Chapter 10: Girl Meets Library

"I had called Flurry. We fell out over the correct rules of Gobstones." - Scorpius Malfoy, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

I exit the classroom along with Maya as we walked to our next lesson Herbology. "See, I told you," she says. "Potter makes Gryffindor lose nearly all their points. That's why you hate him so much. You gain points then he loses them for you." I nodded as I understand what she means, but I didn't want to hate him as much as I used to. I smiled as I see Scorpius walking in the direction where I was. He smiles back as I continued walking.

I walked into the library as I found myself reading some books as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find Delphi Diggory, looking displeased. "Riley," she says. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Well, here I am," I said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Checking of course," she adds. "Cedric is still dead."

"Hermione never married Ron," I added. "Ron married Padma. Rose and Hugo don't exist. I'm supposed to hate Albus and Scorpius. I'm Gryffindor. I'm friends with Maya. And I'm in a relationship with Jerk Face Friar."

"I know," she says. "And I also know you like Albus a lot. I saw you being jealous of Albus and I double-acting."

"You were acting like a cow," I added. "Trying to hurt my feelings, Delphi."

"I'm sorry," she adds. "I'm sorry and I fully understand your feelings about Albus. When you walked away, Albus was worried and didn't even speak to me. He blamed me basically until you came back with Scorpius."

"But he was upset that you weren't even coming," I added.

"Yes," she says. "I know he was. But I also know he likes you a lot, Riley. Anyway, I want you to use the Time-Turner again. Convince Albus to use it again."

"You know that Time-Turner made me twist my ankle right," I added. "I was injured."

"I know," she says. "But Cedric is needs to come back, Riley."

I nodded in agreement. Delphi was growing on me. Slowly. I wasn't exactly hating her anymore, but still did not trust her at all. I said my goodbyes to Delphi as I walked to the Gryffindor common room with a book about Time-Turners in hand. I wanted a clearer understanding of The Time-Turners before using The Timer-Turners again.

That's when I found out there were two types of Time-Turners - Typical Time-Turners which have the limit of travelling back a maximum of five hours and the majority were destroyed at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. It is known that Hogwarts students can apply for this type of Time-Turner in order to take more classes, but they must undergo a large amount of screening process and must follow a most stringent set of rules. I know that Hermione Granger use that sort of Time-Turner to get to most of her classes back in 1993. Then there is the True Time-Turner which can be used to go back further than the five hour mark.

The following day came as Maya and Lucas forced me to avoid both Albus and Scorpius. I hated avoiding them as they are my best friends but Maya and Lucas always seemed to be around. At lunchtime, I made my way to the Great Hall without Maya and Lucas tailgating me when I ran into someone and dropped my books and causing me to tumble over. "I'm super sorry," I said. "I should've looked where I was going." I looked up to see Albus kneeling on the ground helping me with my books.

"No, it's my fault, Riley," he says. "I didn't see you." He looked nervous as he says this – maybe worried that my friends would turn up any second. He blushes as he helps me pick up my books and hands my books to me. "Meet with me in the library before dinner."

"RILES?!" I heard Maya shouting at me. She walks towards us. "Dork face Potter. Come on, Riles." She walks in the direction of the Great Hall signalling me to follow her.

"I'll see," I said, as I walked off.

Maya didn't question me about talking with Albus. In fact she avoided the subject altogether. As the afternoon drawn to a close, I decided to head down to the library to speak with both Scorpius and Albus. I arrived at the library as I see Scorpius looking around wearily as he sees me. He seemed to be happy as he saw me and walks towards me to greet me. "I'm sorry that we haven't talked," I said. "I mean, Maya and Lucas are always on my case and apparently we hate each other or in Maya's case bully each other."

"I wouldn't bully a Pumpkin for a second," Scorpius laughed.

"Wait, how come you called me 'A Pumpkin'?" I asked him.

"Well, I always hear Maya calling you 'Pumpkin' a lot," he replies. "But by all means, you do look like a pumpkin."

