I could tell dad was fake smiling through the entire thing. He hated me.
After a busy day we all went to bed. Mum came up to my room just before my lights turned off.
"Hey Rosie, did you have a good day?" She asked me, sitting on the edge of my bed. My room was a teal blue colour with a grey flowery bedspread and posters of the Chudley Cannons all around my walls.
"Yeah it was okay, but I think dad hates me." I said.
"He doesn't hate you he's just… surprised. Trust me, he never meant to put so much pressure on you but he can just be so thick sometimes." She smiled at me. "Don't worry about it another second. Before you know it he'll be cheering on the Ravenclaw quidditch team with you."
"Mum, you must know that our team is always awful." I said only half jokingly.
"Well then he'll be cheering you along with your OWLs." She smiled and got up and turned the lights off to let me sleep.
Three years have past and I've got to say that dad's warmed up to Ravenclaw. He still makes the occasional mistake or falters when he's buying me house posters for my room, but I know his heart's in the right place. I'm top in my class for almost every subject, (Except for potions, which Scorpious has managed to beat me at) and mum said she couldn't be prouder. Karris and Rena have made them selves known as the 'prettiest' (they're like scary looking dolls if you ask me) and most snobbish girls in our year. Georgia, Hanna, Tom, Will and I are all best friends and Will and Hannah started dating this year! Will said he's fancied her for years and it's all quite adorable actually. Scorpious and I… things are a bit complicated. We compete in just about everything, and I win in just about everything but there are those moments when it almost seems as if we're friends. It even looks like Scorpious wants to be friends! It's absurd, we used to be sworn enemies, but somewhere in the middle of our third year we grew fond of each other. I'm not saying I fancy him or anything, although plenty of girls think he's quite handsome, but we've both come to enjoy our little back and forth.
Anyways, it's the start of the term feast in my fourth year and the headmaster, Professor McGonagall began to make a speech about how wicked this year would be and the friends we would make and blah, blah, blah.
"This year will be even greater than most because we have a few guests joining us. You may have noticed a lack in our sixth year students and that is because they have decided to participate in our exchange program where they will be spending their full year at Grenadon, a wizarding school in Germany. Therefore, some sixth years from Grenadon will be joining us as well!" McGonagall said as a group of kids immerged into the great hall. There were about 6 boys and 6 girls all wearing black formal pants and a deep blue overcoat. They all had a roughish look to them and some of the boys were very handsome as well.
"I'd love to show some of those boys around the castle." Georgia said to me and we both started giggling.
"I trust that everyone will be very courteous and help some of our guests who may have trouble speaking English." Fendragon said.
"Georgia, I think we should volunteer to help don't you?" We giggled some more and Tom looked over and rolled his eyes.
"Come on Tom; tell me you don't fancy any of those girls over there." I said.
He glanced over at them, sitting down at the Hufflepuff table. "They alright. I prefer English girls though."
"But they're so foreign and… rugged." Hannah joined in and giggled.
"You don't think I'm rugged then?" Will laughed and put his arm around Hannah.
"No." She said, "You're just cute and fit." She kissed him on the cheek and Will's face flushed red.
I glanced down the table and saw Scorpious sitting alone. Has he not made any good friends yet? I felt extremely bad, sitting here laughing while he was all alone, so I moved down to sit across from him.
"Hello." I said. He jumped a bit; he mustn't have noticed me coming over.
"What're you doing here?" He said a bit harshly.
"Whoa, keep your shirt on, I was just being friendly." I said jokingly. He glared at me suspiciously.
"But we aren't friends."
"Look, it's a new year and I've gotten a bit fond of our banter over the past while. I'm tried of pretending I think you're scum so… friends?" I held out my hand.
He hesitated for a moment before shaking my hand. "Friends." He said.
We ate the feast together, enjoying the others company. He was very nice when he wasn't trying to one up me on everything, I really don't know why dad hates the Malfoys so much. I don't think I've even seen a more well mannered and sweet boy. I like this a lot better than being enemies, that's for sure.
When everyone was walking back to their common rooms, Albus came up to me.
"I saw you sitting with that Malfoy boy." He said like I had done something horrid.
"And your point is?" I said.
"He's no good! Don't you ever wonder why your dad hates him so much? Scorpious' father was a death eater!" He said in a loud whisper.
"How do you know that?"
"I hear things! I even heard that he helped murder the old headmaster while he was still at school!" Albus persisted, "Scorpious is probably just like him, conspiring to be one of the death eaters that never got caught."
"Albus, really, that story's all rubbish. The ministry caught every last death eater. I think we would know that especially considering our dads are aurors."
"Think about it Rose, there are obviously still dark wizards left and chances are that some of them followed Voldemort!" I was getting frustrated.
"We're getting off topic. Scorpious is a nice person and he is not evil!"
I stormed off to the Ravenclaw common room.
"There is a headmaster who is rarely spoken of, now deceased. His picture is not in the headmaster's office, although he was a great man. Who was he?" The portrait asked. A headmaster that doesn't have a picture? How strange.
"I don't know!" I yelled. The portrait stayed unmoving. I sighed and sat down, waiting for the next person to come along. Five minutes later, I saw Tom coming around the corner.
