For the Seven-Deadly Sins challenge on HPFC.

Sin: Greed. (Although there is little in this story)

Enjoy!

Yet another long, cold night in Hogwarts, yet another night during which neither child was sleeping.

Rose Weasley fumbled with her blanket once more, trying to keep warm as a cool breeze brought snow into her dormitory. Unluckily, she had been assigned a bed close to a small window without glass, nothing to shield her against the frosty Scottish nights of winter. Sighing, she gave up on sleep, deciding to curl up with a book in a fat armchair in the common-room, near a hot, smoldering fire. Rose slid out of her four-poster bed; she shivered when her small feet hit the cool stone floor. Grabbing the nearest book from on top of her chest, she tiredly began her way down the stone steps.

She stopped with surprise after entering the common-room. Perched in her favorite squashy armchair, it was already occupied by her cousin, Albus.

"Hello Al. Why are you down in the common-room this late? I hope you haven't forgotten to do your homework yet again." But by the look of the fat leather transfiguration textbook on his lap, he had indeed.

Albus yawned, "Oh, hello to you Rose. And for your information, I didn't forget, we had Quidditch trials today, and the professor assigned us to read a whole chapter, and write an essay about the theory of transfiguration, all due for tomorrow. And what exactly are you doing up at 2 anyways? Let me guess, you couldn't sleep without knowing your grade on that charms assignment."

Rose sniffed, "No Albus, it was drafty in my dormitory, and I came down to warm up by the fire. And, my dear Albus, she assigned the reading and essay last week, I always tell you to do it the first day but, you never listen to me. And by the way, Professor Thomas caught up with me; I received an O on that charms assignment." She huffed in a haughty, annoyed way.

"May I borrow your cloak Al? I'd like to get out of here once in a while." Al was stunned by her question. Rose was just like her mother, in almost every way she was a miniature Hermione, she even had the same bushy hair. There were only two traits she had from her father, her flaming red hair, and her knack for trouble.

Although the cloak was technically his, Albus' father Harry, had always told him to share it with James, Lily and his friends. So it was with only minor hesitation that he dashed upstairs to get Rose the cloak, eager to see exactly what the best student in the year would do with an invisibility cloak.

As it turns out, Albus found himself rather disappointed in Rose as he watched the portrait hole swing shut. His father had had exiting adventures, sneaking out at night to face down a dark wizard, to talk to an eight foot spider, to help the headmaster uncover a portion of Voldemort's soul in a cave. All Rose wanted do was to go to stroll about the castle and maybe go to the library, not even the restricted section. Yes, even when being adventurous she was annoyingly goody two shoes.

Rose walked about in a leisurely way through the castle, though it was cold, the cloak was a warm shield from both the cold, and prying eyes. Before long, she found herself strolling about the dungeon, near her favorite lesson potions. Her mother had always excelled at potions, although her professor, Severus Snape had been less than fond of any of the Gryffindor students. Her father Ron though, had somehow tagged along with Harry into NEWT level potions, just passing his OWLs.

That's when she heard a bump, and quick light footsteps coming from the professor's private store of ingredients. Forgetting for a moment she was invisible, Rose pressed herself against the stone wall. She hoped that the potions master wouldn't find her out near his stores, supposedly trying to steal ingredients for forbidden potions in the dead of night.

She was therefore rather surprised to see a small blond boy hurrying past her, his arms full of jars, containing slimy things that looked like bug eyes and powdered bones and plants. When he dashed past her, unblinking, Rose remembered that she was invisible, and followed behind him. Maybe she could catch the un-known thief in the act of brewing potions from a book in the restricted section.

It was hard to catch up with the boy, he ran faster than her, and Rose often tripped over the long cloak. He never looked back; he just continued to run headlong towards some destination. After almost ten minutes of run through hidden doorways and long, winding stairways and dark halls, it became clear that the thief was headed towards the school owlry.

Rose had to hurry, to find out who he was and stop him from sending off valuable ingredients. That greedy jerk was probly sending them off to a shop for money. And she was going t catch him in the act.

He finally slowed inside the owlry; he chose a proud Hogwarts barn owl. Stuffing the jars into a paper bag, he tied it hurriedly to the owl. Just before he sent it off, Rose grabbed the boy's thin shoulder. He turned around and yelped. Rose hadn't fully taken off the cloak yet, all he saw was a floating head.

