I just wanna be myself
And I want you to love me for who I am
I just wanna be myself
And I want you to know, I am my hair

Disclaimer: y'know

Saturday, December 14

Scorpius and I are in the prefect meeting room, and we've brought breakfast up from the kitchens. We will brief the prefects on today's event (the snowball fight, of course) while they have breakfast. We'll be starting the event at 11, so in about an hour and a half.

The prefects all walk into the room, in a far better mood than Saturday last week - possibly because it isn't six in the morning. They pick up some food from the table on the side wall and settle down so Scorpius and I can go over our plan. I stand and walk to the front, so I can address them all better.

"This is how today is going to work. Most of you will be participating; however, Lucy, Carly, Ariana, Perceval, Aidan and Abel, you will be refereeing along with Scorpius and me. The rules are as follows, the schools have an hour to build their fort, and once that hour is up, they must make and throw snowballs to knock down the other schools' forts. If they get hit with a snowball by another team, they are pulled out of the game for five minutes. If they hit someone from another team with a snowball, they get a clear shot at that fort. No magic is allowed! This means if you see anyone with their wands out, you pull them out of the game for ten minutes. Seem clear?"

The students involved nod, then I turn to the rest of them. "Of course, I hope the rest of you will represent Hogwarts well. No cheating!"

Lily winks at me and I send a stern glare back at her as the prefects leave the room to head down to the grounds. I feel a tingling on the back of my neck and turn around to find Scorpius right behind me - like, right behind me right behind me - and hurry out of the room before he can say anything.

So, this week, Scorpius has been making me really uncomfortable. There was the whole situation on Monday, which was uncomfortable, but not really of his choosing. That I could deal with. But it's other things... Like on Wednesday, for example, when he touched my waist during Potions to move me over and lingered. Or on Thursday, when we were working up on the balcony and he told me I had an insect fly into my hair and spent a good five minutes looking for it. Or on Friday, when he sat so close beside me the length of our thighs were touching (this was on the moderately spacious sofa in our common room) and put his very large, very warm hand on my leg while looking over at my parchment, and left it there for quite a while. He probably would have kept it there longer, but I made my escape. I've told Lily, but she just stares at the space above my head with a thoughtful expression and won't tell me what she makes of it. I don't quite know what to make of it myself. The best theory I can come up with is that he's trying to get into my pants. But why would he do that when he could have basically any girl in the school? (In the spirit of complete honesty, I will admit he's sort of maybe extremely attractive, even if only in my own head.) Maybe he just wants a challenge? It doesn't make sense. And it's driving me crazy.

I push it to the back of my mind as we leave the castle. I have to focus during this, because there are probably several people who would like to hit me, most of them being my own family. We love each other very much. There is now quite a lot of snow on the ground, which is good for this event.

Students start coming out of the castle, all of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and fifth year and upwards students from Hogwarts. Two Slytherin prefects usher them to stand in front of us and be quiet. Scorpius and I magnify our voices so we can talk. I start. "Beauxbatons! Durmstrang! Hogwarts! Today, we are holding a snowball fight between schools!"

"Each school will be working as a team," continues Scorpius. "You will have an hour to build your fort. After that, you must make snowballs to throw and knock down the other teams' forts."

"You may leave your fort to gather snow or make a snowball," I say. "If you hit someone from another school with a snowball, they have to sit out for five minutes and you get a clear shot at their fort. Vice versa if the same happens to you."

"No magic is allowed!" calls Scorpius, to a collective groan from the students. "No direct contact either! If you are caught with a wand out, you will be sitting out for ten minutes. If you actually cast a spell or repeat the rule break we might make you leave the game and go inside!"

"Represent your schools well!" I finish with a smile. "Your hour to build begins now!"

There's a mad rush for the area we've marked out. Durmstrang immediately claims the spot at the top of the slight upward slope, Hogwarts takes a place in front of the trees and Beauxbatons is left with open ground.

I Transfigure myself a chair made of ice and sit down on it. The other referees are watching students to make sure they don't use magic. I'm free for an hour.

"That looks like a good idea," says Scorpius. He lengthens it into a bench. Damn him and his amazing spell casting skills.

