CHAPTER 4

HALLOWEEN

5-9-16

Dear Mum,

Hogwarts is great—we all got in Gryffindor, I know for a fact Al was too embarrassed to write to anyone so I thought you'd like to know. I also thought Dad would like to know that I beat Scorpius Malfoy in every class...well, we're both pretty much the same in Defense but other than that...

Al was the only one in our year that got on the Quidditch team. He's terrified he won't be as good as his dad, so if you could get Uncle Harry to tell him it doesn't matter I think it'd help him.

We went to tea with Hagrid the other day... any tips on how to stomach the cakes?

I'm fine, don't worry about me. Tell Hugo hi for me.

Love, Rose

8-9-16

Dear Rose,

I'm happy for you—congratulations on Gryffindor! Have fun, love. I got Uncle Harry to write Al, and he's sending a Nimbus 3000 so he won't have to worry about the school broom on top of everything else. Your father wants me to gently encourage you to continue to beat Scorpius in everything; I think you should worry about your own studies. But I know you'll try to take both of our advice, so don't get in over your head, Rose. We love you!

Love, Mum

The next two months at Hogwarts progressed much the same as the first two days; with Scorpius and Rose continuing their rivalry and the occasional psychic episode. Rose spent hours in the library every weekend, trying to figure out the connection, but all she could find was vague entries on possible permanent Legilimency, and somehow she suspected that not even Scorpius could handle that at 11.

Halloween was when things got very interesting. The Great Hall was immersed in a gigantic feast, surrounded by levitating jack-o'-lanterns and a stormy sky. Rose looked up from her pumpkin cake to see Professor Orion go over to the Slytherin table and lead five students away; who they were Rose didn't see. But a few minutes after they left Al gripped the table with one hand and his head with the other.

"Are you all right, Al?" Scorpius asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm—I'm fine, it's just this like, weird mumbling sound in my head. It's all gurgled and stuff. I don't know. Probably just nervous about the Quidditch match next week. Pass the pudding," he said. Rose reluctantly gave it to him. As he ate, Scorpius looked at Rose and whispered, "Where did those Slytherins go with Orion?"

Rose shrugged. Scorpius sighed and glanced nervously at the door.

Later that night, Al was sleeping and Rose was reading in the common room, listening to Nearly Headless Nick's death day party still going on downstairs. When everyone but Rose was gone, Scorpius suddenly appeared in the dimly lit room and Rose almost dropped her book.

"What the—?" she asked in shock, and he held up a fist that disappeared when he shifted it.

"Invisibility Cloak," he said, grinning. When he saw her expression, he rolled his eyes. "Your uncle isn't the only one in the world who has one. This one won't last forever, though. Couple years at the most."

"Okay," she said slowly, putting her book on the coffee table in front of her, "why are you wearing it?"

"I was watching the door to the Slytherin dorm," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "That must have been fascinating."

"Well," he said, "they never came back."

She stood up immediately. "What? It's midnight!"

"I know! Where did they go?" he asked.

"Does it look like I know?!" Rose asked indignantly.

"I was going to find them," he said.

"Why did you come back?" she asked.

"I thought you might want to come," he said, flashing a grin at her.

She hesitated before sighing. "All right, fine. But if I get expelled I'm going to hunt you down."

"Relax," he said, and threw the cloak over both of them. The two of them left through the portrait hole and crept towards the dungeons.

"I thought you said they didn't go back!" she hissed after they had been looking for twenty minutes with no luck. "Why are we here?"

"We should go to Orion's classroom, they could be there," he whispered back. So they crept down the hallway, and suddenly Scorpius dived behind a column in the corridor, pulling Rose with him. She noticed he didn't pull her by the hand—just as well, the last thing they needed was another connection.

"What?" she asked.

"I heard whispering," he said.

Then, Rose heard it, too. It sounded like gurgled whispering, like Al had described in the Great Hall earlier. Suddenly, they heard a vicious hiss. She recognized the sounds then.

A snake.

Scorpius put one of his arms in front of her protectively. She pushed it away, rolling her eyes. "Silent," he mouthed, and she nodded, terrified.

Al woke up, gasping. He couldn't believe what he'd seen. But he knew, somehow, that it wasn't a dream.

