**All characters, locations, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended in the posting of this story.**

"I am going to kill her."

Al must have had some kind of radar that alerted him every time I got close to Rose. She and I were sitting in the library, and I was just reaching for her hand when he sat down at the table, looking thoroughly depressed.

"Really?" Rose asked. "I'd reckoned you were starting to like her."

"Like her? As in, fancy her?" Al scoffed, brushing his chalkboard hair out of his eyes. "As if."

"Then chuck her," I said. "And leave us alone," I muttered under my breath.

"Don't think I didn't hear that, Scorpius," Al said, throwing his backpack on the floor. "You should be more sympathetic. I'm very depressed. Not all of us just had our wildest dreams come true."

"Some of us don't set such high standards."

"That was harsh."

"No harsher than your wildest dream being my death."

"I wasn't joking about that."

"Course not. And I wasn't joking about my wildest dream being an E in History."

"Well, why wouldn't you be?"

"Right."

"Exactly."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Of cour–"

"That is it!" Rose stood up suddenly, slamming her hands down on the table. "I can't sit here for another second and listen to you two agree with each other. You are making me mad. Either shut up or take your little agreement somewhere else."

"Little agreement, Rosie?" Al said, turning to look at his cousin, running his fingers through his hair. "Really?"

"Yes," she replied firmly. "I repeat: shut up or go away."

"Scorpius?" Al turned to me. "Sidebar?"

I closed my eyes and scratched my forehead. "What?"

"Sidebar. It's a legal term."

I shook my head. "More confusing."

"It's a side conversation, stupid."

"A what?"

Al rolled his eyes. "I want you to come snog be behind that bookcase, Scorpius. Come now."

I looked at the table, listening to Rose giggle across from me. "No thanks. That doesn't sound very enjoyable."

At this point, Al—who I had obviously managed to frustrate quite well—grabbed my arm and literally dragged my unwilling form behind the bookcase.

"All right, all right," I conceded, leaning against a bookshelf. "I forfeit. Now, what's this sidebar rubbish about?"

"You." He said, tone hard. "Rose. What the bloody hell is up with that?"

"Honestly?" I replied. "Not much. You keep coming by every time something gets close to happening."

"You think that's coincidence, Scorpius?" The harshness of Al's voice reached up to his eyes, and I realized that he was glaring at me.

"You're angry," I started. It was not a question.

"I'm worried," he corrected. "I'm worried about what would happen if… if something did happen."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, sinking down the bookcase to the floor and putting his head in his hands. "I never thought that this would actually happen, Scorpius. I thought that you would get over it eventually. Move on to other girls. I never thought that Rose would…"

He never thought Rose would what? I realize that I fancy her? Start fancying me back? Be happy?

"What's to be afraid of, Albus?"

Al dropped his head onto his arms. I never called him Albus. He knew what it meant. He could feel the anger radiating me. He knew me well enough to notice that my eyes had narrowed and my smile had disappeared.

"I… it's not you I'm worried about. It's Rose."

"Rose? Why? You don't trust me?" My voice became even sharper, and my hands curled into fists by my sides.

"No! It's not me. I'm fine with it!" he said frantically, obviously trying to avoid a fight.

"You're not making any sense. Stop backtracking and say what you mean, Al."

"I mean," Al looked up at me. "That my family isn't exactly terribly fond of you."

His… family? Rose's family?

"But, I go over to your place during every holiday! Your parents take me in like a bloody third son!"

"My parents do, yeah."

Silence fell as I finally understood what he was trying to say. Rose's parents. He was worried that if something ever happened between Rose and I, her parents would be angry. More than angry.

"Rose's parents, on the other hand," Al continued, prompting me.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I said quickly. I sunk down the bookcase and sat on the ground opposite him. "Hell."

"I just… I don't mean that you have to, you know, stop, or anything but…"

Al trailed off. He didn't know what he meant by it; that was obvious. But there was enough to deduce that he thought there would be trouble if Rose and I ever starting going out. And trouble was the last thing we needed.

"Don't worry about it, Scorpius," Al said, trying again. "It's not… I mean, it's just something to think about."

I nodded. Something to think about. Something that I would probably end up dwelling over and staying up at night splitting hair about. Something that was most likely going to come between Rose and I.

Al shifted around to kneel in front of me. "You should talk to her about it."

I shook out of my reverie. "What?"

"Rose. You should talk to her about this. About all of it. Get her input and come up with a decision from there."

"You think I should ask her?"

