Hello, lovelies! I'm sorry I had a bit of writers' block. I've gotten over it, though so this chapter is sorta sucky but the next one will be better. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I so wish I owned Harry Potter but I don't and I'm so fucking sad about it.

"Scorpius Malfoy? You're joking right?" Lily gaped at me as I grimaced and spread more juniper jelly on my biscuit.

Lily snorted, "You're not joking! Damn…I am so jealous. He's gorgeous."

"Shut up." I answered her shortly, still scooping the yellow jam out of the jar.

"Now…what's he helping you with again?"

I let the jam knife fall onto my empty plate with a clatter and lied through my teeth, "Prefect duties."

After another hour of arguing with Professor McGonagall over the training arrangements, I had finally hung my head and agreed to let Malfoy tutor me. The Headmistress quickly cast a counter charm on my ears and tail, warning me to keep them under control; she didn't want people finding out about my abilities just yet. I agreed, not wanting the attentions of a couple hundred students and the many questions no doubt accompanying them. She then dismissed me and sent me downstairs to lunch where I was immediately dragged over to the Gryffindor table and bombarded with questions from Lily and James. Ly glanced over at us quizzically but I merely shrugged, thinking that I'd see him later in class.

"If he tries anything with you, anything at all I'll—" James clenched his fist around his goblet, splashing pumpkin juice into his full plate.

I rolled my eyes and took a bite of my biscuit, "He won't try anything because he knows I'll kill him. He may like to patronize me and sarcastically flirt with me but he knows I can beat him up."

"You sure about that?" Lily gave me a skeptical look. "You're both matches in dueling and in fist fights. Plus, he's the youngest registered Animagus of our generation."

James stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth, nodding in agreement, "He got straigh' O'th on hith OWL'th lath yea'."

I wiped a bit of pulverized chicken off of my cheek and flicked it back at James. He just smiled (or attempted, I mean, really, he's got his mouth full of chicken meat) and went back to tearing up his lunch plate. Lily wrinkled her nose, repulsed by her brother's rabid behavior. She took a dainty sip of her clam chowder then primly wiped her mouth with her napkin.

I watched the two sitting side by side across the table from me, bewildered at their relationship; how in the world are they siblings? They're nothing alike!

"Well, I'm going to Charms class a little early. I need some time to myself so I can…think…" I frowned at James, who just nodded and grunted into his plate. Lily grinned brightly at me and waved as I stood.

I waved back and stuffed the rest of my biscuit into my mouth. I hoisted the strap of my messenger bag over my shoulder and chewed on the bread, enjoying the sour taste of the juniper jam as I shuffled out of the Great Hall.

As I passed through the large doors, ruminating on the thought of Malfoy becoming my new tutor, I vaguely heard my name being called from somewhere behind me. I tossed a glance over my shoulder and grinned when I caught sight of Albus jogging between the tables to catch up to me. The boy was the least irritating of my cousins, his lanky form and clumsy habits making him seem charming and bearable instead of suffocating like some people I could mention.

He cracked a smile at me, the crooked grin sending a few girls swooning over at the Hufflepuff table at his left. I rolled my eyes while Al blushed and ignored the young women.

"Merlin, Al. You're sixteen years old and you still don't know how to handle the fangirls?" I joked smoothly.

Al's eyes narrowed, "Don't patronize me, Rosie."

I snorted, enjoying the good-natured banter, but quickly turned cold when I saw Al's best friend follow him closely.

Albus was an oddball, like me. He had not been sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of the family. For some odd reason, the poor boy had been placed in Slytherin. It was a wonder he had lived through his first year at Hogwarts, at all. He had never been particularly outspoken although he was extremely ambitious when it came to his education and his career, so I suppose that's what landed him in that house in the first place. His shy demeanor had attracted many bullies during our first semester but it had also gained him many friends including the infamous Scorpius Malfoy, my sworn enemy. The two had grown close over the years and Malfoy had spent several winter breaks at the Burrow with the rest of the Weasley-Potter family, much to my disgust.

"Hello there, Rosie." Malfoy smirked down at me.

I grit my teeth and snarled at him, "Don't call me that."

"But Albus gets to call you Rosie."

"You're not Albus."

