The entire day had seemed, to Scorpius, to go by with a certain air, a certain feeling of affection towards him. It was as if that day was a celebration for his very existence. He had woken up on September first with a start, nearly falling out of bed, but as soon as he had stood up, he felt suddenly quite cheerful and awake. And yet the day continued to get better and better; he got along well with his parents, and he had managed to track down Rose Weasley on his way to the common room.

It had been a hilarious experience; Rose had not seen it coming at all. She had been coming back from the bathroom after the feast, probably going to look for her friends and the new Gryffindors to take back to the common room, and Scorpius had heard her from around the corner. He had been coincidentally thinking about her at the very moment, how he had missed her on the train and hadn't been able to make eye contact with her during the feast. It hadn't really bothered him all that much, but he certainly noticed it.

After a quick 'hello' over her unsuspecting shoulder, Rose had turned suddenly, their noses brushing for just a brief moment. A smirk spread over Rose's face and Scorpius raised an eyebrow, half-expecting her to give him some sort of smartass comment about his paleness and half-expecting her to kiss him. Scorpius sneered at her and he saw from the corner of his eye that she had drawn her wand from her pocket. He did the same, and they stood there, motionless, facing each other. Rose parted her lips and Scorpius, for a moment, was almost sure she was going to kiss him. After all, they hadn't seen or spoke to each other all summer. Before school had ended in June she had warned him that if he were to write her, her father would undoubtedly come after him. So, Scorpius spent the summer lounging with his parents, travelling here and there with them, and spent the last couple of weeks with his grandparents as Draco and Astoria apparently had some business to attend to in Albania.

Scorpius took a step back when he decided that the moment had lasted too long. He sneered once more and took in a deep breath before speaking. "Weasley, how was your summer?"

Rose grinned, looking rather wicked compared to her usual giddiness. She had grown up – physically – quite a bit over the summer; her light brown curls that Scorpius loved had grown quite a bit, leaving it to cascade over her shoulders. And there was certainly some bigger evidence that she had become more womanly, if you know what I mean. Scorpius had never actually made Rose aware of his intense attraction to her, but he was sure that with their numerous encounters over the years and the subtle hints he had dropped every once in a while, it was certainly implied.

"Oh, you know… Loud, reckless family gatherings full of gingers," Rose retorted, her arms folded over her chest now. A big smile spread over her face and she looked down at the ground. Scorpius smiled as well, but his eyes moved to her wand. It was lying restlessly in her delicate little hand.

"Sounds like fun. I'm sorry I missed out," Scorpius replied quietly. He drew his wand, and Rose did the same. When they were out in the open like that, their encounters usually resorted to some sort of duel, even if they weren't supposed to be duelling in the corridors.

With her wand drawn, Rose opened her mouth to reply, a bright smile over her lips. "You really should be. I'm sure – "

Cutting the shape of an eight into the air, a string of sparks flew at Rose's knee, momentarily paralyzing her completely. A quiet laugh erupted from his mouth, and he slid his wand back into his pocket, and then ran off down a corridor the led to the dungeons.

He reached the common room within moments, yelling the password – "PARSELTONGUE!" – as he got closer to the passageway. It swung open, and he ran into the common room where his saw a group of fifth years sitting around the fireplace. They said hello and Scorpius gave them a nod before heading into the dorm to meet with his friends. They all sat on their usual four-posters, some sitting cross-legged with a book on their laps and some lying down and staring at the ceiling, trying to speak to those with the books in their laps. Scorpius walked over to his own bed, suddenly feeling a little tired and not wanting to celebrate the new group of Slytherins that were joining them that year. Rolling onto his bed, he sighed and looked around the room.

"Darian, how was your summer?" Scorpius asked, now becoming one of the boys who stared at the ceiling, begging for conversation. Darian was one of Scorpius' good friends. He was a pure-blood wizard whose parents were originally from Russia. The one flaw in their relationship was that Darian was very popular with the girls, giving Scorpius his much needed competition. But Darian was aware of his affections for Rose, so the flaw remained unaddressed and frankly seemed very unimportant to them both.

