This was impossible. Unbelievable. Outlandish. Prepost-
"Rose, stop worrying." Albus impatiently interrupted my latest mental breakdown of the semester. But this wasn't just any old mental breakdown. Oh no, while my previous woeful moments had all been brought on by panic attacks about OWLs and future career paths, this one was much worse. As of approximately 1:32 pm during Arithmancy, my reputation was utterly and completely ruined. I, Rose Weasley, had received… *gulp* a detention.
"You look like you're about to have a stroke. It's just one detention; you'll be fine."
"Shhhhh!" I glanced furtively around to make sure no one else at the library was nearby before hissing at him. "Are you crazy? Someone could be listening!"
Albus actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. "Despite the wildly interesting life you lead here in the dustiest corner of the library, I somehow doubt the student population is following your every move, Rose. You're the only person I know who hasn't gotten a detention at this point, it might even be good for you."
"Good for me? GOOD for me?" I stared at him in horror.
"What did you even do to get a detention?" He frowned at the Herbology essay he was attempting to write. "Hey, do you know why the Venomous Tentacula is so dangerous?"
"Its bite is venomous, obviously, and it can also try to strangle you," I recited. "And… I… fell asleep in class."
Albus didn't seem very impressed. "That's it?"
I was ready to burst into a lecture about how with that seemingly simple action I had lost precious moments of learning and had betrayed the trust of my teachers until he shook his head and said, "I thought it was way more dangerous than that. Dunno why Neville keeps on going on about it, really. "
"Albus," I said slowly, bringing him back to the crisis at hand. "I fell asleep. In CLASS."
"So what? I do that every day in Potions. You just need to learn to hide it better. Like this, see?" He promptly demonstrated, turning his face away from me while still looking as though he were reading over his essay.
I was suitably horrified. "But then how do you pay attention? And do well?"
He snorted. "I don't. Why do you think I need you and Lucy tutoring me?"
"Your academic failings aside, what do I do? I can't have this on my permanent record!"
"Well they keep the records in Filch's office so all you'd have to do is get in and throw out the one record. James and Fred have done it loads of times," he said, like it was as easy as rereading Hogwarts: A History.
"But-But that's destruction of property and breaking and entering and sneaking out past curfew, and… and I don't even know how many other rules that's breaking!"
"Uh, yeah."
"I can't break more rules. You know what they say, two wrongs don't make a right." I said, emphatically shaking my head no.
7 hours later…
I lay in bed with my eyes wide open.
What if I wasn't appointed Head Girl because of this detention? What if I was up for the Wizarding Nobel Peace Prize but lost due to having an unsightly background? What if I was running for Minister years from now and my opponent used this in a smear campaign?
Never mind the fact that I had no leadership skills to speak of, no diplomacy talents whatsoever (as evidenced by my inability to stop the daily fights that broke out among my way-too-large family), and no intention of ever going into the Ministry. Despite what Albus said, I could think of no good reason for having my otherwise perfect record tarnished.
What harm could it do to just… restore it back to its original pristine state?
Besides, I reasoned as I slowly slid out of bed, it's not like I was a habitual troublemaker.
I was a model student and prefect, I said to myself as I tiptoed down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.
And I always did the right thing, I rationalized as I stood in front of the door that led out of the common room. Ok, so there was that one time where I put a bunch of worms in Hugo's bed after an argument but he deserved it.
This was it. No going back. I took a deep breath in front of the common room door and stepped through.
At least that's what I imagined doing. In actuality, my body froze up and refused to take the final step of crossing outside into the dark halls of the castle.
Wait. Maybe I shouldn't do this. Surely if I was meant to clear my record, the universe would send some sort of sign. I patiently stood still.
One minute passed.
Five minutes passed.
Just when I was happily convinced I should head back to my warm bed, keeping my misdemeanors to a one time only occurrence, the entrance to the common room flew open, almost hitting me.
"Rose?" James and Fred came in, looking out of breath and wildly amused. "What're you doing up so late?"
"Probably finishing up her Herbology essay that's due in a week." Fred shook his head in mock disappointment. "Haven't we taught you to always leave your work for the last minute? Working better under pressure and all that?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I finished that days ago." I sniffed indignantly. "Where were you two coming from anyway?"
They exchanged a quick look and James shook his head.
"Better for you not to know for plausible deniability. Just make sure to avoid eating at the Slytherin table tomorrow, not that you'd have any reason to go there anyway." He winked and then frowned. "If you're not doing work then why are you up?"
