A/N: Sorry it took me so long. I hit a slight writer's block which I have hopefully overcome by producing this extra long chapter. Thank you so much for all your reviews - especially to don't-be-a-rock-in-my-river who has reviewed every chapter. You are all great! I won't be able to update until next Sunday because I am in Spain and am not allowed to take my laptop :( but I will write the next chapter in my very trusty blue notebook and type it up for you guys when I get home! x
Professor McGonagall paced around her office, deep in thought. She paid little attention to the sixth year students sat impatiently in front of her desk. To be honest, the whole ritual was getting tired. They'd been in this position too many times to count since they'd arrived at Hogwarts but nothing seemed to improve, no matter how many detentions were involved.
"I don't know what I am going to do with you two, now." She muttered, more to herself but loud enough for them to hear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scorpius Malfoy's mouth twitch, successfully repressing a smile. 'Good choice' she thought to herself; bursting out in uncontrollable laughter would not have been the best move for his health at this point.
"Professor, if I may make a suggestion?" Rose requested timidly. She seemed perfectly innocent in her asking, but it would be highly unusual for her to take the situation seriously. The Headmistress nodded, indicating her to continue, but was not prepared for anything constructive. "I believe that a good way to solve this issue would just be to give us what we have wanted all along." It was a cryptic remark to make, and Professor McGonagall frowned, wondering what it could be that had been worth six full years of trouble.
"Miss Weasley, I doubt that whatever you are insinuating is appropriate for the circumstances, and I would also appreciate it if you refrained from distracting yourself by stroking Mr. Malfoy's hair." Her voice rose sternly, and Rose's fingers which had been wandering towards Scorpius' dark locks absent mindedly froze in mid-air. The professor looked at her pointedly, causing her hand to fall back into her lap.
By this point, Scorpius was grinning widely; either enjoying the idea that Rose was touching his hair without thinking about it, or the Headmistress' reaction to this. Rose became extraordinarily interested in the floor under her chair and Professor McGonagall closed her eyes, taking slow, deep breaths.
"Until I think of a more suitable punishment, you will both serve detentions on Friday evenings as well as Saturdays. The only other option would be suspension, but you would undoubtedly use the time unwisely, and since you are working for N.E.W.T's, you cannot afford distractions. I am aware that you both achieved very respectable grades at O.W.L.– none less than an Acceptable, but that is no excuse to become complacent. The two of you are extremely talented, and I am certain that you will become great wizards.
"However, I will not allow you to slip; you will pass your exams, and you will leave this school at the end of your final year – I do not want to have to expel you for behavior such as this. That is where we are. You may go now, but think about what I have said and please take it into consideration." She gestured her hand to the door, indicating that they should leave if they wanted to remain intact, and they departed quickly.
Once back in the safety of the Ravenclaw common room, Scorpius collapsed into one of the chairs in front of the fire. Rose nestled into his lap; his arms wrapped around her, and Lysander looked at the pair disgusted from one of the desks across the room. "Get a room. Please. For the sake of my innocent eyes." He told them, before turning back to his essay, shuddering slightly.
Rose rolled her eyes, but stood, taking Scorpius' hand and dragged him from the common room. They found an empty classroom and sat on the tables, throwing broken quills at the blackboard. "So, what now?" Rose asked, when they eventually ran out of quills and took to staring at the ceiling.
"I would say we have three options." Scorpius responded, giving out little useful information. Taking Rose's glare into account, he wisely continued; "either we carry on as usual – wreaking havoc wherever possible, or we keep our heads down, focus on work. And finally, my personal favorite, we throw a party in the Three Broomsticks next weekend."
"Next weekend? But that's not a Hogsmeade trip." Rose stated, confused. Apparently her boyfriend had completely lost his head over the last few days. He'd been suggesting more and more imaginative ideas, sure to get them into trouble. She was starting to consider him as some sort of masochist.
"No. It's not. Your point exactly?"
"Are you seriously saying that we should use the map to shepherd people out of the school? Scor, that's not just pulling a prank. Didn't you hear McGonagall? She'll expel us if we get in more trouble. That is definitely good grounds for expulsion." She said, speaking louder than usual, trying to hide her fear.
"Please, we're the best two students in the year; she'd never expel us. I know you, Rose. That's not what you're worried about, is it? You're not even worried about the whole idea. Come on, tell me." He took her face in his hands and stood in front of her, looking down into her eyes as she sat on the desk.
As usual, she felt herself drowning in his deep, dark mysterious eyes. He couldn't help that she was immersed, but he could at least try a little harder to keep her breathing. His eyes widened with concern when she didn't answer; she normally had something to say. It was what he loved so much about her.
"Rose?" he asked softly, hoping to get some kind of reply. He felt an odd sense of déjà vu; he could have sworn the same thing happened the first day they met. He glanced briefly up at the hair which hung over his forehead; still brown. That was a comfort – at least he wasn't morphing at random.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts; "yes. I just don't know." She told him informatively. Her face was a mask of uncertainty, which confused and scared Scorpius. It wasn't like her to feel vulnerable; she was strong, stronger than he was, and her fear for whatever it may be was starting to rub off on him.
