It All Started With A Ball

Hogwarts' elite group members have it all: the looks, the talent, the popularity. But behind the masks of those seemingly perfect faces lie a number of scandalous secrets that could shake the reputations they've spent years building up. But pretending to be someone you're not is a waste of the person you are, and that's a lesson everyone has to learn eventually.

Rose and Scorpius were just two students who had only exchanged words of hate, until the Halloween Masquerade Ball in their sixth year. When they meet on the dance floor, they feel a connection they've never felt with anyone else before. But what happens when the ball's over and the masks come off?

Rating: T

Disclaimer: If I owned the Harry Potter series, I would be able to go to the Harry Potter World in Florida whenever I wanted. And I wouldn't be going to University next year!

Note: If no POV is posted, it means it's probably in third person. Just a heads up!

Chapter Four:

Countdown to the Ball: 5 days

"Ehwaz… defence?"

"No, that's eihwaz. It says here that Ehwaz means partnership," Celina said, scrunching her brow up in confusion as she tried to understand the words and figures on the scroll in front of her. Next to her at the Slytherin table, her twin sister Celestia buried her head in her hands, groaning loudly.

She knew she'd regret opting to do Ancient Runes when Celina had decided to do Divination; not only did it sound like a much easier subject, but the fact that she was in an OWL class of four meant that it was nearly impossible to study with other people before a big test. Celina and the other Slytherin girls in their dorm had thought her absolutely crazy for doing the subject that seemed to be made up entirely of Ravenclaws and geniuses despite the fact that she was actually quite intelligent herself, but she couldn't help but agree with them now.

"I'm gonna fail. Who am I kidding, promising Mum we'd both pass all of our OWLs if she takes us to Greece this summer," Celestia said, running her eyes down the scroll and trying to take all the information in. "When we get our results, I will definitely see a Troll next to Ancient Runes."

"Woo!"

"Weasley! Weasley, Weasley!"

"Well done, Rose!"

"Smashed it!"

The blonde twins looked up to the entrance doors of the Great Hall and saw Rose Weasley standing there, her best friends Roxy and Alice following her. The redhead's cheeks visibly flushed as she made her way to the Gryffindor table, receiving applause and cheers the second she walked into the room. Roxy and Alice nudged one another behind her, identical smirks on their faces, oddly looking proud of all the attention their friend was receiving.

"What's everyone applauding her for?" Celestia asked, turning to her twin sister and raising her dark eyebrows in surprise. Celina turned to her, a look of surprise clear on her face and she shook her head in apparent disbelief. "You didn't hear the others talking about it last night? Merlin, Weasley basically saved Potter's life during the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor match yesterday, and managed to score countless goals for Gryffindor!" She stood up, producing a quill and scroll from the hidden pocket of her black skirt and grinned at her sister. "I need to go interview her for the magazine, actually. Wait here, I'll be back soon, we can walk to Transfiguration together."

As soon as she got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table, their cousin Scorpius sat down in the seat next to her, grinning at the sight of Celina, who was currently tapping Rose on the back. "What's she up to?" "Interviewing Weasley for the magazine, after the match yesterday. Apparently she saved Potter and scored loads. Not looking forward to the Slytherin/Gryffindor match now if she's a Chaser against Louis, you and me."

"Yeah, I went to the match," Scorpius admitted quietly, knowing that his younger cousin wouldn't tell anyone else, and Celestia widened her green eyes in surprise at the revelation and he rolled his own grey eyes at her. "Merlin, Tia. We were just checking out the competition, okay?"

The blonde girl smirked knowingly; she'd suspected for a while that Scorpius had feelings for the redhead, after seeing not just the chemistry between the pair as they argued, but how annoyed he'd been when she was dating McLaggen. It had practically been a four-month long PMS; he'd stayed his room, refusing to talk to anyone, and he'd eaten countless amounts of chocolates and sweets when the Teen Witch magazine Celina happened to have had a four-page article on the young couple. But she decided to spare him the teasing for the moment and rested her elbows on the Slytherin table, turning to face him properly. "So, did James Potter's insane Quidditch summer training work the Gryffindor team into an even better team, yeah?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "Briefly overheard Lily Potter telling Albus yesterday morning about James being an absolute slave driver over the summer, though I didn't hear what the techniques were."

