A/N: I know this is super long but I just couldn't figure out which conversations to cut out! I just loved writing about the family at the Burrow way too much :). Once again, thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Keep it coming, of course :P! You-all make me smile!

"Seriously? Seriously? Is he serious?" Louis asked as Al nodded for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Louis turned to Scorpius, "you and Rose, seriously?"

Scorpius gave him an exaggerated eye roll, "yes, seriously, we are friends with benefits but I think I may be falling for her. Can you pull your shit together before we walk into the Burrow?"

Louis ignored Scorpius's question turning to Al. "And you, you walked in on them? Seriously?" Louis asked and Al nodded again.

Louis stopped in his tracks. Both Al and Scorpius took deep breaths before turning toward him. "How long?" Louis demanded.

Scorpius stared at his shoes trying to find a way to avoid the question. "What day is it?" he asked trying to buy time.

"My birthday. Saturday. You imbecile," Louis responded hotly.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Just one... month."

"A month? You've been shagging my cousin for a fucking month?!" Louis darted his gaze between Scorpius and Al. "Why did neither of you tell me?"

"Because you're a training to be a mediwizard and you barely see the light of day," Al responded.

"I also didn't want to get punched in the face," Scorpius added with a shrug. "By the way, Al drank your gift when he found out."

"What the bloody hell, man! I should punch you in your face," Louis yelled at Al.

"Wait. You just found out that this arsehole has been shagging your cousin, no commitment whatsoever, and I'm the one you want to punch in the face? For drinking your bloody whisky?"

"This arse also saved my cousin's life so I can't punch him. Did you buy me a new bottle of whisky?"

Al rolled his eyes and continued up the hill making his way to the Burrow while Scorpius and Louis hurried after him.

Just before reaching the front door, Louis turned to Scorpius again, "you gonna tell her about your feelings?"

Scorpius exhaled, "I don't know, maybe if it feels right but I don't have a plan."

"I'm not exactly a fan of you being this friendly with my cousin with no strings so I vote you do it," Louis stated matter-of-factly.

"Me too!" Al agreed.

"Bloke, you have no room to talk. You and Ali have been 'not dating' for like two years!" Louis retorted.

Al muttered under his breath as Scorpius laughed.

A minute later, Scorpius followed Al and Louis into the Burrow and was greeted with the intoxicating smells of Molly Weasley's cooking. When he walked in, Scorpius was immediately accosted by a countless number of people he considered to be his extended family. He found himself blushing deeply as there were a lot of thank yous, hugs, and pats on the back for saving Rose from demontors.

Over the past ten years, the Burrow had become Scorpius's home away from home. It was so different from the Astoria Malfoy style of decorating. Scorpius's mum chose to decorate each room of the Malfoy home with leather pieces, woods, and maybe one or two accent colors. The Burrow was cozy with a wide assortment of furnishings and trappings in different colors and styles. Each room always looked like it was bursting at the seams given the countless number of expansion spells Molly had to place to fit the Weasleys, the Potters, and friends of the families.

Scorpius located Louis and Al again in the living room and handed Louis an envelope. "Before I forget mate, this is from me and Al. Happy Birthday!"

Louis grinned at Scorpius and Al, "thanks guys!"

Scorpius and Al were talking to Louis about the demanding hours of his mediwizard training when she walked in with Dom and Lily. Rose had her hair in a messy side french braid that hung over her right shoulder. She was wearing a short ocean blue dress with spaghetti straps. Scorpius couldn't help but notice how much the dress brought out her eyes. He knew he was staring but Scorpius couldn't help himself.

"Hi," Rose said grinning at him and breaking his reverie.

"Hello," he responded. He forced himself to give her a quick, strictly platonic hug that probably looked extremely awkward to anyone watching.

He still stared as she conversed with Dom and Al about choosing a destination for her vacation. As he watched her laughing at a joke that Al made about French cuisine, he smiled. He really couldn't get enough of that laugh... "Ow!"

Something poked him hard. He looked down to see Lily staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Oi, Lily, what's up?"

"If you were ten times less obvious, you would still be too obvious," Lily whispered.

Scorpius shook his head. "Right... so I think I'm going to get some fresh air," he muttered.

"Yea, you do that, buddy."

Scorpius made his way to the backyard where a few members of the party were chatting. He listened half-heartedly as Fred and James discussed new product ideas for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. While Fred was explaining the intricate magic behind a joke potion that turned its victim's hair lime green, Scorpius felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Walk with me Scorpius." He turned around to see Ron staring at him.

"Sure, sir - er, Ron."

Scorpius's stomach dropped as Ron led them away from the rest of the party.

"Scorpius. You know how that Logan arsehole hurt my Rosie."

Scorpius's hands reflexively balled up into fists. "Yes, I met him and I know about what he did."

"Watching your daughter get hurt is one of the hardest things a father goes through. I'm sure you can imagine what I wanted to do to him. It took all the self-control I had not to hunt him down and use every Unforgivable on him," Ron said his devoid of emotion.

Scorpius's breath caught in his throat as Ron continued, "Scorpius, I like you. You're respectful, hard-working, brave. You've surprised me over the years, in a good way."

