Albus was nearly at breakfast when Macy caught up with him.
"How the bloody hell did you know?", she demanded.
"Doesn't matter, cough up", Albus smirked.
Macy handed him a fistful of galleons and stomped away. He hoped she hadn't fallen out with Rose over this but he would put the money to good use.
Albus had been betting on Rose and Scorpius's relationship since he witnessed them kiss in spin the bottle. Macy bet him seven galleons that they wouldn't go on a real date until sixth year. Everyone else bet confidently against any sort of relationship, he tweaked each bet, making all of them slightly more outrageous than the last. Throughout the day, Albus planned to track down the other unsuccessful gamblers and accumulate enough pocket money to buy out all of honeydukes.
Rose came into muggle studies late on Monday, her hair was clearly not brushed and her undone shoelaces made her a walking hazard. She shuffled to her seat next to Scorpius and sat down just as Miss Parkinson started to speak.
"Today we'll begin practice, I trust that you're all familiar with your scenes so I will be allocating sections of the room to practice in", she said, ruffling through the folders on what one could only assume was a desk under the mile-high piles of paperwork.
"I understand that a few of you have scenes that you won't want to practice in here just yet", she said, not-so inconspicuously looking directly at Rose and Scorpius.
They shrunk as far down into their seats as they could without disappearing, their fleeting eyes avoided the gaze of curious students around them - including each other. They sat uncomfortably for what felt like minutes, awaiting instructions that could potentially help or hinder their situation.
"Rose and Scorpius, Macy and Toby, Sabrina and Lucas, you have permission to leave the class to practice your scenes, I understand that there are some challenging aspects in the scenes I chose for you".
They audibly sighed in relief and got up- the six of them ducking out of the room, halfheartedly hoping to escape the questions from their peers about the challenging aspects of their scenes. Rose exited after Sabrina - the witch equivalent of Blair Waldorf, admired by the other girls in her house and fancied by all the boys in their year. Naturally, Sabrina gravitated towards Scorpius, which Rose didn't used to mind- or even notice until she started to like him herself. Sabrina's partner Lucas on the other hand was usually found lurking in corridors, setting booby traps for first years, in the event of a romantic scene it was unlikely that he would perform seriously. Rose wondered how they got stuck working together.
Eventually the group found an empty potions room, it reeked of acid and the lights had blown centuries ago but they agreed that they couldn't go back to practice in their actual classroom. They pulled up chairs and sat together at the front of the room.
"So, what kind of challenges did you guys get?", Lucas asked wiggling his eyebrows.
"Our scene is from titanic, we have to pretend we're flying but we're actually muggles on a boat. I still don't really get it",Toby admitted.
"Is there a kiss though?", Rose asked tentatively.
"A kiss? No, do you have one?"
"Sort of yeah, we're doing Romeo and Juliet, it's the last scene and we both-
"Sort of?", Macy interrupted.
"We have a kiss too, we're doing the notebook", Sabrina noted.
Lucas grinned and nudged her. Sabrina kicked the leg of his chair and it snapped, sending him straight to the floor.
"Anyway", she began. "I suggest we get the tricky scenes over with now, then they'll be easier to work through later"
"I agree", Scorpius added.
"What? No thanks, you guys can", Rose said.
She could feel her neck growing red and her cheeks were full enough to burst. She looked up, expecting the rest of the group to protest but none of them did, their chairs were set up like a tiny audience and they stood waiting for her to join them.
"Since we don't have a kiss I think it's only fair that we go first", Macy volunteered.
Toby held out his hand sarcastically and hefted Macy up from her chair. They took their places on the fake stage, on the fake boat and Toby held Macy's waist while they fake flew. When they were done, they hopped down and everyone clapped. Scorpius looked unfazed as he raised his hand to volunteer them for the next go. Fortunately, Lucas was pretty keen and he jumped up before Scorpius could open his mouth.
"Come on Sabrina, I know you're scared but-
"Shut up Lucas", Sabrina complained as she got up to join him.
Their scene also began on a boat but their snog came much later in the scene and it was supposed to be raining. They blocked out their positions nervously until they reached the part where they were mean't to get it on. Sabrina hesitated before stepping up to Lucas gently and closing her eyes, Lucas did not take such precaution. He grabbed her shoulders and dipped her passionately. When they came up Sabrina was blushing furiously and Lucas stepped back, narrowly dodging a sharp slap in the face.
"That was great guys", Rose said quietly hoping her's and Scorpius's kiss would go a little better.
"One to go", said Lucas, making Rose grip her chair harder, wanting very much not to separate from it.
Scorpius stood almost eagerly which Rose couldn't understand. She gathered her courage and joined him while the others catcalled and wolf whistled at them- she couldn't imagine what it would be like to do this in front of the whole class.
"We're just doing the kiss, right?", Scorpius asked gently.
"Yep, we'll do the one after you die, when you're on the floor", Rose answered quietly so the others
Scorpius lowered himself to the ground in answer and Rose followed- kneeling at his side tentatively.
She waited for a while in position, waiting for the adrenaline to peak, before she finally leaned forward and said her line.
"Just one kiss, in case the venom lingers on your lips"
Rose bent down and put her mouth to his, holding on as long as she dared before resurfacing and lowering her gaze so Scorpius couldn't meet it. Afraid that he would know everything if he looked into her eyes.
Scorpius sat up and swiped his hair out of his eyes even though no amount of casual hand gestures could covered up the fact that his cheeks were glowing pink.
The room stayed quiet for approximately 0.007 seconds after that, then they erupted into loud applause and laughter. Lucas was hollering so loud that Sabrina had to cover his mouth with both of her hands so the noise didn't carry all the way to hogsmeade.
"How'd we do?", Scorpius asked no one in particular.
"Rose did great, and you're a very convincing dead guy", Toby approved.
"Thanks Toby", Scorpius said grinning.
"Yeah, the kiss was awesome, sure you haven't practiced already?", Lucas joked.
Rose glared, "Ha ha, very funny Lucas, obviously you've heard the rumors about us"
"So they're true?"
"No!", Rose and Scorpius spoke up at the same time.
"Not yet anyway", Macy mumbled.
Please leave reviews and follow if you want me to keep going with this story. ;)
- Arwen
