DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rose, Scorpius or Pride and Prejudice!


Opposites Attract.

He's just awkwardly confessed his love for her. She's just turned him down. They have nothing in common … he decides to prove her wrong. :Rose/Scorpius NextGen:


Chapter 3: Opposites make no sense.

"Rose, you're going to have to face him sooner or later," Lulu told her. Her friend was so busy shooting her a reproachful look that she forgot to check the ground and promptly tripped over someone's fallen broomstick. "OI!" she cried, glancing around. "Whoever's broom this is might never see it again if I get my hands on it!" Rose just shook her head as a nearby teenager hastily darted out and snatched it up before Lulu could sink her teeth in. She then turned to face Rose once more, attention flipping back to the conversation easily. Rose thought her friend seemed almost disappointed that she and Malfoy hadn't spoken at all the last few weeks.

It was mainly due to some, quite frankly, bloody spectacular ninja-avoidance skills. Seriously, if dodging and hiding was an Olympic sport, Rose would have been all over that shit!

"If I get my way, I will never have to face him," Rose simply answered.

"Honestly, what's the big deal?" Lulu sighed. "Rose, a 100% genuine and not to mention gorgeous man likes you and wants to get to know you! Sure, he's a bit socially awkward, but hell, we're not gettin' any younger so who cares? If you were anyone else, you'd be on date number 16 or something by now and thinking about introducing him to your parents!"

"Don't even joke," Rose warned.

"Really, Rose," Lulu just raised an eyebrow over top of the event plans she held. "what's stopping you?"

Rose found that she couldn't really answer. To avoid the question, she peered out across the crowd. The past couple of weeks had flown by, filled with absolutely nothing but frantic preparations for the festival. Rose had certainly succumbed and joined her ranks of colleagues sleeping in their offices and living off caffeine, but finally, finally, the Wizardry, Alchemy and Magic festival was here and all their hard work was about to pay off!

There were several locations throughout England, all together accommodating for millions of witches and wizards across the United Kingdom. Rose was currently stationed at their Manchester location, their event being set in a large park. At this point, Rose honestly forgot the name. Most of their locations took place outside in large reserves under the disguise of an exclusive music festival, so they all started to blend in after a while. Since they were well into the first day of the festival, the place was jam-packed with wizards!

Rose had to admit that she loved the atmosphere of WAM. Large tents and marquees showcased different stalls, showing off treasures and other magical items that had been found, and businesses called out over the crowds, selling everything from security charms, to self-igniting cauldrons. Several competitions were open, calling out for those who dared sign up for best potion brewer, or charm-caster of the year. A group of teenagers from Scotland were nearby, singing for a small crowd about a daring pixie who took on a dragon and lived to tell the tale. Children could pay 10 Knuts to ride on a toy broomstick, and every now and then, there would be a crash or a bang and sparks would suddenly fly into the air (or, on the odd occasion, an actual person). There was nothing like a Wizarding celebration and Rose was ready to enjoy every minute of it, whether she was working or not!

If only he would just get out of her head.

"So, when do you start shift?" Rose asked, innocently.

"Oh, no," Lulu waved a finger at her. "Girl, you do not get out of this that easily! Except, in about fifteen minutes, now that you mention it," she added, glancing at her watch. "You're here today in Manchester too, right?"

"Yeah, on the information point site, but not for another half hour or something."

"Lucky bitch!" Lulu said. "I'm stuck with Quidditch sign-ups! Give me lost festival-goers any day, I'd rather that than big, burly guys with broomsticks sweating all over me. Actually …" she trailed off with a glazed sort of look, making Rose snort with laughter.

"Forget about those muscles, did you?"

"Never mind. I am perfectly ok with Quidditch sign-ups," Lulu grinned. They had to dart around a large group of kids who had drawn up a circle in a nearby free patch of grass and had begun what looked like an epic Gobstones Tournament. Then, as they began winding their way through the stalls and aiming for the Quidditch sign-up, Lulu remembered,

"Christ on a bike, Rose! Stop distracting me!"

