Chapter 1: About a Girl, About a Boy

From the day that her Father pointed him out, Rose knew that she was never going to lose to him. She had grown up hearing the stories, of what the Malfoy family had put her family through, and she was going to make sure that she beat Scorpius Malfoy in every way possible. She was going to beat everyone, in every way possible, but she wanted to beat him the most.

Her first day of class, she sat in the very front row of Professor McGonagall's classroom, taking her Mother's advice that those who were serious always sat as close as possible, and glared at the blonde boy as he took the front row on the Slytherin side of the room. He took no notice, he only wanted to maintain his family's wishes, which was that Malfoy's always excelled in their classes.

Professor McGonagall walked into her class, and Rose immediately straightened up, giving the woman her full attention. She didn't especially need to as McGonagall only lectured them on school rules, once again, and Rose already knew the school rules, by heart, but still she listened.

Once the lecture was done, McGonagall gave them instructions to write down some very complicated notes, and once that was finished, (Rose having written them down explicitly, neatly, and exactly) McGonagall handed them all matchsticks with instructions to transfigure them into needles. Needless to say, Rose mastered the technique in one lesson, but she was dismayed to note that one other student had as well, and that student was Scorpius Malfoy.

McGonagall awarded both Slytherin and Gryffindor 20 points, and class was over. She looked over at Scorpius and he smiled slightly at her, but all he received in return was a furious glare. The smile slid off his face, and his expression took one of confusion as she sniffed, and followed her cousin Albus to their next class.

Throughout the next week Scorpius slowly learned that Rose Weasley seemed to really dislike him, and he wasn't really sure why. Sure, their parents had disliked each other, but Scorpius didn't hold any grudges against the Weasley family, but he was becoming increasingly annoyed with her smug looks when she received the highest marks on an exam, or was awarded house points for her cleverness. He was starting to think that Rose Weasley was just as obnoxious as her Mother and Father, something his Father had warned him about before the start of the term.

Well, fine. He decided. If Rose Weasley wants to compete, I'll give her some fierce Malfoy competition.

When she received word her second year that Scorpius wanted to try out for keeper on the Slytherin Quidditch team, she became determined to fill the same spot on the Gryffindor team, much to the delight of her Father and Uncles, she filled the role, as did Scorpius.

From that moment on, the two did nothing but compete, which made Rose Weasley's life a never ending marathon, sometimes Scorpius passed her and she would become unbearable, spending all her time at the library, studying, and murmuring phrases under her breath such as "won't beat me this time" and "won't know what hit him".

Sometimes she surpassed him, and when she did, she was all sunshine and angels. She never stopped smiling, and she probably could have summoned a patronus at any given moment. Thus, for the first three years of her Hogwarts experience, her life began to circle exclusively on her classroom performances, and Scorpius'.

While she did relax a bit and enjoy the other finer things in life during her fourth year of school, like getting a boyfriend and making friends other than members of her family, all at her brother's insistence, she never stopped her relentless drive to becoming The Best, and Better Than Scorpius Malfoy.

The summer before her fifth year of school a surprise came in the mail in the form of a Prefect badge. She screamed in joy, her Mother beamed with pride, and her Father insisted on taking her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant in celebration, just the two of them.

Throughout the years Rose would send letters home to her Father, detailing the exact ways in which she beat Scorpius, and his responses were always full of praise. The one person she loved most in the world was her Father, the two had shared a special bond since the day she was born, Rose always believed it was because the two were so alike in temperament and looks.

So when they went out to dinner that day her Father toasted her for her accomplishment and for "beating that Malfoy bastard, once again."

"Hear, hear!" she toasted back, laughing.

So imagine her disappointment when she walked into the Prefect compartment on the Hogwarts Express and saw Scorpius Malfoy with a shiny, new, Slytherin Prefect badge gleaming against his black robes.

Scorpius turned to see who the newest Prefect was, saw that it was Weasley, and smirked. Of course she got a badge, I shouldn't be surprised. Regardless he let a smirk cross his features when he noticed her look of complete disbelief and rage.

She continued to fight Scorpius Malfoy for the top place in their class until her 6th year of Hogwarts when he did something completely unexpected.

They were patrolling, for some reason as Head Girl her cousin Molly found it hilarious to make her and Scorpius patrol together, and he broke away from their established pattern of not talking by calling her named.

"Rose! Wait a moment." She turned to see him running towards her, his spiky blonde hair glistening in the moonlight streaming from the windows surrounding them.

"How about, no?" She said, turning away from him and heading the opposite direction.

"Wait, please?" He asked, catching up to her and grabbing her elbow. She immediately jerked away.

"Keep your hands to yourself, if you don't mind." She snapped. To her annoyance, he responded in his usual way, by smiling at her. "There wasn't anything endearing about that comment, I don't really understand why you're smiling."

"I find everything about you endearing." He replied, her expression still holding one of amusement.

She scoffed, "You do realize what the word endearing means, right?" She turned away from him once again.

"Wait, I wasn't done yet." He ran ahead of her, and turned to face her, forcing her to stop.

"What do you want, Malfoy? If case you've forgotten, we have a job to do, and you harassing me isn't a part of it." To her continued annoyance, he laughed again.

"You really dislike me, huh?" He leaned against the wall, his hand running through his white blonde hair. "You're making this a lot harder for me, Rose."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm trying to tell you that I like you, but you're seething hatred is making it more difficult." Rose looked at him, sneered, and started walking past him, "Whatever. You can't try and shake my confidence by lying to me, I'm too smart for that."

"Aw come on Rose," he started following her down the hallway. "It's taken me months to get up the nerve to do this, you're hurting my feelings." Rose stopped in her tracks, and looked up into his silver eyes.

