The days following Boxing Day had been a bit of a roller coaster for Scorpius. Archie had woken up that afternoon, determined to get over Molly and be better. He had Scorpius go with him to his flat, and they dumped all of his alcohol down the various drains. They also took some time to tidy up the rather sullied flat.

He'd really put in an effort to be better and his spirits seemed lifted just by the mere fact that he was trying. Scorpius had been worried that Archie would do something rash like show up at Lucy's flat drunk and try to talk to Molly, but that now seemed like the last thing he would do. There was still something in his eyes when he talked about it, which he only ever did in passing. He might not be completely over her, and maybe not even for awhile, but at least he was trying.

Scorpius, on the other hand, was attempting to decide how much he wanted to throw himself into Rose's life. The face-to-face part she'd at least have a say in, but he could just continue writing her letters and getting to know her with Rose none the wiser that it was him. But there was something manipulative and dishonest about that option that didn't sit well with Scorpius, so he'd made up his mind, but he also quickly found that he couldn't keep from writing her one last time. He was still so emotionally tied to Daisy that he felt horrible for how long he'd left her waiting already. The decision to cut ties in that way had been a difficult one that he hadn't come to lightly, but Scorpius knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if he ever wanted to tell Rose the truth, he couldn't keep up that particular charade.

He tried to write as if it weren't Rose on the receiving end, even including comments that might have given too much away, but were vague enough that it could be referring to any number of things. It had been difficult to address her breakup. The old Scorpius would have jumped for joy, but the more knowledgeable Scorpius felt so incredibly conflicted by this news. He meant what he said about being happy she'd figured out what she wanted, but he was working hard to ignore the fact that she made it rather clear that she wanted him. Daisy wanted Leo, and even though she didn't know it, Rose wanted Scorpius.

He'd had a consistent headache in the days leading up to sending the letter, which he'd rewritten multiple times. He thought about talking to Al and getting his advice, but Scorpius already knew what he would say; just tell her the truth.

But they'd just made peace with each other, and he had a feeling that Rose wasn't ready for the truth. They'd have no chance of anything if he told her now. Then again, what were the odds that they ever would, now that he was actively keeping the truth from her? Did he even want anything with Rose?

It was all too much to try and juggle, and the only thing he'd truly had clarity on, was that nothing felt right about continuing to write to her without her knowing the truth. So Scorpius had gone with his gut and ended things, no matter how painful it was for him, and how much it might hurt her. It was taking a great effort for him to focus on anything else.

On New Year's Eve, Archie had shown up at Scorpius' flat so they could go to the pub together, something that Archie had insisted on as he was still nervous around Molly's family, even with his newfound sense of resolve to be past it all.

They showed up around half past nine, the party in full swing. Scorpius took his time wandering around and talking to various friends from school as well as a few of their parents. He'd been thankful that he'd been accepted at these parties from a young age, despite his father's history. It was always a warm and welcoming atmosphere and he appreciated that.

Archie had stuck close by, just in case Dom or someone else accosted him again. They saw her at one point, and she'd given them both timid waves before turning away. They'd seen Molly as well, but she either hadn't noticed them or was ignoring their presence.

Scorpius hadn't really seen Rose except from a distance. He found himself wanting to talk to her, but wasn't entirely sure how or what about. If he wasn't writing to her, should he ignore her in public as well? He found he didn't want to, even though he knew he should, and was saved the decision when Rose approached him and Archie not long after eleven o'clock, looking very much like she wanted to be somewhere else.

"So, I'm going to need a favor."

Scorpius' brow rose in surprise. "Is that even something we do?"

"It can be," she said with a shrug, "but this is technically for Molly so you don't have to think of it as doing something for me."

Archie had gone still at the mention of Molly's name, and Rose's uncomfortable gaze shifted to him.

"Is whatever this is a good idea?" asked Scorpius, glancing at his friend nervously. Rose looked uncertain.

"Maybe. We'll see."

Just then, Molly appeared out of the crowd, standing at Rose's side. She gave Scorpius a small smile before turning her attention to Archie.

