A/N: I had a review point out that I never mentioned whether the version you read is the "very nearly true" version the kids hear, or the full version. It's the full version, and that's extremely important in this chapter. The kids hear a much more toned down, and less detailed, version of what I write, which is how Rose remembers it, without censure.

Speaking of which, this chapter has slightly more mature content than usual. If it makes you uncomfortable, skim or skip from "Impossible" to "Merlin." Or PM me and I'll give you a recap of this chapter. :)

"We don't have to hear about Australia, do we?" Antares asks after lunch.

"Yeah, Mum. We've heard about Australia about a million times. We want to hear about you and Dad."

Scorpius had taken Courtney outside to play, and it was just the three of us again. "When did you say Jake was coming over, Cassi? Five?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just planning how much detail I should get into. I want to finish the story before he gets here."

"Because of the magic?" Antares asks.

"Yes, dear. Because of the magic. Although I don't know that I would want Cassi's new boyfriend to know this much about your dad and me even without the magic."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Not yet," Antares says. I'm glad I don't have to. The childishness suits him more than it does me.

"Anyway, you and Scorpius were in Professor Li's office. And you were telling him about the boring Australia holiday," Cassi says, and I begin the story again, even more selectively than usual.

"You seriously got chased by koala bears through downtown Sydney?"

I could feel my grin leaking into my eyes. "Hugo accidentally fed them Amortentia. Well, I'm not sure how accidental it was, but that's what he told Mum."

"I never pegged your brother as a trouble maker."

"Neither did I. At least Gran and Grandpa got to learn why the Obliviate spell was so important," I said, looking up and realising just how near we were to each other. We had been talking about my strange trip to Australia for close to twenty minutes. Maybe we only moved a millimetre at a time. Somehow, though, we had both pulled a leg onto the sofa, bent in front of us and touching skin to skin. I lost my train of thought the moment I noticed. Between us pulsed an energy at least as alive as we were. He seemed to realize it at the same moment I did and didn't prompt me to start speaking again. We sat and stared at our legs.

"You want to know what's really been bothering me this year?" I asked, speaking to his leg. I couldn't meet his eyes and confess how much they had entranced me.

"Of course I do." He placed his hand over mine and goose bumps climbed up my neck.

"You grew up without me. I leave for six weeks and I come back and you're tall and handsome and manly and I'm still… me. Bushy-haired ginger Rose. You changed and I realised I cared."

He let go of my hand. I sighed, trying to push my feelings inward. I knew it would be awkward. But locking us into a room for an hour had worked. I had to speak to him. I pinched my eyes shut, trying to keep from crying.

"Rose," he said, reaching up and taking my chin in his hand. "Rose, look at me." I shook my head. "Please." I lifted my chin before opening my eyes. When I did, his eyes were full of concern and happiness and something I couldn't place. "Do you have feelings for Bryan?"

"No," I answered too quickly. "I mean…" But I couldn't think of a way to amend my thoughts. I didn't have feelings for him. "No, I don't."

"Why are you with him?" He seemed personally offended by the relationship, like it was something more than an old friend making a poor choice.

"He asked me out when I needed someone most. When you were being a git in class for no reason. Remember?"

"That was the day Emma Davies asked me out."

"You're trying to blame Emma Davies's affection for making you into a git?"

He ponders the thought for a moment. "Bryan Macmillan completely changed your personality. Is it so hard to believe she'd make me a git?"

"I guess not, but still. Why?"

It was his turn to look away and take too long to respond. "I liked her last year. Never got the chance to ask her out. When she asked me, I said no without thinking about it. As quickly as you just said you don't have feelings for Bryan."

"Speaking before thinking, Scor. You always have. Why would that make you into such a git?"

"Because I was spending Charms class trying to figure out why my mouth was so sure I didn't want to be with her. And… I figured it out."

"What, you decided you were too much of a prat to be with someone as pretty and wonderful as she is?" I said.

"No. I decided I had been completely blindsided with affection for you, Rose."

"Impossible," I whispered, barely moving my mouth.

He lifted my chin again, and forced me to meet his steely eyes. "Do you really hate yourself so much that you think only people like Bryan could like you? You're fantastic. Say something, Rose. Please."

I shook my head, pursing my lips tightly together. There was nothing I wanted to say to him, nothing I felt capable of saying. I was equally afraid of blurting out that he was a liar as I was of blurting out that I loved him. I just sat there on the sofa beside him, eyes open wide, mouth shut tight, back to the silence that had defined us so far sixth year.

