Hello! I suffered through writing a research paper all day, and then I remembered I needed to post this. That...was...incredibly random. Um. Yeah. I'm just gonna stop talking now. Enjoy this chapter, it's one of my favorites :)

Chapter 6: Better Than Revenge

"Did you see the look on his face?" Molly giggled as Rose took her seat at the Gryffindor table. "He totally fell for it!"

Rose laughed.

"I know, he's so gullible! Serves him right! Never try to outsmart a Weasley," Rose smirked.

"Oh, look, they're all trying to see if we're kidding or not," Samantha said, pointing inconspicuously towards the Ravenclaw table. Sure enough, Scorpius and all his cronies were craning their necks to see the girls.

"Act natural," Rose ordered as Albus sat down.

"Why?" he asked.

"Scorpius pranked us back last night," Molly muttered in an undertone. Albus choked on his pumpkin juice.

"What? Are you serious? What'd he do?" he sputtered.

"Shh!" Rose scolded, handing her cousin a napkin. "You can't tell anyone, alright, but he set a bunch of alarm clocks to two A.M. and left them in our dorm room, all over the place. He covered us all in whipped cream and then charmed feathers to fall down on us when we woke up. It was a mess, we didn't get cleaned up till four," she sighed. "BUT we've got an amazing prank and we're going to put it into action tonight. He'll never be expecting us to pull it this fast."

"Do I get to help?"

The voices of James and Fred came from behind them in unison. Rose whipped around, her red curls flying. She hadn't even realized they had been overheard.

"If you're quiet about it," Molly replied, fixing them with a glare. Both quailed under her gaze and nodded.

"Right, then," Rose said, leaning forward. "Here's what we're gonna do. Molly and I will be pulling something in the Great Hall, and you two are going to be heading to the dorms to pull this one, alright?"

"And how exactly does that work?" Fred asked, squinting at the diagrams the two girls had drawn. When both Rose and Molly glared at him, he held up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry! I'm not a genius like you two! I'm much stupider."

Rose couldn't help but chuckle, before she leaned forward to explain the diagram to Fred.

Later that day, during the midmorning break, Rose was sitting on the edge of the lake, her shoes off, toes in the water, reading a book while absorbing the unusually warm autumn sun. Molly had to stay behind in Potions to clean up her mess, so Rose was alone for awhile. Or so she thought.

"Oi, Weaselbee!"

She froze. Damn it, why did he always have to bother her? Was he picking an argument on purpose?

Don't let him get to you, Rose, she chided herself. Ignoring the tall, blond figure behind her, she continued to read, turning a page loudly and obviously. She continued to ignore him as he kept calling her, and didn't look up until he flopped onto the grass next to her.

"What?" she demanded, glaring at him over the top of her book.

"Calm down, Weaselbee, I'm not going to murder you or something," he muttered.

"You might shove me in the lake," she countered. He grinned.

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea..."

"That's not funny, Scorpius Malfoy! I happen to have a library book with me and if you get it wet-AH!"

While she'd been ranting, Scorpius had nodded to Davies, who sneaked up behind her and grabbed the book out of her hand while Scorpius and Corner pushed her in. All four of the boys (Goldstein was also there) were howling with laughter. That is, until Rose surfaced.

"Help! I-I can't-can't swim!" she gasped, before sinking under again. Scorpius stared in disbelief. No way...

"Is she serious?" Goldstein muttered, looking worried. Nearly half the grounds was staring at them by now, and a black-haired figure was running towards them.

"SCORPIUS!" Rose screamed as she fought her way to the surface once more. Merlin, she wasn't joking. She actually couldn't swim.

And without a second thought, Scorpius shed his robes and shirt and jumped right in. Rose's red hair was visible even in the murky depths of the lake (Merlin, it was deeper than he thought!), and Scorpius swam to her, grabbing her hand in a vice-like grip and propelling them upwards, making sure to get her head above the water first.

