So, I wasn't really feeling the motivation to write this chapter just yet, but then I was reading previous reviews and my heart was swelling so much with happiness over what people said that I just had to update. plus I realised how long it's been since the last chapter and decided it was about time ^.^ Thank you to those who reviewed!

Scorpius' POV

It was strapless. And long. The clingy fabric shimmered subtly in the candle light, throwing off darts of light whenever she moved. The modestly-cut dress showed the perfect amount of cleavage, although the low back did have me worried about what I might do in front of my family. Gods know I barely have self-control around her as it is.

After coming inside with our cheesy grins still plastered on our faces, mum gently reminded Rose and I that we should be preparing for dinner.

So now here I was, standing in my penguin suit in the middle of my room, staring at Rose with such astonishment that I'm fairly sure my mouth was hanging open. She was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, and I couldn't even begin to comprehend how happy I was that she was mine.

"Scorp, stop staring. I look ridiculous," Rose said, blushing as I unashamedly continued to stare. She rolled her eyes at me – those beautiful sky blue eyes that had me so captivated every time she deigned to look at me.

"You're breathtaking," I told her, smirking as I began to imagine all the things I would be doing to her tonight.

I was so completely and irrevocably in love with her, and now I finally knew for a fact that she loved me too. As I led Rose through the hallways and downstairs, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt and self-disgust at how I treated her so poorly in the past. Even if she had forgiven me, I knew I had damaged her, although hopefully not beyond repair.

I felt her hand on my arm tighten. Glancing down at her, I saw she wasn't looking at me, her eyes were fixed on the ajar door to the dining room. A murmur of voices filtered through to us, indicating that my aunt was already here.

"It'll be fine, Rose. You'll be fine. You look beautiful," I tried to reassure her. In the two seconds that her eyes flashed to mine, I knew she didn't believe me.

"That's easy for you to say. Just imagine if it was my family you were about to meet. In this ridiculous dress, no less." She wrinkled her nose, but it was obvious she felt perfectly at home in the silver material. It really did fit her perfectly, and I knew for a fact that that was not something my mother would ever wear – meaning she had gone and bought it specially for Rose. Well it was nice to know she approved of my choice in girlfriend.

"In case you've forgotten, I have met your family," I pointed out, knowing at the same time that she wasn't really listening.

The dining room was plenty big enough for this small get together of people, but somehow I knew that Rose was feeling claustrophobic with so many eyes suddenly on her.

"Rose! Scorpius!" My Mother's voice drew our attention to the centre of a cluster of women. "You both look absolutely lovely. Please, come over here and I'll introduce everyone." She beamed at us and I refrained from rolled my eyes.

In her willingness to help Rose feel more comfortable, Mum was simultaneously putting her in the most uncomfortable position she possibly could. Because, obviously, I already knew everyone here. This was for Rose's benefit.

To my surprise, Rose didn't seem to be becoming more nervous, or showing any signs of wanting to jump out the window. "Come on, Scorp," she whispered. "Let's get this over an done with." She smiled up at me and for a moment I was lost in those eyes, so intelligent but so beautifully young and innocent at the same time.

"Okay." I said and leaning down, surprised her with a kiss. It was soft and full of love. When I pulled away, I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face when I saw the brilliant flush adorning her cheeks.

I led her over to my family and introductions were made. I barely paid attention to any of it, watching Rose slowly grow confident in herself as, perhaps, her last fears about my family faded away.

"Oh man, my feet are killing me," Rose complained as she plopped down onto my bed. Just as soon as she had done so, she was removing the offending shoes. When they were a safe distance away, she lay back on the bed with a sigh.

I watched her, glad I had this opportunity to finally admire that dress of hers in privacy. "Did you enjoy it? Meeting everyone, I mean," I asked casually as I removed my tie and jacket.

"Mmhmm," she hummed, unwilling to move from the bed. "The food was good, too."

"I wouldn't know, I had a hard enough time just keeping my eyes off of you."

She shot up from the bed, surprised, and visibly swallowed when she saw the hungry grin on my face. A slow smirk turned her whole face from shocked to devilish.

"It is quite a nice dress, isn't it?" she sighed, lowering her lashes.

"It'll look better on the floor," I growled, and lunged.

A few hours later, Rose was fast asleep, exhausted from the long night and my relentless need to pleasure her. Sleep had evaded me, so I stood by the window, aimlessly flicking through an old textbook I'd plucked off the bookshelf.

Potions had been my favourite subject the year before, when Rose and I had actually been friends and was willing to work together. There had been a group project that we were a part of, and as such we were required to spend time outside of class in order to finish it.

There had been one particular day where the two of us were sitting in the library and, having given up on the studying, were whispering and laughing about something amusing that had happened that day.

I remembered that after being told off by Madame Pince, we had had to resort to scribbling on a piece of paper to thereafter avoid her notice. The giggling still earned us glares, though. I paged through the book, half hoping that I would find what I was looking for. Ah, there it was. A loose piece of parchment was wedged between two pages, ironed flat after being in the book for so long. I opened it, and had to smile as I read the notes.

Did you see what happened to Julie Hopkins today?

How that snargaluff plant attacked her in Herbology? Yeah!

The way she squealed, it sounded like it had killed her.

Oh Madame Sprout was so mad because we aren't supposed to be dealing with those until next year!

Come on, you saw her laughing! She thought it was just as funny as we did.

Yeah just before she realised it almost took Julie's eye out!

