``c o u l d HELL{be.any.worse.than.this?} [Scorpi]

[Rosie Lupin]

Such misfortune Rosie happened to have. Could Professor Fliynn have been any more frivolous in assigning partners for this new Charms "project"? She'd been a little care-free with her partnering, putting Kianthra and Teddy togther, Charlotte and Zane, and, worst of all, Rosie and Scorpius. Of course, Rosie was a tad bit frightened of Scorpius to tell the truth. He'd jinxed her in third year after she'd stayed reasonable calm during his outbreak of insults. Apparently, he couldn't stand it when people didn't react to his spite.

Now, she was stuck with him for a full day in the library. All the partners had to meet up in the library on Saturday morning, each with their own table. Across the way, she could see Teddy and Zane with their respective partners. She waved half-heartedly at them before turning to Scorpius, who'd just entered.

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[scorpius]

DAMN, what rotten luck! First of, in Charms, they'd gotten an assignment; a 'project' of sorts. Would this be so bad if they had to choose their own partners? Not particularly, no. In fact, it might have even made it interesting. Scorpius could've picked someone he at least enjoyed their company, or maybe just a pretty girl. That would've been alright, even for someone as hard to please as him.

But no! We couldn't have that happen, now could we? Instead, Scorpius was now paired with Rosie Weasley, of all people! There were many reasons why he despised the girl, too many to sit and name in one sitting. But a good reason would be because, although he'd never mention this to a living soul in his life, he was pretty sure that Rosie was the only person who could take what he dished out. It seemed that way since their first year, and after not getting any response, the boy threw a Leg-Lock jinx at her when they were thirteen, promising that there'd be more if she weren't careful.

A bag slung over his shoulder, his dark eyes flicked around the library looking for his so-called 'partner.' He found Charlotte over at one area, Kianthra at another; both of them looked incredibly annoyed, at best. Scorpius finally spotted the Weasel, and rolled his eyes before going over to the table.

My father'll hit the roof when he hears about this.

Scorpius thought angrily before plopping down across the table from her, without so much as a 'Hello.'

[Rosie Lupin]

Rosie forced herself to put a rather strained smile on her face. If she couldn't change the situation, she may as well make the best of it as she possibly could. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he was cut out to be. Perhaps they had something in common.

But, as she looked at his disgruntled face, she knew none of her hopes could ever be true. He was a Slytherin, she was a Gryffindor. He was Second in Command of the DE, she of the New Order. How different could they be?

Sighing lightly, she looked up at him, hoping for a greeting that would possibly make this silence more or less bearable, but none came. She rolled her eyes.
"Hullo to you too, Scorpius," she said, attmepting to keep the contempt out of her voice, "Yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking. And you?"

[scorpius]

Ugh. Again with sarcastic remarks. Another *tick* went on the board for Reasons Scorpius Hates Rosie. His eyes flickered with contempt as he smirked and replied,

"Trying to start a conversation. Cute. But honestly, I don't want to be here, so why bother with simple chit-chat, hm?"

He'd never actually be civil. That'd be like him confessing love to a first year Hufflepuff. It was more fun being evil, any road. If they were going to have to work on a project together, at least Scorpius could amuse himself by giving her hell.

He opened a book, and took one look at it. After a few moments of looking at one page, he closed it, deeming it boring and probably not even that useful.

"S' what are we doing, anyway?"

The Slytherin demanded.

[Rosie Lupin]

Rosie rolled her eyes at him.

"Because if we were actually civil to each other, this would be a hellova lot easier for both of us," she answered, flipping idly through the pages of her Charms textbook. To his other question, she let out a sort of snort before finally getting her laughter under control. Still, the shadow of a grin haunted her face. "Do you even listen, Scorpius? Or read, for that matter? Professor Fliynn talked about it this morning and he had everything we needed to know about it written on the board last Friday."

She never would admit that he bothered the hell out of her. That would be to surrender. And that was something a Weasley never did.

[scorpius]

"Tch. Like I actually look at the board."

He muttered under his breath, looking at the book cover with contempt. Scorpius hated Charms as it was. He'd have to remember to make this class a No. 1 Hate, and also 'speak' to Batty Ol' Fliynn about her partnering techniques. The blonde looked at Rosie, and then added through gritted teeth:

"And I'm not here to make your day easier, by the way. I'm here to get this stupid thing done. Which you might want to tell me what we're doing, because we'll both fail if you don't 'refresh my memory!'"

