The Romance of the snake and the rose

'Don't get too friendly'

"Hi," said Rose, also smiling, she couldn't help herself.

"Hi," he replied, standing up, "You look lovely," Rose blushed and tucked one of her curls behind her ear.

"Thanks" she told him. She wanted to tell him that he looked gorgeous too, and was mustering the courage, when Professor Longbottom called all students who were going to Hogsmeade to come to him so that they could set off. Professor Longbottom was Alice's Dad and a family friend of the Weasleys'.

"Rose? Scorpius?" he said in a surprised voice, checking they had permission from their parents to visit Hogsmeade. "Rose, your father-" Neville began to say.

"You won't tell him will you?" asked Rose nervously, glancing at Scorpius out of the corner of her eye, hoping he wouldn't be offended. He would probably understand though, seeing as his father wouldn't have liked him to go out with a Weasley.

"Well, alright then." said Professor Longbottom uneasily, and he let Rose and Scorpius through as he turned to the next students.

Rose turned to Scorpius as they boarded one of the horseless carriages together and it started to trundle along the path to Hogsmeade.

"I'm sorry about that," she told him, "I'm not ashamed of you, it's just my Dad, he won't understand."

"My father probably won't either," said Scorpius. Rose was suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity

"What's your father like?" she asked Scorpius timidly, looking up at him. Scorpius smiled to himself.

"He loves jokes," began Scorpius, "And he's always teasing me and my Mum at the dinner table. He tries to always give me good advice, and he thinks he can cook, but he can't. What about your Dad?"

"Well," said Rose, thinking, "He likes jokes too, and he's very overprotective...He has a good appetite, especially for my grandmother's food. I remember, on my first time at platform 9 and 3/4, when I was going to my first year, he told me...well, it doesn't matter."

"What did he tell you?" asked Scorpius curiously. Rose blushed and looked at her shoes.

"He pointed at you," explained Rose embarrassedly, "And he said to me, 'Don't get too friendly with that Malfoy kid, you make sure to beat him in every subject Rosie'." She looked back up at Scorpius, her cheeks hot. She had expected shock or anger from the boy sitting across from her, but instead he laughed.

"He really said that?" asked Scorpius, astonished.

"Well, yes, he did," replied Rose, and chuckled a little..

"Well guess what my Dad said to me," said Scorpius playfully, "He told me, 'you see that red headed girl over there? When I was in my third year, her mother punched me in the face, you watch out around her, alright son?'" Rose and Scorpius burst out laughing.

"Did my Mum really punch your Dad in the face?" asked Rose, giggling.

"Yes," replied Scorpius, grinning.

"She never told me that!" said Rose. The carriage came to a stop and the two of them climbed out, Scorpius offering Rose his hand as she stepped down onto the pavement. She took it and the two of them began to walk hand in hand down the street.

"Where should we go?" asked Scorpius, running a hand through his platinum-blonde hair.

"Do you want to walk down the shrieking shack trail? That's what I always do with my friends, and it finishes right next to Honeydukes." said Rose thoughtfully.

"That sounds great," replied Scorpius, and they turned off the pavement onto the small trail. On the right of the path was a dense wood, and on the left were fields of grass, and in the distance, the shrieking shack, the most haunted building in all of Britain. The two of them strolled leisurely down the trail, hand in hand, talking comfortably too each other. They reached the halfway point and stopped, leaning on the fence to look at the shrieking shack. They were standing very close, and Rose was debating whether or not to rest her head on his shoulder when Scorpius turned his head to look at her. Neither of them said anything, the same pleasant tension was circling like it had when they were hiding behind the statue. Rose's stomach was full of butterflies, her heart missed a beat as Scorpius leaned slightly closer to her. She leaned in as well, her eyes looking into his. She felt as though she could drown in those eyes, those grey-blue eyes...

His lips were on hers. The butterflies in her stomach exploded, her breath caught in her throat. The world around them melted away, and all she could feel was the pressure of his lips on hers. He was kissing her, she was kissing him. His warm arms wrapped around her back, pulling her closer to him, enveloping her in his warmth. Rose slid her own arms around his neck. She closed her eyes as they broke apart to catch their breath, and kissed him again, more softly this time. She was kissing Scorpius Malfoy.