I slumped down against the wall, underneath the painting of Sir Cadogan. You know, that crazy knight? According to Harry, Mom, and Dad, he was just as crazy back when they were in school.
"Hello, fair maiden!" he shouted. "Hast thou lost thy way?"
"Oh, shut up," I snapped. I was NOT in the mood.
"Rudeness!" he roared. "Art thou challenging me to a duel, O maiden?"
"Hopeless…" I muttered, walking away.
I was not having a good day. Have you ever had… a bad day? You know, you spill juice on yourself in front of the guy you like. Forgot to study for a quiz. Trip in the hallway. Lose your temper and snap at your best friend, so she ignores you. Yeah, that all happened to me on the same day.
I was storming around the corridors, thinking about how utterly crap my life was today, when I bumped into someone.
"Hey, watch it," Scorpius Malfoy grunted.
I tried to use my grandmother's Glare of Impending Doom on him, but sadly, I didn't inherit it, so Malfoy didn't feel even remotely afraid for his life.
Instead, he just said, "Okay, what's wrong?"
"I don't know what you mean," I replied.
"Weasley, your ears are pink."
Damn. Instead of the Glare of Impending Doom, I inherit the Glowing Pink Ears of Truth. I caved, and said, "I haven't been having a good day, Malfoy."
"Oh? Care to talk?"
I raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Hey, my ears happen to work perfectly."
I sighed, and sunk to the floor. He followed. "Okay, so I tripped during breakfast in front of Tom Wood, and spilled pumpkin juice all over me."
"So? Why do you care what he thinks?"
"I uh…"
"Like him?"
"NO!" But the Glowing Pink Ears of Truth were already up and working again. Stupid genetics.
"Riiiiiiiight," he smirked. His gray eyes flashed with mischief. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
"So then," I continued. "I realize there's a Charms quiz and I never studied."
He cringed. "Ooh, I hate that."
"And then I trip, and well, I kinda lost it and yelled at Frieda… so we're not speaking."
He patted my shoulder. "Don't worry. Tomorrow's a new day."
"Thanks," I smiled, meaning it. It WAS nice to talk to him. Malfoy was a very good listener.
He helped me up, and we started to walk. He bumped into his friend, Leo Parkinson, and Leo said, "Why are you with HER?"
He shrugged. "Rose and I just were talking. Told me about her bad day."
Rose. He didn't call me Weasley. He called me Rose.
"Yeah, Scorpius and I were just talking."
And I called him Scorpius…
Wow, amazing how one bad day can change things.