Chapter One

"Malfoy!"

I heard my name being called but didn't bother to turn around. I could tell by the voice exactly who it was and knew they would be able to catch up. Just as I'd expected Chastin Zabini appeared at my side.

"I can't believe you weren't made head boy!"

"You were much better suited." I said, attempting to sound sincere. My lone male ally, Zabini enjoyed the amenities of my civility and empathy.

"Really? You're the best, mate."

"Yup." I said, "However, I am a bit peeved that I won't have the pleasure of sharing living quarters with the lovely Miss Weasley."

Chastin took a moment to look shocked, but once he realized the joke I'd made, he laughed. "She's not all bad, I'm sure!"

"Neither are dragons, but I'm not lining up to purchase an egg to raise, am I?"

"You can't compare Miss Weasley to dragons!"

"Sure I can. Name one difference between the two."

"Hm," he said, pausing as we parted to walk around two nervous first years. I remembered how it was back then, trying to act calm while I was terrified. Bumping into James Potter and getting my hair turned pink. Those were the days.

"Weasley doesn't breathe fire." He finally said.

"That may be so, but smoke sure does shoot from her ears."

"She's never been angry a day in her life!"

"I beg to differ. Every time I'm in her presence something seems to irk her."

Chastin laughed, warranting a frown from me. "Because you're around!"

"I'm not sure why it'd matter to that minger if I was around or not. When I see her, I hardly notice she's there unless she gets in the way."

"Oh hush, you nutter! Say all you'd like but you must admit she's soft on the eyes."

Never. I would never let the words pass my lips that the slag was even the least bit pretty. "I hope I don't see her now for I'd like to keep my nosh, thanks."

"Blimey Malfoy, why is it that you hate her so much?"

"I don't." There was no way in all hell that I was going to tell him, so I'm not certain why he bothered to ask. I had hated Rose Weasley since I was twelve years old and as far as I was concerned, I would hate her for the rest of my life. There was no petty dispute, no half-arsed reason for why I felt the way I did. What Rose had done changed my world, took everything away from me. I was not all that certain that she knew what she'd done, and maybe I was being a bit dramatic, but that mattered little to me.

Chastin was preparing to say something clever to brass me off no doubt when the devil herself sprouted from the woodwork before us. "I've been looking for you, Zabini." She said, entirely composed until she spotted me beside him. She nodded at me. "Malfoy."

I ignored her.

"What'd you need?" he asked her, attempting to end the awkward silence.

"I-um…"

I made her nervous, and it pleased me. "You may speak, Weasel."

"I don't need your permission!" she said, I could tell it hadn't come out as sternly as she had hoped. Her cheeks began turning a violent shade of red.

"Is that so?"

"Zabini, there are Head duties we must attend to…"

"Try not to have too much fun, mate." I said, patting Chastin on the back. "Sounds like she's a bit randy. Maybe you can do all of the Prefects afterwards, eh Weasel?"

Rose shot me a stunned look, then turned and stormed away. I yelled out, calling her a few choice words, then turned and headed in the opposite direction. Chastin stayed rooted to the spot, feeling like the awkward middle-man like usual and not sure what to do. "I-I'll see you in the morning Malfoy!"

I said nothing.

I took the long way down to the dungeons. While there is nothing I would rather have done than sit in the Common Room and chat up a dozen or so first years, I was in no humor to do so. I had just descended the spiraling stairs into the dungeon when I was spotted. Victoria had been walking towards the potions room, which was across from the stairs I had just come from.

"There you are, Scorpius." She said, giving me a stern look. "Where the dickens have you been? I've been sulking around waiting for you for ages!"

I laughed, shrugging. "Got lost on the way down."

"Did Zabini get ahold of you again?"

"Of course."

Victoria shook her head and sighed. "That lad, I tell you. Sometimes I wonder if he's not better suited for Hufflepuff."

"He couldn't be, at least they're good finders. Zabini can barely find his own mind each morning."

She smiled at me, and tugged on my arm for me to walk with her. "You're in a good mood." The door to the potions room opened easily when she bumped it with her hip.

"Not completely." I admitted.

She peeked around behind me, though it was useless because the door had already closed. "Where is that git anyway?"

"He was beckoned away for Head duties."

She scoffed, "I don't know how that idio- oh. She was there?"

I nodded, leaning against a table and crossing my arms. It was dark, so Victoria lit a few of the candles around the room for light. Once it was more illuminated, I saw that she was frowning.

