Chapter 8

With the cold January wind biting at her nose, Rose followed Lorcan down the path towards Hogsmeade. They had decided, or rather Lorcan had decided, that the fresh air would do them some good. Rose privately thought that they had had enough fresh air having just gone to the Quidditch match before, but she kept those thoughts to herself. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that Lorcan wouldn't appreciate her opinion.

Rose did not know how she was going to survive this date. Sitting at the match, she and Lorcan didn't have to talk, yet Lorcan did. He seemed to not want to watch the game at all. It was if he had never been at a Quidditch game before. If he had been, he wouldn't have known that people do actually watch the game: they don't just go there to socialize. Rose did want to watch the game, seeing as her family was into Quidditch, but was forced to make polite conversation with Lorcan. As she had thought before, talking about N.E.W.T.'s all the time took a lot out of her. Rose couldn't wait till this date was over, and she could go get hot chocolate from the kitchens and sit by the fireplace.

Shaking her head, Rose tried to clear it of all bad thoughts. She was convinced that if she thought her date would be bad, then it would be. It could be worse, she thought to herself as they trudged down the path, Lorcan could have been the other head and had to live with her for the entire year. At least Scorpius was someone she could live with for a year. He would at least give her space when she asked for it. Lorcan was close to suffocating her with his constant chatter over school work.

Noticing that they were almost in Hogsmeade, Rose broke into Lorcan's monologue about Transfiguration. "So now that we're here, where do you want to go?" she asked him. "Personally, I think we should go to the Three Broomsticks. But I don't really care." In truth, Rose really did care.

She hoped that he would take heed to her suggestion. Today, or any day in that matter, she really didn't want to go to Madam Puddifoot's Teashop. That would give Lorcan the wrong impression about their relationship. While Rose did like him as a friend, she didn't want to date him. In her mind, this was a one-time thing. Yes, she did want to get Scorpius out of her head, but Lorcan wasn't the boy to do that.

"You don't want to go shopping first?"

Rose shook her head with vigor. "No. Let's get something to drink first at the Three Broomsticks."

Lorcan looked at her as if to question her choice of shop, but took it without making a big deal. "Sure. The Three Broomsticks sounds great to me. Let me escort you there at once, my lady." Offering his arm with a foolish little smile on his face, Rose grudgingly took it without protest. While it may be some girl's dream to be escorted by 'Prince Charming,' Rose preferred boys who weren't over dramatic. Those were more her cousin Lily's style.

Glancing at Lorcan, she couldn't help but compare him to Scorpius. While Scorpius had the body of a Quidditch player, Lorcan was a little shorter and rounder. He was still taller than her, though, so she shouldn't grumble over that fact. And he wasn't fat, but Scorpius just looked so much better. Lorcan had murky brown hair (from his father) with bright blue eyes (from his mother) that offset his somewhat round face. Most girls thought that he was extremely attractive for someone who didn't play Quidditch. Rose would too, but she preferred someone with pale blonde hair and silvery gray eye. Pushing those traitorous thoughts away from her mind, Rose followed Lorcan into the Tree Broomsticks.

After sitting down at a table in the back of the restaurant, Lorcan told her that he would go up and get them some butterbeer. Rose nodded, not really paying attention to him. Her eyes were glued somewhere else. When they had walked in, Rose saw Scorpius and his friend hanging out with two girls in the center of the room. Rose wanted to call the girls bad names, but she stopped herself. Instead she thought them to herself. Lorcan, not seeing Scorpius or his brother, had steered them into a booth that gave them the perfect spot to spy on the group. But Rose was determined to enjoy herself today and would not let her ex ruin the fun. So instead of looking at Scorpius, she turned her head slightly to not stare into his eyes.

"Earth to Rose," Lorcan said, waving his hand in front of her face. "Here's your drink." Rose jumped slightly in her seat, not noticing that Lorcan was already back. She had been deep in thought over Scorpius. Gladly taking a drink, she thanked it for causing a distraction. The last thing she needing was to be pining over Scorpius while on another date.

"Thank you, Lorcan." Rose took a breath full of the warmth of the butterbeer. Lorcan had sat down across from her, so he couldn't see his brother, Scorpius, or their dates. He probably wouldn't want to, seeing that both the girls had been whispering in the boys ears while running their hands through their hair. Rose didn't want to either, but she couldn't pull her eyes away. While keeping one eye trained sharply on Scorpius, Rose turned her attention over to Lorcan. "So," she started, "we have already talked plenty about school. And after being friends with you for so many years, I know a great deal about you. Is there anything I don't know?" Rose asked, trying to start up a conversation.

