Author's Note: Okay, this just hit me today and I had to write it. This is my first time writing this couple EVER. I hope it's good. Also, this is for the like/admire/love challenge on xoxLewrahxox's Bellatrix forum. (Also, this is 502 words. =[ )

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing but the clothes on my back.

FORBIDDEN

Five years, five months, two weeks and three days.

That's how long she had liked him. Since the first time she saw him on the train station platform. Her father had warned her to not get too friendly. She had obeyed.

Stupidly.

She watched him carefully (stealing looks); and smiled when he laughed. Scorpius Malfoy. Blonde hair, blue eyes… handsome. Irresistible.

Forbidden, like fruit.

He probably never noticed her anyway. All the times she spent trying to get his attention – working as partners in Potions, flicking her red hair over her shoulder, swaying her hips a bit more to grab his fixation… all were probably wasted efforts.

He would never take an interest in her. His family had probably told him that she, too, was forbidden, the scarlet letter.

It pained her to see him with other girls, even though they had relatively no history. The way he'd slip his arm around their hips, pull them in close and kiss their heads… she longed for just his touch, his presence.

She always thought he was looking for more, different. But he always went after the same kind of girls – or they went after him. (Who wouldn't?)

Sometimes, when she felt positive, she'd think that maybe she was the different girl for him. She'd been sorted in Ravenclaw, whilst the rest of her family was in Gryffindor. But maybe that still meant nothing to him – she could change her hair, wear different make-up or transform her school uniform into something slightly sexier, but when it came down to it, she was just another Weasley. Rose Weasley.

How plain.

In her mind, however, she often thought of them in a forbidden love. Running from their families to find happiness, to be with each other; to sit under the stars, their feet buried in sand… to just be. The back-story was that their families were chasing them, so they were constantly on the run. But it was wonderful: they got to see the world, their love deepened, nothing could tear them apart. Romeo and Juliet (but with a much happier ending.)

Rose sighed.

Today was Valentine's Day.

He was single.

She was, too. Not that it was any surprise.

She'd been holding out for him for five years, five months, two weeks and three days.

She looked up from her plate of an uneaten lunch and slowly moved her eyes across the Great Hall until they landed upon him.

He was smiling; she loved it when he smiled. Then he started to laugh. His laugh was so easy-going; the sound echoed across to her and lingered in her mind.

She smiled softly.

A note fluttering down in front of her ended her fantasies. She picked up the note and opened it carefully.

"What's in a name? That by which we call a Rose would smell just as sweet," the note read.

Her head shot up. She looked directly at him. He was staring back.

She stood just as he did.

They met in the middle.