That night, while I was rereading Hogwarts, A History after the others had fallen asleep, I got quite a shock.

I should probably start by saying that in my dormitory we are five girls. Myself (duh) and Felicia and Jane and then two girls named Ellen and Eurydice. Ellen and Eurydice are mostly fond of gossip and giggling, two things which, honestly, I hate. I know I'm sounding like a stuck – up bookworm, but I suppose that's who I am. I don't have much patience for what other people are doing with their lives.

Imagine my shock when the supposed – to – be – asleep – Eurydice suddenly whispered, "Rose!"

I slammed my book shut and twisted around in the bed, nearly strangling myself with my sheets in the process. Eurydice was standing at the end of my bed.

"Um, hi?" I finally managed. I looked at my watch. Half past one in the morning. Why wasn't she asleep? Normally, I would be asleep, too, but having slept in the sun I wasn't feeling particularly tired. That and my arms, shoulders and back were burning so badly that I couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in. None of my cooling charms were working.

Of course my legs haven't got any color. Typical, right? I mean, I just want nice tan legs and yet, somehow, they remain completely pearly white while the rest of my body is LOBSTER RED. Well, not my entire body. There are these awful lines all over my torso, so you can see just where my clothes was. There's even a little patch on my stomach that's red, because my shirt must have gone up a bit. As if this isn't enough, I have become enormously freckly.

Eurydice sat down on my bed. "So," she said.

"So," I repeated, feeling awkward.

"Look, I couldn't help overhearing what you were talking about at dinner tonight," Eurydice said.

I don't think anyone could help overhearing that.

"Do you really like Scorpius Malfoy?" Eurydice asked.

I felt the need to roll my eyes. I really wanted to just give them a roll. I mean, what kind of person keeps themselves awake for over three hours just to get a little gossip? But I somehow managed to keep my eyes firmly in place.

"No, of course not," I said.

"Are you sure?"

I sighed, starting to feel a little bit annoyed. This was probably one of the most pointless conversations ever. Really, we could be doing a hundred more productive things than this. Like sleeping. I was actually beginning to feel a little tired, and, of course, the more I thought about it, the harder it was to stifle the yawns.

"Yes," I said dully.

"Well, it's just that – that you and him are always talking and laughing and…" Eurydice trailed off and in the darkness I could see her make some hopeless gesture with her hands.

"It's called friendly bickering," I told her. "I don't like Scorpius Malfoy in that way, and he definitely doesn't feel that way about me."

Sleep was beginning to be more and more appealing.

"Oh thank Merlin," Eurydice finally breathed. "Because, Rose, the thing is that last week in Potions with the Slytherins I suddenly realized that I am hopelessly in love with Scorpius!"

I blinked. And it wasn't from sleepiness.

"You suddenly realized?"

"Yeah," Eurydice continued, oblivious to my sarcasm. "It was something about the way his hair fell into his eyes – those gorgeous green eyes… You know he never combs his hair? It's adorable. It looks like he just got out of bed."

The fact that his hair is constantly uncombed is exactly the reason that I don't find him adorable. Scorpius is a pest. Plain and simple. Some of Scorpius' favorite things to do are to beat me in tests and on the Quidditch field (when he can) and to watch Demetria pick on me.

I don't even know why Demetria and Scorpius are friends. Aside from a common sense of humor and House they have almost nothing in common. Demetria has this groomed look about her (and rather frightening vampire features) while Scorpius has a rather careless appearance, his robes always in slight disarray, one of his shoelaces always untied and the precious uncombed hair that Eurydice seemed to find so adorable. Demetria is pale and looks sickly while Scorpius is tan from always being outside. This also means that his hair is almost completely white, being bleached from the sun.

"Yes, well," I said. "Speaking of bed…"

Eurydice finally seemed to understand and she bade me good night and crawled into her own bed. I flopped down on my back, untangled myself from the sheets and pulled them up to my neck.

I dreamed of falling down the stairs, at the bottom of which Scorpius and Demetria were standing, laughing and eating cold turkey sandwiches.

"Are you absolutely positive that you don't like me?" Scorpius asked, smirking.

"YES!" I bellowed.

Demetria sneered at me, revealing her awful pointed teeth. Putting her (delicious!) sandwich aside, she crouched down next to me and sunk her teeth into my neck. The last thing I remember is looking past Demetria and seeing Scorpius doubled over with laughter, before he turned into a plate with bacon.

* * *

The next day at breakfast James shoved Al unceremoniously out of the way to sit next to me.

"Good morning to you, too," Al grumbled, massaging his left arm.

"Rosie," James said, ignoring Al. "We have to talk."