"Can we talk?" she asked quietly, her eyes hopeful yet cautious. Archie had grown slightly pale, but he took a sip of the gilly water he'd opted for and nodded. Molly turned and made her way through the crowd, Archie on her heels without a backwards glance at the other two.

"I told her we'd cover for them," Rose explained to Scorpius.

"What does she want?" asked Scorpius, his eyes following them as they discreetly made their way down the hall that he knew led to a set of stairs that would take them up to the rooms above the pub.

"Closure is what she says," Rose said with a sigh. "It's hard to know for sure, but I think she believes that's all she wants."

"He's finally been okay the past few days. He wasn't for awhile. He never dealt with it when she left."

It made him nervous to think the progress his friend had made could easily be all undone, but maybe Archie needed the closure as well.

He looked down at Rose, who was also watching their friend's retreating figures, chewing her lip nervously. She was dressed in a purple jumper and slim black trousers, most likely made from some type of denim material, a pair of short boots on her feet. Her hair was loose and wild, the way he liked it best. When she turned away from watching their friends, her eyes went straight to his, and he gulped nervously. He should just walk away, keep his distance. But they needed to be there for Archie and Molly.

"Would it be horrible of us if we listened in?" he asked, and was surprised to see Rose look as if she were extremely tempted to take him up on his suggestion.

"I actually told Jane I'd buffer for her tonight as well." She gestured over her shoulder to where Jane Ryan was standing with James and Hugo, looking a little agitated.

"Well, what all are we required to do here?" he asked, nodding in the direction their friends had gone. Rose shrugged.

"Keep people away from them? And keep everyone from noticing they're gone and asking questions."

Scorpius nodded, a plan formulating in his mind. It would probably work, but it also meant he'd be spending time with Rose. Then again, it wasn't like one night in her company would hurt anything.

"Right. Wait a couple moments, then follow my lead. And be friendly."

She looked at him in confusion before he walked away from her and boldly approached James, Hugo, and Jane, shaking James' hand in greeting.

"Al said you had a bit of a setback with the shop?" James asked as Rose walked up next to Jane.

"Just a bit of an infestation," Scorpius said with a grimace. "We should be all good to resume construction within the week."

"When do you open?"

Everyone turned to look at Rose when she asked the question, and Scorpius did his best to act like it was perfectly normal for them to be talking about this in an amicable way.

"Supposed to be sometime in February, but this might set us back to beginning of March."

She gave a nod in interest. "And the shop in Hogsmeade? How's that been?"

Scorpius did his best to hold in a grin. She was pulling this off just as well, if not better, than he'd hoped. And he'd barely even told her what to do.

"It's going well. I visited a few weeks ago and they're cracking along nicely."

"Since when are you two friends?" Hugo asked, glancing between Scorpius and his sister.

"We're not, exactly," said Rose with a shrug and a glance at Scorpius. "Just trying to get along now."

"Think that'll work?" James asked skeptically.

"Not if you all continue to voice your doubts," said Scorpius in annoyance.

"Did you know about this?" Hugo asked Jane, who'd remained silent.

"I knew they'd called a bit of a truce, yeah."

"Does Lily know?" James asked, glancing around for his sister. "She'll be chuffed. So will Molly."

"Can we move on?" Rose asked quickly, just as the music changed to something slightly slower.

"Fine by me," Scorpius said, struck suddenly with an idea that was sure to divert attention from the absence of Molly and Archie. He reached out and grabbed Rose by the hand, pulling her towards the dance floor that was situated on the opposite side of the room from where the stairs led to the second level. If enough people were watching them, Archie and Molly would be able to sneak back downstairs unnoticed.

He tried very hard not to think too much about what he was doing as he pulled Rose into his arms and began slowly leading her around the dance floor. Her hand fit quite comfortably in his, her skin soft and warm. He was a head taller than her, something he'd never really thought too much about before now. Scorpius couldn't remember ever being quite this close to her. He took a deep breath to keep his hand from shaking as it rested on her waist.

"Umm… Malfoy?"

Scorpius looked down at Rose, who seemed perplexed by his actions.

