Disclaimer: Not mine!

Chapter 2

I show up at my parents' house shortly after five o'clock, hoping dinner with the family will distract me from the misery that's been closing in all day.

Scorpius bloody Malfoy. Seriously? I grimace before walking through the front door.

"Hello, darling," my mum says cheerily from the kitchen table. "How are you? Your brother isn't coming, but the cousins are out back."

"Great," I begin, negativity shining through my voice. "When's dinner?"

She eyes me suspiciously at the sound of my miserable tone. "We'll eat when your father arrives. He should be home in the next hour or so. Is Perry coming?"

Every time I'm in a bad mood, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that it has something to do with Perry. In reality, it's always work that puts me into a bad mood.

I start walking toward the back of the house, not feeling like hanging out under my mother's prying eyes. "He might come," I say noncommittally without turning around. "He said he thinks he can get out a little earlier than usual."

I open the back door and walk out into the sunshine, leaving my nosey mother behind and instead spot Lily sitting under a tree watching James and Al fly around with a quaffle.

Rather than approaching Lily, I make a bee-line for the shed to grab my broom. Once I'm up in the air, I feel my troubles being left on the ground behind me. Sweet release.

"What's up, Rosey!" James calls, throwing the quaffle in my direction. I dive and catch it with ease. It feels good to be back on my broom.

We fly around for a while, gelling together like we did when we were all on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Al and I were in our fifth year and James was our seventh year captain. That was the year we went undefeated. First undefeated team in a decade.

We could've continued on that path the next year if it wasn't for the new addition to the Slytherin team. Scorpius Malfoy.

I frown to myself and see the quaffle whiz by me.

"Come on! Open your eyes next time!" Al taunts. I roll said eyes and watch James retrieve the ball.

"Shut up, Potter," I snap harshly. "One mistake doesn't change the fact that I can kick your arse any day."

"Ha!" he shoots back. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"

James is at the ready, watching this argument escalate. As he throws the quaffle up into the air, I catch Al's eye. His look of determination rivals my own. Simultaneously, we take off, flying through the air toward the large red ball.

As it starts to make its descent toward the ground, we both dive. We're neck and neck as the grass closes in quickly.

Then, right before I'm about to reach out for the ball, James flies by and snatches it. Al and I end up in a heap on the ground.

We both shoot glares at James as he cackles loudly and calls, "looks like I can still kick both your arses!"

Al just shakes his head and stands up, brushing dirt and grass from his knees. I follow suit and notice the large brush burn already turning bright red on my arm. Battle scar of the day.

James lands on the ground next to us and Lily joins the group.

"You're a real jerk, you know that, James Potter?" I say, somewhat jokingly and somewhat seriously.

He winks obnoxiously. "That's what they tell me!"

I watch Lily roll her eyes, but at that moment, my dad pokes his head out the back door, a shock of red hair standing out against the white siding of the house.

"Time for dinner," he calls out. "And why is it that you Potters are here more often than my own kids? This must be the first time in a month that I've see you, Rosey!"

I roll my eyes as I head in his direction. "I was here last week."

He pats me on the back once I'm within reach. "Well, I've seen Al at least 3 times since then!"

I stare at him in incredulity. "That's because he works with you." Al has worked as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes every summer since he turned 15. Now he's taken on the job full-time.

"That's beside the point now, isn't it?" my dad says through a laugh. We enter the kitchen and I see Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny at the table with my mum. The table is laden with food.

"So where's Larry, anyways?" Al asks as we all sit down and serve ourselves.

I roll my eyes in annoyance. "You know it's Perry. And he said he might be able to make it later. There's a portkey at the flat for him."

"At least you didn't have to go through the trouble of setting up a new portkey for him," Al retorts slyly. "He can just use the one from the past, oh I dunno, ten or so dinners that he didn't make it to?"

Aunt Ginny hits him over the head with her napkin and I scowl. Al has never liked Perry. To be honest, neither have James and Hugo. I must've really disappointed them by bringing in a muggle instead of someone they could play quidditch against.

I stab a Brussel sprout dejectedly with my fork, tuning out the surrounding conversations. By the end of dinner, there's still no sign of Perry.

As my mum begins to clear the table, I follow Lily to the back porch and sit down forlornly.

Ugh. "I wish Perry would show up solely to prove Al wrong," I say with venom.

Lily eyes me shrewdly, red hair shining in the evening light. "If he's so unreliable," she starts slowly, "maybe you shouldn't be marrying him."

I snap my eyes to hers, flashing a warning look. "He isn't unreliable! He's busy at work."

I pick at a hole in the floral cushion of my mum's ancient patio furniture.

