Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters or universe.

Beneath the Venom

~*Chapter 2*~

All Rose could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears. Her breath was coming out heavy as she did her best to try and gather herself. The screaming had stopped but she was still in the darkness. However, she knew that she was not alone. Her mind raced as she tried to recall all of her studies on magical creatures. What could be causing this and how did it get into Hogwarts? There was no way that a professor or even the headmaster was not aware that such a creature was roaming the halls. Why would it even be allowed within the school's walls?

"Lumos Maxima!" a voice called out.

Suddenly, the whole hall was filled with light, temporarily blinding Rose. She groaned as her eyes began adjusting to the sudden light. Grasping around blindly, she felt the cool stones of the wall and used them to steady herself. She squinted in the direction of the voice of the spell caster.

"Who's there?" she demanded as she sought out her wand. There were too many unknown variables for her to feel comfortable. Slowly but surely her sight returned to her.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Weasley," the voice sneered. Rose groaned as she realized who the voice belonged to. As if her night wasn't terrible already.

"God, why couldn't you have been anyone else on the planet?" she mumbled with a sigh. Rubbing her eyes, she was finally able to see clearly. Standing before her was Scorpius in all of his arrogant glory. In fact, she would not be surprised if he was somehow behind all of this.

"Well, let's see. I'm a prefect and you're wandering around my dungeon where I am set to patrol. Which begs the question as to why you're out past curfew," he asked with a frown. "and why you were laying on the ground in the dark?"

Rose didn't feel the need to answer any of his questions, considering that she was Head Girl and it was none of his business, but she did have to lead by example. Though she was more than sure that Scorpius led only by his own example and maybe his family's.

"I was called down here by the Potions professor. As for why I was in the dark, I have no idea. Someone or something extinguished the torches," she explained with an accusatorial glare. Scorpius returned her glare with one of his own.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I didn't darken the hall. Though I must commend whoever did. Clearly you were terrified," he said with a smirk. Pink slowly crept onto Rose's cheeks. She wasn't afraid of the dark, but whatever had caused the dark and the screams had definitely unsettled her.

"It's not like that!" she said defensively, not even sure why she was bothering to defend herself against Scorpius. He couldn't care less what she thought or felt. His smirk only widened at her defensiveness.

"Uh huh. Poor little Weasley, afraid of the dark," he taunted. Rose felt her anger rising. The more she thought about it the more it made sense that this was somehow his doing. She bet that he even faked the scream that she had heard. He must have amplified his voice and altered the pitch so that it was deafening. Her blush deepened from embarrassment as she realized that she had been tricked. She had been terrified for nothing. Growling, she shoved Scorpius' chest as her anger peaked.

"You're such an arse, Malfoy!" she screamed as she shoved him again. "how did you know that I was down here? What spell did you use to create that scream?!" It was taking every ounce of will power for her not to cry out of frustration. She would not give him the satisfaction.

Anger passed over Scorpius' face at her physical violence towards him but it was replaced by confusion as she continued to prattle on. When she came at him a third time, he grabbed both of her wrists to stop her onslaught.

"Are you bloody mad? I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about," he said irritably. He honestly had no idea what she was going on about. Sure he didn't care that she was angry at him but if she was going to be assaulting him he at least wanted to be responsible for it. Rose shot him a look of irritation and disbelief.

"Don't you dare lie to me, Malfoy. I know how you are," she growled as she tried to yank her hands away from him. His grip tightened as he refused to let her go.

"Seriously, Weasley, you're going mad. I have no idea what you are talking about. What screams? It's been as silent as the grave down here," he said in all seriousness. The girl was seriously distraught. While he didn't care that she was looney, he needed to know if there was a potential danger in the dungeon. He was a prefect after all and it was his duty to ensure some sort of safety. If he didn't do his job right then they would take away his privileges and that was not something he could allow. Not to mention his father would be beyond furious.

For just a moment, Rose wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that he wasn't playing some sick, cruel joke on her. The man was terribly mean to her all the time despite the fact that she never actually warranted it. It was just because there was some sort of blood feud between her parents and his. She wanted to believe that he was not malicious.

"I'm not mad. I really did hear screams and whatever caused it, extinguished the torches," she said a bit more calmly. She had stopped attacking him and his slack loosened on her wrists but did release all together. His grey eyes searched her face for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she was serious and sane.

