Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, those are all J.K Rowling's *sighs*

To an outsider, it would appear that Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley hated each other. They could barely stand to be in the same room for long, not that it was a regular occurrence. He was pronounced a Slytherin the moment the hat was placed on his blond head and she a Gryffindor just as quickly. It was in their very blood to loathe one another. What no one saw coming was what Rose's cousin, Albus, walked in on one day while on his way to class.

Albus was taking a shortcut behind an old tapestry because he was trying to avoid a girl named Danielle who was overly friendly toward him. Rose kept trying to convince him to confront the girl, but Al could not make himself do it. He was brave of course, but he was too nice to hurt anyone's feelings. Rose was always telling her cousin to act like a Gryffindor, but he chose to act it infrequently. Albus always liked to avoid confrontation, rather than look for it. Unfortunately for him, that was exactly what he was walking in on.

His head was down, focused on the parchment in his hand. He was going over his assignment for History of Magic. Al was not sure he had gotten everything he should have. When he entered the passageway, the sound of voices was echoing. The words were distorted because their owners were behind a bend. Albus hoped they were moving in the same direction he was, it could be awkward if they were heading toward him. Judging on what he could hear, one voice was male and the other female. There was something familiar about the girl's voice, but he figured he was just imagining it.

Luck was not with Albus that morning; the unknown people in the passageway were headed his way. He thought his eyes would pop out of his skull when he saw who they were. Rose and Scorpius froze, with the look of children caught with their hands in the cookie jar when they saw Al.

"Bloody hell," Al sputtered, dropping the parchment, "What-he-but you..."

"Al, please calm down, look at me," Rose grasped his shoulders, looking up at him pleading with him to be quiet. Al had to take a deep breath, but he let it go in a whoosh, he had nothing to say.

"Please, please don't tell Dad," Rose begged. She did not even want to imagine what her father would do if word got out that she had been found in a secret passageway with her arms wrapped around a Slytherin. Not just any Slytherin, but the one her father had warned her against from the get-go.

"I won't tell him, but you are going to have to explain this to me," Albus answered. The look on Rose's face told him he was asking the world, "It can wait until later though, at this rate, I won't make it to Binns' class until it's being let out." He knew she would explain when she was able. If he rushed her now, it would be like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with her words. Albus gave his cousin a pat on the shoulder, giving Scorpius a curt nod as he passed on through the passageway.

Rose leaned against Scorpius, trying to think of what to tell her cousin later that day. She only knew it would not be an easy story to tell. Albus was not one that would accept a short answer of 'it just happened' or 'I don't know'. Even though that was exactly what she wanted to tell him. Scorpius voiced her thoughts when he asked, "So what will you tell him?"

"I have no idea," Rose answered resting her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her red hair as she thought.

"We could talk to him together," he suggested

"I don't know about that," she replied looking up at him, he had the most beautiful eyes, black as coal, with the spark of life and light in them.

"Well, why not?" he asked

"Because you cannot come to the common room and anywhere else people would see," she explained

"I know your reasoning behind not wanting you family to know, but things would be so much easier if they did," he brought up the old argument. It seemed to Rose that Scorpius wanted to shout it from the dais of the Great Hall for all to hear and that was not something she could live with. If her cousin, Al's older brother James, did not kill Scorpius, her father definitely would. James and Ron were both hot headed and she knew neither would wait for an explanation before either committing murder or putting her under house arrest for the rest of her life.

"Not yet, okay," Rose wished he could understand, "Wouldn't your father pitch a fit too?"

"Yes, but if I tell Mum first, she can talk him around slowly," Scorpius assured her, "Wouldn't yours do the same?"

"Most likely, but Granddad will take more convincing than muggles faced with magic," Rose said bluntly, "Can we not talk about this right now? I need to work out what I'm going tell Al. I'll have to start from the beginning with him."

"Okay, but we will talk about it later," he said, kissing her nose before letting go of her.

