Hello! It's the Author! I'm back at last! I am so sorry for my absence and want to thank everyone for all of their support! I hope this new chapter does not disappoint and cant wait to hear feedback from all of you. I hope to update a lot these next couple weeks and look forward to your continued support!

Rose opened the door to The Shiny Kneazle, the bell above the door chiming quietly to alert the staff of her entry. It didn't take her long to find the silvery platinum and pitch-black hair of Scorpius and Albus, the latter of which waved energetically at her as he saw her also.

She smiled and walked to their booth, nodding in greeting as Scorpius turned in his seat to see the recipient of Albus's attention, "Hello Albus, hello Scorpius. I'm sorry I'm a little late, Mrs. Charleston was arguing with the landlady again today.

Albus's eyes lit up as Scorpius's name passed her lips and he looked excitedly at the blonde whose cheeks were tinged with the palest pink, "Everyone knows you're late to everything Rose but what I'm more interested in is when the two of you started using your first names with each other."

Albus wiggled his brows up and down excitedly and Rose scoffed in disbelief at her cousin's behavior, "We met yesterday for tea and 'homework', as you called it. We decided it was too annoying to continue calling each other by our family names if we were going to be getting to know each other better."

She shifted from one foot to the other and then sighed, raising a brow at Albus expectantly, "Are you going to scoot over so I can sit down or am I to be expected to have this tea standing?"

Albus grinned wider, shaking his head, "Nah I think ill stay right here. I only just got the seat warm, and I'd hate to make my butt cold by moving over. Maybe Scorpius will though."

Albus's smile was mischievous and borderline evil as he turned his eyes back to Scorpius. Rose sighed softly and turned to Scorpius who looked almost panicked before schooling his expression again and looking up at her with a purposefully amused expression.

"Scorpius, may I have a seat next to you?"

Scorpius smiled and wordlessly began to slide further into the booth to allow room for Rose.

Almost as soon as Rose sat down, a teacup floated over to her, filled with the unmistakable scent of Earl Grey. Rose Smiled and glanced at the two men, "Who ordered for me?"

Scorpius smiled again, "I hope you don't mind. You mentioned that last night's tea was Earl Grey so I hoped that would be fine for today as well."

"He got here before either of us and ordered drinks for both you and him. Wanker made me order my own."

Both Scorpius and Rose ignored Albus, "Thank you Scorpius, this is lovely. How much do I owe you?"

"Oi! You never offer to pay me back when I order your food!"

Scorpius shook his head and raised a hand as if to fend off any money she was offering, "There's no need. Consider it payment for this evening's lesson."

"Lesson? You're giving him lessons? What kind of lessons?"

Albus's voice was filled with curiosity and excitement and was utterly ignored, "Are you sure? I don't mind- "

"-I'm sure Rose. It wouldn't sit right with me to have free lessons. It's not much but consider this payment for now."

Rose laughed and nodded her head, "Fine, its official though, one cup of tea equals a lesson, anything more and I'll owe you."

Scorpius laughed quietly, a strange look she couldn't quite place shining in his eyes as he looked at her, "Then I suppose I'll have to treat you to a cup of tea as often as I can."

Rose's brow furrowed in slight confusion, a smile still tugging on her lips, "Are you expecting to take a long time to understand the lessons?"

Without realizing it, their voices had become quieter until his next words were almost a whisper, his face serious, "Perhaps. If it means I get to spend more time with the witch that will be teaching me."

They sat in silence for a moment after, simply looking at each other before Albus cleared his throat, looking annoyed, brow furrowed and face red. Their heads shot to him in surprise, and Rose felt her face turn red. She nearly missed Albus's miniscule glare at Scorpius.

Scorpius cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his head to look out the window into Diagon Alley and Rose took an uneasy sip out of her tea.

She didn't know what just happened or why. All she knew was that if they had stayed like that any longer, if Albus hadn't brought them back to their senses, she didn't know what they might have done.

