A/N: An Albus-less chapter. Sigh.

But don't worry, we haven't seen the last of him!

A Fight You Know You Can't Win

All good things must come to an end, and that, unfortunately, included the Christmas holidays. Before everyone knew it they were on the Hogwarts Express, steaming full speed back to school. Rose had a good feeling about the new year, though she could not explain why. She was seated in what seemed like the noisiest compartment on the whole train: her siblings were playing a Muggle card game and were accusing each other of cheating. A dull pulsing began to form at the back of her head and she knew it was from their bickering. She mumbled something about getting some fresh air before leaving the compartment; the narrow hallways of the train were much quieter and she felt like she had more air to breathe.

Rose walked down the hallway, her index finger tracing the wall. She felt the cold glass of the compartment doors sliding underneath her touch, and the grainy wood of the doorframe raising under the tips of her fingers. The air was a little cold and she forgot to bring her jumper with her; she was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans, leaving her bare forearms exposed to the January chill. She stopped walking and unconsciously slid down to the floor, sitting with her back against the wall. Luckily nobody was around so no one would have thought odd of her sitting in the middle of the hallway with her knees to her chest. She reached into her pocket and took out the shiny Snitch Scorpius had given her for Christmas; she rotated it between her fingers, watching wordlessly as the light caught on its intricate engraved patterns.

The ball then sprouted a pair of metal wings and lifted itself off of her hand, twitching animatedly in front of her. Rose's sapphire depths flitted in unison with the Snitch, left, right, up, down, diagonally…

And then it was gone.

Rose snapped out of her trance, shaking her head and blinking furiously to make sure her eyes were not playing tricks on her. When she regained her focus, she noticed she was barely a foot away from a pair of legs, covered in black pants. They were pretty long legs, she dared to add. She inclined her head very slowly and found herself staring up at a smirking Scorpius Malfoy. His thin pale fingers were curled around her-well it was his originally, she vaguely pointed out-Snitch, which was now wingless and motionless.

"I won't even bother to ask what you're doing out here, and on the floor of all things." He said, and held out his free hand towards her. Her cheeks feeling unnaturally warm, Rose reached out towards him-she felt a little intimidated when she realized her hand was quite small compared to his-and let him pull her up with relative ease. She got a better look at him now that they were both standing; she remembered his wayward blond hair, his ashen, chiseled face and of course the cold, piercing grey stare. He was clad in black pants, shirt, shoes, and blazer, as usual. She noticed how he wore his clothes in a neater fashion than his uniform.

"Are you feeling alright? You look feverish." His voice, no matter how much emotion he tried to convey, always sounded unimpressed and bored to her. He surprised her by placing a hand on her forehead; she gasped at his cold touch. Instead of chilling her, it actually made her warmer. Scorpius rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards a compartment not so far from hers.

"C'mon then." He muttered, and she nodded as he led her down the hall. She felt a little nervous at first, knowing that he had just invited her to a compartment full of his...eccentric Slytherin friends, but he surprised her further when he slid the door open, revealing a reasonably empty compartment. The only thing occupying it was an owl cage, sitting on the seat by the window. An owl with dark brown feathers hooted calmly, its wide amber eyes fixated on hers.

"W-where are the others?" Rose asked, finally speaking. Scorpius gestured towards the seat across from the owl cage and she sat down. He then moved to sit beside the owl, where he reached in to give it an owl treat.

"Felt like being on my own today." He replied casually, and she nodded, her fists resting on her thighs. She had to keep her jaw tight to prevent her teeth from clattering together. She wondered if her hair looked alright, but then again her hair always looked like a mess to her. Was she dressed decent enough? Did she look stupid to him? For some reason the things that never mattered before meant everything now.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Scorpius leaned in a little, his eyes drilling holes into her. She gulped and managed a short nod, which actually looked more like a twitch. He leaned back and raised an elegant blond eyebrow.

"'M fine," She mumbled, hoping that spoken word would convince him, "j-just...it's just a little cold I guess." Her hands moved to her upper arms and she rubbed them quickly to get some blood flowing. If only the rushing blood from her face would somehow trickle down to the rest of her body…

Her eyes flicked over to his for a second, but the intensity of his stare was too much for her and she found herself staring at her hands again. She heard a few rustling noises but she did not dare to look up.

