"Rose….Rose…ROSE!"

"Gah! What?" I said as I looked up from my deck of muggle cards.

Everyone (Lily Potter, Alice Longbottom, Ari Price, and Kelsie Spinnet) held up their spoons and laughed in unison.

"Ugh. You guys know I suck at this game." I said as thrusted down my hand of cards.

It was my third year. We were playing "Spoons" (you'll soon find out what it is, if you're wondering), a Muggle game Lily told us about, in the courtyard outside. I walked by them playing after Defense Against the Dark Arts. They invited me to play with them, stating that it's a lot more fun with more than four people. I don't do well with hand-eye coordination games, but I have no idea what force of nature allowed myself to say yes, but at Hogwarts, things happen.

"You're the one that agreed to join us." Said Alice with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah…so?" I pouted.

Everyone laughed (again) at me.

"Do you still wanna play?" said Kelsie as she held up a messy stack of our cards.

"Only if you guys go easy on me for once."

"How much easier can we possibly get? Yell "ROSE, GRAB A SPOON' when it's time? What fun is that?" said Ari.

"I have an idea that will distract us from the pathetic skills of Rose." Interrupted Lily. "Rose, turn around and the first person you see, invite them over to play with us."

"But-"

"No buts, Rose." Said Ari.

"But-"

"I SAID no buts!"

"But-"

"ROSE!"

"But we don't have another spoon!" I said as fast as I could.

"Ugh. Hold on…" groaned Ari as she scanned the courtyard and pulled out her wand. "Accio spoon!"

"Oi!" yelled someone a sitting on bench with his lunch a few yards away.

"What the-" I was interrupted by a flash of silver.

"There," smirked Ari, "NOW we have another spoon."

"Ugh. I'm too scared to turn around now. What if it's a Seventh Year, or a teacher, or James? You know how competitive James is. Or worse, it could be-"

Again, I was interrupted. But this time, by four pairs of hands twisting me around and pushing me into the eye of the courtyard. There, right below me, was Scorpius Malfoy. We met each other's eyes as he quickly got up, dusted himself off, and threw me one of his petty insults.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley."

"Erm, I-I-I'm…." I quickly turned around to Lily, Alice, Ari, and Kelsie snickering uncontrollably.

"What, dared by your stupid little friends to tell me off? Don't even start because I can top anything you could say." sneered Scorpius with his nose high in the air.

"I actually…well what I was going to say…what I'm being forced to say…" I glanced at the girls again, who were gesturing me to invite him over while getting out the last of their little laughs.

"Do you want to play spoons with me, Ari, Lily, Alice, and Kelsie?" managed to say.

Scorpius just looked me in the eye with utter confusion. "And why on earth would I want to play a stupid game with pee-wee Gryffindors anyway?" remarked Scorpius.

I fought with myself for a decent answer. "What, are you too scared you'll get caught with us 'pee-wee' Gryffindors and lose your 'reputation'? Or are you just too scared to lose to a bunch of girls?"

"Psh. That's the oldest comeback in the book." He said as he glanced over at where I was sitting. "But sure. I'll play with you. But, when I win, what's in it for me."

At that point I was just there to get the yes from Malfoy, so without an answer, I dragged him over to the new circle the girls had now formed.

"Welcome, Scorpius, to the game of spoons!" said Alice in a big and obnoxious way.

"So ANYWAY, what's in it for me when I win?" continued Scorpius.

"The opportunity to gloat over your success of beating four Gryffindors at a game of spoons. Duh!" explained Lily in a matter-of-factly way.

"Wow, Lily. You're so funny" said Malfoy sarcasticly.

"Fine, if you win, I'll do all of next weeks homework for you, since we're in nearly all the same classes." I rolled my eyes as I volunteered.

"But if you LOSE," said Kelsie as she exchanged looks with Ari, Alice, and Lily. "you have to peck Rose on the lips."

I was mortified. I never thought I would ever think this, but I was 100% on Malfoy's side. I'm the top student in all of my classes. A few extra assignments won't be a big deal. I glanced at Malfoy, who glanced right back at me.

"…..Fine. Since I haven't lost at anything, EVER, I'll do it. Now how do you play this game anyway? It looks too Muggleish.

"That's because it IS a Muggle game, genius. Now, this is a deck of cards. Each card has a picture and a number on it. I'll eliminate the Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Jokers since it gets confusing if you don't have a standard Muggle background." Explained Lily as she dealt the cards out to each player. " Anyway, I will be the dealer. I will shuffle these cards and start to pass them around in a circle. Ari is at the end of the circle, so she's the dumpster. You must have four cards in your hand but any cards you don't want, just pass them on. If you get four cards of the same shape and number, you grab a spoon in the center of the table. If you notice the person grabbing a spoon and you don't have a full suit, you grab a spoon, too. There are only five spoons in the center of the table. The one who doesn't grab a spoon is eliminated until someone is the winner. Got it?"

"Erm…yeah. I think so."

"Great! Let's start."

After the first round, it was pretty obvious that I would be the first one to be eliminated. But I was okay with it. I really just wanted to watch Malfoy and see how he did. He was actually pretty good. It's probably his amazing wand skills. Wait, that sounded totally wrong. Crap, now I have this disturbing image in my head. Crap, crap, crap get it ou-"Awww man." Cried Ari as she sat down next to me.

"You may be in luck, Rose. That Scorpius is actually pretty good."

A two more rounds came and went. The final round was here and I'm pretty sure all six of us were in shock. It was between Malfoy and Lily. I was sitting closest to Lily and she was muttering things I didn't even know a first year like her knew. Lily must have shuffled up the cards really well because the game was still going for quite a while. After what seemed like a lifetime, Lily screamed so loud it made me jump. For a second, I thought she had lost and was really angry to have lost to Malfoy, but boy was I wrong. She jumped for joy all around the courtyard screaming, "I beat a third year! I beat a third year!"

I was mortified and started sweating all over. I looked at Malfoy, who was striding right on over to me. I started to talk, "It's okay, Malfoy. You really don't have to-" but I was interrupted by the soft lips of Scorpius Malfoy. I didn't wrap my arms around him or anything, but I felt his hands reach my waist. I closed my eyes and allowed him to kiss me a little bit more. After what I think was ten minutes, we pulled apart.

"That-That wasn't really a peck."

"I know." Smiled Malfoy

"Wait, What?" I felt four pairs of eyes on my back as I talked to him.

"Do you think I'd really agree to play with four pee-wee Gryffindors if there wasn't a reason."

"Erm, well…wait. So you-you like me?" I breathlessly asked?

"Yes. I do Rose."

"Well, in that case," I smiled and gathered my books. "I'm starved. You?"

"Yes, but, you like me, too? Asked Malfoy.

"Yes. I do Malfoy." I said, half mocking him, but with 100% honesty."

"I'm glad, Rose. Now, next week I have this big essay due in Slughorn's class that I haven't even started. And my Defence Against the Dark Arts paper-"

"But Scorpius, you didn't win."

"Of course I did, Rose. I won you."