Chapter 5 – Too Close For Comfort
Disclaimer - Harry Potter is not mine, he belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
"Follow me Mr. Malfoy, Miss. Weasley," Longbottom ordered with a smile.
Rose happily obliged. She was definitely not in the mood to hang out with Scorpius alone in the hallway.
After dinner had finished, Rose had gone up to the head table as ordered by Longbottom and now she was following him up several flights of stairs and through winding hallways, while keeping at least a metre's distance away from Scorpius at all times.
"And... here we are," Longbottom announced stopping in front of a portrait of a white wolf and a golden Labrador retriever, both animals staring at each other curiously in the light of a crescent moon. Rose couldn't help but notice they both looked a bit lost.
"This is the entrance to the head dormitories?" Rose asked in confusion.
"Yes," Longbottom replied, while surveying the portrait as if he had never seen it before. "Now the two of you will have to come up with your own password later, but for now, the password is 'fire orchid'."
Rose stared at the painting of the wolf and the lab, the two animals now sniffing each other curiously. "Nothing happened," Rose stated blankly and Scorpius snorted next to her.
"That's because you have to say the password," Longbottom said with a chuckle. "The portrait only recognizes your voices and Professor Monroe's as a safety precaution."
Rose turned back to the portrait. "Fire orchid," she stated loudly. The animals in the portrait both suddenly perked up at the sound of her voice and with a loud creak the portrait swung open to reveal an open doorway that led to a small hallway.
"After you," Scorpius gestured towards the portrait hole and Rose gave him an unpleasant look before stepping through the doorway and walking quickly down the narrow passage. Rose then turned the corner at the end of the hallway to walk straight into a miniature version of the Gryffindor common room that was equipped with two narrow stairways, which Rose had to guess led to her and Scorpius' rooms.
Rose stepped further into the room to survey her surroundings. The walls of the room were entirely made of large grey coloured slabs of stone, which were covered by several dozen photo's of previous head boy's and girl's. On another wall, magically hanging from where the ceiling met the wall, were two large Gryffindor and Slytherin banners. Rose let her eyes drift lower only to smile at the large stone fireplace, a fire roaring away inside of it, with 2 comfy red arm chairs, a dark green couch and a large oak coffee table sitting in front of it. Rose could already imagine curling up in front of that fire to read a book once winter settled in, something she had done regularly back in the Gryffindor common room. Rose looked around the rest of the room to see two desks, each respectively in front of their own ceiling high glass window, which were situated on the wall opposite the one with the Gryffindor and Slytherin banners draped over it.
Rose walked towards the staircases and looked back behind her to stare at Longbottom. "Do these go to our rooms?"
"Yes," Longbottom replied. "Miss. Weasley your bedroom is on the left and Mr. Malfoy's yours is on the right. Both staircases are also connected to the bathroom that the two of you will be sharing for the rest of the year."
"We have to share what?" Rose questioned in alarm but Longbottom ignored her question and continued speaking.
"As the both of you are most likely aware, this year you have a lot more responsibilities that you will need to stay on top of. We will discuss these things further this weekend. But for now, I must remind the two of you that you were chosen to be head girl and boy, not only because of your excellence in academics, but because of the natural leadership qualities the two of you possess. The two of you are role models for not only younger students, but older ones as well, and I must stress that if either of you abuses your positions, Professor Monroe will not think twice before stripping you of your titles and replacing you," Longbottom explained seriously. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Scorpius replied in casual voice.
Rose nodded in agreement. She didn't need to be told twice about how monumental this was for her. Just having the words 'head girl' stamped on her resume when she got out of school would increase her odds of getting into the archaeology program she wanted at the ministry.
"Good," Longbottom replied. "As the two of you may know, you now have the ability to take points away from the students who break any rules, and you will also be in charge of planning any Hogsmeade visits, prefect rounds and any other school events. However, like I said before, we will go into detail about these things this weekend. So," Longbottom said before pausing to look at both Scorpius and Rose. "Are there any questions?"
"How do we change the password to our room?" Rose questioned in confusion.
