It had been nearly a week since everyone had been back at Hogwarts. Rose woke up and the first thing she saw was Lily's nose. She screamed and fell off the bed. The minute the scream and the falling happened, the door to her room flew open and there stood Scorpius in a pair of pajama bottoms and topless, holding out his wand. Rose stared at his body. It was not the definition of perfect. But it was pretty close. Someone cleared their throat and she came back to reality, looking up and catching Scorpius' eye. He raised an eyebrow at her. Lily said, "Malfoy. What an… unexpected surprise."

"I thought I heard a scream."

"You did. That was me. Sorry to wake you. Lily's face was a little to close for comfort." The minute Rose said those words, she realized what they could have meant and mentally kicked herself. Scorpius raised an eyebrow again and Lily said, "I wanted to scare her awake. So I stood with my face really close to hers and she got scared and fell off the bed." Scorpius' lips had twitched up into a smile and his eyes shone with amusement when Lily told him that. Rose knew that he was doing everything he could not to burst out laughing. She scowled at him and said, "How did you even get in, Malfoy. I didn't think that boys were allowed into the dorms for girls."

"Just because nobody tried doesn't mean it isn't possible." Scorpius said.

"Actually," Lily said, "that's not true. My father and Uncle Ron tried to get into the girl dorms to meet Aunt Hermione. They didn't succeed."

"Really, Potter. What hasn't your father done or tried to do?" Scorpius said, looking at her, dumbfounded.

"Don't answer him, Lily. Malfoy, get out." Rose said when Lily opened her mouth to answer. Scorpius nodded and left. Lily turned to her the minute the door closed behind him and said, "He likes you."

"No he doesn't."

"It's obvious. He practically ran into the room to save you: his damsel of distress!"

"First of all, it's damsel in distress. And second of all, he ran in here to see what the hell had happened. I don't remember him actually picking me up and putting me back on my bed after he saw that I had fallen off the bed. He stood there and laughed at me."

"To be fair he only laughed at you in his head." Lily pointed out and Rose rolled her eyes. She said, "Either way, he was here purely for some entertainment. I think he got that and I'm not particularly happy about it. But I don't care."

"So you don't find him attractive?"

"There's a difference between finding someone attractive and actually liking them. Plus, he's Scorpius Malfoy. He's a class-A git and not someone I want to be acquainted with. He's too good-looking for his own good and half the girls in Hogwarts want him to get into bed with them."

"Well can you blame them? With a body like that-"

"You know Albus will personally kill you if he hears you saying something like that about Malfoy, don't you?" Rose said and Lily blushed faintly.

"What Al doesn't know won't kill him." Lily said and then waited for Rose to get ready so that they could go downstairs for breakfast together. Soon enough, they were on their way to the Great Hall. When they entered, Rose found herself searching the Slytherin table for Scorpius. She found him and caught his eye. Immediately she looked away and concentrated on what Lily was saying. Something about hippogriffs and their prejudices towards pure bloods.

They had made eye contact. Scorpius was sure of it. He had caught her looking at him. Was she looking for him? That doesn't matter. She had caught his eye. Did it mean something? No, it couldn't mean anything. Did it? Somewhere at the back of his mind, Scorpius was aware that Charles was talking to him. Suddenly Charles stopped talking. Had he asked him a question? Or did he finally realize that Scorpius wasn't listening? He hoped it was the latter.

"Scor?"

"Yeah?" He looked at him, quizzically.

"Did you hear any of what I just said?"

"I heard the part about Dumbledore." Scorpius hoped that Charles had mentioned Dumbledore.

"I didn't say anything about Dumbledore." Charles said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry."

"What were you thinking about anyway? Or was it a who?" Scorpius was glad that Charles had gone back to his playful mood. Of course, Charles' playful mood is defined in one word: teasing.

"I wasn't thinking about anything or anyone in particular. I was just… thinking."

"So a special someone- I don't know, maybe, Rose Weasley- wasn't invading your thoughts?" Charles waggled his eyebrows.

"No, Charles. She wasn't."

"But someone was?"

"What?! No! For Merlin's sake Charles! Stop with the pointless interrogation!"

"You're blushing."

"No I'm not."

"You are. Wait." Charles dug inside the pockets of his robes and resurfaced with a mirror in hand. Scorpius' jaw dropped. How does he have a mirror in there?! he wondered. Charles rolled his eyes at Scorpius' expression and held up the mirror so that Scorpius could see his reflection. It was true. Scorpius had gone very faintly pink. Very faintly. Just then, Scorpius realized that a first or second year (he couldn't figure out which one) had bent down and said something to Rose. She listened carefully and then nodded. She looked at the Slytherin table and their eyes met. She nodded at him and he gave her a curt nod too. Both of them stood up and headed towards the door. Once they were outside, Scorpius said, "What happened?"

"There are two fifth years locked inside a broom cupboard and are not able to open it on the fourth floor, fifth corridor."

"Which fifth corridor?"

