"Of course."

Rose awkwardly fidgeted with her tie. His response, the gentleness in his voice, had flustered her in a way she didn't know was possible.

"So.." she said, glancing up. He let out a small huff of air, stood up straighter, as though gathering himself. "I'll go get them, wait here."

Rose nodded, looking down again. It was embarrassing enough to come and ask him, she didn't understand why she found it so impeccably awkward that he agreed to give them to her. He had looked so collected, coolly eyeing her one second, and then his whole face had softened the next. It made something in her stomach twist, in a good way. Rose studied the great wooden doors before her. It was dark brown, elegant, with a coiling serpent carved in its wood. The shape of the door was rather round, and in the soft light from the lights in the hall it looked inviting. The door flew open and Scorpius strode out again, a notepad clutched his hand.

He stood before her, glancing down at it. For a brief second his face flushed, almost too quickly for her to notice. But she did. He scratched his head, looking troubled.

"I- I don't know if you can read it.." He extended the notepad to her, his long pale fingers almost all of it. She'd never seen him like this; stuttering, all the cockiness wiped off his face. Rose took it gratefully. Just before he let go to of it, she extended her hand to gently grab his wrist, daring to look up at him. His usually so cool eyes were warm and welcoming, the yellow shine from the candles almost turning them a light amber. Her mouth parted slightly, for the sight of him like this, up close and alone sent a surge of heat through her body. His high cheekbones and the straight pointy nose and the thin lips were incredibly endearing and she just wanted to touch him, feel his hot skin under her own. She gulped, feeling her heartbeat speed up as she noticed the small distance between their faces.

It's how you would react with any boy, a voice in her head reassured her, and she immediately felt less guilty. It was true. She didn't have much experience with boys, so standing this close to an annoyingly cute one messed with her mind. With her small hand wrapped around his wrist - their complexions mixing, Rose's more creamy pale while Scorpius was all white porcelain - she could feel his racing pulse, and she wondered if it was because of her it was going with such speed.

"Thank you," she said, finally, and quickly let go of him. Scorpius swallowed hard as he took a step back. Instead of answering, he nodded, and she couldn't endure more of the silence stretching between them, so she turned on her heel and started walking. She practically felt his eyes on her.

What had just happened?

She didn't know, didn't understand. Although she didn't know if she wanted to, either. What she couldn't bear was how they might act around each other the next day. Awkward? Silent? They couldn't part like this. Things needed to go back to normal, whatever had passed between them tonight had to be forgotten. Or, whatever had passed through Rose, more like it. She couldn't be sure if he'd felt it, too. She stopped in her tracks, turning round to face him. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Do not speak of this to anyone," she warned, managing to get her tone sharp, as usual. His face lit up in a devilish grin. "Oh, I'll speak of this to everyone-"

"Scorpius!"

He chuckled deeply. "Go to bed, you dweeb." He answered.

"Go to hell, you arse." She shot back. She parted with him, a triumphant smile on her lips. But not before she heard him mutter: "Where's the gratitude, Rose?"

She went to sleep still smiling.

The next day, first thing she did was find Gemma and give her Scorpius notes. She'd written them again by herself and brilliantly smiled as she handed them over. Gemma thanked her with great gratitude. It was strange, that something she'd stressed so much over was over in a second.

After her first couple of classes she found James in the Great Hall. She sat down next to him, and frowned. He looked distressed, anxious for something she did not know.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently. He turned his head, startled, as though he hadn't seen her sit down.

"Evelyn," he mumbled, throwing a quick glance back at the girl he fancied. "I think I'm going to ask her out today."

Rose beamed, and excitedly clapped her hands. "James, that's wonderful!" she cheered.

"What if she says no?"

"She won't."

"You don't know that!" He glared at her. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm quite sure. I'm super smart, remember?" she grinned. "I'd date you, if I hadn't been repulsed by, and related, to you."

He dismissively shook his head. "Gross."

Rose gently elbowed him in the ribs, still grinning. She was in a good mood today. Could it be because of Scorpius? That would be a first.

"Rose!" Someone yelled. She turned her head, smiling wider as she saw her little brother making his way to her. Hugo had their mothers brown, curly hair, and her deep chocolate eyes. She envied him those features. Rose had often heard that she was a redheaded copy of her mother Hermione. Hugo looked more like their father in facial features. The only thing they really shared were freckles.