"Ah, haven't you heard? Little Rosie's become a rebel. She got her first detention today." Fred wiped a fake tear away. "They grow up so fast."
"A detention?" James looked delighted and the two of them smothered me in a huge hug.
"Can't… breathe…" I wheezed, trapped between them.
They released me but still looked far too proud.
"I knew you weren't adopted," James said. "It just took about 16 years to show it."
"It's the Granger in her. It's too strong."
I held up my hands to stop them before they got too far. "Ok, first of all, I am NOT a rebel!"
"Duh." James rolled his eyes. "Your Weasley colors may have done you proud this time but it still takes a lot of work to become a fully fledged rebel like us. Hey, what'd you do anyway? Prank the teacher?"
"Skip class?"
"I fell asleep." I replied morosely.
They were silent.
"And?"
"Isn't that enough?" I cried out.
Silence.
"Ah, well, baby steps," James sighed, clearly disappointed in me.
"She is out of bed now and not even studying," Fred pointed out. "That's still something."
"Yeah, you never told us what you were doing." James squinted his eyes at me suspiciously.
"Well," I started rambling, my previously forgotten nerves resurging. "I was going to go to Filch's office and get rid of the detention slip because, you know, I can't have something like that plaguing me my whole life if I want to become Head Girl or have a successful career after Hogwarts, but I really think I should just go back to sleep-"
"NO!" The two yelled, stopping me mid-sentence.
"Rose, don't you see? This is fate!"
I was afraid of that.
"We were meant to find you before you set off on your first quest alone," Fred agreed, looking more serious than I had ever seen him.
Quest? I thought they were taking it a bit too seriously, but before I could voice my concerns out loud, James shoved an old piece of parchment at me.
"The Marauder's Map?" I stared at it, touched despite the blatant rule-breaking they were promoting. "You're letting me use it?"
"Of course, you'll need the cloak too." James put it around my shoulders.
I raised my arm experimentally, wondering if it would show anything with movement. Nothing. I gave a little wiggle with my fingers. Still nothing. Cool.
"With these tools, you'll have everything to complete your journey successfully and do our family proud. Good luck-"
"And godspeed, young Weasley."
And with that, they were gone.
10 minutes later, I was seriously questioning whether the universe had my best interests in mind.
The map and cloak both helped me easily make my way to Filch's office while avoiding everyone else who was up in the castle, showing a surprising amount of couples hiding in broom closets. I made a mental note to ask James if I could borrow the map for prefect patrols; it really would make things a lot easier.
Finally I stood outside of the office that held my future in its dusty old drawers somewhere.
You can do this, Rose, I told myself. No, you can do this, Weasley. There, that sounded tougher. Like someone who could break into an office and destroy evidence.
I felt nauseous again.
Just a final deep breath in to calm the nerves and enter!
I inhaled deeply. And again. And again.
After another 5 minutes where I almost had another panic attack and walked right back to my dorm, I finally pulled myself together, squeezed my eyes shut and quickly opened the office door before I could think about it any longer.
In retrospect, that was probably an incredibly dumb thing to do, considering the whole place could have been rigged with a Caterwauling Charm, but after a few seconds of silence, I opened my eyes and marginally relaxed, seeing no immediate threat.
After checking the map to make sure there was no one headed my way, I quickly took off the cloak and headed to the huge filing cabinets along the wall holding the detention slips.
I opened one at random to see what system they were organized under. Hmmm, 1583, 2007, 1934. So definitely not by year.
Maybe alphabetically by last name? Nope, Davis, Adams, Spencers.
Alphabetically by first name maybe? No again.
I beamed, mentally running through my list of ways to catalogue items. This would be great.
About 27 minutes later, I wanted to claw my eyes out. I had gone through 3 huge drawers, each overflowing with with detention records and with no logical system for them to be organized under. I almost started organizing them myself until I remembered that it would be a clear sign that I had broken in. What kind of monster didn't organize this disaster of a filing cabinet?
Just when I was about to burst into tears (in despair at not finding my own records or in anger at the tragedy of this so-called 'filing' cabinet, I wasn't sure), I heard footsteps right outside the office.
There was no time to think. I dove under the desk in the middle of the room and shut my eyes tightly, praying that whoever was about to come in was somehow blind and couldn't see the stacks of paper I had left around or the Cloak draped over the chair-THE CLOAK! If I lost the Invisibility Cloak, I had no doubt James would kill me in my sleep. Actually, he would probably do it while I was awake, just to really make the torture hit home for losing his precious family heirloom/one of the Deathly Hallows, NBD. Not to mention I left my wand and the Map lying about too.