I punched him lightly in the arm as we see Albus enter the library walking towards us. "Hi, Al," I said. He rolls his eyes, looking annoyed. "Bus."

"Scorpius, I can't…" Albus says.

"I know," Scorpius says. "You're in Gryffindor. You don't want to see me now. But here I am anyway. Talking to you and Pumpkin."

"I'm seriously considering making fun of your nickname, Riley," Albus says to me.

"Don't you dare," I laughed.

"Look, Scorpius, we can't talk so-" he says.

"You have to," Scorpius says. "You think you can ignore everything that's happened? The world has gone crazy, have you notice?"

"I know, okay?" Albus says, rudely. "Ron's gone strange. Hermione's a professor, apparently Riley and Maya bully me, it's all wrong but-"

"And Rose doesn't exist," Scorpius concluded.

"I know," Albus says. "Look, I don't understand everything, but you can't be here."

"Because of what we did, Rose wasn't even born," Scorpius says. "Do you remember being told about the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball? All four Triwizard Champions took a partner. Your dad took Parvati Patil, Viktor Krum took –"

"Hermione," I interrupted. "My dad took my mum. They had their first kiss there. My dad said he saw Ron being a massive prat to Hermione."

"Oh, how romantic," Scorpius says. "Only he didn't. I found Rita Skeeter's book about them. And it's very different. Ron took Hermione to the ball."

"WHAT?" Albus exclaimed.

"Ssshh!" Polly says, quietly.

I looked at Polly as she walks off. "As friends," Scorpius continues. "And they danced in a friendly way and it was nice then he danced with Padma Patil and that was nicer and they started dating and he changed a bit and then they got married meanwhile Hermione became a –"

"Psychopath," Albus says.

"Hermione was supposed to go to the ball with Krum,' I said. "Do you know why she didn't? Because she had suspicions the two strange Durmstrang boys she met before the first task were somehow involved with the disappearance of Cedric's wand. She believed we, under Viktor's orders, cost Cedric's the first task."

"Wow," Albus exclaimed.

"And without Krum, Ron never got jealous and that jealousy was all-important and so Ron and Hermione stayed very good friends but never fell in love – never got married – never had Rose," Scorpius says.

"So that's why Dad's so – did he change too?" Albus asks.

"Pretty sure he didn't," I replied. "I mean he is still Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Married Ginny. Three kids."

"So why is he being such a-" Albus says, but he is interrupted by the librarian monitoring the library.

"Have you heard me, Albus?" I asked. "This is bigger than you and your dad. Professor Croaker's law – the furthest someone can go back in time without possibility of serious harm to the traveller or time itself is five hours. And we went back in years. The smallest moment, the smallest change, it creates ripples. And we – we've created really bad ripples. Rose and Hugo were never born because of what we did."

"Ssshh!" the Librarian says, quietly.

"Fine," Albus concluded. "Let's go back and fix it. Get Cedric and Rose back."

"…Is the wrong answer," Scorpius says.

"You've still got the Time-Turner, right?" Albus asks. "No one found it?" Scorpius takes the Time-Turner out of his pocket.

"Yes, but…" Scorpius says. Albus snatches the Time-Turner from his hand. "No, don't… Albus. Don't you understand how bad things could get?" I see Scorpius grabs for the Time-Turner but Albus pushes him back as they wrestle inexpertly.

"Things need fixing, Scorpius," Albus says. "Cedric still needs saving. Rose needs bringing back. We'll be more careful. Whatever Croaker says, trust me, trust us. We'll get it right this time."

"No we won't," Scorpius says. "Give it back, Albus! Give it back!"

I pushed Albus away trying to get the Time-Turner. "Not afraid of hitting a girl, Albus," I shouted. "No wonder why Maya thinks you are a dork. All you think about is about how important it is to get Cedric back. It wouldn't work."

"Riley, don't," Albus says.

