Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, though I do own the laptop that this is being written on, seven Harry Potter books and eight movies. I also have a borderline obsessive love for Harry Potter and high level of procrastination, laziness and writer's block.
Chapter Eight
You will never truly appreciate the gossip mill until you go to Hogwarts. With hundreds of teenagers, a dozen or so teachers, a plethora of ghosts, a multitude of paintings and one rickety old caretaker with his equally as ancient cat, you can see how it could get really bad and really fast. And if you're like me (daughter of two pretty famous people and have an unfortunate problem of attracting unwanted attention by doing very dramatic and/or stupid things), things get ten times worse.
Here's a list of the rumors I have heard today:
Lily Potter and Scorpius Malfoy have been secretly dating for years. (Really? I guess I hadn't been informed.)
The incident this morning was actually due to the fact that Scorpius was cheating on Lily with Priscilla Goyle. When Lily found out, she flipped. (Come on. Scor has much better taste.)
Love Potion. (Need I say more?)
Malfoy and Potter are actually married and going to have a baby in the winter. (Seriously? I'm FIFTEEN for Merlin's sake. It's illegal.)
Neither Malfoy nor Goyle did anything wrong. Lily was admitted to Saint Mungo's Insanity Ward this summer. She escaped using fiery chickens and had a fit at breakfast. She was dragged back right afterwards. (Insert head repeatedly slammed into wall.)
See what I mean?
You know, before today I never considered running away? Because I bet if I wanted to, I could move to America, die my hair blonde and be called Shirley Watkinson. Life would be so much simpler if I wasn't me. I hate my life.
Classes were finally over. I barely managed through Defense, Ancient Runes, Lunch, and Double Charms. It was like I had green hair or something. Everyone was staring. And Mrs. Norris (who really should have kicked the bucket by now. Maybe she's part kneazle or something.) stalked me in the halls and if I did anything as little as sneeze, Filch would come wheezing along like I had committed murder. (Or you know, caused a food fight in the Great hall again. Hehe.) Scorpius didn't have it much better. Even my friends and family were harassed for information. (I bet Rose contributed to some of the rumors, just to spite me.)
Overall, things weren't going well.
Currently, I was in the Room of Requirement. I wasn't hiding mind you, just conveniently evading my fellow students by disappearing to a part of the castle they don't know. You see, the Room was kind of my sanctuary for the past couple of years. Whenever I needed to, I would just go up to the Seventh Floor and enter into the best room in the history of well, everything. The Room (which for you non-knowers-of-Hogwarts'-secrets, can transform into anything you need) was used by my parent and the rest of Dumbledore's Army during the two nonconsecutive years of their existence. I was told along with the rest of the family in our childhood stories, though as far as I know, I'm the only one who uses it on a regular basis. Bella, Damien and Elizabeth don't even know where I go, just that I want sanctuary. My ideal room is pretty bloody amazing. It's open and airy with the most comfortable couch, a roaring fireplace that when need will make a room hotter or cooler (I love magic), bookshelves that have any book you would possibly need, a radio that picks up any station whether Muggle or Magic and lastly, a grand piano.
Confused about the piano? No, I don't play. But Scorpius does, beautifully. When he was little, his father taught him. According to Scor, one of their favorite hobbies is to play together. Though they don't get the chance to play together as often, they do over the summer, and I've secretly always wanted to listen. But that would involve going over to Malfoy Manor, something that my parents wouldn't allow, due to the bad memories.
Now some of you may be wondering why a piano for Scor would be there if I want sanctuary from pretty much everything. The rest of my friends don't know, but he does. He's just special that way. As I said before, he calms me down when I'm upset and I enjoy spending time with him more than anyone else in the world. It just makes sense for him to be there with me.
Currently, he's playing now, a piece that is familiar, yet I can't remember off the top of my head. I'm face down on the couch, trying to relax. But the stupid rumors, Goyle's petty grin and Rose's smirk from across the hall at lunch were making it difficult. When I groaned, the beautiful music cut off, and Scorpius called over to me.
"Hey, you all right?" I crawled off the couch, walked over to the piano bench and sat down, resting my head of his shoulder.
"No, I'm not. I hate my life and want to crawl into a hole and die." Okay, so I was being a little dramatic, but cut me some slack will you? It had been a long and painful first day of classes. Scorpius raised his eyebrow. "Oh, stop looking at me like that and keep playing." He did.
"Is that all you keep me around for? My piano-playing fingers?"
"Yeah, pretty much." A short pause later, I seemed to be drifting off on his shoulder, almost making it the second time today that I've fallen asleep on him. Merlin and Morgana, Lily. You need to stop doing this. Scor seemed oblivious to my internal fight (To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question.) and broke the lag in conversation.
