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.’

‘Is that the reason you’re shutting yourself out from everyone, even me?’ James asked, standing up and putting away the books with her. He could tell Amelia was on the verge of tears but he continued, ‘is that why he’s avoiding you? What did you do?’

‘I... James, I shouldn’t have done it,’ Amelia shook her head, sitting on the desk and putting her feet on the chair. James just stared at her. He had thought that Scorpius was the one to push her away because he didn't want to be with her but he had never thought Amelia had made a mistake which in turn made him push her away.

‘Tell me,’ James said quietly.

Amelia hesitated for a second. She hadn’t talked to him about Scorpius at all but she wished more than anything to just get it out of her system. So she told him. Everything. It took her a good few minutes since her heart felt so heavy in her chest and the lump in her throat made it hard to talk but she told him about Astoria and Scorpius.

‘That’s it?’ James asked, surprised since he thought it would have been something worse, ‘he really needs to man up, don’t you think?’

‘You don’t understand, James. I thought he wanted Astoria in his life, I thought he wanted a mother. Scorpius and I never talked about her at all which is why I didn't know he didn't want to talk to her. He was very hostile towards her when he first saw Astoria but I thought after meeting her and talking to her... he would be happy,’ Amelia shook her head, ‘but he’s so angry! You should have seen his face when he yelled, James... I can’t... I think...’

‘His family is messed up,’ James commented and Amelia didn't reply to that. She just shook her head, a tear falling free and hitting her lap. James sighed and walked over, wrapping his arms around her, ‘don’t worry so much about this. He’ll get over it and if he doesn’t... I always told you that you could do so much better.’

Amelia tried not to get angry at that but she droned out whatever James said. There was a time before that she would have jumped to James, asking him for his opinion, but not when it came to Scorpius. James would never understand heartbreak.

---

‘Scorpius,’ Amelia said, watching him walk out of the exam hall and up the stairs. Scorpius didn't turn around but she yelled his name a little louder, making him stop in his tracks.

‘Hey,’ Scorpius half smiled at her, not looking genuine at all.

‘Can we talk?’ Amelia asked, stretching her hand. She had wrote so much in that exam that her hand was stiffening up. Scorpius looked behind him at nothing in particular and opened his mouth, no doubt to make another excuse. Amelia sighed, ‘please?’

‘Amelia, I have an exam tomorrow so I really have to-’ Scorpius said, but she cut him off by grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the nearest empty classroom. Scorpius watched as she slammed the door shut behind her. He sighed, ‘sure, we can talk.’

‘I don’t know how many times I have to say that I truly am sorry for what I did, Scorpius!’ Amelia yelled at him, glaring at Scorpius fiercely.

‘And I forgave you for it,’ he said calmly, sitting on one of the desks.

‘Yet you always run whenever I come close to you!’ Amelia yelled, walking towards him and jabbing a finger in his chest, ‘Scorpius, we have only two more weeks of Hogwarts let and then we’ll have to leave! Who knows if we’ll even be together after Hogwarts?’

‘Yeah, who knows?’ Scorpius shrugged, looking at her with those grey eyes. Amelia stared at him, her heart breaking once again. Scorpius sighed, looking down at her hand that was on his chest, ‘if you’re not happy with this, Amelia, you can always leave?’

‘I will not be the one to walk away from this relationship,’ Amelia said, emphasising each word by prodding his chest.

‘Don’t touch me,’ Scorpius said, slapping her hand away. Amelia frowned at him, holding her hand to her chest. She saw a glint of anger in his eyes but he just stood up and looked away from her.

‘That hurt,’ Amelia whispered, grabbing his arm with the hand he had slapped and turning him around.

Scorpius was turned around by Amelia and she could see the anger illuminating his eyes and the look scared her but what scared her even more was what he did next. Scorpius grabbed her arm tightly and twisted, making her wince in pain. He lowered his face towards her.

‘I said don’t touch me,’ he muttered, stressing each word carefully.

Amelia grunted, twisting out of his grip and shoving his hand aside. Scorpius didn't struggle, he just moved away. She took a couple of steps away from him, massaging her arm as he stared at her. The grey eyes softened a little as Scorpius lowered his gaze to the ground and then turned around so that she couldn't see his expression. He ran a hand through his hair and she noticed that he was shaking.

‘Scorpius,’ Amelia breathed after a long pause where they didn't look at each other. She finally took a few steps forwards and went to stand in front of him. Scorpius changed his expression to a harsh one but she didn't buy it. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes, ‘I love you more than anything.’

‘I know and I do love you,’ Scorpius admitted, shrugging, ‘but...’

‘There should never be a but after those words, Scorp,’ Amelia muttered, leaning her head against his chest, ‘I know you’re angry but don’t push me away from you. Talk to me about it.’

‘You shouldn’t have interfered in my family business, Amelia,’ Scorpius muttered, ‘I didn’t want to see her and I only did it for you. I heard what she said and the falseness in her voice when she said she regretted it. It’s way too late for that. I just got angry and I’m sorry you had to see me like that. If I could go back... I’d walk away from her the second I saw her.’

‘I won’t get in the way of your business again, I promise,’ Amelia said, pulling back a little to look into his eyes.

Scorpius didn't reply to her but he leaned forwards and pressed his lips against hers. The gesture was good enough for Amelia. She kissed him back and the extent of how much she had missed him got to her in that second.

