Rose and Scorpius 19 years later

by Slytherpuff and proud

Rose Weasley, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy begin their time at Hogwarts. But will the reputations their parents left stop them from ever getting along? Or will their mutual belief in finding their own paths bring them together? Please enjoy. I aim to write at least 8 or 9 chapters.

7. Chapter 7 SEVENTH YEAR

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE LAST CHAPTER, I KNOW IT TOOK A LONG TIME, I'VE BEEN AT UNI FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. AND I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR A LONG TIME.

EVERYTHING IS FROM THE WONDERFUL MIND OF J. , I HAVE BORROWED SOME OF THE NAMES OFF OF MY FRIENDS, THEY ARE NOT LIKE THIS IN REAL LIFE, BUT THEY'RE NAMES ARE A BRILLIANT MIX OF NORMAL AND WEIRD, SO I THOUGHT, WHY NOT? I HOPE YOU ENJOY CHAPTER 7. IT'S A LOT LONGER THAN PREVIOUS CHAPTERS WHICH IS ANOTHER REASON WHY IT TOOK SO LONG.

SEVENTH YEAR. 25 YEARS LATER

SUMMER HOLIDAYS BEFORE

Rose had not slept a wink the night before exam results came via post. Rose was not a morning person, she was even worse when that morning was preceded by no sleep.

Rose and Hugo had just received their letters from Hogwarts. Rose was would start her N.E. if she had passed the exams. Hugo excitedly opened his exam results to see that he would be able to drop potions, as he only just passed but that still wasn't enough for the professor to allow him to continue it, and Hugo would be able to continue the rest of his subjects. He was very happy that he achieved the highest grade for muggle studies. An O for outstanding. Hermione and Ron were very proud of their son.

"Oh, a postcard from your brother Charlie." Hermione smiled and passed it over to Ron.

"He's still loving it in Romania." Ron said after reading a few lines. "Apparently all his apprentices love him, but they have to compete with the dragons to get any attention from him." he laughed.

"Good for him," Hermione nodded, "I guess he won't be coming home for a long time."

"Yeah, I think mum must've gotten a postcard or letter from him today too. So have you got time to visit them with us?" He asked Hermione.

"I've always got time for family. Besides, they'll want to know about exam results!" she hugged Hugo with pride and kissed Ron on the cheek before going back to sifting through more of the letters. She found Rose's letter from Hogwarts and slid it across the table. "I'm sure you've done wonderfully." she said with a reassuring smile.

Rose sleepily picked up her letter while trying not the snooze in her cereal. She looked at her grades and managed a smile, she got an O in all her exams except Ancient Runes were she received an E for exceeds expectations. Although she had been expecting that, no one got higher than an E in that class. With the exception of her cousin Lucy.

Her letter was heavier than usual.

Rose handed the letter with her grades on it to her parents who were just as proud of her as they were of Hugo.

"This is great Rosie!" Ron ruffled his tired daughter's hair, but she didn't notice.

Hermione hugged her as she stood to get another cup of tea.

Rose opened the next piece of parchment in the envelope, it was a letter explaining that there would be apparition lessons later on in the year and that it would cost 12 Galleons, if they hadn't passed the test in the previous year or had been too young. She had been the right age last year and so passed the apparition test the second time. Rose stood and decided she should get back to bed, she hadn't slept in 24 hours. She left her letter on the breakfast table and trudged away upstairs, she could hear her family talking.

"Is she ok? She left her letter down here, I wonder if she's not happy with her Ancient Runes grade?" Ron muttered out loud.

Rose couldn't be bothered to go back to the kitchen and explain that she was happy with the grade but was just really tired and annoyed with herself for staying up all night worrying about nothing.

"ROSE MINERVA GRANGER-WEASLEY!" Hermione shouted from the kitchen.

Rose rolled her eyes, she had just gotten under the duvet covers and hit the pillow. Rose groaned, her mum must have been annoyed because Rose had left her dirty cereal bowl on the table and left her letter just laying about. Hermione liked a clean kitchen.

"YOUNG LADY GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Hermione shouted again, although Rose could not help but notice that her mum did not sound angry at all, more frantic and excited.

'Maybe the fact that both me and Hugo got good grades outweighs the fact that I didn't clean up after breakfast.' Rose thought to herself as she threw the covers off and slowly stood up.

"ROSIE HURRY UP!" Ron seemed to squeal.

"What?" Rose groaned as she slumped in the nearest chair in the kitchen. Her entire family stared at her eagerly, something that annoyed her so early in the morning. Her bowl had been cleared away for her and Rose was now very confused. "Why are you lot practically beaming?"

Hugo grinned and slid Rose's letter over to her. Rose shook the envelope upside-down and a badge fell out along with another piece of parchment which she had not noticed before. Rose sluggishly open the letter and began reading,

Dear Miss Rose Granger-Weasley,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to be this year's Head Girl. You have been chosen...

Rose felt her eyes drooping, she yawned and thought: 'Head Girl, how nice. Good for her. Although I was kind of hoping-'

Rose's late reaction interrupted her own thoughts. Rose suddenly sat up and toppled backward off her chair. She jumped up and was alert and awake. Hugo was now laughing at her, so was Ron but Hermione had never been so proud in her life. Hermione was close to tears.

"He-h-head G-girl?" Rose let out in a stuttered whisper. She picked up the red and gold badge that lay next to her empty envelope. Rose ran around the kitchen giving each member of her family a hug. "I"M HEAD GIRL! I"M HEAD GIRL! ME! LITTLE ME IS HEAD GIRL!" She couldn't help but shout and hug each of them.

"Oh Rosie! Well done!" Ron gave his daughter an enormous hug.

"Well done." Hugo begrudgingly returned Rose's hug even though he was extremely proud of her.

"I have to tell Albus!" Rose jumped up and down before grabbing a handful of floo powder and disappearing.

Hugo frowned with confusion then turned to his parents who were still smiling. "Did she just leave the house in her pyjamas?"

The Potters were having a relaxing morning, congratulating Albus and Lily on passing their exams and James for getting another job interview, while eating breakfast quietly when Rose, a wearing a dressing gown, chequered green pyjama bottoms and an oversized grey tshirt that had an image of four sheep wearing wellies and holding umbrellas and it said 'Great British Weather', burst into their living room through the floo network.

"I'M HEAD GIRL!" She squealed.

Once the Potters understood what was going on, they all excitedly hugged Rose before she disappeared again into the floo network to visit the rest of her family.

The Burrow was her last stop and her grandparents were particularly proud, and Rose even stayed with the three of them long enough to have a second breakfast. When Rose was finally home, she dressed and wrote to Lunette announcing she had big news and asked if she could floo over to their houses. Instead Hermione said it would be nicer if Lunette just came over to spend the day with Rose at their house. They could even go up to the muggle town to hang out.

However, before Lunette arrived, Hermione had to remind her daughter of a little thing called common sense.

"Funny how it's not so common." Hugo chuckled as his mum calmed down an excited Rose.

"Not a helpful comment Hugo." Hermione sighed.

Hugo didn't care, he just laughed again and slipped off to his room.

"Now, how about actually reading the rest of the letter first? Probably some useful information in there, otherwise Headmaster Fairweather would not have sent it. Secondly, where is your head girl badge?"

Rose's grin dropped into an annoyed expression. "I left it at the Burrow." She quickly stood up from the sofa but Hermione stopped her.

"Your dad is going now, I'll just tell him to pick it up on his way back." Hermione then spoke sternly, "Now, sit, relax and read the rest of the letter." She turned around and walked into the kitchen. "Ronald! Can you pick up Rosie's badge from your parents house?" she shouted upstairs. Before waiting for an answer Hermione quickly ducked back into the living room, hugged Rose and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'm so proud of you. Well done. You've worked really hard for this."

Rose squeezed Hermione tightly. "Thanks mum."

"Oh, one last thing, perhaps you should think about changing out of your pyjamas before your friend comes."

When Hermione left the room, Rose opened her letter and read from where she had left off.

...You have been chosen due to your academic achievement, outstanding reputation as a student, and an honest, good, and hard-working personality.

This honour is not to be taken lightly, you will have duties to instruct and organise Prefects with their patrols and organise your own nightly patrols with the Head Boy. You are to be role models for the entire student body, especially your house.

You will be taken out of your usual house dormitory and placed in a separate tower to share with the Head Boy. Therefore you must await your head of house outside of your house common room after the first years have been shown the way then you will be shown to your new quarters. These separate dormitories are to be treated with respect and shall come with a central working area for both yourself and the Head Boy….

Someone else burst into the living room, Rose quickly looked up. It was Lunette, her hair was purple and orange with excitement.

"Rose! Hugo just told me the news!" Lunette rushed in and hugged her best friend. "This is brilliant!"

"I know." Rose smiled proudly.

Hugo leaned in the doorway, watching his sister and her friend. Lunette noticed him first as she let go of Rose.

"You must be really proud of your big sister, huh?" Lunette grinned at Hugo, wishing, not for the first time, that she had a sibling.

Rose watched Hugo's face as he answered, she wasn't sure what his answer would be. What Lunette didn't realise was the full scale of which siblings can argue.

Hugo smiled genuinely at Rose. "I am, she deserves to be head girl."

Meanwhile, Albus planned on spending the day at Scorpius's house. After Rose's sudden burst into their home, Albus got dressed and Harry used a side-along apparition to get him to Malfoy Manor. They stopped outside the large black gates, which used to terrify Albus, but he had visited Scorpius so many times that it no longer had any effect on him. Harry on the other hand did not like it, it brought up too many memories of Albus's aunt Hermione. Harry gave an involuntary shiver and waited with his son until someone arrived at the gate. They expected it to be the house elf Petit, but in fact it was Scorpius who came running up the garden to let Albus in. The blonde boy greeted Harry cheerfully and Harry left his son, knowing that Albus was in safe hands with Astoria and Scorpius.

"You're more cheerful than usual." Albus observed.

Scorpius grinned. "That's because I have something to show you when we get to the house."

"Why don't you tell me now? I mean," Albus looked ahead and sighed. "This is a long path."

"I'm telling you, it'll be worth it."

The boys got to the kitchen where Astoria and Petit were making some sort of cake. Albus was confused as to why Astoria, a 'pureblood' member of the very wealthy Malfoy family, was baking with a house elf.

"Oh, mum went to a muggle cooking class to annoy my grandparents. Now she and Petit are trying to recreate some cake." Scorpius shrugged in reply, then he looked around the messy kitchen leaned in and whispered to Albus. "It would be messier and more of a disaster, but I've caught Petit using magic three times. Don't tell mum."

Albus looked behind him as the house elf giggled. She had heard what Scorpius had said.

"Anyway, you still haven't shown me what you're so excited about."

Scorpius grinned again and held up a small red and gold pin. Albus squinted to read it.

"I'm head boy!" Scorpius shouted.

Albus had never seen his friend so happy. But Albus was speechless for a while, he thought about Rose bursting into the living room just that morning announcing that she was Head Girl.

"What do you think? This is going to be a great last year! I'm so excited! But it does mean we won't be sharing a dormitory anymore-" Scorpius's happy rambling was interrupted by Albus, who suddenly burst into laughter.

Albus couldn't stop himself. The thought of Rose and Scorpius being head girl and head boy, wasn't too shocking considering that they were both academically brilliant and the only school rules they had broken was hexing each other in the corridors, but seeing them having to work together to set an example to the entire student body was simply hilarious to Albus.

'Well played headmaster, well played.' Albus thought. Scorpius and Rose would not be able to hex and argue with each other in the middle of the corridor if their duty was to set an example.

Scorpius was confused by Albus's laughing, Albus wouldn't explain why he found it so funny. Eventually he stopped laughing and was able to congratulate his friend. "But in all seriousness, they couldn't have chosen a better head boy. You'll do great buddy!"

"Thanks" Scorpius sighed. "I wonder who the head girl is."

"Yeah, I wonder." Albus couldn't look Scorpius in the eye otherwise he would burst out laughing again. 'Next year is going to be fun.' Albus thought, he couldn't wait.

SEPTEMBER

Rose woke up early on September 1st. Her eyebrows knit with confusion. She looked down at her Hogwarts trunk, already packed and ready to go, in just a few hours. Her Head Girl badge laying on top of it. Yet the upcoming and exciting year at school was not the first thought on her mind.

The first thing Rose thought about when she woke up was as simple as this:

'Scorpius Malfoy was my first kiss. And that wasn't even the only time we kissed.'

Why should this enter into her thoughts? Why she should suddenly remember? Why now? Had she dreamed about it? The answers were all mysteries to her. It was a strange feeling, usually she got angry and confused whenever she thought about Scorpius, but that morning she felt nothing but comfort, shortly followed by confusion as usual as the comfort she felt was confusing. And as these thoughts were rushing through her head, she got irritated. Rose was not a morning person and being woken up early by her random thoughts of Scorpius, someone she was almost sure that she hated, irritated her.

September 1st, Scorpius woke up early too. He found himself staring at an old wizard photograph of Rose. He had no idea what urged him to bother to get out of bed despite the freezing cold, open a draw on the other side of the room and shuffle through useless pieces of parchment from his third year, to specifically find this photo.

ON THE TRAIN

After hugging their parents for the fifth time, Rose finally dragged Hugo onto the train to find Albus and Lily. They waved out of the windows to their aunts and uncles who were standing near Hermione and Ron. And in front of them were all their cousins who had already left Hogwarts, the whole family always made the effort to wave goodbye at the start of the school year. Victoire and her daughters were already living in Hogsmeade with Teddy, but Molly, Lucy, Fred, James, Dominique and Roxanne were all there. Even the Scamander's had joined in the tradition as Lorcan was their waving with his parents, Luna and Rolf, to Lysander. The whole family were proud to see another Weasley as the head representative of the students.

Rose made her way straight to the prefect compartment and waited their arrival. There was a special register sheet with the proud words 'head girl' written on top, with the list of who should be turning. All were present and correct but Rose could not help but notice that Scorpius's name was not on the list this year. She was suspicious and curious, but told herself that she didn't care.

Rose ticked off all of the prefects as the entered, having been a prefect herself, she knew most of them.

"Where's the head boy?" Rose asked the prefects.

One of the fifth year Ravenclaws shrugged and said. "How do you not know who head boy is?"

Rose scowled. "The same way that none of you do. I'm not informed."

Scorpius walked in. Rose and Scorpius looked at each other and then quickly looked away. Both remembering their strange morning filled with thoughts of the other.

Rose's ears were bright red and she refused to look at him again.

"Oi, Parkinson," Scorpius spoke over all the prefects. "We need to talk." and he grabbed Lloyd roughly by the arm and dragged him into the corridor.

Rose knew that as head girl, she should have stopped one of her prefects from dragging the other away, but she really didn't want to have to talk to Scorpius.

And for that reason, neither noticed the other's head badge.

The first day back was turning into quite an anxious one for both Rose and Scorpius, as dinner ended and they lead their houses back to their dormitories, neither knew who they would be sharing a head student common room with. Headmaster Fairweather would normally have announced it in his greeting speech, but a heavy snowstorm had detained him from returning from his annual trip, that no one knew about, to Austria. Professor Nye took over the speech, but he forgot most of it and so he quickly let the students to their dinner.

Just as their letters instructed, Rose and Scorpius waited outside of their common rooms for their heads of house after all the first years had been shown to their rooms. When the potions professor arrived for Scorpius, his first question was who the head girl was. The professor was very uninterested.

"Oh, you don't know?"

"Well, no sir, that's why I asked." They were out of the dungeons now and the professor abruptly stopped.

"Malfoy, I do not have the time to show you to your new dormitory. Just wait for professor what's-his-face by the main staircase and he'll take you." the potions professor then left Scorpius alone and very confused.

Meanwhile, professor Longbottom found himself amused by Rose's excited and hurried manner as they made their way to the top of the main staircases. "So, Nev- I mean, Professor Longbottom, who's the head boy?" Rose asked excitedly as they made their way to the main staircase.

Longbottom looked at her with a confused expression. "You don't know?"

Rose shrugged. "It's not like they told me in the letter. And he didn't turn up to the prefect briefing on the train."

"Yes, well I know about that. But, I would've thought that he would tell you." He thought how Albus must have known.

"Ooh! Is it someone I know well then?"

Longbottom held in a laugh. "Oh yes." He spotted the new head boy making his way up the staircase to meet them. "Right, now Mr Malfoy and Miss Weasley, I must congratulate you both on-"

"HIM?!" Rose shouted in astonishment at the same time as Scorpius exclaimed as equally loud, "HER?!"

"Is this some kind of joke?!"

"Putting that weasel and a myself together?!"

"What did you just call me you little ferret?" Rose snapped at him.

"Silence!" Longbottom had to raise his voice to interrupt their little rants. He cleared his throat. "I know that you two have had … trouble … getting along in the past. But I know you both individually, and so I know for a fact that you can control of your tempers and respect the school and the other students in it enough that it isn't an issue. I know that putting the two of you together may not be the easiest of pairings, but you have both worked incredibly hard to get here, and you deserve it. If you are tempted to lose your heads and get hung up on petty issues, I'll remind you that all of that work will be for nothing if I am forced to take your badges away."

"But professor, you wouldn't! Would you?" They again spoke at the same time.

"I'm afraid that that's the way it's going to have to be. Personally, I think that you will make a great team to make this school proud. Once you get over your arguments or at least learn to keep them out of earshot, you can prove to everyone that you can be the best head students this school has ever seen."

Longbottom looked between Rose and Scorpius who both nodded. They looked at each other with a look that pleaded one not to mess up such a great opportunity for the other. Longbottom was satisfied with this and led the way to a tower near the prefect bathroom that no one, except the teachers and the occasional seventh year, really knew existed. He spoke about some of their duties as he went.

"You should be doing rounds of the castle every night. There is no need to be as extensive as you would be as a prefect, but you should be checking to make sure that nothing is amiss and that the schedule is being followed, and so on. This is in addition to your regular rounds which should be scheduled on the weekends. This is when we have the most issues with students out of bed excetera, we need the head boy and girl who have the authority to correct the problem. If you feel that you ever have any issues that need further correction, bring students to my office or to Headmaster Fairweather and we will deal with the matter from there.

Once they had reached the fifth floor and passed the Prefects bathroom, they finally arrived at a tall and wide tapestry with the Hogwarts emblem shown proudly on it.

"Your password is Fwooper. You know, those magnificently colourful-"

"-African birds sometimes used for fancy quills-" Rose smiled remembering their first ever magical creatures lesson, she and Scorpius had been friends back then. That was the same day that Rose drenched Norwood and Leyton in water, making them slip over in the mud and then she turned their hair the same colour as the fwoopers. Scorpius had defended her back then.

"-with a song to turn the listener insane, yes sir we know." Scorpius smiled back, finishing her sentence.

Longbottom, of course, knew that they both remembered that day. He had been the teacher who had to deal with the situation. He had chosen the password specifically to remind them that they can work together to make each other stronger.

"Good, good. Well then, let's hope you don't drive each other insane." Longbottom turned to the tapestry and muttered the password. The tapestry made a popping sound and disappeared revealing a solid oak door around the same size. He led them into a large room shaped like a semicircle, surrounded in bookshelves only broken up by the long and thin tapestries between each one, alternating between Slytherin and Gryffindor colors. The straight wall, on their right hand side, had huge windows facing the Scottish countryside. "This your shared room, it is for the two of you to study or meet to discuss heads business. It should not be a hang out for your friends. That does not mean that your friends cannot enter, because they can. But we trust you not to hold parties. Now, other students will need you to either open the door or say the password for them. If you tell them the password, it will have to change immediately."

Scorpius and Rose grinned like children in a sweet shop. There were two desks facing the windows and in the middle of the room, there were two two-seater sofas facing one another, and a coffee table in the middle. It was mostly oak decorated with gold, green and red. It was the perfect balance between professional and comfortable.

Longbottom cleared his throat again, knowing that he had lost the both in awe of the beautiful room. "If you look behind this two tapestries," he pointed to the only two tapestries with a fireplace in between rather than a bookshelf, "you will find the staircases to your rooms. Now, in your old dormitories, female and male students would not be able to get into the other's rooms. However, we trust you, so you will be able to enter each other's rooms if the password is spoken by the occupant. For example, if Miss Weasley was ill, Mr Malfoy would be able to enter to check on her if she says her chosen password. Mr Malfoy, if you yourself said the password, it would not work. This works both ways. But only the two of you can enter the individual rooms. But please remember the passwords when you make up, the only time you'll ever need to use them is to let each other in. Understood?"

They both nodded.

"Good, now I'm off to bed and I suggest you both do the same." Longbottom smiled at them both. "I am certain that you will both accomplish great things together. When you two work as a team, nothing can stop you."

Once Professor Longbottom was gone, Scorpius's eyes drifted to Rose who was inspecting the venue of the training grounds out of the window.

"You know it's our anniversary today Weasley." He smirked, catching her attention. "Of the first time we met, seven years ago."

Rose didn't even look at him as she felt the gryffindor tapestry hiding the staircase to her dormitory. "Yeah and about 4 years ago started being a complete arsehole." She grumbled.

"Look I didn't want to get stuck with you either." Scorpius huffed, he was more annoyed that she hadn't bothered to look at him than by what she had said. Then a thought occurred, one that was sure to get her to pay attention to him. Though he wasn't sure why he was so desperate for it. "Albus must've known about this, to think he kept it secret from both of us. I bet you he and Lunette are laughing at us right now." Scorpius said with a chuckle.

She finally turned to look at him and laughed too. "That bloody bastard, I might kill him." Rose joked.

"Kill him tomorrow, I'll help." He smiled and nodded at her, satisfied that she laughed with him rather than at him for once. "Goodnight." He pushed the Slytherin tapestry and climbed the stairs to his room.

Rose watched him leave and then tripped on the first step behind the gryffindor tapestry. Being used to her clumsiness, she shrugged it off and then opened the door to her dormitory and couldn't stop grinning. She had always, always loved Gryffindor tower. The was something so comforting about the plush armchairs, cushioned window sills and ever glowing fire that she had been surrounded by for the last six years, but her head girl dormitory was now definitely her favorite room in the castle. It was a larger room than she had been expecting and she had her own bathroom. The bed was larger than her normal four poster in the dorm she had shared with the other girls previously. But other than its size, everything was very similar to her room in the Gryffindor tower from the bed sheets and curtains, to the centrally-located stove.

"Now," she spoke out loud, "On to choosing a password that will let Malfoy in. I never want him in."

LATER IN THE EVENING

"So?" Rose looked at Scorpius eventually made his way down to the study room. She sat with her book, waiting for him, legs crossed on the sofa. "Explain yourself."

"What?"

"Why weren't you at the prefect briefing?"

"Yes I was, you saw me."

"Only briefly and you didn't even start the meeting! Explain."

Scorpius shrugged and leant on the mantelpiece of the fireplace. "I just wasn't and Longbottom knows why, so leave it at that."

Rose thought for a moment. "Parkinson wasn't there either. I assumed his prefect badge was taken away but I thought they would've replaced him with someone else."

"No, he's not a prefect anymore, as of this morning. They didn't have enough time to get a new one."

Rose stood up suddenly and marched over to Scorpius. She peered closely at his face and saw that there was something around his eye. She touched it gently and Scorpius let out a small whimper in pain. She saw the thick yellow paste. She knew what it was, the amount of times she fell down the stairs as a child or fallen out of a tree, she had to know what the paste was. Bruise removal paste. Rose took a step back and realised that there was some on his left arm too.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." Scorpius shrugged, wishing he had waited the full hour for the paste to work in his room.

"Right," Rose put her hands on her hips. "So if I go to the hospital wing or the Slytherin common room right now, I won't find Parkinson covered in bruise removal paste too?"

"No, you won't find him with any bruises." Scorpius said bitterly.

Rose felt a sudden wash of hurt for him. But she covered it up and rolled her eyes and charged out of the study room.

"I said no, Weasley! I wasn't lying about that." Scorpius called after her but Rose was already gone.

She came back twenty minutes later to find that Scorpius was not in the study room any more. Rose had just been to visit Lily in the Gryffindor Common room. And brought back with her, as a celebration of not killing each other on their first night as head boy and girl. She placed a paper bag full of sherbert lemons and Berty Bot's every flavour beans on the small table between the two sofas. Rose slipped behind the Slytherin tapestry that hid the stairs to Scorpius's room. She knocked three times.

"What?" Scorpius groaned.

"Come down, I've got a truce surprise." Rose spoke through the door.

Scorpius was confused as to what in the world a 'truce surprise' was. But then he was always confused when it came to Rose. So Scorpius came down.

"So, just out of interest, what's your password to let me in?" Scorpius asked as he sat down opposite her.

"Allez-Vous en." Rose said indifferently.

"What? What's Allez-Vous en? It's french for something I don't really want to know, right?"

Rose shrugged. " What about your password?"

"I haven't decided yet. Maybe just ginger twat."

Rose nodded. "I see, keeping it simple." she couldn't be bothered to argue.

Scorpius laughed and used an accio spell to retrieve the book he was reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. They spent the night mostly in silence, reading separate books, eating sweets and laughing at each other's disgusted expressions. Every flavour beans had that effect on people. It was peaceful and almost perfect. Both knew that it wouldn't be long before their next argument.

The first week of school was a hectic and stressful one for Rose. She had spent hours during the summer holiday doing the first history of magic homework due at the end of the first week. She had even made three drafts of it to finally get the result she wanted. But on the day before it was due, after Rose had almost finished organising her side of the Head Boy and Girl common room, the essay was nowhere to be found.

She spent the entire morning before classes searching for it in her room and around her shelves in the shared common room.

As Rose was frantically searching around, Scorpius sat lazily in front of the fire with his feet up on the table writing a letter home.

"What's up with you Weasley?" Scorpius finally asked after hearing Rose's multiple exasperated sighs.

"Just because we're role models to other students and we now share a study room, doesn't mean you have to start pretending to care." Rose huffed and disappeared behind the right tapestry to look in her room.

"Oh look, a red head with a temper. How original." Scorpius sarcastically jibed.

Rose peeked out behind the tapestry and copied his exact tone. "Oh look, a dumb blond. How original." his reaction was to slump deeper in his chair. "Yeah, I've had ginger jokes all my life Malfoy. You have to either dye your hair or decide to stop caring." Rose huffed again and went back upstairs.

She still couldn't find her essay during morning break, her free periods or lunch time. Rose was beginning to panic like never before. Lunette, Phil and Mel agreed to come and help her search for it. They looked all over the castle and again in the head boy and head girl study room.

"Look Rose," Phil said after their last lesson of the day was over. "Why don't you just write it again?"

"Yeah! You still have your notes." Mel tried to sound encouraging.

"I guess." Rose mumbled disappointedly. She couldn't help but wonder if Phil and Mel had come simply to see the head common room, as they leant against the windowsill 'helping'. "I just know that it won't be as good as the original. And it'll take all night."

"I know." Lunette wrapped an arm around Rose's shoulder and rubbed her arm soothingly. "But knowing you, the rest of your essays this year will be more than enough to make up for one grade that is marginally lower than the rest. I'm pretty sure you'll still get a passing grade on this one."

"It's alright Weasley," Scorpius jeered at her as he stood from the sofa.

Mel and Phil jumped, they didn't know he was there. Lunette sent him a warning look, not to mess with Rose at that moment but he just grinned and ignored it.

"I bet you're used to being second best by now. My essay for Professor Binns is going to crush your last minute one like a Lionfish spine." Scorpius strutted out of the shared study room and behind the Slytherin tapestry.

Rose scowled at his back. Phil and Mel frowned with confusion.

"Crushed like a what?" Phil finally asked.

"Lionfish spine." Rose said obviously as she slumped into the chair by her desk.

They were still confused. This amused Scorpius as he walked back in holding a book.

"You know, Lionfish spines are long and separated and crushed into powder" Rose said.

"There used in healing potions, such as the Wiggenweld Potion." Lunette nodded. "It is also an ingredient of the Herbicide Potion."

Mel rolled her eyes. "I forgot that we're friends with the walking textbook and her sneaky potions genius sidekick." she mumbled to Phil.

Lunette rolled her eyes then turned to Scorpius. "You've got to work on less nerdy insults."

"If they don't understand them, they're not worth the insult."

Lunette laughed and threw a nearby cushion at him. "I understood it, am I worth the insult?" she pushed him with a grin.

"Come on Lunette, you're one of my best friends. You're worth every insult I throw at you."

Lunette laughed again. "Don't be so rude, you'll make them think worse of you."

"I already think the worst of Malfoys." Mel muttered, scowling at Scorpius.

Lunette straightened up and opened her mouth to defend her friend, but Rose got there first, surprising both of them into brief silence.

"Mel, shut up. You don't know what you're talking about, just because you think you know a family's history, it doesn't mean that the assumptions apply, and he certainly doesn't fit the stereotype."

Rose wasn't looking at any them, preoccupied by searching through her desk draws, so she didn't notice the stunned silence. She slammed a draw shut in frustration, which brought them all back to the present. Rose picked up a pile of parchment and inked her quill. "Thanks guys, for trying to find my essay. I'm going to re-write it now, I'm in for a long night. See you tomorrow."

Lunette looked at her watch, "You're not coming to dinner?"

"I don't have time."

Phil sighed at looked concerned for her friend. "Alright Rose, we'll see you tomorrow." She patted Rose on the shoulder.

Before they all left, Phil quickly turned around. "Oh, Rose! I forgot to say, Ben Rome, our new quidditch captain, told me to tell you that quidditch trials are at the end of next week. Just in case you want to be keeper again."

Rose smiled gratefully at Phil. "Tell Ben that I'll be there, and congratulations on being quidditch captain."

Phil nodded and strolled out with Mel, Lunette paused as she went through the doorway and gave Rose a curious look.

Rose didn't notice and got stuck into her essay.

Meanwhile Scorpius ran down to the hall, he found Albus halfway through eating mash potatoes at the Slytherin table.

"Hey! There's our head boy." Albus greeted him happily. "Where have you been all day? Lunette said that she saw you but-"

Scorpius grabbed Albus's arm and dragged him into the corridor.

"I need your help with something."

"What?"

"It might take all night and you're not allowed to tell anyone or ask me any questions."

Albus looked suspiciously at Scorpius, but agreed to help anyway.

Rose woke up, slumped over her desk, at about 4am the next day. She panicked and picked up her dry quill, she was annoyed at herself for falling asleep, and now her essay would never be finished. Rose struggled to keep her eyes open as she wrote the next paragraph, when she realised that there was a blanket wrapped around her. 'I must have gotten up at some point during the night and forgot about it' Rose thought as she shook her head to remember, but no memory came.

Rose was just about to fall asleep again when something caught her eye. There was still a very tall pile of books that she had yet to put away, and sticking out in the middle was a wad of parchment. Rose was too tired to care and yanked out the parchment, toppling over the books with a heavy thump.

Scorpius came running down and flung open the tapestry. "What, in Merlin's name, was that?" He sleepily groaned.

Rose was suddenly very awake. She had found her essay. She squealed with excitement.

"What have you broken now Weasley?" Scorpius was grumpy.

Rose couldn't help but smile, and when she looked up at Scorpius, it startled him. He hadn't seen her genuinely smile at him with joy in a while.

"I found my essay!"

"Big whoop." Scorpius said in a monotone voice.

Rose rolled her eyes. Then she noticed that Scorpius was only wearing his boxers. Faded red circular marks remained on his chest from the quidditch incident that had sent him to the hospital wing the previous year. She remembered how scared she was, how worried she had been. Rose could remember how much she cared about him in that moment, it returned to her and made her flustered. Her ears turned pink and Rose quickly fluttered upstairs.

"That was it? All the noise was because you found some parchment." Scorpius pushed back the Gryffindor tapestry and spoke to her on the stairs.

"Get ready to be second best again. Goodnight Malfoy." Rose said curtly then slammed her door.

Scorpius's eyes flicked to the nearest clock across the room, it was 4;05 am. "Good morning Weasley."

What Rose didn't see was Scorpius's smile. She didn't see him putting the books back into their tall pile, she didn't see the plate of food left for her on the desk and she didn't see him folding away the green blanket with a large 'S' stitched in one corner.

END OF SEPTEMBER

Rose had finished giving herself a pep talk in the mirror and boldly made her way down to the shared common room. Scorpius was on his sofa, his now usual spot, doing homework.

"Good morning, spoilt git, how did you sleep?" Rose said cheerfully, she didn't care what he said or what happened. Today was the day of her last quidditch trials. She was nervous but confident.

"Thanks for asking bushy twit, I slept quite well."

"That's a shame, knob head." Rose put one foot at a time on the small coffee table and tied her laces.

"And how did you sleep, twat?"

"I slept great knowing that today is the day I get back on the quidditch team so I can beat you again this year."

"Only in your dreams." Scorpius shrugged as he went back to doing his homework.

"You're still here, it must be a nightmare." Rose marched to the door, her confidence unaffected by his words. She took a deep breath and swung open the door.

The quidditch trials could not have gone better for Rose. She was certain she was on the team again, especially since the other people trying out for keeper were terrible in comparison. On their way out of the changing rooms, Rose and Ben Rome walked together back to the castle laughing. Lunette watched them from the castle doors and caught the end of the conversation.

"...no, I'm serious!" Ben laughed with Rose. "And then he fell right into the cake!"

Rose laughed even harder. "No way. You have to be pulling my leg!"

"Nope, I really do have the clumsiest uncle in the world. My cousin was furious, he thought it was the end of the world and that his wedding was a failure. Luckily his new husband thought it was all hilarious and calmed him down."

Rose smiled. "Well it's nice to know that there is someone out there worse than me."

Ben grinned. "You're not that bad, I mean yeah, I've seen you fall over so many times that I no longer worry if you've hurt yourself. But you're awesome on a broom." He looked up and saw they were already at the castle. "Hey Lunette." he waved then turned to Rose. "So, umm, I'll see you later. I've got to go and make the list for this years team."

"Right! Well I'll see you later Ben." Rose smiled sweetly as he walked away. "Hey Lunette, have you got your tryouts today as well?"

Lunette raised her eyebrows. "No, no, no. You are not leading this conversation away from Ben."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, what was that? Giggling and smiling at him. I hate to say it Rose, but you're acting like a girly girl."

Rose laughed and rolled her eyes. "No you're a girl." she mumbled.

"Yes I am, why thank you. Soon I'll earn the title of young woman." Lunette grinned. "But Rose, seriously, what was that? Do you like Ben?" Her eyes widened as Rose's ears turned red. "Merlin's beard! You like Ben!"

Rose punched Lunette softly in the arm. "Shut up! I have nosey cousins all over Hogwarts." She grabbed Lunette and dragged her to a quiet corner in the main corridor. "Ok, so I'm not sure, but may have a little crush-"

"You really really like him!" Lunette squealed.

"Shhh! I'm not sure yet, it could just be that I like him as a friend" Rose was concerned that Lunette was jumping to conclusions before she had even come to one herself.

"So, when are you going to ask him out?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING?! I can't ask him out!"

"Are you one of those people that think only guys can ask people out, because that's stupid."

"No, I don't think that. But I can't just tell a guy that I like him."

"Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing. And what if he doesn't like me? And what if it gets really awkward and we can't even hang around together anymore? And, more importantly, I'm not even sure myself."

Lunette rolled her eyes. "Ok, well what if he does like you back? And even if he doesn't, he'll see you in a new way. If you say you like him, it will be impossible to look at you without thinking about what dating you would be like. And then his feelings will grow and you guys can go out."

"Ok, I see your point..." Rose nodded and saw Lunette's logic. "I guess you mean like when Elizabeth goes to Rosings Park after she turned down Mr Darcy, and she couldn't help but think that if she had said yes to him, then she would have been presented to Lady Catherine as her future niece. Except of course that was very different because Darcy loved her but she hated him, and I don't think either mine or Ben's opinions of each other are as strong as either of those emotions"

Lunette was lost. "What? Is this some nerdy reference?"

Rose nodded again. "I may or may not be rereading Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time."

"Isn't that a really old, muggle romance novel?"

Rose was embarrassed, but couldn't help but smile. "Shut up, it's one of my favourite books."

Lunette simply rolled her eyes but stayed silent so that her logic could fully set in with Rose. But it only worked for a brief second as Rose's irrational thoughts overtook.

"But what if he likes someone else? What if he's gay? What if he laughs at me? What if he gets offended because he thinks it's a joke? What if he thinks I only like him because he's the quidditch captain? What if-"

"Rose! Just tell him."

Rose began to slowly nod, but stopped. "No."

"But-"

"No."

"Fine," Lunette shrugged. "I'll tell him." she moved away but wasn't quick enough. Rose grabbed her wrist and stood firmly in her way.

"Don't you dare." in her blind panic, Rose's voice sounded more menacing and desperate than she realised.

"Rose! What's the big deal? I don't see any downside to this! You'll be in a couple with Ben, and I've got Albus and we can all go to Hogsmeade-"

Rose crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "That's it, isn't it?"

"That's what?" Lunette repeated slowly, Rose was making no sense in her mind.

"You want me to date Ben- no, you just want me to date anyone so that we can all hang out together!" Rose rolled her eyes and huffed. "Well it's not happening! What? Are you bored with Albus now? You're really stooping to such levels just to get another couple hang out with?"

Lunette wasn't having any of it, she finally saw right through Rose. "Rose Minerva Granger-Weasley-"

"What's with the middle name?" Rose mumbled but Lunette continued.

"You've just realised that you told someone else about your feelings and it's freaking you out. Little crush or not, you don't like sharing the romantic side of you. I love Albus and I'm very happy with him, you know that, I know that and he knows that. So don't try and draw attention from yourself by turning me into a manipulative villain. I am not my mother and I am not my grandparents-"

"I never said anything about your grandparents. What's going on with your grandparents?" Rose mumbled a bewildered and concerned question but Lunette, once again, ignored her and moved swiftly on.

"-so you will promise to at least think about the possibility of telling him that you like him?"

Rose frowned. "Fine." she grumbled. "But don't you dare tell anyone about this!"

Lunette grinned with triumph. "Tell anybody what? That you like Ben? Or, even more shocking, that you have a romantic side to you?"

Rose clenched her fists, took a deep breath and subtly pointed her wand at Lunette's feet. "None of it. Ok Lunette. No one needs to know anything." she made her way down the corridor.

"It's alright, I'll keep your secret."

Lunette began to follow but she tripped on her shoelaces and fell flat on the floor. Rose stopped and turned around, giving Lunette a cheeky grin. Once her laces were tied, they walked together to the great hall for lunch.

Later in the evening, all Gryffindors crowded together in the common room. They were all waiting for the quidditch team to be announced. Ben had to stand on a table just to get to the board and pin up the list. As soon as it was tacked up, everyone shifted forwards, leaving poor Ben squashed as he wriggled his way out of the crowd and to the opposite side of the room. Rose watched him, disheveled and flustered, flatten his hair to it's usual charm. Ben looked at Rose and grinned before settling himself smugly on an armchair by the windowsill. Rose's ears turned red and she quickly turned to follow the crowd. Everyone was calm and patient, if a little too close together, as they craned their neck to look at the list. That was until Grant Hathaway and Wesley McLaggen came barging through and pushing second years out of the way.

"Move it spare parts! Seventh years with an actual chance of getting on the team coming through!" Grant shouted.

Rose rolled her eyes as they strutted past her. Rather than wasting her insults on them, she simply stuck out her foot for Grant to trip on. He growled at her as he stood up, but remembering that Rose was Rose and could hex him until he was sore, he decided against getting in a fight with her.

Rose was fed up of all the pushing and shoving and used an accio spell to make the list to come to her. Everyone stared as she stood on a chair and read it outloud.

Ben Rome….Captain/Seeker

Kibwe Smith, fourth year….Chaser

Jyn Rey, fourth year….Chaser

Justin Cole, fifth year….Chaser

Lily Potter, fifth year….Beater

Philomela Abel-Roy, seventh year….Beater

Rose Granger-Weasley, seventh year….Keeper

Rose used her wand to carefully pin the list back to the board so that people could see from themselves if they didn't believe her. Rose wobbled as she tried to get off the chair and ended up toppling it completely over, giving her carpet burns on her hands from when she braced herself. She smiled at Ben from across the room sheepishly, feeling like an idiot as he must have seen her fall, and was about to go and talk to him but Lily's excited jumping interrupted her.

"I'm on the team! Rose I'm on the team!" Lily shook Rose's shoulders excitedly.

"That's great! But why didn't you join the team last year?"

Lily's face scrunched up into an expression of disgust. "And have my brother bossing me about on the pitch? No thanks, I'd rather have a complete stranger who seems really nice. There is one problem though, my ex, Justin, is on the team. I can work with him if he doesn't piss me off."

"Has something happened?" Rose was concerned.

"No, he just continues to flirt with me every now and then. Which is annoying because I don't like him in the slightest, but if he's good enough to get on the team, then I guess I'm going to have to set aside our differences."

Rose nodded and looked over to Justin Cole who was having an argument with Grant Hathaway about who deserved to be on the team. "Plus, you're a beater, you have a bat and a dangerous ball to deal with. He should watch his step."

Lily laughed, "Good point Rose. So, how's it being head girl? Do you miss your Gryffindor roommates? Oh, shoot, I just realised that I'm going to have to get along better with Abel-Roy."

"Well I don't miss them talking at midnight about boys and I don't miss their random hairbrushes and hot hair straighteners lying randomly on the floor and I don't miss them at all." Rose shrugged. "I still see Phil, and we're still friends. I swear Mel is getting dumber, which I didn't think was possible when we literally live in school. Sorry, that was cruel, I don't really think that. I think Anna has decided to cut all ties with me as soon as she could. And I'm fine with that." Rose spotted someone else she wanted to talk with and gently grabbed his arm as he bounced passed so he joined in the conversation with Lily. "Hey Kibwe!"

"Wealsey! Hey!"

"Congratulations for getting on the team."

"Thanks! My brother has been teaching me how to play quidditch all summer, he said that, even though I love rugby so much, I should give a wizard game a chance. I'm actually on my way to tell Louis the news!" Kibwe ran out of the common and Lily was left smiling.

"Ok, so I don't really know the team but you do. So our captain is in your year. What's he like?"

Rose tried very hard to not smile when she heard his name. Lily noticed a slight twitch on Rose's face but put it down to tiredness. "He, um, he's nice and funny and fair when it comes to quidditch. He's spent most of his time at Hogwarts invisible so I think he's determined to prove himself this year."

"Ok, so who was that Smith guy and who is Jyn Rey?"

Rose nodded. "Kibwe Smith, I'm not sure if you'd remember his older brother. Mosi Smith, he was a Ravenclaw in the year above and was pretty close with Roxanne. He was their quidditch captain too, so the Ravenclaws will also have a new captain this year."

"Yeah, but how do you know the little brother?"

