Chapter 66: And Every Time I've Held a Rose

"This is completely insane!" Rose Weasley said for the seventeenth time that lingering afternoon, her red hair whipping about her face as she paced frenetically about the Gryffindor Common Room.

"If it was really that insane, don't you think you would have gone back upstairs and changed out of those robes by now?" Lucy cocked an eyebrow from where she was perched on an armrest. "Or not made such an effort to look so nice?"

Rose started at this, glancing to her cousin. "I got dressed up because it's the polite thing to do!"

Fred Weasley II snorted, and she rounded on him. "Don't believe me, do you?"

"No, I think you're trying to deny that you actually want to do this," Fred leveled. "Face it, Rosie: you're conflicted. Otherwise, why would you have called a family meeting?"

"If this is a family meeting," Roxanne raised her hand, "then why isn't Al here?" Around her, the rest of the Weasley and Potter cousins nodded in agreement.

"Because, idiot," Molly II smirked. "Al's darling cousin is going out tonight with his best mate, and she'll probably snog said best mate by the end of the night. I'd call that a huge conflict of interest."

"Speaking of conflicts of interest," James' eyes gleamed, turning to Rose. "Is it true that you only accepted to go out with the Scorpion King as a favor to Al?"

"Ok, Ok, stop: first of all, there is no bloody conflict of interest. Second of all, no one is snogging anyone, because this relationship isn't going anywhere!"

"If it isn't going anywhere," Hugo cocked an eyebrow. "Then why are you acting so nervous? Why are we even here?"

"Because I'm concerned about the potential of..." Rose's voice trailed off.

"Potential of what? You just said this relationship isn't going anywhere!" her little brother pounced. "And if it isn't a relationship, then why are you referring to it as one?"

Rose swayed to a halt, blue eyes round at being caught in an intellectual trap. And for the brilliant daughter of Hermione Weasley (nee Granger) that was a rare position to be in indeed. "Because... because..." she spluttered. She shook her head, tousling the fiery red bangs. "Just forget it. You know what I meant! Come on: what's the one thing I've said all along?"

"You can't conjure food out of thin air. I copied off you in Transfiguration," James quipped.

"No, no, no: what's the other thing I've said all along?"

"Malfoys and Weasleys don't mix," her cousins intoned.

"Exactly."

Roxanne huffed. "Oh, for crying out loud, Rosie, it's just one date! Give him a chance! And if after tonight, you aren't... feeling anything -"

"I don't feel anything for him!" Rose nearly yelled, too vehemently.

Roxanne paused, saying nothing. "Are you quite done?"

Rose glowered at her.

"... if you aren't feeling anything, then you can say you just want to be friends. Scorpius Malfoy asked you out, you accepted, so it's your obligation to go through with the date. After that, you're off the hook."

James hooted. "That's a right laugh! Weasleys and Malfoys can't be friends!"

Dominique just side-eyed him. "Your kid brother is best mates with a Malfoy. And your mum is a Weasley. Do the math, knucklehead."

James' laughter swayed to a stop as his brain strained to make the connection... which he eventually did.

Meanwhile, down in the Slytherin Common Room, Albus Potter was watching his best mate, Scorpius Malfoy, pace around their four-poster beds.

"What if she cancels?" the blonde boy fretted.

"If Rosie wanted to cancel, she would have done it by now," Albus huffed tiredly. "And even if she did want to, she would know it was rude to inform you half a bloody hour before you're supposed to go out. Plus, my cousin is not the kind of person to stand someone up... at least, I think she's not."

His uncertainty on this last point didn't help to sooth Scorpius's absolutely shot demeanor. Muffing down his hair, he spun back around to his best friend and splayed out his arms wide.

"How do I look?"

"Slightly ashen."

"No, no, I mean how do I look?"

Albus grinned. "Like a knock-out."

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow. "Wow, Al. I never took you to be a bloody poof."

Albus scowled. "You know what I meant, Scorp." And he shoved the Malfoy scion to the door. "Now go get her!"

Scorpius paused on the landing. "Are you really OK with this?" he checked. "I mean, she is your cousin. I would hope that you would defend her over me, if I ever hurt her."

