Revival of the DA
I'll keep this simple. Nothing.
Chapter Seven
Christmas at the Potter's
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock
Al squirmed in his seat. Today was the day Rose was coming back. Unfortunately, she was coming back on Thursday at five o' clock. The time when first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins have History of Magic (refer back to last chapter). Scorpius threw Al an anxious yet excitied look, who returned the gesture.
Almost...three seconds...two...one-
The sounding note for lunch was heard. Al jumped up excitedly and grabbed his bag. Scorpius waited up for him and the two raced out of the classroom.
"Where was she arriving?" asked Scorpius. Al instantly said, "The Great Hall!" Other students who were coming out of their own classes gave the two first-years bewildered looks. "We're almost there!" laughed Al. They skidded to a stop infront of the Great Hall.
Yet they didn't see Rose. Disappointment filled in them. Well, so much for racing and running.
"That definitely puts a damper on things," muttered Scorpius.
Al nodded and sighed. "I was looking forward to her sarcastic remarks."
Scorp added, "And her nagging."
"Yeah. I'm going to miss Rose Weasley."
"I thought she'd be here by now," remarked Scorpius heavily.
"Blimey, you think I would be dead."
The two turned and saw none other than Rose. She was the same as ever with her red, wavy hair and blue eyes.
"Rose!" they shouted, laughing as they ran to her. "Oof!" cried Rose as they hugged her to death. Scorpius playfully ruffled her hair as Al nudged her. "Cut it out, you two," laughed Rose. Then the other members of the family came over and greeted her joyfully. "What's up, Rosie!" said Roxanne. James caught Rose in a headlock. Victoire and Molly were laughing as Rose whacked him behind the head. Rose looked at the ceiling of the hall and sighed. Then she beamed at her friends and family.
"It's good to be back."
The air was joyous in Gryffindor common room that night. Some students were playing exploding snap, chess, or even Gobstones or something like that. Others were finishing last-minute assignments such as that particular essay Professor Binns assigned. A few, such as James, were just causing a lot of noise just for the fun of it. However, many people were glad that one of their Gryffindors had returned and made sure to welcome Rose back when they happen to pass by her.
Rose and Al decided to just relax that night and talk about recent things. No homework...worries...impending probl-
Al's carefree thoughts halted to a dramatic stop. He heavily looked at Rose, not at all sure if he wanted to break this peace up.
"Rose...I need to tell you something."
Rose looked up questioningly, half-way telling Al about some gnome that managed to sneak into their grandmum's kitchen and hid under one of the cabinets.
Al cleared his throat and said, "Scorpius had believed the Lethihold and loose acromantulas were a set up. So, he had this plan..."
For the next 15 minutes, Al explained everything to her. By the time he was finished, Rose resembled a goldfish gasping for water.
"Albus Potter, do you know how many rules you just broke?" she choked out. Al nodded meekly. Rose rolled her eyes.
"I leave for one week and the two idiots go venturing off into the forest, stealing cloaks, breaking into restricted sections, and violating a hundred school rules," she muttered to herself. Then she said, "Did Scorpius find out anything from the markings?"
"No, not yet. He's having trouble deciphering what could've made the marks. Then he's gotta look up a whole bunch of other stuff. It's mad I tell you."
"Hmm, maybe I should have a look at those marks," mumured Rose thoughtfully.
Then a prefect interrupted the conversations going on in the room. "Okay, first-years. Time for bed. Second-years, you lot have an hour."
Groaning, the sullen first-years trudged up their dormitores unwillingly.
Al stopped halfway up the staircase. What were the marks? Would Rose be able to figure what they were? Maybe...
"Hey, come on!" said the impatient prefect, Garrett Jones.
Al snapped out of his thoughts. He noticed that he was indeed holding up the line. Other first-years looked onward in confusion, wondering what was taking so long. Al turned pink and quickly apologized.
"Oh, sorry."
Sighing, Al continued walking up the stairs and reached the ever-familiar door to his dormitory.
When he reached his room, he began changing out of his robes and got ready for bed. Eric Drews, one of his roommates, muttered, "Why do prefects have to ruin our fun?"
Alexander Pensky laughed. "I think it's their job."
"Some lousy job where you don't get paid," remarked Eric, shaking his messy brown hair out of his eyes.
The rest laughed as Al shook his head, chuckling. His tie fell to the floor so Al bended over to pick it up. As he did so, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He walked over to the window for a closer look and as he did, Al's eyes widened.
No...not again.
