A/N: To be honest, I wanted this chapter to be the last chapter of the story. But seeing that I got A LOT of suggestions for the last present, I decided to make it longer. Hopefully I won't bore you with the upcoming chapters.

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.

CHAPTER 17

"Will you stop reading the letter with that look on your face?"

Scorpius blushed and immediately pushed the letter inside his bag before any of them could take it away from him. "Shut it. I don't have that look on my face."

James snorted. "Of course you do," he said, not looking up from his work. "You always look like you want to go upstairs to her room and snog her until you both run out of your breath." He then looked up, smirking. "Don't you just want to do that?"

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at his friend even though he was still blushing. He looked away and continued doing his deserted work.

"Well speaking of which, she really did like your present," said Albus, looking up from his own work. "She couldn't stop talking about it when we met her in King's Cross. She kept on saying that she liked it and asked us about the opinion on the stuffed cat that she always had on her hands."

James laughed. "I remember Aunt Hermione asking her to put it somewhere safe so she wouldn't drop it, while Uncle Ron told her not to bring it to Hogwarts since she's almost 13."

"She liked it that much."

Scorpius bit his lip to prevent himself from smiling at Albus' last sentence. He now knew how much Rose liked the stuffed Crookshanks. And if he wanted to be honest, he thought she might even love it. He didn't regret that he decided to take some time in buying her the present. His mind drifted off to the day he went to the Diagon Alley.

-FLASHBACK-

"Mum, I'm going now."

Astoria looked up from her book she was currently reading. "Where are you going?"

Scorpius bent down as he tied his shoe laces near the fireplace. "I'm going to the Diagon Alley, remember? I told you yesterday."

"Oh yes, I remember now," his mother replied. "Do you want me to accompany you there, love? I have nothing to do at home anyway."

He looked up, having finished with his shoes. As he grabbed a handful of Floo powder and then walked up to the inside of the fireplace, he answered, "No, that's all right. I can go by myself."

Astoria smiled. "Okay then, have fun looking for presents," she said. "Don't be long."

"I won't," replied Scorpius, smiling at her. "I'll be back even before you finish the book."

Mrs Malfoy laughed. "But I'm only left with two pages, dear. I don't think you even reach your destination by the time I finish this."

It was Scorpius' turn to laugh. "Bye, Mum."

"Bye, Scorpius. Be careful."

"I will," he replied just before he threw the Floo powder to the ground and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" loud and clear so he wouldn't get lost. It would be the last thing he would want to be. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the destination. Dusting off the dirt on his clothes and hair, he stepped out of the fireplace slowly and carefully as he was still dizzy from the journey.

Taking several deep breaths, he walked out to the slightly empty street. Left and right he looked, and he noticed that some of the shops were still closed due to the long break. Even that one shop that he knew sold stuffed animals was closed. He sighed.

Still walking with less confidence now, he suddenly saw a pet shop that was open. His eyes lit up and he immediately ran inside. There were many animals there: owls, toads, dogs, rats, snakes. He looked around and he finally found a small corner reserved for the animal he was looking for: cats!

Before his eyes could light up for the second time that day, those eyes were suddenly widened as he saw the price of that specific animal. "Bloody hell," he mumbled, his eyes still looking at the price. "I didn't know it would be this expensive." He gulped.

Scorpius then walked again, his eyes never leaving the prices. The further away he was from the entrance of the shop, the more ridiculous the price was. They were even more expensive when they were still kittens. He sighed as he reached the end.

When he walked back, he heard the cats meowing and felt their eyes on him. Scared that he might buy it without second thoughts, he immediately went out of the store and walked away without looking back. He shook his head and muttered, "I can get her something else. It doesn't have to be a real cat."

Scorpius let out a deep breath and continued his search. He was about to give up and thought of buying her something out of the ordinary when he saw another small shop that sold animals. This time though, he noticed that this shop also had stuffed animals. So with determination that he would find a copy of Crookshanks, he went in.

The prices of the cats here were even more expensive. Scorpius felt like turning back to go to the other side of Diagon Alley. But knowing that he'd stalled too much time in buying presents for his friends, he stopped looking at his left and right with cages of cats meowing at him and started walking straight ahead to find the sections for stuffed animals.

As he got there, Scorpius saw a lot of stuffed animals were sold. He even found a stuffed snake on his right. He walked again until he arrived at the cats' section. There were so many stuffed cats to choose; they even came with many colours and sizes as well. His eyes wandering around the various cats (there's even a gigantic pink cat!), he finally found a group of orange cats. Now all he had to do was to decide on the size.

He gathered all the orange cats that he could find. There were five of them. One of them was as big as a teddy bear he saw on the entrance. He decided to eliminate that one because he pitied the owl that would deliver the present to her. He imagined that the owl would think the package was too heavy and it would immediately fall before it could fly away.

He then looked at the rest of the cats. One of them was too small; the size was as small as a key chain. He eliminated that one. And then there were three. Scorpius looked at the first cat on the left, before looking at the other two. He picked one up and started examining it to look for any defects.

Several minutes later, he had decided which to pick. He took the stuffed cat that looked the most similar to Crookshanks and walked to the cashier. He requested the worker to put the cat inside a box and wrap it with a nice wrapping paper. After he was satisfied with everything, he paid and walked outside the shop with a smile on his face.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

"You've been staring at the same page for 15 minutes, you know."

Scorpius jumped from his seat on the ground. He looked to his left where the intruder was standing. It was her. "I haven't been staring. I've been reading," he said with confidence, although his cheeks were probably really red at the moment.

Both Albus and James tried their hardest not to snort.

Rose nodded slowly, not convinced at all. "Well whatever you say, you took too much time reading the same paragraph." She took a seat next to him. "Or maybe you didn't get what the paragraph was all about." She placed her elbow on the desk in front of her and rested her head on her hand. "You need help?"

Scorpius looked back to the book in front of him. He had actually read this last night. It was just a pretend. But for what?

He looked to his left again and saw her smiling at him, waiting for the answer. It was just a pretend so that she would come and talk to you, wasn't it?

He smiled at her. No, it was because of her beautiful smile.

A/N: Sorry it took some time for this chapter to be done. Sorry if the flashback was too long and boring. And sorry if the ending was off. I had no idea how to end this. Anyway thanks for reading. Please review.

Til next time..

P.S: My classes have started last Wednesday. So I apologise in advance if there is a huge gap between this chapter and the next.