"Well, you seem pretty miserable," my cousin continues. "Maybe you should find someone who's less busy at work." She wildly gestures air quotes and I shake my head in annoyance.

"I'm not miserable!" I spew defensively. She rolls her eyes. "And even if I am, it's not because of Perry." I lean my head into my hands and she waits patiently for me to continue. I sigh. "I found out today that I'm getting a new partner at work."

When I look up from my hands, her auburn eyebrows are raised. "So what? Isn't that a good thing? You're always complaining about how obnoxious your boss is."

I stare down at my quidditch injury from earlier in the day and briefly picture Malfoy flying past me, snatching a quaffle from my reach and laughing.

"Well," I start, frustration creeping to the surface, "it would be a good thing. Except for the fact that my new partner is none other than Scorpius Malfoy."

Lily's eyes widen before she lets out a disbelieving laugh. "Scorpius Malfoy, huh? Interesting."

I eye her coy grin and shining eyes. "What is so interesting about this?!" I yell, throwing my hands into the air. "He's going to make my life a living hell!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," she says, more slyly than ever. "Maybe I should warn Perry to watch his back…"

"What the hell does that mean?" I ask, not knowing where she's going with this. But at that moment, Al and James walk outside, followed by Perry himself.

"Rosey! Jerry is here!" Al says brightly, slapping Perry on the back.

"It's Perry," he says quietly, looking like a fish out of water. I send a death glare in Al's direction.

"Right you are," Al responds in a mockingly somber tone. They sit down in the seats across from Lily and me. I watch Perry's green eyes flash, but he doesn't respond. I give him a look that I'm hoping says, "I'm sorry."

"So how was your day at the salt mines, Per?" James asks while flicking his wand and summoning the quaffle from earlier.

"Fine," he starts to respond, "just working on a big proposal for the firm-"

"Enough shop talk!" Al interrupts. "You lost me at 'proposal,' my good man."

James interjects, "Yes indeed. We need some more interesting conversation. Quidditch!"

My eyes go back and forth angrily between my cousins. Even Lily wears a smirk on her face. I stand up.

"You know what, I think Perry and I are going to go," I begin loftily, pushing a strand of hair from my face. "I've got to be up early tomorrow for work." Perry shoots me a grateful look and rises to head back inside as I follow directly behind him. Once we reach the door, I hang back for a minute, spinning around to give the glare of the century.

"See you guys when you decide to stop being assholes," I hiss angrily before stepping inside. Before the door closes, I hear Lily call,

"Have fun with Malfoy tomorrow!"

I exhale angrily and see Perry watching me. "Mum, Dad! We're leaving!" I call, hostility weaving its way into my tone.

My mum comes speeding out of the kitchen. "But Perry just arrived, dear! I was just going to heat up some food for him."

I shake my head. "Fine. We'll take it to go."

Perry and I head to the kitchen and sit down at the table to wait for the food. He puts his hand on my knee and I shoot him another apologetic look.

The minute my mum hands us a Tupperware full of food, I stand up. She hugs me and I half-heartedly return it. Before leaving, I call goodbye into the living room.

"Bye, Rosey," my dad says cheerfully. "Feel free to stop by more often and visit. After all, we did provide you with food and shelter for 17 years!"

I smile slightly. "Yeah, sure thing, Dad."

I pull Perry out the door into the front yard and take tight hold of his hand. "Sorry," I say quickly before spinning on the spot. A few seconds later, we arrive on the grassy patch by the stoop of our flat.

Once inside, I kick off my shoes and flop down on the garish plaid loveseat in the living room. Perry sits in the arm chair across from me.

"Sorry about Al," I say, closing my eyes and propping my feet up on the arm of the couch. "He'll come around eventually."

I hear Perry grumble and open my eyes. He's looking rather worse for the wear, brown hair messy and out of place compared to his usual neat appearance.

"I just don't think that's going to happen," he says quietly. "It's like he thinks I'm some kind of idiot because I just sit there and put up with his mocking."

"Better than trying to fight it, I guess," I say as I get up and walk toward him. "Anyways, I like you and I'm the only one that matters," I finish cheekily, sitting down on his lap.

He eyes me sadly. "Sorry, babe, I need to go get some work done…" he says apologetically, slowly removing me from my position and standing up. I sigh. There's always work.

"Fine. Then I'm going to bed," I say resignedly. "See you in the morning."

He gives me a peck on the cheek and I head upstairs, half hoping he'll stop me.

Of course he doesn't, so I tuck myself in and drift into an uneasy sleep, dreading what may come tomorrow.

