written for: the houses competition
house: slytherin
category: themed — must feature a pet (+ all prompts are settings)
prompt: Hogsmeade
word count: 1645
warnings: n/a
notes: this is based on my e-3, which is my most comprehensive nextgen personal canon, and which i have been focusing on for the last few months. i'm not actually sure if this fits into the e-3, or if it's just like a practice run/derivative of that developed headcanon, but benedick absolutely exists in my e-3 either way, i have decided.
disclaimer: disclaimed.
Scorpius blinks at the odd sight.
Rose Weasley, Albus Potter and James Potter appear to be arguing furtively over something. That's not in and of itself odd, of course; Scorpius is rather less opinionated than any of those three, but he's pretty sure that even he would end up arguing frequently if he had as many relatives as they do.
No, the odd thing is that they seem to be holding something… something that is not there to be held.
He can't put his finger on what it is, exactly, that seems off about the tableau they make, or why he's so convinced that there seems to be something with them which is both an absence and a presence, but he can't shake the feeling that there's something else there.
He begins to tune into their argument, in case it helps clarify the situation.
"I can't believe you brought him!" Rose whispers furtively.
"I'm telling you, I didn't!" James argues back, loud enough that both Rose and Albus shush him.
"Then why is it with you?" Albus demands. Scorpius feels like this is a reasonable question, even though he still has no idea what they're talking about.
"Molly gave it to me," James says, and Albus looks, if possible, even more outraged.
"Molly!" he exclaims, before immediately reducing his volume. "Why did Molly have it? She doesn't even like—"
Rose interrupts him. "Him, Al, not it, they're not genderless," she corrects. Albus gives her a look which Scorpius translates as who cares? Scorpius still doesn't really know what they're talking about, though he's gathered there's some sort of living creature involved which is vaguely alarming, but he thinks he would care if he was more informed about the situation.
"All right, him," Albus says, rolling his eyes at Rose. "Why did Molly have him? Where is Molly, anyway?"
"On a date," Rose and James supply at the same time.
"With who?" Albus asks, raising an eyebrow.
"No idea," James says, shrugging.
"Dennis Cartwright," Rose says at the same time.
Albus looks at James, who shrugs again.
"I just guessed she'd be on a date," he says, before looking at Rose. "Dennis, really?" James looks thoughtful. "She can do better."
Given that Dennis is James' dormmate, from Scorpius' memory, it's probably a fair judgement.
"That's not really important—" Albus is saying when James cuts him off with a distressed squeak.
Albus and Rose glance at each other, then at James, clearly bewildered.
"He just jumped out of my arms!" James whispers frantically.
Scorpius starts, and immediately looks around the assorted Weasley-Potters for… he's not sure what, precisely, but he figures he'll know when he see it.
He does. Well, sort of.
He doesn't exactly see it; instead, he sees its footprints.
He gapes. "Is that a demiguise?" he marvels quietly.
"It's a long story," Rose Weasley says, and Scorpius looks up, startled. Rose and Albus are beside him. Albus looks vaguely suspicious.
"How long have you been listening to our conversation?" he asks. Scorpius blushes, and Rose elbows Albus in the side.
"I, uh, heard something about Molly giving it—him—to your brother," Scorpius says, stammering slightly.
Rose and Albus exchange a glance.
"Yeah, we haven't figured that out yet," Albus says.
"How is it even in the country?" Scorpius asks, still in awe.
"We should really be following these footprints," Albus says, setting off, dragging Rose with him. Scorpius hesitates for a moment, then hurries to keep up.
"That's actually probably the easiest to answer," Rose says to Scorpius, weaving past a couple of kissing Ravenclaws. "Luna and Rolf are publishing a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and they probably found him in a weird place on their travels and brought him back here until they next go to his home area."
"The Far East," Scorpius supplies, nimbly dodging an arguing Slytherin and Hufflepuff.
Rose looks surprised for a moment, then smiles. "Yeah," she says.
Albus, meanwhile, stops for a moment, causing Rose to crash straight into him, Scorpius very narrowly avoiding the same fate.
"Oof!" Rose says. Albus is too caught up in his thoughts to notice.
"If Rolf and Luna brought him…" Albus says slowly, "and Molly gave him to James…"
"Then she probably got him off Lorcan!" Rose exclaims.
"Hufflepuffs," Albus grumbles, "will be the death of me."
Scorpius, however, is frowning. "Um, guys, I think he's…" He gestures towards the ground. The other two look where he's pointing—Honeydukes, outside of which the trail of footprints they've been following stops.
Albus swears. Rose groans. "We better hurry," she says grimly. "He'll be impossible to find."
It takes several minutes, an altercation with a very determined Gryffindor Third Year and multiples instances of muffled swearing, but Albus eventually gets his hands on the demiguise and the three reconvene outside.
"Where is Lorcan?" Albus demands.