"Figured someone smart like you would know better than to walk around in a t-shirt in January." She heard a smile in his voice, and she could not help to roll her eyes. In an instant she felt smooth fabric caress her shoulders; her head snapped up and noticed a black blazer had been draped over her. She stared straight ahead of her to see Scorpius sitting like he was just moments ago, but this time he was without his blazer, just in a black button down shirt. Come to think of it, she actually liked the way he dressed outside of school.

"Thank you," She barely whispered as she pulled his blazer around her small frame, "you didn't have to, you know."

Scorpius tossed the Snitch up in the air and caught it. He smirked back at her, and she felt a million electric shocks course up and down her spine.

"If there's one proper thing my father taught me, it was how to be a gentleman." He said smoothly. He underhanded it towards her and she caught it in her cupped hands. Rose giggled.

"From what my mother told me he doesn't seem like one." She said in between her laughs, the small golden ball rolling around in between her fingers. Scorpius shrugged his shoulders and reached in the owl cage to smooth out the owl's feathers.

"I guess he wasn't much of one when he was younger," He opened the cage and the owl jumped out to rest on his arm, "but around my mother he seems like the perfect husband."

"Maybe he grew up a little since his school days." Rose suggested. Scorpius shrugged again.

"Unfortunately he couldn't find the time to grow into a perfect father either." He said flatly, and the owl hooted as if to agree. Rose frowned and averted her gaze to the window. She could see Hogwarts in the distance; they were to arrive soon.

"Oh, I don't think you've met Ferdinand yet," Scorpius said after a few moments of strained silence. "he's a bloody nuisance when you don't feed him, but most of the time he makes up for the lack of company at home."

Rose leaned forward and cooed to the proud looking owl; Scorpius brought his arm a little forward and Ferdinand fluttered over to her shoulder.

"Smart bird, isn't he?" Rose reached up to stroke Ferdinand's feathers, "We used to have a family owl named Pigwidgeon and he was such an excitable little thing. Never managed to stay in one place; kind of reminds me of Hugo when he was younger-actually he might've not grown out of it so much, now that I think about it."

Scorpius leaned back again and ran his fingers through his hair; though she was a little too far she figured that his sent would waft into the air as he ruffled his blond spikes. Whenever she sat with him during their spare periods she always enjoyed breathing in his scent, that musky woodsy smell that seemed a little odd for him to have since he always seemed like someone with a more...tame scent. She also noticed that he had a habit of messing up his hair, as if he never wanted it to be straight. She hardly remembered what it looked like when it was, since it was only straight in the years she absolutely loathed him. No one ever took the time to look at someone they hated.

"Did you always sound this smart?" He asked, and Rose flushed again. She did not know how to answer that.

"Ever since I met you, it seemed like you always had something to say, and when you do say something you sound years older than you look. Not saying that it's a bad thing of course." He spoke again, and she knew he was expecting an answer. She lifted her chin slightly to look into his eyes, which had been on her the entire time.

"I dunno, I guess the only thing I could say is that I've gotten it from my Mum. She's the person I hope to be someday, ever since I was little, and I've never found a better role model than her." She replied. Her fingers were fumbling with the Snitch; the ball was rolling around faster now in her grip.

"I'm not surprised." He said. Ferdinand jumped off of Rose's shoulder and fluttered over to sit on the windowsill. She looked up again; Scorpius was now staring out the window.

"I used to think that my father was right about everything. He always seemed so firm in what he had to say. I followed him because he made me believe that he spoke the truth. He taught me how to hate Muggles and Muggle-borns, and how to act as if everybody was a level lower than us. He injected all of this prejudice in me," He paused for a minute, and then added in a much lower voice, "and I took so long to finally figure out how wrong he's been this entire time."

Rose felt as if she had just swallowed an anvil; her chest felt so heavy. She moved to sit beside him, not fully aware of how close they were. She reluctantly reached out to touch his arm.

