AN: I decided to be really crazy and update this story on top of updating my new story, Professors and starting a brand new story, The Un-Knight and the Flower in Distress.

Misconception #9: Rose dresses well.

Truth: I guess by "well" I mean in the current fashion. Rose would dress like a bohemian hippie if she had the option. She loves threading flowers in her hair (okay fine, this only happened once, but once was enough for the family to be afraid she'd be labeled a "crazy hippie."). She loves wearing baggy, loose, flowy clothing that does nothing for her figure. Her philosophy in style is comfort above all which is why one of the many projects I had was to donate all her old clothes and take her shopping for new ones.

(-)

That was a battle in itself. Ted had never told me that part of "handling" Rose would be forcing her to dress in accordance with her image. It's a mini battle between Rose and me everyday to see what part of her crazy ensemble she can keep on so she can "keep a little bit of herself"- her words, not mine.

Today, she came out of her room and I can instantly tell that she went outdoors early this morning (extremely rare for Rose) and picked up all the flowers that fell out of our little tree gracing our front lawn. Oh yes, Rose, ever the bohemian flower child, doesn't pick living flowers and chooses to gather the fallen ones to put in her hair. As it was spring, I acquiesced to her crazy flower hair and we left to go shopping for her new wardrobe.

Victoire had reprimanded both of us after she saw Rose's wardrobe. The result of last time's shopping spree, in which I discarded of all of Rose's old clothes, was very simple clothing- black, white, grey, basic t-shirts, blazer, jeans. I thought it was fine, but Victoire said that it was impossible for a girl to begin dating with a wardrobe as plain as Rose's.

So, here we were, being dragged around by Victoire from clothing store to clothing store. Victoire had told me that I didn't need to come, but Rose had given me a pleading look (and now that I think about it, I felt my symptoms during that time- I must remember to tell the healer about it) and I didn't want Ted to think I was shirking my responsibilities. We went from shop to shop and Rose tried on a million different outfits looking more and more depressed by the minute. Finally, I managed to convince Victoire that Rose had enough for now and promised her that we would do this again soon.

(-)

Ted had talked to Robert Taven and the four of us, Ted, Robert, Rose and I, were planning on meeting tonight for dinner to discuss the specifics.

Rose and I were getting ready to go to Ted's flat to meet with Robert. While she was searching through the mounds of new clothing to find something to wear to the dinner, I was training her on what to expect.

"Remember that he's a real charmer, so be careful not to get caught up in his spell," I yelled through the door. I knew Rose wasn't the type to get caught up in that type of charm, but I wanted to make certain that she was prepared.

"Okay!" she yelled through the door. She came out dressed in a simple pink dress and we apparated to Ted's. At Ted's we hammered out a few more details of what kind of agreement we wanted to make with Robert and in half an hour he arrived in all his glory. We chatted for a while and figured things out, but when Rose and Ted ducked into the kitchen to bring out the dessert, Robert and I were awkwardly left alone.

"You were at the seminar I gave a talk to, weren't you?" Robert asked.

"Yeah I think I was," I replied.

"So you're Rose's handler?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that."

"Was there any truth behind those rumors?"

"No," I replied and he looked relieved, "that's why were setting up this whole fake dating relationship thing with you."

"I know it's a contractual relationship," he replied, "but I really do want to see if I can make things work with Rose. I know she's brilliant and she really is beautiful. I'd love to have her on my arm forever. You must know a lot about her- can you help me?" he asked.

I came into dinner expecting to have to rescue Rose (or even Ted) from Robert's charisma, but I didn't imagine that I would get caught in his charm. As much as I didn't initially trust the guy, I couldn't help but believe that his intentions were true. Logically thinking, it would be brilliant if Rose and Robert actually wound up working out. She could have a high rising boyfriend who the press adored and he would have the many benefits of being associated with the war heroes' children.

"So will you?" Robert asked again, interrupting my train of thought.

