The next couple of weeks were a blur of classes, laughter, and arguments.

The arguments were because Lucy Weasley had decided that the group needed to meet every evening in order to get through the first task.

"We need to be prepared!" was her argument.

"Lucy, it's one thing being prepared, and another reading over instructions on making potions all day and night!" Rose pointed out, "We're already getting more homework than last year, and I'm struggling to do it all, especially with all these meetings that you're trying to make us have!"

"Well bring your homework to the meeting, then!" Lucy argued.

"But what would that achieve? I wouldn't be able to learn how to make potions whilst doing my Transfiguration!"

"Look, Wea- sorry, Lucy," Scorpius was having trouble being on first name terms with Lucy, as she clearly irritated him. "We're already so much further ahead than the others; they've barely even started preparing! Just give us a week off to do our homework and have a social life-"

"So Lucy will just be doing her homework for that week, then," Rose muttered under her breath. So much for the promise to be kind to her Ravenclaw cousin.

"-have a social life, then we can start meeting up again. It'll do us all good to have a break from it, I'm getting constant headaches!"

"Oh, poor you, Malfoy!" Lucy had refused to use Scorpius' first name, saying that they didn't need his alliance to win. "Fine. We'll cut down the meetings to one every two days."

"Three," suggested Scorpius, "One every three days."

"No, we won't get everything done then," said Thomas. He'd been so quiet that the others had almost forgotten that he was there. Lucy threw him a grateful smile.

"Fine, once every two days." growled Scorpius, "Is that ok with everyone? Next meeting isn't tomorrow, but the day after."

"No, it's the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts then," pointed out Rose.

"Why do you have to be so awkward, Rose?" exclaimed Lucy, losing patience.

"Is it wrong that I want to do more this year than just sit inside with you and read?" she hadn't meant it to sound so offensive, but the damage was already done.

"Why should the rest of the group suffer just because I'm conscientious, and you two aren't?" Lucy snapped, glaring at Rose and Scorpius,

"You're hardly suffering, Weasley!" Scorpius exclaimed in angry astonishment, "You're missing one freaking revision session! Just put it off until the day after, or have it without Rose, but don't yell at her for wanting to be on the Quidditch team!"

Lucy looked taken aback by Scorpius' outburst. He was usually so calm, and conducted anger through insults accompanied with a superior smirk. It was extremely rare for him to shout at anyone, so Rose wasn't shocked to see her cousins face drain of colour.

"I... I was just... I just want what's best for the team," she sighed, sinking back onto a sofa in the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"I know you do, Luce," It was Thomas, who boldly sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Lucy gave him a sideways glance, as if about to ask him what on earth he thought he was doing, but then thought better of it, rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "And you're doing a great job,"

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other, half-guiltily, and half-awkwardly.

"Well, are we finished for this evening then?" Rose asked politely.

"Yeah, I think so," mumbled Lucy, without opening her eyes, "See you on Thursday,"

Scorpius and Rose looked at each other again, then to Thomas who was trying to sooth the clearly upset Lucy, before leaving the Common Room.

"Well, that was weird," Rose laughed nervously, once the door had shut behind them.

"Yeah..." Scorpius agreed. The pair stood there awkwardly in the semi-darkness for a moment, waiting for the other to say something. Scorpius couldn't see Rose properly; it was her silhouette that he was taking in. Once again he noticed how much she'd changed over the summer, and definitely for the better. Her hair was thicker and fell in gentle curls, as oppose to the straggly mess it had been in their 3rd year, she had shot up in height and her figure had filled out. However, her face hadn't changed, other than looking slightly older. Scorpius couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed before how pretty Rose actually was: her complexion was practically perfect, and she looked so sweet with her-heart shaped face and pale pink lips. But the cherry on the cake were her wide brown eyes, framed with long, curling eyelashes. She was undoubtedly beautiful.
Or 'fit', as Flint had called her.