He makes another complicated wand motion in the air and the bench hardens slightly. I look at him curiously.

"Permanent freezing charm," he explains. "Sort of like a permanent sticking charm. The bench won't melt unless I take off the charm now."

"How do you even know that?" I wonder.

He smiles. "Two years ago, when Al was over at my place for New Year's, he broke my bathtub."

"He broke your...?"

"Long story. Anyway, I really liked that bathtub, I had charmed it to be able to drive me around-" He breaks off at the weird look I'm giving him. "What?"

"Your bathtub drove you around."

"Do you know how incredibly wonderful it would be to be able to go everywhere while sitting in hot water?"

I shake my head. "Anyway, continue. How did Al break your bathtub?"

He winces. "It went rogue and ran over his foot. He swore at it and shoved a bookcase, which fell onto it."

I bite my lip. "It went rogue?"

"I also charmed it so no one but me could sit in it," he explains. "Al didn't believe me so he decided to test it out."

I roll my eyes. "Al."

"Yeah," he agrees. "So on New Year's Day, when he was sleeping in, I levitated him outside, dumped him into a snowbank and put a permanent freezing charm on it. I had done my research the night before."

I gape at him. "How did he get free?"

He smirks. "If it was up to me, he wouldn't have for a few hours. Mum heard him yelling and made me release him."

"You're evil."

He shrugs. "I'm a Slytherin. So is Al. But in his case you'd never know it."

I try to process his story again. "So you came to blows over a stupid bathtub."

"It wasn't stupid, it was cool," he insists.

"It was a bathtub."

"I was fourteen, alright?"

I laugh. "So did you charm another one after that?"

He grimaces. "No, my mum found out about the charm and got pretty upset.

I snicker. "You mean she didn't notice you driving around the place in a bathtub?"

He looks offended. "I'm not stupid, alright? I only drove around my wing of the mansion to pick up books that was left around or something."

His wing of the mansion.

"Not stupid, he says," I murmur.

"It was smart," he insists.

I burst out laughing.

"What?" he demands.

"I'm just trying to picture it!" I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye.

"Why did I tell you?" he asks, exasperated.

A fifth year Hogwarts girl walks up to us. "Um, hi Rose."

"Hi," I answer. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to join?" She holds out a box full of badges.

"Join what?"

"Why, the JPFC of course!" She seems shocked. "You didn't know?"

"What does that even stand for?" asks Scorpius.

The girl blushes more than I ever have. "H-h-h-hello s-s-sc-Scorpius."

"JPFC?" I ask impatiently. "What it stands for?"

"Right!" She turns reluctantly back to me. "It's the James Potter Fan Club, of course!"

Scorpius roars with laughter beside me, and the girl looks frightened. I dig my nails into his knee through his jeans.

"No thank you," I answer sweetly. "Now go on and build the fort!"

She sneaks another glance at Scorpius and runs off. He's still rolling around on the bench, laughing his arse off. I shake his arm. "Stop it!"

"Can't!" he chokes out. "I feel the need to join the JPFC now!"

"Join and die," I hiss.

He just keeps laughing. "I dunno, it seems pretty appealing!"

"Scorpius Malfoy, I will kill you myself. Slowly. Painfully."

This sends him into a whole new fit of laughter. I notice Lily looking at us from the field and mouth the word later to her.

He finally sits up, wiping his eyes. "Oh, that was good. Really brightened up my day."

"I'm glad."

"So, are you going to join?" He grins wickedly at me, raising one eyebrow.

"Considering they probably just squeal over shirtless pictures of James I think I'll pass."

He shrugs. "Suit yourself. I think they also plan to pin up posters all over the school."

My jaw drops. "What? Why do you say that?"

His grin widens. "Because yesterday I heard one of them say 'Look, I've got these posters for the JPFC, I plan to pin them up all over the school.' Just a hunch."

I gasp. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I didn't know what JPFC was, so it didn't seem important. Also, you seemed very eager to go to your dorm and get some sleep that night."

I look away and blush. That was because he'd put his hand on my leg.

