Chapter 2: I'm Not About To Compromise or, I'll Use You As A Makeshift Gauge
Rating: M mainly for language, and I can't discount any funny business later on
Disclaimer: I work with only what the infallible J.K. Rowling has given me.
Rose was simultaneously surprised and apprehensive about the note she had received from the Headmistress ten minutes after she had retired back to her dorm after a hearty lunch. The note was brief, inexplicit:
Please come and see me after the conclusion of your classes.
M.M.
So after Potions she bid Al and Gen a farewell and headed quickly to the Headmistress' office, playing nervously with the frayed edges of her textbook. As soon as she arrived at the griffin statue, it blinked at her, closed its eyes and moved aside to reveal the staircase behind it.
She climbed up and upon reaching the door, paused before knocking. As she raised her hand, the door swung slowly open.
"Ah, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, not looking up from her writing. "Please, take a seat."
Rose walked quickly towards the chairs opposite the Headmistress' and sat quietly, quelling the urge to drum her fingers against her bag.
McGonagall continued to scratch at the parchment, but she spared a look towards the redhead silently fidgeting opposite her. She held back a smile. "Oh, please, Miss Weasley, there's no need to be so anxious, I have only a small request to make of you."
Rose furrowed her brow. "A request, Professor?"
"Quite." Having finished writing, she sealed the envelope and motioned for the big, tawny owl to fly down from its perch, and attached the envelope to its leg. "As Head Girl-" Rose felt a flush of pride at her words, "-you have other duties to supplement prefect meetings and patrols."
"Yes, Professor," Rose replied, though she phrased it as more of a question than a statement.
"Therefore, I am assigning you to weekly tutoring sessions with a Ravenclaw second year, by the name of Wilhelm Greengrass."
Rose attempted to stifle a smirk at the name Wilhelm. "Tutoring for which subject?"
Minerva gave her a rare smile. "Charms, of course, a subject at which your Professor finds you quite adept."
Rose only beamed brilliantly in response. "Is um…Wilhelm aware of this arrangement?"
The Headmistress nodded. "He will be waiting for your first session tonight in the library, 7 o'clock sharp. You may alter the times as you see fit succeeding this night."
The girl nodded again, and made to stand up. "Is that all, Professor?"
"That will be all, Miss Weasley."
With that, McGonagall waved an arm, and the door slowly revolved open.
Rose took that as her cue to head back to the Common Room. "Good evening, Professor."
As Rose reached the exit, McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
"Oh, and Miss Weasley?" Rose turned around expectantly. "You might need to be patient with this one; he really is quite dreadful. A very good evening to you."
"You've gotten stuck with tutoring?" Al's face looked appalled. "Head Girl duties blow, Rose."
"It is part of the job," Rose shrugged, digging into her mashed potatoes. "Anyway, I can manage."
Al stuffed a large piece of chicken breast into his mouth, though it didn't discourage him from continuing his protest. "Well, that sounds awful," he declared. "I'll stick with being a prefect, thanks."
"You know prefects can be asked to tutor too?" Gen chimed in, dropping her bag upon her arrival. "My sister was asked to teach a third year Ancient Runes."
Al's face dropped further.
"You could be asked to help that Wendell boy with Defence Against the Dark Arts," she continued, ignoring his sickened face. "Word has it he accidentally broke a girl's hand trying to cast a Patronus charm."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "How on earth did he manage to do that?"
Gen shrugged. "No idea. You can see why he needs tutoring."
"I seem to have lost my appetite." Al pushed away his half eaten plate in disgust. "I think I'll have to make use of the prefects' bathroom before my privileges get revoked."
"Do you have tutoring tonight, Rose?" Gen asked, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.
Rose nodded. "At seven." She glanced at her watch. "I should get going, actually."
She bid the two farewell ("I'm telling you, Rose, Head duties suck.") and made the familiar trek up to the library, humming to herself nonchalantly as she did so.
