Thank you for the awesome feedback from the last chapter. :D You're all awesomesauce.

I'm sorry I got this one up so late - I promised it would be up by last weekend, but, well... I'm not a huge fan of this one, so I've been putting it off. I hope some of you like it though, so please let me know any thoughts you have on it.

This one was prompted by artyfan:

A friend will hide you from the Aurors,

A best friend is the reason they're after you in the first place.

"Shhh," I snapped at the annoying boy huddled to my right.

He grinned at me, completely unfazed by my words or tone. "Why, Rosie, there's no need to be curt."

"There will be when they catch us because you couldn't possibly stop talking about yourself for two minutes."

He glared at me through the darkness. "I was talking about us, and by talking I mean discussing escape plans out loud. If that's a problem then I guess I'll just leave you to come up with a genius plan that'll beat mine all on your own, because you're so clever, and all…"

"Shhh," I hissed, flapping my hand in front of his face and ducking back under the workbench in my granddad's broom shed, hiding myself from the view of anybody standing outside the frosted window.

A second later my parents and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny appeared in my line of vision, on the opposite side of the frosted glass. I pressed myself further under the narrow workbench in case they were to look through the glass and into the shed.

After an agonising minute, they disappeared again.

I slapped Scorpius round the back of the head.

"Ouch!" He glared at me pointedly through the gloom. "What was that for?"

"For getting us into this situation, maybe!"

"Hey, you jumped me!" He complained. Well, 'complained' was not an accurate verb, considering he didn't look sorry at all that I had jumped him.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled after a moment. "I just… I hadn't seen you all summer and I was surprised when you walked through the door looking all handsome and tanned and-"

"Rose, Rose," He smirked. "Relax. I'm not questioning why you jumped me - after all, I am a catch - I'm just sorry you did it in your living room in front of your family."

I winced at the memory of the moment I'd realised my family were staring at me whilst I kissed Scorpius Malfoy. "Erm, yeah, me too."

"I feel a bit bad for your mum too," He continued, grinning. "Her and Ginny are probably going crazy trying to calm your dad and Harry down."

I studied his face for a second, then titled my head and glared at him, narrowing my eyes. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Of course," He smirked at my disbelieving expression.

"Well you won't be when Ron Weasley - The Auror - finds you," I pointed out in an effort to dampen his mood.

"Hey," He raised his hands in mock-surrender. "This time it actually wasn't my fault."

"For once," I snorted.

He shot me a pretend glare. "Right, well seeing as we can't very well stay here the entire night…"

"Hey, I like camping, maybe it'll be fun," I tried to persuade him.

He tilted his head at me and narrowed his eyes. "I love you, Rose, but you're not exactly thinking practically, are you?"

"You what?" I snapped my head around immediately and stared at him in the semi-darkness. I wasn't going to question those choice of words subtly.

"I…" His eyes widened in panic, all hint of his suave smoothness disappearing to be replaced by his awkward geeky personality. "Oh Merlin, pretend I didn't say that…"

"Oh no," I shuffled closer to him and closed my fingers around his wrists to stop him from moving away. "No way are you getting out of that."

"Look, I'm not going to deny it, but I know it's too soon, so just… we can pretend I didn't just say 'I love you' for the first time in your granddads broom shed whilst hiding from your murderous relatives."

"No, Scor - don't." I almost cut off his words.

"Don't… what?" He looked alarmed, and confused.

"Don't pretend - Merlin that would be ridiculous. One step forward and two steps back, really. I love you too," I told him determinedly.

"You do?" And there was the geekiness, appearing in the form of a lazy grin.

I grinned back at him, nodded once, and then he pulled me the short distance to him to wrap his arms protectively around me and press his lips to mine.

Just as my hands moved into his hair, the shed door burst open and an out of breath Al stood hunched over in the doorway, trying desperately to catch his breath.

Scorpius tutted in annoyance at being interrupted. I ignored him.

"Where are they?" I asked my cousin as I shot to my feet in alarm.

