Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The steps outside the castle were freezing in the December air, but Rose Weasley was oblivious. She would regret sitting outside in her short, strapless dress tomorrow when she had a cold, but right now she didn't care. She just didn't want to be inside the ball anymore.

After sliding her high heels off and sitting them carefully on the step beside her, she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. She sat like that and stared out at the snow-covered grounds until she heard soft footsteps on the stone floor behind her. However, she didn't move until she felt silky material against her bare and freezing shoulders.

"God, you must be freezing out here." Scorpius's voice rang out behind her after he put his jacket around her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder at him.

"It's not too bad when you get used to it. It's just a little wind." She said softly. "I didn't think anyone would follow me."

"Well, you thought wrong. Albus was looking for you. And apparently James is very drunk and also looking for you." He said. Rose sighed.

"I'm glad it was you who found me, then. I am not in any mood to deal with Albus or a drunk James. They may be my best friends but I cannot deal with them right now." She told him. He carefully lowered himself onto the step beside her.

"Why not?" He asked. She looked over at him and saw his grey eyes looking at her seriously.

"This stupid ball." Rose complained. He raised his eyebrows in shock.

"I thought you loved balls like this. It's all you've talked about for the past month." Scorpius said.

"I did love it. Until I was stood up by the date that I've had for the past month." She explained.

"Oh. I didn't know that." He said lamely in response. But in response, she turned, angling her body toward him.

"I wanted to come so badly, so I just came here without him. But then I saw him dancing with Katya Marlow and his hands were all over her. And I guess it just hit me that he wouldn't want to be with me. Of course he wouldn't want to be with me when he could have someone like her." She said, tears starting to form in her eyes.

As much as he didn't want her to cry, he couldn't hold back his curiosity. "Why do you think he wouldn't want to be with you?"

Rose laughed, a short, derisive laugh. "Are you kidding? I'm fourteen! He's seventeen. I don't even know why he asked me in the first place. I mean, I've never even kissed anyone and I'm sure he's been with loads of people before. Oh my God, how could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not stupid. He's not worth it, and he's an idiot for standing you up anyway. Your experience doesn't define your worth. Hell, I've never kissed anyone either, but you don't see me worrying about it." Scorpius told her. She looked at him skeptically.

"You've never kissed anyone? Really?" She asked. He nodded his head, confirming her statement.

"Never. In my fourteen years of life, the only person I've kissed has been my mum when she made me give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek." He said. She laughed a little.

"But you're Scorpius Malfoy. Aren't you supposed to be some kind of ultra-desirable alpha male?" She joked, nudging him with her foot.

"If that's what people say about me. No one really knows that I haven't kissed anyone, except I guess that you know now. But yeah, I'm in the same boat as you, Rose." He said.

"I just wish it wasn't such a big deal. Like, I wish I could just go and get a random guy and kiss him and then it would be done. It wouldn't be such a big deal anymore." She said.

He agreed, and then they lapsed into silence. After a few moments, Rose cast a glance over at Scorpius. "Hey, Scorpius?"

"Yeah?" He answered.

"What if it didn't have to be a random guy?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" He responded.

"We both have never kissed anyone. So what would be so bad about being each other's first kiss?" Rose suggested.

He was a bit taken aback at her forwardness, but he responded quickly. "I guess...I mean, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it. As long as it didn't make things awkward between us. I guess...what I'm trying to say is...oh, hell, why don't we just do it and get it over with?"

She smiled and slid closer to him. He slid closer to her until they were almost close enough to touch noses. Leaning in, she felt a blush rise to her cheeks when his cold lips met her freezing ones. Closing her eyes, she leaned farther into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands rested on her waist and her began to beat faster.

All too soon, he pulled away from her and removed his hands from her waist. "Well...I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Wow."

She slid a couple of inches away. "Yeah. Wow."

"I guess we know what that feels like now." Scorpius said.

"We definitely do." She said.

"Are we keeping this whole thing between us a secret?" He asked.

"I think that might be for the best unless we want unnecessary gossip about us." She responded.

"I agree." He nodded his head and then rested it on his hand.

They lapsed into silence again until Scorpius stood. "Do you think you're ready to come join the party again? Drunk James might be fun to watch when he starts flirting with Laura Bell again."

She laughed and took his outstretched hand. "Sure, let's go."

With her hand resting in his arm, they rejoined the party as nothing more than friends who now had just another little secret to share between them.

A/N: This is just a little fic request that I wrote for my friend Anna (annarwrites is her username on here), and I actually really liked it. Hopefully everyone else does too! Just a little update on my in-progress fic, things have been kind of crazy and hectic so I haven't had time to write the newest chapter. It may be a couple more weeks before it gets posted, but it will be posted before the end of this month. Thanks for reading!