Just a little exercise to get myself back into the HP mood! Rated for language. You know how teenage boys can be.

The Potters are notorious Quidditch rivals.

It is common knowledge in Hogwarts, something that was sealed when Albus first sat down at the Slytherin table, and looked across to his Gryffindor brother. James had shrugged at him, and plans had shifted immediately from 'when we're both on the team' to 'when we play each other'.

Today had featured the last match the Potter boys would play against each other - at Hogwarts, anyway - and Gryffindor emerged victorious. Scorpius is a little bitter, five hours later, and he may have been in danger of breaking his broom at the final whistle, but Albus is furious.

"If that fucker Bulstrode had kept that fucking Bludger out of my fucking way, their fucking Seeker never would have got there before me."

Scorpius, despite himself, is amused. "'Their fucking Seeker' being your little sister?"

Albus scowls at him. "Thanks for the reminder." He slumps back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Scorpius has no wish to spend the evening alone with Albus and his black mood. "Haven't we got a party to go to?" he asks lightly, sliding his wand into his back pocket. James and Albus, rival Quidditch captains, had arranged a victory party weeks ago, both confident of success and neither willing to back down against the other. Partying with the victors wouldn't be his personal preference, but it is guaranteed at least to be a good time. He is feeling a little dejected after having nothing to show for weeks of hard work, and the worst thing he could do right now is wallow in his misery. Or Albus's misery.

"Like I want to go to that now."

Right. "That's probably for the best," Scorpius agrees. "I mean, I wouldn't want to show my face around James either. Or Lily. Not that I think you'll see her face there - or, not for long, anyway. I heard Brandon Atkinson making plans for her evening."

Albus groans. "You're a bastard, Malfoy. Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

Scorpius waits.

"Atkinson?" Albus repeats, sitting up and grabbing his wand, which he twirls between his fingers as he speaks. "Okay. We'll see how much Lily likes Canary Atkinson."

Scorpius notes the change from 'their fucking Seeker' with a smirk. "Come on, misery pants. Last chance to party before the exams. Probably even somebody with a face like yours can get some action."

Restored to some of his good humour, Albus elbows Scorpius in the ribs as he passes. "All right. Let's go fraternising with the enemy. Hands off my sister, by the way. I saw the way you were looking at her after the game."

Maybe Scorpius prefers it when Albus hates Lily. He cannot remember looking at Lily in any way other than total disgust after the game.

"Here come the losers!" James calls as Scorpius and Albus enter the room. They are using the Room of Requirement as neutral ground, though the room does not always work as well as it allegedly once did. Sometimes, it will not open for days, and extra items crop up all over the place. Scorpius supposes that accounts for the swing-set and large fountain in the corner, and perhaps the occasional puff of smoke. It serves its purpose, though, as a large party room which will deny access to any teacher.

Albus tells James in no uncertain terms where he can stick his trophy, but his anger merely serves to fuel James's smile. Deciding that punching James will probably get him ejected from the party, Scorpius leaves the brothers to it.

He dodges a red firework which explodes with the sound of applause, and wonders if a Gryffindor celebratory party really is a better alternative to Albus in a bad mood. There are predominantly Gryffindors here right now, though Ravenclaws are starting to trickle in. Maybe they will help Scorpius get into a party-appropriate frame of mind.

"The alcohol is over there," a voice announces from behind him, in a stage-whisper. Scorpius turns to see Albus's little sister Lily, with a mirror image of James's grin splitting her face. "Aren't you going to congratulate me?"

"No. I could tell your brothers that you've been drinking," Scorpius answers, raising his eyebrows. Lily is a little like a kid sister to him, as a consequence of having been Albus's best mate for far too long. Also, tonight, he certainly doesn't object to spoiling her fun.

Lily shrugs, her eyes twinkling. "Dunno if you noticed, Scorpy-" He makes a face at her -"but I kind of made this amazing catch that won us the game. James won't say no to me tonight, and Albus won't want to come near me because-" She glances around, and then speaks in that stage-whisper again -"I kind of beat him. Single-handedly."

