Everyone knows that summer romances are beautiful, fleeting moments in our lives and the lives of others, which forever change us, but are never permanent. They are special only because they are over in a flash of light that consumes us, and leaves us empty when darkness returns. Every summer romance is special, just as every love story is special; however, they are not unalike in many ways. They each begin with a boy and a girl who did nothing more than glance at one another before their lives changed; and so begins the story of Rose and Scorpius…

Rose Weasley sat in her chair on the beach and watched the waves move against the shore line feeling at peace with the world. Every year her family went to the beach for the entire summer, leaving their hectic lives behind them for a period of relaxation, and this year was no different. It was the summer before Rose's seventh year and Hugo's sixth year. Rose lay in her chair absorbing the early morning, early-June sunshine, rereading her favorite muggle book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. She was wearing her favorite, emerald green bikini with a pair of jean shorts over the bottoms and her favorite sun hat.

Suddenly, the hat blew off her head in a gust of wind and flew across the beach. She stood up and ran towards it, wishing she'd remembered to grab her flip-flops, because the sand was so hot. She squinted into the sun, running after the hat, when a hand that was not her own caught it. Her eyes traveled to the person now holding her hat, a tall blond boy she recognized vaguely as Scorpius Malfoy. He was in her year at Hogwarts, only in Slytherin rather than Gryffindor, and though she'd never really been friendly with him, they weren't on bad terms. Their relationship was comprised of the indifference felt by two people who knew each other only by sight, and through the few classes they shared, but never had more intimate contact than that.

He held out the hat to her and said, "Here you go."

"Thanks," she said with a smile, taking it from him.

"Hey!" called a boy, who was behind him. Rose realized that she'd noticed them earlier, but hadn't payed close enough attention to recognize them. Scorpius had been playing muggle football for about half an hour with the boy who had just called to them, Peter Goyle, "Come on, we're in the middle of a game!"

"One sec!" called Scorpius over his shoulder, before turning back to Rose, "Very muggle of you," he said, gesturing towards the book still clutched in her hand.

"I could say the same about you. Football?"

"Hey, it's not like we can play Quidditch out here," he replied.

Peter, who'd clearly gotten impatient waiting for Scorpius kicked the ball at them, but before Scorpius could touch it Rose kicked it back with considerable force.

"So books aren't your only muggle tendency?" said Scorpius, "You can play football too?"

She nodded, before saying tentatively, "You fancy a game?"

"Sure," he said with a grin.

He had Peter kick him the ball, and soon they were playing a pretty competitive game, tied almost the whole time. Peter eventually got bored of watching, and went in, and only when darkness fell did they officially call it a draw.

"Well," said Rose, "I guess we'll never know who the winner was."

"You keep thinking that," said Scorpius with a friendly smirk, "I think we all know who really won."

"Yeah," said Rose, nodding her head, "Me."

"You wish," he said with an eye-roll.

"Hey," said Rose, "I've gotta go. See you tomorrow?"

"We'll see," he said with a smirk. They parted ways without looking back, each thinking about this unusual addition a very usual type of summer.

The next day Rose went out to read again, this time in her blue bikini with a blue wrap skirt over the bottom. After a few hours she went in for lunch, before returning to her spot on the beach in the hopes of seeing Scorpius again. However, when five o'clock arrived she was getting hungry, and still seeing no sign of Scorpius she decided to go and get an ice cream cone on the boardwalk, and there she saw none other than Scorpius Malfoy.

"Hi," he said, "Guess you did see me," he said as he took his vanilla ice cream cone.

"I guess so," she said, taking her own cone of vanilla and handing money to the man behind the counter. They unknowingly fell into step together as they walked along the boardwalk.

"So," said Rose after a moment, "How did you end up at a muggle beach for the summer?"

"Well," he said, "My mum and dad wanted to get away from the city, and Peter was coming, so I didn't think it'd be too bad, but he had to leave early this morning, cause he's going with his family to Italy, so now I'm here alone all summer. What about you?"

"My family comes here every summer. My brother always finds a friend to drag along, but I never can manage to...also, I think it's good for me to go it alone for the summer."

"Well, if that's what you think..." he trailed off, making to get off the path and head for the beach.

"Don't be an idiot," she said, pulling his arm, and he returned to her side with little resistance, "If you'd let me finish you'd see that I was about to say that I like the company. It's a nice change."

"Fair enough," he said.

They walked in companionable silence, before Rose said, "You up for going muggle today?"

"Meaning?" he asked.

"Well," she said, "One of my favorite places is open today..."

"Okay," he said.

She led him along the boardwalk until they reached the entrance to the carnival.

"A muggle carnival?" he asked skeptically, "This is it?"

"No," she said, leading him inside, "A very specific part of the carnival." She led him over to the far end of the carnival, where the Ferris Wheel stood.

"No," he said, stopping dead. "No, no, no, and no. Those things are not safe. What happens if it breaks? What then? It's not like we can whip out our wands in a public place and save ourselves."

"Don't be a baby," said Rose, "I used to ride on it all the time. It's my favorite place."

"Fine," he said.

They got in line, and soon found themselves on a bench and going up.

"See," said Rose, "Perfectly safe, and look how pretty the beach is from up here." He laughed, and she said, "What? It's true."

"I'm not laughing at that," he explained, "I'm laughing at the thought of what my dad would say about this."

"About you going muggle?" she asked.

"No," he replied, "About who I'm going muggle with..."

"Oh..." she said, looking back out over the ocean, thinking about that statement. Suddenly, with an ominous creak the Ferris Wheel stopped dead, with them sitting right at the top.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Scorpius.

"I think it's having some technical difficulties," said Rose, looking down at the muggles now fumbling with the electric controls.

