Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"We can't be losers anymore, Scorpius." Rose said as we sat in the library after classes, her red hair pulled back and her reading glasses sitting low on her nose.
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
She let out an exasperated sigh, and pulled her glasses off. "I'm talking about the fact that my cousin Dominique, aka little miss popular here at Hogwarts is graduating in two weeks. And right now, there's no one to take her place."
I bark out a laugh. "Are you suggesting that we take her place?"
"That is exactly what I'm suggesting."
"Ha, yeah, I'm sure that would be a brilliant idea if we weren't, you know, total nerds." I say, gesturing to the pile of books in front of us.
"Come on, Scorp, don't you get sick of this? This hiding out in the library because people laugh at us? Studying, even though our final exams are over and we have absolutely no reason to? We don't go anywhere-"
"Speak for yourself, hun. I don't know about you, but I have been invited to one whole party this summer." I say. Her eyes light up.
"Really? That's the first step, Scorp! You get in with them, and…" She trails off.
"And what, Rose? How in the world do you plan on becoming the most popular and sought after girl at Hogwarts in one summer?" I ask.
She's quiet for a minute, and I look back down at my book, thinking the conversation is over. But then I feel her hand on my wrist.
"I've got it."
"What?"
"They like you. They being Chelsie Hawk, Knox Jordan, Coretta Sudworth, and Lizzy Darrell." She says, naming the group in seventh that had been friendly toward me for some reason and invited me to their summer party.
"Yes, and?"
"You can be my eyes and ears! At least, until I'm popular enough to not be invisible to the general population of Hogwarts." She says.
"You're not invisible. I see you. Albus and Sadie see you." I interject, and she rolls her eyes.
"I said the general population, not my best friend, my cousin, and my cousin's unrequited crush." She says scathingly.
"Okay, fine. I still don't understand how me being on speaking terms with that group will help you become popular." I say, crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair.
"Secrets, Scorpius, secrets. If you can get anything on them, even if it's just some silly little habit they have, then you can tell me and I can use it to climb my way to the top." She said. She was starting to look a little bit scary.
"So...you want me to tattle on the popular kids? Isn't that what primary schoolers do?" I say, and give her a look that she's seen many times. The look says: "Give up while you're ahead."
Her look back says: "Hell no."
"Essentially. I just need a little bit to knock them down and get up there where they are. It might take a while, but think about it, Scorpius. Every little step you take getting closer to them, is another step that I can take up the social ladder." She says.
She's so passionate about it, it's hard to stay rational about this. "Okay, one little flaw in your master plan: they're going to figure out so fast that I'm the one leaking all of their little secrets to the school."
She's shaking her head. "No, they won't. Tell me if these names sound familiar: Braiden Fletcher, Jayna Denzil, Derek Michaelson, Keeleigh Peyton, Kalysta Adam, and Liza Ianson."
"Vaguely."
"Those are the ones on the edges of the popularity circle." She grabs a spare bit of parchment and in the middle writes down Chelsie, Knox, Coretta, and Lizzy. She then draws a circle around them and writes Braiden, Jayna, Derek, Keeleigh, Kalysta, and Liza on the circle. "They're right here. Close enough to be trusted with secrets, but not close enough that they can't be persuaded to share them. Get to them, you get the secrets, and none of them-" She pointed to the four in the middle. "Ever find out that it was you. And then after so many secrets get leaked, they start to slowly be removed from the circle and we move in." She drew an X through Keeleigh. "We go for her first."
"Why the hell are you not in Slytherin?" I ask her, incredibly impressed by her thought process, even if it was a bit cruel.
"I learned from the best. The best being Victoire. But ignoring that, back to the diagram. Keeleigh Peyton." She says.
"Right. Why do I go for her first?" I say, falling into her enthusiasm and plans.
"She's an airhead. She used to date James and he said she had the biggest mouth. You spend one night talking to her, she'll tell you everything she knows. She's a gossip. And her main gossip target is-" She draws a line to the inner four. "Coretta Sudworth."
"Okay, so I go for Keeleigh and get secrets about Coretta?" I ask.
"Exactly. Then we work from there. And by sixth year, we're sitting peacefully on our happy little asses, queen and king of the school." She says, folding the parchment up and sticking it in the inner pocket of her bag.
"Wait, what? Sixth year? I thought this was your plan for immediate popularity!" I exclaim.
"Well, no! It's going to take some time. But it will be worth it in the end. You'll see." She says. She pushes her chair back and stands up. "I'm late for a chess game with Hugo. I'll see you in the common room later. Start trying to talk to Keeleigh! Bye!" She pats my shoulder and saunters out of the library. I pinch the bridge of my nose and then lay my head down on top of my book.
"What have I gotten myself into?"
A/N: Welcome to my new fic, The Tattler. I've been working on this one for a while, trying to figure out where I want it to go. It's inspired by a plot point in Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff, mixed with a few other things, but the story is all mine. I only took some inspiration from the stories. I've got some interesting things planned for this story, so we'll see how it works out. As always, please review and let me know what you think! This story isn't anywhere near complete, so any suggestions for things you'd like to see are appreciated as well! I'll try to get next chapter up soon!