"And I would hope you wouldn't hurt her," Albus expressed. "But if you did, I would only get the scraps, because you'd first get hurt by my uncle, then my aunt, then my dad, then my mum, then all my cousins, then all my other uncles, then all my other aunts, then my granddad, then my grandma, and then..."

"Good night, Al," Scorpius laughed, though a little shakily as he swept out of the Common Room.

Just be yourself, Scorpius told himself one last time, as he waited at the foot of the Grand Staircase for Rose to appear. The Gryffindor Common Room was seven floors up, which would dictate that her arrival downstairs would take some time, so he waited patiently, all while trying to ignore the fear that she had stood him up after all. Only Al's insistence that his cousin wouldn't calmed him.

When Rose at last arrived, looking a little flustered, her face thinned into an appraising line as she glanced Scorpius up and down. "Hi," she greeted, her tone almost cautious, certainly shy.

For his part, Scorpius could hardly speak. Her flaming red hair was down in ringlets, and she had on a matching red dress framed by nice robes.

"Wow," he finally managed to breathe, blinking rather rapidly. "You look... really nice."

Rose glanced down at herself, not necessarily in agreement. "Thank you," she managed meekly. Scorpius couldn't see her blush. "Um... what would you like to do?"

"I've got some ideas," Scorpius shrugged, before heading towards the front doors and a waiting threstral carriage for which he'd arranged. Bemused, Rose followed at a distance, impressed by his manners and gallantry when Scorpius insisted on helping her up into the carriage.

The sun was a blazing fireball in the sky by the time the carriage reached Hogsmeade Village. Holding out his arm to her, Rose shyly took it, looping her arm through his at the elbow. Scorpius escorted her to Fortescue's Ice Cream parlor.

All the while, Rose could only stare at him. A Malfoy who was so considerate. Soft-spoken. And though she could tell he was just as shy as she felt, he was charming in an awkward and adorable way.

Arriving at the ice cream parlor, Scorpius even held out Rose's chair for her before rounding the table to take his own seat, bumping into the metal on his way. Rose had to bite her lip hard to tamp down a giggle threatening to bubble up.

Glancing up to her, Scorpius smiled bashfully. "Your dress really is amazing."

This time, Rose knew that Scorpius could see her blushing. "You like it? It was my mother's."

Scorpius nodded. Her beauty was so entrancing that it seemed to override all other thought as he blurted out, "I'm pleased that you came. I was afraid you would cancel, or stand me up. Al told me you wouldn't."

She blinked at him rapidly in surprise and for a moment, Scorpius was terrified that he had offended her. "Why would you think that?" she asked. Though her tone was mild, his heart only clenched all the more.

"Well, because... because..." he struggled to form an answer that would not result in him further digging his own grave. Or at least the grave of any chance at a second date. "I know you didn't always like me." The use of tense was intentional.

Scorpius stilled when he felt Rose abruptly touch his hand from across the table. "Scorpius:" (his heart palpitated; his name sounded like sin on her lips) "despite what you might have heard from any one of my idiot cousins, not to mention my kid brother, none of this is out of pity. I... I really do want to..." Her voice trailed off. Wiggling a little in her seat, she straightened herself. "You were very brave, to ask me out like that."

"Really?" Scorpius's eyes went wide. "I thought I sounded like a bumbling idiot."

This time, Rose did giggle. "Maybe just over-excited," she observed diplomatically. "You aren't exactly a smooth talker, Scorpion King."

Scorpius winced. "Please don't call me that," his voice was unusually soft.

Rose froze, eyeing him and her gaze turned both apologetic and sympathetic. "It's hard for you to talk about the Time Turner stuff, huh?" she murmured.

"Al and me both. I can't count the number of times we've apologized. One time, Al's dad paid us each a Sickle to stop apologizing."

Rose chuckled. "Uncle Harry would resort to bribery."

"And it's not just that," Scorpius nearly talked over her. "Stuff like that reminds me too much of my dad. I'm not him."

Rose's eyes narrowed as she took this in, finally dipping her head in a silent apology. "Do you want to be?" she found herself asking.

"Some things, yes," Scorpius conceded. "Dad could talk his way into any lady's knickers. I've... never been so great with girls. But I mean, I wouldn't want to see any gal just for sex, you mean more than that..." He was rambling by now.

