It's Never Too Late

Chapter 4: Let's Do Lunch Sometime

He was still in an angry mood hours later when he arrived early to Muggle Studies and slumped low in his chair with his arms folded and eyes narrowed. The rest of the class slowly filled in around him, ignoring him like always. He was the only Slytherin in the class, and his classmates hated him for it. He supposed he was one of the only Slytherins in history to take the class, let alone make it to the NEWT level with an Outstanding OWL. They were just jealous that a supposed "Muggle Hater" had scored better than all of them. Actually, he mused as a pair of Ravenclaws glared at him, a look which he gladly returned, they probably thought he took Muggle Studies because it was rumored to be a soft option. Well, that had something to do with it, he liked not having much homework, but it was truthfully his favorite subject.

It had started when they were allowed to pick new subjects. He had been wondering what he should take, so he asked his father for advice. For some reason, his father was always trying to put on a false front for the public. True, Mr. Draco Malfoy had never participated in Muggle Hunting or anything of the sort, but he did not like Muggles and thought he should hide that particular fact from the world. When his son asked him to help pick his classes, he found the perfect opportunity to show the community how much he loved Muggles, so he signed Scorpius up for Muggle Studies, which secretly became his favorite class.

Although Muggle Studies was his favorite, Scorpius had no real love for Muggles. He didn't care about their inventions or what they learned in school, in fact, he found all that quite boring. What he really loved was their literature. Nothing in school gave him more satisfaction than reading classic Muggle stories. Scorpius found them much more exciting than wizard stories. Muggles, he thought, had much more imagination than wizards. Muggles were unaware that magic was real, so they had a much wider range of things to fantasize about. Also, it was fun to see how they got everything so spectacularly wrong, but still created a genius piece of work. You would never find a wizard book about pirates. This was what made the boredom worthwhile for Scorpius.

Once the class had settled down and Professor Fitch-Fetchly had arrived, class began as it normally did on the first day after vacation. They went around the room and shared an experience they had with Muggles that summer. Scorpius hated these games. They were stupid and wasted time. No one really cares about what anyone else did over the break. He certainly didn't want to pretend to listen to the stories of people he didn't care about. They proceeded alphabetically while the professor took role, and by the time it was his turn, Scorpius had listed to several thoroughly made up stories about summer romances with Muggles and Muggle summer camps.

When Fitch-Fetchly called, "Malfoy? Did you have any exciting Mugglelike experiences?" Scorpius lied and said, "Nope. None," although he had read several fascinating novels and snuck out to see a movie for the first time in his life.

Looking slightly disappointed, the professor moved on to the next fabricated story. Scorpius was even more annoyed when the twit Aaron Moon wove a ridiculous story about teaching his five-year-old Muggle neighbor how to add and subtract. The whole class murmured appreciatively, and Rose gave Aaron an impressed smile that made Scorpius wish he had told some lie about heroically rescuing some Muggle orphan from a burning train wreck. Scowling, Malfoy pouted through the remainder of the tales until the last one: Rose.

Pretending not to be too interested, Malfoy listed to her story about flying in an airplane. As the class oohed and ahhed, Rose explained, "My grandfather took my brother and me to Rome by plane. Although it was exciting, the journey was slow and uncomfortable. I much prefer brooms."

The class chatted excitedly about Rose's experience, and the professor had to calm them down before he started his lecture about so-called household conveniences Muggles used, like refrigerators and microwaves. Scorpius paid no attention to Fitch-Fetchly's description of ice trays and revolving turntables, he was too busy trying to convince himself to talk to Rose about her trip. He could do that, no problem. Piece of cake, right?

When the bell rang, Scorpius quickly gathered his belongings and hurried to talk to Rose before she could escape out the door, but a group of classmates mobbed her on her way out. Scorpius waited impatiently as they questioned her about plane rides. Once the crowd had dispersed and Rose was allowed to proceed on her path down to dinner uninhibited, Scorpius was about to tap her on the shoulder, ready to ask her if flying was scary when Moon sidled up to her side, forcing Scorpius to back off.

As he watched, Moon asked, "Were you scared?"

Damn, Scorpius thought. Maybe he could escape while she was answering. He looked around frantically for something to hide behind, but the hallway was unhelpfully devoid of any statues or hangings. As Moon moved away, she caught him looking at her, so he had to say something or risk looking even more foolish.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets so she couldn't see his fists balled with nerves. He managed a small smile and said, "Hi."

They started walking toward the Great Hall as he struggled to say something more intelligent and engaging. Clearing his throat, Scorpius blurted, "How was Rome?" inwardly flinching at how he had said it.

She looked at him thoughtfully, and somewhat surprised, before she said, "You know, you're the first person to actually ask me about the trip, instead of the flying." Relieved that he hadn't sounded stupid, Scorpius simply smiled without saying anything for fear that he would mess up again. "It was interesting," she continued, "I didn't understand a lot of the history of the place, but it was really pretty, especially the Coliseum and Vatican City. I mean, it wasn't like seeing a Quidditch World Cup or anything, but it was worth it." She looked at him, smiling, and he was worried that she expected him to say something else. What to say?

"Uh…" he began but was saved the hassle to thinking of anything to say when they entered the Great Hall for dinner, and James came running over to them.

"What do you think you're doing," he demanded, coming to a halt right in front of them and giving off waves of anger. "He's a Slytherin," James hissed, grabbing Rose's arm and began to drag her away, completely ignoring Scorpius.

"Nice talking to you," he called as they moved toward the Gryffindor table. Rose looked back and gave him a small smile and shrug before sitting down next to Albus.

"Let's do lunch sometime, Potter," he yelled to James before going to his own table. He knew he had made a scene, but James had ruined their lovely, one-sided conversation. Moodily, Malfoy scooped himself some mashed potatoes and gravely replayed the exchange in his head. It definitely did not go as he wanted it to go, but she didn't seem to hate him like the rest of the Gryffindors, not to mention the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Slightly cheered by this conclusion, Scorpius put Rose out of his mind as his friends joined him for dinner.

A/N: Well, there it is. Took me long enough for such a short chapter. Share your thoughts, or don't, but thanks for reading in either case.