Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.

AN: I'm using a different Rose and Scorpius to my previous entries and the pairing is Rose/Scorpius.

AN2: Trigger warnings for bullying.

AN3: Okay, this was going to be another cute and fluffy pairing fic, but...well one of my old fics decided to step in and make me pay attention to this instead.

"Malfoy!"

Scorpius turned, his heart sinking as he looked at the owner of the voice. He considered running away for a moment, before deciding that he really wasn't likely to get away. The corridor was sadly devoid of life and there was no way that he could escape the bushy-haired nightmare that was fast approaching. He gripped his wand tightly. If he hexed her, she would definitely tell her cousins about it and...well it would not end well, of that he was sure. Or it would at least end worse than it already was.

"What are you up to Malfoy?" she hissed and Scorpius frowned.

"What-"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Rose snapped angrily. "You're a Malfoy! You're up to something!"

Scorpius just stared. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Up to something? What?

"I...I'm just on my way to class!" he said and Rose glared at him.

"Fine!" she growled and Scorpius recoiled slightly. He could feel the menace radiating off of her and it scared him slightly. She pulled out her wand. "If you're not going to tell me, then I'm just going to have to hex it out of you."

Scorpius tried reaching for his wand, but it was already too late.

"Flipendo!" Rose yelled, knocking Scorpius back hard.

"I don't know!" Scorpius practically shouted as tears threatened to run down his face. "I don't know! What are you talking about!?"

"Don't lie to me!" Rose growled. "You've been seen talking to a muggle born girl and everyone knows that Malfoy's don't associate with them unless they're up to something! So what is it? Are you forcing her to do your homework? Using her to do all your dirty work in whatever scheme that you've got going?"

"Are you talking about Liberty Smith?" he asked tenatively. Rose glared at him and he almost laughed at the irony. He was the one helping Liberty with HER homework, not the other way around. Still, he doubted that Rose would believe that and so he said nothing.

"You want to play dumb? Yes, I'm talking about her." She grabbed him by his robes and pulled Scorpius closer. "You don't fool me Malfoy. We're watching you."

She threw him to the ground and stormed off, clearly not wanting to be late to her next class. Scorpius sat there for a few minutes, his whole body shaking. He was going to be late to class, but he just couldn't bring himself to stand up. At least, not yet. He needed time to recover. Or at least, time to stop shaking.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Hi there...Liberty, isn't it?"

Liberty looked up to see Rose giving her a friendly smile.

"Yes, I'm Liberty," she said, feeling slightly puzzled by the attention. Although Rose was well liked at Hogwarts and had a reputation for being helpful, she had never even noticed Liberty before. "I'm sorry, but..."

"I just wanted to let you know that...well if you're worried about what Scorpius might do to yo-"

"Oh Scorpius!" Liberty said brightly. "He's a really nice person. He's been helping me to understand Transfiguration!" Rose frowned as Liberty continued. "He's really smart and a really nice boy!" She paused and frowned slightly. "I hope that he's okay. He looked really ill when he left."

Rose suppressed the urge to smirk. Right now, Scorpius was probably puking his guts out. The stuff that Fred had slipped into Scorpius's food was, in his words, particularly potent. He wouldn't be back until dinner was over, he assured her. Plenty of time for Rose to find out what kind of hold Malfoy had over the dark-skinned muggle born girl.

"Liberty..." Rose paused for a moment. "You don't have to lie for him. Everyone knows what Malfoy's are like. They don't ever associate with muggle borns unless they're after something. They do't have the influence that they used to have. If you need help getting away from hi-"

Rose felt her nose abruptly erupt with pain as Liberty's fist broke her nose.

"Don't you dare talk about Scorpius like that!" Liberty growled at Rose. "Using me? You didn't even know I existed until you wanted something to use against him!"

"I'm just-"

"I know what you're just doing! You're as bad as those pureblood idiots who bang on about blood purity!"

"What!? No, I know what-"

"You don't know anything Rose Weasley! Nothing at all!" Liberty snapped, her dark brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Scorpius is my friend and I don't abandon my friends!"

"But...he's a Malfoy...my family actually fought his kind. They wanted to stop muggle borns like you from going to Hogwarts and worse!" Rose protested, clutching her broken nose. Liberty glared at her.

"Scorpius wasn't even born when the war finished," she said as she looked down at Rose. "He's not even close! How dare you! Have you even bothered to learn anything about him? No! You just judge him by his family name! How is that any different than people judging me by my blood, or even race?" She gestured to her dark skin. Rose tried to say something, but Liberty cut her off once more. "No, I don't need your help. Scorpius is better than you'll ever be!"

