A/N: First of all, my reviews have reached the 100th mark! I'd like to thank every single one of you who has been reading and/or reviewing this story of mine since the first chapter. I never thought that there are a lot of people who like this. Second of all, I was going to post this last week (I finished this quite a long time ago, you see) but something happened. So I just got time to do so now. Well, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Every character belong to JK Rowling.

CHAPTER 21

Scorpius looked at him with a frown on his face. "I'm sure it was her, because I remember she was sitting on the same spot as just now." He paused again, trying to remember the scene that night. His eyes got even wider, if possible. "And she was with Rose."

"Rose?" Albus echoed. It was his turn to have his eyes widened. "You mean she was there the whole time we're talking about 'Everlasting Rose'?"

"No," he shook his head. "I saw her talking to Dominique before I went to the library. We went out of the Common Room together, but she went to the Great Hall for dinner."

Albus let out a breath. "Well, at least we know that Rose didn't hear a thing about this." He gestured at the one stem of rose Scorpius was holding.

Scorpius started biting his bottom lip as he was getting more nervous. "But that doesn't mean Dominique wouldn't tell her. I mean they always hang out together."

"She might not even hear what we were talking about."

Scorpius turned to James. "But I conjured up a rose, remember? And you cast a spell on it. Anyone would have figured out that it wasn't an ordinary spell because of the complex wand movement." He paused again for the third time that night; this time hoping that the information would get into their heads. "She could've been studying and listening to our conversations the whole time."

"But how would she know that it was for Rose?" Albus asked. "It might be for someone –" he immediately stopped as he realised something. "No wait, of course it's for Rose. Everybody knew that."

The blond boy narrowed his eyes at him. "Focus!" he hissed. "The problem right now is about the possibility of Dominique knowing our plan tonight. What if she told Rose about me being her secret admirer?"

"Wouldn't that make your job easier?" asked Albus. "At least she'd know that you reciprocate her feelings."

"I'm her secret admirer, Al," Scorpius said slowly. "Nobody is supposed to know that it's me."

"Okay, for now we all have to calm down," James said, stopping his younger friends' discussion. "Let's just say that Dominique really did hear our conversation back then and tell Rose everything." He looked at Scorpius. "Why didn't we hear a thing about it?"

Scorpius tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"If they really did know about this whole plan, why didn't Rose say anything to you?" he asked. "Why was she pretending not to know anything? A few nights have passed after that night, you know."

None of them spoke for a few seconds. Until Albus opened his mouth to speak what's on his mind, "Maybe she's just as shy as he is when it comes to confronting?"

James nodded. "One of the reasons, yes." He looked at Scorpius. "Maybe she's waiting for you to confess first."

"But that's impossible," Scorpius replied. "I'm still not ready yet."

"We know," James said. "That's why I said 'If they really did know about anything'."

"What if," Albus started but paused for a while, "Dom really did know something but she didn't tell Rose?" He looked at James before looking at Scorpius. "Maybe she thought you should be the one telling Rose, not her." As he saw a nod from his brother, he continued, "I mean it's you and Rose's problem. So she shouldn't interfere in your love life."

James smirked at his response. "Albus is right." He looked at Scorpius as he nodded. "Dom is not the type of person to interfere in something that's not her business. So you should just calm down."

"Hello!"

James, Albus and Scorpius looked up at the new, cheerful voice. They were having their breakfast down at the Great Hall. Since it was still so early and they slept quite late last night, they just murmured a soft "Hey" and continued eating.

"Why do you lot look like you didn't sleep at all last night?" Rose asked as she took a seat beside Albus. She started gathering her first meal of the day into her plate. "What did you three do?"

"Homework," James mumbled.

Rose looked at him. "But you're a grade higher than us."

"So?" he said simply. "We're not allowed to do homework together if we're from a different class?"

She smiled. "No, of course you are. I'm just confused, is all." All of the sudden, she clapped her hand, surprising the three sleepy best friends. "Which reminds me." She rummaged through her bag. Not a second later, she found what she was looking for and took out a small box. Inside was a beautiful pink rose, with a bright light emitting from it. "I got this last night! From the mysterious boy!"

