I was standing in front of the Great Hall waiting for Malfoy. We had recently been doing both Friday and Saturday night patrols instead of just Saturdays. Two nights of Malfoy in a row was truly the worst punishment that anyone could imagine. And this particular Saturday night, I was dreading even more than usual. After my mess of a date with Justin, the last thing I needed was Malfoy sneering at me.

"Ah, Weasley." He said airily as he approached me. "I thought you might not show up."

"Why wouldn't I show up?"

"I thought perhaps…you and Sanders might be…detained." He smirked.

I just glared at him and turned to walk down the hall.

"I'm sorry about that, really. Especially if you were expecting something." He continued antagonizing me.

I rounded on him. "Enough." I said. "My date was miserable, yes. I really would prefer to not talk about it. Actually I would prefer that you didn't talk at all."

Malfoy just gave a weak smile. "You wouldn't really want that. You'd be bored if I didn't talk to you. We've tried this before and it doesn't work."

I just shrugged and continued walking down the hallway, knowing he was probably right.

"So why was your date so miserable?" He asked.

"Why do you care?" I spat.

"If it's a tale of your misery, I always care a little bit." He laughed.

I embarked on my tale of the miserable date with Justin Sanders.

When I had finished, Scorpius smiled, a genuine smile. I don't think I had EVER seen Scorpius genuinely smile at me. And there was something very strange about it and I just stared at him as he laughed a little about my plight. It was a very beautiful smile that didn't really suit him. And his blue eyes looked warmer and kind instead of cold. He seemed to notice me staring as his face fell.

"What?"

"Nothing." I said quickly.

He gave me a strange a look. "So I take it our potions group is going to be extra awkward now." He said changing the subject.

I nodded trying to think of something to say that might make Scorpius smile again.

~*S*~

Scorpius Malfoy was sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall Monday morning talking to Arthur and Lucas when Justin Sanders walked over to him.

"What do you want, Sanders?" Scorpius asked coldly.

"We need to start on our potions assignment. Are you free tonight?" He said sounding extremely important.

"Quidditch practice." Scorpius said shortly.

"Tomorrow?"

"I guess."

"At 7 in the library?"

Scorpius nodded.

"Will you make sure that's okay with Weasley and get back to me?" He said stiffly.

Scorpius gave him a confused look to pretend he didn't know that Sanders and Weasley most likely were avoiding each other.

"Aren't you like obsessed with her?" Scorpius asked. "Why don't you ask her?"

"Liking someone is not the same as being obsessed, Malfoy." Sanders responded cooly. "I would ask her but every time I walk towards her, she seems to disappear. It's very odd."

Scorpius nodded, suppressing a smirk. "Ok. I'll talk to her."

~*R*~

"Weasley." I heard the voice of Malfoy behind me as I walked to Transfiguration with Al.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Albus turned, drawing his wand.

"Nothing with you, Potter." He spat and then turned to me. "Sanders told me to tell you that we're meeting to work on the potions project tomorrow at 7 in the library."

I rolled my eyes. "Wonderful." I said sarcastically.

Scorpius smirked a little and walked off.

"Are you two friendly now?" Albus asked me.

I just stared at him. "You are joking right?"

Al shrugged. " Just kind of seemed like it."

"We just tolerate each other mostly." I said.

"Are you still avoiding Justin?" He asked.

I smiled a little. "I've been trying to but it doesn't seem to be possible now with this project. Sanders and Malfoy! There couldn't be a worse group."

Al laughed. "That is definitely true."

I walked into the library and saw that Malfoy and Justin were already there. They were sitting on opposite sides of the table glaring at each other. When I approached, Justin hastily cleaned off the seat next to him so I could sit there and I saw the corners of Malfoy's mouth twitch. I took the seat and attempted to keep the conversation strictly about Potions.

Justin kept putting his hand on me as we worked. First on my leg, then on my shoulder, and finally on my hand. He didn't seem to get the message when I would jerk whatever body part away. To make matters worse, I knew Scorpius saw this and he was trying very, very hard to pretend to not notice.

Once we finally were able to come up with what the antidote would be, we scheduled out sometimes to meet so we could work on making the potion. Some things needed a while to stew before we could continue to work on it. After I had written out copies of the schedule for Scorpius and Justin, I packed up my bag and began to head for the door.

"Rose, can I talk to you?" Justin asked. I looked around for an escape, but no one else was in the library and I saw Scorpius sneaking behind some shelves so he could hear us.

"Sure." I said anxiously.

He led me over to sit back down. "I really, really like you, Rose." He said smiling. "And I was wondering if you would like the honor of being my girlfriend?" As he clasped my hands

The HONOR of being his girlfriend? Excuse me? He can't be serious.

I pulled my hands away. "I'm sorry, Justin." I said. "I'm just not interested in a relationship right now." I said and got up and walked away, leaving a very shocked Justin Sanders sitting at the table.

I walked quickly down the hall towards the Gryffindor Common Room and I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around, expecting to see Justin but, however, found myself looking at Scorpius Malfoy.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. Scorpius was only a slightly better option.

"That may have been the funniest thing I have ever witnessed." He said and he smiled that beautiful smile, and I couldn't help but smile back in return.