Scorpius snorted yet again and Rose shot him a dirty look.
"All you have to do is tell the animals in the portrait that you wish to change the password," Longbottom explained. "They will listen to anything the two of you tell them to do. However, you must realize that the 2 of you must be together when you change the password, otherwise the change will not take place."
Rose couldn't help but feel depressed over the now lost idea of ever being able to lock Scorpius out of the common room for hours on end.
"Duly noted," Scorpius said with an amused look in Rose's direction that caused Rose's stomach to flutter happily at the attention.
"Is there anything else?" Longbottom inquired. Rose and Scorpius shook their heads. "All of your things will be up in your bedrooms and I hope you find the accommodations to your satisfaction." Longbottom said with a smile. "Have a good night."
Rose watched as Longbottom turned his back on both Scorpius and her and walked out of the room. Rose instantly went on the defensive. She was definitely not spending more time alone with Scorpius then what was absolutely necessary.
Rose waited until she heard the audible creak of the portrait closing over the door that led into the room before turning to face Scorpius.
"Well," Rose said with over-exaggerated enthusiasm. "I'm tired... so I'm off to bed." Pause. "Night." Rose practically sprinted out of the common room and up the stairs Longbottom had told her led to her room. Rose quickly grabbed a hold of the doorknob on the door at the top of the flight of stairs and wrenched it open.
She darted inside and quickly shut the door behind her. With her back to the door, she slid down to sit on the floor, knowing in the back of her mind that it was going to be nearly impossible to keep this up for the rest of the year.
Rose awoke with a start from yet another nightmare about a giant snake attacking the Labrador from the portrait that lead into the head dorms. No matter what the poor dog had done to try and get away, each and every time the snake had managed to sink its fangs into its neck, injecting poisonous venom into the dog in the process. And then she woke up.
Great. Just great. She was having nightmares about dog killing snakes and she was now living with a Slytherin. Rose turned her head to look at her alarm clock. 6:45 AM. Rose sighed and rubbed a hand over her sleepy face. She would have to get up soon so there really was no point in going back to bed. She rolled out of her bed and trotted over to the large wooden set of drawers that already had all of her clothes neatly folded inside of it. Rose pulled out one of the drawers and grabbed a large shirt to pull over the sports bra she wore to bed and with a yawn she walked to her door and opened it before descending down the stairs, only to stop halfway down the stairs on a landing that connected to a small hallway with the door to the bathroom at the end of it. Rose headed down the small hallway, trying to smooth down her hair, which she knew was a giant mess. She grasping the doorknob and pulling the bathroom door open, only to stop suddenly, her eyes widening in surprise.
Directly in front of her was none other than Scorpius Malfoy, dressed in nothing but a green towel wrapped around his waist; water dripping from his shaggy blonde hair and down his very naked body as he brushed his teeth.
Bloody hell! Rose couldn't help but be impressed by what she was staring at. Scorpius was lean without being too skinny, toned without looking too bulky and his pale skin glistening with a light sheen of water made him appear angelic. Just as Rose was about to throw herself at him, she managed to mentally slap herself back to reality.
Oh for Merlin's sake Rose Weasley! He's just a guy.
A very good looking guy.
Scorpius finally seemed to notice her standing in the doorway and his eyes turned to look at her.
"Good morning," Scorpius greeted, taking his toothbrush out of his mouth before talking.
"I'll say – I mean, you're up early," Rose replied awkwardly as she tried to keep her eyes away from Scorpius' body as much as possible.
"I went for a run," he replied and resumed brushing his teeth.
Of course.
Rose watched as Scorpius bent over and spat out his toothpaste into the sink before his gaze swept back in her direction.
Rose knew she had to be the colour of a tomato by now. Why the bloody hell did he have to be so bloody gorgeous? Her life would have been so much easier if he had a wonky eye or he walked with a limp, allowing her to ignore him easier. Maybe she had done something horrible in a past life and now she was being tortured with half naked blokes, she may or may not love, as some sort of divine retribution.
"Rose?" Scorpius asked. "You okay?"
Rose looked up, her attention refocusing on Scorpius' now grinning face, only to be hit with a sudden surge of realization.
