Chapter 4: Amber's Grudge

Rose sat down to lunch on Monday, bringing her textbooks with her. She had started off her 3rd year with History of Magic that morning. Professor Creevey had started off by telling everyone that the 3rd years were scheduled to study recent history, mostly involving the war against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Rose had privately wondered if Uncle Harry or her own parents would come into class to say anything, something she wasn't sure if she would be happy or embarrassed about. After lunch would be Muggle Studies, which was taught by Amber McAngus. It was for that reason that Rose was not at the Ravenclaw table, but sitting with Scorpius and Galaxy at the Gryffindor table.

"So why are you eating with us? I mean, I like to talk to you, of course, but it seems like you're scared of something. Did you hear about something scary in history class?" Galaxy asked innocently.

"No, it's how Professor McAngus is going to behave as a teacher. It's not even just that she seems to hate Scorpius, she just seems rather unstable. She's so quick to accuse people of being evil and..." Rose trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.

"But it makes sense that she thinks I'm evil. I just have to prove to her that I'm not evil by taking her class. My evil father would NEVER have wanted to take Muggle Studies. But she might think I'm taking it to learn how to oppress muggles, but I don't want to do that and I'll tell her I'm not but she might not believe me but I can't run away!" Scorpius blurted out rather quickly and nervously.

"It's not just you. What if she hates ME?" Rose whispered, more frightened than Galaxy had ever seen her before, "What if she thinks I'm a traitor to my family? What if she hates me for letting my brother get into Slytherin? What if my father hates me? He still hasn't responded to my owl but I'm sure to get a Howler saying that I'm a disgrace to the Weasley family any day now."

"But why would anyone blame YOU for Hugo being in Slytherin? You didn't put him there, the Sorting Hat did. And your parents aren't that cruel, they wouldn't punish you over that kind of thing," Galaxy said, trying to be reassuring but also rather confused as to why Rose was feeling this way.

"Because he might think I gave Hugo the idea that he could be something different than a Gryffindor. I'm sure he was hoping that at least one of us would go there, and he HATES Slytherin," Rose moaned.

"You can't blame him for hating Slytherin after the way people like my evil father treated him," Scorpius sighed.

"I know that, and I also know that Hugo likes to do the opposite of what Dad tells him to do, but I didn't think he'd go as far as to get sorted into Slytherin," Rose said.

"Aww, I don't think we should worry about that now. I'm excited for Muggle Studies, even though Professor McAngus isn't very nice. I've seen the things like computers and cars that Dad showed me, because he's a muggle and I'd like to learn about them. Muggles use them to go on trips and explore and have adventures!" Galaxy giggled.

"Do you think that even I could learn how to drive a car?" Scorpius asked.

"Sure you could! It might be easier for you than flying a broom because it doesn't fly, so you don't have to worry about falling," Galaxy said cheerfully, "I know they can crash but you're more protected because you're inside the car so you can't fall off like with a broom."

"Cars are more complicated to operate, though," Rose said, "But if you want to learn how to drive, Scorpius, that might be a good skill to learn. My dad learned how to drive and he's from a wizard family too."

"Maybe he could even teach me!" Scorpius said excitedly. With that happier thought, lunch ended soon, and the three of them headed for their first Muggle Studies class. When they arrived, they noticed that David Longbottom and Electra O'Blarney were taking the class too.

"Malfoy?! What are YOU doing in this class?!" Electra exclaimed in disbelief.

"Because I want to learn about muggles. Something my father would never want to do," Scorpius replied defiantly.

"Maybe you want to kill them with their own machines," David sneered.

"I don't want to kill innocent muggles! I don't want to hurt them at all! I just want to learn about them!" Scorpius shouted, starting to cry again.

"Quiet, Malfoy," snapped Amber as she entered the room, slamming the door behind her with a loud bang that made several people jump in their seats. Scorpius sat down, looking like he was torn between being meek in Amber's prescence and continuing his argument with David and Electra.

