Chapter 1:

Rose Weasley stood with her back facing her house, letting the cool breeze pick up some of her curls. It was another one of those late summer days that Rose didn't want to do anything. She just wanted to be able to sit in her favorite place and curl up with the latest copy of Witch Weekly. Instead of a relaxing day, she was stuck with a list of chores.

"Hugo," said Rose, sensing that her brother was approaching. "I don't want to be disturbed right now. Mother can survive not talking to me for twenty minutes. She does during the school year."

The thirteen year old boy crossed his hands over his chest and walked over to stand by his sister. It looked as though he had bed head hair, with the way his hair was positioned, and also had deep bags under his brown eyes. He let out a small yawn, before looking over at his sister, regretting how late he stayed up reading.

"Mum wants you to come in for chores," stated Hugo, after a couple of minutes passed. The sun was beginning to get lower in the sky and soon enough it would be dusk.

"Ha," exasperated Rose, "like I would actually come in for chores."

Hugo let out a long sigh, digging his hands in his pockets. "Please, Rose."

Rose looked at her brother out of the corner of her eye. She knew she should go in and do chores, but there was no way her mother would get what she wanted. She knew she was old enough to make her own choices, so she stuck with her gut feeling—even though that meant ignoring her mother and father.

It wasn't like she was mean about it. For years she had coaxed her parents into letting her be independent. Rose was smart enough to take care of herself and knew how to defend herself in bad situations, but her parents never saw how mature she was. Only Hugo realized that she was capable of it.

"Rose, you better come in and do your chores or-"

"Or what?" said Rose eying him carefully. A sneer spread across her face, that slowly turned into a smirk. She knew she got him this time because he couldn't do anything about it. After all, he was the younger sibling, and wasn't nearly as powerful.

Hugo's eyes narrowed, as he stared contently into his sister's blue eyes. "Or else I will tell Mum and Dad about Scorpius."

Rose's smirk fell from her face. "You better not," She said, pointing her finger at him. With her hand trembling, she knew her brother had got her and she had no chance of getting out of chores.

"You know how much Mum and Dad complain about the Malfoy's. Did you know that Scorpius's father bullied Mum, Dad, and Uncle Harry? So, I suggest you go in and do your chores or your little secret is out."

"Fine," the fifteen year old said through her teeth. She turned around briskly on her heel and began heading towards the house, that was less than fifty meters away from the house.

The little house was cottage like and resembled a version of Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's house. Each level wasn't very big, but there were loads of levels. Each level had one room—except for the bottom level, in which it had two rooms. Rose never really liked the house, but Hugo did. He always came up with an interesting way to explain the meaning behind the design.

"ROSE!" shouted her brother's voice suddenly.

Rose jerked around quickly, with her hands balled in fists, prepared to take up a fight. She felt her wand in her left pocket and knew she was perfectly ready to defend herself. But instead of Hugo being in trouble for a murder attacking him or some dementor crawling towards him, he was screaming because one of the ducks had started following him.

Baby Rose thought to herself, as she made her way back towards Hugo. Her brother was afraid as the most stupidest things. He would nearly wet his pants seeing a small spider—which was nothing like the one's she had to deal with in Care of Magical Creatures. I guess he had a phobia of animals in general.

Hugo started running around in circles, once Rose approached, squealing like a git. His sister rolled her eyes at him, tired of "saving" him from the dangers. Hugo ran behind Rose and hid behind her, grabbing onto her for his dear life.

"Get off," said Rose, undoing his hands from her arms—which had been pinned down by her side. "You realize that the duck is probably searching for food and has no meaning attacking you."

"Still-" said Hugo uncomfortably and obviously embarrassed.

"You are so bloody immature sometimes," stated Rose dryly. She shooed the duck back into the pond, smirking at her brother. "All done. Now let's go and get these bloody chores over with."

Suddenly there was an owl cry from above. Rose peered up in the sky and immediately recognized Scorpius's owl, flying towards her. She could make out a letter attached to the owl's leg and smiled, happy to know that her best friend had written her.

