16

Friday morning arrived bright and cheerful. The weather was excellent for lolling around by the Great Lake with a book. Rose's mood darkened steadily as she pondered about how much homework she could have finished if she hadn't had that blasted detention. Besides, she was having a bad hair day. She could easily have inherited her mom's brown hair colour and the manageable wavy tresses from the Weasleys. But no. She just had to inherit the vividest shade of ginger from the Weasley clan and her mother's bushy hair that was tightly curled at its best. Today she resembled a lion, with a ginger mane. And judging by the wary looks her dorm-mates were giving her, she was acting like one too.

She gathered her unruly tresses in a messy ponytail and dragged herself down to breakfast. Most people had left the hall. Some were still lingering near the Entrance Hall, chatting in small groups. Others were hurrying away to prepare for the first lesson of the day. Her classmates were nowhere in sight. Rose couldn't blame them. One year with her had taught them to steer clear of her when she was in one of her moods.

She piled her plate with toast and scrambled eggs along with a cup of black coffee and sat down at her House table.

It was occupied by a lone figure. A blonde.

For Godric's sake, couldn't that boy just disappear and leave her in peace? As soon as he notices me, thought Rose, he would come over to pester. She often fantasized him as a pesky fly that she would quickly squish between the pages of a book. If only she could do it in real life too. She fumed to herself before casting him another glance.

But for once the swagger was absent. Malfoy was fiddling with his sandwich but not eating anything. He looked extremely subdued and on closer scrutiny, he also seemed slightly nauseated. Feeling marginally better, she finished her breakfast and went up to pack her satchel.

The first lesson was Herbology. Today, they would be studying the characteristics of the Warty Cactus, scientifically known as Mimbulus mimbletonia. Professor Longbottom had set thema foot-long essay, listing all the characteristics and uses of the plant, which was due today. Rose had already finished writing the essay long ago since Herbology was easily her favourite subject.

She rolled up the parchment carefully, slung her bag onto her shoulders and set off for Green House Two. She was almost at the door when she heard someone call her name and looked back. Albus, closely followed by Malfoy, was striding towards her. She sighed wearily.

'How is my favourite cousin today?' he grinned.

'As well as can be expected,' huffed Rose. 'But if it's solely to ascertain my wellbeing that you came, I must warn you that I'm running late.'

Al smirked. He really shouldn't mix with that Malfoy, frowned Rose. He was starting to rub off on her cousin.

'You know you are not, Rosie. Besides you happen to be Professor Longbottom's favourite student. He wouldn't doff off points from you for being late.'

'What do you want Al?' asked Rose, rolling her eyes.

'Could I have a look at your Herbology essay, coz?'

'Absolutely not. Why don't you ask your best friend to let him show you his essay?'

'C'mon Rosie. You know you're the best in Herbology. Please,' pleaded Al, making puppy-eyes.

Rose tried very hard to stay unmoved but the cunningly placed flattery proved very effective. She soon found her defences crumbling.

'Why didn't they place you in Slytherin?' she grumbled, as she drew out her neatly written essay.

'Oh the Sorting Hat tried to. But I refused.' Albus smirked again as he went through the article quickly. Then he handed it over and gave her a one-armed hug. As he went back to join his friend, Rose noticed him jerk his head at Malfoy and send a look that said 'See?'. Malfoy , in turn, shrugged. Rose narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Those two were definitely upto something.

The three separated inside the Green House. Albus and Malfoy went to a corner seat at the back, while Rose sat down with her close friend Amanda at the front.

The day was rather uneventful, much to Rose's surprise. She had earned twenty points for her remarkable essay (as Professor Longbottom put it), and she had managed to do rather well in the Transfiguration class. By lunchtime she was feeling nearly as normal as any girl facing her first detention was supposed to feel. Malfoy was nowhere to be found, which was another plus point. Rose caught herself pondering at his strange behavior lately before mentally slapping her own self. Arrggghh! That boy. He managed to disturb her without even being present bodily.

There were no classes after lunch. So she climbed back to her dormitory to take a short nap. That's where her friend Amanda found her when she went to deliver a message.

'Hey Rose! Professor McGonagall sent me to deliver this to you,' she said handing Rose a rolled up missive.