"Well, aside from my piano-playing fingers, I guess I also make a good pillow." Well, maybe he wasn't so oblivious after all.
"Oh, shut up. I got horrible sleep after all. You are so boney, and are a horrible pillow."
"I'm a horrible pillow? Last night, I dreamed that I was being chased by a wild pig. It must have been my subconscious trying to tell me to get away from the snoring girl sleeping on my lap."
"Liar, liar. Broomstick on fire! I do not snore!"
"Yes, you do. Really really loudly."
"You're immature."
"Hark who's talking.
"I hate you." Here, Scor did something really weird. Stopping the piano playing, (That's it, he's fired.) he took one of his piano-playing hands and cupped it underneath my chin. He looked into my eyes with the weird expression that he's had lately while looking at me. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. Scor repeated this action a few times, before I spoke up.
"You wanna say something?"
"I-I…" Here, he removed his hand from my chin and put his arms around me. He rested his chin on the top of my head, which fit perfectly into the crook of his neck. "…I hate you, too."
A part of me thought that this wasn't what he wanted to say. But he'd been acting weird, and I didn't want to pry. After all, he was one of the few people in the school who didn't talk about me behind my back. And he was my best friend/brother/not boyfriend thing. I needed him as much as I needed air to breathe, chocolate and Quidditch. I loved him (and not in that way mind you.)
"You know I meant it earlier. You do smell nice too." Ok, so maybe I could live without him. And due to his utterly arsine comment, I punched him the arm. He laughed really loudly and I, like this morning, could feel the vibrations of his chest.
"I'm serious though. You do smell nice. Not as great as I do apparently, but still. Not a bad smell."
"I really despise you with every fiber of my being. Really." He chuckled again, and buried his nose in my hair. Breathing in deeply, he smelled my hair.
"Like strawberries." I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Oh shut up, you. Just stop talking and play." He raised his eyebrow (how I wish I could do that.) and he didn't play.
Blasphemy!
"You know, if you like piano-playing so much, why don't you learn how to play?" I laughed. Really loudly. Me, play piano? What a jokester he is! When I realize he was serious, I gave him a dubious look.
"Why not? I'm sure you'd be good at it. Come on, I'll teach you." And off he went, talking about Middle C, sharps and flats, and other notes like A,D and Q. He seemed really into it and I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Which was what I told him, interrupting his speech about some Muggle composer named Beach or something of the sort.
"Look, it's not that hard."
He tried a new tactic this time. Carefully, Scor placed my fingers over the keys. Then, he put his piano-playing hands over mine, and pressed down on some of my fingers, creating a beautiful note. He called it a chord. I told him to take his fancy piano language and just play for me. But he continued on, moving my fingers and pressing down on them to play notes. It was slow moving, but most of the notes weren't horrible.
But I couldn't concentrate. In order to play, (He liked to say that I was doing it but that's a load of hippogriff dung.) Scor had one arm around me. This was nothing new, but ever since this morning all I could think about was his nice smell. Seriously, it was probably my favorite smell in the world. And he was right there, with his body heat warming me up and his smell getting into my nose. Whenever he laughed, I could feel it. It was like I was in overdrive, picking up on the little things I've never noticed before. Like how his hair curled slightly at the ends and hos his teeth were nice and even and straight. And his eyes. Merlin's pants, they were beautiful.
But he was my best friend/brother/not boyfriend thing. I couldn't think about him like this. It was just too weird and would ruin our friendship.
And that couldn't happen. Not ever.
So when Scor noticed my distracted expression and turned to look at me with his face so close to mine, I jumped backwards. He looked at me funny and asked if I was alright. I mumbled something about meeting Bella and orange flamingoes before grabbing my stuff and fleeing. My heart was racing, my pulse was way too high and my face was flushed bright pink.
All hail Lily, Queen of Awkwardness.
A/N: So… I'm still alive! And I'm so so so sorry about leaving this chapter for so long. I could make some excuse about being busy (Driver's Ed messes up your schedule) but truthfully I have had time to write. I have had writer's block and have not been sure on what I want to do with this story. I've known the ending since I started writing, but not the middle part. And I didn't want to give you a story that I didn't like. And this combined with my laziness and procascination creates a very long wait for updates. But I'm determined now to update faster. I would like to thank Bucky5 and athenarox for reviewing and getting me off my lazy bum to write. So thank them for this chapter.
Also, reviews would be nice (though I don't deserve them). Any comments, questions or ideas would be nice. Also, who's your favorite character and why? Any characters that you'd like to see more of or that I need to develop?
~Frostyfriend96