Lorcan, looking like he was thinking, took another sip of butterbeer. Whilst he was doing that, Rose couldn't help but peek over a Scorpius. She saw the Ravenclaw girl wrap her arms around Scorpius in a flirting manor. Rose gritted her teeth, but did nothing. Lorcan's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"No, not really," he said in response to her earlier question. "I'm an open book, really." Rose stared at him, as if to see if he was just joking around with her. But the look on his face told her that he was being serious. Rose couldn't believe that she had asked him out on a date. Rose had always thought that he was a bit boring, but he was till funny when she saw him in a group. Now, Rose didn't know what to think of him.

After sitting in an awkward silence, Lorcan cleared his throat and reached across the table to grab her hand that was sitting gracefully on top of it. "Rose," he said quietly as if not to disturb the birds outside or the people sitting in the room, "I really like you.

Rose's eyes widened and thoughts came through her head. Don't say anything more, she silently pleaded. Just stop right there. But, of course he didn't hear her.

"You probably think this is very straight forward, which you should because it is." The buzz in the room was starting to annoy Rose's ears.

"The point is I'm crazy about you. I think I always have been." The noise that seemed quiet before was now ringing obsessively in her head.

"Ever since you wrote me that letter this past vacation, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." She didn't know if it was just her, but the noise was now traveling closer and closer to her skull, crushing it under the immense noise level.

"I know you might not feel the same way, but in time, you will." Rose couldn't tell what Lorcan was trying to say now. The racket that had been irritating her for the past minute was building up momentum.

"I'm still trying to understand my feelings. I'm butchering this up, aren't I? I do have a point." What was Lorcan talking about, Rose thought to herself? Her head was still buzzing with the sound intensity of the room.

"Rose, what I am trying to say is that, well, will you be my girlfriend?"

Rose just stared at him in shock, not really comprehending what he had just proclaimed. She didn't think that he would be so straight forward with his intentions. Scorpius hadn't been, but then again, he was in Slytherin. And Slytherins never wore their hearts on their sleeves. Once her head cleared, she was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Well, um, you see Lorcan..."

But her words were cut off by his lips crashing against hers. This action pulled Rose out of her shock fast. After all, his lips weren't like Scorpius' at all. Lorcan had roughly pulled her head into his and was now trying to open her lips with his tongue. Unlike Scorpius who had asked her to open her mouth with his tongue, Lorcan was demanding it.

But Rose was not going to let him do that. She wasn't a weak girl who couldn't fend for herself. Unlocking his hands from where they had pulled her head in, Rose pushed them away. Breaking the kiss, Rose slapped him in the face, hard. She could feel someone's eyes on her, but she paid no attention from her. After all, she did just slap a bloke. Grabbing her purse, Rose stormed out of the shop, not looking in her wake.

[-**-]

As Scorpius sat down in the Three Broomsticks, he wondered what he had gotten into. After the game was done, Lysander brought him down to the Great Hall to catch up with Rachel Gray and her friend. Scorpius, though he wouldn't tell anyone, was kind of excited to meet this girl. This would be his first date ever outside of Hogwarts. He had never taken Rose out of the castle, due to they were seeing each other in secret. He hoped that this date wouldn't be with some crazy person that he would have to be polite to all afternoon.

Thinking back to what he knew about Rachel, Scorpius thought he was safe. Rachel was a muggleborn who was very smart. Scorpius hoped that her friend would be the same as her to some extent. Maybe not as super smart as Rachel was, but he wished that she wasn't dumb. And she didn't have to be muggleborn. After dating Rose, Scorpius cared less and less about purebloods and muggleborns.

But sadly, he was mistaken.

Upon meeting in the Great Hall, Rachel proved to be wonderful. She was sassy, but kind at the same time. It reminded Scorpius of Rose a little bit. No, it was her friend, his date, who was driving him crazy. Her name, Sasha Davis, brought back memories of his first few years at Hogwarts. When they had been in third year and the first Hogsmeade day was announced, Sasha had been determined to make Scorpius hers. So, she had shamelessly flirted with him. Scorpius, being only thirteen at the time and not interested in girls, was turned off by her behavior. Every year after that, though, Sasha had tried to get with him. She had continued to throw herself at him, and Scorpius found this very disinteresting. Now, it looked like she had gotten what she wanted, a date with him.

