The next morning Rose woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. For a brief moment she marveled at the weight that seemed to be lifted off her shoulders at the thought of no longer worrying about Cooper.

And then she remembered what she had done to get Cooper to leave her alone.

She groaned and rolled out of bed. After a quick shower to calm her nerves, she got dressed and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Rose sat at her usual place at the Ravenclaw table. Although it was called that, these days, people from different houses frequently mixed things up and sat with friends at any table. Rose herself spent a great deal of time at the Gryffindor table with her extended family, and it was not uncommon for them to come and sit by her and Dominique as well.

Dominique, incidentally, was already seated and looking expectantly at the Gryffindor table. As soon as Rose sat down, a sizable group detached themselves from across the Hall and made their way towards her. Lily Potter, in particular, plopped down right next to Rose and immediately began to talk.

"Rose, WHAT is this I heard about you and Scorpius Malfoy snogging in the courtyard yesterday? I KNOW you wouldn't ever do that without telling us first, right?"

Her eyes were opened wide in anticipation, like Dominique's had been the night before. James and Hugo plopped themselves down next to Dominique, while Albus sat on Rose's other side. Five sets of eyes watched Rose for an answer.

"We were NOT snogging, no matter what Lorcan or Lysander says. But we might have kissed…?" Rose shrugged her shoulders, trying and failing to pretend it was no big deal.

"I cannot believe you didn't tell me first! How long has this been going on?" Lily asked.

At the same time, James rolled his eyes and Hugo mimed retching into his cereal bowl.

"Well, it's sort of a new development?" Rose supplied. She glanced at Dominique for reassurance, only to find Dom staring at something behind her. Rose turned her head just in time to see what was making Dominique stare. Scorpius Malfoy had just entered the Great Hall, and was making his way over.

Smooth as silk, Scorpius inserted himself between Albus and Rose, snaking an arm around her shoulder.

"So, I take it you told 'the family'?" he asked, giving her a quick kiss on the temple.

Lily's mouth dropped open, then promptly closed. "Yes, Rose was just informing us of this, new development. How new, exactly, is it?"

"Well, you know how bothersome Adrien Cooper has been to Rose lately. I saw him badgering her yesterday and put a stop to it. Then Rose and I got to talking, and there you have it. Can you pass the bacon?"

Scorpius reached across to James, who handed over a platter of bacon.

Rose spent the rest of the meal in almost stunned silence, with only the occasional "hmm" and "uh-huh" as Scorpius continued to chat amicably with her family.

Eventually, everyone was just about finished eating. Lily got up and whispered, "Nice job!" in Rose's ear, before skipping away. Rose and Scorpius got up as well, destined for the same Potions class. Scorpius grabbed both their bags and her hand before Rose had even registered what was happening.

Holding hands, they exited the Great Hall and headed down to the dungeons.

Once they were out of sight, Rose looked down and their interlocked hands.

"You can let go now, they can't see us anymore" she said.

"I think I'd better hold on. Your family aren't the only ones in school with eyes" he replied.

"Oh, right." Rose felt the heat rising in her cheeks again, but didn't let go of his hand. Breakfast had gone surprisingly well, and Scorpius had come up with a fairly plausible explanation for their new-found romance. It was even almost true. For the first time, Rose was thinking they might just be able to pull this whole thing off.

Once they arrived in potions, Scorpius set down both of their bags and took the stool next to Rose's.

"I usually sit next to Albus" she said, looking at where she normally sat.

"He'll just have to make do with McGrady," Scorpius said, indicating his usual seatmate. "I'm sure they'll live."

Rose shot him a skeptical look.

"We are dating right now, you know. It's not weird that I'm sitting with you" he said. "Haven't you ever sat next to a previous boyfriend? Or have they all been in different years than you?"

Rose was beginning to think that a red face was going to be her new default.

"I've… not, um, I mean, there hasn't been… er-" she took a steadying breath and continued. "I haven't dated anyone before."

Scorpius' eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch before his face broke into a lopsided grin. "Oh this is going to be MUCH more fun than I originally thought."

"Shut up, not everyone's like you" Rose said, defensively.

Scorpius grinned even wider, "No, they're not."

Albus came in to class a short time later and very casually made his was over to McGrady's table.

Rose tensed a fraction, but her shoulders eased as Scorpius calmly laced his fingers with hers under the desk. The feel of his hand in hers was oddly reassuring, and they kept their hands together until the lesson started, and they had to let go in order to brew their potions.

By the end of class, Rose had almost forgotten she had been nervous at the start. Scorpius was a good partner. Once they got to work, she found it almost easy to hold a casual conversation with him. Just a few days ago she had thought Scorpius was a bit callous and vain, but she was starting to see that he was actually pretty easy going. Once they had turned in their flasks it felt almost comfortable when he took her hand again and led her away from the dungeons.

O.W.L. students had a number of breaks throughout the day, and coincidentally, almost all of Rose and Scorpius' classes were the same. They had a bit of a gap between Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, so Rose didn't pay too much attention to where Scorpius was leading her, other than to note that the further they went, the less people seemed to be around.

When they were finally alone in an unused classroom Scorpius let go of Rose's hand and sat on top of one of the empty desks.

"I figured you would want to talk in private" he said.

Rose was instantly flooded with relief. She had meant to talk to him about their arrangement as soon as she had a decent chance, and he had made one just for her.

"Yes, of course. I just want to make sure we're clear with what we're getting into here. I know you're doing me a huge favor, and you're doing a much better job so far than I am. We should try and figure out how long we want to keep this up, and what I owe you for it. Plus, we need to arrange plausible seeming dates and make sure we have our stories straight. That was a brilliant story at breakfast, by the way."

"Yes well, the thing about lying is, it's always easier to tell the lie that's closest to the truth" he said.

Rose recalled saying something almost identical to Dominique the night before. "You have a lot of experience lying, then?" she teased.

"You could say that" he replied. His eyes seemed to burn into her as he added, "After all, Slytherins do whatever it takes to get what they want."

Rose shuddered a bit at the intensity of his gaze. She mentally berated her heart for racing.

"As for the rest," he continued, a lopsided grin returning to his face, "unless you think Cooper's going to give up on you after a single day, I'd say we're going to have to keep this up for a while."