A/N: More ScoRose! ScoRose for everyone! Enjoy! Also, I just went to the cinema to rewatch OotP and HBP. I'm just constantly blown away! The music is so amazing too...
Title: Of Potions and Other Such Competitions
Summary: Time to brew a particularly complicated truth potion. Rose and Scorpius are competing against each other, once again. Scorpius will probably win again, but Rose has a secret weapon she plans on using...
Word count: 2,332
Genres: Romance, Humour
Characters: Rose W., Scorpius M.
Warnings: None!
It was one of those Thursday afternoons in the middle of February, the middle of the week, the middle of the year. That time when it's still so cold outside but has lost the special Christmas feeling of December and January. Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley were currently sat at their usual table in the Potions Lab Annexe 2 (or Play2 as it was usually called), each wrapped in a scarf from their respective Hogwarts houses and a heavy coat. Potions, it would seem, was a subject one had to be particularly resistant to cold to be able to take. Another disadvantage of the Dungeon located labs was that their was barely any light, seeing as it was already 5PM. Clearly these did not seem to be optimal conditions for work, but the two didn't mind as the teacher started to present the subject of the day.
"So, as you all know, we have been spending the last couple of weeks perfecting your chopping skills. And I thought today we might use this skill you should ow have to use," Professor Sombrenuit explained as she started handing out some copies of the instructions for the Potion.
Professor Slughorn, after many duteous years of service at Hogwarts had finally really retired (mainly because the Healer practically forced him out of the job) and his replacement, Professor Sombrenuit, was a young 31-year-old woman, graduated from Beauxbatons. She was extremely strict and demanding, as was known to be the Professor Hogwarts of Potions, only younger and blonder. The cheerful smile and blonde hair might have written her off as the typical 'kind teacher' but that opinion changed the moment you read the first instruction of the potion you were brewing that day. And this was especially true for the only twelve 7th year students who had chosen to take Advanced Potions (you read that right, Advanced Potions. Who in their right mind would want to take three extra hours on top of the 4 NEWT-level ones of Potions in a single week. Some students, mainly Albus, were baffled).
"What do you think the potion's going to be?" Rose whispered to Scorpius as the teacher finished her round of distribution.
"I don't know," he said, looking down at the instruction on the paper, "Doesn't look easy, but I'm sure I'll beat you at it. Again."
Rose elbowed him in the ribs, pretending to ignore his smirk at her reaction before turning back to whatever Professor Sombrenuit was saying.
Scorpius and Rose's relationship had started here in Potions, during that first year when Scorpius beat her at the very first potion they had to make. Rose had been infuriated and from there had begun their infamous school rivalry, always striving to out-best the other.
Rose was better at him in DADA, Runes and Charms, and Scorpius beat her every time in Transfiguration, Astronomy, and go course his favourite subject, Potions. It was clear he was a natural, gifted from the day he was born, but it didn't stop Rose from excelling too, and trying to beat him every time. She still remembered fondly that day in Third year she had finally finished her potion before him, and Professor Slughorn, still teaching at the time, declared it the best potion of the class.
Eventually, the rivalry evolved as they started to grow up, turning to playful banter between the two, study sessions where they spent more time talking that studying the Rose finally bluntly asking him out in a totally out-of-the-blue moment. After all, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. And from then on, they had had a steady, happy relationship. Their fathers had ground their teeth for the first months, but Rose and Scorpius had long since stopped listening to their wasting dentures.
"Today," the professor explained, "you will be brewing Veritaserum."
Their was a collective gasp from the class. Veritaserum? Notoriously hard to brew, and what's more, took over a month to do so? Also, not to mention extremely controlled by the Ministry, and special licences had to be issued for people to be allowed to brew it? Had Professor Sombrenuit forgotten about all of these?
She gave a small chuckle at their horrified faces. "Well, we won't exactly be brewing Veritaserum, but a simplified version of it, that still requires extremely precisely prepared ingredients, and should still act as a powerful truth potion."
Rose expelled a breath she had been holding in, and shot a look at Scorpius who was eagerly devouring the list of ingredients before the, trying to spot the difficulties ahead. Like she had said, a natural.
