A/N: Standard written for The Houses Competition Year 10 round 8.

Summary: ONE-SHOT. Rose asks Scorpius to fake date her and everyone knows what happens when people are fake dating… Scorose.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Charms

Category: Standard

Word Count: 2991

Prompt(s):

[Trope] Fake Dating

[Last Line] As he looked across the table, he knew this was forever.

[Colour] Green - New Beginnings

Warnings: None

Disclaimers: I do not own the Harry Potter universe.

The Fake Dating Debacle

It was late Friday afternoon when twenty-nine-year-old Rose entered Albus' and Scorpius' apartment and made her way to Scorpius' bedroom door.

Once there, she knocked and said, "Scorpius, it's Rose. I have a proposition for you."

She heard some rumbling behind the door, and when the door opened, a tall, silver-eyed young man was standing in the doorway, only wearing a pair of dark blue trousers. His platinum-blonde hair was still dripping wet, and he was busy drying it with his towel. Scorpius had obviously just showered. Rose guessed that he'd just arrived home before her after his workday was over at St. Mungo's where he worked as a potioneer.

"My dearest Ms. Weasley, do come in," he smirked at her with an elaborate welcoming gesture.

Taking a deep breath in to calm her annoyance at his overt poshness, she did as he said.

When he'd shut the door behind her, he pointed to the chair next to the window, which she took only to not be in his way. She was oddly familiar with Scorpius' shower routine now and knew that he would walk in and out of his ensuite bathroom quite a few times more until he was completely dressed.

He hung his head upside down and did the last of his drying antics before throwing his towel straight into the laundry basket in his bathroom. He walked past her to his wardrobe and took out a white shirt, which he put on and tucked into his pair of trousers. Then he walked back to the bathroom to put a bit of product in his hair to keep it tidy for the evening. Whilst he was applying the product, he asked, "So, what is this mysterious proposition, Ms. Weasley?"

"As you know, Robert and I broke up a few months ago."

"Uh-huh," Scorpius replied, whilst looking into the mirror and putting the last few hairs back in shape.

"He doesn't seem able to let it go, apparently. The letters I have received..." she trailed off before continuing, "So I need him to understand that I am over him."

"Are you?" he asked.

Rose raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Quite," she stated simply.

"Didn't you tell him why you ended it?" Scorpius asked, now putting on some aftershave.

"How do you-" Rose started.

"Oh please, only a fool would break up with you. First, you are way out of his league, and besides being nice, he couldn't offer you anything you need. Not physically, emotionally, socially or intellectually. It was doomed from the first minute, so obviously, you realised that and broke up with him."

Rose blinked a few times and said plainly, "Thank you for that assessment."

"So what can I do for you, Ms. Weasley?"

Meanwhile, Scorpius made his way back to his wardrobe and took out a nice-looking dress shirt, which he slid into with such ease that the motion nearly entranced Rose.

When he started buttoning his dress shirt from the bottom button upwards, Rose replied, throwing caution to the wind, "I need you to fake date me."

Whatever Scorpius had been expecting, it wasn't this. He had been looking into the dress mirror next to his wardrobe but stopped buttoning his shirt and stared at her.

"Why me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because he knows I like you, and you will scare him off more so than other people will. Additionally, I have received various propositions from other people and a few people I don't even know, and I am not interested in dating anyone at the moment."

"You- like me?" he asked, blinking a few times at the implication of this statement.

"Yes, of course. We've hung out quite a bit these past few months, and I'd like to think we're good friends. Maybe not best friends, I wouldn't want to get in your way with the bromance you have with my dear cousin Albus, but still, good friends."

Her answer sounded so simple, but Scorpius was unsure if she meant more than she was letting on.

"Rose…" he started, sceptical, his tone almost begging her not to ask this of him.

"Scorpius, there is actually no downside to acting like we are dating," she replied, with a little pleading force in her tone.

"Yes, except for the part where people would think I was dating you," Scorpius remarked teasingly.

"If by 'people' you mean Rebeccah." Rose's voice sounded nearly venomous, "She is a cheater and you will never be happy together, so I suggest you stay away from her toxicity. Also, your mother would get off your back about your love life, finding you a wife and all that. Also, you won't have to go on her set-up dates with witches you don't like. Listen, you don't have to like me, you just need to pretend you do," she begged him now.

Scorpius shook his head. "Your parents will take one look at me and know it's fake. And also, I'm not good enough for you."

Rose sighed. "What's up with you saying all of you guys don't deserve to date me? It's my choice still, and you are a smart guy who, evidently, can keep up with me emotionally and intellectually, at least. Also, you are in the same social circle as I am and luckily we don't have to find out if we are compatible physically because you know we're not actually dating, so it'll be alright. Unless you don't think you can do it?" she asked slyly.

Scorpius let her words sink in for a moment before asking, "Are you doubting my acting skills?"

"So, you'll do it?" Rose asked, disregarding his question completely.