When they emerged, Rose was coughing and sputtering and floundering, and people all around the edge of the lake were yelling their names. All of Rose's cousins, all of Scorpius's friends, everyone. Keeping an arm around Rose, Scorpius struck out for the shallows, and when he reached them, he pulled her up onto the sand, not even all the way out of the water and bent in front of her.

"Rose! Rose, talk to me, please, are you alright?" he pleaded, begging her to respond. She leant over the sand and began to cough violently, shaking the water from her lungs. Scorpius patted her back and murmured to her soothingly.

"ROSE!"

Albus Potter was running towards them, followed by James, Hugo, and Molly.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?" Molly screamed, whipping out her wand and aiming it at Scorpius as Albus and Hugo knelt next to Rose. Scorpius held his hands up in surrender.

"I-I pushed her into the lake-I didn't know she couldn't swim!" he gasped as the Weasley girl's hazel eyes narrowed.

"YOU FOUL GIT!" she screamed. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!"

"I-I didn't know," Scorpius stammered.

"I HAVE HALF A BLOODY MIND TO TAKE YOUR SORRY ARSE UP TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW, MALFOY!" Molly threatened, but a new voice came from behind her.

"No."

Rose Weasley had finally stopped coughing and had gotten to her feet. She walked towards Molly and Scorpius slowly. Scorpius watched her warily, and so did the rest of Hogwarts School.

"Rose...?" Molly began as the redhead approached her. Rose shook her head, her wet curls sending off diamond droplets in the sun. Rose walked right up to Scorpius, who still didn't have his shirt on. There was an extremely tense moment of silence, and then-

"Thank you for saving me," Rose said quietly. "But at the same time, you were stupid enough to push me in. So, thank you, and this is for pushing me in in the first place." And she smacked him across the cheek.

"What the hell-" Scorpius started, holding his, cheek, but Rose whipped around.

"Don't even, Malfoy! I know you hate me, it's not exactly a secret, but I can't swim and I never thought you'd try to drown me! If you must know, water is one of my biggest fears, and I did not appreciate that!" she snapped, her eyes bright. The whole lakeside was deadly quiet as Rose and Scorpius stared each other down.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius finally muttered, still holding his cheek. Rose just shook her head in disgust, sending off another spray of droplets, before walking back to her cousins and then up to the castle, leaving almost the whole of Hogwarts in shock.

Her cousins and brother all followed her, every one of them still glaring daggers at Scorpius. Except Lucy.

"Rose, you really shouldn't have hit him," she chided as they all entered the entrance hall. Rose whipped around, spraying everyone with lake water once more.

"And why not, Lucy? He nearly killed me! Do you have any idea how scared I was? I could have died! Why shouldn't I slap the bloody git?" she demanded, her blue eyes flashing with anger.

"Because he'll write home to his father and then you really will be in trouble," Lucy replied quietly. Rose shook her head.

"I don't care. He's a git, and damn it, if I'm almost killed because of him, I'm going to smack him." No one dared to say anything more. Rose Weasley could be a little scary when she was angry.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up, Rosie?" Lily suggested. Rose nodded, and left without another word to any of her cousins. Only one of them was brave enough to follow her.

"Rose," Dominique called softly, once they were out of earshot of everyone else. Rose slowed but didn't stop. "Do you want to talk about it?" Dominique asked quietly. Rose nodded, not trusting herself to turn around.

"B-but I don't want anyone to overhear," she stuttered. Dominique nodded.

"Follow me. Try to hold your tears in; we'll be there in a moment."

This was why Rose loved Dominique so much. Dom always had a shoulder to cry on, a chocolate bar when needed, a few wise words, and even just a friendly smile on a hard day. It was a wonder she was still single.

"I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?" queried the eagle knocker as the two girls approached the door.

"A nose," Dominique replied, cool as you please. The door swung open and Dominique led the way upstairs to her seventh year dormitory. She closed, locked, and soundproofed the door before turning to Rose.

"Come sit," Dom invited, gesturing to her bed and Rose took a seat on the sapphire blue comforter. "What's wrong, Rosie?"