"You mean it's broken?" asked Scorpius, looking slightly panicked.

"Well that's one way to say it," replied Rose.

"So what do we do?" asked Scorpius, "Stay up here until we die?"

Rose rolled her eyes, "No. They'll try and fix it with the controls, and if they can't they'll send a fire truck."

"A what?"

"It's a big truck, sort of like the kind on a muggle highway-have you seen one of those?" Scorpius nodded, so she continued, "Well, it's bright red with white trimming, and it has a tall ladder attached that they'll use to get us down."

"Why is it called a fire truck?" asked Scorpius.

"Because it was originally designed to put out fires, it has a big hose attached to it too."

"Okay..." said Scorpius. What Rose couldn't know what that he was picturing a bright red, 16-wheeler, with a 50 foot ladder sticking out of the top and a hose wrapped around the entire truck two or three times...

They were up there for a few hours, and for the first one they just watched the muggles down below and talked a bit here and there. But, by hour three they were getting tired. The fire truck eventually arrived, and Scorpius was shocked at it's appearance, but, being at the very top, they had to wait a while before they would be rescued.

"I hate this..." said Rose, leaning her head on Scorpius' shoulder, "I'm tired."

"It was your idea," he said, "And at least the view is pretty." He was looking at her, as the sun shined down on her bright red hair, her pale skin glowed just slightly, and her hazel eyes reflected the setting sun.

"Yeah," she said, looking out at the ocean.

"That isn't quite the view I meant..." he said with a smirk, moving her chin up with his first two fingers, so that she was looking right at him. They leaned in almost in-perceptively before their lips met.

"Hey!" called a fireman after only a moment, "Do you want me to get you down, or would you rather stay up here all night? I've got a lot of people to reach!"

They broke apart, quite embarrassed, and one after the other went down the ladder.

"Kids..." muttered the fireman irritably.

They walked down the board walk in silence, both looking anywhere but at each other. They walked a good twenty minutes in silence, each waiting for the other to speak.

Finally, Rose stopped in front of a pale blue beach house, and said, "Well, this is me."

"Oh," he said. Neither of them moved.

"I had a lot of fun," said Rose after an awkward minute, "Teaching you to go muggle."

"Wanna do it again tomorrow?" asked Scorpius, "Minus the Ferris Wheel part?"

Rose laughed, "Sure."

They both leaned in and kissed one more time, but were again interrupted, this time by Hugo, who burst out the front door and said, "Blimey Rose! Mum was getting worried, it's-"

By now Rose and Scorpius had broken apart, and Scorpius was trying desperately not to look directly at Hugo.

"I'll be right in," said Rose, making a mental note to kill her brother later.

"Okay..." said Hugo, before he went inside looking perplexed.

"Sorry," said Rose, "This is one of those times when I wish I didn't have a brother..."

"I don't think he recognized me," he said.

"Yeah. I'd love to know how I'd be expected to explain you to my parents..."

"You think I'm that vile?" he asked in a joking tone.

"Oh shut it," she said, "See you tomorrow."

"Bye," he said. He waited until the door snapped shut before making his way back to the house he and his parents were renting further down the beach.

"Rose!" came her dad's voice from the kitchen the moment the door closed.

"Oh God..." she muttered, before entering the kitchen, where her mum, dad, and Hugo were all sitting down to dinner. "Hi guys! Sorry I was late, but I-"

"Who was that boy?" asked Ron, looking at her in dire accusation.

"Just some muggle boy, Dad, it's not a serious thing..." explained Rose.

"What about Daniel?" asked her Dad. He was referring to Daniel Wood, who Rose had been dating until the end of last school year, when they broke it off because with Daniel graduating it'd be too hard to keep it up.

"We broke up," said Rose.

"Yeah," said Ron, "But I expected you to have a longer mourning period..."

"Ron, calm down," said Hermione, and Rose was immensely relieved her mum was going to help her with this, "Every girl has a summer fling. This boy won't matter come fall, so just let her be."

Ron looked slightly mollified, and therefore allowed the subject to drop for the moment.

"You want some dinner?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Rose, "I'm not hungry. We ate at the carnival..."

"Okay," said Hermione.

Rose fled to her room as fast as possible, trying to remain cool and innocent-looking.

Rose and Scorpius spent the next few weeks getting to know each other in ways that only those with no other serious occupation can.

"Favorite 90s band?" asked Rose as they swam around in the water sometime in July.

"The Weird Sisters" replied Scorpius.

"No way! Me too!" said Rose.

"Uh...favorite fruit?" continued Scorpius.

"Mango. Least favorite fruit?"

"Pineapple."

"No! How can you not like Pineapple? That's my favorite!"

"I thought you said it was mango."

"Other than mango, idiot."

He rolled his eyes at her antics.

"Favorite thing to eat?" asked Rose, continuing with their game.

"Hm..." thought Scorpius, before leaning in and whispering, "You." He gave her a kiss, before she pushed away, laughing.

"I meant favorite food."

"I don't know, Rose, you look pretty appetizing..." Rose ignored him, and continued swimming. "Hey! Speaking of food, fancy and ice cream? I'm starved."

"Okay," said Rose.

As they walked along the beach they continued their endless questions.

"Animal you were in a past life?" asked Scorpius.

"Fox," replied Rose.

"Yep, you sneaky little fox."

"Well it's better than you. You were probably a sloth."

"I take great offense at that!"

"You were supposed to."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, without warning, Scorpius tackled Rose and they both fell into the sand.

"Ah! Scorpius stop! You know I'm ticklish!" cried Rose.

"Take it back!"

"No!"

"Take it back!"

"Fine! You're not a sloth!"

Finally Scorpius stopped tickling Rose, and helped her to her feet.

