“Weasley!

I turned around to see who was calling my surname and my eyes widened.

“What do you want, Malfoy?”

“I need to talk to you… In private…” He looked haughty and cool like usual, but his eyes betrayed him.
He was actually nervous. I was shocked. This was new for Scorpius Malfoy. The only emotion that his
eyes held regularly was arrogance.

“Why?” My eyes narrowed. Malfoy usually never spoke to me and when he did, it was not very kind.

“Just… Please?” Now my jaw dropped, I scrambled to look around to see if there were any other
witnesses to this miraculous event. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy said… please?

There was nobody else in the corridor besides us two; Albus had already gone to the library. I quickly
spun a lie, “I’m late for class, Malfoy.”

He arched an eyebrow and said, “You have a free period, Weasley.”

Damn. “How do you know!?” I asked, bewildered. If he was stalking me I’d hex him ‘till—

“We have the same free period. I see you in the library all the time.”

Oh. Right. “Well, could you please hurry up? I have to meet someone.”
He walked into an empty classroom, expecting me to follow, which I did. He sat on a desk and patted
one that was in front of him.

Cautiously, I put my bag down and sat where he told me to. “So what do you need to talk about?” I
asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

“Weasley… Rose… I need your help.”

“Come again?” I asked hoarsely.

He shoved a pale hand through his hair, “I. Need. Your. Help.”

“I got that part, but… Why!?”

“It’s… It’s a delicate situation,” he muttered and handed me a piece of parchment.

It was a letter, apparently from his mother.

Scorpius,

I cannot wait to see you this holiday break! From what I perceive, this girlfriend of yours sounds lovely! It
would be lovely to meet her over Christmas, so I want you to invite her over. She can spend a week of the
two with us; if she wants too, of course. And also, we’ll be sending a letter to her family so they can
attend the annual Malfoy Yule Ball; after you tell me her name, of course! But please express how much
your father and I would like to meet her! Remember we both will be waiting for you at the platform and
that you should owl ahead of time so we can prepare for this mysterious possible guest before she
arrives. Hope you’re keeping up with your studies!

Love,
 Mum

“So, what!? What does this have to do with me!?” I exclaimed and he sighed.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said slowly and I snorted. Everybody knew that, he was the man-whore of
Hogwarts.

“So why are you telling me about this? Why don’t you just ask one of your crazy fan-girls that you’ve
shagged senseless before?”

He chuckled humorlessly, “Do you think my mother would approve of any of those skanks?”

“So what do you want me to do? Find you a girlfriend?” I asked with a puzzled expression.

“No, Rose. My family wouldn’t approve of anybody… Besides you.” I began to protest but he cut me off
and started pacing. “My mother and father would never even look at me again if they knew I was a…
well, a player. The only way I could get them off my back was to tell them I had a girlfriend. And I had to
quickly think of someone that they would consent to and I was at the library at the time and… Well, you
were the first person I saw and thought they would actually like.”

I then raised my hand up to stop him from his monologue, “I am a Weasley, Malfoy. Why the hell would
they like me!?”

He groaned, “Rose, they don’t want to be enemies with your family. If anything my father wants to
apologize for all the shit he’s given your mum, dad, and uncle over the years. He really wants this
childhood grudge to end and I think this might be a good way to finish it.”

“So, what? You told your parents that you were dating me!?”
“No, I described you; not in looks, but your mind and personalities. You’re the smartest, most clever
witch in this school and they love you. Please, Rose, please! I’m begging you, just pretend to be my
girlfriend! Honestly I’ll get down on my hands and knees. Please!”

When I didn’t say anything he threw his bag to the side and got on the ground, hands clasped in a
begging form.

The sight was just pathetic, in an extremely funny way. Scorpius Malfoy was begging me to be his
girlfriend, or at least pretend to be. While he was continuously saying please in an uncharacteristic
manner, I seriously considered him.

Scorpius Malfoy was, in all senses, sexy. There was no point in denying it, because that would be a
downright lie. His aristocratic face held smoldering gray eyes, a perfectly straight nose, and extremely
lush, but not at all feminine, lips that were currently pouting. His tall frame was extremely well built and
she knew from gossipers in the girls’ lavatory that he had “yumalicious abs” and “the deepest ‘V’”. He
wore only the most expensive clothing and could pull off the ugliest thing with model-like stature. So
somehow he made the Gryffindor uniform (that’s right. He’s a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin. It shocked all
of us) look better on him than the rest of the guys. To sum it all up, he was hot. He was gorgeous. He
was attractive.

