I wrote this a little while ago, but came across it earlier and realised I hadn't posted it. I have so many ScoRose one shots, that I figured I should probably start posting a few? If you like Scorpius/Rose, I hope you enjoy this.

I liked to bait her.

She knew it, I knew it, hell, even McGonagall knew it.

And it was not simply on weekends when we passed each other on the Quidditch Pitch or on Fridays when we did rounds together - it was constant.

Even during class I would sometimes answer a question just to annoy her, or I would sit in her seat at lunch, or, if I was feeling particularly cocky that day, I would approach her in the hallways to ask her a suggestive question.

I had been doing it for the past six years and three months, so of course she was used to it. In fact… I think she secretly liked it.

Deep down she knew she did.

And I mean really deep down.

The reason I was so sure of this was because, sometimes, when we were alone, she would act differently. She would let me into secrets that she had not even told Lily, or she would help me with my Charms homework and we'd laugh for ages. And we would not argue for an hour or two.

It was during times like that - late nights frantically studying in the library or incredibly early mornings at the Astronomy Tower for class projects - that I had come to realise just how much she fascinated me. I had finally accepted that I cared for her, and I knew she cared for me too - even if she, herself, had not realised this yet.

One day I would make sure she was aware of this.

We still took pleasure in frequent shouting matches - almost always fuelled by me and continued by her when she was defending herself.

Albus, who was close to the both of us, ignored our arguing now. I had heard about every time she had gone running to him to complain that I was 'wretched', 'immature' and 'incredibly irritating' so by now I knew every thought she had shared with Albus about me. And, knowing Albus and his big mouth, she probably knew about every scheme I would use on her before it happened.

It still happened, though.

No matter how prepared she was, no matter how often she tried to hide in the girls changing rooms or the Gryffindor dormitory because she was just so sick of me, I still got my way. I still managed to annoy her.

I may be coming off as a little bit of a stalker right this second but that is not the case - I promise.

I did not go out of my way to torture her, nor did I call her names or act spiteful in any way. If she was in the room, I would irritated her to no end just to see the blush rise up in her cheeks - it ensured I got a reaction from her, but I did not want this reaction to be sadness, burning hatred or for her to think that I was egotistical.

Or for her to think I was too egotistical, I should say (some things were just a given).

I sent her flowers on Valentine's Day - much to her confusion - and bought her a birthday present every year, even though I did not get one in return. Sometimes I brought her food into the library when she was so caught up in studying that she forgot to eat.

This morning I had pushed all her buttons, wearing her patience thin by magically moving her fringe in front of her face until she had snapped and threatened to charm my fingernails purple and my feet orange. At lunch I had charmed all of the oranges to pears simply because I knew that oranges were her favourite fruit and that she hated pears with a passion - Al had questioned me on exactly why I did these things to her if I wanted to be her friend, as I very adamantly stated we were whenever the question arose - and just now, as we left the Great Hall after dinner, I had repeatedly grabbed her shoulders and shook them, reciting 'Saved your life!' purely to make her jump out of her skin every fifteen seconds or so.

Albus and I were normally together because we had the same timetable and were best friends. Fortunately for me Al and Rose also hung out together a lot so I had ample opportunity to get on her nerves, which suited me well because by pretence of annoying her I could easily stare at her without anybody realising.

It was mutual antagonism sometimes - she liked to shout back and throw insults at me when I had really annoyed her, therefore, we were privy to constant shouting matches throughout the day.

So you can imagine just how surprised I was when she caught up with me after dinner one evening, calling my name as she hurried down the corridor after me.

I paused to let her reach me - a rare occurrence. I saw it in her eyes, the surprise, because I would usually give her a cheeky grin and then make an inappropriate comment.

The levels of teasing and testing I exerted on her had almost doubled these past few weeks, starting December. It was the sixteenth of December today and term was coming to a close - slowly and accompanied by extremely cold weather - even the castle was freezing outside of the dormitories. I had not intentionally started to annoy her more, nor, I was sure, had she intentionally reacted with increasing impatience - it had just happened.

My theory? I was covering up sexual tension and she… well, she was just anxious to get home after a long term.

