Rose was in her bed, the curtains drawn, listening to her alarm clock tick. For over a year she had trouble sleeping. She would stay awake every night until exhaustion finally got the better of her and she was able to get at least a few hours of sleep. Scorpius Malfoy ran throughout her head all day and night, nonstop. She had done everything she could to forget that he existed. She had avoided his gaze and the fact that he was always trying to talk to her. Rose had refused to participate in any conversation that contained the words "Quidditch," "Slytherin," or "Death Eater."

Rose was very aware of her growing attraction to Scorpius but felt that new feelings of anger and disappointment had bubbled up inside her and pushed that old feeling back. She desperately wanted to forgive him for neglecting to tell her about his family's past but she could not bring herself to do it. She asked her parents about the Malfoys but only heard stories about how Scorpius's, father, Draco, was a cowardly bully and particularly nasty to anyone who was not a Slytherin or a pureblood. They never mentioned Death Eaters or Malfoy Manor tortures and although Rose knew that they wanted to spare her the ugly side of war, she was annoyed that they refused to tell her crucial facts about her classmate.

There was a great gust outside and Rose heard the window shift as it was beaten by the wind. She felt incurably restless and left her bed in her pajamas hoping to find solace in taking a walk. Rose was not usually one to break rules but had found that there were certain times of night that most, if not all, teachers were in bed and she would be allowed to roam as she pleased.

She crept down the stairs and out of the portrait-hole and wondered if she would be able to get something to eat from the kitchens. The pictures lining the walls of Hogwarts were not abuzz with conversation or movement, but rather the people in them were sleeping. Rose felt that Hogwarts was an entirely different building at night. It seemed raw and less magical but at the same time, very real. In the quiet and candle-lit corridors she could hear only her own thoughts. Rose let her mind wander to Scorpius and remembered that immediately after the Slytherin boy told her everything she did not know he tried to talk to her repeatedly. He must have said that he was sorry enough times to last him an eternity but Rose would have none of it. She was too heartbroken that he would neglect to tell her those things and too shaken up to talk about it. She had found him numerous times waiting outside the portrait of the Fat Lady before breakfast and after dinner.

But at the start of their Seventh Year, he had given up. She missed him terribly, even when he was calling her ugly and although she had been made Head Girl and he Head Boy, they had never consulted one another. Scorpius was either on the Quidditch pitch or conveniently somewhere else when Rose tried to look for him. She snuck glances at him at breakfast when she knew no one was looking and saw girls at his table talking to him. She did not doubt that they fancied him for he was considerably better looking than most of the boys her year and the fact that he was even taller after summer holiday did not help. Rose had even found herself foolishly awaiting a Christmas card or letter this past Christmas but was not surprised that she did not receive any. And when January and Scorpius's birthday rolled around, Rose justified in her mind that he did not deserve a present and probably would not accept it anyway.

Rose came to the picture of the bowl of fruit in front of the door to the kitchens and was about to tickle the pear before she heard footsteps. She froze on the spot and closed her eyes, waiting to hear the worst from one of the professors.

"Rose?"

She opened her eyes, momentarily relieved until she recognized the voice.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius was standing a few feet away from her, fully dressed, his expression worried at what she might say. Rose turned to him and without saying a word, hurried past him.

"Hey wait," he was calling after her in a hushed voice. "Rose, let me talk to you!"

Rose darted up the nearest staircase and headed for the seventh floor. She regretted wearing only socks on her feet as she slid across the floor and nearly collided with a suit of armor. She could hear Scorpius running behind her, catching up.

Rose stopped, clutching her side, panting. She noticed that she was directly across the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and figured that she had lost Scorpius somewhere, thankful for once for the moving staircases. She tried to catch her breath and think of a place that she could get away from Scorpius. She paced the corridor a number of times until she happened to turn around and find a large door. She was not entirely sure if it had been there a second before but she had a good feeling about going through it.

Rose knew that she had heard briefly of a room like this, one that existed when you needed it, but had never had so much interest to check it out. The room was small, with a large armchair on one end and fluffy pillows next to it. There was a circular rug on the floor and a collection of chocolates on a round table on the other side. It was perfect for one person to become lost in thought or simply lost from the rest of the world. Rose sat down in the large chair and began to cry. She did not want to see Scorpius. She wanted to forget about him and his family and the girls she had noticed that he tended to hang around more these days. She brought her knees to her chest and sank lower in the armchair.

