A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me two weeks to get this up but it's a long AND important chapter. A lot of you missed Scorpius' POV in the last chapter so I've included a good amount of Scorpius in this one! Hope you all like it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited, etc. Please keep reviewing - I love reading what you have to say.

Disclaimer: disclaimed.

A series of loud groans erupted from the Slythindor side of the Great Hall. The 6th year Slythindor trivia team had missed yet another question, putting them thirty points behind the Ravenpuff 6th years. At this rate we were sure to loose this challenge. Our fourth years had won their round by twenty points but it had been all down hill after that. The fifth years had lost their round by ten points and now the sixth years were digging us into a huge point deficit.

"Now for the final question." Announced the headmistress.

Biting down onto my lower lip I pinched the bridge of my nose. Every muscle in my body tensed up as I waited to hear the final question. I hoped that the 6th years would be able to get this last question right. That way, there would be a slim chance that us 7th years would be able to dig the team out of this gaping hole.

"Who was the owner of the Philosopher's Stone?"

It took all of my willpower to keep from yelling out the answer. As the Slythindor team put their heads together to consult with one another I saw red sparks come from the Ravenpuff side.

"Damn." I grumbled under my breath upon seeing that my cousin Lucy was the culprit. Of course she knew the answer. The entire family knew the answer to that question.

"Nicholas Flamel." She answered calmly, leaning forward onto the table to ensure that she was heard.

"That is correct. Ten points to the Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff team. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff win this round one-hundred and twenty points to eighty." The Headmistress announced the results calmly but I could see from the look on her face that she was displeased. I didn't blame her. As a former Gryffindor she wanted us to win and we were now, on the whole, behind by thirty points in this challenge.

All of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sitting in the Great Hall erupted in a wave of cheers, whistles and claps. Now that victory was within their reach they were all visibly excited at the prospect of winning their first challenge.

I ran a hand over my face in frustration, watching as clusters of students dispersed throughout the Great Hall. There was a ten-minute break before the seventh year round and I was desperately trying to come up with a winning strategy. We had never anticipated starting the final round this far behind so there was not contingency plan. The seventh year team was solid but winning by more than thirty points seemed impossible against the impressive Ravenpuffs.

Sighing, I turned my head slightly to the right and caught a glimpse of Scorpius. I focused my gaze on him and noticed that he was yelling at two of the defeated 6th years. Inhaling sharply through my nose I tilted my head back and turned my eyes towards the ceiling, wondering what on earth I had done to deserve being placed in this situation.

I understood Scorpius' frustration, but what was done was done and throwing a fit would only discourage those on the receiving end. There was still one last challenge that we needed to conquer and needlessly berating team members would only harm us in the long run.

Sighing, I stood up and weaved through the crowd in order to make my way over to where Scorpius was still laying into the sixth years. As I approached the trio I heard Scorpius repeatedly asking them whether or not they had gone through the outlines we had provided.

"Scorpius, can I borrow you for a second?" I asked coolly, shooting the two mortified students a sympathetic smile.

Frowning, Scorpius turned his head towards me. He seemed surprised to see me standing so close to him and for a moment he hesitated. "Rose, I'm kind of in the middle of something." He finally said. His eyes flitted over to where the two sixth years were standing. The clenched look on his face told me that he was desperately trying to control his temper. Clearly my little interruption didn't sit well with him.

"I can see that but it's urgent." I forced a tight-lipped smile, not wanting to further alarm the already embattled students.

Seeing the insistent look on my face Scorpius let out a long, overly dramatic sigh and nodded his head. "Very well." He mumbled. Turning his head to look at the sixth years Scorpius gave them one last disgusted look before leading me off to the side.

"Alright, was is it Rose?" Scorpius asked. Though his question was demanding, he had significantly softened his tone.

"I needed to get you away from those sixth years. You were really letting them have it." I too had decided to soften my tone. If Scorpius wanted to be civil then I would gladly oblige him.

Scorpius' eyes widened and he blinked at me in astonishment for a few seconds. "Of course I was being hard on them!" Scorpius exclaimed, glancing around as if to make sure this wasn't some sort of joke. "They lost the round by forty points. In all likelihood they just cost us the challenge!"

