A/N: HOLY over 300 reviews, Batman! Words cannot say how awestruck I am. I can only offer you this early update, Enjoy!

Chapter 21- Dancing Under the Moonlight

Scorpius walked away from the Potter/Weasley table and made his way over to the bar again. Not much happened in the next hour; and by that, meant Scorpius refusing to look away from Rose as he mindlessly poured firewhiskey down his throat. He watched as she continuously shook off her family's attempt to find out what was wrong. They knew of course that something was different about Rose, but not why. A few times, Scorpius had caught Rose looking his way. Each time she had this odd look on her face as if she was committing a sin by looking at him. Scorpius had stayed in his spot for this reason, so she'd know where to look.

As the hour wore itself away, Scorpius noticed her family's efforts wavering at trying to find what was wrong with Rose. They had left Rose to her own devices, which made it easy for Rose to slip out of her seat unnoticed. Scorpius' eyes traveled across the room and followed Rose's figure, her back disappearing behind a tapestry that led to a balcony.

Scorpius stood up, his hand still in his pocket that held the crumbled invitation. The next moment, Scorpius was tracing Rose's steps and walked behind the same tapestry, disappearing into the night.

When he stepped onto the balcony, he immediately heard her chuckle. His heart beat slightly, had she been expecting him to follow her?

"I told you I was fine," she started to turn before the realization in her eyes told him that she hadn't expected him. Her surprise soon turned into a frown and Scorpius felt his stomach lurch.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked accusingly, her slightly slurred speech told him that she was drunk.

Scorpius didn't answer. He simply stared at her, her face barely visibly as she had her back to the moonlight but beautiful all the same.

He scrunched his face at the thought. Had he just called her beautiful? Was it just the alcohol talking; he'd been staring at her all night. Her face must have been the only one imprinted in his head at this point. But despite his regards toward Rose, he couldn't deny it; wouldn't deny that she looked absolutely stunning tonight. If she wasn't who she was, he'd probably already asked her to dance.

His moment of thought had allowed Rose to close the distance between them without him realizing. Slowly, she reached him, standing a foot apart from each other. "How come you didn't say anything at the table?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

Scorpius looked down at her face but still no words. He watched as she furrowed her brow, looking despondent at his lack of response- no doubt thinking that he'd been ignoring her.

"Say something Malfoy!" she demanded.

And at the same time, the only thing Scorpius had managed to say was, "Dance with me?"

He could see the surprise in her eyes at his request but he was sure the surprise on his face was more telling. The words had just slipped out but after the initial shock, he realized he didn't want to take them back. He only hoped that she took him seriously.

"What? N..No, I don't want to dance with you Malfoy," she stammered, slightly unsure of herself. Scorpius felt himself flinch but waited; he could see the battle she was fighting.

"There isn't even any music out here," she added.

Scorpius inched closer; his brow arched and a smirk growing on his face that said she was going to lose her will.

"And you're a git!" she shouted with finality. But by then, Scorpius had cornered her; his small steps had distracted her from seeing what he was doing.

"Give me…" Scorpius started as he placed one hand on her waist. He could feel her body tense slightly, both of their gazes on where his hand had laid on her waist.

"Get your hands off of me," Rose squealed as she struggled against him.

"A better reason…" he continued, drawing her attention back to his face, her body relaxing slightly but still trying to push him away.

"Not to…Rose" he whispered into her ear as his free hand reached down to grab her hand. She stood still for a moment staring into his eyes. Almost as if he had said the magic word, she had stopped trying to push him away. And slowly, he saw her eyes changing. He felt her free hand travel up his arm and onto his shoulder where it settled.

His extremities feeling absolutely electric as he clasped her hand. Scorpius could feel the softness of the back of her hand with his finger tips, the svelte curve of her body where his other hand laid and the knots that were growing tighter and tighter in his stomach.

For the next ten minutes, Scorpius felt like he was somewhere else. They danced in a slow tempo to the barely audible music that was still playing inside. She, needing more support from being slightly drunk, leaned on him. Instinctively, he felt his grip tighten around her waist, bringing the two of them closer together.

"Why?" Rose asked suddenly, snapping them out of their peaceful state. He could hear that she was on her way to passing out.

"Why what?" he chuckled lightly.

"Why can't you leave me alone?" she asked.

Because it's my job. Because I can't. Because I don't want to.

"Do you always have to know everything Rose?" he ended up asking, noticing that he was using her first name for the second time tonight.

Rose snorted, "Never a straight answer from you."

Scorpius pulled away from her, "What do you want to know?"

"Do you still hate me?" she asked seriously.

He was slightly taken aback at the question; Scorpius had half expected her to ask her previous question again and half to ask something witty like why he always acted like an arrogant toerag.

After a long minute, "No, I don't think I do," he answered honestly.

Rose furrowed her brow as if trying to discern the truth before finally settling. "You've changed," she stated simply.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Scorpius felt his restraint leaving him. Never had he wanted to kiss Rose Weasley so badly. Conscience abandoned, he began lowering his head. He could feel the heat radiating from her, burning his skin at every inch of contact. He felt a wave of glee when she hadn't back away but when their noses were an inch apart, someone had interrupted.

"Rose?" the voice rang.

