Raindrops on Roses Chapter 4: Third Year Part 1: Muggle Studies, a harry potter fanfic

Preview:

"Muggles are not worth learning about. They are not worth thinking about. They are under the impression that they own the land they live on, but wizards were here long before them. They are the rejects of our ancient society, those born without magic and doomed to live their lives in deaf ignorance to who are their traditional and true superiors."

Raindrops on Roses

Third Year Part 1

2019-2020

~*-S-*~

Dear Albus, Rose and Lizzie.

You would not believe the summer I am having.

Mr Goyle is staying with us. Mother absolutely hates him being here, but at least she can get out of the house. He and Father spend most of the time in the study. No idea what they're talking about. I tried to ask, but I just got told to mind my elders and betters.

I have got some new robes. They took the old ones off me almost as soon as I got home, so its a good thing I didn't have my iPod on me after all. I don't know where the money for them came from. Mama is still working at the apothecary, but I think all that money is going towards the debts and food and things.

I'm really sorry for what happened at the train station. I hope you understand why I did it. Mr Goyle is an old friend of my father and I knew he would tell on me if he saw me speaking to any of you.

I don't think mother likes me being alone in the house with Goyle either. He was in prison for a while, I guess. She's going to Rue Chouette to see if anyone needs help with odd jobs or whatever. I hope she finds something. It's not that I'm afraid of him, its just that he always seems to be watching me when he's around, and he's a pig. He just leaves stuff everywhere like he expects someone to pick it up after him.

I'm going to try and send this letter by Muggle post. I hope I can remember what you told me about stamps and things. Al, thanks for lending me the money, I promise to pay you back in September. Seems like ages til then.

There was a noise from downstairs, and Scorpius quickly put down his quill to fold the letter into his pocket. He shifted the stuff on his desk around and went back to his Herbology essay. Minutes later his mother appeared in the doorway. "I spoke to Monsieur Gerard at Le Moulin," she told him. "They want an aide-serveur."

Scorpius felt his heart lift with hope he hadn't allowed himself to feel until now. "Really? Thank you, Mama!"

She didn't look quite as pleased as she felt. "It's beneath you," she told him shortly. "But I would rather that, than you staying in this house night and day."

Scorpius decided not to mention that she had never minded this before.

"You will have to ask your father," she reminded him.

Scorpius felt his heart sink. "I don't suppose you would ask him?" he ventured.

Her face hardened. "Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "You are not a child." She glanced at the pile of papers on his desk. "Have you finished your homework?"

"Not quite yet, mother."

"I suggest you do so before you breach the matter with him." Then she left, leaving him sitting alone in the fading light with his heart beating fast.

He stayed up late and did as he had been told, finishing his Herbology essay and putting the final touches on his Potions project. Then he went to bed and slept fitfully with the letter to his friends hidden under his pillow. The Muggle money Albus had leant him was tucked into a pouch and stuffed under the mattress with his private notebook. He was glad that they had decided owl post was too risky. He thought Goyle might strangle any owl that might have come from the Potters if he found it, with his bare hands. And if he got a job in the town, he would have access to a Muggle post office. All he had to do was ask his father if he could take the job.

No big deal, right?

He got up before the sun, put on a dressing gown and slippers and tip-toed past the bulk of Goyle snoring on the sofa to the kitchen. He made himself breakfast. His father was against what he called 'women's work', like cooking, but he was against a load of other things that were impractical when you didn't have a mansion and servants, and things. Sometimes it was as if he forgot that they were living in a small cottage in France, and there was no money for hired help.

When he had finished eating he cleaned the plates and then made up a tray for his father. He might as well be in a good mood before he approached him, he thought. He carried the tray to the study, where the man always seemed to be, even if Goyle was still passed out in the other room.

Draco Malfoy was sitting behind the desk that took up most of the space in the small room. He was reading what looked like a letter - Gergoire was perching on the windowsill. He looked up as Scorpius came in, and quickly folded the letter away. "What is it?"

