.*. For Entertainment Purposes Only .*.
.*.
Boyfriend Material
When Rose woke up the next morning, she was at a complete loss to predict what the day would have in store. All she knew was that she felt happier than she had in weeks. Caitlyn was already gone by the time she pulled her hangings back and Rose couldn't help but praise her good luck. She had managed to get together with Scorpius right when things between Albus and Caitlyn were heating up. God willing, they would be more than enough distracted for the next few weeks—it might just take that long for Scorpius and Rose to figure out how to control their emotions in the presence of other people. Judging by the sparks that had gone flying the night before, she had no doubt that it was going to take all of her will power not to show affection for Scorpius in public. And she wasn't even the one with the hormones of a seventeen year old male.
Rose took a few extra minutes in front of the mirror to make sure that she looked perfect, but this time she didn't curse herself for doing so. She had every reason to look her best—she would be seeing Scorpius soon and now she wasn't ashamed to admit her attraction to him. Because he was her boyfriend. Scorpius Malfoy was someone's boyfriend. The thought made Rose smirk at her own reflection in the mirror.
She smoothed her hair back once more before walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Considering it was a Sunday, many of the students were sleeping in. Caitlyn and Albus were nowhere to be found, but Hugo and Lily were enjoying their pancakes together so Rose decided to join them.
"Morning, Rosie," Lily greeted. Hugo just gave her a dismissive wave and continued describing a dream he had had to Lily who had apparently begun fancying herself a seer. A few of her friends were listening with rapt attention as Lily tried to decipher her cousin's dream.
When Rose finally looked over at the Slytherin table, it was to find Scorpius staring straight at her. They both looked away hastily before seeming to realize that they were allowed to be caught staring now. When their glances met again, they were both smiling at their own stupidity. Rose knew that these first few days were going to be awkward in the same way that all new relationships were awkward, but she was secretly looking forward to it.
She couldn't imagine a day when she would be so comfortable with Scorpius that her heart wouldn't race when he did something as simple as meet her gaze across the Great Hall. But at the same time, her heart longed for that familiarity.
She sat through her breakfast ignoring the people around her and stealing glances in Scorpius's direction. She wanted more than anything to be able to join him and have a real conversation over their morning coffee. This was not possible, however, so she just had to settle for what she could have.
"Do you want me to do you now, Rose? Do you want to know what your dreams mean?" Lily asked, startling Rose out of her reverie. She jumped at being addressed and chancing a brief glance at Scorpius, she realized that he was laughing at her actions openly. His friends were looking at him as if he were crazy, so he seemed to decide it was time to excuse himself from the Great Hall. After looking at Rose once more, he walked out of the Great Hall, silently inviting her to follow him.
"Thanks, but I already have a pretty good idea of what my dreams mean," Rose said and walked out after her boyfriend.
Rose paused when the doors to the Great Hall shut behind her. Although she knew Scorpius had wanted her to follow him—she could just sense it—she had no idea where he had gone. There were a few people milling about but none of them were the person she was looking for and she thought it would look too suspicious to ask if anyone had seen him.
Before she could work herself into a frenzy, however, an arm reached out of nowhere and pulled her into an alcove hidden by a thin curtain right next to the door. She only had time to smile at him before the need to kiss each other overcame them. Scorpius kissed her wildly, nearly losing his balance as they stumbled into the nearest wall. A few long seconds later, Rose pulled away dizzy and breathless.
"If we don't want Albus to catch us, we probably shouldn't be snogging where anyone could see us," Rose muttered, looking over her shoulder into the hallway. People were walking by oblivious to the couple and although Rose realized that the angle the alcove was placed at hid them from view, it still made her wary.
Scorpius followed her gaze, but the look on his face clearly said he could care less about witnesses. Glancing back down at the adamant look in Rose's eyes, he groaned. "I hate it when you're right," he said.
"I know," she smiled.
"But damn it if I'm not going to spend our first day as a couple together, Rose!"
