"So," says Rose, putting down her quill and turning to face her best friend, "I know someone who likes you."

Scorpius sighs, seemingly reluctant to stop midway through his essay. He puts down his things and sits back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Now do you?"

Rose grins. "Mmhm, sure do. She's certainly very certain about you."

Scorpius thinks (hopes? prays?) that he detects a double meaning here. Could it really be? Could this be Rose's odd way of confessing her feelings to him? He has to play along now, so he smirks. "With good reason, of course."

Rose bats him on the arm. "Oh, stop. But seriously. Do you think you'd be interested in, you know, going on a date with her?"

Scorpius takes a (hopefully subtle) deep breath, trying to slow down his hammering heart. "That depends. Is she hot?"

"Oh, yeah." She nods enthusiastically. "Definitely. Long legs; great smile; red hair..."

She must be talking about herself now... mustn't she? Because Merlin knows how much Scorpius thinks about her red, red, red, red hair, and how much he wishes just once he could twirl a a curl around his finger. But he's much too cool to let it show. So instead he has to twirl much less interesting blond locks and brown waves around it until he's just so fucking sick of girls. Except Rose, of course. But she hardly counts a girl. She left behind being a girl a long time ago, in exchange for being something much more enticing. A woman.

"I'm interested already," he says, leaning in closer. Just a couple more inches and he could easily be kissing her. Should he? Maybe- yes- yes- no. Not yet. He has to hear her say it out right. I like you. "But tell me more."

Rose props her head up on her hand, her head tilted. It makes her hair tumble to one side and he can see her brown eyes so clearly. "Let's see... she's sweet, she's got a good sense of humor, she's cute... Still not sold yet?"

"Is she smart?"

Rose raises an eyebrow. "Smart? Since when has that mattered? For goodness sake, you went on a date with Lorna Hooks and she still thinks Venomous Tentacula are a kind of octopus!"

He laughs. It's a fair point, though. Lorna hadn't been his type at all (besides being very pretty, of course) which is exactly why he asked her out. He knew Rose couldn't bear her.

"But yes, she's smart enough. A solid head on her shoulders at the very least."

Scorpius smirks again, and the words tumble out of his mouth. "Oh, don't be so modest."

He grimaces as her eyebrows shoot up. ohfuckfuckfuckwhathaveyoudone

"Er, what?"

His mind feels like it's gone blank.

"Um, nevermi-"

"Oh, Merlin, you thought-

"It's just that-"

"I was talking about Lily but-"

"Wait," he fidgets in his seat, "You were talking about Lily? As in, Lily Potter, your cousin?"

She's blushing so much that it's almost too much for him. "Yeah, she told me she liked you. And she asked me if I- I could set you guys up, you know? Because we're mates. Best mates, right?" She sighs wearily. "That's what we've always been. And you thought," she bites her lip before saying, "you thought I was talking about myself!"

"Well, it's not that hard to believe, I assure you," he says, even though he's already so embarrassed and his ears and neck are burning up and he needs to get out of here before the world starts crashing in. But he can't move, because she's still looking at him. Just looking at him.

"You can't say that. Didn't I just tell you? We're friends, Scorpius, and you're not supposed to- to just go around and make me feel things like this!" She's staring at the ceiling, blinking her tears away rapidly. Because Rose isn't a crier, not before and not in the future and certainly not now.

Scorpius wants to hold her hand but he simply can't move. "Make you feel things like what, exactly?" His voice is much quieter than he wants it to be. He wants her to think he's strong and that he isn't affected by anything, ever.

She shakes her head. "Like not friends. Like something different than friends."

Scorpius feels a smile coming onto his lips. "Like more than friends?" he offers.

Her frustration makes the tears stop making her vision swim. "But I shouldn't! You shouldn't! Neither of us should think about the other that way. We're supposed to give each other advice on how to go about dating someone, or, or give each other funny gifts at Christmas, you know? I shouldn't want to- to-"

"To what, Rose?"

"Do this!"

She kisses him, and he reciprocates so, so enthusiastically. magicthisiswhatrealmagicis

Minutes later, she pulls away, and he untangles his fingers from her hair.

"Fuck," she says. "What about Lily? She'll be so upset! How could I do this to her?"

"She'll understand. How could she not see it coming?"

"So you saw it coming?"

"I saw that it could come. I didn't think it would, but it could've."

She smiles at him, and he returns the favor.

A/N So, first of all, I'd like to say this is dedicated to my bestie friend weird-cute-n-random for her birthday... which was in October... which basically means I suck. But now I can e-mail you guilt free!

Also, I totally have the next chapter of GASM done but I haven't put it up because I'm being very mean to myself and making myself stay a chapter ahead... so once I finish the chapter after this one, I'll post this one! Which hopefully will be soon-ish!

And thanks for reading. Pleeeease review!

xx

Ali