"Fourth year, I was on my way to teach Malfoy how to do that Orchideous charm and we found Kibwe crying, he was a first year back. Parkinson and his friends had stolen his rugby ball and bullied him."

Lily grinned. "Ooh, so what did you do to Parkinson?"

"I don't know what you mean." Rose lied.

"Come on, Rose Granger-Weasley catches Parkinson bullying someone and doesn't get revenge? I don't believe it."

"Fine," Rose grumbled, "I froze them."

Lily was proud of her cousin. "You're awesome. So how long are you hanging around the common room? Or do you need to get back to the mysterious land of head girl."

Rose laughed. "The mysterious what?"

"Well, you know what I mean, only seventh years know where the head student common room is. The rest of us think of it a little bit of a mystery."

"Hey Lily." Some fifth year that Rose vaguely recognised, completely ignored her and stood between the two cousins. He had a charming smirk on that Rose had often seen guys turn on whenever they were around Lunette or Lily.

"Hey Robert." Lily was trying to be polite, even though she was annoyed that he had cut between her and Rose. But one look at Rose's amused face stopped her from shooting down the guy straight away. Lily thought that they both could do with a good laugh at the expense of some guy's attempt to flirt with her.

"Please, call me Rob, my friends call me Rob." He took a step closer to Lily and fiddled with a strand of her loose hair. "And I'd like us to be closer than friends. Well, Lily, I've seen you around and I have to say, you're beautiful and smart and funny. And, hey," he was trying to sound charming but it sounded more condescending. "Congrats on getting on the quidditch team. You must be one talented gal. You're boyfriend must be really proud."

It took everything for Rose not to burst out laughing.

Lily was not impressed, she had heard and shot down guys better at flirting than this. "Robert, you know I don't have a boyfriend, you asked me twice yesterday and you asked Hugo three times the day before that."

Rose spotted Hugo rolling his eyes from across the room, he knew exactly what was going on. They had both been there many times before. Some guy flirting with Lunette, and Rose would simply stand there, ignored, waiting until the guy eventually gave up so that she could get back to her conversation. Rose realised that Hugo must have been in the same position as her but with Lily on multiple occasions. The only difference was that Lunette used to fall for the pathetic guys and dated them for no more than a week, before Albus came along.

Rose caught Ben's eye from by the door, he was talking to McLaggen, who had removed himself from Grant Hathaway and Sullivan Earls. The two idiots were still arguing over the quidditch time while Wesley and Ben just just watched unamused.

Wesley spotted Rose, nodded and smiled, then went to break up his friend's fight. Ben waved to Rose and slipped out of the door. Rose excused herself from the conversation she was not really part of, Lily was annoyed to be left alone with the poorly flirting guy. Rose followed Ben out of the door.

"Oh, hey Rose!" Ben was sitting on the stairs, watching the first years scurry to their houses before curfew.

"I saw you talking to McLaggen, is everything alright?"

"Yeah um, actually, now that you're out here, there's something I've been meaning to say."

Rose was startled and she made her way to him.

"Um, well, this is going to sound really weird and out of the blue, but I think you should give McLaggen a chance."

Rose suddenly found herself falling on the floor, wondering how on earth being shocked made her trip over her own feet.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine." she quickly jumped up at brushed herself off. "But McLaggen?! Really? I thought you didn't like him, why are you telling me to give him a chance? And I don't really think he wants a chance with me. We used to do prefect rounds together and his stupidity would annoy me, that's the only time we've really hung out." she sat beside him.

"Exactly, you don't really know him. I mean yeah, he has bullied me in the past, but I had a normal conversation with him and he seemed alright. I think he puts on the arsehole act in front of Grant and Sully. And, don't get mad, but he told me that he kept on catching you and Malfoy not arguing-"

Rose rolled her eyes. "That little twat doesn't realise that it's effort to constantly argue and shout. Occasionally you have to calm down a bit and just use sarcasm to piss Malfoy off."

Ben chuckled. "Alright, but what I'm trying to say is that he told me that he had never told everyone, he had told a few, but he didn't spread it around like he normally would. And I think he might kind of like you."

Rose rolled her eyes again, she didn't not want to hear this.

"So he had the decency, for once in his life, not to gossip. And you think he likes me because of that?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Well, that, and he just told me."

Rose couldn't help but laugh, it was a very loud 'HA!'. Which she was embarrassed by.

"Rose, he just told me that he realised that you are so much more than you seem. And because we're friends, he was hoping I would say something to you."

Rose took a deep breath and gambled. "And how do you feel about this? Being a messenger for the guy that used to bully you, I mean."

Ben shrugged. "He's alright, he actually apologised to me yesterday."

"And what did you say to that?"

He smiled cheekily. "I said no amount of apologising would make me put him on the team."

Rose laughed with him, kind of glad that she had left, but also regretted having to hear about McLaggen.

"So what are you going to do about him?" Ben asked after a moment of silence.

Rose was irritated, "Can we just drop it? Please? I don't want to talk about him."

"Oh, sorry." Ben felt bad but he didn't know why. He was about to put an arm around Rose, because she seemed like she needed it, but Scorpius suddenly arrived around the corner.

"Weasley! Where have you been? We're meant to do rounds." Scorpius tried to sound annoyed, but the sight of Rose and Ben deflated him slightly.

"Oh, right." Rose slowly stood and looked down at Ben, "Well, I'll see you later."

Ben just nodded at Rose, he scowled at Scorpius and went back inside the common room.

Scorpius sighed and thought to himself, 'is this another person who doesn't like me because I'm a Malfoy?' Looking at Rose, he thought she might have some sort of clue. "Great, now what's his problem with me?"

Rose shrugged uninterestedly. "I don't know, you're an annoying twat. Could that be it?"

Scorpius felt like giving Rose a massive hug, despite the insult. She had no idea how good it was that she didn't hate him just because he was a Malfoy. She hated him because she took the time to get to know him, not just judge him by his name, and then, over time, realised that she couldn't hate anyone more. It was a bittersweet feeling. Something in him wanted her good opinion again.

Rose scowled at him while they walked. "Why did you even bother looking for me? We've got about half an hour until prefect rounds actually begin. And since when do you care where I am or if I'm on time for anything?"

She had him there. Scorpius didn't know how to answer, he didn't really know why he had gone looking for Rose. He knew where she would be anyway, and Rose was never late to anything if she could help it. Scorpius spotted a second year dropped their bag and he ran to them to avoid answering Rose. But Rose didn't notice, was was too busy thinking about Ben and McLaggen.

Their rounds were completed quickly and in almost silence, Scorpius was aware that Rose was annoyed and thinking to herself so he let her without interruption. When they reached the shared common room, Rose went straight to her room, so did Scorpius. But he sat on his bed for ten minutes wondering what had made her so quiet. Scorpius went downstairs and read his book on the sofa, hoping to catch Rose if she went down. However, she did not come down. Rose took to distracting herself with an essay for potions.

OCTOBER

The first day of the month was not a good start for anyone. Lunette and Albus got in a small argument about Rose's birthday, they had both bought her a muggle book of Grimm fairy tales and neither could decide who she give theirs to her. Lily had just started dating a new guy, which meant that Hugo was accidentally pushed away, but her new boyfriend turned out to be nothing like she thought he was and Lily was regretting it. Louis and Kibwe Smith had decided to take the mischievous place of James and Lorcan, but their pranks were small scale, no one noticed them, which was disheartening to the young tricksters. Rose was walking back to the castle from quidditch practise when Ben caught up with her.

"Rose! Have you thought more about McLaggen?"

"Oh, um, no. I've never really liked him, at all, not even as a friend. I've never even thought of him as a decent human being. So I think I'll pass on this one." she couldn't hide the bitterness from her tone but Ben didn't pick up on it.

"You know that he was watching our practise?"

"Oh really, how interesting." Rose said in a monotone voice to show her sarcasm and lack of enthusiasm to talk to her crush about another guy.

"Look, he's right behind us." Ben gently held Rose's arm, they stopped and waited for McLaggen to catch up.

Meanwhile, Scorpius, Lunette and Albus sat outside the castle, freezing cold in the crisp morning air. Albus was grumbling about how Rose was his cousin and so he should be the one giving the present. While Lunette wouldn't stop rolling her eyes. Scorpius sat between them wishing he was anywhere else. He had originally been in the library with the couple, trying to do homework, but their bickering had got them kicked out. Scorpius tried to escape them by sitting outside but they followed. He was hoping that the cold would drive them inside and leave him without the muttering and half hearted arguments. But no such luck was to be had. The three watched the Gryffindor team come off the pitch and Lunette pointed out Rose talking to Ben Rome. They were close enough to hear what was going on without looking like they were eavesdropping.

"Rose, just give him a chance, you're very charming and I'm sure you'd make a good couple."

Rose resisted the urge to scream in frustration and run away.

"Hey Weasley." McLaggen was confident and cocky as ever.

"McLaggen." Rose acknowledged him.

Ben nodded encouragingly and Rose regretted what she did next. She smiled sweetly and McLaggen and did the typical and obvious, twirling her hair, flirty move that most girls did to pretend that they were shy in front of guys.

"Great practise today, I think the team is definitely going to win." McLaggen was relishing in Rose's attention. He actually was quite content with any attention from anyone, but somehow a girl flirting with him made his head swell with ego. That was exactly it, his ego wouldn't let him see that Rose was clearly fake flirting to make fun of him.

"Oh, thanks," Rose gently nudged Wesley with her arm, she had seen some of her cousins do it when they flirted with guys. Rose hated herself for doing it, and felt like an idiot wishing she could disapparate on Hogwarts grounds. "I mean, that's why I'm on the team, so we can win. It's a real shame you didn't get on the team." She couldn't help but lay on the sarcasm thick.

McLaggen shrugged and smirked. "I guess I just wasn't good enough, but hey, you certainly were." his eyes suddenly narrowed and Rose felt like she was being studied like an animal at the zoo. "Hey, you have a really nice smile, too bad I don't get to see it a lot."

Her fake smile dropped, it took everything in her bones not to roll her eyes and punch him. Rose had heard him use that line with every girl he ever spoke to. Ben, who had taken a step back, grinned and elbowed Rose with a wink. He seemed too proud of himself, Rose thought, it was almost as if neither guys realised that Rose was doing it as a joke.

She knew that she had to get away.

"You know what," Rose forced herself to keep smiling. "I should probably go and have a shower." She darted off as quickly as she could.

Scorpius, Albus and Lunette had seen it all. They were shocked. Rose had been flirting with Wesley McLaggen, something they had never expected to witness in their lives. Lunette and Albus were stunned to silence and were stuck to where they sat. Scorpus, on the other hand, felt a jealous rage, the strength of which he had never felt before. He rushed to the shared common room before Rose was out of her shower. He sat unsuspecting on the sofa by the fireplace.

After she had showered and got dressed, Rose went down to her desk in the common room. She took one look at Scorpius and decided to ignore him while she did some work. She was trying calm herself down after the frustration that had come after Ben encouraged her to give McLaggen a chance.

Ten minutes went by before Scorpius made himself say something. Rose had stood to fetch her potions textbook from one of the many bookshelves, when Scorpius spoke as calmly as he could.

"Look, Weasley, I know we hate each other, but seriously, Wesley McLaggen is no good. None of his friends are, especially Grant Hathaway." He sounded more patronising than he had meant to.

Rose grit her teeth and spun to glare at him. "Why do you care?"

Scorpius tried to shrug it off. "I don't hate anyone enough to let them go out with McLaggen when I know I can try and stop it."

"Let me? You won't let me go out with Wesley?" Rose was outraged. She slammed her textbook on her desk, sat down and pulled her chair in, in a huff. She did not need Scorpius giving her his views on the subject when she was already annoyed about it.

Scorpius realised his mistake. "Ok, that came out wrong. I just mean that he isn't worth anyone's time. He was a right git to Mea last year and-"

"Oh, I get it. He went out with your girl and now you're getting back at him." Rose smiled knowingly.

"That's not it all! I'm not friends with Mae anymore, she's just loud and over shares." Scorpius defended himself. He was on the edge of his seat, making himself keep a distance from Rose. "Anyway, McLaggen is a twat! He pretty much treated Mea like his personal servant and apparently he was a bad kisser, always had bad breath and used way too much tongue." then he mumbled to himself "I wish she had never told me that part." Scorpius looked up and stormed over to Rose's desk, she was ignoring him. "He cheated on her, and every girlfriend he's ever had! Seriously Weasley, as head boy I have to look after my fellow students-"

"Oh don't give me that crap!" Rose suddenly stood as well and angrily spat. "Anyway, I don't get why you're so upset about it, I wasn't going to go out with him anyway."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Well you could've said that to begin with."

"I just wanted to see how far you would go." Rose smirked. "Is it possible that Mr Malfoy actually cares about my well being?"

Scorpius trudged back to the sofa. "Only in your dreams Weasley."

Rose slyly moved over to the sofas and perched on the armrest beside him. "And what would you know about my dreams?" She said in an almost whisper and leant down.

Scorpius lightly chuckled. "Well I'm pretty sure I feature in them heavily."

"You're right," Rose moved closer so their faces were only inches apart.

Scorpius's heart thumped loudly, he wondered if Rose could hear it too.

Rose smirked "It's getting too easy to beat you at everything in real life, at least dream Malfoy is gives me more competition." she stood up straight and laughed.

"Good one Weaselby." Scorpius muttered when Rose had gone to her room.

He couldn't help but admire her witty comebacks and he couldn't hide the relief he felt knowing that she wouldn't be dating McLaggen. Yet the feeling confused Scorpius. If he hated her so much, why did it matter who she did or didn't date.

Rose spent most of the month avoiding Ben, though she still hadn't decided if she liked him as more than a friend, she found that she was deflated by his encouragement of McLaggen and didn't want to think about it. Her birthday came and went rather quickly, she barely had enough time to enjoy turning 18, between essays quidditch practise and trying to get over a crush. And all the while Wesley McLaggen wouldn't leave her alone. Rose often thought about how the worst part for her was that, being the head girl, she couldn't punch McLaggen in the face without serious consequences. Scorpius was the only one who noticed her clenched fists whenever McLaggen was near. He noticed because he wanted to punch McLaggen as well.

One morning, at the end of October, rumours were buzzing around the castle. Even the teachers had heard it.

The rumour was that Rose and Wesley had been secretly dating for almost a whole month. The night before Rose had had to accompany McLaggen on his prefect duty as his partner was ill. Something which Scorpius had volunteered to do instead, but Rose had simply sighed and accepted her fate.

Late that night someone had exited the Hufflepuff common room to see Rose and McLaggen together in a compromising position. The person who had caught them happened to be none other than Felix Sterling, who went crying to his twin sister Robin, who was more than delighted to gossip and slander Rose Granger-Weasley.

What made the rumour stronger, was McLaggen boasting of the secret relationship. And Rose simply became withdrawn and quiet all day, not her usual feisty self. The rumour made Scorpius sick to his stomach. Mae Blinston had been gossiping about the rumour very loudly, no doubt for his benefit. To those that directly asked Rose, she denied the rumour, but McLaggen was so much louder in his confirmation.

In their potions class, Scorpius sat beside Rose, ready to insult her new relationship, but he could see her defeat already. He felt the urge to hug her or to shout at everyone talking about, or both. Scorpius didn't trust himself to open his mouth so he left her alone. Rose noticed the lack of teasing, and while she was grateful for the one person not questioning her, she also found it suspicious and annoying to be coming from Scorpius of all people.

By her last lesson of the day, Rose had had enough. No one would leave her alone. It had come to the point of disrupting her defense against the dark arts lesson, and she left without a single word to Professor Lupin. She hid in the library until Wesley McLaggen found her. Just the smug look on his face made her want to punch him even more. Rose had also noticed that Felix Stirling had been following her all day with a sour pout.

"Look, Rose, today has been fun and I say that you should go out with me for real." McLaggen put on his charm, which Rose could see right through.

Rose didn't answer. And McLaggen began to see the danger of a quiet Rose. He wished she would shout at him or hex him into the oblivion. Her silence, while he laughed at it all day, finally scared him. As it had scared her cousins who had barely looked her in the eye all day.

"McLaggen, may I speak to you outside?" Rose said in a patronising and eerily calm tone which frightened Wesley even more.

Once they were away from anyone else Rose took a deep breath, sent an icy glare that could kill and slapped McLaggen on the cheek.

He barely had time to speak as Rose punched him in the stomach. He folded to the ground and hoped she would not hurt him again.

"I expect you won't tell anyone I did that. Being head girl, I really shouldn't have." Rose did regret what she had done, but it was nothing compared to what McLaggen felt after spreading rumours all day.

"Nope." McLaggen croaked. "Don't worry, no one has to know."

"Good." Rose sighed. "Also, ten points from Gryffindor-"

"Your own house-!"

"Yes my own house! I don't care right now! You deserve worse, and not just from me, but from every girl you've cheated on, slagged off or made to feel insecure about themselves. What is it you won't from us? Or do you just see all women as playthings? Half the girls in my old dorm think I slept with you. My friends think I'm a hypocrite for being a feminist and then going out with you of all people. And my own brother doesn't know what to think of me! I saw his face at breakfast! He took one look at me and thought I had gone weak, sold out my morals for someone as degrading as you. I suggest you take a hard look at yourself Wesley McLaggen, and rethink how you treat women. When was the last time you dated someone without spreading horrible rumours about them, that ruin reputations? When was the last time you went out with someone and didn't cheat on them? And when was the last time you spoke to your friends without slandering another human being who didn't deserve it? You may not be a muggle hater, but you seem to enjoy putting people down and making them ashamed of who they are."

*"Look, Rose-"

"It's Granger-Weasley to you."

"Alright, well I'm sorry." Wesley could still feel the pain in his stomach.

Rose glared at him again, "I don't care. You're not sorry until you've proven it, until you've changed for the better. And I fear that someone as shallow as you can never change. Don't talk to me unless it's about prefect business."

Rose stormed off to the shared head common room. She was exhausted after a whole 24 hours build up of anxiety, anger and hatred. She collapsed on the sofa and fell asleep for a few hours. She slept through dinner and woke up to find that it was dark outside.

Scorpius sat on the sofa opposite her, looked irritated beyond what she usually expected to come from him when they were face to face.

"What do you want?" she groaned and rubbed her eyes.

Scorpius shrugged. "I heard that you made out with Wesley McLaggen on the second floor corridor and now everybody knows that you've been secretly dating." he said bitterly. "So my warning to you the other day just fell flat on dumb deaf ears. Bet you two had a right good chuckle at my stupidity when I told you to stay away from him. You just let me prattle away like an idiot!"

Rose grinned. She actually found herself amused for the first time that day. He was prattling away like an idiot again. "So that's what you think, huh? And do you believe every rumour you hear?"

"Only if it's about you." Scorpius muttered angrily

Rose's ears turned red, which made her angry again. It always made her angry how easily he made her ears go red. "Well I'm not dating him." she snapped. "There, a nice surprise for you. Do you want to know what really happened?" Rose stood and walked towards the stairs leading to her room. Before she went up she turned around to face the eagerly listening Scorpius. "It won't surprise you. I fell over, I tripped and he happened to be there. I thought maybe you of all people would work it out." then she slammed her bedroom door and went to bed.

Scorpius knew that most people wouldn't believe that, they would see it just as an excuse. But he knew Rose well, nothing was as it seemed when it came to her and her clumsiness. He stared at the red tapestry covering the stairs. The golden lion stood strong and unmoved. Scorpius found himself wanting to follow Rose, to embrace her. He wanted to comfort her, to get rid of all the gossip and ridicule she had suffered that day. Scorpius frowned at himself, and was tempted to ignore these thoughts, but stopped himself. And continued to stare at the lion.

"Ok Scorpius, I know you're talking to yourself. And yeah, it's weird. But you need to search that big brain of yours." He muttered to himself. "What is this feeling? Why is it nice? Why is it terrifying? Why is it pointed at Weasley of all people?"

Nothing came to mind. After a few minutes, Scorpius gave up and went to bed. The young man's mind was confused by his heart, and his heart was hurting his head. And as someone who liked to listen to his head, the feeling, whatever it was, was frustrating.

NOVEMBER

November began as an even bigger let down to Rose, than October had been. While everything appears fine, her grades were high and her head girl duties were completed in an organised manner, Rose always felt the end of each day hit her like a tonne of bricks. She spent time with friends and rarely argued with Scorpius, she took the tactic of not talking to him unless it was absolutely necessary, but still something made her agitated. Rose thought she was being ridiculous and buried whatever anger, irritation or disappointment, was thrown at her during the day.

And Rose hid everything very well. Those closest to her, the ones that usually spotted if something was up, like Lily, Lunette and Albus, thought Rose was quite content to be steering into her role in school. There was one person who saw her bottle everything up. Scorpius only noticed this as Rose had stopped arguing with him, calling him names, and responding to his insults, all together. It was unnerving, but as Lunette and Albus hadn't said anything, he thought it best not to bring it up. He did hate her after all, why should he care if she's happy or just faking it?

One Friday afternoon, Rose had potions with the Slytherins. As it was a NEWTs class, it was very small so most students had their own desks. Yet the potions professor still insisted on putting Rose and Scorpius next to each other. Rose was feeling the pressure from the potions teacher, he was mentally criticising everything each student did. But on that particular day he seemed to be trying to insult Rose more than usual.

"No, Miss Granger Weasley, you're doing it wrong. You have to actually be focussed to pull of this potion. I don't understand your struggle, Miss Tinker got it right away. Your skills are proving most disappointingly inferior to hers, and I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." He looked down his nose at her.

"Sorry sir, you're right, I'm just a bit distracted." Rose mumbed and the professor walked away.

"Kiss arse." Rose heard someone snigger from the corner of the room. She didn't acknowledge it. After years of being top of the class in most subjects, she was used to comments like that.

"Teacher's pet." someone else grumbled.

"Probably too busy thinking about McLaggen." Rose overheard yet another person say. Though a month had gone by, the rumours did not stop completely

Luckily the lesson was over soon and she packed up everything. Not speaking to a single soul, scared that her anger might bubble over into a rage she had never felt before.

Later, at dinner, Rose sat at the Gryffindor table eating toast, listening to Lily talk to Lunette who had joined them rather than sit with Albus. She did this every now and then so it was no surprise. And yet another occurrence happened which was not unusual. Some random sixth year guy scrounge up whatever guts he had and made his way to the Gryffindor table the attempt to flirt with Lunette. Even though she was happy with Albus, and everybody knew about their relationship, it did not keep a lot of guys from trying.

"Good evening Lunette, saw you across the room and realized we haven't spoken in awhile. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me this weekend at Hogsmeade?"

Lunette frowned but remained pleasant as always. "Well, no, I'm going with Albus."

"Oh, you're still goin out with that-" he noticed the warning looks shot from Rose and Lily, then took the wise decision of not finishing his sentence. He lightly nudged Rose as if she weren't there and wedged himself between her and Lily, He leaned on one elbow and stared into Lily's eyes. "You have a pretty face, did you know that?" He tried to charm her but it wasn't working, so he simply went in for the kill. "So Lily, what are you up to this weekend?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Just leave." she said bluntly.

The guy eventually sulked away. The three girls did not speak of it, the guy didn't deserve that attention. And by November, it was a regular thing for them to experience. Just a few hours later and Rose found herself ignoring Scorpius as she left the common room, on her way to quidditch practise. Scorpius frowned as the door closed behind her, he had noticed that she spent a lot more time in her room, alone. Rarely did he ever see her at her desk, instead she worked in her room. He wondered why no one else had noticed this, true it was harder for her to hide the burying of her feelings when sharing a living space with someone, but Scorpius thought that someone would see what was going on. Rose never went to the library anymore, Scorpius doubted anything bad had happened to Rose in one of her favourite places. She never went down to the Gryffindor common room, Scorpius knew that Albus would have told him if she was having a disagreement with one of her cousins. So whatever was wrong it could not have been that.

Scorpius's head was hurting, trying to understand what was up with Rose hurt his head. I hate her, this shouldn't matter to me. I don't care. He kept on repeating to himself. Though something in him new that he was lying.

Rose found that, as of late, quidditch was one of the few things that get a genuine smile out of her. She was able to see Ben and her cousins and play her favourite sport, and very well. She never missed a goal. Focussing on the quaffle meant that she didn't have to think about anything else, it relaxed her in a way that pushed down the frustration that had built up over the week. Of course, she thought it was releasing the tension she seemed to be feeling 24/7, but she was wrong.

On her way to quidditch, already running a bit late, Rose was stopped by professor Stockett. A teacher that had never really liked her, or any of her family for some reason unknown to them.

"Ah, head girl," she seemed bitter "escort this student to detention." Stockett didn't even look at Rose, who was in her quidditch kit, when she spoke.

"Actually professor, I've got to go to-"

"Good, I need a cup of a tea, it's been a long day. Your cousin, Louis, and his friend, kept on messing around. For some reason it's always your family that makes everything difficult." Stockett, still not looking at Rose, grabbed the shoulder of the student standing behind her.

It was Lloyd Parkinson, a sixth year who had been raised to believe in the philosophy of pure-blood supremacy. And he hated Rose. She was the daughter of a muggle born and a so called traitor.

"I think that's an unfair generalisa-" tried to stand up to Stockett, ignoring the dark and disgusted look Parkinson was giving her.

"Of course, it must be the size of the family. With so many of you I suppose it's hard to give each child the attention they need." Stockett kept on talking.

"Professor, I assure you that even children of small families, this particular student for example, also cause interruptive and malicious havoc. Sometimes far worse than-" Rose grit her teeth, hoping she wouldn't burst out in anger to a teacher.

"Anyway," the professor completely ignored what Rose was saying and finally looked at her. She was momentarily confused by the quidditch kit, but decided to ignore that too. "take Parkinson to the potions classroom, the professor can give him a detention. Or to Professor Longbottom- actually no, not Longbottom, he's hopeless."

"I disagree, professor Longbottom is one of the-"

"Can't stop and chat, just do what I asked and stop dawdling." And with that, Stockett was gone and Rose was left with Parkinson. Who had suddenly decided that he liked professor Stockett, providing that she was pure-blood and not anything else. He made a mental note to check with his mother.

"I guess it's common opinion then, mudbloods and traitors aren't fit for anything. Stocket wouldn't even let you talk. That's 'cause no one cares about whatever garbage falls out of you mouth They may have made you head girl, but probably only out of pity. No one likes you or your filthy traitor family, they're all bent on destroying the wizard world." Parkinson spat at her, he had seen his opportunity to make snide and harmful comments, and took it.

"Shut up Parkinson, and twenty points from Slytherin." Rose remained a blank slate, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"You can't do that." Parkinson was getting angrier.

"Yes I can, head girl. And you were insulting my family. I would have thought the wars drove out your barbaric and discriminatory way of seeing the world."

"Then you're just as stupid as all the other mudbloods." he grumbled bitterly "You're not one of us, you shouldn't be here. Just like you filthy mother." He would have said more but Rose had already led the way to the potions classroom in the dungeon.

Her knees felt weak, the strain of holding in so much anger. How dare he speak that way about anyone?

Rose pushed open the door and saw that the potions professor was not pleased to see her. "Professor, Stocket asked me to take Parkinson to you for his detention."

"Would you look at that, Miss Granger-Weasley can do something right today." the professor smirked before dragging Parkinson into the room. "Go now, and get into proper uniform. Some head girl you are."

Quidditch practise was meant to cheer her up. It was what Rose had been looking forward to all day. She had arrived late but no one seemed to mind. And then, just like that, practise was over too soon and Lily was walking up to the castle with Rose when Ben caught up with them. Rose liked the way his hair was messy after practise, and he always seemed to smile more.

"Hey Lily," he greeted them, but said nothing to Rose. Her heart flopped, she felt invisible. What made it slightly worse, was that Lunette was waiting for them by the castle doors. Rose would normally be happy to see her friend, but somehow she knew that she would fade even more with both Lily and Lunette there.

After greeting Lunette with a smile, Ben continued to speak to Lily "Is that new hair style?" .

Lily couldn't help but smile sheepishly despite herself. She had no idea of Rose's undecided feelings for Ben and only thought of him as a decent guy and a good captain. "Um, yeah, thanks for noticing."

Of course, Lunette knew how Rose felt about Ben and suddenly felt pity for her, and a slight dislike of Ben for not noticing.

"You look great." Ben smiled. "So do you Lunette, but then, I guess you both always look great. Not that that's all that matters, but, you know. Anyway, remember next quidditch practise is monday afternoon." Ben was about to walk away when he realised that Rose was there. "Oh, hey Rose. How's it going with McLaggen?"

Rose grit her teeth and resisted the urge to growl. "Don't go there." she muttered.

Ben laughed, not seeing how hurt she was, but that was mostly up to her hiding it. "Sorry, just a little joke. Well, I'll see you around."

"Yeah, bye." Rose mumbled again.

"Wait, are you mad at me? Or is this just usual Rose mad at the world for being stupid?" Ben still had a half smile, if she was in any other mood, Rose might have found him charming.

"I'm not angry with you Ben, why on earth would I be angry with you?" Rose forced a smile.

"I don't know, good point. Anyway, I'll see you lot around. Lily, fantastic practise today." he left and Rose wanted to disappear. She mentally laughed at herself, one minute she wanted to be noticed and the next she wished she could apparate within Hogwarts. Lily soon ran off because she spotted Hugo and Rose was left with Lunette, walking through the corridors and up the moving stairs. After some silence, Lunette eventually pulled Rose aside and spoke with pity that was belittling.

"Oh Rose, how could I only just see this, the guy this morning, other guys, and even Ben. Oh Rose, there's someone out there for you! Just, maybe not in Hogwarts."

Rose rolled her eyes, she knew what she was getting at and it wasn't making her feel any better. In fact, it just wound her up more. "Lunette, I don't care. I don't want random guys I barely know flirting with me. Stop feeling pity for me, when I should be feeling it for you."

"I know you don't want that, but surely it must just hurt you a little bit that Ben didn't pay you a compliment? If you really like him, wouldn't you be upset that he barely noticed you?"

"Look, I'm telling you that-"

"I mean, I know you don't like to feel things, but-"

"That doesn't mean that I have no feelings at all!" Rose felt as if she was going to burst. It was ridiculous that her best friend was implying that she didn't have actual feelings. "Lunette, just because I'm not the type of person who goes crying in the bathroom because her crush didn't pay her a compliment, doesn't mean I like him any more or any less than anyone else."

"But you don't even want him to know, or even want to ask him out. This can't be a proper crush, you can't actually like him as much as you think you do."

"You know what Lunette, I'll just forget you said that. I've got an essay to finish, I'll see you later."

"Wait, Rose, I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" Lunette tried to defend herself but Rose had already gone. She sighed and trudged down to the Hufflepuff common room where a game of exploding snap took her mind off the conversation.

Rose was in her room for a little while, trying to calm down, but she stubbed her toe on the foot of the bed and had to leave her room before she screamed at nothing. And so she settled down at her desk, Scorpius sat on the sofa, Rose couldn't concentrate. The events of the day raced through Rose's mind. Ignored by those paying attention to her pretty friends, the guy she liked flirting with her cousin, her best friend implying that she didn't have any real feelings, being put down and compared to her best friend by a teacher, not allowed to speak by another teacher who hated her, and having to endure the insults of herself and her family spoken directly to her face without being able to do anything about it. Rose felt an anger she had never felt the strength of before. Her fists clenched until her knuckles were white, her teeth were barred and her whole body went stiff. Every few moments Rose felt a new surge of frustration and rage which made her limbs tremble.

Scorpius gave a loud sigh and an annoying humming sound as he twirled a quill in his hand while writing a letter home.

"MERLIN'S BEARD CAN YOU STOP BEING IRRITATING FOR ONE SECOND!" Rose screamed at Scorpius from her desk.

Scorpius was confused, he hadn't done anything.

"What the hell Weasley? What have I done now?"

"I DON'T KNOW! YOU'RE BEING YOU AND IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING YOU LOATHSOME GARGOYLE!" Rose stood from her chair and gripped her wand in anger. Only a small part of her was telling her not to take her anger out on Malfoy.

"Weasley!" Scorpius jumped up, first the first time he was scared of what she might actually do to him. "I don't know what your problem is, but why don't you just go talk to someone? You've been more bitter than usual today. Everyone can tell. Just stop bothering me and complain to Lily or Lunette."

"Oh, you would like that wouldn't you?" Rose now had her wand pointed at Scorpius. He began to back away, his own wand was too far away to grab if he needed to defend himself.

"Or would you rather talk to one of them?! LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE? I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU MALFOY, I WISH YOU WOULD JUST DISAPPEAR FROM MY LIFE!"

Scorpius was backed up against the wall.

"F-!" Rse stopped herself. She saw the fear in Scorpius's eyes, she had never seen that in him before. Rose realised that she must have been shouting louder and angrier than usual. She looked down at her own hand, her knuckles were white from gripping the wand in anger. Her hand was shaking and she felt as if she couldn't breath. She scared herself. Rose quickly dropped her wand on the floor and bolted for her room, Scorpius managed to catch her and hold her back.

"Let me go!" Rose shouted.

"Weasley, stop struggling!" Scorpius was trying to get her to sit on the sofa.

"No!"

Scorpius, still holding Rose to prevent her from running, angled his neck to look at her face.

"Don't look at me! Leave me alone!" Rose wriggled her way out of Scorpius's grasp.

She had been so scared of how angry she got, that Rose stopped breathing and collapsed before she made the tapestry hiding her door. Her hands hurt from being clenched all day. Her face ached from scowling. Her throat was sore from screaming. And the constant anger had made her head throb and ache. Rose's breaths were short and quick. Scorpius panicked. Rose seemed to be having sort of panic attack. He grabbed a couple of pillows from the sofa and a glass of water. He propped her up against the wall and surrounded her with the pillows. Her sprinted to his room, grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her as soon as he could. Rose didn't seem to be aware of any of this, she was focussing on trying to breath normally. Her eyes were shut. Scorpius was scared.

When Rose had calmed down, she noticed the blanket and wrapped it tightly around her. She took a shaky sigh and opened her eyes. Scorpius was staring at her.

"You scared me Weasley. I can't forgive for that."

She didn't realise that her panic had scared him more than her threat.

Rose nodded. She was embarrassed and really didn't want to apologise even though she knew that she had to. "I scared me too."

"That's why you stopped mid jinx?"

Rose nodded again.

"You were shaking. You couldn't breath for a little while. I know I'm not the best person to talk to, but I'm here right now." Scorpius shrugged.

"I was going to jinx you with the pimple jinx, but I was so angry that it might have sent you to the hospital wing. That's not what the head girl should do to anyone, let alone the head boy."

Scorpius squinted, he was trying to correctly calculate what she was saying. "Was that an apology?"

"Yes." Rose whispered, she took long gulps of water before speaking again. "Thanks." she put the water down and tried to ignore the tears she felt coming. "Why didn't you just let me run to my room and deal with this myself?"

Scorpius shrugged again. "You were shaking."

"You've said that." her voice wobbled.

"I know, but what you said was 'running', what I saw was like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time. And I didn't grab you for no reason, I saw that you were falling so I caught you. And, I didn't know what you might do to yourself if I left you alone." Scorpius looked her deeply in the eyes with all the concern he felt. "You scared the shit out of me Weasley. I need an explanation."

Rose was shaking again. Scorpius stood to get another blanket, but her sudden tears stopped him.

"I've wanted to be head girl for as long as I can remember. This is not how a head girl should act."

Scorpius sat back down and wrapped one arm around her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." she whispered between sobs.

"It's ok, you stopped yourself from doing any damage to me, I'm just scared that you might hurt yourself."

"I don't want to hurt you, I never wanted to hurt anybody. I'm the worst head girl ever, my temper and lack of patience is going to be the end of me one day."

"Don't say that, don't be down on yourself. You know that you're a great head girl, it's just stressful." Scorpius felt his heart thump louder as he watched Rose fiddle with the corner of his blanket and tears fall down her cheeks, he felt a protectiveness of her that he had felt before. "Do you mind telling me what happened today?"

Rose shuffled herself and took a deep breath.

"It's stupid and petty, and I hate that today bothered me so much." she sighed. "Last year, Lily grew up a lot and everybody noticed. Lunette is one quarter veela so everybody notices her. They are two of my best friends and I love them. They also both happen to be the prettiest girls in school. I know looks shouldn't matter, and it never really has to me. But today guys flirted with Lily and Lunette. I stood there, not being noticed, even by someone I call my friend. I was just ignored. I'm always seen as second best to both of them and it's getting tiring. Even the potions professor compared me to Lunette, you heard that, I'll never be as well-liked as her. I'm tired of being ignored, I'm tired of being undermined, unappreciated and I'm tired of being a third wheel wherever I go. Whether if it was back when I hung out with you and Al, or Al and Lunette, or whenever I'm with Phil and Mel or with Lunette and Lily. I felt like all my hard work to get good grades has been for nothing. I'm not saying that I get good grades because I want people to notice me, but I realised that a lot of people only take the time to know you if you're pretty like Lunette or Lily. Again, please don't get me wrong, I know Lily and Lunette are so much more than just pretty, they're smart and brave and loyal and kind, I could go on, but people seem to only want to see the outside of someone, not the inside. I know this is a stereotypical teenage girl problem, and I'm ashamed that it got me so angry. That was bad enough to make me feel frustrated and low, actually that feeling started when the rumours about me and McLaggen were going around the school and people judged me like I was a piece of dirt even though none of it was true. But then Parkinson said horrible things about my mum and my family again, and that pushed to the edge." Rose's lip trembled, and her apologetic eyes turned to Scorpius. "And I was going to take it out on you."

Scorpius nodded slowly. "Wow, so this is frustration built up over a long time? This sort of frustration would be more than enough to make anyone depressed, not that depression needs a reason, but, you know. Look, image is important to a lot of people. And what you were saying was just a 'teenage girl problem' is also a 'teenage boy' problem. People like first impressions, and what you look like with the very first impression you give before you open your mouth or even move a muscle. It sucks. And I just hope that when you apply for a job, your hard work will speak for itself and that whoever is interviewing you is fair."

"But we can't control who interviews us."

"True, but why would you want to work for someone who values appearance over experience, dedication and brains."

"Good point Mr Malfoy." Rose tried to smile, her tears had tried and her face felt puffy.

"Why thank you Miss Granger-Weasley." Scorpius smiled back. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. I just need to sleep it off and I'll be great tomorrow."

Scorpius wasn't entirely convinced. He tilted his head and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Then why are you smiling that way?" he took a gentle hold of her hand.

"What way?" Rose was surprised with herself, she didn't mind him holding her hand, she actually quite liked it.

"It's alright to cry again if you need to." Scorpius shuffled closer to her.

Rose's snatched her hand away. "I don't need to-" but she saw the concern in his eyes and the tears spilled out again despite herself. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know I could be so angry."

Scorpius hugged Rose tighter and gently stroked her hair. "Hey, it's fine."

"But I scared you." Rose said through sobs.

"I was more scared that you were going to hurt yourself going up those stairs."

Rose sniffed and her tears slowed. She leant back out of Scorpius's hug and looked him in the eyes again. "You won't tell anybody about this, will you? People think I'm strong and emotionally balanced. I'm head girl and I can't afford to have off days."

"Alright," Scorpius wiped a tear from her cheek and settled her head back to rest on his chest. "Calm down, I don't think anybody needs to know. Everybody is allowed off days and that doesn't make you weak."

Rose smiled. They may not get along most of the time, but Scorpius was one of the few people that she could rely on not to break his word.

"And thanks for coming to your senses before you sent that jinx, I fully believe that I would've been in the hospital wing for over a week.".

"You are very welcome." her tears had finally stopped, but she was exhausted.

Scorpius reached into his pocket and pulled out two sweets he handed one to Rose. "Peppermint sweet?"

Rose's ears turned red. "Peppermint?"

"Yeah, would you like one?"

Rose's cheeks even turned redder. "I should go to bed." she suddenly looked down to see his blanket was wrapped around her. "Is this yours?"

Scorpius nodded and rearranged the pillows behind her to try and make it more comfortable but his hand got stuck when she relaxed again and Rose rested her hurting head on his shoulder.

He gulped. "Do you feel better?"

"Yes, much much better. I could fall asleep like this." Her tired eyes flew open. "I- I mean, umm, because I'm so tired and exhausted, I could, I guess sleep anywhere." Her ears were on fire. "I'm going to bed." she threw the blanket over Scorpius's head and ran off the her room and slammed the door.

Scorpius was left staring at an empty heap of pillows where Rose had been as he folded up the blanket. He could still feel her head on his shoulder and her smaller hand in his. Scorpius picked up the peppermint sweet from the floor where it had fell and went back to his room, tossing it into the large jar full of them on his windowsill.

He knew Rose hadn't told him the whole story. That had to be more to her anger, it was Rose after all, things were never skin deep when it came to her.

Rose collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She was contemplating whether or not she should have told Scorpius about the insults of her family from both Stockett and Lloyd Parkinson. She knew that Scorpius was also rather defensive of her family when it came to heinous insults of so-called blood status. Rose knew it to be because Scorpius was so close to Albus, that Al was his only friend for a long time, and remained like a brother to him. Of course, she was only half correct. There was another person he was defensive for.

...

The next day, being a Saturday, Rose decided to sleep in. Scorpius hadn't slept at all, his mind ran through every little detail of the night before. How worried he was when she could barely walk, how she had opened up to him. How she let him tuck hair behind her ear, hold her hand and let him hug her. She had cried on his chest, she had leant on his shoulder and her ears turned red when she admitted that she was comfortable cuddling with him. Scorpius felt himself smiling about Rose for most of the day. Then he thought, as she had not exited her room, that perhaps she was embarrassed. Scorpius knew that bringing it up would make her more embarrassed, and so he left her to herself. She needed the sleep afterall, she had cried so easily in front of him and that hadn't happened in a long while, he doubted if anyone else had seen her cry.

By 9am he watched lots of students walk to Hogsmeade, he spotted Albus as Lunette holding hands and smiled down at them. He was happy for his friends, but sometimes it left him feeling lonely. He's eyes unconsciously drifted to the tapestry hiding the stairs to Rose's room. He began to wonder if she was lonely too.

Scorpius snapped himself out of those thoughts. 'I don't want to think about Weasley in that way. I hate her! Don't I? Do I hate her?' Just as his mind was running around in circles, he saw his owl, Vincent, swoop into the owlery. He decided that a trip up to the owlery would be a nice distraction from Rose.

Scorpius went to the kitchens first, he took a couple of slices of toast and wrapped up a croissant for later. He had just reached the entrance hall, when someone called out his name.

"Malfoy!"

Scorpius grit his teeth, he had started to really hate it when people called him that. "What?" he groaned as he slowly turned around. Ben Rome, Scorpius recognised him as the Gryffindor quidditch captain.