Al held up a finger, "Ran… kitchen…"

"You ran from the kitchen?" I clarified. Al nodded.

"Man, you are so unfit," Scorpius chuckled as a side. Al managed to shoot him a deadly glare.

"Where are they, Al?" I repeated, cutting across what could become a dangerously off-topic argument.

"They-"

"Here," I heard the dangerously monotone voice of my father, and then he stepped into the doorway, followed by a rather bored looking Uncle Harry. I guess the amusement at watching my dad go mental had probably worn off by now.

Scorpius' hand squeezed mine so hard and he looked so pale that I thought he might faint.

"Al," Harry patted his second right hand man on the shoulder reassuringly, "You might want to give us a moment."

Al nodded, made to leave, then turned back and asked his father in a jokingly flat tone, "Should I get a shovel?"

"That would be best," My uncle nodded his head, mock-seriously.

"Get two," My dad joined in, but his joking was a little more serious. Not that he'd actually kill us, obviously, but his eyes were looking rather angry.

Al took one look at him and legged it out of the shed, "Later!"

"Now, Scorpius…" My dad started, reaching out to pat him patronisingly on the shoulder as he pulled him in to place his arm over his shoulders. It would have been an affectionate gesture, had I not already known it was really to stop him from running or apparating.

There was a pause, then Uncle Harry turned and called towards his retreating son, "Hey, Al, wait up!"

And then we were alone.

"Traitors!" I stepped towards the door and yelled after my uncle and cousin. In a gesture eerily similar, they both shrugged as they disappeared through the back door of the Burrow.

I spun back to face the scene in front of me.

Scorpius looked like he was going to be kicked off the Quidditch team, or have his Head Boy status revoked. My dad looked immensely pleased with the reaction he was getting.

"Take a seat," My dad prompted, gesturing towards a couple of upturned buckets. Scorpius said nothing but sat down. "You too, Rosie."

"Dad, I really don't think-"

"Now, Rose," He shot me a warning look. It was scarier than my mother. I sat down.

"Mr Weasley, if I could-" Scorpius tried, leaning forward slightly, wringing his hands in anxiousness.

"Here's how this is going to work," My dad interrupted. "I'm going to speak, then you can have your say. Okay?"

"Okay," My not-so-secret-anymore boyfriend agreed quickly.

"I was having a good day, my family were home for Christmas and I love my daughter very much," My dad began. Scorpius gulped. "Then, I enter my living room to find you with your hands on her. I don't appreciate being lied to, Scorpius."

"No, sir."

"I'm still talking," My dad glared at him. I knew Scorpius' expression - he was beginning to think he'd never be able to redeem himself in my dads eyes. I took his hand in mine, even though it earned me a glare from my father.

"It wasn't him, dad," I spoke up. "It was me. I kissed him, and, yeah, it was stupid to do it in front of everyone, but the point is, he just got attacked, and responded like any guy would. Are you telling me that you never got jumped when you were a teenager and just went along with it?"

He eyes glazed over for a moment, in a way which told me he was thinking about my mum, then he shook himself free of the thought.

"Exactly," I continued. "You like Scorpius, you like me, and you damn well aren't a hypocrite, are you? So there's really no problem here. It's not like he's taking advantage of me."

"That's…" My dad looked a little fazed by that. "It's not that, Rose. I'm fine with you two - Merlin knows we all knew before you both did… It's… you lied to me, Scorpius."

My eyebrows creased in confusion, but nether of them were looking at me anymore, they were staring at each other, Scorpius regretfully.

"I'm sorry, Mr Weasley," He mumbled.

I was now really confused. It seemed Scorpius knew what was going on.

I've missed something here, haven't I?

"And I accept that, Scorpius, but it doesn't change it. I specifically asked you if you were… non-platonic with Rose, and you told me that you were nothing more than friends-"

"Best friends," we both corrected him at the same time. We shared a grin for a moment at the reflex, then my dad interrupted the moment.

"So you see why I'm a little disappointed in you at the moment?"

