Chapter 2:

Rose's POV

Rose was angry. Scorpius just had to stop by and see his friends before the prefect meeting. Seeing the events unfold in the train compartment between Scorpius' now ex-girlfriend and his friend was hilarious, and even more funny was that he had just laughed. Normally, she would have rubbed it in his face that his girlfriend had cheated on him, but instead she found it kind of sad that he did not care enough about any person, even his girlfriend, to be upset. As she walked down the dimly lit, carpeted corridor she studied the back of the boy in front of her. His pale blond hair covered his head. His broad shoulders were encased in a handsome grey button-down shirt. A slim piece of pale skin peaked out from above his collar. Blue jeans skimmed his toned legs and butt. Finally, black and green trainers showed through at the bottom of his jeans.

Rose, stop it, she told herself. You're not checking him out, you're just observing. Nice, flattering observations, she scolded herself. Ugh, Rose, stop. To put her mind off of Scorpius she thought about her family's reactions to her news.

"You're dropping out of school next year!" Hermione said, shocked. "To do what?"

"I already explained this to you! To play quidditch," Rose had replied calmly.

"Rosie," Ron had said cautiously, "are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Positive!" said Rose emphatically. "I've never been more sure in my life!"

"But Rose," her mother had paused carefully, "you've never even played."

"Yeah," chimed in her father, "what about playing?"

"Sure, I've never played," she paused to build the suspense, "but have you seen me fly?"

"Well, no" admitted Ron.

"Someday you will, and then you'll understand."

"Rose! You can't just throw away your education on a whim. It's meant so much to you and you've been doing so well," her mother said angrily.

"No Mother, it's meant so much to you. I did it all to please you! You always wanted me to have the best grades, never to play quidditch!

"And you, Dad," she turned to Ron, "You told me on the very first day of school to make sure to beat Scorpius Malfoy at my school work! You did not even think about quidditch!" with that, Rose had turned and left the room. She had hoped so much that maybe they would understand, but no, she was wrong.

Rose smiled sadly at the back of the boy in front of her as he pushed open the door to the prefect compartment. She walked forward, but he did not even hold the door, so it banged shut in her face. She rolled her eyes. Malfoy, always the gentleman. She pushed open the door and walked in. The compartment was already very full and left no seats for her unless she sat next to Scorpius. She walked over slowly, unhappy with the situation, and sat down. Her thigh pressed into his, it was warm and her legs tingled. As she shifted, her white blouse brushed his grey silk button shirt, making a soft brushing sound. The door opened to the compartment once more and in walked the two heads.

Molly Weasley and Teddy Lupin. Rose smiled happily at the familiar faces. She felt movement next to her and she glanced at the boy next to her. He had nodded at Teddy.

"Okay, thanks for showing up on time," said Molly. "We just want to review the guidelines of being a prefect and we also want to assign you to your patrol pairs."

"So," Teddy broke in, "the rules are simple. You can't dock points or give detentions, but you can alert a teacher to do so. You will patrol at assigned times with your assigned partner. There will not be any trading of partners."

"Alright," said Molly, "the partners are as follows: Zabini and Goyle, Malfoy and Weasley."

At those three words, Rose zoned out. Malfoy and Weasley, Weasley and Malfoy. Rose ran the names over her tongue trying to process them and found she could not.

"Well, that's it," Molly said brightly, interrupting Rose's train of thought. Rose got up quickly and left the prefect compartment in a rush. She wanted to talk to Albus and Jasmine before Scorpius arrived back at their compartment.

Scorpius' POV

Scorpius got up slowly after Rose's warm leg had disappeared in a rush at the end of the meeting. Outside, his face was calm and collected, but inside, his thoughts were in turmoil. He had been paired with none other than Rose fucking Weasley. He did not like her attitude towards him one little bit, but at least she was pretty to look at.

He was walking down the hallway now and students were in their compartments changing into their robes, so the hall was empty, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Would working with Rose be good or bad? He paused outside his compartment door when he heard the raised voices of Al and Rose.

"Albus, it's my second to last year I don't want to spend it with him," Scorpius heard Rose complain. "Now that he's my patrol partner, I have no way of leaving without him questioning me."

