DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rose, Scorpius, mutual friends, arguments, dogs or strange relationships. I also don't own the 'sometimes' theme, the credit for that idea is all Eienvine's.

Sometimes.

Sometimes, Rose wondered how much longer they could do this back and forth thing until one of them explosively snapped. :Rose/Scorpius NextGen:

PART THREE

Sometimes, things go wrong, and it can't be helped. Because sometimes, shit just happens. But this was not one of those times, and Rose knew it (was all her fault).

August, 2029

"Rose, this has to stop!" Mathew yelled at her.

She didn't know what was wrong with her, but of course, their failing relationship was all her fault. She forced her tears down and stared at Mathew stoically as he rubbed his eyes warily, the two of them having been yelling at each other the last ten minutes, standing in her kitchen.

Of course, every time it seemed he wanted space, she would push for affection. He didn't want to stay over that night, so naturally, that meant something was wrong. When she started believing those words (his words) that were snapped so bitterly at her, she would pull away, right when Matthew wanted to be close. It was like they were no longer in synch. Even their dogs started hating each other, growling and nipping whenever one of them got too close.

When he got frustrated and wanted her to open up about why she was acting this way, of course Rose would shut down and refuse to say anything.

"Look …" Mathew looked genuinely upset and was it ironic that in the moments before their relationship surely ended, Rose was certain that he had always cared for her? He sat down at her kitchen table and slowly, Rose joined him, sinking into the chair next to him. She didn't look up, just stared at the table top, taking comfort in Pip batting her soft head against her legs below the table. Matthew sniffed, and finally found something to say.

"Rose, I love you, but I just can't keep doing this …" She didn't argue. He was probably right. "You won't tell me what's wrong, and I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"I …" She swallowed, though she'd drunk nothing, and still felt like something was stuck in her throat. "N-nothing's wrong …" she tried, but honestly, who was she kidding? Mathew seemed to agree with her as he snorted.

"Yeah," he said, voice slightly bitter now. "Of course."

They were silent for another few moments. Rose resisted picking Pip up and hugging her to her chest. She didn't want to look as much as a commitment-phobe as Matthew seemed to think she was.

"Look, I won't draw this out," he said, quietly. "I'll take anything of mine here right now and you'll get anything of yours by the end of the week. I'm sorry, Rose, but I just …" He shook his head. "Maybe if you sort whatever it is … I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm just … really sorry."

He left, and Rose didn't try and stop him. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure if she was going to do anything ever again. She stayed sunk down into her chair at the tiny kitchen table and let Mathew pack without a word. He paused before he left, and apparently decided against any physical contact in goodbye. Really, what could he do that wouldn't make this worse?

It took the entire evening for Rose to wrap her head around all that had happened. Then, in good old 'I just got dumped' mode, she cracked out the ice cream and proceeded to wallow for the entire next two weeks. What could she say? Rose Weasley never did anything by halves! In fact, it took two weeks of low-fat chocolate, cuddling Pip, and crying as she sang along to depressing songs, for her to realise that something had led to this. Something had wedged its way in and had a hand in this. Rose wasn't stupid, she knew she couldn't place the entire blame elsewhere, but she also knew when not to dump this all on her own head.

This was one of those times. Because it finally hit her what had helped turn this into a disaster, and when his face and his words came slamming back into her brain, it happened:

She. Got. Angry.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" she yelled the moment he answered his front door.

"What–?"

"Seriously, what RIGHT did you have in telling me that?!" she shrieked, shoving Scorpius in the chest and making him stumble backwards. For someone she couldn't stand, Rose certainly had been in his flat far too many times; it was sad enough that she knew where it was, and where he hid his spare key in case he forgot his wand, to begin with. It was perpetually messy, and she knew he shared it with three other tenants. Luckily, it seemed that they were all out for this particular debacle. If there was going to be a murder, she really didn't need any other witnesses for this.

"What on earth are you going on about–?"

"YOU! You, and your stupid comments! No one's ever stayed with you for more than just sex, have they?" She repeated the statement and Scorpius's eyes widened. "You just don't get it, do you? How much that one sentence hurt? My relationship ended because YOU felt the need to remind me of my flaws and not only that, throw them in my face! How the hell DARE You?" And she shoved him again, because she felt like it and though it didn't make her feel any better, she was tempted to keep doing it until it did.

