Edited 8/8/15

Rose thought carefully about what she would say if Scorpius approached her as she sent fleeting glances towards him. He sat at a table at the other side of the coffee shop. She shyly looked down into her coffee cup when she caught him looking back at her. Letting her fiery hair shroud her face, she tried not to let her cheeks flood with embarrassment and stared longingly into her almost-finished drink.

This is what their imaginary romance consisted of; stolen and fleeting glances at the coffee shops they frequented, occasional waves if one of them realized that the other had captured their attention. Society kept them apart. He was a pureblood from a reformed family that had chosen the wrong side during the Second Wizarding War. She was a witch from a respectable pureblood family that had chosen the side of freedom during war, but she herself had shaky blood status on account of her mother, Muggleborn Hermione Granger.

In a world where Blood-Purity was still held very dear, how could the hidden love of a Pureblood and Halfblood ever hope to survive?

They had barely talked face to face during their times at Hogwarts. That was over three years ago, and neither had spoken a word to the other since. If they hadn't both liked coffee so much they may never have met again. It was not because they despised each other as their parents had once-upon-a-time; it was simply that Rose was in love with Scorpius but was too shy to admit it to herself, much less to him. She was convinced that even if she did eventually come to grips with it and tell him, he would brush her off as a simple admirer, or worse, as someone who just wanted to get a hold of his family's money. The funny thing was that Scorpius Malfoy was more in love with Rose Weasely than she was in love with him. His pride was what was preventing him from acting on it.

Rose looked up at him again as he read the Daily Prophet and sipped on his black coffee. "If only you could know the things I long to say to you." she breathed wistfully, wishing from the bottom of her heart that he had heard her and yet positively dreading that outcome. He unexpectedly looked towards her. Panicking, she gathered up her purse after paying for her drink and scampered quickly out the door.

Scorpius Malfoy looked longingly after her. He had known that Rose Weasely was looking at him from across the coffee shop. He'd been stealing the same glances towards her since before she noticed that he was there. He longed to tell her everything that he felt about her, but his pride and inclination to keep the family ways kept him from her. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him and how beautiful she was without makeup on. He wanted to tell her that he would protect her till his dying breath. He worried that she didn't feel the same.

He'd looked guiltily into the black liquid within his coffee cup when their eyes met for the first time that instance. He tried to pretend and fool himself into thinking that she wasn't there so that she couldn't see the emotion that burned behind his smoky grey eyes. He dreaded that she'd seen what he wanted to say.

He'd come to realize that he loved her a long time ago after her face invaded his dreams and replaced the likenesses of all the other girls he'd fancied at Hogwarts. "If only I had been less blind when it mattered." He said to himself as the door continued to swing following her exit. If only he had her he would enfold her in his strong arms and never let her go. He would protect her from everything and anything, and vow to love and protect her forever.

He stayed in the Diagon Alley Coffee shop until it closed after the sun had set on the shopping district, unable to make himself leave after she vacated the premiss. His heart went with her.

The owner of the coffee shop, Luna Lovegood, divorcee of Ralf Scamander and wife of widower Neville Longbottom; came up to Scorpius, her signature radish earrings swinging wildly. "Scorpius, I'm closing up."

He looked up from his musings when she spoke, knowing that he hadn't really heard her. He looked at her, puzzled, hoping to scrounge up her meaning indirectly. She glanced towards the clock, and he realized that he'd stayed for far longer than he'd intended. He dug a few sickles and knuts out of his jeans pocket and handed the money to her, picking his wand up off the table and leaving out the door that the object of his longing had hours earlier.

As he walked, intent on making it into the Leaky Cauldron to floo himself home, he realizeed that he was being followed. He looked back to see some of the Hogwarts bullies - all of whom were suspected members of the group that he was investigating for the Ministry - on his tail. He picked up the pace, his wand at the ready. He had been one of the kindest of the Slytherins while he was studying at the school and that had rubbed some of the students the wrong way, knowing his family's history. He had to attribute his compassion to his mother, Rose Malfoy. He also had her to thank for his dark blonde hair, a first in the long history of the Malfoy line.

He entered an archway that led straight to the safety of the Leaky Cauldron, but unfortunately found out that he wasn't being followed; he was being corralled. One of the other bullies stood on the other side of the archway and roughly took hold of his black T-shirt when Scorpius came close enough. They dragged him back through the deserted alley into a secluded portion of Knockturne Alley. Their menacing eyes pierced into him, but he knew that he could take anything that they threw his way without worry; Rose had left long ago.

