It wasn't until that very day in History of Magic in fifth year that Rose started to see him differently than before. Or rather, to see him and not the bloke her father told her to beat in every possible subject at Hogwarts.

"…and what started the war? Yes, Miss Cheng?"
The brunette smiled at the professor, clearing her throat.
"A Malfoy started it. If Draco Malfoy wouldn't have put up the Vanishing Cabinets in Hogwarts, the Death Eaters would have never entered and so many people would still be alive. So it is Malfoy's fault lots of people were killed and our parents lost beloved ones."
"Think before you speak, bitch."
Rose looked up, surprised by actually hearing the voice of Scorpius Malfoy. He hardly said anything but always got remarkably good marks in all of the classes.
She turned her attention towards him rather than the piece of paper in front of her on which tiny stickmen were fighting about who could build the best sandcastle.
"How do you dare speaking about my father like you know him, like you know what he did and why? How do you dare judging him by what you may have heard or may have read?"
The anger in his cold, grey-bluish eyes were hard not to notice as he spoke and stood up.
"I am very sorry, Professor, but I simply cannot put up with this sort of shit anymore." Saying it, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of class.
Apparently Professor Ginges was shocked by Scorpius' behavior; otherwise the young Slytherin wouldn't have gotten away without a date for detention. Rose, too, was not sure of whether Scorpius reacted the wrong way or just appropriate to what has been said by Tina Cheng.
She decided to think about it during lunch, because her hunger was way too loud to be overheard.

"Really, Weasley? A small note? 'Wanna talk about surname-associations after lunch?' That is all you could come up with in your brilliantly smart mind?"
"Well it worked, didn't it? You are here." Rose crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking him straight in his bright eyes. They were so different from hers. Well, her eyes were brown, of course they were different! But they were so, so different from her father's blue eyes. Cooler, yet not colder. She could see a lot of affection in them. Or maybe she just wished she would, simply to make it easier to bond with Scorpius Malfoy.
"I am sure you do not have any problems with surname-associations. Your family name is perfectly perfect, as is your uncle's."
"See? You are doing it, too. Come on, Malf…" Rose stopped as she was about to call him by his last name. The look he shot her, the hate, the coldness, the bitterness made her stop.
"Scorpius. I am sorry. Come on, I'll find us a secret place where we can talk about it. If you promise me not to tell anybody about it."
"Why should I come with you? Why should I trust you? How do I know you are not going to use whatever I say against me at some point in time?"
"You are never going to know it unless you try", she smiled at him softly.
"You have got a point there…" Scorpius hesitated before he nodded. Only slightly, as if he wouldn't want Rose to notice that he agreed in following her.
"Besides, who would I tell about your secret little place? One half of Hogwarts thinks I am too much of the Death Eater and the other half is sure I am not enough of one."
Rose frowned but didn't say anything. Thinking about it she realized that she rarely saw Scorpius with others just standing in a group and chatting like she did with her friends. If she met him it was in the library, where he sat in a corner, reading books or scribbling down whatever-he-was-scribbling.
"Alright then. I'll show it to you."

