THE HOGWARTS TANGO
He's flirting again.
Not just flirting, but flirting obviously and blatantly and she can't help but feel extremely irritated by it.
No, Scorpius Malfoy is not trying to flirt with her, because honestly, deep down, she'd be rather thrilled if he was. Instead of her, who he actually brought to this stupid thing, he's flirting with someone else, as he usually does, pretty darn noticeably, right in front of her very eyes.
Surely he must be doing this on purpose. Surely he must know by now.
Scorpius Malfoy, with his soft ruffle-worthy blonde hair and his stupid piercing blue eyes, is near always the reason why the tops of Rose Weasley's ears are tinged red; whether he's playfully joking with her or making her so angry she's in danger of pulling out her wand and screaming Crucio at him. On this particular occasion, her teeth are gritted, she's sitting alone, annoyed and much rather considering the Crucio option than the laugh at his stupid joke option. She should be having the time of her life, dancing and laughing with her friends. Instead she's drumming her fingers on the table and watching the two with narrowed eyes.
He's just a flirt. That's who he is.
She's been telling herself this kind of thing constantly for the last few years. He's not interested in her and never will be. The only thing between them is friendly banter. Friendly banter. Because that's all he wants to be, stupid friends.
He's a tease. A flirt.
A big bloody flirt at that.
But also a flirt she has feelings for, feelings that have been snowballing over time into one massive heap of snow, bigger than Hogwarts Castle, possibly even bigger than her Uncle Harry's fan club. So big that she doubted the sun would be able to melt the snow if it was placed a few metres away from it.
Yes, Rose Weasley is in deep.
Rose give a half dramatic, half exhausted sigh. This should be the moment that he charges over to her, says she looks beautiful, asks her to dance, looks deep in her eyes and realises it's been her all along. That's what all the novels she's been reading in her free time have told her; he loves you, fairytales come true, your prince will come ... blah blah blah. Not likely.
Instead of sweeping her off her feet, telling her he's loved her all along but been too shy to tell her like he's supposed to, he's smooth talking some pretty blonde Slytherin from the year below.
"Aren't you dancing Rosie?" Albus Potter drops clumsily into the seat next to her, his black hair a mop and sweat glistening on his red face.
"My feet are sore." Rose mutters shortly, her eyes unmoving from the blonde pair.
Albus picks up the drink he'd left on their table earlier, gulps the contents of the glass down, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his brand new dress robe. He follows her gaze slowly, smirking. "If you go over there and ask him to dance, he'll say yes." Albus assures her, putting down his drink.
"Who?" Rose asks faintly, her eyes drifting over the mass of people dancing in the middle of the Great Hall.
"You know who I'm talking about." Albus chuckles cheerily. "Looks like Scorp's saying something funny."
Rose eyes dart dangerously to the pair, her eyes narrowing as she spots Mila laughing hard, putting her hand suggestively on Scorpius' arm.
"Go cut in." He suggests, waggling his eyebrows playfully.
Rose glances fondly at her cousin. If there's one thing she loves about him, it's that he knows her better than anyone else. "He can do what he likes, if he wanted to dance with me, he'd be over here."
"I think he'd like to dance with you, if you just asked him..." Albus grins, nudging his cousin's side.
"He'd like to dance with any girl in this room who offers. You know what he's like. I won't be that girl who lets him walk all over me." Rose says proudly, nodding assertively.
"Are you sure you're just another girl to him?"
Rose shrugs indifferently, her insides squirming. She wistfully wishes that Albus is right, that he knows Scorpius better than her, but then again, she doubts Albus will ever understand how she feels about him. "Maybe not, I'm probably more like a boy to him in some respect. I could dance in front of him naked and he'd still be flirting with someone else."
"Even he's not that oblivious!" Albus objects playfully, chuckling to himself.
Rose remains silent.
"He's got feelings for you Rose, I'm sure of it." Albus insists more firmly, smiling encouragingly. "Just tell him how you feel, you might just be pleasantly surprised."
Rose scrunches up her face sceptically. "I don't think so. If he liked me, he'd ask me out. He asked Naomi Pierce out when he liked her; he's not shy and you know it."
"Only because she wrote him a love letter first." Albus counters reasonably.
