7: Quidditch and Unneeded Consequences
Ever since a month ago, August, I still can't forget about that letter. Scorpius hasn't been especially nice, but he hasn't been such a git. Maybe he's just softening up a bit. Finally.
I've been writing to my parents a lot lately. Albus, Dean, Lily, Harold, Caitlyn, Luna and I have been studying together quite frequently as well, albeit Lily, Harold and Luna haven't been with us at all times, since they're not in our house.
It's September 28, and I'm counting down the days until Christmas. This year, my parents signed a form to let me go to Hogsmeade.
"Hey Weasel-Bee," I hear from behind me. I'm walking to the library from Charms class. That's funny, he's still calling me that?
"Damn ferret." I think to myself and nod, craning my neck to see him. He's with his goons, that's why.
"Ah, still calling me that,are you?" He asks mockingly.
"Bloody hell, you didn't even look into my eyes!" I shout.
"Got better I guess," he says, with a smirk.
"What do you need?" I ask, aggravated.
"Don't you use that tone with me, Weasley," he warns, with a glare. "I just wanted to get you to tell your annoying little friend to leave my sisters alone."
"She is so above you and you're family, Scorpius, and if you call her annoying again," I threaten, "you'll be sorry."
Scorpius throws me against a wall, like he's done before, but softer this time, and looks at his friends as if to tell them to leave. They nod, thinking he's going to hurt me. I'm quite frightened myself.
His friends waddle away, and his eyes soften. "Now that they're gone, I wanted to talk to you."
"Why must you be so damn confusing?" I ask.
"Because I'm a Malfoy, obviously," Scorpius retorts. "By the way, you mumbled he's still calling me that. It didn't take a legilimens to know what you were thinking there."
"What do you need to talk to me about?" I cross my arms, a small grin on my face, holding back laughter.
"Well, there's this party, a Slytherin one, but I can get you in, I thought you might want to come, you know, it'll be fun and your friend Potter will be there," he says nonchalantly.
"And why would a Malfoy do something like that for a 'Weasel'?" I ask.
"I dunno, just trying to be nice to people," he becomes angry. "Why would a Weasel-Bee even talk to a Malfoy? There's really no answer, you hate me and I hate you, so who cares!" He yells his eyes carrying hatred again.
I look down, hurt. I don't hate him, I mean I did, but I don't now. Maybe he's messing with me. That's why he's confusing. He's pulling my leg.
"You know what," he says. "Don't even bother coming, no one would want you there." He walks away.
I feel a tear drip down my cheek, but I wipe it immediately. I stiffen, and hold my head high, walking to the library. I study for all of my classes, finish my homework, and return all of my books to the librarian.
I begin to write a paragraph on the level of toxicity of Leagrens; an ingredient used in most poisonous potions, grown in the winter, only at night, for if you leave it out during the day, the toxicity will be lesser than that grown in the nighttime. Although it is legal to grow, the consequences of using it in an actual potion and using it on another witch or wizard are not limited to: death, severe amounts of time in Azkaban, etc.
I got so lost in the report that I didn't hear anything around me. "ROSE WEASLEY!" I finally hear someone roar behind me. I look, finding Professor Reeve walking towards me, with a bloody Scorpius limping behind him. What happened to him? "Why, might I ask, have you been IGNORING ME?"
"I'm sorry, professor, I got so caught up in my potions homework that I didn't hear anything around me," I reply innocently.
"Then, to my second question why in Merlin's name, is this boy, bloodied?" Professor Reeve jams his wand ktowards the Malfoy, and the boy cowers, as if he's afraid the professor will curse him.
"I've no idea, sir," I say, running to see if Scorpius is okay.
"Get away from me you witch!" Scorpius screeches, backing away from me.
"He says that YOU, Miss Weasley, caused this!" Professor Reeve yells.
"I certainly did no such thing of the sorts. I have been in this library since a little after your class," I reply, looking at Scorpius with shock.
"I don't believe you, Weasley." Reeve glares at me. "Thirty points from Gryffindor. And Madam Stele will see you in the infirmary at seven o clock sharp tonight, for detention!"
"But sir," I demand.
"Do not argue with me Weasley!" Reeve hisses and walks away.
I glare at Scorpius. "Bloody hell!" I spit. "What did you do?"
"Stop lying, Weasel. You know you did it!" Scorpius limps away.
