Rose leant against the wall, her mind reeling as she waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass before she followed Scorpius into the party. She couldn't understand why Lily had reacted the way she did. Obviously, walking in on your cousin while she was with somebody would've have shaken her but this was something more. Her hurt, no betrayal, had been obvious on her face when she had cried out.

She was worried. She didn't know what Lily would do, how much damage she would cause. Her cousin wasn't known for being subtle. She said exactly what she thought with no regards for the consequences. The only thing Rose could be grateful for was that James had left. If he had still been at the school, things would have gotten ugly pretty quickly. With any luck, he would never find out.

It was the shouts that shook her from her thoughts. She hurriedly turned to the portrait, who looked at her in curiosity, having seen the scene that had occurred minutes before

"You're not having a good night are you?" the fat lady said but Rose didn't have time to answer, dashing into the common room as soon as the entrance opened.

She almost staggered back with shock when she saw the look on Al's face; she had never seen him so angry. She took in the scene quickly; Al's clenched fist; the way Scorpius was holding his nose and dived between the two of them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she called out, her own anger rising.

"I'm going to kill that bastard. That is what I'm doing. Now, move out the way Rose. I'll deal with you later."

"No."

"Excuse me?" Al asked, not quite believing her.

She simply repeated it, daring him to challenge her.

And he did.

Al drew his wand from his pocket and fired a disarming spell at her. She blocked it lazily, no longer caring that this was her cousin, her best friend.

"That all you got?"

Their classmates watched in horror as the two of them squared off, mentally looking for the others weakness. Years of friendship meant they knew each other too well, each predicting each feigned movement the other made.

Mia was begging Al too stop but he wouldn't listen. He was a stranger to her now, no longer the caring boyfriend who had planned such a wonderful evening. Determinationwas clear on his face as he sent a spell at Rose, who as she had before merely deflected it, a smirk on her face.

It was Scorpius that realized her intentions, saw that she was scared. If she really began to duel, she would need to tap into her power, something that brought out a fear in her nobody else recognized. To the rest of the crowd, she seemed nonchalant, as if it barely bothered her that her cousin was firing magic at her in rapid succession, desperate to break through to her. It was as if she thought he wasn't even a worthy opponent. He couldn't help the panic he felt; if Al kept pushing her, she wouldn't be able to stop herself. He needed to act quickly.

Luckily for him, the decision was taken from him when the door to the common room swung open to reveal none other than Professor McGonigall, the headmistress. The students quickly scrambled to hide the evidence of their party but for now at least, she took no notice.

"Would someone care to explain what on earth is going on here?"

Breathing deeply, Rose tried to calm her nerves as she was escorted into Hogsmeade by the Headmistress. It had been one of McGonigall's conditions seeing as Rose wasn't meant to leave the castle. As well as a month's detention, thirty points from Gryffindor (Al gad gotten fifty), she wasn't allowed into Hogsmeade for the rest of the term. The only reason Rose wasn't stuck inside the school was because she had to meet her parents.

For the past week she had been ignoring everybody, especially her best friends, who more than happy to stay out of her way, while she tried to straighten things out in her chaotic mind. She still wasn't entirely sure why either of the cousins had reacted the way they had. Of course, she hadn't expected Al to take it well but it was as if somebody else had taken over him, a stranger. She could still remember the hatred on his face as he had fired spell after spell at her, no longer focused on killing Scorpius but hurting her. And he had. Maybe not in the way he had first intended but the idea that her own flesh and blood had turned on her cut more deeply than any spell ever could. What made it worse was knowing that she had no one to blame but herself.

You sure made a fine mess of everything.

But now it was time to face the music. She had to do what she had been doing for years, what she did best. It was time for damage control.

The Hog's Head was almost empty when Rose and the elderly professor entered. Her parents sat close to the door, waiting impatiently. Spotting them, McGonigall nodded before speaking curtly.

"Ron. Hermione. I'll be back in a hour."

Rose gulped slightly when she saw the angry flush on her father's face. Wiping her clammy hands on her jeans, she took a seat across from them. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous after the countless interviews she had given. After all that was the majority of the wizarding community instead of just two people. Perhaps it was because she had never been in serious trouble before, or rather been caught in trouble of this scale. Whenever she and Scorpius had found themselves in similar positions, they had been sure to cover their tracks.

Just thinking about him caused her chest to tighten with sorrow. This was the longest she had gone without talking to him. All the other times they had argued, he had bugged her so much that she had no choice but to forgive him, if only to shut him up.