Abel Stiff runs up to us. "There are ten minutes left!"

"Just ten minutes?" I exclaim. "That was quick!"

I stand up and shout the time out to the students, then sit back down and look over the forts.

Beauxbatons' fort is definitely the most aesthetically pleasing. It looks like a fairy castle. Hogwarts' fort, I'll admit, is somewhat raggedy. Must be a case of too many brewers spoiling the potion. Durmstrang's is incredible, their wall is double-layered and they obviously have plenty of experience with this.

Scorpius stands up. "You may throw snowballs in three...two...one..."

Flying snow fills the air, especially from the Durmstrang side. It appears they've been stockpiling snowballs behind their wall. I mentally commend them on this idea as Scorpius and I get off the bench and walk cautiously to watch the fight.

About twenty Hogwarts students are hit within minutes, since Durmstrang seems to be targeting them. I lead them up the hill to sit out for five minutes as several Durmstrang students take careful aim at the Hogwarts fort.

I notice Dom at the back of the pack. It's time to talk to her about whatever has been going on with her, I think, so I slow down and let the other students pass me.

"Hey, Dom," I begin cautiously.

"Rose," she says in a curt voice.

I rack my brains on what to say. "Er, did I do something to upset you over these past few months?"

"Of course not," she says. "How could you? Miss Perfect." She flounces off to stand on the steps and suddenly Josh is in front of me, leaning over me.

"Don't talk to Dom," he tells me threateningly.

"She's my cousin, and I'll talk to whoever I bloody want to."

"She doesn't want to talk to you, so leave her alone," he says warningly, his voice getting lower. "Or else."

"Is there a problem, Higgins?" Scorpius has materialized somehow at my side.

"As long as she keeps her mouth shut, there won't be." He jerks his head towards me, then walks off after Dom.

"What was that?" Scorpius asks me in a low voice.

I sigh. "I think there's something-"

A huge cheer goes up from the field as Hogwarts' fort falls. I run over, helping people out from under the falling blocks of snow. I notice that every snowball that hits Durmstrang's fort has only been adding to its thickness because of the way they've built it.

With Hogwarts out of the way, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons focus on each other. Again, Durmstrang has the upper hand; they're clearly much more skilled at making and throwing snowballs. The Hogwarts students stand off to the side, watching.

Andrei yells something, and about ten boys let their snowballs loose on one of the cute little towers Beauxbatons made. It goes down quickly, and Durmstrang quickly uses this technique on the rest of Beauxbatons' fort, which falls within seconds. This leaves the Durmstrang fort with barely a scratch. The boys shout and jump up and down, clearly glad they're missing lessons tomorrow.

-TTIHM-

I sit across from Lily at lunch, she's lamenting the fact that we have class tomorrow. According to her, "if we had just slammed Durmstrang to the ground we would have won!"

If I'm being honest, I'm kind of tuning Lily out. I'm mostly wondering about Dom. She is nestled into the crook of Josh's arm over at the Hufflepuff table, and he is whispering into her ear. He catches me looking at them and sends me a malicious look.

"You still haven't told me what's going on there," Scorpius murmurs to me.

He was watching me? Looking where I was looking?

He nudges me again and I look around. Lily and Jasmine are watching us from across the table. I frown at them and they look down at their food.

"I'll tell you later," I breathe, so only Scorpius can hear. "Tonight in the common room."

He nods and moves away from me slightly. I try to ignore how cold I suddenly feel and take a scorching spoonful of French onion soup.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Lily announces. "Rose, will you come with me?"

"No thanks, I'm eating." I hold up my spoonful of soup.

She marches around the table to my side, grabs my arm and yanks me up. "Rose. You're coming with me."

Scorpius watches with an amused expression as Lily drags me out of the hall. As soon as we're out of sight of those inside the hall, Lily turns on me. "Okay, what gives?"

"Your bladder, apparently," I shrug.

She rolls her eyes. "I didn't need to go to the bathroom. Now tell me what Scorpius was laughing about outside and what you were whispering about just now."

I grimace. "What he was laughing about... You know those badges that say JPFC?"

"Yeah, so?"

