Written for Mary as part of the monthly one-shot exchange. I hope you like it!
#13. FairyTale [The Random and Crazy Competition]
# Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs by Hadrian Whittle - (location) Black Lake [The Collectables Challenge]
Dame#13. Tradition [Royalty Competition]
#C11. Write a story based on a Disney film [Scavenger Hunt]
#2. Apollo - Write about something related to divination [Greek Mythology Competition]
#510. Hope [If you dare Challenge]
Words: 3,050
The Rose behind the Thorns
Black Lake, almost 16 years ago…
Once upon a time, the wind blew softly in the starry night and the sound of the waves could be heard in the darkness, only the flickering lights of the circle of candles that reflected on the surface of the black lake enlightened their surroundings.
"Alright, does everyone know when it's his turn?" Ginny Potter asked and looked at the other eleven women that were standing at the edge of the lake in a circle around her sister in law and newborn niece. "Remember, it is tradition to start with the youngest witch and end with the eldest, otherwise the ritual won't a success. That would be Astoria, Luna, myself, Hannah, Katie, Angelina, Audrey, Fleur, Mrs. Granger, Mum, Madam Pompfrey and Professor McGonagall."
Hermione, with little Rose on her arm, smiled when she saw her family and friends standing around her, ready to take part in gifting her daughter with the most important virtues of life. She had found out about the Ceremony in an old and dusty book, and was delighted that she had found twelve witches to participate in it.
"Wonderful," Ginny continued, "Luna you may start. Leave your position in the circle, and hold your hands over little Rose. Everyone else will do the same."
Everyone nodded silently and Luna stepped forward.
"With the power of the witches one, I will bless you with the gift of Honesty. Use it well little Rose," she said in her dreamy voice and her hands started to glow in a light silver. When it faded, she stepped back and the next woman took her place.
"With the power of the witches two, I will bless you with the gift of Happiness. Use it well little Rose," Astoria Malfoy whispered with a bright smile on her face.
"With the power of the witches three, I will bless you with the gift of Courage. Use it well, little Rose," Ginny said gently.
"With the power of the witches four, I will bless you with the gift of Selflessness. Use it well, little Rose," Hannah Longbottom spoke to the small girl.
"With the power of the witches five, I will bless you with the gift of Compassion. Use it well, little Rose," Katie Bell whispered.
"With the power of the witches six, I will bless you with the gift of Forgiveness. Use it well, little Rose," Angelina Weasley said, with small tears shining in her eyes.
"With the power of the witches seven, I will bless you with the gift of Sympathy. Use it well, little Rose," Audrey Weasley told the little girl.
"Wiz zee power of zee witches eight, I will bless you wiz zee gift of Beauty. Uze it well, petite Rose," Fleur Weasley whispered in her French accent.
"With the power of the women nine, I will bless you with the gift of Love. Use it well, my little Rose." Jean Granger spoke in amazement.
"With the power of the witches ten, I will bless you with the gift of Kindness. Use it well, little Rose." Molly Weasley said and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"With the power of the witches eleven, I will bless you with the gift of Health. Use it well, little Rose," the medi-witch Poppy Pompfrey whispered.
However, before the eldest witch in the circle could step forward, someone stepped on a branch, causing everyone to look up. A figure with a dusty and heavy cloak walked towards them, on her nose where big round glasses, which caused her eyes to look twice as big as usual.
"My dears! I have foreseen that you are holding a witches ritual! And of course I am more than willing to contribute something to the litte – "
She was interrupted by Professor McGonagalls groan. "Sybill, we appreciate your thoughts, but the ceremony has already started. I am surprised you haven't seen that in this crystal ball of yours…"
Sybill Trelawney looked around, from one witch to the other. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth; her eyes grew – if possible – even wider than before.
"Holy Merlin," she exclaimed dramatically, "You are already twelve – "
"Actually," Hermione stated with one eyebrow raised and little Rose still on her arm, "We are 14, including Rose and myse –"
"No, No, No," the divination Professor screamed, "You're mother and child. That doesn't count. The number of the witches that offer up a gift is important. And me coming here makes it thirteen!"
Fleur, Angelina, Hannah, Katie and Audrey glanced at each other, obviously confused. Madam Pompfrey and Molly both sighed deeply and Luna's expression was a little troubled. Astoria, Ginny, Minerva and Hermione herself just rolled their eyes.
"I am glad to see you are still able to count, Sybill," the Hogwarts Headmistress said impatiently, "But if you'd be so kind to let us continue – "
"You don't understand, Minerva," the seer said vehemently and walked closer towards Hermione and Rose. When she spoke again, her voice sounded deep, strange and rusty:
"Thirteen 'stead of twelfe have stayed,
So a price needs to be payed
'Cause it's againt the ritual's deal
Fifteen years on from this time
Pricking her finger at the spinning wheel
The girl will die before the bell's last chime."
