Our Hearts\' Beat to a different type of Drum

A/N: Hey guys thanks very much to Sureves Epans for your encouraging review! I hope you will all enjoy this next chapter!

Disclaimer: It all belongs to J K Rowling


Rose didn’t sleep much on the first night back at Hogwarts. Instead she spent much of it tossing and turning, and when she actually drifted off, having strange dreams about Malfoy hexing her, causing her to tap dance around the school.

Finally having enough, she got up early and had a shower, at last calming down as the warm water seemed to wash her troubles down the plug hole. Her stomach unknotted and her shoulder’s dropped out of their tense position, as she tipped her head back.

Massaging the back of her neck, which was suffering from an unpleasant crick, she wondered how this first day of ‘mentoring’ Scorpius would go. Though she was not one to harbour any ill feeling, she silently cursed Professor McGonagall. ‘I mean really, what had the headmistress been thinking?’

Drying herself off, she quickly pulled on her robes and tousled her mass of bouncing curls, before traipsing her weary way down the stone staircase and into the common room. She was shocked to see Frankie and Al sat at a table, playing a quite game of exploding snap.

They both looked up as she entered the room, and she could see in their eyes that they were concerned for her.

“You two are both up early” Her voice was stiff and a little croaky, causing her to cough. Her statement was more of a question, and she peered over at them.

Frankie just nodded as Al laid down his cards and walked towards Rose, pulling his cousin into a tight embrace.

“We were worried about you” He pulled back and surveyed her face before releasing her. She tried her best to appease them both with a slight smile, although this was difficult and it ended up resembling some sort of contortion.

“It’s fine, honestly” Frankie cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, and so Rose continued “It’s not as if I’m being sent to the slaughter house...”

Al cleared his throat and muttered something like, she may as well be sent there, when they spotted a tawny owl tapping its beak against the window.

Recognising it as her brother’s, Rose made her way over to it and let Horace inside the room, who immediately perched on her shoulder and gave her ear a nibble.

Patting him affectionately, she unlaced the scroll bound to his leg and unrolled it, reading the note aloud to her two friends.

----
Dear Rose,

Hugo sent us a letter telling us about your news. I must say that although I feel sorry for you, I know you will overcome this and do your very best. I have every faith in you... (‘funny’ Rose thought to herself, ‘McGonagall had said the very same thing’) and I believe that Professor McGonagall must have a reason to suggest this ‘mentoring’. Please be strong as I know you are, and write to us if you have any problems. Send our greetings to Frankie, Al and Lily and please pass the enclosed note to Hugo. Remember that you are very lucky to have such dependable people surrounding you.

All our love,

Mum and Dad

----

Holding back happy tears, Rose folded up the letter and tucked it and the parchment note, into her pocket.

She was very fortunate indeed, and thinking this she resolved to be strong throughout the day. She had supportive and caring friends and family to get her through it, really how hard could this be?

Deciding on this she released Horace out of the window, and watched him swoop down to the owlery, before turning back to her friends.

She took a deep breath and allowed her lips to curve into a small smile. “Come on, let’s go to breakfast.”

Entering the great hall, which at this early hour was somewhat deserted, the trio took their places at the Gryffindor table. As golden plates and goblets appeared before them, Rose turned her eyes upwards, taking in the pale blue sky with wispy white clouds floating across it. An exact mirror of the world outside. Something about it made a bubble of happiness settle inside her, and a now relaxed Rose reached for a bread roll. It would be fine.

After they had been at the table and making idle chit chat for about 15 minutes, Lily and Hugo came over to join them. Rose passed the note to her brother and explained what Ron and Hermione said in their letter to her.

Lily, whose eyes were only half open, stifled a yawn and nodded at her cousin. “I’m glad you’re feeling better”

Taking a bowl of cereal, the younger girl grabbed a jug and started to pour orange juice over it, not really paying much attention as she told everyone about the midnight feast her dorm had enjoyed last night. Rose couldn’t hold back the giggles this sparked in her, which set the others off.

