Author's Note: This chapter focuses around Rose's crazy life. She's having a very busy year this year, and let's just say that having Scorpius Malfoy in her life is definitely not helping things. Read on to find out more!

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

Rose Weasley's Nemesis

or

A Few Not-So-Smart Decisions

Rose Nymphadora Weasley was under a ridiculous amount of stress and pressure. Self-inflicted stress and pressure, but stress and pressure all the same.

She was the top of her class (Once again! Take that, Malfoy!), and was taking the very highest amount of classes you could possibly take in your fifth year. Not to mention all the clubs and organizations she was involved in, and all of her volunteer work, and balancing it all with her social life! She was wearing herself into the ground.

Teachers always told her that she was exactly like her mother. Extremely driven, extremely focused, extremely hard working. And she was glad to be like her mother, she really was, but she never let on how much it bothered her that she could never just be Rose. She was always "smart like her mother," and never just "smart." She was always being compared, along with being praised. For her, the two came hand in hand.

Rose was the kind of child who everyone prepares to take credit for. The kind of child who was so gifted and so smart and so ahead of the game, that from the time she was very small people had been betting on her. Laying her life out in front of her.

"That girl's going places."

"She's gonna do great things some day."

"Wow! And she's how old?"

"At this rate, she'll be the greatest witch of her generation!"

They all wanted some piece of her genius. Some part of what she had to offer. They all expected her to keep learning at the exponential rate that she was. If she could know the alphabet by the time she was 2 and write stories by the time she was 4 and recite spells by the time she was 6, just imagine what she would do when she was 10! Or 15! Or 20! Or… so on and so on.

In her Muggle primary school (which her dad thought was pointless and her mum had deemed necessary) she was always leaps and bounds ahead of all the other students. And when she got to Hogwarts, she was determined to stay that way. Rose had this need to be the best. She'd always had it, as long as she could remember. She could never let anyone beat her at anything. She never missed any points, and she always made sure to get all the extra credit she could, so that not only was she on top- she was well ahead of the rest.

Well, almost all the rest.

Because, of course, there was always that one bloke who managed to mess everything up for her. Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius made Rose question the very foundations upon which she had built her life. Maybe she wasn't the super-genius she had always thought she was. The genius she was prepared to be. The one everyone had always told her she would become.

Or maybe he was just as much of a genius as she was, which kind of took away any angle of "special" or "exceptional" or "extraordinary" she'd ever had. All the words she'd always grown up hearing about herself, though she hated to admit it, could be applied to him too.

He was just as capable as Rose when it came to school-related stuff, and he tried just as hard, which clearly made him pretty tough competition. Though Rose never was one to shy away from competition. In fact, she embraced it.

She just hadn't anticipated the formidable foe that was Scorpius Malfoy. She wasn't prepared to be challenged for her spot at the top; for her position as "the best." She wasn't ready for the sheer talent of Scorpius Malfoy. And the exhaustive effort he always gave.

Top it all off with a cocky, swaggering, egotistical attitude and wrap it up in a tall, blonde package, and you had yourself a proper antagonist in the odyssey that was Rose Weasley's life.

Practically from day one that arse had been provoking her. The very first time she saw him, on Platform 9 ¾ on her way off to Hogwarts, she knew immediately that there was something off about him; something that just rubbed her the wrong way.

But back then Rose had been naive and silly, and she'd foolishly thought that she could try to ignore her initial apprehension and befriend Scorpius Malfoy. But when she tried, he had called her a "stupid, ugly, mudblood girl." At which point she labeled him as the biggest arse of all time and her new mortal enemy.

These days, Malfoy was provoking her in all new kinds of ways. First, there was the fact that they were paired together in potions class. He was constantly questioning that she knew what she was doing and trying to make her feel inferior. He always knew just what ingredient came next, and what temperature to put the cauldron at, and which way round to stir it, while she only mostly knew.

It had to be potions! She was eternally frustrated that they had to be paired together in potions; a subject that he had a natural affinity for, and she… not so much. Yes, she was brilliant at potions, but only after working her arse off to be so. Why couldn't they be paired off in charms- she was bloody good at charms without ever having to try. Too bad she couldn't explain this to Malfoy. And even if she did, he obviously wouldn't care.

But potions class was only the beginning. If her exposure to him could be limited to just once a day, she could probably handle that. Unfortunately, they were in quite a few classes together, not even to mention committees and clubs, and all the times she would see him at meals or in the halls. Sometimes she swore he was following her around just to see how many times in one day he could piss her off. She could also swear that she saw him almost more often than some of her close friends. He was omnipresent in her life.

She didn't even really realize this fact until one day Malfoy was struck by one of his idiot friends with a particularly powerful Slugulus Eructo- the slug-vomiting charm- and spent the whole day in the hospital wing, throwing up slugs.

When she first noticed he was gone, she was ecstatic. A whole day without Malfoy? How did she get so lucky?! But then, as the day went on, she found herself constantly checking over her shoulder and around corners, waiting for him to appear and irritate her. She craned her neck towards the Slytherin table at meals, and in potions class she even felt lonely as she stirred more ingredients into their latest potion. How was she supposed to know whether or not she was about to screw everything up if he wasn't there to tell her so?