And Rose broke down like she did with no other. Rose had always been someone to hide a lot of emotions, but with Dominique she never hid anything. The two cousins were especially close, and Rose was dreading the next two years, when she didn't have a confidant to tell everything to and help her sort through her boy problems. The truth was, Rose often cried over Scorpius, but only in the company of Dominique Weasley.

"It's Scorpius," she sobbed. "Why is he so mean to me? Why does he have to pick on me? I didn't do anything to him, it was just me he decided to randomly pick on in first year! Why? And now he bloody drowns me...oh, Dom, I was so scared! I couldn't see and no one was there to help me...and I was scared, because I couldn't touch the bottom and I thought I'd die, but then he saved me and I slapped him...I don't think that was the right thing to do! I just don't know," Rose admitted, burying her face in her cousin's shoulder and crying her heart out. Dominique simply rubbed Rose's back gently until the girl composed herself.

"Look, Rosie," Dominique began, flipping her golden hair over one shoulder, the curls falling perfectly. "I think the two of you are complete and total opposites, and that's why you clash so much. But I also think you have a lot in common and you just don't realize it. You're like soul mates and polar opposites at the same time," she laughed, shaking her head. "If you ask me, I think you're perfect for eachother. But neither of you realizes that. The two of you see everything that's different, nothing that's the same." Rose's mouth had dropped wide open.

"I AM NOT HIS SOUL MATE!" she finally shrieked, causing her cousin to jump. "I don't even remotely like him, how could I ever think of him in that way?"

Dominique simply shook her head and allowed her cousin to rant, cry, and eat entirely too much chocolate for the next half hour, before it was time for classes to start. Before Rose left, Dominique gave her one more piece of advice.

"Try not to argue with him, Rose. Remember, you're pranking him tonight. That'll be enough," she said, winking at her red headed cousin, whose eyes lit up at the thought of pranking back.

"He isn't going to know what hit him," Rose muttered as she left, books under her left arm.

Dominique silently agreed, though in a much different way.

So at eleven o'clock that night, Rose and Molly Weasley headed for the Great Hall, and Fred Weasley and James Potter headed for the Ravenclaw boys' dorms. The plan was to have a nice, gooey surprise for Scorpius when he woke up, and after that, there would be another one in the Great Hall.

"So, how did you know that Scorpius always puts salt on his bacon, and that'd we coincidentally be having bacon tomorrow morning?" Molly asked casually as the two cousins reached the door to the Great Hall.

"Talked to the house elves, and...er, I don't know. He...he just does," Rose said, shrugging her shoulders like it was the most obvious thing in the world and pulling out a small packet from the inside of her robes. Molly didn't say anything, but in her mind she was comparing Dominique's theory with the evidence Rose had just offered, this afternoon's events, and the one occasion last year that they hadn't screamed at each other. Maybe, just maybe, her part-veela cousin wasn't completely insane.

"Come on," Rose urged. Molly started, not realizing she had stopped in the middle of the Hall. She hurried to join Rose and the two girls snitched the salt shakers from the table.

"Evanesco," Molly whispered, and all the salt disappeared. She and Rose filled the containers with lemon juice, before adding the smallest bit of baking soda. Rose replaced the cap and covered the holes in the lid, then slid the shaker back onto its place in the table.

"They'll never know," she whispered with delight. Molly grinned back at her, and the redheads left the Hall stealthily and silently.

When they got back to Gryffindor Tower, neither James nor Fred had returned yet. Although Molly and Rose often teased and bickered with their cousins, both were still extremely worried when it was midnight and neither was back.

"You don't think they've been caught, do you?" Molly asked nervously. Rose shook her head.

"No points had been deducted from the hourglass when we passed it while leaving. Besides, I'm not too worried about what'll happen if the Scorpion catches them. What's the worst he can do?" she snorted.

"I don't know, Rose," Molly sighed, getting up to resume her pacing again. But twelve fifteen A.M. brought a lovely surprise back with it.

