To anyone who reads this, please note that the story begins in a rather juvenile manner but will grow mature as our characters grow older. Hence, you should note that this story will take on more mature themes as it progresses. Try to look at each chapter as a series of stories in Scorpius' life all with one common bond: firewhisky & Dominique Weasley.

As always, I appreciate reviews and comments!

Hope you enjoy!

May 28th, 2021

Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, the seventh years were done with their N.E.W.T.S, and it was the Friday before they departed for summer break.

With the tiding of these special occasions, they were celebrating.

Scorpius cared little for Quidditch, much to the chagrin of his father and his fellow classmates. Granted, Albus was still a tad sore from Slytherin's loss to Gryffindor in the final game, but even he wasn't one to turn down a party. The two of them were standing in the Gryffindor Commons, in the midst of the revelries taking place that night. Albus had smuggled them into the party with the invisibility cloak and some assistance from Rose. Rose pointed out that Albus was just happy that the family treasure would now belong to him upon James' graduation.

There were crates of Butterbeer pushed against the walls for makeshift seating. Scorpius had procured a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhisky from his father's stash over the Easter holiday, and they poured it freely into cups smuggled from the kitchens.

Music made conversation hard to hear, but they yelled despite it. Silencing charms had been placed on the walls to stifle the noise, not that Professor Longbottom would keep his students from their revelries. They deserved a bit of celebration after such a tough victory.

Glitter and confetti floated in the sky, fireworks darted around the ceiling, and somehow Albus had managed to procure a lamp shade to wear on his head.

Scorpius danced with Rose to a song by The Weird Sisters, swinging her around to the rampant beat. As they parted he caught a glimpse of Dominique Weasley sitting on a Butterbeer crate with a group of older students.

For just a moment, the world stopped around Scorpius as he stared at the young woman.

From his position on the dance floor, Scorpius had the opportunity to observe Dominique Weasley.

The young woman had her legs tucked up underneath her; when standing she was tall, nearly as tall as Scorpius was and he clocked in at a cool six feet, two inches. Her hair was tied up in a neat chignon, her long neck exposed. Her attire consisted of a pink sleeveless blouse with a matching skirt, and her tall boots were freshly polished. On her fingers she wore delicate gold rings, and pearl studs rested on her earlobes.

She was radiant.

For four years, he had watched her from afar. It wasn't like they never spoke to one another. They had talked a handful of times over the past four years. However, their conversations had never delved deeper than pleasantries about the weather. She saw him as her cousins' friend – a child. Yes, she was only three years older than him, but in school that meant everything.

Dominique was going to be a writer. He had eavesdropped enough times to hear her talk excitedly to her friends about her dream job with The Daily Prophet. Scorpius knew the Editor-in-chief of the Prophet, he wondered if it would be overstepping a boundary to offer her an introduction. That would be admitting to eavesdropping. She would be graduating in May, leaving to pursue her dream of being a writer while he remained at Hogwarts. He had watched her for four years just waiting to make a move.

It was hard when they were constantly separated by friends and family. The Weasley-Potter clan made up a substantial percentage of the Hogwarts' population. At any given time Dominique would have a relative nearby. At any given time his attention was being taken away by one of those bloody redheads he called 'friends'. If he approached her, and it happened to go terribly, there would be hell to pay. But, he wasn't really afraid of her family. He was afraid of screwing it up with Dominique. He was afraid of ruining an opportunity he had dreamed about since he had first laid eyes on her brilliant face.

In that moment, Scorpius decided that it was now or never. He would make his move on Dominique Weasley tonight or live to regret it for the rest of his life.

Rose pulled him into another dance, her face bright red from drink. She was his best friend, his confidant. With Albus, they were the trio. Rose was the only one to know of his deep rooted fascination with Dominique, and she approved. The two of them were close; Dominique, in Rose's opinion, lacked the haughty "French-ness" that plagued her two siblings.

They danced a little more before Scorpius pulled Rose from the crowd to a more secluded area of the party. Above the noise he attempted to shout, "I'm going to do it tonight, Rose!"

His friend looked confused, her brow furrowed, "What?"

"I'm going to do it tonight. I'm going to make tell Dominique how I feel!"

Rose seemed to debate what he was saying; no doubt the alcohol slowing her ability to process information. After a moment, a look of recognition crossed her face before she beamed up at him, "That's fantastic! How are you going to tell her?"

Scorpius frowned. He really hadn't though that far. It wasn't like he could bloody well go up and blurt it out. He needed to pick the right time.