"Tia, they're awful. He's put them all on special diets, for their specific parts on the team – the Chasers can't put on any weight whatsoever, Beaters have to bulk up and the Keeper's eating all this food that will apparently make him flexible? It's a joke," Scorpius said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked over at the Gryffindor table, where the Weasley cousins, Ryan McMahon and Zack Buchanan (i.e. majority of the team) happened to be sat together. Ryan McMahon and Zack Buchanan were both eating a plain slice of toast, whilst Rose Weasley munched half-heartedly on an apple, Celina sat next to her, chatting across the table to James Potter; Fred Weasley had a full English breakfast in front of him and Hugo Weasley had four glasses of milk in front of him and James was making him down them one after the other.

"Maybe if we employed Potter's tactics, we wouldn't come second again this year," Celestia said, only half joking, something Scorpius, as her cousin, could easily pick up on. He understood what she was a bit bitter, the same way he was, about the fact that Slytherin had come second for the past two years, and all because the year Hugo Weasley and his two best friends had joined the Gryffindor team, they'd become near enough unbeatable. Scorpius was relieved Albus was the Slytherin Seeker, the one of the best Seekers the school had ever seen, or Slytherin would have definitely come third, after Ravenclaw.

"Come on, we were close to beating them in the final last year," Scorpius said, trying to sound convincing and laughing as Celestia snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion. "Oh fuck it, we're shit compared to them. Still though, I wouldn't use any of his tactics, especially the one he uses for Weasley! Merlin, apparently he's been throwing Bludgers her way in practice so she doesn't fall off her broom when they hit her in a game – that's awful! She did a Sloth Roll Grip yesterday and we saw these bruises all over her stomach."

Celestia's eyes widened in shock at the thought of James Potter doing that to his own cousin, even if it was to ensure the winning of his team. But she saw the way his eyes narrowed in the direction of the Gryffindor captain, his grey eyes flashing dangerously. Her lips curled into a smirk once again, and she lightly nudged his arm with her elbow. "Sounds like you care about her, Scorpius. Maybe the whole rivalry you two have has been an act on your part."

"Of course I don't care," Scorpius said, snorting. But Celestia couldn't help but note that his quick reply had come out just that bit too defensive. He folded his arms across his chest and scrunched up his nose, something his cousin remembered him doing when they were kids, whenever he'd been caught out. "It's Weasley, for Merlin's sake."

"So are you going to be the Prince Charming to her Princess for the Ball?"

"Trust me, ignore the rumours. Weasley's not going as a princess. I know her, she hates all the dressing up stuff."

"You know her, do you, Scorpius?"

"Shut up, Tia."

Despite himself, Scorpius found himself looking over at the Gryffindor table, as Rose Weasley talked politely to the other Greengrass twin. She'd finished her apple and was talking animatedly to his cousin, her blue eyes sparkling as she threw her long hair back and laughed. "Why don't you go over and say something to her? Congratulate her on the game yesterday, and ask her to the dance?" Celestia suggested softly at his side.

"Merlin, Tia, I don't want to go to the dance with her," he groaned, shoving her with his elbow and scowling at her. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him and looked back at her scroll, full of Ancient Runes figures. "Course you don't, Scor. Just let her get asked by some other fit guy out of the group."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Scorpius roll his eyes and rise to his feet, before bending down and speaking quietly to her. "Look, I know this isn't going to help your opinion of how I feel about her, but despite the fact I'm only pretty average at it, Weasley's amazing at Ancient Runes. You might wanna ask her for a bit of extra tutoring before the next test you have, I know you hate the subject."

(Roxy POV)

"What do you think about going as a Siren?"

"That would mean having a lot of skin on show though. And Fred would absolutely kill you."

"Personally, I think Fred would be more concerned about getting Rose absolutely smashed on that Firewhiskey."

"Oh, don't say that, it's so exciting how Rose is coming this year, don't you think?"

"Course I do, Al. I really do hope she meets someone else at the Ball, she was so torn up after McLaggen dumped her."

Alice froze as she spotted a familiar face walking towards them from the other end of the corridor; most of the other students had retreated to their respective common rooms, but she and Roxy had decided to walk around the castle for a bit, waiting for Rose to finish her Prefect rounds. One person she had not expected to see, walking around the castle by himself as he waited for his best friend to finish patrolling was Albus Severus Potter.

He looked up as he heard their footsteps echoing through the hallway, his emerald green eyes locking with her hazel for a brief moment, before he looked down at the ground and walked right pass them without saying a word. If he'd been surrounded by his Slytherin friends, Albus would have stopped to make a few snide comments towards Roxy, or Rose if she'd been there, but he probably didn't want to have two witches pointing their wands at his neck. Little did he know that Alice would probably be holding Roxy back if she even tried to do that.

