Chapter 21

Songs I was listening to while writing: The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin, Miserable at Best and Jersey by Mayday Parade, and Let it Roll by All Time Low

Rose's POV:

In the days that followed leading up to the exams, I found my time with Scorpius becoming more and more limited. Almost all of my time was devoted to a corner in the library that quickly became known as "Rose Weasley's corner" where no other student dared to sit. There was a formidable looking pile of parchment stacked next to several books, organized by subject. And I had to admit, if I was another student and not myself, I would be scared to upset my level of concentration as well.

"Rosie, you realize you're only a sixth year." James said good-naturedly the morning before exams over breakfast while spearing a bit of bacon on his fork and waving it around as he talked. "Your NEWTs aren't even until next year!"

"I know that, James." I mumbled, tearing through my carefully labeled Charms notes to find the page about non-verbal spells. "I need to be able to pass all of these exams to take the NEWTs classes I want next year."

"What are you planning on taking?" He asked with his mouth full of food. Next to him, Lacey swatted his shoulder and mouthed "manners" with a smile on her face. He grinned sheepishly.

"I was thinking of taking Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic, and possibly Care of Magical Creatures." I listed off the classes quickly, having finally located my notes. Next to me, James dropped his fork.

"Ten NEWTs?" He demanded. "What the fuck, Rose!"

"James!" Lacey chided him for his language as Lily and Hugo were sitting across the table from us, silently in fits of laughter.

"I want to make sure I have a wide selection of internships to choose from." I huffed at James' shocked expression.

"Merlin knows you won't have a problem finding a job after school! How are you going to manage that many classes? I can barely manage my six!" James breathed, looking utterly shocked.

"It's Rose. What else did you expect?" Lacey asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side to press a kiss to her cheek and I couldn't help but smile.

Ever since Lacey and James had started dating, he had become almost a different person overnight. He was more open and laughing; a stark contrast to the stressed out James I had known for most of my life due to Quidditch and the pressure of graduation.

"I have faith in you, Rosie." He announced. "You'll be the next Minister of Magic in time." He winked playfully.

"James, you know I don't want to be the Minister." I blushed. The thought of me making decisions for all of wizard-kind was a frightening one.

"Do you know what Scorpius is taking?" Lacey asked.

"All the classes that qualify him for Auror training." I answered. Scorpius was currently in the library, to my initial shock and pride, having said he needed a last minute Potions study session before the next week, which would be filled with exams.

When they finally arrived, the exams were, as promised, painstakingly difficult. Even I found myself frazzled for moments at a time when I had to cast a perfect Aguamenti charm in the Charms practical or name the complicated goblin rebellion dates that all sounded the same in the History of Magic written exam.

Our sixth year exams were made to be slightly easier than the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests we would be taking the year after and that James faced now. However, the Professors showed no mercy and often the day would end with Albus and I sprawled across the couches in the common room, utterly spent while James retired to a comfortable spot on the floor and fell asleep within minutes.

The last day of exams was a welcome sight on my calendar when I woke up on Friday morning. An hour later, standing outside the oak doors of the Great Hall with Al and Dominique, tensions were running high. It was a beautiful day outside, the sky completely cloudless and blue with a light breeze. Al scowled at a group of Hufflepuff fourth year girls leaving the Entrance Hall to lounge by the lake where many other students had taken up residence for the afternoon.

"It isn't fair." He muttered, still rubbing his eyes sleepily. "It's the bloody most beautiful day of the year, the Quidditch final is this weekend, and we're about to take an exam."

"Don't remind me." Scorpius's voice came from my left. He looked completely exhausted and his tie wasn't straight. He ran his hand through his already mussed blonde hair.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" asked Dominique. I noted the dark circles under his eyes as I reached out to straighten Scorpius's tie. I pressed a hand to his chest when I was finished and felt his heart racing.

"A few hours. I was studying. And thinking." He responded with a yawn.

"You're going to do great." I assured him, taking his hand in mine and squeezing it. Scorpius had worked too hard this year to let his nerves get the best of him during the exam. He smiled weakly at me and paled considerably when the doors swung open, creaking loudly, and Professor McGregor waved us into the room.

We were seated in alphabetical order in desks that formed long rows extending from the high table where the teachers sat during feasts to the back doors. Dominique was seated directly in front of me and she gripped my hand tightly as they handed out the quills that would keep us from cheating. Her grip was almost painful, but I didn't tell her. I knew she had only grown more serious about Auror training the closer we got to the end of the year and a good grade in Potions was pivotal for the opportunity.

