6th year - May

She didn't know why she was there, surrounded by the dark walls of the Slytherin dungeon that were covered in curtains of green and silver. She missed the blaring warmth of the Gryffindor tower. She cursed James Potter's name under her breath because why would he of all people voluntarily come to the Slytherin common room and drag her here with him? Since when did he care if it was Scorpius Malfoy's birthday or not. In fact, why did most of the Potter-Weasley clan seem to have followed James willingly into this godforsaken place? Even Alice and Lorcan were there, and they weren't even related! And if her eyes did not betray her, did she even see Fred Weasley bring a gift?!

If that hand-wrapped present wasn't a cursed object, she would faint on spot.

Why did everyone make it seem like this was daily business to go to a Slytherin birthday party? Especially Scorpius Malfoy's birthday party? Why were they acting like this wasn't completely out of character? That this wasn't absolutely bonkers and against the rules of the universe?

Ok, so maybe Rose was overreacting just a teensy weensy bit. Yes, she did admit that Scorpius had gotten to know quite a few of her relatives and maybe it wasn't as weird as it would have been in the past that her cousins wanted to celebrate his birthday. And, yes, Scorpius was not as much of a terrible git as he had been in the past and was maybe even tolerable to be around.

He had even spent Christmas with them last year, even though Rose hardly remembered Christmas eve celebrations at all (thank you firewhisky). And, yes, Scorpius even came to eat dinner with them at the Gryffindor table from time to time, but that was just because of Albus. And yes, James and Fred would even invite Scorpius to play Quidditch with them for fun on the weekends. And yes, Hugo got Scorpius to teach him how to play Wizards Chess once in a while to surprise Ron for the next holiday. And yes, Lily had a crush on Scorpius's friend Damian so she was always going to him for advice. And yes, Louis was getting tutored by Scorpius in Potions because he said Rose was too scary and impatient as a teacher (his loss). And yes, even her own father asked her how the Malfoy kid was doing in his letters from time to time.

But still.

This was crossing the line.

"Albus!" James yelled as he saw his brother from across the room.

Albus waved them over to what seemed like a makeshift bar area at the corner of the Slytherin common room and started handing out drinks, which took up an obscene amount of time considering how many people James had lugged along.

She snatched a glass out of James' hand. She definitely needed a drink if she was going to be here.

Albus looked at her curiously, noticing her presence.

"Rose Weasley? In the Slytherin common room?"

Rose grunted in reply, "James dragged me here. He's threatening to tell mom about the owl incident. Though I don't know why James would even want to be here anyway."

"James has been here every other weekend to play Exploding Snap actually."

She stared blankly. So that's why James Potter was walking around the common room with such familiarity.

It was official. Her entire family was losing it. She was the only sane one and she would unfortunately have to be the one to admit everyone into St. Mungo's for treatment. She could just see the Prophet headlines now. The Potter-Weasley Clan's Fall from Greatness into Madness. Where did it all go wrong?

"Sorry we're late, Al. Ms. Gryffindor Princess only came after I blackmailed her and gave her 1-week of invisible cloak privileges," James chimed in, looking mighty at-home in a nearby black armchair.

Rose shrugged innocently and stuck her tongue out at her cousin like a 5-year-old. She knew it was immature but she was feeling betrayed. What happened to Slytherin germs?! Why was he sitting there as if he'd been there 100 times before?!

"Where's the birthday boy anyway?" James asked. Rose pretended not to be interested in the answer.

"He just went to the loo. We've been giving him a hard time," Albus winked.

"You already made him drink to the point of throwing up? It's only been an hour." Lily said with her hands on her hips and looking a bit too much like Ginny Weasley with her eyebrow raised in what could only be described as a motherly and stern manner.

"Just once. He will survive," Albus waved off his sister while taking a sip of his own drink.

"There he is!"

Rose pretended not to look in the direction that Hugo pointed. She wasn't interested at all in seeing the birthday boy. Not at all.

Scorpius Malfoy came out of the bathroom and quite literally bowed to the people in the room, acting like throwing up in the toilet was one of the greatest acts in history. But something about the way he did it made everyone cheer and laugh with him.

Rose never realized Scorpius had this many friends. Well, a big portion of it was her family and she guessed they were his … acquaintances.. and she would let him pretend they were his friends for one day, only because it was his birthday. But she was still surprised to see a few people in different houses show up. She guessed it wasn't quite as Slytherin-only as she thought it would be.

She heard Fred and James burst out into a corny and wildly inappropriate version of the Happy Birthday song that she was somewhat embarrassed to know the lyrics to. And other people chimed in because apparently this version of the song was famous among the teenage students.

