Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's wonderful characters.

Author's Note: Hello! This is my first fanfiction and I started writing it because I was bored. The first chapter is a little slow, but it'll get better; I promise! Thanks for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated as this is my first publication on Fanfiction. I hope you enjoy!

Scorpius

Scorpius Malfoy was slapped five times that day.

Three of the six smacks had been courtesy of Lara Edwards, the girl he had dated for a little less than a month now. Well, dating was probably too formal a word for it. Occasionally taking out on Hogsmeade weekends and snogging when he was feeling lonely was a better way to phrase it. Being the star chaser for the Slytherin quidditch team meant she packed in one hell of a punch when she wanted to. And boy, did she ever want to. The other remaining two slaps were courtesy of Elizabeth Lyons, the other girl Scorpius had been 'dating'.

He had broken his record for the amount of slaps he'd been given on a single day.

"Bloody hell, Scorp, what happened to your face?" Christof Zabini chortled as he noticed his friend stepping through the Slytherin common room's portrait hole sporting a blooming purple welt on his left cheekbone. Scorpius made a sour face at Christof before plopping down on one of the green silk armchairs clustered around the magnificent roaring fireplace in the common room. He refrained from replying to his friend's question and instead leaned his head on the back of the chair, his eyes sliding shut.

"So Lara and Elizabeth finally found out, then?" Christof muttered in an off-handed voice, snorting. "About bleeding time. Those two are thicker than Crabbe and Goyle, and that's saying something."

"Will you shut up," Scorpius said through clenched teeth, his eyes still firmly shut. "It doesn't matter anyway. I was going to break it off with them by the end of this week."

Christof merely made a sound of disbelief but did not reply. Scorpius had known that Lara and Liz would eventually find out that he had seen them simultaneously. However, what he had not anticipated was that either one of them could deliver such a strong, stinging slap.

Scorpius forced his eyes open and took in the Slytherin common room. It wasn't nearly as busy as it normally was for most of the younger students who were not granted spares were still in class. However a few other fellow sixth year Slytherins were lounging about on the couches, laughing and chatting animatedly, or sitting in study circles working on homework and assignments, relishing the hour and a half of no classes at their disposal. A sharp, pounding sensation was beginning in Scorpius's temples as the onset of a headache befell him. He attempted to rub soothing circles over the spots where it felt as if a blunt spike was being driven into his skull but found no relief. He ground his teeth and refused to look at Christof.

"Look mate, if you don't want to talk that's fine." he finally said, breaking the terse tension in the air and rising from his seat, books under one arm and bag slung over his shoulder. "I'm going up to the dormitories if you need me."

And with that Scorpius's only true friend disappeared, closing the door leading to the boy's dormitories behind him with a snap. The pain in his brain spiked again and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He would not go to Madame Pomfrey, for what would he say? Sorry, I was sort of cheating on two girls and they found out and beat the shite out of me. How pathetic did that sound?

With a heavy sigh Scorpius too rose from his chair, slinging his book bag over his shoulder and ruffling his platinum blond hair. The shrieks of laughter and continuous chatter filling up the common room was doing nothing to help his headache, and with the reminder that he had a long potions essay due on Wednesday, Scorpius exited through the portrait hole quietly. Without really thinking about what he was doing he found himself trudging down the beaten path to the library, the only place he really felt he could get some peace and perhaps at least start his essay.

As he walked, he wondered why he felt so affected by what had occurred that day. Was it guilt he was feeling, for cheating on those girls? Surely not. Scorpius was notorious for his lack of long-term relationships and using girls for his own personal agenda. He had never really felt any real remorse any of the other times he had cheated on a girl. So what was it then?

Scorpius could bet his wand that news was already beginning to spread about him dating both Lara and Elizabeth at the same time without their knowing. The rumour mill at Hogwarts was a dangerous, rapid thing which if set off would create a forest fire at even the slightest provocation. But really, what was new? Scorpius broke another two poor girl's hearts.

So what?

