AN: If you guys didn't already know, a mutt is a bad way of calling someone a half-blood wizard. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Potions & Poisons

"HA! Rose Weasley?" The sound of her name made Scorpius jump, but he just shook it off and tried to refocus on the charm he was supposed to be performing.

Avis, he said in his mind, and birds sprouted from the tip of his wand and began flying around the top of the desk.

"That girl," the girl had distracted him once again, and he began to listen, "is so stubborn and mean and cold. She always has an attitude."

"I know," replied her friend. "She's nothing like her brother, Hugo! He's so smart and adorable, isn't he?"

Hugo Weasley? That oaf? Scorpius slouched in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Called Professor Flitwick, "we do not put our feet – oh, but your birds are so amazing!" He clapped. Scorpius smirked.

He looked at the girls. Oppugno, he tried. The birds then formed into a line and flew directly toward the two girls. The girls shrieked and ran from their desks. They dodged the birds that missed them by inches, and they hit the wall, turning into feathers.

"What'd you do that for?" Asked Luke, high-fiving him and laughing.

"Thought it'd be funny," Scorpius said, laughing with Luke.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Professor Flitwick said again, this time with more force. "We do not fire birds at other students!"

"Oh, calm down, you old—" Scorpius started.

"Don't talk to me that way!" Flitwick shouted. "That's a detention and ten points from Slytherin."

Some of the class sighed in disappointment. Scorpius rolled his eyes, taking his feet from off the desk.

Luke bumped Scorpius' arm and said, "Nice going."

Scorpius gave him a look. "Shut up", he told him.

"Al," Rose called to her friend, "can you hand me that pot?"

She and Albus Potter were sitting in Herbology, bored out of their minds trying to finish the class work.

"So how did you meet that Malfoy kid anyways?" Albus asked which made Rose jump a little.

"He knocked me off my broom in Quidditch." She told him flatly.

"That's not what I heard," he said, glaring at her with one eyebrow up.

Rose already knew what he meant. "If James already told you what happened then why are you asking me now?" She didn't want to talk about him at all.

"Like, is there something between you two or—"

"What!" She looked at him. "No! Where did you get that from?"

"Just wondering," he said, looking offended.

"I'm sorry, Al." She sighed, "I just hate that guy. He saves me once and he thinks that he's a bloody hero! He makes my blood boil just looking at him!"

"That's…interesting," Albus said, avoiding her gaze.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

"Well, shouldn't you get to know him before you bother to start insulting him?"

"You sound like Hugo." She said, avoiding answering Albus' question.

"Well it's true!" He lowered his voice when he realized other people were looking at them. "He cared enough to save you just from being plummeted into the sand."

"You know that he's going to just start comparing me to my brother like everyone else does. Everyone loves him and hates me."

"That's not true! James loves you like a little sister, which you practically are. He pays way more attention to you than he does Hugo, and you know it's true." He glared at her, waiting until she said he was right.

He trailed off into one of his lectures, but Rose wasn't listening. She was wondering if, by some miracle, Scorpius Malfoy could ever be a better person than he is.

That night at dinner, things got interesting.

Scorpius was just sitting there, picking at the beef sitting in front of him and decided to take a drink of his pumpkin juice. There was something different about how it tasted. He felt a sudden wave of excitement wash over him. He wanted her.

"Where is she?" Scorpius asked, eagerly looking around.

"Sorry?" Serena said, "Who?"

"You know, her. Where is she?" He stood up, looking around impatiently.

"Scorpius, sit down," Serena whisper-yelled, "People are looking at you."

"I don't care!" He said with a grumpy face. "I just want to find her!"

"Who are you looking for!" Luke asked, getting irritated.

"ROSE!" He yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth. The entire student body stopped talking and turned around to see Scorpius make a fool of himself over a love potion.

Rose didn't turn around like everyone else, but she spluttered. She made sure to keep her head down to not make herself obvious to whoever it was that was calling her. She knew this was some kind of practical joke. Scorpius called her again, this time some of the students looked at her, saying things like "you know he's calling you, right?"

