Dursley's Daughter (A Harry Potter Next Generation Fan Fic)

10. World Cup Theories

Scorpius and I met again the following week. This time he didn't come by Quidditch practice, but waited for me inside the castle. I walked up with Hugo and Cassie after our extra few minutes of practicing together, then waved goodbye when I saw Scorpius leaning against the wall, his bag hanging over one shoulder.

"Do you always have to look like that?" I asked.

"Like what?"

"Like you've got all the time in the world," I said. "I don't know how to explain it, but you look almost...pretentious."

"I am nothing if not pretentious," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "It's more or less a Malfoy trait."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, being pretentious means you're trying to talk up skills you don't have, and I'm pretty sure you have the talent you say you do. You're just being honest, even if it comes out sounding like boasting sometimes."

I thought for a moment as we headed down the hall to our empty classroom. "You don't look pretentious. You always look like you've got the world in your hands, and you're trying to decide exactly what you want to do with it. Part boasting, part thoughtful."

He grinned. "I think you just about summed me up, Miss Dursley."

"Let's see if you can do the same for me."

"Oh, you're easy," he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

He rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes at me, to try and look thoughtful. "Let's see. Your back is always straight and your robes are always immaculate. You never so much as unbutton a button or leave your tie untied, like most other students do. I'm assuming it's becuase your parents are Muggles and you've got to prove yourself. Not to mention overcoming some of those Hufflepuff stereotypes you detest so much." He looked me up and down. "So you look like someone being pulled twelve different ways at once. Someone who doesn't know which goal she should work at first, and so she tries to achieve them all at once."

I was silent for a moment, and then begrudgingly gave him a brief applause. "You know me exceptionally well, Mister Malfoy."

"Told you," he said. "Now, on to the actual work?"

It was tiring work, and mostly tedious. We had moved on from stunning spells, but only onto ones that hurt more when I didn't succeed in blocking them. It wasn't until I had knocked him over half a dozen times in a row that he deemed me good enough for his standards. Sore from falling to the ground repeatedly, we sat together, taking a break and talking. This was the only time we could openly talk to one another, because Sawyer limited our interaction during the day.

I sat on top of a desk, my bag besides me and my legs swinging. One of my shoelaces had come untied but I didn't bother fixing it, but made a game of flining it around by rotating my foot. Scorpius sat in a chair in front of me, leaning on the closest desk, his hair a mess, rolling his wand across the tabletop so it made a soothing clattering noise. Through the window I could see the sky darkening from a gray to black, the trees of the Forbidden Forest fading into the night.

"How's Cassie doing?" he asked.

"She's out of the Hospital Wing, if that's what you mean. I gave her and the rest of the team a bit of a motivational speech, though it came out sounding a bit more threatening than I had intended. She didn't try and buy her way out of classes like I thought she was going to do, but headed back as soon as her ribs were healed."

"That's a good sign."

"I hope so," I said. "That's two games we've lost, and I really don't want to lose to you."