Chapter Four

A/N: I hope you guys are happy. I'm skipping my workout to write this. Y'all better be grateful :P

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Scorp muttered to me under his breath as we approached the library.

Psh. As if any plan I came up with could fail. "Have some confidence," I told him, pushing open the library doors and peeking inside. I could see Lily was sitting there, not even changed out of her Quidditch robes yet. Psh. At least I had showered and changed before I appeared in front of people. Come to think of it, Lily wasn't one to stay sweaty for a long time afterwards either – the fact that she didn't even bother to get cleaned up for a tutoring session with Scorp must mean that she really didn't care about him. Like at all. Poor bloke.

"Okay, remember the plan," I said, closing the door and turning to face him. "Make sure you sit at one of the middle tables, the ones with the candles for lighting. And don't forget to make eye contact as much as you can – it makes girls feel important. And smile a lot, and make a lot of joke. In fact, try not to talk about Potions at all, all right Scorp? And for God's sake, please stay away from the subject of Elker's Ninety Principles of Alchemic Logarithms or whatever, unless you want her running for dear life."

He smirked handsomely. "I'll try and remember that."

I tilted my head to the side, studying him.

"…What?"

"Come here," I demanded, and he took a step closer. "Let's fix this up now," I said, running my hands through his sleeked back blonde hairy and tousling it slightly. It was surprisingly soft. "There you are, mate. Now you look like a windswept male model."

He just laughed. "Wish me luck, Weasley."

"You'll need my Irish luck, Malfoy."

He turned to the door, paused, and glanced back at me. "Aren't you coming in?"

I stared at him. "What do you want me in there for?"

Scorp shrugged. "Well, you know. Just in case anything goes wrong and I need you…"

I sighed. I don't know, just something about sitting and watching my cousin and guy best friend flirting all night didn't really tickle my fancy. He probably saw the expression on my face, because he immediately backed off.

"It's alright," he said, turning away. "You don't have to."

I stared at the door, feeling like even though I really didn't want to go in, I probably should have. Oh, well. What good would my being there have done anyways? Lily's a good enough person not to flirt with someone else's boyfriend in front of them, and even if I had hid, someone else would probably have seen me, and then rumors would spread, and I really didn't feel like Confounding the entire school right now. I let out a heavy sigh.

"Ah-HA!"

"WAAAH!" I screamed, jumping nearly fifteen feet in the air and whirling around. I found my wand tip pointing straight at my other best friend, Levy's, face.

"I knew it!" she said in a hushed voice, and grabbed my wrist and started dragging me towards the girl's bathrooms. "I knew you weren't really going out with him!"

"What?" I cried, distraught. "You mean you heard everything I said?"

"Every word!" she said triumphantly, brushing back her blonde hair and fixing her big brown eyes on me. "Unlike Clara, Rosie, I'm smart enough to see past this little web of lies you've spun."

This huge sense of dread suddenly plopped down into my chest like a sack of Dungbombs.

"Did you just call me stupid?" came Clara's voice from inside the bathroom. She poked her head, out, her black hair falling like a curtain past her shoulders. She grinned so evilly when she caught sight of me. "Well, hello there Miss Liar."

"We've found you out!" Levy said gleefully, pushing me inside and locking the door behind her with her wand. "Just because you're the best in the year doesn't mean you can pull one past us, Rose."

I was too stunned to say anything. Which, believe me, was definitely a first.

"You see," Levy continued, tapping her palm with her wand and causing a large blue flame to burst up like a flower. The entire bathroom immediately brightened. "When you said you were dating Scorpius Malfoy, I knew something had to be wrong, because you friendzoned him the second you saw him and his friends armpit farting in Charms first year."

I cracked a grin. I remembered that; and for the record, they wouldn't stop until I found a spell that made it smell like real fart every time they did it. Watching their faces was hilarious.

"So?" I said, tossing my curls over my shoulder. "Maybe I secretly found him attractive all those years."