All the way down to Hogsmeade, Sasha had been making excuses to touch and bump into him. After she had apologized numerous times, Scorpius had wanted to tell her to go jump in the Black Lake. But then it would have ruined Lysander's and Rachel's date. So, Scorpius remained silent and counted to ten. To not lose his temper, Scorpius let his mind wonder to block out Sasha.

Letting him thoughts rest on Rose, Scorpius smiled. At the end of the Quidditch game, He swore that he felt her eyes on him. When he had looked up, he did see Rose's eyes on him. He wondered why she was staring at him because she did have a date with Lorcan. Then, to his amazement, Rose had blushed and looked away. Thinking about this brought an even wider smile to his already smiling face.

"I know, isn't that amazing?" Sasha asked looking at Scorpius. Scorpius realized that Sasha must have been asking him something when he smiled. He turned to her to ask what the question was, but she had gone on annoying him.

After this, Scorpius paid more attention to what Sasha was saying.

Now, sitting at the Three Broomsticks, Scorpius saw the door open and Lorcan lead Rose in holding her arm. Scorpius silently smirked to himself. He knew better than anyone that Rose didn't want to be treated like a princess doll. Rose must have noticed him smirking because she quickly turned away from him to face Lorcan. The said Gryffindor couple sat down at a table that he could easily spot them from. Lorcan then went up to the bar, presumably to get drinks.

Scorpius turned his attention back to Sasha who was trying to catch his eye. "Sorry Sasha," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "What were you saying?"

"Oh, it's okay Scorp," Sasha flirted, shortening up his name. Scorpius silently groaned, hating when girls shortened up his name or gave him a nickname. If he didn't like his name, he would give himself his own bloody nickname. "I was just telling Lysander and Rachel about the time this other girl names Emily and I snuck out of my house during a sleepover to go to the Weird Sister's concert. It was so much fun!" Sasha squealed. "After my mum told us to go to sleep, we locked my door and climbed out the window. Then we called the Knight Bus because we didn't have enough time to ride our brooms to the concert. The bus dropped us off at the concert and left before we realized that we forgot our tickets at my house."

Scorpius let Sasha drone on and on about how the finally got into the concert by pretending that they were VIP's. He could really care less about what his date was saying. Sure, it wasn't very polite of him, but Sasha didn't seem to care. She was busy trying to throw not-to-subtle hints about how much she wanted him. It seemed to Scorpius that every five seconds Sasha would glance at him. He was getting sick and tired of it.

The only thing that was keeping him from chucking her and leaving was Lysander. His best friend seemed to be enjoying his time with Rachel much more that Scorpius' time with Sasha. They had started up a conversation about different bands and seemed to be enjoying it. Scorpius knew that he owed his friend a lot, and this was his way of paying his debt. As much as Scorpius hated Sasha, he owed Lysander.

Sipping his firewhiskey, Scorpius stole a glance over at Rose. Lorcan had just returned with an order of butterbeer and was sitting down. Somehow, Scorpius couldn't imagine Rose drinking anything but butterbeer. That girl could get drunk on one sip. She had not inherited the Wesley drinking gene. Turning his attention back to Sasha, Scorpius tried to join in the conversation.

"So then the bouncer wouldn't let us in, so we had to go back to the Muggle petting zoo where we found Michel and Taylor at," Sasha was saying, sipping her firewhiskey occasionally. "So then, after talking, we decided to..."

Tuning her out, Scorpius looked back at Rose's table. Lorcan seemed to be thinking hard about something. "Scorpius, baby, are you even paying attention to me?" Sasha asked yanking his arm. Scorpius wanted to hex her for touching him, but he kept his temper in control.

"Sorry, Sasha. I just got distracted. A lot has been on my mind lately. What were you saying?" Scorpius asked, not really looking at her. Something more important was happening right now. Lorcan had just taken Rose's hand and seemed to be saying something. Scorpius clenched his fist, but did nothing. Rose turned white, and Scorpius just about lost it. Breathing deeply, he tried to turn back to Sasha.

"Maybe, after this, we could go back to my room and I could help you relax," Sasha replied, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. Scorpius didn't respond to his date. He didn't categorized this action as being rude or impolite, because to girl he loved had just been kissed by someone else.