Life could not possibly get any worse.

"I like you, you know," Teddy said to Victoire, google-eyed for her. The one upside of this "them-dating" thing was that he wasn't entangling us all in his schemes to impress her anymore. A small consolation, really…

"Well, eet eez I who likes you more." Victoire batted her pale eyelashes like a true French coquette.

It was all I could do not to groan. I had dumbly placed a bet with Fred… And lost, I should've known. But now, he was sitting shotgun; where I should be, and I was stuck between Teddy and Victoire for the entire ride to Kings' Cross. It was nauseating.

"That's not possible," Teddy grinned at Victoire.

"Yes, eet eez," She smiled back insistently.

I rolled my eyes, mumbling under my breath, "Eet eez I 'ou eez going to be seek."

Teddy was too deaf to hear me; however, Victoire heard me, and her grin wavered for a moment. Her eyes glinted with hatred at me, but I didn't care, just wished others could see through her little façade. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lily and Roxy snickering. I turned around and hissed, "Do you want to trade seats?" They grew silent at once, to my satisfaction, and shook their heads. "Then shut it, or we will." Their smiles disappeared after my telling-off, but the happiness stayed in their eyes.

While Teddy and Victoire went on blabbering about who loved each other more, Teddy bleating like a sheep that she couldn't "possibly love him more," I leaned back in my seat and thought of ways to dispose of Victoire. No way that I came up with was matched for the agony I was suffering through. I finally decided to kill myself by 

asphyxiating on a Chocolate Frog when Fred turned towards me and asked merrily, "Having fun, are we?"

Contrary to my parent's beliefs, I am not made of such strong stock when it comes to temper. I leaned forward and growled in his ear such vulgar things that his face lost color. He turned around and didn't say anything for a full five minutes. Finally, Dad, who was driving, glanced first at my cousin, his face wan, then looked at me in the rearview mirror and asked, "How'd you do you manage that?" I shrugged. I wasn't about to reveal the source of my brilliance.

The car door opened, and I scrambled out the door, yearning for land, hitting Victoire in the face 'accidentally' as I stumbled out. I didn't bother to apologize because I was in such a hurry to get to the fresh air and away from Dad's driving, which stirred the nausea brewing in my stomach quite nicely. I felt her eyes glaring at me through the back of my skull, but it was then I saw my two best friends, Cora Lovegood and Alice Longbottom. I smiled and raced to meet them. They were as good as land any day.

"Hello, Rosie. It's nice seeing you again…" Cora's breezy voice was a relief to hear after Victoire's slightly nasal one.

"Hi, Rose." Alice gave me a smile that was a carbon copy of her father's, cheerful and kind.

I opened my mouth to speak when my father approached with my luggage. "Come on, now," He said gruffly. "It's almost eleven." He looked almost relieved to be seeing us off, especially Fred, who still was retaining his sunlight-deprived countenance.

We all started to catch each other up on our summers: Cora spoke of how the Quibbler was doing, Alice of her father's Herbology studies, and I of what happened with our annual Weasley-Potter family trip.

Before we knew it, we had said good bye to our parents and were on the Hogwarts Express, and we were lucky enough to claim the last empty compartment.

I opened my mouth to tell them about the horrific ride over here, when the glass door slid open. To my great surprise, a tall, lanky, greasy-haired Slytherin walked in. I blinked, all words gone. Cora spoke first. "Hello, Scorpius. Nice of you to join us, really."

He stared at Cora for a moment, unsure of whom she was. Or maybe he was just wondering why on Earth he went to a Ravenclaw-filled compartment. I wondered as well, giving him a look. Maybe he'd get the hint to keep out. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. It was worth a try, I thought dejectedly.

"Ermh…"

"Quite an intelligent remark," I giggled.

He scowled. "All of the other compartments were full, so now I get to honor you lot with my presence." He stared at Alice and snorted.

She looked a bit insulted by this. "You're that doofus Longbottom's daughter, right?" I take it back; if Alice was insulted before, she was highly offended now. He barely glanced at me. "Weasley," he scoffed. He stared at Cora, but he still didn't seem to place her.

"Cora. Cora Lovegood," Cora said cheerfully, not noticing that he was insulting us.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then a bemused look came across his face. "I thought your mother's last name was Lovegood."

"Oh, it is."

"No, I mean before she was married." He looked slightly irritated.

"My mother's last name has always been Lovegood." Cora smiled up at him, oblivious to his confusion. When Scorpius didn't say anything, she added nonchalantly, "My father took her name."

Scorpius knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

"Because. Oh, look, I think that's a Jobberknoll." Cora was looking out the window.

"Why?" Scorpius repeated looking stupider than Martha Stewart in the city dump.

"Because," Cora said in surprise, "it had blue feathers, and it looked rather honest to me."

"I don't care about the Jobberknoll!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Why didn't your mother take your father's last name?"

"You don't have to shout," Cora complained, rubbing her ears. "He took her name because his last name was unbearable."

"What was it?"

"The Jobberknoll?" Scorpius looked ready to scream at the poor girl. I chuckled, but I decided to help her out. This time anyway…

"Her father's last name was Hunklesnorp. He got teased rather often, and he would rather be called Loony than that." I smiled knowingly at Scorpius.

Scorpius almost smirked back. Almost being the key word here. His attention was directed to a couple passing by the compartment. It was Teddy and Victoire.

Oh, no. Teddy slid open the door and they both walked inside. "Zare eez no more zeats," Victoire griped. She looked surprised by the fact that Scorpius was in here with us Ravenclaws. "Why are you in here?"

"Same reason you are," Scorpius growled lowly. He obviously didn't like the arrangement anymore than I did.

I started back on contemplating ways to end my life so I didn't have to put up with more of Victoire when Teddy plopped down next to me. "'Ello, Rose. We didn't get to talk much at your house, so what's up?"

I smiled meekly. I was very tempted to say that we didn't talk because he had been with Victoire, but I decided on making conversation. I began to describe the horrors of the Weasley trip, filling Teddy in on what I had already told Alice and Cora, and I noticed Victoire was stuck beside Scorpius, scowling.

I wondered for a moment if she was jealous that I had Teddy's attention and paused in my storytelling, just to revel. A girl's got to have her kicks sometime. Scorpius took this lapse to interrupt and ask Victoire, "Are you two… together?" I followed his gaze. He was looking at Victoire's and Teddy's intertwined hands.

"Yes, yes we are." Teddy grinned like a maniac. I decided I didn't like that grin right off.

Scorpius said nothing, just sat facing forward with a frown. I wondered which made him more nauseated: being stuck in a compartment filled with everyone but Slytherins or being stuck next to a love-sick Victoire.

I was about to suggest that we both suffocate on Chocolate Frogs when it occurred to me that maybe he'd prefer a Sugar Quill…