“What?” Lily exclaimed, spooning a mouthful of the concoction into her mouth before pulling a face and swallowing. “What the...”

----

When most of the school had come down for breakfast the main post arrived, different types of owls swooping low through the hall and screeching, stealing morsels of food and bringing letters and packages.

With the post came their timetables, which Al deftly caught and passed along to the others nearby.

Unfurling hers, Rose made a grimace as she remembered that would be working with Malfoy.

Unfortunately for her, they were both taking the same subjects; Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Charms.

On the other hand, she remembered that Al and Frankie would be nearby for all except Charms, when they both took Herbology. This managed to pacify her a little, so she shook off her scowl and looked over at her friends.

“Potions first”. Al grinned, it was one of his favourite subjects. Frankie just regarded him with a quizzical expression before turning to Rose.

“What’s so great about that?”


----

Scorpius, had also been awake half the night. Not because he was worried or anxious, but because he was angry. He was so riled that his eyes hadn’t closed until somewhere between 2 and 3 am. This meant that he was utterly exhausted, and when Lee and the other Slytherin sixth years tried to rouse him for breakfast, he wouldn’t hear of it.

Instead he missed the meal altogether, burying his head underneath his pillow, and pulling the covers over him. Even when they returned he wouldn’t get up.

“Scorp come on...this is ridiculous” Lee leant over the bedridden figure and shook his shoulder, jumping back when he heard Scorpius’ muffled growl.

“Ridiculous?! Are you the one who’s stuck with that Weasley creature?”

“No...”

“Are you the one who’s been made a sodding prefect?”

“No but...”

“Then leave me alone!” Scorpius roared. Shaking slightly, Lee placed his friend’s timetable on the bed side table and did just that.

----


It was ten more minutes before the boy finally got up, happy that at last he had some piece.

Glancing at a large hourglass at one end of the room, he realised that he only had quarter of an hour before lessons, which caused him to panic just a little.

He washed rather hurriedly and pulled on his robes so fast that they nearly tore, before glancing at his timetable, grabbing his books and running out of the dorm, down a dark tunnel and into the common room.

Pulling on a lever which opened the heavy door, he sprinted out of the dungeons and took a left turning. Thank goodness the potions classroom was nearby.

Rounding a corner, he bumped into the worst thing that you possibly could when you were running late; Peeves.

Cackling gleefully the poltergeist took in Scorpius’ dishevelled appearance.

“Ooooh is the slimy slytherin late for class”. Malfoy, who was in a bad mood, made the mistake of swiping at the phantom

“Get out of my way!”

Peeves merely blew a raspberry and knocked over a suit of armour, laughing madly “Shan’t do nothing if you don’t say please”

Clutching at straws here, Scorpius gritted his teeth and said “Please” painfully, and waited.

Peeves floated there, looking blankly at the student, who finally lost his temper. “What the hell are you doing?!”

A sing-song voice floated through the air “Told you I wouldn’t do nothing if you didn’t say please!”

Scorpius who by this point in time was beginning to feel his blood boil, was near enough to reaching out and trying to strangle Peeves to death (though part of him knew that this wasn’t possible) when a mighty crash was heard from the floor above.

Boarg’s angry moan reached their ears.

“Peeves! What have you done now!”

The poltergeist’s eyes glittered mischievously as he made a ‘pop’ sound and disappeared, saying something like “Ooooh trouble!”

Finally on his way again Scorpius dodged the suit of armour, raced down the length of the corridor and swung open the class-room door.

The students turned to look at him, as he made his way red faced, to the front of the class.

Thankfully Professor Belby was head of Slytherin house, and with Malfoy being only 5 minutes late, he let the situation slide and gestured for the boy to sit.

Approaching the front row, he dumped his books on the table before grudgingly taking his seat next Rose Weasley who seemed to be frowning.

Well she could frown all she liked, he wasn’t going to make any of this easy for her.

Leaning over the hard wooden surface, Scorpius shuffled forwards until he was purposely blocking her view of Professor Belby, who had started to explain the properties of the Bewilderment Potion.

