𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝘩𝑎𝑑𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝗁.𝗉. 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗇.

.six.

Of all the completely implausible things Scorpius Malfoy had imagined, he was pretty sure he could never have come up with the situation that he happened to be in right now. He was sitting in a double Potions lesson with the rest of the Slytherin and Gryffindor fifth-years, trying to pretend he was paying attention and watching Albus Potter try to make a piece of leftover toast from breakfast explode.

Somehow, Scorpius wasn't surprised.

He'd been partners with Albus for a little over three weeks now, and was starting to rethink his decision. True, Al had been very adamant about it, and true, no one else really wanted to be Scorpius' partner anyway, so he had given in pretty easily.

"Come on, Scorpius, please?" Albus whined, hanging onto the other boy's arm for added effect, "Just this once?"

Scorpius sighed. "Knowing you, 'just this once' must be synonymous with 'until you get tired of me'. No." Albus stuck out his bottom lip, his forehead creasing and his eyes growing wider.

"But you don't know me."

"I'm not sure I want to."

"Pwease?" Scorpius cocked an eyebrow.

"Dude."

"C'mon! I promise I won't get tired of you. You're, like, my only friend."

"I'm boring. You won't like me. Besides, you have Cas." Albus glared across the hall at the Gryffindor table.

"She betrayed me. I've been mortally wounded." He turned his head dramatically in the other direction. "I can't even look at her."

Scorpius laughed. "I'm guessing that means she already has a partner?"

"Yeah, she left me for that Ophelia girl. The most infuriating part of it is Ophelia actually seems kinda cool. Whatever," Albus turned back to the blond. "That means you have to be my lab partner."

"It does?"

"Yep!" Albus grinned, holding his head high. Scorpius hummed in sarcastic agreement, turning back to his now cold plate of eggs. He was about to open his mouth to deny Albus again, when he realized that this was probably the only chance he would get at a lab partner who wasn't scared of him, didn't hate him, was actually decently intelligent, or all of the above.

"Fine," he grumbled in defeat. "I'll do it."

"Thank God!" Albus turned happily back to his food, shoveling another forkful into his mouth triumphantly.

Scorpius was pulled back into reality by a loud band, turning to his partner and finding Albus covered in breadcrumbs and what looked to be ash. A big smile slowly spread across the Potter's face. Scorpius couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, Albus, if you put that much effort into what we were actually supposed to be doing, you might actually pass this class." Albus turned, faking offense, back to Scorpius.

"Uh, rude, I've been...helping. And," he added quietly, "it's Al."

"Well, Al, if by helping you mean telling me how well I'm doing and how this shade of purple really brings out your eyes, then yeah, you're a big help." Gasping, Al turned away and back to the potion.

"I'll help tomorrow."

"You'd better." Looking away, Scorpius let his eyes graze over the inhabitants of the room. He was more vexed than surprised to find them resting on none other than Cas Weasley.

As usual.

Scorpius wasn't quite sure what it was about her. No matter how much he pretended it wasn't true, he found himself staring at her whenever he had a dull moment. Sure, he was aware that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. But somehow, that didn't stop him from going out of the way to bump her shoulders when they were walking to their classes or catapult mashed potatoes across the hall at her during dinner, even though most times his shots fell short.

Yeah, she was kinda a bitch. As much as Scorpius seemed to find endless ways to annoy her, she was targeting him just as much. Usually first. Scorpius wasn't sure what he had done to make her hate him so much, but apparently it was horrible enough to make her want to get under his skin at every moment of every day.

For some inexplicable reason, he didn't hate it.

Of course, he hated her. At least, he was pretty sure he did.

Every fiber of his being told him to stop while he was ahead, and just keep on keeping on with Cas Weasley hating his guts and him trying to find a way to get at her as much as she did sometimes.

Still, the girl was magnetic. And no matter how much he wanted to, Scorpius Malfoy couldn't stop.

He hated Cas. And for some reason, he wanted her to hate him back.

The bell rang, jarring Scorpius out of his internal turmoil and reminding him that he did, in fact, have actual things to do today. Hurriedly packing all of his things, he turned back to Al to wave goodbye. He was met with a very smug-looking Albus, who wiggled his eyebrows at the other and glanced between him and who Scorpius could only assume was Cas.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you it wasn't polite to stare?" Albus mocked in a very high-and-mighty voice. Scorpius looked his partner dead in the eyes, trying to hide a smile as he said dully and cooly,

"My mother's dead." Spinning on his heel, Scorpius walked briskly out of the classroom, a feeling of complete satisfaction settling over him. As he passed under the arch of the dungeon door, Scorpius was suddenly hurtled into a wall on his left side. Whipping around quickly to see who bumped him, Malfoy was not at all shocked to see everyone's favorite Weasley walking away, sauntering confidently. Before she got too far ahead, Cas turned smugly over her shoulder.

"Watch where you're going, Malfoy," the redhead seethed, sending a harsh glare over her shoulder for good measure.

Before she could spiral her head back around, however, Scorpius caught the hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

Interesting.

As he felt a smirk melt over his own features, Scorpius headed back to the Slytherin common rooms, wondering if he should try to be a little clumsy more often.