(A/N) Sorry I haven't been able to update recently, as my grandfather passed away a week ago and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.
I do hope that you enjoy this chapter, regardless, it took me a while to write. It will be centred around Rose and you might just see a little Scorose interaction at the end.
Rose walked down the unfamiliar halls of Hogwarts on her way back from her own private sorting ceremony. She had arrived at Hogwarts a day later than everyone else as her brother had wounded up in the hospital for food poisoning.
She hoped she would be sorted in Gryffindor, where most of her cousins were. Of the ones still present, Al, Lily, Roxie and Louis were in Gryffindor, Lucy in Hufflepuff and Molly in Ravenclaw.
It was a shame that her brother wasn't with her, he had decided to stay at Beauxbatons and threw a fit when their parents suggested they transferred. Of course, he had a ton of friends and a girlfriend there, making his move all the more difficult. But for Rose? Not so much.
Ron and Hermione Weasley had thought it was best to send their children to Beauxbatons to avoid the media frenzy surrounding their family. It was a prestigious school where everybody was somebody, and being the children of war heroes wasn't such a big deal over there. The school was strict, much stricter than Hogwarts, as she heard from her cousins during the holidays, and she was always surprised at the kind of trouble they would get into. With Madame Ancelet's watchful supervision, the students at Beauxbatons followed rules like they were Holy.
The Sorting Hat was placed upon her head, as Professor McGonagall stood beside her.
"Ahhh, another Weasley, I see. How peculiar, you're not a first year like the others, are you? What a peculiar case," it spoke, "I sense that you would be great in Ravenclaw, with your wit and pursuit of knowledge. But you do have your parents' sense of bravery… what shall it be, I wonder"
Please be Gryffindor, she thought to herself, please be Gryffindor.
"Well, young lady, Gryffindor it is!" The Sorting Hat proclaimed.
"Welcome to Gryffindor," McGonagall smiled, glad to see that Rose had entered the house where she once belonged to.
"Thank you Professor, I look forward to being a part of the house," Rose breathed out a sigh of relief.
"I'm sure your cousins are waiting for you at Great Hall for dinner, you may go"
Rose gave a genuine smile, as she approached the grand doors of the Great Hall, as she was excited to embark on this journey at Hogwarts, something that she felt she had always missed from the adventures her cousins had told her.
She saw a collective turn of heads as she opened the doors of the Great Hall. It seemed that Dinner had begun for a while and she was clearly out of place with her lack of robes and tie, given that she had just been sorted.
The crowd turned away from her and began whispering loudly. She had never thought of herself as a topic worthy of discussion as most of her peers at Beauxbatons treated her like she was just another person.
Albus was the first to stand up, followed by the rest of her family as they greeted her at the entrance.
"Well?" Al asked.
"Gryffindor!" She exclaimed, as they took turns to congratulate her.
"Come, let's go for dinner and I'll tell you all about Hogwarts," Al said, "After all, it is my duty as Head Boy to give you a tour"
Everyone else groaned and rolled their eyes, "If you would stop bragging for just one second," Louis teased.
The Weasley clan headed off to their respective tables, and as she approached the Gryffindor table, the whispers got louder and louder.
"Merlin! Is that Rose Weasley?"
"I heard she transferred from Beauxbatons"
"She's pretty, I wonder if she's dating anyone"
"I heard Beauxbatons students have a stick up their bum"
"I bet she's in Gryffindor"
"Think she'd be as easy as Lily Potter?"
The voices soon became overwhelming, as they echoed in her head.
"Hey," she heard a soft voice beside her, "Don't pay them any attention," Al reached his hand out to squeeze hers, "Come, let me introduce you to some of my friends"
They walked over to the head of the long wooden table, "Hey guys," Al addressed the people in front of them, "This is my cousin, Rose, she's new here"
"We've heard all about you," one boy voiced out.
"Good things, I hope," she laughed nervously.
"Rose, these are my friends, Derrick Thomas, Sam Finnigan, Alexandria Maynard, and Sophia Richards. They're on the Quidditch team with me," the Gryffindors offered her a wave as they were introduced.
"So, how're you adjusting to Hogwarts so far?" Alexandria asked.
"It's lovely so far, I haven't really gotten around to exploring the school yet, but I'm looking forward to it," she replied her standard answer, not quite trusting these people enough to open up about just how nervous she was.
"Hogwarts is awesome," Sophia chimed in, "I hear Beauxbatons is a real you-know-what on rules. I bet the people there were boring," she laughed.
Rose looked at them, unsure of what to say, she didn't want to bash her old school because truth-be-told, she loved Beauxbatons and everything it stood for.
"Soph, don't be rude," Louis interjected, "Judging by what my sister tells me, Dom had a real blast there"
"Ah yes, Dominique Weasley, how is she, mate?" Derrick asked, with a smirk, "I miss seeing her in magazines"
"Shut up, and go flirt with girls in your own league," Louis muttered.