“You will need one parts Rission sead to four parts Ungton juice...”

Taking out a quill and some ink, he ‘accidently’ knocked the black liquid over the parchment she was writing on. Tilting towards her, he whispered “So sorry” a mocking sneer present.

To his dismay, she didn’t show any signs of anger or distress, and merely sighed before using a cleaning charm to remove the stain from her work.

He couldn’t help pondering ‘What would he have to do to get under her skin?’

Little did he know that he was already annoying her, she was just very good at hiding it. Swallowing down her fury, Rose decided not to retaliate to his childish behaviour. But she couldn’t help questioning how McGonagall thought that he would ever change.


----


Concentrating on taking notes, she managed to completely ignore him until Belby announced that they would be making the potion in pairs.

Standing up she headed towards the store cupboard calling over her shoulder “I’ll get the ingredients”

“Oh, so you can talk Weasley...I thought I was stuck with a mute”

However she didn’t hear him, and so he leant back in his chair and drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk until she returned, her arms full of strange plants and disgusting looking objects pickled in jars. Settling the stuff down, she searched through them until she found something which seemed remotely similar to a marrow, and began cutting it deftly.

Scorpius remained in his seat. “You’re doing that wrong”

Rose wiped an auburn tendril away from her face with the back of her hand. “Excuse me?” Her deep brown eyes met his amused grey ones.

“I said you’re doing that wrong” He straightened himself up and grabbed the knife from her.

“Hey I can...”

“Just watch” He interrupted as her forehead creased up and her eyes narrowed. He began to slice the plant diagonally, causing a purple liquid to seep out.

“If you do it like this, more of the juice is released”

Rose sucked in her cheeks and observed his method. It was better than her way of doing it, but still she wasn’t going to admit that. “I knew it already”

He smirked at her “Sure you did”.

Neither of them made any comments after that incident, which allowed them to finish the potion quickly, Rose filling up a vial of it and then handing their product to Professor Belby before they set off to Transfiguration.


----


The silence was deafening, and Rose found herself being left behind as Malfoy purposefully quickened his pace, so that she was nearly running to keep up with him.

Finally reaching the room, she threw him a dirty look whilst trying to catch her breath. “Did you have to do that?”

Without looking at her, he chose a place to sit and she reluctantly followed. “Yes”

She let out a sigh and scanned the room for Al and Frankie who were a couple of rows behind them, giving them a quick wave before turning her attention back to the boy beside her. “Why?”

Scorpius puzzled at her question “Why not? Just because we’re stuck together, it doesn’t mean that we have to stay joined at the hip!”

She nodded thoughtfuly, her curls bouncing as she did so. “Fine Malfoy. For once, I agree with you.”

“That, Weasley, is the most sensible thing you’ve said all day.”

So they managed to keep their distance, and that was the only way that Rose found she could face the rest of her day’s worth of ‘mentoring’.

Finally school finished and she trudged back towards the Gryffindor common room without giving Malfoy a second look. Not that he would have cared.

When she arrived, Rose was so exhausted that she collapsed onto her favourite sofa, which luckily enough had been recently vacated by a group of second years. She would have fallen asleep there and then if it hadn’t been for Lily and another fourth year by the name of Emmeline Twyfford, who decided to grace the older girl with their presence.

“That bad huh?” Her cousin questioned as she sat down on the floor near the fire. Rose didn’t bother to open her eyes and just nodding and groaning.

“It was awful! Malfoy was usual self...”

“Oooh pleasant” Lily’s sarcasm fell on receptive ears.

“Anything but! At least we decided to give each other space, that way we get to ignore each other, and I get to control my blood pressure”

“How did you manage that?” Emmeline was highly sceptical of Scorpius Malfoy just leaving a person be.

Rose’s eyes flicked open and she sat up, clutching at her head which was pounding. “Actually he suggested it. Something about us not being joined at the hip.”

Lily plastered an incredulous look on her face “Well...who knew the Slytherin actually had a brain!”