"This fifth year came up to us an asked if I want to join it, and I asked what it was, and you know what it stands for? The bloody James Potter Fan Club!"

Her mouth opens in horror. "No."

I nod vigorously. "Yes!"

"No. No! What the bloody hell? No!" She storms off upstairs, shouting colourful expletives the whole way. At least she forgot to ask what we were whispering about.

"Have you been teaching her those words?"

I jump and look behind me. Scorpius is leaning against the wall, looking very calm and unruffled, watching me with amusement in his eyes as usual.

"Well?" He raises an eyebrow and I recall that he asked me a question.

"I don't know most of those myself, actually," I admit.

"Why was she swearing a blue streak?"

"She found out about the, er, JPFC."

He starts laughing again. "Was she angry that they invited you and they didn't invite her, or...?"

"You better watch it," I hiss. "One of us is going to end up beheading you."

He laughs at me yet another time, but cuts himself off as Josh and Dom walk past us, Dom ignoring me and Josh sending a hostile look my way.

"You still haven't told me what that's about," he says.

"Right. Well-"

"Hey, you two, where's Lily?" Al pokes his head around the door. Scorpius grits his teeth.

"She went upstairs," I tell Al.

"Let's go, then," he says, pulling along both me and Scorpius, who looks extremely put out.

For some reason, Lily isn't in the Gryffindor common room or her dorm (Al sent me up to check), so he uses the Marauder's Map to see where she is.

"Why the hell is she in our common room?" demands Scorpius. I give him a weird look.

"I suppose we'll find out!" Al pulls us upstairs, and we enter the common room to find it littered with shreds of paper. Lily is in the middle of the mess, in front of a huge stack of papers, ripping each one of them into tiny pieces and scattering them around her.

"Lily! What the hell are you doing?!" I screech, running into the room an sweeping paper scraps off my desk.

"Tearing-" rip "-up-" rip "-these-" rip "-damned-" rip "-photos of my-" rip "stupid-" rip "-brother!" She finishes viciously tearing apart the one in her hands and flings the shreds in the air. Some land in my hair, some in my mouth, and I spit them out.

Scorpius throws his hands up in the air. "And naturally, you had to do that in here."

"Obviously," she says as if he's being thick. "I can't do it in my dorm, or the Gryffindor common room, can I? They'd rip me to shreds!"

"Forget them, I'm going to rip you to shreds," I growl. "You better clean this up!"

She lazily pulls out her wand and Vanishes most of the shreds of paper.

"They're not all gone," points out Scorpius. "There's one there- and there - and one here - and oh, look, a huge pile on my desk!"

"Relax, sweetheart," Lily says calmly. "All in good time."

"Now's a good time," I suggest, sending the pile on Scorpius' desk flying into the fire. He gives me a grateful look.

"You know what's not a good time? You." Lily flops down on the couch, pouting.

Al raises his hand. "Wait, I'm confused, what is this all about?"

"The JPFC." Lily crosses her arms.

"You mean those badges?" Al frowns.

"Apparently they stand for the James Potter Fan Club," Lily tells him.

Al's lip curls. "James has a fan club? I was not aware of that. Shit, that's creepy though, innit? He'll have to watch out now..."

"He's asking for it by taking off his clothes whenever a camera is within a hundred meters of him," grumbles Lily. "I'm out."

She leaves, and Al suddenly looks even more revolted. "Oh, Merlin! They asked me to join yesterday! Euhhhh!" He runs out of the door.

Scorpius sighs. "I guess that leaves us to clean up."

I send whatever pieces of paper I can see into the fire. He finds a whole pile under the couch and Vanishes them. I flop down on the couch irritably. "I'm going to murder Lily."

"I'll hold her down, and you cast the spell," he suggests, sitting beside me. "Anyway, you still haven't told me what Higgins was so pissy about."

"Oh yeah, I haven't," i realize. "Someone always interrupted. Well, anyway, you notice Dom's been a bit off lately?"

He nods, leaning closer to me.

"I tried to talk to her today," I continue. "When she got hit with a snowball and I had to lead her off. She was, well, really short with me, and - what are you doing?"