He moved towards her without really thinking about what he was doing

Rose was frozen. Was Scorpius Malfoy about to kiss her? No, no, no. He didn't like her. She didn't like him. They still hated each other. And those grey eyes of his weren't attractive at all.
He's definitely too close now, she thought, but he doesn't like me, it'll all be a prank or something. My friends and cousins would never forgive me if I kissed a Slytherin, least of all Draco Malfoy's son.
I need to leave, now, before I do something I'll regret.

"Oooops, gotta go!" she exclaimed, unfreezing and ducking out of the way, leaving Scorpius stood alone. He opened his eyes to see Rose half way down the corridor, calling "Bye, Scorpius, see you on Thursday!"

Dammit, he thought, as he headed to the Slytherin dorms. She rejected me! If I can't get a Weasley, what chance do I have with anyone else? He mentally scolded himself for thinking cruelly about Rose, and then for trying to kiss her. What if she tells her friends? I can duel one of the Potter's, and I could easily beat her little brother, but all three at once? I'm not liking those odds. And even if they don't duel me over it, once Rose tells that big-mouthed friend of hers, Saunders, the whole year will know, and probably most of the school! Shit! Why did I try and kiss her? I don't even like her!

'C'mon, Scorpius,' said another voice inside his head, 'it's time to be honest with yourself.'

Ok, I do like her then! What difference does that make? It's worse, if anything, because she doesn't like me back!

'Maybe not at the moment...'

They say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, he thought, but started wondering about what Flint had said a couple of weeks before:
'She doesn't strike me as the sort who'd want to be bothered with trying to win anyone over. I guess if you want her, you'll have to go get her."
Scorpius had laughed that off at the time, saying that he wasn't interested in Rose at all. What had changed since then that had made him try to kiss her? There was nothing he could think of... maybe he was under the influence of a Love Potion? No, he couldn't be, because if he was, he wouldn't have thought it a possibility. That was just the way the potion worked.

So he actually liked Rose Weasley. Was that good or bad?

Well, Scorpius enjoyed the buzz he got every time he saw her, which he'd dismissed as his imagination at first, but was now clearly because of his feelings for her. And he would get to spend the entire year working with her, even if he did have to put up wither arrogant cousin too.

On the other hand, there was no way anything could come of his feelings. She was a Weasley, he was a Malfoy. Their families hated each other. No one would accept them, even if it turned out that Rose returned his feelings, which it was clear that she didn't.

Why couldn't he have fallen for a fellow Slytherin or something? Flint was right about the fact that several girls liked Scorpius' 'arrogant charm', so why couldn't he have gone for one of them instead of Rose, who he stood no chance with? He'd noticed other boys looking at her across the Great Hall this year, although Rose herself had been blissfully unaware of the attention she was getting. But once she did, surely she'd choose one of the others. A boy her family would like, who would be gentlemanly and considerate, intelligent and caring. I'm not any of those, he thought miserably, I couldn't be considerate if my life depended on it, and my intelligence is mediocre. I suppose I could be gentlemanly, my father has trained me to be, but only to other pure-bloods. If he saw me giving up my seat to Rose, or something, he'd throw a fit! Scorpius smiled for a minute, imagining his father's reaction to such a scenario, but then remembered the mess he was in. What am I gonna do?!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, Rose was wondering what on earth had happened. She wanted to tell someone, discuss it with them, ask for advice, but there was no-one she could turn to. Molly would be the obvious choice; she was Rose's best friend, she knew about boys, and would be able to give advice. But Rose wanted it to be kept secret, and although she was sure that Molly would try to, the temptation to spread this piece of gossip would probably win in the end.
Tracey would be able to keep quiet, but it was debateable that she knew even less than Rose where boys were concerned.
And any of Rose's cousins? Well, Lily was too young; Hugo was her younger brother so that'd be weird. James and Al might try to duel Scorpius, and that wouldn't work out well for the team's chance to win the Inter-House Cup. Lucy wouldn't have a clue what to do, and Rose wasn't sure if they were even on speaking terms at the moment. That left Louis, who Rose wasn't really close enough to, and Fred and Roxanne.
Bingo. Roxanne would have the answer.