It turns out that I don't see Perry in the morning. I'm instead greeted by my freshly cleaned cereal bowl on the table with a note.

"Sorry, babe. Had to head out early.

Have a good day at work.

Love you,

-P"

I try to work up a smile, but the thought of the impending work day is eating at me already.

I go through the motions of my morning distractedly and end up getting to work at 8 o'clock sharp. As I walk into the offices, I'm met with Chris's blindingly white smile.

"Right on time today, are we?" he asks slyly. "Must be excited to show your new partner the ropes. You just missed him actually. He's meeting with the goblins before the morning meeting."

"Great," I mumble as I walk to the break room and pour myself a cup of hot coffee, leaving Chris chuckling behind me.

I spend the next two hours burying myself in paperwork until the morning meeting.

For once in my life, I'm the first one to arrive. I grab a spot near the back of the conference room, hoping I'll be hidden from Chris's line of vision. I don't care to be called out in front of the whole group, including Scorpius Malfoy, on his first day here. I can only imagine the mocking that would ensue.

The room quickly fills and I make sure I'm directly behind a really tall guy. A minute or so later, Chris walks in and catches my eye. No sign of my prat of a future partner. I guarantee Chris is making him make a dramatic entrance. He did the same thing to me on my first day.

"Morning, everyone!" Chris' voice booms across the room. I cringe and wish I would've grabbed another cup of coffee.

"As you all know," he continues, a huge grin on his face, "we have a new addition to the team to introduce! Rose! Stop hiding and get up here!" I feel my face heat up and look at the ground as I resignedly meander to the front of the room to stand by Chris. Once there, I look up toward the entrance of the room and see him.

Scorpius Malfoy.

He raises his eyebrows at me in shock before flashing the same dazzling grin I remember. He looks the same as he did when I last saw him on graduation day, except his hair is messier and he's clad in a t-shirt instead of the button ups I'm used to seeing him wear.

There's really no word to describe him other than gorgeous.

I curse myself as I feel my heart pounding and realize I need to relax.

It's just the shock of seeing him after all this time, I tell myself. Anyways, it's not like he didn't always look like this. I did quite a good job of ignoring his good looks in the past, so it shouldn't be a problem now. Especially once he opens his mouth.

Chris says something that I don't fully hear and Malfoy walks to the front of the room. Actually, it isn't so much a walk as it is a saunter. I watch a few of the women nearby exchange meaningful glances.

I frown and tune out the rest of what my boss is saying.

At some point, people start exiting the room and I see a pair of feet step in front of me. I look up to see Malfoy's silver eyes looking into my own.

"Hey, Weasley," he says quietly. I resist the urge to slap him for no reason. He steps around me and leans against the wall directly next to me, smirking the entire time. Before I can come up with a clever insult, Chris steps in front of us.

"So, Rose, I didn't assign you any curse breaks for the day. You can just show Scorpius around and get him acclimated with your section of the vaults."

"Fine," I mumble, giving Chris the harshest glare I can muster as I push past him. I hear Malfoy following behind me.

"Oh, and Rose!" Chris calls, voice full of mocking, as usual. "Hopefully you'll treat your new partner better than you treated me!" He guffaws loudly as I mumble, "Suck it," under my breath, pushing through the door and not bothering to hold it for Malfoy.

I fume in silence for a while before Malfoy decides to disrupt the little peace I was hanging onto.

"So," he says as we wind our way down to the vaults, "telling your boss to suck it probably isn't the best first impression to give to a new employee."

I spin around quickly and he walks straight into me, grabbing my forearm to steady us both. The ends of my hair fan out in front of me and fall gently onto his shoulders.

"This will go a lot more smoothly if you just keep your mouth shut," I shoot vehemently. "I don't care to live out my life in prison for murdering someone as worthless as the likes of you."

He raises his eyebrows and lets go of my arm. I wince slightly. Stupid brush burn.

I watch his eyes dart quickly to my arm and back to my eyes.

"Quite the injury you've got there," he starts conversationally, beginning the walk to the cells once more.

I ignore him and force myself to keep my eyes straight ahead.

"What did you do to it, anyways?"

Ugh. Can he not see that I'm not in the mood for conversation right now?

I sigh in exasperation before opening the door to the underground portion of Gringotts. "Quidditch injury," is all I say in return.

I hear him following me down the stone stairs to the first set of cells, footsteps echoing loudly.

"You still play quidditch?" he asks after a brief pause.

I glare back at him. "Not that it's any of your business, but I was playing with a couple of my cousins."

I hop over the bottom stair and walk along the dark winding path, past the tracks of the mining carts used for transport.

