A/N: A little something I wrote for a contest over on deviantArt. The theme was 'Winter'. Hope you enjoy it! ^_^

"Hi, Scorpius," came a voice from the other side of my Daily Prophet.

Peering over the top of the newspaper, I saw that Seraphina Richards, a fellow Ravenclaw fifth-year, had just sat down opposite me. Seraphina was very well-known throughout the castle. For one thing, she was very attractive; tall, with chocolate-brown skin and beautifully dark eyes. She was also highly intelligent, even for a Ravenclaw. But the thing that gained her the most fame was her ability to know everything that was going on in the many and various social circles of the school. If you wanted to know all the gossip from the last week at Hogwarts, Seraphina was the person to talk to.

That being said, she was also known for being very discrete. Many people placed a great deal of trust in Seraphina as a confidant and advisor, and the information she gleaned from such people no doubt greatly enhanced her already vast store of social knowledge. More recently, however, she had begun to use this position to play the part of matchmaker in many a young romance. The look on her face warned me that something similar may be about to happen to me. It was the exact same expression she had worn when she had begun to weave her web around my best friend, Albus Potter, and his now ex-girlfriend Georgia Owen. I had been present when the first of Al's fateful conversations with Seraphina had taken place, and I therefore recognized the mischievous glint in her eye, and was made extremely wary by it. Al and Georgia had not, to say the least, worked out particularly well. As far as I knew, neither of them had spoken to the other for three months.

"Hello, Seraphina," I replied cautiously, lowering my newspaper. She said nothing, but continued to beam at me. "You look cheerful," I remarked, hoping to imply by this that I had an inkling of what she was up to.

She did not appear fazed by this, however, and simply asked me, "How are you?" I simply shrugged in a non-committal fashion in response. She pressed on, "I was wondering, how come you haven't been around Rose much recently?"

I smiled inwardly to myself. I had thought it would be about this. Many people had remarked upon how Rose Weasley and I had seemed to drift apart lately, and no-one really knew why. Unfortunately, it seemed likely that Seraphina may have guessed the real reason behind this; in truth, I was surprised that more people hadn't. It was simply a matter of putting two and two together, but this seemed to be an ability that most people within Hogwarts, apparently, lacked. I wondered how much I should tell Seraphina, and how much she already knew. I decided to try and find out.

"Well, it's coming up to OWL's, and we're in separate houses. I guess we just spend a lot of time studying in our own common rooms," I said vaguely. Seraphina frowned at the admittedly poor excuse.

"You always used to meet up in the Library to study. You two and Albus Potter. And I've still seen you around him recently," she pressed.

"Well, he's my best mate, isn't he? And I've got more classes together with him than with Rose," I replied evenly.

"Oh, for heavens' sake, Scorpius, I'm not stupid," said Seraphina, clearly annoyed. "I think the real reason is because you've heard the rumours that have been going around." I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth, but she cut me off, "Don't you even think about asking what rumours I'm talking about, Scorpius, you know exactly what I mean."

I grinned. It was true, I had heard the rumours. Whispers had been growing throughout the castle over the last month that Rose had feelings for me. I had monitored her behaviour towards me closely, and realised that there was a high probability that it was true. I would occasionally catch her looking at me across a classroom, and she would sometimes make physical contact with me casually when we were talking, such as touching me on the arm or playfully bumping into me if I was teasing her about something. She frequently asked me to spend time with her for various reasons, even more so than usual; I had not realised before, but a large portion of the time I had spent with Al was as a result of us both being with Rose.

However, within the last two weeks or so, it had seemed that Rose had been trying to spend time with me alone. Albus was less frequently included in plans, and when he was there Rose did not exactly make him feel welcome. It was when I realised this that I begun to try and distance myself from her.

Seraphina was looking at me with a very knowing expression on her face. "Okay," I said, "you win. I've been avoiding her because of the rumours."

"What's the matter," she smirked, "nervous or something?"

