Rose skidded to a halt in front of her Arithmancy class. She walked briskly inside, sat down next to Scorpius, and fumbled through her bag before finding her book and parchment. Luckily, Professor Vector was facing the blackboard and did not notice her stumble in. She found her quill in the inside of her robes and started copying down what was on the board.

"Hell of an entrance, Weasley," Scorpius whispered to her.

"Oh shut up," she snarled. She didn't look at him but kept her eyes glued to her parchment as she listened to Professor Vector explain how different sets of number charts were used in curse breaking during the sixteenth century. Rose had learned to put up with his rude behavior and found he was much more pleasant when she ignored him. However, it was easier and more fun to tease him back. It was not like she needed to look at him anyway. She had him for almost every class and studied alongside him almost once a week. Rose was sad to admit that while Scorpius's inheritance of the Malfoy trademarks was fitting on him, her combination of brown hair from her mother and freckles from her father was boring and unappealing to most. She was not entirely ugly; it was just that she was simple. Rose pulled her hair back and brushed her bangs out of her eyes before going back to her notes.

"Now," Professor Vector was sweeping through the classroom, passing every table and paying close attention to the students' number charts. "When studying the magical property of the number three and deducing that a number is in fact divisible by three, it is important to consider…?" she asked, pausing for answer. Three hands went up into air, one rising from a table in the far left by a Ravenclaw girl, and two coming from the back of the room from Scorpius and Rose herself.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"We would have to consider that the reverse of any number divisible by three is also divisible by three."

"Very good, yes, ten points," Professor Vector said quickly. "And what does this mean when we look at our number charts?"

She scanned the room again. Rose waved her hand in the air but Scorpius pushed her arm down.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"This means that when we already have memorized a complicated three or four digit number that is divisible by three, we can assume that its reversed number holds a meaning in the same realm as our previous number," Scorpius said in one breath.

"Excellent, ten points to Slytherin as well."

"We can assume that its reversed number holds a meaning in the same realm!" Rose mimicked Scorpius in a high pitched voice, careful to appeal to his ears only. He remained staring straight at the board as Professor Vector added more notes and knocked Rose's book off of the table. The loud thump it made caught Professor Vector's attention and she turned in their direction.

"Miss Weasley," she noticed Rose's book on the floor. "Could you save any interruptions for when the class is over?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at Scorpius who was trying not to laugh.

"You're awful you know that?" she asked as they gathered their things and exited the classroom.

"You're just jealous, Weasley," he said. "I can't help it if I'm smarter than you." He shrugged his shoulders and led the way to the grounds for their short break in between classes.

On the way they fell into the conversation of their History of Magic essays that were due the following Friday. There was a horribly complex theory they were supposed to expand on yet Rose and Scorpius couldn't shake the feeling that they were limited to only certain resources. They were supposed to be finding motives behind infamous wizards and witches throughout history but to their dismay they were only finding instances involving illegal trades and mass rebellions against the ministry, the latter immensely popular among the rest of the class. Professor Binns had urged his students not to worry about finding the most interesting or terrifying case but Rose and Scorpius would have none of that, determined to get top marks.

"You know," Scorpius started as he kicked a rock into the lake. "We could always try the library some more."

"More?" Rose asked incredulously. "We've lived there for the past week. There's nothing there."

Scorpius gave an exasperated sigh.

"You're really thick sometimes. There are other sections of the library we haven't even checked yet."

Rose realized what he was talking about and frowned.

"Yeah, the Restricted Section, but how would we even get to it?"

"Sneak in, I guess," he thought out loud. "Do you want to do it tonight?"

"Tonight?" she asked surprised. "Well I guess it's not really going to matter what day because we're not going to be prepared either way!" She sounded defeated. "Wait!" she started again. "I know this spell my dad uses when he doesn't want my mum to hear anything, Muffliato."

"You can cast it okay?" he asked intrigued.

"I'm pretty sure," she said soundly. "It seems solid and not very difficult."

They walked back towards the castle as their short break was over and headed to their respective classes. Rose had agreed to not share their risky expedition plans to anyone, not even Albus or Hugo, who was an impatient and eager First-Year this term.

Class seemed to go by slower than usual for Rose and both she and Scorpius were exceptionally quiet when they had Charms together late that afternoon. She could see his anxiety plastered on his face from across the Hall at dinner and felt nervous herself. She was not one to break rules but justified this under a homework emergency situation. She ate her dinner quietly, listening to her brother and cousin carry on around her.

Ten in the evening

Rose carefully exited the portrait hole, her footsteps muffled by the snores of the Fat Lady who closed the door in her sleep. She crept down the corridor towards the library, glancing over her shoulder every minute or so. She saw Scorpius coming towards the library from the opposite direction and ushered him over to her. He shook his head in disagreement and mouthed "Filch" to her and pointed behind him. He put up his hand to tell her to wait and stepped slowly towards the door, whispered "Alohomora" and opened it. Rose knew that Madam Pince was still in there and only locked the door with a simple charm from the inside. Rose stayed halted in one spot as Draco watched the corridor he came from. He signaled for Rose to hurry towards the door and as soon as she reached it he pulled her inside and closed the door behind them.

