Chapter Eight: Hard to Score
Scorpius Malfoy
Wednesday afternoon was a free-period for first years. With the recent increase in core subjects for students, Professors McGonogall and Longbottom also developed an equal increase in study time for their students, in order to catch up on homework or find remedial help in difficult classes.
Or so they were all told at the library orientation. Scorpius didn't think it was much of a free period if the first half was a forced study hall. He probably would have spent most of his free time in the library, anyway, but actually forcing them to do so made him want to be anywhere else.
After listening to the librarian, a stout older man named Jonas Jenkins, ramble on for half an hour about study periods and use of the library, the students were divided into smaller groups by house and paired with an unfortunate fifth year student. "By tutoring young minds, fifth years will see an increase in their own understanding of subjects for their upcoming O.W.L. Exams," Jenkins had said. Well hasn't McGonagall just thought of everything, thought Scorpius.
Scorpius, Al, and Evander chose a table with a pudgy boy who looked as unenthused as they all felt. "Rhett Gogol," was all he said.
"Pleasure," replied Scorpius, and that was that.
Their little group had a happy consensus of apathy with the four of them, but Jenkin tacked on two girls, Sylvia and Eliana, due to a lack of tutors.
"So. Erm." Rhett pulled out a crumpled parchment and squinted. "First year is a time of self exploration for young minds. Introduce your mentees to the many resources Hogwarts has to offer. Yeah, this is a load of bullocks." Sylvia and Eliana shared a look and laughed Rhett crumpled up the paper again. "Look, I'm s'posed ta ask you how your classes are going. So, what was chill? What sucks?"
"It's all chill," Albus muttered indifferently.
"Yeah, I mean, we haven't had trouble with anything yet," Scorpius added. "At least we haven't-the three of us. I don't mean to speak for you girls." Scorpius could have kicked himself as soon as he spoke. He hadn't meant to sound so pretentious. Great, now the only two non-pure bloods in his year would hate him, too.
Sylvia shrugged, not looking offended at all. "Thanks, Scorpius. But yeah, pretty easy so far. Potions was easy enough. Charms and Transfiguration aren't really something you look up in a library. Herbology, you pick up the thing, don't let it bite you, and repot it. Got it. History of Magic is boring as heck. You couldn't pay me to read more about it. Defense is cool. Again, not much point in reading, Howland covers plenty in class. I guess Muggle Studies is the hardest."
"Yeah, Professor Creevey is crazy. I went to Muggle school and I can't even keep up with what he's saying," Eliana added.
"Yeah, he's batty. Anything to add, boys?" Rhett asked.
Scorpius had agreed with the girls about everything, except that he had loved Muggle Studies. Professor Creevey did not treat his students like idiots, nor did he talk about muggles like they were some foreign species to be studied. He figured there was no real point in arguing, though. "Yeah, sounds about right."
"All right then." Rhett un-crumpled his parchment for probably the tenth time in its short life. "Muggle Studies books are...past the windows, through those arches, and to your right. Rows are sorted by subject but don't bother asking me what they are. Haven't set foot in this library since first year myself. So, pick a book on something Creevey said. And, uh, write a page of notes, would ya? Make Jenkins think I did something."
That seemed to be Rhett's maximum word count for the day, because he slunk back into the chair and stared blankly ahead. Scorpius wondered briefly how he could just sit there and do literally nothing, but quickly wrote it off as not-his-problem.
The five students found their way to the Muggle Studies section-no thanks to Rhett's instructions, which were atrocious-and each found a book. Scorpius picked up a thick text on German warfare in World War II, a war which Creevey had briefly touched on. Scorpius had read plenty on the history, but this one promised more insight into the German strategy. Albus, blatantly cheating on this exercise, had found a copy of Hatchet to start on next week's reading. Ev picked up a biology book while both of the girls picked up some fiction, excitedly whispering about how Hogwarts had the new sequels of whatever it was.
By the time Scorpius had read his way through the principals of the Nazi Party, Rhett snapped out of his apparent daze and stood up. "It's two-thirty. Later, losers." Scorpius glanced at the clock and it was two-thirty on the dot; their mandatory study hall was over and they now had their second free period that was actually free.
"What are you boys up to?" Syliva asked as she packed up her things. "I was going to show Eliana the kitchens since she's never met a House Elf."
Scorpius was actually touched by her invitation, but he was also totally engrossed in his book. "Thanks, but no thanks," he said, hoping he wasn't offending her. "Gonna keep reading."
"Same," Albus muttered without looking up from his book. Evander nodded
"All right. See you boys later."
No sooner than Sylvia and Eliana had left did Rose appear out of nowhere and sit down. "Okay, talk."
Albus took a deep breath and closed his book. Scorpius sighed and did the same. It didn't look like he was going to get much reading done.
"Hello to you, too, Rose," Al said dryly.
Rose was in no mood for his sarcasm. "I said talk."
"Okay, well, let's see. Hi, I'm Albus Potter. Son of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Defeater of the Dark Lord, etcetera etcetera. I'm sitting in the Hogwarts Library and I was trying to read until you-"
Rose's face grew angrier by the second. "What?" she finally snapped, cutting Albus off.
"Well you said talk, and I didn't know what about, so I just-"
"You know what I meant, Albus Severus!" Rose was practically shouting, which drew the attention of the few students left in the library. Scorpius didn't know how things worked in their family, but she used Albus' middle name; it had to be serious.
"Whoa whoa, calm down," he whispered to both Rose and Albus. "There's no need to start a fight in public. Rosie, you can beat up Al all you want later, but for now, try to use your words."