"How's this helping Archie and Molly?"

He couldn't help but smirk at her. "Look around."

She glanced around the room and Scorpius watched in amusement as she quickly looked back up at him, her cheeks tinged pink.

"Everyone's staring at us," she hissed at him.

"Exactly. No one will be watching for them to come down the stairs together."

She looked slightly impressed at his rather ingenious plan, but it turned to one of annoyance a moment later.

"You forgot that I said I needed to buffer for Jane as well."

Scorpius glanced over to see she was still standing with Hugo, James having wandered off a few feet to talk to Lily, and they were both watching him and Rose unashamedly.

"Right, sorry," he said. "But she's with your brother, so it's not too bad."

"That's who she needed a buffer from."

Scorpius' brow rose in shock, and he couldn't help but glance over at them once again. Hugo was now talking to her, and Jane was doing her best to refrain from making eye contact with him.

"Is that a thing?" he asked, looking back down at Rose.

"Not exactly. She's just all in her head about it after realizing that he's not just my little brother."

"Really? Is that weird for you?"

She shrugged a bit, her previously stiff posture relaxing as she got caught up in the conversation.

"Hasn't really sunk in. She just told me earlier today. I don't think it could be a bad thing, but I'm not sure if he even fancies her. He's a little difficult to read and he's always been a bit of a slow mover."

As soon as she'd finished answering Scorpius question, Rose looked up at him in surprise for a moment, obviously shocked that she'd opened up that easily. They danced in silence for a few moments, and he watched her as she glanced around the room, occasionally directing her gaze to his shoulder when she caught someone watching them.

"Did you have a nice Christmas?"

She glanced up at his question before directing her gaze back to where her hand rested on his shoulder.

"It was lovely. Just me and Mum and Dad and Hugo. Jane came over for a bit as well which is sort of when this whole thing started. I napped through it, unfortunately."

He chuckled at that. "Do you nap often?"

"When it's warranted," she said with a small smile.

They fell into silence for another moment and the song changed to one even slower. Scorpius took the opportunity to drop her hand and put both of his on her waist, pulling her slightly closer. Rose looked up at him in surprise as her now free hand automatically went to his shoulder.

"Think they'll be done soon?" he asked quietly as Rose continued to stare up at him. He'd never quite noticed how warm her eyes could be. They'd always been filled with fire when she'd looked at him before; always on guard to defend or attack.

"I hope so," she said in a small voice. "At the rate we're going, we'll be the talk of the town rather than them."

He grinned cheekily. "Would that be so bad?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, it would be untrue."

The little world he'd allowed himself to build around them shattered at her words, and he tried not to let it show on his face.

"Fair point."

An awkward bit of silence settled over them, but Scorpius found he didn't want this opportunity to talk to her to go to waste, no matter what they might be talking about.

"You're putting yourself through an awful lot for your cousin. Sure it's worth your reputation?"

He said it with a teasing tone, and he was rewarded with a slight chuckle.

"Molly's the type of person you can't exactly say no to. Not because she's manipulative or anything. She's just one of the best people I know."

"I remember when we were in school," Scorpius said with a fond smile, and Rose looked up at him with curious eyes. "And I accidentally chopped one of my sopophorous beans instead of crushing it, and she gave me one of hers. Hers didn't turned out less than perfect because of it, but mine was better than it would have been otherwise."

"She's always been selfless like that," said Rose with fondness in her eyes.

"You've missed her quite a bit, haven't you?"

He expected her to maybe avert her gaze, but she just nodded, her eyes a bit melancholy, and he tried not to notice the way her thumb absentmindedly rubbed against his shoulder.

"I know it was what was best for her, but it was strange for her to go from always being there to almost completely absent from my life. Did mean I saw less of you though," she threw out with a teasing grin. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm beginning to realise you don't like me that much."

"Only when you're being a prat," she said with a smirk. "You're doing alright tonight."

He grinned. "I'll try and keep it up."

She studied his face, her own expression curious as she pursed her lips and her eyes squinted.

"Have you well and truly forgiven me? For what I said to you? I wouldn't blame you if you hadn't."

