She had to be some kind of raving lunatic. That was the only logical explanation for what she was about to do.

Rose was standing stock still halfway up the stairs that led to the Astronomy Tower, shivering slightly in the cold night air. It was quarter past nine on Saturday night, and, for reasons that she couldn't quite explain, she was on the verge of being exactly where Scorpius had told her to be almost a week ago outside the Hospital Wing. That is to say, she had actually gone to where he had said he would be.

The irony of it all was that she had spent the majority of the week convincing herself that it was a bad idea. The thought of meeting Scorpius filled her with a strange combination of exhilaration and terror. After all, there was a substantial difference (at least in Rose's mind) between a sudden, unexpected kiss after crossing paths in the corridor, and a deliberate decision to meet, at night time, in the seclusion of a Tower that was a notorious hangout for couples. When she stopped and thought about what going would actually mean, and at the same time what Scorpius would imply from her absence, Rose felt half inclined to simply disappear from Hogwarts altogether.

And yet, despite the countless reasons she had considered for why not to go, and the myriad of excuses at her disposal, she found herself dithering in the common room late Saturday night, her eyes fixed on her older cousin James as he played a game of Exploding Snap with Fred. Her thoughts had been chasing themselves in circles the whole day; first she would relive all the times Scorpius had been rude to her, or made fun of her; then these unpleasant memories would be chased away by the recollection of the incredible lightness she had felt when he kissed her. For some reason that she wasn't quite sure of, Rose couldn't seem to maintain any sort of animosity towards Scorpius anymore. Sure, he could be an arrogant prat, and he thought far too much of himself, but on those rare occasions when the two of them had actually spent time together without arguing, it was amazing how much she actually enjoyed his company.

Somehow, it always came back to the same thing: she would regret it if she didn't go. And once Rose had arrived at this conclusion, nothing could change her mind. If anything, the more she tried to ignore it, the stronger it became.

Eventually, James had caught her staring and demanded to know what was wrong with her.

Rose wasn't sure where the words came from, but before she had even thought of a plausible excuse for her strange behaviour, she found herself asking him for his Invisibility Cloak. This request had caused both James and Fred to gape at her in open astonishment. She had never before asked to use her cousin's cloak. She blushed and looked down, mortified at the implication that she was about to break the rules and that her family would certainly know all about it.

James had given her his cloak very reluctantly. Rose could tell he was bursting to ask her why she needed it, but all she mumbled was 'library' before darting out of the Common Room and away from his inquisitive stare. She supposed her embarrassment as good as gave her away, and she would have to face his questions eventually, but for the time being she was glad just to be standing in the corridor by herself, vainly attempting to gather her thoughts.

There was a creak behind her, and Rose span around, her heart thumping wildly, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't be seen. Her eyes peered about in the gloom, but there was nothing there besides an old suit of armour – she was only jumping at shadows.

Shaking her head at her own silliness, she took another step up the stairwell, now only a few metres from the open landing of the Astronomy Tower. The air was much colder up here; she could see her breath puffing in misty clouds in front of her from the cloak covering her face. Her hands were trembling with nerves.

A few more steps. She didn't have to stay, Rose reasoned with herself. She could just have a look to see whether Scorpius was there or not (she hadn't discarded the possibility that he was setting her up or having a laugh) and then turn around and leave. She was perfectly hidden, which was about the only reason she had mustered up the courage to get this far. Now there were only three more steps onto the landing. Rose shut her eyes and cleared them before she could change her mind. Gryffindor indeed. She was practically shaking on the spot.

Her eyes picked out Scorpius immediately. He was sitting on the carved edge of the Tower, looking out over the grounds, his white-blonde hair shifting back and forth in the swirling wind. His legs dangled over the edge, and he was hitting one of them rhythmically against the stone wall. Seeing him there, something in Rose gave a lurch, and a pocket of warmth seemed to grow inside her. He had actually come.