"It's not your fault." She whispered, and he turned his head to look at her. It was hardly visible, but Rose could see the slightest hint of vulnerability in his mercury grey eyes. The sun peeked out through the clouds and shone in through the window, illuminating them; they almost looked like a liquid silver. His hair looked white. His sharp features were emphasized. He looked like he was carved out of stone-a living, breathing sculpture. She felt her heart leap to her throat and it was suddenly very hard to breathe.

"Funny how you can change one's opinion with so little words." He said, and the corner of his mouth turned up in his trademark smirk. Did he even know how to smile properly? Oh, it did not matter. His smirk was a good enough distraction.

"Don't mention it." She breathed, and leaned back towards the cushiony seat, her eyes now staring at the empty seat across from her. She felt her airways clear up, now that she was not looking at him directly. She felt his shoulder brushing against hers as the Hogwarts Express trudged along the tracks; with all of the small contact between them she feared she was going to have a cardiac arrest; her heart was practically pounding against her ribcage.

"We're slowing down," He said after a few minutes, "I think we're here."

Rose's head turned towards his direction to stare out the window; Hogwarts was towering over them, its rooftops capped with glistening white snow. Excitement rushed through her-she was back, finally. It felt like forever. Home was definitely a nice place to retreat to, but she needed to get back to reality. Plus, NEWTs were coming up, she no longer had time to waste.

"Guess I'd better head back," She rose from her seat, albeit reluctantly, "I'll see you in school?"

He looked up at her and nodded slowly, his smirk still intact. She flashed him one last smile before stumbling out of the compartment. She closed the door behind her and sighed, her eyes closing slowly. She had an idea to what she was feeling at the moment, but she was afraid to admit it. She could not possibly...it was wrong. She could not feel any sort of affection for him-he was a Malfoy.

But you said you were trying to look past his name. Obviously you can see more in him than what he appears to be.

What caused the human mind to conjure up a conscience? She hated it when she talked back to herself, even if it was just a mental conversation. She knew that if anything was to happen between them there would be chaos in her family. Nearly everyone despised the Malfoys, and her dad did mention that Granddad would be upset if she ever-she gulped at the word-married him.

Thinking that far ahead, are you? You have high hopes. Plus, Dad mentioned that Granddad would be upset if you married a Pureblood, not specifically a Malfoy.

But he was a Pureblood, regardless of his name.

Oh, that doesn't matter so much to you anyway. It's the name that's bothering you. You already said that he was different than his family, so what's the harm in feeling this way?

She could not win. She sighed again as she opened the door to her siblings' compartment; they were already getting ready to leave.

"What took you so long?" Mandy asked.

"That desperate to get away from your family, eh?" Randy sniggered.

"After growing up with us, you'd think she'd be used to it by now." Hugo grinned.

"Oh, stop it, all of you." Jane protested. Rose broke out into laughter and pretty soon her siblings joined in with her. Icarus flapped wildly in his cage, hooting excitedly.

"You're rubbin' off on him, sis; he's just as excited for school as you are!" Hugo chuckled. Rose knelt in front of the cage and tossed the great bird an owl treat. She wondered if Icarus knew Ferdinand. Maybe they were owl friends or something. She had no idea why she was thinking about this.

The train came to a full stop, and Rose and her siblings gathered their things to set off for school. They melted in with the throng of students, mixing and mingling with friends they have not seen in nearly two weeks. Rose nearly bumped into a fourth year twice her size; it kind of worried her, the way everyone seemed to be so tall. Was she really that short?

A flash of blond in the crisp sunlight wiped all of her self-conscious thoughts away; she turned her head quickly, her bronze waves whipping against her face. As she expected, a tall boy with untidy platinum hair and cold grey eyes was shoving his way through the crowd. He was talking with a fellow Slytherin-it was Holden Zabini.

As if he knew all along, Scorpius Malfoy turned his head at the slightest, and for an instant their eyes met. Silver and sapphire.

And in another instant, it was gone. His gaze flickered back towards Holden, and they were talking again.

But that was all she needed. She could not hold back the smile that threatened to appear; as giddy and schoolgirl-like as she felt, inside she knew it was wrong. She was not allowed to fall for a Malfoy.

But she knew she could not hold her defences forever.