Rose decided not to mention the fact that he had corrected her in potions. Instead she stood up and asked if the girls wanted to join her in a walk around the grounds. They declined and so she bade them goodbye, leaving the common room and fastening her cloak around herself snugly.

----

Opening the large wooden doors in the entrance hall she stepped out into the crisp afternoon air. Taking a deep breath Rose strode towards the lake, deciding that she would stroll part the way around it before returning. Just what she needed to fix the dull ache in her head.

As she was on her way around the huge expanse of water, Rose caught sight of some green specks flying around the quidditch pitch. Unsure why, she walked towards it, and spotted Malfoy, directing his team and telling them what to do.

Rose remembered from her years of playing on the house team that Malfoy was a talented seeker, on par with Albus. The two were huge rivals; as only opposing captains from Slytherin and Gryffindor could be.

Stopping near the edge of the field, Rose watched Malfoy skilfully circum navigate the pitch, swooping down and zig-zagging through the other players before dismounting and holding up the golden snitch. The practice was over.

Dodging behind a tall oak tree, she made certain that she couldn’t be seen as the team members landed, and Malfoy de-briefed them. With a round of cheers the players broke apart, some heading back to the castle whilst Scorpius and Sebastian Flint, a fellow sixth year, made their way to the changing rooms.

When Rose got back safely to her Gryffindor haven, tea was over and she spotted her friends talking animatedly with each other.

Frankie spotted her first, and waved her over. “Where have you been?”

She muttered something about being nowhere in particular and pulled out a book, plonking herself down into a comfy armchair.

The boy caught Al’s eye, but he shook his head. They wouldn’t press the matter.

So it happened that Rose’s thoughts were consumed with that irritating boy’s flying expertise for the rest of the night, and she went to bed hungry, wishing to God that she had taken up her friends’ offer of sneaking down to the kitchens.

----

She was a little shocked when the next morning during Charms, Malfoy turned towards her with a sneer on his face and asked if she’d enjoyed the evening’s spectacles.

Rose twisted away from him to hide her crimson face and stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think you do Weasley...” his lazy drawl reached her ears, but she played deaf. Exasperated he grabbed at her shoulder, and lowered his voice. “You better not have been spying on our tactics”

Her head snapped towards his, her eyes glittering dangerously. “I was not! Gryffindor doesn’t need spies to win.” at this he snorted, making her bubble with rage. She grabbed his fingers and wrenched them off of her shoulder as hard as she could. “And get your hands away from me!”

If her gaze was fiery, his was cool and calculated. He drew his arm back towards himself hurriedly and folded both over his chest. “My pleasure Weasel. I will never touch you again. I wouldn’t want to be contaminated by your filthiness!”

Rose looked at him seething, her hand itching to slap him. Never had she wanted to hurt a person more! To use her embarrassment and anger against her...that was low, even for a Slytherin.

She couldn’t believe that she had been thinking of him as a talented flier. He wasn’t. He was only an arrogant, self-centred git!

At that moment Professor Flitwick entered the room, keeping Rose from doing something she shouldn’t. However it didn’t stop her thinking about it for the rest of the lesson.

----


Scorpius’ thoughts were also unpleasantly occupied. How dare she spy on his team, for he was sure that was what she had been doing. Probably told Potty about their new formation! Worse than that, she had actually prised his hand off her shoulder and shouted at him to never touch her again! As if he would ever want to. What, did she think he found pleasure in it? No he was not happy.

At least they could spend the rest of school ignoring each other, which they did, each one silently fuming. Only talking when they needed something passing, or when they had to work together.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of it.

When Scorpius stormed into the great hall for dinner, flanked by Sebastian Flint on one side and Lee Zabini on the other, he received a note written in the Headmistress’s curly slant.

---
Mr Malfoy,

You will be commencing your prefect duties tonight.

Please meet Miss Weasley on the fourth floor corridor, beside the picture of Diamenta the Deranged at 8:50pm. Professor Longbottom will be waiting to brief you and tell you your duties.

This will become a weekly ritual.

I do hope that you step up to the challenge.

