The next day I was in a state of shock. I sat at the breakfast table with a bleak look in my eyes. Naturally, I was still having a hard time accepting the defeat yesterday. For the first time in my life, I didn't win something that I should have won. It was infuriating! Stupid, stupid, stupid Scorpius Malfoy with his carelessness and his memory and his talent… He didn't even seem as ridiculously happy about the victory as I thought he would, which only infuriated me more, because he made it seem like it was nothing. AND I was just so close! I could have won but I missed that one, crucial shot.

To top all of this off, there was the nagging worry in my head that Scorpius had only chosen Lena to be our Keeper because of her impressive chest. I know that this is probably a pathetic thing to think about, but I couldn't help it. And while I was thinking about this I had to wonder why it even bothered me that Scorpius might be impressed by Lena's breasts. I mean, he's a guy; she's a curvy girl – why should I care?

After thinking about this, my mind naturally turned to the words Scorpius had said the day before: "You're pretty." I know that his whole speech had an important point, but it had become lost upon me in the midst of such words. Why would Scorpius say that? He didn't even say it as a compliment, more like a fact, as though it's common knowledge that I'm drop dead beautiful. Or pretty. I know that I'm more of a bookworm and that I don't care that much about my looks, but I would really love to live in a universe where everyone went around saying that I was pretty as though it were a fact of life.

My friends did their best to comfort me. I was surrounded by Al, Felicia and James.

"You did your best, Rosie," Al comforted. I snorted but didn't say anything. Al couldn't see, for goodness sake. He had no clue about what my best even was.

"Scorpius is really good, you know, it's hard to beat him," said Felicia. "Besides, you almost did. It was just one shot."

I finally turned my head to James, hoping for some encouraging words from him. He only shrugged hopelessly and patted me awkwardly on the back.

"Let me hex him," he said.

"No!" I exclaimed, a bit louder than was necessary. "He didn't cheat or anything. He won, fair and square. He's the best Chaser in the school."

"No," said James dully. "I am. But I don't need some stupid competition to prove it. Look, Rose, that whole competition thing was dumb. There was too much pressure and too much time to think things through. In an actual Quidditch situation everything would happen quicker and smoother and the Keeper would have other things on her mind."

"Speaking of the Keeper…" I muttered, lowering my voice. "Did you notice her…?" I gestured around my chest area with my hands.

James nodded eagerly. "Oh, yeah," he said. "No wonder Malfoy wanted her. I would have picked her too, instead of that scrawny little pimple face they have in Ravenclaw."

Great. James and Scorpius could bond over Lena's chest.

Later, during the break after Transfiguration, I pulled Felicia aside.

"I need to talk to you," I muttered.

Felicia led the way into an empty classroom. "What's up?" she asked, settling herself on a desk.

"Well, two things, actually," I said, sitting down across from her. "First, I need to ask you something."

"Fire away."

"Well, um, what does it mean if a guy tells a girl that she's pretty?" I asked. I could feel my face burning furiously. Thankfully, Felicia ignored this.

"Hmm," she said. "Is he a relative?"

"No."

"Friend?"

"Uh – not really."

"Boyfriend potential?"

"Maybe?"

"Was this said alone or around others?" Felicia asked.

"Alone," I confirmed.

"Oh, that definitely means something," Felicia said.

"Really?"

"Totally."

"What does it mean?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, it definitely means that there's something there."

"What's there?"

"You know," Felicia said, rolling her eyes as though she was dealing with a two year old. "Feelings."

I gaped at her.

"Who told you that you were pretty?" she asked.

"No one," I said way too quickly.

Felicia frowned. "Come on, Rose, you can tell me," she said. "I'm your best friend!"

I sighed. On one hand I could keep this to myself – it probably didn't mean that much anyway – or I could share it. It would feel so good to get some of this off my chest.

"Scorpius Malfoy," I muttered.

"No way!" Felicia cried immediately.

"Yes way," I said.

"I can't believe it!" she gasped. "Scorpius… Tell me exactly what he said!"

"He just said that the reason Demetria doesn't like me is because she's jealous," I said. "Apparently she's jealous because I'm smart and stuff… and because I'm pretty."

"What did you say?" she pressed.

I blushed furiously again. "Nothing," I lied.

"What was his facial expression?" Felicia asked, her wide blue eyes even wider than normal.

"Uh, I don't know…"

"Think!"

"Um, embarrassed?"

Felicia leaned back, clearly satisfied. "There's something there," she said confidently. "He definitely likes you a little."

"Really?"

This was news to me. I had never thought that Scorpius felt that way about me, but then again, maybe he's not the kind of guy who lets on to such things. I felt certain that Felicia knew what she was talking about; she had a lot more experience with boys than me.

"Look, there's something else," I said.

"Who else likes you?" Felicia asked teasingly. "I bet it's that Ophi, he seems to pay a lot of attention to you."

"What? No!"

"Especially considering that you're a Gryffindor," Felicia continued.

"Shut up," I snapped. "Look, I have to talk to you about Al."

"What about him?" Felicia asked.

"He – uh," I stuttered. "Do you like him?"

"He's one of my best friends, I suppose I tolerate him," Felicia said, rolling her eyes.

"No, I mean like like him."

"What?" Felicia gasped. "No, of course not. You know I like James."

"But Al is really…" I searched for a good word and failed miserably. "Nice."

"I know," Felicia said slowly. "He's one of my best friends."

I shrugged, giving up. Al would have to fight his own battles from now on.

