It was a slow day at the Auror Office and Rose Weasley was itching for some action. Her partner Jason Hughes was on the verge of falling asleep on the paperwork, and she was pacing after having had too much coffee.
"Why are Augusts so damn boring?" she thought. "Surely there have to be criminals that work during the summer, as well. It's hard to imagine dark wizards sunbathing on the beach," she mused. Just as her imagination was conjuring Voldemort getting sunburnt on the Mediterranean coast, a silver Patronus stag entered the room.
"We have been alerted of a case of burglary at the Malfoy Manor. Auror Hughes, Auror Weasley, I'll leave it to you".
Rose groaned. While she welcomed the distraction, she didn't want to see the youngest member of the Malfoy family. It's not that they were on bad terms; in fact, Scorpius was almost an adoptive member of the Weasley-Potter family. Still, Rose didn't know how to deal with his flirtatious comments and his displays of affection, which had been getting more obvious the past few months. She had had a small crush on him since fifth year, but she didn't dare to get her hopes up when he acted that way around her. Thus, she hoped she would only have to deal with his parents.
Jason and Rose quickly gathered their things and apparated to the Manor. They walked through the wrought-iron gates and arrived at the main entrance, where Scorpius Malfoy was already waiting for them. He was the perfect picture of a young pureblood heir, with his elegantly tailored clothes and controlled expression.
"Ah, Rose! What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe this honour?"
"Actually, it's Auror Weasley, Mr. Malfoy. And I am pretty sure you know why we are here. This is Auror Hughes."
The two men shook hands, with Scorpius using a bit more force than necessary. His deep grey eyes evaluated the auror, who was a rather handsome dark-haired fellow a few years older than himself.
"Pleased to meet you, Auror Hughes. Thank you both for coming so promptly."
Scorpius led both aurors inside the manor, but was stopped by Auror Hughes before arriving to their destination, a bright drawing room where the house elves would be serving them tea.
"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, but we need to make sure the burglar isn't still here. There are a few spells for that, but they need to be performed outside the building."
"Of course, Auror Hughes. If you wish, I can start telling Auror Weasley about the burglary while you are performing the spells," suggested Scorpius, with a gleam in his eyes.
"That would be fine. Rose, don't let your guard down before I tell you the results."
Rose tried to protest, but her partner was already leaving the house. She stifled a groan and followed Scorpius to the drawing room. They sat facing each other and Scorpius offered her a cup of tea. "No cream, two sugars; your favourite, I'm told."
She thanked him and took a small sip of her tea while assessing him. He didn't look concerned or afraid; he didn't even look furious, as Rose would expect of a man whose house had just been broken into. Instead, he was wearing his usual smirk and seemed quite content.
"I'll start asking you a few questions to get an idea of what has happened, Mr. Malfoy. When has this burglary happened?"
"Come on, Rosie, there's no need to call me Mr. Malfoy. You can call me Scorpius."
"Please, just answer my question. And I rarely call you by name, Malfoy."
"I had to try. And to answer your question, I'm not exactly sure when the theft was performed. Quite a while ago, I think, but I only just noticed recently," said Scorpius. He now looked vaguely amused.
"And what exactly has been stolen? By your answer, I take that you haven't witnessed the events, right?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you what has been stolen just yet, Rosie. But I can tell you that it was something special and precious. And well, I guess you could say I have sort of witnessed the events." At this, Scorpius adopted a slightly wistful expression. Rose was getting more and more confused by the moment.
"Malfoy, would you stop being so damn vague? We're trying to help here. Could you please tell me the entire story about the burglary? I can assure you that everything you say will be kept confidential."
"I know, love. That's not what's worrying me, though. And you know, it's bothering me that you keep refering to this as a burglary. It's not exactly a burglary."
"Well, that's what Auror Potter said it was. What is it if not a burglary, then?", asked Rose.
"You see, I told him that something had been stolen from me. When he asked where I was, I told him I was at Malfoy Manor. I assume that's where the confusion comes from."
Rose let out a big sigh and massaged her temples. Only a few minutes had passed since she had started interrogating Scorpius and she was already on the verge of doing something rash and unprofessional such as slapping him. On the other hand, he now seemed even more relaxed and comfortable than he had been at the beginning.
