A/N: So, like, hey!

Firstly I would like to say a huge thanks for your comments

I am going to fail my exams so the reviews are some consolation.

I am sorry I could not reply your comments separately but as I've said exams are coming up

I do not own Harry Potter

Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Devil of it

This will be the end of me I swear!

No! Don't panic Al! It's just a game, a trick, you're not really bad. Besides you can always kill Scorpius at the end of it. Or just rat him to Rosie and let her –what was it again?- Oh yeah, decorate the walls with his guts. Sounds cool to me.

Man, where is he now? I cannot go to war alone.

I feel sweaty and my eyesight's getting blurry and…

"Don't have a heart-attack! I'm here." Thank Merlin! I swift to the spot only to come across a Scorpius even paler than usual. And I'll have you know, Scorpius is quite pale. I'm guessing it comes with the silver-blonde hair and all.

"What happened to you? You look like you just came from a morning dip in the Black Lake." I ask, momentarily forgetting my panic attack.

"Well, thanks you look ravishing yourself." And then upon thinking about it he adds, "I hadn't had much sleep last night. Something involving fire and your cousin's weird antics. I'll explain later." My-…

Wait a moment there, he didn't sleep much and then there was fire and my cousin… What does that…?

Bloody hell!

"Please don't tell me you and Rosie did something inappropriate." I hiss terrified.

"Well, if by inappropriate you mean not sleeping in our respectable beds then yes." So he just admits it? Just like that going from calling her an encyclopedia with legs to… doing that with her?!

I narrow my eyes and grab his collar violently.

"How could you Scorpius? You know Rosie's not the one for your little midnight adventures. Plus she's got a boyfriend and…" I take a break to catch my breath as he opens his eyes as wide as it goes.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He shouts and pushes me away, glaring.

"Did you sleep with my cousin?" I ask troubled now.

"No! Ew, mate! Are you mental? Lower your voice someone might hear you." Oh! Then what did he mean by…?

"But you said you stayed up and then something about fire and Rosie…" I explain.

"Yeah, we were sitting by the fire and I couldn't sleep that's all. Merlin!" Oups… I suppose I just jumped to conclusions. It happens sometimes. I guess hanging out too much with Uncle-Ron has somehow affected my brains. Mum always says he was quite paranoid himself when it came to cousins and opposite-sex relationships.

"I worry about you sometimes Albus. I really do." He says shaking his head.

"Well, down to business now. Where is Thomas?" Scorpius asks and I take a look around making sure no one's looking.

"She'll be here in a moment. She's got Potions with Slytherins in ten minutes." And yep, that did sound stalker-ish.

"Cool. Now don't fail me. And remember-" Well, he sure is a nerve breaker that boy.

"I know, I know, break her heart." I whisper as I see her beautiful silhouette approaching.

"I was going to say 'live the part' but that sounds good too." He gives me the thumbs up and hides behind an old rusty armor.

I fight to make my breath come slowly out of my lungs and fix my shirt.

"Loosen your tie. And whatever happens don't forget to ask yourself: WwSd? " I hear a whisper from behind the armor. WwSd? What's that supposed to stand for?

"Huh?" I hiss.

"What would Scorpius do?" He translates. Bloody idiot. Like I'd ever do that!

"Oh, Al!" I hear her voice, her sweet soft voice but I'm not supposed to respond at once. Merlin, it's hard to resists not smiling to her when she puts her breath-taking self in front of me. I turn around, one stage before puking.

Gaah…

What would Scorpius do? What would Scorpius do…?

"Carol?" I exclaim adopting a shining grin and turning to face her, who obviously is not Carol, cause I don't know anyone by that name but still.

"I-I'm not Carol." Alysia mumbles. Wait! Mumbles? That's weird. She never mumbles to me…

"Oh, right." I make the smile fall from my face immediately.

"Who's Carol?" She asks impatiently.

"Hm…" I scratch my chin like an expert. Count to ten… Make her wait… Oh I'm getting good at this!

