Rose Weasley entered her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, her eyes surveying both the room before her and the corridor behind her, looking for the boy that would both brighten her day and darken i...t. Albus Potter was with her, rattling on about something that happened over Winter Holiday that included his sister Lily, a pygmy hedgehog, and a muggle bottle rocket. Rose was hardly listening, her eyes still searching. She and Albus took their seats in the middle of the class, taking out their books and quills.
"Rose!" Albus finally said, twirling his quill under her nose. "What has your brain so occupied?" The bell rang.
Rose deflated on the inside. He must have skipped class. The one class they had together and he chose to skip it! She shook her head at Albus as their professor entered. They were five minutes into a lesson on vampires when the door in the back of the classroom opened. Rose didn't even bother looking, but when she heard Albus sigh beside her, her interest peaked. She subtly looked over her shoulder and saw the sixteen year old Scorpius Malfoy standing there. His blond-silver hair slightly tussled and his robes still swirling around him like he had gotten there at a run. He caught her eye and gave her a small smile before he walked to the front of the room and gave their professor a note. "I'm so sorry, Professor. Professor Trelawney needed to speak with me and we lost track of time, what with her predicting my death every few minutes." Rose knew that he was arching his eyebrow, as if daring the man to disagree, even though his back was to her. She knew him that well. Their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher just nodded mutely and gestured to Scorpius's seat in the back of the room. Scorpius walked past Albus and Rose on his way back; Albus and Rose both glared at him, but while Albus was probably thinking of a witty line to say, Rose was admiring how magnificent Scorpius's eyes looked in this light.
"Don't look at me, Weasley. I don't want your mother's bad blood anywhere near me." Scorpius had his eyebrow quirked again, but she saw an apology in his eyes and in the set of his mouth.
Albus tensed up beside her, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Like your father's Death Eater blood isn't ten times worse." The insult left a horrible taste in her mouth and she felt like she might throw up. But she didn't. She held his eyes and even quirked her eyebrow for good measure. He just laughed and walked back to his seat before relaxing into it. For the whole class Rose restrained herself from turning around and looking at him. She wanted to know what he was thinking, what he was doing, what he was daydreaming about because she knew that Defense Against the Dark Arts was the most boring class for him.
Finally the bell rang and Rose stopped herself leaping to her feet and running. She slowly got up and walked to the door with Albus. Of course, Scorpius was already gone. Rose said goodbye to Albus and gave an random excuse that she couldn't even remember before heading for the Astronomy Tower. She knew it would take her 8 minutes to get there and to the top-she had timed it-but it still seemed too long.
"Scorpius," She finally breathed out when she got to the top and saw him there. She threw herself into his arms, surprised to find tears pricking her eyes.
"Oh, Rose." He whispered into her ear. He pulled back and looked at her. "Are you okay? Was the reference to your mother too much? Because I only did it because I think Potter is on to us..."
Rose Weasley shook her head. "It's fine. Can you just hold me and let me revel in the fact that I'm in love with the best boy ever and not have to think about what happens when lunch break is over?"
Scorpius nodded and kissed her. "I can do that." He pulled her to him. "I can do that."
...
Scorpius left the tower first, needing to make an appearance at the Slytherin table for lunch. Rose stood against the railing, looking across the grounds and Forbidden Forest, tears slowly sliding down her cheeks. Why did she have to fall in love with the boy that her father absolutely did not want her to have anything to do with? The boy that she was supposed to trip 'accidentally' and whisper insults to like James and Albus Potter as well as her brother did?
Her crying speeded up and she wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders caving in and her breath coming in gasps. How much longer would she be able to take before this secret it got out?
"How long have you and Scorpius been together?" Apparently not long at all. Rose spun around and found Lily Potter- her cousin -staring back at her. Rose's world crushed around her as she saw what would happen when Lily mentioned her secrets to Lily's brothers and family. Rose would be grounded for all further school holidays and the howlers would never end.
"I..Wha...But..." Rose tried to formulate excuses but they all fell out of her mouth like dead weights. She looked at her cousin for a few moments before collapsing into sobs again.
"No no no no no." Lily said, she run to Rose and took her into her arms. "I'm not going to tell anyone, Rosie! I swear!"
Rose looked up at her face that looked so much like her own, they got mistaken for sisters on a daily basis what with their matching fire red hair. "Do you promise? Because you know how my dad would react if he knew."
Lily nodded mutely. "I wouldn't hurt you like that, Rose."
"Okay," Rose answered. "I trust you."
They stood their awkwardly for a moment before Lily finally asked, "So when did it start?"
Rose barked out a laugh. "We were partnered up in Flitwick's class to practice levitation spells in first year. How ironic is that? We became 'secret friends' after that because of our parents. We would meet in empty classrooms or rarely-used hallways and exchange chocolate frog cards or help each with homework. It wasn't until about two years ago that he kissed me while we were writing dream journals. Not much studying has been done since then." Rose wiped her eyes and her nose. "We love each other, Lily. And we're going to get married. We just have to get out of Hogwarts."
Lily looked awestruck. "And I'll be here to talk to when it gets to be too much." She hugged her cousin tightly.
Rose hugged her back. "Thank you, Lily. Thank you so much."
...
Days passed and nothing extraordinary happened except for the fact that Scorpius and Rose hadn't been able to meet again due to excessive amounts of homework. But when Scorpius accidentally elbowed James on the way to potions, everything-peace, resolve, happiness-disappeared.
"FLIPENDO!" James screeched at Scorpius when he got his wand out. Scorpius flew backward and hit a wall. Rose-who had been discussing getting a pygmy puff with her brother Hugo- screamed. The other students who weren't part of the feud scattered, some looking back over their shoulders, others running for dear life.
Scorpius stood, his wand already in hand. "LEVICORPUS!" James flew up into the air and hung their upside down, dangling.
Hugo stepped up and Rose tried to pull him back. "No, Hugo! This isn't your fight!" She yelled, but Hugo just shook her off and refused to look at her.
"CONJUNCTIVITIS!" Hugo yelled at Scorpius and the boys eyes immediately began to look pink and crusty. Rose started crying, her small hiccups mingled with James's screams of outrage. Her mind had become numb and all she kept thinking was 'This can't be happening, this can't be happening.'
"Stupefy!" Scorpius said wildly and mistakenly hit James because of his impaired eyesight. James immediately fell silent and all that could be heard were Rose's sobs. Before Hugo could cast another spell, Scorpius said "Expelliarmus" and Hugo's wand flew out of his hand and into Scorpius's.
"Rose! Help me!" Hugo bellowed at his sister, who only shook her head. "And why not?" His eyes and tone were filled with antagonism.
Rose couldn't hold it in any longer, it seemed her secret would come out much sooner than expected. "Because I love him!" She howled and ran at Scorpius, enveloping him in her arms.
Scorpius kissed her cheek, and accidentally hit her eye. "Sorry, love, there seems to be something wrong with my eyes." He whispered into her ear.
She laughed quietly and looked over her shoulder at her brother, whose mouth was hanging open. "And I don't care if you tell mum, dad, Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny." She turned back to Scorpius. "Because I love him." He kissed her softly.