"I understand," Rose cut across him, and she gave him a small smile. Scorpius smiled back.

"Other things..." Scorpius's voice was still soft. "I feel like no matter how fast I run, I'll never be able to outrun my dad's legacy."

Rose regarded him gently. "Your dad's gotten better," she admitted. "He helped my parents and uncle in Godric's Hollow, at least that's what Al said. My dad would probably never admit it, but..."

Scorpius shrugged. There was a moment of silence before he heard what sounded like a sniffle. Glancing up, he was distressed to find Rose wiping at her eyes, trying to hide tears. "What's wrong?"

She gazed at him, her deep blue eyes shimmering. "I'm sorry that I ever thought less of you. It was wrong. 25 years after the war, and people are still so prejudiced."

Bravely taking her hand, Scorpius rubbed his thumb over her knuckle. "It's OK," he crooned. "It's OK." Rose stared down at their joined hands, then back up to him. Finally drawing back, the pair focused on their ice cream, though by now half of the scoops were melted.

It was dark and the stars were out by the time Rose and Scorpius began their walk back to the castle. "Will you be fine once we get in?" Scorpius asked her. "I can take you up to the Seventh Floor and drop you by the Fat Lady portrait..."

"I've got James's Invisibility Cloak," Rose assured him. "The prefects won't catch me."

They were just nearing the edge of the village when she halted him with a question, turning to face him. "Why do you like me?"

Scorpius blinked at her. "You really wanna know?"

Rose peered at him. "Yess..." she drew out slowly.

Scorpius grinned at her. "We share five classes together, right? And in four of them, I sit directly behind you. The only one I don't is Professor Binns' History of Magic, remember?"

"Yes..." Rose said, still a little haltingly, unsure where he was going with this.

"Well, in our four other classes, every time you raise your hand, this wave of a breeze just washes over me. You do it so fast, so enthusiastically, it's... a breath of fresh air. That's what you are, Rosie - a breath of fresh air."

For a moment, Rose could only gape at him, speechless, her eyes shining in the moonlight. And then -

Scorpius suddenly felt his body slammed back into the shopfront behind them, from where Rose was bracing his shoulders. And then her lips were fiercely on his, as she leaned in close and kissed him.

Scorpius felt dizzy, so that he didn't move to reciprocate the kiss until Rose was already drawing away from him, her blue eyes wide and sparkling. Her lips were slightly parted, now flushed and rouged from how passionately she had snogged him, and she was staring at him as though she had never seen him before.

Courage roared through Scorpius like a bolt of lightning and he pulled Rose back into his arms and snogged her senseless. She melted against him in no time at all, her pretty little mouth falling open against his so that his tongue seemed to drop in between the split almost of its own accord.

Rose made a tiny sound that seemed almost like a purr and Scorpius trembled jerkingly as her arms came up to loop about his neck. Spinning them, Rose was soon against the wall as Scorpius's furious kiss pressed her into the windowpane. Rose hooked her leg behind Scorpius's knee and gently rutted against him. She gasped sharply into Scorpius's lips as his pelvis bucked back, creating delicious friction that drove her to break out of the kiss for air, in favor of groaning loudly into Scorpius's neck.

Scorpius was so hard, he was surprised he didn't come in his pants, and when Rose shifted against him again with a tiny whimper, the friction it created on his erection forced him to let out a hiss. Does she actually want to shag... Oh, sweet Merlin!

Holding him close, Rose panted into his shoulder, "Where's... where's your Common Room?"

"Dungeons. Just off Professor Zabini's office. Why?" As if he didn't know why.

Stepping out of his arms, Rose held Scorpius's eyes. "Come with me." Full of purpose, she took his hand, and nearly ran them both the rest of the way to the castle. She didn't stop until she had guided him down into the dungeons, past the the slab of stone wall that concealed the entrance, which Scorpius directed her to...

Deep into that night, in Scorpius's four-poster with the curtains drawn, Rose and the Malfoy heir undulated against each other in naked heat. Squirming beneath him, Rose put Scorpius at ease, guiding him, showing him what she liked. Arching her back into him, Rose moaned loudly with every erratic thrust Scorpius gave her. He really was excited, and a virgin, his ministrations careening wildly between rough and gentle, as if he was afraid to hurt her.

