"Who can tell me what this plant is called?...Of course Miss Weasley can!" Professor Longbottom pointed to Rose who was practically standing up trying to get his attention. Rose gave the correct answer (as usual) and Professor Longbottom said, "Ten points to Gryffindor! And what is it most commonly used for?" Rose tried her hardest to remember and just when she had, another hand had shot into the air before hers. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Rose was stunned. No one had ever beaten her in class before, except for her cousin Al when some teachers simply refused to call on her. She paid attention just in time to hear Professor Longbottom say, "Ten points to Slytherin!" and Rose wanted to barf.
"I don't believe it!" Rose shouted to her friends once they left the greenhouse.
"Me either," Al said.
"I do," Julie Thomas said.
"What?" Rose and Al shouted at her.
"Someone was bond to beat you at some point in your life. I mean, you can't go through your entire life undefeated. That's impossible," Julie was always a know-it-all when it came to this type of thing. "I mean, you inherited your mum's brilliance and your dad's chess and quidditch abilities so there had to be something that you weren't perfect at! You said it yourself that Herbology was your worst subject."
"But even then!"
"Rose, your making a bigger deal out of this than you should. So for once, someone answered a question before you thought of the answer. It probably won't happen again."
"But it's not just that! It's that Malfoy guy. My dad told me to beat him at every test! Ever hear anyone say that life is just one big test? I failed!"
Julie and Al sighed. Julie said, "You know, my mum always said that she didn't think anyone could ever care more about schoolwork than your mum, Rose. I think she's wrong. You do."
"How would your mum know?"
"She went to school with your mum. Didn't you know that?"
"Um, what's your mum's first name again? I always knew her as Mrs. Thomas."
"Parvati. Dad, his name's Dean, went to school with them too."
"Yeah," Al snickered. "He was mum's ex-boyfriend!"
"Alright! Everyone did really well on this test! No one got below eighty percent! I'm really pleased with all these grades," Professor Longbottom said as he sent the tests flying back to the students.
"Yes!" Rose heard someone shout. She turned to see Scorpious Malfoy showing his grade to a friend of his. "Ninety-nine percent! Bet I'm top of the class!"
Rose looked down at her grade and smiled smugly. "Hey, Al, look. I got one-hundred percent!" she said loudly enough for the Slytherins to hear. Scorpious scowled and she smiled smugly. From that point on, it was war.
"Can anyone tell me the proper wand motion for this spell?" Professor Flitwick asked.
Rose's hand shot up in the air and Professor Flitwick pointed to her (he didn't notice that Scorpious's hand was also up). "Swish and flick!"
"Very good, Miss Weasley! Ten points to Gryffindor! Now who can tell me how to properly pronounce the incantation? Of course, Mr. Malfoy!"
"Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa! You need to lengthen the 'gar'."
"Very good, Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin."
They had to work with partners and (unfortunately) Rose was partnered with (you guessed it) Scorpious. The two of them scowled at each other and then pretended the other didn't exist. Rose managed to get her feather into the air mere seconds before Scorpious and she smiled at him smugly. "You really think you're something special don't you, Weasley?" he asked her disgusted with himself for losing by the girl that his father told him to stop at nothing to beat.
"Only because I am, Malfoy! I see that I got my feather in the air first, so I think I have reason to support being proud of myself," Rose hissed back.
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. 'I'm Rose Weasley and I'm simply perfect!'" he imitated with high-pitched voice. "You think you're so great, but you're not! 'I'm better than everyone else in the entire world and I have every right to treat regular mortals like dirt because of it! Since everything comes naturally to me, everyone should simply bow down to me and worship the very ground I walk on!'"
Rose simply rolled her eyes. "Why am I even bothering? Why do I even need to put up with you?"
"This is simply perfect!" Julie clapped her hands excited.
"What's so perfect?" Rose asked irritably.
"You being forced to work with Scorpious! Now you actually have to try for the first time in your entire life to be the best! That's never happened to you before!" Julie seemed to think that Rose needed to deflate her ego.
"No, it's a nightmare! Do you know what it's like having to work with someone who thinks that they know everything! Or what it's like when they keep sending you those I'm-so-superior-to-you looks! Do you know what that's like?"
"Yes," Julie and Albus answered at the same time.
"How? Who do you know who's like that?"
"Well, you were kind of describing yourself," Al told his cousin timidly.
"I was not! I never send you I'm-so-superior-to-you looks! How could you even say that?"
"Well, not that part, but….." his voice trailed off.