Secretly Rose loves the conversations she has with Albus concerning Scorpius, she lists all the arguments in her head for Scorpius not liking her and Albus always provide a perfect counter-argument for it. He makes a romance seem all the more probable. "Perhaps he wrote her one first."
Albus groans in mock-annoyance. "He loves you. Deal with it."
Rose affectionately tousles Albus' hair. "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. But Scorpius is not in love with me. I assure you."
"Dance with me then? I'll cheer you up no problem!"
Rose smiles. "You're my cousin. That would just be weird. Go dance with your date."
"Fine, but dance with somebody! You look like a sour lemon." Albus grins, poking his cousin in the side.
"Like who?" she asks sarcastically. "I don't exactly have a queue lining up round the corner, do I?"
"Hmm..." Albus' eyes scan the room. "How about Jonah?"
Rose's eyes follow his to the handsomely tanned wizard, his arms draped around another girl. "He's dancing with Phinella!"
"So? She's not the jealous type. I'll go ask her to dance, then you ask Jonah..."
Rose scowls at her cousin, secretly pleased. "Fine."
Albus does as promised, cutting in between Jonah and Phinella smoothly, Phinella grins from ear to ear and follows Albus willingly, leaving Jonah standing alone, looking dishevelled, on the dancefloor.
Rose can't seem to find the guts to force herself to go and ask him to dance, it would be too embarrassing if he rejected her in front of everyone. Instead, she lets her eyes drift back over to the other side of the dance floor. Scorpius is animatedly waving his arms in the air, telling Mila, aka Dumb Blonde Girl as Rose likes to call her, something, something that obviously amuses her immensely as she is giggling, playfully hitting him and batting her eyelashes every two seconds at him.
Rose stands and shoves her chair under the table with too much force, causing the whole table to wobble. She's determined, determined to forget the heartache Scorpius Malfoy has caused her; she marches over to the sixth year Hufflepuff and grins charmingly. "Wanna dance?"
Jonah's reply is enthusiastic to say the least and as she lets him pull her towards her, twirling her playfully, she forgets about Scorpius for just a few moments and allows herself to have a good time without him.
Scorpius strolls over to the table where Albus is sat and grins at him as he sits down in the chair next to him. He grabs a handful of cheese and onion crisps and shoves them in his mouth before speaking to his friend. "This is some dance mate!"
"Yeah, it's brill." Albus agrees, his eyes remaining on the dancefloor.
"Rose gone to the bathroom?" He asks, his eyes darting to the toilets opposite.
Albus looks at his friend. "No, she's been out there dancing for a good half hour now."
Scorpius' brow furrows. "Really?"
"Yup." Albus smiles, popping the 'p'.
"By herself?" Scorpius asks, sounding slightly hopeful.
Albus rolls his eyes. "Of course she is Scorp, she's twirling herself under her own arm right now!" He answers dryly, smirking.
"But she doesn't have a date..." Scorpius' face scrunches up, looking thoroughly perplexed. "We came here together, as friends..."
"That didn't stop you from going off with another girl, did it?" Albus retorts, smiling at the Slytherin boy.
"I didn't go off! I was simply making conversation! That's all."
Albus raises his eyebrows. "Rose thought it looked that way."
"Well that's not how it was."
"That's how it seemed." Albus winked, taking a sip of his juice nonchalantly. "I think she wishes she'd gone with Croydon in the first place."
Scorpius scowls, disgusted at the mere mention of the name. "Michael Croydon, as in, the ponce who leers over her chest?" Scorpius rocks on his chair, agitated.
"The very one."
Scorpius' mouth sets in a hard line. "Is that who she's dancing with?"
"Nope."
"Not ... Merv the Perv?"
"No!"
Scorpius narrows his blue eyes. "Drew Sawyer?"
"Nah, not him. Jonah Cross."
"Jonah?" Scorpius eyes widen.
"Yes, you know, about this high, brown hair, very tanned, dashing smile, Hufflepuff, plays seeker—"
"I know who Jonah Cross is Albus!" Scorpius snaps sharply. "The question is, how could you let her—?"
Albus rolls his eyes. "What's wrong with him? He's a brill guy!"