The tone of his voice made him sound like a child who was worried about missing out on a new toy. It was only then that Rose realized he had only had one official girlfriend before her and that was Madeline, who he never treated as well as he should have. He really was determined to do this right and Rose doubted she would be able to stop him even if she tried.
Her smile disappeared as she realized the impossibility of the situation and she shrugged helplessly. "Scorpius, I want nothing more to spend every moment of today with you, but how are we supposed to do that? If Albus so much as catches us within ten feet of each other, he's going to know something is going on."
Scorpius nodded. "I know. I stayed up all night thinking about this—please don't laugh at that—and I think I've worked out a plan. You and I need to convince Albus we're friends; that'll give us a little wiggle room. That way if he catches us alone together, it won't be the end of the world as we know it."
"That should be easy enough," Rose said, still trying to keep her voice down as students continued walking right by their hiding space. "You come over to talk to Albus, I join in on the conversations—we'll attribute everything else to our patrols together."
"And those, I'm betting, are about to get much more interesting," Scorpius smirked. Rose couldn't help but chuckle herself and the giddiness of the entire situation had her standing on her tip toes to kiss him once more. This time the kiss was soft and sweet, their fingers roaming over each other with touches as light as feathers.
Rose finally broke the kiss, but refused to move far enough away to take herself out of Scorpius's arms. "But what about today? I don't think we could even convince Hugo we became friends over night and he's the most oblivious person I know."
"Today we break some rules," he smiled and they were still so close that Rose could feel his warm breath against her skin.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Rose laughed.
"Just go grab a jacket," he said, pushing her slightly by her rump out of the alcove. "And meet me by the statue of that hump-backed witch on the third floor."
Rolling her eyes heavenward, Rose figured that she didn't have much of a choice but to do what Scorpius had told her. If he wanted to sneak into Hogsmeade, then she doubted she would be able to convince him otherwise. It didn't take her long to grab a jacket out of her dormitory and to meet Scorpius at the aforementioned statue.
"If we get caught, I'm saying you kidnapped me," she said sternly as Scorpius said the necessary spell to open the hump on the witch's back.
Scorpius smirked lightly. "Which do you think Albus would over-react to most? Me kidnapping you or you coming fo your own accord?"
"I think it'd be a close call," Rose muttered, dropping her bag into the secret passageway and following it down. She took a few steps forward and lit her wand as she felt Scorpius drop in after her, sealing the secret entrance after himself. He lit his own wand and the two just stood there staring at each other in the cramped corridor for several seconds. Even through the lights of both of their wands, only Scorpius's face was visible. Everything else lay in darkness. "So, what are we going to do today?" Rose asked. Snapping out of his reverie, Scorpius began to walk down the passageway. Rose followed him loyally.
"Whatever we want," he answered. "Since our last trip to Hogsmeade was…less than enjoyable, I think we deserve a second chance. That's what this whole thing is about, isn't it? Second chances?"
"Well it'd be hard to have a date worse than our first one," Rose smirked. "I'm pretty sure that one ended in you shagging someone else."
"And you snogging someone else if I recall correctly," he murmured so quietly that Rose could barely hear him.
"Are you seriously blaming me for that one?" Rose asked incredulously.
"It just wasn't very fun to watch is all," he said.
"Jealous of Owen?" Rose laughed.
"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this," Scorpius suggested, sensing the bad direction this conversation could take.
"Maybe not," Rose agreed with a smile. Scorpius smiled down at her also and as they continued walking, she felt his hand against hers. Their fingers interlaced as if on their own accord.
The walk to Hogsmeade was short. So short that Rose wished it had been longer, just so that she could hold Scorpius's hand for a little longer. She needn't have worried, however. As soon as Scorpius navigated them safely out of Honeyduke's cellar, he took her hand in his once more as they browsed the aisles of candy. Although the shop was no where near as full as it was on assigned Hogsmeade weekends, there were still a good number of customers looking around.
"What if someone sees us?" Rose asked shyly. Scorpius looked around and then looked back at Rose and answered patronizingly, "Well considering we're not invisible, I think that's highly likely."
"That's not what I meant," she said, glancing down at their hands.
