"Everything looks good." Rose held out Jenna's ink covered parchment.
"Yes… The weekend!" Jenna snatched the translation from Rose's hand and placed it with her books already in her bag. "Coming up?"
"In a minute. I'll see you upstairs." Jenna rose from her chair, buoyant, and drifted to the girls' dormitories. For the most part the common room was empty as students, like Jenna, finished for the night. It was almost nine when Lily walked into the common room. She made her way with decisive footsteps until she stopped in front of Rose.
"Hey Lily---"
"Rose, Scorpius wants to see you."
Rose bolted up straight, releasing the handle of her bag. "What?" she said. "Why would he want to see me this late? It's almost curfew! He won't make it back to his common room in time; what if Filch catches him?"
"I don't know Rose. Maybe you should see him and ask?" Without answering, Rose got up from her chair and hurried to the portrait hole, stirring a burst of air in the process and scattering her homework on the floor. "Oh Rose," Lily said as she picked up her cousin's papers. She straightened the pile of homework and slid it inside the bag, carrying it upstairs to leave with Jenna.
Rose found him at the bottom of the staircase leading to Gryffindor tower, leaning against the wall. He stood when he saw the frenzied girl approach him. "Scorpius!" she called, nearing a yell. "Why are you---"
"Calm down, you'll wake the whole castle." His smile made her want to shake him.
"What are you doing here?" Rose strained a loud whisper. "It's almost nine! What if you're caught---"
"You still came."
"Of course I came!" she snapped. What an idiot! "You know, it's not like you're forbidden to come to our common room. You could have followed Lily without her having to report your silly message."
When Rose drew in a breath, Scorpius replied, "Well, I wanted to ask you something---"
"You could have asked me in the common room!"
"---alone." He waited for her to let what he said sink in.
… Alone? she thought. Alone? Why would he want to see me alone? She repeated her thoughts out loud. "Alone?" She heard herself repeat the word softly. It seemed much louder in her head.
"Yes." He stood there seeming uptight, his eyes looking around as if searching for something to say.
Rose, hoping that awful caretaker was asleep or something, asked, "Well, are you going to ask me… whatever you were going to ask me?"
Scorpius loosened up as he saw her confused expression. Chuckling, he started. "I was wondering… Well, Hogsmeade weekend is coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."
She was taken off guard. He couldn't wait until morning for this? Well, it's not like I have any plans for next weekend. "Um, yeah. Sure, I'll go."
"Right. I'll just find you in the Great Hall before we set off."
"Okay." Did he really have to do this now? It's not until next Saturday... She remembered what time it was and panicked. "Scorpius, you should be in your common room, Filch will be slinking through the corridors!"
"Rose, I know that. You don't need to remind me. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." He disappeared with a wave and made his way silently down the staircases. Oh, please don't run into Filch… or worse, Peeves. She ran back to the portrait hole where the Fat Lady let her in, hearing her mutter, "Some things never change," before closing. Silently, she walked up the girls' staircase and opened the fourth year dormitory to find Jenna awake.
"Hey. Lily left your bag for you."
"Oh! I totally forgot."
Jenna handed her the bag laden with school work. As Rose changed for bed, Jenna asked her friend, "So what did Malfoy want?"
"What?" she said, fitting an arm through her gown.
"Scorpius. Lily said he wanted you."
"Oh, it was nothing."
"Nothing is still something. What did he want?"
"Stop being nosy and go to sleep." Rose pulled the curtains over her best friend's four-poster bed. She made her way to the bathroom and brushed her teeth followed shortly by flossing. (Her grandparents were quite insistent on dental hygiene.)
When she reached the edge of her bed, Rose heard Jenna say, "I'm asking you again in the morning." She didn't answer back. Rose pulled the blankets over and without another thought went to sleep.
AN: A bit shorter, but I think sufficient. Quite a bit of dialogue. Thank you guys for reading! :D