~ SEVEN ~
"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Nicolette said angrily, as we ran up the boys' staircase towards the thumps coming from where we knew Jack and Al's dorm was. I glanced sideways at her to see that she had not only a concerned look on her face, but an angry one as well.
We reached the landing in about ten seconds flat and immediately turned left towards their dormitory like we always did. That was when I was faced with a sight that I never thought I would see. Jack and Al's bedroom door was adorned with writing and I didn't need to be close to the door to read them. I knew immediately what they all said.
"Fuck," Nic breathed beside me, "I knew it, I knew they'd do something like this if he didn't stand up to them." She said angrily, walking forwards with her wand outstretched and muttering a vanishing charm which, unsurprisingly, didn't work, "Those bastards," Nic spat, "Those mother fucking bastards. How dare they?!"
"Nic," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder and feeling sick to my stomach as the first comment written on the door registered in my brain. Why don't you just jump off the astronomy tower, homo, "Calm down."
"Calm down?" Nic said, her accent slipping into French and I resigned myself for a rant that I wouldn't understand a word of, "Du calme? Rose, je ne vais pas me calmer! C'est mal, c'est très mal !"
"Nicolette, if you're going to yell, yell at me in English," I said, grabbing her arm and pushing the door aside, trying very hard not to read the horrid comments that had been written on there about Jack, and something that he couldn't help being. I dragged Nic into the room behind me to see a complete tip. It looked like a niffler had been in here and hadn't been able to find anything after hours of searching. I saw Jack sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. Al was sitting opposite him and Freema and Addie were on either side, Addie with her arm around his shoulders.
"Jack," I said breathlessly, "Are you alright?"
Jack lifted his head out of his hands slowly to show me his red, puffy eyes. Albus glared at me.
"What does it look like, Rose?" he asked, shaking his head, looking like he'd just eaten a lemon.
"Shut up Al," I said, letting go of Nic's arm and moving to hug Jack. Nic just stood in the doorway, statue still, staring at Jack's appearance. I could tell that she was shocked, I was shocked too, Jack had always seemed to rise above any of the little hate that he got for being openly gay. Apparently that 'little hate' had grown into a bigger hate and it had got him badly.
"You'll be okay, Big guy," I said to him as I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, "They're just fucking dickheads. I'll hex them all into oblivion for you. Who did this, anyway?"
Jack shrugged and looked over my shoulder towards Nicolette, who had tears brimming in her eyes as well. I looked from Jack to Nicolette and back to Jack again. There was something that I was missing here, I knew it. I opened my mouth to ask what it was but Nic cut me off.
"You told me that it was all okay," she spat, "You told me that you were fine, that you'd dealt with them and now this happens. You lied to me Jack!"
"I thought I had dealt with them! I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't care what they said but they obviously can't take a hint can they?" Jack said, wiping some tears that had escaped his eyes away angrily, "Nic, did you read the shit that they wrote?"
"Yes," Nic said, her voice softening, "It's kind of hard not to read, Jack."
"Fucking brilliant," Jack said, slamming his fist against the wall and tears brimming over in his eyes, "Just fucking brilliant. How the hell am I supposed to exist in this fucking castle if I can't even fucking get through one day without being teased and ridiculed because I'm not normal!" Jack screamed, grabbing a bottle of ink and hurling it at Nic, she ducked just in time so that it shattered on the wall behind her.
"Jack," I said tearfully, grabbing his arm, to stop him from making even more of a mess, "You're perfectly normal, don't ever say that!"
"You think so?" Jack said darkly, "Well it sure as hell doesn't feel like I'm normal."
"But you are," Addie said, "And you're our friend, screw them, they don't matter, Jack."
"You don't understand!" Jack shrieked, "None of you understand at all! You just think that you can tell me that everything will be fine, and that I'm normal and it'll all be perfect again. But It won't. You don't fucking understand what it's like to be me. I'm not from this country, my parents were killed right in front of my eyes, I'm gay and you guys accept me so that's great but what's not so great is the fact that the rest of the fucking school thinks I'm a freak, and I can barely get through a whole day without wanting to kill myself!"
