Scorpius Malfoy couldn't let this go on any longer. 5 years and he let Rose believe he hated her red hair. He found out about it after he spied on Victoire and her cousins' talk about his always calling her hair "red". He had now somewhat gotten used to seeing it, but he couldn't grow out of his old habit of calling her hair homely and that awful colour. Scorpius now noticed her hair grew into a beautiful orange-red, making it brighter than any stars twinkling in the night. But he never let her know about his secret and unrequited feelings, or so he thought for her. And it was because of her hair, that he was attracted to her in the first place. He thought if he wasn't an immature brat and jackass back then and if he did know about her hyper-sensitivity about her hair colour, he wouldn't have said it was "red as carrots." But what's done couldn't be undone, so he had to deal with it, no matter how much he regretted it.

He knew Victoire understood him, because he overheard her talking to Rose about his obsessive thoughts about her hair and was 100% right about it. And she was right too, when she said he called her hair "red" as a compliment to Rose. He thought he could her help with what he was trying to do. So one day after class, and nearing Christmas in his year before his graduating year, he whisked Victoire away in a private corner, so he could talk to her about it.

"Malfoy, what are you doing? Let me go!" Victoire was trying to wrestle her arm away from him, but he held onto it firmly, not letting her go until he talked to her about his obsession with Rose's hair colour.

"Shush, Victoire, I need your help!"

"Let go of my arm, then!"

"Not until I talk to you about my problem with Rose's hair."

"So, what about it?" asked Victoire, also wanting to help him, but she didn't like it as he gripped her right arm firmly.

"Well, you know I've an obsession with her red hair?"

"Well yeah, captain obvious. What's your plans about it?"

"Well, just to tell you, you were right about me wanting to touch her hair."

"You spied on us, you plotting Slytherin!"

"Victoire, will you stop that? I need your help." Scorpius was deliberately more civil and more polite to her, because he needed her help, and without it, he couldn't get his heart's desire.

"Say the magic word : please." said Victoire as her face grew into a wicked sort of smile.

"Please." If he weren't so desperate, he wouldn't have said that.

"All right, so you just want to touch her hair, right? Well, I have an idea : I'll just set you two up near a Mistletoe, under the Christmas tree in the Great Hall on Christmas, at around 5 p.m."

"How's that going to help me?"

"Well, as you're bending down to kiss her, try to accidentally touch her hair and apologize to her for everything you've said about her hair then. I know you don't really mean those, right, Malfoy?"

"And no, I never really meant all these things I've said about her being homely and everything. It was just to get her attention."

"So I was right about that all along? Then why didn't you stop calling her hair 'red'? You had bloody 5 years to get used to it."

"Yes, I had five years, but because I had a crush on her when I first met her, I couldn't talk to her civilly, and so I insulted her terribly with calling her hair 'red'. I just couldn't resist it, because it stood out too much for me in the crowd. I can still remember her red locks streaming in the winds as if it were yesterday." Scorpius figured he should be honest with Victoire, since she was trying to help him with his love problems.

"Malfoy, if you really do have feelings for Rose, I think she'll forgive you if you genuinely apologized to her, and besides, Christmas is a time for reunion and reconciliation, and not for hostility and feud. And try to sound as sincere as possible."

"Thank you, Victoire." He really hoped she was right about her cousin.

"And another thing, Malfoy: stop aggravating her with your calling her hair red. Or at least, try to. I'll go and tell my cousin about it."

"I will, thank you, again Victoire."

As Victoire left Malfoy, she went to find Rose in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was a few days before Christmas, and Rose was looking at her hair, again in her the Common Room's talking mirror.

"Malfoys' right, it's so unthinkably red." She now wasn't as sensitive as she was before about her hair anymore, but she still thought it was horribly ugly, especially now, as it grew into an orange-red kind of colour, even more terrible for Rose.

"Yes it is." said the Mirror.

"Hello Rose."

"Oh, Hello Victoire. I saw Malfoy getting you in a corner, what did he want with you?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to talk about his obsession with your hair colour. He thought I would help him, as I understood him better than anyone else."

"How did he know you sympathized with him?"

"Because he overheard us in the corridors."

"That jerk."

"No, Rose, I was right, he really does have romantic feelings for you. And he's trying very hard to apologize to you, yet he just doesn't have the courage to face your wrath. He thinks you hate him for calling your hair red."

"How can I not hate his guts for it?"

"Try to understand it from where he stands, Rose. He even confessed to me, he really does like you."

"He can't like me! He thinks my hair's ugly."

"Yes, he does. He said told me so himself. And no he doesn't think your hair's ugly, he thinks it's a gorgeous colour. You have to believe me, Rose."

"You're insane."

