It started on board the Hogwarts Express.
Scorpius was sitting in his compartment alone when two other first years wandered in. They stopped for a second, startled at the the sight of his pale blond hair and cold grey eyes, the spitting image of his father.
He looked up at the first boy, and grey met green.
"Al!" hissed a girl with flaming red hair behind none other than Albus Potter. And the girl, of course, was Rose Weasley. When she saw Scorpius looking at her, she flushed a bright red.
"Hi, I'm Albus!" Albus said, a little discomfited, but trying to be friendly.
Scorpius paused.
"I know."
"Mind if we sit here?"
If he had said no, probing the two to back away, Rose furiously telling him "I told you so!", maybe they wouldn't have gotten to know each other and become tight friends.
But he didn't. And so they did.
It was their fifth year.
The three had stayed firm friends, even though they were all from different houses- Albus from Gryffindor, Rose from Ravenclaw and Scorpius from Slytherin. By now there was no longer anyone who was surprised about this- Malfoy, Weasley and Potter, best of friends!- and as such no one even batted an eyelid at the sight of Albus following Scorpius as he stomped on.
"Scor, just man up and tell her already!"
"Are you bloody mental?" Scorpius seethed, pointedly trying to ignore him.
"You like Rose," Albus stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh, shove it," Scorpius rolled his eyes and continued to walk on at a brisk pace.
"Why not ask her out to Hogsmeade?" Albus suggested.
"She'll bite my head off," Scorpius replied, annoyed.
"Or she could say yes," Albus pointed out, grinning, swinging his arm around his shoulder.
"You're a git," Scorpius replied, shrugging off Albus' arm.
Albus laughed.
"That's why I'm your friend, isn't it?"
Maybe if Scorpius had taken Albus' advice, he would have found out that that yes, Rose would love to go to Hogsmeade with him.
But he didn't, and so she went out with a Ravenclaw named Sam Walker that weekend.
It was their sixth year.
"Scorpius!"
Scorpius grinned as he turned around. That voice was unmistakable- at least to him, anyway.
"Rose."
She smiled as she quickly caught up to him.
"What did you write for the Potions Essay?"
He stared at her as she started rambling on about properties of potion ingredients. Despite being friends, they were also academic rivals, and they were always comparing scores and grades as well as discussing work.
This time, Scorpius, however, was distracted by the way one of her untamable red curls had escaped from her ponytail and bounced around in front of her face. Barely aware of what he was doing, he leaned forward and gently tucked it behind her ear.
He paused as he suddenly realized his close proximity to Rose, who was practically blushing maroon and seemed to have stopped breathing. He smirked slightly, and then his situation hit him as he hesitated, torn between what he wanted to do (kiss her) and what would probably be the safer route (not kiss her).
If he had kissed her, then perhaps he would have been surprised to find that she was kissing him fervently back. Maybe it would be their first kiss together in a series of many, many kisses.
But he didn't.
He leaned back.
"There was a curl loose," he mumbled.
"Oh," Rose replied, equally soft as they both looked down, away from each other.
"I've got to run now, Rose," Scorpius quickly added. "Got to get to Transfiguration."
If he had looked back, he would have seen the look of disappointment on her face as she stood there, downcast, slightly hunched with the weight of crushed hopes and false anticipation on her shoulders.
But he didn't. And that was that.
Seventh year.
It was a hectic year. Their last, and the one with the impending doom that was the arrival of N.E.W.T.s.
Still, Albus, Rose and Scorpius found time for each other. And the time Rose and Scorpius spent together was no longer peppered with awkward silences after every mumbled word. There were no longer sideways glances and the general atmosphere of uneasiness, which left Scorpius relieved and yet slightly... Confused? Disappointment? Hurt?
But he never said a word. He continued to compare scores with Rose, study with her, joke with her, talk with her and hang out with her.
And Albus.
Not to say he didn't like Albus. Albus was his best friend, and so was Rose.
He liked them both. But in very different ways.
Albus didn't make him go on red alert when he felt his presence.
Albus didn't make him want to hole up for hours in a library just to spend time with him.
Albus didn't make him feel like he was falling and flying at the same time.
Albus didn't make him grin like an absolute moron for the smallest reasons.
But Albus did make him incredibly annoyed.
"You, mate, need to act fast. It's our last year, you know that, and you and Rose are heading separate ways after graduation, and before you know it, she'll meet a nice bloke at the ministry. And because you'll be too busy healing at St. Mungo's you won't be able to intervene and then boom! The next thing you know he'll have proposed to her and you'll be watching her walk down the aisle with her dad on her arm about to be married off to some other chap just because you never told her you liked her more than a friend. And I know you, Scor, and you act so cool and detached but really you care more than you probably should and you'll want her to be happy and so you won't be able to speak up when then preacher says speak now and then you'll live a life forever alone as a hermit. Or you'll marry some random girl that you'll never love."
