I still remember, the exact moment that Scorpius Malfoy became something to me. It was exactly two minutes after I had first spotted him in the smoky crowd, two minutes after I had giggled inwardly at his father’s balding head, and two minutes after my father had told me to beat him at every test, and not to get too close to him. I was eleven, and at that moment, nothing had seemed more desirable then to become ‘close’ with Scorpius Malfoy. In my defence, I had innocently thought at the time, that my father only meant not to befriend with him, not to well – you know – with him. Before I knew how forbidden this mysterious boy was, his hair was just plain-old-blonde, and his eyes were emotionless and boring. I think that unless my father had told me not to “get too close with him,” he would have stayed that way. But no, after I had stared at the boy again, to see what was so wrong with him, I began noticing what was so absolutely perfect about him.  I noticed the way his hair fell sloppily into his eyes, and how he blew it away impatiently or brushed is viciously with his hand. I noticed how, in the smoky and bustling platform, his pale blonde hair positively gleamed, like a lighthouse at night.

As I hugged my father goodbye, I was looking at him over my fathers’ broad shoulder, and how he shook his father’s hand gruffly, and how this contrasted with how he melted into his mother’s warm embrace. As I kissed my mother’s cheek with a loud ‘smack,’ to make her chuckle sadly, it was the first time I thought about how his laugh would sound, and how glorious it would be to make him laugh, like my mother had just done. On the train, as I sat in the Weasley-Potter compartment, I fantasized that I would be sorted into the same house as him, and that we would become best friends.


Albus and I was sorted into Gryffindor. He was sorted into Slytherin.


Summer’s past, and I grew older. I become as gangly as my father, but remained as short as my mother. My bushy fire-engine hair became easier to maintain, as it started curling in soft ringlets down my back. Everything else about me changed, too; my eyes became less ice-blue and more of a navy, my skin grew lighter, and I started wearing mascara, much to my father’s horror. I can still remember the shocked expression he had on his face when I had stepped off the train into his arms. I had left him a girl, with bushy red hair, and freckles, and returned a teenager, wearing make-up. (Oh, shock horror!). I think my mother had to console him later that night.  It was even more amusing when he shocked on his own bile as he tried to muster up the nerve to tell me my skirt was too short. His ears had turned bright red, and he stuttered out one sentence, as mum had reassuringly patted his arm, to encourage him on. We had both had a good laugh about it later that night, especially when I discovered that he had secretly lengthened all my shirts to my ankles.


At Hogwarts, I had friends – a lot of friends – but I preferred hanging out with my Quidditch team, and my family. James graduated, and that left me and Albus as the oldest Potter-Weasley’s. I don’t think many people understand the stress that you are put under when you’re the oldest. And especially when your family is half the school, you have a lot to look after. I was enormously relieved when I wasn’t made Head-Girl. Being a prefect and the keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, while maintaining marks higher then my mother’s and looking after my cousins and family friends – I still don’t remember how I got through my OWLs.


Scorpius changed too. He had automatically become the ‘Prince of Slytherin,’ mainly because of his father, and mainly because he had become the Quidditch Captain in his sixth year. He was as tall as Albus now – almost a foot taller than me – and needless to say, he drove the Slytherin girls wild. It infuriated me how...nice he was to the girls that flirted with him. He wasn’t interested – he was never interested – but still he would humour them, still he would let them stroke his arm and giggle and still he would have a decent conversation with them. I think that (deep-down) it infuriated me the most, however, that I wasn’t in Slytherin, that I had too much self-respect to flirt with him and that he hated me too much to ever have a decent conversation with me. 


It was seventh year, when Sarah Wood and Scorpius Malfoy started going out seriously. She was one of the Slytherin girls who didn’t throw themselves at him, and was probably the most beautiful girl in our year level. She had long white-blonde hair, tan skin and the perfect body. As soon as they started going out, Scorpius became forbidden again. He wasn’t single anymore, and there was a mystery surrounding him – why was Sarah interested in him? Why was he interested in her? What did they talk about? It was seventh year, when I remembered my infatuation with him. I think I had pushed it out of my mind. After he was sorted into Slytherin, I suppose I lusted – in the most innocent way – after him for awhile. I never let him saw me looking at him, and when I did, I would snap at him to hide my embarrassment. Soon, he too began insulting me back, and I forgot all about how I used to want him to my best friend. I was too busy yelling at him, or duelling with him. Teachers would groan when they saw us fighting, and we had had too many detentions together to possibly count. And contrary to popular belief, detentions aren’t as romantic as one first might imagine. Trust me, I know.