Rose quickly unrolled it and read-

Miss Weasley,

You are to present yourself to Madam Pince at the library at five o'clock sharp for you detention. You are also to NOT take your wand along. The task is to be done without magic.

Professor McGonagall.

The library! Rose almost laughed out loud in relief. There could be no better detention than spending one's time around books, even without wands. She rolled over and went to sleep.

At about five minutes to five she started for the library. It didn't take her long to notice a familiar blonde head bobbing in front of her. Malfoy, she groaned inwardly. Of course, how could she have forgotten! Both of them had received detention. But she had expected him to serve his detention in some other place. Like polishing the thousands of trophies and shields in the Trophy Room or sorting out tuberworms in the stifling green houses. Would have been apt for that fathead, she thought bitterly. But life is not always fair. Suddenly the prospect of serving detention at the library didn't feel so appealing.

Madam Pince was busy dusting some ancient tome when the duo approached her. She looked at them through dust-covered pince-nez and croaked, 'The library is closed. Come back on Monday.'

Rose looked at Malfoy who wore a rather amused expression. She cleared her throat and said, 'Actually we are here for the detention, ma'am.'

Madam Pince readjusted her pince-nez and peered at them before nodding, 'Very well. You two go to the locked room beside the Restricted Section. Your task is to dust and rearrange the scattered books on the shelves in an alphabetical order. Mind you,' she added menacingly, 'If I find any harm done to my precious books, I shall make sure that you two don't get ANY reference material from the library. Ever.'

Rose and Scorpius exchanged horrified looks before shaking their heads vigorously.

Satisfied with their response, Madam Pince handed them a rusty key and returned to her dusting.

They hurried to the locked room. The old lock protested much under pressure before opening with a groan. Dust and cobwebs greeted them promptly making them sneeze and collapse into coughing fits. Eyes watering, they took in the scene.

Books lay everywhere in this moderately large room—huge leather-covered ones that could easily double up as small coffee-tables, tiny silk-bound ones that were hardly bigger that Muggle match-boxes, books coming out of their torn covers, others bound with thick strings! A thick layer of dust covered every surface and cobwebs stretched from shelf to shelf. It was a nightmare-come-true for any cleanliness freak.

'Why do you think Madam Pince neglected this room?!' asked Rose in surprise, forgetting to be annoyed with her detention partner.

Scorpius shrugged. 'Maybe she is a Squib too. I heard Filch is a Squib and he has a thing for her.'

'She is NOT a Squib, you idiot,' replied Rose. 'You would have noticed her levitate books to return them to their shelves, if you hadn't been busy being a git all the time.'

'Yeah right.'

Rose looked around once more before saying, 'You wait here. I'm going to fetch some feather dusters, a broom and a bucket. Be right back.'

Scorpius settled down on a pile of books to wait for her. He had heaved a huge sigh of relief when he had got McGonagall's missive. That prat James. He hadn't been able to eat a single bite since hearing that disgusting bit of information. His stomach growled in protest. To divert his mind, he began to whistle a merry tune. He was getting fidgety and impatient when he heard Madam Pince's shocked croak, 'How dare you sit on my precious books?!' He froze. 'you defile these sacred tomes by daring to plant your pretty blonde posterior onto their sacred surface!' Pince continued.

Wait, what?! Scorpius turned around sharply, only to find Rose doubled over in silent laughter, clutching at a broom for support.

'Merlin's beard! That was you all along!'

'Yeah, i-it was m-me,' stuttered Rose between gleeful chuckles.

'You gave me such a fright. For a moment there I honestly thought it was Pince reprimanding me!'

'What gave me away?'

'My 'pretty blonde posterior',' snorted Malfoy.

Rose sniggered as she handed him the broom and a bucket. 'Serves you right for landing us both in detention.'

'Excuse me!'

'You are excused.'

Scorpius glowered at her back. 'If I remember correctly, it was not me who suddenly turned into an angry, hissing cat and flew at the other person's throat without warning!'

Rose whirled around, eyes blazing. 'And if I remember correctly, it was definitely not me who waved his unfairly obtained Transfiguration marks at every person he could find.'

