Second Year

"Can you two just give it a rest for two seconds?" Albus hissed at Rose as she methodically shelved thick textbooks.

Rose didn't bother looking at him as she said, "He's a bully!" She knew it was pointless to argue with Albus about Scorpius. It was the two of them against the world and Scorpius was dragging Albus down.

"No, he isn't! You're prejudiced." Albus snapped under his breath.

Rose spun around, her fiery hair nearly whipping Albus across the face. "I am not! It barely November and you've already had two detentions! You get in fights—"

"We don't start them!" Albus argued indignantly. "We just finish them. You can't blame us for defending ourselves."

Rose shook her head and cradled the books to her chest in a defensive position. "You two are getting a horrible reputation!"

Albus rolled his eyes, "We don't do anything that James or Freddie or Teddy haven't done a million times. The only reason you're getting on my case is because I'm in Slytherin and they're Gryffindors so obviously they get a pass, but I get scolded."

"I scold James and Freddie too!" Rose said defensively. At least she was sure she did. Although she couldn't remember ever being so hard on her other cousins. "They're older than me! And they're not cursing people up and down the halls!"

"We haven't ever cursed someone! Just a few jinxed and hexes that my mum taught me. And they were saying rude stuff about Scor."

Rose finished shelving the books and then turned to give Albus her full attention. She couldn't believe he was talking so glibly about hexing other students. What had Scorpius done to him? "And I don't suppose you could've just walked away?" Rose challenged. She understood that Scorpius and Albus were not the most popular boys at Hogwarts, but did that mean they could just hex anyone who insulted them? Rose certainly didn't think so.

"If we had walked away, they would've seen that as weakness and kept harassing us."

"'They would've seen weakness'," Rose repeated, "Who are you? Who cares about looking weak?"

"We have different priorities Rose," Albus snapped. "Get over it! You're only concerned about looks, so don't be a hypocrite! You think if I defend my friend it will make me look like a thug or a deviant, but I'd rather that than be a crappy friend. If people were attacking me and Scorpius didn't defend me, what would you say?" And then Albus dropped a heavy book on a table and stomped away.

Tears clogged Rose's throat. She quickly ducked her head and swiped under her eyes in case anyone was watching. She hated fighting with Albus and the fact that she turned into a monster when it came to Al's relationship with Scorpius. Is he right? Rose wondered. She always assumed that Gryffindors were on the right side of things, so even if James or Freddie pulled a stunt like Albus it somehow wasn't as bad.

"You know," a familiar voice drawled. Rose whipped around to see Scorpius Malfoy leaning against the DADA bookcase, his skinny arms folded, and an arrogant smirk on his face, "…if you keep pushing against Albus, eventually you're going to succeed in pushing him away."

Rose folded her arms indignantly. "Have you ever considered that I'm not pushing him away, you're pulling him away?"

Scorpius tilted his head and stared at her unwaveringly. "Have you considered that it's both?"

Rose opened her mouth to argue and then realized what he said. "Wait, you're admitting that you're trying to split Albus and me apart?" Damn, she wished Albus hadn't stormed off so he could hear the full extent of Scorpius's treachery.

"I'm trying to save him from a spiteful bint that clearly doesn't care about his feelings." Scorpius said mildly.

Her mouth flopped open in a way that Scorpius seemed to find amusing. "You can't be serious!"

"I am. You clearly don't care how much it hurts him that you aren't accepting that he's a Slytherin and he's my best friend. It's been more than a year. Let it go." He said slowly and Rose gawked at him.

She couldn't believe Scorpius actually thought that she was the problem. "And I'm trying to protect him from a 'friend' who is dragging him through the mud!" Rose whisper-yelled. "You get him in trouble and make him fight—"

"You're angry because he doesn't follow the same rules you do. That doesn't mean he doesn't have morals. We aren't doing anything morally wrong, but—"

"Albus hexed someone! He never would've done that before you!"

"He was defending himself… and me!" Scorpius shouted as he pushed himself away from the bookcase. "I know you can't possibly understand the concept of friendship, but some of us aren't just in it for our image or our record. It's ironic, because I sound more like a Huffy, loyal, and you sound like the Slytherin, only in it for yourself."

Rose let out a dramatic gasp. Slytherin?! She could imagine no greater insult. "I—I… I'm trying to protect Albus from ruining his reputation!"

"Maybe you should worry more about what he wants versus his reputation." Scorpius spat.

"Maybe you should worry less about your hair products and more about expulsion!" She said without thinking. It wasn't her best response, but the amount of gel he used in his hair was ridiculous and made his face look even more severe with all his hair pulled back. It made him look even more like a rat.

Scorpius's eyes widened. "My—my hair?" He gave her a scrupulous look. "Seriously? That's the best you can do?"

"No girl is ever going to want you. If your reputation is in the trash you should at least put a little effort into your looks. Otherwise you'll have nothing going for you." She sneered, feeling momentarily triumphant.

Scorpius huffed, "I don't need a girl! You might go through your day thinking about the best way to get noticed, but I don't! And if all girls are like you, I doubt I'll ever have interest in them. You really should do something about your hair, Copper Top." He said with an evil glint in his eyes.