I slam my books shut, heading to my next class, Flying Lessons. I try to see the bright side, at least I won't be late to my class, they did take me out of my trance. But there is no bright side. I've got detention! Me, Rose Weasley! I've never gotten detention before in my life!
I rush to the grounds and join the rest of my House, the Slytherin house and Professor Chang. Her dark hair is flying behind her in the breeze.
Today is the tryouts for our Quidditch team. I have studied every book on every team, ball, broom and rule of the game. I practiced at home for years, only to find out I wasn't as good as James was, he was the only first year, three years ago, to make the team. Hugo is like our father, obsessed with Quidditch, so he and I are hoping to make the team together.
Chang explains what we will be doing today, and what the people who are not trying out will be doing today. The Headmaster sits in a chair, watching us very closely. I smile at him, and he nods, grinning brightly. His glance tells me he hasn't yet been informed of my detention, or that he doesn't care.
Once Chang is finished explaining, we separate from the Slytherins and Gryffindors that aren't trying for the team. Dean, Al, Hugo, a boy named Charlie, a girl named Freela, Caitlyn, another boy, whom I don't know from anything, and I all line up for the Gryffindor team. Scorpius, Harold, Cal Goyle, Liam Crabbe, Cher Parkinson-Styles (Scorpius's fangirl, who's super envied by everyone because her father is also some famous boy's father, even though both the famous one and the father are squibs) and her followers Jessie Valera, Haley Goyle and Geneva Hasett, who didn't seem happy to be there, and a few other Slytherins line up in the Slytherin line.
Dean goes first, he tries out for seeker, summoning his broom, mounting it, and and chasing the Golden Snitch. It takes him at least a half an hour. Al tries for seeker, it takes him twenty eight minutes. Hugo goes for Keeper, and has to go through all these tests. Finally, all of the Gryffindors finish trying out and I, being the last person in line, am able to show my skills.
"Up!" I yell. My broom flies toward my hand and I catch it perfectly. I mount it and Chang releases the Snitch. I fly towards it, chasing it. I don't know why this is hard for the others, seeing the Snitch isn't hard for me. I fly faster, pushing my broom downwards as the Snitch makes a dive. I put my hand out and wrap my fingers around the Golden sphere.
I hear cheering below me and finish my dive, landing on my feet perfectly.
"Ten minutes, Weasley. You've outdone yourself!" Chang pats me on the back and I hand her the Snitch. I grin and bow, the whole Gryffindor line cheering.
"Up!" Yells Scorpius. His broom floats towards him. He has been cleaned up and healed by Madam Stele, apparently, she believes him. He mounts his broom, slowly. Too slowly. He flies around for forty minutes before Professor Chang gives up and calls the Snitch back to her.
Harold tries for seeker and does pretty bad. Scorpius's cronies try for Beaters. Parkinson tries for keeper and her posse are just there to cheer her on, that explains why they look so bored.
Chang brings the parchment she had been scoring us on over to Professor Ringell. They converse over the scores, Chang sometimes marking names off of the list. Harold looks red in the face. "It's alright Harry," I pat his shoulder. "You couldn't've done as badly as Malfoy." I chuckle. That seems to cheer him up a lot, as he is on the floor, in tears from laughing so hard.
"Alright, Gryffindor first," Chang calls. "For Gryffindor, Rose as Seeker, Potter as backup, Hugo as Keeper. Caitlyn and Charlie as Beaters, Freela and Kaleb as Chasers." Hugo and I jump up and down like the little kids we are. "Harold as Seeker, Malfoy as backup, Crabbe and Goyle as Beaters. Cher and Olliver as Chasers." Chang looks disappointed in the options for Seekers, but the other lads who tried out were awful.
I shake the Slytherins hands, making sure not to acknowledge Parkinson or Scorpius. Harold acts like I'm being absurd, trying to shake his hand, and pulls me into a bear hug.
My team, however, all hug and laugh and chat like family. They did tell us that our houses would be our family in the first year.
"Weasel!" Scorpius yells.
"What?!" I hiss. He looks hurt, but I don't care. "If you even think for a second I'm going to congratulate you on your bloody awful performance, think again!"
"Woah, what's you're problem, sis?" Hugo says from behind me. Then he sees Scorpius and glares.
