Disclaimer: JK releases her books on time, unlike me

A/N: I'm sorry I'm sorry! I had a huge couple of weeks at uni, followed by an interstate trip, so I gave myself an extra week which turned into two and now I'm finally putting this up. I'm sorry for breaking my one-week promise! I'm on break now so I'll try to get ahead again, but after midsemester I have some big stuff due so I might change to updating every two weeks or so, just to take the pressure off a bit. The next chapter will be quicker, though, because I think this one is still a little confusing :)

Scorpius - Edgar - blinked in the sudden burst of sunlight. Magical Maintenance having decided on a gloomy thunderstorm inside, even the five o'clock sun was almost too harsh.

Shielding his eyes, he leaned against the graffitied wall behind him. The area around the old Visitor's Entrance had cleaned up its act in recent years, but some things still remained. Right now, Scorpius didn't mind. The dirty concrete matched his awful robes...

No-one came out for a while, which wasn't surprising, really. Most Ministry workers left by Floo. A few left by the newer street entrance, though - mostly the younger ones, since old habits were hard to break. Scorpius idly kicked a stone into the gutter. It wasn't like Muggles could see them walking out through the wall. Besides, they were happy enough to barge through to the Hogwarts platform in the middle of King's Cross - why not here in this abandoned street?

A young couple emerged suddenly, and Scorpius jumped. It wasn't Rose. Neither was the next man, or the tall girl immediately after him. The two stopped to continue a conversation, the girl giving him an odd look - no-one waited to meet anyone outside the Ministry - so he knelt down and pretended to fiddle with his shoe.

He was just starting to suspect that he looked even more awkward here on the floor, when -

"Oh! Excuse me!"

Rose! Perfect. Wow, that had been easier than he'd thought. He hadn't even had to bump into her - she'd done all the work for him!

He stood up quickly, brushing out his robes. "No, no, it's my fault. I shouldn't have been kneeling so close to the entrance. Really, it's no trouble."

She eyed him doubtfully. "But your robes..."

"Were torn when I put them on this morning, so don't worry about it."

She reached out a hand, and he shook it awkwardly, realising halfway through that she'd probably meant to check that he was okay. But now that he'd started shaking, he could hardly stop, could he? Feeling like an idiot already, he kept shaking. He couldn't for the life of him remember what to do next.

But then Rose released his hand, and knelt down in front of him.

Must. Not. Imagine. Same. Position. In. Bedroom.

Seconds later she was standing again - much too soon - and she handed him a small object. He looked at it. A spring? "I think you dropped this," she said carefully, with a small smile. "I'm sorry again for bumping into you."

She walked away, her handbag swinging as she walked.

"Get your kit on and hide your dirty magazines. You've got five seconds before I get there for real."

What?

Scorpius opened his eyes blearily. Had he fallen asleep on the couch? He must have, because he didn't have a sleepwalking habit, and light was pouring in from his living room window.

And that voice from the fireplace had sounded distinctly like Rose.

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up. He'd fallen asleep in his work robes, and he'd never owned a dirty magazine in his life, so Rose had absolutely nothing to worry about. "Honestly, Rose," he muttered to himself, reaching for last night's glass of water. "You wound me."

Rose emerged from the fireplace, hands behind her back. "Sorry. Standard protocol."

"Visit to Fred gone wrong?"

"No. Roxanne's latest boyfriend. Little nudist. I don't know what's wrong with Uncle George's branch of the family."

Scorpius rubbed his eyes again. "Why do you think I would want to hear about your cousin's sexual exploits at... what time is it, anyway?"

"Seven."

"a.m.? Merlin, Rose."

"Don't you just love the early mornings? The birds, the flowers, the sunshine peaking into our lives, gently prodding us awake -"

"Ow! Get away from me with that thing!"

Rose giggled, and despite his exhaustion Scorpius couldn't help smiling back. "You're incorrigible," he told her sternly. "Hey, look, an eagle!"

Rose, though she'd inherited her mother's excellent study habits and passion for house-elf rights, also had a father who wasn't particularly known for being the sharpest tool in the shed. A second later, Scorpius was nibbling on the offending sugar quill, an angelic smile waiting on his face.

"Jerk. But I deserved that."

"Yeah. For sheer idiocy. We're in the middle of London, and you thought I saw an eagle? We're about as far away from nature as it's possible to get."

At this, Rose raised a finger. "Ah," she said knowingly, waggling her eyebrows. "That is the reason I'm here in your living room at six o'clock on a Saturday morning."

Damn. So it wasn't a booty call.

He lay back with an exaggerated sigh. "Please, explain. Then let me get back to bed."

