Rose sat in Potions class, vaguely aware of what her professor was saying. She rarely sat like this, deep in thought, in the middle of class. She was always alert, but now, she sat leaning against her hand, her mind wandering away from the class, gazing into the air. She had had the most surreal experience this morning; Todd had stumbled out of an empty classroom, face flushed, eyes wide, hair a golden mess.

When he'd spotted her, his eyes had gone impossibly wider, and he'd stuttered out a

"R-Rose! Morning, uh.." and then he'd scurried away like a missile, his hurried footsteps echoing through the halls. Rose had frowned, baffled by his strange behaviour. Why had he not stopped and walked her to class, or spoken a bit more? Why had he looked so flustered? She was on her way to open the door when she had stopped, her hand hanging just above the doorknob. Realization struck her, slowly, as she put the pieces together.

A girl, a voice in her mind whispered. Of course, Todd had the company of a girl in there. Grinning, she turned on her heel and began walking away. When, suddenly, the door had burst open and someone else had run out, too fast for her to see who it was. It was a tall girl for sure, dark brown hair with a pixie cut, and Hufflepuff robes. The girl was a blur of black and yellow and then she was gone. Rose had restrained herself from looking after her, and instead she had turned around and sped walked to class. Now she sat in class, biting her lip in frustration, for she couldn't figure out who Todd was fooling around with now. Of course, it was none of her business, but she was awfully curious. Just as she and Albus hadn't stopped bothering poor James about his crush Evelyn. It seemed like, this year, everyone was smitten and in love. She wondered, no, yearned for the day she would find a boy worthy of her affection. Her mind drifted off to the Todd incident this morning, fractiously trying to piece two and two together...

Scorpius tightened his fist in annoyance. For the third time today, he had caught himself glancing over at Rose. She was not paying attention, gazing into the air like a daft idiot. He had never been so annoyed in his life. How was he supposed to excel at the subject without the satisfaction that she heard it? He was still brilliant, but without her invaluable reaction it was just no fun. He studied her profile intently. The sun shining through the window turned her unruly curls into more of a coppery colour. He let his eyes wander over the skiing slope nose of hers, the freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, somehow causing her skin to look even more porcelain. And finally, her eyes; insistently blue. Like sapphires. He would catch himself thinking of them sometimes, like one would think of looking into the sea. He grunted as he realized that he hadn't been attention either. Suddenly, he felt a nudge in the ribs. Turning his head, he was met by Zacharias green, gentle eyes, curiously eyeing Scorpius. "What're you looking at?" his friend asked, his eyes filled with mischievous suspicion. Scorpius blinked "What?" he said, trying to sound clueless. It worked.

Zach's eyes narrowed, and Scorpius warily eyed the other boy back. People often marvelled over how they were contrasts to each other. While Scorpius was all whiteness and pale blond hair, Zach had dark skin and jet black hair, his African features admittedly handsome. One of the more notable attributes he had was his green eyes. Dark and mysterious like a forest. Zach grinned at him, showing off a row of white teeth. The wrinkles that appeared by his eyes was a favourite of the girls in the school. "Am I going insane," He teased and glanced behind Scorpius "Or were you staring at Rose Weasley?"

"You are most certainly going insane." Scorpius snorted, not looking at his friend. He knew all too well that he couldn't lie to him. Zach was still eyeing him suspiciously. "Alright," he said finally, turning his attention back to the professor. Throwing one last annoyed glance at Rose, Scorpius did the same.

The professor hadn't even noticed Rose's mental absence during class. She had walked out of there, still deep in thought, but not pondering over Todd anymore, but about James. Evelyn had seemed inexplicably happy lately, could it be because of her trouble maker of a cousin?

"Rose!" Her thoughts were interrupted by Gemma Zeng's twittering voice. Rose turned and looked back at the HufflePuff girl running towards her. Gemma's parents were Korean, and she looked it. Big brown almond eyes, round pink lips and a small nose. Her hair was a curtain of long black, smooth hair, slipping over her shoulders like coal coloured water. "Hey," she breathed, exhausted after her short run. "Can I take your notes for this class? I- I wasn't paying attention." She grinned, and Rose saw that her front teeth were slightly crooked. Still, she was the bloody definition of cute.

