A/N: Hey, guys! I am so sorry for taking such a long time to upload. Work and life and everything happened, and it took a lot longer than I thought to resolve that little cliffhanger I left for you at the end of the last chapter. Apologies. The good news is, I have the rest of the story mapped out, and I think we are looking at about 4 more chapters to wrap this baby up! Stay tuned! As always, thank you so much to the people who have taken the time to favorite or follow the story, you have no idea how much it means to me. Here's chapter 4, and 5 is mostly written and should be up within a few days! Love you all!

Chapter 4: As if by Accident

Rose knew that if she didn't calm the dragon in her heart, she would never get to sleep tonight. It beat against her chest, threatening to burst free any minute, so she did the only rational thing she could think of.

She kissed him.

Scorpius froze for a second, his lips beneath hers slightly open as if in shock.

Rose was just about to back off, to realize, even in her drunken stupor, that this was a bad idea, when something clicked in him and he came to life.

Suddenly, his hands were everywhere. There was one in her hair, tangling its way through her mass of red curls, cupping her face closer to his as his lips teased her own, his tongue slowly and tantalizingly sliding its way across her bottom lip, as if asking for entrance. The other hand ran up and down her arm, tracing circles and patterns that, even through her jumper, left scorching heat like a tattoo across her skin.

She breathlessly, dizzily only thought of being closer to him. As if reading her mind, he pulled her onto his lap, his hand cupping her bum, drawing her closer to him. She felt an involuntary shiver go through her body, shocking her straight to the core.

All too soon, his hands slowed, and his tongue stopped performing its tantalizing task of darting in and out of her mouth. Scorpius placed his palms on either side of her face, cupping it gently, and sighed into her still open mouth. "Rose, we can't do this." He breathed softly, his voice laced with regret.

Rose instantly sobered at his tone. She stood up from his lap, as if burned, and straightened her jumper, refusing to meet his pleading gaze. She was sure her face was flaming with embarrassment.

"Right, well, sorry about that." Rose was surprised to hear very little waver in her voice, despite that she had been dizzy and slurring only a minute ago. "Sorry… I will just be off then…" she smoothed her skirt which had somehow ridden up to expose her knickers in their heat of passion. Scorpius' eyes followed her movements for a moment before the situation registered in his inebriated mind.

"Rose, please don't go. Let me explain – I didn't mean – I don't want –"

Rose inhaled sharply at his words. I don't want- even in her drunken state, she didn't need to be a genius to imagine the end of that sentence. She was such a prize idiot. He had a girlfriend, Cecily, who was soft and pretty and had huge… well, why would he be interested in her? They were friends, nothing more, and she had ruined that with her stupid drunken antics and the fact that she couldn't bloody stop thinking about him in that shower.

Rose backed out of the room, only stumbling a bit. "Thank you for taking care of me tonight, Scorpius. Truly, I appreciate it, but I do need to be going now." She was almost at the door when she heard him speak again.

"Fine, leave! Don't let me explain." She was surprised to hear anger in his usually cool voice.

Rose turned to see him sitting on his bed, looking slightly like a petulant child, his arms crossed and his grey eyes narrowed in an emotion she had never seen from him before.

She huffed. He didn't want her and he was going to make her sit through an explanation of how he would rather snog Cecily? "Well, I'm sorry, but I think it has been made fairly clear here that this was an absolute mistake!" she bit back.

His grey eyes flared, and he stood from the bed, his arms still crossed. The closer he came to her, the more she felt the control of the liquor over her. Or perhaps that was just him.

"Well if that's all you think this was…" he said, challenging her.

Her chin lifted defiantly. "Yes. That's all I think this was." His jaw clenched, and she felt the sudden need to kiss it, so that the bunch of muscles would soften. She shook her head, trying to get the thought out. She laughed. "Who even knows if I will remember this in the morning?" She retorted, as if this settled the matter. His eyes flashed dangerously, but she felt like laughing.

This was ridiculous. She did not have feelings for Scorpius Malfoy. She did not want to kiss him again, even if he was so close now and she could smell his minty smell, and see how soft his lips were… if only his beautiful eyes weren't glaring at her as if the very sight of her made him sick.

He crossed to the heavy oak door, and opened it, looking pointedly at her. Rose crossed slowly to leave, her eyes trained resolutely on the floor until she passed him. She looked back, to say what, she didn't know, but he was already closing the door behind her. Just before it slammed shut, she caught a glimpse of him. All of the softness he usually reserved for her, in his smile, or the twinkle of mischief in his eyes was gone. She had never thought he looked as much like a true Malfoy as he did in that moment.

Rose awoke with a massive headache, unlike she'd ever had before. There was the time Gryffindor had one the House Cup last year and they'd partied all day, but even then she had been able to bounce back the morning after. But this, this was excruciating.