And of course she felt like an idiot all day for missing him. Not that she missed him, she just- oh, who was she kidding? She missed him. And it was strange. Maybe it wasn't him, really, that she missed, it was just the... routineness of it all. If you see someone every single day, and talk to them, and squabble with them- or whatever it is you do- then you're likely to feel some kind of absence when they aren't there.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and perhaps this is true. The whole day he was gone she was thrown into some kind of inner turmoil, debating with herself about whether or not she really missed him, and why it was she felt that way. Rose's brain was always working faster than she could keep up with- zipping around from subject to subject- and keeping her in a state of permanent confusion and restlessness. Why? And how come? And what if? These questions were forever swirling around her head, and often kept her up at night. Even when she was resting, she was never really relaxed because of it.

So she was worrying about what this vacancy left by Malfoy could possibly mean. What it meant for her, and what it meant about him. Then the next day, he was back and looking just as healthy as ever- practically glowing with his pale-as-the-moon skin and his golden-white hair, that was perfectly styled as per usual- and he stopped by the Gryffindor table during breakfast, just to annoy her.

"Hey, Weasley," he nudged her back with his elbow, causing her to whip around and glare at him. "You miss me?" He flashed her his ever-smug, ever-charming smile.

"You wish, Malfoy," she said, and he raised his hands up in the air at the hostility in her voice, in a "woah, calm down," kind of gesture. It was one of his favorite gestures to use on her, because it made her feel like she was the one being over-the-top and annoying, instead of the other way around.

"It's alright, Weasley. You don't have to say it. I know you missed me." And even though he was joking, she wished that, just this once, he couldn't see right through her. And then he laughed at the expression she was making and gave her a repulsing wink before heading back over to the Slytherin table. Did he honestly think that was attractive? Nevermind what the flush in her cheeks was saying.

And nevermind Scorpius Malfoy. Nevermind that he was always on her mind; even just nagging at the back of it. Nevermind his incessant good looks and his infuriating smirks and the way he wiggled his eyebrows when he was trying to get a rise out of her. Nevermind how bloody sharp he was, how he never missed a beat and always seemed to know everything- even what she was thinking. Especially what she was thinking.

He was still a git. And an ceaseless show-off. And the biggest arse of all time.

And she had bigger fish to fry.

She had places to be, people to see, and a thousand things to do. September was passing in a flash; they were well on the way to October and it felt like she'd just arrived at the castle yesterday. Time flies when you're having fun, but, as Rose was now experiencing, it also flies when you're busy as hell. Her best friend Albus was always trying to get her to slow down, cornering her in the library or the common room and forcing her to talk to him, even for just a few minutes.

Her other friends tried as well, mostly with minimal success. She made time for them, of course, but it always felt like it wasn't enough. They would hang out at meals, and on Fridays and Saturdays, but as soon as the new week rolled around Rose was gone once again. She was always leaving discussions with her friends to go finish some project or read some more of some book or attend some meeting for some organization.

"I feel like I never see you anymore, Rosie."

That's what everyone said to her these days. Al, Cara, Norrie, Toby, Liam, Fred. All of them. They just didn't understand. They had OWLs this year! She seriously had to buckle down, so that's what she was doing. Why she seemed to be the only one, she wasn't really sure.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Her friends were working harder this year, as well. Just not as hard as Rose. Though, they'd never worked as hard as Rose. No one did (except Malfoy, damn him). Her friends often studied together in the library, and of course they always invited her and she was always welcome, but she hardly ever joined them. They got way too distracted too easily, and she found it extremely difficult to actually get any work done when she was with them. She had to be alone in order to properly focus.

So she would go to the library with them, and sit at their table and work on whatever it was she was working on for about 10 minutes or so, or as long as it took for things to start to disintegrate into whispers and giggles, and then she would allow herself 15 more minutes with them before she excused herself to go get some actual work done.

At this point, she often found herself in the single-person table area of the library, hidden back behind the stacks and stacks of books, in the area where it was the quietest. The tables had little walls built around them so people couldn't really see you, and you couldn't see them. It was quiet, and peaceful, and perfect. It was her study-sanctuary.

And, of course, Malfoy found a way to ruin it for her. Like he ruined everything. On some days- not all the time, but sometimes- he would pop by her little sanctuary and plop himself down in the table nearest hers, typically the one right behind her. And he would do everything in his power to distract her from her work.

He would hum quietly to himself. Or kick his foot on the side of his desk to make an incessant pounding noise. Or read out loud, even if it was just in hushed whispers. In the silence, she heard every little sound he made like it was a gunshot.

Sometimes, he would even address her directly. He'd whisper "Weasley. Weasley. Weasleeeeyyyyy," over and over again until she responded. And it would always be about something stupid. Sometimes, it was to ask her what she was working on, like he could care. Sometimes it was to ask her a stupid homework question that he clearly already knew the answer to. Sometimes, it would be to brag about his latest perfect score on this or that assignment. Sometimes it was to share with her meaningless pieces of Hogwarts gossip that she couldn't really care less about. Especially since it was mostly Slytherin gossip, and she didn't give a flying shit what the Slytherins were up to.