"You're the worst," Scorpius tells her, without any malice.

She winks at him, ducking out of his attempt to ruffle her hair. "Actually, Scorpy, I think you'll find that I'm the best. Do you need to take another look at the scoreboard?"

Merlin, somebody has actually conjured an image of the final scoreboard on one of the walls. Slytherin - 80. Gryffindor - 240. It flashes red and gold. Of fucking course it does. Scorpius takes Lily's advice and heads towards the alcohol.

Half-an-hour later, and the scoreboard is still there, but it is definitely blurrier now. Scorpius's attempts to distract himself with a pretty Ravenclaw girl are blocked by her troll of a boyfriend. Albus and James have managed to argue for the entire time; this is one of those moments where Scorpius is unsure whether to be pleased or upset that he's an only child. Freddie - he assumes it's Freddie, because who else would be so much of an arse? - has charmed fireworks to explode around the pair intermittently. Neither of them look amused by it.

Scorpius is doing a circuit of the room, having swiped another glass of mead from the table when he trips and goes flying - mead and all.

"Sorry," Rose Weasley calls out from her position tucked away behind an armchair, and it seems that she is the unhappy recipient of the contents of his glass. "I guess this is what I get for bringing homework to a party."

He is caught between admonishing her and apologising himself, but her smeared writing changes his mind for some reason. He sits on the floor next to Albus's cousin, to whom he has never really had cause to speak before, and Summons one of the flasks of mead. "Why did you bring homework?" he asks, figuring it is nicer to say that, rather than 'why did you come?'.

Rose seems to have known what he meant (girls appear to have a sixth sense about that sort of thing, and Scorpius doesn't like it), and blushes. "I wasn't going to come. My cousin made me - it's his last year here," she adds, like Scorpius doesn't know. He'd put money on half of Hogwarts counting down to James Potter's last day of school. Certainly, the teachers are. "Even then, I might have stayed behind, but Lily can get into my dormitory, and she started exploding my ink pots."

Scorpius snorts; it is undeniably very typical of Lily. He tips some of the mead into his glass, and then eyes Rose and conjures a second glass for her. "Where's your blond shadow? Looks like his mum sha- er, had relations with a Kneazle?"

The corners of her mouth turn up very slightly. "Mike McKinnon," she acknowledges, before taking the proffered glass and staring into it.

"Sure. So, where is he? Chasing mice around the castle? Begging for milk from the kitchens?"

The smile is a little more defined now, and Scorpius feels a sense of pride. "The Kneazle broke up with me," she says finally, almost too quietly to hear amongst all the noise. That is why he moves closer; he has to be able to hear her, after all.

"What?!" He is pretty sure he can't recall seeing one without the other previously.

"Shush," Rose instructs, her eyes flicking to where Freddie stands, close enough to hear if he weren't otherwise engaged with his tongue down Maggie Sinclair's throat. "I don't want to be that girl guys are too afraid to dump because her cousins might hex him."

Scorpius huffs out a laugh. "That's not a thing, Weasley."

"I don't want to make it a thing, then," she replies, mouth twitching.

"Why did-?"

Rose waves a hand at him, and gulps down half a glass. Shit. He doesn't think he's seen her drink before, and he figures she needs somebody to keep an eye on her tonight. "That is - not Butterbeer."

"It's just mead," he says hastily. "Did you want Butterbeer? I can-" He stops himself abruptly, shaking his head. Too eager. Confirmation, if confirmation were needed, that he is drunk.

"I'm fine," Rose says, setting her drink down and putting her damp homework in her bag. He takes this as a good sign; a sign that he is welcome to stay.

"Break-ups suck," Scorpius says abruptly. He likes the heady few months of a new relationship better than anything, when it is all eager kisses, and everything is fresh and exciting.

Rose tilts her head, considering him. "Much less when you're the one doing the dumping," she comments, and Scorpius has the uncomfortable feeling that Rose Weasley has kept a closer eye on him that he had realised. Explanations bubble to his lips; Courtney was too needy, and Serena and Janice found out about each other, and Dodie's hands were always clammy. Rose will probably not consider these valid excuses, and for some reason (maybe because she is Albus's family, and Albus's mother is somebody you always want on your side), he wants to stay in her good books.