"Tom! I'm locked out, I can't get the question." I pleaded. He smirked and listened to the riddle.
"Oh, my dad told me about this one I think. Although he never said anything about him being a great man, more like a prick if you ask him." He said. "Severus Snape." The door swung open and a huge smile spread across his face. "After you, malady."
We walked in the portrait and saw just a few people in the common room.
"So." Tom said. "I saw you sitting with Malfoy." He raised his eyebrows.
I groaned and flopped down on a couch and Tom followed. "Honestly, what's wrong with you people? It's not like we're getting engaged! I was just trying to be nice." I said, exasperated.
"I wasn't accusing you, I was just wondering why. Everyone thought you hated each other."
"You can only hate a person so long." I said simply.
"Ok, I was just making sure you didn't fancy him or anything." He grinned.
"No, of course not." I said. "You really can't do anything in this castle without people commenting can you?"
We talked for a while and then he started to ask me something.
"Rose, I've wanted to ask you this for a while," He started.
"Rose, Rose! Come quick!" Georgia burst in the common room shouting. "Those boys from Germany are in the halls lost! Isn't that fantastic? I even overheard them saying that they really just wanted someone to show them around and have a cup of tea with!" We both squealed.
"Well let's get going then!" I said happily. We ran to the door and before I left I said to Tom, "We can talk later okay?" He gave a half-smile in response and Georgia and I leaped into the halls and ran around for a couple of minutes until we found them, still hopelessly lost.
"Do you need any help?" Georgia asked them, batting her eyelashes.
"Ve vould love someone to show us around de castle. Ve've been having a horrible time trying to find everything." A tall dark haired boy at the front of the pack said.
"Well we're your girls then!" I said with a huge smile. "I'm Rose and that's Georgia."
"Hello." Another one said in a thick German accent. "I'm Lukas, he's Flynn," Lukas said, pointing to the one who spoke first, "and that's Gerard." He pointed to the last boy.
"Cute names." Georgia smiled. "Well let's start the tour in the Great Hall. Shall we?"
We showed them practically the whole school, minus the common rooms. Thank goodness it was a Friday and we didn't have to be in our rooms until midnight. They were all swell people, very polite, friendly and straightforward. Why don't they make them like this in Britain? I noticed that Georgia was getting quite close to Lukas and he was really warming up to her as well! I can't decide which one I like more, Flynn or Gerard. They're both very fit, but Gerard is manlier and Flynn is more innocent and young-looking. Well, we'll just see how the night goes! We finished most of the tour (if we went through all of Hogwarts we'd be here for days!) and sat outside by the lake, enjoying the evening. For the first time all night, I had alone time with Georgia because all the boys were fooling around with the water.
"Having fun?" She asked.
"Yes. And it looks like you're having some fun as well." I gestured to Lukas. A goofy grin spread across her face.
"He is SO sweet and funny and cute and I really think he likes me!" She squealed. "Are you going for Flynn or Gerard? I couldn't really tell."
"I don't know… we'll see. But what are you doing over here talking to me when your man is right there?" She smiled and got up to talk to Lukas.
"Guys I'm just going to go to the loo really quick, I'll meet up with you guys just inside." I said to them and they continued talking.
I went to the washroom as fast as I could and quickly freshened up. As I went back outside I could hear them talking around the corner. I almost walked right up to them until I heard the harsh tone of their voices.
"Vhat are ve going to do? Georgia and Lukas have gone and I really don't vant to spend time alone with dat girl." Gerard said.
"I don't know. Should ve fake sick?" Flynn said.
"I von't have to fake, being around her is nauseating!" Every time they laughed it was like a knife stabbing me in the heart. Was I really that awful to be with? Tears were welling up in my eyes so I sprinted in the other direction.
I came out into the courtyard, which was extremely empty due to the late hour. I sat down on one of the benches to let my tears fall. How could I be so naïve?
I heard someone come into the courtyard. My head shot up, what if it was one of them? My eyes fell on Scorpious, looking at me with a puzzlingly.
"Oh good, it's just you." I croaked.
"What's the matter?" He asked sweetly sitting down next to me. I told him the entire story, leaving out no details.
"I just feel so thick for thinking they could actually like me. Of course they don't want to hang out with a nerd like me; I'm in Ravenclaw for crying out loud!" But if that was the reason then, "But then why do they like Georgia! It must be me. I'm horrible to be around or something." While I told my story, he just sat there, taking it in.
"Rose." He chuckled lightly. "Those boys are idiots! You shouldn't be listening to them. Everyone thinks that because they're from Germany, they know everything. But you know what I think? I think that they're just stuck up prudes who don't know anything about anything." I grinned at his words. "You know what else? You're amazing Rose. Don't let anyone tell you differently."
I could feel my ears turn red, but thankfully you couldn't see under my long hair. Suddenly, I popped back into reality and noticed how unusually close we were to each other. When did this happen? My palms went sweaty and I started freaking out. "I – I – We should go." I stammered. "It's late." I stood up abruptly.
"If you say so." All Scorpious did was smile.
That night, while lying in bed I couldn't help think about how very, very close we were and how very, very right it felt.