Scorpius splutters for a few seconds. "He's a Hufflepuff!"
"So?" Albus raises one eyebrow.
"So he's in Hufflepuff!" Scorpius repeats immaturely.
Albus chuckles to himself, coolly taking a sip of his juice. "Hufflepuffs are cool, Hugh really likes it in there."
"Y-You ... but ... Albus he's a player! He's supposed to be here with Phinella!" Scorpius protests, stammering.
"Oh you know Phinella, she'll dance with anyone who throws a smile her way!" Albus grins cheerfully.
"As will Rose apparently." Scorpius mutters under his breath.
"Sorry?" Albus asks sharply.
"I said ... Jonah is not good enough for Rose, you should go warn him off or something, where's that buffoon James when you need him?"
Albus sighs. "I know he can be an arsehole, but he's still my brother, Scorp. If you wanted to dance with Rose, perhaps you shouldn't have left her on her own for a good hour when she's meant to be your date—"
"Friend date." Scorpius reminds him sharply. "I didn't know I had to be chained to her all night when I agreed to go with her!"
"Then what are you moaning about? Go ask Natalie to dance or something if you want to dance so much."
Glaring at Albus, Scorpius runs a hand through his hair. "I don't want to dance with Natalie." He murmurs stubbornly.
"Then sit here all night, I'll go ask her."
Scorpius sighs dramatically. "You know what I mean Al."
"Then go ask Jonah if you can have her back for a few dances."
Scorpius wrinkles his nose distastefully. "So I have to ask him for permission to dance with my date? I don't think so. Just go and break it up and I'll ask her to dance."
"I'm not doing your dirty work for you Scorp." Albus protests.
"You're her cousin, go stop them."
"Don't be ridiculous—"
"Oh stuff you then! I'll have to go and make sure your cousin is okay!"
Scorpius jumps up from his chair and marches into the mass of bodies on the dancefloor. It takes him a good few minutes to seek out her out but he finally sees a glimpse of ginger hair and silver dress and he knows it's her. Albus was right ... she's dancing with Jonah and wrapped so closely around him it should be illegal. He really does think Albus wouldn't be so cool about the whole thing if he could see this. Jonah leans forward and whispers something in her ear and Rose giggles loudly, looking coy. Jonah leans closer then, pulling her to him with the arm around her back and pressing a kiss to her neck.
Something inside Scorpius snaps. He suddenly feels furious, he could literally pull out his wand and say Avada Kedavra and feel nothing. He suspects it has nothing to do with protecting her for his best friend's sake.
As he pushes roughly through the crowd, Scorpius can see red. It's not the lovey-dovey red kind either. It's the passionate angry red that's making it hard to see because he's so bloody angry. Students grumble at his assault but scurry to the side, leaving him a clear path to help Rose and he's glad no one is getting in his way because he could easily curse them all without a hint of remorse. He doesn't care if she's given this idiot her permission or not, she's obviously not in the right state of mind and he's going to get him off of her this instant.
Before he can lean his tanned, smirking face in any more Scorpius extends his arm and sweeps quickly in between them so he's in the middle of the two. Rose gasps and doesn't know quite what to do.
"May I cut in?" He adds quickly, extending his white gloved hand to her.
Rose's brow furrows, looking quite confused. "Scorp, I'm dancing with Jonah, go away, will you?"
"Yeah, go away." Jonah agrees roughly, coming round to the side of Scorpius.
Scorpius flushes red. "No. She's dancing with me." He grips Rose's hips and tries to dance with her playfully but she's having none of it.
"What are you doing Scorpius?" Rose barks, refusing to sway and standing absolutely still.
"Do you want me to get rid of him Rose?" Jonah pushes back in, looking menacingly at Scorpius.
"No, no, I'm fine. Can you just give us a minute?" Rose asks politely, moving Scorpius' hands off her hips.
"Okay, come find me when you're done." Jonah reluctantly leaves the two.
As soon as he's out of hearing distance, Rose is giving Scorpius a hard push. "For heaven's sake Scorpius! What is the matter with you?"
Scorpius rubs his neck nervously. "I thought you wanted us to have a dance ... you made me promise I'd save you one." He shrugs a shoulder, smiling hopefully.
