ALBUS

Veritaserum proved my cousin innocent, but I don't believe any amount of fantastical wizard magic could ever restore my trust in her. As illogical as this may seem, there is something about trust that makes it impossible to find once you have lost it. Rose was quite honestly not a murderer, but my sudden mistrust of her was enough to completely vaporize my regrets about letting Scorpius humiliate her in class a few weeks ago; she was an enemy.

Scorpius' thoughts, however, remained much more skeptical and consequentially more morbid than mine.

"Bloody whelp got away with it this time, but I'll catch her in the end. And then we could get her thrown into Azkaban, or worse—expelled!"

"You sound like my aunt," I said flatly, not addressing his plot in an attempt to distract him, "she's a weird nerd just like you."

"What the hell, Albus?" he snorted, clearly taken aback.

"Just tellin' it like it is."

"Well, I don't know what your problem is, Al," piped in Victoria, who was loudly munching on an apple while twirling her ebony curls at the same time, "your cousin is clearly a dangerous snob who would be better off having tea with Dementors. There's nothing wrong in admitting that. It's not like we're making family connections or anything."

"I don't trust my cousin," I professed, surprised at myself for actually voicing my thoughts as completely as they came, "but Veritaserum never lies. There's probably another side to the story that we don't know."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Al!" exclaimed my best friend, throwing up his arms as if in defeat, "Why do you always have to be the skeptic of everything? It's like you take the opposite side of everything I have to say just for the sake of being opposite."

"You do seem like that," agreed Vicky, finished with the apple and had now refocused her attention to picking her fingernails.

I frowned at both of them in defense of myself, but said nothing; they were probably right—as usual—and we all knew that it was my doubt in Scorpius in the first place that led us to this situation (although Victoria was not the one to blame).

"Look on the bright side," I nudged Scorpius the next day as he slumped his way to Defense Against the Dark Arts in a cloud of gloom, no doubt wondering what on earth could've been bright about the shadow of Aurors which were constantly escorting us, "think of all the attention and fame you'll get from all this publicity. Those 3rd year Ravenclaw girls have been eyeing you for at least four minutes now. Must think you're some kind of legend or something, with this kind of protection." –Referring, of course, to the blank-faced Auror with sufficiently dangerous muscles that loomed ahead of our every step.

Scorpius must have deemed that observation to be very bright indeed, as his glum demeanor promptly evaporated. (Victoria's glum demeanor however, wasn't—and possibly would never be—extinguished; it remained as attached to her as her own head.) The cloud of doom returned immediately however, once we realized that we shared our next class with my cousin, and that my father had stepped in as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher while Professor Treamol was on "leave". There was not a doubt in my mind that constant nagging and constricting family expectations would be the content of the lesson today.

Scorpius, however, had a different view:

"Finally," he sneered, narrowing his eyes at my unsuspecting cousin who was busying herself with last-minute preparations before class, "Scorpius Malfoy's time to shine. If I can't get her thrown into Azkaban, I can at least do the next best thing."

He left both Victoria and me in intended befuddled silence, in question of what that statement implied. Vicky, however, seemed to piece the puzzle together much quicker than I did.

"Pray, what exactly do you mean," she cooed, her deliciously plump lips being thinned by the slow stretching of a vicious smile. I could tell she grinned only at the cruel intentions plastered all over Scorpius' threat.

Scorpius looked her directly into her dark, handsome eyes and boldly matched her simpering smirk.

"Humiliation."

As we took our seats together while my father made his way to the front of the class, I couldn't help but feel a resurfacing twinge of regret for my cousin-turned-enemy. Perhaps I could somehow find a way to create a truce for both sides, without inducing any deep-rooted hate? I doubt that Rose would fancy compromising or even conversing with me at this point, but I'm sure I could think of something—

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, first years!" my father proclaimed, brewing up much annoyance in me as he had rudely awakened me from my thoughts, "I, as many of you know, am Harry Potter, and I will be your professor for the next few weeks."

"Few weeks?" Scorpius whispered harshly in my ear, worry entangled through every word, "Your dad is going to babysit me for a few weeks?"

"Apparently," I seethed, upset not at him but at the fact that my father had decided that Scorpius and I were perfectly incapable of fending for ourselves. While I deeply admired and cared for my dad, I could not help but feel a small portion of that love sinking coldly away from me.

