In the Previous Chapter…
"Sorry" Scorpius apologised to Rose, "you may think I took that too far, but they deserve it" he said, matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, they did" Rose said bitterly. She looked at her family, who were now seeking forgiveness, but felt as if they had betrayed her, so turned back to Scorpius before saying "How's about we go and have that Chess game then?", and grabbed his hand and led him out of the Hall.
"Rose" Scorpius panted, "Slow down!" Rose had broken out into an excited run as soon as they were out of sight of the Great Hall. Rose didn't slow down until they had neared the entrance to their common room. "I needed to talk to you privately, without prying eyes watching or listening in" she said before muttering the charm to open the alcove.
As soon as the doorway appeared, Rose dragged Scopius inside. As the door slammed shut behind them, Rose pulled Scorpius into a huge hug. "Thank you so much" she said. Scorpius looked down and saw that she was crying. "I was so close to running out of there and never come back. And after I told my family and announced to practically announced to the whole school at he'd been beating me up, I could tell he was planning revenge. But then you intervened and got him isolated for a week! That gives me a week to find someone else" she explained, "because if I find another boyfriend, he'd be able to protect me from him when he gets out of isolation."
Scorpius had a feeling that the second part of Rose's little speech was meant to be to herself, and she hadn't planned to voice it out loud.
"Rose, what you just said has got me thinking" he whispered. "I know that there have been a lot of rumours going round about us, but now that you really are seeking a new boyfriend, why don't we make those rumours true" he whispered into her ear.
Scorpius was suddenly very conscious of what he had just said and regretted it immediately. What if Rose rejected him? What if she turned around and started yelling at him for asking her out at such an inappropriate time? "Rose, I…"
But Scorpius never got to finish that sentence as he was physically unable to talk, because Rose had wrapped her arms around him and stopped him mid-speech with a kiss. Rose seemed to melt on his lips. He had no idea how long they stood there, in the middle of their common room, just kissing, but didn't really care. He was kissing Rose Weasley. The same Rose Weasley that he had spent years tormenting and being tormented by. But now they were stood there, seventh years, friends, none of it seemed to matter. All that mattered was that this girl in his arms was kissing him, and he was quite happy to kiss her back.
After several breathless minutes of kissing, Rose broke her lips free. "That was…interesting" she mumbled.
"But nice" Scorpius whispered, "I wouldn't mind doing that again" he smirked, waggling his eyebrows suggestedly as a joke.
"Ahahaha" Rose laughed, "So it's not just me then" she said. "But you haven't actually asked me the question yet" she smiled.
Scorpius realised what she was saying, so crouched down in front of her and said theatrically, "Rose Weasley! Will you do me the honour of playing a game of Chess with me this morning?"
"I didn't mean it quite like that" giggles Rose.
"How about this then. Will, you, my lovely, gorgeous lady, do me the honour of being my girlfriend?"
"Only you, Scorp" she laughed, "But it's a yes anyway." And with that, she crouched down to kiss Scorpius Malfoy, the Head Boy, her old rival, and her new boyfriend.
That afternoon, Rose and Scorpius happily sat together in lessons. You would have to look carefully to notice the couple acting like a couple, though. In lessons, Scorpius would place his hand on Rose's thigh under the table, Rose would huddle into him, but make it appear as if she was looking at his work, they would hold hands under the table (Scorpius is ambidextrous, so holding his girl-friend's left hand with his right wasn't problematic), and at the end of lessons, they would walk off together happily.
They faced no questions about their closeness, as people just assumed that it was part of their house unity friendship, as Scorpius had declared at breakfast. It seemed as if everyone had listened to every word that he had said that morning, and this was made clear at dinner that evening. As the Head Boy and Girl walked in together, they were greeted with the sight of all of the houses mingling. This came to an advantage for other mixed-house couples, like Rose and Scorpius, because they could sit together. The only people who didn't seem very happy about the new seating arrangements were some of the slytherins, but no one paid any attention to them.
