The Hallows of Hogwarts
Chapter 7: Wand Sparks
The news about Quidditch trials in the morning hadn't distracted her any from going out after curfew. If anything, it only edged her on.
"Al, I'm going to wait right here for five minutes," She threatened outside the Slytherin entrance. "And then I'll drag you out. Clear?"
"Clear as a wand spark," He muttered regretfully. He managed to get back out with the cloak before she could make good on her promise and she threw it over them, fitting the two of them easily.
"Let's go," she said, her voice echoing out of nowhere as they shuffled down the corridor.
It was eerie, to creep past the gauntlet of knights that littered the corridors in the dark. Every footstep and breath seemed far too loud but they couldn't be helped.
Then the cloak caught. It was too big for even the two of them and it dragged behind them. As they turned the corner, it must have snagged on a knight's foot because suddenly the cape flew off their backs and with a loud and triumphant clash, the knight collapsed.
****
Neville only stared down at them, disappointed. Rose avoided his gaze and glanced at a clock. Ten forty-five p.m.: they were already on their way without her.
"Albus, Rose, even when it's not a school night, being out after curfew is expressly forbidden." He said sharply, but his face looked quite regretful. Albus had a sneaking suspicion that Neville had been out after curfew as a student too.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice. I'll have to assign you both detention for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!" Rose burst out in anguish. "But the try-out's tomorrow!"
Albus winced at the sight of his cousin so desolate. She was going the wrong way about it, you had to be humble and accept it to get it in your favor. They were lucky enough that he managed to grab up the cloak and stuff it under his shirt and pull his robes tighter around him before Neville found them.
Neville held up his hands. "I'm sorry, Rose." He said firmly. "But rules are rules. You'll have detention tomorrow after breakfast in my office with me and another student."
She had spent a miserable week in Hufflepuff and now she couldn't even play Quidditch? It was absolute rubbish and she blinked her eyes furiously as they stung.
"Come," Neville said softer, with a tired sigh. "I'll see you both to your dorms."
****
They both dully reached Neville's office the next morning as instructed. It didn't seem quite fair that the sun had to shine so bright on the Great Hall's ceiling at them and Rose didn't have the appetite to eat any breakfast but Neville didn't seem to notice.
"Oh, here you are, " He said distractedly intercepting them. "I'm terribly sorry, but someone toilet-papered the Whomping Willow and as the Herbology professor, it's my duty to help Hagrid remove it carefully. But your punishment still stands," He added quickly. "I'm afraid I'll have to use a spell to lock you in. I won't be there to supervise you, so be quiet and do your homework. A house-elf will send you up lunch and I'll release you before dinner." He rushed through his sentences as he opened the door, almost pushing them in together.
And with a wave of his wand, the knob glowed orange and Neville shut the door behind him before they got to say a word. They turned around, slumping in defeat when they noticed the third student. It was Scorpius Malfoy.
He was as pale as he had been on the train, but this was the closest they've been yet in known proximity. Rose grabbed Al's arm and they sat away from him together, leaning in close to whisper.
"So, now what?" Rose asked resignedly. "We're stuck here for a good eight hours probably."
Albus shrugged. "Homework." He suggested grimly.
So, that's what they did for awhile. And then Rose got bored after her Charms essay and tried balancing her quill against the bridge of her nose. But then—"
"I don't suppose Neville thought about us needing a bathroom," Rose said suddenly. Albus could feel his intestines twist at the thought.
The door opened and for a quick moment, he thought perhaps the door would open on request but instead, Elora Longbottom slipped in and shut the door behind her.
"Daddy—" She started before cutting herself off. "Oh, is he not here? Why are you three in his office then?"
"Detention," Albus groused but Rose jumped in after him.
"I don't suppose there's a bathroom…"
"It's just down the hall," Elora offered, twisting the doorknob before letting go with a cry of alarm. It glowed orange briefly and faded.
"I think you're trapped in here with us," Albus explained.
"Well," Elora said unhappily. "There's a bathroom back here, Rose, I'll show you."
She led Rose to a seemingly small room behind the desk and they disappeared, leaving the boys alone. Albus glanced towards Malfoy but the boy didn't look up from his book.
Albus followed his example, reading the book he had borrowed from the library, pausing at what looked like an answer to his situation.