He's fiddling with my hair and it is making me very nervous.

"You still have those stupid scraps of paper that Lily tore up stuck in here," he says. "Anyway, continue."

"Um. Alright." Ten Galleons I'm blushing. I try to pick up my train of thought. "So... Dom was sort of rude, and Josh came up to me after. And he said that I shouldn't talk to Dom."

"What did Dom say to you?" He has this weird edge to his voice. Also, he's moved closer. One of his hands is frozen in my hair, his fingers resting on the side of my neck.

I really don't want to relay the sarcastic Miss Perfect comment, because it sort of stings. "I don't remember. It wasn't anything important. Anyway, I told Josh I'd talk to whoever I bloody wanted-"

"Of course you did," he interrupts, rolling his eyes.

I frown at him. "If you're going to keep interrupting me, I won't tell you at all."

"Right. Sorry." He pretends to silence himself with his wand.

"So he told me Dom didn't want to talk to me, and then you showed up." I shrug, and my shoulder brushes his chest. Too close, he's much too close. And still running his hands through my hair, which I'll admit maybe feels sort of nice. I lean into it slightly.

"Something is going on with them." I can feel his breath on my neck and stirring locks of my hair.

"I know," I agree. "I just don't know what. Isn't all of the paper out of my hair by now?"

I reach up to the back of my head to feel around, and my hand meets his. He pulls out one more piece, shows it to me, and Vanishes it. "Now it is."

"I'm worried about Dom," I tell him.

He frowns slightly, moving back just enough that I can see his face. "Why?"

"I don't think Josh has the most honorable intentions," I fret.

He smiles sardonically. "Well, he's not a Slytherin, just a Puff, so I wouldn't be too worried."

"You know, for someone who dislikes those stereotypes, you use them an awful lot," I observe.

"What?"

I look carefully at him. "You know. The whole 'we are not our parents' thing. The
preconceived idea that all Slytherins and only Slytherins are evil. And that all Hufflepuffs are nice, or that all Ravenclaws are smart, or that all Gryffindors are brave."

He looks vaguely shell shocked.

"I mean, you're not evil, are you?" I add. Then I raise my eyebrows. "I mean, unless there's a murder you're not telling me about."

He laughs then. "No, no murders. Not yet, anyway."

"Are you planning something?"

"Not unless Lily comes in here again." He runs his hand through my hair once more, scraping his nails lightly against my scalp, and it tingles all the way down to my toes.

"Did you see more paper in my hair?" I ask.

"No."

What?!

He gets up from the couch and heads towards the door. "I'm going downstairs for tea."

He disappears out of the door, and I proceed to follow the same routine I always do when Scorpius does something like this: I bring my knees up to my chest, wrap my arms around them, and rock back and forth, internally screaming, "OhmyGodric! OhmyGodric! OhmyGodric!"

-TTIHM-

I sit beside Lily at tea. Scorpius is on her other side - I made sure not to sit beside him. Sometimes I wish I wasn't such an awkward person.

"I'm going to go study," Jasmine announces, with a look at Al that was meant to be subtle. She then races off. Lily and I share a meaningful glance, when, five minutes later, Al announces that he needs to go coordinate his outfit for the ball before running off as well.

"Could they possibly be any more obvious?" Lily murmurs to me.

"It would be hard," I agree.

A girl walks up to us, shaking a cardboard box with coins inside. "Could you please donate some change?"

"Sure," says Lily, pulling out her purse. "What is this for?"

"We're trying to get charmed badges for our members," explains the girl. "Would you perhaps like to join the JPFC?"

Lily tosses her purse inside her bag, gets up, and storms out of the hall without a word.

"It's a no from her," I tell the girl deprecatingly.

"Will you two donate, then?"

Us two?

Oh, right, now it's just me and Scorpius at the table. Great.

"I don't think so," Scorpius tells the girl. She turns to me, and I shake my head. Looking disappointed, she walks off.

"They never let up, do they?" Scorpius says to me.

Oh, sure. Be all intense one minute and casual the next. It doesn't bother me. Because I need more confusion in my life right now.

