Chapter 1: A Hurried Reunion

I rushed into the Wizarding Children's Daycare Center, out of breath as I grasped the registration counter. Letting out a sigh of relief, I saw that I was exactly right on time.

"Rose, you have got to start getting up early."

I looked up, seeing Emily Cherrie grinning widely at me from behind the counter. I made a face, laughing as she handed me my name card with a long strap. We were good friends ever since we started working in the center last year. She used to go to a Wizarding school in Australia before she moved to England to get a job. We often went out together to eat lunch or shop. "You know me, Ems; I can't get up before eleven o'clock to save my life." I slung the card over my head, letting it dangle crookedly on my neck. "Besides, I'm never late, so no harm done."

She shook her strawberry-blond head at me good naturedly. "I don't understand how you survived in school." I shrugged, running my fingers through my dark red hair.

"Actually, Stephanie, my roommate and best friend, did a hell of a good job waking me up at seven so that I had enough time to get ready, eat breakfast, and get to class on time." I grimaced slightly as I remembered Stephanie going out of her way to bring me back from the dead; the only thing that she didn't do was throw me out of the window and dump me into the Great Lake. Now Stephanie was living in America, working as a Healer there. We kept in touch with each other via owl.

As I moved to open the door, Emily called out, "Oh! I forgot to tell you! You're working with a new person today!"

I turned around, frowning at this new information. "What, you're saying that there's no more Gracie to annoy me to death?" Grace Menton, who was the same age as me, was really irritating. She was very dramatic, and her high, squeaky voice did not soothe the nerves either.

"Nope, she quit for 'personal reasons'," Emily paused to quote the air with her fingers, one eyebrow raised. "Anyways, as soon as she resigned, a new person appears, looking for a job here. It was a good opportunity and saved us the hassle of interviews, so they were taken in after a short period of 'Twenty Questions'."

I nodded, smiling. "Well, at least this will be an improvement," I said. "Wish me luck with the little kids!" I saw her flash a thumbs-up, and I walked into the children's playroom. I really adored this room as much as I adored children. The walls were painted a scene of the beach, enchanted so that the waves would often crash against the soft colored sand with birds flying in the blue sky. It never failed to give me a sense of peace.

"Darcy, you can go now," I said, high fiving a tall, dark haired, younger girl. She grinned wryly at me.

"Good luck with the kids; they're rowdier than usual." She kissed one of the little children's head and waved goodbye. John, the other helper, casually winked at me before he followed Darcy's way out. I wrinkled my nose, making a face. John was the biggest (though admittedly cute) flirt in this building. We were friends, but that didn't stop him from being overly-friendly with me.

BANG!

I spun around, startled at the sudden burst. Little Mary, a four year old, was sitting on the carpeted ground looking stunned, her arms in an outstretched position. Rubbery pieces of a popped red balloon were scattered on the floor. Her usually sweet little face was now scrunched up, her mouth opening slightly. This wasn't going to be good.

As if conducted by an invisible conductor, children of all age, gender, and sizes simultaneously started to wail in an ear-splitting loud volume. I clutched at my poor ears as I tried to soothe the kids down at the top of my voice. Obviously, patiently yelling at them wasn't such a good idea. The children just started to scream even harder. In the midst of the chaos, I tried to desperately think of what to do next. Nobody could hear what was going on inside here as there was a silencing charm put around this room (the nap room was right next door, and kids were never exactly quiet when they were playing), so I was on my own to make everyone calm down before I lost the ability to hear.

Great.

Think Rose, think! I racked my brains, trying to delve into my childhood memories. What was the thing that always amused me no matter what? The ruckus was making it hard to think. What was it…?

"YES!" I yelled triumphantly. My moment was drowned out as the kids continued to cry has hard as they could. With a swift swish of my wand, I chanted, "Bubblus Creatum!" A stream of colorful bubbles of different sizes, colours, and shapes fluttered out of the tip of my wand. The whole room finally calmed down for a moment as the children gazed at the shapes in the air in total wonder and amazement. I released a puff of air, trying to shake out the ringing in my ears. Wow, the kids could be a pain. But I loved them anyways.

"Rosie?" A familiar voice asked me, his voice trembling. I looked down to see little Mark stare at me with his gorgeous green eyes. He was Emily's youngest cousin who favoured me. "My bubble popped."

Before I could reply with a comforting pat, somebody tugged at my jeans. "Miss, mine went pop too!" Tears were gathering her eyes. Uh oh. Major déjà vu. I braced myself as multiple toddlers and kids started to open their mouths, watching in dismay as the bubbles popped one by one.

Cries and yells filled up the room again, and I stood there helplessly. I furiously pounded myself inwardly for making that disastrous mistake. What else shut you up efficiently?, I thought. After a minute of exhausted digging into old memories, I cringed at my options, figuring out one thing I should've noticed ages ago: my parents were very weird people. Their way of making Hugo and me quiet was definitely not normal.

Weighing my options, I finally settled for the first one, though I noticed it was going to be a problem. Ever since I was three years old (Hugo was a year old then), we both managed to drive Mom and Dad crazy with our little arguments and crying. Finally annoyed one day, Mom kissed Dad in front of us. I remember that I turned away, muttering "Ew, gross," while Hugo just closed his mouth and watched them in some fascinated disgust (if that was possible for a one year old to feel). They've been doing it since, though now we just ignored them.

I needed someone to kiss in front of these bawling kids, and fast.

As if to answer my silent plead, somebody entered the room behind me. I felt a brief pang of sympathy for whoever it was as I turned around, my hands still covering my ears… and stopped in my tracks, my mouth opening slightly.

Out of all the males out there in the world, Merlin had to send me the guy whom I used to be friends with for four years in Hogwarts that I haven't properly talked to in five years. This was going to be awkward. I groaned, wanting to bang my head on the wall. Out of all my fantasies about our reunion of our friendship, this was not my idea of how we would meet again.

Scorpius Malfoy stood there, looking utterly bewildered to be greeted by ear-deafening screams of kids. His hands also flew to his ears, and he scowled at me, clearly mouthing, 'what did you do?' I felt a flare of irritation, almost making a rude gesture until I reminded myself that I was in a room full of children whose mothers would not appreciate their children seeing the crude gesture. Instead, I walked closer to him, trying to make myself heard.

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but I'll explain later!"

Not bothering to see if he understood, I flung my arms around him, and stood up on my toes, making my lips meet his quickly. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see his reaction.

The room fell deafeningly silent.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter characters, just the plot and a few characters I've made up.

A/N: This is my first time writing a Scorpius/Rose fiction, and it's written in response to LyrisLovegood's 150 Titles Challenge. The title was by Ilia (a bloody great title if I say so myself). This chapter's a bit short, I know, but I do have a plot, and I believe it'll be over twenty chapters at the least.  Read and review please!!