The library was brimming with students, only this time more than those clad in blue and silver gathered around study tables and filled the aisles. Winter exams were a week and a half away, and a thick blanket of snow sent most students indoors.

Rose had taken to the grounds with her cousins for a rousing snowball fight after lunch, and it had taken her all the way through dinner to defrost. Her nose was still pink from the affair, her hair slightly damp, and she had hoped to warm up by the fireplace but a troupe of Hufflepuffs had already commandeered it. Instead, she took to the stairs and found a table on the landing overlooking the rest of the library.

Her Wednesday night was spent studying in peace, for the most part, as Albus and Alice were "reviewing for Herbology" in the greenhouses. She knew better, but she gave them nothing but a smirk and a sigh when they excused themselves after barely a half hour.

She had just begun annotating chapter eight when a soft thud caused her to look up from the parchment.

Two dragon-hyde gloves lay atop her textbook. A scarf of silver and green swung behind them.

"What's this?" Rose pressed her lips into a flat line, staring at the gloves. She refused to look up at him.

The blonde shoved his hands into his pockets, not that she noticed. "A truce."

Rolling her eyes, she brushed the gloves off her book and onto the table, then dipped her quill in the inkwell before going back to her notes. "Yeah. Right."

The gloves reappeared on top of the recipe for Orpington's Opulence, but this time a slender, pale hand lingered atop them. She tried not to notice how nice the gloves actually were.

"Can't I do something nice for a friend?"

Rose nearly snorted, and her gaze found his for the first time. "We're not friends."

Two weeks ago, she might have wagered that a friendship was forming, but now she had no such thoughts. Anything that had passed between them had faded faster than her scars from their mishap with the last attempt at civility.

But Scorpius would not give up. He pulled out the chair opposite her and sank to a seat. She could not read his expression.

"Then for my tutor."

Rose dropped her quill into the ink and folded her arms over her chest. "There it is."

A smug look of feigned innocence washed over him. "What?"

Again she rolled her eyes, incredulous as she reached for the gloves. Snatching them out of his hand, she held them up flippantly. "It's a bribe."

He made no efforts to refute her, only shrugged, a familiar glint in his eye. Rose looked at the gloves with caution. They were more beautiful and more expensive than the ones she had tried on in Shepherd's Shoppe on Saturday, and after their confrontation Rose had made a point not to return for the rest of the outing. The match against Ravenclaw was on Saturday and her old gloves would not hold up to the winter weather.

"And why should I help you?" With a huff, she tossed them on the table between them, folding her arms again. "It obviously worked out so well last time."

Scorpius mirrored her, arms folded over his chest. "I can't play quidditch next term if I don't pass."

"And I care because…? That's why you need tutoring, not why I should give you a second chance."

He appeared to mull it over for a moment, a flicker of vulnerability in his gaze, but it vanished so quickly she thought she made it up. "Ah, Weasley, I already apologized for the–"

"Apologized?" Rose gaped at him, letting out a laugh in disbelief that caused the Ravenclaw down the aisle to shush him. Dropping her voice, she leaned forward slightly. "You never apologized–"

"I sent you the books, didn't I?" he whispered back, his eyes suddenly searching.

So it had been him. She had begun to think it was Albus or Hugo. But Rose wouldn't give in so easily. Reaching for her bag, she pulled two of the volumes out and shoved them back towards him. "Here then. Take them back. Let them tutor you."

"Rose…" Scorpius covered his eyes with his hand briefly before dropping it back to the table, gripping the gloves in a clenched fist.

She watched him carefully, noting his walls beginning to slip. It was rare, and it was brief, but it had happened more than once during their study sessions, and it had led her to believe he had a human heart in there somewhere.

Still, she was't giving in. Not yet. "Why should I help you?"

His gaze dropped to the gloves and he passed them from hand to hand, stalling. When he gave no answer, Rose began to pack her things.

"Rose, I won't pass if you don't help me. You don't understand. I need quidditch."

Rose. He'd said her first name twice. She hated how wonderful it sounded on his lips. Her packing slowed and she mulled it over, her eyes on her satchel. Slowly, the gloves slid across the table into her view.

"We're still not friends." Her eyes flickered over to him.

It was his turn to press his lips into a flat line, failing to hide a smirk. "I never said we were."

Rose picked up the gloves and waved them at him. "And it's still a bribe."

"So?"

She knew she shouldn't. She knew it would be a complete waste of time. And she knew it would only end in disaster, as it had before.

Scorpius grinned up at her, triumph in his eyes. "Is it working?"

"…maybe."