XVII: Yin And Yang

The next morning Rose woke up to find Scorpius watching her sleep. Her eyes widened and she said, "What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"Being romantic. You look cute when you sleep." He said, grinning.

"Scor… what's going on?"

"Remember how yesterday you said I couldn't be cheesy? So I'm watching you sleep and being there to tell you you're beautiful when you wake up."

"Honey, I said cheesy, not creepy." Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Did you just call me honey?" 

"Oh shut up. And get out so that I can get ready." 

"Whatever you say… honey." He said, winking at her. Rose threw a pillow at him out of frustration but it ended up hitting the door and falling onto the floor since he managed to escape. She muttered curses at him under her breath and got ready.

When she went downstairs, he was sitting on the sofa in front of the empty fireplace. She shivered and, pointing her wand at the fireplace (from a distance), said, "Incendio." But missed the fire and instead caught the edge of the magazine Scorpius was reading. Scorpius screamed and dropped the magazine before stamping out the fire and using his own Aguamenti which resulted in a very soggy magazine. He turned around to find Rose, down on all fours, laughing so hard that there were tears streaming down her cheeks and her laughter had turned silent. 

"Not. Funny. Rose." 

"Very. Funny. Scorpius." She said, still laughing.

"You're right." He said, unexpectedly. Rose immediately stopped and looked at him, worried.

"I am?"

"Yeah of course you are. You're obviously right and I'm obviously wrong. That's how we're like yin and yang. We can't both be right. We can't be two yins. Yin and yang is harmony." He said. And Rose replied with the only thing that came to mind:

"Are you quoting Castle?"

"Quoting what?"

"Castle. It's a TV show. Television. Remember to show you a bunch of shows when we go on break." She said, walking towards the door.

"Oh speaking of break, I was thinking, maybe we should tell… people when we go on break." Scorpius said, getting up and going towards the door: Following her.

"Assuming we last that long." The words tumbled out before she could stop them. She froze, her hand on the handle.

"Well yeah, obviously." Scorpius said, seemingly unaffected by the words (notice the usage of the word seemingly). Rose relaxed and opened the door, turning around and giving Scorpius a warm smile before walking out. He went out behind her and they went to breakfast.

Outside the Great Hall, Rose turned to Scorpius and said, "You know… Albus kind of told me that apparently the whole school— or pretty much everyone who matters— knows about us. So I think we can walk in together."

"Why, Ms. Weasley, I thought you'd never ask." Scorpius said, after a moment of contemplation. Rose grinned and they entered the Hall arm-in-arm. It felt like a grand act but everyone just looked up at them and then went back to eating. And the couple had to admit that they were slightly disappointed by the fact that nobody even faked surprise.

That is, until everyone in the Great Hall did a double take with their jaws unhinged.

Satisfied with this reaction, Rose pulled away and, grinning at Scorpius, went to the Gryffindor table while Scorpius went to the Slytherins.

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After a long day of school, Rose and Scorpius were on either side of the Black Lake. Rose with Fred and Scorpius with Charles. They were both skipping stones on the water's surface and just conversing with their friends (and, in Rose's case, cousin). They knew that the other was sitting on the other end of the Lake— they weren't blind— but they knew that they couldn't disregard the ones close to them just on the account that they were now together in a not-so-private relationship. But the conversations on either end were quite different.

Charles and Scorpius

"How come lover boy is without lover girl?" Charles said, grinning at Scorpius when he sat down on the grass beside him.

"That's because one, I'm not in love and, two, I need some best friend time."

"I'm touched. Practising for cheesy time with Weasley later?"

"Yeah. Did it work?"

"Just add a little more emotion and you're golden. So, what's up, Scor? How's life on the committed side of the spectrum?"

"Yeah no, it's good." Scorpius said and Charles chuckled, earning a curious look from Scorpius. He elaborated on his chuckle, saying, "You just said 'yeah no' so I'm inclined to ask what's wrong."

"And you think chuckling somehow conveys the question?"

"Well… no. But it just reminded me of… never mind. So, what's wrong in Scoroseville. Don't ask: I just made that up. It just came to me. I'm really creative that way."

"Sure." Scorpius said, dragging out the u. Then he sighed and continued, "Anyway… that's not the point. The point is that I think this relationship is a little one-sided."

"Oh, Merlin. Here we go."

"What? What do you mean here we go?"

"Why do you think it's one-sided anyway?"

"Because! I'm the one being cheesy. Not her! Me. I'm the one who goes around pulling her out of difficult situations. I'm the one who—"

"Didn't make the first move?"

"Oh right. Because making the first move means something."

"Think about it, Scor. You were her first kiss. That's a pretty big sacrifice after seventeen years. She must seriously trust you if she's willing to lose kiss virginity to you. Maybe she's just not very good at showing it."

"Maybe. But you know what she said today? I told her that we should probably tell our families on Christmas break— because it's not something you share over letters— and she said, and I quote, 'assuming we last that long'. Assuming we last that long! How is that a good sign!"

"Really? You want a sign from the universe to prove it was a good idea to get together with Rose Weasley? Do you know how ridiculous you sound?"

"Why are you defending her?!"

"I'm not! I'm just saying that this is all meaningless speculation and that you need to trust this girl a little!"

"I do trust her! But she just doesn't open up. She never says what's on her mind and has a comeback for nearly everything. It's kind of… tiresome." 

"You are such a Ted Mosby." 

"A who?" 

