The lake, despite its size and contents, was a surprisingly clear expanse of water. In general, on a good day, you could see at least a few feet below you if you dived under and opened your eyes. Other days it would look like a hurricane had just struck it, with mud and dead weeds swirling around everywhere. Today, though, as Rose stood teetering on the bank with her toes over the edge, just above the water, the lake seemed very still; it could suck something - someone - in and never give them back. If she touched it, she almost expected it to have the texture of jelly. The surface of the lake was very, very still. Rose smiled as she looked down into the glassy green water that wasn't moving at all. She fancied she saw a Grindylow flicker out of sight, or perhaps it had been a merperson's tail? If things went badly today, maybe they would be enjoying her company later. What was it the muggles said about people in rivers - sleep with the fishes?

She sighed and reached up to her neck, unfastening the cold metal clasp of the pendant she had been given by someone she wished to forget - the pendant that had never, ever warmed up, no matter how much she wore it. It was always a cold weight on her chest. She held it in front of her for a moment - even if she was getting rid of it, it was still a beautiful thing; a rose, with a serpent wrapped around the stem. Look like th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't. That's what he'd said. He'd also said it was like them, and that was true, too. She did feel as though she had been caught by a snake, charmed by his eyes and his beauty into staying still until he had what he wanted, then abandoned, betrayed. For she was certain of that; she had been betrayed. She breathed in sharply, and raised her hand to throw the necklace away - far away.

But she couldn't do it.

"Oh Rose, always the drama queen," Alex smirked as he walked up behind her and took the necklace out of her grasp. "It's very pretty," he commented running his fingers over it. He bit his lip his eyes flashing with pure hate. For that was the only thing he felt for Rose. He smirked to himself - always causing drama just for attention. To be fair the last few days he had done something similar, but this was border lining ridiculous. He sighed, it was so tempting just to push her into the cold water and to never have to bother with her again. But he wasn't that cruel. Was he? He supposed it depended on the way you looked at it - maybe that was why she was here, to get pushed in. He smirked again, but didn't look up at her, only down at the pendant in his palm.

"Give it back!" she shouted, grabbing at his hand like a toddler whose older sibling had stolen one of their toys and was holding it above their head. "Give it back, Alex!" She looked almost horrified that he had seen it; she always wore it underneath her clothes so no one would see quite how attached to Marcus she had been. Was she really going to throw it away? It genuinely hadn't been attention seeking today. She just wanted to be by the lake, and throw her necklace away. But maybe it was lucky he stopped her. It seemed she was still under Marcus' spell.

Alex lifted the pendant above his head and well out of her reach, "But Rose, you were going to throw it away. You didn't want it. So why should I? Finders keepers after all," he laughed stepping back away from the lake. He knew that if she tried hard enough Rose could push him in and he would prefer to keep dry today. He smiled at her twistedly. "Anyway, I think you owe me an apology after what you said in front of Gary the other day. It was very rude."

"You're very rude!" she shouted back childishly, following him with her eyes on only her necklace. "Please give it back, please..." Ungracefully, she tripped over her own feet and landed almost flat on her face on the floor. She didn't get up, she just bit her scarlet lip hard and banged her forehead repeatedly against the ground. "I won't say sorry," she said, though she sounded it. She sounded very sorry indeed.

"Well well Rosey. If you won't apologize I'll just have to keep it," he smirked slipping the pendant into his back pocket. Crouching down his lifted up her chin with two fingers, "You look so pathetic down there," he sneered letting go of her as though he was getting infected with something. He smiled and stood up feeling the pendant in his pocket.

"What are you going to do, give it to Gary?" she cried, pulling herself into a sitting position. "Just like Marcus gave it to me?! 'This is us; you, the flower, and me, the serpent.' That's what he said. As much as you hate it, Alex, you and I, we're very similar." She got to her feet and stood very close to him. He could have rested his chin on her head, she was so short compared to him. "We'll always fall for people who are no good for us."

Alex narrowed his eyes at her and stared coldly. "What do you know about Gary and I? If we're so bad for each other why are we getting married?" he asked folding his arms neatly over his chest. He stopped suddenly. Wait. She didn't know they were engaged, that they were to be married. That they were going to live together for the rest of their lives. Their very very long lives.

She laughed coldly, bitterly. "Marriage," she said scornfully, spitting the word out in disgust and disdain. "Marriage only brings pain. Faith was too naive to not accept Edward's proposal. You're just the same; you've no idea. Married couples fight, and the ones that don't have tragedies beyond any measure. My parents, for example, had both. They fought, and the fight led my mother to get hit by a car, which in turn led to my father trying many times to kill himself, which in turn contributed to me being the way I am. Marriage ruins everything. Love ruins everything. If there was no such thing as love, the world would be a better place. You're both so romantic and pathetic. It makes me sick just to think of it. 'Alex, oh Alex my darling, I'd never do anything to hurt you, except abandon you and tell you you disgust me!' 'Gary, oh Gary my love, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, except when I need to take a detour to bite some kiddies!'"

Alex laughed at her, "Jealousy is not a pretty trait to have." Alex recalled Sammael saying something similar the first time they had properly met. He looked at her darkly. Why did she have to come and ruin his good mood? Sighing he relaxed just a little, "You know, if Marcus cared about you the way Gary cared about me you wouldn't be complaining at all."

