I am the biggest hypocrite

I've been undeniably jealous

I have been loud and pretentious

I have been utterly threatened

~One - Alanis Morissette

Shout out to Asynonymous/SilverRaindrops24 for being my 300th reviewer! And the reason for the early update!

Disclaimer: the usual.

I wake up to my alarm for once in my life and make it to the bathroom before anyone else. When I leave it, ready for the day, in a good mood because my hair is somewhat tame, I find Dom eyeing me suspiciously.

"Where were you last night?" she demands.

Oh great. Here comes the shitstorm. I knew it would last night.

"I was busy making the Prefect schedules, and then I realized I hadn't finished that Potions essay-"

"You missed dinner." She raises an eyebrow, tapping her foot. "Are you cheating on Ly with Scorpius, because that's just-"

I've been pretty damn tolerant of Dom until now, but this makes me snap. "Who exactly are you to tell me off for cheating? Which, by the way, I didn't. Thank you for your extremely high opinion of me."

"It's not like my cheating on Scorpius counted," she remarks in a scathing voice.

I turn to face her, raising one eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but is there a checklist or something that determines what counts?"

"He wasn't hurt by that," she tries to explain. "Neither were you with Josh. Ly really likes you. Scorpius liked someone else the whole time we were together."

I give her an incredulous look. "Who?"

"If you can't see, then you're just thick!" she shouts.

I throw my hands up in the air. "Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

She huffs and storms out of the room, leaving me completely bewildered and more than a little angry.

Jasmine makes her way over to me and pats me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I know you didn't cheat on Ly last night with Scorpius."

Of course not. He fancies you. "Thanks, Jasmine. I just need Ly to believe me."

-TTIHM-

"Where were you at dinner yesterday?" asks Ly.

"I know I missed it," I answer. "I'm so sorry, the Prefect schedules were not getting done and I completely lost track of time. Then I realized I hadn't finished that two-foot-long Potions essay. I was in there till nearly midnight."

"Sounds tough," says Ly sympathetically.

I stare at him in surprise. "So, you're not angry?"

He quirks an eyebrow. "Why would I be? You have duties and you need to fulfill them. I was a bit disappointed but I understand."

I hug him. "Thank you for being so sweet."

"Maybe I should be forgiving more often," he grins.

I laugh. "Maybe."

Malfoy and Al walk up to the table and sit across from us. Al's hair is sticking up in the back. I finally understand what a cowlick is.

"Al? You have-" I begin.

He cuts me off. "Don't even mention it. It refuses to listen. I've tried every bloody spell, nothing's worked."

"Have you let Scorpius try?" Ly starts in surprise beside me. Probably at my use of Malfoy's first name.

"Are you joking? After he turned my hair purple the one time last year?" Al shudders. "No way."

"I could try," I offer.

"Let's not forget that you ripped out a handful of his hair before I turned it purple," Scorpius reminds me. (It still feels weird calling him that. Like he's a person or something.)

"That wasn't through magic, though," I argue.

"Point being that neither one of you is ever getting close to my hair," Al snaps. "Capisce?"

"Capisce?" Lily asks, confused, as she walks up with Jasmine.

"Italian," Al answers waspishly. "Broaden your horizons."

"Where's Dom, by the way?" asks Lily.

I sigh. "Dom sort of went off on me this morning."

"And by that, she means Dom went batshit crazy," Jasmine adds. While it's not the most eloquent phrase, I appreciate the support.

"About what?" Malfoy is suddenly curious.

Jasmine looks at me carefully. "She was upset that Rose wasn't at dinner last night."

That's only part of the truth obviously, but I'm glad Jasmine didn't divulge the rest. Especially in front of Malfoy. Most people seem to accept it, except Malfoy, who seems to be trying to silently communicate with Jasmine.

Oh, and Lily, whose eyes are narrowed at me. Uh-oh.