With a horrified, small gasp, Rose glanced down at her books. She hadn't been paying attention either. Merlin's pants, what had she been thinking? She couldn't flunk now, she was a top student, and she'd forgotten to take important notes. She often allowed Gemma to take hers, but now, looking at the short girl before her, she couldn't admit that she had been in her own mind. Rose didn't understand why, but she couldn't bear to tell Gemma the truth. Couldn't bear the thought that she might tell her friends, and that it would spread. With a start she felt her cheeks burn, as the thought struck her; she just didn't want to lose her title as the brilliant student. Did it all really come down to her own status in the school? Ridiculous, really. For wanting to be known not caring what people thought, she cared an awful lot.

Rose gulped, ashamed of herself. "They're- They're actually not done yet, I'll get back to you later today?" It came out as a question. Gemma frowned, clearly befuddled over the matter. In a second, however, the frown disappeared and before she ran off, she curtly nodded with a smile. Rose almost wanted to say she was gullible, but her lie wasn't exactly an obvious lie.

Having stopped in the hallway to talk to Gemma, she found herself standing alone in the big hallway. It looked utterly beautiful, and she bashed herself for rarely stopping to think about the charm and artistry of the school. It smelled of old building and rock dust, of all the things Hogwarts consisted of. With a deep inhale of sudden contentment, what happened seconds ago forgotten - for now - Rose started walking towards the Great Hall.

She had found Albus by the Gryffindor table, and had seated herself next to him. Rose itched to ask him if he knew anything about Todd, but figured that maybe, Albus didn't know, maybe Todd didn't want him to know. Instead she told him about completely zoning out in class. He seemed shocked to say the least, raising a disbelieving brow at her. "Really?" he asked "That's a first." she gently elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to grin. Suddenly, Todd sat down next to Albus.

"Hey," he muttered, grabbing a chocolate muffin from Albus's plate. "Greetings, stranger," Albus scoffed, snatching the muffin back from Todd's hands. "Where were you this morning?" Instead of answering, Todd shrugged and bit into a bright red apple he'd taken from a plate at the table. Rose tried pinning him with a heavy gaze, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. She pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing at him. "What's up with you, Todd?" she asked, her voice suspicious. He glanced up at her, ice blue meeting sapphire blue, and quickly averted his eyes. "Nothing, Rose." he mumbled, fiddling with the stem on the apple, a feeble attempt to lie. They both knew that Rose was too smart - far too smart - to fall for it. But she didn't want to press him. He was one of her better friends, and was entitled to his own secrets, of course. Still, she couldn't help the bubbling curiosity inside her. She simply.. couldn't.

"Who is she?" Rose blurted out, and immediately regretted it. Todd's head whipped up in alarm, and Albus confusedly frowned at her. She could feel her face heating with shame. "I- I'm sorry, Todd." she managed "I didn't mean to- I didn't," panic filled her as the golden haired boy stared at her, his eyes wide. She saw now, how tired he looked, and how his eyes were glossy and red rimmed, like he was constantly on the verge of crying. The lines of stress were clear on his handsome face. It dawned on her that his reaction was far too panicked to be normal. He wouldn't act like this, no one would act like this; absolutely horrified, like it was the end of all life. Albus was the one who broke them out of the strange trance as he snorted, letting out a soft laugh. "It's none of your business, Rose. Lord, can't you give a man some privacy?" He patted Todd on the shoulder. And the tension shattered, and normality settled upon them again. Todd let out a shaky, nervous laugh and turned his full attention to the apple he was munching on. Rose gulped, snapping back to her normal self. She snorted, "Man," she teased, inclining that they were still just young boys. Albus pinched her cheek, an affectionate gesture, and Rose had never felt more happy to have such an easy going cousin and friend.

Later, walking away from the Great Hall, Todd caught up with her. She refused to meet his eyes, stubbornly looking at the ground. She still felt horrible for blurting out anything. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was his reaction that made it all so much worse. He had looked so.. so betrayed.

"Rose," he said, his voice gentle "Rose, I need to- I need to tell you-"

"You don't need to tell me anything." she interrupted, stealing a glance at his sad face. He sighed and pushed his hands into his pocket, dolefully trudging along beside her.

"I really am sorry," she confessed, glancing at him. "Truly sorry."

"It's alright," he murmured "You shouldn't worry, though," he looked back at her, forcefully smiling. "I just got to figure some things out." She nodded, not quite sure how to respond. "You can, um, talk to me," she awkwardly prodded on, biting her lip.

"I don't- yeah," he said finally. The awkwardness of it all had Rose cringing, raking her brain for something to say. But nothing came, and the silence stretched between them. At least, it gave Rose time to think about him, Todd, and his peculiar behaviour. At last, they parted ways, uttering muttered goodbyes. She didn't know why, but walking the short walk to the Ravenclaw common room, Rose grew more and more miserable.

