Hello everyone!

Sorry for the very late update. I just couldn't find a way to write this chapter. As a result, I forced myself to finish it today but I'm not very happy with it. Oh well, next one will be better. All your ideas are welcome! I have a few ideas for 'O', and 'P' will be for 'Paris'. Do you like it?

Disclaimer: Rose and Scorpius are not mine, sadly. New York isn't mine either, but I'm allowed to love it and write about it anyway :)

N for New York

A rooftop, Manhattan
Five in the morning
And you said something
That I've never forgotten

It was five in the morning and Rose Weasley couldn't sleep. Her plane had landed a few hours ago in JFK and now she experienced what jetlag actually meant. Most witches and wizards traveled by Apparating from one continent to another. But Rose had always hated the claustrophobic feeling of Apparition and avoided it as much as she could : to her, the pressure in her lungs was unbearable, and she'd rather waste eight hours in a plane rather than suffocate through Apparition for a minute. Plus, she'd discovered she loved flying by plane, because it went higher than any wizarding means of transportation and you could admire the sun rise over an endless sea of white clouds.

But such a beautiful vision came with secondary effects, and jetlag was the worse – worse than airplane food, Rose had decided. She felt dizzy without being tipsy. She felt hangovered without having drunk a single drop of Firewhisky. She felt as if she could sleep for hours but was currently suffering from the worse insomnia in her life.

That is why she had climbed on the rooftop of her hotel after walking in circles for five hours in her room : the fresh air would probably help her clear her mind, and the sight of the rising sun slowly setting the glass and metal buildings of Manhattan in fire was a good enough reason to stay awake.

There was something about New York that made her instantly fall in love with it. Which she found unsettling at first, because she had always considered herself as a Londoner – and she couldn't think of two cities less alike than London and New York. But after a while – a few minutes really – she knew she couldn't get enough of the life there was in New York.

Everything was new and fantastic. On her first day, before she got hit by jetlag, she walked around Manhattan, taking in as much as she could. She loved everything about the city, from the smells of hot tar and burning falafel to the honking of the monster trucks in the streets, from the pre-war buildings along the cobbled streets of Soho to the vast green spaces of Central Park. New York even made her love her job more than she already did: as one of the brightest young journalists of the Daily Prophet, she had been chosen to go and report on the renegociation of the Status of Secrecy between Muggle and wizard representatives at the United Nations. It was a thrilling job, a huge responsibility, but most of all it was an opportunity for Rose to meet again with someone that had always fascinated her.

That was probably why she had never really talked to him - Scorpius Malfoy - when they were at Hogwarts together. She used to look at him from a distance, half because of their families' history, half because she was worried that someone as handsome and smart as him would not waste time talking to someone as insignificant as her.

The funny thing was, although she was now a well-know, acclaimed young journalist, she still felt nervous about her coming interview of Scorpius. If she had done well with her career after Hogwarts, he had done a thousand times better. After school, Scorpius had studied law at the London Wizarding Law School, and he had become the youngest member of the Wizengamot shortly after graduation. Albus Dumbledore was the only one who had gotten to this point younger than him. He soon became a tenacious Muggle rights defender, fighting hard to establish laws to protect those who couldn't do magic. Even Rose's mum, Hermione Granger, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry for Magic, spoke highly of him since he had fought and won a case against a wizard who beat and starved his house-elf. Of course he was one of the few guests of the UN conference who would have been invited no matter what, since he was one of the leading experts on the subject of Muggle-wizard relationships.

Rose felt both elated and petrified by this interview. She was grateful she was up here, on this roof with a spectacular 360° view of the city. The rivers and the buildings had just started glistening in the morning light and the atmosphere was still quiet, motionless, soothing. She drew a deep breath, talking in all the smells of the New York spring, and sighed with satisfaction. After all, she was in New York, and nothing could go wrong.

So she thought. But New York had other plans in store. She was just about to turn and walk back down to her room when she heard someone call her name a little behind her:

'Rose.'

She froze. She hadn't heard anyone climb up here, she had not heard the creaking of the heavy door. Who knew she was here? She had just arrived in the city and hadn't met anyone who would remember her name so far. The footsteps came closer and when she turned to look at the person standing next to her, looking at her with an air of delighted surprise on his calm features, she recognised the still handsome, still platinum-blond, still intelligent-looking Scorpius Malfoy.

