A/N: I got a decent amount of reviews in spite of the fact that it took me three weeks to update. Hopefully this chapter won't take me so long. Anyways, thanks to those of you who did review, I really appreciate it! Especially Ali, for always making my day.

One of the Boys

Chapter Four – A Time of Many Traditions

"Since we both made our teams, you know what that calls for?" Scorpius asked as he led the way up the dark, grassy lawn to the castle.

"Celebration!" Rose said, smiling. Every year since they were thirteen, after making their Quidditch teams, she, Scorpius, and Albus made it a point to visit the kitchens and order their favorite meals as a celebration. Rose's own tradition was to always order fish and chips, and yorkshire pudding. She wasn't entirely sure where the house elves got all the ingredients for her dinner, but they always came through. They also always made their version of the dish taste ten times better than if Rose had gotten it from a street vendor in London.

"Where's Albus?" Rose asked, remembering that Albus had walked Ana up to the castle. "Why didn't he come back down to find us? He knows we always get dinner afterwards."

Scorpius shrugged. "His loss. Come on."

They went downstairs to where the bowl of fruit painting was located, and Scorpius reached out to tickle the pear. When it turned into a handle, it gave it a quick turn and the painting swung forward. Scorpius and Rose crawled through the hidden tunnel it revealed and stepped out into the Hogwarts kitchen, which was crawling with house elves. They all stopped when Rose and Scorpius straightened up and gave low bows. "Welcome, Master Malfoy and Mistress Weasley!" they all cried happily, hurrying towards their guests. "What may we do for you today?"

Scorpius and Rose exchanged a glance, before chorusing, "Chocolate cake." It was another part of their tradition. They always pigged out on chocolate cake after making the Quidditch teams. That was another thing Rose liked about Scorpius; she didn't feel awkward or embarrassed to eat around him, like a lot of girls seemed to be. She had noticed that even Lily ate very little around guys that she happened to like.

As if by magic (and it probably was magic), the house elves soon produced a chocolate cake for Rose and Scorpius, along with two plates, two forks, a knife, two glasses, and a pitcher of milk. They were seated on pillows at a table that was meant for the elves themselves, but was quite comfortable for the two of them if they didn't use the stools. Scorpius cut two thick slices of cake and put one on each plate, then handed a plate to Rose.

The cake was fluffy and rich with the taste of chocolate, both in the cake itself and the butter cream frosting on the outside. By the time Rose had finished her slice, her stomach was protesting, but Scorpius was reaching for a second slice. "How do you do it?" Rose demanded.

"Do what?"

"Eat so damn much," she said.

Scorpius shrugged. "I dunno. I always eat a lot. Most boys do."

"It's like you have a garbage disposal for a stomach. You're never full, are you?"

"Not really," Scorpius said, grinning before taking another bite of cake. The thought of more cake made Rose sick to her stomach.

"Uck, hide it," she said, waving her hands wildly. Scorpius rolled his eyes, but put the rest of the cake under the table and put his plate in his lap, with exaggerated gestures. When he was finished, Rose's stomach felt better. "Thanks."

"How are you going to last the night?" Scorpius asked.

His words were a reminder of what Rose had almost forgotten. Another part of their tradition was to pull an all-nighter for absolutely no reason. Granted, the first all-nighter had been because Rose had gotten food poisoning and had spent the night puking her guts out while Scorpius and Albus stood by for comfort, but that was besides the point. "I'll be fine," Rose said, waving her hand casually. "I just need time to digest this cake."

"Wimp," Scorpius teased.

"Fatty," Rose shot back.

"That was harsh," Scorpius said, pretending to be hurt. He frowned, but Rose wasn't falling for it.

"Sometimes people need to hear things they don't want to. In your case, you need to stop eating all that cake before you blow up like a balloon."

"Like your Uncle Harry's aunt?" Scorpius asked.

"Exactly. Only you won't be able to float," Rose responded, a cross between a smile and a smirk playing on her lips.

"You're so mean to me," Scorpius said, dragging a finger down his cheek to indicate a tear.

"You're mean to me!" Rose cried.

"I do it out of love."

"Well, so do I."

"Do you, Rose? Do you really?" he asked, leaning across the table to stare at her.

"Get away from me, freak," Rose said, laughing as she pushed Scorpius away.

