Disclaimer: It all belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter One

Her heels clicked soundly against the pavement as she hurried through the busy streets of London. I've got time, Rose told herself. I'll make it.

Well, she was going to have to make it. Dom would Avada her if not. Her cousin had only been gushing about her perfect box seat tickets for the past two months. Rose honestly didn't care much for Quidditch and couldn't explain a thing about the teams or players, but hell, after putting up with Dom's excitement every day for that long, Rose would Avada herself if she missed this match.

As she stopped at the crosswalk—like any good, law-abiding Muggle citizen—she checked the street signs to confirm that she wasn't lost, and then glanced at her watch. It was 5:26pm.

Oh Merlin. The doors to the stadium closed at 5:30.

She was going to be late.

She was going to miss the match.

She was so Avada'd.

The stream of cars chose that moment to finally come to a halt, and Rose rushed forward, muttering apologies as she jostled other passer-by. At last, she spotted the Everest Spice restaurant that Dom had said was near the stadium. Rose had two minutes left—she could still make it! Half-jogging, she dug through her bag—where the hell was her ticket?

With her makeup bag, mPhone, and a couple case files (she'd been hoping to get some work done during the match) clutched under her left arm, Rose flipped through her wallet in hopes that she'd just tossed the ticket inside.

No such luck.

She glanced ahead. A bright, flashing sign read "Puddlemere Stadium." Rose grinned in relief. Now, she only needed to find the bloody ticket. She opened her day planner. She was sure it was in here; it had to—

"Hey!" Out of nowhere, someone had knocked her over, sending her things flying everywhere. Merlin, her files!

"Fuck. I apologize, Miss…"

Did this man just Apparate on top of her? Rose couldn't believe her luck. She shook her head. That wasn't even her primary concern right now—her work files were. She scrambled to pull herself up, but froze at the sound of a cringe-inducing snap.

Oh Merlin no, the bloke had stepped on her heel.

He cursed. "I'm really sorry, Miss," he said, and extended a hand to help her up. But Rose was too irritated to accept it. Ignoring him, she hobbled over to gather her files, which, thankfully, were only a few feet away.

"Hang on… Rose Weasley? Is that you?"

Rose looked over to the wizard who had just single-handedly ruined her Monday night, only to realize that he was none other than the Slytherin Quidditch Captain and Prefect who'd ruled the school during her Hogwarts days. He hadn't changed much. With his tousled platinum blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and aristocratic features, he was, admittedly, still the sexiest man Rose had ever seen in her life.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Rose replied coolly. Just because he was gorgeous didn't excuse the fact that he'd ruined her night in about 45 seconds flat. Rose was sure it was well past 5:30 by now. There was no way she was getting into the stadium.

Malfoy offered her a lazy grin and helped retrieve her other belongings. "It's been too long, Head Girl. How are you?"

Rose rolled her eyes. A lot certainly had changed in two years, but she'd no clue what Malfoy had been up to. They'd been casual friends in school, though he'd been closer with some of her other relatives (they bonded over their love of Quidditch). Rose struggled to remember if he'd ever told her about his post-Hogwarts plans: a Healing program? Working at his family's company?

At his expectant gaze, Rose sighed. "Well, I've been better, that's for sure." Then another thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute, did you Apparate out here in the open? That's so irresponsible, Mal—Scorpius! What were you thinking? Muggles could've seen you!" It was the reason Rose didn't Apparate here herself. Well, that and the fact that she didn't fancy being splinched.

Malfoy smirked at her. "You know what, Rose? I've actually missed this. Life just isn't the same without the Head Girl reprimanding your wrongdoings."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Rose groaned.

He laughed. "So what brings you around here? Going to the match?"

Rose shot him a dark look. "Yeah, but I'm too late… I won't be allowed admission."

"Why not? It starts at 6."

"But haven't you heard about the new League regulations? You know, how everyone has to be admitted at least half an hour before the match, for crowd control purposes?" Rose herself only knew this because Freddie worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

"And people actually abide by those rules?" he asked, a sceptical brow arched.

Well, according to Dom they did, but Rose didn't actually know. She shrugged.

Malfoy seemed amused. "Well, come on. I'm, er—attending the match too. Let's see if you're right."

He began walking towards the flashy sign, and Rose made to follow him, but she unexpectedly lurched forward. Damn it—her heel was still broken. Malfoy turned around just in time to steady her, one hand firmly wrapped around her waist, his tall frame towering over her petite one. He glanced down at her broken Louboutins and then up at her face.

"Are you all right?" he murmured. He was so close and Rose didn't know what was wrong with her but she couldn't formulate a single coherent sentence. She could only nod.

Scorpius' mouth quirked into a slight smile. He stepped back a little, his hand dropping away, and with it, the magnetic spell that had settled over them.

"I'm fine," Rose said, clearing her throat and nodding again. Merlin, it wasn't as if she had enjoyed his touch… absolutely not.

Embarrassed, she crouched down and transfigured her heels into simple flats. See, the problem was that reparo didn't work on clothes and shoes, because magic wasn't sure what was "fixed" or "broken" when it came to fashion. Rose bit back a grin as Lily's grunge phase came to mind. It had been hilarious watching Uncle Harry try to cast reparo on his daughter's stylishly ripped clothing.

"Did you like those?" inquired Scorpius. "The shoes, I mean."