"Not when I'm dancing with Jonah Cross!" Rose complains, folding her arms over her chest.
"He was trying to kiss you!" Scorpius protests.
"Did I look like I was pushing him away, Scorpius?"
"Have you been drinking?" Scorpius asks suspiciously.
Rose nearly explodes. "No I have not been drinking!"
"Are you sure? You're not acting like yourself—"
"Oh piss off, I can make decisions for myself."
"But I wanted to dance with you." Scorpius appeals to her softer side, smiling sweetly.
Rose's rigid posture melts for a split second before her frustrated expression rears its head. "That's fine Scorp, that's absolutely great, but I've been sitting there alone for half an hour ... why didn't you ask me to dance then?"
Scorpius shrugs. "I don't know..."
"Because you didn't care, you were too busy with Mila. You have your fun, you flirt with girls all the time, and then when you're finished you think, hey, where's Rose? I need to talk through my girlfriend problems with her or I need to get her to check through my essay or I need her to convince some girl I don't know to go out with me or I need —"
"It's not like that Rose." Scorpius insists, looking rather angry. "I don't use you."
"Face it Scorpius, in your world, you'd have me stay single forever just so I can be at your beck and call. You don't want me but you want no one else to have me. It's not fair Scorpius." Rose snaps, turning on her heel and shaking off his hand when he tries to grab hers.
"Rose!" He shouts after her as she disappears through the crowd.
He's left standing there like an idiot for the next ten minutes.
She hears the click of heels and her eyes fix on the floor, she sees black leather shoes coming towards her.
"Thought I'd find you here."
Sitting cross legged on the grass, her long-flowing silver dress covered in mud stains, she recognises Scorpius' fancy dress robes instantly.
"Scourgify." Scorpius smiles weakly as he cleans her dress of the mud it had acclaims.
Rose glances backwards at her dress, her eyes with a dead look about them. "I'm going to have to get it all dirty again now." Rose mutters under her breath, refusing to acknowledge his presence.
"You want your dress dirty?" Scorpius lips twitch, bemused.
Rose shrugs. "I've never been the dressy-type anyway."
Sighing that he was going to be sitting a puddle for the next few minutes, he sits down next to her. "You've never been the dirty type either." Scorpius grins tying to inject a lighter tone into the conversation.
"I'm just the boring, neat type, aren't I?" Rose murmurs noncommittally, falling back into the grass, regardless of the rain getting heavier.
"You're not boring." Scorpius say weakly.
Rose scoffs, pulling the pins out of her hair to let down her wavy red hair.
"We're going to have awful colds in the morning." Scorpius almost complained, falling back with her so they were lying side by side.
"Then go back inside. Mila won't wait forever."
"Don't be daft." Scorpius nudges her with his elbow in her side. "She would wait forever."
Rose shoots him a lethal glare.
"Alright, keep your knickers on. I'm only joking."
Rose shrugs defiantly. "I don't care."
"You wouldn't have stormed off if you didn't." Scorpius counters quietly.
Rose pushes herself up from the grass with her arms and spits the hair out of her mouth. "You're a right sodding arse Malfoy." She says relatively calmly compared to how livid she looks.
"What have I done now?" He whines.
Rose scowls. "Stop messing me around Scorpius! I know what you're doing."
Scorpius' brow furrows. "I'm not doing anything, I'd never mess you around."
"Oh whatever Scorpius! Just leave me a-bloody-lone!" Rose turns on her silver shoed heel and marches off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, leaving Scorpius jogging after her in her wake.
"Is this about Jonah?" He calls after her, increasing the pace of his jog to keep up with her marching.
Rose spins around so quickly it catches Scorpius off guard and he slams into the front of her. Rose recoils, rubbing her elbow. "Jonah was about to kiss me!"
"That's why I got in there." Scorpius explains, frustrated. "I was doing you a favour."
"No you weren't Scorpius!" Rose argues fervently. "You were doing yourself a favour! If I stay single forever, you get your little lapdog forever! Well you know what? This lapdog is biting off its collar and getting the hell away from you!"
"You make no sense sometimes." Scorpius chuckles, her hair is back to its ... excitable self, her makeup and dress have been ruined by the rain, her cheeks are red and she is barely wasting time to draw a breath before she throws another insult at him.