"But, you will be asked to look at the ingredients and propose a modified, more powerful version of this potion, something that might resemble Veritaserum for next week." A couple of groans from the class. Rose whole-heartedly agreed. Potions modification and improvement was definitely not her favourite part of the class. "Don't groan," she chided, "You shouldn't have taken Advanced Potion if you didn't want all the extra homework. And if I learned that someone managed to get their hands on a copy of the instructions for Veritaserum to do their homework, their will be consequences." The warning was sufficient. "Well, off you go the. You have the next two hours to complete it, whoever finishes first gets to take their vial home." The class groaned again and glared at Scorpius, knowing he would win yet again.
"This should be fun," Scorpius told her as they went over to the Ingredients cabinet.
"For you it should be," Rose complained, "You always win these, you pretty much have your own mini potions-collection in your Dorm."
"Rather wonderful it is too," Scorpius said and Rose elbowed him. He shot her a smile. "Not my fault I'm so good at it."
"I was so sure I was finally going to best you last week," she told him as she grabbed for the forest dew in a high shelf.
She was too small, but Scorpius handed it down to her instead. "Hey, I know!" she suddenly exclaimed while taking the bottle from him, "How about we make this a competition?"
Scorpius rolled his. "Rose, this already is a competition-"
"Well, one just between you and me."
"-and even when it isn't we already compete," Scorpius finished. "Besides, we both know that you winning this is about as likely as me marrying a ghoul. You should be afraid."
Rose opened her mouth, as if about to retort, but was interrupted by the Professor who was telling the pair of them to get a move on, and that the potion wasn't going to brew itself.
It was on.
Both Rose and Scorpius hurried back to their table and started preparing their ingredients in a mad frantic. So far, it was clear Scorpius was going to win. Where Rose had to carefully position her knife to perfectly chop her ingredients and took at least a minute per ingredient, Scorpius did it without a second glance in barely seconds, and their pieces were still identical.
Scorpius shot her an arrogant smirk as he watched her struggle to perfectly cut the plant under her knife.
"Not doing so well, are we, Weasley?" he taunted. He always called her by her family when he was taunting her.
"Ugh, you're impossible, Malfoy," she groaned as the acorn slipped from underneath her knife again.
Professor Sombrenuit wandered around the class, commenting on her students work. As usual, she just passed over Scorpius' cauldron, with barely a comment. She did however, pause a moment to compliment Rose on her chopping, and Rose glowed with pride. But her happiness was quickly diminished when she remembered she still had a potion to complete, and Scorpius' potion was far more advanced than hers.
Rose desperately wanted to beat him. The satisfaction about being able to gloat would last for weeks. It didn't help that she also knew his essay in Charms was better than hers, she had seen it. And since it was supposed to be one of those subjects where she best him at everything, she had to have the "I beat you at potions" retort when Professor Flitwick gave her boyfriend a better grade than her.
Scorpius was idly stirring his potion, barely counting the number of stirs he was doing, (another thing that infuriated Rose; she, on the other hand, had to count precisely to get the number correct). He raised his eye-brows in amusement when she shrieked because she had almost gone one stir too many.
"Guess I'm just going to have to beat you again," he told her.
Rose ignored him instead of retorting. Let him think she was feeble.
Though she had been struggling, Rose still had a secret weapon. She had purposely let Scorpius see her struggle with the potion, because he would not be expecting what was going to happen next. See, Rose had spent the whole holidays looking up heat runes, and had finally come up with the perfect one to agreement the bottom of her cauldron.
After her research, she had carefully engraved the bottom of her cauldron with a special modified rune (that she had still checked with her professor, she wasn't just going to engrave some potentially dangerous modified rune to the bottom of her cauldron without any precautions!) just last weekend. It was a rune that would ensure the temperature of her cauldron was always perfect.
And this was exactly what was going to help her beat Scorpius. Because although he was a natural at Potions, there was just one thing that would mess up his Potion, if it ever did: temperature. Though already better than your average student, his sense of heat was always slightly off and Rose knew from experience he would often finish his potions quicker if he didn't spend his time trying to rectify the fire under his cauldron.
Soon enough, Rose had caught up on Scorpius, and their Potions were now identical shades of cyan blue.
"How did you catch up so quickly?" Scorpius asked her as she stirred, pretending not to understand.
"Oh, I don't know," she said lightly, "Are you sure your potion is hot enough?"
Scorpius threw her a confused look and quickly turned back to the fire under his potion. She watched him blanch as he realised it was too cold. Rose secretly laughed to herself. The heat from her own cauldron was extreme, and the scarf and coat from the beginning of the lesson had long ago been discarded.