As soon as Rose entered the Gryffindor Common Room, she saw Fred and Roxy surrounded by other students, who were all trying to by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes goods.

"Only two Skiving Snackboxes left! Get 'em whilst they last!" cried Roxanne, over the hubbub of noisy potential customers.

"Canary Creams, reduced to only 5 Sickles! That's a bargain you can't refuse!" Fred yelled, "Oh, hello there, Rosie, what can we get you?"

"Believe it or not, I don't want to buy anything, Fred, I'd like to talk to Roxanne,"

"Well, that's me put in my place! Roxy, Rose wants you!" Roxy turned away from her group of customers, thrust everything she was carrying into Fred's hand, who pretended to be offended, and walked over to her cousin.

"Hi, Rose, what's up?"

"Erm, I know this is a bit weird, but can we talk about boys?" Rose asked nervously. Roxanne looked at her in disbelief.

"Well, yeah, but this isn't like you Rose, are you feeling ok?" she laughed, her coppery hair swinging as she moved her head, "Let's go and sit down," They went and took a couple of empty chairs in the corner of the room. "So, what's the problem?"

"It's like being at the doctors," Rose laughed, before becoming serious again, "Can you keep it secret?"

"Oh, god, you've not done anything stupid have you?" Roxanne asked nervously,

"Not what you're thinking of, no," Rose reassured her, "But can you promise not to tell anyone?"

"As long as me keeping it secret doesn't put anyone in danger,"

"It doesn't,"

"Ok, then, I promise,"

Rose took a deep breath, "Scorpius Malfoy tried to kiss me," she looked up to see Roxanne's reaction. She was looking confused.

"Is that a good or bad thing? I mean, did you want him to?"

"That's the thing, I'm not sure. I shouldn't, because of our family history and everything. Al went crazy when he found that I'd helped him on the Hogwarts Express, you know, after we jinxed him, so how would he react if Scorpius and I got together?"

"But, Rose, Malfoy's a right idiot. He's pro-pureblood about everything, as well as being a judgemental, sexist and racist bully. No wonder Al was fuming!" Roxanne was looking quite angry now.

"Don't be annoyed, Roxy! He seems to have mellowed a bit this year, anyway,"

"He hadn't changed on the train when he called you all Mudblood scum!" Roxanne pointed out indignantly.

"I know, but since then he's been nicer," Rose told her cousin,

"Maybe to you, because apparently he likes you, but I'd prefer it if you weren't involved with anyone like that... especially him,"

"C'mon, Roxy, try and see it from my point of view! I've never had any male attention before, and then someone good-looking like Scorpius tries to kiss me, that's a pretty dramatic change!"

"I know, I understand, Rose, but has it occurred to you that he might just be using you to win the tournament?" As soon as Roxanne suggested her theory, Rose felt her stomach knot. She hadn't even considered the possibility that Scorpius might try to use her, but hearing Roxanne say it made a lot more sense than Scorpius actually liking a Weasley.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Rose told her cousin, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice, "I'll stay away from him as much as this tournament will permit,"

"That's my girl. Now, don't worry about Malfoy, he's not worth your time,"

Rose wondered if it was wrong that she felt a stab of anger towards Roxanne every time she insulted Malfoy, yet Rose was fuming with him too. She stood up, "I've had a long day, I think I'll go to bed,"

"Ok. Good night, Rosie," Roxanne replied, before rushing back over to Fred, who was trying to auction off his final Skiving Snackbox.

Rose sighed, turned, and climbed the stairs to her dormitory, cursing Malfoy under her breath.

Sorry it takes me so long to update the chapters, I like to proof read a lot to avoid grammar and spelling errors. ;)
So, if you liked it, feel free to follow/favourite me/the story!
Or review... that's even better :D
Anyway, thanks for reading, if there's anything you'd like to see in future chapters, put it in a review, and I'll try to include it.

Thanks again,
Lucy x