Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.

AN: Okay, this one was inspired by a photo I stumbled across online of a woman reading a book.

She was sitting there, reading a book when he realised his feelings. Her brow was slightly furrowed with concentration and her long bushy hair was curling about her face.

Falling in love was perfectly natural. Most teenagers felt attraction to members of the opposite sex. It was hardly unnatural to fall in love with a pretty, smart and talented girl who was not related to him.

Unfortunately, said girl also happened to be his friend. One of his best friends if he was honest. Best friends do not fall in love. That's against the rules of friendship. (He wasn't entirely sure where in those rules it said that and Merlin knows half the clichéd romantic novels he'd ever heard of broke them, but still)

She turned a page and he continued to stare, even as he willed himself to turn away. Somehow, the simple act of reading, seeing HER read as he had done thousands of times before had him entranced. It was…absurd really. There were no shortage of readers in Ravenclaw and more than a few pretty girls at Hogwarts in general.

Not that his best friend wasn't pretty of course. She was, with bushy brown-ish red hair and eyes you could lose yourself in. An observable fact really, nothing more. He was a boy, a teenage boy who liked girls and it would be more unusual if he hadn't noticed. That didn't mean he was in love with her, right?

For Scorpius Malfoy though, it was already too late.