"Well Rosie, you could ask for a change in partner," Albus responded logically.

"I would have if Molly and Teddy had not banned trading your partner."

"I don't know Rosie, you're a smart girl, you'll figure something out."

There was a long silence and Scorpius decided that it would be fine to go in now. They glanced up as he walked in and resumed his seat that Rose had "given" him. As the three others in the compartment chattered about the welcome back feast, he thought about the conversation that he had overheard. It sounded like it was going to be Rose's last school year next year and that she needed the extra time patrolling duties would take up. It made him curious as to what Rose had been talking about.

He decided that he would let Rose off the hook if she asked about leaving the patrol duties to him, but he would follow her and find out what she was up to. When he came out of his thoughts, he saw that the other three teenagers were taking out their robes and pulling them on. He stood up to do the same. He grabbed his well-worn wooden trunk and opened the lid. He pulled out his freshly washed uniform robes and pulled them on quickly. He turned and put his trunk back up on the rack above his head and turned and sat down. He watched as Rose struggled to put her robes on, one of her sleeves bunched up. She twisted, causing her white shirt to stretch tight against her figure. Scorpius inhaled air through his teeth, making a quiet hissing sound.

"You okay mate?" asked Albus.

"Yeah, fine," muttered Scorpius. Albus shrugged and finished pulling on his robes. They both watched as Rose and Jasmine sat down, right before the train started to slow. Scorpius watched Rose smile softly out the window at the lit up castle. They all got up and left the compartment and entered the train corridor where they were engulfed with the noise of students talking.

All the students' robes swished as they walked and jumped out of the train. The first-years nervously walked toward the boats waiting on the glassy lake. Scorpius smiled as he remembered his ride up to Hogwarts in his first year.

"There's one boat left, Malfoy," Rose said knowingly. "You might as well get in."

"With a Potter and a Weasley?" he smirked. "That's rich."

"Well you don't have an option now," Albus said. "Climb in."

Scorpius grumbled, but climbed in.

"I'm Albus Potter and the redhead is-"

"Weasley," he interrupted, "I know."

Rose turned away from him, frowning, but still Albus looked at him.

"So you know us. Would you care to introduce yourself?"

"Not really," Scorpius replied flippantly, "but I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy."

"Oh, nice to meet you," Albus said, smiling.

Scorpius decided he liked this kid and if he got sorted into Slytherin then he would be friends with him. If not, then they could simply be acquaintances. As for the girl, he could not care less.

The ride over was peaceful as the wooden boats glided smoothly over the water. He looked up at the castle in awe, taking in its full image for the first time. It was enormous and it sat at the edge of the water. The lights from the long windows in the Great Hall reflected on the surface. This castle, he decided, looked more like home than anything else he had seen before.

Scorpius looked at his best friend and smiled, glad he had made that decision on his first day at Hogwarts. He watched as Rose, Jasmine and Al climbed into the carriage. Albus turned and looked at him and held out his hand to pull him up.

"Thanks mate," Scorpius said.

"No problem. You ready for some good food?" Albus asked.

"Yup, and a good party," he replied.

He heard Rose sigh and he looked over at her. She was wearing a contented smile.

"It's good to be back," she said. "This place always feels like home."

"Yeah, and the food is just amazing," gushed Jasmine.

"Don't even get me started," Rose said excitedly. "Do not tell my mum this, but I love Hogwarts' cooking much more than hers'. I love the mashed potatoes and the turkey dipped in cranberry sauce. What else? I don't know, I just love it all."

"Wow, don't hold back or anything when we get to the feast," said Scorpius sarcastically. "We would just love to see you burst."

"Well you know how it is," Rose shot back. "A Weasley can't go a second without thinking about food."

"And it shows too," Scorpius said back without thinking. He forgot the unspoken rule: never insult a girl about her figure even if you hate them. He looked nervously at the two girls who were fingering their wands. Scorpius studied Rose. Her eyes glittered maliciously and the tips of her ears were red with anger. At the sight of this he could not have seen a girl who was more beautiful. Then Rose shouted, "Flipendo!" Scorpius flipped backwards and hit his head hard on the back of the carriage. He saw stars and his vision faded to blackness. The last thing he saw was Rose bending over him.