Rose threw down her Quidditch gear and fell back against the couch, sighing with exhaustion. She glanced at the letter lying on the table next to her. I fully expect Gryffindor will be winning the Quidditch Cup again this year, Rosie. Love, Daddy.It wasn't easy being the Chaser for Gryffindor, after all—the games only got fiercer every year, especially when her best friend Scorpius had been put on as Chaser for Ravenclaw. Scorpius was dead fast, and after years of practicing with her on the field, there was no way he was going to let Rose outfly him.

Her cousin Albus walked in with a huge mug of hot chocolate and dropped down beside her. "How's it going, Rosie?" he asked, taking a sip of the hot chocolate and grimacing. "Too hot." He set it down on the table. "Was Quidditch all right?"

Rose groaned and crossed her legs, trying to ignore the soreness in her thighs. "Yeah, except I'm pretty sure Scorp will be flying again on Sunday's tournament, and oh Merlin, I cannot outfly that boy."

Albus shrugged. "Okay then."

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"You know I'm not actually interested in Quidditch, being utterly terrible myself." This was true. This was also Uncle Harry's greatest disappointment. He picked up the mug and offered Rose a hand. "Anyway, it's not like you expect me to choose sides or anything… Scorpius would kill me." He rolled his eyes. "Want to get food?"

Rose stared at him blankly for a minute. "Dinner ended an hour ago, Al."

Al shrugged, his thin shoulders poking out of his crimson scarf. "It's okay, we can sneak down to the kitchens. How do you think I got the chocolate?"

"But last time we went the house elves—"

"Come on, Rosie, you know the elves love me. Seriously, are you hungry or not?"

Rose pushed herself off of the couch and towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Have fun!" she said with a saucy wink as they clambered through the hole. Rose was still trying to get the corner of her robes unstuck from the portrait frame when she saw a familiar figure round the corner. Tall, thin, and blond, Scorpius Malfoy was wrapped a blue jumper, emblazoned with a golden S. Rose stared for a moment.

Scorpius bent his white-blond head down toward his chest. "Yes, I know, I'm wearing the jumper."

"I still can't believe you have that jumper," said Rose, shaking her head. "I mean, Merlin save you if your father finds out you have it."

Scorpius shrugged. "It's a warm jumper, and it's cold outside. Besides, your family makes excellent clothing, as far as I'm concerned. And it's not nice to throw away Christmas gifts."

Rose remembered her surprise when she found out that Grandmother Weasley was knitting a jumper for Scorpius. "Don't tell your father," she had whispered to Rose as her mother stuffed turkey in the next room. "Merlin knows he would explode if he knew. But the boy isn't so bad, really, and you're all fifth years already, your father ought to get some sense in him!" Rose rolled her eyes and walked on. "I'm hungry," she called back. "Are we going to the kitchens or not?"

At the very mention of the word kitchens, two small heads popped out from around the next corner. Rose turned to Scorpius as he caught up to her. "It's the Scamander twins again," she said, faking a groan. "Well, what do you rascals want now?"

The Scamander twins laughed. Lorcan, who was taller and fairer, spoke up. "We dropped by the kitchens earlier," he said, holding up a bag that bulged in strange places. "There's some stuff left. Want some?" Behind him, Lysander burst into furious giggles and tried to hide his guffaws by covering his mouth. Lorcan pushed him behind the corner and hissed, "shut up, San!" He turned back to the trio with an impeccable smile.

Rose eyed the bag warily. She knew better than to trust the two biggest pranksters in school with food—she'd seen enough of Uncle George's Canary Creams being used on unwitting guests. "Don't you two have something better to do?" She patted the first years on the heads as she glided past them and down the stairs toward the kitchens. Rose smiled fondly back at them as she recalled their eager faces. Just a few months here, she thought, and they already know everything back to front.

"What are we smiling about now, oh Miss Rosie?" Al had caught up to her. "That angelic gleam in your eye! It can't be a certain fair-haired Ravenclaw, can it?" Rose glanced back at Scorpius, who had bent over double and was still talking to the Scamander twins. "Scorpius?" she asked Albus, glaring hard. "Are you serious? That's like the biggest cliché in the book. I mean, Uncle Harry must have had it worse with my parents," she said thoughtfully, tucking an errant strand of red hair behind her ear. "But even so, there's really no reason why—"

She heard footsteps echoing down the hall. "No reason for what?" Scorpius asked. "Did I hear something about your dear Uncle Harry?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Al was just being silly again." Albus just poked her in the side and cackled. "I mean, Al was being himselfagain."