"Maybe that's true, but so what if it is? Experience moulds us, you can't blame me for having experienced heartache and heartbreak. You're not meant to forgive people after that. Haven't you guessed why I'm fighting against Gary again?" She stepped away from him, back towards the water, and looked across the glassy green surface, all but forgetting the necklace. It was unimportant. "It's not because I love him now," she said quietly. "It's because I loved him once, and it still hurts. I even loved Sammael once, and though he's the one who bit me and beat me, it didn't hurt half as much as what Gary did."

Alex's eyes opened a little, "You loved him?" he asked uncertainly, "What happened?" Alex uncrossed his arms and swung them by his hips. Biting his bottom lip he ran his eyes anywhere but where she was standing. He didn't want to hear this. Did he? Would she reveal some dark secret of Gary's that would ruin everything? Wasn't he better off not knowing?

"You know that for quite some time he was with Faith, and doubtless you also know why Faith broke up with him. I loved him then; Sammael was second best to me, so that's what I settled for." Sighing, she pushed her hair back from her face and glanced over her shoulder very quickly to see if Alex was looking or listening or not. Even if he hated her - it wasn't mutual - for some reason she liked his eyes to be on her. "And when I told him - Gary - that I loved him, he just said that he still loved Faith too. And he could never choose, ever. Edward came along and I thought that was my chance, because Faith was gone for good. Yes, I would have been second best, but you know how it is; with him, you feel that you could follow him forever and forgive him anything. Alas, no, and there was another blonde girl who was with him briefly. And then, perhaps, my chance again. No; nothing for ages, except our usual messing around which I began to hold more dear to myself than ever. And then you appeared, and there was no competition. I stopped loving him before that, really, it just felt nice to have a secret. But I've had too many secrets, and too much unrequited love. I'm giving up on love, and it's his fault."

Alex listened, but didn't reply straight away. He absentmindedly rubbed his right hand over his left arm the mark stinging his skin. "I don't know what you want me to do about it," he said finally not looking at her but down, intently, at the floor, "I do see what this has to do with anything anyway. I don't understand you, Rose. You're this big drama queen who wants all the attention to herself and you'll hurt as many people as you need to to get it. Have you stopped to think of what your stupid games might be doing to other people? Or do you just take joy in ripping people apart?"

She was a little stunned by his words, but...it was true. "I hate myself for it," she whispered quietly, knowing he would hear. "But I don't know how else to be." She sighed and the wind picked up, creating ripples on the surface of the lake where it had once been still and suffocating. "If people don't look at me, then...what am I meant to do? People look at you because you're cute, and you're deranged, sometimes. The other night, in the forest, how much attention did you have then? People only give attention to people who behave badly or madly, so that's what I do. I could jump into this lake right now - I've done it so many times before - and no one except you would know, but in time, I hope, people would think of me. If I just walked away from here, back up to my bed in the dorms, no one would care. That's how it works."

"That's where we differ. You an I. I don't want attention in that way. I hated it. Hated losing my mind. Hated being so angry. I just wanted to be happy. But instead I got hurt, confused, and felt more alone than ever. And it wasn't even my fault. Things other people have done to me made me do it. Made me get so angry. So hurt," Alex mumbled quietly brushing some hair from his eyes. He knew that Rose would understand what he meant. That it was her, Gary, Faith and a little bit of Edward that had made him so upset. Even if they had been his only friends - sometimes they didn't feel like it.

"When you lost it, how did you feel?" Her voice sounded very empty, and she still wouldn't look at him. Maybe he was the same as her, and she could fix him better than any of the doctors and mediwizards that she had to see. Maybe he was just a bit similar, and she could reassure him by showing him that there was someone who had it worse, someone - her - who suffered more than him. It had been a very long time since she last had a breakdown, but it had been scarier than ever and she had been very vigilant with her medical spells since. Sammael had killed two women. She'd had a conversation with a corpse. She didn't want that ever to happen again.

Alex looked at her, he didn't know what to say. It had been so confusing, to be insane. "I don't remember. It felt good to begin with, to finally have someone listen to me. To finally have people give a f*ck. But then...then it went bad. I hated all the things I said," he looked at her, "and what I did. I broke a teachers' arm! I-I..." he stopped, unable to say it. "I can't do this anymore. It's making me sick. And still, no one understands."

"That's what you think. That's what I thought. In reality, there are plenty of people who understand, and even more who can actually help. My dad... He's a psychologist. He understands me better than anyone else, not because he has a medical degree, but because he's good at seeing what's in my head." She liked talking about her dad; she was immensely proud of him, and loved him more than anyone else in the world. "If it happens again, you should talk to me. You might not like me, but we have things in common."

Alex frowned at her, "Sure Rose...Whatever you say." Pulling the necklace back out of his back pocket he handed it back to her. The coldness of the pendant burning ice cold against his skin. It reminded him of Gary. He sighed and retracted his hand pushing it in his pocket. Turning he couldn't say anymore, he had had enough. She had left him with a lot to think about. "I'd rather keep it to myself thanks," he called back. Biting his lip he smiled ever so slightly as he walked back towards the castle.