"I suppose it's like being on the wrong side of the scoreboard," she says. Scorpius scowls at her, and all she does is smile back. Scorpius is starting to hate the Weasley smile, but maybe not so much on Rose, because her eyes crinkle in a pleasant way when she smiles. "I'm sorry. You played well."

"Not well enough," he says heavily, bitterly. A whole year until he has another chance, and that one will be his last. He will never beat James Potter again. He finishes his mead, and tops them both up with the flask.

Rose leans her head against the back of the chair, and he considers asking if she'd rather actually sit on the seat rather than behind it, but fuck it. She's sixteen; if she wants to move, she can move herself. And he doesn't mind being masked from the rest of the party and that damned scoreboard. "A toast to losers?"

"To better times," Scorpius corrects, clinking his glass against hers. "That Cup is mine next year."

"Oh, Malfoy." He starts, because what, she confesses her break up to him, and they aren't on first name terms? "I'm sure Lily will let you and Al hold the Cup next year if you ask politely."

He is a little stunned, because the last thing he expected was studious Rose Weasley to be teasing him. Is she flirting? He can't tell; not yet, anyway. "Potter and Weasley are leaving," he says, and then remembers that the Gryffindor Quidditch team is essentially comprised of Potters and Weasleys. Whatever. She'll know who he means. "They're pretty much the best you've got."

"My family has been training an entire generation of Quidditch players," Rose informs him, her eyes twinkling. "Freddie's sister is in third year, and Louis is in fourth. Roxy would be on the team this year, if there had been a space, James said."

All this Quidditch talk is putting Scorpius in a bad mood. He kicks at the ground, searching for another topic of conversation.

Lily's usually sunny face appears over the top of the armchair at that moment. "Scorpius Malfoy! Al says you can explain why he's turned my boyfriend - my secret boyfriend if you remember - into an effing bird."

Scorpius scratches his arm, a grin spreading over his face probably for the first time since Lily caught that damned Snitch. "Sorry, Lily, can't help you. I've been here with Rose all evening."

It's a lie, but one that Rose allows to pass without comment, as Lily leans further over the armchair to verify her cousin's identity. "Hi, Rose. Scorpius, you wait. I'll get you back for this."

"I'm terrified," he drawls, and she nods, as if that is the reaction she wants, before vanishing from sight.

"Uh, I'm terrified for you," Rose offers. "That's the girl who smashed my ink bottles because I didn't want to come to her party tonight." He is about to correct her and say that it's Gryffindor's party, but who is he kidding, really? "Aunt Ginny taught her all kinds of hexes. Uncle Harry was cross, but Aunt Ginny said she'd grown up with older brothers and knows the best way to deal with them. Who's her boyfriend, anyway?"

"Atkinson," answers Scorpius, dismissing the warning. The damage is done, and what is little Lily Potter going to do to him? "Caught them when I was on prefect duty last week." He is going to add, but doesn't, that he walked in on Atkinson with his hand up Lily's shirt. He is not entirely sure that Lily has left the vicinity of the armchair, and anyway, he has already given Lily a lecture on that front. Despite the fact that he was doing similar things with girls at her age. Prefects are allowed to be hypocrites. It's one of the unwritten rules.

Rose whistles, and holds her glass out for more mead. He leans over to pour it out, and makes the mistake of looking into her face. She has a nice face, he thinks suddenly. Nice, and open, and it sort of looks like she's waiting to laugh at a joke, now that she's all relaxed. "Er, Malfoy - could you stop?"

He glances down, and sees the glass overflowing. "Shit - shit, sorry. Got to stop pouring mead on you."

"That would be good," she says, but she doesn't seem to be annoyed. Her eyes are crinkling as she uses Tergeo on her dress. "I'm going to smell like the Three Broomsticks."

"More like the Hog's Head," he teases. "Three Broomsticks smells like Butterbeer."