"Oh, just hung out with the family. It was very nice actually," Darian replied, flipping a page in his book, which looked to Scorpius to be their Potions textbook for the year. Scorpius nodded slowly and looked up at the ceiling.

Something was digging at him; it was something he couldn't describe. Scorpius bit the inside of his cheek hard and blinked tightly. Anxiety was not something he had had to ever deal with, really, but his encounter with Rose was beginning to make him a bit jittery and he found himself not being able to stay still. Sitting up, Scorpius made a loud grunting noise. All the other boys looked at him, brows lowering in confusion. He bit his lip in thought. "I think – I think I'm going to go up to the Gr – "

"No," said a few boys from the other side of the room. Darian turned to Scorpius, looking a little worried for his friend. It wasn't often Darian showed his friend how much he cared; this was a rare moment.

"If you smother her too much, she'll run off. Plus, you know what she says about her father… that blood traitor," Darian muttered and turned back to his textbook. Scorpius twitched at the blood comment and turned away from his friend quickly. Others were still looking at him, expecting him to just lie back down and forget about going to see Rose. Going to see her would certainly be an odd thing for him to do, even he was aware of that. Darian was right; it would throw Rose off to go see her, and he might even fall victim to one of her good ol fists to the face. That was what Scorpius really admired Rose for; she stuck up for herself. There was fire behind her bright blue eyes.

"You're probably right," Scorpius replied quietly, lying back down and putting his hands behind his head. Just as the room was sinking away from him, just as he was falling asleep…

Rose's face.

"Okay, I seriously need to go," Scorpius jumped up from his bed, pulling at his robes restlessly. He ran a hand through his hair as his eyes met with Darian's. Before Darian even opened his mouth, Scorpius already knew his friend was not going to give him his approval.

"Where're you going?"

Scorpius turned to see Albus entering the dorm room. He gave Scorpius a curious look and sat down on his own bed. They were close friends and had been for some time, plus Scorpius was not afraid to bet a pretty decent amount of money on Albus knowing about Scorpius' intentions with Rose. But somehow he still felt uncomfortable speaking to him about it. Albus gave him a knowing look now; oh dear.

"Going to see Rosie, are you?" Albus asked again, with his eyebrows raised halfway up his forehead as he pulled off his socks and threw them into his open trunk. Scorpius felt his lips fall open, and a stutter came out unexpectedly.

"I – I – I was considering it, yes."

"Well, don't do what you did tonight. I saw her. She was crying, she was in so much pain," Albus snapped rather sharply as he slammed his trunk closed. All eyes in the dorm were on Albus and Scorpius now.

He had… really hurt her? "I hurt her that much? I… I didn't mean – "

"Yeah, you don't mean to do much, do you?" Albus asked, his eyebrows still halfway up his forehead, his lips pressed tightly together in a sarcastic glare. "Listen, Malfoy, my uncle has been dead against the two of you being friendly since our very first ride on the Hogwarts Express. I'm not going to stop you two, but if you hurt her, emotionally or physically, I am telling you that you will greatly regret it."

Scorpius had never seen Albus get that angry, and although he hadn't actually yelled at him, Scorpius somewhat felt defeated. He was about to ask Albus whether he could go see her or not after all, but decided against it. Grabbing his pyjamas from his trunk and changing quickly, the urge to go see Rose grew stronger still. There had to be something he could do to see her without anyone knowing, because if even one other from their dorm found out, Albus would find out soon after. It was then that Scorpius found his eyes resting upon Albus' trunk.

A/N: Hello everyone! I can see that AWTW has gotten quite a few views already, but I'm not seeing any reviews. I encourage them, really! I love feedback, so please be kind and give me your responses to the chapters. Thank you!