Then, Rose surprised herself because she unknowingly found herself to also be singing alongside them, wishing her enemy a very happy birthday "and lots of great sex" as the lyrics went. (Hey, don't judge. Rose was not the one who made these lyrics up!)

She found herself maybe even having fun as the alcohol kicked in, and she watched as Al brought out a cake from Honeydukes that she may have given him some advice on how to decorate when she saw him struggling during last week's Hogsmeade trip. It was not that she wanted to help with Scorpius' birthday cake, but Albus was absolutely useless when it came to patisserie and she couldn't stand there and watch while he tried to mix green and purple icing.

She watched as Scorpius complimented the cake (which did make her feel just a little proud) and blew out his candles. He opened up Fred's gift, which wasn't a cursed object like Rose had hoped. Instead, it was a bottle of Ogden's finest along with a limited-edition Weasleys Wizard Wheezers contraption. And apparently, James had also gotten him a gift, a pair of new Quidditch gloves, specially made for Beaters. The next gift from Albus was a hot pink hat that read "Sexiest Man Alive," and the room rolled with laughter as Scorpius placed it on his head.

Seeing Scorpius opening up his presents, Rose was suddenly very aware of the object that was in the pocket of her trousers.

Ok - so it was possible that Rose Weasley may have brought a gift.

But to expalin herself, it was a very small one that she barely spent any money on. And it wasn't because she wanted to give Scorpius Malfoy anything. She definitely didn't want to celebrate something as horrendous as his day of birth. Or his existence. Or his anything. She was just taught her whole life that it was polite to bring people a gift for their birthday parties. It was nothing more than that. She couldn't embarrass Hermione Granger by not following proper birthday etiquette, now could she?

Bringing the gift in her pocket hadn't been so bad, especially because she specifically decided to wear a pair of baggy trousers with obscenely big pockets to make sure no one knew she was bringing a present. However, even the thought of taking it out and giving it to him in front of everyone made Rose want to be Avada'ed on spot. She would never put herself through that kind of embarrassment.

So, instead, she waited until everyone was distracted by something stupid James Potter was doing (a common occurrence) and she tried to catch Scorpius' eye. And from across the room, she waved to get his attention.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow with surprise. Rose Weasley was waving at him?

Once she knew she got his attention, she then pulled out the gift from her pocket when nobody was looking and held it up in the direction of his gaze. She pointed at the object, dangling it from her finger and hoping he could see it from that distance. He squinted at the object in her hand to try to make out what it was from the distance.

And then he saw it: a tiny wooden figurine on which Rose had drawn blonde hair and grey eyes (she would never admit how long it took her to find the right shades) wearing a bright orange mini Chudley Cannons jersey with the letter "S" on the back of it.

She felt her cheeks heating up and told herself it was from the alcohol and not from embarrassment. She was a Gryffindor, and embarrassment was supposed to be a foreign concept to her. She ignored the fact that that it may have been a little bit cowardly to show him his present when everyone else wasn't looking, but hey, at least she brought a present. She hadn't known what to get him and didn't know how he would react to any other gift. This one, at least, made her happy because she was representing her favorite Quidditch team and her beloved Collin Williams. Plus, it made her positively gleeful to think about the grimace she expected Scorpius to wear once he saw the gaudy orange.

When she locked eyes with him again, she waited for the grimace, the disgust, or maybe the same cool expression and unaffected gaze she was always met with whenever she saw Scorpius Malfoy. But instead, she saw the corners of his mouth lift up into what she might even consider a smile. In fact, it was a smile. A big one. It was an I-love-the-gift, I'm-happy-you're-here, let's-celebrate kind of smile. The kind that spreads to every last inch of the face, where the corners of the eyes crinkle and the whole face lights up. The kind that makes someone feel like the only one in the room. The kind where the person who receives it almost wants to smile back. Almost.

She wasn't even sure if she even knew who she was anymore because Scorpius Malfoy doesn't smile at Rose Weasley like that. At least, he wasn't supposed to. Not even Tipsy Scorpius on his birthday.

And she definitely didn't know who she was because she found herself smiling back. And she wasn't even Drunk Rose yet.

And then, she saw it. In the corner of Scorpius Malfoy's smiling face was something very peculiar. Something she had never seen before because it only appeared with the brightest of smiles, and people don't smile like that as often as they should, especially Scorpius Malfoy.

There it was, right at the corner of his curved lip.

A left-sided dimple.

I really liked the idea of having sister chapters for Scorpius and Rose.

And, as you can tell, I must have a weak spot for dimples.

Also, I've been really craving feedback, so please review your thoughts! And a huge thank you to anyone who reviewed so far!

It really makes it feel more worthwhile to write to an audience, so please know you really make my day when you review/follow/favorite.

See you soon.

XX