It was undoubtedly going to be a very strange Christmas that year.
Due to the fact that mum and dad were off to Romania with Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny to visit Uncle Charlie (who I've seen literally once in my life), me and Hugo and my three cousins James, Albus and Lily had been dumped and left mercilessly in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts for the entire Christmas holidays.
Gee, thanks parents.
To be honest, they all did seem rather guilty about it, but not guilty enough to take us by the hand and allow us to the beautiful scenery of Romania with them.
After a lot of extensive thinking the night of the last day of school as I lay in bed basking in my bitterness, I finally realized that maybe this wasn't going to be so bad – we could have parties, discover secret castle passages, and stay up late!
Oh, wait, we do that already (we are 6th years after all!).
It's safe to say, I wasn't feeling too friendly the next morning as I headed down to the Great Hall where James and Albus were probably already stuffing their faces (Lily would still be asleep: I could hear her now – "I need my beauty sleep, Rosie!"). Hugo would be in bed as well and wouldn't emerge until about 4PM, no doubt.
That's where things turned interesting…
"Alright, Rosie?" James grinned at me through a mouthful of beans, ruffling my slightly curly dark red hair. I honestly don't know how girls find him so attractive.
"Oh yeah, we've been dumped here over Christmas with nothing but ourselves to keep us company, I couldn't be better!" I reply sourly, stabbing a fork into a sausage. Of course, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid were seated at the staff table, presumably in an avid discussion about the strange creatures Hagrid keeps around his hut, and various other professor's would be in school also.
"It's already dead, Rose, you don't need to stab it so hard." Albus commented, smirking at my temper and nodding at the meat.
"Well, I wouldn't say only ourselves to keep us company…" James began, jerking his head across the Hall.
I swivelled round and my stomach dropped.
Sat across at the Slytherin table were Romeo Zabini, Eloise Stunt, Harley Parkinson and… Scorpius Malfoy.
KILL ME.
I mean sure, ever since the Great War ended (since mum, dad and Uncle Harry saved everyone's arses – just throwing that in there), House Unity has become much more apparent and not many people still believe in Blood Status – however there are a few who quite obviously do.
And they were all sat merely metres away from us.
Deep in conversation with Zabini, Malfoy's blond hair flopped across his face, concealing his light blue eyes that always seemed to look soulless and hard. Admittedly, he was rather good-looking; that's what practically every girl at Hogwarts thought anyway.
He had aristocratic cheekbones that swept up his face, a hard lined jaw, a straight nose and light, sea coloured eyes. His blond hair, unlike his father's, was tousled and messy and was so platinum blond it seemed to project its own bloody light source and he constantly seemed to be running his hand through it. He was never seen without that signature Malfoy smirk – unless it had been replaced with a glare, that is. He had a lean, slightly muscular body from Quidditch (he was the Slytherin keeper) that was lightly tanned and he wore his Slytherin uniform in a relaxed fashion.
The catch, of course, was that he was a cruel, slimy git.
"We'll just ignore them, Rosie. This castle's huge, I'm sure we can avoid them for a couple of weeks." Al stated firmly, snapping me back into reality. He pushed his messy black hair back and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Why have you got your bag? We don't have school, in case you've forgotten." I asked curiously.
"Yeah, well, I thought I could catch up with some work I've missed out on, you know, start off next term well and all that." He looked around distractedly. I notice Eloise Stunt is no longer with her band of Snakes.
I paused: "Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?"
He laughed sarcastically and hurried off down the Hall, presumably to take refuge in the library.
"What's all that about?" I turn around to James, who is surprisingly falling asleep on the table.
"Trying to impress this girl…" He mutters sleepily, snuggling further into his arm.
I smile and sigh down at my cousin – Quidditch is really taking it out of him this year.
"This is the kind of commitment you need if you want to get in to the Chudley Cannon's, Rosie!" I can practically hear his cheeky grin in my mind as he smashes yet another Quaffle in my direction… Fun summer, that was. Not.
I stand up, smooth down my t-shirt and grab a breakfast muffin – it's the only way I'll be able to lure Lily out of bed.
As I head down the corridor towards the staircase leading up to Gryffindor Tower, I hear a shuffling behind me and spin round.
"Hello?"
No answer.
I shrug and continue on my way, my pink Converse patting softly on the cold stone floor. I dressed simply, in dark wash jeans, a dark pink t-shirt from a Muggle brand called Hollister and my deep red, slightly curly hair is falling naturally to my waist. I pulled on a plain black cloak before leaving my dorm though, as it is winter and Hogwarts is a medieval castle – heating is not guaranteed.
Suddenly, I hear footsteps falling behind me and I whisk round once again, to find none other than Malfoy following me!
"What do you think you're doing?" I ask coldly, grabbing my wand but keeping it inside my cloak.
"Walking, Weasley. You seem to be doing it too." He smirks, stuffing his own hands deep into his pockets.
"That's not what I meant. Why are you following me?" I demand, my hand tightening around the wand.
"Tell me, why would I be spending my Saturday following a loser like you around?" He says softly.
I sigh in disgust.
"You really are a vile piece of work, Malfoy. Stop harassing me and leave me alone." I turn on my heel and stalk off, my face flushing in anger.
"Oi!" He calls.
"What?" I snap, still not turning around.
"To be honest, for a Weasley, you're not that repulsive." He states simply.
I force myself not to stop, though to tell you the truth, his comment nearly made me faint with shock. That was probably the nicest thing Malfoy has said to me – no, scrap that – it's the only nice thing Malfoy has ever said to me!
Well, it was a nice comment for him, anyway.
"Isn't that wonderful!" I remark sarcastically and turn around the corner before leaning back against the wall.
Why did he bother to say that?
What did it even mean?
Do I care?
Why should I care?
Why is that boy so bloody confusing?!