I really was quite awful at sneaking around.
The door swung open and the mystery person took about one step inside before immediately saying, "What the hell" in a baffled tone.
Well. Definitely a person with sight.
"Who's there?" Mystery Person commanded. "There's no way you would leave an Invisibility Cloak and your wand here; I know you're still here."
I stayed silent.
"Come out now and maybe I won't hurt you."
I clapped a hand over my mouth to prevent a squeal from escaping. Maybe it would be better to just come out from under the desk, but there was always the possibility he wouldn't find me. But before I could decide what to do, he spoke again.
"Fine, you brought this on yourself. Homenum Revelio."
I gasped as I felt something swooping right above me and kept my eyes tightly shut. His footsteps came closer and closer until it stopped right in front of my hiding spot underneath Filch's desk.
"Alright, who the hell-Weasley? Is that you?" The tone changed dramatically from snarling to surprised.
I winced and mentally prepared myself for the worst before seeing who it was. There was no way I could be lucky enough to get someone like Head Boy, Quidditch captain, and all around perfect golden boy Adam Davis to be the one to find me. It was much more likely that I would be caught by one of my troublemaking cousins (probably Louis this time seeing as James and Fred had already been out once tonight) or, knowing my luck, someone like Travis Erickson, a Slytherin beater built remarkably like a troll and with comparable hygiene to one too.
I paused briefly in my self-pity to contemplate which would be worse. Louis would gleefully tell everyone of my being out late, adding even more rumors to the wildly churning Hogwarts gossip about my newly found rebelliousness. No way would that be ok. But then there was Erickson and his dandruff… I shuddered. Ok, maybe Louis would be better. What was a little smudge on one's public record if it would mean getting out of Filch's office with the help of family?
"Um, Weasley? I'm still here."
I slowly opened my eyes, looking up.
A pair of expensive dragonhide shoes. Dark uniform pants. Askew Slytherin tie. (I winced. The Erickson option was looking more likely.) Icy grey eyes. And the kicker: platinum blonde hair.
All of it added up to one Scorpius Malfoy, aka brilliant Slytherin seeker, notorious womanizer, all-around bad boy, and the one person I'd managed to not talk to for the past 5 years. As the antithesis to everything I stood for, Scorpius Malfoy was number one on my 'to avoid' list, something that had brought my mother endless exasperation and my father endless pride.
I plastered a nonchalant smile on my face that probably looked more maniacal than anything else. "Ah, hello there my good fellow; how's it going?"
Judging from the startled look on his face, I probably didn't pass off as normal. But then again, when did I?
Poor Malfoy seemed torn between wanting to laugh and remaining baffled as to my situation. Nothing new there for anyone, buddy. He settled on retaining an air of boredom I'd always seen him wear before.
"Me? Oh, nothing much," he drawled, fluidly kneeling down to join me on the floor. "Just taking a walk around the castle to clear my head. I have terrible bouts of insomnia, such a bother."
Unlike me, Malfoy actually managed to look cool and remain aloof while I probably, ok, definitely, couldn't talk my way out of this one.
"Wait." My eyes widened as I remembered what he called me. "You know who I am?"
He stared at me for a moment as though in shock at my stupidity before schooling his face into his usual state of apathy.
"Red hair, freckles, must be a Weasley," he said, lazily grinning and reaching out to wrap a lock of my curly hair around his finger, brushing the side of my face.
"Oh." I blushed a deep red.
"Also your parents are two of the most famous people in the Wizarding World and we've had classes together for 5 years now, Rose."
He watched as the embarrassment crept onto my face and bit the inside of his cheek. At least he had the grace to try and hide his laughter for my pitiful sake.
"Oh. Right."
Since the universe was so clearly in tune with my existence that night, you would think the least it could do for me, since it put me in that situation in the first place, would be to kindly have the ground could just swallow me whole, but no, I remained right there, with Malfoy in front of me, still clearly expecting some sort of coherent explanation.
"So?"
"So what?" I stalled.
"Why are you here at 3 am in Filch's office hiding under the desk in your pajamas?" he asked calmly, though his eyes were glinting with amusement.
Oh no. In my previously panicked state at the thought of being caught by someone, I had forgotten that I was wearing my matching t-shirt and shorts with hippogriffs all over them from a few years ago. Clearly Malfoy had not looked over this little detail.