I put my hand over my mouth in shock as Addie and Freema looked on in horror. Albus looked at the ground and I could tell that he didn't know what to say. I looked to Nic but she didn't look surprised in the least.
"Jack," I said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He shrugged me off angrily, turning to face the wall. I persisted, placing my hand on his shoulder and turning him around to face me, "Please don't hurt yourself."
"I haven't Rosie," he said, "But I can't promise anything."
I bit down on my lip hard to stop myself from crying as I pulled him into another hug, "Please promise me," I begged, "Please Jack, we can help you get through this, we can fuck up these bastards so badly that they'll never mess with you again, but you have to let us help you."
Jack looked at me and shook his head, "It's not that easy Rosie, and I wish it was but it's not."
I opened my mouth to respond but found Al's hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him, slightly surprised.
"Rose, Nic, Addie, Free, I think you should leave, go back to your room, I need to talk with Jack."
One look in my cousin's eyes told me that he needed to do this and I relented immediately, "Okay," I said softly, "Let us know if you need anything."
Al nodded and I turned and started towards the door, Addie and Freema following me. Nic seemed reluctant but knew that leaving him with Al was for the best. As soon as the graffiti covered door swung shut behind us I roused on Nic.
"Nicolette Creevey you'd better tell me what the hell is going on or so help you," I said, pointing my wand at her. She put her hands in the air; her cheeks were stained with tears.
"Relax," she sniffed, "I was going to tell you anyway."
I put my wand back into my pocket and pulled myself up onto the railing that started the staircase, prompting her to start what she was going to say.
"He's been having trouble with a few guys for months now, they keep yelling stuff at him in the corridors and when he was in Hogsmeade they pissed him off so much that he squeezed one of those miniature exploding cauldrons – you know the ones that enlarge when you put them over a stove?" I nodded, "He squeezed one of them really hard and boom, the roof blew off.
"He's talked to me about it a lot, but he's never named any of them, probably thinks I'll kill them if he tells me. But mind you, he's not wrong if he does think that."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" I asked, "We could've helped."
"He didn't want me to," Nic shrugged, "I was honouring his wishes."
"God, I hope he's okay," Freema said worriedly, "If anyone can console him, It's Al, right?"
I refrained from scoffing at this statement, because even though I like to think my cousin isn't good at most things, he is really very good at comforting people.
"Come on," Nic said quietly, "It's been a long day, we should go to bed and just start afresh tomorrow."
"I am not opposing this on any levels," Addie said, rubbing her shoulder as we walked down the stairs, "I'm knackered."
"Ditto," Freema said.
"I've got to do some work," I said as we reached the common room again, "I'll be up in about an hour."
Nic rolled her eyes at me and she didn't even have to voice what she was thinking for me to get the gist. I got it more often than not from my friends when I wanted to study.
I found an empty table by the fire and spread out my work on it, unfurling the piece of parchment on which I had started my Arithmancy project earlier and began to plan the practical part of the assessment, something that Bailey had left to me because in his own words he was "rubbish with any form of practical work." It wasn't that I was any better at practical; it was just that I cared more than him about how it was going to turn out.
I found that the more I wrote down, the less I was able to concentrate and my mind wondered back to Jack, back to Scorpius and back to why he hadn't turned up to Defence against the Dark arts at all in the last semester. It was just plain strange.
"I give up," I muttered after an hour of fruitless attempts to concentrate, "This can wait until tomorrow."
I gathered up my books and wished that the walk to the dormitory wasn't as long as it was. My legs felt like lead as I ascended the stairs and I hoped that the rest of my dorm was asleep so that I wouldn't have to speak to any of them.
The lights were off and everything was silent, a blessing but a curse as I blundered around the room blindly trying to find my pyjamas before giving up and passing out on my bed fully dressed.
When I woke again, it was barely light. My uniform was doing its best to choke me and my mouth tasted like the inside of a bird cage – not that I've actually tasted the inside of a birds cage but I can judge the taste from the smell of it and it doesn't smell pleasant. I tried to turn over and go back to sleep, but after a few minutes of tossing and turning it became evident to me that I was not going to be able to get another wink of it. I was too awake now.