"What don't you know? Honestly, Rose, you're never like this. Something's up. Why won't you talk to me?" his voice rose slightly, showing his agitation. He hated that she wouldn't open up to him, that he had to watch her sit trance-like in front of him and be able to do nothing at all to help her.
"Just the whole idea of leaving the school; it's different to what we've done before. It could be so dangerous – this time it's not just breaking a few rules, it's putting people's lives at risk. Obviously it could be totally fine, but what if it's not?
"I remember my dad telling me how Uncle Harry used to use his invisibility cloak to get out of the school when he'd been told he wasn't allowed to leave. It almost got him killed when he went to the Shrieking Shack – you know that old derelict building in Hogsmeade where no one goes – because no one knew where he was. I couldn't live with myself if you or anyone else got hurt just because we wanted to push the rule limits a little bit further."
Her voice had turned bitter as she finished, as though she was regretting the way she'd acted over the last six years, but they both knew that this wasn't the case. She was genuinely concerned that by shoving the boundaries this far, not only would they be expelled for sure, they would also be responsible if any students were harmed.
Scorpius smiled gently; he wasn't stupid – he'd obviously thought this all through. He didn't want to get anyone hurt, and it was one of the reasons for his distant attitude recently. He'd made a breakthrough that he was extremely proud of and wanted nothing more than to put it to good use. "Is that all?"
She frowned at him; surely that was enough not to carry this out. A student in danger was not something she was willing to risk; if not for their sakes, her parents would never let her live it down. They'd be disappointed by her forever, and though it seemed selfish, she wouldn't be able to live without the support and love of her family.
"Yes that's all. What's wrong with that, Scor? Is it so wrong not to want that kind of thing on my shoulders? Is it so wrong not to want the responsibility if half the school gets slaughtered?" Her voice rose to a near scream; her face reddening with anger, furious tears rolling down her face.
She rarely showed it, but Rose was a very emotional person; she hated hurting people or seeing people hurt. She'd often felt her eyes sparkle when her parents talked of the Great War. She'd never met her Uncle Fred, but the way her father talked about him let her know how wonderful he was and how much he was missed. Even she missed him; just through the stories she felt like she knew him.
It was bad enough that people had to die naturally or by murder, but it really infuriated her that her boyfriend, her best friend, cared little enough to encourage it.
To anyone else, hi s response would have featured extremely colorful language which would certainly extend the vocabulary of most. As it was, he did not retaliate normally to her outburst, but ignored it and picked her up off the desk, arms gripped tightly around her waist, and kissed her softly giving her no chance to protest.
Rose slapped her forehead mentally; how could he win the argument this way? it shouldn't be legal to stop her train of thought like this; you wouldn't get away with it in a courtroom. She was going to have to make it a rule between them. But he would never listen to her, and she enjoyed it too much to stop him.
As usual, she felt the anger ebb away as she relaxed in his embrace, softening under his strong hands. Even when they were fighting, she always felt comfortable with Scorpius. Whether it was because she'd been close to him for so long, or because he knew her better than anybody she didn't know, but his presence never made her feel uneasy or nervous, just herself.
She wasn't afraid to shout at him, because she knew he'd always forgive her; she didn't mind him getting angry with her, because in the back of her mind, she knew they 'd always be together again. No argument between them ever stuck, and she doubted it ever would.
When they eventually got back to the Common Room, Lysander looked them up and down, taking in the messy hair and the slightly crumpled clothes. Rose glanced around the room, her face heating up with embarrassment. After a rather exaggerated eye roll, Lysander swept his belongings up into his arm and left to the dormitory, smirking.
"So as we were discussing" Scorpius began, quietly, breaking the silence which was not awkward, as such, but was certainly heading in that direction. Rose laughed softly, realizing how the conversation seemed in her head. She'd never given him the chance to explain himself; just started yelling profusely. She sat on the floor in front of him, resting her head against his knees.
"Well, go on then. Did you want to tell me what you meant? I mean, if you weren't considering the possibility that we could get everyone hurt, then what was it?" She asked, tilting her head back to look at him, and was surprised to find him leaning forward. Grinning, she kissed him softly, causing Louis, who had taken that moment to come down the stairs to groan in disgust and turn to go straight back up again.
Scorpius laughed at the younger boy's reaction, and waited until he had gone back up the stairs before speaking. "I've been working on something these past few weeks. You helped, though you didn't know what for. You know we're probably smarter than most of the year combined; I decided to put that to good use. N.E.W.T's only go so far."
"Scor, that doesn't explain much. What about your suggestion for a party in Hogsmeade?"
"I was getting to that" he said, exasperated. "So I mentioned that I was working. Well I was working on the map. The one we inherited from Al. It used to show all of Hogwarts and its inhabitants. But now…" he drew the parchment from his robes, and opened it, uttering the words they used so often. Rose frowned; she could have sworn it was bigger than the last time they'd used it.