Whenever I saw her now she always looked stunning - her hair up in a messy bun but reflecting the light from the candles as if it were a mirror, her skin flawlessly smooth, her brown eyes as deep as they always were and her self-esteem just as solid as it ever was.

No wonder I was attracted to her more than I let on - and it was rather evident that I had a thing for her. At least everybody else had an inkling that I thought she was fit because of my teasing (not that they had much knowledge of exactly how much I liked her), except Rose herself.

She was completely clueless.

I wished she would realise soon and react - it was getting tiring having to hint every minute we were together. If she had any idea about boys she would know that I liked her a lot due to things I had said when we were alone in the library or on rounds together when teasing her. She was so socially inapt that I had decided to just wait until she came to realise on her own that there was something between us. If it was any other girl I wouldn't be this cowardly, I would just ask her out and tell her I like her, but with Rose? Well…I did not want to startle her too much with the news. What if she had a heart attack or something due to shock? I didn't want to just… pounce on her - that's just rude.

"Hey Rosie," I smirked and moved forwards to give her a hug as she came to a halt beside me.

She raised a hand and leaned back onto her heels so that there was still space between us, evidently indicating I was not allowed to hug her. I knew she would do something along those lines so I was not too surprised.

"Give it a rest, Scorpius," She sighed impatiently. "I need to talk to you, so can we have a serious conversation without you interrupting immaturely every few seconds?"

"You 'need' to talk to me, or you 'want' to talk to me?" I raised my eyebrows cheekily.

"I guess not," She sighed again, ignoring my question, and I grinned at how that seemed to annoy her and at how she had handled the situation - she had started getting good at managing me now.

"Okay, seriously, what was it you wanted to talk about?" I stressed the word 'wanted' but she ignored that too, instead going for surprise, again, at my change to being mature.

She was suddenly - interestingly - shy. I raised one eyebrow.

"I… Rachel, from Charms, said something today about… you… and me… about us," She looked to the floor instead of at me. I found this highly amusing.

"Rose Weasley? Nervous? Never!" I chuckled as she snapped her head up to give me a half-hearted glare.

"I am not nervous about anything," She stated stubbornly.

"Oh really?" I challenged. "How about the results of the Transfiguration test we had today?"

She shifted her weight uneasily and I knew I had her beaten.

"I can guarantee you," I continued. "That you have passed with one hundred percent of the answers correct, yet you'll still do that little scratch of your ears that you do when you're nervous just before you get the results tomorrow."

"I do… not," She started the sentence determined to be stubborn, but once my words sunk in she was less sure.

Then she gave me this look - it was so piercing and so full of assessment that I felt insecure for one fleeting moment - Me, Scorpius Malfoy, insecure? I know… scary thought.

Her eyes locked with mine and I did not think about the cold corridor or the students down in the Great Hall finishing their dinner or how I would explain to my mother in a weeks time the cause of the deep gash in my leg that I had received after tripping over a plant in the restricted section of the greenhouses this morning. All I could think about were her eyes.

"Do too," I managed to breath after only a few seconds - my words still held a hint of the childishness that I had been aiming for but I had lost the full effect. They broke the magic, and she glanced away quickly before looking back at me, albeit not directly in the eyes.

"I… how do you even know that?" She questioned, obviously her curiosity got the better of her.

"I just notice things," I replied simply, and seriously, before turning to continue down the corridor.

It took her only three of my steps to hurry after me.

"Hey!" She called quickly. "Wait!"

"What now?" I sighed, slowing my pace.

"I.." Then her brow furrowed and she tilted her head in a way to show that she was not amused.

"See how I did that?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Turning it round so that you came off as the annoying one?"

"Yeah, a real talent you've got there, Scorpius," She muttered back dryly, then continued with the conversation. "Why do you notice?"

"What do you mean 'why'?" I shook my head in disbelief at her question. "What sort of a question is that?"

"A serious one. Maybe you're not familiar with serious questions…"

"Ha ha, very funny," I rolled my eyes at her, slowing my pace even further so that we were now meandering down the hall rather than appearing to head in an actual direction. "I notice, Rose, because I care."

