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Piper gazed at them with her mouth open. It had started to drizzle, and through the rain she could barely make out who was who...
They were so tightly intertwined that if Piper hadn't know they were two people, she probably would have assumed they were just one very bundled-up person.
'Oh,' Rose mumbled under her breath. 'Maybe we should...'
But she didn't finish her sentence. Albus had pulled back from the person, and their hood, previously blocking their face, had fallen back...
It was Scorpius Malfoy, with the biggest grin on his face. Albus had a matching one. As Piper and Rose watched, Albus leant forwards and whispered something in Scorpius' ear, then pulled on his trailing Slytherin scarf and kissed him again, gently this time, and only fleetingly.
Piper's heart contracted painfully in her chest and she swallowed, hard. 'Well,' she said, her stomach sinking. 'At least we know why Albus wasn't into me, right?'
Rose hesitated before speaking. 'Well. Albus isn't gay, Piper.'
The two figures in the rain were moving towards Hogsmede. With a sickening lurch in her stomach, Piper saw they were holding hands. 'That looks pretty gay to me,' she managed, gesturing at the pair walking down the path.
It was a titanic effort to keep her voice steady.
Rose hesitated again, staring at her cousin's retreating back. 'Well, he's bisexual. I've known it for a while.'
Piper blinked, and was horrified to feel tears trickling down her cheeks. She pulled her hood down further over her face and her scarf further up, so Rose wouldn't see. 'Why didn't you tell me?'
Looking uncomfortable, Rose scratched her ear, and the gesture reminded Piper so much of Albus that it felt like a physical pain in her heart. 'It wasn't my secret to tell,' Rose explained. 'But really... Scorpius Malfoy?'
'I hear he's quite nice, really,' Piper mumbled. Her lips felt numb. She couldn't get rid of the image in her head of Albus and Scorpius, wrapped together in the rain... 'Well, he must be, right, if Albus is-'
She couldn't get the words out. Instead, she shoved her hands in her pockets to disguise their shaking and stepped forwards.
'Piper?' Rose asked cautiously. 'What are you doing?'
Maybe Rose was afraid that Piper was going to go after Albus and attack him or something. Maybe she thought Piper was going to attack Scorpius.
She wasn't. Albus had a boyfriend now, so what? She would rather he was happy, after all, even if he wasn't happy with her.
Even if he was happy with Scorpius Malfoy.
Even if it was tearing her apart on the inside.
'You said we were going to Hogsmede,' Piper said, marching forwards. The rain on her cheeks felt like tears.. or maybe the tears on her cheeks felt like rain. Piper wasn't even sure anymore. 'So let's go to Hogsmede.'
'Good for you for going anyway,' Rose said, tripping after Piper. 'But... aren't you scared you'll see-' she broke off before saying his name. 'You-Know-Who?'
'You-Know-Who's dead, Rose,' Piper snapped, then sighed, relenting. Rose had done nothing wrong. Albus hadn't even done anything wrong. It was just her stupid heart's fault, after all. 'No, I'm not afraid of seeing Albus. We're both adults, right? I can take seeing him with his new boyfriend.'
Away from Rose's prying eyes, Piper wiped the tears from her face. But it didn't do any good. New ones formed as fast as she could wipe the old ones away.
This is what heartbreak feels like, Piper thought miserably. Great.
