Disclaimer: I do not own any recognisable characters in this Fan Fiction

Chapter 2: Mystery

Scorpius groaned. He hated being fourth year sometimes. Slam bang in the middle; too old for the stupid naivety of the years below and too inexperienced for the years above. Although that wasn't strictly true and last night was an indication of that. Why had he smoked the pot when he has a game today? He groaned again. God he hated life sometimes. Although last night was good in itself if he was honest and there was nothing he regretted doing at all. He just regretted doing it when he was supposed to be whipping Gryffindor arse in three hours. When he felt his eyes start to drift shut he made himself sit up. Oh no; sunlight. He growled and cursed Rose Weasley for having the weed, for kissing him, for laughing, for talking, for being there: in his place.

He hauled himself out of bed, threw some robes on and headed down to breakfast. He never waited for the other boys in his team as he was never particularly good friends with them. When he entered the Great Hall he was still bleary eyed from the night before and looked over to the Gryffindor table to see how the Weasley girl was holding up. She was annoyingly unfazed by last night. He couldn't help but wonder how often she went out like she did last night. He made his way over to the Slytherin table and sat next to his roommate, Louis Zabini, and ate his breakfast quietly, allowing himself to slowly wake up.

"Where were you last night Scorpius?" Damn. He knew he should have sat next to someone less observant, although that doesn't really narrow it down a lot considered that Louis was the son of the two most observant people that his dad knew at school; Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson.

"Walk," Scorpius replied simply, knowing there would be more questions later, maybe they were being asked now but Scorpius didn't notice. He was too busy looking over at the Gryffindor table at a certain red- head in his year. She was laughing with her cousins and friends. He hadn't really noticed her before. Not that she was unnoticeable, she constantly had her hand up in class; a trait she had, according to his father, picked up from her mother. They hadn't ever really spoken until the previous night. That's why he was staring, he justified to himself. The girl was a mystery. She was a beautiful, enchanting, unpredictable mystery and that intrigued him. He wanted to learn more, wanted to know more, about this girl. So he would. He was a true Malfoy in that way: always determined, especially when it came to something he wanted. He wanted her. Not necessarily in a sexual way, anyway was good other than sitting on the outside looking in.

"Scorpius?" The train of thought the blonde had been on was stopped by Louis.

"Hmm?" Scorpius asked,

"Shouldn't you go get ready; you've got a match to prepare for, haven't you?" 'Shit!'

"Yeah," with one last glance over at the Gryffindor table he left the Great Hall to go toward the dungeons. Just as he was leaving, he heard his name being called and turned to see those eyes again. His breath caught slightly in his throat when he saw them. They were beautiful. He realised his mouth was open and that he was once again staring. He didn't know what to say in response to his name, how does that work? He settled for: "Hello," not too condescending, shows acknowledgement, isn't chummy but doesn't make him sound superior. 'Well done you!' he thought.

"Listen, Scorpius, I was hoping that you wouldn't tell anyone about last night," she paused as if remembering something and then looked utterly appalled, she added "I meant about the weed not any of the other stuff, well if you want to tell people the other stuff, you know with the talking and the..." she trailed off. She suddenly changed her expression again, how can one girl change the look on her face so often in so little time, "see you on the pitch," she said. 'Ah,' he thought 'that's her game face?'

"Yeah," was all he could say, "hope you're ready for us to totally annihilate you!" he said before walking away, quicker than usual. 'What the fuck Scorpius?' he thought, 'no one says annihilate, ever! Smooth move Casanova!'

After totally humiliating himself in front of the girl he had a crush on, changing for the match and warming up he was ready. He was still kicking himself for saying 'annihilate' but he was ready to do just that and make his father proud of him. Unlike his father, Scorpius was not quick with his eyes. He was, however, quick and had amazing aim as well as being able to catch brilliantly. He had got onto the team as Chaser on raw talent; this made his father proud, as Grandfather Lucius had apparently needed to secure Draco's place on the team by buying the whole of the team the latest brooms. Scorpius looked up to the stands and saw his mother and father looking proudly out at the Quidditch pitch. He couldn't help but feel contented with himself for that; for seeing the obvious pride on his father's face.

He took a sweeping look at the stadium and couldn't believe how many people there were in the stands; ok so matches between Slytherin and Gryffindor were legendary but they don't have the same meaning behind them as they did when Dad was playing, there was barely house rivalry anymore because his father's generation was scared of another war. Scorpius looked around at his team and felt confident, the captain was extremely talented and the only weak player was one Chaser that was only ever passed to when needed: cruel but true.

They walked onto the pitch and he saw her. Her beautiful wavy auburn hair pinned back like the night before, with a few stray strands whipping in the wind around her face, Scorpius had the sudden urge to walk up to her and tuck them behind her ears. 'No Scorpius, focus, she is on the opposing team right now and the biggest threat of them all,' he thought to himself. The whistle was blown and Rob Jordan roared from the stands: "And they're off!"

