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"Isn't it weird to think we're fifth years? It feels like we should still be little second years, right?" Eva asked the crowded train compartment.

"Totally," a distracted Rose added to the other murmurs of assent as she tried to discreetly catch a glimpse of the person lurking outside the door.

Crap, he thought, she's gonna come out. And because of Murphy's law, she did.

"Hi," he said, trying not to blush too obviously.

"Hey, I missed you this summer."

"Yeah? I missed you too."

There, that should be enough to keep you awake for the next year. Now get going.

Rose laid her hand on his arm.

"So what's up?" she asked, clearly wondering why he was lurking.

Scorpius thought for a moment before giving in.

"Do you wanna go check out the snack storage room with me?"

It was a blatant invitation. That was the most common place for couples to exchange heartfelt greetings on the Hogwarts Express. Even the historical Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley had snogged there consistently.

Rose looked at him curiously. "Yeah, I'd like that."

He nodded. "Meet me there in a few minutes."

Rose ducked back in. Scorpius tried to walk casually to the back of the train and slip in the closet when nobody was looking.

He leaned against a wall and waited. What if she didn't show up? What if she did? There wasn't a plan at all, except kiss her like he'd been thinking about doing all summer.

When she finally slipped in a mere but eternal two minutes later, she surprised him by kissing him before he could even get off the wall.

"Not that I mind, but I meant for you to wait a bit longer. We don't want your cousins getting suspicious," he murmured between kisses.

"Would you have preferred I come later?" She replied a few kisses later, now the one against a wall.

Scorpius laughed. "Definitely not."

"We're lucky it was empty," she whispered.

"I may have charmed the lock so only we could get in."

Rose giggled. "Clever."

"Hey, Rose," he straightened up slightly so he could look in her eyes for a moment. She smiled at him. "You were the only thing I could think about this summer."

She kissed him softly. "I kept wanting to owl you, but I didn't know what I was supposed to say."

"You weren't supposed to say anything. You could have said whatever you wanted. You could have said you loved circus animals because they made bananas do geometry and I would have slept with it under my pillow."

"Would you have responded?"

"Yes. I would have sent you a long letter about what I had for lunch and how pretty your eyes are and I wouldn't have cared if your dad or my dad or the minister of magic read it."

"And I would have slept with it under my pillow." They kissed a bit more.

"Scorpius?" Rose pulled back hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"What now?"

"We're still kissing." he went to her neck.

"I know, and I love that, believe me." She laughed a little and kissed him again to prove her point. "But I mean now as in after. Are we dating? Is it a secret?"

"Do you think we could?"

"I think so. It may be hard. And awkward. We may make some people angry. But—"

Scorpius kissed her long and hard.

"Rose." He said after a while. "I don't wanna make anyone angry. You deserve better. I'm going to do the right and proper thing, okay? This has been the best twenty minutes of my life. Obliviate."