Everything belongs to Queen Rowling, I'm making no money off this.

A short story about the relationship between Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. Written from Rose's point of view. Hope you like it :)

It was Christmas Eve, and I was one of the few people who had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays. Even my little brother, Hugo, had gone home, along with all of my cousins and friends. It was just me and a few schoolmates I barely knew.

It was stupid, really. I should've swallowed my pride and visited my family, but I just couldn't take it. Ever since I'd argued with my parents during the summer holidays, the only correspondence we'd had was 'morning' or 'pass the salt'. I had waved curtly as I stepped onto the Hogwarts Express on the 1st of September, and we hadn't spoken since. I pushed away the book I was staring blankly at and dropped my head in my hands, screwing my eyes shut against the dim lamplight as my mind reflected back on that last argument. As usual, the subject had been Scorpius. I had never argued with my parents until the day Hugo had let slip about my complicated relationship with the pale, blonde-headed Slytherin boy.

And 'complicated' was an understatement. Scorpius was like no one I had ever met before. I'd only gotten to know him when he became friends with my cousin, Al, whom I had always been close to. Al's brother, James, had been furious about their friendship. He'd told their parents, but Harry and Ginny hadn't been angry. I wondered how they'd feel if their daughter Lily, like me, were to kiss him…six times, to be precise – twice by the Black Lake, twice in the Owlery, once in the deserted Entrance Hall and once – my spine tingled at the memory – at the top of the Astronomy tower in the dead of the night. Her parents probably wouldn't be so angry. Her father wouldn't call Scorpius Malfoy scum and forbid her ever to speak to him.

'Rose?'

I jumped, my head snapping up.

Almost six foot, with a wiry build and pale, pointed features, he wasn't considered classically handsome. But there was something about the white-blonde hair, the strong jaw, some mystery in the pale grey eyes that intrigued and enticed me…

He sat down opposite me. 'I thought I'd find you here. Christmas Eve, and you're studying…' He shook his head, a wry smile turning his lips up at the corners.

I felt my cheeks heat up, and I knew they'd turned a dull shade of pink. Great. 'I thought you'd gone home for Christmas.'

He shook his head, a crease appearing between his pale eyebrows as it always did when he was upset, or anxious, or annoyed. As usual, I wanted to reach up and smooth it out with my fingertips. 'I'm not exactly in my father's good books at the moment.'

I frowned. 'Why not?'

He hesitated. 'Well, you know he's friends with Professor Zabini…'

I nodded, red curls bouncing annoyingly as I did so.

He shrugged, running a hand through his blonde hair. 'Zabini must have seen us together or something, and…well, now my father knows.' The crease between his eyebrows deepened as he stared at the desk. 'He's not happy.'

I found myself touching his hand, trying to comfort him somehow. His skin was cold.

'Have you spoken to your parents yet?' he asked, looking me in the eye again.

I shook my head. 'Not yet.'

He half-smiled ruefully, turning his hand around so that he could interlace his fingers with mine. 'Suppose we've only got each other, then.'

My breath caught in my throat. 'Suppose.'

And then his lips were on mine. I leaned forward in my seat, my fingers still entwined in his. I felt his eyelashes brush my skin as his lips moved against mine. As usual when he kissed me, everything else in the world seemed to melt away. With my eyes closed and my hand held in his, it was as if there was no one else in the world.

Unfortunately, that was not so. The ancient librarian, Madam Pince, began reprimanding us in her thin, screechy voice, brandishing her wand as if to hex us. 'Kissing in my library!' Scorpius gripped my hand tighter and sprinted to the doorway with me in tow, bewitched books chasing after us, opening and closing as if trying to catch us between their pages.

We slammed the heavy doors behind us, and doubled up with laughter for reasons we couldn't quite explain. My heart thumped, unaccustomed to getting into trouble, but still I found myself shaking with giggles.

'We've still got an hour before dinner,' announced Scorpius when our laughter had subsided. 'Come on, let's go for a walk.'

I allowed him to lead me through the corridors, into the Entrance Hall and out the enormous oaken double doors. It wasn't snowing anymore, but a thin blanket of white had settled over everything. There were no footprints in it – it was completely undisturbed. The Black Lake wasn't frozen over, but the water was a steely grey, foreboding under the overcast sky.

We made our way down the steps and started to amble slowly across the grounds. The snow crunched satisfyingly under our feet as a freezing cold wind bit at any part of our skin that was bare. Thankful for my thick school jumper and warm robes, I leaned into him as his arm snaked around my shoulders. We walked in silence for a while, before we ended up sitting on a rock beneath a beech tree with barely any leaves left, sheltered from the wind and untouched by the snow.

'I was thinking,' muttered Scorpius after a moment of silence. 'Where do we stand, with each other?'

I felt the familiar heat rising in my cheeks. 'I don't know.' We'd kissed seven times, between now and the last school term. We wrote to each other a couple of times over the summer holidays, and he was there for me when I was upset about my family, there for me when no one else was. But sometimes, we went whole weeks without talking to each other. Sometimes we'd pass each other on the corridor without a word. Sometimes, someone would make a snide comment about us and we'd be unable to look each other in the eye afterwards. But whenever we were together, I had the feeling that something was different about him. A tightening in my chest that said: he's important. He's different.

He looked at me, and I glanced at the water of the lake instead, suddenly nervous. 'I really like you, Rose. But…we kind of need to choose, don't we? Between each other and our families.'

I tore my eyes away from the glassy surface of the Black Lake and caught his eye. 'Do we?'

He looked at his knees, the familiar crease reappearing between his eyebrows. 'My father will disown me if I stay with you. I'm certain of that. And…I know you're close to your family. I wouldn't want you to lose them over me.'

'What are you saying?' I asked, my voice cracking.

He shook his head. 'I'm saying it's up to you.' He furrowed his brow as he stared across the lake. 'I don't mind losing my family, if it means I get to keep you. But—'

I cut him off by stretching up to kiss him fiercely on the lips. I pulled away and saw a renewed hope in his grey eyes. 'I don't mind, either,' I replied hotly.

The crease between his eyebrows smoothed out as a grin spread across his face. 'Rose Weasley, I love you.'

The words that slipped from my lips felt as if someone else was saying them, but they were true. Completely. 'I love you, too.'

And we had our ninth kiss.

I hope you liked this, I really enjoyed writing it :) Please review and let me know if you liked it, or where I went wrong. Thank you:) ~K x