It was no wonder Scorpius was bewildered at first. Since he'd stormed off at Albus's birthday, Rose had assumed that they were once again pulling back several steps, and she hadn't spoken to him since. But she realised just then, that they seemed to have been having difficulty in staying away, as of late. She still hadn't gotten over the night they had watched a film together with Albus, when she was suddenly telling him she was sorry he got fired. Not even recovered from that, she was rubbing her wonderful life in his face at Albus's party.

Ok, so she probably deserved what he told her.

(She figured it was best to stay away from that thought, at this point).

What did it say that they couldn't seem to stay away from each other anymore? Rose hated that she was being forced to think of it. Thankfully, Scorpius seemed to be getting over his bewilderment at her having just stormed on up, and he was starting to get a scowl on his face as he stared her down. They were still standing together in his small hallway.

"Hey!" he said. "It's not MY fault that you went round the bloody twist and made your relationship collapse!"

"Yes! Some of it is!" Rose yelled back. "Because, yeah, I might be nuts, but I know that! I'm already shit scared of commitment as it is, and then I find Mathew, and he's brilliant, and he's everything I could ever need, and then you just have to go and remind me of the fact that I've never been loved before! That no one has ever just taken me for who I am and loved me, despite all of the shit that makes me Rose! And Matthew broke up with me because I was ashamed to talk about it!" Rose had to stop then, breathing hard. She looked away, at a ridiculously ugly painting on the wall, focusing instead on the clash of colours. It helped keep the tears at bay. "Scorpius, I was ashamed to say that I thought so less of myself, that your words made me want to hold on ridiculously tight to the point of suffocation! In the end, we were drowning in our relationship, and it was basically all my fault. Well, I'm telling you now, there was NO NEED FOR IT!"

It felt dizzyingly good to scream about it. Rose had always known she wasn't normal and most of the time, she was ok with that. She was irrational, and emotional, and had her fangirl moments over the stupidest things, and yes, most people thought she was nuts because of that, but she was honestly fine with it!

Not now. Not since Scorpius Malfoy.

"No need?" Scorpius scowled. "Rose, there was EVERY effing need! You don't even care what I've been through lately, do you? I've lost basically everything in my life and that night, when all I needed was for you to say it was ok, you flaunt your perfect life my face and rub salt in the wound! Who the hell does that?!"

"What–? Scorpius, WE do that!" Rose screamed back.

But neither of them said anything else and Rose figured it was because they were both coming to the same realisation: that they were both just as bad as each other. That lashing out seemed like the only option, because they didn't know how to handle somewhat positive feelings towards each other. Yes, she was angry at what he'd said, but she'd been a bitch, too, and now she wasn't entirely sure what happened next. Feeling incredibly guilty, she stared at his shoes for a moment, before hesitantly glancing up at him.

Scorpius' face clearly said he was ashamed of himself, refusing to meet her eye and instead staring at the wall. Quite suddenly, Rose wasn't sure if she was ready to hear an apology. Besides, the two of them didn't really do spoken apologies. To them, an equivalent of 'I'm sorry' was suddenly teasing each other again after months of radio silence. They never gave any warning about when their steps backwards were over; they just approached the other like nothing had happened and without saying anything, the other instantly knew things were back to normal now.

She wasn't ready to recover from this. She wasn't sure she could. She needed time, she needed a step back. But in order to justify a step back, she first needed to step forward.

So she opened up her heart and let herself ramble.

"Sometimes, I really hate you," she said.

"Not surprising. Care to explain why?"

"Why? Oh, I don't know, maybe because you never even think before you speak?" Rose said, exasperatedly.

It appeared that Scorpius had had enough, because instead of taking her bait, he spat out, angrily, "Rose, I was all prepared to apologise, and I KNOW you were, too, so quit with the bullshit! If you hate me so much, why are you even here?"

"Because!" Rose cried. "So I can scream and yell, and let it all out, because SOMEONE needs to hear it, and let's face it, that person's always been you! I guess it's just a coincidence that this time, the thing I need consoling on, IS you! Don't you care? Don't you even care at all?"

"You can't say that!" Scorpius cut in, taking a step forward. "For god's sake, you KNOW I care about you!"

"Then why, Scorpius, why would you say that to me?" she cried. "You knew exactly what it would do to me! You knew that it would tear us apart, but you still said it anyway! People who care don't do that sort of thing to one another! And don't try and give me some crap about thinking I could take it, because your opinion MATTERS to me, and you know that. You knew I'd listen. You knew, and you still did it. WHY?"

