Amortentia (a Scorose Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-One

          After a less-than-eventful rest of the weekend, Rose found herself, once again, sitting next to Charlie in their Potions class.  It was Rose's last class of the day before her free period, and she couldn't wait to get out of this lesson.

          Professor Dobbs was wandering between the desks, handing back the written assignments with both the essay and the practical marks on them. 

          "What do you think we'll get?" Charlie murmured to her as Professor Dobbs passed yet again, this time to hand Albus and his partner their assignment. 

          "As long as it's not anything less than Acceptable, I don't care," Rose replied.  That was lie.  Charlie knew it, too. 

          "Yeah, right," he scoffed.  "And in Rose-language that translates to 'As long as it's more than what Scorpius and Marie get, I don't care'."

          Rose scowled at her friend.  "No," she snapped.  "Where did you get that from?"

          "Oh, I don't know," he mused sarcastically.  "Perhaps from your incessant, crazy mutterings of 'I have to beat Scorpius' every time we sat down to work on it?"

          "I did not say that!" Rose exclaimed, flushing red. 

          Charlie was about to retort when Professor Dobbs appeared at their table.  "Keep it down, you two," she said, and placed their assignment on the table between them. 

          As soon as she disappeared again, Rose and Charlie were bent over the eight-page-long essay, peering at the scribbled marks at the top of the first page. 

          Written assignment — Outstanding
          Practical assignment — Exceeds Expectations
          Overall — 86%

          Charlie grinned at Rose.  "Good job, partner," he said, holding out his hand. 

          She smacked it lightly, offering her own words of appraisal. 

          "You all have ten minutes to look over your marks and read the feedback I have given you," Professor Dobbs called from the front of the Potions classroom.  "If you have any questions form a line at my desk and I'll see to them.  After those ten minutes, however, I shall be filing these assignments away and we will be moving on to the next topic."

          A few students got up from their desks and made their way to Professor Dobbs.

          Rose turned back to Charlie.  "I wonder what we're doing next."

          Charlie leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes.  "I don't," he scoffed.  "I, for one, am just glad that assignment is over and done with."  He opened one eye.  "No offence, Weasley."

          She rolled her eyes at him.  Charlie just grinned back and closed his eyes again. 

          Rose wasted no time in checking up on her academic rival.  Scorpius was sat next to Marie.  They were both looking at their assignment, looking rather pleased.  Marie was speaking, looking up at Scorpius every few seconds. 

          But Scorpius barely even glanced her way.

          Rose frowned, trying desperately to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of her mind.  She couldn't decipher his mood.  It wasn't like him to be so rude.

          In actual fact, it was like him.  Rose had gotten so used to the nice, friendly Scorpius she had been around for the past few weeks that she had forgotten about the rude, hostile Scorpius she had met first.  What was out of character, was the way he had been treating Marie.  All smiles and chatty conversations, going for walks about Hogsmeade with a girl he barely knew.  He was back to his usual self — the one he showed the people he wasn't close to, that was.