I was feeling really inspired to write this chapter thanks to all the fabulous reviews I got for the first chapter, so keep it up! This one's a bit longer than the last, but not terribly long, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Enjoy!

"James! What the bloody hell are you thinking?"

James started. He'd been lying the hammock that hung in the Potters' back garden, totally at ease, when his brother stormed out of the house looking livid. He rolled his eyes. He'd given Socprius permission to tell one person about the bet and, shocker, Scorpius had picked Al.

"Stop being such a drama queen," James sighed, sitting up as Al reached him, "You know, for a Slytherin, you really don't have much of a sense of fun."

"Playing with Rose's emotions isn't fun, it's mean! She's your cousin!" Al spat.

"Oh, so that's what you're worried about," James said, understanding dawning on him, "So you actually think he can do it?"

"I don't know, but he's gonna try, and if he succeeds it's really gonna hurt her, and if he doesn't he'll have to kiss her, which is really gonna hurt him."

James flinched dramatically. After all, they all knew what a temper Rose had, especially when it came to Scorpius.

"Listen," James said easily, "Relax. I have it all under control."

"Oh yeah? How're you gonna have it 'under control' when we all go back to Hogwarts?"

"That's what you're for. And Clarice."

Al was speechless, puzzlement written on every one of his features. "What-"

"Listen," James said, "I didn't just make this bet with Scorpius, I made it with Rose too. They're both gonna spend the year trying to make the other fall for them, and you and Clarice are there to help them. You aren't allowed to tell Scorpius I've got a bet with Rose, though. It'd ruin everything."

"And what exactly is 'everything'?" Al asked, "What's the point? They hate each other's guts. What exactly are you getting from winning?"

"Oh, I'm not planning on winning," James said smugly, "I'm planning on losing, actually."

Albus gaped at him.

"Haven't you ever heard of the thin line between love and hate?" James asked, "And for those two the line gets thinner every day. When they go at it, screaming at each other from accross hallways, you know they're both just secretly ready for a good snog."

"You call hexing each other every which way 'ready for a good snog'?" Al asked skeptically.

"You'll see," James smirked, "This'll all work out, and by the end of the year they'll be together, and we can all laugh at Uncle Ron's reaction, and make Scorpius squirm a little bit. That is, if you cooperate."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do?" Al asked.

"Help Scorpius get Rose to fall for him," James said simply, lying down and putting his hands behind his head, a signal that the conversation was over.

Al sighed in frustration, "You'll see," he warned, heading back for the house, "This is a really bad idea."

James rolled his eyes.

On the morning of September 1st, Rose, Scorpius, and James were all immersed in their planning, even though the train hadn't even left the station.

"Now, promise to keep me updated," James said to Clarice as he helped her hoist her trunk onto the train, "Because you and I both know that Al won't."

Clarice rolled her eyes, "One would almost think you were dating me solely for the benefit of this experiment."

He rolled his eyes right back at her.

Further down the platform, Scorpius, having bidden his parents goodbye, and Al were saying goodbye to Harry and Ginny, Lily having already disappeared amongst her friends.

As they made to get on the train Scorpius gave Al an apologetic smile as he said, "I have to sit in the Prefect Carriage, probably for the whole trip."

"Why? So you can get an early start with Rose?" Al asked.

"Yep," Scorpius said, "I wanna catch her off guard."

"You sound like you're planning on attacking her, not seducing her."

"Much the same thing," Scorpius replied with a joking smirk. "I'll see you when we get there, okay?"

"Yeah," he grumbled. Leave it to James to rob him of his best mate for their last journy to Hogwarts. What a prat.

When Rose entered the Heads' compartment she found it empty. She was glad, as it gave her some time to collect her thoughts and formulate a plan. She and Scorpius had to give instructions to the prefects, but that only ever took a few minutes, and then she'd have plenty of time alone with him. She figured the best way to seduce him was to start being nicer, but not too nice. Tantalizingly flirtatious but still distanced. Of course, the change would be gradual. First, it'd only be the little things, starting on this train trip. She'd remain in the Heads' compartment with him for the entire ride, and she'd already resolved not to rise to any of his insults. She'd reply calmly, though still wittily, and then return to her book. That was the plan.