She laid face up in her bed, staring at the midnight blue ceiling. It was spotted with golden stars, each one glinting in the dark. She was so tired, and frustrated. Rose had been, what, two weeks at Hogwarts? And already, her head was hurting with stress from school work, from stress over what was going on with Todd, and even a nagging voice stressing her over James and Evelyn. It was clear; she needed a release. But she couldn't think of any that would make her feel better, at least, not any that would be suitable for right now..

With an exasperated sigh, she massaged her scalp, it was aching from the tight bun her hair had been gathered in all day.

If not a release, a distraction, then.

She already knew her favourite sort of distraction.

Reading.

Rose didn't bother to fix her hair, she simply hopped out of bed and threw on a navy cardigan over her white button up, the Ravenclaw eagle embroidered in bronze over the left side of her chest. She smoothed out the grey shirt over her hips and walked out of her shared dorm, the navy white striped tie hung proudly around her neck.

"Where're you going?" Alice asked on her way out, she was reading a book by the fire.

"The library," Rose muttered back, glancing at her. The other girl nodded, clearly not interested in accompanying her. Rose silently scurried to the library, which was on the third floor, and was cheerfully greeted by Madam Pince, who'd gotten quite accustomed to her frequent visits. While inside, she walked as fast as her legs could, eager to get her distraction. She stopped by the section of books about The Dark Arts, looking at all of the spines in awe. She was thoroughly fascinated by them, by the dark magic they told her about, by all the forbidden things. She quickly found the book she was looking for; The Dark Arts: A trivial guide.

She quickly pulled it out from its shelf. Giddily holding the book in her hands, she looked at the old book. It was brown, and splintered, thick as her forearm and with yellowing, old smelling pages. She marvelled at how it looked, and though many would've thought it was either cool or disgusting, the only word Rose could fathom to use was beautiful. For it was, to her it truly was a beautiful object that had aged so finely it kept the smell of old age between its pages. She brought the book up to her nose and smelled it, closing her eyes, almost dazedly smiling. She loved it.

Being too caught up with her peculiar actions, she hadn't even heard the creaking footsteps behind her, and in all her haste to start reading, she turned with such force she knocked the persons books to the floor. She let out a shocked cry of surprise and the other person grunted as he, too, stumbled and fell. "I'm so sorry!" Rose quaked, embarrassed, she started behind down to help. The boy sprawled on the floor looked up then, glowering, and she froze.

The greyest eyes there was were pinning in place her with a furious glare.

"You know," he started, his voice low and annoyed. "I was just going to ignore you smelling that book, cause' I didn't want you to smell me," he got to his feet. "And what do I get for being a decent person? A shove that sends my books flying." He dusted off his black pants and rose to his full height, looming over her. "I didn't smell the book.." she feebly argued.

"Of course not, you were just pressing you snotty nose at it. Marking territory?" Rose's hands flew up to her nose, covering it, beginning to defensively argue that her nose was not snotty. In the last minute, however, she slammed her mouth shut and took a moment to recollect herself. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and looked up. He was enjoying this, his mouth bitterly pursed but his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Goodbye, Scorpius." She said curtly, sidestepping him.

"Don't I get any help with this?" he protested, gesturing to the books scattered on the floor, pestering her until the very end as always.

"I think not. Wouldn't want my snot all over them, would we?" She glanced back just to see his reaction. For a second his face went slack, dumbfounded by his insult backfiring. Then he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but his eyes were bright with amusement still. "Charming," he said, and if he hadn't been Scorpius, if it had been any other boy, it would've sounded almost flirtatious. Rose rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, and threw a quick glance at him as she rounded a corner. He was partially kneeling, one knee on the floor and the other pointing up, for he had his foot on the murky wooden floor instead. She let her eyes wander his profile, the straight nose, the long lashes - dark in spite of his light hair - and lastly his thin pink lips, the bottom one now bitten down on by his front teeth. She was so mesmerized by him she didn't see ahead of her, didn't see the floating stack of books, didn't react until they'd toppled over and crashed into a desk near her, crushing two lanterns, causing some of the books to catch on fire from the small fires. Rose let out a strangled gasp, then a small shriek as she saw the pages of the books curling and darkening from the heat. And then she felt warm hands on her waist, pulling her back, and someone saying her name. Scorpius.

He shoved her back, gently, and expertly pulled out his wand. Chanting spells she didn't know, the flames died down, even though they hadn't really gotten the time to grow. And then Madam Pince was there, and she looked at the scene before her, wide eyed, and pointed at Scorpuis with her index finger in such away you'd think she expected a spell to come out of it. A death spell.

