Aria: Hi all, finally back with another chapter! This chapter took a long time to write, I re-wrote it at least seven times until I found the one I wanted.

To answer the guest reviewer, I am nowhere near done with this fanfiction. I do have a finish line to aim for but the speed at which I will reach it is not guaranteed, however, I will do my best to finally finish this fanfiction. So to reassure you all, I do intend to finish this FF :).

Thank you for your continued support and for the long waits in between.

I don't own HP! Enjoy!

Chapter 29 – Spring

- 26th of March 2022, Saturday –

Rose had been avoiding Scorpius since Thursday night. She was either not present or completely silent. As partners they were forced to sit together in Potions, and they had, but making a potion when your partner will not communicate is like building a house without a plan. The potion was predictably a mess.

Scorpius places his fork on the wooden table and sighs. All the tension is driving away his hunger for pancakes. Looking up at Al, who was shovelling every different meat on the table onto his plate, he took comfort that some people do not seem affected by stress. Mya shakes her head at her boyfriend's table manner and returns to drawing little characters with the tomato sauce bottle. A shout just loud enough to be heard over the chatter in the Great Hall drew attention to the entrance. The great lioness of Gryffindor was scolding some poor sod. Dom pushed her glasses further up her nose with a scowl on her face. The part Veela crew of the Weasley's are harder to spot in a crowd with their blond hair but the racket makes up for it.

"Scorp?" his attention is brought back to his table.

Al had the concerned creases on his forehead as he said, "You alright?"

"Yeah," He breathed out, and realised it didn't sound convincing, "just assignments to do."

"You, my friend, worry about schoolwork too much," Fred said as he clapped his shoulder before sitting next to him.

"Maybe if you worried a little more you wouldn't be so concerned about your Newt's," Mya smirked. Al was in fits of laughter and gave his girlfriend a high-five.

Fred straightened his posture and adjusted to a posh voice, "Worry not, I will make a miraculous recovery on the finals."

"You want to bet on it?" Lily offered with a devious smile.

"You are on." Fred turned the opposite direction facing Lily to discuss the details.

Breakfast time was almost over, and he still had no idea how to fix his fight with Rose. He heard the occasional gossip about what was happening between them, the problem with having famous parents paired with the nature of a boarding school. Spending the last few minutes debating Rose Weasley in his head must have been a chant because there she was at the entrance as the whole school got quieter, sticking their nose where it does not belong. Within a minute he was next to Rose grabbing her hand pulling her out of the Great Hall. As they left the noise level rose. Where could they talk?

"Scorpius. Scorpius let go of me!" She pulled her hand back and we stopped in the middle of the corridor. He turned to look at her, as usual dressed in oversized shirt, and jeans, hair that had been quickly twisted into a bun on her head. From the bags under her eyes, she had about as much sleep as he did.

She fumbled with her hands for a moment as she agonized over what to say. "Scorpius, I think…" her voice was breaking and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to stop those words. The words that would mean separation. So he pulled her in close and kissed her.

Rose was in shock one minute she's trying to tell him that they should just be friends and the next she's leaning into his kiss. It was a comfortable affectionate kiss that was hard to pull away from. When they pull away for a breath Scorpius puts his hand on either side of her head and looks at her with what she would realise later to be love. He says, "Rose Weasley, will you go out with me? and be my girlfriend?"

It's rare that anyone can make Rose speechless but here she was looking up at a boy who she didn't expect to see such deep emotion from. She found herself saying, "Yes." Followed by a low growl from her stomach.

"Man I am starving." She lets her forehead fall forward onto his chest.

"Then let's go back and finish eating." Scorpius chuckled.

"Yeah," Rose smiled but then it occurs to her, "wait, what about our parents someone will gossip and find out."

Scorpius pauses thoughtfully, then smiles, "Sure let them," he leans in closer to hug her, his voice right next to her ear, "I have waited too long for you to let anyone take you away."

Rose's heart starts beating faster and her face became warm. How is he able to make her so happy and embarrassed at the same time?

He pulls back from the hug and she immediately misses the warmth.

"Shall we?" He holds out his hand, she nods and takes it.

When they walk back into the hall, everything turns from loud chatter to almost silence and when her family spots them and sees the situation, she wanted to hide. Mya, Al, Lily and Dom were excited. Fred, Louis and Hugo were shocked. They sat down and were bombarded with questions.

Lysander walked past the Great Hall as Dom is scolding a third year for something. He spotted Lily laughing with Fred. She tucked her straight red hair behind her right ear, he could see her genuine smile and was uplifted. She always looked better smiling. He was relieved she was feeling better than before, he kept his distance because that is what she wanted. Though it was painful he would do anything she asked.

