It was a cold November morning, and a small group of Ravenclaw students was rushing from the greenhouses to the dark classroom in the dungeons. Amongst them was a short redheaded girl who, for once, empathised with her best friend's Eve loud complaints. Rose Weasley usually loved Potions, but she wasn't looking forward to spending a double period in the freezing dungeons. However, she quickly changed her mind once she spotted the cauldron that was sitting next to Professor Jefferson's table. She practically dragged Eve to the front row, where she proceeded to stare at the cauldron with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.
She didn't bother to turn around when a loud group of Slytherin students entered the dungeons and sat on the back row seats. They seemed to be laughing at Marcus Goyle, who had been dared to run naked around the frozen lake. His ears were still emitting steam from the Pepper-Up Potion the school nurse had forced down his throat, but he was smiling smugly after having collected a few galleons. Next to him, Scorpius Malfoy was bragging about his role in Slytherin's victory on their last quidditch match against Hufflepuff, and a couple of girls were gazing adoringly at him. Eve glanced at them from her position next to Rose and huffed.
"It was a stroke of luck, really. Mike would've definitely caught the Snitch if the Slytherins weren't such sneaky gits."
Rose smiled at her friend's annoyance. "As much as I dislike Malfoy, even I have to admit it was fair play. I'm sure your boyfriend will do better next time."
Eve smiled, but she didn't reply as Professor Jefferson had just arrived and was approaching the blackboard. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight bun, but her expression was relaxed and kind. She didn't like wasting time, so after greeting her students she immediately started her lesson.
"Who can tell me the name of the potion in the cauldron?"
Nobody was surprised to see Rose raising her hand. "Amortentia. It's the most powerful love potion in the world," she said, at a nod from their professor.
"Five points for Ravenclaw. As Miss Weasley has just said, this cauldron contains Amortentia." Professor Jefferson moved towards the cauldron and pointed at it. "It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen and the steam that rises from the potion in spirals. It smells different to each person, according to what attracts them. You will find the instructions for brewing it on page 261."
The students started gathering the ingredients for the potion while talking about what they thought they were going to smell. Rose was amused to see that there were quite a lot on longing stares going on between a few of her classmates, but she quickly tuned it all out except for her cauldron. The gossiping and staring eventually dwindled down, as Amortentia was quite difficult to make and required a lot of concentration and precise measuring.
Rose appreciated the silence, which she wasn't very used to. It was one of the benefits of finally being in a NEWT-level class, she supposed. She was a bit wary of the intensity of a few girls' expressions, though; they didn't tend to take the subject as seriously as herself, and she was slightly concerned about the nature of their sudden interest.
She managed to finish her potion with a few minutes to spare and took a minute to smell it. She unconsciously smiled as the smell of fresh parchment, chocolate and spearmint invaded her senses. She closed her eyes as a reflex, only to open them with a startle when she heard a voice nearby.
"So, I take it you've already finished as well? What does ickle bookworm Weasel smell in her Amortentia? Perhaps Madam Pince?"
Rose's good mood disappeared instantly. "Piss off, Malfoy. None of your business," she answered.
"Easy, Weasley. It was just a question."
Rose rolled her eyes as she turned in a flask so Professor Jefferson could grade her work. "Why do you even care?"
"I don't," was his quick answer. He leaned over her shoulder to turn in his own flask only to suddenly freeze. Rose turned to look at him and she saw him staring oddly as her, as he muttered "It can't be" under his breath. She raised an eyebrow at him, but went back to her seat without questioning him as he stumbled his way to the back of the classroom. He hastily put his things in his bag and left the classroom without a backward glance.
"What was that about?" asked Eve, who had been looking curiously at their interaction and his hasty escape.
"I've no idea what's gotten into him. He was just being a bit of a jerk, as usual." Rose simply shrugged as she helped Eve clear her desk.
"Well, nevermind. Come on, let's go to the Great Hall, I'm starving!"
The two girls waited for her friends and made their way to the Great Hall. Mandy and Diane kept gushing about the lesson and the smells of their potions, and after a bit of prodding even Eve blushingly admitted to smelling Mike in her Amortentia. Their conversation continued while they had lunch, until Mandy interrupted them. "Is that Scorpius Malfoy staring at you, Rose?"
She turned around and locked eyes with the blond Slytherin. He seemed a bit taken aback at having been caught staring at her, but he didn't tear his gaze away. Rose broke their eye contact a few seconds later with a slight raise of her eyebrow, and then turned back to face her friends. "Uh, it's probably just a coincidence. Either that or he's trying to come up with a few more creative insults or a way to get revenge on Fred and James."
Diane started giggling. "It was pretty hilarious to see him with red hair for an entire day. Fred and James definitely outdid themselves this time around!"
Their conversation shifted to Rose's mischievous cousins, who were trying to cram as many pranks as possible during their last year at Hogwarts. "I'm gonna miss those idiots when they leave," said Rose.
