Chapter Three

It was well past six and there still was no sign of him.

He was late. That damned idiot was late.

"'Be on time' bla, bla, 'Evaluation report'. Yeah, for sure, dumbass" she muttered to herself.

Some girls passing nearby turned their heads, probably thinking she was talking to one them.

"Do you want an autograph or something?" Rose asked. None of them replied.

She had been standing in the middle of the hallway for at least thirty minutes and she was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. It felt like an eternity. While students kept walking past her across the hallway, she was just there. Like a fool.

'Five more minutes and I'm gone' she thought.

She had been thinking about their meeting all weekend. She had promised herself that she wouldn't have been too harsh, if not because of the report he had mention, whatever that was supposed to be. She wouldn't have insulted him for no reason, she wouldn't have tried to fight. She would've made her best attempt to forget the past year and move on. He was probably sorry about what he'd done, wasn't he? He probably wasn't, but she had to give herself some kind of excuse to give up her dignity that quickly.

That morning she had dressed up, brushed her hair (which had led to an even worse result then usual), put on her fakest smile, and braced herself to be the nicest person on planet Earth.

At that point, it was really hard to take the blame for hating him so much, he just made it too fucking easy.

Three minutes to go.

She took a deep breath and started mentally counting backwards from a hundred and eighty.

She realized she had built up such an anticipation that she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to leave or if she wanted to see how it would've gone. She decided on the former. It was true that she had been thing about it a lot, but not in the good way. She almost felt sick at the idea of humiliating herself in front of Malfoy. He surely would've noticed that she had gaps in some subjects more than others, and then, all high and mighty, he would've told McGonagall about it.

If it were anyone else, she wouldn't have been so self-conscious, but even those that were good at school looked like fools compared to him. Imagine what Rose would look like.

"Good evening" someone greeted her, from behind her back. She jumped.

Were three minutes passed? Could she start running away to stand by her own words?

"You scared the shit out of me" she greeted back.

This time, his tie was perfectly tied. Damn it.

"Stop wasting time, we're late" he said, brushing past her.

"It's not like it's my fault! You were late!"

"Well, being late was something you weren't supposed to do, I don't remember saying anything about me"

Rose's jaw dropped. "You son of a-"

But he was too far to hear her.

She followed him up the Great Staircase in what seemed a race against time. What was the point of running? It wasn't like they had a real appointment.

The first classroom they found was empty.

"This will do" he said, keeping the door open with one hand while beckoning her to go inside with the other.

She fell silent and complied.

She took a seat at a random desk. He stood for a second, motionless, thoughtful, then proceeded to push another desk against hers, shoving them together. Finally, he seated right in front of her.

He pulled out of his bag, two notebooks, three different pencils, two quills and two ink bottles, then passed each of them to Rose, without a word. She grabbed them.

The notebook was leather-bound and both quill and pencils were obviously brand new.

"I have my own stuff, you know, you don't need to give me yours" she said, opening the notebook to the first page.

"This way it will be easier for you to tell the stuff we'll be using together apart from the other you have" he replied, now flipping through what seemed like their Divination book. She wasn't sure, though, the last time she'd seen it was when she'd bought it.

She stretched her neck to peek at the pages he was going over.

He looked up, meeting her gaze.

"Where's your book?" he asked calmly.

"I figured you would bring one, no need for me to break my back as well. Those things weight like boulders." she replied, cracking absently her knuckles. It wasn't true, she simply couldn't find it anywhere.

He rolled his eyes and sighed then ducked to pull out from his bag another copy of the manual.

"How did you know?" she asked, stunned.

"I just knew. Page 234"

Once again, she complied. There was something about him that made him quite authoritative. It could have probably been the firm voice, or the upright posture, either way, she kept finding herself doing the things he told her, without really knowing why. One could argue that he wasn't asking for the moon, but still, hadn't he been like that, she doubted she would've been cooperative at all.

"Xylomancy? Isn't it part of last year's program?" she pointed out, perplexed.

He raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised.

"You remember it?" he asked, so startled that she couldn't fight back a wide triumphant smile.

"Why do you sound so surprised? It was a big part of the last term"

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "It appears I don't give you enough credit" he declared.

Her whole face lit up. "You clearly don't" she remarked, crossing her arms.

"So" he started, closing the book she had just opened. "Do you think you could tell me something about Xylomancy? It shouldn't be hard, it was indeed a big part of last year's term"

A flush immediately crept up her face. That bastard.

She mindlessly started chewing on her bottom lip.

"I-Well, Yeah, I suppose I could" she mumbled, barely audibly.

"Great, then do it" he prompted her.

"Sure.." She just couldn't stand his gaze. That was why she hated being tutored by him. He did that all the time. He always made her feel stupid. He hated him.

