Please Review! I want to know how I'm doing!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling! I wish!

Please Review! I want to know how I'm doing!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling! I wish!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I wish!

Also please read and review!

Chapter 2.

The safe house was small. Just big enough for the two of them. It was a beach house and directly in front of them was a small private beach with a shoreline. They appeared in front of the small brown building and walked up the three steps to the door. Once inside they looked around. It was as if time had stood still. There was a giant television set that was a wide as it was deep. There was a couch covered in pink and tan shell patterns. There was a kitchen with wallpaper that had spoons and forks around the area.

"Nice," Rose murmured.

"It's not much but it'll work." Scorpius admitted. "Should we look at the rest of the place?" He asked gesturing to the hallway behind the kitchen table. She shrugged and followed him. There was a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The bed was a king and looked like it hadn't been slept in since the first time Voldemort came to power. They then reached the back door. This seemed to be it.

"I guess that's it," Rose said as she walked back into the kitchen/sitting room and plopped herself on the couch with the shell pattern.

"Listen," Scorpius said, feeling a need to cut the tension in the air. "I can't exactly leave you alone to process. I can talk if you want to talk though."

She looked up at him and for the first time since hearing the news he saw some true sadness in her eyes. "What's there to talk about? The person I dated for six months ended up being not who he said he was and I-" she stopped as tears welled up in her eyes. "I didn't see it."

"Well that's not fair," He said gently. "It's not like we exactly go looking for this kind of thing. It's after the war after all. Things are a lot different."

She was letting the tears come out of her eyes now. "I'm Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley's daughter. I should've known. I can't believe I didn't see it." She let her head fall down on the cushion of the couch. He knew he should go comfort her but that seemed like he would be taking advantage of the situation. Instead, he looked for tissues. He found them in the kitchen and brought them back to where she was sitting. "Thanks."

"It's really okay. There's going to be other um…" he trailed off.

"Oh Merlin and the real Christopher is probably dead or at least seriously-" She cut herself off with a sob.

"Did you know him well at school?"

"No I didn't. We were a year apart and I saw him play quidditch but that was it. We always laughed that we were so close and never really met until after… I guess that wasn't really him though."

"No," was all Scorpius could say.

"I'm never doing this again," Rose muttered determinedly.

"It doesn't seem like something you exactly planned for…?" Scorpius said with a tense joking manner in his tone.

"No Scor seriously," she said and grabbed his hands. Scorpius blushed and looked down at them wide-eyed. "I'm not dating. It's just shitty with parents like mine. Look what happened when we were at Hogwarts and now this I-"

"I hardly think that's a reason to-"

"You don't think what happened with James's friend Zen wasn't a disaster? You of all people would know."

Scorpius thought back to that. Scorpius, Rose, and Albus were all sixth years at the time.

"Rose!" James was pleading and Scorpius could hear it across the entire great hall all the way to the Slytherin table.

"No," Rose said sharply back to him.

"Zen is really mad at me because you said no to going with him to Hogsmeade. If you say yes, quidditch practice will be so much easier for me!"

"As much as I live for making your life easier James, I don't like Zen at all. There has to be some attraction for me to date someone."

"He's not a bad-looking bloke!"

"He's fine, I'm just not interested."

"C'mon Rose. You're my favorite cousin and I'd hate to give that spot to Hugo after all these years."

She glared at him and said, "I'd rather just go with my friends."

"So why don't your friends bring dates and you can bring Zen?"

"Does it occur to you that I am not a piece of meat to be thrown around?"

James had walked off very unhappily. Scorpius turned back to his breakfast at that point satisfied that at least she didn't just turn down him. Though two weeks later he had walked into the library and seen Rose and Zen holding hands and whispering clandestinely. He had walked straight out, forgetting that he actually needed to get work done.

Zen and Rose dated for the last part of his seventh year. They would walk hand and hand to the Gryffindor common room after meals and they would sneak kisses between classes. Everyone seemed to think they were adorable. Scorpius felt that he was going to be sick.

Then one day a month before the end of school he was doing prefect patrols when Scorpisu heard noise coming from a broom closet. He knocked and then opened the door only to find Rose alone and crying sitting on a bucket. His eyes opened wide at the sight of her. Her pretty hair was disheveled and her two top buttons seemed to be opened.

"Rose?" Scorpius asked as he squatted down to be eye-level with her.

"Hi," she said meekly.

"What happened to you? Do you want me to get- Is there something-"

She stood up and wrapped her arms around him surprising Scorpius but not letting him go. She sobbed into his shoulder as she was unable to speak and he gingerly patted her on the back. He had been in one of his phases where he had been vehemently denying his feelings for her. However, the minute he saw her upset and vulnerable his heart opened up to her and he could feel all of his feelings for her rushing back. They hugged for what felt like an eternity.

"Zen," she said finally. He looked at her in horror. He had assumed it was going well since they were so sickening.

"You don't have to tell me." He said quickly and seemed to apologize.

"I have to tell someone. He asked me if I could introduce him to my mum because he wants a job at the ministry. I said we'd only been dating a few months so it seemed too new to meet her. He seemed annoyed with that, like I wasn't being reasonable. And then he- well he was kissing me," she croaked through tears. "And then he pulled me in here and started trying to touch me. I had told him I wanted to take things slowly and so I started to pull back and remind him of that. He then asked me what the point of me even was and just left me here."

Scorpius felt something akin to rage boil inside him. He'd never wanted to kill someone quite like he had felt at that moment. How had this guy Zen had the audacity to treat Rose Granger-Weasley like that? Filled with rage, he calmed himself enough to say, "Did he, did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm upset but physically I'm fine."