"Why don't you ever listen to me?" Rose practically screams, letting out a loud, gut wrenching sob.
"Yes I—"
"No you blumming well don't!" Rose can't help a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't take this anymore Scorpius, sometimes you act like I'm ... special to you, then other times I could be lap dancing in a thunderstorm on the top of Ravenclaw Tower and you wouldn't notice!"
Scorpius fights a smile. "I'd definitely notice that."
"Shame you can't notice much else then." Rose mutters under her breath.
"Will you just spit it out what you want to say, Rose? This is getting rather tiring."
"Me tiring? Have you looking in the mirror lately? What do you even want Scorpius? Are you gay? Do you want Mila? Do you want..." Rose sucks in a breath. "...Someone else or what?"
Scorpius arches an eyebrow. "You think I'm gay?"
"Well I don't know! There's no way of working you out!"
Scorpius laughs half-heartedly. "I'm not gay Rose! I've been out with a few girls here and there over the years. That's the clue."
"Yes I think I noticed that Scorpius!" Rose snaps, her voice clipped.
"What's your problem tonight?" Scorpius demands, getting frustrated himself. "You beg me to save you a bloody dance, so I ask you to, then you throw a hissy fit and accuse me of being asexual or something! Just do everyone a favour and grow the hell up!" Scorpius retorts, turning on his heel and heading back towards the Castle.
"That's right! Walk away! Go find another girl more interesting to entertain you for a while!"
Scorpius grumbles under his breath but carries on walking. "Don't worry, I will."
"Don't speak to me again Scorpius!" Rose screams after him. "Don't ever speak to me!"
"Sounds fantastic to me!" Scorpius yells back, not even sparing her a glance over the shoulder.
"I mean it!" Rose shouts after him, her voice trembling.
Scorpius chuckles coldly. "So do I!"
"I-I ... I HATE YOU!"
Scorpius can tell she's crying now and feels a jab of guilt, he hates making her cry. "Don't be a baby." He instructs as he spins back on his heel and marches back towards her.
"I mean it Scorpius Malfoy! I rue the day I ever felt sorry for you!"
"Rose, stop trying to hurt me, it's not going to work." Scorpius reaches her in a few more strides and grabs her by her rain soaked shoulders.
"My mistake, I must have momentarily forgot you have a heart of stone!" Rose tries to bat his hands off of her ardently.
"Is he bothering you Rose?" Jonah is running across the grounds, his white dress robes beginning to get ruined from running through the muddy grass.
Scorpius shoots a deathly glance back at him but did not let go of her shoulders. "Piss off Cross!"
Jonah had raced his way over and was trying to wrestle Scorpius' hands off Rose's shoulders within minutes. "Let go of her will you?"
Rose and Jonah's joint efforts have Scorpius reeling backwards and falling into a particularly muddy area of grass.
"Come on, Rose, let's get back inside." Jonah shrugs off his coat and places it like a gentleman around her shoulders.
Scorpius pushes himself up, the entire back of him, including his hair, is plastered with wet, sticky mud. "Rose is not Phinella, you're not just going to act like a gentleman with her and get into her knickers!"
Rose gasps. "Scorpius!"
"I can see why you're trying, but don't bother, you're so not good enough for her."
Jonah squares his shoulders. "Oh and you are?"
"I'm not a game!" Rose interrupts, looking thoroughly perplexed. "I just wanted to do what every other girl in my year is doing, dance and have a good time. Instead this has turned out to be one of the worst nights of my life."
"See you ponce, your leering all over her has made this the worst night of her life!"
"It's not Jonah I'm talking about!" Rose reprimands. "I was so tempted to go with Michael Croydon—"
"Michael Croydon?" Both Scorpius and Jonah asked simultaneously.
"Yes! At least he might have danced with me once!"
Scorpius rolls his eyes. "I did ask you to dance for the five hundredth time!"
"Yeah, when she was dancing with me."
"Oh bugger off! Rose will not be going back to your dorm with you tonight, go find another girl to prey on." Scorpius advises, waving a hand dismissively at him.
"Scorpius!" Rose's eyes widen. "I can make my own decisions."
"You're my date, you agreed to come with me!" Scorpius protests. "Now beat it Cross."
