Just because I hadn't seen the Room of Requirement for myself that time doesn't mean I was about to avoid the Room for the rest of my life. Even though the Room of Requirement reminded me of them all the time, I became...fascinated with the magic involved with the Room and took time to visit it at least a few times a week.

And, what would you know, I even caught Weasley sneaking in once, close to midnight. Which is, of course, way past curfew. But, as I too was drawn to the Room, I let her go without confronting her. I didn't want her to be the one creating a fuss over this. I was the one in control. I didn't blame her for visiting the Room, and I often wondered how many times she'd been there since the discovery.

Why was I thinking about Weasley again, anyway? Bloody hell.

I had even tempted telling Sue and Chris about the Room of Requirement, but I thought better of it. It had seemed the Potter/Weasley gang had kept their mouths shut about it, and I was going to do the same. I wasn't always unreasonable—only when I was ticked off, and that usually happened when I was around Weasleys.

There were so many Weasleys at Hogwarts; it would be a pain in the arse to attempt even trying to avoid them. As soon as you turned a corner, or entered a room, a Weasley would always guaranteed to be there. I swear.

Speaking of Weasleys.

As I passed the entrance, and I noted with interest that Weasley was coming in from the outside.

The outside.

"Weasley, out of school? What a surprise." I frowned, suspicious. Whatever she was up to, it was probably not something good. Especially at Halloween.

"What's wrong with me being out of school?" She shot back. Fighting back, eh? This was interesting.

I blinked, taking my time to come up with a usable taunt. "Some goody-goody student such as yourself should be studying."

"It is Halloween, Malfoy. I deserve a break," she pointed out, her voice smug. I scowled at her. As if I needed reminding that it was Halloween. Furious with her attitude, I took a step forward, a nasty comeback in mind:

You, taking a break? Is the world about to end?

But I never got my chance.

I tripped over something invisible, and Weasley shrieked with laughter, gloating at her success. She pulled off the Cloak of Invisibility from whatever I had stumbled on.

It was a pumpkin.

A pumpkin.

Me, Scorpius Malfoy, fallen, because of a pumpkin.

I briefly imagined hurling said pumpkin right at her face, and I felt a bit better. I pulled out my wand, my mind spinning with all the spells Father had showed me before. "This is unacceptable, Weasley," I growled.

There must be something even worse than a pumpkin punching your face. There has got to be.

"Oh yeah?"—she was still laughing—"It's against school rules to trip people with pumpkins now, is it?"

I loathed her. Oh, yes, I did. I despised her more than I hated anything else in the world.

I remembered a story Father once told me, about a time (one of his few victories involving Potter) where he had magically grown Weasley's mother's teeth. Mother and daughter experiencing the same pain was a satisfying thought.

"Densaugeo!" I yelled out the spell. Weasley, unexpecting the attack, was struck directly on her still-laughing mouth.

Score!

"YOU GIT!" She hollered at me, her voice sounding slightly odd now that her front teeth were extending at an extremely fast rate. I found her appearance rather amusing. She desperately tried to counter the spell, but her knowledge was a lot less than mine. Her teeth continued growing longer. "YOU BLOODY SON OF A BANSHEE!" I scoffed at her. What sort of curse phrase was that?

Before I could act again, she managed to hit me with a hex, and I groaned as slime began dripping down my front. By now, a few students had gathered to watch, and some cheered as I tried to brush the slime off.

I suppose she wasn't too bad, though her dueling definitely needed work.

"Rose? Rosie!"

Ah, great, now her over-protective cousins had entered the scene. She really was weak on her own.

"OUT OF THE WAY, YOU LOT!" James Potter bellowed, clearing a path through the crowd, "LEAVE MY COUSIN ALONE!"

"Come on, Rosie, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing," the younger Potter tried calming Weasley down, and shot me a glare over his shoulder as he did so.

What was with Potters and Weasleys always blaming me? It was Weasley who had started this whole...shebang.

All of a sudden, I felt a stab of pain in my stomach, and I yelled out with pain before I could stop myself. I could see a flash of red hair. I hated Weasleys.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Roared Headmistress McGonagall, pushing her way into the crowd. "Students using magic on each other in the halls? Filch! What happened to your patrolling?"

Filch walked beside her. "I-I'm sorry, Madam..." he said before grabbing students and dragging them away from the mess.

"Reducio!" snapped McGonagall, shrinking Weasley's teeth back to their normal size. As soon as they were once again Weasley-sized, she went on, "Miss Weasley, do explain to me what had just happened, and perhaps you know why Mr. Malfoy is covered in slime?"

"It was all my fault," she muttered, hanging her head. At least she admitted it. The bloody git. Dominique Weasley handed her a handkerchief which she used to wipe her face before continuing, "I-I was planning to...cause Malfoy some pain with a pumpkin. He tripped over it, became furious, and h-hexed me. It was probably James who hexed him afterwards, but I don't know..."

It was obviously a Weasley who had hexed me!

Mcgonagall nodded thoughtfully. "Very well, Miss Weasley. Let's see, that will be twenty points from Gryffindor for both you and Mr. Potter, and ten from Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy. I really am disappointed in you. You three are all banned from the feast, and meet Mr. Filch by the school entrance next Saturday at midnight for detention. That is all. And now, please excuse me...I have to go attend the decorations..."

I stared after the Headmistress's retreating form, my mind fuming.

And I had to lose points for Slytherin because...?

That hex on Weasley was purely out of self-defense!

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