Chapter 8

Adrian spent the next few days avoiding me and shooting me glares whenever he spotted me in a group containing Scorpius. I tried not to let it bother me, but the effort was unsuccessful. Scorpius and I continued to get warmer toward each other with our agreement to use each other's first names, which really wasn't helping matters. Spotting Adrian glaring at us as he appeared down the hall from our waiting Charms class, Scorpius turned toward me.

"You know, you shouldn't feel guilty. What he said was out of line," he said, sensing the guilt rolling off me in waves.

I sighed in resignation. "I know, but I can't help it. He gets mad at me for being friendly with you and we only continue to get on better afterward."

"I suppose we are, aren't we? Al asked me why that is yesterday and I couldn't give him an answer. Why do you suppose you don't suddenly despise me with every fibre of your being?" He asked casually.

"I didn't- Ok, maybe I did. I don't know. Maybe I've finally let go of all those baseless judgements I clung to all these years."

"So you admit it was your fault?"

I whacked him on the shoulder. "Don't blame just me. You purposely provoked me."

"Ok, you have a point. We both played a role," he conceded as Adrian came even with the group. He leaned in closer to me as Adrian glanced over. "What do you expect he thinks I'm saying right now?" He breathed into my ear. A small chill ran down my spine, likely the result of a draft.

Rolling my eyes, I responded with heavy exasperation, "Don't bait him. It'll only make it worse."

"Oh, come on. Don't take everything so seriously. I, personally, would really like to see his head explode. It looks like he's almost there."

I said nothing, glancing in Adrian's direction and seeing his completely red, frowning face as he glanced back in our direction. It did look like his head was almost ready to explode.

"He kind of looks like a mandrake," I commented, without thinking. Scorpius's bark of laughter brought Adrian's eyes back around to us. I felt immediately guilty and groaned. "I am the worst girlfriend ever."

"No, you're angry with good reason. If anything, he should be the one feeling guilty, not you."

My retort was cut off by Professor Chang coming out to usher us into the classroom. Dom, Emily, and Albus hurried in together before she closed the door. Dom and I slid into a pair of seats in front of Scorpius and Al as Emily sat beside Ben. Dom looked quizzically at me as I opened my book. She was probably wondering what was going on before they arrived, but considering nothing had been, I turned my attention to the front and ignored her look.

Arithmancy was an altogether uncomfortable experience. Scorpius and I sat together in the middle of the room, and Alex flounced in after us.

"Hi, Rose!" She greeted me breezily. It was the most cheerful acknowledgment I'd ever gotten from her. Probably because she sensed how close she was getting to finally having me gone, as she'd always wanted.

"Hi," I replied, warily.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"I guess so?"

"Adrian wanted me to give this to you," she said, handing me a folded piece of paper. "I'll be sure to tell him I delivered it."

"Thanks," I snapped, knowing she meant that she'd tell Adrian that she delivered the note while I was sitting beside Scorpius. "I'm so glad we could be mature about this," I muttered as she walked to the back of the room.

At Scorpius's raised eyebrow, I explained Alex's new hobby of telling Adrian all about our classroom interactions. He laughed, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all while Alex glared on. I completely agreed. It was like we were twelve again instead of adults.

I unfolded the note as the lesson started, reading Adrian's request for me to meet him after classes let out. I sighed. Alex was obviously so cheerful because she expected this to be the end of us. As I thought about it, I wasn't sure how I felt about the prospect anymore.

I approached the lake nervously, wondering what was going to happen. My anger had ebbed away over the last few days, leaving me slightly apprehensive about what our first conversation would bring.

"Hey," he said as he caught sight of me.

"Hi," I replied stiffly.

"So… I shouldn't have blown up at you. I'm sorry."

I breathed a sigh of relief. The apology may be a bit understated, but I'd take it. Adrian was the one constant I could count on this year, and I didn't want to lose that stability.

"No, you shouldn't have."

"Forgive me?" He asked, smiling in a pleading way. I was a sucker for him.

"I can't believe you caved," Dom raged at me over dinner that night.

"Dom, can we just drop it?" I was tired of this. Thankfully, she fell silent at my request.

I left dinner without finishing and rose from the table with muttered excuses. I just wanted to get away from the judgement coming at me from three different directions.

