If someone had told Rose, when she got her badge earlier in the summer, that being a prefect would consist of patrolling the hallways with Scorpius Malfoy for the entire year, she would have thrown the badge into the trash and run in the opposite direction. However, seeing as she was seated in a compartment full of other prefects and next to the Head Girl, no doubt, Rose had judged that running away in hysterics would be frowned upon.
Harry Longbottom, the Gryffindor Head Boy, and Juliet Bones, the Hufflepuff Head Girl, had decided to change the patrolling system this year. Instead of being assigned different patrolling partners at every meeting, each prefect was assigned a permanent partner from a different house -- this was to ensure and promote inter-house communication and good spirits. The Head Boy and Girl had even asked Headmister Slughorn, who was completely enthralled by the idea, for there to be an equal number of prefects chosen from every house so as to allow their new system to work.
Privately, Rose had thought it to be a wonderful way for students to try to work together and become friends with students from other houses… until she had been paired with Scorpius Malfoy. Why him, she had immediately asked herself.
Well, he’s not THAT bad, her heart quickly piped in. But why couldn’t it have been someone else? Someone I’m friends with? I don’t even know him and I hate the effect he has on me, countered her overly analytical brain. Isn’t getting to know each other kind of the whole point? And do you mean the feeling of butterflies that you get almost every time you see him? How you feel like he penetrates your soul when he looks at you? That effect? responded her heart.
Rose chided herself and stopped her mental debate -- she was being utterly ridiculous. Just because she and Scorpius had not been friends up to this point in their lives, did not mean that they were incapable of any sort of friendship. And just because she thought him quite attractive, like every girl at Hogwarts did, didn’t mean that her heart had to go into a flutter every time she saw him, nor that wild schoolgirl fantasies of them being together had to pop into her head at the mention of his name.
Rose knew that she had fancied Scorpius for the last little while, however unwilling she was to admit it, but she did not want to start behaving like one of those girls who fawned over the boy. Adrianna was one of those girls; she always walked with Scorpius to class, sometimes even hip-butting his buddy Marcus Flint out of the way so she could stand next to him, and was always laughing at his jokes and lovingly staring at him.
Quite frankly, it was sickening to look at, and Rose had often noticed that Scorpius usually looked quite uncomfortable with the whole situation. And it wasn’t just Adrianna; the girl led a whole fan club whose favourite pastime was Scorpius-hunting. Rose disliked them all.
Thus, after reminding herself not to become Adrianna -- the only person whom Rose had ever detested -- she calmed down, composed herself, and smiled when Scorpius came to sit next to her. Almost as soon as he sat down, Rose felt a million holes burn into her as every pair of female eyes in the compartment glued themselves to her and Scorpius. It was the most uncomfortable she had ever felt and she didn’t realize for a while that Scorpius had asked her how her summer had been and was now looking a bit uncomfortable as she wasn’t answering.
–My summer was pretty good, thanks for asking Scorpius. I spent most of it telling my brother to stay out of my life actually,†Rose quickly chimed in. He laughed slightly and told her how glad he was that he didn’t have siblings whenever other people talked about theirs.
–You know, I’ve often thought about how much I would rather not have a sibling but then I realized that I would have no one to blame anything on,†Rose said chuckling.
–Ya, all I have to occupy my time is our dog, Oscar,†Scorpius told her.
–You guys have a dog? I didn’t think anyone would let a dog run around the Malfoy mansion.â€
Rose quickly covered her mouth, worrying instantly whether she had said too much and if Scorpius would get offended. She hoped not because she actually found their pleasant conversation quite invigorating and didn’t want to say something stupid. Her fears must have been plastered all over her face because Scorpius quickly told her not to fret.
–Oh you don’t need to worry about saying anything about my house Rose. I actually refer to it as the family mausoleum whenever my parents and grandparents aren’t around. I’ve actually heard my mother call it that once as well!â€
She sighed in relief and laughed at what he had said; Scorpius smiled at her and asked her more about her summer. They talked for a few more minutes until Scorpius excused himself to talk to some of his friends, as their patrol didn’t start till half an hour later. He bid her goodbye and gave Rose one last smile as he left the compartment.
Well that was certainly interesting, thought Rose. I had a normal, civilized, and quite pleasant conversation with Scorpius Malfoy. Who would’ve thought? And he was so nice! And he smiled and laughed with me! What is up with that? He barely said five words to me in the last five years and now all of a sudden, we start talking as if we’re old friends? Again, what is up with that? He didn’t look too disappointed to be paired up with me either. In fact, I think I even saw a small smile on his face when my name and his were mentioned. Actually, I probably just imagined that. Scorpius doesn’t fancy me, or like me, and probably doesn’t even want to be paired up with me. We are just patrol partners and that conversation that we had was just Scorpius being nice and nothing else!
The Most Unlikely Romance by RoseHyperionMalfoy
Chapter Notes: Hi! Sorry for the long wait, I've been swamped with university. Here's chapter 3. Hope you like it!