He was accompanied by his girlfriend, Hannah Boyle. A half Brazilian half Indian girl with a tall slender body and long sleek black hair. With the full pink lips and the eyes - so light brown they looked like liquid gold- she was easily one of the prettiest girls in her year. Her hand was clutched in his, and she was looking at him with such adoration Rose didn't know whether to throw up or "aww" at them. Hugo was one year younger than Rose, in grade five, fifteen years old, and he was just beginning to experience his blossoming love for Hannah. They sat down across the table. With them were their other cousin siblings, Fred and Roxanne. They both had red, curly, african textured hair, their skin was olive and freckled. Since they were mixed, both of their white and african genes shone through and gave the two of them unique and, frankly, gorgeous looks. Roxanne sat down next to Rose, smiled at her, and started gathering food on her plate. All of them were Gryffindors, except for Hannah, who was a Ravenclaw like she.

Roxanne stopped mid motion, frowning. "I was gunna tell you something," She muttered. She was silent for a couple of seconds, and Rose amusedly watched as her cousin was deep in thought.

"Oh, right!" Roxanne turned fully to Rose "We have a new Professor, and" She said paused, her eyes alight with excitement. She was the same age as Rose, and Fred was one year older. She was her funniest friend, the inappropriate one who said things out loud that weren't supposed to be said.

"He has a son," Roxanne continued. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing Rose to laugh.

"Uh, okay?" Rose said, not quite undertanding.

"And I've heard he's cute."

"Oh,"

They nodded in silent understatement at each other, small smiles on their lips.

"He's said to look like an Arabic prince," Hannah sighed dreamily from across them. Hugo noticeably narrowed his eyes in annoyance at her comment. Rose's eyes, however, lit up. Both Roxanne and herself were leaning over the table to listen more closely. It was fun to gossip about boys and girly things once in a while, forgetting about schoolwork.

"Go on," Roxanne prodded. Hannah smiled, obviously happy to feel included.

"Okay, so, his name is John Shoonks and he's going to start sixth year. Apparently he's gorgeous, and his father, our potions Professor, is supposed to be really easy going."

Potions? That was Rose's next subject. She felt bubbling excitement fill her body.

"Oh, great!" She squealed, clapping her hands.

"What happened to Professor Slughorn?" Roxanne asked.

"He quit. Too old," said Hannah.

Rose gave her a puzzled look. "How do you even know all of this?"

Hannah shrugged, laughing, "Well, if there's a new boy coming to school, you got to do your research-"

"To introduce him to your boyfriend, right?" Hugo interrupted, snaking a possessive arm around her waist, pulling her closer. His voice was light, but the serious undertone was clear. Rose glared at him. It wasn't the first time she'd seen this part of Hugo; the overly jealous part. When they'd been little, and she'd given her attention to another boy his age, he'd get awfully jealous. He didn't even seem to notice her glare, he was staring at Hannah, his eyes uneasy. She just laughed. Her laughter brought a small insecure smile to her brothers lips.

"Of course." She assured him. She pressed a light kiss to his cheek before casually leaning her head on his shoulder. They had been going steady for about half a year, so their PDA didn't really bother anyone anymore. Her words brought Rose back to her odd encounter with Scorpius last night. It spread a strange heat through her.

"There's children here" Fred teased, poking Hannah's cheek. They'd been best friends for years. It was through him Hugo and Hannah had gotten to meet.

"Oh wait, I meant smaller children, because you are still toddlers." He continued.

Everyone laughed, and Hugo shucked a chocolate cookie in Fred's face. This caused Hugo to get slapped in the back of his head with a harsh (but joking) "Be quiet, little wanker." from Fred. Rose looked over to James, wanting to see if he had joined in the laughter, only to find he was gone. Glancing back, she saw that Evelyn was nowhere to be seen, either.

Rose had scurried into class, expectantly looking for the new Professor and sitting down next to Gregory Drowt, a sweet Chinese boy who always smiled at her.

And there he was, the new Professor. A plump yet tall man with black curly hair and olive skin. He had a big nose, a greying moustache and kind brown eyes. The way he smiled, as though he cared deeply for each and every one of them, made Rose immediately like him. When they were all sat down, he spoke, loudly.

