Scorpius was laughing. It felt good to laugh. Thinking back, he couldn't remember having had an occasion to laugh since he and his friends had parted ways in June. Now that he was back with his best mate, on his way to begin his fourth year at Hogwarts, laughing felt wonderful. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. It made him feel like he was home.

"You should have seen the bloke's face!" Al continued through his own laughter as he stepped through a doorway and into a compartment. "Hi Rosie. Thanks for saving a compartment for us."

"I wish I could have been there, mate. I really do." Scorpius replied, still laughing, as he followed his friend. Rose Weasley was sitting in a corner of the compartment, her legs tucked up to her side on the seat and a battered paperback book in her hand. She looked up and flashed him a brilliant smile as he entered the compartment.

Scorpius froze. The girl sitting in front of him was definitely Rose Weasley. He'd known her since he was eleven. Her curly red hair, her fair, freckled skin, and her bright blue eyes were as familiar to him as his own features. But he couldn't help but feel that there was something different about her.

He allowed his eyes to wander for a moment, taking in the smooth, pale skin of her legs, her slender arms, and her impossibly tiny waist, which was accented by the fitted shirt she had chosen to wear that day. Scorpius had always thought Rose was very pretty, not that he would openly admit that to either of his best friends. His eyes moved again and his breath hitched. Bloody hell, when had she gotten -

Scorpius tore his eyes from Rose's chest just in time to meet her gaze. Her eyes dropped suddenly and the famous Weasley blush crept over her features. Had she caught him looking? He cleared his throat and spoke, attempting to break the tension.

"Err, Hello Rose. Good summer?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied, to his relief. "How was yours?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Rather dull, to be honest. I wish I'd been allowed to stay at Al's again this year, but my mother complained that they hadn't seen enough of me and insisted that I come home. Next year, though, right Al?"

It took Scorpius a moment to register that Al had not answered him. He glanced over to see the black-haired boy giving him a strange look. Al glanced over at Rose, then back at Scorpius, this time meeting his eyes. This seemed to shake him from his thoughts. "Right, mate. Next year," he replied.

Scorpius suddenly realized that he was still standing in the doorway, holding his trunk. He busied himself with the task of pulling the trunk inside the compartment and stowing it away in the overhead rack. Then he sat down, leaving an empty seat between himself and Rose, and pulled a pack of exploding snap cards from the pocket of his jacket. As he and Al began to play and Rose returned to reading her book, Scorpius tried to make sense of his thoughts.

He, Al, and Rose had been best friends since first year. Of course he had always known that Rose was a girl, but somehow he never thought of her the way he had thought about other girls. She was less confusing, easier to talk to, and didn't make him lose track of his thoughts when he looked at her. But now - he snuck a sideways glance at her and noticed that she was chewing on her lower lip, as she often did when she was thinking deeply about something. Scorpius was trying to figure out why he found it so hard to tear his eyes away from Rose's mouth when she suddenly smiled to herself an began to blush again. Finding himself short of breath for the second time since he'd stepped into the compartment, Scorpius determinedly returned his focus to the card game in front of him. Merlin, this year was going to be confusing!