Rose always hated those people you could smell before you saw them.

They were usually the makeup-caked faces who were followed, or preceded, by a cloud of some overwhelming "Eau de frou-frou-something-or-other" that smelled like some skunk-with-a-fruit-fetish sprayed its nasty odor all over them.

There were also those men who had the cloud as well, but it was usually some awful muggle scent that smelt like decomposing wood or dirt or, even worse, Axe. That was the nastiest scent of them all.

Whenever she walked through a group of people, wizard or muggle, although the latter may have been the worst of all perpetrators, she would pass someone and immediately become asphyxiated by the unbearable scents around her. Was it really too unreasonable for people to not douse themselves in some chemical mate-attractor?

Rose's mother always told her that clean was the best scent. And Rose firmly believed it. Who on earth would be attracted to a person who coated themselves in perfume or cologne in order to smell decent?

She was simply satisfied with those who smelled of soap or detergent or their shampoo. Those people smelt nice. Not too overwhelming, in fact, the scent was barely there. They smelt clean.

To be fair, Rose's sense of smell may have been slightly heightened. She tended to notice smells sooner and was more bothered by them than others around her.

For this reason, she probably shouldn't have wrinkled her nose in disgust the moment she entered her compartment on the Hogwarts Express. And when a small boy got up from the bench to greet her, her grimace stayed put. It's not that the boy smelled bad, it was quite the contrary, actually. He smelt somewhat clean. He just smelt very strong. The whole cabin was full of the smell and she was having trouble getting used to it.

The boy stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Hello, I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy."

With her nose still scrunched in an unattractive manner she responded back.

"Pleasure."

From the opposite end of the cabin, Albus looked at her quizzically, tilting his head.

"Is something the matter?" Scorpius asked. Her expression shifted to normal.

"Oh, no. I'm terribly sorry. You just – you smell strongly of, oh what is it? Like morning dew on grass and some kind of mint. Perhaps a trace of cedar, even. I'm sorry. That must sound terribly bizarre. Hi, I'm Rose."

"Yea, mate. Rosie here has a dog's nose really. She's awful about new smells. You should count yourself lucky that she's not sniffing you down," Albus joked from his window seat.

"Al, quit calling me that, honestly, I'm not five years old for heaven's sake. And don't joke like that. What if people think you're serious and start treating me weird because of it?"

Scorpius laughed quietly, watching the exchange with confusion and increasing interest. Rose and Albus were teasing each other mercilessly, bantering back and forth until Rose emerged as the victor, as far as Scorpius was concerned. Albus slumped into his seat and Rose turned back to face Scorpius. Her cheeks were tinged pink and her eyes were sparkling as she attempted to stop laughing and calm down.

"I'm sorry. Rose Weasley. Are you going to be sitting with us?"

He nodded and she pulled him over to the bench, sitting between him and Albus.

Within the ride to Hogwarts, the three became inseparable.

One night during seventh year, when it was late and her entire dorm had gone to sleep, Rose set out to finish her transfiguration essay where she wouldn't disturb the girls. She grabbed her books and an oversized sweater from her bottom drawer and went down to the library. The moment she stepped out past the portrait, a chill ran past her through the castle. She took the sweater and pulled it over her head as she walked down the first flight of stairs. It smelt like Scorpius.

She supposed she would have to return it to him eventually, but, for now, warmth was key. When she got into the library, she sat at her usual table, where she always studied with Albus and Scorpius. It was only a few minutes before the smell of the sweater intensified.

Scorpius sat down next to her and set down his books.

"And why would you be awake at this unholy hour?"

She pulled up the long sleeves of the sweater which kept getting in her way and making the entire process difficult. She gestured to the paper in front of her.

"Transfiguration essay due in 10 hours. I can't believe I put it off for so long."

"Same here." She laughed because this was nothing out of the ordinary. He normally spent as much time, if not more, as she did in the library, but when he put all of his assignments off to the last minute, he had to spend his sleeping time instead of down time. Attempting to change the subject, he noted the size of her sweater and attempted to wittily tease her for it. "So, which of your ex-boyfriends is missing a sweater?"

"Actually, that would be you." She spoke with a smirk.

"Such lies." He reached for the back collar of the sweater, only to find Scorpius Malfoy written in a delicate scrawl across the back. "Bloody hell" he mumbled, completely dumbfounded.

"And you doubted me?"

"Sod off." He uttered, rolling his eyes.

"Just because you were wrong, doesn't mean you need to be rude." She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to her paper.

The two sat in silence at the table, occasionally scratching away at their papers. Every few minutes, Scorpius looked over at Rose and watched her write her paper, often starting from scratch when a new idea struck her. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she hunched over the paper, readjusting the sleeves of his sweater as they slid down her forearm while she scribbled. A grin spread across his face each time he looked over at her, deep in concentration.

