The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

Our hands were entangled as we reentered the Great Hall and Scorpius pulled me right out onto the dance floor. I let a laugh bubble out, smiling like a fool up at him, and he placed a chaste kiss on my forehead before moving his hands to the places for a waltz, which was what was playing. I adjusted accordingly and we started to dance, my eyes never dropping from his.

A bit to the left, a third year - who’d been invited by a fifth year - tripped over the hem of the overlarge dress robes he wore, and I buried my face in Scorpius’ chest so I wouldn’t snort too loudly. Scorpius chuckled, and I looked up indignantly, but didn’t say anything. I was - I admit it - reveling in the fact that he and I were…dating. The word, just being thought in my head, sent gleeful shivers up my spine and I wondered what the effects of saying it out loud would be. To feel the words roll off my tongue…

I resisted the urge to whisper, “I’m dating Scorpius,” because that would’ve been a bit weird.

*

The Yule Ball fizzled out slowly, ending just as Al, Andy, Lily, Zack, Scorpius, Joe, (his date had ditched him for someone else about fifteen minutes earlier - they could be seen snogging in the back corner), Beth, her date (which was actually my brother, Hugo…), and I finished our last butterbeers while chatting amiably at one of the tables. Under the table cloth, my hand was clasped firmly in Scorpius’ own warm and rather larger palm. When Professor Collins announced that the dance had, officially, ended - about ten minutes later than it was supposed to - we all decided to, once again, crash in the head dorm. It was, after all, Christmas now, and what better way to spend it than sleeping in in the most deluxe dorm in all of Hogwarts?

Everyone other than Lily, Beth, Scorpius, and I had to go retrieve pajamas from their own respective dorms, Andy opting to borrow some of my clothes so she wouldn’t have to go all the way out to the Beauxbatons carriage for some of her own. Joe and Andy got permission from there respective headmasters as Scorpius made sure it was okay with Professor Collins and I stayed back with Lily and Beth and chatted while we waited for them. Joe preferred, also, to borrow clothes (from Scorpius) instead of going to the Durmstrang ship.
Finally, with permission granted, we made our way up the stairs - Lily, Beth, Andy, Joe, Scorpius, and I - to await the others in the dorm. Walking slightly behind the others, Scorpius and I clasped hands and offered each other gentle smiles. Scorpius paused, casting a glance up at the others, and leaned down to swiftly steal a kiss - and my breath - simultaneously.

“I couldn’t resist,” he murmured by my ear, and I stifled the giggle he had nearly tempted from me, which would have gained the undivided attention of at least the three accompanying girls.

I put my finger to my lips, rolling my eyes playfully, and tugged him along with me to catch up.

We only let go when we reached the dorm and the four girls - including me - went to my dorm to change while Joe and Scorpius went to Scorpius’. Across the balcony, I shot Scorpius a sly, teasing grin before I disappeared around the corner and up the next small set of stairs to my room.

“The magic of mirrors,” Lily sighed as I entered, grinning like she knew something I didn’t want her to, “is that when you check your face for runny makeup or something, walking up to the Head dorms, you can see the Head boy and girl stop and flirt and snog behind you without even seeming to see.”

I flushed - I had assumed, when she started grinning, that it had something to do with Scorpius. I was right to think so, it seemed, but it didn’t matter to me if she knew.

Beth, of course, was grinning too - she had obviously seen as well.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?!” Andy exclaimed, rushing me to throw her arms around my neck. “Eet was so obvious you liked him,” she told me, “right from the start. And he, you. I am so ‘appy for you!”

I flushed, smiling despite myself, “So it really was as obvious as I thought it was,” I said, walking over to my trunk to pull out a set of pajamas for both Andy and I. “Can we get changed, now?”

“We’re talking about this later, though,” Lily warned, but still grinningly.

“I could assume nothing else,” I replied, faking an exasperated sigh while winking at my younger cousin. The truth be told, I couldn’t wait to talk about it. It was one of the girlish traits I possessed that needed to happen every once in a while.