And most importantly, he was a pig.

Not exactly gross, no. He was well mannered and elegant and extremely brilliant. The perfect guy you’d
want to take home to meet the parents. But his ways with girls really got me pissed. He would just use
them and toss them to the side, unless they were good enough for another go.

Ew, that egotistical jerk.

“What’s in it for me?” I asked carefully.

He stopped the pleading to rub his masculine jaw thoughtfully, “What do you want?”
Now it was my turn to think. What do I want that Malfoy could give me? “How long do you need me to
be your girlfriend?” I asked and he shrugged.

“They think I’m in love, so I think at least until the end of this year.”

That’s a long time, considering it was only two weeks before Christmas break. I had better make my
conditions worth it. Not only for me, but for others too. I don’t want to be completely selfish, after all.
Then I had the perfect idea.

“Hmmmm… How about you quit your player ways?”

“Come again?”

“You heard me. No more playing girls and shagging them left, right, and center.”

He looked panic-stricken. “B-but…”

“That’s my condition, Scorpius Malfoy. Take it or leave it,” I huffed.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair again and mumbled, “I suppose I have to…”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Scorpius Malfoy was giving up his man-whore-ish ways and I was going to
pretend to be his girlfriend until the end of the year.

Wow. How the hell did I get myself into this situation? But, nonetheless, I have to go through with it
now. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Then fine. I’ll do it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I am. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend.”

“Are you sure?” He asked again.

“Just accept it before I change my mind!” I snapped and he looked taken-aback.

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we? Well then, girlfriend, may I escort you to the common room?”
He offered, standing up while taking my bag and his.

“W-what?” I asked a bit stupidly.

“Well if we’re going to do this, we should do it right. And no doubt my mother’s going to ask her friends’
children about us. So we better start pretending now,” he said and handed me my bag.

“Right.” I nodded, brows furrowed. And I only barely noticed him taking my hand and leading me out of
the door.

The few people that were now in the halls were gaping at us, and Malfoy leaned in near my ear and
muttered, “Pretend you’re comfortable and enjoying this! Merlin, you’re a horrible actress!”

Horrible actress? I’ll show him. I giggled and smiled up at his smirking face, I then stood on my tippy-toes
to peck him on the cheek before turning away, seemingly embarrassed.
He looked momentarily bewildered before taking on a smug look and removing his hand from mine,
only to wrap his arm around my waist and bring me closer to him, his lips extremely close to my neck. I
felt his hot breath against my skin and shivered as he whispered, “Very good, Rose… Very good indeed.”

I felt heat flood my face, but thanked Godric that I didn’t inherit the infamous Weasley blush; the one
that had you tomato red from the ears down. I only went slightly pink across the cheeks.

Soon we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady who stared at us almost as badly as the kids in the
corridors. She composed herself quickly to say, “Password?”

“Flobberworm,” we said simultaneously and she quirked an eyebrow but let us in.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” I heard about twenty people exclaim as we walked through.

“Rose! What are you doing!? I thought you were going to be one of the girls who didn’t fall for Malfoy’s
cheap tricks!” I heard a boy named Flint McLaggen call out to me. He had fancied me for years and
hated me and my previous boyfriends.

“Shove off, McLaggen,” I heard Malf—Scorpius (I needed to call him his first name if we were pretending
to date) say to him in a vicious tone. “Leave my girlfriend alone.”

“Girlfriend!? So you’re not just taking her up to your bed to shag and toss her aside like the rest of
them?” Flint spat out and Scorpius visibly cringed.

“Look, I’m past my old ways. I’ve sworn to never play a girl again and I really mean it.”

“You’ve got to be bloody kidding me!”

At the sight of a Potter, my memory triggered. “Oh, no! I forgot about Albus and the library!” I exclaimed
and, as if on cue, he walked into the common room with a slightly irritated expression.

Coming towards where we were standing, he stopped and said, “Rose… Why are you allowing Malfoy to
touch you like that?”

“Albus, Scorpius is my new boyfriend…” I said, afraid of his reaction. His eyes popped out of their sockets
and all he did was run up the stairs to the boy’s dorms while yelling “LOU! LOUIS WEASLEY! GET YOUR
ARSE DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!”

Moments later he dragged a disgruntled looking Louis Weasley with his white oxford shirt unbuttoned
and had red lipstick marks all over his face and upper body, his hair a mess.