Scorpius found the red mess of curls. "There you are," he said to himself, running over to her.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Yelled Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing?"

But Scorpius didn't seem to be listening. He grabbed Rose's hand and bent down on one knee.

"Malfoy, what are you—" She started, but Scorpius cut her off by cupping her face in his hands and pressed her mouth to his. For a few seconds she was in such shock that she was just sitting there, letting Scorpius Malfoy snog her in front of the entire student body, but once she finally was able to gather herself, she pushed himself off of her.

"What is this?" McGonagall roared. "Some kind of practical joke? If there will be no more outbursts, detentions tonight for the both of you."

"Well, at least I'll be able to spend time with you," Scorpius said, smiling at her while the Potters and Hugo roared with laughter.

"Oh, come on." She grabbed his hand and ran out of the great hall, McGonagall calling after them.

"Where are we going?" Scorpius asked eagerly.

Rose just ignored him. They ran up to the Gryffindor common room, saying the password and running up to her room.

"What are we doing in here," he asked as she went rummaging through a trunk filled with different bottles. "Rose?" But she wasn't listening. She was looking for the right bottle—

"Here it is!" She said to herself. But once she turned around, Scorpius was holding her face in his hands and was kissing her again. She stood there with the bottle in her hands, letting him snog her. She was curious what it felt like. After his hands had slid down to her wait and he pressed his body up against hers, she came to her senses.

"No, no! Malfoy, that's enough!" His face looked the same as a kicked puppy's. Rose poured some of the antidote into a glass. "Drink this," she held the glass out to him, but he pushed it away.

"I don't want—"

"Now!" She yelled, forcing the glass into his hands. He looked at her for a second, then gulped down the clear liquid. He looked at her for a second, then jumped back in disgust.

"Oh my god, did we actually—?"

"Yeah," she nodded, not looking at him.

"But why would I—I would never—!"

"You took a love potion, stupid." She cut him off again.

"Why would you slip me a love potion, though?" He honestly looked confused, handing the glass back to her.

Rose stared at him. "That's a good question, because I don't know why I would either! Someone else slipped it to you, intending for you to fall in love with me." She put the bottle back in the trunk, closing and locking it.

"But why would someone do that?" He stared off into space, looking for the answer.

"Someone's idea of a practical joke," she said through her teeth.

"I can't believe everyone saw that!" Scorpius complained. Rose turned around to stare at him again.

"Yeah, because that was so bad!" She yelled sarcastically.

"So you liked it?" He said, smirking. His platinum blonde hair swept over one of his eyes.

"What—?" Rose turned a bright shade of scarlet. "No, I—"

But Scorpius had already pushed her up against the wall, using his arms to block her from getting anywhere. He then realized how tall he was compared to her. She was almost a head shorter than them; obviously, she hadn't taken after the famous tall Weasley genes.

"You're—" She looked away, her face still bright red, "You're just one of those guys that shags and snogs girls. That's what you're trying to do right now!" She tried to push one of his arms away, but it wouldn't budge. "I'm surprised you haven't already gotten yourself a detention today—"

"Whoever said that?" He said, smirking again and backing away from her.

She laughed coldly, "What was it for?"

"I aimed some birds at some other girls." Scorpius was looking around her room.

"What for? Are you really that big of a jerk—?" She started, but Scorpius was glaring at her.

"Why do you keep assuming I'm a jerk, huh!" He roared at her, which made her scared. "Did you know they were saying bad stuff about you!" He looked down at her, waiting for an answer, but she didn't say anything. "Of course you didn't." He turned to go out the door.

"You didn't have to do that," she mumbled, looking down. Scorpius turned back around, glaring at her with eyes that wanted to kill.

"There you go being all ungrateful again!" He took a step closer to her. "You just keep assuming I'm a jerk, you don't even realize I've done something nice for you three damn times now!" He paused, looking at Rose, watching the tears stream down her cheeks. She still wasn't looking at Scorpius; she was only looking down at the floor. "Just," he started, trying not to make her cry more than she already was, "just try to get to know me before you criticize me."