Al hesitated. "Yeah. Yeah I do. And I think that you should bring all of this up and talk it over, and then decide what you're going to do from there."

Taking a deep breath, I pushed up to my feet. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Al clasped my hand in a handshake/high five. "Good man, Scorpius."

We walked back around the bookcase and sat down at the table that Rose and I had been at before. Al pulled out his books, dropping them on the table in front of him. He then proceeded to ignore them in favor of a game of solitaire with an Exploding Snap deck.

I was just getting into my Transfiguration mode when the deck first went off.

"Al!" Rose whispered aggressively. "We're in a library, you moron."

"Really, Rosie?" Al said at a normal volume. "I hadn't noticed."

"Pince is gong to kick us out, prat."

"How tragic."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Look Al," she said, her voice rising as she spoke, "I don't know what your problem is, but cry me a river, build me a bridge and get over it." Somehow, Rose was on her feet, her hands on top of her books, leaning over the table and glaring at Al, who was staring at her in shock.

Before Al got the chance to speak, another voice popped in.

"Miss Weasley! This is a library, not the Quidditch pitch. Out!"

All three of turned to see Madame Pince shooting daggers at Rose, surely a first. Rose blinked a couple of times, then picked up her books and swept out of the library, leaving her quill and bag behind. Pince stormed away, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Sighing, I bent down and picked up Rose's things.

"I'd better go get her," I said to no one in particular. Al didn't respond. He had opened his Herbology book for possibly the first time.

Rose must have been moving pretty quickly, because I didn't find her in the hallway outside of the library. I wandered around the corridors, checking her regular route back to the Common Room. She wasn't in the Great Hall, no one had seen her in the Trophy Room. Finally, I decided just to head back to the Common Room, figuring she'd come back when she needed her stuff. But as I walked past some empty classrooms on the third floor, I heard a quill scratching.

Pushing open a door, I found Rose sitting at the teacher's desk of a classroom that couldn't have been used in fifty years. She had used chalk to draw a flower on the board, and she seemed to be writing fiercely on a piece of scrap parchment.

"Rose?" I asked timidly. "Do you want me to go?"

She looked up, clearly noticing me for the first time. She jumped, then shoved the parchment into her lap.

"No," she said. "It's fine. I'm fine. I mean… it's okay. Whatever. You can stay if you want. Or not. It doesn't…"

"Rose?"

She took a deep breath, pushing the parchment onto the floor and standing up.

"I'm fine."

"I brought you your stuff."

A tiny smile appeared on her face. "Thanks."

Silence settled over us, but it was heavy, awkward. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Weren't we supposed to be in love? Hadn't we decided on that when we'd started holding hands? Sharing inside jokes? Being more than friends?

"What were you writing?"

Rose still seemed flustered. She pushed a chunk of hair out of her eyes and stared at the ground. "Nothing. Just a letter."

"To who?"

The smile widened a little. "To whom, Scorpius."

I didn't respond, waiting for her to answer my question. Finally, she looked up at me, swallowed, and took a step closer.

"To you."

I grinned involuntarily. "And?"

"I…"

I raised a hand to stop her, and she shut her mouth quickly and willingly. My hand settled on her shoulder. I paused to take a quick breath, find my courage, but I didn't need to. I'd known what I wanted to say for years; there was no need for a mental pep talk.

"We're supposed to hate each other, Rose. Our families do. It's the expectation."

Rose looked up at me, clearly confused by the start.

"But you and I, we don't really live up to expectations, do we, Rose? We go above and beyond. We exceed, do things differently. The line between hatred and love is very fine, and I was pushed over it.

I want us to be together, Rose. A couple. For real. I don't care what your dad says, or mine, I'll take the heat. Because you're worth all of that."

She took a deep breath, looking down away from me and taking a step back, but leaning into my hand at the same time. Despite what I had just done, I wasn't afraid. I knew her answer, and she delivered it, not just as I had expected, but exceeding my expectations.

"Screw our families," she said. "We only get one life, one chance, and we need to be happy while we can."

"So…" I needed something to make it official. A straight answer. But I suppose, to give me that, Rose needed a straight question. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

She needed, her hair falling into her face again. "Yes. Of course I will."

"Even though our families will probably kill us?"

She rolled her eyes. In a fluid motion, Rose stepped forward pulling her body flush against mine and wrapping her arms around my neck. Tilting her head just a little to the side, she whispered in my ear. "Forget them. All the family I need is right here."

AN: Update for the newly revamped Project PULL. Check out the archive for other stories.

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