Rose

My heart fluttered and I felt like skipping through the halls. Scorpius Malfoy had been worried! About me! He said that I shouldn't let someone change me. That I was… perfect.

God, I loved him. It was easy to see it now, in ways it hadn't been before. The way we'd taunted each other had never been out of dislike. I realized that neither of us had ever said anything with true intent to hurt the other. It was a game for us, even if it was a game that sometimes ended in tears. My stomach was tight. I'm in love, I'm in love, and even if my parents and my House disown me, I wouldn't care if I had him.

I dashed into the bathroom before class and wiped off all of the makeup. As I did, I remembered the breathy way he'd said, "Say that we were having an argument." My whole body tingled.

"Why are you taking off all the makeup Lily put on so nicely?" asked a slightly whiny voice.

Oh god, I thought, Myrtle. Great. But the mood I was in made me want to stand at the top of the Astronomy Tower and scream, "I'm in love with Scorpius Malfoy, and there is nothing anyone can do about it!" So I was eager to tell her of what had transpired after Potions. I didn't really want to disclose the entire story to Myrtle, however, so I just said, "Well, Mr. Malfoy had occasion to tell me that he liked me better without it."

"Ooh, what a charmer!" Myrtle cried. "I met his father, you know. Charming boys, both of them. And so handsome."

I was about to make a sharp retort when I realized that this was Moaning Myrtle and that no matter how crazily, sweetly, impossibly in love I was, I had no business being jealous of a ghost. "Yes, he's handsome," was what I tried to leave it at, but I ended up adding on, "and sweet and smart and observant and funny." I bit my tongue. Come on, Rose. You're embarrassing yourself. But the mere thought of Scorpius be-still-my-heart Malfoy seemed to send tremors up my spine and pangs of sweet-sick desire to the pit of my stomach.

I ended up missing class entirely. I hoped no one would notice, as my prefect status might be revoked. But maybe I could…

I cast a time-checking spell, and realized that if I didn't get my rear in gear and out of there, I'd be late to my next class.

I made my way through the day somehow, and puttered furiously in my room until it was time to meet Scorpius. I made myself walk to the library, but it was hard. Damn it, Rose, calm down!

Scorpius was at the door in the library, lounging against it casually. He smiled wide when he saw me. "Hi, Rosie."

"Don't call me that."

He took my hand, twined my fingers with his. He dragged me a bit closer and pulled me into a hug. "Now can I call you that?" he murmured into my hair.

"No."

"Damn stubborn Weasleys."

"Damn hormonal Malfoys."

"Oh, shush. You like it."

"Mr. Malfoy! Ms. Weasley!"

"Oh fuck." We pulled apart and speed-walked towards our table. The librarian followed and watched for a while as we got out our things. Scorpius laid out a list of ingredients and I began to translate. However, the librarian didn't leave.

"Funny," Scorpius whispered in my ear, "I never figured her for a voyeur."

"We're not doing anything."

"Meh. Well." He dropped his hand from its position resting on the back of my chair and let it stay in a comfortable position on the small of my back. "You almost done?"

"Yeah. But what's 'shining thread of attraction?' "

"Veela hair."

I frowned. "That's cheating. It's really ambiguous! Could be anything."

"Could be your hair," he said, brushing some away from my face with a smile. I blushed. "But then again, as prolific as Weasley children tend to be, it's too rare to be used in too many potions. And veelas are said to be the most beautiful—attractive—creatures in the wizarding world."

I tried to finish my work as quickly as possible, but Scorpius wasn't satisfied until around nine-thirty, at which point he said, "So, pack up and then long talk?"

I laughed. "Sure." I finished within a minute, heart hammering.

Scorpius saw me just sitting there, confused at the fact that I wasn't cleaning up, then grinned when he saw that I already had. "Damn, Rose, you're fast," he said, and finished putting his things away soon after.

"Okay," he said, turning to face me. "So—"

"Actions speak louder than words," I murmured, cutting him off. Then I tugged his tie, pulling him towards me, and kissed him.

As I'd expected, he responded quickly. His hands cupped my face, turning my head slightly to deepen the kiss. He slowly and deliberately dragged his tongue across my lower lip. I let him in, moaning into his mouth. He's a really good kisser…

One of his hands started to wander, and my own charted the unknown territory of his chest.

"Rose…" he said into my mouth, breathing raggedly. He broke the kiss, much to my dismay, and said, "I love you. Always have."

"I'm really annoyed at you. I can't believe you made me fall in love with you too, shithead." He laughed and I crawled onto his lap, kissing him again.

"Oh, Rose. You don't know what you do to me…"

Unconsciously, I started unbuttoning his shirt. "We're going to have our prefect statuses revoked."

"It might be worth it to scare the shit out of the librarian," he muttered into my neck. He started to suck and nibble at the skin there. I winced. That's gonna leave a mark. I decided that I wanted to make his stomach turn the way mine was and started nibbling at his earlobe.

"Where in the name of the jumping frogs of hell did you learn all this?" he gasped, bringing his lips back to mine.

"You know us hot-tempered Weasleys. We can be very… passionate," was all I said, smiling against his demanding lips.

We kept kissing for another ten minutes. Either we had extraordinary luck, or the librarian had gone out, because she didn't interrupt us. But when I felt Scorpius' hands fumbling with the buttons on my shirt, I pulled back. "Wait. We shouldn't do this here."

Scorpius looked up at me with lust-clouded eyes. "Are we going to—? You don't have to if you don't want to. And we do have school tomorrow."

I leaned against him again, just lying there on his chest, my arms loosely connected around his waist. "I don't know. I don't want to leave you, but I—I'm not sure I want to make love… I mean, it just seems so fast, and—"

His hand went to my hair, stroking it. "Shh. That's fine. I'll wait. Want to come up to my room anyway?"

"Yes."