I shook my head, “No, it’s no problem at all. You can talk to me anytime. And Scorpius ─” I scooted even closer to him without thinking “─ if you ever need a friend in this House at all, just know that you always have me.”

Our closeness seemed to make him nervous, but he didn’t move away at all. “Thank you, Helena. That really means a lot.”

It finally reached my turn and I grimaced while everyone looked at me expectantly. I spinned it, cursing Albus internally, and waited for what felt like ages for the stupid thing to stop. It began to slow down and I watched it carefully, until finally it came to a halt. I looked up to see which unlucky bloke it was pointing at and..... oh, look at that.
 

I looked at him skeptically and crossed my arms. "How do you know?"

"Well," he began as he reached out to gently brush a piece of my hair out my face, "because you are beautiful, that's why."

"Oh, hey, Scorpy," she replied snarkily. "Have fun in there?"

He looked at her incredulously. "You locked us in there? What the bloody hell were you thinking?!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's what you get for interrupting my date with Jacob Nott!" she shouted angrily.
 

I turned to Scorpius and glared at him, but he simply shot me an innocent look. "What?" he whispered, trying very obviously not to smile.

"Oh nothing," I whispered back, taking his hand and placing it upside down in my lap so that I could lightly stroke his palm. I saw his expression immediately change and couldn't help but smirk.

He stepped around her to face me, and his cold expression didn't let up until he spoke.
 
"Quite delightful to meet you, young lady." I took his outstretched hand and shook it, hoping he didn't notice my hand trembling. He smiled at me, but I couldn't help but notice that the smile didn't reach his eyes.