This is the sequel to Only, but you don't have to read that before this one :) It's going to be much shorter than the last one, but just as full of time travel ^_^
Chapter One – The Right to be Paranoid
The news spread like wildfire, until it seemed that everyone in Hogwarts was talking about one thing, and one thing only … Scorpius Malfoy was dating Rose Weasley. Scorpius was even convinced that half the teachers were talking about it … though that may have been him being paranoid. Rose said he was too paranoid about everything.
But still, there was no denying all the pupils were talking about it, whispering about it, spreading rumours that were obviously not true. Scorpius had to resist the urge to hex lots of people far too many times a day. This was why he had wanted to keep the relationship a secret, because people would be talking about it for weeks, wondering how it was possible. A Weasley and a Malfoy? Surely they should be killing each other? Rose had persuaded him that this was another case of him being paranoid, and he eventually relented. Turns out he was right to be paranoid, for once.
This all contributed to a strange fact about Scorpius: he was really enjoying his OWL exams. People can't talk in exams, and more often than not they didn't talk in the common room either, as they were too busy revising or too stressed out to pay much attention to Rose or Scorpius.
Halfway during exam week, and Scorpius was wandering about the hallways, completely at a loss for what to do. Rose was in the middle of her Ancient Runes exam, and he had no tests until tomorrow night, when the Astronomy Exam was due to take place. He didn't have to do any revision until tomorrow morning. And neither did anyone else. He was sure they would be talking about him again if he went back to the Gryffindor common room. Or maybe he was just being paranoid again.
'They're just gossiping Scorpius,' Rose was constantly reminding him. 'You should just ignore them. Uncle Harry endured much worse stuff at school.'
'But I'm not Harry Potter,' he would say. 'I must find it harder to ignore stuff than him.'
So he was wandering aimlessly about. A sudden thought hit him that he should go to the Entrance Hall, to wait for Rose to leave the Great Hall, as the Ancient Runes exam was almost over. He had nothing better to do.
When he reached the Entrance Hall he was hit by a second, much worse thought. She was going to berate him, no doubt, for not doing any revision that afternoon, and she was bound to be in a bad mood anyway after such a stressful exam. He sighed heavily, and decided to face the wrath of Rose.
'Scorpius!' someone gave a whispered cry. He wheeled round and saw Albus Potter, Rose's cousin, approaching him, accompanied by his younger sister Lily and Rose's younger brother Hugo. He wasn't revising either, to Scorpius's relief; Rose could let out all her stress on her cousin instead.
'Waiting for Rose?' Albus said quietly. Scorpius nodded. Albus raised an eyebrow.
'That's brave of you,' Hugo whispered, shuddering, while Lily nodded in agreement.
'Why don't we wait in the Hufflepuff corridor?' Albus suggested. 'That way we can talk properly but still know when Rose gets out of the hall.'
Scorpius nodded again, and the four of them headed down the corridor. They stood up against the wall, the doors to the Great Hall still in silent. Scorpius and Albus started talking about the exams. Albus wasn't bothered at all by Scorpius and Rose dating, which was an immense relief for Scorpius. Lily and Hugo quickly got bored of the conversation, and started walking up and down the corridor, Lily looking behind painting and pulling open tapestries as she went.
The doors to the Great Hall swung open, and the students spilled out. Rose appeared, and Scorpius waved to catch her attention.
'Scorpius, what are you doing here?' she asked him as he gave a small hug. 'Why aren't you revising?'
He let go of her and gave a small sigh. Before he could answer though, Lily, who had just pulled open another tapestry, gave a small shriek.
'What's wrong Lily?' asked Albus, hurrying to her side. 'Oh.'
Curious, the other three joined them. They all froze. Something shimmering and constantly flowing, like suspended water, was glittering before them.
Scorpius was the first one to take a step closer to it. He raised a hand to it.
'Are you sure that's a good idea?' asked Albus uncertainly.
'I've no idea,' Scorpius replied. He touched it, and his hand disappeared into the substance.
'Shall we go exploring?' he asked them, grinning.
Albus and Rose hesitated, but Lily and Hugo were already approaching it too.
'This is really dangerous,' Rose said. 'We shouldn't trust something if we don't know its magical properties.'
'Come on Rose, take a little risk,' Hugo piped up. 'We'll all be together, so I'm sure we'll be fine.'
'Dumbledore wouldn't have left this lying around if he thought it was dangerous,' Lily added.
'He might not know about this!' Rose pointed out.
'I'm sure Lily's right,' Albus said. 'We might as well check it out.'
'But what about the exams?' Rose said, but she was fighting a lost cause. Sighing, she said, 'Okay, okay. Let's go.'
They all smiled at her, and entered the substance. It was like a multi-coloured vortex inside, but one that flowed like water.
'You could swim through this, couldn't you?' Scorpius remarked as they walked.
'Please don't try,' Rose said. 'I think we should go back. This is obviously all there is to it.'
'Why don't we try going sideways?' Scorpius suggested, and he walked sideways. The vortex gave a small wobble, and he lost sight of all the others except for Rose, who was falling alongside him through pitch black.
With a small thud, they landed on the hard stone floor outside of the strange substance again. But, even without opening his eyes, Scorpius could tell something was wrong. It was far too cold for a June afternoon, and too noisy. It sounded like hundreds of students were making their way past the tapestry. Slowly, he opened his eyes. It was too dark to be a June afternoon too. Rose had already picked herself up off the floor, and had slowly pulled back the tapestry.
It was night time, it was snowing, and hundreds of students really were walking past the tapestry, all dressed in their best dress robes. Scorpius's heart dropped into his stomach. He looked into Rose's eyes, which were narrowed in his direction, and knew that, this time, he had every right to be paranoid. Rose was going to kill him.