—

Albus had just run ahead to tickle the pear in the portrait when Rose looked up to see someone rounding the corner—Professor Longbottom. Oh crap, she thought, pulling on what she hoped was an enchanting smile.

Professor Longbottom smiled back at Rose and turned to Al, who had noticed his arrival a few seconds too late. "What are you three doing here?" Rose could feel her ears turning as red as her hair, and hoped the professor wouldn't notice. "We're just, uh, wandering the halls."

The Professor just rolled his eyes and smiled. "You three can't be thathungry," he said, glancing sideways at the portrait. "Dinner was only an hour ago! What gives?"

Rose didn't know whether to be relieved or surprised. "I had Quidditch," she said, "and these two waited."

Professor Longbottom's kind face broke out in laughter. "I remember my days as a student myself," he said, winking at Rose. "Turns out your Uncle George had quite a thing with the kitchen elves—I remember one time he brought up entire sacks of food from the kitchens in celebration of a Quidditch tournament…" His voice lifted into a dreamy sigh. "Of course, that was the same day I unknowingly ate a Canary Custard," he said, grimacing. "Don't get caught by Zabini, do you hear? I won't be able to get you out again."

Rose nodded eagerly. "Thanks, Professor, uh, we won't!" Professor Longbottom turned the corner into the next hallway and she sighed in relief. "Good thing we weren't busted."

"You reckon he would?" asked Scorpius, jerking his chin in the direction the professor had gone. "Come on, he's your family friend and everything! 'Course he'd let you go."

Rose shrugged. "Not necessarily. I can imagine Mum would be horrified if she found out we were sneaking around to get food." She laughed a little uncomfortably.

Scorpius suddenly quieted a little. "But then, of course, everyone hates me," he said bitterly, "because my goddamn dad was a coward and a Death Eater." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Ugh!" he said, groaning. "You don't know what I would give to change families. I hate having this name basically branded onto my fate. And I even look exactlylike him!"

Rose turned to peer into his face. "I—" she gulped. "I don't think you look anything like your father. And I don't think you're anything like your father either. You're a wonderful person, Scorp, and to—" She swallowed again. Was it worth saying what she was just about to say… ? Of course, she didn't mean it in a non-platonic manner, but it might be taken the wrongway… and then there was that one time she had read one of Lucy's trashy romances and something like that had happened, and then—

Her thought train was interrupted by Scorpius. "And to what?" He glanced down at Rose, smirking now, his head cocked at an angle that made him look like a mischievous puppy. "To what, Rosie? I swear, you can finish an essay in twenty minutes tops and half the time you forget to finish your sen—"

"To be honest," Rose exclaimed rather loudly, a little peeved that she'd been interrupted and feeling just a little impulsive, "you really aren't bad-looking at all." She tried to ignore the heat that crept into her ears. "Don't worry, Scorp, you really aren't anything like your dad."

She had taken Scorpius by surprise. Light pink spots tinted the pallor of his cheekbones. "Oh! uh, th—"

Albus dropped lightly from behind the portrait with a sack of food. "I'm back!" he announced, brushing himself off and looking disappointed not to have received any applause. He turned to Rose. "Oh! Rosie dear! It's not every day I see you looking as… as crimsonas your namesake."

Rose cursed quietly under her breath and tried unsuccessfully to halt the blush in its tracks. Albus smirked. "Not going to interrupt the lovebirds tonight," he said, grinning ear to ear. "Let's head back to the common room."

—

They sat around the fire on the couch, Scorpius' Ravenclaw blue standing out conspicuously. Rose happened to be squished between Albus and Scorpius, both of whom were taking in food at an ungodly rate. "Is it just you two, or do guys usually eat this much?" She toed open the sack. There were only a few buns left.

Scorpius shrugged as he licked sugar off of his fingers. "Come on, Rosie, it's not like we didn't see you eat a third of the turkey and five pastries and half the cream cake and—"

"Well, at least I have an excuse, don't I?" Her thighs tensed as she stretched them out on the table. "Wood made us fly dive drills for an hour and a half today."