Two rows to our left diagonally sat Scorpius. He was staring at his desk, mumbling under his breath. As he always did when I was staring at him, as if he could sense it, he looked up at me. I smiled at him and finally, he smiled back. It was a brilliant smile, toothy and white, and it slightly took my breath away. He would be okay.

The quills had been administered and with a wave of the examiner's wand, the test appeared on our desks.

"You have an hour and a half for the written portion of the sixth year Potions exam!" He announced, his voice magically magnified with his wand pressed to his throat and a Sonorus charm. "After that, we will have a practical session where you will each brew a potion for another hour and a half. Then you will be free to leave. Your time begins now!"

Scorpius's POV:

From the minute I had woken up, my heart had somehow worked its way into my stomach and had refused to beat regularly since. The nightmare I had been having probably didn't help much with my nerves as patches of it kept coming back to me.

My father was reflected in a circle of mirrors around me. He looked angry and sparks were flying out of his wand. I was dressed in Ministry robes, but they were much too big for me and I kept tripping over the hem of the robes as I tried to find a gap between the mirrors to escape from. And Rose was just outside the mirrors. I could hear her calling for me, but I couldn't see her. I looked down and realized I had shrunken to the size of a small child.

"One day this will be yours, Scorpius. Being a Malfoy means being given opportunities no other witch or wizard has. Cherish it." My father's words echoed around me until suddenly he was standing in front of me. He offered me his hand and I took it. He smiled at me warmly, like he used to when I was really little. Rose yelled my name louder and louder and I woke up, gasping, in sweaty sheets at four in the morning.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Dominique asked me, her bright voice far too loud for the morning. Rose was straightening my tie and she pressed her little hand to my chest, right over my heart. She must have felt it beating fast because her eyes widened. When she took her hand away, my heart dropped back into my stomach.

I really wanted to just take her away from the mass of sleepy Potions students and enjoy the day outside. But I wasn't even sure I would be able to do that without worrying about my father. I was almost glad when Rose and I were separated by alphabetical order, only because her flowery scent was mixing up my thoughts even more than usual.

Minutes later, staring at the exam, I willed those jumbled thoughts in my head to go away. I hadn't spent a solid week of doing nothing else but studying, eating and barely sleeping to confuse myself when I really needed to think.

Question One:

When brewing a Sleeping Draught, the final step before waving your wand includes:_

I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding and scrawled "Stirring cauldron 7 times clockwise". I cleared away all thoughts of my father looming over me and Rose screaming and focused on the exam, which may or may not have been the one thing that could end my Auror career flat.

…

"That was the worst exam yet." Albus Potter complained, flailing his arms around him on the grass. "The examiner looked right in my cauldron when it was fucking purple." He paused for dramatic effect and eyed all three of us beadily. "It was supposed to be orange!"

Dominique giggled from her seat against the tree that cast a large shadow over the grounds and part of the lake. I had sat next to this tree with Rose one of the first times we had spent time together. However, I remembered her being angrier at me than happy at the time, probably because I thought it would be funny to splash her.

"How do you think you did?" Rose asked me in the present. She was seated between my legs, picking at blades of grass and scattering them in the breeze. She had to twist herself around to look at me properly and I admired the way the sunlight made her hair look fiery with a pang in my chest.

"Probably alright." I answered honestly. Once I had become focused, the answers seemed to come more easily to me. I recognized a lot of the questions from the revision papers Rose had forced me to look at and Merlin was I glad she did. "I didn't have any big mistakes with my actual potion. Except I think some of it splashed onto the examiner. I was stirring like a mad man for time."

Rose laughed and went into detail on her, no doubt, immaculate performance. I smiled as she leaned against my chest and closed my eyes to feel the breeze coming off the water. I felt like I was slowly suffocating despite the fresh air and shifted around, jostling Rose in the process.

"Everything okay?" She asked with a very Slytherin-like smirk on her face.

"Want to get out of here?" I blurted out as quietly as I could. For some reason, Albus's and Dominique's presence was making me nervous. I felt like I only had limited time with Rose left, for some dumb reason.

"Are you feeling okay?" She made to press her hand to my forehead, an extremely motherly gesture, but I took her hand in mine instead.

"I just need some time alone with you." She glanced around at Albus and Dominique, who had waved over some other Gryffindor students and hadn't been listening to us.

