The memories of the aftermath of that chess game and everything that had come with it haunted me for the rest of the holidays.

That kiss in early December? No big deal. It hadn't thrown me off track – not in the grand scheme of things.

But after New Year's I had been up to my neck in trouble. Dominique had been right – I should have seen it coming. I might have been a late-bloomer (in comparison to her and Al) - be that as it may, but something had been ignited that night, and now I was a complete goner. Why on earth did Scorpius have to be such a flirt?

"Rosie? Are you still in there somewhere?"

"What?" I answered absent-mindedly.

"I said there has been an owl for you," Dad told me.

"Oh, thanks," I desperately tried to shake my hormone-driven daydreams off my mind. So far no good. I don't know how many times I thanked the universe that it had never occurred to my parents to become Legilimens. I mean – sure, I had turned 18 in October. I was a grown-up, and I could do as I pleased, but still... That would have been very uncomfortable.

I unfolded the little parchment Dad had handed me over. A single word had been scribbled onto it.

Walk?

"I'm heading over to Al," I said and went to grab my boots and a jacket. I had recognized his handwriting in an instance.

Al's opinion has always been very important to me, and I think that subconsciously, I had been dreading to tell him about me and Scorpius - whatever weird thing we had going at that point - because I had been scared of his reaction.

I should have known better. Al was his usual empathic self.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm… fine," I answered.

"So, I presume Dominique has already managed to squeeze out every excruciating detail of New Year's?" he said while we walked around the quiet outskirts of Godric's Hollow. The winter sun had already started to set, and a light, frosty breeze rustled the naked branches of a nearby tree.

"You could say that," I mumbled.

Her owl had arrived during my chess match with Dad (which I had obviously lost).

Hope you're alive – I barely survived. I will stop by tomorrow and shall be told everything. Consider this a warning. Dominique.

She had showed up first thing after breakfast the following morning. I hadn't minded. In fact, I had been incredibly happy to have someone to talk to about this. I just had wished that she had been a little less blunt and a little less smug about it. Dominique had barely made it through the door of my room and put up a silencing charm, before she had plumped down on my armchair and had asked me, "So. What's the current status? You haven't slept with him, have you?"

"Of course not," I had hissed. "We're not even dating."

She had smirked. "But you made out."

I had hesitated for a moment, before answering, "We did."

"And it was not the first time, was it?"

"No, it wasn't– he had kissed me before."

"Back in December? When you got drunk?"

I had nodded, and her smirk had widened. "How was it?"

"It was…" I could feel the blood rush to my face. "…good?"

"Go on."

"New Year's got a little… a little," I had started stammering.

"A little intense?" Dominique had offered, grinning widely.

"Yeah, a little intense." That will do. "I haven't really thought about anything else ever since."

She had burst into laughter. "Who would have thought that Scorpius Malfoy of all people had it in him to bring that out of you?"

I had grimaced. "You're impossible!"

"And you, my friend, are horny." She had ducked her head when I had thrown my pillow at her. "No need to feel embarrassed, Rosie. He's actually rather cute." When I hadn't answered, she had continued, "Honestly? I think it's brilliant. You're finally letting your guard down. You seemed so… confident and feisty around him. I loved it."

That conversation had been a bit too overwhelming, honestly.

Al was way more discrete and a little more subtle about it.

"So, how did that chess game go for you?"

"I lost it. He had been right – I was way too full of myself. This is the first time this has ever happened to me."

Albus laughed. "Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" He looked at me calmly, taking a drag of the cigarette he had just lit. I could tell that there was a double meaning to his statement.

"I don't know how I got myself into… this. Whatever it is."

"Welcome to the club. We've all been there," Al grinned. We kept walking in silence, until he decided to ask me, "Do you fancy him?"

Somehow I had known that this question had been coming. I took a deep breath, before answering, "Kind of."

He raised one eyebrow, but said nothing – and all of a sudden I remembered the conversation about Al that Scorpius and I had had. He doesn't really like me, does he? For some reason, and for a lack of better things to say, I told Al about it.

Al looked a bit confused. "I don't know him, but I'd say that I don't have any reason to mistrust him. He doesn't seem to be such a menace."

"He's not. Or at least I don't think he is… I mean, he can be a bit of an arrogant arse sometimes, but he's also… surprisingly considerate and incredibly funny. I like being around him."