I was reading my Alchemy chapter when Scorpius came back from dinner and flopped onto the couch, staring at me. After a while I couldn't ignore him any longer.

"Yes, Scorpius?"

"Do you ever take a break?" He asked, gesturing to the book.

I shook my head. "There will be time for breaks after the year is over."

"Wow. I knew you had an obsession with school, but I had no idea it was this far along."

"I am not obsessed with it. I just want to do well."

"You did well last year and you didn't study this much."

"Yeah, well last year wasn't as important. This year determines-"

"What we do for the rest of our lives," Scorpius finished for me in a bored voice, "I know. I heard the fifteen speeches at the beginning of the year. What they don't tell you is to enjoy being a student while you still can. This is the last year for us to be irresponsible teenagers before real life starts. So…" Before I realized what he was doing, he reached out and snatched my book from me with the agility of a Seeker. I made an exclamation of protest that fell on deaf ears as he continued his sentence, "Put the books away for one night and lighten up."

"I already gave up the first night of term, plus most of Saturday for the Hogsmeade trip," I pointed out.

"You seriously think two days in two months counts? No." I must have looked anxious, because he grinned widely. "It'll be painless, Rose, I promise."

"What exactly does your idea of 'lightening up' entail?" I asked, nervous about his idea of 'fun'.

"Not to worry, nothing too risky. A trip down to the kitchens, for starters."

"Why?"

"Because you skipped out early on dinner," he replied, already heading toward the portrait hole. I scrambled out of my chair to follow him.

"How do you know that?"

"I saw you leaving before the other three were done." His tone indicated he was trying to brush it off, but I was left to wonder how he'd noticed me leaving in a hall filled with people.

We were almost to the kitchens when Scorpius paused. "Ok, so the door to the kitchens is-"

"You think that you and Al are the only ones who know your way around this place?" I challenged, cutting him off and striding up to the painting hiding the kitchen door and tickling the pear. He put his hands up in apology before gesturing for me to lead the way.

We made it back to the dormitory with no incident, resuming our places by the fire.

"Ok, so now that we've walked on the edge, what's next?" I asked, interested despite myself.

He laughed. "You think that is walking on the edge?"

"Ok, so it wasn't really."

"Not even close. I toned down the risky portion of tonight's program just for you."

"And I thank you," I replied sardonically.

"I aim to please," he countered, grinning suggestively. I snorted and rolled my eyes good-naturedly.

"So then what do we do now? Play truth or dare?" I asked teasingly.

"Well if that's what you want to do…"

My eyes widened, "I was only joking."

"Too late. Truth or dare it is!" He paused for a moment to consider, "But let's modify it and just call it truth. I wouldn't want you to have to get involved in anything too risky…"

I shot him a glare but let it go. If we played actual truth or dare I would feel significantly more juvenile than I already did.

"Ok, ladies first," I said quickly, "What's your favourite color?"

He chuckled. "Original one, you are. Green."

"Figures. You're such a Slytherin."

"Easy, Weasley. We still have a long time ahead of us here. Let's save the antagonistic comments for later. Tell me your favourite color."

"Blue," I spoke without thinking. He looked at me in surprise, but I merely shrugged. "Favourite holiday?"

"Summer break." Not surprising. "Why is your favourite colour blue and not red?"

He caught me off guard by not immediately asking the same question back to me, which is what I blamed on my unexpected honesty. "There's just something about it that's so soothing. It relaxes me. I tell everyone it's red because I'm in Gryffindor, and that's what they expect, but I hate the color red. I look at it every time I look in a mirror and I'm sick of it."

Neither of us seemed to know what to say to my outburst, and I quickly tried to cover it with my question. "Least favourite holiday?"

"Halloween."

It was my turn to look at him in surprise. "Halloween is my least favourite holiday, too."

"I always wondered why you didn't go to the feast," he mused.

"The whole concept is ridiculous. Kids dress up as vampires and ghosts and witches and wizards, blissfully ignorant to the fact that they really exist. It feels hypocritical to celebrate a holiday that tells people we aren't real."

"But you get a feast out of it!"

"You are such a guy."

"Glad to see you noticed," he smirked, "What's the riskiest thing you've ever done?"

I blushed, the moment instantly popping into my head. "Dom may have gotten me drunk after the whole Adrian thing went down last year."