"So, if-" suddenly Scorpius stopped dead, before grabbing Rose's hand and running towards the water, "Come on! It's my mum and dad! They'll see! Run!"

They made it to the water, and watched as Draco and Astoria passed, walking along the boardwalk.

"Are we gonna spend all summer hiding from them?" asked Rose.

"I think we've got to," replied Scorpius. Rose nodded in agreement, but couldn't help wondering in the recesses of her mind what was going to happen come fall...she didn't know the answer.

Rose and Scorpius spent the summer learning all about each other, and discovering that they really had nothing in common. They also discovered that that was the only reason their relationship worked. They fought all the time, about big things, about little things, about important things, about imaginary things, about everything. However, neither of them ever let the other walk away angry, and the only time Rose managed to storm away Scorpius followed her home and stood outside her window all night, until she finally took pity on him at about two in the morning and came out to see him. And so the summer passed, full of screaming fights and joyful laughter. The summer passed in the blink of an eye, and suddenly it was almost September.

One night in late August Rose and Scorpius were lying hand in hand on the beach, watching the stars, one of their favorite things to do.

"Scorpius," whispered Rose. He turned to look at her, "I've been thinking about this a lot recently. What happens next week when we go back to Hogwarts?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happens to us?"

"Well," said Scorpius, "This obviously isn't going to work back at Hogwarts. I think that we have to accept that this fall it's over..."

"What?" asked Rose, looking horrified.

"Think, Rose. How else could this work?"

"We could tell people!"

"Yeah right," he said with an eye-roll, "I'm not saying I like it, but it's just the way it is. Lets just enjoy this week, because come next week it will be like this whole summer never happened."

"Is that all this meant to you?" asked Rose, standing up, livid, "Is that all this was? Really? Some entertainment for the summer than you can erase from your memory in the fall?"

"No, Rose, that's not what I meant at all!" said Scorpius, standing up too, "I didn't say I'd forget about it, I said we'd have to pretend it didn't happen. I'll never forget."

"Like that's supposed to make me feel better," said Rose bitterly, walking away.

"Wait!" he said, grabbing her hand, "Rose!"

"I'll make it easy for you," said Rose, tears in her eyes, as she drew her hand away, "You can start pretending now, because that's all I'll ever do. Goodbye Scorpius," and with that she turned her back on him and ran.

Rose spent the evening waiting for Scorpius to appear, apology in hand, but only grew more and more upset when he never came. The next morning she made up her mind to swallow her pride and go to apologize herself. She spent the day wandering around their favorite spots in search of him, but all in vain. The next day she took one of his old shirts that she'd been wearing throughout the summer as a swimsuit cover up. She took it to his house and rang the bell, intending to tell his parents that she'd found it on the beach and wanted to return it.

When the door opened Rose found herself face to face with the auburn-haired Astoria Malfoy.

"Yes?" asked Astoria, looking at Rose confusedly. She knew who Rose was, but couldn't think of a reason that she would be on their doorstep.

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy, I found this on the beach and saw that it had your son's name on it, so I thought I'd return it. Is he in?"

"He left for our house in London this morning, but I'll return it to him."

"Oh," said Rose, handing her the shirt, "Thank you," she turned around and walked down the street. She turned around at after walking a few paces and saw the door had been snapped shut. She looked at Scorpius' window, as if hoping Astoria had been lying, and that he'd open the window and wave to her, telling her all was forgiven. However, the window did not open, and after a few minutes she forced herself to turn around walk home, planning to return to their home in Ottery St. Catchpole as soon as possible.

Rose and Scorpius spent their seventh year trying to avoid each other everywhere they went, but secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of each other. They were both taking N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Charms, and in addition Scorpius was taking Ancient Runes and Rose was taking Arithmancy. However, there were two N.E.W.T. sections of each subject, so the only classes they had together were Potions and Transfiguration. However, as luck would have it they had one or the other every day, and on Thursdays they had both. Rose and Scorpius both treasured and dreaded these periods, which they spent trying to pay attention, but failing miserably, and stealing glances at one another, loving and hating the moments where their eyes met. At these moments the memories that they suppressed at every other time flooded both their brains, and they would relive moments from the summer, each one sending pain and joy through them. However, after only a few seconds one of them would look away, and they would go on pretending, both fearing and praying that they would forget.

After Hogwarts Rose went into healer training and Scorpius went into auror training. After two years of healer training Rose was ready to begin her year as an assistant healer. There was a dinner to congratulate the assistant healers for making it through training, which was a difficult feat. Usually only a half to three quarters of those who started training finished it.

Rose was enjoying herself with her best friend, Clarice Longbottom, when she noticed a tall, blue-eyed, brown-haired man staring at her from across the room. She recognized him vaguely as a Ravenclaw who'd been in her year at Hogwarts.

"Who's that guy? He's been staring at you for about twenty minutes." said Clarice, who was watching Rose and the unknown man.

"No idea," replied Rose.

"He's cute. Oh, look! He's coming over!" and with that Clarice darted away.

"Hello," he said, walking up to Rose and extending his hand, "I'm Edmund Connely."

"Rose Weasley," she said, taking his hand and shaking it.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"So you made it through training?"

"So it would seem."

"Who are you assisting this year?"

"Carmichael. You?"

"Newman."

"Oh, so right down the corridor," said Rose. Healer Carmichael and Healer Newman both worked in the wing that dealt with miscast spells and charms. "I guess then we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"I fervently hope so," he replied with a smirk, "Why don't we start now? Fancy going for a drink with me this Friday? I know a great place in London."

"Sure," said Rose with a smile. After giving Rose the address Edmund walked away, and not five seconds later Clarice reappeared.

"So?" she asked expectantly.

"We're going out for drinks on Friday," said Rose.

