Rose pressed herself against the stone wall, hiding from the bickering Slytherin's that she'd grown to be so afraid of in the past few days. Only a moment too soon, she ducked her head around, locking eyes with Scorpius Malfoy. The others didn't seem to notice when he stopped walking, Rose desperately searched her mind for a witty comeback but his insult never came. Scorpius nodded discreetly and kept walking.
Rose had been anticipating a full brawl, meant for him to redeem the power he had over his friends before he had defended her. Rose didn't know if Scorpius had meant for it but that nod had just confused their whole relationship. Ignoring each other had been different, it was just a passive aggressive torture method they used in compromising situations; like the period of time after their game of spin the bottle. To actually acknowledge her presence and then not antagonise her was something entirely new and unfamiliar to both of them. Sure, it was true that Rose had said some pretty half-hearted comebacks that she didn't mean but never had she thought she'd be able to abandon them entirely.
Rose had felt different about Scorpius since their kiss but the real change came after he stopped his friends from hurting her in the astronomy tower. Since that day, she had started to notice little things about him that she hadn't before, like how he stayed behind late in class sometimes so he could walk alone, or how he took muggle studies even though none of his friends thought it was worth their time. Maybe Scorpius had been a good person all along and she'd just been too preoccupied with insulting him to realise. Whoever he was, Rose liked him a lot more than she used to.
It was seven sixteen in the morning and Albus sat alone at the Slytherin table just as he had every morning since he started at Hogwarts. He preferred to eat when there were only a few people in the great hall, none of which being people he felt obliged to speak to. Usually. This morning however, his cousin Rose had abandoned her seat at the Gryffindor table and plonked her abnormally large bowl of breakfast down next to him.
"Morning Al", she said brightly.
"Yeah it is, don't s'pose you'd know what that's like", he grinned. Rose usually didn't surface from her room until midday on weekends unless there was a quidditch match. A trait she'd inherited from her dad.
Rose rolled her eyes and took a bite of toast.
"Anyway, I was hoping we could talk", she said in-between mouthfuls.
Albus stared at her. Trying to hide his giddiness. If Rose was about to admit what he hoped she was, this whole situation was about to become one of two things; a) much simpler for Rose and Scorpius or b) much more fun for him. The latter of the two to outweighed the first.
"Go on", he prompted her.
"It's just that, I was wondering if Scorpius has said anything to you about me"
"You mean like why he's stopped taunting you in the hallways?"
"Yeah"
"Surely you don't have a problem with that?", Albus asked coolly.
"No, I suppose I don't mind", she said slowly, like it was painful to say out loud.
"Bloody hell Rose, stop trying to be cryptic, it's obvious that you like him"
Rose didn't waste time pretending to be shocked, she'd already anticipated that he'd figured it out already. The kid knew everyone's secrets.
"So, what do you propose that I do? Tell him?"
"What?! No, are you crazy?"
"You don't think he likes me back?"
He most certainly did like her back. Albus had been predicting this since third year. There was no doubt in his mind that if she told him right now that she liked him, he would ask her out on the spot.
"Too soon to tell", he lied.
"Then what do I do?"
Albus thought for a moment.
"You have muggle studies together, don't you?"
"Yep, twice a week"
"Perfect, sit next to him next lesson"
"Are you sure? I don't want to come on too strong", Rose said, unconvinced.
"You'll be fine, just don't forget your class has a-
"Miss Weasley, what are you doing over here, I believe that your house table is on the other side of the great hall, am i right?", Slughorn interrupted as he weaved through students to reach them.
"Yes sir, sorry", she apologised, getting up to leave. She tried to mouth 'talk later' to Albus but the great hall was filling up so rapidly that she was lost behind a moving line of hufflepuffs holding breakfast plates.
She'd have to remember what her class was doing next lesson on her own.
"And you're sure I should just sit next to her?"
"Positive, make sure you do it", Albus told Scorpius sternly.
"Okay, I have to go or I'm going to be late"
Albus brimmed with pride as Scorpius made his way through the swarm of students to get to his muggle studies classroom. They were making this too easy for him.
When Scorpius got to class everyone else was finding seats and sitting down. Rose sat unaccompanied at the front of the classroom, next to the chair he usually occupied. He took a deep breath and slid into the seat beside her.
"Good morning class, we've just finished topic one, muggle inventions and today we're going to begin our next topic; muggle literature!", Miss Parkinson beamed.
Rose sunk in her chair. How could she forget? Today was the day of-
"I'm sure you're all itching to start this terms first activity and I trust that you're sitting in your pairs?"
"Miss, I-
"Okay, we'll get started with our scene re-enactments!", she exclaimed, drowning out Rose's interruption.
"Come forward with your partner and pick your scene out of the hat"
Scorpius's hands shook as he stood up with Rose to determine which version of hell they were about to go through.
