Chapter 6: Classes

The first day back at Hogwarts happened like it did every year. Once the students entered the school, the sorting ceremony began. Albus and Scorpius went over to the Slytherin table, while Rose and the rest of the Weasley/Potter family went to the Gryffindor table. The ceremony was as long as usual, finally when the last name was called, the students could dig in to the delicious feast the payed house elves made. The night went as usual, after the feast, the students went up to their dorms, and prepared for the first day of class tomorrow.

" 'Night" Albus said to Scorpius.

" 'Night" Scorpius responded. With this, Scorpius climbed into his green, four-poster bed, and pulled closed his curtains. As he tried to fall asleep, he thought about the year he had ahead of him. First, he thought of O.W.L.'s. This din't stress him out as much as it did to the other students. Scorpius always excelled at school. Matter of fact, you could probably put him in N.E.W.T level classes, and he'd probably pass. Then, he thought about Quidditch this year. He hoped that he would make the team. He didn't practice and work out all summer for nothing. And then he thought about her. He thought about how much he would change this year for her. He would start to be more confident around her. He would make an effort for her to notice him. Scorpius wished so much this year would be different between him and Rose. If he couldn't win her over, the least he wanted was to be friends with her. She was just so perfect. She was pretty, good at Quidditch, and extremely smart. Scorpius just let out a sigh at this, and rolled over to sleep.

The next morning, Scorpius had woken up, put on his black and green robes, and pined on his Prefect badge. He woke Albus up, (as usual), and they headed down to breakfast.

"So what's the first class this morning?" Albus asked Scorpius. Albus knew that Scorpius would have memorized their schedule by now.

"Potions." Scorpius responded. Scorpius knew Potions was Albus's favorite class. It was the only class that Albus could beat (only sometimes), Scorpius in.

"Sweet." Albus simply responded.

With this, the boys ate their eggs and toast, and made their way back down to the dungeons to the Potions classroom.

"Oh, hey Rose." Albus said, as they approached the classroom. In fifth year, all classes were all four houses. (For O.W.L. Preparation)

"ROSE!" Scorpius thought to himself. It completely skipped his mind that he would have all his classes with Rose this year.

"Oh, hey guys." Rose responded, before she realized she said guys.

Apparently, it had skipped her mind also that Scorpius would be in all her classes.

To both their relief, A very elderly Professor Slughorn came and let them in the classroom.

"Good morning everyone!" Professor Slughorn beamed, as all the students took their usual seats. Albus and Scorpius sat behind Rose and another Gryffindor girl.

"Welcome to fifth year Potions! This year is probably going to be your toughest one yet. As you all know, you have your very important O.W.L.'s this year. To be in my N.E.W.T. Level class, you must get somewhere between an A and E on the exam. (A stand for Average  and E stands for Exceeds Expectations). This year, we will be studying semi-advanced potions." Professor Slughorn said.

"Please turn to page 10 in your textbooks" Professor Slughorn added. With this, everyone did what he said.

"Can anyone explain to me what this potion is?" Professor Slughorn asked. You can guess which two hands went up.

"Yes, Ms. Weasley" Professor Slughorn said as he called on Rose.

"It's Amortentia. One of the strongest love potions in the world. And, it's called Amortentia because its prefix is Amor, which is Spanish for love." Rose responded.

"Excellent! Five points to Gryffindor! We wont be brewing it this year, but I thought I would introduce it. It's most likely that a question will come up about it on your exam." Professor Slughorn said as he got his cauldron out, and poured the pink liquid into it.

"Now, any volunteers? If you come and sniff it, and explain to us what you smell, five points to your house." Professor Slughorn added. Scorpius raised his hand as usual, but then he tried to quickly put it down, as he remembered that his crush was in this class.

"Mr. Malfoy." Professor Slughorn called.

"Damn it." Scorpius thought, as he got up out of his seat to go smell the potion.

"Explain to us what you smell." Professor Slughorn said.

"Okay, umm... I smell...old books, fresh air, nice bread, new parchment, and ro-" Scorpius responded very nervously.

"What was that last part lad?" Professor Slughorn asked.

Shit.

"Um....flowers...yea, flowers." Scorpius had said, while he was doing some quick thinking. He had just smelled Amortentia. He smelled roses. He smelled Rose.

"Okay, thank you. Five points to Slytherin. Any other volunteers?" Professor Slughorn asked. Roses hand went up. Scorpius went back to his seat, Albus nudged him on the arm, smirking.

"Ms. Weasley." Professor Slughorn called. Rose stood up and went to smell the potion.

"Okay. I smell.... books, ink & parchment, black noir cologne, and...um that's it." Rose said, while some silvery, blond-ish colored mist was evaporating from the cauldron.

"Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor. Ope, that's all the time we have today. We will continue tomorrow.Good job everyone." Professor Slughorn said. All the students got up, and made their way to their next class. Both Scorpius and Rose had a thinking war going on in their head.

