A/N: I would like to apologise to weird-cute-n-random for not being able to post this chapter before last week's Friday. Imagination and ideas didn't pay me a visit as much as I would like them. Well, I hope you will still enjoy this.

I would like to thank tikincloks for the idea of Scorpius and Rose going out just by the two of them. Thanks to yellow 14 as well for the idea of them kissing. It's different from what you told me, but it's still close.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling.

CHAPTER 22

Rose woke up to find herself kicking at something that was on the foot of her bed. Rubbing off her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness, she sat up. She stopped in the middle of a yawn as she saw a small box staring back at her. She widened her eyes and gasped as she flew to the other side of the bed get the box.

"Oh. My. God!"

Her curtain was yanked open by one of her roommates. "Rose, what's with the yelling early in the morning?" she asked with her eyes closed. Rose reckoned her friend was still in her dreamland when she shouted.

"Sorry, Darla," Rose apologised with a smile. "But I got something!" She unconsciously yelled again, causing Darla to wince.

"Rose!" she whined and took a seat on her bed. She still had her eyes closed. "This something had better be good or I'll pinch your nose until it's red."

The owner of the bed grinned and shoved the box into her friend's hand. "I got something from the Secret Admirer."

Darla immediately opened her eyes open as she was one of those people who were always interested in the gifts from the Secret Admirer. Her shoulders sagged as she found out it was just another rose. "Why are you so happy that you got a flower again?"

Rose waved an index finger at her. "Don't you realise that the rose has a different colour and there's a light emitting from it? I don't think it's an ordinary flower." She quickly widened her eyes as she remembered something. "I know someone who would know something about this."

Before Darla could open her mouth to reply anything, Rose took the flower and flew out of her bed. She went out of the room and then ran upstairs. Soon after, she reached her destination. Calming herself as she was left panting for having such a workout after just waking up, she knocked on the door. Without waiting for a reply, she went in and walked to one of the familiar beds. "Dom!"

The person being called calmly looked up from the book she's reading. "Yes, Rosie? To what do I owe this visit this early morning?" She then put a sweet smile.

Rose took a seat on her cousin's bed and put the box on top of her book. "The gift is finally here!"

Dominique looked down to find a beautiful rose in front of her eyes. "Can I take it out?"

The younger girl nodded like a frantic man. "Yes, and then tell me what this is."

Smiling in amusement, Dominique slowly opened the small box and took out the flower carefully. She handled it as if it was a baby; a vulnerable, fragile item she wouldn't dare to drop even if her life depended on it.

"Wow, Rose." Finally after a full minute of inspecting it, the older cousin opened her mouth. "Scorpius did a very good job."

"Of course he did," Rose replied, feeling proud of that boy. "He always does when it comes to spells."

Dominique turned to face her. "This is amazing, you know. To think that a second year student did it without the help of a professor," she shook her head in admiration, looking at the rose again.

"So what kind of rose is this? This is not an ordinary one, I could see that."

The owner of the bed smiled and looked up. "This is an Everlasting Rose. And that's all that I could tell you. I know you're dying to go to the library after you take a shower to find out more about this wonderful flower."

Rose pouted, causing Dominique to softly laugh.

"Anyway you have to thank him properly somehow, Rosie. What do you plan in returning the favour?"

She shook her head. "I don't know," she mumbled before pausing. "Well, we can go to Hogsmeade together I guess. And spend some time with each other."

"Good idea."

"But what about James and Albus? What if they're coming with us?"

Dominique grinned. "If you tell them that your friends are too busy to accompany you, I think they'll get the idea that you want to be left alone with Scorpius."

Rose looked down as she felt her cheeks starting to feel hot.

"Aww, my cousin is going to have a date with a boy."

The younger girl blushed even more. "Stop it, Dom."

She smiled. "But you know, just a date is not enough."

Rose looked up with a confused expression. "Not enough?" she echoed. "It's already making me nervous and blushing like a tomato; and it's still not enough?" She's getting hysterical. "What do I need to do to make it even then?"

As a reply, Dominique smirked, causing Rose to become cautious. Her cousin was a really sweet girl; never got into trouble because she's more of a quiet type of person, like Albus. But when she put an evil smile like what she's doing right now, Rose knew that the idea would be ridiculous.

"Dom," she called slowly. "What is it exactly that you have in mind?" But Rose was a very curious girl, so she had to know it no matter what.

"On Christmas, Scorpius came to visit the Burrow," Dominique started. "You two went upstairs and then you gave him his gift."