"No way," said Clarice, "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm lying," said Rose sarcastically, "Yes, I'm serious!"

"He was pretty hot." said Clarice.

"Hey! You can't say that! You're engaged to my cousin!"

"That doesn't mean I don't know a good looking guy when I see one."

"Fair enough," said Rose, making a mental note to see James turn green with envy at the thought of his fiancee recognizing when other guys were attractive...

It took less time than Rose had expected for her to fall for Edmund. He was everything that she'd always looked for in a guy. He was handsome, smart, funny, witty, good at Quidditch, and loved by her parents. He was exactly the type of man her parents wanted for her, and she soon realized that she was exactly the type of women his parents wanted for him. They were soon considered the perfect couple by everyone they knew, and it wasn't hard to see why. They both had promising careers as healers, and a year after they started going out had finished their time as trainees and were working as professionals. Edmund supported the same Quidditch team as Ron (the Chudley Canons, obviously), and had read almost as many books as Rose and Hermione. Rose shared Edmund's mother Violet's love of muggle cooking and his father Carter loved muggle football almost as much as Quidditch, just like Rose. And so, it was because of this that they found themselves together almost three years after they first met on the anniversary of the final battle. The anniversary of the final battle had been made a holiday, and it was a tradition that every year at Hogwarts on that day fireworks were shot off. Rose had been going to this with her family ever since she could remember, and Edmund had also spent many years going to it, so it was natural that they began going together after they started dating.

The fireworks lasted for about 30 minutes, and Rose watched captivated the whole time. There were about 5 minutes left when a firework came up that made Rose look away for the first time in 25 minutes. Please say yes Rose. Rose turned to look at Edmund, who was sitting next to her. He'd sat up and was holding a ring box out to her. He flipped it open to reveal a beautiful, circular sapphire on a gold band.

"Rose Weasley," he said, holding her gaze, his blue eyes looking deep into her hazel ones, "Will you marry me?"

"Oh my God, Edmund, of course I will!" she exclaimed, breaking into a grin as he slid the ring onto her finger. She kissed him wildly, and when they broke apart found herself surrounded by their friends and family, all of whom watched the fireworks every year too.

"Congratulations Rose!" said Clarice, dragging James along with her, "It's great to know I won't be the only married one around here anymore."

"He's a good guy," said James, who'd always been rather protective of Rose, him being the oldest cousin, "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," said Rose with a smile, before she was attacked by her parents, grandparents, brother, and basically anyone and everyone she'd ever met in her entire life.

As they walked down the lane that led towards the gates of Hogwarts so that they could disapperate Rose and Edmund were surrounded by friends and family still shouting to them. Rose was beaming, as she turned around to see the only thing that could make her smile falter. A pair of gray eyes had met hers, and though she hadn't seen them in five years she recognized them at once. Scorpius Malfoy. They held eachother's gaze for no more than a few seconds before Edmund, who'd gone a few more paces ahead of Rose, noticed her absence and turned to find her standing stalk-still in the middle of the street.

"What is it Rose?" he asked.

She looked at him, shaking her head slightly as if hoping it would clear the thoughts now infiltrating her brain. "Nothing, Ed," she said, looking back again to where she'd seen him, but he'd vanished, "I just thought I saw something..."

It was six months until the wedding (which was planned for their 4th year anniversary) when Rose found herself alone in Diagon Alley shopping for potions supplies. She was about to leave and head back home, because it was getting late and she and Ed were going to go out, when she ran straight into Scorpius.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," she said, before realizing exactly who she'd ran into. "Oh, hi."

"Hi." They elapsed into an extremely awkward silence before Scorpius said, "So, um, you're getting married."

"Yeah," she said, "In six months."

"Well that's, that's great Rose," he replied, "Um, you fancy a drink? You know, for old time's sake?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. One sec," she pulled out her wand and waved it. A silvery fox burst from her wand and darted out of sight to tell Ed that she was having drinks with an old friend, and wouldn't make dinner. Scorpius watched her, something twitching in the back of his mind, though he wasn't sure what...and then he remembered their conversation all those years ago, and how after that he'd called her his sneaky little fox. He smirked at the thought until he remember that she wasn't his sneaky little fox anymore...she was someone else's.

They walked out of Diagon Alley and into the Leaky Cauldron where they sat down at the bar.

"So," said Rose, "What have you been doing?"

"Well," he said, "I finished my auror training and am now working at that."

"That's great," said Rose. "I'm at St. Mungo's."

He raised an eyebrow, "What floor?"

"Fourth floor, spell damage."

"Seen anything good?"

"Well, actually..."

And just like that they'd fallen into eachother's lives, as people do in situations like this. They talked the whole evening without another moment of awkwardness, and were suddenly confronted with the fact that they were drawn to one another. After that evening they made a point of going out for drinks at least once every week. However, Rose and Scorpius both felt something was slightly wrong with what they were doing, because though they were no more than friends, they both could feel themselves slipping into old habits, and they knew how little it would take for them to fall back in love, if they weren't already.

"Hey Ed, I'm home!" called Rose as she entered their apartment. It was two months until the wedding and Rose had just come back from lunch with Scorpius.

"Hey sweetie," he said, giving her a kiss, "How was shopping," he glanced at her empty hands, "Looks like you didn't get any done."

"I didn't see anything I liked," she said evasively. She wasn't sure exactly why she still hadn't told Edmund about Scorpius. She'd told him after their first meeting that he'd only been in town for a few days, and that he was actually living in France and working there. She hadn't told Scorpius about this either, and every once and a while the guilt got to her, but not too often.

"Well," he said, "What do you say to dinner tonight?"