"I'm distracting you?" Rose laughed.

"Malfoy!" Lulu cried, and Rose instantly shut up. "I swear, just talk to the man. Yeah, he's a bit of a douchebag, but maybe he'll be nice to you 'cause he's so in love and shit."

"Blimey," Rose commented. "You sure know how to romance it up, don't you, Lulu?"

Lulu rolled her eyes. "You know what I – whoa, hey, isn't that your brother?"

Rose almost didn't glance around, sure that Lulu was just getting side-tracked once more. But then she noticed Lulu's arm pointing, and she followed it across the crowd to where a group of young wizards were sitting together in the grass. They were laughing and drinking and seemed to be sharing something around the circle that emitted large puffs of purple smoke. Sure enough, the ginger curls were a bit difficult to miss. Her younger brother was a part of the circle.

"Oh, bloody marvellous," Rose sighed. "If that's a prohibited potion–!"

"Please try and refrain from strangling him," Lulu smirked. "I'm pretty sure Jessie would have our arses for that."

Rose had no doubt that their high-strung boss would, but there was no way she was letting him get away with this. "Lulu, I will see you later," Rose said without even looking at her. "Turns out, I have a brother to yell at. I'll catch up after shift, ok?"

"Talk to Malfoy!" Lulu simply said, pointing at her as she disappeared backwards off into the crowd.

Rose, meanwhile, stormed for her brother.

"HUGO WEASLEY!"

Several heads from the group glanced up. They all seemed to be of the rather rough variety, which didn't surprise her. Hugo seemed to think that the more nose piercings one had, the wilder a time their partying would be! Not that Rose was judging anyone with facial pricings … but c'mon, this was her baby brother here! He had glanced up when he heard her yell, but just rolled his eyes at his mates as she came storming up to him, sitting there in his purposefully ripped robes and tattooed skin.

"Oh, heeeey, sis!" Hugo called, cheerfully. "It's actually Headbangerzzz now, not Hugo. With three 'z's!"

"Hugo, tell me you're not intoxicated," Rose said, warily.

"What d'you think the Firewhiskey's for?" he snorted, and several of his mates sniggered.

"The alcohol ban doesn't lift until 8pm during the entire festival," Rose said stonily, glaring at the entire group with her arms folded. "You can either put it away, or I can call over the Magical Law Enforcement to do it for you. What's it going to be?"

"Aw, c'mon love!" one of Hugo's friends yelled, a scruffy-faced and leering kid who could've barely been older than 20. "Calm the shit down and have a few!"

"Ginger's hot, you know her?" another asked Hugo.

"Come join us, sexy!" one yelled, and they all roared with laughter.

Rose gritted her teeth against the catcalling, and instead decided to glare down at her brother. The little miscreant was honestly going to be the death of her one of these days. "Hugo," she snarled. "our family is currently doing a line-up back in London, waiting for everyone to arrive. I'm working, so what's your excuse for hanging out in Manchester?"

"This is where the haps' are!" Hugo told her, aiming his bottle of Firewhiskey at her face. "The boys and I wanna seize up the Quidditch teams from ev'ry city, make sure we know who we're bettin' on. Ain't that right, Bonez?!" he added in a yell across the group.

A black-haired, illegal-potion-smoking youth called 'Bonez' apparently, threw a kind of rock on gesture to Hugo, before promptly asking Rose to come and suck his –

Screw this.

"You know what?" Rose threw up her hands. "I don't have effing time for this. I'll bet Mum and Dad don't even know you're here, and we haven't seen you at all since you buggered off to the festivals in Brighton four months ago!"

"Merlin's effing pants, Rose!" Hugo scowled. "Get off my back, ok?"

