Yeah so... Enjoy? Don't hate me? :(

Professor Flitwick considers the steak-and-kidney pie in front of him. It looks excellent, and he cannot wait for the students to finish settling into their seats as they return from their Easter break so he can dig in. He raises his head - the students have nearly finished trickling in, and then Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy appear in the doorway, hand in hand. The response is instantaneous. Heads turn, jaws drop, whispers roll across the Great Hall and at the same time, Galleons are discreetly passed along the staff table until they find their way into Professor Flitwick's pocket. He smiles complacently and cuts himself an extra large slice of the steak-and-kidney pie - he's earned it.

-TTIHM-

I blush and try to drop Scorpius' hand, but he holds it firmly until we are seated side by side at the Gryffindor table. Everyone is staring. I haven't had this many eyes on me since I was Sorted. I guess I'm being Sorted again, in a way - but instead of choosing Houses, I'm choosing a person. And his family, and all the baggage that comes with it.

"Knew this would happen," Lily says, gesturing at all the dropped jaws. "Well, I'm starving." And she cuts herself an extra-large slice of steak-and-kidney pie - which is excellent tonight, somehow.

-TTIHM-

I climb into bed with Scorpius, as is usual now, and he presses his lips to my temple. "Back to the grind tomorrow."

"NEWTs," I groan. "I'm going to fail, and then I'll be jobless, and then what'll happen? I'll have to live on the streets of Diagon Alley and my family will disown me. Then there really will be nothing good about being a redhead."

"You'll still be hot," offers Scorpius, and I smack his stomach.

"Not helping."

"There's always Magical Maintenance... Although, you don't look quite as good in navy as you do in purple. Pity."

"Scorpius!"

He laughs. "Rose, you know you'll pass, and you'll get that apprenticeship at St. Mungo's, and you'll be a huge success. And even if you don't, do you really think I'd let you live on the streets?"

"Yeah, I'll just move in to your family's manor," I scoff. "Your father will love that."

"I have a whole wing of the manor to myself, and he doesn't have to know." He winks. "Think of all the things we could do..."

"Scorpius."

"Fine," he sighs. "But if you ask me, that's much more fun than working at St. Mungo's. Which we know you will, because you'll do great. It only remains to be seen whether you'll do better than me."

I sit up and look at him, and see the challenge glinting in his eyes. "You think you're going to do better than me on NEWTs?"

"Of course not!" He sounds outraged, and satisfied, I start to lie back against him until he adds, "I know I'll do better than you."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh, it's on, Malfoy."

He smirks. "Bring it, Weasley."

And then - as if no time at all as passed since that challenge - we're kissing hard, and then before I know it both my shirt and his are hanging off the edge of the bed as I lie on top of him. He pulls me up so he can kiss my neck and chest and I sigh with pleasure. This is why, I realize now, I would feel so frustrated after we goaded each other in the past - we really just needed to snog!

Ah, hormones.

-TTIHM-

"So how is it?" Lily asks me at breakfast.

"Hmm?" I respond absently, staring across the Hall at Scorpius who's talking to Slughorn at the teachers' table, trying to sort out his NEWT schedule.

"You know." Lily looks around and lowers her voice. "It."

I focus on her. "What?"

"IT!"

"What the bloody hell are you on about?"

"The sex!" she screeches, and everyone within a five-metre radius falls silent and turns to stare.

"I'm not," I announce, after exactly seven and a half seconds of a very awkward silence, "having any sex."

"Bloody straight you're not," Al calls from a few seats down, and at this, conversation resumes as normal.

"No, but really," Lily whispers.

"Yeah, really."

"So you're really not-"

"Nope."

"So down there you-"

"As impenetrable as the shell of a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

She looks at me with horror. "You're saving it for marriage?"

This time, she's managed to catch the attention of everyone within a ten-metre radius.

"Knew you had a good head on your shoulders, Rosie," nods Al, and giving up at a normal breakfast, I swing my bag over my shoulder and stalk out of the Great Hall.

-TTIHM-

"So what's this I hear about you saving it for marriage?" Scorpius asks me nonchalantly, as we sit together studying in our common room that night. I raise my wand, ready to hex him, until I catch the gleam in his eye.

"Fuck you."

"Not until there's a ring on your finger."

"Sod off."

He laughs. "You know I'm just teasing. If that's how you feel I'll respect it."

"What the bloody hell makes you think I want to wait till marriage?" I cry.

He looks astonished. "Wait, you don't?"

"Of course not!" I exclaim. "For the love of all that's magical, I'm not mummified!"

He lets himself fall back and clasps his hands together. "Oh, thank Merlin."

I roll my eyes at his theatrics and return my attention to my essay on the properties of salamander eggs. We work in silence for a while, until he asks, "So can we do it now?"

I raise my wand at him again. "Scorpius, I swear to Merlin-"

"Why is that always your first response? Have you considered anger management?"

I snort. "Really romantic."

He raises an eyebrow at me. "Really sexy."

"We aren't," I inform him, "doing it now."

He abandons his Charms practice to lean over and wrap his arms around me. "You're cute when you're irritated."

"Great," I mutter. "Then I'm a bloody Crup, aren't I?"

"However," he continues, taking on a more serious tone, "I think this is something we should address."

"Crups?" I ask. "They're fairly well regulated by the Ministry, I mean it's easy to pass them off as dogs-"

"Sex, you idiot."

"Oh." I blink. "Well...I was honest when I said I didn't want to wait till marriage. That seems a little counter-intuitive to me - you commit yourself to a lifetime of sex with someone before knowing if they're any good? What do you do if they're bollocks? You're up shit creek without a paddle then, aren't you?"

"Eloquent as always," he laughs. "But there's still a lot of time between now and then, so... where does that leave us? I don't want to do anything we're both not fully comfortable with."

I pull back and stare at him for a second.

"What?" he asks uncomfortably.

"I love you," I tell him with a kiss, and he looks quite pleased with himself.

"Right so..." he prompts.

"Er..." I think for a second. "I'm comfortable with... most things, I suppose. I just - well, I'm a virgin, as you probably know, so... I'm a little worried about that part."

"Yeah well same with me so-"

"What?!"

He raises an eyebrow. "Rose, I told you this. I haven't-"

"But Albus said, Alexandra-"

He rolls his eyes. "It was just snogging. She likes to exaggerate, and he's a drama queen."

"Oh." I process this. "So you haven't, you know, gotten it in."

"No, and interesting choice of words."

"Well, good," I decide, after thinking a minute. "That rules out the STI risk."

He tips his head back and starts laughing until I smack him.

"Do not laugh at me!" I shriek. "I'm being responsible!"

"Fine," he chuckles.

"And speaking of being responsible," I continue, "I'm pretty sure, if it's any good-"

"-I promise, my dear, I'll make it excellent-"

"-then we aren't going to focus on studying for NEWTs," I finish, ignoring him, and his face falls. "So we probably shouldn't do it before then."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he admits. "I can barely stop myself from snogging you so I can only imagine how hard that'll be."

I look at him in response to this, and he looks back at me and then we're kissing again.

A/N: hello, dears. Do I even have the right to call you that any more? I know I've neglected you shamefully. It was all tied up with not wanting to fail university, I promise. I'm really not happy with this chapter, but I needed to get the ball rolling and post something. Plus hopefully it'll motivate me to write the next one better...? I love you all for your concerned reviews and PM's. I know I'm a spineless Flobberworm and I don't deserve it, but do review.

Love,

Meg

EDIT: totally forgot James had graduated. Brain fart. Thanks to girl wonder for reminding me in a review, that has been changed.