"Umm, are you off to Hogsmeade?"

"No." Scopus said in a dull voice, he didn't really feel like talking to anyone.

"Oh, right." Ben was obviously wanting to ask something else.

Rolling his eyes, Scorpius turned around to leave but Ben stopped him again.

"Umm, Rose hasn't got a date or anything? Is, is she at Hogsmeade?"

Scorpius sighed and turned around again, to his surprise, Ben had gone bright red and was obviously very nervous. "Weasley is in her room, why? You want to ask her out? You're leaving it pretty late, everybody has already gone." Scorpius put on a calm voice and pretended not to care, even though his head was screaming at him.

"Well, I was going to ask her, I've been trying to all week, but I just couldn't get my words out."

Scorpius had no idea why Ben was being so open about it, and it irritated him. Not that he showed it. "I can go and get her. If you just wait by the stairs, technically you're not allowed in the head common room, or in our rooms, so..."

"That would be great! I'll just wait in the corridor." Ben was suddenly full of nervous smiled and followed Scorpius up to the fifth floor.

Scorius made him wait by the stairs, so that that tapestry was out of view and he wouldn't hear the password.

Rose had been almost drifting back to sleep, when she was rudely interrupted by a knock on her door. Angrily she swung it open to see an annoyed Scorpius.

"Look, quidditch guy wants to talk to you about Hogsmeade. Go easy on him, he's so nervous he might explode." Scorpius tried to say it with a smirk but instead it came out bitter.

Rose rubbed her eyes and yawned. "What?"

"Just to go the fifth floor stairs, what's-his-face Rome is there."

Rose, still in her pajamas, threw on her jumper with a large R on it, and trudged down the hall. To her surprise, Ben Rome was there. She wished she had brushed her hair, and her teeth, before leaving her room.

"Hey Rose, I know it's late, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me today?"

Rose's head instantly said yes, but she forced herself to seem skeptical. "Why did you leave it so late? Did someone cancel on you? Because I don't want to be a replacement date."

"No, no! I tried to ask you, a few times, but whenever I saw I just couldn't get the words out. I guess last minute, I knew I should ask you now or never."

Rose smiled. "I'm glad it was now rather than never. Let me just get dressed."

Ben beamed at her in delight. Once Rose had reached the common room, and shut the door, she bolted up to her room, frantically getting dressed as quickly as she could. Needless to say she fell over and dropped to many things to count. Scorpius sat on the sofa in the common room, trying to read his book. But every few minutes he heard Rose shout 'ow' from her room as something was knocked on the floor. He found it quite amusing. Wanting to see the mess for himself, Scorpius thought of a little plan.

Rose heard another small knock on her door, while she was still in her pyjama top but had only just put on her jeans, she figured that she was decent enough to open the door. She didn't realise the state of her room.

Scorpius grinned at the piles of clothes and knocked over stacks of books. "Here, breakfast." He threw the croissant he had grabbed earlier, on to her bed and sniggered as he left her alone.

Rolling her eyes, but still suspiciously grateful for the breakfast, Rose munched away at the croissant. Waving her wand around cleaning up everything she had knocked over in the hurry.

Rose looked once more in the mirror and took a deep breath. Her hair was in a messy knot on top of her head, it made her look more mature. She made an effort with her makeup, she wore her fancy watch. Her Gryffindor scarf went well with her jeans. Her knee length boots made her calves look thinner and her green t-shirt and navy blue hoodie combo was very 'Rose'. But her favourite part of this carefully selected outfit was her long black coat. It cut off just above the knees and was ridiculously comfortable as well as complimentary to her figure.

"Calm down Rose, no need to be nervous, Just be yourself and hopefully it will all go well." Rose said to herself. She picked up her bag from her bed, spun around, swishing her coat and giving her a satisfied feeling and hopped down the steps.

Scorpius was laying in the sofa when Rose confidently pushed through the red tapestry that covered the door to her room. She spun around to look out the window at the grey November sky. There were still a few spots of blue sky in the distance, today wouldn't be so bad weather wise.

Scorpius suddenly sat up, amazed at what he saw. Rose Granger-Weasley cleaned up nicely. Winter clothes and autumn colours agreed with her.

"You look pretty, you're always pretty." Scorpius mumbled as he gaped at her.

"What?" Rose genuinely had not heard what he had said.

His cheeks turned a pale pink and he spoke quickly to cover up is accidental compliment. "I said you look shitty, Weasel. Now good night." Scorpius jumped up in panic.

"It's 10am you prat."

"Piss off." Scorpius practically sprinted up to his room, not believing what he said. And out loud especially. His heart was beating fast. 'I hate Weasley, why would I think she looks pretty?!' It unnerved him how often he began to question his hatred for her. Rose had gone off with Ben. Scorpius couldn't get her smile out of his head. It was enchanting, even without the minimal makeup or well thought out outfit, it had been the smile that had caught Scorpius off guard. It had been the smile that made her look prettier than usual, and it was the smile that Scorpius couldn't get out of his head. The only thing that suddenly ruined is image, was the nagging reminder that Rose's smile wasn't for him. It was for Ben.

By 11am, Scorpius was bored. And all he could think about was whether or not he actually hated Rose. He decide that going to Hogsmeade alone, wasn't the worst way to spend a saturday afterall. And Lunette and Albus had told him time and time again that he was always welcome to join them.

However, meeting his best friends in the Three Broomsticks, did not get his mind off Rose. She and Ben happened to be there, laughing, having a good time getting to know each other. While Scorpius had to stop himself from rolling his eyes every five seconds.

Albus had just bought them three butterbeers, when he spotted Rose and Ben. "Merlin, what is she doing dating him?" Albus mumbled to Scorpius.

Lunette rolled her eyes, she really was the only one who knew about Rose's confused feelings.

"I don't know," Scorpius shrugged. "He's nice, smart and into quidditch. He's just like me, but I'm better." Scorpius forced a small cocky grin even though he felt confusion as he felt a pain spreading across his chest as he watched Rose smile.

Albus scoffed, not realising Scorpius's expertly hidden pain. "How are you nice? Last week you called her a buck tooth orangutan."

"Only because she called me bleached blonde ferret first!" Scorpius defended himself.

"But you're the one who gave her the buck teeth!"

"And she made my books attack me. So we're even. Now, what were we talking about?"

Albus chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"So, are they dating now?" Albus asked Lunette.

She shrugged. "It certainly looks like it, but this is just the first date. Who knows how it will play out." Lunette glared at Scorpius suspiciously, she could see the cogs turning in his mind. "And don't you dare try and mess it up for, no matter what confused feelings you have for her!"

Scorpius eyes widened. How did Lunette know? Albus was just confused and got stuck into his butterbeer.

"I do not have confused feelings-" Scorpius started.

Lunette snorted. "Yeah, right. Do I have to brew some Veritaserum? Because you know that I can!"

Scorpius sighed. "Fine, I won't do anything to Weasley." He almost told them about the incident the night before, where Rose had cried on his shoulder, opened up to him, and was grateful for his presence. But he instantly decided that he couldn't say anything. First of all, it would embarrass Rose. And secondly, it was a memory of her that only he wanted to keep, it was one of those precious moments that he had with Rose, one that he held dear. And he didn't know why.

"You alright Scorp?" Albus's voice cut into Scorpius's thoughts. "We lost you for a second there. What are you thinking about?"

Scorpius blinked slowly as his mind raced for an excuse. "Oh, I was just think about this book I wanted to get, last time I was in a muggle store. But I didn't have any muggle money with me and the shopkeeper was looking at me suspiciously."

Albus nodded, accepting the lie. It wasn't an unusual thing to say, for Scorpius. It was well known that he loved muggle books, but Lunette suspected that it wasn't the truth. She watched her friend on a date and she looked genuinely happy, then she peeked a look a Scorpius. Lunette knew something was up, she just didn't know what. And she started to realise, that whatever was up with Scorpius, he didn't know what it was either. Albus simply sat drinking his butterbeer, happily oblivious to his girlfriend's detective cogs churning, his best friend's heart ache confusing his head, and his cousin happiness of a new boyfriend even though she had a niggling idea that her feelings were not as strong as she had believed them the be.

As afternoon drew nearer, students began to leave Hogsmeade. Albus and Lunette had dragged Scorpius all over the village and he found himself too exhausted to think about Rose. They began walking up to the castle before it got dark. Rose and Ben walking ahead of them. Albus looked suspiciously at Lunette's determined eyes watching the back of Rose's head.

"Lunette, what's wrong?" Albus said cautiously.

"I need to appologise to Rose." Her tone matched her expression.

Albus nodded, Lunette had been so upset that morning before they left for the village. She had cried a little, telling Albus everything she had said to Rose, excluding the name of the guy Rose liked. Lunette may tell Albus everything, but she would never give away a friend's secret. But after Albus had seen Rose with Ben, he knew who it was. Albus looked over at Scorpius, who he expected to be confused by the conversation, but realised that Scorpius seemed to know exactly what was going on. And Albus wasn't going to beat around the bush.

"How do you know?"

Scorpius was surprised to hear the question, but knew exactly what Albus was referring to. "It doesn't matter, I just know." He said bluntly. Just as he had hoped, Albus took the answer and didn't ask anymore questions.

Albus had the feeling that he was too out of touch with his cousin. Rose had been his best friend for so long, but recently all he heard from her was through Lunette, or through Scorpius complaining.

Lunette increased her pace, leaving Albus and Scorpius behind, they started talking about muggle studies homework. Lunette saddled up beside Rose who was startled to see her friend beside her. Rose tripped on her own foot but didn't fall over. Ben laughed, Lunette glared at him. They were nearing the castle doors.

"Ben, I need to speak to Rose..." Lunette hinted.

"Ah, right." Ben understood that he was meant to disappear. "Well, I'll see you around Rose." he took her hand and gave a gently squeeze as he smiled at her. Then he jogged up to the castle.

Rose's ears turned red, and for the moment she was happy.

"Rose, I need to talk to you." Lunette's guilt flooded her voice.

Rose sighed and looked at her friend. "Yeah, we do." but they didn't speak until they reached the castle, and Rose found that it was quiet outside the library. Most students were either turning from Hogsmeade, going to dinner, or both. "About yesterday," Rose started. "I-"

"I'm so sorry. I was wrong. And I was even more wrong to say it to your face." Lunette interrupted, she felt tears coming on again. "Of course you have feelings, I didn't mean to say that. You're just so good at hiding them sometimes, that I get confused and think that you're some kind of robot." Lunette was interrupted this time. Rose had started to laugh.

"Emotionless robot?" Rose chuckled. "Great." she said sarcastically. She stopped laughing when she saw that Lunette was crying. "Sorry. I was in a bad mood yesterday, a really really bad mood. And what you said didn't help, it hurt and it added to my anger. And you know me, if there's one emotion I know really well, it's anger. But I should've known you didn't mean it, I wasn't thinking straight."

Lunette sniffed and stopped crying. "Ok, now don't be mad at me, but-" she finished her sentence with a big hug enveloping Rose.

Rose's arms lay limp and awkward beside her side for a while, until the prolonged hug became too uncomfortable for her.

"I'm not letting go until you hug me back." Lunette mumbled into her shoulder.

Rose smiled and let out a small laughed, then hugged her friend back. It felt good, Rose rarely hugged anyone, she forgot how nice a hug could be. Though she still didn't want to get into the habit of hugging on a regular basis.

The abrupt grugle of Lunette's hungry stomach finally put an end to the hug.

"We're good right? Because I need food."

"We're good, it's pretty much impossible to stay mad at you."

Lunette scoffed. "You're just say that-"

"No, I'm serious. As soon as I walked away yesterday, I was angrier at myself than I was at you. I was annoyed because I didn't want to be annoyed with you."

Lunette raised one eyebrow before pulling Rose into a hug again.

"Lunette!" Rose couldn't breath. "Come on, we've already hugged-"

"Hush, save the moment." Lunette tried to sound serious but both of them ended up laughing. Eventually Rose pushed her best friend off her and they made their way to the great hall. "So, how was your date with Ben?"

Rose's ears turned red again. "It was nice, it was really really nice."

Lunette thought something was missing, but she didn't want to fight again. "Nice enough for a second date?"

Rose smiled. "Definitely, if we end up dating properly, I think he'll be the first boyfriend I actually liked. Felix was just because I felt bad saying no, and Dan- I actually don't know why I ever went out with Dan." Rose frowned, she vaguely remembered trying to spite Scorpius and his disapproval of Dan, 'but he disapproves with every guy I talk about, even McLaggen, who I'm pretty sure I hate more than he does.' Rose thought to herself.

"Albus was like that, he was the first guy I stopped to think about before agreeing to go out. Every other guy I dated, I didn't really mind if our friendship disintegrated. But Albus, I liked him so much that I never wanted to hurt him. I thought, if we don't go out, I can't hurt him, and I like him so much, that I don't mind only being his friend. That was stupid, I mean, just being friends would have hurt both of us."

Rose forced herself not to say 'well, duh.' instead she just nodded and smiled. Once in the hall, Lunette ran off to the Hufflepuff tabel to sit beside her friends, and Rose spotted Ben who had saved her a seat next to him. She didn't see Scorpius scowling at the back of her head, or Albus sending an amused but suspicious look to Scorpius.

DECEMBER

December came very quickly, Rose had had few more dates with Ben and soon became a well known couple around the school. Rose was happier than she had been, walking around the castle with Ben, getting into the routine of homework and head girl duties. But as soon as she reached the head common room, she deflated and she was quiet. Lunette and Albus noticed, while Rose seemed happier in her relationship, Scorpius's mood became darker and darker. He did little else but study, he rarely smiled and he never bothered to join in on conversations between them. The only time he seemed to relax, was when he went back the the head common room every evening.

Everytime Rose was sitting with Ben, enjoying her time with the only guy she had dated who she actually liked, Scorpius would be tense. He would snap at Albus, who knew that his best friend didn't mean it, but it was still hard to stay positive.

"He's miserable, Albus. What can we do?" Lunette let out an exasperated sigh one night and she and Albus were sitting together in the Hufflepuff common room.

"He always gets annoyed when Rose is dating someone." Albus said absently.

"Why can't they just be open about their feelings?"

"Because-"

"No, I know why. They don't know they even have these feelings." Lunette stretched and yawned. "This sucks, Ben is a really nice guy. He's good for Rose."

"Well, he's better than her previous boyfriends." Albus thought of Felix Stirling who's only here because he grandfather won't let him run the family business without at least one NEWT, and then of Daniel Leyton who had tried for a few professional quidditch teams but failed, and in embarrassment, hadn't turned up to continue his schooling. "Ben and Rose have things in common."

"Yes, but, weren't we like that? Before we dated, we treated each other well and had things in common." Lunette could see that Albus didn't know what she was getting at. "We were friends, but we only started having more feelings for each other because, I don't know, there was chemistry. There was a spark between us, something that our friends saw that we didn't."

"Oh, right. And you're saying that you don't see anything romantic between Rose and Ben?"

Lunette felt bad for saying it, but she always spoke her mind around Albus. "No. Do you?"

Albus sighed. "No."

The last day of classes before the holidays began, night came very quickly and Scorpius found himself walking outside through the dark, up to his ankles in snow. And the snow persisted to fall heavily, and he didn't mind. He hadn't been feeling like himself for a long. Suddenly he heard voices, and the sound of someone crying.

"You pathetic little mudblood. You're so weak, you're crying. You don't belong here." Lloyd Parkinson spat at a first year. "Run back to your scum family and leave the more deserving to take our world."

"Parkinson!" Scorpius shouted. "Fifty points from Slytherin."

Lloyd scoffed. "You think I really care about house points?"

"No, but your fellow Slytherins do, they'll not be happy with you. Now leave this kid alone, he's nothing to you." Scorpius pushed passed Lloyd and picked up the kid by his elbow, "Go back to your common room. Tomorrow go and tell your head of house what happened. If you need me to help you, just come and find me at breakfast at the Slytherin table. If we're lucky, the teachers will be good enough to expel this git."

He handed him a peppermint sweet from his pocket. The first year gave a weak and watery smile to Scorpius, and then ran as fast as he could. Scorpius turned back to Lloyd. "That's enough, I will not have you bullying anyone else. If you're not expelled by the end of the week, I'm giving you detention everyday for two months. Maybe even the rest of the year if I can. Your beliefs are outdated and cruel. Worse than cruel, they started two wars. People died, people were tortured, people were hurt, and it broke up families and friendships because of this ridiculous belief."

"Oh yeah? You want to see hurt, you love muggles so much, why don't you drop your wand and we settle this right now." Lloyd snarled.

Scorpius was about to reach into his robe to grand his wand, when Lloyd punched him in the nose, and then again in the stomach. By the time Lloyd had delivered the third punch to Scorpius's eye, out of nowhere, three of Lloyd's friends arrived. One pinned Scorpius's arms behind his back, while Lloyd punched him again in the ribs. Scorpius was in so much pain, he fell to the ground as soon as he was let go, then the kicking began and they shouted at him.

"Traitor!"

"Mudblood lover!"

"You're a disgrace to your family!"

"The scum of all purebloods!"

Then, as quickly as they appeared, all of Lloyd's friends ran back into the castle. He snarled at Scorpius, doubled over in pain, laying limp in the freezing snow. He could feel blood in his mouth and running from his nose, staining the snow that fell faster and faster. Lloyd quickly placed a full body bind on Scorpius and ran after his friends, a horrible laugh echoing outside. Scorpius couldn't move, he was terrified. To die outside of Hogwarts, freezing cold, was not what he wanted. All he could hope for was one of the teachers to discover him. Or even a student outside of curfew. Anyone, he just needed anyone. And it was getting darker and darker. Scorpius hated the dark.

Rose had been working late on an essay due for care of magical creatures. Her eyes were strained as she only had a candle and the fireplace to light up the common room. She out down her quill and looked around the room, it didn't look as though Scorpius had been back since he left for breakfast. Rose frowned, something was up. He was always at his desk working, or on the sofa reading.

Worry began to set in, her heart was beating fast as panic ingrained itself in her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened.

"No, I don't care. This is Malfoy, he can take care of himself. I'm just tried and over thinking about someone I don't even like." Rose had to speak out loud, her head was too worried just to keep it up there. But saying out loud didn't help, it just made her feel bad. Rose looked out the window, it was snowing heavily. She grabbed her winter cloak and her wand and took one last peek out the window before she started charging around the castle to look for the head boy. But then she spotted it, Lloyd Parkinson laughing in gruesomely sinister way as he dashed into the castle. Rose's nostrils flared, she could guess where Scorpius was.

Rose rushed down the flights of stairs, tripping down most of them, but at least she got to the next floor quicker. She silently cursed the fact that the common room was on the fifth floor. She heard someone call out her name from the floor below, she happened to be on the second floor by then.

It was Ben.

"Hey Rose! Where are you off to?" he asked cheerfully.

But Rose ignored him, she didn't want to talk to him or anyone, she just had to find Malfoy. Ben noticed that Rose had a wild and angry look in her eye that he wouldn't cross if he didn't have to. Ben was one of the last people to go to bed, and so barely anyone saw Rose running through the castle, panic giving her a headache.

She finally reached the entrance doors and pushed them open. She searched around the edge of the castle. Rose's heart stopped when she was the stiff figure in the snow. As she hastily approached, she saw the beginnings of bruises on Scorpius's face and cuts on his arms with blood seeping into his robes and staining the white snow with a few dark drops of blood. He wasn't wearing a coat and his robe was ripped.

"Malfoy!" she shouted in his face, desperately hoping that he would respond. She shook him gently and realised that he must be constrained by a full body binding curse. She unjinxed him. Rose took hold of Scorpius's hands, threw his arm over her shoulder, and dragged him to the castle, leaving a long trail in the snow. She tried not to pull him too hard and was careful not the hold him by the forearms as both appeared to he bruised. But that meant holding onto his midsection which seemed to hurt just as much. Once she reached the castle steps, Rose was confronted by another problem, how to get him in the castle.

Rose took a deep breath and tried talking to Scorpius again but he was barely conscious. She took another deep breath and suddenly remembered the most obvious thing. Rose could have kicked herself.

"Bloody hell, I'm a witch." she muttered with gritted teeth and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, she was glad that no one else was around to see or hear her. It was the sort of thing her father would laugh at and mention again how similar to her mother she really was.

Remembering that she could use a levitation charm, Rose gently raised Scorpius and used her wand to guide him inside.

At first, Rose thought to rush Scorpius to the hospital wing, but she glanced back at his chest and her eyes were caught by the head boy badge. If the headmaster found out that Scorpius had been in a fight, then Scorpius would no longer be allowed to hold the position and there was the possibility of him being expelled. Rose, with a floating Scorpius who was grumbling from the pain, made it to the head student rooms without running into anyone. Upon later reflection, Rose realised that as it was 11pm and most were in bed, the ghosts were celebrating one of their death days, and Peeves had had a grin all day which let everyone know that he planned to ruin the ghost's party, so she wouldn't have come across anyone anyway. Technically, she thought to herself, the head boy and girl should have been patrolling the corridors. They were both preoccupied at the time.

Yet another problem arose as the head boy and girl reached the shared room. Rose knew that she couldn't just leave Scorpius on the sofa but she also couldn't take him to his own room. The door would not open for her unless Scorpius said the password and he was unavailable to do anything. He was, for that moment, a floating body following her wand. Rose had no option but to take him to her room and settle him in her bed. She took off his shoes and socks and took of his school robes, it was all soaking wet from the snow and had the odd circle of a bloody stain. She refused to take off his underwear. They both needed some dignity left. What bleeding there had been, had slowed massively. She took out the first aid kit from her trunk that her Muggle grandfather had given her as a joke, but the bandages were quickly applied to Scorpius. She made a metal note to learn the charm that produced bandages straight from the wand. As he was mostly naked in her bedroom, Rose decided that they both needed some privacy too. She laid a couple of blankets, taken from the study room, on the bed before resting him on top of them and more blankets piled on top of him before she added the duvet and released him of her levitation charm. She flicked her wand and lit the fire, Scorpius was still so cold. Rose heard Scorpius groan, she hushed him soothingly and he fell asleep.

Satisfied that she had gotten Scorpius as warm as she could, Rose went about trying to figure out where she would sleep. She wanted to stay in the room incase he woke up. So Rose positioned the armchair by the window to face the bed she took a spare pillow and blanket and attempted to make herself comfortable. However, sleep never came. Rose was anxious for Scorpius and watched him breath in and out and occasionally shivver.

It was deep into the night, or very early in the morning, depending on how you look at it, when Scorpius groaned in agony again and then opened his eyes. Rose shot up quickly and sat beside him. Scorpius squinted and looked around the room which he vaguely recognised but knew that it was somewhere he hadn't been to often enough or stayed in long enough to feel secure.

"Where am I?" Scorpius croaked. He ached all over and couldn't decide if he was too hot or cold.

"My room, you were pretty much out of it and only you can say the password to let me into your room."

Scorpius blinked slowly, trying to process the information, but even that hurt.

"Out of curiosity, what is your password?"

"Umm, I, I bothered, I mean, I trust you enough- known you for so long." Scorpius managed to mumbled through his dazed state. He felt his eyes drooping again as he slowly moved his arm and realised that he was only wearing his underwear. "Where are my clothes?"

Rose started to feel bad for putting a password on her door, especially one that meant go away. She looked at his face, it was almost fuzzy, and remembered he had asked her a question.

"I had to take them off," Rose's ears turned red and she looked away from him. "They were wet, they're now drying by the fire but you'll need to mend or buy a new robe."

Scorpius, who normally found joy when Rose blushed, didn't notice. He was in agony and was too drowsy to completely comprehend what was going on. He asked more questions, he felt the need to fight sleep for as long as he could so that he could understand the situation he was in. "How long have I-?"

Rose interrupted. "You've been asleep for about four hours. It's three in the morning, go back to sleep."

"Where are you sleeping?"

Rose looked over at the small armchair with a blanket covering one side and a pillow crudely balancing on the armrest. "That doesn't matter go back to sleep."

"How did you get me in the castle?" Scorpius asked sleepily.

Rose rolled her eyes but answered anyway, thinking that if she kept him talking long enough, it might just drop him off back to sleep. "I had to drag you in, and you're quite heavy you know. You owe me."She stood up and returned to her armchair.

"Why not use a levitation charm?"

Rose's ears turned red. She had panicked when she saw Scorpius in the snow. "Just because! Alright! I mean, I did, eventually, I only remembered that I could do magic when I got to the stairs. Now be grateful and go-" she spun around to see Scorpius asleep again. She smiled despite herself, 'he's kind of cute when he's resting- no! I refuse to think this!'

Later in the day, when Scorpius properly woke up, Rose nipped down to the kitchens and brought up a bowl of hot soup. She gently propped Scorpius up using pillows to support his injured back and placed the bowl on his lap.

Scorpius was still feeling disorientated thanks to the beating he had received, being left to freeze in the snow, and by the fact that Rose was being nice and overly concerned about him. He felt a need for Rose to return to her usual snappy self. "You know, soup isn't my favourite food."

Rose grit her teeth and rolled her eyes. "I couldn't care less about what your favourite food is. You're ill, you're injured, you will eat the soup I gave you. It will warm you, it's not meant to be a treat."

Scorpius shut up and drank to soup quickly and gratefully. "For the record, I like custard, a lot. I like it more than I should, I could just eat it out of the bowl with nothing else." Rose wasn't listening but he continued and did not stop to think why on earth he was telling her. "And I like peppermint sweets, always have in my pockets for some reason, but I rarely buy them."

The mention of peppermint got Rose's attention and so she quickly changed the subject. "Are you warm enough?" Rose asked with concern in her eyes again.

Scorpius nodded in reply.

"Good."

She shuffled his pillows again so that he could lay down. Scorpius caught her scent of freshly cut grass and something kind of flowery. He wondered if it was the perfume she used. He was also happy to find that her pillow smelled of new parchment, he could barely guess how much letter writing or homework she did before sleeping.

"Go back to sleep Malfoy." Rose said gently. "You need to recover so that I can shout at you."

"I've been to sleep for way too long, I need to get up-"

"No!" Rose snapped at him, then continued in a softer voice that sounded as if she were desperately pleading him. "You need to rest, you haven't seen all your bruises, I have. And you were laying in the snow for, what,? Two hours, maybe. I saw Parkinson and his friends running back inside the castle but it took me a while to find you. You were freezing when I brought you in. Just sleep now." her voice full of worry disorientated Scorpius even more, so he argued back.

"I won't be able to sleep, I've stayed still for too long!"

Rose stood and grabbed to empty soup bowl and made her way to the door. "Fine, you can use this time to think about your reckless behaviour, the head boy shouldn't be getting in fights. What would happen if the headmaster found out? Did you ever think of-" Rose stopped and turned around, Scorpius was fast asleep again. She smiled at him and took the bowl downstairs, before returning to the armchair in her room to re-read Pride and Prejudice while keeping an eye on him.

Scorpius woke up hours later, still in Rose's room but she wasn't there anymore. His whole body still ached, but he had warmed up a lot. The was a timid knock on the door.

"Malfoy? Are you awake?" Rose whispered.

He found that he could only grunt in reply. Sleep had somehow made him more tired, his body to his very bones.

Rose let herself in and sat on the edge of the bed, Scorpius sat up and his head started spinning.

"Al and Lunette are downstairs, they're really worried about you. Do you think you could make it down the steps?"

Scorpius nodded. Rose handed him a dressing gown and Scorpius took it gratefully, he only realised that it was his own when he put one hand in the pocket and found it full of peppermint sweets. He looked up at Rose, but she replied without him having to ask.

"Last night you told me that you don't have a password for your room, so I just got a few of your things."

Scorpius took hold of Rose's arm when it was given, and together they slowly descended the steps.

"You better not trip, I don't think I can handle anymore bruises." Scorpius mumbled sarcastically.

Rose rolled her eyes, but still smiled. "Oh look who's still got his sense of humour."

"Scorpius!" Lunette shouted and ran to her friend, but stopped before she hugged him. "Scorp, why does this always happen to you? Why are you the only one to get hurt."

"I'm not always hurt." Scorpius argued as he painfully settled himself on the sofa next to Albus. "Hey Al."

"Hey." Albus greeted him with a worried smile.

"You are always hurt!" Luette continued. "Last year that quidditch match!"

"Alright, that's twice, name another."

Lunette frowned, she wanted to say how many time he was emotionally hurt as well, but with Rose in the room she couldn't do that "Well twice is too many!"

"Parkinson punched him at the start of the year as well." Rose muttered, her arms folded in anger, she was agreeing with Lunette's worried shrills.

"See! Too many times!" Lunette frowned. "Hang on, the start of the year? Neither of you told me about that."

"Ok, ok," Albus tried to calm her, "You're not his mother."

"Ah, speaking of, has anyone contacted his parents? And why isn't he in the hospital wing?" Lunette asked.

Rose explained to them exactly what happened, as Scorpius's eyes were dropping. "And I haven't told his family yet, I thought Al could as they know him better."

"Great, thanks." Albus mumbled sarcastically.

Rose stood and gave him some parchment and a quill. "Pocket will take it if you like, she's been circling this tower for a while now." They all looked out the window to see Rose's owl perched on the sill. "I think she knows that something is up."

"Why were you even out that late?" Lunette asked Scorpius.

He tried to shrug, but that hurt too. "I wanted to walk around in the snow." He looked at Rose and tried not to make his sigh too audible. "I needed to clear my mind."

Rose spoke up next. "Lunette, do you have anymore bruise removal paste? I used up the last of mine the other day." Albus raised his eyebrows as to ask what happened. Rose rolled her eyes. "I was on my way to meet Ben, when I walked into the stair banister on the third floor. It didn't hurt, but I found a bruise on my hip that night."

The other two tried to stop themselves from laughing, hearing Rose's clumsy antics were always entertaining. Scorpius was lightly sleeping on the sofa.

"Rose," Albus's voice full of concern for his best friend. "How bad was it? Really?"

Rose sat down next the Lunette, watching Scorpius the entire time. It hurt her deeply to see Scorpius so beaten up and drowsy. "It's bad." Rose muttered. "He has bruises everywhere, luckily nothing was broken, except his nose, but I fixed it when he was asleep. The bruises on his eyes have gotten darker since I brought him in, his shins and his shoulder look really bad, but nothing compared to his ribs. His back is ok, I think someone must have held him back while the others attacked from the front. Also, there are still marks on him from that quidditch incident last year. They were meant to fade after a few weeks but I think some of those scars might stay with him forever."

"How long was he out there, before you arrived?"

Rose didn't look at Lunette while she answered the question. Her whole body facing Scorpius, unmoved. "A while, an hour, maybe two. He was cold to the bone when I finally found him. He was shivering all night, he said that he was warm enough but I'm not sure I believe him."

"I'll see if I can get some calming draft from the hospital wing, or make it myself if no one will give it to me." Lunette thought out loud.

"Good, he's slept enough, maybe you could get some bruise removal paste fr-" Rose nodded.

"I meant for you, Rose." Lunette interrupted.

"What?" Rose suddenly looked up from the sleeping Scorpius and at her concerned friend and cousin.

Albus leant forward and gently placed his hand on her arm. "Rose, you're so pale. Scorpius is in pain, yes, but at least sleep and rest is helping him. You're being so good to him. But don't forget to take care of yourself too."

"I'm fine." Rose said bluntly.

"No you're not." Albus was trying to be stern. "Have you slept at all? And actually, if Scorp's been in your bed, where have you been sleeping?" He looked around the common room, not a single pillow was out of place.

Albus had got her there. Rose begrudgingly answered. "I have an armchair in my room, by the window. With a pillow and a blanket, it's really not that bad-"

"Have you slept or not?" Lunette pushed Albus's question.

"No." Rose was finally honest.

"I think this has shocked you more than it has Scorpius." Albus looked back at his injured friend. "If he's sleeping, he's not worried about himself or what happened. That might change once he's recovered a bit. At the moment you're more worried than he is."

Rose slumped her shoulders, and finally let her self relax on the sofa. She sighed, "Why should I even care?" she she muttered, mostly to herself.

Lunette and Albus shared a look, they knew why Rose cared. Understanding that it was a rhetorical question, they stayed silent. What no one had realised, was that Scorpius had woken up just as Rose had told them where she was sleeping, and how she wasn't sleeping at all.

In an instant, Scorpius suddenly knew his heart a little better. 'I don't hate her at all. I never did, I never have.' was all that Scorpius could think clearly as his mind raced with memories of Rose. His eyes stayed closed but his breathing quickened. This alerted Albus who gently shook him awake.

"Scorp, are you alright? You sound like you're hyperventilating." Albus was panicked, Lunette had rushed to the sofa where they were sat.

Scorpius slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He stared in amazement at Rose, who watched him anxiously. "I'm fine, I think." he mumbled. His face turned pink, his head began to hurt and he suddenly found himself too hot. "I should go to bed." Scorpius found that his bruises were making it hard to breathe, now that he had slept some more, his pain was no longer overpowered by drowsiness. "I'm not tired, I just need to lay down."

Albus grabbed his arm and led him towards Rose's room.

"No, I can go to my own room now."

Lunette bit her lip and looked to Rose to intervene. Albus shook his head and Rose answered.

"Your room is too cold, Malfoy. The hearth has been on in my room, all day and all night. You'd be better in my room, you have to stay warm." Rose said calmly, though she didn't feel calm at all. She saw that Scorpius didn't realise how much weight he was putting on Albums in order to stand.

"I'm not putting you out of your own bed again-" Scorpius began to argue.

"You're not putting me out of my bed, I put you there in the first place. And you're staying there until you're well enough to walk on your own!" Rose was stern this time, only raising her voice a little.

"Look, Weasley, you don't have to be a hero in front of you friends. I can just-"

"I'm not being a hero! I'm being a decent human being, the only way I can help you get well again, is to make you sleep in my room. Stop questioning me, stop thinking that you're a nuisance and stop thinking that you aren't as ill as you actually are!" Rose's nerves were taking hold of her temper. "I'll light the fire in your room, that will take a while to warm up so for now go back to mine."

"Ok, thank you." he said softly.

It surprised Rose and her anger seemed to melt with no explanation. Scorpius didn't like it when she was angry with him, it suddenly felt unnatural. 'Merlin, realising that you don't hate someone, really makes it hard to be ok with them shouting at you.' Scorpius thought as Albus led him back up the stairs. Scorpius had to go through the door on his own as Albus wouldn't be able to get into Rose's room. That was when Scorpius felt what Rose meant. If he thought it was painful to move before, it was almost impossible without support. His muscles ached, he felt sharp pains all over his chest and his feet didn't want to move. He stumbled into the room and fell onto Rose's bed, even the soft mattress hurt.

"We'll go to the hospital wing now to get that draft and bruise removal paste." Scorpius heard Lunette say.

"Rose, promise me you'll get some sleep, even if it's on the sofa." Albus's voice drifted up the stairs.

"I'll sleep tonight, no matter how little sleep I've got, I think midday is kind of a bad time to throw off my sleeping pattern." Rose made her excuses as Albus left, but Lunette hung around for a few moments more.

Scorpius heard every word.

"Rose, should I tell Ben? I mean, he would want to see you. And maybe that fact that the guy you supposedly hate is sleeping in your bed, isn't something to hide from your boyfriend."

"Ben doesn't need to know, he'll just say the same thing as you guys, that I need to sleep. I'm sure my eyes looks terrible." Rose sounded irritated.

"He's your boyfriend and he cares about you. Why can't I tell him? I mean, if he comes up you won't be alone all day."

"I'm not alone, I've got Malfoy to keep from hurting himself again. And I don't need to see Ben everyday, we're not as close as you and Al. I need my space sometimes, you know?."

"When was the last time you saw Ben?"

"Saw him? Or speak to him? Because I saw him as I went to get Malfoy, and he spoke to me from across the hall, but I didn't answer."

Lunette rolled her eyes. "Rose Minerva, when was the last time you had a conversation with your boyfriend?"

Rose shrugged. "Two days ago, maybe. I've been swamped with homework and he's been busy with quidditch-"

"Was the conversation a good one?"

"Oh, yeah, it was. He was asking what I was up to over the holidays and I said that I spent the whole time with just my family and-"

Lunette slapped her palm to her forehead in mock dispare for her friend. "He was asking if you wanted to meet up with him over the holidays!"

"What? No he wasn't-"

"Yes he was, he was just being subtle about it because he wanted to see if you wanted to meet up."

Rose groaned, "Shit, I should've picked up on that. I finally date a decent guy and I treat him like crap."

Lunette laughed. "You're not that bad, just compare yourself to how your ex boyfriends treated you, and believe me, you'll feel a lot better about yourself. I'll see you in a bit."

Scorpius hadn't realised that he had fallen asleep, until he woke up around dinner time. He looked at Rose's clock beside the bed and heard his stomach growl. It was snowing again, Scorpius could see it through the crack in the curtains, he could hear the wind howling through the dark sky. He thought about the holidays, everyone would be getting the train home in the morning, and Scorpius was meant to be on that train. But whether or not he was, depended on how quickly bruise removal paste worked. He knew that he slept through Lunette and Albus returning with the claiming drafts, Pepperup Potion and paste that they promised to get, little bottles and and viles sat on the windowsill. Yet the sound of irritated voices drifted up the stairs again, which made Scorpius wonder who on earth was in the common room.

"I just came to check on you." Ben tried to sound sweet.

"I don't need checking on, I'm fine." Rose said through gritted teeth.

"I know that, but the rumour was that Malfoy is ill and your taking care of him. Which is ridiculous, right? I mean why would you take care of someone you hate?" Ben tone turned more accusational.

"I'm not taking care of him, Malfoy is a big boy, he can take care of himself." Rose snapped. "And I don't like my boyfriend being so distrustful of me-"

"Not distrustful!" Ben put his hands up in defense. "I trust you, I don't trust Malfoy, what if he tries something with you?"

"He hates me!" Rose let her temper go. "He's not going to try anything! And even if he did, ill or not, he would find himself thrown across the room with green hair sprouting all over his skin and slugs pouring out of his mouth!"

"Alright, alright, I get it." Ben calmed down and sat on the sofa. "I don't feel like we've seen each other for a while."

Rose sighed and sat beside him. "I know, I know. It's probably my fault, keeping myself busy and all that." she turned to him and kissed his cheek. "Look, why don't we meet up at some point over the holidays, I should've said earlier but-" Rose shrugged. "I don't know, my head is all over the place."

Ben tipped her chin up and kissed her. "It's alright, I'll leave you alone for now, I think we both need a little space. I need to pack as well. I'll write to you when I get home, I need to ask my parents what their plans are for the holidays, I don't want to have to cancel on you because I forgot family stuff." Ben stood and went to the door. "But I'm holding you to this date, and after the holidays, we really need to start making more of an effort to be together."

Rose kissed Ben's cheek one more time before he left, and smiled as he walked down the hall whistling to himself. She was exhausted, Rose caught sight of her reflection in the windows, the bags under her eyes had grown phenomenally. She looked so tired and stressed. She was so tired and stressed.

Scorpius hobbling down her stairs, his pain not very well hidden, caught Rose's attention.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry and I should really start packing if I'm going home tomorrow." Scorpius grumbled.

"I've already packed for you."

"You- what?"

"Yeah, you were dead to the world. So I went in your room, shoved everything I could find into a trunk, brought it down here and Lunette and Al helped me pack it neatly for you." Rose said bluntly.

The sudden urge to hug Rose, was fought valiantly in Scorpius's mind. So he just blinked.

"And I put the fire on in your room so that you can sleep in there tonight." Rose continued. "And we've missed dinner, but I'm going to sneak down to the kitchens in a minute to get some food."

"Why are you taking care of me?"

Rose shrugged. "Don't be mistaken, I still hate you and I don't pity you either. But there's no one else that can help, so it's up me to ignore my urge to shout at you every five seconds, and just get on with it. And, I kind of get the feeling that you would to do the same if I was the one who was injured."

Scorpius slowly sat down. "Well, thanks." he mumbled, the bruise removal paste was beginning to work, he ached less and less by the minute.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Don't say thank you! It makes it seem like I'm being nice to you!"

Scorpius frowned. "But you are being nice to me."

"Well, I don't want to be!"

"You know what, I'm going to bed." Scorpius limped off to his own room, the pain from his bruises had dulled, bit his ankle gave him a sharp pain despite not being broken or sprained. The room was colder, just Rose had warned him, but it wasn't so bad. Everything felt empty and lonely and less personal, without Rose there.

Half an hour later, and Scorpius heard a loud knock on the door. Once he finally got himself out of bed and opened the door, Rose wasn't there, but she had left his dinner and a big bowl of custard. There was also a fishbowl with only a few inches of clear water in it and a red rose petal floating on top.

Before he ate, Scorpius inspected the fishbowl. It was an odd thing to leave on his doorstep. Just as he was about to get up and ask Rose about it, the petal began to fall through the water, almost to the bottom. But the petal stopped. And in one smooth motion, the rose petal transformed itself into a fish, which gave one curious look at Scorpius and then continued swimming around his bowl. Scorpius smiled at the fish. It was truly enchanting, the beautiful magic Rose could do. He picked up the fish bowl and placed it on his window sill. Hidden under his bed, Scorpius found Rose's old copy of Alice in Wonderland, and propped it up next to the fishbowl. In elegant printed script, the name Lewis Carroll, jumped out at him. Crouching down to watch the fish gracefully move about, Scorpius decided to name him Lewis.

"Lewis, that fits you, right?" Scorpius spoke to his new pet. The fish either ignored him or didn't understand that he was being spoken to. Scorpius decided that it was the latter that more likely to be true. It was a fish after all.

By the time Scorpius had woken up the next morning, Rose was already making her way to the train station in Hogsmeade. Scorpius saw her out of his window, walking beside Ben she looked happy. Scorpius figured that they must have had a better conversation since the one the day before. He double checked his packed trunk and made his way down to the entrance hall, where Albus and Lunette were waiting for him.

CHRISTMAS. POTTER'S HOUSE.

James had arrived late in the night, and so the whole Potter family had had barely any sleep. It was midday before anyone even bothered to get out of bed. But they had plans to meet up with the rest of the family at the Burrow. When Harry finally woke up, he gently shook Ginny and knocked on all of his children's bedroom doors.

He sighed, he was finally starting his holiday from work, but it would be over sooner than he knew it. Harry kept on going over the argument with Ginny, that had become quite frequent over the past month. Ginny knew that he needed some time off work, but Harry wasn't listening.

