Fifth year

"Rose, are you sure you're not jealous?" Scorpius asked me for about the third time that morning. It was Saturday and Scorpius and I were sitting out by the lake. I was studying; he was biding his time by playing Gobstones with my cousin, and his close friend, Albus.

I glared at him over the top of my book. "I told you, Scorpius, I'm fine!"

"If you say so, Rosie," he said, shooting a look at Albus. "I'm off for my date, then." He stood, brushed the grass off his pants, and sauntered back toward the castle, wearing my favorite Devil-may-care smirk.

I sighed.

Albus, Gryffindor prefect by trade, and a pain in my neck by nature, looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"What?" I said forcefully, glaring at him with the same amount of venom in my eyes as before.

"Nothing, Rose, nothing," Al said, rolling over from his stomach onto his back. "I just have a really hard time believing that you are actually okay with Scorpius going on a date with Ariel Wood, one of the most gorgeous girls in school."

I went back to my book. "Believe it or not, Al, but you're not exactly being helpful here."

He propped himself up on his elbow, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Oh, and when are you going to grow a pair and tell Scorpius how you feel about him?"

"Whenever you grow a pair and actually talk to Piper Finnegan," I shot back at him.

"Hey!" Albus protested, "Now that's different!"

I sighed, finally giving up completely on studying. I don't need to pass my O.W.L.'s anyway, right? "And just how is it different, O Wise One?"

"You know your mother says that you're becoming awful sassy lately."

"It's because I spend so much time around you, you twit!" I countered. "Now how is my situation different from yours?"

"You and Scorpius are best friends, Rose. You should feel comfortable enough to tell him how you feel." Albus was actually making sense (for once) and he knew it. The look on his face was smug, but only slightly so. He gets more and more like his brother every day, I swear.

"It just isn't that easy, Al," I tell him, untangling my hair from its haphazard bun. "Plus he probably doesn't even think of me that way, anyhow. I'm too much like one of the guys."

The look on my cousin's face told me that he knew more than he was telling me. "You never know, Rosie dear, you never know."

I wish I could have said that I felt guilty later that evening when Scorpius collapsed onto the couch beside me after his date with a very weary expression on his face, but I didn't want to lie to myself any more than I had to. After several minutes, I finally asked him, "So, how was it?"

"Really, awfully boring," he said, his face buried in his hands. "She's so boring, Rosie."

"Well, Scorp, it's time you learned that not all pretty girls are worth their weight in conversation," I quipped, staying focused on my knitting.

He sighed in his melodramatic way and propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of us. "Yeah," he said after a long pause. "Not everyone can be like you."

I dropped a stitch in my knitting. Damn. "What do you mean by that, Scorpius Malfoy?"

"No, no, it's not a bad thing, Rose! I just meant that, y'know, not everyone can be pretty, and smart, and interesting to talk to." His face was flushed with color, making his gray eyes stand out against his skin.

"You're in dangerous territory, Malfoy." I warned him, very much aware that we were the only two people in the common room.

He turned to face me, a sober expression on his face. "Rose, look. There's something I need to tell you. And I know this is stupid and random, but I really just think that you ought to know." He looked pained, but continued, "I don't want to screw up our friendship, because you're my best friend, y'know, apart from Al, but that's beside the point."

He's so cute when he rambles, my mind supplied. I felt my face darken a little.

"The thing is, Rose, I fancy you. And I mean, really fancy. This isn't just some schoolboy crush, I have real feelings for you, and it scares me. But, I know you probably don't feel the same, so it's okay, and I understand, and I'll try my best to get over it soon, but I don't know how long that will take and I'm just really sorry and –"

I couldn't take it any longer. Even though my hands were shaking, I dropped the yarn and needles in my lap and grabbed Scorpius by the front of his shirt, pulling his face to mine, and kissed him full on the lips. He stiffened at first, as though afraid I was going to pull away, but after a couple of seconds he stopped resisting and kissed me back – hard. One of his hands found its way to the back of my neck, while he brought the other to rest high on my thigh. After what felt like forever (which I'm sure was only about thirty seconds), he pulled away, teasing my bottom lip with his teeth as he went. His hand stayed on my thigh.

"You really need to learn when to stop talking," I said plainly, my voice suddenly much quieter than it had been.

He smiled at me, and leaned in to kiss me again.

(A/N: This is the last update for a week as I'm off to camp on Sunday to be an elementary counselor. Should be interesting. Haha. Let me know what you thought of this one!)