"That sounds fabulous," she said with an easy smile, the one that she always wore when around him. She couldn't help comparing this constant stream of mild affection to the inconstant bursts of joy that lit her face during meetings with Scorpius...she didn't like the idea of a comparison, because it made her feel more than ever that she was doing something wrong, which, as she assured herself time and time again, she wasn't.

"I was just about to head out," he said, "Because Jonathan and I were going for a quick drink, but I'll see you back here at seven? I'm taking you somewhere special..."

"Where?" she asked, mildly interested. That was the best word to describe her feelings towards him lately: mild.

"It's a surprise," he said with a wink, "I gotta go. Jonathan expected me five minutes ago." Jonathan was his best friend and best man.

"Bye," she said, giving him a light kiss and watching him disapperate. She sat down on the sofa. She clearly was taking her relationship with Scorpius to a dangerous place, and it had to stop. Immediately. She had to stop seeing him entirely. Starting right then.

The number of owls Rose received from Scorpius that went unanswered rose and rose over the next two weeks. Scorpius was getting agitated, wondering what he could've done to offend her. After two weeks he'd had enough, and resolved to go and see her. She and Clarice had lunch together in Diagon Alley every Wednesday afternoon, and so he waited for them to leave and for Clarice to disappperate before cornering her.

"Rose!" he called. She saw him and was about to turn to disapperate when he grabbed her hand, forcing her to take him with her. They arrived in her and Edmund's living room.

"What, Scorpius?" she asked irritably.

"You know bloody well what!" he said angrily.

"No I don't, so why don't you enlighten me," she replied.

"Why have you been ignoring me? I thought we were friends again."

"We were but we can't be Scorpius, I thought you of all people would see that," she tried to wound him with that jab, hoping he would remember that fateful night on the beach. He did. "If people found out about this-if Ed found out about this, then-"

"That's what this is?" he asked incredulously, "Guilt? You haven't told your fiancee that you're on speaking terms with your ex-boyfriend, so you're having a panic attack."

"It is not guilt. I've done nothing wrong."

"Than why were you hiding it from him?"

Rose opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Scorpius continued angrily, "I know you feel it too Rose! I know you feel something there between us...something you haven't felt in seven years with anyone. Why are you running from it?"

"I have a fiancee Scorpius!" she nearly screamed, "This isn't just about you and me! I have to consider Ed's feelings. I love him!"

"But not enough," he said calmly, "You'd be happy, sure, but you'd always know that you had the chance at pure joy in your life, and you passed it up for security and familiarity."

"How dare you..." she seethed, looking murderous.

"Can you deny it?"

"Yes I can!"

"Can you mean it?"

At that point Rose's temper broke. She grabbed the nearest thing to her, which happened to be a somewhat heavy book off the coffee table, and chucked it right at Scorpius' head. He dodged it neatly, causing her anger to rise. "God damn it, Scorpius! You really are the most infuriating person I've ever met! That's why we're not friends anymore! It's got nothing to do with Ed! NOTHING! But you're such a stubborn ass! Once you get an idea into your head nothing can force it out! You seem to think that we have some sort of connection that doesn't exist. You and I have nothing in common anymore! Why haven't you moved on? I have! And I'm happy. H. A. P. P. Y. HAPPY...what will it take for you to see that?"

"Rose you're not happy, you're content. They're two completely separate adjectives and you know it!" he yelled. He was running out of patience.

"Well, now that you're done psycho-analyzing me, why don't you get out?" she asked coolly.

"Not until you can look me in the face and tell me that you don't feel it too. That you don't want to see me ever again." She opened her mouth, but he held up a hand and continued, "Not that you can't see me again, or that you won't see me again, but that you don't want to see me again."

She looked at him and he looked at her, and they could both feel the wall that they'd been carefully maintaining between themselves and eachother for the last seven years was crumbling before their eyes. His gray eyes bored into her hazel ones, which looked dangerously wet.

"Scorpius," she whispered, "I can't..."

But that was all he needed to hear. He crossed the room in no more than two strides and kissed her full on the lips. After a few moments, however, Rose pushed against him and said, "No! No, no, no, no, no!"

"What?" he asked, looking confused.

"We can't do this," said Rose, "We just-we can't."

"Rose, I thought it I could make you see that you still loved me you-" he was getting frustrated by the time she interrupted him.

"You thought I didn't know?" she asked, tears streaming down her face, "You thought I didn't know that I still loved you? Really?"

"Than why did you keep denying it?" he asked, irritated and confused.

"Because, Scorpius, I love him. Believe it or not I love him too! And this wrong. It's not fair to him."

"No, I'll tell you what's not fair to him," said Scorpius, becoming more passionate with every word, "You marrying him when you know you'll love me a little bit more. That's not fair to him. Eventually he'll figure it out, and then he'll live knowing he could've found someone who really loved him. You know who else it's not fair to? It's not fair to you. It's not fair to me. It may be the path of least resistance but that doesn't make it right!"

"But that doesn't make this right either!" she shouted, when suddenly the door opened.

"Hey, Rosie!" called Edmund as he moved into the kitchen, without bothering to enter the living room first. Rose's eyes grew wide. "Who were you just talking to?"

"Um-" said Rose frantically trying to remain calm, "Clarice. Her head was in the fire, but she just left." She waved her arms at Scorpius, mouthing, "Disapperate! Now!" But he shook his head and folded his arms.

"Why on earth did you need to talk to Clarice? You guys just had lunch, and-" But Edmund stopped dead, and everybody knew why. He'd just walked into the living room, and his eyes flew to Scorpius. "Um, Rose, who is-"

"This is Scorpius Malfoy," she said, quickly, "He works for the aurors, and yesterday at work Clarice and I found a charm cast by someone the aurors had caught on a muggle, and we didn't recognize it, so we were just talking to Scorpius to find out what he got out of the caster."