Scarring cause by wand sparks on objects cannot be easily removed. However, if said scarring is in the form of words, the order of the words can be reversed.
Excitedly now, but with a cautious glance that neither girl had returned, Albus yanked out a piece of parchment and began rearranging the words over his bed. Of course, with only three letters and having two of the same didn't leave for a lot of choice.
SAS
SSA
"What on earth are you mumbling about?" An unfamiliar voice broke through his concentration. Looking up, Albus found himself staring back at Scorpius Malfoy's grey eyes.
"I'm just trying to solve an anagram," He said hastily. But the notion of a puzzle didn't faze Malfoy any.
"Let's see it then," He said impatiently, sliding his chair over to Albus and peering down at the parchment before it could be covered.
"Tell me, Potter." Malfoy said finally, coolly. "Do you make a habit for playing words games with swear words?" He had a rather nasty smirk on his face now and Albus's face felt like it had turned Weasley red.
"No, but your friends do," He retorted hotly. "Considering how much they enjoyed carving it into my bed the first night."
Just like his dormmates had, Malfoy laughed. But his laugh was quite softer, more of a chuckle to himself. "That's nothing," He replied. "Why do you think I'm here?" Albus didn't answer as Malfoy leaned in closer. "Try fighting wand sparks with wand sparks, Potter." Malfoy said strangely. "The truth is, you don't have any good letters to make a better word out of it."
And then he walked, back across the room and slid into his seat, reading like nothing had happened.
Albus looked back down on his paper, frowning and reading it. Did Malfoy just suggest he hex the other boys, or write stuff on their beds?
The girls returned and Elora joined Rose and him in Malfoy's empty chair. Elora and Rose were busy discussing whatever they had started up about in the bathroom but Albus couldn't concentrate on them.
"What did you get detention for then?" He asked rather loudly as both girls turned and looked at him first and then at Malfoy.
Malfoy slowly closed the book and returned their curious glances. "I don't."
"Why else would you be in here then?" Rose asked defensively, her hand inching around Albus's wrist, a silent reminder.
Malfoy shrugged. "Extra credit in class. I am a Ravenclaw." But his casual tone didn't seem right, like James trying to keep a secret.
Rose huffed and turned her back on Scorpius, her fingers tugging at Albus to join them, which he did, with a grudging glance back at Scorpius Malfoy.
"So," Rose asked. "How's Gryffindor, Elora?"
The Elora Albus remembered had always been an overly anxious girl but she smiled, her lips only curving slightly as if the burst of fire and energy that was Gryffindor suited her. "It's busy and loud but it's warm there too," she admitted. "I thought I wasn't going to fit in, but I've been ok so far. Your brother and cousin, the Head Girl, help me get into the Tower. I'm too short," she admitted.
"I wouldn't be!" Rose said despondently, as if she wished for a "YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO ENTER GRYFFINDOR" ruling. "You'd be ok in Hufflepuff, Elora. Everyone there is as diligent as you. Could Neville get permission for us to switch houses?"
"I don't think it works like that, Rose," Albus tried to cut in as Elora protested. "Oh, I really don't mind being in Gryffindor!"
"But just because Malfoys are now Ravenclaws and Albus is a Slytherin doesn't mean that Weasleys are no longer Gryffindors!" Rose protested throatily. "I'm braver than you are, we're in detention for sneaking out to toilet-paper the Whomping Willow! Hufflepuffs don't deface school property!"
"But you are a Hufflepuff, Rose." Albus tried to point out. "And Elora's in Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin and Malfoy's in Ravenclaw."
Rose snuffed. "You and Malfoy don't count. He's my partner in Potions and he made an almost perfect boils curing potion without me helping any last class. He's definitely got to be smart enough to beat James at Gobstones and you grew up trying to foil James's dastardly plots, of course you'd end up there—"
A sharp crack cut off Rose's tirade as a house elf appeared, dressed in a neatly pressed little toga. It happened to be a purple one, with a Hogwarts crest badge holding her uniform together.
"Professor saids that only three students be needing nourishment," She whimpered at the sight of the four of them. "Tessy only brought enough for three. But I can put a re-filling magic on the plates and cups!"
"That's fine, Tessy," Elora piped up. "I can share a cup and there ought to be plenty of sandwiches."