Rose went out the way Albus had entered the passageway and Scorpius went the other. She went straight to the common room up in Gryffindor Tower, giving the password to a grumpy Fat Lady. There were not many in the common room at that time of day, just older students that were swamped with work. They waved or nodded in greeting when she passed. Rose went up the short flight of stairs to her dormitory. She flung herself onto the bed, wracking her brain for something to put Al off a bit longer. Before long however, she heard footsteps next to her. Rose did not have to look up to know it was Delia. Delia Frost had been her best friend since their first day on the Hogwarts Express. Now, she pushed Rose over and asked, "What has you running through the corridors and into your bed in the middle of the day? We both know you would have gone to the infirmary if you were sick, and the only thing I can think of is something happened between you and Scorpius." Delia was the only person Rose had trusted with the information that she was seeing the Slytherin. She knew Delia would not tell a soul and that she owed her friend an explanation for her odd behavior, "Yes, I guess. We were in one of the secret passages and Albus walked in on us."

"I told you something like this would happen sooner or later," Delia said, "You're just lucky it was Al and not James." Delia sided with Scorpius on the idea of telling people they were together.

"I know," Rose moaned, hiding her face in her pillow again before telling her friend what she had to do later.

"So what are you going to tell him?" she asked

"That's just it, I don't know," Rose replied before asking hopefully, "You don't think you could stall him for a bit, do you?"

"I'm staying clear of Albus," Delia said tartly, "You knew that before you even asked." Delia had always sort of fancied Albus, but no matter what Rose said, she refused to do anything about it. Rose had been trying to get them together for the better part of two months, but Delia would have none of it and Al was oblivious. Delia was the only teenage girl Rose knew who disapproved of meddling.

"I had to try didn't I," Rose answered wearily

"Yes, yes, I know," Delia allowed, "You had best come up with an explanation for him now. I'm going to be late for class, I'll see you later."

With that, Rose was left alone. She pulled the curtains of her four poster closed so that she would not be disturbed and thought about how it had all started.

Rose had never had much to do with Scorpius until their fourth year. Before that, they had ignored each other in any shared classes. That year though, they were in the same potions class and Slughorn had paired them all up to work together. Rose had thought at first it was bad luck, being stuck with Malfoy, but they got on well together; better than either had expected to. After that, they had had a cautious friendship in the classroom, but one that both were sure to keep from their classmates. It would never do for others to think they were close. For one, their families would probably have conniptions, or at least their fathers would.

Near about the middle of their fifth year, in the midst of their preparations for their O.W.L's, Scorpius kissed her. They had been together nearly a year now and no one but Delia and Scorpius's friend Terrence had discovered them. There had been a few close calls, but with the help of their friends, the two had smoothed them over.

Albus would want to know everything, but there was not much to tell. And some of it, Rose would not even tell Delia, so she was definitely not going to tell her cousin. Now she was wishing that she could really do as Scorpius wanted, just have it all out in the open and let the cards fall where they may. She sighed and pulled the covers over her head, maybe a nap would make her think more clearly.

As she dreamed, Rose's mind wandered. Images came and went. At first they were blurred and nondescript. Then they became sharp and focused. The first scene she recognized was in a room bustling with people. Bookshelves lined the walls and filled stands where people could browse the selection. It was Flourish and Blotts. A younger looking Scorpius appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her hand. They had been shopping for their fifth year supplies. Scorpius pulled her behind one of the shelves so their parents would not see them. Rose thought it seemed a lot like hide-and-go-seek. They snuck out of the shop and out into Diagon Alley. There were so many people there that their families would never be able to spot them. They window shopped for a while, but then Rose heard her mother's calls and groaned. It had been fun while it lasted anyway. They made plans to meet up on the Express if they could. Neither had thought being secretive about their friendship would be such a pain.

