Chapter 8

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she could feel it in her ears. Scorpius was smiling sheepishly at her, with Lily at his side, smirking. Rose was finding it difficult to breathe. He loved her. And they hadn't actually been hurting Lily at all? Well… from the sound of it they were in the beginning, but he ended it… there were a few questions Rose had, but the handsome blonde before her was calling most of her attention. And she just wanted to do nothing more than run into his arms.

Lily frowned, and nudged Scorpius with her elbow, sending him stumbling forward a bit. He glanced back at her, surprised before returning his smile to Rose.

"So… you heard all that?" he asked.

Rose nodded. "Did you really think I was so horrible that I'd only be with you if it meant we were hurting Lily? Because that's not true at all." She looked straight at her cousin. "I hated that we were hurting you."

Lily smiled and nodded. "I know. It's alright. I understood when Scorpius told me. At first I was upset, but Rose, listening to him talk about you, I couldn't be angry for long. I just want him to be happy." She looked over and took Scorpius' hand, squeezing it gently. Then she turned toward her cousin, and walked forward, taking the blonde with her.

Rose stayed where she was, and when Lily reached her, she took her hand and placed it in Scorpius'. The two smiled at each other, as Lily let go.

"He's happy with you."

Rose and Scorpius smiled at each other, before Scorpius took his other hand and caressed Rose's cheek. He leaned in, and whispered "I know you're not horrible. I'm sorry I put you through all that. I love you, Rose."

Those words made her smile, it's what she had dreamed of hearing him say for so long now. She used to sit up at night, wondering if circumstances were different, if he would say those words to her. Now he'd said them. Now she knew the circumstances WERE different, and it was all going to be alright. Her smile widened at that thought, and she closed the small gap between them, brushing her lips to his in a small chaste kiss. He pulled back and smiled at her. Next to them, Lily cleared her throat. They looked over at her, and Scorpius took a step back.

"Sorry." He muttered.

Lily laughed. "It's ok. I think you two are cute together. Kiss again." She said, laughing.

Rose blushed and looked away.

Scorpius chuckled. "Want to join in, huh Lily?"

Rose and Lily both looked up, shocked and disgusted. "Scorpius!" they shrieked simultaneously.

Lily socked him again, and he went stumbling back against the wall. He cowered under their glares. "It was just a joke!" he rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry, ok?"

"Not ok."

Rose, Lily and Scorpius all turned to the end of the corridor, where stood Al, flanked by his brother James and Rose's brother, Hugo. Each of the three boys looked extremely angry, the sleeves of their button-up white school shirts rolled up to their elbows, their wands at the ready. They were completely prepared for a duel of some sort. Rose realized what Al must have done. He told James and Hugo?

"Oh, er- he- hey Al." Scorpius stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"Listen here, you blonde, pure-blooded, aristocratic, arrogant git!" James side stepped his brother, so that he was standing at the front now. "My brother told me what's been going on here. You hurt my little sister, and you're about to pay."

Al and Hugo each took steps forward, and now they were all within arm's reach of each other. Rose was slightly worried. Her cousins and her brother used to enjoy having weekly 'dueling sessions' with her Uncle Harry and her dad, the three boys learned a great deal from the older men, and now they were about to try to duel with Scorpius. When it was all just a misunderstanding. She didn't want them to hurt him. She knew they would.

"James-"

"No, Lily. I don't know if you're aware as of yet, but this git's been playing you and Rose. He cheated on you, and-"

"And he played with Rose's heart." Albus finished for his brother.

James walked right up to Scorpius so they were within a breath of each other. James, being the taller of the two, was glaring down at Scorpius, who was glaring up at him in return. Rose didn't know what to do. She was in shock, slightly, unsure how she could explain it to them. Hugo stepped up right behind James, his broad shoulders and muscled arms made him seem like the perfect second for James, who was a lot leaner than his fourth year cousin.

"You toyed with my sister-" James hissed.

"Oh, honestly!" Lily rolled her eyes as she yanked her brother back, away from Scorpius. "Will you listen for a moment? Now, this is all just a-"

James didn't get to hear what 'it all just was' because at that exact moment, Hugo, who had been clenching his fists at his side in an obvious show of his anger and frustration, brought his arm up and hit Scorpius in the face, causing the blonde to stumble back and yelp, clutching at his face as blood poured from his mouth and nose.

"You hurt my sister too, and my cousin. Malfoy, you're about to be really sorry." His voice was low, dangerously so and it took Rose and Lily jumping in front of him to get him to look anywhere but at the Slytherin.

"Hugo," Rose said softly, placing her hand on his arm. "Hugo, please. I know what it all looks like, but-"

"But what?" Al asked from behind his cousin. "You said-"

"I know. But that was before… well it was… uh…" Rose looked to Lily for some help.

Lily just rolled her eyes for the millionth time that day. "It was before she found out that it was all just a lame scheme on the part of me and Scorpius to get her to fall in love with him."

There was a thick silence, and then three simultaneous screeches of "WHAT?" from three confused and angry Gryffindors.

A/N: Gah! i am soooooo very sorry it took me sooo long to update! i hope this was worth the wait... it's not done.. i've already got the next one ready to go... so i hope you guys aren't too upset with me and my lateness... especially not upset enough to not leave a review...? =] thanks for reading, either way!