"So you finally lived up to your namesake?" Madam Pomfrey glared daggers at Scorpius as he presented his bruised knuckles for inspection. "Fighting was it?"

"A wall," he answered glumly. He wasn't about to admit that he hit one of the most popular guys in school in the face, regardless of how much he deserved it.

"Hmph. Interesting. It just so happens that a "wall" came in here earlier today with a swollen jaw."

Scorpius blushed.

Madam Pomfrey smirked. "I am not officially saying this because as the school nurse I am impartial to school children's drama, but I've noticed the way Mr. Potter bullies the people in your house."

Scorpius said nothing.

"You know I'm required to report any injuries which are the result of an altercation."

Scorpius nodded.

"So of course, you'll understand when I tell you to refrain from hitting walls in the future." She winked.

Scorpius smiled. "Thank you Madam Pomfrey."

As he left the Infirmary, he turned a corner and nearly ran into a small-ish figure.

"Scorpius!"

"Rose!" He felt like his stomach was sweating. He left rather abruptly the previous evening and they hadn't had the chance to speak since. What if she was angry with him?

Wait. Did she just say…?

He smirked. "You called me 'Scorpius.'"

She drew herself up haughtily. "So? You called me 'Rose.'"

"It's your name."

"Yes, well…Scorpius is your name." She brushed off invisible dust from her skirt.

He stared at his shoes. "I hope no one gave you a hard time. For inviting us."

She grinned. "Technically I only invited you."

He blushed. "I…um…I had a nice time. Before James…well, you know."

She smiled. "I did too. And don't worry. I spoke to pretty much everyone who was there about what James said to you. They all agree it was rather uncouth of him."

Scorpius grinned. "You did that?"

She nodded, blushing. "He…he really shouldn't have drank that much. I'm sure he wouldn't have said such awful things otherwise."

Scorpius chuckled. "Do you always believe the best in people?"

She smiled, biting her lip and motioning towards his hand. "Are you alright?"

"This?" he held up his hand. "It was nothing. I've just…never thrown a punch before. I didn't expect that it would hurt."

She nodded. "Well I'm glad you're alright."

He raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Did you…come here to check on me?"

She blushed. "I just felt badly. I was the one who invited you and you never would have gotten hurt if not for me and—"

"Rose."

"Yeah?"

He smiled. "Thank you."

She blushed sweetly. "You're welcome. Um…do you want to get together later and study for the Arithmancy mid-term?"

He nodded. "I'd really like that."

"Good. See you later, then."

As she disappeared down the corridor Scorpius grinned stupidly. Scorpius Malfoy, you magnificent bastard.

Draco sat with his arms around Hermione's middle refusing to release her. She was dressed, fully packed and ready to return to Hogwarts. Or at least she was until Draco playfully tackled her to the bed.

She giggled, "You know I can't stay here. I have to go back eventually."

He tightened his grip around her. "…No."

She laughed and thrashed against him. "You can't just keep me here."

"Sure I can." He pinned her underneath him and flopped bonelessly on top of her.

"Oh my god, you weigh a ton. Get up!"

Draco pretended to snore. "You are not asleep Draco Malfoy. Get off of me!"

He sighed as he obeyed. "Pity. You look so good in my bed."

She smirked. "And how do you imagine this playing out? I never go back to Hogwarts and you and I just stay in your bed until we expire?"

"I'd die a happy man."

She giggled. "Have I mentioned today what a prat you are?"

"Have I mentioned today…I don't care?"

"Are you going to walk me to the Floo or are you going to continue with your giant baby routine?"

Draco smiled. "Come on then. I suppose you have to get back to being a productive member of society."

Hermione beamed as she took his hand. This weekend had been wonderful. She couldn't ever remember being so thoroughly wooed in her life. Last night he took her on a stroll through the grounds, which she was fairly certain rivaled the gardens at Versailles, and charmed a colchicum to plant itself in her hair. It was beyond corny and not at all the sort of thing Hermione ever thought she would go for, but goddammit if she didn't blush harder than a prostitute during church.