Rose and Scorpius headed to sit down together with some people from their NEWT DADA class, but found Professor Longbottom walking towards them.
"What you said this morning has had a very positive effect on the school" he said happily, "and Professor McGonagall would like to say well done for, although by force, getting the school to mingle with other houses" he beamed. "She would actually quite like to speak to you two right now, before you sit and eat" he said.
Rose and Scorpius followed Longbottom up to the Head Table, stopping when they were standing in front of their headmistress. "Congratulations on making your first impact as Head students!" she greeted them.
"Thank you Professor" the pair smiled. Rose added "although it was mostly Scorpius."
"Ah, but you are mistaken, Miss Weasley" McGonagall said. "Because of your argument with your friends this morning, lots of people have seen that their own fall outs are just as insignificant as the one between you and your friends. I have never seen so many broken friendships been restored in such short amount of time!" she beamed. "As you can see, your punishment for the school's immature behaviour has worked very well at extending friendships across houses. I was wondering if you would like to do an announcement to the whole school in a minute?" she asked.
"What announcement would that be, professor?" asked Scorpius.
"After seeing that these mingled meals will be a success, I have come to the decision that every Tuesday and Friday evening meals will follow the same structure, except without the extreme punishment for incompliance. I was hoping that you two would make the announcement, as the school seems to hang onto your every word when the pair of you are speaking together" she smiled.
"Of course Professor" said Rose, smiling.
"Shall we announce it now?" asked Scorpius.
"Yes, now would be a good time" McGonagall said, her eyes twinkling.
"Stundents of Hogwarts" Scoprius loudly addressed the Hall. Every pair of eyes turned to face the couple standing at the front.
"We hope that you are all enjoying your meal with you fellow students tonight" said Rose.
"And we would like to say that tonight will not be the only night that you will be sitting with the other houses" finished Scorpius.
"From now on, every Tuesday and Friday the house tables will be mixed for our evening meal" said Rose.
"There will only be one change to how these mixed meals are structured" said Scorpius.
"And that will be that there will no longer be any point deductions for those who do not comply. We believe that after tonight, you will all at least be able to recognise a friendly face from another house" continued Rose.
"We hope that you enjoy the rest of your meal tonight and hope to see the school this united every Tuesday and Friday!" said Scorpius, before leading Rose over to where Lorcan was sat talking to Jack. Rose and Scorpius could see Beth and Lysander a few seats down the table talking to each other and one of the Ravenclaws. Scorpius sat next to Jack on one side of the table, whilst Rose seated herself next to Lorcan.
"Evening" said Rose and Scorpius in a slightly unnerving simultaneous greeting. Surprised, they both glanced at each other, sharing a quick smile before turning to their friends. Jack and Lorcan seemed to be getting along fine, so Rose and Scorpius soon joined in their conversation. Dinner was a great laugh, and everyone left with high spirits. Rose and Scorpius headed back to their common room with ear-to-ear grins plastered onto their faces. As soon as they were inside their common room, Scorpius pulled Rose into a gentle embrace before kissing her and saying "We did great! That was so fun!" The pair had been playing footsie under the table for half of the meal.
"Come, on, we should get that Potions assignment started" said Rose, heading over to the shelf containing potions ingredients. The students had to pick a potion from one of their textbooks and brew it perfectly before Christmas.
"We need to decide one a potion" said Scorpius.
"I thought of one we could do" said Rose.
"Which one?"
"Well, it's challenging, takes a few months to brew and will guarantee us a good grade" said Rose.
"What's it called?"
Rose paused, unsure as to whether or not Scorpius would find her suggestion too head strong, before ignoring her doubts and slowly saying "Ammortentia."
"The strongest love potion in the world" Scorpius said thoughfully, before lifting Rose off the floor into a hug and whispering "Great idea! But I don't need a love potion to fall in love with you."