And with that, he left Rose alone in her room, crying.

As he walked into the commonroom, something grabbed the neck of his collar and slammed him into the wall. He gasped in pain; his back was still bruised from his fall during the Quidditch game.

"What," James said, pushing Scorpius up against the wall even harder, "have you and Rose been doing, Malfoy? You been up there for quite a while—"

He stopped, as the rest of the Gryffindor students started chanting "fight!"

"I swear," Scorpius said, "she gave me an antidote for the love potion."

"And it took that long?" James intensified his glare at Scorpius.

"Yes!" Scorpius lied.

James was now nose to nose with him. "You listen here, Malfoy, if you do anything to hurt her—" He broke himself off, letting go of Scorpius. Scorpius stood there for a second, and then began to walk away.

As he got farther and farther away from the rest of the students (besides the ones snogging in the hallway), he began walking faster and faster, undoing his tie. He had a sudden sense of déjà vu and stopped, leaning against the wall.

Why am I troubling myself with a girl like her, he though. A mutt isn't worth my time! He felt a sudden pain in his chest after calling her a mutt. He began speed walking again, undoing his tie and the buttons on his shirt. He entered the common room, pushing past all the Slytherins that were staring at him. He walked into his bedroom, ignoring Luke's greeting and plopped down face first onto his bed.

"How'd it go?" Luke said. Scorpius looked up at him and he was waggling his eyebrows.

"It went," Scorpius couldn't find the perfect word to describe what had happened and stuffed his face back into his pillow, "ugh."

"'Ugh'?" Luke chuckled. "So I'm guessing the love potion didn't last very long then? What happened while it was working? Did you guys snog? Shag? Tell me!"

"We snogged; that was it," Scorpius said, sounding irritated.

"Well whatever, mate," Luke said, rolling over onto his back, "the mutt's not worth your time—"

"I don't want to call her that anymore," he mumbled into his pillow.

"What?" Luke said, raising his eyebrow.

"I don't want to call her that anymore!" Scorpius looked at Luke and gave him an angry face.

"Oh my," Luke's jaw dropped, "have you fallen for her?"

"No!" Luke sat straight up, "Why would you think—"

"I know when you've fallen for a girl, mate." Luke smirked.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and turned over on his bed. He thought about how everybody treats Rose the same negative way, and how she must feel, everyone judging her first. He thought that might be the reason she chose to judge him—maybe she did that to others as well.

Then Scorpius started to drift off and think about how her lips felt against his. Soft, not too much movement, no tongue, but passionate, or maybe curious—

"Aren't you supposed to be in detention right now?" Luke said, trying to stifle a laugh.

Scorpius strolled into detention fifteen minutes late that night. He walked in, looking at Rose. He didn't glare at her, but she wasn't looking at him anyways; she was staring blankly at the floor. He looked a little closer; she looked slightly paler than she had before. But maybe that's because she was blushing earlier from him snogging her.

He sat down two desks to the left of hers. Professor Flitwick was tapping his foot impatiently and glaring at Scorpius.

"So nice of you to join us, Mr. Malfoy." He waved his wand and Scorpius and Rose were each passed a Charms book. "Turn to page two hundred and twenty-one and copy the text and try the examples. I will be back in a half hour to check your progress." And saying that, he left.

Scorpius began copying the text lazily, while Rose was scribbling as fast as she could, looking as if she couldn't wait to get out of there.

"Hey," Scorpius began to talk, but Rose seemed to be ignoring him. "Look, I didn't mean what I said back there. I mean, I did, but—" Scorpius sighed. He wasn't making things any better. You sound stupid! Make it sound better, like you aren't pissed at her anymore! He put his hand on his forehead. His face felt hot, I'm not blushing, am I?

He was so busy with his inner ramblings that he didn't even notice Rose was covering her mouth, looking like she was about to cry. Once Scorpius noticed, he jumped up, running over to her.