When they reached the Floo, he tugged her against him and placed a soft, but sensuous kiss on her lips. "So you like my house?" he whispered against her lips.

Her eyelids fluttered at the feel of his breath and the vibration of his voice on her skin. Despite the jolt of arousal she felt in her abdomen, she knew what he was doing. He was plying her with seduction so she'd think about him nonstop until she saw him again. Not that he needed any more help in that department.

She nodded. "Yes."

"And did I make good on my promise to pleasure you until you were incapable of thought?"

Swoon. He made very good on that promise. She smirked. "I return to Hogwarts a less intelligent woman."

He chuckled and took her hand in his, running his thumb across her knuckles. "I can't remember the last time I had such a good weekend."

She smiled. "Me too."

He cupped her cheek and captured her lips in a final kiss. As they said their goodbyes Draco felt a twinge of regret that she had to go, and a rush of happiness at the prospect of seeing her again soon. He hadn't felt like this since…

Oh, no you don't Draco. Not this time. You will not rush into this. Try it and you'll scare her away faster than you can say "Forever Alone".

After she left the house felt empty. Quiet. Had it always been so quiet?

Whimsy appeared next to the Floo, yielding a tray of tea, porridge, and an assortment of berries. "Whimsy thought Master Draco would want to eat in here today."

"Thank you, Whimsy." He stared at the Floo as he sat down on the couch and began to doctor his tea.

"Is Ms. Hermione not staying for breakfast?" Whimsy asked.

"I tried to persuade her, but she insisted she had to return to Hogwarts before her morning class."

Whimsy nodded. "We all likes Ms. Hermione very much. She has such pretty hair, and she complemented Whimsy on her pillowcase."

Draco chuckled. "She does have pretty hair." Funny, how he used to make fun of it. He'd been such an idiot when he was a boy.

"Whimsy is thinking that Ms. Hermione makes Master Draco very happy."

Draco grinned as he took a sip of his tea. "I think so too."

The Scottish Highlands in November were really something to behold—if by "something" if you mean that a dire lack of deciduous trees made for a season that looked exactly like every other month of the year, only colder. It was basically a glorified tundra, but that didn't stop Draco from enjoying himself as he sat with his hand on Hermione's knee in the corner of a cutsie little café in Hogsmeade. The past month and a half since Hermione had officially agreed to be his girlfriend had been wonderful. And today wasn't a scheduled Hogsmeade weekend so he and Hermione didn't have to hide as they walked hand-in-hand around the shops and streets of the village.

"So I was thinking…" Hermione started.

"Please let the next words out of your mouth be 'That we head back to the castle so I can put on that little green thing you like.' Because that's what I was thinking." His hand on her knee snaked slowly up her skirt. He smirked at the memory of her surprising him two weeks ago by wearing an olive green lace bustier under her dress that made her skin look like sweet cream. Draco didn't even manage to get the thing off of her before burying himself deep inside her.

She glanced at him sideways. "I'm not saying no. But Harry and Ginny invited us over to theirs for a movie night tomorrow."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "The last time I went to that house I got cock blocked by a portrait of my dead aunt."

"The last time you were at that house, we snogged for the first time. Why don't you think about that?"

"Because we're running out of firsts and I'm not sure Potter's house is the best way to explore the ones we have left."

She lightly smacked him on the arm. "Come on. You had fun last time, all things considered."

"Did I ever say that? I'm fairly certain any niceties on my part were just me trying to sneak into your knickers."

Hermione smirked mischievously. "You were trying to…Slytherin my knickers?"

Draco affected a pained expression. "I thoughtI was the dad here. Dad jokes are reserved for me. You're just lucky you're so pretty."

Hermione ignored him. "You like Harry and Ginny, admit it."

"I tolerate them because our sons are mates and because their best friend is my girlfriend. They are ancillary. But ofcourse I will go to their house tomorrow for…whatever a 'movie' is…because I suspect…and correct me if I'm wrong…that you aren't wearing any knickers right now."

She smirked. "Ten points to Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy."

