The Christmas holidays went well. Rose enjoyed catching up with mum and dad, telling them about what she was learning and how exciting everything was. She talked about Quidditch and her desire to play. They were understandably nervous about that but her enthusiasm for the game had convinced them that perhaps it would be alright. In the end they told her they'd think about it and discuss it more over the summer. Christmas day was as wonderful as it always was, mum decorated the house beautifully and made a delicious Christmas dinner and dessert.

With the holidays over, it was time for Rose to head back to Hogwarts and mum and dad dropped her once again at Kings Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express back to school. There were many hugs and kisses and hair ruffles before Rose headed back through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters. She loaded her luggage and shared a compartment with Hermione on the way back.

When she entered the Hufflepuff common room that evening she felt instantly at home. She took her usual chair by the fire and stretched comfortably in the warm glow, watching the others around her chat. After a bit Susan dropped into the chair beside her.

"Hey, Rose," she said, smirking at her friend.

"Hey, Susan. Good holiday?"

"Yep, you?"

"It was amazing."

They chatted for a bit longer before heading to the dormitory, knowing they needed their rest before classes started tomorrow morning.

The holidays had made Rose a bit rusty when she returned to her classes, she needed to shake it off and get back into the swing of her studies but it didn't take her all that long to manage it. The next Quidditch Match, Gryffindor Vs. Hufflepuff, had been a complete and total embarassment to for the Hufflepuffs. For some reason Professor Snape had decided to referee and even though he was totally unfair to the Gryffindors, it didn't stop Harry from managing to end the game in about five minutes with a brilliant capture. Rose pouted in the common room for the rest of that evening.

The Monday after the match, in Charms Class, Rose noticed that Draco was sporting a black eye. After the bell rang she fell into step beside him, unnoticed in the rush to leave.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later. Meet me after dinner," he said, Rose was about to object when Crabbe and Goyle showed up at his side leering unpleasantly at her. Rose scowled defiantly back at them for a moment although she was much smaller than them, and then shifted her school bag higher on her shoulder and walked off ahead of them. Why'd he even hang out with those jerks?

That night after dinner, Rose once again gave the 'I fancy a walk' excuse to get away from Susan and Megan and went off to the piano room to meet Draco. He was there waiting for her, already playing a low and quick song. Rose joined him on the bench and instinctively began to play with him, complimenting his deep, quick song with a bit of a higher pitched and slower melody.

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened now?" she asked as they played.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Weasley happened," he snorted.

"Ron?" Rose asked, confused. Brawling didn't really seem like him "Why would he have done that?"

Draco didn't answer, a pink tinge appeared on his cheeks.

"You did something didn't you?" Rose asked, stopping her playing and looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. Draco stopped playing, too and sighed.

"Okay, I may have been being a bit of a prat about some things, but he didn't have to hit me!" he complained. Rose chuckled and restarted their song. Draco scowled back at her for a moment before he, too, rejoined the song.

A while later they decided they ought to get back to their common rooms before they could be missed. Draco paused at the door and opened it for her, and Rose gave him a bit of a smile. She started to walk out but he stopped her.

"Uhh…hang on a second, Roselynn."

Rose froze on the spot. That was the first time he'd used her first name.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking back at him curiously.

Draco shuffled his feet, the pink tinge back in his cheeks.

"I...umm...made you something…over Christmas, you know. Didn't have a chance to give it to you before now…"

He held out a scroll of parchment to her. Rose took it curiously and unrolled it.

It was a drawing. A golden snitch along with several roses in yellow, black, green and silver. Very well done, too. He must've been drawing for quite a while. Rose felt a little heat in her own face; she was sure she'd started to blush. Yikes.

"I...umm...thanks, Draco...thanks a lot."

"You're welcome..."

A brief pause.

"Well, see you later," Draco murmured.

"Yeah, later."

The two of them parted ways and Rose's thoughts were swirling once again. He was so confusing. Christmas drawings and first names? It seemed like progress but they were still only acting friendly in the piano room. Rose stuffed her hands in her pockets and sighed to herself.