"The girl I was kissing yesterday. Probably the best snog I've ever had." I reply. Both Alysia and her three friends widen their eyes and blush just a little bit.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Alysia recovers quickly.

"I don't." I mutter almost offended and mess my hair just a little bit. Act bored, act bored!

Without a word I look away from her, pick up my bag and descend to Muggle Studies.

That, was… almost perfect. I had no idea I was such a good teacher. Maybe I should think about doing this professionally. I mean, look at him turning from the little puppy that he was to an independent man! And with such a speed too. He must really fancy that chick.

"I don't." He states and I can actually spot the anger in his eyes and the boredom. Oh, look at the poor girls staring at him like that. I almost feel sorry for them. They're so falling in our trap. And if they're not hooked with him yet wait till the end of the month.

I had never thought I'd in fact want someone to become more popular than me, but I suppose it's ok now. I've got a deal -no wait!- two deals to win. Anyway, it's not like I'm the competitive kind. There are girls for everyone. That's what I say.

"Why are you grinning like a madman Scorp?" What? Oh! It's Will. As in, my friend Will… Of course he's not my best friend. Andew Goyle is. But lately we have been hanging out a lot. We seem to have the same interests actually. You know, girls, drinks, pranks…

"Hey." I sit nonchalantly in my seat in Potions and say to my friend.

"Where you've been gone these days?" He inquires. Well, I suppose he does have a point. Usually I go visit him and Goyle in the Slytherin Common Room from time to time. But these days I've been busy what with tutoring Al and doing weird stuff with Weasley.

Damn! Why did I have to remember that now?

That girl…

She's nuts, I swear. No better than the Scamander twins. With all her idle staring at the fire and her 'life is where you are' quotes. I should have a word with Albus about it sometime. Advise him to close her in the loony bin before she does something totally life endangering.

"I have this deal with Albus Potter. And then this deal with Weasley." I explain as I conjure my cauldron.

"Potter? Whatever for? I really don't get why you associate with that sod. And Weasley? Weasley who? There are tons of those." Wow! He seems quite mad. Of course Will was never the happiest pencil in the box.

"Potter's a decent guy and you know I hang out with him anyway. And, dude, there's only one Weasley out there. Everyone else is just Hugo and Fred and Louis and so on." I clear up matter-of-factly. I mean the problem with Will is that due to the fact that we just recently begun hanging out he has not yet come to realize that when I say Weasley I mean her. And only her.

"Oh, you mean Rose Weasley, the hottie who's always in pissed-off mode." The what?!

"No, no… I mean Rose Weasley the bush that has her nose inside a book all day. And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't mention her name." Only hearing it makes me shudder. Especially after last night.

"Why shouldn't I mention it? You're always 'Weasley did this and Weasley did that' and Andy says you've been obsessing about her since first year." What and what?

First and foremost I am not always obsessing about Weasley. The only reason I happen to mention her from time to time is that she always finds a way to annoy me. And secondly there is a big difference between Weasley and Rose.

"I don't obsess over that bookworm and I didn't mean the last name. I meant the first name." I stress every word glaring at him.

"What's wrong with Rose? I think it's a cool name. You know… for a girl." Will replies troubled.

"Well, that's exactly the problem my friend." I point out taking my 'expert' face.

"Rose is a perfectly nice name." I conclude and Will forms an 'O' with his mouth.

"Mr Malfoy! Would you care to give us a piece of information about the Draught of Living Death instead of talking to your classmate?" Slughorn's voice comes to me from somewhere close and high.

I raise my head only to come across the old bespectacled man staring down at me.

Oh, just my luck!

I grunt and grumble and give him the answer he wants while trying to ignore the stupid giggles from around me.

Luckily the rest of the lesson passes uneventfully. And the rest of the day for that matter. So without even noticing it I find myself in the Slytherin Common Room to meet my two discontented friends.

"So you're telling me she just slept there and you stayed awake looking at the fire?" Andy asks troubled an hour later. Will, for his part had to go meet his girlfriend of the week so he just abandoned us. Not that I can blame him though. Verity is a cutie.