I raised my eyebrows across the table at Felicia, who was straightening in her seat now that James was sitting with us. I sighed inwardly. Of all the people that Felicia (who, by the way, is possibly the most gorgeous girl that I know) could fancy, she has to fancy James. James is not only arrogant and bossy he also delights in other people's humiliation and especially likes to tease me. But I have seen on occasion how ridiculously overprotective he can be of Al, Lilly, Hugo and I.

But still! Felicia could have almost any guy she wanted simply because of her looks. She has this gorgeous platinum blonde hair that falls in perfect ringlets. She has wide, innocent looking blue eyes and pouty lips all set in a heart shaped face. Felicia could model. Not that she wants to. No, Felicia wants to be the first female Minister of Magic.

"Jamie," I greeted. "I'm flattered that you care for little me so much that you'll beat up the disabled to sit next to me."

"Huh?" James said, clueless. "I need to talk Quidditch tactics with you."

"Oh."

"Look, we're playing Slytherin in less than two weeks!" he said, piling food on his plate. How do boys eat so much? "We need to be prepared. Now, look, Rosie, I think I've figured out the Slytherin team's strategy. Arnold and I have been – er – spying on the Slytherin practice."

"Spying, James?" I said. "Isn't that a little low, even for you?"

"All's fair in love and war, Rose, and this is revolution."

I didn't ask what we were revolting against.

James has always taken Quidditch seriously. Not that I don't, I mean, I am one of the most committed Chasers Gryffindor has ever had. I'm committed to everything that I do- Quidditch, Prefect duties, Chess Club, tutoring and my schoolwork. But the way James talks about Quidditch, you would think that he was an army general directing his troops.

"Right," I finally said, giving up trying to argue. "So what's Slytherin's strategy?"

"Each one of their Chasers is going to tail one of our Chasers - the one that matches most in size and skill. The Slytherin Chaser will constantly try to win the Quaffle from their particular Chaser," James explained.

"So who's tailing me?" I asked.

"Well," James said. "Mortimer Cross is rather tall and, well, has meat on his bones if you catch my drift, so my guess is that he'll be tailing Arnold, seeing as he is our biggest chaser. Ophiuchus Nott will tail me, because I heard them talking about it. So that leaves –"

"Scorpius Malfoy," I said dully. I wonder if Scorpius died tomorrow, would he come back to haunt me as a ghost? Because his name really does seem to follow me everywhere.

"Yeah," James said. "And it makes sense. You're both skinny, he's a bit smaller than the others, you're both very fast – it's a perfect match!"

I caught Felicia's eye across the table, and I could see that she, too, was thinking of a perfect match in a way not remotely connected with Quidditch.

"So," James continued, unaware. "You need to keep this in mind during the match. And practice sharp turns, so that you'll be able to get away from him at any time. By the way, there's Quidditch practice tonight."

"Tonight?!" I exclaimed. "But we practiced last night, James, and I have homework-"

This was not what he wanted to hear.

"So?!" James half-yelled. "Quidditch is important! I'm getting the feeling that you're not taking this seriously! You also showed up for practice late yesterday. Slytherin is a real threat, Rose, a very serious threat!"

His eyes were bulging again. How can Felicia fancy a boy who's eyes look like they're about to fall out every time he gets angry?

"I have homework," James said in a very high pitched voice, that didn't sound remotely like mine. "Honestly, do you really think a little homework is more important than winning the Cup? You do realize that if we don't win this game we're out of the running?"

"I realize!" I said hastily. "I get it."

After wolfing down some toast I quickly grabbed Al and Felicia and dragged them off to Potions.

"We don't have Potions for the next twenty minutes," Felicia complained. "Why can't we eat?"

"I'm escaping from James," I said, holding on to Al's elbow and guiding him through the school. "He's gone completely fanatic about the next match against Slytherin. He's even begun to scare me. Stairs down," I added to Al.

We started walking down the staircase going farther towards the dungeons. "Well, I think it's nice that he is committed to Quidditch," Felicia said.

"More like married to Quidditch," Al muttered.

At that very moment someone came soaring through the air behind us and crashed heavily into Al and me, sending us soaring down the stairs past a bewildered Felicia. I shut my eyes and stretched out my arms to avoid the painful fall, which happened anyway. Once I was sprawled on the floor I opened my eyes.

Felicia and Ophiuchus, the Slytherin Chaser, were peering down at me.

"Sorry," Ophiuchus said, grinning apologetically. "I was escaping one of Demetria's Bat – Bogey Hexes."

I fixed him with my best Death Glare and watched him squirm.

"Really, I'm sorry!" he tried again. "Look, I'll help you with your books."

I told Felicia and Al to go ahead without me.

Ophiuchus gathered my books together in a flash and handed them to me, along with my bag before helping me to my feet.

"Thanks, Ophiuchus." I muttered. "Very gentleman like."