"I do, sir, I really do," Scorpius mumbled. "But it was the truth at the time. We weren't together then, I swear. When Hugo-"

"Hugo?" I exclaimed. Oh no, he was nosey.

"-asked if I was… in that type of relationship with her, and holding hands and doing intimate stuff, I wasn't then, I swear. And I didn't exactly think you'd appreciate me seeking you out to tell you."

I slapped Scorpius round the back of the head.

"You idiot."

"Ouch," He complained, now turning to me. "What was that for?"

"You just told my dad we were having sex, you toss pot."

"Oh…" He spun back to face my dad, who hadn't moved for the last minute. "I didn't meant that, I… just pretend I didn't say that."

"It's not your night, is it?" I sighed, squeezing his hand in reassurance that everything would probably be fine once my dad exploded.

"It really isn't," He grimaced. "First I blurt out that I love you, then-"

"You what?" My dad had apparently found his voice at that. "You what?"

"Oh, S-Snorkack," Scorpius hung his head, covering his face in his hands. "I am a toss pot."

I shook my head, rubbing his back soothingly. "Never mind…"

"You love my daughter?" My dad stood up, then sat back down again, then stood up. "You're eighteen!"

Scorpius' head snapped up. "So? I've known her for seven years, we've been best friends for five. Some people don't even spend that long together before they get married."

"You are not getting married!" My dad exploded, stopping in his pacing to point a menacing finger at him.

"Oh, no, sir, I didn't-"

"Don't, Scor," I snapped. "We can do whatever the hell we like. You don't have to agree to everything he says."

Scorpius opened his mouth to reply, but my dad beat him to it. "Rose Molly Weasley, you are not marrying anybody until you are at least forty."

"Dad," I complained. "That's ridiculous. You got married when you were only a year older than we are now. And look at you and mum, still stupidly in love."

"Well…" He faltered. I wasn't Hermione Granger's daughter for nothing - I had logical arguments on my side.

"And Scorpius is a good guy, you know that. You went fishing with Hugo last month, remember? We were dating then, and you still liked him."

My dad fixed Scorpius with a half-hearted glare. "You were dating my daughter and you didn't think of bringing it up in the four days were went fishing?"

"I… the opportunity never came up…" Scorpius tried.

"How about when Hugo went to collect firewood and I turned to you and asked, "Hey Scorpius, anything new with you? Got a girlfriend?" and you said, "No, nothing."?"

"Erm, yeah, I suppose then would have been a good moment," My boyfriend agreed sheepishly.

"So why didn't you tell me?" He asked. And it wasn't an unusual thing - they were quite close, Scorpius and my dad. Like, really good mates. They even owled each other independently of me or Hugo. It was a little weird to start with.

"I figured that the woods would be an easy place to hide my body," He told him. "I didn't want to risk it."

My dad finally laughed.

He slapped Scorpius on the back. "You're a good kid, Scor. Just don't ever talk to me about my daughters sex life, and we'll be fine."

"Got it."

"Great."

"So…" I spoke up, reminding them both that I was there. "Can we go now?"

My dad sighed. "Yes, but I expect you to remain celibate until you're at least forty."

"Got it," Scorpius repeated, and then I grabbed his hand and hurried to the shed door, calling a quick goodbye to my dad.

We both started laughing as soon as we ducked into the narrow passage hidden between the shed and house.

"Shh," He whispered, trying to stop me from being noisy by placing his hand over my mouth as my dad walked out of the shed and into the house.

"That wasn't awkward at all," I sighed, trying to suppress a laugh..

He wrapped his arms around me and smirked. "At least we don't have to sleep in the greenhouse tonight."

"And you're still alive," I added helpfully.

"And I'm still alive," He agreed, nodding. "As long as we remain celibate, anyway."

"As long as my dad thinks we're celibate," I reminded him.

"Good point," he smirked.

It was a bit of a different Rose/Scorpius, and more of a romantic relationship, but there's still friendship ones coming up, I promise. I'm trying to at least alternate them now, if I can.

Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to review, if you can? :D