Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Harry Potter franchise.

A/N: Wow, I don't think I ever updated this fast when I used to write fanfiction back in 2014-15.

Anyway, here it is. The third and last chapter. I didn't think I'd be emotional but truth be told, I am. Just a little.

Thank you for the reviews and follows! I'm forever indebted to you.

I really hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for reading.

"You're not going to believe this," said Albus, putting his feet up on Scorpius's desk as the latter tried his hardest to work. "I met Cindy the other day."

Scorpius looked up from proofreading his article. "Smith?"

"The very same," confirmed Al. "and guess what she did! She pretended to not know me!"

Scorpius laughed. "What?"

"I'm serious!" Al insisted, "We went out for four months and the woman acted like she's never met me before. Ouch, like… it really hurt my feelings, okay?"

Scorpius smirked and got back to his article. "Scarred her that much, did you? You think maybe she Obliviated herself just to rid her mind of all your memories? I must say, it's not a bad idea. I'd definitely consider it."

"Haha, hysterical," Albus dead-panned and threw a bunch of paper clips at his best friend's head. "Anyway, what you have been up to?"

"Getting fired if you don't leave soon," muttered Scorpius and cast a Silencing charm around his cubicle, in case his superiors or nosy co-workers happened to pass by.

Albus groaned loudly and crossed his arms over his chest like a petulant child. Was he channelling James?

"Being an adult is so boring," he complained. "We haven't done anything fun in ages. When was the last time we even went out for a drink?"

And that got Scorpius thinking. He was right. It had been a while since they'd gone out or did anything remotely characteristic of a bunch of 23 year olds.

"You're right," admitted Scorpius. "It has been too long since we did anything."

"Tell you what," Al said, the wheels in his head turning. "Let's go out tonight to that new pub in Diagon Alley, what's it called? Zesty Unicorn? I've wanted to try it out. I'll owl Rose and we'll drink the night away, just the three of us. Like old times. How's that sound?"

Upon the mention of Rose's name, Scorpius coughed and looked away.

"Um…I'm not sure about that-" he began uneasily.

Al rolled his eyes. "Seriously? This again? You two have been avoiding each other like the flu. What happened between you? You've never gone this long without talking to each other."

Scorpius stared at him, trying to think of an appropriate response. What was he supposed to say? I almost shagged your cousin on my sofa and then rejected her at the last moment?

Somehow, he didn't think that would go over too well with Albus.

He sighed, giving in. "Fine, let's do it. Invite Rose. 7 pm at Zesty Unicorn…or whatever it is."

Well, he had to face her sometime. He couldn't not talk to her forever. She was his closest friend, someone who knew him better than he knew himself. Besides, he was miserable. He missed her terribly, almost craved her presence sometimes. He couldn't count the number of times he'd almost picked up his quill and owled her. It was long overdue.

"Yes!" Al whooped and ruffled Scorpius's hair, "That's the spirit. Alright, I have to run. See you tonight, mate."

With that, Al bounded out of his office far more happily that he'd been when he came in.

Scorpius slumped back in his chair, dragging his hands over his face. He was truly dreading the evening. It was going to be awkward for sure. What was he supposed to say to her? They were going to be seeing each other after nearly two months. He couldn't believe he was actually nervous to see Rose, his best friend of ten years.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel slightly giddy at the prospect of seeing her and talking to her and just being in her presence.

Why was he so confused about his emotions? Cool, composed Scorpius Malfoy had actually been reduced to a neurotic mess by none other than Rose Weasley

Merlin, help him.

"Will you stop the incessant tapping of your stupid feet? I can't stand you anymore," Albus Potter snapped irritably, smacking Scorpius on the head. "What are you so nervous about anyway?"

"I'm not nervous Al, shut up," retorted Scorpius, now running his hands through his hair instead of tapping his stupid feet.

"Oh great," Al said, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Like that's any better. Just pull out all your hair. I won't associate with you if you start balding at twenty-five, you know."

