Chaser 2 of Magpies;
Prompt: Gloves: Write about a witch or wizard protecting someone.
Optional Prompts: (song) Hall of Fame - The Script; (emotion) disappointment; (dialogue) "If I was a foot taller, would it have made a difference?"
Disclaimer: Talk to be when I publish something longer than 3000 words
Word count: 1182 - as stated by Google docs.
A/N: Dear diary writing has become my person hell. Also an OC joined in on my torment.
"If I was a foot taller, would it have made a difference?"
Albus looked at the person sitting across from him.
The trio was at the library doing their homework, as was usual for a Saturday afternoon. They preferred doing it then as it left them with a whole day to hang out before classes started again on Monday. Any other Sunday, their table—hidden in a corner as far away from the librarian as possible—would have been filled with laughter and have paper planes flying around their heads. But not today; today, there was no laughter to be heard, and it was all because of her.
Rose Weasley made a sad sight; hunched over, looking at her hands resting on the table in front of her. She was the very picture of disappointment. It was a vast difference from the cheerful person his cousin usually was.
He didn't like it one bit.
He looked over at Scorpius and could tell that he thought the same by the expression on his face. Unlike her, neither of them cared all that much about Quidditch, no matter how many times their fathers told them how great a sport it was. But Rose—Rose loved Quidditch from the bottom of her heart. She was a Keeper, just like her father had been during his Hogwarts days. And that led them to their current problem.
Rose had lost the game. Actually, her team had lost the game, but she had somehow gotten the idea that it was all her fault, as the Keeper, for not being good enough. Personally, Albus thought it was all because of Alexander Warrington, the Slytherin Keeper.
Now, Albus had nothing against Slytherin—it would be a bit two-faced of him, seeing as he was one—but he couldn't deny that all the real troublemakers ended up in his House's Quidditch team. And Alexander Warrington was by far the worst of them. And he had a thing for tormenting his cousin. And not in the 'cute' pulling-pigtails-of-the-girl-you-like way.
Usually, she was quite good at ignoring what he said, but today, it seemed like that wasn't the case.
"What do you mean, Rose?" he asked.
She kept her head down and started to make all sorts of shapes with her fingers. "During the game. Would me being a foot taller have made the outcome of the game different?"
Albus and Scorpius shared a look. Although Rose was shorter than the two of them, she'd never been upset about it before. If anything, the redhead was proud of her height.
"Oh, Rose, now, why would you ask that? Your height has nothing to do with how skilled you are at Quidditch. Look at Scorpius here; he's half a foot taller than you and he couldn't play Quidditch to save his life," Albus said, ignoring the "Hey!" from the aforementioned blonde.
"While that was terribly mean of Albus, he does have a point. And don't forget that I am not the one who got hit in the face with a Bludger during the tryouts."
"That was one time, and the Bludger was jinxed!" It really wasn't his fault the evil thing seemed to have it out for him.
"Keep telling yourself that. Now, what brought that on?"
"Nothing, really, just something the stupid Slytherins said after yesterday's match. No offence," she added with a teasing smile.
"None was taken," Albus replied.
"Couldn't agree more," Scorpius said at the same time, earning them a laugh from their friend.
"What happened to house loyalty?"
"House loyalty has nothing to do with thinking someone is an asshole."
"Yeah, some people just can't help acting like idiots," Albus added.
"And speaking of assholes..." Scorpius muttered as none other than Alexander Warrington rounded the corner.
He looked around as if searching for something before his eyes landed on the group. He walked towards them with a smirk on his face.
"Why, if it isn't everyone's favorite trio: the social rejects, and little Miss Weasley."
Rose's face turned red with anger at his words. "Get lost, Warrington; you're not welcome here."
"Now, now; is that the way to speak to your classmate? I thought you Gryffs were supposed to be nicer than that."
Scorpius stood up and walked over to stand in front of the older Slytherin. "You heard the lady, Warrington; walk away."
"I don't take orders from you, Malfoy," he said with a sneer.
"Maybe you should," Albus said, coming to stand next to his friend.
"And just why do you think I would listen to you, Potter, if I won't even listen to a Malfoy?"
Their glaring session was stopped by the irritable librarian, who had come to kick them out of her precious library because they were 'no-good hooligans who live to make her life miserable'.
Afterwards, they parted ways with Warrington. He called back, "This isn't over, Potter!" as he rounded the corner.
The trio slowly walked away, trying to make as little noise as possible so as to avoid further ire from the librarian. They resumed their normal walking speed after they had put enough distance between them and the library. It wasn't long before they reached the courtyard.
They sat on a bench near the fountain and enjoyed the rare moment of peace. It was getting late, so there was hardly anyone else around. The few people who were there seemed content to talk quietly, allowing a sense of stillness to settle over them. It was the perfect setting for them to relax after their stressful homework session.
The quiet was once again broken as Rose started to talk. "You didn't have to 'save' me, you know. I am perfectly capable of defending myself!" She huffed as she crossed her arms.
"We do know, Rose, dear, but your face was getting red, and we really didn't need a demonstration of the famous Weasley temper in the middle of the library," Scorpius joked.
"Besides, we're your best friends; it's our job to protect you from time to time," added Albus. "We can't have you protecting the two us all the time and then just stand aside and listen to someone insult our best friend."
Rose smiled, but her smile didn't stay on her face longer than a moment or two. "Hey, Albus, do you think he was right?"
"About how you being short is the reason you lost the game? Of course not, Rose. While you are a natural when it comes to Quidditch, you are still young and have enough time to improve. Even professional players don't win every time."
"Albus is right, you know. And sooner than you know, you'll be standing shoulder to shoulder with the best of them, and the whole world's gonna know your name! Because when you play, you burn with the brightest flame, and there's no way your name won't end up on the walls of the hall of fame," Scorpius continued.
"So forget what Warrington said; he's just a bully," Albus said. "And bullies come and go in life. At the end of the day, we're the ones who'll remain."