Just Be Friends

Time Signature

Rose tapped her finger on the library table, brows slightly furrowed as she stared at The Secrets of Animagi. She had been stuck on the same page for exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds now, the time that had passed from when Scorpius would normally arrive.

Two minutes and thirty-five.

Two minutes and thirty-six.

She tugged at her bangs that were falling into her eyes. Why did she care? They were just. . . acquaintances? Friendly rivals? She wasn't too sure (and that never happened – she was Rose Weasley, top student at Hogwarts).

Two minutes and thirty-eight.

No, she wasn't being impatient at all. It was only reasonable – he had broken their unspoken promise that they would study in the library, once a week, for an hour from eight thirty.

It wasn't that they would study together, per se. They wouldn't collaborate on their essays or Numerology tables. They would just sit in silence, with barely any movement except for the scratch of their quills and the flipping of pages.

They never talked to each other except when they were paired in projects, and even then the conversation was kept to a bare minimum – "pass me the eel eyes" or "the wrist flick needs a bit more power."

Then again, she was like that with everyone. She simply found books more enjoyable company than humans.

At this point, she found herself returning to her original question. Why did she care? It had never been voiced by either that they needed to do this. This was something that just had happened for the past few years by habit (and habit was instinctual to humans, she knew from her Muggle psychology class she had taken in the summer).

And yet, she was counting the seconds – two minutes and forty-four.

She heard footsteps approaching the table. She looked up slowly, as if she had never been waiting for him.

"Sorry I'm late," Scorpius said, pulling out his chair.

She widened her eyes slightly. So he had thought of this as a regular occurrence as well. That made the edges of her mouth turn up (and that never happened either – she was Rose Weasley, the school "glacier").

"No, it's okay."

And it really was.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This was my first Scorpius x Rose (?) story.

Written for the If You Dare Challenge, 1(glaciers) and the Dance Competition, 1 (tap dance – someone impatient) and the One of Every Letter challenge (J).

I decided to take a different take on the title than the song (and I love JBF, don't get me wrong.)

Thanks again,

Time Signature