That bastard! He had totally planned to run around almost bloody naked because he knew she'd probably lose her head. Well, two could play this game.
"Excuse me," Rose said curtly, trying, to the best of her ability, to ignore the appreciative purring her insides were making over what Scorpius could look like without the towel on. "If you are finished in here, I would like to take a shower."
Scorpius smirked. "I'm done," he replied, staring at her in a way that made her think she was wearing less clothing than he was, while failing to move an inch.
Rose bit her lip to try and keep her mind thinking coherent thoughts and she glared up at him. "Then can you leave or are you going to stand here and watch me while I shower."
"Now that's an idea," Scorpius chuckled.
Rose felt her face heat up considerably from both anger and Scorpius' suggestive tone. "Out!" she bellowed, pointing to the doorway that lead to his staircase before turning away from him.
"Alright, alright," Scorpius laughed. "I can take a hint." Rose sighed in relief as she listened to Scorpius' feet walk himself from the bathroom and up his stairs.
"Oh, Weasley?" Scorpius suddenly called out from the top of his set of stairs.
"What?" Rose replied through gritted teeth.
"Nice boxers," Scorpius answered.
Rose's eyes widened and she looked down in dread at her bottom half, only to gasp in embarrassment.
Rose's boxers had been a joke present from Lily for her last birthday in honour of one of their little inside jokes. While they only looked like a pair of normal red boxers in the front, all she had to do was turn around to reveal the words 'RED HOT' in giant capitalized gold lettering printed right on the top of her ass.
Rose, now more embarrassed than ever, marched angrily toward Scorpius' bathroom door and grabbed a hold of the side of it.
"Why don't you do the world a favour Malfoy and go drown yourself in the effing lake!" Rose shouted before slamming the door in front of her with an echoing bang.
"It couldn't have been that bad, Rose," Alice said soothingly.
"Well it was," Rose replied miserably, resting her head on the table in front of her. After taking a very long, very cold shower, in an attempt to calm both her temper and her raging hormones, Rose had sped to her room and changed into her school uniform before rushing down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Luckily, Nora and Alice had woken up early that morning after Sharon Grenning's magical alarm clock kept going off every five minutes since six that morning, failing to actually wake her up until Nora had picked it up and thrown it out the window.
"So he was actually just dressed in a towel when you walked into the bathroom?" Nora questioned in amusement.
Rose lifted her head to glower at her. "Yes, and I am so happy that you find this all so entertaining," Rose said sarcastically. "But I know you had something to do with it."
Nora chuckled. "Are you telling me that I told Scorpius to parade around half naked this morning, in the hopes that you would run into him when you woke up?"
Rose scowled at her friend and sat up in her seat. "No. But I still think you're the reason why he's acting all... charming."
"Alright," Alice said sternly. "I believe that is enough paranoid rambling for one day. My dad's here with our timetables, which we should get before the line up gets too long."
Rose got up from her seat and trudged towards where Professor Longbottom was standing with a box of schedules, which were levitating themselves into the hands of several Gryffindor's upon Longbottom's command.
The three girls stood at the back of the group as a horde of eager first years pushed past them.
"Okay," Nora said in an annoyed voice as she glared down at the heads of several first years. "I am not about to be pushed out of the way by a group of munchkins."
"Nora," Alice scolded. "They're just kids. Ignore them."
Nora ignored Alice instead. "Hello there, first years," Nora said loudly, causing the kids to turn around and then start to cower when they realized who was talking to them. "Alright kids, move aside. The wizarding world's very own menace to society and her friends need to get their timetables before we all graduate."
The first years instantly scuttled in opposite directions and Rose sighed as she followed Nora through the parted crowd. "You're lucky I'm in a bad mood Nora or I totally would have taken points from Gryffindor."
"For what?" Nora snorted as they all stopped in front of Professor Longbottom. "I didn't physically make them move."
"Hello girls," Longbottom said in a distracted voice, failing to notice how they had gotten to the front of the line, as he levitated 3 timetables into their hands.
