Author's Notes: Written for the nextgen_drabbles community on Livejournal where it won 1st place! Apologies to Shakespeare, Yeats and Donne.
"C'mon, Weasley. This must be a turn-on for you." Scorpius grinned at her in a way she was certain he thought was rakish when really 'goofy' would be a better descriptor. But he kept doing it because Rose kept smiling at him when he did.
She glanced around at the book shelves that encased the pair as if considering the question. "Musty old books and parchment? Not particularly."
"You spend a lot of time here," he said casually, tracing the spine of one of the books near Rose's head.
"As do you." Scorpius spent almost as much time in the library as she did. When not doing research for their lessons, he seemed to be fond of Muggle literature and spent much free time browsing these very shelves. "Is this where you take all your girlfriends? Do you press them up against the shelves and talk nerdy to them till they faint from the thrill of it? Merlin, everything they say about Ravenclaws is true."
A slow flush spread across his face and Scorpius looked at her, glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose as he did. "There's only one girlfriend."
Happiness bubbled up inside her but Rose's pride wouldn't let her do more than raise a brow.
"Do you like poetry?" he asked, pulling a volume of Shakespeare from above her head.
"Not really. It's all poncy rubbish."
"All of it?"
She shrugged.
Without even opening the books – the bloody show-off - he recited one of Shakespeare's most famous poems. "Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then--"
"I'd stop right there if I were you."
He laughed softly and she hated herself for loving the sound. "But really, there's nothing you like?"
"There is one..." Rose conceded after a great show of thinking it over. "There once was a man from Nantucket, whose di--"
"Stop, I think I know the rest."
"It's quite famous."
"Yes." He shoved his hands in his pockets and Rose wished she didn't find his sudden bouts of nerves as endearing as she did. "So I suppose you'd think I was just being poncy if I said there was a poem that reminds me of you."
"Don't worry, I always think you're poncy."
Scorpius scoffed, then quoted another poem, sadder and more somber than the first. And though she was ready for it, Rose couldn't help the way her throat tightened at the words: "One man loved the pilgrim soul in you."
Rather than speak and risk crying, she kissed Scorpius, pulling him close till soon he was pressing her against the shelves. Her fingers threading through his hair as he sucked a bruise on her neck, Rose wondered how far they could go here.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" The furious form of Madam Pince was before them. "And in my library. Out! OUT!"
The pair ran, Scorpius' books following them, flapping like bats as they hovered by their heads only to drop to the ground once they left the library.
"Well. I think we best steer clear of the library for a while." Scorpius said after gathering his books. "I should go, I have Astronomy in ten minutes.
Rose nodded, knowing she needed to be across the castle for her Potions class.
"I'll see you tonight?" he asked hopefully.
"Same time as always. Oh and Malfoy?" She leaned in close, whispering in his ear, "License my roving hands, and let them go; behind, before, above, between, below."
Rose pulled back, pleased at his stunned expression. "I like some poetry."