The Hogsmeade weekend was only days away and all the students were looking forward to it so much. Especially the seventh years, who were working harder than ever to keep up with schoolwork and set an example, needed a break from the confinements of the school. Rose was dying to go into the Three Broomsticks and get herself some butterbeer as was Scorpius and the rest of the school. Some of the seventh years were going to the Hog's Head to eavesdrop on conversations while having Firewhisky while others were going in pairs to Madam Puddifoot's for a romantic tea. When the weekend finally came, there was nothing but chaos as everyone bee-lined for the main door, leaving the first and second years behind. Lily dragged Rose with her and they were soon close enough to the main door. Filch stood at the door and marked off their names as they took off towards Hogsmeade.

The minute they entered the village, they went straight to the Three Broomsticks. It was already packed with Hogwarts students by the time they got there. Rose took a quick look around the pub and caught sight of Scorpius sitting with Charles somewhere at the back. Their gazes locked for a second and Rose gave him a half-smile. He didn't return it physically but she could see it in his eyes. He seemed to be trying very hard to concentrate on what Charles was saying but it was probably just the names of the girls he was planning to sleep with before the school year got over. Scorpius noticed Rose and Lily sit down at the seat by the window and wondered if Rose would look at him. It took him a moment to realize that she was looking at him. He then pleaded with her, using his eyes, to get him out of this situation. She seemed to get the message because she nodded slightly and held up two fingers.

Two minutes.

And they were going to be the longest two minutes of Scorpius's life. Lily returned within the time frame and Rose stood up, saying something to her. Scorpius didn't understand what exactly she was saying but he didn't care as long as it got him out of this situation. Lily nodded and Rose gave her a hug before striding over to his table, her eyes fixed on him. She reached him and said, "Sorry, Zabini, but I'm going to have to steal Malfoy-"

"I know you use each other's first names, Weasley. He told me." Charles said, rolling his eyes.

"Did he now?" Rose said through gritted teeth and forcing a very unpleasant smile at Scorpius.

"He did. Now, why do you need to steal him away again?"

"Although I'd much rather leave him here, we have some duties to attend to which include preventing a bunch of third years from going to the Shrieking Shack. It's off-limits even now." She said, glaring at Scorpius now. He smiled guiltily.

"Well, be my guest." Charles said, moving away from the table. Rose nodded and roughly pulled Scorpius to his feet, leading him out of the Three Broomsticks, shoving him in front of her.

"Why the anger, Weasley?"

"Why the tattletale, Malfoy? Why am I even helping you! You told Zabini! I cannot believe- we had a pact!" She said, turning around and facing him once they were far enough away from the Three Broomsticks.

"Oh as if you haven't told anyone!"

"Well I haven't!" Rose lied.

"Really?" Now he sounded guilty. And although Rose loved making him feel guilty, she now felt guilty for making him feel guilty about a lie.

"No. I told Lily." Rose said in a small voice.

"You did what? Did you tell anyone else?" He said, staring at her furiously. Rose was slowly going red and she said, "I may have told Albus and Roxanne."

"So it's true then. Girls do tell each other everything."

"You just classified yourself as a girl!"

"I only told Charles!"

"And can you honestly say that you wouldn't have told anyone else if you could?"

"What do you mean 'if I could'? Are you implying that I have no friends?" Scorpius said.

"What? No! I just meant… well I haven't seen you around a lot of other Slytherins. It's always Zabini. But I'm sure you have friends!" She said hastily. A little too hastily. Scorpius stared at her for a second with disbelief and then sighed, pinching his eyes. He said, "You're my friend, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Rose said, knowing that this wasn't a moment to dispute the idea of friendship. She must have just majorly pissed him off for him to ask such a question.

"Then I clearly have more than one friend. Now, should we go back?"

"I thought you wanted to escape Zabini."

"Well… yeah. I mean, yeah."

"What was he talking about anyway?"

"Probably the number of girls he's slept with since school began."

"What the hell?"

"Yeah. You know, instead of going back, there's this great spot I know in the forest on the outskirts of the village. Do you want to go?"

"How do you know about this place?"