On their way to her place, both kept quiet. When Rose suddenly stopped walking and Scorpius nearly bumped into her, he looked around.
"Well… this is a nice corridor. It has windows."
Rose looked at him, puzzled, before she started to laugh.
"Yes. Yes, it does have windows! But I am not here because I wanted to show you the corridor. Silly you!" She chuckled and turned around to face the wall. "I am here to show you this."
"Weasley, this is a wall. I am sorry to tell you, but frankly, I have seen many walls in my life and this is not the prettiest one I have ever seen." To his surprise, Rose continued to giggle.
"No! Scorpius, really! I don't want to show you a freaking wall or a stupid corridor with windows. I want to show you this." Rose smiled at him before facing the wall again. As soon as he turned away his eyes from her freaky auburn curls, the wall began to move until a door appeared.
By the look on his face Rose could tell he has never ever seen it before. She quickly opened the door to let him in and entered right behind the blond boy.
"Did your father never tell you about the Room of Requirement? This is where he hid the Vanishing Cabinet."
"My father never talks about the war", he muttered and looked around, trying to understand what was in front of him. As he caught Rose's eyes, she smiled gently.
"The Room of Requirement always changes in what you need the most. If you need to pee, it is going to be the perfect bathroom. If you want to shag your girlfriend, go ahead, the room will offer you a nice king-size bed or a comfy sofa. I hope you are fine with what I chose for us."
Rose sat down on the soft, warm grass, looking up into the dark sky full of sparkling stars, the moon shining on her as Scorpius sat down next to the red-head.
"Before we talk, I need to ask something which I hope you will answer honestly."
"I try to." Smiling without looking at him, Rose inhaled the smell of sunflowers and fresh grass which was in the air.
"Why? Why do you want to talk to me about it? You never made any effort in talking to me."
"I know. I never really noticed you. You were always the guy I wanted to beat in class, I wanted to have better marks than you, because that is what my dad told me. On my very first day in Hogwarts or rather while we were still standing on the platform, Dad told me to beat you in every test. I tried to live up to his expectations but never considered talking to you. You were just… you were there. I never thought of you as Draco Malfoy's son, because we never talked about you or him if it wasn't about the war and his role in it. But today… I don't know. Well, I do know, but I am kind of ashamed to say it."
"Go on, Rose. It will be a lot easier when you are honest with me."
"Well… today it just got clear for me that you are the son of Draco Malfoy, the one who led the Death Eaters to Hogwarts. I never thought of that before. Don't ask me how I could oversee the obvious; I am sort of good at that without even trying." She smiled shyly.
"Yeah, I really do not see how you could oversee it. Well, actually, because I do not matter to you. I oversee people I do not care about at all."
She winced a little. "That is mean, Scorpius. Are you telling me that I ignore all the people I am not talking to, that I am thinking they aren't existent?"
"No. I am telling you that sometimes one does not care for people and sometimes one does. So… you have any surname-related issues?", he asked her to get back to the topic they wanted to talk about, because clearly she wasn't happy with the other one.
"Sure I have. I am a Weasley. There are plenty of us. Roxy, Hugo, Fred, Lucy, Molly, Vic, Dominique, Louis… Whenever someone calls the name, all of us who are still at Hogwarts look up. Some people make fun of it, you know. They just say 'Hey, Weasley!' just to see how many of us are turning our heads. As a Weasley you are always a Weasley, part of a family, part of a group and part of a history. And I love my family, I really do! But sometimes… sometimes I wish I'd just be Rose. Do you know what I mean?"
"I guess so. At least no-one associates the bad things with your name. You will always be the daughter of war-heroes whereas I will always be the son of Death Eaters, of murderers. They do not see behind it. They do not see that my father did all what he did to protect his family, to save their lives. They do not see that Harry Potter saved him from death because Mr. Potter might have seen the struggle inside my father. They simply do not see anything at all. None of them."
"Well I do. You know… you never use contractions."
"What?" Scorpius looked at her quizzically. Again today. How did she manage to make him so confused?
"You never use contractions. You say 'do not' instead of 'don't'. Why?"
"Why did you notice? I mean, it is nothing anyone else ever told me. I do not even realize it myself… maybe because both of my parents speak that way. I do not know it."
"It sounds a bit posh", Rose giggled and added – after seeing the displeasing look on his face –"but it's cute. It sounds like proper British English. I like it."
"Well, how glad am I that Rose Weasley thinks I am talking cute British English." He rolled his eyes sarcastically, causing the red-head to giggle even more.
"You usually don't curse. But you did in History of Magic today. Because you were mad?"
"Because I was mad" he nodded and then added "You know, Rose, I kind of like talking to you. You seem to understand what it means to see your parents' names in books about the war, about Hogwarts or about the story of magic."
Rose smiled and friendly nudged him.
"You are nice to talk to, too, Scorpius Malfoy. We should do it again sometimes, don't you think?"
"We should." He smiled at her. It was just a small smile as it was just a small step towards making a friend. But it was a step after all.