"Wow, thank you, that actually..."

Ron continued as if he didn't say anything, "I want my Rosie to be happy but you need to know something. I have zero self-control left when it comes to seeing my daughter get hurt. Do you understand me?" Ron asked his eyes boring into Scorpius's.

Scorpius gulped before nodding his head and stating, "I do understand. Sir, Rose and I are not..."

"I'm not drunk enough to hear about my daughter's relationship with you. Anyway, congratulations, 'Arry and I have decided that you and Al will start training to be Hit Wizards next month."

Scorpius's eyes widened. His mouth opened and closed a few times but words wouldn't come out. After thirty seconds of silence, Ron shrugged and stated, "you'll be learning some pretty difficult techniques involving more complex defensive charms and counter-curses. The training is grueling but it's designed to help you tap into some pretty powerful magic."

Ron shook Scorpius's hand as Scorpius finally found his voice, "thank you, wow, I won't let you down."

Ron then crossed his arms and muttered, "I like to tell trainees to bring a special memento. Keeping it close will help you keep a strong mind when you're trying to master something difficult like fending off dark arts interrogation tactics."

"A memento, like what?" Scorpius asked slowly.

Ron pulled out a watch from his pocket. "This is a muggle watch that Hermione got me when I proposed," Ron was smiling at the memory. "When I pulled out the engagement ring, of course, she didn't go easy on me. She said that she couldn't be 'bribed' into marrying me and insisted that she give me this watch in return. I keep it with me when I go on missions. It helps just having it in my pocket."

Scorpius sighed as he thought about his last real 'relationship.' It was a witch supermodel that he wasn't even remotely in love with. In fact, they quickly broke up after she demanded he stop seeing so much of... Rose.

Scorpius blinked his eyes clearing his head. He responded, "that's brilliant, but I'm not in love with anyone. I don't know if I can find something like that before training starts."

Ron looked at Scorpius with wide eyes and then suddenly started laughing. He patted Scorpius on the back. "You don't need it! No rush to fall in love either, ay?!" Ron turned back to the party and ran off shouting, "ARRY, ARRY! Guess what the Malfoy boy just said!"

Scorpius looked at Ron's retreating back with raised eyebrows. Scorpius knew he had pretty strong feelings for Rose, but love? They hadn't even been on a proper date yet! Maybe Ron was acting strangely because he had assumed they were secretly dating, Scorpius reasoned. He thanked Merlin Ron didn't know the actual terms of their arrangement.

As Scorpius walked inside his thoughts about his conversation with Ron were soon interrupted as Louis came sprinting toward him grinning and waving the envelope that Scorpius had given him earlier. "Front row center tickets for the Wacky Wasted Wizards concert! How did you even get these?! This is INSANE!"

"Of course, man, Al and I knew you really wanted them," Scorpius responded while grinning.

"This bloke actually made us wait in line instead of just asking his dad," Al added while shaking his head disapprovingly.

Lily approached Al and Scorpius with her hands on her hips while pouting. "Remember when I asked for the same tickets for my birthday?"

Al folded his arms, "yea, and I told Scorpius not to get them for you because your motives are inappropriate. I won't have a hand in my sister dating a..."

"DINNER!" Grandma Molly yelled.

A stampede of more than thirty people made their way to the expanded dining table at the heart of the Burrow home. Scorpius positioned himself between Al and Louis and across from James. Scorpius relaxed as he made easy conversation about work, quidditch, and the WWW concert.

As the party began eating Louis's birthday cake, Grandma Molly commented, "Rosie, there's something different about you. What's going on?"

Scorpius tensed up and focused on a sprinkle on his piece of cake. Al nudged him with his elbow. While Scorpius could tell that Ron knew something was happening, he didn't want to confirm Ron's suspicions anymore than necessary or deal with Rose's male relatives that didn't know yet. They might actually punch him in the face.

"What do you mean, Grandma?" Rose asked.

"You seem happier, less tense sweetheart."

"I took a weekend off, a couple of weeks ago. It was very relaxing."

"Oh is that it, honey?"

"Yea, I think so, Grandma."

"When has our little Rosie Posie ever been happy about not doing work?" James joked. "I think Rosie has got a new boy toy!"

"Rose, you're turning a beautiful shade of red. Who's the guy?" asked Hugo squinting at her.

Ron glanced at Scorpius before coughing and commenting, "Rosie, I don't think you should start dating again until you're thirty-five at least, maybe even forty."

"Oh really, Ronald? When did you and Hermione start dating?" Ginny teased.

Ron grunted, "it was a different time, Ginevra, I was wise beyond my years." The entire table erupted into laughter.

"'Mione back me up on this," Ron pleaded.

Scorpius looked up to see Hermione's mum shrug and say, "she's an adult, Ronald. Rose should do whatever makes her happy."

"I agree with Aunt Hermione," Lucy quickly chimed in while glaring at her father.

Rose smiled as Ron and Percy rolled their eyes. "Thanks mum, and if everyone must know, I'm not dating anyone."

Al started choking and Rose glared at him.

