"I love you."
Those piercing grey eyes met hers, alight with fiery emotion. For the first time in her life, Rose Weasley was speechless. It was as if the world had stopped. The chatter of students, the singing of birds, the gentle lapping of the lake: she heard none of it. All she could focus on was Scorpius, his usual calm, inscrutable expression flooded with intensity, and the bunch of roses that he held towards her. His face was redder than the flowers. If the constantly composed Scorpius was blushing, then she really didn't want to know what her face looked like.
She took a shaky breath. Her heart was thundering. Glimmering like a candle flame, memories flashed by. Endless images of the two of them flickered in her mind's eye, laughing until their stomachs ached, easing the burden of each other's problems, talking until it seemed that the language would run out of words. A red-hot glow was rising in her chest, threatening to spill out at any moment. Rose's heartstrings were playing a love song, and she couldn't help but join the harmony.
The words flowed out easily. "I love you too." Rose leaned in. She could see the flecks of silver in his eyes, wide with surprise. The roses lay on the ground, forgotten...
For days afterwards, the halls of Hogwarts were ablaze with the news. Everyone agreed - and that was a rare event in itself - that it was always going to happen, that it was only a matter of time before the pair realised what was right in front of them. Rose and Scorpius were oblivious, illuminated by a sunbeam of happiness.
One day, years later, Rose and Scorpius stumbled across a swarm of Dementors. When despair threatened to engulf them entirely, both called upon the same memory to drive away the darkness; in both their minds, it shone with the intensity of a thousand stars. Tinted glorious gold, it was full to the brim with joy. It was the recollection of a cloudless June day after the OWLs had finished, a memory that marked the end of one thing and the beginning of something else entirely. And in that desperate, dark moment, it was the beacon of light in the storm-tossed harbour. Not even the Saharan sun was quite so bright.
Author's Note: Well, hopefully that wasn't too cheesy. :P I really wanted to finish this, and felt it needed a short, sweet ending, so here we are! Thanks so much for reading this, hope you liked it :D