"That was a great story," said Edmund, crossing his arms, "But how about the truth this time?"

Rose crossed her arms as well and said, "That is the truth."

"No it isn't," broke in Scorpius.

"Scorpius, please," snapped Rose, before turning back to Edmund, "This isn't a big deal, okay Ed. Scorpius was just leaving."

"No I wasn't," he said stubbornly.

"Doesn't look like it to me," said Edmund, before turning to Scorpius and saying, "And since you won't tell me what's going on, Rose, I'll have to ask him."

"Rose and I met during the summer before our seventh year, and-"

"Scorpius," said Rose in her most threatening tone, "Stay out of this."

"No," replied Scorpius, "Since you won't tell him I will."

"Tell me what Rose?" asked Edmund.

"It's nothing Ed," she said.

"Clearly it is," he replied hotly, "So just spit it out."

"You know what," she said, her infamous temper flaring, "Fine. I will 'spit it out'. Scorpius is in love with me and won't stop stalking me after seven years."

"If that's how you wanna play it," said Scorpius angrily, "Why don't you just throw in the part where you kissed me half a minute before he walked in the door?"

"I didn't kiss you, you kissed me."

"It's not like you were stopping me," he retorted angrily.

"Oh, so me pushing against you wasn't enough of a clue?" she asked sarcastically.

"Enough," said Edmund, "Is that what's going on here? You kissed him?"

"I didn't kiss him, he-"

"Rose," continued Edmund slowly, "Don't lie to me. Please."

Rose sighed, hanging her head, "Okay. I did kiss him. But nothing happened."

"Except that kiss," said Edmund gravely.

"But Ed, it didn't mean anything."

"I think it did," he replied, looking between an ashamed Rose and a hurt Scorpius.

"But, Ed, I love you," she said, looking up to meet his gaze.

"Not enough though," he said, turning away from her, "I need time to think about this. Alone."

"Well where exactly do you expect me to go? I live here!" said Rose indignantly.

"Go back to the Burrow or something," he said.

"So that's it then?" she asked, sounding like she had a slight head cold, "You're breaking off the engagement, and-"

"I didn't say that," he said evenly, "I said I needed time."

"Ed, the wedding is in six weeks," she said, "Time isn't really something we have."

"Yeah, well you need it too," he said, glancing back at Scorpius, "Clearly. You can just show yourself out. I'll write or floo in a couple days, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, "But I'm not sure if it's enough."

Rose was fuming as she and Scorpius left, and the door had barely snapped shut behind them when she said, "You! How dare you involve yourself in my relationship?"

"I was just telling him what he deserved to know!"

"It wasn't your information to share!" she bellowed back at him, "I was dealing with it!"

"If by dealing with it you mean lying, then yeah, you were," he yelled back.

"I wasn't lying! This thing between us...it's over. It's been over for seven years! You of all people should remember that!" The object of that statement was, of course, to wound, and it did.

"Is that what this is? You trying to get back at me for what I did that night? Consider yourself successful. I wish I hadn't done it, okay? I was young and stupid and scared and seventeen! I wished every day after it happened that I hadn't done it! But you were the one who left that night!"

"It's not like you cam after me! I was the one who had to come crawling to you a day later!" cried Rose, tears streaming down her face, "I was the one who had to find out that you'd left town without even a goodbye."

"You told me your goodbye was final, and I thought you meant it."

"Which means you didn't really know me."

"So where do we stand?" he asked.

"I told you," she said coolly, "There's nothing left between us. That ship sailed a long time ago." And with that she disapperated.

Two weeks later Edmund and Rose had a long talk, and after Rose assured him that she had not and would never again hear from Scorpius they decided to go on with the wedding as planned. With only a month to go Rose found herself submerged in wedding plans all the time. Scorpius hadn't shown his face anywhere near her, and had submerged himself in his auror work in order to avoid thinking about Rose. He'd fought hard, but in the end he was going to let her be happy with Edmund, because it was what he thought she wanted.

The day of the wedding was slightly overcast, which seemed to Scorpius to be some sort of sick irony mimicking his life. In order to avoid the ordeal he knew was taking place at The Burrow he decided to go to work like it was any other day, even though it was a Saturday. He watched time tick by while trying and failing to finish a report he had to have in on Tuesday. As time marched slowly on towards two o'clock he found himself getting restless, and, against his better judgment, decided to go to The Burrow. He told himself he was only going to watch from afar, just to get some 'resolution,' as he put it inside his head. He disapperated and found himself on a hill, from which he could see the towering house. He could see the white marquee in the back yard, and took a deep breath.

Rose was sitting in her Aunt Ginny's old room at The Burrow at fifteen minutes to two o'clock. Clarice, Hermione, and her cousin Lily were all fussing about with her hair and makeup, while Ginny and Molly flitted in and out. She was sitting in front of the vanity, wearing a strapless, ivory gown, simple but elegant. Her hair was in an up-do, and her nails french manicured.

"You look beautiful, honey," said Hermione.

"At least as pretty as I did at my wedding," added Clarice, earning the desired effect, a laugh.

"Are you nervous?" asked Lily.

"A little bit," conceded Rose, but a little bit just didn't cover it.

Just then the door opened and James came in, holding a one-year-old Tristan.

"What are you guys doing in here?" asked Clarice, walking over.

"Someone wanted to see Mommy," said James with a tender smile he only got when talking to Clarice or their tiny son.