Rose only looked like she was going to punch Scorpius first instead of Al, but she seemed to take his point about making a scene in the library. She narrowed her eyes and said flatly, "The confetti. Ravenclaw Tower. Talk."
Scorpius felt the blood drain from his face. How on earth had she known it was them? No, she couldn't, he reasoned, swallowing and trying to keep his face level. "That was in Ravenclaw. Why are you asking us."
"Don't play dumb, Malfoy. And I'm not talking to you. Albus, why did you do it?"
"We didn't do anything," Albus said, surprisingly calm.
"Look," Rose was calmer and seemed to be settling into business mode. "I got questioned by the professors. All of us Ravenclaws did, thank you very much. Louis was questioned with me and it wasn't him. Then Fred was brought in and said he had no idea about it. So that leaves only one person."
"For a first year, you sure know a lot about Hogwarts students," Albus said levelly.
"Tyler," hissed Rose. "I know it was Tyler Jordan."
Now Scorpius was panicking. She did know, and the way she was talking, it sounded like she wouldn't hesitate to turn them in.
"Rose, don't say it out loud-" Scorpius started at the same Albus said, "Why would we know that?"
Everyone at the table stared at each other for a moment, dumbfounded.
"Wow, thanks mate," said Al.
"I knew it!" said Rose.
"Wait, so that's what you were doing the other night?" said Evander.
Scorpius ran his hand through his hair and wished he was eating treacle tarts with Sylvia and Eliana.
"Thanks mate," Al hissed to Evander.
"Hey, lay off!" Scorpius wanted to stay out of this fight, but Albus getting mad at Evander was going too far. Ev's guts had been right about following Tyler out of the dungeons.
"Wait, I was right! I mean, of course I was right. So back up. How did he do it? Why did he do it. What did you do?" Rose was now asking questions almost too fast to understand.
"I don't know," Albus sighed. "I mean, I don't know why. He said he was going to show us something cool and we snuck up to Ravenclaw Tower. He had stashed the Confettipalooza in the Common Room earlier that day. Then he just hopped on a broomstick and just like, put it up there. That's it."
Rose wrinkled her nose as she tried to understand Albus' story, which was mostly accurate aside from glazing over some details, like the invisibility cloak and how Tyler had stolen the broom out of someone's dormitory.
"How did he get into the Common Room?" she finally asked.
"C'mon Rose. Your password is just a question, anyone can solve it," Albus said.
"Yeah, smart people. I am not easy to score, but when you do I am an endless reward, " Rose recited.
"Knowledge?" Evander guessed.
"Yes," Rose said resignedly. "But Tyler got that?"
"Well, not exactly," Albus said. "Tyler said 'a good shag' and it still opened."
"That's just rude!" Rose exclaimed.
"That's what the eagle said," Albus laughed.
Rose still didn't look satisfied. "Okay, well I have way less respect for that eagle now. But besides that, there's something I still don't get. How did he get a broom? Tyler doesn't play Quidditch."
"Stole it from a dormitory," Al answered.
"Al!" Scorpius hadn't meant to yell, but he couldn't believe Albus was giving away all their secrets. How could he trust Rose when she was nothing but a nosey tattletale? Did he want to get expelled?
Albus completely brushed off Scorpius, though. "Look, Rose. We didn't know what he was doing. We don't know why he was doing it. Kinda brilliant, though, pranking another house like that. Just sit back and enjoy his genius. It's not like anyone got hurt."
"I don't care Al! Whose broom was it?" Rose demanded.
"Why does that matter?" Albus asked.
Rose looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Because they're identifying the culprit by the broom."
Now Albus looked as panicked as Scorpius was. At least his friend had a conscience, Scorpius thought. It was all fine as long as no one got hurt, but if the Headmistress went through Ravenclaw house broom-by-broom, someone besides Tyler was going to get blamed.
"How-how do they do that?" Albus stuttered.
"It's something like prior incantato, but it can tell you the last time a broom was used. So whoever's broom was used after hours on Monday night is going to get blamed," Rose explained.
"I-I figured it was Louis'," Albus offered weakly.
Rose shook her head. "He was one of the first people questioned like me, because of Uncle George. They already tested his broom and it was clean."
Albus looked completely distraught as he sunk his head into his hands. Scorpius, despite his own panic, jumped in to save both of their skins. "Look, Rose, I'm sure Tyler didn't know about that spell. He probably just grabbed the first broom he found. We'll find him and tell him everything you said. Just please don't tell anyone. We'll clean this up so no one has to get in trouble."
"No one? Not even Tyler?" Rose demanded.
Scorpius wracked his mind for anything that would keep Rose quiet. "Rose, I know you like rules. I do, too. It kills me when bad guys don't get justice. But what good would it do to get him expelled? He's our friend, and he's your family's friend, too. Just cut him some slack. Please?"
Rose thought for a long time before answering. "Fine. You have until tonight to fix it."
Scorpius grinned widely. "On it!" He grabbed Albus by the wrist, snapping him out of his self loathing trance. "C'mon, we've gotta find Tyler."
Evander gathered his things and followed, leaving Rose to contemplate what she had just done. Once they were out of the library and earshot, Evander said, "You guys really messed up," and quickened his pace to leave Al and Scorpius behind.
Watching his best friend walk away like that hurt. But he was right, and Scorpius didn't need Ev to tell him that. They had seriously messed up, and finding Tyler was the only way to make it right.
A/N: Whew, I had a bit of writer's block, but I'm really glad with how this came out! Scorpius and Albus operate fairly similarly, so I wanted to highlight the differences in their personalities. And poor Rose! She's a bit of a brat, but she just wants to do the right thing.
Thanks for the reviews so far!
