"Lily," Rose hissed, trying to get her cousin's attention. "Lily, I know where the book is."

Since Scorpius had refused to give her the book for the second time in a row and Rose had concluded that the only way she could get what she wanted was to steal it, she had thought of little else since, intent on perfecting this heist. There would be no way it could go wrong, at least not by Scorpius's standards. She'd show him finesse and intense planning in her totally and completely perfectly thought out scheme, Rose thought, frustrated.

A small part of her slyly questioned why she even cared whether or not Scorpius was impressed with her plan; after all, if all went accordingly, he'd only be there to witness the end result, not the complicated road it took to get there. However, the greater part of Rose that took after her father emotionally, much to the chagrin of her mother, ignored the minority that was questioning her intentions toward Malfoy and shut it down to deal with on another day.

For now, she would just focus on her plan, one step at a time. And step one included recruiting Lily, who knew everything there was to know about everyone in the castle.

"That's great, Rose, but I'm a little busy here. Can't we talk later?" Lily said, not waiting for an answer before turning around to continue her conversation with three other fourth year girls. "And then he was like, 'No, you're the prettiest one' and then I was like, duh-"

"No, you don't understand," Rose said impatiently, trying to keep her voice down lest she be overheard. Though she kind of doubted it due to the bright chatter typically characteristic of the Gryffindor common room in the late afternoons. "I have to steal it."

Lily ignored her, flipping her long red hair back as she nodded in agreement to whatever flattery one of the other girls was spewing toward her.

Rose sighed, knowing the only way she'd be able to get her cousin's attention at this point. "It involves Scorpius Malfoy."

"That is so right, Patricia - WHAT?" Lily interrupted herself with a hugely over-dramatic gasp. "Sorry, girls, my cousin needs me. Weasley family business and all that," she added when the other girls started to protest.

Lily grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her out of the common room and up to her dormitory, kicking out the two other girls who were already in there.

"Um, I think that girl was about to get in the shower," Rose said hesitantly, eyeing one girl who was kicked out wearing just a towel.

"She's fine," Lily waved off her concerns and leaned in with wide eyes. "So there is something going on between you and Scorpius Malfoy?" she demanded, looking far too excited in Rose's opinion.

"Ok, first of all, let go of my arm; I think you've giving me claw marks." Rose winced as she extracted her arm from Lily's death grip. "Second, there is nothing going between us."
Lily's shoulders visibly drooped. "Darn. Just when I thought you were getting interesting. Kidding!" she added, seeing Rose's eyes narrow.

"Scorpius has the book I need and isn't letting me borrow it so now I need to steal it." Rose scowled briefly but looked back to Lily with a beaming smile, though she was pretty sure that Lily wouldn't need any sucking up to in order to join her. "I was hoping my favorite cousin would help me with this?"

"Whatever you need," Lily said immediately with a grin. "I'm so in. Not to mention I haven't seen the Slytherin dorms yet. I've always wondered what Andrew Nott's room looked like," she said with a sigh. "Good thing he's in the same dorm as Scorpius!"

Rose laughed. Lily was already fulfilling her role perfectly without even knowing it. Being such a social butterfly led to her knowing things that were essential to Rose, such as who Scorpius's roommates were and what their schedules were so that she could figure out a time to sneak in when they were all out.

"So what's the plan?" Lily asked.

"Well, I still have a few people left to ask," Rose said with a mysterious smile.


"There he is, over near the mashed potatoes," Lily said, craning her neck to get a better look at the Hufflepuff table.

Rose peeked over and immediately despaired. "The one with a finger up his nose?" she asked hopelessly. "Oh no, he just wiped it off on his plate!" she wailed.

"What? Ew, no." Lily wrinkled her nose. "The one with those muggle things in his ears. What do you call them again?"

"I think Grandpa called them headphones," Rose said absently, infinitely happier now that the nose-picker was definitely not part of the the equation. "So who is he anyway?"

"That is Adam Daniels," Lily said with an air of satisfaction of someone who has uncovered a great secret. "Sixth year Hufflepuff muggleborn. He's the one you go to for things to sneak into the castle from the outside, obviously specializing in muggle items, though he's good for other stuff too. But he also can get you information for a price."

"Aren't you supposed to be my information person?" Rose was so far not very impressed with Lily's reconnaissance.

"I can get you information on people," Lily clarified. "He can get you everything else."

"Like what?"
"Like the passwords to every house's dormitories. Such as the Slytherin password," Lily looked at Rose meaningfully. "Sound like something useful to you?"

"Ah." Rose looked over at the Hufflepuff more appreciatively. "Well then, I guess we'd better go have a chat with him then."

The two exchanged grins and got up from the Gryffindor table to sit across from Daniels at the Hufflepuff table. He didn't look up from the little rectangle the headphones were connected to.

"I think that's what they call a telephone," Rose whispered to Lily and then raised her voice to get his attention. "Um, excuse me?"

No reaction.

"Hello?" Lily tried, waving her hand in front of his face. "Adam?"

Nothing.

Rose was beginning to become uncomfortable from the stares around them at the awkward scene they were making. "Do something!" she whispered to Lily.

Lily huffed, clearly frustrated, and reached out to pull out one of his headphones when his hand shot up and grabbed her wrist before she could.

Adam Daniels frowned, glaring at Lily with hazel eyes that did not look happy to see them. "You know it's considered quite rude in muggle culture to just pull out someone's headphones," he said calmly.

Lily turned bright red. Rose squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

"Right, sorry about that," she started. "We were just told that you were the person to see for-"

"Shhh," he exclaimed, looking at Rose as though she were an idiot. "Do you want everyone in the school to know what you're up to?"

"Um, no?"

Adam Daniels rolled his eyes, released Lily's wrist and took out his headphones from his ears.

"Finally," Lily muttered, drawing her arm back.

"Come with me," he commanded, briefly ruffling his dark hair as he strode away from the Hufflepuff table.

"Wow," Lily said, blinking rapidly.

"Intense," Rose agreed as they walked three steps behind him out the Great Hall, feeling Scorpius Malfoy's eyes trained on her back with each step she took.