And there were people plotting to kill his family, somehow. This was what he'd feared; ever since he found out not all Death Eaters were convicted... he knew it would happen eventually.

He knew what he had to do. He grabbed his wand off the bedside table and ran downstairs—sure enough, Rose's book, still open, laid on the table. Al raced out of the portrait hole, heading straight for the Potions corridor.

Rose could hardly breathe, which was good if you could look at it a certain way, because the snake had less to hear.

"Rose, you have to calm down. They can smell fear," Scorpius breathed. They had slid down the wall and were sitting between two columns, still under the cloak, as the snake slept in the next room. He had put his arm around her a while ago, which she would have minded in pretty much any other circumstance. But she hated snakes so much that it was lucky she wasn't hyperventilating... yet.

She touched his hand, meaning to turn his wrist to see his watch, but instead was met with another psychic episode. This time she saw a five- or six-year-old boy, standing in Diagon Alley, looking across the aisle at something. She could see the tiny Scorpius's father, Draco Malfoy, behind them buying books; she knew where they were, Dervish and Banges. He was looking directly at a six-year-old Rose, whose mother was lifting her up to reach a book on the top shelf, both laughing. Draco turned the boy around and they left the shop, Draco saying something about how he shouldn't talk to the Weasleys when he was older, but the little Scorpius turned around to look at the laughing little Rose and smiled a little. Then Rose was back to the present in a flash.

He looked directly at her, looking for the first time terrified... of what? ...Her?

"That's private," he said stiffly, jerking his arm away from her, and Rose suddenly became very cold... and mad.

"Well, it's not as if I tried to see it, did I?" she said, too loud for the situation.

"I don't know what you're doing, but I want you to stop! And Al said he didn't tell you about that night, I don't know how you knew, but stop it! It's PRIVATE!"

"You are SO. THICK! I. DON'T. WANT. TO. BE. IN. YOUR. HEAD!" she shouted back. They both covered their mouths and gasped when they heard a startled and angry hiss from the Potions classroom.

"Well done, Weasley!" he whispered, his voice shaking.

"You shouted too!" she hissed. The snake moved into the middle of the hallway, turning its head this way and that. The snake stopped with its head directly in front of them. It was a cobra, a giant black one, and it raised up its head, hissing violently. Rose and Scorpius stood up, the cloak falling off as they did so.

And then Al ran in.

"Al, get out of here!" Rose shouted. Al looked incredibly freaked out, wildly running, still in his pajamas, waving his wand frantically.

And then he did something that made Rose scream.

He spoke in the gurgled whispers, too. And the snake understood him. They seemed to be having a conversation, until the cobra advanced towards him.

"Al!" Rose yelled, tugging against Scorpius, who was now holding her back, to get to her cousin.

And then a voice from above them: "STUPEFY!"

The snake lay still, its eyes glazed over, and McGonagall ran down the stairs, in a nightgown.

"What the devil were you three doing down here? Back to your rooms at once!" she said, looking absolutely stunned.

"That was impressive, Professor," Al said shakily.

"What? Oh, thank you, Potter. Bed! Before I give you detentions!" The three of them ran up the first staircase until they were sure she couldn't hear them. Then Scorpius turned to Al.

"You're a Parseltongue?!"

"No!" Al said. "The snake was speaking English!"

"No, it wasn't, Al," Rose said. "And you weren't either."

"It's not that big a surprise," Scorpius added. "I mean, your dad was, right?"

"I thought that was just the part of Vol—You-Know-Who in him back then."

"No, remember the garden snake when we were five? He scared the heck out of Molly!" Rose reminded him.

"Oh, yeah."

"And another thing," Scorpius said. "How did you know to come find us?"

"Um, I had a dream that you were in danger," Al said uncomfortably.

"Great," Rose groaned.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Touch his hand," she told him, gesturing to Scorpius. Al hesitantly tapped his hand. After a minute, he blinked.

"Was that you?" he asked.

"Yes, and I would appreciate if you keep the touching of my hands to a minimum, it's weird enough already with Rose—" he shut up and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor.

Al turned to Rose, aghast. "So we're all, like, connected or something?"

"I'm working on it," she said quickly. "I'd ignore all this as much as we can."

As they returned to their room, Scorpius said quietly, "We still never found the Slytherins."