"Rose," came a voice. I glanced up, surprised, at my friend. We were in the great hall, at breakfast—it had been a month, and we'd scarcely spoken since then. Sometimes he looked like he wanted to, and sometimes I wanted to, but nothing had come of it. "Where do you go, Rose?" She smiled, teasing me, but I could have answered seriously.

To Scorpius Malfoy, I could have told her. What I really said was, "Was I spacing out again?"

"Yeah. For at least half an hour. What could possibly be going through your head, Rose?" Emma looked at me knowingly, as if she had no doubt what had been going through my head. She was wrong. But I wasn't going to tell her that. "Anyway, look sharp, Garrett Drake is coming over here!" I looked up, not out of interest but out of trying to tell whether she was telling the truth. She was.

"And I should care…why?"

"Because it's Garrett bloody Drake, and the next Hogsmeade visit is tomorrow!" she said as if this should have been the first thing to leap into my mind. I sighed and watched the Great Dimwit approach.

"Hi, Rose," he said. His voice was slow, deep, and sounded as if he had to think carefully about each word to make sure it was the right one. I nodded.

"Hi." My voice was thin, tight, and I was trying my best to project feelings of 'you are not welcome here' with those two letters.

"Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." Now he sounded confident.

"Sorry, but I have other plans." I didn't, but that wasn't the point; the point was that I could think of few things I wanted less than to spend a day in the company of Garrett Drake. I'm sure that I'm the first girl ever to turn the Great Dimwit down, and I could hear Emma's gasp of shock, disbelief, and all-around horror at my words.

"O-okay," he stammered, and then left.

"Why did you do that?" Emma shrieked at me.

"If you think he's so much, you should go out with him yourself," I said angrily before running off, no longer interested in breakfast. Unfortunately, without the company of my best friend, the free period would no longer be quite so interesting. I can go to the library and finish my homework…god, I am such a goody two-shoes. Oh well. I went to the library.

Barring the presence of Madame Pince, it was probably one of my favorite places in the castle. Growing up surrounded by my mother's books had instilled a deep and abiding love for them in me, and the library always seemed so safe, somehow. I settled into my usual corner and began an essay that wasn't due for a month at least. Yes, I know I'm pathetic.

"Hey, Rose." Ah yes, of course. Why is he talking to me now? He hasn't said two words to me all month.

"Hi, Malfoy." I looked up at him. He was acting really odd, it occurred to me—as if he was being pursued or observed or some such thing.

"I—"

"Look, Malfoy, that's really insulting," I interrupted him. "If you don't want to be seen talking to me, don't talk to me. You don't have to act like you've just committed a crime." His face turned a lovely shade of red. "Sorry," I added, somewhat belatedly, to my rant. "It's just—"

"No, it's okay." Well, this is just the day for interrupting, isn't it? He stopped twitching and looked at straight at me. "I was wondering if you wanted…to…go to Hogsmeade…with me…tomorrow…" Upon seeing my shocked expression, he amended, "As friends, I mean."

Well, isn't this just the day for asking Rose Weasley out? was the first thing to enter my head. Then, after a month, this is what he says? And immediately after that, well, why not? "Sure," I said. "As friends." My stomach felt odd—perhaps I had not eaten enough at breakfast.

He looked a little startled, but pleased too, and glanced around himself again before saying, "Um, great. I'll meet you outside the great hall after breakfast?"

"Okay. See you tomorrow." I wanted to run away as I had at breakfast, but my position (in the corner, surrounded by books) prevented it. Malfoy left at a higher-than-usual speed instead, and I was left to stare blankly at my homework and wonder what I had gotten myself into. A date—no matter what he said—with Scorpius Malfoy.

Part of me was cursing my own stupidity. Part of me was still trying to pick my jaw up off the ground. But the biggest part of me? Well, the biggest part of me was…excited.