Harry trudged down the stairs and sat at the kitchen table. His headache just from thinking about all the paperwork mounting on his desk at the ministry. He finally noticed a fish bowl sitting right in front of him, a few inches of clear water filled it and the single petal from a lily floated. Suddenly, as if it knew Harry was watching, the petal began to sink. But just before it reached the bottom of the bowl, the petal turned into a fish. Harry's heart was full, he remembered his old professor Slughorn telling him the story of how his mother, Lily, had given the professor exactly the same gift.

"Ginny!" Harry called for her up stairs, he couldn't take his eyes off the bowl.

Ginny came rushing in thinking that something was wrong, seeing only a fishbowl on the table and Harry's excited smile, she sighed in relief.

"Ginny, did you do this?" Harry pointed to the little fish.

Ginny smiled at he husband's fascination with a fish. "No, must have been on of the kids."

"What have we done now?" Albus groaned as he entered the kitchen, Lily and James close on his heels. They noticed the fish bowl. "Since when do we have a fish?"

"Which one of you did this?" Harry asked them.

Lily put up her hand, timidly, unsure if she was in trouble or not. "I just wanted to try it, I wasn't sure if it would even work."

Before Lily had finished her sentence, she found her father's arms wrapped around her. He was smiling wider than they had seen for a while, they had gotten used to Harry being stressed 24/7.

"It's wonderful Lily, I've been told that my mother could do the same thing." Harry looked up, Ginny was so pleased to see him smiling again, after about a month of work wearing him down. Harry waved his arms as an invitation for the to all join in the family embrace. "I often forget how lucky I am to have a family like you. I love you, I hope you know that."

Ginny kissed his cheek once they had all let go. "Of course we know that."

"Who taught you to do that Lily?" James asked.

"Who do you think? Rose, she's brilliant. She said that dad might appreciate it"

"Francis, I think I'll name him Francis."

Lily laughed. "That's a weird name, but alright." She hugged her dad one more time. "I saw Rose making one the other day, she wouldn't tell me who it was for, but I asked her to show me how."

Albus frowned in confusion. "Why wouldn't she tell you who it was for?" Albus asked an hour later, after they had all eaten breakfast and he had the chance to drag Lily away from his parents earshot.

Lily shrugged. "I just guessed it was for Ben."

"But if it was for Ben, wouldn't she say so?"

"Who else would she give it to?" Lily had become just as suspicious as Albus.

"I'm not sure." Albus didn't say that he strongly suspected that Scorpius had been given a fish. He made a mental note to ask his friend when he next saw him, which would be Boxing Day. And Lunette would be interested to know, it she didn't know already.

"What are you two whispering about?" Harry walked into Albus and Lily, "Come on, we've got to go. Hermione will get at us for being late if we don't leave soon."

BOXING DAY, GRANGER-WEASLEY HOUSE

Rose stretched lazily on the sofa, her book laying limply in her hand. Ron and Hugo were in a highly intense and very competitive game of chess, and Hermione was writing a thank you letter to Neville for the wonderful blueish-purple flowered plant. It was an Aconite plant, which was where wolfsbane and monkshood came from, essential for potion making.

Hermione sighed, "I know I've said this quite a few times today, but do be careful not to touch, or even go near, the Aconite plant. Neville did warn us that the leaves are toxic. He'll never forgive himself if one of us gets hurt."

"Kind of a dangerous present for him, that's not like Neville." Ron mumbled.

"Oh, of course it is. It's a useful plant, we might need to make some-"

"Wolfsbane potion." Rose filled in for her mother, then smiled at her surprise at being beaten to the point.

Hermione frowned, not at Rose, but at the mention of the potion. "Yes, well, let's hope not."

Ron and Hugo looked up with dumb expressions.

"Ok, let's pretend for a second, that all of us know what Wolfsbane potion is and how it has anything to do with some plant with toxic leaves." Hugo spoke up in a sarcastic tone. "Nope," he shook his head. "I can't even pretend to know. Do you, Dad?"

Ron shrugged. "Hey, I'm not the one still at school here, you are."

Rose laughed and accioed her third year potions book. Once it was in her hand, she tossed it to Hugo. "Here, read a book for once in your life."

"It's not fair that she gets to use magic outside of school and I don't." Hugo huffed.

Rose shrugged. "I am older than you." she said smugly.

"Rosie, be nice." Hermione absently warned without looking up from her letter.

Hugo stuck his tongue out at Rose, something which Hermione didn't see, but could guess what he was doing.

"And Hugo, don't make me freeze your tongue where it is. They're meant to stay inside your head, let's keep it that way."

"Rosie!" Ron spoke up with a warning tone, "I know your mum said it, but don't you dare freeze your brother's tongue." He raised his eyebrows at his daughter whose wand had only moved an inch before he knew what she had wanted to do.

Rose sighed. "Fine." She grinned cheekily at Ron, and then they all went back to their lazy evening activities.

They were interrupted by a cough from the kitchen. The family suddenly sat up and looked at one another, everyone that was meant to be in the house at 9pm, was sitting in the living room. They dashed to the door and saw that there was nothing to fear, but much to be confused about.

"Lunette?!" Rose ran to her friend who was dusting ash and soot off of her after a not so pleasant ride through the floo network.

When Lunette looked up at the family, they could see that she had been crying and was on the verge of doing it again. Rose took her into the living room, while Ron started making tea and Hermione brought her a damp cloth to get rid of the remaining soot, and a tissue to dry her eyes.

"Lunette, what's wrong?"

Lunette faked a smile, it was not a convincing one, her voice wobbled as she spoke. "What? Can't I visit my best friend?"

"Of course you can, but you don't normally turn up in the evening of Boxing day, while crying."

Tears burst from Lunette once again, her harsh sobs prompted Rose's family to stay out of the way in the kitchen while Rose hugged her best friend. She felt exceedingly uncomfortable and awkward. Rose was never good when someone started crying, and she rarely hugged anyone. But she knew that her own discomfort didn't matter, not as long as her friend was in distress.

The tears stopped falling heavily after a few minutes, and Rose was able to talk to Lunette again.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Lunette sniffed and took a deep breath. "My grandparents surprised us with a visit."

"Oh no," Rose muttered, knowing how difficult Lunette found her grandparents and the way they treated her and her family.

Lunette continued, a tone of bitterness and anger came through her wobbly voice, something which Rose had rarely heard from her. "My mother told them about Albus, you should've heard her, the way she talked about him. I didn't know that she didn't like Albus until a few hours ago. And then, because mother only shows how she really feels through manipulation and passive aggressive comments, she let my grandparents shout at me. I was forbidden to date him! Forbidden! As if we were back in the Middle Ages and I'm the property of my family who choose what I do and who I see." Lunette's bottom lip trembled, "My father left the room for a moment, and my grandmother was about to hit me, but he came back. He told them to get out, but they wouldn't and so my father tried to pull me away from them, but my grandfather shouted at him. My father was so angry-" Lunette started sobbing again.

Rose held Lunette tighter, wishing that she could ease the pain somehow. Or at least hex Lunette's family into the oblivion without consequences.

"Rose my father left!" Luentte squeaked.

"Oh, Lunette." Rose's heart ached for her friend, she didn't know what to do. All she knew was to hold her and not let her go.

"He took one pitiful look at me, and stormed out, saying that he couldn't be part of the family if my grandparents were going to act this way. My mother was shocked, my grandfather didn't care and my grandmother started ranting about how she had always thought him a weak and pathetic man. By then I had had enough, I left without saying a word. I know an old witch up the road, she let me use her floo network. I can't go to Albus with this, he's at Scorpius's anyway. And I can't burden him with my family, they're my problem not his." Lunette sniffed, then clung on to Rose. "I don't know what to do now."

Rose took a deep breath. "Are you going back home?"

Lunette's watery eyes looked up at her best friend. "I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. I shouldn't have presumed-"

"Lunette," Rose hushed and reassured her. "I just wanted to know if you were planning on going back tonight. If you were, I would have advised against it. Of course you're staying here. As long as you need. Our home is your home." She looked passed the tears and saw that Lunette was exhausted. "I think, for now, you should get some sleep. Then in the morning, hopefully we'll have clearer heads and more information on your dad. Maybe it was a misunderstanding."

"Maybe." Lunette mumbled. "But he never got along with my mother's family, they didn't like him and that was the main reason he started looking for a job in England. To get away from them. I've seen him burn letters so I wouldn't be hurt by them, and speak to my mother about moving house. I think he would go back to America, if I weren't so happy at Hogwarts." She finished with a yawn.

Rose led the way to her bedroom, gave Lunette a spare pair of pyjamas and remade her bed with cleaner sheets. Ron helped by levitating a mattress down from the attic, for Rose to sleep on the floor. While Hermione wrote a letter to the Potters, explaining what happened. And Hugo made them all mugs of hot chocolate before bed.

Lunette fell asleep almost instantly, and that was no surprise. She had had a sudden shock, an emotionally draining day. But Rose stayed awake all night, wondering what on earth she could do or say to help her friend. She made a mental list of what she knew she could do: give her a safe place to stay while she needed it; provide clothes; let her cry without judgement, she was in for a frustrating and emotional time; and give her time. That was it, she wasn't sure if it was just tiredness, but Rose couldn't think of anything else.

At 3am, there was a small knock on Rose's bedroom door. She threw on her dressing gown and quietly answered. It was Hugo. And he looked like he wanted to talk. She nodded with understanding and they snuck down to the living room and sat opposite each other.

"What can we do Rose? I know she's your friend, but I want to help too. I feel so useless." Hugo chewed his lip. "I mean, she's Al's girlfriend and your best friend, she's practically part of the family."

Rose stared at him, mouth open as if she started to say something but stopped. It took her awhile, but she finally answered. "I'll do anything she needs or asks for, but other than that, I don't know. We can't fix this, it's between Lunette and her family, we can't get involved."

"Stay at the sidelines and support her?"

"I think that's all we can do."

"Give her time Rose, let's give her time." Hugo sighed. "Has her dad actually left them?"

"Lunette seems to think so, she knows him better than we do."

"If there's anything I can do, please tell me." Hugo pleaded, Rose could see the innocence and goodness in him. It made her proud to be his big sister.

The next morning, Lunette woke up late and joined the Granger-Weasley family for breakfast. They were all quiet.

"You don't have to tiptoe around me." Lunette spoke up. "I appreciate everything you've done, and I think I can find a place to stay-"

Before Rose could argue, Ron spoke up.

"You're staying here Lunette, you're really no trouble at all and we rather like you."

Hermione smiled. "You've been a good friend to our Rosie, the least we can do is help when you need it."

"Thank you." Lunette tried to smile, Rose could see her trying to not cry.

Rose stood and hugged her friend again, that was all it took for Lunette to cry once again.

"He didn't really leave? Did he?" Lunette muttered through sobs, she didn't want to believe it. "He loves me, and I thought that he loved my mother. Look at your parents Rose, they obvious still love each other. And I thought my parents loved each other too, but the look on my father's face, when my mother wouldn't stand up for me, when I couldn't stand up for myself- he- he wouldn't leave us, would he?"

Hermione placed a gentle hand on Lunette's shoulder. "I don't know, but, if you want, Harry and I are his bosses, we could try and find him. Ask for his side of what happened, and then maybe it would give you more information."

Lunette sniffed. "You would do that?"

"Only if you want me to, if not, I can stay out of it." Hermione smiled.

"Thank you," Lunette sighed with relief. "I'd like to know where he is and what he is doing. And if he's ok."

Rose let go of Lunette and the two of them went back to her room, they sat on the bed and stared out the window.

Lunette was in a melancholy mood, her hair had turned the colour of soot and her eyes were so dark, they were almost black. Even her skin had turned a dull grey. She didn't look like her usual self.

"The funny thing is," she startled Rose by speaking after an hour of silence, "I've thought about it before. You know, what if my father left us. I suppose, when I was young, I could see the love between my parents, but now I'm older, I think that whatever was there, is gone. I always assumed, that if my father left, he would take me. Or if my mother left, I would stay. Either way, I always thought my father would fight to keep me with him. I was wrong."

"You did say that, before he left, he tried to take you with him." Rose nudged.

"Yes, but he let go and left."

"Doesn't that prove that you weren't completely wrong. His first instinct was to take you."

Lunette flopped on the bed and laid her head on Rose's knees. "I don't know what I would do without your friendship Rose."

Rose smiled. "You'd probably have better fitting clothes."

Lunette managed to laugh, the clothes she had borrowed from Rose were quite baggy. That was partly because Lunette was so slim, and partly because Rose liked her clothes baggy.

"I'd do anything for you, and I know you would do anything for me." Rose stifled a yawn, the lack of sleep trying to catch up with her.

By 10am, Albus had turned up and he and Lunette were sitting outside, holding one another. Lunette sniffed and stopped crying completely in his arms.

"I'm just going to get a tissue, my nose if runny." Lunette kissed Albus on the cheek before running inside.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and someone had apparated to Rose's back garden, just in front of Albus.

"Scorp! What are you doing here? Uncle Ron and Rose and not going to be happy to see you." Albus stood in surprise.

"I know, but right now I don't care how much they hate me. Lunette is one of my best friends and I want to help her if I can." Scorpius seemed out of breath in his panic.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?!" Rose ran out of her house, her irritation levels rising at the sight of him.

"I'm here to help Lunette."

"Scorp!" Lunette tried to smile at him as she followed Rose out of the house. She took him by surprise with a hug.

"Is there anything you need me to do?"

Lunette looked up at him, a sneaky gleam in her eye. "Actually," she took a deep breath, "Your family have quite a few connections, don't they?"

"Umm, I guess."

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything about your family, but I need you to do some quiet snooping around. Only if you feel comfortable with it! If not, I guess it doesn't matter."

"I would do anything for one of my friends." He couldn't help but let his eyes wander to Rose, she had a dark expression, he knew that by turning up at her house he had crossed her barrier, but they both cared too much about Lunette to argue.

"I would've asked Rose or Albus's parents, but if they start looking into it, people will notice. But with your family- no offense-"

"It's fine, really." Scorpius smiled reassuringly. "What do you need me to find out?"

"How my grandparents found out where we live. We never moved house since coming to England, and they have visited before. But my father set up enchantments to protect us from intruders, and scrambled our address so only people we want to visit can know where we are. Not even my mother should have been able to tell them our address."

Scorpius nodded. "I'm on it. If I have to get my parents involved to help-"

"That's fine, I trust your parents."

"Ok, I'll be back as soon as I have something. Al, take care of her mate. And Weasley, you're a good friend." He apparted on the spot before Rose fully took on what he had said.

Despite herself, Rose's ears turned red and she hide them quickly with her bushy hair. Lunette had seen. Having calmed down from the shock of what had happened, she couldn't help but feel a little hopeful that Rose and Scorpius would get along someday.

The rest of the day was spent in anxiety. While Ron helped Hermione make enquiries to some of her employees, Albus, Rose and Hugo tried to cheer up Lunette.

"We could try ride our brooms for a while." Rose suggested, but one look outside and the sky look as though it threatened to snow at any point.

"Chess?" Hugo suggested next, but his only reply was unamused expressions from his cousins.

"What do you want to do?" Albus asked Lunette.

Lunette, who had been pacing in the living room, suddenly sat down in a huff on the sofa. "I want to talk to my father. But that might take a while to come about."

Albus sighed and placed a gently hand on her cheek. "Why don't you try taking a nap? I know Rose said that you fell asleep quickly last night, but yesterday is still fresh in your mind and stressing you out. You've exhausted your emotions and you're very stressed."

Lunette chewed her lip for a while and then hugged Albus, "That's a good plan." Lunette slumped off to Rose's bedroom, Rose hot on her heels.

"Hey, before you go to sleep, I had an idea that might help. I found a notebook that I thought you might want to use to write down your thoughts. Like a diary of sorts. I know that emotions and stuff are running wild in your mind right now, so putting them down somewhere, organised and in one place, might help you try to make sense of things. And then, if you want, we can burn the notebook. Which would be fun and get rid of the risk that anyone would read it."

Rose watched her friend begin to tear up once again.

"Thank you." Lunette took the book and put it under her pillow. "You're so thoughtful and nice, and I'm so tired and stressed that I'm just overwhelmed, by everything."

"I'll wake you up if there are any developments." Rose smiled and left her friend alone.

Lunette slept almost all day, she didn't hear Hermione and Ron running in and out of the house, following up tips and leads. Nor did she hear Hugo and Rose setting up a camping bed in Hugo's room for Albus to spend the night. They had all agreed, much to Albus's relief, that Lunette would want him there.

Dinner was almost ready by the time there was an urgent knock on the door. This woke Lunette up straight away and she ran downstairs in Rose's pyjamas and dressing gown that was too baggy. She hadn't realised how hungry she was until she could smell the Christmas food leftovers being reheated in a frying pan, Bubble and Squeak was for dinner that night. By the time Lunette reached the back door, the visitor had been welcomed in by Hugo.

Rose and Albus emerged from the living room and took their places beside Lunette. Both feeling apprehensive as to what might take place.

"Lunette!" Mr Tinker called out to her with a smile on his face. "Oh, my girl, I was so worried about you."

He held out his arms, but dropped them hopelessly soon enough. Rose, who had not met Mr Tinker before, could really hear his American accent coming through. He had a face that showed he had once been handsome but years of overworking himself had taken its toll. But the way he held himself had the same positive and observant manner as Lunette. Mr Tinker's hair was bright purple, only a dulling grey around the edges. He had gotten used to his metamorphmagus powers, so his emotions didn't get carried away with his appearance changing. Unlike Lunette who had tried so hard to suppress it when she was young. While she could change at will, that was not very often and her skin and hair, in particular, often reacted to her feelings.

Lunette took a step forward, as if she was about to run to him. But she stopped. Her limbs shaking and a weak smile fading too fast. The other occupants of the room left, but Lunette grabbed hold of Rose and Albus's arms. They nodded to one another and stayed by Lunette's side.

"What happened?" Lunette dived in head first. Her tone was harsh.

Mr Tinker's smile dropped. "Lunette, I know it's hard to hear, but you grandparents aren't the best of people-"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" she frowned. "I'm not a child, stop treating me like one. I came to realise that they weren't good influences, years before we left France. To be honest, I wondered why we stayed there for so long. Moving to England seems to be the only good decisions you've made for this family, so far. And now you're just up and leaving? Knowing full well that by doing that, you're leaving me with people who, despite blood relation, don't care about my happiness or well being. Just as long as they get what they want."

"You mom loves you, you know that?"

"Yes," Lunette softened, "no- I don't know anymore. I always thought if you ever left that you would take me with you."

Guilt trickled into Mr Tinker's expression. "You've thought about me leaving before?"

Lunette gulped and nodded. "You shouldn't stay with mum just for my sake. Like I said, I'm not a child anymore. And when I was a child, I saw more than you realised."

"It's a lot more complicated than that-"

"Mum had an affair, years ago. I was thirteen and I heard you arguing about it. I also heard you arguing about her second affair on Christmas Eve." Lunette's loose thoughts that had collected over the years, finally presented themselves with exactly what she wanted to say. "You have never got along with your in-laws. They used to send us angry letters, just filled with insults, so you burned them to protect me, but I saw them anyway. I know that you always work overtime when they come and visit so that you don't have to seem them, and then when you are home, you're too tired to talk so you go to bed early. I know that you and mum stopped celebrating your wedding anniversaries about ten years ago. What happened there? Did you decide that your marriage wasn't happy, over a decade ago? Did you fall out of love? Is it my fault you've been stuck with a woman you don't love?"

Rose shot a glance at Albus that asked 'Did you know about this?'. He understood his cousin and gave a small nod in reply.

Mr Tinker sighed and felt his daughter's pain. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head in dismay. "I didn't know that you picked up on so much."

"I may not be the smartest person, I may not get consistent high grades, I may look like a stereotypical dumb blonde, and barely anyone gets to know me beyond my looks, but I know the people I care about."

He looked up. "Would you hate me if I got a divorce?"

"Only if you didn't fight for me. I may almost be eighteen, but-"

"I didn't want to leave you, but you're right, you're not a child." He stood up straighter, a determined gleam in his eye. "I wanted you to want to stay with your old father." he choked down tears as he watched his daughter, her maturity sinking in for the first time. His baby girl had grown up. "It was time I let you decide for yourself. And maybe it's not fair to leave you to decide between two parents, but it doesn't mean that you would never see your mom again. But you might never see your grandparents again."

Lunette nodded and ran to hug him. Just then, they were interrupted by another hurried knock on the door. Rose opened it to see Scorpius. She glared at him but said nothing, she opened the door wider to let him in. He only nodded at her. He stopped himself from fully staring at Rose, pushed past Mr tinker as if he wasn't there, and spoke directly to Lunette.

"I found something, or at least my mum did. I have to say, this didn't take as long as I thought it would and it's opened my eyes to some stuff in my house that I've been trying to ignore." Scorpius took a deep breath before continuing. "We found a specific sketchy man, he dabbles in selling dark magic objects, he travels around Europe. Mostly France, England and Ireland. Now, while he can't be trusted, he does have a very nice elderly aunt who is a lovely woman, who lives near you. The man got himself a temporary job at the Daily Prophet owlery and found your father's name on the subscription list. He stayed at his aunt's house and-"

"Damn, the young man who came to our door two weeks ago!" Mr Tinker spoke up. "He came with Mrs Jingchu from up the road, to give us our copy of the Daily Prophet, which somehow they ended up with."

"But Mr Tinker, the owls used by the newpaper never go to the wrong house. Otherwise someone would have to pay for a newspaper they didn't want and a customer wouldn't get theirs." Scorpius explained.

"If the owls were wrong, who knows how many muggles would accidentally end up with our newspapers and letters. It would be a disaster, it would breach the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy." Rose joined in.

"The newspaper would have been shut down years ago." Scorpius finished and Rose nodded.

Rose smiled at Lunette and left out the back door into the garden, no one knew why but they just let her go.

"Thank you. It's Malfoy, isn't it?"

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. "Scorpius, I'm Scorpius." He looked around them awkwardly for a moment, before giving Lunette a friendly squeeze on the shoulder. "I'll see you at school, unless there's anything else you want me to do, then don't hesitate to send an owl. I should get going."

Rose sighed and leant against the wall. Having Scorpius in her house was making her uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure if that was because she hated him, or because she didn't want to hate him anymore. She remembered the old days, when they were friends, and Rose would defend her friendship against her dad's remarks. But the days came where she found herself agreeing with him, but hating herself for it. 'Would it be easier on Lunette and Al if we were just friends again?' Rose thought to herself, but didn't answer. She knew the answer. She just didn't like it.

When Scorpius walked out the back door, a sudden sharp pain returned to his ankle, it had kept on coming back since his fight with Parkinson. Ignoring the pain and pushing through, refusing to limp, he was about to apparate, when he noticed Rose standing on her own. She looked as tired as Lunette did, at least he knew that Lunette was sleeping at night, it was just stress getting to her. But he could imagine Rose simply stayed up all night. He was right.

"Weasley," He called out to her.

She looked up in surprise to see Scorpius addressing her.

"Get some sleep," concern for her seeped through his voice and across his expression. "Please get some sleep." Scorpius could no longer deny to himself how much he cared for her. He apparated back home.

Rose was left, mouth gaping open slightly, staring at the spot where Scorpius had been. Her hands involuntarily twitched as thoughts of Scorpius being kind flooded her mind. It had happened too often for her to ignore. She tried to make herself think of Ben, but she didn't want to remember that she had a boyfriend. Her subconscious was trying to reach some untouched feelings for Scorpius, but Rose was stubborn. She could out-stubborn her own mind any day.

Luckily Rose was saved from her own thoughts as Mr Tinker left and Hugo called her inside for dinner. Albus was to go back home, so they would have to put the camp bed away, and he would visit the next day. Lunette was to stay until her father could find a place for them to live while he sorted out his marriage. And Rose told herself that sleep was absolutely a non negotiable thing for that night, despite part of her wanting to reject anything Scorpius said.

JANUARY

School starting came too quickly for Lunette. Her parents had just began to negotiate a divorce, when it came time to pack her stuff for school. Since Boxing Day, Lunette had spent all her time at Rose's house with Albus visiting most days. When The day finally came for them all to all to get back on the Hogwarts express, Lunette was rather quiet but she felt lucky to be surrounded by Albus, Lily and Hugo.

Rose and Scorpius where working with some of the prefects to keep the corridors clear. Halfway through the journey, Ben Rome poked his head into the compartment that Albus and Lunette were in.

"Hey Lunette and um-" his voice trailed off, not remembering the names of Rose's cousins and brother. He felt bad, and made a metal note to get to know them better.

"Hi Rome." Albus answered, Lunette was staring out the window. "What can we do for you?"

"I was just wondering where Rose was, I haven't seen or spoken to her all holiday and I don't know if I'm annoyed or worried,"

Albus looked at Lunette and held her hand, "Rose has just been a bit busy with family matters. She should be walking around or in the prefect compartment, if you want to ask her yourself."

As soon as Ben left, Lunette suddenly stood in panic.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked.

"He's going to ask Rose why she didn't talk to him, it's all my fault and my stupid parents divorce. I don't want her to tell him." Lunette looked as anxious as she felt.

"I'm sure she won't. This is Rose we're talking about, she still won't tell me the secret a girl from our muggle primary school told her when we were ten." Albus scoffed. He watched Lunette leave, knowing that she would come to her senses in a minute and return to the compartment.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "You do realise that she's probably forgotten what the secret was by now."

"That doesn't matter, it's the principle. I was supposed to be her best friend and yet she didn't tell me." Albus tried to look put out but couldn't pull it off.

"You're such a child." Lilly mumbled.

"Says the fifteen year old who still gets in a huff everytime James gets a new girlfriend." Albus snapped back. He happened to notice Hugo grinning at both of them. "What makes you so happy?"

Hugo chuckled, "I'm glad me and Rose aren't the only ones who have petty arguments over nothing."

"Shut up Hugo, it's your turn." Lilly sighed as they went back to their game of exploding snap.

Rose was distracted, ticking the names of prefects off her list and crossing out those who were already at Hogwarts, when a voice popped up behind her and she spun around.

"Umm hi Rose."

"Ben!" she said cheerfully. But her mind was racing, 'why am I not genuinely happy to see him?'. Ignoring her feelings, or lack of, she put down her quill, balancing it on her clipboard, and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "How was your holiday break?"

"Oh, fine," Ben talked to the top of her head as Rose dropped her quill was searching for it on the floor. "But my girlfriend didn't speak to me, not even once. so that sucked." he muttered bitterly.

Rose snapped up suddenly, the quill grasped tightly in her hand, and a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry, I meant- it's just-"

Ben rolled his eyes. "And here comes the excuse."

Rose grit her teeth and told herself not the retort viciously, though she would have if it were anybody else.

Ben shrugged "Did you forget you even had a boyfriend?"

Rose took a deep breath. "Ben, stop it. I know you're mad but this isn't you." she gave him a piercing warning look. "I was busy, and I think I started a letter or two but never finished or sent them. Something happened with-" she spotted Lunette out of the corner of her eye. "Someone in my family had an emergency, and when it comes to family, we all kind of drop everything to help them."

"Family emergency? Is that your way of telling me that I can't know the details."

"Ben," Rose's shoulder slumped and she sighed "what happened was very personal to the member of my family and if they want to tell people what happened, then that's up to them. But I'm not going to be the one who spreads it around school."

"Ok, fine. I can take that answer." he could tell her much she wanted him to believe her and drop the subject. He smiled at her "Just promise me you won't ditch and ignore me again."

Rose kissed him on the cheek again. "I promise." she looked over his shoulder again and noticed something "Umm,"

"What?" he asked flatly, knowing he was about to be disappointed by her again.

"Can I break that promise just for today? Or can we postpone it until we get to school?"

"Why?"

"Head girl duties call." She pointed her quill towards two prefects that were arguing in front of a very scared looking first year.

"Fine." He spotted Scorpius watching them, he scowled at him and then kissed Rose properly. "I'll see you later then."

With Scorpius unnoticed to her left, Lunette quietly standing to her right and the prefects arguing in front of her, Rose decided to deal with her head girl duties first. She knew that Lunette must have heard what was said and so wouldn't need to have a quiet word with her.

Scorpius nodded to Lunette and she stepped around Rose telling the students off to join him further up the corridor.

"Have you got head boy duties too?" Lunette asked.

Scorpius looked at Rose getting more and more irritated with the students and making notes one her parchment.

"Yeah," he grumbled, "I can't let her get all the credit." He smiled at Rose in a way that caught Lunette's attention.

"What was that smile?" she asked suspiciously

"What smile?" Scorpius schooled his expression quickly enough to pretend innocent.

Lunette was still suspicious and narrowed her brows. "I don't know, but this conversation isn't over."

Scorpius laughed and left her with a sarcastic tone before he went back to the prefect compartment. "Yes mum." The pain started in his ankle once again, seeing that Lunette was no longer in the corridor, Scorpius limped and it hurt a lot less.

What did didn't know was that Rose watched him struggle in pain. Deep concern began to settle in as she decided to keep a careful eye on him.

As soon as they reached the school, Scorpius disappeared up to his room, while Rose tried to make up for lost time with Ben in the Gryffindor common and Albus and Lunette visited Hugo and Lily there too.

By the time it was dinner, Scorpius was already sitting at the Slytherin table, waiting for Al to sit next to him in the space reserved. He was reading a book when Albus plonked beside him. After seven years being his friend and his whole life spent with Rose close to him, Albus was used to being partially ignored by a bookworm. He cleared his throat but Scorpius just handed him a peppermint sweet without lifting his eyes from the page. Curiosity got the best of him, and Albus bent his head down to read the title of the book.

He groaned in such an irritated way that it made Scorpius look up and put his book down.

Albus rolled his eyes and continued to moan. "What are you doing? Why are you reading a textbook? We're still technically in our holidays."

"We're not in our holidays, classes start again tomorrow. Besides, Weasley got a better mark than me in magical creatures essay, I've been a bit distracted ever since my fight with Parkinson, and now I want to catch up and beat her in something." Scorpius shrugged and neatly placed his textbook on his lap.

Albus laughed and rolled his eyes again. "You're such a nerd! Just my luck, I grew up with the ultimate bookworm, then we get to hogwarts and we meet her match."

Lunette waved to them, Albus waved back and she joined them quickly at the Slytherin table. Albus continued talking once she wedged herself between him and the third year beside him.

"Why do you two pretend to hate each other?" Albus asked Scorpius, while watching Rose trying to smile around Ben. But he knew his cousin's fake smiles, even the ones that convinced everyone else.

"We do hate each other." Scorpius said with another shrug.

Albus raised his hands in mock defense. "Fine, if you want to live in denial-"

Lunette knew exactly who they were talking about and jumped right into the conversation. "No, they have to accept it sooner or later. Scorpius, there is no way you hate Rose Granger Weasley, in fact, I think it's the exact opposite!" She kept her voice down so that the noisy students around them didn't hear, luckily they were sitting at the end so not too many were around to eavesdrop.

"Think what you like, I know she hates me just as much as I hate her-"

"So not at all." Lunette interrupted.

Scorpius couldn't help but let the tiny delight reach his eyes when Lunette said this, but he hid it quickly enough. He knew that she couldn't be correct. "You know what, it's you two that are delusional. I'm going to bed."

Lunette smirked. "To be near Rose?" She had seen her friend leave just moments before Scorpius had decided to leave, but neither he nor Albus had seen her.

Albus shuffled uncomfortably. "Lunette, that's my cousin. Can you not-"

"Oh grow up." She lightly hit his arm. "What do you think they get up to, all alone, somewhere that nobody else goes-"

"Lunette! Stop it."

Lunette rolled her eyes then turned to Scorpius, who was now standing, his book under one arm. "Fine, you're lucky Albus was here. Otherwise…"

"Thanks Al." he nodded.

"Whatever." Albus mumbled, crossing his arms. "But do you really hate her? I don't think you do. I mean, I know that you're both stubborn, but I never believed you could be so stubborn as to disrupt your friendship for about four years. That's got to be some sort of world record right?"

"It's all just smoke and mirrors." Lunette smiled smugly, "Look at you Scorp, you're getting anxious just talking about not hating her and-"

"Fine then!" Scorpius slammed his book on the table and sat opposite them again in a huff, he leaned in closely so no one else could hear. "You want to know the truth? I think you're right! and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't hate her, I really don't. I don't think I ever hated her and I don't think I ever will. And you can stopping grinning like idiots, I don't think my feelings go past wanting be her friend again, but- ok I miss her alright, we were all good friends until fourth year and I miss that. She's a good person, smart, funny, feisty and I wish I hadn't thrown it all away just because I overreacted out of jealousy. But there's nothing I can do, she's got Ben. You said it yourself Lunette, he's a good guy for her, they match." Scorpius then walked away, sharply and quickly, the usual instant regret washing over him as soon as someone is open to another person.

Scorpius's torment was obvious, so Albus and Lunette let him go without another word.

"Herr, wirf Hirn vom Himmel! oder Steine, Hauptsache er trifft." Lunette grumbled.

"Wait, that wasn't French. Do you speak German as well?" Albus looked at her in amazement.

"Only a few words. I knew someone who went to Durmstrang and he picked up some German there and taught me some."

Albus grinned and wrapped an arm around her, "You're amazing."

Albus and Lunette shared a soft kiss, just as someone, whom they tried to ignore, commented loudly.

"Ugh, she could do so much better than him. She's hot and he's just riding the coattails of his famous father."

As the couple walked to the Hufflepuff common room, hand in hand, in comfortable silence, Lunette suddenly stopped and pulled him aside.

She kept hold of his hands and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "You know that you're so much more than that." she spoke with concern.

"More than what?" Albus was confused.

"You're more than just the son of the famous Harry Potter. And you're not 'riding on his coattails' or whatever that person said. You're wonderful and kind and sweet, in your own awkward way. And that's what I lo- I really like about you. You're not trying to be like your dad, you're just being yourself. You never asked for the attention your family attracts, I know your dad never wanted that either."

Albus smiled at her, his heart filled with everlasting emotions yet he was so young. "And you're more than hot. You don't deserve to be boiled down to one word describing only your appearance."

Lunette smiled shyly. "Oh yeah, what am I then?" She knew she was beautiful, she had always been told so, she had the confidence to love her body as many people do not, and beauty was in her genes as part Veela. But what she loved about Albus was that he was one of the few that saw her for much more than that.

"Well you're a brilliant friend, you're the fiercely loyal that you often see in Hufflepuffs. I'm serious about the fierce bit, I don't think anyone would survive if they crossed one of your friends. I feel sorry for the poor sod who would dare to come between you and Rose, between her hexes, your feisty bravery and Scorp's uncontrollable protectiveness of Rose, they wouldn't survive a second." Albus sighed. "You're intelligent, so intelligent. You're uncommonly kind. And you're stronger than you realise."

In the head common room, Rose lunged herself onto a sofa and sighed before opening her book, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Scorpius had finished improving his notes on Romanian Longhorn dragons, a magical creature that Rose was an almost expert on, and then went down the winding steps to the common room. He saw Rose looking quite relaxed and he smiled, not hating her was one of the nicest things he had ever done to his heart and his head. Deciding that any conversation he tried to have would only result in argument, Scorpius went to his room to fetch a book and quietly sat opposite her.

Three hours of perfect silence, except for the rustle of pages being turned. Outside was pitch black. Rose yawned and stretched, she put her book down and then jumped at the sight of Scorpius. She had been so engrossed that she hadn't realised he was there.

"Shit! Malfoy! How long have you been down here?" Rose tripped over the low table while not paying attention but quickly got herself off of the floor to send him an unamused look.

Scorpius shrugged and slowly closed his book. "What's wrong? We were both being quiet, it was actually nice to come down here and having a few hours of not arguing."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed." She grumbled and began to trudge off.

"Wait, you forgot your book." Scorpius got up and passed it to her, but not without looking at the title. "The Westing Game is it any good? I think I've heard of it."

"I've only just started it, but yes it's good." Rose spoke slowly in her suspicion of the normal conversation.

"I'm reading East by Edith Pattou, this is my third time reading it I love it so much. Kind of a remake of the old Beauty and the Beast Fairytale, with Norwegian myths thrown in there." Scorpius mentally kicked himself, he was trying to have a normal conversation but it wasn't working out well, it felt forced and awkward.

"Umm, right." Rose took her book and turned again to leave.

"Oh, Weasley," Scorpius stopped her again and Rose very slowly turned around. He took at step forward and spoke in an almost whisper. "You've got an eyelash on your cheek."

Rose took a step back apprehensively.

Scorpius laughed. "I'm not going to hurt you, I was just going to get the eyelash off." Rose glared at him so he didn't move, once she had relaxed, Scorpius leaned forward again. "Here, let me," he picked it up very gently and held it up for her to see. "Make a wish."

"What?" Rose croaked, her ears had turned red, she hadn't been so close to Scorpius in a while, their arms almost touching. She found herself trying to avoid his greyish-blue eyes that she didn't want to notice how they made her feel warm whenever they glanced her way.

"It's a muggle thing, I think it's some sort of saying or folklore thing."

"I know, I do have muggle grandparents." Rose groaned.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows expectantly, it became apparent that he wasn't going to let Rose leave without making a wish.

Rose grit her teeth, "Fine, but this is stupid." She closed her eyes and blowed gently and the eyelash fell on the floor.

Scorpius watched her face, he saw her expression relax. He couldn't stop himself moving closer to her, he felt himself drawn to her, his mind racing with excuses to keep her near him. Once Rose opened her eyes, she looked up at him, she had noticed him staring. Scorpius flinched, he was expecting her to say something like 'wish didn't work, you're still here.' Rose would have been lying to herself if she didn't admit that the quick witted, but predictable, reply was the first thing that she was going to say. But something in the way Scorpius stared at her, stopped the words forming. She stared back for a moment, but her ears were burning and she knew that she had to get away before she did something spontaneous to surprise them both.

"What was your wish?" Scorpius asked.

Rose couldn't help but grin slyly. "I can't tell you , otherwise it wouldn't come true."

"I thought you said it was stupid." Scorpius smirked back.

"It is, but-" she began to answer, but couldn't think how to finish. Instead she burst out laughing, he was still so close to her.

"Something funny?" Scorpius frowned with a faint hint of a smile.

Rose managed to quiet herself enough to speak. "It's just, the quiet and reserved Scorpius Malfoy just became very serious with an eyelash wish." She started laughing again. "Does that not seem funny to you? And somehow ironic?"

Scorpius found himself smiling, even though he wasn't sure if he was being made fun of or not, it was just nice to have Rose laughing around him again.

Once she had finished her laugh, that was partly due to the awkwardness, Rose seemed to suddenly realise once again how close they were. She could see the small flecks of green in his eyes.

"Umm, I have to go." Rose felt flustered, though she did not know why. She started up the stairs but gave up after tripping, turned around quickly and exited the common room.

Scorpius found himself yet again watching Rose leave without a single word to stop her.

Rose found her legs taking her to the Gryffindor common room, she wondered if anyone would still be up. Though Ben was often awake planning the next quidditch tactics. She was right, after clambering through the fat lady portal, being extra careful not to trip, Ben looked up from his spot by the window.

"Rose! Hi, this is a nice surprise." Ben grinned and went to her. "Are you alright, you look a bit, I don't know, all over the place."

Rose forced a smile, "Yeah, sorry, my mind is- yeah." She sat down on the nearest sofa and he joined her. "I was going to see you earlier but I got carried away reading a book." She lied to make him feel as though she actually had meant to see him. "So what's the plan for the match against Ravenclaw in two weeks?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"We don't have to talk about quidditch if you don't want to." Ben smiled and held her hand.

Rose was faced away from him for a moment and frowned. She was confused and irritated by herself. While Scorpius had made her heart race just being being in close proximity, Ben holding her hand did not have the same effect. It wasn't that she was comfortable with Ben and uncomfortable with Scorpius, it was more like she felt obliged and out of place when being so close with Ben.

"My mind seems to be all over the place more often these days. More often than I'd like to admit to myself." Rose mumbled. She looked up at him then leant her head on the back of the sofa "Why do you like me? I'm a bit of a mess."

"You're not that much of a mess, and I'd like to think that as our relationship develops, you'll get used to someone liking you. Once you get used to it, maybe you won't feel like a mess." Ben lifted her head and kissed her. "And to answer your question, I like you because you're you. You feel what you feel, you do what you do and you don't have to fake anything. You get those people who pretend to be someone they're not just to impress everyone, you're nothing like that."

Rose shifted uncomfortably, he had no idea of the amount of fake smiles she had to force, "You're being romantic and mushy." she spotted his disappointed expression and added, "But kind of sweet at the same time, I guess."

"Yeah, well, I'll try so stop being a romantic boyfriend." Ben replied sarcastically. "I realised on the train today, that I don't really know your family very well. You and your cousin Albus are pretty close right?"

"Yep, we've been best friends since forever. And his girlfriend Lunette has become a best friend of mine."

"They're best friends with Malfoy as well though. That's gotta be tough."

"Yep." she nodded, 'tougher than anyone in this school could ever imagine' she thought but Rose kept her answer short, she didn't want to talk about Scorpius with her boyfriend, and she wasn't ready to open up to him, or anyone, about her feelings and her head not always agreeing on what Scorpius was to her. She decided to change the topic. "So how are things with McLaggen and his little group."

"Yeah they got bored of me pretty quickly. I'm actually getting along better with a group of sixth years."

"You'll have to introduce me to them some time."

"Yeah, when you have a spare moment." Ben moaned, they hadn't spent much time together in a long time. "You should meet my little brother as well."

"And you'll have to meet mine." Rose refused to feel guilty about not knowing about his brother, Ben didn't know her family either, only by reputation. And as the descendants of Weasleys and Potters, it was hard to avoid reputations. "What's his name?"

"Calvin, Calvin Rome. He's a third year and he's a twat"

"Oh Lysander is a third year. Lysander Scamander, his mum isn't related but she might as well be. Same goes for Professor Longbottom."

Ben scoffed and laughed, "What, do you call him uncle or something?"

Rose didn't like his mocking tone, she sat up and stared coldly at him. "Yes we do actually. Uncle Neville. My brother, Albus and his siblings, and I, have called him that since we could talk. Same goes for our Aunty Luna. Look, family means a lot to me, a lot. Just because someone isn't related by blood, it doesn't make them any less important to me than my brother or my cousins. I need you to respect that."

Ben raised his hands in mock defense, "Alright, alright, you don't need to go all scary Rose on me. I get it, professor Longbottom is part of your family. Rose, I'm your boyfriend, I care about you and I didn't mean to make fun."

"I know that."

"Well then can you please relax your hands, your fists are so tight that your knuckles are going white." Ben warily watched her hands.

Rose hadn't realised she had made fists and instantly relaxed them. "It's been a long day, I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." Rose stood.

Ben quickly caught her hand before she left. "Don't leave angry at me. I'm sorry."