Rose stared down at her timetable. This year she would be taking Ancient Runes, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms and Herbology. It was a pretty full schedule but Rose knew she could handle it.
"Well it looks like we have double defence first thing," Alice said as she peered down at her timetable.
Nora scowled down at the piece of paper in her hands as they made their way back to their spots at the Gryffindor table. "Goody," Nora said sarcastically. "Maybe Grant will invite me over for tea after classes are finished."
"We also have double potions after lunch," Rose said looking over at Nora.
Nora seemed to brighten at the news. "Good. Something to look forward too."
"How is Potions something to look forward too?" Alice asked in confusion as they sat down.
"Contrary to popular belief," Nora replied. "I actually do enjoy classes that don't involve me sitting on my ass for hours on end, even if Stone is the one teaching the class."
Rose knew that was true. Nora wasn't the best student in their year because she scared the professor's into giving her excellent grades. She was just legitimately very intelligent when it came to understanding all things magic. It did bother Rose quite a bit that she had to study for hours in order to get the grades that she had and all Nora had to do was read something once before it was stored forever inside her head, but she had learned to not dwell on that fact too much. However, Rose knew that Nora also wanted to talk to Scorpius. Something Rose was not too pleased about.
Once the guys had finally managed to drag themselves from bed and everyone had eaten breakfast, they began their journey through the castle towards their Defence Against the Dark Arts class on the 3rd floor.
"What do you think he's going to be like?" David asked.
"Grant?" Andy replied.
"Ya," David answered. "He was an auror after all. Maybe he'll be like Monroe."
"I think it all depends on why he isn't an auror anymore," Al said his arm slung around Nora's shoulders. "We all know that Monroe didn't leave the ministry because she wanted to take a vacation and there's still the chance that he's still working for the ministry."
Rose rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that the ministry is paranoid enough to make sure a Hogwarts professor watches Nora's every move. Monroe would never hire him."
"But what if Monroe didn't have a choice?" Andy inquired, his eyebrows raised in question.
"Then Monroe would probably have just kept teaching the class herself," Rose countered. "And the ministry knows better. We all know what happened the last time the ministry interfered at Hogwarts and Sampson is definitely not that stupid."
Rose's commanding tone quickly ended the conversation about Professor Grant and the rest of the walk to their first defence lesson of the year had been occupied by lighter topics of conversation. Upon arriving at the defence classroom, Rose walked into the room; her friends following behind her. Rose grabbed a seat at a table in the middle of the room and Nora slid into the seat beside her; while Andy and Al took the desk in front of them and David and Alice took the seats directly behind her.
The room was filled with a dull hum of excitement over what Professor Grant was going to be like and how the lesson would go. Rose peered around the room, her gaze stopping when she saw Scorpius sitting silently beside one of his Slytherin friends on the far side of the room with his eyes closed. Rose blushed at the memory of their encounter that morning and she turned her gaze towards where Zabini was sitting in front of him in a slight hunched position, as she whispered something to a haughty looking blonde Slytherin named Marina Kozlova.
Zabini's eyes suddenly flicked in Rose's direction and her gaze hardened considerably, causing Marina to turn and glare at Rose as well.
Rose shot them both dirty looks before looking away from them with a loud huff. You would think, with the way Zabini was acting, Rose was having a very public affair with Scorpius, when in reality Rose had done absolutely nothing with him. And she had definitely had a few chances to change that.
"What's wrong with you?" Nora whispered into her ear.
"Nothing," Rose grumbled.
It did not take long for the rest of the class to trickle into the room and grab their seats and as the last student dashed into the room, panting as he took the seat his friend had saved for him, Professor Grant strolled into the room with a bright smile on his face.
Rose's first thought upon seeing Professor Grant was one of horror. The scar on his face was worse that she had thought it had been. It was puckered in a way that made Rose realize that he had received it quite recently and had only just healed. What was even worse was the fact that when he smiled, the scar only seemed to pull on itself, causing Rose to wince. And that wasn't even the only scar he had. Rose could see another white scar on the side of his neck and his rolled up sleeves revealed several other minor or major scars in parallel groups that made Rose realize, with a sickening feeling, exactly what had caused them. Claws. Very sharp claws. And by the sheer number of furrowed lines on his forearms, Rose could guess that Grant had fought with whatever had attacked him.