Once, he even bothered her just to ask her if she liked his jumper. His plain, dark grey, uniform-standard jumper. The same one that everyone had. And when she shook her head in disgust and refused to respond, he proceeded to ask her about his shoes, his trousers, and his tie. All part of the uniform. Then, he asked her if she liked his hair like this, and he ruffled it all up and made it a mess, or like this, and he slicked it back. To this, she couldn't resist replying.

"You look like a smarmy git no matter what your hair is doing," she whispered maliciously, "But the slicked back look definitely brings out your inner evil. So, if that's what you're going for, do that one."

He had nodded like he was taking her "advice" seriously. And then he sat back down, concealed once again by the walls around his table, and whispered just quietly enough for her to still hear him, "Well, anything's better than that mess you call hair."

She'd picked up her books and stormed out after that. Like she was just going to sit there and listen to him play childish distracting games and insult her. Smarmy git.

When she told the story to Albus he just laughed and brushed it off. He was used to hearing about how much Rose hated Scorpius by this point. Everyone was. It barely phased him anymore- in fact, he mostly just ignored her when she started talking about it and waited for her to let it all out.

"I can't stand him, Al, I really can't," she was saying, and he was nodding like he was listening, but not really listening at all. Their friends Cara, Norrie, and Liam joined them where they were sitting in the common room, and hopped into the conversation.

"Who can't Rosie stand?" Liam asked, and Albus looked at him like he was stupid.

"Who do you think?"

"Still hung up on that guy, then, Rosie?" Liam turned to Rose, and she glared at him.

"I am not hung up on him! He just won't stop annoying me. You know how he is! He's-"

"The biggest arse of all time," they all finished the quote for her in unison. Rose crossed her arms and sunk back into the couch, scowling.

"Exactly right," she mumbled, even though she knew they were making fun of her.

"I don't think he's so bad…" Cara said softly to no one in particular, though Rose still heard her and turned, glaring, towards her friend, like she'd just said she didn't think Lord Voldemort was that bad. No one else seemed particularly bothered. In fact, they all looked slightly amused, for some reason.

"Of course you don't, Cara," Norrie said teasingly, nudging her on the arm. Rose glared confusedly between the two of them.

"What the bloody hell has gotten into you two?" Rose demanded, looking to Liam for support. He and Norrie glanced at each other like two people who shared a secret, and the two of them burst into laughter. "What the hell?!"

"Well, our darling Cara over here-" Liam began, but Cara suddenly sprang at him and practically leapt on top of him, covering his mouth with her hands.

"Shut up, Liam!" she shouted. Rose looked between the two of them, and then at Norrie, who was laughing even harder now, and then at Al, who seemed to be the only one keeping his composure.

"Can you lot stop acting like a bunch of freaks and tell me what the bloody hell is going on?!" Rose demanded. Cara stayed on top of Liam, so it was Norrie who spoke up.

"CarafanciesMalfoynow," she spoke very quickly, so it was all like one word.

"Cara… what?" Rose couldn't process what her friend had just said.

"Norrie! You weren't supposed to tell!" Cara exclaimed, looking at Rose in panic. Rose just sat there, staring between her friends like she was in shock.

"You all knew about this?" she asked slowly, looking specifically at Albus this time, because he was supposed to be her best friend and they were supposed to tell each other everything. He just sat there, looking untroubled and not even the slightest bit ashamed. It was kind of like his unspoken job to be "the calm one" in these situations, whenever there was drama between their friends. He never took anyone's side and was always the advocate for the diplomatic solution. Sometimes, she relied on him to be that steady, calming force, and other times it just royally pissed her off. This time, it was the latter.

"Yeah, we all knew," Liam admitted, once Cara released him. She slumped onto the floor in front of Rose, looking like she was about to get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness. Liam at least had the decency to look mildly apologetic, and Norrie had now managed to conceal her laughter into small, periodic giggles.

"Toby and Fred as well?" she asked, not daring to believe it. No one answered her, but their silence was confirmation enough. "And you all kept this from me because…?" Again, no one answered, so she addressed her cousin directly. "Al? Why are you guys keeping secrets from me?" She kept her voice steady and level, but they could all sense the anger brewing underneath, and feared an explosion at any moment.

Albus sighed. "Because, Rosie, Cara was afraid of how you might react because she knows how much you hate Malfoy. And she didn't want you thinking any less of her, or winding up hating her because of it or anything."

"I wouldn't- I mean-" Rose stammered, turning to her friend on the floor. "Is this true, Cara?"

Cara nodded solemnly, hiding her face in her mousy brown hair. "I just didn't know how to tell you, Rosie. I was afraid of how you would react. And I tried to keep it in for a long time-"

"How long?" Rose interrupted her. "How long have you felt this way?"

"I don't know," Cara struggled, her voice soft and uneasy, "Since at least last year."

"Last year?!" Rose exclaimed, and it came out louder than she expected, making her poor friend wince.

"I only found two weeks ago," Norrie butted in, as if this released her from all blame.

"You knew two weeks ago? I just found out last weekend!" Liam interjected, somehow managing to make things about him.

