Thank you so much to everyone who has given me such marvellous reviews - I really appreciate it! Glad you're enjoying the story so far...

Scorpius arrived at breakfast the next morning in a decidedly foul mood. His nightly dream of Rose had returned, except in this one he chased after her, her vanilla scent taunting him, while he ran through a maze shouting for her and only catching glimpses of her pale limbs and red hair as she flitted just out of his reach. He woke frustrated and sweating, and not looking forward to the day at all.

Then his best mate, Mark Goldstein, called him on it.

"Man, you've got it so badly, I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you," he told Scorpius as they stood shaving next to each other at adjacent basins in the bathroom. "You poor bastard."

Scorpius raised one eyebrow at him. "Huh?"

"Don't play dumb, I sleep in the bed next to you and I hear you mumbling her name all night," said Mark, with a dirty grin. "Of all people – I can't believe you've got a hard-on for the Gryffindor Princess – though I can't blame you," he added quickly, "she's as hot as all Hades. I certainly wouldn't kick her out of bed."

Scorpius leaned on the sides of the washbasin and stared down at the water. "Tell me about it, and she's not even in the least bit interested," he mumbled. "I just tried to hold her hand last night and she bolted out of there like her hair was on fire."

"Whoa," mused Mark, pulling the plug and splashing his face with cold water. "That bad, eh? I must say, I'm surprised – I thought she was seriously checking you out the other day in Potions. Remember when you leaned across her to stir the cauldron? Seriously, mate, she turned her mouth towards your neck and I thought she was going to give you a hickey there and then. She had eyes closed and she was biting her lip – damn, I wanted to grab her and snog her myself."

Scorpius snorted. "You'd snog anything in a skirt, so I'll take that with a pinch of salt," he scoffed, rubbing his face dry with his towel. "But I warn you, mate, you look at her like that one more time and best friend or not, I'll hex your lips off and stuff them in your earhole."

They'd known each other long enough for this threat to mean nothing, so Mark simply grinned at him and headed out the bathroom, chortling.

"So what, you think she's got 'just want to be friends' syndrome?" he asked, as they headed for their trunks to get fresh uniforms and robes for the day.

"Exactly that," snapped Scorpius. "And I really like her, Mark; I can actually talk to her, I don't turn into a blubbering moron like I do with other girls. She's clever and funny and a really good person, and the fact that she's so hot I want to rip her underwear off with my teeth every time I see her is a real problem. Seriously, I can't take many more cold showers – my junk is going to fall off."

"Well, I reckon you should just turn up the heat on her a bit and see how it goes," said Mark, his voice muffled as he disappeared under a Ravenclaw jumper. "Touch her more often – subtly though, don't try and cop a feel of her boobs or her arse or anything -" Scorpius rolled his eyes at this "- and I'll keep an eye on her and tell you what I think."

Scorpius pondered this. "Fine," he agreed shortly, pulling his tie tight with a jerk. "But try and be discreet, OK? I don't want her thinking you're a stalker."

"Are you kidding? You're talking to the king of smooth here," said Mark, before tripping gracefully over yesterday's discarded underpants on the floor and ending up face first in the laundry basket.

Muttering "Mobilicorpus" under his breath, Scorpius tipped his friend right side up with a wave of his wand and wondered in how many possible ways this could go spectacularly wrong.

Rose arrived at breakfast that morning in a decidedly foul mood. She hadn't slept much after leaving Scorpius – in fact, she'd spent most of the night alternating between holding in tears, letting go and having a good weep, and punching her pillow in sheer irritation at herself. When she did finally fall asleep, she had the first real sex dream of her life – with Scorpius Bloody Malfoy in the starring role, no less. In it, they were sprawled together on that sodding leather sofa in the Room of Requirement, naked to the waist, his hands and mouth doing evil (breathtaking, jaw-dropping, thigh-clamping) things to her breasts while she writhed beneath him in ecstasy and clawed marks down his muscled back with her nails.

She felt ill. She'd never been gripped by lust like this before and frankly, it was bloody terrible to know there wasn't a thing she could do about it. Scorpius just wanted to be her friend – he'd made that very clear, and if she wanted to stay his friend she needed to keep her cool.

