Hi everyone! I'd like to thank InSaNeAnNiE, bakemeapie, ErisedFeather and DaughterOfMorpheus123 for reviewing. Thanks so much! I'd also like to thank my beta rokslite. You're awesome! :D

When they returned to Hogwarts, they made their way up the steps. Rose grinned, linking their arms together, glad to be back.

Al and Scorp rolled their eyes over her head, but grinned at each other all the same.

The morning of Valentine's was met with heartfelt groans from Al and Scorp. The Great Hall was once more filled with the diabolical pink decorations of the previous year. Al and Scorp had their heads buried under the protection of their arms, ignoring all and sundry while Rose laughed cheerfully from her seat between them.

"You're both ridiculous," she said, shaking her head.

"How can you handle this much pink?" Al asked, spitting the word.

"I have more refined tastes than you, I suspect," she said, sending a wink his way.

She was still laughing cheerfully when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, smile still in place, to see a third year Ravenclaw smiling back at her.

"Happy Valentine's, Rose," he said, handing her a card. Her smile changed to a grin and she thanked him before turning forward to open it.

Al and Scorp simultaneously raised their heads, turning to glare at the interloper. His smile faltered as they didn't let up their scowls.

"I-I'll just be going, then," he said, turning and hurrying along to sit with his friends.

Easter holidays quickly came upon them. Scorp's father had allowed him to spend it at the Burrow since there wasn't much celebrations at his house for Easter.

On Easter Sunday morning, there was an egg-hunt that all the cousins participated in. Scorp was left roaming the grounds, searching for eggs that he couldn't seem to find.

Seeing a flash of colour from under a bush, he grinned, anticipating a big haul, scrambling on his knees to fit.

He was pleasantly surprised when he saw Rose there already, putting a cluster of colourfully wrapped eggs into her basket. In the tight confines of the space, she grinned at him,

"Hey egg-stealer, you're in my spot."

When their gazes locked, Scorp realised that they were only separated by a rather small space. His face flushed with colour as he scuttled out quickly.

Lily was all but crowing when she won the egg-hunt.

"She's such a little brown noser," Rose said with a good-natured smile, "She uses her 'cute factor' to get the adults to tell her the hiding spot."

Scorp snorted from where he stood next to her, watching Lily count her eggs again while Al covertly snuck a few into his pocket.

"Why don't you use yours? You have just as much. Maybe more," he said, unthinkingly and didn't notice Rose giving him a shocked look.

When they returned to Hogwarts, they immediately started studying for their upcoming exams.

Alice, who they hadn't seen much that year because of clashing classes, had joined them. They were all studying History of Magic, a particularly boring subject to Al and Scorp. Rose glanced up, grinning at Al as he sighed, and saw Alice eyeing Scorp suspiciously. Confused, she looked between them both. Scorp didn't seem to have noticed. Alice turned her gaze back to her textbook and with a quirked eyebrow, Rose returned to studying.

Five minutes later, Fletcher MacDougal, the Ravenclaw who had given her a Valentine's day card passed by the table and waved at her. She waved back, smiling, distractedly, before returning to her book.

She didn't see Scorp and Al glare at him.

The team frowned, lugging their brooms behind them as they went. They had lost the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match and they couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Next year," Gerald said, with a determined nod, "we'll get the cup for sure."

"We better," Al muttered and the trio glanced at each other, knowing they would be training hard that Summer.

"What have you decided to do for Third Year?" Rose asked, worriedly, nibbling on her thumb nail.

"Defence, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, History of Magic, Arithmacy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures," Scorp called out, ticking them off on his fingers before nodding.

Al glanced over quickly,

"Isn't that over the number we're supposed to select?"

"Yeah, but that's what I was asking Filtwick about yesterday morning. He said it's over the usual number, but not too much that they'll clash," Scorp said, yawning and leaning his head back against the sofa.

"Well, tell me them again then," Rose said, readying her quill to note them down.

"You're taking them with me?" Scorp asked, grinning at her. She rolled her eyes, gesturing to the quill and parchment,

"Obviously. This way we might have more career choices open to us, as well."

"Fill out my application will you, Rosie?" Al asked, scratching his head over the Potions homework he was doing.

She made a small non-committal noise as she waited for Scorp to start the list. He grinned at them both, glad he had such great friends.