Frustrated, I shifted my weight. "I know that." I hissed through clenched teeth. I craned my neck towards Scorpius, "But if you're having trouble counting today, let me inform you that this is only the third challenge. There's still one more challenge left after this one. You're not doing us any favors by alienating team members."

From deep within his throat Scorpius let out what sounded like a growl. "So if it was up to you, you would just let them off the hook after that performance? They were embarrassing."

"I would not just let them off the hook!" I exclaimed. "But I most certainly wouldn't deal with it the way you are." I was slowly becoming extremely frustrated with Scorpius. I didn't see why he had to turn this into a full flown discussion.

"See, that's you're problem Rose. You're too soft on people." Scorpius snapped, his nostrils flaring out in anger.

Hearing this, I inhaled sharply through my nose. Instinctively, I was offended by his words. I saw no problem with the reasoned approach I took when dealing with people. Crossing my arms over my chest, I glowered at Scorpius, "Maybe you're right Scorpius. I was clearly too soft on you over the past couple of months and look where that got me." Following the jab I pursed my lips.

Rather than immediately throwing some remark in my face, Scorpius was silent. The hostile look on his face disappeared, his brows furrowed and his lips seemed to turn down into a frown. If I didn't know better I would have sworn that he looked hurt by my comment.

However, I didn't have any more time to examine Scorpius' reaction for, in that moment, the headmistress announced that the final round was about to start. With one last glance at Scorpius I turned on my heel and walked over to the long table that had been set up for the trivia teams at the front of the room.

Taking my seat, I smiled at my teammates. Scorpius eventually found his way over to the table as well, taking the last open seat to my left.

The Ravenpuffs settled down into their seats and I looked at them down the long table. Though I was loathe to admit it, I was feeling a bit nervous. We were in such a point deficit that I didn't know if we had, had enough practice to be able to make it up.

Silence soon befell the Great Hall as everyone settled in to watch the final round. Leaning into my seat I tightened the vice grip on my wand, ready to set off red sparks the second I heard a question I knew the answer to.

"Alright, let's begin." The headmistress stood up and as she readied herself to ask the first question my heart began to race.

"First question. Who was the youngest recorded Animagus?"

Instantly, my mind clicked and I held up my wand, sending up red sparks.

"Yes Miss Weasley."

Leaning forward, I smiled, "Neil Luttrell."

"Correct. Ten points to the Gryffindor – Slytherin team."

Sparse applause broke out in the Great Hall. Letting out a sigh of relief I glanced at my teammates. Everyone looked relieved that we had scored the first ten points, except for Scorpius. Scorpius turned his eyes towards me, jaw clenched. It was then that I remembered that during out last practice we had divvied up the subject matter and that Scorpius had been put in charge of the Transfiguration questions.

I cringed and turned towards Scorpius to offer an apology. Before I could get a single word out however, the headmistress was already preparing to ask the second question. Inwardly, I berated myself for forgetting the way we had divided the material. There was no doubt in my mind that Scorpius perceived my actions as intentional. Especially after the spat we had just had. Now I could only hope that Scorpius wouldn't do something stupid in retaliation.

"Next question. What is the incantation required to reverse a human to animal transfiguration?"

Another transfiguration question. Though I knew the answer I resisted the urge to send up the signal and instead turned my head towards Scorpius to see if he knew the answer. However, I quickly noticed that Scorpius had no intention of speaking up. Scorpius blinked at me and with a sarcastic smile on his face, he waved out his arm in mock invitation. This was exactly the type of stupid stunt I had been afraid he would pull. He was going to avoid answering the question just to get back at me for stealing his thunder.

My eyes widened in shock at his behavior and I quickly whipped my head around towards the front of the room. Just as I was about to raise my wand, red sparks flew up from the Ravenpuff side of the table.

"Aparecium Avifors."

The confident voice caused me to groan audibly.

"Ten points to the Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff team." The headmistress did not sound pleased.

In that moment I was so angry with Scorpius that I couldn't even stand to look at him. I had to fold my hands on the table to keep them from shaking. I couldn't believe that he was willing to risk the team's chance at victory out of spite.

As headmistress McGonagall readied herself to ask the next question I finally glanced over at Scorpius. There wasn't the slightest indication of remorse on his face. Rather, he happened to look quite pleased with himself. As if somehow I was the only one affected by his actions.

"In what year was the statute for underage magic put into full effect?"