"Rose, you're the one who was insanely boy-crazy for a couple of years," Clara pointed out. "You were always making those idiotic remarks about wanting to see their abs or catch them in swimming trunks. Bloody pervert. And your 'attraction' for Scorpius wasn't really a secret you know. You've told us way too times you think he's hot."

Well. I'd completely forgotten about that, but there was no point in denying it – he was one of the prettiest boys I've ever seen.

"And," Levy continued, poking her forefinger into my chest. "We know you only have eyes for Jun Corner."

I felt my face heat up. "I do not!" Oh, yeah, great comeback, Rosie. They'll definitely believe you now.

"Oh, shut it!" they said in unison. Clara pulled something out of her bag and I swear my heart dropped down to my appendix when I saw that it was my notebook. My Potions notebook. Like, the notebook Scorp and I were plotting in the other day. I tried to think up a lie, but my mouth decided to make a weird noise instead - like a mouse being squashed.

"Let's see now, shall we?" Clara said cheerfully, opening it and flipping through. "What do our star-crossed lovers talk about in Potions class…what with all that chemistry in the atmosphere…"

"Erm," I said, kind of at a loss for words. "Where did you get that?"

Levy grinned evilly. "For the smartest witch in the entire school, you were pretty thick for letting me borrow your notes without wiping yours and Malfoy's memos blank."

Oh, bollocks. So they've seen it.

"Rose," Clara read aloud. I bit my lip and began to twirl my fingers in my hair nervously. "What does Lily like in a guy?"

"Much more than you can offer her, mate," Levy read, looking at me and smirking.

"Well, I mean, does she like tall blokes, blokes who can show her a good time, the kind of blokes who like to take walks on the beach – give me something to work with, Weasley."

"I don't know! Someone smart, fun, athletic, responsible, outgoing, and kind. That's kind of like the basic structure of every girl's dream guy, isn't it?"

"Look, I know you like Corner, but could you please refrain from describing him to me as 'Every Girl's Dream Guy?' Just knowing that Lily thinks about him and not me makes me kind of sick."

"Don't be so pathetic, mate. It's unappealing. Besides, you just have to make her fall in love with you, not with someone else. Be yourself around her! Blimey! How many times am I supposed to tell you before it gets through your thick man-skull?"

"You are going to help me, right? Because so far all we've done is flirt in front of Corner, and the only thing we've gotten in response is an occasional glare in my direction. Come on – you told me you were going to help me make Lily jealous too!"

"I know, I know! I'm working on it! In fact, if you want, we can do it the day after tomorrow after Quidditch practice. It'll give us some momentum on Operation Hogsmeade."

I cringed as they bored their eye into mine. What? It feels awful when you're caught in a lie. Although, they did seem to be more excited by it than upset.

"Alright, okay, you got me!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "Here's the truth – So Scorpius came up to me a few days ago and told me he was in love with Lily, and would I please help him and make her fall in love with him? So I said alright, and for some reason Jun Corner overheard and thought Scorp was asking me out, so I told him that we were dating to see if I could make him jealous, and I convinced Scorp to go along with it in exchange for my help. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, okay? I just thought it'd be best if it didn't get out."

"Oh, Rosie," Levy sang, ruffling my hair. I'm significantly shorter than normal human beings, just so you know, so the top of my head was assaulted a lot. "Sweet, naïve little Rosie-Posie. Don't you have any faith in us?"

"In Clara, yeah," I said, jerking my thumb back at her. "But you? None."

"What? Why?!"

"Why do you think?" Clara answered for me, placing her hands on her hips. "You tell everyone everything."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do," Clara and I chimed, grinning. "Remember Lily's crush on Fleetwood?"

"And Clara's bedwetting incident?"

"Not to mention that fight we had."

"And the fox that one time."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Levy shouted, red in the face. "The point here," she continued, looking at me as if she had just unlocked a treasure chest. "Is that Rose's in love with Scorpius Malfoy!"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, feeling hot all of a sudden. Like, really hot – the kind of hot that makes your face the same color as your hair if you're a ginger. That's why I generally try to avoid getting flustered. "I do not love him! How did you come up with that? It's mental, I'm telling you. Rubbish."

