"Suck it up, Scorp," Rose called out loudly at the boy who was shivering with terror, making the whole class turn towards him with mirth in their eyes. It seemed to him as if they were just waiting for him to make a mistake. Just perfect. As if he needed another reason to not want to do this. He glared at her, angry that she had drawn everyone's attention to him, now. She simply smiled back cheekily, before making a perfect dive into the water. Scorpius sighed, wondering again how she managed to land it every single time even though they had been learning to swim for only a few months.
In fact, almost everyone was better than him at it, somehow. He couldn't understand it at all. Sometimes he questioned if he was cursed with the inability to swim. He could excel in nearly every other class but these swimming lessons were the bane of his life. He absolutely detested the idea of plunging into a pool of water and paddling around in it. Of course, it didn't help that he was horrible at it, and that their teacher seemed to keep picking him out for his terrible swimming skills. Scorpius was firmly of the belief that one could simply have used a floating charm to stay afloat, or a bubble-head charm to breathe under water. He didn't see why he had to endure this torture every week, that too in front of Rose.
That Gryffindor could certainly be persuasive if she wanted too, though. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that he ever so slightly had a crush on her. Seeing her call him from the pool, he took a deep breath again, even as the teacher stared indignantly at him. Then, he jumped, hoping he would make it work, for once at least.
Instead of the beautiful, graceful dive that Rose had accomplished, he fell to the water with a splat. The cold water surrounded him and he shuddered, all while trying to reach his head above the water level. He could hear some laughing in the distance, in voices he could recognise as some his classmates, even as he struggled to be afloat. It took him a while to do so. When he finally hit the surface again, he was heaving and nearly out of breath. Rose looked over at him, concerned. He shook his head to let her know he was fine, and she nodded back.
Scorpius wished he could be better at swimming, in that moment. Rose had looked disappointed in him, and he did not want to see that expression in her eyes again. It wasn't going to be a one-day thing, he knew, though he was quite sure his father would support him if he asked. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it however. He decided he wanted to try anyway. It was the least he could do.
Notes: For TGS' 12 days of Christmas Challenge! Day 7