She entered and gave Madam Pince a wave. The librarian caught sight of her and gave her a friendly salute back, before glaring at the two fifth year boys entering behind.
She carefully observed the filling room, peering curiously around and wondering how she was supposed to spot the small boy among the hoards of people around him. She supposed she should've asked McGonagall what he looked like. She stepped forward, craning her neck to look behind the shelves. Perhaps she could identify a whiff of smoke from where he was practicing.
"Um…Rose?"
She looked up in relief at the young blonde who had gotten up in his chair to wave at her. She walked over, pleased that he had chosen a table a ways off from the rest. Once she arrived, she stuck out a hand in greeting. "Hi, nice to meet you."
He blushed, and shook her hand quickly before sitting. "Nice to meet you. I'm uh…Wilhelm."
Rose felt her mouth pull up slightly at the side. She sat and took out her wand. "So, I've heard you need some help with Charms."
Wilhelm turned an even more violent shade of red. "I'm useless."
Rose couldn't help but smile. "Oh no, I'm sure you're not."
By the looks of the small paper clip and charred feather in front of him, he most definitely was, but Rose refused to approach the sessions with anything less than the highest level of optimism. "Were you practicing?"
"Trying to," he mumbled, hurriedly stuffing the blackened feather back into his satchel.
Rose pursed her lips. "Can you show me what you've been learning in class?"
Wilhelm paused, and then nodded. He held up his wand. "Lumos Maxima," he whispered. The wand did nothing.
He noticed her encouraging expression and blushed deeper. "Lumos Maxima," he repeated forcefully, his brow furrowing with concentration. The wand gave a pathetic burst, like a firework fizzling out.
Rose had to exert a huge amount of control to hold back her laughter. She figured she should stop him before he gave himself an aneurysm.
"Alright, that's okay," she said, placing her hand on his wand to lower it down onto the table. "We have time, we can manage this."
Wilhelm huffed. "I have a test on Friday," he muttered. "I'll never get it right before then."
Rose gathered up her hair into a low ponytail and closed his textbook. "Nonsense," she said, confidently. "Why do you think Professor McGonagall got the best to help you?"
Wilhelm looked a little more optimistic. He mimicked her hold on the wand, shuffling his small hand back to the exact position in which Rose was holding hers. "I'm ready," he said, wiping the small bead of sweat that had gathered at his hairline.
"Can you cast the Lumos Charm?" Rose asked.
The young boy turned beet red, and shook his head.
Rose, aware now of the fact that he had not been able to cast a rudimentary first year charm, understood the gravity of the situation. "Ah."
"Please teach me," Wilhelm said in desperation. He cast his head down in disappointment. "I'm the worst Ravenclaw in existence."
"Will," Rose said, unthinkingly. "I mean, Wilhelm." She cleared her throat. "I don't know how your test is going to go on Friday, but I do know that you need to conquer the basic spell before you attempt the harder one, okay?"
He nodded.
"Alright," Rose said, rolling up her sleeves. "Let me show you."
Scorpius was in a good mood. Being one of the only two in class who had successfully managed to brew the Wolfsbane Potion in the hour allotted, his homework load was greatly lifted, and he thought he might get a chance to head down to the Quidditch pitch to get a session in before the tryouts the following day. His high spirits were only soured by the memory that the only other student who had managed to complete the concoction was Rose Weasley. Despite this, he was in a good mood.
He entered the Slytherin Common Room, passing the black couches and unlit fireplace, heading directly for his dorm.
His best friend looked up at the unceremonious drop of his bag.
"Yo, Scorp," Tobias said, raising a hand from his place on his bed. "Where've you been?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "McGonagall wanted to see me about a tutoring gig."
"You need tutoring?"
Scorpius paused his rummage through his trunk to throw his friend a dirty look. "No, asshole, I'm tutoring some Slytherin third year."
"Wretch, man."
Scorpius grunted noncommittally. At least it was Potions.