"Oh, no!" she suddenly says, slapping her hand to her forehead. "I forgot all my parchment upstairs! Rose, come with me." She drags me out of the hall and halfway up the stairs before turning to face me. "Alright, so what was your spat with Dom really about?"

I sigh defeatedly. "She thinks I'm cheating on Ly with Scorpius."

Lily frowns. "But she..."

"I know."

Lily blinks. "Well. That's not hypocritical, or anything."

"I know," I repeat. "I don't know what's gotten into her."

"You're not, right?" Lily asks to confirm.

"You're all mad," I emphasize. "Of course not!"

She sighs with relief. "Good. I dunno what's going on with him, either, these days."

"Yeah, one minute he's really nice and friendly to me, and the next he's moody." I frown, trying to figure it out. "He's normally nice when we're alone. Maybe he doesn't want people to know we talk civilly sometimes?"

Lily shakes her head. "That's ridiculous, you're both Heads. You have to talk civilly."

"Oh, yeah," I realize. "But then why the face?"

"I get the feeling that certain family members annoy him," she suggests.

I shrug. "That could easily be it."

"Anyway, I have to go to Care of Magical Creatures," she says, checking her watch. "We can talk more at lunch if you need, or if something happens!"

"See you then!" I hug her and make my way down to Potions.

In Potions, Al is beside Jasmine. I don't want to sit beside Dom, so that leaves Scorpius. (Still weird to say/think.) He moves his books to the side so I can fit mine on the desk and smiles. At me. He smiles.

Not wasting time, Slughorn strides - or rather, waddles - to the front of the class. "This year, things will work a little differently. You'll all have partners, and will brew all your potions with them."

The room fills with excited buzzing as people look around at each other and call names.

"I have picked your partners," Slughorn calls over the chatter, which dies instantly at this. "You have been paired up according to similar skill level. There will be no changes."

Similar skill level? Wonderful. I just know who I'm paired up with.

Sure enough, Slughorn clears his throat and reads from his list. "Miss Rose Weasley, and Mr. Scorpius Malfoy!"

-TTIHM-

I pull Lily to the other end of the Gryffindor table at lunch, telling Ly I need to talk to her. He accepts this without complaint and goes to sit with Lorcan and Lucy over at the Ravenclaw table, claiming they'll feel neglected. He's such a nice boy. I got so lucky with him. Unfortunately, I didn't with my Potions partner.

"What is it?" asks Lily, taking a roll off the platter and buttering it.

"Slughorn assigned us Potions partners," I hiss. "For the entire year."

Lily winces sympathetically. "You got Dom?"

"No, I got Scorpius." Admittedly, Dom might have been a slightly worse choice, not only because she's angry right now, but because her Potions skills aren't exactly... well, let's just say I really, really want an O.

Lily tilts her head curiously. "That's not so bad, is it? You two are finally getting along, he's clever and he'll do his share of the work. What exactly are you worried about?"

My words freeze in my throat, I can't exactly tell her about his mum and the bezoar and the kiss and the handkerchief and the awkwardness to follow. I cover up my pause with a lie, looking down my nose to make sure it's not flaring. "You know, the moodiness. When you're unhappy, the potion is bad, that sort of thing."

"Why did you go cross eyed just then?" Lily stares at me in confusion.

"Insect," I mutter, pretending to rub my left eye. "But yeah, I'm going to go mad this year. I have to spend all my time with Scorpius!"

"You're calling him Scorpius now," Lily notes.

"Yeah, we decided last night we should probably be on a first-name basis seeing as we're spending the entire bloody year together."

"It can't be that bad," Lily tries to reason with me.

I start counting on my fingers. "Well, let's see, we share a common room. We're partners in Potions. We have to make up patrol schedules and plan events and organize Hogsmeade weekends. Not to mention we have to patrol together!"

Lily frowns. "You have to patrol together? I didn't know about that."

"Yeah, apparently it's a rule," I shrug.

"Vic didn't have to patrol with Head Boy at the time though when she was Head Girl," Lily remembers.