"Blimey, you run fast."

Rose turned around, startled at the voice, and found Scorpius standing there catching his breath.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked quietly. Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know you," he said seriously. "You wanted to hide from me, but I found you." He began to

walk the interior of the room, pausing to stuff chocolate in his pockets and kick one of the pillows. Rose watched him out of the corner of her eye, determined not to talk to him.

"Listen," he began. His voice was shaking. "I know that you're mad at me –"

"Of course I'm mad at you!" Rose lashed at him before he could continue. She was on her feet now and staring into his pale face. "You lead me on to think that you are my friend when you really have all of this shady family history! And even when I find that stuff in the book about your dad and grandfather, I tell you that I don't care because I really didn't at the time, but you don't even tell me all of the horrible things they did to my family!"

"I know, just listen to me –"

"No," Rose started again. "You listen! I forgot all of that stuff. I didn't care! But then you have to try and ruin everything by almost kissing me! The worst part though is that I had to hear about the awful things your family was involved in by someone who called me 'filth.' YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND!"

"I AM YOUR BEST FRIEND!" Scorpius had yelled so loud that Rose stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him wide-eyed. "What was I supposed to say, Rose? 'Hello, would you like to see my Death Eater photo album?' I couldn't go around telling you everything. What would you think of me?"

"I wouldn't –"

"Oh spare me!" he spat. "Look at you now! You're ashamed of me." He looked defeated.

"I was never ashamed of you," Rose said quietly.

"I hate it when you lie, Rose," he said looking down. He lifted his head back up to look at her.

"You come from this famous family of saviors and Aurors and you don't want to be a part of anything remotely bad and I get that. But you know me. You know that if I don't tell you about something like your mum being tortured at my manor it's for a good reason."

Rose stared at him, unable to say anything. She did know him and she wanted to kick herself for not trusting him.

"How do you think it feels to be the son of a Death Eater at a school so against anything or anyone related to Voldemort? Nobody except people who are in Death Eater families as well wants anything to do with me."

"But I did!" Rose spoke up. "I stood by you!"

"So what, you felt sorry for me?"

"No, it's not like that!" she said frantically.

"Well then what was it? You genuinely wanted to be my friend, that's great. But when I tried to explain to you about, well, everything, you treated me like a stranger!"

Rose could not find anything else to say but to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," she whispered. Scorpius stopped glaring at her and relaxed his features.

He walked over to her.

"I'm sorry too," he said looking down at her. "I should have told you everything."

Rose shook her head to tell him that he did not need to be sorry.

"It's just," Scorpius turned away from her again and kicked another pillow. "I have to live with this history, you know? It follows me everywhere and it's just so unfair." Rose watched him as he let out all of his frustration. He walked past her and threw the little table holding the mound of chocolates to the floor and gave it a good kick. He turned back around and looked at Rose who was staring at him. He slowly walked up to her and leaned in.

"Scorpius?" Rose asked unsure of what was about to happen. She had been through this once before.

He did not answer and Rose held her breath as she felt his lips on hers. He kissed her slowly and then, as if he was struggling with the idea of whether to continue kissing or leave, drew back.

"Goodnight, Rose," he said quietly. He turned around and walked out the door.

Rose was in shock. He had finally kissed her and then he left. She looked around at the disturbed state of the room and closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them he would be there again. Seeing that he was not there, she gave a heavy sigh and walked towards one of the great stone walls enclosing the room, crestfallen.

There was a slow creaking noise followed by a loud bang as a door was open and slammed shut. Rose looked up to see Scorpius swiftly walking towards her.

He was suddenly in front of her and before she knew what he was doing, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. Rose immediately closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She thoroughly kissed him back as she felt him grab her waist. He moved her up against the wall and kissed her harder and Rose could feel the rest of his body press against hers.

Scorpius broke away from her mouth and kissed down her neck.