Rose returned his gaze but what she did not expect was to get lost in his eyes. They were the color of the ocean after a vicious storm. His neatly manicured brows were furrowed as he battled with his decision. However, his eyes did not demonstrate the same frustration. They seemed to believe her and there even seemed to be a bit of concern within them as well.

Just as Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, his spell wore off and the hall was doused in darkness once more. Rose instinctively moved closer to him, practically pressed against him as he still had a light hold on her wrists. She wasn't afraid of the dark but she was afraid that whatever had found her earlier was back. It took her a moment to realize that it was not the creature but the fact that Scorpius' spell wore off.

Jumping back, she was thankful that it was dark so that he could not see the blush that had appeared heavily across her nose and cheeks. Clearing her throat, she muttered her own spell to relight the torches so that they would not be left in darkness once more. Scorpius gave the redhead an odd look at the fact that she had almost been clinging to him. It was…. an odd sensation. One that he was going to make a point to dwell on no further.

"Okay, fine. Say that you aren't mad and there is some sort of creature wandering the halls. Then it is our duty to go and look for it. After all, we're supposed to monitor the halls after curfew and I would say that is in direct violation of several rules," he said with a smirk. Rose was not sure what he was getting at, why he was wanting to help, but he did have a point.

"Yes… this is true…" she said cautiously. She didn't trust Scorpius at all and there was no way that he was helping her out of the goodness of his heart. She was not even sure that he possessed such a thing. "but you follow and listen to me." Rose was very decisive in her declaration. There was no way that she was going to let him walk all over her. She had embarrassed herself as it was so now she needed redemption. Scorpius waved his hand dismissively.

"Whatever, Weasley," he said before beginning to walk down the hall, clearly disregarding what she had just said. Rose growled before following after him. She didn't like the idea of perusing the school at night with Scorpius as her only backup. He was potentially just as dangerous as the creature they were looking for. Not to mention, he would have no problem leaving her to battle it alone in order to save his own skin. He was chivalrous like that.

The two of them took a tour of the dungeons together, hardly speaking to one another at all. It was just the way that Rose preferred. If he was silent, then he wasn't insulting her because honestly, it was just too late at night for her to endure his childishness. Scorpius didn't seem to mind the silence either. Soon they passed the door to the Potions classroom at which Rose gave pause.

"Hold on, the reason I was even down here in the first place was because the professor wanted to see me," she said to which Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Really? There could possibly be some blood thirsty animal on the prowl and your number one priority is classes? You're absolutely mental," he grumbled begrudgingly. Rose didn't even warrant him a response and instead went straight into the classroom.

Scorpius debated whether or not to follow and ended up deciding to just stay outside of the classroom. Weasley seemed convinced that there was something dangerous prowling the halls and if that was the case, he didn't want to be surprised. Honestly, he was not even sure why he was going along with this in the first place. He couldn't stand the woman and he certainly was not going to stick his neck out for her either. The only reason he could come up with was that he didn't want to lose his prefect status and seeing as how Weasley was, unfortunately, Head Girl there was the potential that she could make him lose it.

No, it had nothing to do with the fact that it sort of bothered him that she was so clearly terrified. Weasley was a very strong willed woman, if something was making her feel vulnerable, then perhaps there was a reason for concern. The creature supposedly attacked her down in the dungeons which was where his common room was. Again, there was the potential for danger towards himself and that was just unacceptable. Oh, and there was the fact that he would somehow be blamed because he was on patrol.

Before he had the chance to change his mind, Rose had walked out of the classroom and approached him. He arched a brow, wondering just what it was that was so important that it could not wait until the morning. She didn't offer him any explanation.

"Shall we continue?" she stated more than asked as she began walking down the corridor. Scorpius grumbled to himself quietly as he followed along. Why was he doing this? He could easily inspect the dungeons by himself and at a much faster rate too.

The two of them finished up their tour of the dungeons. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Every torch was lit, there was no creature lurking about, and it was absolutely silent. There wasn't even a shadow that seemed abnormal. The only strange thing was that they had not run into any ghost whatsoever. They liked to come out especially at night when students wouldn't pester them.

"See, there is nothing trying to kill you," Scorpius grumbled, breaking the silence with his irritation. "are you sure it wasn't Peeves playing some kind of prank?" Rose glared hard at him.

"I'm not stupid. I know when it's a ghost playing a prank. This was nothing like that. I could feel it," she snapped, tired of him trying to make her out to be insane.