"Yep." I mutter refusing to recall the events of last night in my mind.

"And…?" My brown-haired friend encourages but there's hardly anything more to say.

"And… nothing." I reply messing my hair.

"No shouting, no hexing, no insults, no…no nothing?" He scratches his head.

"No nothing." I confirm.

"But why?" Yeah, I know what he means.

"I have no idea. It just… didn't come up. She said nothing that was worth for me to shout at." Upon hearing that Andy chuckles a bit under his breath. Then tries to hide it, in the most pathetic of ways.

"That hasn't stopped you in the past. Besides what I find so hard to believe is that you didn't make some offensive comment and annoy her. So why didn't you?" Hey! I don't do that! I mean only in the cases I am provoked by her.

"I refuse to reply to that. If you feel that way about my character then you are free to go hang out with Weasley instead." I say indignantly. Yeah, go Andy. You'll see the sweetness of it all then.

"Oh, shut up Scorpius. You sound like an infant. All I'm saying is that it is weird." I nod. Well, I can't really argue with that. It is weird. But then again it isn't you know…

"Well, that's what I keep saying to myself since this morning that I woke up in the couch…" I pause for a moment hesitant and Andy, obviously catching my unsure tone, hurries to assist.

"But…?" He tries.

"But, you know…. Back then it didn't seem weird. It was like, we were talking and we were sitting and… she was not so Weasley and her hair didn't look so bushy and her voice wasn't so annoying and I'll have you know she has really long eyelashes." Agh… I cannot believe I just said all that out loud.

Good thing though that it is Andy I'm talking to. I mean had it been anyone else I'd be by now looking for a cliff to jump off from.

But Andy's ok.

I mean his last name might be Goyle and his dad might be an idiot who only knows how to yell stuff like 'Had we won the war I wouldn't be here now' and his mother might have left them the moment she found out they were wizards but he has turned out to be an great guy. Needless to say of course that I would never dare to judge someone by their last name.

But thing with Andy is that he's not just cool and funny but he's also smart. He gets top grades which Weasley and I can barely surpass and he is a very committed prefect. All in all, he's one of the very few people that I –being the Slytherin that I am- would ever risk my life for. And I have, thank you very much.

Take first year for instance.

We were just in school and every one of us was quite pissing their pants about it. Well, I was wandering around trying to find where on earth the History of Magic classroom was when I heard screams. I run there only to come across a nose-bleeding Andy on the floor three wands right to his throat.

I don't even remember what spell it was that I managed to cast on them in the end. All I can remember is Andy swearing on his life to be my eternal best friend and me laughing my eyes out. Or actually my eye out. Cause the other one was too swollen to open. Let alone be laughed out.

Since then we have been best friend and, well, no regrets here. Cause had it not been for him I'd be either in jail by now or in the nuthouse.

"Weasley does have long eyelashes." He observes trivially though I know that deep down he's thinking of something very different and probably very unpleasant for me to hear. But that's what I like about him. He thinks of my sanity before speaking.

"Yeah…" I agree.

"Well, if it wasn't so weird then maybe you should do it again." He exclaims suddenly.

"No way!" I reply curtly. Has he any idea how unnerving that was?

"Why not?" Well…

"Because I would… and then…" Ok, fine I don't really have a reason why we shouldn't do it again. I just know we're not supposed to.

"I see. So you don't really have a reason." Into occlumency now is he?

"But for Merlin's sake if you could have some peaceful hours with Weasley wouldn't it be nice? I mean it's you who's always whining about fighting with her. So why not?" Andy says exasperated.

"Cause, Weasley and I are made to fight. That's how it's been for six years and I'm not going to change it now." I declare stubbornly.

"Oh! So it is important for you to fight with her." I-I… that's not what I said!

"Hey! I-" He raises a hand to stop me.

"No. I don't need to hear your excuses. I've heard them millions of times before. Still I stand my ground. You are simply stubborn that's why you cannot accept that if you tried just a tiny bit you could get along with her just fine." He crosses his arm and I do the same.

