Chapter Eight: Mutual Feelings

"What happened to you?" Hugo asked only half-interested when he saw his clearly disheveled sister pop into the fireplace.

"Erm, busy day at the shop," she lied with a sheepish smile.

"Alright," he shrugged and continued eating whatever snack he had. Rose took a deep breath and scurried up to her room, falling into her bed with a large sigh. Her mind instantly began replaying their day over and over again, his words echoing in her heart. You're so bloody sexy Rose. It had to be a mistake. Some sort of pent up sexual frustration on his part and she fell right into it. It wasn't that Rose didn't think she was beautiful nor that she had never caught the eye of young men in her time at school. But Scorpius wasn't just any young wizard. Everyone loved him, women were constantly throwing themselves at him, he could have anyone he wanted. It was a momentary lapse in his judgement certainly. No matter how many times she attempted to explain their actions away, she could not stop herself from drifting to sleep with the image of the way he looked at her on the ferris wheel stuck in her mind. And not even her internal battle over what it meant could stop her from accepting that there was something between them and that she wanted him more than she could have ever imagined.

Scorpius apparated to his empty flat shortly after Rose disappeared into the floo system, unable to wipe the grin off of his face. There was absolutely no denying it now, he had feelings for the brilliant girl who he had let drag him around the muggle world all day. There was something so deep inside of him that drew him to her, something that he now knew he would not be able to shake off even if he wanted to. He wanted to see her immediately and he imagined all the things he wanted to say to her. All the things he wanted to do with her. The past few months of them spending their evenings together in the small bookshop he was so unsure of how she felt and often felt like more of a distraction to her than anything else, especially after what she had said to him at her grandparents' home. But now he knew she had mutual feelings, whether she had admitted it or not. He fell asleep more sure than ever that they would be together by morning.

He bolted awake the next morning, ready to head straight to her shop until a harsh realization hit him. He had to be at the field in an hour to head out on a cross country trip that would last five days. He would not be able to see her for five days. As he scrambled to prepare for the trip he considered sending her a letter or a Floo message, but he didn't have time to put all he wanted to say into one of those. So he left, his only hope being that she would hear about the matches and understand where he had been.

Rose woke up unnaturally early for her and spent a little extra time getting ready for work. She chose an outfit she felt confident in and mentally rehearsed what she would say to him. How she had unexpectedly developed feelings for him and didn't want to let them go. All the doubts she had the previous night had faded into her subconscious and the Gryffindor in her was ready to tell him how she had felt. How she now realized she had felt for some time now. She hurried downstairs and nervously prepared herself breakfast before even her mum had come downstairs. When Hermione did make her way to the kitchen she was surprised to see Rose up and about the kitchen.

"Morning mum," Rose said in an unusually cheerful manner.

"You look lovely dear,' Hermione smiled while pouring herself a cup of tea. "What's the occasion?"

"Someone important is visiting the shop today," Rose replied.

"You got in rather late last night. What time did you close up?" Hermione pried innocently.

"Normal time, but I ran into a, um, old friend and we ended up talking for a while." There was an awkward pause as Hermione decided whether or not to pry further. But before she had the chance to decide what to say Rose broke the silence.

"Well, I should be off then. Have a nice day," she quickly gathered her belongings and disappeared into the fireplace. She arrived earlier than she would normally but she wanted to be sure she would be there when he came. And she was sure he would come. Afterall, it was him who wanted to talk the night before. She took her seat behind the counter and nervously flipped through the pages of the Daily Prophet. Each time the door opened she perked up, expecting to see him standing there. But each time, it was not him. She sat there through her lunch hour and spent the whole afternoon cleaning, reorganizing, and cleaning again. Anything to distract her from her nerves. When 9 o'clock rolled around and he still had not arrived she decided to wait a bit longer in case he was held up at practice or something like that. After 10 minutes of Rose standing awkwardly outside of the shop had passed Rose shook her head.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing Rose," she muttered before storming off and Flooing home.

Her family attempted to greet her when she arrived but she stormed past them headed straight into her room. She tore her clothes off and undid the beauty charms she had done that morning, changing into a comfortable set of pajamas. She allowed herself to take a deep breath as she fell back onto her bed and stared at her ceiling. She would not allow her doubt to ruin the day they had together nor the feelings she had. After all, it had only been one day, and they were both adults with busy schedules. One day would not cause her to waiver.

