Late on Sunday afternoon Rose was pacing around the fourth year girl's dorm. Dominique was supposed to be helping her get ready for James' party, but her beautiful cousin was nowhere to be found.

Finally, sporting a huge grin, Dominique entered her dorm and made her way over to Rose.

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm a bit late, but I needed Lily's input on the color changing" she said.

"Color changing... right" Rose said, eyeing her cousin skeptically.

"For your costume? You weren't seriously going to wear that shade of red with your hair color, were you?" Before Rose could even open her mouth to speak Dominique was already continuing, "No, of course you weren't. Hence the color changing. Trust me, this will be much better. Now take all that off, we've got a lot of work to do."

Rose saw her newly colored flapper dress and paled. I hope nobody gets the wrong impression, she thought to herself as she pulled it over her head.

An hour and a half later, with copious amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on her head and makeup expertly done by Dominique, Rose and her cousin were making their way to the Room of Requirement.

Dominique was dressed up as a ghost, and had somehow managed to spell herself into a pale translucence. Rose felt slightly uncomfortable watching the hallways pass by through her cousin, and tried to keep her eyes to her front.

It was immediately clear when they were getting close based on the noise levels alone. This party wasn't exactly "private". In fact, the Room of Requirement, while currently huge, was also currently only closed in on three sides. An entire wall face was left open so that students could easily find their way in.

In true Room of Requirement style, the decorations were amazing. Cobwebs hung around the room, and jack-o-lanterns floated around providing illumination. Tables were set up with pumpkin juice and pumpkin pie, as well as various candies and refreshments. A big space near the center of the room seemed to be set aside for dancing and mingling, while numerous comfy-looking chairs and couches were scattered around to accommodate those who needed a rest.

Rose tried to pretend she wasn't scanning the crowd for Scorpius, but knew Dominique could see right through her, which, she supposed, was a bit ironic at the moment.

As if her gaze was drawn to his, Rose locked eyes with Scorpius from across the room. Without looking away from her, he excused himself from the group he'd been talking to, and made a bee line over to her.

He looked just as dashing in his pinstriped suit and hat as Rose had imagined he would. The stripes made him seem even taller than normal, and the cut of the suit was a perfect fit on him.

Rose lost track of everything going on around her as he approached, never breaking eye contact.

"You're wearing green" he said, getting to her at last.

"Yeah, we changed it…" Rose said, her mind going fuzzy.

"Because I told you green was my favorite color?" he teased.

"What? No." Rose replied, snapping out of her daze at his jesting. "Because, my hair…" she began, realizing she wasn't really sure the exact reasoning behind Dominique and Lily's color changing operation.

Because green is the Slytherin color, and they wanted everyone to see me wear it next to him, she thought.

"Sure it was" he said. "Well, whatever the reason, you look beautiful."

Rose felt the beginning of a blush creeping up her face.

"And now," he continued "I'm going to dance with the most gorgeous girl in the room." He grabbed her hand and led her away.

"Hello Scorpius, nice to see you too. Why no, Rose, I don't mind if you leave me all on my own, go have fun." Dominique said to the empty air with a grin as Rose was being pulled away. She wondered for a second if she was so see-through that no one would even notice her all night. She wasn't sure Scorpius had even registered her standing next to her cousin.

But she was reassured a moment later when a rather handsome Hufflepuff sixth year dressed as a vampire asked her to dance.

Meanwhile, Rose was very aware of the way her body was pressed against Scorpius'. She knew she should try and say hello to James, and thank Lily for helping Dominique with her dress, and probably find Albus and Hugo to say hello for good measure, but her mind was filling up with pleasant fuzziness again.

She wasn't sure how long had passed when Scorpius finally suggested they get some drinks, but she immediately felt cold and out of place when they stopped dancing. It was as if she had been snuggled inside a warm blanket, only to have it swiftly pulled off.

Drink in hand, a little of that pleasant sensation came back to her as Scorpius leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"You know, I think it would be rather suspicious of us if I didn't whisk you off to an abandoned classroom somewhere. No one would ever believe we're really together if we stayed here all night with you looking so good."

Shivers ran down her spine, and the desire to disappear into an empty classroom with him was making her heart race.

"Well, if you say so" she said, trying to keep the sound of her pounding heart out of her ears. Stop being an idiot! she chided herself.

Grinning that devilishly handsome grin of his, Scorpius scooped Rose off of her feet and started walking.

"Hey! Woah! Everyone's staring at us, put me down!" Rose said, suddenly acutely aware of the number of eyes on them.

"No way. That's the whole point" he replied jovially, winking at someone on his way out.

He kept carrying her through the hallways, past the giggles of wandering students. Rose was no longer sure what was making her redder, being pressed up against Scorpius, or how embarrassed she was being carried about like a princess.

They reached their destination and he set her gently down on an open table.

"Well, that certainly caused a scene" she said, covering her face with her one free hand.

Scorpius gently peeled her hand away with his own. "Yes, I know. Like I said, that was the point. You really do look amazing tonight, you know. If I was dating you for real there's no way I wouldn't find an excuse to sneak off with you. Although, in this case, I'll admit I went with a public spectacle just to see how close to your hair color I could make your face."

"Ugh, I could kill you!" Rose said, but there was no heat behind her words. She was learning to live with Scorpius' idea of fun. Apparently it wasn't a good day for him until a public display of affection had rendered her a tomato.

Rose looked down stupidly at the glass she was still holding, and drank it all down in one gulp. She set the glass next to her on the table and looked up at Scorpius, who had raised his eyebrows.

"Well," she said, "what are we meant to do now?"

"Oh I'm sure we can think of something" he said, leaning in closer to her.

Rose went very still as Scorpius brought his hand gently to her face.

And suddenly his hand was gone and he had leaned back.

"You had an eyelash on your check" he said, face the picture of innocence.

"Eyelash" she repeated, "right."

"Have I ever told you how bad you are at lying?" he asked her, his tone very purposefully casual. "You show everything on your face."

"Sorry, it's not a hobby of mine to deceive people" she said, wondering what he'd seen in her face just then.

"I mention it because I'm sure someone will ask you later what happened after I carried you away. I'm sure you don't want to fumble your way through that and ruin everything."

"No, not really" Rose said. She had an idea she knew where he was going with this line of thought, and she berated herself for wanting very badly for him to continue.

"I have an idea to take care of that" he said leaning in once again. But this time there was no laughter in his eyes. He looked at her with an intensity that brought the warm fuzzies back to her brain.

"What if, you just don't lie?" he continued, slowly, agonizingly, inching forward.

"That could work" Rose breathed, all of her concentration on the shrinking space between them.

"Alright then" he said.

And then his lips were on hers, and Rose lost track of everything else.