Scorp was walking down to dinner, running a bit late, when he saw the idiot Third Year who had been flirting with Rose making his way to Dinner as well.

With a quiet mutter of words and a wave of his wand, he sent a Jelly-Legs Jinx his way.

Even as the git fell to the floor, his legs not able to support him, his friends rushing to help him, Scorp moved past them, a new, jaunty bounce in his step and a small grin on his face as he went unnoticed.

"I think I did better than you on that one, Rosie," Scorp said with a grin as they exited the exam room.

"You won't get extra points just because you think your table was softer than mine,"

"It was!"

"It was not! I'll have you know-"

"Will you two stop? You both did great!" Al said, fed up with the bickering.

"Alright there, Al?" Rose asked, worriedly. He usually didn't mind the good-natured banter.

"Yeah. But my Cushioning Charm didn't work how it was supposed to," he said with a pout.

Rose and Scorp grinned at each other.

"Did you sit on it?" she asked.

"No," he muttered, frowning.

"Then how do you know?" she asked, pulling him into a one-armed hug. He huffed out an irritated breath but allowed the hug.

"And you think we're bad," she said, rolling her eyes.

Exams were finally done and the trio could be found under their tree, relaxing.

"Can you believe that the year's over already?" Al asked, staring up at the clouds floating overhead.

"I didn't think time could pass by so quickly," Rose said with a yawn, lying on the ground next to him.

"Did you see James and Fred transfigure that toilet?" Scorp asked with a snicker from Rose's other side.

As he and Rose dissolved into giggles, Al muttered on about "irresponsibility" and "crude humour."

"Oh please, Al. You would have laughed if it wasn't James who did it," Rose said, nudging him with her elbow.

"Be that as it may, he's still a git," Al said, indignantly.

Rose and Scorp hummed their agreement before Rose pointed upwards, excitedly.

"That's a heart! Do you see it?"

"I see a rabid bunny rabbit," Al said, tilting his head slightly.

"And I see Albus Dumbledore," Scorp muttered. Al and Rose turned to him, eye-brows raised before they began tilting their head at all angles trying to see what Scorp had.

The first few weeks of Summer vacation were designated to Rose's house. They had made a schedule and posted it to their parents.

Ron greeted Scorpius with little or no enthusiasm but with a considerable lack of the usual vindictiveness. Scorp knew that he probably had Hermione to thank for that as she hugged them all and led them to the car.

While Rose's parents were at work, they decided to practice Quidditch for a big majority of their stay at her house.

The three of them seemed to be getting considerably better at their techniques and congratulated each other heartily.

One afternoon, after a long and tiring match, they lay splayed on the ground, exhausted.

"Can you imagine if Lynch works us like this next year?" Rose asked, shaking her head, praying that he wouldn't.

As Rose tried to catch her breath, Al noticed that Scorp was staring at her.

Frowning for a moment, he smiled a second later, figuring that Scorp was probably hoping Rose hadn't jinxed them with her statement.

At the end of Summer, Al and Rose were staying at the Malfoy's before they had to return to school.

They had long since finished their homework and so, spent the majority of their time perusing the vast library.

Scorp's dad obviously had a great affection for books as well, since he had quite a collection. His books were well cared for and charmed to keep them in mint condition.

The library was a large room with every inch of the walls covered in shelves, holding books. Smaller shelves were littered around the room and squashy armchairs and sofas had a place in the centre of the room under an ornate chandelier.

"I love it here," Rose said, grinning at the room, spinning to take it all in, as if finding a new home.

Scorp chuckled a little.

"Me too. This is my favourite room in the house," he said, grinning.

"Aren't your parents around?" Al asked from where he was perusing a shelf.

"No, they're usually busy with work. They make it back in time for dinner, but even then, sometimes they don't. Dad works in the Ministry. Department of Magical Games and Sports, so he's always travelling for games. Mum goes with him most of the time," he said with a shrug.

"Don't you get lonely?" Al asked, frowning over at him. Scorp shrugged.

"Not really. I'm used to it."

Rose glanced at Al and they shared a concerned look before going back to perusing the books.

"Look at this! It's a whole section of books by Horatius Bertrand! He's my favourite!" Rose said, excitedly. Scorp immediately grinned and made his way over.

"That's my section. He's my favourite as well," he said.

"You're both a couple of pansies. Prudence Pepherell is where the real action is. Her books are bloody brilliant."