He sighed, looking away from her for a second before meeting her gaze, which now seemed slightly nervous as well as curious.

"I suppose I have," he said with a shrug. "It's not like I've never done anything to get a rise out of you. But if this whole truce thing is going to work, the topic of my family history? That's completely off limits unless I bring it up."

She nodded, her expression somewhat guilty, but still managing a small smile.

"Noted."

They continued in silence, and Rose let out a sigh of relief as Molly approached them just as the song ended. Scorpius grimaced when he saw she'd obviously been crying.

"What do you need?" Rose asked immediately.

"Just tell Lucy I wasn't feeling well and went home, alright?"

"Alright," Rose assured her. "Can I-?"

"I just need to go," Molly insisted. "Happy New Year."

And with that she turned and made her way out of the pub, careful to keep her head down so she wasn't stopped. Scorpius glanced around the room.

"Do you know where Archie went?"

"No," she said, and he turned to see Rose glancing around the room as well. "Have you seen Jane and my brother?"

A quick survey didn't turn up any of them.

"I should find him," said Scorpius, giving her an apologetic smile.

"I should find Jane."

He nodded, and almost wished her a Happy New Year, but she walked away without a farewell, leaving him alone on the dance floor.

Scorpius really shouldn't have expected much else, seeing as they had really only been spending time together as a distraction that was now no longer needed. It had another element to it for Scorpius, but Rose was blissfully unaware of the confused feelings he had for her. Because he'd realized there wasn't anything else to call them. He'd been trying to ignore and avoid them, and it felt strange that he'd turned from anger towards her to something akin to infatuation within a weeks time. As soon as he started to see the girl in the letters coming through, it had grown more difficult to distinguish Daisy from Rose.

Shaking his head and heaving a sigh, he made his way through the crowd, his eyes peeled for Archie. Instead, he found Al a few minutes later.

"Have you seen Arch?"

"Hello to you too," Al drawled, obviously slightly tipsy.

"Hi," Scorpius said with a roll of his eyes. "Have you seen Archie?"

"Umm…" Al said with a comically contemplative look. "I think I saw him wandering towards the kitchens?"

Scorpius took off, ignoring Al's sounds of protest. He pushed open the double doors that led to the kitchen. There were a few people baking and cleaning, and Hannah Longbottom was levitating a bottle of champagne to pour into multiple flutes for the toast they'd be doing at midnight, which was only fifteen minutes away, he noted, checking the clock on the back wall.

"Your friend's in my pantry," Hannah said, not taking her eyes off her task, and Scorpius made his way through the kitchen.

He found Archie sitting in the pantry with his back against the shelves, facing towards the door. His head was resting against a bag of flour, his eyes closed. They opened as Scorpius shut the door behind him, flipping the light on so they wouldn't be drowned in darkness.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting down across from Archie and resting his arms on his knees.

"I basically just bore my soul, so I needed a moment."

"Do you want me to-?"

Archie shook his head, closing his eyes again and taking a deep breath.

"You're fine. I'd just rather not talk about it."

Scorpius nodded, resolved to just sit there for whenever Archie needed something. Roughly ten minutes had passed in silence before he spoke.

"I didn't think I'd ever tell her why it all fell apart, you know? I didn't think she'd ever ask."

He rubbed a hand over his tired face, opening his eyes to look at his best friend.

"That was so bloody painful to watch her be disappointed all over again."

"At least she knows the truth," Scorpius said in an attempt at reassurance.

"I suppose," Archie said with a sigh. They sat in silence for a few moments, Scorpius' mind running through everything that had happened that night.

"Would it help if I told you something that's so completely mad, you're likely to forget all your troubles?"

Archie gave a disbelieving snort. "You can bloody well try, no that it'll do much good."

"You're not going to believe it," Scorpius assured him. He really didn't know what had possessed him to tell Archie this now, but it seemed honesty was on the agenda for tonight, and he might as well be honest with someone.

"Remember Daisy? The girl I was writing to?"

Archie nodded, his eyes already sparked with curiosity.