Gazing around the room, Dominique was nowhere to be found. Scorpius stood up on a crate, gazing over the moving heads of the party goers. He caught a flash of pink and spotted her over with Albus and James. Grabbing Rose's wrist, Scorpius nearly dragged the girl over to where Dominique was standing. James was holding his bottle of firewhisky, pouring it into the cups of the girls surrounding him. He was making some type of lewd joke, which earned him a jab in the ribs from Dominique. As Scorpius approached with Rose in tow, the circle diverted their attentions to the newcomers. Albus threw his arm around Scorpius and pronounced, "This is mighty fine hooch, old boy. We shall have to drink this every time Slytherin loses."

James chimed, "If you stick to that rule, Albie, you'll have to be drinking quite a lot of it next year."

The Gryffindor students laughed in amusement. Albus shot his brother a dark look while Scorpius disentangled himself from his friend's grasp. He was staring at Dominique, though the witch didn't seem to notice. She was sipping the firewhisky in her glass, her nose wrinkling at the smell.

"What did you put in here James? Cauldron cleaner?"

James sniffed it himself, "No, it's whatever Scorpius brought."

Dominique raised her pale eyes expectantly at him. He blushed under her scrutiny, quickly saying, "It's a vintage firewhisky from my Father's collection. It's supposed to be really good."

Truth be told, he hadn't drunk any himself. The older the firewhisky, the more potent its content, and that bottle was from 1942.

Dominique moved forward to pour half the liquid from her cup into Scorpius' empty glass. There was little more than half a cup of firewhisky swirling together with the remnants of Butterbeer. He glanced at Dominique wore a mischievous smile on her face.

"You drink, I drink."

Scorpius was dumbfounded that she was even talking to him let alone egging him on to a dare.

Without thinking, Scorpius raised the cup to his lips and downed the liquid. His eyes burned from the sting of the bitter alcohol against his throat. Dominique had been right in her description of the liquor; it smelled like cauldron cleaner and tasted no better. With the last of the whiskey down his throat, Scorpius withheld the urge to gag, yet he coughed a bit while patting his chest. After collecting himself, Scorpius looked at Dominique whose eyes were twinkling in delight.

Calmly, he responded, "Your turn."

The witch looked at the liquid in her glass and grimaced, but following his lead she downed the firewhisky in one gulp. A look of pain crossed Dominique's face, and there were tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She let out a shaky breath as her friends tittered nervously behind her. One girl piped up, "Dominique that was very reckless!"

Dominique shrugged her shoulders, brushing off the comment. James was laughing at the idiocy taking place in front of him, though he had not touched the liquid in his own glass. The conversation diverged and Dominique stopped directing her attention to Scorpius, falling back in line with her friends.

Albus and Rose were chattering on about something aimless when the music switched. Several girls in the crowd squealed with delight as the new song blasted over the record player. Rose excitedly pulled Albus into a dance while Scorpius remained standing next to James. He would not remove himself willingly from Dominique's presence; especially after that unexpected move on her part. James eventually led Dominique's friends to the dance floor, a girl on either arm.

That left Dominique and Scorpius alone to watch the chaos take place.

He glanced at the witch beside him, her hair dazzling in the mellow light. She was not blonde like her siblings, nor red like her cousins. It was almost a golden brown color that looked like spun gold from where he was standing. He struggled to think of something to talk to her about. What could they talk about when all they had ever really discussed was the weather or Quidditch?

Luckily, Dominique was the first to speak, "I'm going to miss this nonsense when I graduate."

She motioned to the room. Her friends were basking under James' attentions, while Rose was slyly trying to squeeze between a good-looking sixth year and his partner. It was a blur of color and laughter, but it was the way life was supposed to be – simple, fun, carefree.

The witch turned to look keenly at Scorpius. Under the pressure of her gaze, he blurted, "But you'll get to be working at the Prophet soon, so that'll be good?"

He blanched as her face contorted in bewilderment. Oh crap, he was screwed.

"How do you know I want to work at the Prophet?"

"Uh well – Rose told me!" Yes, that's it - blame it on Rose. Scorpius continued, "Rose told me about how you want to be a writer for the Prophet after you leave Hogwarts. I think that's great endeavor."

If she didn't believe the lie, she didn't say anything. Instead, Dominique rolled her eyes, "Well I don't know if it's going to be that simple. Writing jobs are hard to come by, and I don't know if I could get in on talent alone. My Mum wants me to work at Gringotts and my Dad wants me to join him in Romania as his secretary. They say its steadier work with a lot more income which is helpful."