"Yeah, and you couldn't keep your mouth shut for even a week!" Cara scolded. "I should have known better than to tell Norrie. She's such a blabbermouth."

"Hey!" Norrie protested, though she knew it was true.

"And when were you planning on telling me?" Rose's scary-calm voice had returned. She was calculating in her head, weighing the potential benefits and drawbacks of different reactions on her part, and what they would mean for her friendship with Cara. Obviously she didn't hate her friend. And,sure, she was upset that she hadn't told her, and wished she could be crushing on someone other than Malfoy, but that didn't mean anything for their friendship. Or, it shouldn't...

"I was gonna tell you, Rose, I swear!" Cara insisted. "First I had to admit it to myself, and then I had to see if it developed, or just died off. And when it didn't go away… I knew I was screwed, basically. And I knew I was going to have to tell you, I just… didn't know how. Or when. And I was scared." They were all watching her as she said this- Albus, Norrie, and Liam looking sympathetic, and Rose looking like she still wasn't quite sure how to react.

"So…" Rose began, carefully choosing her next move, as this would determine where they went from here. "So… Malfoy? Sorry, Cara, but I just don't see the appeal." And then she smiled. And it was as if the entire collective group let out a breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding, Cara especially.

Later, when all their friends had gone off, Albus cornered Rose and asked her if she was actually fine with this, or if she was just pretending for Cara's sake. She replied by saying: "I'll let you know once I figure it out for myself."

And she still wasn't sure. Was she fine? Was she actually cool with this? I mean, Malfoy was her mortal enemy, and Cara was one of her best friends. So obviously, she didn't approve of that right out of the gate. But… there was something else nagging at her; she just wasn't sure what.

The logical part of her brain was telling her that a good friend would support their mate no matter who (or what) they liked. The reasonable part of her brain was telling her that if Cara fancied Malfoy, who was she to stop her? Let her fancy the smarmy git, it shouldn't make any difference to her. It shouldn't affect how she felt about either of them. She could still be Cara's best friend, and still hate Malfoy. She didn't have to like him just because her friend did.

But then there was the nagging, irrational, think-with-your-gut side of her brain, filling her head with thoughts that she kept trying to push away. Thoughts like: Couldn't she have picked anyone else? Literally anyone? Or: Cara and Malfoy would never work together. Their personalities are too different. They don't have any chemistry.

And then the even darker thoughts, the ones she pretended like she wasn't thinking at all. The ones she chose to not acknowledge, even if she couldn't stop them from happening. Thoughts like: Has she ever even spoken to him before? She says she "fancies" him, but what does she know? She doesn't even know him. Not like I do. Or: Malfoy would never go for Cara anyway, she's just not… exciting enough for him. He needs someone to challenge him. Or: She just had to have my Malfoy. She couldn't just let this one thing be mine. She has to have all my friends, and everything else of mine, too.

This last one stemmed back to the fact that Cara had only ever joined their friend group because of Rose, though no one ever seemed to remember or acknowledge that fact. Cara was naturally a very shy and quiet person, and hadn't made many friends in the beginning of her time at Hogwarts. She became friends with Rose sometime around mid second year, and Rose had been the one to introduce her to the group. They had taken to her pretty quickly, and by now no one even remembered the original group, and it seemed like Cara was as much a part of it as Rose herself, often even more so, because Rose was always so busy other things.

Rose didn't think that this bothered her, but it clearly (at least somewhat) did. She also didn't like to think that she had any attachment to Scorpius Malfoy other than her hatred of him, though this was also, obviously, just a lie she told herself.

But of course she would go along with it, and support her friend, no matter how much she actually hated the idea of it, or how much she was sure that it was never ever going to happen between Cara and Scorpius. She would pretend to be on board, and never let anyone know otherwise. Not even Al, though he was likely to see right through her. Besides Malfoy himself, Albus was another one who could always seemingly read her mind, even when she was trying to be sneaky. He always said he saw everything she was feeling in her eyes, though she liked to think she was a bit less transparent than that.

That Friday, there was rumored to be a big party happening in one of the empty classrooms on the sixth floor, and Rose and her friends were all excited to go. Well, her friends were all excited to go. Rose wasn't sure she could afford to take a whole night off, besides, she had been feeling fairly under-the-weather for the whole second half of the week. She'd felt vaguely ill ever since she'd found out Cara's news, really, but she knew the rule that correlation does not imply causation (which, just in case you don't know, basically means that just because she started feeling sick right after Cara told her, didn't necessarily mean that it was Cara's news that made her ill), so she chose to mark it off as a coincidence.

Her friends didn't believe that she actually didn't want to come, and they tried at every possible chance to convince her to go with them. Then, in Defense class on Thursday she overheard Malfoy and one of his slimy friends talking about it, and she began to actually consider going. She figured that if he went, at least she knew he wouldn't be getting ahead of her if she took the night off. At least, that's what she told herself her reasoning was.

She wasn't sure why, but she didn't tell Cara that she knew Malfoy was going to be there, though she felt guilty about it later.

When Friday night finally rolled around, Rose sat on her bed and debated with herself while all of her roommates got dressed up, ready to go out. They sat around curling their hair and applying their makeup, and Rose sat on her bed, watching them.