He shook off his robes and shirt, muttering a Cleaning charm before draping them over the frame of his bed.
"I was going to head down to the Quidditch pitch to get in some practice. I could use a Chaser," he commented as he donned his Quidditch gear.
Tobias' face turned slightly mournful. "I would, mate, but I've got Xavier's potion to do."
Scorpius smirked, and mimicked his friend from before. "Wretch, man."
"Fuck you, Malfoy," he griped, grabbing his wand and Potions textbook. "You might want to head out before you lose all daylight."
The blonde looked out the window, saw that it was indeed getting darker, and grabbed his broom. "Should we go now, then?"
In reply, Toby swung his feet over the bed and grabbed his wand from the desk.
They walked down the staircase in silence, the chattering from the Common Room becoming louder the further they descended. Reaching the stone wall, they made to part ways.
"See you later," Scorpius bid, raising a hand in farewell.
"You coming to dinner?"
He shook his head. "I grabbed something from before. Besides, I'm heading the meeting tonight, so don't be fucking late."
Tobias laughed and clapped a hand on his friend's back as he left the room.
Scorpius turned in the opposite direction and rearranged his broom on his shoulder to a more comfortable position, getting ready to make good use of the next hour.
Forty-five minutes later Rose was closing Wilhelm's textbook in relief. He had successfully managed to cast the Lumos Charm, but given that he took almost the full session to do so, she hadn't dared revisit the more advanced one.
"That was really good," she said encouragingly as she hefted her bag onto her shoulder. "We made great progress today."
Wilhelm, though slightly less red than the beginning of the session now that he had achieved some success, still looked slightly beaten down. "But I still can't do the charm I need to have learnt by Friday's test."
Rose paused. "Look, Wilhelm, your Professor knows that you sometimes struggle with the charms in class - why do you think I'm here?"
He seemed to be considering this.
"Does he know you couldn't do the Lumos charm before tonight?" she asked gently.
He nodded.
"Well," Rose said, tucking away her wand. "He'll know you've made some progress, then."
"I suppose so," he said in an unconvincing voice.
Rose inhaled, and then let it out. "Do you want to do another session tomorrow? Just this once?"
He looked up to meet her gaze, and slowly nodded.
She smiled at him reassuringly. "Okay. Same time tomorrow, then?"
He nodded again, but this time Rose saw a hint of a smile.
"Remember what I taught you today, okay?"
Wilhelm nodded, his face pursing in seriousness. "Confidence."
"That's right. Are you going back to your Common Room now?" Rose asked, noticing that he had stowed all of his books.
"I'm meeting my friend," he replied, his voice still low.
Rose smiled. "Well, I'm headed back too." She motioned for him to follow her out of the library.
They stopped outside the door. "I'll see you tomorrow. Confidence, okay?" she reminded him. "That's all you need to worry about."
He chewed at his lip. "Thanks, Rose," he said. "I'll um…see you tomorrow."
His tutor smiled at him again, and headed down the long corridor.
"Um…Rose?"
She turned at the sound of his voice. He cleared his throat. "You can, um…you can call me Will if you want."
Rose beamed. "Night, Will."
"Night, Rose."
"Could everyone settle down, please?" The Head Girl's voice barely rang out above the loud chatter filling the empty Transfiguration classroom.
The chattering continued, and Rose opened her mouth to less politely tell everyone to be quiet, until-
"Can everyone shut up so we can get this over with and get on with our lives?"
Rose looked over at annoyance at her co-head as the room fell into silence. Honestly, he could be so abrasive sometimes.
"Alright, welcome to the first prefects' meeting of the year. We have quite a bit to sort out today so, like Malfoy said, it'll be easier if we just get it done as quickly and painlessly as possible."
There were various murmurs of assent around the room.
"First and foremost, congratulations to our new prefects; you were handpicked by Professor McGonagall so I hope you feel proud of your accomplishments."
Despite the scattered applause, the blond next to her pettily inclined his head. "Can we wrap up the motivational speech, Weasley? Some of us have places to be."