"Breakfast, Papa."

His father frowned, but accepted the tray when it was put in front of him. "How old are you now, Scorpius?" he asked.

"Thirteen, Papa. My birthday was in March."

"I know when your birthday is, boy."

Why did you ask then? Scorpius thought, trying to keep his expression neutral.

"Thirteen means you are no longer a child. You will call me father, or sir, is that understood?"

Scorpius felt a sort of sharp feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite describe. "Yes, sir."

"Good." There was a short silence, as though his father was expecting him to leave, but Scorpius was still building up the courage to speak. "What is it?" the man asked eventually, with an irritable edge to his voice. "I am very busy."

With what? Scorpius wondered, but took a deep breath and said instead, "Mother says the restaurant on Rue Chouette needs a busser. An aide-serveur. May I?"

His father stared at him for a moment, then his face darkened. "You are asking me if you may accept paid work?"

"Yes, father." Scorpius tried to gauge the look on his father's face, his hopes dying with every second that passed.

"Why?" The man's pale eyebrows were knitted, the edge of his mouth curling into a sneer.

He swallowed. Because you won't, didn't seem like an appropriate answer. "I'd like something to do," he replied eventually. "Unless you'd like me to help with whatever you and Mr Goyle are doing, I'm sure I could - "

His father stood up, so fast that he almost pushed the desk forward. Scorpius forced himself not to take a step back. IMalfoys do not cower, Malfoys do not flinch…./I "That is none of your concern!" his father roared.

"Yes, P- father," he said quickly. "I'm sorry, I only meant... I've finished all my homework and I thought perhaps I could use the money to get my new school books and things, for my extra subjects." He clasped his hands behind his back so his father wouldn't see them shaking.

His father appeared to calm slightly at this. He sat back down. "Money will not be an obstacle for much longer," he said. "I am endeavouring on a business venture myself that will eliminate the need for any of us to engage in... manual labour." He said the words as if they dripped poison. "However... I do see the need for you to integrate yourself into wider society." Scorpius translated this as 'get you out of the house where you won't snoop into my business'. "You may take this position, then, on the condition that you let me handle your earnings, as your mother does. I will put some aside for your schoolbooks if you wish."

Scorpius could hardly believe his ears. "Thank you, father! May I go to town with mother, today?"

"Yes, yes," his father seemed to have forgotten he was there already. "Get out."

Scorpius fled. On the way back to his room he passed Goyle, who leered at him as he got up, the debris from his midnight snack rolling off his blanket and onto the floor.

Yes, he thought. Definitely the time to get out of here.

He met Gerard the same day. The restaurant owner was a lanky, black-haired wizard with a pointed nose. He didn't seem entirely pleased to be hiring a thirteen year old with no experience, but Scorpius could tell the wait staff were suitably relieved. He learned from them that their previous summer busboy had left to go abroad with his family with very little notice.

It was hard work. He cleared plates for the lunch service, washed and stacked them, ate from a plate of rejected salmon which in the face of all adversity was actually delicious. Not quite Hogwarts fare, but Scorpius had never eaten in a restaurant before. Not one as prestigious as the Moulin, anyway. And then he had to do the whole thing all over again for the dinner service.

By the time he fell into bed that night he was starting to regret his decision, and he regretted it even more when he got up to find that his muscles protested his every movement. He had to drag himself out of bed to do it all over again, his arms shaking as they tried to take the weight of heavy plates. After a few days, however, his body was used to the work. Even if he did come home exhausted and stinking of dirty dishwater, at least he was doing something. By the second week, his mother told him he could Floo to and from the restaurant by himself. The money he earned was fairly pitiful, but he handed the sealed envelope over to his father every week. He hoped he would remember what he had said about using it to buy books.

He made tentative friends with some of the waiters, most of whom were in their early twenties. He would occasionally help them out by translating for English tourists. On more than one occasion he even recognised a few people from Hogwarts, travelling with their parents.

