Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, nor does it belong to that guy from Leaky Cauldron. It is the sole property of a Ms. J. K. Rowling.
A/N: This will become my first completed multi-chaptered fic. It is technically a sequel to the oneshot Forbidden Fruit, also Rose/Scorpius, though this story will be double-focused on Rose and Hermione. Much love goes out to my betas Nikki (UnSeriousSirius, GrimLupine--best stickler for grammar and sentence flow, let me tell you) and Colleen, who titled this story for me. Thanks to the rest of you for your support while I force my attempts at literature upon you. Reviews are extremely appreciated and also provide the Red Bull, one might say, or the stamina to keep this going.

You do me so wrong
But you love me so right
There's more than one reason
Why you shouldn't be in my life
To tell you I don't want you no more would be a lie
I gotta step back and accept the fact that
you're my bad habit
-Joss Stone, Bad Habit

Chapter 1: Necessary Discussions

It had been three weeks since she decided she liked him. Two weeks since she kissed him, and a week since she broke up with her boyfriend.

It wasn't like she had planned to be head-over-heels mad for Scorpius Malfoy. Goodness no. She'd been raised to hate him since she was this high and, for the most part, she'd been successful. At the hating him part, anyway. Their rivalry would rival...well, pretty much any other rivalry one could think of. It was full on, family-on-family despising. And all had been going fairly well. Until now.

Or at least until a year or so ago, when he filled out, grew a good six inches, and let his voice stay in a lower register. It was easy to ignore the friction before he had the obvious advantage of both attractiveness and intimidating height. And it truly was intimidating, especially for Rose, who was an average height and frequently found herself in head-to-head battles with the now-giant Scorpius.

But it was about time that they had this conversation. The "what the hell are we going to do now" conversation. And she only called it that because that was the foremost question in her head. What were they going to do now, now that she'd kissed him in what was practically a dare, and she'd joked with her friends about him, and he basically had stepped up his game at every opportunity? It had almost gotten annoying. She thought that eighteen-year-olds (especially Head Boys) were far beyond pigtail pulling. She thought wrong. He continually proved himself to be the most immature, most infuriating, most confusing person she knew. And for some reason, she just couldn't tear herself away.

She'd passed him a note in Potions that morning that read, "meet me by lake at 7. we need to talk about this. -Rose." She had idly doodled some hearts in the corner of the paper before she gave it to him...hopefully he wouldn't get the wrong idea. This wouldn't be okay. They needed to have a conversation so she could settle it once and for all- they weren't going anywhere. Sure, Rose didn't want to...dash his hopes, or whatever, but they couldn't work, especially with their families. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend. Scorpius was a pain in the ass. Her list of reasons why this was a bad idea went on for a very long ways.

Right now, Rose was standing at the tree by the lake, waiting for Scorpius to show up. She didn't see him anywhere, and she slouched a little bit. If anything, she thought, he would be there before she would. Sighing, she twisted her foot back and forth in the grass, making a dirt spot. Her moment of idleness was interrupted as she was gripped from behind in an attempt to kidnap her...or, more likely, surprise her. Whoever it was took a step closer, bringing her back to their chest.

"Evening, Rosie." Scorpius grinned as if he'd just told a fabulous joke, and Rose's lips went thin. After looking up at him quickly, she whacked him in the arm.

"Merlin, Scorpius. If anyone had seen that, they would have thought you're out to kill me."

"What if I am?"

"If you are, I can report you to my mother, and you'll go to prison."

"Tattle-tale. What's the alternative?"

"What do you mean, 'what's the alternative?'"

"Well, if I wasn't out to kill you, then what would the alternative be?"

Rose paused to consider. "Well, the alternative would be me finishing this conversation with you about our little...um...classroom incident. You know, where we...and..."

"How could I forget? So, the alternative to you dying is having this conversation."

"Right."

"So what's the outcome of the conversation?" Scorpius asked, moving around to face her. Rose looked away on purpose.

"The outcome is that I tell you not to keep your hopes up, because we're never going to happen."

Scorpius feigned hurt. "Not going to happen? Why? What does that mean?"

"It means, you great prat, that I would never kiss you again unless you forced me into some random broom closet against my will and kissed me yourself." Rose paused for a long time before adding, "Not that I would enjoy that. Because I wouldn't."

Scorpius grinned, and before she knew it, he had jumped in the air to catch a tree branch, and was now dangling a good few inches off the ground. "I know you'll come to your senses eventually, Weasley. You won't be able to stay away for long."

There was just something about him that pushed Rose past 'annoyed' to the brink of anger quicker than anything else could. She turned around to deliver her last parting line. "I'll come to my senses when you come to yours!" With that, she headed back towards the castle.

When she was clearly out of sight, Scorpius dropped off the branch and frowned. "To be honest, I'd rather go to prison."

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