But in seventh year, when he started dating Sarah, I was hurt. It was stupid, I suppose, to be hurt by a boy that I had never fully given my heart to, but it hurt all the same. It wasn’t meant to: I was meant to laugh at him, and ask him how his “skank of the week,” was going. But I couldn’t. For one, Scorpius had never had a “skank of the week,” and was actually quite modest and secretive about his relationships. Secondly, I couldn’t make fun of a relationship like that. Sarah and Scorpius were inseparable, they were adorable, and they were perfect for each other. He was blonde, she was blonde. He was tall, she was tall. He was a Slytherin, she was a Slytherin. He was perfect, she was perfect.


So, I gave up. Gave up what exactly, I’m still not too sure, but I gave up anyway. I started ignoring him. I didn’t fight with him. I ignored his taunts, until he stopped them too. It made me wonder if he only had taunted me because I had started it. I felt like a terrible, bitchy person, and I worked hard to make myself nicer. Still, I would walk past him in the hall, and stare straight ahead as he brushed past me. Sure, Albus and the rest of my family looked at me like I had grown two extra heads and starting running around naked screaming, “Just call me Fluffy!”, but they got used to it. Anyway, there were more than enough people to finish what I had started. Scorpius wasn’t the most well-liked person at Hogwarts, mainly because of his father, Draco Malfoy, so people leapt at the chance to start taunting him exuberantly and with a cruelty that I never displayed. He never insulted them back though, like he did me. And although I felt terrible, and guilty, it was working great, actually, up until yesterday. Shall we flashback to there, and then continue on?


----

It was dinner time, and everyone was just chatting normally. The hall was filled with the usual buzz of voices, but even I could tell that there was something in the air – something that had everyone’s heart racing that little big faster. Everyone was on edge, but in particular, my younger brother Hugo. Hugo is...very eccentric. He’s fifteen, but already very anti-dark magic, and anti-Voldemort. Think Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody reincarnated as my fifteen year old brother. Actually, I think ever since we heard the story of Moody when we were younger, he had been Hugo’s hero. He even has ‘constant vigilance’ tattooed on the back of his neck, to let his “enemies know that he’s watching,” and white phoenix tattooed on the inside of forearm (where the death-eater mark used to be), to symbolise the Order of the Phoenix. Yeah, as I said, a real eccentric.
But last night, even more so than usual. For example, he wasn’t talking or laughing with his equally peculiar friends, just sitting there, smirking at his plate. I learnt over, to ask him what he had done, when a loud bang answered my question.


I spun around, and the world seemed to move in slow-motion as my red hair flew around my face. I spat my hair out of my face, and watched silent, with the rest of the hall as a black hooded figure flew down from the ceiling, its neck wrapped in a noose. It was spinning around wildly, like a child’s swing in the wind, and I gasped along with the rest of the hall as it spun around slowly, to reveal that the dummy was wearing a Death Eater’s mask. Transfixed, I could only stare as green smoke began emerging from the mouth of the mask, firstly spelling out the words, “Go home, Death Eater,” before transforming into a snake and hurtling its way towards Scorpius, who was sitting motionless, staring up at the mask. He didn’t even blink as the snake hissed threateningly in front of his face, before exploding into a puff of green smoke.


“No!” I screamed, my voice drowned out by the rest of the hall. I felt like crying, not with sadness or guilt, but with anger. I spotted Scorpius leaving the hall, and I felt outrage all over again. Why should he leave? He hadn’t don’t anything wrong! My fists were clenched shut, and I closed my eyes to prevent my tears from leaking out. I knew, right away, that these feelings weren’t typical Rose Weasley feelings. I shouldn’t feel sorry for Scorpius Malfoy, I should – I didn’t know what I should and shouldn’t do, but all I knew is that making fun of someone for the misdeeds of their ancestors was wrong. I couldn’t understand why everyone was so prejudiced against Scorpius. Sure, it was a little hypocritical, but – my thoughts stopped suddenly, and everything became frightening clear. I opened my eyes. Everyone’s mouths were still moving, but all I could hear was the buzz of the crowd. I turned to look at Albus, who looked equally as horrified as I had felt, before walking around the table slowly, to where Hugo was sitting.


“Hey sis, pretty good, right?” His voice seemed to come from a long way away, and I ignored him, waving my wand, stunning him instantly. I smirked with grim satisfaction as he fell to the ground like an unbalanced plank of wood, and continued out of the hall. I don’t think anyone noticed, apart from Albus. 


