- CHAPTER EIGHT -

"Ah, Potter! Thank goodness I found you!" A tall, handsome, Italian-looking boy stated regarding the Slytherin common room, which was empty except for one slim red-headed girl with her arms folded and her eyebrows knitted into a frown.

"Zabini, don't you think that after being my brother's friend for over 6 years you can stop the whole act that you can't remember my first name?" Lily snapped, not even bothering to lift her gaze from the bottom of the boy's staircase where it was currently fixed. Guilliano Zabini, unused to having someone – least of all a girl – ignoring him, strode across the room and planted himself directly in her field of vision.

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Zabini, this is no time for you being your usual self, I need to talk to my brother now."

"And why might that be?" Guilliano drawled, ruffling his hair in a way that he knew made him completely irresistible to girls. Lily didn't even bat an eyelid, and continued glaring past him at the staircase. The faint widening of his eyes, unnoticed to the girl in front of him, showed his immense irritation that she wasn't even remotely affected by his presence.

"Not that you should care, but it's do to with Rosie being ambushed by her dreadful ex-boyfriend in the library," Lily said, just as her brother, Albus, walked calmly down the stairs still in the process of perfecting his usual hairstyle – one which looked as though he had just jumped off his Nimbus 4000.

"You called, sister," he said, a nonchalant but undeniably Potter-esque grin creeping over his handsome features.

"Yes, about half a bloody hour ago!" Lily snarled. Guilliano sniggered, but was silenced by a look from her. "Have you been doing your hair this whole time?"

Albus grinned sheepishly. "Maybe."

"Sometimes I actually wonder if you're a girl in a boy's body," Lily snapped, grabbing his arm and hauling him out of the Slytherin common room. "You better go rescue your cousin from that complete…moron, or I will crown you officially the worst relative EVER."

"You're forgetting that you're related to James."

"Fine, the SECOND worst relative ever," Lily snapped, taking the stairs two at a time, with Guilliano and Al struggling to keep up with her and her irritatingly determined legs.

"Why do I need to save her anyway? And which moron are you referring to?" Al asked.

Lily sighed. "Isn't it obvious? You're saving her from Lorcan, and you're saving her because he's a moron. Comprendez?" They skidded to a halt outside the library and Lily peered in. "They've gone!"

She seemed quite shocked, and also a little scared for her cousin. That idiot of a Ravenclaw wasn't someone she really wanted her favourite cousin hanging out with.

"She probably ran for it and is currently hiding in a cupboard in the Head's common room," Guilliano interrupted Lily's train of thought, "with a book, obviously."

Al began to laugh but one glance from Lily shut him up and he quickly put on his 'serious' face. "Well, captain, where do you suggest we begin the search?"

Lily grinned. "Agent Potter, you go search the Head's common room. Agent Idiot-"

"Are you referring to me?" Guilliano demanded, pointing a tanned finger at his perfectly defined chest. Lily nodded with a sigh. "Can't I be Agent Hot, then?"

"No," Lily said with a tone of finality. "Agent Potter, why are you still here?"

Al glanced between his sister and Guilliano. "I didn't realise the orders were going to be put in place immediately! You should say these things! I'll go now!" And with that he set off at a slow jog – presumably to prevent any unwanted ruffling to his hair.

"What about Agent Suave?"

"What about Agent Shut Up Now?" Lily said angrily, folding her arms and regarding her brother's friend unpleasantly.

"I'm not sure I'm really clicking with that name actually. How about-"

"That's it. You are no longer an agent. I'm denoting you. Now, listen, you are going to the Ravenclaw common room to look for the moron," she snapped, prodding him forcefully in the chest.

Guilliano smirked obnoxiously. "Which one?"

"You know full well which one, you pathetic lump of slime. I am going to go find the third idiot from your little trio of idiots. We gather here at…um…" she grabbed Guilliano's arm and twisted it so she could see the time on his very expensive watch, "half past 5. Got it?"

"Yes sir," he said, mock-saluting her. "I mean, ma'am."

*

"Uh…Rosie?" Scorpius said, looking down from his significant height advantage to look at me like a Arithmancy calculation he couldn't quite get his head around. "If you have been hiding that tongue under all those witty little remarks, then why the hell did Lorcan break up with you?"

He just ruined a beautiful moment.

I think I want to slap him.