Tessy nodded, setting the tray of sandwiches down on an empty desk and magically drifting three cups towards Albus, Rose and Elora before she disapparated with another crack.
Abandoning Rose's discussion, Albus and Elora dragged their desks towards the tray, filling their plates with their pick from a variety of sandwiches: grilled, chicken, peanut butter and jelly…Rose followed them disgruntled as Scorpius gradually inched to join them, reaching out to pick a sandwich out.
"Tell me, Scorpius," Albus noted. "Does fighting wand sparks with wand sparks end up with me getting a spell burn like this?"
Quick, like a seeker and a snitch, Albus grabbed Scorpius's wrist and flipped it palmside up where his robe sleeve had slid up and revealed a raw, red mark, like a spell burn on skin.
His sandwich dropped. The girls were silent, although Rose was on her feet, ready to jump in and defend her cousin, neither of then having heard their earlier conversation.
"No," Scorpius said with a soft shudder. "That's what happens when your roommates decide to attack you and not your bed by surprise. Fighting wand sparks with wand sparks ends with the other knocked out by his own spell reflected by a shield charm and in detention, while you have even more muttering following you wherever you go."
Albus dropped Scorpius's arm but he left his hand out. After a moment of carefully rubbing at the burn, Scorpius's hand grasped his too.
****
"So how'd you learn a shield charm? We don't even cover it in the first year!" Albus asked as Scorpius swallowed his pumpkin juice.
"My dad taught me," Scorpius explained then. "The day after I got my wand. It was the one of the two things he let me learn, but he insisted I had to master them before I could go to Hogwarts."
"What was the second one?" Rose prodded, a bit put-out. Her mum had locked away her wand the minute she got home and hadn't given it back until September 1st.
"Expellarmious," Scorpius said, picking up his sandwich.
"I can't believe they let you learn spells," Rose just muttered, somewhat enviously.
"Just two spells, Weasley!" Scorpius exclaimed resentfully. "But I did study the theories in Chapter 1, so I could try one and see what happens to you."
Before Rose's temper could flare up, Albus spoke out. "Her name is Rose. And just because she's a Hufflepuff doesn't mean she's nice, so watch it." He warned Scorpius off.
Scorpius's mouth twitched. "Incidentally," He added. "I thought all Weasleys went to Gryffindor. And you don't seem like a badger either, so how did you land yourself in there, Rose?"
Rose's face was not quite so red now, but her tone was quite snobbish still. "Not all Weasleys are in Gryffindor." She said, a bit coolly. "Three of our—five now, are in the other houses. And my parents took it rather well!" She added defensively.
"So did mine," Scorpius retorted, sounding almost bored. "My father said that he almost expected it to be Ravenclaw, actually. Contrary to my roommates' beliefs, I wasn't disowned and they still expect me home for Christmas."
"So, your family doesn't have a lot of Ravenclaws?" Albus asked politely as Rose continued to splutter.
He snorted in reply. "Malfoys were only Slytherins since the 13th century. My mother congratulated me on a tradition well broke. It seems that our families have a bit in common after all," Scorpius said, idly raising his glass.
Elora swooped up her goblet and joined it in mid-air, surprising the boy with a clink. "I'll drink to that," Elora said a bit too boldly. "I thought I'd get into Hufflepuff and I'm not."
"Isn't your sister in there though?" Albus remembered as they set down their glasses. "Alison?"
"Angela," Elora corrected. "Trevor was too. But Angela got on the student exchange program so she went to Beauxbatons for a year."
"That's nice," Albus said. "Does she like it there? Or is she coming home for the second semester?"
Elora shrugged. "She's only written me once. She said that France have an entirely different schooling system but she loves it. Apparently they use a spell to translate everything for her too."
"Why France?"
"Dress robe design," Elora said, sounding as bored as the topic was. "Angela says France is really into fashion, so that's great for her. But she really likes the school itself too. She says it's so much more serious, like instead of having Quidditch teams, they have—"
"DON'T HAVE QUIDDITCH?" Scorpius and Rose exclaimed in tandem. Albus held his breath as the two of them turned for another face-off.
"Which team?" Scorpius demanded.
Rose wrinkled her nose. "Dad raised me to support the Cannons, my aunt played for the Harpies and I think the Arrows are rather good since that's where I come from."
