The wind swept around Scorpius carefully, carrying away the smoke of his cigarette. He leaned against the balcony railing, his elbows jutting against the metal. It was gray out, something that didn't really surprise him much, and the clouds threatened to sob. He heard the soft padding of footsteps behind him and knew who it would be without turning around.

"You should really try to stop doing that," said the harsh voice. Scorpius could practically hear her arms crossing.

"The fuck do you want?" he mumbled, taking a slow drag of his cigarette.

Rose huffed lightly, "Don't be such an ass," she said, coming to stand beside him and turning her body towards him, "We have rounds in half an hour. I was just letting you know so you didn't miss them again."

Scorpius glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Rose's hair was swept up into a tangled curly ponytail and her cheeks were flushed, from the cold breeze or embarrassment?, he didn't know. Her white school shirt rested loosely on her small shoulders and he thought, for a fleeting moment, what it would be like to push the shirt off those shoulders.

"I wasn't gonna forget," he said, blowing more smoke into the evening air, "I was just coming out for a smoke before rounds."

"If McGonagall knew—," Rose tried to start, narrowing her eyes.

"Rose," a weak shiver ran up her spine, "if you think I give a fuck about what McGonagall thinks, you're dead wrong."

"I thought you liked being Head Boy though," Rose said, her voice sinking into caution and Scorpius willed himself to ignore any hint of disappointment in her voice.

He finally turned to face her, his cigarette dangling off his fingertips, "I used to care about being Head Boy," his voice came out harsh and he wasn't sure if he'd meant it to be that way or not.

Rose stared at him for seconds that seemed to stretch into space before she hesitantly laid a hand on one of the arms he had resting against the railing. His skin burned under her hand, the rest of his arm going numb as though all his nerves pooled directly where she touched him. Scorpius stared at her hand.

"Can you blame me?" Rose whispered and the words reached into his heart and tore out the center. He knew the answer.

Scorpius shook his head, keeping his eyes trained on her hand, "No, I guess I can't," he breathed and his words the wind tore his words away with the smoke of his cigarette.

Rose took her hand from his arm and everything inside of him cooled, "You should get a jumper," she said, her voice full of silver, "The corridors are drafty this late at night."

It hit him then, how terribly civil she was and how much Scorpius hated it. He tilted his head up to the universe and a throaty laugh spilled from his lips.

"What are you laughing about?" Rose asked, folding her arms around herself defensively.

"Fuck, Rose," he said, pulling his body from the railing and dipping his head to meet her eyes, "You act like I'm just this, I don't know, this stranger you have to share a dorm with."

"That's exactly what you are," Rose said.

Scorpius shook his head wildly, his hands urging to reach out to grab her arms and pull her to him, "That's such a fucking lie, Rose!" he shouted, searching the air around him for the words he needed.

"Stop it, Malfoy!" she spat, her arms now taught at her sides, fists clenched, "Stop calling me 'Rose', you lost that privilege a long time ago!"

"Privilege? It's a fucking privilege now to call someone, my own age, by their first name?" Scorpius said and his voice was wrenching her stomach, he took a step closer to her, only a foot separating their bodies, "Weasley," he emphasized, "I'm the opposite of a stranger, or at least I should be, to you and I know you know that."

Rose dug her fingers into her hair and he wished she would do that with his hair, "I don't know you anymore, okay?" her voice strained over every word, "Fine, I used to know you. There was definitely a period of time when you were the opposite of a stranger but I don't know you now, got it?"

Scorpius shook his head while she spoke, "You still know me, Rose," he said earnestly, "You still know me and I still know you," he fought to keep his hands from just reaching out and folding her into him again, just like he used to be able to do, "I know you get really bleeding annoyed when Albus copies your homework even though you tell him it's fine. I know your brother used to tease you for having such erratic hair and now you try to wear it up as much as possible. I know that you saved up your allowance for eight months when we were 11, converted it to muggle currency, and bought a veletision just so you could watch muggle films—."

"Television," Rose whispered, staring at the ground.

Scorpius faltered, "What?"

"Television," Rose repeated, looking up at him and his eyes burned hers into embers, "not 'veletision'."

"Oh," he said, his voice softer, "my bad," but in those two words she heard every memory.

"Scorpius," and she stepped closer before reaching a tentative hand up to touch his face, her other arm curling around herself, "Why?" He watched the understanding brush itself across her face and he hated it, he hated that she would understand how fucking shattered he was.

Scorpius felt his eyes blur and he wanted to hit himself for nearly crying, "I don't know," and the words came out far more broken than he wanted them to.

"I'm not going to apologize," Rose whispered but the delivery was off, her voice sounded hollow and Scorpius realized, Rose expected him to tell her to go away.

"Good," he said and his voice ghosted over her before he put a cautious hand on Rose's waist, "You shouldn't."

Rose stared up at him and, fucking Christ, he wanted so badly to shove his body against hers and kiss her until the clouds started crying. "Fuck it," he murmured before stubbing out his cigarette on the railing, letting it fall off the tower. Then his hands were climbing through four months of tension to hold her face, to crash his mouth against hers.

