Scorpius's POV:

I broke the kiss and took a step back. I couldn't believe that I would be the one to break the kiss, but I had to know that this is what she wanted. I couldn't believe she wanted to kiss me... that she wanted to kiss me. I took a step back. This time I was the one shaking my head. It was my turn to be confused.

"Rose, don't do this because you feel like you have to." I didn't want this to end, but this had to be said, "You know now that I love you, and I understand you don't feel the same way. We don't need to push anything. I don't want to ruin our friendship. I like where we are as best friends. I don't want that to change. I need you in my life, but it doesn't have to be in this way..." I hated myself the second the words were out of my mouth. Who was I kidding? I wanted this with every fiber of my being.

"Scorpius... how could you not know?" She stopped and hesitated, looking unsure of what to say next. She looked to the ground and seemed to not want to look me in the face.

"Know what exactly?"

"That the feeling is mutual..." she seemed to hesitate before slowly lifting her face to look me in the eyes, "I love you Scorp." She said, taking a step closer. "I always have."

Rose's POV:

I didn't know where my confidence was coming from, but I was glad for it. It must be that I come from a long line of Gryffindors. Finally, some courage.

I took the final step to close the gap between me and Scorpius. It was taking everything I had in me not to tackle him against the wall and snog the living daylights out of him. CONTROL YOURSELF ROSE!

He reached down and brushed some of my hair behind my ear before leaning down to kiss me.

"I KNEW IT!" Al screamed from down the hall causing me and Scorpius to jump about a foot apart. I began blushing furiously and made a mental note to slap Al later.

"Knew what Al?" I hissed at him.

"That you two were in love." He said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"Piss of Al. We were having a conversation." I said, feeling myself blush again. I never said the conversation involved words...

"HA! Looked like a pretty intense conversation." He stuck his tongue out at me and walked out of the hallway down the stairs. Crap. Now he was probably off to tell the rest of the family. Didn't know how we were going to get ourselves out of this one.

Scorpius's POV:

As soon as Al walked away, Rose let loose a stream of profanities.

"Love, calm down. It'll be okay." I said, putting my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me and next thing I knew I had her engulfed in my arms and her face was buried in my shirt. She let out a sigh and I realized how normal this felt. It wasn't much different from how we normally acted, yet so much had changed.

"What are we going to do Scorp?" She asked, pulling back and looking at me. Tears were forming in her eyes and seeing that killed me.

"We'll figure it out. It'll be okay. No one is going to flip out. They know me. It's not like you're telling them you've been dating some 7th year this whole year and that you're pregnant or anything."

"Urgh... I suppose you're right." She sighed and grabbed my hand. "I suppose we better tell my family then huh?" Rose said, giving me a hopeful yet somewhat scared look. I gave her hand a squeeze and mustered the best smile I could.

"Yes love, I suppose it is."