"What's on your mind Malfoy?" asked Thomas Goyle, the second son of one of Draco Malfoy's old allies before he left them for Scorpius's mother.

"Cut the act Goyle." warned Scorpius. He readied his wand and seriously considered using it. He stopped himself after thinking of Rose. He was a better man than that and didn't want to become curse-happy like his late great-aunt.

Thomas's face contorted into an angry mask as he grabbed Scorpius's shirt again and shoved him firmly against the brick wall behind him. Scorpius winced as his head slammed into the wall and he felt blood well but he looked defiantly into Thomas's small, muddy brown eyes, not letting him know about the wound he'd inflicted. "What did you say?" asked the angry wizard. The other bullies by then had made their way into the alley and crowded around Thomas. Scorpius kept his resolve strong.

"I said 'cut the act.'" Scorpius forced through clenched teeth.

"I have a message from Him. If you don't stop your little investigation and stay out of our way, we'll start doing more than just 'keeping an eye' on the Weasely Girl." Thomas threatened.

Scorpius's eyes grew ice cold and so full of malice a man with a warmer heart than that of Thomas Goyle would have paled and backed away. Unfortunately, Thomas and the rest of his posse possessed no such heart. "Don't you dare threaten Rose Weasely!" Scorpius seethed. He concentrated and sent a nonverbal spell at Thomas. He flew backwards as Stupify! collided with him. Instantly, Crabbe's posse retaliated, forgoing their wands in favor of throwing punches and kicks at Scorpius. He didn't last long five against one. Soon he was curled on the stone with his back to the wall trying to protect his vital organs from pulverization. They assaulted him for nearly five minutes before Scorpius was able to alert Magical Law Enforcement Head Harry Potter by way of a communication spell.

When Thomas, who had by now come back to his senses and began pummeling the Malfoy Heir with unbridled ferocity, realized that Scorpius still had his wand he wrenched it from his grasp and snapped it like a twig. Scorpius gasped. Thomas didn't know it if was because he had just broken his enemy's wand or if it was because the pain was getting to him, but he honestly didn't care. They continued to beat up the blonde until pops began filling the alley. Thomas looked behind him as the Minister of Magic and the heads of Magical Law Enforcement and the Auror Department apparated into the alley. Thomas instantly disapparated and his posse followed suit.

The three newcomers lowered their wands and Rose ran to her son, dropping to her knees and rolling him over as she surveyed the damage sustained by the twenty year old. He groaned as his mother turned him over and he opened his eyes in response. "Mom?" he asked drearily as his swollen eyes focused on her face.

"It's going to be okay Scorpius. I promise." his mother replied. He rolled back over and closed his eyes, trying valiantly to block out the pain that wracked his body.

Rose examined her son's injuries and took out her wand, but soon realized that she would need to use potions at the very least to heal her son, not spells. She could feel that his pulse was shallow, and by the bruises that discolored his pale skin she knew that he was bleeding internally and needed urgent treatment.

"Harry, Draco!" she beckoned quickly. They ran over, having patiently let the healer do her work. As they ran Rose Malfoy used her unique gift, surprisingly inherited by her daughter Lily, to attempt to stabilize her son. His injuries were extensive, and if she used her gift to try to heal him outright she would be very close to death herself. Using the control that she had gained in her sixth year, she let a bit of it loose to flow into her son, returning some of his color and stemming the worst of the bleeding.

"We need to get him to Saint Mungo's now." she ordered when the men made it to them. Draco nodded and awkwardly picked up and cradled his adult son, apparating with him to Saint Mungo's.

Rose Weasely sprinted through the hospital and scanned the names affixed to the doors of the hospital rooms. She'd barely let the med-mage tell her what floor Scorpius was on before she ran off to find him. Finally she reached the right room and slammed open the door. Everyone in the room: Scorpius's parents Draco and Rose Malfoy; her uncle Harry Potter; and Scorpious's older sister Lily, turned at the commotion.

Rose halted and covered her mouth in shock as she saw the damage. Scorpius was asleep on the hospital bed, though whether it was of his own choice or not she didn't know. The skin on his body that was not covered by endless bandages was varying shades of purple and scarlet oozed from underneath a few of the bandages. His handsome, peaceful face and his pale hands were relatively unharmed, but the rest of him looked at if he had stumbled in front of the Knight Bus.

Harry walked over to his niece and hugged her tightly as she cradled her head in his shoulder. Finally she spoke, having recovered from the shock of seeing the man she secretly loved in that state. "What happened?"