"Sure," I replied as he smiled. I felt something impossibly odd going on in my chest as I said that and when Rose came back with the dessert, her pink dress swishing as she walked over to the table, I felt my chest pounding away again.

She picked up a strawberry and poked it into my mouth, "Here you are. Don't you like these?" she asked as she heaped more strawberries onto my plate.

"Yeah I do," I mumbled back while trying to chew my strawberry and calm down my erratic heartbeat. We finished up the details of the contract over the dessert and Rose and I apparated back home. I immediately went into my room to write down all the symptoms that appeared over the night to discuss with the Healer after I got the results of the potion again and then went to sleep.

(-)

We had decided that next week was when we'd have Rose and Robert's first "date." Victoire apparated into our flat that Tuesday afternoon to help Rose prepare for her coffee date. She made me sit down on the couch so I could help evaluate potential outfits for Rose.

Rose came out in a light pink dress with pearls here and there as decoration.

"Spin around!" yelled Victoire. Rose complied and spun around and her dress and hair flowed around her. I couldn't help but smile when she tripped over her own feet while spinning.

"So what do you think?" asked Victoire.

"It's nice," I replied.

"Yeah it's nice," said Victoire, "but I think it might be a little too fancy for a coffee date."

Four outfits later, I felt my symptoms coming back. I thought I could see a light shimmer coming off of Rose and I blinked my eyes over and over again in an attempt to clear my head of the hallucinations.

"This is it," declared Victoire as Rose came out in outfit number seven. Victoire had finished with Rose just minutes before she had to meet Robert. Rose quickly apparated to meet with Robert as Victoire and I wished her luck.

(-)

Rose came back from the first date and didn't say much about it besides that it went well. Coffee dates turned into lunch dates and lunch dates turned into dinner dates. Two weeks later, the Daily Prophet came in during breakfast and I turned to the gossip section where the headline was "RoRo on Romantic Stroll in Diagon Alley" with a picture of Rose and Robert walking down the Alley.

"RoRo?!" I exclaimed, "Look at what the press are calling you." I said as I gave Rose the newspaper.

"That's funny," she said with a small smile. "RoRo," she mumbled as if she was confirming the nickname.

"So you haven't really told me what you guys do on all these dates."

"We just talk."

"Talk about what?"

"I don't know… about random things, I guess. He asks me about my family, about how classes are going, about what I like to do."

"What do you ask him?"

"I just ask him the same things he asks me." She turned to look straight into my eyes. "The lessons you've been giving me are working, you know. Even when he talks about things that are a bit boring, I still keep that 'polite interest' face on."

"He's boring?" I asked as a gleeful smile popped on my face without my consent. I'd have to write 'lack of control over facial muscles' on my list of symptoms.

"A little," Rose confessed. "But I feel so bad about being bored. He is such a nice person and even though this is all contractual, I still want to be nice. I want to be a nice fake girlfriend." She scrunched up her face. "This is just all a very odd situation."

"Oh, I just remembered. Did you ever get a report on that potion from the Potions Master?" I asked.

"Ack! I completely forgot. I promise to do it tomorrow, will you forgive me?" she asked. She put on puppy dog eyes and asked again, "Please? Pretty please?" then she burst out laughing. "I can't do that kind of stuff seriously, no matter how hard I try!" she continued laughing.

Which brings me to...

Truth #1: Rose isn't cute.

Most girls are cute. Even if they aren't the cutesy type, they can do cute-type things here or there such as pouting. Rose is completely incapable of doing cute things.

"Try again."

We had been going at this for twenty minutes now.

"Please, pretty please?" Rose asked batting her lashes back and forth.

"What is wrong with your eyes? It looks like you have a twitch or something odd going on."

"You're the one that told me to bat my eyelashes!"

"I told you to bat your eyelashes! What you're doing looks like an epileptic seizure!"

"If you're such an expert then you do it!"

