Aria: Hello everyone it's been a while. Please enjoy this chapter and I have the next one lined up and will be ready very soon so please stay tuned.

Chapter 18 – Strawberries, Quidditch and….Food

Rose's POV:

- 7th of February 2022 -

It's a Wednesday; which means that I'll have Quidditch practice this afternoon. It's sort of a good break from assignments that I probably need. When I fly I tend to regain focus by only concentrating on the game and letting everything else fall away.

My only problem is that…it's bloody winter still….Why? Why during winter it'll be bloody freakin' freezing.

I was walking to History of Magic from Herbology when I saw Lysander leaning against a wall surrounded by giggling girls. The fourth-year-Hufflepuff has no problems wooing girls, although you could say that a large population of the girls are flattered by the tall light blonde. I – for one – was only able to see why others liked him but I was not personally interested. We were, really, only friends because I was friends with his twin Locan – and because of Mum and Dad's friend Aunt Luna. I had almost passed them when I heard, "Hey! Rose!"

I stopped walking and turned to seem him moving away from the pouting group of girls and walking towards me.

"Hey Lysander, what's up?" I inquired.

"Oh not much, in particular, I just wanted to give you this," Lysander replied and handed me a red rose, "I might not see you in the day two weeks from now because I'll be a bit busy. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Um…thanks," I hesitantly said and accepted the rose. Lysander then went back to the girls who had been hanging around waiting for him. When they saw him giving me the rose they had all glared at me.

Well someone has no chill.

I place the rose in my bag and continue to walk to History of Magic. I hated Valentine's Day. It was the day of the year where I would always be sent red roses anonymously. I hated it because of the joke that is always being made. Just because my name is Rose, doesn't mean I like roses! UGH! Every bloody year. I finally made it to History of Magic class and sat down ready to get absorbed in the work to take my mind off my anger.

Later in the day during our spare class, Scorpius and I were sitting in the Library getting homework done. Though homework wasn't what was mainly on my mind. Occasionally I would look up from my Herbology work to sneak a glance at Scorpius. His blonde hair gently fell over his face with the ends tickling his eyelids. I really wanted to brush it out of his eyes but I looked quickly back at my work. Different thoughts ran through my head pulling my attention away from my homework. What is this feeling? He's just a friend….Right? Sure, Rose, he's just a friend you've been staring at the whole study lesson….just a friend who you can see yourself dating….wait, what? Dating? Do I like him in that way? Great now I've managed to confuse myself. I had often wondered if talking to yourself is a sign of craziness, and if so I must be a maniac. I shook my head to try and shake away the clutter in my mind. My red curls bounced around as I did so and hopefully hide my flaming cheeks from Scorpius. Unfortunately, he knew me too well for it to actually work but I could hope, couldn't I?

"Rose, are you ok?" Scorpius asked breaking the silence.

I looked up to find him already staring right at me. I ended up staring at him for a second before the question registered.

I was flustered so I fumbled a bit with my words when I somewhat coherently replied, "um, S-sure, ab…absolutely tip top." Followed by a nervous laugh.

He, of course, didn't look convince but smirked anyway and chuckled. "I think that that Herbology is getting to your head. Maybe we should take a break." Scorpius stated as he closed his books.

I scoffed, "I'm not bonkers, and besides I still have a lot of work to get done to keep on top."

He chuckled again this time shaking his head – probably at my stubbornness. "Ok workaholic, I was just going to go and get lunch in the Great Hall, with all that delicious food. Your work must be pressing for you to miss lunch," Scorpius smirked. As he had slowly described the food because he knew exactly what he was doing. He was bloody making me hungry. My stomach loudly growled.

"You see the inner beast has spoken." He joked and he grabbed his packed bag and began to walk away with that arrogant smirk on his face.

I swiftly packed up my books while muttering to myself, "Bloody arrogant git, who does he think he is to taunt me with food. How dare he!"

I hurriedly followed Scorpius until I caught up to him. "Hey! You bloody cunning snake! What's the big idea? Taunting me with food! So help me if it's not lunchtime yet I will skin you alive!" I almost shouted at him.

He turned to face me and countered, "Oh really, Ms Weasley?"

I glared at him.

We were almost at the Great Hall but instead of going in like normal Scorpius grabbed my hand and started running down the corridor.

"Scorpius…" I was about to protest but he put one finger to my lips to quiet me and made a 'Shhhhhh' sound.

"Just come with me," He said quietly and we continued.

He led us to the kitchens where the elves were making lunch. Scorpius walked up to one and said, "Hey Poppy, can we please have some fresh strawberries?"

Poppy nodded and then came back with a bowl with some fresh strawberries in it. She passed it to Scorpius and he thanked her as we left the kitchens. Scorpius passed me the bowl once we were out of the kitchens. I was so surprised. I hadn't thought of just asking for food before because I didn't want to trouble the house elves. I love fresh strawberries but they were always at the other end of the table and they were eaten quickly usually. I turned to Scorpius, "Thank you, how did you know?"

He shyly looked to the side as he replied, "I often see you looking down the other end of the table." He smiled at me with a light blush on his cheeks. He looked so handsome and I had to stop myself from staring so I shoved a whole strawberry in my mouth – not knowing what to do – and I suddenly got a scratchy feeling in my throat that made me what to cough. Hence I almost choked on a strawberry with Scorpius watching with an expression of concern.