"Do the spell," he whispered. "Hurry."

Rose looked for Madam Pince and saw her hunched over her desk in the far left with a book on her lap, clearly sleeping. Rose pointed her wand and muttered "Muffliato." She and Scorpius walked to the back of the library and into the roped-off Restricted Section. Free to talk as loud as they want, for Madam Pince's ears were undoubtedly filled with an odd buzzing sound now, they began to scan the titles on the shelves.

"What looks good to you?" Rose asked as she read the spine of Most Potente Potions and Wicked Ways with Worms.

"There's a lot here but it looks categorized for the most part," Scorpius said. "Let's see, books about creatures, nope," He cast the book aside. "Books with curses, eh – oh here!"

Rose rushed towards him, almost tripping over the books he threw on the floor in the process. There were at least twenty books dedicated to different witches and wizards throughout history that were heavily involved in the dark arts. At least fifteen of them were new, Rose noticed, and covering Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War. Scorpius picked up Dastardly Deeds: Tweaking the Unforgivables and began flipping through the pages. Rose grabbed Fiends and Followers and sat down on the floor.

"Hey, check this guy out," Scorpius told her. Rose looked up to see him turning the book upside down. "Oh gross, this bloke from Ireland started a Cruciatus trend among his friends when he managed to get his victims to turn their own heads inside out after so much pain."

Rose cringed and turned back to her page. For the most part she could not understand why this book was in the Restricted Section in the first place. She came to a familiar name and almost gasped. She looked up to see if Scorpius had noticed and when she saw that he did not she returned to her paragraph.

Among these dark wizards and witches were briefly heard of, familiar, and prominent family names throughout the wizard community of Great Britain. Those most active in the Battle of Hogwarts and various events during the Second Wizarding War included Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Antonin Dolohov, Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, Walden Macnair, Lucius and Draco Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, Augustus Rookwood, Thorfinn Rowle, and Severus Snape, who had reformed and worked as a double agent during his last years. Others can be found in the index and those prominent players in the First Wizarding War can be found in the book listed in the footnote.

Rose looked for anything else on the Malfoys but there was only that short passage. She could feel her heart racing and suddenly understood why the book was in the Restricted Section. Scorpius was in school carrying the name of two Death Eaters, as were other students, Rose realized after looking in the index. If this information was out there in the open to everyone, Scorpius would be getting more looks from other people than he already was. Her parents and uncle, she knew, were active in the War and helped end it. They refused to tell her the names of any of the dark wizards except for Voldemort and the Lestranges. She stared at the names on the page. Lucius and Draco. Was one them Scorpius's father? She started to read the paragraph over again.

"Weasley, seriously, take this book because the pictures are making me sick," Scorpius said while handing the book over to her. Rose wasn't paying any attention to him. "What are you looking at?" At this question Rose looked up and stared at his face. He scooted over to her and grabbed the book.

"Scorpius," Rose whispered to him as she let him take the book out of her hands. She didn't know what else to say. He looked at her, confused after being called by his first name. He looked down at the page she was reading and Rose put her head in her hands. There were several moments of silence before she heard Scorpius slam the book shut. She looked up from her hands and saw him look down at it before throwing across the library into a large bookcase.

"It's rubbish," he said. He stormed out of the Restricted Section and left Rose sitting there among the books they were once so desperate to read.

The following week

The end of May was creeping up on Rose and she began to anticipate exams. She left her room, brushing aside rolls of parchment, some used and others blank, on her bed and floor. She had been receiving letters from her father and mother the past two days asking what she wanted for her birthday. Rose had pushed all thoughts of her birthday to the back of her mind and decided to not worry about it until today, which happened to be what James, Albus, and Hugo agreed to be the best time for a birthday: the last Hogsmeade weekend. She was too busy trying to keep up with all of her class notes and not think about Scorpius. Since the library he had been exceptionally quiet and strangely unavailable to study whenever she asked. Rose had initially been mad at him for leaving her there to clean up the mess and making her walk back by herself. However, she managed to forgive him because if she had found out that someone in her family had supported Voldemort she would be pretty embarrassed too.

Rose entered the Great hall and sat down for breakfast, helping herself to eggs and muffins. She was given a hug from Hugo and boxes of sweets from both him and Albus. James leaned over and offered her a Fanged Frisbee he had nicked from Filch's office. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and saw Scorpius eating pancakes with his head down. She caught the eye of an older Slytherin boy sitting near him and he curled his lip at her and threw her a rude hand gesture. She looked at him, taken aback, and turned around. She did not know him personally but had heard his surname and recognized it from the book she found in the library.