I showed her my best pouting face, batted my eyelashes and said, "Please," a batted some more, "Pretty please~!" I finished by elongating the last syllable.

Rose burst out laughing. "There is NO WAY guys actually like that kind of stuff."

"I'm telling you, no guy can say no to the puppy dog face."

"Why would I even want to make the puppy dog face? I don't want to be compared to a dog."

"Why wouldn't you want to be compared to a puppy? They're so cute!"

"Would you be happy if I compared you to a dog?"

"Of course not, I'm a grown man. Grown men don't like being compared to puppies."

"See! If you don't like it then why would I like being compared to a dog?"

"Not a dog, a puppy! And most girls like it! It means that they're cute!"

"Why would I care whether or not people think I'm cute?"

"Because you have a boyfriend!"

"But he's fake."

I stopped for a second. That was true. What was I doing here? Why was helping her fake relationship? It was fake! It wouldn't matter if she was cute or not, the only thing the public would be seeing would be photos shot from a distance.

"Hey," Rose poked me, "What are you thinking so deeply about?"

"Oh, nothing. Let's practice your polite interest face," I said as she groaned.

(-)

We were all gathered at Ted's for another family meeting. Everyone seemed to be particularly excited about this one and Victoire and Lily had each asked Rose multiple times about Robert, only to have her wave away their questions.

"Okay you guys, settle down. This is a meeting, not dinner at the Burrow." As everyone quieted down, Ted arranged his papers and said, "I know what's on everyone's minds so I'll address that first. Rose's relationship with Robert seems to be going well. Scoripus and Rose can you give us an update?"

"From what I can tell, things are going well. Most of the articles that have come out have been positive and both parties are benefiting from the association. The only negative responses we've been getting is a bit of hate mail from some of Robert's former admirers, but that was to be expected." I leaned over to Albus who was sitting next to me and whispered, "Witches be crazy," and he snorted in laughter.

Ted glared at me and Al then moved his glare to Rose, "And you?" he prompted, "What's the situation?"

"He's nice enough. We go on a couple of fake dates every week…" Rose trailed off and she suddenly jumped up, "Oh Merlin, I totally forgot to look for that necklace!"

"What necklace?" asked Ted.

"He gave me a necklace the last time he saw me. It's a tiny teardrop with a tiny diamond on it."

"Oh that?" I said casually, "I think I saw it lying around the apartment somewhere."

Lies. I knew exactly where it was. It was four days ago when he visited me to ask if I thought it was a good idea for him to give Rose a present and it was three days ago when she walked in with it and placed it on the counter. I got this weird heavy feeling inside of me every time I looked at it and in a couple of hours I had casually swiped it off the counter onto the floor between a couple of Rose's scarves. I told myself that it was an accident, and I still have no idea why I did it, but I do know that my chest pains stopped after that. Maybe I should look into a correlation between newt's eye and diamonds?

"Oh good. Can you help me find it when we get back? The last time I saw Robert, he asked me where it was and I told him I'd wear it the next time I saw him."

"Sure," I said as I felt my chest pains act up again.

The entire family was bursting to say something and when Ted saw their faces, he gave them the nod to explode.

"He gave you a necklace?" asked Lily, "Isn't that serious?"

Rose couldn't answer Lily's question for Victoire quickly interrupted, "Of course that's serious, it's a diamond necklace."

"A bloke doesn't get jewelry for just anyone," said James, "Me thinks he's got real intentions towards our dear cousin."

"I have to agree with James here," said Fred, "I've had loads of girls and I've never gotten a single one jewelry."

"That's because you're a complete jerk towards all your girlfriends," said Lily with a roll of her eyes.

"Seriously though, are we sure he knows that this relationship is just for the press? Why else would he get you a necklace?" asked Hugo.

"Maybe it's a thank you necklace?" suggested Rose.

"Men don't give thank you necklaces," replied Hugo.

"And what you know of being a man ickle cousin?" teased James.

