It was a dark and stormy night. A dark and stormy Halloween night, no less. Wind howled around the turrets, and whistle in between the ancient window frames of the castle. A full moon shone overhead, the light spilling through the thin windows and onto the stone floors of the third floor corridors. When Rose finally reached the statue of the hump-backed witch, it cast an eerie shadow down the hallway.

The night couldn't have been more perfect for what she had planned.

"Lumos," Rose whispered, glancing around nervously as she did so. She wished she was able to do silent spells. Hugo had managed it within a week, but Rose couldn't get it. She pushed aside the statue and slipped into the narrow passageway beyond. It was a tight squeeze for the first few feet, and then the space opened out into a room almost the size of the Slytherin dormitory. Sensing her presence, the torches on the wall burst into blue flame. Rose put down her wand and began to rummage through her bag, laying the rest of the night's supplies beside it. A thick lump of artist's charcoal. Black salt. Black candles. Black gloves, cloak and hood. And finally, a thick book bound in black leather, the pages yellowing and ancient. Rose pulled on the black clothing and opened the book to the correct page, although she'd already memorised what she needed to do.

Carefully, she drew a circle on the floor with the charcoal, and another, smaller circle to the side. She placed the candles and sprinkled salt, before bringing the wand and the book into the smaller circle. She sat down and crossed her legs. Then, taking a deep breath, she began.

"Godric Gryffindor, invocar thee. Si transierit ad terminos orbis terrarum, et sobolem nostram vestramque. Cum hoc sapientia et fortitudo tua benedict. Godric Gryffindor, invocar thee." And then waited.

She hadn't quite known what to expect. The candles around the bigger circle flickered. Rose felt her heart skip a beat with excitement. Was it a draught from the storm outside, or the spirit testing the boundaries? She felt herself leaning forwards, careful not to overstep the boundaries, and-

"What the hell are you doing?"

Rose leapt to her feet in surprise, and on realising who it was took a step back in surprise. "Uh- Scorpius. I-I didn't expect to see you here."

He frowned around at the stuff on the floor, the shiny Head Boy badge on his chest gleaming in the torchlight. Rose suddenly felt incredibly childlike. This type of magic was half myth, which was one of the reasons she'd wanted to try it. "I can only assume that this isn't what it looks like. Nobody would be that stupid." He looked up, and Rose blushed as his clear blue eyes met hers for the first time. "Get this cleared up, and detention for a week."

"Y-yes," Rose stammered, hurrying to do as he said. She shoved her stuff into her bag, taking much less care than she had before. Scorpius watched her as she did it, and she tried to ignore his cool eyes on her. Finally, she was done and scurried out of the room without a backwards glance. She hurried back down the hallway, her cheeks hot and her eyes pricking with tears. Why did it have to be Scorpius? Why couldn't it have been someone, anyone, else? Instead of the boy she'd had a crush on for her first three years at Hogwarts, Head Boy, better than her at every class. It wasn't until she reached the dormitory and crawled into bed silently that it occurred to her to wonder what Scorpius had been doing down there. It wasn't part of the normal patrol route for Prefects. Probably just meeting another girl, she thought bitterly.

She didn't notice the shadow that followed at her heels back to the Dormitory, peeling away as she climbed into bed and drifting back the way it had come.