"Please don't cry again!" James will kill me, he thought. She shook her head, but Scorpius didn't seem to understand what it meant. "Look, I just meant, please don't judge me before you get to know me!"

Rose shook her face again, but this time, tears were streaming down her face. Scorpius jumped back, I'm making it worse, he thought. He was racking his brain. "I don't know how to say it better; you know I'm not the nicest person in the world—"

"It's not that," she said; her hand was muffling her voice. Her tears were making her eyes glossy. Scorpius just then noticed she had taken after her father's blue eyes. Rose lowered her hand from her mouth. "You're right; I shouldn't have judged you. I knew who you were though. I knew you were a Slytherin—a Malfoy, which my father's best friend always hated, so I just assumed that I'd hate you too…"

Rose felt awful. She had pains in her chest about thinking such things about a guy that she hadn't even gotten to know. She did that to everyone, judged him or her. But there was something different about Scorpius that made her feel different; feel way worse than she had over anyone that she had every judged.

"I had heard the rumors," she continued, gasping for breath in between tears, "about you and I thought you were just doing those things just to get me." At this point, Scorpius was on his knees again, in front of Rose's desk, his eyes at the same level as hers. "It's just—"

But she broke off, covering her mouth again, but quickly pulling it back away when she leaned over the side of the desk and began to vomit.

"Oh my god!" Scorpius cried. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you—!"

"No," said Rose, "it's not your fault. I've felt sick like this every since after dinner—" But she began to vomit again. Scorpius was so shocked; where did this come from?

When she stopped puking, Scorpius scooped her up into his arms, saying, "C'mon. I'm going to take you to take you to Madam Pomfrey." He ran as fast as he possibly could with a fifteen-year-old in his arms. Reaching the Hospital Wing, Scorpius kicked the door to knock on it, seeing as he didn't have any free hands. Rose's eyebrows were scrunched; her face still sticky from tears and her hands were covering her mouth. Madam Pomfrey opened the door after a few seconds. Scorpius pushed past her and set Rose down on one of the hospital beds.

"Oh my—what's the matter with Ms. Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed.

"She's sick," Scorpius looked for better words, "she started throwing up I mean." Hearing this, Madam Pomfrey summoned a bucket and put in Rose's hands. "She said she started feeling nauseous after dinner."

"It sounds like it could be food poisoning," said Madam Pomfrey.

"Poison—that's what the damn bloke was doing with my drink!" She gasped and began to vomit again. Madam Pomfrey ran over to one of her cabinets and pulled out a bottle with a label that Scorpius could not read from his distance. She poured it in a glass and handed it to Rose, who drank it immediately.

Scorpius explained to Madam Pomfrey that they were in detention, who said she would notify Professor Filch and gave Scorpius a chair. Scorpius didn't think it would be best once her family realized that she never returned from detention and saw her here, but he didn't want to leave her either. Rose turned her head to face Scorpius and gave him a drowsy smile. He tried to smile back, but he couldn't avoid what they had been talking about before.

"Why were you crying?" Scorpius asked and her smile faded. "Was it because of me?"

"No," she said sleepily, "it's because you were right. I need to stop judging people."

Scorpius couldn't think of anything else to say. But even before he could, the door burst open and a red head and three Potters were running toward the hospital bed. Scorpius stood up.

"Rose!" James was the first to say. "What happened?" He pulled his wand his wand out and pointed it at Scorpius. Scorpius didn't do anything but flinch.

"It's okay," Rose's voice was groggy, "He was the one who brought me here."

"Because he did what?" Pressed James. Scorpius scrunched his eyebrows. He was really getting tired of people thinking he was bad and everything was his fault.

"Someone slipped a poison in my drink," she explained to James, who then lowered his wand.

"Someone's idea of a practical joke," Lily said. She sounded just like Rose.

Once Rose started explaining what happened in detention, Scorpius pushed passed the Potters and left, not looking back to see if Rose had cared or not. This was the fourth nice thing he had done for her and she hadn't given him a real 'thank you' yet.

He needed to stop expecting such nice things from her.