"Hmmmm... Mmmm... Scorp... Scorpius, I'm gonna..."

She didn't finish. Her hands fisting the blankets so hard, her knuckles turned white, Rose cried out as she came. Before long, she felt him weaken against her until he too ejaculated, shuddering to a stop.

Eyes rolling, speech slurring, Rose sank back into the covers and in the arms of her lover, drifting off to sleep...

It was mid-morning the next day when Scorpius finally emerged from the boys dormitory in the Common Room. The main living area was deserted; Al had an early Herbology lecture and Transfiguration back-to-back, so he wouldn't be home by lunchtime. His first class was in a half hour.

Tugging on his shoes, Scorpius turned back at a rustling to find Rose standing there in nothing but one of his dress shirts. The fabric hung loose on her so that it dangled to about a quarter of the way down her thighs, just hiding her smart and shapely bum. Leaning against the doorway, she appraised him in a very different way than she had the night before: tenderness and admiration.

"Where are you off to?" she almost whined.

"I've got Charms," he informed her matter-of-factly, tugging his second loafer on. "You?"

"Nothing until late afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then Quidditch practice after dinner," she crooned.

Straightening up, Scorpius crossed to her. "See you at dinner then?" He said it casually, but there was a question in his eyes. Biting her lip, Rose nodded. He beamed. "Brilliant. See you then." He pecked her cheek.

"You call that a kiss?" Scorpius spun back around to find Rose eyeing him with a ruffled brow and her hands on her hips.

Blinking, chuckling awkwardly, Scorpius crossed back to Rose, pulled her close and snogged her with all the strength he could muster, arms encircling her slim waist. Eyes drooping, fluttering shut dreamily, Rose's hands splayed across his shoulder blades as she kissed him back. When they finally broke apart, she appeared dazed.

"I'll see you later," Scorpius whispered. One last peck of the lips goodbye, and he hustled for the portrait hole. "Use the Cloak when you leave!" he called over his shoulder.

Rose stood there for several minutes, mouth agape and still in a happy state of shock, before she did.

Ron Weasley stared down murderously at the page of parchment in his hand, creases already setting into the paper as he clenched it in his fist. His vision had seemed to turn red, and there was a strange roaring in his ears so that he didn't hear his wife, Hermione, enter the room.

"Oh, great, here's the owl post. Thanks, love." Craning up, Hermione softly kissed him, drawing back after a few moments when Ron did nothing to kiss her back. Peering up at her husband, Hermione frowned. "OK, what's wrong?"

"This, 'Mione!" Ron nearly exploded, shaking the letter nearly in her face. "This is what's wrong!"

Despite how increasingly on-edge he was getting, Hermione calmly took the parchment from him and read it. Though her eyes widened line by line, her mouth broadened into an amused, pleasantly surprised smile. By the time she finished, Hermione had to dab at her brown orbs a little - whether out of true emotion or amusement, Ron couldn't tell, though he feared it was the former.

"Rosie is growing up... she has a boyfriend..."

"Did you read the part where she says who he is?" Ron tapped the parchment earnestly. "A Malfoy is dating our daughter! Our daughter! Our little Rosebud!" The youngest Weasley son worked himself up into a rant. "Why would she even agree to...? Doesn't she know he's...?"

"... an obviously very nice boy, and he must be polite too, for her to look twice at him," Hermione stipulated.

Ron's head snapped up to ogle her, from where he had had it buried in his hands. "A Malfoy? Nice? Polite? Are we sure we're talking about the same person..."

"He's best mates with our godson and nephew, and Albus is the nicest boy you could ever meet!" Hermione pointed out.

"They also nearly destroyed the entire time-space continuum of the wizarding world!" Ron reminded his wife.

She just rolled her eyes. "Are you ever going to let them live that down? Harry's told me that Al has apologized over and over again..."

"Has he?" Ron's voice was pure venom.

"I'm sure he has."

"Bull," Ron snorted. Stomping over to the fireplace, he threw some Floo powder into it and bellowed, "HARRY! I want a word!"

About a minute later, there was a whoosh of green flames and Harry spun into the Weasley residence, looking a little peeved.