"Alright." She sighed and she stood up from my lap, brushing the bits of grass off her skirt. We left without Rose's cousins really noticing, though Dominique waved absentmindedly to Rose.

Back in the cool hallways of Hogwarts we wandered down the first floor corridors until we came across a familiar classroom that I had come to recognize on sight now.

"Would you believe nobody is in the Muggle Studies classroom, again?" I asked. Cracking open the door, I could see the room was deserted; the desks seemingly untouched since the last time Rose and I had taken refuge. I pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside casually.

"Scorpius!" Rose hissed, tugging on the sleeve of my robes. "What are you doing?"

"It would be very out of character for us not to go inside." I said in my best impression of someone who knew what they were actually doing and wiggled my eyebrows. It took only this for Rose to sigh as if she were babysitting a particularly disobedient child and follow me into the room, closing the door behind her.

I sat on top of one of the desks— made to seat two people— and patted the space next to me. She hopped up on my left, her feet dangling a few inches above the floor.

"Can you believe it's almost the summer holiday?" She breathed excitedly, glancing at the window where the sky could be seen. "We're going to be seventh years."

"I still feel like a second year." I mumbled, causing her to laugh. I sat there, relaxed for once while Rose talked about what she was planning on doing over the summer. She wanted to go to Europe with her parents and Hugo and then a place called "Shell Cottage" where Dominique lived over the holidays. She talked about visiting the Ministry and seeing where her mother worked and possibly meeting department heads to talk about internships. Rose was very ambitious. It was surprising that she hadn't been placed in Slytherin. Although, she could also have fit into Ravenclaw with her brains.

I remembered watching her when she was sorted, though at the time I couldn't fathom why I was interested at all. All of the Potters and Weasleys were interesting to my eleven year old mind, as my dad had talked about them to me before. The hat had taken a good few minutes to decide where Rose belonged while it had taken only a few seconds debate with me between Slytherin and Gryffindor, something I found completely absurd.

"What are you thinking about?" Rose asked. I realized I had been lost in my thoughts again. I guiltily smiled at her.

"When we were first years. It's weird; I'm going to be an adult in a month." I realized, certainly not for the first time since my father's letter, that I had a lot of decisions to make and I didn't feel qualified to make any of them.

"You're going to make a really good Auror." She said suddenly. She was looking at me seriously.

"You think so?" I asked, a nervous fluttering beginning in my stomach. "I might not even make it that far if I didn't pass the Potions exam."

"Don't say that. I'm positive you passed. You need to stop doubting yourself."

She was right, of course. But it was hard not to doubt myself when I still felt like I was somewhat controlled by my parents. I wasn't even sure I was allowed to make my own decisions any more.

"You would make a good Auror too, you know." I said. Rose's eyes widened slightly. I was sure no one had probably ever told her that.

"What makes you say that?"

"You're strong. And scary." I added and she swatted at me. "You know lots of spells and you're a genius. And if you ever got captured, you could talk their ear off with Magical Theory and A History of Hogwarts. They'd want to let you go." By this time, Rose was laughing.

"I'll have you know Scorpius Malfoy that should I get a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I could be your boss one day and you'll regret ever having made fun—" Rose's speech, which I wasn't taking seriously anyway, was cut off as I had pulled her across the few inches of space between us and had kissed her.

Even I didn't really know I had moved until her lips were on mine. But I realized it was what I had wanted— needed— all day. Rose was my greatest distraction against the things that made me want to give up. And it was almost like she wiped my worries clean the minute she started kissing me back.

She pulled away for air and I pulled her closer, reveling in the feeling of her hair tickling my hands and her breath mingling with my own. I pressed kisses to her neck gently and felt a tugging in my stomach when she moaned softly.

Her lips were back on mine and I lost myself in the feeling of lips on lips and tongue and teeth. We had never really kissed like this before, with an almost reckless care. She brushed her lips along my jawline and I gasped as I fingered with the hem of her Gryffindor embroidered outer-sweater. She froze, only for a second, and I looked her in the eyes. When she nodded and I felt her lips ghosting against mine again, I allowed my hands to travel under her shirt.

It was her turn to gasp as my fingers trailed along her skin, which was incredibly soft. I wondered, briefly as it was hard to think when her lips were now paying attention to my neck, if she had ever been touched by Robin like this. Had she let him explore her skin the way I was? I doubted it as her cheeks were blooming with pink, making her freckles stand out. She was so beautiful.

