Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters or universe.

Beneath the Venom

~*Chapter 4*~

Rose felt her heart drop into her stomach at the pained cry that she heard from somewhere in the greenhouse. It was definitely Malfoy and he sounded more than a little hurt. Frowning, she rushed over to where she thought she heard him. The only light she currently had was that of the moon filtering in from the glass ceiling.

"Where are you?" she called out only to hear a groan near her. She practically tripped as she stumbled over something fleshy and hard. Looking down, it was Malfoy lying on his back. She felt her heart skip a beat as she knelt beside him.

"Ngh, geez did ya need to step on me?" he grumbled through gritted teeth. He was in an exceeding amount of pain.

"I-I'm sorry. What happened?" she asked, worried lacing her voice as she temporarily lost her composure. Yes, he was the bane of her existence but she didn't want something terrible to happen to him. She was not that sort of person.

"Don't know. One minute I was harvesting and the next my hand feels as though it's on fire," he explained, his voice strained in pain. It was then that Rose noticed the blood. Malfoy was clutching his right hand to his chest where she could see a dark stain spreading against his white shirt. His hand was coated in blood and she feared the worse. Looking around, she noticed the plant that he had to have touched.

"You're supposed to use gloves when handling that. Just touching it is like acid. It's quite poisonous in this form but once properly mixed in a potion, it has a lot of positive uses," she said as she looked back down at him.

"Great, I'm going to get a lesson before I die. Thanks Weasley, you're the best," he said dryly before wincing. Rose bit her lower lip, distraught at seeing him the way that he was. She was not used to this man losing his composure. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead and as she pressed her hand to his face, she could feel that he was getting clammy.

"We need to get you to the infirmary. I can't cast a mending spell because your blood draining right now is keeping the poison from spreading any faster. If I seal you up, I seal up the poison within you," she explained, trying to stay calm despite the rapid beating of her heart. "but I do need to keep you from bleeding out entirely." With that she looked around for something to bandage him with and create a tourniquet.

Nearby, she found an elastic band that was used to adhere plants to wooden spikes to keep them upright. She wrapped that around his forearm to keep the poison from spreading further. Unable to find something to stop the bleeding however, she began to lose some of her composure.

"My shirt. Use my shirt," he groaned, trying to be somewhat useful even though his head was starting to become foggy. Rose nodded and leaned over him, deftly unbuttoning his shirt. Scorpius could not keep himself from staring up at her. Her fingers were practically gliding over his skin, causing him to shiver. Or maybe that was the poison. His eyes watched her movements and he found himself increasingly enticed. The daze that he was in made him not care that he was being obvious.

There was no time for Rose to really consider what she was doing. All that was on her mind was getting Malfoy to a stable point so that she could bring him to the infirmary. Once she had his shirt unbuttoned, she gently lifted Malfoy up into a sitting position so that she could slide the shirt out from under him. Instead of trying to maneuver the shirt over his bad hand, she simply left it on and wrapped it around.

Scorpius was having a hard time sitting up, so he found himself leaning against Rose to keep himself from collapsing backwards once more. If he looked anywhere but what was in front of him, his head would start spinning. Once more he found his senses permeated by her scent. He found it to be incredibly soothing right now and it kept him focused. The pain was still clearly there, but he was currently distracted.

As Rose continued to work on him, she shifted in such a manner that he slid off of her shoulder and slumped forwards, finding himself buried in her rather ample chest. Yes, he wouldn't mind getting poisoned a few more times if this was the sort of treatment he would endure. Somewhere he wanted to yell at his brain for that thought, because this was Weasley, but he couldn't care right now.

When she found Malfoy practically buried in her chest, was when she became all too aware of what she was doing. The man before her was shirtless and sitting perfectly in a beam of moonlight, making his alabaster skin appear polished and perfect like marble. He wasn't overly muscular but rather lithely built like an athlete. She knew this was not the time to be checking him out but for some reason she could not help herself.

A deep flush spread over her cheeks and nose as she realized that he was still buried in her chest. Gently, so as to not cause further pain, she pushed him back a bit but kept him steady. She gained, quite possibly, the cutest pout ever from Malfoy. He jutted his lower lip out and frowned at having been removed. She was not sure whether to laugh or gasp. Oh yeah, the poison had definitely affected his mental capacities.

"C-Come on, you have to try to stand," she stuttered as she stood up, bringing him with her. She groaned at how much he weighed, but she was thankful that it was not entirely dead weight.