“Al, what the fuck is wrong with you!? I was just about to—WHAT THE HELL!? Rose, why are you and
Malfoy… Touching…?” His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and he didn’t even notice all that all the
girls that were gazing at his well-defined torso.

Louis and Albus, my two favorite male cousins, were about as sought out for as Scorpius. They were a lot
nicer about it than him, though. They actually bothered to take the girl out on a date and pretending
that they cared before shagging them and, after a “heartfelt apology” and claims that the girl wasn’t
“the one”, they went on to the next one.

“What are you doing, Rose? I thought you’d be above that.” His voice was a deadly calm and I
absentmindedly stepped towards Scorpius.

“Look, Weasley, Potter—“ But I shook my head and said, “I’ll handle it.”
I took both of their hands and lead them up into the boy’s dorm, unaware that Scorpius was following
us. All four of us were in the room before I locked the door and turned to face my two cousins with
hands on my hips.

“Look, Al. Lou. Don’t say anything about Scorpius when you’re around me. Honestly, I don’t want to hear
it. He’s past his old ways, okay? The whoring around is all on you two now, don’t worry.”

“And how do we know that’s true?” Albus asked with his eyes narrowed. Louis crossed his arms and
echoed him with a, “Yeah…”

“Well, what do I have to do to make you believe me?” Scorpius asked softly.

Albus reached over to his trunk and found a pair of old socks. He unrolled them to reveal a vial with
completely clear liquid in it. I didn’t need to be told what it was. “Veritaserum,” she whispered. “Why do
you have that, Albus? And how did you get it!?”

“Let’s just say I needed to ask that Adam kid something… And I had James swipe some from potions.”

“So you want me to take some? Honestly, is that it?” Scorpius scoffed, grabbed the vial, and took a
carefully measured swallow. He had a disgusted look on his face when he said, “So shoot. What do you
have to ask me?”

“First off, what are your intentions with Rose?” Louis asked.

“I want to be with her, I’m tired of playing girls and having no feelings for them. I want to be with
someone I actually care for.”

“Did you confound her, and/or slip her a love potion?” Lou asked.
“No! If I wanted Rose to like me, it would have to be of her own accord and not magic,” he said with
wide eyes.

Wow. What he’s saying is so cute! And… It had to be true, didn’t it? I blushed and looked down as Albus
said, “So you’re not gonna just use her like almost all the other girls in the castle?”

“No. I would never want that for Rose and I’d rather die than do it to her.” Now he was looking at me as
he spoke and I could see the sincerity in his metallic eyes.

My two cousins were silent when Louis piped up and said, “Do you think you love her?”

Now I was genuinely curious and looked at him as he bent his head slightly, “I might.”

“Is that enough for you two or do you need to interrogate him some more?” I yelled and stood in front
of Scorpius.

“How did you do that?” I turned and whispered, knowing that the boys wouldn’t hear me.

He looked at me with questioning eyes and opened his mouth to speak when a reluctant Albus said,
“Fair enough. We believe you.”

“Good.” We left the room, walked downstairs hand in hand, grabbed our bags, and stalked off to our
next class—Transfiguration.

“How did you do it?” I asked my question from before and he sighed.

“What do you mean?”

We had just entered the classroom and sat down together when he said, “Did it occur to you that I
didn’t lie, Rose?” And sort of turned away with his head resting in his left palm.

My brow furrowed as the rest of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs filed into the room and noticed that
Professor Smith was absent (ill, apparently) and was replaced for the day by a squat looking wizard with
a spotted bow tie who cleared his throat and began a lecture on inanimate object to animated object
transfiguration.

No one bothered to tell him that he had all ready discussed this yesterday.

I took a spare bit of parchment and my quill out and hastily scribbled a “What did I do wrong?” and
shoved it towards Scorpius. He only glanced at it before taking out his own quill and writing a response
in his neat and elegant handwriting before sliding it back to me.

“Nothing, I’m sorry for acting so weird. It’s not you, don’t worry.”

I bit my lip, then what in the world was bothering him so much!?

When I passed it back to him it said, “Then what’s the matter? As your girlfriend, I should know. Was it
Albus and Scorpius? If it was, I’ll hex them into next week.”

As he read, the right side of his mouth quirked up into a nice smile (which I’ve never seen him do, might
I add) and he quickly wrote and gave it back to me.

