Rose was in Potions when the alarms went off. Drills had become fairly common since The Battle of Hogwarts, so there was never a blind panic—everyone knew what to do—but something always seemed to go wrong. Every. Single. Drill. Someone would start a fire, just to be funny, a house elf would get his ears stuck in a door way in his haste, Ellis Griffin would finally see Jodie Mason hold hands with Alvin Williams and publicly and loudly break up with her. That had been fun.

Personally, Rose was a little excited for the drill. I get out of potions at least, she thought as she calmly marched down to the kitchens with her class.

The kitchens were the best place to be 'sheltered' during a drill because you got to sneak food to pass the time. It was a game beloved of all Hogwarts students. The only problem was that it got a bit claustrophobic. The system involved cramming too many students and house-elves into that kitchen, large as it may be. At least four classes filed in, and immediately mingled into each other. Meanwhile, Biddy, the smallest, most determined looking house elf Rose had ever seen continued trying to prepare dinner. Rose made her way through the crowd towards her, with the idea of trying to get her relax for the safety of everyone. She finally reached her as the house elf swung a pantry door open, hitting a second year Gryffindor in the head. Rose let his friends crowd around and comfort/tease him and went in after Biddy.

"Biddy?" she called. The pantry was dark, and the only indication Rose had that she was still in the room came from the spirited chef's quiet muttering of"too crowded, maybe Apparating..." The trademark sound accompanied her leave.

"No, please, Biddy?" Though she knew it was useless, Rose waved her arms around a bit madly in an attempt to find her but her hands landed on a boy's chest.

"Easy now," Scorpius snickered, putting his hands on her waist to steady her.

"Oh! Scorpius! How are you? What are you doing here?"

"I was nearby when that boy got hit and I went to go check on him, but he seemed fine and I heard you so I came in to check on you."

"That's a lot of checking."

"Yes it is. I'm all checked out." It may have been dark, but trust me, there was a lot of blushing from both ends because of his poor word choice.

"Well, that's very chivalrous of you."

And then they heard the sounds of a new class coming in and the door closing.

"Oh dear," sighed Rose. Scorpius whispered "Lumos" and used his wand's light to start heading towards the door. Rose's waist felt cold.

Scorpius tried to turn the handle.

"We're locked in." His eyes didn't seem to hold the proper amount of panic for being locked in a pantry.

"Do you think there are rats?" asked Rose, calm as if she were brushing her hair before bed.

"Yes, one's a lovely bloke named Scorpius." He smirked at her. She tried to ignore the swirly, twisty stomach feeling.

Scorpius grabbed her arm and they sat down beside each other against a wall. "Good thing I brought my book." Scorpius held up To Kill A Mockingbird. "We have to read it for Muggle studies."

"How do you like it?"

"Between you and me, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I'm actually enjoying it."

"Good to hear."

"You know what kinda sucks?" Scorpius laid his still glowing wand on the floor in front of them.

"What?"

"We only get to read good books once. I mean, we can reread them, but it's not the same, cause you already know what's gonna happen."

"I hate that."

"Can you keep a secret?" Scorpius leaned towards her on his side so that if someone were to startle him, he would fall right on top of Rose, who laughed a bit and nodded, trying hard as she could to act casual.

"I've been thinking, it would be completely possible to Obliviate oneself for things like this. I could erase my own memory of reading my favorite books, and just leave myself a note of some sort to read them."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Yeah, but it would also be wicked cool." Rose had the delusional idea that Scorpius' dimpled grin could light up the pantry just fine and really, they didn't need his wand at all. Who needed light anyway? She bit her lip to bring her focus back. Scorpius's eyes flickered down.

"You should also write down how many times you've read each one, I think that'd drive you crazy not to know." Rose could see Scorpius' teeth now, he was grinning so wide.

"I could do it for you too if you want. What's your favorite book?"

Rose's heart was beating extraordinarily fast for someone completely unafraid of the dark. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

"But that's muggle." He didn't have to make it sound so flipping scandalous.

She thought, My mom showed it to me. She said, "You don't know everything about me."

There was a moment or two of silence during which Scorpius' face hovered just a few inches away from hers.

"Besides," she said in a startle, and Scorpius slowly eased back with a blush that Rose couldn't see. "I don't think I want my memories tampered with. It's just a little weird. You be sure to be careful when you do that."

"Of course, Caution is my middle name."

"Obviously, Scorpius Hyperion."

"How do you know my middle name?"

"I'm...very attentive." It was now Rose's turn to blush.

"Of course you are." There he went with that grin again. "Rose Hermione."

"So we have attentiveness-attentivity? A trait of being attentive-in common."

"Bit flustered, are we?"

"It's dark."

"Mmhm."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Where is the ginger?!" That was Biddy. She had finally Apparated back.

Rose sprung up. "Biddy! You should rest, dinner will be late tonight. We don't want the food to end up cold. Don't argue with me, now. You know I'm right. Now Biddy, do you have the keys? Would you mind letting us out?"

A disgruntled Biddy ended up opening the pantry door to let them out just as the students started filing back to class.

"See you later," Scorpius whispered before following his class back to Divination. "If I forget who I am, you're responsible for telling Madam Pomfrey what happened."

And then he was gone and Rose's side was cold.