Rose Weasley was on a mission.

"You know," Her cousin Lily gasped out from behind her. "You could slow down a little."

Lily Potter was a sweet girl; very pretty but not arrogant, always there to lend a helping hand, had the best gossip in the castle, and was big on family (weren't they all though). But, Rose thought as she quickly scanned the titles on the shelves before moving on to the next row of bookshelves, she just didn't really get it. Sure, Lily studied well enough and took pride in her schoolwork. She was certainly better off than either of her brothers who spent their time solely on the Quidditch pitch. But Lily, along with the rest of her large family, didn't feel that need, that urge to absorb all she could and to make her work be the absolute best it could be. As long as she got an O or E, Lily was satisfied. Rose however wasn't appeased until every assignment was perfection. Though this lead to many sleepless nights (such as this one), she got the respect of her teachers and the gratification of a job well done.

"I don't understand," she said with a furrowed brow. "It was supposed to be in Section A under Subsection 14 with all the other authors starting with the letter G."

"Maybe someone else checked it out," Lily said, still trying to catch her breath.

"This is the Restricted Section," Rose huffed out, frustrated. "There shouldn't be anyone else checking this book out, much less knowing it exists in the first place."

"What exactly did you say this book was for again?"

"Nothing, just for a Charms essay," Rose lied.

"Yeah, right." Lily snorted. "Why'd you need to sneak in here in the middle of the night then? You can tell me; I'm your cousin!. After all, you trusted me enough to bring me along."

She smiled winsomely. Rose wasn't won over.

"I didn't bring you. You caught me leaving the common room and forced me to let you come," Rose said irritably. Though she had to admit it was a lot less scary roaming around the castle at night with someone else along with her.

"Whatever, if it was actually checked out, then Madame Pince probably has the records," Lily suggested.

"True, but you know she keeps that under lock and key."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that," Lily reassured her and then yawned. "So can we get out here now?"

Rose chewed her lip but eventually shrugged her assent and they headed back to Gryffindor Tower together.

"So what did you say your plan was again?" Rose whispered to Lily as they spied on Madame Pince's position at her desk from around the corner of a bookcase.

"I didn't, you just have to follow my lead."

"What? I can't go into this without knowing you actually have some sort of plan-" Rose began to argue until a long shadow fell over her.

"Excuse me, do you mind?"

Rose and Lily looked up from their positions crouched near floor. There, in all of his intimidating 6'2" glory, stood Scorpius Malfoy. Looking down at them. Or more specifically, directly at Rose.

After a few moments of silent gaping from the two of them, he raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and nodded towards the bookcase. "You're in front of the book I need."

Rose was shaken out of her momentary lapse in speaking by an elbow to the ribs from Lily. A very sharp elbow, she might add.

"Oh, sorry," she managed to get out after sending a glare to Lily. She shifted a little to the right and Scorpius deftly grabbed a book next to her head, brushing her cheek with his long fingers.

"No problem," he replied and immediately turned around and left.

"So hot," Lily sighed, eyeing his rear as he walked away.

Rose nodded in agreement, swallowing hard.

"Anyway, just stay here until I give you the signal that it's all clear," Lily commanded, snapping back to attention.

"Wait, what's the signal-" But Lily had already left.

Rushing into action with no plan. How typically Gryffindor. Though Rose was one of the biggest supporters of her house, she sometimes privately wondered how she ended up there instead of Ravenclaw.

She peeked around the bookcase and saw Lily heading towards Madame Pince's desk.

"Madame Pince!" Lily walked up to the old librarian, her tone seemingly urgent.

"I thought I banned you from this library, Ms. Potter! After the incident with the fireworks-" Madame Pince rose threateningly from her seat.

"Oh no, Madame, that was James, my brother. I assure you, I had nothing to do with that horrific accident." Lily looked as innocent as possible.

Rose grinned. Lily had in fact been the mastermind of that particular prank and had set up James as the bait so she could escape without suspect, a fact that James had yet to fully forgive his younger sister for.

"Actually, I wanted to let you know about some people right now behind the stacks. They're not exactly behaving appropriately."
Madame Pince narrowed her eyes. "Are they eating near the books again? No matter how many times I tell them, none of them ever learn to have respect-"

"No, they don't have food, Madame." Lily leaned in, widened her eyes dramatically and spoke in a hushed tone that still carried across the room, making sure everyone's eyes were on her. "They appeared to be… having sexual relations, if you know what I mean."

"Fornication in my library?" Madame Pince all but shrieked and flew out from behind her desk towards the back of the library. Lily was right behind her, shooting a wink at Rose as she passed by.

Rose quickly got up and ran behind the back of the desk. Luckily the signout sheet was right on top of the desk. She quickly scanned it and just as quickly grit her teeth in frustration. No one had checked out her book.

"Well?" Lily said excitedly as she made her way to the back of the library where Rose was waiting.

"Nope," she sighed.

"Aw man." She frowned. "Don't worry, Rose, we'll find it eventually."
Rose just shrugged and nodded along at Lily continued her reassurances as they started heading to the Great Hall.

While she tuned out Lily's new topic of deciding which dress to wear to the party next Friday, she saw Scorpius Malfoy in a hidden corner of the library, diligently working on some assignment with his bookbag next to him filled to the brim with books. Specifically, a certain book with a purple cover that just so happened to look exactly like the book Rose needed.

"Um, hello? Rose?"
Rose suddenly realized she had stopped walking once she spotted the book.

"Oh, you go ahead. I just remember another book I need for my Defense essay so I'll catch up to you in a few minutes," she said nervously.

"If you're sure." Lily eyed her suspiciously but thankfully didn't question her and left.

"Malfoy," Rose called out, walking toward him in what she hoped was an intimidating manner.

He looked up, startled. "Weasley," he acknowledged her. "Can I help you?"

"You have my book," she huffed out, crossing her arms.

"I beg your pardon?" Scorpius seemed a bit amused and unfortunately not at all impressed.

"The purple one, right there in your bag." She pointed at it. "You didn't even check it out of the library; you stole it."

Scorpius stared at her for a moment.

"Yes, Weasley, because it would have been perfectly alright for a Malfoy to have taken out The Dark Arts: Practical Applications and have it on record as well. No red flags raised in the system with that." He smiled humorlessly.

Rose's face turned red. Right, she hadn't thought of that.

"Better question, what do you need with it?"

Rose was beginning to see that maybe it was for the best that she wasn't in Ravenclaw after all since she hadn't actually thought this far ahead.

"Well, why do you have it?" she tried to deflect the question.

"Tell you what, Rose." Scorpius leaned across the table until he was just inches away from her face. Rose tried not to flinch. "You tell me what you need this for and then I might consider lending it to you."

He quickly gathered his things and started to leave, tossing out over his shoulder, "But until then, I guess you'll just have to handle disappointment".

And Rose was left with nothing but a dropped jaw, flushed cheeks, and still no book.