A/N: Here's a more friendshippy (is that a word?) Scorpius/Rose. Enjoy!

Title: Swimming Lessons

Summary: Rose doesn't know how to swim, but Scorpius has invited her to go swimming.

WC: 595

Characters: Rose W., Scorpius M.

Genres: Humour, Friendship

"Rose, calm down. It's just water!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"No, Scorpius," she growled, "it isn't just water, thank you very much."

Scorpius had very kindly invited her to spend the weekend at Malfoy Manor. Her father had very reluctantly let her go, only agreeing to do so once Aunt Ginny had pointed out that Albus practically spent his holidays there and he had always come back in perfect condition.

"But it is!" he protested.

"Look," she told him, "Earth: fine, I love walking. Fire: I'm a Gryffindor. Sky: I absolutely adore Quidditch. But water? No."

He simply laughed at her, and though it wasn't meant to be unkind, she could have very well slapped him.

Because, you see, Scorpius had very kindly suggested that they go swimming in the lake at the Manor. However, Rose did not know how to swim. As a matter of fact, she was rather terrified of the water, which seemed to amuse him to know end, and made her relatively angry at him.

"I can't believe you don't know how to swim," he continued.

"I was sick with spattergroit the entire summer where all of my family decided to go to the beach and learn how to swim," she told him, "sorry for being unhealthy."

"Rose…" he said with a sigh. True, she loved being a sarcastic person, but perhaps she had a gone a little too far with her animosity.

"You're right," she agreed, "I'm sorry. It's just that I really can't deal with water."

The small lake was a few hundred metres into the grounds at the Manor and they had been walking for a few minutes towards it. Finally, Rose saw the scintillating blue water appear and she couldn't help but shudder a little; this wasn't going to be fun.

"Look, I'll teach you if you want," he suggested.

"Teach me what?"

"How to swim, of course."

She burst out laughing. "You, teach me how to swim?"

He frowned, as if vexed. "Don't believe in my swimming instructor abilities?"

"Please, I've seen you try to explain the spell Wingardium Leviosa to a bunch of First-Years and fail miserably," she countered. "I can't see how you'll be able to manage to teach me how to swim."

He blushed at the reminder of his failed tutoring attempts. "Yes, well, we can't be all good with children."

"Having a gaggle of cousins is the secret. You won't believe the number of essays with the name 'Weasley' I've gone over."

"Only child," he reminded her.

She smiled at him. "Okay, fine. You can try to teach me, but if I drown, you'll have my father to deal with, and it won't be fun."

He gulped. "As a matter of fact, maybe I won't try…"

"Scorpius!"

They teased each other, laughing until they reached the sandy shores of the lake. The water was a brilliant blue, and cool when Rose slipped her feet in. It was a sweltering hot day and the water was positively refreshing. Rose may have been a red-head, but contrarily to quite a few of her cousins, she wasn't all that pale, having inherited quite a good amount of melanin from her mother. Therefore, two layers of sunscreen were enough, compared to the six necessary for Lucy, for example.

"So, are we doing this?" Scorpius asked her.

"If I drown, give all my clothes to Albus," she told him, and they waded deeper into the water.

Rose wasn't too sure what she had signed herself up for, but she was glad Scorpius was there to help her with it.

For Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition – Boot camp

Team: Puddlemere United

Position: Chaser 3

Level: Hard – Rose Granger-Weasley

Prompts: 3. Water