Rose sighed, "I'm not angry, it's ok, we're ok." She took one step back towards the sofa, leant down to kiss him quickly and then left the common room, bewildered as to why kissing him felt out of place.

Ben ran out of the common room, just after she left a shouted to her. "Rose, how about a date tomorrow? At dinner we can meet up on the fourth floor, sit in an empty classroom room. I'll sneak some food from the kitchens. Come on, it'll be exactly three months since we started dating."

Rose smiled, then made her way back to her room.

The next day, at dinner time, Scorpius had just left his care of magical creatures class to sit beside Albus at the Slytherin table. They grabbed a few sandwiches and sausage rolls, then, with Lunette soon joining them, they went up to the head common room. Lunette and Albus had decided to keep a close eye on Scorpius ever since his fight with Lloyd Parkinson. And Lunette felt that she needed her friends even more now that her mother had decided to move back to France, making the divorce process more drawn out as documents had to be posted back and forth overseas by owl.

"You alright Scorp?" Albus asked. "You've kind of been quiet since your class."

"She got almost fifty points for Gryffindor! Fifty! In one lesson!" Scorpius let out his amazement. "She was answering all the questions and I was so distracted, I didn't even open my mouth once!"

"I'm assume we're talking about Rose here." Lunette muttered.

"Yeah and I bet she was the very thing that distracted him too." Albus commented and the couple sniggered.

"Yeah, yeah, alright, calm down." Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You guys won't believe me when I complain about her now, will you?"

"Nope." Albus grinned. He was loving Scorpius's new realisation. He had always missed the days when he, Scorpius and Rose would get along, but hadn't realised how much he ached for it, until Scorpius stopped bad mouthing Rose.

The time reached 7 o'clock exactly and Rose tumbled down the stairs. Albus and Lunette were hanging out in the common room. Scorpius grit his teeth, they all knew that Rose had an important date with Ben. The scent of her perfume drifted past them as she smiled at Albus and Lunette and made her way to the door, without taking a second glance at Scorpius. But his voice caught her as she opened the door.

"Are you wearing makeup?" He called out, instantly regretting the mocking tone that accidentally made its way through. Scorpius didn't mean to seem like he was degrading her efforts, but after years of conflict it just came out that way.

To their surprise, Rose didn't get angry. Her ears turned red, which was obviously seen as her hair was plaited neatly, and she suddenly felt flustered. Shifting uncomfortably, Rose slowly opened the door and replied. "You're supposed to pretend not to notice." She quickly made her escape and left the three of them bewildered and amused.

"Well she seems more flustered around you than ever before." Albus sighed, "But was it me or is she more comfortable with you too?"

Scorpius's composed face cracked into a cheeky grin. "I know, it's great."

Lunette folded her arms and sent stern eye to him. "Look, I know you've suddenly realised that you don't hate her, but Rose is dating Ben now. You can't keep trying to confuse her by acting differently. By all means, keep being nice to her, but no more 'accidental' close moments that make her blush! I can see when she's with Ben, she actually like him which is rare and now she's not sure. He's noticed it too. And I think it's your fault."

Scorpius couldn't shake his smile. "So, you think I'm confusing how she feels..." he sounded hopeful.

"Don't be happy about it!" Lunette punched him in the arm while Albus stifled a laugh.

"In all seriousness, please don't purposely play with my cousins feelings." Albus spoke up on the subject.

"So what am I meant to do?" Scorpius groaned and rolled his eyes. "Pretend to still hate her? Argue with her, hex her, be a git all the time even though I don't want to. Isn't keeping up this act of hating her, playing her feelings as well?"

"How about we focus on a main goal for you, one that I think is manageable, but bearing in mind you do it all the time-" she sighed, "anyway. Just try not to criticise Ben, or any future boyfriends of Rose's. She hates it when you do that." Lunette suggested

Albus frowned and turned to her. "Why?"

"Because his opinion is important to her, and she doesn't want to admit that." Lunette answered.

Albus nodded, understanding and he turned back to Scorpius. "It's your jealousy that stopped you from being friends in the first place. All you do is repeat what Rose is already thinking and then she hates you for speaking out loud what she was trying to ignore."

"She should really stop doing that." Lunette mumbled.

Albus shrugged "Yeah, but what can anyone do about it?"

Meanwhile, Rose pushed open the door to an empty classroom to see Ben setting a desk and two chairs.

"Hey, you're late." Ben said with a fake smile.

"Oh, sorry, it's only a few minutes-" Rose began absently.

"Yeah, no, it's fine. I was just waiting here on my own for five minutes, wondering if my girlfriend would ditch me again." He said with aggressive sarcasm.

Rose frowned. "I got held up for a few minutes, I hardly think it's worth getting angry about."

Ben paused before he said. "Fine, you probably just held up by Malfoy."

Rose thought back to the way Scorpius had looked at her when she had left her room, as if she was the only person that mattered. "Sure." she muttered, but it was loud enough for Ben to hear.

"Was he being a twat?" he jumped to conclusions.

Rose flinched, she didn't mind herself insulting him but when someone else did it, it seem malicious.

"No, I genuinely think he was trying to be nice or was going to be nice. Which is weird and I think it took me by surprise that he even noticed me as I walked out the door. We've taken to ignoring each other on a day to day basis, I guess on the way over here my mind has been remembering when he and I used to be friends."

"Well you can't be friends."

Rose flinched again, she didn't like being told what she couldn't do. "I don't know, maybe we could. She said in defiance. "We could try, I mean we did it before and we're pretty close at some points." She willed herself not to start thinking of all the times she had kissed Scorpius.

Ben just laughed. "No, you really couldn't. Anyway, how about we sit down a change the subject." Ben tried to stay upbeat even though his mood had been slightly dampened. "You're starting to talk about Malfoy in a way that could get a boyfriend jealous."

Rose tried to smile, "You have nothing to worry about there, believe me." the smile dropped, she wasn't sure she believed those words, but she wasn't sure why.

"Ok! So let the anniversary dinner begin."

"It's not an anniversary though, is it." Rose instantly regretted her words.

"Yes it is." Ben's smile and happy mood had completely dropped.

"Well, no, it's only been a few months. Saying it's an anniversary would be anual, a year at least." Rose wished she could remove her tongue, she just couldn't stop the words flowing out of her mouth.

Ben packed away the plates and cups with one swish of his wand. "You know what Rose, if you didn't want to do this, you could've just said." He sighed.

"No, sorry. I didn't mean to say anything." Rose felt guilt trickle into her mind.

"Rose, let's not argue." he said decidedly and started to pack everything up.

"Um, Ben?" Rose spoke uncertainty. She had only just arrived and he was about to leave.

"We'll just stop here and start again later." He squeezed her hand gently and kissed her on the cheek. "We'll go down to Hogsmeade another weekend and do our date then. I'll see you tomorrow, if you're not late again." And he left without another glance at her. Ben was honest to himself, he wasn't angry at Rose at all. He just felt that he was more in the relationship than she was, which frustrated him.

Rose stared at the empty classroom. Annoyed with herself. She took a tissue out of her pocket and quickly wetted it with a stream of water from her wand. Rose slumped into a chair and rubbed the makeup off of her face. She felt silly and uncomfortable with it on anyway. She didn't understand how her cousins and Lunette could put makeup on everyday and actually enjoy doing it. Rose felt like a fraud whenever she even tried, and was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help.

She grit her teeth and started talking to herself in a stern tone. "Rose Minerva Granger-Weasley, don't you dare start crying over nothing." But the deflated feeling and the threat of small tears wouldn't go away so easily. More annoyed with herself, Rose barged her way out of the class room and marched out the castle. Only the few prefects patrolling saw her leave, and they all knew that questioning what was going on in the head girl's head was pointless. They didn't know that it was because she didn't understand herself any more than they did.

Albus and Lunette soon left the head common room and Scorpius found himself staring out the window, all alone in the common room. He looked up at the stars and thought of how much Rose liked to stare at them. That's when he spotted her, Rose had retrieved an old broom from the school supplies and was hovering around in circles on the quidditch pitch.

Scorpius frowned and mumbled to himself, "What in Merlin's name is she doing?". He waited a few moments, he expected to see Ben follow her to the pitch, Scorpius thought that perhaps it was part of their date. But no one else was there but Rose.

He grabbed his own boom and ran down to the front doors as quickly as he could. Again being spotted by prefects, who, by that point, had no idea what was going on between the head boy and girl who supposedly hated each other.

One Ravenclaw prefect elbowed another and muttered. "Head boy has gone out now."

"Crap, both of them are out there?"

"Yep, I sense an argument or a hexing battle coming on."

"Come on, if anything happens we'll hear about it tomorrow. I think I heard someone make a noise upstairs, and I'll bet you two chocolate frogs it was a first year."

"Alright, you're on. I think it's just Peeves and we'll get caught up in it somehow."

Scorpius zoomed to the quidditch pitch and landed as soon as he hit the neatly trimmed grass. He looked up, Rose seemed relaxed.

Scorpius hopped back on his broom and hovered alongside her and spoke loudly so that she would notice. "You know, you really shouldn't be flying around unless you're practicing with your team."

Rose was startled out of her drifting thoughts and came to a sudden halt mid air. She watched him suspiciously for a moment, and had to admit to herself that she had expected Ben to be the one to interrupt her thoughts. After such their date had gone so poorly, she had hoped that he would come and find her so that they could talk it over properly. She knew that was unfair to expect him to follow her out there, but that one small part of her and wished for it so dearly. That's why she went outside despite the nippy late January cold. She knew that Ben often sat in the quidditch pitch stands just to think things through.

"You know what? I couldn't care less right now." She finally answered.

"Why doesn't that surprise me? Why are you out here anyway?"

Rose sighed. "Not that it's any of your business, but I need space to think. Somewhere that isn't crowded with cousins or some Malfoy twat."

"Mind if I join you?" Scorpius leant forward and circled her slowly.

"Yes, I do mind. The whole point of this was to be alone." Rose dipped down slightly to get out of his circle, and halted again, further away.

"Well, too bad." Scorpius shrugged and pulled up beside her.

In silence, Rose gathered enough space from him by looping the entire pitch, even though the school broom was a lot slower than Scorpius's own, Rose kept him off her tail by throwing in the random dip or dive, twist and turn. She even changed directions a few times. But he always caught up too quickly. Eventually Rose had had enough. She stopped directly in front of him and hit him with a glare.

"I'm guessing that not everything is ok, and if you want, I can listen. I know we're not friends anymore but-" Scorpius began, trying to sound as sincere as he felt.

"Why do you do this?" Rose interrupted.

"Do what?"

"Randomly be nice to someone you hate?"

"I'm not saying anything, we haven't spoken for the last ten minutes. Anyway I thought I was being annoying, you wanted to be alone."

"I'm serious, why are you here?" Rose began descending until she was hovering only four feet above the ground.

"I don't know," Scorpius dipped down to her level. "I saw you from the window and thought, why isn't your boyfriend out here with you?"

Rose flinched, Scorpius had hit the nail on the head. "He isn't here because I didn't ask him to come."

"But if he really liked you, wouldn't you want him to come anyway?"

"Stop it, stop criticising him!" Rose jumped off her broom, with her feet solidly on the ground she couldn't help but shout. "What is wrong with you? Why do you have to criticise every relationship I have!" She stormed off towards the broom shed.

"I'm not criticising him!" Scorpius called after her, only catching up to her fast pace once she reached the shed. "But obviously I've touched a nerve or a very fragile part of your relationship with him."

"Ben is a nice guy!"

"Is he though?"

Rose slammed the shed door and took a deep breath. "Look Malfoy, me and Ben are fine. We click, we're good together, he likes me a lot and I-" Rose paused for a moment, but decided to push through, "I like him. Just stay out of this one."

"Then why am I out here with you and he's not?"

She paused again, a fresh wave of disappointment washing over her. But not because Ben wasn't there, it was because she couldn't say what was on her mind, what was hidden even from herself. She stuttered and shouted

"Because you were creepy enough to stare at me out a window!" She quickly marched to the front doors of the castle.

Scorpius was still shouting, only a few paces behind. "It is not creepy to look out a window and just happen to notice you alone!"

"Well you didn't have to join me."

"Well what if Ben looked out the window too but was too busy to come, or didn't want to come. At least I came outside anyway, even though I knew that you would shout at me."

Rose stopped and turned to him. "What are you trying to say? That Ben isn't good enough? That you're better than him? Why would I care, I'm dating Ben, not you. I hate you!"

"I know that!" Scorpius shouted, the words seemed to have a sobering affect and he calmed down. "I know that I'm not your boyfriend."

Rose studied his expression, but she couldn't understand him. He seemed neither happy nor angry at the fact they weren't together. As usual, Rose had no idea what was going on in Scopius's head. "Ugh! I don't understand you! You're a bloody closed book as always!"

"Well that's fine, isn't it? We're not friends so you don't have to understand. Besides, I know you hate me."

"Exactly, and you hate me too."

Scorpius looked at her, desperate to keep the pain off his face. "Right, of course." he stopped and waited until she was out of earshot, then mumbled bitterly to himself, "And what a disappointment to the Malfoy family I would be, if I didn't hate you Weasley." He sighed and slowly trudged back to his room. He remembered all those times, back when he was friends with Rose, that they had both said how their last names and family reputations didn't matter.

"I wished that my date would go ok." Rose whispered, not expecting Scorpius to hear it, but he did. "I wished that this date would set me and Ben back on track, I guess that's not going to happen." she picked up the pace and Scorpius let her go.

By the time her reached the common room, Rose had already gone to bed and so that was what Scorpius tried to do as well. He climbed into bed but his head wouldn't stop thinking. He couldn't remember if he had ever said it out loud, but in his mind Scorpius had promised countless times that he would never let go of his friendship with Rose. 'But what does that matter now?' Scorpius thought to himself. 'I wish I could go back in time, go back to fourth year and slap some sense into that idiotic and jealous kid.'

FEBRUARY

It was Saturday morning, and Rose and Ben finally had a chance to catch up at the Gryffindor table over breakfast.

"Morning, look who isn't too late today." Ben cheerfully greeted when Rose sat down beside him.

"Ben, about yesterday, I'm sorry I don't know why I-"

"No no no, we're not talking about yesterday. I don't think either of us were in a good mood and we both left feeling worse than when we arrived. Which was not the point of the date and not what this relationship should be like." Ben squeezed her hand gently before sliding over a mug of tea. "I saw you walking to the quidditch pitch last night. That's how I know you weren't in a good mood, I decided to give you space and not catch up to you, also I needed to sleep on yesterday."

Rose smiled, quite convincingly in her opinion as Ben went back to eating his toast. But inside she was disappointed, Scorpius had been right when he suggested that Ben had seen her but not bothered to come out. Her eyes drifted to the Slytherin table, where Albus had not turned up yet but Scorpius watched her fake smile. Their eyes met, he could see straight through her fake smile. She quickly looked down and away from his blueish-grey eyes that knew her so well.

"Tell you what," Ben interrupted Rose's thoughts, "some other team has booked the pitch for today. Why don't you come with me to the library. I'm sure you have some essay to do and I need to look over the strategies I'm sharing with the team tomorrow practise." He looked over to the Slytherin table, he knew instantly who she had been distracted by.

Rose grinned at Ben, "Sounds good to me."

In the library, huddled in one corner, Rose watched Ben yawn as he drew another quidditch tactic on the parchment. She realised something, she didn't have any feelings for him other than friendship. Scorpius walked in, Rose shifted her eyes to watch him sit on his own and open a book.

"Oh, would you look at that, Rose is staring at Malfoy, what a shock." Ben mumbled. "Well, it might be a shock to everyone else but I can't help but notice constantly."

"Want to run that past me again?" Rose growled.

Ben huffed and put down his quill. He looked her dead in the eyes as he spoke. "Rose I asked you out because I liked you, and when you said yes, I thought it was because you liked me too."

"I do like you."

"But not in the way that you- look Rose, if I said, we can go back to being friends and pretend like we never dated, would you take it?"

Rose didn't answer, she let out a little squeak in her surprise, but her voice had failed her.

Ben looked around and saw Scorpius, then turned back to Rose. "You clearly have some confusing feelings for someone else, whether you or they are aware of them, I don't know. But I don't want to be caught up in the middle of it. And I don't want to be in a one-sided relationship."

"I don't have feelings for someone else." Rose protested.

"Ok, but you don't have feelings for me."

Rose sighed, he was right there. But she had no reply for him.

"I believe that you think that you don't have feelings for anyone else, otherwise I don't think you would have gone out with me." Ben continued " I also believe that you are mistaken. I'm serious Rose, if I said that we break up now, a civil and mutual agreement to just be friends, would you take it?"

Rose saw Scorpius leave out of the corner of her eye , he seemed to be limping again. She was annoyed at herself for not realising before.

"Umm, Ben, can I get back to you on one that. I've got to- yeah." She dashed off behind Scorpius.

Ben sighed, he think he already knew the answer to his question.

Rose shouted out for Scorpius in the hallway. He stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"You're limping again."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are, I saw it! Is it from before Christmas? Or has something happened again?"

Scorpius was about to deny it, but he knew that Rose had already figured him out. "Alright, fine, every now and then my ankle starts to hurt again. But it's not a big deal."

"Yes it is, you're doing too much. You should go to the hospital wing."

"And say what? The head boy got in a fight before Christmas and never told anyone? I might get the privilege of living so close to you removed." He said it in such a sarcastic manner that Rose never thought that he wasn't joking.

"Just tell them that you fell over." She shrugged.

"That might work for you, but no one else falls over as much as you do and they might not believe me."

"Ooh a clumsy joke, very clever." she mocked him, but she wasn't done being serious "Fine, don't go and get help." She crossed her arms. "But there is no way you can go to quidditch practise."

Scorpius hide a smile, she knew his schedule. "Look, I'm going to go and you can't stop me. Otherwise, I don't know, I guess you have strong feelings for me Weasley."

"Strong feelings? For you? Are you kidding? I guess your brain is still damaged." she mumbled.

"Your concern for me is gratefully received." Scorpius spoke in a sarcastically wistful tone.

Rose forced a very obvious fake smile. "Go rot in hell." She marched back to Ben and sat down beside him in a huff.

"What's wrong now?"

"Malfoy just-" Rose's fists were clenched for a moment before she shook the tension off. "He really gets on my nerves-"

"Look at you, you have strong feelings for him." Ben said, knowing he would have laughed if he weren't losing Rose, his first girlfriend.

Rose felt a pin prick of irritation sure through her body. "Don't say that!" her nostrils flared. "Strong feelings of hatred-"

"If you say so. But strong feelings all the same. And what do you feel for me?"

"Ben, I'm not comparing you to that Malfoy gargoyle-"

"Rose, I think we thought that we liked each other more than we actually did. Just answer me, if we walk away as friends now, as if this relationship never happened, would you do it?" He repeated and Rose finally listened.

Rose looked into his eyes she held his hands in her own and she felt nothing. Her mind absently remembered accidentally touching Scorpius hand in their first year, and the butterflies in her stomach that she had felt then. She felt nothing when it came to Ben, other than they just didn't fit as anything more than friends.

"I should get all blame, why are you trying to save me from it?" Rose muttered, she saw that Ben was about to answer, most likely to reassure her, but she stopped him. "I'm sorry. You really are a great guy, we just don't fit."

"So, I'll see you for quidditch practise tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Rose squeezed his hands gently then let them go. "I'm sorry."

"Me too, but we don't choose who we do and don't have feelings for."

"I just wish-"

"I know, I wish you had feelings for me too." Ben stood and packed his bag. "We're not going to make this awkward, I like being your friend and your quidditch captain." He stuck out his hand for a firm handshake which she eagerly complied. "Let's not spread it around, because people will talk and I don't want people to talk."

Rose smiled gratefully. "Sure, but this is Hogwarts, not much stays quiet for very long." She peered over Ben's shoulder and saw the librarian glaring at them, Ben glanced at her too and turned to go, but Rose called him back. Her suspicions and anxieties creeping into her mind almost immediately. "Wait. This isn't out of the blue, how long have you been thinking about breaking up?"

Ben sighed. "Since Christmas, you didn't contact me once but I found out that you saw Malfoy. If you hate him as much as you claim-" he stopped himself.

"How did you- oh nevermind." News travelled fast around Hogwarts, nearly everyone who cared about gossip knew about Lunette's parents. "He was there for Lunette, not for me."

"Yeah, sure." he mumbled. "You're quite a close knit group aren't you?"

"Not really."

"Well you would be, everyone can see that, if it weren't for your boyfriends." Ben watched her eyebrow lift and he quickly explained himself. "Anyone who has paid any attention to you would easily know that Malfoy didn't like your boyfriend and then you stopped being friends. And when you're in a relationship, he gets more defensive and argumentative. And when Malfoy is in a relationship, he ignores you. If that doesn't say you have feelings for one another then I don't know what would-"

"Ben just go." Rose said shortly. "I'll see you at quidditch practise next week."

As soon as Ben left, she opened her textbook to a random page, but she couldn't concentrate. The words all jumbled up inside her head and she couldn't care less which potion saved Sir Memfry in 1183, or 1318, or 1813, the numbers were all muddled when she tried to concentrate. Slamming the book shut and not caring about the scowl she received from the librarian or the confused looks from students around her, Rose left and made her way back to the head common room.

The first thing she saw as she entered the common room, was Scorpius huddled over his desk writing an essay. He looked up at her, instantly recognising something was wrong. Rose took one sharp glance at him before charging into her room. The slam of her bedroom door was all that Scorpius needed to hear before he went to the Slytherin common room to find Albus, and together they found Lunette and sat down on a bench in the fifth floor hallway.

"What's happened?" Scorpius asked Lunette, expecting her to know.

"What's happened with what?" She was bewildered.

"I don't know! Weasley just walked into the common room with a weird look on her face and then ran to her room without saying anything."

"So? Maybe she just didn't want to see or talk to you, that wouldn't be unusual." Albus said with a shrug.

Scorpius looked at his watch and sighed. "Look, I've got to go, can you two please find out what's happened? Something is definitely up." Scorpius tried to jog away from them but his ankle was acting up again.

Albus turned to Lunette and smiled. "He knows that we can't get into the head common room without him, right?"

Lunette laughed. "He might have forgotten that small detail. I guess we'll have to find out tomorrow. This is Rose we're talking about, if anything has happened, she can deal with it."

"Yeah, he probably just made some remark about quidditch and now she's mad at him for nothing." The couple walked hand in hand away.

In her room, Rose sat in an armchair by the window, flicking through yet another textbook. Not wanting to think about Ben, she studied the words carefully. Of course she couldn't concentrate so she found herself reading the same paragraph multiple times. Her eyes were strained. Rose stood up, stretched, and sighed. The sun was going to set in just a few hours, she made a mental note to get into her pajamas, get ready for bed, and then sit by the window and revise her Herbology notes. As Rose went to get dressed, she stubbed her toe on the armchair and cursed loudly. As she bent down to inspect the damage, her eyes caught something outside.

It was Scorpius in his quidditch robes, limping on his way to practise. Rose rolled her eyes.

'He really doesn't listen to me at all.' she thought.

Rose conjured her fox patronus, it cheered her up immensely, she spoke to it directly and sent it out the window towards the limping head boy. Her grandparents, former member of the Order of the Phoenix, taught her how she could use her patronus to communicate.

Scorpius flinched once again, his shin pads were digging into his ankle. Swearing under his breath with every step, he didn't even notice the wispy silver animal charging towards him in a playful manner until he almost walked through it.

"What, in Merlin's name, are you?" he muttered to it.

Rose watched as her patronus bounced around Scorpius before it delivered her message. She laughed at his confusion.

Scorpius starred as the patronus curled into a ball until it lost any shape of the fox and just became a circle. Then it spoke it Rose's light tone.

"You can't go to practise with an injured ankle."

Scorpius new immediately what it was, he had read something about a patronus being used to communicate, but he had never seen it before. He looked up in the direction of the head boy and girl tower, but couldn't really tell which one was which. Rose could see him looking up and spoke into her wand once again.

"Seriously, you can't go." the ball spoke again.

Scorpius shouted upwards and in the general direction of the tower. "I'm not listening to some patronus, but it's nice that you care!"

The ball didn't move, Rose chuckled at the small distant figure of Scorpius yelling something at the castle.

"Yeah, I can't hear you." the silver ball said bluntly. "You're ankle isn't any better, you're no help to anyone with an injury, and I have to insist that you go to the hospital wing." the ball paused, then spoke in a warning tone. "If go I'll be forced to tell Lunette."

Scorpius laughed, but obeyed the patronus and turned around to go back inside. Rose had played the Lunette card, they both knew that she was so motherly that he would end up being yelled at and smothered if he didn't. Rose, glad that she had stopped him from injuring himself further, quickly ran from her room to meet Scorpius.

He caught sight of her concerned face as he hobbled up the first flight of stairs. Despite the sharp pain, he caught himself smiling.

"You came all the way down to check on me?" he muttered, not really believing it.

"I didn't want to miss seeing you in pain." Rose laughed. She suddenly frowned at herself. Having been carried away with her concern for him, that she hadn't realised how it looked. Years of hating him looked rather silly. "Anyway, you need to get the nurse to look at your ankle." Without thinking Rose put his arm around her shoulder and tried to support him

They were able to swiftly get to the hospital wing where the nurse gave him something to numb the pain, then quickly healed his ankle.

"It'll be fine by the morning, but for tonight you'd better skip quidditch and just rest." she said sternly before charging away to her other patients.

"Thanks." Scorpius mumbled.

It took Rose a moment to realise that he was talking to her. "Oh, well, you would've done the same." she shrugged, her ears turned red and she looked at the floor. She cleared her throat and sat up straight, thinking her embarrassment was ridiculous. "Besides, I can't be a terrible person all the time. I have to do the bare minimum of good every now and then."

Scorpius smiled. He stood, his ankle feeling weak but no longer in pain.

"Can you get to your room without my help?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, I just might have to walk slowly."

"I'll walk slowly with you then."

Scorpius studied Rose's face as the made their way up the many stairs at a snail's pace. She didn't look happy or sad or angry, it was scarier than that, she looked numb. As if nothing and no one really mattered to her, that Rose was feeling like she just existed and nothing else. Yet she had cared enough to stop him for potentially hurting himself more, took him to the hospital wing, and was now staying with him instead of just ditching him in the hallway. Scorpius knew that she couldn't be feeling numb, but was instead hiding whatever it was she felt. He didn't want to pry, Scorpius knew that Rose would never tell him what was going on. He made a mental note to double check Lunette and Albus talked to her.

When they got to the common room Rose said good night, something she never did, told him to sleep well and then went to bed herself. The sun had barely set but she was emotionally exhausted. After not knowing how to feel about breaking up with Ben, and then feeling genuine concern for Scorpius, Rose just wanted to sleep and get them both out of her mind.

The following day no one saw much of Rose as she spent most of her time in her room, which was not wholly unusual, but she always left long enough for meals and to hang out with Lunette and Albus. Yet she was nowhere to be seen at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Scorpius lost count of how many times he climbed her stairs and almost knocked on the door but chickened out at the last minute, fearing the start of an argument. When he explained this to Lunette, she suddenly became very suspicious.

"So no one's seen her all day?"

Scorpius and Albus shook their heads.

"Fine, enough's enough, I'm talking to Ben about this. They must have argued or he tried to rush something." Lunette stood and walked with such purpose that first years leapt out of her way not to be trampled.

"We should follow her, right?" Albus asked Scorpius.

"You should, I'm going to the Slytherin common room. I told Hugo to meet me there for a game of chess."

Albus laughed as they both stood to leave. "You still haven't beaten him have you? Five or six years of knowing him and it bothers you that you've never won, doesn't it?"

Scorpius answered sheepishly. "It only bothers me a little bit."

Just three games of chess lost to Hugo later, Albus entered the Slytherin common room, an annoyed Lunette hot on his heels.

"Scorp, you've got to let us into the head common room." Albus leant down and muttered to him so that no other students could hear but him and Hugo. "Rose and Ben broke up, they didn't want to make a big deal out of it so that they could remain friends, but Lunette's pissed that Rose didn't even tell us." Albus eyed up his cousin, "I'm assuming you're not going to tell everyone? Your sister would kill me, probably literally kill me. And then she'd kill you next."

Hugo grinned. "I know, besides, despite your sister constantly jabbering away in my ear, we don't tend to gossip much with anyone else." Hugo packed away his chess set. "Good game Scorpius. I'm always happy to win. Good luck dealing with Rose."

When they reached the head common room, Scorpius hid in his own room, knowing that Rose wouldn't want him around. Albus knocked gently on Rose's door.

Rose groaned, she had gotten dressed that morning only to go straight to bed, her head aching. She hadn't slept all night. Her headache was finally going down and she decided to stop caring about Ben. But the door knocking irritated her immensely. It reminded Rose that the night before, for a brief moment, she allowed herself to worry and care about Scorpius again. And it had confused her again.

"What do you want Malfoy? I'm kind of in the mood to do anything else but have to see your stupid face." Rose shouted back. Albus laughed to himself and knocked again. "This better be life or death Malfoy! Or I can arrange those stakes!" Rose thundered to her door and wrenched it open, surprised to see Albus instead of Scorpius. "Oh, I thought-"

Albus grinned, "Yeah I heard what you thought."

"Sorry."

"Nah it's fine, I've been your best friend since we were in nappies, I'm used to everything now. Just a handy warning, Lunette is a little bit annoyed with you."

Rose's expression turned to one of concern. "Crap, what have I done?"

"Well, I'll tell you the truth, I'm a little annoyed too. Why didn't you tell us about Ben instead of hiding in your room all day?"

Rose sighed and shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know how to deal with breaking up with a guy that is actually decent."

Albus brought her in for a hug. "I know you don't like hugs, but this is happening."

Rose patted his back awkwardly. "Thanks Al."

They made their way down the stairs, Rose stumbled on the second to last one, bringing Albus crashing to the common room floor with her.

"Opps." Rose laughed and helped him up. She smiled at Lunette and sat down beside her.

"Rose Minerva Granger-Weasley!" Lunette shouted and began to pace. "Don't you smile at me! You should be upset!"

"Woah, what have I done to warrant the use of my middle name?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"I just ran into Ben!"

"Yeah, Albus said…" Rose mumbled, the irritating worry of their moods finally set in.

"Yeah! I asked Ben if he had seen you at all today and he informed me that you broke up!"

Rose just nodded

"Yesterday! And you didn't think to tell me or anyone!"

"Lunette, I-"

Lunette sat down and made herself comfortable. "Right, tell me everything. Including why you didn't tell me before."

"I figured that you have enough to worry about with your parents, you didn't need to be bothered about my pathetic love life on top of it all."

"You're not pathetic Rose, I've never thought you were and I never will. Look, my parents have their own problems, but I care about you just as much and I want to hear what's going on."

"Alright," Then Rose launched into an almost word for word account of what had happened, only briefly mentioning Scorpius, but that was enough for Lunette as she had heard Scorpius talking and smiling from ear to ear that she had bothered to check up on him.

"And that was it? such a peaceful break up."

"Yup." Rose nodded again, she didn't really believe it was so peaceful either, yet she had been there and felt it.

"No one got angry?" Lunette cracked a smile and joked. "How the hell did you manage that?"

"I don't know." Rose shrugged, she knew Lunette was trying to make her laugh, but she honestly did not know why she wasn't angry at Ben at all.

"It doesn't feel over, does it?" Albus, who had remained silent, guessed from across the room. He had been looking out the window to give Lunette and Rose space to talk, he then sat beside Lunette.

"I don't know, it wasn't very final. But we're definitely broken up, Ben was unlike any guy I've ever known and I should've tried harder. Maybe it doesn't feel final because there was never really a beginning. We fell into a relationship because we were friends and not much changed."

"I'm sorry to hear it Rose." Lunette smiled with sympathy. "No one can force feelings that aren't there though."

"Yep, and I don't I know it. Ugh, there's something wrong with me."

"Rose, Ben is nice and all, but are you sure you liked him? Don't take this the wrong way!"

"No, I know what you mean. I did like him, I really did, but it vanished quite quickly. There was no spark, and for some reason that wasn't good enough for me."

"I have to ask, when do you fight?" Albus cut in again.

Rose just looked confused.

Lunette understood where he was coming from and clarified the question. "When you're in a relationship with someone, when do you fight with them?"

"Never, if I can help it. I mean, there was a bit of frustration with Ben, but we let that go within seconds."

"That's not the way to go Rose. You're a naturally argumentative person, you have a temper, which isn't always a bad thing. Really think about it, when did you argue with Felix?"

"I guess, not until we broke up."

"And with Dan?"

"There he would get annoyed over something that had nothing to do with the relationship, but I would just walk off and try not to get angry at him."

"And then Ben?"

"Never, I mean, not really."

"You're meant to argue Rose." Albus spoke again. "Me and Lunette argue, not a lot, not all the time, and they only last a few hours. But at least we let our feelings out and try to be honest with each other. And by the next morning, we still really want to see each other."

"Maybe your next relationship should be with someone who you argue with but deep down you're grateful that they're in your life." Lunette chimed in slyly.

Lunette was trying to hint at something but Rose didn't pick up on it. Subconsciously, somewhere inside, a quiet voice knew exactly who Lunette was talking about. But her head wasn't ready to let her heart run free and so she pushed that thought deeper down and just laughed.

"Yeah right, I think I'm done with dating for a while." Rose scoffed and relaxed.

"It's probably best you got dumped by Ben. Imagine if you fell in love, and got married. You'd be Rose Rome which is just the worst name ever. Try saying it quickly." Lunette said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, well, I've thought about it. If I ever get married, I'm keeping my last name. Granger-Weasley just means too much to me."

"Lunette, she didn't get dumped by Ben, you heard her, it was a mutual thing." Albus piped up trying to not make Rose feel too bad.

"No Al, he might have said it that way, but he dumped me alright. I'm just wondering why he didn't do it sooner." Rose shrugged.

Albus and Lunette soon left as curfew was approaching. Rose and Scorpius, who had heard every word of the conversation about Ben, had a prefect meeting to conduct, and then went on their rounds. Not a word was spoken between them other than the necessary instructions. It put Scorpius in a sullen mood. Rose almost ignoring him was worse than years of arguing. It felt impersonal, after realising he didn't hate Rose, Scorpius could clearly see that every insult, hex and jinx was sent with some thought, even if that thought was how to annoy each other most. But at least they took the time to get to know each other in order to come up with each spell to drive each other crazy. Their conversations had, at least, some variation back when Scorpius was resolved to hate her, and while the intention was to hurt, often the outcome was a caring without meaning to.

Rose yawned as they traipsed into the common room late that evening. Rounds, prefect meetings and lack of sleep left her exhausted. Scorpius watched her slump away and take the first step to her room. A sharp thought entered his mind as he recollected the amount of times he had watched her walk away and not said anything when he should have.

"Oi, Weasley," the words were out of his mouth before he could rethink what he was doing.

Rose sighed with a tired note and turned around. "What?" Her eyes felt heavy.

"I'm, um, I'm sorry to hear about you and Ben breaking up, it can't be easy." Scorpius shrugged "He seems like a decent guy."

Rose glared at him and mocked his attempt at awkward comfort. "He seems like a decent guy?! Do you hear yourself? Just days before we break up, you make little comments about him, and now you're suddenly feeling sorry for me."

"I just wanted to-" Scorpius was interrupted before he could stutter on.

"To do what? Make me feel worse about failing at a relationship with a decent guy? Because you've succeeded."

"No, I didn't mean-"

"Just shut up." Rose's shoulders slumped and she rolled her head in exhaustion. "I've had enough of you confusing things. One minute we're ignoring each other, the next you're being nice, then somehow I find myself being nice, then it's back to criticising my choices, and now you're back to-what? I don't even know!"

"How am I confusing things? What am I confusing?" A glimmer of hope sparked it's way into his mind.

"You- I- we don't-" Rose couldn't think of what she wanted to say. She had spent two whole days trying to ignore her feelings and as a result had had very little sleep. "Ugh! Nevermind! I don't have to explain myself, especially not to you!"

"Fine." Scorpius muttered bluntly.

"Fine!" Rose huffed and turned back to her stairs, but she didn't make it quick enough. She felt the hot tears springing to her cheeks. She was almost silent, but one sniff and Scorpius heard.

"Did you just sniff? Did I hear you sniff?"

"No." Rose's voice was wobbly, her mind repeated the words 'don't cry, don't cry, don't cry' over and over again, but it was too late. And she hated herself for it.

Scorpius pushed back the Gryffindor tapestry, he tapped Rose, who was frozen on the second step, on the back and she slowly turned around.

"You're crying." He couldn't believe it, Rose never cried, everyone knew that, even her own brother had confirmed it.

"No I'm not." Rose bit her lip as another tear streamed off her face and landed on her jumper.

Scorpius put one hand behind her back, she let herself me gently taken to the sofa, where she sat alone and he sat on the floor beside her.

"I hate crying." Rose covered her face with her long sleeves.

"I know."

"Why am I crying?!" Rose let out an in irritated vent, then she answered her own question while trying to be sarcastic but only sounded more upset. "Ben was only the first boyfriend who I actually had stuff in common with and I screwed it up because I didn't like him as much as I thought I did." she tried to wipe away her tears but they kept coming, soon her eyes were redder than her hair. "I'm so pathetic, crying over some guy!"

"You're not pathetic." Scorpius's small voice lended some comfort.

"And why am I crying in front of you! Why did you get me to be emotional but not Lunette!"

He shrugged before answering, "Well, we kind of share the same living space. Your room is your safe space where you can be yourself, and I just happen to share part of the safe space. Even though you hate me," he paused for a moment and saw her expression turn to one of regret, dismissing it as a misunderstanding, he carried on. "you let your guard down in the common room."

"I suck at relationships, every guy I've ever dated has just gone down in flames."

"Hey, I'm no better. I've had one girlfriend and she only dated me because she wanted to get closer to Al." He couldn't help but laugh at his own stupidity.

"Why did you date her in the first place?" her tears had slowed as she frowned, remembering how much she disliked Holly.

Scorpius shrugged. "I guess I was just caught up in the prospect that someone might actually like me."

Rose nodded. "I've been in that position before."

Scorpius looked up at her, she was still crying a little bit. "I'm sorry I'm not so good with the whole comforting thing."

"Yeah, no kidding. You're sitting as far away as possible."

Scorpius leapt onto the sofa beside, not hesitating to put an arm around her. Rose stopped crying almost instantly, the sudden racing of her heart wrapped in Scorpius's arm sent her mind to stop caring about Ben more a moment.

She sighed, "Why do we do this? Have moments of, I don't know, not friendship, more than friendship but still less than, I don't know, something. Then whatever it is, we go on and pretend like it never happened. We leave these tiny moments unspoken. I go from days where I feel like I couldn't hate anyone more than you, to brief hours where my mind is convinced that we never stopped being friends."

"Our friendship may have been only a few years, but we both tried so hard for a while back there, that I feel like letting go is harder than fighting for it." He paused, and took a chance "We could try and be friends again."

Rose looked into his eyes and desperately wanted to say yes, but something held her back. Whether it was stubbornness and pride, or something else entirely, she wasn't sure. "No, surely we're beyond that point by now."

"You know what, you confuse the hell out of me too Weasley."

"I'm going to bed, emotions make me tired." She came out of his warm embrace and stood to leave.

"Did you ever kiss Ben?" The question came out of the blue, Scorpius didn't regret asking it but he realised it was a stupid question and he did not like the suspicious glare Rose sent him.

Rose's ears started burning, "Well, yeah, he was my boyfriend. Not that it's any of you business."

"What was it like?" His timid question came as he sat looking up at her.

"Why? Do you want to kiss him too?" Rose tried to laugh.

"No, I kind of want to kiss you again."

"Don't say that." Rose raked her hand through her hair and looked anywhere but at him, he had made her flustered again. "We can't go through this again, not now that we're head boy and head girl and have to share a common room." She took a step back.

"Well, why not?" Scorpius stood and faced her.

"Because," Rose's breath stopped short for a moment "just because." She saw his mood dampen again and guilt set in, the feeling wouldn't have come if Rose didn't believe in her heart of hearts that she wanted to be closer to him too. She shook her head and changed her tone to be stricter and she crossed her arms in defence. "And if you must know, I should've broken up with Ben the moment I kissed him and felt nothing. Not that you can rely on your emotions to tell you how you feel about someone because of a kiss, but it should've been obvious to me that I didn't like Ben that much." She loosely unfolded her arms and let them dangly limply by her side. She couldn't look at him again and stared at her feet while she mumbled. "The truth is, I can't feel much for anyone right now, I'm a mess and I'm too young to care."

"I get it." Scorpius suddenly smiled "But one day we'll be friends again, I swear. Even if it's when we're old and have to rely on walking sticks to move around, and our teeth are falling out so we have to use false ones."

"I doubt that," Rose mumbled, but she looked up at him and managed a smile "I keep very good care of my teeth, my grandparents were dentists. Ok, now I'm actually going to bed. And Malfoy,"

"Yes?"

"You tell anyone that I cried, and I'll rip your arm off and beat you with it."

"That's oddly specific."

"You've pissed me off many times, my vivid and violent imagination has had time to grow." She sent a cheeky and smug half smile his way before disappearing up to her room.

Scorpius sighed, he backed himself up against the arm of one of the sofas and flopped backwards on to it. His head narrowly missing the other arm of the sofa. He closed his eyes and thought of Rose, how he longed to hold her in his arms and tell her that Ben didn't matter.

"Stop it Scorp." He mumbled to himself. He thought of the two of them in their first year, how he had accidentally touched her hand in herbology and her ears turned bright red.

The next day he told Albus some of his thoughts.

"You're a heart breaking case Scorp, you know that right?" Albus patted his friend on the back as they walked from breakfast to their muggle studies lesson. It was their first lesson of the day and Scorpius had just finished telling him about his conversation with Rose the previous night, excluding the part where she cried. He would not break his promise.

"I actually spoke to her rather than letting her walk away. It was strange, I'm not sure I've ever done that before."

"Yeah, Rose is pretty good at having the last word and walking away."

VALENTINE'S DAY

February 14th finally arrived and most of the students were getting ready by charming cards to sing or flowers to change different shades of red for a couple of hours. But not Rose, and not Scorpius. At breakfast, Lunette sat beside Albus and they behaved like their normal selves, very romantic, but on that particular day it was like someone turned up the cheesy romance to full. Scorpius sat staring at his porridge, already losing count of how many times he had told his best friends that Valentine's Day was celebrating a muggles Saint's death and that the whole day was a ridiculous waste of money and effort.

Rose walked into the hall with her nose stuck in a book. Albus and Lunette looked up from each others eyes long enough to watch Scorpius's attention be caught by her and his gaze followed her, his cheeks turn a pale pink. Albus started laughing and elbowed his poor lovesick friend.