"What?"

Ron snatched the parchment from his wife and held it out to his brother-in-law. "Read. Just read."

Eyes shifting down to the parchment, nearly crushed in Ron's fist. "What's this rubbish?"

"What's this rubbish, he says?" Ron nearly crowed, as if already vindicated.

"The bloody hell's the matter with you?" Harry frowned. "I haven't even read it yet!"

"Well, it certainly isn't your old homework that Hermione always had to rewrite!"

"Ah-hah, ah-hah, ah-hah - give me that!" Harry laughed sarcastically. Seizing the parchment, the Boy Who Lived pushed his glasses down to the bridge of his nose as he began to read. As before with Hermione, his expression shifted in surprise, but betrayed no signs of the concern that Ron so obviously craved.

Harry's mouth pursed in a thin line. "A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. Bout time Rosie had a steady boyfriend..."

"Are you a bloody lunatic?!" Ron bawled. "She's sixteen! And she's seeing the Baby Ferret!" Behind him, Hermione had to bite her lip to hide a smile.

"The Baby Ferret has a name - Scorpius - and he's very nice," Harry retorted, unusually sharply. "He's been in my home..."

"I don't bloody care!" Ron screeched. "No daughter of mine is dating a Malfoy! Harry, that first year when we dropped off Al and Rosie, and I told her my dad would never forgive her if she married a pureblood... that wasn't a joke!"

"Oh, yes, it was," Hermione trilled out a laugh. "Arthur's mellowed with age."

Ron's head swiveled between his best mate and his wife, appalled that they were not immediately backing him up. Sympathetically, Hermione cupped his face in her hands.

"Listen to me: your daughter's happiness is at stake. And Albus wouldn't become friends with just anybody. Maybe you should look again... like you did with me."

Ron's face churned with pain, unable to settle on one emotion. "But I didn't have to look again with you." He sounded almost like a child.

Hermione smirked. "Yes, you did. When we first met, you hated me..."

"I hated you because a part of me had already fallen in love with you, and that terrified me!"

Face flaming red, Hermione's mouth dropped open into a pretty little 'O'; even Harry arched a brow with intrigue. Underneath Hermione's tender cradling of his cheeks, Ron deflated a little.

"Do you remember the first time you stayed at the Burrow?" he asked her.

"After our first year?" Hermione frowned. "Yes, I remember. You wrote to Harry nearly every day asking him to stay, but never got an answer... course, it was because his relatives were practically holding him prisoner..."

"Anyway," Ron continued. "One morning, I came in from playing Quidditch with Ginny, Fred and George and went up to take a shower. I was so exhausted, I didn't realize that it was already occupied and I walked in on you, turning on the bath. Your back was to me, but the curtain was undrawn, and... I got quite a lovely view. You were humming to yourself, your hair was down..."

"Do I really want to hear this?" Harry piped up squeamishly.

"Sssh! Don't interrupt!" Hermione waved him down before turning back to her husband, enraptured.

"I had never seen anything so beautiful..." Ron recalled, nearly breathless. "Luckily, you didn't see me, so I backed out of the loo, ran up to my bed and wanked to you till I came in my bloody pants. At that moment, I knew I was a goner. I've never been so scared in my life."

Hermione's eyes were shining, tears in them. "That's so sweet..."

"Nauseating is more like it," Harry said dryly. But his eyes were twinkling. His sister-in-law swatted at him.

Taking the story in, Hermione smiled a little as a thought came to her. "Well, there, Ronald, you see? Rosie didn't like Scorpius, either, at first. Maybe she's now seeing him in a new light. Now the question is... when it comes to Scorpius, are you willing to do the same?"

Ron winced, though in his eyes, there was something like admiration. There was nothing quite like the brilliance of his wife... even when she was using that brilliance to box him into an intellectual trap. Thank Merlin Rose was just as smart, and in light of that... if his daughter - with such a good head on her shoulders - could see something in the Malfoy boy, then maybe he wasn't all bad.

"I will think about inviting him over to dinner if Rosie asks..."

Beaming, Hermione mashed her husband's face in her hands and kissed him soundly. Harry just smirked.

"I'll leave you to it." And he left his best mates heatedly snogging in their living room.