"Oh, didn't you know? That was my plan all along. Glad to know it's going to work," Scorpius shot back.

Albus sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I can't believe Rose decided to be late and left me to deal with your miserable arse."

Scorpius ignored him and took a customary sip of his Firewhiskey, his eyes glued to the entrance of the pub.

"You're taking all the fun out of drinking," his best friend grumbled. "I'll never forgive you for this."

"Gee, I think I'll live," said Scorpius, rolling his eyes.

It was 7:30 PM and the pair were sitting in one of the booths at the Zesty Centaur (turned out it literally had nothing to do with unicorns), waiting for a certain redhead to show up.

The place was actually kind of nice. It had a rustic and homey feel to it but also had state of the art modern furniture and décor. The only source of light was the strings of fairy lights hanging around the room. It was all very charming.

Amid distractedly listening to Al's ramblings, Scorpius's eyes snapped to attention as a familiar head of auburn hair finally entered the door…followed by a taller figure with dark hair belonging to none other than Brad Roberts. They were holding hands.

Scorpius's heart sank. It felt like someone had physically ripped it from his chest. Then quickly, all his nerves and heartbreak started getting replaced by feelings of intense annoyance and an emotion that felt a lot like the angry green 'J' word. He didn't want to say it.

He nudged at Albus and whispered hotly, "What's he doing here?"

"Who?" asked Al and turned to look at Rose and her companion's advancing forms. "Oh. Him."

His expression suddenly turned what could only be described as guilty. Scorpius narrowed his eyes at Al suspiciously.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" he accused. "Are they going out?"

Grimacing, Al nodded awkwardly.

Scorpius punched his arm, feeling thoroughly betrayed. "And you didn't think to tell me? You show up at my office every single day without fail and not once did it cross your mind to just mention it in passing that, hey, Rose is dating Brad fucking Roberts?"

Al punched him back in retaliation. "Well, it's fairly recent," he justified, "and you've been a moody bastard lately. I didn't want to make it worse- you would've become unbearable."

Before Scorpius could respond with more violence, Rose slid into the opposite end of their booth, Brad in tow. Scorpius didn't miss the fact that she was distinctly avoiding direct eye-contact with him. Great, that was just bloody brilliant.

His whole evening was ruined before even starting.

Scorpius tried. He really did try to be okay with it. He even tried to make pleasant conversation with Brad that perhaps wasn't as pleasant as he'd thought and probably bordered more on aggressive because Al kept kicking his shin underneath the table and Rose kept glancing at him strangely.

Rose. Ah, Rose. She was tugging at his heartstrings by just being there. She'd cut her hair up to her shoulders and looked even more beautiful than before, if that was possible. Simply looking at her made Scorpius's stomach clench. He missed her so damn much. He just desperately wanted everything to be okay between them, but at the same time, was going insane over the fact that she was now with Brad. He didn't know what to do with himself and his uneasiness only seemed to be increasing as the evening progressed. He tried drinking copiously but unfortunately, it didn't provide him any real relief.

Scorpius was doing a pretty good job of controlling himself but he finally snapped when Brad's hand disappeared under the table and Rose started blushing furiously.

He abruptly stood, causing everyone to flash him startled looks. "Um, Rose? Can we step outside for a minute?" he said, "I have to talk to you about something. Err, work-related."

Rose raised her eyebrows but didn't move an inch. "Can't you do it here?"

"It's confidential," he lied smoothly.

She still looked unconvinced but excused herself and followed him outside the pub.

As soon as they were in the fairly secluded street, Scorpius rounded on her. "What the fuck, Rose?"

She blinked, confused. "What?!"

"You're going out with Roberts?"

Rose crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "So what if I am? It's none of your business."

Scorpius ignored the last part and continued, "You know he's a tosser, right? You don't know him like I do."

"No," she replied fiercely, "I think I know him better. He's been nothing but a perfect gentleman these past couple of weeks."