Rose narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "I'm all ears, Malfoy."
He gave her an antagonistic smirk before turning to address the crowd. "Right, as you all should know already, prefects have the privilege of docking points and assigning detentions as they see fit. You've also earned the right to use the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor."
There was more excited murmuring at this announcement.
Rose cleared her throat. "However, you also take on the responsibilities of curfew patrols and organising various events throughout the school year. We'll let you know about those as they come up." She held up the mostly blank parchment on the table beside her. "Patrols need to be done every night in pairs, though not necessarily from your own House nor your own year, so we'll want everyone to fill out their preferred slots on this."
"And because we don't want you to complain about the shitty slot timings or whatever to us after everyone else has gone, we'll be passing the parchment around now - can it, Fletcher - so make sure you're happy with your pick."
"Language, Malfoy," Rose snapped next to him.
He ignored her and continued. "Most of you will sign up for two slots a month, a few of you will have to do three along with me and Weasley." He paused. "Because we're Heads, we get to choose first."
He turned to the redhead beside him and offered her the quill. "Ladies first."
She took it and leaned down, muttering, "Merlin, I suppose they were wrong about chivalry being dead."
"The only reason I'm letting you write first is so I can see which days to avoid," Scorpius bit back just as quietly, and true to form, noticed with relish that she had picked two nights where he had already scheduled Quidditch practice. She finished scribbling, and handed him the quill and parchment. He noted with limited interest the "Albus Potter" written below her name in both instances before stooping to write his name and "Tobias Nott" beneath it. His gaze passed over the one night where the Heads patrolled together and had to make a conscious effort to stop his face from wrinkling.
Rose smiled at her cousin as Al made his way over to her; Gen was talking animatedly with a friend from Runes. "So, Malfoy's still a prick, huh?" he observed with little surprise.
"I can't believe I have to work with him for a whole year," she groaned. They both turned in unison to see him engaged in conversation with Toby. He caught and dropped Rose's eye in less than a second.
The parchment finally got around to everyone in the room, and although there was some grumbling, no one had any outstanding objections.
"Alright, thanks for making that relatively painless," Scorpius said, folding it up and placing it in his robes.
Rose eyed him with distaste; she would much rather the document stay in responsible hands, but said nothing. "Remember, when we have our next meeting next month, there is opportunity to change since clubs and Quidditch practices will have been properly scheduled by then." She promptly remembered something. "By the way, the password to enter the prefects' bathroom is 'fig leaf'."
"Right." Scorpius leaned backwards, bracing his hands on the table behind him. "I think that just about sums up the meeting. Thanks for being here; take your job seriously, dock some Gryffindor points. You're all excused."
Rose shook her head in annoyance. "Night everyone."
She hung back while the prefects filed out, wondering if she might exchange a quick word with Scorpius as to how the meeting had gone, but he promptly left with Tobias Nott. She blew a strand of hair out of her face.
"You coming, Rose?" Gen asked, hovering by the door.
She sighed, and wordlessly Noxed the overhead lights. "Coming."
"So, are you two watching the Quidditch trials this afternoon?" was Al's opening as he joined Rose and Gen in the Hall for afternoon tea the following day.
"Mm-hmm," Rose answered briefly, still pawing through her Defence textbook.
"Can't, Al, sorry," Gen said apologetically. "I have Xavier's potion to do before tomorrow."
"You finally going to try out this year, Rose?" Al asked, helping himself to the platter of scones in front of him.
She shook her head. "Honestly, Albus, you ask me this every year. It's still no."
Four years of rejection had helped Al to quell his disappointment. "Well, you're missing out on a kick-arse Captain this year."
Rose cracked a grin. "Ha-ha." She checked her watch. "Speaking of, you might want to head out now to set up."
Al grabbed her arm to check the time and swore. "Shit, how'd it get to be ten to five already?"
He jumped up from his seat and grabbed his cousin by her sleeve. "Rose! Vamos!"