Scorp rolled his eyes, walking back to where Al was.

"They only way Prudence Pepherell could be better than Horatius Bertrand is if she took an Unbreakable Vow to stop writing."

Al gaped at his gall before saying,

"Horatius Bertrand is full of nonsense. The only way anyone can get through it is if they have the mind of a buffoon! Which is probably why you favour him," he added, with a smirk.

"I prefer to read nonsense rather than be bored out of my mind by-"

Scorp was stopped short as Rose made her way over and slapped them both across their heads. Rubbing their injuries, they pouted and went back to their respective shelves, glaring at each other, covertly.

Dinner with the Malfoys, according to Rose, was always an ordeal. Al couldn't help but agree. He didn't know why, but Scorp's dad never stopped glaring at Rose.

Every time Al had brought it up with Scorp, he had brushed it off, but had looked extremely embarrassed.

Could there be some kind of grudge that was worse than the one Draco Malfoy held against Harry Potter? Was that why Uncle Ron hated Scorp so much?

Al shook his head as he noticed Draco giving Rose another cold look. His cousin, very unused to being disliked by anyone, was frowning down at her meal. Al noticed Scorp glance at her, worriedly, but he didn't say anything.

Scorp's mother tried to make up for it with trivial, happy chatter, but even she couldn't break the tension that was caused by her husband.

Rose smiled tightly when she was addressed, but didn't eat much and always excused herself rather quickly.

On this particular night, Rose had left quite early, not touching her food. After dinner, Al made his way upstairs with a couple of rolls tucked into his pockets. He knocked on her door and entered when she called out that he could.

He threw the rolls at her and she caught them with a small grin, dropping the book she had been reading onto the bed.

"Well if it isn't my favourite cousin?"

"Oh, so I'm your favourite cousin when I bear gifts, then?"

She winked at him and when she went back to reading, he saw her smile falter.

"I'm sure he doesn't mean to be so rude, Rosie," Al whispered.

"I'm actually pretty sure that he does," she corrected him. There was another knock on the door and Al opened it to let Scorp in. He was carrying a plate of food and Rose smiled at him.

"I'm fine," she said. Al watched as Scorp surveyed the rolls next to her. He glanced at Al and said,

"Thanks," in a soft voice. Al nodded and they joined Rose on the bed to raid her books.

Al heartily dug into the plate of food, making Scorp and Rose shake their heads at him. As he heard Scorpius ask her if they could talk, he made a quick excuse and hurried to his own room.

"Listen, Rose, I'm sorry," Scorp said as the door closed behind Al.

"For what?" she asked with a small, faltering smile as she kept her eyes glued, unmoving, on the page of her book.

"You know for what. He's acting like a right git. I spoke to him and-"

"You didn't have to," she said, brows furrowed, "He didn't do anything! I'm just being silly-"

"No you're not," Scorp said, interrupting her, "He admitted that he shouldn't have acted the way he did."

"Scorp, it's fine," she said, reaching out to rest her hand on his own.

"It's not. You're here as my guest and he was hurting your feelings," he said, shaking his head.

"No he wasn't-"

"Don't lie, Rosie. You were about to cry," he whispered, knowing that she wouldn't readily admit it.

"I wasn't-" she said, already getting upset.

"Rosie," he said, softly. She stopped talking and frowned down at her book.

"It wasn't necessary," she said, snappishly now, "I could have handled it on my own."

Knowing her well, he lay his head back against the pillow next to her and said,

"I just thought it was the least I could do after you ran so much interference when your dad wanted to kill me."

That made her lips quirk in a smile and he knew he had her.

"Come on, Rosie. Say thank you."

"I will not," she said, primly, lifting her book up to her face, hiding her grin.

"Didn't you learn manners? When someone does something nice for you, what do you say?"

"If it was unwarranted, you don't have to say anything."

He tsked at her.

"Your mum would be right disappointed, Rosie."

"My mum is the one who taught me to deal with my own problems."

He heard the smile disappearing and cursed himself.

"Everyone needs help sometime," he said softly.

He watched as she lowered the book and looked him in the eye.

"Thank you," she said softly, genuinely.

He grinned at her, shrugging.

"Least I could do. Next time your dad wants to curse my bits into dust, I'd appreciate your assistance as well."

They dissolved into laughter.

I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing! You guys are great! :D