'Hey! It was NOT unfairly obtained!'

'Neither were my Defense Against the Dark Arts marks. But you still told anyone who would listen that it was unfairly gotten!'

'I was kidding, alright. I knew no one would believe me.'

'I DON'T CARE WHAT OTHERS CHOOSE TO BELIEVE! BUT YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY SUCH THINGS, MALFOY!'

'Stop making a scene or we would land in more detention,' hissed Malfoy. 'As for waving those Transfiguration paper at you, I did it to get a response from you. You had suddenly got quiet and inattentive at class. I never pegged you as someone who couldn't handle defeat gracefully.'

'Yes I can!'

'Well then prove it. Stop behaving like a petulant child and get over it.'

'Only if you stop being a pompous prat around me,' she beat out, with her hands on her hips.

'Touché Weasley.'

'So…,' he said looking around, 'Where do you suggest we start?'

Rose's bossing nature took over. 'First we need to clear a space to sit in the room. Then we can move to dusting and rearranging.'

Back to normal, thought Scorpius grinning.

They started with clearing a path to the middle of the room. By the time they reached the middle, they were coated in dust from head to foot. Rose swept the small space they had managed to clear before settling down to sort the books according to subject.

They worked steadily through a huge pile of books, dusting and stowing them away on the shelves. This is a really boring work, thought Scorpius. He was busy dusting a rather heavy volume and feeling slightly drowsy when—

'Eek!'

He promptly dropped Aryabhatt and His Influence on Modern Astronomy on his big toe. Muttering obscenities under his breath he shoved it back onto the shelf before turning around. 'What happened?'

'I-I think I stepped on a mouse, or something squishy!'

The area was searched, but whatever it was, had scurried back to its hidey-hole. Scorpius sent her a highly amused look as Rose let out her breath in relief.

'Didn't know you were scared of mice!'

'I'm not scared of mice! I was just…startled.'

'You seem to a rather large number of startling experiences lately, what with the Transfiguration…'

'Malfoy, if you don't wish to end up as a permanent resident of St. Mungo's, you'd better not complete that sentence.'

'Alright, alright,' he held up his hands. 'No leg-pulling.'

They returned to their task with renewed vigour. They had reached the alphabet 'H' when Rose gave an audible gasp. Scorpius bumped his head on a shelf in his haste to look up. 'Now what?' he asked in an irritated tone, rubbing his head.

'These are really rare and valuable books,' she said, carefully turning the pages of a fragile and stained tome. 'I wonder why she never bothered to take care of these books!'

'Probably terrified of mice,' Scorpius snorted.

'Don't be daft. Didn't you hear me say she can do magic! She could have easily blasted them away with a spell or something.'

'What?!' he gave Rose a mock horrified look. 'And accidentally harm my precious books?!' he mimicked Madam Pince. He cradled a book in his arms in the manner of holding a newborn babe and crooned to it, 'Don't worry, my precious. Mommy won't let anyone harm a single page of yours.' Then he rocked it a little and bent down to kiss it tenderly before putting it back in its shelf.

Rose was trying very hard not to laugh but his antics were turning out to be too hilarious. As he turned back, they looked at each other and burst into guffaws. They rolled about in the dust, clutching at their stomach and gasping for breath. Finally when they could control themselves, they sat up.

'You're right,' said Rose, wiping away tears of mirth. 'She probably sings them a lullaby each night before locking up.' She caught Malfoy's eye and promptly burst into another laughing fit as he chuckled.

The tension between them seemed to have lessened considerably. Rose could feel her resentment towards Malfoy dissolving bit by bit. He was not a bad companion to serve detention with, come to think of it. Perhaps they could be friends someday…

'Hey Carrots!'

…then again, perhaps not.

Scorpius was thinking along almost the same lines. Rose was not a bad person to hang out with. In fact, take away her temper and she was actually quite amusing. Much like Albus. But she was a force to reckon with once she was riled up. Why do I like to rile her up anyway, thought Scorp.

'Hey Carrots!' He could feel the holes she was making on the back of his head with her glower.

He turned around to find her standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

'Didn't you hear me?'

'No! You were saying the name of some vegetable. And since I'm not one,' she shrugged.