"C'mon, Rosie! It's just one night off! And it's gonna be so much fun!" Norrie pleaded with her for the thousandth time, twirling around the room with half her hair straightened, trying to find her other earring.

"I just… ughhhh!" Rose groaned, flopping back on her pillow. It was so soft- she really just wanted to sleep. Once again, she weighed the advantages and drawbacks of going. She was exhausted after a full week of non-stop work, and she still wasn't sure whether she was sick or not. But she didn't want them all having fun without her! And what if Cara got there and saw Malfoy, and then she went up to him and started talking to him-

"Alright!" she shot up out of her bed, startling her roommate Meghan, who was closest to her. "I'll go!"

"Yay!" Norrie cheered, bouncing up and down. "I know exactly what you can wear!"

Albus showed up at their room half an hour later, demanding that they get going before all the booze was gone. Liam, Toby, and Fred had all gone on without them, determined to get there before the party ran dry. Cara and Norrie insisted that they needed a few more minutes, though, what for, Rose had no idea. She had been ready for a while now, but, then again, she hadn't done anything with her hair. She insisted that there was nothing to be done about "that mess she called hair," so she hadn't even bothered.

She could see that Al was getting antsy, so she told him they could go, and the two of them went on without their other friends. Together, the cousins snuck through the empty after-hours corridors, trying very hard not to be too loud, or get caught. She wondered how the rest of her obnoxious guy-friends had done it, since they could never shut up, even when it was important.

Once they finally arrived at the classroom they'd been told, they weren't sure they were even in the right place until they walked through the doors and, subsequently, through the sound-barrier charms, and found themselves abruptly in the midst of a very noisy, very crowded teenage party.

They took the first few steps into the room, and Rose suddenly felt very insecure about the outfit Norrie had given her to wear. It was a low-cut blue tank top (because blue was meant to "compliment her hair!") and a high-waisted black skirt that she now felt was way too short on her.

Was she too overdressed? Everyone else was managing to pull off their dressed-up looks; none of them looked like they were trying too hard. Was she trying too hard? She always tried too hard. At everything.

She pulled down her skirt slightly and made her way deeper into the party with Albus, trying desperately hard not to wobble on her heels. She'd taken them off to sneak through the castle, as they were obviously too loud, but had put them back on right before she'd entered the party. Why did she have to wear heels? She didn't even know how to walk in these stupid things!

And then, as if the universe were trying to prove her right, to punish her for wearing the world's most ridiculous shoes, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled into a boy. And of course it wasn't just any boy. Of course it was him.

He reached out to catch her as she wobbled, out of reflex. Then he looked and saw who it was, and yanked himself away from her like she was an open flame instead of a person. She straightened up and looked him straight in the eye, trying to communicate something with her look. Maybe something along the lines of "calm down, Malfoy, I didn't mean to bump into you," and also "geez, you don't have to treat me like such a disease." In any case, he didn't seem to be getting it, and continued to stare at her like he was in shock.

"Got a problem, Malfoy?" Albus questioned from where he stood to Rose's left. At Al's words, Scorpius seemed to suddenly unfreeze, and his eyes flickered between Rose and her cousin, before they settled on Rose and moved slowly down her body and back up again. Was Malfoy checking her out?

He saw her perplexed look and raised his eyebrows at her, his mouth pulled into a close-lipped smirk, as it always was. His eyes were trying to tell her something, too, but she was seriously freaked out, and wasn't bothering to try and figure it out.

"Nice skirt, Weasley," he said in his smug little voice, and she felt her face turn bright red. She had to get out of there, before things could get any weirder, so she gave Malfoy her nastiest look before she turned and walked quickly away, not even checking to make sure Al was behind her. She felt like she could feel his eyes still on her as she walked away, and she pulled her skirt down self-consciously.

She couldn't believe that Malfoy had just done the elevator-eyes at her! And was he being sarcastic with the skirt comment, or what? She couldn't tell if the whole thing made her uncomfortable, or if she was flattered, or maybe a little of both. Maybe she didn't look so ridiculous after all! Wait, why was she excited? Shouldn't she be appalled or something?

When her brain stopped reeling from what had just happened, she looked around for Albus, but couldn't see him anywhere. What she didn't know was that, while she had fled from the scene, Albus had stayed behind to confront Scorpius.

"Keep your disgusting thoughts to yourself! And keep them the hell away from Rosie!" Albus asserted, after witnessing the exchange between the two.

"Calm down, Potter," Scorpius had retorted, practically spitting the name. His hands were shoved loosely into his pockets, while Al's were clenched in fists at his side. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, you bloody well do! And you're going to cut it out, before I make you," the dark haired boy threatened.

"You're going to make me?" Scorpius fake-laughed. They could both see that Scorpius was a good 4 inches taller than Albus was, and it was obvious who would win in a fight, magical or otherwise.

"Yeah, I just might unless you back the hell off, and stop messing with her head!"

"Messing with her-" Scorpius laughed again, this time with what sounded to the untrained ear like surprise, but was more like nervousness. "What, is Weasley confused by her obvious attraction to me?"