"Welcome, pupils," He greeted, his voice smooth and deep and bellowing. "I'm Professor Shoonks. I had to move here urgently, and I apologize for coming when the term's already started." The students before him sat in silence and listened, judging his every move. He quickly sighed, like he was pleased with what he'd said.

"As you know, I will be your teacher in potions since your old Professor, Slughorn, had to urgently retire," the man said the last part bitterly, as though he had some personal issue with Slughorn.

"Today, we will do some primary potions, so I can see which levels you are on."

Rose breathed out. She'd gotten the highest score on those basic potions, no doubt this class would be easy.

"You will be working in pairs, so I can see how well you work together," He happily looked at each of them, the bitterness completely wiped off his face and voice. Rose grew uneasy at his words. Albus was god-knows-where, and she didn't do well working in pairs at all.

"You'll be paired with students whose grades are on the same level as your own, otherwise it wouldn't be fair. Correct?" He didn't wait for answers. He turned around, fumbling with papers on his desk behind him. And suddenly her mind screamed like a Howeler. For she knew whose grades matched her own. Only one person in the whole class. One obnoxius boy she could not stand. There was a single, simple word that could fathom what she felt in that moment; fuck.

She threw a quick glance at the pale boy across the room. He, too, was staring with horror at the Professor.

"Alright, then," Professor Shoonks cleared his throat. He started calling out names, directing the students to where they were supposed to sit. It wasn't long until she heard her own, paired with his. "Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy."

Someone sniggered behind her. She didn't bother to look back and see who. She just angrily pursed her lips and waited for instructions.

"Rose, you can just move over to his Scorpius's," he gestured towards the boy. Abashedly, Rose grabbed her bag and trudged over to Scorpius. When she was seated, she stared straight ahead, a bored expression on her face. She heard him sigh beside her. "Alright, I don't want to ruin my grade, so stop acting like I'm a pile of stinking crap and work with me." His tone was decisive. Commanding and deep. She realized she liked it.

No, the sane part of her roared, you hate being bossed around.

That was true.

She turned her face to him, trying not to stare too deeply into his eyes. She knew she would get distracted if she did. Rose squinted loathingly at him, "A thank you would be appreciated." she snarled. Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. She looked at her paper about which spell they had gotten assigned to. She smiled. Sleeping Draught was a quite simple potion if you knew what you were doing, so Rose was sure it was going to go splendidly.

"So, how should we do this?" Scorpius asked.

"I'll get the ingredients, you can get the equipment."

He nodded, evidently pleased, and they both left the table. Rose almost knew the ingredients by memory. Every word in the book she could recall. She went over it in her mind; The Sleeping Draught is a potion that causes the drinker to fall almost instantaneously into a deep but temporary sleep. A standard Sleeping Draught differed from the Draught of Living Dead, which is much more powerful, lasting, and difficult to make.

The potions was simple but powerful.

Rose stood in front of the wooden table Professor Shoonks had set up with all they needed. She took a bit mixed herbs (standard ingredient), some Lavender, Flobberworm, Mucus, and finally some Valerian sprigs. With her hands full she walked back to the table where she saw, with great delight, that a cauldron, some knives, measure equipment, a cutting board, and a mortar had been set up neatly on their dark wooden table. Rose put down the ingredients on the table, nervously, as she felt him watching her.

"Okay, so.." Rose chewed at the inside of her cheek, thinking. "How about you start counting sprigs of Lavender and I'll start to crush the Standards?" She looked at him, waiting for an answer to the simple question. He stared back, his eyes wide. Scorpius seemed a bit taken aback by her. Rose groaned "Come on," she whined, gesturing wildly between him and the Lavender. It was as though he had been woken up from a tance, for he immediately started counting and cutting with such haste Rose hurried to sit and get started as well.

They worked in silence, but they did it well, and Rose was surprised by how well it was going. When she put in something, he helped in one way or another, and so they did to each other. They wrote noted, and copied each other when one of them hadn't written. It was almost like they were friends. Almost.

That was, until she looked down at their first mix, already puttering silently in the cauldron. "Scorpius," She spoke slowly, causing him to look up. To Rose, the potion didn't look quite right, not purple enough. Not enough Lavender. "How much Lavender did you put in?" She asked, frowning at their potion.

"Four sprigs?" Scorpius answered, frowning at her instead.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure, Rose, why?" He sounded like he was tired of her acting like a child. It infuriated her that he did not take her seriously. She pointed at the cauldron, as if he wasn't already looking at it.

