Chapter 4
It was early next morning when the Howler came. Scorpius and Albus were already up and talking when there was a tapping at the window. Scorpius lost the entire colour in his face when he saw the majestic eagle owl with a scarlet envelope tied to his leg. Albus jumped up and opened the window. The owl flew in, quickly dropped the envelope beside Scorpius, and flew back out the window as quickly as it had flown in.
A huge, booming voice filled the dormitory, causing Shaun, Alan and Duncan to yelp as they were woken suddenly.
"What do you think you are doing!" the voice screeched. "Why would you want to be in Gryffindor? They are the scum of the earth! And to be friends with that Potter and Weasley is totally unacceptable. I am absolutely disgusted with your choices. I had thought that I had brought you up better than this! The only thing stopping me from coming up to that school and taking you home immediately is you father. I don't know what he's playing at either; you should be upholding the family name. Well don't expect to come home for Christmas."
With that, the envelope burst into flames, leaving five open-mouthed boys.
"I guess you mum's not happy with you being in Gryffindor then." Albus tried to joke.
There was a sombre mood as everyone got changed and went down to the common room together. Rose was already there as usual.
"I heard the Howler go off." she said simply as they walked down to breakfast.
"Yeah, it was for me. My mum isn't at all happy with me being in Gryffindor." Scorpius supplied.
They got to the Great hall and Alan and Duncan went off to see some of their other friends. Scorpius wouldn't eat until Rose tried, and then he did whatever he said. Albus and Shaun just smirked at how obvious it was that Scorpius liked Rose, and Albus had been around Rose long enough to know that she also liked Scorpius. Albus motioned to Shaun, and the two of them managed to sneak away.
"We both know that they like each other, but won't admit it." Albus stated. "Now we need a way to get them together. Any ideas?"
"How about we lock them in a cupboard together?" Shaun suggested.
"No, they both know the unlocking spell, and then we would have to deal with a very angry Rose. You wouldn't like it."
"How about we send love cards to each of them from each other?" Shaun said.
"I think that it might actually work." Albus replied. "Let's wait for a bit first, and you'll have to write them. Rose knows my writing too well."
They gave each other a high five, and went to get their books as Scorpius and Rose came out of the Great Hall looking for them.
They had Herbology, History of Magic, Transfiguration and DADA. The lessons went by swiftly, with each of them finding a competency at a subject. Albus was by far the best in DADA, Rose was best at History, Scorpius was just the best at Transfiguration, and Shaun was best at Herbology. They had the afternoon free, as they had Astronomy at midnight with Professor Jones, so they went to see Hagrid.
Hagrid was outside shelling peas as they got to him, but he put them down straight away, and invited them in. He was introduced to Scorpius, and said, "Your father gave me a lot of trouble, especially in his third year, but I don't hold that against you. Al and Rose are a good judge of character, and if they say that you are ok, then you are. Now, who wants one of my rock cakes?"
Rose and Al had heard of Hagrid's famous rock cakes, and abstained from having one. Scorpius and Shaun soon learned though, and hid them.
"Here, I'll show you a new animal I just got." Hagrid offered, and went out the door, causing the others to follow him. He led them to a clearing and they saw a gorgeous blue-green kelpie. It came up to them, and Hagrid patted its head.
All too soon, it was time to go back to the castle for dinner, and Hagrid went up with them. After a quick dinner, they went up to their dormitories for a short nap before Astronomy. They had to wake Shaun up and rush to class, noticing that the rest of the class was doing the same. The door at the top of the Astronomy Tower opened, and they went in, each standing next to a silver telescope, pointing at the clear, black sky.
The teacher was a grey-haired witch with a motherly face, and silver robes. For their first class, they were introduced to the subject and shown how to use the telescopes. The homework they were given at the end of the lesson was to write 10 inches of parchment on the moon for next week.
The lesson ended and they wandered back in a daze. No-one realised that Scorpius and Rose' hands were brushing against each other, not even them. They drifted up to their dormitories, and Albus, Scorpius and Shaun were completely surprised to see Alan and Violet snogging on his bed. Shaun coughed lightly, and they broke apart guiltily. Violet giggled, and rushed down the stairs, as Duncan came up and smirked at Alan, who shrugged.
They quickly got changed after that, and were quickly asleep.
Violet was giggling as she bounced into the dormitory. Sue came up to her, her smile huge.
"So, how good is he at snogging?" she asked.
"He's absolutely brilliant, so gentle and smooth." Violet answered.
"Who is a good snogger?" Rose asked, curious.
"Alan Moore." Violet and Sue said together.
"Oh." Rose muttered, glad it wasn't Scorpius.
They all talked for hours about who they all liked, and Rose was surprised that Lucy fancied Al.
"He's so fit, don't you think." she said.
Rose thought about her cousin, and guessed he was ok looking, but couldn't think of him as anything more than a good friend and her cousin. Scorpius on the other hand…
"I guess he's ok." Rose answered, cutting off that train of thought. "I just can't see him like that though."
"So, who do you like then?" Joanne asked.
"No-one." Rose said too quickly.
"Oh, go on." Sue pushed. "You know that you can tell us."
"Well I kinda like Scorpius." Rose muttered softly.
"Knew it!" Violet shouted.
"Well, I'm going to bed now." Rose went on, and got ready for bed. "See you in the morning."
She fell asleep almost as soon as she said this.