"Because you hurt me!" Scorpius yelled. "You paraded around with your new boyfriend, and your smirks and laughter, and you knew exactly what you were doing. God, did you have any idea how hard it was seeing you like that, with him?!"

"What?" Rose said, because she hadn't been expecting that. She'd expected being called out on what she'd said about Leah, and flaunting her perfect life – that much she was suddenly hating herself for, and deserved to be shot down for – but so what if she'd attended the party with Matthew? "What the hell're you talking about–?"

"Don't even try it on me, Rose, you know EXACTLY what I'm–!"

"Look at me!" she cried, pushing back her hair in agitation. "Scorpius, I really don't!"

Scorpius looked like he wanted to give a frustrated yell. However, he clamped his mouth shut. Then, after several moments of this:

"Rose, you really need to leave," he said, a dangerous quiver in his voice. He was trying to stay calm, really calm. It wasn't working.

He had moved towards the door, grabbing her upper arm as he passed, but she wrenched it out of his grip almost instantly. "What? No!" she cried, shoving him away from her. "I'm not leaving! I don't feel any better yet!"

"What, so that's all I am to you?" Scorpius said, abandoning the door and turning to glare. "A quick fix?"

"Well, you've never indicated in the past that we're ever anything else!" Rose found herself yelling. "Hell, Scorpius there were times when I even thought that we were friends, that we looked out for each other, that we didn't come to each other like this just because Albus forced us to all those years ago on our first day at Hogwarts! I thought that we came together because we wanted to, because we trust each other, because we could count on each other, but I guess I was wrong! I guess you never felt the same way I did, I guess you never loved me! Well, it's too late now, it's too late–"

She was cut off by Scorpius Malfoy lunging forward and kissing her.

It wasn't soft or beautiful; it was angry, and she felt several hairs get pulled as he wound his fingers into her curls. He pushed her, and they slammed into the hallway wall. Logically, Rose knew that this wasn't going to end well, that she should stop, should pull away, so many shoulds that she just didn't want to process at this point. So she kissed him back, her arms going around his waist instead. She clutched at his shirt, and his lips made her feel like her heart was on fire. One of his hands slid down from her hair slowly, in contrast to his furious kisses; that's what they had always been, wasn't it? Contrasting. Never the same, but still always needing each other, always together. His hand skimmed her side, and she shivered when she felt his fingertips on the bare skin of her thigh. Never more thankful for the summer months and whoever invented short shorts, she suddenly moved, hitching her leg up over his hip.

Why was this happening? Since when had she wanted it to happen? … oh, who was she kidding? She'd wanted this for years. He let out some sort of noise – she might have called it a moan, if it hadn't sounded so guttural. He left her lips to kiss a trail to her neck, and Rose found herself needing more, needing his skin, needing him on her, in her –

She pushed her hands underneath his shirt, tracing her fingers over the bumps and curves of his spine. He didn't exactly protest when she pushed him away to pull the shirt over his head.

In fact, neither of them protested at all when things quite spectacularly escalated from there.

Sometimes, Rose wondered how much longer they could do this back and forth thing until one of them explosively snapped.

September, 2029

"Rose, you have to come," Albus had been needling her the entire past week and now, her cousin had even gone so far as to ambush her at work where she couldn't run away. Rose sighed, pushing her chair away from her desk to stare her cousin down. "I'm serious," Albus continued. "this is our engagement party, you're going to be Maid of Honour, you HAVE TO COME!"

"Will he be there?" Rose asked again.

Albus gave an exasperated groan, rubbing his face warily. "Rose–"

"I won't ask again," she pointed out.

"Fine, yes, he'll be there!" Albus told her and Rose snorted, decision made. She pulled her chair back in to her desk. "Just like he always is! But Rose, it's been a month, you can't avoid him forever–"

"You think so?" Rose almost laughed. "Al, what's the longest we've ever gone without speaking?"

"I don't know, Rosie," Albus said, sounding resigned. He knew she wasn't coming. She could hear it in his tone. "Half a year, maybe?"

"I intend to completely break that record this time."

"You'll have to see him sooner or later," Albus pointed out. "He's my Best Man, after all."

"If I can put it off until the actual wedding, then I will!"

"Look," Albus sighed, moving and sitting down on the edge of her desk next to her. He placed a hand right on top of her paperwork, making her look up into his face. "I really don't want to know what happened between you and Scorpius, though I can make a fairly good guess. I just don't want to watch you bury yourself in work again. I love you, remember?"