I scowled at this. The truth was, I had absolutely no idea how I felt about it. Rose and I had been very close since starting Hogwarts, and I had never really considered the possibility that our relationship could ever be more than friends, even best friends. However, now that I was faced with that possibility, I had no idea how I should react. I debated whether to tell Seraphina this, but decided against it. I would rather figure out how I felt myself before I started telling other people about it.

"No," I said firmly. "I don't fancy her. I'm just worried that if I keep spending time with her I'll give her the impression that I do, and then she'll ask me out and get all disappointed. Better I act like this for a while, and then she'll give up and get over it. I don't want to risk our friendship by leading her on."

I waited to see whether this excuse would pass. Seraphina did not look happy, but seemed to accept what I had said at face value. I smiled inwardly again. I could be a very convincing liar when I wanted to.

"Well, whatever," she said resignedly, rising to leave.

"Aw, come on, Seri!" I said, as she got up. I wasn't about to let the biggest mine of information in Hogwarts walk away without learning anything. "You could at least tell me something useful… like whether the rumours are true or not." She looked at me, the knowing expression back on her face. I wondered if my cover had been blown, but this piece of information was too important to worry about that.

"Oh, they're true, all right," she said. "And you two would be really good together. I'll just leave you with that thought…"

I rolled my eyes at the enchanted ceiling as she walked away. Seraphina was many things, but subtle was not one of them

I continued my policy of being slightly distant with Rose as November faded into December. Unfortunately, this was becoming more and more difficult, as we were paired together for prefect duties, which became more and more time-consuming as the Christmas holidays approached. I was constantly finding myself supervising first-years, helping the ancient caretaker, Filch, or patrolling the corridors and frequently coming across couples snogging in deserted classrooms – all in her company. Curiously, I had found that, since my discussion with Seraphina, my feelings towards her were becoming clearer.

Perhaps this was because I was at last giving the matter proper thought, now that I knew for certain that she fancied me. I did not doubt what Seraphina had told me – her word was as good as gospel. But I began to notice things, small things, that made me think that I may fancy her too. I got a small lurching feeling in my stomach when she smiled at me across the room, and shivers ran through my body when she touched me. Moreover, my resolution to not spend as much time with her was becoming harder and harder.

It was one evening in the penultimate week of term, whilst on patrol duty with her, that I finally became certain. We were walking down the empty Charms corridor when we heard noises coming from a room up ahead. I touched her shoulder to make her stop, then walked to the door of the room and peered through the pane of glass. Predictably enough, there was a couple in there, glued together at the lips.

I pushed open the door loudly and walked inside, Rose following behind me. I watched, with mild amusement, as the two leapt apart from each other and stared at me in horror. I realised a second later that this was probably due to the fact that the girl was a Gryffindor, one of Rose's classmates, and the boy had the green and silver of Slytherin adorning his robes. This would cause a major scandal if it got out; whilst the rivalry was not as fierce as it had been when mine and Rose's parents were at school, Slytherin was still looked upon unfavourably by many at Hogwarts. I thanked my lucky stars that I was more like my mother than my father, and thus ended up in Ravenclaw.

"It's past curfew, guys," I said casually to the two terrified people in front of me. "You should be in your dormitories… rather than snogging in an empty classroom."

"As if you weren't dragging her in here to do the same thing!" retorted the Slytherin angrily.

I felt myself swelling with rage. How dare he speak to her with that tone of voice!

"Detention!" I shouted, adding, for good measure, "For both of you. Now get off to your dormitories, immediately!" I glared at them as they left, trying to keep my mind of the other emotion that had occurred at the boy's comment, which was roughly along the lines that his suggestion wasn't such a bad one after all.

I looked around at Rose, who was looking shocked and hurt by what the boy had said. I felt a pain in my own chest, and suddenly thought that one detention was not punishment enough for him.

I walked towards her, placing my hand on her arm. "Hey, you okay?" I asked softly.

She looked up at me, and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. It's just…" She hesitated.

"What?" I asked, holding her gaze.

But a second later, she looked down, and said, "Um… it's nothing. Never mind. Look, our patrol's finished, we should probably get to bed, yeah?"