"Good morning everyone," Grant declared in a cheery voice as he leaned on the teacher's desk at the front of the room. Everyone just stared at him with wide eyes.
Rose couldn't help but notice how close the scar on his face was to both of his bright blue eyes and how close he had obviously come to losing one of them. What the bloody hell happened to this bloke?
Grant didn't seem to notice the looks of horrified awe his new students were giving him because he continued to smile brightly. "My name is Alden Grant and, this year, I'm going to be doing my best to teach you everything I know about defending yourselves against the dark arts. Now will everyone please get out their wands so we can get started?"
Rose leaned over and grabbed her wand from her bag, placing it on her desk, while shooting Alice and David a furtive look, which they returned with wide-eyes.
"I've gone over what you've all learned in the last six years and I have come to the conclusion that Professor Monroe was very thorough when it came to teaching you all everything you really need to know. However, this means it is going to be my job to teach you bits of magic that you may never have to use... but are still valuable to know none the less. Especially for those who want to take up more dangerous careers once you graduate."
Rose gave Nora a sideways glance and she grinned back at her. It was common knowledge that Nora wanted to become an auror.
"But for now," Grant said, still smiling, scar still twisting. "I would like you all to partner up so I can see how well your duelling skills are."
A couple people groaned unhappily at the news and Nora chuckled before looking over at Rose. "Come on partner," she said. "I want to show our wonderful new professor what I can do."
Rose scowled. Great. This was definitely going to leave a bruise.
After two long periods of defence, a short introductory period of Ancient Runes and Rose's only free period of the day, which she had spent reviewing all she knew about defence against the dark arts because Grant had declared that they would be having a review test on Wednesday.
Lunch was now under way and the entire Great Hall was once again filled with the buzz of students discussing how their new classes had gone that morning.
"I think you're right, Rose," Alice said suddenly.
"About what?" Rose asked in confusion.
"About how Grant is only here to teach us defence. Monroe would never allow him to do anything but that," Alice answered.
"I don't know," David said with a chuckle. "He was watching Nora for most of the lesson."
"He was probably just afraid Nora was going to kill me," Rose said with a laugh. "I fell on my ass enough times that it's going to hurt to sit down for the next couple of days."
Nora grinned apologetically before turning to look at Al, who's head was buried in that day's edition of the Daily Prophet. "Anything exciting happening at the ministry, Al?" Nora asked.
"Not really. The biggest story of the day seems to be that Sampson has poured more money into the Obliviator's budget, which is no surprise with how there are more magic related sightings being reported by muggles than ever before- at least during times of peace."
"I'm guessing the ministry's worried about it," Nora said.
"Of course they are. Everyone is," Al replied adamantly. "The ministry knows that the second war changed the balance of power in the wizarding world. There are virtually no purebloods left since most of them were killed during the last 2 wars and the amount of muggleborn witches and wizards has sky-rocketed over the past fifty years, which is making it very hard to keep our world a secret from muggles."
"Evolution is a bitch," Nora said cryptically as she bit into an apple.
Rose bit her lip anxiously. She could barely imagine the chaos the world would be plunged into if every muggle knew about the wizarding world and magic in general.
"Well, hopefully, that won't be happening anytime soon," Andy said as he gulped down some food. "So for now, in order to entertain ourselves, I say we play 'what clawed our professor to shreds' to pass the time. I bet 5 galleons that it was a chimera."
"A chimera?" Rose snorted in disbelief.
Al grinned. "I'm going to raise those stakes mate. I bet 5 galleons that it was a griffin." Al turned to look over at David. "What do you think Dave? Griffin or chimera?"
"Neither," Dave replied as he scooped 5 galleons from his pocket and onto the table. "It was probably just a muggle animal. You know... a bear or something."
Alice giggled. "I bet 5 more galleons that it was a hippogriff. They're a lot more common than a chimera."
