It wasn't often that Scorpius opted to spend some time alone instead of in the presence of his fawning housemates, but even the Prince of Slytherin, it seemed, needed some time alone on occasion. Usually the teenager would go hunt down Albus at a time like this, but his dorm mate was not to be found, having disappeared into the twisting corridors of the giant castle hours ago and having yet to return. Scorpius had checked all of the Potter's favorite hiding spots, and then given up the hunt as a bad job. Albus was not the type to be found when he didn't want to be, and Scorpius promised himself that he'd change that, learn the patterns of the other Slytherin's mind so that he would never be able to hide from Scorpius again.
The fifth year had been wondering aimlessly, feet bringing him higher and higher, further away from the Dungeons with every step. Scorpius was about half a flight of stairs away from the landing of the Astronomy Tower, when the sound of someone crying reached his ears. Normally, that would be enough for the male to immediately turn back around and walk in the other direction as swiftly as possible. Scorpius liked to think that he was good handling basically every situation. He was not arrogant enough to think that he was without flaw in this aspect, however, and crying girls were definitely not his forte.
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, the Slytherin heard the crying girl speak, and immediately recognized the voice. Rose Weasley. Well, that complicated things. The two year mates were unlikely friends, but friends all the same. They'd been assigned to work together on a project, and been pleasantly surprised by how well they got on. Rose was a Ravenclaw; clever and with fascinating insights often very different from Scorpius's own.
The Malfoy didn't have many friends, not really. There were dozens of people he was friendly with, who respected him, who would be there if he ever needed something simply because of who he was; but true friends were much rarer. And somehow, Rose Weasley had become one of them. They were hardly best friends, but the two students were much closer than they allowed others to believe. After all, neither of the fathers would be very pleased if they knew how friendly their children were with each other. Of course, Rose didn't know half as much about him as Albus did, but Albus often knew more about Scorpius than he knew about himself, so the comparison was hardly fair.
"I dunno Rosie," the Slytherin said upon reaching the top stair of the flight he'd been stationary upon, "but whoever she is, she's an idiot."
by 
