I had a hard time concentrating on studying the next day. For some reason, every time I tried to put my mind to Summoning Charms or Draught of Peace, my thoughts seemed to wander to the Quidditch pitch and how I would have to prove myself as the best Chaser. The worst part is that I'm fairly sure that Scorpius knows about my nervousness, because all day he caught my eye and winked or smirked that superior, "I know I'm the best" smirk.
It infuriated me so much that Al finally burst out, "Give it a rest, Rosie! You'll prove yourself as a Chaser tonight, and he will stop badgering you."
I frowned at Al. Considering the fact that he's blind and unable to watch Quidditch he seems to know a great deal about my Chaser abilities.
"What do you know?" I snarled unnecessarily. "You haven't seen me play Quidditch for years!"
As soon as I had said it, I felt awful. Al and I usually don't talk about his blindness in that way. Sure, we mention it casually and use it in jokes and so on (because really, if we never talked about it there would be a very large elephant in the room) but we never use it in an insult.
"I'm sorry," I blurted a moment later. "I didn't mean it. I'm just worried about tonight. I mean, could you just imagine the look on Scorpius' face if he wins?"
Al sighed very audibly. "Yes, Rose, I can imagine and I sympathize with you. But really, stop letting him get to you and think about something else for a change. This is ridiculous."
I gave up trying to get some support from Al and tried Felicia instead.
"Well, Rose, you have a smirk too, you know," Felicia said tentatively. "I just don't think that you're aware of it."
I could almost feel my eyes bulging like Jamie's do.
"A smirk?" I repeated.
"Well…" Felicia seemed to be struggling for words. "When we get a test back and you've got a good score you always smirk a little – just for a second, you know."
I do not. I ought to know if I smirk or not, and I happen to know that I don't. Sure, I might smile a bit when I get a test back, but that is merely because I've gotten a good score! What am I supposed to do, sulk about it? Or I could let out a whoop of laughter before crumpling the test in my hand and throwing it over my shoulder like it was nothing.
Oh, wait. That's what a certain Malfoy does.
I finally went to the only person that I knew for a fact would support me.
"Look, Rosie, Scorpius Malfoy has nothing on you. Nothing. Sure, he might be the Slytherin team's best Chaser, but that doesn't mean that he is better than you. Oh, no, definitely not. I mean he's okay, I'll give him that, but you could easily wipe him out. Actually, Rose, you have to wipe him out, I simply can't bear the look on his face if you don't, insulting that is…"
James trailed off, shaking his head.
"You'll be there, won't you?" I asked him.
"Of course!" James exclaimed. "How could I not? I have to watch you beat that Scorpius Malfoy."
"What if …" I lowered my voice so that the rest of Gryffindor table wouldn't hear. "What if I don't beat him?"
"Then I'll beat him into pulp," Jamie said calmly. "I'm not too worried. No matter what the outcome is, he won't be happy."
Though I hoped that no beatings would be necessary, it did make me feel slightly better that at least Scorpius was going to be suffering, no matter how bad I was.
**
After lunch our Potions class was cancelled due to an accident with house elves, garlic and the dungeon catching fire, which turned out to be inextinguishable. Felicia, Al and I retreated into the library – my favorite place in the world, because I can read and just immerse myself in books; Felicia's favorite place in the world, because she can catch snogging couples and Al's least favorite place in the world, because, honestly, if you're blind and uninterested in gossip the library is pretty much useless.
Al huffed and threw himself into a nearby chair.
"What am I even doing here?" he asked me. "I hate this place."
"So go find some of your other friends," I told him, not even looking up from my book. He didn't answer, which clearly meant that even though he hates the library, he would rather be here with Felicia and me than with somewhere else with other people. It's touching.
Felicia had disappeared behind one of the bookshelves when Al leaned a bit closer to me.
"Rose, I have to tell you something," he whispered.
I looked up from my book.
"What?"
"Uh – you know Felicia?"
"My best friend?"
"Yeah."
"Yes, I know her," I answered, wondering where he was going with this.
"Yeah, well," Al stuttered. "She's – I mean – I… Does she like James?"
I was a little taken aback by this. First of all, Felicia has had several boyfriends and he's never been interested in any of them before, in fact, he made a point out of forgetting their names. (At this point I should probably marvel at how Felicia has managed to have several boyfriends when I have never even managed to have one. Not a single boyfriend.) Second, if Al doesn't care about Felicia's love life, he cares even less about James'. Al has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to know about his brother's conquests. So, really, Al's sudden interest was a little odd. I wondered if he was getting soft.
"Well, yeah," I said honestly. "She told me about it. Weird, though, isn't it, how anyone can like James?"
Al was silent for a few moments. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me.
"Oh. Merlin," I said, shutting my book loudly and letting it glide to the floor. "You. Like. Felicia!"