In spite of the disappointment I felt, I said, "Oh… um, yeah. See you tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded, and turned to go. At the door, she stopped and looked around, apparently on the verge of saying something. I waited eagerly for a few seconds, but she simply smiled and left the room. As she left, I suddenly became sure. I fancy her. A lot.

As we entered the last week of term, I completely abandoned pretense, and started looking for any opportunity to get her alone. She and I were both going home for Christmas, and I didn't think I could bear waiting to say something until after the holidays. I had finally confided the truth to Al, during a History of Magic class the day after the incident with the Slytherin boy and his girlfriend. As he read the note I had passed him under the table, I saw a huge grin spread over his face, and he scrawled back a response which said:

Knew it. Peachey owes me five Galleons. And if you start going out, so does Jackson. Get a bloody move on!

I scowled. Trust Al to bet on my love life with Ed Peachey and Jackson Harrild.

The following Monday, I was called into the Great Hall to help with the putting up of Christmas decorations. I felt my heart skip a beat as I entered the hall; Rose was in a far corner, standing on a ladder and trying desperately to reach high enough to hang something on one of the trees. What was more, she was the only person there.

I walked over to her, smiling slightly at her attempts to hang whatever it was she was holding. As I approached closer still, I realized, with a jolting feeling in my stomach, that it was mistletoe.

This was almost too perfect.

I reached her without her noticing my presence. "Hey, Rose," I said. She jumped in surprise and fell backwards off the ladder. I caught her before she fell, and gently set her down. She looked at me, flustered.

"Scorpius, you scared me," she said, and I chuckled.

"Sorry," I said. "Here, let me put that up for you." I took the mistletoe from her and climbed the ladder. Being a head taller than her, I could easily reach. I descended back to the ground, and looked at her. She was looking at me in a curious way. I felt my heartbeat quicken slightly. Why not do it now?

"Um… look, Rose, there's something I've been… I've been wanting to ask you," I said slowly. She continued to stare at me, looking as though she was hoping against hope that I was about to say what she thought I was.

"What?" she said, so quietly that it was almost a whisper.

I held her gaze, but felt extremely nervous. I couldn't possibly do this. I felt the butterflies in my stomach intensify, and it would have been so easy to just stop before I went any further. I was no Gryffindor.

But I had to do this. I had to.

"Um… well, I was wondering… will you… will you go out with me?" I said, the last six words tumbling out of me in a rush.

She continued to stare at me, and for a second I was worried she would say no. I felt myself blushing.

But then she smiled up at me, very shyly. "Yeah, alright," she said. I was stunned.

"Yeah?" I asked, with relief bordering on disbelief.

"Yeah," she said, more firmly this time, and her grin widened. I smiled too. We looked at each other for a few more seconds, before I said, very quietly, "Can I kiss you?"

She looked shy and nervous at this, but nodded. I hesitated, before closing the gap between us, lowering my head towards hers. But at the last second, she buried her head in my chest instead.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice slightly muffled. "But I've never… I mean, I haven't… haven't kissed a guy before."

I held her slightly awkwardly, before saying, "That's okay. Neither have I." She laughed quietly. We held our embrace for several seconds before breaking apart. I smiled at her cautiously, and she smiled back, albeit in a slightly embarrassed fashion.

But the mistletoe had other ideas.

"Come on, you two, you can do better than that!" it said loudly.

I looked up in surprise, then at Rose, who was holding back a fit of giggles.

"It's enchanted," she explained. "Uncle George invented it."

Then, to my great surprise, she placed both her hands around my neck, reached up, and kissed me full on the mouth.

For a split-second, I was too shocked to respond. Then, I placed one hand on her waist and the other on her neck, my thumb gently caressing her cheek. There was nothing remotely awkward about this. It was beautiful, the most amazing experience in the world. Our mouths moved against each other, and after a minute or so I felt shivers run down my spine as I felt her tongue brush my lower lip.

After a while, we broke apart. I looked into her eyes.

"That was… perfect," I said, slightly breathlessly. She blushed slightly, but smiled.

"Now that's more like it," said the mistletoe.

A/N: Please review! :D