"Touché."

I rolled my eyes and went straight into ignoring him, skipping over our usual five-minute prelude of throwing insults and deflecting flirtatious comments with glares and snarls.

"What is it, Al?" I grinned a little too brightly up at him.

He arched an eyebrow but continued on, "I just wanted to walk with you to Charms. Ravenclaw is in that class with Slytherin this year so that means we can all walk together!"

He beamed at me, genuinely excited over walking to class with me. I shifted, feeling a bit guilty because I really just wanted to be alone at that moment but Al's smile was too much.

I grinned again, "Sure, why not? As long as Scorpius keeps his distance."

"Hey, now," Scorpius put his hands up in defense, still smirking at me, "I'm not planning on doing anything."

I turned on my heel with a huff and the two Slytherins followed after me.

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"Ah, Miss Weasley! Come in! Come in! Oh, you brought friends, too? Here, take your seats." Professor Flitwick bustled happily around the classroom, obviously excited that some of his students had decided to report early.

I suppressed a giggle, watching him waddle, "Hello, Professor. Do you mind if we hang around until lunch is over and class starts?"

The little man nodded vigorously, "Of course not, my dear!"

I smiled appreciatively and set my bag down at a desk in the front row. I pulled out the Charms textbook and started to lazily flip through it, sitting on the desktop while the boys found two desks together.

I worked my way through the book, thumbing through the pages at first and then settling into the third chapter. I'd already read through the whole thing once over the summer but I remembered the section on Nonverbal Spells being a bit of a bother to understand. I bit my lip in concentration, trying to understand the concept of the lesson. The chatter between Al and Scorpius was good background noise and it relaxed me.

A sudden bang went off in the hallway followed by a tremendous crashing of metal on stone. I jumped off the desk and dropped the textbook, squeaking when it hit the floor. The boys shot up from their seats and craned their necks, trying to get a look outside through the half closed door. Professor Flitwick shuffled over and peeped outside, a stern expression on his funny little face.

After several moments of silence, he giggled (which is quite adorable when it comes from a man like Flitwick) and turned back to us, "It's just a first year trying to show off. He's gotten himself tangled with a suit of armor. Albus, could you assist me?"

Al rolled his eyes and followed the Professor into the hallway. Malfoy smirked after him and laughed a bit, which made Al turn around and flip him the finger just before exiting the classroom.

I ignored the two and bent to pick up my textbook. I frowned at it as I dusted off the front cover; a few of the pages had been crumpled when the book hit the floor. They would definitely be bent like that for a while; I hated that.

I straightened and gasped when I looked up and Malfoy was standing in front of me. He had that grin on his face again so I shot him a dirty look and went back to fixing up my book.

"So, Weasley, I heard about this morning."

My eyes widened a bit, "From who?"

"McGonagall. I guess I'm not the only talented one around here." He put a hand on the book and pried it from my fingers.

I watched cautiously as he flattened out the damaged pages, "Um, thanks… I'm not happy about the tutoring arrangements, though…"

"Oh?" Malfoy sighed. "Well, that's a shame because I, for one, am very much looking forward to our …lessons…"

My brow crinkled, "Ugh. Please don't do that. It's weird and it makes me uncomfortable."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not." He looked at me pointedly with his cold blue eyes, his shaggy blonde hair out of his face for once as he stared.

I attempted to snatch my book out of his grip but he put it above his head, grinning smugly. He then proceeded to dog-ear a page and throw it back at me. I caught it easily but I was furious that he'd spread his stupid habit to my book collection. I'd seen him reading in class plenty of times and whenever we were dismissed or he was called out, he'd dog-ear his spot and then put the book away. It drove me insane and I bristled every time I saw him do it.

"Why do you do that to every book you touch?" I glared at him angrily.

He ruffled my hair and winked at me, moving back to his desk across the room. When he reached his chair, he sat down with a huff and replied smugly, "Because I know it irritates the hell out of you."

Alright, what did you think? I don't want this all to be mindless fluff because that's no fun (well, it is but not for me lol). Also, updates on this story may be slow because I really just want it to be a well written fic with good scenes and yeah I'm sorry perfectionist. Anyway, R&R! PLEASE :D