Rose had met Scorpius Malfoy when she was eleven on the train to Hogwarts. They immediately bonded, despite their different classes they were in. Scorpius came from a very wealthy family, while Rose came from a poorer family. Spending the entire train ride talking to one another and sharing a pound of treats from the trolley, they knew that they were going to remain good friends.

Although they were sorted into different houses, Rose still made sure to spend as much time as possible with Scorpius. She hadn't bothered to make any other friends and only saw him as a friend, compared to everyone else in her house. Yes, Gryffindor sported her brother and cousins, but she preferred talking to Scorpius. He was honest, smart, and funny, which Rose really liked about him.

Soon finding out that her family hated Scorpius's family, she had no choice, but to keep her friendship a secret with him. Her parents had no clue that she was friends with him, nor with anyone else. They thought Rose had no friends because of her aggressive personality.

After threatening her brother and cousins, to not tell anyone in their family about her friendship with Scorpius, she was able to keep the secret. Her cousins and sibling knew that if they told anyone Rose would beat them up, so they were constantly reminded to keep their big mouths shut.

Scorpius eventually told his Dad, who immediately called my family a bunch of blood traitors—which I don't get. His Dad also said to not be friends with her anymore and to only be friends with Slytherins. Obviously, Scorpius ignored the order.

The owl landed down in front of Rose, who crouched town to untie the letter. "Sorry, but I don't have any treats for you today," said Rose, raising her hand to touch the owl. The owl gave her a little nibble on her pointer finger, before taking off.

"Does he ever stop sending letters?" groaned Hugo.

"He is my best friend," Rose sharply said. Not paying any further attention to her brother, she ripped open the letter. She began smiling almost immediately, seeing her stupid nickname at the top of the letter.

Dear Rose the flower,

I immediately thought of you when my grandmother came over the other day. She was giving my Mum some knew perfume and it was called The Kiss of Death. It smelled like roses and a decaying animal, in my opinion. Kinda a funny mix, isn't it? Of course Mum had to be nice and accept the gift, but I tell you the smell is ghastly. I'm planning on nicking it from her giant collection of perfumes, so you can smell it and see how awful it is. Of course, Dad said it smelled nice, but I didn't believe a word of it.

So I know what I said above was a little random, but I seriously thought of you as soon as I caught the rose smelling part of it. Dad was asking about you the other day. He wondered if I was still friends with you. I said, "of course, why wouldn't I be?" Then he made a disapproving look and just walked away, muttering something to Mum. I really think you should meet my parents, though, because maybe their opinion about you will change. Have you even told your parents that you are friends with me?

Anyways, I better get going. Mum just said that I need to get ready to go over to someone's house. I'm thinking it is one of my parent's family friends. Too bad they aren't friends with your family . . .then I would go somewhere somewhat interesting.

Your best friend,

Scorpius the scorpion

Rose shuddered at the thought of meeting his parents. She held nothing against Scorpius or his family, but when his parents already hated a girl they never even met? That was just bad thinking about it. To Rose Scorpius's parents just sounded like prissy, know-it-all prats, from everything she had heard about them.

"Well?" asked Hugo, slightly irritated.

"Well what?" Rose looked up from her letter and placed her hands on her hips. She knew her brother was going to say something bad about Scorpius, she sensed it. "If you are going to be absolutely rude, then shut your bloody mouth."

"I wasn't," Hugo said slowly, "I was just wondering what he said in the letter, that's all." He shrugged, not making any eye contact with her.

Rose glanced at the letter again, before looking at her brother. "He just said I should tell Mum and Dad about my friendship with him." Rose knew that she would eventually have to tell her parents, since she couldn't keep her friendship hidden, but didn't know how to tell them.

"I think that is a rather good idea," said Hugo.

"No is isn't!" Rose exploded with fury.

Hugo realized that Rose didn't know what to do. She had been keeping this secret for nearly five years and he knew it hurt her to do so. It wasn't like she didn't want to tell her parents, but the part she feared was their reaction. He had heard his parents and relatives complain about the Malfoy's and how they are bad news. So he knew Rose didn't want to tell anyone because of that.

"Listen," said Hugo, placing his hand on Rose's arm. "If Mum and Dad love you, they will accept who you are friends with. It may take time, but I think they will be happen for your good friendship with him."