"I'm fine!" Rose told him, giving him a smile. She reached out and placed a hand on top of his, despite herself. "I've got you, Evie, Pip, I'm even working at getting along better with Mum! I'm not drowning, I promise."

"You're not coming to our engagement party, are you?"

"No, Al. I'm sorry."

Albus just sighed, before leaning down and kissing her on top of her head.

"I hope you know what you're doing. I'll see you later."

Sometimes, Rose wondered if her life would have turned out better if she got her cousin to run it for her.

April, 2030

"Bloody hell, Mum!" Rose cried, stumbling into the café just ahead of her mother. "You simply had to pick the one day it decides to pour it down!"

Hermione Weasley just gave Rose a laugh; that light, quiet laugh that Rose had heard all her life. Just over a year ago, Rose had always assumed that laugh meant, 'Oh, darling, I know so much better than you, so you had better just keep trying, even though you'll fail'. Now … well, she was sort of starting to see how it more meant, 'Oh, darling, I'm your mother and mother's know best. You'll get it eventually. Now bring me a cup of tea'.

It was strange having a relationship with her mother. But then, Rose had always been a bit strange.

"I have not spoken to my daughter since the new year!" Hermione said, leading Rose to the back of the long line that eventually led to the front counter of the café. "I was willing to brave a bit of rain for a catch up."

Rose snorted, before asking, "How's Dad?"

Hermione smiled. "Just wrapped up a rather large case at work. Claimed if it weren't for him and his innate sense of scent and tracking, the killer never would have been caught."

"Innate sense?" Rose scoffed. "If he's talking about the Hannigan case, I was up all night diving through files, trying to tear apart alibi's! If anyone should be praised with catching the killer, it's the hard working Law Enforcement Officers like me!"

"Have you ever thought of applying for Investigator?"

"Mum," Rose was quick to sigh.

"No! No!" Hermione wound her arm around her daughter's shoulders, pulling her to her side tightly. The line moved slowly forward. "I'm not trying to push you, or force you! I'm only curious–"

"Mum, you're always only curious," Rose rolled her eyes.

"Rosie," Hermione had to look up to meet her daughter's gaze; something about having a giant for a father had blessed Rose with the 'tall' gene. Rose had always revelled in that fact, thinking that it was at least one thing she was good at – being tall. But now, she was starting to realise that her mother really did only want what was best for her. "I don't mean to push all the time. Well – er, I mean, I do – but I don't mean it like you – I mean – blimey," she exclaimed then, sounding a lot like her dad in that moment. "I don't expect you to apply. I was just wondering if you would."

"I know, I get you," Rose said, wrapping her arm around Hermione's waist in return. They were nearly at the front counter now. "and … well, yes, I actually was kind of considering it. I've been doing this for years now, and I think I'm more than capable of being an Investigator."

"Of course you are, Rose."

"But …"

"Oh, no 'but's!" Hermione insisted. "Rose, you are bright, dedicated, and completely capable. You could lead an investigation with no problem."

"But what if I can't?" Rose admitted. With so many other worries – namely a) helping to plan her best friend's wedding and b) avoiding a certain person every waking hour of the day – she hadn't had a lot of time to mull this over herself. This was basically the first time she was ever really acknowledging it out loud. "I've not been able to handle it in the past, and that can't happen if I'm at the head of the investigation!"

"Rosie, you only learn from your mistakes," Hermione said, calmly. "You have learnt well, haven't you?"

"Well …"

"See?" Hermione smiled. "You'll be promoted to Investigator in no time – two coffees, thanks," she added to the girl behind the front counter. "I'm a flat white – Rosie?"

"Um – same for me, thanks."

When their orders were delivered, Rose and Hermione made their way to one of the few tables still left available. The torrential rain outside was driving people into the shop, and they were lucky to grab a two-person table by the window. They drank in silence for a few moments, and Rose had to admit that she was actually rather enjoying this. She made the effort to hang out with her mum on a regular basis now, and she'd found that over the past year and a bit, they were really starting to understand each other.

Everything was going great!

But, of course, that was when Hermione decided to talk social lives.

"How's Albus?" she asked then, brightly. "Do you both still hang out with Scorpius Malfoy?"

Rose stiffened. Somehow – and she didn't know how she did it most of the time – Rose had managed to always steer the topic of Scorpius away from her mother. There was absolutely no way she was going there! Unfortunately, Hermione Weasley interviewed and tore down Muggle attackers for a living, and if there was anyone who could prise information out of you, it was her. She knew she had to handle this carefully, or she'd end up spilling the entire story.