"Nope, they never do." I've gotten pretty good at concealing my mental rants by now.

"I still don't understand why you won't join." His smirk becomes more pronounced.

"Well, then you're abnormally stupid to the point of mental retardation and you should seriously consider therapy."

He ignores my smart arse comment and casually slings an arm around me (you know, as one does) and waves the other hand in front of us as if he's revealing something. "Think of how far you could go! First cousin of the object of their affections. Why, you could be club president!"

I laugh at his teasing, then stop abruptly as I notice Lysander watching me from two tables over. I slide out from under Scorpius' arm. He looks at me curiously, following my gaze, then the smile drops from his face and he moves away slightly.

Why am I doing this? What is wrong with me? Ly broke up with me because I was hanging around Scorpius too much, and I haven't learned. In fact, it's not even purely innocent any more (I think, I can't be sure, what with all the mixed messages) so if anything, I'm proving him right!

A paper airplane suddenly swoops down to rest between Scorpius and me. We both reach for it and our hands touch. I pull mine back quickly, but he doesn't seem to care and unfolds it.

"Flitwick wants to see us," he says, scanning the paper. "Within the next ten minutes."

"All right, let's go now." I swing my legs over the bench and push myself up, walking out of the hall with Scorpius following close behind me.

-TTIHM-

We sit across from Flitwick, who is on top of his usual pile of cushions. Behind him, Albus Dumbledore smiles at me from his portrait.

"This is about the next Hogsmeade day you have planned," squeaks Flitwick. "Students will have morning classes and lunch as usual. After lunch, they may leave for Hogsmeade and must be back in time for dinner too."

"That's straightforward enough," Scorpius says.

"One more thing," says Flitwick. "I'd like you to show around the other Heads for an hour or two, please. After that you may go your own ways."

I nod. "Shouldn't be a problem. We should also probably distribute supplies for students to make their masks tomorrow?"

"That would be excellent," says Flitwick. "I will see you two later!"

We walk down the stairs from Flitwick's office and bump into two of the prefects.

"Could you replicate those supplies for the masks tomorrow?" I ask. "We'll have students come by the room and pick them up after dinner."

They agree and go up to the prefects' meeting room to start. Scorpius and I continue up to our common room.

"Beautiful as ever, fair maiden," Sir Cadogan says to me.

I grit my teeth. "Shut up. Leo."

He swings open with a roll of his eyes and I step through the doorway. I sit on the couch with Scorpius beside me as usual, but I make sure to put more space between us this time.

"Any ideas where you want to take the other Heads?" he asks, flicking his wand at the fire so it rises a little.

"The Three Broomsticks, obviously," I think out loud. "And Honeydukes."

"Right." Scorpius turns up the fire a bit more. "And I think we should take them to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes as well."

I'm beginning to feel hot, so I loosen the collar of my robes and take off my shoes and socks. "Definitely! Either Fred or Uncle George will be there, and we'll ask for the tour."

"Then there's Scrivenshafts, Tomes and Scrolls, and so on," Scorpius adds, turning up the fire again.

"We can do those at the end if there's time left over." I pull off my tie. "Aren't you feeling hot?"

"I was quite cold, actually," he says, flicking his wand at the fire yet again. "But yes, I think that's a good plan."

I can't really take off any more clothes, but it's just so hot in here! "I'm going up to the balcony for a bit."

I head upstairs and immediately feel better. The cold winter air feels nice on my flushed cheeks. There are just a few snowflakes swirling lazily around me, and the view from up here is wonderful, the setting sun glinting off the lake and the snow-covered grounds. I stand there for a while, staring out at the landscape in front of me, as the sky slowly turns murky and dark and the snow begins falling more thickly. I sort of wish I had brought my robes up here now.

I hear footsteps behind me and suppress a sigh - of course. Scorpius walks up behind me and drapes my robes over my shoulders. "Here, I thought you might be cold."

"A little," I admit, wrapping them tighter around me. "Thanks."

He leans on the railing beside me. "You've got snow in your hair."

"So do you." I try to ignore the one snowflake that's settled on the corner of his mouth and is slowly melting.

