Rose POV

I can't believe it. He kissed me. Scorpius Malfoy, bane of my existence, kissed me! And I liked it! No! I'm dating Ernie! I shouldn't be liking kissing anyone besides him, especially Malfoy. But when Scorpius kissed me, I felt something. The stuff I described when I talked about kissing Ernie for the first time, that's what I felt with Malfoy. But multiplied by ten. It was amazing.

He pulled back, and I continued staring at him. A light blush colored his cheeks, and all I could think was 'he's adorable!' Then he smiled, and I found myself smiling as well. I wanted to kiss him again. Merlin, I wanted to. But I couldn't. Ernie was my boyfriend. If this thing with Malfoy was going to go anywhere, I would have to break it off with Ernie first. Sure, I could do it, I mean the boy was soo annoying. I would love to be rid of him. But what would my family think? I had only been with him for two weeks. And I had played the role of the happy, totally in love girlfriend so well. If I broke it off, they would wonder what he did wrong, and I would have to explain this whole mess to them. With great difficulty, I turned away from Scorpius and ran away. I couldn't say anything. If I did, I was sure I would cave and stay with him. And students would be coming back from dinner soon. I couldn't be caught. I ran all the way back to Gryffindor tower.

I told the Fat Lady the password and rushed inside. I ran all the way up to the 6th year girls dorm and found Paula waiting for me.

"What happened? I know that look! Who is it? Tell me!" Gosh darn it. She knows me too well.

"Ok but promise not to tell ANYONE. I followed Scorpius Malfoy and asked him why he was ignoring me and after some fighting he told me that he loved me and then he kissed me!" I let it all out in one breath and waited for her outburst.

"WHAT? OH MY GOSH ROSE! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO? DID YOU LIKE IT? YOU DID DIDN'T YOU? I KNEW IT! OH THIS IS AWESOME!" She didn't get it. It is most definitely not awesome.

"No, it's not. I'm with Ernie, remember? And we've only been together for two weeks, and he hasn't done anything wrong. Well, I mean, he's annoying as hell but he's always been like that. There's no reason for me to break up with him, my family's ok with it and he's a nice guy." Ok, even I'll admit that just sounded dumb.

"Rose, that's bullshit. I know you've never really liked Ernie, and I had guessed that you were dating him for some other reason. And I can tell from the way you looked when you ran in here that you really like Scorpius. And it's not like two weeks is insanely short for a relationship, lots are shorter than that. If you're not happy, you should break it off with McLaggen and be with the person you really want to be with. Which in this case, is Scorpius." She was right. I was being stupid. There was no reason for me to be with Ernie if I was in love with someone else. But I was afraid. My family had grudgingly accepted Ernie as my boyfriend, but Scorpius? There was no way in hell. They would give him so much crap, and I couldn't let them do that to him.

I said goodnight to Paula and got in my bed. I fell into a restless sleep, unsure of what I should do.

The next morning, I was still feeling very unsure and nervous. I showered and got dressed slowly, while still thinking through my options. I could see no easy way out. I went down to breakfast with Ernie, but the whole time I didn't speak a word. Being with him just didn't feel right. I mean, it never felt particularly good, but now it just felt wrong. I kept thinking about Scorpius. How it had felt every time I had ended up against him, and when he kissed me. One word: fireworks. They say that's what's supposed to happen with true love. I couldn't believe it. If that was true, and Malfoy was my true love, then what was I doing with Ernie? Oh yeah. If my family found out I was spending any time with Malfoy at all, they'd murder me. I didn't even want to think about what my father would do.

I suddenly remembered what exactly I had done that night. He had straight out told me he loved me and kissed me even though he thought I still hated him, and I turned and ran away. I ran away! Now he's going to think I've rejected him. Which is definitely not the case. I had just needed time to think, but I'm sure I gave him the wrong idea. Maybe he was just joking. He was an asshat like that. I decided to keep an eye on him and see how he acted.

In Potions, I looked over at him through the corner of my eye and I saw him looking at me. He seemed to be watching me too, just in a much more obvious way. I smiled at him, and he weakly returned it, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. Damn, he was being sincere. But I couldn't do anything. My family would murder me.

Throughout the day, whenever I saw him he seemed to be watching me. I felt really bad, and I wanted more than anything to go talk to him, but Ernie was being more clingy than ever. Apparently he missed me terribly when I was "in the library" last night, and he wanted to spend more time with me. As if we weren't basically attached at the hip already. This was getting ridiculous.

Paula was getting annoyed with me, too. "Come on, Rose. You need to break it off with Ernie. I can tell being with him is just aggravating you. You should only be with someone if they make you happy." I knew what she was getting at, and I knew she was right. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. My family meant too much to me.

After dinner, Ernie decided we should spend the evening together, since we'd already finished our homework. I agreed, sighing internally. As we left the Great Hall together, I could feel his eyes on my back. I felt terrible and I just wanted to go to bed, but somehow I knew I needed to spend tonight with Ernie. I took his hand and we walked back to the Gryffindor common room. When we got there, I was about to say the password when he squeezed my hand, smiled at me and told the Fat Lady the password himself. When she moved aside, he proceeded to try to help me through the portrait hole, as if I was incapable of getting through by myself even though I'd been doing it just fine for the last 5 years.