Rose rolled her eye's at her brother's statement. "If they would accept him, they wouldn't make fun of his family. I'm not even going to bother telling them because really, what is the point?"

"What if I tell them?"

"You won't, Hugo, because I trust you."

Hugo bit his lip and Rose gave him a pat on the shoulders. Taking one last glimpse at her beloved pond, she started walking back towards the house. She knew her mother was going to be upset that she didn't hurry in for chores. What teenager listened to their parents anyways? Scorpius certainly didn't listen and there were times that Hugo didn't listen either.

Rose approached the door and took a deep breath, ready to endure the lecture. Although she had grown good at blocking out her mother's lectures, she still hated hearing them. The lectures were basically the same each time and Rose wondered if her mother knew the message wasn't sinking in.

The one thing Rose could always trust was her instincts. She seemed to know what was always coming. Walking into the room, to look at her mother and father sitting at the kitchen table, she knew she was in deeper trouble then she thought.

Being tempted to run out of the room, she slowly walked up to the table. She glanced at both of her parents, who were just staring at her with narrow eyes. The smell of fresh food was in the kitchen, but her mother made no movement to go and get the food.

"Rose," said Hermione crossly, "take a seat." Hermione ushered to the chair in front of her.

Rose reluctantly sat down on the wooden chair, wondering what she did this time. She did run out of the house without doing her chores—which was only a minor thing, she had done worse—but she didn't know what else she could of possibly done.

"Listen, Mum-"

"Rose, are you alright?" said Ron, who looked slightly pale. He was never into lecturing and usually gave up half way through it. Rose used this to her advantage. When it was her father's turn to lecture, she had to sit there for about thirty seconds, before he hopelessly had to give up.

"I suppose," Rose said shrugging. "Define 'alright', and then I can give you a better answer."

Ron's face grew paler.

"I got your grades from your fourth year," said Hermione, holding out the piece of paper. "I am disappointed in you, Rose; I expected a lot more out of you. Getting a troll for two subjects and only having two high marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions? That is highly unacceptable."

Rose snatched the paper from her mother, examining it. Her grades definitely weren't the best, but it didn't matter to her. She would be able to find some job in the future. "I am not as smart as you, Mum; I can't ace every single subject."

Hermione's eyes looked weary, as she looked over at her husband for support. Instead of any support, Ron was spacing out, not bothering to help. Hermione didn't bother to ask for help, she knew he wouldn't help.

"I will try harder this year, I promise. I have O.W.L.'s that mean a great deal to getting a job in the future and getting into certain classes. I can start studying now if you give me less chores. I can lock myself up in my room for hours and hours studying instead of doing chores," said Rose. She knew she would only study a bit, before reading something that didn't bore her. She figured that is how she would get out of chores—by studying. That is how Hugo got out of them. . .

Her mother saw right through Rose's plan. "I'm sending you to your grandmother's house."

"Not the muggle-"

"Ron's parents, Rose. Molly helped Ginny study throughout the summers and she has offered to do the same. It will only be a week, I understand, but maybe a week is all you need. Also she has some chores that she is more than willing to give you."

"That is unfair!" Rose shouted. "Just because I am not nearly as smart as you, you have decided to ruin the last week of summer. Thanks, Mum, I hope you are bloody happy." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"It would be best to go to your grandmother's."

"At least I would be away from you," said Rose, standing up and retreating to her room. She stomped up each stair and made sure to slam her door shut. The house shook from her slamming the door. "I don't know you!" She screamed, through her door.

She sat on the edge of her bed, facing away from the other side of her room. She knew Hugo was going to come up to her room and sneak in some dinner, but she wasn't hungry. She was fed up with her mother expecting her to be perfect at every subject. She had only gotten a troll in Divination and Herbology—which were useless subjects. Rose let out a long sigh, hating every part of her life.

"I hate everything and everyone," She grumbled.

"I hope you don't hate me," said Scorpius, stepping out from the shadows. His smirk fell on his face, as his blonde hair gleamed in the little light that was left in the sky. "Hello Rose, did you miss me?"