"Malfoy!" she shrieked, breathing hard with rage. "What made you think this utter stupidity would-"

"Me?" Scorpius shot back, pointing to himself. Madam Pince curled back her lips, as though baring her fangs. "Who else, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I.." he traced off, glaring at the librarian. Was he really not going to out her? Was he really going to take the fall for her? The thought made Rose's heart swell, and she got the urge to throw her arms around him. Only she couldn't let him get in trouble on her behalf, not after voluntarily doing so.

"Me," Rose said then, loud and clear. Both their heads turned to stare at her.

"I did it, Madam Pince. I wasn't looking where I was going, and.." she looked shyly at Scorpius, remembering the very reason she was so distracted.

"I did it." She repeated. She felt her cheeks burn as the old woman gaped at her.

"Unbelievable!" Madam Pince shrieked then, the volume causing Rose to flinch. "Detention, for the both of you!" Scorpius mouth fell open with shock. "I will not have this insolence go unpunished," she snarled. "Saturday evening. You shall sort the all the headmasters of Hogwarts by alphabetical order!" And without another word she turned and briskly walked away. There was an unbearable silence, until Rose muttered; "Wouldn't it be more efficient to sort them by date?"

Scorpius groaned and clenched his fist. "Thanks a lot, Rose," he snarled. Then he left her, too, and Rose was left with scattered books and broken lanterns and the feeling of that everything was wrong.

"Ohh.. Troublemaker," a voice cooed from above her. She looked up and caught a glimpse of a swirling white silhouette. She knew very well who it was, and she was not in the mood for him. Frustrated, she angrily chucked a book at Peeves, who easily dodged it and flew out of the library, manically laughing. Rose sighed, and hurriedly cleaned the mess up before making her way back to the dorms, leaving the book she came for behind.

A full hour had gone before she felt hungry. Pleading Alice to come with her, they snuck down to the kitchens to get something to eat. Rose's parents had taught her to always be kind to house elves, so she was, and they loved her. Every time she came to the kitchen they shouted in glee and showered her with foods of all sorts. Alice happily munched into the things they gave them. Muffins, crumpets, grapes, lollipops, apples, strawberries, everything she loved.

"Miss Rose! Here, try this!" or "I made this myself! How do you like it?" they would shout. She would laugh, and eat, until she couldn't get another bite down. Penny, one elf, was always particularly nice to her. She had blonde hair and bright green eyes, a nasal voice and huge bat like ears. Penny smacked another elf in the head and snatched the golden muffin from its grip. "That one is for Miss Rose! Shame!" she yelled, and handed the muffin to Rose. "Lemon muffin, very tasty." Penny said excitedly, and it was indeed. "This is delicious, Penny!" Rose beamed, causing the elf to blush. "Thank you very much." She said, clearly flustered. Rose gently squeezed her small, bony hand.

"We need to get going," Alice said then, standing up, thanking the elves, smiling, "Thanks, for the food."

"Yes, I suppose we should leave," Rose said, her heart breaking a little at the disappointed looks on their faces. "We'll be back, though." She assured them and they eagerly nodded. After a few more goodbyes and thanks, the two girls left. The whole day, Rose had felt so hopelessly frustrated, so it was actually nice to hear Alice's constant blabbering. After only a few steps, though, they were interrupted by a twittering laughter.

It was Gemma's, and Rose suddenly remembered her forgotten notes. She didn't know why she reacted so panicked, or why she even cared, but with a hissed "Oh, shit!" She pulled Alice behind the wall, hushing her. "Did," Alice started "Did you just cuss?" she was laughing at her. Rose pressed her hand to the other girl's mouth. Alice swatted it away.

"Ew, I don't want your clammy hand over these gorgeous lips." She pouted, looking like a duck, and Rose was about to crack up.

Then, she heard voices, and she silenced down. Gemma was accompanied with one of her friends, they were giggling together, like two love struck idiots. "Who're we hiding from?" Alice whispered and tried to sneak a peek at the two girls. They were walking towards their common room.

Damn it. Rose had forgotten about the Hufflepuff common room location. "Shut up," Rose hissed, a bit too loud, and the girls fell silent. After a minute, Gemma called out: "Hello?"

Rose sighed, and knew she had to give up. Stepping out in the light before them, she sheepishly smiled. "Sorry. I-" she yanked Alice out from her hiding place. "We needed somewhere private to talk." Alice nodded, immediately catching on her lie. "You know, there are prying ears everywhere. We figured no one would visit the kitchens anytime soon, totally forgot about your common room." She sounded sincere enough, and the girls warily nodded, glancing at each other.