Scorpius moaned in pain as he was forced to move. Somehow he managed to stand up, gripping Rose's shoulder tightly with his good hand. She adjusted him so that his arm was slung over her shoulders and her arm was wrapped around his waist to support him. He looked down distractedly at the arm that was around his waist. Why did that feel appropriate? Why did it seem right? He frowned as he tried to sift through his muddled thoughts.

The ingredients forgotten, the two slowly but surely made their way up to the castle. Malfoy had stumbled a few times, nearly causing the two of them to collapse but Rose had saved them. Though, the closer they got to the castle the more she felt his weight pressing on her. He was fading in and out of consciousness and it was really worrying her. Thankfully, the Hospital Wing was located on the first floor and she would not have to endure the moving stairs.

By the time she reached the nurse and he was placed in a bed, he had fully lost consciousness. Rose explained to the nurse what plant it was that he had touched so that she knew what antidote to administer. Granted, she was sure the woman could tell regardless but Rose wanted to feel as though she was helping. Once it appeared that Malfoy was stable, the nurse ushered her out of the room so that he could rest.

Rose felt like she was in her own daze as she headed back to the greenhouse to finish her task. It seemed silly given everything that had just happened but she needed something to ground her. Not to mention the professor was still going to expect the task to be done. It took her another hour to gather up the ingredients seeing as how she was doing it alone. When she returned to the detention classroom so that she could prepare and store the ingredients, the professor stopped her.

"That's enough for the night, Miss Weasley. I have been informed of Mr. Malfoy's status. It's getting late and Mr. Goyle and Mr. Weasley have already retired for the night. I will store these temporarily but you and Mr. Malfoy shall continue this tomorrow night," she said as she removed the ingredients from Rose's possession. Still in her daze, she nodded before taking her leave of the dungeons.

Hugo was waiting for her outside of her common room. She was not sure how long he had been waiting there but he seemed content for the moment. He was sitting down on a nearby bench reading a book. When she approached his general vicinity, he looked up and his eyes grew to the size of sauces.

"What the hell happened to you?!" he exclaimed as he rushed over to her. Rose was confused by his outburst until she looked down. Her own white shirt had been stained with blood. It was Malfoy's of course but it looked terrible.

"Ah! I'm fine really. It's not even my blood, its Scorpius'" she explained. Hugo seemed relieved for the moment before arching a brow.

"Since when do you call him Scorpius? And why is he blood on you?" he inquired as he crossed his arms over his chest, must like a chiding parent. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"That's his name and he was injured while we were collecting the ingredients for detention," she said drolly, trying her best not to roll her eyes. Hugo held his pose before cracking a smile.

"Serves him right, Karma's a bitch for getting us all into detention," he said semi-harshly, still with his smile in place. Rose gaped at him.

"Hugo! It was terrible! No one deserves what happened, even Malfoy. You should be ashamed of yourself," she chastised, not liking her brother's behavior at all. It was Hugo's turn to gape once more.

"Since when do you care? Why does it matter what happens to him? He's never been nice to any of us let alone you. If you and he reversed rolls, he wouldn't help you," he said quickly.

Rose glared at her brother but kept from responding. She wanted to believe that Malfoy wouldn't be that cruel. That if her life was in jeopardy that he would do something about it. Frowning further, she wondered why she even cared. Nothing had changed between the two of them. This year wasn't any different… right?

"Just drop it, Hugo. I'm fine and all I want to do is get cleaned up and go to bed. Thanks for worrying about me though," she said gently. Her sincere declaration took the wind out of Hugo's sails. He sighed heavily before giving her a half smile and hugging her, careful not to get blood on himself.

"Okay fine. See you in the morning," he said before leaving her alone. Rose watched her brother walk away until he was well out of sight. She made her way over to the common room door before answering the riddle and stepping inside.

Her mind kept going over the night's events. For some reason, whenever she was with Malfoy the strangest things happened. If this continued all year, she was not sure if she was going to graduate. It was only the second day of school after all. She was beyond exhausted in all aspects: emotionally, physically, and mentally. All she wanted to do was forget all of her confusing feelings and concentrate on her school work.

Rose showered quickly before changing into her pajamas. It was a silk button up, long sleeved shirt with matching pants that were sky blue with dark blue ravens on it. It was cute and it reminded her of her Ravenclaw pride despite the mascot being an eagle. Smiling to herself, she crawled underneath the covers before promptly falling asleep, exhausted from the day.