"Maybe we should go to Madame Pomfrey anyways."

"No Scorpius please. Can you stay here for a minute? I just need a minute."

"Of course," He sat down next to her on another bucket and she put her head on his shoulder. She sighed and Scorpius could feel a tear drop off her face and onto his shoulder. As he was about to say something, she stood up abruptly, suddenly business-like.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your common room?"

"Can you take me to yours? I want to talk to Albus." He nodded as they headed towards the dungeons. They walked mainly in silence. Albus and her had become better friends again after they had grown apart initially. It had taken time but she had even started to accept Scorpius as part of that. Although that night was special in how she had treated him. It'd been different. They reached the entrance and Scorpius supplied the password. As they walked in, Albus looked up and saw Rose with him. He was confused but walked over.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah mate everything's fine." Scorpius supplied. "Rose just missed her favorite cousin."

"I would've figured that was James for the set-up and all," Albus said pointedly to Rose.

Rose looked so sad and Albus knew he had said the wrong thing. Rose fell into his arms and started crying on his shoulder. Albus tried mouthing to Scorpius to ask him what had happened but Scorpius just mouthed back that he needed to talk to Rose.

That night everything had changed. Albus and Scorpius had become permanent fixtures in Rose's life and her in their lives. They spent the rest of the night reliving the treachery of Zen and Rose realized that Albus and Scorpius were pretty special to her. Throughout the years, Scorpius remained awkward in his friendship with her and Rose remained oblivious.

"Scorpius?" Rose asked. Apparently he had been off in his own little world.

"Zen was an asshole Rose. Christopher is a special case. There's no need to write men off all together."

"I just think it'd be easier. I have good friends and family and I have work. That's plenty. It's not like you dated anyone much since Beatrice." she added with a hint of her old self. She was referring to Beatrice Zabini who Scorpius had dated for two years after Hogwarts.

"Well I-" stuttered Scorpius. "I'm really a special case also. There's no one that interests me." He was lying through his teeth but that was necessary in this situation.

"No one at all?"

"Not a one."

"Have you considered letting Alice set you up? She's actually really good at it!" Rose was referring to Alice's matchmaking business she had started since they had left Hogwarts. It seemed strange to have a business like that in this day and age but she did very well.

"I don't need a matchmaker. I'm good the way I am."

"Alone."

"Well I'm not alone. I have Albus at the flat."

"Right." she said thoughtfully. Talking about his love life seemed to distract her so he allowed it. "Did you date anyone at Hogwarts?"

"Well the first few years everyone stayed clear because they thought I was the son of Voldemort so that'd be a no."

"Yeah sorry about that," Rose blushed.

"And then after that ummm," He tried to think back. "I did go out with Melanie Goyle to Hogsmeade once but she didn't like me very much."

"What'd you do?"

"Well apparently I was too reformed for her taste."

"Ah," she said thinking. "And then Beatrice?"

"Right."

"What happened with that?"

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. I realized I still loved you, he thought. Although it was more than that and he knew it. "We just grew apart. She was very unhappy at the end and so was I. We couldn't give each other what we wanted."

"Hmmm," she mused. "What about girls you've been interested in?"

"I haven't found the right one I guess," He lied sadly. He wanted to tell her but it wasn't the right time. It was never the right time.

"Maybe if you-" Rose was cut off by a Stag patronus stampeding into the living room.

Harry's voice boomed out of the stag's mouth. "Christopher was found dead. The impersonator was Leo Crabbe. He has been locked away in Azkaban. Please stay at the safe house."

Rose looked alarmed. The real Christopher was dead. Leo Crabbe was a boy they had known from Hogwarts. He was a socially-awkward guy who had tried to date just about any girl who would have him but he hadn't seemed like a murderer. The question of course was why he had dated Rose. Scorpius looked at her.

"I'm sorry. This is awful," Scorpius said lamely.

"Yes," Rose said lost in thought.

"Christopher. I never knew him. There'll be an investigation about this. We have to see if this was a solo operation or if Leo was working for someone."

"Right. Will I need to come in for questioning?" she asked standing up.

"Probably eventually. They'll probably have me do some preliminary questions in a bit. They don't want to overwhelm you."

Rose actually laughed at that. "Overwhelmed? Gee why would they think that?" she said sarcastically.

"I'm really sorry," he said lamely.

"Don't be you didn't do anything," Scorpius had stood up with her and she reached out and hugged him. "Why are you always there when my life is falling apart?"

"I don't mind," He said honestly. She looked up at him quizzically. "That's what friends are for," he added.

"Well now that the fast part of the investigation is over, what shall we do about some food?"

Scorpius laughed, "I forgot that you're always hungry."

"Not always! Just the waking hours!" she teased.

He fumbled in the pantry and then the freezer and fridge. "Looks like the food is actually pretty well stocked but needs assembling."

"Oh… I don't cook." She stated plainly.

"As in you can't or you won't?" he laughed.

"A little of both but mostly I'm terrible at it. Gram Weasley tried to teach me and I actually can't do a single thing."

"That's okay. I can do some simple things," he shrugged pulling out pasta.

"Excellent. No wonder my cousin has kept you around."

"That or my dashing good looks!" he teased.

"Yes that must be it," she responded sarcastically. Though for a moment she did take a chance to notice him and saw that he really was very good looking. He had muscular arms and a toned stomach and his legs were nice and long. He also had a cute smile that seemed to just be for her. Hmmm, she thought, well that's new.