It was Realmer06's birthday at the beginning of July and I wrote this as a little birthday gift to her. Granted I was three and a half weeks later in delivering it but it's the thought that counts, yes? :P

...

Birthday Wishes

'You are such an infuriating ARSE, Scorpius! Do you practice it? In your dormitory at night, do you look at yourself in the mirror and think up things that will irritate me the most? Because I don't actually think it's possible for you to do so many things that wind me up without having planned it previously!'

She glared at him and waited for his reaction. He looked at her for a few seconds, his annoying smirk pulling at his lips before standing up properly from his slouch against the wall.

'Have you finished?'

Before she could answer him with another tirade of words he held up his hand to stop her. Even though on principle the action annoyed her, yet again, she let it go.

'It may be true that I do make a mental note of anything that may annoy you, just to see your reactions, which vary greatly, and provide me with hours of entertainment, but even I would consider practicing my ways in the mirror a step too far. Granted, there are worse things to look at in the mirror than me...'

'Matter of opinion,' she replied before properly thinking about any retort. She found she did that nowadays when talking to Scorpius Malfoy. She felt like every single word she said to him had to be the best word possible to convey her frustration, anger or sarcasm. She told herself that this was because she wanted to see him crumple under her words, but she found it harder to believe herself as time went on.

'Is there a reason why you decided to irritate me this afternoon in particular?'

'This particular afternoon? Not really. Any opportunity to wind you up I try and take. Should there be a reason why I would irritate you today?'

For a second she was disappointed but then she mentally scolded herself for even thinking he would know why today was special.

'No, no reason.'

She hated that there was a trace of disappointment in her voice.

'Something the matter, Weasley?'

She also hated the fact that he could read her far too well.

'Nothing that you will ever understand, Malfoy. Now, if you're done finding pleasure in annoying me, then I'll remove myself from your presence and get on with my day.'

He smirked at her but didn't say anything to stop her walking away. She turned and ran up the stairs to her left.

'Of course, if you don't want your birthday present then I'll just have to find someone else to give it to.'

She stopped and tried to work out if he had actually just said those words or whether her mind was playing tricks on her. She turned slowly and saw he had propped himself against the wall. He had a small box in her hand and was casually throwing it a few inches into the air and catching it again.

'My... birthday... How did you know it was my birthday?'

Scorpius frowned, half amused, half confused. 'I don't know if it has escaped your mind, Rose, but we have been at school together for just over five years. Therefore, you have had five birthdays in that time. I am intelligent enough to realise that at the end of each September you get cards, letters and presents via owl from home, which make you rather happy. Putting two and two together got me here.'

'Wow, so Scorpius Malfoy does take note of other people, I have to say I am a little surprised.'

Something in her words made him frown.

'You make me out to be someone who has no feelings, Weasley. I may take offense.'

The atmosphere had gone from playful to awkward.

'Oh, you have feelings, Scorpius, it's just that you never let most of us see them.'

He tilted his head and the smirk reappeared. 'You may have a point. So, do you want your present or not?'

'Surely the question is whether you want to give it to me. And whether I'll be jinxed, hexed or cursed should I accept it.'

Scorpius laughed. 'If I wanted to jinx you I wouldn't have bothered gift wrapping it. It's far too fiddly to do that regularly. Takes far too long.'

'You wrapped it in shiny red paper and tied it with gold ribbon.'

She had to grin as she saw Scorpius argue with himself as to whether it was worth admitting he had a, taken time and effort over something he was about to give Rose, and b, that he had taken time doing something like gift wrapping and faffing with ribbon.

'That's neither here nor there. I would like you to accept this gift because, frankly it is wasted on anyone else. Taylor made gifts are exactly that. Taylor made to the receiver.'

She took a couple of steps down the stairs. 'Hence the red and gold?'

Scorpius shrugged. 'It's part of it.' He held out the small box to her and she took it.

'Thank you,' she replied automatically.

She pulled at one of the ends of the gold ribbon and it all fell away, dissolving into nothing as it floated towards the floor. She took her wand from her robes and tapped the box. The red paper, too, faded and a small velvet box was revealed. She glanced at Scorpius and she could tell he was nervous; he obviously cared what she thought of the present.

She carefully opened the box along its hinge and stared at the pendant hanging from the leather strap. It was in the shape of a drop of liquid and whatever was inside it was swirling.

'It's you,' Scorpius said in a bit of a rush. 'Well, I mean... you tell them the receiver's name, age, date of birth, school house, their character traits and anything you can about them. They gather various ingredients that reflect all those things and it all gets made into a potion and then put in the pendant. When you're being particularly courageous it'll bring out the bits that represent the Gryffindor in you and turn a dark red.'

Her voice was stuck in her throat. She didn't know what to say or what to feel, she was baffled that he would go to the effort of doing something so thoughtful and it baffled her even more that he would do something so thoughtful for her.

'I... it's... I mean...'

She stopped trying to form a sentence and went back to staring at the pendant.

'I think I'll add this to the tally of how many times I have rendered you speechless. This would be three times, I believe.'

'Two. The first one doesn't count. Using Silencio is cheating.'

'Effective though.'

They were silent for a minute.

'It's beautiful, Scorpius. Thank you doesn't quite seem to cover it. But... I'm confused. Why would you do this for me?'

She was expecting a smart-arse response but when none came she tore her eyes away from the pendant and looked at him.

'Maybe I'm tired of the arguing and constantly trying to get one up on each other. Maybe it's because I thought it was time to swallow my pride and admit things to myself.'

'What things?' she asked closing the box and turning to face him properly.

'Maybe if you meet me on the Quidditch Pitch after dinner I'll tell you.'

She found herself nodding and a rush of excitement flooded through her.

'See you then,' he said with a smile.

He turned and started walking towards the Slytherin common room. Rose watched him and was surprised to see him stop and turn around.

'Oh, and happy seventeenth, Weasley.'

She smiled. 'Thank you, Malfoy.'

She watched as he walked out of sight and suddenly she was nervous. She opened the box and laid the pendant on her palm. It changed from a dark pink to burgundy and then she saw the odd streak of gold flash through the colour.

'Courageous? Well, I'll try!