A/N: 25 reviews! I never thought I would get that many when I started, so thanks again to everyone who reviewed the first three chapters. I hope you all enjoy the new chapter :)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I still don't own it.

The teachers proceeded to spend the morning drilling the importance of OWLs into our heads, so we were unable to continue our conversation on James and Aaron. I zoned out during Transfiguration and Charms, doodling absently on a scrap of parchment and wondering what my mother would say if I failed my OWLs. It wasn't a pleasant image.

At lunch, the close proximity of James and Hugo stopped us discussing anything really important, and the conversation consisted mostly of James complaining – just as Lily had predicted – about the amount of homework he had already been set, and how he was going to do it all and plan team tryouts. He had recently followed in his father's footsteps by being made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, something he was immensely proud of, and barely five minutes passed without him mentioning his apparently foolproof, yet top secret strategy to win Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup. Again, I noticed Swarna, who had never taken an interest in Quidditch before, hanging onto his every word. I laughed to myself, then turned my attention to scouring the table for Al, making sure he was alright. I caught sight of him at the other end of the table, talking and laughing with the other first years, and smiled. It looked like he was fitting in just fine.

It wasn't until we were walking down to the greenhouses for Herbology, just before lunch, that we had a chance to talk. Swarna still hadn't openly admitted to liking James, something Helen and I found very amusing, while Lily stuck her fingers in her ears and hummed loudly if anyone tried to talk about why her brother might make a good boyfriend.

It was Swarna, in an attempt to take the conversation off herself and James, who asked the question I'd been dreading all morning.

'So, Rose,' she started, raising her eyebrows. 'What's happening with you and Scorpius? Is he still acting friendly, or what?'

Apparently, Lily had filled the others in on what had happened on the train, probably while I'd been asleep the previous night. I glared at her, and she immediately started rummaging around in her bag. I wondered how many times people would use this ploy to avoiding talking about something throughout the course of the day – it had already happened twice.

'I haven't seen Scorpius today.' I said shortly, in response to Swarna's question. I still wasn't clear about what my feelings were on this matter, but I knew one thing - I did not want to talk about it. 'Anyway, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he goes back to being his usual self.' At that time, I had no idea, how short a time it would actually be.

This became very clear, the moment we walked into the greenhouse. Until that moment, I hadn't realised we would be having Herbology lessons with the Slytherins. Scorpius was already in there, sitting next to Lucy. He caught my eye as I walked in. I nodded briefly and looked away. He may have been acting nicer recently, but I wasn't ready to forget five years of teasing and insults just yet. Lucy, seeing the exchange, glared at me and said snidely 'So, Rose, I see you didn't get made a prefect. Your parents must be so proud of how well you're following in their footsteps.'

Too late, I noticed the shiny badge on her robes, and the matching one on Scorpius's, next to her. I blushed bright red. I hadn't wanted to be a prefect, but both my parents had been one and Hugo was currently one. I knew my mother had been slightly disappointed when the badge had come to Lily, not me. I opened my mouth to retaliate, but was interrupted by the start of the lesson.

***

Twenty minutes later, we were drawing diagrams of Bowtruckles, something I found both pointless – there was a diagram in the textbook, so why were we drawing them? - and annoying, due to the Bowtruckles' habits of trying to escape to the Forest at the slightest opportunity. I remembered my father telling me about Bowtruckles – he shared my views on drawing them – and rolled my eyes. Shouldn't lessons at Hogwarts have changed slightly in the twenty-odd years since my parents had come here?

My friends were getting on with the lesson in different ways. Lily, in typical Lily fashion, had somehow managed to convince her Bowtruckle to stay still, and had produced a beautiful drawing that would no doubt gain her an O. Our family had been joking for years about how Lily was more like my mother than either of her own parents. Swarna was ignoring the actual Bowtruckle, except to prevent it running away, and was copying the diagram out of the textbook, something that I thought very sensible. Helen hadn't started any drawing that I could see, and was surreptitiously grabbing Puffapod seeds from a bowl behind her and flicking them in the general direction of the Slytherins. Grinning at her, I reached over, grabbed one, and threw it at Lucy, laughing to myself as it hit her head and immediately burst into flower, becoming entangled in her hair.