Albus shook his head in disgust. "Keep dreaming, Malfoy." And then he turned and walked away to go find Rose, leaving Scorpius feeling the opposite of Albus' intended result- not slightly intimidated, but slightly encouraged instead.

Meanwhile, Rose was making her way through the party on a search for her friends, and she found herself struck with a newfound aura of confidence. If Malfoy thought she looked hot- which he hadn't outright said, but his eyes had suggested- then she must really be hot! She was so wrapped up in her own head, in fact, and replaying the scene over and over again in her mind, that she didn't realize she was verbalizing her thoughts, like she did sometimes when she wasn't paying attention, until it was too late.

Her cousin Roxanne grabbed her arm, and Rose felt all of her new confidence vanish in an instant. And it wasn't because Roxanne looked amazing, because of course she did- she always did. And it wasn't because she was slightly intimidated by her older, cooler cousin, though of course she was- she always had been. It was because Roxanne grabbed her and looked at her like she was amused and said, "What did you say Rosie? That you 'look hot tonight?'"

And suddenly Rose realized that she'd been talking out loud, and she must have been saying that she looked good. Oh, Merlin, how mortifying.

"I- I just…" Rose didn't know what to say.

"Because of course you look hot!" Roxanne assured her, sensing her cousin's embarrassment. "You could have any guy at this party!"

Well not any guy… Rose thought, her mind going immediately to Malfoy. Because they were enemies, of course! And he would never go for her. Though actually, after that look...

"What look?" Roxanne asked, confused again.

"What? Nothing!" Rose exclaimed, not believing that she'd done it again. In the middle of a bloody conversation! Where was her head tonight?

"Rosie, are you okay?" Roxanne seemed genuinely concerned.

"Yes, of course," Rose said, rather unconvincingly. "I'm fine, I just…" she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed a deep, dramatic sigh. Roxanne decided that whatever was going on with Rose, she should try and help, so she put her arms around her cousin's shoulders and led her towards the nearest wall, where they sat down together.

"So what's going on? Boy trouble?" she asked carefully. Of course Roxanne guessed that it was trouble with boys. She had enough of that in her own life to know the symptoms.

"Not exactly. Well, it's not typical boy trouble. It's complicated."

Roxanne smiled good-naturedly. "It's always complicated with blokes. Trust me. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Rose answered honestly, though her head was pounding, like her thoughts were banging against her skull, demanding to be let out. Maybe talking about it couldn't hurt. "It's just Malfoy."

"Your nemesis?" Roxanne asked, not seeming surprised by this in the slightest.

"Yeah," Rose shrugged, "my nemesis. He's just…" And the next thing she knew, she was ranting. "He's just so bloody obnoxious! Every time he smiles at me I swear to Dumbledore I just want to punch him in the face! And he's so freaking smart and he knows everything and he makes everything look so bloody easy! And what the hell was that look about? How DARE he look at me like that? Who the hell does he think he is? And what's he trying to pull?! He has no right- not to mention now Cara fancies him! She'd kill me if she knew- not that there's anything to know! Because we hate each other! Obviously. And even if he did think about me like that- not that I'd want him to! I just don't- I mean I can't… I can't bloody stand him."

She looked over at Roxanne and was embarrassed again. Embarrassed that she'd said so much and that she'd acted like a jabbering idiot.

Roxanne was processing and trying to give advice without setting her cousin off again. She didn't want to upset her, but, to her, it was obvious what was wrong. Rose was in some serious denial, that's all it was. But if you try to tell someone who's in denial that they're in denial, they'll deny being in denial, you know? So she had to take a different approach.

"Did you say Cara fancies him now?" she settled on asking, because this wasn't focused directly on Rose's feelings.

"Did I say that?" Rose asked, wondering when she became such a blabbermouth. Just like Norrie. Roxanne nodded. "Well dammit all. You can't tell anyone, okay? It's supposed to be a secret!"

"Who would I even tell?" Roxanne asked, and Rose rolled her eyes at her.

"Maybe that stupid gossiping best friend of yours," she joked, but Roxanne didn't seem to find it funny. In fact, she looked sad all of a sudden.

"You don't have to worry about James."

"What? Why not?" Rose's problems were quickly pushed to the back of her mind.

"It's nothing," Roxanne shook her head, but her tone didn't make it sound like nothing. "He's just been busy lately."

"Busy how? Busy with what?"

"Vying for the affections of Alice Longbottom." Now this, Rose couldn't seem to comprehend. It didn't make any sense. Were they talking about the same person, or was there some miscommunication?

"Alice Longbottom?" she clarified, and Roxanne nodded solemnly.

"Haven't you heard? James is desperately in love with her now."

"James Potter is desperately in love with Alice Longbottom?!" Rose asked, completely shocked by this news.

"Jeeze, Rosie, do you live under a rock?" More like a Malfoy-induced fog, Rose couldn't stop herself from thinking. "The whole school's been swarming about it. He dumped his girlfriend for her."

"Chelsea Creevy?"

"The very same."

"Wow." Rose didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah. You're not the only one who didn't see this coming." Roxanne did not seem happy about this particular change in her life, and now that Rose thought about it she hadn't heard of any crazy pranks being pulled around the castle lately. Had they stopped pranking? Were they even hanging out? And Alice Longbottom?