"A few members of the Black Death found him." Harry knew that he didn't need to say much for it to sink in for his niece. She knew from her work as a journalist for the Daily Prophet that the Black Death had become a problem twenty five or so years after the Second Wizarding War. Scorpius, as an Auror, had been tasked with investigating them. It seemed they were trying to replace Voldemort and take over both the Wizarding and Non-Wizarding world.

The news was a shock to her and she began crying again. Harry set her down in a chair and left the room, followed by Rose and Draco Malfoy; they needed to return to the Ministry to catch the Black Death, who had now grievously harmed someone they cared about. Lily eventually left to begin her rounds at Saint Mungo's. She was a healer there.

Rose straightened herself in the chair and kept vigil by Scorpius's side, eventually taking his hand in hers and stroking the back of it endlessly. She cried a little after a while and fiddled with a lock of his sandy hair.

She ended up falling asleep in the chair and when the Aids came to wake her and make her leave, she begged them to let her stay. Whether it was because they pitied her or just didn't have the heart to cast out such a distraught woman she didn't know, but they left the room and let her be.

Rose stood up and held Scorpius's hand tightly. He was still very much asleep. He looked so peaceful and beautiful; like her knight in shining armor come to save her from a fearsome dragon, only he hadn't come out of the experience unscathed. As she gazed at Scorpius Malfoy's sleeping figure, she finally admitted to herself that she loved him. "I love you Scorpius Malfoy." she said quietly, leaning down. She let her lips rest on his in a gentle kiss, and could have sworn that he tried to kiss her back. She leapt up, hoping to find him awake and smiling at her, but he was still as asleep as ever, and she told herself that she just imagined him kissing her back and proving in a round about way that he reciprocated her feelings.

Lost and alone, Rose Weasely curled up beside the battered man, laying her head on his chest as she cried herself to sleep.

Scorpius woke up as sunlight peaked through the windows of his hospital room. He remembered that his father brought him in, but he went comatose before he knew anything else.

He did not expect to wake up and see a flash of fiery red hair scattered over his chest. The girl whom the signature hair belonged to still slept peacefully on his bandaged chest. Judging by the patch of wetness on the bandages under her head he assumed that she'd cried herself to sleep.

He lifted his battered and wrapped arm and began to gingerly stroke her soft curls with his uninjured hand. He did this for many minutes as the rest of the hospital awoke. She did not stir at all the entire time, and Scorpius was content with staying exactly the way he was with the girl he secretly loved peacefully resting on his chest while he caressed her beautiful red hair.

In that instant he decided that he didn't care if his parents approved or not. He was deeply in love with Rose Weasely and he knew that she felt the same. He'd heard everything that she'd said the night before. He knew that she loved him, and that was all that mattered to him.

Let the Black Death try and take her from him. He would love to watch them squirm as he tortured each and every one of them if they so much as laid a finger tip on his Rose Weasely.

After staying in this state of bliss for half an hour, he gently kissed the top of her head. "I love you Rose." At this she finally stirred and shifted to peer blearily into his face. The instant she realized that he was awake and looking back at her she shot up, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." she quickly apologized, "I must've fallen asleep."

"No. It's fine Rose." He answered her. She gave him a cautious smile. This was all that she'd ever wanted, so she took the chance and laid back down, laying her head on his shoulder.

Scorpius entered that state of bliss once again and was content. After a while Rose spoke. "I've been here all night you know."

Scorpius shifted to gaze at her as she hoisted herself up, putting her hands on the bed to support her weight. "I know."

Panic filled her eyes like it had the day before as that fact sank in. "You... You do?"

He nodded as he pulled her back onto his shoulder. She sighed in contentment. "And I love you too."

Her heart rate quickened at hearing those words coming from him, but she smiled, her eyes closed.

"I love you Rose Weasely."

"I love you, Scorpius Malfoy." she repeated as he kissed her hair.

At that moment she didn't care if the Black Death were at her doorstep. She didn't even care if there was another war on the horizon. All she cared about right now was the fact that Scorpius Malfoy loved her, and would stay by her side through thick and thin, forever.

SRSRSRSRSR

Hey, I hoped you liked this oneshot.

In case you're wondering, this can - and should - be treated as a teaser to the eventual sequel of Tears of an Angel.

This oneshot was inspired by the video Rose and Scorpius/ IF ONLY by elexisvideos

You really should check it out. It is a beautiful video. I do not own the video or Harry Potter, this was purely done for fun.

See you later!

Sophie.