Rose stormed down the train, her curly red hair seeming almost alive. Merlin, now her boyfriend was going to be pissed off at her family because he cousin was a bloody idiot.

"What were you thinking?" she screeched when she slammed open his compartment door.

"Word travels fast," Hugo noted, giving Albus a sympathetic smile. Albus hit his head against the wall behind him.

"You better hope Arianna doesn't tell her father about what a bloody idiot you were," Rose said sharply.

"Oh, hell," Albus squeaked. "I hadn't even thought about that," he admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"You bloody well should have," Rose snapped. "Scorpius is furious."

"Shit," Albus mumbled. He was going to have all of Slytherin house at his throat, and Rose most certainly wasn't on his side, and Hugo had Olivia. "I'm a moron, a bloody idiot," Albus groaned. He had lost Arianna to his ego and was on several hit lists. Rose rolled her eyes.

"She's crying uncontrollably, I hope you know," she said, though her voice had softened slightly. At least he looked remorseful.

"You look like your about to cry," Hugo noted. "You like her."

"Well, of course," Albus said, as if it was obvious. "She's beautiful and funny. She doesn't take people's shit, and Merlin, I didn't think she would find out," he explained.

"So it wasn't just about the bet, then?" Rose demanded once more, and Albus shook his head quickly.

"I-no. I really, honestly care about her, but I told her I loved her because I knew I could win," he mumbled, flushing a bright red. "Tell her I'm sorry?" he requested.

"I'm not going to fix your problems, Albus. If you care about her, you'll talk to her." She turned on her heel and walked briskly for the compartment looking in and out of several more.

"Olivia," she said, opening another door. All the girls froze, afraid Head Girl was here to break up their fun. It wasn't like Rose was quite that bad. "Can you come with me?"

"Why?" Olivia demanded, crossing her arms and looking at Rose defiantly.

"Just come with me," Rose snapped, losing patience quickly. Olivia rolled her eyes, but stood up. She had heard, of course. Practically the entire train had heard. It was rather juicy gossip, quite frankly. Malfoy and Potter had slept together, and then Malfoy finds out Potter had made a bet on it. Olivia had possessed every intention on going to check on her best friend. Sure, they were having a fight, but they had known each other since they were born. Some bonds ran deeper than petty words. They had fought before, not spoken for months at a time, but things always managed to get back on track eventually. The major problem was, being as close as they were, and their families spending most major holidays together, they fought like sisters. With other friends, there was always a certain line you knew you couldn't cross, but Arianna and Olivia had no problem going right for the throat when they were angry enough, and that left things badly beaten, but not broken.

"She went to Scorpius, then?" Olivia asked grudgingly as she walked down the train a step behind Rose. She, honestly, couldn't stand Rose. The bossy attitude was stifling at best, and Olivia felt herself quite superior at times. It didn't help that Olivia was dating Rose's brother now.

"Yes," Rose said between clenched teeth. "I saw you with my brother," she added.

"Problem, Weasley?" Olivia demanded sarcastically.

"Not yet," Rose mumbled, opening the compartment and gesturing her in dramatically. God, Zabini was completely insufferable. Olivia immediately sat down beside Arianna, hugging her.

"I'm sorry," Ari said, her voice thick with tears, hugging her back tightly. "I should have listened to you," she mumbled."How'd you know?"

"Hugo," Olivia said. "Apparently he made the same bet about me," she said with a sigh. "So I assumed that was what was going on with Potter," she said.

"Wait, my brother-"

"Come on, Rose, give em' a second," Scorpius suggested, standing up and taking her hand, leading her from the room quickly. He didn't know how to react to his sister crying very well, and figured that Olivia could deal with it better without any interruptions.

"I feel so stupid," Arianna mumbled into her shoulder.

"Well, you'll feel better tonight. I'll come over to your house and bring a hell of a lot of chocolate, and you can get the firewhiskey," she suggested. "And we'll cry it all out, and be done with it in the morning. Then we can work out how to torture Albus," she suggested, and Arianna let out a watery laugh.

"I just want things back to the way they were," Arianna murmured, wiping her eyes. She wanted to be oblivious with Albus and still a virgin.

Merlin, it just wasn't fair. How had she been so damned stupid? She should have shied away from any chance of growing close to Albus. All it had been was lust for him. She had fallen in love, only to have her heart broken in the end.

The rest of the train ride passed agonizingly slow. Every time someone came near her, she could hear the whispers start, and the glances cast her way were no where near discreet.

She got off the train, looking around for her parents, or at least Scorpius when Olivia was gone.

"Ari," Albus said quickly, catching her arm and pulling her to the edge of the crowd.

"Don't touch me," she snapped, jerking her arm back from him, standing on her toes to look around, studiously avoiding his gaze.

"Please listen to me," Albus said. The tone in his voice momentarily disarmed Arianna, and she turned to look at him.

"Please, just stop," she said. "I don't want to hear excuses, alright?" Albus reached out and took her hand, refusing to let her pull it away.

"I'll do anything to make it up to you."

"I-" Arianna was cut off as a furious Scorpius made himself known. He gave Albus an angry glare, and Albus flinched minutely.

"Keep your hands off of her," Scorpius spat, taking a step towards Albus as Arianna withdrew her hand firmly.

"I can do what I want, Malfoy," Albus said from between clenched teeth. "I need a word with Arianna," he said insistently.

"You will stay away from her," Scorpius said again. "Unless you'd like my father to know

about what happened," he added, the threat clear.