"I'm your sister–"

But Rose closed her eyes. She'd gotten into this fight with her brother one too many times. Time to walk away. She straightened her back, glaring out over the jeering group before announcing, "I will be calling the Magical Law Enforcement right now. You may find that I have placed a holding jinx over all of you until they arrive. This is a family festival and drugs, potions and alcohol are not tolerated. Have a great day."

And she turned right around and stormed away from her brother. Unfortunately, she heard one of Hugo's friends hiss,

"Mate, why's your sister such a bitch?"


Rose felt it was best to just forget her potion-smoking, family-abandoning, gambling little brother for the moment. Every time she had to deal with him, she was certain that she felt a migraine coming on. After locating a member of the local Law Enforcement who was currently patrolling the festival and directing him to the group, Rose made an effort to put him out of her mind completely. There really was only so much you could do to try and change your little brother into a sensible human being before you began to realise that he was a lost hope.

So when her shift started and she got the shock of her life, she wasn't quite sure if what was going down was ultimately a good or bad thing. Blindsided seemed like an appropriate term!

"No! Oh my god, seriously, you can't leave me here with him!" she hissed, snagging her boss's arm desperately. Jessie Taylor just shot her a ferocious look and peeled her fingers away.

"Seriously, I can," she snapped back, straightening her glasses. "This is your post, and this is his! Stick to it. If I hear you've been anywhere else, I won't hesitate to fire your arse!"

And Jessie flounced off into the crowd.

Rose was going to kill her.

At least it had driven all thoughts about Hugo Weasley out of her mind! Only she had Lulu chanting through her head again and now, she had found herself standing in the middle of the park underneath their 'Information Point' sign, surrounded by tents and laughing people … reluctantly facing Scorpius Malfoy.

"I am sorry," he said to her at once. "I usually work admin during the actual festival, but Nathan and Pippa are sick and they couldn't–"

"It's fine," Rose cut in, lest he keep rambling until the end of time. "It's not your fault. It's not like we have to actually speak."

"To each other at least," Malfoy muttered, eyeing the crowd.

Rose had no idea how she kept ending up in these situations. The entire last few weeks leading up to WAM she really had managed to quite spectacularly avoid Malfoy! Ever since the disastrous party at the pub and her rather harsh words, he had seemed be taking her words to heart and had taken a step or so back from her. It was something Rose was incredibly grateful for, only she had absolutely no idea what to do now that she had been unceremoniously forced to face him. It didn't help that much of her thoughts were full of her fear at running into him.

She didn't know what she was supposed to say to the man she had coldly rejected and now had to work all shift with! The two of them simply stood there, both trying not to look at the other, and it was starting to become about as awkward as you could get. However, after several moments of strained silence, a family came up to them for directions to the potions stall, and Rose was thankfully able to focus her attention on her actual job.

… seriously, there was an entire department! Why did it have to be him?

"Um, Malfoy," she was forced to say about a half hour into their shift, like she had to every few minutes. "You're doing it again."

"I am sorry," Malfoy said at once, suddenly leaping away from her. He had been instinctively leaning in rather close to her, like she was a gravitational pull that he couldn't resist (and for all she knew, it might as well have felt like that in his head). But Rose had been quick to realise that it was probably because Malfoy was uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people. His face was stuck in a forced grin, though Rose knew what he really wanted to say to all these people was, 'Merlin, get me the HELL outta here!'

It wasn't weird that she kind of wished that would happen, right?

"I take it you normally work admin for a reason?" Rose asked, figuring that she owed it to herself to at least try make and the most of this disaster.

"They only stationed me out at the festival once, my first year working in International Events," Malfoy admitted. "It didn't exactly go well."

"Oh, I think I remember hearing about that!" Rose said, glancing over her shoulder at him, in between calling out welcoming greetings to various festival-goers. "Didn't you accidentally punch one kid for tugging on your shirt?"

"I was feeling extremely anxious."

"Like now?"

"How can you tell?"

"Um," Rose tried hard not to smirk, as tense as she was. "You're kind of tugging on my own shirt."