She arched a bemused brow. "I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't."

He smiled. "Fair enough." Then, after a pause: "Let me make it up to you."

"What?" Rose asked, but he was already walking away.

"Keep up, Rose. We don't want to be late," he said, mirth evident in his tone. Rolling her eyes, she trudged after him. She wasn't too keen on being Avada'd by Dom, after all.

Two wizards manned the door to the entrance. The first, who was skinny and blond, seemed very serious, and Rose knew even before she addressed him that he wasn't going to let any tardiness slide. The second was dark-haired and built, but was looking at her very oddly, almost intensely.

She approached the first one. Glancing at Scorpius, who was a few feet behind her, she did a double take. Why was he wearing his hood up?

"Can I help you?" said Blondie.

"Oh!" Rose smiled sheepishly. "Hi, sorry. I'm here for the Puddlemere United match," she said as brightly as possible.

"It's after 5:30, Miss, you're late… I'm afraid we can't admit you. New policy."

"Oh, but—come on. This is my first pro Quidditch match and my cousin will kill me if I don't watch with her!" Rose hadn't checked her mPhone but she was sure there were plenty of angry messages from Dom awaiting her. "Please? No one informed me of the new policy…"

Blondie seemed unfazed by her protests, but the other man began to chuckle. "All right, gorgeous. I can let you in, but I'm going to need something in return," he said suggestively.

Excuse me? Rose grimaced. The way he was ogling her made her feel uncomfortable.

Rose folded her arms across her chest and took a step backwards, right into Scorpius. She gasped softly and stared up at him. He'd taken off his hood but wasn't looking at her. Instead, with a hand on the small of her back, he guided her towards the entrance.

"Mr. M-Ma-Malfoy," squeaked Blondie. Rose glanced at Scorpius in confusion, but his eyes were trained on the other man.

"We're going in," said Scorpius, his gaze steely. "She's with me." His tone left no room for argument.

Blondie opened the door immediately, and his partner nodded profusely. "Of course, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sorry, Miss."

Rose ignored the two men, but when they entered the lifts and Scorpius had pressed the button for Level 250 (apparently, Puddlemere Stadium was in the same space as another Muggle stadium, only much higher up), she asked, "What was that?"

"Some men lack manners," muttered Scorpius.

"That's not what I meant. Why did they let us in like that? They knew you."

"Well, you know me," he pointed out, grinning.

Rose rolled her eyes. She wanted to push for an answer but something about Scorpius' easy smile stopped her. She liked him much better this way. Instead, she said, "Only because you were such a rotten Prefect."

"Rotten? I resent that. I was a fantastic Prefect, babe," he said, leaning against the railing.

Rose blushed. "Slytherins still caused a lot of trouble."

"Minimal compared to what your family got up to," he said, and Rose had to concede his point. "And it was all manageable, controllable trouble. Besides, what's wrong with having a little bit of fun every now and then?"

"You mean like what you did while you were supposed to be patrolling?" Rose muttered, thinking back to all of those times she caught him snogging witches in broom cupboards.

"What was that?" grinned Scorpius.

"Nothing, nothing. Do you think they'll have food up there?" Rose asked, hoping he would take her cue to change the subject. Damn it, why did she bring that up? She was certain her face was scarlet red.

Rose was beyond relieved when the doors opened to their floor. She sped out of the lift immediately and could hear Scorpius' laughter trailing behind her as she entered the massive, marble-floored, glass-walled lobby. She ignored him and examined the space, which was tastefully decorated, with Quidditch banners and flags everywhere.

"Is this the main entrance?" she asked, examining the photos that lined the walls. She wondered why there were no other people around. Well, there were a few uniformed employees, but no other spectators it seemed.

"No, this is more like the… VIP level."

"Why are we in the—" Rose stopped abruptly, all of her questions answered as she caught sight of a banner featuring Scorpius' face:

Welcome Scorpius Malfoy, Puddlemere United's Newest Chaser!

Rose whirled around to face Scorpius. "You play Quidditch?"

"Erm, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just transferred from the Magpies. Today's my first match for Puddlemere."

Her jaw dropped. "You played for the Magpies?" Since when? Rose knew from Dom that the Montrose Magpies were one of the best teams in the League.

Scorpius chuckled, walking towards the double doors at the end of the lobby. "See, this is why we should've kept in touch, Rose. I would've told you anything you wanted to know."

She followed. "I just thought you were—I don't know…"

"What?" His tone was genuinely curious.

"Um… well, I thought you would go into a healing program. I remember you wanted to be a healer, right?"

They had reached the doors that led to the stadium, and Scorpius turned towards her, his expression unreadable. "You have a good memory," he murmured. Then he held open the door. "Enjoy the match."

Rose glanced at her watch. It was only 5:45. There was still plenty of time to find Dom. She frowned at Scorpius. "Aren't you late for a team meeting, or pep talk, or whatever it is you Quidditch players do before big matches?"

He smirked. "Probably. But I dropped in on a beautiful witch and it wouldn't have been right not to take advantage of the opportunity."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You think you're charming."

"And you don't?"

She laughed, stepping out into the stands. He remained at the doorway. "Good luck on your first match, Mr. Charming."

Scorpius grinned. "See you around, Head Girl."

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! This idea sort of just came to me... I'm not sure whether or not to continue, so please review to let me know what you think!