"Oh, um, I sleepwalk. It's a horrible habit, I've had it since I was 12," I invented wildly. "Don't know when it's going to hit but I can end up wandering all over the castle, anywhere really. The Great Hall, the Hufflepuff common room, the Forbidden Forest…"
My ramblings dissolved into weak chuckles that Malfoy ignored.
"Been all over in the castle, you say?" he said slowly, looking innocuous for all the world, but I could see a little mischievousness in his eyes. "Ever been inside the Slytherin rooms? They're rather comfortable, especially with all the green decorations. Feels just like home."
I couldn't hide my look of shock and horror at the thought of being in the Slytherin rooms fast enough. Malfoy started laughing.
"I just don't remember the places I've walked to since I'm asleep when I'm there," I hurriedly tried to explain so he wouldn't be too insulted.
"Then how could you remember all the other places you've been to, like the Hufflepuff rooms?" he asked innocently. "Bullshit, Rose. Merlin, you're as pale as I am!"
He cracked up again but at least he wasn't angry.
"You really are a horrible liar," he snickered.
"I know, I'm sorry," I groaned, covering my face with my hands but peeking through my fingers at him.
Scorpius shook his head and shot me a dazzling grin. I couldn't help but openly stare at him. Wow. It was easy to see why he was the subject of many girls' conversations when he looked like that.
But suddenly he frowned. No!
"Uh, Rose? You breathing?"
It turned out I actually wasn't.
I drew in a shaky breath and nodded.
"Did the sight of me cause you to forget to breathe?" Scorpius smirked knowingly. "Don't worry, that's a frequent reaction to my otherworldly beauty."
"N-No," I stuttered, not looking him in the eyes. His smirk grew but he chose to leave it.
"So, ready to tell me what Rose Weasley, perfection and goodness incarnate, is doing out past curfew?" He widened his eyes in mock shock.
"You think I'm perfect?" I flushed red again at both his words and the hitch in my voice when I questioned him. His eyes softened a little but he thankfully didn't comment on my reaction.
Scorpius pretended to think. "Top of the class since first year, apple of every teacher's eye, will most definitely get all your OWLs and, unless you develop some sort of illicit drug addiction before seventh year, expected to win the Most Successful superlative and can go into any career you want. Yep, I think that's about as perfect as you can get."
"Oh," I replied faintly. While I knew he was utterly wrong, it was still gratifying to see that I at least projected an air of having my life together. I was suddenly overcome with something close to endearment and affection for Scorpius.
"Well, don't get me wrong, your social life is a bit lacking, but back to the matter at hand?" He raised an eyebrow.
I chewed my lip nervously. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"Yeah, sure." He rolled his eyes, clearly not imagining the severity of what I was about to explain to him.
"No, I need you to promise." I insisted. He looked a little taken aback at my vehemence but complied.
"I'm not perfect." I dropped my head into my hands again. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I-I got a detention."
"What, the one you got in Arithmancy today?"
I looked up so fast that I heard some bones in my neck crack. "You heard about that?" I cried out in disbelief. If news of my mistake had reached even bad boy Malfoy, there was clearly no point in trying to get rid of the detention slip from my record. Word had gotten out and there was nothing I could do about it. "How on Earth did you know?"
"I sit behind you in class, Rose."
Thank Merlin.
"So everyone's not talking about it? They don't all know yet?"
Scorpius snorted. "Why the hell would people care if you got a detention or not? People get them everyday. I got three yesterday alone."
I was about to relax until he continued. "To be fair, I can't say I wasn't surprised to see that you were the one to get a detention. Though if there were any class to sleep in, Arithmancy would be the one."
"I didn't mean to," I groaned. "I was just up late helping Al study for his Potions test and editing Lily's Charms essay and showing Dominique how to do that one spell from Defence and Professor Farren's voice was just so-"
"Boring?" Scorpius supplied.
"Yes," I sighed. "But don't tell him that!"
"Obviously. So what, you're here to get rid of the detention slip so you don't have to actually serve it?" He grinned. "I'm impressed, Weasley. You might make a better Slytherin than I expected."
"Really?" Again, I was unexpectedly flattered despite it not being true. "No, I couldn't do what you do… skipping class and just not caring at all. It's too much pressure for me."
Scorpius put a hand over his heart. "It's nice to see some recognition for our Slytherin reputation sometimes. Thanks for that Rose, really."
I smiled despite myself at his fake sincerity but remembered what he'd said before about detention. "I already served my detention tonight though."