The wizarding world is a small one, he reminded himself.

Between lunch and dinner he either went home or went for a walk around Rue Chouette, which while not on the scale of Diagon Alley was Paris' closest equivilent. A few times he passed by the Apothecary where his mother worked, but didn't go in. He didn't think she would appreciate the interruption by him. He didn't need her to tell him that the old shop was her escape, her respite from the coldness of the house, her husband's inattention. He might be thirteen, but he was not unobservant. Any fantasy he might have had that his parents had got married for any other reason than necessity had vanished long ago.

Eventually he plucked up the courage to go into Muggle Paris, and made sure both his Muggle money and the letter were in his pocket. He had added a few lines about his job before signing it. It was a bit all over the place but he knew that Rose at least would worry if she didn't hear from him at all, all summer.

He didn't wear robes at the restaurant, it was too hot and impractical in any case, but he still felt incredibly conspicuous as he went through the gate that was the entrance to the main city. No one paid him any attention, even while he stood for a moment as people and bikes and cars streamed past him. No one seemed to have noticed him emerging from what now appeared to be a plain brick wall. Surpressing a moment of panic, he recited the rules for getting back, thanking his lucky stars that he had thought to ask one of the waiters before he left. Third brick down and four across from the one marked with the double line. Two wand taps. Right.

He stepped onto the road and hastily jumped back as something huge and impossibly fast came roaring and honking past, nearly striking him. He staggered back from the curb, his heart pounding as he looked around. The metal monsters were everywhere, zooming back and forth. Cars, he told himself sternly. Not monsters. Don't be an idiot.

"Careful!" someone yelled at him in French. It was an eldery lady looking down at him disapprovingly. "Young people today don't look where zey are going!" she told him sternly.

"Yes Madame," he agreed quickly, also in French. "Excuse me but do you know where I can find the nearest bureau de poste?"

She seemed to calm down somewhat at his polite request. "I'm going zat way myself," she told him. Scorpius noticed that she was carrying four or five heavy-looking bags.

"May I help you carry, Madame?" he asked, and she smiled at him. He was apparently forgiven. She led him down the street, stopping once to cross the road. She poked at a button on a post with her stick, and they waited as the cars continued to roar past, stinking of smoke and other Muggle smells that tingled Scorpius' nose. Just as he was preparing to ask if they should try going another way, the cars all stopped and she began to totter across the road, apparently without a care in the world. Had she just done some kind of charm? Was she a witch after all? Then he saw a green light on another pole at the other end of the crossing, in the shape of a man, walking. Muggle magic, he thought incredulously. Like Apple Magic. Al was right.

She led him to what had to be the post office, the word 'post' visible at least a dozen time on posters on the windows. He handed the bags back to her, but she hesitated.

"Your parents are nearby?" she asked, quaveringly.

"Yes," Scorpius lied. "They just sent me to post a letter."

"A boy your age shouldn't be wandering alone in ze city." She sounded disapproving again. "How old are you, twelve?"

"Fifteen," he lied again. "I know I look young for my age."

"Ah." She seemed to take solace from this. "Well… you just be careful on ze road, young man. So few polite people your age around, nowadays…"

"I will," Scorpius said quickly, "goodbye!" He escaped into the post office before she could offer to walk him all the way back again. He realised as he did so that the old lady was the first Muggle he had ever really spoken to. She was nice, for an old lady.

There was only one person inside, a young man sitting behind the desk in the bureau. He was pressing buttons on something in his hands and looked up at Scorpius almost resentfully as he came in. "Yes?"

Scorpius swallowed his nervousness and stepped forward. "I'd like to send a letter please," he said, putting it on the counter. "I'd like an envelope and... and some stamps."

"How many?"

Scorpius blinked. "I'm not sure," he said. He could hardly just make it up. "As many as it will take to go to England." He fished in his pockets and drew out the pouch. There were a couple of pieces of paper in there, both with the number 10 stamped on them. Albus had explained to him that this was Muggle money.