A couple of hours passed but Rose found herself tossing and turning in the middle of the night despite her exhaustion. She was having a nightmare that she found out that Malfoy had died from his injuries that night. He was reaching out to her, bloodied with his flesh falling apart from the poison. It was gruesome and terrifying. He almost reminded her of a zombie except for his grey eyes were very human. They were filled with pain and betrayal, as though it was her fault that he was in his current state. She found herself immobilized by fear as he drew closer and closer to her.

Suddenly, as he would have reached her, she woke up, bolting upright in her bed. Her scream was lodged in her throat and she was breathing heavily. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and she could feel it pounding as she pressed her hands to her chest. She breathed deeply for a few moments as she buried her face in her hands, trying to decipher what her dream could have meant. Her body was covered in a cold sweat, forcing her to get out of bed and try to splash some water on her face. Even performing this, she did not feel entirely right.

After a few moments she was much calmer but that dread was nagging at her. Before she knew what she was doing, she had pulled a night robe over her pajamas, slipped on some slippers and was sneaking out. Due to how late it was, even with her being the Head Girl she could get into a lot of trouble for being out. Her mind and her heart kept telling her that she needed to see Scorpius and to make sure he was okay and not suffering. She didn't currently care that she should not feel this way. All that mattered was making sure he was okay.

It felt like an eternity before she finally reached the Hospital Wing. Thankfully, she had managed to slip by undetected. The wing was so very still and silent that she feared that perhaps her dream had come true. She never really liked being here. It was normally under terrible circumstances that a person ended up here and she could feel that. The silence was not peaceful but almost sad, like walking into a mausoleum.

Even with her being as quiet as possible, the soft scuffle of her slippers could be heard reverberating off of the walls. The wing was dark except for the soft glow of a lantern that had been left on the bedside of the very last bed. This bed was the only one that was occupied and even from where she was standing she could tell that it was Scorpius.

Slowly, with her heart pounding every step of the way, she walked down the center aisle between the beds until she was standing at the foot of Scorpius' bed. The glow of the lantern cast a soft light upon his face and from where she was standing, it didn't look like his condition had worsened. Gathering her courage, she moved to stand next to him so that she could inspect him.

Rose let out a breath she wasn't even aware that she had been holding. Scorpius was sleeping peacefully, not even a frown on his face. Actually, now that she thought about it, this was the first time she had ever seen him without a scowl or disapproving look. He was completely vulnerable right now and vaguely she felt bad that she was ambushing him like this. If he knew that she was here right now it would be nothing but terrible things.

Exhausted from unnecessary worry, she plopped down in a nearby chair. What was wrong with her? Her brother was right, why did she care so much? What she was doing now was going up and beyond the scope of just being a Good Samaritan. This was the sort of thing a girlfriend did and she was the farthest thing from it. It was not like she even wanted that title.

Her eyes scanned over him once more. He really was okay. Even his breathing was soft and gentle. His hand had been bandaged properly and there wasn't even blood staining it. She was sure, come morning, the nurse would administer a mending spell and he would be back to his old self again. A sharp pain pierced her heart at that thought. Things would be the same, which meant that he would go back to tormenting and saying terrible things to her. Granted, part of the night he had already done that but when she was helping him, it appeared that he truly needed her. No, maybe that he even wanted her.

Shaking her head, she knew that she had to get that silly thought straight out of her mind. There was no way in the seven hells that Malfoy was even going to be friends with her. Despite everything that had happened in the last two days. The two of them had been enemies from day one. Honestly, she wanted to be nice to him but he was the one who started out snide and cocky, even at eleven years old. She could almost guarantee it was because of his father and grandfather. Neither one of them liked her family. She felt that feuds should stay between the persons not the families. Unfortunately, that was neither here nor there. Things were as they were always going to be.

Another sigh was elicited from her as she stood up. There was no use in hanging around. Scorpius was clearly fine and there was no reason for her to worry any further. She glanced over at the sleeping Slytherin once more. His hair was extremely mussed up to the point of where she couldn't even tell that it had even been neat. She was surprised to find that his hair had some actual length to it now that it wasn't sleeked back. Before she could stop herself, she brushed some of it off of his forehead, a hint of a smile on her lips.

Half a second later, she regained her senses and practically ran out of the Hospital wing. There was something seriously wrong with her and she needed to get as far away from Scorpius Malfoy as possible before she did something she regretted. School came first. Everything else could wait. Already because of him she was serving detention which was hindering just about everything in her life. As before, she managed to slip back into her dorm without being seen and promptly turned in for the night.