"Hello, baby," she whispered, taking Tristan out of James' arms. Rose watched at the three of them huddled together and felt a sense of loss and hopelessness that she could not explain. That was what she was getting, wasn't it? A man who adored her and the possibility of a family? She remembered all the fights and breakups that happened between Clarice and James, and all the times Clarice had come to her, her face tear-soaked and her heart broken, and then she looked at the three of them, and felt her own heart splitting. She loved Edmund, she really did, but the passion that she saw between Clarice and James wasn't there between herself and Ed, and she knew it. She was in the middle of this unsettling epiphany when the door opened again and Ron entered.

"James, you better take Tristan and sit down. We've got to start in a few minutes."

"Sure," he said, taking Tristan from Clarice and giving her a kiss before departing.

"Oh Rosie," said Ron, looking at her in awe, "I sometimes forget how big you've gotten. I remember when you were my little girl, and I used to worry about something like this happening. Like that summer you had that thing with the muggle boy, remember?"

"Yeah," whispered Rose, inaudible to the rest of the room, "I remember."

"But he's a good guy," Ron continued, "And I can tell how crazy he is about you. Hermione," he turned to his wife, "You'd better sit down too."

Hermione was tearing up by now, and giving Rose and hug said, "I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, Mum," she said, hugging back tightly.

Hermione left with a wave, and Lily, who'd been off fetching the flowers, returned through the door she'd left ajar. She gave the larger bouquet to Rose, and gave one of the two smaller to Clarice, keeping the other for herself.

"Ready to get married?" asked Ron with a grin.

Rose opened her mouth, but nothing came out. It would be so easy to just say 'Yes' and to walk down the isle, and say the simple words 'I do.' It would be so simple to live content with Ed, and have beautiful kids, and be a healer and a mother, and live happily. It would be so easy to just forget Scorpius. But she would always know that she'd had the chance for something more, and blown it. It was dangerous to assume that Scorpius still wanted her. Stupid to leave a man who'd only shown her love and compassion. Crazy to do what she so wanted to...but people do crazy things when they're in love.

However, she hadn't reached that thought before she found herself walking down the isle. She could see the back of Clarice's head in front of her, and Lily's in front of Clarice's. She could feel her father's arm holding hers, and see the eyes of everyone assembled on her. All too soon she reached the alter and her father gave her hands to Edmund, kissing her on the forehead as he did so. And still she had not decided. She didn't see the gray eyes that were watching her from not too far away.

All through the vows Rose couldn't concentrate, and when the tiny, white-haired man asked her, "Do you, Rose Hermione Weasley take Edmund Henry Connely to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you part?"

It would've been so easy for Rose to say "I do"...but Rose never did things the easy way. She shook her head. The entire crowd seemed to gasp as one.

"Rose, what-why?" asked Edmund, looking confused and hurt.

"I can't marry you," said Rose, "I'm sorry, but I can't. And you definitely shouldn't marry me. You deserve someone who'll really love you for the amazing person you are, and I can't. I'm so sorry Edmund..." She took off the sapphire ring and handed it to him.

"So this is what it feels like," he said softly, "When your heart breaks."

"I wish I hadn't done what I did. I could have saved you this pain, and I'm sorry." She kissed his cheek before walking resolutely up the isle, followed by her mother, father, Clarice, and Lily.

"Rose, sweetie," said Hermione, "What are you talking about?"

"I can't explain right now," said Rose, already heading towards the gate, "I have to go!"

"Rose! Just stop for a minute!" said Clarice, "Think about what you're doing! I know that you love Ed!"

"I know," said Rose, "But not enough, not really."

"Rose, what are you talking about?" asked Ron.

"I'll explain later!" called Rose, already halfway out of the gate, "I have to go!"

But she didn't have to go far, she made it three paces and was about to disapperate when she ran into Scorpius.

"What-Malfoy?" asked Ron, who obviously knew Scorpius from the auror office, which he and Harry were head of. He'd never really liked Scorpius, and had Harry deal with most of the time.

"Scorpius?" said Rose at the exact same time.

"You know him?" asked Ron, turning to his daughter.

"Rose, I'm sorry." said Scorpius while Ron was mid-sentence.

"For what?" asked Rose, looking confused and ignoring an even more confused Ron.

"For everything," he said.

"What everything?" demanded Ron impatiently, while Rose said, "It was my fault though!"

"It wasn't all your fault, it was mine too," replied Scorpius, while Ron nearly screamed, "What the hell is going on around here?"

Just then Clarice yelled, louder than anyone who was currently speaking, "EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Everyone was so shocked that she was capable of such an outburst that they complied with her request. Rose and Scorpius were still looking at eachother while Ron stood at a diagonal to both of them, making a triangle between the three of them. Hermione and Lily had been shocked into silence, leaning against The Burrow's gate, where Clarice had previously been as well before stepping forward.

"I don't know what's going on," said Clarice more calmly, "And I'm sure we'd all like to know, so Rose, can you please explain?"

"Um," said Rose, glancing at Scorpius, "Well, the thing is that really explaining this properly would take several hours, so why don't we just skip the explanation and-"

"No," said Ron, who, surprisingly, sounded fairly calm. Rose knew that temperament would change soon, "Just summarize for us. How about that?"

"Well," said Rose, "Scorpius and I went out and then broke up but I realized that I don't really love Ed." She said all this very fast, as if hoping that Ron wouldn't understand it at that speed.

He did.

His face went from pale to pink, pink to red, and finally red to purple.

"So you left Edmund at the alter for Scorpius Malfoy!" exclaimed Ron in a fake calm that everyone knew wouldn't last, mostly due to the fact that his volume had shot up from a whisper to a near shout in the course of that single sentence.

"No," said Rose, "I left him because I knew that I didn't really love him! I'd convinced myself that comfort and familiarity was love, but it isn't! Aren't you glad I figured that out before making such a huge mistake."

