Hello lovelies, here it is, the next chapter, just as you ordered. I hope you guys like this chapter, I'm very happy that I got it out before the end of the month. Hopefully, it was soon enough for you guys. :)

Thank you so much to SunriseImagination for Betaing this story for me. She makes my story better for you guys. Definitely, go check out her story.

And thank you to all of you that have taken the time to Favourite/Follow and review this story. You guys are so amazing and I love you all. Thank you! xoxo

Now on to the chapter!

Chapter 12

December 10th

~oOo~

Scorpius POV

Hogwarts castle seemed to transform overnight. The once bare halls were now decked out in every Christmas themed thing the house elves could get their little hands on. Drapes of red and green with Christmas trees and Santa Clauses on them hung between the windows. Shiny silver snowflakes on strings hung from anything and everything. All the armour stands, mounted heads and even the portraits now wore Santa hats of red and white. Statues were charmed to belt out Christmas carols anytime someone walked past and the armour stands played each other as their accompanying instruments. Some of the staff even wore a type of festive piece of clothing, though that was few and far between, and their classrooms had not been spared from the house elve's Christmas fever.

In the Great hall, the sides had been lined with large fir trees that professor Flitwick decorated that morning, making them glitter and glow with giant ornaments, lights, and tinsel. While he was at it, the teacher had cast a pretty sick charm that caused it to snow indoors. The soft white flecks fell from the ceiling, disappearing just before touching that ground and never staying on students more than a second or two.

Hogwarts was now busting at the seams with Christmas spirit. When class let out the halls were filled with the talk of students and the singing of statues. Peeves the Poltergeist flew around causing havoc to the students, dropping freezing cold water balloons on people, pulling pranks, taunting and cursing, singing along with the statues and generally just being Peeves.

In other words, Hogwarts was perfectly normal.

Including the Gryffindors.

"Run! Come on they're gaining!"

Rose Weasley's voice was heard up and down the hallways of Hogwarts as she and Scorpius ran.

She was breathless, her grin so big it looked like it hurt, her hair whipping around her face as she ran, turning back to look behind them.

Laughter filled the hallway as onlookers saw them coming, their own faces lighting up at the antics.

Al was just behind the two teens, running almost as fast with Mary by his side. Ash and Liz were close on their heals and behind them ran Grace.

Students pushed back against the walls as the Gryffindors came barreling by, most cheering them on while some of the more mature ones sighed in exasperation at their childishness.

Scorpius was laughing too hard to even notice.

The finish line was coming up, the DADA classroom door stood open at the end of the hall, ready to welcome the late students. Most students were in already and the class was scheduled to start in what Scorpius guessed was about thirty seconds.

Three feet from the door he and Rose skidded to a halt, winning the race by a centimetre. Al almost crashed into them as he too stopped and Mary, Ash, Liz, and Grace came to a standstill as well, all of them completely out of breath.

Even Scorpius was out of breath. Though he ran often, that race had been brutal. Two flights of stairs, nine hallways and four very near-crashes.

Rose grinned. "We won," she breathed, sounding very winded.

"By an inch," Al retorted, scowling. "Since when are you faster than me?"

Rose shrugged, looking very pleased with herself, "It's a new era Potter."

Al rolled his eyes about to say something but a clearing of a throat stopped him.

"Class is about to start. Are you coming in or are you going to continue PE out in the hall?"

The Gryffindors turned to find Mr Stonewall standing behind them looking none too impressed with them racing to his class.

"Sorry sir," they all muttered and streamed past him into class. The students inside all chuckled and giggled, welcoming the latecomers with smiles and high fives.

"Alright everyone please, settle down, we have a lot to cover today and not a lot of time." Stonewall turned and walked over to his desk, "Everyone please turn to 214 in your textbooks and read the third paragraph."

Scorpius glanced at Rose as they went to find their seats, fearing that she would be upset for having gotten in trouble with a superior, but he found that she was still grinning, her eyes bright and playful.

This surprised Scorpius. Though he supposed a lot of the things Rose Weasley did surprised him now.