Al looked at me thoughtfully. "You know, I actually meant what I said recently… I do think you're a great judge of character," he finally said. "If you're convinced that he's a good kid, then he probably is."

"Thanks," I muttered, feeling relieved.

"And if both of us are wrong, and he ends up stomping all over you, Dominique is going to hex his balls off. Simple as that," he added and winked at me.

"Someone has to have my back," I said, laughing at the idea. "Can you do me a favor, though? Could you keep this a secret? I haven't started overthinking this, and I'd rather keep it this way. I think it's easier when no one knows about this."

Al looked at me for a short while, before saying, "Sure, if that's what you want."

"Thanks. It is – for now, at least. I mean, I don't even know if anything like thisis going to happen again," I added – without specifying what this meant exactly (and thankfully, Albus didn't care).

But if I was completely honest with myself, I already knew that New Year's had not been the last chapter of this story.

I blamed the upcoming NEWTs and Head Girl duties for feeling a bit fidgety going back to Hogwarts.

"Rosie, you're even worse than your mum," Dad laughed as he took out Hugo's and my luggage out of the car. He had gotten better at recognizing emotional distress – he just wasn't very good at pinpointing the cause of it.

"I am not," I answered grumpily.

"Yes, you are," Hugo smirked and took his suitcase.

I had loved being back home, but I was also happy to go back to Hogwarts, which also felt like home after all. Dad had taken us to King's Cross – Mum couldn't make it, she had already gone to work that day. Work had gotten more stressful ever since she had started to work directly for Minister Shacklebolt – she was the shoo-in for the next Minister of Magic.

In retrospect, and if I'm completely honest with myself, I was happy to escape the trusting, yet watchful eyes of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley - apart from the fact that I was secretly looking forward to meeting the fellow Head Boy again.

Hugo was off as soon as we had passed the barrier to platform 9 ¾, as if he was embarrassed to be seen with his parent. "Bye Dad!" he said as he waved at him, "I'm going to find my housemates!" Hugh turned around and disappeared in the thick smoke at the platform.

Dad shook his head bemusedly. "I almost forgot what it was like to be a 15-year old, moody teenager."

I grinned. "You were?"

"Your Uncle Harry was. My moodiness only kicked in one or two years later – we've both given your Mum a really hard time."

I tried to imagine my cheeky father and my Uncle Harry, probably the most laid-back person I had ever met, as grumpy, unhappy teenagers – and full-heartedly laughed at the idea.

"Speaking of Harry, he has to be around here somewhere…" Dad said and looked around, squinting at various groups of people, trying to find Uncle Harry's short figure and Aunt Ginny's ginger hair.

"Go and find them, then," I said and leaned in for a hug, "Thanks for the ride, Dad!"

He pulled me into his bear arms and hugged me tightly, "Sure thing, Rosie! Have fun at Hogwarts, and don't take your NEWTs classes too seriously."

I snorted.

My father pulled away and looked at me fondly. "I mean it, though. It's your last year – enjoy it."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll try," I said and kissed him on the cheek quickly, "I'm going to look for Albus and Dominique."

He wished me a good trip, squeezed my shoulder and waved me off, before I disappeared into the steam that was pouring from the Hogwarts Express.

At some point, I spotted Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny with Lily in a distant corner, but Albus was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Dominique.

In fact, the first 7th year student I bumped into, was Scorpius, just a minute after saying goodbye to Dad. Quite some timing we had going for us.

"Hello, Weasley."

"I would have thought that we are on a first name basis by now," I said.

He shrugged. "We are. I just like calling you 'Weasley'."

I raised my eyebrows, but didn't question his comment – and relaxed significantly. There was something about his presence that made me feel a bit more grounded than I usually did, even when I still felt a bit fidgety - because I had this strange urge to drag him into a secluded corner and snog him senseless. Was that weird at all?

I tried to shake that fantasy, took a deep breath and said, "Suit yourself. How was Christmas break?"

"You mean apart from New Year's? Not as good as that, but fine," he said, suddenly grinning at me, and I almost regretted that I had asked, because I felt my cheeks grow incredibly hot. I nearly missed the slight pink color that had spread across his pale face as well.