"That's it? You took a night off to get drunk during exams after your boyfriend tossed you?"

I flushed even more red. I had no idea why I was sharing this with him, but it was like I couldn't stop myself. I felt compelled to be honest. "You remember hearing about those disruptive students down in Hogsmeade at the end of May?"

He looked momentarily confused before his mouth opened in shock. "That was you and Dominique?"

I nodded mutely, studying the floor to avoid looking at him. "I mean all we did was stumble around yelling obnoxiously and bewitching things for the fun of it since our Trace was broken, but if we had gotten caught I'm sure we would have been expelled."

"Wow. I have to admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think you were capable of such debauchery."

"I'm not as innocent as I look."

He grinned, "I'm beginning to realize that."

The next morning I woke feeling guilty about taking the entire night off, but a small part of me knew I needed it. I'd actually had fun last night. With Scorpius Malfoy. We stayed up way too late, but I couldn't bring myself to fully regret it. I couldn't think of the last time I'd laughed so much.

I yawned widely as I poured milk on my cereal. Emily glanced in my direction as I did so. "Late night?"

I nodded, taking a large bite of my breakfast.

"How late were you up?"

"Around two in the morning…" I admitted sheepishly.

"You are way too dedicated to your homework, Rose. Al and I gave up on our work at half past midnight." I couldn't hide the blush that tinted my cheeks, drawing Emily's attention. "You were doing homework, weren't you?"

"Not exactly…" I hedged. Sighing as I saw she wasn't going to give it up, I finished my sentence, "Scorpius insisted that I needed a night off."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "So what did you do?"

I shrugged, "Nothing really. Just talked."

"Wait a second. You and Scorpius held civil conversation until two AM?"

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe? I thought you guys conceded defeat in the whole 'we're going to do each other in' thing?"

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean we thought you'd stay up until the wee hours of the morning talking. What did you even talk about?" She asked, leaning in curiously.

Shrugging again, I replied, "I don't really know. Lots of things. We actually have quite a bit in common, surprisingly. He's… interesting."

"Who's interesting?" Dom's voice sounded cheerfully behind me. Brilliant.

Emily grinned as she filled Dom in on the conversation. I sighed as the exclamations of surprise were repeated in a much louder tone than Emily had used, drawing Al's attention as he joined us. The whole thing was repeated once more.

"Wait, you spent the entire night talking to Malfoy?" I had the urge to drown myself in the remaining milk in my bowl as Hugo piped up from a few students down the table.

"Yes, Hugo, I did. It's not like it's that big of a deal, so can we please just forget I said anything?" I snapped.

"I bet Dad would think it was," my little brother hinted.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I don't care what Dad thinks. If it was anyone else this wouldn't be such a big deal. This is ridiculous. I forgot my book in my room. I'll see you guys in Potions."

I really had forgotten my book, so I left the table without another word, leaving my brother speechless. Sometimes I really wished he would just grow up instead of trying to hold things like this over my head. Maybe last year Hugo would have gotten a reaction out of me, but not this year. I was seventeen now, so there really wasn't anything my parents could do to stop me from talking to whomever I pleased.

"Hey, babe," Adrian's voice came from behind me as an arm slipped around my waist. I hid my cringe fairly well. I hated pet names like 'babe'. Adrian rarely used them, but he was probably trying to overcompensate. Who really wants to be called something that is completely dependent on another human being? It was basically calling me an invalid.

"Morning!" I replied, trying for a cheer I didn't quite feel.

"Late night?" He asked.

I hated how transparent I was as I nodded. Before anything else could be said, we were interrupted by yet another voice behind us.

"Rose! Hey, Rose!"

I turned around to see Scorpius dodging a couple of first years as he jogged toward us, carrying my forgotten book.

"I saw this on the table as I was leaving this morning."

"Thanks." I took the book from him and shoved it in my already stuffed bag. "How are you not tired right now?" I demanded as I looked back up to find him perfectly alert.

"I'm used to staying up late with pretty girls," he winked suggestively, "I've trained myself to live off as little sleep as possible."

I laughed at his comment until I felt the stiffening of Adrian's arm. I'd forgotten he was there. That certainly wasn't going to help matters. The smile dropped off my face as tension filled the air between us.

"Right. I'll, er, see you in Potions," Scorpius muttered, running a hand through his hair as he backed away.