"Merlin, you really have a massive crush on Rose." Albus said quietly and Lunette laughed in agreement.

The faint smile Scorpius hadn't realised was there, slowly dropped to an expressionless face that he had once been so good, at but years of being friends with Albus had opened him up.

"You guys are irritating romantic saps and I hate you both." he said in a grumpy sarcastic tone as he looked away from Rose and down at his cold porridge. He knew it was more than a crush, but he wasn't going to tell them that.

Rose sat down at the Gryffindor table, only putting her book down for a minute to make herself a cup of tea, before picking the book up again. Someone sat beside her and started scraping butter on toast very loudly, but she ignored it thinking it was just some third year excited for Valentine's Day. Rose drained her tea in a few gulps, snatched a untouched piece of toast, then made her way out of the hall. The person who had been sat beside her, also stood and started following. Rose had been wrong, the person beside her was her fifth year cousin.

"Rose!" Lily caught up with her, "We haven't spoken much this year, I think we need to have a catch up talk."

"Sorry, head girl duties had pretty much swamped all of my time." She slipped her book into her bag and led Lily to a quieter part of the corridor. "Oh, I broke up with Ben."

"Yeah, I heard. How are things in such close proximity to Malfoy?"

"Things are- I don't know. Confusing and irritating."

"So the usual when it comes to you two, except x10 because you're so close."

"Only sometimes, usually we ignore each other." Rose sighed, Lily's concerned expression unseen "I've been thinking, I need to get away. After Hogwarts I just need a fresh start somewhere. Distance myself from the familiar and see how I cope. Test myself, gain experience in the real world, that sort of thing."

"What did you have in mind?" Lily frowned, not liking the idea of rarely seeing her cousin at all.

"Well, Uncle Charlie is still running the program in Romania, training young people with dragons."

"You want to go to Romania?!" Hugo exclaimed as soon as he had finally caught up with Lily, Rose knew that she should've expected him to arrive, Hugo and Lily were rarely seen without each other.

"No, no." Rose began to deny but her head seemed to like the idea now that it was finally out loud, she grinned excitedly, with only a hint of mischief. "Actually, you know what? I think I might just do it!" She felt like laughing, she had something to look forward to after Hogwarts. Though Rose had not seen it in herself, something to look forward to, an escape, a chance to prove herself, was just the thing she needed. And that she had had no idea what she wanted to do all year, a weight felt suddenly lifted from her shoulders. It was as if her break up with Ben didn't seem to matter anymore, because that wasn't what had been keeping her down.

"She's grinning like a mad woman." Lily mumbled to Hugo, but neither took their alarmed eyes off of her.

"What do you mean 'like' a mad woman, she is mad, I've been saying that for years." Hugo mumbled back.

Rose took a deep breath. "Anyway, how's it going with you? Still being chased by all the guys?" she turned to Lily, she saw Hugo roll his eyes.

"No, after last year the novelty of my appearance has worn off and people are starting to leave me alone. Probably because I don't really to talk anyone except Hugo."

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Hugo accused and playfully elbow Lily. He looked between the two and felt he was intruding. "Umm, I've got a Herbology class," he looked at his watch, "to be super early too. Great. See ya." he left and Lily pointed a serious stare at her cousin.

"Nice catch up, I've got to go-" Rose felt a serious talk from Lily coming on.

"Rose, who do you talk to?" she jumped in.

"What?"

"It just, it seems to me that you've been pent up, not talking to anyone about how you're feeling about things and day to day life."

"Well, I talk to you." Rose shrugged.

Lily shook her head sadly and rested an arm on Rose's shoulder. "No, you used to talk to me but now we don't share a common room, and you've only got Malfoy near you, who do you open up to and be honest with? Everyone needs someone to listen, I have Hugo, Al has Lunette, Malfoy opens up to both of them. But I always see you rushing from prefect meeting, to prefect rounds, to class, or rushing to your room to do homework. And you always looked like you're holding something inside that might just burst one day."

Rose sighed, she couldn't be bothered to come up with some lie right that second. "You're right, and twice now, I've let everything build up to the very limit, and then I just burst and Malfoy happens to be there." it felt kind of refreshing to tell someone rather than pretend it never happened.

"You open up to him?" Lily's shock was apparent.

"No- yes- not on purpose, and not because I want to. He just happens to be there." After her mood had just suddenly improved, the thought of her embarrassment around Scorpius didn't upset her. "I hate to pay him a compliment, but he handles it quite well."

"I actually don't believe you." Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Welcome to the club." Rose chuckled

Lily blinked slowly, Rose was acting strange, but happy strange, and she wasn't sure if it was because her cousin was genuinely alright or was just pretending to be so. "And he's fine just talking to you about your feelings on things end everything?"

"Yeah," She nodded, but a memory of what Scorpius had said caught her, and she looked sadly at the ground. "he even mentioned us being friends again."

Lily recognised Rose's feeling of guilt. "That's not going to happen is it?"

Rose just shook her head. The bell rang and Rose stood up straight, her face back to neutral.

"I've got to go to Herbology, I'll see you later."

"See ya." Rose nodded and made her way to care of magical creatures.

Scorpius had just left the hall and saw Rose making her way outside to the freezing February fog for their class, he restrained himself form running to her so that they could walk together. He wanted to go back in time, just for a few seconds, just to slap his fourth year self.

"Ugh, I mean, it's Valentine's Day and I'm alone, how sad is that?" Scorpius heard a whiny voice behind him start muttering to her friend. "It's so boring being single."

He rolled his eyes and picked up the pace, but the whiny voice was still loud enough for him to hear.

"You know, I'm so sick of not having a boyfriend, that I'm tempted just to break up some couple and then keep the pieces for myself."

Her friend giggled and a male voice answered her. "Break up Potter and Lunette, that way I can get in on this too."

The friend who had giggled seemed to suddenly see all the hilarity stripped away from their plan. "Wait, no, you guys can't do that. If you're so desperate, why don't you just date each other?"

The guy scoffed. "I'm not dating Robin, she's already my ex. Besides, I want to date Lunette, I never got my chance before she got with Potter."

Scorpius hadn't realised his fists had clenched themselves and his teeth started to grind. So now he knew who two of them were. Robin Stirling and he recognised Grant Hathaway's voice. Hearing the second bell, Scorpius only just made it to his class on time, but the conversation kept on running over and over in his head. Scorpius's eyebrows furrowed as he thought of what to do. Rose was the only one to notice this, and she startled him by speaking, they had barely looked each other in the eye since she had cried.

"If the wind changes your eyebrows will stay like that." she mumbled with a monotone voice.

"What?" Scorpius jumped, "Oh, right." he mumbled. "I was just thinking about how people can be so fake, but too wrapped up in themselves to see that they're hurting people. I mean, the only good those sorts of people do, is when they can't keep secrets."

Rose shot a glance at him, Scorpius couldn't tell if it was a confused look or a glare. "Ok," she spoke slowly at first, but she sighed and went back to writing notes. "I never asked and I don't care."

"Cheerful as ever." Scorpius smiled and turned away from her.

"You have that effect on me." Rose retorted in dry sarcasm.

When the class finished, Rose had a free period and was making her way to the library, Scorpius had muggle studies with Albus, but decided to take the long way just so he could hang around Rose for a bit longer. Not that she wanted him, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"So, Weasley, no plans for Valentine's Day?" He caught up to her before they reached the castle doors.

Rose scowled at the ground, refusing to look at him. Ever since she had cried over Ben, she really didn't want to see anyone. It wasn't that she was hung up over Ben, she knew what feelings she might have had were long gone, but she was annoyed at herself for the relationship ending.

"What do you think? The day is a stupid made up holiday just for companies to make money off of nothing." she didn't sound like she was complaining and a thought suddenly occurred to her, that made losing Ben seem a bit brighter. "And I'm not in a relationship so no one can guilt trip me into marking the so-called 'occasion'."

"You regret breaking up with Rome?" Scorpius asked sadly, afraid of the answer.

Rose looked up, stopped walking and glared. "It's none of your business how I feel about my break up. I don't regret it, I don't regret anything except my own feelings, or lack of…." he voice trailed to silence and her shoulders drooped. "Go away Malfoy, enjoy the death of a guy who lived over a thousand years ago." Rose speed walked to the library, perplexed as to why Scorpius wouldn't leave her alone and she refused to believe it was because it was Valentine's Day, she thought the whole day was ridiculous.

The urge to stay with Rose was strong, but Scorpius dragged his feet to muggle studies, knowing that he couldn't miss a single lesson.

By the time dinner arrived, Scorpius had realised that he needn't have been on edge all day for Lunete anf Abus. They had barely spoken two words to anyone other than each other, Scorpius himself or Rose. And they were too encompassed in the whole romantic idea of the day that the couple didn't take their eyes of each other except to see where they were walking. But still the threat of Robin loomed, Scorpius rethought the overheard conversation again and again. All her knew about Robin was what he heard from from gossip, and she seemed like the sort of young woman who was too smart, and could manipulate anything she wanted. He considered talking to Rose about it, but she was still avoiding his eye contact. He couldn't wait until her embarrassment disappeared, and he had the suspicious feeling that it would go after a spout of anger directed at himself.

Albus and Lunette skipped off to spend time together in the Hufflepuff common room, while Rose and Scorpius met each other silently in the head common room to get ready to do rounds before curfew. He found himself stealing glances at her, considering what to stay and hoping she would speak. Luckily their awkward ignoring came to an end when irritating voices could be heard down the corridor. They charged ahead, Rose was the first to spot Robin and rolled her eyes. Scorpius saw his chance.

"Umm, I'll handle this. You go ahead and check the next floor." Scorpius spoke quickly.

Rose glared with suspicion, but then shrugged and walked off. Deciding that she didn't care enough about either of them.

"Shh, here he comes." Robin whispered to her friend who was having a hard time controlling a laugh. "Ah, Scorpius, how nice to see you." she grinned at him.

There was an awkward silence. Scorpius was sick of silence. After days of being partially ignored by Rose, the silence had a nagging effect on him. Robin glared at her friend who backed away to her common room.

Scorpius took a deep breath and cut to the point. "Look, I heard, and I'm asking you not to break up Al and Lunette."

"Oh how chivalrous, protecting your friend's relationship." Robin raised her eyebrows. "Is it really so fragile that you have to step in and save it from little ol' me."

Scorpius found his defences suddenly flare up as he saw the figurative corner she had backed him into. "They're not fragile, any relationship comes off bad if someone interferes." He scowled. "But I'll be damned if I let anyone try."

"Fine then," she shrugged "I won't, but only if you agree to give me a chance."

"Me?" Scorpius hadn't seen it coming, though he was annoyed at himself for being so stupid, of course Robin had an ulterior motive. He began to wonder why she wasn't in Slytherin.

"Yeah, as far as anyone can remember, you've only had one girlfriend, if you don't count that whole thing with Weasley before you started hating each other in fourth year." Robin batted her eyelids and shifted her weight from each foot.

"There was nothing between me and Weasley, ever." Scorpius said with a bite of more bitterness than he had intended to let on.

"It's all well and good saying it now that you despise one another." Robin nodded, but frowned when she realised that she was no longer the topic of the conversation. "Anyway, I don't want to talk about her." She tried her sweetest, most innocent smile. "Will you go out with me or not?"

Scorpius hesitated, not liking the dishonest gleam in her eye. His mind flickered to his feelings for Rose, how Rose never seemed untruthful, she either spoke her feelings or not. There was no deceit when it came to Rose, unless it was all in favour of a joke. Scorpius blinked hard, willing his feelings for Rose to subside, just for a moment. The only way to distract his heart from aching was to remind himself of how miserable Albus and Lunette were when they broke up before. Albus was like his brother, and he'd do anything to keep him happy.

"You'll leave Albus alone?"

Robin smirked "I never really wanted him in the first place, and I can't help but wonder what Tinker sees in him."

Scorpius grit his teeth, ignoring the slander of his best friends. "Fine, one date."

"Oh, I think you'll change your mind about that." Robin winked. "Now, I better get going. It's past curfew and I wouldn't want a detention. Happy Valentine's Day." she said and kissed his pale cheek before strutting off to the Ravenclaw common room.

By the time Scorpius caught up to Rose, she was already heading back to the head common room. She did not acknowledge him when she walked beside her, Scorpius groaned and rolled his eyes eternally. He cursed whatever had caught him in the situation of having feelings for a girl he thought he hated, and then somehow managed to end up forced into a date with a girl he did not care about in the slightest. Rose, unaware of Scorpius's self argument in his head as whether or not speak to her, found herself both irritated because she had been left to do the rounds on her own, and because she was curious as to what took Scorpius so long talking to Robin. Rose and Scorpius reached their rooms, without a single word spoken between them and the decision whether or not to start talking still had yet to reach a conclusion.

The clock ticked on, across the room from where Rose lay in her bed trying to sleep. She shut her eyes, tossed and turned, but she couldn't settle. It was as if something was nagging at her brain and she knew it had to be something to do with Scorpius. She knew by now that it was always because of Scorpius. She had barely spoken to him, barely looked him in the eye, since her break up with Ben. Partly, and the only reason Scorpius was aware of, because she had cried in front of him. But the other reason being that Ben thought she had feelings for Scorpius, feelings quite the opposite of the hatred she tried to show every day. And some part of her head thought that perhaps Ben was right, after all Rose did miss being Scorpius's friend. And while they had been friends, there were moments when she thought that perhaps they could have been more. Rose hadn't dared look Scorpius in the eye, she dared not to listen to the tiny insignificant voice in her mind telling her to at least try friendship again. Instead she listened to the clock as it wound its way around another hour.

She heard a floorboard creak in the room next to her. Scorpius was still awake. Rose had never been very good at patience. It was one of the many reasons why she wasn't surprised not to be put into Hufflepuff. So when her mind starts racing going around in circles and she still couldn't sleep, Rose acted on impulse. She tripped down her own stairs, not really feeling the pain of a stubbed toe, and carefully climbed up the stairs leading to Scorpius's room. She knocked on the door a little too hard.

Scorpius jumped at the sound.

"Weasley?" he asked cautiously as he sat in bed with his book laying open and forgotten beside him. He began to think he had imagined the knock. "Wishful thinking" he muttered bitterly under his breath.

But there was a knock on his door again. Scorpius yawned and swung it open, fully prepared to see no one there and confirm it was all in his head. The sight a very wound up Rose startled him. She looked as though she would burst if she didn't speak.

"I'm done being embarrassed. Can we go back to arguing?" She blurted out in one breath.

Scorpius blinked, "Sure," he answered automatically. His head finally caught up and the thought of going back to arguing hurt his heart. He didn't want to argue with Rose anymore, but if it was the only way for them to talk, then he would suffer through it. "Whatever." he mumbled. He stood up straight and looked her in the eye, she was still uncertain. "There was no need for you to be embarrassed anyway. It's not like I told anyone. You might hate me, but that doesn't justify me telling people about shit you don't want them to know."

"I know," Rose signed and her shoulders visibly relaxed. "I know you wouldn't tell anyone. I might hate you but despite myself I know I can trust you." She rolled her eyes, mostly to herself "Which is why I realise I was being stupid. If we have to work together as head boy and head girl, we need to stop the whole ignoring thing."

Scorpius stared at her face, her eyes slightly covered by a mass of curly hair. "Is there any chance we can be friends again?" He saw Rose tense, but he quickly continued before she could argue. "I know I messed up with the whole, you having a boyfriend, thing. But we were kids back then, I didn't know any better. I took it too far and you took it too seriously. And when I look back at it now, it seems like a stupid thing to end a friendship over, you're not even with Stirling-"

"Malfoy that's not why we're not friends. Yes that argument started it, but that's when I realised that you never trusted me as much as I trusted you. Trust is a two way thing, you were never open with me like you were for Al, and I had had enough." Rose couldn't help but sadly smile, "I guess I was jealous of your friendship with Al. I just wanted to be close to you as well."

Scopius squeaked. Knowing that he had been jealous of Felix Stirling, was the only reason why they had argued about it in the first place. And to hear that Rose had been jealous too, was just too much of a heartbreaking coincidence, that he felt like screaming at himself.

"You know what's really silly?" Rose continued, looking embarrassed. "I actually convinced myself, a few times, that I was different to you. So, yeah, you had Al and were really close to him because you were such great friends. And instead of admitting jealousy, my brain ignored the obvious and decided to invent this fanciful notion that I was somehow special, and more than a friend to you." Rose chuckled. "Kids can be so dumb sometimes." she turned and began to descend the stairs, stopping only briefly, "Good night Malfoy." she said without looking at him and went back to her room.

If she had been looking, Rose would have seen Scorpius's mouth gaping knew his own jealousy of Rose and Al's close relationship, but had never realised that Rose had been jealous of his own closeness with Al. He wanted to call out to her, confirm her 'fanciful notion' that she was indeed, and always had been, very special to him. Scorpius's voice was stuck in his throat. And, for what seemed like the hundredth time, he watched Rose walk away when he wanted to say so much more to make her stay.

MARCH

News of Scorpius and Robin's first date in Hogsmeade travelled fast. Mostly because Robin spread the gossip herself and, just to prove the point further, she clung to his arm as they walked down from the school with the rest of the students, grinning with smug triumph.

Scorpius couldn't say he was happy at all. He would much rather have spent the whole day with Albus and Lunette, or in the shared common room with a book, or, if he was completely honest with himself, Scorpius knew that he's rather spend the whole day with Rose smiling by his side, then he would be happy wherever they were. But he reminded himself that that wasn't going to happen, probably ever.

Robin noticed his disinterest. "I know I was the one who asked you out, and that might bother your fragile male ego, but can you at least try and look like you're happy to be dating me."

Scorpius held the door open for her as they entered the Three Broomsticks, his face wearing an expression of pure apathy. "We're not dating, we're just on a date." he mumbled, "And why would I care that you asked me? What difference would that make to my happiness? I don't want to do this."

They sat down at a table in the corner of the room, Robin tried holding Scorpius's hand but he snatched it away.

"You're impossible Scorpius." She chuckled, seeming unfazed by his discomfort. "But I will not be put out. I told you I would change your mind about this one date, and I will. You're going to have fun and enjoy my company whether you like it or not."

"You make no sense." Scorpius grumbled as he stood to go and order butterbeer from the owner, Hannah Longbottom.

"Ah, young Malfoy! What can I get you?" She said kindly, after the battle at Hogwarts Hannah had seen a new side in herself, she was someone more self-confident but remained kind and still flustered under pressure. Hannah's ownership of the pub was made most students respect her husband enough for them to see what a good teacher he was. And of that, she was more proud.

"Two butterbeers please Mrs Longbottom." Scorpius asked gloomily, though his mood had slightly improved as he spoke to someone other than Robin.

"I see you got a date." Hannah grinned. "What happen to your thing with our Rose then? Did it all fall through?" she asked, having seen Scorpius with Albus all the time, having heard bits and bobs from Neville and being practically another aunt to Rose, Hannah had assumed some sort of relationship.

Of course, Scorpius didn't know this, so he simply frowned and wondered where on earth the Three Broomsticks owner got that idea from. "Well, there was nothing there to begin with." Scorpius said uncertainty.

Hannah knew that tone of voice, the young man before her seemed disappointed. She smiled knowingly, "Whatever you say." She slid the butterbeer to him over the counter. "Have fun and tell little Al I said hello, if he's not hanging around with you then I'll assume he's not coming down this weekend."

Scorpius nodded, still not really sure what she was saying, and rejoined Robin. She whispered in Scorpius's ear as soon as he sat down, making him jump. She was too close and it made him uncomfortable.

"Our dearest friend in the world just walked in."

The whisper made Scorpius prickle and he visibly cringed and shuffled a little bit away from her. But her words had caught his attention, and he looked up to the door. Rose was making her way behind Lily and Hugo, to the bar. She had two books in her arms and a bag overflowing with parchment covered in her rushed handwriting. Rose looked around the room as well, she spotted Scorpius and almost found herself smiling, until she saw Robin beside him. She was shocked. But some suspicious part of her mind told her it was obvious and that she should have guessed earlier. Rose sent her glaring eyes towards Scorpius, completely ignoring Robin. Then she turned, muttered some lousy excuse to her cousin and brother, then marched out.

As soon as the door closed after Rose, Scorpius stood in an instant. Robin barely had time to recognised that Scorpius was moving, before he darted towards the door. Hugo managed to catch Scorpius's eye before he was out of the door, the disappointed look from the young ginger boy, drove home the question as to what on earth had possessed him to agree to even speak to Robin in the first place.

Scorpius threw open the door, only to find Rose had stumbled over the step and fallen, instead of getting up, Rose's priority was the books she had dropped which were worryingly near to the remains of the melting sludge that had been snow. Knowing she'd hex him if he tried to help, Scorpius backed away into the Three Broomsticks. He'd take his chances of an insufferable conversation with someone he didn't know very well but was certain he would end up hating. He knew that whatever shouting Rose might have in store for him, could wait until they were in the shared common room. They both knew that the head boy and girl had to keep up appearances for a morally strong and harmonious student body.

Rose headed straight for the library, her sole intent was to spend the entire weekend in the library and hope that she wouldn't run into anyone except for Katie, who usually stayed quiet.

But being alone was the last thing she should have done. As the hours passed, she couldn't stop thinking about Scorpius and Robin. It made her blood boil with his hypocrisy. She couldn't concentrate on the story of the MacBoon family of the Isle of Drear transfiguring themselves into man eating Quintapeds, so she packed up her care of magical creatures textbook and left the library. She was just thinking about how she would have the common room to herself for a few hours, and how she was going to read a fictional wizard book that her grandma had sent. When Rose ran into Ben in the corridor outside her common room.

"Ben, hi." Rose smiled, she finally felt how good it was to see him as a friend, it felt natural but still a bit awkward.

"Rose." he said with a grumble and a nod before strutting off.

Rose frowned, but shrugged off his grumpiness.

"Wait." His voice called her back. "I want to talk to you." he mumbled and looked around to check that no one else was around. He took a deep breath and looked her up and down. He shook his head sadly and a bitter glare came over his eyes. "I don't get you Rose, you don't seem that bothered by our break up."

"What?" she was taken aback, Rose thought there was no need for further discussion after their break up in the library. "We agreed to just be friends."

"Well, no offence, but you're acting like a heartless robot who doesn't have any feelings. Or, dare I say it, a ginger with no soul. Aren't girls meant to be more emotional?" there was no civility in his expression, just one of malice that Rose hadn't seen before.

"Excuse me?!" Rose growled through gritted teeth. "No offence?! Ben, why are you saying these things?!". Rose knew it was her fault that they broke up, but she wasn't going to take any abuse laying down.

"Look, we broke up because our feelings didn't match up, I get that. I can't shake the feeling that it was probably because you have feelings for… well, someone else." Ben continued to grumble, he didn't want to say Scorpius's name, it made his bitterness increase. "But I know that you did like me at some point, and we had fun. Why do I feel like I'm the only one who's bothered by our break up? Do you know what I did straight after? I ran to my room and cried."

"You cried?" Rose whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah, men cry, I'm not ashamed and crying doesn't make me any less of a man." Ben stuck up his chin.

"Well I know that," Rose rolled her eyes, she wasn't about to get into a debate as to whether or not it's manly to cry. It was the sort of pointless thing that common sense made obvious.

Scorpius had managed to pry himself away from Robin and just wanted to spend the rest of the day in the common room where he assumed Rose would be. So he was a bit surprised to see her in the corridor talking to her ex. He felt jealous again, but reminded himself that he really shouldn't be. Creeping closer, he could hear what Rose was saying, and to hear Rose putting herself down, it hurt more than Scorpius thought it ever would.

"I'm not worth crying over." She said in a matter of fact manner. "I'm really not. I didn't treat you way you should be treated, I managed to hurt you and ruin a perfectly good friendship. I'm not worth your time, energy or tears.."

"Oh, and you didn't cry because you really are a heartless-" Ben spat, Rose interrupted.

"Don't say it!" Rose put her hand up to stop him. "Ben, I've thrown myself into my education. I know I did that before, but I've barely given myself time to think about anything but N.E. . My feelings," she finally spotted Scorpius coming towards their common room, she sighed and looked at the ground, "My feelings are conflicting right now and I don't want to think about it."

"Well it's nice to know that I meant something to you." Ben said sarcastically. "Look, Rose, if you didn't like me that much, why did you agree to go out with me?"

"Are you kidding?" Rose raised her eyebrows. "You were the first guy I dated that I actually cared about! You flirted with my best friend and my cousin once and I almost hurt someone!" she refused to look up at Scorpius approaching, she knew that he could hear but she didn't want to stop her flow. This needed to be said to Ben otherwise he would want to bring it up again and again and then they would never be able to work together. That was the last thing the quidditch team needed. Rose took a deep breath. "You told me to give McLaggen a chance, and I had never been more angry with him in my life. I admit that when we went out, I didn't really feel much more than friendship." Rose shrugged, she felt like a crappy person. She had genuinely liked Ben, but other new feelings kept on popping up. "I liked you, honestly I did. I just didn't like you in the way that I thought I did, if that even makes sense. I had two relationships before you and I was never felt for them what I thought I felt for you. Look, this, all of this, was-is my fault. I'm not worth your tears, I'm not worth your anger. I'm no good for anyone right now."

"Oh, right, yeah. Because you had feelings for someone else." Ben said accusingly.

"Wait, no that wasn't it." Rose frantically shook her head, knowing that if Scorpius heard that then he would be smug all day and she would just be embarrassed. And she was already annoyed with him.

"It's alright, I won't tell anyone about you feelings for him." Ben saw Scorpius out of the corner of his eye, he turned around and rolled his eyes before turning back to Rose.

"No, you're wrong, it's nothing like that. I don't'-"

"It's ok Rose I won't say anything to anyone."

"No-"

"Malfoy is probably a slick git just like his dad and his grandfather. You guys will be great together." Ben shrugged with defeat and tried to walk away.

Rose instantly stopped her need to make him understand that she had no feelings for Scorpius. Scorpius himself slumped and wished he could apparate within school walls. He was mortified that people still thought of him that way. She was angry.

Rose tapped Ben on the shoulder, and he turned around to look at her.

Her eyebrows knitted with anger, "Don't you dare insult the head boy to my face. He happens to be very dear to my cousin and to my best friend, might I add. Ben, you're lucky that I'm head girl and meant to be a good natured example to the younger students, or I would hex you so bad that your own family would fear the sight of you."

"So much for an amicable break up. I guess your incapable of that."

"I would've been, but you brought Malfoy into this for no reason. You also just judged him on his last name, something that my cousins and I have all been through. And we've had enough of it. You might not realise it Ben Rome, but a family name as well known as Weasley, or Potter, or Malfoy, always gets recognised for its reputation. People judge us before they even know us." she growled. "I wanted to be your friend again Ben, you're a good quidditch captain and we need to get along, but I don't know if I can anymore. I thought you were better than this" she huffed and stormed to the head common room hidden door. Ben was gone by the time she got there, and Scorpius had already made his way gloomily inside.

Rose got inside and closed the door, she leant against it a sighed. It had been a long day, and it wasn't even over yet. She swung her bag off her shoulder and started unloading her textbooks and papers onto her desk. One glance at Scorpius's desk across from hers and she could see he that he had started drafting a revision timetable already.

As Scorpius came down from his bedroom, he was about to speak to Rose, who had her back to him, but was interrupted by an unfamiliar screech-owl swooping through the open window with a note. It landed by Scorpius, dropped him a note and then flew out the window again. Confused, Rose and Scorpius stood watching the open window in silence. Owls never came into their common room. They got their post from the same place as everyone else, in the great hall. Thinking the note must be important, Scorpius quickly opened it. Curious, Rose kneeled on the window seat and peered outside. Far below she could see a few students hanging around, the screech-owl leaping off one of the student's arms and heading to the owlery. They were Ravenclaws, she could see as much from their uniforms, but other than that they were too far away to see any recognisable faces. An annoyed groan from Scorpius, pulled Rose away from the windowsill.

"Urgent message?" Rose asked as she returned to organising the books on her desk, trying not to sound as curious as she really was.

Scorpius re-read the short note, then threw it in the fire. "Just a note from Robin."

"Oh, right. You're dating Robin Stirling now aren't you." Rose felt her annoyance from the library return.

Scorpius slumped on the sofa, he knew what was coming and thought it better to face it head on.

"Don't bother, I know what you're going to say."

Rose sharply turned around. "Oh no you don't. Don't brush me off, you are going to listen, you foul git." she leant on the back of the opposite sofa and glared. "You think you can date Robin and expect me not to say a word. But when I dated her brother you took the piss."

"Do not bring up Felix, he was nothing to you and you know it." he rolled his eyes.

Rose smirked "And Robin means so much to you does she? Well perhaps I should just reiterate what you said to me." She stood up straight, "This relationship clearly shows that you have poor judgement, so I don't trust you. I guess, you won't have the problem of her being too nice, but you might get in trouble with her smothering you and being too clingy, and then you know to break up." Rose felt herself get worked up as she glared once more. "I think I deserve this Malfoy, to finally stand here and coldly criticise everything about someone you're in a relationship with. Oh wait, my opinion doesn't and never has mattered to you!"

"Should I be flattered or worried that you remember all that?"

"Malfoy, you loathsome gargoyle-!" she charged round the front of the sofa.

Scorpius quickly stood up and interrupted her. "Ok, ok, but you can't use Felix Stirling against me. That's not fair and you know it!"

"Why not?" she crossed her arms. "You spent years pretending to be my friend, only to then go destroy all confidence I've ever had in a relationship! Double standards, it's not alright for me but it's fine for you!"

"That's not fair, it's different now, back then I didn't know how I-" he paused and thought about what he truly wished he could say- 'I didn't know felt about you, I didn't know that I was jealous. That I wanted, and still do want, to be with you romantically. Because I might be seventeen years old but I'm bloody well on my way to falling in love with you.'-He said none of this outloud, but stood staring hopelessly into her eyes.

"Surprise me Malfoy, what didn't you know?" she mocked, not knowing his heart.

"Never mind." he sighed, disappointed with himself "I have a girlfriend to go and meet up with."

"After seven years of knowing you, you are still unbelievable." Rose scoffed and fell onto the sofa. "Poor little Malfoy only knows how to destroy a so called friendship and ruin what little self-confidence a girl had in her ability to function in a relationship."

Scorpius sat down again. "I never meant to end our friendship, I never meant to screw up your self-confidence."

Rose leant back and stretched herself out on the sofa, knowing that a fight was pointless. They both knew she was right, but that didn't hurt her any less. She couldn't look him in the eye, and spoke softly.

"You never thought of the consequence your words had, did you? Our friendship might have meant so little to you that you didn't think twice about knocking me down, it meant so little that you didn't even care about me. But once upon a time, you meant a hell of a lot to me." Rose suddenly realised what she had said, all her anger suddenly turned from Scorpius to herself. "Forget I said anything" she stood, grabbed her gryffindor scarf from her desk and left the common room.

Scorpius watched the fire burn away the note from Robin. He could barely muster the motivation to go and meet her in the great hall, but he managed it after some time.

Rose, meanwhile, had met up with Lunette and Albus in the courtyard. All of them bundled in their scarves, the sun was only just peeking through the clouds, it would soon set, and it was a cold afternoon in March. Albus and Lunette sat side by side while Rose kept on getting up to pace in front of them. Half to keep herself warm and half out of annoyance with Scorpius.

"I cannot believe he is going out with her." she muttered.

"It is a bit out of the blue isn't it." Albus agreed.

"Why are you smiling?!" Rose stopped short when she noticed Lunette hardly containing a grin.

"Oh no reason, you just seem very put off by it all." Lunette shrugged, her smile growing wider.

"Well of course I am. He has the nerve to- ugh!" Rose sat next to Lunette in a huff "The argument that tipped us off the edge of being friends, into full on enemies was the whole bloody thing with Felix. And now he has the bloody nerve to go out with Felix's sister!"

"Jealousy takes it toll." Lunette spoke in a matter-of-fact tone that made Albus laugh.

"What?" Rose was bewildered.

"He won't know how you feel unless you tell him Rose." Lunette answered.

Rose frowned. "He already knows that I hate him."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. Tell him how you feel about this Rose, you might be surprised how much your opinion means-" Albus started to join in.

"My opinion has never meant anything!" Rose interrupted loudly, half standing up in the process.

"Ok calm down." Lunette put a comforting hand on Rose's shoulder and guided her friend to sit down again. "You're wrong, but you don't want to hear that so pretend I said nothing.

"Sometimes I don't understand you two." Rose rolled her eyes.

"That's because we're honest with our feelings." said Albus as Lunette rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thin ice Al, you're on thin ice with me." Rose grumbled.

"Yeah right, you could never be mad at me." Albus smiled smugly.

"Well it's nice that you're talking to us. It's been a while." Lunette changed the subject.

"You guys were always with Malfoy." Rose shrugged.

"And despite having a boyfriend and plenty of friends, you've been on your own all year. Rose stop pushing us away and blaming Scorp. It would make everything easier if you guys were friends again, I bet you'd both be happier that way as well, but it's going to happen any time soon."

"No it's not. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just come back to us. We want our Rose back."

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys." Rose smiled. They were right of course, since getting a room to herself and only having to share the common room with one other person, Rose had slipped into the habit of being alone. Wanted to be on her own wasn't a bad thing, but it did mean that she often neglected to talk to her friends as often as she should have. Rose also knew that, had she not been so wrapped up in being on her own, her year at school might've been improved considerably by being around Lunette, Al and Lily.

"I often think the same thing," Lunette said with a sigh. "You know, I've never had friends like you guys. You practically saved me at Christmas, Rose."

"You would've done the same for us." said Albus.

"Where is your dad now?" Rose asked.

"Dad's not found anywhere for us to live yet. I mean, he's got a flat with an extra bedroom but he keeps saying that, if it's just the two of us, we'll need more space. Well, I keep saying that I'm at Hogwarts until June, so it doesn't really matter." Lunette complained as she thought about the daily letters she received from her recently very apologetic father. "Though mum is back in France so there's a chance that he might get the house."

"How is your mum?"

"I wouldn't know, she doesn't write to me." she grumbled. "On the up side, if she's not contacting me then neither are my grandparents."

Albus wrapped his arms around Lunette and kissed her forehead, Rose patted her comfortingly on the shoulder.

"Mum did say that you're welcome to stay at our house after graduation, until you find a job and a place of your own." Rose added.

"My parents said the same." Albus added. "My dad was taken in by my mum's side of the family, he knows firsthand what it's like to come from a family that have no interest in you."

"That's very kind, but I really think I can convince dad that I don't care where I stay as long as I have my own room."

The next morning was a Sunday. Scorpius and Rose had gone to bed without seeing each other since their argument. So when Rose came down from her room to see Scorpius busy writing away at his desk, she was quite content not to say a word and just sit down to do some revision of her own. Scorpius glanced at her a few times, trying to think of what to say, but nothing came to mind. And hour passed, it was soon mid morning, so they both popped down to the great hall for breakfast. Not meaning to leave at the same time, but it happened all the same. Walking unintentionally side by side, ignoring one another. Rose took her seat beside Lily and Hugo, Scorpius sat next to Albus at the end of the Slytherin table. Robin made sure to catch Rose's attention when she strode up to the Slytherin table to kiss Scorpius on the cheek before returning back to the Ravenclaw table. Rose shrugged it off, she didn't particularly care. Scorpius was embarrassed at the attention and wished he had never agreed to go out with Robin, he reminded himself it was to keep her away from Albus and Lunette. Though he wasn't sure Robin had been telling the truth, he couldn't risk it on the off chance she wasn't.

The entire afternoon they managed to avoid each other. Rose spent the rest of the morning with Lily, then met up with Albus and Lunette in the afternoon. While Scorpius spent the morning with Albus and Lunette, leaving them to go to the library because he knew that Rose would want to see them but wouldn't if he was around. Besides, even if Robin found him, she could not get away with talking in the library. He ended up spotting Katie Webb, a friend from Ravenclaw, in the library and worked quietly with her.

Rose and Scorpius didn't look each other in the eye until the prefect meeting. They did their rounds together in silence. Then returned to their common room in silence. Rose sat down on one sofa and Scorpius was about to sit on the one opposite when Rose shouted in alarm.

"DON'T!" She half stood up and stuck her arm out to stop him from sitting.

"What, you really hate me so much you'll deny me sitting even near you? We share a common room Weasley, you've got to get used to me at some point." Scorpius mumbled bitterly.

Rose spoke calmly with a hint of amusement in her tone. "I was just going to say that I had a Mimbulus mimbletonia in here earlier, and I dropped it on the sofa and that's when Stinksap got everywhere." She sat back down on the clean sofa and shrugged. "I tried to clean it up, I didn't do a good job of it. But if you want to sit there just to be near me," she mocked smugly, "then be me guest." Rose looked up and hit him with an amused grin.

Scorpius looked at the sofa, then back at Rose. "Why did you have a Mimbulus mimbletonia up here?" Was all he could think to ask, her clumsiness was nothing new or surprising.

"Katie asked me to look after it for her while she went to the library. Madam Pince yelled at her for trying to take it in." Rose said casually and found her book under a pillow. She started reading, but looked up with a jolt when she felt the other half of the sofa move.

Scorpius sat beside her and nodded when she peered at him.

"When's your next quidditch practice?" He asked, trying to start a conversation. His spirits raised when Rose put down her book to answer.

"Tomorrow."

They took a moment to watch each other, neither one wanting to admit it but they enjoyed the company after a long weekend.

Scorpius was desperate to say something else before she went back to her book to ignore him, or back to her room. So his mouth formed a random sentence that he didn't think twice about.

"You know, the Ancient Greeks believed that redheads turned into vampires when they died."

Rose frowned in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?" she asked in bewilderment with a muddled expression.

"Well, you know, redheads are pale and so they stay out of sunlight for prolonged periods of time and-"

"No no, I don't care. But why on earth did you say that- Oh never mind, I suppose I'll never understand you." Rose sighed and stretched lazily.

A thought occurred to Scorpius, and just like his random fact, he couldn't stop himself from saying it out loud. "After this year we might never see each other again Weasley.

"Don't celebrate too loudly." Rose shrugged, not looking at him. She flicked through the pages to find her book mark.

"We were friends once, come on, at least pretend to feel some sort of emotion other than hate."

She stopped and slammed the cover. "What do you want me to say Malfoy? You're still friends with Albus so I'll probably run into you inevitably at some point, and we can trade insults then." Rose rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant. Merlin you're an impossible git sometimes." Scorpius slumped in defeat.

"You're not exactly making yourself clear dipshit." Rose darted a glare to him. 'Great, and I'm back to insults', she internally groaned at herself.

"If I was completely clear with you then-" he paused, and looked around the room. Neither were sure what the exact rules were for letting friends into the common room, and neither wanted to find out just in case the rules were a lot stricter than they assumed. "do you ever wonder, if people overheard our conversations, would they believe it?"

"I don't think some people even believe we were ever friends. Sometimes I don't believe it myself, and sometimes I don't think you could even call it a friendship."

"Weasley, please-" Scorpius whispered.

"Please what?" Rose sat up, quickly crossed her legs and turned to face him, ignoring the few cushions that she knocked on the floor in the process. "We can't be friends again and you know that. We used to argue too much back then, and we've argued far too much since and nothing can get over that. And I don't believe that you actually want to be my friend."

"You don't trust me?" Scorpius asked but it sounded more like a statement.

"What kind of question is that?" Rose readied herself for another rant, but the look in his eye prompted her to say the truth. " You know what, as much as we dislike each other, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I've been around you long enough to know that I can trust. If I wanted to, which I don't."

"You are one of the only people on this planet that I trust wholeheartedly." Scorpius looked her dead on in the eye. Mentally he pleaded with her to understand.

"Well then, it's too bad that you hate me." Rose stood and snatched her book from the sofa and went to her bedroom.

APRIL

The next morning Rose got up early, grumbling as she stumbled around her room still half asleep trying to find bits of her quidditch kit. There was a morning practise. She tried not to think about how awkward it would be with Ben, she had thought that perhaps they would have been fine, but after their argument just two days previous Rose had no such hopes. She only knew that she was determined to be civil. However, Rose wasn't foolish enough to think that if Ben himself or any of her teammates said something about the breakup then her temper wouldn't be set loose. She knew that was a very likely scenario. Rose took a deep breath halfway through pulling her socks on and looked out at the pale grey sky over the quidditch pitch and the light drizzle of rain.

'At least I can spend the morning flying around with Lily.' she thought to herself and pulled her sock up, slipping over in the process and knocked a bottle of perfume on her foot. She sighed and muttered 'reparo' the mending charm.

Scorpius had sent a note to Albus the night before asking him to come to the head common room before breakfast. So he also woke up early and met Albus outside the prefects bathroom. ALbus greeted him with a smile, Scorpius could only manage a nod.

"Can't even pretend to be happy to see your best friend" Albus tutted as they made their way to the common room. "What's eaten you?"

"Nothing, just one of those crappy days where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed after have very little sleep and then find yourself in a bad mood all day."

"Well, I'm glad I came up to visit you. What do you need?"

"You're good at charms right? Can you help me with this sofa, there's stink sap all over it apparently." Scorpius limply pointed to the sofa in question.

Rose left her room on time, still feeling groggy and tired. She was surprised to see Albus and Scorpius working together over one of the sofas.

"Oh hey Rose." Albus grinned.

"Morning Al." Rose croaked.

"Morning!" Scorpius suddenly shot up from the sofa and grinned at her. His gloominess improved to genuine cheer in an instant upon seeing Rose.

It took everything in Albus not to point and laugh.

"Oh bloody hell," Rose grumbled some more. "it's so early in the morning. How are you in a good mood already? I swear on Merlin's trousers, if you don't stop smiling I'll throw something at you."

"Ah, Rose in the morning, it's always a pleasure." Al smirked again, this time it earned him a glare from Rose.

"What's got you so happy?" She asked Scorpius before yawning.

"My best friend is here, it's a beautiful day-"

They all looked out the window as the light rain had turned to thunder and lightning cracked the sky, the rain became louder and louder as it fell heavier.

"Yeah whatever." Rose left rolling her eyes.

Scorpius sighed and slumped on the freshly cleaned sofa as he watched her walk out the door, he saw Albus sniggering beside him.

"What?"

"You couldn't love her more even if you tried." Albus's smug expression lingered.

"Oi, watch it. I've got a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend you don't like."

"Yeah, Robin is bloody annoying." Scorpius was down again and Albus sat beside him. "She keeps on trying to guilt trip me into spending more time with her. And the guilt trip and manipulation isn't working, I don't care about her enough to fall for it. I hate having a girlfriend that I don't like."

