Just a refresher, Christina Daniels is Rose's best girl friend. She is dating Albus Potter.
Jordan Reilly is Rose's best guy friend.
Viktor Krum is a baddie.
This has slight spoilers for my fic, but nothing major.
The streets of Hogsmeade were so busy that no one seemed to notice a nineteen-year-old girl appear out of nowhere. Clutching her cloak closer to her body, she walked as fast as she could down the streets, finally arriving at an old-fashioned looking house. She raised her hand, fist clenched, and knocked on the door three times. From inside, she heard a voice shout “I’m coming!” and several seconds alter, the door was opened by an average height, eighteen-year-old boy with white-blonde hair and warm grey eyes.
“Rose,” he said, sounding surprised as he hadn’t seen her in a year. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” He hugged her gently, then stepped back to let her into the house.
“Oh no,” Rose said, not moving from the front steps. “I don’t want to come in. I’m here to take you somewhere.” There was a sad note in her voice, something which Scorpius didn’t understand.
“C’mon!” Rose insisted, grabbing his hand. She turned slightly to her left, the stepped into the air, both of them vanishing on the spot as if the earth had swallowed them up.
When the two reappeared, they were only a couple acres away, but the scene was vastly different. Miles of headstones encompassed the land. It was an eerie kind of beautiful.
“Uh, Rose,” Scorpius said hesitantly, “why did you bring me to a cemetery?”
“Don’t you know what day it is?” asked Rose, leading him to a specific headstone. She pointed and Scorpius gasped, mentally smacking himself for being so stupid.
“Of course,” he muttered. “I knew it was soon, but the day just seemed to sneak up on me.”
“Yeah,” said Rose. “It was exactly one year ago.” She waved her wand and conjured up flowers to place on the grave. Scorpius put his arm around her shoulders as the two of them stared at the name engraved on the marble, memories of that terrible day and the weeks that followed flowing back into their minds.
* * *
Rose had been studying for her N.E.W.T. tests when she heard the news: Jordan, Albus, and Zabini (who wasn’t the jerk they initially thought he was) had been gravely injured by an Azkaban prisoner on the loose. They had thought that they would be able to find him, beat him in a duel, and turn him into the Ministry just as they had with Viktor Krum, but this was obviously not the case.
Immediately, Rose dropped her books and bolted towards the Hospital Wing. She didn’t care that she was wearing pajamas and fluffy slippers; all that mattered was getting to her destination as quickly as possible. She pushed open the doors softly so she wouldn’t disturb any sleeping patients and walked in cautiously, not really sure what to expect. Christina Daniels, Rose’s best friend was standing by Albus’ bed.
“Al!” Rose called, running over to her cousin’s bed. “What happened?”
“We got attacked,” Albus groaned. It was obvious that he was in a lot of pain and he wasn’t looking so good either. A large bandage was tied around his forehead, his right arm was wrapped up, there was a gash on his cheek, and his right eye was slightly blackened. He tried to sit up so he could see his visitors better, but ended up wincing from the pain.
“Lay back down,” Christina said gently with concern in her eyes. Albus obliged and gave her a small smile.
“I’m going to be okay, you know,” he said, fixing his eyes on her as if nothing else in the world existed. Rose, noticing this, left the side of the bed and surveyed the room, looking for Jordan. Not seeing him, she walked over to Zabini’s bedside. His injuries weren’t as bad as Albus’ but they didn’t look particularly good either.
“Where’s Jordan?” Rose asked instantly, not thinking to ask Zabini how he was doing first.
“I don’t know Rose,” Zabini moaned.
“Is he okay?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” Zabini repeated. “He was injured the worst, though, out of the three of us.”
“Oh no,” Rose said, half to herself. She ran over to Madame Pomfrey and insisted on being brought to Jordan’s bed instantly.
“Miss Weasley,” the nurse began, “he isn’t doing so well. Having visitors might make him worse.”
“I have to see him,” Rose said forcefully.
“Fine,” said Madame Pomfrey. “He was asking for you earlier.” She led Rose over to the very back of the Hospital Wing where Jordan was lying on a bed, barely moving.
“What’s wrong with him?” Rose asked.
“He has several broken ribs, a huge gash down the side of his face, a broken nose, and a lot of deep cuts. He lost a large amount of blood,” Madame Pomfrey replied.
“Will he be okay?”
“I’m not sure, dear. I’m really not sure,” came the response. On that solemn note, Madame Pomfrey walked away, leaving Rose with her injured friend.