"Oh, he's fine," Rose said, as calmly as possible, even when she could feel her fingers clenching on her coffee cup. "We've both been really busy, what with him planning his wedding and all that, so we haven't really had a lot of time to hang out, recently."

"And what about Scorpius?"

She really was diabolical!

"I – uh – don't really talk to him," Rose said, awkwardly. She winced at the look on Hermione's face; she'd blown it, somehow. She didn't know how, but Hermione knew!

She really needed to figure out how her mother did that.

"What happened?" Hermione said at once.

"Nothing!"

"Uh, huh," she nodded. "That is the exact same tone your father uses when he's accidentally destroyed one of my bras in the washing machine. Now are you going to tell me, or do I have to start guessing?"

"Look, I don't–"

"Did you get off?"

"Mum!"

"What?" Hermione asked, innocently. When Rose couldn't really find it in her to outright lie to her mother's face, she ending up stammering and gaping. This was clearly more than enough confirmation for Hermione. "Aha! I knew it! You slept with him, didn't you? Oh, please tell me that you were safe–?"

"MUM–!"

"Rose Weasley, I am your mother, and I care about you," Hermione cut in as Rose's face probably exploded from the sheer redness.

"God, could you be even more embarrassing?"

"Oh, yes!" Hermione said, cheerfully. "I could ask if you made sure to clean your–"

"OH MY GOD, shut up, anyone could hear you!"

"–because that's a health hazard, you know," Hermione continued. "I hope you used the bathroom afterwards."

"Shit, shit, just let me die …" Rose groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

She was doing so well! Not only had she managed to avoid Scorpius Bloody Malfoy, but she was getting so much better at pretending that that night had never even happened. That she didn't fall onto the sofa with him in a daze. That, after hot kisses and torn clothes, they didn't somehow eventually make it to his bed. That he hadn't soon fallen asleep and she'd simply laid there, staring at the ceiling and wondering what the hell she'd done. That she hadn't panicked, and dressed so quickly that she put her shirt on backwards, before running the hell out of there …

"So did you?" Hermione asked.

"Look, if I say yes, will you stop talking?" Rose asked, warily. "Please?"

"I'm just looking out for you! You know I always thought you two would be good together," Hermione mused.

"Are you hearing yourself? Scorpius Malfoy, Mum! Also known as Ultimate Dickhead and a Bastard in his Spare Time?"

"Darling, you're 24 now," Hermione pointed out. "I think we're both a little past vendettas that go back to our Hogwarts days."

"But …" Rose tried to come up with something – anything – that would convince her mother that her thinking should never ever go down this road again. She didn't think she could get any redder, but it seemed that Hermione had talent! "… I hate him!"

"I see," She didn't like her mother's face; it was a slight smirk, like the one Rose was used to seeing on his face. Something she didn't want to hear always followed that look. "Let me just ask you one question, Rosie, and I promise you that I will drop it."

"Fine, whatever."

She gave her a significant look. "Do you miss him?"

Sometimes … ok, yeah, she missed him. But that didn't mean anything.

August, 2030

A year.

She had managed an entire year without seeing him ye, somehow, when the day came, she found that she was still not prepared for it.

"Rosie, I swear, it'll be ok!" Eve tried to reassure her. Even though the woman was getting married in two days, Rose found that Eve was still the calm one. "I mean … it's been twelve months. It can't still be … you know … awkward, right?"

"Honestly, Evie, I have no idea what's going to happen," Rose admitted.

Rose could still remember the day when Eve had run screaming into Rose's flat at two o'clock in the morning to yell that she was engaged. Subconsciously, she had known that Albus and Eve's wedding would ultimately end up with her at this point, but she had refused to focus on it. All she wanted was to be happy for the friend who'd become almost a sister to her, and accept the Maid of Honour role instantly. She'd had an inkling as to who the Best Man might be before Albus had even mentioned it, but Rose just put it out of her mind. She was focusing on work and looking after Pip. Eve's mum and much older sister, Jasmine, were happy to do all of the planning, so she hadn't been forced to be in the same room as him even once!

Unfortunately, the wedding was at a beautiful manor house often hired out for weddings and fancy parties in the countryside, and for the first time in a year, Rose was going to have to face the man she had screamed at, slept with, and ran out on almost immediately afterwards.