"So, the next three hallways contain the vaults we maintain, as well as the three hallways down the next set of stairs. We just have to verify that the enchantments are still in place as a security check every so often," I say with boredom. "Curse breaks aren't necessarily in our section. They're basically based on death and family dissention and are split up evenly throughout the team."

Malfoy heads down the first hallway and I reluctantly follow. It's probably best to make sure he doesn't massively screw anything up on his first day. After all, it's my neck on the line since I'm the one showing him the ropes.

I watch as he casts the light from his wand onto the many doorways. "So," he begins, and I prepare to answer an inevitably idiotic question, "I bet I could still kick your ass on the quidditch pitch."

He turns around and flashes a grin, his eyes challenging me. I find myself getting irrationally angry.

"Screw you, Scorpius," I retort, spinning around to head back to the stairs. I curse myself for falling right back into old habits and letting him get under my skin. I used to call him Scorpius just to make him mad, but it hasn't fazed him in years. I hear him chuckle behind me.

"Looks like some things never change," he says coyly and I feel his hand around my wrist a split second before he tugs me and I spin back toward him, colliding with his chest. I take a quick step back, but he doesn't loosen his grip. I watch as he touches his wand to my arm.

"What are you-"

But I stop short as my brush burn fades away before my eyes. He lets go of me and smirks.

I turn back around, feeling my cheeks heating up. Get a grip.

We walk in silence for a bit as he follows me down the other hallways. Never fails, I think to myself. Every time I'm around him, he manages to do something to make me feel like a complete and total idiot.

I mean, really. Why did I not just heal that brush burn last night?

"Wow, Weasley," I hear from behind me, my thoughts interrupted, "that's some rock you've got there!" I glance at him, confused, and he directs the light of his wand at my left hand. My engagement ring shines, casting patterns of light onto the dark walls.

I turn around to face him. "So what?" I run my ringed hand through my hair, pulling it away from the bright stream of light.

"So, you're engaged?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. Great. I do not feel like filling Malfoy in on the details of my personal life.

"No. I actually just wear it to ward off creeps and weirdos," I deadpan.

"Charming," he says through a sly smile. "I cannot believe the unattainable Rose Weasley is actually engaged."

I put my hands on my hips and try to ignore the fact that I probably look just like my mother. "What's that supposed to mean?" I snap at him, glaring viciously.

He turns around to head back toward the main stairway. I follow behind, waiting impatiently for his inevitably rude retort.

"It means," he starts slyly, "that you were the girl at Hogwarts that no one ever successfully managed to get a date with. Though not for lack of trying." He stops walking at the foot of the stairs and turns to face me.

I give him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

He cocks an eyebrow again and runs a hand through his shining mop of hair. "You can't be serious. You never noticed the fact that quite a few guys in our year were after you only to be met with a steady stream of rejection?"

I think back to my days at Hogwarts. Sure, maybe I was asked out a few times here and there, never agreeing to any dates, what with school work and quidditch being my top priorities.

"Brilliant, attractive, and ridiculously good a quidditch. Three things that, when combined, men have a lot of trouble resisting." He eyes me skeptically as I debate whether he's messing with me or not.

I scowl and make to walk past him, but he blocks my path. "I think you're mixing up your memories, Malfoy. I don't remember any stream of rejection," I say with sarcasm, gesturing a set of dramatic air quotes.

He rolls his eyes. "You're delusional. Book smarts don't lead to common sense, apparently." His tone annoys me and I narrow my eyes, blowing a strand of hair away from my lips. He's making me sound like some sort of cold-hearted shrew!

"And who did I reject if I was such a heartbreaker, pray tell?" I ask with venom, ignoring my elevated heart rate.

He gives me a hard stare, and my stomach jumps slightly. His eyes flash before he turns around to head up the stairs.

"If you don't know, then you aren't as smart as I thought."

I watch him walk away and feel my heart inexplicably racing before following him up the stairs, confusion clouding my brain. I wait for him to elaborate, but instead we make our way back to the main floor in silence before Chris pulls him away for some sort of training.

"If you don't know, then you aren't as smart as I thought."

His voice echoes around my skull and I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

It's no use, however because all I can think is, what the hell was that all about?

A/N: So there you have it... the introduction of Scorpius Malfoy to this story. And he's already making his signature cryptic comments!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I figured I'd post today since I'll be busy moving all weekend. Thanks to all the followers, faves, and (especially) reviewers for your kind words and motivation! The next chapter will probably be up in about a week (once I get internet access at the new house)!

In the meantime, let me know what you thought of this one... I love reading your comments! What do you all think of Scorpius so far? Swoon-worthy enough yet? Trust me, the swoon factor will only increase from here ;)