“Jordan?” Rose whispered. There was no reply. Growing nervous, she checked for signs of life and was relieved to see that he was still breathing. Letting out a sigh of relief, she pulled a chair up to his bedside, sat down, and reached out to stoke his hair gently. She hoped that Scorpius wouldn’t come at that very moment as he would most likely gather the wrong impression, resulting in some sort of fight.
Even though she was currently dating Scorpius, she couldn’t decide whether or not she had lingering feelings for Jordan. The two of them had broken up in fifth year and things had been a little awkward for a while but now, in seventh year, they were closer friends than ever before.
“Rose?” Jordan said, interrupting her thoughts.
“You’re awake?” Rose asked rather stupidly. “How are you?”
“I’ve been better,” Jordan said softly. “Madame Pomfrey gave me all these potions to help, but it still hurts. Really bad.”
“Oh Jordan!” Rose said, hugging him gently so she wouldn’t injure him any further. I’m gunna get the person who did this to you if it’s the last thing I do.”
“No, Rose, no,” Jordan said, suddenly sounding very serious. “He could kill you, do you understand?” Rose nodded slowly. Jordan brought his brown eyes up to meet hers and said, “If I die from my injuries, promise me that you won’t go after the guy. Promise me.”
“I promise,” Rose said, her eyes filling with years. “You’re not going to die Jordan. I won’t let you.” For several minutes, they remained silent, staring into each others eyes, savoring the moment.
“Uh, Rose?” Christina said, clearly feeling very awkward. Rose jumped; she hadn’t realized that Christina was there.
“Yeah?” Rose asked.
“I’m going back to the common room. Are you coming?” Christina said.
“Later,” Rose replied.
“Should I tell Scorpius where you are?”
“I’ll just tell him later,” Rose insisted.
“Okay…” Christina said, sounding unsure. She turned around and left Rose and Jordan by themselves again, her long brown ponytail swinging as she walked away.
“You don’t have to stay with me,” Jordan whispered.
“Yes, I do,” Rose said forcefully. They sat there in silence for a couple long moments until finally Jordan spoke up.
“Rose?” Jordan said, hesitatingly. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
“Yeah?” Rose said, sounding curious.
“Well, uh…” Jordan began, “I wasn’t going to tell you, but, you know, given the present matter, I guess I should.” He paused for what seemed like an eternity. “I never really gave up on you. I mean, I tried thinking of you as just a friend, but in my mind, you were always something more. I…” But, his eyes rolled and he fainted before finished his sentence. Without realizing what she was doing, Rose leaned forward and kissed him lightly, then got up abruptly and left the Hospital Wing, silent tears falling down her face.
She pushed open the common room door and walked over to Scorpius, who was sitting in his favorite armchair.
“What’s wrong?” Scorpius said immediately, upon seeing her tears.
“Oh, uh,” Rose said intelligently, “well, Jordan isn’t doing so great.” Scorpius turned chalk white. “I think he’ll live,” Rose added quickly.
“Good,” sighed Scorpius. “What else is goin’ on?” he added, noticing that she still looked uncomfortable.
“Oh, that,” Rose said. “Well, I don’t really know how to tell you, but, um, it’s really complicated, uh, I, um, you know, for reasons I don’t really feel like saying, um… gosh! This is coming out all wrong. To make it simple, me and you, uh, yeah…”
“So, you’re breaking up with me?” Scorpius asked, somehow understanding the nonsense that came out of her mouth.
“For now,” Rose said quietly.
“For now?”
“Yeah. It’s hard to explain. I still like you and everything, but… it’s hard.”
“Does this have to do with Jordan?” Scorpius asked icily.
Rose just turned around and walked away. She couldn’t bring herself to answer.
The next morning, Rose awoke to something saying, in quite a loud voice, “Rose Weasley: report to the Hospital Wing immediately.” She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and bolted to the Hospital Wing.
“What is it?” she asked Madame Pomfrey, out of breath.
“Jordan,” was the reply. Rose ran over to his bedside, afraid that the unthinkable had happened. She was surprised to see that his eyes were open, but his breathing was coming in ragged breaths.
“Jordan!” Rose yelled. He nodded in acknowledgement. “What’s going on?” she asked, sounding worried.
“I asked for you,” he said simply. “I… I wanted you to be here.”
“Jordan, what are you talking about?” Rose said frantically.