Malfoy glanced down and realised that he had indeed reached out and taken hold of the hem of her bright yellow t-shirt without thinking. He let go at once, but that didn't stop the slight flush rising to his cheeks. She straightened out the creases quickly; their shirts were the same obnoxious yellow, with 'WAM' printed on the back, followed by the festival's logo. With 'event coordinator' written on the front, they could always be approached if someone needed their help.

Speaking of people who needed her help …

"Rose!" her mother's voice called. She turned and saw Hermione Weasley darting through the crowd towards her, Ron tagging along behind her. Thank the lord! What she definitely needed was a good distraction and Rose could always count on her parents for a laugh. Sure enough, she had to stifle a snort when she noticed her dad, who seemed to have somehow gotten an edible firecracker stuck in the pocket of his robes.

"… Dad, I think you're meant to eat that, not save it for later!" Rose grinned.

"Thank god we found you, darling!" Hermione simply said, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Please, you must help me. Tell your father that if he eats that thing, he's going to have heartburn!"

"Hermione, we ate these at our very first festival, remember?" Ron said then, rolling his eyes at his wife's dramatics.

"Yes, back in 1999," Hermione pointed out.

"So?"

"Ron, it was over 30 years ago!" she said with that exasperated tone that Rose was very familiar with, pulling back from her daughter to shoot her husband a look. "I only ate it because Ginny did and I didn't want to be the only one who hadn't."

"Well, sorry for trying to be nostalgic," Ron said, slinging an arm around Rose's shoulder. Rose noticed that Malfoy was watching her interactions with her family closely and it wasn't helping in making her feel less anxious. She was relieved when he was reluctantly forced to turn away in order to address a query from a member of the surrounding crowd. "You always said you wished I would be more romantic," Ron continued.

"I meant that in the sense that we might go out to dinner every once in a while," Hermione pointed out, holding her head high, hands on hips. "Not that we would go out and eat fireworks."

"But they're so good–!"

"Ok, that's enough!" Rose cried with a laugh, taking her dad's wrist and un-wrapping his arm from around her. "I love you both, but I do have a job to do, remember? Is there any reason you happen to be here?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks at that. It was in a way that Rose had seen almost her entire life and still couldn't manage to interpret. It seemed that her parents had long ago come up with some silent communication system, where entire conversations and arguments could happen with raised eyebrows and without one word. She got the feeling that they had developed it as a way of still getting to bicker once their children had been born (because, of course, it wasn't her parents if there wasn't at least something to argue about).

Today, though, she thought she might know what they were about to ask.

"Have you seen your brother?"

Yeeeeep.

Rose sighed at her mother's tentative question. "He's here," she admitted.

"You've seen him, then?" Ron asked, sharply. "Because he missed family line-up back home and we wanted you to talk to him, get his arse down there–"

"Dad, I can't make Hugo do anything," Rose cut in, hastily. "I'm sorry, really. You might wanna check with the Law Enforcement actually, make sure he hasn't been arrested."

"Arrested?" Hermione gasped.

"Are you surprised?" Rose asked, trying not to smile.

"Oh, you two," Hermione huffed. "Why did I ever decide to have children?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Ron grinned down at her, and she smacked him upside the head.

"Now I'm starting to get nostalgic for thirty years ago," Hermione sighed.

"Yeah, out of curiosity," Rose smirked then. "how old does that make you if you can remember the first ever festival?"

"Oh, my darling," Ron simply grinned as Hermione scoffed. "Not only that, we were around when they were brainstorming ideas to bring together witches and wizards and celebrate our heritage in the aftermath of the war! Wasn't it Neville's idea to call it WAM?"

"I can't quite remember … I recall someone suggesting an acronym," Hermione thought back. "Though whoever came up with 'WAM' of all things probably could have done better."