"What did you say?" she asked.

I watched as she hopped up and slid herself onto the table across from me. She was rather short, and her legs swung back and forth in the open space. I often commented on how adorable her height was, earning myself a nice knock on the jaw, as she could barely reach my head. "I had the intention of remaining silent during the duration of our encounter."

"But…" she ushered.

"But, I took one look at her and started off."

"Scorpius Hyperion, you leave that sad, homely girl be!" As she was my best mate since I was born, naturally Victoria knew why I disliked Miss Weasley so. "What'd you say to her, exactly?"

"At some point I may have implied upon her slagginess."

"You called her a slag? Again?"

"I don't remember, I try to forget my meetings with her as soon as possible."

"You do know that girl has never even seen herself naked a day in her life, let alone someone else."

"Oh I'm sure her and Potter used to spank each other around when they were wee ones."

"Now he's never done anything to you. And you can't say that he has."

"It doesn't matter; he's related to that bint and his dick-head of a brother, James."

Victoria climbed down from the table and walked over to me. I closed my eyes so she couldn't read any of my emotions. I'm not sure if that worked, but I did it all the time. Next thing I know, I felt her punching me in the side. "Stop, Parkinson."

But the strikes did not relent. She kept hitting me until I opened my eyes. "You stop being in such a foul mood, Scorpius Malfoy, at least to me."

"I'm not in a 'foul mood'." I said, and she hit me again. "Fine, I'm sorry."

"Good." She said, "But you should really go a bit easier on her this year. No girl likes to be hated by a bloke; it's the worst."

"Since when are you Miss Congeniality?" I asked, earning another blow to the chest.

"I'm not." She said, finally leaving me be.

Victoria was acting rather strange, and I couldn't tell why, as I was usually able to. With her being so close to me, I noted her eyes darting around towards the door, and she was bouncing on her feet. "What were you coming in here for, anyway? Before you ran into me."

"I was looking for you." She said, just the smallest bit too quickly. Something was up. Secrets were not allowed in our friendship. I would have asked her blatantly what she was up to, but all I really wanted to do was to go to my dormitory and sulk.

"In the potions room?" I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and yawned.

"I, well, I needed to get something in here and…you look exhausted, you should go lie down."

"What is it you were looking for, I'll help you find it and we can both go back together."

"Scorpius Malfoy, must you be so nosy? I'm meeting a friend in here if you must know everything!"

"A friend?" I asked, my stomach dropped at the thought of Victoria meeting up with some bloke. She was like my sister, and although she had a few months on me, I felt like her older, wiser brother. I wanted to protect her, though she needed no protection. "I like making friends."

She tugged on my arm and attempted to drag me to the door. I could have resisted but I was so tired that I didn't particularly care that much. "You get out of here, now. And don't you come back here and spy on me either."

"You're lucky I'm sleepy because I would have."

She glared at me, but stopped tugging. "This is important to me, Scorpy."

I felt her fingers trembling on my arm, and realized that she was gripping me now out of nervousness. "What's the matter, Tor?"

"Just nervous is all." She said, taking her hands off of me and crossing them across her chest.

"It's a bloke, of course."

"Yes."

"You like him?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"Will you tell me who it is?"

"Never." She said, smiling. "But I shall tell you what happens, everything, if you leave now."

"Everything but a name."

"Yes, so go."

I rolled my eyes and let her push me out the door into the hall. I headed for the Slytherin commons, and was almost there when my over-protectiveness got the better of me. I hurried back to the potion classroom, hiding a few doors down so I had a view of whoever would come down from the spiral stairs. I only had to wait for maybe five minutes before a tall figure emerged. It was dark, and I didn't want to emerge from the shadows and reveal myself, so I strained to see his face. All I could make out was messy dark hair before he opened the door and disappeared into the room with Victoria. My best pal. For a moment, I thought I knew who it was. But that was too ridiculous, not even Tor would stoop that low. Besides, she knew how angry that would make me. Ridiculous.

I eased my worries by reassuring myself that there was no way that they could know each other, and that there were hundreds of kids with dark hair at Hogwarts. When I was sure that they wouldn't emerge and catch me walking away, I left from my hiding spot and hurried off to go to sleep. As I lay in bed, sulking as I had planned, my mind wandered to who I had thought it had been sneaking around with Victoria. I laughed out loud at the idea alone.

Still, I couldn't sleep until I heard the wall to the common room open and let her inside.