"It's Rose."

A blank stare was all Archie gave him for a few moments.

"What?"

"I found out the day I was supposed to go meet her."

Archie continued to stare blankly at him.

"Daisy is Rose?"

Scorpius nodded.

"So the night you two argued-"

"She was waiting for me, and I went on the off chance I'd decide to tell her. Which I didn't. She still has no clue."

Archie let out a low whistle before shaking his head and letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"Fucking hell, mate. What are the chances?"

"I haven't done the math, surprisingly."

Archie chuckled, crossing his arms as he digested this information.

"What the hell are you going to do?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Not a bloody clue. I wrote to her the other day to break it off, but I see her all the ruddy time. Doesn't seem as possible to stay away in real life."

"Do you even want to?"

That was the real question, but he found he didn't really need to think about it.

"No. I reckon I don't."

He knew he was blushing. His cheeks felt warm and Archie was smirking at him.

"No use saying 'I told you so.' And I'm not ready to get into everything you've been telling me for years about our sexual tension."

Archie chuckled. "Just tell me when you are. I'm looking forward to it."

Scorpius rolled his eyes as a cheer sounded from the party. He checked his watch.

"Come on," Scorpius said, standing and extending a hand to his friend. "Countdown is about to start."

Archie allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. They made their way out of the kitchen just in time for the countdown to begin. As everyone watched the clock on the wall, shouting with excitement as it reached midnight, Scorpius' eyes found Rose, who was standing with Al and Abigail, a smile on her face as she hugged her cousin and accepted his rather sloppy kiss on her cheek with a laugh. She looked more beautiful than normal when she was carefree like that, and he felt a rush of affection for her as she sipped her champaign, greeting the various friends and family members that approached her, multiple Happy New Years falling from her lips.

It wasn't exactly the year he had pictured, Scorpius realised. It had been full of some of the best highs as well as some of the lowest lows. He'd helped open a new shop and was well on his way to a second. He'd ended a long term relationship, and he'd won a research grant. His best friend had made him a godfather, and he'd seen his other best friend succumb to a miserable existence for a time. He'd done the abnormal and actually fallen for someone he'd never even met before, only to have his world turned upside down when he found he'd known her all along.

And Rose Weasley had challenged him and mocked him and made him feel like scum at times. She'd insulted his family and made him feel like he didn't matter. But somewhere along the way, he'd forgiven her, and he'd seen who she really was; a person who makes mistakes, but does whatever she can to make things right.

Rose had gone from the bane of his existence, to someone that he not only didn't hate, but that he was fairly certain he was falling for. Completely against his will.

People were still enjoying the party roughly half an hour after midnight, and Rose had caught Scorpius Malfoy looking her way on a few occasions. She was trying not to think about that, or the fact that she'd actually enjoyed dancing with him. And talking to him.

Rose hadn't been able to find Jane before midnight, and she'd just about given up looking for her when she finally came across her sitting on the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Is there a reason you're hiding?" Rose asked, moving to sit next to her on the bottom step. Jane gave a shrug.

"It's either this or I make a fool of myself in front of your brother."

Rose grimaced, unsure how exactly to handle this situation. It was hard not to feel guilty since she'd told Jane she'd stay with her, yet she'd constantly lost track of her throughout the evening.

"Sorry I was a bit all over the place tonight. Did anything happen?"

Jane shook her head, gazing blankly ahead. "Other than me just generally falling all over myself in a rather poor effort to not give myself away? No, nothing happened."

Rose leaned her head on Jane's shoulder with a mumbled apology.

"What's got you so worked up about this? You're normally much more collected when it comes to blokes."

Jane shrugged, slightly jostling Rose's head. "Just feels different. You're basically my family and he's your family. I don't want to mess that up."

Rose reached out and gave Jane's hand a squeeze. "That won't happen, alright? No matter how much you make a fool of yourself over my brother."

Jane chuckled good naturedly, but stopped suddenly. Rose lifted her head when she too heard the sound of footsteps much too close, and Hugo stopped in front of them. She glanced at Jane nervously, who was looking at Hugo with wide eyes, neither of them sure what all he'd heard.

