AN: This is unedited, sorry, but just wanted to get out. Plus there is another reason, you'll see at end of chapter. It's silly, I know.

Chapter V: Year V Part I

Rose

This was it. This was finally the year they would learn about the history of the second war and final fall of Voldemort, the Dark Lord. Rose's fingers itched as she carefully pulled out the bound text, now fashioned more like the muggle type, and pulled it off the shelf.

She had seen the look her mum gave at the dinner table last night when the family made plans to buy books and supplies for her and her brother. Her dad look slightly worried as well. They had wanted to tell her more than what they had up to that point, but knew that the Ministry's underage laws didn't permit it until students' fifth year.

But they also knew it might bring some ease to her unhappy state all summer long. She never explained why she felt so down, so lost. She hadn't been able to confront her mother, and the questions in her mind kept playing over and over again.

Rose didn't come out for the family picnics or other gatherings; instead, she either locked herself away in her room studying or took long walks in the forest that surrounded her parents small estate.

It was during those walks she found her secret hideaway: a long forgotten tree house that was nearly falling away from decay. The next morning she brought her mother's wand with her, whilst her mother slept, and did a quick reparo on the structure adding a few things here and there. She returned the wand without notice, and figured she could fix the rest herself.

No one ever accompanied her there, as she wasn't ready to share her secret with anyone. At least, not anyone within her family. The only visitor she had was her owl, and occasionally the eagle owl that belonged to the person she was sharing letters with.

Yes, Rose and Scorpius were now writing to each other, but Rose still had not told him what was bothering her. He could tell from her words that something was troubling her all throughout their summer vacation, but she was not ready to tell him. Especially considering the circumstances.

Rose had grown again, although mostly it was her features that had become more defined as she was now fifteen. Her hair was kept long, its curls and slight bushiness helped shape her face and drew attention to her eyes.

As the Weasleys and Potters all entered the bookstore, minor chaos erupted as the teens all headed toward the locations where there books would be. Albus and Rose were particularly enthused at getting their history text, but were disappointed with what they found.

The book was all in black, covered, and had one message on the front of the wrapping.

Do not attempt until instructed to during class.

This tomb is protected by spells no fifth year should dare to find out.

The two groaned, as did the few classmates of theirs who were also shopping for school supplies that day.

"Bloody hell,' Albus muttered.

"Bummer," Clarence Finnegan said as he took his book from the shelves.

That was when Rose spotted him.

Scorpius

He'd waited all summer long to see his friend, and there she was with her cousin having pulled down their history tombs. He had already purchased his supplies the other day, but was in town with his mother and saw the group headed into the shop.

His heart suddenly beat faster as he took in full view of his friend. Rose had changed over the summer. She was no longer pretty, she was beautiful. He frowned as he noticed Clarence looking down at Rose's long, tanned legs. She was wearing a black skirt and a blue rock t-shirt.

Suddenly her eyes turned toward him. "Scorpius!" She said with a smile. "Have you come to get your supplies?"

Clarence frowned then wandered away. Albus gave Scorpius a look, then turned to go find James.

Scorpius smirked. "Got them the other day. Saw you come in and thought I would come say hello."

Rose blushed slightly. Scorpius knew he had changed too; he'd grown another inch or two (actually two-and-a-half, not that he measured himself). He had also let his hair grown slightly, and kept it rather shaggy.

"So? Did you get it?" He asked with another smirk.

She pulled it out of her pocket. Her Prefects badge. "Yes, I'm all set. And you? Did you…"

He pulled out his own. "Maybe we'll get lucky and do patrols together."

"Rose, are you…" It was Ronald Weasley, who'd come to fetch his daughter. "Everyone is all set. Mr. Malfoy, I presume?" He said with a hesitant smile.

Scorpius put out his hand. Ron put out his own and gave the young boy a hard shake.

"Scorpius, sir, I was just about to congratulate Rose on becoming Prefect."

"Yes, we all knew she could do it. Her mum and I were prefects, as was your father." Ron didn't like remembering those days, but he knew Scorpius was a good lad, even if he didn't particularly like the boy talking to his daughter. Especially the way he was looking at her.

Scorpius nodded. "I will be one, too, for Ravenclaw, sir."

Ronald Weasley nodded, then took his daughter away. Scorpius sighed and leaned in to the bookshelf. It was going to be quite a year. Now, if only he could get Rose to open up and tell him what has been bothering her.

Rose

The first month flew by, and before Rose knew it fall had settled in. October was the first month she and Scorpius would be paired for patrol twice a week, and she was glad as they had been too busy being thrown into studying for OWLS to spend much time together, especially since each had their own set of friends that kept them occupied on their off time.

There was also to be a Halloween ball for fourth years on up, and she and the other prefects were to help the Head Boy and Girl with the planning.

Rose sighed as she entered the library, intent on finding a small, lone table to work at. She made her way to the back, thinking of her History assignment. Each student in her class had picked a name from the old hat which held the name of someone from the wars with Voldemort they had to do a paper on.