"Rose, how could you keep this from us? It's important to us if he starts having genuine feelings for you," said Ted. He paused for a second and quickly turned to me, "Never mind Rose, how could you keep this from us?"

"ME?!" I asked, baffled. I didn't expect him to turn on Rose and focus all his attention on me. "I… err… I thought she went out and bought it for herself."

And I was lying again. The Weasley/Potter family had made a good liar out of me. It was four days ago when he visited me to ask if I thought it was a good idea for him to give Rose a present and it was then that I mentioned the ridiculously overpriced necklace that she had given a passing glance to. I couldn't help myself; the guy is so charming and genuinely nice that I just helped him out. Another part of me suggested the necklace just to test how deep his pockets really were and how much he was willing to shell out for Rose. That tiny diamond was born of dragon fire and I know it cost more than just a pretty penny. There was no doubt about it, Robert was serious about Rose.

"You thought she went out and bought it for herself?" Ted asked accusingly.

"Well one day when we were walking by the jewelry shop, she mentioned that she liked it. She's impulsive and I didn't put it past her to just buy it on a whim," I said. Everything I was saying was believable. Rose was impulsive like that. (I'll get to that in a bit.)

"Fine," said Ted, "But be more careful next time. We should also think about meeting with Robert again to discuss his recent actions and… intentions."

"I want in on this meeting!" declared Hugo, "I'm her brother. I have a right to know the guy she's dating, even if it's all a scam."

"I want in as well," said Lily. Everyone else in the room immediately began asserting that they also deserved a place in the meeting until Ted waved a hand to shut them all up.

"It'll be me, Scorpius, Rose, Hugo, Lily. I'm not budging on this. I don't want to spring the entire family on him at once and I only want the essential personnel. Well, essentials and Lily."

"Hey!" said Lily as she punched Ted.

"What? It's a compliment! Everyone here knows you have a weird gift when it comes to reading people."

"Still… it felt less like a compliment and more like an insult," grumbled Lily, "I am family!"

Ted quickly went through the other items on the agenda, while Scorpius sat back to think about the upcoming meeting.

Misconception #10: Rose is a planner.

Truth: Rose is impulsive. That's why the story I told Ted was 100% believable. Rose was the type of girl who'd swing into a jewelry shop on whim and buy something ridiculous on whim.

Which is why assumed that she had decided to go to St. Mungo's on whim. I could imagine her passing the Academy and just decide that it looked like fun or something. That or Ted had made her go to keep up her image as "the brilliant one."

I was more than surprised to hear that she had a deeper reason for going to St. Mungo's, especially since I often forget she's the daughter of war. Even though she's Rose Weasley, daughter of the brilliantly brainy war heroine, Hermione Granger and the brave Ron Weasley, to me she's just Rose. Crazy, impulsive, weird Rose who's brilliant, sure, but so much more besides. She's grown up in a post-war world, but she claims that even now, more than a decade after the war, her parents still grieve for those lost. Every year, on the anniversary of the great battle of Hogwarts, she tells me that her family allows themselves to mourn. 364 days out of the year they put on a brave face, but without fail, year after year, once a year they cry until they can't cry anymore. When the children were younger, the adults tried to hide it and would hold it in until they fell asleep, but mood of those days was something no one could ignore.

After seeing such tragic mourning year after year, Rose had decided that she'd do everything possible so that other families wouldn't have to feel the same pain.

My reasoning for going to the Academy were far less noble.

"Tell me!" demanded Rose as she pounced onto the seat next to me.

Misconception #11: Rose has a sense of propriety

Truth: Raised in the uppity snobbery of the pureblooded Malfoy house, I can definitely tell you that is not true. She has no sense of personal space and is constantly infiltrating my privacy bubble.

She's doing this right now. Her face is too close to mine right now and it's making me uncomfortable.