She couldn't help but look back at him as he walked away from them, her eyes trailing his form, her heart fluttering in her chest. Even the sight of Albus brought back childhood memories she shared with him, Louis and her two best friends: running around the Burrow in their pyjamas on Christmas Day every year, the summer their families went on holiday together and Albus used to coax her into the pool every day, and especially their first trip to Diagon Alley as the five of them walked around, buzzing and ready to go to Hogwarts. Oh, how she missed him.

"Ugh, Al," Roxy groaned, rolling her eyes at her blonde friend as she noticed. Unlike Alice, Roxy could see the change in Albus since they'd arrived to Hogwarts; he wasn't the chubby, little version of her Uncle Harry anymore, he was a lot more cynical and cold, and was barely a part of the family. "How can you still like him after all these years? You already went out with Marcus Jones in fourth year in an attempt to get over him, and my brother last year to get over him and make him a bit jealous. Alice, everyone can see right through it. Everyone, that's why they ended up breaking up with you."

"I just miss him, Roxy."

"I miss a time where my father loved me and Fred equally, but that's never gonna happen again, is it?"

"I'm sorry, Rox."

"It's fine, Alice, I shouldn't have said it. Anyway, what do you think about matching costumes. Maybe you could be an angel and I could be a devil!"

"Sounds absolutely perfect, Rox. Amazing idea."

"Uh, fuck, Scorpius. Please."

Rose's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she heard the loud moans echoing through the hallway. Merlin, was Malfoy not even clever enough to hide the fact that he was fucking about (the mental pun was unintentional) during his patrolling rounds with a simple Silencing Charm? She walked down the hallway quietly, making no noise whatsoever against the stone ground thanks to her flat black trainers, which she tended to wear as school shoes instead of the black brogues that the rest of the female population of Hogwarts seemed to wear.

She couldn't help but scrunch up her nose as the moans got louder as she tried to find the tapestry Scorpius Malfoy, and whichever girl had decided to accompany him for the night, were behind. She wasn't sure why she had such a sour feeling in her stomach; the Tapestry Corridor, located on the first floor, was a hotspot for late-night liaisons, and she'd caught many students in compromising positions before.

"UH, SCORPIUS."

Rose pulled back the tapestry located in front of the alcove furthest down the hallway and saw a shirtless Scorpius pressing a fifth year Gryffindor with big ginger curls against the stone wall, one pale hand bunching up her skirt and the other slipped inside her white underwear, their lips sloppily attacking one another. Rose scrunched her nose up in disgust at the sight in front of her, unable to explain the way her throat suddenly closed up and her heart stopped; after composing herself slightly, she snorted at the pair. "Classy, Malfoy, real classy."

She tried not to flush as she saw the muscles in his back tense; she'd hated the boy since first year, but she couldn't deny he had an amazing body, and was an undoubtedly gorgeous human being. The girl pressed against the wall, who she recognised as Ingrid Nelson now her lips weren't now attached to a blonde leech, squealed at the sight of her. Normally, she would've given the girl detention and taken points away from Gryffindor house, before dragging a certain Slytherin to Professor McGonagall's office, but the her encounters with the Greengrass twins, Scorpius Malfoy's cousins, throughout the day had softened the awful mood she woke up in in the morning.

"Either you can leave now and I'll pretend I haven't seen anything, or I will drag you both to McGonagall's. Your choice."

She watched as the girl ran off, pulling her skirt down as she ran past her, and turned back to Scorpius, her eyes narrowed at his back. "Do you want me to drag you to McGonagall while you're shirtless, Malfoy?" Instead of making a snide remark about how McGonagall would probably enjoy it, Malfoy turned around, his right fist slamming against the wall as he turned to face her, and Rose couldn't help but gasp at the sight of him.

His full lips were even more pink than usual, his silvery blonde hair ruffled after having hands run through it. Sweat droplets lightly coated his forehead and ran down his beautifully toned body and as she allowed her eyes to drop slightly lower, she saw the large bulge in his trousers. Her eyes snapped back up to meet his as she realised she was checking him out, and saw his lips curled into a slight smirk, but his grey eyes were darkened with lust.