He studied her face with pleading eyes and sighed deeply.

"Fine. But you have to tell everyone it's your fault when we break up. I like your family, and I don't want them to come chasing after me with nasty jinxes and revenge pranks."

"Deal."

She stood up and extended her hand to shake his, which he did, still unconvinced.

He kept on staring at her as she continued buttoning his dress shirt. He seemed to be hyper-aware of the fact that she was standing closer than normal, and he swallowed slowly.

"It feels weird. This," he pointed at her dressing him.

"Oh, relax, Sweet Cheeks. You'll get used to it," she replied light-heartedly, slapping his shoulder playfully like she'd done hundreds of times before.

Before he could reply, she continued, "Which reminds me, Albus knows we are fake dating. Also, we have been dating for the past two weeks after I asked you out. Our first date was to the Scamander Magical Zoo and our second to that nice restaurant in East London which you like so much."

She had informed him so casually whilst folding the collar of his dress shirt in a nice clean fold that Scorpius was surprised at her preparedness for this scheme.

Whilst he did the final hair touches in the mirror, they spoke about their next meeting, which was their first public 'date'. That date was orchestrated to spread the word of them dating and getting people off their backs. When Rose finally left, Scorpius was neatly dressed for dinner at his parent's house and ran into Albus on his way to the fireplace. Albus simply stared at Scorpius before saying, "Good luck, mate."

"Thanks," Scorpius replied and hastened to make his way to the fireplace to floo to Malfoy Manor.

At dinner, Scorpius asked his father about his work and his mother about her charity parties, and he managed to avoid the topic of dating Rose Weasley until after dessert. He'd decided that he would tell his parents at the last possible moment that they were dating.

"And how have you been, Scorpius? We are happy that you are interested in our lives, but how are you? We rarely see you these days!" Astoria Malfoy's voice sounded disappointed.

He could sense that his mother was going to bring up another date with Yulia again, and he acted quickly, "I am seeing someone and have been for the past few weeks."

His parents looked ecstatic.

"Scorpius, that is wonderful! We are delighted that you finally made the move to ask her out. We were wondering what took you both so long!" his mother said instantly.

"Astoria, darling, I think he isn't talking about Yulia," his father said hesitantly.

His mother blinked in surprise and waited for Scorpius to clarify.

When Scorpius was busy thinking of how to bring the news, his father said, "I'm guessing Rose Weasley."

Scorpius nearly choked on his tongue.

"How did you-"

"The feud I had with her parents was hashed out a long time ago. We are absolutely fine with you being friends with the Potters and the Weasleys. We have been fine with it since we found out that they are nice to you and you have fun with them. From what my colleagues tell me, Rose Weasley is an intelligent, driven young witch who can hold her own."

Scorpius had just listened to his father's words and did not know what to say as he was truly gobsmacked. He took a deep breath in and asked, "How did you know?"

His father answered, "It was obvious that you were in love with each other for so long already." Scorpius raised his eyebrows at this remark.

His mother said, "Well, then we are happy for you and would love to have her over for dinner sometime. You know, officially."

Scorpius forced himself to smile and said, "Great, I'll see what I can do. Now, I have to go, I have busy days ahead. I'll pop by later tomorrow! Thanks for the lovely meal. Mother, father."

With a nod, he stepped to the fireplace and flooed back home.

Rose and Scorpius met in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour the next day. When Rose saw him, she smiled broadly and twirled around in her gorgeous green dress. It was a dress made of heavy material and perfect for these cold days.

"Hello there, Stallion," she said flirtatiously, whilst placing a kiss on his cheek and taking his hand into hers.

"My parents were very happy," he said, almost accusatorily, not taking her hand.

"Oh, great! My mother was happy too! My father vouched to hunt you down and kill you, so he's good with it, too," she smiled happily at him.

Scorpius shook his head at her father's threat, which was a weekly occurrence, and he lowered his head when Rose whispered, "If you want this to work out, you eventually have to suck up and hold my hand."

He turned his serious gaze into a warm smile, and he took her hand too. Then she pressed another kiss on his cheek and guided him towards The Leaky Cauldron.

"Good. Let me buy you some hot cocoa, Fuzzy Butt," she said loudly.

Scorpius leaned into her ear and whispered so that no one could hear him but Rose, "If you call me one more of those stupid pet names, I will tell everyone the truth!"

"Noted. Darling," she sang cheekily and pinched his hand playfully.

The next few days, their acting became more and more natural with every public outing, and when they hung out after their orchestrated public dates, it was a relaxed atmosphere to just have fun. It became more and more comfortable to hold each other's hand, and to neither's knowledge, both felt the sparks between their skin. The Daily Prophet had even posted a small article, after their first date, on them walking hand-in-hand. This resulted in a stop from receiving daily love letters from strangers.

When they ran into a very old Rubeus Hagrid two weeks later in Diagon' Alley, Hagrid had bluntly asked Scorpius what he liked so much about her as if to gauge if Scorpius was sincere.