I saw Scorpius’ hair before I saw anything else. His head was bowed, and he was trudging along slowly, but his hair was still shining like a lighthouse in the middle of a stormy night, and I half-smiled at the irony. The lighthouse should be saving the drowning boat, not the other way around. I didn’t know what I was going to do until I opened my mouth;


“Oi, Malfoy!” He turned around, to look at me despairingly. He didn’t seem that surprised to see me, and I faltered slightly at the look on his face. I hadn’t been alone with him since one of our detentions together, and I suddenly realised how much he had changed. He looked so old; he looked like a man, and I unexpectedly felt like a small child, begging for forgiveness. I blushed and looked down at the ground.


“Um...” I started, not knowing where to begin. 


“Weasley, you win, alright?” He interrupted, his voice breaking a little, and I looked up at him. Even from a distance, he was tall. He looked down at the ground self-consciously, as if to start speaking again. I had never seen him look so vulnerable before, and I felt my guilt starting to eat away at me. Wasn’t it my fault for starting the whole ‘I-hate-Scorpius-Malfoy’ thing?


“Malfoy,”


“No, listen Weasley – “


“Malfoy, I didn’t – “


“– Weasley, just please leave me– “


“Scorpius!” My voice echoed through the empty corridor, and he looked up, his eyes open in shock. I felt my own eyes widen – how often had I referred to him as that in my head, but never spoken his name out loud? It felt quite liberating, to say his name out loud, so I tried it again:


“Scorpius –“ I paused, enjoying how his named rolled around on my tongue, “I honestly had no idea what was going to happen tonight, I – I would have never done anything like that.”


I paused again, to see if he was going to say anything, but he stayed silent.


“I know that if it had happened to me, I would have wanted to know who was behind it, and I would want them to apologise. I know it’ll never change anything, but, it was my brother who organised the prank. You can do whatever you want to him, but please leave him alive. I know he is a prejudiced git, but I do love him. I think that we both know it’s going to be a cold day in Hell, before my troll of a brother apologises, so I’m just going to apologise now on behalf of him.” I paused again, breathing heavily.


“Malfoy, uh – Scorpius, on behalf of my brother, I’m sorry for the prank that he played on you at dinner. It was cruel and unnecessary and, um, I promise it will never happen again. And...uhh...if it does, well, actually it probably will...I promise I will happily give you Hugo to use as your own personal punching bag. And um, if it’s any consolation, no one apart from his group of friends thinks you’re a Death Eater.” 


I looked down at the ground, suddenly embarrassed. He was looking at me curiously, and I thanked Merlin that it was dark, and he couldn’t see my blushing under his scrutiny.


“Okay. Thank you...Rose.”


I nodded and turned on my heel, before walking briskly back to the Hall. My blood was rushing in my ears, my heart pumping in my chest. Is this what talking to him did to me? Sighing, I shook my head as I rounded the corner, leaning against the wall to keep myself from falling to the ground. I suddenly remembered what he had called me – Rose. The way my name sounded rolling of his tongue, oh! He made me name sound so...exotic, and so beautiful. My knees were trembling slightly, and I prayed to Merlin I wasn’t going to faint. Not so attractive, yes?


Feeling like a ridiculous school girl with a crush, I slapped the wall with my hand and sighed. This was hopeless, and I needed something – anything to distract myself. He wasn’t single, and I was...well, I was a Weasley. Reminding myself it would never work, I headed up to the Gryffindor common room, smirking at the thought of what Professor McGonagall would do to Hugo and his friends. Actually, she would probably be writing a letter to my mother right now. I chuckled quietly, my laughter bouncing off the empty walls of the corridor, as I imagined my mothers’ face. 


‘He did what?’ I could practically hear her voice rising to decibels only dogs can hear, and felt a sudden pang of homesickness. How I wished I could confine in my mother, and tell her what I was feeling towards Draco Malfoy’s son. Gah, why was I thinking of him again. I quickened my pace until I was sprinting full pelt towards the common room, relieved as my thoughts became clear.


---


I woke up to an empty dormitory, and sighed as my mind flashbacked to last night. I groaned as I jumped out of bed, my muscles protesting painfully. No more running for me, I decided firmly, hobbling towards the showers. The water poured over me and I felt myself relaxing already. Trying to be realistic, I wondered if I could get Albus to obliviate last night’s happenings from my mind, but disregarded the though immediately. Albus was pure good, just like his father. I sighed, and hopped out of the shower, dressing quickly in my grey skinny jeans, and Uncle Harry’s old Quidditch jumper. It was my favourite shirt ever – even if it was too big, and fell down to my mid-thighs, I loved how it smelt like him. He was definitely my favourite uncle ever – wait, was it wrong to have favourites? I sighed and pulled my hair up into a messy ballerina bull impatiently. It was Sunday, thank Merlin, so we were allowed to go do whatever we wanted, and wear whatever we wanted. I looked in the mirror and groaned – ew, I had forgotten to take off my eye makeup from last night. I wiped underneath my eyes, removing the most of the mess and decided to give up. Turning my pearl earrings around in my ears – a habit I used frequently to calm myself – I took a deep breath and walked down the stairs and out of the safety of the common room.


