Disclaimer : I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters…

Chapter5: A wedding is all you need

"You look fine, Diane. Stop fussing with the gown or you'll ruin it" Lily admonished as she caught hold of Diane's hand to stop them from trying to smooth down a dress that was flat in the first place.

Rose stood at the back of the room, watching the scene unfold before her without it registering in her mind. It was as if watching an alien language movie without subtitles.

Her mind was else where. When Diane had come to her flat three weeks prior, asking if she could be the maid of honor, she had agreed quite willingly, hoping that at least this would distract her and bring her out of her dejection.

Only a few days before had she known that Scor….even thinking his name hurt.

And it was too late to refuse to be the maid of honor. Even so, she would never have given up her friendship with Diane for some thing as simple as her ex-boyfriend being best man.

"What do you think, Rose?"

Lily's voice brought her back to earth.

"Huh?"

"What do you think about Diane choosing an unconventional dress color?"

"What about it?"

"Ugh! You're supposed to say that it was the right thing to do!"

"It was the right thing to do, Lily" Rose said and Diane interjected before Lily could further irritate her.

"Leave her alone, Lily! She has a lot on her mind"

"Funny! The bride is as calm as the maid of honor is absent minded"

"As the bridesmaid is agitated"

"Argh! I'm out of here before you guys drive me mad!" she ranted before rushing out of the room.

"What do you reckon she'll do now?"

"Bug her boy friend, or Albus, I guess" Rose said nonchalantly, "She always manages to entertain herself quite well"

"I guess"

There reigned an uncomfortable in the room, until Diane couldn't take it any more and said, "I'm sorry, Rose. I should have known Al would ask him. Even so, I couldn't have had any one else as my maid of honor"

"You don't have to worry about me, Diane! I'll manage" she said as she hugged her best and only friend.

"You girls ready?" asked Diane's father as he stepped inside the room with Lily trailing behind in her navy blue gown.

Rose's own gown was the same color though it had lesser frills than Lily's.

"Yes, Dad" Diane smiled a brilliant smile at him, standing up.

Walking down the aisle and seeing Al's tensed face, Rose had to stifle an urge to laugh.

If Diane didn't hurry up, this would be the monumental wedding where the groom walked up the aisle to the bride.

Try as she might, she couldn't avert her eyes from the figure standing behind her cousin in a black tux.

He looked handsome, but she had always known he was good looking.

And it seemed she wasn't the only one thinking about the other, for he too, was staring unwaveringly at her.

When she met his eyes, he gave her a small smile, though she could clearly see that it was fake.

He was hiding from her.

That hurt too. It seemed hurt was the only thing she was capable of feeling now a days when it concerned Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

As she watched the couple say their vows, she wondered, as she had at all the weddings she had attended, whether one day, it would be her at the altar.

She walked around the dance floor, not sitting down at any table, in hopes of avoiding dancing. She hated dancing. Especially in heels. And she was no good at it anyway.

"Hey, Red! Going some where?"

She looked up at James, who was smiling at her, the ever present glint in his eyes increasing as he saw her.

"I'm hiding" Rose whispered in his ear.

"From whom?"

"Any body who'd ask me to dance"

"And I wouldn't?"

"That's why I'm going to go away now. See ya!"

"Red! Red! Red! You don't escape from James Potter that easily" he said as he caught her and began to dance.

"James!"

James paid no heed to her protests and she reluctantly danced with him to a fast paced song. And she was laughing by the time the next one started playing.

"So?"

"So what, Red?"

"You thinking of settling any time soon, Jamie?"

"Don't call me that. And why should I?"

"Well…this is your younger brother's wedding and Lily is…."

"Don't. I'm better off not knowing about her plans"

"Ignorance is bliss?"

"Of course! Oh look, there's Diane! Haven't had the chance to congratulate her!"

"More like frighten her with tales of Al's childhood. You should…" Rose's voice trailed off as she saw Diane's partner.

James walked right up to the dancing pair and cut in.

They were left standing in the middle of dance floor, the only two who were without a pair, each looking around to find some one, any one, else to dance with.

At last, seeing no other way, they began to dance, though no one who had seen them would call what they did dancing.

They stood a foot apart, not looking each other in the eye, his hand barely grazing her waist and hers' his shoulder.

Hearing a tinkling laugh at her side, Rose turned her head just in time to see Diane throw her head back and laugh at some thing Al, who was now dancing with her, had said.

"They seem happy" Scorpius' voice was a whisper at her ear and she shivered, at the effect his proximity had on her.

"I always knew they'd end up together" she said as a smile formed slowly on her lips. She didn't notice that an answering smile broke out on his face.

