How had the Aurors already arrested two people for the muggle attacks? For all they knew, there could be a plague or something wiping out the Muggle population. I mean, it was not very likely, but it was still possible. Maybe the muggles were killing each other. It didn't always have to be us. There were serial killers in the muggle world. Another possibility could be that the wizards they arrested were being framed, and the real murders were still out there. The possibilities were endless here. There was just no way that they could have arrested people already unless they had actually seen them commit the murders.
It wasn't like I wanted the murders to continue killing all of these Muggles. If they had really captured two of the wizards who were helping with the Muggle killings, then they would be able to capture the rest of them very quickly. There had to be more than two people in the organization of people against Muggles. How many people were still alive that thought Voldemort had the right idea? Hundreds, I was sure. And they had to be building up a plan for years, otherwise there would have been more activity in the past twenty-four years since my uncle defeated Voldemort.
No, these villains were smarter than that. They couldn't be like all of those villains in the muggle books I read; those were stupid, and I always wanted to jump in and tell them what they were doing wrong. These real life villains had just started coming out, hadn't they? They had been hiding for the past twenty-four years, meeting secretly without the Aurors noticing. They had been planning everything that was going to happen, and how it was going to happen. No one was stupid enough to just go on a mass murder run without a plan. Well, I wouldn't know, but there had to be something wrong with how fast everything was happening.
My father and uncle were some of the best Aurors in the business. Their work had slowed down a lot since the Death Eaters had disbanded. In fact, it was questionable whether some of the newer Aurors were prepared for this kind of work. They had probably met up with some insane people before, but it would be nothing compared to what they were about to face. They were going to be up against pure evil—what kind of people killed other humans just because they can? What do they really have against them?
"Some people are just different," my mother had told me once when my father came home one day. He had just arrested a man who had killed another wizard earlier that day. I had broken down crying when I heard the news, and asked why people killed other people. "They have problems. They could be psychological, or they could hold a grudge. I'm not entirely sure that murderers know what they are doing when they kill someone. Voldemort did. But he was insane, wasn't he?"
The Daily Prophet didn't name the two wizards who were arrested, although I dearly wished that they would. Scorpius' father was being questioned, wasn't he? What if he had been arrested—especially after I had sent the letter to my father earlier today—and nobody had known about it? Scorpius had indeed been more talkative today than he had yesterday, but he was quiet for the rest of Divination after I asked if his parents hated me.
I looked around the Great Hall to see if Scorpius was here, seeing him sitting quietly with his Slytherin friends. Jeanie Thomas, who was a year younger than Scorpius and me, was saying something to Scorpius in which he replied loudly, "I'm fine!" The Great hall became quieter, and I could have sworn I heard Lily giggling. My eyes narrowed, and the Great Hall became louder again.
"I'll be right back," I said to anyone who cared, and stood up to have a chat with Scorpius. It looked as though he needed to cool off anyways, and if we went to the library, he was sure to cool off there. It wasn't as if he could yell in there, anyways.
He didn't notice me come up behind him, even though Jeanie was smiling up at me as I walked up to their table. I slipped my hand into Scorpius', making him jump and swing around on his bench. I didn't laugh at this, though, as I would have on any other day. I had some business I needed to take care of, and it was serious. I had the Daily Prophet still clutched in my hand, but he wasn't looking at that. He was looking at my hand in his, his face twisted into that of confusion.
"Come with me. I need to talk to you," I said, tugging on his hand gently. He looked at me, blinking slowly, and stood up to follow me to wherever I was taking him. Jeanie and the other Slytherins who were sitting at his table were smirking. I knew exactly what they were thinking, and by the looks on their faces, they were going to be all whispers as soon as we disappeared. I could hear the rumors flying already. I was going to stand my ground for whatever was going to come.
It was sick, how fast lies could spread—stories of misconception that never happened. It was strange how people enjoyed watching their own kind shrink into themselves, haunted by the secrets told about them. And it was disgusting how people found amusement from torturing other people into the oblivion of school drama.
And everything I just said was so cheesy that I should naturally be put on a birthday card. However, in all seriousness, that was really what happened when rumors were spread. The truth is manipulated into a lie, which is twisted into a bigger lie, which might as well be a death sentence to the person whom the lie is about. To escape from a rumor is a feat.
"What's going on?" Scorpius asked me as I dragged him up the Grand Staircase to the library. I could already tell that his temper was rising again—he didn't like being left out of the circle. He snapped his hand away from mine, but I kept moving forward anyways. If he was curious enough, he would follow without me dragging him. "What could be so important that you couldn't say to me in front of my other friends? I say everything that I feel to you in front of your friends."
The library was silent when we got there. I wasn't even sure that the librarian was there—she was probably at supper, eating. But that was fine with me. It was one less person that would be trying to hear our conversation. This was possibly my favorite place inside the school. I spent time in here reading books—including muggle books that my mum said I would love. It was neat having a muggle-born mother, because I was introduced to things that other people weren't. Some of these muggle authors were really good.
"I'm sorry that I dragged you off like that," I apologized, sitting down on top of one of the tables and swinging my feet around. He stood in front of me, looking curiously at my dancing legs. I was being distracting. "You seemed a little off… at dinner in particular. The thing with the shouting?" That was enough said for him to lock his silvery eyes on mine. "I don't suppose you've had a chance to read the Daily Prophet, have you? There was something in there that worried me a little."