The match was close and Scorpius had no chance to even comprehend that Rose was on the pitch unless he was trying to get the ball off of her. So when Jordan suddenly yelled: "What's that going on in the corner between Weasley and Wood?" his head suddenly snapped up. He saw Rose Weasley and Thomas Wood kissing in mid air: just the same way he'd been kissed the previous night. This didn't make sense; why do it in the middle of a game for Merlin's sakes, it's just rude! Rage started to bubble within his veins and make his blood boil. Why was he so jealous? It was only a kiss last night and they were both high, which makes it even less meaningful than if they were sober. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a huge black ball headed for the couple. He raced the Bludger knowing that he would be too slow to stop it but fast enough to catch her. With an all mighty thud the wind was knocked out of her petite frame and she fell. Scorpius picked up speed so that she wouldn't hit the ground.

"Well this is quite the event! Malfoy has caught Weasley! Oh happy day! 10 points off the scoreboard for Slytherin as the Bludger was not within either Chasers possession. Slytherin 100, Gryffindor 90!" Scorpius looked down at the girl in his arms and smiled when she opened her beautiful hazel eyes. She smiled back.

"Are you alright?" he asked so it was just audible,

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Well you were sucking Wood's face off and some smart aleck broke it up by sending a Bludger your way,"

"Oh," she said and realised what she had done, "Scorpius, he just – I didn't expect – I don't know why-"

"Don't worry about it Weasley. I don't need an explanation, although, if I were you I wouldn't go kissing people while the game's still on,"

"Oh, yeah, right, well... where's my broom, we need to get back to play."

He looked out over the school grounds from the highest point in the castle. Scorpius was sat precariously on the edge of the Astronomy Tower with his guitar on his knee. He gently strummed the strings in random chords and thought about what had happened on the Quidditch pitch a few days before. It had been a week since the kiss and he couldn't get it out of his head. For this same reason he didn't go to the foot of Gryffindor tower, he wanted to avoid the chance of it happening again. She was back down there her sillouette evedent in the night and an ashy glow moving up and down occasionally. What Scorpius didn't understand was why he seemed so affected by the fact that she was with Wood. It wasn't like they even knew each other very well, Scorpius and she; so what they'd had a joint together and kissed? It wasn't like that was binding, like that meant that they were going out. But it had felt different to him when he kissed her, and he thought it wasn't the drugs - maybe it was.

"Hey stranger," came a calm musical voice behind him. He turned round, he knew that voice; it was her.

"Hey," he said "how did you know I was up here?"

"Don't flatter yourself Malfoy," she said with a slight hint of annoyance in her tone, "I wasn't looking for you; I just like it up here is all." She lay on the ground and gazed up at the blinking colourful specks in the sky. "What were you playing?" she said pointing at his guitar.

"Oh, I wasn't really. It just helps me think sometimes, brings a bit of peace to my thoughts, you know?"

"Play something," the instruction was not delivered forcefully but that was probably why he did what she asked. He started to play some random chords that went together. She started to sway her head with the music and began to sing. It was the most surreal experience Scorpius had ever had, it was like she could read his mind and knew what he was going to play next. Like they were one person, Rose the voice and Scorpius the hands. They went on for what seemed like hours and she slowly died out, he played a few more chords to make sure that she wasn't going to start up again. She gradually sat up and looked into his silver grey eyes. Their eyes locked and a lot was said between them without words.

"So, you and Wood then?" he said breaking the silence,

"Yeah, I guess. To be honest it's just as much a shock to me as anyone else in the school, I really didn't see that one coming,"

"Mm,"

"Well done at the Quidditch by the way, you were the better team; Fred hadn't prepped us very well for the match,"

"Thanks, are you feeling better after that? I mean it was a long way to fall,"

"Yeah, I'm fine. If you hadn't caught me I don't know what I would have done," she smiled. He smiled back, feeling truly happy. Her smile widened and she suddenly got very interested in the ground. She pulled her knees in to her chest and hugged them. Scorpius got down from his perch and placed his guitar against the wall by his feet. He sat with his knees up and slightly parted next to her on the stone ground. His eyes didn't leave her face, trying to understand. She kept hers down; she didn't want to look at him, she was too embarrassed. She was supposed to be a strong independent girl, that's what all the women in the family were. She can't show weakness. Smiling was weakness.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked. She looked up and saw his eyes; they were searching desperately, asking her a question.

"Nothing, it wasn't you. You're being nice. Don't worry about me," she got scared and stood up quickly. He hadn't realised how close their faces were until she stood up. "I should be going," she said, looking anywhere but him, backing away. He stayed sat with his arms lazily placed on his knees; he kept searching her face for any indication as to what had gone wrong. Had he said something? Had he looked at her the wrong way? Was she aware of the fact that he desperately wanted to taste her honey lips again? His brows were furrowed with worry, she noticed. 'Oh god,' she though 'he can't be worried about me; I won't let him worry about me.' "Right then," she said hurriedly "I'm going. Nice to see you. See you later maybe. Bye." With that she rushed down the steps before he could protest, her auburn curls whirling behind her. 'She really is a mystery,' he thought to himself before grabbing his guitar and heading to the dungeons.

AN: Hope you enjoyed this, I'm really flattered that so many of you have read it already.