Rose had known as soon as Marie had bounced up to get what the girl was going to say.
"No," she stressed, cutting Marie off before she could form any words. "I am not coming with you to the Slytherin party so that I can watch you stick your tongue down my cousin's throat."
Rose had decided to bring a book to the party, so that she could distract herself from the snogging that would inevitably ensue. It still made her gag when she witnessed Al and Marie making out, but they made each other deliriously happy so she could tolerate it most of the time. Just not today.
As soon as they reached the Slytherin common room, Marie scampered away to find loverboy, as Rose had taken to calling him, calling out "see you later" over her shoulder. Rose let out a wry smile before descending on an available sofa to catch up with her novel. Unfortunately, it looked like she wouldn't be don't any reading tonight.
"Hey Rosie," Scorpius Malfoy drawled from behind her shoulder. Her eyes darted to the side and, sure enough, the lanky blond was leaning over the back of the sofa. Her sofa.
Rose glared, before lowering her eyes towards the book.
"Not so fast!" Scorpius quipped, snatching it from her hands and holding it in the air. "It's a rare enough sight to see you out in public, so you are entirely obligued to socialise whilst you're here."
"What are you doing!?" Rose exclaimed. "You'll lose my place!"
Scorpius merely showed her the finger he'd wedged between the pages and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, you win," Rose snorted. "I'll bestow upon you some of my attention. So, which of the girls here are you going to 'woo' tonight?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet," he said pensively, as though he had given the matter much consideration. "Any suggestions?" At this point, he moved from behind the sofa to sit opposite Rose.
She held up her hands to stroke an imaginary beard. "Well, I'd hazard a guess that Amy Bates would be up for a snog, seeing as how you're a quidditch superstar and all... Our there's Izzy Butler, and I know for a fact that she's had a wildly inappropriate crush on you since third year."
"And you're only mentioning this now, because? " he grinned, leaning forwards.
"You never asked," Rose said sweetly. "And we wouldn't want to inflate that ego of yours, would we? "
Scorpius rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. He stood up.
"Want a drink," he asked, motioning towards a table in the corner.
"I'm fine," Rose responded, get brows furrowing. "But I'd like my book back."
He tossed the book in Rose's direction, who let out an involuntary squeak. With a final smile, he was gone.
Whilst flipping through the book to find her, now lost, place Rose saw Scorpius out of the corner of her eye. She looked up, catching his gaze, and he gave her a wink and a nod as he strolled out of the common room with an arm lazily draped over Izzy Butler's shoulder.
Despite the smirk which she knew was all over her face, Rose felt her stomach tighten. She wondered for a moment if it had been something she'd eaten, before forgetting the feeling entirely and becoming absorbed in her novel.