She grunted as she reached to grab another scone for the road, mumbling a "bye" around the one currently in her mouth.
"See you later, Gen!" Al's voice echoed from behind the door.
With Al tearing down the hill and Rose following disgruntled behind, they made it to the pitch in under five minutes. For a day in September, it was pleasantly warm, and Rose took her place in the stands as Al retrieved the chest of balls and his broom from the locked shed.
Soon enough, Quidditch team hopefuls had begun to arrive, socialising and stretching before the tryouts officially started. At five oh three, Al cleared his throat loudly and stepped into the middle of the field.
"Alright, shut it, you lot. Let's get these tryouts started."
The Captain's command had the desired effect, and the field grew quiet.
It was custom every year, and had been for as long as anyone could remember, that only roughly half of those who attended tryouts could actually command a broomstick. Likewise, the small group of first years were sent quickly away. A group of blushing girls waved at Al as they left.
The rest of those who had shown up were made to fly around the pitch at varying speeds and altitudes to further seek out those who could properly get through to the position trials.
The next hour passed as expected. Al's face had grown pink with exertion and excitement, and soon enough the three Chasers, Keeper and remaining Beater (as Al was the other) positions had been filled, leaving Seeker as the only role left to assign. As the five hopefuls attempted to catch the Snitch that had been released, Al motioned his cousin down from where she was sat.
"Are you sure you don't want to try out for a reserve position, Rose?" he pleaded. "You know as well as I do you could beat out McGinty in a landslide."
It was true, and McGinty was a prick.
"Even if I do get reserve position, it doesn't mean I'll be playing any games," Rose reminded Al. "You know, hence the term reserve."
Al looked ponderous for a moment. "Yes, but what if someone took an untimely fall the night before the match?"
Rose whacked his arm playfully but seemed to actually be considering. It really was such a nice day for it.
"Come on, Rosie." Al grabbed her hands between his own. "You know how chuffed Uncle Ron'll be if you make the team."
"I'm not exactly dressed for it," Rose flailed, now unsure if she was trying to convince her cousin or herself.
"You know there are extras in the changing room," Al admonished. He sighed in exasperation at the unnoticed golden ball hovering by the base of the left post. "Christ, guys, it's right fucking there!"
"You know it's unfair to expect anyone to be as good as you, right, Al?" Rose laughed. "None of these other guys have the Quidditch legacy that you do."
Al ignored her. "I could get to it faster than you, and I'm not even on a bloody broom!"
It was her last year, it couldn't do any harm right? And as she'd rightly pointed out, she might not even end up playing the game. She had time, didn't she? She was on top of everything, as usual.
"I'll do it," she said suddenly.
Al was still yelling at the Seekers. To be fair, they'd all spotted the Snitch, but were finding it difficult to avoid the other four in their quest to capture it.
"What?" he asked distractedly.
"I'll do it," she sighed. "I'll try out for reserve Chaser."
Al's face lit up in excitement, and pushed her towards the changing rooms. "Get moving then, Rose! The reserves are about to start."
As Rose re-entered the pitch, Al's team - including the newly assigned Laura Henley as Seeker - had retreated to the stands, and were watching the remainder of the trials. Rose felt her stomach seize up with anxiety.
"Just relax," Al said gently as she took his broom, the same model she had gotten accustomed to using over the holidays. "You'll be great."
And she was. She forgot how nice it was to be flying again, the wind in her hair, the knots in her stomach loosening. In no time, she had been appointed as the first reserve Chaser, and she was so good that no one even thought to accuse Al of nepotism.
"Alright," Al said as he picked their final reserve Beater. "That's the tryouts over. Thanks everyone for showing up, first practice is tomorrow at five. Now go and get some food before it's all cleared away."
Rose, still full from the generous snack she'd given to herself two hours before, stayed to help Al clear up.