"Who? What? No one. I didn't say anything." Charles said quickly and earned an eye-roll from Scorpius. Then he sighed and said, "Listen, Scor, here's the deal: Rose Weasley, as much as I make fun of your relationship, she's different from the others. She hasn't gone through this stuff before. You can't make her fear other relationships that come her way. And, as much as I hate saying it, you two actually look pretty good together. And if you tell anyone I said that, I will deny it until I die. So just give her a chance. Give this thing you have a chance. What you two have doesn't happen very often, you know."

"Wow." Scorpius said, after a long pause. "That was actually… heartwarming and real. It wasn't as if you were joking around or anything. Wow. Okay, yeah. Thanks, Charles." He said, giving Charles a warm smile.

Fred and Rose

"Hey. Long day?" Fred asked when Rose sat down on the grass beside him.

"Yes. So long. So tiring." Rose replied, picking up a stone and chucking it onto the Lake's surface.

"How come you're not with Silvergreen?"

"Really? Silvergreen? Is that what you're calling him?"

"Well… yes."

"Okay. I guess anything's better than lover boy."

"Who calls him that?"

"Charles Zabini."

"Ah."

"Fred, you're sort of smart when it comes to relationships, aren't you?"

"I consider myself a bit of an expert, yes. Why?"

"Am I doing the right thing? I mean it's a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. It's a Malfoy and a Weasley. There are so many reasons why we shouldn't be together."

"And yet you are."

"Which is why I'm questioning it."

"Well I think you could choose to follow your head or you could choose to follow your heart. At the end of the day, it's really a question of heart versus head isn't it? Logic versus emotion."

"But I don't know what to follow. I mean we're literally fighting the odds here."

"That's what all the great love stories are about, aren't they? Beating the odds?"

"Okay now you're definitely quoting Castle."

"That's not the point. The point is that if you choose not to look at the odds, you won't give them a chance. Listen, Rosie, here's the deal, you have two options here. You could listen to logic and dump the guy or you could go with your heart and see where it leads you. And if you end up heartbroken, at least you won't end up that way because you didn't try and it breaks your heart to see him sad. You'll end up that way knowing you tried and you won't have the huge question of 'what if' following you around." Fred finished and Rose didn't say anything for a while. Finally she said, "Can I just confess something?"

"Sure."

"I'm scared, Fred. I've never been in a relationship this serious. I've been in some that were not serious at all and so there was never anything beyond holding hands. But this, with Scorpius, it's something else. And I'm scared of it. I don't want to be scared. I hate the fact that I am. But I can't help it. I'm scared of stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm scared of the odds and of logic. But most of all, I'm scared of the relationship. And I'm scared that I may fall hard for him. And I like him. I really do. He's so amazing in so many ways. He makes me feel comfortable and trustworthy in so many ways and I don't think I could ever tell him this. Because I'm scared of what he'll do if he knows that he's gotten under my skin."

"You know what, Rose? I think he already knows."

"Really?"

"Come on, Rose. You have to give the guy a little credit. He's not that stupid, you know. I mean, he has been making out with you for quite a while now. If he doesn't know that he's gotten under your skin then there really is no hope for your kids in the brain cells department."

"Oh shut up!" Rose said, punching his arm.

"Ow!" Fred feigned hurt and Rose rolled her eyes. Then there was silence and Rose finally said, "Thanks, Fred. You know, I hate to admit it, but you kind of are an expert."

"Anytime, little sister. And I know I am." He said, winking. Rose let out a laugh and changed the conversation topic to Zonko's which Fred was more than happy to talk about.

That night, Rose and Scorpius were studying in the common room as usual when Rose looked up and said, "Scor?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you look at me as I say this?"

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked, looking up at Rose, with a furrowed brow when he realised how serious she sounded.

"Nothing's wrong. That's the point. Everything's right. And, I know I'm terrible at this, but I think I know that even if we're a pair of yins or a pair of yangs, we can make this work. Because we can always make it yin yang even with there being a scarcity of one." She finished and took a deep breath, waiting for him. After a long pause, he finally said, "Where is all this coming from exactly?"

"Well I'm not the most open person in the world. And because of that, it may seem like I don't trust you or that I'm apprehensive about our relationship but… I'm not. And I don't want you to think that I am. Because I don't want things like misunderstandings ruining what we have. Because, I don't know about you, but this doesn't happen to me very often. And because I'm new to this, it's—" But Scorpius would never find out what it was because he cut her off by kissing her, hard. She was taken by momentary surprise before she responded with equal enthusiasm. Her palms cupped his face and his hands migrated down from her face to her waist and held her there, playing with the ends of her hair while she played with the ends of his when her arms encircled his neck. Finally they broke apart, both of them breathing hard. Finally, once they had each managed to regain breath, Scorpius said, "It doesn't happen very often to me either. But it is now. And I'm glad that it's with you."

"Being cheesy again?" Rose said, letting out a small laugh.

"Nope. Just truthful." He said, smiling at her and going back to his work, leaving her speechless.

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Okay this was hands down one of my favourite chapters to write. I really loved writing it :D And I actually really liked the chapter. Originally it was supposed to be filled with Scorpius' cheesiness. But I liked how it turned out. All deep and everything :P

Anyway... I hope you liked it too! :D And there was a reference to Castle (duh) and a reference to How I Met Your Mother in the Charles/Scorpius part :D speaking of which: Charles made up a place called SCOROSEville :D give it up for him :D I love Charles. I really do.

I'M REWATCHING CASTLE!! AAAHH!! <3 Caskett<3 :')

Anyway... VOTE, FOLLOW AND COMMENT!! :D THANKS FOR READING!! :D I wuv you :D :*

~RFM

P. S. On the side is a photo of Rose Weasley done by yours truly :D Not very good but I felt inspired to make it :D