Beth had taken one look at her when she returned from the showers, red-eyed, and put a sympathetic arm around her shoulders. "What's Scorpius done?"

"Nothing, that's the problem!" cried Rose, sinking onto the bed and putting her face in her hands. "He told me last night he just wants to be friends, and now I'm having dreams about him .. oh God, Beth, what am I going to do?"

"Are you sure? Because I'm telling you, Rosie, the last few days he's been looking like he's totally into you. I've been expecting to find you snogging in stairwells at any moment."

"Well, last night he said he liked talking to me, and that he wishes we'd made friends years ago," Rose said miserably. "Does that sound like something a guy would say if he wants to date you?"

"No, I think it's something an incredibly shy boy would say to a girl he really likes," said Beth bluntly. "God, Rose, he sounds like a gem. At least you didn't get what I got from Declan Finnegan last year after that snog by the lake: 'Want to see what I can do with my wand, darlin'?" She imitated Declan's broad Irish brogue to perfection, scowling at the memory. "What a pig – we'd been kissing for about three seconds and he was already trying to get his hand up my shirt."

Rose burst out laughing. "Oh, but that's Declan all over. He's a sweetheart, really, you just need to know when to slap him down." She'd known Declan all her life, and he was as full of crap as he was of Irish blarney.

"I did slap him – just not across the face," giggled Beth. "Remember, he walked funny for the rest of the day after that?"

For a second, Rose smiled at her friend, and then the brightness bled slowly out of her face and she felt tearful again. "I need to pull myself together – I'm never like this."

Beth gave her a sympathetic hug. "OK, you stick with me today, then," she said. "I'll look after you and keep the nasty boy away. I still think he's into you, though – I'm going to watch that lad like a hawk and then I'll tell you what I think."

"I trust you to be honest, Beth – good or bad, OK?"

"Hey, you were the one who told me how big my arse looked in those pink dress robes I wanted to get – thank Godric, or I would have bought the damn things and looked like the back of the Knight Bus. Of course I'll tell you the truth, Rosie – now let's do a bit of charmwork on those burning coals of eyes so you don't actually look like you've been crying all night, yeah?"

As Beth started waving her wand, performing some simple cosmetic charms, Rose thanked her lucky stars for a friend like this. Because, all told, she was pretty sure everything with Scorpius was about to go pear-shaped and she would need a shoulder to cry on.

The one thing Scorpius Malfoy had never expected at Hogwarts was to be acquainted with the Potter-Weasley tribe. Their families' mutual enmity during the war was well documented, and his father had warned him that they might not be too keen to be friends with a Malfoy.

So he was more than a little surprised to find himself being hailed by James Potter on arrival at breakfast that morning.

"Oi, Malfoy, get over here!" he yelled.

"This," muttered Scorpius, "cannot be good."

Mark looked sideways at him. "Want some backup?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup – I have a bad feeling about this."

The two of them walked apprehensively over to the Gryffindor table, where what looked like a heated family debate was taking place.

"You are the demon spawn of a Dementor and aThestral," shouted Fred dramatically, pointing a fork loaded with sausage at his cousin Louis. "I tell you, there is no way that Wood will select Anderson for starter seeker."

There was a roar of combined dissent and approval from the mob collected around the latest Prophet sports section, where a detailed diagram revealed the selectors' choices for the English Quidditch World Cup team.

"The stats say..." began Louis, taking off his spectacles and giving them a polish.

"Bugger the stats, look at the state of the Wasps! They're going further down the toilet every minute and ..."

Tuning this out, Scorpius turned to James. "And you need me for this happy family gathering for, what, exactly? Referee?"

"Good luck with that, mate," mumbled Albus, who was sitting calmly eating his breakfast in the middle of this utter chaos. "Only one who can manage that is my mum, and that's because these tossers are all terrified of her Bat-Bogey Hex."

"So what's all this about, then?" asked Scorpius, mystified.