"What's the big deal?" Victoria barked at Scorpius as quietly as she could, "You'd think you'd be happy that Al's dad is teaching this class, considering that you could definitely use the influence." She was referring to the fact that Scorpius' grade in this class was presently at a shameful Acceptable (terrible for him), and could use his friendship with me to gain favor with my father. Little did she know that my father was most likely impervious to such schemes.

"Oh, nevermind, Vicky," I dismissed quickly, pretending to be suddenly interested in the lesson, "I'll tell you later or something."

She gave a great defeated humph as she crossed her arms and looked away, most likely intending to persuade me to tell her, but my mind remained elsewhere: it was whirring with scenarios of how exactly my friend was going to "humiliate" my cousin. None of those scenarios ended well.

I was about to tap my friend on the shoulder and ask him precisely what his intentions were, when my father asked:

"Can anyone tell me what the Protego charm is used for?"

Scorpius' hand shot as forcefully and quickly into the air as a lightning bolt, determined to be the first one to answer, but was thwarted only by my cousin's hand, which was coincidentally launched into the air at the exact same time. My father was startled by the sudden response and was clearly debating who to call on in his mind, but he eventually settled on Scorpius, no doubt because he had heard Rose flex her intelligent muscles far too many times before.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"The Protego charm—also known as the Shield Charm—creates a magical barrier that will deflect hexes thrown at the caster."

The look on my father's face was a cross between shock, confusion, and the dazed appearance of déjà vu. Clearly he had not expected Scorpius to possess any sort of intelligence. The truth was astounding to him.

"You are absolutely correct, Mr. Malfoy. Five points to Slytherin."

The entire Slytherin table immediately applauded with enthusiasm as Scorpius set his hand back down on his desk, his face sporting a newfound smugness as he gladly bathed in his brilliant success. The look on Rose's face however, remained much more grim; it was pained as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. I suddenly came to realize what Scorpius had planned to do today: beat my cousin at her own game.

"And can anyone tell me," continued my father, sauntering slowly away from the Slytherin table as the last of our classmates patted Scorpius on the back, "why this is important—Yes, Miss Weasley?"

This time around he had completely ignored Scorpius' hand, even though it was in the air a full second before Rose's, who answered: "Because it is a vital, though simple charm which nearly all of us will find protects us at least sometime in our life."

"Perfect, Rose! Ten points to Gryffindor."

While the Gryffindor table was flaunting their obvious approval of this unfair advantage, both Scorpius and Vicky whispered harshly in unison: "Ten?" I was quickly finding a little more room to be annoyed with my father.

"And can anyone tell me," began Harry Potter again, the emerging smirk on his face indicating he already knew who would answer, "what Petrificus Tot—"

"Petrificus Totalus is a spell that freezes or petrifies the body of the victim, making it incapable of moving, except for the eyes and the breathing," blurted Scorpius, who despite himself, had his hand raised and was standing, as if this was so crucial to his survival as a student that it would've been a fate worse than death to let anyone else answer.

My father's smirk had matured into a full-blown smile, nodding with clear amusement as he said: "Again, correct. Fifteen points to Slytherin."

It suddenly dawned on me what exactly my father was doing: he was baiting them—both my cousin and my friend—for his own enjoyment. The two students affected however, remained steadfastly oblivious to this.

"What Mr. Malfoy failed to state, Uncle, was that Petrificus Totalus is a spell broken by Finite Incantatem, a spell that causes easier ongoing spells and jinxes to sto—"

"Yes, Miss Weasley," Scorpius interrupted, clearly frustrated, "but you will find that your uncle never asked that question so your answer is evidently invalid—"

"Well, so? Who said there has to be a cap on knowledge—?"

"I didn't say that," Scorpius stressed, nearly hissing through his teeth as furious anger frothed to the surface, "but you are only arguing with me because you can't stand being wrong."

"Oh!" laughed Rose mockingly, taking offense, "Oh, and what are you doing, Malfoy? Since when has been your job to prove everyone wrong?"

Rose and Scorpius were now both standing from their desks, glaring at each other with such hatred that I could nearly feel the heat of it radiating off them. My father, surprisingly, took no heed of their ongoing row and simply stood back with a smug grin that seemed not to fit the situation.

"I guess," Scorpius answered slowly after a few seconds silence, irate expression leisurely melting to his characteristic half-grin, "since bitty kitty wriggled out of a conviction for attempted murder."

The whole classroom went silent, as if plunged into the soundless vacuum of space. I could sense shock on the faces of every student, including mine; my father's amused expression was completely erased from his face. Even Rose was staring at Malfoy in stunned silence, her mouth half open as if frozen solid in the midst of saying something. She quickly gained composure however, and stated quietly: "It wasn't me."