"Yeah, got no idea who came up with that one," Ron snorted. Rose heard his indignation and sure enough, when Hermione glanced away over the crowd, probably wondering about how to find her delinquent son, Ron turned back to Rose and hastily added, "Your mother suggested that as a joke to Kingsley! Only they thought she was being serious, and–"

"Ron?"

"I love you, dear wife!" Ron cried at once and Rose supressed a snort of laughter. Hermione simply gave them both a shrewd look.

"I'm sure you do," she said, before turning to Rose once more. "Oh, I'm sorry, we're still distracting you from your job! We'll let you get back to it, darling," she added. "We'll certainly try our best at wrangling your brother back to London, but either way you know where we'll be when you can come catch up with the rest of the family. When's your time off?"

"Thursday and Friday," Rose answered, the final two days of the festival.

"We'll be able to see you then," Hermione smiled, leaning in to kiss her daughter on the cheek. "Love you, Rosie! Happy WAM!"

"Honestly," Ron was shaking his head at Hermione's use of the inadvertently suggested acronym. "Love ya!" he added to his daughter and the last image Rose had of her parents, was of Ron trying to sneak a bite of the firecracker in his pocket and her mother batting him around the head.

Oh, those two. There never was a dull moment with Ron and Hermione Weasley!

By the time Rose had actually started paying attention back to what she was meant to be doing, she'd noticed that most people had been drawn to the start of a baking competition nearby. With everyone's attention occupied, she and Malfoy had a brief reprieve in the flow of people's questions. Malfoy was looking completely haggard and Rose immediately felt horrible.

Which was annoying.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry," she said at once. She had no idea why she felt compelled to apologise, but she had simply noted his white face and realised that it would be completely rude of her not to mention it. "I just left you to fend for yourself! I know you hate crowds–"

"It is fine, Rose," Malfoy said, nodding. "I did not mind it so much. It was fascinating watching you with your parents. You are quite close."

It wasn't exactly a question, so Rose wasn't entirely sure what he wanted her to say in reply. In the end, she chose to say nothing, considering it the much safer route. After several moments of scuffing shoes into the dry, summer grass, and answering the odd question or two, Rose eventually asked him a question that had been bothering her,

"Malfoy, why do you work in International Events, when you hate being around so many people?"

Malfoy looked somewhat surprised, which took her aback; she hadn't considered Malfoy being capable of such an emotion! Actually, she'd never really thought of Malfoy with emotions at all up until that horribly awkward moment in her office a few weeks ago.

"It sounded challenging and interesting," he answered. "and I don't hate people or spending time with them. It is a common misconception of those who are naturally introverted. I just get tired being around this many all at once, and need time to myself to get my energy back. But I knew what this job entailed and I thought I could handle it. I know it soon became clear that it probably wasn't for me, but … er …" He gave a shrug as he glanced sideways at her. "I suppose you already know, so there is no harm in telling you. I might have transferred by now if I hadn't have fallen for you."

That was a bit of a kick to the gut. To think that she had been the one to influence his life choices … to know that she had that much power over someone, without even doing anything at all, was rather scary.

"If it helps, everyone thinks you're good at the job you do," Rose muttered, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Thank you," Malfoy answered. "I mentioned before that I usually work admin. I am very good working behind the scenes, organising and scheduling."

"You just have a low threshold for people-tolerance," Rose nodded. "As they say I, on the other hand, can't organise a piss-up in a brewery."

"It seems, Rose, that we would value from each other's strengths."

Rose stared at him for a moment. "I suppose it does," she said, eventually.

Soon after that, the first stage of the potion-brewing competition reached its end, and they spent the next half an hour directing people to various parts of the festival – the charms display was this way, the talent quest sign up was that way, no, the dragons were at the London location – sometimes it seemed never ending! If this had been before that day Malfoy came to speak to her, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell that he was uncomfortable. She would have justified it all by him being snobby and thinking himself better than everyone.

She supposed that she had been wrong about at least one thing.