"If someone sees us, let them," Scorpius answered, kissing Rose gently on the head before picking up a box of chocolates and looking at the price.
"What if your father comes walking down the street?" she asked hypothetically.
"My father isn't a fan of Hogsmeade," Scorpius shrugged. "Thinks it's haunted."
Rose looked at him speculatively. "What if my father comes walking down the street?"
"Then I would run in the opposite direction as fast as possible," Scorpius laughed. "But I'd take you with me, of course."
"Well, thank you," Rose said sarcastically.
"Do you want these?" he asked, holding up the box of chocolates he had been examining.
"You're going to try and buy my favor?" Rose joked. "Is only our first date, Scorpius. You might want to save your money for when you actually need to buy my love."
He laughed heartily. "I'm thinking that's good advice."
"Well judging by your past…"
"This time is going to be different," he promised, leading her out of the candy store.
"That's what all guys say," Rose mused as they made their way through the streets of Hogsmeade. Although the air was cool, it wasn't anywhere near freezing and Rose was simply enjoying the peace of the atmosphere around her. The fact that Scorpius was by her side, still holding her hand, served to warm her on the inside and out.
"I know," Scorpius groaned. "Which is probably why you don't believe me."
Rose took a while to answer. "I believe you think this time is going to be different. I believe you want it to be. But it's not like I've seen proof or anything," she joked.
"I'll give you proof," he smiled, leaning in and kissing her deeply right there in front of all of the passersby.
"That's not proof," Rose answered dazedly once Scorpius had finally pulled away. "That's just talent."
"I'm talented, am I?" he smirked. Rose cursed herself for fueling his ego.
"You're more talented than Spencer," she corrected, referring to her ex-boyfriend.
"What about Wood?" he asked.
Rose rolled her eyes playfully. "I thought we weren't talking about him."
"I see the way he looks at you," Scorpius shrugged.
"You're seeing things then," Rose laughed, taking more pleasure than she should in the fact that Scorpius was obviously was jealous of Owen. "He and I are friends. Just friends." A thought suddenly occurred to Rose. "Is that why you shagged Danielle?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Scorpius answered through clenched teeth.
"Backfired a bit, didn't it?" Rose chuckled.
"A bit," Scorpius agreed, his tone suddenly growing serious. "I really am sorry about that, Rose."
"I know you are," she said. "It's forgotten."
"I really don't deserve you!" Scorpius muttered.
"Well luckily for you, we're rarely in agreement on anything. So, I disagree." The couple was now walking towards the outskirts of town. They stopped by a small creek and took a seat on a nearby bench so that they could continue their conversation. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Scorpius managed to grab the courage to say what he knew had to be said. If this was going to work between him and Rose, he had to voice his own concerns.
"I know this isn't something you want to talk about," he started, "but…Rose, do you think Albus would be more mad if he found out later from someone else or if we just told him now?" Scorpius's eyes met hers desperately and she knew that he was leaving this decision up to her.
"We can't tell him," she said stubbornly. "Not now. He'd try to stop it."
Scorpius closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "I know he would."
"And quiet frankly," Rose added unnecessarily, "He could probably talk me out of just about anything. I just want it to be us for a while. Until we know—for sure—that this is going to work, I don't want people watching for us to make a mistake."
"No, I get it," Scorpius agreed, squeezing her hand in reassurance. "I'm just scared he's going to catch us. And it's going to be me he's mad at."
"What if we make a compromise?" Rose suggested. "We wait until Christmas?"
"To tell him?" Scorpius cried. "I think I know Albus well enough to say that if we tell him we've been secretly dating for two months, he's going to be a bit pissed."
"No," Rose corrected. "We do what you said this morning—we become friends. Get him used to the idea. You could drop a few hints that you don't think I'm a total bitch, and I could…stop calling you a prick every chance I get."
"Well that sounds lovely."
"And then we ask him over Christmas if he would mind if we dated. He can't really say no—he's dating my best mate, I should be able to date his."
"I don't know if it works that way," Scorpius groaned. "And I have a bad feeling that this plan is going to backfire."
"Do you have a better one?"