Copper—Copper Top? Did he just… "Did you just call me Copper Top?" Rose yelled. "My hair is red!"

"And orange," Scorpius smirked.

"At least I don't look like a skeleton!" She snapped, referring to his delicate frame and pointy face.

His eyes flared and he got toe-to-toe with her and she realized with relish that she was slightly taller than him. "At least I don't look like a carrot." Not to mention she was more muscular than him.

"You are the most arrogant—"

"You're selfish—"

"—and pesky boy—"

"—you think of no one—"

"—I have ever had the displeasure—"

"—but yourself!" Scorpius shouted.

"—of meeting!" Rose screamed, fighting back the need to deck him with a heavy book.

"ENOUGH!"

Rose and Scorpius jumped as Madam Pince's high-pitched voice shrieked over their shouting.

The old woman was hobbling towards the pair as quickly as she could with a mean and horrified look on her face. Her face was so red Rose feared it might explode. "Fighting in the library! SHOUTING! SCREAMING! Absolutely unacceptable! Disturbing the students!" Pince sniped. Rose's breath caught. She had never been reamed out by a teacher, or anyone, at Hogwarts. She glanced at Scorpius to blame everything on him and saw that he looked as though he was going to say something smart-arse.

Rose was sure he was going to point out that Madam Pince was in fact yelling while she reprimanded them for yelling. He didn't get the chance before Pince snapped, "Out! Out of the library!" She started shooing them with her fragile hands. Rose and Scorpius backed up towards the door as Madam Pince kept waving her hands around. "And don't come back for a week!" Pince shrieked.

Rose gasped as the library doors were slammed in their faces. She stared at the heavy wooden door a few moments and then turned to glare at Scorpius. "You got us banned from the library!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes, "I think we can agree that it was both of our faults."

"You should've just left well enough alone," she hissed, wondering why he even approached her in the first place.

Scorpius didn't seem to have any energy left. "I just want to be civil. All of us… you, me, and Albus." Rose stared at him, biting her lip. "You must admit that neither of us are actively trying to hurt Albus… can't we just agree that we both contribute important things to his life."

Rose gave him a weary look and then said, "Fine. I suppose… it might be important for Albus to… express himself." She didn't think it was worth it for him to get in trouble, but she wouldn't say that. "And I will never like you… but I suppose I don't have to fight you."

"And I appreciate that you're just trying to keep Albus out of trouble." Scorpius said reluctantly.

They stared at each other discerningly for a few moments. Rose didn't like his eyes. They were so hard and cold, the gunmetal grey color too harsh for Rose's taste. She knew girls liked boys with bright eyes, blue or green or whatever, but Rose always found the bright colors a bit too much and the same seemed to be true for Scorpius's eyes. She would take a nice warm (slightly boring) brown over exotic grey any day.

"Rose? Scorpius?"

Rose jerked out of her haze and saw Penny standing a few meters away from them.

"What happened?" Penny took one look at their faces and knew something was wrong.

"We got banned from the library for a week." Rose said bitterly.

Penny's eyebrows shot up. "You did you do that?"

"We got in a shouting match," Scorpius said, unabashed. "Over Albus."

"Are you two still treating him like a piece of meat?" Penny sighed and shook her head. "If you keep pulling at him, you're going to rip him in half. Not to mention it's like a weird love triangle."

Rose gawked, "He's my cousin!"

"And my best friend!" Scorpius protested.

"I don't judge," teased Penny. "Anyways, Gould was looking for you Scorpius."

Scorpius adjusted his tie and gave Penny a nice smile, which Rose thought looked super weird on him. "Thanks." Then he strutted away and Rose glared at his retreating figure, wondering how the heck Scorpius Malfoy had gotten her to agree to play nice.

"I do wish you and he would get on."

Rose gave Penny an affronted look. "As if we could every get on! He's a first class jerk and we've only agreed to be civil so that Albus won't hate us. And I highly doubt it will last. I can't wait for the day that I say I told you so."

"Rosie!" A charming voice called out.

Rose let out a long exhale. She did not feel like speaking with her cousin Dominique at the moment. Dom was the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts and made Rose feel like a toad in comparison.

"Rosie!" Dom flung herself towards Rose and Penny and managed to look graceful doing so. "Merlin, is it true you got in a fight with Al and got kicked out of the library?" Dom asked excitedly, looking like fairy with her shimmery hair floating around her face and her soft skin practically glowing.

"How did you hear—"

Dom scoffed, "Albus ran into Freddie, who told Lorcan and then Lorcan told Lucy so of course Lucy told me to go find you and yell at you for being stupid. Then on the way hear I heard some fourth years gossiping about how you had been kicked out of the library. You know you can't do anything without everyone in Hogwarts knowing. And everyone watches you and Scorpius when you're together."

"Why does anyone care about what happens with Scorpius and me?" Rose balked.

Penny laughed, "Because you two are like a soap opera."

Rose scrunched up her nose. "That's silly."

"It's completely silly," Dom agreed, "which is why it's so fun to watch."