"Oh, so that's how long this has been going on…and I didn't even know about it," Scorpius said bitterly.

"Well, if you haven't noticed Scorpius, we haven't exactly been on speaking terms for a while," Rose said, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

"Right. Of course. How could I forget?" said Scorpius.

"Why are you making it sound like it was my fault?" Rose exclaimed.

Scorpius exhaled and focused on a spot on the wall behind her. "I was giving you space! You didn't exactly seem overjoyed about wanting to see me again," he said, "Besides, tonight was supposed to be about just the three of us. Like old times."

Rose laughed humourlessly. "Oh don't you dare play that card, Scorpius. How many times have you brought along a girl on days exactly like this? When it was just supposed to be the three of us?" she asked, "Where is she anyway? Your latest girlfriend?"

Scorpius coughed and looked at his feet, his ears tinged red. "I, um, I haven't really had once since- since-" he broke off, words failing him.

Realisation dawned on Rose, and her heart started beating even faster.

"Since that night," she finished softly and took a step towards him. "Scorpius, I-"

He backed away, smiling defeatedly."It doesn't matter. You know what? Tell Al that I wasn't feeling well and that I went home. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Good night, Rose."

Before Rose could do anything, he turned around and walked farther and farther away from her into the stark darkness of the night.

Scorpius wanted Rose.

There was no point in denying it anymore, it was clear as day and it was about time he admitted it and stopped fooling himself.

He hadn't realised just how badly he wanted her till that night when she came knocking on his door, seeking solace. He'd always been attracted to her and flirting was a part of their relationship but now there were serious feelings involved and all he knew was that no one had ever made him feel the way she did.

He couldn't stop thinking about her, especially now that he knew how she looked like under him, how it felt like to hold her and just get lost in the pure fucking beauty of her. And she'd wanted him too, at least briefly that night. If only she hadn't had an emotional breakdown and so much to drink, he would've never stopped her. He would've been delighted to go all the way with her, no doubt about it.

But if she hadn't been drunk, she might never have kissed you in the first place, a small voice in his head said.

Well, shit. That was just depressing…and probably a 100% true. Scorpius hated that voice, and he wanted to go dig himself a hole to lie in forever.

Scorpius's epiphany had an awful timing too, because Rose was now more unattainable than ever before.

The next time he had to face Rose came pretty quickly, considering the previous gap of almost two months. A week after their Zesty Centaur confrontation was Christmas and as usual, Scorpius was invited to the Potter-Weasley household to join in on the festivities. But for the first time in his life, he considered not going.

Until he realised that even if he didn't go, Al would come to his flat and drag him by the ears anyway, so it was probably best to save himself the embarrassment.

At the very least, he could show up late, couldn't he? He seriously didn't know anymore. He was mightily conflicted between wanting to see Rose and not wanting to see her. Besides, he was likely getting ahead of himself to even think he had those options because who was to say she'd even be there? Maybe Brad had invited her to his home to celebrate the holiday.

Merlin, even the mere thought of that made his head pound.

Christmas was going well so far, or as well as could be expected. To Scorpius's relief, Rose was very much home and not at all near Robert's idiotic, irritating presence. Scorpius considered that his win for the day.

But be that as it may, he still didn't see much of her. Usually, the holidays were Rose's ultimate happy times –one would start feeling cheery just by being near her; she was that contagious. After all, she was the one who'd converted him to a Christmas enthusiast. It had been a slow process due to his reluctance but in the end, she had succeeded. Scorpius had no doubt his mind that she could make him do just about anything if she put her mind to it –she had more power over him than he liked to admit.

Anyway, this year Rose wasn't joining in on any of the merriment. The only times Scorpius had actually seen her was when she'd opened the door for him and when she'd come to pick up a plate of Christmas-themed cookies from the kitchen to take to her room. He had to say, he was disappointed.

