Albus, who made it back to the compartment before Rose had, said, smirking slightly, “She’s like this because she got stuck with Scorpius Malfoy for patrol duty. And I am guessing,” he continued with a sideways glance at Rose, “that it did not end well.” Rose finally exploded.
“I HATE HIM!” she yelled, not seeming to care that she scared her relatives by her outburst. “He is an arrogant, conceited,vicious bully, and he deliberately lied to Ian Macmillan, telling him I attacked him for no reason, so already Gryffindor is already down points for the House Championship, and we hadn’t even arrived at school yet!”
Rose, who was breathing heavily, looked around at her cousins’ and brother’s reactions. Lily looked sympathetic, Hugo looked frightened, and Albus, much to Rose’s annoyance, was still smirking. Suddenly, the compartment door opened and James Potter stumbled in, nearly sitting on his little sister as he did so.
“And where have you been?” Rose demanded.
James composed himself into the seat next to Lily, apologizing for almost sitting on her, and, in a casual voice, replied “You know that Slytherin bloke Zabini in my year? Well, he was giving a bunch of first years a hard time in the hallway, so I decided to put a stop to it. He now has little tentacles sprouting all over his face.” Everyone in the Potter and Weasley families knew what a trouble maker James was, so none of this surprised them an ounce.
“And?” pressed on Rose. “What happened? Did you get caught?” James shook his head.
“I left the scene of the crime before anyone could show up. Also, no one will know how Zabini ended up the way he did because I put a Memory Charm on him before I left.” James looked extremely pleased with himself, as if he had been invited to tea with the Minister.
“Well,” said Rose after a brief pause. “I’m glad someone is having a good first day back.” Then she turned to stare out the compartment window, watching the colorful blur go by as the scarlet train continued to progress to Hogwarts. She didn’t even notice Albus, Lily, Hugo and James having a whispered conversation about her, filling James in on what happened. Right now, she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
Scorpius leisurely walked into his friends’ compartment, trying to hide his anger at Rose. Sure, he was proud that he already managed ruckus in Rose’s life, but was extremely angry that he actually got pinned to a wall because a girl, worst of all, a Weasley, beat him in a duel. Not that this was the first time. All through school they dueled, and the odds were fifty-fifty to him winning. Over the summer, he practiced dueling techniques with his father, who had had his hand at dueling when he attended school, so he would be able to beat Rose once and for all this year. He even made an effort to work hard for it, doing push-ups and sit-ups for hours a day. Now he viewed all the practice as a waste of his summer.
His best friend, Luke Nott, was always able to see exactly what Scorpius was feeling, so it was no surprise when he asked him, “What’s got you pissed?” as Scorpius threw himself irritably in a seat next to him.
“Nothing’s got me pissed,” Scorpius grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. “Chuck me a frog, would you?”
Luke, still looking suspicious, passed Scorpius a Chocolate Frog. Scorpius tore off the wrapper and quickly bit the frog to stop himself from raging. He then glanced at the card and saw the smiling face of Godric Gryffindor, whose shoulder length auburn hair was tied in a ponytail, glancing up at him. Hating Gryffindors even more, Scorpius pulled out his wand, muttered “Incendio”, and watched the card burn on the compartment floor. It looked like a fiery red torch, blazing gloatingly at him. He was suddenly reminded of bushy red hair. He hurriedly stomped out the flames, scooped up the ashes in his pale thin hand, and threw them out the compartment window. Then he turned back to Luke, Marissa Warrington, and Kenneth Flint, who all looked thunder struck.
Marissa, who was a pretty brunette Slytherin fifth year who was known to bring more girls to tears in a week quicker than it took for her House to earn 100 points, put her hand on Scorpius’s knee. She was dying to go out with him and sure; Scorpius let her fawn over him, but he just didn’t feel a spark in their relationship. “Baby,” Marissa simpered as both Luke and Kenneth pretended to gag behind her back. “Something’s up. You have to talk to us.” Scorpius, being naturally stubborn, shook her hand off his knee and began to glare out the window. After a short period of silence, Kenneth, who had been playing with hi s long dirty-blond hair that hung in front of his dark eyes, spoke.
“So,” he started, glancing nervously at Scorpius, who was still avoiding everyone’s gaze. “I heard you had patrol duty with that Weasley girl. Did you show her what us Slytherins are made of?” Scorpius, sighing, turned to his friends, deciding he could not hide the facts from them any longer.
“Yes and no,” stated Scorpius, and when he saw his classmates’ confused looks, he continued hotly, “Look, I might have gotten her into trouble by losing her a few House points, but not before she got me pinned to a wall at wand point.” Yet again there was another silence, an embarrassed one. The only sound that could be heard was the nearby twitter of first years. Scorpius had half a mind to yell at them to be quiet, but he thought it would be best not to take his anger out on little kids who would probably wet their pants at the sight of him.
“That little bitch,” Marissa said, breaking the silence. “Don’t you worry, Scorpius, I’ll take care of her. When I’m done with her, she won’t know wh-”
“Look, I don’t need you to do anything!” snapped Scorpius, causing Marissa to flush and become silent once more. “Weasley didn’t do anything to you. She messed with me and it’s me she’s going to have to deal with. I promise you, Weasley will regret the day she messed with a Malfoy.” With that said, he felt he needed out. He wanted to be alone. Scorpius quickly muttered his excuse to go to the bathroom and made his way briskly down the compartment’s hallway. He finally sat down in an abandoned compartment, slamming the door behind him. He placed his head in his heads, trying to calm himself. He had to beat Rose now; that would be payback for humiliating him. Scorpius then looked up and stared out the window, looking at the beatuiful landscape next to the bustling train.