She let the cloak fall and put her hand over his mouth." Shut up, we're going to get caught. Or rather, I'll catch you, Malfoy" Scorpius Malfoy shuddered, and then fell to his knees.

"Don't tell! Please, please don't tell Weasley!" Rose ignored him and busied herself untying the bag, and removing the jars. He tugged on her robe, crying in a very un-Malfoyish way. Her dad had always told her about how dreadful the Malfoy's were that they were hardly human and truly evil. But what Scorpius was doing, this was not evil. She would never admit it, but he looked like a baby crying on the floor, his robes covered in owl dung from kneeling in it. It was terribly cute in a three legged puppy kind of way.

"Why are you stealing from the professor's private stores Malfoy? If it matters this much when you get caught, you shouldn't be doing it. Besides, your rich, if someone tells on you then Daddy will just pay to hush it all up." Rose's parents often spoke of how Draco enjoyed flaunting his wealth in their school days.

At this point, Scorpius finally stood up; wiping his face on his sleeve he sniffed. "In case you haven't heard, the ministry's taken away our money. Now father's on trial for being a supporter of You-Know-Who, which he wasn't, almost twenty years ago. And mother can't pay for anything, and she wants me to spend the holidays here because they can't afford to feed me. And the ministry wants to take me away and now she can't afford rent. And father hasn't been able to get a job lately. And I don't know what t-to do." He rambled through this all quickly, she could tell he'd been bursting to say it someone, but she wasn't exactly who he wanted to know his secret. He sank back to his knees.

And Rose Weasley felt something that shocked her, she felt sorry for a Malfoy, fallen rapidly from grace. And she felt angry at the system, a little rebellious. Her dad had told her sometime ago, about the night that Draco Malfoy couldn't do it. He couldn't kill Albus Dumbledore, in fact he was pouring out his soul to Moaning Myrtle. She'd met the ghost a few weeks ago, and could tell that someone would have to be quite desperate to spend time with her.

"Is that why you've been stealing things, to give the money to your mother?"

He looked up, sniffing loudly. "At first, a few weeks ago, I was just taking things like quills that people dropped in the hallway and ink they forgot in class. I was sending it off to vendors in Diagon Alley. But I was only getting a few knuts and a sickle if the jar was full or the quill was strait. But, it's getting closer to the holidays, and mother wrote and told me it was getting colder in the house. And she said she was sorry, but I wouldn't be getting anything for Christmas. So I took the stuff from the cabinet, I was sending to the Apothecary, I think I could get about four galleons for it all."

Rose told Scorpius he should tell the Headmaster, that the school provided money for families who needed assistance. He replied that no one would want to help Death-Eater scum like the Malfoys. That they would all think Draco Malfoy being imprisoned was a cause for laughter and celebration. In the end, she let the matter drop and told him to stop stealing, though this was unlikely as long as his situation remained so.

They walked together towards the dungeon, where Scorpius slid back into the Slytherin common-room. In the back of her mind, Rose wondered how much he had pleaded with the sorting hat to get in, when he was so much more like a Gryffindor, or even Hufflepuff. She returned the jars to the cupboard and returned to the Gryffindor common-room, where Albus was still nodding off while trying to finish his transfiguration essay. She didn't reply when he asked how her stroll went, or when he asked why she smelt faintly of owl dung. And after much trouble, she even managed to fall asleep, she dreamt of a greedy ministry of magic trying to lock up her mother for being a muggle-born. She also dreamt of Scorpius Malfoy, telling her that his father had been cleared of all charges, and then smiled.

------------------------------------------------------Christmas Day-------------------------------------------------------------

Rose Weasley woke up on Christmas Morning in her bedroom back home. She received ten galleons from her parents, and spent the rest of the day making cookies with her mother, laughing and having a great time.

Scorpius Malfoy awoke in his dormitory, the only Slytherin who had remained for the holidays, glad that no one else was there to see that he hadn't gotten anything.

Later on that day, Rose Weasley could be seen sending off a small parcel with a snowy owl, yet another gift.

Later on that day, Scorpius Malfoy could be seen smiling for the first time in a long time, opening a parcel containing half dozen cookies, a bag of ten galleons, and a note telling him to have a happy Christmas. He sent four cookies and all ten galleons to his mother, telling her that he had made an almost-friend.

Please review, and have a Happy New Year!!!