Rose gave her cousin an exasperated look. She couldn't believe that Dom was a sixth year, yet seemed to lack all maturity. "I can't wait till the lot of you are out of Hogwarts."

Dom gasped dramatically, "You love us! Don't lie!" Rose did love her family, but sometimes they were so much work. Rose always felt like she was under a microscope, not just because her family was close, but because her family was famous. Every time she and Albus got into it, Rose felt like the entire family split into sides and it was humiliating to have it happen in front of the entire school.

Penny gave Rose a sympathetic look, but shrugged, "I think it would be nice to have a big family. I only have one sister and one cousin, you can't imagine how boring family dinners can be." Dom and Rose both looking longingly at Penny.

"It must be nice," Rose sighed.

Dom snorted, "A boring family dinner? I can't imagine such—"

"JAMES! Stop following me!"

All three girls' heads whipped around just in time to see Eliza Jacobsen, Penny's sister, trying to get away from James Potter. Dom shook her head like this was nothing unusual and Penny let out along breath looking sympathetic towards her sister.

"Why don't you want to come to Hogsmeade with me?" James demanded petulantly.

Rose, ever the peacemaker (except for with Scorpius), started going to James. She knew how intimidating and hard-to-handle James could be and she was used to dealing with him. Rose couldn't imagine what it must be like for Eliza, although she had a pretty good idea of what James was capable of thanks to the similar stunts over the years.

"James…" Rose started to say but her voice was quickly drowned by yelling.

"Because I don't want to!" Eliza shouted, going toe to toe with James. She was only about two inches short than him so he certainly wasn't physically intimidating, he was just loud and obnoxious. "Why can't you just accept that?"

"Why doesn't everyone just—"

James interrupted Rose abruptly, "I can't accept that you're shutting me down without knowing me! You won't give me a chance—"

"I do know you!" Eliza screamed, her auburn hair looking like burning branches around her head. "You're arrogant and obnoxious and everything I never want to be around! I do not want to get to know you and you have given me no reason for that opinion to change," she finished with a hiss.

James and Eliza stood there, both huffing and looking angrily at each other. Rose was afraid to move for fear of startling either one of them in another explosion. After a few moments of complete silence, Eliza spun on her heel and walked away from James without looking back. Rose marveled at how a fourth year as dainty and fairy-looking as Eliza could knock James Potter on his butt with a couple strings of words.

"James…"

Before Rose could say another word, James strutted away, muttering under his breath.

Rose let out a long breath and looked back at Penny and Dom, the latter was watching the end of the scene with amusement. Penny bit her lip, "I should go talk to Ellie. James makes her a little…. crazy."

Rose gave her an understanding look and then Penny took off, running in the direction that Eliza had disappeared to. Dom grinned, "That poor girl. I remember when they first struck up their little… argumentative relationship."

"What happened?" Rose asked quizzically.

"I think it was halfway through first year and apparently during potions, Eliza and her partner accidentally cooked up an explosive potion and blew up their station. Needless to say, James was hooked from that moment and he thought the best way to charm her…" Dom words started to be disrupted by laughs, "… was to create an explosion at dinner right next to her. He thought she liked excitement." Dom was nearly crying at this point and Rose felt even worse for Eliza.

"Dear Merlin," Rose muttered.

"And James has never really let go of his belief that she likes the excitement even though that first explosion was clearly just a potions mistake and not Eliza actually trying to be destructive." Dom shook her head.

Rose rolled her eyes, "I hope no boy is ever interested in me if that's what love looks like."

"It'll happen sometime, Rosie."

"Well, I hope my first boyfriend isn't as idiotic as James."

"You're setting a low bar, James is pretty idiotic so it shouldn't be that hard to find a bloke slightly smarter than him," Dom chuckled, tossing her silvery hair over her shoulder. "Did I tell you about my new boyfriend? He's a Ravenclaw, so smart, and he's so tall…" Rose tuned Dom out, mostly because she knew Dom would have a new boyfriend next week so it didn't really matter if she knew all the juice about this one.

Instead, Rose became a little lost in her head as she thought about romance. It seemed like such a foreign concept but she was almost thirteen and next year she would be able to go to Hogsmeade. What if no one wanted to go with her? What if she just went with friends? What if all her friends had dates and she was stuck going by herself?

"Rose, breathe!" Dom snapped Rose out of her haze. "You're turning purple."

"What if I never have a boyfriend?" Rose wrung her hands nervously.

Dom looped her arm through Rose's, "Don't get caught up in the drama. And dating really isn't as bad as James makes it look. You have time to worry about all that nonsense…"

"That's what I thought, but next thing I know it'll be Hogsmeade weekend and I'll be alone—"

Dom laughed and pulled Rose closer, "I didn't get a date to Hogsmeade until halfway through fourth year and that was considered early! I promise that you have time." Dom looked sideways intently at Rose. "Now, I have to go meet up with some friends, but I'll catch you at dinner." Rose muttered a goodbye and watched Dom float down the hall looking like an angel. Rose consoled herself by thinking about how she was so much smarter than most of her family and she didn't need her cousins' veela looks.