Resolved to all of this, she settled herself down by the window with a book and waited for the prick to arrive.

When Scorpius entered he put his trunk up without comment and settled down opposite her, taking out a copy of The Daily Prophet. This confused Rose, as normally she'd have been greeted with an insult or snide remark. She wasn't sure how to deal with the silence.

Soon the prefects arrived, and they carried out their Head duties without incident, but after the prefects left they still had a very long train trip ahead of them, and it looked as if it was going to be filled with uncomfortable silence.

After about an hour Scorpius decided to say something, anything, just to get her talking. Despite having spent the last six years of his life competing with and insulting her, he didn't know all that much about her, and what he did know wasn't exactly unbiased. He knew she was the best in the year, a Ravenclaw, the seeker on her house team, and one of many Weasleys. Those were the solid facts. Of course, he also knew she was witty and clever, but normally those qualities didn't help him, she was rather bossy and a know-it-all in his opinion, but apparently other people didn't seem to think so, as she was never short of friends or admirers. And she, like him, hated to be wrong. The only problem with that was that her being right normally corresponded with him being wrong, which so did not work for him. That little similarity is what led to most of their arguments. Of course, every once and a while he could acknowledge she'd been right inside his own head, but most of the time she was, in fact, dead wrong, and even if she wasn't he could never acknowledge that she was right out loud, so they fought continuously.

However, Scorpius needed to know more about her if he wanted to have any chance of succeeding. He'd have to find some good (or at least semi-good, he didn't want to hope for too much) qualities to latch onto.

So, he asked, after an hour of very uncomfortable silence, "What's the book?"

She started, and had to hold in her smirk. She'd been waiting for him to speak first, and he had, just as she'd hoped. She never made it look like she cared one way or another about any boy when she first met him. She wasn't rude, it was simply an indifference that drove most boys crazy, and she had every reason to believe that Scorpius was just as self-centered and testosterone dominated as any other boy, if not more so. Her indifference, she hoped, would irritate him and tempt him into persuing her.

"I'm sorry," she said, accenting her surprise with a quirk of her eyebrow, "Did you say something?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, "I asked what you were reading."

"Oh," she said carelessly, "Just a muggle book. You probably wouldn't know it."

"Try me," he challenged. Just what she'd been hoping for.

"Pride and Prejudice." She was met with a blank look, which she'd been expecting. "I didn't think so," she continued condescendingly.

The rest of the ride passed in near silence, with the exception of when Scorpius asked Rose what she wanted from the trolly and then, rather gallantly in his opinion, refused her money amd offered to pay for it with his own, silencing her protests.

He'd asked Al before they left what type of guy Rose went for, and Al's answer had been most eluminating. She liked smart guys, obviously, nice guys, but not boring. He'd said that she didn't like easy guys, but she didn't like guys who were trying to be hard, and she definitely didn't like players, though plenty of them were interested in her. In other words, Scorpius' total opposite, basically (except for the smart part, obviously. Scorpius would always be the first to admit that he was bloody brilliant.)

Armed with this information from Al, and with his new knowledge that she liked muggle books, he made a mental note to go to the library and check out Pride and Prejudice, and any other books like it, when they got to the castle. She wanted a nice guy, he'd be a nice guy. He wouldn't be easy, but he'd be accessible, and he wouldn't be a player, he'd be a monogamist. He would chose the sacraficial girlfriend with care. She'd be the type of girl Rose could respect, and he'd be an unfailingly perfect boyfriend. Still armed with the sacraficial girlfriend, he would build his friendship with Rose and then, at the appropriate time, break things off, in a courtious and caring manner, with the girlfriend, leaving himself open for Rose. However, he was well aware that all of this was easier said than done. Still, he felt glad that he'd established a plan (and only three phases too; with any luck, he'd have won by Christmas!).

