-Rose-

"And make sure to master this charm, because it might just make an appearance in the O.W.L.'s." Professor Flitwick winks, his white hair still sticking up and smouldering slightly from a student's failed attempt at a shield charm. I flick my wand out and knock a book off the desk with a bright-blue forcefield. Flitwick smiles at me but doesn't bother saying anything. He knows I mastered this in the third year.

A crudely-made parchment airplane drifts over to me. I unfold it:

Tonight? After dinner in the classroom where we met that night. I turn to see Scorpius casting a nearly perfect shield charm. As he lowers his wand, our eyes lock and I nod.

That evening, we file into the Dining Hall. I'm looking down, focused on the night's agenda. Suddenly, I shiver uncontrollably and my heart drops. I shriek and leap out of the hazy, frigid air.

"Sorry," I say, and Nearly Headless Nick laughs.

"Not to worry, my dear."

Maria nudges me. "If you didn't even notice you were walking straight into a ghost, something must really be on your mind."

I shake my head. "No, it's nothing." She gives me a funny look, but I still don't tell her. I know exactly how she'd react if I told her I was tutoring a Slytherin. Scorpius Malfoy, especially.

I finish my dinner quickly and head up to the common room. I could probably go straight to the abandoned classroom I'd seen Scorpius in Halloween night, but for some reason I enter the dormitories.

I re-plait my hair. Would Scorpius remember to bring his potions book? I grab mine just in case. "Someone looks nice," comments the mirror by Molly's bed. I huff cynically, but allow myself a look at my reflection and smile.

Book in hand, I head out of the dormitory and crawl out of the Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady raises an eyebrow. I ignore her and head down the dark, empty corridor.

Scorpius is already in the room. Surrounding him are jars of various animal parts and herbs bunched together with twine, and a cauldron waiting. "Hi."

"Hi."

"So…"

"What do you want to start with?" I ask.

A slight blush clouds his pale skin. "I got the ingredients for a Confusing Concoction."

"That's a third year potion."

"I know."

Silence falls. I clear my throat. "Right, then. So." I flip through the potions book until I get to the Confusing Concoction. "Pufferfish eyes?"

"Check."

"Scurvy grass?"

"Check."

We go through the ingredients to find he has only forgot dried nettles, which is optional, anyway. Scorpius grinds the dragon horn while I peel the shrivelfigs. The work goes by a lot faster with two.

"Aquamenti." The cauldron fills up with water. I watch as Scorpius adds one two many drops of Salamander blood. Then I grab the plate he brought to keep the fire in. He reaches for it at the same time, and our hands brush. What a cliché- we're enemies, after all. I let him put it under the cauldron and conjure a fire with a flick of his wand.

He puts it out right before the mixture starts boiling. "Good," I say. "Now add the grass. Three stirs- no, clockwise!- and then the horn. Great. In ten minutes we can add the shrivelfigs and the pufferfish eyes. Now, we have to wait."

Scorpius leans back from the cauldron. I sigh, then realize how loud it sounds in the silent classroom. He taps his fingers on the floor and absentmindedly starts humming something I'm sure I should recognize.

"So… potions," I start.

"Honestly, Weasley. You have no idea how to have a conversation," says Scorpius.

"Do too." I cringe at the childish retort.

"Okay, then let's talk about something. Not potions. Tell me about… your family."

I roll my eyes. "You know all there is to know. Blood traitors, mudblood mother—"

Scorpius shifts. "Don't say that."

I sigh and drop the sarcasm. "Okay. Well, there's a lot of us. That's the first thing. But as for my immediate family… my father works in the Auror department, and my mother— well, she's doing something about house elves." I blush. "And then I have a brother, Hugo."

"It's his first year, right?"

"Yeah."

"How's he doing?" I strain to find ridicule in his voice, but can't detect it.

"Good. I don't know. I don't see him a lot."

"But you're in the same house."

"Truthfully, I spend most of my time holed up in the library."

"Figures," he says.

I nod, but it looks more like a shameful duck of the head. "What about you?"

"Well, it's pretty much just me, my dad, and my mom. You probably know that my Dad works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, like yours, and Mom just stays at home, I guess. We live at our grandparents' manor. They're sort of pathetic; one of them was paralyzed during the war and stays in bed most of the time."

"Oh."

"Yep… hang on," Scorpius says. He peers into the cauldron. "Isn't that the right shade? I can never tell."

I stand up and hover above him and the cauldron. My braid falls in front of his face but he doesn't say anything. I flick it back.

"Yeah, that's good. Actually, it's perfect." I stick the wooden spoon in, and it's just about the right thickness, too. I put out the fire underneath. "Well done, Malfoy."

"Thanks. It was mostly you, though." He smiles, and I smile back. "Next week, same time, same place?"

"Deal."

With his wand, he transfers some of the potion into a vial. He pulls out an identical, empty one and waggles it. "Want some?"

"What would I do with it?"

Scorpius laughs. "Oh, Rose, you have a lot to learn."