Rose may not be Ravenclaw, but she was fairly clever and decently creative, so she owled Uncle George a few days after regaining her memories. Once he'd sent back the temporary tattooing paint she'd requested, she set to painting brown leaves over three of the leaf burns on her arm. The last burn she covered with a heart the color of her hair. Exceedingly proud of herself, she wrote one word on each leaf—Hail, Rain, Sunshine. On the heart she wrote "looking forward".

So then she wouldn't be stuck wearing robes and other long sleeved shirts for who knew how long, and most importantly for the moment, she didn't have to wear a long sleeved dress to the dance. It may be winter, but Hogwarts was kept warm enough for an actual dress.

Rose's 'actual dress' of choice was honey yellow and knee length, with a belt that matched her leaves and no matter how many times she told herself it shouldn't matter, she couldn't help loving the way Scorpius looked at her when he saw her in it.

"You- you- um," Scorpius smiled a bit sheepishly. "Pretty. Me thinks pretty."

"Thank you very much. Me is just glad you didn't try to come pick me up at the dorm. It's already been established that I don't mind the smell of vinegar, but it might have been vaguely inappropriate for a dance."

Scorpius took her hand and they began walking towards the great hall. "Ooh, that's a problem. Albus asked me earlier if his vinegar cologne was appropriate and I told him to go for it. We may end up having to ditch the ball and give him a bath."

"Can't. Eva is going to be attached to him like a leech. We'll never get him away."

"Well then I'll just have to apologize to Eva later."

Rose laughed. "So Albus isn't giving you a hard time?"

"Oh, he gave me a long talking-to, but that's a good thing. I wouldn't expect any less. We're good."

"Uggh, how long? Don't sugarcoat it."

"I swear, I sat in that library for no longer than an hour and a half."

Rose threw her head back and laughed so hard the group of third year girls fussing over hair actually turned to stare. "Uugh, I'm so sorry. I can beat him up for you if you want."

Now Scorpius laughed. "Can you now?"

"Maybe."

Scorpius pecked her on the cheek. "I really didn't mind. We both just want you to be happy."

"Aaaw, my sweet little boys. I'll bake you into cookies and sell you for charity."

"That is a morbidly philanthropic thought which would hopefully only ever occur to you, because if there's an army of morbid charity workers out there, we're all screwed."

"You're not supposed to know about them. I'm going to have to obliviate you."

"Uuuggh, not this again!"

They walked into the Great Hall laughing.

It was lit with hundreds of candles floating around the ceiling and in the Christmas trees, which were covered in popcorn strings and floating balls of light.

"Care to dance?" Scorpius whispered in her ear.

"Maybe," she whispered back with a smile.

The dances started off fairly fast, and kids were still filing in, so there was room for Scorpius to spin Rose and make her giggle.

"Hey," said Scorpius. "I just noticed your leaves, very clever."

Rose beamed and held her arms out so he could read them.

Slowly, he took in the words, softly rubbed his thumb over each, lingering on the "looking forward".

"Very, very clever," he mumbled, before kissing her softly on the lips.

"There's a solution I have to apply before it will come off. I don't know how long the burns will last, but I'm considering just keeping it permanently. "

Scorpius beamed and spun her again.

"Good thinking."

"So I was thinking earlier—"

"And it has been proven that you're good at that."

"You'll come visit me over the break, right?"

Scorpius hesitated. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Probably. You'll have to meet my family eventually. And Dad's gonna hear about it as soon as we get home, so it's best for him to meet the charming Scorpius Malfoy before he gets to think too hard about us dating. Really, it'll be fine. You'll charm the socks off him."

"Alright," Scorpius conceded. "And afterwards if I'm still alive you can come see my place. They'll love you."

"Doesn't everyone?" Scorpius laughed.

The music slowed to a waltz, and Scorpius pulled Rose closer. Every student in Hogwarts was now in the Great Hall staring at the anomaly they'd only heard about in the last few weeks. Everyone knew they were dating, but few had actually seen it as blatantly as now, with Rose and Scorpius dancing happily, in violation of the "arm's length apart" rule by more than an arm's length.

"I almost feel bad," Rose whispered, "They're wasting a perfectly good dance staring at us. It's because my legs are just too distracting."

"Mmhm."

Rose kicked him with one of her distracting legs. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh well in that case I was too." Rose tried not to laugh. Scorpius kept whispering. "That's their problem though. I couldn't care less. Does it bother you?"

"No, I'm fantastic." Rose smiled at him and could tell that it relaxed him.

Over the next few slow songs though, Rose could tell Scorpius was growing uncomfortable.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, of course, it's just a little crowded."

"I thought the looks weren't bothering you."

"They're not, I just don't really like...people. I'm not used to crowds."

"Aaaaww." Rose kissed his cheek. "You wanna sneak outside?"

"But you're enjoying this."

"I'm enjoying dancing with you. Let's go."

They started outside to the field where they first kissed only to find it was hailing.

"That's so weird. I guess the Great Hall ceiling doesn't show hail."

"It would have ruined the mood."

"True. Parapluvia."

The hail parted above them like it was hitting an invisible umbrella as they walked across the grounds. Once they got there, they kicked their shoes off and stepped out onto the grass.

"Accio violin," Scorpius said, and a violin flew, presumably from the music room, and stopped under the awning. Scorpius charmed it to play for them as they swayed in a circle.

Rose kissed him slowly. After a while, Scorpius pulled back. "I just realized, we literally have done them all. Hail, Rain and Sunshine."