Rose's POV

"Rose?" someone had called out from behind Scorpius.

"Rose," the voice rang again but this time, it was much louder. She suspected it must have been Scorpius the second time but by then, she was out.

Rose heard voices as she began to stir. They were slightly muffled but gradually became louder and clearer until she picked up her father's voice.

"Rosie, are you awake?" her father asked.

She slowly opened her eyes, and counted six faces looking down at her- her parents, Grant, Kyle, Albus and Lily. She could see that they weren't at the ball anymore but at the Burrow.

"What happened?" Rose asked and before any of the six beside her could answer, "Passed out drunk," a voice she recognized to be James' rang from across the room. She could hear the laughter in his voice as he said it, which led Lily to turn away, no doubt throwing James a reprimanding look.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" her mother asked in a sensible voice.

"I…I don't remember," Rose replied, her head pounding. She honestly just wanted to go back to asleep.

"No, I meant why you were drinking so much," her mother asked again. At this, Lily had looked guiltily at Rose. But that's when she realized Albus' expression was slightly different from the rest. The rest were either worried or had an amused face but not Albus. Albus looked…angry.

"Is there something you want to tell us, babe?" Grant asked as he held her hand.

And all the feelings had come rushing back in; Henry was dead. Rose felt the tears in her eyes well up and felt her mother rush to her side and hold her. "Henry died yesterday," Rose sobbed.

"Oh sweetheart," her mother whispered, "Why didn't you tell somebody?"

"I…I…" Rose hiccupped. I did tell somebody…or at least, he found out. Rose thought of Scorpius but didn't say; instead, she continued crying.

She didn't know when she had passed out again but saw that this time when she woke up, there weren't six heads staring down at her, there was only one.

"How're you feeling Rose?" Kyle asked.

Rose sat herself up. "Fine," Rose answered and looked around. "Where's Grant?"

"Downstairs. Left just five minutes ago when I told him I wanted to talk to you," she said, her green eyes boring down on Rose.

Rose could tell Kyle wasn't there for one of their little gossip sessions. She nodded at Kyle solemnly, beckoning her to continue.

"Why were you with Malfoy yesterday?" Kyle asked, not missing a beat.

Rose had barely remembered what happened yesterday but one mention of Scorpius' name and Rose felt something twisting in her stomach.

"I…" Rose started but Kyle promptly cut her off.

"Or better yet, why did it look like he was about to kiss you?" she asked, her gaze unwavering.

"Kyle," Rose said exasperatedly. She didn't know how she was going to explain to her friend what had happened or why she let it go so far- even if she was drunk, she was well aware of Scorpius' advances toward her last night. And a sick part of her enjoyed it. Alas, it was a question even she couldn't answer herself.

"No," she stopped Rose, "because it looked like you were going to let him if I hadn't found you," she said.

"I was drunk," Rose reasoned, but she knew it would be no use. Kyle was smarter than that.

"Don't give me any of that bullshit Rose!" Kyle fired back. Rose felt herself flinch.

"What? Was it one of Malfoy's stupid smirks or some charming compliment that he fed you? Or was this not the first time you kissed him? Did you lie before in saying that you guys hadn't kissed? I thought you hated the guy!" she rammed on.

Rose couldn't take it anymore. Whether if it was because of Kyle's distrust in her or the leftover headache from last night, she didn't know.

"I DON'T KNOW KYLE! I don't fucking know myself why Malfoy tried to kiss me or if I wouldn't have stopped him if you hadn't come!" Rose shouted.

"Well you better figure it out Rose. You're getting married in a week! Grow up," Kyle said and left without saying another word.

And now, Rose had two people who were angry with her, Kyle and Albus for whatever reason. But not a minute passed after Kyle had slammed the door did Grant show up. "What happened? I saw Kyle fuming down the stairs. Did you two have a fight?" Grant asked.

"Kyle is just being Kyle," Rose spat.

Grant chuckled, "Okay, maybe I don't need to know the details but maybe you could sort it out within the week."

Rose threw a confused look at Grant. "Hun, you can't have an angry Maid of Honor at our wedding," Grant explained.

"Oh, right," Rose said in acknowledgment.

Grant sat beside her and placed his arm around her shoulder, "It'll be okay."

"Are you sure about that?" Rose whispered, mostly to herself.

"What's that?" Grant asked.

Rose pulled away, "What? Nothing."

Grant kissed her forehead and stood up. "Come on, let's get you some breakfast."

"Shoot, I have to get to work!" Rose remembered.

"Not before you eat. You're going to need to fill up your stomach with something after you emptied it all out yesterday night," Grant said.

Rose smiled apologetically at Grant, "Sorry, I don't remember a thing."

"It's fine, nothing I can't handle," he said, puffing his chest out slightly.

Rose chuckled, and felt herself being pulled up by Grant. She laid her head on his shoulder as they walked out the room. How could she be so stupid to ruin something so good? Kyle was right. Whatever she had with Scorpius, she had to figure it out before someone got hurt.

A/N: I can honestly say that I loved this chapter, does that make me sound conceited? Or maybe I should say, I loved writing this chapter. I'm just really happy about it, that's all. But it's your thoughts that count, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter. Liked the ScoRose bit? Who thought it was someone other than Kyle who had interrupted? R&R!