Author's Note: This chapter is gonna introduce Rose and Scorpius' very complicated relationship. Basically, they're both really smart, compete for top of the class, and hate each other's guts. But recently Scorpius has been having some new feelings... and that's all I'm gonna say for now! Read on!

Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and (most) of these characters, not me.

Scorpius Malfoy's Big Problem

or

A New Potions Partner

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy had a girlfriend. Her name was Ruby and he liked her. Enough.

They had started going out over the summer, because their parents were friends. Really that was the whole reason. He had been bored and lonely at his parent's big summer house on the beach, and she had been there just down the way with her family. Their families ate dinner together often, and while their parents hung out Scorpius and Ruby got to talking.

They had chatted and walked on the beach, and Scorpius started to feel like maybe he could like Ruby Bulstrode. She wasn't ugly, and she was nice enough. He'd never had a girlfriend, but Ruby seemed like a good place to start. She was non-intimidating, in his same house and year (so they had stuff in common), and she seemed to like him. So he went for it. As, of course, did Ruby, who was all too happy to have the handsomest boy in her year- and perhaps even the entire Slytherin house- wanting to be her boyfriend.

And now he was back at school and (though he hated to think of it this way) stuck with a girlfriend. He hadn't really thought of Ruby outside of a summer-fling kind of context, and now that they were back at school he didn't really know what to do with her. He hated to admit it, but he had plenty more options now that he was back at Hogwarts, especially since being with Ruby officially put him on "the dating market," which was all he'd ever really wanted from her.

That, and to get all of that awkward "firsts" stuff out of the way. First girlfriend, first kiss, first date, all of that. Of course, she wasn't his first time or his first love, but he didn't really want her to be any of that. The only other first he saw himself having with Ruby was his first break up.

The only problem with that was that Scorpius did not feel comfortable breaking up with Ruby. He'd obviously never done it before and had no idea how she may react. She actually seemed to like him a lot, and she wasn't the kind of girl who would just be fine with getting broken up with. Besides, there really wasn't anything wrong with Ruby. She was pretty (enough), and smart (enough), and funny (enough). And he liked her (enough). So why should he break up with her?

Maybe it was because he just didn't like her that much. Or maybe there was someone else he liked more. He just didn't realise it yet.

On this, the second night of the school year, the boys in the Slytherin fifth year dormitories were up late talking. They weren't as tired out as they had been their first night, after a long day of train-riding and feast-eating and moving-in and all that. They had also exchanged most of their how-was-your-summer stories, and were ready to dive right back into the usual Hogwarts gossip.

"So who's the most fit girl in our year?" Cornelius (Corny) Higgs asked. He was the kind of kid who'd had his first girlfriend when he was 9 years old, and he was glad that the other boys were finally catching up.

Callum Walsh, Scorpius' best mate, rolled his eyes, but the other boys all perked up, excited by this new topic.

"I'd say Ruby is," chimed Randolf (Randy) Flint, the biggest kiss-ass in the world, and Scorpius' unwelcome sidekick.

"Shut up, Flint, no she isn't!" said Charles (Charlie) Warrington, before casting a quick glance at Scorpius. "No offense, Scorp."

But Scorpius wasn't offended. It was true. Ruby wasn't even the prettiest girl in their house, let alone the whole year. "No, you're right. She's not the most fit," he told him. And he only felt a little bit bad about saying it.

"Well who do you think is, then?" Randy inquired. He had to know Scorpius' opinion on everything so he could have the same one. All the other boys were interested to see what Scorpius thought too, seeing as he was the sort of de facto leader of their group. He was the smartest, the best looking, the most adored by teachers, and the best at Quidditch. They all sort of looked up to him, in their own way.

"Rose Weasley," Scorpius blurted out, before he even realised what he was saying. The name just slipped out, and as soon as he realised he'd said it, he was appropriately horrified. All of his mates were staring at him oddly.

"Really, mate? Your nemesis?" Callum asked, and one or two of the others snickered. They all thought it was funny that Scorpius had a nemesis. And that everyone in the whole school knew the status of their relationship as enemies.

"I've always thought she was hot," Corny declared, somewhat in defense of Scorpius. In truth, every one of them had thought about how fit she was at one point or another, but none of them had ever said anything, because they were pretty sure that since Scorpius didn't like her, they weren't supposed to either. But was it ok now?

"B-but I thought you hated her?" Randy asked, feeling as if his whole world was crumbling around him. If Scorpius Malfoy thought that Rose Weasley was attractive, then he really didn't know anything.

