Six almost uneventful days later, Albus and Scorpius sat in a dimly lit corner of the Slytherin common room, it was dark enough to make them look mysterious to their hordes of adoring admires, but light enough to allow them to do their homework. They had always sat in this particular corner of the common room and little did they know so had Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, and even Tom Riddle Jr.

Actually, if Scorpius had known that his father had frequented this corner during his stay at Hogwarts he would have moved immediately. Since fourth year he had strived to be different from his father. His slicked back hair was the first to go; now he just let his platinum blond hair do its own thing, with an occasional hair cut. This annoyed Al to no end. Al has never liked messy hair on the basis that it reminds him of HIS father. Al's obsession with neat hair annoyed Scorpius because he hogs the bathroom forever in the morning primping his hair so it was absolutely perfect.

"Done!" Cried Al slamming his Transfiguration book closed. He leaned back and let out a deep contented sigh.

"Great!" His companion shuffled though a pile of papers and held out a set of notes written in meticulous handwriting. "Can you take these back to Rose? I finished coping them a little while ago and she gave them to you like a week ago."

"Nope." Al replied his eyes already closed.

"Right. Silly me. TAKE these notes back to Rose." Scorpius paused waiting for Al to give his consent. "Please?"

"Forceful and then pleading? Talk about split-personality disorder."

"Of course buddy! Will you take them?" Scorpius pleaded some more.

Al pretended to be asleep.

Scorpius poked him and he let out a soft snore.

"FINE! Git. I do have other things to do you know!" Al remained motionless. "You suck Al, you really do." Scorpius turned on his heel and stormed out of the common room to give Rose back her notes.

It was a good thing that Scorpius had left because if he had stayed he might have blown a gasket when Al got up, walked across the room and started flirting with a fifth year that he had seen eying him. He defiantly would have when they started making out. Chaste Al was not.


Scorpius smacked himself on the head.

Why did Al have to be so stupid? How was he supposed to find Rose? He should have asked Al for the map, although that might not have helped if it wasn't Al's week for the map. And if she was in the Gryffindor common room how was he supposed to get in?

His eyes grew wide with horror when he imagined himself opening the door and asking for Rose. He might get beat up by Fred, Hugo, or one of the other of the masses of Weasleys! He had been Al's best friend for years and they still gave him the cold shoulder when he was around. What would happen when they thought he was going out with their sister/cousin?

"I hate you Al, hate, hate, hate, Hate, HATE." Scorpius stormed past the library.

A little ways past it he froze mid-step and turned on his heel. It was obvious really. A Saturday afternoon? Rose was definitely in the library.


Rose was deep in her studies, well...when I say deep I mean she had set her books up like a fort to block the sunlight streaming in from the nearby window and had fallen asleep. She had finished all her homework the night before but had nothing to do as the Hufflepuff team, taking advantage of the sunny day, had booked the Quidditch pitch.

She was enjoying a lovely dream about winning the Quidditch house cup and Scorpius sweeping her off her feet because she was just so bloody awesome. Which was why Scorpius noticed a small smile on her face. He was laughing not so silently to himself when Rose's head snapped up.

She rubbed her eyes. "What's so funny? "She suddenly blushed and asked, "I wasn't talking in my sleep again was I?"

"Er...no" Scorpius trailed off, wondering if this was a regular problem for her, which lead to images in his head of her in bed, which lead to a slight blush on his cheeks as well.

"What was so funny then?"

"I just..." He laughed again. "Even the Great Rose Weasley falls asleep while studying!"

She looked at him for a moment attempting to comprehend why he had called her "the Great" and replied, "I wasn't studying. I was sleeping."

"On purpose?" He looked confused.

"Yes, unfortunately these are the measures one must take when one has loud roommates who stay up gossiping in the late hours and then sleep in, snoring atrociously loud, until 3:00 in the afternoon." She sighed dramatically.

"Wow, didn't know you had it so rough!" He exclaimed, playfully mocking her self-pity. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He pointed to a seat across from her.

"Uh, yeah sure." She paused awkwardly as he sat down. "I have to ask though. Did Al put you up to this?"

"Urggh, yes." Scorpius made a face as if he tasted something sour. "I asked him, politely, to give you your notes back and he pretended to be asleep!"

"My notes?" Rose replied blankly a little confused. She was still a little groggy from her nap.

"OH! Uh-yeah, here." He shuffled through the bag he had haphazardly stuffed the notes in before he stormed out of his common room. "Hang on, there in here some-AH, here they are." He handed them to her. "Sorry it took so long. Al had them for several days and then I was too busy trying to write the essay on nargles that Professor Scamander gave us."

"Yeah." Laughed Rose. "Uncle Rolf is an odd one. That's probably why he and Aunt Luna are such a good pair."

"I've never really understood that, how are they your aunt and uncle? Which one is a blood relative?"

