Chapter Ten-Detention

The hall sparkled like a million diamonds had been encrusted into every available space. The light cascaded throughout the large area, giving off a golden glow as the dancers swayed gracefully in a slow blur.

Two figures moved smoothly across the floor, less visible compared to everything else in the room. They reached towards each other longingly until they were securely wrapped in each others arms.

The tallest of the pair reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny red object, placing it in the female's awaiting hand. The moment the small object touched her hand, there was a flash of blinding light and they were gone.

The shiny object clattered to the floor quietly, but the smaller red did not shatter. There, the object lay amongst the dancers, completely alone and unnoticed. Then there was black.

Rose's eyes opened immediately. She lay perfectly still; the doona and sheets covered every inch of her body as she tried to breathe normally. Gently, she pushed the cotton from her face and received a burst of fresh air.

She sighed quietly before blinking a couple of times to regain her vision. Rose sat up slowly and looked around. Not a girl stirred within their beds, all were still, breathing at a normal pace. Rose smiled in relief. She was not in the mood for chatter.

That was the weirdest dream I've ever had, she thought. It was too subtle and mysterious. But it was all so familiar...like de ja vu.

"Hmmmm," she thought aloud, curling into a ball. "I wonder."

Suddenly, Elizabeth shuffled noisily in her bed and sighed in a satisfied manner. "Albus, stop it." She muttered.

Rose had to muffle her laughter. Since when does Elizabeth talk in her sleep?

Quickly, but quietly, she stepped out of bed only to feel the crunch. She looked to her feet and found owl treats scattered around the wooden floor. Rose cringed, picking the bits of owl treat from her feet.

Whilst in the process of cleaning her feet, Rose spied a letter sitting on her bedside table. She picked it up curiously and studied it. It was addressed to her in formal handwriting.

Rose shrugged and peeled it open silently, pulling out the crisp parchment. The letter read...

Dear Miss Weasley,

This is a letter of importance to remind you that you are to spend these two coming lunchtimes in the Transfiguration classroom in detention with me, Professor McGonagall.

Do not arrive late as it will only add to your punishment.

Sincerely,
Professor McGonagall

She frowned deeply. Detention. Rose had almost forgotten about the dreaded punishment.

"That would explain the owl treats though," she murmured. "Silly creature."

She folded the letter carefully and placed it under her pillow, then scooped up the owl treats and threw them in the bin that sat near the door.

It was seven o'clock when Rose headed down to the common room. She held Pride and Prejudice in her arms, the ripped pages hanging loosely together. She was humming
La Vie en Rose, an old muggle song which had a sweet melody. The words were in French however, and so Rose only murmured.

"Rose!"

"Rose!"

"Rose!"

Three voices sounded the common room with frantic voices. Rose stopped on the staircase and looked around. Paul, Albus and Holly were racing towards her with petrified expressions.

"Hi guys," said Rose, trying to sound casual. "Why are you up so early?"

Before she could continue, the trio had thrown themselves at her and she was now enclosed in various hugs. "I'm...okay...seriously."

"What happened to you?" asked Paul in his protective voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," said Albus. "Holly burst through our door at about eleven last night with the most crazed expression you've ever seen!"

"Did she tell you everything?" Inquired Rose, in a slightly frustrated voice.

"Yes!" The boys said in unison.

Holly nodded encouragingly.

"Well," continued Rose. "Then there is no reason for me to speak about it."

"But Scorpius Malfoy was there," said Albus as if he were spitting out poison. "The scoundrel"

"Hey!" yelled Rose. "He saved my life! You should be thanking him, not spitting at him. Otherwise, you might've been visiting shredded Rose today!"

Everyone went silent and took a step back from their friend, looking at her as if she were insane.

"Don't give me that look," she muttered. "No one is going to judge me today."

"It's good to see that you're alright," said Paul, hugging her quickly. "At least you weren't hurt seriously."

"Thank you, Paul," said Rose. "Holly, can I talk to you?"

Her best friend shuffled quickly towards the portrait hall and exited, Rose on her heel.

Holly stopped and waited for Rose who was walking ever so slowly towards her. Rose placed her hands on the stone railing and sighed.

"What's going on?"

Holly frowned. "I'm not following."

Rose bit her lip and turned to face her friend. She folded her arms and unfolded them, hesitating to say something.

