A - Aggression

Scorpius Malfoy has been called many horrible things. From a pureblood prat, to arrogant, to twat; he's been called them all, but no one does anything about it. No one punches him in the face for his offensive and rude comments, whether they are directed towards themselves or another. No one shoves him against the wall and insists that he be quiet before they do something about it. No one so much as lays one finger on him in an unfriendly manner at all. No one challenges his words or goes against them once they are said. But even then it's quite obvious. It's obvious that they don't like him, not even his own 'friends'. Everyone lies to him when they say that they're friends and that's apparent because no one liked his father, so no one will like him.

He hears how they talk about the past, despite the fact that they weren't even born yet. He hears them talk about how his father was a ruthless man when he was young, probably still is. And it worries him because a son is meant to follow in his father's footsteps to show respect. Or so he was told, but he wants to be liked by at least one person sincerely. So he chooses to follow the actions he hears about, rather than the actions he sees because his father is never really around. There shouldn't be any real difference between the two of them anyway. How much change could have happened in those years? Yes, there was a lot of time between then and now, but he wasn't around for all of them. Now all he can count on is the things he hears and it's unusual to hear something nice.

To be truthful, it didn't really matter what he did because he never had a chance. Being a Slytherin and a Malfoy made sure of that. Memories are forever; they're passed down from generation to generation just like fairy-tales. Therefore, the Malfoy name is always thrown into a sentence with any words that happen to be synonymous with rude or cocksure. Slytherins will always be categorized as snobby, manipulative and sneaky. People tend to go by others' opinions and quite frankly always 'judge a book by its cover' so he'll be judged on what his family did and how they acted. Apparently books don't get second chances, looks or glances. It doesn't matter though. It's not as if he has anything written on the pages of his own book. If anything, he's copied the words of another.

Scorpius Malfoy is nothing but a copy of what his father once was. Something that's already been seen before and not even remotely close to an original's uniqueness. A lost soul stuck following other people's footsteps because he's afraid of making his own, of making mistakes. Instead, he takes the safest route and walks that straight path of sameness, fearing that he might step one foot out of line and go tumbling into a dark abyss of consequences. Disappointment is something he's afraid of because disappointment means different. What will he have if he's different, if he's himself? What will he have if he decides to be predictable? What if he doesn't want to make the choice between the two?

Later, he plays it safe and goes with not disappointing his family, which means he'll act the 'Malfoy' way. And without a doubt, the actions, the words, the cockiness comes naturally. He taunts and teases people until they cry. He pretends to hate those who come from a muggle family. He makes sure that everyone knows his name for all the 'right' reasons. Being hated is only a small price to pay for his decision. None of those people who hate him are of any real importance anyway. That is until someone happens to catch his attention unintentionally.

Rose Weasley has been called many things. From intelligent, to beautiful, to annoying; she's been called it all. She's talked about amongst many for different reasons than himself. He's talked about because of his character, behavior and family tree; she's talked about because of her marks and talent. Rarely is her name brought up with something terrible around it, so he envies her. Yes, Scorpius envies her more than he would ever dare to admit to even himself. She has everything he wants; the solid and real friendships, the respect of others, the ability to be whomever she chooses to be without having to think about consequences. When he comes to realize this, he makes her his next target and plans to bring her down into the slumps with him. No one should make him feel jealous.

Never call her 'Rosie'. She's a Weasley, a half-blood due to her mother's side of the family. Her favorite family member appears to be Albus Potter, who she tends to hang around quite a bit despite their differences in houses. She has one brother named Hugo. Unsurprisingly, she was sorted into the house of Gryffindor. Her friends say that she's insecure about the number of freckles she has and her vibrant red hair. She has excellent marks in all her classes and excels enough to be called a know-it-all by everyone, Ravenclaws included. It's said that she's particularly polite to everyone and tries her hardest to stay out of trouble. Most of the time she can be found either studying or writing essays in the library. Her relationship status remains unknown.

Scorpius learns, studies and memorizes all of these details about her and uses them to his advantage.

He calls her a blood traitor and every other insult he can think about that links with her bloodline. He becomes friends with her cousin Albus to get close to her and takes him away from her whenever he can. He begins to gather information on her brother, just in case. He makes fun of the excessive amount of freckles that mark and adorn her face. He makes fun of her unruly, curly hair until her face turns the same shade of red. He sighs and huffs every time she goes to answer a question until she stops. He makes sure to drag her into trouble and angers her to ruin the reputation of politeness she had earned. He goes to the library and teases her until she never comes back and stays in her common room. He makes sure to keep the boys away from her.

Rose Weasley is aggressive. She takes no crap from anyone. This doesn't come as a surprise to Scorpius; he's been watching her long enough to know this. What is surprising is the rush he gets when she pushes him against the wall, when she slaps the taunting words right out of his mouth, when she tells him to leave her the fuck alone. It's not the pain that gets him, because that fucking stings more than he ever thought it would. It's the fact that she dares to that almost makes him shiver. She makes him feel weak, not even close to superior and just like everyone else. It's what he's always wanted; to be someone who isn't himself, even for the smallest of moments. So, he continues to tease and taunt her, provoking her into hitting him and saying things others would never say to his face. That way he gets what he wants, what he thinks he needs. That way he gets, feels, is degraded.

It never occurs to him that he was breaking her spirit. It also never occurred to him that what he needed was someone to be on top with, not someone to drag him down. At least, not until he finds Rose crying all alone, no longer as strong as she had been when this first started. In that moment, he realizes that he doesn't want what she has, the normality or anything else. Truthfully, he wants what she can give because he's fallen in love and he doesn't care who knows because with her he can be himself. With her, he can be the original and throw away the messy copy that he's been for so long. He's only happy that she got to him before he lost who he really wanted to be.

Scorpius Malfoy is damaged, but that's okay because he's talked Rose Weasley into working on fixing him.


Author's Note: Review, put this story on alert and those other things if you liked this, please. :) I'm not sure if I want to do Break or Bridge (in a metaphorical sense) for the letter B. I'm open to suggestions though for other letters.