"What was that all about?" Adrian demanded as soon as he was out or earshot.

I sighed loudly. I was too tired to be dealing with this. "Nothing. We just had a late night is all. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? My girlfriend is staying up all hours of the night with another guy, Scorpius Malfoy no less, and it's not a big deal?"

"I don't see how who it is makes it a bigger deal… I'm your girlfriend, not your property, Adrian."

"Yeah, well you'd never know that with you two flirting like I'm not here!"

I rolled my eyes again. Pretty soon they were going to get stuck. "We were not flirting. Why are you being so insecure about this?"

"I am not insecure. I just don't like you flirting with another guy in front of me! Everyone knows Scorpius Malfoy is only interested in one thing."

"Oh, Merlin! Are we seriously back at this again? Can't we just go one week without you implying that I'm a whore?"

"I'm not. I'm saying he's only being so nice to you because he thinks it'll be a challenge. Guys like a challenge."

"You're being ridiculous. We're friends. I'm with you. This wasn't a problem last year. You were fine with me being friends with Ben. Why are you suddenly so jealous of me being friends with a guy?"

"Last year the guy wasn't Scorpius Malfoy. I'm not going to stand back while he makes a play at my girlfriend."

I threw my hands up in exasperation, suddenly realizing that the halls were almost empty. We were going to be late now. "This is impossible. You're being ridiculous and I don't have time for this. Why don't you just let me know when you've resolved your issues?"

"Rose-"

"No, I'm sick of this, Adrian. I thought you'd gotten over this when you apologized for last time. I'm going to be late."

I didn't look back as I hurried down to the dungeons, slipping in just as Professor Derrick finished assigning partners.

"Ah, Miss Weasley, nice of you to join us. Here I thought Mr. Malfoy would have the misfortune of having to work alone," he said as I slipped through the door. Of course I would be paired with Scorpius today.

He raised his eyebrows as I slammed my books down beside him. "Everything alright?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I snapped, moving to the store cupboard for the ingredients we would need.

"Everything ok?" Emily's voice asked from beside me as I grabbed the boomslang skin.

"Fine."

"You don't look fine. What happened?"

"Adrian and I just had a minor disagreement. He seems to think I was flirting with Scorpius in front of him. I happen to disagree," I replied evenly, reaching for the salamander blood.

Emily stopped what she was doing, gaping at me. "He thought what?"

I shrugged. "He's still being a prat. I told him to come find me when he got over it."

"You mean you didn't end it?" She asked, not even pretending to be looking for ingredients anymore.

"No. Em, this guy isn't the same Adrian. The guy from last year is still in there, I just have to give him time to get over this irrational jealousy. We're just in a rough patch. We can get through this."

"Why do you keep clinging to this relationship? You haven't been properly happy in a long while, Rose."

I opened my mouth to retort, but before I could even decide what I was going to say, Professor Derrick's voice came from behind us. "Ladies, I was not aware that my class was a social event. What fascinating topic are we gossiping about?"

"Nothing. Sorry sir," we mumbled in unison, ducking our heads and hurrying back to our respective tables.

Scorpius eyed me as I returned to the table. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing. Are Davies's knickers in a twist because I made a joke?" He asked, beginning to chop ginger roots.

"Actually, yes," I told him through my teeth, measuring out the salamander blood, "He is under the impression that you were flirting with me."

Scorpius laughed, only angering me more. How could he find this funny? "He's upset because I was flirting with you? Come off it. Surely blokes have flirted with you before."

"He was more upset because he reckons I was flirting with you," I corrected, "Which, of course, is completely ridiculous."

"Most definitely ridiculous," he agreed, moving to add the boomslang skin.

My brain caught up with our full conversation after a few moments of silence. "Wait. You asked if he was upset because you were flirting with me."

"Yes?"

"Meaning that you were flirting with me?"

He snorted, turning away to double-check his book. When he turned back, his familiar smarmy grin was plastered on his face. "Trust me, Weasley. When I flirt with you, you'll know it."

I pushed aside the part of me that already knew it. This was Scorpius Malfoy. His reflex was to flirt with anything feminine; that didn't mean he realized he was doing it. Obviously he hadn't meant to flirt with me, so I should just let it go.