"I never said I hated her."

"Yes you have," three of the boys chimed in at once.

"You always have, Scorp," Callum confirmed. "Changed your mind or something?"

Now Scorpius was getting embarrassed. All of his roommates were staring at him, and he couldn't think of a way to defend himself. Out of all the names he could have said, he said hers. And now that it was out there, he couldn't very well take it back.

"No. And I don't hate her. I just think she's a self-righteous smug little know-it-all who needs to accept that she can't win at everything..." They were still staring at him, "But that doesn't mean she can't be fit, right?"

"I suppose..." Randy contemplated, still trying to wrap his head around this new information.

"I think Anna Walker is quite fit," Charlie said, effectively steering the conversation away from Scorpius and his nemesis. Callum cast Scorpius a look that read we'll talk about this later, but other than that they let the subject drop.

And when later came, and all the other boys finally went to sleep, Scorpius sat up with his best mate, and they talked. Well, really it was more like an interrogation.

"So you fancy Rose now, do you?" Callum asked, a sly little smile on his face. He had seen this coming for years, and had just been waiting for Scorpius to notice it.

"No! I don't. That's ridiculous. I haven't even spoken to her since the end of last school year."

But this was a lie.

"Nuh-uh. You saw her on the platform yesterday. You said, 'Have a good summer Weasley?' and she said 'Why do you care?' and you were all 'I don't, I was just trying to be nice,' and she was all 'Since when are you ever nice?' and you were like 'Oh please, I'm always nice. Besides, you have room to talk, since you're just so easygoing and fun to be around,' and then she got all offended and was like 'Thanks for the lovely chat, Malfoy, it's so great to see you again.' Why am I telling you all this? You were there! Don't pretend like you forgot."

He didn't forget.

"How did you remember that entire conversation word for word?" Scorpius wondered aloud, but Callum wasn't about to answer this. He was obviously waiting for more from Scorpius, so Scorpius reiterated, "But, seriously mate, it was nothing."

Except it hadn't really been nothing. Not for Scorpius, at least. Because that wasn't the only time he'd seen her since the end of last year. There had been two other times. The first time had been the dream. Ok, yeah, so she wasn't actually there. But to him, it still counted.

The dream had gone like this:

He was taking a test. He wasn't exactly focused on the paper, so he didn't know what the test was on. What he was focused on instead was the wildly curly bright red hair sitting a couple desks away. He would know that hair anywhere. Rose Weasley. He felt a wave of dislike wash over him.

Rose appeared to be concentrating very hard on her test, and he got the feeling that he should be working on his. But he couldn't focus. And he suddenly got this horrible feeling that he wasn't doing well on this test. At all. He glanced down and saw this Muggle contraption sitting on his desk next to his paper. He recognised it from Muggle Studies. A calculator.

It was then that he realised that he wasn't even in Hogwarts. He was sitting in what appeared to be a Muggle classroom. Actually, it appeared to be his old classroom, from back when he went to Muggle primary school. And that was when he realized that all of the students around him were primary-school-age; about 9 years old. He couldn't tell how old Rose was, or how old he was. He felt around his current age, though, which was 15. What was he doing here?

He couldn't fail his test, but he didn't know this material! He'd quit Muggle school years ago! And why was Weasley here? He couldn't let her beat him at a test!

He sat there staring at the paper, which appeared to be some sort of advanced Muggle arithmetic, and he couldn't seem to understand any of it. Suddenly, he was being told that he needed to hand in his paper.

"But I haven't answered a single question!" he exclaimed, as the teacher, who looked exactly like his grandfather but wasn't his grandfather, snatched the paper from his hand. He heard Rose snicker as she turned around to look at him.

That's when he saw her face for the first time. Dream Rose looked like real Rose, only... better somehow. He found himself stunned by the drop-dead gorgeous girl who was laughing at him. He couldn't even remember ever thinking of her as pretty before, let alone gorgeous. This was weird.

The bell rang then, and as they left the classroom he ran to catch up with her. Suddenly they were in the halls of Hogwarts again.

"How did you do on that test?" he asked her once he caught up, though he felt he already knew the answer.

"Well I definitely aced it. And you failed!" she poked him in the chest and laughed again, but he couldn't focus on what she was saying. All he could think about was the tingling sensation he felt from where her finger had touched him.

"Yeah. I failed," he admitted, unsure why he was even talking to her, let alone admitting that he'd failed a test.