“Whatever,” I growled under my breath, interrupting my thoughts about what I was going to say to Scorpius next time I saw him. I blushed, realising I had spoken to myself out loud, and looking around discreetly. Thank Merlin, there was no one else around to hear me going insane. I turned down an unused corridor, when I felt someone pull me into the shadows. My brain immediately went into cliché-romantic mode, and thinking it was Scorpius that had grabbed me, I blushed and gasped like the heroine in a romance novel. My breathing was erratic, as I pushed myself away from the figure slowly -


"Rose? What are you doing? Are you okay?" My brain switched from romantic mode, to I'm-going-to-effing-kill-you mode. 


"Albus? I think the question is, what the bloody hell do you're doing?" I snapped back at him, embarrassed. Ew, I shuddered, I had subconsciously just tried to seduce my cousin.
"Oh, well, last night - the whole thing with Malfoy," He paused, and I could see him looking at me carefully in the shadows, evaluating how I would react, " - I was just wondering if you were okay? I mean - "


"Albus, love, of course I'm okay," I cleared my throat and chuckled, wincing as he raised his eyebrows at me sceptically.


"Okay, well; a) Since when did you start calling me 'love,' you sound like Rita Skeeter - don't even deny it love, you know you do...and b) Then where did you go after you stunned Hugo?"


Damn, this boy was good. I had forgotten how well he knew me.


"I am going to ignore the Rita Skeeter comment," I muttered in a very dignified tone, frowning as he let out a bark-like laugh, "And afterwards, I went to go apologise on behalf of Hugo."


"Apologise? To who - wait, you apologised to Malfoy?" 


I raised my chin to look at him directly in the eye: "Yes, yes I did."


"Rose...I know that what Hugo did was awful, but - why? I mean, you - you hate him!"


"No I don't! I've never hated Scor - Malfoy!"


"Ugh, Malfoy, you sicken me. I hate you ! Why don't you just dig a hole and go die in it. I don't think anyone would miss you!" Albus cried in a high-pitched voice, as I just stared at him, wondering if my favourite cousin/best friend had finally lost it. 


"That was mean to be you," he finally muttered, blushing slightly as he looked down at the crowd, as I laughed quietly. 


"I - I know I wasn't the nicest person to him, and I've never been his biggest fan, but it annoyed me when Hugo started bringing old prejudices back into the situation. I mean, Scorpius might not be the nicest or the most innocent guy in the world - I don't know - but I do know that he's no Death Eater," I paused, as Albus stared at me, "- what do I have something on my face?"


"Rose," Albus began carefully, " - why did you just call him Scorpius?" 


"No I didn't!" I said defensively, blushing. 


"Rose, do - do you like Malfoy?" 


"No!" I cried, "No...I don't like Malfoy..." My voice faded off to nothing. Oh Bullocks, I liked Malfoy. I think, somewhere in my head, I already knew that, but still it was still weird to actually know it for a fact.


"Rose, I know when you lie to me. I know when you lie to yourself. I don't care if you like him - oh Merlin, this is so disturbing, I wish you were asexual Rose, I really do."


I laughed weakly, "By bring the word 'asexual' into the conversation you just made it a lot more disturbing then it need to be."


He laughed quietly along with me until our laughter faded away. 


"Albus?" I whispered


"Hmm?"


"I like Malfoy,"


"I know," he whispered back gruffly.
 

----


We walked out of the empty classroom, his arm wrapped around my shoulder, and mine around his waist, merging into the bustling crowd unnoticed. I smiled at the ground as people passed to let us through. When Albus and I where by ourselves, people respected us and liked us, but when we were together - well, we were intimidating, to say the least. 


There was me, short, gangly and skinny, but with large blue eyes, red lips, pale cheeks and long fire-engine red hair. And then there was Albus, the splitting imagine of his father, with emerald green eyes, raven black hair, and olive skin. And even though I was his cousin, I didn't find it difficult to admit that Albus was, well - hot. I actually can't remember a Weasley - or a Potter - being unattractive. 