"Come on, let's go," he said, pulling an empty plate off his lap and setting it down on the table. "Thank you," he added to the nearest house elf, who squeaked with glee before picking up the rest of the cake and the empty dishes. Scorpius led the way out of the kitchens and upstairs to the joint common room. It was only going on eight o'clock, so it was still rather full. Rose and Scorpius found Albus by the fireside, talking to a Hufflepuff girl that Rose didn't know the name of.

"You missed cake," she said, flopping down in the seat next to him.

Albus looked over, startled. "Sorry," he said. "I forgot."

"You forgot a tradition we've been doing for almost four years?" Scorpius asked.

"Sorry," Albus said again, glancing at the Hufflepuff girl. "No offense, guys, but I'm kind of busy..."

"You're staying up all night, right?" Rose asked quickly.

Albus hesitated. "I don't know..."

"You can't just bail on us!" Scorpius said. "It's our tradition. The three of us, not just me and Rose. Come on, Al."

"Alright," Albus said, relenting. "I'll meet you guys in a few hours."

"Okay," Rose said, getting the hint. She stood up and grabbed Scorpius by the arm. "Let's go."

"Why?" Scorpius asked.

"He wants to be alone, dummy," Rose whispered, dragging Scorpius away from her cousin.

"Who is that, anyways?" Scorpius asked when they were a safe distance away. The two of them shot looks over their shoulder at the pretty brunette Hufflepuff.

"I have no idea," Rose answered. "But I think he likes her."

Scorpius glanced around the room. "Look at us," he said. "We're the only two people in the school who aren't dating someone."

"That's not true," Rose protested, but looking around the room, she saw it seemed true. Albus and the Hufflepuff were talking happily, James and Ana sat on another couch, looking smitten, and there were more than a few couples snogging. She glanced at Scorpius, who was staring at her, and felt her stomach flip over. "Come on, let's go some where else. We obviously don't belong here," she joked.

As they were leaving the joint common room, Lily entered, and gave Rose an idea. "I'll be right back," she told Scorpius. Rushing to catch up with Lily, she grabbed her cousin's arm. "Hey, I need to ask you something."

"What?" Lily asked.

"I don't think this is working," Rose said.

"What's not working?"

"This," Rose answered, gesturing to herself. "I feel like he's still treating me like a little sister or something."

"It's your own fault," Lily pointed out.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You're the one that allowed yourself to become one of the boys."

"I don't want to be one of the boys," Rose moaned.

"Well, then we have some serious work to do. Are you up for the challenge?" Lily asked.

Rose made a face.

"Look," Lily sighed. "If you want to get Scorpius, you need to be committed. Are you, or are you going to back out?"

Rose hesitated, then finally let out a breath. "Alright."

"We'll get to work on Saturday," Lily promised.

Feeling a little afraid of what Lily was going to do to her, Rose returned to Scorpius. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Nothing," Rose lied. "Just family stuff."

"Like?" he asked, curious.

"None of your business. Now come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"I have no idea," Rose admitted. "I just want to get away from all the snogging."

"What's wrong with snogging?" Scorpius asked teasingly.

"Nothing," Rose said. "I just don't want to watch it."

"Have you ever even been kissed, Rose?" Scorpius asked her.

"As a matter of fact, I have," Rose said stiffly.

"Who was it?"

"None of your business."

"You haven't, have you?" Scorpius asked incredulously. He stopped walking, and by this point they were alone in the darkening corridors.

"So what if I haven't?" Rose snapped.

"You mean you didn't even kiss Paul in third year?"

"No," Rose said, making a face. "After a few days, he started to gross me out, to be honest."

"Then why did you date him for a month?" Scorpius asked.

"I didn't want to hurt his feelings," Rose explained.

Scorpius shook his head. "If you didn't like him, why would it matter if you hurt his feelings or not?"

"Because unlike you, I'm not a heart breaker."

"I'm not a heart breaker!" Scorpius denied.

"Oh really?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about Kathy? And Emily, and Penelope, and Jessica, and Carly, and Hailey, and Maria?"

"So what if I've had a few girlfriends?"

"Who have all had their hearts broken by you?"

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, looking slightly dejected. Rose felt bad immediately, wondering why she had decided to bring it up in the first place. He had been teasing her, sure, and maybe it had infuriated her, but this wasn't the way to fix it. In fact, this had just seemed to make things worse. "Sorry, Scorp," Rose said softly. "I didn't mean it."

"It's okay," Scorpius said, brightening considerably at her apology. "Hey, you want to play a board game? We haven't done that since Christmas in first year."