"You never fail, though. You're so good at tests!" she assured him. And that was when something in his dream-mind snapped. Suddenly, right there in the middle of the hallway, for no discernible reason, he pushed her up against a wall and kissed her. He had no idea why, he just did. And she kissed him back.

The kids in the hallway gasped, and then started to cheer, but they paid them no mind. He swore he even heard a few of Rose's obnoxious Weasley cousins shouting, "No, Rosie! Why?!" And for some reason this made her kiss him harder. He'd never kissed anyone like this before.

And then he heard a voice, an angry, very upset voice, cry out, "Scorpius?" He knew right away who it was. Ruby.

And that was when he woke up. He'd been "dating" Ruby for a week at that point. And he had been so freaked out that at breakfast the next morning that he hadn't even touched his food. His mom had even noticed that something was up and asked him what was wrong, but he hadn't been able to say a word. He'd just shook his head.

The second time he saw her was at the Quidditch World Cup. Of course, out of all the hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards there that night, he had to run into her. It was a little past midnight, and Germany had won, so all the people who were there supporting them were out celebrating. Scorpius's parents had been supporting Egypt, and hated losing, so they had gone to bed early. Scorpius, on the other hand, had been secretly rooting for Germany. He hadn't told his parents, and had donned Egypt's red and black with them, but when Germany had won he'd charmed his clothes Geman purple and white, and decided to go out celebrating.

However, he hadn't really had anyone to celebrate with, so he didn't exactly know what to do. He'd been sitting up against his tent drinking some of his parent's firewhiskey, alone, and even though his team had won, he was feeling pretty depressed. And that was, of course, when Rose Weasley had stumbled upon him. And I mean literally stumbled.

She had also been drinking, and was walking along and laughing loudly with her cousins Albus and Fred. She stumbled a little bit as she walked past Scorpius' tent, and then tripped over his feet, which were outstretched on the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sor-" she cut herself off when she was who it was. Al and Fred were too far gone, and they were so wrapped up in some joke one of them had told that they just kept walking along, not realising that Rose had stopped. "Malfoy?"

"Weasley?" he asked, also confused by her sudden appearance. She was flushed red from laughing, and her hair was going everywhere, shining with the light from the fireworks that were constantly going off above their heads. His dream came rushing back to him, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I mean, obviously she hadn't been there, but the whole thing had been very vivid. Something about her was different now. He couldn't believe that he'd never noticed it before. Or that he was noticing it now. It must be the firewhiskey.

"Jeeze. Where di jyoo come from?" she asked, still confused.

"You're drunk off your arse, aren't you, Weasley?" He had only had a few swigs, he definitely wasn't slur-his-words drunk like she was.

"Iyam not!" she exclaimed, sitting down on the ground next to him. "Well... maybe a little. Stole some firewhiskey from my mum 'n dad." At this he laughed, and when she looked at him funny, he held up his own bottle of stolen firewhiskey.

"Me too," he explained. She, in her intoxicated state, found this extremely funny and burst into a fit of laughter. She even snorted, like he knew she only did when she was genuinely laughing. Wait, how did he know that? Perhaps spending 4 years watching someone's every move (in order to make sure they don't get ahead of you, of course) could leave you knowing some things about them.

"Hey! You're wearing purple..." she started off exclaiming, but then trailed off, gently touching the end of his now purple-and-white scarf.

"Yeah," was his genius reply. Was she really stopping to talk to him? Her cousins had gone off, why wasn't she chasing after them?

"I don' think we've ever worn the same colors before..." she remarked, obviously referring to the fact that she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin. He played as Slytherin's Keeper on the Quidditch team, and she always rooted for whatever team was against Slytherin. And when he wasn't playing, he always rooted for whatever team was against Gryffindor. Even though Gryffindor always won. Even in Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw matches, he rooted for whatever team he needed to win so that Slytherin could advance, and she rooted for whatever team he wasn't rooting for. Always.

"Maybe not," he agreed, and she giggled a small giggle that turned into a sigh. They sat in silence for a minute, and he tried to ignore that her knee was resting against his. He also tried to wrap his head around how weird this was. They'd never once had anything verging on a normal conversation before.

"Why're you by yourself?" she eventually asked, and he shrugged.

"My family was supporting Egypt, so..." She looked slightly sympathetic towards him then.

"What about your friends?" Again he shrugged. "Oh, c'mon, Malfoy, I know you've got friends!"