"Oh yeah! I remember Teddy being thankful about that because that Michael had a huge crush on her. Maybe they put in the rule recently then?" I'm more confused than ever.

"How did you hear about it?" Lily asks.

"Malfoy told me, when we were making up the schedules," I answer.

"How did he hear?"

"He said it was on his letter." I think back to last night. "Yeah, that's what he told me. But it wasn't on mine, for some reason."

"Could he be making it up?" Lily asks, frowning over at the Slytherin table where Scorpius sits with Al.

"That makes no sense though," I argue. "It's not like he wants to spend time with me any more than I'd like to spend time with him."

"You said you're friends now though?"

"Well, yeah, but it's sort of an awkward kind of friendship," I try to explain.

"How's it awkward?"

Because he kissed me. And he smells really good. "Because we still don't like each other very much."

"I don't know." Lily seems unconvinced. "You were not so much at odds, so to speak, at the Burrow, what with Leo and all..."

I recount the fight we had late that night, in the kitchen for her, and her eyes widen. "He likes Jasmine?"

"I think so," I answer. We look over at the Slytherin table where Jasmine is sliding in beside Al.

"He doesn't seem like the kind to do that to Al, though," Lily frowns. "It just doesn't make sense."

I shrug. "I know, but that's Scorpius. That's the frustrating part."

Lily and I sneak a look at the Slytherin table again. Al has his arm around Jasmine and they look content. Scorpius isn't paying much attention to them, instead he's looking here. He and I both look down quickly, but Lily keeps watching him.

"Stop!" I hiss, slapping her hand.

"He's looking here," she tells me.

"I know. He might even like you!"

"That's silly," frowns Lily. Maybe it is. Even I have to admit that's unlikely.

Seriously though, if he goes out with any more of my cousins, I'll hex myself in the foot.

-TTIHM-

We're working on Human Transfiguration today, and I'm attempting to turn my hand scaly and green. This is the one time I'm actually struggling. So far all I've managed is to turn it green, which I suppose is a start. No one else has even gotten as far as me - well, except Malfoy, who somehow has skin-coloured flakes on his hand that sort of resemble scales. No one has gotten it by the end of class.

"We'll work on this more tomorrow," Chang tells us. "Rose, Scorpius, could I see you two for a minute?"

Dom pushes past me with not even a glance. Al sends a smile my way before leaving. I walk over to Chang's desk, accompanied by Malfoy. "Yes, professor?"

"You two have an added responsibility this year," she says. "As you know, we are inviting Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in December. Being Heads, you are the faces of Hogwarts. You must be there to greet the schools when they arrive, and perhaps plan an event. You are also responsible for planning several events interspersed throughout the month to promote healthy competition between the schools. And of course, at the end of the month is the ball, which you will be organizing - theme, music, and so on."

This sounds like an awful lot of work - and an awful lot of Scorpius. But it also sounds fun. (Not the Scorpius part.)

"Thank you, Professor," says Scorpius. "When should we have the details in?"

"I will need a rough outline by the end of the month," she informs us. "In October, we'll give you some time off to go and gather supplies. Of course, on the days of the events, all of the Prefects and some of the staff will be available to help you, should you need them."

"Right." I start mentally planning a few things already. "We'll get started as soon as possible."

As we walk out of the classroom, Malfoy murmurs to me, "Maybe we should go to the library tonight to look up traditional Hogwarts celebrations. You know, for the first night."

"That's not a bad idea, actually," I reply, mildly impressed.

"Of course it wasn't - it was mine," he boasts.

I remember then. "Oh, Merlin, I can't tonight - I have plans."

He quirks am eyebrow. "Plans?"

"With Ly." I promised him this morning we'd go for a walk tonight.

"Oh." His entire demeanor changes. "Well, if you'd rather spend time with him than - than work on our Head responsibilities, I suppose-"

"We have a month," I interrupt him. "We can work tomorrow, there's plenty of time!"