'Are you sure you are not?'

Rose snatched up a book, ready to chuck it at him.

'Hey! Hey! Careful. If anything happens to these books, Pince would have my head!'

'Sounds all the more tempting,' she countered.

'Both our heads!'

'Still sounds tempting enough.'

Scorpius guffawed. 'My my. Aren't you one blood-thirsty wench!'

They had almost completed rearranging the books when Madam Pince informed them that their detention was over. Both heaved a huge sigh of relief, and quickly trotted off to stow away the cleansing equipments. Then they met at the entrance of the library. An awkward silence prevailed. What do you say to someone whom you hated all this time only to find that he or she is actually excellent company?

'Bye then. See you around,' Rose turned to go.

'Weasley, wait!'

She stared. Scorpius was clearly gathering up courage to say something and was getting flustered in the process.

'I'm sorry,' he mumbled at length.

'Pardon?!' Rose couldn't hide her astonishment.

'I said I'm sorry.' A bit louder this time.

'What for?!'

Scorpius shuffled his feet. 'For everything I suppose.'

'I'm still in the dark. Mind casting some light?'

He huffed out an exasperatedly and said, 'Look. I know I've been a complete jerk since we met in first year. I've tried my hardest to make your life miserable ever since you threw me that challenge…'

'What challenge?' Rose mentally admitted that she truly liked watching a flustered Malfoy.

'The challenge about being best in studies. You were always better than me. And I knew it. So I always took pleasure whenever I bested you in something. I'm sorry.'

'And what about making fun of me every opportunity you got?'

'Yeah that as well,' he mumbled, turning pink.

'And doing a victory dance in front of me every time you got an answer right,' supplied Rose.

'That too.'

'And shoving your Transfiguration test paper under my nose any chance you got.'

Scorpius nodded.

'And strutting around like a poppy-cock.'

'Hey! I don't strut,' he looked indignant.

Rose sniggered. 'Whatever. Please go on.'

Scorpius frowned at her before continuing, 'Well I'm trying to apologize for being a nuisance basically. And specially for irritating you with that test score. Though it was done for a good purpose,' he added as an afterthought.

'Hmmm,' Rose nodded her head thoughtfully. 'What brought about this astonishing realization?'

Malfoy looked even more uncomfortable if possible. He kept looking everywhere except at her. 'I realized you were actually not like the others when we were working together in the library. You don't judge people by their ancestory. I must have been deaf and blind not have seen that in the first year itself.'

'Yes you were. You know I felt really hurt when you rejected my support on the first day at Hogwarts.'

'I'm so sorry.'

Rose nodded her head gravely. That seemed to reassure Malfoy. He released the pent up breath he was holding unawares. As if he was expecting a slap or worse, ridicule.

'So…am I forgiven?' he asked tentatively.

'Not yet.'

He deflated a little.

'You promise never to irritate me again?'

'I promise.'

'Or to make fun of me in front of the others?'

'Yes.'

'Shake hands on it.' They shook hands.

As they started walking, Scorpius ventured, 'But I won't give up competeing.'

'Won't have it any other way.'

'Really?! I thought we could be friends!'

'You know Malfoy,' mused Rose, walking at a brisk pace, 'Sometimes you take the Muggle phrase 'as dumb as a blonde' to newer heights.'

'Meaning?' said Malfoy, hurrying to keep up.

'Meaning we could be friends and still be enemies. Friendly rivals. Got it?'

'Oh! Yeah. Right.'

And almost without realizing, they had forged a friendship based on mutual rivalry that evening. As the newly made 'frenemies' walked side-by-side in silence, Scorpius suddenly said, 'Hey Carrots! Can I have a look at your Herbology essay?'

'No.'

'Oooh…competition?'

'No. Because you broke the promise you just made.'

'Hey! I didn't promise not to call you Carrots!'

'Yes but you promised never to irritate me. And that name does.'

'But,' Scorpius argued, 'what if you suddenly decide that my breathing irritates you? Am I supposed to stop breathing?'

Rose narrowed her eyes. Scorpius smirked.

'Fine!' she beat out, 'but then I get to call you Snowy.'

She skipped back to her dormitory, leaving a spluttering Malfoy behind.