"I beg to differ on your intelligence level," he said with a shrug. "and you're a woman. You 'feel' everything. Doesn't mean that you're right. You have no proof of anything and as far as I am concerned, this was a huge waste of time." Rose gaped at his audacity.

"You're the one who wanted to come with me! I didn't ask you to come along!" she yelled.

"I had to make sure you weren't trying to sabotage me somehow," Scorpius retorted nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders. He made it seem as though that was the most natural explanation.

"Unlike you, Malfoy, I don't play mind games. If I wanted to sabotage you, I would just do it," she growled as she shoved passed him. All she wanted to do was turn in for the night. The day had become much longer than necessary and she was sure that Albus was worried about her by now.

Rose sighed so deeply it was practically a growl. That's what she should have done. She should have snagged Albus and had him help her inspect the dungeons. He was the Head Boy and her best friend, it would have made the most sense. Why did she even allow Malfoy to come with her? Oh yeah, she wanted to look for the creature before it had escaped. A lot of good that did her. She had to endure the blonde haired prat's company and insults and all for nothing.

The creature was long gone and she had no idea what it was. She could ask a professor about it but she wasn't even sure what she would be asking about. There was nothing she had actually seen and if Malfoy's reaction was any indication, everyone else would think she was crazy too. Shaking her head, she made her way towards her common room.

Scorpius watched as Rose stormed away from him. Before he could catch himself, he was observing her leaving figure. What a figure it was too. She wasn't the stereotypical kind of hot that he found in a woman but she definitely had curves in all of the right places. It was almost a shame that she decided to keep them hidden. Her uniform was immaculate but loose. In all of the commotion, she had not straightened herself up like she normally did and he could see more of her form than she usually allowed. He was distracted by her swaying hips that moved naturally as she walked.

When he realized what he was thinking about and who, his face distorted into a scowl and he shuddered. There was something seriously wrong with him if he was starting to find Weasley attractive. Maybe she had sabotaged him after all. Making a noise like he had tasted something disgusting, he chastised himself as he headed back to his own common room. He needed to find his most recent fling and rendezvous so that he could feel normal again.

Rose was screaming obscenities in her mind as she climbed the thousands of steps in the tower where her common room was. Okay so maybe it was hundreds of steps instead of thousands but she was beyond exhausted. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have a common room in a tower was a cruel individual. What felt like an eternity later, she finally reached the common room door. Reaching out, she banged the bronze eagle knocker against the door. A voice rang out in response.

"What is that which always is coming but never arrives?" Rose gave pause as she thought over the riddle for a moment. Thankfully, even being as tired as she was now, it was still a simple answer.

"Tomorrow," she responded, breathing a sigh of relief as the door swung open. Quietly she stepped inside, smiling at the familiar circular room.

There was a gentle fire blazing in the fireplace across the room which was giving off a warm, soothing glow. Alternating the walls were floor to ceiling windows with equally tall book cases in between. The white marble walls contrasted perfectly with the royal blue carpet and furniture. The ceiling was a starry night sky which remained the same even during the day. Besides the crackling of the fire, a soft whistle could be heard from the wind blowing against the windows. It was absolutely soothing and it only made Rose even more ready for bed.

Passing the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, she entered her dorm room as quietly as possible. She did not wish to wake anyone up for it was the dead of the night. Glancing at an hourglass that was sitting nearby, she could tell that she only had a few hours until morning. While she didn't have a class first thing in the morning, she liked to use the time for studying or homework.

Rose dressed down for bed before sliding in under her covers. She pulled out her compact mirror so that she could let Albus know that she was alright. Sure enough, he had been awake waiting for her. He wanted to know everything that had happened but honestly, she was far too tired to revisit the night. With a promise to fill him in during breakfast, he finally let her go so that they could both sleep. Snuggling against her pillow, she recalled deep grey eyes that held animosity and concern right before she fell asleep.

The following morning, Rose was back to her normal self. Her uniform was neat and she was full of energy and vigor. It was almost as if the night had not happened. While it did still nag at the back of her mind that there was still something on the loose, she could not let that deter her from her classes. She needed to concentrate now more than ever because this was her final year. While she was at the top of her classes last year and had been every year since the beginning, she needed to make sure she finished this year the same.