"Nice job, man! I thought we were goners!" James exclaimed, his black hair sticking up in all directions, brown eyes shining. "But you just whipped out that map and-OOF!"

Rose and Molly had both gone running to hug the boys and nearly knocked them over in the process.

"What the heck has gotten into you two?" Fred asked, trying to squirm away from Molly. She only hugged him tighter.

"We were worried!" Rose defended, pulling away from James. "You do realize it's past midnight, right? And you were supposed to be back by eleven forty-five at the latest!" James shook his head and Fred bit back laughter.

"Calm down, Rosie. You really need to lighten up. What's the worst that could've happened to us?"

"You could have gotten caught by a teacher, you could have lost us House points, or you could have been caught by the caretaker," Rose retorted, her blue eyes flashing with anger. James held up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, Rosie. Don't murder me. Hear me out, OK?"

Rose sighed. "Fine."

"Well, Malfoy and his crew were still up when we got there, so Louis took us up to his dormitory. They were up till midnight, and then we needed about ten minutes to rig everything-"

"Only ten minutes?" Molly asked, her eyebrows raised.

"You are talking to two of Hogwarts' best pranksters," Fred replied, smirking. Rose rolled her eyes.

"But anyways, we got lost on the way back cause Louis told us to take an alternate route back to Gryffindor Tower so we could throw Switch off our tail."

"What?" Molly gasped.

"Relax," Fred sighed, rolling his eyes. "We aren't babies! You two are such worrywarts. No wonder you've never had a boyfriend, Mol."

Much to everyone's surprise, Molly turned bright red.

"Something you need to tell me, Molly?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows. Molly shook her head.

"Go on, James."

"No, I'm done. Switch nearly caught us entering Ravenclaw Tower, but he wasn't able to figure out the riddle, so he gave up and left. Good thing Louis had my Invisibility Cloak. But back to you, Mol. Who's the guy?"

"I'm going to bed. Come on, Rose," Molly declared, grabbing Rose by the hand and leading the way up the staircase to the girls' dorms, where neither James nor Fred could follow.

Once upstairs, Rose started in on her cousin.

"Come on, Mol, tell me who it is!" she begged. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

"Well, because we got together the day of Quidditch tryouts. But we'd been sort of hanging out all of my fourth year, too."

"Cut to the chase, Molly," Rose cut in impatiently. "Who. Is. It?"

"Lorcan Scamander," Molly muttered, blushing furiously and looking down.

"Seriously?" Rose squealed. "He's a sixth year!"

"I know," Molly replied. "But it really doesn't matter to me. He's so sweet, Rose, and he'd never force me to do anything I don't want to. He's just...wonderful, Rose, really," she gushed. Rose smiled at how happy her cousin seemed, though something tugged at her heart. She and Darren Thomas had gone out for about two months last year, and then split up when she discovered he actually didn't like her and just wanted to get to know the famous Potter/Weasley families better.

Still, even though she knew she was much better off without him, something inside her longed to have the happiness James and his girlfriend Alice Longbottom had, as well as Molly and Lorcan had. Rose would never admit it, to herself or to anyone else, but it did make her sort of...lonely. No, Rose, she told herself firmly. Don't think like that. Be happy for Molly. And she forced the thoughts from her head.

"So," she began in a teasing tone, "has he kissed you yet?"

"No," Molly admitted, looking at her hands. "But he promised to take me to the next Hogsmeade outing...I have a feeling he's gonna do it then."

"Well, you have to let me know if he's a good kisser," Rose answered cheekily. Molly gasped and hit her with a pillow. Rose hit back, and eventually the whole thing escalated into a pillow fight, which only stopped when Elizabeth Thomas threatened to curse them if they didn't shut up. Both girls decided it would be wise to go to bed after that incident.

The next morning, none of the Weasleys or Potters got up to see the prank pulled on Scorpius. As a matter of fact, they didn't have to. He came to them.

"ROSE WEASLEY, GET DOWN HERE NOW!"

Rose, who had been brushing her hair, sitting on her bed whilst chatting to Molly, jumped and looked at the doorway, startled. She and her cousin had been so involved in their book discussion that both of them had forgotten the prank.