"French Muggle money," he had added. "It's all I've got left from our trip there when I was ten."

"French Muggles have different money to English Muggles?" Scorpius had asked, nonplussed. "What for? Doesn't that get horribly confusing?"

"All Muggles have different money. I think it has to do with politics."

This seemed like a very silly way of doing things to Scorpius.

"Will this be enough?" he asked the man, handing him the little papers. The man gave him a confused look.

"You've only got the one letter?" he clarified.

"To England," Scorpius repeated.

The man sighed and took one of the pieces of paper. He put the letter in an envelope and peeled off a little sticker from a roll before sticking it on the envelope. Scorpius watched, fascinated. Then he gave Scorpius a handful of coins. Scorpius thought he heard the man mutter 'kids'. "Anything else?" he asked more loudly, and Scorpius stared at him.

"Is that it?" he asked. The letter was still sitting there on the desk. Surely that couldn't be it. He'd just stuck another piece of paper onto a piece of paper. How was that supposed to achieve anything?

"Yeah, that's it. I'll put it in the box for you and it'll go out tonight."

Scorpius decided that since the man worked here, as much as he didn't seem to enjoy it, he must know what he was talking about, so he nodded, and fled. When he glanced behind him, the man had picked up his little thing, which was a bit like his own iPod except black and square and shiny, and started playing with it again. He was glad he had signed up for Muggle Studies. Everything was so confusing here.

When the school booklist arrived in August, however, he was less glad. He had just got up, late, as was his routine, and was just about to get ready for his shift at the restaurant when his father came storming in. "What is this?" he asked, not shouting but his voice dark and dangerous. He waved a piece of paper in front of Scorpius' face.

"Er, is it my letter from Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked, seeing a flash of the school crest as it whizzed past his nose.

"Muggle studies?" hissed his father, taking a step closer so that Scorpius was forced to look up almost vertically to meet his father's eyes. "You told me you were taking Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Divination."

"I am," Scorpius replied, thinking quickly. "Where does it say Muggle Studies? It must be a mistake."

His father thrust the letter at him. He scanned it quickly. It did indeed list Muggle Studies as a fourth subject, and there were two books that were definitely not in the family hand-me-down pile. "It's a mistake," he said again, handing the paper back to his father and trying to keep his voice level.

His father's expression twisted. "Scorpius, if you are lying to me you shall wish you had never been born, do you understand?"

"Yes, father."

"Yes father." The response was automatic, but his heart was beating so fast that he was surprised his father could not hear it. He had never lied to his father before, not like this. Oh he had omitted certain details, like the exact names of his friends and how exactly he had spent Christmas the previous year. But this was a real lie. Would his father know it? "I'll tell them its a mistake when I get to school. Sorry father."

After that, he was surprised when his father took him to Rou Chouette to buy his school things. The texts for the third year subjects, as well as a couple of extras for Defence Against the Dark Arts and the next Standard Book of Spells, made a rather expensive package, and for a minute Scopius thought he might change his mind. But the money was handed over with very little ceremony. His father then bought him a new set of school robes, a cauldron, and some new ink and quills. The whole experience might have even been enjoyable if the man had spoken to him, or allowed him to participate in any way. Scorpius stood awkwardly in the background while his father made the purchases, wondering how he was going to get his Muggle Studies books. Was it too late to ask Rose or Albus to get them for him?

Then, as they were walking home, a man came up and stopped them in their path. He was shorter and wider than Scorpius' father, and while he was wearing expensive-looking robes, his toadish face and grim expression reminded him of Goyle. "Malfoy," he hissed. "A word?"

"Not now," Draco Malfoy spat back. "Tomorrow."

"It's urgent. Ezekius sent me."

Scorpius, looking up, saw a flicker of something unknowable on his father's face. Was it fear?

"Very well then. Scorpius, wait here."