Our potion was coming along perfectly, as was Albus and his Hufflepuff partner's. I was pleasantly surprised that Albus's performance in Potions had not suffered with the changes in partners, but rather risen. Of course, I hadn't thought he would fail, but getting too comfortable with a partner could leave you so accustomed to them that you were unable to work as well with someone who didn't have their habits. Familiarity could also lead to laziness. Sometimes falling into the same routine was so natural and familiar that you didn't realize how much more you could be if you struck out on your own.

"Do you find it more difficult without Al for a partner?" I asked suddenly, without really thinking.

He understood what I meant, even though I hadn't specified. "A bit, I guess. It's just different, having to adapt after six years of being his partner. What about you? You worked with Emily the last couple of years."

I shrugged, "I guess. We don't have quite the bromance you and Al do, though," I teased.

He laughed, poking the flames beneath the cauldron with his wand to turn up the temperature. "He, uh, asked me to get a place with him after Hogwarts."

I started in surprise, not sure why he was telling me this. I could tell from the look on his face he wasn't sure either. "Wow, that's fast to be making arrangements. It's only the end of October."

"I think it's the only time Al's planned ahead in his life," he agreed.

"Are you going to do it?" I asked, knowing there had to be a question or some kind of information he wanted out of me about this. Why else would he bring it up?

"I haven't answered yet. How do you think your family would take it?" He asked, nervousness hinting at the edges of his voice.

I was surprised, I'll admit. That was not what I expected. "Well, I don't think their reaction is what really matters, but Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny have always accepted Al's friendship with you, and Grandma Weasley certainly gives you a warm welcome when you come round. It's not like they could forbid Al if they wanted to, though."

He nodded, saying nothing in reply.

I waited a beat before asking the question burning in my mind. "Why?"

Shrugging, he tried to keep his voice casual as he replied, "I wouldn't want Al to get disowned or anything over me."

His words clicked it all into place. Honestly, I never thought Scorpius would be one to consider such a thing with such seriousness. I hadn't really expected him to even give it a thought. Clearly, he cared about Al a lot more than I gave him credit for. I used to just be angry with him for stealing my best friend, but I didn't think that maybe he thought the same of me. We'd spent so many years warring over our friendships with Al that we hadn't given thought to what the other actually shared with him. I'd assumed Scorpius was just a phase Albus was going through, and as the years dragged on I got more and more desperate for my assumption to be proven correct. I didn't ever stop to consider that they had a genuine friendship and actually cared about one another. I'd finally started realizing it this year, but Scorpius's question just made it that much more clear. A Malfoy actually cared about a Potter and what their friendship could do to Al's relationship with his family. I knew Dad assumed Al would ditch Scorpius after Hogwarts, but I wasn't too sure Uncle Harry expected the same. I also couldn't see any member of our family shutting him out if he didn't. Grandma Weasley seemed to accept Scorpius, and given all the Malfoys had put her family through, it set a tone. It was Al's right to be friends with whom he pleased, as Uncle Harry told my father.

"I'm going to go take a flask up to Professor Derrick," Scorpius said abruptly into the silence. He stood quickly and headed up to the front. I hadn't realized how long I'd been occupied by my thoughts.

He returned and immediately began clearing up his portion of the supplies.

"Scorpius," I tried to interrupt his hurried movements, but he either didn't hear me, or pretended as such, because he didn't even pause. I wasn't going to let him leave thinking I agreed with him, though. On impulse, I reached out and laid my hand on his arm to catch his attention. He froze, his head spinning to meet my gaze. "No one's going to disown Albus because of your friendship, so don't worry about it."

I smiled reassuringly, and he returned a lopsided smile of his own. As I turned to finish packing away my things, I caught Emily looking at me with a knowing expression. Realizing what that probably looked like, I sighed in resignation. Maybe Adrian had a point. Scorpius and I were becoming strangely close, considering the state of our relationship two months ago. I had no idea how or why it was happening, but it felt weirdly natural to be his friend. Perhaps, if I'd let go of my grudge before this year and put in an honest effort instead of ignoring him, we'd have done this last year. Maybe I wouldn't be having all these problems with Adrian if I'd been friends with Scorpius before we got together.

I watched as Al headed up to Em's table and leaned across, grinning as he handed her notebook to her. He said something I couldn't hear, and she laughed as they turned and headed over to us. Emily and I fell behind a few steps as we headed toward Transfiguration, watching Albus and Scorpius playfully shove each other up ahead.