As they exited the broom shed, the sound of voices attracted their attention. Rose groaned; the familiar sound of a pompous, self-righteous asshole was quickly drawing closer.
She made to leave the stadium, but Al grabbed her arm on their way out. "Hang on," he muttered. "I want to see who got Captain."
They hung back, waiting as the Slytherins made their way onto the pitch. As Scorpius passed, he hid his surprise through a scoff as he saw Rose donned in her Quidditch gear. She scowled back and folded her arms across her chest.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Al groaned beside her.
"What?"
He pointed at the gleaming badge adorning Scorpius' robes.
As much as she hated him, Rose had to admit that he was the obvious choice. Appointed Keeper in his second year - and with that, setting a record - he had consistently helped the Slytherin team to make it to the finals since his arrival, a feat not even Gryffindor could boast. She supposed Al's frustration was justified.
"Right, everyone, let's get a move on, we all have lives to live. If you're a first year or only here to watch me host these tryouts, I'm flattered, but the exit's that way."
Rose pshed loudly, but couldn't ignore the group of chittering girls - and even a handful adorned in blue and yellow mixed in with the green - as they scarpered out, followed by a handful of younger students.
"Ugh, let's go," Al complained. "I'm starving."
Rose nodded and the two of them left, though Scorpius' voice, enhanced by a Sonorous charm, pursued even after the field had disappeared behind them.
From what she could hear, Scorpius was a good Captain. He was strict but fair, encouraging but realistic, and only bit out his usual snarks when necessary. He was still a complete windbag though, as Al unnecessarily reminded her. She thought that was a generous way of putting it.
It was dark by the time Scorpius returned to his dorm, both he and Tobias sweaty despite the cold.
Scorpius was altogether pleased by his team, though he knew there was the added pressure to win, given that he now held both the Head Boy and Captain positions.
"Good team, Scorp." Toby voiced his thoughts aloud as they changed out of their damp under-gear. "Better than Potter's team, anyway."
Scorpius grunted his agreement as he grabbed a towel and headed for the shared bathroom.
"By the way," his friend continued offhandedly as he disappeared. " Did you know Weasley could play?"
Scorpius blinked. "No," he said. He peeked his head around the door. "But when your cousin's the Captain..." He left the statement open, even though he knew fully well that Albus Potter would never dream of letting an incapable person onto his precious team.
"I guess," Toby admitted, though his tone suggested he was thinking the same thing Scorpius was. "You guys are as friendly as ever."
Scorpius was reminded of the meeting the previous night. "Yeah, well, she's still the same bitchy know-it-all from first year."
Tobias tossed his shirt onto his trunk. "You've just got to last it out one year, mate," he pointed out.
"No," Scorpius replied as he turned on the hot water. "Weasley's just got to last it out a year."
"Malfoy as Captain is completely ridiculous," Al was complaining to Gen. Rose had tuned him out a good ten minutes before and was now attempting to focus on her Transfiguration homework. She didn't say it out loud, but she had a feeling Al's irritation stemmed from knowing that under Scorpius' captaining, the Slytherin team stood a good chance at taking home the Cup.
"Mm, agreed," Gen said from beside Rose, working on the same essay. Al had yet to notice that this was the fifth time she had repeated this exact phrase within the last two minutes.
While it was common knowledge that Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy detested each other, when it came to the Quidditch pitch, there were no two stronger enemies than the two newly appointed Captains.
"Even worse," Al continued, his voice raising in volume as he sat down with a thump beside them, "poor Rosie has to spend an entire year being his co-Head."
"Perhaps you'd better go and take a shower," Gen suggested soothingly, though Rose had seen her turn up her nose the minute a sweaty Al had stumped into the Common Room. "You'll feel better."
"I think I'd better find Louis. He'll understand," Al grumbled.
"Al." Rose's tone was still laced with disinterest. "Take a shower. You reek."
Al hmphed but headed towards the stairs. As he walked up, the girls heard him mutter, "Shower first, complain to Louis second."