Rose met up with her friends and brother at breakfast. Now that they were not having to deal with the formalities of the welcoming feast, they were able to all sit with one another. Albus was already halfway through his breakfast so she sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"You're up rather early," she mentioned, wondering why he was awake. Normally, he would do everything in his power to be able to sleep in late. He usually had classes in the afternoon.

"Mh…I have Transfiguration this morning. First time in a while so I figured I would get here, eat, and then go. Though, you need to fill me in with what happened last night, especially with Malfoy," he explained between mouthfuls of food. The mentioning of Scorpius had also piqued the interest of Lily and Hugo.

"You were with Malfoy last night?" Hugo asked, his eyes wide with surprise. "please tell me it does not sound as weird as it does." Rose rolled her eyes at her younger brother.

"It was not by choice I assure you," she replied before explaining quietly what had happened the night before. Everyone seemed to share her bafflement at what had occurred.

"I've never heard of such a thing. Are you sure someone wasn't playing a prank? You were near the Slytherins' common room," Lily inquired. A sigh escaped Rose.

"Yes, I am sure. It was much… darker and creepier than those gits are capable of. It… was almost like what a dementor is said to do. You remember what our parents have said but there was something more to it," she explained.

"Maybe it's a wraith of some sorts," Albus mused as he finished his breakfast. "though how one of those is just floating around the castle is beyond me. I thought the headmaster was supposed to make sure that creatures like that don't get in."

"Your guess is as good as mine. We searched the dungeons and could find no trace of it so maybe if I'm lucky, it's gone for good," she said hopefully though she knew otherwise. Things were never that simple, ever.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If it likes the dungeons, then just stay away from the dungeons. If we're fortunate enough, it'll eat Malfoy or something," Albus said with a snicker, earning a disapproving look from Lily. She was the nicer, less violent one in their group.

"He's bad, but not that bad. No one deserves to be eaten," Lily said with a frown as she began piling food on her plate. "you're terrible." Albus took her insult in stride before standing up.

"I will see you guys later. I gotta run to class," he said as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder. Saluting the group, he spun on his heel and was gone from sight.

Rose filled her plate with food and chewed thoughtfully. It was hard to forget what had happened, how it made her feel but she knew that she had to, at least for now. Bringing her glass of juice to her lips, she found herself choking and sputtering as the liquid was forced into her face, dribbling down her chin and all over the front of her uniform. She didn't have to look far to see who had shoved her.

"Way to go, Weasley. Can't even manage to drink properly. Gonna blame it on the ghost? Oh wait, there isn't one is there? Maybe it's the voices in your head," Scorpius sneered before laughing boisterously. He had three of his goonies with him plus a groupie. Rose never saw Malfoy alone, except for the previous night.

"You jerk!" she screamed as she stood up angrily, her wand at the ready. The front of her uniform was quickly staining on top of her being wet and sticky. Luckily, she was adept at almost any spell and was able to clean herself up immediately. Malfoy's behavior was unacceptable and after the night she had, it was enough to ignite her anger. Sometime's her father's irritable, irrational side slipped out of her.

"Oh-ho-ho? What do we have here? Someone's feeling feisty," he jeered, earning laughs from his friends. "what are you going to do? It's against the rules to hex another student and we know how you are about rules." The smirk on his face was tempting Rose to do something drastic. It took everything in her to not hex him into oblivion. Tears of frustration were hinting the corners of her eyes.

"Ooh, I think you're making her cry," one of the goons quipped up, causing another round of later. This was the last straw for Hugo. Despite Rose being his older sister, she was still his sister none the less and he would not tolerate anyone belittling her as they were. While he was not as good as she was at spell casting, he could not stand by any longer.

"Stupefy!" he yelled as he flicked his wand at Scorpius. The smirk was wiped right off of his face as he was hit full on with the stunning spell. Hugo gave him no time to recover as he went after Malfoy physically, throwing punches. He managed to land a few before Scorpius retaliated. His goons grabbed Hugo but before he could throw a spell at him, Rose intervened. As soon as Rose stepped in, it turned into a four way duel.

Hugo and Rose were throwing spells at Scorpius and one of his friends. His other friends and temporary girlfriend had stepped back on Scorpius' command. Hugo had managed to knock out the guy he was dueling and went after Scorpius. Instead of throwing a spell at Hugo, Scorpius lunged at him and returned the favor of marring up his face with his fists. Rose cried out angrily before flinging a very powerful stunning spell at Scorpius, sending him flying into his friends. Scorpius recovered quickly and was about to initiate another round when the whole lot of them found themselves immobilized. A professor came marching across the hall and in between all of them.