Bloody hell I hate it when he's right.

"But I don't like her." I mouth my oppositions.

"No one asked you to marry her. I just said you should stop fighting and start acting like adults." I grunt. Have I mentioned that I hate it when he's right? Oh! I have. Well, I'm just repeating myself then.

"I never did anything to-…" …Piss her off.

"And tripping that fellow Abbott she was dating off the stairs was what, a nice gesture?" Abbott? That idiot she dated in fifth-year? Well, for a pansy like him to be mentioned so often in conversations…It's just worrying.

"You know very well that he started it, saying crap about me having no right to meddle in Weasley's life cause I'm a bloody Death Eater's son and stuff like that." I counter defensively. I mean he was a real idiot.

"Yeah, I know." Andy says calmer now and thoughtful.

"Well, I dunno Scorpius. It's time for you to make up your own mind. And I don't mean just about Weasley. I mean about everything." He looks at me serious. Man, that boy is strict.

"It's our last year and you still have no clue what you'll do next or what you really like. And I'd give you my Quidditch gear if you could prove me all this snogging around is not just another case of uncertainty." Remember how I said he doesn't say stuff that would make me uneasy? Well, here! I take it back!

"Scorpius Malfoy?" I turn my head around perplexed.

Behind me is a first-year girl with big round glasses and dizzy blue eyes. I hide a small smile and respond.

"That's me." The girl blushes just a little bit and stares at her feet.

"A girl called Rose asked me to call you. She's waiting outside the portrait. She said something about a 'lesson'." The girl mumbles and I really chuckle this time. And so does Andy.

"I think you should go mate." He points out.

"Yeah…" I mean a deal is a deal.

"Thanks little girl." Andy shouts at the first-year looking at me annoyed at my lack of manners. Well, what can I say? I never knew how to handle girls that have not yet experienced puberty. As for girls who have? Well, those I don't want to handle.

"Oh and Scorpius?" I turn around to face Andy once more.

"Don't forget your halo!" I make a rude gesture to him and leave.

I pat my foot on the stoned floor impatiently. How much time could it possibly take for him to trudge his feet out here? I mean I sent Suzie in ten minutes ago. Well, I sure hope she didn't get his name wrong. Or forgotten about it. I mean something just tells me it won't be easy to train Malfoy.

Call it a hunch.

I roll my eyes at the inner joke.

"Oh and Scorpius? Don't forget the halo!" I hear Goyle's voice from inside the dungeons.

Well, I might not particularly appreciate Malfoy's friends, mainly because, well they are Malfoy's friends, but I'd have to admit Goyle is not totally rotten. Actually he's decent.

"I hope you didn't mistreat little Suzie too much." I comment as soon as I see Malfoy coming out the portrait hole.

"Why would I?" He asks innocently.

"Well, since you're so into breaking girls' hearts and all." I explain and start walking with the tall blonde behind me.

"Weasley," His drawling voice comes from my back. "I'm not half as heartless as you presume me to be." Doubtful, really doubtful.

"So why aren't we going to the Heads' Common Room?" He asks while we pass the portrait of the two battling knights by.

"You see Malfoy, I was thinking, you'll need quite some practice to get good at this 'getting good' thing." He chuckles annoyingly, probably at my choice of words but I pay him no attention. I have already prepared my words so I have to finish.

"And to do that you'll need someone to talk to. At first I thought I could play the part of the girl." I hear him muttering something grim under his breath.

"But then I realized it'd be way too unhealthy for me to experience so directly your flirting techniques. Or lack thereof." I hurry to add and he snorts.

"Inanimate objects cannot react and thus I crossed them off as well. So I had a new idea." I put forward my thinking.

"Real girls? Oh, I'd love that." He says happily.

"No." I cut off his wings quickly.

And instead of giving an answer to his questioning looks I keep walking up a long staircase. Finally we reach a corridor full of paintings. There I point my hand at the portrait before the old Muggle Studies classroom.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asks.