"I," said James smugly, "have a pool going as to who is going to be selected for this year's starter Seeker position for England at the World Cup. I'm offering 2-1 on Mitchley, 5-1 on Anderson and 10-1 on O'Connor. You seem to know a bit about Quidditch – I heard you telling Thomas who you thought would make the trials, and bugger me if you weren't bang on the money. You in?"

Scorpius considered for a second. "Yeah, I'm in," he said, grinning. "Put me down for ten galleons on O'Connor."

"Good man!" said Albus, clapping him on the shoulder. "Take a pew – bacon?"

Flabbergasted, Scorpius sat next to him and took the proffered plate while Mark agreed to put five galleons on Mitchley. He parked himself on Scorpius's other side and also took a plate.

"So I gather you're also backing O'Connor," said Scorpius as he piled his plate with bacon and sausage.

"Yup," said Albus happily, "and mate, you and I are going to make a killing. He's got it for sure. Why did you choose him?"

"Because," said Scorpius under his breath, "apparently unlike your relatives, I actually read your mum's column in the Prophet every week and she tipped O'Connor two editions ago as the one to pick. I can't believe your brother is offering those odds, considering your mother is usually always right."

Albus swallowed his toast, grinning. "Not sure he can actually even read, to be honest," he said.

Scorpius laughed and looked up, straight into the astounded blue eyes of one Rose Weasley.

The last thing Rose expected to find at breakfast was Scorpius Malfoy, a Ravenclaw, sitting at the Gryffindor table, enjoying a plate of food and chatting amiably to Albus.

Surprised didn't quite cover it. Shocked perhaps. Speechless – definitely.

" 'Lo, Rosie," said Albus around a mouthful of food, shifting over to make a space between himself and Scorpius. "Come and sit by me, my love, I have some questions for you about that dastardly Potions assignment."

Still searching for words, Rose chose rather to sit opposite him and stare. Beth plopped down next to her, and giggled at a wink from Mark.

"Morning, Rose," said Scorpius, smiling at her. "How did you sleep?"

"Er... fine, thanks," she said, looking from her cousin to the stray Ravenclaws. "No offense, Scorpius, but you appear to be at the wrong table."

"He's a guest of ours – don't be so rude, Rosie Posie," shouted James over Hugo's head, waving his betting scroll at her airily. "Now, how much can I put you down for in my little betting pool here?"

Rose looked at Scorpius, who was looking totally innocent. "Don't tell me they've suckered you into this one?" she said, starting to laugh. "I thought you had more sense than that."

"Don't worry, me and Scorpius here are going to make enough money to retire on, thanks to my idiot brother," said Albus, looking smug.

"Only if you put your money on O'Connor," said Rose, rapidly buttering a slice of toast and reaching for the marmalade. Both Scorpius and Albus stared at her in sheer admiration. "And no, James, I have no intention of giving you my hard-earned Galleons, so stop waving that parchment at me shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

"Smartest witch in the school," whispered Scorpius, and she felt herself going pink when he flashed that devastating dimple at her.

Further down the table, the conversation had turned to more normal matters. "So, bloody Greengrass threw two batwings into my potion yesterday and when it exploded, had the balls to say it was my fault his hair turned purple," grumbled James. "That's my fifth detention already this term – mum's going to do me in."

"He's been pulling shite that like on you all year, mate," said Declan Finnegan, joining in. "What, are you losing your touch? I thought you'd have gotten revenge by now."

"I've been trying to think of something really worthy though," said James. "I hate that git – he's been a complete tosser since first year." He caught sight of Scorpius, who was listening intently. "Sorry, Malfoy – he's your cousin, isn't he? Still a wanker, though."

"Potter, any of us with even a drop of pure blood running through our veins are related somehow – you're probably my sixth cousin four times removed, or something," said Scorpius thoughtfully. "Silas is my cousin, but I agree with you – he's complete arsehole. He made my childhood a complete hell. His favourite pastime was levitating me headfirst down the toilet while he got it flushing repeatedly. He bloody nearly drowned me when I was ten."

"So, from your vast inside experience, what's the best way to get back at him? Got to be a good one, though – I want him to suffer extensively and for a long time."