He flashed a smile at me. "Ophi."

"Ophi," I echoed. "Much easier."

Ophi and I walked to Potions together, talking along the way. I was surprised by how nice he was and how different from Scorpius he was. Scorpius and Demetria being the only two people from Slytherin that I interact with, I had somehow expected all Slytherins to be just like them. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised that Ophi was not at all like those two. He was actually really, genuinely nice. In fact, I would usually dock five points for inappropriate behavior in the corridors, but decided against it. I wanted to tell him that he was sorted into the wrong House, but I restrained myself. I don't think that insulting people's Houses is the way to make friends. Besides, Felicia was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but the Hat finally decided that she ought to be a Gryffindor instead. I was very nearly sorted into Ravenclaw.

In Potions, however, my good mood evaporated quickly. Al had saved me a seat next to him and right behind him was – I shuddered – Demetria. As I slowly sank into the chair next to Al my entire dream from last night came rushing back through my mind.

I know it's ridiculous to be afraid that a fifteen year old girl at Hogwarts is really a vampire intent on drinking my blood, but Demetria is really, really frightening! Those pointed teeth are enough to give anyone nightmares.

"Hey, Weasel, fall down any stairs today?" she asked.

I suppose my burning face was enough of an answer because she snickered. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't my fault, it was actually hers for trying to hex Ophi, but I decided any attempts to reason with a deadly bloodsucker would be fruitless.

"Ignore her," Al breathed to me.

Professor Slughorn had just begun telling us that today we would be learning about the Draught of Peace, a potion very important in the O., so naturally I was prepared to listen closely. Right as Slughorn was writing the ingredients up on the board, the door to the dungeon was kicked open and someone came sprinting in, sliding to a stop behind me.

"Sorry to be late, Professor," Scorpius panted. I didn't even need to look to know who it was. I heard him throwing himself into the seat next to Demetria.

"Quite alright, Mr. Malfoy, be sure it doesn't happen again," Slughorn said. I clenched my fist together.

Honestly! Why didn't Slughorn dock five points? I hate that Scorpius can just waltz into class when he wants to, like he doesn't even care and still have an average of Exceeds Expectations!

I forced my concentration back to the Draught of Peace. I had my parchment and my quill in front of me, ready to take any notes that were necessary, when something landed on my parchment in front of me. A carefully folded piece of parchment. I knew what it was almost before I unfolded it.

Weasley –

I know that you know about the Slytherin team strategy.

SM

I wanted to ignore it. I really wanted to ignore it. But even as I set it aside I could feel it glaring at me, begging me to write something scathing back to him.

Malfoy –

So what?

RW

I threw it back over my shoulder, not caring much where it landed. A few seconds later a quiet scuffling with his chair told me that it had not landed on his desk. I smirked.

So aren't you worried? You'll have to deal with the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen.

SM

No, YOU'LL have to deal with the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen.

And I'm not worried. Try telling James, though, if you want a reaction; he'll be worried.

How do you even know that I know?

RW

Fuming, I turned around and threw the note so that it almost hit him on the nose. Unfortunately, he managed to catch it. Who does he think he is? The best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen, honestly! I'll admit that Scorpius is good, but he's not exactly earth – shattering. I'm quite good, too, you know. Just because Scorpius tries to challenge me in practically everything I do, does not mean that he has the right to go about saying he's better than me.

Thankfully, I was chosen to be a prefect and he wasn't. When I found out I really just wanted to jump around and shout, "HA! Take that!" But the problem is that I don't really think that Scorpius cares about being prefect, which completely takes the fun out of everything.

The Slytherin mind works in wonderful and mysterious ways.

I suppose the only way to find out which of us is the best is a little competition. Are you up for it?

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen

I bit my lip while reading it. Damn the fact that I really can't say no to a challenge! WHY do I always feel the need to prove that I'm the best? Especially when it comes to Scorpius. I think it's something about the whole attitude he has about himself. It just infuriates me, and I want nothing else than to prove him wrong.

Of course I'm up for it. Any chance to prove that I'M the best!

What kind of competition?

Rose Weasley, in every way superior to Scorpius Malfoy

Tomorrow, five O'clock on the Quidditch Field.

You, me, a few witnesses and an unbiased Keeper.

See who can get the most Quaffles through the hoop in ten shots.

Let the best manwoman Chaser win.

- Scorpius Malfoy, who doesn't even want to argue about this anymore, because he is better than Rose Weasley in every way.

I accept.

Rose

I turned around as I handed this note to Scorpius. Our eyes met for a second and he grinned at me, winking. I almost grinned back, but then I remembered that I'm supposed to be besting him so I stiffly turned around in my seat. I was really trying to concentrate on Professor Slughorn again, when another folded note landed on my parchment. I wanted to cry out, "ENOUGH!" but unfolded the note instead.