Every woman at the lake was staring at the clumsy divination Professor, who had started to cough and clear her throat. Hermione clutched her daughter closer to her chest in a protective gesture.
"Huh, has something happened?" Trelawney asked confused, her voice back to normal again.
Ginny was the first to break the stunned silence. "Erm, no, everything's alright," she said, walked towards her and escorted the woman back to the trail that lead back to the castle. "You look a little tired, though. Maybe you should get some sleep. It's already quite late after all…"
The red haired witch didn't wait for an answer, just gently grabbed her with a sigh, apparated away and appeared a second later alone again.
"'onestly, 'er predicaments are complezely 'orrible," Fleur said in her French accent and rolled her eyes. The other women nodded in agreement. Well, all except one that is.
"You don't really believe this, Minerva, do you?" Madam Pompfrey asked, with her eyebrows raised, upon seeing the elder witch's thoughtful expression. "You of all people?"
"I do not believe in such nonsense like divination," the Headmistress ensured, though she had a troubled look in her eyes. "But I am sad to say that there is some truth in her words."
"There is?" Jean Granger whispered, fear clearly written over her face as she put an arm around her daughter and grandchild.
The other girls looked at the emerald-eyed witch expectantly.
"This ceremony is one of the oldest known to the wizarding world. Ancient magic can be dangerous, that's why it isn't used very often," the elderly witch explained sadly.
Hermione stared at her former mentor in shock. "Does this mean my baby girl is really going to die?"
All eyes were on the Headmistress now. "No, she won't die," she said after a moment of consideration. She took a step forward towards Hermione and carefully held both her hands over the sleeping child. "My gift for you should have been wisdom. But with the power of the witches twelve, I will give you hope. Use it well, little Rose."
Instead of the previous eleven silvery glows, this time a bright golden light started to shine.
"Don't worry, your little girl won't die. But keep in mind that there is still a small chance that something might be happening… She has it in her blood to get in trouble after all."
"And besides," Ginny added laughing, "How big is the chance that she'll ever stumble across the spindle of a spinning wheel?"
Gates of Hogwarts, Present Day...
Scorpius arrived in a swirl of dust, and when his feet touched the soft green grass on the Hogwarts grounds, the first thing he did was take a deep breath in order to keep his stomach in control. After some seconds, he slowly turned around to look at his father, who had a small smirk on his face.
"I doubt I will ever get used to apparation, dad," the young Slytherin complained. "But still, thanks for taking me to see grandma on her birthday. I know that's usually not a good enough reason to skip two days of school."
His father just shook his head and patted his son briefly on the shoulder. "Well, it was an important family meeting after all. You might skip the part with the huge amount of cake and sweets, though… But do me the favour and repeat all the things you've missed in class."
"Sure, dad," Scorpius said grinning, and almost a little too enthusiastic
With that, Lord Malfoy gave his son one last nod, turned around and was gone within the next second.
The young Slytherin sighed. He wasn't really in the mood for school, and it was still quite some time until Christmas Break but well… He finally lifted his school bag over his shoulder and touched the gate to gain entrance to the school.
But nothing happened. Confused, he reached out a second time, but nothing changed.
"Are you kidding me?" He whispered to himself and took out his wand out of the pocket of his robe. "Alohomora."
Even on the next attempt, the doors wouldn't open. Frustrated, Scorpius put his wand back in its place and simply climbed over the gate. It was easier said than done, but in the end he managed to land safely on the other side. Probably another one of James' jokes… he mused.
Hequickly glanced at his watch. Oh well, I better hurry, or I will be late for lunch! He thought and continued walking a little faster.
During his little journey he had a weird feeling, though Scop couldn't quite explain why. But his suspicion was confirmed once he opened the doors to the Great Hall.
He couldn't quite believe what he saw in front of him, so shook his head, closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again, but the scene hadn't changed. Even though not all the classed had finished yet, he had never seen the Hall so quiet. Scorp was sure that one could even hear a single needle drop to the floor.
The reason for this rather unexpected silence was even more bizarre. Everyone, every single student and teacher in the Great Hall, was sound asleep. Some on the tables, other's on chairs and floors, some very unfortunate students even had their faces in the bowls of tomato soup in front of them.
Scorpius quickly made his way over to the nearest student on the Slytherin table. He patted her on the shoulder, screamed at her, shook her, and when he ran out of ideas he even softly nudged his elbow into her ribs. Nothing.
He tried it again on some of the other students, but no matter what he tried, they wouldn't wake up from their slumber.
What in the name of Merlin has happened here? I've been gone for barely two days!
For some minutes he sat down on one of the benches, then he decided to just walk towards the Headmistress' office. Maybe she knew what was going on here.
When he walked out of the Hall again – careful not to step onto the sleeping boys and girls on the foor – Scorpius followed his instincts and stopped by at the Hogwarts kitchen. His suspicion was confirmed once more, when he saw all the House Elves sleeping in it.