"She's resourceful, fun, intelligent, and she's an excellent partner in potions. Not to mention, she knows how to move on the dancefloor, and she says what she thinks. I love that about her," Scorpius had said.

When they wished Hagrid their best wishes for the new year and made their way back to Scorpius' bedroom, Rose let herself fall onto his bed and said, "Aww, that sounded a lot like you like me."

Scorpius sent her a look whilst taking off his attire and dressing into something more comfortable. "I'm just a good actor."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprised. "When I said to Mrs. Longbottom that I loved your intelligence, your ability to dress properly and to keep up with me dancing, that wasn't fake… just saying."

Rose didn't say it with any spite or emotion in her voice. She was just factual and shrugged.

"It's fine, though, and I'm happy that the plan is working. I haven't received any more letters from him."

Scorpius' eyebrows rose. "Really? That's great!"

"What about you?" Rose asked him.

"Well, Yulia is engaged to Trevor Zabini, and my mother has only asked me twice when I'm going to propose to you. She wouldn't want your reputation to be destroyed because of me."

Rose looked at Scorpius.

"Scorpius, faking a proposal is too much for me. I only say yes under two conditions: one, I truly see myself with that person for the rest of my life. Two, the proposal is private. No one around. Getting engaged is one of the most private things in life, and I'm not going to be able to fake that. I really can't."

Scorpius hastened over to her from his bathroom. "You misunderstand me, I am not going to fake ask you to be my wife. No worries, Rose."

Rose looked at him with furrowed brows. The wording, how he'd phrased that, was very odd. Almost as if…

Scorpius' words halted her thoughts, "But, we do need to kiss in front of my parents. My father will not believe that it's real without that level of public display of affection."

Rose's mouth went dry, and she thought of kissing Scorpius like she had done for months. The nervousness that spread inside her body just thinking about it made her blurt out, "Okay, so you want to practice kissing to make it believable?"

Scorpius had turned away to put on a simple dress shirt, and when he turned back around, he said, "Maybe, it's for the best. If we still need to continue this scheme a little while longer, I mean."

"By the way, I meant to ask you, I see you wearing this green colour a lot right now, why is that?" he asked.

"It represents new beginnings. I figured nothing was more appropriate for us. We are free from the past and present that wish to tie us down, and we decide our future. And nothing is going to keep us from doing that. Even if it involves using a scheme to get what we want."

Scorpius was impressed. He was visibly impressed at hearing these words.

"Regardless, it suits you perfectly," he said, smiling.

Rose got up from his bed and smiled back, "Let's get this over with, then."

She motioned between them, and he nodded, taking a step closer to stand very close to her all of a sudden. He cupped her face with his large hands and slowly bowed his head forward. Rose instinctively replied and- fireworks. Simple fireworks, sparks, and electric charges were coursing through both of their bodies. First, they'd been hyper-aware of the other that they were kissing, but now lived in that magical kiss and did not hear the bedroom door open. Both of them were startled when Albus' voice sounded next to them, "Whatcha doing there, mate?"

Scorpius shot backwards, and Rose looked annoyed at her cousin.

"If you must know, we were practising kissing to make it believable for his father," Rose spat out.

Albus' eyebrows raised so high that both Scorpius and Rose felt caught.

"Well, in that case, well done. You could've easily fooled me! If I hadn't known any better I would say that you genuinely were in love with each other."

The irony dripped from Albus' voice, and he sent Scorpius a warning look before closing the door.

Rose, however, clapped Scorpius congratulatory on his arm. "You're actually a really good kisser!"

Scorpius swallowed and joked, "You're actually very average. I'm glad Albus broke us apart."

Rose laughed and asked, "So we're still on for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I know a nice little place in Paris. I have ensured that someone will be there to take photos to leak to the press," Scorpius informed her.

"Good! I'll be here at six. Bye, darling," she said sweetly. With those words, she left.

Two days later, after all the newspapers were filled with the love story of Rose and Scorpius and Scorpius' father was convinced, they were having dinner at Scorpius' apartment. Just the two of them.

He handed her the Evening Prophet and said, "I guess we don't have to pretend any longer, and we can just tell the truth from now on."

"The truth?" she asked tentatively.

"I've known for a few years, and now I'm sure." He took out a small jewellery box and opened it at the same time he went down on one knee. Inside was a gorgeous, jade-green stone.

"New beginnings, right?" he asked.

She stared at him and didn't speak.

"New beginnings?" she managed to get out.

"Yes, because I love you, and I think you love me too. I think this is as real as it gets. So will you marry me, Rose Weasley?"

The deep frown and almost angry-looking face slowly seemed to melt, and it was replaced by a most wonderful smile.

"I do."

He placed the ring on her finger, kissed her passionately, and sat back down in his seat, staring at his fiancée. As he looked across the table, he knew this was forever.