She sucked in a deep breath and squared her shoulders, deciding on the spot that she couldn't just turn and walk away. Scorpius had his back to her, and she used the time to gather the courage to reveal herself. Just as she made to shed the Invisibility Cloak, however, Scorpius looked down at something in his hands, stiffened, and whirled around on the spot.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, staring straight at the place where she stood frozen, still covered by the cloak. She watched as he slid off the railing and back onto the ground. "I thought you'd never come off the stairs."

Utterly bewildered, Rose ripped the cloak off of herself, folded it up and scrunched it into the inside pocket of her jacket. Scorpius didn't seem the least bit surprised to see her appear out of thin air. She stared at him in shock, her brain slowly processing his unexpected reaction. "How did you…" she finally managed to ask.

Scorpius smirked and waved something in his right hand. It was a scrappy looking piece of parchment, covered in what looked like a very elaborate ink diagram full of moving dots. Rose recognised it instantly as the Marauder's Map, which belonged to Albus. Her eyes narrowed.

"You've been spying on me!" she hissed. Her cheeks reddened as she realised that Scorpius must have been watching her through the Map, hovering in the stairwell for over ten minutes as she hesitated over whether to go any further. He was probably laughing at her the entire time.

Scorpius looked a little bemused at her outrage. "I needed the Map to make sure I didn't run into Filch or Norleen," he said casually, taking a few steps towards her and then stopping. "Seeing you was just an added bonus."

"Why didn't you come and say anything?" she asked him angrily. "Rather than just sit and watch like some kind of – of – " she couldn't think of a superlative that quite fitted what she wanted to say, so huffed into silence instead.

His expression turned serious. "I wanted to see whether you would come on your own," he said. "I wanted to know what you'd choose."

"Well, I'm glad you've had your fun," she spat at him, her eyes smarting in humiliation. This whole thing had been a bad idea from the start. "Good night." She whirled on her heel and had made it almost back to the stairs before she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist.

He pulled hard enough to get her to stop and turn around. "Don't go," he said softly.

"Let go of me," she ordered him, her eyes flashing as she tried to tug her wrist from his grip.

"If I do will you leave?"

"Yes!"

"Well then I'm not letting go." There was an infuriating smirk on Scorpius' face, as though he was enjoying their exchange.

"If you don't let me go, I'll scream and tell them you dragged me up here," she threatened.

Scorpius laughed. "Was that before or after you borrowed your Invisibility Cloak off James Potter?"

She glared at him, and he laughed harder.

"You know what's really funny?" he said eventually. When she didn't answer he kept talking. "The fact that I know you don't actually want me to let go."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said coldly.

He tugged unexpectedly, and she stumbled forwards so that she was standing a mere inch from him, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body. She looked up at him to see that his smirk was gone. "You didn't come all this way just to leave."

"I – " she forgot what she was going to say when he lifted his hand and ran a finger down her cheek. "Don't know what I'm doing here," she finished lamely.

"Sure you do," answered Scorpius, and he smiled again. "I'm just irresistible."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're so full of yourself."

Scorpius' hand fell back to his side, breaking the contact between them. He didn't look annoyed, merely thoughtful. "Go, then," he said quietly.

For a second she stared at him in confusion. Then she realised, rather belatedly, that both of her arms were now free. She was free to go, and judging from the look in his eyes, Scorpius wouldn't try to stop her. He was gazing at her intensely, as though trying to see right into her thoughts. She squirmed a little, and bit her lip. Common sense dictated that she should leave; but then, common sense would have advised her not to even come in the first place. And now that she was there, standing so close to him, she knew begrudgingly that he was right; she didn't want him to let her go. She remembered the feeling of his lips on hers when he had kissed her in the Trophy Room and blushed.

Scorpius turned abruptly and walked back over to the edge of the Tower, staring out over the dark grounds. After a moment of indecision, Rose followed, coming to stand next to him, close enough so their shoulders were almost touching. She focused on the glow coming from Hagrid's cabin, and the puff of chimney smoke rising into the air, and thought again of her visit to the gamekeeper earlier in the year.