Al rubbed his eyes. Maybe he was just tired. Too much excitement for one day. Yeah, that'd be a reasonable explanation.
Why else would the red flash from months before reappear again?
Drawing the curtains out, Al plopped on his pillow, trying to sleep.
This was turning out to be one interesting year.
The next morning, Al woke up with tired eyes. He couldn't sleep that well for some odd reason. His roommates were waking up as well, some nodding their heads off in the process. Looks like he wasn't the only one who had a rough time last night. Al grabbed a fresh set of robes (noting the fact that the ones from yesterday were already taken to be washed by the house-elves) and got ready for the day.
"Com'on, I'm starving. I can't wait till we get to the Great Hall," said David, already in his attire.
Eric yawned and said, "Oh, shut up, you stupid hog."
The three of them, including Al, set out for breakfast. When they entered the common room, an intriguing sight met their eyes. A hurdle of first-years were gathered at the notice board. "Wonder what's going on," said Al, glancing at his friends. Eric shrugged as David was mainly thinking about his rumbling stomach.
A first-year boy with curly blond hair and grey eyes walked over towards them. "Hey, guys!"
Eric said tiredly,"What, Alex? By the way, how can you be so full of energy early in the morning?"
"Call me an 'early bird'," said Alex, another one of Al's roommates."Anyway, back to the point. Who's going home for Christmas?" David looked bored as Eric asked impatiently, "This is what you were so excited about? No, I'm staying here. I've never spent Christmas at a magical place before." Of course. Eric was a muggle-born and was going to try to enjoy every minute of magical contact he could get.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Today's society...how horribly sad."
"Well," interjected Al, "I'm going home." Eric asked excitedly, "Hey, Al. Isn't your family extremely large?"
"Absolutely," said Al. "My cousins aren't even distantly related."
David, groaning loudly, said, "Okay! Okay! Talk and walk, my dear lad. I'm getting hungrier by the second and I assure you, my appetite is bigger than your family!"
"Hey, guess what!" called Scorpius.
He went over to Gryffindor table, which none of the Gryffindors found strange anymore (they've grown accustomed to the strange Malfoy), holding a book and piece of parchment.
Al and Rose exchanged glances. Rose said, "You finally realized the reason why you're so crazy is because your mother purposely dropped you on the head to test out whether or not you had a brain?"
Al snickered as Scorpius said sarcastically, "Ha ha. Very witty, Weasley. Listen up. I think I'm getting closer to finding out what creature could've made these marks."
This got the attention of the two. "Really?" asked Al eagerly. Rose was a little envious. She wasn't able to get any where near finding out what those marks were.
Scorpius nodded. "I've narrowed down to a list of five creatures so far. I just need to classify the directions of the marks and several other details. This way I should be able to find out what it is."
Al exclaimed, "Brilliant!"
Rose frowned slightly though. "But...how can you gather so much information with just a sketch of marks? I mean, don't you need more clues so that it might be more exact." This sentence brough them to sudden halt. Scorpius and Al looked at Rose. "Thanks, Rose. Make things more complicated will you?" mumbled Scorpius. Al grinned slightly and nodded at her in a he's-got-a-point-you-know sort of fashion. Rose said, "I'm just being realistic!"
Scorpius then asked, "Anyway, to change the subject, are you guys going home for Christmas?"
The two said immediately, "Absolutely."
Al said cheerfully, "My relatives are coming to my house this year. They're going to stay on the 24th till the 1st of January."
Rose grinned. "I can't wait! It's going to be smashing!"
Scorpius said, "I know that my grandparents are coming over this year. They were over the moon when I was sorted into Slytherin."
"A cool Slytherin like Slughorn, thank heavens," muttered Rose. Al began laughing as Scorpius rolled his eyes. Being compared to Slughorn was not funny to Scorpius. For some strange, unapparent reason, he just doesn't like it.
Scorpius retorted, "I'm sly and cunning enough that my family doesn't know you guys are my friends."
Al gaped. "They don't know?"
Scorpius shook his head. "They're going to interrogate me with questions like, how's school. Who are your friends? They'll know soon enough. It's all going down at the Christmas dinner."
Al looked at Rose who also had the same skeptical look he had.
He sincerely hoped the Malfoys have no problems with Scorp hanging out with two Gryffindors.
Especially two Gryffindors whose parents were enemies with Mr.Malfoy in the past.