"Yeah, but your guess is as good as mine as to where that lot is."

"You could come celebrate with my friends!" she seemed really excited by this idea, not seeming to grasp everything that was wrong about it.

"Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over well," he snorted, imagining himself partying with the Weasley/Gryffindor-clan. Actually, he couldn't imagine it.

"Well, I don't want to leave you here by yourself!" she exclaimed, still not seeming to get the weirdness of this situation. Rose Weasley being nice to him?

"I would say, go ahead, I'm fine, but actually..." he wasn't sure why he was saying this, "I don't think I should leave you by yourself."

"Me?! What'dya mean? I've got Al and-" she seemed to realise suddenly that they were no longer with her. "Oh, bollocks!" He laughed slightly at her outburst as she struggled to stand up. He got up himself and helped her, grabbing her by the waist. So weird.

"Can I take you back to your tent? Which way is it?" He was trying to be helpful/comforting, but she was looking more and more panicked by the second.

"I don't... I mean, I think maybe... BOLLOCKS!" Her outburst only startled him momentarily.

"You can't remember where it is?"

"NO!" she screamed at him (now that was more like her), raking her hands through her hair and spinning in circles. She was about to lose her footing any second.

"Okay, okay, it's okay..." he assured her, grabbing her arm to keep her from falling down. "Do you have a cellphone?" Now she looked at him like he was the crazy one.

"Why in MERLIN'S NAME would I have a cellphone?"

"Because they're useful?" he asked, and she glared at him.

"Seriously, Malfoy? NOT HELPFUL!" she screamed, and he covered his ears.

"Can you stop screaming? You're gonna wake my parents! Don't worry, I'm gonna get you back," he promised. She didn't look convinced.

"How?" she asked, and he sighed loudly, searching for the answer. Then, it came to him.

"You were with the Potter's, right?" he asked enthusiastically, brightening at the thought of putting his plan into motion.

"Whaa?" she asked, staring at him.

"Bloody hell, Weasley! You're so useless when you're pissed. Was your family camping out with the Potter's?"

"Yeah... But was tha' got to do with-"

"Harry Potter is only the most famous Wizard in the entire Wizarding World!" God, his father would not be happy to hear him say this. "There are people who literally do nothing but follow him around all day and report what he does! If we can't find him, we can't find anybody!"

Rose contemplated this for a moment, until suddenly the brilliance of his plan started sinking in. "Of course! He's Harry Sodding Potter! Malfoy, you're brilliant!"

And so they went around, tent by tent, party by party, asking anyone who looked like they would listen if they'd heard that Harry Potter was camped somewhere nearby, and had they seen him at all? Soon enough a young witch with fireworks (the non-flammable magic kind) in her hair told them she'd just been past his tent.

"I swear I saw him, glasses and all!" She was ridiculously excited to impart the details to them. "He was even with his redheaded sidekick, Rob!"

"Ron!" Rose screamed at her loudly, frightening the girl- who couldn't have been very much older than them. "His redheaded sidekick's name is Ron, you twit!" Scorpius was quick to steer Rose away, apologizing to the witch and clarifying, once more, which direction the Potter tent was in. They headed off the way the girl pointed them, Rose hanging on to Scorpius' arm to steady herself.

A few minutes later, Rose suddenly gasped and ducked behind someone else's tent. No one was around. Clearly these people were Egypt fans.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"That's their tent over there! Oh my Merlin, my parents are right outside! They can't see me!" Scorpius peeked around the tent, where he indeed could see Rose's parents. Though he'd never met them, he'd seen them enough times. In books about the Second Wizarding War there was always one or two pictures of Harry Potter, flanked by his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (Aka, Hermione Weasley). And he'd seen them in person on Platform 9 3/4 when he was being dropped off and picked up from school every year. He could always tell when they were in range because his dad would tense up and scowl in their direction.

Rose's dad was seated between Rose's mom and the famous dark-haired bespectacled man who looked very much like Albus Potter. They were surrounded by all these laughing (and probably drunk) people who all had the same shade of hair. Weasley-red. The same shade as Rose's out-of-control curls.

Well, okay they didn't all have the Weasley hair. Just the majority of them. There was also three blonde women, and black woman, and a young man with a mess of bright purple hair. "Do they not know you're out?"

"Of course not!" she hissed, pulling him back behind the tent. "We snuck out! They're good parents! They wouldn't just leh us go out an' get pissed!"

"And yet... here you are," he said sarcastically, gesturing at her. She smacked him on the arm.