Scorpius saw her frown. She wanted to be a writer. He had listened to her talk about it for the past four years. She subscribed to every magazine and newspaper printed, and would pour over them at the breakfast table. Rose said she talked about nothing else but writing. She wanted to be a reporter, or have her own column like Rita Skeeter. Wasn't one of her aunts a writer? Scorpius thought it silly that her parents would stifle her desires simply over an issue of money. Then again, he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Maybe it was the drink talking, but Scorpius interjected, "You have to do what makes you happy, and if writing makes you happy you have to do it!"

It was a bit nonsensical and was said sort of hurriedly so that many of the words flowed together. Dominique's smile returned, however, which made Scorpius happy. He would do anything in the world to never see her frown again.

"I know the Editor-in-chief at the Prophet. He is a good friend of my father's, and comes over for dinner at my house at least once a month. I could tell him about you."

Dominique's eyes widened in shock her face suddenly beaming. Within an instant, she clutched his arm, pulling at the cotton of his grey t-shirt. Scorpius savored the feeling of her warm hand touching his skin. She gazed up into his face as if he were Merlin reincarnated. Scorpius' blush returned, his ears burning. Her own face was tinged with pink, though he suspected it was from the firewhisky and not the fact that she was touching him.

She cried, "You would do that for me? You would really mention my name to the Editor-in-chief of the Prophet. That could be my way in! That would be fantastic!"

All he could manage was to nod.

The young woman jumped excitedly, holding onto his arm. She threw her arms around him and squeezed, and in that moment Scorpius' heart stopped. Their empty cups spilled to the floor, but he couldn't care less. He caught a whiff of the jasmine perfume she wore and dedicated it to memory. As soon as the hug had begun, it was quickly ended when the witch held him at arm's length. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

Scorpius froze.

Dominique spoke, "Why are you doing this for me? We hardly know one another and I don't suspect that it's just because your my cousins' friend."

This was it. This was the moment to tell her how much he had always admired her from afar. How he was over-the-moon, head-over-heels, in love with Dominique Weasley, a girl he had dreamt about every night for the past four years.

Scorpius inhaled, the firewhisky backing the new found courage welling in his chest, "Well, you see Dominique, for the past four years I have-"

"Dominique, you are wanted for the Quidditch picture! Eliza found the camera in her trunk!"

James came forward, interrupting Scorpius' moment. The older wizard curiously watched the scene in front of him, Dominique's hands still on Scorpius' arms while Scorpius appeared completely flustered. Dominique quickly let go of Scorpius, turning to smile at her cousin, "I'll be right there, Scorpius was just about to tell me something."

The two of them twisted back around to listen to Scorpius.

Well, he couldn't pour his heart out to her while James was standing there. Sighing, Scorpius caught Dominique's stare and simply responded, "I just think everyone deserves a chance at their dreams. Besides, it's no skin off my nose he eats at my house every month."

That was it, play it off aloof like it meant nothing to him. Like she meant nothing to him. Dominique could only smile as James hurried her off for the picture. Scorpius kicked at the empty cups on the floor damning James and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team to hell.

There went his last chance at telling Dominique how he felt.

The clock read past midnight and he had grown bored of the party. His mood had soured and Scorpius now just wanted to go to bed. He said his goodbyes to Albus and Rose who begged him to stay a little longer.

As Scorpius made his way out of the portrait hole and onto the landing, he heard a voice call out to him.

"Hey Scorpius, wait!"

Dominique hopped out into the darkness, wobbling a bit. Scorpius quickly went to her aid, surprised at her appearance. She was grinning, "I saw you leaving and I wanted to say goodbye."

"What about the picture?"

"Bah, the picture can wait! I didn't get the chance to say thank-you. I know it's no skin off your nose to talk to that Editor, but it honestly means the world to me."

In the shadows of the dark corridor, Dominique Weasley gave Scorpius a quick peck on the lips. She giggled from the obvious awkwardness of the situation and waited for him to say something. Scorpius was in a state of shock and just stood there wide-eyed, eyebrows raised in surprise. The witch went back to the portrait hole to enter the Commons once more. Over her shoulder she smiled and called back, "Have a good summer, Scorpius!"

Perhaps he had not confessed his love to Dominique Weasley that night, but it would be a night Scorpius would always remember.