Plus, if it wasn't our appearances that intimidated people, it was our parents, heroes of the magical world. Even that intimidated us - we had a lot to live up to. And in case anyone forgot, well. We always managed to remind them somehow. We were very proud of our family, and that often showed. Today, for example, I was wearing my Uncle’s Quidditch jumper, and Albus and I were wearing matching silver rings that we always wore on our middle fingers. After people had noticed that everyone in our large family wore them, and that the Potter-Weasley crest engraved subtly in them, knock-offs had soon become available in jewellery shops. You don’t know how weird it truly is to be as famous as Albus and I are – I’m just glad that I’m not my mother, who is practically stalked by paparazzi, even after the war ended almost 27 years ago.  


My train of thought was broken, as Albus squeezed my shoulder, and nodded subtly to where a particular blonde Slytherin was standing. I tightened my grip on Albus, as I saw him properly for the first time since last night, standing with his back to us, talking quickly and angrily to his girlfriend. Albus smiled down at me, as if to reassure me that everything would be okay, and quickly strode us over until we were standing behind the two. 


"How long was it happening?"


"Scorpius, it was just one time -"


"Ahem." Albus cleared his throat, and Scorpius spun around to face us. I was keenly aware that everyone in the school was watching to see what would happen. 


"Scorpius, mate," The school gasped, and even Scorpius raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Sorry about last night. I know Rose talked to you about it," I blushed as the school began muttering, "But I wanted to tell you myself that I know there is no way Scorpius Malfoy is a Death Eater." He said it with such authority that it rang around the hall, echoing in the silence of the crowd. 


"So -" He held out the hand that wasn't wrapped around my shoulder, "Friends?"


As they shook hands, I beamed with pride, and stepped forward to kiss Scorpius on the cheek. I had to stand on my tip-toes, but he bent his knees automatically. My lips burned afterwards, and I tried to hide my blushing cheeks as he stared at me. Every time he looked at me with those piercing eyes, it felt like he was trying to figure out what I was thinking, or looking into my soul.


Our gaze was broken by a loud scream, "Oh!" Sarah screamed, poking Scorpius in the chest with her manicured nails. "You hypocrite! You get angry at me for sleeping with Adam, but the whole time, you too -" she pointed at me, and then Scorpius, "- have been going behind my back with that Weasley tramp!"


Albus and I exchanged shocked looks with Scorpius, and as the school began speaking in hush whispers again, I felt a pang of guilt for the blonde boy that I was starting to care so deeply about. How could she possibly cheat on someone so perfect? I cleared my throat. And interrupted Scorpius who looked like he was just about to speak.


"Sarah, Scorpius and I - are," I paused, " - just friends. There is nothing going on between us. Please don't try and blame Scorpius to make yourself feel less guilty for what you've done." 


Smack. 


I raised my hand to my burning cheek, and lifted my eyes to meet hers. She flinched, and I felt Albus stiffen.  


"Wood, I've never hexed a girl that hasn't been related to me, but if you don't move now I think I'll have to," Albus voice was as cold as ice, and I shivered. "My cousin has never been anything more than friends with your ex-boyfriend. She is a much better person that you could ever dream of being, and a much less promiscuous woman." He looked her up and down, once, smiled sympathetically and turned on his heel, taking me with him. I looked back, hoping to catch a glimpse of Scorpius, but only saw Sarah, begin comforted by a boy - I guessed he was Adam. 


"So, who do you think will win the cup this year?" I looked up at Albus, but he wasn't talking to me. No, he was talking to Scorpius, who was walking along on the other side of him. I smiled to myself, as they began chatting happily about Quidditch. 


I looked around at the onlookers, and saw Hugo glaring at me from the side of the crowd, his face bruised and puffy. I shrugged and smiled peacefully at him.


‘Traitor,’ he mouthed at me.


‘Whatever,’ I mouthed back, rolling my eyes.


And then we continued our journey, to the kitchens, Albus, Scorpius and I. You know when you know – you just know – when it’s the beginning of something great?
Yeah, well as we sat in the kitchens, stuffing ourselves with toast and laughing like we had never once teased each other, I just knew that this was the start of a great friendship. 


---


Reader - 

So, if you've read this before, then you'll notice that it is a little different. I wasn't particularly happy with some scenes, espcially the last one, and I thought that I would just spend a little time making everything a little more polished. I got a little carried away, however, and I think all together it's a little bit too long for a one-shot. I've split it into two parts now, and I'm hoping that that'll make it a little easy to read. 

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. 

- E