Could my feelings get any more obvious?

She scoffed. "You do not care, Scorpius."

"Oh," I turned expectantly to her, feigning surprise, my tone evidently challenging her to check how sure she was of that fact. "Do I not?"

"Of course not," she even let out a short laugh.

"You care too, you know," I pressed slightly, gently.

Only with Rose Weasley would I have to actually remind her about her feelings - and sometimes they were more obvious than mine - such as when she had rushed to the Hospital Wing to check that I was okay only last week after falling during a Quidditch Match or by cheering me up when I was upset and we were alone by reminding me of my 'good points' or even by simply reminding me to do my homework because she knew I would be banned from Quidditch if I kept forgetting.

She immediately stiffened, "No I don't." Her tone was firm but her body language suggested otherwise.

"And by denying it I'm just more sure you do," I told her cheerfully.

"That's like saying somebody's crazy and then not believing them when they deny it on account of them being 'crazy'," she pointed out logically.

"I'm not trying to prove you're mental, Rose!" I laughed, then sighed tiredly. "I'm trying to get you to reach the truth before I die of old age."

"And the truth is…" She questioned slowly, confused.

Maybe now would be a good time to confront her feelings?

Normally this would be as far as the conversation went because, believe it or not, we had had conversations similar to this before. I did not want to freak her out by one day just approaching her and going 'Oh, by the way I'm crazy in love with you, did you realise? No? Okay, I'll just wait until you stop hyperventilating until I remind you that you almost certainly have feelings for me too.'

Two words: Not. Good.

This time, however, I figured I might as well just go for it. I had nothing to lose - we were alone, it was quiet and if it became awkward and she did not want to accept her feelings, or mine, then we had the Christmas break to be apart.

I pushed her backwards the ten centimetres or so until she was against the wall, carefully but forcefully, and placed my hands flat on the wall either side of her face so that she was stuck and so that my face was right in front of hers.

"Look me right in the eyes and tell me you don't have feelings for me?" I breathed quietly. I made sure she knew I was asking it as a question, rather than forcing her to say something that she did not mean.

"What, I… of course I don't," She mumbled, still apparently perplexed at my sudden actions.

"You're looking at the floor," I smirked.

"You're squashing me," she complained, even though we both knew that she had enough space to push past me if she wanted to.

"You're whining," I retorted quickly.

"You're annoying!"

"You're annoying," I repeated.

"Oh great idea," She responded sarcastically. "Repeat my comebacks. That'll make you look clever."

"'That'll make you look clever'," I retorted equally as quickly in a high-pitched imitation of her voice.

"I do not sound like that," she fumed, stamping her foot. This was normally the moment in our arguments that she had had enough and would storm off, but this time she could not - or would not, because she knew I was not really stopping her from leaving.

"Do too," I smirked. "Want to hear some more? "My name's Rose Weasley and I love Scorpius Malfoy so much!"

I was definitely annoying her now, especially with the words I put into her mouth.

"I have never said that!" She complained again, staring me down.

It did not work. I simply stared back, our lips inches apart, a smirk playing at mine and a scowl on hers. "Uh, really? Because I think I just heard you say it -Oh, and here it comes again. "Scorpius Malfoy is so dreamy I want to kiss him all day."."

"Shut up!" She fumed. Neither of us moved or spoke or even appeared to breath for a minute. She calmed down slightly and finally asked, "What do you want, Scorpius?"

"Come on, isn't it obvious what I'm telling you?" I raised one eyebrow slightly.

"You're… you're saying that I… have a thing for you…?" She looked thoroughly confused.

"Exactly," I agreed cheerily.

"But I don't," She pointed out.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No-"

"This will get us nowhere," I reminded her.

"Since when were you the one stopping the arguments?"

"I'm being serious this time, Rose," I tried to make her realise I was telling the truth. "I have a thing for you."

"You're just teasing me again," She protested.

"Are you sure?" I smirked.

"I…" Her eyebrows pulled together, indicating she was slightly perplexed for a moment. "Of course I'm sure!"

"There's one way you'll know," I grinned.

"I'll know what?"

