A/N: Thank you to all my followers and the biggest shout out to Tenshi Yami – Angel of Darkness for your loyalty and reviews, I will continue this fic for you. Unsure if anyone else wishes for it to continue?!

A short chapter I am afraid - you don't want to hear my excuses, so I will save them. I had valid reasons for late posting and posting a short one. Thanks for reading - Enjoy!

Chapter Five

The next few days they spent preparing to return to Hogwarts, buying all the relevant books etc. Their dads always made a big deal out of it and they would all go together – meet up with the various Weasleys and have a day of everyone shopping.

Scorpius usually didn't mind, but today was the first time he saw Rose after breaking her boyfriend's nose. She refused to talk to him and when Al said that Rich deserved it after what he said, she softened slightly but was still rather cold towards him.

He was pleased to note however that Al and his big mouth, hadn't caused any friction between their dads and they appeared to be even more sickly and lovely dovey towards each other – more so than usual.

They all went to the Burrow after the shopping trip and they were currently enjoying a nice meal with the Weasleys, Molly had insisted Scorpius call her grandma Molly – he usually did but not always.

Rose was reading some of her new texts books – surprise surprise! He rolled his eyes and hoped she would start talking to him properly again soon, he hated not being on good terms with her.

His dad looked to be smitten about something and it became apparent what, when Harry stood to make an announcement, "Oi everyone listen!", the noise died down, "I just wanted to let everyone know that Draco and I have decided to renew our wedding vows – you all will be invited, of course" Harry smiled down at his dad and they both looked very happy.

A chorus of 'Congratulations' and 'Oh how romantic' was said and Scorpius hugged both his dads.

"I'm very happy for you two – but please don't make me a ring bearer or a groomsman!" He whined, remembering their first wedding.

Draco smiled at his son, "I thought you could walk down the alter with me, I'd much prefer that" Scorpius smiled back, and agreed he would as long as he didn't have to wear awful dress robes.

"When do you plan on doing this?" Al asked, after he too hugged his dads.

"Seeing as you're not of age yet, we thought we would wait until you turned seventeen – then we can celebrate both. Gives us time to plan and knowing Draco, he will overdo everything!" Harry jokingly said.

Rose was so happy with Harry and Draco's news, she forgot to be mean to Scorpius, and they all enjoyed an evening celebrating and discussing what kind of party they could have – as it was their coming of age celebration too.

The trip to the train station was uneventful as ever and they spent ages saying goodbye to their family. Their dads always hated saying goodbye to them and missed them greatly. However Scorpius thought it was great going to school and not having his parents watching everything he did – Al and he always took advantage of this.

Sharing a compartment with Al and Rose as he did every year, Scorpius was listening to his I-Pod – making the most of it, as he couldn't use it at Hogwarts. He had the volume low enough to hear the conversations around him. He was sat with his back to the window – sat sideways on the seat, with his feet on the seat and knees up.

Rose and Al were discussing who would win the house cup this year. Scorpius watched as Rose tried to convince Al that she was right –he liked it when Rose got passionate about something, her face changed completely when she was being strong headed. He often daydreamed about kissing her and just telling her that he liked her – he liked her a lot. He knew he would never tell her whilst she was with Rich, and she didn't seem to want to listen to reason, when it came to him.

Natalie and Rich joined them in their compartment and the couples spent the remainder of the journey wrapped up in each other. Scorpius sighed, he hoped that this wasn't how his year was going to be, Al with Natalie and Rose with dickface, and him alone and bored.

Rich must have assumed that Scorpius had his music louder than he did, as he was talking utter shit to Rose - not realising Scorpius could hear.

"It's a good job Draco pulled him off of me, I would have done a lot worse than break his stupid nose." Scorpius hated the way that Rich always tried to act tough – when he clearly wasn't.

Rose huffed, "Rich can we not talk about Scorpius – you will only end up saying something you'd regret and we will fight again".

"If you didn't jump to his defence all the time we wouldn't fight" he snapped back.

Rose shifted in her seat, "Maybe you should just leave him alone, don't bother him and he won't bother you?" she suggested nervously.

Rich frowned, "You it make sound like it's all my fault! I bet he's been spreading lies about me – he wants us to fight." Rich had started caressing her arm.

Scorpius rolled his eyes – the moment Rose called him on his behaviour, he turned it around, so Rose would feel guilty and he would place all blame on Scorpius.

"I know it's not all your fault Rich, but you have to understand that I am stuck in the middle. If you two continue to argue – what am I supposed to do? Scorpius is my best friend and you are my boyfriend." She was looking down and playing with her hair – avoiding Richs' eyes.

He picked up her hand and kissed it, "Ok, I know this is hard for you. I promise you I will leave him alone – but I cannot say the same for him, he may still start trouble" he flashed her a totally false smile, but Rose seemed to buy into it.

She hugged him and then they kissed briefly, "Oh thank you Rich. I've been worried about this for some time – you have just helped relieve some stress I have been feeling."

Scorpius turned his music up loud enough to drown out sound – as they begun kissing rather noisily.

Rich left and Rose joined Scorpius, plucking a headphone out of his ear – putting into her ear. They both sat close together, one headphone each – listening to his music.

She yanked the headphones out, "Rich has promised me to stay away from you – will you promise me the same?" she was pleading and sound as if she was at her wits end.

