When Rose woke up the next few mornings, she felt great for once at the start of a new term. Even her fluffy white cat Blossom was in a good mood. Rose felt like her 5th year would be a good year for sure. Over the past few days, Rose and Scorpius grew very close, as if they had been friends for years. Rose pretty much forgot that they hadn't always been friends.

When Rose went downstairs one morning, she saw Scorpius sitting by himself reading a book, and she sat next to him happily. Feeling someone sitting down next to him, Scorpius looked up, smiled at Rose, and shut his book.

"Hi," said Rose with a small smile.

"Hey," said Scorpius, and as he was about to say something else, a piece of paper fell out of his pocket. "Oops, I almost forgot to send this to father. I have to quickly head to the owlery. Come with?"

"Sure," said Rose, standing up from the couch cheerily. "I should check on Albus's owl anyway. He won't check on it himself, and the poor bird thinks I'm its owner more than Albus is."

"You seem to have Albus's back a lot," said Scorpius. His face showed that he wished he had a cousin like Rose. They both crawled out of the portrait hole and into the hallways of Hogwarts.

"Yeah, Gryffindor couldn't have won the House Cup in our 3rd and 4th year if it wasn't for me arguing for his case and getting the teachers to be more lenient, and Albus has done stuff mischievous enough to get detention for a month, but he's never gotten more than a week," said Rose proudly. "And he couldn't even serve detention for a month if Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny got letters about some of his and James's pranks. Aunt Ginny would have his head. Usually, though, I convince the teachers to let me write home to his parents instead of them, and I have a way of saying things without lying while still making them sound better than they really are. It's kind of a gift."

"Why do you cover for him so much?" asked Scorpius. The hallways started to fill up with students on their way to the Great Hall.

"Because he's Albus, and as stupid as his pranks are, they're kind of funny," said Rose with a giggle. "And he's my cousin."

"I wish I had a cool sibling or a cousin or something," said Scorpius. "My house is always just me and mother and father. And family gatherings are… not great most of the time."

"Really? My house is always loud and there are always some family members visiting and stuff," said Rose with a sigh. "Don't even get me started on back when I had a diary. James found it, and used his owl's beak to pry the lock open, much to the owl's dismay, and he did a dramatic reading of it to all my cousins. 8 year old me was devastated."

"Ouch," said Scorpius with a laugh. "I guess it can be nice to have a quiet house sometimes."

"Yeah," said Rose as they arrived at the owlery. She walked over to Albus's barn owl, Topper, and gently stroked his head with her finger. She filled up his food dish and then waited for Scorpius to finish sending his letter.

"But you're very lucky that you have siblings and cousins and stuff, especially the ones older and your age. It must've been easy to make friends since you already have them," said Scorpius.

"Yeah, but they didn't help me meet Abby and Ellie," said Rose with a shrug. Scorpius and Rose headed down to the Great Hall and sat down in her usual seat, Scorpius sitting next to her once again.

"It's our local do-gooders, everyone," said Albus with a grin as Rose and Scorpius sat down across from him.

"Well us "do-gooders" get your butt out of a lot of trouble," said Rose with an eye roll. "By the way, I checked on Topper for you."

"Thanks," Albus said, blushing a little. They all helped themselves to breakfast. James seemed to be wooing a 7th year Gryffindor girl, and Lily and Hugo were arguing (as usual), so Rose, Albus, and Scorpius created their own conversation. Even then, Albus seemed to keep turning to look at the Ravenclaw table. Scorpius was confused by this, but Rose giggled. He kept winking at Abby, who he'd like since 3rd year. Abby was asked out at least twice a month because while she was usually quiet, she was one of the smartest girls in their year and she had soft, brown, shoulder-length hair that had the slightest bit of wave to it and pretty hazel eyes. She had fairly tan skin as well.

"Honestly, Al, just ask Abby out already. Your so-called "subtle flirting" isn't subtle and everyone knows you like each other," said Rose.

Albus turned very red from this comment, and a sheepish smile arose on his face.

"It's not like that," said Albus half-heartedly, knowing it was no use.

"Yes, it is like that, it is very much like that. Come on, just ask her out during break in the main yard today, I'll come to support you," said Rose. She had a pleading look on her face.

"But I don't like-"

"Al!"

"Fine, I'll do it," said Albus with a sigh. Rose clapped her hands in delight. Before long, they had received their schedules. Rose had all of her classes with Ellie, Abby, Albus, and Scorpius, which she was super excited about. After breakfast, all four of them headed to their first class, which was Arithmancy.

Albus had something to do during break, so he didn't get to ask out Abby until the end of the day. Rose went outside to watch, dragging Scorpius and Ellie along with her. Ellie and Rose seemed more excited than Scorpius.

"Why do I have to come along?" asked Scorpius, rubbing his arm that Rose had been using to practically drag him along.

"Because!" snapped Rose, hiding behind a tree with Ellie and Scorpius. They saw Albus walk onto the grounds with Abby, and he was telling her a story which she seemed to find very funny.

"So," said Albus, who was starting to turn a little bit red. "I have to ask you something."

"Ask away," said Abby with a sweet smile.

"Well, it's just, uhh… I've kind of liked you since 3rd year because you are really pretty and smart and I kind of wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me," said Albus. He was now as red as a tomato, and he looked as if he were preparing for rejection.

"I'd love to go out with you," said Abby, kissing him on the cheek with a giggle. "You and I should hang out here by the lake after classes on Friday. Just us."

"Sure," said Albus, somehow turning even redder. Rose and Ellie were overjoyed. Rose ran over and hugged both Albus and Abby, and Ellie joined the hug soon after. Scorpius just chuckled and watched.

"YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE THE NEW IT COUPLE, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE FINALLY TOGETHER, YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE, YOU GUYS WILL HAVE THE CUTEST CHILDREN-"

"Rosie, you're more excited than either of us," said Abby with a chuckle. "Al and I are gonna hang out alone for a bit, see you later." Abby took Al's hand and they walked away.

"You're nuts," said Scorpius as she walked back over to the tree they had been hiding behind.

"I'm a perfect kind of nuts," said Rose, tucking her hair behind her ear. "So… what now?" Rose looked down at the grass, trying to find daisies. She loved daisies.

"Well, I have some homework to finish up," said Ellie. "I would have already been working on it, but Albus and Abby were more important. See ya!" Ellie skipped away happily, her long blonde ponytail swishing behind her.

"All my homework is done," said Rose with a shrug.

"How? We got a new essay assigned to us today, two rolls of parchment long," said Scorpius in disbelief.

"Two rolls of parchment is nothing," replied Rose nonchalantly, as if the essay was only supposed to be two words long.

"Wow, even I'm not that good," said Scorpius with a chuckle. "Anyway, I have everything else done, and I don't want to work on that today. I should check the owlery again, my dad replies to letters quickly. You can come if you want." Rose thought about it quickly and nodded.

"I should send this letter to my parents as well, I wrote it during break today," said Rose, pulling a neatly folded piece of parchment from her pocket.

They walked to the owlery together quietly, as they were sort of just enjoying each other's presence. Rose thought about saying something, but she thought the silence was too peaceful to break. She was feeling a bit nervous, as she was always nervous about sending a letter home since she never wanted to disappoint her parents and she had a lot to live up to from their days of Hogwarts. Her mom was a top student, and both her mom and dad were very brave people.

They both walked into the owlery together, Rose walking over to Albus's owl and Scorpius collecting the letter from his own owl. He opened it and frowned slightly. He seemed to be holding back a lot of unhappiness.

"Is everything ok?" Rose asked in a gentle tone of voice. She walked over to Scorpius as Topper flew away with her letter.

"Yeah, it's just… I wish things were different in the past," said Scorpius with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" asked Rose, hoping she could help while trying not to come off as nosy.

"It's just… I wish I could tell him how amazing you and Albus are, but I am worried he won't understand," said Scorpius with a sigh. "He doesn't want me to get into situations like this, he thinks it's dangerous for me. But I don't care."

Rose didn't even think before she pulled Scorpius into a tight hug. He hesitated before hugging her back, holding her as tightly as he could while still being gentle. She liked the way it felt to be hugged by him. They stood there quietly for a few minutes in each other's arms. Rose then slowly let go of him. They were now standing very close to each other.

"Forget about it. You don't have to see him until Christmas break," said Rose. "I know it's hard. But I'll do my best to be there for you. So do what they want, answer their letters as often as you must, but don't worry about it."

"I try my best not to worry, but it's just… they're my parents," said Scorpius.

"We will tell them eventually, but we have to wait until we are ready to face them," said Rose reassuringly. "But until then, you will always have me. It's not much, but it's something."

"Don't say you're not much, because that's not true," said Scorpius. He stood a little closer to her, closer than they already were standing. Rose could now feel his breath.

"You're too nice. I'm just me," breathed Rose. She felt as if they were the only two people in the world.

"You're beautiful," whispered Scorpius. Their faces were now almost touching. "You're so sweet and gorgeous." He then pressed his lips against hers. At first, Rose didn't know how to react, but she decided to kiss him back. Rose wrapped her arms around Scorpius, and the kiss felt like fireworks. Rose thought it would last forever, but she then slowly pulled away, letting go of Scorpius. They were both breathing heavily.

"What are we now?" Rose spoke in a soft, quiet voice, looking into his sharp grey eyes. They seemed to be burning with passion as if he had been holding back certain feelings he had just unleashed.

"All I know is that I liked that," said Scorpius, his voice equally soft and quiet. They both stared at each other for a few seconds.

"We should get back to the common room," said Rose awkwardly, her voice returning to the normal volume. "People will get worried. We can hang out again tomorrow, though. Alone. After class. I am doing homework with Ellie and Abby before dinner, but after dinner, I'm free."

"I think I'd like that," said Scorpius. "Let's go before people start asking questions, though."

When they reached the common room, Rose fixed her hair and lip gloss, and she fixed Scorpius's hair too. They then told the Fat Lady the password and walked into the common room.

They were immediately stopped by Albus when they walked in.

"Where were you two? You've been gone for an hour," said Albus, his green eyes flicking between the both of them, waiting for an explanation.

"We were at the owlery," said Rose, and Scorpius held up his piece of parchment on which his letter was written. "I had to send a letter and he had to receive one."

"You don't have an owl, Rosie," said Albus, his eyes burning into Rose as if he was searching for something for him to be mad about.

"I borrowed yours. Thanks, by the way," said Rose with a sheepish grin.

"Fine. Next time, be quicker though," said Albus, slowly walking away. Rose gave Scorpius a quick hug when Albus wasn't looking before heading off to her dormitory. She scooped up Blossom onto her bed and she quickly put on her pajamas.

She wasn't sure how to explain what had happened in the owlery, but she knew one thing: she liked it. And she was pretty sure she liked Scorpius Malfoy, from his white-blonde hair that had a slight wave to it, to his sharp grey eyes, to his slightly muscular figure. She liked everything about him, and she was pretty sure he liked her too.

But she wasn't ready to tell everybody yet.