"Rose?" He asked concerned.

I swallowed the strawberry and my eyes watered as I finally had a coughing fit. Real cool Rose. You randomly choke on a strawberry in the middle of the corridor and with Scorpius as your witness. Nicely done, I thought sarcastically.

"I'm ok," I managed to say between coughs, "Just choking on a strawberry."

Scorpius laughed at my antics and I laughed too it was a fun time – minus the choking part of course. Then it occurred to me: How did Scorpius know Poppy? Had he done that before? He probably has but it seemed like he knew Poppy as in there was a familiarity there.

"Scorpius, do you know Poppy from somewhere?" I asked curiously.

Scorpius took a minute to realise he was being asked a question. "Yeah, she used to work at home before my dad let her choose where she wanted to work. She chose to work half her time at Hogwarts and half her time at home."

"Ah, that makes sense now." I nodded.

"Why do you ask? Are you jealous?" Scorpius asked with a joking grin but didn't look at me.

I scoffed but didn't reply because funnily enough, it was a bit true. I was jealous a bit of the familiarity. Pfft, why would I want to be any more familiar with Scorpius? I thought. But in truth, I already knew the answer and chose to ignore it. Oh isn't denial useful?

I shook the thoughts away again and turned my attention back to where we were walking. The Great Hall with a flood of students was in view.

"Let's find Al and the rest," Scorpius suggested as we joined the crowd entering the Great Hall.

Mya found us and pulled us to where our group was sitting.

"Where have you guys been?" Mya cheerfully inquired.

"Oh just around," Scorpius replied.

Al suddenly asked, "Rose, why are you carrying around a bowl of strawberries?"

I looked down and realised I was still carrying the strawberries. Surprisingly I forgot about them so quickly, "I have no idea." I laughed.

- After lunch -

"Ok well, I have to go up and get changed for Quidditch practice," I stated as we were walking out of the Great Hall.

"Come back soon we haven't seen you all day," Fie said with a hug.

I chuckled, "I know I know. See you soon."

I raced up to the common room and straight into the dorm. James is like a drill sergeant if you're late.

I got changed, grabbed my broom and ran through the corridors and dodged corners. I was finally outside and felt the cold wind blowing but kept running. If I was honest with myself, I would say that I love Quidditch anytime anywhere – even if I complained bitterly about the weather. I arrived just in time for James to start giving instructions.

"Right, now we'll start with 10 laps around the perimeter of the field! Let's go!" James instructed then blew a whistle.

We all mounted our brooms and began the laps – except James who was observing. By the time I had completed one lap I chuckled to myself because I was actually having lots of fun.

"Rose! Stop laughing and focus!" James hollered from his broom.

"I am focused!" I exclaimed and refocused on my task.

- After the 10th lap -

After we had completed the laps James blew the whistle again.

"Alright, everyone time to start the practice! Get into position!" He said while opening the case to get a Quaffle.

I flew up to the rings at the far end waiting and observing.

I blocked every Quaffle thrown my way and have a perfect 10 out of 10.

I noticed that there wasn't much light left in the sky. Of course, I noticed that right when James yelled, "Ok everyone good work today come down now!"

We all landed and James continued, "Right, well that's practice finished for today. We'll be ready for the game on the weekend to beat those HufflePuffs!"

We cheered with confidence as we all filed off to the showers. I however, decided to go back to the dorms to have a shower and made my way there.

It was a chilly night as Mya, Fie and I all huddled around the fire in the common room rather late in the evening.

"So, what's with you and Scorpius hey," Mya asked me with a knowing smirk on her face.

I instantly blushed and replied, "What are you talking about there's nothing going on."

"Yes, let's hear about that," said a voice from behind the couch.

"Who's there?" I demanded.

Emily, Aria and Amelia emerged from behind the couch.

"Hey there," Aria greeted.

"Eavesdropping, were you?" Mya asked shaking her head.

"No, we just overheard a rather interesting conversation…mind if we join you?" Emily answered with a smile.

Great, the Gryffindor Gossip Queens are about to assess and advertise my whole love life... that is non-existent… yay…. but I guess because it's not existent then sure why not…I have nothing to tell anyway.

"Sure, why not," I replied.

They sat down and the conversation continued.

"So, are you sure nothing is going on?" Amelia asked straight away.

I kept a straight face and said, "Yes."

"Then why do you two have such a lovey-dovey atmosphere about you?" Emily asked with a grin and the others nodded in agreement.

Lovely, backed into a corner what do you do? This: I grabbed a pillow and tossed it towards Emily. This, in turn, started a pillow fight. There were pillows flying and squeals of laughter. Maybe we had been too loud because next thing we know the 7th years are scolding us for being rowdy. Though, we didn't exactly care that much. After all, we were all just glad to have some fun after dealing with the stress of school. We got sent back up to our dorm room and all got ready for bed.

"Rose, do you like Scorpius? Not in the friend way but you know in a romantic way?" Mya curiously asked.

"W-what are you talking about! Of course not, we're just friends…. good night!" I replied stuttering occasionally. I was just trying to convince myself but I fell asleep thinking of him.