"Did you now?" his smirk was apparent in his voice.

"Sure! Right from that day in first year when he called her 'shorty'"

"That day you punched him in the face for insulting Diane, you mean?"

"Well, she was my friend, he was teasing her and she was too timid to stand up for herself! And you weren't helping either!" she turned suddenly to face him, finding it closer to hers than she had expected.

"You were cousins and I couldn't have…"

"Nonsense! You were always one of us and you knew it! You just wanted to have some fun" she accused decisively.

Scorpius just shrugged his shoulder at that.

The kept dancing, neither willing to move away, and no one thought to cut in.

It was after a while, when a slow song was playing and they were too close for any body else to hear their conversation, that Scorpius brought the cat out of the bag.

"You look gorgeous today, Rose. I didn't even notice Diane until she was right in front of Al"

"You're joking!"

"No, I'm not! It's the plain truth and you know it. Every body here does. You're the most beautiful woman here and that's unquestionable"

"I'm sure Victoire and Dominique are…"

"Veela charm? That can only captivate some one for so long"

"Looks aren't every thing, Scor. I'm ambitious to a fault. I'm moody. I take my anger out at other people just because I can. I hurt people in a heart beat. I just wasn't made for happiness"

"Now that, I know to be a lie. You deserve to be as happy as any body else. You are just too stubborn to accept that"

"There! I'm stubborn!"

"So? That'll show you how many people really care about you" his hand was now grazing her cheek and they had stopped dancing long since.

Rose turned away from Scorpius, unable to continue arguing with him.

"I'm sorry, Scor. If you think waiting for a few years is going to change my answer,…"

"I'll wait forever, Rose. I'm stubborn too, you know. I don't give up that easily. Especially when it concerns you"

"Why won't you move on, Scor? You'd be better off without a girl friend with commitment issues. And it'd save me from a lot of misery!" Rose cried as she turned to face Scorpius once again.

"So, you'll be happy if I go away?" Scorpius' voice was quite serious as he asked this.

"I didn't mean it that way…" she wanted to explain so badly, but she had not the words.

"Never mind, Rose. It doesn't matter. I should have known…." Scorpius shook his head in resignation.

"It doesn't matter? What doesn't Scor? Me?"

Looking at her frantic face, "Rose, will you stop bloody confusing me!" Scorpius almost shouted.

He dragged her out of the dance floor, into the Burrow's kitchen which appeared like a whirlwind had blown through it.

He passed that room and reached the living room, where he sat on a sofa, gesturing her to take another.

She sat down, looking around at the room as if it was the most intriguing thing in the world.

After a few minutes, "Rose, look at me. I don't care about what you said that day or what you meant years back. It's the now that matters. Do you want me to leave, truthfully?"

"If I said yes?"

"I'd go away from your life forever"

"And move on?"

"If five years couldn't do it, fifty years more won't matter"

"If I say I don't want you to go away?"

"I'll stay with you and bug you for the rest of your life"

"And there's no way you could move on?"

"Unfortunately for you, no"

"Then I guess, I have to put up with you for a while more" Rose fake sighed before a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Was that a yes?"

"We'd better get back before they start looking around for the best man and the maid of honor" she said as she stood up hurriedly.

"Afraid of what they'll think?" he asked as he blocked her path to the door.

"What's the worst that they could assume? That we're going out together?" she asked as she hugged him.

"Hm…that's one option. Oh, look! Just in time for the fire works" he pointed out the window opposite them, "Let's go out! Come one!"

Just as they entered the back yard, a giant fire work exploded in the sky and read, 'To a life time of bickering and arguing'

"Trust James to try and warn them through a fire work" Scorpius chuckled.

"Some one called me?"

"So the devil's saying is true"

"Ah, Rose! Looks like it'll just be me and you who'll be the spinsters"

"Speak for your self. I've no idea of becoming one"

Only then noticing the smile on their faces, James' eyes rounded just before a grin broke out on his face and he said, "So you finally get what was right in your face all the time"

"Guess I did. You know I have a weakness for blond haired healers. And this one was too obstinate to shake off" Rose punched Scorpius in the shoulder and giggled.

James moved away from the pair who were now staring into each others' eyes.

He never asked her this time, because he already knew the answer.

She needed no promises now, for, she knew he'd keep them without her asking.

And they both understood that love needn't be declared to be felt. Often it's the unspoken that's the truest.

And, in front of true love you can't just give up.

A/n: Plz don't kill me for making this the worst ending ever! It didn't go as I had planned but once I wrote his out, I couldn't see them any other way. Sorry, if I disappointed you.

R&R if you wish to yell at me (goes in to hiding)