"Yes, I know, but it's clear where your priorities lie." He refuses to make eye contact.

I feel the urge to reach out and shake sense into him. "That's not! I- that's not my priority, but we need balance!" Why am I feeling the need to defend myself?

"Well, if that's how you see it." His gaze isn't on me but a foot above my head.

I grab his arm and shake it. "Look at me!" When he finally does, his stare is cold and his eyes are hard.

"What is wrong with you?!" I demand. "You change like a - like a weathervane, and sometimes you're so friendly, and at other times you're like - I don't even know! Hostile, and-"

"Well, why don't you go talk to Lily about it?" he responds in a scathing voice.

I let go of his arm and take a step back. "I- what?"

He just looks at me.

"We weren't talking about you," I lie. "At lunch, I mean, if that's what you meant. We weren't talking about you." Open mouth, insert foot, that's my philosophy apparently.

"Yeah?" He hoists his bag up on his shoulder. "You're a terrible liar, Rose."

I grit my teeth, silently imploring my nose to stay still. "We were talking about Lysander, if it matters so much to you."

Something flashes across his face - fury, maybe - but it returns to being cold. "Well, I'll be off, since you clearly want nothing to do with me." He turns to walk away.

"I don't!" I shout after him. "Not when you're like this, Malfoy!"

He turns back. "Oh, so it's Malfoy now, is it?"

"If you're being a prick, you can be sure I'll surname the hell out of you." I stare him down. His jaw clenches, and then he turns again and walks away.

-TTIHM-

I sit with Ly at dinner, at the Ravenclaw table for once, and Malfoy is over at the Slytherin table with Al, viciously stabbing into his steak. I determinedly ignore him and talk to Ly about his classes.

"I dunno how I'm going to deal with History of Magic," he groans.

I smile, patting his shoulder. "Don't worry. You know you have family members who have been through it all."

"But I can't ask Mum," he sighs. "Every time I mention it she sits and stares into space like she's lost."

"There's always my parents, who would be very happy to tell you," I offer.

"See, that's the other extreme," he jokes. "But thanks, I think I'll ask them at Christmas. Also, you can officially introduce me to your dad..." He looks slightly nervous at this.

"I'm not going to be there," I remind him. "I have to stay at school, remember?"

He looks surprised. "Oh, yeah. You'll be lonely, won't you?"

"Yeah, I think everyone else is leaving," I sigh.

"Everyone except Scorpius," he adds.

I roll my eyes. "Oh, yeah, Malfoy's going to be a great comfort."

"I thought you were calling him Scorpius now?"

I explain. "He's Scorpius when he's friendly, and Malfoy when he's a prick."

"What is he doing now?" Ly looks mildly amused at this.

"Oh, he wanted to work on the plans for welcoming the other schools - we have to organize that this year - but I said I was busy. So he made a few comments about my priorities." I shrug.

"Do I need to talk to him?" Ly asks seriously.

My jaw drops. "Are you kidding? The mood he's in, he'd eat you alive!"

"I can take him," says Ly, looking mildly offended.

"Typical boy," I sigh, planting one on his cheek. "But it's alright, I'll handle it."

"Typical Rose," he grins. "Always independent."

I roll my eyes, but can't help feeling pleased at the compliment.

-TTIHM-

Ly and I sit in the Heads' common room, going over the properties of magical water-plants. Malfoy is away somewhere, not sure exactly where.

"So, Gillyweed gives you..." I prompt him.

"It's grey and slimy," he recalls. "It gives you gills!"

"And?"

"Fins?" he guesses.

"Nope." I silently will him to guess flippers and webbed hands.

"I don't know," he sits back on the loveseat with a groan. "You're too distracting!"

"Me." Surely the world must be about to implode.