"No, I see where she's coming from, Rose," Clara said thoughtfully. I gaped at them. "This entire time you've had a crush on Jun Corner, and when you found out your cousin Lily liked him too you thought it'd be easier to step back and bow out. But then, Malfoy came and wanted to be with Lily, and you somehow, in your inverted, dysfunctional mind you thought it'd be a good idea to pretend to date so Jun and Lily would be jealous. BUT – and here's my favorite part – you completely fell for Malfoy along the way, and kept putting off getting him and Lily together, instead focusing on making Jun like you, because somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of your brain you wanted to continue having feelings for a guy your used to having feelings for, realizing you could never be with the boy you truly loved and burying your passions deep inside your heart."

"Yes, and that's why you went ahead and continued to help him even though people kept telling you he was rotten," Levy said eagerly. "And why your face just now when you left him in the library to go and flirt with Lily looked so pathetic- pitiable! Sorry," she corrected herself as I glared.

"Stark raving mad, you are. Both of you," I said, shaking my head. "Look, guys – I'm sorry I lied to you. I feel really bad about sneaking around behind your backs for the past few days, and I'm actually sort of relieved now that you know. But please," I said, dead seriousness creeping back into my voice. "Please don't tell anybody. I – I don't want Jun to know that I've been lying to him, or Lily for that matter. And couldn't you just picture the look on Hugo's face if he found out?"

"And then picture the look on his face when he finds out you're actually in love with Malfoy," Clara giggled.

"Oh, come off it!" I said, annoyed. "I DO NOT LOVE HIM!"

They just looked at me and sniggered. I rolled my eyes and left.

I hate to admit it, but honestly really does seem to be the best policy. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest now that my two best friends knew, and I literally was like, breathing easier because of it. That didn't stop them from patronizing me every time they saw Scorp and I together, though."

"Hey, Rose," Clara said at breakfast the next day, twirling a strand of thick black hair around her wand. "Why don't you ever sit with your boyfriend at the Slytherin table?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Scorpius, who had his back to me and was chatting animatedly with Nathaniel Flint and Vinny Greengrass. I turned around to catch them watching me eagerly.

"Well, it's his own fault," I said jokingly. "He never comes to sit by me."

"Rose," said a voice in my ear, and I turned to see Al and Hugo standing there, looking grim. Hugo spoke first. "I know he's your boyfriend and all, but if you bring him over you know we'll be putting him through a whole lot of c-"

"Oh, stop it Hugo," Lily said cheerfully, coming to stand next to Al. "I was talking to him in the library yesterday, and it was actually pleasant. He's practically family now, there's no use in fighting it."

I choked on my bacon and was about to say something incredibly clever and degrading about Scorp when I saw Jun come in and sit at the Ravenclaw table, right behind Scorp. The wheels in my head starting turning. Which, for anyone who knows me well, is a very ominous thing.

"Yeah, you're right, Lils," I said, standing up and swinging my feet over the bench. "I haven't officially introduced him to any of you yet, have I? Wait right here, I'll go and get him."

They all looked at me with shocked faces. Clara and Levy exchanged Oh-God-What-Is-She-Up-To-Now glances. I tried to make myself look as tall as possible as I passed the Ravenclaw table – you know, just to make sure everyone saw me.

Scorp's friends fell quiet as I approached from behind. They muttered something to him, stealing furtive glances at me, and he turned around and met my eyes. I cracked a grin.

"So," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and smashing my cheek against his. He looked uncomfortable. Hee-hee. Good. "My dear old friends and family," I said, subtly elbowing him in the ribs as I said 'family'. "Were just asking me why I never bring you over to the Gryffindor table, and why don't I go and get you so as to introduce you properly? And I said fine, it'd be a great opportunity, don't you think, honey?"