"So don't get mad, Rose, but," she started in after a deep breath. I knew what was coming and braced myself. "You said Adrian accused you of flirting with Scorpius. After what I just saw in there, I have to ask… Were you?"

"No, of course not!" I replied emphatically. "That wasn't what it looked like in there. We were just talking."

"Looked pretty intense…" Em commented, looking at the ground.

"It was," I replied quietly. "I don't know. We were talking about Al. It wasn't a big deal. I know we got pretty friendly pretty quickly, but maybe that was just because I shut him out for so long. I was so convinced he was this evil guy but he's really not. I guess it just took an honest effort to see that. I had to stop being so stubborn."

Emily laughed lightly at that, agreeing with me wholeheartedly. I was grateful when she let the subject go, something Dominique would never have done.

"So, have you talked to James recently?" I asked, watching as her smile slipped slightly.

"We- er, not really. He's busy with work and I'm busy with school. It just seems we can never find the time. Not to mention working around all of his parties," she added, bitterly.

"Parties? Are he and Fred still throwing those?"

After they'd moved out on their own, Fred and James had felt it necessary to host several 'house warming' bashes, including ample supplies of firewhiskey. Dom and I had gone to a couple of them, and I caught sight of Scorpius with Albus at one, but they were far too crazy for my preference. I'm sure Emily only went because James was the one throwing it, and he had a history of getting properly drunk at such events. James had a certain reputation when it came to drunken escapades, and while Emily dialled him back considerably, I knew her insecurities were still there. Her own father had cheated on her mother, divorce ensuing after a fair few years of her mother letting it go on. She wouldn't end up like her mother, I knew that much, but the only example she had of a relationship had left her scarred. Her trust issues had become a problem in her past relationships, and I knew she and James had fought because of them before.

"Yes. I know it shouldn't bother me because he does love me and wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but-" She trailed off as I nodded in understanding.

"You can trust him, but you can't trust them."

"Exactly. But by not trusting them, he says I'm not trusting him, because I don't trust they wouldn't do anything, meaning I don't trust he wouldn't reciprocate… Does that make any sense?"

Laughing, I replied, "Yes, it most definitely does."

"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you should look at the whole Adrian situation like that. It's not that he doesn't trust you. He just doesn't trust Scorpius. Really, I guess I can kind of see his twisted logic," she mused, eyeing Scorpius up ahead as she spoke.

I turned Emily's words over in my mind as we sat in the middle of the Transfiguration room. Her ability to play both sides of an argument was uncanny, given how she had ripped into me in Potions over not immediately ending things with Adrian. Both of her arguments had a point, which worried me. I knew what Dominique and Albus would have to say on the matter, and I knew it was only logical to finally put an end to these ridiculous fights we kept having, but I just couldn't give up on him. We loved each other, and that wasn't something I was ready to quit on.

Mine and Scorpius's conversation about living arrangements for after school was also on my mind. The fact that people were already starting to think about life after Hogwarts scared me. Usually, I was the first one to have a plan, yet here I sat completely unprepared while Albus was asking Scorpius to live with him. I'd assumed that Dom, Emily, and I would likely get a place after Hogwarts, but what if they didn't want that? Perhaps Emily would move in with James, or Dom would want to remain at home. For all I knew, living with my best friends was an awful idea and I should start looking for strangers seeking a roommate.

There was so much to think about I couldn't focus on one thing for too long. I tried to clear my head and concentrate solely on changing my hair colour from red to dark brown, but I couldn't help being slightly distracted. This only served to stress me out more, because for the first time in my seven year school career, I failed to master the spell before the end of the period.

"Are you feeling ok, Rose?" Albus asked as we made our way out of the classroom an hour later.

"Yeah, fine," I answered. My voice was not quite as confident as I'd hoped, and Al frowned at me before deciding to let it slide. We continued on to our final class before lunch, my brain still whirling from everything the morning had thrown at me so far. If the day kept up at this rate I wouldn't make it to dinner.

A/N: Ok, so I'll leave it there. Lots of Rose/Scorpius interaction. I tried to balance it out so it didn't move too fast but then it felt like it was going way too slow so now I think I've just transformed from a snail's pace to warp speed… But I guess it is what it is.