"You weren't in bed," she pointed out.

"Unfailing logic," he replied drily. "You must be a top employee at the Ministry."

"Bugger the Ministry! We're escaping the Ministry. Getting out of London entirely. Reconnecting with nature - and each other. We're going -" she drew a deep breath - "on a picnic!"

"Are you sure it's just Floo powder you've been inhaling?"

But Scorpius had to admit he was interested. Very interested. Something that probably wasn't quite conveyed to Rose by the large yawn he let out immediately after finishing his sentence.

Her face fell. "Come on, Scorp. It's been ages since we've talked. You've been busy with work, and I've been busy with work, and every time I think we've finally got a chance to sit down and just have a good old chat someone else interrupts us."

Someone else? Scorpius sat up a little straighter. Did she mean Finch? Forgetting his tiredness, he grinned. "I'd be absolutely delighted to go on a picnic with you, Rose Weasley."

She grinned back. "Up you get, then," she said brightly, grabbing hold of his hand and yanking him up. Or trying to, anyway. Even half-asleep, he wasn't so much of a lightweight that Rose could pull him around.

Physically, at least!

"We're going right now?" he complained. "Don't I even have time to have breakfast?"

"It's a picnic, Scorp. You eat food on a picnic."

"But I'm starving!"

"Finish up that sugar quill then. Before I steal it back."

"Do I at least get to change?"

She eyed him appraisingly. "Get some sturdier shoes, at least. I highly doubt those flimsy things will last a second where we're going."

"Which is...?"

"You'll find out when we get there, won't you?" she laughed.

He got up with a sigh, and made his way to his bedroom. "I don't know why we have to go so early. I'm quite sure it'll still be there in four hours."

"If you don't move your arse we won't be there for four hours, so hurry up or I'll go by myself!"

Scorpius laughed, closing the door behind him. "And miss my oh-so-witty company? I don't think so!"

The latch slipped into place, and Scorpius ripped open his closet. He had to be quick - wouldn't want Rose thinking he was worried about what to wear, would he? - but at the same time he wanted to look just a little bit nice.

His mother's words floated into his head. "It doesn't matter what the quality is. As long as you have what he's missing in spades."

Merlin, if there was one thing Edgar Spore was missing, it was style!

But Scorpius didn't have anything particularly stylish in his closet, either. Unless you counted his dinner suit, and getting mud all over his trousers trekking through the hills didn't sound like such a great idea. Especially not right before the Malfoy dinner party.

"Muggle gear or robes?" he called out to Rose.

"Jeans, definitely. Didn't you think to check what I was wearing?"

"My eyes were half-closed with sleep, thank you very much!"

He heard her laugh through the door. "You're welcome."

Ahh, what the hell. He pulled on some jeans and a plain t-shirt. It wasn't like this was a date, or anything. There was no reason he should care about what he was wearing.

Still, when he opened the door, he couldn't help but compare his outfit with Rose's. Hers was simple, too, as was probably appropriate for a picnic in the woods, but where his shirt was plain grey, hers was pink and printed, a unicorn badge pinned to the front completing the look. The pink clashed awfully with her hair, and it would probably be a lot easier to read the slogan on her shirt if the writing was actually legible, but the look was so adorable, so Rose, that he felt his heart skip a beat. How did she manage to pick the right clothes so effortlessly?

"It's the brooch, isn't it?" Rose asked drily, noticing his stare.

We, at least she didn't think he was staring at her chest.

"Feeling a bit whimsical today, are you?"

She laughed. "Just in a good mood, that's all."

"Much too good a mood for seven o'clock in the morning," Scorpius grumbled as they stepped outside his flat. "Merlin, Rose, it's not even light yet!"

"So I lied. Maybe it's closer to five. I've never been good with numbers and things."

"Says the girl who topped Arithmancy every year she took it!"

He looked around. The streets were virtually empty. In the distance he could hear a few cars and buses as Muggle Londoners started their day, but this particular neighbourhood was quiet. Sensible people. Where did anyone have to go so urgently at 5am on a Saturday?

"Apparating?" he asked, and she nodded, shivering a little now that they were outside. "Hang on, I'll get you a jumper, you look freezing."

"Honestly, Scorp, it's no problem -" she tried to tell him, but when he returned a minute later she accepted it gratefully.

"I got dressed in front of the fire, as you might be able to guess," she admitted. "Are you ready? We'll do side-along, since you don't know where we're going."

Scorpius shuddered.

"Don't give me that look," Rose told him, grabbing his hand. "Hold tight!"