"I was getting ready to head out and wanted to say goodnight," he said, glancing back and forth between the two of them. Unable to think of anything else to do, Rose stood, hugging her brother tightly before stepping back. His attention was now fully on Jane, a curious expression on his face as Jane worried her lip between her teeth, her eyes on her feet. Hugo looked at his sister.

"Give us a moment?" he whispered, and Rose only hesitated for a few seconds before she gripped his hand and nodded, leaving them to it.

Most of the crowd had started to clear out in the few moments that she'd been gone, and the only people that remained were James, Fred and Dani, and Lily and Carter.

"That cleared out quick," she commented as she approached them.

"Hannah threatened to put people to work cleaning," James explained with a yawn.

"You looked like you were having a nice time tonight," Lily commented with a smirk. "Saw you on the dance floor."

Rose rolled her eyes. "It's a long story, but it wasn't what it looked like."

"You mean Scorpius Malfoy isn't quite taken with you?" Dani said in a sceptical voice.

"Of course he isn't," Rose insisted, though even she knew her voice lacked conviction. She'd seen the way he'd been looking at her the remainder of the evening, but maybe it was just because he was starting to see her the way she was seeing him; as something other than merely a rival. It intrigued her to see different sides to him, so he was probably just pondering those things the same as Rose.

They all began wandering around and casting various charms to vanish the garbage and clean up spills. It was all just about put to rights when Hugo and Jane emerged.

"I think that's it," Dani said, taking one last look around the room.

"Thanks you lot," Hannah said with a grateful sigh. "Would have taken me twice as long myself."

She wished them all goodnight as they pulled on their coats and left the pub. Unable to tell what had happened between her brother and Jane, Rose watched them closely as they all went their separate ways when they reached the street. Amongst the quickly exchanged farewells, they merely smiled at each other and said goodnight before Hugo headed for the flat he shared with Louis, and Jane and Rose made their way down the street.

"Well?" Rose asked as soon as she had a chance. Jane rolled her eyes, but she had an amused smile on her face.

"Nothing much happened. I don't think he heard what you said, but he'd picked up on my odd behavior and he told me I didn't need to feel uncomfortable around him just because I was afraid of leading him on."

Rose's eyes widened in shock.

"You're kidding? What did you say?"

Jane smiled. "I said I'd keep that in mind."

"That can't be all. You were back there for ten minutes."

"I was too nervous to ask him to explain what he meant, and we started talking about other things," she explained. "He asked if I'd enjoyed the party and we talked about your escapade onto the dance floor…"

Rose cringed at the pointed look Jane gave her.

"We were causing a distraction so Molly and Archie could talk. But don't change the subject."

Jane laughed. "Fine, let that be your story. But Hugo did ask if I'd maybe want to grab lunch sometime. He said he's trying to do what I suggested and actually be more of himself, and apparently he's a big fan of lunch breaks even though he rarely takes them."

It was hard to tell in the dark street, but Rose knew from her voice that Jane was beaming.

"You do fancy him."

Jane laughed at the shocked tone in Rose's voice.

"Maybe. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's just lunch between two friends. Nothing more."

Sensing the resolve in Jane's voice and knowing she wouldn't want to be teased too mercilessly if she were in the same position, Rose let it go. Instead, she let herself feel excited about all of the prospects that came with the new year. Dom was going to have a baby, Lucy was going to get married, and maybe her best friend would date her brother. There was still the dread in the back of her mind that her store could end up in trouble thanks to Scorpius Malfoy, but she found that she'd started the year off not hating him, and it didn't feel like it would take too much of an effort to keep things that way.

A/N: I tried to think of a way to include the conversation between Molly and Archie in a way that made sense, but it didn't feel right to me. It will be talked about a little more, of course, and it's not entirely necessary to read since we know the whole story. I do have it written out, so if you'd like to read it, I've actually been thinking about creating another story as a holding place for outtakes from this story. Would people want to read those?

Hope you enjoyed all the Scorpius/Rose interaction :)

Happy Reading!