Rose recognized her as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She wore ebony robes with crimson roses emblazoned on them. Her strawberry blonde hair flowed around her waist as she rushed over. She was one of the younger professors, in her late twenties early thirties. It was normal for her to play judge, jury, and executioner in circumstances such as this.

"Enough!" she bellowed, her face contorted in anger. "those of you not involved, leave now and go to your classes!" Everyone who could, scattered immediately. As soon as the hall was empty, the professor released the students.

Scorpius and Hugo were both breathing hard with bruises forming on their faces. Hugo had even managed to split Scorpius' lip as it was bleeding a bit. Now that he was able to move, he wiped the blood away with his sleeve. Rose had not sustained any injuries but her bushy hair was an absolute disaster and her uniform had come untucked and disheveled. Scorpius' friend was still unconscious a few feet away from them. No one said anything as they gave the professor the attention she was demanding.

"What is the meaning of this? Who started it?" she demanded, looking at each student individually. For a moment, no one said anything. Rose was about to speak up when her brother cut her off.

"It was Malfoy," he said with a glare. Scorpius returned the glare.

"How flattering. Too bad there was a room full of witnesses that saw you lunge at me," he said coolly. There was no way to prove that he had done anything. Hugo was about to attack Malfoy once more and yet again the professor stepped in.

"This end now," she said firmly. "all of you will be serving detention for the next two weeks. Miss Weasley, I am extremely disappointed in you. As Head Girl, you are supposed to be a role model and good example. While I expect this of your brother, I am extremely surprised at how irrational you have behaved. The four of you will report to detention immediately following your last class of the day." With a wave of her wand, she woke up Scorpius' friend and escorted him and Malfoy out of the hall.

"Great, detention. What a way to start the year. I should have knocked Malfoy out," Hugo grumbled but Rose wasn't listening. The professor's words were reverberating in her head. She was a disappointment to the professor and to herself. Her words stabbed her deeply. As a perfectionist, those were the worst words she could have heard. She continued to berate herself severely until she realized what Hugo said.

"D-Detention? Oh my god, I have detention!" she cried out, her face paling. Never in her history of schooling had she ever received detention. She had never received any sort of disciplinary action. Her grades were never anything less than perfect. She was not sure how to handle this at all. She was more than upset and she wanted to cry.

Hugo winced internally as he saw his sister freaking out. He was not surprised in the least bit. This was the worst sort of news she could have received besides failing a class somehow. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head. Part of this was his fault but he could not allow for Malfoy to keep insulting his sister the way that he was. His father had raised him to protect his sister, despite being younger and especially from Malfoy. Malfoy's family hated his own and he would protect his sister no matter what. He just wished that it was just him who would suffer the repercussions and not her.

"Look, Sis, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this too," he apologized. Rose took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Only Albus, Hugo, and Lily ever saw her like this. She would die before she allowed Malfoy to see how badly she had been affected. Quietly, she muttered a spell to straighten her appearance out. She needed to get back to normal.

"No, you don't have to apologize. I'm just as much to blame. I don't know what came over me," she said honestly. She knew that she had a bit of a temper, something she inherited from her father, but she prided herself on being rational and logical. That was what she inherited from her mother. However, when someone she cared about was in trouble, she seemed to lose a bit of that rationality.

"I don't even know where detention is even held," she said quietly as she looked at her brother. He in turn grinned, trying to make light of the situation.

"Ah, you leave that up to me," he said with a bit of laugh. "I'm kinda a pro at this. I would be a terrible prefect which is probably why I am not one." He shrugged at this before wincing.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, wondering why her brother was acting strange now. Hugo frowned before responding.

"Um, it tends to be in the potions room… down in the dungeons… your least favorite place," he admitted, eliciting a sigh of frustration from his sister.

"Oh yes, this year is turning out to be so wonderful," she mumbled sarcastically as she searched for her school bag. She didn't have class for a little while still so she wanted to head to the library to clear her head. If she was lucky, Malfoy would be nowhere in sight and she would not have to deal with him until much, much later. Giving her brother a brief hug, she bid him farewell before leaving the hall.

"I can't believe I have detention. Malfoy, I will make you suffer for this," Rose thought before slowly devising a plan to ensure that promise.