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With the blade of her knife, Rose squashed a Sopophorous bean, releasing most of the juice that the bean had to offer. It was a trick that her Uncle Harry thought her. She added the sticky red substance into her cauldron while simultaneously stirring it counterclockwise.
She knew that the potion was going to be perfect. She could smell the victory brewing.
And that was the moment when Scorpius Malfoy swaggered up to her. Her cousin, Albus Potter, followed. His face didn’t share the same excitement that his friend seemed to be filled with.
“Mate, this is a terrible idea,” she heard Al mutter.
Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley did not get along at all. Since their first year, they’d both fought to be at the top of their class. The next year, the element of Quidditch rivalry was added in as both of them were Seekers for their respective house teams. Now, in their Seventh Year, they still made it a point to be better than the other.
“Potter, Malfoy, what are you doing out of your seats?” Professor Slughorn asked. “Are you two finished your potions?”
“Yes, Professor,” Malfoy said, his eyes darting from Rose to Slughorn. “I just have a quick question for Weasley.”
“What is it?” Rose snapped.
Malfoy looked to Albus. Merlin, he looked nervous.
“Too late to back out now,” Al nudged.
“She’s looking at me, Al,” Malfoy said, gripping his friend’s shoulder. “Look at her eyeballs! They are looking into mine—”
Al groaned. “Quit it mate.”
“Were they always that blue? It’s kind of freaky. Albus— help.”
“You two know that I can hear you, right?” Rose interrupted, raising a brow.
Scorpius’ Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Scorpy, don’t do anything stupid—”
Both Rose and Al watched in horror as Malfoy dragged the nearest empty potion’s stool to the middle of the Potion’s dungeon. Everyone’s eyes were on him.
“Scorpy… this is the definition of stupid,” Al said as Malfoy climbed onto the stool.
He turned to face her, and suddenly her face felt hot with embarrassment. Everyone was looking at her.
She turned to look at Slughorn, who looked too stunned to speak. Tell him to get off the chair, she internally begged the professor.
Malfoy cleared his throat. “Rosanna Weasley,” he said.
“It’s Roseline,” Al said, rolling his eyes.
“Roseline Weasley,” Malfoy tried again. “Will you give me the honour of taking you on a date to Madam Puddifoots?”
What the fuck? Rose was 97% sure that this was a sick joke. She was sure that if she said yes, he’d step down from the stool and laugh at her.
“She hates that place,” Al added. “Suggest Honeydukes.”
Malfoy sighed as he looked at her again. His grey eyes pierced into hers, peeking from behind his icy blond hair. “Roseline Weasley, please let me treat you to the most wonderful evening out to Honeydukes.”
She watched as he grinned, his eyes on Al. His teeth were shaped like pomegranate grains and looked as though they were made out of pearls. His lips were pink and they looked so soft— she wondered how they would feel if they were pressed against her own.
His eyes snapped to hers and his grin fell. He looked as though he was upset? She then realized that she was glaring at him. Curse her resting bitch face that was reserved for Malfoy. She softened her face, letting her muscles relax.
“I— uh— I need to go…” Rose grabbed her bag, not bothering that in the process, she dropped most of her bag’s contents.
“Wait! Weasley!” Malfoy called. She stopped momentarily. “You’ll let me know before tomorrow, yeah?”
Ignoring, Rose ran out of the room, letting her body dictate where she turned and what staircase she climbed.
There was no way he actually liked her. It’s was probably a Quidditch tactic. Have her think about him all day and night till the next game. And then, he’d use that as an opportunity to catch the snitch while she was distracted by the way that the wind blew against him, pushing his hair back and his jersey to his chest, showing off his nice Quidditch torso.
Fine.
Maybe she did think he was handsome. Maybe she did think that he was perfect. She did see how sweet he was with First Years when on Prefect duty. But he was still Malfoy. And she was positive that he didn’t see her.
Or perhaps he’d stand up in the middle of the Great Hall, telling her that he wasn’t actually interested in her in front of everyone.
“Weasley?” She stopped when she heard Malfoy’s voice coming from behind her. She turned around. His eyebrows were drawn together, and he held up a bag. Her bag. “I thought I’d just give this to you— I mean, if you don’t want it, that’s fine. I’ll just put it in the Potion’s classroom. Slughorn is probably going to be pissed if I go back there— honestly, it’s fine. I have detention anyway. I shouldn’t have— you know…wait— are you crying?”
Rose’s hand shot up to her face, caressing her cheek. It was wet. “What do you want, Scorpion ?”
“I was just going to apologize…”
“So it was a prank!” Rose snapped.
Malfoy had a look of confusion on his face. “Prank? No. I was genuinely about to apologize for causing a scene. I shouldn’t have. Al told me that James told him that if he was going to ask a girl out, this was how he was going to do it, and I thought he was being serious— now my brain has finally caught up. Of course he hadn’t been serious! I was just too desperate to notice. Why would anyone want to be asked out like that? Merlin! Slughorn said that he hadn’t seen a proposal like that since Lily and James Potter—no not your cousins, I hope. I believe he was referring to Al’s grandparents.”
“No,” Rose said, “I mean the whole asking me out thing…”
“Why would that be a prank?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Rose scoffed, “Are you insinuating that you— Scorpius Malfoy— would do anything for me— Rose Granger-Weasley— without an ulterior motive?”
He looked hurt. “I really do like you a lot. You drive me nuts, witch. Don’t you see me looking at you as we play Quidditch? Your hair flying behind you as you attempt to do the Wrongski Fient?” He put a hand on his neck as a blush krept up his cheeks. “Don’t you see the way I look at you? Merlin, sometimes when we banter, I want to snog the living daylights out of you. I just— you’re so unapologetically you— and I love that.”
“Malfoy?”
“I’m not done. Just let me say this before my jaw locks and I start rambling on about shit like that one time I stole a loaf of bread from the kitchens and used it as a teddy bear. It grew a fungus a week later— I’m rambling, aren’t I?” he said.
Rose bit back a smile. She did find his silly rambling quite adorable. "A little."
“I go crazy when you stand up for what you think is right— Merlin, when you corrected Binns about his inconsistencies in the ‘House Elf Rights’ Lesson— that was in the Fourth Year— and I was so impressed. And then that time when your Chasers were cheating in that game, you called them out. You are so fucking brilliant, Weasley.”
Rose’s heart fluttered. She felt— she didn’t know how to describe how she felt. She felt like she was wanted. She felt seen and so ridiculously happy.
She stood on her tiptoes, eyeing that perfect nose of his.
“Helga’s tit, you’re too tall, Malfoy,” she said. “Lean forward.”
He scrunched his eyebrows. Merlin, they were so perfect. He leaned forward, his bum pushed out. He was in a position that was between a squat and standing up. His face was in level with hers.
She moved her face closer, letting her lips brush ever so slightly against his. She contemplated letting her lips pull on his bottom lip. She debated whether or not she should move closer to him. She had no idea what to do with her hands. They fell limply at her side. After two seconds, although she could have bet it was longer, she pulled away.
“Was that— was that a kiss?” He asked her.
She nodded. It was the most awkward thing she’d ever done. Almost questioning the possibility. Her face turned hotter, embarrassed flooding through her as Malfoy planted a sweet little kiss on her forehead. She self consciously licked her own lips.
“You’re bloody adorable, Rosie.”