"There you are, Rosie! I've been looking for you," Scorpius and I turned towards Dominique, who had suddenly appeared next to us. Somehow she always managed to show up at the most inconvenient moments. Her eyes fell on Scorpius, and then her mouth pulled into the most mischievous, cheeky smirk I had seen in a very long time. "Oh, never mind – hello, Malfoy. I will let you… get back to… Well, see you later."

I simply glared at her, but she waved back cheerfully and disappeared towards the Hogwarts Express.

Perfect. Just splendid.

Scorpius looked after her skeptically, before nodding towards my luggage. "Do you want help with that?"

"Oh, erm… You don't have to-," I stammered.

"I know I don't have to – I am asking you if you want me to," Scorpius retaliated.

I was momentarily distracted by his confident nonchalance and the way his grey eyes pierced into mine. For a brief moment, I let my eyes wander across his features. Despite the winter weather, he didn't wear a cap that day, and his hair had been pulled up into a bun, leaving his ears slightly pink from the cold. Dom had been right – I found him rather cute as well.

"Sure," I finally said, "If you don't mind."

"Nope, I don't," Scorpius took my suitcase and gave me a last, lingering look, before heading towards a nearby train door.

"Not all," he added.

We had gotten back to Hogwarts on a Sunday, and the following week had been a rather… weird one.

"Rose, stop making it too obvious," Dominique whispered at me one evening during dinner in the Great Hall. She had caught me staring at the Slytherin table.

"Dom, give her a break," Al stated from the other side of the table. He had barely looked up from the book he had been reading, and I was fairly sure that he hadn't heard what she had said exactly. Felicitas, who sat next to him, looked rather confused about the comment, but I appreciated all the emotional support I got.

Dominique seemed slightly annoyed, but grinned anyway. "I'm right, though," she said and took a big bite of the chocolate brownie in her hand.

And yes – she was right.

I was acting like a weirdo, and I had no idea what to do about it. I was not used to this – at all. Usually she was the one drooling over a fellow student, not me. It was also a bit scary, especially since the behavior seemed to be mutual. I had noticed that Scorpius kept looking at me as well, whether in the Great Hall, while studying in the library or during the classes we shared.

All of that kind of culminated during Potions, when we stood next to each other while weighing the ingredients for Murtlap Essence - and although talking to him was as easy as breathing, I was scared to overstep any physical boundary there might have been. As if being at Hogwarts meant that things had gone back to normal - as if New Year's Eve had happened in a parallel universe that had nothing to do with the real world.

It was only at the end of the lesson, when Scorpius walked by my table. He had already finished up and was ready to leave, while I was still gathering my things.

"See you tomorrow night?" he asked.

I looked up and met his gaze, frowning slightly. "You mean for rounds?"

He nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I offered Davis to change patrol duties. I was signed up with some 5th Year from Hufflepuff, but I'd rather be… doing rounds with you," he said bluntly. "Do you mind?"

That cheeky rascal. Why hadn't I come up with that?

I didn't even bother to hide my grin. "Nope, I don't - not at all."

By the time Saturday evening arrived, I was a gleeful mess.

Much like the time in early December, after we had kissed for the first time, Scorpius and I stayed strictly professional during rounds. It was rather uneventful at first – it was a very quiet Saturday night, and people were usually not up for trouble after Christmas or Easter break.

Time still passed in a blur. Usually, neither one of us cared if we walked around in comfortable silence – but that night I just kept rambling. He didn't seem to mind though. We talked about the books we had read during the holidays and about my favorite Muggle movies – Scorpius had never seen any except for those we had discussed in Muggle Studies. I confessed that I would love to be better at drawing, but that I had always lacked the patience. Scorpius, on the other hand, turned out to have a thing for photography.

"What do you like about it?"

"I guess… I like capturing moments that otherwise would go by completely unnoticed. It's always the little details in pictures that fascinate me."

"That is… a much more eloquent answer than I expected."

"You've set the bar pretty low then, haven't you?" he asked teasingly. I didn't know him well enough back then to spot his discomfort that sometimes arose when he got complimented.

"There is no bar. I think it's perfectly fine to like things just for the sake of it. But I don't mind to be pleasantly surprised either," I retaliated. When he didn't answer, I asked, "Do you take pictures yourself?"

Scorpius hesitated for a moment. "Sometimes I do."

"Can I see them some day?" I had asked before I could stop myself.

He looked a bit taken aback at first, but a small smile spread across his features. "Sure, if you want to."