"Couldn't you have just cut me some slack and let me finish with her, Weasley?" he groaned, bending down to grab his discarded shirt on the floor. He straightened back up, looking right into her blue eyes and trying not to laugh as he saw her flushed cheeks, taking a moment to wink at her. "For Merlin's sake, I know you're jealous that I'm with other girls, but we're not even going out –"

"I'm not jealous, Malfoy," she snapped, her blue eyes narrowing dangerously at the jibe. She moved forwards, shaking her head in disbelief at the smug smirk his lips were curled into. "I wouldn't ever sleep with you, Malfoy. Firstly, because I wouldn't want to be another notch on your belt, but most importantly because I'd probably catch an STD."

"You wouldn't be just a notch on my belt, Weasley. You know you'd be a bit more special than the other girls, I mean."

"Fuck off, Malfoy. I'm not into you. I wouldn't ever want to sleep with you."

"Not even once, Weasley? Come on, you must have heard the rumours that I'm amazing in bed."

"Of course I have. Rumours you all started yourself, I'm sure."

"Ask your cousin, Dominique."
"Dominique?! Ugh, you didn't. How could you, Albus is your best friend?"
"Albus knows, Weasley. Just called her a slag, that's all."

"You make me ill."

"You'd be pretty good in bed, Weasley, even if I'd be way better. I bet McLaggen appreciated just how flexible you were, by the looks of yesterday's match."

"Is that your own sickening way of congratulating me on the match, Malfoy?" Rose asked, the corners of her lips twitching slightly as she struggled not to smile. He folded his arms across his chest; mimicking the sour look her face was often fixed into, and shrugged his shoulders. "What does it matter to you?" he said, also imitating her voice, speaking in a high-pitched squeak that was so unlike her soft, sexy voice. Merlin, I did not just think that, Scorpius thought to himself, scolding his brain for even thinking Weasley was sexy. He was just joking, she'd be awful in bed. But Merlin, the way she'd swung upside down on that broom – stop it!

"That sounds nothing like me," she said, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at him, her lips now curled into a slight smile and he felt his own pink lips betraying him and curling into a grin. "So what if it doesn't, Weasley? Sounds way sexier than you ever could." "Vince didn't think so."

Scorpius felt his mouth part in shock at the mention of his best friend; Rose barely mentioned the fact that she'd gone on a few dates with Vincent Goyle last year, and his friend had respected her too much to say how far they'd gone. Was she – she couldn't possibly be suggesting – no way. "You – are you – are you suggesting you fucked Vince? When? How?"

"I'm not insinuating anything, Malfoy, make of it what you will," she said, a teasing lilt to her voice as her eyes sparkled mischievously. Merlin, he wanted to shove her against a wall and snog her senseless – no, he definitely didn't. "Oh yeah?" he drawled, deciding to tease her back a little, stepping forwards, so they were pressed against one another. He watched as her eyebrows shot up and her teeth sank into her bottom lip. "So, if you're all for inter-house relations, why don't you let me prove to you that I'm way better than he could ever be?"

Rose could feel her heart pounding rapidly and prayed to Merlin that he couldn't feel it against his sculpted chest. She looked up at him, seeing his eyes had darkened even more, despite the fact this was clearly a joke, and decided to play him at his own game. She lightly ran a finger down his body, tracing the planes of his chest and caressing his oddly soft skin, smirking as goosebumps prickled across his skin as a result of her gentle actions. She kept her eye contact with him as her finger trailed lower, drawing light circles on his upper thighs, noticing the way he was biting the insides of his mouth and trying not to shiver, something she was sure he hadn't been doing with Ingrid. Despite her dislike for the egotistical Slytherin, she got some sort of adrenaline rush from teasing him. She traced her finger nearer still, and as it was about to reach the place he so desperately wanted her to touch, she stepped back, grinning evilly.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Malfoy."

She spun around on her heel and walked confidently down the hallway, resisting the urge to jump up and cheer or hit herself for mildly enjoying the way she'd intimately teased the attractive blonde boy. It's just the hormones talking, Rose told herself as she made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, suddenly not in the mood to patrol anymore.

In the alcove a few metres away, Scorpius Malfoy leaned against the cold stone wall, his heart still pounding rapidly in his chest as he thought of the tingling sensations he'd felt all over his body as she'd lightly teased him with a single digit. Merlin, Weasley was really good at everything, he thought, immediately cursing himself for even thinking such a thing. He pulled his shirt on and began making his way back to the Slytherin Common Room as he tried to regulate his heartbeat, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Fucking Weasley. What in hell had that been?