General History of Magic. This was one of the areas that I was responsible for and I could answer this question in my sleep. However, as I looked at Scorpius' smug face, something snapped within me. Out of anger I decided that if he wanted to play games then I would be kind enough to give him a partner. He seemed perfectly content to wreak havoc upon the team but I wanted to see how he felt when he wasn't the only one in control.

Pursing my lips I leaned all the way back into my chair, as far away from the table, and my wand as possible. Seeing this, Scorpius' jaw dropped. He was clearly astonished by the fact that I had taken his act of defiance one step further. For a second his eyes flitted over to where his wand was sitting on the table.

The rest of our teammates leaned forward and craned their necks to look at me. Despite the pleading looks they were shooting me I refused to budge. It wasn't long after that, that the Ravenpuff team was able to provide the right answer.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They lead by twenty points to ten."

A few groans were heard from the side of the room where the Slythindors had set up shop, but the loudest groans came from the mouths of the rest of my teammates.

A pang of guilt hit me in the gut and the smug smile I had been shooting Scorpius' way faltered. I wasn't just toying with Scorpius; I was toying with my entire team. If I continued to play Scorpius' game I would have to face the wrath of both houses.

"What was the name of the first non – British Quidditch team to compete in the Quidditch world cup?"

Upon hearing this question, I sat up in my chair and inched slightly closer to the table. Quidditch was Scorpius' second assigned area but there was also a case to be made that the question fell under general History of Magic. Unsure of myself I glanced at Scorpius. I wanted to answer the question and tie the round but part of me didn't want to give into him.

As I looked at Scorpius, he turned his head towards me, an apprehensive look on his face. I would have bet a dozen galleons that he was thinking the same thing I was.

Before either one of us could make up our minds I saw red sparks fly up from the left side of the table.

"The Welsh National Quidditch Team." Frederick Finnigan's deep voice blurted out the answer, breaking the silence from our end of the table.

"That is correct. Ten points to the Gryffindor – Slytherin team."

A collective sigh of relief was heard from the Slythindor side of the room. At least we were tied. I let out the breath I had been holding, glad that Frederick had stepped up and answered the question.

"Hey, you two." Frederick hissed.

I turned my head to the left to see that he was leaning forward on the table, his palms open against the wood as he narrowed his eyes and Scorpius and I.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you two?" In between every other word Frederick would glance over at Headmistress McGonagall to make sure she wasn't about to ask the next question.

"I don't know what is going on between the two of you, but you need to get over it. Now. You're going to cost us the round and the challenge." Frederick's nostrils flared as he spoke and once he was done, he threw us one last disgusted look before leaning back into his chair.

I was completely taken aback by Frederick's chastisement. Frederick and I had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team together for years and I had never seen him this angry before.

Feeling Scorpius' eyes on me, I turned my head to look at him. "Why don't we just deal with this later?" He mumbled, averting my gaze so that we wouldn't make eye contact.

Sighing, I nodded my head in agreement. This was neither the time nor the place for Scorpius and I to work out our frustrations. "Okay."

"In what year was the first Goblin war fought?"

Hearing the question, I reached for my wand. Just as I was about to hold it up, I felt Scorpius nudge my knee with his. I rolled my eyes and kept my attention on the front of the room. I did not need him to remind me that this question was my responsibility.

"Fourteen thirty-two." I responded.

The Headmistress nodded in approval, "Ten points to the Gryffindor – Slytherin team. They lead thirty points to twenty."

Relieved that we were finally back in the lead, I sighed and sat back into my chair. Enthusiastic cheers came from the Slythindor side of the room, expressing their relief that we were finally back in the game.

While it felt good to be in front of the Ravenpuffs, that wasn't enough. We would have to win by more than thirty points in order to win the challenge and, as I shifted in my chair, I couldn't help but think that we would be hard pressed to do so.

Thankfully, Scorpius and I managed to keep our aggressions towards each other at bay for the remainder of the round.

As Scorpius answered another Transfiguration question correctly, a wave of cheers came from the Slythindor side of the room. We had been on a streak lately and everyone was starting to think that we would actually be able to pull of a comeback.

"Every one, settle down please. This will be the final question."