Her dorm mates didn't seem to be in much better shape. Glancing around the room through squinted eyes, Rose could see that all three of the other girls were still in bed, in varying states of consciousness and health. Jillian was still snoring to her left, one long leg hanging off her four-poster, while Ellie had charmed the bucket next to her bed to clean itself whenever she needed to purge her insides. Her friend looked up with bleary dark eyes from such event now, and shot a grimace at Rose. Mary, she noted, slept happily in Albus' Quidditch shirt, last night's makeup smeared all over her porcelain face.

By the time all of the girls had woken and gathered the strength to arise, lunch time was long gone. The four wandered down to the Hogwarts kitchens, pausing every so often to let Ellie puke in the loo.

"I think you've got every toilet in Hogwarts now, El" Jill teased as their friend came out of yet another, charming her mouth to be washed out. The motley crew finally reached the kitchens, and Mary tickled the pear to let them inside.

When they had finished off two rounds of tea and a heaping plate of warm scones baked fresh by the house elves, the girls finally felt well enough to recap the previous night.

"Did you see Lysander Scamander and Holly Matthews going at it last night?" Jillian laughed, her eyes lighting up with the memory.

"Merlin, yes, I thought he was going to eat her face off!" Mary giggled, her hand covering her mouth as a crumb fell out.

"I'm just glad it was Lysander and not Lorcan," Jill sighed, shaking her blonde head, "I'd be devastated if Lorc got with anyone that wasn't me!"

Rose's mouth fell open, surprised that her best friend would be so forthcoming about her crush.

"Jillian Longbottom!" she exclaimed, hitting the other girl's arm, "Didn't your dad date his mum at one time?"

"Oh what does it matter?" Jill said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like we're related or anything... at least as far as I know." The girls all laughed.

"What ever happened to you last night, Rose?" Ellie asked, frowning. "I remember seeing you with Hugo, and then I didn't see you for the rest of the night."

Rose frowned. She honestly didn't remember. There was the awful moment with Prescott… then several drinks… an embarrassing few minutes where she and Albus revived a dance move they'd invented as children… a few more drinks… then hugging Hugo on the couch, and… oh. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

"What?!" all three of her friends said at once, their eyes wide.

"Oh Merlin, no…" Rose worried, willing her memory to come back fully and affirm that it wasn't true, that it was all just a bizarre dream. But no, the more she thought about it, she could remember the way his lips covered hers, and the odd mixture of embarrassment and anger and heat she'd felt upon leaving at the end of the night…

She looked up at her friends, where they were all waiting expectantly for her to say something, their eyebrows raised in worry.

"I think I snogged Scorpius Malfoy last night."

There were a few moments of silence as the girls processed this, then –

"'Good for you!" Jill exclaimed, slapping Rose on the back. The redhead looked incredulously at her friend.

"Rose…" Mary said slowly, as if still processing, "What about Prescott?"

"Oh, he's a tosser, Ro." Jill said, met by pointed looks from their friends. "What?" she retorted, rolling her green eyes. "We all saw what a massive wanker he was last night. You should just ditch him and be done with it. Besides, Malfoy is fit." She waggled her eyebrows.

"As much as I hate to say it, I do agree with Jill," Ellie said, sighing. "Prescott has definitely been holding you back, and I see the way you interact with him, he doesn't make you happy. Malfoy, on the other hand, at least you have things in common with." Jillian nodded along enthusiastically.

"However –" Ellie continued, glancing pointedly at Jill as she did so, "I do worry about Scorpius' reputation. You know he has had a bit of a past, and I would hate to see you go the same way as people like Laura Davies or that twit Harper."

Rose sighed. She knew all of her friends' hearts were in the right place, but she was in no position to date Scorpius, let alone even consider it. Though it was fuzzy, her memory reminded her that last night had not ended so well. She told them this.

"It sounds to me like the two of you need to talk." Mary finally said, after the girls had pondered this new information for a moment. "If you two are truly as good of friends as we all know you are, then you can sort through this together. And whatever is meant to be – be it friendship or anything beyond that - will happen as it should."

Rose just hoped her friend was right.

The rest of the week passed without much excitement. Days were spent in exams to wrap up the term before the winter holidays, and nights were spent revising. Rose attempted many times to catch Prescott alone, but he always seemed to be too busy for her, or with his study mates from Ravenclaw. She had even gone up to Ravenclaw tower one night to see if she could catch him in the Common Room, but as a very smug Valerie Higgins told Rose that Prescott was very busy with his studies and could not possibly see her just now, would she try back again later? Rose left, violently cursing Valerie Higgins under her breath.

In her heart, she knew the relationship with Prescott was over. Even if that silly kiss with Scorpius hadn't happened – she blushed with the memory – she knew that she and Prescott were in two different places as far as what they wanted out of life. He seemed perfect on paper; the charming, handsome, brilliant Ravenclaw prefect with the softest hair she'd ever felt, but there was very little substance behind her relationship with Prescott. She'd thought he was nice to look at and admired his intelligence, but what else?

He didn't make her laugh, he didn't understand her. He'd even told her once he couldn't stand flying, which Rose absolutely could not comprehend. And plus, there was no heat. There were no butterflies when she was near him, and there was no fire in the pit of her stomach when she thought about kissing him. Unlike with certain blond Slytherins she could mention…

But she wasn't thinking about that right now.