I shoved away from him and went over to the couch. He quickly followed me, and just before I could sit down he rearranged the pillows for me. That was the last straw.

"Dammit Ernie! I can do things for myself! I don't need you doing everything for me." He looked speechless. I realized I had never yelled at him before, or even called him out for his annoying actions.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to be helpful. I didn't want someone as beautiful as you to have to exert herself." Wow. He's such a jackass.

"Merlin Ernie! You act like I'm just some little kid! I can do things for myself. Saying the password and walking through the portrait hole is not exertion. My uncle is Harry Potter. My parents are Ron and Hermione Weasley. I they've raised me to be tough. I'm not some defenseless little girl. You just can't see that. You know what? We're though." Family be damned, I am not staying with this arsewipe of a wizard.

I shot him an angry glare and stormed out of the portrait hole. I was walking around randomly, when I happened to run into Paula and Lorcan talking near the Great Hall.

"I'm sorry Lorcan, but can I borrow her?" He shot me a funny look.

"Um, sure Rose. Just remember to give her back before I fine you!" He sent me a playful smile. I could see why Paula liked him. Why couldn't my love life be like that? She had a nice boyfriend with a sense of humor, and her family approved. No weird, complicated, family feud crap. Must be nice.

"What's wrong Rose? What happened?" She got right to the point.

"Well, I broke it off with Ernie."

"Good for you! Doesn't that feel good, knowing you don't have him hanging on you all the time?" I smiled.

"Yes, it does feel good. But it's not all good now. I still have issues."

"Oh right, Malfoy. Welll, what are you waiting for? You broke up with Ernie, what's in your way now?" She really had to ask?

"My family. There's no way in hell they would accept Scorpius as even a friend. Just thinking about what my father would do is terrifying." I shuddered, partially for dramatic effect, and partially seriously.

"You're calling him Scorpius now? Coolio! Did you talk to him about this?" How could I have?

"No, I actually haven't spoken to him since last night," I answered nervously.

"WHAT? Now he's going to think the wrong thing! Guys judge situations way too quickly. He's going to think you've rejected him!"

"I know!
I feel awful, but what was I supposed to do? I had a boyfriend!"

"But you don't now! You have to go talk to him! Now! Go!" She shoved me in the direction of the Slytherin common room, where, coincidentally, Scorpius was walking alone.

I quickly walked over until I was pretty close behind him. He kept walking, and I kept following him until he led us into a small deserted corridor. Then he turned around and raised an eyebrow. It was incredibly sexy. I could have swooned.

"Yes? Why are you following me Weasley?" Okay, what was I supposed to say?

"I, um, can I talk to you?" Wow, that was lame.

"We're talking right now." Now I just felt stupid.

"I mean, uh, about last night."

"There's nothing to talk about. Forget it ever happened." Oh Merlin, he really did think I didn't like him.

"Yes there is. I broke up with Ernie."

"You did what?"

"I broke it off with Ernie. There was no reason for me to stay with him. He annoyed the hell out of me, and anyway, it wouldn't be fair to be with him when I'd rather be with you."

He froze. "W-what did you say?"

"I said I broke up with Ernie because I wanted to be with you."

He was still speechless. I decided I needed to use a different approach. I leaned in, and placed a very light, feathery kiss on his lips.

I pulled back, and smiled at him. He smiled back. I kissed him again, harder this time. He responded almost instantly. I had never felt anything like this in my whole life. I was in utter bliss. My arms wrapped around his neck and his wound around my waist, pulling me closer. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I never wanted it to end. Reluctantly, I pulled away for lack of air. We were both breathing heavily.

We walked over into a dark corner and sat down. I looked at him. "Scorpius, I really like you, but we can't be together."

"What? Why?"

"You know my family. They're all horribly biased. Just because of who your grandfather is, and what your father did, they think you'll be just like them I think it's all bullshit, you're your own person. But they won't see it that way. Especially my dad. He's the most narrow-minded person on the face of the earth."

"I know. My father told me that they'd probably all be like that, especially Ron. But he also said that if I just was nice and acted like a gentleman, they'd eventually warm up to me. I guess it didn't work."

"You were acting like a gentleman? I sure as hell didn't notice." I was messing with him, and he knew it.

"I was! Just not to you, 'cause you pissed me off. If you were a little nicer to me, I probably would have been nice back."

"I figured that out this year."

"Yeah, you did." He laughed. I loved his laugh, I couldn't help but smile when I heard it.

"So what are we gonna do? I don't see a way around this." I thought really hard, but he didn't seem to have to think at all.

"Well, it obvious. There's only one thing we can do." He had a mischievous smile on his face.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Rose Weasley, will you be my secret girlfriend?"

AN: Yay! They're finally together! I couldn't stretch it out much longer, so I just decided to let it happen. But it's not over yet, there's still a lot of family drama to get through.

Please R&R!