Andy shot Alice a look of amusement before turning to look at Nora. "What about you Nora?"
"Manticore," Nora said simply and everyone made noises of appreciation over her guess.
"Good one, Wilson," Andy said before turning to look at Rose. "Rosie?"
"I am not betting money on what obviously ended Professor Grant's career as an auror. That is just cruel," Rose replied with a frown.
"Oh come on, Rose," David said. "We'll keep the bet quiet. What do you have to lose?"
"Five galleons," Rose shot back.
"Oh I see how it is," Andy replied, faking an expression of hurt. "Now that you're head girl, you can't bear to take part in common activities like gambling with your best friends. I'm hurt, Rose. Really I am."
Rose rolled her eyes at her friend. "Fine," she said with a sigh. "I will add 5 galleons to the pot on the bet that Grant was attacked by a werewolf.
"Really?" Alice said in surprise. "You think Professor Grant is a werewolf?"
"I didn't say that," Rose replied. "Besides, it's just a guess."
"It's a pretty good guess," Al replied. "It's not like Hogwarts hasn't hired a werewolf before."
"Alright," Andy announced as he held up a napkin with all of their guesses written on it. "Thirty galleons will go to whoever can prove what nasty beastie tried to dice up our new professor. If we discover that none of our guesses attacked Grant, or we just never find out, we will all get out individual donations back from the pot."
"Anything else, Andy?" Nora said mockingly. "Will we need to get Grant's confession in writing or is a taped recording good enough?"
Andy glared at her.
"I wish my father hadn't made me take NEWT potions," David complained. "I could be outside with Alice and Andy training Nargles in Care of Magical Creatures but no, I have to stay inside the bloody dungeons for two whole periods."
"Oh stop whining, Dave," Rose snapped. "You did fine in Potions last year and I'll even be your partner this year."
"I heard that Stone is assigning partners this time around," Al said. "He doesn't want the less talented students mooching off of their more talented partners."
Dave gave Al a look of alarm. "I'm doomed. I don't even remember how I got an E on my exams last year."
"You're not that bad, Dave," Nora said comfortingly as she pushed open the doors to the dungeons. "And we will study together just like last year."
Dave just nodded as he ducked his head slightly to walk through the doorway. Rose followed behind him and took the seat next to him and Nora and Al took their seats at the desk beside Rose's. Once settled in her seat, Rose's gaze swept around the room to see who else was in the class this year, only to stop when she saw Scorpius sitting with Zabini and not looking pleased about it. Rose felt a smile creep onto her face over his displeasure but she quickly rearranged her features before anyone could notice.
Stone was already in the room, head bent over a scroll of parchment he was studying with a small smile, before looking up to stare at his students.
"Now that everyone has finally arrived," Stone said glancing over in Rose's direction. "I can tell you all who you will be working with for the rest of the year."
Everyone in the room let out shocked gasps and David just groaned mournfully.
Stone smiled slightly at the class' reaction and put on a pair of reading glasses, before lifting the piece of parchment he had been scribbling on to his face. "I will inform you all know that I will not be making any changes to the pairs I have created. You can all whine and complain as much as you like, but my decision is final."
Rose easily picked up the bitterness in the Potions Master's voice. Apparently Carson Stone now knew that he would never do more that teach adolescent's potions, who then would mostly all go on to forget 90% of what he had tried to teach them. It wasn't the same for every professor, but Stone knew he was no one's favourite.
Every person in the room just muttered angry words under their breath as Stone cleared his throat and began to read. "Albus Potter, Anwar Knight."
Rose looked over at Al as he slumped in his seat, his gaze directed at the caramel skinned Slytherin who was staring back at Al with disdain.
"Edward Cahill, Gordon Himmelman. David Tennet, Marina Kozlova."
David let out a moan of displeasure as Rose heard a shrill voice exclaim, 'I have to work with him!'
"Gary Wayland, Kia Montgomery. Nora Wilson, Tatiana Zabini."
"What?" Zabini and Nora chorused loudly before giving each other matching looks of revulsion.