Rose was thinking to herself, "Did I just smell him? NO!" Scorpius did indeed wear black noir cologne.

Albus then nudged Scorpius again. "You smelled her didn't you?" Albus asked as they were leaving. Scorpius simply nodded. Albus rolled his eyes at this, then let it go.

***

Later that afternoon, the fifth years had Defense Against the Dark Arts. Everyone made their way to the DADA classroom.

"Good afternoon everyone." The Professor greeted them. Everyone went and sat in their seats, like Potions, Albus and Scorpius sat behind Rose.

"This year, we will spend a good portion of time studying the Patronus Charm. If you can master this, you will receive very good marks on your O.W.L. Now, not everyone will get it the first try, if at all. It is very difficult. I will be very surprised if any of you get it today. So, I want everyone to think of their happiest memory. When you have it, cast Expecto Patronum."

With this, the fifth years got to thinking their happiest memories.

Albus tried to think of his happiest memory. He thought long and hard. He had a good amount of memories, but none to fill this big spot. Then, he thought of the first time he got on the Hogwarts Express and met his best friend.

Expecto Patronum! Albus shouted. With that, a beautiful, misty, Stallion erupted out of the tip of his wand.

"MR. POTTER THAT WAS EXCELLENT! 30 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN! THAT WAS MAGNIFICENT! I NEVER SEEN A 15 YEAR OLD WIZARD CAST THE PATRONOUS CHARM FIRST TRY BEFORE! YOU ARE LIKE YOUR FATHER!" The Professor beamed.

"Wow!" Albus thought to himself. He had never done anything as good as this before. This is the first time he beat Scorpius at something academic besides Potions. Wait. His dad didn't get it on the first try! He suddenly felt  triumph in his chest. He couldn't wait to write home about this.

"Nice." Scorpius said. He tried to think of his happiest memory. He only had a few. Then, he thought of September 1st 2017. That was a good day. He met his best friend that day. He met his crush that day. He got to hug his mum that day, not realizing that that would be one of the last times he would hug her.

With that memory in place, he said Expecto Patronum. But nothing happened.

After about seven more attempts, he said the charm again. Something happened this time. A beautiful, white, misty, Dove spilled out the tip of his wand.

"Excellent Mr. Malfoy! I can't believe you guys got this today! Another 20 points to Slytherin!" The Professor beamed.

Meanwhile, across the classroom, Rose was trying to think of her happiest memory. She had already attempted the spell multiple times, with different happy memories, but none of them seemed to be working. Then, she thought of something. The first time she got on the Hogwarts express. She loved school, so this kicked it off right? (Rose denied it, but the real reason she thought this was a happy memory was because it was the first time she met Scorpius). Then, she muttered the spell: Expecto Patronum

A creature came out of the tip of her wand. But what was it? Was it... NO! (It was), a Scorpion.

"Great job Ms. Weasley! 20 points to Gryffindor! You guys did excellent today, but that's all the time we have. We will be continuing with this for a while." The professor said as the students were leaving.

Albus, Rose, and Scorpius all thought about their Patronuses. Albus and Rose, (though she denied it), knew what theirs meant, while Scorpius did not.

"Why do you suppose your's is a Stallion?" Scorpius asked Albus as they were walking back to their dorm.

"Well, my mum's is a horse, and my dad's is a stag. A stallion is kind of in the same family. Aren't they supposed to represent love? Maybe it's family love." Albus responded to Scorpius's question.

"Don't worry. I know you, you'll figure it out." Albus added, he knew Scorpius questioned why his was a Dove, out of all creatures it could possibly be.

Meanwhile,  similar to the boys, Rose was thinking about her Patronus. A Scorpion. There was only one conclusion for that. She tried to deny it, but at this moment, she let it come to herself, this was just the icing on the cake, between Potions and DADA, Rose had come to the conclusion that she had a crush on Scorpius Malfoy. What was she supposed to do now? She had a long night of thinking ahead of her.

*** It was now 9:00 pm. Albus had just finished a letter to his parents, while Scorpius was looking at every possible page about Patronuses and Doves. Then, it hit him. When he read the page in one of his books;

Another name for a Dove is a Lovebird. Dove's like to make their nests near Rose bushes, also known as the flower that represents love.

Scorpius read this sentence over and over again. That's what it represented. Roses. Rose.

"Hey, did you see what Rose's Patronus was?" Scorpius asked Albus.

"I don't know, some kind of but thing." Albus responded.

What could it possibly be? Scorpius wondered this all night. He needed to know if her Patronus represented him, like his represented her. He sighed, and went to bed. He was in love.

It was now true indeed that Rose Weasley had a crush on Scorpius Malfoy, and that Scorpius Malfoy had a crush on Rose Weasley.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! I'm looking forward to writing the next upcoming chapters. Sorry, I didn't know if I spelled Patronus right. I think I did, but if I didn't, then you know what I mean. Ah, love! You guys don't know how much I enjoy writing this story. Just continue to read, and as always, stay safe and healthy friends!

-christinahpfan12