"I've half a mind to chuck mine over you, so at least I'm not the only one who reeks of alcohol."

The idea of being marked out in some way as having spent the evening together is... well, it's not unappealing to Scorpius, but he tells her to save her booze, because half the party will stink of it anyway.

"I suppose you had better fetch us another flask before my cousins drink it all," Rose says nonchalantly, but her fierce blush betrays her tone. Scorpius stares at her for a moment, because this is a promise of something more, surely? Does it work this way with girls like the Weasleys? Is he taking advantage?

She starts to stammer retractions once he has been staring at her a beat too long, and he leaps up to fetch a flask before she can complete the sentence.

He finds Albus on his way back to the armchair (with two flasks - Scorpius is a firm believer in insurance policies). His friend is in a much better mood, with a party streamer around his neck and balloons tied to his wrist. "Scor! Where have you been, mate?"

Rather than answer, Scorpius tucks one of the flasks under his arm, and uses his now free hand to pluck two yellow feathers out of Albus's top pocket. "This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Hufflepuff, would it?"

Albus shrugs, grinning somewhat sheepishly. "Well, I huffed and I puffed, and suddenly there's a fucking canary. Do you have a girl? Is that why you're being all coy and shit?"

Scorpius says nothing on that front, because honestly, he doesn't know. He does know that he doesn't want Albus coming back with him and ruining his chance of anything. A passing Ravenclaw drapes a streamer around Scorpius's neck. He removes the red and gold immediately, taking care to tread on it when it reaches the ground, but it gives him an idea. "Isn't that Lily?"

"Er. Don't let her know you saw me," Albus says, disappearing in the opposite direction.

Scorpius grins, and heads back towards Rose. He looks around surreptitiously. Albus and James are now involved in some sort of tug of war (do they ever stop competing?), and Lily is seated next to a canary in Hufflepuff robes. He cannot see Freddie or Hugo amidst the crush of people, though he suspects Freddie has something to do with the flashes of light people are crowding around. It is safe to rejoin his companion - who, he finds out, has returned to her homework in his absence.

"No," he says flatly, bending down to take the work from her. He hands her one of his flasks, and stuffs the papers unceremoniously into her bag. "You're going to ruin my reputation, Weasley. I've never failed in distracting a girl from her homework before, and I'm certainly not going to fail at a fucking celebration party for your Quidditch team."

She flushes pink, her eyes bright. "Sorry. I like to keep busy, I guess."

He literally has to bite down on his tongue to stop himself offering to keep her busy. She is Albus's cousin, and if Albus even got a whiff of where Scorpius's thoughts are heading, Scorpius's life would not be worth living. "Well, there you go. Something I didn't know about you. Next time, I'll leave you with a plaything."

His eyes are lowered, but he's watching her all the same, testing her reaction. He doesn't like overly sensitive girls, but Rose snorts at his remark, and he supposes expecting a girl who grew up with James Potter to be sensitive was ridiculous.

"You're too kind," she says dryly. "I can amuse myself."

"How?" Scorpius asks, stealing a cushion from the armchair. "I know you don't play Quidditch. If you tell me you do homework for fun, I'm going to-"

She laughs at him. "No. I do play Quidditch, but not for frivolous things, like my Hogwarts house. I play for Weasley pride - we always end up playing at some point during the holidays. The adults, too, sometimes. Uncle Harry-" She falters here, and looks at him. "I'm sorry; I don't know how much you and Al talk about your families. I know our parents didn't get along."

"Actually, my dad says he thinks your uncle Harry is one of the bravest men he's ever met." Scorpius tries to say this casually, but fails, because both the statement and the reason behind his voicing it are far from casual. Of course, Draco Malfoy says a great deal more than that about Harry Potter, but Scorpius prefers to keep things simple where possible.

"Oh?" Rose asks, and her eyes are alight suddenly. "What does he say about my dad?"

Scorpius hesitates, because he wants to keep that light there, but in the end, he is honest. "Thinks he's a prat."

Rose giggles.