It had been a little over a week since they had been in the hospital, after a long talk with their Healer, Rose's parents and Madam Pomfrey and promising to come in immediately if something felt wrong they had been allowed to leave the wing. Rose's parents had left that day, knowing she would be fine and that all she needed now was normalcy.

And since then it was like she was a whole new person after waking up.

No, Scorpius thought as they took their seats, she hadn't changed completely. She was still bossy, still stubborn, still loved to roll her eyes, but something had changed. She said yes to things that seemed a little stupid now, like racing to class. She smiled more, laughed more, she joked and looked generally happier.

Scorpius didn't know if their new found friendship had triggered this change or if it was what had happened to her while in the hospital but he felt happy. For the first time in too long, he felt unreservedly happy.

Rose Weasley was as sweet and caring to him just like she was to her other friends. Her eyes when she looked at him now weren't filled with annoyance or irritation. When she shoved him now it wasn't because she was fed up with him or angry, it was playful and gentle.

He found himself looking at her more, his gaze falling on her subconsciously. sometimes he stared at her for hours, during class and when they were in their dorm and she had fallen asleep reading.

And here he was again staring at her long red hair, at her hands as they moved across the parchment, her eyes as she scanned words, her eyes brows as they nit together in concentration. Today her hair was up in a messy bun and a few strands had fallen over her face from the running. She looked a little like a mess but somehow it was even more endearing.

Everything about her drew him in, captured him and held him there. And now when their eyes met her gaze was soft, even though he was used to hardness.

All these feelings were strange and jarring. He was in awe, he was unsure, he was nervous, he was thrilled. Everything was new and alarming but warm and comfortable at the exact same time. How could he feel so much in one small moment?

Her lips, so soft and pink, were moving. She was asking him something, but now he was distracted by her face.

She wasn't wearing makeup today. He liked it. He had never thought she needed the stuff, her skin was flawless and perfectly pale with rosy cheeks and those adorable freckles that Scorpius longed to touch. When she wore makeup they were often covered. Her eyes were framed by her eyelashes only and their dark red colour made her blue eyes pop more than normal. And her lips...

Rose furrowed her brow in concern and confusion. Scorpius blinked. She had asked him a question, hadn't she? Shit! What had she asked? Uh... she had asked… "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, taking a breath and sitting up straighter, "Yeah sorry, just zoned out there for a moment."

Rose nodded, seeming to take that excuse. She had caught him staring this time, and he was so relieved that she said nothing about it. In the past, she would have got angry and said something spiteful to him. Now she just turned her attention back to her parchment. He used to know when he upset her. Had this upset her? It probably had.

Forcing his gaze forward to Stonewall, Scorpius tried to ignore the girl beside him.

He shouldn't be staring at her, couldn't be thinking about her in anyway other than a friend would. He knew this. They needed to be friends first, they needed to build trust and learn to live with each other first before they could have something more.

They knew so little about each other even though they had spent six years in close company. They needed to get to know each other before they could go further. That was the only way this would work. Being friends was already alien enough, they needed to get good at that, become comfortable around each other.

They needed to heal the wounds of the past before they focused on the future.

But even as he was lecturing himself mentally his mind wandered back to her. She was close, closer then he was used to. Her warmth seemed to penetrate into his skin, making him hot and feeling like he needed to take off his sweater in the typically cold classroom.

Scorpius shook his head. No, he thought, focus on the lesson, not her. He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to centre himself.

Big mistake.

As he took a deep breath her smell, the scent of the books she was always around, the scent of the mint chocolate quills she liked to nibble on during class and rose scented perfume she wore filled his nose. He had no clue how she always smelled like these things, but dammit. He felt his mind zone in on it.

This is stupid, he thought, just ignore her, it's not that hard.

But it was. She was all around him, taking up every sense he had. Taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell. He could still taste that mint chocolate quill he had nicked from her the class before. He could feel her leg and arm brush against him every time one of them moved. He heard her breathing and the soft humming of the song stuck in her head. He saw her out of the corner of his eye. And he could smell her.

He didn't know how to escape her, she was intoxicating, every inch of her.