He took the toadish man to one side and they exchanged a whispered conversation while Scorpius tried not to look as if he was watching. A few people, recognising him from the restaurant, smiled at him as they walked past. He smiled back, but his gaze kept going back to the discussion which seemed to be dissolving into an argument. The toadish man seemed to win. His father nodded and made an acquiescent gesture. The man leered and walked away. When his father came back, Scorpius knew better than to ask.

-*~A~*-

The coming year at Hogwarts was, everyone was soon realising, going to contain an unprecedent number of Weasleys. Dominique was entering her NEWT year, Molly was doing her OWLS, James, Roxanne and Fred were in their fourth year, Albus and Rose of course in third, and now Lily, Hugo and Louis were all starting.

"I wouldn't be surprised if McGonagall stepped down," Albus heard his father saying as they began their annual shopping trip at Diagon Alley. "I think I would."

"At least they're a bit spread out," replied his Uncle Ron. "Imagine if we dumped all of them on her at once."

"Standing right here," Albus said.

"McGonagall's not the one who has to deal with them on a daily basis," said Uncle Bill, grinning. The effect this on his scarred face would probably be terrifying to anyone who wasn't used to it. "What about Neville, eh? Louis and Hugo are both busting to be in Gryffindor, and that'll make it at least seven in his House. Maybe we should all buy him a drink to apologise in advance."

"Men," Ginny sighed. "Come on, lets get all the shopping over with so we can go visit Hannah and the baby."

"Yes dear," Harry said diplomatically. He handed a handful of coins to Albus and Lily each. James had already received his pocket money - he had gone early to Uncle George's shop with the twins. "Don't spend it all at once," he cautioned Albus. "School things first, okay? We'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in two hours. Come on, first years, lets get your robes."

Lily practically squealed with delight as she, Hugo and Louis were led away. Dom and Molly went with them, stating that they also needed new robes. This left Rose and Albus to do their shopping together. Apart from books there wasn't that much more that they needed, but Rose wanted to go to the pet shop.

"Mum said I could get a kitten," she said, jingling her pocket money. "Dad's not too keen on it, but we're going to school in a couple weeks anyway."

"I'll get some treats for Emmett, then," Albus said. "Not that he needs them." His own owl was rather fat and lazy, the result of overfeeding and not much exercise. Womy, the family owl, was much better at taking letters and not just flying around in circles and bringing them back again.

Rose spent about twenty minutes cooing over kittens. "Come on," he said to her eventually. "We're going to be late. You wanted to see the baby, right?"

"Oh," she said. She picked up one of the kittens out of the cage marked 'female'. It was black with one white forepaw. Even Albus had to admit it was sort of cute, even if he wasn't much of a cat person. "What should I call her?" Rose asked.

"Don't ask me. I've probably inherited my parents' crappiness at naming things."

By the time they got to the Leaky Cauldron, Rose had settled on Midnight. The pub was busy, this being the weekend after Hogwarts letters, and there were a few people there they knew, so they spent ten minutes or so chatting with people about their summers and their new subjects until Lizzie popped up beside them. "There you are," she said impatiently. "Been looking everywhere for you. Everyone's upstairs."

They followed her up to the apartment where everyone was fussing over baby Alice. The little girl seemed to be enjoying all the attention. At six months, she had a mop of dark curly hair and a huge smile. Albus even held her for a while.

"How you're running this place and looking after a baby is beyond me," Aunt Hermione was saying. "It was hard enough for all of us to get Saturday off to bring the children to get their school things."

"Oh, Lizzie's been helping me," Hannah replied, putting an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "I don't know what I'll do when they all go back to school. We can only pay a nanny for a few hours a week."

"I'd look after her for free," Ginny sighed, picking the baby up and cuddling her close again. "Oh, I want another one."

"No you don't," Harry said quickly. Albus hadn't even realised his father was listening, but apparently his ears were very carefully tuned to that sort of announcement.