"I'd love to."

We had almost finished our rounds, when he said, "Can I ask you something?" I nodded. "You told me that you thought we're on first name basis – back at King's Cross. You stopped calling me Malfoy at some point. Why is that?"

The question seemed a little odd – and the answer so obvious, yet I couldn't come up with a decent one. "I don't know. I didn't do it on purpose, it just sort of happened. I guess it felt weird at some point? As if you're-," I hesitated for a moment, "As if it felt too distant."

Also, it had come to my attention that I had started liking his first name, but I couldn't tell him that, could I?

He nodded anyway, and said, "I'm actually really glad you did, though."

"And you still call me Weasley," I said, frowning slightly.

Scorpius grinned. "Yep, cause it suits you. And I… just really get a kick out of saying it sometimes."

"That's… the first time anyone ever said something like that before."

"Do you mind, though?"

I had realized that he called me Rose when he tried to make a point – when he was serious and very sincere about something. The way he said 'Weasley', on the other hand, had gotten a very different undertone. It was cheeky, almost flirty. I was not sure if he did it on purpose, but it had started to hit different.

"No, I don't. I actually kinda like the way you say it," I mumbled.

We looked at each other, the air between us filled with a certain kind of tension. Meanwhile he had reached our initial starting point.

"So," Scorpius said, "I'd say we're done with rounds, aren't we?"

"Yes, I'd say so," I breathed.

"Thank Merlin," he muttered and closed the gap between us. He met me so enthusiastically that I stumbled backwards. Scorpius arms caught me and snuck around my waist to rest on my back. I gasped against his lips and fisted his robes. It was utterly thrilling, and yet...

It was way past curfew, but there was an all too realistic chance that we got caught by anyone who decided to stroll around the castle on a quiet Saturday night.

"This feels a bit too public," I muttered in between kisses.

Scorpius was in no mood to be bothered about that – he simply nudged me towards the shadow of a nearby staircase.

"Better?" he asked.

"Slightly," I managed to breathe before I got shoved into the stone wall of the corridor. Apparently, I hadn't been wrong - all that pining over the previous week had been entirely mutual. Scorpius' movements were a bit frenzied, and I responded eagerly. He had one leg between mine, slightly pushing against me.

I had become painfully aware of the sensation lingering in my lower abdomen.

Scorpius seemed equally torn. His voice sounded a bit strangled when he stated, "You might be right about being too public right now. Do you want to go back? To one of our dorms, I mean?"

I exhaled. "Just... let me think about it for a minute."

He chuckled quietly and said, "Take all the time you need, Weasley." His lips moved down the side of my neck, sucking softly on my skin.

Merlin, I thought to myself. I desperately needed to talk to him, before I ended up as a puddle on the floor.

"Scorpius?"

"Hm?"

I took a deep breath, before continuing. I was a bit anxious to spill out what had been on my mind. "You know I've never... I've never done... this before."

"I've already figured that much," he said and tilted his head up to look at me. "You've been pretty honest about it back on New Year's Eve."

"I know. And don't get me wrong... I like this – a lot actually. I just don't think I want to go... you know... all the way."

"If you don't want to go all the way, then we won't. I thought that was obvious," he retaliated, slightly frowning. His hand moved up to brush away a stubborn curl of hair that had escaped my ponytail.

And although I already knew that much about him, I couldn't help feeling a little relieved. I shrugged, before saying, "Consider it a pre-emptive warning, in case girls before me have set the bar too high - I probably suck at this."

"Stop being an idiot, Weasley," he laughed. "That's not possible. Not when you kiss like that," he added grinningly. "And although I find it quite flattering that you seem to be vastly overestimating my experience with women, let me assure you that I don't do this on a regular basis. You're definitely overthinking this." He sounded bemused and genuine at the same time.

In retrospect, I'd say that neither one of us was particularly good at this, but there was a certain level of trust between Scorpius and me that made it work for both of us - that and the fact that we both had become brutally honest with each other.

Scorpius took two small steps back and offered me his hand, "So, what are you saying?"

I paused for a moment, before I took it and asked, "My dorm or yours?"

He beamed at me, looking a lot like a kid that just got to open an early Christmas present. "The one that's closer?"

"Mine, then."

Well, I was definitely going to get too friendly with him. I might as well do that in private.