"Well, he's quite vain – notice how he loves to strut around with his shirt off, showing off his manly hairy chest, whenever he can?" asked Scorpius with a snort of disdain. "Why don't you try Depilator Spiralis?"

"What does that do?" asked Rose, intrigued despite herself.

"It'll wax his hair off in a spiral pattern around his body," said Scorpius, grinning. "He'll look like a barber's pole in stripes of hair and pink skin, and it'll take about six months to grow back."

There was a stunned silence, and then there was a roar of delighted laughter from the crowd. "You, sir, are an evil genius!" howled James, slapping the table. "You can sit with us any time! Now, just show me the wand movement on that one, yeah?"

Scorpius winked at Rose, then turned to show James the correct incantation. She felt warm all over, and busied herself with finishing breakfast. Beside her, Beth was flirting easily with Mark Goldstein, and Albus was watching them with a curiously flat expression in his eyes.

Suddenly, Rose felt a foot press against hers under the table. She looked up, startled, into Scorpius' eyes. "You OK?" he whispered, reaching across to touch her hand. And just for a minute, she forgot where she was, and who surrounded her, and that this boy only wanted her for a friend, and she curled her cold fingers around his warm ones. "Yeah," she whispered, not breaking eye contact. "You?"

Scorpius appeared to have lost the power of speech. Oh, God, friends – remember? thought Rose frantically, and was about to disentangle her fingers when he covered her hand with his other one. "I'm fine... great, actually," he managed, his voice sounding odd.

"Yeah," Rose whispered, mesmerised.

After a few seconds, Albus interrupted them. "Oi, you two – stop gazing at each other and get a shift on," he said, and although he wasn't grinning, the corners of his eyes were crinkled. "We're going to be late for Herbology."

Rose jumped like she'd been doused with Aguamenti and ripped her hand out of Scorpius's.

"You're right, let's go," she said hurriedly, rising to her feet and grabbing her bag. "Come on, Beth." And she marched out of the door, head held high, while Beth trailed behind her, smiling back at Mark.

By the time the end of lessons arrived, Rose was in such a state of nervous disrepair she was trembling. Even though Beth had been good to her word and stuck to Rose like glue, there were some classes they didn't share and Scorpius had parked himself next to her immediately. He had touched her at every opportunity, and while her logical head said it couldn't be because he fancied her, her romantic heart was swooning.

He sat so close to her in every class that his body heat was warming her from the outside in, and she found herself watching his slender fingers writing, and picturing what it would feel like to have them touching her. When he turned his head to whisper something, they were so close that he didn't have to move much towards her at all... unable to help herself, she'd leaned in and pressed her chest against his arm. That had caused a reaction – he'd looked at her, startled, and with a heat in his eyes that made the pit of her stomach burn.

"OK, so it's official – Scorpius Malfoy has a HUGE crush on you, Rosie!" squealed Beth, as she bounced cross-legged on the end of her friend's bed. Rose's head was warm, her cheeks were flaming and she kept breaking out in goosebumps – perhaps she was coming down with the 'flu?

"You think so?" she whispered tiredly, just wanting more than anything to close her strained eyes and take a nap. She was feeling emotionally drained and utterly exhausted, and her head was spinning.

"Are you kidding? He is always touching and looking at you. When he tucked that loose strand of hair behind your ear in Potions today I nearly passed out myself. That was one of the sexiest things I have ever seen! Merlin, he is seriously gorgeous and completely into you, you lucky thing."

Rose shivered in remembered pleasure. The look in his eyes as he had tenderly pushed the hair back, and then – was she imagining it? He'd gently run his finger down her earlobe and an inch down her neck... Just remembering it made her feel hot all over.

Then she buried rolled over and buried her face in her hands. "He's saying one thing, and doing another," she groaned. "I'm totally confused, Beth! Thank God I don't have to face him tonight – he's got extra Quidditch practice because Ravenclaw's up against Slytherin this weekend. "

Beth nodded sagely. "Men – can't live with them, can't Avada them," she intoned wisely, before bursting into giggles.