"But we're going to be all alone in the house now," Ginny said, and Albus was taken aback to see a sparkle of tears in her eyes.

"Just think of all the extra work you'll get done."

"Harry!"

Luckily Neville came in at that point and forestalled any more talk of parental procreation. "There's my girl," he said, scooping Alice up and swinging her around. She laughed with delight and promptly punched him on the nose.

"Hey," Lizzie said, taking the opportunity while everyone was laughing at the scene. "Heard anymore from Scorpius?"

"Nah, not since that last letter," Albus admitted.

"I still can't believe he made it into a Muggle post office," Lizzie giggled.

"He's not an idiot," Rose broke in, bristling a little.

"I know that!" Lizzie said quickly. "He's just such a wizard, you know?"

Albus thought about Scorpius' iPod, which frankly he was thinking about giving a name to, and snorted.

-*~R~*-

Goyle was at the train station again on September the first. This time Rose made sure to avoid him as he heaved Scorpius' trunk onto the train with both hands before walking off into the crowd. Only then did she approach her friend, giving him her hand to help him up the last step onto the train. "Hi," she said tentatively.

"Hey," he replied, offering her a tired smile.

"Long summer?"

"Hell yes. Where's Al?"

"Helping Lily with her stuff. Oh, by the way, don't laugh at him."

Scorpius frowned. "Why would I laugh at him?"

She grinned. "His voice is breaking. It is pretty funny but James' teasing has got him all worked up about it."

Scorpius grinned back. "Right, I'll be careful. So what's news?"

"Not much - oh, I got a cat. Come on, I'll show you."

The youngest Potter/Weasley students had found a compartment near the end of the train. "Scorp, this is my brother Hugo," Rose introduced them. "And this is Lily and that's Louis, Dom's brother."

"Hi," said Scorpius. Rose was surprised to hear a hint of shyness in his voice. She had hoped they had Weasleyed that out of him.

"And this is Midnight," she said, picking her up out of the nest of discarded jumpers where she had been napping. The kitten mewed in protest.

Albus finished helping Lily with her trunk and came over. "All right mate?" his voice squeaked a little on the last syllable, and he grimaced.

"Fine," said Scorpius, absolutely straight-faced.

"How come Goyle was dropping you off?"

Scorpius made a face. "Mother was working and Father refuses to leave the study. He didn't much want to take me, but he'll do anything Father tells him. I don't think he's ever had an original idea in his whole life."

"So tell us about this job," Rose asked him once the journey was underway and Hugo, Lily and Louis had started a game of Exploding Snap.

"Oh that. Not much to tell. Cleaning tables, resetting, washing dishes, that kind of thing."

She wrinkled her nose. "Sounds awful."

"Sometimes it was. But it was worth it for something to do. And I got new school robes out of it, and new schoolbooks, except for Muggle Studies, of course. Still don't know how I'll get those."

"There's supposed to be a new Muggle Studies Professor," Albus broke in. "And a new Potions Professor, too."

"What?" Scorpius exclaimed. Rose knew he had like their previous teacher, Professor Hillburn. "Who?"

"Dunno, just something Dad heard."

Scorpius sulked for a minute and Rose searched around for a change of subject. "So are you trying out for Quidditch again?" she asked him.

He sighed. "Nah, don't think so. Going to be hard enough with four extra subjects. Who's the new Captain?"

They talked Quidditch for a while, and then, their game concluded with a bang that shook the whole compartment, the other three joined them in eating snacks from the trolley. Louis struck up a conversion with Scorpius in French, and Scorpius, reminded, gave Albus back his change from the Muggle money.

"But this is nearly all of it!" Albus protested. "You didn't just buy one stamp?''

"That was all he said I needed," Scorpius frowned. "You got the letter, right?"

"Course we did, but..." Albus looked at his face and apparently gave up. "Never mind."

-*~S~*-

The Muggle Studies Professor was called Professor Clearwater. She was about his mother's age, perhaps a little older, and she had a very endearing smile. When he asked her tentatively about the textbooks, before class, she assured him that they would find a way around the problem.