"I'm sorry, Roxy. Are you doing okay?" Roxanne looked up and suddenly seemed to realize that the conversation had shifted completely away from Rose's problems and onto her own, and she really didn't want to talk about it.

"What? Of course, I'm fine. It has nothing to do with me, really." And Rose could tell she was lying, but decided not to push it.

Just then, Albus finally spotted his missing friend and made his way over to where his two cousins were sitting. He didn't realize that they were in the middle of a semi-deep conversation, and he said loudly, "Rosie! There you are- oh, hey, Roxanne," he added like an afterthought. She smiled gently and waved her hand. "C'mon, Rose, our friends are over here!" He gestured behind himself.

Rose looked at Roxanne like she wasn't really sure if she should leave her. "Oh, of course, of course, go enjoy the party!" Roxanne said with an enthusiasm that seemed forced. "I'm gonna go find Grayson- I'm sure he's around here somewhere." She waved her hand vaguely in the air.

"Okay… well, talk to you later, I guess!" Rose also faked enthusiasm. Roxanne waved brightly, and Rose let Albus help her up and lead her over to those mates of theirs.

When they got to them, Cara and Norrie had made it to the party, both of them looking spectacular, which she told them so. They thanked her and acted surprised, though they'd both spent enough time looking in the mirror to know that they looked great. Fred handed her a drink, which she accepted gratefully, and downed before the rest of them even noticed. She reached over and grabbed one of Toby's drinks out of his hand (he was somehow holding three) and downed that one as well.

"Hey!" he protested, but she gave him a look that told him to shut up. It was about time she let loose.

"Toby, listen," she said to him, leaning in conspiratorially, "I need to be drunk tonight. I really do. Please don't ask why, just help me." Toby seemed to understand, as she had suspected he would, and he nodded enthusiastically, handing her his second drink and going off to get a few more, no questions asked. Thank Merlin for that! Toby was always down for getting smashed, he didn't need a reason, and he was very enthusiastic whenever his friends decided to join him.

Soon enough, she had lost track of how many drinks she had had, but she knew she was feeling tipsy. She enjoyed the buzz, and the fuzzy feeling in her head, and how, for once, it didn't seem like her thoughts were berating her or demanding for her attention. Everything, including what she was thinking, seemed slower, and easier to manage. She gradually felt herself loosening up, forgetting whatever she was so stressed about, and she began to laugh and dance to the music.

Liam noticed that she was acting a little more out-there than Rose usually acted. "You doing okay, Rosie?" he leaned in and said into her ear. She nodded and gave him a thumbs up, and Toby, who had been watching her like a hawk ever since her request (to make sure he was doing a good job), leaned over and put his arm around Rose and told Liam:

"Rosie's gonna have a good night tonight. She's letting loose." Liam raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"I think it's working!" she said to Toby, in a voice that was way-too-excited; one she would never normally use. Then, she looked around from under Toby's arm and caught sight of a head of platinum blonde hair and a pair of steely eyes already trained in her direction. She met his gaze, expecting him to look away, like a person usually does when they're caught staring. But he didn't.

They stared at each other from across the room, her from over the shoulder of her friend, and him from over the head of who Rose could only assume to be his girlfriend, Ruby Bulstrode. And, for just a moment, it was like no one else even existed. Like they were the only two people in the room.

Then, Rose had an idea.

It was not, by any means, a good idea. But, in her impaired state of mind, all of her good judgement had gone out the window, as had most of her inhibitions. She turned to Toby and said to him, "Let's go dance!" in that same over-the-top voice. He raised his eyebrows, but as she grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the area where other people were dancing, he shrugged at their friends and went with her.

Rose checked to make sure Scorpius was still watching her. But he wasn't this time; he was looking down at his girlfriend, talking to her. And smiling. She felt a wave of irritation and something verging on resentment overtake her, but she pushed it aside and began to dance. She grabbed Toby and pulled him close, and he seemed confused at first but then he got into it, and together they danced, their hips swaying in rhythm with each other and with the beat of the song. Rose's mouth was open and her throat was dry, but she was smiling, and everything, for some reason, seemed really amusing, so she began to laugh. Toby didn't know why she was laughing, but he began to laugh too, and then suddenly both of his hands were on her hips and she was pressed up against him.

The constant nagging voice in the back of her head was yelling at her again, trying to tell her something. Probably something like: "This is too much, Rose. You're going too far; stop it now." But she didn't listen, or care. Screw you, voice of reason! She swiveled her head around and caught sight of Scorpius again, and this time he was looking right at her. And she smiled even wider and pulled Toby even closer, even though she knew it was wrong. In that moment, she didn't care. In that moment, she thought she had something to prove.

Then, Ruby Bulstrode saw Scorpius staring, and she turned around to see what he was looking at, narrowing her eyes once she spotted Rose. She shook her head in disgust and said something to Scorpius, which only made Rose more angry. Who the hell was Ruby Stupid-Face Bulstrode to judge her?

She heard Toby say something to her, and turned back to him, asking loudly, "What?"

He leaned in so he was talking right in her ear, so there was no way she wouldn't hear him. "I said that you look good tonight, Rosie."