The others had to pretend to be impressed at the flower because they didn't want her to find out anything. "Wow!" they exclaimed, passing the box from one boy to the other before it was back to the owner.

"This is the best one I've ever got from him."

Scorpius immediately 'woke up' from his sleepiness. The compliment from the object of his affection made his heart pound faster. It made him so happy that he had a wide smile as he continued eating his breakfast.

"But what's so different about this rose?" James asked, acting as if he knew nothing about it. "Other than the colour and the bright light, it's just like any other roses out there."

Rose turned to his older cousin. "This is an 'Everlasting Rose'. I found out from the book I saw just now in the library, and it was possibly the hardest spell I've ever encountered."

Scorpius had to bow his head down because he didn't want Rose to see his ridiculous smile.

"Are you my Secret Admirer?"

He immediately looked up with a shocked expression plastered on his face. "What?" Did I hear that right?

"Are you going to Hogsmeade later?" Rose repeated with a frown on her face. She then narrowed her eyes, as if suspecting him for being so surprised when her question was simple. "What did you think I said?"

"Ah no, it's nothing," Scorpius immediately said, shaking his head. His heart was beating fast because he thought she knew something about his secret. With a smile that he thought was genuine, he continued, "I wasn't actually listening to anything you said just now. That's why I asked you to repeat the question." Smooth, Malfoy.

Rose paused for a few seconds, contemplating whether to believe him or not. "Well, you still haven't answered my question. Are you going to Hogsmeade later?"

"Oh, it's today? I didn't know that."

His weird behaviour was even more suspicious now, causing James and Albus to look up too. They were eating slowly so they wouldn't miss a single mishap from him. So they could stop him, in case he did something as silly as revealing his secret.

"So are you going or not?" asked Rose, getting impatient.

"Yes!" Scorpius quickly answered, nodding his head. He was getting scared because she looked like she would hit him if he didn't answer it properly. He laughed nervously. "I'm going to Hogsmeade later," he added just for extra measure. He cleared his throat and looked away, playing with his food. Someone please stop me from making a fool out of myself.

"Should we go together then?"

He looked up again. This time James and Albus looked at her too.

"Come again?" Scorpius mumbled. Surely he heard wrong.

"Can I come with you?" she rephrased her question. She immediately added as she realised that the three of them were looking at her, "My friends will be busy with their homework; Dominique too. So since you said you're going to Hogsmeade, why don't we go together?" She looked away with her face starting to redden.

Scorpius turned to James and Albus, asking for help. He mouthed, "What do I do?"

James just moved his head swiftly in his cousin's direction as if to say Scorpius should just go with her. Meanwhile, Albus nodded his head in agreement.

"Err, okay," Scorpius eventually said to her after a few seconds of considering. "Let's go together." As he saw Rose looking up at him with a shy smile on her face, he added, "We haven't talked to each other for a while anyway."

She nodded her head. "Yeah, let's catch up." She then turned towards her cousins. "Unless you three already have plans?"

"Ah no!" James said a little too enthusiastically. He even shook his head to emphasise his answer. "I promised Albus I'd help him with his homework." Before his brother could retort anything back, he gave him a death glare, hoping Albus would follow whatever he's told.

Getting the message, Albus nodded and said, "Yeah I have … a few things I need help with." He immediately continued as he saw her opening her mouth, "But James said he knows how to do it, so he'll help me later."

"Okay, if you say so," Rose said with a frown on her face. She sighed before continuing on her deserted breakfast. "Too bad you two have to stay back like the others. You have to have a break too."

James and Albus just shrugged their shoulders.

A/N: I had to cut this here because otherwise, it'd be too long. And I had no clue how to continue it either. Anyway thanks for reading. Don't forget to review!

Til next time..

P.S: Deathly Hallows part 2 is coming soon! We'll get to see all of the children!