New Year's Eve... it was New Year's Eve. On this day for the last few years I had met up with some of my Slytherin friends in Hogsmeade and we had set off fireworks and there was no doubt that they would be doing that this year again but without me. I was stuck in the school, spending my new years with a bunch of teachers and students I didn't know... and Rose.

It had been a few days since mine and Rose's unfortunate encounter with Peeves and things had been... well, they'd been quite awkward to say the least. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to her and it was obvious that she felt the same. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Peeves had not interrupted us. Would we have ended up kissing? Maybe it would have turned into something more, I would never know; I didn't have a time-turner, I couldn't go back and somehow distract Peeves so I could find out what would have happened – but then that would create a paradox. If I were to go back in time and distract Peeves to stop him from interrupting Rose and I then something might have happened and I would not therefore need to go back in time to distract Peeves. I may have been overthinking things but I was confused.

I had given her back her hoodie and her book that she had forgotten when running out of the common room the day after, but that was it really. We hadn't spoken and she had gone back to the Gryffindor common room and stayed there for the following few days, only coming out for dinner and even then she would sit away from me at the table. Was she embarrassed? I didn't know, but it was really bothering me. I missed her, and I didn't like it.

For breakfast, I sat with the other Slytherin students as they discussed chess and Quidditch and their OWL exams, occasionally I would give a few tips about how to get through their exams productively but otherwise I stayed quiet. The Professors sat at their table at the head of the hall discussing the evening's festivities, which I could not hear any specifics about. Professor Vector, the Arithmancy teacher stood up when all the students were present and walked over to the phoenix podium that stood tall over rest of the hall.

"Students..." He started. "We understand that for most of you, New Year's at school is not your idea of fun, but tonight at 6pm there will be a feast for us all, followed by fireworks in the courtyard to celebrate." He explained. "On behalf of all of us professors, we wish you a very happy new year." Professor Vector finished and then sat back down beside the rest of the teachers. I couldn't stop myself from looking over at Rose throughout the whole of breakfast, and I saw her occasionally glance up to look at me too. I'd smile and she would smile, but that would be it.

After spending my day in the common room, studying and writing to my father regarding my mother's funeral and wishing him a happy new year, I got dressed into some smart casual attire; a silvery-grey sweater and a white shirt and my favourite pair of ripped jeans. I headed down to the Great Hall to join the rest of the left-behinds (which I had decided to now call them for the rest of the holidays) and the Professors for the feast. This time, I was about half an hour early and the only people there were the Professors and the only Ravenclaw who had stayed at school. Merlin knows what she had been doing in that common room all alone all this time – probably studying like the rest of us... or singing at the top of her lungs.

Gradually the rest of the students filtered in to join us for the feast. When Rose and her brother walked in, I waved my hand and after a brief mumble to her brother, she walked over to me and sat opposite me at the table whilst Hugo sat with the Hufflepuff girls. The feast began with a mighty wave of Professor Flitwick's wand and all the food appeared in front of us – far too much for everyone but nevertheless, I wasn't going to complain. Taking some food onto my plate, I started to eat, looking up at Rose occasionally.

"So..." I said, mentally slapping myself for the pathetic attempt at conversation-making.

"So..." She mimicked, taking a bite out of her food.

"How've you been?" I asked, taking a bite out of my dinner.

"Not bad... Did you talk to your dad about making your speech?" I nodded.

"Yeah. He said that mother would have liked it. I wrote it out again and sent it to him this evening but obviously I haven't had a response yet. Not sure whether he'd want me to change or not."

"You shouldn't change it. It was great the way it was." Rose said, smiling at me a little, taking a sip of her drink.

"Thanks." After a few moments of silence I asked "Are you going to watch the fireworks tonight?"

"I was planning to, why?"

"I was going to go to the owlery to watch, thought we could watch them together." I suggested with a shrug.

"That's not a bad idea... yeah, I'd like that." She said. The awkwardness that had originally been present seemed to subside after a little while of us chatting about NEWTs and various students in our school year; such as Albus and his obvious crush on a Ravenclaw girl that he had worked with in Potions last year.