The rest of the Potter-Weasley was occupying his time wonderfully…but there was still a nagging voice in his head that was telling him to salvage his friendship with Rose. Sure, she was dating someone else now and sure, it was like a knife had permanently lodged itself in his heart but he could at least try. He couldn't bear to have her out of his life. They'd been each other's closest friends for too long, gone through too much together for it all to possibly end like this. No...they had to get over this- one way or the other.

"Hey Scorpius," Lily's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Huh?" he said, a little disoriented. They –him, Lily, Albus, and Louis- were supposed to be playing Exploding Snap but he had been out of it for a while now.

"Would you mind grabbing me a bottle of Butterbeer from the kitchen? My throat is just parched," she said sweetly, which Scorpius found extremely odd. Lily Potter was many things but she wasn't sweet.

"Uh-" he began uncertainly, not really sure what was going on.

Upon seeing his doubtful expression, she widened his eyes at him innocently. "Please?" she pleaded, "My legs hurt."

"Fine," Scorpius gave in finally. "Be right back," he said and left for the kitchen.

As he was about to enter it, he suddenly found himself unable to move. Puzzled, he looked around and found mistletoe hanging over his head in the doorway.

He swore. Great, this was just what he needed. How was he going to get out of this one?

As if on cue, Rose appeared in front of him, carrying an empty plate of cookies in her hand.

Scorpius's breath caught in his throat.

"Hi," she said. "Why are you just standing there?"

Yeah, this was awkward.

Not trusting himself with words, he pointed to the sprig of mistletoe above him.

Rose mouth made an 'O' in comprehension and she stifled a small smile. "Well, you're in quite a bind, aren't you?"

"Not one I expected to be in," he answered, grinning bashfully. "I mean, who even hangs enchanted mistletoe in a house filled with family members?"

"I can think of a few people," Rose replied, rolling her eyes. "Are you here because of Lily?"

Scorpius shrugged and nodded.

"I thought so," she muttered under her breath.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "So anyway. Uh, normally I wouldn't ask this of you but err, I don't know how long it will take for someone to come this way and –"

"Don't be ridiculous," she cut him off, her face colouring slightly. "Of course I'll help you."

Scorpius exhaled. "Thanks."

As she slowly walked towards him, Scorpius could almost feel the suffocating tension in the air. He was sure he could cut it with a knife if he tried.

After what felt like ages, Rose finally reached close enough for their breaths to mingle. Scorpius's mind stopped working completely.

She looked up at him with her clear eyes and placed her hands on his shoulders precariously. Then she leaned in and lightly brushed her lips against his.

Before he could respond, or even register what was happening, she was gone.

Scorpius took a shaky breath and slumped against the wall weakly, closing his eyes. This girl was going to be the death of him.

Two hours later, Scorpius found himself sitting in the living room, rifling through the pages of a random issue of Witch Weekly, of all things. He couldn't believe some of the utter bullshit he was reading. Is this what journalism had come to?

While he read brain-killing articles, the Potter-Weasley kids played a post-dinner game of Quidditch. Normally, he'd be right there playing with them but somehow, he just wasn't feeling up for it.

Suddenly, he felt someone sit down beside him and turned to find Hermione Granger-Weasley, to his surprise.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Weasley," he greeted her pleasantly.

"Ah, not this again. I've told you so many times to call me Hermione," she said, rolling her eyes ever so slightly.

He chuckled. "Force of habit."

She smiled warmly and settled in, a cup of tea in her hand. "So, what are you doing here all alone? No Quidditch this year?"

"No," he said quietly. "Really not in the mood this time."

Hermione nodded and turned to look at him seriously. "Scorpius, can I ask you something?"

Scorpius's brows furrowed and he wondered what this could be about. "Of course."

She sighed tiredly. "What happened between you and Rose?"

Scorpius's blood froze. He gawped at her and stuttered, "W-what?"

"Now, don't lie to me," she warned, giving him a stern look. "I know something did. You're barely talking to each other and Rose has been holed up in her old bedroom the whole day. It's very concerning."

