2nd of August 2028

Had that really happened last night? Had Scorpius Malfoy really just walked into the bar she worked at on her twenty second birthday? Was it awful that the first thing she felt after the shock had worn off was joy and comfort and relief? How had this happened? What was going to happen now that she'd been discovered? How did she feel?

Right now, Rose just didn't know. All she knew was that at half two, when she finished her shift at the cafe, she and Scorpius were going to meet and talk. Beyond that, Rose had no idea.

"You seem super distracted, Rose, is something wrong?" Ruby, her colleague and friend, asked, giving her a worried look as Rose almost dropped another bun she was putting on the cake stand on the counter.

"Sorry, no nothing's wrong, I don't think, just weird." Rose replied.

"Weird how?" Ruby asked, putting her arm in Rose's and leading Rose to their little table behind the counter. It was almost half past two now, and there were only a few people currently still in the cafe and they'd already served them. This left the two of them with little to do, as they'd already unstacked and restacked the dishwasher, wiped down empty tables, and taken the day's last set of buns out of the oven.

"Well last night at work I saw someone I haven't seen in almost a year who I have a lot of history with, and that shook me up a lot. And I'm meeting up with him to talk once we're finished here, and that's shaking me up a lot too." Rose told her.

"An ex?" Ruby asked.

"No, we never actually got together at all."

"But you had a thing?"

"We were in love." Rose replied, unable to phrase it any other way and realising only as she said it how true her words were.

"So why didn't anything happen?" Ruby asked gently, handing Rose a cup of tea after checking over her shoulder that their customers were still all satisfied.

"Because I was terrified of feeling so much and I didn't want to break apart if things went wrong. Because I was convinced love would never last and that it would ruin us and our friendship. Because I loved him too much to let him in enough for him to learn to hate me. Because I didn't want to be vulnerable. Most of all, though, because I was broken and I didn't want him to fix me." Rose confided, shocking herself. She had never said all of this out loud before, she hadn't even really let herself think it.

"Are things different now?"

"Sort of. I think I may have finally sort of sorted myself out and I don't feel so scared anymore. It's just that talking to him even for the few seconds we spoke at the bar brought back so many memories, and if I have anything with him, even friendship, I might not be as free as I am right now."

"You ran away here, didn't you?"

"Yeah, was it that obvious?" Rose grimaced slightly.

"Kind of. You rarely speak of friends or family and have never told me where you were before you came here, that's sort of the main giveaway." Ruby shrugged.

"Sorry, I will tell you more someday, I promise." Rose replied apologetically.

"You don't have to, Rose. You're allowed your secrets."

"I know, I just don't feel like I'll need them forever."

"So what are things going to be like with this boy, do you think?" Ruby said with a smile.

"I honestly have no idea."

"I hope it goes well, let me know tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose grinned, "anyway, how are things going with Tom?" she wanted to steer the subject away from what was about to happen because thinking about it was doing her no good at all. She knew that Ruby had a very turbulent relationship with Tom, her fiance, and that when Ruby had something to say about him, everything else was forgotten about.

"Things are obscenely complicated with Tom at the moment, actually, and I will be able to elaborate more tomorrow, once certain things have been clarified." Ruby replied, absentmindedly tucking her very dark hair behind her ear.

"Sounds ominous," Rose commented, frowning slightly.

"I guess it maybe is, anyway I don't know anything for sure yet but I will later on so I don't want to say anything until I know for sure, okay?"

"Of course that's okay! You'll be okay, though? Whatever the thing is?" Rose asked, slightly concerned.

"Yeah, things will work out some way or another. All will be okay." Ruby said with a grin, nodding as though she was telling herself this as well. Rose nodded and the two sat quietly for a minute. Their silence was interrupted when Esme and Jill, their boss, entered to take over the cafe until closing time.

"There is a beautiful young man waiting just outside, you know Rose, and he approached me and checked this was the cafe where Rose Weasley works and I told him yes, why? And he said he was supposed to be meeting you in a minute and I told him you'd be straight out, okay?" Jill gushed, grinning at Rose, "He really was gorgeous, Rose, is he your boyfriend? Why, if I was thirty years younger he would be exactly my type!"

"As your husband of thirty years would be delighted to hear!" laughed Ruby.

"No, Ruby, he was so beautiful. Like Jill's basically underplaying it, right Rose?" Esme commented, shaking her head in wonder.

"He is a very beautiful man, that is true." Rose said, her heart rate accelerating as she remembered how gorgeous he'd looked last night and how gorgeous he had always been. So lovely too, that was the thing with Scor, he was beautiful and kind and funny and loving and he really was just everything. And she was about to talk with him properly. And she had to somehow not forget all that she'd taught herself over the last year. Fuck. This was not going to be easy.

"Rose? Are you in there?" Jill asked, waving a hand in front of Rose's face. Rose shook herself out of it and turned to look properly at the other women.

"Hey, yeah sorry just thinking."

"About that gorgeous man I hope! Anyway, it's half two so you both can go, be sure to give me a full report on your pretty boy sometime, Rose!" Esme said, waving Rose and Ruby away. Rose took a deep breath and followed Ruby out of the door and spotted Scorpius almost immediately.

Fuck, in the sunlight he practically glowed. He was just this sunshiney angel and the grin he gave her the moment he saw her made her melt so completely. Rose grinned back and she suddenly found herself once again feeling that odd sense of relief and happiness. What was it about Scorpius Malfoy that made her suddenly feel so much at the same time just by looking at her? How on earth was she going to make it out of this exchange with her heart and her okayness in tact? Why was it that Scorpius made her feel like okay wasn't enough, like she had to be amazingly happy and there was only one way in which that was possible and that was by being with him? All this from just one smile. Shaking her head but unable to shake the grin from her face, Rose gestured to a bench on the seafront and the two made their way there together, walking beside each other, almost touching but not saying anything at all. It was a comfortable silence, and once again Rose just felt so crazy happy that she didn't even stop to think about the conversation that would have to follow. There was just something about Scorpius and Rose was just overwhelmed by whatever that thing was. Just as they were about to reach the bench, Rose was once again struck by just how in love with him she was. What on earth was going to happen? Rose just had no idea.