"Neither. They're family friends though. Aunt Luna went to school with my parents and stuff. Hasn't Al ever explained that?"

"Nah. Never asked."

"Mmm."

"Right." Said Scorpius sensing an impending awkward moment. "Do you think you could help me with something?"

"Sure." Rose looked at him a little funny. What could he possibly need help with?

"I-I-oh Merlin. This is embarrassing." He hid his face in his hands.

"Is it? So embarrassing I'd spread it around school because, you know, I'm obviously that kind of person?"

"Uh, well no, but embarrassing enough that Al would probably laugh at me."

"I can help. Probably. Maybe. I think?" She paused. "Oh just spit it out! What do you need help with?"

"Potions."

"Potions?" She suppressed a giggle.

"Oh come off it!" He said exasperated. "Yeah. Potions. Its not like I could tell Al that without him laughing his skinny arse off. And if he did help me he'd treat me like an idiot!"

"Right, yeah, it was a good idea not telling him. He's a terrible teacher too. Glad he doesn't want to become a potions master because I wouldn't have the heart to tell him he's crap at teaching."

"Remember when he tutored that first year last semester?"

Rose winced. "At least the nurse was able to cure that nasty rash."

"The look on McGonagall's face when she found out! Classic!"

"How did you see her face?" Rose cocked her head. She didn't quite see Scorpius as the type to have meetings with the Headmistress by choice.

"Meeting with my parents about my grades." He rubbed the back of his neck because it was suddenly quite hot. Somehow admitting his slight failures to the smartest girl in his year made him embarrassed.

"You're third in our year! How could that warrant a meeting with Headmistress McGonagall about grades?"

"Only the top two get to be head boy and girl."

"Wow, your parents really want you to succeed."

"I know. It's really annoying sometimes. I mean, I want to be me, do the things that I want to do. Like trying out for the chess team or NOT having an arranged marriage. I do want to follow my dad's footsteps in his law firm, but beyond that I don't want to be like him at all." I just want to be myself, but they won't let me! It's my life! Let me live it like I want to! I know they want me to do well and I appreciate that, but they treat me like a child! Like I might make the same mistakes that they made, or worse! They were so mad when they found out that I was best friends with their enemy's son! I told them I'd run away if they told me I couldn't be friends with him. He was the only one that accepted me at first! My first few weeks here was spent entirely in class, the Great Hall, or hiding under my bed!" He heaved a great sigh and sat back down, not even noticing that he had stood up in the heat of his monologue.

Rose looked a little taken aback, but nodded her head as if she understood.

"Right." He said again shuffling through his bag. "Sorry about the angst. Teenage-y stuff, I'm sure you understand."

She gave him a weak smile. She knew all too well about teenage-y stuff.

"MY WORD!"

"Crap."

"CRAP INDEED MISTER MALFOY! OUT NOW! AND YOU TOO MISS. WEASLEY! YOU MUST FIND SOMETHING MORE APPROPRIATE TO DO THAN RATE LIKE THAT IN MY LIBRARY! I WON'T HAVE IT! OUT!" Miss. Pince slammed the door behind them.

"I don't think she's realized she just made more of a racket than we did?" Asked Scorpius risking a sideways glance at Rose as they walked outside.

"Definitely not." Laughed Rose. "God I hate it when she does that. My dad said she's worse than her mum."

"Her mum? Really! So it's like a family thing they've got going on there."

"Guess so."

"Her mum. Wow. I wonder...who was the father?"

Rose furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I wonder… Who'd marry the librarian at Hogwarts?"

"Who said they were married?" Scorpius wiggled his eyebrows; Rose smacked him with her bag. "Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder pouting. "I'm just saying accidents happen! OW!"

Rose shrugged and deadpanned. "Accidents happen." Scorpius poked her side. "OI! Watch it!"

"I swear I saw a bug there!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Sure you did."

"Yup."

Rose waited until they were outside to get her revenge.

"AGHH!" Scorpius faked an elaborate fall.

Rose laughed and shrugged. "I saw a spider, I swear!"

"Prove it!"

She lifted up her shoe and showed him the squished spider. Just because she was getting revenge didn't mean she couldn't squish a bug while she was at it.

He shivered. "Oh, well thanks. Can't stand spiders."

"Neither can I. Nasty little creatures." She sat down in the cool grass and leaned against the trunk of their chosen tree. "Now, potions..."


Sorry its taken me so long. Again. Its the snow. I can definitely blame the snow. Not for much, but for a little at least.

This chapter was a little hard to write but I enjoyed it :) I hope you did too. You should tell me whether you did or not (HINTHINT).

Next chapter? Who knows. It could be up next Saturday. It could be up in three Saturdays. I'm a little inconsistent.

Any who. Love ya lots :)

~Lavander

P.S.-heehee :) you can blame Doctor Who for my procrastination too. I've been watching some of David Tennant's earlier episodes all day.