Of all the moments to turn on his perv-machine, did it have to be now when that moment that I have been unconsciously dreaming of my entire life just occurred. What am I thinking, of course it does. It's part of the Malfoy package – fabulous snog, followed by oblique sexual reference. There is no two ways about it.

Then it dawned on me.

I just kissed Scorpius Malfoy.

SCORPIUS MALFOY.

The same blonde idiot who I have been resisting the urge to punch for the entire time I have known him. The same blonde idiot who pushed me in the swimming pool at Al's house when I was in my pyjamas and holding a book. The book was ruined by the way.

That very same idiot.

So why on earth did I just lock lips with him?

I stepped back. "Ugh…I'm sorry for what just happened. I think I've lost my sanity. I should probably go visit Madame Pomfrey directly," I said in serious, yet quavering, tone. She must have some sort of potion for romance-related mental breakdowns.

"Why are you sorry?" Scorpius frowned, then his eyebrows shot up and his trademark smirk appeared on his slightly more pink than usual lips. "I get it, you want to do it again. My, my, there's no pleasing you Ravenclaws and your voracious sexual appetites." He grinned goofily at me.

"I do not have a voracious sexual appetite, and I don't want to kiss you again, because that is the reason my brain has turned to mush," I told him, trying to dodge past him so I could get out the door to the hospital wing. He put both his hands on my shoulders.

"That happened to you too?"

The goofy joking smile had seemingly disappeared off his face, and I had the distinct impression that he was being truthful for the first time in his 17 years of life. "What do you mean?"

"The mushy brain syndrome, did you get that just then?"

I looked up at him. "Of course I did. That's why I need insanity curing potion." At this the seriousness vanished as quickly as it had come and he burst out laughing.

"You are such a goon!" He spluttered through his laughter. "I suppose that's why I love you." In seconds his lips were back on mine and I was completely lost again. His arms entwined around my waist and once again I reached up so my fingers were touching the soft strands of hair on the back on head.

It was the probably the first time in my entire life that I wasn't thinking something intelligent. The only thing I could think of was him. The way his hand curved in the small of my back like pieces of a puzzle. The way that when his lips touched mine my fingertips tingled. The way that pressed up against him I could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine was.

"Scorpius? Rosie?" a high pitched squeak came from the somewhere near the doorway. Scorpius and I broke apart instantly and jumped apart so that there was a good three feet between us. I flattened down my hair sheepishly when I saw that it was Al standing in the doorway, his gaze flicking between Scorpius and I and his eyes wide in disbelief.

Hello, cousin! How lovely to see you!

"We were just doing our…Divination homework. Would you like to join us?" Scorpius said, in what I conceived to be the dummest lie that had ever crossed his lips.

Maybe I shouldn't think about his lips. Or anything about the way he does that thing….

STOP IT ROSIE.

Al's face, which a second ago looked as though it was going to implode, suddenly broke out into a slightly awkward grin. "Looks like Rosie's reminiscing."

"I hate you so much," I said miserably, trying my best not to let my attention flick towards Scorpius on my right.

"Maybe you shouldn't be saying things like that, after all, we both know that I have a valuable piece of information that I'm sure your father will be dying to hear," Al drawled, a smirk adorning his face that even Salazar himself would have been proud of.

I looked up sharply and narrowed my eyes. "You wouldn't dare!" My father is going to kill me.

Farewell life. It was good whilst it lasted.

Goodbye common room, you are the home of many memories that will remain with me until I die. Next week.

And adieu Malfoy. I will forever remember the softness of your lips and how annoyingly hot you looked with your shirt off.

"I haven't written to my dear Uncle Ron in a long time, so I'll be off to the Owlery. Oh, and perhaps I'll jot one of to Mr Malfoy. Me and him have a bond, you know. Laters, lovebirds," Al grinned. Oh god no. Please no."Catch me if you can, fools!"

With that he turned on his heel and sprinted out the room. I turned my attention to Scorpius, priming myself to be ready to run.
"There is no way he would actually do that. He is way too much of a wimp," Scorpius said, eyeing the empty doorway in astonishment.

"Is that a risk you really want to take?" I asked, my eyebrows raised.

"No, not really. RUN!"

This was originally where I had planned to end this story, but I'm still kind of debating whether or not to continue it, because I do have a few plot ideas. Let me know if you think I should :)

I hope you enjoyed it! Leave me a review if you have any suggestions, or if you think I should just leave it here.

LOVE G X