"No," he admitted.
"Well then for now, that's the one we're sticking to."
.*.
They stayed on that bench for hours, just talking. It was amazing really how different they were and yet how similar at the same time.
"Why haven't we tried to be friends before now?" Rose asked as they made their way down the street once more, heading for the Hog's Head. Although it wasn't the nicest pub in town, it was the one least likely to be frequented by anyone who would be friends with either Draco Malfoy or Ron Weasley. While they both admitted that they weren't worried about anyone seeing them, the thought of their relationship getting back to their families was still a little daunting.
Scorpius looked at her and his face broke into a wide grin. "I wasn't ever planning on telling you this, by the way," he prefaced.
"Well, you have to tell me now that you've said that," Rose said.
"I kind of had a little bit of a crush on you," he smiled. "I don't know when it started; probably around fifth year. But suddenly you weren't just Albus's cousin anymore and I can honestly saw I never thought we'd end up together. I figured it was just best to ignore it rather than get any closer to you."
Rose smiled. If she was being honest with herself, she had been interested in Scorpius way before the Weird Sister's concert. "So what changed your mind? Why now?"
"Why not?" he countered. "It just hit me at that concert that if I didn't take a chance this year, I wasn't ever going to get another one."
They had arrived at the Hog's Head by this point and Scorpius opened the door for her. She walked in, him trailing only slightly behind her. They ordered their food from a waitress who looked as if she had better things that she could be doing. Although it wasn't as good of a dining experience as the Three Broomsticks, the food wasn't too bad. From what Rose had heard from Neville and other Professors, the quality of the Hog's Head had improved dramatically since her parents' time at Hogwarts.
The bell above the door of the pub tinkled, signaling the arrival of another customer. Rose looked up at their entrance and quickly turned around when she found that the lady was staring directly at her. Scorpius looked at Rose curiously, but she just shrugged as the elderly woman walked in and took a seat at the nearest table to the young couple. Rose chanced another glance at the woman and to her dismay, she was still staring at the her.
Wondering if maybe the woman was an acquaintance of her parents, she looked again, but was only reassured that she had never met the woman before. She would have remembered her eccentric dress and wild eyes.
Still watching her, the woman pulled a crystal ball out of her bag and Rose's racing heart immediately slowed. She was just trying to solicit business.
"A seer," Scorpius scoffed. The woman turned to look at him and he flinched, turning away from her gaze. Rose almost laughed. He obviously wasn't the superstitious type.
"Do you want your fortune told, dearie?" The lady asked Rose. Although she was tempted, with one look at Scorpius she decided it probably wasn't a good idea to test him right now.
"No, thank you," she replied.
"Perhaps when the young man leaves you alone, then?"
"She said no thank you," Scorpius said sharply. Rose gave him a pointed look to stop being so rude and he just rolled his eyes.
"Only one galleon," the seer urged, noticing the look in Rose's eyes. Scorpius also looked across the table and his own determination began to weaken as he saw the look of curiosity in Rose's eyes. "I specialize in the reading the House of Venus," she continued. "Love, dearies. Don't you want to know your future?"
"It can't hurt, Scorpius," Rose whispered. "And she's not going to leave us alone until she says her piece."
Sighing deeply, Scorpius dug in his pockets for a galleon. "You're way overpriced," he said, laying the galleon on the table in front of the seer. Smirking, she took it and placed it in her own bag before looking into the crystal ball in front of her. A wide smile appeared on her face after several seconds, a smile that plainly said she knew something the other two didn't.
"I paid good money for this," Scorpius said impatiently. "You better start talking."
"Impatient, are we?" the seer noted. "It takes patience to make a relationship work." Scorpius rolled his eyes. He obviously wasn't looking for a lecture at the moment. Rose took his hand in hers across the table and his body instantly un-tensed as he stroked the back of her hand softly. "What do you want to know?" she asked, looking at Rose.
"Um…" Rose said, taken by surprise. She looked at Scorpius for an idea.
"Who wins the House Quidditch Cup this year?" he asked. Both Rose and the seer glared at him. He shrugged and turned back to his plate of food.