"Did you know Hagrid's sick?" she said suddenly.

Scorpius turned to look at her, surprise etched on his features. "No," he said simply. "I didn't."

"Well, I think he is," said Rose. "I went to visit him and he had a really bad cough. I'm worried about him."

He was staring at her curiously, as though trying to figure something out. "He seems fine in class."

"I – what?"

"I said he seems fine in class."

Rose blinked in confusion. "You don't…do you still take Care of Magical Creatures?"

He nodded.

"You didn't drop it at the end of last year?"

"It's my favourite subject," he said, looking confused at her disbelief. "Why would I drop it?"

"I…" She was having trouble processing this information. Scorpius still took Care of Magical Creatures? How had she not noticed this? Slowly, her surprise began to give way to resentment – Scorpius had obviously been under no compulsion to drop Hagrid's subject for something more 'serious.' Then, she felt sheepish.

"Sorry," she said at last. "I don't know why I assumed you didn't take it anymore, like me. I guess I just…"

"Assumed?" provided Scorpius with a half-smile. "I like Hagrid. He's always been good to me."

"Yeah," said Rose, thinking about her conversation with Hagrid earlier in the year, when she had questioned his refusal to bad-mouth Draco Malfoy. She hadn't even considered that Scorpius and Hagrid would be friends…

"Rose?"

"Sorry," she said again, her cheeks heating.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Are you really so surprised that I'm on good terms with Hagrid?"

"No," she said defensively. "It's just – "

"Just because of my dad?" he cut in. There was a steely glint in his eyes now. "People change, you know. They grow up."

"Yes, I suppose they do," she said, feeling a little like she had been cornered into an argument that she hadn't wanted. A gust of cold wind blew past and she shivered – she hadn't realised how cold it was up at the top of the castle.

Scorpius shrugged off his cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders before she could object. Warmth enveloped her instantly. "Won't you be cold?" she asked feebly, but he shook his head.

"Nah. We Slytherins are made of tougher stuff than you weak kitty-cats," he pinched her cheek and she smiled. Just when did Scorpius Malfoy become such a charmer?

"Sorry for being so…snobbish," she said after a while.

He grinned. "Sorry for being so defensive. I guess it's just a habit after six years of having to defend myself and my family."

"I've never seen anyone bother you," she said earnestly. It was true; whenever she had seen Scorpius, he was surrounded by Slytherin buddies and cutting a very intimidating figure – she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to pick a fight with him.

To her surprise Scorpius laughed out loud, resting his elbows on the barricade. "You've never bothered to notice," he said.

She glared at him, then relented. He was probably right, after all. She burrowed deeper into his cloak, biting her lip.

"Why are you here?" she asked before she could stop herself. This question had been bothering her for some time. She watched his expression closely.

He turned to look at her. "You mean, right now?"

"I mean why do you…like me?" she could feel the heat radiating from her face, but she wanted a straight answer from him and the only way to get one seemed to be by asking bluntly.

"I'm a masochist."

She scowled at him. "I'm serious!"

"So am I," he replied, and all of a sudden he felt much closer to her. He shook his head. "Maybe I like the challenge. Maybe it's because you're so far out of my league…a forbidden rose," he reached out to touch a lock of her auburn hair.

His answer didn't seem to make any sense, but he was so close to her now that she couldn't think of a proper response. Instead she titled her head up and breathed in deeply as he came closer.

"I didn't really want to go," she found herself saying.

Scorpius nodded. "I know."

"And I don't want to go now."

His face was very close to her own; Scorpius lifted one hand and rested it on the side of her neck. "I know."

"And I – " her voice choked, and she broke off. He was going to kiss her now, she knew. She also knew that she didn't want to stop him.

"I know," said Scorpius, and with the ghost of a grin, he pressed his lips to hers.