Scorpius struggled to find words. He did not want to be a part of this conversation anymore. "Um, honestly, I don't know what to tell you –"

Then Hermione said something that knocked the wind out of him. "You love her, don't you?"

He just stared at her in shock, his face getting heated.

She laughed, apparently finding this amusing. "Sorry for being an embarrassing parent but I've seen the way you look at her…and the little kiss in the kitchen earlier."

Scorpius couldn't be redder if he tried but this time, he had an explanation. "Oh, that was just because of some enchanted mistletoe," he said nervously.

Hermione's eyes bored into him like she could read his mind which, knowing her, she probably could. "Was it?" she asked gently.

Scorpius swallowed and looked at his hands, avoiding eye-contact. "Yes. And besides, she's with someone else. It doesn't matter."

It was then that Hermione smirked, paired with a mischievous glint in her eyes. It was truly unsettling and made Scorpius a little uneasy.

"As far as I am to believe," she said, "that's not the case anymore."

Scorpius nearly choked on his own spit. "Excuse me?" he exclaimed, his voice uncharacteristically high.

"Brad and Rose split up, Scorpius," she replied matter-of-factly, "About a week ago, I think."

A week ago. A week ago….Could it be? Surely not. Right?

Scorpius head was reeling with this new ground-breaking information. He couldn't think straight. His blood started pumping at an alarming rate.

Hermione, completely unfazed, touched his arm and smiled encouragingly. "Go to her."

And that's exactly what he did.

Rose wasn't in her room anymore but Scorpius knew exactly where she would be.

In fifth year, when the pressure for OWLS was getting overwhelming and Rose just couldn't seem to get any privacy from her cousins, she added a little balcony to the house, which became her safe space. During Hogwarts, she mostly went there to study but now, she went there when things got too much and she just needed some time to sort out the mess in her head. There were only a few people who knew how to access it. Scorpius was one of them.

He reached the exact spot where the entrance was supposed to be and muttered the incantation, causing a door to materialise in front of him. It had RW carved into it right in the middle, AP and SM carved on the sides. Scorpius fondly remembered the memory and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" rang out Rose's voice.

"Scorpius," he answered.

A beat passed. Scorpius was afraid for a second that she might not let him enter.

Then the door squeaked open, granting him access.

He heaved a silent sigh of relief and went inside. Rose was sitting with her back to him, knees drawn up to her chest. He wordlessly sat beside her and looked at the night sky. The moon was clear and high up in the sky, twinkling stars surrounding it. It was beautiful and peaceful and serene, unlike the storm brewing inside Scorpius.

"What do you want?" Rose asked finally, without looking at him.

"Nothing," he said, sounding far calmer than he felt. "Just wanted to check up on you."

She glanced at him and smiled ruefully. "So Al told you, huh?"

There was no need to say it out loud. They both knew what was being talked about.

"Not Al," he said quietly.

Rose nodded and fell silent. Some time passed before Scorpius spoke again.

"Rose. Are you okay?" he asked, turning his body to face her. He could vaguely hear the shouts of the others playing Quidditch nearby.

She mirrored his action and Scorpius was surprised to see the fire in her eyes. "No Scorpius, I'm certainly not okay."

"Listen, I-" he started, but she was in no mood to hear anything he had to say.

"No, you listen. I'm not okay and the worst thing is that it's not even because I broke up with Brad. It's for a completely different reason," she fumed, her nose flaring in the most adorable way…which was something Scorpius should not have been thinking about right then.

Scorpius blinked. "You were the one who dumped him? I thought-"

"Yes," Rose said, her voice rising considerably. "And you want to know why I did it? Merlin, I've been holding this in for so long that it feels ridiculous to even say it out loud but", she took a deep breath and continued, "I did it because he deserved better. He deserved a girl whose mind wasn't plagued with thoughts of someone else all the time. The entire time I was with Brad, there was a stupid fucking person who wouldn't leave my head. No matter how hard I tried to cleanse my thoughts of that stupid face and focus on Brad, it just wasn't working. It's all that stupid person's fucking fault."

