Rose Weasley was sixteen years old when she went to the Black Lake and lied on her back beneath the pitted sky that was punctuated only with the commas and periods of stars. She could see the sky wrap itself around the earth and everything felt like one giant blanket fort when the universe got like this. The air around her felt soft and silent, weaving it's way through her hair in simple breaths. She sat up and stared at the darkened lake, watching the water plants waver.
Rose was watching the tiny ripples in the water when she saw a fuzzy spot hiding beneath the surface. She squinted and watched it become clearer as it rose to break the lake. It was a head that popped up first, followed by the tops of someone's shoulders.
"Scorpius?" she whispered into the night.
"Rose?" he replied, wading closer.
"What on earth are you doing out here?" Rose asked quietly, as she came closer to the lake.
Scorpius looked up at her from the water, "Just swimming," he said with a grin.
Rose rolled her eyes, "It's past midnight and it's chilly, the water must be frigid, no?"
Scorpius shook his head, "It's definitely warmer than the air, I promise. I think Hogwarts heats it for the merpeople or something."
Rose looked at him doubtfully, "I never read anything like that in Hogwarts: A History."
"Test it yourself, stick your foot in," Scorpius gestured towards the water.
Still eyeing him with doubt, Rose shoved one shoe off and precariously dipped her toe in the water. Her eyebrows sat up and she looked at Scorpius, "Huh, you were right."
"Told you so, wanna join?" he asked and she saw his hands move in the water, holding himself up at the surface.
"What? Join you in swimming?" she asked and he nodded, "Can you touch?"
"Yeah, just not into touching the bottom right now considering it's covered in seaweed."
"Oh, okay," Rose said, "It's not too bad though, right?"
"Rosie, it's fine. Why all the questions about the depth of the lake though?" Scorpius questioned before running a hand through his damp hair.
Rose flushed pink, "I don't exactly know how to swim."
Instead of teasing her, like she'd expected, he smiled slightly, "That's okay, you'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" she asked, "Scorpius, you're nearly a foot taller than me."
"Rose, it's perfectly okay," he said and to prove his point, he stood up from the water. The lake came up just a few measly inches above his hips and Rose watched rivulets of lake water slip down his chest.
She tore her eyes away from his body, mentally scolding herself for thinking these things of her friend, and looked at his face, "Fine, I'll come in." His smile nearly blinded her.
Rose pushed off her other shoe and then brought a slightly unsteady hand up to the zipper on her skit. Slowly, she pushed the zipper down and shoved her skirt off so she was standing in just her white button-up school shirt. Keeping her eyes trained on her fingers instead of Scorpius' shoulders which were once again peeking out of the water, she undid the buttons. Once Rose had shrugged off her shirt, she crossed her arms over her chest and really hoped he wasn't looking at her slightly chubby stomach. It wasn't that she thought herself fat, she just didn't like the slight pudge that rested dutifully above her underpants.
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Rose stepped carefully into the water, overly aware of Scorpius' eyes on her and doing her best to avoid them. Slowly she walked into the water until it hit just above her breasts. When she looked up to meet Scorpius' eyes he was blushing delicately in a way that she could only notice thanks to the glow of the stars.
"What?" she asked self-consciously.
"You're really pretty, Rose, that's all," he replied.
"Thanks," Rose said nervously.
"What were you doing out here?" Scorpius asked.
"Looking at the stars mostly," she answered, her voice brushing over the water.
Rose looked about herself then, taking in the wrapping feeling of the lake and the hanging sky that held a paper moon and fiery stars. It was while she and Scorpius were taking in everything that stood around them that she felt the sharp pinch on her ankle.
"Ouch!" Rose exclaimed, stumbling in the water when she jumped.
Scorpius caught her before she fell and she clung to him, wrapping her legs around his hips. Realizing their situation, Rose tripped over her words, "Sorry, er, crab, I think."
"No problem," Scorpius said, his voice tense, and Rose wondered why his voice was so tense when her eyes grew round and she noticed exactly why he was tense.
"Holy hell," she whispered, "Scorpius, why aren't you wearing pants?"
"I, er, didn't think anyone else was coming out here tonight and I may or may not have left them on shore. I also did not think your legs would be around my hips," his whole face was colored pink as Rose disentangled herself from him.
She nodded distractedly, "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to, um, jump on you."
"And I didn't mean to put you in that, well, position," Scorpius said.
"Can I kiss you?" bubbled from Rose's mouth before she could stop it.
His eyebrows picked up as he regarded her and Scorpius nodded.
Rose stepped closer to him until only an inch of water existed between them, she reached a fragile hand up to press against his cheek and touched her other hand to his waist. And Rose kissed him.
Galaxies lived and exploded against her lips and tiny stars stammered out of her fingertips where they pressed against his skin. Scorpius kissed her back with everything in the world, draping an arm around her waist to pull her closer and covering her neck with his other hand. Every kiss gave Rose another heartbeat and every touch brought her brain closer to extinction.
"Neck," she mumbled through kisses, "hurts." In response, Scorpius moved a hand to her thigh and lifted her against his body so she once again had her legs gripping his waist. She brushed against his prick and a heavy breath let itself out of her lips against Scorpius' neck.
Scorpius suffered a similar effect, his body murmured with excitement as he searched for Rose's lips once again. Rose pressed her hands flat on his back, holding him as close as possible as she tugged his lips between her own. She ground against him, her underwear shifting against his torso and Scorpius groaned into her mouth, something Rose wanted to hear over and over again.
Rose pressed herself against his prick and heard Scorpius groan again, even deeper than before.
Shaken from whatever was happening to her, Rose immediately pulled off of him, trying to ignore the overbearing warmth between her legs. "What are we doing?" she asked, her voice a quiet breeze through the cold air.
Scorpius looked at her curiously, his face flushed and his eyes so dark she half-expected to see stars in them, "What do you mean?"
"You're my best mate, Scorpius, I'm not supposed to be doing whatever this is with you," Rose said, unable to meet his eyes anymore.
"Oh," he responded quietly, "well, we just got over-excited, yeah? Neither of us meant it."
Rose nodded vigorously, "Yeah, it was just two teenagers kissing. That's all."
"Agreed. It's no big deal," Scorpius said.
"I should go back now," she said, starting to move out of the water, "don't want my roommates wondering where I am."
"Yeah, 'course. I should probably go back too," he said, "I'll just, er, swim over to my clothes before I go."
"Okay, yeah, sounds good," Rose said, slipping her cloak on and gathering her clothes in her arm.
"See you in the morning," Scorpius said before watching her walk away. He would wait ten minutes before heading back, rather aware that it would probably be odd to walk back to their common room together.
Rose Weasley disappeared into the castle like the stars in the sky above them.