Scorpius shrugs, but Rose's eyes widen and she taps Albus on the shoulder, gesturing towards his pocket. It makes no sense to Scorpius, but evidently it does to Albus because he very carefully hands her the demiguise, still invisible. He turns away from them. Scorpius thinks he sees him take out a piece of parchment from his pocket, but before he can get a closer look, Rose speaks to him.
"Sorry you got dragged into this," she says ruefully.
Scorpius blinks, caught off-guard. "Oh, no," he says reassuringly. "It's—I'm glad."
She raises an eyebrow at him. "You're glad you had to run around a crowded sweet shop looking for an invisible creature?" she asks wryly.
He blushes slightly. "Well, no—actually, it wasn't the worst—but I meant…" he pauses. "I never imagined I'd ever be in the vicinity of a demiguise, you know?"
Rose's expression shifts to one of understanding. "Ah. Yeah, okay, I get that," she says, shooting him a smile. He thinks it's the first time she's ever smiled at him. It warms his chest.
Albus turns back to them, slipping the parchment into his pocket. "Lorcan is in the castle," he announces, sounding put-out. "It looks like he has detention. Which is unsurprising, given that he regularly skips class and apparently smuggled a demiguise to school."
Rose looks dejected.
"He has a brother, right?" Scorpius hesitantly ventures.
"Yeah, Lysander," Albus says. "He's in Gryffindor."
"I think we passed some Gryffindor Third Years earlier," Scorpius says.
"Yeah, I saw Biddy earlier," Rose agrees. "Which means Rox and Luce can't be far, and if Lucy's around…"
"So's Lysander," Albus finishes, looking significantly less put-out than before. "Let's look, at least."
It takes fifteen more minutes, but eventually they track down a group of Gryffindors: Biddy Finnigan, arguing viciously with Noah Deighton about cauldrons, of all things; Roxanne Weasley, Laurie Thomas and Minnie O'Malley discussing the Quidditch Cup at length; Diana Chiswyck braiding Minnie's hair behind them; and Lucy Weasley and Lysander Scamander, debating the merits of dragonology.
"Sorry to break up this riveting discussion," Albus says dryly to his cousin, "but we need Lysander." He grabs the younger boy by the sleeve and tugs him away, ignoring Lucy's sound of indignation.
"Hey, Ly," Rose says, still carefully holding onto the demiguise. "Does your brother, by any chance, have an… unusual pet?"
Lysander crosses his arms and snorts. "Uh, several. You'll have to be more specific."
"Any of them turn invisible?" Albus asks, a sarcastic edge entering his voice.
Lysander pales. "He lost—" he begins, before noticing the odd way Rose's arms are positioned. His expression quickly floods with relief. "You have Benedick?" he asks.
"Benedick?" Scorpius echoes.
Lysander rolls his eyes. "Lorc's taken to letting Biddy name his creature companions," he explains. "She's big on Shakespeare."
Albus looks discomfited. "He's telling people he has an illegal animal?" he asks, incredulous.
Lysander shakes his head. "Just asking her for names," he says. "Also, Benedick's not meant to be here. Lorcan didn't bring him."
Rose frowns. "Then how did he get here?" she asks.
"Mum came to visit Professor Longbottom," he explains. "She brought him along to cheer up Lorcan—for being in detention, which is ridiculous, because he doesn't really care about that, but try explaining that to an adult—but then he freaked out and ran off. When I left the castle, Lorc's detention had been repurposed into looking for him."
Scorpius frowns. "I thought Molly got him off Lorcan?" he says, glancing at Albus and Rose.
"That was the theory," Rose says.
Lysander rolls his eyes. "She probably did. Lorcan probably found him quickly and then just decided to let him have a day of fun," he says.
"With no thought to the consequences," Albus murmurs.
"Since when did my brother think about consequences?" Lysander asks.
"Fair point," Albus says, nodding.
Lysander sighs. "Anyway, I really should get him back—Mum was hoping to leave by mid-afternoon, and I think Benny's had enough excitement for today," he says ruefully, holding out his arms. Rose carefully deposits Benedick into Lysander's arms, and Lysander cradles him carefully, his expression turning softer.
"Hey, little guy," he says softly. "Let's get you home."
With a farewell nod, he starts walking back up to the castle.
Albus turns to Rose and Scorpius and sighs loudly. "That was eventful," he mutters.
Rose nods. "Yeah, James owes us butterbeers," she agrees.
"He's probably in the Three Broomsticks now," Albus says. "He went looking for Molly. Let's go. He and Molly can buy."
They start walking towards the Three Broomsticks before pausing, turning to look back at Scorpius.
"Are you coming?" Albus asks.
Scorpius blinks, startled. Seeing as he'd essentially eavesdropped his way into the entire event, he hadn't been sure he was invited.
"Come on," Rose says, gesturing at him.
Hesitating for only a moment, Scorpius hurries and catches up to them.
They're not friends, exactly, not yet, but it's a start.
a/n. please don't favourite without reviewing.