"Say that you like me one more time."

"Okay, you're right. I was lying to you before." She rolled her eyes, and starting to walk away, but he grabbed her arms and stared straight into her blue eyes, never blinking. "I don't just like you, I love you. But I thought coming out and saying that might freak you out." he cracked a small smile.

"Okay, you 'love me'" she said, using air quotes around the words, "now can we get back to our jobs? I don't find your jokes very funny."

"I'm not joking," he was still staring at her eyes, "I love you, Rose Weasley." Her eyes widened.

"You're...actually serious?"

"Oh Rose, for someone so smart, you really aren't that observant." a sad smile graced his features before it was quickly replaced by a brighter one. "I'm aware that you think I'm a git, but this was only part one of a master plan. You'll come to realize that you love me too, that I can promise."

Once again Rose rolled her eyes, breaking the eye contact. "I'm sorry to tell you, you're correct, I don't return your feelings. And I'm also sorry to tell you that you might as well give up now, due to your last name, and you're annoying personality, I could never love you. Your Grandfather and Father made sure of that."

Scorpius, still, didn't let his smile leave his face. "You'll see Rose, I'm going to make you eat those words."

And he did. Slowly but surely, Scorpius Malfoy slowly wormed his way into Rose Weasley's heart, much to her horror. She couldn't even tell how it happened, but there was something about he seemed to really care about her, the way he continued to try and beat her at everything, while still sending her rose's on Valentine's day. The way he would talk and make jokes and how she, to her great surprise, found herself laughing. The way she soon found herself calling him Scorpius and not Malfoy, and the way she found herself coming to him when she had problems in her life, and he, her.

She found herself looking forward to their weekly Prefect patrols, which was something she found herself doing when her boyfriend broke up with her.

"What's up with you tonight, Rose?" He questioned as she had been unnaturally quiet, and it was starting to worry him.

"Nothing." She winced, even to her own ears she sounded sad, she had been trying to avoid that. To her surprise she found him a lot closer than he had been a couple seconds ago. She found her fingers laced with hers as he dragged through the hallway, and her few shouts to let her go, and that they had a job to do, fell upon seemingly deaf ears.

They came upon an empty classroom and he dragged her inside, forced her to sit down, and once again stared straight into her eyes. "You don't have to lie to me, seriously, what's wrong?"

She found herself crying the whole story to him, how he had dumped her because he had found someone else, how she felt like maybe she wasn't pretty enough, or smart enough, or just enough for him, maybe there was something wrong with her? As she progressed through her story she found the look on Scorpius' face somewhat terrifying. He looked furious.

"That rat bastard. How could he do that to you? I mean look at you! You're amazing, beautiful, and smart, and kind..." He seemed to be ranting to himself. "Obviously that arse just didn't realize what he had. He's going to be sorry to let you go, believe me."

"Yeah right," she sniffed, pushing a strand of her long, red, hair behind her ear. She started when he wiped a lone tear from her cheek.

"Seriously? This self deprecating thing? So does not suit you, once again, for being someone so smart, you sure aren't very observant, especially about yourself."

She had a clever retort on the tip of her tongue, when he kissed her. And it had felt so right, so perfect, that she didn't even think when she started kissing him back.

Soon after that, they became a couple, but they had agreed to be secretive about it. As Rose might have fallen in love with Scorpius Malfoy, but she was not the only Weasley, or Potter, that disliked him as much as she used to.

So life continued in its usual way, she still sent detailed letters home to her Father about how well she was doing in her classes, and Qudditch. She still was determined to be better than everyone, more out of a desire to learn and maintain her position, than to make Scorpius Malfoy pay for any wrongdoings his family had done to hers.

Life even got even more exciting when the summer before her 7th, and final, year at Hogwarts she received another surprise in the mail, in the form of a Head Girl Badge. Once again, her Mother was proud and immediately went to owl Audrey about how little Rose was now following in Uncle Percy's, and Molly's, footsteps. Her brother shook his head, wondering why she was so excited when it meant more work for her to do, but was happy for her all the same. And her Father, once again, took her out to dinner, and told her how proud he was of her.

She felt extremely guilty that she was keeping her relationship with Scorpius secret from her Father, but she knew if he ever found out that he'd hit the roof, and she didn't want to see her Dad angry, or worse disappointed.

She returned to Hogwarts that year, getting a delightful surprise in that, Scorpius had made Head Boy. She was so determined to make her last year at Hogwarts memorable.

As she sat nervously in the bathroom, waiting for the timer to go off, she realized that depending on the outcome of this test, she would have indeed met her goal. Only, for once, she really hoped that she hadn't. As the slight ding of the timer was heard, she took a deep breath to try and calm herself, but to her annoyance her shaking limbs refused to comply.

She rose from the toilet and walked over to the bathroom sink, straightened her hair, and fixed the smudges of black that had accumulated under eye from her eye liner. She was Rose Weasley, top of her class (sometimes), Head Girl, and daughter of two of the Golden Trio. Was she really going to let the outcome of a test, which had never worried her before, scare her? No, of course not. She nodded to herself reassured in the mirror, and reached for the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter.

All her resolve shattered as she looked at the result. She was pregnant.


AN: Whew! And there's Chapter 1! I hope you all enjoy it, I recently started rereading the Harry Potter series and the plot bunnies started running through my head, so here I am, returning to one of my favorite past times after...um...like a year or more. I actually really enjoy how this chapter came out, was really inspired when I read "Our Little Secret" by the fabulous Kerichi. If you haven't read this, and love the Rose/Scorpius ship, you should really go and check it out. Seriously. Like right after you finish reading this. Go do it.