Rose Weasley's first night at Hogwarts was a long and tiring one.

Not that she didn't love it here! The train ride and the evening had been quite lovely, and very exciting. But now, it was 5:30 in the morning and one of her roommates, Pamela, would not stop snoring.

It's not like Rose hadn't dealt with snorers before. Her Dad snored, her brother snored, and sometimes her mother snored – but this girl didn't just snore. She snotted every breath! Honestly, she sounded like she was choking on her own mucus. It was driving Rose mad.

Huffing loudly, Rose finally sat up. Through the window shade, Rose could tell that the sky had lightened at least a little. She rubbed her eyes and thought for a moment about whether or not she should lie down again.

Pamela let out another disgusting snot.

Nope! It was morning enough!

Rose threw a jacket over her matching plaid pajamas, slipped on a pair of sandals, and headed down the stairs away from the horribly unpleasant sounds of Pamela. She was halfway down the steps when she heard the rustling of papers coming from the common room. Rose paused.

Why was someone else was up so early? Maybe they had an annoyingly loud roommate as well.

There was a soft cough and the sound of a zipper. A dim light was on. Rose moved as quietly as she could to the bottom of the staircase and peeked around the corner into the common room.

There was a boy sitting on one of the couches by the fireplace. Rose could only see the back of his blonde head. He picked up his bookbag and stood up. As he began turning around Rose quickly hid herself on the corner. She heard him moving, and the portrait hole opened and closed. Then it was silent.

Rose peeked around the corner again and saw no one. The couch the boy had been sitting on was covered in blankets, and it looked like maybe he had slept there. Clearly someone was having an even rougher night than she was.

Quickly, Rose glided across the common room to the portrait hole. Taking one more look behind her, she slipped out herself.

Rose followed the boy along the deserted corridors, keeping a safe distance so that he wouldn't hear or see her. She finally saw him disappear into the Astronomy Tower, and Rose huffed in puzzlement. What was this guy up to?

There was a low bang behind her and she whipped her head towards the noise. Hastily, Rose snuck over to the Astronomy Tower and closed the door behind her. She climbed the narrow winding staircase, attempting to tiptoe but moving too quickly to really be very quiet. Her heart was pounding too much from the excitement of her little adventure. When she reached the top of the stairs, she forced herself to catch her breath.

The crisp morning air hit Rose's face and she smiled. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. She went over to one of the open arches and leaned over the railing to look at the beautiful view of the Hogwarts grounds. Birds chirped in the nearby trees. It was like a little secret garden up here, with all the vines swirling around the columns and down the castle walls. Beyond the green lush was the vast lake, and beyond that and to the right Rose could see the quidditch pitch in the distance.

"Wow," Rose breathed, taking in the wondrous view.

Rose heard paper rustling again, and she remembered why she had come up here. Following the sound, she walked slowly around the circle, gliding her hand along the railing as she went.

She finally spotted him, the same blonde boy as before. He was sitting on the ground leaning against a column with a school book in his lap. He looked very peaceful and focused, and Rose smiled to herself.

"Hello," she greeted him, breaking the silence.

The boy jumped at least six inches off the ground, clumsily throwing the book off his lap. He almost toppled over but caught himself before looking up at her in surprise. Rose held in a very well-deserved laugh.

"Gah," he exhaled in recovery. "Merlin, you scared me," he said, adjusting so he was sitting upright.

"I can see that," Rose responded in amusement. "I apologize, that was not my intention."

The boy, now recovered, looked at her again, this time wearily. He tensed, as if to brace himself for something.

Rose shifted awkwardly. "Why are you up so early?" She grimaced at her own lack of eloquence and conversation skills.

"Why are you?" He shot back quickly. The defensive tone took her by surprise.

"Uh," she looked at him quizzically, very confused by his odd behavior and trying to figure out how to respond to it. "I couldn't sleep," she answered.

He relaxed his shoulders a little but kept his eyes on her. "Me neither."

Rose shrugged and looked down. "My roommate snores like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal," Rose gave a small laugh at her analogy. When she looked back up, the boy had raised one eyebrow high on his forehead, clearly having absolutely no clue what she just said.

"Er – she's… uh… loud," Rose lamely tried to re-explain, clearing her throat. She shifted on her feet again.

The boy leaned forward, placing his arms against his bent knees. His eyebrows scrunched together and he watched her very curiously, just waiting to see what she was going to do next.

Rose brushed a piece of her thick red hair behind her ear and could feel herself blush scarlet.

"What, exactly," the boy asked, genuinely perplexed, "are you doing here?"