Eve grinned at her. "Yeah, but Ravenclaw might finally stand a chance at winning the quidditch cup next year. Gryffindor is probably going to win their third cup in a row this season. We can't have that happening next year!"
Rose rolled her eyes at her friend's obsession with quidditch, and got up to leave. "Come on, we have Charms in ten minutes."
As she was leaving the Great Hall, Rose noticed that Scorpius' gaze was focused on her yet again. She shook her head and followed Eve, who was still droning on about quidditch. She let herself get distracted while thinking about the blond. They had never really talked much to each other, especially during their first four years at Hogwarts. Still, they smiled politely at each other when they crossed paths at the library or the hallways, and they had even had a few small conversations. This changed when Fred and James decided to target the Slytherin after hearing stories about his father's role in the War. The smiles stopped and instead she started getting cold glares and a few derisive remarks, which hurt more than she'd ever admit.
She managed to push all thoughts of Scorpius Malfoy to the back of her head and concentrated again on Eve, who was asking her opinion on birthday presents for her boyfriend.
The following week passed in a blur. Their homework kept piling up, and Rose found herself spending almost all of her free time in the library with her friends or cousins. Despite her stress, she couldn't help but notice that Scorpius Malfoy continued staring at her. His face tended to be carefully blank when she looked back at him, but a few times she thought she discerned wistfulness and perhaps even regret. She instantly dismissed those thoughts; she was convinced she was just projecting her emotions onto him.
Because yes, she had finally admitted to herself that she wished things weren't that way. While Scorpius was rude to her and her family, he was perfectly nice and polite to mostly everybody else. He was well-liked by both his fellow students and his professors, and the prefect badge that was sitting on this robe was hard-earned. She couldn't even blame him for his rudeness; after all, it was her stupid cousins who had been pranking him for a couple years now.
So when she run into him in a deserted hallway a couple of weeks later, Rose couldn't help blurting out the thought that had been nagging at her for weeks. "Wait, Malfoy. Look, I don't know why you keep staring at me, but I'm sorry for the stuff my cousins have been doing to you. I swear I'm not involved in their pranks, and I have asked them to stop a few times but they won't listen to me."
Scorpius' eyes widened slightly, but he didn't offer any other reactions. After a few awkward seconds, Rose shuffled her feet and stuttered "Erm well, that's all. See you in Potions."
"Wait, Weasley!" he said. "I've always known you're not involved in those pranks." He looked a bit uncomfortable, and he brought his left hand to his hair while grimacing slightly.
"Oh," she said. "It's just I thought you started hating me because of them."
"Uh well, I knew you got on well with them, so- yeah, I don't know."
Rose considered leaving, but her mouth seemed to move on her own "Uhm, do you think we could go back to being friends then? Well, I guess we were more like acquaintances than friends, but I sort of liked being friendly with you."
She mentally cringed at her awkwardness and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse to flee the corridor. She didn't have time to do so as she heard Scorpius mutter, "Yeah, I'd like that too". Her mood instantly lifted and she shot him a huge grin in response. He smiled back at her and they went their separate ways, both of them feeling considerably more lighthearted.
Things were a bit awkward at the beginning, but they quickly got used to their tentative new friendship. They smiled at each other when they crossed paths, and when they spotted each other in the library they more often than not chose to sit together. Soon, they were actually making plans to meet up to study, and they introduced each other to their friends, who had watched over their blossoming friendship with some reservations and a fair share of amusement.
It wasn't long before Scorpius and Rose started to slightly regret telling their friends about their new friendship, though. After the shock at the new development had worn off, it hadn't taken more than just a few days for the knowing glances and carefully-worded remarks to make an appearance. Rose wished for the thousandth time that she didn't blush so easily, to no avail. Scorpius handled it a bit better, but he privately admitted to being attracted to her to his best friend Sebastian Zabini.
A few days before Christmas holidays, Rose and Scorpius found themselves sitting together in front of the Interhouse Common Room's fireplace. The room had been built after the Second Wizarding War to promote interhouse friendships, and Rose and Scorpius had been using it pretty regularly during the past few weeks. However, this was the first time that Rose fell asleep on it and ended up with her head resting on Scorpius' shoulder. Which, of course, resulted in her freaking out once she woke up.
She wasn't too concerned about the fact that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder; after all, they were friends now, and she (probably) was allowed to do that. No, her panic stemmed from the fact that she woke up surrounded by a very pleasant smell of spearmint, the very same one that had been on her Amortentia, and the fact that it came from Scorpius Malfoy. Yes, she realised with a gasp; it most definitely came from the blond guy, who was staring at her with a soft smile that made her heart beat just a tiny bit faster. She didn't know who started it, but a few seconds later her arms were around his neck and his hand was on her cheek and they were kissing and smiling and breathing in each other's scent.
They only moved apart from each other when the whistles and "I told you so!"s became a bit too much. And even then, they only left to seek a quiet place where they could just enjoy each other's presence and their sweet, bewitching spearmint and vanilla fragrances.