"Shut up! You've got to help me sneak back in!" And so he did. It didn't occur to him until later how strange this was. He didn't even think about it. Of course he was going to help her sneak back in. It wasn't enough to just get her back, he had to help her for as long as she needed his help.

But why? She wasn't even his friend. She was his nemesis, actually. The exact opposite of the kind of person you need to help out. So why? Maybe it was just... basic human decency? Yes, that must have been it. Nothing else. Definitely not.

And so, because her normally-very-clever brain was not functioning properly, he was, again, the one who had to come up with the plan. This one wasn't too hard to figure out. Their tents had protective charms around them, sure, to keep out stalkers and press and general Harry Potter enthusiasts, but she assured him that they wouldn't affect her. Because of who she was, she could slip right past. He, however, could not.

So Scorpius made a wide circle around the Weasley-Potter area, making sure none of the adults could see them, and together they crept along towards the back of the tent she identified as her family's.

Once they got about 5 yards from the tent itself, suddenly Scorpius found himself unable to go any farther. Her hand was wrenched out of his as she continued walking, and it was only then that he even realised that they'd been holding hands. She seemed to realise the same thing, then, and she blushed a tiny bit, but both of them acted like they didn't realise anything had even happened. He saw her lips move, and realised that she was speaking to him, but he couldn't hear her. He pointed to his ear and mouthed, "Silencing charm."

She was a little too intoxicated to read his lips, but she understood his meaning anyway, and crossed back over the invisible barrier to him.

"Woah. I totally couldn't hear you at all!" she laughed, again finding something that was only mildly amusing very amusing indeed.

"Yeah I know. Those are some pretty cool charms," he agreed, talking to her like she was perhaps a small child and not his arch-rival. She nodded in agreement. Then she blinked, and for a second her eyes looked perfectly clear. He could see it flash across her face when she remembered who she was actually talking to. Who he was, and who she was, and why this wasn't right.

"Well..." she began, and then there was an awkward pause. "Thanks, Malfoy. For not... being an arse, just this one time." And she smiled teasingly. She was teasing him. This was more familiar territory.

"Yeah, whatever, Weasley. You're just lucky I'm such a good person," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Lucky me," she retorted, but he could tell behind her sarcasm that she was actually grateful towards him.

"I'll see you in school I guess?"

"Yeah. See you in school."

...

And that was it. She'd gone back into her tent, and he'd found his way back to his own. And that had been that.

That, the dream, and the incident on the platform were the only times he'd seen her since they got off school the year before. But he'd spent plenty of time beyond that thinking about her. And stopping himself from thinking about her.

And now he was telling his best friend that it seriously didn't mean anything.

"Well I didn't think so either," Callum assented, "but then you said you thought she was the prettiest girl in the whole school..." Scorpius wanted to say that when he said that about her, that didn't mean anything either. But he knew Callum wouldn't believe that. He didn't even believe that. So instead he said nothing.

"Ah-ha!" Callum exclaimed, making Scorpius jump.

"What?!"

"I said 'in the whole school' and you didn't correct me! Before you only said 'in our year.' Oh my god! You think she's the prettiest girl in the whole school?" Scorpius was, again, appropriately horrified.

"You tricked me!"

"You fancy Rose Weasley!"

"I do not! Stop it!" And he didn't. Definitely not. Not even a little bit. Not even at all. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Callum went to bed not long after, seeing as it was a little after 3 in the morning, but Scorpius stayed up in his bed... thinking.

He didn't mean to or want to be thinking about her, it just kind of happened that way. He was thinking about how strange it was that he had said her name- out of any other name he could have said. Was Callum right? Was it because he thought it was true?

Thinking about it like this was getting him nowhere, because every time he thought, "Well... she is-(insert not that bad, kind of pretty, really smart, etc., here)" he would cut himself off with a "no" or a "but."

He was freaking himself out a little bit, because just the thought that Rose Nymphadora Weasley could be anything to him other than a rival or an enemy was just... scary.

The next morning at breakfast, his heart rate quickened when he saw her mob of unruly red hair enter the Great Hall. He hadn't been looking for her (exactly) but she really was quite hard to miss. And he didn't feel the usual wave of dislike overtake him when he saw her, either. Instead he felt... intrigued. And then scared again, because where the hell was all this coming from?