A lurching in his gut and another stabbing pain in his head forced him to push the thought away, and oddly a wave of nausea washed through his stomach. He gritted his teeth again and pressed his lips into a thin line before pushing open the door to the library. It was blissfully silent and cool in here, the air musty with the large collection of dusty old books and the light only feebly shining through the huge mullioned windows covered in grime and who knows what. Scorpius immediately made his way to his favourite table, plopped down into the seat, and dumped his bag on the table, which consequently disturbed the oppressive quietness of the room. Madame Pince eyed him threateningly but he simply gave her his best charming smile and waved. The second she turned away his smile vanished, being replaced by utter misery. The headache was getting worse.

Scorpius was taking out a piece of a parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink, the outlines of his potion essay already beginning to form in his mind when he noticed a mane of curly red hair disappear behind a bookshelf.

Wonderful, Scorpius thought, rolling his eyes and snorting. Just what I need right now.

As if to taunt him there she was, reappearing from behind the row of shelves with a large stack of books clutched to her chest, her nose in the air and red mess of hair bouncing as she took a seat at the table across from Scorpius's. When she caught his silver-grey eyes with her brilliant blue ones her expression immediately soured, perfectly mirroring the way Scorpius was feeling himself. She adopted that usual downsizing, cool look she always wore when her eyes fell on him that he loathed so much and he merely narrowed his gaze, sneering at her before returning to his unwritten essay.

Scorpius gripped his quill, dipped it in the ink bottle several times, and suspended the tip inches above the parchment, immobilized. When he had failed to write anything down a drip of the black ink plopped onto the blank page and Scorpius set the quill down harder than necessary, seething. He couldn't concentrate when that filthy, self-righteous half-blood was sitting right in front of him. He could practically hear her quill scratching against parchment and it set his teeth on edge. He had thought that the library would have been the best place to go to soothe his headache and perhaps get some work done, but of course she had to go muck it all up by giving him that dirty, snooty look and sitting at the table right across from his.

He was seriously debating just getting up and leaving, but that would be surrendering to her, and he'd be damned if he could be bested by a know-it-all with a mudblood mother and a blood traitor for a father. So, steeling himself and ignoring the increasing pain that was building up in his temples, he rose smoothly from his chair and strode over to the potions section of the library. He glanced at her with the swiftness of a sly fox to see that she hadn't even flinched and was still writing furiously across her parchment, occasionally reading through the several textbooks lying open on the table.

He scanned through the titles on the spines of each book, searching for the volume he was looking for, and when he'd found it he returned to his table and set it down next to the still empty bit of parchment and the full bottle of ink. He sat down, opened the book, gripped his quill, and stared at the parchment.

Concentrate.

And he tried. He really tried. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he focused on trying to get words on the mocking blank page in front of him no stroke of brilliance came unto him and so with an inaudible noise of disgust in the back of his throat he repacked all his things, rose from his seat once more, and headed out of the library.

But, before he could go, he had to look. With the quickest dart of his eyes he could manage he saw her, and with a thrill of self-loathing realized she still had made no recognition of the fact that he had even been there. However he did notice the slight quirk of her mouth, the smug and haughty yet subtle expression morphing her face slowly but surely as his headache tripled.

Filthy half-blood.

Rose

Rose Weasley did not notice him at first.

Only when she had made her way back towards her table with a hefty collection of books did she see him sitting at the table directly across from hers, his blond hair looking ruffled and messy and his green and silver Slytherin tie done up sloppily in a futile effort to keep up the 'bad boy' image he so desperately desired to uphold. The sight of him in the library so close to her working space was not a pleasant one at all, and her expression must have changed into that of disgust for he shot her his trademark nasty sneer he reserved just for her. Rose gave him a withering look before setting her books down on the table and reaching in her bag for a fresh page of parchment. Smoothing it out in front of her, she dipped her eagle feather quill in her ink bottle and began her potions essay on common antidotes for dragon pox. She refused to look at the blond-haired Slytherin across from her and opened the cover of the first book she had retrieved from the library shelf, scanning through the table of contents. She flipped to the desired page and invested herself in completing the essay, which was due on Wednesday.

Although she was loathe admitting it, having Scorpius share the library with her set her teeth on edge. She found it bothersome to have to share even the same room as him and her concentration level decreased. Luckily Rose had a remarkable ability to feign her disinterest around him even though internally she was angry he was there, she kept her attention diverted from him.