A few moments after Rose left the ward, Scorpius opened his eyes, having been awake from the moment she walked in. Gently, he rest the back of his good hand against his forehead, his skin still tingling from where she touched. At first, he thought she was some apparition his mind dreamed up from the venom. There was no way that Rose Weasley was visiting him in the Hospital Wing at this ungodly hour. It wasn't until she had touched him that he believed she was there. It felt too real to be imagined.

As strange as it was that she was there, it was even stranger how he felt. He wasn't even sure how much of it was himself or the poison. She had seemed so worried about him, even more so than when he first became injured. If he didn't know any better, she seemed as though he had possibly died. Instead of being thrilled at that, she seemed truly distraught. He had peeked at her a couple of times from barely opened eyes and he was even more surprised when she had decided to sit with him.

Rose had come to him wearing only her pajamas which indicated to him that something had truly spooked her for her to come dressed that way. She was all about being immaculate and he could not imagine that she would have been pleased for her lifelong enemy to see her that way. He couldn't deny it, but he thought that she looked rather cute even if her pajamas were rather prudish. It only seemed to add to the charm that was uniquely hers.

A soft sigh escaped him as he gazed up at the massively vaulted ceiling. The poison had definitely taken its toll on him and if Rose hadn't brought him here as quickly as she did, he was sure they would be planning his funeral. It was incredible stupid on his behalf. He knew that plant was dangerous but he was distracted. A slight dusting of pink darkened his cheeks as he recalled being distracted by her. It was nothing truly significant but it was enough for him to make a terrible mistake. He had been thinking, at the time, that he enjoyed the way the moonlight tangled in her fiery hair.

Ah what the hell. He was sick anyways. Might as well let his mind wander to places he normally wouldn't. He was alone in the infirmary so there was no one there to see his ridiculousness such as the small smile that was on his face. Sure he had friends and girlfriends, but not a single one of them would take the time out to make sure he was okay like Rose had just done.

He wasn't even sure when he started calling her Rose but it would only remain in his mind. Even if she was okay with him, there was still her brother and cousin he had to worry about. The two of them were fiercely protective over her, not that she couldn't handle things on her own. She was a firecracker if there ever was one.

After this night, he would return to normal. Things would be as they should be but for now he was giving himself this night. Allowing himself abnormal thoughts and feelings. Before long, he had fallen back asleep, Rose being the last thing on his mind.

The next morning, Rose was feeling dead to the world. She sat down at breakfast but was almost too exhausted to eat. Between having that nightmare and her rendezvous in the middle of the night, she didn't feel like she slept hardly at all. Yawning greatly, she propped her chin up on her hand and stared off into nothingness. It wasn't until Albus sat down, waving his hand in front of her face, did she snap out of it.

"Earth to Rose. What's going on with you? Was detention really that late?" he asked as he began loading his plate with food. His cousin was acting very strange, almost traumatized and he wondered if that was because of detention. She took things like that very seriously.

"I'm okay. Didn't sleep well. Detention sucked," she blurted blatantly. Albus stared at her for a moment, his brain attempting to comprehend her state of being.

"Ohhh….kaaaay…" he said slowly, dragging the word out, hoping that she would elaborate further. Rose sighed as she began pushing food around on her plate.

"Malfoy got injured while we were in detention and I was the one who had to look after him," she said vaguely, not wanting to go into detail just how bad it was or how much it bothered her. "so it was a long night."

"He probably deserved it," he said simply. He was not prepared for Rose to throw a piece of buttered toast at him. His eyes widened, genuinely confused. "what the hell did I do?" She didn't give him a response as she grabbed a piece of fruit and stormed out of the hall. Albus sat there, his jaw dropped as he tried to comprehend what just happened. He looked over at Hugo who had witnessed it all.

"I gave her the same speech last night. It's a sore subject for some reason," he said with a shrug as he ate his breakfast. Albus narrowed his eyes on his cousin.

"You could have warned me. You don't think…. she likes the git do ya?" he inquired, not liking the idea. No one liked the idea.

"No, I don't think it's that. You know that she can be too nice for her own good. Guess it was pretty bad and she's still not over it. Just give her time, I'm sure she'll return to normal," he said, trying to convince himself more than Albus.