The war. Learning about it was not what she had expected it to be. Her topic – or rather, the name she had chosen – was Narcissa Black Malfoy. Scorpius' grandmother. Her role in saving Harry Potter, her uncle, had greatly helped the Malfoy family return to their status.

She wondered what name Scorpius had pulled from the hat.

Finding a seat near the back, by a tall, long window, Rose settled and got out her various assignments from different classes. It wasn't long before Albus and Scorpius, who had become friends just the past few weeks, came and joined her.

Scorpius

He was hoping they would find her. Of course, he had let Albus bring forth the idea of finding Rose in the library to study with. He had wanted to do so himself, but dared not mention it to his new friend.

It was after a game between their two houses that Albus came to congratulate him, even though Gryffindor won. Albus was the new Seeker, and the two had shared quite the fight to get the snitch.

Rose was easy to find, they just had to look wherever other students weren't piled together studying, flirting, gossiping, and so forth.

"So who did you get?" Albus asked.

She knew he meant the History assignment, which paired Gryffindor and Ravenclaw together.

"No one we know," She said, glad that she hadn't started that part of her homework yet. "You?"

Albus grimaced. "Some bloke named Colin Crevace, or something. I think dad mentioned him before. He died."

Scorpius chuckled. "I got someone interesting." He said with his eyes full of mischief.

"And who did you get?" Rose asked, Albus also looking at him with a question in his eyes.

"Only the smartest witch in the world. Hermione Granger-Weasley."

"You got mum?" Rose asked with a start.

Albus laughed. "Well, at least you know you can ask your dear ol' dad about research on that one."

Rose frowned as Scorpius hit him.

"You can ask me," Rose offered. "Or if you like, I can owl mum. I know for certain she would love to answer any questions you have." She inwardly groaned.

To Scorpius' dismay, another student arrived and pulled a chair up to their table. It was Clarence.

"Hey, C." Albus said referring to the boy's nickname. Clarence hated his name, it was given to him by his mother, Hannah Abbot now Finnegan. So his friend simply called him C.

"Hey, guys. Rose, how are you?" He said flashing a smile at her. Clarence certainly had a crush on her, Scorpius knew it. And Clarence was a popular guy, his blonde hair, Scottish accent like his dad.

"We were just discussing our assignments. Who'd you get?" Albus asked.

"Remus Lupin."

"The werewolf?" Scorpius asked.

"Cool!" Albus said. "At least you got somebody who really had a part in the war, and died with glory. His son is my dad's godson. Remember Teddy?"

"Oh, yeah," Clarence responded. "He was always snogging your hot cousin, Vicky."

Albus laughed while Rose snorted. "They got married, you know."

"Doesn't surprise me, couldn't keep those two apart. Can't believe they were allowed to be heads together."

The group laughed, but quickly got down to studying.

Rose

The Halloween ball was quickly approaching, and Rose was scared. She knew Clarence wanted to ask her to be his date, but a group from their house was going together, and so she'd decided to join them. Plus the person she really wanted to ask her hadn't asked yet, and it wouldn't be fair to turn one guy down in hopes of another.

When the evening arrived, she quickly got ready and took a final look in the mirror at her costume. She was going as Tinkerbell. One of the prefects had suggested they dress as their history assignments, but, as someone pointed out, that was for fifth years only and some might have gotten a person of the opposite gender. Albus, the other fifth year Gryffindor prefect, had laughed and commented on some of the other fifth year's assignments, as one fellow would have had a difficult time dressing as Tonks. Scorpius had sighed in relief. He didn't fancy dressing as Rose's mother.

Rose was all ready, except for one final charm. With a flick of her wand, her hair twisted up and became a bright platinum blonde. She left her quarters and descended down the girls stairwell to meet up with the other Gryffindors.

Clarence was talking with Albus. Albus was going as the Phantom of the Opera, Clarence as a pirate. One of their classmates had chosen to dress as his assignment, which caused a chuckle amongst the small crowd. Albus Dumbledore. There was some teasing on Albus Severus Potters account, and soon the group made their way to the hall.

"You look smashing," someone whispered to Rose. She turned to see Clarence, who looked quite handsome himself.

"Thanks, you look great, too," She said a bit nervously.

"You certainly have a way with that pixie dust," He said leaning closer.

Rose shivered at the contact, and wasn't ready for it. She knew she did not like Clarence that way, and did not want to lead him on.

They entered the great hall, where the ball was just starting. Rose scanned the crowd and found who she was looking for.

Scorpius was dressed as a nobleman from long ago. He looked dashing, and it was obvious to many other girls who seemed to be flocking to his side. Rose groaned. Now they choose to notice him? But a voice inside her told that they had been aware for some time.

To be continued

AN: Couldn't help it; story text (in word, not ffnet) was 2009. ;)