Scorpius backed her against the wall. His lips stung with the memory of how it felt to have Rose kissing him like this and he never wanted to lose it again. "Fuck, Rose," he mumbled between rushed kisses, "I'm so fucking sorry," a tug of her bottom lip between teeth, "I am so bleeding sorry."

"You have no idea," she sighed heavily when he broke away to kiss a line down her jaw, "how fucking long," a bite on the bottom of her ear, "you have needed to say that."

Scorpius reached to grab the backs of her thighs, lifting her against the wall to wrap her legs above his hips. Rose tangled her hands in his hair and tugged his lips back up to hers. There was an entire goddamn fleet of butterflies waiting to be let out of her stomach. Scorpius let his hands wander under Rose's skirt. Her hands were flattening under his worn tee-shirt, burning handprints in his skin.

Rose laughed in his ear as he kissed her neck and he pulled his head up to look at her, "What?" he asked, his breathing laboured.

"You adolescent ass," she said, smiling, "you're already hard."

Scorpius grinned back at her, "I've got you again, Rose, obviously I am." As if he needed to prove his point, he ground into her and Rose threw her head down onto his shoulder.

"Okay," she mumbled breathily against his neck, "that's enough."

Scorpius started to let go of her bum but she kept her legs around his hips. Rose lifted her head to look at him, "Are you serious?" she asked, leaving Scorpius rather confused, "I meant enough of the balcony. We can't have sex on the bleeding balcony."

Scorpius smiled crookedly, "Oh, thank Merlin, I don't think I could have lived if this was it for now."

Rose shook her head at him as he started to walk them back into his room, "Me either, you dolt."

And he was on her lips again, tongue slipping in to entertain hers. Rose squeezed her legs around his hips and ground down on him. Scorpius nearly stopped walking. Instead he sped up, throwing Rose down onto the bed and tugging his dark tee-shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor. Rose sat up and quickly undid the buttons of her own shirt before it met the floor.

Scorpius took her in as quick as he could before Rose was tugging on his neck to bring his lips back to hers. Her hands fumbled with his jeans, undoing the button and shoving the offending pants down. Scorpius kicked the jeans off and onto the floor before moving back in between Rose's knees. He reached to pull her skirt off but glanced up at her fleetingly first.

"If you fucking ask me if I'm sure," Rose groaned, leaving her threat open-ended.

Scorpius grinned, this was exactly who he had missed. Not the civil roommate that had been outside telling him to grab a jumper. He made quick work of her skirt, letting it mingle with the other clothes on the floor. Offendingly slowly, he hooked his fingers in her pants and pulled them down, throwing them off the bed. Scorpius dipped his head between her thighs, gave her a smirk that made Rose roll her eyes, and tipped his head down and kissed her.

His mouth made fast work of Rose. Scorpius had his tongue right where Rose needed it and his fingers moved to press inside her. He thrust two fingers in and out only a couple times before Rose tangled her hand in his hair and tugged to make him look at her.

"Seriously?" Rose asked him, raising an eyebrow, "Have you forgotten everything I've taught you?"

"Might be a possibility," Scorpius said, "I haven't gotten laid since you."

"Neither so let's please do this right, yeah?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair once more, "Go up more when you thrust. Like just—," Rose was cut off when Scorpius thrust his fingers inside her and brushed against a spot she hadn't gotten to in quite awhile, "Fuck," she breathed, her head falling back against the pillows, "yeah, that's better."

Rose came undone a few minutes later under the pressure of Scorpius' tongue and the touch of his fingers. He moved up to kiss her again and she laughed in his mouth, "I've missed you a lot."

"Same here, Rose," he mumbled against her lips. Rose gripped his shoulders and flipped them over. She gave him one more kiss before moving down to wrap her hand around him.

Scorpius groaned and gripped at the sheets. He could feel Rose's mouth, warm and soft, wrap around him and he lost himself in every movement. His entire mind had transformed into a night sky of shooting stars.

"Rose," he said between panted breaths and her name left his lips like a prayer, "you gotta stop if you want to have more fun."

She smiled around him before pulling herself away. Rose shifted herself so she hovered above Scorpius and he reached his hands to grip her hips. Shooting him a fleeting smile, Rose dropped herself down and laughed at Scorpius' groan.

"That," she breathed, "is really hot, by the way."

Scorpius smiled up at her before using his grip on her hips to raise her up and bring her back down hard. Rose planted her hands on his chest, feeling his ribs move beneath them, and thrust herself up and down again to meet Scorpius' thrusts. With every moan and huff of breath, the roll of Rose's hips became increasingly frantic, as did with Scorpius.

He thrust up into her once more, hitting exactly where Rose wanted, before she felt every muscle in her body uncoil. Scorpius rolled them over, riding out Rose's orgasm with her before losing himself in her. He pressed his lips against hers hard and then let himself collapse next to her, burying his face in her cinnamon-smelling hair.

"Rose," he murmured into her hair, "I still love you."

Rose shifted to press her chest against his, "That's good," she said, dragging a hand across his arm, "because I still love you too."