"Shit," I muttered, thinking that if I wasn't going to sleep I may as well finish some work.
Irritably I pulled off my uniform and pulled on my pyjamas, which were at the foot of my bed – something that I had been unable to see last night. I figured it couldn't hurt, there were still at least three hours before I had to get up for school, may as well spend them being comfortable.
As I hopped quietly out of bed and crept towards the bathroom to brush my teeth, I noticed that Ella's bed was empty and I racked my brains for where she would be and only came up with one answer, with Corey. That's where she always was nowadays. I swear she's forgotten we exist.
I walked up to her bed and pulled the hangings across like she was still in there. I knew Ella would be comfortable telling me where she was last night, but the others were a whole different story.
As I passed the window, I saw a silhouette outlined by the lake and all thoughts of brushing my teeth left my head because I knew that silhouette. The number of times I'd seen it sitting there. Scorpius Malfoy had to be one of the most insane boys I knew. Getting up early just to sit beside a lake was not something on my list of things that I enjoy doing.
I grabbed my dressing gown and pulled it on, I was going to get answers out of Malfoy today, whether it be by force of by will, I need to know why he's stopped trying to beat me in every single subject.
"Hey, Weasley," he said before I'd even asked him what he was doing out this early, "Care to watch the sunrise with me?"
"You're a strange one Malfoy," I said drawing my dressing gown tighter around me as the morning air was more than a little chilly, "You sit outside in the rain without an impervious charm on you and you get up insanely early to watch the sunrise."
"Well, Weasley, can I point out that both of those times you've had the courtesy to join me."
"Shut up, Malfoy," I said, sitting down on the rock beside him and looking out over the lake in silence. I wondered briefly how long Malfoy had been doing this for, coming out early in the morning and just sitting alone and watching the sun rise and then going back inside for breakfast. I had to admit, it was pretty calming.
"Why haven't you been in Defence against the Dark Arts?" I asked curiously, my eyes darting down to his wrist and catching sight of the mark on it again I grabbed his arm, "And I know that this," I pulled back his sleeve to look for more, but there wasn't any. I awkwardly pointed to the small dot, "Isn't just a potions burn."
Malfoy snatched his arm back with surprising strength, "I wish I could tell you," he said, "But I can't, I really can't Weasley."
"Why not?" I asked stubbornly.
"Because it's dangerous for both of us," he said.
I rolled my eyes, "Don't pull that shit on me Malfoy," I said, "Just tell me."
"You wouldn't believe me if I did," he said, getting to his feet.
"Try me?" I said, getting up after him as he started to walk along the bank of the lake.
"I can't," Scorpius said. I sighed audibly, he wasn't going to tell me any time soon but that didn't mean I wasn't going to keep pressing for information. I just had to do it subtly.
"Well if you're not going to reveal your mysterious nature, at least let me take a walk around the lake with you," I called after him. He turned around and smiled slightly.
"I'd like that," he said, "I've never had company before, this should be fun."
I laughed, "Malfoy let me clear something up. Walking around in this temperature at five in the morning is not my idea of fun."
"Let me make it fun for you then," he said with a smile. I rolled my eyes at him, "Okay then, give it your best shot."
He grinned, "I accept this challenge."
I laughed as I began walking alongside him and even though I hadn't got any answers at all out of him, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere with him, and that somewhere, for once, wasn't competing for the top spot in Defence against the Dark Arts.
AN: I am amazed at my typing skills that literally only took me an hour. Why can't I do this every day? It would make my life so much easier.
Anyway, I had a reviewer ask for more Scorpius, and I agree, I've left him out of the story for too long so he's going to definitely be in every chapter from now on, but Rose's friends are going to share the limelight with him however, but there will definitely be more Scorpius.
I'd love it if you could spare the time to leave me a review with what you thought, I'd really appreciate it!
DFTBA,
Best Wishes
Nayla xx