"Hey Lysander!" He turned around to see a couple of the girls from his divination class. They were all in Ravenclaw, their names don't come to mind, he had not been paying attention anyway.

He forced a smile as if he were having the best day, "Hey, how are you?" There was a chorus of goods and wells.

"What are you doing today?" The brunette asked.

"Just heading to WWW in Hogsmeade. I heard they have a new prank box." His cover story.

"Oh, that's such a cool shop, do you mind if we come with you?" The blonde asked.

How to refuse? Should he refuse or use this? "Sure, the more the merrier." Can't wait for the hell this will be.

He shook his head and moved onto his mission today. Targets were waiting in the courtyard as expected. The three girls giggled and chatted as he looked quickly at the couple standing on the steps. Jack Dixon wrapped his tree-trunk arms around Freya's neck, she grimaced but said nothing.

The walk down involved minimal responses from him. Lysander knew he was the topic of much of the girls' gossip and attention because he had looks but he couldn't care less.

There were many people as expected for a Spring day. The weather was especially warm today compared to winter just gone. Dixon took a turn into Three Broomsticks and Lysander quickly interrupted talk of going to Galrage's. "How about be take a break in Three Broomsticks?"

All agreed and they all headed in. Lysander double checked on the location of Dixon. He was sitting in a window booth with Freya crammed in with all his friends.

"I'll go order, Butterbeers?" He asked the three girls who all nodded. Lysander had picked a table in the middle but close to a window.

He made eye contact with the bartender and smiled, "Three Butterbeers, please." She smiled and gave a nod.

He paid and check Dixon's table again, Freya was left along with his friends who were having loud fun, but she was barely hiding her annoyance with a tight smile. Lysander took the drinks to the three classmates speaking animatedly about books.

"Where's your drink?" The one with glasses spoke for the first time to him.

"Just going to the loo first." He smiled. This was the perfect time to escape. Dixon was still not at the table he needed to track him down. The three girls seemed unconvinced but accepted the excuse.

Lysander walked in the direction of the toilets, double checked the back hallways for Dixon. No sign. He snuck out the back exit and had a quick look around the back of the pub. Still no sign of Dixon. While walking to Hogs Head pub he heard someone call his name.

"Lysander!" James Potter out of breath from running continued, "Man you walk fast."

"Oh sorry, was lost in thought," Lysander said with an apologetic tone. "Did you need something?" He then looked around quickly.

"Not as much as you seem to have lost something." James stopped halfway through a chuckle, only half-joking.

"I kind of have, so I will be going to find it see ya." He smiles starting to get nervous that James might figure out what's going on, even though Dom said to keep it secret.

As Lysander turned to walk away, James put his arm around his shoulder and said, "why don't we look for it together?"

James was going to be pushy and insistent, there's no getting rid of him. "Fine," He sighed, "but I can't tell you what I'm looking for, ok?"

"Aww, why not?" James whined like he wasn't a sixteen-year-old.

Lysander ducked away from James' arm and continued looking down the busy streets.

"If you're looking for Dixon," James paused as Lysander turned around shocked. James gestured to the path that led to the Shrieking Shack, Lysander gave a nod and followed.

Once they were far enough away from the bustling streets and only after checking that no one else was around, James said, "He met a shady guy in Hogs Head and is now back at the Three Broomsticks."

Lysander observed James for a long moment. He wondered how much of the tall, carefree, loveable character was a farce.

"Don't believe me?" James huffed with a half grinned disappointment.

"No I do, I was just wondering when you found out I was spying on him." Lysander hurriedly replied.

James looked down at him with a slight frown and sad brown eyes, "Honestly I know my cousins better than they think," He chuckled, "and family is important and needs protecting, you don't have to be blood-related to be family. That goes for Mya, Fie and of course you and your brother."

He found it hard to look away, Lysander had been around the Weasley-Potter brood since before he was born. He had watched James be the fun-loving, trickster, mayhem causer of an older brother character. This serious intense caring side never once appeared in all the summers, in all the parties. Only now. It made him wonder more about that side of him, if that was his real personality that he hid from everyone.

Suddenly James grabs Lysander in a headlock and ruffles some of his hair. "Now let's go play a prank on Slytherin, Fred and Louis are waiting, you wanna join?" He bounced right back to chaos James.

"Why not," Lysander chuckled, relieved that there was a person who he could ask for help when he needed it.