Albus tapped her on the shoulder. "Don't you go fraternizing with the enemy, Rose," he said, stuffing the last part of a sweet bun into his mouth. "Merlin knows what he might do now that he knows that you're doing dive drills! He could tell the leader of his army. Or even worse," he said in the teasing voice that Rose had become intimately familiar with, "he could use them to seduce you, Rosie." Rose turned around, arm cocked ready for a smack in the face, but Albus gave a hugely fake yawn, stretched his arms up over his head in an imitation of sleepiness, and headed off toward the male side of the common room. "Night," he sighed. "See you two in the morning. Ugh, it's already eight. Who knew it was so late?"

"Get back here!" called Rose, to no avail. "We have an essay due tomorrow in Defense, you little nitwit!" She turned back to Scorpius. "Ugh, just ignore Al." She shrugged. "He's delusional."

Scorpius laughed softly. "Like I would ever believe him? Good old Al. But he's right—it's near curfew and I've got to get back soon. That damned essay." He sighed and fiddled with a loose thread on his sweater, then held his arms out wide. "Good night hug?"

Rose smiled and hugged him back. "And seriously, don't keep on thinking about your dad, okay?" She looked up. "Promise me."

He sighed and stood up, brushing off his shoulders. "Merlin, fine, I promise!" His eyes grew big and anxious, and Rose sat up straighter, almost afraid of what he was going to say. It always started and ended like this, she remembered, and—"Promise me, then, that you'll send Pig over with your essay for me tonight, okay?"

Rose rolled her eyes, glancing at his sweater. "Who's the Ravenclaw here? And you know Pig's getting old. But of course." A slightly awkward pause, in which Rose felt like perhaps she had said the wrong thing. "Uh, bye, Scorp!"

Scorpius was just clambering out of the portrait when a voice echoed from the side of the common room. "AWWW!" exclaimed a vivacious titian-haired girl as she dropped down next to Rose. "You two are adorable! Are you serious, you haven't made it official yet?"

Rose sat back and rolled her eyes. "I said, we're just friends. Seriously. The most clichéd thing I could do, Dom, would be to fall in love with Scorp, and you know full well that I hate clichés."

Dom looked up at Scorpius, who turned back. "You don't like her either?" Scorpius shook his head, and Dom sighed loudly and dramatically. "I'm not seeing any evidence, guys! You two are clearly cut out for each other, you don't seem to even have considered dating anyone else, and come on—you're both fifteen already, it's not like you're not old enough or whatever!"

She looked up, and the portrait had shut behind Scorpius. Dom turned back to Rose. "Are you kidding me, my good girl," she stared into Rose's eyes. "Promise me. Promise me that you are going to go up to that boy and ask him to kiss you."

"Uh, Dom, I'm serious—Scorp and I are just—"

"Yes, yes, just friends, whatever name you two have for unresolved sexual tension. Seriously, he is such a catch, Rosie. Half the girls in your year have something for him and he only has eyes for you? How are you not picking up on this?" Rose tried to open her mouth. "Yes, Rosie dear, I know that you've read all of Lucy's romances. The one about Hilda is sounrealistic though." Dom's pretty mouth turned down, and she made a face. "There are a million more I could criticize, but in all honesty, get some better reading material, and get that boy to kiss you!"

Rose took a deep breath. "Dom, I already said that Scorpius and I are just friends. Justfriends, really. And it's easy enough for you to say things like that, because—" She eyed Dominique, her strawberry blond hair, her slender legs crossed one over another. Even in a shapeless nightgown, she somehow managed to be dead sexy. "You've already got guys falling for you left and right, Dom. You can kiss anyone you goddamn like, and I can't."

Dom laughed and flipped her ginger hair over her shoulder. "Come on, Rosie, get a little self-esteem before I have to call him back to hammer it into you." She jerked her gleaming head over in the direction Scorpius had gone. "Anyway, if you don't get there first, someone else is going to. Just think about how that'll feel, okay, dear?" Without waiting for an answer, she bounded up the stairs of the girls' hall, and Rosie could hear her put on some Warbeck oldies. She sighed, clutched her robes around her, and headed upstairs towards bed.