Never Give Up

Chapter Thirty-Five

‘Amelia, I said I’m fine! You don’t have to get worried every time I wince, alright?’ Scorpius rolled his eyes at her as they left the last period of potions together.

 A week had passed since the meeting with their parents and the news of Scorpius and James’ fight and near expulsion had spread like wild fire. A few people made rather loud comments when Scorpius and Amelia walked down the corridor. Scorpius had given up on telling them to mind their own business after Amelia had glared at him when he was about to start a fight with a sixth year.

‘Well, you obviously wince because you’re in pain. I’m sorry for even trying to care about you, Scorp,’ Amelia sighed, wrapping her arm around his waist. Her hand pressed on his side and he managed to stifle a groan but she did hear it and took his hand instead, ‘actually, I’m not sorry. I’ll care either way.’

‘I wish you’d stop,’ Scorpius admitted. He let her entwine their fingers together as they walked out of the doors of Hogwarts.

‘I wish you’d stop being so uptight about me caring about you,’ Amelia retorted, and squeezed his hand when it looked like he was going to talk back, ‘let’s go to the lake, alright?’

‘It’s so cold though,’ complained Scorpius, looking around to see that no one else was outside, ‘we should go back in, don’t you think?’

‘But it’s so nice and quiet out here... just to be away from the others. You know what we should do?’ she glanced at him fleetingly and looked in front of them. The lake was stretching out and they stopped just at the foot of it. She looked into the water to see their reflection and smiled.

‘What do you think we should do?’ Scorpius muttered, looking at her reflection in the calming water. He watched as Amelia played with the tips of her long, beautiful hair.

‘Let’s go to Hogsmeade. Just for a drink,’ she suggested, and turned to look at the side of his face, ‘what time is it?’

‘Just after four.’

‘Then that’s exactly what we should do!’ Amelia nodded enthusiastically and pulled him by the hand, ‘we can just walk up there and get a drink. No one has to know we were even gone!’

‘I don’t feel like it...’ Scorpius mumbled, looking back at the castle as Amelia pulled him regardless.

‘Oh, come on, Scorpius. One drink. On me.’ Amelia smiled, hooking her arm through his and leaning against him as they walked.

‘I’ll buy the drinks,’ he sighed. They left the Hogwarts gates easily since they were unlocked and started to walk down the windy road to Hogwarts. Scorpius frowned as they walked, ‘have you talked to Dominique lately? You still didn't tell me why you think she winked at me...’

‘Scorpius, do we have to-’ Amelia started, her eyes rolling before he had even finished his sentence.

‘Yes, we absolutely have to talk about it,’ he said with a little more force than he meant. Amelia quietened, glancing at him, and he sighed, ‘does she have... feelings for me or something?’

‘I guess you could say that...’ Amelia shrugged, ‘I talked to her about it and she said that she wanted to see you during the winter and that she thought we wouldn’t work out which is why she... I can’t believe her!’

‘Well, can you blame her? We did have a tough run, you know,’ Scorpius said, slinging an arm over her shoulder, ‘you should talk to her and just clear things up.’

‘It’s not a big deal,’ Amelia muttered, glancing around as they entered Hogsmeade. There were a couple of adults walking by and shopping but not many students that she could see in the street, ‘hurry up, Scorpius.’