The Great Hall was crowded more than usual when dinner came around. What with all the Hogwarts students then all the age-eligible students from Ilvermorny and Castelobruxo crowded around the tables, as well as staff and ghosts and the occasional owl flying in, it was safe to say there wasn't a lot of breathing room amongst the students.
"I don't understand why they don't just extend the Great Hall or something." Albus Potter said as he and Scorpius made their way to their usual spot at the Slytherin table, which would be a bit of a squeeze already with the rest of their sixth year friends already sitting down and ready to eat. They always hung out with the same group of friends: Xavier Zabini, Violet Parkinson, Isabelle Howard, Rosie Lucas, Nikolai Dunstan and Wesley Mockridge (who was a year younger than them, but played a good game on the Quidditch pitch).
"Because Hogwarts is a historical part of wizarding history, they're not going to mess around with the architecture to accommodate a couple of guests for a few months." Scorpius told him, shrugging with his hands in his pockets as they pushed their way through a crowd of Castelobruxo girls.
"It's not just "a couple" of guests though." Albus complained. When they arrived at their table, Albus pushed his way in between Violet and Isabelle and put his arm around Violet's shoulders. "Hey." He said before kissing her, which she gladly accepted. Isabelle awkwardly edged away from them, making room for Scorpius between her and Albus, which he took.
"Why do they have to do that?" Isabelle said, exasperated.
"What? Eat each other's faces every time they see one another?" Scorpius joked, as he reached over and grabbed a slice of fluffy white bread then began spreading some butter on it.
"Exactly." Isabelle laughed.
"We can hear you." Albus broke away from Violet to say, but promptly went back to his previous activities.
"We weren't talking quietly." Scorpius replied with a snicker. "Albus claims it's because they're so in love and all that sappy nonsense but it's basically just to show off to us boys that he's in a relationship and we're not." He said matter-of-factly. "And he still hasn't clocked onto the fact that we don't give a crap."
Scorpius looked across his group of friends. Xavier and Nikolai were talking about the Quidditch game that happened recently between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw; although Scorpius could see Xavier glancing up to look at Isabelle every now and then. He'd been in love with her since second year, but she'd rejected him when he'd asked her out in third year, because she'd had a crush on Scorpius – which she'd gotten over and had now turned into a little joke between them. Isabelle was now one of Scorpius' best friends, meaning she'd told Scorpius when she thought she was starting to have feelings for Xavier. He'd promised not to tell, but had given Xavier the push he needed to ask her to the Yule Ball (which he still hadn't had the courage to do).
"Speaking of relationships and that stuff, any thoughts on who you're going to the Yule Ball with, Belle?" Scorpius asked. She shot a look at Scorpius, glancing over to Xavier who was now paying attention to their conversation.
"Uh…" She stumbled. "No, no, not really." She said, shrugging. "I'm not really that bothered." She said, then Rosie spoke up.
"I have a date." She said with a small smile.
"Who?" Wesley asked in a monotone voice he said everything with. He didn't seem to care about anything.
"Damien Russell." Rosie stated, but everyone looked at one another clueless.
"Sorry, who?" Isabelle asked.
"He's a Hufflepuff seventh year. He hangs out with Shaun McDonald, you know? The Triwizard champion?" She explained.
"So, you're going to the Yule Ball with the Triwizard champion's best friend?" Xavier scoffed. "And a Hufflepuff no less."
"At least Damien had the balls to come up and ask me, unlike you since you don't even have a date." She shot back. That shut Xavier up.
"Who're you going with, Malfoy?" Wesley asked. To this, Scorpius glanced over to the Gryffindor table. He spied Rose, Molly and Penelope sitting there laughing and chatting. He smiled a very small, barely noticeable smile.
"Don't know." Scorpius stated, still looking over at them. He watched Shaun McDonald, the Hogwarts Triwizard Champion, walk over to the three girls and lean his hand on the table casually then begin talking to them – Penelope mostly. "I'll probably just go stag." He finished.
"Oh, come on, you could have any girl in this place." Isabelle said.
"Even you?" Scorpius joked, causing Isabelle to hit him in the arm playfully. "Deny it all you want, I know you still want me, Belle."
"In your dreams, Malfoy." She said. "But seriously, why don't you ask one of the Ilvermorny girls? I'm sure some American bimbo won't be able to resist your British charm." She joked, but that caused a group of Ilvermorny students to turn around and glare at them.
"Maybe. We'll see, we still have a few weeks left, I'm not in a rush to find a date." He said, taking a bite out of the slice of bread, looking over at Rose and her friends.
Scorpius wouldn't say he necessarily had a crush on Rose Weasley. Not out loud anyway. He'd always found her quite annoying as a person and compared to a lot of the girls in his year, she wasn't up there in the looks department – it didn't help that she hung out with Molly and Penelope, who were both very good looking. Not that she was ugly, but her looks didn't quite meet theirs. Or at least, they didn't before this year. Something seemed to have changed over the summer. Rose grew out of her baby fat, she grew a few inches so now her legs were on show every time she wore a skirt, which made Scorpius' stomach do flips and she learnt how to tame her wild hair – it was still a mess but she pulled it off somehow. Maybe it was the fact that she had started wearing it in a ponytail that Scorpius liked.
He'd also spent a little bit of time over the summer with her family, mostly hanging out with Albus, but since their families were basically always together it was hard to avoid her. He'd been able to see her in clothes that weren't her baggy school uniform jumpers and her cloak. She'd worn tight vest tops, shorts and just generally clothes that Scorpius never expected Rose to wear, let alone look good in, so something in Scorpius snapped. Now he was barely able to go anywhere in the castle without looking for her, and he looked forward to going to their classes, since she was in every one of his.
Scorpius realised now that he was, essentially, staring at her and was snapped out of his trance when Rose looked over at him. Earlier, in their Herbology lesson, he couldn't resist going over to her and messing with her a little. He had whispered to her and unwrapped her scarf from her neck, which in hindsight probably just seemed creepy, but he couldn't help but notice the way she held her breath when he got close to her, and the way she tensed up around him. He reveled in it.
Without really thinking, Scorpius winked at Rose playfully and bit his bottom lip as he looked at her. He could see the way she awkwardly turned away and he laughed a little to himself – causing Albus to turn to him.
"What're you laughing at?" He asked. Scorpius shrugged.
"Nothing…"