Rose wondered why her partner was taking so long to run the necessary spells. Little did she know that he had been contacted by none other than their boss, Harry Potter, and had been asked to return immediately to the office without saying anything to Rose. Despite the clear orders, Jason almost went back inside to tell Rose he was leaving; it seemed like the proper thing to do. However, at the last minute he decided to follow his boss' instructions – he was, after all, Harry Potter, the Man-Who-Returned-From-Death-To-Kill-The-Evilest-Wizard-Ever.
What Jason didn't know was that Harry Potter had a mischievous side to him, one that had only grown after marrying into the Weasley family. And he didn't know either that Harry Potter had a soft spot for Scorpius Malfoy, the son of his former rival. Harry had first met the young man ten years before, when his son Albus invited him to spend a few days at the Burrow after finishing their first year at Hogwarts. He had only been a bit surprised to see that Scorpius was nice boy with really good manners; after all, he had heard a lot of good things about him through Albus' letters and Professor Neville Longbottom.
During the next few years, Harry watched his son's best friend grow up and slowly fall in love with his niece Rose. However, only Harry and Hermione seemed to realise that; not even Scorpius noticed his growing feelings for Rose, and he continued teasing her as usual. So when Harry overheard Scorpius telling Al about his feelings for Rose and her lack of response to his flirtation, he decided to give Scorpius and Rose a little push. He entered the room and, after assuring Scorpius that he didn't mind him being in love with Rose, he told him that perhaps he could help him out. After all, he thought that Rose and Scorpius would be perfect for each other, and it didn't hurt that he had bet on them getting together.
Even so, when Harry had made that offer he had been thinking of inviting the blond to family dinners or making up excuses that would allow him into the Auror Office and see Rose for a bit. However, Scorpius had more elaborate plans. He had been trying to get Rose to visit Malfoy Manor for years, so he designed a plan that would allow him to both spend time with Rose and show her around his home. Initially, he had intended to almost immediately tell her that nothing had happened at the Manor, but he couldn't resist teasing her a bit after seeing her determination to act like they were strangers.
Scorpius pondered the best way to approach the subject. He started to get nervous when he saw that his teasing had not only grated on her nerves, but it had also resulted in digging himself into a hole. He now had a lot of explaining to do, and he quickly realised that honesty and seriousness were the way to go.
"Look, Rose. Nothing has really happened here. I just wanted you to finally come to the Manor and I got your Uncle Harry to help me. I'm sorry to have bothered you and I hope you won't get too mad at me."
Rose's temper quickly flared. Her blue eyes flashed and her mouth curved into a scowl.
"WHAT? Scorpius, are you telling me you made up this tale of "something special and precious" being stolen? How could Uncle Harry agree to help you? I have to be at work right now!"
"To be fair, Rose, I was told that you guys had nothing to do at the moment, and your shift was about to end anyway." He examined her expression carefully and decided to go for it anyway.
"As for the "something precious" being stolen... well, it wasn't a complete lie. Not if you consider my heart something precious," he said with a confident smirk, even though he was groaning internally at the cheesiness of the sentence. Still, he hoped it would distract Rose from her ire.
Rose didn't bother to stifle her groan, but when she looked at him it was with exasperation, not annoyance. "Really, Malfoy? I pity the poor girl who supposedly has your heart."
"Hey, why would you say that? You know I'm a nice guy!" said Scorpius, who was now grinning quite widely.
"I know you are, but you're also an incorrigible flirt."
"Oh, is that jealousy I hear, Rosie?" Scorpius wore his usual smirk, but a hint of hope crept into his voice.
Rose spluttered and blushed while denying it, and in her efforts to refute the accusation she missed the warm smile on his face. Scorpius leaned towards her and silenced her with a soft kiss, which she eagerly responded to once she recovered from the surprise. A few moments later, Scorpius gently broke the kiss but kept their foreheads together. "I love you, Rosie. Sorry it took me so long to notice it."
She kissed him lightly and said, "I love you too, you cheesy, silly guy."
A few days later, Harry collected 50 galleons from his brothers-in-law with a smug smile. He now pondered the best way to pull Lysander Scamander away from his daydreams and get him to finally propose to his niece Lucy Weasley, whom he had been dating for a little over three years. He grinned as the beginnings of a plan formed in his mind, and congratulated himself on being such a brilliant matchmaker.