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "Hermione, you know what it does to me when you slip into your professor mode."

She sipped her coffee haughtily. "To modify the words of a wise man, I do believe your Slytherin is rubbing off on me."

He cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "If you agree that we can get out of here right now, I can arrange for it to rub off on you some more."

Hermione, Draco, Ron, and Susan gathered at Number 12 Grimmald Place the following evening for takeout Chinese and The Princess Bride—two of Harry and Hermione's favorite artifacts from the Muggle world and the latter of which was the apparent bane of Ginny's existence.

"Every time the two of you watch that movie, you talk the whole way through it and spend the next few hours quoting from it. I've seen it like five times and I still have no idea what it's about," Ginny huffed.

"What's a movie?" Draco asked innocently.

The five adults chuckled at Draco's ignorance. Hermione sighed and muttered. "So adorable."

Susan came to the rescue. "It's like a play, but you can watch it in your home on a telev—I mean, a sort of box that shows moving pictures."

Draco scowled. "Why would anyone want to do that? The whole fun of going to the theater is so you can dress up."

"Next time, I pick the movie," Ginny insisted.

Harry chuckled. "No way. You always insist on horror films which you refuse to admit terrify the pants off you. Then you have nightmares for the next few days and that always puts you in a right state because you don't get enough sleep. Then I don't get enough sleep. And that's unacceptable."

Ginny glared. "Fine. Sharknato 3 it is then."

Draco examined the television with interest. "This is the thing we watch the…movie…" he turned to Hermione for confirmation and received an affirmative wink, "on?"

They all nodded. Draco narrowed his eyes. "And you're sure it's not magic?"

More hushed chuckles. Hermione answered. "Positive. People make movies and record them, and then put onto little discs for other people to watch at home."

Draco cocked a haughty eyebrow. "That sounds fake, but fine."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry and Ginny. "How do you guys even have this? And the Internet too? I always get full signals on my mobile when I come here. Usually magical houses aren't compatible with technology."

Harry and Ginny exchanged a smirk. Harry shrugged. "Well…let's just say I know a guy."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You make it sound so sinister. There's a Squib Harry met through work who figured out how to get technology and magic to work together. He did some work in Harry's department and…we sort of…asked him if he'd do the same for us."

Ron, Susan, and Hermione guffawed in mixed awe and jealousy. "Have him come round to ours and do it," Ron said.

Harry nodded, reaching into his wallet. He fished out a card. "Owl him. Tell him I sent you."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to her husband. "You fucking love saying that, don't you?"

Ron examined the card and handed it to Susan. "Put this in your cleavage so it doesn't get lost."

Susan grimaced. "Put it in yours."

Draco spoke up. "I don't get it. You'll use your influence to get the Ether-net—"

"Internet," Hermione corrected.

"Whatever. But you won't have someone come over and unhinge that old bat's portrait from your foyer?"

"I HEARD THAT YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BLOOD TRAITOR SWINE!"

"Aw. She remembers me," Draco said, rolling his eyes.

Harry and Ginny each shrugged noncommittally.

Draco's eyes widened. "Merlin, you lot are attached to that goddamn thing, aren't you?"

"You don't understand," Ginny said. "She's awful, yes. But we're also just sort of…used to her. You know?"

The doorbell rang.

"MUGGLES! MUGGLES AT THE MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK!"

"That'll be the food, then." Ginny went to the door to retrieve it as Harry jumped up to inflict another Silencing Charm on Mrs. Black.

Draco turned to Hermione with a question in his eyes. "Not to sound completely unsophisticated, but what exactly does 'Chinese food' entail?"

Ron jumped in just as Hermione opened her mouth to speak. "Chicken covered in a bunch of different sauces served over rice."

Susan and Hermione rolled their eyes. "Ron isn't the biggest fan of anything that isn't covered in gravy," Hermione explained.

Ron scoffed. "That's not true. I like all kinds of food. I just get irritated with those little stick things you're supposed to eat the stuff with."

Draco threw an arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Stick things?"

"I'll teach you."

