"SCORPIUS MALFOY!" He flinched at the sound of his name being yelled by Rose Weasley as she entered the great hall.
"You've really done it this time," Albus Potter, his best mate said from across the table. Rose marched up to the Slytherin table where they both sat.
"Hello, Rose," Albus said, looking up from his plate. "Lovely day isn't it."
"Actually, I'd disagree about that point. Scorpius, can I talk to you for a minute," Rose asked deceivingly sweetly. She gripped his arm and pulled him from the hall.
"Am I in trouble?" he asked innocently.
"That's usually when someone shouts your name, yes," Rose responded. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"No, I don't have any idea," Scorpius said with an innocent expression.
"Prat," Rose muttered and Scorpius smirked. "You know exactly what you did."
"Fine. If you mean scaring away a certain dark haired Hufflepuff, I know exactly what you mean," Scorpius relented.
"Anything else you can think of that would warrant the anger of Rose Weasley?"
"It wouldn't take much," Scorpius muttered.
"WHAT?!" roared Rose.
"Nothing! There's nothing else," Scorpius said genuinely.
Rose relaxed slightly. "I was checking to be sure you didn't scare away any other blokes."
Scorpius smirked. "I make no promises."
"Why?" Scorpius just stared at her.
"Why what?"
"Why did you scare off Thomas?"
"He was a prat," Scorpius answered.
"No. I understood when you and Albus scared off Sheldon. He was a prat. But Albus approved of Thomas. Why didn't you?"
Scorpius shrugged, not meeting her eyes. He knew why, but wasn't sure how to tell her.
"Scorp," she said gently, "I really liked him. He was almost perfect."
"That's his problem," Scorpius countered. "He was too perfect."
"Oh, he was too perfect? Are you saying that I didn't deserve him?!" Rose's anger was growing again and Scorpius hated it when she was mad at him. And he'd decided on the perfect way to shut her up. With his mouth.
They were standing close enough, in the corridor outside the great wall. His face descended on hers, but was interrupted before it reached its destination. His cheek stung, and her hand was still in the air. She looked just as shocked as he felt. She'd slapped him!
"I have not had my first kiss thanks to you. But I do not want my first kiss to be a heat of the moment thing," she explained slowly. "I want it to mean something." She looked as if she wanted to say something more, but decided against it and headed off down the hallway. He could do nothing but stand there with his jaw hanging open.
She'd almost reached the corner before she turned. "Oh, and Scorpius?" he expected some snide comment like, "Shut your mouth or you'll catch flies." But she said something even more baffling. "Offense is the best defense." Then she disappeared around the corner.
"What does that even mean? Offense is the best defense?" Scorpius questioned. Albus just shrugged.
"Beats me. I love Rose, but that doesn't mean I understand my cousin. Hugo usually does though. You could always ask him." Albus answered.
Scorpius continued to puzzle over her phrase for the rest of the day, with no luck. He looked for Hugo at dinner, but he wasn't there. Neither was Rose.
"Al, will you go with me to the Gryffindor common room?" Scorpius pleaded.
Al shook his head. "Can't. I have to do the Charms essay. Unless you wanted to let me copy?" Albus's eyes took on a Slytherin glint. Scorpius shook his head.
"Nope. Maybe yours would be done if you spent more time in the library with Rose and I."
"Maybe you won't be spending more time with her in the library if you don't find out what her message means." Scorpius groaned.
"Thanks for reminding me. I'll be heading up to my death now." Scorpius headed towards the Gryffindor common room. Once he got there, he realized he had a problem. He didn't know the Gryffindor password. He knew the Slytherin password, of course, and had gotten better at the Ravenclaw riddles in his visits to Rose. He'd never had a reason to visit Gryffindor, and had only learned the Hufflepuff password because of his need to convince a certain dark haired Hufflepuff not to date a certain red-headed Ravenclaw.
"Oi! You too!" Scorpius called to two first years in Gryffindor robes. "Tell me the password to your common room."
"That's Scorpius Malfoy!" one of them whispered in awe.
"I've heard of him! His dad was a death eater, and he'll probably hex us if we don't do what he says!" the other responded. The first nodded.
"Passy Passy Password!" they sang in unison. The Gryffindor portrait opened and Scorpius entered. About half the students were still down at dinner, so it was easy to find Hugo Weasley playing Wizard's Chess by the window. Scorpius strode over to him.
"Hugo Weasley!" he said.
"Scorpius Malfoy," came the calm response. Hugo didn't even look up from his chess game.
"I have a question for you," Scorpius said. Hugo nodded and he continued. "What does 'Offense is the best defense' mean?"
Now Hugo glanced up at him. "Who did you hear that from?" he asked curiously.
"Rose. Which is why I hoped you'd know what it means. Do you?" Hugo nodded.
"Have you been playing chess with Rose?" Hugo asked.
Scorpius let out a very unMalfoylike snort. "No. We haven't been playing chess. What does it mean?"
"Well, it's something about chess that our father taught to us. It means that while you can try to prevent the other player from attacking you all you want, the best is when you take one of their pieces." Scorpius nodded. That made sense, in the chess sense. But what in the world did it have to do with him? Rose wanted him to kill her pawns? That made no sense. Much like girls. Maybe it was a metaphor. Wait, obviously it was a metaphor.
Scorpius realized he had been staring off into space too long.
"Thank you, Hugo. You've been semi-helpful."
Scorpius walked towards the library, still stewing over how in the world his life related to a game of chess.
"Figured it out yet?" asked a voice behind him.
He turned to Rose and shook his head. She looked almost sad. "That's a pity."
"I asked Hugo about it."
"Oh, did you?" she looked curious. "He probably told you about chess, right?"
Scorpius nodded. Rose was biting her lip, like she wanted to tell him exactly what she meant. Scorpius hoped she would, because he was done with Ravenclaw riddles.
"You know we're going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Rose prodded, giving him a pleading look. Scorpius didn't know what to do with this information. Was it supposed to be another piece of the puzzle? He thought for a few moments, but had no idea. Rose watched him with anticipation. Finally, she gave up.
"I'll see you in potions tomorrow, I guess," she said gloomily. She headed off in the other direction. Scorpius stood there, still stewing over the pieces to the puzzle. They were almost there.
"Rose!" he called. She stopped and turned. He jogged up to her. "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" She bit her lip.
"As friends?" Scorpius started.
"No. I meant as a date." Rose grinned.
"I thought you'd never ask."
AN: I own none of the characters. Only my day dreams that this is based off of. Which did not involve Scorpius Malfoy. Let me know what you think! This is just a little one-shot, because I'm going through a Rose/Scorpius phase right now. Please review/favorite.