Scorpius laid his head down on the table and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply through his mouth trying not to smell her, he moved to the edge of his seat so they wouldn't touch, he tried to focus on Stonewall's voice and tried to clear his mind of any thought.

But she was in his mind too, there was no safe place. Everywhere he looked she was there, her pale beautiful face looking at him sweetly, her voice and laugh, the feel of her skin, so soft and warm, against him.

Her eyes.

Suddenly her hand was on his shoulder, soft and warm just as he remembered. He turned his head from where it had been resting on his arms and opened his eyes in what he hoped was a sleepy manner.

And there they were. Those eyes.

'Hey, you're not okay.'

Her voice wasn't audible, but a breath and gentle whisper in his mind.

No escape.

'I'm fine, trust me, just bored and tried.'

She didn't seem to take this as well as his last excuse but she nodded slowly after a minute and pulled her hand away. His skin felt cold were her fingers had been and he groaned internally in irritation.

It was going to be a long day.

~oOo~

Rose POV

Malfoy was acting weird. Well weirder than normal anyway.

The wind howled and the snow drifted around them while the Gryffindor team flew above their heads. James, the captain, was yelling orders, flight patterns, and just being an ass when something went wrong. This was usually the time during practice that Malfoy and Al would be causing the most trouble. Pretending to fight and shove each other, yelling and making faces and generally just lifting spirits. Now, however, the team was in fight or flight mode. No longer were they cocky, or goofing around. If they wanted to win they needed to work and work hard. Not that it seemed to be helping much.

Rose glanced over at the blonde again.

Instead of watching the organized chaos above them, yelling and shouting like he normally would be, Scorpius sat still, his eyes distant and unfocused. His mind was closed off to her like it had been for the last week, meaning that Rose had no way of finding out what was bothering him.

She didn't mind that he was shut off from her mind. They had just gotten on good terms and Rose by no means expected him to be completely open with her right away. He still had his secrets and she still had hers, but even she wasn't cutting him off completely mentally.

Malfoy had asked for just a tiny glimpse into her mind. Well, she was trying to be better than that. Her walls had come down and there was very little that she was concealing from him now. She was trying to trust him, and part of that was trusting him with her thoughts.

But he seemed to always be lost in his thoughts nowadays, only coming to when she talked to him or prodded him. He tried to hide his fleeting glances but Rose saw them anyway. She also felt his rising heart rate when she did.

His staring didn't bother her, what did bother her was the fact that he was trying to hide it.

Rose shook her head, this wasn't the time or place to be thinking about it, she had a game to watch.

"Ok," James was yelling, "let's try that again and this time, Mark-" he looked pleading to the Chaser, "please don't try any fancy tricks with Wellings, you know it won't end well."

Mark saluted while Wellings, Malfoy's stand-in, looked a bit sheepish.

They started their routine again. Each time was a game of one step forward two steps back. James kept running the play over and over again. It was frustrating to watch. After another thirty minutes of complete fails in coordination with each other, he called the team to the ground.

The practice was over.

Al looked over at Rose and Scorpius and waved, smiling and gesturing to the changing room before pointing back at them. He wanted to meet them down there after he changed so they could walk back up together.

Rose smiled back and nodded; standing she stretched her hands over her head, breaking the heat bubble around them with a thought and causing the cold air to hit her. She shivered, rubbing her gloved hands together.

The team marched across the field, laughing and shoving each other despite their lack of coordination in the air. Rose found herself longing for that, the brotherly manner and the closeness that they had all had. They had been a family. There was nothing better than to fly alongside your teammates and fight to win. The thrill one gets from it is indescribable.

She missed it. A lot.

Sighing, Rose looked down at the boy still sitting beside her. To her surprise and bewilderment, he hadn't moved, not even when the temperature dropped from the bubble popping.

Rose tilted her head. What was wrong with him?

She stepped over to the blonde, positive that her closeness would alert his brain to his surroundings; standing just by his side he still didn't move. Thinking he had frozen to death in the cold or had gone deaf and blind, Rose reached out and tapped him hard on the shoulder.

This jolted him awake. His startled eyes flew up to hers and she looked at him quizzically. His heartbeat was loud in her mind, and his eyes held a condemned sheen to them like she had just caught him doing something bad.