As soon as she knew where this was going, Rose started blushing again. There was no way she could top the forehead kiss. It already made her heart beat like crazy. If she was the one who initiated the kiss this time, she was sure her chest would burst and she would probably collapse soon after that.

"You're not listening to me, are you?"

The words from Dominique startled her from her thoughts. She cleared her throat, pretending that she was indeed listening. "I am."

"Really? What have I said so far?"

"Err, on Christmas, Scorpius came to the Burrow and I gave him a book." She paused. "And as a return, he kissed me on the forehead."

"And?"

Rose looked down. This was the part where she didn't hear anything. So she just mumbled, "And then you said something, but I wasn't listening. Sorry."

She sighed and placed both of her hands on her cousin's cheeks so she could look at her in the eye. "Listen up carefully. Scorpius has given you quite a lot of gifts, right? When you go to Hogsmeade later, make the date as memorable as possible to both you and him."

"Okay."

"And I'm sure you're going to stop by for a drink. So maybe you could pay for him too."

Rose nodded.

"At the end of the date, thank him properly."

She blinked. "What do you mean by properly?"

Dominique smiled and patted her cheeks. "I'm sure a brilliant girl like you could think of something."

"So where do you want to go?" Scorpius asked as they had just arrived at Hogsmeade.

Rose felt relieved as it had been a very awkward walk to the destination. Every time they caught each other's eyes, they laughed nervously and looked away. At least in Hogsmeade, there was something else to look at. And the distance between them was bigger. My heart was beating so fast, I'm sure he could hear it just now.

"Why don't we just walk around while catching up?" she suggested as she put on a smile. "Unless you want to have a seat?"

He snorted. "We just got here, Rose. I'm not that tired."

Her sweet smile turned into a grin. "Just wanted to make sure," she replied as she shrugged playfully. She then looked at him sideways. "So how are you, really?" She immediately continued as she saw him opening his mouth to retort, "Don't say fine, because you look awful, Scor. Did you even sleep last night?"

"We did," he answered as he nodded.

Rose then gave him a sceptical look as if to say "I don't believe you."

"I'm serious!" Scorpius almost yelled.

"Then why do you three look like zombies?"

He snorted for the second time that day. "Nice choice of words," he mumbled, earning himself a soft whack from his best friend. He laughed. "I guess we're sleep deprived."

She fell silent and took notice of his face closely. He looked more exhausted, even though he's still joking like usual. She felt guilty because she was one of the reasons he looked like that. "How many times have you stayed up late so far?" she asked softly.

"A few times I think."

Rose flashed him a smile. I have to make this so-called date as unforgettable as possible. "Well, I hope you can stay awake until we're done. I don't want to have to drag you back home. I don't think I can handle your weight."

Scorpius laughed wholeheartedly, causing her to feel much better because she had made him laugh out loud and forget about his drowsiness. "It's not my fault that you're really tiny."

She dramatically gasped and playfully shoved him.

For the rest of the day, they strolled around the area and talked about anything and everything as they hadn't chatted for quite a long time. Rose thought it was great for finally being able to talk properly to the boy. It felt like it'd been forever since they really last saw each other. She really missed this moment and really hoped that it wouldn't end.

But unfortunately it did. They had to go back to their dorm as it was already too late for students to be wandering around. Throughout their journey back, they still kept chattering and joking around. Even when they're right in front of Hogwarts, they still couldn't stop laughing at each other's funny stories.

"At the end of the date, thank him properly."

The sentence from Dominique earlier suddenly decided to pay a visit to Rose's brain. It caused her heart to start jumping again after she tried so hard to calm it down when Scorpius' arm accidentally brushed hers during their Hogsmeade trip just now. She had no idea why she's nervous now because 'properly' might just mean say thank you and smile, right? What else would it be?

She suddenly remembered what happened on the Burrow on Christmas: the forehead kiss. She inaudibly gasped. What am I supposed to do?

"I had fun today, Rose."

Rose immediately looked up to find him smiling at her. They had reached the stairs to the girls' dorm. She returned the smile and thought that his smile was irresistible. So she braved herself and placed her right hand on his cheek to give her a support to lean in closer. She was about to kiss him on the lips but she changed her mind and pecked the corner of his lips.

Before he could realise what she had done, she said, "Thank you," in a hurry and ran to her room. As soon as the door was closed, she sat down on the ground with her back to the door. She placed her hand on her own lips. "I just kissed Scorpius Malfoy."

A/N: I finally watched the Deathly Hallows part 2! All I can say is that Arthur Bowen who plays Albus Severus Snape is such a cute and adorable kid.

Anyway thanks for reading and don't forget to review please.

Til next time..