AN: The Quidditch League is back guys, and here it is - my round 1 entry.

QLFC Round 1 – Getting to Know Your Teammates.

Write about your Chaser 3's favourite pairing/character – Scorpius/Rose.

Prompts;

2. (word) beginning

7. (spell) Expelliarmus

12. (word count) 1825

Strong

xxx

'Cause when I'm not with you I'm weaker.

Is that so wrong?

Is it so wrong

That you make me strong?

xxx

Dammit, Albus! Rose thought to herself for the third time that day. She was in Defence Against the Dark Arts, a class in which she normally worked with her cousin, and he still hadn't been able to come back to class so she was stuck working with Scorpius Malfoy instead. Granted, it was her fault Albus wasn't in lesson, he'd been showing off in Quidditch try-outs the previous night and she had shouted at him to stop and made him fall off his broom, but she figured he shouldn't have been showing off in the first place.

"Well, do you want to go first or shall I?" a sharp voice, Scorpius' voice, said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I'll go first," she told him, not quite certain that he wouldn't try anything funny. Rose knew she was being irrational, he was friends with Albus after all, but she couldn't help remembering the stories her father had told her about Scorpius' family.

He nodded and walked further across the room, wand out in front of him, ready to cast a shielding charm if needs be. Rose shook herself before facing him. Okay, Rose, you can do this, it's only a simple spell… she encouraged herself mentally, bracing against anything that could go wrong. For all of her mum's brains she'd got, she'd never been very good at simple spells, especially when they were offensive.

"Expelliarmus!" Rose yelled, flicking her wand at the boy in front of her, a look of pure determination on her face. She'd managed to cast the spell, which she was happy about, but it was so weak Scorpius barely had to lift his wand to cast a shield charm before it fizzled out. Shyly she looked up noticing with embarrassment the look of disbelief on his face. Clearly he didn't know about her weakness for spells.

"Rose, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Scorpius asked, there wasn't any sarcasm in his voice but Rose decided to treat him as if he were being sarcastic.

"Of course I do," she told him sternly, "I'm not an idiot you know!" Scorpius just nodded and returned to his stance, ready for Rose to try and hit him.

"Expelliarmus!" Rose yelled again, but this time the spell was even weaker than before. Scorpius didn't bother putting a shield us as the spell did little more than make the wand fall out of his hand and next to his feet.

"Are you okay, Rose?" he asked walking over to her, "I've never seen you look so unsure of what you're doing. I don't mind helping you."

Rose was struck dumb; never in a million years had she thought Scorpius would willingly help her. Maybe she should have listened to her cousin and Lysander when they said that Scorpius really wasn't so bad.

He could have an ulterior motive of course. Maybe he wants to make fun of you! Rose's inner voice screamed at her until she told it to shut up. This time she was actually going to give Scorpius a chance. Besides it wasn't like he didn't already have material from her weak spell, if he was going to laugh at her he would have done it already.

"Yeah, I… I'm just not that good at offensive spells, I never have been," Rose told him in a small voice. Even though she'd decided to give him a shot, she didn't particularly like telling him her weaknesses.

Scorpius chuckled, "That's it?" he asked, "Merlin, the look on your face made it seem like you'd faked every bit of magic you'd ever done in your life! You'll get the hang of it, Rose."

She glared at him; how would he know whether she'd get the hang of it or not and how dare he laugh at her. She turned to gather he things and leave the room when she felt his hand on her wrist.

"Sorry," he said with a sheepish grin, "it's just amusing that you'd get worked up about it so much. My dad's told me stories about your mum, about how she'd always just keep doing something until it was perfect, and I'm just surprised you're not more like her."

Rose wasn't quite sure she believed him, but she put her things down all the same. "I am my own person you know," she spat defensively before picking up her wand and practicing the movement of the spell, "and how would you know whether I'll get the hang of it or not?"

Scorpius laughed again, "Because everyone always does. It took me months to get the hang of flying when I was younger, but I did, and it took my mum until third year to get the hang of potions. Everyone gets the hang of things in their own time," he told her. Rose realised that he probably didn't have an ulterior motive, from the stories she'd heard about his family he would never have told her anything even remotely personal if he was just going to humiliate her. "Now come over here," he added, "you're moving your wand all wrong."