He leans closer and runs his thumb across my bottom lip. "As if I could study when you're here." He kisses me. Something warm grows in the pit of my stomach and I kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulls me onto his lap so that the angle is less awkward, my knees on either side of his waist. The warmth trembles and grows some more, and I run my hand down his arm, feeling the muscles there. He sighs and tightens his hold on me.

"Maybe we shouldn't be study partners," I breathe against his lips.

"Maybe not." His hands slide down to my hips as he keeps kissing me.

Suddenly there's a bang and we jump apart, Ly falling over the arm of the couch. I look behind me quickly to find that Malfoy's just inside the doorway, the door still quivering from where it slammed into the wall. He stares at me in shock. I stare back, slowly but surely turning the colour of a beet.

"This happens far too often," complains Ly, pulling himself up, then notices the tension in the room. "I mean..."

"I think you should leave, Scamander." Malfoy's voice is so controlled it's scary. He enunciates every word sharply and speaks in a monotone. If it wasn't for his eyes, you'd think he was one of those Muggle metal people - a robot.

Ly touches me on the shoulder lightly, whispering that he'll see me at breakfast, and leaves. I don't respond because frankly, the way Malfoy looks right now, I'm not sure if I'll be alive at breakfast tomorrow.

Once we're alone, it's eerily silent. I count to thirty in my head, then speak. "Er, so... How has your night been so far?" I cringe as soon as it leaves my mouth. It seems to unfreeze Malfoy, though - although I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

"Bloody brilliant," he all but spits. "I go to the Owlery, then walk back to the supposedly private common room to relax, and what do I find? Two people going at it like bunnies on my spot on the couch."

"You said we could bring people in here," I remind him.

"Al and Lily! Not some bloke who can't keep it in his pants long enough to-"

"Stop!" I shout, standing up. "You've no right to talk about him like that, you know him, what he's like, for Merlin's sake-"

"Maybe you're right," he interrupts me. "Maybe it's you who can't keep your legs shut, then."

I cross the room and slap him across the cheek as hard as I can. He barely moves, but there's a red handprint on the side of his face. I grab him by the shirt collar. "Don't you ever, ever say something like that again."

"Or you'll what?" he sneers, not bothering to shake himself free. "Slap me again?"

I let go of his shirt and step back. "I don't know why either of us ever thought we could be friends." I turn away quickly, pretending to gather up my books to hide a rogue tear that spills down my cheek. I don't know why this is hurting me. No matter what Malfoy said to me before we became 'friends' it never hurt. I don't know why it does now.

"I'm sorry," he whispers after a while. I start - he's right behind me, and I didn't expect him so close. I turn around slowly.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, raking a hand through his hair, leaving it messy and sticking up as usual. "I just- this is somewhere I don't need to worry about being scarred normally, and seeing that-"

"So you take it out on me. Naturally."

"No!" He sighs. "Well, yes, but..."

I stand in silence, biting my bottom lip, staring at the fire, at anywhere but him.

"Look," he begins. "I didn't really mean that. For the sake of Hogwarts, if nothing else, can you, you know, forgive me and pretend it didn't happen?"

"For the sake of Hogwarts?"

"Um." He seems stymied. "That was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it? I meant for my sake."

"Why?" I let myself sit down on the couch and he sits beside me.

"Well, I sort of owe you, for-"

"Don't," I cut him off. "Don't act differently because you think you owe me. You don't."

He raises an eyebrow. "Don't I?"

I sigh again. "You only wanted to make nice with me because of that, didn't you?"

"No!" He seems honest. "I did that because being Heads, it would be more convenient and, you know-" He breaks off, looking uncomfortable and shrugging.

"What?" He should be uncomfortable.

"You're not so bad," he admits. "And like I said, what I told you before- I'm a prick."

"You are," I agree.

He chuckles lightly at that. "So am I forgiven?"

"No."

He looks worried. "What?"

"You didn't really think it was going to be that easy, did you?" I scoff.

"I apologized," he defends himself. "That's huge coming from me. I never do. You should accept it and be proud."