Before he could gather himself, they were spinning through the air. But... something was going wrong. The further they travelled, the more he felt constricted, unable to breathe. He felt the familiar squeezing sensation tighten around him -

Wait, familiar? He'd never done side-along Apparition in his life before. In fact, it felt a lot like taking Polyjuice Potion...

Merlin! He wasn't transforming, was he? He could not let Rose see him as Spore - or worse, Knightley!

He felt Rose's hand clench his - the squeezing continued - he had to break free, had to let go before the transformation was complete -

And then they landed, tumbling to the ground in a flurry of arms and legs and bodies.

"You git!" Rose yelled. "You git, you absolute git! What the hell did you think you were doing? Don't you know how dangerous Apparition is if you stuff it up?"

Scorpius gaped at her. What was she going on aout?

And then he realised where they were. They were lying in a meadow, a row of trees three feet away from them - and Rose was lying on top of him, her legs tangled in his and her breath coming in gasps in a way that instantly made him think of -

He pushed her off hurriedly. If she stayed where she was a few seconds longer she'd be able to feel for herself exactly what he thought of her!

"Merlin, Rose, I'm sorry."

She sat up, her chest still heaving, and Scorpius had to remind himself very sternly not to stare. "What the hell were you thinking?"

That I was about to turn into a homeless bloke called Edgar? Man, he was an idiot. How had he thought Polyjuice Potion could transform him when he hadn't been within six feet of the stuff in the last twelve hours? "I - I don't know," he said awkwardly. "There was just... this squeezing... I couldn't breathe..."

She stared at him. And then she laughed. "You've never done side-along Apparition before? Not even as a kid?"

"We always travelled by Portkey," he said stiffly. He was right. She thought he was a total idiot. "Mother never got her Apparition licence."

"Really?" That got her attention. "How did she get anywhere? Wouldn't that mean always having to rely on someone else for side-along?"

"Every country manor house has at least one fireplace," Scorpius said drily. "And I highly doubt Mother has ever visited any other sort of property."

"What about errands?"

"She has a highly trained and obedient son for those."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Rose said earnestly. She laid back beside him, and Scorpius was grateful. While the position was surprisingly intimate, it also removed the distracting sight of that tight top of hers...

"I'm sorry for stuffing up your Apparition," he replied seriously.

She rolled over to face him. "Just don't do it again, okay? You gave me one hell of a fright."

"Agreed, on the condition you give me more than five seconds notice next time."

"Agreed."

They smiled at each other, and sleepiness slowly started to replace the adrenaline running through Scorpius' veins.

"So this is where we were meant to end up?" he murmured drowsily.

"Close enough," Rose replied, and Scorpius was amused to notice her earlier enthusiasm had been replaced with the same exhaustion he felt.

But he was too much of a gentleman to comment.

"We were meant to arrive inside that forest there," Rose continued. "But I decided at the last minute to land somewhere with open spaces, for some mysterious reason. But here's just as good a place to start as any."

"Please say the first activity is a nap."

She lazily reached out a hand to stop him rolling over - then shifted it to the horizon instead, where a faint red glow was beginning to appear.

She'd brought him here to watch the sunrise. Suddenly Scorpius was very aware of the sights and sounds of nature around him: the cool, crisp dew soaking through his back, the early morning calls of birds in the forest, of small animals racing through the trees, the gentle rustling and crackling of leaves above and below them. And the glow.

They lay there for what seemed like ages, though it couldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes for the sun to rise fully.

"Do you ever think about time?" Scorpius asked suddenly, into the silence.

Rose didn't reply for a moment, but when she did, her voice was thoughtful. "I think about you when I think about time," she said honestly. "I think of time as one of those things that's always there, a constant, in the background -"

"Gee, thanks."

"Shut up. Do you want to hear my deep, intellectual thoughts or not?"

He waved his hand lazily. "Go on."

"But constant is the wrong word," she continued. "It's constant in the sense that it is always there, but in the background it's moving at different speeds, compressing and stretching -"

"Like a spring," Scorpius said suddenly.

She looked at him sharply.

"Or a bed," he said hurriedly to cover up the slip - then flushed bright red as he realised what he'd said, and hoped to Merlin the early morning light wasn't bright enough for her to notice.

She laughed anyway. "Please, explain."

"You've always got the bedsheet, right?" he said earnestly, sitting up to face her. "And that's always beneath you -" in bed - dammit, this topic was even more awkward than the spring one would have been! - "but when you wriggle around, it moves underneath you, and the flat sheet becomes a series of bumps and valleys -"

He broke off. There was literally no possible way he could continue this line of conversation. Not when he was so preoccupied with staring at the bumps and valleys of Rose's own body, stretched out over the still-wet grass. She'd rolled over again to face the sky, and there was a wet patch on her side that made her thin t-shirt cling to her chest.