"Every time I talk about...Scorpius Malfoy, you all look at me like I'm insane, or going to jump on you with a knife." She started to breathe more heavily. "Why? Why do you do that?"

Holly pursed her lips, looking for the perfect answer. She stared into space for a while before looking at Rose.

"You have no idea, do you?"

Rose shook her head.

"If you could just look at yourself every time you talk about him, just see how you act."

"Well, I can't see myself Holly," snapped Rose. "So please, enlighten me."

Holly smiled briefly. "Every time we talk about him, you get all defensive and annoyed. And when he's mentioned, you blush, and when he walks past, you walk faster, and in class, when he moves, you move. It's like an automatic reaction. But he does it too."

Rose felt her knee's buckle. She could feel her jaw hanging and her eyes wider than ever, but she quickly composed herself.

"Holly," she said. "That's ridiculous. What are you trying to tell me? Because I think you're taking this completely out of proportion!"

Holly frowned. "Rose..."

"Let's just go down to breakfast," suggested Rose. "I'm going to need a full stomach today."

The day flew by as if someone had pressed the fast forward button on a television remote. Rose sat through her classes impatiently, ignoring the concerned looks Holly gave her, the interested looks the entire student body gave her (it was clear that someone had spread the news of last nights events) but what annoyed her most was the fact that Scorpius Malfoy hadn't looked at her at all.

Rose was in Herbology, the class before lunch. She stood there, poking the Fluxweed aimlessly while Holly scribbled down notes.

"Done!" she exclaimed, throwing her pen excitedly in the air. "Finished!"

"Are you sure you got everything down?" asked Rose, peering over at the messy handwriting.

Holly nodded. "Don't stress, I won't fail us."

Rose rolled her eyes and began to clean the small mess. Holly was tapping her pen on the wooden desk, a troubled expression upon her face.

"What's wrong?" asked Rose warily, wiping her hands with a towel. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was just wondering," she said. "Who that werewolf would have been. I mean, where would they have come from?"

"Who knows," said Rose coldly. "There's bound to be a community somewhere on the other side of the forest."

"Mmm," agreed Holly. "So what was it like? To face the werewolf?"

The image of the great beast filled her mind, its hot breath blowing her face, its deep black eyes staring into hers. "It's the most overwhelming feeling of terror you can imagine, thinking you're going to die a painful death." Rose whispered to the floor.

Holly smiled sympathetically, with a hint of confusion. "At least you're safe now."

"Mhm," said Rose sarcastically. "And now I'm off to detention."

Rose walked briskly through the school hallways, avoiding the stares that crossed her eyes every now and then. During a normal lunchtime, Rose would eat lunch in the great hall and then sit by the lake with her friends. This lunchtime, and the next, she would be sitting detention with Albus and Scorpius under the watchful eye of Professor McGonagall.

She came to a halt outside the Transfiguration classroom and took a deep breath before entering slowly. No one was inside, nothing stirred except the small dust particles that floated around the sunlight which was streaming through the open windows.

Rose took a seat at one of the front desks and started unpacking her ink, quill and parchment. It wasn't long before Professor McGonagall entered the classroom followed by a morbid looking Scorpius Malfoy.

Shock crossed the Professor's face as she discovered Rose already to go.

"Miss Weasley," she said. "You're very early."

Rose blushed and nodded. "I'm sorry, Professor."

Professor McGonagall walked down the aisle towards her desk and pulled out her wand. She swished her wand towards the blackboard and a piece of white chalk sprang to life. It moved across the board, writing a simple sentence.

I will not fight with other students nor will I break school rules repeatedly.

Rose dipped her quill in her ink and began writing, unsure as to when she should stop.

"Mr Malfoy," called Professor McGonagall. "Please do not sit at the very back of the room, please sit yourself on the desk next to Miss Weasley."

Rose's whole body tensed as she felt Scorpius brush past her, his fingers touching her arm ever so slightly. Where the heck is Albus? She thought unhappily. I hope he hasn't forgotten.

She peered up to Professor McGonagall after ten minutes and saw that she was on the verge of bursting with anger. The stern headmistress stood stiffly and cleared her throat.

"I will be back momentarily," she announced. "Please behave whilst I am gone."

The headmistress flew out of the classroom door and down the hallway. Rose listened anxiously until her footsteps could not longer be heard.

The pair sat in their seats, writing even faster then before. The scratching noises caused by the quills gave Rose a headache.

