A few days later while Philip and Rose sat next to each during dinner. Neither of them saying a word, both of them deep in thought.
"You know," Lily said interrupting the silence, "that a certain Slytherin boy has been staring at you guys for the last 10 minutes and if looks could kill…" She walked away giving Rose a knowing smirk.
Both Rose and Philip turned to search for the blonde haired boy who they knew was the culprit. They saw him getting up from his seat next to Albus and clearing his dinner away.
Rose turned back. Philip didn't. "I'm going to go and talk to him."
Turning her head swiftly, she reached out and grasped Philip's arm as he started to get up. "No. Don't." Philip looked at the expression on Rose's face and sat down.
"You really like him. You should be with him." Philip said.
"I really like you." Rose corrected. "I'm not sure how I feel about him."
"The three of us should sit together and talk about this." Philip said.
"Talk about what? The fact that I cheated on my fake boyfriend? Or the fact that the guy I cheated with is the more arrogant S-O-B in the world and even though I desire him, I'm 100% sure I don't want to actually be with him in any other way except sexually? Or how about I'm your fake girlfriend because your dad is forcing you to get engaged to some bitchy socialite? Or the fact that you are scared to tell people that you are gay?" Rose's voice became more and angrier with every word she said.
Rose turned to face Philip and said, "What would you like to talk to Scorpius about?"
Philip hung his head. He slowly turned his head, looked at Rose and through clenched teeth said, "You can be so …" He did not have a chance to complete the sentence.
Scorpius appeared before them and coldly looked at the both of them. He raised his right hand a few inches above his head and dropped the shoe that Rose had abandoned a few nights before in his room.
The noise of that shoe hitting the table sounded to Rose like a bomb had gone off. Philip leaped from his seat next to Rose and lunged at Scorpius.
Rose continued to stare at the black shoe and without a word got up and left the hall.
Philip lunged at Scorpius. He was so angry. Not all of that anger was because of Scorpius but at that moment he just wanted to hit someone and Scorpius was an excellent punching bag.
Scorpius was stunned at Phillip's reaction. He expected him to shout at him or maybe even throw something but a punch without any warning? That was just so…muggle-like.
Even though Phillip was a few inches shorter than Scorpius, he was more muscular and faster. His fist jabbed Scoprius's jaw and then while the latter was reeling in shock and pain, Phillip threw another punch in.
Scorpius pushed Phillip off of him and then punched his face. Before it could go any further, Scorpius and Phillip were pulled back from each other by Prof. McGonagall using magic.
"What is going on here?" Prof. McGonagall said sternly.
Scorpius and Phillip were surrounded by a few students including Albus who had leaped and run across a few tables to help his friends out.
"He attacked me," Scorpius said pointing to Phillip.
"You deserved it," Phillip shouted.
"Everyone to your rooms." Prof. McGonagall said, "except you two."
In less than 2 minutes, the entire grand hall had cleared up. With a flick of Prof. McGonagall's wand, two chairs were pulled up for the fighting duo.
"Speak," the Headmistress said.
Both boys spoke at the same time. Of course, Prof. McGonagall couldn't understand a word they were saying but she allowed them to yell for a few minutes before she interrupted with a loud whistle.
Scorpius and Phillip stopped talking and looked at their Headmistress. "Mr Malfoy. Mr. Whitefield. This behavior," she paused and pushed her spectacles up the bridge of her nose "is unacceptable. You both are Hogwarts prized students. Prefects, above average grades, Quiddich players at some point of your Hogwarts lives. I always assumed that you were beyond boorish and vulgar behavior. I was, and I rarely am, wrong."
Prof. McGonagall looked up to see some remorse on the faces of her students but she continued her lecture. "You will both serve detention with Mr. Filch."
Scorpius and Phillip groaned their disapproval but one stern look from their headmistress and they immediately stopped and straightened up in their chairs.
"I do not care who did what to who but you will never behave like this again. If you do I will expel you. There will be no warning and even if both your fathers came here begging on their knees for their sons to get reinstated, I will not relent. Understood?"
"Yes, headmistress," both boys echoed together.
Prof. McGonagall walked out of the great hall leaving the boys alone.
Scorpius was the first to get up and was walking out of the room when Phillip said loudly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you."
Scorpius turned around and glared at Phillip.
"I was angry about something Rose said. I took it out on you I apologize." Phillip put out his hand as a step towards truce.
"Fine," Scorpius said. "I apologize too. For sleeping with your girlfriend." He looked at Phillip's reaction. There was none.
Phillip merely pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows. He let out a long sigh and started to leave the hall.