"I was only going to say to have a nice time in DETENTION," Malfoy glares at me.
"What's he talking about, Rose?" Hugo asks, pulling me away from the icy blue glare.
"He faked a bloody injury, or had someone else do it for him, and blamed me. I got detention in the infirmary." I explain, aggravated.
"What?!" Hugo roars, starting to take his wand out and charge at Scorpius. I hold him back. "What? Then we'd be in detention together." I laugh, but he finally relaxes in my arms.
"I will go to the detention, praying it won't get on my records," I say to Hugo, who's been in detention with Albus many times.
He sighs and looks at me with sad eyes. I give him a dismissive look and walk to Caitlyn, sitting on the ground under a large tree, reading. "Congratulations Cate!" I say in my girlish voice.
"Oh my goodness! No, congratulations to you!" She replies looking up at me from her books. She stands up and we hug. We talk about Quidditch for a long time, so excited to be on the team.
"Of course! My parents even said they would get me a Thunderbolter 7000 if I made the team!" I reply when she asks if I had been planning for this to happen.
She looks down at her book again. "What's wrong Caitlyn?" I ask. She looks so sad.
"It's, it's nothing." She replies.
"I can tell it's something, what is it?" I ask again, worried.
"It's just that, my parents could barely afford my supplies. They're muggles and they don't exactly have good jobs. We transferred a lot of pounds into galleons, but it wasn't a lot. I guess, I just wish for a family like yours." She wipes the falling tears from her eyes. I realize that I'm crying too, and I sniffle.
"Caitlyn, my family isn't rich like I may make them out to be, and your parents sound like excellent people," I say, hugging her tightly. "What's something that you would get if you're parents had a lot of galleons?"
"Well, a Thunderbolter, I guess, it wouldn't matter which one really. Or one of those charmed charm bracelets, they seem really pretty." She says. "But it doesn't matter, they don't have any galleons now, so it's illogical to dream about any of it." She straightens up and closes her book. I feel bad for her, as she waves to me and walks away.
-
It came 6:40 very quickly. After eating dinner, I went back to the common room and waited.
I now walk down the vacant corridor leading to the infirmary. "Madam Stele?" I ask, opening the door.
"In here, darling," Madam Stele replies from a room, her office, I believe. I walk in and was correct. "You know, I know you didn't do anything to Scorpius. Professor Reeve seems to, though. The Malfoy boy, he had no broken bones or torn muscles. He claims that you came up from behind and did a couple a' jinxes, it's rubbish. Everywhere that he claimed to be hurt, he was perfectly fine." She smiles. "He did a stupid thing, you know. Probably smashed his nose into somethin', rubbed his arm across some rough stones, coulda really hurt himself."
"But yet I'm here, ma'am." I chuckle.
"Well, I won't put nothing on ya records, but I could use the help with a patient," She stands up, shutting the book she had been reading 'Healing Herbs.'
I nod and follow her out of the office. She leads me to the bedside of a little girl, Ravenclaw first year, I reckon. Her lip was bleeding a tad, her wrist all the way to her forearm was bruised badly. "Got into a fight or a duel, right?" I asked Stele.
"Correct, how did you know?" She looks at me, wonder in her eyes. I think back to when I got into a duel
*flashback*
"Expelliarmus!" I yelled but nothing happened. Cher giggled and I began to feel an intense pain in my wand arm. "Stupify!" I yelled as Cher was still laughing. She fell back, stunned. By then I'd taken every one of her little jinxes, no matter how small they were. Cher Styles's spells were light and easy to take. But when too much of a little thing happens, the effects build up. My head was sore, my lip split and my arm bruised from my backfired Expelliarmus.
*end of flashback*
"Oh, just a lucky guess." I wave it off.
"Well, then, there is a vial of bruise reliever on the top shelf in my office, fetch it for me." Madam Stele says and begins to tend to the girl. I do as I am told and enter her office.
"Bruise reliever, bruise reliever." I say as I shuffle through the top shelf of a big positions collection."Amortentia?" I hold a pink vial. No Rose. Put it down. But I can't, so I slip it and two other vials of the love potion into my robes. Stele won't miss them anyway, she's got around twenty in here. "Ahha!" I finally find the vial labeled bruise reliever and carry it back to Madam Stele.
The only thing on my mind the tests of the night is; why do I want that Amortentia so bad?