"What's his problem now?" Samantha MacMillian muttered, sounding slightly annoyed as she stalked over to the door. Rose furrowed her brow for a second before she remembered.

"Oh, right. Girls, you might want to come down to see this. It's gonna be good." She grinned mischievously before hurrying out the door, followed by Samantha, Elizabeth Thomas, and Molly.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was to find Scorpius Malfoy, in a rage and covered in globs of honey, milk chocolate, and vegetable oil. All four girls burst out laughing at the sight of him.

"THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" he shrieked, even as more Gryffindors appeared and started to laugh. Before long, the entire House was laughing at him.

"Yes, Scorpion," Rose finally choked out. "It is hysterically funny!"

"No, Weaselbee, it is not!" he shot back. "Imagine waking up and getting out of bed only to have every damn sticky thing you can imagine fall on you!"

"I am imagining it," Rose replied. "That's why it's so funny!"

"So you'd like to have that happen to you?" Scorpius spat, but Rose froze. She hadn't thought of it that way. Her mother had always lectured her on treating others the way you would want to be treated, and Rose had always done her best to live by that principle. She treated others wonderfully-all except Scorpius.

"I-I didn't think-"

"Obviously," Scorpius growled, triumphant. As he turned to leave, Rose felt something flare in her and she spoke before she stopped to think.

"Well then why don't I shove you in the lake and you can prank me and we'll see how you feel then, huh?"

"For the last time, Weasley," Scorpius sighed, exhaling sharply. "I'm sorry, and I didn't know you couldn't swim. I was trying to agitate you."

"Well, it worked," she snapped, feeling irrationally angry with him. "You made a fool of me and nearly killed me in front of the entire school, just like your father did to my mother, father, uncles, and aunts years ago. Merlin, Scorpion, you're such a-a-a Malfoy," she spat the name like it was the most disgusting thing in the world. The entirety of Gryffindor House gasped as one. Scorpius whirled around.

"How dare you?" he hissed. Rose realized she'd gone too far in that instant. "I might be a Malfoy, but that doesn't mean I'm automatically a Slytherin, or a Muggle-born hater, either. Honestly, Weasley, you say your parents tell you not to be prejudiced, but I don't think you listened. You're every bit as prejudiced as the idiots who prosecuted my parents for years as they attempted to rebuild their life. You don't know me, Rose, don't even try." And with that, he turned and stormed out of the portrait hole. Rose watched him go, ashamed of herself, because he was right: She obviously carried some prejudice in her, too. And with that, she Summoned her bathrobe and ran out of the portrait hole and through Hogwarts Castle.

"A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, and I'm the torment of man. What am I?" Rose paused for a moment before the answer came to her.

"Rain," she whispered, then opened the door and hurtled up the stairs.

"Rose!" Dominique Weasley shrieked upon opening the door to find her cousin standing there crying again. "What's the matter? Come in, sweetie, it's OK." Dom led her to the bed and sat her down on it, letting Rose cry while she rubbed her back gently.

After awhile, Rose sat back, hiccoughing, and rubbed her eyes.

"What's the matter, Rose? Did you argue with Scorpius again?" Dom asked gently, handing her cousin a tissue. Rose nodded.

"We pranked him last night, and when he came to Gryffindor Tower this morning, he was really angry. And I got mad, too, and I-I...I called him a Malfoy," she admitted, looking down. Dominique thought she saw where this was going, but she kept quiet.

"And?"

"And he yelled back that just because he was a Malfoy didn't make him a terrible person and that I was prejudiced even after all my mum and dad have done to stop prejudice," Rose sobbed, fresh tears in her eyes. "And he's right, because I am sort of prejudiced, but I don't want to be prejudiced, because it's wrong, and...oh, Dom, I just don't know." She broke down in tears again, and her golden-haired cousin hugged her.