"Oh, it wasn't, eh? Who could it have been, then? There was no one else around when the oxygen was ripped from the air. I suppose you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, then huh?"

"Oh, shut it, Malfoy! You know it wasn't me and you just want to place the blame on someone you hate! It's not my fault that people want to kill you for being the son of an arrogant, purist, Death Eater!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" bellowed my father at last, casting a jinx that caused both Scorpius and Rose to immediately cease their bickering. "I was hoping you two would work it out on your own, but as you have taken far too much time from class today, I am requiring both of you to make it up after class. And—better yet—I'm not going to remove the Silencing Jinx from you until after detention is completed. Enjoy the rest of class."

The common room was awfully lonely without Scorpius' snide comments later that day. I suspected he would be in detention for the rest of the evening with the way he acted, but I still couldn't help but feel as though my father had goaded him on. It was as if he were creating an excuse to get them both alone—

"What do you suppose that whole situation was about?" sighed Victoria, her eyes drooping as if she were creating conversation just to keep herself awake, "Your dad seemed to think it was pretty bleeding hilarious."

"Got no clue," I lied, looking away so Victoria couldn't see the worry in my eyes, "my dad's a pretty weird bloke, so I s'pose it makes sense."

"Mmm," Victoria replied, clearly unconvinced but much too tired to argue, "I bet that's it."

It then suddenly occurred to me that I was completely alone with her. There was no one around to foil anything, no Scorpius to laugh in my face. It was time.

"Hey, Vicky…" I started out, attempted to act casual but clearly failing, "I was wondering if—if you wanted to—well, that is maybe you could—"

This was not going well. Victoria glanced up from her half-eaten apple, eyes twinkling with interest.

"Yes," she grinned, "go on."

"Well, I was wondering…" I was about to spit it out when I noticed something wet and red glistening on the front of her robes.

"Vicky is that blood on your robes?"

She was clearly taken aback.

"Wha—what?"

"Are you okay? I mean it looks like you've got blood dripping down your robes. Did you get cut or something?"

Vicky's eyes flashed with something that looked like panic. She looked down at her robes, not saying a word. After an awkward few seconds of silence, Vicky chuckled hoarsely.

"Oh!" she laughed, seemingly forcefully, wiping off the sticky blood, "That's just—Oh, well, how the story goes is that I was walking down the steps to the Owlry when a girl runs up the steps in a horrid rush. Of course she trips and hits the edge of the steps with her nose and blood flies everywhere. She had to go to the hospital wing, and I guess I just forgot to clean off my robes. It's pretty gross, I know."

"Really?" I asked, though unconvinced. Vicky simply nodded and returned hastily back to her apple, the air suddenly feeling thick with discomfort. Despite the innocent question, I felt that it was something I just shouldn't have asked. She was lying of course, but I didn't have the slightest clue what for.

"Worst. Day. Ever," came a familiar voice from behind me. Victoria and I both jumped in our seats as Scorpius fell exhaustedly into the chair next to me. "You'll never guess what happened."

"What?" Vicky and I both asked at once.

With a sigh, Scorpius spat, "Your loony dad's making your cousin and I go to all our classes together, 'no questions asked.' What the bloody hell are we doing that for? It's like he wants me to die, the git."

"Wow, you do have a suspicious family, Al. I'm starting to have second thoughts about evil being assigned only to your cousin," snorted Vicky.

"There has to be a reason for his actions other than that," I protested, angry that my friends were continually discrediting my family's integrity.

"Yeah, maybe he just wants to see me swim in agony. Death would be too quick."

"Oh shut it, Scorps, really!" I groaned.

"Well, then what's your extraordinary idea?"

I glared at him, frustration seeping from my pores, wanting to choke him with all my might. I was about to answer very spitefully "I don't know", when it abruptly occurred to me.

"You know the expression, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer?'"

Scorpius and Vicky both nodded.

"Well, maybe he wants you to keep Rose close to you so you're safer. So she can't sneak up on you."

"Aw, see, now that's a brilliant idea, Al!" exclaimed Scorps, genuinely impressed. Whether your old pop intended that or not, we could still use it. We just have to make sure she's just not close enough to kill me."

The disturbing thing was, despite my friends' enthusiasm about my idea, was that I seriously doubted my father had the same one. His plans were sure to be different. Much, much different.