“Thanks for your concern, super-girlfriend. And it really is nothing, my head hurts a little. That’s it. Don’t
worry about it, okay?”
I looked at him and he stared back with those silver pools before giving me a quick grin and grabbing my
hand under the table and resting it on my thigh as he scooted closer.

I smirked and whispered, “Good job. Very… boyfriend-ish.” Into his ear and he chuckled silently before
muttering, “That’s why I’m here.”

For the rest of class he kept his head down and played with my fingers while we ignored all of the talk
about us. When the bell rang we stood up, hands still clasped together, and walked to lunch.

I threw my bag to the floor and sat down, him next to me, and started spooning mashed potatoes onto
my plate.

“You don’t hesitate when it comes to food, do you?” Scorpius said as he delicately took some roasted
chicken off of a tray.

I shrugged and said, “Apparently I get it from my dad. It sucks, you know, being hungry all the time.”

His eyes ran down my body, “Yet you still have that figure?”

I gave him a look, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that most girls I know would kill for that body and eat about a twelfth of what you do. It’s a gift,
Rose.”

I swallowed, “Are you saying you like my body?”

“I’m saying that I cannot help but appreciate what is meant to be.”
I opened my mouth to retaliate when Albus and Louis came in, sat across from us and started pigging
out.

“Well at least I eat like a lady,” I said a bit loudly and they both paused and looked up.

“ Aah oo ayin’ oo on’t li’e it?” Louis grunted.

“Excuse me?” Scorpius asked with a sickened expression.

“He said; ‘Are you saying you don’t like it?’” I explained, family dinners were enough experience to know
how to translate muffled-mouth-full-of-food talk. “They usually don’t eat like this; actually, they’re
probably trying to gross you out to get you away from me.”

“How did you know?” Albus asked, not bothering to deny it.

“Please. I’ve known you two forever. For one thing, you’re regularly more civilized than a pack of
monkeys. Another, you both glared at Scorpius before stuffing your face. And three, you’re usually with
a gang of girls pining after you.”

“Touché.”

Scorpius’ friend Thomas Avery came to sit next to him and Lily, tugging Adam along with her, next to me.

“So, Rose… Scorpius, huh? We’re gonna talk about this later, trust me,” she said with narrowed eyes and
then winked before grabbing the dish of steak and kidney pudding.

I groaned as I saw James and Fred walking towards us and told Scorpius to duck under the table.
“What?” He asked, surprise in his eyes, but he knew exactly “what” in the next moment.

“Scorpius Malfoy. We heard that you and our Rose were dating.” James said loudly, almost everyone in
the great hall turned to look at us.

“Yes, I am,” he said simply after wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Well I don’t—“

I cut him off, “Look James. Fred. Albus and Louis all ready did the whole interrogation. They even used,”
I lowered my voice, “the Veritaserum that you stole. Can you please leave us alone?”

They looked shocked and then glanced at Albus, who nodded briefly, before Fred cleared his throat and
said, “Fine then. But we’re watching you, Malfoy. If you even do one thing to hurt her, you’re dead.”

They then proceeded to stalk off to find their girlfriends.

I took a deep breath, “Honestly! People these days!”

Scorpius looked amused, “Do you notice that it’s mainly your family?”

A dark look came across my face, “Just wait. I’m going to be attacked by your fan-girls next. I’ve all ready
seen about fifty give me a death glare.”

He threw his head back and laughed heartily; I had to admit… I liked the sound.
“I’m serious, Scorpius! When I turn up in the hospital wing, bodily injured to the extreme, we’ll see
who’s laughing then!”

He gave me a huge smile. “Then I’ll be begging for forgiveness with a box of your favorite chocolates and
flowers in my hands. But, as for now, we don’t have to worry about that.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle before taking a sip of my pumpkin juice.

~*~

Conveniently, Scorpius and I had taken the same subjects (I guess he wanted to be a mediwizard) so we
both walked down to the greenhouses for herbology, the last class for the day.

I greeted Professor Longbottom who looked at the two of us through narrowed eyes and said a quiet,
“Hello, Rosie.”

When all of the students were there, he said, “Today, class, we are going to be juicing Snargaluff pods.
You have to work in groups of three or four people and can turn to page 167 in your textbooks for
instructions.”

Immediately, Albus and Louis came to my side and I gave Scorpius a hopeful look which he returned
with a smile before opening his book to said page and saying, “Okay… This is not going to be easy.”

