The minute Rose's lips met his, Scorpius's eyes shut. And he kissed her back. But he didn't pull her closer or anything. All he did was kiss her. She noticed this and she didn't lift her arms to encircle his neck either. It just felt right this way. It increased the intimacy of the kiss. There was no more physical contact. There was no tongue either. They broke apart and Rose just stared at him. He stared back at her. She breathed, "You're my first kiss."

"And I'm going to be your second." Scorpius said, moving closer and kissing her again. This time it was different. The waters had been tested and now they plunged into it. Scorpius's hands began with cupping her cheeks and her hands cupped his. Then his hands migrated down and held her waist. She moved her arms down and encircled his neck, running his hair through her fingers continuously. It was still damp but remained soft. The kiss deepened and Rose began feeling breathless. An amazing kind of breathless. And Scorpius was an amazing kisser. Not like she had anyone to compare it with but she was pretty sure that this was the definition of a good kiss. Scorpius had kissed people before, though. But the kind of feeling he got when he kissed Rose was new. There was a sense of raw emotion in the kiss. And it was amazing. He supposed that this was the kind of emotion a first kiss brought for a person. They finally broke away, foreheads resting against each other, and breathing hard. Rose smiled at him and said, "I think we can update our relationship status again."

"Really? To what? Friends with benefits?"

"Is that what we are?" Rose said, feigning annoyance.

"I'm so glad you have a problem with that." He said, kissing her forehead. Immediately Rose's fave heated up and she felt herself blushing a lot. She smiled up at him, saying nothing. He smiled at her. But then the moment was broken:

"Rose?!" Albus and Alice's voices rang out. Rose's eyes widened as she realized where she was and who she was with. Did you really think Albus would never find out? The voice said and Rose cursed it. Scorpius froze when he heard the voices, hoping uselessly that they would go away if he didn't acknowledge them. His back was to them anyway. Rose looked up and gave them a fake smile. She said, "Hey."

"Don't hey me! How come you're here! What are you doing here! And who is that?!" Albus fired three questions at her. Her face fell and she looked helpless. She gave him a look as if to say: Don't turn around.

"Well I heard you and Alice snogging in the forest and followed you here. Because I needed to find shelter."

"Oh. And so you decided to bring your own little snogging partner, did you?" Rose felt her face go ablaze.

"Um no. We were just leaving anyway."

"Whoever you are, turn around. I want to see who you are." Albus said, with an air of authority that Rose didn't know she had. But she had her own authority. Scorpius was about to turn around when Rose firmly said, "No."

"What do you mean no?" Albus said, his voice faltering.

"You didn't tell me about Alice so you don't need to know who this is. We're leaving." She grabbed Scorpius's wrist and pulled him out of the front door, putting out the fire with a flick of her wand. Once they were outside, Scorpius said, "So...um...what now?"

"We go back to the castle and resume duties. We need to finish our homework anyway." Rose said, convincing herself that that's what she needed to do. Scorpius frowned but then realized that she was already walking swiftly towards the edge of the forest. And she was walking really fast. Scorpius half jogged to keep up and said, "Slow down woman!"

"Sorry." Rose said, slowing down a little. Emphasis on "little". But now Scorpius just had to fast-walk to keep up with her. So it was better. Then he said, "So...we're going back to the common room to study?"

"Yes. Why? Would you like to snog some more?"

"Oh good. I thought you had forgotten about that. So, about that..."

"I'm listening?" She took a sharp turn.

"Well," Scorpius followed her, "what was that?"

"It's weird how people think that girls usually ask such questions. What was that? What does it mean? Are we together? Or was that the kiss version of a one-night stand?"

"That doesn't answer the question, Rose." Scorpius said, stepping in front of her and holding her shoulders to prevent collision. She looked up at him and said, "What do you want me to say? That was a kiss. And Albus coming and catching us but primarily, a kiss."

"Why didn't you want Albus to see who I was?"

"Are you upset about that?" Rose asked, softly. Scorpius was taken aback by how her tone had suddenly shifted to soft. He said, "No. I understand. I do."

"Okay." She said, nodding and then, sidestepping him, continued to walk. He ran in front of her again and said, "Wait."

"What?"

"Um… do you want to… I don't know, go out or something?" Scorpius asked, blushing. Rose's eyed widened a little and she felt her face heating up. She said, "Oh. Um, yeah. Sure."

"Sure?"

"Sure." Rose said, smiling now. But even she wasn't oblivious to the sudden awkwardness setting in. He nodded and said, "Okay then. So... how about tomorrow? Evening? Dinner? The Room of Requirement?"

"That sounds great." Rose said, smiling warmly as they exited the Forest and made their way towards the building. They sprinted through the castle, careful not to get caught, and reached the portrait to find Dumbledore missing. Rose let out a cry of frustration and said, "Merlin! What I'd give for a hot shower right now!"

"Well... we could use the Prefects' bathrooms, couldn't we?" Scorpius said, looking completely nonchalant. Rose let out a laugh and said, "Forgive me, Scorpius, but I don't think I'm ready to see you naked just yet." Scorpius immediately went red. A deep red. He glared at her and said, "I didn't mean together." Rose laughed some more and then said, "Oh would you calm down. I'll go shower in the Gryffindor dorms. I'll meet Lily while I'm there too. You could go to the Slytherin dorms, I suppose."

"I'd rather use the Prefects' bathroom, thanks." Scorpius said, somewhat haughtily. As if the Slytherin bathrooms were below him. Rose sighed and said, "Suit yourself. But I heard that the Prefects are planning to have a pool party."

"Oh." Scorpius said, going red again.

"You could always wait for Professor Dumbledore to come back." Rose suggested, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah. I suppose I could. But I'd rather just take a shower. So I'll see you back in the common room then? We need to go in opposite directions after all." He said and Rose felt her heart plummet a little with disappointment. Disappointment that she didn't care to hide. She said, "Yeah okay. I'll see you at dinner anyway. We should probably go directly for dinner."

"We probably should." Scorpius agreed although he didn't actually agree. But it seemed more logical.

"Alright then. I'll see you in the Great Hall. See you soon, I guess." Rose gave him a half smile and was about to turn to leave when Scorpius kissed her on an impulse. She was taken by surprise but nevertheless closes her eyes and kissed him back briefly. But she broke away quickly. She knew that she wouldn't want to let go if it got too heated up and while she loved kissing Scorpius, she also loved hot showers. But they shared a look of hurt that the kiss had ended so quickly and she said, "Sorry."

"No. Don't apologize. It had to be done." Scorpius said. Rose nodded but gave him an apologetic look nevertheless. He returned the look, kissed her really quickly on her forehead and turned around, leaving while saying a quick "goodbye". Rose stood there grinning like an idiot for a few minutes. Despite the cold, she felt a warm glow inside her and a feeling on tingles on her forehead where he had kissed her. Then she sneezed and returned to the reality of the fact that she could very possibly be catching a cold. She jogged to the Gryffindor common room and up to the girls' dormitory. It was empty inside, thankfully. She went into the bathroom, stripped off her clothing and took a hot shower. She came out in a robe and changed into some of Lily's clothes she had 'borrowed' on her way upstairs, before going downstairs. Downstairs she came face to face with Lily, Albus, Fred and Alice. And a very embarrassed-looking Scorpius.

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Hi, sorry about the late update! It's just... tbh, I've been procrastinating xP But anyway here you go! I hope you like it! :D