I handed the paper to him, and he read it quickly, scanning through the article in only a few seconds. He handed it back to me, and I put it beside me on the table. "Rose…" he muttered, trailing off after my name. I didn't know what he was about to say to me, but it worried me. I hoped it really was not his father that was one of the two arrested.
"Was it your dad?" I asked quietly. I was embarrassed to ask this—my face was turning red, as were my ears. I could feel them burning, which was a key sign that they were turning a bright pink. This happened to my father whenever my mum said something that made him embarrassed.
He looked at me, his eyes (such a spooky, haunting color) examining my face. He had watch my lips move as I spoke as if he could not hear what I had said to him, and I wasn't entirely sure that he had. He must have been a good lip reader, since he shook his head slowly and finally locked his eyes with mine. I felt a shudder of relief.
Except, I was afraid that the shudder wasn't exactly because I was relieved.
"I don't know who it was, but I would have heard by now if it was my dad. My mother would have contacted me, or you could have heard from your dad or cousins. I know he's okay for now," Scorpius said, forming a weak smile across his face. "But you saw this coming, didn't you? This must have had something to do with your dream. Why else would Professor Firenze be so interested in your dream journal. Something you said must have been right. Did you see my dad being arrested?"
Close, I wanted to say, but not exactly. I couldn't tell him yet what happened in my dream. If something else happened—if his father was proven to have something to do with everything that was happening, maybe I would tell him. But for now, I would have to tell him everything I could so he wouldn't want to hear about my dream right now.
I took the Daily Prophet, balled it up, and threw it across the desk to the trash barrel on the other side. It hit the side, bounced off, and landed on the floor right next to it. I was never very good with my aim. Scorpius pulled out his wand and whisked it into the barrel, shaking his head lightly at my lack of skill in the shooting department.
"I didn't see your dad getting arrested. What I dreamt about really doesn't matter. You know I have no Seer ability. Divination is the only class that I can't pass with an O. And the palm reading—they have everything about it in one of the books in the classroom. Defined lines mean so and so, and weak lines mean the opposite. And how can you really predict someone's life by the lines they have on their hands?" I asked sharply, and he frowned at me.
"But you always seem so much better at the stuff than I do. You sounded so sure of yourself when you were reading my palm," he muttered almost miserably. "Professor Firenze said that your dream in your dream journal was interesting. If he said that, there must be something going on there. Why won't you tell me what happened? You even avoided telling me in Divination today. What was so awful about it that you can't tell your best friend?"
I felt guilt rising up inside of me. How dare he use the 'best friend' ploy to try to get me to tell him. "I won't tell you because it's never going to happen. Why do we have to worry about it if it has no impact on our lives?"
"It could have an impact on our lives!" Scorpius shouted. His blonde hair was falling in his eyes, and he quickly brushed it away with one swift move. I sat still for a moment, watching him as he glared angrily at me.
"You don't even know what it's about. How could you decide that?" I asked quietly. I had stopped swinging my legs around and began fiddling with my fingers. His eyes traveled to them.
He continued to stare at them and whispered, "You won't tell me."
I stood up, walking past him towards the doors to the hallway. "Scorpius, some things you're better off not knowing. If you really want to know, then I'll tell you. I don't believe it, though. Just know that. If you do, then you're making a mistake, and I won't even bother saying I told you so. Why do you want to know something that you're better off not knowing?"
"Rose, I want to know," he said, in the same tone as before.
"I was running through the forest, you were there, and then you were gone. Then, I saw your father chasing after me. He was one of the people connected to the events that are going on now. There were other people too, but he was the only one I recognized," I said, facing him once again, going against my own rules in telling him. "But that couldn't happen. You're father is innocent."
"Maybe you're right," he murmured, brushing past me—nearly knocking me over—and leaving without another word. I didn't know what he had said that to; was I right about my dream (was it going to happen), or was I right about my real prediction (that his father was innocent). And I realized all I was saying was a prediction. And if I was really as bad as I said I was at Divination, then I would be wrong.
It was unfortunate that many Seers could predict things through their dreams.
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Author's Note: I wasn't entirely fond of the beginning of this chapter, but I kind of like the end. There was one paragraph that I wrote in the middle of one of my classes, and I absolutely loved it. It ended up turning out a little bit different once I typed it up, though, but it still kept the parts I loved. I wonder if you can find that paragraph…
I'm finally getting my fanfiction groove back on, I think. When I really get into something, I can update in just days, and I am totally into this right now. It only took me, what, two days to write this chapter? It isn't a record, but it is definitely faster than the time it has taken me to write some of the chapters for this.
And I can update a lot faster because of NaNoWriMo. I wrote 4,000 word chapters each day, and that really helped me improve. I know they advise you not to edit in the middle of writing in NaNoWriMo, but I always did, so that prepared me even more for this. I think everyone who writes for this website could do a NaNoWriMo. If I can do it, you can! It isn't until next November, though.
Anyways, I love Scorpius. I wish I could have incorporated some other characters into this chapter, but it was basically meant for Scorpius and Rose. I think you can kind of see their relationship a little bit more now. And I had to make sure that they got into a fight when no one was around to witness it.
Anyways, anything that you recognize (characters, setting, etc.) belongs to J.K. Rowling. I should probably add a disclaimer, don't you think? Hehe.