He tried not to stare.

But it was bloody hard, when the outline revealed a very lacy bra underneath. He tugged at his jeans discreetly...

"The wriggle bit is interesting," Rose mused, with a very interesting wriggle of her own. "I guess if you're just lying there, staring up at the ceiling, time is flat and stretches out. But if you've got someone in there with you rumpling up the sheets -" Merlin, please - "time bunches up and ends much faster than you want it to."

She reached up to adjust her bra, and Scorpius groaned aloud.

"You alright?" Rose asked, sounding concerned.

"Uh, yeah," he grunted, his face flaming. "I was, uh, lying on a stone. Sorry."

"But do you agree?" she pressed.

He had to turn this conversation away from the sexual, right now. "Uh, I'm trying not to imagine you rumpling up the sheets with someone," he said tightly, pretending the idea hadn't been a night-time fantasy of his for years. "Too much information, and all that..."

She grinned, sitting up and crossing her legs. "You're a guy, Scorp. Every guy likes thinking about rumpling the sheets with a girl, even you." She paused, then gave him a wink. "I bet you've even thought about me that way."

He gaped at her. "I'm not answering that!"

"Aww, come on, Scorp, I've thought about you like that. Doesn't mean I'm going to do anything about it. Doesn't mean I'm even interested in you. It's just, well, you're a guy, I'm a girl..."

"You're my best friend!" Scorpius replied in a strangled voice. "I'm not allowed to think of you... like that!"

She laughed. "As long as it's just thinking... who's going to know?"

"I am! Now let's get back on topic before my entire body turns red!"

"I don't remember what we were talking about."

He scowled at her, but inside his heart was beating rather fast - you know, for six o'clock in the morning. She'd thought of him in a sexual way? Him, Scorpius Malfoy? Not Knightley or Spore or anyone else?

But then she'd ruined it by saying she wasn't interested in him.

"We were talking about time, a very safe and impersonal topic, thank you very much."

She leaned forward, brushing a strand of frizzy hair away from her face. "Is that what you want? A safe and impersonal topic? And there I was thinking this was a catch-up between best friends..."

Friends. Yes.

But just because he didn't want to talk about the two of them together - not yet, anyway - didn't mean he couldn't ask about the rest of her love life. She was practically begging him to share some gossip, right?

Maybe she had something to say about Finch...

"Fine," he sighed, dramatically. "Out with it."

"Out with what?" she asked innocently.

"Whatever it is you're dying to share."

"We haven't talked in weeks! There's tons of stuff I could tell you! What do you want to know?"

He paused, considering how to phrase his question without looking like he was desperate to know the answer. "Hang on," he said carefully. "Remember that conversation, a few weeks ago, after we had coffee with Finch? And you told me you had something to tell me?"

Rose cocked her head. "I don't remember that?"

"It had something to do with Finch." He took a breath. Time to be casual. He could pull off casual, right? It wasn't like he was interested in her answer in the slightest. This was just an extremely casual conversation between two friends who hadn't caught up in a while.

Two friends who had just watched the sunrise together, alone in an otherwise empty meadow.

Two friends who were dancing around the subject of one's love life, while the other pretended he was a completely impartial observer.

Dammit, why was Rose doing this? Why had she turned the conversation to this, to the sexual, to the romantic, to the everything-they-were-not -

"Finch?" Rose prompted.

"Uh, yeah, Finch. After he gave you that..." He drifted off. He didn't know how to finish that sentence. Present? Note?

Rose blushed, the pink on her cheeks clashing with the red-gold flecks in the early morning light. "Some things are between me and Finch."

He suddenly had to have an answer. "Are you - what's going on between you and Finch?" he asked roughly, no longer caring whether she might guess his feelings. "Because you've been - you know..."

"Acting like we're together?" Rose answered bluntly.

"Are you?"

Rose said nothing for a long moment. Suddenly the sounds of the forest weren't peaceful, they were ominous. Because every moment she didn't speak brought them closer to an answer he knew he wouldn't like.

Until finally she spoke. "No."

He waited for the flood of relief, but it didn't come. "What do you mean, no?"

She laughed, but Scorpius could tell she was hiding something. "I knew you purebloods didn't know the meaning of the word."

"Shut up and answer the question."

Rose wasn't the type to prevaricate. Normally. "I won't say there's nothing between us. But we're not together. Not in the way you mean."

"Then what did you want to tell me?" he pressed.

"That time is like a completely asexual spring and we should leave it at that," she said firmly, but the light in her eyes was back. "Serves me right for pushing you, I suppose."