"Caerphilly Catapults could beat any of your teams any day." Scorpius said instantly.
"I could beat you any day," Rose insisted, her cheeks going pink again. "I would have also beaten all the people who tried out for the Hufflepuff team if I wasn't locked in here."
"At least you could have tried out." Scorpius said, looking sulky. "The Seeker for Ravenclaw is also the Captain this year."
"Dominique, she's our cousin." Albus interjected again, breathing easy again.
"She's not your cousin," Scorpius said. "She's got blonde hair, blue eyes—"
"1/8 Veela blood and last name Weasley. Yeah, Domie's our cousin." Albus repeated.
Rose ignored all this. "You play Seeker?"
****
Neville was exhausted. The Whomping Willow had grown so much since he was in school that a freezing charm lasted no more than a few minutes. And there was so much toilet paper caught up in the branches that by trying to whomp him, the tree only grew more densely tangled.
Of course, it didn't help his mood any that he had a sneaking suspicion who had done it but no actual proof. The head-shaking Rose Weasley last night had been enough for him to guess. He had known Rose Nymphadora Weasley since the day she was born, had three kids of his own, been a teacher for twelve years now and he knew James, Fred and Louis very well. Even if she wouldn't admit it, he knew.
But since she and Albus hadn't done anything either, Neville felt perfectly justified to let the rest of their punishment slide. He felt rather like Dumbledore, all merciful and all-seeing wisdom when he approached his office, dirt and sweat stained as the doorknob's orange glow faded to let him in. He had felt like that when Scorpius Malfoy approached him after Herbology class and asked if he might come in on Saturday for extra credit.
If someone had told him in his first year of Hogwarts that Draco's son would be politely asking for a chance to work on his Herbology grade, Neville would have bet his first toad that it would never happen. But he had been rather polite, even when Neville had to explain the age requirements and permission slips to join the school's Defense Association. So, not only did he feel Albus and Rose's punishment was justified, but Scorpius Malfoy wouldn't have likely bothered them either.
The door swung open, and if Neville had bet his new toad to the Venomous Tentacula that they'd all be where he had left him, Dolores would be lunch.
Four students instead of the three were gathered in the middle of his office, all of them laughing and smiling. Rose's pale blue eyes were bright, Malfoy's cheeks were faintly blushed. Albus had a wide grin on his face and for once, his daughter's eyes were not overly anxious and wide. Four heads of various shades: pale blonde, Weasley red, dark and simply brown turned as four familiar faces looked towards him. Four different House crests on each uniform.
"Well," Neville said. "Elora? Why are you in here?"
"I came to drop off Angela's letter," His daughter assured him. "But the door locked me in, Daddy."
"Oh," He said, accepting the letter Elora handed him. "Thank you. Well, then." He repeated. "I think that will do for your punishment. And I don't think we need to mark it down on your records as a detention, for the first time anyways. And Mr. Malfoy, a point to Ravenclaw for making the effort for your grades. I hope that nobody was bothered by each other?"
"Why'd we be bothered?" Rose questioned, the four of them standing up and retrieving their bags now.
Albus muttered something beside her. "What happened to 'don't get too friendly', Rose?" She blushed and he straightened up. "Anyways, thanks for not putting on our records, Professor." Albus hastily added, much louder.
"C'mon, Scorpius." Rose said firmly, tossing her red curls. "We've got a potions project to do because nobody's is going to be as good as ours, not even Elora's."
"Please," Albus snorted beside the paler boy. "Elora's going to be top in our year at potions." His daughter beamed, standing straighter. "But what were you saying about the Grand Master Warlock of 2015?"
"Oh, my dad took me to go see it! The two of them were just shooting spells everywhere, without saying a word or letting a wand spark get out—"
Neville watched the four of them stroll off, arm in arm as his knees started shaking and he limped towards his desk chair. Don't get too friendly, Rose? That sounded like something Ron would have said. Elora's going to be top in our year at potions? Well, Hannah had taught her cooking before. Why'd we be bothered? Albus had said.
Neville Longbottom sat there in his chair for quite a while like that, trying to understand what had just happened that nobody was bothered by it.
So, I'll admit it. I was inspired by the movie, The Breakfast Club. But if you leave people with misconceptions of each other in a locked room, they will leave as someone different. Unless they have great powers of ignoring people.