"… thank you for your intervention," Malfoy said, once Rose had returned from escorting a slightly hysterical mother to the lost children tent; a loud announcement would be made soon to help find the woman's small son. "I am afraid I did not quite know how to handle a crying woman."

"It's fine, I could tell I needed to take that one," Rose shrugged.

"You always seem to know when you are needed and when you are not," Malfoy said, not looking at her. "Like with your parents. You knew that they were not being serious with their argument over the firecracker. I could not tell."

"Learning how to interpret the many arguments of Ron and Hermione Weasley is an art," Rose said, smiling at the thought. "It takes a lifetime to perfect."

"They seemed rather different from one another."

"I guess they are," Rose said, softly. She'd never thought of it that way before, but the second Malfoy voiced the thought aloud, she realised that he was completely right. "Dad's laid-back and Mum likes everything to be in order. When things get messy, they blow up fast. But in the end, they always go back to each other."

Malfoy didn't say anything in response to that. Thank, god. She'd had enough thought-provoking thoughts and Malfoy-presence for one day. All things considered, she thought that she'd handled this first meeting since The Incident (and yes, that deserved capital letters) rather well!

Even more fortunately, a new moments later, a large surge of new arrivals to their location turned up, all looking lost and confused. Able to ignore Malfoy completely, Rose spent the rest of their shift, consistently directing people back and forth, answering questions and wondering if Jessie Taylor would notice if she sat down just for five seconds (because even though Jessie was probably working in London or Birmingham, Rose still wouldn't have put it past her to have a way of knowing).

In fact, when Kylie and Travis showed up to take over hers and Scorpius's positions, Rose had practically hugged them both on the spot.

"… whoa, going a little spare, Rose?" Kylie snorted, patting her on the back tentatively.

"You have no idea, this job sends you nuts!" Rose cried. Then, pulling back and glancing slightly over her shoulder, she could see that Malfoy was looking increasingly anxious – the expression had only grown deeper as the hours went on. Rose, on the other hand, was highly excited to just go home and relax (she already had fantasies of drawing a beautiful bubble bath, taking a good book with her, sinking into the water, oh yes … now, if only she had someone to join her–)

"–Malfoy?"

Well, that jerked Rose quite unceremoniously out of her fantasy.

"Pardon?" Rose said at once.

Travis and Kylie just glanced at each other with similar looks of Rosie's living in her head again. "I said," Travis smirked. "What was it like working with Malfoy?"

"Oh," Rose shrugged. Why hadn't Malfoy left yet? He was still standing awkwardly a few feet away from her, Travis and Kylie, not quite watching her. "Weird, but when isn't it?"

"Well, you're in luck!" Kylie claimed, happily. "Tomorrow, you're at the Exeter location with Lulu. Apparently, she's going to show you how south England likes to party!"

Rose just laughed. She wouldn't expect anything less from her friend. "Have a good shift, you two!" she simply said, waving as she moved away.

"Oh, we'll try–" Travis said, cheerfully. Then, he turned and noticed the huge crowd of people he and Kylie had been neglecting in their speaking to Rose. "Oh, shit – um, yes! Happy WAM, can I help you?"

Rose snorted as she continued through the crowd, pretending that she didn't notice Malfoy hovering behind her. As she strode determinedly past him, she cursed silently in her head when he lurched to fall into step next to her.

Seriously! She'd spent the entire DAY with him, could she not at least get a moment alone?

"I'm concerned," he said at once.

"So am I, but I don't think it's about the same thing," Rose mentioned.

"I am concerned about that lost boy," Malfoy stated matter-of-factly, and Rose turned to stare at him.

"Lost boy?" she repeated, wondering if she'd heard right.

Sure enough, Malfoy was (god forbid) nodding. "When we spoke to that mother earlier, she was quite upset," he continued. "The announcement was made several times, however, and they have still not found him. Just as our shift ended, I noticed a young boy near the charms tent, and he was crying."

