Focus. You know all the theory. You're a talented witch. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this.

Rose took a deep breath.

"Silencio."

For a moment it looked like the spell had finally worked; Lottie Frobisher's toad was blissfully quiet for all of five seconds, before it croaked just as loudly as it had been before.

"Silencio. Silencio. AGH, just shut the fuck up!" Rose screamed in frustration, collapsing into a chair in the abandoned classroom she'd commandeered. It was less than two weeks until her Charms OWL, and she was still completely incapable of casting one of the spells on the syllabus. And knowing her luck, it would definitely be the one that she was asked for in the exam. She'd never had so much trouble with a spell before in her life, and it was driving her insane.

"Are you alright there, Rose?"

The sudden appearance of Scorpius Malfoy in the doorway reminded Rose that it was well past curfew, and that she was borrowing a classroom without permission. Maybe the scream hadn't been such a good idea.

"I'm fine," she snapped, blushing furiously. Scorpius's presence always seemed to make her irrationally angry. "What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"There's no need to be rude," he said, keeping his cool as always. "And I might ask you the same question. I'm on prefect duty; I heard a disturbance and wondered who was attacking you," he told her, smirking.

It had been embarrassing enough asking Lottie if she could borrow her toad, but Scorpius was the last person she wanted to admit this to. "Nobody. I was just... practising the Silencing Charm," she mumbled, turning an even deeper shade of red. No matter how stupid she knew it was, her father had instilled a competitive element in her; to Rose, if she hadn't beaten Scorpius in a test, she'd failed.

"Oh - do you want some help?"

Rose blinked. "What?" She'd been expecting some kind of sarcastic remark. She certainly would have made one to him if their positions were reversed. But... Scorpius Malfoy was actually being nice.

"Would you like some help?" he repeated. "It's a tricky one, I know."

"Oh... um, thanks, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now," Rose lied hurriedly. Admitting that she was struggling with the spell was one thing, but accepting help with it would be another thing entirely.

Scorpius gave her a look. "You're not fooling me. You didn't sound like you were getting the hang of it. It's okay to struggle with things sometimes."

"Don't patronise me," Rose growled, mortified. Charms was her best subject; she'd never struggled with anything in that lesson before, and she'd never come second to Scorpius in a test. "I don't need your help, Malfoy."

"Why don't you understand?" Scorpius said exasperatedly. "I'm not trying to get one up on you. Why would I? But fine; if you don't want my help, I'll leave."

Rose detected something in his eyes as he turned to go - hurt? She felt a tiny stab of guilt. Scorpius was infuriating, but she didn't really hate him. Everything she had against him was only because of her competitive nature: she saw his intelligence as a threat. And in that moment, a tiny part of her was even willing to admit that maybe she was prejudiced against him as well. Maybe he was a Malfoy, but that didn't mean that he didn't deserve a chance.

It was almost painful to say it, but she did. "Scorpius?" she called quietly, just as he was reaching the door. He turned back and looked at her questioningly. "Help would be... good. Thanks."

For a moment, Scorpius looked thrilled, but he hastily rearranged his features as he came back into the classroom, closing the door behind him. "Okay then," he said, the awkwardness descending back over them. "Show me the spell."

She didn't understand why, but Rose's hand shook slightly as she pointed her wand at the toad. "Silencio."

There was no effect; the toad continued to croak happily, entirely unaware of its surroundings.

"You're kind of waving your wand," Scorpius explained patiently. "It needs to be more like a—"

"—a jab, I know!" Rose snapped, gesturing towards The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, which was lying open on a nearby table. "It says in there! I tried that, and the thing looked like it had a bloody heart attack and then carried on croaking! What?" she demanded as Scorpius started laughing at her. "Are you going to say anything useful, or are you just going to stand there and make fun of me?"

"Sorry," Scorpius said quickly, the grin not leaving his face. "I don't know... you probably did it too violently. Somewhere in the middle - like this," he said, drawing his own wand and demonstrating the movement.

Rose did her best to copy him, but he just laughed again. "It's not funny, Scorpius! I'm going to fail my OWL, and then I won't be able to train as a Healer or get anywhere in life!"

"You're not going to fail. It's one spell; you might not even get asked it. You'll be fine, I promise," he said soothingly, and for some reason, it felt like the promise meant a lot. Their eyes locked for the briefest of moments. "Look, come here," Scorpius instructed, and Rose did so hesitantly. Her senses were elevated because of their close proximity, and she flinched away in surprise when she felt his hand on her arm.

"Sorry," she said hastily, returning her arm to where is was before. "Carry on." She could feel herself blushing again, and her heart rate sped up as Scorpius took hold of her arm and made the jabbing motion - now she could feel it, she'd been doing it completely wrong. But other totally indecent thoughts were also starting to creep into her head...

"Try now."

Rose took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair absently, trying to compose herself. Focus. "Silencio."

The toad was silent, and Rose left the room very confused about her feelings towards Scorpius Malfoy.

A/N: This doesn't fit with my usual head canon for Rose/Scorpius (a bit more Dramione-esque than how I normally write them... *shudder*), but I had this little plot bunny and decided to have some fun with it. :)

This was written for Challenge #2 on the RoseScorpius Fans Forum, where we had to incorporate a colour into our story (I did it kind of subtly but I went with Rose turning red with anger/embarrassment/attraction ;)).

Also being entered into Jelly Slugs in the Honeydukes Competition on the HPFC forum (the nextgen category).