Al suddenly turned very red. "No!" he said vehemently. "She's my friend! Why would I –"
"Why, hello there," a voice interrupted Al. He jumped about two feet into the air.
"Demetria," I said sourly.
"Rose," she said in the exact same tone.
The two of us stared at each other for a few moments. For some reason, Demetria didn't seem to have the need to blink. Her wide silver – blue eyes seemed to be boring holes into mine. My eyes started to water and I blinked a couple of times. It didn't seem to annoy Demetria, though, she just kept staring. I wondered if she was thinking about how I would taste.
"Ah, a Weasel and a Potter," somebody said behind Demetria. I tore my gaze away from her to see – oh, for goodness sake! – Scorpius Malfoy.
"Scorpius," I seethed.
"Rose," he said in a perfectly polite voice. He, however, did not seem to want to start a staring contest. "What might you two be whispering about here amongst the bookshelves? Worried about this afternoon, Rosie?"
"Don't call me that," I said automatically. Only my family and Felicia are allowed to say Rosie. It's an awful name that has stalked me since childhood. I am ROSE.
"Why not?"
"It's – it's not my name," I said lamely.
"I've heard people calling you that," he countered.
"Well, I don't like them calling me that," I told him. "I'm Rose."
Scorpius just looked at me for a few moments. He didn't stare in an intimidating way, he didn't wink at me – he just looked.
"Yeah, Rose suits you better," he finally said.
Demetria rolled her eyes and looked significantly at Scorpius. Scorpius sighed and said, "Well, I've got to go. We're looking for, uh, books."
"In a library?" Al said. "How fascinating."
Demetria sneered at us and the two of them stalked off. I picked up my book from the floor, letting out a breath I didn't realize that I had been holding.
"I can't stand Demetria," I muttered.
"Me neither," said Al.
"Do you ever get the feeling that she wants to eat you?" I asked tentatively.
"What?"
"Eat you."
"Do you mean metaphorically?"
"No, like, literally bite you and suck your blood out," I said.
Al was silent for a few moments. "No."
"Me neither," I said quickly. I decided that the reason that Al never felt this way was because he couldn't see her awful, bloodthirsty eyes.
"Hey," someone suddenly said. For the second time Al jumped in the air and I dropped my book. What is with people suddenly appearing out of nowhere?
It was Ophi.
"Hey," I said, smiling much more at him than at Scorpius and Demetria. "What're you doing here?"
"Oh, you know, Potions was cancelled, so I decided to go to the library," said Ophi.
"That's exactly what we did," I told him. "Do you want to sit?"
Ophi took a seat next to me and glanced at the title of my book.
"Important Modern Magical Discoveries," he read. "Yeah, I've read that."
"You have?"
"Last year," Ophi said. "I took it out for a bit of light reading."
The book was about as thick as my thigh. Clearly, both Ophi and I liked books and the library.
"Do you read a lot, then?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, all the time!" Ophi exclaimed, his face suddenly lighting up. "I read about a book a week – I usually steer clear of the library, though, I don't like reading in here, it's too stuffy."
"You must be at the top of your class," I said, awed.
Ophi shook his head sadly. "No, Scorpius is. He's really smart too, just in a different way. He doesn't read, but he has the most amazing memory. I spend most of my time studying, though; I don't play Quidditch or anything. I've noticed you're a pretty good Chaser."
"You think so?" I asked, exceptionally pleased. "Thanks!"
"Ophi!"
Al jumped, I dropped my book.
"Scorpius," Ophi said, smiling and turning away from me to look at the blond who was positively glowering at him. "What's going on?"
"I, uh, well it's just that…" Scorpius trailed off, clearly lost for words. I have never seen him so flustered before. Scorpius is very unlike me in that way – he never suddenly doesn't know what to say. He is incredibly graceful, both physically and verbally.
Can you say that? Verbally graceful?
Demetria suddenly appeared at Scorpius' side. I wonder if he ever gets sick of her trailing him around. In fact, I wonder if he is ever afraid of her eating him. But then again I suppose that she's nicer to him than she is to me, otherwise there would be something very wrong about their friendship.
"Ophi, why aren't you asking McGonagall about getting new Quidditch uniforms?" Demetria asked coolly. "We agreed that you – being bookish and charming, and McGonagall's favorite Slytherin – would ask her."
"Oh," said Ophi. "Well, I thought that –"
"I think you should do it now," Demetria said.
Ophi squirmed under Demetria's gaze and then finally jumped to his feet. "Right. I'll get right to it."
He smiled apologetically at me before dashing off. At least I am not the only one who is afraid of Demetria.
Demetria turned her gaze to me and I squirmed about just as much as Ophi, but I refused to back down.
"What's your problem?" I finally blurted out.
"Perfect Prefect Rosie," she said in a singsong voice.