"Just like you to run to daddy," Albus smirked. He knew he was stepping in it, and that he should be groveling, but he was angry, upset, and most of all pissed with himself. And it almost felt refreshing when the physical pain of a nose cracking hit him. At least that wasn't complicated. Scorpius had punched him in the nose. The nose had broken. It hurt. Those were things that didn't take much though.

Nor did it take much to retaliate, and it wasn't long before the two were practically at each others throats, both severely black and blue.

"If you ever get anywhere near my sister again, I swear I'll kill you," Scorpius shouted, scrambling up and kicking his ribs hard. Albus jumped up, though each breath was starting to hurt. Quite a crowd had amassed around them, some yelling encouragement, or Arianna, who was screaming at them to quit acting like 'bloody children.'

"What is going on here?" someone demanded, pushing through the crowd of students. Everyone stopped, and the crowd almost immediately disappeared at the furious look on Harry Potter's face. It wasn't long before Scorpius' father and both mothers had joined, looking between the two boys with a mixture of anger and curiosity.

"What's going on?" Draco demanded. Both Scorpius and Albus opened their mouths to speak, but Arianna was faster.

"They're both acting like two year olds. They had a disagreement, and they thought a barbaric Muggle fight was the best way to solve the problem," Arianna said, lifting her chin slightly.

"I'm sure Albus had reason," Harry interrupted.

"Malfoy started it," Albus said, very much acting the part of the two year old Arianna had just mentioned.

"Why?" Draco asked Scorpius with a severe look. Scorpius shot Arianna a helpless glance.

"I don't like him touching my little sister," Scorpius said. Silence fell as Arianna very nearly burst into tears again, but managed to hold herself together. Not everyone needed to know the details.

"Nothing is going on between Albus and I," Arianna said, eyes downcast. "It was a misunderstanding. We were just talking," she muttered. Everyone in the vicinity could tell that the whole truth had yet to come to light, but as all three children nodded their affirmation, the tension gradually lessened.

Draco gave Harry a curt nod that was returned reluctantly, and both families apparated to their respective homes hastily.

"Are either of you going to tell me what really happened?" Draco asked Scorpius and Arianna when they attempted to go immediately up the nearest flight of stairs.

"A misunderstanding," Arianan repeated.
"Yeah," Scorpius said. "Potter and I have been a bit rocky since I started dating Rose," he added in an off-hand voice, trying to redirect the attention.

"I see-what?" Draco demanded, spluttering.

"I'm dating Rose," Scorpius said, shrugging. "Is that a problem?" he asked.

"Well, I guess not," Draco mumbled.

"Of course it's not," Astoria interjected, hugging her son. "That's so adorable!" she exclaimed. "We just have to meet her over the holiday. She had never had any personal problems with the Weasleys, so the trepidation that her husband felt was not her own. "I won't take no for an answer, in fact," she decided. "You're serious about her, yes?"
"Very much so," Scorpius admitted, pleased with his mother's reaction.

"We could invite her family over for dinner one night, and try and make amends for the stupid fight you got into," she said, sounding rather harassed.

"Wait, mum," Scorpius protested. "She should just come over for a few hours, no need to get the entire Weasley family involved."

"It'll just be a dinner," Astoria sighed. "You act just like your father," she mumbled. "I'll write them a letter tomorrow," she decided.

"Dad, please restrain her," Scorpius requested, dashing up to his room quickly to avoid any more awkward conversation.

"Olivia's coming over tonight," Arianna told her dad. She knew that by now she didn't have to ask permission to have Olivia over.

"Alright," Draco responded. "You can tell me if there is something going on with the Potter boy. It's not like Scorpius to start a fight without reason," he added.

"Dad," Arianna sighed, "It's not important," she assured him. "Albus and I hardly even speak," she assured him.

"Alright," Draco said, glad that he wasn't going to have to talk boys with her. He liked to leave that sort of stuff to Astoria.

"Love you, dad," Arianna mumbled, hugging him tightly. She should have listened to him about boys. Both Micheal and Albus had ended up being complete asses.

"Love you too, Arianna," Draco said, though he sounded a bit confused. Arianna smiled and headed to her room as well, collapsing onto her bed with an unhappy sigh. An owl tapped on her window within five minutes, and she let it in, picking up the letter.

Arianna,

I'm so, so sorry. Please believe me. It was only a bet for about a week, and then things changed. Please, write me. I have to make things right.

Albus

Arianna very nearly growled in irritation. She balled the parchment up, throwing it across the room. She couldn't believe he had the audacity to write her so soon after the fact with such a half-hearted apology! That stupid ass!

She decided to listen to him and actually write a letter.

Potter,

Sorry, no. Don't write me again. You're lucky I didn't tell my father. I hope your ribs are bruised. I don't want your apologies or excuses. I've never lied to you, and I won't start now. What you did hurt me. I didn't think anyone would stoop that low. At least with Micheal I knew where I stood. You let me believe you cared, when you were even more of an ass than he ever was. Don't reply to this letter, but you asked for me to write you back.

Malfoy

She sent the letter off quickly, not wanting to give herself time to revise it,to put in how much she wanted him to really be sorry. She didn't know exactly when Olivia would be over, but she hoped it was relatively soon.

Alright, I really am not crazy about this chapter, but the story's coming to a close relatively soon. But if you like this chapter and this story then that'll just make my whole damn day! Sorry it's been so long, I'll try and upload a chapter every other week, but school's been crazy.

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Cunning and Ambition