The two hours were almost over. Rose finished her final stirs, her cauldron temperature perfectly at 43° C as she had charmed it to be, and that the rune helped control. She then proceeded to bottle it up and gave it to the Professor just as she was calling: "You're out of time!"
"Here you are, Professor," Rose said sweetly, looking directly at Scorpius. He gave her a bewildered look, as it he couldn't possibly comprehend how it had been possible that she had beaten him. True, both of their potions were perfect, cyan blue with an extra-sparkle that defined it as a truth potion.
"Thank you, Rose." The professor seem surprised too, but she didn't comment further as she quickly graded it before handing her the vial back.
Rose sauntered back to her seat, while Scorpius continued to give her such a look of surprise as he bottled his own Potion.
"Don't look at me like that!" Rose told him with a little laugh.
"I just don't understand how you could have possibly beaten me!" he said.
"Hard to swallow that I beat you at one of the hardest potions of the year, is it?" Rose taunted, mimicking his tone from earlier in the lesson.
Scorpius frowned.
"I guess me winning this competition was as likely as you marrying a ghoul so when will I be receiving an invitation to your nuptials?" she asked him cheekily as they made their way over to the sinks to wash their cauldrons.
"Rose," Scorpius growled, but she just laughed it off. Oh, how fun it was to beat him at Potions!
"Seven years of bad luck if you don't!" Rose taunted. There was now a look of pure rage on his face, as though he wanted to punch something. Funny how a Slytherin could not keep his cool at times.
Professor Sombrenuit was just passing by them to collect the others potions, when she stopped to peer down Rose's cauldron. Rose made no effort to hide it. After all, their wasn't anything illegal about having a couple of runes at the bottom of one's cauldron?
"Oh, a heat rune. Very clever, Miss Weasley," she simply commented before going on her way.
"Did she just say 'heat rune'?" Scorpius asked.
"Hmm? What?"
"Rose, let me see your cauldron," he ordered.
"I didn't hear the magic word," Rose teased but she let Scorpius take it off her anyway. Oh, this was tuning out to be even better than what she had planned.
"You have a heat rune at the bottom of your cauldron!" Scorpius exclaimed. "You cheated!"
Rose shook her head, "We never set the rules for this little competition. No one ever said heat runes weren't allowed."
"You cheated!" Scorpius repeated, as if it explained everything, the previous look of rage on his face was back. "That is so ridiculously Slytherin of you!"
"And you loosing your cool is very Gryffindor, if I might say."
"You cheated."
"If you insist on it," said Rose, "But Professor Sombrenuit still let me keep my truth potion." She dangled the little vial in front of him, sparkling cyan.
"Oh curse you, Rose Weasley, for cheating!" Scorpius exclaimed, still fuming. Rose was more than amused. "I never expected you to be so annoying!"
"Yes, well, I never expected you to be so nice," Rose laughed.
"This is so sneaky of you!"
"But you still love me, right?"
"Maybe I will go see that ghoul after all!"
FOR ILVERMORNY SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
House: Wampus
October Assignment: Potions #3: Write about someone cheating in a competition.
Bonus prompts: 2) [object] cauldron, 3) [action] stirring, 10) [action] chopping
FOR HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
House: Ravenclaw
Assignment #6: Beauty Therapy Task #1 Write about someone who is a natural at something
Pop figures: Movies 247) Cher – Romance
Talent Show: 76) Singing 4) Cauldron
Autumn Funfair:
Monster Petting Zoo: Pet Gary the Ghoul: Cyan
Pirate Ships: Scorpius/Rose 2,332 words
Halloween Sing-a-long: 9) "You're out of time."
Kiss, Marry, Kill: Marry Scorpius 4) "I never expected you to be so nice."
Murder Mystery: Weapon 8) Cauldron
Till death do us part: 12) A place lacking light
Fortune Telling: Life line 6) Brewing a potion
Trick or Treating: House Black 10) Cursing someone
Apple bobbing: Apple 8 – Veritaserum
Costume Party: Joker 2) Harley Quinn – Rage
Leaf picking: Yellow 6) "You're impossible"
Writing club:
Scamander's case: 21) "You should be afraid."
Marvel Appreciation: 15) Gamora 3) Rage
Lyric Alley: 6) Seven years of bad luck
Autumn Seasonal:
Chemistry Week 44) Rage