"This is Cornelia." I reply still pointing the painting of a young girl who is reading a book and is stroking a gray cat in what looks like a living room.

"Cornelia?" Malfoy breathes next to me discouraged.

"Yes. She'll be your co-star." I chirp delightfully.

"Hi, there." Cornelia greets blushing a bit. You know, I always found her painting a nice one.

"I've explained to her the case and she's agreed to help." I whisper to Malfoy who is still looking at me unbelievingly.

"Your antics are really tampered with Weasley." He hisses but still doesn't protest as I expected him to.

"So what do I do?" He asks after a few minutes' pause.

"First of all Malfoy you've got to understand something." Oh, this is not going to be easy!

"You're not supposed to be selfish about girls. And people in general." I express my point.

"Meaning?" See? I just knew he wouldn't get it. In fact I don't think he'll ever get it. I search my schoolbag a bit till I come across I piece of unused parchment and a quill.

"Here, take that." I mutter.

"Write down all the things you want from a relationship or from associating with a girl in general." I instruct as soon as he has taken the paper.

He begins writing something under the sleepless gaze of me and Cornelia. Suddenly he stops scratching the paper and looks at me uncertain.

"No, you don't get to write 'shagging' down. It falls into the category of snogging." I say knowingly and gasping innocently, he returns to his writing.

I hear Cornelia giggling a bit and a thought crosses my mind. To my great disdain that guy has an extremely unnerving quality. He can charm women without doing a single thing. He doesn't need to break hearts to have girls running after him. All these tricks he's stolen or invented are pretty much redundant. He draws women in anyway.

I sigh as he offers me his list. And very long list If I may say so myself.

"Ok, let's see." I mumble inspecting it.

"What do I ask from a girl." I read out loud and roll my eyes.

'I want her to admire me.

To listen to me while I'm talking with no complaints.

To assist with my homework (she can do my essays for me, though they hardly ever can)'.

I cock an eyebrow at that.

"What? I never refused to acknowledge girls I date are stupid." He objects.

'…To cheer me during Quidditc matches.

To leave me alone when I'm not in a mood.

To snog me frequently (or the other one I'm not supposed to write).

To accompany me in clubs and pubs only if I request it.

To accept to snog me without having an actual relationship.'

I finish disgusted. I mean really physically nauseated. I cannot believe he's such big a prat. So selfish and mean and uncaring and just shallow!

"What does he say? Can I see it?" Cornelia asks trying to take a peak at the paper from her painting.

"You better not." I hiss irked.

"I don't think you'll agree to help him practice if you read this." I add.

"What is it Weasley? Did this little piece of honestly about a man's nature unnerve you?" Malfoy smirks and I feel like taking his head and smacking it to the wall. The only problem is, he's a bit too tall and I can't quite pull him down…

"This is just a piece of your nature not every man's." For instance I know a certain Auror trainee who is nothing like this…

"Why? Do you have someone in mind that isn't like this?" He asks daringly.

"Take this back." I growl throwing the parchment to his face.

"Are you avoiding my question?" I see his raised eyebrows and sigh.

"Just take it." I repeat and this time he complies.

"Erase it." I offer him the quill and order.

"What?" He stares dumbfounded at me.

"I said, erase it. All of what you've written." How hard is it for him to comprehend a simple sentence like 'erase it'?

The blonde blinks repeatedly but still doesn't do as I say.

"Fine, I'll do it." I say taking the parchment violently from his hands.

I take the quill and erase every single word he has written with a worrying persistence. Then I start tearing the paper off with my hands letting the torn pieces fall to the floor . Then I take a new paper and write down 'What a guy should ask from a girl'. And I hand it to him without a word. He makes a move to take my quill and start writing again but I hurry to stuff it back in my bag.

Then he stares at me as I stare at him. For almost ten minutes we continue this staring contest till –finally- I see realization dawning upon him.

"What a guy should ask from a girl." He reads in a serious voice.

"Nothing." He adds in comprehension.

"Good. Now that you got that, let's move on to the actual training." I turn towards Cornelia and smile with difficulty.