He raised an eyebrow at me and peered around my back, and probably saw Jun Corner sitting there, because he turned to me and rolled his eyes, but obligingly stood up and stepped out of the bench.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" he told his friends, and grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

"Way to be subtle back there," he told me, grinning. "My friends probably think you've got some sort of enunciation problem, the way you were stressing words like crazy."

"Yeah," I replied with a straight face. "I probably sounded mad."

"Oh, well," he said, with equal seriousness. "What ever can we do about it?"

We cracked up on the spot, holding onto each other and giggling loudly. I suspect we attracted quite a lot of stares.

"Okay, so I'm going to introduce you to my Gryffindors," I said, looking over at them fondly. They were watching us like we were a movie on the telly. "And be sure to make a big a spectacle as you can about it, because Jun's watching."

"Really?" Scorp asked, looking amused. "Are you sure you want everyone to know what's going on? Because Hagrid and Longbottom are both up there," he gestured to the staff table. "And last I heard, both are pretty close with your parents. So unless you want your father to send you your first ever Howler, perhaps it'd be best not to let the adults know about this just yet?"

"You realize I thought about that the first day we came up with this scheme, right?" I said cheerfully. "I mean, I am a genius. You don't think I'd actually overlook the fact that my parents have spies here, do you?"

"So now Hagrid and Longbottom are spies?"

I smacked him. "You know what I mean! Anyways, I already told Mum and Dad that we were going out, and believe me, the letter Dad wrote back was not pleasant. Mum seemed to think it was cute, though."

He looked impressed. "Wow. Brave."

"Come on," I said, dragging him over to the Gryffindor table. "We've kept them waiting long enough."

"Hey, guys," I called, Scorp in tow. "Budge up a bit, will you?"

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Levy said, looking smug. "Hello, gorgeous. I don't believe we've met."

"That's Levy Wood," I said, pointing at my blonde friend. "She has a gift for seeing the beauty in everyone."

"I'm Clara Loza," Clara said, standing and reaching out to shake his hand. "Future maid of honor."

I glared at her, but Scorpius seemed amused. "Oh, really? So you won't mind walking down the aisle with Nathaniel Flint, then?"

She glanced over at Flint, who was watching us warily. "Well, so long as he grows twelve inches."

"Anyways," I said loudly, trying to draw the conversation from a Weasley-Malfoy wedding. "Scorp, those two are my best friends in the entire world, and they know everything," I gave him a meaningful glance. "And I mean everything about me."

He seemed to take the hint. "Ah," Scorp managed, smiling weakly at them. "Well then. You guys must be pretty close."

"Hey, Scorpius," Lily said, coming forward and giving him a hug. It was funny watching his expression go from shocked, to mortified, to exuberant, and then smug. "I suspect you remember me, don't you?"

"Vaguely," he replied, looking at her like she was an immaculate angel or something. "Weren't you that girl who spilled her entire bottle of rainbow-ink on my lap the other night?"

"Sorry again," she said, flushing. "It must have been embarrassing walking back to your dormitory looking like you had peed out rainbows or something."

Woah, woah, woah. Scorp told me none of this! Did all of this happen while Clara and Levy were confronting me in the bathroom? I'd be talking to him later, that was for sure.

"This is my cousin, Al," I said, ruffling the kid's hair. "Our very own Gryffindor Seeker."

Scorp and Al seemed to be sizing each other up. They'd never actually spoken to each other, but I know that their fathers must have talked the other up at home. And not in a good way.

"Hey," Scorp said finally, extending his hand. "Your cousin seems to love you very much."

Hook.

"Oh, yeah?" Al asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's she been saying about me?"

"Oh, just some rubbish every so often about how trustworthy you are. She told me I'd have you to answer to if I did anything wrong."

Line.

"That's Rose for you," Al said tersely. "And I'm always here to have her back."

"Oh, good," Scorp said, smiling. "Because those were my intentions exactly."

Aaaaaand sinker. Wow, if I didn't know any better I'd say Scorp really was a loving, caring boyfriend.

