Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its wonderful characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.

Act V: Scene IV

"Didn't I tell you she was innocent?" Ursula asked happily to Hugo and Albus at breakfast the following day.

"Well I never doubted it!" exclaimed Hugo defiantly.

"Still," Ursula said, shrugging.

"At least it's going to end well," Albus sighed. "This has been an awfully exhausting week."

"Um, excuse me," Scorpius said, coming up to the Gryffindor table, looking slightly harried. "Do you know where Rose is?"

The three previous speakers looked at each other knowingly.

"She hasn't come down yet," Ursula answered, smiking.

At that moment, Peter and Claudius also joined the group.

"Hey guys," said Peter, grinning broadly.

Claudius looked more anxious than his companion, and asked, "Have you seen Lily?"

Hugo, Albus, and Ursula smirked at each other, and Ursula volunteered to wake both Lily and Rose, and bring them down to breakfast, earning her a blush from both Claudius and Scorpius.

"Lily!" Claudius exclaimed upon seeing the girls enter the Great Hall several minutes later. "Your arms, they're—"

"Working perfectly?" Lily supplied for him. "Yes, I never did have that accident my brother described."

"But you were in the hospital wing…" Claudius started, but Lily smile cheekily.

"All part of the plan."

Claudius looked shaken at this, but took Lily's hand nonetheless.

"Lily," he began, "I'm so sorry—"

But he was cut off once more. Lily smiled at the flustered boy. "I know. I heard you last night."

"You weren't asleep?" he asked incredulously. Lily just smiled, and Claudius sunk onto the table bench, apparently all of this was a little much for him to handle.

"Um, Rose?" Scorpius said tentatively, looking at the older cousin now.

"That would be me," Rose said, smiling slightly. "What do you want?"

"Do you…like me?" Scorpius asked timidly, ignoring the hollers of laughter coming from his friends and Rose's.

Rose grinned cheekily. "Well, no more than reason, no."

Scorpius gaped at her, his cheeks coloring. He crossed his arms. "Well then Albus, Peter, and Claudius were wrong; they said you did!"

At this the mentioned trio laughed even harder. Scorpius glared at them.

Rose smirked. "Do you like me?"

"Merlin no!" Scorpius exclaimed, wiping the smirk form her face. "No more than reason."

Now it was Rose's turn to cross her arms angrily. "Well then Lily, Margaret and Ursula were wrong; they said you did."

Scorpius glared at her. "They swore you were almost sick with a crush on me."

Rose glared back. "They swore you were nearly dead with longing for me!"

Scorpius huffed. "Then you don't like me?"

"No more than in a friendly way," Rose retorted.

"Come on," Albus said at last, "I know you like him more than that."

Claudius smirked, and rose from his seat now. "I know Scorpius likes her more than that, I have something written by him, proclaiming his affection for her."

Scorpius gaped at him as Claudius gave the paper to Rose, and Rose smirked winningly, until Lily rose as well.

"And I know my cousin likes him that way, because I found this in her trunk!" She too produced a paper, and handed it to Scorpius, keeping it out of Rose's grabbing hands.

The two read the parchments in silence for a minute, until Scorpius' face broke into a wide grin.

"So here is our own words against our hearts," he mused. "I do feel sorry for you Rose."

Rose smirked at him. "I'm sure it's no sorrier than I feel for you, I was told you've fallen hard."

Scorpius returned her smirk, and then leaned down to kiss her, amongst plenty of jeering and cat-calling.

"So, how does it feel to be tied down, Scorpius?" asked Peter when the couple finally broke apart.

Scorpius just shook his head and, very maturely, stuck his tongue out at Peter, earning him a smack from Rose.

"You still haven't asked me out properly," Rose pointed out, "So I wouldn't call him tied down yet. I might still say no."

"How do you know I'm going to ask you?" Scorpius retorted.

"Oh come on you guys!" Albus exclaimed. "You just snogged!"

Rose and Scorpius both flushed at that and Scorpius looked at Rose, with a twinkle in his grey eyes. "Will you go out with me Rose Weasley?"

Rose pretended to ponder the question. "I'll have to think about it…"

"Rose!" nearly everyone in the group cried in annoyance.

"Just kidding," Rose smirked. "I will."

Scorpius looked relieved, and she pulled his face down to kiss him again, ignoring the hollering.

"And Lily, will you go out with me again, please?" Claudius asked, looking pleadingly.

Lily smiled at him, "Of course."

"I think there's something to celebrate now!" Scorpius exclaimed, "Who wants another party?"

The group cheered, and at that moment, Gemma Menger joined them.

"Peter," she said breathlessly, "They've found John; he was doing some kind of mischief…"

Peter just shook his head. "John will always be up to something new. Spread it around to watch out for him, will you Gemma?"

Gemma looked excited, "Of course!"

"Oh, and tell everyone we're having another party in the Great Hall!" Scorpius added to her.

Gemma's face lit up. "Awesome! I'll tell everyone."

"Great," said Scorpius, now looking at Rose once more.

"Well, I'm glad that's all over," Albus said, sighing.

"Yes," Lily agreed fervently. "This has been one crazy week. And all it was was much ado about nothing."

Fin.

So that's the end! What did you think? Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed!