Hey all! Sorry for not posting in a while, I've been ill :( Well here it is, hope it's worth the wait!

Chapter ten - halloween

SPOV:

The past few weeks have been the most confusing weeks of my life. I started off the year on the brink of depression. I felt like nothing mattered and I had no direction in life...and then Rose came along, like a beacon of hope.

I was starting to realise that I really looked forward to the rounds and even the detentions - just so that I could spend more time with her. Then one drunken night almost ruined everything. I was sitting in the comfortable leather sofa in the common room. Everyone had gone up to bed. My head was in my hands. I ran my fingers through my hair, and I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach as I remembered her own fingers doing the same thing, her hot breath against my mouth, her warm body against mine...but it was inappropriate. It was too soon - even if it was bound to happen.

And SHE'S A WEASLEY.

My father would never forgive me for this. But a part of me could not care less. "I wish he could see how spectacular she really is I thought. I groaned. "I'm acting like she feels the same way - I HAVE to get a hold of myself! ... but she did return the kiss... and she looked GUILTY not disgusted..." I let my train of thoughts consume me, I wasn't fully sober yet and I couldn't focus...

"Scorpius?" said a tiny, high-pitched voice.

"Unh..." I opened my eyes and saw a small figure standing in front of me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Are you ok?" asked the little girl standing in front of me. She sounded a little intimidated.

"Uh... yeah, must've dosed off," I said flashing her a reassuring grin. I recognised her now. She was Elise Zabini, the youngest daughter of my father's friend. She was a first year.

She blushed and shyly smiled back, "Ok then," she mumbled uncertainly. She walked away and I saw an expression of pride on her face, like it was a huge accomplishment to have spoken to me. I chuckled quietly, went up to my dormitory and got ready for breakfast, glad that no one else apart from Elise was up yet.

As I was getting ready, I sighed. Unfortunately I remembered everything that had happened the previous night. And what was worse is that I had detention with Rose that very same day.

"Guess you'll have to buck up and apologise," I thought to myself, "Perhaps there's a tiny chance that everything will be ok." I hoped so. I really did. And I was lucky that there were so many opportunities to fix things with Rose.

"Look," I said, ready to deal with this as quickly as possible. I saw Rose inhale a sharp breath. "I'm sorry for my behaviour last night," I blurted, "unfortunately I wasn't drunk enough to forget what happened," I smiled uncertainly, feeling a blush creeping up.

Rose's response was extremely flustered and I couldn't help and think how adorable she is. If I was still drunk I would have probably given her a bear hug. "What on earth am I thinking," I scolded myself, trying to snap out of it.

The week passed uneventfully, although my relationship with Rose was steadily getting back to normal again. She was rather quiet and thoughtful all through that week. She wore the same face that she usually does during Charms lessons, when she's focussing on a spell Flitwick had assigned to us, most of the time, I observed.

Saturday dawned and I had plans to go to Hogsmeade with some of the Slytherins. I didn't feel like it much, but the chances of bumping into Rose, encouraged me to go.

We spent most of the morning browsing the shops. I noticed Austin being very nice to Alessia - offering to buy her things, and trying very hard to talk to her - and she played hard to get, being rather cold with him but I could see that she was loving the attention.

We entered a crowded Honeydukes. We were looking around browsing the shelves. I was suddenly feeling claustrophobic. People were shoving and pushing to get into the warm shop, and I quickly ducked out, feeling rather relieved that I had some time alone. I trudged down the road, and realised that I was looking inside all the shops, pubs and cafes, to perhaps catch site of her. And I did. She was sitting on her own in a corner, at the Three Broomsticks. Her gloved hands were holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and as she had been this past week, she looked like she was deep in thought. But this time it was different. She also looked sad.

I entered and looked around, none of her friends, or even Aidan was around, which was strange. I had an urge to go next to her, make sure she was ok, and I didn't resist it. I approached and stood infront of her, not exactly sure what to say. She looked up, her blue eyes got wider and her face seemed to light up a bit. My heart skipped a beat, and a blanket of warmness settled over me, as we started talking and laughing together. Later I decided that it was best to leave before my friends or her friends caught us together.

I cherished these moments that I spent with Rose. I was happy with her company, in a way that I never was with anyone else's.

The smell of pumpkin juice and roasted chicken enveloped me in its familiarity as I stepped into the Great Hall. With everything going on right now, I could really use a Halloween feast, just to relax and unwind… and of course eat. As soon as Alessia caught up to me, though, I could tell that I would not be able to have a moment of peace. "Great," I thought sarcastically, taking a seat at the Slytherin table.

"Scorpius! I'm so glad I found you! I just wanted to remind you that we have extra prefect rounds today… you know how everyone gets drunk today, so we have to patrol even more," she pouted sulkily, pursing her lips. I had completely forgotten! Still, I couldn't help but be a little excited… shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I turned to face Alessia.

"It's not that bad," I replied, taking a bite of steak and kidney pudding.

"Easy for you to say," she quipped. "You don't have to spend time with that nerd Albus. Seriously, he gets on my nerves. Although, I imagine Rose must be even worse, she seems like such a know-it-all." She patted my back reassuringly, but I quickly shoved her hand away.

"You don't even know her," I mumbled, surprising myself. Before Alessia could reply, Austin Erikson, the Slytherin keeper, gestured for me to come over to where he was sitting at the other end of the table. Silently thanking him, I took my plate and headed over there. I could feel Alessia's sharp glare on the back of my head, but honestly, I was glad to get away from her.

"Hey, thanks for saving me," I told Austin gratefully.