'Rose, what are you doing? Could you start your drawing please?' Neville, or Professor Longbottom, as I had to call him at Hogwarts, called from the other side of the greenhouse. As he was an old friend of my parents, I saw him frequently outside of Hogwarts, and we got on very well, although this didn't mean he would let me do nothing in his lesson. He apparently hadn't noticed the Puffapod seeds littering the ground though, and neither had most of the Slytherins. I was wondering how anyone could possibly be so unobservant, when Lucy suddenly discovered the flowers stuck in her hair.

Giving a shriek of annoyance, she tried to yank them out, but they only became more and more tangled in her auburn hair. They appeared to be attached by some sort of resin. By this point I was in hysterics, struggling to control myself, and several other students had noticed and were laughing as well. Lucy, still yanking at the flowers, suddenly caught my eye, and glared at me again, in a way that made me sure she knew I had thrown the seed. This did nothing to stop me laughing, but my amusement vanished as Scorpius reached over to help her disentangle the plants, gently pulling at them bit by bit, although they appeared to become more and more sticky with each attempt.

'Miss Porter?' Neville – I could not think of him as Professor Longbottom - asked, coming over to investigate. 'How did those Puffapod seeds get into your hair?'

Lucy shot me a look of pure evil. 'Weasley threw them, sir,' she said, sounding completely innocent. 'And now we can't get them out.' She sniffled, and, to my utter disbelief, began to cry, although it was completely obvious to me that she was pretending.

Neville turned to me, looking disappointed, although I could have sworn I saw his mouth twitch. 'Rose, is this true?' I couldn't deny it, so said nothing.

Neville sighed. 'Rose, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you detention. Mr Malfoy, could you please escort Miss Porter to the hospital wing? Those seeds will need an Anti-Sticking Potion in order to come out.'

Lucy shot me a triumphant look from behind Neville's back, then started pretending to cry again as Scorpius led her out of the greenhouse, with his arm around her. I was watching them leave, no longer even remotely amused, when she turned to me and said, loudly enough for the whole class to hear: 'That isn't going to make you prefect, Rose. In fact, I'm sure your mother is even more disappointed in you now.'

That hit home. I was reaching for my wand when Scorpius said softly 'I agree Rose, that was low.' The way he looked at me was almost disgusted.

Lucy grinned evilly. My hand dropped limply back to my side. It was nothing, considered to what he usually said to me, but still. I'd had hopes that we might be friends now, that he might have stuck up for me against Lucy. OK, so I had thrown a Puffapod seed at her, but it was only because of that crack she'd made about me not making Prefect at the start of the lesson. I hated that I'd disappointed my mother by not making the position, and I really didn't want to be constantly reminded of it. The fact that he would take her side hurt me, much more that I would have expected it to. Much more than it should have.

My foul mood lasted for the rest of the afternoon, through dinner. At 5 o'clock, I made my way to the Great Hall for my detention. Neville met at the bottom of the stairs and led me to the dungeons.

'Today, Rose, you're going to help Professor Parkinson by extracting the juice from dead leeches, for use in Shrinking Solutions,' he said, smiling sympathetically. I groaned. Not only was that disgusting, but I hated the thought of helping out Professor Parkinson. Pansy Parkinson had gone to Hogwarts with my parents. Although general opinion was that she had been on Voldemort's side during the war, she had never been convicted of anything and Headmistress Bones had no choice but to give her the job of Potions teacher.

'Professor Parkinson is busy this evening, so you will working unsupervised,' said Neville as we approached the Potions classroom. 'But you won't be alone, I believe there are two other students who have managed to get detention on their first day too.'

At the door of the dungeon he wished me luck and headed off. I entered, very much wishing I could be back in the dormitory with my friends, discussing our first day. I hadn't thought about what Neville had said about two other students joining me, until I saw who they were and stopped in my tracks.

Sitting at a table, next to a giant cauldron of dead leeches, sat two boys. Scorpius Malfoy and Aaron McLaggen. I groaned internally. This was sure to be a very long evening.

Please review. It makes my day :)