"No, I'm not. It's you, who is too hard-headed to see how much Malfoy likes you, deep underneath his comments and remarks about your hair."

"You're not lying to me?"

"No, I'm your cousin, Rose. I would never, in my life ever lie to you." Rose now half-believed her cousin's words.

"Well, if he likes me, why does he say I'm ugly then. Why does he openly humiliate me about my hair?" She challenged Victoire.

"Because he loses all his control when he's near you, dear cousin. You don't understand how boys work."

"You're right, I don't. But, I don't know how I should…?"

"Approach him? Simple, I told him to get under the Mistletoe on Christmas around 5, and you, just pretend like you're running into him by accident. And he's going to bend down and kiss you, 'accidentally' and he's going to try and touch your hair, you let him, just don't let him see you're doing it purposely."

"Victoire, you should be in Slytherin, not Gryffindor!" Her cousin exclaimed.

"Now now, Rose, it was very simple, anyone could come up with it." said Victoire humbly.

"Anyway, thank you. Victoire." That night before Christmas, Rose came to terms with her own "hatred" for Malfoy. It was all because of a silly misunderstanding. "Shakespeare's proverb was right : much ado about nothing. But why do I want Malfoy and others to say my hair's auburn, when it's just plain red? Am I so vain about my hair?" thought Rose, disgusted with herself.

A few days after both Malfoy and Rose talked to Victoire about their problems in love, they each minded their own business. Rose was trying to avoid Malfoy at all costs and Malfoy was doing as Victoire told him to do, but he occasionally let an insult slip and Rose promptly ignored him as she always did in these past 2 years. And for her, it worked like a charm. Both waited impatiently for Christmas to come.

Finally, the long-awaited Christmas came and Rose was opening her gifts from her family and friends, as was Scorpius.

"Thank you, Victoire, Albus and Teddy."

"No problem, Rose." She said, when Al and Teddy got out to have a snowball fight. Rose was fidgeting and waiting anxiously for 5 o'clock to strike.

"Don't forget, be subtle." advised Victoire.

"Yes, cousin. I will. Wish me luck. After Victoire wished her good luck, she ran into the Great Hall, and around the Mistletoe, sure enough, Malfoy was standing there, looking as nervous as she was.

"Well, Malfoy, what are you doing here?" acting surprised.

"Nothing, I just don't have anything to do."

"Well, I don't have anything to do either."

"Malfoy, what's with you, you usually love to call my hair red. Your tongue got stuck or what?"

"No, Rose. I just came here to, er, er…" The poor boy was stuttering. It was a beautiful plan when he discussed it with Victoire. Rose now looked up the tree as if by accident, like her cousin instructed her.

"Oh, Malfoy, look a Mistletoe, I must be cursed. We must kiss." Malfoy, eager to kiss her, bent down to her level, and brushed his lips gently on hers. It was heaven for him, kissing his long-time crush, and he forgot all about touching Rose's hair, since a true love's kiss was enough to cure him out of his obsession with her hair's redness. As he kissed her, Rose flushed, a bit pink in the cheeks after they pulled apart for air, and was trying get away from him, but Scorpius still got her in his strong arms.

"Look Rose, will you forgive me for calling your hair 'red', all this time? I really think it's a lovely colour now."

"You do?" Rose knew he did, but she was testing him to see if he were telling the truth. And as she found herself trapped in her "enemy's" eyes, all the resentment she held for him for the past 6 years melted. He was truly trying his best to ask for her forgiveness. Rose was a stubborn girl, but she wasn't heartless. Seeing all the feelings Malfoy had for her in his eyes, made her change her mind about him and it made her heart flutter. But before being his girlfriend, she wanted to be friends with him.

"Yes I do." confirmed Malfoy.

"Right, I forgive you. So friends, Malfoy?"

"Scorpius. I am Scorpius after all, not Malfoy." He corrected her on that.

Scorpius in truth, really hated it whenever she called him by his family name. And so, that was how the two became friends, thanks to Victoire's meddling. And the best of friends they became, for over half a year. And that half a year, he always had to correct her about her calling him "Malfoy", since she called him that for over 6 years, and it wasn't easy for Rose to call him by his first name : Scorpius. But then in their last year, for Rose, he was no longer "Malfoy", but "Scorpius", and he was her Scorpius, and nobody else's.

And as they began their not so clear friendship-dating relationship in their 6th year, other students noted with amusement in their eyes that he finally admitted her hair was indeed a good-looking "auburn", and not that dreadful "red".

And Scorpius asked her to be his official girlfriend and she naturally accepted because she could no longer fight her own growing feelings for him, 1 Christmas after their "accidental" kiss under the Mistletoe, masterminded by Rose's devious cousin, Victoire.

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