"I don't know," Rose answered quickly. She was wondering that same thing herself. "I followed you. I don't know why."

The boy smirked. He seemed highly, highly amused by her embarrassment.

Rose suddenly realized that she recognized this boy. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "You're Scorpius Malfoy, the boy everyone's been saying should have been…" His expression went dark so suddenly Rose instantly realized her mistake. "I'm sorry," she tried to save herself. "That's not at all why I followed you here, I mean I didn't even realize it until… I mean not that… I mean…" Rose bit her tongue hard. Great recovery, Rose.

The boy, Scorpius, had leaned back up against the column and was now glaring at her. The intensity of his gray eyes was a bit intimidating.

"I came up here to study," he said indignantly. "I was looking for some peace and quiet?" He picked up his book pointedly from the ground. "'Kay I don't know who you are, and clearly neither one of us knows why you came up here, but you're disturbing me, so I'm asking you to leave."

Rose looked down guiltily and held up her hands. "Sorry," she murmured. She obediently turned away and began walking along the circle the way she came, running her hand gently against the railing again.

Rose didn't feel like going back down though. It was lovely up here on the Astronomy Tower. So instead, she walked to the opposite end of the circle and leaned against the railing, looking out towards Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest. The sun had risen some now, and Rose's stomach growled. The Great Hall was probably opening soon for breakfast, and Rose had class. She had compared schedules with Mary yesterday and knew that she had to wait until potions to see her in the afternoon.

Mary. Albus had been so stubborn about that last night! Mary had been sorted into Slytherin, and according to Al's logic, that meant Rose couldn't be friendly to her anymore. But Rose liked Mary! She kind of wanted to become friends with her. The whole thing just didn't make sense to Rose. Vince was nice too. Their being in Slytherin having any relevance to her friendship with them just seemed silly.

There was a loud thud next to her and Rose jumped, pulling her abruptly out of her deep thoughts. She looked up and saw Scorpius smirking at her. He held his closed book in his hand.

"I scared you that time," he said.

Rose placed a hand on her hip. "Yes, you did," she replied.

He looked at her curiously again and tilted his head slightly. "Who are you?" he asked.

Rose smiled. "I thought you were studying and wanted me to go away," she countered without answering his question.

He nodded. "I was."

Rose crossed her arms and turned away him. "Well now you are disturbing me in my peaceful thoughts," she lifted her chin snootily. "I was just enjoying the view," she gestured to the forest.

He grinned at her, knowing that she didn't mean it. She turned to face him again and held out her hand. "I'm Rose Weasley," she introduced herself.

"Ah," he laughed ironically without taking her hand. "The lion cult," he nodded, as if she just clarified everything.

"Excuse me?" Rose asked, offended. "Is that an insult?"

He looked at her wide-eyed. "Uh – its… er… I mean…"

Rose raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to fess up. It was his turn to look guilty.

"Sorry," he apologized, wincing. "Force of habit, just from… family friends, and such…"

Rose watched him thoughtfully for a moment. Since the Malfoy kid had gotten sorted into Gryffindor, she was hearing from everyone about how he came from a family of renowned Death Eaters, and how his father believed muggle-borns and half-bloods were monstrosities, and that there had never been a Malfoy to ever be sorted outside of Slytherin House. And Albus made sure to remind Rose that Weasleys and Malfoys had been bitter rivals for generations and that she had better stay away from this one, because he was trouble.

But Scorpius Malfoy did not seem to Rose to meet any of these assumptions. From what she could tell, he did everything he could to stay away from people and wanted as little conflict as possible. If the kid was going to stir up trouble he would have done so by now. Honestly, he just seemed lonely. Why else would he seek out the most isolated part of the castle and start studying before classes had even begun?

"Scorpius," Rose asked curiously. "Do you think the Sorting Hat made some sort of mistake?"

His eyes became gloomy again and he leaned against the railing next to her. "I don't think the Sorting means anything," he answered drily. "Everyone else just does."

The clocktower suddenly chimed loudly, causing both of them to jump. Rose looked at Scorpius and they exchanged smiles.

"I'm starving," Rose said. "Let's get some breakfast."

Scorpius shifted on his feet, looking hesitant. "I'm actually not that hungry," he told her casually. "I think I may stay up here a while longer."

Rose tilted her head. "Oh, okay." She walked over to the staircase to go back down, but paused, trying to decide if she wanted to wait for him.

He waved her ahead. "Classes don't start for another two hours. I'll grab something to eat in a bit," he insisted.

Deciding not to push it, Rose nodded and headed down to breakfast on her own.

Once again, please leave a review! I really, really appreciate your thoughts about the characters.