He didn't exactly make any suggestions as to what to do next. Rose figured he was waiting for her approval or something. Sighing, Rose asked, "And you, what? Want to try and find this boy and see if he's the mother's lost son?"

"I believe that would be most prudent."

"And why are you telling me?"

"I …" Malfoy glanced at the sun-baked ground. "I know that you like children. I thought you might like to help me look for him."

This day just kept getting stranger and stranger. While logically, Rose knew that the reason Malfoy knew so much stuff about her was because he had waylaid her cousin (and for that, Rose didn't think she'd ever forgive Albus!) but just the way he refused to meet her gaze, the awkwardness in his shoulders … Rose almost felt like Malfoy was trying to make her feel included somehow.

Malfoy caring? It was just an unfathomable concept! It was enough to make her startled and agree before she could really think about it.

So Rose somehow found herself wandering the festival with Malfoy for company! Blimey … just how had this happened? She wasn't entirely sure she liked seeing these weird, new sides of him. The more she found out, the more she began to realise that perhaps she had been a little harsh, and she wasn't sure she could live in a world where she had to apologise to Scorpius Malfoy! Thankfully, he didn't say anything during their search through the festival, apart from the odd, "Let's look over there," and Rose was perfectly ok to search in silence.

Naturally, she couldn't take it after ten minutes.

"… Malfoy, why are you doing this?" she asked, hesitantly.

He stopped in the middle of a pathway between tents. He cringed from the onslaught of people, but still looked at her to say, "I believe it is important."

"Important for you, or important for me?" Rose asked. "Because if this is another one of your hare-brained schemes to try and make me like you–"

"It isn't," Malfoy cut in at once. Then, glancing at the ground, he added, "… look, when I was five, I once got lost at WAM. I was not found for several hours and I was most upset. If I can, I want to help that boy."

"Merlin, you are full of surprises today, aren't you?" she said, the two of them falling back into step, currently searching where they had last seen the boy, near the charms tents.

"What do you mean?"

"Blimey, I don't even know anymore! I've had this impression of you for years as a stuck-up arsehole, but now …" She couldn't say it, not out loud. Besides, she didn't want to get his hopes up.

She knew how that felt.

"I have also had an impression of you," Malfoy answered, eyes sweeping through the crowd. "I believed you loud, crude, and thoughtless. Naturally, I was most perturbed when I realised that I had …"

"Yeah," Rose finished for him. "First impressions. Not the best way to get to know someone. You don't still think I'm loud, crude and thoughtless, do you?"

"Well," If she was seeing things right, then Malfoy might have actually given her a small smile. "I don't think you're crude and thoughtless, at least."

Rose felt her mouth drop open. She might have answered back (with what she wasn't sure), but they both stopped rather abruptly then after hearing a distinctive sniff from nearby. Glancing at each other, Rose immediately turned to the nearest table they were currently passing. It was covered in an elaborate table cloth and covered in decorative trinkets for sale, collected apparently (according to the sign, at least) from old, traditional Wizarding families that had long died out. Rose crouched down and lifted the edge of the table cloth.

Curled up underneath the table was a small boy, probably no older than four or five. He was crying with his arms wrapped around him and looked absolutely terrified when he noticed that Rose had found him. Malfoy was peering over her shoulder and she batted him away quickly before giving the boy a careful smile and said,

"Hi. My name is Rose," The boy just stared at her, so she kept going. "I heard you under here … are you ok?"

"I – I can't find my m-mummy …" the boy stuttered.

"Well, you're in luck!" Rose grinned. "Because me and my … um, friend," she cringed at the thought of calling Malfoy her friend, but she couldn't exactly explain their relationship to a five year old … he might be traumatised for life. "we think we can help you."

"You can find my mummy?" the boy asked, looking slightly more hopeful.

"We will not leave until you are safe," Rose assured him. "Now, what's your name?"

"Andy."