While at first she'd denied that any of it had even happened, she soon gave up. Try as she might, she couldn't get him out of her head! And it would hit her at the most inopportune moments, like when she was trying to concentrate, or study for the exam that would decide whether or not she would be promoted to Investigator. She would remember the way he had cried out her name in a strangled voice, or the way her heart had exploded when they'd managed to get rid of the rest of their clothes and she'd been able to touch all that skin, or the way they had simply fit together, moving in ways that made her feel things she hadn't known existed …

She found it really unfortunate that she had to go and fall in love with the bastard at a time like this.

"Rosie … can I ask you something?" Eve asked her, then. The two of them were relaxing on the balcony off one of the million bedrooms this manor offered, sipping expensive wine and drinking in the end-of-summer sun.

Rose was pretty sure that Eve already knew all the gory details, because, well. Pip was a good listener, but her advice was always just a lick on the nose. And what else could make this more embarrassing at this point? So she answered,

"Sure."

"Well … why do you do this forwards and backwards thing with Scorpius?" she asked. "Ever since I've known you, you pretend that you don't care, but sometimes you will have a moment when it becomes obvious … then, you just suddenly pull back. Can I ask … why do you do it?"

Of all the things she and Eve had gossiped about … no one had ever asked her that before. If any past boyfriends had picked up on it, they'd never mentioned it. Albus just carried on pretending that it was normal and had never questioned it. But Eve … of course she had to be the one.

And maybe it was about time she answered.

"Because I wasn't supposed to like him," she said. "and when it became clear that I did, I would panic. I think he did, too. So I would run, and he would run, and now things are a bloody nightmare."

"You're in love with him," Eve said, softly. "Aren't you?"

Rose smiled, weakly.

"Well, god, isn't this just bloody depressing?" she managed to laugh. "C'mon! We're supposed to be helping your mum set up the venue outside, not gossiping like mad drunk women!"

Eve let her get away with it like only Eve could. Because Rose's best friend already knew the truth.

Sometimes, Rose wished she wasn't so damn transparent.

August, 2030

In the end, it wasn't seeing him again for the first time in over a year that made her snap.

No, it was the ridiculous piece of blond that he'd brought with him as a date.

"Honestly, she's got to be, what? Nineteen? Twenty at the most," Rose insisted to an entirely exasperated Albus.

"Rosie, I love you with all my heart," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "but I got married today, and instead of dancing with my new wife at my wedding reception, I'm watching you get drunk and bitch about Scorpius! Can you tell me what is wrong with this picture?"

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," she said at once, and she did hastily set her glass of champagne down onto one of the roaming waiter-less trays. "Go! Be with Eve, I'm just being stupid–"

"No, Rosie, you're being my beautiful and amazing cousin," Albus told her, despite his exasperation. She accepted his warm hug as he added, "Look, I won't even pretend to understand this screwed-up relationship you two have got going on, but …" he pulled back to look at her, carefully. "I think that he needs you, ok? He's had an extremely rough year. And I love you, no matter what."

"I … thanks, Al," Rose said, honestly grateful for his words.

Rose wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to react to seeing Scorpius again. She supposed that she should be hiding; wasn't that what you did with one night stands? Hiding would have been easy, since the reception took place inside the manor's ginormous ball room. It was fairly simple to blend in with the crowd. Now that food and all the speeches were over, Rose was free to roam the dancing and celebrating crowd, keeping a wary eye out as she did so.

But Scorpius was still yet to really approach her. They had exchanged delightfully strained greetings when he'd first arrived at the manor, simply to please those standing around and watching (namely, Albus and Eve) but apart from one extremely awkward walk down the aisle, they had completely, one hundred per cent avoided each other.

She didn't know how to break the stalemate and, indeed, if she was even ready to. Their reconciliations in the past suddenly seemed far too easy. She instead pretended that she wasn't watching him and hadn't been watching him for over half of the reception. She had avoided his gaze during her speech and knew that they would both defiantly turn down the traditional Best Man and Maid of Honour dance. Now, she watched him dance with the leggy blond who seemed poised and sophisticated and far better than Rose in every way possible.

She still couldn't help but scoff.

Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore; she needed to look away, before she drove herself completely mad. Instead, she drew her eyes to where Albus and Eve were dancing together. She found herself smiling. She almost prided herself in being the main reason they had met, those two years ago, despite the circumstances under which it had happened. Even though neither the bride nor groom could dance to save their lives, they had wrapped their arms around each other anyway and swayed together, eyes on nothing but each other.

