Disclaimer: Not JK…

Chapter 9: And they lived happily ever after

Fact #9: Rose Weasley doesn't chase her prospective boyfriends out of the Great Hall, especially not when they ask her out in the middle of said Great Hall

The Great Hall was abuzz with excitement. The sound was audible to her, even outside the closed doors. It was understandable, what with it being the day the school dispersed for Christmas holidays. Rose wished dearly to be inside, seated at her house table, enjoying the last breakfast before they would scurry for last minute packing. Then there was the rush to get the best compartments and the last minute greetings and wishes. Resolving not to miss all the fun, she took a deep breath and pushed the doors open. Heads turned to look at her, as usual. Ever since the Ball, guys seemingly had taken an annoying interest in her. She had lost count of the number of them she had had to dissuade in the past week. Some of them waved and smiled at her, and she strained to smile back. Putting up the normalcy act was taking much of her energy.

She turned her eyes to the other tables meeting the eyes of her friends from other houses except Slytherin of course. It was only when she plopped down on her normal place beside Diane did she notice the person seated before her. He and Al always sat at the Slytherin table since they had a lot of friends there and even after Al had resumed sitting at the Gryffindor table to talk to Diane, Scorpius had continued sitting at the Slytherin table. So it surprised her that he would sit here today.

"Some prank on the Slytherins?" she asked amusedly, but Al and Diane just shook their heads.

"Scorpius here wanted to talk with you" Albus replied, his mouth half filled with food, the rest of it hanging off the fork he used to point in his direction.

"Why can't he tell me that himself?" she felt oddly like a kindergartener. From the sliver of smile on his face, she knew Scorpius felt the same way too.

"Because I'm afraid you'll run away again if I tried to speak with you" he replied in that forever amused tone of his. The very tone that had never failed in irritating her. He may have been right about the running away thing, may be, but she wasn't going to take his taunting lying down.

"And you deduced that how?" another of those infuriating smiles graced his features. He was still staring at his plate but she could sense the mirth that would no doubt encompass his eyes.

"I've been watching the marauders map. Wherever I seem to go you turn and run the other way. Don't even bother denying it. Al knows too. How did you do that, by the way?" Al nodded loyally, the traitor that he was. Where was a bit of family loyalty when she direly needed some?

"I...you…stop stalking me!" alright, her dear brain needed to wake up and find better retorts than that. But she was right, he had no right to follow her actions like that. Not that she hadn't used a tracking spell to avoid him, but her intentions had been pure, whereas his…simply were not.

"Cat got your tongue?" he was smirking now, his glee in her discomfiture apparent.

"I mean what I said, Sco…Malfoy. Stop following me around like a lost puppy"

"You flatter yourself too much Weasley."

"Why else would you bother to leave your oh so dear friends to come sit here?"

"For the simple reason that I wanted to sit with Al?" her anger, as quickly as it had arisen, ebbed away, leaving behind the despair that she had been trying to hide behind her façade. She turned silent, satisfying herself with mashing her potatoes making them unrecognisable. Hearing a muted chuckled from opposite her, she lifted her narrowed eyes to his twinkling ones.

"You were imagining that it was my face, weren't you?" she was rapidly losing control of her temper, and he seemed to know exactly the right buttons to push.

"Careful, or it won't be just the vegetables I'll be mashing up" with that threat, she went back to demolishing her breakfast.

"I'm not going to scurry away screaming, you know?"

"And here I thought you atleast possessed self preservation if not a functioning brain"

"...Unlike some people who couldn't be patient enough to listen to what the other was coming to say"

"As if I didn't know what you were going to say" she huffed in indignation but his smirk only morphed into a grin.

"And what would that be?"

"Like you don't know all about forgetting unwanted events and people too, for that matter" she replied, intending to hurt, but it had the opposite reaction on him.

"Even though that was exactly the opposite of what I had in mind, you chickened out that day"

"So I did, pardon me for not wanting to be thrown away like a rag doll once again"

"I'd never do the same mistake again, Rose. I learn my lessons quite fast" she absolutely did not like the way he was looking at her. It was all warm and tingly. It made her nervous, for heavens' sake!

"Rose, will you be my girlfriend?" it wasn't as if his words were shocking. But it surprised her all the same. But slowly, so slowly she wasn't aware of it until there was no way to hide it, a smile broke out on her face and a happiness seeped into her heart that she had been lacking for so long. It felt more like she was receiving her life back.

"And I would do that why?" her tone was teasing and her eyes played havoc with him as they pored into his.

"Um…because I have a Christmas Eve party to go to and I desperately need a date. Noone else will go out with me and Diane here refuses to put up with my snarkiness" she wanted to laugh out loud at that. But she forced an affronted expression on her face.

"If that isn't the most insulting comment, I dunno what is"

"May be the fact that you look like a sleep deprived, starved living walking blubbering Inferi?" he was insulting her but it was said in so fond a tone that she couldn't even bother with acting anymore.

"If that's how you ask a girl out, it's no wonder noone would accept"

"Not just everyone. Only ill tempered, vicious harpies like you"

"Would you like to see just how vicious I could be?" her amusement was giving way to the temper he knew always simmered just below the boiling point.

"Remember Rosie, you're supposed to be the non-violent one" he said as he raised his hands in surrender. Wrong move.

"You did not just call me Rosie. Tell me you did not"

"Oh, but I just did, Rosie Posie"

"I'm going to kill you!" her enraged yell was heard throughout the Great Hall.

"Only if you can catch me, Rosie dear" he raced out the Great Hall for the second time, with Rose chasing him.

"Ten galleons says they'll come back mussed up" Al replied, smiling knowingly.

"Why do you say that?"

"Rose knew he was riling her up purposefully. It was all an act" he replied smugly, turning to his so far ignored plate. He had been too engrossed the entertainment to bother with the food.

"What for?"

"To discretely escape the Great Hall" he shook his head in amusement and they went back to enjoying their meals, chuckling occasionally at the scene that had played out before them.

As predicted by Al's inner eye, we find our beloved duo laughing as they walked through the corridors.

"You almost gave us away" Rose exclaimed as they collapsed once again in laughter.

"I did not. Except for Al, may be. Exceptionally observant wherever he needs to be oblivious" he shook his head disapprovingly, though a smile was threatening to burst at his lips. He was just too cute and so tempting that she couldn't help pushing him against the castle walls and snogging the daylights out of him. He didn't seem to mind. Infact, she could feel his lips grin against hers. She liked this part of their relationship. Definitely, she decided as his hands came to circle her waist, drawing her flush against him. His hair was just too soft and was begging her to mess it up. She couldn't help but run a hand through it, even as they stayed in the same position, her forehead resting on his, both of them grinning like idiots.

"You're beautiful" he whispered in her ear, and she giggled.

"I thought I looked like a harpie?" he stared at her intently, to the point that she flushed.

"What?"

"Definitely beautiful" he replied as he kissed her forehead.

"We should go or we'll miss the train" he tried to be solemn but the glow in his eyes made her laugh.

"When have you ever been worried about being on time?"

"We should atleast try to stem the rumors, you know?"

"As if they would gossip any less if we go back now"

"True"

"Let's just be late" she replied decisively.

"Gladly" he brought his lips to hers once again, pushing the school, their friends and everything else out of his mind.

A/n: I know it was a crappy ending to a stupid story but please do tell me if there was anything less stupid about it. Or if there was anyway to make the story not so stupid?