Hearing this, nervous whispers erupted from every corner of the Great Hall. My eyes opened wide in surprise and I turned to my left to look at the other members of my team. We were currently twenty points ahead of the Ravenpuffs and if we got this final question right, we would win the round, tie the challenge, and push it towards a sudden death round. If we failed to answer the next question, well, the Ravenpuffs would win the round and with it, win the challenge.

"Okay everyone, we can do this. If you know the answer, just put up the signal. Don't wait for whoever the subject was assigned to." Frederick whispered as he bounced his leg up and down nervously.

I nodded my head, acknowledging Frederick's words, and prepared myself for the question. There was no doubt in my mind that one of us would know the answer to this final question. The only doubt was whether we had practiced enough to have the answer at the forefront of our minds.

"How many schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry are there in the world?"

My eyes widened and I gripped my wand as I racked my brain for the answer. I could see Scorpius reach for his wand, but he didn't send up any red sparks either. The answer was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't remember whether there were ten or eleven schools. As I racked my brain for the answer I saw red sparks fly up from the Ravenpuff side of the table.

My heart stopped for a second before it began to pound wildly against my chest. I could feel Scorpius tense up beside me. Holding my breath I waited to hear whether or not our winning streak was over.

"There are ten schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the world." The answer came from one of the Hufflepuff boys.

I could feel my hands begin to get clammy as I awaited the Headmistress's response.

"That is correct."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but groan. My heart dropped into my stomach and I closed my eyes in defeat. It felt as if all of the breath had been knocked out of my body. I could hear my teammates groaning in disappointment from my left.

"The Gryffindor - Slytherin team wins the round by ten points with one hundred and ten points to one hundred. The Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff team wins the overall challenge by twenty points."

Though we had won our own round, we hadn't won by enough to make up the point deficit created by our fifth and sixth years.

As uncontrollable cheers erupted from the Ravenpuff side of the room I leaned all the way back into my chair and sank down. From my vantage point I watched as my housemates shook their heads in disappointment, whispering to each other about how close we had been to winning our third straight challenge.

While I didn't like to loose as a general rule, this loss was particularly hard to swallow. Not because I had wanted to win three challenges in a row but because I knew that we had been perfectly capable of pulling off a victory. We were all smart enough to defeat the Ravenpuffs, after all, Scorpius and I had either handpicked or vetted each and every trivia team member.

Biting back tears, I glanced over at Scorpius to see that he looked absolutely gutted. He slowly looked up at me, wearing the same ashamed expression I knew I had on my face. We both knew that the two of us were responsible for this loss. Our power struggle at the beginning of this round had cost us twenty precious points. Those extra twenty points that we had thrown away would have won us the challenge. But even without that show of aggression, we had put the team at a huge disadvantage the moment we had our falling out. Our inability to get along had led to an insufficient number of practice sessions and even those practice sessions that we did hold had been inefficient due to our infighting.

The Great Hall soon began to empty out. The Ravenpuffs were bounding out of the room to go and celebrate while the Slythindors dragged their feet to go and lick their wounds.

The team remained seated for a bit longer but soon, they too left the Great Hall. Eventually I was left alone with Scorpius in the large, empty room.

As the two of us sat in silence I realized just how disappointed in Scorpius I was. Over the years I had hated Scorpius, I had been envious of him and I had wanted to cast the worst hexes imaginable upon him. However, as far as I could remember, this was the first time I felt genuinely disappointed in him. Our friendship had made me expect more of him and he had truly let me down.

I was also disappointed in myself. It was hard to accept the fact that I had allowed Scorpius to bring me down to his level. Our friendship had made us better but this falling out was bringing out the worst, most uncompromising parts of both our personalities. I felt myself becoming resentful of Scorpius for bringing out that part of me.

Knowing that if I remained seated I would become furious with Scorpius, and with myself, I made a move to get up. The chair made a loud screeching noise as I pushed it back causing me to grimace. As I stood up, I turned my head to look at Scorpius. I opened my mouth to speak but I remained silent, not knowing exactly what to say. I had a hundred different things that I wanted to say to Scorpius but I didn't know where to start.

Seeing that I was no longer in my chair, Scorpius turned to look at me. Upon noticing that my mouth was agape, Scorpius sighed and nodded once. "I know." He muttered before looking away.

There was no way that Scorpius could have known everything that I had wanted to say to him, but I was confident that he understood the gist of it.

