Scorpius Malfoy was used to Rose Weasley wishing him luck before every single one of his Quidditch games. Even when Gryffindor, his house, was playing against Ravenclaw, her house. She was the rare kind of person who put friendship before Quidditch. This was largely due to her complete disinterest in the sport rather than any sense of chivalry, but Scorpius appreciated it all the same.

The morning before the first Quidditch match of Scorpius' fifth year, he was particularly nervous as it was also his first Quidditch match as captain of the Gryffindor team. Having beaten out three older players who were, in his opinion, far more qualified than he was, he was really feeling the pressure to play a good game. It was true that James Potter messed about maybe a little too much, that Alex Wood was maybe a little too intense (to put it nicely) about Quidditch, and that Roxanne Weasley was maybe a little too lazy to be captain. Still, Scorpius felt that any one of them would have made a better captain than him. They seemed to respect him well enough during practice, but he couldn't help but notice Alex's jaw clench every time Scorpius gave him an order. At least he knew he was a better choice than Fred Weasley, who threatened to quit the team every time got bored.

All of this was running through Scorpius' mind as he walked down to breakfast. For this reason, he did not immediately notice a girl running towards him. A girl with a very large amount of curly red hair.

"Scorpius!" she cried, only just slowing down enough to not knock him over. "I came to wish you luck."

"Cheers, Rose" he said, giving her a small smile.

Rose looked him up and down.

"You look pale," she said.

"Right."

"Well, paler than usual anyway. That can't be good. You must be really nervous."

It was true that Scorpius' pointed face had lost all colour, if it had ever had any at all, but he didn't very much like it being pointed out.

"Sorry, Rose, but could this wait until later?" he asked.

"Do you need to go vomit somewhere?"

"What? No!"

Rose chuckled, her large front teeth prominent as they always were when she smiled or laughed, which was often. It was a comforting sight for Scorpius; it was familiar. In fact, though she wasn't being very sensitive, this routine of being wished luck by Rose Weasley was one that he knew so well it relaxed him a little.

"You should stop worrying," she said, "You'll do fine."

Then she did something she had never done before. She hugged him.

Unsure how to properly respond, he wrapped his arms around Rose's back and waited for her to pull away.

She did this a moment later and, to Scorpius' surprise, laughed.

"What?" he asked with an involuntary smile.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But you are a really bad hugger."

Scorpius glared at her.

"I said sorry!" cried Rose, holding up her hands in defence. "You are a terrible hugger though."

He continued to glare. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not gonna smile?" she asked. "Fine."

Rose scowled back at him for a moment before laughing again.

"Seriously, good luck though," she said.

He smiled. "Thank you, Rose."

Scorpius did not know why Rose was still standing there, looking at him with curiosity. Surely this was the perfect moment for a goodbye?

"Should we go eat breakfast?" he asked.

"Let me just try something," she said.

Suddenly, her arms were wrapped around him again. This time, he did not respond.

"Rose," he said in a tired voice. "What are you doing?"

"Just squeeze me!"

"What?"

"Squeeze me."

"Rose, people are staring."

"I don't care you need to learn to hug properly."

"My hugs are perfectly acceptable."

"No they're not, now put your arms around me and squeeze!"