Title: Suck it up
Summary: Rose Weasley has spent most of her schooling life loathing Scorpius Malfoy, and Scorpius isn't complaining. When they are thrown into a situation where they have to try and get along, will they fight, or learn to suck it up?
Chapter One
She stood in the corner of the room with her cousin and closest friend Lucy. They watched as her little brother Hugo caused trouble with her cousin's Albus, James and Fred, throwing uncle George's newest invention at unsuspecting bystanders, causing their skin to change colour without their knowledge. Rose couldn't help but laugh as she saw one rather well dressed woman walk passed with a purple splotch on the back of her neck.
She didn't know why her mother had insisted on them coming, thinking it would not only ruin her night but bore them to death. Rose's mother was receiving the Minister's Award of Service for her work in abolishing all pro pure-blood laws from the Ministry. This meant a great Soiree in the Ministry Ballroom where anyone of importance had been invited. Rose laughed when she thought of how her grandmother had reacted when she found out, to have such a successful daughter-in-law. She flurried around the house, worrying about what to wear, claiming not to have anything grand enough, until her grandfather had laid a hand on her shoulder, and told her to stop fussing.
Arthur Weasley was Rose's favourite member of her family. She'd grown up spending time in his shed with him, playing around with muggle gadgets, figuring out how they worked, while her grandmother complained that it wasn't a suitable past time for a young lady.
Rose was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice that one of the Scamander twins, Lorcan, had asked Lucy to dance, leaving her to stand alone. It was only when someone else came to stand next to her, that she noticed the absence of her cousin.
"All alone in the corner, I expected more from you Weasley," a familiar voice teased lazily. She looked up to see Scorpius Malfoy leaning against the same pillar that she was also using to hold herself up. He gave her the same mischievous smirk that seemed to be permanently plastered to his face, which drove Rose mad.
She smirked back, turning slightly to face him better. "I would be alone, if you hadn't been so rude in joining me. Did you miss my company Malfoy, have these 3 months been so hard on you that you had to come all the way over here to see me?" she asked him teasingly.
Scorpius' father, Draco Malfoy, was very high up in the Ministry, and as a result was always present at these types of events. Draco Malfoy had earned his way to power after the war, not wanting the stain of his parents' reputation to be his as well, proving that his adolescent mistakes had been just that. He was now one of the Minister's most trusted advisers, to her father's dismay.
Rose could remember her first day of Hogwarts, waiting to board the train at Platform 9 and ¾, her father had told her to beat Scorpius in every test and not to get too friendly with the boy. Being the mischievous girl her father had raised her to be, as soon as she boarded the train Rose walked up to the boy, held out her hand and introduced herself, only to be shot down by a pompous Malfoy who had been taught by his grandfather to hate Weasley's, though his father was much more tolerant. To this day, Rose had done as her father had asked, beaten him in every test, and the two of them were the opposite of friendly.
"You're right Weasel, I have missed you plain face, you snub nose. I've been surrounded all holidays by decent people, I needed to remind myself that there are those who are less fortunate, and I should be grateful for my amazing good looks," Scorpius told her, inspecting her up and down, looking at Rose as if she were a rock in his shoe.
Rose just smirked at him, being used to such insults for the last 5 years, she knew better than to fight back when she knew he was clearly wrong, she looked good in her one shoulder black and white couture dress that stopped at her thigh, a point of conflict with her father who thought the dress was too short was showed too much skin.
"Excuse me, Miss Weasley, would you care to dance?" She heard from behind her and turned to find a rather attractive young man whom she went to school with, though she could not recall his name, she was sure he was in Slytherin.
"I'd love to," she told him, smiling at him genuinely, before turning and smirking at Malfoy victoriously, having proven her point without the need to speak. "I'll see you on the train Malfoy," she waved as she placed her hand in the outstretched arm of the new suitor and walked to the dance floor.
The Great Hall was hushed to almost silence as the first terrified first year stepped up to the Sorting Hat. Rose remembered fondly her own fear that she had felt as she waited to be sorted her first year. She was the second last one; the last had been Tavin Zabini. Her father had told her before they had departed that morning, that if she were sorted into any other house apart from Gryffindor, he'd disown her. Rose knew full well her father had been teasing her, but she also knew that his father had loved his old school house, loved playing Quidditch for them, and would love to see his daughter do the same.
Luckily Rose had had nothing to worry about, the Sorting Hat had considered Ravenclaw, but her resilient personality had landed her in Gryffindor. Rose could remember how much her father had gloated when Lucy had been sorted into Ravenclaw. Ron had used every opportunity to pick on his older brother, Percy, though he had before that, it was just some new ammo. Ron was beside himself though, when Hugo shocked everyone, including himself, and was sorted into Slytherin, a fact that Ron didn't hear the end of until… actually, Rose's Uncle Harry was still bringing it up. Ron had been quite disappointed when Harry didn't seem fazed when his youngest daughter Lily was sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, taking away his only counterattack.