Oh no.

There was something in his tone, and the way he was suddenly looking at her, that made her anxious. She wasn't sure she liked where this was heading.

"Thanks!" she said, not sure what else to say. She realized that their faces were so close that if she moved even a few centimeters, they would be kissing. She pulled a little bit back from him, but he just followed her, so their faces were still the same distance apart.

And then, the next thing she knew, he was leaning in. And she didn't have the wherewithal to stop him, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. She just let it happen, even though it was wrong and it was definitely going to bite her in the butt tomorrow. All she knew was that she was drunk, that she looked hot, that one of her best friends was about to kiss her, and that Scorpius Malfoy was watching. So she went for it.

Merlin, for a smart girl, she sure was stupid.

She and Toby started making out, right there in the middle of everyone, and after a moment she thought she heard a high pitched squeal and a lot of surprised laughter, letting her know that her friends had noticed. Oh no. This was definitely not good.

He wasn't even a good kisser. They were both too drunk and sloppy, and she questioned if he was even enjoying this. Because she sure wasn't.

She wondered if there was any way she could stop this. She felt she had to stop it before it went any further, but didn't know if she could without hurting Toby's feelings. Had she been less intoxicated, she would have realized that it wasn't such a big deal just to pull back and walk away, but then again, had she been less intoxicated she would have never ended up here in the first place.

So she let it happen. Maybe it was 5, maybe 10 minutes later (it was hard to tell), when he finally pulled away for some air and she gently removed herself from his arms, apologizing with her eyes. He looked confused, but she turned from him and walked swiftly away. She probably would have ran had she not been wearing those ridiculous heels.

She thought he would have followed after her, but after a minute she turned around and he was nowhere in sight. Neither were any of her friends. She was sure one of them would have followed after her to make sure she was okay!

Suddenly Rose was fuming with anger, and also feeling very muddled and upset. Her friends didn't care about her! If they had they would have seen that she was drunk and stopped her from kissing Toby! This was their fault!

Well maybe it wasn't their fault… but it certainly wasn't hers! So whose…?

Him.

She spotted him from across the room yet again, and stormed over towards where he was standing, no longer with his girlfriend. She was about to approach him and tell him off when she realized that she really didn't want to fight with Malfoy right now, and so she changed her mind and headed, instead, for the door. She just wanted to go back to her room and sleep.

Unfortunately for her, he had noticed her angrily barreling towards him, and stopped her as she was on her way out.

"Leaving so soon, Weasley?" He asked, his voice condescending as ever, as he blocked her path.

"Get out of my way, Malfoy," she demanded, as clearly and as forcefully as she could manage.

"Does this have anything to do with your mate? The one you were just snogging?" He looked over to where Toby and the rest of her friends must be, but she refused to look in their direction. And of course he saw, she had wanted him to see, after all, but that didn't make it any less mortifying to hear him actually mention it out loud.

"No!" She cried indignantly, before quickly shifting to, "Well, maybe... Anyway, what do you care? It's got nothing to do with you. Just let me leave!" Technically, he wasn't doing anything to stop her from leaving, but his presence there between her and the door made her feel like she was glued to the spot.

"I don't care," he proclaimed, though he so obviously did. "I just noticed the poor bloke looked devastated when you ran away from him."

"I didn't-" she began, but then she stopped herself because she definitely did, and they both knew it.

"Was he a bad snogger?" Scorpius asked, grinning devilishly. That was the last straw! She shoved past him and headed for the door without answering, very aware of the fact that he was still right behind her, following her.

When she got to the door she went to take off her heels before heading into the hallway again, but in her inebriated state she couldn't seem to get them without completely falling over. Instead of stumbling and giving Malfoy the satisfaction of catching her again, she just reached out and grabbed his shoulder to steady herself as she removed her shoes. He seemed surprised by this, but didn't try to stop her.

After she was done (now no longer on eye-level with Malfoy, but quite significantly shorter than him again) she turned to face him, ready to tell him to fuck off, when he surprised her by saying-

"I thought you looked like quite a good kisser."

Oh my Merlin. Did he just say that, or was she drunker than she thought? His face suggested that he was thinking along those same lines.

She considered sticking with the classic "fuck off," retort she had been planning before, but instead she decided to give it right back to him.

"Maybe you'll have to see for yourself some time." He looked taken aback by her response, and seemed to be blushing, though it was hard to tell in the dim lighting. She definitely was, but that could be easily blamed on the firewhiskey.

Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, she wheeled around and pushed herself out into the hallway, where it was like she entered a sound vacuum, everything suddenly going silent. She felt the door close behind her, and once she was sure that no one was coming out after her, she sat down against the wall, and began to cry.

And she didn't know what she was crying about, she just knew that she was sad, and that she wanted to go to bed, and that she was definitely going to regret everything she had just done tomorrow.

A.N.: Oh, Rosie, what have you done? I like that Rose is a very put-together, hardworking type of person, but even she makes mistakes and breaks down. She's obviously going through alot right now, so it might take her a little while to realize the true weight of her feelings for this boy. The next chapter is going to be about Fred II's wild adventures. Please review if you liked it, and read on!