A loud swooping sound came from overhead and a hundred owls flew down to deliver the morning paper and mail. A small owl fluttered down towards Rose and dropped the Daily Prophet in her pumpkin juice and another flew down swiftly, landed in Hugo's porridge, and held out its leg to give her a small package. Rose opened the small card and read that it was from her mother and father. Rose was pleased to see that her parents had gotten her a small silver necklace with an elegant R inscribed on a circular pendant. Before she had any more time to admire it another owl landed on the seat next to her with a lumpy package. She untied that one and what fell out was about two weeks worth of sweets from her grandparents. Two more owls were sweeping over her and dropped two packages on her head. Hugo managed to catch them both after they bounced off of her skull and hand them to her. One turned out to be from her muggle grandparents, a blank journal with a velvet cover, and the other had From Aunt Ginny written on the top. She opened it to find a small pink music box. Rose looked up into the airy ceiling and watched the owls fly away. She looked back over at Scorpius's table and he smiled at her slightly. She was relieved to see him give her at least half a smile but she quickly regretted turning around when she saw the other Slytherin boy look up at her.

She finished the rest of her breakfast quickly, feeling the eyes of the Slytherin boy and his friends on her as she exited the Great Hall with everyone else. Every Third-Year and above was excited to be going to Hogsmeade today. The weather was windy but nice and the shops were sure to have many sales going on because this would be the last visit until next term.

By the time Rose made it out the door and into Hogsmeade she had lost sight of Albus in the crowd. She walked down the path, being bumped several times by students running to catch up with their friends. Two girls from her dormitory passed her and wished her a happy birthday and Rose smiled back. She decided that today was most fitting to treat herself to Honeydukes and on the way saw Hugo and Albus walking to Zonko's. She was about to call out to them before she heard her own name being called from behind her.

"Weasley, wait!"

Rose saw Scorpius running towards her looking behind himself frequently as he did so. She waited for him and when he arrived she started walking again.

"Happy birthday, Weasley," he said while walking next to her. "I'm sorry about being a little distant these past few days."

Rose looked at him skeptically.

"Why wouldn't you just talk to me?" she asked, trying not to seem genuinely hurt.

"I didn't want to know what you thought about me after reading that stuff. I mean, who my dad was, that's really not the first thing I wanted you to know about me."

"But you're not him," Rose said simply. Scorpius stopped staring at his shoes and looked at her. "I don't care."

Rose hoped she sounded convincing. She could confidently say that Scorpius was not a Death Eater but still found it interesting that his father was. Scorpius looked considerably happier and began to lead the way towards Honeydukes. Inside Rose made and bought her own fudge while Scorpius shopped for Sugar Quills. The shop was packed and they both hurried to leave so they could eat their sweets outside. Rose was about to head towards Zonko's before Scorpius stopped her.

"Wait," he said as he led her across the street. "I got you a birthday present." Rose felt her insides turn over. He walked towards the post office and she followed, wondering what on earth he could have gotten her. From the outside of the building Rose could see owls of different sizes zooming around. She started to walk inside before Scorpius stopped her yet again.

"You wait out here," he told her pointedly. "Don't go anywhere."

Rose was thoroughly confused and watched Scorpius walk through the doors. The crowd made it impossible to see what was going on inside and Rose was growing anxious with each passing second.

After what seemed like forever she saw Scorpius's figure emerge from the crowd and holding something close to the chest. She realized what it was as soon as he got in reaching distance.

"You got me cat!" Rose said excitedly. She ran over to him and gave him a great hug. She felt him tense up and for a split-second she wondered if he was nervous.

"Careful, you're going to kill it," he said stiffly. She immediately let go and took the cat as he handed it to her. The cat was female and grey. She was slender and had green eyes and she flicked her tail and purred as Rose scratched behind her furry ears. Rose beamed at Scorpius.

"Oh thank you, Scorpius!" Rose squealed. She put the cat down and watched as she rubbed her head against her leg. "Where did you get it?"

"Oh the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley," he said. "I ordered her."

"And they mailed her here?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, probably not by owl," he said, scratching his head. "Or maybe they did, I don't know."

Rose hugged Scorpius again before she could fully comprehend what she was doing. She let go and tried to hide her embarrassment by staring down at the cat. Scorpius was standing still as a statue looking as though he was not quite sure where he was. They began to walk back towards the castle, Rose holding her cat in her arms and Scorpius walking as though his face had been petrified.

A/N: Again, thanks for the reviews! I had been hoping to effectively convey what I think Rose looks like and how she might act. Yes, she is smart like her mother, but I would think that she would share those certain not-so-perfect traits with her father. So, in my mind, she would be quite intelligent but also stubborn and hard-headed at times and careless. Scorpius, I would think, does not share any pure-blood superiority views like his family but isn't perfect and probably still spoiled and rude. In my story he is in a very confusing place right now but I will talk about that later.