The New Generation Chapter 10: Letters, Revelations and Encounters, a harry potter fanfic

Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter, I don't think it quite lives up to the last one's standards, it was my favorite by far, that last.

team.: Yeah, I know nineteen is big, but you know, he's a player type of guy. Al does know that he likes Gracie, but not that Scorpius likes Rose. Scorpius does know that Al likes Gracie, drunken confidence of Al.

haite: Ohmygosh thanks!

Chapter 11: Letters, Revelations… and Encounters

I rubbed my eyes drowsily as I lifted my body out of bed. I got up and looked over into the next bed, which still contained Lina. She was snoring softly and peacefully, a half written letter sitting next to her. I picked it up and read it.

Dear Mum,

God, stuff it so boring back at Hogwarts. You shouldn't seen, at least five guys asked me to the Halloween dance, I felt so sorry for the last one, he was scared to tears, literally. I almost felt sorry enough to accept! Just teasing, I know how you get about that kind of stuff. Yeah, and you know that guy who I have been rejecting for the last four years or so, James Potter? I asked him out on a dare and now I like him and we're going out. Gossip mill is going crazy about something Scorpius said to Amber McLaggen, you know her; the girl I told you seems to have PMS every moment of every day of every month of every year? Anyway, he told her he just took her to the dance to make someone jealous, and she got a little jealous, had to alert the whole school. Damn her. I know who it is though; I swear I'm going to use it on blackmail on Scorp in future. He doesn't know I know that he likes her though. You might know her, her name is

I stared frustrated at the letter, wondering why on earth Lina had to fall asleep on the revelation of who it was. Damn her. I decided to ask her.

"Oy, sleeping ugly! Wakey wakey!" I said pulling the pillow out from under her head.

"What did you just call me?" Lina grumbled, lifting her head and giving me the glare. I gave her an innocent look and she grabbed her pillow back.

"Hey, I want to ask you something!" I said demandingly, crossing my arms in front of my chest. She sat up in her bed.

"What?"

I brandished the letter at her. "Who were you talking about when you said you knew who Scorpius liked?" Her eyes widened guiltily.

"No one." she said quickly, jumping up from her bed and scurrying into the bathroom, trying to shut the door fast behind her, but I stopped it with my foot.

"Lina, tell me." I said in a dangerous voice, glaring at her.

"No, it's his business." she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Then why do you know? And for that matter, why are you telling your mom?" I said, matching her movement. "He should've told me and Al already."

"So? Are you jealous, Weasley?" She said, smirking. I jerked my head back as if she'd slapped me. So? Are you jealous, Weasley? Scorpius had said it on the night of the dance. Lina took no notice to my sudden movement, but took the opportunity to slam the bathroom door behind her. She still hadn't answered my question. Damn her.

-A+R+S-

I lay in his four-poster bed on his side, thinking about yesterday's events. Damn McLaggen, can't she just keep something to herself for once? Obviously not. Rose hadn't believed his 'I was just trying to get her off my case' excuse, and neither had Al, who was currently trying to talk to him.

"Why won't you tell me who it is Scorp?" Al asked insistently. When I didn't reply he said, "Me and Rosie both know something is up, we won't judge you on who it is. Even," he said with a shudder, "if it's a Slytherin."

"What I told you before is the truth: I just said it to get her off my case." I said, rolling over to lie flat on my mattress, looking up at my hangings. Al snorted from the next bed.

"That's bull shit. If you had wanted to get her off your case, you could have just said 'fuck off', not 'I was just using you to make someone else jealous'."

"Whatever." I said, tired of arguing.

"Is that you admitting?"

"No, that's me telling you to fuck off, Al." I replied without feeling.

"I'm going to get it out of you someday."

"Suuurre…"

"Or maybe I'll just leave it to Rosie and her bat-bogie hexes." Al said casually. I shivered.

"Fine, I'll admit it."

"That you like someone?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"I never said I'd tell you that."

"It's times like these when I'm wondering why I'm best mates with you." Al grumbled, and I chuckled good-naturedly.

-A+R+S-

"So Scorpius, what are you going to do now that gossip has sprung and died? Pursue her or get over her?" Lily asked Scorpius at lunch, referring to yesterday's scandal. Scorpius helped himself to mashed potatoes.

"I don't know what you're talking about Lily." He said evenly, stabbing his fork into his food. Lily tut-ed.

"Oh, don't give me that. You know very well what I'm talking about, and it's the fact that about half of the female student body was hoping against hope that the girl you were trying to make jealous is them. So you can tell me who it is, I promise it won't get out." She fluttered her eyelashes is a completely ridiculous way that girls think make guys like them. It's actually quite creepy.

"To hell it won't get out." I snorted, knowing quite well that Lily Potter was just as much of gossip about the school as Amber and Riley were.

"Oh come on. It really doesn't make much difference to who it is, everyone is guessing anyway. Some people even think it's Rose. Imagine that." Lily left grumbling, and I contemplated her words. Some people think they know my secret, do they? Well, they don't have proof even if it is true.

My situation with Rose was about the same as Al's situation with Gracie, both of us guys loved them to death, and both girls couldn't imagine liking them on a higher level than friendship. I made a face palm. My situation was completely hopeless. Why in the world did I have to like Rose anyway? Why was she so adorable? Damn her.