Scorpius loved his first Muggle Studies class. Nearly everyone in there was pureblood, like him, the rest were halfbloods who had been raised totally in wizarding culture. This meant that everyone was just as clueless as he was, and that was something he'd been afraid of. Professor Clearwater asked them to raise their hand if they had ever had interactions with Muggles, and Scorpius told the story about sending the letter, carefully making it sound like it had been an experiment rather than a necessity. When he described trying to pay the man twenty euros for a stamp, a few people laughed. But then he showed everyone his iPod, and suddenly he was the envy of the entire class.

Professor Clearwater handed out a stack of papers to each of them. They were on bright white paper rather than parchment, and bound along one side with a kind of plastic spiral. They were short stories, she explained, by Muggle writers, and they were required to read at least three of them before the next class. "Readings stories is one of the best ways to learn about Muggle culture," she explained. "If there is anything you don't understand, make a note of it and we will discuss it next class."

He then had Study of Ancient Runes with Rose, which was less fun. The Professor, an older man with a grey beard called Professor Warren, set them even more reading and a translation exercise. Arithmancy, the only new class the three of them had together, involved a lot of note-taking, even more reading and several exercises for homework.

By this point it was almost a relief to go to History of Magic and daydream through Professor Binns' sermon on Goblin wars.

On Wednesday, after Charms, he had Divination while the other two had Care of Magical Creatures. Divination was with the centaur, Firenze, who was rarely seen around the castle for the probable reason that he was too tall to fit inside most of the hallways. Anyway the stone floors probably bruised his hooves. Scorpius sat in the magical forest room with his classmates and listened as Firenze explained that their classes would alternate between him and Professor Trelawny who taught more 'traditional human magic'. Scorpius felt a bit lost after two hours of listening to Firenze talk about stars. He had thought that two years of Astronomy might have prepared him for Astrology, but apparently not.

Al and Rose came back from Care of Magical Creatures looking excited. "Hagrid's great," Al told Scorpius with great enthusiasm. "Told you you should have done his class."

Scorpius did not want to say that the huge man, who had never shown him any particular friendliness, scared him more than he cared to admit. "Lizzie's mum says that Care of Magical Creatures in dangerous," he pointed out. "She didn't want Lizzie doing it. I'd rather stay in Divination than lose an arm or a leg, thanks."

"Oh, like Hagrid would let any of us get hurt," Rose scoffed, blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes.

Scorpius opened his mouth and shut it again. He didn't think anyone would appreciate him repeating yet another of his father's rants. His father definitely did not like Hagrid and he actually had been hurt during his class, no matter what anyone said.

The new Potions Professor suprised everyone by being a young woman. Her name was Professor Padma Patil. Al and Rose knew her, vaguely, from parties they had been to with their parents. Scorpius thought he might have seen her at the last memorial.

The class was disappointingly a non-practical lesson, mainly a catch up on on the previous year, introducing everyone and talking about what they would be covering up until Christmas. "I believe the top three students in third year Potions are in this class," Professor Patil said smiling before they left. "So I am sure it will be a prosperous year for us."

Scorpius, Albus and Rose looked at each other modestly.

"She seems nice," Rose said when they had left the classroom. "You should ask her about your extra projects and stuff you wanted to do."

"We'll see," Scorpius sighed. "I'll see if I'm still alive at the end of next week. The way it's going we'll be drowning in homework before it's out."

-*~A~*-

Liam, now in his seventh year, was the new Ravenclaw Team Captain. He was also Head Boy, which meant he had much less time for Seeker training with Albus. Al joined in the drills while Liam flew around the team, correcting manoeuvres.

It could be argued that the team was not as good as last year, now that half its players had left. One of last year's reserves was now a full Chaser, which meant that Rose was now first reserve. Albus pointed out glumly that since there were three Chasers, she was about three times as likely to get to actually play as he was.

