Never Give Up

Chapter Thirty-Six

Amelia seemed to be buried by books stretching towards the ceiling of the library. Days slowly turned into weeks which turned into months and the scenery never changed. She sat by the window in the library with textbooks surrounding her like a fort and she could be seen frantically scribbling away on some parchment. Along with homework and assignments, she was also studying. It was her final year after all which meant the pressure was intensifying and dragging her down.

The stress of their looming exams was enough to make her crack but the fact that Scorpius seemed to be pushing her away made her very strained. She had apologized for so long now about forcing him to talk to Astoria but it made no difference. She always got the same response:

Don’t worry about it, he would say and shake his head, his eyes looking around anywhere but at her, I have to go. I’ll see you later.

And he’d walk away, not making an effort to see her later. Whenever Amelia did catch him after class he would make the same excuse and walk away. She was lucky when she got a kiss on the cheek from him. He didn't look angry but she knew he was incredibly pissed off at her... he just tried not to shout at her. Her head hurt and her heart broke every time Scorpius said he had work to do.

‘ARGH!’ Amelia groaned, crunching up the parchment which had lots of scorings out and huge marks over words she didn't mean to use. She threw it across the pile of books and held her head in her hands.

Amelia pictured the looks on people’s faces when Scorpius made an excuse and walked away from her. It was a half sympathy and half ‘did you really think it would work out?’ sort of look. She ignored them all but nowadays people seemed to be giving her those looks so much more that she found it hard to shrug it off.

Her birthday, which was in February, passed by quite quickly with Scorpius stopping by to give her a present and a kiss before shoving off again. She played with the little heart attached to the bracelet he had given her and it made her wonder about the future. He wasn’t exactly wanting things to end if he gave her this bracelet but he was pushing her away... Amelia sighed. Valentine’s Day she got chocolates and a card while everyone took a break from studying and went to Hogsmeade and Amelia stayed in the library, reading. Now it was the last week of May with her exams starting in June.

‘Hey, Amelia,’ James came into the library and was walking towards her when she looked up. He looked extremely uncomfortable to be in a place with so many books. He sat down next to her, frowning, ‘what the hell is going on with you?’

‘Just... you know, studying... stress... I don’t...’ Amelia muttered, hardly making sense.

‘I think you need to take a break,’ James suggested, looking at her as she leaned forwards with her head still in her hands. The necklace she wore, rocked back and forth against her skin. James sighed, ‘I need notes, Amelia. I don’t have any notes on-’

‘Because you didn’t take any notes in class!’ Amelia glared at him, anger surging up to her surface, ‘I need to study! I can’t give you my notes!’

‘Oh, come on, Amelia! You’ve done it before! If you don’t give me your notes, I’m going to fail. You don’t want me to fail, do you?’ James asked, his hand creeping to the pile of notes Amelia kept in a folder. She reached out and slapped his hand. James sighed, ‘you really need to take it easy.’

‘I’m fine,’ Amelia assured him, taking a deep breath and leaning back in her seat. James leaned his head on his hand and looked at her, obviously not believing her. Amelia sighed, ‘why are you staring at me?’

‘There’s rumours going around,’ James started, casual enough. He looked away from her, ‘about you and that Malfoy git.’

‘Scorpius,’ Amelia corrected him and she started to move about. James watched as she put some of the textbooks on the shelf in their correct slot. She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest, ‘I made a mistake, James. A very big one and now... now he’s... mad at me.’