She started slightly. It took her a second to process the fact that he was standing in front of her, waiting for her to say something. And then, when she regained speech, she did the most unexpected gesture one could think of in such a situation: she held her hand out to him for a professional handshake and said:

'Oh hi, I didn't see you there, how are you?'

And she hated herself for sounding so fake. He was a former classmate of hers, for Merlin's sake. They were the same age! They were both standing on the roof of a building in Manhattan at five in the morning by the weirdest of coincidences! Come on!

Scorpius sounded a lot more casual and convincing as he spoke, although the situation must be awkward for him, too.

'I'm good, thank you. Nice to spend a couple days on this side of the Atlantic, it's an interesting change. Do you like New York?'

'I love it.' Rose couldn't help but answer sincerely. 'I almost only agreed to interview you because the conference would take place here,' she added, hoping he would get the joke.

Scorpius laughed, and Rose's insides gave a little squeeze : one point for me, if I can make him laugh.

'I believe you. I would have come here anyway, conference or no conference. There's an energy about this place…it makes me feel... younger, reckless, free. It's exciting and soothing at the same time.'

Rose perfectly undestood what he meant, although she wondered why the great Scorpius Malfoy would need to be excited or soothed. Wasn't he already perfect?

'I didn't know you were staying at this hotel,' he said, gazing over her shoulder where the morning sun hit the coast of New Jersey.

'I had no idea you were here either. Actually, I think it's very unconventional for the Daily Prophet to make a journalist stay in the same hotel as her interviewee. I bet it could look slightly unprofessional.'

Scorpius corked an eyebrow, and Rose thought he did look more handsome than ever.

She continued hastily – she wanted to explain why she was here on the roof. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea - that she might be inconsistent, thoughtless. She couldn't understand her need to justify herself, but she still said:

'I couldn't sleep, that's why I came up here. The view of the city is quite inspiring, don't you think?'

'What do you need inspiration for?' he asked, sounding genuinely interested and a little surprised.

'Well, for instance, for our interview tomorrow.'

They stared at each other for a moment, probably for the first time since they had stood together on this roof – they'd been gazing at the city instead before.

'What do you want to ask me?' he said, his voice much less self-confident than before. Rose understood he was refering to the interview.

'Well… I have thought of many questions. But what I think will interest our readers the most is what drives you forward in your career. You did amazingly good for someone so young. What motivates you? That's what we all want to know.'

'What your readers want to know, or what you want to know?' Scorpius asked, his grey eyes piercing hers.

'Er… I – I think everybody would like to know –' she stammered, before giving a defeated shrug and admitting: 'Oh well, let's face it, I'm just very curious and I wanted to know the secret of your success.'

He stared at her thoughtfully for a minute, as if pondering whether he should tell her the truth or not. Rose felt a thrill of excitment at this perspective: that's what she loved about her job – when people she interviewed decided to be honest and tell her straighforwardly what was on their minds.

Although what came out of Scorpius's mouth was the most unexpected answer of all.

'It's you, Rose.'

Her mind went blank. She must have gone momentarily deaf.

'Wh-what?'

'I did it all for you.'

There was no mistaking what he had just said. He must have gone momentarily crazy.

'Why?' It sounded stupid, but she needed to know.

'I wanted to impress you,' he said simply.

As she didn't answer and her mouth was gaping a little, he smiled and went on:

'You seemed so fun, so cool. You were the daughter of two of the greatest wizards of our time and I was the son of an ex-Death Eater. I wanted to prove to you I was better than what you could think I was.'

'I never thought you were unworthy,' she protested. 'I thought you were the worthy one. I was so impressed by you I couldn't even talk to you.'

Once again, he looked genuinely surprised. Rose couldn't believe her eyes.

Then his eyes became piercing again as his voice became more gentle:

'You wanted to know what brought me where I am today. I told you the truth. What more could a journalist dream of?'

She knew it was a rhetorical question but she could still think of a thousand things she could dream of right now – most of them involving him.

And before she could answer, he gave her a final grin, turned and walked back to the door. After he left, she stayed alone on the roof, surrounded by the waking city, and she smiled at her racing heart. New York was spread at her feet and a million possibilities sparkled on a million windows. The city never slept and she felt more alive than ever.

I love reviews, so please let me know what you thought of this one!