Miss Perfect Prefect Weasley CAN'T be passing notes during a class, can she? Especially one that is so crucial to the O.!

I think it's funny how you pretend to be better than everyone, yet you're still sometimes tempted to be just as "lowly" as the rest of us.

Demetria DuChamps

I decided not to think about the fact that she quite possibly was a vampire, and wrote simply:

Go away.

* * *

That evening, Quidditch practice started with James passing out eggs. We all stood bewildered while he shoved three eggs into our hands.

"Er – Jamie," Avril, our Seeker, said. "Why do we need eggs?"

"You know that raw eggs are unhealthy, right?" Arnold said.

James stopped passing eggs around and beamed at us. "I," he said, actually pointing to himself, "have just outsmarted all the Slytherins."

We all stared at him dumbfounded. James has said some incredible things through the years, but I think he just outdid himself. How raw eggs were part of outsmarting the entire Slytherin House, I don't think any of us understood.

"You know that fifth year, Lincoln Morris, who blew off his arm three years ago because he was flying with a wand?" James began, seemingly unaware that we were all completely clueless. "So McGonagall forbid flying with wands, which is quite inconvenient when the Slytherin team comes to spy on our practice. But I have figured out the solution!"

James looked around at us with gleam in his eye.

"We pelt them with eggs!"

No one said anything. James started to look annoyed that no one understood his brilliance.

"So that we won't be breaking any rules!" he cried, trying to explain.

"Brilliant, James," our Keeper, Rebekah, said. "Good thinking."

"Yeah, Jamie, that was – uh- really inventive," I said.

James swelled up with pride. "Now," he said. "Let's have a good practice alright? And remember! We must win that Cup! This – this is my last year at Hogwarts and nothing would be better than seeing my team with that beautiful, gleaming, shining Cup in our hands. Now, let's have the best practice we've ever had!"

We kicked off and I felt that soaring feeling in my stomach that I feel every time I kick off from the ground on a broomstick. I love flying. Even though I may only have one of the old Nimbus Two Thousands, nothing beats zooming through the slightly cool evening March air.

James let out the Snitch, the Bludgers and finally the Quaffle. We had a good practice, especially because James seemed to be confident enough in the team's ability and didn't have one of his rage black outs.

"I see two Slytherins!" Avril suddenly yelled, pointing down.

Sure enough, curled together in the corner of the bleachers were to unmistakable Slytherin uniforms.

"Alright, team," James said, looking delighted at the chance to finally make use of his idea. "Let's start the egg attack!"

Feeling ridiculous, I flew after the others, pulling the eggs out of my pockets. Our Beaters came close enough and in a simultaneous movement hurled the eggs at the two Slytherins. With a SPLAT! the two eggs hit their mark.

"Bugger off!" one of them yelled, in a voice that could only belong to –

"SCORPIUS MALFOY!" James bellowed, his eyes popping again. "I should've known it was you!"

In a furious rage several Gryffindors pelted Scorpius with eggs. He rummaged around in his robes looking desperately for his wand before giving up, shrugging and taking refuge under the bleachers.

"And who is your friend?" James roared.

The other Slytherin raised his face only to meet another egg storm. I threw all three of my own eggs as hard as I could before realizing that it was Ophi.

"Ophi!" I exclaimed, but my voice was drowned out by the angry Gryffindors around me.

"Rosie!" James shouted. "Can't you dock points for this?"

I shook my head. "They weren't actually breaking any rules," I told him.

James finally seemed to think that the egg attack had lasted long enough, and, satisfied with the result, told the team that practice was over for the day. The entire Gryffindor team flew back to the changing rooms with the exception of me.

I flew down to the bleachers and landed.

"Sorry," I said to Ophi as Scorpius was emerging from under the bleachers.

"Ah, well," Ophi said, shrugging. "Consider us even, I guess."

Scorpius was wiping his face with his robes. "Remind me to never again leave my wand in the dormitory," he said.

I tried not to laugh, but it must have shown on my face anyway, because Scorpius said, "It's okay to laugh, Weasel, I would have laughed, had I not been the victim."

He grinned widely.

"That was ingenious, though, I'll have to tell my team about that…"

"I should go change," I told them, mounting my broom again.

"See you around," Ophi said.

"See you tomorrow, five O'clock!" Scorpius said in a far more serious tone.

"By the way," I said. "Who is our unbiased Keeper?"

"I was thinking the Hufflepuff Keeper," Scorpius said. "She's nice and she's not taking any sides."

I couldn't see anything wrong with this so I merely nodded.

"Right. See you tomorrow."

I flew away from the bleachers, feeling the wind in my face. I did a couple of dives, rolls and loops just to give Scorpius an idea of what was in store for him.