After the meal, everyone stayed in the Great Hall chatting to one another for hours longer. I spoke to Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors that I had never even seen and might have even picked on once or twice and I was actually enjoying myself. We were laughing and having fun. I had gotten over my period of mourning my mother – of course, I was still sad. I knew that sadness wouldn't go away that quickly, but I had stopped crying, I could sleep more and I was learning to accept the idea that she wouldn't be at home when I got there the next time.

At 11pm, some students had decided to go out to the courtyard already, some had gone to bed instead of waiting up and others were still hanging out in the Great Hall. Rose and I left to go to the owlery at this time.

When we arrived, I helped Rose up the icy stairs, taking hold of her hand and guiding her slowly until we reached the top. It was a cold night, but clear, so the fireworks would be no problem to see. There weren't many owls in the owlery, but when we entered the echoing of cooing filled the place. I walked over to the large archway that stood beside all the little owl ledges and leaned on the wall, looking out at the castle. Rose walked over next to me and stood looking in the distance. I turned to her, noticing just how much effort she'd actually put in to how she looked tonight. She was wearing make-up, but not an overwhelming amount, what looked like just a bit of lip gloss and she'd obviously spent a lot of time calming her frizzy hair and straightening it. I couldn't tell which style I preferred, her natural or this, but I had to admit – she looked pretty damn good.

"You look really beautiful tonight by the way." I told her, turning away to look back at the castle, waiting for the fireworks.

"Thank you." She said, her voice sounding innocent and nervous. I stared at the castle, waiting anxiously for the first firework to fly up and into the sky and explode. Professor Vector had later told us that the first firework would signify midnight, and since I had no way of telling the time up here in the owlery, I was counting on that being correct.

"I'm sorry... about the other day." I finally said. "About Peeves and about everything."

"Why? It wasn't your fault." She replied, standing a little closer to me.

"Well yeah but... I mean... You didn't even want to come to the common room anyway, I basically forced you down there and I could tell you weren't comfortable with it."

"Scorpius, I liked it, really..." She said, taking my hand in hers and I looked across at her, biting my bottom lip anxiously. She turned to look back out at the horizon. "What's that?" She said, pointing over to something that looked like it was flying towards us.

I squinted, trying to get a good look, but couldn't because of how dark it was. "Probably just a couple of owls or something." I said with a shrug. Just then, without warning a spark flew up out of the courtyard and into the air, exploding in the sky and radiating different colours. Suddenly dozens were let off and they seemed to continue forever.

"Happy New Year Scorpius..." Rose said, squeezing my hand and smiling at me. I turned to look away from the fireworks and back at her.

"Happy New Year..." I said, smiling back.

A few moments of watching the fireworks past and they were still going on. "Did you know-" Rose started. "There's actually a tradition for New Year's..."

Then, when I turned to look at her, I felt her lips crash against mine. My stomach turned, my eyes were wide and I was a little taken aback, but it didn't take long for me to melt into it. Her lips melded with mine and I took her in my arms, wrapping them around her waist and picking her up slightly to help her gain some height. Her hands wrapped around my neck and I held her close to me, pressing my chest against hers as our lips fit together. This kiss was more than I could have imagined it to be... it was as though something I had dreamt of for so long was finally coming true, even though the only time I had thought about kissing this girl was back in the common room and a few times after. The fireworks in the backdrop of our kiss seem to continue for as long as we did.

Suddenly while we stood there together, our hearts beating as one, there was an intense, roaring explosion. When we heard that, the two of us turned quickly to look out of the archway, breaking our kiss. It wasn't a firework; it was too loud and too violent for a firework. I looked out at the castle and a furious cloud of black smoke smothered the clock tower at the entrance to the school, not too far from the Courtyard in the distance and we felt the owlery shake beneath our feet. I held onto Rose tight as I watched three figures flying away in the distance. Rose was in shock, I was confused and the castle entrance was in ruins.

We had been attacked.