Rose stared in disbelief as Liberty stormed off. The muggle born girl's claims made no sense. A Malfoy could never be better than her! It was her duty to stand up to Malfoy bullying! Everyone knew that! It must be some kind of dark magic.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"What kind of dark magic are you using Malfoy?" Rose hissed as she jabbed her wand under Scorpius's chin. Scorpius stared at her in disbelief. For a moment, he considered the possibility that Rose had lost her mind. Behind him, a couple of the school owls hooted and Scorpius began to regret going to the school owlery alone.

"What dark magic?" he asked, feeling thoroughly bewildered. "I don't even KNOW any dark magic, let alone what you're talking about!"

"Do you really think that I'm that stupid?" she hissed angrily and Scorpius bit back a yes. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. What kind of dark magic spell are you using on Liberty Smith?" She pointed to her recently healed nose. "She broke my nose when I tried to talk to her."

At that point, Scorpius did laugh. He hadn't intended to, but the idea of someone giving Rose a well deserved punch was simply too funny. (Scorpius was not normally happy to see other people hurt, but Rose DEFINITELY deserved it in his opinion.) Rose however seemed to take his reaction as confirmation.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, a look of triumph on her face. She moved closer, her face mere inches from his. "You're not going to get away with this Malfoy. I am going to find out what you did and I'm going to break whatever curse you've put on Liberty Smith and then you'll be expelled from Hogwarts-" (he wished that was possible. In the five months that he had been at Hogwarts, he had grown to hate being here. If it hadn't been for his sick mother, then he would actually have begged to go to another school. Even Durmstrang was looking good right now.) "and you'll go to Azkaban for life!" (It really couldn't be much worse, he thought to himself.) "Petrificus Totalus!"

Scorpius felt his whole body go hard. With a smirk, Rose looked down and stamped hard on Scorpius's nose.

"Don't go anywhere," she said in a smug, mocking tone. "Now that I've gotten your confession, I'm going to find out what you did."

She began to search him, rifling through his pockets to find only his wand and a few owl treats. She picked up his wand and carefully examined it, almost as if she expected to see dark magic leaking from it. She twirled it around in her hand before throwing it away.

"Let's see you cast your dark magic now," she bragged, her eyes alight with joy. Scorpius watched as his wand fell down the stairs, his heart sinking to his stomach. He really hoped that it would still be there when Rose's spell wore off, undamaged and safe. She stepped past him, walking into the owlery. Tying a message to the leg of her own owl, she sent it on it's way. Then, without even looking at him, she walked away.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

"What happened to you Mister Malfoy?" Professor Goldberg asked as he freed Scorpius from the binding. Scorpius sat up and flexed his fingers. He had been on the owlery floor for five hours. His stomach growled.

"I was attacked," he said after what felt like an eternity. "I...Rose attacked me and threw my wand away."

Professor Goldberg frowned. With a quick wave of his wand, he summoned Scorpius's wand and handed it back to him.

"Rose Weasley?" he asked and Scorpius nodded. " I know that you don't like Rose, but you need to stop protecting the real culprit." Scorpius felt his heart sink. Once again, he had a teacher who refused to believe that Rose Weasley had done anything.

"But Professor..." His voice slowly drifted away as Professor Goldberg looked at him over his glasses and sighed.

"Mister Malfoy, I cannot help you if you do not tell me the truth." Scorpius stayed silent. He should have known better really. Nobody ever seemed to believe him when he told them about Rose Weasley. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Professor Goldberg sighed and waved his hand.

"Get to class," he said with a hint of exasperation. "You'll have to wait until dinner before you can eat." Scorpius's stomach growled once more. "Mister Malfoy, you have already missed too many classes today. To make it worse, you're trying to pass the blame onto Rose Weasley instead of the real culprits." He looked sternly over the the top of his glasses. "I'm very disappointed in you."

Scorpius felt his mood plummet even further. He should have known really. Nobody would believe that darling Rose would do such a thing. Especially when it was a Malfoy making the accusation. Why would they? Rose was well liked, by teachers and students alike. It was only Scorpius that she treated like this. To everyone else, she was the kind, charming, intelligent Rose.

"My books-"

"Mister Malfoy, you do not have the time!" Professor Goldberg said with a hint of exasperation. "You'll have to share with one of your friends."

Scorpius stared in disbelief for a moment, unable to believe what he was hearing. Friends? Most of his classmates were wary of him to say the least. Biting back a cry of frustration, he ran from the tower, tears streaming from his face. For a moment, he considered hiding away in the Hufflepuff Common Room, or even his dormitory, but he immediately rejected the idea. It would only cause more trouble later and he knew that Rose would hear about it and no doubt come to the wrong conclusion.

Besides which, it was still Hogwarts. And Scorpius hated Hogwarts and he especially hated Rose Weasley.

As he reached the Transfiguration classroom, he took a moment to dry his eyes and clean himself up. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the class.