"It's not his fault! David and Electra were being mean to him!" Galaxy protested.

"He deserves it, and I'll prove he does. I'll teach all of you what muggles and muggleborns have suffered at the wands of the Death Eaters," Amber declared, "But first of all, a test. I want to know what you know already."

"I know muggles have fireworks too! Can we set some off in here?" David blurted out.

"Maybe we can," Amber said, suddenly turning indulgent and kind, "For students I trust specially, I could have a demonstration of muggle fireworks and weapons, but only outdoors. But before that, I have some questions of my own to ask." Her demeanor switched back to stern again as she pointed her wand at Scorpius. "Malfoy! Can you define what bits and bytes are?"

"Are they pieces someone has bitten off of food? I'm sorry, I don't know and I should know but I just don't and I should've read more and..." Scorpius babbled, frightened that he was already failing the class.

"It's what his pet snake does to muggleborns!" guffawed David.

"It probably does, doesn't it, David?" Amber said sweetly, and then she snapped back to angry again. "No! They are NOT! Second question. What is the purpose of a battery?"

"I don't know that either and it sounds like it has to do with food too but it probably doesn't and I'm SO SORRY! I'M SO STUPID AND EVIL AND CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" Scorpius screamed, and he began beating his head on the desk in an act of self-punishment.

"Please stop, Professor McAngus! I don't know any of the answers either but I'm sure there's someone besides Scorpius who can answer, so stop picking on him!" Galaxy blurted out.

"Silence, Baghill. I was trying to make a point. The point is that the Malfoys are NOT superior, no matter how much they think they are. In fact, they are all ignorant, arrogant little Death Eaters-in-training who think they are too good to learn about muggle technology on their own. Not like the Weasleys, who are proper examples of what wizards should be like," Amber ranted.

"But Scorpius doesn't think he's better than everyone! He hates himself! Why are you so blind to what you're doing to him?! He's NOT like the other Malfoys!" Galaxy retorted, jumping out of her seat in anger.

"You are the blind one, poor little Galaxy. You do not see how he is fooling you with his sneaky lies. You need to stop associating with people like that before he gets your poor muggle father killed," Amber said. While Amber was arguing with Galaxy, Rose, who was sitting next to Scorpius, went over to him and gently blocked him from beating his head on the desk. In response, he began sobbing on her shoulder as she tried to calm him down.

"He wouldn't kill Dad! Why do you hate him so much?! He never did anything to you!" Galaxy protested. Amber was about to retort to her when she saw Rose and Scorpius embracing.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Amber shrieked, lunging at them and violently throwing Scorpius off of Rose. "Get your filthy Death Eater hands off of her! You do not DARE to touch Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's daughter!"

"Please, Professor, I...I was trying to comfort him. He wasn't hurting me," Rose whimpered.

"Do you want to know what the Death Eaters like him did to me?! They did THIS to me!" Amber raged, yanking the arm of her robe up. It was very clear that there was a scar on her arm from where the word "mudblood" had been carved into the skin.

"But Scorpius isn't a Death Eater! There aren't any more Death Eaters!" Galaxy shot back.

"Shut up, you deluded girl. Malfoy here is a Death Eater in disguise. I'm sure he's planning to use the muggles' own technology to oppress and kill them! Weasley! You and I will take him to Professor Rain's office and expose his evil plans!" Amber declared. She stormed out the door, dragging Scorpius along roughly by the arm. Rose hurried to follow, unsure what Amber was planning to do. She didn't think that Professor Rain would share Amber's delusions that Scorpius was a Death Eater wannabe, but she still didn't know what would happen to Scorpius or to herself. She also wasn't sure what was going to happen with the rest of the class, since Amber had left everyone without telling them she was ending class or giving any instructions on what to study for the next class. She just followed Amber and Scorpius as they went to the headmistress's office and Amber stated the password to the gargoyle.