Two more weeks passed and the schedule at Hogwarts was becoming lighter. Students were more absent-minded and easily distracted now that the holidays were so near. In fact, a sixth-year student spent her whole exam period scribbling hearts all over the paper. Thankfully, Professor Flitwick was more lenient than other teachers. Things were becoming quite a ruckus as students milled around here and there, saying last minute goodbyes. Al was still packing as his roommates went downstairs.
Eric and David were two of the Gryffindor first-years that were staying behind. "You better hurry, Al," said David, propped on the bed, eating some chocolate frogs. "I can imagine the train leaving...and you chasing it like a maniac...you know, kind of like those people in muggle movies."
Eric gave him a look of disdain. "You don't have good taste do you, David? There's a million other kinds of movies that are much much better you know." David threw a piece of chocolate at him in response. "Thanks! I knew you'd do that!"
"Damn," muttered David, unwrapping his last one. A pile of cards laid forgotten on the side. Al laughed at his friends' strange ways as he finished the last part of his packing. Then, straightening up, Al said, "Well, bye you guys. See you next time!"
"Bye!" the two said, waving. Al traveled down the stairs, stopping only to wave good bye to some people here and there.
At last, when he reached the Great Hall, he saw Rose and Scorpius, both listening to Fred's endless rant about his father's latest products. "Hello, Al! You ready for the big ol' celebration?" asked Fred, a mischievious gleam in his eye. Al gulped. Last year, they had the party at Victoire's house and Fred had nearly destroyed the kitchen. Rose interjected bluntly, "If you break anything, Grandmum will break you."
"Sheesh! I won't break anything, but I won't guarantee the same for everyone."
Rose and Fred began bickering while Scorpius asked, "Al, you ready?"
Albus nodded with a grin. After a while, everyone who were going home gathered. The headmaster, Professor Hawthorne, said, "I hope all of you...will enjoy your Christmas. However, do not forget to finish all assignments...there will be grave consequences to those who don't."
Scorpius muttered, "Yikes. This man probably doesn't enjoy the holidays much, eh."
Once the headmaster was finished, Hagrid came to escort students to the Hogwarts Express. The train was already billowing smoke at the moment when they reached it. Rose jumped onto the train almost quite literally. Al lingered behind, glancing at Hogwarts once more. Even with so many students going back, it never once did lose its magic. Scorpius called to him, "Al, com'on. The train's leaving soon!"
"Oh!" exclaimed the green-eyed boy. "Coming!"
Even so...he was finally going back home.
Al looked out the window excitedly. He had already spotted his father, mother, and sister. He even saw Uncle Ron...Aunt Hermione...Hugo...Uncle Percy...Uncle George...holy snitch...the whole Weasley-Potter-Granger family was there! Rose grinned at Al. Soon enough, the train stopped moving. Students clustered around, getting off the train.
"Mum! Dad!" shouted Al, running to his parents. Rose hugged her parents. "Hi, Lily!" said Al, grinning at his sister. Lily beamed. "Al, guess what! James got me the toilet seat as an early Christmas gift!" Said brother strutted over, looking very proud that he gave his sister such a gift. Lovely.
Ginny and Harry were not very happy as Al could see.
Everyone was conversing excitedly with each other. However, in the corner of his eye, Al saw Scorpius and his father talking. Not a stern-talking but rather a son-to-father talk.
Al didn't know why he did it but he said, "See you soon, Scorpius!"
His friend looked up, suddenly looking nervous when he realized who addressed him.
Both families looked at each other, the conversational mood completely evaporated.
"Uh,...you too, Al," stammered Scorpius.
Mr. Malfoy was looking at Al's father. His dad was looking at Mr.Malfoy in the same manner.
"Potter."
"Malfoy."
Al noticed his uncles all staring down Mr.Malfoy...like they were ready to attack him the first wrong move he made.
He inwardly groaned and threw a panicked look at his cousins, brother, and friend.
All were bracing themselves for the end result, wondering if there would be a need to call in the Aurors from the Ministry.
Then the most incredible thing happened.
Mr. Malfoy turned away, saying, "Let's go, Scorpius."
As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, "Merry Christmas, Potter."
Al's father grinned. "Same to you, Malfoy."
Uncle Ron said, "Don't turn your son into a ferret, Malfoy."
"Yeah, and you don't trip over your huge feet, Weasley," said Mr.Malfoy with a light chuckle.
Well, they're not friends per say, but at least it wasn't mortal enemies.
Al felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw his father, who was smiling at him. "Let's go home, Al."
A/n: Right, I spilt chapter 7 into two parts since it'd be too long. I've been told that it was hard to read all at once because of that. So, I've fixed the problem and hope that it's easier on everyone!