“Don’t you get it?” he asked. Rose merely stared at him, dumbstruck. “Madame Pomfrey says that my lungs are collapsing.” He coughed a nasty sough. “It was a spell that the guy cast on me. It’s…” he coughed again, “incurable.” Rose’s jaw became rather friendly with the floor as she realized exactly what he was saying.
“Jordan, no!” she said loudly. “No! Don’t say that.” Her blue eyes were huge, tears swimming in their depths. Jordan didn’t reply. Slowly, he reached out to find her hand and shoved a piece of parchment into it. He took a deep breath and muttered, “Here. I want you to have that.” Rose started to unfold it, but Jordan stopped her. “Not now,” was all he said.
Rose reached out and touched his cheek and he gave her a small smile. All of the sudden, his body shuddered, his heart rate quickened the slowed down. Breathing was becoming hard; he was practically gasping for air.
“Rose, I… I…” he said between breaths, “I… love you.” And with that, he closed his eyes and was still.
“Jordan! No, wait! Don’t leave me,” Rose said frantically, tears falling down her face at a heavy rate. She waved her hand in front of him. No response.
“Madame Pomfrey!” she cried desperately. “Do something!”
“Madame Pomfrey examined Jordan thoroughly then looked Rose straight in the eye and said, “I can’t. It’s too late.”
* * *
“Rose! Rose!” Scorpius said, jerking her out of her thoughts. She blinked and surveyed the area around: no longer was she in the Hospital Wing. Instead she was staring down at Jordan’s grave, silent tears running down her face.
“Rose,” Scorpius said calmly, “Albus and Christina are here.” Rose looked over at them and, noticing that they were holding hands, turned away immediately.
She walked over to a bench and sat down. Carefully, she fingered the locket she always wore around her neck. As slowly as she could, she opened it and pulled a piece of parchment from its depths.
The tearstained paper was wrinkled in many places from the amount of times it had been read. Rose unfolded it and, once more, looked upon the familiar, messy writing that was scrawled across the parchment.
“Dear Rose,” it read, “As I write this letter, I am positive that I’m going to die soon. Madame Pomfrey explained everything: She’d been trying her hardest, but when she looked the spell up she found that there was nothing she could do. Rose, I’m too young to die. There are so many things that I still wanted to do. So many things that we could have done together. But, I went down fighting and that’s always how I imagined it to be.
We’ve been through so much together, Rose, and I can’t believe that it has to end. True, we’ve had out ups and downs, out accomplishments and failures, and the occasional fight, but at the end of the day, we were the best of friends.
I regret that I won’t be there with you when you graduate, get a job, buy a house, and all those other things you do as you grow up. I know you’ll be great, Rose. I can feel it in my heart. One more thing – please don’t linger over me forever. Go on with your life, please. I want you to be as happy as you can.
You were always my light in the dark and could cheer me up like no other. I’ve been proud to call you ‘friend’ all these years. I love you and always will. Until forever.
Much love,
Jordan Reilly”
Rose continued to stare at the letter, tears falling at an even heavier rate. Someone sat down next to her on the bench and put their arm around her shoulders. She looked up into his grey eyes and said, “Scorpius?”
“Yes?” he asked gently.
“Look, I’m really sorry that I haven’t talked to you in almost a year. It’s just that… well, I don’t know how to explain. Read this.” She handed him Jordan’s letter, something she has never shown anyone else.
Scorpius read it in silence, understanding dawning upon him. He looked over at Rose and pulled her close to him, holding her tight.
“I was so stupid, Rose,” Scorpius whispered. “I just assumed that you couldn’t stand me.”
“No, I was the stupid one,” Rose said. “Jordan and I were always destined to be best friends. Never anything more. I guess I just turned a blind eye to the fact that there was someone else who loved me. Someone who I loved back in the same way.” She paused. “You.”
Scorpius smiled at her as she closed her eyes and kissed him lightly. Then, she stood up and walked over to Jordan’s grave. She knelt down and whispered, “You finally got your wish, Jordan. I’m going back to a normal life. But, don’t worry; you’ll always be in my heart.”
As she stood up, she could have sworn that she heard a voice said, “Until forever…” The strange thing was, it sounded exactly like Jordan. She blinked, looked around wildly, and decided that it must have been a hallucination.
The End.
Jordan's last words were the cheesiest things ever, I'm sorry.
This took me five days to write and I'm pretty proud of it, so I hoped you enjoy. Feedback is appreciated. Thank you.