"Hey," a pair of startlingly grey eyes peered through a mop of blond hair over the stack of parchment Rose was sitting behind. "Hey, you," she waved her quill distractedly at Scorpius without looking up from her work.

"Missing homework, one; cheating boyfriend, three; strange noises on the seventh floor, five; memory loss ..." Rose murmured as she sorted the application forms into piles according to 'mysteriousness', as Scorpius called it.

"Rose?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows, not that she could see, of course. "Hmmm, I'll give that a six and a half ... Writing on the bathroom wall, four; ooh, hidden corridor on the fourth floor - could be useful, but not really a mystery ..." Scorpius walked in between the towers of parchment, brushing the edges of a few. "Rose."

He stopped right next to her and stared pointedly at the back of her head, as her face was almost buried in the forms. "Sneakoscope not functioning properly, one; ... 'dungbombs'? Ok ... zero," Rose jumped as Scorpius put his hand on her shoulder.

"Rose," he said, slightly irritated, "Could you take a break for a sec?" She looked between him and the piles of applications a few times, and then sighed. "Uh, ok," she leaned back into the couch. Her exhausted brain spun for a second, and then she frowned. "Wait, this is the Gryffindor common room! How can you be here?" Scorpius grinned and sank down into the seat next to her.

"Hey, I come in here all the time, Rose, haven't you noticed?" His face fell slightly. "Al lets me in." Rose was distracted by a piece of parchment that had become dislodged from the pile yet to be sorted - she flicked her wand and it was shoved back into place. Unfortunately, as she turned back to Scorpius, the pile teetered uncertainly and started to fly apart. Hearing the disturbance of parchment, Rose turned back to the pile only to have it collapse all over Scorpius and herself.

"Umfph," she struggled to free herself from the cloying sea of forms. She heard Scorpius mutter something, and the papers flew off them and organised themselves neatly into a few smaller piles. "Thanks, Scorp," she leant her head on his shoulder. "No problem," he sighed. He put his arm around her shoulders and began toying with her hair.

"Maybe ... maybe you should just try something a little easier this time, Rose," he suggested. Rose stifled a yawn and looked at the clock - it was only four! "Hmmm," she mused, neither agreeing or disagreeing. Scorpius turned her around slightly to face him, and she found herself staring into his eyes, which were warm despite their grey colour.

"You need to take a break, Rose - and not just like this, an actual break from all this work. Everyone needs free time, Rose, but you never seem to have any to spare." Rose blinked and shook her head. "I'll - I'll be fine," she stammered. "And anyway, I can't stop now - some of these mysteries are actually important." She twined his fingers with her own.

"Damn it, Rose," he turned away, a sort of hard, steely look in his eyes. He gripped her hand tightly for a few seconds, and then slowly released the pressure. "Fine - fine," his voice softened. "Just this next one, it's a small one, okay? No Acromantula, no centaurs, no Chamber of Secrets, yeah?" He smiled weakly, his eyes pleading with her, and Rose found that she couldn't say no.

"Oh - okay," she relented. "But seriously, we were fine with the Acromantula, and I had the centaur thing under control! Besides, the basilisk's been dead for almost thirty years - I wasn't in any danger ..." She trailed off at the look on Scorpius' face. "Okay, no monsters or stuff, I promise."

Scorpius pulled her to his chest and Rose let her head rest on his shoulder. "Okay, so random mystery, here we go," Rose grinned lifting her wand. "But if it's that dungbomb one -" she said, turning around to face Scorpius. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he smirked. Taking a deep breath, Rose closed her eyes and swished her wand.

"Accio," she whispered, and her eyes flew open as a piece of parchment landed in her outstretched hand. Carefully, she unrolled it and read it's contents aloud. "Submitted by Lorcan and Lysander Scamander," Rose grinned. This was sure to be something quirky.

"Mystery: It has come to our attention that a portrait of our great-grandfather, Newt Scamander, resided at Hogwarts at some point in time last century. We have so far been unable to find it, and would appreciate any help which Detective Rose could offer to this mystery. We are in possession of the records confirming that the painting was in the Hogwarts collection in 1968, and should you wish to delve further into this mystery we would be happy to give you access to them. It was submitted two weeks ago," Rose finished, and they sat in silence for a few minutes, Rose mulling over the mystery.

"So, as my agent, what's your decision?" She joked, poking Scorpius gently in the stomach - which was more muscled than she remembered, Rose realised. Scorpius frowned down at the piece of parchment. "Okay," he agreed.

"But only as long as I get to do this." Rose tucked the application form into a pocket. "Do what?" She asked, and Scorpius lifted her onto his lap and kissed her, for what Rose realised was the first time in weeks. After a few seconds, they broke apart, and Rose said breathily, "Well, that's fine by me."

Smirking, Scorpius snaked an arm around her back and pulled her in again until their noses touched. "Then it's a done deal," he whispered, his breath tickling her skin, and sealed their agreement with a kiss.