Grabbing my wand off the table I turned on my heel and strode out of the Great Hall, the sound of my footsteps echoing behind me. As I rounded the corner to climb the stairs I could see that Scorpius was still in his seat. For all I knew he was going to sit there all night.

Scorpius

"No." I snapped immediately upon seeing Claudia turn her head and open her mouth to speak to me.

As the entrance to the common room closed up behind me I turned and began to walk towards my dormitory.

"You don't even know what it is that I'm going to say!" Claudia protested from her spot on one of the black leather couches.

With my back turned to her I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly before opening the door to my room, stepping inside and then slamming it shut. I had, had a long and mentally taxing day and as such, was in no mood to have Claudia's voice further grate on my nerves.

Dumping my books onto my bed I sighed and sat down, running a hand over my face. It was the day after the trivia challenge and the members of both the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses had made it plenty clear that they were disappointed with the loss. Furthermore, they had made it plenty clear that they were disappointed in Rose and I. At some point over the past couple of months the two of us had become the unofficial leaders of the Slythindor team and as leaders, we had let them down.

I found it very strange to have people disappointed in me. That simply had never been a sentiment associated with my behavior before. Though now that I thought about it I was rather certain that, had my mother been privy to my behavior at school over the past couple of years she would have been pretty disappointed in me as well.

Exhausted by all of this emotional consideration I threw myself back onto my bed and let out a heavy sigh. Though I had hours of homework to get to I allowed my eyes to close. I could feel myself starting to drift off and I welcomed sleep as a respite for all that had, had happened over the past two days.

However, just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud tapping on my window. My nostrils flared out in annoyance. My first instinct was to just ignore whatever was making the taping noise but, seeing that the sound showed no signs of abating, I decided I might as well get up. Grumbling to myself I opened my eyes and sat up in bed. Turning my head towards my window I noticed that the culprit was my mother's owl.

My frustration melted away, replaced by sheer confusion. My mother wrote to me on a weekly basis but her letters usually came at the end of the week, not on a Monday.

I crossed the room in three strides and opened the window to allow the owl to fly in. The brown spotted owl flew into the room and circled the circumference before dropping a letter onto my desk. Rather than perching itself on my dresser, or any other piece of furniture, my mother's owl sped towards the window and flew out in a hurry. My brows shot up in surprise – my mother's owl was generally a very lazy animal.

Turning my attention towards the letter, I looked over to where it was sitting on my desk. With a frown, I walked over and gingerly picked up the letter. My name was written on the envelope in my mother's usual elegant cursive. Part of me wanted to get back to bed and leave the letter for later, but I suspected that the message, whatever it was, was important. Otherwise, she would have simply waited to include the news in her weekly letter.

I tore open the envelope and unfurled the letter. Even before I began to read, a quick scan told me that something was amiss. My mothers writing was hurried, some of the letters were right on top of each other, and in some places it looked as if my mother's hand had been shaking. Upon taking note of these indicators I felt my blood pressure skyrocket in anxiety. Inhaling sharply through my nose I began to read the letter.

After the first reading it felt as if my brain was refusing to process the information. Inhaling sharply I tightened my grip on the letter and read it again, this time at a much slower rate. As I reached the end of the letter, the news finally hit me. Reaching out my left arm I grabbed my desk chair and pulled it over. I sank down into my chair and angrily crumpled up the letter into a ball.

My mother had included a lot of fluff in the letter, telling me not to worry, to focus on my studies, and reassuring me several times, that everything would be okay. In the end however, all I took away from the letter was that my beloved grandmother Narcissa had fallen ill.

My immediate instinct was to pack up a few things and head home to be with my grandmother. However, that was not an option. In between reassuring comments, my mother had made it sufficiently clear that she did not want me leaving school. If things got worse, then she would come and bring me home.

This inability to act made me even more anxious than I already was. In one violent action I leapt off of my chair, knocking it to the ground. With the crumpled up letter in one hand I began to pace the room. As I ran a hand through my hair I tried to think of something to do, but I was drawing a complete blank.

An overwhelming sadness built up in my gut before spreading out to every inch of my body. I couldn't believe that my gentle, poised and loving grandmother was now bed ridden at St. Mungo's for the foreseeable future. I continued to pace around the room for a few minutes before I sat down on the edge of my bed. Pacing was making me nervous but I was finding it so hard to sit still that I couldn't keep from bouncing my leg.