After an interesting lesson, some students were complaining about their homework (an essay including
exact detail on the process which they learned today) and the new “couple” headed to the library to
complete it.
After sitting in near silence for about an hour, the only exception being the scratching of our quills, and
completing the work, Scorpius opened his mouth to speak, “So, Rose, when are you going to tell your
parents about ‘us’?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, rolling up the four foot long parchment that was my essay.

“Well if you’re invited to my place for part of the holidays, you’re going to need to ask them. And there
really is no other explanation to what we’re doing that wouldn’t raise any suspicion,” he shrugged.
“After you owl your family and get a response, I’ll reply to my mother’s letter.”

“Okay…” I said hesitantly. “But what are your parents going to say after my father kills me and/ or you?”

He snorted, “Don’t worry about that. I can protect myself.”

“Right,” I said mock-angrily. “You can protect yourself, but not your girlfriend. Honestly, Malfoy, what is
wrong with you?” I crossed my arms and turned away, biting back a smug smile.

“Sorry, Rose. But I am my first priority,” he drawled haughtily.

“So… So you’re saying I don’t mean anything to you?” I looked back at him, forcing tears to well up in my
eyes.

Merlin, I was good at this.

“Rose Weasley, don’t you dare say that,” he whispered, looking as if he thought that I was being serious.

For a moment I had to think; was I being serious?

His pale finger appeared near my chin and had tipped my face towards his. I could only see complete
honesty in his gleaming silver eyes as he said, “You mean the world to me, Rose, and we wouldn’t be in
this situation if you didn’t.”

I could help but pick up a possible double meaning to his words but I shook it off and said, “Do you mean
it?”

He gave me an earnest nod to which I finally gave in and beamed at him. Scorpius pulled me in for a hug
and I noticed that he smelt… Incredible. It was as refreshing as rain, but as invigorating as green tea. The
scent itself cut through my other senses and wrapped itself around her mind, enveloping it in a sort of
icy-hot haze that had me laying my head on his chest and inhaling deeply.

It was then did I notice that this little charade had an audience. Just as I thought this, the crowd started
chanting, “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” And they pulled apart.

He looked at me, eyes asking for permission. I gave the slightest of nods before his lips crashed upon
mine. If I had thought Scorpius Malfoy smelt good, he tasted divine. I had expected no feeling in the kiss,
but he expressed such tenderness, such passion that even I could have been fooled into believing it was
real. His arms snaked around my waist and brought me closer, if that was even possible, to his chest.
My fingers knotted in his silky hair and I heard him let out a little moan before lightly sucking on my
bottom lip and then letting go completely.

The sound of cheering was the first thing to hit my ears and I, embarrassedly, ducked behind him as
someone wolf-whistled.

“Now that you’ve got your show,” Scorpius said calmly as he straightened his tie and smoothed his hair,
“I suggest you leave Rose and me to ourselves.”
Almost everyone turned to their own work immediately and we sat down together. He leaned towards
me and whispered, “Now, Rose. The letter. Please.”

I sighed testily, pulled some fresh parchment towards myself, and began writing. After a little while, he
started pointing out some things that might be misunderstood and we worked together to create the
perfect letter to my parents explaining that I was dating a Malfoy.

Dear Mum and dad,

I have some news for you, and it’s big. Daddy, you might want to sit down and Mum, you might want to
keep his wand at least five feet away from him. You ready? Well, I have a boyfriend. Not just any
boyfriend, mind you, but the most perfect, wonderful boy I could possibly ever find. This is where Daddy
should calm down and Mum should be weary, because I’m about to drop a huge bomb. My boyfriend is
Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. DON’T OVERREACT. I was wondering if he could maybe possibly spend part of
Christmas holidays with us, and the rest I could spend with his family. Mum, Dad, I know you might want
to strangle him as soon as he sets foot into our house, but please refrain from doing so. Albus and Louis
all ready interrogated him; they used Veritaserum and everything. (Don’t mention that part to Uncle
Harry, Aunt Ginny, Uncle Bill, or Aunt Fleur, will you?) I would like to know the dates in which he can stay
with us and I can stay with him so that I can arrange it with his mother who, by the way, is going to
invite you to the annual Malfoy Yule Ball. Watch out for that.

Lots of love,

Rose

P.S. Daddy? Please don’t be mad.

We looked at it proudly as we made our way to the owlery and I called down my horned owl, Kyra, so I
could tie the letter to her leg and watch her fly out the window.

Only when we were walking back to Gryffindor common room did the thought occur to me. I had
officially sealed the deal with the devil. There was no going back now.