"It doesn't matter." He said, pretending to brush something off in mid-air.

"Scorpius…" Rose said, sounding threatening.

"Oh fine! Charles told me he would give me ten galleons if I went to the spot and howled like a werewolf until one showed up."

"And you did it?!"

"Totally worth it. I got ten galleons and I didn't get majorly hurt." Scorpius said, grinning at her. She rolled her eyes and said, "What's your definition of 'majorly hurt'?"

"Oh, you know, dead." He said, climbing over the fence. Rose stopped and stared at him, horrified. Then she said, "Where did you get hurt?"

"Well I got stabbed in the side by a tree branch while running away from the wolf so I have this really hot scar on my right side which all the girls," he glanced at Rose quickly and cleared his throat, "er… I mean people found really attractive." He finished and grinned at her again. Rose rolled her eyes, pushing a branch out of the way and bending to walk underneath it. Scorpius was obviously in the lead.

"You know, Scorpius, I'm not going to feel jealous if you have girls drooling over you."

"Why Rose? Are you one of them?" He said and although his back was to her, Rose could see the smirk playing along his lips at that moment. She was just about to deny it in a high and confident manner when Scorpius slammed her into the nearby tree. She felt the breath get knocked out of her and wheezed angrily, "What the damn hell, Scorpius! What in Merlin's name was that for?!"

"Sh!" He said, one hand on her wrist, holding her against the tree and the other had come up to cover her mouth. Rose, in a fit of annoyance, licked his palm. He immediately removed it and glared at her, furiously wiping the saliva on his robes. She gave him a smug smile and he rolled his eyes. Then she heard it. A twig snapped and when she strained her hearing, she could hear very faint footfalls. Someone was approaching them. And fast. She heard a slightly high-pitched laughter- obviously a girl's- and then a lower laughter. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was Albus'. No no no, he couldn't know that she and Scorpius were alone over here. He already disapproved about the first name pact. And now this? Scorpius seemed to realize who it was too because his eyes widened for a moment and he said, "Do you trust me?"

"What kind of a crazy question is that?! My cousin is approaching and you're accusing me of having trust issues?!" She whispered furiously.

"Just answer the bloody question, Rose."

"Fine. I sorta do. I mean, I'm not sure-"

"Good enough. Don't protest." He said and Rose saw his face coming closer and closer. Oh no. Oh no no no! Hell no! He is not going to kiss me! Is he? Well it would be my first kiss. And he is Scorpius Malfoy. It's true that girls drool over him. But still. The purity of my first kiss! Oh screw purity! Rose's eyes had closed at some point of time during her train of thought and she could feel his breath on her face. He was literally a tiptoe away from kissing her when he said, "Phew. That was close." Is he talking about the kiss? Was this whole thing a setup?! I am going to kill... did I actually want to be kissed? Wow. Never thought that would happen.

"Rose?"

"What?"

"Potter's gone. You can open your eyes now."

"Oh uh yeah." Rose said, opening her eyes quickly and trying to pass it off as blinking. She was going red with embarrassment because her eyes had actually been closed even after Albus had gone past. She could feel the awkwardness in the air. The excitement involved in seeing the place where Scorpius had once been attacked was long gone and the air around them was thick with awkwardness and intimacy. Rose didn't know what exactly to do next. It had been a brilliant plan, of course. But the almost-kiss may have just ruined their new-found friendship. Finally Scorpius said, "We should go back. They'll probably realize when they go to see why we haven't returned from the Shrieking Shack."

"Yeah. Let's go back." Rose said, more than eager to get out of the forest and never return. They went out of the forest in complete silence. The previous ease with which they could make conversation was completely gone. Once they arrived on the edge of the forest, Scorpius said, "This is where we split. I'll see you later… Rose." For the first time since the first name pact, Scorpius had needed to force Rose's name out.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon too." Rose said, not even bothering to try to say his name. Then she turned around and went off in the direction of the Three Broomsticks, unsure of whether or not to tell Lily about what happened. Scorpius stared at her retreating back and the little voice inside his head said:

I can't believe you actually wanted to kiss her.