Rose and Scorpius hesitantly joined the line of eager muggle studies students. Rose had read enough muggle books to know that they were unlikely to come away from this experience with the same views that they currently had of each other. The first pairing in the line was Macy and Toby, they got a scene from something called 'the notebook', which Rose had never heard of. The next pair got a scene from Titanic, which Rose was familiar with, thanks to the many dinner conversations she'd sat through with her Granddad.
Eventually, they were standing at the front of the line, waiting for Miss Parkinson to hand them their scene. She fumbled around the box of parchment until she found a slip and handed it to Rose, who read it tentatively.
"What! You can't give us SHAKESPEARE!", she exclaimed.
"Shakeswotzit?", Scorpius asked dumbly, reaching for the paper.
"Says here that we have to perform a death scene from Romeo and Juliet, what's a Romeo?", he asked.
"It's pronounced Shakespeare and Romeo is Juliet's lover", she said weakly.
Scorpius went pale and retreated to his seat, closely followed by a pink faced Rose.
"Now, I hope you're all familiar with the scenes you've got, if not head to the library with your partner as soon as possible because we'll begin practice next lesson"
"I'm going to assume that you've never read Shakespeare before", Rose said as the rest of the class got up to leave the room.
"Correct. I also don't think I'll be able to read it by Thursday", he admitted.
"Fair enough, we can watch the movie on my laptop but it won't work in school, we'll have to go to hogsmeade"
"Are you asking me out Weasley?", Scorpius smirked.
Rose blushed and hurried out of the room, trying to act indifferently even though asking him out was technically what she had just done.
The next day, Rose stood in front of the mirror in the girls dormitory, she was wearing black jeans, converse and a red woolly coat. Scorpius would meet her outside in two minutes but she'd been ready for half an hour. She stuffed her laptop in her bag and set off down the stairs to meet him.
When she came through the portrait hole he was waiting on the steps, muttering loudly to himself.
"Malfoy?"
He flinched and stood up so fast that he lost his footing and tripped down the stairs. Rose snorted and met him at the bottom. Rose thought about helping him up but he regained his balance on his own too quickly.
"Did you know that talking to yourself is one of the first indications of insanity?"
"I'm not mental Rose, I'm just stressed"
"Whatever for?", she asked innocently.
He glanced sideways at her.
"You and I may have established that this isn't a date but my whole house essentially disowned me when they found out I was going to hogsmeade with a gryffindor"
"They'll get over it", she said simply.
"I s'pose", he said
They might get over it this time but Scorpius thought about how his house would react if he announced that he was actually dating Rose Weasley. Even worse, what would happen if his dad found out. Rose looked over at him and he started a conversation in fear of her non-existent mind reading abilities.
"What happens in our scene anyway, obviously someone dies but-
"I can't just tell you one of the biggest, most tragic plot twist endings in the history of muggle literature, you have to see for yourself"
"Fine, geez"
When they arrived at the three broomsticks it was mostly empty so they chose a booth in the far corner, knowing the pub would fill up with students around lunchtime. Rose set up the movie on her laptop and Scorpius got them butter beers and nuts.
"Ready for your first Shakespearean encounter?", Rose asked as they waited for the movie to load.
"No", he said icily.
Rose sunk into the couch and balanced the laptop on her knees awkwardly. When the movie began Scorpius was still tense as he took slow sips of his drink. At one point, his friends walked in and spotted them together. As they snickered and mouthed insults at them, Rose put her hand over his hesitantly. Instead of pulling away, he turned Rose's hand over in his and laced their fingers together.
When the final scene came, Scorpius gripped her hand tighter and watched as Romeo cried over Juliet's not-yet-dead body. He noticeably gasped when she impaled herself with the knife. While the credits rolled he let go and turned to Rose.
"We have to do that?", he said weakly.
"In front of the whole class", she confirmed.
"All of it?", he asked, referring to some of the more intimate parts.
"If we want full marks, yeah", Rose said, hoping he wasn't as disgusted at the idea of kissing her as he let on.
"How badly do we need full marks?", he joked.
Rose glared, hitting him playfully on the shoulder as they ducked past students on their way to the door. Outside it was raining and they contemplated staying inside to wait it out but it was starting to get so full they couldn't move around.
"Should we go for it?", Scorpius asked.
Rose shrugged and together, they ran through the rain all the way up to the castle.
When they reached the entrance hall they broke apart and collapsed, laughing and wheezing on the floor. Rose recovered first and pulled Scorpius to his feet. He buried his face in her neck to muffle his laughter unsuccessfully.
"Scorpius", Rose hissed.
He looked up to see Professor Longbottom and a group of third years staring bemusedly at them. Rose tugged his elbow and they shuffled out of the entrance hall.
"Oops", Scorpius laughed.
"I s'pose the whole school thinks we're dating now", Rose commented.
"If only it were true", he said sarcastically.
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