"Ah, Rose," Gemma said suddenly, stepping forward. "Your notes? Sorry if I'm being a pain, I-"

"Not at all," Rose interrupted, trying to come up with a valid excuse. "Let- Let me just get them!" And with that she grabbed Alice by the wrist and sprinted out of there, away from Gemma and her honest eyes. It must've been hormones, and her brain not working correctly. No sane person would actually freak out so much about this. But she had always been a covertly prideful person. Admitting to not being the brilliant student would definitely wound her pride. "Hold it," Alice said suddenly, stopping. Rose stopped as well, turning to her. They were both out of breath. "Okay, what was that?"

"Nothing," Rose answered, too quickly. Alice arched a brow.

"Nothing." She assured her again. "Really, I just have to do some things, I'll see you later?"

"I thought you were going to get your notes?"

Rose internally groaned "I'll explain later. It's not a big deal, I swear." After a seconds hesitation, she nodded, turning and walking away. Rose stood still for a second, trying to figure out what to do. She really needed those notes, and she just couldn't tell Gemma she didn't have them. Honestly, she didn't understand herself. It's not like her not taking notes would be the hottest school gossip, no way. Still, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Was she going to copy notes from someone? Who? No one ever wrote their notes like she did. She wrote everything, while the others scribbled down small things or nothing at all. No one measured to her brilliance. She immediately felt embarrassed by that thought, thanking every god there was that mindreading was not something people could do. For it was true. No one could give her all the information she needed.

Although, there was one person..

No! A voice in her head screamed, bashing her. But who else was there? No one. But would she be able to handle the judgement in his eyes?

Those unnerving grey eyes.

Sighing, she made her decision.

Scorpius was sitting in his dorm, reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A knock on the door caused him to look up. "Come in," he muttered, slightly annoyed to be disturbed. The door opened to reveal a small, blonde girl. Anna, he recalled. She was cute for sure, big brown eyes and long curls of ice blonde hair. He shut the book, putting it down. "What's up?" He asked, grinning, crossing his legs on the bed. She smiled back shyly, causing his grin to grow wider. "Someone's looking for you," She said, her voice small, as though she was a bit frightened.

"Rose Weasley."

Scorpius ignored the jolt in his chest at the sound of her name, and why she was looking for him. "What?" Was all that came out, and it sounded rather rude. Anna shrugged "She's outside."

He was careful not to seem too eager to get out, even though he wanted to run. Not because he wanted to see Rose - well, maybe he did a little - but because he was eminently intrigued to why she made an effort and sought him out at this late hour. He opened the door to the common room, revealing her, looking small in the big hall.

"Scorpius," she breathed, and he reluctantly acknowledged the shiver her felt at her saying his name like that. Then he remembered the library incident, and put on a sour face, that was actually genuine.

"I do recall Madam Pince said Saturday evening," he paused "Why are you bothering me already? It's only Tuesday."

She glowered at him, and he felt the urge to laugh. He pushed the laughter down to his gut, and instead he coolly eyed her, his arms crossed over his chest. When she didn't say anything, he questioningly raised his shoulders. He desperately wanted to know why she was here.

"I.." She started, the stopped. Biting her lip, she started again. "I need to copy your notes." Scorpius felt a stupid twinge of disappointment.

"Oh? Is that so"

"Nice rhyme."

"Thank you very much."

She groaned and out her face in her hands, and he suspected she was blushing. He had become very good at pushing away the blood rushing to his face, to conceal it at least, and so he did now. "This is embarrassing as it is, Scorpius," she said, looking up, her pale face still flushed.

"But I do need your notes." He arched a brow, something he had perfected at age five.

"And when did we become B.F.F's who exchange notes?" He was aware of the fact that me made it sound like passing notes in class, and that she was growing more frustrated by the second.

"Please," she said after a moment, and she looked noticeably tired. "Please, can I copy your notes?" He didn't understand. Didn't understand why he suddenly would give her all of his notes, why she had chosen to ask him out of all her friends, why he stood straighter, as though being the aid to a distressed damsel. Only Rose wasn't a distressed damsel, locked in a tower and guarded by a dragon. Hell, she'd slay the dragon herself and renovate the castle to an orphanage. Still, her took on the Knight in shining armor role in this situation. Normally, he would've made some snarky remark and given her the notes in excessive reluctance. But looking at her, he couldn't help it when the words tumbled off his tongue.

"Of course."