My pajamas, when changed into, consisted of a rather old Chudley Cannons tank top - Dad had gotten it for Mom when they were just dating - and a pair of comfy lounging pants. Andy’s pajamas (which were mine, but leant to her…obviously) were a plain white tank top with the Chudley Cannons lounging pants I had just taken out and tossed. I didn’t really take the time to mix and match the pajamas, but for being the first things I grabbed upon opening my trunk, they didn’t clash too horribly…like the magenta robes I had to wear when I helped at Uncle George’s store.

“It was when he followed you out, wasn’t it?” Beth asked, grinning, as we prepared to go back down the stairs. “When you left the Great Hall alone for a few minutes, and not long after he followed…”

I nodded, grinning, and led the way back down into the main sitting room, where Joe and Scorpius were already lounging. Scorpius was on one end of the couch, and Joe was kind of sprawled across an armchair, and they were laughing at something one or the other had just said.

Reaching the main area, Andy did some nifty wandwork and conjured up another sofa, where she sat gracefully down, as compared to Lily’s summoning a pouf from the balcony and flopping on it as Beth settled for the floor against Andy’s sofa and I plopped myself next to Scorpius, almost shyly.

“Hey,” he said to me, letting his arm fall from the back of our sofa and across my shoulders. Almost unconsciously, I leaned against him, leaning my head against his shoulder comfortably.

“Hey, yourself,” I retorted unoriginally, smiling at him nonetheless. Joe didn’t seem surprised, so he must have been told by Scorpius or seen us, so I didn’t feel self-conscious or anything about leaving a kiss on my boyfriend’s cheek.

He returned the favor, and feeling more comfortable, I snuggled closer into him, and we started to just chat away the time while we waited for my brother, my cousin, and Zack.

About five minutes later, they showed up, and the first thing that came out of my brother’s mouth (after he plopped down on the floor by Beth) was, “You know what happens if you hurt a Weasley, Scorp.”

He said it so simply, so casually, that I wondered how many times he’d told people that before.

The first thing that came out of Albus’ mouth, however, was a whoop of excitement and, “Finally you two get together! I thought it’d have to wait until we were thirty. Merlin, are you two slow!”

Satisfied with himself, he smiled confidently at Andy and sat down beside her on her nifty little conjured-up sofa.

I flushed, and Scorpius turned pink, but we both laughed at that.

“Were we really that oblivious?” Scorpius asked at large.

“Yeah,” Zack said as he let himself fall into the remaining armchair, “you really were.”

*

Talk, after the somehow juicy subject of Scorpius and I, turned to Quidditch, then to the tournament, in which three of us present were participants in, and then back to Quidditch on the subject of the budding romance between a chaser of the Holyhead Harpies and a beater of the Wimbourne Wasps…how it got there, I don’t know, but we talked well into the morning.

At four, I noticed that Beth had dozed off, her head against my younger brother’s shoulder, and he had an arm around her. I wondered if they had a thing, or if he was just making sure she didn’t fall…but then again, they did go to the ball together.

At five forty-seven, I noticed that somehow during our conversations, that Zack had wound up sprawled across the floor, asleep, and Lily was sleeping soundly on her pouf, and their fingers were inches apart.

Next to drop off was Joe, dozing in an obviously uncomfortable position in his armchair, at six twelve.

I was starting to nod off around seven thirty, Andy already sleeping and Al about to fall asleep on her shoulder. Hugh had dropped off not long after Joe.

Finally, it was just Scorpius and I awake at around seven thirty-eight, although I could tell he was getting tired, too. I noticed vaguely, from the corner of my eye, that piles of presents (most likely those of all who were present) had appeared sometime during the last few hours under our common room’s Christmas tree, but I was too tired to wake up enough for anything right now, even presents.

“Rose?”

“Mm?” I replied as sleepily as Scorpius had sounded.

“No good night kiss?” he asked, and I looked up to find him pouting in a fake but terribly adorable way.

“It’s really good morning,” I told him, smiling, “but I guess you can have one if I can.”

He chuckled, and the last thing I was conscious of before the both of us fell asleep was the sweet, tender little kiss we shared before I tucked my head against his chest and he rested his chin on top.