"That does not look right,"

"Does anything ever look right to you?"

His tone was hostile, and taunting, and everything she hated. Rose whipped her head to the side, glaring at him, her eyes alight with rage now. He wasn't listening to her.

"I'm being serious, you idiot, something's wrong with the potion."

"I put in the correct amount of Lavender," He shot back, his tone hinting that the discussion should stop there. Of course, it wouldn't.

"I don't think you did," she muttered, getting an icy glare from him. Suddenly, she wanted to annoy him. "So I'm going to put in some more." She grabbed the crushed Lavender in the mortar and was going to throw it in, when Scorpius quickly grabbed her wrist. Her sleeves were pulled up, so his slender fingers wrapped her bare skin, and the sudden heat from his touch surprised her. It spread through her whole body in a pleasant way, knotting something in her stomach, making her pulse bolt under her pale skin. He must've noticed it. Rose's face flushed with sheepish embarrassment. He didn't grab her roughly, just a light grab of her arm to stop her from doing a mistake.

And then she still felt another sort of heat rise within her; anger. She felt offended, and humiliated. Offended, because apparently he thought she couldn't understand words and needed to take physical action to stop her. Humiliated, for she knew that doing what she had almost done could ruin everything, but in her act of bursting confidence to defy him she had forgotten that.

Rose scowled at him, furious. "Let go," she commanded, her tone cold.

"Only if you let go of the Lavender,"

Rose gritted her teeth, setting her jaw. She met his eyes, hoping they were shooting daggers. "Let go of my arm, Scorpius, or I'll-"

"You can't do shit, Weasley, so stop acting like a child and- Bah!"

Rose couldn't control herself. With him calling her a child, and saying she could do nothing, an irrational urge to throw something at him overcame her. She felt the heat race from her chest out to her fingertips, making her free hand reach out to grab the remaining crushed Lavender, grabbing a fistful of it. It was as though she'd lost control of his body when she flung it in his face, making him gasp and cough and bellow like an animal. She stared in shock at him, at her hand, and what she'd done. With a bitter, sinking feeling she realized that throwing something in his face was probably the most childish thing she could have done.

"Are- are you fucking insane?" He yelled, standing up and shaking his head, making purple powder fall to the floor, staining her black shoes with flecks of lilac. Though she was ashamed of her actions, she would not surrender to him now. Not now, when the whole class had gone silent and were anxiously staring at the two of them.

"Bloody hell, you should be put in St. Mungos!" He had stopped trying to fix himself, to shake the purple dust off him. He was staring at her, one fist clenched and the other tightly wound around his wand, not threatening her, but used as his own calming device. His jaw was set and sharp.

"If you hadn't been acting like such a despicable arse then maybe this wouldn't have happened!" She screamed back. She was balling the hem of her skirt with her fist, so tightly her knuckles had gone white.

What happened next was probably not intended, but it happened nonetheless. Somehow, without saying a spell out loud, Scorpius managed to get a crystal hanging on the crystal chandelier at the front of the classroom to unscrew and shoot towards them. It soared with impossible speed through open air, it felt like time was slowing all all there was in the world was that small crystal, beautifully flying. There was a silence in the room, until hit their cauldron. The crystal wasn't big, but big enough to send their potion filled cauldron flying; to send it's contents flying. The small, black cauldron swiveled in the air for a short second, spewing out its purple contents. Rose already knew what was going to happen. She stood too close, much too close, and too perfectly in place. She closed her eyes, bracing herself.

The lilac, slimy, and thick potion got splattered all over her. Over her hair, over her white button up shirt and grey skirt. She looked like the canvas of a very passionate painter.

Another long moment of silence passed. Scorpius looked horrified, staring at her, at what he had done without meaning to, and swallowed hard. His mouth kept opening and closing, like he was trying to apologize but didn't know how.

Rose stood, eyes wide, arms up, mouth agape. The potion wasn't hot, it wasn't hurting her, but Merlin the humiliation of it all. She felt like crying. She felt like striking Scorpius in the gut. Worst of all, she felt like a massive failure.

Everything else was a blur. Professor Shoonks came through the door after having left to get more potions books. He'd been met by the ludicrous sight and asked what has happened. The other students had started screaming their names, calling out accusations, telling both true and untrue facts about what went down. Rose didn't care, she just stood there in a dazed sort of silence with Scorpius.