"Sure," Rose said, finding the idea to be very appealing. She had a knack for getting the Room of Requirement to give her the greatest board games a kid could ask for. Any seven-year-old would be jealous of the games she had been able to conjure up. Scorpius seemed to enjoy them, having never played Muggle games as a child. Rose turned around and led the way up to the seventh floor corridor, where the Room of Requirement was located. "What do you want to play?"

"You decide," Scorpius said.

Closing her eyes, Rose walked back and forth in front of the blank stretch of wall three times, a game in mind. When she opened her eyes, the door had appeared. She remembered a story her mother had told her, about the last night of the Great War, when the Room of Requirement had been permanently damaged by a magic fire. Most had thought that the room would never work again, but after a lot of hard work, Hermione had been able to repair it. Sometimes, though, it got mixed up and gave the wrong thing. Rose's knack included being very clear with what she wanted, and the room always came through for her.

"That should do it," Rose announced, pulling the door open. Inside were stacks over ten feet tall of board games, and they were all Monopoly. Each box was a different version of the game, from the original to a TV cartoon to an ocean-themed version. "Take your pick," she told Scorpius.

After sorting through a group of boxes, he finally decided on the orginal version of the game. He and Rose sat cross-legged on the floor, and she began dealing the money. Scorpius turned the playing pieces over in his hand, and chose the top hat. Rose picked the thimble, and they began. Hours later, Rose had dominated ¾ of the board, and was waiting for Scorpius to go bankrupt.

Scorpius rolled the dice, muttering to himself. "Six!" Rose said gleefully, watching as Scorpius moved his top hat to her most expensive hotel of the entire board. "Fork it over."

"I don't have enough," Scorpius complained.

"That," Rose said, reaching over and snatching the small pile of money out of Scorpius's hand, "means I win."

"You always win," Scorpius grumbled. "Can't you ever go easy on me?"

"And give you a false sense of happiness?" Rose asked. "I don't think so." She dropped her stack of money on the board and asked, "Want to play again?"

"No thanks," Scorpius snorted. "I've had enough butt-kicking for one night."

"Wimp," Rose taunted.

"Fatty," Scorpius answered, repeating her previous insult.

"That's you, not me."

"Really?" Scorpius asked, pulling his shirt over his head. "Does this look fat to you?" He showed off a well defined six-pack. Rose turned away quickly.

"Put your shirt back on, you've got nothing to show," Rose said, throwing his shirt back at him.

"Jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous of your pasty chest?" Rose asked.

"Because you can't get pecs like this."

"I don't need pecs like that," Rose answered, "Because I'm not a guy."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Pretty sure," Rose said, laughing to cover the sting that Scorpius's words had.

"So you've really never been kissed?" Scorpius asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"Never."

"You're a lip virgin?"

"Basically," Rose said, wondering where he was going with this.

"As your close and personal friend, I can change that," he suggested casually.

"You want to be my first kiss?" Rose asked in disbelief.

"Just so you can get it over with," Scorpius assured her. "If you don't want to, no big deal."

"No, I – That's fine," Rose said, stumbling over her words.

"Okay." Scorpius leaned over the Monopoly board, and Rose's heart beat increased. She was going to kiss Scorpius, and it wasn't a dream.

"What are you doing?" Albus's voice cut in.

Rose was so startled by her cousin that she fell over on her back. "She had something in her eye," Scorpius was saying as Rose pushed herself back up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, it was really bothering me," Rose said, going along with Scorpius's story. If he didn't want Albus to know what had really been about to happen, she wasn't going to rat him out. But why didn't he want Albus to know? Scorpius always liked to brag about how many girls he got. Was Rose not good enough to brag about? "You're late, by the way," Rose accused.

"I know, I'm sorry," Albus said. "I got caught up in talking with Brenda."

"Oh, so that's her name," Rose said.

"Albus and Brenda, sitting in a tree," Scorpius started, but Albus cut him off.

"Are you guys playing Monopoly? I want to play!"

"We actually just finished," Rose told him.

"Well, let's play again."

"I'm game," Rose smiled.

Scorpius groaned. "I'm going to loose again."

A/N: And I think I'm going to go ahead and end it there.

I know this chapter was kind of short, but I had some trouble getting through it. I honestly didn't really know what to do with it. I have a bigger plan for the next chapter, so hopefully it will be better.

ALSO. I'm on the west coast, and it's 11 o'clock as I write this. Therefore, I have fulfilled my promise of updating on Saturday. So hah! Anyways... Please leave a review. I'd really appreciate it.