She couldn't describe the feeling that had come over her except for that it had felt something like static electricity on her skin. She didn't know if he had felt it too or even what 'it' was.

She glanced up at Albus to find him staring at her strangely, brow furrowed as if confused before he shook his head and began some meaningless conversation that she only barely paid attention to.

Two hours later she could barely say what they had been talking about the whole time and based off of Scorpius's fragmented responses to Albus's jokes, he might have been the same.

Finally, Albus sighed as if realizing he wasn't going to get far with talking to either of them, so he asked, "Ok, last thing and then I have to get back home to Alice, do you know Scorpius's favorite color, Rose?"

She sighed with relief, finally able to grasp onto the conversation and smiled slightly, clearing her throat and nodding, "He likes green. Not because of his house but because it's a good complementary color."

Albus smiled and nodded and then jumped in surprise when Scorpius interjected, "Rose's favorite color is blue for the same reason. Good complementary color and all that."

Albus blinked and then grinned and began to slowly applaud the two awkward adults before him, "Congratulations, you've both passed the first test. I'm glad to see I can finally invite both of you to the same parties instead of having to take turns with my two best friends."

Rose offered a small smile at the same time Scorpius said, "No offense, but I still wont attend your parties, Albus."

She snorted and tried to cover the laugh with a cough, hiding her smile behind her hand, glad that it had been Scorpius and not herself to break the news to her hopeful cousin.

Albus's parties, when he was able to throw them, were always just…. Off. He enjoyed throwing BBQs with strange mystical creature meat, all legally and humanely acquired, he assured them, or house parties where you were required to play some new game he had found online. His most recent debacle had been a picnic in a local park where he had attempted to make the picnic chairs and tables float near cloud level, forcing all those attending to fly on brooms to be seated.

Albus shot them both a glare and then sighed, unable to hide a small smile despite himself, "No offense, Blondie, but I'll still just drag you to them anyways."

Scorpius sighed in defeated agreement but shot Rose a smile. Albus placed a galleon on the table and stood, stretching his back, "Well I'm out. If I stay out any longer, Alice might send out a search party for me."

Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin's retreating back and sighed, calling out quietly enough to not disturb the other patrons in the café, "Tell Alice I say hello!"

Which reminded her, she should really pay Alice a visit one of these days. She could only imagine how exhausting it must be for the poor woman to live with her cousin day in and day out now that he was a fully-fledged healer, and she was three months away from being his official wife.

Official meaning that Alice Longbottom was already largely considered Albus's De Facto wife as of their third year in Hogwarts.

Scorpius cleared his throat quietly beside her and she turned to face him again. He gestured at the galleon Albus had left with a smirk, "I suppose this means I owe you another tea."

Rose grinned and hummed in pretend thought, "I don't know… The late fee is pretty high for these lessons. I'm a pretty popular teacher, you know, my lessons are in high demand."

She raised her brows at him in challenge. He kept surprising her with his witty and clever comebacks, and she was curious what he would come up with regarding a "late fee" on the lessons they had agreed on.

His eyes searched hers for a moment before a somewhat hesitant looking smile covered his lips, head cocked slightly to the side as if he were a dog confused by his owners command, "It might be a day of two before I can provide you with your tea then and I'm afraid I might not be able to pay the fee if I wait any longer. Would treating you to dinner this evening, after the 'movie', work as a proper payment, I wonder?"

Why? Why do they allow people like her to exist? Why did people like him exist?

Why was he so pretty when he looked so unsure?

Why did he look so unsure?

His face was a perfect mask of purposeful calmness unless you knew how to read him, which, apparently on some level, she did. There was a strangely strained look on his face as if he was expecting to hear something bad but was hoping against everything in him for something good.

It struck her suddenly that she wanted to see his face when he got that something good and before she knew it, she was saying, "Sure. Dinner and a movie. It's a date."

And he went utterly still.