Scorpius had gotten a bit loud, causing the librarian to hiss a "QUIET!" before slinking back to wherever she was behind the bookshelf. He scowled.

[Rosie Lupin]

Rosie snorted again, before smiling innocently at him.

"Yeah, geez, Scorpius, quiet," she continued to smile, shaking her head and looking down at the doodle she was drawing on the edge of her parchment. "You're here to give me hell? Well, if you wanna play that game, Malfoy, then guess what? You're on."

Leaning back in her chair, she remained silent, refusing to tell him about the project until he would be at least reasonable to her. Perhaps she could trick him into being nice to her.

[scorpius]

A hot glare was his response to Rosie's scolding. It was bad enough that librarian was a prick, he didn't need it from the likes of her. She then leaned back in her chair, evidently refusing to tell him the project's objective until...well, until something happened. Scorpius smirked. So. Rosie could play hardball. Something he hadn't expected. He too leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and sighing a bit.

"Ah, so we're on a last-name basis, now, hm? Alright then, Weasley," Scorpius spat out with a hint of venom, eyes glinting with michievious victory, "This is just working in my favor."

That was a lie, but it was alright for the moment. At least maybe she wouldn't speak to him and he'd be on his way.

[Rosie Lupin]

Rosie thought for a moment as to why he was smirking so widely. And then it came to her.

"You think you're gonna get outta doin this, don'cha, Malfoy?" she asked, smiling right back at him, "Well, I hate to break it to you, but Fliynn's not letting us outta the library 'til we show him that we've got at least half the project done. And I'm good at this waiting game you're playin with me."

Smiling to herself, Rosie leaned back over her parchment and continued writing her Transfiguration homework, noting happily to herself that the boy didn't seem to have brought any other homework with him to do.

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[scorpius]

The next few minutes felt like forever. Scorpius knew that he'd most certainly been beat, but it wasn't like a Malfoy -- or any Slytherin, for that matter -- to admit defeat. He sat there, arms crossed. Twidled his thumbs. Hummed until the librarian thwaped him over the head with a rolled up piece of parchment, to which he stopped leaning in his chair. Huffed, and then, finally irritated at about a million things, gave in.

"Alright! What do I have to do to get you to tell me what the stupid project is?!"

Scorpius asked in a harsh whisper. He could've added, And get the hell out of here, but something told him that'd prolong the time spent in that boring ol' library.

[Rosie Lupin]

There were a million things Rosie could make him do. Stand up and spin in circles, jump up and down, sing the ABC's and just, in general, make a complete fool out of himself. But, in the end, she chose the hardest one, and the one she felt would be the best for his ego.

"Apologize," she said simply, her mouth turning up a bit at the corners. Her smile wasn't malicious or in any way an I-win-you-lose smile, but more of a slightly playful one. "For being totally and completely rude to me. And I'd appreciate it if you called me Rosie, m'dear Scorpius. Do those two things, and you're home free."

She thought he wouldn't do it. Would refuse and lapse into his bout of silence again before finally storming out of the library and recieving a T on the assignment. She thought he didn't have the guts to do it, but maybe she was wrong.

[scorpius]

Scorpius stood up, and looked like she has doused him with icy water. AGH! That was probably the worst thing to do to...well, someone like her. Apologize? He didn't even apologize to anyone but his father and Charlotte. Even then those times were few and far between. His dark eyes searched her face, almost in hopes of a loopole for this situation. As he found none, he closed his eyes, sat down, and huffed.

It took a few moments before a choked, "I'm...s-sorry," came out of his lips. Dear God, he'd have to wash his mouth out with bars and bars of soap. The Slytherin looked up.

"Now would you tell me what we're doing?"

He looked positively defeated. It made him squirm and writhe under his skin.

[Rosie Lupin]

Rosie shrugged, smiling to herself. "Good enough. From a Slytherin, it's few and far between that I hear those words." She pulled out a pamphlet, pressed neatly between the pages of her Charms book in her bookbag, and handed it to Scorpius, intending on explaining a quick overview of the project that they'd been so unlucky to be partners for.

"We've got to choose a Charm, one that we haven't learned yet in class," she answered, looking at her fingernails for a moment before looking back up at Scorpius and smiling, "We have to teach it to the class, give a history, tell who discovered it, its original purpose, and how its used today. Due by next Tuesday." The project itself shouldn't be too complicated. It was only the person she was working with that might end up being a tad bit of a hassle.

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