"No – as he will not keep his promise. I will not seek him out, or start on him without just cause – but you cannot expect me not to defend myself and my family. I will stand up for all of us, even if that upsets you" he nudged her shoulder with his own, "But I will try and not let him get to me".

"Why can't the two of you get on – have either of you even tried?" she leaned back against his shoulder, partly resting against his side.

Scorpius thought for a moment, "I don't know, he never liked me. But I never saw him really – until we started Hogwarts. Then he took an instant dislike to me and from day one, tried to show me up".

"He's your cousin – don't you wish you could get on?" she wasn't angry, just curious.

"I don't see him as family. I don't hate him for who he is. I hate him for what he is, he is a homophobic, arrogant, rude and fowl person. Don't look at me like that, he's different with you. He doesn't want to sleep with me!" he ignored the expression on Rose's face and put his headphones back in.

Rose shook her head and shared a look with Al. She couldn't understand why Scorpius got so touchy when they talked about Rich. Yes Rich could be rude and said a few things that were out of line, but Scorpius was just as bad. She never witnessed her boyfriend being as bad as what Scorpius makes him out to be. She knew she should take Al and Scorpius' word for it, but he was her boyfriend and she was happy with him.

It was last year when she had started to notice the boys in her year more. If she was being honest with herself – she would admit that in fact, Scorpius was the first boy she started seeing differently. She put that down to the amount of time she spent with him. Al was her cousin so the next boy in her life was him. She wondered at the time if it was a fact of life, at some point you will fancy your best friend – some people like her parents acted on it and others didn't and the crush passed.

She never told anyone that since last year, she sees Scorpius differently – not just as a friend. However she didn't know if he liked her, if she would risk ruining their friendship – once you cross that line there is no going back. What if they dated and then it went sour – that would be awful. What if she admitted she liked him and he laughed at her? No she definitely wasn't going to tell him.

Then last year she noticed Rich would watch her more and showed signs of liking her. So she decided to ignore her fucked up feelings for Scorpius and date Rich. It was refreshing to date someone so different to Scorpius but at times she hated it. Rich wasn't as considerate or caring as Scorpius.

Scorpius caused her to behave so erratically, she hated it when he would tell her what to do, fuss over her or treat her differently. But at the same she liked that he would fuss, that he would open the door for her, he would be polite and caring, she knew he only told her what to do out of a sense of protectiveness and she liked that. She wanted someone to protect her, to make her feel safe and secure and to look after her and treat her like she was special. That was Scorpius, but then she would always come up with the same conclusion – he was like that with everyone. It was deeply ingrained in him to be polite, to care and to treat everyone like they were special.

So she locked her feelings for him deep inside her and treated him as her friend. When Scorpius found out she was dating Rich, she was shocked at how he reacted – he was rude. Scorpius was never rude toward her and he never really had anything bad to say about anyone. She knew that was because he had been raised by Draco and Harry – the best qualities from each passed on to Scorpius. Harry had shown him to be kind and not to run people down and Draco had installed manors and politeness in him.

She was shocked when he went off at her about her poor choice in a boyfriend – it was very out of character. But again as she always seemed to do, when Scorpius told her she made a mistake, in his 'I know better than you' tone, she rose to the challenge and was determined to prove the smug git wrong.

Yes Rich wasn't the perfect boyfriend but she liked him a lot and wasn't on planning on finishing with him any time soon. So here she was six months into a relationship with Rich and still determined as ever to prove to Scorpius that Rich was a good boyfriend. She really didn't want to hear him say 'I told you so' in her snobby voice, talking down to her.

Six months with Rich and she still felt nervous around her best friend. Just now, sitting next to him listening to music with him, had caused her to feel on edge and have little flutters in her stomach and her hands to feel all sweaty. He always smelt so nice and his hair looked really silky and soft – she wanted to run her hands through it. She couldn't deny it, he was a good looking boy – most the students at Hogwarts thought so. His unique hair and facial features made him stand out and then you add his infectious and amazing personality and most girls were fantasising about being his girl.

He had girlfriends in the past, but nothing ever serious and never lasting that long. Rich had joked that he was 'in the closet' like his dad and she had another huge fight with him that day. She didn't think he was gay, but nor did Draco when he was at Hogwarts – or Harry for that matter. Rose was open minded and she assumed as wizards were generally relaxed when it came to same sex couples – many witches and wizards were bi. Just being with someone who they were attracted to – irrelevant of their sex.

So maybe Scorpius was straight but would consider a boy if the right one came along. Deep down she wished that she could be that one person to capture his heart. Whoever it will be – will be a very lucky person she thought.

Scorpius was watching Rose and she had looked deep in thought for some time now – probably trying to recite a whole text book in her head. The rest of the journey passed in silence and the welcome feast was enjoyed and devoured.

Al and Scorpius were sat in bed, in the dungeons – talking before turning in.

"I overheard Rich promise Rose earlier to stay away from us – we need to get him to be his true self in her presence, she needs to see what he is really like" Scorpius was firm and determined.

Al was half asleep, too full of food and warn out, to really listen, "Hmmm yes if you say so", he then turned on his side, back to Scorpius and went to sleep.

Scorpius laughed, "Charming" and then tried to sleep himself – thinking of ways he could prove to Rose that Rich was wrong for her.