Rose let out a loud snort of amusement. Was Stone off his rocker? If Nora and Zabini stayed partners for longer than a week, someone was going to get severely injured and Rose's money was on Zabini one day showing up in a full body cast.
"Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy."
All the amusement from her friend's misfortune quickly vanished in a matter of seconds. She stared wide-eyed at Stone, silently praying that he would declare that he had just made a mistake and she was partnered with someone else. But he never did. Rose stared down at her desk, feeling several sets of eyes on her back. This could not be happening. It was like some unknown force was pushing Scorpius and her together every chance it could get. Rose didn't need to be gifted in the art of divination to know that she was going to be a nervous wreck by the end of the week and maybe even worse than that if Scorpius kept trotting around in nothing but a bloody towel every morning.
Rose chanced a look in Malfoy's direction, only to instantly regret doing so because his eyes seemed to be glued to her, causing her to blush profusely.
Why, of all the people that she had to fall for, did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been an average bloke who hadn't treated her like dirt for most of the time they had known each other? She still remembered every one of his insults, from fifth year especially. He had literally been able to find anything to make fun of her for. Her hair, her freckles, how much she loved school, her general lack of experience with the opposite sex, even the fact that her front teeth were slightly larger than the rest of the teeth in her mouth, and she had hated him for it. So why was she now blushing like an idiot when he so much as looked at her? Ugh, it was pathetic.
Without realizing it, Rose's look of embarrassment had been wiped away and replaced with a death glare sent in Scorpius' direction. Scorpius seemed surprised by her reaction and he turned his gaze away from her while several people gave her wary glances. They knew for a fact that it was best to steer clear of Rose Weasley when she was angry and, boy was she angry.
"Will everyone please join up with their assigned partners," Stone ordered. "Today, you and your partner's will be creating a Hate Potion. All the instructions are in your textbook and you will be handing in your finished product at the end of the class."
Rose wasn't moving. She didn't care if Mr. Perfect had to mess up his flawless hair on the walk over because there was no way in hell she was getting up to go to him. She was furious and mostly at herself. David seemed to get the message as he stood up from his seat and began to walk over to where Marina was sitting, shooting her an anxious look over his shoulder.
"Would you stop glaring like that," Nora suddenly whispered beside her as Zabini slid into the seat Al had once been in. "You look like you're about to murder someone."
Rose shot Nora an icy look before fixing her gaze on the back of Eddie Cahill's head. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Scorpius rising from his seat, but she forced herself to keep her eyes away from him.
As Rose fumed, Scorpius walked over to where she was sitting and he squeezed in behind the chair she was sitting in to get to the empty chair beside her, never once so much as brushing a single hair on her body. Rose mentally smirked. Even Scorpius Malfoy knew when it was best to leave her alone, since he had often been on the receiving end of many of her mental breakdowns. He slid into the seat next to her and Rose's eyes peered down at how close he was to her. Now that wouldn't do. Rose, very obviously, lifted her chair slightly up, moved herself and her chair as far away from Scorpius as possible and sat her chair down with a loud thud.
Rose turned her head, her chin held high, and shot Scorpius a warning look. Scorpius just stared back at her and she watched his normal vacant expression settle across his features. Rose felt her insides breathe a sigh of relief. This was the Scorpius she was safest around. As long as he stayed detached, Rose could ignore him, and she planned on keeping him that way.
Rose pulled open her textbook to the right page and left it open on the desk. "I'll get all the ingredients we need," Rose said a clear edge to her voice. "Then I can do all the measuring and you can do the mixing. Are you good with that?" It was a challenge. Rose continued to stare at him, pouring every ounce of frustration and fury in her body in to that look, while silently daring him to request something different.
Scorpius stared back at her, his stare blank. "That's fine," he replied, his voice void of any meaningful emotion.
"Good," Rose replied with a snap and she got up from her seat, ignoring the surprised looks on several people's faces.
A/N- So this chapter had a little bit of everything. But I definitely enjoy irrational Rose. She really has no idea what she's doing and now she's making poor Scorpius upset. I'll try to update as quickly as possible and I am enjoying the love from everyone. You all make my day. Please read and review! Toodles!