Yours, Minverva McGonagall
---

Squinting over at the Gryffindor table, the blonde boy spotted Rose and realised that she too was clutching a note in her hand.

He banged his fist angrily onto the table, causing those nearby to stare at him. “What are you looking at?!”

At 8:49 he approached the requested portrait and spotted Weasel withthe Herbology Professor, talking animatedly.

Scorpius was momentarily struck by how attractive she looked when she smiled, for a Weasley that was. However he soon forgot this when she turned a scowl on him.

“Ah Scorpius” Longbottom gestured for the boy to step closer, however Malfoy remained where he was, sneering at the both of them.

“For the record, I don’t want to be here”

The Professor’s smile faltered “Ah...yes, well I’m afraid...”

“You think that I want to be here with you?” Rose spat out, narrowing her eyes at him.

Professor Longbottom wasn’t quite sure what to do about this, his eyes darting nervously from one to the other. “I apologise, but Professor McGonagall seemed to think...that is she decided that you two would just have to work together”

Rose looked apologetically at her friend’s father. “I’m sorry Professor. I just don’t think this will be a success”

Scorpius glared at everyone and yet no one in particular “You and me both”.

Deciding to bring this discussion to a close, Neville muttered “yes well...” before removing a piece of parchment. “The Headmistress would like you to patrol the whole of this floor until 11 o’clock, when you will be free to return to your dormitories. You are to stay together at all times. Understood?” He sent a sympathetic look to Rose.

Defeated, the two sixth formers both nodded.

“Good, well enjoy” With that they were left alone.

----

Malfoy quickened his stride again, as he set off marching down the corridor, Rose following in his wake. If looks could kill, he would have been dead thrice over from the stares that she was giving him.

“Wait! You heard what he said; we’re supposed to stick together!”

Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Scorpius slowed his pace slightly, but hoped she wouldn’t notice. Nevertheless, she did and so let the subject drop.

They walked together in silence for an hour, not doing anything except catching two Ravenclaw fifth years making out, and sending them back to their respective beds. At last Rose couldn’t take it anymore.

She peered over at her companion, his face set into a scowl, and realised that she would have to do something.

She sighed. “Malfoy, I want you to know that I wasn’t spying on your team yesterday.”

He stopped in his tracks, his brow furrowing as he looked towards her. “What were you doing then?”

She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of finding out that she had been admiring his flying. Woah, wait a second...admiring? Had she really? Rose shrugged this off.

“I was on a walk and spotted some people, I just wondered what was going on.”

As his frown melted away, a grin replaced it. “So you were intrigued and decided to marvel at our superior flying skills?”

“N-n-no!” She spluttered. “Not at all, I-I-I was just....” she tried to search for the right word but couldn’t find it. “Interested”

The grin grew more pronounced. “It’s the same thing Weasley”

“No it isn’t!” she insisted, trying to keep her temper from flaring up again. He was just so goddamn infuriating!

“Whatever you say...”

They took a couple more steps before Rose turned back to him.

“Aren’t you going to apologise?”

His eyes widened in shock. “What the hell for?”

She pretended to think about this. “Gosh I don’t know...for being a bastard?”

Scorpius let out a chuckle of laughter. “No!”

Rose flounced away from him, and didn’t look back, holding up her hands. “Fine, let’s go back to ignoring each other”

“Sounds good to me”

Although she had started to make amends, by the time Rose Weasley sank into bed that night, she couldn’t think of anyone more frustrating than Scorpius Malfoy, and she wished to God that she would never see his smarmy face ever again! With that, she closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.


----

A/N: Thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to portray Scorpius as I think he would be; easily angered, annoying and maybe a little lazy. However I hope you can see that there are some good points to him too (though at the moment you would have to look very hard!). I want to deepen this over the next few chapters, so that we see more and more of his good side Rose also has a quick temper (a lot like her father) but she is more level headed. I think that slowly she will realise that maybe she needs to learn some things too. At the moment they resent being together...but will that all change?

All comments are very welcome as are suggestions. Please review, good or bad to let me know how you are finding this so far. Thanks for reading :)

Arabella xx