"Well, I'm not." I get up from the couch.

"So... what do I have to do?" he asks.

"Drop your favourite quill off the roof."

His mouth drops open. "What?"

"Do it. Then I'll know you're really sorry."

He splutters. "That's- I- how does that even-"

I shrug. "I suppose you're Malfoy to me for the rest of our lives."

He scowls, then gets up and walks to his desk, muttering something about women. I grin to myself and walk up the stairs to the little balcony area. The moon is full tonight; its almost as bright as day. Eventually Malfoy joins me, holding an eagle-feather quill I see him use almost all the time.

He holds it over the edge, then looks at me. "You're not going to stop me?"

"Why would I?"

"Because- because I'm here, I'm ready to sacrifice my very favourite quill for you." He notices the determination in my face. "No? Alright, then." He heaves a sigh and drops it, and we lean over the railing, watching it flutter down until it's lost in the darkness and we can't see it anymore.

"Am I forgiven?"

I look up to see Malfoy - Scorpius, now - beside me with a serious face, but a twinkle in his eye.

"I suppose," I shrug.

"Good." He smiles and moves a little closer. He's like a heat lamp. The side of my body that's near him is warm and the other half has goosebumps.

I look away from him and up to the sky, sprinkles with stars like icing sugar. "It's beautiful up here, isn't it?"

"It is," he agrees.

After a few minutes I look back at him, and he makes eye contact. I notice my handprint, still on his cheek.

"Why are you blushing?" he asks in a low voice.

"You should, er, you should probably put something on that," I tell him, touching the spot with the handprint lightly, then almost sprinting down the stairs. I pick up my things and hightail it out of the common room before Malfoy's even downstairs.

It's only an hour or so past curfew, meaning there are still a couple people in the common room. Dom is there, but she marches upstairs as soon as she sees me. Lily is there too, and she makes her way over to talk to me. "Where did you and Ly go after supper?"

"We were in my common room, studying," I tell her.

"What were you studying?" She waggles her eyebrows. "Anatomy?"

"Uh, no, Herbology," I respond. She just looks at me, and I crack. "Alright, so it devolved into a snogging session pretty soon."

"Was there tongue?"

"Why the bloody hell do you want to know?"

She just looks at me again and I sigh. "Yes, there was a little bit."

"Malfoy wasn't there, obviously."

I blush. "Actually he walked in on it. He was pretty angry."

Lily frowns. "What happened?"

I sigh. "Well, he told Ly to leave, then sort of called me a slag, then apologized, saying he didn't want the common room desecrated." I don't tell her about the quill dropping or the balcony, as those would lead to questions.

"He apologized?!" Lily's eyes nearly pop out of her head.

"Yeah."

"You accepted?"

"Yeah. I don't really have a choice, I have to work with the bloke all year.

"True," she wrinkles her nose. "I hear you two have to plan the whole month of December for when the other schools arrive too."

I sigh. "Yeah, that'll be hard."

"I'm always there to help," she offers, smiling.

"Thanks, Lils, I'll keep that in mind." I hug her goodnight. "I think I'm going to bed now."

Upstairs, Dom's curtains are closed and no sound comes from behind them. I rummage in my trunk for a cotton shirt but find nothing.

I eventually feel something soft that could be my shirt and pull it out. But it's not, it's Malfoy's handkerchief.

Oh, Godric, I kept it the entire summer. And it still smells really good. Just like him, on the balcony tonight.

Merlin, I'm weird.

A/N: Ahhhh! 300 reviews! You guys are legends! Like honestly I didn't believe my little story would ever get this good of a response!

Okay, I'm mostly done with the exclamation marks, I think. By the way I'm sorry if I didn't respond to your review last chapter, my PMs are being weird. Anyway, I'm also updating my other story, Partners Against Crime, today. So check that out! And I'll try to update this again Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks again for the reviews! More where those came from s'il vous plait :D what do you think of Scorpius' reaction?

~Meg xx