When they reached the castle they ushered people off of the train before seperating. Scorpius met up with Al and they rode together in a carriage along with their friend, Peter Goyle, leaving Rose free to find Clarice. They were able to snag a carriage for themselves, much to their excitement, leaving them free to discuss their plans.

"So, how was the trip?" asked Clarice, "Make any progress?"

"No," Rose said, frustrated, "I mean, I guess a little..." she recounted the conversation concerning Pride and Prejudice.

"Hm," Clarice began when Rose had finished, "I think you played it very well. You were condescending and challenging, but not in an abrasive way, more in a..."

"Tantalizing way?" suggested Rose, "That's what I was going for. But, he's not acting like himself. I mean, I suppose he can't be a git all the time, seeing as he's friends with Al and all, but he wasn't acting the way he normally does with me. He paid for my stuff from the trolly! Willingly! And he didn't insult me once, not once, during the entire trip!"

Clarice furrowed her brow. She supposed that Scorpius was trying to be nice in order to get Rose to like him. However, this presented a problem because Rose didn't know that Scorpius was just pretending to be more polite, so she would proabably want to change tactics, but Clarice knew that Rose's tactic would work because Scorpius wasn't actually changing. However, she couldn't explain any of this to Rose, obviously, so all she said was, "Maybe he was feeling sick or something. Give it a few days. After all, you have an entire year."

"I guess," she grumbled, leaning back. After a moment she said, "You know, I can't figure out why you agreed to help me with this."

"Because you're my best friend?"

"Yeah, but James is your boyfriend. Shouldn't you want him to win?"

"Just because we're dating doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing him lose," Clarice smirked.

"You're diabolical," Rose smirked in return, "But I guess you had to be, somewhere in there, otherwise James wouldn't have fallen for you."

The very next day Scorpius began the first phase of his plan: become a nice guy and a good friend. He was at the library every free period, mostly studying for his N.E.W.T.s (he wasn't going to give up his attempts to be the best in the year, even though he knew somewhere deep inside that he'd never win and that it would take time away from the bet), but also reading muggle novels. He'd always been a fast reader, and was getting through them quickly. He always made sure to bring one back to the common room that he and Rose now shared, in the hopes of getting her to notice it, but she seemed completely indifferent to him. She still teased him and made witty, albeit mean, comments, but they were offhanded, casual even, when before they'd been heated and angry. He hoped this change in attitude was a response to his change in attitude, and that it meant he was making progress.

One evening about two weeks into term, she came back to their common room from Quidditch practice and noticed him reading on the couch. As she walked past him, she noticed, much to her surprise, that he was reading Pride and Prejudice.

"What's the book?" she asked casually, sitting down in the armchair closest to his end of the couch.

He showed her the cover without look up, his eyes still moving down the page.

She smirked. "What made you decide to read it?"

"Well, if you liked it then it can't be stupid, so I figured why not give it a go," he replied easily.

She paused. That had not been the answer she'd expected. Her brain was whirring. Did this mean he was trying to impress her? It must. She was making progress!

"And how do you like it?" she asked.

"It's not bad," he said casually, "Though I much prefer Emma. Mr. Knightly's far nobler than Mr. Darcy, who's a prick for the entire first half of the book."

She had to actively stop herself from gaping. She'd managed to, with only a single, offhanded comment, get him to read Jane Austen.

He looked at her, trying not to smirk. She was impressed, as he knew she'd be.

As they both looked at each other, they each had the same thought: You are so falling for me.

Let me know what you're thinking in a review please! You have no idea how much it helps. I love to hear what my readers think, so tell me what you think of Scorpius' plan, of Rose's plan, of James' plan, of how involved you want Clarice and Al to be in the bet...basically just tell me anything.

XOXO

GossipGirlHere