"Oh, you two," I said, reaching up and ruffling both their hairs. "See how easy life can be without antagonism?"

"Hem, hem," Hugo said, clearing his throat. "You've forgotten me, my dearest sister."

"No, I haven't," I said, looking at him cheerfully. "I was just ignoring you."

"Hugo Weasley, right?" Scorp said, shaking my brother's hand. "Pleasure."

Hugo scoffed, but I could tell he had already warmed up to Scorp. "Bloody well should be. I'll be keeping an eye on you, just so you know. Put one toe out of line and you'll wish you'd never been born."

"Got it." Scorp said, grinning. "Did you hear that, Rosie? Your brother's after my blood."

I whacked Hugo upside the head. "He's not going to hurt you, right?" I said, boring my eyes into my little brother's. "Right?" I said, and I started poking his cheek with my wand.

"Sod off," he said, annoyed. "I was just putting him in his place is all."

"Be nice to Scorpy," I said, standing on tiptoe and giving him a kiss. "He's done nothing to you."

"OH!" Lily screamed, making the Great Hall fall silent as everyone turned to stare at her. "You guys should KISS for us!"

Oh, ha-ha, Lily, you're so cute. "Erm…Lily, don't you think us snogging in front of you will ruin your appetite?"

Scorp glanced nervously at me. I shot him an I'll-handle-this look.

"Oh, come off it," Lily scoffed, bouncing towards us. "What do you think we are, stupid? It's not like you two haven't kissed before, is it? Go on, Scorpius, give her a kiss. Not a full on snog, just a nice little kiss! It's not going to kill you, is it?"

Yes. "Lily, stop it," I hissed, looking around and flushing as I noticed that people were nodding and smiling in agreement. "You're being a nuisance."

"Shut up, Rose! KISS!"

"Yeah, kiss! Kiss!" Clara and Levy called, and I whirled around and glared at them. Scorp just stood there, rubbing the back of his neck and not helping. They smiled at me and started clinking their knives against their cups. Nearly everyone else at the Gryffindor table did the same, and then the Hufflepuffs next to us started clinking their silverware against their glasses too, closely followed by the Ravenclaws. Nothing from the Slytherins, though I did see the staff table exchange worried glances.

"KISS! KISS!" Came the chant, echoing insanely throughout the Great Hall. The sound of clinking glasses and catcalls sent my face into a permanent blush, probably, and I turned to Scorp, not meeting his eyes.

"Just to shut them up?" he mouthed, and I nodded.

"Quickly," I mouthed back, and he bent down, and I tilted my head to the side, and our lips met.

Well, somewhere in my mind I was conscious of the fact that the Great Hall had erupted into cheers and screams, and my eardrums were probably close to bursting from the sound, and that people were shooting sparks into the air with their wands, and I even saw a couple of camera flashes, but then – I don't know, my eyes just decided to flutter shut, and my hand thought it'd be a good idea to crawl up Scorp's arm to the back of his neck, and I remember thinking that I'd never had someone's arms around my waist like that, and then just kind of blanking out and kissing him back like nothing else. I think I finally pulled back because I needed some air.

"I said not to snog!" Lily shouted at us, but she was ignored. I was too busy trying to look anywhere but at Scorp.

"So, uh," he said in my ear as the cheering began to die down. "I hope it wasn't that bad."

I grinned despite myself and turned to face him. "Lord is Lily gonna be in for a treat," I told him.

"Hey," he said, nudging me. "Corner's staring at you."

"Really?" I whirled around and saw Jun watching us with his mouth hanging open. He met my eyes and immediately looked away. Not long after he stood up and left.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked Scorp as we watched him go.

"It means," he said quietly. "That you're in."

A/N: Oh, hey so uh – confession time. I stole the kiss scene from The Proposal. And then I kinda made it my own. Sorry, it's just that I saw the movie last night and I really like that part, so I sort of incorporated it into here. Hee.

Review plz! 3