Our mouths connected again and I felt like there were literal sparks between us or trails of fire following my fingers as they moved up, up—

I felt the fabric of Rose's bra in the back and the plastic of the clasps that held it together. I knew, from the way she shivered against me, that she had never let it go this far before. And we were in a classroom in school, breathing heavily and it was suddenly too hot.

"What the fuck were you about to do?" I asked myself. "You really think you have enough responsibility not to get carried away? You can't even get to sleep without a nightmare lately and you think you have the right to make this decision for her? You can't even make your own decisions." And as my voice turned into my father's voice, I pulled my hands out from under Rose's shirt and pushed myself away from her.

"What's wrong?" She gasped. Her lips were a deep shade of pink, no doubt from the heavy kissing that had ensued, and her whole face had a flattering flush to it. But all I could focus on was the look of hurt on her features.

"I can't— we can't—" I spluttered. I felt a panic attack of sorts coming on, but I shoved it down. Now was not the time. I had almost let myself go beyond the point of no return. Because I knew, even if Rose didn't, that if I had let myself start I wouldn't have stopped.

"I'm sorry." She whimpered. "Was it something I did? Because—"

"No." I gasped. "No! I just…" It was becoming harder and harder to breath. You will be becoming a man this summer… "It's not—" You will make many more foolish decisions in your youth… a man… your youth…

"We can't do this." I finally said. I felt like I was drained of air and I stared down at the marble ground. I heard sniffling and I knew Rose was crying and, fuck, I wanted so bad to make it stop.

"I'm sorry; I've never done this before." She said quietly. Her voice was choked with tears that I knew she was trying to hold back.

"No. I mean, Rose… we can't do this anymore." And when I finally looked at her I knew she had seen what I meant in my eyes.

"Scorpius…"

"I have to go." I choked out, horrified with what I was saying. But I didn't stop myself as I turned and shoved the door open, trying to block out the sound of Rose's sobs.

…

I aimed another punch at the wall and felt a satisfying pain when my fourth and fifth fingers made a crunching sound. I knew they were broken the minute I pulled my fist back but I didn't care. I had been kicking and punching the wall in a deserted seventh floor corridor for what felt like an hour.

I had broken into a run as soon as I left Rose and didn't look back. I didn't care that students were staring at me as I tore up the staircases. I could feel the panic attack from before coming back, bubbling up through my bones and choking my throat.

I had collapsed, somewhere on the seventh floor, in a heap. I struggled for breath and felt like a hot spike was driving through my head. I gripped my head in my hands, willing the pain to go away. But I knew it wouldn't unless I calmed myself down.

I had broken up with Rose. I had actually left Rose crying in a classroom alone, not for the first time this year. And it tore me apart. But I had almost made a decision that could have ruined everything for the both of us. And when I thought about my father's letter, I knew that I had made the right decision.

My father wasn't right about a lot of things. But he knew what he was talking about when he said I wasn't old enough to make good decisions and I needed more responsibility. In short, I was too unstable for Rose to keep her happy. I knew it even if she didn't.

I don't know how long I sat there, every few minutes punching the wall again as a fresh wave of anger pulsed through me. It must have been a long time, because the shadows against the floor were growing longer and the light from the windows was fading. I thought about sleeping here, as I didn't think I could get myself up and drag my body down to the Slytherin common room, when I heard heavy footsteps.

Albus Potter burst suddenly out of a tapestry against the wall, which had apparently been concealing one of Hogwarts' many secret corridors. The minute he saw me, he whipped out his wand and stalked toward me.

"You fucking liar." He spat. "You said you would never hurt her."

I didn't answer. How could I? He was right.

"Do you know that Rose is crying her eyes out with Dominique right now? She can't even form a sentence." I felt like I was folding in upon myself and I would disappear in a black hole, right there in the corridor.

"Do you even have an answer? What, you thought you could get her all excited and happy and then when she wasn't good enough for your sexual needs, you would just dump her?" He was yelling now, his wand still pointed at me.

"That has nothing to do with it." I finally barked out, my voice cracking.

"Bullshit. I can read Rose like a book, how far did you go before breaking her heart?"

"We were just kissing. And I wasn't thinking."