"I don't remember much, so.. yeah.. ehm.." she fixed her eyes on the wall behind his back. "Xylomancy has to do with twigs. You look at the way they are placed, I think, and that should tell you something about how your grandmother will die" she blurted out, as fast as she could.

He gave her a half-smile. "That's actually correct. I'm impressed. It wasn't the best definition ever but you do remember something. I should give you more credit"

She frowned. What was his game? She couldn't figure out if he was just teasing her or if he was serious.

"You should?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? It's seems to me that you don't give yourself enough credit to begin with" he said, simply.

She gulped. She didn't, did she? It all boiled down to the fact that she'd never really believed in herself. That was probably why Scorpius Malfoy seemed so authoritative to her. He knew his worth and he wasn't afraid to show it. Some people liked him, some people despised him, yet, there he was, true to himself.

One of the many reasons why she'd started behaving differently during her first year at school, was to let everybody know that she wasn't her mother, that she was her own person, and she didn't care anymore about what the media thought about her, about what people thought about her. Still, she cared an awful lot. She didn't make much sense, didn't she?

He didn't wait for her to answer.

"I wanted to begin with Xylomancy because it's actually a very helpful launching pad to get to this year's stuff. It's a bit easier and, once you get how it works, Ornithomancy won't be that hard anymore. But we need a bit more than a definition to get to that point"

She nodded.

"Good. Turn to page 234, please" he asked.

She opened the book again.

"Whose manual is this?" she asked, noticing that someone had taken some notes at the bottom of the page. The handwriting was neat and soft.

"Mine" he replied "This -he pointed at the book he was holding- is my cousin's book. I don't like to lend things that aren't mine"

"Oh, ok, thank you, I guess"

"You're welcome. Now, start reading"

Time passed by pretty quickly. They went through the basics of Xylomancy and the most commonly used procedures. Turns out, he had also brought a bunch of twigs, which they used to practice a little.

She was a total disaster. She just couldn't get it. He kept going on about how some of the pieces were clearly stating that somewhere in the near future something benevolent and unexpected was going to happen, but all she saw was wood.

"Stop thinking! Divination is not about rationality, it's about interpretation, creativity even!" he scolded her.

"Divination is rubbish" she bit back.

He rolled his eyes. "Just because you don't get it, it doesn't mean it's rubbish"

"Well, it is. It's nonsensical and useless. Why would I ever want to know what's going to happen? What's the point in living if you already know what your life's going to be like?"

"The point is that you can prevent something bad from happening!" he replied, pointing on the table like he'd found out something that could've proven his point.

"What if you can't, though? What if it still happens and you live the rest of your life wondering what you did wrong?"

"Well, what if you can? What if you, I don't know, totally hypothetical, find out that you can prevent the world from being submitted to a monster that would eventually enslave it by bending people to his will? What if a prophecy could save the very world itself?" argued Scorpius.

Rose shrugged.

"Ah Ah. Funny. It just so happens that the very example you've given is the proof that Divination is rubbish" she snapped back.

"Really? How so?"

"First off, had Voldemort chosen another boy, uncle Harry would've been useless. He was the right one by chance. You said it, it's all about interpretation, it could've been misinterpreted and none of it would have been of any help. You think it saved the world. I think it endangered it. They trusted a prophecy to be fulfill, when they should've trusted nothing but themselves. It was reckless." she said.

His eyes gleamed and, reluctantly, she had to admit they were pretty.

"You're right, it could've gone wrong, but it hasn't. Do you think it was a fluke?"

"Actually, I do"

He rolled his eyes.

"You're a lost cause" he declared, shaking his head. "Trelawney was right"

"About what?"

"There's really something wrong with you Inner Eye"

She burst out laughing. He chuckled.

She was so caught up in their discussion, that she forgot to notice how many times Scorpius had proven to be an actual human being.

"Jokes aside, it isn't easy to see, especially if you're not expecting to see anything. You'll have to practice a lot. I can help you, but I can't work miracles" he said.

She immediately stopped laughing. Her expression dulled.

There he was again, mister know-it-all was trying his hardest but she needed a miracle to learn last year's program.

Merlin, she hated him so much.

"I'll practice. I'll let you know what the future holds. If I'm lucky, you'll tumble down the stairs soon enough" she replied. Then she collected her things and left the classroom without even looking at his face once.


A/N: Hello again!

Here's the third one! A bit late, but I'm currently studying for my exam session which is keeping me very busy.

As always any feedback is appreciated!

Stay safe!

See you hopefully next chapter!

XOXO

P.s. A special thanks goes to WorldsGreatestWriter , Pilarofdoom, roso and Helo for the beautiful reviews. You've really made my week!