"I could break that Time-Turner you know," I said. "Or I could hand it to McGonagall? Perhaps she'll have some use for it."

"This is important," Albus says.

"Yes, it's too important – for us," Scorpius says. We're not good at this stuff. We'll get it wrong.

"Who's saying that we'll get it wrong?" Albus asks.

"Riley and I are," Scorpius says. "Because that's what we do. We mess things up. We lose. We're losers, true and total losers. Haven't you realised that yet?"

I hit Albus across the back has he gets the upper hand and pins Scorpius to the ground.

"Well, I wasn't a loser before I met you," Albus announces.

"Albus, whatever you've got to prove to your dad – this isn't the way –" Scorpius says.

"I don't have anything to prove to my dad," Albus says. "I've got to save Cedric to save Rose. And maybe without you and Riley holding me back, I can make a proper go of it."

"Without us?" I exclaimed. "Oh, I feel sorry for the poor pitiful Albus Potter. With his chip on his shoulder. Just a poor and pitiful Albus Potter. That's just sad."

"What are you saying?" he says, looking towards me.

"People look at you because your dad's the famous Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding world," I said. "People look at Scorpius because they think his dad is Voldemort. Voldemort."

"Don't even?" Albus says before being interrupt by Scorpius.

"Can you even slightly imagine what that's like?" Scorpius asks. "Have you even ever tried? No. Because you can't see beyond the end of your nose. Because you can't see beyond the end of your stupid thing with your dad. He will always be Harry Potter, you know that right? And you will always be his son. And I know it's hard, and the other kids are awful but you have to learn to be okay with that, because – there are worse things, okay? There was a moment I was excited, when I realised time was different, a moment when I thought my mum hadn't got sick. Maybe my mum wasn't dead. But no, turns out, she was. I'm still the child of Voldemort, without a mother, giving sympathy to the boy who doesn't ever give anything back. So I'm sorry if I've ruined both of your lives because I tell you – you wouldn't have a chance of ruining mine – it was already ruined. You just didn't make it better. Because you're a terrible – the most terrible friend. Not you, Riles, you are the most caring and most clumsy person I've ever met."

I smiled at both Albus and Scorpius as I hugged them tightly. "Don't you dare fight again," I added.

"You hit hard, Riley," Albus adds.

"Martial arts training from my dad," I said.

"Albus?" I heard McGonagall call out. "Albus Potter. Scorpius Malfoy. Are you in there – together? Because I advise you not to be."

"You two need to hide," I said.

"She's bound to find us," Scorpius says. Albus pulls out a cloak from his bag.

"Riley's right," he says. "We need to hide. Riley can distract her. She's not after you at all."

"We're done for," Scorpius announces.

"Scorpius, look at me," Albus says.

"That's the Invisibility Cloak," Scorpius says. "Isn't it James'?"

"If she finds us, we'll be forced apart forever," Albus says. "Please. I didn't understand. Please."

"I'm about to enter," McGonagall calls out. She enters as she sees me looking at some books. "Miss Matthews, what are you doing here at this late hour?"

"I'm getting a book for my History of Magic essay," I lied. "It's on the Order of the Phoenix. I think Rita Skeeter wrote it."

"You couldn't get the book in the morning?" she asks me.

"No, Maya keeps on distracting me," I answered. "They keep on following me around. So I thought, I should get the book now because they aren't here."

"But I saw you here with Albus and Scorpius," she says.

"Albus, yes," I said. "We bumped into each other. He was helping me find the book when he said I should do his dad. I didn't see Scorpius – no wait, I did. He was busy looking up some potion ingredient for a potion."

"If you see them, separate them, Riley," she says. "They shouldn't be together at all. Albus' father wants them separated."

I nodded as she disappears down the hallway. "Brilliant lying," Scorpius announces. "You are coming quite a pro."

"That's what you get when your father is Cory Matthews," I said. "Anyway, where did you get that cloak, Albus?"