Rose watched as Professor Longbottom called each student forward, patiently waiting as the shivered up the steps, giving them an encouraging smile as he placed the hat on their head. Her parents had told her about Professor Longbottom when he was in school, he had apparently been a skittish and highly strung boy, not the most popular in their year, but he had been very brave in the war. Rose liked Professor Longbottom, he was the only reason she had continued to take Herbology.
She watched as the final first year stepped up to the Sorting Hat, she could see his large ego from where she was sitting halfway up the Hall. His self-important demeanour reminded her of one other student from her first year. While she'd been standing there, shaking in her over sized shoes that her mother had told her she'd grow into, Scorpius Malfoy had had an air of arrogance that at the time Rose had envied, now she just found it insufferable.
Rose's opinion of the boy, if anything, had gone from thinking him slightly insufferable, to being the bane of her existence. She looked over to the Slytherin table, finding the boy instantly, sitting between his goons and Tavin Zabini, a very quiet boy who Rose had not had the opportunity to form an opinion on, though from what she could tell his quiet and gentle demeanour made him quite the antithesis of Scorpius Malfoy, though they were obviously quite good friends.
Professor McGonagall stood to begin the feast with her Headmistresses speech, but Rose lacked her usual concentration due to the fact she'd slept through lunch on the train and her brilliant cousins hadn't thought to save her any food. Rose ignored the grumble of her stomach as her eyes wandered around the hall, first falling on her brother Hugo only a few metres down from Malfoy at the Slytherin table. She thanked her lucky stars that Hugo and Malfoy's paths had never crossed, causing them to be neither friends or enemies, either of which could have meant bad things for Rose.
She looked over to the Ravenclaw table where Lucy was studiously trying to pay attention to the Headmistress and Lorcan was trying even harder to win that attention. Rose chuckled when she thought of the difference in the Scamander twins. Lorcan was intelligent like his mother, Luna, but only possessed some of her airiness. While Lysander was his father's son, his bravery and courage had won him into Gryffindor where he was one of the Quidditch teams beaters, never scared to put his body on the line for the team, often leaving the field with many injuries and a blood stained uniform. While Lorcan, who was also quite talented at Quidditch, was a Seeker, agile and patient, though he did lack the ability to put his body on the line, which had cost Ravenclaw a few games.
Rose had been so caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice the food appear before her on the platters. It was only until her cousin Albus flicked a pea at her head did she wake from her stupor. With a glare to her cousin and retaliation of a potato to the nose, Rose dove into the feast before her.
Rose stood outside the potions classroom after her last class for the day, having just ran into the boy who had asked her to dance at her mother's ceremony. She now knew his name was Michael Nott; he was a seventh year Slytherin who had aspirations to be an Auror. She leant carelessly against the wall behind her, holding her books loosely against her hip.
"I wouldn't waste your time Nott, the Weasel's not worth it," Rose heard an annoying voice called disdainfully from down the hall. Rose looked up to see Scorpius walking pompously towards them, a smirk plastered on his face as he glared at her.
Rose was about to throw back her own sentiments when she heard another familiar voice call out. "That's my sister, you ass! You don't get to talk to her like that," Hugo yelled, walking swiftly down the hallway, having obviously turned just in time to hear his fellow housemate's comment. He walked up to stand in line with Malfoy, who had turned to look at the boy in anger.
"Who's going to stop me?" Malfoy told him menacingly as he stepped forward to meet eye-to-eye with Hugo. Though Hugo was quite tall for his age, almost the height of his father, Scorpius still had an inch or two on him, enough to look down at him menacingly, asserting his authority.
"I am," Hugo told the boy, not intimidated by the boy's height, having had to stick up for himself against his much older and larger cousins all his life. He threw his books in the direction of Rose, and Rose thanks to her Quidditch training caught them with ease.
Rose fought the urge to stop her brother, not wanting him to fight for her, especially against Malfoy, but knew that discouraging him would have the opposite effect. She watched as her younger brother lunged at the blond Slytherin, taking them both to the ground. She saw Hugo real back and punch Scorpius square in the nose, only to be push back as the blond connected a hit to Hugo's kidneys.
Rose watched in horror as the two boys rolled around on the ground, taking hit for hit.
"Hugo! Stop it," she yelled as her brother went to hit the boy again.
"What's going on here?" she heard from behind her, turning to see Professor McGonagall storm up to the boys, Professor Slughorn all but hiding behind her. When the two boys did not cease McGonagall pointed her wand at them, whispered a spell Rose could not hear before they were both sent flying away from each other, to opposite ends of the hallway.