Callum caught him glancing in her direction and shot him a knowing look, but he shook it off and continued to have his breakfast with Ruby. His girlfriend. Whose straight brown hair did not catch the light or swirl and turn around her head all mesmerizing-like. Or intrigue him at all really...

Oh no. This was not good.

He had Advanced Potions first that day, and he knew he wouldn't be able to focus. Rose was in that class, and he really wanted to stop thinking about her. Which would be very hard to do if she was there!

And then- as if the universe were, like, trying to punish him or something- the seating chart had her placed right in the chair next to him. Which basically made her, like, his lab partner.

Her placement there could have been attributed to any number of reasons. Some may have called it fate.

More likely, it was that Professor Pidwidgeon (the Potions Master) had her own ulterior motives. She thought it was funny to mess with students, and she had seen for the past few years exactly how well these two got along (which is to say, not at all). She thought it would bring a little drama and a little intrigue to her potions class, seeing as how Potions was not a very entertaining subject. She also knew that Scorpius and Rose were her two best students, and would do excellent work together. Work that she could use to shame the other students into trying harder.

It was a perfect plan.

Unless, of course, you were Scorpius, and you may or may not have just realised that you were massively attracted to Rose Weasley. Because, if you were Scorpius, this would be a major problem.

He took his seat silently, complaining with his eyes and his gestures. Rose took a similar approach, huffing over to her new seat and sitting down roughly. She crossed her arms over her chest and her eyebrows pulled together. She didn't look at Scorpius. Fine by him.

He wondered if she remembered that night. They had been so civilized towards each other. Was it only because she was highly intoxicated? If she was in her right mind, could she ever even pretend to tolerate him? Was this whole year going to be stony stares and angry remarks? He wasn't sure how much of that he could handle.

After everyone else was assigned seats and partners, Professor Pidwidgeon launched into introductions to the class and rules of the classroom (nothing they hadn't heard before). The only thing that was different from the years prior was the extra stress she put on the OWL exams.

"You will be assessed on all that you have learned over the past 4 years about how to make potions, and what to use them for. This year will be the hardest you've faced so far." Scorpius fought the urge to roll his eyes. There was nothing difficult about Potions. It was always his best subject, and the one he stressed least about. Though he was aware that not everyone had a natural propensity for it, which is why he didn't actually roll his eyes.

When the professor was done with her whole schpeel, which took the majority of the period, they were left with some free time. Rose turned immediately to her friend Norrie Russell, who was seated at the table behind them, paired up with a Ravenclaw girl, Allison Nowak.

"Well this is just great," Rose said to Norrie, not even bothering to keep her voice down. They all knew what she was referring to.

"I know! I feel so bad for you!" Norrie said, glancing at Scorpius with unmasked contempt.

"Seriously?" he asked. "I'm right here." Rose barely looked at him.

"Yeah. We know," Norrie answered for the both of them. Oh. So this was how it was going to be.

"I'm no happier about this than you are, Weasley!" he addressed Rose directly. Again, she ignored him.

"Well, at least you'll get good marks," Allison Nowak butted in to Rose, trying to be helpful, surely. Rose scoffed.

"I could get good marks with Randy Flint as my partner," she asserted, choosing Scorpius' sidekick because she didn't understand the concept of an unwelcome sidekick, and thought this might bother Scorpius. It didn't. "Besides, at least Flint would stay out of the way."

Then, as if a horrible thought had suddenly dawned on her, she turned to Scorpius. "Oh, Merlin! Please tell me you're not going to try to sabotage my potions!"

Scorpius smirked, "Well, hell, Weasley! I hadn't even thought of that until now! Good idea!" She glared at him, and he tried to ignore that this was the first time since they had sat down that she had met his eyes. "Of course my dislike of you completely overshadows any other thought I may have, so naturally I would go out of my way to sabotage my own work just so I could spite you!" He was, of course, being sarcastic.

"You've done stupider things," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest again.

"Name one." She couldn't, so she didn't answer.

"Just stay out of my way, Malfoy," she added, flushed bright red with anger.

"With pleasure." Merlin, she was annoying. What was he even thinking before?

He felt certain of his feelings then. He hated Rose Weasley. Always had, always would. If only he had known the real reason that her cheeks flushed red with color (and it wasn't because she was angry).

A.N.: I love to write these two- I think they're just so cute and they have a lot of potential as characters. My plan is that over the course of this year, their fifth year at school, they're gonna get a lot closer, but also have a ton more conflict between them because they think they have to hate each other, because that's how they've always felt. Please review if you liked it, and read on!