"You only hate having a girlfriend because the girlfriend isn't Rose. I know you too well buddy." Albus patted his friend on the shoulder. "Why don't you break up with her? I mean, you didn't want to go out with her in the first place, I have no idea why you agreed to go on that date."

"Yeah, whatever." Scorpius said in a gloomier way than Rose had when she left.

"Seriously, break up with her." Albus rolled his eyes, "Even Lunete, who thinks that every couple is cute and wants everybody to stay together, would recommend it."

Scorpius shrugged helplessly. "I can't"

"Why-" Albus paused to think for a moment. "oh I get it. Typical Scorpius. You don't want to hurt her feelings!" he laughed sympathetically. "That's it isn't it!"

"Well, can you blame me? I don't need anymore enemies," Scorpius tried to defend himself. "Weasley hating me is already killing me, I don't want more people being pissed off the moment I enter a room."

"But you don't care about Robin. And by staying with her you're only hurting yourself."

"I know." Scorpius picked up a scarf from under the sofa that had been dropped days ago, it was Rose's Gryffindor one.

Albus sighed and shuffled to look directly at his friend. "Merlin's beard, you're too nice for this world"

"I wish Weasley knew that." Scorpius starred at the scarf in his hands.

"You could start by calling her by her first name." Albus said bluntly.

"She'd kill me, literally kill!" he stood and put the scarf on Rose's desk. "You know, when she found out I was dating Robin, she was only mad at me because of the whole argument we had in fourth year about Felix Sterling. It's completely hopeless. Not that I'm going out with Robin to make her jealous- it would be nice if she reacted just a bit differently, in some way that showed she cared- oh who am I kidding?" Scorpius slumped down on the sofa next to Albus.

"You're a heartbreaking case Scorp, and I'd tell you to give up on her if- if I didn't think that maybe there were some hope for you guys."

"So, it's not hopeless?" Scorpius sharply turned to look at Albus.

Albus shrugged. "Now don't get too excited, it's just the opinion of your two closest friends, who also happen to be Rose's closest friends as well" this time he patted his friend sympathetically on the head. It had become his way of comforting Scorpius, almost treating him like an upset puppy or a lonely kitten. "Come one mate, I want some breakfast."

Rose had met Lily outside of the Gryffindor common room and they walked down to the great hall for breakfast. Hugo was also there, still in his pyjamas, he nodded to his sister and told them to have fun in the rain with cheeky sarcasm, before he went back to bed.

"Are the rest of the team down already?" Rose asked Lily.

"I think Kibwe and Jyn are. I know Phil and Justin were still getting dressed. No idea about Ben." Lilly explained quickly. She glanced at Rose, "I know I shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway because your my cousin and I care about you, but I also care about winning the upcoming match. I want us to win the quidditch cup mostly so- I mean I want to win because I want gryffindor to win- with the added bonus that I can rub in James's face and say that we're great without him. Not that he wasn't a good captain, he really was and Gryffindor almost always won, don't tell him I said that. I guess that's the good thing about having Albus in Slytherin, I can rub a win in both of their faces. Get some extra material to insult them-" she paused, "I'm waffling about something else entirely now, anyway, how are things with Ben now that you've broken up?"

Rose's nostrils flared. "Yeah you really shouldn't've asked." she forced herself to take a breath, not letting her temper win this time. "I'm not gonna lie, this might be awkward. Last time we spoke he called me a soulless robot."

"The bastard!" Lily was outraged.

"But as long as we both act civil and no one else talks about it, I think I can manage the awkwardness." Rose said stiffly, she stopped walking for a moment, Lily stopped with her, "I know doesn't make sense, I know that, but I feel if I can get through this practise and prove to myself that I can be civil with my ex, then the rest of the quidditch season will be fine."

"It kind of makes sense." Lily shrugged as they started walking down again.

Breakfast was mostly eaten in silence after they greeted Jyn and Kibwe, then Phil and Justin when they arrived not long after. Ben was nowhere to be seen until they reached the pitch, on their way out of the hall the team passed Scorpius who didn't give them a second glance, and Albus who ruffled his little sister's hair.

Ben was already flying around the pitch waiting for them.

"Come one slow pokes!" he shouted with a charming grin down at his team.

Once they grabbed their brooms Ben meet them on the ground and gave them the obligatory run through of what they were going to do to prepare for the game against Slytherin in two weeks. He only took a fleeting look at Rose, both their expressions blank, both wanting to focus on the upcoming game. Lily listened to him with a protective glint in her eye that dared anyone to say anything to Rose. Rose sighed with relief when they took off into the air and she could centralise her thoughts on one thing, keeping the quaffle away from the hoops. She weaved, rolled and did loop-the-loop with such precision that she was wide awake long before the practise was half way through and her mind was far from any resentment she might have had for her captain. Ben circled around above them, he was pleased with all of their performances and had encouraging words for them all. Even his ex.

Practise was finally over, and as was the rain. Jyn commented that the sky was mocking them and was waiting just until they finished to cheer up, she theorised that perhaps someone from Slytherin was just in a bad mood, which made the team laugh as they made their way to the changing rooms together.

"Rose," Ben called out after they had changed. "Can I have a word before we go to class?"

Rose took a deep breath, she looked at lily who gave her a reassuring smile. She walked with Ben closer to the castle in silence, deciding that he could start the conversation.

"I just," he started with uncertainty, the confidence he had as a captain on the quidditch pitch was shaking. "I just wanted to say sorry, for our last conversation. Is there any ways you could forgive me?" he didn't look her in the eye, he stared at his shoes. "We decided to be friends and I kind of made that go to shit." he shrugged.

Rose managed a sort of half smile. "You should stop apologising, it was my fault we broke up." Ben looked up and was about to say something but Rose kept on talking to silence him. "That's past us now. You're my quidditch captain, and a good one at that." she stuck out her had. "If you look me in the eye, will you give a friend a handshake?"

Ben smiled too, looked her dead in the eye with a gaze of respect and shook her hand.

"Good." Rose nodded. "I'm not going to lie, this is awkward." She kept a small smile.

"Yep." Ben agreed. "It's going to be awkward for a while isn't it?"

"It's ok, this is our last year." Rose nodded again and started her walk back to the castle. Most of the others students had finished or were about to finish their breakfast so that they could get to class. And Rose felt like walking in silence for a bit so she didn't wait for Lily to catch up.

She made her way from the changing rooms via the training grounds to an archway entrance into the castle. She heard the familiar giggle and husky voice of Robin Stirling, Rose could never understand why some of the guys liked it so much. She braced herself for the inevitable, to see Scorpius and Robin acting like a nauseating couple. However, to her surprise, Rose found the corridor empty and wondered what on earth she had thought she had heard. Then the giggle came again. Rose peaked over the curved glasses windows that lined the stone corridor, and sure enough she spotted Robin below. It was unmistakably her. But the guy she that her giggles were for, the guy she was snogging against the wall, was not her boyfriend and Rose's enemy. Scorpius was nowhere in sight. The guy Rose did not recognise from the back had dark hair and was out of uniform, only wearing jeans and a red hoodie.

Rose muffled a gasp, so not to alarm them to her presence. A hot flash of anger coursed through her. HOW DARE SHE CHEAT ON MALFOY! Rose's thoughts raced through her mind. Revenge. Revenge for Scorpius, that was what her mind turned to. She peaked over the window again and calculated what she could throw at them. The years she spent at home before going to Hogwarts, Rose had practically used every Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product she could get her hands on. Her uncle George had let his children, nieces and nephews try them out, much to his sibling's dismay. Rose had been the best, not including her uncle George, her innocent face had fooled her aunts and uncles many times. Eventually she found the only thing that could tame her ruthlessness, a good book to lose herself in. James and Lorcan soon found themselves being the most frequent pranksters of the family, still they went to Rose for her opinion every now and then. But those years had left Rose with a habit she never got out of. Everywhere she went, Rose carried a small supply of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in her pockets. She stuffed her hand into the pockets of her robes and dug around for something. She shuffled into a shadow and pressed her back flat against the cold wall.

The head girl could not afford to be caught.

"I can't." Rose muttered to herself. She looked down at her head girl badge, it practically screamed at her. Rose took a deep breath, it was clear she couldn't do anything to get revenge on Robin. 'Why do I even want revenge?' she asked herself. It was a fair question, Robin had not actually done anything to Rose, or her family or anyone she considered a friend. She sighed to herself. "I need to control this temper." she whispered.

The echoing footsteps of her teammates returning to the castle made Rose move, she decided that she needed to think before she acted, something she wished she did more often. Rose was unwillingly reminded of the night she scared Scorpius just because she was angry at someone else and took it out on him. The guilt still tugged at her.

The rest of the students had finished their breakfast and Rose rushed to her first class, she had her magical creatures class with a mixed group of students from all houses. And though it was her favourite class, she was distracted. The fact that Scorpius was there and noticed that something was wrong with Rose, didn't help her concentration at all.

It wasn't until break after a few classes, that Rose was able to meet up with Lunette and Albus in the courtyard.

"What's the matter Rose, you look like you've had a shock. Has Peeves been up to something again?" Lunette peered at her friend with concern, Scorpius had warned them that she had been acting odd but now they could see it for themselves.

"Peeves is always up to something, but no I didn't see him." Rose unknit her brows and spoke clearly, "I just saw Robin Stirling making out with someone that wasn't Malfoy."

"Are you sure it was her?" Albus asked skeptically.

"Oh yeah," Rose nodded, "even if I hadn't seen her, I know her annoying voice anywhere."

"And you're sure it wasn't Scorius?" Lunette was apprehensive to jump to conclusions.

"Yep, unless he suddenly got a decent haircut, dyed it brown and shrunk half a foot." Rose rolled her eyes, she didn't expect to not be taken seriously by her best friends.

"Poor Scorp." Albus sighed. "Crap, he's meant to be smart and intuitive. He's the sort of person you would expect to know when he's being cheated on. People will laugh at him if a genius like Scorp didn't know that Robin is cheating."

"Al! How can you say that?!" Lunette frowned at his train of thought.

"Lunette, I'm only saying what other people will think." he justified himself "I mean, when Dan cheated on Rose, one or two people wanted to laugh but everyone's too scared of her to do it. Besides, not many people even found out about it." Albus turned to Rose, "Rose, you won't use this against Scorp will you?"

"What? Why would I?" Rose paused for a moment. "It never occured to me that I could humiliate Malfoy until you said that."

"Rose please-" Albus began to plead and was interrupted.

"I'm a big girl Al," Rose put on a sly smile, "I can decided what I do and don't do with certain information…"

"You could just tell Scorpius." Albus said flatly.

Rose dropped her sarcastic smile. "No way, I can't do that." she faced them both, "First of all, it's me so he won't believe me. And secondly, it'll sound like I'm making it up to criticise his choice in girlfriends, and that I'm just doing it to get back at him for criticising every boyfriend I've ever had."

"To be fair, Rose, your taste in boyfriends isn't exactly great." said Lunette.

"Well neither is Malfoy's taste in girlfriends." Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Wait, Rose I'm confused." Albus concentrated, "I don't understand what you're going to do now. If you don't do something, as Scorpius's friends, who now know what's going on, we have to tell him. I can't just stand aside while my best friend gets cheated on."

Rose shrugged and stood up, "It's fine, I'll figure something out." it was almost time to get back to class.

"I'll give you until tomorrow." Albus said seriously.

"What?" Rose spun and stared at him.

"I'm serious Rose," Albus stared back. "Scorp is like a second brother to me. I'm closer to him than I am to James. If you don't do anything about it by tomorrow, I'm telling him."

"Fine." Rose huffed. "See you later." she went to her history of magic class, with Ravenlaws. She sat beside Katie Webb and glared at the back of Robin's head.

Rose made up her mind to find Scorpius at lunch at talk to him about Robin, but she spotted the couple sitting together and he seemed calm. Not uncomfortable or irritated. And that threw Rose off of her plan.

"Katie, what do you do if you know that someone is cheating on their partner and you don't want to tell the partner because they won't believe you?" Rose whispered to her friend in the library during lunch.

Katie put down her book and watched Rose closely for a moment. "This isn't about Albus and Lunette is it? Because even I wouldn't believe that and I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying." Katie whispered back.

"Of course not!" Rose forgot to whisper and caught a glare from Madam Pince. "Sorry." Whispered across the room which only turned Madam Pince's glare into a full on death look.

Rose and Katie propped up a book and sunk behind it to whisper once more.

"Albus and Lunette are fine, it's just someone else who won't believe me. So I have to deal with this in a tactful way..." Rose ran out of words, she didn't want to admit it was Scorpius she was referring to.

Katie raised her eyebrows, she knew exactly who Rose was talking about. "Well, then, I guess you could talk to the one who's doing the cheating."

"And say what?" Rose said frantically just above a whisper.

Katie shrugged, "It depends if you want them the break up or just stop cheating. You have to decide what will hurt less for the person you're protecting."

"I'm not protecting anyone." Rose protested, "and I don't care if they get hurt."

"Then why get involved at all?" Katie fought hard to keep a smile off of her face. Rose was definitely lying about wanting to keep Scorpius from any harm. She had noticed it over years of knowing them both, they would insult and hex each other, but never to the point which would cause and pain, physical or emotional. Katie could also see that Rose was struggling, so she decided to nudge her into the better choice. "Of course, if you don't think there's much affection between the two, perhaps breaking up would be better for both parties. The one being unfaithful would be free to pursue someone else. While the other would simply be free of a relationship where the prospect of getting hurt had not occurred to them."

The idea made sense to Rose, she nodded in agreement. She was relieved to have run into Katie, and she was grateful to have had the fortune of becoming friends with her. If Rose had paused in her pursuit of dealing with Robin she would have realised that Katie did not need much context to know that they were talking about Scorpius.

At that moment only one thing could remain on Rose's mind. She had to confront Robin and she had to make sure that it never got out that she cheated on Scorpius. Many students would take any situation just so they could laugh in his face and make him the object of scorn and ridicule.

Scorpius managed to shake off Robin and spent the rest of his lunch with Albus and Lunette. He was surprised to find himself not completely annoyed with her after just spending 10 minutes with her. Scorpius didn't entertain the idea for more than a second, that he might actually start to like Robin if he gave her a chance. He was afraid that no one would ever measure up to what he felt for Rose. And he couldn't even tell her.

After Scorpius's Muggle Studies class with Albus, he made his way back to the shared common room and waited for Rose so that they could start their rounds of the corridors and check on the prefect progress. Rose was prompt from her revision session in the library, Scorpius expected the usual eye roll she gave him when she found him waiting for her, but instead she gave only a glance of what could only be a mixture of uncertainty and pity. They left together and did the rounds in almost silence as usual. It was overall uneventful until Rose spotted Robin.

Robin blew a kiss to Scorpius from across the hall, he nodded in return, something which Robin seemed to find hilarious and let an echoing giggle. Scorpius wished to move on quickly to the next floor, when he noticed Rose had paused. Her nostrils flared as she scowled at Robin walking gleefully away. Scorpius schooled his face to neutral and hid a laugh before Rose could spot him. A tad flustered, she followed him to the next corridor.

The next morning Scorpius had quidditch practise, he raced down to the common room to find his gloves and was instead distracted by Rose reading her book on the sfa, still in her pajamas. She was also distracted, not truly reading but seemed to be waiting for him to appear.

"You're up early for someone who despises getting out of bed." Scorpius commented while ducking under his desk to pick one glove that had dropped down there. "Did you sleep well?" he genuinely asked.

Rose mistook his interest as sarcasm, as he knew she would.

"Oh I slept fine," Rose put down her book and shone a fake smile then mumbled "you sarcastic git."

"Good insult, how long will it be until you stop using 'git'." Scorpius begged his face not to sure his amusement in their trading of insults.

"Just as soon as they come out with a different word to describe you, I hear they're working very hard. They thought that 'idiot' might be close but it's just not original enough." Rose's playful smile dripped with sarcasm.

"Idiot? Really? You wound me Weasley." He placed a hand on his heart and acted as if it hurt.

"Sadly not a fatal wound, you're still standing." Rose grinned at herself and returned to her book feeling satisfied that she has won the battle.

Scorpius let out a chuckle by accident, startling into looking up. He stared at her for a moment, realising his slip, then left quickly for quiddtich practise.

Rose dropped her book onto the sofa and ran to the window overlooking the training grounds, she would wait until Scorpius and his teammates went to the pitch, and then she would find Robin. One of the things about Robin that annoyed Rose so much was her boasting that she always did her best revision early in the morning. While Rose was lucky if she could manage to get out of bed without a groan, she was not a morning person in the slightest. There was a time, back in her first year, when she was so eager for her new classes that getting out of bed early was easy.

The second she spotted green quidditch robes, Rose tore herself from the window, shoved on her robes and shot down to the hall. She spotted Albus and Lunette sitting at the Hufflepuff table having the breakfast, so she joined them.

"I'm going to talk to her today." she muttered to them.

"Oh good morning Rose, how lovely it is to greet you." Albus said in a strained and sarcastic manner.

"You know, normal people try to put in a greeting before they start talking." Lunette chimed in.

"None of us are normal so I'll ignore that advise." Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm not staying for long anyway, I just came to tell you that I plan on talking to Robin today."

"And tell her what?" Albus was at a loss.

"I'm going to be direct and tell her to break up with Malfoy." Rose said uncertainly, she still wasn't sure if it was a good idea. And by the looks of her friend's faces, they weren't sure either. "Well what would you guys do?" she pleaded with and exasperated sigh.

"Tell Scorp! Then he can break up with her-" Lunette began.

Albus cut her off, "No, I've been thinking about what Rose said and she's right. Scorp would never believe her."

"Then we should tell him, we're his best friends and we can back her up." Lunette protested.

"And then he'll ask how you know and you'll say that you heard it from me and we'll be back to the original problem, he won't believe me." Rose finished Albus's line of thought.

"If you tell her to stop cheating, she won't take any notice." Albus's face scrunched up as he thought through Rose's plan. "If you tell her to break up with him, she might do it. Tell Robin that if she doesn't break up with Scorp then he will find out and break up with her. She'll feel like she gets the high ground by dumping him rather than being dumped." He looked up and raised his eyebrows. "This might be the only way."

Lunette bit her lip, she could see their point. "I don't want Scorp to get hurt."

"He never wanted to go out with her in the first place." said Albus.

"I've rearranged my revision schedule for today so I have an extra ten minutes to talk to her before I go the the library with Katie." Rose flicked through a notebook she pulled out of her bag.

Albus smacked his forehead with his palm in dismay and rolled his eyes. "Could you be more like Aunt Hermione?" he laughed and Lunette joined in.

Rose huffed and stuffed her notebook bag into her bag, "I've just wasted one of those scheduled minutes with you losers." She stood and gave a curt nod. "I'll see you later." Rose went off in the direction that they had seen Robin leave.

Lunette slipped her arm from around Albus's shoulder so that she could hold his hand. "I don't know why you didn't back me up, everything would be a lot simpler if Rose just told Scorp." she sighed, she wasn't offended but simply didn't understand his motive. "We know very well that Scorp would believe that a bunch of horklumps had evolved to sprout wings and were flying in space, if Rose was the one to tell him."

Albus shrugged. "But how can we tell her that without betraying the truth about how he feels about her?"

"Then he should tell her how he feels!" Lunette was getting a little fed up of their lack of understanding and honesty.

"They're not like us Lunette, they need time for things to heal."

Lunette leaned closer to Albus and kissed him deeply, "I love that you know your friends so well."

Rose caught up with Robin at the main staircase and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Stirling I need a word with you," she said in an unintentionally menacing manner. And she glared at the friends surrounding her. "Alone." she added.

Robin was immediately uncomfortable, but she shrugged it off with a fake laugh and made an excuse to her friends, "Don't mind me, just need to have a little pow-wow with our esteemed head girl." Then she followed Rose, to where she did not know.

Rose wasn't even sure where she was leading Robin, eventually she found her feet leading her instead. Towards the girls bathroom on the second floor. Robin recoiled when she noticed Rose reach for the door handle.

"No way, ew, Moaning Myrtle haunts in there!" Robin gave an involuntary shiver, "She creeps me out and annoys the hell out of me."

Rose sighed impatiently "She's not that bad. And you can stand to be around her for a few minutes." She held the door open for Robin. "Now get in."

Myrtle squealed and shot up from one of the stalls. "What are you doing here?" She floated closer to the girls. Myrtle hissed at Robin and giggled with the Ravenclaw jumped back and shivered again. She moved towards Rose with a curious eye, "And you, you're not here to brew another potion like your parents are you?"

"No Myrtle, I'm just here to talk with Sterling. There's no chance of you giving us some privacy is there?" Rose dared to ask hopefully.

Myrtle folded her arms to sulk for a moment, then her eyes lit up, "Hmmm, only if you tell your uncle Harry that I say hello." she let out a high pitch and shrill giggle, "He was an awfully naughty boy!"

Rose couldn't decide if she found Myrtle's description of her uncle repulsive or funny, either way all she did was smile. "Of course I will Myrtle, I'll write to him tonight."

Myrtle was satisfied and squealed once again, she looped backwards and flew into the closest toilet, zooming in the pipes to intrude on another toilet somewhere else in the castle.

"See, she can be reasonable, occasionally." Rose pointed out to Robin. Her tone changed in a snap when she brought up the matter at hand. "I, on the other hand, am less so." Rose nipped into each toilet stand to check that Myrtle was lurking there, then returned to Robin.

"I saw you, I know you've been cheating on Malfoy."

Robin exhaled. "So, why do you care?"

Rose grit her teeth and reminded herself not to be tempted to get her wand out. "I don't care. I really don't care about you and I really don't care about him. But Malfoy happens to be very dear to my best friends, and they don't want to see him get hurt. If I know that your actions will inevitably hurt him, then I will inevitably be blamed for not stopping you sooner." Rose's threatening expression was powerful enough to make Robin take a step back. "Now here's what you're going to do, you are going to break up with Malfoy in an amicable way that lets him know that it's all your fault and that you just don't see a future where you can make him happy. You will tell no one, not even him, that you were cheating. I will not tell anybody. And you will wait at least three weeks before you date another guy. That way we all get what we want. Albus will be satisfied that his friend won't be hurt, Malfoy won't be humiliated in any way. And you won't find boils on your back that spell out 'lying bitch', boils so permanent that no enchantment or potion in the world could ever remove them. And lastly, but most importantly, you will not speak or write about this conversation to anyone, living or dead, painting or photograph. Understand?"

Rose let her words sink in for a moment. Robin's frightened expression stared back at her. "Will you take my suggestion?"

Robin breathed heavily. "More of a threat than a suggestion." she muttered.

Rose shrugged. "Take it how you will."

"Permanent boils, you leave me no choice." Robin mumbled, and raked her hand through her hair. "I really can't date anyone for three weeks?" She asked incredulously.

"Three weeks isn't a lot to ask, especially after what you've done. I don't take cheating on a partner, no matter who they are, lightly. If you wanted to snog someone else then you should have just broken up with Malfoy in the first place."

"Fine." Robin spat bitterly. "You have my word."

"I don't trust your word." Rose laughed cynically.

"Merlin's beard, you're terrifying." Robin gained back some of her sense. "I will do what you say, I don't doubt for a second that you know exactly how to carry through with your threat." Robin sighed. "When I snogged Justin-"

"Do you mean Justin Cole?" Rose's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah-" before Robin could finish her sentence, Rose interrupted.

"Bullshit, Justin was at quidditch practise with me."

Robin stamped her foot like a stroppy child, "Fine, it was Wesley McLaggen, but I only lied because I know he's your ex and I didn't want you to preemptively strike and put those boils on my back. And, 'cause, you know, McLaggen's such a loser."

Rose's nostrils flared. "I never dated McLaggen. I can't stand the guy."

Robin hesitated before she spoke, and even that was directed at the floor rather than looking Rose in the eye. "Do you trust that I'm sufficiently afraid of what you might do, that I'll do exactly what you say." she glanced up and saw Rose give a curt nod. Sighed with relief. "The head girl drags you away to threaten you over a guy she hates, it's probably a first at Hogwarts."

"Don't try and defuse the tension Sterling, I want you to full appreciate the fact that I'm threatening you now rather than attacking you the moment I saw you with McLaggen, like I wanted to."

"Oh," Robin fell back to being intimidated, "lucky me, you had time to plan out your threat." she said with a nervous laugh as she took yet another step back. "You really are terrifying sometimes." Robin noticed Rose relax slightly, her face turning one from a daunting expression to one that just barely tolerated Robin. "You know, I really should've made an effort to be your friend." Robin said honestly, "Everyone respects you unless they've done something that would provoke you, then they're scared of what you could do. A handy thing to have when you reach seventh year. It stops the first years from being annoying little buggers."

"Got to your classes Robin." Rose ended the conversation bluntly. "Don't tell anyone about this. Don't tell anyone you cheated on Malfoy. Break up with Malfoy gently. And don't date anyone for at least three weeks." Rose folded her arms and tapped her foot.

Robin nodded and rushed out of the bathroom.

"Myrtle if you're there you can come out now." Rose called out, her voice echoing around the empty room.

A minute of two later there came a rush of water from one of the toilets and the annoying shrill of Myrtle saying 'weeeee!' as she popped back into her bathroom.

"Is the other one gone now?" Myrtle peered from the bathroom stall.

"Yes," Rose answered. "Thank you Myrtle." She smiled.

"Hmph." Myrtle sulked and drifted towards the window.

But Rose figured that Myrtle didn't mind too much, it must have been a long time since anyone had said anything in the least bit civil to her. Rose said her goodbye and a thanks again, then left to revise in the library with Katie. They had just enough time to finish three chapters of their History of Magic book, before Rose had to run along to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class with the Hufflepuffs. Lunette was grateful to hear what Rose had said to Robin. Lunette was relieved that her friend would come out relatively unhurt. Rose felt the same, although she didn't say so to Lunette, mostly because she didn't know why she felt that way.

That evening Albus was sure to make himself the first person Scorpius saw after Robin broke up with him. Albus waited outside the head common room and asked Rose and Lunette to stay away for twenty minutes. Rose was a bit put off because it might throw off her intense revision schedule, but Lunette promised to help her friend study for potions in exchange.

"Al, hey." Scorpius was surprised to see his friends waiting outside the common room, the pleasure of seeing him outweighed the surprise though and let Albus into the common room. He offered him a peppermint sweet once they sat down.

"I'm good thanks." Albus declined, he took a moment to look at Scorpius properly.

"I'm guessing you heard already and that's why you were waiting." Scorpius sighed, not really sure how to feel about it all. "I know gossip gets around quick at Hogwarts, but it was literally ten minutes ago." Albus just watched him in return so Scorpius found himself continuing to talk. "Lunette has a lot of contacts, if anyone is to know anything about break ups within a few minutes of them happening, it's going to be her. Or Lily, though getting her to stop talking is the more difficult thing-" Scorpius paused and shrugged, not knowing what to say. He wasn't angry or sad. "So Robin broke up with me." he simply said.

Albus leaned forward and hugged Scorpius. "How do you feel about that?" he asked carefully.

"I'm not sure that I particularly care." he shrugged again.

"So, in a way, when you look at it, I mean, it's not so bad?" Albus felt awkward because he couldn't read how Scorpius actually felt.

"No, I don't know why I dated her in the first place," That was a lie, he did know why but wasn't sure if he wanted Albus to know. "I also don't know why she broke up with me. I've decided that I don't care enough about her to find out."

"That's the spirit!" Albus said sarcastically with a grin and laughed with him. He was pleased to see Scorpius was smiling and that perhaps he wasn't lying, and Robin didn't matter to him.

Rose and Lunette burst through the door at that point. Rose shot an apologetic and guilty look to ALbus, before heading straight to her room.

"Sorry." Lunette sat beside Albus, "Madam Pince got really annoyed with Kibwe and Louis, they were trying a prank in the library but it didn't work and she caught them and then through everyone out." she explained.

Scorpius was still smiling and laughed again at the idea of the young boys trying to fill the shoes of James and Lorcan.

Albus smiled as well, it soon turned into a puzzled expression when he thought on what Scorpius had said before Rose and Lunette interrupted. "Wait, you really don't know why Robin broke up with you? She didn't say anything, no one said anything?"

Intrigued, Lunette leaned forward. None of them could see but Rose was lurking at the top of her stairs behind the Gryffindor tapestry, with an extendable ear poking out so she could hear the conversation. She was rather pleased with herself and thought she would make a rather good detective or spy in a novel.

"Nope, nothing. She just took me aside and said that it probably won't work out and we should break up."

Satisfied, Rose wound up the device and returned to her room, remembering that she had to write to her uncle with a message from Myrtle. The image of how awkward Harry would be made her chuckle to herself.

Albus peered over to the Gryffindor tapestry and leaned in closer to Scorpius. "So, how are things trying to be nice to Rose?"

"Not great, this morning we traded insults before quidditch practise, I think I found that funnier than she did." Scorpius sighed and flopped lazily into cushions. "I don't want to be mean anymore, I wish she understood that when I insult her, I'm not really insulting her, it's just the only way she'll talk to me."

The end of the month saw the quidditch season crammed into one week and a half. The Slytherin vs Hufflepuff match was over and Hufflepuff beat them by just a few points, the Slytherin chasers kept on scoring and Scorpius performed brilliantly, but the Lunette caught the snitch even though the Slytherin seeker was just inches away from catching it themselves. Albus pretended to sulk but Lunette simply laughed in his face, she knew that they won fair and square. Next it was Gryffindor's turn to challenge the Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaws were thrashed, they only scored twice because Rose wouldn't let the quaffle past her and then they lost the snitch to Ben Rome. And as always, nobody lasted long when Lily had free reign with a bat and a bludger. Albus was able to truthfully say that he thanked any god or gods that were out there, because he didn't have to go up against his little sister flying around with the potential to injure him.

Then it came. The last match of their last year. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Lunette and Rose spent to couple of days leading up to the match pretending to throw intense threats to each other, and then laughing at whoever looked more serious.

Other than that, they most spent the majority of their time with their teammates. Scorpius rarely saw Rose in their shared common room and Albus himself without Lunette by his side as she ate and socialised with the Hufflepuff team. So Albus and Scorpius decided to hang out in the Slytherin common room. It was nice and nostalgic for them both to be in the same place where their friendship was strengthened. Both feeling like awkward outsiders who had found their true brother.

"So you're alright hanging out with your old friend the evil Malfoy?" Scorpius asked Albus one day when they managed to reserve the sofa nearest to the fire. "You're not jealous of Lunette having other friends?"

"Of course I love hanging out with you." Albus punched him in the arm and laughed, "And Lunette and I are allowed to have friends and interests and a life outside of each other, it's healthy that way. As long as we trust each other and don't get jealous." Albus sat and thought for a moment about his relationship, "It's not like we don't share interest though, and we share our best friends. There would only be an issue, I think, if we didn't enjoy spending time together and make time for each other." Albus found himself subconsciously smiling gleefully just thinking about her. "I love you like a brother Scorp, and Rose is my oldest friend and favourite cousin. But there are days when I only want to spend time with Lunette, even if we end up arguing."

"There is no way you guys argue." Scorpius smirked.

"We do, they don't last long though, we actually listen to each other and try to work stuff out. Unlike you and Rose. We compromise." Albus shrugged, he didn't mind being honest with his best friend. "And we don't hold a grudge like you two either, we talk things out instead of yelling and just walking away."

"I still don't believe you guys have honestly argued since that time you broke up."

"I don't tell you everything Scorp," Albus shrugged again, he looked at him closely to make sure that he didn't take it the wrong way. "And that's not a bad thing. Every detail of my relationship with Lunette isn't public. We argue sometimes and we have intimate moments that we don't tell you and Rose about."

Scorpius pretended to cringe. "Ew, mate, you're talking about intimate moments with one of my best friends." He laughed and Albus joined in.

"I'm serious though, neither of us are perfect so we don't expect perfection, and then we have stuff to talk and work through. Our relationship isn't prefect either, but it's pretty damn good. If you're idea of a perfect relationship includes never arguing, that's not healthy."

Scorpius managed to put on a smile and a fake chuckle even though his words were spoken with sadness and a hint of bitterness. "That's good, because the person I want to be in a relationship with only ever communicates with me in an argument."

Scorpius's eyes were sad, so Albus saw straight through the fake smile. He reached forward and patted Scorpius on the head.

"If it helps, both me and Lunette agree that it should work out for you guys one day." he smiled sympathetically, "But first you both need to learn not to bottle up emotions, or to yell instead of listening." he stood to bring a chess board closer so they could play. Thinking of another thing to add, Albus laughed while he added "And both desperately need to get used to apologising."

The match finally arrived. The stands were full and the players were on the pitch eyeing each other.

They took off.

The first half of the game was tense, the Hufflepuff team rarely surrendered the quaffle, the Gryffindor chasers could not interceded it. However, the Hufflepuff chasers were barely able to get the quaffle past Rose, One of the Hufflepuff beaters strayed over the boundaries in pursuit of a buldger, professor Stockett blew the whistle and Jyn was given the quaffle. That's when Gryffindor were able to play to their strengths. They scored multiple times and Lily and Phil were able to strike many of the Hufflepuff chasers who tried to intercept the quaffle. Rose only just escaped being hit by a bludger sent by Hufflepuff, by hanging upside down on her broomstick with the sloth grip. This earned her an impressed cheer from the crowd. The score was 150 to 20, Gryffindor in the lead, when professor Stockett called for a penalty to be awarded to Hufflepuff when Justin entered the scoring area, not having seen his fellow chaser Kibwe was already there. The penalty was scored, Rose was unable to move to stop it. The score was 150 to 30, Gryffindor still in the lead. From then Kibwe and Jyn scored one goal each, 170 to 30. And snitch was spotted, Lunette spotted it just second before Ben. Lily batted a bludger at a Hufflepuff chaser while Phil sent the other towards Lunette, it hit her arm and Ben was able to gain some advantage, diving towards the snitch. In a desperate attempt to get some leverage, Kibwe, Jyn and Justin made valiant attempts to score again. But Phil was too busy trying to hit Lunette with the bludger and Lily was left on her own defending the Gryffindor chasers from the bludger that the Hufflepuff Beaters kept smacking at them. Ben and Lunette were neck and neck when the snitch suddenly shot upwards, Lunette was quick enough to pull up and reach for it, but Ben's timing was off by a fraction. Which might not have mattered, if Lunette hadn't just caught the snitch. Winning the game for Hufflepuff.

The match ended 170 to 180. With Hufflepuff winning the quidditch cup.

The amazing thing that Rose loved so much about Hogwarts, which was especially true when playing against Hufflepuff, was that victories were often fair and well earned. There was a party down in the Hufflepuff common room, Lunette and a few other of her teammates left for a moment carrying two heavy bags to find Rose who had only just finished her dinner, she was one of the last left at the Gryffindor table along with Lily. The two took Lunette and her friends up to the Gryffindor common room as requested but waited in the corridor to see what they wanted before letting them in. They had no idea what was in the bags and Lunette wasn't telling.

Lunette grinned. "Get the rest of your team and then we'll explain."

The Gryffindor common room was packed, music played loudly and butterbeer was passed around with sweets from Hogsmeade, in an almost party-like style. The rest of the team gathered in the corridor but Rose had to be the one to go and find Ben.

She knocked on his dormitory door.

"You're not naked are you?" she said cheekily through the door.

"No." he grumbled in reply.

Rose burst through the door and smiled. "Look, some of the Hufflepuff team are outside the common room and they want to talk."

Ben sighed, he wasn't wholly unhappy but was disappointed at the loss in the last match of his last year. "If they're here to rub their victory in our face, then I don't want to hear it."

"Come on, they're Hufflepuffs not Slytherins." she said half-joking. "Look, it's no one's fault we lost. We put up a hell of a fight, and someone had to lose. If they had unfairly won, the Hufflepuff team would be the first to ask for a rematch. Though I imagine that would simply be to prove that they don't need to cheat to beat us." She watched Ben's expression mis in a hint of irritation to the disappointment. "Sorry, that didn't really help did it?"

"Kind of," he replied with a shrug. "Alright, I'll come down."

"Good, they want to give us something but I don't know what." Rose held the door open for him. "And Ben, I know that look."

Ben paused and raised his eyebrows.

Rose gave a reassuring smile. "You didn't get the snitch, but the only person blaming you for our loss is yourself. If you'll take a suggestion from you teammate, who just happens to be your ex but is trying really hard to be your friend again, come and have some fun with the rest of the house downstairs and stop being so harsh."

Ben managed a smile. "We really got so close to winning didn't we?"

"So close, just ten points off, I think that's not a harsh loss."

They went down together and found Lunette still buzzing with excitement and a smug expression upon her face.

"Ok, so we won and we couldn't be happier," Lunette began, and the entire Gryffindor team groaned in unison, "hey, don't think we don't appreciate a fair fight." she handed over the two bags and Lily and Jyn peered inside. "We're having a celebration in our common room and you guys should celebrate too, so here are some snacks and stuff to get you started." she grinned and gave Rose a hug from the side. Then left with her teammates.

They found pumpkin pasties, more sweets than could be counted, multiple flasks of butterbeer and a few decorations in the Gryffindor colours.

Ben burst out laughing, "Rose, your friend could not be a nicer person if she tried. What the hell has your cousin done to deserve her?"

"No one deserves Lunette, she's too brilliant." Rose laughed too.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M BRILLIANT." they heard her shout echo through the corridor. It startled them not having realised that they could still hear them.

Meanwhile Albus and Scorpius were strolling around talking with the intention of heading back to the Slytherin common room soon.

"I'm not sure what mood Rose is going to be in tonight, or even for the next week." Albus sighed thinking about the game. "I mean, she was brilliant but her team lost her last game at Hogwarts."

Scorpius chuckled. "If I'm lucky she might be in a mood to ignore me. I have a pattern of being unlucky when it comes to your cousin so she'll probably be in the mood to take it out by glaring at me."

"At least you'll come out better than you did last year." Albus nodded, remembering the scary image of Scorpius injured on the pitch.

"No more going to the hospital wing for me thank you very much. I'm still not 100% sure what actually happened to me, I just know that it hurt like hell." Scorpius shivered, not wishing to think too much about the pain he had felt when his broom threw him off and he landed on the ground far below and was somehow covered in boils that burned his skin, then he passed out and woke up in the hospital wing. There were still a few circular scars on his chest and her doubted that they would ever fade even though the nurse promised they would disappear within a few weeks of the incident.

"I guess there was one good thing that came out of that whole thing."

Scorpius laughed incredulously, "What good could possible have come from that?"

"Rose was so scared that you were seriously injured that she snuck in to see you in the middle of the night and held your hand while you cried in pain." Albus smirked and raised his eyebrows.

Scorpius stopped, he was taken aback. Albus noticed he had stopped and turned around to see what the problem was, Scorpius was staring at him with surprise and his mouth hanging open a bit.

"Sh-she comforted me all night?" Scorpius closed his eyes and tried to remember Rose's worried face. "I thought that was a dream." he mumbled.

"No, Rose was definitely there, I saw her myself but she doesn't know that."

"She cared that I was hurt?" Scorpius was still staring.

"She was frightened you might not recover. Not frightened, terrified. Like when you got in a fight with Parkinson and was left in the snow for a few hours. Blind panic takes over Rose and she stops trying to hate you so much."

There conversation was cut short by a fourth year that barged into them.

Lunette and her teammates ran into Scorpius after they had left the Gryffindor team with their goodies. Lunette grinned, ran to her friend and attacked him with a hug.

"Woah!" Scorpius was startled and stumbled back a bit before returning the hug.

Lunette let go of him and grabbed onto his shoulders, while jumping with singed with excitement. "We won! We won! My last quidditch match at Hogwarts and we won!" she stopped jumping for a moment and hugged him again. "Can you believe it?" she practically shouted in his ear. "I can't believe it!"

Scorpius a bit overwhelmed by her hyperactiveness and stepped back from her again. Her face was glowing and he couldn't help but laugh. "You were brilliant Lune."

Lunette paused for a moment and frowned, no one had ever given her a nickname before, except for Albus who tended to call her sweetie. "Lune?" her eyebrows shot up, she laughed and hugged Scorpius again. "Brilliant! I'm a lune! You and Rose have to call me that from now on, I won't answer to anything else." She let go of Scorpius and looked around him, "I assumed Albus would have appeared by now." her expression was still glowing with happiness but she looked disappointed not so see him joined to the hip with Scorpius.

"Some fourth year Slytherin tied his shoelaces together, I asked a prefect to chase after the kid. They were headed this way, and Al is sorting his shoes."

Scorpius peered behind Lunette just as a sixth year Ravenclaw prefect appeared from around the corner, her hand firmly on the shoulder of the culprit.

"Was it Pearson?" The Ravenclaw called out to Scorpius as she came towards him. Her thick Irish accent echoed through the walls.

"Yeah," Scorpius rolled his eyes and glared at Pearson. "20 points from Slytherin, no magic outside of class and especially no using that magic to bully others."

Pearson scoffed. "This is your own house Malfoy, I thought you of all people might actually stick up for your own house if you ever want to feel like you actually have a family. And it was just Potter anyway, who even cares about him?"

"I care, that's who." Scorpius said bluntly.

"And I bloody well care about him too!" Lunette stormed forward and confronted the fourth year. "And if you're so desperate to have a family at Hogwarts, then don't be mean to your fellow students! Also, just for your information, Scorpius is my family as far as I'm concerned." she gave a dertemined nod to Scorpius.

"He's not ever in your house." Pearson looked disgusted.

"So?" Lunette snapped back.

Pearson's expression took on one that looked almost ashamed and he stared at the ground. Intenly disliking the feeling, he looked up and scowled at Scorpius. "Well as far as magic outside of class, you used to do it all the time, before you became head boy!"

Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah, and I got in trouble for that. And rightly so because it's against the rules. But I learnt my lesson and now I'm head boy, so why don't you learn your lesson and don't break the rules." he turned the smile and nod at the Ravenclaw prefect. "Thank's Slane, you did brilliantly," He sized her up, not completely sure he remembered her, but there was some connection to someone and he couldn't quite remember... "What's your first name again?"

"Bridie." she smiled. "Sounds familiar doesn't it? I doubt you'll remember, but Gregg Gully, the old Slytherin quidditch captain, he's my step brother. His friends used to say that he talked about me all the time. I kept my dad's name, but Gregg now goes by Slane-Gully, he finally decided took both our dad's names." her cheeks turned slightly pink after sharing more than she probably should have. "Sorry, I like talking about my step brother. He accepted me a lot quicker than he accepted my dad. It was a big moment in our family."

Lunette grinned, "Don't worry I over share all the time." she leaned over and patted Scorpius on the head. "Makes this one uncomfortable, and that's the only reason I'm here."

Scorpius laughed. "To make me uncomfortable?"

"No, to make you stop taking yourself so seriously." Albus's voiced came from behind them.