"I love you, Rose," he whispered as he reached her chest. Rose came back to reality and gently pushed him away. As she walked to the center of the room, she felt all of those old feelings rushing back. She looked into his eyes, trying to find any hint of a joke. And although she found none, she wanted to ask him something.

"Scorpius?" she asked quietly. He walked back to her and grabbed her waist again, clearly distracted.

"What?"

"Do you really think that I may be, well, sort of unfortunate looking?"

He shook his head and smiled.

"No," he leaned in and kissed her again before coming back up. "Well, maybe a little."

Rose smiled and reached up to kiss him. She started to sit down on the circular rug and tugged Scorpius down with her. He pushed her onto her back as she started for the buttons on his shirt. He quickly took it off and was back on top of her again. He started to fumble with his belt as Rose pulled him closer to her.

The next morning

­There was no light pouring into the windowless Room of Requirement. Rose awoke with a start as she felt the cold floor beneath her. She looked around and saw that the small table was on its side and the pieces of chocolate were scattered nearby. She looked at herself and saw that she was fully dressed with Scorpius's shirt by her side. She looked next to her and saw him lying there on his stomach, his head turned towards her, sleeping and barely dressed. Rose could feel the color coming to her cheeks as she stared at him. She picked up his wrist and looked at his watch: six-thirty.

"Scorpius," she nudged him on his side. "Wake up." Scorpius frowned and turned over onto his back. His blond hair was sticking out in all directions and he covered his face with his hands as he woke up.

"Is it morning?" he asked, his voice muffled by his hands. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at Rose who was sitting next to him. His grey eyes looked tired but he gave her a sheepish grin. He got up and found his pants and shirt and began putting them on. Rose nodded and turned away, embarrassed.

"I guess we should go back to our rooms," she said nervously.

"Yeah," Scorpius agreed. He was scratching his head and looking down at his feet.

"So," Rose started. She got up as well and began to walk towards the door. "We can meet at breakfast?" Her words came out more as a question than a statement for she was unsure of how Scorpius was feeling.

"That sounds good," Scorpius told her. "I'll walk you to your common room." Rose had briefly forgotten that they were on the same floor as the Gryffindor common room and followed Scorpius out the door. They walked through the corridors until they came to the portrait of the Fat Lady who was eyeing them skeptically.

"I'll see you then," Scorpius told her. He leaned in and kissed her lips. Rose watched him walk away towards his own room and suddenly felt very alone. She was unsure of how they were supposed to go from here and hoped that they did not just put their friendship in jeopardy.

"Mermish," Rose told the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open without a word and Rose ran up to her room to change. She gathered her school books and bag that she needed for her morning classes and went downstairs.

There were only a few people already at breakfast as Rose sat down at the Gryffindor table. There were biscuits and milk on the table but as the Great Hall filled with hungry students there appeared pancakes, sausages, and eggs. Rose glanced up at the doors several times while eating her toast. Her heart leaped whenever she saw a flash of green but was disappointed when Slytherin after Slytherin sat down at the table across the hall.

Rose had put her toast down to take a drink of Pumpkin Juice when she saw Scorpius walking through the entryway. She bit her lip nervously as he approached her looking somewhat unhappy. He sat down next to her and grabbed her hand under the table.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked nervously. Many thoughts ran through her mind in the brief five seconds that he did not answer. She thought that he might tell her that their recent time together was a mistake or a lapse in judgment.

"I told you that I loved you last night," he said quietly. Rose remembered. She remembered that she felt confused when he told her. But that feeling was soon replaced with one of immense desire when she continued to kiss him. And as Rose experienced Scorpius in a way she never had before and as they lay there sleeping she had indeed felt what she knew was love as well. The chatter and laughter throughout the Great Hall had increased and Rose slid closer to talk to him.

"I love you, too," Rose told him. She smiled brightly as he gave her a relieved and genuinely happy grin.

"You know what?" Scorpius asked her as he took her toast off of her plate. "You look really beautiful today." Rose blushed and reached for a biscuit as Scorpius smiled while eating her toast.

A/N: There. All done. Thank you all so much for the reviews! I really thought that this was going to be a disaster so I hope that I was wrong. This was my first fanfiction so I did not have very high hopes. I appreciate everything and I'll most likely write something else now. The end