"Who's going to teach me? I think it's time I finally learned," Ron declared as Harry re-entered the room.

"Not it," Harry and Hermione deadpanned at the same time. Upon the realization of their mutual distaste for the task they looked each other with their eyes widened.

"No," Harry said.

"I've got to teach Draco. It's not fair if I have to do both."

"You know, I'm not starting to feel at all like a liability here," Ron huffed.

Susan rolled her eyes. "For Merlin's sake. I'll teach you. But you'd better bloody well pay attention. And no getting angry with me and throwing them."

Ron scoffed. "I do not do that."

Harry snorted. "Right. Because the last time we all went to get sushi together you didn't throw a fit because you kept dropping 'those little fish things' in your lap."

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at him. "You nearly took my eye out that night. We still aren't allowed back at that place."

Ron shrugged. "I apologized."

"You made the waiter cry."

Ginny appeared bearing bags of unusual smelling food. "I'm going to set everything on this table and we can just sort of go around and help ourselves."

Draco eyed the food skeptically. "What sort of things do they put in the chicken?"

Hermione laughed. "Well there's…um…" she looked to her friends for help but they too were wearing expressions of bemusement on their faces. "Well actually there's…um. Heh." She snapped her fingers. "Soy sauce. That's a thing. And um…" She gave up. "it doesn't matter. You'll like it." She surveyed the buffet before them. "Do you like spicy food?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I can't say I've ever really had it."

Hermione chuckled. Oh my god, he's like a baby. "You seem like the type who would like it," she decided as she plucked a couple of chilis from a dish of kung pao chicken and plopped them on Draco's plate.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You only say that because you're a freak who prefers her food in the 'hell and damnation' scale of flavor."

"That's aslight exaggeration."

Ginny shook her head. "I've seen you pop entire habanero chilis in your mouth. That shit ain't natural."

"And you add unglodly amounts of Tabasco to things before you even try them," Ron added.

"Are you quite finished criticizing my food preferences?"

Draco sat down at the table and immediately all heads turned on him. "We're eating in the living room. Come on," Hermione said.

Draco grimaced. "What? Why?"

"Because it's fun."

Draco grumbled as he followed his girlfriend and sat next to her on the couch. "This is totally barbaric."

Hermione giggled and handed him a pair of chopsticks. "Here. You'll use these instead of a knife and fork."

Draco examined the strange new dining tools with a bit of hesitation. But Hermione explained in great detail how to use them, and to both of their surprises he actually turned out to be quite an easy pupil. It was the only time she had seen him exhibit less than perfect table manners, but all things considered he wasn't doing half bad.

Susan on the other hand, was not having the same level of success with Ron. "Fuck's sake, Ron. I told you not to get all pissy."

"Why do we even need to eat with these anyway? This is England. We eat with a knife and fork here. Like proper folk."

Draco snorted. "No. We, as in…the rest of us, eat with a knife and fork. I've seen your table manners, Weasley. And there's hardly anything proper about them."

"Here's a thought. How 'bout you not be a poshy little twat for two minutes, Malfoy?" Ron retorted.

"Shut it, both of you. It's starting," Harry said.

Malfoy regarded the odd moving pictures with interest. It was rather fascinating.

Hermione sighed faintly as Cary Elwes came on the screen. Ginny and Harry rolled their eyes. "Please keep your swooning to a minimum," Harry requested.

"I didn't say anything."

Harry addressed Draco. "She's always had a crush on Westley."

Draco grimaced. "Who's Westley?"

"The blond guy."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Oh my god I just got why Hermione likes Draco. Because he looks like Westley."

Draco smirked at Hermione's flushed cheeks while her "friends" laughed at her expense. He kissed her temple. "You've got excellent taste, love." He placed a feather light kiss on her lips, thinking that no one was looking.

"PUKE." Ron intoned loudly. "Could you not do that in front of us?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Why? Are we putting you off your food? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that watching you eat that pile of eggrolls was nothing short of nauseating."

"Will you both, yet again,kindly shut the fuck up?" Harry asked.