Lunette ran to him embraced him, only pulling away from a moment so she could kiss him and then snuggled back into his arms.

"You won your last quidditch match!" Albus beamed proudly. "How awesome do you feel right now?"

"Over the moon!"

Bridie smiled at the couple then turned to Scorpius, "I'll make sure Pearson goes back to his common room."

"Thanks." Scorpius. He looked back at his friends. "And I'm going to give those guys some space." he thought back to what Albus had said about Rose. "Hey, you didn't happen to see the head girl while you were walking around?"

"No, but I'd wager she's still at the Gryffindor tower with her teammates. I think they had half arranged a party for when they won but that fell through so they're trying to celebrate a good quidditch season and saying goodby to the seventh year teammates."

"How do you know so much?"

"I talk a lot so people think they can talk a lot to me too." Bridie shrugged. "I find people like to talk about themselves often, so I just go from there."

"Bridie Slane you might just be some kind of genious."

MAY

Scorpius, Albus and Lunette were sitting together at the Slytherin table at breakfast when the post arrived. Hundreds of owls dropped letters to their owners, some stopped for some toast and a some affection while others simply flew straight back to the owery. Lunette received a letter from her dad, another apologetic one as he had not found a better flat than the one he was currently living in.

"It has two bedrooms," Lunette sighed after she read the letter to Albus and Scorpius, "I think it's fine but he still won't listen." her frustration masked her sadness over the way her father felt, his letters did not explicitly say it, but the man was broken about his family splitting up.

Albus sensed this and wrapped his arm around her waist then kissed her cheek, "I think he's just a bit lost right now Lunette." he spoke with such warmth and understanding, Lunette rested her head on his shoulder. "And you were right the other day when you said that he blames himself, that can't be easy on him. Mr Tinker might be thinking solely of you, with your mother move away maybe he thinks you're blaming him." Albus shrugged.

"Well I don't blame him, I blame mum. She cheated on him multiple times and never-" she sighed to herself again. "I need to write back to him. I'll be in the common room." she slowly stood.

"Do you want me to come with you? Or would you rather be alone?" Albus held her hand for a moment.

"Alone." Lunette managed a half smile and kissed Albus quickly. "I'll come and find you once I'm done, I might need a thousand hugs and a shoulder to cry on."

"I have some chocolate frogs somewhere, if you want them later." Scorpius piped up.

"Yes, I need all the chocolate." Lunette's eyes widened and she nodded seriously, "I'll meet you both at Scorp's common room then." she squeezed Albus's hand before letting go and heading to the Hufflepuff common room.

Albus returned to his breakfast, a concerned look on his face. Scorpius decided a distraction might help and it came from the Gryffindor table.

Rose was sitting next to a very timid Katie, and opposite were Lily, Hugo and Phil and Mel. They were near strangers to Katie and she would have run to the library to hide by herself if Rose had not been beside her. Katie had decided that, since Rose took the time to sit with her in the library, then the least Katie could do in return was sit with her at breakfast. No matter how awkward. She had found Hugo very kind and welcoming, she liked him a lot and didn't understand why Rose complained about her brother. Lily she found nice and funny, but also intimidating. Her loudness, her chattiness, her big personality and her pretty face were all a lot to handle if you weren't used to her. Katie was definitely not used to her. Katie was uncertain of Phil and Mel, they seemed to only hang around Rose out of habit, they were more wrapped up in their own conversation. And while both girls liked Rose, disliked Lily (which was mutually returned), and were indifferent to Hugo, they only just managed to be polite to Katie who they known since first year but never spoken a word to.

Rose received a letter from Pocket when she arrived with all the other owls. She had a three letters, two from her parents, one for her and one for Hugo. Hugo had decided that he didn't want an owl so he depended on Pocket every now and then. Instead, Hugo had been in the process, for three years, of persuading his parents to get a dog. Rose was confused by the third letter. It was in a purple envelope, and the lettering was a metallic and silvery blue. She opened to envelope to find it written on normal parchment paper, but singed at the edges as if a fire had been put out just a few seconds before it was too late. The writing on the letter was also in blue.

Rose gasped as she read on, such an audible thing that it startled Lily and Katie, and caught the attention of Albus and Scorpius. Hugo had just stood to leave when it stopped him in his tracks. An excited grin stretched across her face. When she looked up from the letter, Albus had appeared at their table, Scorpius a few steps behind him.

When she breathed again, Rose spoke barely believing her words. "Uncle Charlie sent the letter, if I pass all my NEWTs and manage an O in my Magical Creatures class, then I can assist him in Romania! For a whole year! And then longer if I want!" Rose leapt from her seat and hugged Hugo.

Hugo laughed with his sister and hugged her back.

"This is brilliant Rosie!" he said proudly, "My sister working with dragons! Merlin I envy you."

Rose let go of him and squealed excitedly. "I've been waiting for this news for so long!" she jumped up and down.

"I know, I've had to suffer with you stressing." Hugo rolled his eyes but was still smiling.

Rose turned to Albus and hugged him too. "Al! I finally know what I'm doing after we finish here!" she looked behind him at Scorpius, not even the sight of him could turn her glee into a frown. "Where's Lune?" she asked Albus.

"She went off to reply to her dad." Albus answered. "She'll go to your common room in a bit."

"I need to write to mum and dad!" Rose squealed again and ran off to her common room.

"At this point, I think it's a safe to conclude that writing to parents is more entertaining than talking to either of us." Scorpius smirked sarcastically to Albus. Then patted him on the shoulder and guided him out of the hall. "Come on, we told Lune we'd meet her. And you need to support your cousin and her exciting news."

"Wouldn't you rather support Rose?" Albus laughed at him. "You never know, she might be so deliriously happy, that she won't reject you."

Scorpius sighed, "Don't get my hopes up, that's just cruel."

They walked slowly to the shared common room, Rose passed them in the corridor on her way to the Owlery with letters to her parents and Charlie, and a bag of snacks for Pocket. Albus and Scorpius opted for flicking through their muggle studies textbooks while they waited. By the time Lunette arrived, Rose was with her.

"Look who I found." Rose said to Albus when they entered, she tried to smile but felt bad for Lunette.

Lunette rolled her eyes at their pity and squared her shoulders. "Nope, there is no way my bad mood about my dumb parents is getting in the way of Rose's amazing news. We're going to Three Broomsticks."

Rose and Albus put their jumpers from Mrs Weasley back on while Scorpius picked up his muggle studies book and put it on his desk. When he pulled his chair out to sit down, Lunette cleared her throat to get his attention.

"All of us are going Scorp." She raised her eyebrows, daring someone to argue. No one did, Lunette was in a rare bad mood and arguing was pointless, especially as her closest friends they understood that her family were falling apart and she needed to be reminded that they were her family and would suffer any inconvenience or awkwardness to make her smile.

Scorpius stood from his desk and grabbed his shoes, Rose threw a jacket at him that had been left on the sofa. Lunette was already out the door, Albus witnessed a curt nod between his best friends. Their truce was on.

"You know, we're not their only mutual friends." Albus whispered to Lunette. "We could as Katie Webb to come along, then they'll have three people forcing them to behave."

Lunette smiled at the idea, "Ok, but just as long as she wants to, I don't want to pressure her to hang around with us. I've tried being friendly to Katie, but I think that just makes her not trust me." she frowned, remembering the few times she had attempted to start a conversation with the so-called 'friendless Ravenclaw.'

"No wonder she gets along so well with those two." Albus checkled. "I'll go to the library and I'll meet you in Hogsmeade." He kissed her cheek and left quickly.

It was a surprise for Rose and Scorpius to see Katie arrive with Albus, they spoke to their friends and never each other. Scorpius watched her out of the corner of his eye whenever there was a lull in the conversation. He couldn't begin to imagine how lost he would feel once she was off to Romania. Scorpius knew that his current situation with Rose was not ideal, in fact it was way too far from what he wished it could be. He was not delusional enough to not see that Rose still believed he hated her. He also knew his feelings for her would mean that there was an oncoming sadness and loneliness that would follow her leaving. He would get over it, or at least learn to live with a feeling of loss without her. Because that's how it would have to be. Scorpius refused to mope around for an entire year just because Rose wasn't around to trade insults. It was more that Rose wasn't going to be a constant in his life while he built up the courage to tell her how he felt. Convinced that he was too young to know what love was and therefore he didn't think he was in love, Scorpius could tell himself that there was a good side to Rose being gone. He could try to get over her. It was never going to happen anyway, she could never feel the same way. These thoughts raced through his mind while Lunette was discussing her upcoming potions exam with Katie, who wasn't taking the potions NEWT, but knew everything already.

Meanwhile Rose was very excited for her year away, a year to discover what she really wanted to do. But looking around at her friends, she started to think about how much she would miss the comforts of home and the people she loved the most. She wouldn't see them everyday, of course that would be inevitable after they graduated anyway. She would no longer be living just a few corridors and staircases away from her cousins and best friends. Rose thought of the bright side, she wouldn't have to run into Scorpius anymore. But even that idea brought a pang of pain in her heart. She glanced at him, he was pretending not to be looking at her. Rose felt that she didn't have the energy to hate him at that moment. Something which had been increasingly frequent but she never wanted to admit. It was nice, surrounded by their friends and not arguing.

The conversation moved to Albus and Katie saying how glad they were not to have continued magical beasts classes, because by the look of the torn textbooks, it was all getting a little too dangerous for their liking. Rose opened her mouth to chime in but stopped herself, her comment would have been for Scorpius and Scorpius alone. It would mean that they would actually speak and their truce did not called for that. The truce was an agreement of silence in order to assure there were no arguments. Rose's minded drifted back to Romania, it had been a long time since anyone in her family had spent anymore than a few weeks with Charlie and she was very much looking forward to working with him for a year. Dragons were exciting, they had always had that common interest.

They had all finished their butterbeers and Rose offered to get them some more, she had just stood when Lunette practically shouted at her.

"No! Someone else can pick them, we'd actually like the drink and if you get them it'll all end up spilled on the floor." Lunette put a hand on rose's shoulder to make her sit down.

Rose just rolled her eyes and the rest of them held in a laugh while Albus collected their drinks.

"I'm really not that bad." Rose grumbled as Albus handed her the last butterbeer on the tray.

She immediately made it wobble and spill a good chunk of it on the table and it dribbled down on to their laps. Rose's ears turned red. It would have spilled more but Scorpius cast Immobulus. He tried to not let his smug grin show as he passed the drink back to Rose.

"You were saying?" Lunette laughed and raised eye eyebrows.

Albus laughed too. "You're so clumsy! How the hell do you stay on a broom?"

"Her feet don't have to touch the ground so she doesn't trip over them all the time." Scorpius laughed but his smile suddenly dropped and he looked up at Rose, they all looked between the two. He had broken their silence truce.

Rose's expression was blank for a moment. Then it cracked into a little laugh, "Sometimes I don't trip over my own feet, sometimes I trip over thin air."

Albus and Lunette sighed with relief while Rose and Scorpius laughed together.

"That's worse!" Scorpius chuckled and visibly relaxed.

Katie finally chimed in, "You know those books and muggle moving pictures where the main characters first meet when one drops their books and the other helps them pick them up? It that just generally how I meet people?"

"Normally I'm quick enough to use Immobulus, and he's usually there to catch the ones I don't get." she nodded her head towards Scorpius.

"I'm flattered you noticed." he's smug smile returned. "I would never miss an opportunity to see you fall over, I think I might actually miss you when you're off to Romania."

Rose laughed, not seeing the truth in his words unlike Albus and Lunette who knew how he felt.

"Dropping a butterbeer or the occasional book is not the worst thing my clumsiness has ever led to, do you remember falling down that pit last year? I fell and I dragged you with me." She turned to Katie to explain further and didn't notice the glance between Albus and Lunette. "It used to be an old secret tunnel but was blocked up years ago and James and Lorcan were trying to get it to work again, then they gave up and it's just a bit like a fox hole." Rose could laugh about it now.

"We had detention for doing nothing and ended up in a black hole, I will never forget that." Scorpius remembered it being so dark, he would have had a panic attack if Rose hadn't been so calm and gotten him out quickly then stayed with him to make he was ok.

The looked around at their friends, none of whom could join in with the joke or the memory. They felt awkward and Rose quickly directed the conversation elsewhere before any of them could ask more about the incident. They had only found it by accident because Scorpius had been leaning so close to her and Rose had been too flustered to think about getting away.

"Hey, at least I've never dropped a fizzy drink on someone the first time I had a conversation with them." she poked fun at Albus.

The story was explained to Katie about the bonfire at Hunstanton where Lunette and Albus had met. That was a story they could all laugh at and had become an inside joke for the couple.

Soon enough Katie started stressing about how much time it had been since she last revised and the group decided that it was about time to go back to the school and get some work done. After dinner Rose and Scorpius carried out their rounds of the castle separately, checking on the prefects and making sure students coming from detention actually went back to their dormitories. They reached the common room at the same time and Rose headed straight for her room.

"Umm," Scorpius's voice wobbled trying to get her attention, it worked and Rose turned around. "I had fun today, together I mean. It's nice to see that we can get along and reminisce with our friends."

Rose smiled, "Yeah, it was nice." she admitted.

"And congratulations on the whole Romania apprenticeship." Scorpius was running out of things to say.

"Thanks, I've been trying to ignore the fact that I have no idea what to do with my life after Hogwarts. Now I know what I'm doing for the next year, if I get the right grades." She shrugged awkwardly, she was proud of herself. "Do you have any idea what you want to do?"

"Not exactly, probably something in the ministry. Auror sounds exciting, dangerous but exciting."

"You've got the grades for it, it's a lot of work though. My dad was an auror before I was born, my mum ran the office for a time, my uncle Harry now runs it and my mum is his boss."

"Mr Tinker is an auror."

"I don't think he will be for much longer, Lunette said something about him getting older and wanting to retire before he dies on the job."

Scorpius chuckled, "Well that's very encouraging." he said sarcastically.

"I'm sure he'd talk to you about it if you write to him. You never know, telling you his stories might just distract him from his messy divorce."

"More encouraging words."

"I'm being serious. If Lunette can't cheer him up, maybe a distraction from his feelings is all he needs."

"Is that really how you deal with feelings Weasley? Ignore them and distract yourself from them?" he sounded like he was almost pleading, "Do you really think it works well enough that you would advice other people to do the same."

Rose sighed, "What do you want me to say? It works and I hate feelings. You get distracted from what's important."

"How you feel is important, it's thinking that everything else is more important that is destructive."

"Hey, if I'm going to be destructive, it doesn't need to affect anybody else does it?" Rose found herself slightly irritated with where the conversation was heading, she didn't like talking about her feelings. She didn't even like think about her feelings for Scorpius, let alone talking about them to him.

"It affects everybody who cares about you." Scorpius was also feeling a bit frustrated, he desperately wanted to tell Rose how he felt but without knowing her thoughts on the subject he would never wish to be the first to say anything.

"Then no one should care about me." she shrugged and turned around.

"What do you think today was all about!" Scorpius shouted to stop her from going. "We were all there to celebrate your future, if that doesn't say that your friends care about you, then I don't know what will. You know that your family and friends are excited about your victories and don't forget that they still care about you just as much when you're in need. Don't go on about how ignoring your feelings only affects you, because that's really not true." he looked at her and shook his head, not knowing if she understood what he was trying to say. "If your feelings are confusing, then try to understand them rather than distracting yourself with literally anything else. That's how you hurt people who care about you, not taking care of yourself."

It would take Rose a long time to stop wishing that she had not replied in such a heartless way.

"Stop pretending that you care." she muttered and trudged off to bed.

Rose lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the conversation echoing in her mind. He had been right of course, and she knew that. It didn't escape her that she was the one pretending, for a long time she had been pretending not to care about Scorpius. It was difficult to let got of their friendship years ago, but it was easy to let herself believe that nothing was ever truly lost because neither of them cared about the other. Rose had bottled up and ignored what kinship she had felt, and then what romantic thoughts she had about him, pretended to hate him until she found that she often didn't have the energy to even believe that. Rose turned onto her side and scowled at her bedroom door. She didn't have time to think about Scorpius or her unresolved feelings for him, she had a future to think about and exams to pass.

JUNE

The pressure was high among the seventh years. The countdown to NEWT exams had sharply turned from weeks away to just a matter of days away. Katie Webb took to spending every moment she could in the library, more so than usual. She was lucky to count Scorpius and Rose as her friends, they split their time revising. Half of the time with Katie and the other half on their own or with Albus and Lunette. They did this in order to keep out of each other's way, and, more importantly, to ensure that one of the was always there to encourage her to come down to the great hall for meals and return to the Ravenclaw common room before curfew so that she would have a decent night of sleep.

While avoiding each other, Rose and Scorpius were able to not have the added stress of an argument on top of revision stress. Not to mention the conversation they had had at the end of May which made them both eager not to mention. Scorpius because he knew that had Rose not walked away, he would have been tempted to tell her how he felt. And Rose because she regretted so much of what she had said.

Albus seemed to have a constant confused expression fixed on his face. Lunette had never spent so much time in the library before then, not that she had never taken her studies seriously, but usually she only went in to borrow a book every now and then.

It was lunch time one day and Rose watched Katie carefully. "Katie, how about in five minutes time we go to lunch?"

"Hmm." Katie nodded and kept on writing at her hurried pace.

"Katie?"

"Hmm." she just absently made the noise again with another nod.

Rose sighed, "Katie there's a flying horklump outside the window." she said with a smile, hoping some ridiculous would snap Katie out of her study trance.

"Hmm." was the only response Katie gave.

"Katie, the world is ending. The ghosts have been recalled to the afterlife, the devil is dancing on the ceiling and the whole school is on fire." She got no response this time. "But it's ok because the giant squid has teamed up with the mere people and they're sending a Tsunami this way." Again no response to her test of made up gibberish that would have produced a reaction out of anybody who was actually listening.

Rose summoned her patronus, the little fox jumped on her shoulders with affection and the sat on top of the book Katie was reading.

Katie looked up startled. "Dementors..." she mumbled.

Rose put a comforting hand on Katie's forearm. "No dementors, I was just messing around."

"Sorry," Katie smiled and shook her head, feeling a but groggy.

"Ok, so shall we go to lunch?" Roe started to pack up her books.

"I can't, need to finish this chapter."

"Katie, I couldn't convince you to have breakfast this morning because you were too engrossed in something or other, now I'm putting my foot down and saying that you have to have lunch." Rose raised her eyebrows.

Katie put her hand on her stomach, "I am hungry now that I think about it."

"Good." Rose said with triumph. "If you study for too long without a break, your head will implode."

Katie laughed and started to pack up her books as well. "My head won't implode Rose."

"Yes it will, if your brain doesn't implode by itself, I'll do it for you." She pretended to flip through one of her charm books. "There's got to be some sort of head exploding head exploding hex in here somewhere."

"Come on, Madam Pince is glaring at us." Katie laughed again and dragged Rose out of the library and towards the great hall. "Hey Scopius." she smiled at him when he bumped into them outside the library.

"Hey Katie, you off to lunch?" he asked with concern, knowing that she hadn't had breakfast.

"Yeah, Rose said I need a break or she'll explode my head."

Scorpius looked behind Katie to see Rose playing with her patronus. She had summoned birds for it to chase. He chuckled and shook his head. When Scorpius looked back at Katie, her eyes were wide and her grin was smug.

"Hang on, do you like-?" she started.

"No, no way." he defended himself. "We are not having this conversation, goodbye." Scorpius panicked and strutted off to the grand hall.

Exams were over sooner than anyone noticed, Rose and Scorpius were sitting the written section of their Magical Creatures exam, their last exam, while Lunette and Albus sat outside by the lake. There were students everywhere on such a sunny day when all they had to stress about was packing and getting their results back in just a few months time. For the Seventh years that meant that it would be graduation during the summer too. Albus had his arm around Lunette as she rested her head on his shoulder, life seemed pretty great in that moment.

"I love you." Lunette said with a sigh. "I know we've said it a few times but never really discussed what we mean when we say love." she sat up and looked Albus in the eye. "I love you, not in a teenage naive and 'first love' sort of way, in an 'I'm in love with you' sort of way."

"Lunette, I love you too," Albus started out by sounding unconvinced.

Lunette smiled, "But you're not 'in' love with me?"

Albus nodded, "Are they really different things? I think we're still naive teenagers." he shrugged.

Lunette wasn't hurt by what he said, she leaned forward and kissed him. "Well I think they're different, I love Rose but I'm in love with you-"

"That's more sisterly love." Albus interrupted.

Lunette chuckled. "Alright, you say whatever you need to to try and convince yourself that I'm wrong. I know I'm not wrong about my feelings for you, Albus I'm in love with you." she wrapped his arm around her and leant on his shoulder again. "I think you're in love with me too, but I'll wait for you to say it properly when you're ready."

Albus laughed nervously. "Oh, no pressure." he said sarcastically.

Lunette looked him dead in the eye again, "No pressure. You take as long as you like. We're leaving Hogwarts now and the future is uncertain, so I just wanted you to know how I feel."

"How is your dad?" Albus spoke quickly.

"Fine, change the subject." Lunette laughed. "My dad is ok I think. He's finally accepted that I'm happy to move into that flat and he actually bought it instead of just renting. He's still looking for a little house though. The only time he hears from my mother is when her lawyer sends her copies of the divorce papers. It should all be over soon."

"Are you alright with it all being over?"

"Yeah, well, no. Mum won't speak to me, dad is unsure of everything he does because he sees being married for so long as such a huge mistake, and I am trying to not see my memories of our family together through rose-tinted glasses. They were miserable together and fought all the time, I know that, but as a child I would ignore it and when I got older I pretended it never happened." Lunette didn't sound said as she spoke, instead she sounded mature and unemotional.

Albus knew her better than that. He knew Lunette only sounded cold as she spoke of her parents, to speak how she really felt would mean bursting into tears. He gently squeezed her closer to him. Albus wondered at what she had said, he knew of course that Lunette would never lie about being in love with him. But he had no idea if what he felt for her was the same.

Lunette let out a shaky sigh and Albus decided to change the subject.

"Scorp and Rose's exam has to be over by now." he mused.

Lunette sat up and kissed his cheek, grateful for the change of subject. She looked around them at the other students lounging around the lake, she could see Hagrid's hut in the distance with the half giant old man sitting outside half asleep in a chair. She looked towards the castle and saw Scorpius and Rose making their way towards them. They weren't speaking to each other, but to see the two of them walk together in a comfortable silence was a nice sight for Albus and Lunette.

As they got closer it was obvious to see Rose muttering to herself and glaring at her feet while she walked. Scorpius was smiling but his eyes darted to Rose with concern every now and then.

"Exams are over!" Scorpius grinned when they reached the couple. He stretched his long arms up and yawned. "All I want to do now is sleep for two days solid."

Rose kept walking and muttering, straight passed them and on towards Hagrid's hut.

"Rose?" Albus called out to her.

She limply lifted her hand and waved it at them without looking. She marched on to Hagrid's hut.

Lunette and Albus suddenly turned their heads to glare at Scorpius.

"What did you do to her?!" Albus asked accusingly.

Scorpius held up his hands in defense and cried, "I didn't do anything! Not this time at least." His friends were not convinced. Scorpius slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged, he watched Rose make her way to Hagrid's hut. He half smiled at her, she looked like a little ball of stress just reading to burst. He couldn't get the image of Rose looking like a ginger puffskein who really needed a hug. "After we got out of the exam Weasley went straight to the staff room, I went with her but she was muttering to herself I doubt she even noticed me. She was looking for Professor Nye Longbottom said that he was with Hagrid. That's why we came this way."

Lunette and Albus stared at Scorpius, then back at Hagrid's hut where Rose had just entered, then back to Scorpius, then back at the hut. At the same time they leapt up and half walked half jogged there. Scorpius raised one eyebrow in confusion, shrugged, and then quickly caught up with them.

"... fine, absolutely fine. In fact, probably better than fine!" They heard Professor Nye exclaim from within the hut.

"I'm not sure professor..." Rose's voice wobbled with worry.

"I assure you Miss Weasley, you are one of my best students and I have never once doubted that you would fail. Your exams are all over now right?"

"Yes sir, but-"

"Then you should be celebrating! And relaxing, and having a good time with your friends. It's over now, worrying about it and going through every little question with me isn't going to change the outcome."

"Hallo!" Hagrid suddenly woke up and was startled by the three students hovering by his front door. "Wha' are you three up t' then?"

"We're just checking on Rose." Albus explained.

"Wha-?" Hagrid grumbled, obviously unaware of either Rose or Professor Nye in his hut.

"Sorry professor, and thank you." then heard Rose was with resignation as her opened the door. "What are you three doing here?!" she jumped back in alarm, she lost her balance and started to waver.

Scorpius pushed passed his friends and leapt forward and grabbed Rose's hand so that she didn't fall.

"Woah, thanks." Rose chuckled, her smile disappeared when she looked up to she that it was Scorpius who was still holding her hand. She snatched it away, "Oh, you." she said bluntly. Her smile returned when she noticed that Hagrid was awake. "Hagrid! How are you?"

"Very nice of yeh' to ask Rose, I'm alrigh' can't complain me." he said with a grin that reached his beetle black eyes. "'Sppose you lot will be sad, eh? Las' year at Hogwarts an' all."

Lunette burst into tears without warning, and buried her head in Albus's shoulder. "I hadn't thought of it much until now!"

"Woah! I didn' mean no harm Lunette." Hagrid reached forward and patted her arm awkwardly.

"Hagrid what've you done now?" Nye asked as he came through the door with two giant mugs of tea and passed one to Hagrid.

Lunette sniffed and wiped away her tears. "Sorry, it's not his fault. But Hogwarts is our home, I get to see you guys," she turned to Rose and Scorpius, "I get to see my family every day." Seh took Albus's hand in her own and looked him dead in the eye. "But I am excited for our future."

Albus smiled and kissed Lunette's nose which made her laugh. "I'm excited too."

Nye squinted his eyes in concentration at Lunette, "Miss Tinker is it?"

"Yes sir." she smiled.

"Have you thought of coming back to Hogwarts? Just that professor Cawcrous was telling me the other day how he wanted to retire in a few years which would leave us without a potions professor. This is a man who rarely praises anyone if he can help it, but he has begrudgingly told a few of us that you are the best student he's had in years." Nye frowned at himself. "Don't tell anyone I said that. He's been working here for about 25 or 26 years, I think he just wants to spend time with his daughter now."

"He actually has a family?!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Well, yes," Nye said slowly, not understanding the student's shock.

"And they actually want to spend time with him?!" Rose blurted out with equal amazement.

"Rose!" Lunette said in a warning tone, "And you Scorp, don't be so rude." She rolled her eyes and then smiled at the professor. "Thank you sir, I'll think about it."

END OF YEAR FEAST

The lit candles floated around the tall enchanted ceiling which showed that outside the sun was setting. The great hall was decked out in Hufflepuff colours to celebrate them winning the house cup, they had been neck and neck with Gryffindor for the last month, but winning the quidditch cup had finally tipped them to first place.

Everyone was in high spirits, dressed in their uniforms and wearing their pointed hats which was rare. The teachers at the table were smiling and laughing with each other. Headmaster Fairweather was seated in the middle with professors Lupin, Nye and Longbottom to his right in light conversation.

They were talking about their bet from two years ago about the head boy and head girl. They watched Rose sat between Lily and Phil at the Gryffindor table, she was positively beaming. And then they peered at Scorpius, sat beside Albus at the end of the Slytherin table near there door, his usual seat.

"Scorpius told me that he wants to be an auror." Lupin said, recalling his conversation a few weeks before with the young man who he was distantly related to. "And Rose will be off to Romania soon." He stuck his hand out and reached over the tabel to shake both of their hands. "So then, it's the end of seventh year and they're not together. I owe you guys 5 galleons." Lupin sighed.

"I still say they'll marry different people." Nye shrugged.

Lupin and Longbottom exchanged glances.

"Nah, they'll get together eventually." Neville smiled.

Their discussion was cut short when Fairweather stood to address the students.

"Well then," his happy tone echoed around the hall as the chatter died down to listen to him. "I think it's about time I gave you all a long and boring speech since I wasn't here at the start of the year. Which is completely abominable of me." he grinned, "Now, the House Cup, I believe in fourth place we have Slytherin with three hundred and points..."

He paused while the Slytherin table groaned with the defeat. Rose didn't know why she did it, but she turned around the face them and shone a smug smile at Scorpius the sharply turned back around.

"In third place in Ravenclaw with three hundred and fifty two, Gryffindor in second place with four hundred and twenty six. Leaving Hufflepuff to take the lead with four hundred and seventy two points! Well done to you all!"

The hall exploded with cheering from the Hufflepuff table, even professor Nye, the head of the house, couldn't help but stand up and dance a funny little jig which made some of the sore losers laugh. The plates were filled with food in front of them and everyone dug in with delight.

After everyone was full and they started to make their way towards their common rooms, the seventh years hung around by the front doors for the seventh year prefects and head girl and boy to join them. Once they arrived, Fairweather opened the doors and they all poured out to see a wonderful sight for their graduation. Two large marquees had been set up, and between them was a small orchestra of charmed instruments and space for dance. The marquees held tables of drinks and small round tables. Hannah Longbottom was there, she waved excitedly at the students and Neville who was behind them.

"Exam result haven't come in yet, but it's time you all relax with this graduation. A tradition as old as Hogwarts itself, we have a chance at an evening of laughter and friendship. Enjoy the fireworks, courtesy of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. And tomorrow your journey will be complete by travelling to Hogsmeade separately from the rest of the school. Back on those boats you go, to say your final goodbye with a magnificent view of the castle by crossing the great black lake. But for now, enjoy yourselves. Dance and be merry."

The laughter and chattering never stopped, some mermaids from the black lake poked their heads up to peek. Rose was enjoying the music and peacefully watching the stars when the fireworks began and exploded across the sky. They were distracting golden and silver colours, animated fireworks in the form of a badger, a lion, an eagle and a snake chased each other around until a large dragon chased them all off. Then more and more dragons joined it as the colours faded and then more and more colours burst everywhere.

While everyone looked up, Rose didn't notice at first that Scorpius had silently stood beside her.

When she caught sight of blonde hair in the corner of her eye, she jumped. "Malfoy!" she croaked.

"Shhh," he put his finger up to his mouth. "I didn't mean to startle you sorry." he whispered. "Will you dance with me?" his heart raced, anxious for her answer. "After the fireworks I mean."

Rose blinked slowly. It was so unexpected. And there was no hint of malice or mischievous intent in his expression. "Ok." she smiled and nodded, forgetting that this was the guy she was supposed to hate.

Scorpius sighed with relief. "Great, Fairweather wants us to continue the tradition of the head boy and head girl being some of the first to dance, after the teachers start, and then the prefects and then everyone else can join in. He just told us but no one could find you." he smiled.

"Oh, yeah, fine then." Rose sounded disappointed, though she wasn't sure why. She was very happy to join the tradition but some reason, his explanation for asking disheartened her. She shrugged and moved away from him.

Scorpius's eyes widened, was it possible that she genuinely wanted to dance with him? "Wait," he caught up with her. "Just so you know, I would've asked you to dance regardless."

Rose turned and eyed him cautiously, again he sounded sincere. "Well," she chuckled, "I guess that's very nice of you."

"So you would've said yes even if it hadn't been a request from Fairweather?" he asked hopefully.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" she smiled and raised her eyebrows.

"Not now you've already said yes." Scorpius grinned, took her hand in his and linked their fingers together. He pulled her along gently, behind the crowd and towards Fairweather, McLaggen and

Grindley, who was the other seventh year prefect from Slytherin.

"Ah, Miss Granger-Weasley." Fairweather whispered excitedly when they arrived. "I expect Mr Malfoy has told you about my little tradition."

"Yes sir." Rose nodded.

Scorpius had yet to let go of Rose's hand and it didn't look like he was planning to any time soon. Rose surprised herself by not minding at all, in fact she found him quite comforting to be so close. McLaggen shot her a confused look when he noticed them holding hands but she simply glard back and dared him to say a word. So McLaggen quickly looked away.

They enjoyed the rest of the fireworks hand in hand, slightly separated from the rest of the students. Scorpius thought his heart might burst from happiness.

As soon as the fireworks ended, the music started, nothing sounded more beautiful. Hannah Longbottom jumped up with delight and ran to Neville, he turned bright red in front of his students.

"Come on!" she giggled as she grabbed his hand and led him to dance area. "Oh Neville, every year I drag you to be the first couple to start dancing, isn't about time you stop looking so embarrassed?"

The danced gracefully, which surprised a great number of the seventh years. "You don't have to drag me anywhere, I'll happily follow you." Neville whispered in her ear. Now both of them had bright red cheeks, they laughed it off and danced happily.

Fairweather sooned joined them, dancing with his professor Stockett who looked livid. Lupin laughed loudly and leaned it to joke with Hagrid.

"Every year," sad Lupin, "Every year he asks he to dance and every year she resents him for it!"

Next to join the dancing was McLaggen and Grindley, who were less elegant and just managed to say from side to side as neither of them had any rhythm. Rose's heart raced and Scorpius led her to the dance floor. He pulled her in close and smiled.

"Just a warning, I can't dance." Rose said in a panicked whisper.

"You can't?"

"No, I'm probably the clumsiest person you know so why should it be a surprise that I can't dance?"

It was a waltz and Rose looked at her feet the entire time in order to get the steps right but instead she kept on standing on Scorpius's feet.

"Sorry, sorry….sorry…..sorry again." she mumbled everytime she stepped on him.

"It's fine." he laughed. "Look at me rather than you're feet. My mother taught me to dance when I was young so I know how this works." He only instructed her when she finally looked him in the eye. "One, two, three, one, two, three. There we go, you're getting it. Sadly you have to let me lead." his smile never dropped.

Rose's ears turned red, the blush spread to her cheeks and neck. Eventually a lot of students joined in, Lunette and Albus were among of the first. When the dance floor got a bit too busy, Scorpius and Rose left in order to get a drink.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Scorpius felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest and run away.

Rose laughed, "If you call being stepped on every to seconds fun, then sure."

The music started to wind down and students went back to their dormitories to pack to leave the next day. Neville and Hannah were the last the leave and made sure everything was packed away with the help of Hagrid and Teddy Lupin.

Scorpius and Rose climbed the stairs and walked to the shared common room together. Rose yawned, flicked her wand at the desk, her books and other personal belongings in the shared common room and sent them up to her room. Scorpius followed suit.

"We've made a pretty good team this year, haven't we? Despite everything, despite our previous years of arguments." Scorpius spoke up.

"Yeah, I guess we have. All things considered, we did work well together." She smiled at him. "I'm glad you were head boy, you've done well."

"You were great too, a brilliant role model."

"I don't know about that..." she chewed her lip with a guilty expression. "I know I said it before, but I'm sorry, so sorry about taking my anger and frustration on you back in November. I shouldn't have-"

"Weasley, I told you-"

"No it was unacceptable and completely out of character. I could've hurt you and you've already been hurt enough this year, and last year-"

"Stop it! I've already forgiven you, please stop beating yourself up about it and forgive yourself. I know you better than you realise, I know that you would never hurt me intentionally, that's why you stopped yourself before you cast that spell and that's why I can forgive you so easily." Scorpius sighed, "You were more a danger to yourself that night. You had pent up your feelings of anger so much that you had a panic attack."

Rose looked down at the ground, not wanting to match his gaze. "Well, thank you for helping that night."

"It really was the least I could do after you've helped me so many times. See, you're a good role model."

Rose glanced around the room to check all her belongings were gone and then yawned. "Bloody hell, I didn't realise how tired I was. I'll see you tomorrow." and she went to bed.

Scorpius spent a little longer in the common room, sitting on the sofa watching the Gryffindor tapestry. He considered telling Rose how he felt, but he felt too much like a coward. He was terrified of her response, of her rejection.

The next morning their exam results landed on their laps at breakfast, Albus had gotten good marks in most things but had done especially well in muggle studies. Lunette has similar results, except that she received the highest marks in potions. The potions professor even congratulated her himself and managed a sort of smile, but it made everybody feel uncomfortable so he soon went back to frowning. Rose and Scorpius, of course, both were the top of the year with Katie Webb only a few marks behind them both. And that was just because she hadn't taken as many classes as those two. Scorpius showed his marks to Lupin who assured him that the auror office would be fools not to take him, and that if he ever needed a letter of recommendation then he would be happy to do it. Rose was ecstatic, she received top marks in everything but was especially proud of her O in Magical Creatures. She wrote to her uncle Charlie and expected a reply within a few days. Nye and Hagrid were very proud of her and both asked to be updated on her studies and care of different dragons.

After breakfast the seventh years were once again taken away from the rest of the students and led towards the kind-of-underground harbour where they got into boats. Albus and Lunette were in one with Philomela Abel-Roy and Melissa Fawley. Scorpius and Rose were some of the last to turn up and were consequently lucky enough to only be three to a boat, with Katie Webb.

Memories of first year came flooding back as the boats, led by Hagrid, glided smoothly under a tunnel then through a curtain of ivy. They all bent down, some had to almost fold themselves in half in order to to hit their heads, they were much taller than they were the first time they had been on these boats. They sailed further and further away from the cliff and they all turned around to watch the magnificent castle that loomed over them became more distant. Nostalgic sighs echoed around the students as the saw the beautiful castle which had been their home for seven years.

They reached the shore of the black lake near Hogwarts. They clambered out of the boats and up a narrow path surrounded by thick trees which blocked out a lot of what little sunlight there was on that greyish day. And suddenly they were at the station. It was all over. But they had a future to look forward to.

Lunette and Albus were uncommonly quiet on the train, as they sat side by side, hand in hand, watching the countryside and muggle towns fly past them. Rose and Scorpius barely saw each other, they were busy stopping a lot of the first and second years from using magic outside of school.

THE WAY BACK HOME

They reached the station and Scorpius got of with his suitcase before he could find Albus or Lunette to say goodbye. So when he found his parents waiting for him already, he asked to stay at platform 9 ¾ just for a little while longer. When he could see that they were getting a little bit restless and impatient, he casually muttered an excuse moved away to search for Albus in the crowd.

But then he spotted her, Rose, taking the first step for the last time, off the Hogwarts Express and into Kings Cross Station. She seemed to glow exclusively in his eyes, as though there was no one else in the busy station, just her. His eyes followed Rose as she ran to hug her parents, she was kissed on the cheek by her mother and lifted up for a few seconds by her father, as if she was five years old again an weighed nothing. But then she stopped, and she turned. Rose took a deep breath and let herself have one last long look at the train, ignoring the people everywhere. She felt like she was seeing the train for the first time, taking in every detail, every smudged window and every lopsided curtain. Rose's long look at the train was interrupted by suddenly noticing Scorpius watching her. She thought he had a strange gleam in his eyes, and didn't look at anyone but her despite the bustling of the crowd. Rose stared back, and the people either side of him seemed to melt away because they didn't matter at that second. Scorpius saw her expression, she was not sad or angry, but it looked as though she wanted to say something but she was just too far away. He was just summoning the nerve to get nearer, when Rose broke their moment as Neville had just pulled her out of the way of his falling suitcase.

"Sorry Rose. Hannah and I catching another train with muggles in a but, we're going to visit some of her family, she should be out in a second." Neville peered into to train

"That's alright professor." she laughed and helped him with it.

"You're not a student anymore, call me Neville."

"I'll do you one better, Uncle Neville. You'll always be an uncle to me and Hugo. Let me help you with that suitcase." Rose waved her wand at the heavy suitcase that was still half in the train, she guided it above the heads of milling parents and walked off in search for a cart to put it down on.

Scorpius finally spotted Albus near his aunt Hermione and made his way towards his friend, he stopped short when he heard himself mentioned by Neville.

"And how was my Rosie as head girl? Be honest Neville, did she get along with the Malfoy's son?" Hermione smiled.

"Scorpius and Rose were excellent, they well surpassed all expectations of every teacher. I'll admit we were a bit worried, we weren't sure how it would work out. But after Rose's response to my letter back before she was even a prefect-"

"What letter?" Hermione asked. Scorpius hid and creeped closer, grateful that Hermione had asked what he had hoped she would.

"I thought you knew, back when the headmaster and I were choosing new prefects, I wrote to Rose and asked her opinion on Scorpius. With him being a Malfoy, we weren't sure how some of the more narrow minded students would react to having him in a place of responsibility. I was trying to convince some of the other teachers that it wouldn't be a problem, but they needed more persuading. I thought if the one person we all knew disliked him the most agreed with me, then no one else could argue back. Her letter explained how Scorpius, despite neither of them being on friendly terms, would be an excellent candidate for prefect. Turns out she was right, not that I ever doubted either of them. And when it came to choosing head boy and head girl, I couldn't think of any two prefects that could do it better. I used Rose's old letter again to convince the headmaster Fairweather that lack of friendship clearly did not mean that they respected each other any less, and the rest was history. I promise you Hermione, Rose and Scorpius worked brilliantly together. You should be proud of her, if it weren't for that letter, I'm not sure how I would've convinced the other teachers that Scorpius would not be prejudged for being a Malfoy."

"I am proud of her, my Rose is clever and she has a big enough heart to know someone's potential when she sees it."

"It'll be hard for all of us to see her go." Hannah said as she suddenly popped up and held onto Neville's arm.

Ron appeared by his wife's side and knew they were talking of his dear little girl going off to Romania. "I always expected Rosie to turn out like me or Hermione, I never expected to have her turn out like Charlie! I'm not saying that I'm not pleased, my girl's brilliant. It's just that we rarely see my brother and I don't want Rosie to be the same."

"Oh Ron," Hermione found herself a tearing again at the prospect and Ron wrapped an arm around her.

Scorpius was shocked by this revelation. He went back to his parents and was grinning, and had no explanation for them why he couldn't stop. Albus and Lunette found him before they left and hugged him goodbye, and arranged a date within the next week to meet up and Lunete's new flat that she was sharing with her dad.

"Ok, see you next week!" Scorpius shouted goodbye and waved to his friends as he ran through the barrier one last time, into Kings Cross Station.

It had been an odd year for Scorpius. For all of them indeed. But Scorpius reflected mostly on Rose and how he realised his feelings for her had never been hatred. At the very least he new that he was in the middle of a very deep crush that wasn't going to go away anytime soon. 'But Rose is going away soon.' he thought to himself. 'Not for a few months though. And I'm not going to have today as the last time I ever see her.' Her deep dark eyes, her crazy fluffy red red hair, her piercing stare, her enchanting smile, her contagious laughter, her kindness, her intelligence, her infectious energy, even her incredible resolve and stubbornness, roamed around Scorpius's mind. The thought of her made him so happy. He wished one day that the thought of him would make her happy too, and that was why he refused to never see her again.

This is not the end of the story, more chapters to come….