"How long do you see me and him being together for?" Rose finally asked, gesturing to Scorpius. He looked back at her, the expression on his face far from happy.
"You can't ask her that!" he complained. "She's going to jinx us!"
"The answer to that is unknown," the seer interrupted; Scorpius scoffed. "The longevity of your relationship is purely up to you—there is nothing I can do to predict where your hearts will lead you. But I sense that there will be a decision that you two will each have to make together—a choice."
"What kind of choice?" Scorpius asked.
"A choice between who you are and who you could be." Scorpius turned back to his meal once more, choosing to ignore the old bat rather than to encourage her. "Your relationship has been built on a foundation of secrets and lies," she said to Rose. Rose shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "But there is no denying that the boy's feelings for you are real."
Scorpius was once again smirking smugly and Rose couldn't help but be entertained.
"Thank you," she smiled at the seer. Seeming to sense that she was dismissed, the seer relocated to the bar.
"Well that was a waste of a galleon," Scorpius said after a while.
Rose shrugged, although she couldn't help but disagree. "Sorry, but I wanted to know what she had to say."
"I'm not blaming you, Princess," he smiled. "But you shouldn't put much stock in the words of a seer. You know that, right?"
"So I shouldn't believe that your feelings for me are real?"
He smirked slightly and Rose could tell that it was an involuntary reaction. "I shouldn't have had to pay a galleon for you to believe that."
Although it was not yet dark, they decided to make their way back to Hogwarts considering that their friends were probably starting to get a bit suspicious about their absence and they had patrols to report for that night.
As they passed through Honeyduke's, however, Scorpius insisted on buying Rose the box of chocolates he had offered her earlier. She put up a fight, but was secretly glad that he was insisting on buying her something. Even if he said it was just because he wanted to try a piece.
The next few days passed by in a blur. Rose tried to act normal around Scorpius but she was scared that someone was going to notice that something was different between the pair.
As per their original plan, Scorpius and Rose had been trying to do everything within their power to convince Albus that they were becoming friends. This wasn't too difficult considering Scorpius was having a hard time staying away from Rose. Rather than eating at the Slytherin table, he had made it a habit to join Rose, Albus, and Caitlyn for all mealtimes. Albus didn't seem to think much of this and after a few days, Rose grew comfortable enough with the situation that conversation between her, Scorpius, and Albus was able to flow easily. If Albus found anything weird about their sudden interest in each other, he didn't mention it.
The fact that Rose and Albus were so close was actually working in their favor. When Scorpius sat next to them in class or joined them in the library, no questions were asked. However, they still were not comfortable enough to go out together without Albus. That would be bound to start a few rumors.
Instead, they stole alone time whenever they could. This mostly took place during their patrol hours where they had starting sneaking out to Scorpius's office on the Quidditch pitch or during break times where they would both conveniently disappear.
It might not be the perfect scenario to begin a relationship, but it was working. And to Rose's immense delight, it didn't seem like Scorpius was losing interest just yet. In fact, his interest seemed to be sparked more than anything else. Whenever they were together, he could not resist touching her in some small way. His shoulder would bump hers, they would hold hands beneath the tables of the Great Hall, or his leg would casually brush hers as they sat next to each other in class.
It was enough to drive Rose wild and not for the first time, she began to wonder how in the world they were going to be able to keep this a secret.
Although the physical aspects of their relationship were quite enjoyable, Rose was also surprised to find how easy it was to talk to Scorpius. He cared about politics and what was going on in the world around him and he was smarter than Rose had given him credit for. They were able to hold intellectual conversations, which often turned into debates, which often turned into snogging.
And for now, all of this was okay. Rose fell asleep at night, knowing that Scorpius would be there to hold her come tomorrow. And everything was okay.
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A/N: Review, please :)
Also, I'm starting my freshman year of college this weekend so that's why I wanted to go ahead and post this chapter. The next week is probably going to be really crazy for me, but I'll post when I can. Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews; you guys are amazing! And if anyone has any college advice, I'm all ears :)
SarahBeth.