"No!" he replied, "Not if that mistake would've kept you away from him!" he turned to Scorpius and pointed at him in dire accusation, "And you!" Scorpius retreated several steps, and no one could blame him, for Ron looked truly murderous, "What kind of fool do you take me for? Rose and Harry might have fallen for your misunderstood death eater's son act but I certainly haven't. You stay away from my daughter!"

"Dad, back off Scorpius! This isn't his fault!" said Rose angrily.

"Ron, dear," said Hermione, stepping forward, "How about I take over?" Ron was fuming, but from the warning look Hermione gave him he knew her comment hadn't really been a request, so he backed off.

"Rose," she continued, turning to her daughter, "Can you honestly tell me that Scorpius isn't the only reason you walked away from Edmund?"

"Yes," said Rose firmly, "I walked away because I didn't love him. Even if Scorpius hadn't wanted me any more I still would've called it off."

"So," said Ron, who seemed to have recovered his composure, "What does this mean?"

"I don't know what it means. I'll have to wait and see. In the mean time," she looked around at everyone, "I'd better go and move out before Ed heads back home."

"But, Rosie, sweetie," said Hermione, "Where are you going to live?"

"Ed and I decided I'd keep my old apartment for renters, but we don't have any just at the moment, so I'll move back in there."

"Rose, wait-" said Scorpius as she made to disapperate, "We need to talk about this."

"And we will," promised Rose, "But not now. I'll come see you in a few days. Okay?"

"Okay..." he said.

Without waiting for anything else she disapperated.

Rose did a lot of thinking over the next few days. She knew that she wanted to be with Scorpius, but she didn't know if that was a smart decision...still, she couldn't deny that she was always happiest with him. That had to mean something...didn't it? She finally decided that she was gonna go for it. She knew it was dangerous. She knew her family wouldn't think much of it. She knew that it would be the most out there thing she'd ever done. But she also knew that she needed to do it. So, she sent Scorpius an owl telling him to meet her at The Three Broomsticks that night, but found it answered by his roommate, Peter Goyle, who told her that Scorpius had decided to go away for a few weeks. Rose had been shocked when she found out where. He went to the beach...Their beach. She immediately apparated into the house that her parents still owned down there after all these years.

It was about two o'clock when she arrived, and she wasn't sure exactly where to look for Scorpius. She had avoided her family's trips to this beach since that summer, but she still remembered it perfectly. She tried first along the beach and at their ice cream shop, but after hours of searching she didn't know where else to look. It was about dusk when she headed to the only place left. The carnival. Once she got there she headed towards the Ferris Wheel, where she found him, standing in line.

"Scorpius?" she called softly, walking over to him.

"Oh," he said, startled, "Hi Rose. How did you know I was here?"

"I owled. I told Rowan to go to your apartment, but obviously you weren't there, so Peter answered, telling me where you were."

"Oh," he said.

"You guys going or what?" said the man who was taking money.

"Oh, yeah," said Rose, handing over the muggle money she'd brought with her. They sat down on the bench, and began to rise steadily. It was then that they were consumed by the most awkward silence that had even passed between them.

More to have something to say than anything else, Rose said, "I haven't been back here since that summer. I'd forgotten how much I liked Ferris Wheels."

"I went back," he said quietly.

"When?" she asked.

"A couple times, but the first was the day after the anniversary of the final battle last year."

"Oh," she said, quietly, remembering all too clearly what was important about that day. "It was you I saw then? That night."

"Yeah it was," he answered, his tone and volume matching hers.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think that I needed to."

"If I'd known that you still-"

"Oh Rose, don't try to pull that," he said impatiently, "You still would've said yes, and we both know it. It tore me apart. You'd moved on...and I still hadn't."

"Well it was your fault! You broke it off!"

"I told you that night. It didn't mean I'd forget about you!"

"Well I thought you had. It's not like you could expect me to go on wallowing in self pity for the rest of my life!"

"I didn't expect that, but I sure as hell didn't expect you to go waltzing off into the sunset with 'Mr. Perfect'."

"Hmph..." they dissolved into a bitter angry silence, watching the scenery move as they rose and fell through the air.

"Rose," said Scorpius, suddenly animated and intense, "Let's forget all that. Let's forget that ever happened. Let's start over. Come on! What do you say? You and me again!"

"Why on earth would that be a good idea?" Rose snapped, "Look at us. All we've done since we ran into eachother six months ago is fight!"

"We fought then too!" he replied passionately, "We've always fought! And we'll fight some more! But you know what? I would rather spend the rest of my life fighting with you than living calm and content with someone else!"

"Do you mean that?" asked Rose, tears springing into her eyes.

"Prove that I don't," he whispered, before leaning in an kissing her.

The moment was far from perfect. They'd fought up to the very last second, but, as they kissed, revolving in the air on the Ferris Wheel, they realized that if the moment had been perfect it wouldn't have been them. They'd take the imperfection any day.

All summer romances end, and that's what makes them special. Most end with the coming fall as the two people involved go back to their daily lives, and revisit those fleeting summer memories with fondness and nostalgia for the people they once were. But, a very few end when they become something more and it's these ones that fill those involved with a wonder and joy that can never be matched; and so ended the story of Rose and Scorpius.

I'm really proud of this story, and I saved my author's note for the end because I really wanted to you absorb the story without my comments clouding your thoughts first. I've been working on this one for months, and it's one of those stories where it waltzes into your head almost fully formed, but you spend hours thinking about it and retweaking it (I got to the point where I dreamed about a conversation and then work up and wrote it down!). I've had a ton of fun writing this, and it's a story where I was able to find tons of inspiration everywhere. I'd REALLY appreciate a review because I want to know if it's really as good as I think it is or if that's just me being blind about my own work. So please review because reviews really mean a lot to me, whether you loved the story or hated it.

XOXO

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