"I didn't sign a contract—"
"You're my date, Rose." He repeats. "I owe you at least one dance, right?" He asks quietly, a hint of desperation seeping into his tone. "Please?"
Rose softens. "I'll catch up with you later, Jonah."
Jonah's eyes narrow. "Don't bother." He pulls his coats off Rose's shoulders and stalks back to the Castle, near stomping.
Scorpius grins triumphantly. "Thought he'd never leave!" He wraps an arm around her and pulls her under his arm as the walk back to the dance, trying to warm her up without having a coat to give her himself.
"Sorry."
"Hmm?" Scorpius asks, carefully looking down at her.
"I'm sorry for overreacting about Mila. You can talk to who you want."
Scorpius shakes his head. "You were right, I should have been paying more attention to you." He squeezes her shoulder, smiling rather goofily. "Still hate me?"
"Only a little." Rose grins, nudging him back at his fake shocked expression. "You got me detention in Third Year! I'll never truly forgive you for that."
"It was Al's fault! Not mine!"
Rose sniggers. "If you say so."
"It was!" Scorpius protests playfully. "Now do a guy a favour and get this mud off me?"
Rose smiles and pulls out her wand and quickly gets rid of the mud. "There you go."
"Thanks, Rose." Scorpius grins, putting his arm back around her.
"Scorp?" Rose asks quietly, slowing down her pace.
"Hm?"
"Next time, let's not go to dances as friends. I don't think it's a very clever thing to do for us."
Scorpius cocks an eyebrow. "You want to go as more than friends?"
Rose lets out a long laugh. "No, I meant we shouldn't go together at all."
"Oh." Scorpius nods solemnly.
Rose nervously tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "You ... don't want us to go as more, right?" Scorpius glances over to her, his expression unreadable. "That would be weird... wouldn't it?"
"Would it?"
Rose bit her lip. "Um ... I don't know... Don't you think?"
Scorpius shrugs nonchalantly. "Just wondering why the idea seemed so ridiculous to you."
"It's ... not that ridiculous ... but you're Albus' best friend and ... you're a very flirty person ... you wouldn't want to have an actual date, would you?"
Scorpius pouts slightly. "Don't you trust me?"
"With my life!" Rose reassured him. "I'm sure ... that in this hypothetical situation ... if you did go with ... um ... me as more than friends ... you wouldn't go off with another girl but ..."
"But what?"
Rose sighs loudly. "Scorpius, I'm not pretty, I don't like shopping and wearing girly dresses, I like Quidditch and getting my homework done quickly so I can play exploding snaps with you lot. I'm ... not what you want."
"How do you know what I want? I think I might know myself a tiny bit better than you."
Rose rolls her eyes, strolling over to the nearby wall to sit on it. "Let's just stop this before we start arguing again! There's no point in falling out over your ego."
"I don't have an ego!" Scorpius protests vehemently, standing tall in front of her. Rose giggled and his lip twitches. "Fine, I have a mini ego. But that's not even what we're talking about!"
"Keep your knickers on, you know what I mean."
"Firstly, I don't wear knickers, I wear boxers—"
Rose face scrunches up. "I don't really want to know what you wear thanks."
"—and secondly, why would you consider going with Croydon to this one, but not me for the next one?"
Rose laughs. "I did go with you to this one."
"As friends!" Scorpius points out obnoxiously.
"If you remember rightly, you asked if anyone had asked me, I said no, then you said we should go together. I said yes before you even mentioned going as friends."
Scorpius swallows, kicking a stone with the tip of his shoe. "You wanted to go as more?"
Rose rolls her eyes. "What do you think?" she asks sarcastically, barely masking the hurt look in her eyes.
"Why didn't you say something?" He asks rather helplessly, shoving both hands into his trouser pockets.
"I didn't have a chance! We were barely through the door and you'd disappeared off with some other girls."
"Merlin ... I'm sorry, Rose." Scorpius scratches the back of his head. "I had no idea."
"It's my own fault. I should have accepted an actual offer. I thought that going with you as friends was better than nothing so I took it." Rose shrugs as if it is nothing. "I'm a bit of an idiot."
"No you're not!" Scorpius insists. "I'm the idiot."