"Well, obviously! Did you even really love her? I mean, why waste your time on a perfectly good girl like Rose when you could be with any of the slags around Hogwarts? You thought it would be fun to see her—"

"That's not what I was fucking thinking!" I shouted. "My father sent me a letter last month telling me I had to break up with her. And when I read it, I had never been so angry in my life. And I tried for a long time to figure out another way around it, but you don't know my father!" The words tumbled out of my mouth clumsily.

"Why not stand up for yourself?" Albus asked. He narrowed his eyes.

"You've never met my dad." I said calmly. "There's no arguing with him. He gets his way no matter what."

"That's bullshit!" Albus shouted again. "You are your own god damn person, Malfoy! Why the hell did Rose have to get involved?" He was lowering his wand now, but he was still looking at me like I was a disgusting creature he had to kill.

"I'm going to fix this." I decided, then and there. "I have to prove to him that I can make my own decisions. But Rose would have gotten more hurt if I had let her get further dragged into it. My father would have mentally destroyed her if he wanted to."

And even though minutes ago, I was convincing myself of my own inadequacy as an adult, what I was saying now made more sense. My father didn't know love like he should have. He didn't understand passion or free will. And even though he had grown up in a household where he had no choices, he didn't have to impose the same life on me.

Albus sighed and looked at my hand. "What the fuck did you do?" I glanced down at the fingers that were swollen and bruised. My knuckles were covered in blood and I curled my hand into a fist experimentally, wincing at the shooting pain.

I stood up suddenly, cradling my hand to my chest.

"Please," I struggled to keep my voice calm. "Please don't let Rose think this is the end. Whatever you can do, please don't let her think I left her for nothing. I love her. Don't look at me like that—" I snapped at Albus's look of angered disbelief. "I love her. I refuse to drag her into my messes."

We stood staring at each other; almost polar opposites as far as people could go.

"I won't let her walk around with the idea that she has to wait for you. If she wants to see other blokes, you can't expect me to stop her." He countered.

"Then make sure she's happy, at least." I begged. "But give me time. I want to fix this. Just don't let her beat herself up over it."

"I won't." He mumbled. "God damn it, Malfoy. You fucked up really bad."

I knew that. He didn't have to tell me.

"But I can see where you're coming from." He surprised me. I cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're fixing this."

And I knew I would. I would become an Auror. I wasn't going to work a desk job like my father. I was going to fix things with Rose, even if we couldn't be together. And my father would understand that he couldn't control me anymore. I was Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, and it was time I built that name for myself.

A/N: I can't believe I just wrote the last chapter of Unexpected. I know the ending is pretty upsetting and I hope you all know, like I did while I was writing it, that it isn't the end for dear Scorpius and Rose! The sequel has lots of twists and turns for them. You've probably noticed that I've been writing in Scorpius's POV more than Rose's now and that will continue into Unbreakable. I'll probably be writing mostly in Scorpius's perspective because it's his story to tell now. But enough about the chapter itself. It's time for my thanks and goodbyes to this story!
I started writing this story in eighth grade when I first discovered fanfiction and thought I could possibly write one for myself. You can't even imagine my joy when I discovered that I had people reading and reviewing on my story and that is why you, the readers, have been the spark that kept this flame going! Writing Unexpected was a journey for me over three years which sounds either really cool, or proves the fact that I am truly awful about updating! (nervously sweats) In all honesty, I have some changes to the way I'll be posting things in the future that I'll hopefully follow! I'd obviously like to update more frequently and regularly but I'd also like to start writing whatever song I was listening to while writing at the start of each chapter if I can (which I did for this chapter) just for fun so you guys can see what was inspiring me while I wrote or just what I listen to! I have never been more excited to write something than I have when I sat down to think of the title and main plot points for the sequel: Unbreakable. It will definitely be coming soon! I also have a Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley story (currently called Shades of Blue) that I'm planning on writing along with Unbreakable (presumably I'll be writing both at the same time) so that will be an interesting task to take on! But back to Unexpected, I want to thank each and every one of the people that favorited or followed or reviewed my story or myself as an author. And if you ever reviewed even just once, I noticed your username! If you reviewed more than once, I was very excited to know you had stuck with me! You all are the most amazing support group possible for an aspiring writer and you are the reason I will continue writing! Who knows where the next stories I write will take us? I'm very excited and I hope you'll explore more with my versions of Rose and Scorpius into Unbreakable. Now that this has been the longest author's note in existence, I'm going to end with this: it's been a crazy, awesome three years and cheers to us all for finishing it! I send lots of love and virtual hugs to my readers! :')))
~ yours in eternity, Amy xx