---

‘How do you think it went?’ Amelia asked James after their last exam. Both cousins walked out of Hogwarts and towards the lake watching everyone else sitting on the grass after their last exam and feeling free.

‘It was awful... thanks for your notes though. Didn't do much good but thanks anyway,’ James said, sighing as he slung an arm around Amelia’s shoulders, ‘you do realise that was our last exam ever. We’ll never come back to Hogwarts ever again...’

‘I’m going to miss Hogwarts,’ Amelia sighed, feeling comfortable where she was right now, ‘I have no idea what I’m going to do after the summer.’

‘You should spend summer at the Burrow. Well... I don’t know if Uncle Fred and Aunt Hermione will want to be there though,’ James shrugged, ‘if you do come to the Burrow we can play chess, go out, play Quidditch, meet some friends. It’ll be great.’

‘Amelia?’ a voice behind them made her stop and turn around. Dominique was right behind them, trying to catch up, and she gave Amelia a small smile which was not returned. Dominique turned to James, ‘take a walk, Potter.’

James just chuckled and messed up her hair before walking away. Dominique smiled after her cousin, watching James walk away towards a group of guys beside the lake. She turned and saw Amelia standing with her arms crossed and frowning.

‘I just wanted to apologize before we went our different ways since I’m not sure if I’ll see you in the summer or not,’ Dominique explained.

‘Bet you were happy when you heard all the rumours about Scorpius and I breaking up,’ Amelia commented, raising her eyebrow, ‘well, I’m still with him so you’re not allowed any where near him.’

‘I wasn’t happy about it at all,’ Dominique shook her head, ‘I... It was just a crush, Amelia. Honestly, nothing more. I’m happy you’re with Scorpius now. He’s a nice guy, I know that, and he’s perfect for you.’

‘So... you don’t have any feelings for him?’ Amelia asked, narrowing her eyes at Dominique.

‘Not at all,’ Dominique shook her head, looking sincere and telling the truth. Amelia realised her sincerity by the look in her eyes and slowly nodded. Dominique smiled, ‘thanks, Amelia, for believing me. I hope I see you at the Burrow.’

‘I hope so too, Dominique,’ Amelia smiled and hugged her cousin.

Amelia had never been so close to any of her cousins other than James and Albus and Lily. More James than anyone else since they were practically the same in every way. It felt good to be part of a family as big as hers, Amelia thought as she pulled away from the hug. Dominique smiled at her before walking away to find her own friends.

Amelia smiled as hands snaked around her waist and lips pressed against her neck. She could tell it was Scorpius without even hearing his voice. Amelia twisted in his grip to look at him and found him smiling at her.

‘Glad to see you’re making peace now,’ he commented, his eyes shining in the sun. Amelia just chuckled and kissed him softly. He smiled, ‘I missed you.’

‘You saw me in the exam ten minutes ago,’ Amelia laughed, ‘you were winking at me, putting me off my work.’

‘If memory serves, you glared at me and wrote away frantically with your nose pressed against the parchment?’ Scorpius let out a breath of laughter, ‘you worry so much about exams when you know you’ll pass anyway.’

‘Because I study and don’t let good looking boys succeed in trying to distract me,’ she said, smirking a little.

‘You think I’m good looking?’ Scorpius asked, his voice lowering in volume, ‘well, can’t argue with that now, can we?’

‘You are so over confident.’

‘You still love me.’

‘That I do,’ Amelia nodded, grinning, ‘so much.’

‘So, we’re leaving Hogwarts soon and I’m getting my own place. I’ve actually put in an offer and I think I’ll probably get it,’ Scorpius said as they walked hand in hand towards the lake. Amelia just nodded as he talked on, ‘I mean, my father has already left the Malfoy manor. I don’t know where he’s gone, he just left me a letter saying he was leaving and that the house was mine if I wanted to stay in it or sell it and that there was some money in the bank. It’s all mine...’

‘Why don’t you just stay in the manor?’ asked Amelia quietly, ‘you won’t even have to work. You have so much wealth in your life.’

‘I hate that place. I’m going to leave it, get all of my stuff and move to that small apartment. I’m getting a job and starting a whole new life,’ Scorpius sighed, sitting down on the grass and watching as Amelia sat down too, ‘what are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know. I think I’ll apply for a job in the ministry, I’d like to work there,’ Amelia nodded and tugged at pieces of grass. Her bracelet with the heart was glinting in the sunlight, ‘I don’t have enough money to buy an apartment of mine own and I think James doesn’t either...’

‘Well,’ Scorpius started off, taking her hand, ‘what if... you moved in with me...?’

‘Scorpius Malfoy, are you asking me to move in with you?’ Amelia smiled, raising her eyebrows as she turned to look at him.

‘Only if you want to. I mean, it’ll take a couple of months so you’ll have some time to get sorted out and tell your parents... if you don’t want to then-’ Scorpius babbled on, getting more nervous at the fact that she might decline him straight out.

‘Scorpius,’ Amelia muttered, kissing his cheek, ‘I’d love to move in with you.’

‘Seriously?’ he asked, looking surprised and relieved at the same time.

‘Seriously,’ Amelia nodded, smiling and pressing her lips to his as they sealed the deal.