At the moment I was so emotionally volatile that one-minute I was overwhelmingly sad and the next I was violently angry. In an attempt to calm my nerves I took a deep breath and buried my face into my hands. I knew that I needed to get out of this room but I didn't know where to go. If I went down into the common room I would be bombarded with questions from my more idiotic housemates. The Quidditch pitch was likely to be empty but I knew that the eerie silence of the Hogwarts grounds wouldn't do much to comfort me. I suspected that being out on the grounds on my own would only serve to instill a foreboding feeling in me.

Sitting there in my room, it suddenly dawned on me what it was that would placate my nerves. For a moment, I was stunned by my realization. Of all the people at Hogwarts why was she the one person that I wanted to see at this moment? In spite of my gut reaction, I knew that it only made sense that I wanted to see Rose. Rose had always been the one person who, without fail, told it like it really was. At the same time, I knew she wouldn't be crass about the subject. Rose had always had an astonishing ability to not only sympathize with people, but to empathize with them. That was what I needed at the moment.

I stood up and began to make my way out of the dormitory and down the stairs towards the common room. Though I was determined to at least find Rose and see if she would talk to me, I found myself getting a bit nervous. I knew that I had hurt her by choosing to cater to my housemates' jealousies over our friendship. Despite this fear, I kept walking. I ignored the other students calling my name and made my way out of the dungeons. With the letter crumpled up in my left hand I walked up the stairs towards the library. While I couldn't be certain that Rose would be in the library, it was my best bet at finding her.

Upon entering the library I received a few odd looks due to the fact that I wasn't carrying a single book. I stopped by the entrance and glanced around, trying to see if I could spot Rose. When I was unable to immediately spot her deep auburn hair I began to weave through the stacks of bookshelves, making my way to the back of the library. Though I hadn't sat down to study with Rose in over a month I had a feeling that she continued to occupy our old table. She was a creature of habit.

Turning the corner by the books on advanced History of Magic, Rose finally came into my view. Just as I had suspected, she was sitting at our formerly shared table. Rose had spread out her books, occupying the entire table with her things. At the present moment she had her nose buried in one of her textbooks.

As I took a step towards her, Rose picked up her head and spotted me. Her green eyes widened in surprised and for a few seconds, neither of us spoke. Though I was still nervous about how I would be received, I realized that my previous emotional swings had abated. Surprisingly, I no longer had the overwhelming urge to destroy property.

"Scorpius?" Rose finally spoke my name. It sounded as if she was questioning my presence.

"Hi." It was all I could croak out the moment. I walked forward, slowly smoothing out the crumpled letter. When I finally reached the table I stopped in my tracks and held out the letter for Rose to take. If I tried to verbally relay the news I would loose my composure.

Rose frowned and searched my face for a few seconds but she gingerly took the letter out of my hand. I watched as Rose's eyes moved across the paper and as she read her face changed. The quizzical expression she had previously been wearing disappeared and was replaced by one of sadness. Upon finishing the letter Rose took a deep breath before she raised her eyes to look at me.

"Scorpius." She said my name once more, but this time it was soft and comforting.

Rose placed the letter down onto the desk and shoved her book aside. With her right hand she pushed out the chair beside her, indicating that I should sit down.

Doing as I was told I sat down next to her and placed my hands on the table, unsure of myself. Without saying another word, Rose reached out her hands and placed them on top of mine.

"I'm so sorry Scorpius." She said gently, leaning towards me. "I'm sure your parents are doing everything they can."

Hearing this, I nodded my head. I was grateful that Rose had refrained from telling me that everything would be okay. After all, she had no way of knowing that.

"I know they are." I muttered, glancing off to the side. While I was glad that I had plucked up the courage to come and see Rose I was ashamed by the fact that I was so overtly emotional. "I just wish there was something I could do." I hated merely sitting around feeling sad.

"I know." Rose squeezed my hands and offered me a sympathetic smile.

Though I was still upset and worried over my grandmother's health I found myself comforted by Rose's presence. She was the only person that I wanted to be around in this tough time and it made me realize just how stupid I had been to risk our friendship in order to placate my housemate's paranoia.