Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters. They are all JKR's
I, Rose Weasley, am a matchmaker and I am very proud of that fact. Every match I've ever made has come about and none of them have ended as of yet. Since I've been doing this from about the time I was nine years old, that is saying something. I was the first to see that Teddy was head of heels for my cousin, Victoire. They are married now. James would still be all tongue tied around Shannon Thomas if I hadn't stepped in and done something about it. I was never wrong.
It was my seventh year, when I decided who was to next benefit from my kindness. It happened one night at the Ravenclaw table. Lucas and Lana Scamander, my two best mates who happen to be twins, and me were talking about my most recent match, my idiot brother and Alice Longbottom. They were of course destined. Both Gryffindors and our parents went to school together. They grew up together. In fact they had been just friends for years, completely blind as to how perfect they were for each other until I came along and sorted it all out for them.
"So Rosie, who's your next victim?" Lucas laughed, responding to the pleased look I kept shooting Hugo and his new girlfriend. Both had dark blonde hair and light hazel eyes. Even their personalities seemed the same until you got to know them. He took after his father, always teasing and curious.
"Victim? They are not victims. I am just helping out. How can you say that?" I asked, a little put out by the accusation.
"Maybe because they never ask for your 'help', but then again I could be wrong…" Lana's dreamy voice drifted off. She was more like her mother, half her mind always somewhere else. Once we were sure she was done we went to continue, but didn't make it very far. Sometime during the conversation we were joined by Him.
"Or maybe you could be right. Most people don't appreciate it when someone goes poking around their personal lives, no matter how well meaning that person is," the blonde boy but in, setting his tray down right next to mine before looking pointedly at me. Scorpius Malfoy really irritated me.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I snapped, scooting over so that I wasn't sitting so close to him. Why he had to always sit next to me I had yet to figure out. I suspected he did it just to annoy me, something he did all too frequently.
"Well Rosie, he does have a point," Lucas chimed in. I glared at him.
"You do tend to be a little on the nosey side…" Lana decided now to join the land of the living. Great timing that girl had, unrivaled really. Whose friends were they anyway?
"I have never had any complaints from all these people who supposedly resent me," I stated, clearing the matter up at once. Or so I thought.
"Well yeah, when you're related to them, sure they're not going to say anything," Malfoy smirked. I hated that bad-boy smirk, almost as much as I hated it when he had a point. He really should be feeling the death rays I was sending his way about now.
"How would you know? I don't see any of your family around," It really was a low blow, I knew that, but he pushed me.
Everyone knew his family all but disowned him when he didn't make Slytherin then proceeded to become friends with a few "mud bloods". Some of which were cousins of mine. He simply looked at me, hurt and anger crossing his face, before standing.
"You crossed a line, Rose." And with that he turned and marched out of the great hall, leaving his barely touched diner sitting on the table. I cringed and thought about going after him, but couldn't bring myself to actually do it. Why can't I just control my big mouth?
"You hurt his feelings again," Lana glared at me. She also liked to state the obvious.
"Nice Rose. You know better than that," Lucas scolded, while Lana just continued to give me an accusing sort of look.
I just hung my head and said I'd apologize later. I couldn't help it, he just seem to bring out the worst in me. I still remember my Dad telling me to stay away from him and beat him on every test that day at King's Cross all those years ago. I tried, really I did. I was just as surprised as anyone when the sorting hat yelled out "Ravenclaw!" after sitting on his head for a full five minutes. In fact, it probably would have been the most shocking sorting that night, if my cousin Albus hadn't gotten into Slytherin. I remember thinking how I just had to get into Gryffindor after that. But no, apparently I was too smart for my own good. I got Ravenclaw too. I love it here of course, the sorting hat is almost never wrong. Even Albus fits in where he's at. But how was I supposed to avoid someone when we were housemates? Not to mention the fact that he has to always be around me for some reason I have, as of yet, failed to figure out. At least I could keep the second half of my promise; I was determined to beat him on every test. Then the stupid git had to go and prove he deserved the house he got. I probably wouldn't have cared so much if I had ever actually seen him open a book. Well, a text book at least. He's always in the library, reading some useless novel or other. I have never seen him actually study.
When I first found out he was acing every test I assumed he was cheating. I mean how else can someone do that without studying? But after two years of finding no proof, and believe me I tried, I had to give in and admit he was just that smart. After that I studied twice as hard and pretty soon we were rivals. Of course with me studying all the time and him having so much free time since he obviously didn't need to, he had me beat in popularity. He soon became the most poputar boy of Hogwarts and I was the mousey little bookworm. That didn't stop me though, I was determined.
Around fifth year our rivalry took on a whole new level. We were both prefects a fact that made him particularly cheerful, thus more annoying, for some reason. If I took an extra credit assignment, so did he. More than once this forced us to work together, much to my annoyance and his sick delight. I just knew he was doing it to annoy me. When he joined the quidditch team as a chaser, I joined as keeper. I still get a thrill whenever I stop one of his goals at practice. It even had the added benefit of raising my popularity status to his level, something else to compete over. He really seemed to hate it when all his guy friends wanted to hang out with me too, so that was an added bonus. We somehow managed to overcome being teammates and took our little competition to the field. The captains never complained though. With each of us trying to outdo the other we played twice as hard as any of the other team members.
I had gotten caught up in my thoughts so it took me a moment to realize that Lana was continuing to look at me strangely for a few minutes before changing the subject.
"So, do you guys have practice tonight?"
For a second I thought she was reading my thoughts, but then remembered that was impossible. Well, maybe not impossible, but I highly doubt that Lana is that good a legimens. I still avoided her eyes though.
"No, the bloody captain decided we needed a break to study for the exams. Like he ever studies anyway," I grumbled grumpily. That's right, stupid Malfoy got captain. It still irritated me to no end. I don't like losing. And the fact that he can order me around on the field doesn't help matters. I can still hear his announcement from last week.
"I think we could all use a little extra time to study with exams coming up and all."
He hadn't looked at me, and his tone of voice hadn't given him away, but I just knew he was implying that I in particular needed to study. It sure wasn't him he was talking about. Nobody believed me of course. We're all Ravenclaws; of course we choose studying over quidditch when it's time for the end of the year exams.
Lucas seemed to think for a minute before deciding that maybe this wasn't the best subject to change to.
"So are you going to answer my question? Who's next to benefit from your wonderful powers of matchmaking?" Apparently he chose to act like nothing had happened. I liked that route.
Only I just couldn't stop thinking about how much Malfoy had irritated me over the years. He always popped up unexpectedly, as far as I could tell it was only to annoy the heck out of me, like tonight. He was determined to best me at everything. He simply would not leave me alone. I suspected that's why he never had a girlfriend, despite being so popular. I suddenly had a brilliant idea.
"Oh, I think I have just the person," I grinned, choosing to completely ignore the confused and maybe a little afraid expressions on my friends' faces.
Now all I have to do was find a good enough girl who was willing to date Scorpius Malfoy…