Rose pushes herself off and dusts her dress down. "Do I look okay?" Her hair is down, drenched and clinging to her soaked skin, her makeup is stained down her face and dress has dirt all over the bottom.
"Yes." Scorpius says hoarsely. "Why?"
"I'm going back in." Rose wipes under her eyes quickly with her thumbs and runs quick fingers through her hair.
"Now?"
"I've gotta try and catch Jonah up!" Rose grins uncharacteristically big at him, then lifts up the bottom of her dress and jogs towards the entrance of the Great Hall.
"Jonah?" Scorpius shouts after her, breaking into a run himself. "Rose, wait!"
Rose slows her jogging and turns back on her heal, jogging backwards. "What?"
"You can't be serious!" Scorpius sprints over to her, grabbing her by the arm. "He told you to bugger off."
"He'll understand once I explain. It's time I got over my little crush on you." Rose says honestly.
Scorpius' eyes widen. "You have a...? Really?"
Rose sighs teasingly, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. "I think that's conclusive evidence Mr Holmes!"
"Mr who?" Scorpius frowns.
Rose laughs softly. "Never mind! I'll catch up with you later on."
"I don't want you to." Scorpius says quietly.
"To what? Go find Jonah?"
"To get over me." Scorpius answers, looking thoroughly dishevelled.
Rose freezes. "What?"
"You tell me that you've liked me all this time, that you wanted me to take you in the first place, that we could be together ... then you try and run off into some other bloke's arms!" Scorpius grumbles. "No way, I've said it once and I'll say it again, you're my date, and not just a friend date either." Scorpius adds decisively.
Rose blushes. "Please don't feel obliged to feel sorry for me." She says coyly.
"Don't you think it might be possible that I actually do want you to be my date?"
Rose raises her eyebrows. "You do?"
Scorpius shakes his head disbelievingly. "Yes, I want you to be my date, Rose. I have for years now!"
"You have?"
Scorpius slaps a hand to his forehead. "I was only talking to Mila about you! She saw me staring at you in Potions last month and put two and two together! She was asking me why I don't go over to you, ask you to dance and then ask you out!"
"She was?"
"Oh Merlin!" Scorpius complains, shaking his head. "If you're top of the year, there's no hope for any of us!"
Rose gives him a mock glare. "It's a lot to take in! I thought you fancied Mila."
"Oh heavens no! Mila likes Al! I've been trying to get them together."
Rose flushes red. "Oh..."
"Yes oh! Mila's really nice once you get to know her you know."
"I guess I should stop calling her Dumb Blonde Girl then!" Rose says cheerily.
Scorpius frowns.
"I thought you fancied her!" Rose explains like it's the most rational thing in the world.
"So you were jealous." Scorpius smirks, his blue eyes looking pleased.
"Do I need mention the name Jonah?" Rose asks patronisingly.
Scorpius grimaces. "Point taken."
"Good." Rose smiles gleefully. "Would you accompany me to the dancefloor—?"
"I'm the boy, you're the girl, remember?"
"Women can ask men to dance! It is the twenty first—"
"If you'd shut your gob for two seconds, I'd ask you to dance."
"We're going to take it slow for the last dance kids! Grab your partners!"
"It's the last dance!" Rose panicked. "Quick, ask me!"
"Will you—?"
"Yes!" Rose agreed, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the room.
Scorpius smiled as he wraps his arms around her. "I was going to say will you go out with me?"
Rose narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Really?"
Scorpius nods, his lip twitching.
"Then I guess we're going out." Rose says indifferently, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling flush against him.
"Brilliant. But what I was really going to say was ... will you kiss me?" He whispers in her ear.
Rose laughs, of course knowing he was going to ask her to dance rather than anything else, but humours him by leaning back and planting a peck on his lips.
"Actually I was going to—"
"Don't push your luck." Rose advises, finding the back of his neck with her hand and pushing his lips quickly towards hers.
AN: Wrote this all in a cheery lovey-dovey move for Dancingraindrops' birthday! But feeling a bit down today! Guess it's the end of an era for me so to speak! ;) If you read this Danci, have a lovely birthday! I wish you the best for the future! :)
Thanks for reading everyone!