Then again, they had never slept with each other. There had been plenty of drunken kisses over the years, sure, but it had never gone any further and certainly not repetitively. Even though it was only three weeks ago since they had decided they would 'have their fun' as they had so crudely dubbed it, Rose was filled with regret at how things had turned out. She hadn't meant to develop feelings but she had. When she thought about what she would have to do, the hurt it would cause him, she was filled with a strange sadness.

No ever said life was easy, you know that, she reminded herself, before lifting her gaze to meet her parents', her media smile fixed firmly to her face.

It was Hermione who spoke, judging from the way her husband's hand was clenched tightly around his butterbeer, knuckles white with tension, that it would not be wise to let him speak.

"What happened?"

The lies fell smoothly from her mouth and her parents lapped it up easily, desperate to believe their daughter was as innocent as she claimed. Years of practice had taught her to look down as if embarrassed when her story called for it. A part of her wondered if it should be this easy to lie to her own family. It was deceitful, something most people would have accredited to the Slytherin students.

She had always been sure that if her name had been anything other than Rose Weasley she would have been sorted into the infamous house. The Hat looked at my name, not at me. If my entire family wasn't in Gryffindor, things would have been different, she thought surely, so sure she didn't deserve to wear the colours of such a brave house.

Nobody had ever told her that sometimes we have to do distasteful things in order to survive.

Her anxiety lessened slightly when she saw the complacent smile her parents shared. It had worked.

Two down.

A few thousand left to go.

It was two weeks before the interview played on the radio. As she had hoped, most of the students were in their respective common rooms when the cheery witch who hosted the show announced the exclusive interview she had procured. She knew she should probably leave before it became too obvious but her feet would not listen to her. They stayed rooted to the spot as the students caught on, realizing they would finally the answers they had been craving. Perhaps she stayed to see how they took or though she was reluctant to admit it, how a certain blonde haired pureblood took him. When she thought about what she had done, without even consulting him, a sour taste grew in her mouth.

Further thought was snatched from her, however, when she realized the interview had gotten to the point everyone had been waiting for. Students shuffled closer, not wanting to miss a single lie.

"And now Rose, what on earth happened with you and Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Oh Merlin that," the voice, her voice laughed, "It's really embarrassing actually and Scorp will probably kill me for telling you but... oh Merlin... erm basically one of the younger students or someone thought it would be funny to slip us a love potion!"

The host joined her then, their laughs filling the common room. Rose noticed a few of the students smirking as well and realized that they too were going to buy it.

"I think you can probably guess what happened next...but it gets worse. We erm kissed and my cousin walked in, went running to Al who reacted before we have a chance to explain. I think it had to be the worst day of my life! I woke up the next morning when it had worn off like 'you've got to be kidding me?"

Any joy she might have felt at successfully lying to her house was instantly destroyed when she saw pain flash across Scorpius' face. Doing her best to play it off as nothing she followed him to the boy's dormitory, making sure the door was closed firmly behind her.

"Scorp, I'm sor-" she began, figuring it was best to do this quickly before her pride stopped her.

He turned to face her wildly, anger contorting his features as he snapped, "Do you really think sorry is going to cut it? You've done some really shitty things in your time but this?"

"I was trying to help! We needed to get out of this mess and I didn't see you doing anything! We made some mistakes and I cleared it up. Simple as that."

" Mistakes? Nice to know that is what you think. Nice to know that this, that the two of us being together was a mistake to you."

She could feel her temper rising uncontrollably as she listened to him, as the argument rose into a shouting match between the two.

"You knew, when we started this," she gestured wildly between them, "you knew this wasn't a relationship, you knew why it couldn't be – "

"That's where you've got it wrong Rose. You think this could never work because you are Rose fucking Weasley, because you get a whole new set of rules 'coz of who you're parents are but get this into your head: you are not special. You're just like all the other selfish bitches out there. No, actually you're worse than they are. At least they don't pretend to be anything other than a raging slut!"

And with that he was gone, leaving his best friend on the verge of tears.

Ok, we're getting somewhere. I know some of you may be thinking this is moving fast but its how I imagined Scorpius and Rose; they're both such passionate people that they do clash a lot and have a very explosive relationship. In fact, I've been thinking about all the ideas I've had for these two and I've decided to do sequels simply because some of the stuff I see them doing would only work when they're older and perhaps a little more mature. So I guess this is a prequel or something. Either way I hope you enjoy it.

Rose, Rose, Rose, if only you weren't so focused on keeping up your family name and image...

Please review - advice is always welcome and if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them :)