And was he blushing?

"Practice is over."

"Oh umm yeah right... Let me just grab my stuff." His eyes dropped and he scrambled to grab his bookbag and scarf. "Alright, sorry, we can go now."

No. She was not going to let this go anymore. He had zoned out too many times in this last week, and this time he looked so guilty that she had enough. Something was going on and she was going to find out what.

"Scorpius." Her hand gripped his bicep, stopping him in his tracks. "You zoned out again."

He shook his head, his confused expression turning into a sheepish grin, but Rose noticed the unease tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah I know, sorry I was just thinking."

He was nervous, his eyes not holding hers for longer than a few seconds. He was hiding something: and Rose had the sneaking suspicion that it had to do with her.

"Let's start heading down, Al will be waiting soon."

He moved to slide by her, taking a step to pass between where she stood and the next row of bleachers. He moved in very close as he did and Rose took a breath, startled.

He stopped.

He was pressed against her, so close Rose could see every eyelash surrounding those blue-grey eyes. His breath picked up, and his eyes dilated. He was looking at her so intently that she felt held in place by his gaze. His eyes held that look again, like the one in the dress shop, all those weeks ago, like he was trying to memorize every inch of her face.

Rose's heartbeat did a tap dance in her chest. Even with all their talk about being friends first, she couldn't ignore the gnawing need to be closer to him. Closer than a friend should be; at that moment she wanted to be more than a friend. Because he was there so close, so warm and strong and he was staring at her with those intoxicating eyes.

He was leaning in, his face coming closer, his warm breath tickled her cold nose. She found herself leaning in too, her eyes fluttering closed, she felt his hand so soft and fleeting touch her side, like he wanted to pull her even closer. They were a breath away, their hearts beating as one. Every inch of her body that touched his buzzed with an odd but thrilling electricity. Her eyes shut completely and their lips were a breath away from touching.

Then a voice called out from the stairs.

"Hey you guys coming?"

Albus Potter stood on the stairs, his eyes narrowed at them. Rose knew he had seen what was happening, and he didn't look happy about it. Malfoy had backed away from her and Al was glaring at him. Rose turned her attention to her book bag to avoid his wrath.

She didn't know what would have happened if Albus hadn't yelled. Her cheeks flamed and she felt hot all over. Rose Weasley had been about to kiss the hottest guy in school. No matter that they were bonded, if her friends heard about this there would be screaming and shrieking and giggling for days.

Rose took a breath, determined to just ignore what had happened. Then she caught Malfoy's eyes and she felt something painful in her chest. Something that wasn't the Bond.

He looked so guilty.

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair, "yeah sorry mate. Just grabbing the rest of our stuff."

He leaned away from her as if to put as much distance between them as possible and turned to walk towards Al. Rose felt the urge to reach out for his arm.

So she did.

He stopped and looked back at her uncertainly, making his feelings clear for her to see.

He had been about to kiss her, had wanted to kiss her, and now he felt awful about it. Because they had just gotten to the point where they were good with each other. She had emphasized that they were just friends and he had crossed the line. Suddenly his thoughts were tumbling around in Rose's head at a thousand miles per hour. He feared she would be mad, upset that he had almost tried to do something Rose had told him she wasn't ready for. He was afraid that he had just ruined any progress they had made.

He was afraid of what she was feeling.

Rose wasn't sure what she felt really, things were still all so new and odd but she felt warm and not particularly mad at the fact that he had tried to kiss her. Yes, she knew that they weren't ready for something more then they had, but she still felt that electric buzz going through her body and didn't feel particularly like being angry at the moment.

She sent those thoughts to him. Letting them flow between them.

"Come on," Rose said, looping her arm through his, "let's get inside, I've been craving some hot cocoa for the past hour and I'm freezing."

Scorpius relaxed slightly, his eyes calming and his thoughts slowing. "Sounds good to me."

As the three trudged up the hill to the castle that held warmth, hot drinks and food, Rose couldn't help but smile when Malfoy's mind didn't push her out again.

Things were looking up, and Rose had every intention to ride it to the top.