Lily silently stood up and left the boys. She wanted to check up on Rose and give her another woman to talk to instead of the boys. Something was clearly bothering her and the boys were too oblivious to find out what it was. She found Rose sitting by the lake, eating her fruit irritably.

"Hey, you okay?" Lily asked as she sat down next to her cousin. Rose gripped her tightly for a moment, intending on throwing it until she realized who it was. A sigh of relief expelled from her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I am just tired of the boys being so insensitive. Yeah, I know Malfoy is an asshole but they didn't see him last night. He could have died and you know I'm not about to let someone suffer if I can prevent it. It's why I want to become a Potions Master and travel the world. I want to help those with my abilities," she explained, leaning her head on the younger girl's shoulder. Lily pet her hair gently, wanting her to feel better.

"I get you. The boys are stupid. Hugo only told me whatever you told him," she said, wanting to know what really happened in Rose's words. After a few moments of silence, she explained to Lily what happened, leaving out the fact that she felt the need to visit Malfoy in the middle of the night. Lily listened to her quietly, allowing her to finish before she spoke.

"That makes sense. I can understand why you are upset but you know that Malfoy isn't going to appreciate it at all. I don't want your feelings to get hurt," she said as she hugged Rose, earning a soft smile from the older girl.

"I know and he doesn't have to. I know that I did the right thing," she said quietly as she released Lily. Stretching out, she laid out fully on the grass. She didn't have a class right after breakfast so maybe she would just relax out on the lawn. Lily laughed at how laid back her cousin was behaving.

"Well, I have class but I will see you later," she said as she stood up, earning a wave from Rose before taking her leave.

As soon as Lily left, Rose's smile fell just a bit as she gazed up at the leaves of the tree she was currently laying under. Somewhere deep inside, she kind of hoped that things might be different with Scorpius, but she knew better than to hold onto that. She had been looking, inconspicuously of course, around the Great Hall in hopes that Malfoy would be there so that it would be cemented that he was okay. Unfortunately, she had not seen him and instead had to fight the overwhelming urge to go visit him again. Growling, she threw her arm over her eyes and huffed, hoping to get him out of her mind. Before she knew it, she ended up dozing off.

Rose groaned as she woke up a little while later. She hadn't realized that she fell asleep but something had woken her up. It sounded like high-pitched, obnoxious laughter. Furrowing her brows, she sat up, her hair sticking out at odd angles with bits of grass and leaves embedded in it. She tried to smooth it out but she was distracted by the laughter. It sounded close, very close. Standing up, she placed her hands on the tree and looked around it.

A few yards away, against another tree was Malfoy. He had his back leaning against it but what bothered her, was what was leaning against him. The source of the annoying laughter was some nameless Slytherin girl who was pressed against him, trying to entice him. Rose was not sure why, but witnessing the scene set her blood on fire. Her heart plummeted when she saw him lean in for a kiss from the girl. For some crazy reason, she thought that he might seek her out and thank her in private for what she did last night. It was obvious that she didn't even cross his mind and it hurt more than it should have.

Now feeling like she was spying on a private matter, she moved back to the other side of the tree. Her heart was racing painfully and all she wanted to do was get away from the scene. Looking around, she cursed her horrid luck that seemed to always accompany her when Malfoy was around. There was no way for her to leave without being seen. Maybe, just maybe, because he was distracted he would not notice she was there.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped out from her hiding spot and made her way across the lawn. She could not stop herself, however, from looking over to see if he noticed her. What she did not expect was for him to be gazing at her directly, looking past the girl he was currently kissing. Was he mocking her? The thought was almost too much to bear. She was torn between rushing over to kick his arse and leaving him be. The rational side of her finally took over and she continued her way back to the castle.

The last person Scorpius had expected to be around was the woman he was currently trying to forget. He had woken up this morning, feeling more than fine and much more clear headed than the night before. The nurse had mended his hand completed with a spell once she was sure that he no longer had venom pulsing through his veins.

His first instinct had been to seek out Weasley, but then he recalled how idiotic that was. She had only helped him because it was her duty to do so. If he had died, it would have looked terrible with her being the Head Girl and the only person with him at the time. Her late night appearance was to make sure he was alive. Yeah, that was it.