Once she was back in the common room she avoided talking to Susan and slipped into the dormitory, drawing her curtains around her. She pulled the drawing out and studied it again, a grin crossing her face. It really was well done. She heard footsteps outside the dormitory and quickly rolled up the drawing and put it away in her bedside table's drawer. She definitely wasn't going to share this with anyone. Not even her best friend.

In the weeks that followed Rose and Draco continued their secret meetings but they became less frequent, and for good reason. Their teachers had begun to flood them with homework, as the end of the year exams were quickly closing in on them. The Easter Holidays weren't nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. Rose was spending most of her time either in the library or sitting in the common room studying with Susan or getting help from Cedric with particularly difficult essays.

One lunch-time, Rose was wandering the grounds, as the weather had begun to warm there were many people milling about. Rose walked the path to the lake and sat down on the grass by the water; she'd always loved water-side views. She was so busy focusing on the way the sunlight was shimmering on the water that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her.

"Hey."

It was Draco. He was now standing beside her, a bit away and staring out at the water too, perhaps to make it look like he wasn't actually speaking to her.

"Hi. How are you holding up?" Rose asked.

"Meet me tonight after dinner. We'll talk then."

"Okay."

Brilliant, a nice relaxing little duet was just what she needed at the second. She was so wound up that she could hardly sleep lately. She slogged her way through the rest of the day, ate a little and then slipped off to the piano room before anyone could ask where she was going.

She dropped her school bag beside the couch and flopped down to wait for Draco who hadn't shown up yet.

It didn't take long until he arrivedp, dropping his school bag next to hers and heading right for the piano. He started to play, his music was soft and tentative, sad almost. Rose sat up and watched him carefully.

"What's the matter, Draco?"

"Nothing…why would you think something's wrong?"

"Your song. It sounds sad."

Rose stood up and sat next to him on the bench, joining in his playing and trying to guide it into a more up-beat melody. Trying to convey, through the music, that she wanted to know what was wrong so she could help fix it. Draco followed her tune, allowing his own song to become more up-beat as well.

"It's just…it's these stupid end-of-year exams." Draco said suddenly. "I'm so worried about them it's driving me nuts.

"I know what you mean," Rose replied. "I'm going crazy, too, but if we do our best we'll be alright."

"You don't understand, Roselynn!" Draco snarled suddenly, changing the tone of his song again, faster paced, frantic, sort of fearful. Rose pulled her own hands off the keys and stared at him, hurt by his sudden outburst.

He sighed, brought the song to an end and looked at her, his gray eyes seemed to be hiding some sort of secret burden and Rose stared back at him, almost hypnotized by the look.

"I...I'm sorry," Draco stammered. "It's just that...my best...well it may not be good enough."

Rose dropped her head to one side. "Your best is all anyone can really ask of you though, right?"

"Like I said...it w-won't be good e-enough," Draco stammered out. "My parents expect me t-to ge-get perfect grades. Especially f-father." Draco stared down at his shoes. "Anything l-less than perfect isn't the Malfoy way."

Rose hesitated for a second and then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll help you," she said. Draco twitched slightly at her touch but, shockingly, didn't throw her hand off.

"Thanks, Roselynn," he whispered.

"C'mon, we'll play a bit more to cheer you up and then we can study together."

"Okay."

After a few more minutes of playing a slow, peaceful melody the two grabbed their school bags and got out their books and notes, sitting side by side on the couch. They started working on quizzing each other and comparing their notes. Rose's strength was Charms while Draco's was Potions.

About two hours went by as they worked and after an already jam-packed day the two youngsters were tired. It got harder and harder to keep working and without even realizing it they both drifted off to sleep.

Draco had been quizzing Rose in potions and the book slipped from his hands and fell to the floor. Rose nodded off as well, and ended up leaning against Draco's shoulder. Draco's head dropped to one side, resting on top of hers and, fast asleep, he rubbed his cheek along the top of her head as if she were a pillow. Rose responded with a muffled little sigh that sounded a bit like a cat's purr, and she leaned even more heavily against two friends snoozed peacefully, all disagreements forgotten. For once they were just two kids without anything to divide them. They weren't the pure-blood and the muggle born, they were just Draco and Rose.