When Scorpius finished his paper, he turned to Rose and stared her down. Finally breaking her concentration, Rose looked up.

"I'll be done in a minute. Just a couple more sentences." She whispered, rolling her eyes.

"Do you need your books anymore or can I put them away?" When she shook her head and handed him the books, he walked off to return them to the shelves.

Rose wrote her last sentences and set her quill aside. Pulling the sleeves of the sweater to the middle of her palms, she rested her face upon her hands and took a deep breath that smelled exactly like Scorpius. Suddenly, a chill ran down her back, as if the mere concept of his presence had given her goosebumps.

"Are you smelling my sweater?"

Rose jumped up and yelped when she heard the voice of Scorpius behind her. She stumbled back against the table.

"How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see you sniff my sleeves. If that's what was happening." He took a step forward, suddenly too close for comfort as Rose began to lean back against the table. Scorpius followed her lean "Were you sniffing my sweater?"

"N-no." Rose stuttered. They were now nose-to-nose and Scorpius was staring her down. His eyes darkened and the corners of his lips upturned.

"Such lies." With that, Scorpius turned and gathered his books. Rose, frozen in place, let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Well, are you ready to go back to the dorms?"

Rose nodded and picked up her things to walk back with Scorpius.

The next week in potions, Professor Zabini had the entire class brew Amortentia. After two hours of slaving over their potion, Rose and Scorpius brought their potion to the front of class, like each other pair, for his judgment. A few moments later, Professor Zabini determined their potion to be the most successful. The potion was rotated around the room, with people offering up different smells they detected in the potion. When it got around to Scorpius he spent no time hesitating in stating his smell.

"I smell old books, coffee, raspberries and, well, I can't really describe the last bit. You'd have to smell it to understand."

Rose, however, was more contemplative with her answer, and far more hesitant in proclaiming it to the class. She took a deep breath and told the class "It smells like coffee-stained books, and spearmint and dew and-" She made a peculiar face as she whispered "Cedar."

She sat in class staring off as Professor Zabini told the class of the effects of Amortentia and other love potions. But Rose could not concentrate. She had smelt Scorpius in the Amortentia and she needed to talk to him.

After class she tried to talk to him, but he vanished on the way to his next class and she couldn't catch up with him. She wandered about the halls until her transfiguration class began; wondering if that was what she had smelled. Scorpius had been in the room, surely that could have been why she smelt dew and cedar. And he had been standing next to her the whole time. However, the scent was overpowering when she smelled the potion.

She continued looking for him when her last class of the day got out.

She was walking to Charms when it happened. She was walking down the hall, rounding the corner from her last class and turned slightly to put her textbook in her backpack. The only sound was of her shoes, clicking and clacking on the floor. She almost screamed when a pair of hands covered her eyes and mouth and dragged her back into a side passageway. Her captor uncovered her mouth, and, in a smug and indiscernible tone, whispered "Guess who?"

Rose took a deep breath and the air caught in her throat for a moment as she began to recognize his scent. As she turned around, eyes still covered, she shouted out.

"Scor! I have been looking everywhere for y-"

She was met, in close proximity, with an utterly confused Scorpius Malfoy. In the dimly lit passageway, his eyes were shining brightly and the trademark grin he usually wore was placed with a dumbstruck expression, which he shook off quickly.

"Dew and Cedar? You smelled dew and cedar in your potion?" He stared at her with an intensity she wasn't used to, and her weakened voice betrayed her discomfort with it.

In a hoarse whisper, which might never have made it to his ears had another person been breathing next to him, she answered.

"Yes, and also, spearmint. And the boo-"

She didn't get to finish that thought, because it was at that precise moment that he decided to bridge the gap between them and kiss her.

He took advantage of her disorientation and quickly grabbed her face, pressing his lips to hers. Rose sat for a moment in shock, and then wound one arm around his neck as his left arm fell to her waist, holding her tightly. Her other arm clutched his shirt loosely to hold him in place.

"Hi." She muttered breathlessly when they parted.

He beamed back at her, a genuine smile etched near-permanently upon his face.

"Hi"

"I love you." Her confession came unwavering, yet her voice was not strong enough to convey the truth. While her voice showed weakness, her eyes made up for it.

A tone of humor appeared in his voice and his eyes brightened. "I knew it."

"All this time?"

"Always."

She leaned back a little to get a better view of his face.

"How?"

"On the train in first year, you told me I smelt like morning dew on grass, cedar and mint. It didn't make any sense until today in potions but now it's clearer."

"You remembered that? How embarrassing." She pulled herself back into his embrace resting her face on the skin between his neck and shoulders, hiding from his affectionate glance.

"You made quite an impression ma'am."

"Oh, really?"

"Of course. No one ever quite stood out to me like you."

He stood there holding her in the passageway, until time had flown and sleep finally came to the grounds.