"Bugger. Off."
"I'm just saying," Albus shrugged.
"Blimey, Al."
"Look," Albus huffed as he stood in front of Scorpius and stared right into his eyes, completely serious. "Rose is my cousin. And you're my best friend. But even though you are, if I thought you would ever hurt her intentionally I'd shred you to pieces. But I don't, and this is why I want you two to end up together because I know the one guy I can trust her with is you. So you get your sorry arse into gear and tell her how you've felt all these years, because I can't stand seeing you date girl after girl after girl in a fruitless bid to get over her. And I can't stand seeing her dating guys who treat her okay, but not as good as what she deserves."
Scorpius just stared at him, his eye twitching slightly.
Albus calmed down and took in a deep breath.
"Look, if you don't tell her, I know you'll regret it. So just go for it. Okay?"
Scorpius avoided his stare.
Albus ran his hands through his messy mop of jet black hair and could only watch as Scorpius walked away.
"Rose, I like you."
"I think I might like you, Rose."
"Hey, Rose, just wanted to let you know that... Argh!"
Scorpius fell back on his bunk bed and stared at the ceiling. No one else was in the dorm, a fact he had made sure of before trying out different ways of confessing.
He let out a small laugh that was completely void of mirth. When had Scorpius Malfoy, known throughout Hogwarts for being suave and knowing exactly what to say to every girl (except for one, apparently), been reduced to this?
He sat up and closed his eyes, covering his face with his hands.
Graduation was over.
Most of the students had wandered away from their parents, walking around with their friends as they reminisced and walked around Hogwarts for the last time.
Scorpius was walking outside, massaging his forehead, trying to even out the creases and relieve the stress. He had a massive headache. Though he hated to admit it, Albus was right.
But it didn't mean he had to like it.
He headed for the lake, where he knew Rose had said she would be. She was sitting there, staring over everything forlornly. But as soon as she noticed Scorpius, she gave him a small smile.
"Hey, Scorp."
"Rose," he smiled back, settling next to her, his voice barely a whisper as he looked up at the majestic castle in all its glory.
"I can't believe we're leaving," Rose said softly, her eyes glazing over. "This is it, Scorp. This is it."
"Yeah."
"We're leaving, and that's all you can say?" Rose raised an eyebrow.
"I know it's sad. I don't really want to leave either. But we have bright futures ahead of us. You at the ministry, me at St Mungo's. Let's look forward to our futures, to all our tomorrows. To what could be and what will be."
He turned to see Rose staring at him.
"What?"
"That was... Very corny. But profound all the same. Not bad, Scorp." She smirked, and Scorpius laughed, pushing her slightly.
"But you're right," she smiled slightly, looking up. "I don't want to leave Hogwarts, but a new chapter of our lives has just begun."
"Mmm."
There was a comfortable silence as they sat there, feeling the wind in their hair and the sounds of memories past at Hogwarts ringing in their ears.
After a while, Rose spoke.
"I should go look for my family now. Bye, Scorp?" she said, making her statement sound like a question.
Scorpius sat up straight. If there was any time to confess, this would be it.
Rose looked at him curiously, cocking her head.
"Yes...?"
Maybe if he told her, then perhaps she would tell him that yes, she had liked him all this while too. Then, they would go out, and after her dad and his dad were done coming up with lists of reasons why they "absolutely forbid" them from "going out with that Weasel/Ferret" and their families finally accepted them, they'd date for a couple of years, which would eventually lead to Scorpius' proposal and their marriage, and then they'd live happily ever after, together.
"I've liked you since second year," Scorpius blurted.
Rose blinked.
The silence between them was deafening.
Slowly, Scorpius' words sunk in.
"I... Know," she managed.
Scorpius jumped, taken aback.
"You knew?" he asked, aghast.
"It makes sense now," she declared, her face splitting into the widest grin he'd ever seen.
"...what?" Scorpius asked cautiously.
"You like me," she smiled. And just as he was about to protest that yes, he was pretty sure he had made that quite clear, she flung her arms around his neck and cut him off with a kiss.
.
.
.
"Please tell me that's not what I'm seeing."
"Ron...?"
"Oh, shit."
And maybe if he had said nothing, they wouldn't be together.
But he hadn't. And so they were.
A/N: The scene at the end (before the last bit about him saying nothing) was Ron and Hermione walking to the lake, looking for Rose. Yes, Ron spotted them kissing ;) The first one to speak was Ron, the next Hermione and the last Rose/Scorpius/Rose and Scorpius simultaneously.
This was supposed to be a short drabble, but as you can see, it dragged on XD I'm going to try writing a drabble/one-shot a day. So this is the first of a few more to come (until I run out of steam and give up). I ran through this and picked out a few errors, though if there are any I missed out then please tell me in a review and I'll correct them :)
Let me know what you think!