Ten minutes later they were directed to the Headmaster's Room, dismissed from all their other classes to sit in shame under the heavy and judging glare of Headmaster and Professor McGonagall. Rose wanted to shrink in the big seat, wanted to disappear. She awkwardly fidgeted with her fingers, occasionally glancing with menace at Scorpius, who was sat in the chair next to her. He never looked back though, he kept staring at his feet.

It annoyed Rose to her very core that he made the Lavender dust look good. His hair was sticking up in spikes, the result of him running his hands through it. A sign of stress, or distress.

The lilac powder tinted the tops of his pale blond hair, mixing the colours, making it look stylish and intended. Some of it was still on his face, despite his efforts to brush it of. Light, small flecks of purple traced his cheekbones, his chin, his nose, making it look like odd freckles. Some of it rested on his dark eyelashes, falling down on his cheeks when he blinked. Rose turned away, squinting angrily down at her purple colored hands and knees.

"This is unacceptable," McGonagall boomed. "Two of the best students in the school, top of their grade, simply can't get along, simply cannot put your sharp minds together to cooperate?" She was glaring harshly, now, making both of them wanting to shrink in their seats.

"You are acting like children!" Both of them flinched at the new, higher volume of her voice. She sighed deeply, shaking her head. She seemed so tired, as she she pinched her cheekbone and closed her eyes.

"You chose a bad timing for this, I am terribly busy," She scribbled something down on an old paper with her quill. "Your punishment is detention with Professor Shoonks, for two Saturdays, starting this week."

Rose gulped, wanting to speak up about their detention for the library incident. Scorpius was faster.

"We've already got detention this week," He muttered, not looking up.

"Sorry?" McGonagall asked sharply.

When he didn't answer, Rose cleared her throat "We've already got detention this week," she said numbly, staring evenly at the Professor. McGonagall mumbled something under her breath, staring wide eyed at the two of them. Something flickered in her eyes when she looked from Rose to Scorpius. Like a memory being lit at the back of her mind. She wondered if it had something to do with their parents. She knew very well that both her mother and her father disliked the Malfoys with a passion. Well, maybe her dad was a little bit more passionate. Rose had, however, promised herself not to give prejudices about something he had no control of. Especially after the whole muggleborn discrimination business her parents had had to suffer through.

No, she hadn't started loathing him because of that. The loathing had actually come naturally after she'd gotten to know him.

"Very well," McGonagall said, though it was clearly not. "The two Saturdays after that, then." Rose and Scorpius walked out of the Headmaster's Room, heads hanging low, miserable about their weekends being ruined completely.

Rose was bitter beyond compare. Well, this is just glorious, she thought sourly to herself, twisting her face into an angry grimace. Three weekends in a row with Scorpius Malfoy, my sworn nemesis, the biggest arse on earth.

It seemed like he parted ways with him as quickly as she could, her fast steps echoing in the empty halls.

She didn't notice Scorpius reaching for her, didn't notice him staring at her small body leaving him, didn't notice the guilt in his eyes as he turned with a sigh and walked back to the Slytherin common room. It felt like his heart was being clenched by an iron fist, though he didn't know why. Exasperated, he rolled his eyes at his own ignorance. Of course he knew why he felt that way, of course he knew why he hated when she was angry with him, and of course he knew why every time she was near him his heart sped up and his face unavoidably flushed and he had a hard time catching his breath.

He always pushed the thought away as quickly as it entered his head, ignoring it, refusing to acknowledge the feelings. It had started last year, all of it had. The dreams, when her soft skin was warm under his fingertips and her lips were delicate against his own, the way he couldn't focus when he looked at her, her eyes luminously blue, ablaze with emotion, the way he wanted to sometimes gather her in his arms and hold her close, kiss her face, and ward of any other male that dared show interest. He felt a possessive knot of anger twist in his gut, thinking of all the times he had caught some insignificant boy stare at her during class. It was nearly impossible to shut those feelings out, but he did an admirable job doing so. He thought they would go away after the summer, thought it was his raging teen boy hormones. But they wouldn't disappear, and he feared they wouldn't in a long time.

If someone could look into his mind, they would easily say that Scorpius Malfoy had strong - and very quickly growing - feelings for Rose Weasley.