House: Slytherin
Category: Short
Prompt: [speech] "It seemed like a good idea yesterday!"
Word Count: 1026
Beta: maripaz6
Well this day had most definitely not gone according to plan.
As I hung soaking wet from the side of the astronomy tower, wandless and being taunted by an insufferable git, I swore to myself for the millionth time that I would never again listen to a word that comes out of my cousin's mouth. At first glance, Al's 'brilliant' plans seemed just that – brilliant. They were daring, hilarious, flashy and intricate – everything that Gryffindors like us treasure. Unfortunately, most of them ended much like this one had – with me landing in some type of metaphorical hot water while Albus disappeared without a trace.
Take today's scheme as an example. My darling cousin had somehow gotten it into his head to slip an anti-aging potion from our Uncle George's Joke Shop into Headmistress McGonagall's chocolate frogs, thus forcing her to parade around Hogwarts for the next week in the form of a five-year-old girl. In theory, it had seemed remarkably simple, especially for Al, whose plans usually involved much more pomp and circumstance than slipping into the Headmistress's office, dipping the chocolates into the potion and leaving before she finished with Sixth-year Transfiguration. It seemed easy enough.
But it was Al's plan, so of course, something had to go wrong. Today the idiot had left the Marauder's Map in the Common Room, rendering us unable to see danger coming. As a result, we were left scrambling for a place to hide when we heard footsteps on the stairs twenty minutes before McGonagall was due to return. Al had then been seized with another brilliant plan: hide behind the curtains, which was all well and good except that in his haste to stuff me behind one, he accidentally shoved me out the bloody window. So there I was, hanging from a gargoyle on the side of the Astronomy Tower, wandless (it had fallen out of my pocket when I fell), unable to get down. Also, it was raining. Of course.
This day was turning out to be total shit, but of course, it only got better from there.
"Weasley?" His sneering voice cuts through my silent tirade against my cousin and his genius ideas. "How the hell did you get up there?"
Below me stands Scorpius Malfoy, the Slytherin King. He, Al and I have been at odds since our first year, though no one really knows why - he honestly isn't that bad. Malfoys, Potters and Weasleys just aren't supposed to get along. He stands three stories below me, head tilted back to stare up at me. His arms are folded across his chest, and he's smirking, though I notice that the now heavily falling rain is turning his white-blond hair a slightly darker shade.
"Sod off, Malfoy." I start to fold my arms, then change my mind when the position causes the back of my robe to tear a little bit.
Scorpius only grins up at me. "Let me guess, Rose - Potter hatched another scheme?"
I grunt noncommittally, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of being right.
He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair as the rain begins to plaster it to his forehead. "Honestly Weasley, you always end up being the scapegoat for his hare-brained ideas, yet no matter how many times his pranks flop, you're right alongside him for the next. Why is that?"
I roll my eyes, but I know Scorpius well enough to know that he won't help me get down until I satisfy his infuriating curiosity "It's called loyalty, Malfoy, aren't Slytherin's supposed to be big on that? Besides, it seemed like a good idea yesterday," Forgetting where I am, I shrug. The motion nearly dislodges me from the gargoyle dangling me above the ground, and I yelp.
He jerks forward a fraction of an inch as his hand flies to his wand, ready to whip it out if I fall. "Bloody Gryffindors," he muttered, relaxing as I stabilized. "You lot never learn. By the way, Weasley," he raises a blond eyebrow as he looks me quickly up and down. "Where's your wand? You must have lost it, or else you'd have gotten yourself down from there by now."
I glance down at him, then gesture off to my left. "It fell out of my pocket when I fell. Landed over in that general direction, now are you going to get me down from here?"
He wrinkles his nose before taking a step back. "I don't know about that, Weasley, I rather like you up there. Can't cause much trouble from up there, can you? See you around." And then he turns, walking off in the direction of the Courtyard.
"Malfoy, you get back here this instant or I will hex you into oblivion as soon as I get down from here, which I inevitably will," I threaten, unwilling to remain stuck up here for longer than absolutely necessary - the rain was bloody cold.
He rolls his eyes, muttering, "Fine." He whips out his wand and mutters a quick levitating spell, floating me carefully to the ground.
I stumble slightly as my feet hit the ground, but quickly catch my balance, smoothing my robes and shoving my sopping red hair behind my ears. Malfoy is staring at me, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Despite our rivalry, my grandmother has spent the past thirteen years drilling manners into my head, and unfortunately, I can't switch off my conscience, even around Malfoy.
"Thank you, Malfoy." I keep my nose shoved high in the air as I speak. My conscience may demand that I thank him, but I refuse to give him more to hold over me then he already has.
He smirks down at me. "You owe me one, Weasley," and with that he turns on his heel and walks away, leaving me standing in the downpour.
I stare after him until he is out of sight, then I gave my head a quick shake. Right, I have a cousin to find and murder.