Happy Halloween!

Chapter 4

"So how long do you think it'll last?" James asked his younger brother, three days later in the Gryffindor common room.

"I'm not sure." Al replied. "I didn't think they'd last this long, to be honest. I think they're seeing it as a competition, and neither wants to break first."

"I'd lay my money on Rose." James said. "You know what she's like when she sets her mind on something."

"Yeah. But Scorpius can be pretty determined too. And he really wants to beat her." Al said thoughtfully.

"Well, maybe neither of them'll break." James grinned. "Maybe they'll just kill each other."

Al groaned loudly, but grinned back.

Both Rose and Scorpius had been making an effort the past few days. Despite Al trying to keep them apart, they were both sitting with him in lessons, with Rose including Scorpius in her conversations, and Scorpius actually replying. With words. And if they both may be overly formal with each other, at least they were polite.

Scorpius was determined to beat Rose, to prove that he was better than her. Rose was determined to beat Scorpius, to prove the kind of person he really was.

And so both of them would grit their teeth, force their way though the lessons they had with Al, and even insist on hanging around with him after their lessons, too.

Al figured that if they didn't kill each other soon, one of them might just explode.

----

Almost three weeks passed with the painful associations, with neither Scorpius or Rose backing down or changing their opinion of each other. Christmas sped closer, the days grew colder, the nights darker, and all three of them were eagerly awaiting the holidays, with a two week break from the tension, and the work that was being piled on them.

In the fifth year potions class, on a bitterly cold afternoon, two weeks before the holidays, most of the students had long since stopped trying to concoct a potion with their numb fingers and brains, and instead just held their hands up the flames beneath their cauldrons, counting down the minutes to the end of the lesson, and talking through chattering teeth.

All, of course, except Rose Weasley, who, as a prefect, felt it was her duty to fight the cold of their classroom and continue with the potion. And she managed to talk Al and Scorpius into doing that same, lecturing that as prefects, the three of them had to set an example.

In the end, they gave in to shut her up.

Rose was muttering to herself as she stirred her potion - not the deep blue it was supposed to be, but instead an aqua green - and decided that a few more daisy roots would fix it. A little annoyed - beside her, Al's potion was worse than her own, but next to him, Scorpius' was perfect - Rose pulled a daisy root and her knife, carefully chopping it to the perfect size.

"Fifteen minutes left - start packing away please -" The teacher said, causing Rose to look up at the clock fixed to the wall as she lowered her knife to the end of the root. Unfortunately, with her not paying attention, she brough the knife down on her own finger instead, causing a loud yelp to emit from her throat, and blood to rise to the surface and over her finger.

"That's why you should always be careful with knives." Al said solemnly, fighting a grin, while the rest of the class silenced and turned towards them to see what was happening.

"Be quiet." Rose snapped, lifting her finger closer to her face for inspection. "I don't think it's deep..." She took the tissue on of her friends held out to her and pressed it against the cut, stopping the blood from dripping to the table.

"Let Scorpius see it." Al said. "He's good at closing cuts."

A few weeks ago, he would never have dared suggest this, but obviously his brain, damaged by the cold, had thought that because of the way his friend and cousin had been acting the past few weeks, this would be safe.

Scorpius looked up in surprise, then at Rose uncertainly. And, a little embarrassed that she'd cut herself in the first place, Rose made a tactical mistake.

Looking Scorpius dead in the eyes, she shook her head. "No thanks." She sneered. "The sight of my unpure blood might offend you."

A collective gasp went around the room, and a deathly silence followed it. Scorpius' eyes widened; Al's mouth dropped open.

Then Scorpius snatched up his own knife, and swept it down his palm, just hard enough to have a thin line of his own blood appear. He shoved his hand towards her, and glared.

"It's the same." He snarled, and Rose's eyes flickered between his hand and his face. "Pure blood, half blood, it's all the same. There's only one of us that don't see that, and it isn't me."