"Let's get to the fourth floor and find out." Rose said, running up the stairs, going to the nearest moving staircase which seemed to be moving. Scorpius followed her. Midway they got caught up because a moving staircase changed its mind about moving and moved back to its original position. Rose muttered profanities under her breath at this which made Scorpius raise his eyebrows. They finally reached the fourth floor and split up, running down the corridor on either side. Rose found the closet and pointing her wand, muttered, "Alohomora." Scorpius found her just before the doors sprung open to show a fifth year witch and wizard… snogging. The girl jumped away a second after the doors opened and went red in the face when she realized that she was being watched by the Head Boy and Head Girl. The wizard looked flustered and looked anywhere but at Rose's eyes. Scorpius smirked at how uncomfortable Rose seemed in this situation. So he took the situation and said, "We're very sorry to interrupt. We were told that there was a lot of… er… noise coming from this cupboard. We're going to leave now, right, Weasley?"

"Uh yeah." Rose said, finally finding her voice. The girl and boy looked beyond happy that no point were taken away.

"But you should get down to breakfast. The bacon is absolutely heavenly." Scorpius said and Rose looked away, pursing her lips inwards to prevent laughter. The girl let out a shaky laugh and the guy allowed a smile and they left. The minute they were out of earshot, Rose let out the laughter. Scorpius grinned, having just the amount of modesty not to laugh at his own jokes.

"'The bacon is absolutely heavenly.'" Rose quoted and continued to laugh. Scorpius' grin widened and he said, "At least I took care of the situation and didn't stand there looking awkward."

"Oh please, Malfoy! I could have handled the situation too. I was just taken a little by… surprise."

"Surprise indeed. But only a little? I beg to differ, Weasley. You were just standing there, staring. Or did you just enjoy the little show?"

"I did not!"

"Prove it!"

"How am I supposed to prove it! What's done is done."

"Then admit to being embarrassed."

"Scorpius Malfoy! I was not embarrassed!"

"Sure." Scorpius said, elongating the 'u'. Rose just stuck her tongue out at him realizing that all argument was futile. He rolled his eyes at her immaturity and they went back to the Great Hall. Just before they entered, Rose said, "Thanks, Malfoy. I really was embarrassed. But if you tell anyone, I swear I will kill you." Then she pushed the doors and returned to the Gryffindor table. Scorpius grinned and returned to the Slytherin table with the same smile on his face.

"You need to get into detention with him. Detention is where every guy shows his true colours." Lily told Rose as they made their way back to Rose's new common room after classes. Rose rolled her eyes at Lily's diagnosis and said, "How do you know?"

"Well, I found out that Lorcan fancied me only after I had detention with him."

"Lorcan fancies you?" Rose said, grinning.

"Yes and we've been dating for nearly a year now. Don't tell Albus."

"Why shouldn't I tell Albus? It's Lorcan. He's fine about Lorcan, isn't he?"

"Yeah he is. But he thinks that I should concentrate only on my OWLs this year and that romantic feelings should be set aside for the year. Also, he might say that Lorcan is too old for me. But anyway, back to you and Malfoy. You need to get into detention with him. And I have the perfect plan." Rose groaned. She knew for a fact that Lily's plans were never the best. She was glad that they had finally reached the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. He spent most of his time in his old office, during classes but came back here for the evenings. He smiled at them in welcome and said, "Hello, Rose. Lily."

"Good evening." Rose greeted.

"Oh, before I forget and before you say the password, Lily, would you please tell your father that I am honoured he chose to name his son after me? I keep forgetting to ask you."

"Of course, Professor." Lily squeaked, going red with pleasure at being said something to by Albus Dumbledore himself. Rose was used to him after an entire week and smiled at him while saying, "Gillyweed."

"Indeed." He said and slid away, revealing the door. Rose said her 'thank you' and went into the room, pulling Lily behind her, who still looked stunned at being spoken to by Dumbledore himself. Once they entered the room, Lily's stunned state of mind wore off and she became herself. She was probably the only person who loved Rose's common room more than Rose herself loved it. She took the armchair by the fire and Rose took the armchair by the fire too. Then she said, "So, do you want to hear my plan?"

"If I say no, will you not tell me?"

"Nope."

"Fine, then. Go on."

"Actually, you know what? I won't tell you. My plan will have to remain secret. Otherwise, it may not be fulfilled."

"What may not be fulfilled?" Scorpius asked, appearing.

"Duties." Rose answered, after a brief hesitation. Scorpius didn't look convinced but nodded. Then he said, "Oh, Weasley, Potter-not this one- came looking for you. The one with messed up hair? He came looking for you and I think he's waiting in his common room for you."

"How do you know?"

"He has this annoying habit of saying more than necessary. He said, 'Tell her that I really need to talk to her and that I will be waiting in my common room for her. You see, I think Aunt Mione's unhappy because she hasn't received any letters from Rose or Hugo yet. So please tell her.' And I don't really care about the Aunt Mione part. But yeah, I think you need to write to your mom and meet your cousin."

"Thanks, Malfoy." Rose said, nodding slightly. She had this way of dismissing people by giving them a slight nod. Scorpius understood this and left.

"Now to put my marvelous plan into action!" Lily said, grinning at Rose and smiling, evilly. Rose just groaned.