"Well, come with me, Andy!" Rose said, holding out a hand to him. The little boy slowly crawled forward and took it and Rose helped him out from under the table. He was a bit on the small side, with fluffy brown hair and a heavy Yorkshire accent, but he didn't look like the crowds concerned him. Only the security of having lost his mother seemed to be bothering him.

"This is – Scorpius," Rose introduced Malfoy with only a slight hesitation. She had never called him just by his first name in her life and it felt a little unnatural. Andy, still holding Rose's hand, glanced up at Malfoy with a curious look.

"Do you know where my mummy is?" he asked.

"We hope so," Malfoy answered, stiffly.

Rose frowned at his uptight manner, but she supposed that kids weren't his forte. That would sound about right. "He was helping me look for you," Rose explained to Andy.

"Are you married?"

Rose would have choked, if she'd been eating at the time. Malfoy's face simply went bright red as Rose hastily answered, "No, no! We're not married, Andy! We work together."

"Oh," he frowned. "Terry got married last week. It was really cool, we got to travel to the seaside and everything!"

"And who's Terry?" Rose asked with a slight smile.

Andy's face lit up for a moment. "She looks after me," he answered. "I got to be page boy at her wedding. I like weddings."

"I like them, too," Rose answered. Malfoy looked like he was still in spluttering mode, so Rose called, "C'mon! Let's find your mummy, eh?" and tugged Andy through the crowd without waiting for him.

It didn't actually take long to reunite Andy with his mother. She was still waiting at the lost children tent, practically harassing Nathan, the poor supervisor for this shift, for information about why they hadn't found her son yet. The second Rose and Andy had come into view, the woman had shrieked and practically thrown herself at her son.

"ANDY!" she cried and the little boy laughed as she lifted him up and twirled him around. "Lord, don't you EVER wander off like that again! I was so worried – I love you so much–"

"… so was this worth braving the crowd?" Rose found herself asking Malfoy.

He was watching the two reunite with a great look of satisfaction. Then, when he glanced at her, he smiled – honest to god smiled! Rose wasn't sure if she'd ever seen him smile like that before and it sent a thrill down her spine. "Very much so," he answered.

"God, thank you!" the mother cried, holding Andy in her arms and turning now to face Rose and Malfoy. "Where on earth did you find him?"

"Hiding under a table near the charms tent," Rose explained with a grin. "We heard him, but it's absolutely fine, I swear. We're just glad that you're together again, right Andy?"

Andy nodded into his mother's neck, just as the woman cried once more, "Thank you!" and to Rose's surprise, she threw her spare arm around her. Rose accepted the spontaneous hug hastily and had to supress a snort of laughter as she did the same to Malfoy. His stiffness was plain to see, but the mother didn't seem to care.

Rose left for home soon after that. Not wanting to risk an awkward goodbye with Malfoy, she had quickly Disapparated and sighed with relief once she rematerialized in her stuffy, cluttered and entirely tiny flat. She shared it with another witch called Linda who Rose kind of couldn't stand, but she couldn't be bothered throwing her out and trying to find a new flatmate. What with Albus insisting that he wouldn't live with her, even if she paid him, it had been hard enough trying to find Linda in the first place.

Luckily, the bitch wasn't home, so Rose was free to collapse onto her old and decrepit sofa that she had stolen from her Grandma Molly's attic. All she wanted to do was fall asleep right then and there. In fact, this sofa wasn't so bad … actually, if she avoided the springs, she would totally not even have to get up.

God, she was tired …

he smiledhonest to god smiledand it sent a thrill down her spine.

She sat bolt upright with a groan.

Oh, shit. She was going to be up all bloody night.


A/N: So it's rather obvious now who Lydia is in this story, haha. If I had actually planned this out, I might have included the Mr Bingley/Jane subplot, so I apologise for my lack of thinking things through and making shit up as I go along. I kind of like to think we're going through the Pemberly Arc now. :D

Again, thank you very much for your reviews and support! You're all incredible. Please let me know what you think of this one! :)

Until next time -

- Moon. :D