Desperately trying to get back to normal and forget what happened, he sought out one of his fangirls that he knew would not mind being sweet talked. Sure enough, she was doing rather well at distracting him until Rose had walked passed them. He couldn't keep his gaze from her, despite the fact that he was supposed to be paying attention to the girl in his arms. If he hadn't known any better, he thought he saw hurt in Rose's eyes. Why she cared, he was not sure and why he cared that she cared he was especially not sure of. All that he knew was that he could not look away. Somewhere deep inside and locked away he felt bad, as though he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

His gaze lingered on Weasley until she disappeared out of sight. He knew the proper thing to do would be to find her and thank her for the night before but that would ruin his reputation. There was something changing between the two of them and he wasn't sure if he was fond of it.

Sighing against the lips of the blonde before him, he broke the kiss and moved away from her, saying nothing. She called after him but honestly, he had just lost interest. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he headed back up to the castle to prepare for class.

Rose walked down the halls aimlessly, having intended on returning to her common room but instead just walking around. She was cursing herself in her mind. All she wanted was for things to return back to normal so that she could concentrate on her school work and making this her best year. It was the most important because she had to set herself up for life after school. All of this nonsense with Malfoy was becoming far too distracting.

With determination steeling her, she smacked her cheeks a couple of times as though she was trying to wake up from a dream. All she had to do was go back to her normal routine and things would fall into place. Yes, there was still the matter of detention but she would endure that. Maybe because of the mishap from last night, the professor wouldn't have the two of them working with one another again.

Taking a deep breath, she stopped her aimless wanderings and returned to her common room. Utilizing the time before class, she dressed appropriately and neatly as she always did and dove head first into school work. She worked all the way up until her next class. This was who she really was and this was all she needed.

During the break between her classes, she met up with Albus for lunch. Things proceeded as normal, which Albus was thankful for. It had appeared that Rose had recovered from whatever ailed her and was back to disliking Malfoy. He was not sure what had happened to her before but he was glad that it was over. Things were even fine between the two of them despite her having been angry at him earlier.

"So, you're okay now?" Albus asked for the third time. Rose rolled her eyes but retained her smile.

"Yes, I'm fine, Al. I took a nap earlier and it seemed to solve all of my problems," she said with a smile. It was sort of true. It was after the nap that she had discovered Malfoy and his play toy, which cemented her determination to return to normal.

"Okay… just wanna make sure. I didn't like the idea of Malfoy mucking things up for us," he said honestly. Rose gave pause at this before hugging her cousin tightly.

"Nothing could come between us. Family, first right?"

"Right," he said with a bright smile as he returned the hug. It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest. He knew that Hugo was going to be just as thrilled as he was.

"Okay, now that things are normal. Are you going to enter your name for the Triwizard Tournament?" he inquired. Rose gave him a blank look for just a moment before she recalled the even. She had completely forgotten about that with everything going on.

"Oh yeah. Kinda forgot. I know, I know how did I manage that? Yeah, I'll enter in but only because you were stupid to enter and someone has to look after your hide," she teased as they finished their lunch.

"Hey, it could be awesome," he said with a smile as he walked with her out of the Great Hall.

They headed into the room where the Goblet of Fire was being held. Rose shook her head disapprovingly as she dug around in her bag for a piece of parchment and a quill. She still couldn't believe that she was doing this. Granted, there was still the very high possibility that neither one of them would be picked so all the worrying would be for nothing. Scribbling her name on the parchment, she dropped it in the blue flames, watching as it disappeared.

"There, satisfied?" she asked as she walked away from the room. Albus draped his arm over her shoulder with a wide grin on his face.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this to 'save' me," he teased. "though I am going to be very mad if you get picked and I don't. The Fates should just know that we are two peas in a pod that cannot be separated for any reason." This earned a laugh from Rose. Albus was her cousin and absolute best friend. She would be pretty upset if either one of them were picked without the other.

"I can agree with that. Well, class is about to start. I'll catch you at dinner," she said. Albus nodded before they parted ways. Rose was all smiles as she headed towards her class. Things were going to be much better now, she could feel it.

A few moments later, she reached the moving stairs and waited at the bottom for hers to return. Digging through her bag once more, she pulled out her notebook so that she could review her notes for class. When the stairs returned, she climbed up them without looking. She had walked this path a hundred times and knew it by heart. What she had not counted on, was the stairs to move just a bit faster than they usually did, not allowing for her to reach the top before they started moving.

Her eyes wide, she felt herself tumbling forward into nothingness. She had just been about to step on the landing for the next floor. Currently, she was between the third and fourth floor with nothing to stop her from plummeting. Her heart dropped immediately into her stomach and her mind went blank.