It was convenient that the bell rang at that moment, causing the classroom to erupt in noise and motion as people hurriedly packed away. Scorpius wiped the blood from his hand onto his robes, threw his knife in his bag, along with his other things, and left the room swiftly, in silence.

Al watched him go, then rounded on his cousin.

"For God's sake Rose! What the hell did you say that for?"

"I - It just came out, I didn't even think it." She told him, aware that the people who hadn't yet left were listening.

"I've told you, he's not like that, he doesn't care about whether someone's pure blood or muggle born or whatever. When are you going to accept that he's not Draco Malfoy?"

And then Al picked up his bag, whirled around, and stormed from the room.

"Rose." One of her friends murmured, breaking the silence. "Come on..." The friend helped her pack away her own things, and took her arm to lead her from the room. "You want to go to the hospital wing, get your hand fixed?"

"No, no I'm fine, Allison." Rose replied, shaking her head. "It's...barely even bleeding anymore. I...I should apologise, shouldn't I?" She asked weakly.

"I...think you probably should." Allison agreed, as they started up the stairs. "Albus is right, Rose. He's not Draco Malfoy. We've all heard what his dad was like, but Scorpius isn't."

Rose didn't reply.

"They'll probably be in the library." Allison prompted gently, and Rose nodded mutely. Scorpius had always hid out in the library, not wanting to be in his common room.

"I'll see you later." Rose muttered, then turned away and headed for the library. Scorpius was sat in a corner; Al wasn't around.

She walked slowly over to his table, and he looked up, jolted, then looked back down at the table. She waited until she was stood at the table before speaking.

"I'm sorry." She knew it wasn't going to be that simple, so was unsurprised when he didn't answer. "I really am." She added, then sighed and sat down. He looked at her in surprise, but apparently was refusing to speak to her. "It wasn't fair. What I said, I mean. I...I've been told all about your dad, and the things he said or did to my parents, and the rest of my family...I...I hate him for that. And you're his son, and I...I guess I just assumed that you'd be like him. Even though Al always told me you're not."

He still didn't speak, merely looked at her.

"Look, you must know this isn't easy for me!" She cried suddenly, frustrated. "I hate apologising. My mum has to spend ten minutes lecturing me before I'll say sorry to my own brother. So can you please just accept it already?"

"What's the point?" Scorpius asked. "I'll accept it, and everything'll go back to how it usually is, with us being all...forced and fake around each other, with you hating me and me..."

"And you what?"

"Nothing." He replied.

"We could..." She swallowed, unable to believe she was going to actually say this. "We could start over. Just...forget everything that's happened, and - and forget about our parents for a little while. Maybe, that way, we'll get along better."

"Could you actually do that?" He asked, one eyebrow raised, infuriating her instantly.

"Yes. I don't think we'll ever actually be friends or anything, but..." She trailed off and looked at him.

"OK. I guess we could try." He said finally.

"Right. But first, you have to tell me what you were going to say." At his blank look, she sighed again. "A minute ago. When you said "and me...", remember?"

"Oh. Don't you ever let anything go?"

"No, actually, I don't. Go on, what were you going to say?"

He sighed loudly. "All I was going to say was that I'm always trying to prove to you that I'm not my dad."

"Oh." She had the decency to look a little guilty, he noticed. "Well...I guess I'm sorry about that. So, we're going to start over?" She didn't know, couldn't even explain to herself, why she even wanted to start over. But she couldn't get the hurt in his eyes out of her mind, couldn't forget the words he'd said just a little while ago. Pure blood, half blood, it's all the same.

"Yeah, I guess we are." He said finally, and with a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth - she'd never seen him smile - he held out his hand across the table. "Hi. I'm Scorpius."

Smiling herself, she took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Rose." He'd left off his surname, so she was careful to do the same.

When Al entered the library ten minutes later, he saw the two of them sat at the table, talking and even laughing a little. He lifted a hand to the back of his head, just to make sure he hadn't banged it recently.

I'm not sure how well this chapter came out, and I don't think I did the blood scene well enough...