Scorpius just stared, at a loss for words.

Rose laughed dryly. "And you know who that stupidly annoying person is? It's you. I must have lost my mind. You. Scorpius fucking Malfoy –"

Scorpius couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "What did you just say?" he whispered. His ears were ringing.

But Rose wasn't listening and she went on rambling. "- and then when I was already doubting my relationship with Brad, you confronted me at the pub like a jealous prick and said you hadn't been dating anyone and you really had the audacity to give me hope, Scorpius. I broke up with Brad the very same night and then my dumb arse remembered that you never wanted me in the first place –"

Scorpius cut her off by leaning forward and kissing her soundly on the mouth.

Shocked out of her mind, she broke it off and gaped at him. "What the fuck?" she cried.

Scorpius was smiling like a fool now. "That's a lie."

"What? What lie?" Rose sputtered incredulously.

He captured her lips again in a quick kiss before answering. "The thing you said about me not wanting you. I do want you."

Rose could do nothing but gawk at him with her mouth open.

Scorpius waited for a reaction but when he got none, he took advantage of the opportunity and kissed her yet again, more deeply this time, his warm hands on either side of her cold face.

Slowly, Rose came to her senses and started to tentatively kiss him back. She soon became more confident and clutched at the collar of his jumper to pull him closer, her tongue teasing him. She tasted like apple cider and vanilla and winter. Scorpius was most definitely in heaven. One of his hands left her face and tangled up in her hair. They were much shorter than the last time he'd done this. He liked that –it meant things were different.

Before things could escalate any further, they heard hooting and cheers from the sky.

"Oi Malfoy, get away from my sister!" called Hugo's voice.

"Finally grew a pair, did you?" laughed Lily.

"Thank Merlin. I was getting tired of Scorpius pining away after Rose. It's the most pathetic thing I've ever witnessed," said a voice that was unmistakably Al's.

Rose smiled against Scorpius's lips and pulled away, leaving him to chase after her.

She looked at her cousins all hovering on their broomsticks and shooting them smirks and then turned back to him, her blue eyes gleaming in the darkness. "Want to get out of here?" she asked breathlessly.

Before Scorpius could nod fully, she threaded their fingers together and they disapparated away.

They reached Rose's flat and this time, Scorpius stopped neither her nor himself.

He didn't stop her when she tightly wound her arms around his neck and snogged his brains out. He didn't stop himself when his hands unhooked her bra as he trailed his lips down her body and laid her down on the bed. He didn't stop her when she whispered his name again and again… and he certainly didn't stop himself from pulling her against him in the end and falling asleep to the sound of her breathing.

In the morning, he told her in a moment of vulnerability that he was in love with her and assured her that she didn't have to say it right away. She smiled, pulling him down by his neck to kiss him and then simply told him to pick her up for dinner on Saturday.

A few years later, they stood outside Ron and Hermione Weasley's house. A smiling Scorpius had his arm wrapped around Rose's waist and she looked downright giddy. She glanced at him for one last confirmation and he nodded reassuringly.

Grinning, she lifted her hand to knock on the door, as Scorpius kissed the side of her head.

The ring on Rose's left hand glittered in the sun.

A/N: How was it? Too cheesy? I hope it wasn't rushed.

I'm really sleepy right now but I promised myself that I wouldn't sleep before posting this chapter. Fuck, all these letters are such a blur to me right now.

So anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and that you didn't think it was sucky. Also, I think I'm going to change the title and synopsis of the story since it completely deviated from the theme I had in my mind while starting.

Moreover, I'm definitely going to be writing more fanfiction, so look out for that if you want. I'm back in the rabbit hole and I can't escape. Sigh. I'm going to die on the Scorose hill.

I really put my heart and soul into this fic and it wasn't easy to write after so many years. So please, PLEASE try to review, if you're reading! It will mean the world to me.

Thanks again. Till next time, my dearies.