"I stole this from James," Albus answers. "He's remarkably easy to steal from; his trunk combination is the date he got his first broomstick. I've found the cloak make avoiding bullies like Maya and Lucas easier." Scorpius nods. "I'm sorry – about your mum. I know we don't talk about her enough – but I hope you know – I'm sorry – it's rubbish – what happened to her – to you."

"Thanks," Scorpius says.

"My dad said – said that you were this dark cloud around me," Albus says. "My dad started to think – and I just knew I had to stay away and if I didn't, Dad said he would –"

"Your dad thinks the rumours are true – I am the son of Voldemort?" Scorpius asks.

"His department – including your dad, Riley are currently investigating it," Albus replies.

"Good," Scorpius says. "Let them. Sometimes – sometimes I find myself thinking – maybe they're true too."

"No," I said. "They can't be true. And you know why, Scorpius. Voldemort isn't capable to have a kind son – and you are kind, Scorpius. But I firmly believe that you are not his son."

"Same," Albus adds. "To the depths of your belly to the tips for your fingers, I truly believe Voldemort – Voldemort couldn't have a child like you." I notice how Scorpius is moved by us saying everything nice about him not being Voldemort's son.

'That's nice – that's nice thing to say," he says.

"And it's something I should have said a long time ago," Albus adds. "In fact, you're probably the best person I know, apart from Riley, yes, Riley, I speak about you in a second. And you don't – you couldn't – hold me back – you make me stronger – and when dad forced us apart – without you –"

"I didn't much like my life without you and Riley in it either," Scorpius says.

"And I know I'll always be Harry Potter's son – and I will sort that out in my head – and I know compared to you my life is pretty good really and that he and I are comparatively lucky –"

"Albus," I sighed.

"Sorry," he says. "And Riley, you are the clumsiest person I know but also the third smartest – or the second smartest person in the room. You always keep me grounded."

"Grounded, yes," I said. "But I don't agree with the term being clumsy, but it's in my genes. Thanks to my dad." There's an awkward silence.

"As much as I like this awkward silence and your apology has started to talk more about your dad, Albus and yes, you are talking more about you than me again, so quit while you're ahead." Albus smiles and stretches out his hand.

"Friends?" he says to us.

"Always," we both replied. Scorpius extends his hand as Albus shakes his hand while Albus pulls me in for another hug. "Another awkward moment for Scorpius," Scorpius says as Albus hugs me tightly. The hug felt much warmer.

"But I'm pleased we had this argument because it's given me a really good idea," Albus says.

"About what?" I asked.

"It involves the second task," he replies. "And humiliation."

"You're still talking about going back in time?" Scorpius asks. "Have we been having the same conversation?"

"You are both right," Albus answers. "We are losers. We're brilliant at losing and so we should be using our own knowledge here. Our own powers. Losers are taught to be losers. And there's only one way to teach a loser – and we know that better than anyone – humiliation. We need to humiliate him. So in the second task that's what we'll do."

I think for about a minute or so when I smiled. "Brilliant," I announced.

"That's a really good strategy," Scorpius says.

"I know," Albus says, nodding in agreement.

"I mean, quite spectacular," Scorpius says. "Humiliate Cedric to save Cedric. Clever. And Rose?"

"That I'm saving as a sparkly surprise," Albus answers. "I can do it without you two – but I want you two there. Because I want us to this together. Set things right together. So… will you both come?"

"But, just a minute," Scorpius says. "Isn't – wasn't – the second task took place in the lake and you're not allowed to leave the school building?"

Albus grins. "Yes," he says. "About that… we need to find the girl's bathroom on the first floor."

Sorry for the late update. I've been busy recovering and yes, my internet is really terrible at the moment - I'm currently awaiting the moment that we finally get NBN (National Broadband Network) which rolls out in a few weeks. I'll try and upload as much as I can (this chapter took about two hours to write). I'm hoping for next week - hopefully. Remember to fav and review.