I'm sure Madame Pomfrey could have fixed that..

Hah!

Hey Rose..

Yeah?

Would it be okay if I kissed you now?

I turned the page over, but there wasn't anything else. I remembered Rose being shocked when she'd read my last comment, and I remembered the way she looked so beautiful when she'd turned to me so confused, her lips parted slightly.. And I'd kissed her, quickly but firmly, and by the time Pince looked at us again, we had been hard at work. I seem to also remember wondering if she could see the blush spreading across Rose's face.

It had all started after that. I had made it my goal to sneak in as many kisses as I possibly could before she decided to punch me in the face or shot some awful jinx at me. Neither of those things happened however, and before I knew it we had been going down to my dorm room after a common room party one night… That's when everything changed.

I frowned. How could I have been so stupid as to push her into something like that? I knew she'd liked me, and I'd played on that. The question that bothered me the most was had I liked her? To this day I still didn't fully know. I knew I loved her now, but I didn't know what that had happened. It could have happened in our second year for all I knew.

I had acted like such a jerk afterwards, suddenly ignoring her and treating her like nothing had ever happened. I knew it had hurt her, but it wasn't until she punched me after I had attempted to kiss her again that it hit me. Then she wouldn't speak to me or Albus and I realised how much I'd fucked up.

"Scorp?" My head jerked up. Rose was lying on the bed, propped up on her elbows and blinking at me. "What are you doing all the way over there?" she asked sleepily, somehow not even noticing the fact that her chest was gloriously bare and exposed. Or maybe she just didn't care anymore.

I put the parchment back in the book and carefully replaced it on the bookshelf. I climbed back into bed and wrapped my arms around Rose. She snuggled close to me and I felt my heart constrict as I remembered how much pain I'd caused her.

Never ever again, I promised myself. My arms tightened protectively around her and she subconsciously hummed into my throat.

I'd never loved anyone more than I loved her, and I was not going to let her forget that. Or myself.

The Christmas morning sun dawned over freshly-fallen snow, which covered absolutely everything that wasn't under shelter.

Rose took one look at it and crawled back into bed.

I stared at her incredulously. "What are you doing? It's time to go open presents!"

"I hate the damn cold," she grumbled.

"Oh really?" A devious grin spread over my face and reaching underneath the covers, grabbed hold of her and pulled her out and over my shoulder.

"Scorpius!" she squealed, playfully hitting her fists against my back.

"Nope. It's present-opening time, and you are attending." I set her on her feet again a few metres away, keeping myself firmly between her and the bed.

She glared up at me and I was reminded of an angry kitten. The thought made me chuckle, but that only seemed to infuriate her further. With a huff she began to dress – in my clothes again, I might add – and disappeared out the door before I could even find my jeans.

I found her downstairs in the family room, where my sister Scarlett was already picking out the first present she wanted to open from under the Christmas tree. That damn tree, which all of us had painstakingly decorated a few weeks ago, had multiple mounds of wrapped boxes underneath. Most of them, unsurprisingly, were for my spoiled little sister.

"Do you want a coffee?" I asked Rose, seeing that she wasn't annoyed anymore.

"Sure, thanks." She flashed me a quick smile before returning to watching Scarlett sift through the ribboned piles and trading ideas with her over what could be in them.

I found mum and dad in the kitchen. Mum was setting about arranging a breakfast tray – complete with diced fruits, mini quiches, buttered croissants and pumpkin juice. I was a little surprised to see she was still in her silk pyjamas, but I figured that was a good thing: it meant she was comfortable with Rose seeing her like that. Usually nothing less than perfect was suitable when guests were present.

"Morning," I said to them as I went about the task of brewing fresh coffee.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Mum said. I ducked my head so she could kiss me on the cheek as she walked past with the tray.

"How did she find last night's festivities?" Dad asked, munching on a croissant with a glass of milk in hand.

"Slightly uncomfortable, but overall I think it quietened some of her misgivings," I said truthfully, knowing that he would understand and not get offended.

"I can't imagine how I would be feeling if I was in her shoes, I mean, I grew up knowing the difference between dessert spoon and soup spoon, but I think even I would feel intimidated with meeting the family for the first time." Dad looked vaguely interested, as if he was really trying to imagine himself in Rose's position.

"I don't even know the difference between those spoons, I always ignore them when Grandmother comes over and insists Mum use them," I said. Dad snorted and left to join the others.

As I waited for the coffee to heat, I stared off out the kitchen window. The winter wonderland from last night was still there, but looked decidedly less romantic than it had the night before with Rose.

I couldn't help but remember the nervous look that had been on her face when I gave her the bracelet. Of course I knew she loved it – she said as much herself – but I wondered if perhaps it was too much. Or maybe she had been expecting something different? I frowned as I poured coffee into two mugs.

I'd never really thought seriously about marriage before, it had always been something that was arranged in my family, although mum and dad would never try forcing that on me, or Scarlett. And even though it had worked out the best for them, arranged marriages weren't about love.

I loved Rose, that much was obvious, but could I see myself marrying her?

"Scorp?" I jumped slightly and turned to see Rose poking her head around the door frame. "Scarlett's getting impatient because she wants to open presents but your mum says to wait for you." She smiled, her eyes crinkling slightly and looking more beautiful than I had ever seen her.

It was in that moment that I could definitely see myself being with her for the rest of my life. I just wasn't sure if she felt the same.

I forced a laugh and passed her her coffee. "I'm coming now."