"If I really am telling the truth or not," I elaborated. "If you want to be sure that I do like you, then why don't you just kiss me?"

She scoffed at that, but I was not fazed - scoffing was her defence mechanism. "I am not going to kiss you, Scorpius, because I am almost certain that you are just pulling my leg."

"Go on, Rose," I breathed, moving my head closer to hers only by a fraction of a centimetre. "Take a chance."

She did not reply to that one. This was one piece of bait I was not sure she would take. If she was to leave now she would forever think that I had been teasing her, and therefore believe me to be much more cruel than I actually was - I could be a player and an idiot most of the time, but I would never lead a girl on like this.

All I could hear was her breathing as she tried to calm her anger whilst simultaneously glare at me until I apologised for irritating her.

She'd be glaring in her grave if she waited for an apology from me.

"How do I know this is even for real?" She whispered after a moment.

I blinked at that one. She still thought I was just teasing her like normal - she was more or less certain that I was not serious.

"Well," I started slowly, cautiously. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Scorpius! For Merlin's sake! Just give me a clear answer for once!" She fumed. "Stop teasing me and tell me whether you are actually saying you like me… because if you do… I mean, it's kind of a big deal… because you're… Scorpius!"

"If you want me," I leaned forwards so that I was breathing into her ear and looking down at the smooth skin on her neck. "Then you've got me."

She appeared to be having trouble breathing.

"What makes you think I want you?" She smirked.

Apparently she was not having trouble being awkward.

I breathed in her scent deeply, passionately. "Firstly, you haven't once, in six years, told me to go away."

"And secondly?" She pressed, her hands coming up to rest on my shoulder blades - for a moment I thought she was doing it to push me away, but she was simply bringing me slightly closer to her, evidently without realising it.

"And secondly," I repeated, running my lips down her jaw line, only lightly skimming her skin. "You could have left at any moment, but you're still here."

"What if I leave now?" She teased, playing along now - Was she finally starting to accept what I was saying? She really needed to trust me more.

"Then the moment will pass," I told her truthfully, my lips ever so slightly coming into contact with her skin as they moved.

She took a deep breath, almost as if she wanted to savour the moment.

Perhaps she was finally realising that she had feelings for me too - or I hoped she had feelings for me. This situation would be difficult to explain away if she did not…

"You haven't answered my question," She finally managed to remind me.

"Which one?" I joked, my chest rumbling as I chuckled. "You ask an awful lot of questions."

"The only one you haven't replied to," She answered grumpily. I laughed again. "You've forgotten the question, right?"

I shot her a cheeky 'Don't kill me!' smile. "Perhaps…"

She sighed in frustration. "I asked you how could I possibly trust that you are honestly coming on to me?"

"I'm not 'coming on to you'," I argued. "I'm offering you the chance to… swim - metaphorically." I added the last word when she shot me a 'What the hell are you talking about?' look.

Metaphors were not her strong point - or mine, evidently.

Then she shifted her weight so that her body was closer to mine, her face in line with mine but looking over my shoulder as she whispered into my ear.

"I think you're pulling a prank on me."

"And what makes you think that?" I asked - I was not at all surprised she did not trust me. I knew she thought that I was trying to embarrass her by getting her to kiss me - so that I could later tease her that she had thought I would actually have feelings for her. After all, that would be the ultimate embarrassing prank and I had a reputation for pulling embarrassing and infuriating pranks on her.

I had the upper hand here because I knew I had feelings for her. I knew I would not make fun of her. She, on the other hand, was completely in the dark, both metaphorically and literally, because there was only one candle burning a little way down the corridor and the light outside had faded to almost black by now.

"Firstly," She mimicked my earlier words. "You haven't once used your usual methods, the ones that you normally use to seduce girls, on me."

I chuckled at that. That was because she was different.

"And secondly?"

"And secondly," She leaned back slightly to look at me and smirked. "Why haven't you just kissed me already?"

"Ah," I grinned, lacing my fingers through hers. She didn't try to pull her hands away. "That's because I am being a gentleman and giving you the choice."

"Gentleman?" She snorted.

"That's attractive," I muttered sarcastically, addressing her snort.