"Saving you? Dude, Alessia is totally into you, any guy would be glad to have her," Austin responded wistfully. Shaking my head, I dug into my food. "Anyways, I wanted to talk Quidditch strategy…" he continued, but I couldn't bring myself to focus on anything. I looked across the room, my eyes settling on Rose. She was talking animatedly to Masie at the Gryffindor table. As if sensing me looking at her, her gaze flickered on mine and she smiled, before returning to her conversation.

"Hey! Scorp!" Austin exclaimed, waving his hands in an irritated fashion. "Are you listening?"

"Yeah," I sighed. Returning my focus to Austin, I couldn't help but think of her smiling at me a few moments before. It was the kind of smile that wasn't fake or plastered on; it was a bit crooked, but it was genuine.

"You look like you could use a butterbeer… or maybe even some firewhiskey," Austin stated, finally realizing that I wasn't hearing a word he was saying. "Is something up? You're not usually the brooding type." Thinking back to the last time I got drunk, I decided it would be best not to accept his offer.

"No thanks," I muttered. "I've got prefect rounds later, I best not be drunk… and I'm not brooding, just thinking."

"Sure, well have fun at rounds," he said jokingly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love." I laughed, the hollow sound ringing in my ears.

"Time for rounds! Let's go!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing my arm and pulling me off my seat. I chuckled, starting to run to keep up with her.

"Someone's in a good mood!" I replied, a smile creeping up my face.

"Oh! Who me?" she replied cheerfully, skipping down the hallway. "It's Halloween! How could you not be happy?"

"Everyone else in the Great Hall seemed to be containing their giddiness pretty well, then. No one was skipping or anything," I joked. "Maybe it's only you?"

"No, definitely not. Everyone was just very good at containing themselves… or maybe it was just the butterbeer that everyone tends to drink around this time of year," she replied in a singsong voice. Her cheeks turned fiery red to match her hair, which flowed down her back. Suddenly realizing what she was thinking of, I felt myself blushing as well.

"Oh, erm, well, yeah, butterbeer tends to, erm, cloud judgement," I stuttered awkwardly, avoiding looking at her. She nodded, avoiding looking at me, the happy aura that was surrounding her just moments ago was disappearing. We walked in silence for the next few moments, both of us absorbed in our own thoughts. Suddenly I heard a loud crashing noise. Without hesitating, I ran down the corridor, hearing Rose's footsteps following closely behind. Rounding the corner, I nearly ran straight into none other than Aidan Finnigan. Seething hatred wormed its way through my veins, and I had to restrain myself from hurting him right then and there. The guy was just so annoying.

"Rose!" he exclaimed, stumbling over to her as soon as she appeared. "Why? Just tell me why! What did I do wrong?" He was obviously drunk which surprised me, as he wasn't really the drinking type. And guessing by the way he was walking and talking, he had definitely had more than a few butterbeers. Aidan worked his way over to her and attempted to hug her, but she untangled herself from his arms quickly.

"Here, lean on me, we've got to get you to Madam Pomfrey's," she muttered anxiously. "Hey, Scorpius, a little help here!" With Aidan leaning on us we headed to the nurse's room.

"I just don't understand!" he slurred, his volume rising. "You've changed! You used to be my sweet Rosie, and now I don't know what's happened!" She tried to soothe him, but he just wouldn't stop carrying on. His gaze turned towards me, and his face became contorted with rage. "This is your fault! You stole her from me!"

"If you're going to accuse me of something, please do it when you're sober," I replied calmly. Rose went into the Madam Pomfrey's office, where she deposited Aidan for the night.

"What was that all about?" I asked when she returned, genuinely interested. Something huge must've happened for Aidan to act like that; he was one of the most collected guys I knew.

"Oh… we broke up," she responded quickly, blushing again.

"He obviously isn't over you," I chuckled, feeling a rush of happiness.

"Erm, well I told him that I wanted to be friends, but I don't think he's taking it too well," she stated guiltily. She still cared about his feelings, that was clear as crystal.

"You can't tell a guy that, Rose, especially if he loves, erm cares for you, as much as Aidan apparently does," I advised her. WHY DO THESE WORDS KEEP COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH? Her blue eyes filled with tears for a few brief seconds, but when I looked again, the tears were gone.

"Wow, whoever knew that Scorpius Malfoy had a sensitive side! You're almost as good as Olivia and Masie…" she trailed off.

"I get that all the time," I winked, surprising myself.

"I'm sure you do, Alessia must appreciate it," she quipped, blushing. She blushed an awful lot, and it was a bit endearing after awhile.

"Oh, her? You think I'm with her?" I laughed, filling the corridor with sound. "Definitely not." The thought was extremely funny to me and I just could not stop, it became uncontrollable. Before long, Rose was laughing too, and we were doubling over from the hilarity of it. I wasn't paying too much attention to anything, so when we stumbled upon two bodies writhing against each other, I still couldn't stop laughing. I peered to see their faces, to find none other than Alessia and Austin. They pulled apart quickly, and Alessia turned to face me.

"Oh, Scorpius, I didn't know your rounds were in this part of the castle. I'm so embarrassed," she stated in a way that sounded as if she wasn't embarrassed at all. I turned to look at Rose, who looked like she could barely contain her laughter. Seeing her face like that made me laugh all over again, and as soon as she had heard me laughing, she began as well.

"Hmph," Alessia frowned, turned on her heel, and left. Austin stammered a goodbye and left to follow her.

"Well aren't they adorable," Rose giggled. "She's doing this to make you jealous, you know."

"They are quite nice together, almost as nice as you and I would be together," I said jokingly. Wait… did I just say that?

"Erm, well it looks like rounds are over for today," she stated, turning and leaving before I could see her reaction to my comment. My mouth seemed to form words that I didn't want to say whenever I was around her…

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