Shaking his head in confusion, Scorpius continued his walk and turned left. There, right at the end of the corridor in front of where the muggle studies classroom was supposed to be, stood a gigantic hedge of thorns.
For a moment, Scorp just stared at the huge amount of green in front of him; overwhelmed from the sight that had greeted him. Then he took a few steps forward to get a better look at the monstrosity. Whatever has caused everyone in the castle to fall asleep, it must have happened in this classroom, he supposed and titled his head to the left, and then to the right.
But no matter the perspective, the young Slytherin knew that the hedge was too thick to pass through it without any sort of magic.
So again, he took out his wand and screamed the first spell that came to his mind. "Bombarda!"
To his utter astonishment, absolutely nothing happened. Not even the leaves caught on fire. Just nothing.
Not believing his eyes, he muttered one spell after the other, silently trying to remember the spells that his secret crush, the stunningly beautiful Rose Weasley, had explained more than once in class.
After what felt like the tenth spell, he sat down on the floor in front of the hedge and looked at it frustrated. When he was about to give up, a sudden thought hit him like a ton of bricks.
Muggle Studies, of course! It's probably something that can only be undone with something non-magical!
Jumping to his feet, he enthusiastically grabbed a pen from his bag and pointed his wand at it. A bright smile appeared on his face when he admired the large, silvery-green sword in his hands.
He stepped closer to the hedge and with one last breath he swung the sword, right through the thorns.
It is working! Scorpius though proudly, and one step after another, he made his way through the hedge until he reached the door to the Classroom.
The young Malfoy opened it and carefully stepped inside. As he had expected, everyone – including Albus - was sound asleep. He looked at the front and upon seeing the big spinning wheel, he remembered that their Professor had said something about getting to know muggle working methods of a time long ago.
Since he was – despite his pureblood heritage – quite interested in all kind of muggle things, he took a step closer to the spinning wheel.
He dropped his sword on the ground and was about to give it a swing, when he saw the form of Rose' body lying next to it. On her finger he spotted some traces of fresh blood, so he bent down immediately.
After a quick inner debate, he softly picked her up, laid her on the desk and gently brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.
For a short moment he took the time to admire her beauty. Her long eyelashes, the colour of her hair, but the thing that mesmerized him the most were her lips.
Since he had first seen the girl on Platform 9 ¾ he had dreamed about kissing her lips with his own. He knew that her father wasn't really a fan of the Malfoy family, though he had never really found the courage to tell her about his feelings. He knew that she loved her family more than anything in the world and he didn't want to be the reason to cause a fight between them.
Scorpius didn't know for how long he had been staring at the girl, when a suddenly a thought came to his mind and he started grinning like an idiot.
Maybe dreams do come true after all… and she's asleep so she'll never know… more importantly she won't be able to hex me into next week…
Slowly, almost in slow motion he bent down and cradled her head in his hands. He brought his face closer to hers and softly brushed his lips against hers.
Suddenly, Rose' eyes fluttered open and she stared at him.
Scorp's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pulled away, when – to his own surprise – Rose lifted her arms, put the around his neck and deepened the kiss.
After the first moments of shock, Scorpius realized that Rose – the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts – kissed him.
Grinning into the kiss, he put his own arms behind the small of her back and lifted her carefully so she could lean her body against his.
When the need for air finally got too great, they slowly broke the kiss.
"Wow, that was…" Rose began still a little out of breath and blushing a bright crimson.
"Yeah…" Scorpius replied sheepishly.
For some reason, he was still sitting on the desk, and Rose on his lap with his arms still around her body.
When he heard some of the other students moan slightly, Scorpius turned his head and saw that the first ones started to wake up again. He glanced towards the door and noticed that the hedge of thorns also began to shrink.
A little confused, he turned to face the girl on his lap.
"Do you know why everyone in the whole castle has been asleep?"
Now it was Rose' turn to look a little sheepishly. "Well, actually I'm not quite sure… The Professor was asking for a volunteer to try out the Spinning Wheel, so I sat down and somehow I must have pricked my finger on the spindle there."
She pointed towards it and Scorpius could see the small amount of blood that was still on the spindle.
"A bright golden light started to glow and one after another we fell asleep," the girl continued, "I have no idea why though."
Scorpius chuckled a little when he saw her now also slightly confused expression.
After a moment of consideration, he took her small hand in his slightly bigger one and looked her directly in the eyes.
"Rose, would you care for a little walk by the black lake with me?" Scorpius asked softly, "I – I care a lot about you and I would prefer talking to you in private instead of having all these guys in here listen to what I want to say and – "
He was stopped by Rose' finger on his lips. "I would love to take a walk with you, Scorpius," she said smiling, "And just so you know, I do care a lot about you, too."
Scorpius beamed at her, hopped of the desk and extended his hand to her. Maybe he still had the chance to get his happily ever after...
"Well, then, Sleeping Beauty, let' go for a walk."