The dream flashed to the lakeside. The sky was overcast and gloomy, but Rose and Scorpius did not care. They were running along the shore while everyone was eating lunch. It was the Easter Holidays and most of the students had already gone home. Rose's parents had gone to see her Uncle Charlie who was in Italy for a year. Scorpius's parents were taking a vacation of their own, so that meant the two could stay at school. Soon it was pouring. They danced around while the giant squid spurted water out of the lake. Soon they were both soaked through. Rose turned to her friend laughing at their antics. When she looked however, it was not her friend Scorpius. It was like she was seeing him for the first time. He looked the same, but there was something different about him. His eyes sparkled when he laughed, the edges crinkling up. Water was dripping down his face, which was suddenly very close. She took a breath before he leaned in. It was the most perfect kiss anyone could have imagined, with the most perfect person.

Many of the images were of secret passageways like the one Albus had walked in on them in earlier. Not many students knew about them, so Rose and Scorpius had felt safe meeting there. Hogsmeade was more tricky, but manage they did. Some of the memories were from sitting in The Hog's Head or at the fence of the Shrieking Shack. Both were usually deserted but for the odd person every so often.

One memory was of a room fit like a sitting room. It had books and a fire place. Everything a person could want. Rose had discovered it after her father told her about the Room of Requirement. He thought it had been destroyed, but it seemed that the castle wanted it to stay. Lucky for her and Scorpius, no one could get in unless they knew exactly what they were asking of the room. It was a safe place for them to just be themselves without other people expecting them to act a certain way or think certain things. In the image, they were just sitting on the couch relaxing. It was one of Rose's favorite memories. They were not doing anything especially exciting, just talking about Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger cousin and little brother. Scorpius did not have siblings, so he liked to hear all her stories of how it was to grow up in a big family. A thing Rose had never really appreciated until then. Before she knew it, Rose had woken up. Someone was walking in the room.

"So, what's up?" Lily asked, as though the dream had called her.

"Nothing," Rose said, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes.

"Then why are you asleep at four in the afternoon?" she asked skeptically.

"Because I was tired," Rose replied

"Whatever, Al just wanted me to tell you he would meet you in the library," Lily left the room after making sure her cousin was waking up.

Rose knew what she had to do. No matter how much it scared her she would tell Albus exactly what he wanted to know and then she would talk to Scorpius.

Her cousin was seated in the back of the library. Rose smoothed the hem of her skirt nervously.

"So," was all he said before letting her tell her story. They kept their voices soft just in case Madame Prince came close. Rose told her cousin about their partnering just two short years ago and then how things had progressed, "Neither of us planned on our friendship turning into anything else, but it did." She told him about all the things she loved about Scorpius. How he made her laugh and always knew just what to say. Then she told him about the never ending argument of secrecy. How Scorpius wanted it out in the open. She wanted to know what Al thought, but her cousin was not about to give her a straight answer, "It isn't my place to decide this Rose. You two have to figure out what to do between the two of you. Just make sure that no one you really care about finds out by someone else telling them."

With those words, Albus departed the library, leaving Rose planted in her seat. If she had not known what to do then, Al's words would have made the decision for her. She tore out of the library, earning a searing glare from the old librarian. Not that she noticed, Rose was too intent on her destination. She passed three times in front of the blank stretch of wall, praying he would be waiting for her. When the door appeared, Rose flung it open and rushed inside. There he was, just as she knew he would be. "Scor," Rose's arms went around him, "We need to talk."

"What about?" he asked through her hair.

"While I was thinking of what to tell Al, I thought about everything we have together and everything that we are together. It isn't something that I want to hide anymore. I have decided that you were right and I want people to know," She explained. She hid her face in his shoulder, not wanting to see his expression.

"Really?" Scorpius looked down at her, slightly stunned. He had not expected her to give up on something she felt so strongly about. It made him so happy he thought he could fly. Having to sneak around behind everyone's backs was never something he had felt comfortable about. He loved everything about Rose Weasley and wanted everyone to know it, no matter how much ridicule he was sure to receive.

"Yes. I don't want to hide anymore," she admitted.

"That's great," Scorpius said, picking her up and twirling her around "Are you sure though?"

"Yes," Rose smiled and led him out of the room. They would not be going back there anytime soon.

A/N: This is my first story, so please let me know what you think, thanks a bunch!