"Don't call me-"
"You have the hearts of several boys in your hand, yet what do you do? You walk all over them," Demetria continued.
"I – what? What boys?"
"You pretend to be so good and kind and generous and helpful and yet you're just scum, you know that? Just scum," Demetria said, an awful venom in her voice.
"What're you-"
"You can pretend to be better than us, but you really aren't, Rosie."
"I just told you not to call me-"
"I'll call you whatever I bloody want!" she finally shrieked. Then just as abruptly, she turned on her heel and stormed away.
Al leapt to his feet with his wand in his hand. "What was she playing at?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Scorpius said in a dull voice.
"What?" I asked.
Scorpius shrugged in an infuriating way and then glanced at Al, as though he didn't want to say anything in front of him. I sighed very loudly, just so that Scorpius could get an idea of how much he irritated me.
"Stay here," I muttered to Al, then I grabbed Scorpius' arm and pulled him off to the other side of the bookshelf. "What?" I asked rather sharply.
Scorpius looked at me for a few moments, as though wondering what he should say. I suddenly realized that I was uncomfortably close to him. He smelled a bit like very expensive soap and, for some reason, cinnamon. I stepped back, bumping into the wall behind me.
"Demetria's jealous of you," he said very quickly.
"Why?" I asked blankly. "Why on Earth would Demetria of all people be-"
"Because you are a lot of things that she isn't," Scorpius said. The rest came out in a rush, as though he half wanted to say it and half wanted to just get it over with. "I mean, you're a prefect, you're very clever, you're pretty, you're on the Quidditch team, guys like you, you have a big family and all the teachers are eating out of the palm of your hand. Of course she wants to be you."
Scorpius then suddenly found a book behind him on common house elf ailments very interesting.
I stared openly at him as he flipped through the book, burying his face in it.
Of course she wants to be you.
Guys like you.
His words echoed in my head.
You're pretty.
"You think I'm pretty?" I suddenly asked, unable to stop myself. I immediately clamped a hand over my mouth. Why, oh why, oh why did I have to ask that? I sounded like a lovesick little girl! But still, did he? No one (besides my mother and countless aunts) had ever said to me that I was pretty before. No guys or anything. No one who wasn't obligated to say it.
"I just told you why my best friend hates you and that's all you can think about?" Scorpius asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Well – I – I mean…" I trailed off. "No, of course not."
With an effort I gathered myself. "Of course that's not all I think about, don't be ridiculous. I'll see you at five O'clock."
I marched briskly off, grabbed Al, found Felicia and escaped from the library, choosing not to relay the story to them.
**
That afternoon at five O'clock there was a gathering of sorts at the Quidditch field. James, Felicia and Al were sitting in the bleachers, surrounded by Ophi, Demetria and a handful of other Slytherins.
"Don't worry," James had said to me before I went out onto the field. "You'll be fine. Besides, if everything goes wrong I'll cast a Confundus Charm on Malfoy."
"What?" I exclaimed. "No, James, no cheating."
"Come on," said James. "You know that the Slytherins wouldn't think twice before casting a Confundus Charm on you."
"Yes, but we don't have to sink to their level," I said.
"Go on, Rosie," Felicia said, waving me off and moving closer to James. "We'll be rooting for you."
I turned my back on them and walked out onto the Quidditch field. Scorpius was waiting there, his AirCruiser One Thousand in his hand. Beside him stood the Hufflepuff Keeper. The first thing I noticed about her – and don't think I'm a lesbian, or anything, because it was really hard not to notice – was her really big breasts. I'm serious. This girl was so curvy that it wasn't even funny. I wondered if she had magically inflated them or something. Now, my breasts aren't anything special, I mean, they're there and they aren't that big, but nor are they very small. Normally, people don't really go around staring at my chest, but I swear, this Hufflepuff Keeper must get it all the time.
"Hey," she said. "I'm Lena."
I turned to Scorpius and saw him smirking. Suddenly I wondered if the reason that he had chosen Lena instead of the Ravenclaw Keeper was because of Lena's chest. But then I told myself that I was being ridiculous. Scorpius wouldn't choose a Keeper because of her bra size, would he?
"Rose," I told her.
"Shake hands," Lena said.
Scorpius and I shook hands. I noticed for the first time how long his fingers were and how cool his hand was. I knew for a fact that mine was sweaty and hot from worry.
"Good luck," Scorpius said amiably.
"You too," I said through gritted teeth.
We proceeded to stare at each other a little longer before he suddenly let go of my hand.
"Let's do this," he said.
Lena took out the Quaffle. "Let's get up there," she said.
We mounted our brooms and zoomed into the air. I couldn't help but notice that Scorpius' AirCruiser was about ten times faster than my Nimbus. I reminded myself that this wasn't about how fast the brooms were but about talent. This didn't soothe me as Scorpius raced around the pitch.
"Well, Rose?" he called. "Feeling ready?"
"You have no idea," I shouted back at him.
Lena threw the Quaffle to me. "You're up first."
I took the Quaffle in my arms and flew so that I was facing Lena and the three hoops behind her. Down in the bleachers I could hear James' voice above all the others.
"GO ROSIE!" he shouted. "THIS IS TOO EASY!"
I concentrated on where I wanted it to go through. The middle hoop, I decided. I flew directly towards the far right hoop, trying to look as though I was taking aim for that one. Lena followed and just as she was most concentrated on the right hoop, I changed my aim at the last minute for the middle hoop. It went straight through.
"YES!" James yelled.
"One – Nil," said Lena, throwing the Quaffle to Scorpius.
Scorpius glanced at me, winked, and then zoomed off towards the goal posts. In a matter of seconds it was through the hoop.
The Slytherins in the stands below were just as noisy as James had been. Scorpius flew back to me.
"One – one," he muttered. "Let's see what you've got, Weasley."
I took the Quaffle and got it through. Take that, Scorpius.
Except that Scorpius did the exact same thing right afterwards.
"Perhaps we really are just as good," he called to me. I refused to acknowledge this and let the Quaffle soar through the hoops.
"Or maybe I'm just a little bit better," I told him.
And so it continued until the score was five – five.
"GET HIM, ROSIE!" James bellowed. "WE CANNOT LET HIM WIN!"
I took the Quaffle in my arms and glanced at Scorpius for a moment. He was smiling.
You're pretty.
He had never answered my question if he really thought I was pretty …
"MISS!" someone called.
I blinked, shocked. How could I have missed? Was I really so preoccupied with what Scorpius thought of me that I had failed to get the Quaffle through the hoop?
"Pressure getting to you?" Scorpius asked as he took aim and the Quaffle – of course – sailed easily through the hoop.
Five- six. This was not going so well, all of a sudden. Scorpius couldn't win – I wouldn't let him. I wouldn't be able to live with Scorpius and Demetria constantly gloating in my face about this. And – worse – James' disappointed expression.
Six – seven.
And then – the amazing thing happened – Scorpius missed. I threw my fist up in the air.
"YES!" I cried. Then I felt slightly ashamed, because Scorpius hadn't done the same when I missed.
I didn't say anything, though, only shrugged nonchalantly as I threw the Quaffle through the hoop.
Seven – seven.
Eight – eight.
And then –
"Oh no!" Lena exclaimed, clutching aimlessly at her chest. I thought that she really didn't need to draw any more attention to her chest; it was getting plenty on its own.
"What is it?" asked Scorpius.
"My – my locket, it's gone, I must have dropped it!" she cried hysterically. "I wear it all the time!"
Scorpius and I looked around hopelessly. Honestly, if you drop a tiny locket from this height, it's probably gone forever.
"There," Scorpius suddenly said, and then he was diving.
Lena and I stared, transfixed, as Scorpius hurtled towards the ground. My heart was pounding ridiculously fast. He was going to crash. Any second now he was going to hit the ground –
He suddenly changed direction and zoomed upwards. Scorpius flew over to Lena and pressed something into her hand.
"Here," he said.
Lena stared open mouthed at the locket in her hand.
"Scorpius!" I gasped. "You could be a Seeker!"
Scorpius shrugged. "I play a lot of Quidditch at home with my cousins," he said. "Sometimes I play Seeker."
This sounded so – so normal coming from Scorpius. It sounded like something I would say. I had never before pictured Scorpius playing Quidditch with his cousins, but suddenly I imagined several blonde guys zooming around over a castle.
"Let's get back to it," Scorpius said, throwing the Quaffle to me.
It was my turn. I just had to get it through this time, and then I would have hit nine out of ten. If Scorpius would just not get it through, then I would win and it would all be over.
I concentrated hard and then finally threw the Quaffle and –
Lena caught it.
Furious with myself I flew past Scorpius without even looking at him. I noticed, though, that he didn't shout anything.
Scorpius took aim and –
It sailed right through.
Eight – nine. It was over. We had each had ten shots and Scorpius had gotten he most through.
Scorpius flew back over to me and patted me on the back.
"You flew well," he said.
"Congratulations," I said, still having a hard time admitting defeat. "It was fun."
"Yeah, right," Scorpius said. "You don't think it's fun at all now that you didn't win."
I frowned at the fact that he knew this about me.
We flew down to the ground again.
"I'll see you later, Rose," he called. "I'll want to collect my winnings."
"Your – what?"
"My winnings," he smirked, and then he walked off towards his Slytherin friends. I stared after him for a few moments, and then shook my head. We hadn't talked about winnings at all!
I bet they wouldn't exist if I had won.
g