"You're a know-it-all, Rose! I mean that in the nicest way, but…you're really smart and you know and like it. There's nothing wrong with being smart!" she added hastily at the look on Roses face.
"Well, I still don't see how it does me any good working with my kind!" Rose spat at Julie.
"Well, for one thing, you've been getting better grades. You spend more time in the library studying since you have motivation to work now," Julie offered.
"Whatever," Rose said as they walked into the Great Hall for lunch.
Rose and Scorpious both stood up at the same time their hands in the air. They scowled at each other and the Transfiguration teacher simply sighed. For some odd reason, she didn't seem to like either of them. This teacher was new. "When I asked, 'Can anyone tell me why?' what I meant to say was, 'Can anyone other than Scorpious or Rose tell me why?' Albus?" she looked at Albus pleadingly and he gave her the correct answer. "Now, does anyone know the answer to the next question? Yes, of course Rose and Scorpious do," she muttered grumpily. "Which one of you will tell me the correct answer without answering any other questions on the board?" Slowly, their hands began to creep down and they sat back in their seats. Roses hand shot back up again and the teacher just sighed and called on her.
"Will you stop that!" Rose hissed. She was sitting in the library studying (no surprise their) and Scorpious was muttering something next to her.
"Stop what?" he asked annoyed.
"Talking to yourself. Some of us are trying to study!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was studying too loudly for you," he spat sarcastically. "Should I leave?"
"Why are you talking to yourself?"
"I'm studying. All I'm doing is repeating what I'm reading."
"Why can't you just read it over rather than preventing other people from doing their work?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Not all of us can just read something once and have it memorized by heart!"
She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Audio learners."
"Do you think that this is another thing that makes you better than me?"
"Why do you keep insisting that I think I'm better than you? Have I ever actually said that or something?"
"No, but it's true. Your parents saved the world from the worst dark wizards ever. My father was on the losing side of that war. My father is always going to be thought of the kid who helped the Dark Lord. I'm always going to be his son that he didn't even want. You will always be the daughter of two of the greatest heroes in the world (who're on Chocolate Frog Cards by the way) who fell in love and had two kids because they wanted them, not because they were purebloods and it was their duty to keep purebloods from going extinct. Your parents are madly in love whereas mine are simply both purebloods close to the same age. It's that reason that make you think you're better than me."
"Right, because you don't find yourself superior to me because you're a pureblood and I'm a mere half-blood?"
"Are you honestly that thick? When the hell have I ever said that?"
"So you don't think that?"
"Hell no!" he whisper shouted and a few people turned to look at him and he ducked down. "How could you even say that?"
"How could you think that I would think I'm better than you because my parents won the war? Do you even know what that's like? You're just walking down the street with your family and some stranger comes up to you and asks your parents for their autographs. Wherever you go, someone is staring at you and the press makes a big deal out of every tiny aspect of your life! On top of it all, everyone expects you to be just as amazing as your parents even though you're only eleven so you have to work your butt off to achieve good grades so you won't disappoint your parents and then you have people like you who think that you're arrogant!"
His expression softened, but he still quietly said, "Try looking at it this way. Your father and grandfather were big supporters of the most evil wizard to ever live and wherever you go, someone treats you like it's your fault. After everyone hears your last name, they treat you like dirt and they never give you a chance to prove them wrong. So you have to work your ass off to prove that you aren't the scum that people think you are, but it doesn't actually make a difference. Then you have people like you who think that you're prejudice because you're a Slytherin and your stupid father and grandparents were that way," he took a shaky breath. "I honestly don't give a damn about anyone's blood status least of all my own. Try thinking about how you'd feel if that were your life."
Rose didn't know what to think. The only thing that she could think to say were her two least favorite words. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I'm sorry for what I said too. You probably have a hard enough time as it is."
"I have a question."
"What?"
"Why did you sit next to me? There's a group of Slytherins over there that you could have sat with."
"Yeah, but they're older than me. They kind of scare me actually."
Rose couldn't stop herself. She was laughing so hard that she dropped the book that she was holding and put her hand over her mouth to hide her big teeth. Gasping, she said, "I'm sorry, but you're actually afraid of people in your own house?"
"They're creepy and there is a reason that I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor."
"What was that?"
"I'm a coward and I don't care if anyone knows that I'm afraid of the germs."
This only made Rose laugh harder. "You have mysophobia?" she asked.
"Yeah, is it really that lame?"
"No, I have," she looked around to see if anyone was looking then whispered, "arachnophobia."
"That's the most common phobia there is. It's not anything to be embarrassed about."
"Know-it-all," she mumbled.
"You too," he coughed. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.