"You're damn right it does," Scorpius grumbled. "You owe me a personal question later."

She threw a patch of grass at him. "Hey, no fair. You didn't answer your personal question either."

"So," he said loudly. "What was this about a picnic?"

Wednesday, the twenty-second day of April, in the year two thousand and twenty-six in the Georgian calendar.

So read the piece of paper clutched in Scorpius' hand. Scorpius' rather brawny and muscular hand, thanks to the marvellous effects of Polyjuice Potion, but that was secondary. The piece of paper was the most important thing.

Scorpius was rather proud of this plan. He'd had to find a day when Rose would be at the Ministry before most people were around - but for a reason that Scorpius Malfoy wouldn't know about. Thanks to her comments to Roland Knightley, though - he wasn't so useless after all! - he'd been able to track down this trial date. A goblin rights trial, with the ominous but rather unhelpful title of 'Redric the Second v. The British Ministry of Magic: on the profound disrespect shown by the defendant to the rights and regulations of British wizarding law' and a trial time of... seven-thirty a.m.

Dammit.

He'd missed the start. He wouldn't be able to run into Rose before she testified. Oh, well, he thought philosophically. It was probably too much of a coincidence to expect her to believe that he just happened to be hanging around the Ministry two hours before anyone else would arrive.

Maybe he could meet her after she got out. How long did these things take, anyway? Would Rose have to stay for the rest of the trial after she testified? Maybe she'd be let out on her lunch break...

But six hours was a long time for him to be hanging around out of the office.

He'd have to go down to Bletchley, at least to give him some excuse, but - he cursed his overenthusiasm - he'd have to wait for the Potion to wear off now. That wasn't too bad, though. He'd probably be back in his own body by nine a.m. Just in time for a heart-to-heart with Bletchley. Yay.

Meanwhile, he might as well go down to the Wizengamot - no, that was stupid, he couldn't risk being seen down there twice. Dammit, he really hadn't thought this through, had he? Security down there wouldn't even let him in there once! Scorpius Malfoy, maybe, but never shabby Edgar Spore.

Miserable again, he made his way back out to the Atrium. Seemed like he had some time to kill. None of the food and drink places would be open at this time, which was a bit of a pity, because now that he thought about it he was starving. Rose really was right about breakfast being the most important meal of the day...

He took a seat on a bench near the fountain. A small gold plaque decorated the back, and Scorpius bent to read it.

This bench was placed here in 1999, following the victory of the Second Wizarding War, that those who sit here may contemplate the fountain that lies before them...

It went on, in smaller print, but Scorpius didn't bother reading it. Rose had ranted to him about it in the past, enough times that he practically had it memorised. After the war, the Ministry had restored it to its original design - no more Muggle-borns supporting their masters on their backs - but Rose still didn't think it was enough. "Like pets," she'd spit, pointing at the goblins and house-elves at the feet of the witch and wizard. "You could put a leash on them and take them for a walk."

Footsteps suddenly filled the silence. He looked up. One of the elevators had arrived, bringing two people up to the Atrium. One of whom was Rose, he realised, unsurprised. Accompanied by someone else, someone official-looking, so he didn't try anything. He'd stick with his plan of bumping into her after the trial.

But then they passed the fountain, and Rose stopped to pay her respects, the other woman continuing impatiently towards the fireplaces. Rose noticed him sitting there, and cocked her head. Scorpius smiled in reply - then fished something out of his pocket. He paused, wondering if she'd associate it with Scorpius or Edgar. Better not risk it.

"You're here early," she said quietly. "You're the bloke who tripped me up the other day, aren't you?"

He smiled ruefully. So she remembered him, even without the spring. "That's why I'm sitting down on an actual chair today."

"Read the plaque?"

"It's... thought-provoking."

"Both versions of the statues are," she agreed.

They were interrupted by Rose's companion, her voice shrill in the quiet morning air. "Rose! We're going to be late!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Marita doesn't understand my fascination with this statue."

"Shouldn't you be going?"

She shrugged. "We're not that late. Besides, she can't fire me for paying my respects, can she?"

"Still..."

"Do you work here?" Rose asked curiously.

"Uh -"

"This is the second time I've bumped into you, that's all, and I don't think I've seen you around before. You new or something?"

Scorpius wished to Merlin his character notes hadn't gone missing. Luckily, he remembered this one - "I want to be new," he admitted. "Still working on the employment side of things, though."

She nodded understandingly. "Good luck, I guess. And - see you around?"

"Maybe we can compare notes on the statue," Scorpius suggested, and they smiled.