He raises his hand and lightly brushes snowflakes off my eyelashes. My eyes flutter closed. Something soft touches my forehead and then it's gone. I open my eyes and find him staring out at the grounds as if nothing happened and bite back a scream of frustration. How am I ever supposed to get any answers?

"Rose! Scorpius!" Lily's voice drifts up from the common room. I turn to go down, brushing the snow out of my hair. "Coming."

I quickly brush snow out of Scorpius' hair too, so that Lily won't know where the staircase leads, before we walk down. She looks at us suspiciously. "Never noticed that staircase in the corner. Where does it go?"

Before either one of us can say anything, she goes up the staircase. Scorpius sighs, but before he can say anything, Lily comes back down. "Wow. A cupboard full of school supplies. Exciting."

Scorpius and I share a look before climbing up. The balcony isn't there anymore. Now it is a closet full of quills, parchment, ink, old textbooks and various Potions supplies.

"We were seeing if we have everything to brew our Polyjuice potion later on," Scorpius tells her. What a Slytherin. I sort of wish I could lie like that.

Lily nods. "Makes sense. But it's almost dinner time! Aren't you coming down?"

"Of course!"

-TTIHM-

Lily and Jasmine decide we need a "girls' dinner," so Al and Scorpius good-naturedly head over to the Slytherin table.

"Why are you dating Al, anyway?" Lily asks Jasmine, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"He's really sweet," says Jasmine. "And he makes me laugh."

"This could just be because I'm his sister, but I think he's sort of an idiot," Lily tells us.

"You're not alone, I think so too," I agree.

"Well, you're almost his sister," Jasmine points out. "You two are basically siblings, the way you relate."

"You know who you're not siblings with, though," Lily adds in a voice that spells danger. "Scoooor-piuuuus!"

She sings his name, drawing it out on purpose to make me uncomfortable.

"Obviously, we share no ancestry," I scoff, though I know full well what she meant.

"I am Lily Potter," she says, giving me the look. "Don't bullshit me."

"And I'm Rose Weasley," I retort. "Don't pester me."

"So you don't like him," Jasmine surmises.

"Of course not! Don't be ridiculous!"

Lily gasps. "Oh my Godric you do like him!"

I growl. "No, I don't."

"She totally does," Jasmine agrees with Lily.

"I totally do not."

"Do so!" Lily grins.

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"I'm shocked by the power of your collective wit," says Jasmine drily. "But really, Rose, tell us!"

"Fine!" I throw up my hands in defeat. "I'd be lying if I said he wasn't fit, all right, but we are coworkers. Colleagues. Friends. That is all."

"When you say friends..." Lily looks thoughtful.

"I mean friends with all clothes on."

"And when you say he's fit..."

"Like I said, clothes on."

Lily looks disappointed. "You're so boring."

"Well, excuuuse me for being a virgin," I grouse. "Besides, you're quite the virgin yourself."

"Yes, but I'm fifteen!" she points out. "You're almost seventeen!"

"Wait a second." I swivel and face Jasmine. "What about you?"

She just blushes.

"Ewwww," groans Lily. "I do not need to know about you and my brother."

"Well then neither of you should ask," suggests Jasmine flippantly.

"Fine. Back to Rose." Lily turns to me. "Scorpius?"

"What about him?" I casually spear a sausage.

"You know... He's been acting..." Lily trails off suggestively. Jasmine leans in, suddenly very interested.

"Um, I don't know." I blush. "I just want to know what he means by it."

"Even if it is a one off, there's worse people," Lily winks. "Alexandra Delworth's been telling people he's a good lay."

"Then again, do I want to live by her standards?"

"What if what Scorpius wants isn't a one off?"

I stare at Jasmine in shock, then burst out into unrestrained and hysterical laughter.

"That's a good one," I chuckle as I finally calm down. "I'll share that one with my next boyfriend - who will not be Scorpius."

Jasmine looks confused. "Why wouldn't you think he wants something more?"

"You know what he's like," I tell her. "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am."

Her expression turns thoughtful. "If he did, hypothetically, want something more, how would you react?"

"She'd probably go mad," says Lily cheerfully.