Rose grimaced. "As long as its not a Gryffindor game," she said wryly. "I wouldn't put it past Fred to try and brain me with a Bludger."

Albus nodded. Whoever had let his cousin onto the team was clearly a masochist. Fred was like a madman with a Beater's bat.

At least Ravenclaw won their first game, against Hufflepuff, and Liam gave them a week off to celebrate, or possibly so that he could catch up on his NEWTs. Everyone else certainly tried to use the extra time to their advantage.

Albus was trying to write a report on unicorns for Care of Magical Creatures, but found himself too tired to concentrate. Instead he peeked over at what Scorpius was scribbling in his notebook. The thing was starting to get tatty around the edges. "Haven't you got any homework to do?" Albus asked after scanning a few lines.

Scorpius looked up and reddened, closing the book. "Probably. I can't quite bring myself to do Ancient Runes."

"What are you writing, is it a poem?" he asked. He couldn't read the words, but they were arranged in a sort of pattern.

Scorpius went, if possible, even redder. "Um. Sort of."

"All right, you don't have to tell if you don't want to," Rose said, giving Albus a cold look.

"What? I was just asking."

Scorpius sighed. "Don't argue about it. Its just a sort of song I'm working on. Happy?"

"Oh." Rose's face softened. "Can I see it?"

"Now who's being nosy," Albus muttered, going back to his essay.

"Maybe... when its finished," Scorpius said, sounding unsure.

Not long after Ravenclaw's win, everyone was distracted by their first visit to Hogsmeade. Lizzie, Rose and Albus had all been to the village before, although Lily, who had despite all Albus' secret hopes become a Gryffindor along with Hugo and Louis, complained that it wasn't fair that first years weren't allowed to go.

"You've been loads of times," Albus told her, sighing, over dinner the day before the outing. Albus and Rose occasionally joined their family for dinner at the Gryffindor table. They invited Scorpius to join them, but he was still wary of Gryffindors, and said he was fine sitting with Gaius and Peter and the Ravenclaw girls.

"Yes, but this is different," Lily sighed, and offered no further explanation.

The Hogsmeade trip was fun, even if the third years were quite carefully supervised by the teachers while the other year levels were allowed to wander a bit on their own.

Scorpius had no money to buy anything, but he seemed happy to look around, all the same. Albus bought a couple of Christmas gifts for his family while he and Rose showed Scorpius around the sweetshop and the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. None of their family was working there, to Albus' disappointment, . "Dad owns part of the company, and sometimes he works in the Diagon Alley shop, on weekends," Rose explained as they left. "Uncle George is usually in the Hogsmeade shop, but he's travelling right now, on business."

"Going international!" barked Fred from nearby. Scorpius jumped. Albus felt a bit sorry for him - his tall, dark cousin could be intimidating, and didn't seem to realise it. Scorpius had mostly grown out of the pathological shyness that had occasionally crippled him in first year, but it always seemed to pop up again around the twins, or anyone in the Weasley family who wasn't Albus or Rose. Albus thought he should probably try and do something about that. They'd have to meet eventually.

Probably not Uncle Ron though, he thought as they went on to the Three Broomsticks. Start him off small. Aunt Hermione? No, she'd interrogate him into insensibility. Dad's out of the question. Mum, maybe. She'd at least be nice to him.

He ordered Butterbeers for the three of them, all the while formulating a plan. He would have to talk to Lizzie about it, but he was almost sure there was a way it could work.

-*~AN~*-

Thank you to everyone who has given me reviews so far. I originally started writing this story just for myself, but I started enjoying it so much that I wanted to share it with people, so it's good to know that it's being enjoyed.

I have a question for you guys. Some of the next few chapters have music in them, and obviously this site won't let me embed a player for it like I would do normally. I've spent a lot of time thinking carefully about the music and selecting specific recordings to enhance the experience of the story, so I do want to include it. Any suggestions for the best way to link to it within the chapter?