She had begun to make some serious headway on her essay when she heard the scrape of a chair on the stone flagged floor. Rose resisted the urge to look up but knew without having to direct her eyes away from her parchment that Scorpius had just stood, probably to go get a book. Rose wondered if he was working on the same potions essay she was doing - they (unfortunately) shared the same advanced potions class. She shoved the thought away and refocused on the task at hand.

Several minutes later there was another scrape on the floor and Rose grit her teeth, lowering her head. Her only consolation was that he was probably just as aggravated about her being there as she was him. It annoyed Rose more than she cared to admit that Scorpius used the library almost as much as she did.

Almost.

The library was somewhat of a sanctuary to Rose Weasley, a place to go where she could escape the madness and clear her head. She spent many hours holed up in the library, comforted by the thousands of books and the smell of clean and old parchment alike. She'd been using it since her first year at Hogwarts and it became automatically her favourite place in the castle. When Scorpius had started using it in second year Rose had taken a time of about a month avoiding it for she didn't want to be in such a close proximity to a Malfoy. Eventually, though, she realized how silly it was that one arrogant, cocky little boy could withhold her from her favourite place in the world and she learned to ignore him. Although she still loathed him, she had learned to put up with him due to the fact that they shared most of their classes together. Rose hated the fact that Scorpius was incredibly smart, and he and her always competed for the title of top of the year. Rose was only in the lead by a slim amount, Scorpius closely following behind her. She had to stay on top of her game if she was going to keep that title.

Rose sighed and set her quill down, reading through what she had written so far and looking for grammatical errors. Suddenly a noise - or lack thereof, really - alerted her and caused suspicion to settle into the pit of her stomach. What with Scorpius being so close to her surely she would hear his quill scratching against parchment, no? But after straining her ears considerably (and subtly, of course, so as not to let on that she was listening for Scorpius Malfoy), she was sure that she couldn't hear the telltale scratching of a quill. In fact, she didn't hear much of anything other than Madame Pince swooping through the rows of bookshelves and hissing at the few other students who were whispering quietly among themselves. Rose frowned and scrunched up her nose before catching herself and morphing her face into a cool indifferent mask. What was he doing?

Curious now, Rose dared to take one swift glance at him and realized that he was doing nothing but staring at the blank sheet of parchment in front of him, his left hand balled into a fist and right hand holding the quill suspended over the page. His eyes were narrowed and teeth obviously clenched, his temples bulging and jaw set in a hard line. His face was considerably pale and Rose looked away before he could catch her looking.

What was he doing?

Was her presence that unbearable for him? Rose felt an odd wash of emotion roll through her which she couldn't quite place. Then she shook herself mentally and frowned. Of course her presence was making him cringe, and vice versa. But really, was it that bad? Rose and Scorpius had somewhat learned to tolerate one another over the years without wanting to strangle each other due to the extensive amount of classes they had together. Rose wondered not for the first time with a shudder how her cousin Albus could bear to be around him, let alone actually befriend him. This was Draco Malfoy's son! And sure, Albus got along with everyone and not a single person in the school could say they disliked him (unless, of course, they were jealous) but being friends with a Malfoy just didn't sit well with Rose, and especially Scorpius. It was sickening the way he strut around school like he owned the place, using girls like worthless objects and looking down on everyone just because of his pure-blood status.

Rose thought about getting up and leaving the library. He was starting to make her feel annoyed and uncomfortable. But then she realized that it was exactly what he wanted, and Rose would not be driven out of her favourite place by some large-headed bigot. She was not twelve years old anymore. Picking up her quill resolutely she dipped it once again in the ink bottle and began to write.

Another scraping of a chair against the floor. Again, Rose forced herself not to look, and kept her expression as blank as she possibly could while straining her ears to catch any and every noise in the library. She could tell that Scorpius had risen from his seat again. The sounds of parchment being rolled up and an ink bottle clicking against a hard surface just confirmed her suspicions that the Slytherin pure-blood was packing up his things and getting ready to leave, and by what Rose had seen earlier, with a still unwritten potions essay hanging over his head. She simply could not resist a small, satisfied smile to creep across her face but she kept her eyes on her essay, pretending to read over it.

She'd won. And Rose had a feeling that he knew it, too.