"So you start Cornelia." I ask and the girl clears her throat.

"Hi!" She chirps.

"Oh, hi!" Malfoy greets back and luckily his voice lacks the usual bored and indifferent tone. Of course you can hardly call it cheerful either, but then again I don't think Malfoy is capable of cheerful.

"What's your name?" Cornelia asks and closes her book.

"Scorpius and yours?" He says in a gentleman-like way.

"I'm Cornelia. Scorpius, tell me about yourself." Ha! That was a good question. Now it's time to see if he learnt anything from my little lesson. The blonde sends an uncertain look over at me and gulps.

"No. There's hardly anything interesting about me. I'd rather hear you speak instead." He says. Wow! Well, that was almost too selfless even in my books. Cornelia's face goes crimson and she giggles.

"Well, I was painted in 1993 by a young artist called Arthur Frost. I've been hanging in here since then." Oups… Truth be told I wasn't expecting such sincerity from her.

Suddenly I stop dead on my tracks (figuratively speaking of course). An unfamiliar laugh comes to me. I think I'm imagining stuff. Cause I'm not laughing. And Cornelia is not laughing. So that must be… Huh?!

Malfoy is –wait for it- laughing! I mean I know that git for over six years and I don't think I've ever heard him laugh with anyone other than Goyle. I have heard him chuckle from time to time when he finds something weird. And then smirk when he finds something ridiculous. And pretend to laugh when he wants to be ironic.

But actually laugh.

That should be a first.

"That sure is an unexpected story to hear from such a pretty girl." The alter ego of Malfoy replies still laughing.

"Oh, do you think I'm pretty?" Cornelia asks biting her lower lip.

"I do actually." He confesses in an honest tone.

"No… I'm sure you say that to all the girls." Well,he does.

"You've seen them huh?" I hold my breath as the blonde changes his expression to a grim one.

"I-I have?" Cornelia says pretty confused by his answer.

"Well, I guess there's no helping it." He messes his hair and then lets them fall on his eyes. Though this 'hair messing' has nothing to do with the one he was performing the other day in his dorm. This time it shows shame and anxiety and sadness. Not arrogance.

"I cannot make them go away. I mean I've tried everything but they always insist." He makes the 'puppy eyes' and I swear I can spot tears in Cornelia's eyes.

"Maybe you want me to go too." A wet-eyed painting girl whispers and even I, knowing this is all a huge lie, hope he won't disappoint her.

"You? Why would I want you to go? I cannot breathe without-…" And the 'bam' just like that, the prick bursts out in laughter.

"I-I…mph…sorry Weasley…egh… I just couldn't keep this… pfff…up any longer." He struggles to make a coherent sentence between chuckles.

"Sorry Cornelia." I apologize and push him away from her who is now really close to sobs.

"Come on, you sod. You ruined it." I shout at him and begin walking to the Heads' Common Room.

"I really tried though." Malfoy defends himself barely out of his laughing fit.

"Yeah, well let's just hope this doesn't happen when you're talking to a real person." I cross my arms. It'd be a real disaster if that had been a girl from school.

"I know, I know, but don't worry I won't sabotage your plans. I'll win fair and square." That's hard to believe.

"Good then please don't say stuff like 'I cannot breathe without you' ok?" I open the door and move to my couch.

"Why not?" Malfoy inquires moving to his dorm.

"Cause next time it won't be only you that's gonna laugh." I point out. I mean what sort of level-headed person would fall for such a line? And in the first ten minutes of one's conversation too…

I close my eyes trying to get comfortable in this couch. Man, I'm exhausted. Mentally that it.

And you know what's the devil of it all?

There's still a long way till the end of next month.

A/N: Well, what do you say? Who's better in his new self, Albus or Scorpius?

I would really like to know what you thought of the portrait girl idea!

So hesitate no more. Review!

Oh! And don't forget to try out the poll in my profile.

Next update will be next week – or sooner if I find the review number too overwhelming (*hint*, *hint*)

Stay on the side of the light,

Kisses,

Sarah