Honestly, how was she supposed to know Lucius Malfoy was ill.

"The man was in his late 80s. You had to know he wasn't going to hang around for too long." Albus reminded her. He was regrettably unsympathetic to her plight, as was her brother Hugo.

"I have to apologize to him, Al." It took no small amount of effort for her to admit that. "Just let me tag along and I'll leave you alone at the actual event."

"The "event"? You mean the funeral?" Al said incredulously.

"You should wear that black dress I got you for your birthday last year! You never wear it," Lily piped up.

"It's not too short?" she asked doubtfully.

"You're not going to a job interview. You look hot in it, why shouldn't you wear it?"

"Lily, this is a funeral. It's not about me."

"And yet somehow, she's still making it about her," Hugo muttered to Al, who scoffed in agreement.

"Hey!" Rose glared at them. "I'm going to make sure Scorpius isn't insulted or anything and to apologize."

"No, Rose," Hugo said, supremely entertained. "You're going to relieve yourself of your guilt and because you can't stay away from Scorpius Malfoy."

"Excuse me?" She narrowed her eyes. Hugo was smug, apparently unthreatened, while Albus sighed deeply, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else but there. "It's actually normally my deepest desire to stay as far away as possible from him. Right?"

She turned to Lily for support, but Lily simply winced.

"You did kind of always talk a lot about him back at school…"

"This is ridiculous!" Rose said firmly. "I am not obsessed with Scorpius Malfoy or anything of the sort. I am simply going there to apologize like any normal decent person would do and that is it."

Hugo's unconvinced expression didn't change.

Rose was hoping to catch Scorpius at the very beginning, say her apologies, and duck out, but he was nowhere to be found. She figured she'd find him afterwards, but once Al took a seat right behind Draco and Astoria Malfoy in the second, she opted to ditch her cousin and go sit in the back (though it was more like he ditched her; he knew there was no chance she'd sit there).

As she stood around waiting for the program to start, a lean woman with pointy features slid in next to Albus. Her face was now quite familiar to Rose, who had spent a solid hour stalking her on Wizstagram after Lily informed her about Scorpius's post-graduation activities.

Alessandra Zabini. Scorpius really did have a type, judging from her and Lana.

Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy turned around to greet her. Rose frowned. She was clearly still on good terms with the family. Weird since they'd been broken up for several years, if Lily's information was to be trusted (which it always was).

The speeches were mercifully short (the Malfoys weren't known for being a rambling bunch), though in Rose's opinion there were some rather creative euphemisms employed in describing Lucius Malfoy's life and legacy. Scorpius still was nowhere to be seen.

Finally, the last speaker went to the front of the room to give what was probably a heartfelt eulogy in remembrance of a life long lived.

And he sounded exactly like he had sucked a balloon's worth of helium.

Rose's eyes shot to Al. Al looked back at her and she knew they shared the same thought—he sounded just like he had taken one of their Uncle George's Squeaking Screamers to modify his voice.

She couldn't help but giggle. A tall, elderly woman—another Malfoy if her hair was anything to go off of—shot her a supremely dirty look. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her laughter, but that just made it even funnier

"You really are incapable of reacting appropriately at any event, aren't you?"

Rose choked on her laugh and whirled around.

"Scorpius," she stuttered, unsure how to begin apologizing.

"Rose. Come to insult my grandfather to my face again?" He regarded her coolly.

Yep, she was a terrible person.

She swallowed hard. "Scorpius, I really—I am so, so sorry—"

"I have to admit, it's a bold move to do this at his funeral." Scorpius continued as though she hadn't spoken. "But then again, 'their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart.'" He smiled mockingly at her.

"I had no intention—"

"Shall I set aside some time for you at the podium? I would hate to be the only person that got to hear your eloquent musings on my family's legacy." Scorpius made to walk towards the stage.

"No! Wait." Her hand shot out to grab his arm and held him in place. "Scorpius, please, I just—"

"Rose Weasley, begging? I never thought I'd see the day." Rose hesitated, unsure how to interact with him outside of their usual events, but saw a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"You're messing with me."

"I couldn't resist watching you squirm." He flashed a smile. "Now what're you doing here?"

The squeaky speaker finally stopped and people around them started getting up to go to the reception. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Al give her a questioning look but she turned back to Scorpius.

"I wanted to say I was sorry about your grandfather's passing. Really."

"No, you're not," he replied. He didn't seem very bothered by that observation.

"No, but I was trying to be nice for once." She scowled back, feeling a lot less sympathetic now that he was up to teasing her. "You seem pretty ok given that we're at a funeral."