"C'mon Scorpius, tell me. I told you my sad, sad story of how I chose the path of the Healer now it's your turn to tell me yours!" she said brightly. Strange how she could go from melancholy girl recounting the story of her parents' tragedy to someone who could mock the tragedy to needle a story out of me.

"I don't have a story to tell."

"What? You just chose to become a Healer on a whim?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what?"

"I chose to become a Healer out of revenge. It was the one profession that my father didn't want me to go into so I did out of petty revenge," I admitted. After Rose's noble explanation of her reasons behind her career choice, I expected a reprimand or worse, but instead she surprised me by laughing.

"So sometimes you do stupid things too!" she chortled. "The pragmatic planner Scorpius Malfoy is capable of making stupid decisions!" she crowed, "Who knew?"

"As much as I'm enjoying the mockery, we have to leave for Ted's soon for that meeting," I said. Ted had been quick in setting the meeting up with Robert. The minute after the meeting, he had sent an owl to Robert to invite him to his place the next day. He had quickly gotten Lily and Hugo an excused absence from school and had told me to grill Rose about any information about Robert's actions that suggested he wanted more than a fake relationship. The only problem was that I had gotten the strange chest pains every time I had attempted to bring up the topic that night, so I had conveniently forgotten about Ted's little commandment. "That reminds me- Rose, did you send the potion to our potions master?"

"Yeah I forgot to tell you that I did. He said he'd have the results in a couple of weeks."

We apparated to Ted's, where he was setting out the tea and snacks and chatted with Lily and Hugo for a bit while waiting for Robert to arrive.

Crack! Robert came bearing gifts. He had with him a fresh strawberry pie and dark chocolate cake. I had told him previously that Rose liked sweets and I could already see Rose eyeing the treats he had.

After the necessary small talk, we dove into the topic that was weighing on our minds.

"The dragon fire diamond…" Ted brought up.

"I thought Rose would like it."

"You do realize that this relationship is a sham?" asked Hugo, bluntly. "You aren't seriously dating my sister. This is all for a bit of press. I was under the impression that you were a smart guy."

"Hugo!" Rose admonished her brother. "Sorry Robert, he can be a bit obnoxious at times." She glared at her brother, but her brother didn't look away from Robert. "Robert gave me the necklace as a friend. We both know this isn't real."

"Do you go about giving dragon fire diamonds to all your friends?" asked Hugo.

"No, I don't make a habit of it," Robert replied.

"Then why'd you give one to my sister?" asked Hugo. "If you're planning something here, you can be sure, we'll ruin you."

"Okay, okay!" said Robert. "I really didn't want to do this with all of you in attendance, but I was intending to ask Rose to be my real girlfriend."

"What?" Hugo asked, not believing his ears.

"What?" Ted asked, obviously surprised.

"What?" Rose asked, flabbergasted.

"Ah," Lily said, with a knowing smile on her face.

My chest started to hurt again, and I was filled with a strong urge to maim Robert. I would have to mention this to the Healer. Perhaps I was turning into some sort of part werewolf?

"It seems I've fallen for your unique charm, Rose Weasley. I know this is a mite awkward with all your family members around, but would you do me the extreme honor of becoming my real girlfriend?"

What was going on? Things were moving much too quickly.

Rose gaped at him. Ted quickly gathered his senses and said, "I think we should let the two of them talk things out. The rest of us can go to my living room."

Feet that weren't mine walked to the living room and left Rose and Robert alone. The last image I had of them was Robert reaching over to take a hold of Rose's hand. The three of them chattered about what they thought would be best, what they thought Rose would say and what they thought would happen.

Finally, Rose and Robert came into the living room and I quickly tried to analyze their faces. Rose's was confused, Robert's was… happy? Satisfied? Disappointed? I couldn't tell.

"Thanks for inviting me to your flat, Ted. I'll be sure to repay the favor. I'll be taking my leave now and let Rose tell you what happened," he said and he was off in a crack.

"So what happened?" Ted asked the question we were all curious about and we all gathered around her.