It wasn't horrible of her to be kind of jealous, was it? That was the kind of love she wanted. She wanted to live knowing that there someone in the world who would always be there for her, always take care of her. Someone who would make her let her guard down and still always make her feel safe and just wanted …

She suddenly realised that she'd already had that person.

How many times had Scorpius been there for her in the past? Countless. And she'd been there for him, too. Without realising it, they'd grown closer than any normal friends could have over the years. Now that she really thought about it, Scorpius probably knew the most about her than anyone else in her life, even including Albus and Eve. Only Scorpius knew the way she leaned into his side whenever she was drunk. Only she knew that he tapped his fingertips against his thigh when he was stressed or nervous. Only Scorpius knew how she'd felt the time she'd been forced to investigate the murder of a small child. Only she knew the way her name sounded, gasped from his lips, as she bit down on his jaw and they moved together …

She shook her head. C'mon, Rose, now was not the time!

In the end, it was watching his blond date quite obviously flirt with someone else that made her lose it. Rose almost made to stride over there and slap the girl for being so callous, but she refrained herself at the last second. She didn't want Albus throwing her from the house for attacking their guests. Instead, found herself striding over to Scorpius on the opposite side of ballroom, despite all of her better judgement telling her not to.

"Do you just have no STANDARDS anymore?" she said.

Scorpius spun suddenly to face her and for the first time in a year, their eyes properly met. While Rose felt like she was probably going bright red, Scorpius was completely pale. Apart from their awkward trip down the aisle, with her arm loosely wrapped around his elbow, she hadn't been this physically close to him since that night. He looked … tired. Gorgeous, but tired, like he'd gone three straight days with no sleep. She didn't think it was a sleepy tired, though, and she understood. She knew what it felt like to simply be exhausted and no chance to just put life on hold and stop for a moment.

Albus said he'd had a rough year. She guessed he wasn't kidding.

She was expecting the inevitable, "Rose," to come from his mouth, but this time, it didn't. He simply gaped at her.

So, she continued.

"I mean, seriously, your date is actually chatting up my cousin!" she said, exasperatedly. "And she's talking to Fred, so I mean it when I say that she'll have his tongue down his throat in thirty seconds! I thought you had some pride, but you don't even care about that woman, do you? Why would you–"

"She's my cousin," he suddenly blurted out.

Oh.

She hadn't been expecting that.

"She's your what now?" she said, stunned.

"Her name is Harriet Greengrass, and she is my younger cousin," Scorpius said, refusing to look at her. He seemed almost guilty. "We work together, at the restaurant, I don't know if you …" He trailed off, and Rose guessed he wondered if she remembered him mentioning that. She did. "I, uh … thought she might like to come … I mean … well, you …"

Rose couldn't believe it.

"You brought your own cousin to your best friend's wedding because you were afraid I might have brought someone, too?" she asked in amazement.

"Is it far too pathetic of me to say yes?" he asked, giving Rose an extremely weak-willed smile.

It still shot right down to her toes.

"Oh, yes," she said, trying her best to return the smile. C'mon, Rose, you can do this! "I'm afraid that there's no hope for you. I mean, really, who's going to want you now?"

There was a pause, and apparently, Scorpius couldn't take the tentative joking one more second.

"Oh, to hell with it," he suddenly said. "Rose, I can't DO this anymore, ok? The back and forth thing, the pulling away and coming back with no warning. It's doing my head in and all I want is a normal relationship! Is that really too much to ask?"

Rose stared for a long moment, her stomach quite possibly falling out of her body entirely.

"You …" She swallowed, her throat sticking. "I … of course. I mean, I understand." It hit her that this was the first time they had ever explicitly mentioned it out loud. Was this really how it was all going to end? With him leaving her forever, for a normal relationship, and a house with a white-picket fence next door to Albus and Eve? It couldn't be.

Not after everything that had happened.

Scorpius made a movement then, but whether to move back or forwards, Rose didn't wait to tell. She was done with moving backwards. She didn't let him get any further than raising his leg, since she stepped forward, and quickly burst out,

"Scorpius, I'm going to sound incredibly pathetic here, but I don't care anymore! I'm in love with you!"

Scorpius stopped, staring at her. She wasn't sure where this burst of bravery was coming from – finally, her Gryffindor was coming out! – but she found herself carrying on, regardless. Yes, this might all come back and hit her in the face, but backwards was just not an option anymore.