"Fine," he said, only moving closer and closer to me until I couldn't see his whole face at once. "If you think there is nothing to say…"

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me the short distance between us until my lips were against his. Even then, I was too stubborn to respond at first. My senses were overwhelmed with the chemistry I felt between us, electric and pulling me in deeper. My brain was overwhelmed with the concept in general: Scorpius Malfoy was kissing me.

He probably wanted me to kiss back.

It took a moment, but I worked the stiffness from my lips and opened them against his, pulsing together in rhythm. In one movement that proved how much he had grown over the summer, his arm wrapped tighter around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. I ran a hand into his gelled hair, focusing as much on messing it up as I did on kissing him deeper, rolling into the rhythm we had established.

"Wait," I breathed against his lips, his tongue still pressed against my teeth.

"What's wrong?" He started to set me down, but I shook my head, reaching instead for my wand and pointing it out the door. There was a fourth year class going on outside still, I remembered. I locked it and cast the Muffliato my dad had taught me.

"That's better," I said, my lips against his ear as I spoke. "Now we don't have to worry about the noise."

"You're a genius, Rose," he said. The hand along my back slid under my shirt and along my bare skin. Bryan and I had made out before. I was always bracing myself for it to be over. This was nothing at all the same. I never wanted it to end. The wispy hairs along my back rose to meet his fingers as he traced my spine.

As his hand moved up and closer to my bra, his lips moved down, leaving mine and lingering on my jaw before kissing my neck with hard kisses that bore into my skin and made me want him. Regardless of location. He fumbled with my bra strap, unhooking it, then moving his hand from back to front. I couldn't help the moan that left me and was glad I had cast the spells on the room.

By the time we lay beside each other on the couch, cushioned and lengthened with hastily cast spells, more than two whole class periods were over. Professor Li wisely never needed anything from her office the whole time.

"Scorpius?" I asked, short of breath and trying to button my shirt evenly with hands that still trembled.

"Yeah?" He ran a hand through my messy hair, smoothing it. He made me breathe easy. He felt right. There was so much still wrong.

"I still have a boyfriend."

"Merlin."

"I'll fix it, Scorpius. I promise. Let's just… um… do you know any spells for looking put together?"

He waved his wand. I felt my hair rearranging, and looked in a small mirror on the far side of the room. "That will have to do," I said.

"What? You look normal now. Get your hair too straight…"

"All right! All right! I guess we better get out of here."

We listened at the door for a minute to make sure class was over, and then started to make our way out. Professor Li sat behind her desk, a pile of parchment in front of her that must contain some fourth-year translations of Runes. She didn't seem to be marking it, though. "Oh, good. Did you two sit down to talk?"

"Er, yes we did. Thanks, Professor," I said.

"You're welcome, Rose. Scorpius." She looked up and her eyes seemed to be filled with triumph. "Um, Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to pay more attention when buttoning your shirt." I looked down. I had missed one buttonhole altogether, leaving a gaping hole at the bottom of my rib cage.

"Has Bryan been by?"

"Twice. I told him you two were in detention and couldn't leave until my say-so."

"Thanks."

"Be careful, Rose. You need out of that relationship, but I don't think he's going to take it well."

"What makes you care so much? I thought you were just here to teach Runes."

She smiled. "That's what the job description says. But when I was in school, I found myself in a relationship that bordered on dangerous. It looked almost exactly like what I see between you and Bryan. Mine got a lot farther than yours did, though. I almost married him. You're a bright girl, Rose. Even without the boost of your parents' popularity, you have a lot going for you. I couldn't let you throw it away like I almost did."

"You don't know how much that means to me," I said.

"Just make sure you follow through, Rose. Please."

I nodded and Scorpius and I headed out the door for dinner. On the way, he seemed even edgier beside me than he had before our time in Professor Li's office. "Are you okay?"

"I'm worried about you. Are you going to confront Bryan tonight?"

"What choice do I have? He'll hound me until I talk to him."

"Are you going to tell him about… us? Is there an us?"

"Not yet, and not yet. I need to settle this first. It was wrong of me to kiss you before I ended things with Bryan. Although I'm not sure I would have had the courage without you."

"Professor Li is right, you know," he said as we reached the Great Hall. "Be careful."

"I will." I wanted to reach up and kiss his cheek, or even just brush his hand. Something to show that we were close and finally together. But Bryan was already standing up at the Hufflepuff table.

"Rose Weasley! Where have you been? Get over here!" I gave Scorpius one last glance before listening to Bryan. Professor Li and Scorpius were right. This had to end, and the sooner, the better.