Chapter 3

"Talk?" Scorpius repeated, then couldn't help but glance around to make sure she was talking to him. In their whole time at Hogwarts, he couldn't remember her ever seeking him out to talk.

"Yes. Talk." She said impatiently. "About Al."

"Al? Is he OK?" His answer was instant and slightly panicked, and had her too stunned to talk for several seconds. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought he actually cared about Al.

"He's fine." She said finally. "I mean, he's not hurt or anything. This is about you. And me."

He blinked, sure that she wasn't making any sense. And waited.

She sighed pointedly, as though he wasn't understanding her fast enough. "Last night, Al said something about not liking having to choose between us, and that we should be civil to each other. I think he's right."

"You think he's right?" Scorpius repeated, his surprise meaning he couldn't think of his own words. This was possibly the last thing he'd expected.

"Yes. For Al's sake." Rose continued, in an impatient, annoyed tone that suggest he was stupid for not understanding her. "It's not fair on him. So...I figured that whenever we had to be around each other...we'd be civil."

He looked at her, slightly annoyed at the way she was talking. She was implying that it was his fault they didn't get along. As though he was the one making snide comments and throwing dark looks.

"Sure." He said, when she began to tap her foot. "If you can manage that."

He turned, started away, when she caught his arm.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She said angrily, and he turned back to her, kind of wishing he hadn't spoke.

"Nothing." He muttered, looking down.

"It means something." She snapped.

"It means nothing." He replied, and pulled his arm from her grip, turned, and started to walk away again.

"Don't walk away from me!" She cried, in that demanding tone that annoyed him so much. So much, in fact, that he whirled around, stepped back towards her.

"Why? Why can't I walk away from you? Queen Rose isn't done with me? What else do you have to say then? Come on, little miss perfect. I'm waiting."

She stared at him, open mouthed. It was probably the most she'd ever heard him speak. His grey eyes, usually so cold and empty, were blazing with anger. She wasn't scared of him. But it wouldn't have surprised her if he'd have hit her.

He looked at her, too, already regretting his little outburst. He knew he had to control his temper, knew that getting angry like this was just confirming people's opinions of him. He was about to turn away, again, walk away, when she finally spoke.

"What - what did you mean by -" She had to pause there, struggle to call his words back to her. "By - if you can manage that?"

He sighed, calmer now. His temper never lasted long, he just wasn't an angry person. Wasn't a emotional person.

"I meant," he replied, biting off each word, with his back still to her, "that you're the one with the problem here. You've hated me since the moment you found out my name. Since you found out who my dad was. You don't even know me. But you judged me straight away because of my dad and my grandfather, and the things they did, and you decided I was such a bad person. You never even gave me a chance, just like everyone else except Al. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm not like him?"

This time she let him walk away. He never looked back, never saw the surprise on her face. Never saw the shadow of guilt in her eyes.

----

By the time Rose reached the common room, the guilt had gone. So what if she didn't know Scorpius. She knew his family's reputation. And what was that saying? Apples don't fall far from the tree. Of course he was a bad person. He was a Malfoy. Bad blood.

And she wasn't the only one with the problem. He didn't like her, either. Probably didn't like her because she was a Weasley. A half-blood. A blood traitor. All the things his family hated. Probably thought that he and his pure-blood were better than her.

So she had no reason to feel guilty. And he had no right to manipulate her like that, try and make her feel like she was wrong.

"Hey, Rose." Lily Potter, third year, cousin and close friend, threw herself into the seat opposite Rose. "Are you OK? You look...spaced out."

"I'm fine." Rose replied automatically, pushing her thoughts away and focusing on Lily. When she did, she blinked. "Did you just have Quidditch practice?"

"Yeah." Lily said. "How did you...Oh." She looked down at herself, at the mud-covered scarlet robes she hadn't yet changed out of. "Never race with Tabitha."

"She pushed you?" Rose asked, her eyes wide.

"No, no." Lily said quickly, and laughed. "She fell off her broom, grabbed me to try and stop herself hitting the ground. It didn't work."

"So you both fell?" Rose grinned, relaxing.

"Only a few feet." Lily explained quickly. "Practice was over, we were racing back to the ground."

"How did she make the team if she falls off her broom?" Rose asked, now eyeing a faint scratch down Lily's cheek.

"She doesn't do it often. Only when she flies too fast. She's a great keeper."

"Uh-huh." Rose replied, clearly not convinced.

"Anyway. I better go clean up." Lily said, standing up. "See you later."

"Yeah. Bye."

Her family, she thought smugly as she watched her cousin go, were a lot better than Malfoy's. They may not have "pure" blood, but they definetly had the best.

----

"James said he saw you and Rose talking earlier." Al said, as he sat down at Scorpius' table in the library.

"Oh. Yeah. We were." Scorpius said, looking up at Al like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"About...?" Al prompted. James had said it looked like they were arguing, and while Al didn't really want to hear about it, he figured he had to find out the cause.

"She...she said that me and her should be civil to each other when we're all together. Said you'd said you wanted us to be."

"Oh. Uh, well, I did. Last night. Um...what did you say?"

"I said OK." Scorpius shrugged, and pretended to be reading what he'd just written.

"That's all?" Albus asked, and when Scorpius didn't answer, he decided he'd have to pry the information out of Scorpius bit by bit. "It's just, James said you were arguing. Or he thought you were."

"We weren't. Not exactly."

"So what were you doing?"

"I...OK." Scorpius sighed, putting down his quill and looking up at Al. "When she said we should be civil, I said something like "if you can". She asked what it meant, I said nothing, started to walk away. She said, don't walk away from me, I asked why - uh, a little loudly, I guess, then she asked what I'd meant. I, uh, said something about her not even knowing me, judging me 'cause of my dad." He'd spoken fast, his voice flat, and it took Al a minute to process what he'd said. "Then I walked away. It wasn't an argument exactly."

"Right. Well, I bet she's your biggest fan now." Already defensive because of his exchange with Rose, Scorpius missed the amusement in Albus' voice.

"And that's my fault?" Scorpius snapped. "She never even gave me a chance. Nothing I could say or do will ever change her mind, OK? I'm sorry that you're stuck in the middle, but it's not my fault."

"Hey - I didn't mean -"

"I have to go." Scorpius interrupted, packing away his things and standing up. He hated this, hated arguing with Al over her. "I've never asked you to choose between us. And I never would. I don't think I'd like the answer."

He started to storm away, aware that his words had been immature and over-dramatic. He was already slightly embarrassed and glad that he, Al and the librarian were the only people in the library. Having people witness his little outburst would be decidedly embarrassing.

"Hey! Scorpius - wait a minute -" Al called, standing up as well. When Scorpius didn't halt, he did the only thing he knew would work. "Malfoy!"

Scorpius froze, turned back to Al with his face set, angry. He didn't like being called by his surname. Al knew that.

"Sit down, will you?" Al said wearily. "I was joking. I wasn't moaning or anything."

Scorpius flushed as he realised he'd overreacted, and, with a little sigh, took his seat again.

"Does she wind you up that much?" Al asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, she does." Scorpius muttered darkly.

"It's OK. I'll keep you apart as much as I can -"

"No, Al. You were right, you shouldn't have to do that." Scorpius interjected instantly.

"Scorp, I've done it for five years."

"Yes, and it's not fair on you. We agreed that we'd try. And we will." Scorpius said, with the tone of someone about to embark on an unpleasent task.

"OK." Al sighed, certain that it wouldn't last. "OK."