The next morning was almost identical to the previous; it almost felt like deja vu. Rose got ready for the day quickly and hurried off to the shop, certain that Scorpius would come to talk to her by the end of the day. But, just like the previous day, hour after hour past with no sight of him. It was beginning to bother her and the thoughts of doubt crept in from the back of her mind. She could forgive one day, but two days with no explanation? She was starting to believe that he regretted what had happened between them and was avoiding her. Dejected and desperate for a distraction from her own thoughts, she sat down and began to mindlessly flip through the Daily Prophet from that morning. She scanned the articles until she got to the Quidditch section, which is where she normally put it down. She sighed and loosened her grip around the newspaper when something caught her eye. It was Scorpius zooming across the page and she immediately pulled the page closer to her face. 'Malfoy brings Magpies to 2nd win of the week' read the headline. She read on. 'Malfoy is expected to perform well in tonight's match against the Kenmare Kestrels. Match is set to begin at 7 o'clock with coverage beginning at 5 o'clock here in the Republic of Ireland.' In the Republic of Ireland. Rose paused to process what this meant. He wasn't avoiding her, he was in Ireland playing Quidditch. And would be there tonight. And then an idea popped into her head.

She rushed to clean and close the shop, writing a quick excuse in case anyone tried to come in and she headed out, not thinking about how she would pull any of this off. She had plenty of time before the match would begin and she didn't need to watch, just to find him when it was over. She mulled over the options in her mind. She couldn't apparate even if she wanted to because she had never been to Kenmare before. There was the train but it would likely take too long. That only left two options.

"Rosie! What a surprise!" A familiar voice yanked her from her train of thought. In front of her stood Albus grinning like he always seemed to be.

"What are you doing here?" She furrowed her brow. She still had not forgiven him for the stunt he pulled at dinner.

"Running errands for mum, just needed an excuse to get out of the house. 2 weeks until Auror training and that woman is trying to reenact my entire childhood. Was actually just about to stop in and see you. But you're not working?"

"Erhm, no. I closed early."

"Aw, I was really looking forward to seeing you in action."

"How unfortunate," she smirked. "Now I need to be somewhere, see you Sunday," She turned and took a few steps away from him.

"Rose, wait!" He grabbed her arm and she stopped in her tracks. "I also wanted to apologize. It wasn't right of me to invite him. I knew what I was doing and I'm sorry." Rose paused, unaware of how to respond. She looked at her cousin and for the first time in a long time she saw the boy she had grown up with. She saw a friend. She smiled at him, silently accepting his apology.

"I'm on my way to Kenmare if you want a better escape," she said, not fully aware of what she had just offered until the words already left her lips.

"Kenmare? Like in Ireland? Why are you going to," he paused and Rose saw the light go off in his head. "Scorpius?" She nodded, unable to say anything further. He stared at her, unsure of how to proceed. Then his surprise faded into a glimmer of excitement.

"Well we better be off then, no? What's the plan?" She stared blankly back at him, apprehensive about what she had gotten herself into. "You don't have a plan yet? How typical. Well, apparating is out of the question, as is the train. So that leaves...a portkey."

"Yes, but those take weeks to arrange, the Ministry isn't just going to give two random wizards a portkey for a Quidditch match." Albus laughed before realizing she wasn't joking.

"Rose, we aren't two random wizards. Your instance on blending in really works against you sometimes."

Rose had of course considered doing what Albus had suggested. But on principle she had spent her life refusing special favors, determined to get by on her own merits. And it had worked up until this point.

"I won't. We'll have to find another way." Albus rolled his eyes.

"Best of luck with that. I'm going to go get a portkey, I guess I'll meet you there. You'll probably make it by the weekend." He started off towards the nearest Ministry entrance.

Rose paused, almost letting her stubbornness get the best of her, then followed suit. She waited in the lobby of the Ministry while he headed off towards the transportation department, doing her best to avoid eye contact and praying to Merlin she didn't run into any other family members. When Albus returned not long after with a larger than normal grin on his face, Rose knew he had been successful. She looked down and saw that he had a slightly deflated football in his hands.

"They have a sense of humor up there," he joked, tossing the ball to Rose, who nearly dropped it. "We have 10 minutes until it's activated and we have to go outside."

They headed back the way they came and stood awkwardly for a few minutes until the 10 minutes had passed.

"Ready?"

A/N: Hello lovely readers! Im so glad some of you are still out there to read and enjoy this story. Please please review, it motivates me to write and I love hearing your feedback. What do you think will happen? Are there any other characters you want to see me develop? Where do you want this story to go? I have the basic plot mapped out but also love hearing your predictions. Until next update Xx