."

"It's not pity, and it's not some long dare I have going with my cousins. It's not out of sadness, or just out of popularity. I want to know you, Scorpius. Do you understand this?" she hissed out, now looking frustrated.

"I do, but I don't believe that," I whispered.

"Why? Why can't you believe it? I'm laying it out clear here for you!"

"How can you even ask that question, Rose? How can I ever trust or believe what anyone says to me? All of the things that have happened in the past affect that, you above all people should understand that," I explained to her.

"I'm trying, I really am. But why can't you trust me? I'm so open with you about everything, even my family life," she told me.

"Open with me? You aren't, that's the whole point. You expect me to pour my life out to you and you can't tell me anything beyond simple things that you could tell anyone. You don't express yourself, Rose. Now do you understand why I always assumed that you were perfect as a newly grown flower? You never gave me anything to think otherwise."

She was close to tears now, and I could tell she was fighting them back. She bit her lip, and I took her hand. "Rose, when you're ready to break that wall that's stopping you from really knowing me, you let me know." I placed her hand on her leg and stood. I took one look back at a now crying red-haired girl, and part of me wanted to go back and comfort her. But I knew I couldn't, and sauntered away, breathing deeply as I went.

When I arrived at my dormitory, I found my owl sitting on the ledge of the window. I knew what was coming, and I took the letter off of her leg, and she flew off into the distance. I read the envelope, which had my father's formal handwriting on it with a Ministry stamp on it and tossed it aside. I knew exactly what it said, and I wasn't in the mood to read it. Instead, I moved towards the ledge and sat down, staring at the stars. For a brief moment, I saw a formation of a young girl, and she seemed to be dancing. Something clicked, and I remembered the girl from that Hogsmeade weekend, dancing and singing in the rain. I knew I had recognised her from somewhere, and I knew who it was now. It was Rose.