for Sab, because apparently you've got me in the Scorose mood

word count: 788


Rose is hard at work, scooping the snow just right as she rolls the bottom of her snowman. She is careful, probably more careful than she actually needs to be. It's just a snowman. She doesn't have to pay so much attention to detail, but she does. Of course she does. If there's one thing Rose Weasley is known for, it's giving her absolute best in everything she does. Others might be happy to have strangely lumpy snowmen, but not her.

"You call that a snowman?" Scorpius appears a little too close, an amused grin on her lips. "Really? That looks like you aren't even trying."

"Not everything is a competition, Malfoy," Rose grumbles, carrying on, rolling slowly and carefully, shaping as she goes.

"Sounds like the sort of thing someone who's going to lose would say."

She can never really tell where she stands with Scorpius. Sometimes she thinks they could be the best of friends, but then he opens his mouth and all this competitive nonsense comes out. Most days, they are more rivals than friends, but at least they aren't enemies. She remembers her father's stories about the way the Malfoys and Weasleys have never gotten along.

"Why are you here?" she asks, finally coming to a stop when the bottom portion of her snowman is finished. "Shouldn't you be off under a bridge like the little troll that you are?"

He holds his hand over his heart, his face a mask of mock offense. "Ouch. You wound me. I just wanted to show you how it's done."

In the back of her mind, Rose wonders if anyone would notice if she found a weak spot on the Black Lake and accidentally pushed Scorpius through the ice. He's more of a headache than usual lately. "I just want to be alone."

He smirks. "I just love being the thing standing between you and something you want."

"Why."

"I don't know."

Rose stares at him, blinking slowly as she tries to comprehend what he's said. Of course she's heard him, and she knows what each word means individually. But coming from Scorpius? In this context? Not knowing isn't good enough.

"Hang on. What do you mean you don't know?" she demands, straightening her posture a little more and folding her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing slightly at him. It's the same body language her mum uses when she wants to let someone know she means business. "You've done this for years, Malfoy. Are you really telling me there's no reason for it?"

"Maybe I should go…"

"Don't you dare!" Rose feels like she's finally getting somewhere with him and pieces are finally falling into place, and she'll be damned if she just lets him walk away. "You don't get to come over here, act like a prat, and just leave."

Scorpius' pale cheeks flush with a soft pink blush, and he looks away, letting out a heavy sigh. For several seconds, he's silent, staring at the ground like his footprints in the snow are the most interesting things in the world. Finally, after a stretch of silence that seems to last forever, he looks up again, his eyes meeting Rose's. "For someone so clever, you really oblivious, aren't you?"

"Oi!"

She isn't oblivious. She understands a lot of things!

"Merlin, Rose. The only way I've ever been able to get your attention was by being your rival," he says, and there's a look on his face that is some mixture of amusement and annoyance. "You never thought twice about me when I was just Al's best mate, did you?"

Rose opens her mouth to question in it, but her jaw snaps closed instantly as she understands. Maybe she is more oblivious than she'd like to admit (and she won't admit, not to Scorpius). "Oh."

His lips twitch, and he shakes his head. "Indeed. You really are a bit hopeless, huh?"

"Shut up!" And now she's blushing, and maybe she hates him a little bit for that because it really isn't fair that Scorpius Malfoy, of all people, can make her blush. "So… Er… What do we do now?"

"Now, you step aside and let me show you how to build a proper snowman."

"I know how to build one. Maybe you should watch me," she shoots back. "You might learn a thing or two."

With that, they get to work, squabbling all the way, but there's a new lightness there, a hint of something that softens the tension. They will never be like those normal couples, she thinks. There will always be that competitive streak between them, that need to outdo the other.

And, really, if she's honest, Rose wouldn't have it any other way.