Rose moved over to him and watched as he demonstrated the correct wand movement. He even went so far as to show her what she was doing and how she needed to change. He reminds me of my mum, she chuckled to herself. As she worked with the boy her father had told her to keep away from, she wondered how he'd turned out so different from the stories she'd heard of his father. Had he defied his father's wishes, or were the rumours she'd heard about his father changing true? Rose soon got brought out of her thoughts as Scorpius instructed her to cast the spell. She did as he asked, keeping her wand movement as fluid as possible, and was surprised to see that it was a lot more powerful than it had been when she was trying on her own.

After a couple more tries they decided it was time for her to cast it at a person, so Scorpius returned to the place he'd taken at the start of the lesson and waited; wand in hand but at his side since he wasn't going to cast a shield. Rose turned to face him, taking a moment to ready herself.

I can do this, she thought to herself as she took several deep breaths. "Expelliarmus!" she yelled, a huge smile on her face as she saw the beam of light hit Scorpius and the wand fly out of his hand. She looked at him and saw her smile reflected on his face. It was then that Rose realised that taking her dad's advice had been a mistake; Scorpius wasn't a bad guy, and even if he was he was a pretty good teacher.

"Thanks, Scorpius," she said as he walked over to congratulate her.

"No problem," he replied cheerily as Professor Nott called for them all to return to their seats.

The rest of the week had passed quickly for Rose. Albus had been released from the hospital wing that night; he told her that he'd been trying to get out all day but Madam Pomfrey insisted he spend the day in bed, and the rest of the week was as mundane as ever – class, homework and the occasional prank from James and Fred – and she hadn't really enjoyed any of it. So it came as quite a surprise to her when she found herself looking forward to her next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

She and Scorpius had barely exchanged a nod of the head, let alone spoke, since their last lesson, so it was a surprise when Scorpius entered the room and sat beside her.

"Hey," he said as he sat, flashing her a dazzling smile before he turned to get his things from his bag.

"Hey?" she asked incredulously, "Hey? You've barely looked at me since our last lesson and here you are sitting next to me, saying 'hey' and acting like we're friends?"

Rose knew she was being stupid, and she knew she was going a little over the top, but she'd felt so supported and so much stronger when he'd been helping her in their previous lesson that it was a shock when they went back to barely speaking. Honestly she thought she'd done worse than usual in her other lessons, but then again she may have just been overthinking things, she did tend to overthink everything.

"Look, Rose, I'm sorry if I've done something to offend you," he told her, again sounding so sincere it shocked her, he almost sounded shy and he wasn't looking at her. "I haven't spoken to you because I didn't think you'd want me to. You weren't exactly friendly at the start of last lesson…" he trailed off, leaving Rose to remember her original doubts about him.

"No, Scorpius, I'm sorry. I'd heard about your family and I guess I was just shocked when you turned out so different from what I thought. I was expecting you to turn on me as soon as the lesson was over and you didn't have to talk to me anymore." Rose let out a small chuckle, she didn't know why she was so nervous telling him this but she was. It was probably because here he was being nice and she'd straight up told him she thought he was putting on an act.

Scorpius sighed, "I can't bloody get away from my family anywhere, can I?" he muttered to himself.

"Scorpius, please, I really am sorry," she told him, cutting him off and putting on her most sincere voice, "Do over?"

He looked at her for a minute, trying to work out if she was being sincere or not, before finally nodding and extending his hand.

"Do over," he said, "Hi, I'm Scorpius Malfoy, pleased to meet you!"

"I'm Rose Weasley," she told him, extending her own hand to shake his and beaming at him, "and the pleasure is all mine."

This made the pair of them fall about in laughter. Unfortunately for them Professor Nott decided it was at this moment he would enter the room to begin his lesson and they both ended up receiving a detention for not paying attention in lesson.

The lesson had passed by in a flash for Rose. They had been continuing their work on Expelliarmus, since not everyone had mastered the spell in the previous lesson, and anyone who could cast it at an acceptable level to Professor Nott was allowed to progress onto Stupefy.

Scorpius had asked her at the end of the lesson if she was free that night, he thought they should hang out and get to know each other. Rose had genuinely enjoyed his company in that lesson so she agreed hoping, probably more than she should, that this would be the beginning of a long friendship.

Words: 1,825.

This is for:

Open Category Competition 2;

Next Gen.

If You Dare Challenge;

127 - Several Deep Breaths.

All Those Characters Challenge;

Rose Weasley.

Favourite Characters Challenge;

Rose/Scorpius.

Journey Through Hogwarts Challenge;

Flourish and Blotts – over 1,000 words.

The New Year's Goals 2015 Challenge;

Next-Gen.

Prompt Relay Challenge;

One Direction – Strong.

The Album Challenge;

Midnight Memories – Strong.