Rose Weasley looked around the now nearly empty grand hall. It was well after midnight and she still had to help clean up after the Halloween Ball.
"Stupid Head Girl duties," She grumbled to herself.
She heard rustling on the opposite side of the room. When she looked back, she saw Scorpius Malfoy, the Head Boy, clearing away some of the pumpkin decorations. He had taken off the top layer of his dress robes so he only stood in a white button down and black slacks. His hair had been messed up, no doubt from his dance partners hands.
She sighed and turned back to her wall, he had unbuttoned the top of his shirt, making his chest visible to her, damn quidditch and it's ability to produce fit blokes.
It was another hour later and the two had barely talked. It wasn't that they weren't friends, they were just so tired, that communication was difficult. So when Scorpius finally broke the silence, Rose jumped slightly.
"I'm going to head back up to the tower," He said, "I can wait for you, if you're almost done."
"Ya, just give me one minute to take down the wall decorations over here," Was her reply.
After a flick of her wand, Rose looked around the Hall.
"Perfect," She sighed. It looked just how it did every day, "Lets go."
"Did you have fun tonight?" Rose asked politely, eyes sparkling in actual interest as the pair climbed the stairs leading up to the second floor.
"It was... fine," Scor replied.
"You don't seem so sure about that "fine"," Rose remarked, raising her eyebrow.
"Well my date was Amalia Sanders, you know, that sixth year Hufflepuff?"
"Blonde, big boobs, short?"
"Ya, that's the one, you know her?"
"No I just see her in the corridors sometimes, go on though, why was your night just "fine"?"
"Well, you see, I didn't ask her," Rose raised her other eyebrow, "I was gonna ask someone else, someone I have liked for awhile..."
This caused Rose to smirk and say, "And who would that be, Prince Charming?"
"Prince Charming?" Scor snorted.
"He's a muggle prince,"
"Real original name!"
"Just answer the question lover boy!"
Scor looked as if he were going to question "lover boy" but Rose glared at him.
"You wouldn't know her," His face reddened.
"You'd be surprised at who I do and do not know,"
"It's nobody, really,"
"Doesn't seem like nobody," Rose muttered.
"Who did you go with?" Scor asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
"Matt Crandel,"
"Why? He's a jerk!"
"Trust me, I know, if I could have said no, I would have,"
"Why couldn't you say no?"
"That would have just been rude! How would you have felt if the girl you wanted to ask turned you down?"
"Well that's partly the reason why I didn't ask her,"
"Oh, I see,"
"If you didn't want to go with him, who did you want to go with?"
"You won't tell me who you wanted to go with so why should I tell you who I wanted to go with?"
"Fair enough,"
The pair fell into a comfortable silence until they reached the Heads Dorm.
"Mermaid tails," Scor said to the portrait of the sheep herder, his sheep nowhere to be found.
Once the door opened, Rose and Scor where met with the warm glow of the already lit fireplace.
Rose sighed as she sat down on the plush coach in front of the flames. (It was one of those couches that went whoosh when you sat.)
"I could sleep here," she said as Scor sat down next to her.
"Right?" He agreed, spreading his arms out on the couch.
Rose sighed and laid her head down on Scorpius' lap, not even thinking about it.
Scor froze for a second when Rose laid her head down. Then he relaxed into the added weight. His hand slowly stoked her hair as they stared into the fire. She was still in her dress and he was pretty sure he had left his robe downstairs, but he didn't think about that as his eyes slowly drifted shut.
"Scorrr, Scorrrrr," he ignored the voice clearly trying to wake him up, he was enjoying a nice dream about pumpkins in dresses and robes.
"Come on Scor, we have l get up and go to our own beds,"
"Don't wanna," he mumbled tiredly rolling over so his face was in the couch cushion.
He heard a soft chuckle, then he felt it. A million tiny fingers ticking him everywhere. All of a sudden, he jumped up and was shrieking like a little girl.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" He screamed.
Then, as soon as it started, it stopped. He opened his eyes to the sound of laughter. Rose was sitting on the ground in front of the couch, wiping her watering eyes.
Scor glared at her.
"What?" She asked innocently, " I had to get you up!"
"What time is it?" He asked, still slightly mad at her for her attack.
"Almost 4,"
Scor yawned, he figured he could get another 6 hours of sleep in before the Hogsmeade trip in the morning, "Well then, I'm gonna head to bed,"
"Ya me too,"
"See you in the morning," Scor headed for the stairs that would lead up to his room, but he stopped suddenly, foot raised as if to step onto the first step. But instead he turned around and looked at Rose.
"What?" She asked, curious as to why he hadn't gone up the stairs.
"You looked really pretty last night," he said, an with that be turned on his heal and headed up the stairs.
"What the hell was that?" Rose thought. An before she knew what she was doing, Rose was up the stairs after Scorpius. And suddenly she was at his door knocking. And suddenly the door was opened, revealing a shirtless Scorpius, which she didn't have time to ogle at. And suddenly she was asking the question she had just previously thought.
"What do you mean?" Was his startled reply.
"You can't just tell a girl she looked really pretty the night before after you just slept on a couch with her! Do you mean I don't look pretty now? Do I always look bad after I sleep? Do you mean that you think I looked better last night 'cuz I look like shit now?! You totally just destroyed my self confidence."
Scorpius stood dumbfounded.
"I don't think you look bad now! I just think that you looked really pretty last night, and I never got to tell you!"
Rose's eyes narrowed, as if she was trying trying to decide how to react to what he just said.
"So you agree that I don't look pretty now?"
Scor groaned, "That's not what I said!"
"Well, good," she said with a nod of her head. And with that she turned to head down the stairs.
"Wait just a moment," Scor said grabbing her arm before she could disappear down the stairs, "Why do you care so much of what I think of you?"
Her cheeks turned pink but her answer was said in a strong voice, "Because I'm a girl and I get insecure about these things,"
He raised his eyebrows at her but her blue eyes never wavered from his grey ones.
"Whatever you say, flower,"
She rolled her eyes at the stupid pet name and made to pull her arm out of Scor's grasp. But her arm was held on fast and she was pulled into Scor, her head hitting his chest.
"You never asked why I told you that you looked pretty," He said, voice deep.
She looked up into his face, blonde hair short and features sharp, but his eyes were soft, yet intense. He looked down at the girl below him, hair kissed by fire wild from her hour on the couch, makeup slightly smudged, but still pretty. Very pretty.
She held her breath, waiting for him to do something, anything. And then he did. His hand let go of her arm and slid around her waist bring her even closer to him. He took a deep breath and kissed her.
She stood frozen for a moment, not really believing that this was real, before she closed her eyes and kissed him back.
An hour later, the pair laid breathless after an intense snogging session on Scor's bed.
"In case you didn't know, you were the girl I wanted to go to the ball with," Scor said, rolling on his side to face Rose.
She laughed quietly, also turning to face him, "I figured."