Draco wasn't entirely sure what was going on in the film. Was it supposed to be funny? It was rather low brow for his tastes. But Hermione seemed to oddly enjoy it.

"Inconceivable!" she exclaimed.

Harry responded in a poor imitation of a Spanish accent. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The two giggled and high fived.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You could just let the actors say the lines. It is their job."

Harry threw an arm around his wife. "Ginny, you're falling victim to one of the classic blunders."

Hermione smirked. "Never go against a Sicilian—"

"When death is on the line!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed simultaneously.

Ginny snorted. "You two are idiots."

"We're awesome," Hermione retorted. '

"I wish I understood the strange power this movie has over the two of you. But unfortunately I'll never understand, because I'll never be able to hear the movie adequately enough to know what's going on."

"You do realize that you're the one talking through the movie now, right?" Hermione pointed out.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I wish I was still super athletic so I could kick your arse. But then you had to go and become an Auror and now you're not scared of me anymore."

Hermione chuckled. "Only when I think you're going to ask me to watch your innumerable children."

A pillow came flying from Ginny's general direction to hit Hermione in the head. "Ouch," she said dully.

"Malfoy, will you please pinch your girlfriend for me?" Ginny asked.

"No fucking way, Potterette. She could easily kick my arse. And I'd still like to get lucky tonight thank you very much."

Ron and Harry pretended to vomit into their plates. Ginny and Susan exchanged smirks.

"I will never get used to the fact that you and Hermione are shagging," Ron said.

Draco smirked and opened his mouth to retort.

"Neh-eh-eh! You two will not continue to ruin this masterpiece with your bickering," Harry scolded.

Draco shrugged and leaned back on the couch, dragging Hermione to lay between his legs so he could wrap his arms around her while he watched the movie.

The girl, Buttercup, struck him as being the most useless character ever recorded in art or literature. Not his kind of woman at all. The writers might have replaced her with a bunny rabbit and it would have had a similar effect.

The Westley character was alright, but he was so flighty. So quick to mistrust the woman he purported to love. He did have nice hair though.

Draco's favorite character was the giant. He seemed to be the only one who really ever knew what was going on. Why couldn't the movie just be about him?

But Draco's favorite part of the movie had nothing to do with the movie at all. It was the warmth and ease of having Hermione in his arms. Every now and then he'd covertly place a sweet kiss on her cheek or her neck, making certain no one was looking, as neither one of them was very big on PDA. It amused him how every so often Hermione would jump up and she and Potter would spout some ridiculous line from the film. They went extra insane during the bit with the old man and his wife who brought Westley back to life. "How many times have you seen this?" Draco asked.

"Shush. No talking during the movie."

He rolled his eyes at his silly girlfriend. "Hypocrite," he said, kissing her ear.

"PUKE," Ron said.

"That's it." Harry picked up an odd black rectangle and the television shut off, sparking a chorus of "Hey" and "Oi".

"Either shut the fuck up, or get out of my house."

"I can't believe he kicked us out." Hermione hissed as she and Draco walked down the street.

"I can't believe you let me put one of those angry red devil peppers in my mouth."

"I fixed it, didn't I? I cast a Cooling Charm."

"How do you eat those things? They fucking hurt."

"They're delicious," she waived off his comment.

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'delicious.' I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain."

"You're a baby."

"No. You're just a bad-ass. Compared to you, we're all babies."

She rolled her eyes. "All things considered, how was your first movie?"

He shrugged. "Meh. It was alright. I quite liked the part where you and I made Weasley uncomfortable by cuddling on Potter's couch."

"You don't have to antagonize him like that."

"I don't antagonize him. I just don't like him."

She rolled her eyes. "Well you have to at least try to be nice. Just like I try with Zabini."

"Blaise is a quality gentleman."

"He's a snake."

"I'm a snake."

She grinned and bumped him with her hip. "You're a snake who's going to be nice to my friends."

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders "As you wish."

Hermione burst into a fit of giggles. "Okay Dread Pirate Draco, let's get you home. You just earned yourself the green thing."