Harry laughed, "smaller bites, son!"

After dinner, the parents headed to their respective houses and the rest of the party headed toward the abandoned barn by the Burrow. As Scorpius walked with the group, he was determined not to stare at Rose. As he was studying a particularly interesting piece of grass, he heard a voice near him.

"Ahhh, I get it now."

He looked up and responded, "oh hey Hugo, sorry I didn't notice you there. What do you get?"

Hugo shrugged and nonchalantly stated, "that you're in love with my sister. I've been trying to figure out what's going on with her and now I see it. It's you."

Scorpius cleared his throat, "Hugo, I wouldn't say I'm in love with your sis.. I mean not that your sister isn't someone to be in love with... we are just not... I mean we are not dating or anything. I'm sorry, this must be really weird for you. I don't plan..."

Hugo started laughing. "You don't have to worry about me, mate. The last time I tried to defend my sister's honor, I ended up in a broom cupboard for a couple of hours. She put me there, not the guy."

"So you're okay with whatever might be happening between us?"

"Of course not! Are you mental? She's my sister. But I do know that I haven't seen her this happy in awhile. So if whatever you two are doing or not doing is making her happy, I can live with it and stay out of broom cupboards." Hugo smiled before turning toward the group, "Louis, did you bring the hack-kee-sock?"

As Hugo walked away, Scorpius allowed himself to look at Rose again. He watched as the sunlight from the setting sun danced with the strands of her hair. His heart beat faster as her lips parted into a huge grin as Lily, Al, and James bickered about Lily's love life. His palms felt sweaty as he noticed the twinkle in her eyes as she laughed. Shit, he thought to himself, I'm in love with Rose Weasley.

He looked around to make sure that no one knew the crisis that was going on in his head. He realized that they were at the barn already.

"Guys," Lily pleaded as she looked around the dirty barn, "why are we here?"

Louis looked offended as he held a hand to his heart, "because it's my birthday! You used to love coming to parties here."

"Yea," Fred added, "we would have the best raves here, Lils! What's wrong with you?"

"We are ALL old enough to drink now, why don't we go to a bar or something? Somewhere less dusty," Lily suggested as she cleaned off a wooden box with her wand and sat down.

"The girl makes a couple of death-defying quidditch dives, ends up in the Sports section of the Prophet every week, and suddenly she's too good for the Chateau Barn?" Teddy quipped.

Lily rolled her eyes before joining Hugo in a game of hacky sack.

As the crew then argued about whether to play night quidditch or set off fireworks, Scorpius grabbed a butterbeer from a levitating cooler and walked up the creaky wooden steps of the barn. He settled on the top floor where there was a large square opening in the wall overlooking the miles of fields in Devon, England and the sunset. As he watched blue, purple, red, and yellow blend together in the sky, he thought about whether he should reveal his feelings to Rose.

As he considered her potential reactions, her voice broke through his thoughts.

"Way to ignore me for the whole day," Rose lightly chided.

Scorpius looked up toward her from where he was sitting. His heart skipped a beat as she gave him a seductive smirk. Scorpius rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Lily told me I was being obvious so I was trying to be less obvious," he explained.

"Right because not talking to or looking at one of your best friends for a couple of hours is totally normal."

He gave her a weak smile as she sat down next to him. He forced himself to control his breathing as he inhaled her vanilla scent.

He took a deep breath, "listen, Rose, I wanted to talk..."

Rose's eyes widened and she cut him off, "Scor, I know my family, especially the men, can be a lot to handle." She held his hand, "but before you say anything, I want you to know that our arrangement has made me really happy. I know that this can't last for long, especially since Astoria will insist that you get married and have kids soon," Rose forced a laugh as Scorpius looked away from her missing the flash of pain in her eyes. "But I want you to know," she continued, "that this has been everything I've needed to be happy and to just have fun again." Rose exhaled and gave him a shy smile.

As their eyes met again, Scorpius remembered one of her rules when they started this whole friends with benefits thing: any serious feelings and we end it and go back to just friends. Scorpius was certain he didn't want to be "just friends." As his fingers absentmindedly made small circles on her leg, he made the decision to suppress his feelings even if that meant he was being a coward.

He forced himself to smile. "Rose, I'm really happy with what we're doing too."

She gave him a genuine smile and rested her head against him. "Good," she whispered.

As Scorpius ignored the feelings of guilt from lying to his best friend and first real love, he thought back to something that Ron said.

"Hey Rose, remember that friendship bracelet you made me when were eleven?"

Rose laughed heartily. "You mean the one that I tried to give you our first week of school but you refused to take it because 'one, Malfoys don't wear cheap jewelry and two, we're NOT friends, Weasley!'" Rose stated mocking a young Scorpius.

Scorpius winced and blushed with embarrassment thinking about what a menace he was when a young, determined Rose was only trying to be nice to him. "Do you still have it?" he asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Of course, I do! That hemp bracelet is a masterpiece. I didn't even use magic to make it," she boasted proudly.

Scorpius looked down at her smiling back and wrapped his arms around her waist. He brought her into his lap and gently kissed the top of her head.

"Can I have it?"