"Don't cry, Rose, please just listen. Everybody in the world carries some sort of prejudice, no matter how hard they try not to. This Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry has been around since ancient times. Something so deeply ingrained in our brains is not going to just disappear over one generation. If we really want to get rid of that, then we're in for the long haul. And for the record, Rose Weasley," Dominique added sternly, raising her cousins' chin so that Rose would be forced to look her in the eye, "you are the least prejudiced person I know. You are sweet and funny and kind and extremely smart, and from what I've seen of Scorpius when he's not around you, he's about the same. He's funny and smart and he's pretty nice, too. Don't you believe one word he says to you, Rosie, because he's just trying to irritate you. You're a wonderful person, OK? Stop crying now, you need to get dressed. You've got Quidditch practice tonight, don't you?"

"Thanks, Dom," Rose muttered, wiping her eyes and sitting up straighter. "You're right. I'm being an idiot. I just...I think it might be that time again," she admitted. Dominique laughed.

"Oh, Rosie. I'm sorry. Here, I've got some chocolate, and just for today, you can borrow some of my Muggle clothing. It's Saturday, after all, so we don't have to wear our uniforms."

"Thanks, Dom. You're the best," Rose sighed, and the two girls set to finding an outfit for Rose to wear. In the end, they settled for a pair of dark navy jeans and a flowy blue tank top the exact color of Rose's eyes. Dominique brushed her cousin's curly red hair until it shone and even talked Rose into wearing some lip gloss and mascara.

"You look amazing!" Dom gasped when she was done. Rose blushed and smiled, staring at the floor. It wasn't often that someone called her pretty.

"Thank you," she whispered, but Dom wasn't done yet.

"Here, take these flats. They should fit you, I wore them when I was your age." Rose took the pair of solid black ballet flats that Dom handed her without complaint. Rose, tough, sporty, and intellectual though she might be, she liked a makeover every now and then as much as any other girl did. No, it wasn't her favorite thing, but every so often she'd put on a nice shirt and a tiny amount of makeup on Saturday.

"Can I look now?" Rose asked, slipping the flats on.

"Go ahead," Dominique replied, closing her makeup kit and grinning. Rose turned and looked into the mirror and gasped.

"How do you do that?" she asked her cousin, flabbergasted. "I never look pretty!"

"Don't say that, Rosie. You're very pretty," Dominique replied. "And growing up with both Mum and Victoire does have its benefits, you know." She winked, and Rose laughed. "Come on, Rose, let's see what Ravenclaw House thinks of you. And then we've got to get on down to breakfast."

"Breakfast!" Rose gasped. "We really do, Dom! I forgot about the second part of our prank." Rose winked and then proceeded to hurry down the staircase and into the sapphire blue common room. There was a dead silence and every jaw dropped. Rose froze, remembering what she was wearing, and blushed furiously. Dominique followed her down the stairs.

"May I present my cousin, Rose Weasley?" she announced, and a few people laughed. Louis stood up and came over, throwing an arm around Rose's shoulders.

"Dominique had something to do with this, didn't she?" he asked, and Rose nodded.

"But I didn't mind," she added hastily. "It's nice to look good sometimes."

"Oh, Rose, you always look pretty," sighed Wanda Finnigan. "Really." Rose flushed again.

"Thanks, Wanda," she muttered, offering the girl a small smile. Louis turned to talk to Dominique, but Dom held up a finger. She was watching Scorpius Malfoy, who'd just come down the boys' stairs, running a towel through his hair. Surprisingly, he was wearing his uniform trousers and shirt. He stopped dead when he saw Rose.

"Oh, this is gonna be interesting," Louis muttered under his breath to Dominique, who nodded, glancing slyly at Rose, who was still chatting merrily to Wanda. Across the room, Scorpius was still watching her. When he'd first caught sight of her, he'd looked furious, but the longer he watched her, the expression on his face melted into a whole new expression: awe. He was watching Rose with a sort of half-smile on his face, his eyes taking in her red curls and creamy skin.

"Oh, he's got it bad," Louis muttered. Dominique giggled.

"And she doesn't?"