"What? Why?" Now Scorpius looked really confused.
"Because I deserved it! I wasted a teacher's time in class and if I can't be trusted to even pay attention, then how can I be trusted with something bigger, like being Head Girl?"
"Putting aside that crazy thought process, what the hell are you even doing here then?" he demanded.
"People can't actually know I got in trouble," I explained. "It would ruin everything, my whole reputation now, any possible career paths in the future. I can't have worked this hard for so long to have it all ruined by one mistake."
To my horror, I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears. Scorpius looked distinctly uncomfortable but concerned nonetheless.
"Look, one detention isn't the end of the world. All of your other cousins get detentions and they don't care." He passed me a handkerchief with SHM embroidered in green thread. So Slytherin and yet another reminder that I was consorting with the enemy. "But look, if you really want to, we can get rid of the records for it."
I blew my nose. "I tried already but I can't find it. How can you have this much paper and not have any sort of organizational system? I mean, it's not that hard to set up a process that works for you and is easy to follow! Who isn't organized in this day and age anymore?! What kind of villainous, fiendish, brutish, savage barbarian does this kind of heinous-"
"Rose," Scorpius said, interrupting my rant. "As much as I agree with you, we should really start looking for your detention."
"You agree with me?" I was absurdly pleased.
"Of course. You should see my roommate Damien." He looked disgusted. "The guy's a complete mess, doesn't know where his socks are half the time. A real man should know how to organize his damn underwear drawer."
I think I fell a little bit in love. Who knew a Slytherin bad boy would be into organization?
I finally got up from underneath the table and Scorpius handed me my wand.
"Accio Rose Weasley's detention slip." With a flick of his wand, Scorpius had the offending piece of paper fly neatly to his hand.
My jaw fell open. Accio. I could have just used Accio instead of wasting so much time sorting through the rubbish in those cabinets.
"I guess that's why you weren't in Ravenclaw," Scorpius echoed my thoughts with a smirk. "Now would you like to do the honors?"
I beamed and prepared to set that stupid detention slip on fire. Unfortunately, I was a little too exuberant and the flames that burst out of my wand ended up nearly reaching the ceiling. A loud alarm rang out and water started pouring down from the charmed ceiling of the office.
"Run!"
Scorpius had the presence of mind to thankfully grab the Cloak and Map on the way out as we sprinted away from the scene of the crime.
"So there's no alarm for a break-in but there's a whole charm system set up for a fire? Why is that more likely than a break-in?" I puffed out, running for my life.
"Who cares?"
Just when I was getting my breath back, I heard dozens of footsteps headed our way with McGonagall's voice distinguishable among the crowd.
Scorpius and I froze, staring at each other until he grabbed my hand and dragged me down an empty hallway.
"They shouldn't find us down here," he said, listening intently at the teachers who ran by. "To Gryffindor Tower then?"
"Oh, you don't have to go all the way there," I said, surprised. "It's pretty far from the Slytherin common rooms, isn't it?"
Scorpius shook his head gravely. "Can't tell you that. The location of the Slytherin rooms is a secret we snakes take to the grave, especially when it comes to Gryffindors." He smiled wryly. "Besides, knowing your luck, you'd most definitely be caught. I'm doing the castle a favor by letting them actually get some sleep. Someone needs to stop you from creating the ruckus you'd no doubt make without me there to guide you."
"You know, you never told me what you were doing in Filch's office," I said as we started walking again.
"I was in the kitchens with Zabini. We were walking back to our dorms when we heard some strange noises coming from Filch's office. Zabini had no interest in getting involved but I just had to see who destroyed an office like that." He grinned at my embarrassed face.
"But what were you doing in the kitchens this late?"
He eyed me suspiciously then shrugged. "You've been through a lot today, Weasley, so I won't go into the details but just avoid eating at the Gryffindor table tomorrow."
I frowned. That sounded suspiciously familiar…
Finally we reached the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Well, thanks for helping me get rid of my detention slip and not telling anyone about this and then-"
"You're welcome, Rose." Scorpius cut me off before I could go on to list another 10 things. "And good night. Try not to trip on anything on your way up to bed."
He shot me a wink.
I beamed and turned to close the portrait as I went inside when I suddenly remembered what had seemed so familiar to me before.
"Scorpius!" I called out. He turned around expectantly. "Don't eat at the Slytherin table tomorrow!"
I grinned to myself as the portrait door shut in his confused face. I'd suppose I'd see him at the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff tables tomorrow.