"Well, you're the one coming on to me," She joked.

We found ourselves actually smiling together - a rare occurrence.

Then something seemed to change. It might have been just an impulse from the sunlight completely fading and leaving us to see through only a little moonlight and the dim light of the candle, perhaps it was because we were standing so close together in the freezing dungeons corridor, or it might have been because we had been talking for a while and both of us knew that people would be using this corridor soon to return to their dormitories.

"So what's it going to be, Rosie," I smiled. "Are you going to take a chance and see if I'm being serious, or are you going to walk away never truly knowing the answer?"

"Well…" She breathed. "When you put it like that…"

And she did take the chance.

She was already occupying much of the same space as me, so she only had to edge forwards slightly to capture my lips with hers. I inched her back slightly so she was right against the wall - now that she had taken the chance, she wasn't going to back out of it.

Her lips were sweet and, at first, hesitant. Once it became apparent I was not about to push her away and laugh in her face, she became less cautious and wrapped herself more firmly in my arms.

After a while we broke apart and I stepped back across the corridor and leaned on the opposite wall to give her some space - for a change.

"Would you really have just watched me walk away?" She asked, genuinely curious, but surprisingly unfazed by what she had just done. Don't get me wrong, her hair was a mess, but her face was calm.

I chuckled at that. "Probably not."

"Great, so you would have pounced unexpectedly? Thanks…"

I just shook my head at that and rolled my eyes. She had a weird way of phrasing things sometimes.

"You weren't just teasing me again, were you?" She asked quietly.

"Definitely not," I reassured her. "You thought that I was just being my usual self and testing your limits, didn't you?"

"Well… yeah!" She sighed, then her mind appeared to catch up with her - She'd just kissed somebody who she was very adamant that she hated. "Oh Merlin!"

I smirked at her. "I told you that you thought I was dreamy."

"That makes no sense," She argued. "You can't tell me what I think - they're my thoughts!"

"Well, Rosie," I responded calmly. "Maybe you're crazy."

"I'm not cr-" She started to argue back but then, remembering her earlier point, stopped.

"Says the crazy person," I smirked again - I loved using her points of view against her.

She sighed irritably. "Just because I kissed you that does not mean you can go around telling everybody, okay?"

"Why would I possibly want to tell anybody?" I questioned. As if I would tell people all about Rose's personal life.

"Oh right," She seemed hurt and angry now - her mood suddenly changing. Oops, what had I said? "Because that would just damage your reputation, sorry, I forgot about that."

"That is not how I meant it," I fumed suddenly, my own mood shifting with hers. "You know that."

We both took a step forwards - it seemed nothing changed that easily, we were still arguing.

"Then how was it meant?" She challenged me, her tone suggesting there was no other alternative to her own opinion.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, you're right," I spat back sarcastically. I loved her, but Merlin, sometimes I hated her! "That's your opinion so obviously nobody can disagree with you!"

"I'm leaving," she fumed, turning on her heels and apparently about to head back down the corridor the way she had come.

I caught her arm and spun her round.

"Can't you just stop walking away all the time?"

"Can't you just give me some space for once?"

"You'd miss me too much," I stepped forwards so that we were closer again. "You're being dramatic."

"You're being an imbecile," She looked murderous at that moment.

"Oh," It was obvious I was pretending her words hurt me by my tone of voice. "Getting me where it hurts - my IQ!"

"Why do you have to be such a scoundrel?"

"Why do you have to be so moody?"

"I'm moody?"

"Duh!"

Then, simultaneously, we both shouted, "Shut up!" at each other.

However, before I could figure out what was happening, we were kissing again. Our arms both wrapped tightly around each other, my hands on her back and hers locked in my hair.

"Don't… our moods… give you… whiplash?" I asked between kisses.

"We'll live," She responded in a rush.

Maybe arguing was worth it now…

"Oh, by the way," I told her suddenly as we broke apart again. "Al was looking for you. He said it was urgent."

She froze, then glared at me. "You tell me that now?"

I grinned cheekily - some things never changed.

Thank you for reading! If you could, please leave me a review, because I have no idea what you'll think of this...