I arrived at the top of the stairs of the North Tower only to find myself alone. It was up here that the Divination classes took place - or rather, through the trap door above my head - but as I didn't have divination, I had hardly ever been up here before. It was quite chilly, and so I wrapped my dressing gown even tighter around myself, regretting that I hadn't thought to bring a long a jumper. I waited for about five minutes, glancing repeatedly at my watch. Finally, Scorpius came. I heard him before I saw him, jumping lightly up the steps. He beamed upon seeing me.
"Hello, beautiful," he said, and then threw himself on the ground to sit next to me. Scorpius gave me an enormous hug, and then kissed me briefly. "Sorry to be late. Had a slight run - in with Peeves on the way here, I only just got away."
"I almost met Professor Nott," I told him. "I don't like meeting after hours."
Scorpius sighed. "I know breaking the rules pains you."
"Yes!"
"If you don't want to, just say so." Scorpius now had a decidedly surly expression on his face.
I rolled my eyes. "Stop acting that way, Scor," I said. "You know very well that I would rather have a detention hanging over my head than not to see you."
Scorpius brightened noticeably. "Had a nice day?"
I snorted. "What do you think? It's been miserable. First, that horrible test that I felt certain that I was going to fail, then, Demetria threatened to kill me, then I stabbed Albus in the hand with my knife, and then James turned you into a mouse, which somehow was all my fault. Oh, and Felicia's angry with me."
Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Felicia is angry with you? I thought that you were friends."
"We are. We were. I don't know. I thought we were."
Scorpius frowned. "What is it about?"
"I don't know exactly, but - but Jane from my year said that - that it maybe had something to do with you." I worked hard to keep my words from sounding like an accusation. Scorpius only laughed.
"Maybe she's wildly in love with me, and horribly jealous of you," he suggested, flicking his bangs out of his face. "She wouldn't be the only one."
"Oh, really?" I said. "There are others?"
Scorpius shrugged noncommittally. "They're too frightened of you, my vicious darling, to say anything. They just hang around, hoping to get a bit of Malfoy... But you, Rosie, have all of this Malfoy." He finished off this flattering statement with a winning smile, but I was slightly disgruntled.
"You mean Adrasteia," I said, before I had time to think.
I could tell that Scorpius hadn't been expecting me to say that. "I - what?"
"Nothing," I said quickly.
"Adrasteia? What are you talking about? We're just friends, we-"
"I know," I interrupted. "I just - nothing. Never mind."
Scorpius frowned at me, but then wrapped an arm me, and rested his head on my shoulders. "I've missed you," he said quietly. "I don't feel like we ever get a chance to see each other anymore. At least, not without James Potter butting in and managing to mess up everything, or Demetria breathing down both our necks, wanting to know everything we say to each other. I wish we could just spend a whole lot of time alone together."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Maybe... you know, the Christmas break would be a good time to see each other..."
Scorpius stiffened. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe." He turned his dazzling grey - green eyes on mine. "You know I love you, Rosie, right? Even if I don't always act like it."
"I know," I whispered, surprised. It seemed like an odd thing to say. Very dramatic and not very Scorpius - like. Scorpius leaned in to kiss me, his soft lips resting against mine. We kissed gently for a little while, but then Scorpius wrapped both his arms around me and pulled me closer, pressing my body against his chest. I could feel every muscle, every bone in his body pressed against me. Scorpius kissed me harder, his lips pushing against my own, his tongue swooping into my mouth, giving my stomach a lurching sensation. He entangled one hand in my hair, and I put a hand to his neck, pulling him closer, even closer...
In one swift movement, Scorpius pinned me to the ground, and covered my body with his. His tongue explored my mouth. He tasted like cinnamon. Scorpius pressed his body closer to mine, and without thinking, I ground my hips towards his, causing him to make a low moaning sound from somewhere deep in his throat. It felt like an assault of my senses, and I all I could feel and think was Scorpius. His hand ran up the side of my thigh, until he gently parted my legs, causing me to gasp.
Scorpius almost flew off of me. His hair was askew, his shirt was unbuttoned and halfway off (how did that happen?), and his belt buckle has partly undone. He cleared his throat loudly. "Sorry," he muttered, staring at some spot next to my foot.
I hadn't meant to scare him off by gasping, but now the damage seemed to be done. "Don't be," I said, feeling equally embarrassed. I hoisted myself into a sitting position and tried to pat down my hair. Scorpius and I had only been seeing each other for about three months, and neither of us had broached the topic of sex yet, which made situations like this one slightly awkward.
"Maybe I should go back to bed," I suggested. "It's getting late."
"Right," said Scorpius. As I scrambled up to my feet, however, Scorpius suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me back down. "Listen, Rose," he said, a very serious look suddenly appearing on his face. "I… I know that you've been wondering why I invited Demetria over for the holidays but not you."
I raised my eyebrows in answer. I hardly knew what to say to this.
"Demetria told me," Scorpius explained, and I felt my face flush. I didn't want to be seen as the needy and desperate girlfriend. "Look, my parents are having their annual New Year's Eve ball. I would like you to come."
I felt my jaw drop. "Really?"
"Yes, really," Scorpius said, a little impatiently.
"I thought… you didn't want me to come."
Scorpius rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "Well, obviously I do want you to come, as I've just asked you."
Then why on Earth didn't he ask me sooner? I must have had a confused expression on my face, because Scorpius frowned quizzically at me.
"Look, Rosie, are you having a stroke, or do you just have comprehension problems?" he asked. "If you don't realize it, I pretty much just asked you out, and it's impolite to leave a bloke hanging."
I pulled myself together. "I would love to come," I said, and beamed at him.
Scorpius smiled, actually looking a bit relieved. "Great," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you before – I just didn't know if it was such a good idea for you to come. Not because I'm ashamed of you or anything –" he added quickly, obviously seeing my slightly disappointed expression, "but because – well, my parents didn't have the best reaction when I wrote to them about my new girlfriend, so I didn't really know if you would be comfortable at Malfoy Manor. But, you know, we are a couple after all, and I would like to show you where I live, and to spend New Year's with you. And-" he took a deep breath – "Some of your… friends or cousins or whatever are welcome to come as well, so that we won't drown in middle aged Ministry employees with Death Eater pasts."
I left the North Tower feeling like the biggest jerk in the world. Scorpius had risked his parents' disapproval in inviting me – and my friends – to a ball at Malfoy Manor. I, in the meantime, couldn't even be bothered to write to my parents and inform them that I was in a relationship.
I really wasn't embarrassed about Scorpius being my boyfriend; I just didn't know how to handle my parents and my whole family knowing. I could just see my dad's eyes bulging in the same way as James'… How would I ever get them to accept Scorpius?
It was a little ironic that I was the Gryffindor in the relationship, as I was apparently too much of a chicken to even inform my parents about it. But, really, Scorpius wasn't just any boy. He was the son of my parents' archenemy – would they even let me to go the New Years' Eve ball?
As I wandered through the dark back to my dorm, only one thought kept going through my head: how was I ever going to tell my parents about Scorpius? And more importantly, would Scorpius ever forgive me, if he found out that I hadn't told them?