And so, that's how Rose came to be back in her parents' house, on Winter Holidays, still in a relationship with Prescott Branstone. Or at least, just barely. She had seen him for a fleeting moment on the train platform before he'd gone off with his rather serious-looking mother and father, where he kissed her on the cheek and promised they'd speak after break. Of course, as soon as he'd done so, she looked up to meet the steely grey gaze of Scorpius Malfoy, who'd frozen only ten feet away from where they were, watching Prescott walk away. His ominous gaze was still burned into her memory.

Rose sighed, falling back onto the plush bed she'd had from childhood. Its polka-dotted pink sheets were slightly outdated now that she was nearing 18, but the sight of them always made her feel safe.

She sighed, realizing that this may be one of the last times she was to be living at home with her parents. She and Al planned on getting a flat together in London as soon as they graduated from Hogwarts in the spring. James had even promised to help them find one near to his. She glanced around the room – at the old Cannons posters she'd hung as a child to appease her dad, even though the Tutshill Tornadoes had always been her favorite team. She smiled at the picture of her huge extended family all huddled around Victoire and Teddy in the garden of her grandparents' home last summer for their wedding, and then winced as she recalled the way James and Fred had charmed her shoes to start dancing whenever a fast song was played. Rose frowned. She still needed to get those two back for that one.

"Rosie?" a soft knock came at the door, accompanied by her mother's voice. Without waiting for affirmation from her daughter, Hermione Weasley entered the room with a steaming mug of tea that she placed at Rose's bedside. Rose smiled in thanks.

"Can I sit?" the older witch asked her daughter. Rose nodded, taking a sip of her tea. Mmmm. Lots of milk and no sugar, just the way she liked it.

"It's so nice to have you home again." Her mum started, and Rose instinctively snuggled closer. Her head came to rest on her mother's shoulder, and Hermione stroked her daughter's back. This had always been their way.

"It's nice to be home," Rose admitted with a sigh, "It's been a bit of a strange semester."

"Oh?" Her mother smiled, her eyebrows raising, "Does this have anything to do with the boy I saw you with on the platform?" Rose blushed, hiding her head in her mum's shoulder. Hermione laughed. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"I don't know," Rose said honestly, sitting up straight to look at her mother. "He was… but now, I don't know. I guess not."

Hermione looked at her daughter, puzzled. "You don't seem to be too upset by it," she deduced, stealing a sip of Rose's tea. "So why don't you tell me what's really bothering you?"

Rose sighed. How was she going to explain this situation to her mother? She couldn't very well say that she was mildly obsessed with the one boy her father had warned her to stay away from, who happened to be one of her best friends, and was also currently involved with a pretty blonde.

"Well," she started, unsure, "have you ever had feelings for somebody you felt you shouldn't? Or felt as if these feelings would ruin everything between you and this person?" she was sure she wasn't making any sense.

Hermione laughed heartily, stroking down her daughter's wild mane of hair. "Oh love, I tried to hide that I was in love with your father for years before I actually admitted it to myself, let alone to him or anyone else."

Rose perked up. She had heard countless stories of her parents' childhood, but the war and their various adventures had eclipsed any stories of school day romance. She knew her mum and dad had been friends for ages and had, somewhere along the line, fell in love. It surprised her that her parents would have held off being together for so long.

"Why didn't you want to admit it?" she asked Hermione, curling her knees up to her chest.

"Well, we were best friends. I think we both knew that admitting our feelings would bring a new element to our relationship that we didn't want to add until we knew we were both ready." Her mother smiled fondly, her eyes distant. Rose watched, enraptured. "When a relationship forms out of friendship, you have to be ready for the idea that you could be in it for the long haul." She finally said, gazing fondly down at her daughter. There was a moment where neither woman spoke.

A knock came at the door.

"Anybody home? I come bearing biscuits." Rose's father stuck his freckled head into the room, with the goofiest grin she had ever seen, a smear of chocolate on the tip of his rather long nose. Rose laughed in spite of herself as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"'My husband, ladies and gentlemen." She said, standing to wipe the chocolate off of his face. Ron swifly kissed her as Rose pretended to gag.

"Hey Rosie," her dad began, switching into business mode. "When you're done chatting with your mum, can you come down to the garden? Hugh wants to show me his new Quidditch strategies, and we need a third chaser." Rose agreed to his request, and he went to find Hugo, taking the biscuits with him as he left. Hermione rolled her eyes for a second time.

Rose watched as her mother picked an imaginary piece of lint off of Mr. Bear, the teddy she'd had since childhood who proudly sat upon her bookshelf.

Hermione smiled fondly at the bear, then turned back to her daughter. "Whoever he is, make sure he's deserving of your love." She reached for Rose, dusting her as she'd just done the bear. "If you are truly as afraid of losing him as you seem to be, then he must be a very good friend. Ask yourself if the fear of putting your heart at risk to be hurt would be worth it, if he did reciprocate your feelings. You may be surprised at what could happen if you do try." She smiled one last time, and exited the room.