Scorpius shrugged. "My grandfather just passed. I'm in shock."

"I always knew you were mental. Is Lana ok with it or can you just hide it better in German?" Rose glanced around, but couldn't find a tall beautiful blonde. Well, actually there were several tall beautiful blondes around given that this was a Malfoy event (and now Alessandra to join the pack), but the model herself wasn't in sight.

"Hm? Oh, she's not here."

"Where is she?"

"Paris. Or maybe Prague. It's Fashion Week somewhere."

"Fashion Week," she repeated.

"I told you we weren't dating." He was eyeing her with an amusement she didn't understand. Rose frowned.

"But you just lost your grandfather. If she cared at all, she should—" Realizing she was insinuating his girlfriend (or hookup or whatever she was) probably didn't care about him, her mouth snapped shut before she could continue putting her foot in her mouth.

"You're checking up on me." Scorpius's eyebrows rose and he looked delighted. "You care."

"No!" Her voice was loud in her vehemence. Several people looked over, then turned back to their circles of friends, probably muttering about how gauche the Weasley girl was. Whatever. She continued in hushed tones. "Obviously, I still hate you."

"Obviously," he agreed, still looking too smug for her liking.

A waiter came up, shoving a tray of what looked like eggs with artfully placed leaves and flowers on the tray in between them.

"Balut?" he asked politely.

Scorpius grimaced. "Grandmother's tastes were always a bit extravagant."

Normally, Rose wouldn't criticize someone's event planning skills to their relative's face—much less when it was a funeral—but she figured they were past that point. "Some tacos would be perfect right now."

"Should we go find some real food?"

She shook her head. "I've been looking, I don't think we'll find any."

"Not here."

It took her a moment to understand what he meant.

"But your parents, your grandmother… is it ok to just leave?" She looked around nervously.

"Albus is keeping them busy. They won't mind. Besides, I'm grieving." He sent her a wounded look and she tried to stay serious but couldn't.

So that's how she found herself at a Muggle food taco in central London with Scorpius Malfoy buying her two al pastor tacos. She'd tried to pay for both of them given that she was there to apologize after all, but he insisted. ("You're a trainee Healer. You probably can't afford to pay for yourself. My morally defunct, ill-gained capitalististic fortunes, as you put it last time, should be used for some good." Rose had a hard time arguing with that logic given that she had around 30 Sickles left in her Gringotts account to last her through the month.)

"So I take it you weren't close with your grandfather?"

Scorpius thought about it as he chewed carefully. "I was his only grandson so it wasn't like I never had a bond with him at all. But he had a hard time letting go of his old prejudices after the war and didn't really approve of all my choices. He thought everything we did should have been to restore the family name."

"He must not have liked you leaving the country," Rose said without thinking.

Scorpius snorted. "No, he did not."

She mercifully kept silent instead of word vomiting everything she now knew about his life (and Alessandra's) from the past five years through his social media. He didn't offer any new information, instead commenting on the food ("the perfect amount of grease"), the speeches ("What was with that speaker who kept calling my grandfather a Guardian of the Dark Secrets? He was so not that cool." Scorpius shook his head, looking baffled) and any and everything other than his personal life.

They talked a lot about Rose though—what it was like starting out in her exhausting job later than most people, how her parents hovered concerningly until she figured out a career path, how the dating scene was sorely lacking (that one was more than a little embarrassing).

When she finally went back to her flat, she had the disconcerting feeling that Scorpius Malfoy knew a lot about her, more than most people in her life even, while she didn't know him at all.

"How'd it go? Did you apologize?"

Rose kicked off her heels and walked into the living room. Lily lounged on her couch, reading the latest edition of Witch Weekly.

Rose scowled. "You know I don't allow that trash in here anymore."

Lily rolled her eyes. "They called you lost and unambitious once—"

"Thrice!"

"Get over it. How was it?"

"He wasn't mad, so that was good. Crisis averted." And then we left, got tacos together and had a surprisingly nice time, Rose mentally finished. No way would she be telling anyone that part, especially Lily who would run with it.

"Nice. Was his girlfriend there?"

"No, she's in Paris. Or Prague. I'm not really sure."

Lily tilted her head, deep in thought. "Do you think I have a shot?"

"With Scorpius? I think he's kind of taken for now."

"No, with Lana." Lily grinned.

"Pretty sure she's equally taken."

"Ugh. What's the point of being a Potter if you can't enjoy any of the perks of celebrity like meeting hot models?" Lily grumbled.

Rose thought back to how Scorpius reacted whenever Lana was mentioned—rather apathetically. "Cheer up, Lils. I don't know if their situation will last for much longer."