Chapter 8 - The Plan Begins

A day later, Rose was in her dorm getting ready to head to bed, braiding her hair to keep it from being to difficult to manage in the morning, when Alaine plopped down on her bed. Rose raised an eyebrow at her friend, she hands still braiding her hair, "Something you need to say, Alai?", she questioned, calling her friend the nickname only she was allowed to use, "The last time you perched on my bed like that was when you admitted that you liked Al."

Alaine flushed at the memory, but kept the plan in mind as she replied, "Nothing really, just wanted to talk about your little crush on a certain blonde Slytherin."

Rose's hands stilled in making the braid as her jaw fell slightly at the statement, but she quickly shut her mouth and went back to her braid, turning slightly from her friend to avoid looking straight at her, "I'm don't have a clue what you're talking about", she said. It might have sounded truthful, if not for the slight waver in her voice.

Alaine smirked, she had her friend trapped, "Oh come on, give me credit. I'm a Ravenclaw, I know my friends, and something changed between you and Scorpius and the next day you were acting different to him. Like I used to act to Albus before you and Scorpius shoved me and him in a closet for a long Saturday.", she gave a friend a meaningful look after the mention of the closet.

Rose flushed scarlet and let her hands fall from her finished braid, muttering, "So maybe I do, so what? I'm just Rosie to him, the girl who let him sit with her first year when his father thought and told him that I would probably hate him. He just sees me as his bushy, ginger haired best friend, almost his sister."

Alaine stood up, hands on hips, and scolded her friend to her oblivious surprise, "That is not the Rose Weasely I know talking! Where's that inherited braveness you got from your Gryffindor family members! And your mother's brains as well, a blind man could see that Scorpius does not look at you in a sisterly way, nor in a way normal best friends see each other. I think he feels the same for you as you do for him, so tomorrow you are going to go confess to him, alright!"

Rose stood their baffled, but nodded, "If you think so, yeah, I guess I could. If you're wrong I could always pass it off as a joke."

Alaine grinned, "There's the Rose I know, brave and always thinking."

Rose laughed at her friend, "Oh go to sleep you, we have classes in the morning."

Alaine nodded and the two climbed into their beds and Rose extinguished the light in the room with a quiet "Nox".

Earlier that day Albus had carried out his half during one of the classes he and Scorpius shared, Herbology. They were doing review today, so Albus stood and talked to Scorpius the hour of their lesson.

"So", Albus said, confronting his friend, "How long have you been in love with my cousin?"

Scorpius's head wrenched his way so quickly, shock written in his eyes, that Albus was concerned that he might get whiplash. Then he looked down, as if embarrassed, "How long have you known?", was his muttered reply, not even bothering to deny it.

Albus grinned, "Since soon after you and Rose got me and Alaine together, after I wasn't distracted by my own worries I saw it pretty clearly. I think everyone besides her have known it for years."

Scorpius rubbed the back of his neck, clearly shaken that he was that easy to read about something he thought he had hidden rather well, "It's been since fourth year.", he admitted quietly. Albus nodded and Scorpius questioned, wincing as he did so, "And, Ron? Do you think he knows?"

Albus chuckled, "I think he does, he's just in denial about the whole thing. The family's had bets on when you'd get together for years. Uncle George started it, of course, and even Aunt Hermione has some Galleons in there."

Scorpius raised a brow, "Hermione, Rose's mom? She participated and didn't shut it down?" Suddenly Scorpius seemed to realize something, "Wait, you guys think that we'll end up together, that means she likes me too?"

Albus nodded with a smirk, "I think she just realized it recently, but she's loved you for years, Scorp. If you get together this month, I think it's Uncle Charlie that wins."

A grin tugged at the blonde's lips, "I think Charlie's going to win, then, because I'm going to ask her out for the next Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow after breakfast, Animagus training can wait a week."

Albus gave his friend a friendly slap on the back, "Good for you, I would wish you luck, but I doubt you'll need it."

Scorpius gave the Gryffindor a manly hug, "Thanks mate, I'd still be floundering without you, without hope that my feelings would ever be returned."

Albus nodded in acknowledgement to his friend's thanks, "No problem, I want to see my best friend and cousin happy, that's all."

Herbology soon ended and the two boys trudged back up to the school, Scorpius with a much lighter heart and Albus with his work complete.