"What possessed McGonagall to choose her as Head Girl is what I'd like to know."
This was Scorpius. He, like Al, had not stopped complaining since he had turned on the shower. Unlike Al, his topic had switched from Quidditch back to old territory. While he was sensible enough to realise that Albus Potter was the reasonable choice for Quidditch Captain, he was not sensible enough to cease his usual spiel about Albus Potter's redheaded cousin.
"Well, I mean, she's smart, she was a prefect, she's McGonagall's favourite by far-"
"My question did not necessitate a response," came the biting reply from the shower.
Toby shook his head in exasperation. "Just hurry up, okay?"
"And to think she's on the fucking Quidditch team now, too, like I don't already see enough of her! Did you see what a stuck-up bitch she was during yesterday's meeting?"
Tobias had not.
"Yeah, Scorp, she's a total bitch."
Toby had to admit, this spiel was overdue. The usual Day One Spiel had not happened since Scorpius had spent the night with Liv. The same went for the following night. Waiting until day three had not happened since—was it third year?
"Did you see how frizzy her hair looked after the tryouts?"
Tobias groaned softly; when Scorpius had had enough of insulting her personality and various skills, he moved on to something much more juvenile: how ugly he personally deemed her to be.
In actual fact, Rose Weasley was very pretty, an opinion he was sure the rest of the Hogwarts population shared.
Well, all except one.
"I swear her front teeth have gotten even bigger since I last saw her." He paused, seeking affirmation. "Wouldn't you say?"
"What? Oh, yes, hideous."
This was the point where Toby would tune his best friend out. After all, Scorpius could listen to himself speak, uninterrupted, for a good hour. He pulled out his Arithmancy textbook and settled down for a bit of reading until he could head into the shower.
"And another thing!"
"Hey, Rose?"
She looked up in surprise at the first word of conversation in over half an hour. "Hmm?"
Gen paused, and then put down her quill. "How do you feel about being co-Heads with Malfoy? Really."
Rose furrowed her brow. "Why do you ask?"
Her best friend shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, you hate the guy, like really loathe him, and you're going to have to spend your last year of school constantly dealing with him. Living with him, even."
Rose remembered with distaste the new Heads dormitory that would open a few weeks before the Christmas holidays. "I suppose when you put it that way it does sound a little bleak."
"I just wanted to let you know, I'm here if you need to rant."
Rose smiled. "Thanks, Gen, you're the best." She went back to writing.
Gen looked at her friend suspiciously. "What's up with you?"
Rose paused. "What do you mean?"
Gen leaned back against the sofa, crossing her arms. She scrutinised the Head Girl's face, narrowing her eyes. "You. You're so….zen about the whole Malfoy thing. What happened to the weekly screaming matches and hourly tirades I've had to deal with for the past six years?"
Rose considered, then shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, he hasn't really done anything yet. Maybe he finally grew up over the summer."
Genevieve scoffed. "Yeah, and tomorrow the three of us are going to have a lovely conversation about McGonagall's new boyfriend over bacon and eggs."
"Ho ho." Rose sighed and checked her watch. "Well, I can't write any more of this tonight. You wanna come upstairs?"
Gen nodded, but dipped her quill back into her pot of ink. "You go ahead, I'll be five minutes."
Rose waved her friend goodnight, and trudged upstairs. She really wasn't as unperturbed as she appeared. In truth, if the last six years had been any indication, sharing the Head position with Scorpius Malfoy was going to be awful; living with him insufferable.
Then again, although he was as caustic as ever, nothing outrageous had happened between the two yet. True, it was only Wednesday, but for them, it was almost a record.
She pulled her hair out of her ponytail as she settled under the covers, careful not to wake the two girls sleeping across the room. She shared all of her classes with him tomorrow; they'd see if this impasse could last another day.
A/N:
All reviews are greatly appreciated! As always, tyfyt. Chapter titles come from Shinedown's I'll Follow You Down and Amber Run's I Found.
~ Rach