Actually fucking giggles.

Will he ever understand girls?

"I can believe that," she says. "You know, my dad thinks your dad's a complete tosser."

"Oh, good," Scorpius grumbles, though he basically knows all this from Albus anyway. "I'd hate him to think Dad was just a partial tosser."

Rose doesn't smile at that, and a part of Scorpius thinks, oh, fuck, but then she says, "But we're not our parents."

"No," he agrees hoarsely, because he's pretty sure his dad has never wanted to kiss Ronald Weasley this badly. Or at all, come to think of it.

"Scorpius," she says, and he likes the way his name sounds in her soft tones. He looks at her, and his breath catches in his throat.

He moves until he is kneeling before her, and he can tell she wants this - wants this because it is him, hopefully, and not because of her stupid Kneazle of an ex-boyfriend. The space between them is almost non-existent, almost, because - "Your cousins are going to kill me."

"Fuck them," she says clearly, and there is something so sexy about good girls swearing, that he leans forward and closes down those last few inches.

Scorpius kisses her gently at first, mindful of those cousins, but Rose does something with her tongue, and he forgets all about her family. He threads his fingers through her hair, and her fingers tighten on his arm. She tastes of the mead, and something sweeter.

Rose breaks to breathe, her chest heaving - eyes up, Scorpius - and he barely has time to process the smile she gives him before she tugs him back towards her. This time, there is a more frenzied edge to their kissing, and oh, she lets out a moan. He pushes her back against the chair, one hand cupping her chin, the other braced against the seat for support -

But their combined weights are too much for the chair, which shifts forward, sending Rose sprawling, and Scorpius on top of her.

They lock eyes, and grin. Scorpius presses a chaste kiss to her mouth, before climbing off her and dragging the chair back into place to ensure that they are still obscured from view. "That was..."

"Yeah," Rose agrees, her lips pulling into another smile. "Scorpius, I-"

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Albus's eyes are glittering as he sits down beside the pair. They are both silent, and Scorpius notes that Rose is blushing furiously. He wonders vaguely how far down her blushes go, and then gives himself a little shake. Focus.

Neither of them answer Albus, whose face is also turning red. "I asked you a question." He pulls his wand out, and Scorpius shrinks back.

"Come on, Al. She's sixteen."

"She's my cousin! I told you to keep away from her."

Scorpius cannot help himself replying, "Actually, you told me to keep away from your sister," because he feels this is a very important distinction.

"She's as good as my sister! Merlin, no wonder Lily was so concerned about the pair of you."

Rose and Scorpius exchange a significant glance, then. "I told you she would get back at you," Rose says serenely, unconcerned by the fact that her cousin is brandishing a wand in Scorpius's face.

"Rose, I'm surprised at you, letting him talk you into this. Go find Mike; I'll deal with Malfoy here. Let's see how easy you find putting the moves on my cousin now - Petrificus Totalus."

His wand changes into a rubber chicken.

Rose giggles, and Scorpius cannot keep a straight face either. Soon, even Albus's scowl wobbles.

"How many times are you going to let Freddie do that to you?" Rose asks, wiping her eyes.

Albus grumbles, "I don't let Freddie do anything. All right. Rose, if he tries anything, aim for the left elbow. He got hit by a Bludger today." He points the rubber chicken at her. "And I expect better from you when you're dating somebody else."

"Go home, Al. You're drunk," Rose responds, giving him a friendly push.

Scorpius stares at Albus's retreating figure. "You could have told him you weren't still seeing the Kneazle."

Rose looks awkward. "I will. I just thought... Isn't it easier this way? Albus thinks I'm going to go back to Mike, so he's not going to stay here and lecture us about, you know. Starting anything."

"Are we? Starting anything?" Scorpius asks, in a would-be casual voice. "I mean, do you want to?"

"I don't know," she says slowly, and disappointment sinks into his stomach. "It sounds like you're going to be very detrimental to my homework."

Her eyes twinkle, and he grins, relieved. "Oh, you have no idea," he promises, tilting her face up for another kiss.