~Scorpius~

I love her. I love Rose. The thought went like a whirlwind in my head repeating itself over and over again. Should I say something? What if she doesn't like me back, what if she rejects me and our friendship is completely ruined? I can't risk it. I sighed as I watch her bobbing redhead in front of me, walking along the corridors, ears listening for any noise.

She turned to face me, seeing that I was quite a few meters away, she came over and grabbed my hand, "Come on slowpoke, hurry up," She said, giggling as she dragged me along.

I felt a goofy grin slide into my face as I looked down at our interlocked hands, as if a shot of electricity ran through me. Her hands rough, covered with calluses she received from gripping onto the broom during Quidditch. Add that to the list of things I love about her, she plays Quidditch. And she don't care about getting calluses, or broken nails, or anything of such sort, unlike Ashley and the rest of her group of whores. I focused on her grip, soft yet tight enough to drag me along behind her without losing me.

"Are you alright?" Rose's voice snapped me back into reality,

"What?"

"You've been, like, deathly quiet for the last minute or so. Is there anything wrong?" She said, her voice gentle and concerned.

"Um, no," I said, my face turning red, "Just thinking,"

"About what?" She asked and I started to stutter. There is no way I can tell her what was actually thinking about. Luckily, a loud clamour of what sounded like brooms falling to the floor came from a nearby storage closet, enabling me from answering the question.

"What was that?" I said quickly as relief flooded me, which was quick to change to dread and fear, you never know what you'd find at Hogwarts, especially in the middle of the night.

"I don't know," She said quietly as we slowly and steadily approached the closet, "Maybe Peeves is up to something again,"

I nodded and gestured for her to open the door, "Ladies first,"

She glared at me as she opened the door slightly, peeking inside. Then, as quick as lightning shuts it close, her face as red as her hair, "Merlin's beard," She breathed, her eyes wide as moons.

"What was it," I asked, but she didn't answer. A moment later two people rushed out, embarrassed. A boy and a girl. I felt my own eyes widen and my jaws dropped slightly as I recognized the people in front of me. Two Hufflepuffs, Sarah and Henry. The Hufflepuffs who were supposed to be patrolling tonight before they got detention.

Both of their hair slightly ruffled and the buttons to their shirts all buttoned in the wrong holes, with lipstick smudged over both of their faces. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing.

"Oh, um," I started, unsure of what to say, but they both scurried off, red-faced before I can say another word,

"You guys both have detention for the next two weeks!" Rose called out to them as they walked away,

"With Filch!" I added as they disappeared from view, but even from here I can hear their shouts of disagreement. As their voices disappeared, Rose and I both burst out laughing.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go to the washroom to wash my eyes out,"

She seized my hand in her grasp again and I felt a jolt of electricity run through me as she did. She pulled me down the corridor with top speed.

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked, "We're not actually going to the washrooms are we?" Not that I'll mind- where did that thought come from! My eyes widened slightly and a goofy smile slipped onto my face as the thought passed through my head.

"I thought we'd get a snack after all the hard work we've done," She said happily, skipping,

"Where?"

"Somewhere," She said mysteriously, winking. I'm not sure whether to be intrigued or scared out of my mind.

She continued to take me down the corridors until we finally stopped in front of a painting of a bowl of fruits.

I furrowed my brows, "Why are we here-" Rose stopped my talking by cupping her hands over my mouth,

"Promise me that you won't tell anyone about this," She hissed, I tried to reply but couldn't once realizing her hand still on my mouth. So instead, I just shook my head up and down vigorously. "Great!" She released her hand.

"So what are you doing?" I asked as she approached the piece of artwork, but she simply ignored me.

Rose peered around as if checking if there is anyone else there, once she confirmed that there wasn't, she raised up one of her hands to the pear and started... scratching it?

"What in the world are you doing?" I asked confused, but she didn't get a chance to answer, seeing that painting opened up into a dark, damp room. "Merlin's pants!" I exclaimed, cautiously taking a step forwards.

Rose laughs and beckons me to follow her, "Come on! It's going to be fun, trust me!" She reached out, once again for my hands and dragged me onwards- geeze, what is with her and dragging me places. Not that I mind taking my hand and pulling me along, taking control- oh my god, what in Salazar's name am I thinking!

"Where are we?"

She laughed, "Well isn't it obvious," She gestured to the scene around us,

I turned in a full circle as I registered what's around me. House-elves carrying trays full of all different kinds of food bustling around, the warmth radiating off the working ovens in the corner, the aroma of freshly baked goods fill my nose as I took it all in.

"Well, after looking around, I'm going to take a wild guess that it's the kitchens," I said,

"Well, duh," Rose said in a know-it-all's voice, "Where else could this be, the Quidditch field?" She then continued in a higher-pitched voice, "Gee, I think that these house-elves are going to have a Quidditch match soon. And I bet they have hidden away all their brooms in the ovens and the quaffle, bludgers, and snitch in the cake- Ooo, I bet they baked something in the frosting to make this look like the kitchens even though it is obviously the Quidditch field!"

"Haha," I said sarcastically, "So hilarious,"

She smiled, chuckling, she turned to the nearest house-elf she can find, "Hey, um, Tori, right? Anyways, can you get us some snacks and maybe a pot of tea please?" The house-elf nodded her head and scurried off to who knows where.

I stuck out my tongue with a disgusted look on my face, "Eww, tea is just dirty leaf water, it's disgusting!"

"You're disgusting," She counteracted.

"Well- Well, you're disgusting-er!" I cried back, taken by surprise at her comeback.

She smirked, "Well then you're disgusting-est,"

"Wow, such great vocabulary," I said sarcastically,

"Says you, news flash, disgusting-er is not a word," Rose said,

Before I can say anything else, the house-elf, Tori, came back with a large silver tray in her small, boney hands. Upon the tray were half a dozen blueberry muffins and a pot of tea with two teacups. "Here you go, Miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy," She handed the tray to me,

"Thanks Tori," Rose said gratefully,

I brought one of the muffins up to my lips, taking in a whiff of the sweet, sweet smell, "I can't wait to sink my teeth into this," I took a bite, letting out a moan as the flavours burst on my tongue. The moist and fluffy muffin with the sweet and sour blueberries is such a great combination. "Mmm,"

Rose took the tray from me, setting it onto the table and pulling out two stools, "Come on, let's sit down and eat,"

I nodded, then set myself on the edge of the seat, realizing that it was just the two of just, having a snack together in the middle of the night. Alone, like on a date, well, as alone as you can be with a couple of dozen of house-elves working in the background. Could this be how it would be if I ever get the courage to ask her out? Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to actually ask her in real life instead of just in my mind- not that I do that! Because that would be really weird- wait, this is all in my mind, I don't need to defend myself in my mind.

"Mmm," Rose moaned, biting into one of the muffins, "This is amazing!"

Without even taking my eyes off her, I said, "Yeah, it really is,"