In all fairness, she tried really hard not to like Scorpius Malfoy. The funniest thing was that she didn't know when her feelings changed from apprehension to pride. But till he withdrew, she never realised how much she had come to rely on his presence. He was her equal in intellect, funny, calm enough to be rational when she needed help, impulsive enough to be crazy when she wanted to let loose. Of course, it did help that he was madly in love with her. Except now he wasn't, or at least, she thought he wasn't, because he wouldn't suddenly compliment her on her new hair clips, he didn't talk about her smelling like fresh flowers and he certainly didn't give her roses out of the blue with a cheesy grin.

Burying her head in her hands, her Potions homework ignored, Rose tried desperately to trace back what had gone wrong and thought back to one time. Platform nine and three-quarters: the first year.

Growing up, Rose Weasley had everything she could possibly want. Being the daughter of two-thirds of the Golden Trio had its perks. It certainly helped that she had her mother's brains and just enough of her father's naiveté to retain her childishness. Rose loved her parents. On very good days she had trouble figuring out if she was a daddy's girl or mommy's girl, but nevertheless, she always felt a strong urge to prove herself to them. To leave a mark on Hogwarts—just like they had. So when her father told her to stay away from Scorpius Malfoy and best him in every subject, she made it her life's mission to follow through.

In the beginning hating him was almost laughably easy. He was a Slytherin, son of Draco Malfoy aka worst enemy of her parents aka Death Eater's son. But he was also smart and her cousin's best friend, and because of that stupid last reason, she started getting to know him and came to realise that he wasn't anything like what she expected him to be. He was geeky, approachable and not at all condescending, and she used even that as an excuse to continue hating him. After all, a son of a Death Eater could only be pretending to be kind, right? She went out of her way to be rude to him, hoping to trip him up, but he was so hopelessly friendly it was maddening. So she did the next best thing and ignored him.

Rose genuinely missed having them all the way up to Fourth Year when she saw them running the halls, whispering in secret. Being the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley had its downsides too. For one, she could never tell if people wanted to be friends with her for who she was or for her social standing. With Scorpius, Al at least knew that he had a steady friend.

Then Scorpius asked her out towards the end of the Fourth Year and she said no. More out of habit than want, she was just so used to saying 'no' to Scorpius that she hardly thought it through. But he looked happy, almost elated, giving her a look that seemed to tell her that he knew what she was about and he was going to get around it. Rose hated it, partly because he was right.

And now she was here, three days to go before they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade, thoroughly confused. Scorpius had always been attractive in an 'I-do-not-know-I'm-cute' way, and she knew that she just never stopped to notice it for herself. So for a little while, she blamed Lily. After all, she was the one who told her to out someone to Hogsmeade before the prep for their O. started, subtly hinting that she should ask out Scorpius. The most annoying part was that she was considering asking him out, even as she ranted and cursed at Scorpius. Then she thought back to what led to their fall-out:

"So you definitely don't like Scorpius?" Lily asked.

Rose looked adamant. "Positive. He's stupid, annoying, weird, crazy and quite possibly the most irritating person I know." Lies, lies and more lies.

Lily widened her eyes, staring at something in the doorway. Rose, still fuming at her changing feelings, realised a minute and turned to see Albus and Scorpius. Scorpius turned on his heel and left, Albus following behind, but not before he threw Rose a dirty look.

Rose ran after them. "Scorpius, wait—I…"

"What could you have to say after that, Rose? You've said enough." Albus scowled.

Scorpius held up his hand. "I'll handle this, you go on."

He looked angry, the angriest she had ever seen him, so she started her speech carefully. "Look, that came out wrong; I actually meant to ask you out…"

"You've got a funny way of asking people out, Rose Weasley. I like you, but this is more than I am willing to tolerate."

"You're stupid." she snapped, then immediately regretted it when she saw his face.

"You forgot weird, dumb, and crazy." His eyes were shuttered as he continued, "I am not interested in being an experiment while you try to sort out your emotions, because I genuinely like you– well, liked you. Right now, I'm not so sure."

"Rose, darling, I'm sure your Potions homework is not that difficult?" Lily said, snapping her out of her depressed slump.

"You know it's not about my homework."

"Scorpius was in a bad mood, then?"

"Yes." Rose turned to glare at her cousin. "And I know you've got the dirt from Al, so why don't you cut the shit."

"Listen, Rosie, why don't you cut the bullshit? You clearly like the guy, and yet all you've ever done is given him grief. I'm pretty sure you've never even apologised to him, have you?"

Lily Potter watched in horror as realisation dawned upon her older cousin. Of course, she didn't apologise, poor Scorp.

"Lily, you are a genius! I'll be back… in some time."

Rose ran all the way to the Slytherin common room. She was hopping on one foot, waiting impatiently to find someone who knew the password, when Scorpius and Albus found her.

"What are you doing here?" Albus spat, moving in front of Scorpius as if he had to protect him. And maybe, Rose thought to herself, he did have to protect Scorpius from her.

"I want to speak to you for a minute." She looked at Scorpius, who nodded, having no qualms about Albus being there.

Swallowing, Rose said haltingly, "I'm sorry…"

"Come again?!" Albus yelled, aghast.

Rose glared at her cousin before turning back to Scorpius. "I'm sorry. Maybe at one point in time I didn't like you, but that didn't give me a right to judge you, or your parents, or anything. I was extremely harsh and judgmental and I've absolutely no clue why you like me, if you still do, that is. But I'm sorry."

Scorpius grinned widely, "I forgive you, Rose Weasley. But, are you still in denial about liking me, or can we go to Hogsmeade together?"

And for once, Rose could only blush as she nodded her answer.

A/N: Written for the lovely Rose for the Caesar Palace's exchange using the prompts, Highschool!AU (I'm not sure if this counts since it is already a highschool setting) and "You're stupid." / "You forgot weird, dumb, and crazy."

Thank you to the darling Mei for reading and beta-ing my story.