"I wouldn't go mad," I scoff. "At that point I would already be mad - hallucinating."

Jasmine looks frustrated. "Okay, what's your honest opinion on him?"

I consider this. "He's very intelligent. And can be very sweet when he wants to. But he's also moody, frustrating and sort of a git and-"

I stop when I notice Lily frantically making cut! motions at me across the table.

"Who's a git?" comes a deep, familiar voice from behind me.

"Al," I say at the same time that Lily says, "James!" and Jasmine says, "Er, Lysander?"

"Which one is it?" asks Scorpius. He's behind me so I can't see his face but I can practically feel him smirking.

"You see," begins Lily, "we were saying that James is a git for burdening us with all his fans-"

"And Lysander's a git for breaking up with Rose-" adds Jasmine.

"And Al's a git because, well," I shrug.

"You take that back!" Al slides in beside Jasmine as Scorpius does the same beside me. Lily kicks me under the table. Eyes watering in pain, I lose track of the conversation for a while.

"So that's a good idea, then," Lily is saying to Scorpius. "After you and Rose finish showing the Heads around Hogsmeade, come meet us in the Three Broomsticks."

"Will do," Scorpius says. "What are we doing after?"

Jasmine shrugs. "Play it by ear I suppose."

"You in?" Scorpius asks me. His shoulder presses against mine.

"Yeah, sure," I respond, feeling sort of dazed, but not dazed enough to avoid noticing Lily's narrowed eyes.

"Great," says Jasmine. "See you tomorrow then!"

She and Al walk off together. Lily catches my eye and pretends to retch. I laugh.

"What?" Scorpius asks.

"They don't have cherries, if you know what I mean," Lily tells him.

"Ew," I mumble at this disgustingly ineffective euphemism.

"Al's not a virgin?" Scorpius sounds incredibly surprised.

"Not any more," snorts Lily.

I stand up. "Well, this has been lovely, but I have to go stick my head in the fire. Bye!"

I run upstairs to the common room before Lily can say anything else disgusting about Al and Jasmine. Ugh.

Scorpius walks in, drops his bag in the rubbish bin, picks up a lamp and turns to walk out without noticing me.

"Someone's scattered today," I snicker.

He looks at his lamp. "Why the hell am I carrying this?"

"You picked it up!" I chuckle.

He sets it down. "Sorry. My mind is blown."

"Because Al isn't a virgin?" I settle down on the love seat.

"Yeah," he frowns, sitting beside me. "Not to mention I owe him five Galleons. We had this bet."

"What, that he would still have his v-plates when he left Hogwarts?"

"No, that I'd lose mine before his," he grumbles.

I leap off the couch and trip over the table. "You're a virgin?"

"Whoops," he mutters.

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Now stop, I have a reputation to uphold."

I gape. "Really."

He sighs. "Shut up. You're one to talk."

"No, you're lying," I decide.

"Okay." The corners of his mouth twitch up.

"Really?" I ask again in disbelief. "But Alexandra's saying..."

"Saying what, exactly?"

"That you're a good lay," I whisper, because this topic is taboo. "She's lying though, I suppose. You're not such a good lay, then." I smirk at him.

He smirks right back. "Just because I am a virgin does not mean I am not good at other things."

"I do not need to visualize you and Alexandra doing other things." Really. It makes me sick. "You've scarred me. I'm going to bed."

"You'll think of me tonight!" he calls cheerfully after me.

"Yeah, I'll be having a nightmare!" I yell back and just hear his laugh before the door shuts.

Hmmm. Scorpius is a virgin. Interesting.

A/N: I'm so happy you found the last chapter funny :D Carriebear and I spent an entire night just thinking up boner jokes and giggling. Sooo I hope you like this one too! We're really starting to see the change in Rose and Scorp's relationship by now.

I have a fanfiction recommendation: Ignite, by Slide. Seriously, like, the best Rose/Scorp I have read yet. Go read.

So school is still busy and getting busier, unfortunately I don't know how much longer the update-every-week thing will last L but I'll try my best. You know what motivates me to write? Reviews….

~Meg xx