"What's the frustration?" Lina slid in next to me on the bench, and I gave a non-committal shrug in response. She patted my arm comfortingly. "I know. It's hard enough to share a dorm with Rose, and I only like her as a friend. It's probably even harder to love her." I choked on my breakfast, did I just hear that? I must have heard it wrong, did she just say—?

"Excuse me, what?" I managed to force out, trying to sound normal. Lina giggled.

"Please Scorp. I've known since third, but I thought you would have gotten over her by now." Lina said calmly. I stared at her blankly.

"But… but what… wait but…" I stammered confusedly as she continued to look on with amusement.

"So… How long have you actually liked her?" she said, scooting closer to me on the bench.

"Since the beginning of second." I said dully, not bothering to lie to make myself sound any less desperate than I was. Lina whistled.

"I guess some rumors strike truth then. You are very desperate." she said pityingly. James walked by the table, and she got up and patted me on the shoulder. "Bye lover boy. Good luck with Rosie. I'll try to help anytime that is possible." She scampered off to sit with James, Fred, and co., planting a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. He put his arm around her, pressing her close to him as they walked along.

I sighed. How I wished that for Rose and I, but Longbottom was in the way of that happening any time soon. I shivered at the thought of what Lina might or might not have meant by 'help'. Whatever it was, it would probably kill me in the process. Well, any girl that liked James Potter was already crazy anyway, that was for certain. Come to think of it, they were a perfect couple, both bonkers. I shook my head and turned back to my eggs.

-A+R+S-

I was still puzzling over the letter from Lina to her father that I read, trying to make sense of it. If Lina had told her father that he might know her, it must mean Lina had only mentioned the girl once or twice to him, so Rose might not know them. I shoved my dinner away and got up from the Gryffindor table, grabbing my bag with me.

I headed towards my dorm, thinking of something along the lines of finding Lina's completed letter and reading who the girl is. I stopped in my tracks. Why was I doing this? Why did I even care who he liked? Lina was right, it's his business, and I would be smart to remember that. Scorpius would tell me when the time was right, I know he would.

I jumped out of my frozen state at the sound of voices. Not knowing what to do, I leaped behind a suit of armor and pressed myself into a corner, hoping not to be seen.

"Crabbe, that's dimwitted, we can't possibly do it. Malfoy has to know that we know who it is, but reflecting her name across the whole great hall is not going to help, we don't even know how to do that." I flattened myself more into the corner, registering Philippe Nott's slimy voice, and hearing what he said about Scorpius. Merlin, does everyone know except for me who it is?

"Fine, you come up with the plan. But you should know Nott, I'm not getting expelled over this." Crabbe said back, showing that he was a tad smarter that his ancestors, even if it was just a tad. He walked away, presumably towards the Slytherin common rooms. Thinking that they were both gone, I sighed in relief. Then, realizing too late that I had just given away my hiding spot, I turned to run, but Nott was barring my way.

"Eavesdropping Weasley?" he asked smoothly, twiddling with wand in his right hand. He stepped closer. "I thought your family was too high and mighty for things like that."

"You can only eavesdrop on people, Nott, and neither you or Crabbe qualify that standard, I would think of you both more like snakes." I said bravely, trying to hide the fear I felt as my eyes flickered from the slowly approaching figure in front of me to the wand held in his hand.

"Tut, tut, where are you manners, Weasel?" he said, stepping so close that his breath touched my ear, making me shiver. He brought his wand up close to my trembling neck. "If you don't start being politer, you might get into trouble one day." Touching my neck lightly with the side of his wand, he drew it back and put in into his pocket, and, humming slightly, disappeared into the shadows, following Crabbe's trail back to his dormitories.

I sighed a breath of relief and ran up the marble staircase, not stopping until I reached the Fat Lady. I gave her the password "Grindylow", and entered the common room. Half my family and friends were sitting waiting for me, and as I entered, Hugo came over and hugged me.

"Where were you?" he asked angrily, and I looked over his shoulder at the clock, which read nine thirty five p.m..

"Sorry," I said to my family and friends. "I got a little held up after dinner."

-A+R+S-

"Sorry," Rose said to all of us. "I got a little held up after dinner." She was pale, and every so often her eyes would flicker around the room and settle back onto us. She looked scared, spooked. I locked eyes with Al, who looked just as worried as I felt. Most of the people in the common room had filtered away, glad that Rose was fine. I walked towards her, enveloping her in my arms.

"What happened?" I spoke gently into her ear, but she pulled away.

"Nothing, I just got lost for a bit." She said then scurried up the girl's dormitory stairs, taking them two at a time. I watched her go, shaking my head in disbelief at her actions. It was so clear that something was wrong that the thought of her trying to convince him of the opposite was comical. Anyway, Rosie, getting lost? What are the chances of that? She knows all the secret passages by heart, knows which nicks and crannies should or should not be avoided like the back of her hand.

"What do you think happened?" Al came up behind me and looked back up at the unmoving staircase where his cousin had just disappeared.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it must be bad. She wouldn't hide it from us otherwise." Al nodded, a worried expression on his face. We both turned and looked at the Fat Lady entrance, wondering what out there had made Rose so terrified.

-A+R+S-

Dear Mum,

Lots of Love,

Lina

P.S. Now he knows that I know that he likes her.