"She told you. Rose told you that we slept together and you didn't break up with her. As far as I can tell, you didn't even have a fight with her about this." Scorpius said.
"And," Scorpius continued, "You're not angry. So either you don't care about her at all or you guys are lying about dating each other." Scorpius was now getting anger. If they were "fake dating" Rose could have easily "broken up" with Phillip to be with him but she didn't. He didn't understand why she treated him like dirt and he still kept going back. He was a masochist. That was the only explanation.
Phillip looked at Scorpius and said, "Rose did this for me. She's been a wonderful friend and helped through the worst times of my life. When my mom…"he cleared the lump in his throat and continued, "…died, she was there. When my dad was on my case about getting engaged to this pure-blood socialite, she agreed to be my girlfriend so that my father would get off my back. And when she found out I was gay, she continued to be my friend."
Scorpius looked at him in surprise. Phillip never gave any indication that he was gay. Wow! Scorpius didn't know how he should be reacting. Were congratulations in order when a person came out of the closet?
"Look, I don't want this to…" Phillip said.
Scorpius interrupted Phillip. "I won't. I really appreciate you telling me. And you can continue being Rose's boyfriend. I think you need her more than I do." Scorpius was shocked that those words left his mouth.
Phillip smirked. "I think she needs you more than I need her. Besides, I need to come clean with everyone and be myself."
Scorpius didn't say anything. He just shifted his weight from one foot to another.
After a few uncomfortable seconds, Scorpius said, "I love her. I always have but she just keeps pushes me aside for…for well,..you. Now I know that's fake, so you were an excuse to not be with me. So maybe she really doesn't want to be wit me. Am I making sense or am I just rambling?" Scorpius runs a hand through his hair.
"Rose is scared. She's been in the shadow of not one but two famous parents. She's had guys wanting to be with her because of that. Maybe that's why she doesn't trust anyone."
"Rose should trust me," Scorpius said. "I've always been there."
"Look, do you want me to tell Rose to come down?" Phillip asked as he walks towards the great hall exit.
"Well…" Scorpius is unsure if he wants to see Rose at this point. Before he could complete his answer, Rose steps into their line of vision slowly. She was clearly in the shadows of the great hall listening to their conversation.
Rose tucks a strand of hair behind her left ear and continues to look at the floor.
"How long have you standing there?" Phillip asks.
"I came in soon after McGonagall left," Rose answers.
Phillip walks towards Rose and takes her hands in his.
Scorpius watches Rose and Phillip talk to each other. They talk to each other in hushed voices and occasionally Rose's voice would go an octave higher which meant she was disagreeing with whatever Phillip was saying.
Finally, Phillip lets go of Rose's hands. Turning around, he gives a quick wave to Scorpius and walks away.
Rose continues to be rooted to the spot and bits her lower lip. "So you know."
"Yeah," Scorpius said and takes quick steps towards Rose. Keeping an arm's length away from her, he asks, "So where does this leave us?"
"I'm not sure." Rose said uncertainly. "You and I always fight. Even when we agree about an issue, we still argue. I don't want to be in a relationship where I'm on the defensive all the time."
Scorpius laughs and steps closer and holds Rose's face with his hands. "You are so beautiful and so silly. We argue because we just want to be with each other and since kissing each other senseless was out of the question, we argued."
"I love you. I always have and I always will." Scorpius stated confidently.
"I…" Scorpius places his fingers on Rose's lips to prevent her from speaking.
"You don't have to say anything. I don't need you to say anything." Scorpius said. "We'll take baby steps together and I'll be holding your hand every step of the way."
Rose pulls herself up on her toes and throwing her arms around Scorpius's neck, she kisses him.
Scorpius gladly returns the kiss and moves his hands from her face to her hair. He grabs a fistful of it and pulls Rose's head slightly more backwards so that he can deepen the kiss even more. His tongue enters her soft, moist mouth and touches hers.
Rose moans. Scorpius slides one hand from her hair through her neck and back finally settling to the small of her back and pushes her closer to him.
Rose pulls her mouth away from Scorpius and lowers herself to the heels again. She starts to place kisses all over Scorpius's neck. The kisses are quick and erratic while her hands hold on to the lapels of his shirt.
"Want to continue this in the dungeons?" Scorpius asks and then groans as Rose finds a particularly sensitive spot on his neck.
"No," Rose replies and gently sucks the same spot that made Scorpius groan.
"I don't think we should go any further here… in the great hall…" Scorpius's breathing becomes quicker and shallow.
Rose looks at Scorpius and purrs her response. "Come to my room instead. It's much closer."
Scorpius smiles at Rose and untangle themselves from each other. They walk together out of the room towards the Gryffindor tower.
This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.