**

When I went into the loo a bit later I met the one person that I didn't want to see.

"Oh, hi Demetria," I said, trying to sound casual. It was impossible to ignore her, because she was standing in front of the mirror applying mascara, and I had seen her roll her eyes when I walked in. Now, however, she completely ignored me. Although I knew that no reaction from Demetria was better than any reaction at all, I couldn't help myself from saying –

"You could at least acknowledge my presence, you know."

"Why should I?" she asked, and I was surprised that her voice shook a little. She turned away from the mirror to look at me. "Just because everyone says you're so special it doesn't mean that all of us have to drop to the floor and kiss your feet, does it?"

"I – no, of course not – and I'm not special, I just… I just pay attention in school," I said. I noticed that Demetria's eyes were slightly red rimmed.

"Demetria," I started. "Have – have you been crying?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped, turning away from me and hiding her face.

"Um," I said. "Are you… are you okay?"

I felt stupid trying to help this girl who not only hated me, but clearly didn't want my help. Plus, at any second she might just bite me.

"No," she said simply and sniffled. I couldn't believe that Demetria could do something as human as cry. Honestly, throughout all my years at Hogwarts, Demetria has been like something slightly unreachable and impenetrable. She has always been the one to tease me, but sometime last year she had started making it her life's mission to make my life horrible. This year, when I was made a prefect, she took it to a whole new level.

"Do you maybe want to talk about it?"

"Not with you," she muttered.

"Fine," I said, giving up and walking towards one of the stalls.

"Although you're the reason I'm so miserable," she said under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear it.

I stopped in my tracks and turned tentatively around.

"Why?"

Demetria sniffled again and turned around.

"Because somehow, throughout these past two years, you have somehow gotten everything that I don't have," she said, looking at me with something like disgust in her eyes.

"Uh, what do I have?" I asked, thinking of Demetria's brand new, height – of – fashion robes.

"You – you get really good marks," she said. "You're smart and teachers love you. They don't like me, although I study a lot. I just panic at tests and exams."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said awkwardly.

"You have a really big family," she continued as though I hadn't said anything. "You have a big family that loves you. I only have my mother, who a few years ago moved to Mexico, to be with the man she claims to be the love of her life. The Malfoys let me stay with them over the holidays, though, that was really nice of them."

I had never thought of the Malfoys as nice people, but taking in Demetria during the holidays did seem like a rather kind thing to do.

"And then you have Scorpius," she finished.

"I – what?"

"You have Scorpius," she repeated. "My best friend – the one thing that I should have, that you shouldn't have – you completely have."

This sentence made no sense whatsoever to me.

"What do you mean I have Scorpius?" I asked, bewildered. "I think he's a free man, to be honest…"

Demetria rolled her eyes impatiently. "I mean, that my best friend has been hopelessly in love with you since you hexed him on the train in fourth year!"

What?

I gaped at Demetria with an open mouth for several seconds, my mind completely blank.

"But that's…"

"A year and a half ago, yeah," Demetria said, drying her eyes.

I continued to gape at her, but some parts of my mind started working again. Scorpius was always talking to me every time he saw me. He was always teasing me, trying to get me worked up… Maybe what Demetria was saying was right? Maybe Scorpius really was in love with me? Demetria would know, wouldn't she? She was his best friend…

"I should go," I said, turning on my heel and walking briskly out of the loo. I started off down the corridor in the direction of the library - I had a tutoring session there - with my mind deep in thought.

Okay. So Scorpius Malfoy was in love with me. Did this really surprise me? Had I always known, just a little, that he liked me a bit? Now that I thought about it, I was the only Gryffindor girl that he had ever paid attention to; he had never given any of the others a second glance.

What about myself? Did I feel the same way about Scorpius? I had felt odd when he had said that I was pretty. I had noticed his scent for the first time yesterday. I had felt annoyed when he had picked Lena for our Keeper. What on Earth did this mean? Did this mean that I felt the same way about him as he –

I fell unceremoniously to the floor.

"You might like to watch where you're going, Weasley," Scorpius said, reaching out his hand to help me to my feet.

"Thanks," I muttered, suddenly very self conscious. Merlin, how typical that of all people I could walk into, I had to pick Scorpius Malfoy.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Oh yes," I said in an awful high pitched voice that didn't sound remotely like mine. "I was just, you know, walking… and then you were there…. Well, obviously…"

"Right," said Scorpius, raising an eyebrow. "How are you anyway? Handling the defeat well?" He smirked a little. I cursed myself for looking at his lips.

"Oh yeah," I said, still talking in the high pitched voice. "I'm fine. Great. Brilliant. How're you?"

"A little annoyed, actually," Scorpius said. "I'm looking for Demetria, but I can't find her. Was she in the loo?" he asked, nodding towards the door that I had emerged from.

"No!" I said loudly. "No. No, she wasn't."

"Right," said Scorpius. He hesitated, and then said, "I've noticed Ophi has been paying a lot of attention to you lately."

"What?" I exclaimed, startled. "Oh, he's nice."

"Hmm," said Scorpius, and he just looked at me, as though he was deep in thought.

"Yes, well," I said, trying to gather myself. "I have to go torture – I mean tutor a first year, so…"

"Tutoring is torture," Scorpius said, back to his old self and winking at me. "See you."

He strode off and I stood still for a few moments, thinking about what had just happened, before walking quickly through the corridor. When I turned around the corner I started sprinting.

**

This was a bit of a short chapter, but the next chapter will be much longer ;)

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