Chapter 10

"Scorpius Malfoy?" Molly asked with glee. "But isn't he a little old for you? Besides, why would a guy like him want to go out with you?"

Rose didn't say anything. She was in shock. Why would her cousin go after her boyfriend? They were supposed to be family. Some family Lily was. Lily wasn't even that pretty. And no boy would ever date her because of her family. James and Al wouldn't like that at ll. James would probably come back to Hogwarts just to punch Scorpius in the gut. Al would do the same. Hell, Rose would do the same if Lily asked Scorpius out. He was hers and no one else's.

But, then again, Lily didn't know that Scorpius and she were dating. They were keeping it a secret. Besides, she didn't want Lily to go out with a guy like him. He was bad news. Her delicious bad news. A guy like Scorpius would just break her heart. Rose didn't want to see her cousin's heart get broken.

"Rose? You look a little pale. Are you feeling all right?" Lily asked, looking concerned.

Rose tried to gain back her composer. She couldn't spill her secret to her cousins like this. "It's not that I don't like him, because I do," Rose started but, realizing what she said, she stumbled back to what she was saying. "I mean, um, I like him as a, um, friend. It's just that, um, I don't see you two as a couple. I don't want to see you get hurt. I've seen what he has done to girls. I don't want you to be another one. To him, you will just be the famous Harry Potter's daughter or another notch on his bedpost."

"Don't you think I know the risks? Scorpius Malfoy is a player, but I really do like him. I'm going after him. For all I know, you could be saying that because you like him. I don't know what goes on in your bedroom. How do I know that you haven't done it with him? You have had all the chances."

That was Rose's final straw. She could not just sit back a let her cousin accuse her of that.

"Lily Potter, how dare you!" Rose shouted, standing up. Most people in the Great Hall stared at their table. Rose sat back down. She didn't want people to know what their conversation was about.

"That's what this is about," Lily said, not bothering to keep her voice down. Now everyone was staring. It wasn't every day Lily would get mad at someone. She was the cool-headed Potter.

"You slept with Scorpius. That's why you don't want me to go out with him. You want to keep him to yourself." Now, all the conversation in the Great Hall stopped. They all turned back to Lily to see who she was talking to.

Rose's face turned bright red. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scorpius looking shocked. Then, she turned and raced out the Great Hall.

[-**-]

As soon as Scorpius heard Lily Potter say his name, he knew that something was happening.

"You slept with Scorpius. That's why you don't want me to go out with him. You want to keep him to yourself."

Scorpius' head jerked up. Who was she talking to? After all, he had slept with many girls before. He saw Rose, standing up, turning bright red. She glanced at him and left the Great Hall.

Then, the truth hit him. Lily wanted to ask him out, so she told Rose. Since Rose was secretly dating him, she told Lily not to. So Lily thought that there was something going on between them. Oh, she had no idea.

"Mate, can you believe this?" Lysander asked, bringing Scorpius back to reality.

"Believe what?" He asked dumbly.

"That that Potter girl thought that that Weasley girl had slept with you. As if. You would never be in the same room with her if it wasn't for your Head duties. And besides, you would never lower yourself to sleeping with a girl like her."

Scorpius went silent. Lysander noticed that Scorpius didn't say anything back.

"Wait, did you sleep with that Weasley?"

"What? No way. I have never of will ever sleep with her."

This statement seemed too pleased Lysander and everyone listening in on the conversation. Scorpius felt sick. He didn't like lying to his friends, but it was to protect Rose. Rose meant everything to him now. She had changed him for the better. Without her, Scorpius would have been the same as he was a year ago. He needed to go find her without causing a problem.

"I have to go. See you in class, Lysander," Scorpius said. He then left the Great Hall to go and find Rose.

Scorpius looked in all of the empty classrooms, but he couldn't find Rose. Then, he heard sniffling coming from a broom closet. Slowly, taking his time, Scorpius opened the door. In it, he found Rose. Her eyed were red from crying, and there were tear stains on her cheeks. He closed that door behind him as he walked in.

"Hey," Scorpius said.

Rose looked up. She apparently had not heard him come in. "Wh-Wh-Wh-at are you doing here?"

"I came after you. I was looking everywhere for you, but I couldn't find you."

"Well, you found me," Rose said weakly.

"What's the matter?"

"What's that matter?" Rose repeated, picking up her head. "You know what the matter is."

"All I know is that Lily accused you of sleeping with you. After that, I have no idea."

"First. Lily, one of my favorite cousins, announces to us that she is going to ask you out. I knew that she really liked you, but that you would say no to her. I then told her that she shouldn't ask you out. She blew up at me and accused me of sleeping with you." Rose had to stop there because she was overcome by a fresh wave of tears. Scorpius sat down and let her cry on his shoulder.

Then she continued. "She started shouting at me, so now the whole school will believe her. They will all believe that I slept with you. It doesn't help that I ran out of the Great hall with tears on my face. Everyone is going to believe her and not me."

Scorpius was silent for a minute. Rose kept crying for what seemed like hours. When she started to gain her composer back, he said, "You could make the rumors true."

Rose looked at him and then busted into laughter. Tears of laughter were now rolling down her cheeks like rain. It was a while before she stopped.

When she finally stopped, she responded to his comment. "That's why I like you so much. You always know how to make a girl feel better. You always know how to turn a sad situation around and make it funny."

They sat there, in the broom closet, skipping all their classes talking. Scorpius was amazed that they didn't run out of things to talk about. Usually, with the other girls that he had been with, they ran out of things to talk about within the first five minutes. With Rose, talking just seemed natural.

Later, in the distance, they heard bells chiming the time. Counting, Scorpius realized that it was eleven o'clock. He got up and offered a hand to Rose.

"We better go. We have to patrol the dungeons tonight. Also, we don't want the prefects to find us in here. That would raise awkward questions." Rose took his hand and pulled herself up. Then, she kissed him on the lips.

"Let's go," she agreed. They silently went out the door and out into the corridor. Scorpius thought that he saw a flash of white light, but he was too busy thinking about Rose.

If his mind hadn't been preoccupied, he might have turned around. He would have seen a slim figure with a camera around their neck quickly dash away. The same figure that had been watching them for many weeks with that same camera. But, neither Scorpius nor Rose turned around. They were both to busy staring at each other in the moonlight.