"Well, I told him I wasn't sure and I asked him to give me a couple days to think about the offer. I don't know. Lily, what did you think about him?"

"I don't think he's a malicious person so I don't think he's doing this to wrap you up in some sort of scandal or something. But, I'm not convinced he's completely fallen for you. This might be a little hard for you to hear, but I'm positive a part of this is motivated by his desire to be Minister of Magic. I can tell he has a lot of ambition, but he seems like a genuinely nice guy. If you two go out, I don't see why he wouldn't seriously fall for you."

"Politically, it's a great move for us. He's a rising star and our association is good for both parties, but if you don't like him, don't feel obligated to really date him. Now that he's made his intentions clear, if you don't like him we'll have to engineer a fake break up for the fake relationship. All that doesn't matter though, what you think is most important. If you like him, we'll make it work, if you don't like him, we will also make that work," said Ted.

"I have to admit that I don't hate the guy," said Hugo. "I've heard good things about him and he's charming enough. I'm a little wary about letting Rose date him for real, but if I had to pick a guy who was good enough for my sister, Robert would be one of my top choices. He's popular enough without us, so it's not like he's completely using us since we're using him too. He's wealthy so he's obviously not using Rose for her money… I'll support whatever you choose Rose."

She turned to me and I gave a little shrug and a near imperceptible shake of my head. I mouthed the word "home" and she nodded in understanding.

"Thanks you guys. I'll let you know what I decide." She got up from the chair and said, "Scorpius and I have early morning classes tomorrow so we'll head out now." She grabbed my hand and with a crack we were off.

Misconception #12: Rose is calm.

Truth: Rose is wild. Take the way she thinks for example.

The minute we got home, Rose went into thinking mode and when Rose was in thinking mode, it meant chaos in the house. She didn't sit down and think like a normal person. Instead, she marched all around the flat. She rolled around the floor and she visited her many unfinished projects. She'd groan out loud and occasionally she'd mumble things to herself.

After 30 minutes of this nonsense, she ran up to me and asked, "So, what do you think?"

I had spent this time performing calming charms on myself to quell the rising symptoms.

"I think you should decide whether you like him or if you can learn to like him, "I said.

"But what if I do decide to learn to like him and I learn he's been playing me for a fool?" asked Rose.

"He's a good guy. I'm almost positive that he has nothing but good intentions towards you. He's also a smart guy and I know that he knows that if this works out, it'll be great for the two of you."

"You're saying he only wants to date me for my status."

"No, but I'm saying it helps. Tons of women only give the time of day to men who are handsome, this is no different. Your status was the reason he noticed you, but I don't think he's asking you to be his girlfriend purely for your status."

"Hmm…" Rose replied as she meandered to the fridge. She took out a blueberry muffin and as she said between bites, "If you think it's a good idea… then maybe I'll say yes. It's not like I'm agreeing to marriage or anything."

A stone dropped into my chest, a heavy kind- more of a boulder than a stone.

I replied, "That's true. What could hurt?"

The two of them began officially dating the next day and a week after that I went to go visit the healer.

(-)

"The professor told me there wasn't anything odd in the potion," I said.

"Ah" the healer said with a smile

"So you know what's wrong with me?" I asked eagerly.

"Yes," he said.

"Is it serious?"

"Perhaps."

"Is it treatable?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"What is it?"

"You're in love."

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"You're in love, son."

"I'm not your son and I'm sorry, but I think I must be hearing your diagnosis incorrectly. Could you please repeat it?"

"Love. You're in love. You have feelings for a lass. You want to kiss her, and most likely do more."

I automatically sputtered out, "I'm sorry that can't possibly be true."

"I don't know what else to tell you besides that it is true. All the so-called "symptoms" you've described revolve around the actions of the girl you keep on talking about. Who is she?"

He was talking about Rose. "Sorry, but I'm going to need a second opinion. This can't possibly be true."