"Fair point," Louis replied. "How long do you think it'll be?" Dominique tapped her chin.

"Easter."

"What? Are you serious? No way!" Louis had spoken louder than he meant to, and Rose, Scorpius, and everyone else in the common room turned to look at him.

"What's the matter, Louis?" Rose asked. Flushing, he simply shook his head and made a quick getaway out the door. Rose glanced at Dominique, who was trying to hold in her laughter. "What's up with him, Dom?" Dominique shook her head, blond curls flying.

"Nothing, Rose. Come on, let's go to breakfast."

And the two cousins set off. Scorpius Malfoy watched them go, staring at them the whole time.

When Dominique and Rose got to the Great Hall about six minutes later, no one had touched the salt shakers Rose and Molly had pranked last night-probably because Molly had charmed them so that no one but Malfoy could see them.

"So what, exactly, did you do last night?" Dominique muttered as Scorpius entered behind them with his best mate Dan.

"You're about to see," Rose replied, pointing slyly at Malfoy and his friend. Sure enough, Scorpius had just reached for the salt shaker. Still talking to Dan, he attempted to pour some salt into his hand. When nothing came out, he shook a little harder. Finally halting his conversation, he shook the salt shaker as hard as he could-and it exploded.

"OUCH! What the-holy Merlin-WEASLEY!" he screeched as a huge wave of lemon juice foam erupted from the shaker and the cap flew off and hit him on the hand. Rose and all of her cousins started to laugh.

"Yes?" they all yelled as one, which only made them laugh even harder.

"I know it was you, Weaselbee!" Malfoy yelled as he stormed over. By now, even the teachers had stopped to watch (most of them were laughing) and all the Hufflepuffs, Slytherins, and even a few Ravenclaws were laughing.

"And where's your proof?" Rose demanded, raising an eyebrow. "Could have been Fred or James."

"OI!" both boys protested. Rose winked at them.

"SEE?" Malfoy bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at her. She sighed.

"Yes, Malfoy, it was me. Intelligent, aren't you?" Despite being covered in lemony foam, he still managed to smirk back at her.

"Yes, I am. Because you see, I am a Ravenclaw and therefore part of the wise ones at Hogwarts. Us Ravenclaws are smart people-"

"Yeah, smartasses," Lily muttered, glaring at him. He continued as though he hadn't heard her, though Molly immediately began to lecture her youngest cousin on the evils of swearing.

"And unlike you, Weaselbee, I am a Ravenclaw. You, on the other hand, are a Gryffindor-"

"And there's no place I'd rather be," Rose retorted, cutting him off. "I'm perfectly happy as a Gryffindor, and besides, you'd hate it if I was in your House, because then we'd have to see each other even more than we do now!"

"If that's how you feel," he replied in an 'I don't care' kind of voice.

"Well, it is," she shot back.

"Good."

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Redhead!"

"Dumb blond!"

"Bookworm!"

"Teacher's pet!"

"SHUT UP!" James roared. Rose and Scorpius stopped their bickering to look at him. "You two are driving me up a bloody wall!" he cried, exasperated. "I mean, sure, it's funny to watch you guys, but after awhile, honestly, enough's enough!"

"But he's so annoying, James, and-"

"Your cousin thinks she knows everything and I have to prove her wrong!"

"Right, because you definitely know everything, Scorpius," Rose replied scathingly.

"I do," he answered back.

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" James screamed, and he pulled out his wand and cast a Silencing Charm that lasted the rest of the day. He was an instant celebrity in Hogwarts Castle. As a matter of fact, Professor Flitwick was so grateful, he awarded twenty points to Gryffindor. Everyone agreed that had to be a record: A student getting House points for, of all things, using magic on another student. Who knew.

So, aside from being ridiculously long, it's probably my second favorite or so. I hope you liked it, too! Please leave me a review!

Lovelovelove -D-

P.S. I'm posting a poll - GO VOTE PLEASE!

P.P.S. - Has anyone else read The Mark of Athena? Again, random. Anyways, BYE!