She let out a deep breath at her outburst. "Ohhh, god. Ok? I said it, and I won't un-say it. In fact, I'll say it again, I love you! And dear god, don't leave me for a white-picket fence in the countryside! I'm honestly working on toning down the crazy and stuff, but Scorpius, I never realised how much I needed you in my life until suddenly you weren't in it anymore! I know that I've screwed up more than once, but I love you, and I–!"

And they were suddenly kissing, and Rose didn't even know who started it. She didn't exactly know what was happening, but hell, she wasn't complaining. She clutched at the collar of his dress robes and held on, wishing that this moment could never end. Unfortunately, he slowly drew away from her.

"Rose," His voice was a breath, barely a whisper. The only reason she heard it was because he was still so close, resting his forehead against hers. She remembered vaguely that they were standing together in a crowded ballroom surrounded by friends and family, but she didn't care. Not at all.

"You are insane," he told her, then. "but I love that. No matter what I said, you always took my teasing without a thought, because we're just so in synch together. You understood me, insulted me back because, let's face it, I was an arrogant bastard and I needed it–"

"Was?" Rose cut in, trying to crack a joke. Scorpius laughed.

"I love that despite the fact that we argued, it was plain as day how much we actually cared," he simply continued, hands pressed against her cheeks, still holding her close. "God, I haven't been able to get you out of my head since that night you walked out on me. You have no idea how much I wished I'd run out after you and stopped you."

"Scorpius, I am so sorry–"

But he was shaking his head. "I think we're both sorry, Rose. We've both said and done things we shouldn't have. But I'm willing to get past it, if you are?"

Rose couldn't think of an answer worthy enough to say, so she simply kissed him again, wishing that she'd gotten over herself much earlier than this. It continued for some amount of time that Rose couldn't measure – it might have been for two songs, or it could've been hours – but eventually, Scorpius pulled away again so he could speak,

"You know I'm still just a waiter, right? Oh, and I live with my cousin now, I couldn't afford the rent at my old flat–"

"Scorpius!" Rose cut in, almost wanting to laugh. "You know I don't actually care what job you have, right?"

"Oh. Right," Scorpius frowned and she smiled in return, meeting his gaze with her hands still curled into the collar of his robes. "I'm sorry, I'm just so used to you giving me shit for that kind of thing–"

"–oh, I'm still going to give you shit, all right," Rose said at once. "Don't think for one second that this means I'm changing anything. You know I still have a dog, right?"

He nodded, their cheeks brushing. "You know, I actually love dogs," he pointed out. "I only made fun of you because I was jealous, and mad at myself for being jealous. I knew I didn't have any claim over you whatsoever, so I wasn't justified at all in my actions, but I just couldn't help it! There were too many great things about you that just couldn't outweigh the bad."

"I know I might regret asking this," Rose told him. "but like what?"

When he spoke, his voice was fierce. Certainly, Rose knew that Scorpius had a lot of passion in him, but it was still such a shock to hear it directed at her! It was like he was trying to force the meanings of his words deep into her skull, into her heart.

He wanted her to believe them. She did her best to try.

"I love that you let yourself cry with me," he said. "I love that I'm that person who gets to hold you and make things better. I love that you irrationally yell at me for no reason, and that you've forgiven me, despite all the things I've ever said to you. I love that I know what you look like under those robes and what it's like to have you lying next to me, and I was an effing idiot for letting you walk out of my life. I think I'm rambling now, and I love you, and–"

Rose cut him off with her lips. She knew this was only the beginning. She knew that there were going to be more things to face, more things they would have to talk about; but the thing was, those things didn't scare her. Rose Weasley, who worried so much about dying alone that she effectively ruined all of her relationships as a result, was not afraid to talk about the future!

It was exhilarating.

Vaguely, she thought that people were probably staring. She knew that Albus and Eve were going to tease the hell out of them for this – getting off at a wedding, how original – but she couldn't bring herself to care.

They had the rest of their lives to figure everything out.

"Come on," she muttered into his lips, feeling his grin against her skin. "Let's dance … if you think you can."

His eyes sparkled at the challenge.

Sometimes, it was terrifying and sometimes, it was thrilling. But being in love with Scorpius Malfoy had its perks and there was no sometimes about that.

Fin

A/N: Last part! I wrote this entire story in one go and didn't plan a single thing, so I really had no idea that any of this was going to happen, but hey, it did!

And I hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you so much for all of the reviews and support, you are all so amazing!

Please review and let me know what you think. :)

Until next time -

- Moon. :D