A/N: I don't own HP. If I did, Fred Weasley would still be alive.

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Rose, Madeleine, and Bailey walked into the Great Hall the next morning, gossiping happily about everything that had changed over the summer- from Lydia Goldstein's new haircut (cute!) to Chloe Roberts's new boyfriend Luke Daniels (wouldn't last a week). As the girls passed the Gryffindor table, Madeleine suddenly fell silent and looked self-conscious- she blushed, fiddled with her hair, and tried to hide her grin. Rose glanced over and noticed James staring at the trio avidly. Disgruntled, she plopped herself down in the empty chair next to Scorpius.

Scorpius smirked as the other two girls also sat down.

"Looking forward to Annelise Moon?" he whispered.

Rose shot him a glare. He pretended to wince in pain, chuckling to himself.

Suddenly noticing that, unlike on normal mornings, no food had appeared on the magical plates, Rose turned to him.

"What's going on?"

"McGonagall says she has an announcement- she's waiting for everyone to get here, too, so it must be something big."

Rose frowned, thinking. Just then, McGonagall stood up.

"Now that you have all arrived," she began in a loud, clear voice. "I have something of interest to tell you. This year, we will be starting what will hopefully began a new tradition: the Class Tournament. It will be a series of challenges and games where students of each year, NOT house, will unite to compete in. We are hopeful that this Tournament will increase class unity and break down barriers. As some of you may know, this project began quite awhile ago. The goal of uniting Hogwarts is not a new one, but it has nevertheless taken lots of time to decide how to begin. There will be four tasks that each class must complete. Every student must be involved in at least one task. More information will be given later, but I wanted to go ahead and inform you of the competition now. Thank you, and enjoy your breakfast." She nodded and sat down. The food appeared.

"Finally! Food!" exclaimed Dylan Anderson, another 6th year Ravenclaw, digging in enthusiastically.

"Well, it's good to see Dylan's concerned about the future of Hogwarts," Bailey laughed. "I think the Tournament sounds fun. What about you guys?"

"Yeah definitely," Rose chimed in.

"I wonder what type of challenges they'll have?" wondered Ethan Wyndham, Scorpius and Dylan's roomate.

"Who knows? Wish they'd tell us," sighed Madeleine.

"But that would ruin the suspense, Miss McGowan," a voice said from behind them. Professor Flitwick smiled at the 6th years as he handed them their schedules. "Miss Weasley, you are able to continue in all the classes you have requested. Here is your schedule."

"Thank you," Rose murmured, looking down at the parchment.

"Mr. Malfoy, you as well. Very nice job on your O.W.L.S."

"Thank you, sir," replied Scorpius.

As Flitwick walked on, Scorpius grabbed Rose's schedule, staring at it for a moment, then handed it back, smiling.

"Six classes together!" He paused. "It would be seven if SOMEONE hadn't decided to take Ancient Runes instead of continuing Astronomy."

"The only reason you took Astronomy in the first place is because you're named after some silly constellation, SCORPIO. Besides, Ancient Runes is one of my favorite classes."

"Um, actually, the reason I took it was because it was REQUIRED, but you obviously didn't manage to pick up that one little fact in five years of the class..."

The two best friends continued to argue as they headed off to 1st period Herbology. Maddie left with the two other Ravenclaw 6th year girls, Emma Ashton and Chloe Roberts (who was still attached to Luke) for Divination. Bailey and Dylan followed Scorpius and Rose out to the greenhouses, rolling their eyes and wondering how the two friends could argue so much.

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"Hello, Rose. Hello, Scorpius."

"Hi, Professor Longbottom," the two Ravenclaws greeted him. Neville was a particularly good friend of theirs after he had helped convince Ron and Hermione that Scorpius was a good person when the two had become friends during their first year. Now, although Ron still was not a big fan of Scorpius, he accepted their unusual friendship. Hermione, on the other hand, had really liked Malfoy's son once she had met him.

Rose and Scorpius sat down, waiting for the others to arrive. The NEWT level class was small, with only 15 students in the class out of all the 6th years. Besides Scorpius, Rose, Bailey, and Dylan, there were two other Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, and two Slytherins. The rest of the class were Gryffindors- including Rose's cousin Albus and four others.

"Good morning, and welcome to your first class of 6th year. I'm sure you hear constantly that this year, your classes will be much harder and there will be much more work. But I know none of you want to sit here and listen to me go on and on- and trust me, you'll be getting enough of that from your other teachers. So go ahead and pair up. Today, we will be working with Flesh- Eating Trees. You will find instructions at each station. Ask me if you have any questions, and you can go ahead and start."

As Rose and Scorpius automatically moved closer to one another, Alex Lennox caught Rose's arm, stopping her.

"Hey, Rose, wanna work together?"

Rose looked suprised. "Uh..." She always worked with Scorpius... but Alex was cute... and nice... and funny... and had she mentioned really cute? Maybe she could change just this once.

She looked at Scorpius questioningly. He shrugged, then turned away, asking Connor if he wanted to pair up.

Rose frowned. Did he look annoyed? Oh, well. She looked back at Alex.

"Sure," she answered, smiling.

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