"But really, though," Sophia carried on, "Hogwarts is the best, as long as you stick with the right crowd"
Truth be told, Rose was already slightly annoyed at the way Sophia spoke. It reminded her of some of the girls at Beauxbatons with a superior complex, and would segregate themselves from those they thought were 'lowly'.
Rose's silence did not seem to deter Sophia, however, as she went on, "Trust me, though. You should stick to us Gryffindors, and maybe a couple of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. But those Slytherins? They're bad news"
"I thought House Rivalries were over by now," Rose recalled her parents and uncles explaining to her cousins that they should not judge a person by their House, and that they hoped the final Wizarding War had ended all house prejudice. But clearly, they were too idealistic, as it seems that the problem still exists.
"Oh please, the Slytherins are nothing but trouble. Take the leader of their pack for example, Scorpius Malfoy, he's the worst of the bunch. You can ask anyone," Rose's eyes scanned over to the other occupants of the table and none seemed to be protesting, "And his friend, or girlfriend, or whatever she is to him, she's a real bitch. She tried to get it on with Al and James at the same time last year. Failed miserably, though," Sophia smirked.
"Umm… thanks for the advice, I guess. I'll take that into consideration," Rose mumbled.
"It's only because Soph is jealous," Derrick teased, "She's got a thing for James"
When dinner was over, she waved off her cousins as she wanted some alone time to think before she started her classes the next day, a tradition that she has had since her first year at Beauxbatons. Tired, they gave her the password to the common room and brief directions towards it, with a haphazardly drawn map and agreed to leave her alone.
She walked aimlessly in the hallways of the castle, it was truly a maze in here, and so different to Beauxbatons. There, the hallways were delicately decorated and labelled with colour schemes and directions. Here, it was more of a jumbled mess - homely, but messy nonetheless.
The further she walked, the less familiar the settings became, and soon she found herself wondering near what was labelled the Potions classroom. She looked at her watch, she had five minutes until curfew, there was no way she was going to get back on time.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight as she felt a light breeze in the dark hallways. She held her cardigan closer to herself, as she wished she had her school robes with her. She prayed she did not run into the Slytherin ghost, The Bloody Baron, as she had read from textbooks, he seemed bloody scary.
Footsteps approached her from behind and her first instinct was to hide. She stood behind a tapestry at the end of the corridor and held her breath.
"You know," a male voice drawled out, "I can see your feet from here"
Blushing immensely at the thought of being caught, she stepped out of the shadows and came face-to-face with a handsome blond wizard wearing Slytherin robes.
"I- er…," she stuttered awkwardly.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He smirked.
"I'm Rose," she uttered, stepping forward into the light illuminated by the torches on the wall.
"I know," he replied simply, "You're Rose Weasley. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Scorpius"
"Malfoy," the connection clicked in her head as she recalled the mention of his name over dinner just a few hours prior.
He frowned with a certain darkness in his eyes, "Not that it's any of your concern, Princess, but Scorpius is just fine"
"I prefer not," she held up her walls, she wasn't going to fall for his strong jawline or stormy eyes.
"Fine, suit yourself," he turned to walk away, with malice in his eyes, placing his hands in his pockets.
Rose looked around, trying to see if there were any other students in the seemingly abandoned hallways, but only darkness stared back at her.
"Wait," she jumped, as her own echoes caught her by surprise, "Wait, I'm sorry Scorpius," she ran forward to catch up with him and caught him by the arm.
He halted, his gaze shifting to her hand that was touching his forearm. He stood and waited for her to speak.
"Look, I'm sorry, I was being nasty for no reason," she said quietly, "Of all the students here at Hogwarts, I should've known better than to use someone's last name against them. I'm over the ancient family feuds, I really am. Can we start again?"
Scorpius considered her proposal. Being friends with her would certainly ease his bet with Katerina, but looking into her bright blue eyes, he knew that the bet wasn't even a reason for wanting to be close to her.
"Scorpius," he held out his hand as a renewed introduction.
"Nice to meet you, Scorpius, I'm Rose," she took his hand to shake it, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. He may seem like a good person, she thought to herself, but he's still bad news.
"Now Rose, how about I take you back to your common room then?"
"What? Umm… no, that's fine," she turned red, as he clearly noticed her inability to navigate the castle.
"Your lost puppy eyes tells me it's far from fine," he chuckled lightly at her expense, "Something tells me you have no idea where your common room is"
She smacked him lightly on the shoulder, "Don't tease, I'm new here"
"I know, so let me be the knight in shining armour for once and take you back to your lions' den," he hoped she would agree, not wanting to make a fool out of himself. Normally, he wouldn't even take the girls he had been seeing back to their common rooms, but there was something about her that made him fiercely protective. Hogwarts may be impenetrable, but it surely wasn't as safe as people thought it was.
She smiled, "I would really appreciate that, Scorpius, thank you," maybe he wasn't as bad as everyone made him out to be.
"Don't thank me yet," he said vaguely, knowing that if she found out about his bet with Katerina, she would be singing a much different song.
(A/N) Tada, that's the end of Chapter 2, what did you guys think of Scorpius and Rose meeting?
As always, please review as it would motivate me greatly!