"Will you stop that?" She snapped, dropping her quill. Scorpius looked up icily and glared at her.

"What have I done this time?" he growled, dropping his quill as well. "Did I make a spelling error?"

Rose's eye twitched. "You're purposely writing quickly to distract me."

"Bollocks!" he cried. "I'm just trying to get my lines done so I can get out of here."

"That's a likely story," muttered Rose. "Just like that one about the boys in the common room."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "Do you take pride in your supposed superiority? Do you think you have the right to order everyone around like you do?"

Rose stood quickly which let her chair fall over with a loud thud. "Do you think it's funny to keep someone up at night constantly, because they're trying to figure out what they did wrong? To deserve such hostility?"

"I'm not sure," he snapped, standing too. "Maybe your boyfriend, Paul, can comfort you though!"

"Don't you dare bring Paul into this!" cried Rose. "What did he do to you?"

"I don't know, threaten me perhaps!"

"Paul didn't threaten you!"

"He thinks he is so special, to be able to come up to me and ask if I've done anything wrong to you, to have upset you, when it's the last thing I want to do!"

"Oh don't try this one on me again," snapped Rose. "You already tried to get me to feel mushy last night! It's not working!"

"I'm not trying to get you to feel anything for me!"

Rose sighed angrily and pulled her chair up from the ground. She sat down stiffly and began to write again, ignoring Scorpius who was still standing there in utter shock.

A moment later, Rose heard Scorpius pull his chair from the ground. She watched from the corner of her eye as he gathered his stationery and moved two desks away from her. Her grip on her quill only tightened as she heard the seventh year slam his books on his new desk.

A new silence filled the air. This one wasn't awkward and uncomfortable; the pair were way past that point. The new air was angry and tense, like helium in a balloon, ready to burst at any moment.

Rose continued writing quickly, every stroke of her pen becoming more forceful. She gritted her teeth as she wrote "I will not fight" for the fortieth time that lunchtime. Oh how she wanted to fight. However, the image of Scorpius' frail body lying on the ground, surrounded in a pool of blood, burst into her mind. Rose shook her head, leaning closer to the parchment.

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall burst into the classroom, dragging a reluctant Albus Potter by the ear. He rolled his eyes at Rose as he stumbled past and into the desk next to her. Rose poked her tongue out at her cousin before resuming her angry posture.

"You're all so much like your parents," Professor McGonagall said, handing Albus a quill, ink, and a piece of wheat coloured parchment. "I'm absolutely astounded by the resemblance. Sometimes I mistake you for them."

Rose smiled at Professor McGonagall before looking at Albus who sighed and dipped his quill in the black bottle next to him. Rose risked a glance at Scorpius Malfoy who busily writing his lines. She scowled at his tense figure before turning back to her own parchment.

The rest of the lunchtime detention was spent in absolute silence. Professor McGonagall sat at her desk, busily flipping through sheets of parchment. Rose checked the clock hanging on the wall every few minutes, praying that lunchtime would end soon. When the Professor finally called the students to attention, she looked almost relieved.

"Alright," she said, moving away from her desk. "I am pleased with your progress this lunchtime."

Rose began packing away her ink and quill, glad that the detention session had ended.

"I shall see you all tomorrow," The Professor continued, collecting the parchment from each desk. "Will we try to be on time tomorrow, Mr. Potter?"

Albus nodded and waited for her to return to head of the classroom. He looked at Rose and rubbed his hear, mouthing "ow" to her. Rose muffled her laughter and turned her attention to the front again.

"I am just reminding you that Miss Weasley has one more detention, and Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter have three more detentions. Good day students."

Rose stood and grabbed her bag which was sitting at the foot of her desk. She walked out of the classroom and leant against the wall, waiting for Albus. Scorpius exited the classroom first. He looked straight ahead as he passed Rose, and continued walking without a glance behind. Rose felt her eyes narrow in frustration. She watched as the Slytherin's shadow disappeared with his body around the corner.

Albus emerged from the classroom a minute later, looking like a scared child on Halloween.

"What took you so long?" Rose asked, bumping his shoulder.

Albus shuddered. "I've had too many lectures for one day."

Rose laughed. Albus looked back at the classroom and breathed deeply.

"Was it just me," he wondered. "Or did that whole atmosphere feel really tense?"

Rose shrugged and tightened her bag strap around her shoulder. "I didn't notice at all."

Of course, this was a lie.