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One Day

by DelfineNotPadfoot

.:.

"Are you joking?" Albus asked his best friend in the best whisper he could manage.

Scorpius discreetly shook his head, keeping his eyes on their chubby Potions teacher. They both kept silent for a few minutes, their faces to the front of the classroom, until Albus exclaimed:

"You're in love with Rose?"

Scorpius's face quickly reddened, his eyes, wide and grey, leaping to Rose's back to see if she's heard her cousin.

Apparently not.

"Sssh, Albus, I don't want anyone to find out, especially her."

He tried to keep a straight face, but he failed miserably, and lowered his head, knowing that his blush wasn't fading at all.

"And as a matter of fact, yes, I am."

He'd been afraid of his best friend's reaction, as Albus was related to the beautiful girl Scorpius's heart was erratically beating for, but he know he had to tell him. Keeping secrets from each other was not how their friendship worked. They had always preferred honesty. Furthermore, he felt the need to confide in someone, as he found his recent discovery quite frightening. He didn't want to go crazy – it would be very un-Malfoy-like. And, in the end, he deeply wanted to have someone's opinion on the possibility of something like that happening. 'That' being a romantic relationship between him and Rose. As much as it scared him, he needed to know whether he stood a chance. She liked him as a friend, so it was a nice start.

Wasn't it?

So now, all Scorpius was waiting for was his friend's response. Actually, he was not really waiting for it – he was dreading it.

"It's great, Scorpius!" Albus cried, a large grin spreading on his face.

"Is it?" Scorpius grimaced, knowing all his self-confidence had slipped away.

"Yeah!"

"Mr. Potter," the old teacher interrupted, "if you could be more quiet and start your Potion, it would be a delight."

"Of course, professor," he smiled happily, turning towards his friend. "So, how long?" he whispered.

"How long what?" Scorpius muttered as he began to cut a unicorn horn.

"How long have you been, you know, in love?"

The blond-haired young man once more felt his cheeks and ears redden, and the temperature of the room suddenly seemed to rise to a hundred degrees.

"I don't know," he said, absent-mindedly stirring the potion in front of him. "I guess it's been a while, but I wasn't aware of it until a few weeks ago."

"And you only tell me now?" Albus complained, clumsily pouring some syrup of hellebore inside the boiling cauldron, which began to turn an unexpected shade of blue. Of course, Scorpius was too busy looking at his hands to notice. "I thought I was your friend!"

"Well, you are! But don't think it's easy for me. She's your cousin, you idiot," Scorpius said through his teeth. "Anyway, if I'm telling you this, that's because I need some... advice."

"What? The great Scorpius Malfoy needs advice from me? About a girl?

"Not any girl, your cousin!"

"She's also your best friend."

"I know," Scorpius sighed, grabbing a moonstone and starting to crush it into powder. From the corner of his eye, he could see Albus staring at him. He tried to ignore him, but after a minute, he failed. "So, will you help me?"

Scorpius delicately dropped the moonstone powder in the potion in a fluid motion, and didn't see Albus's extatic smile.

"I don't need to. She's already head over heels in love with you!"

The shock overtook Scorpius, who lost control of his powder, which fell all at once in the warm turquoise bubbles. He would have liked to ask his friend if he was making fun of him, but the potion had suddenly turned red – which still was not the colour it was supposed to take – and it had exploded right in both their faces.

.:.

Rose was looking at their faces and arms. Try as she might, she couldn't tear her eyes away. As they were both lying down on the white hospital beds with all those yellowish marks on their skin, and even though she knew it was ridiculous, she couldn't help but be a little scared. Not as much as she had been in Slughorn's classroom, but seeing them unconscious didn't help the few tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, my dear. It's going to be all right," the nurse kindly told her.

"I know, but it's hard to see them covered with this... thing."

"Don't worry about it. Tomorrow morning, they will be as good as new! Now, two more minutes and then back to your dormitory."

"Thank you, miss," she replied as the nurse walked away.

Rose turned to look at her cousin and friend and cringed as she took another look at their burnt skin. At least, the potion had knocked them unconscious and they didn't have to feel anything.

"You're stupid. Both of you!" she accused, drying her salty tears. "I'm sure you failed your potion because of something stupid, you stupid boys. Why didn't you pay attention to it? Albus, I know you hate Potions, but Scorpius! What happened to you?"

She sighed heavily and approached her friend's bedside table. Then, with (only metaphorically) burning cheeks, she took his hand and looked shily at him.

"Look at me, playing Prince Charming," she laughed. "Don't get me wrong, Al," she glanced at her cousin, "I love you too, but just... just not in the same way."

She was silent for a few seconds, ignoring her own blush.

"I'll see you tomorrow, my favourite losers!" she whispered to them.

She softly dropped Scorpius's hand and turned around.

One day, she would tell him.

A/N

That's all for today! (we won't say ever, we're not that pessimistic)

Thank you for reading ;)

Del(&)Plume