"What did you –?" she stopped as the green markings slowly appeared on the creamy paper. There were more – much more. She watched as the swirly lettering spelt out Hogsmeade, and the dots scattered across it indicated people she'd never even heard of. From what she could tell, he'd managed to expand the Marauder's Map.
"You are not serious. There's no way you could ever do this! It was made ages ago, by Al's granddad and his friends. How did you do this?" she gasped. She'd never even considered the idea that the map could become more than just Hogwarts.
Scorpius shrugged, attempting modesty but the pride was creeping through. "Just a couple of spells here and there. I mostly found them in the library, but remember when you helped me work out that charm for my essay last week?" she nodded, the memory vaguely resurfacing, "it wasn't for an essay."
The invitations went out to fifth, sixth and seventh years through the three people most likely to gossip and therefore pass the information on. James, Louis and Molly were the selected talkers; they were popular and unnaturally vocal. Scorpius and Rose had done the majority of arrangements, including telling the ditzy barmaid of the Three Broomsticks that there was a Hogsmeade trip the next weekend.
Rose sat outside the portrait hole the Thursday before the party, the map in her hands. She sat cross legged, not moving except to brush stray strands of hair out of her eyes. She hadn't conferred with Scorpius about this particular part of the plan, because she knew it would make her life easier if it was a surprise. It wouldn't be easy for her to get around him; he was extremely difficult to convince, especially when she wasn't being entirely truthful. He knew her well enough to tell.
"Lumos," she muttered, and a dim light spread over the map from her wand, telling her who the approaching footsteps belonged to. "Wow, took your time, huh." She said, irritated. She didn't have all night; she may appear as though she had nothing better to do but that was not even slightly true, and if her cousin didn't cooperate, he was going to find that out. "Well? You got it?" she felt like she was asking for drugs which quite entertained her considering how contradictory it was.
"Sure, calm down. Here" He handed the small package to her and turned to leave.
"Freddie it does work, right?" she asked, skeptically, eyeing the box in her hands.
"'Course it does. Rosie, why would I get you something faulty? You just have to transfigure it – the spell's in the box. Trust me, my Dad tests all of his products; it's fine. See you later." He turned back in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, leaving Rose to look at the pack again. If it went wrong, she was putting the whole blame on him.
At seven o'clock, Scorpius stood outside the statue of the seven toed frog, having opened the pedestal with the spell indicated on the new and improved map he held. He watched the teachers carefully; they were all in either their respective offices or in the staff room. It was extremely convenient, and he had a feeling that Rose had something to do with it. She'd read about the ways the school was protected from muggles and other trespassers, and had probably invented something similar to keep them away. He wasn't complaining; it made his job a hell of a lot easier, and they'd be more relaxed because of it.
At around quarter past, people started arriving; and Scorpius wordlessly shepherded them through the statue, which led to the backroom of a derelict shop which was situated behind the Three Broomsticks. They would meet Rose at the other side who stood with a very reluctant Lysander to direct them safely to the inn. When there was a lull in the passing, Scorpius decided that a hundred and fifty students in the pub would be plenty. He climbed through the hole, sealing it behind him, and made his way to the other side.
"Finally, Scor. James and Freddie are trying to keep them entertained, but there's only so much they can do. Did you shut the sculpture behind you?" Rose asked. Scorpius just looked at her, feigning hurt that she thought he was stupid enough to forget. She smiled, calling his bluff, "good. Let's go then." She took his hand and they walked briskly through the cold evening air to the Three Broomsticks.
The place was coming to life; Lysander had been sent ahead by Rose to help Amelia sort out the food, Al was doing his best to convince Freddie and James not to continue telling jokes which were becoming less and less suitable for younger ears, and the rest of the gathering hovered, not really knowing what to do. Rose let go of Scorpius' hand and turned the music on. With any luck she'd get to reveal her surprise before teachers noticed the absence of the top end of the school.
Four hours later, James had decided it was the right time to introduce the fire whiskey which he multiplied enough to give to the whole group. It was at this point, that Rose figured it was time to round up the night. It was getting on for eleven now, and although staff had not yet appeared, they would eventually, and Rose would prefer it if alcohol wasn't involved when they did. She took Scorpius' hands from her waist and headed off the dance floor which had been fashioned by shoving the tables into the walls.
As expected, Scorpius followed her and tried to ask what she was doing. She ignored him, and opened the box Freddie had given her two nights ago. She took her wand from her hair; she'd been told it wasn't a wise place to keep it, but had taken no notice – she had to hold her hair up, and it worked as well as anything else – and cast the spell indicated on the small tubes. "Stand back." She told him, moving backwards herself. She could tell he wanted to ask, but didn't because he knew he'd get no answer.
The tubes flew out of the box, exploding as they did so, creating the beautiful indoor fireworks she'd been hoping for. They whizzed around the room, sparkling different colors and whooshing amongst the crowd. Rose smiled to herself, glad that the evening had gone so well to plan. Scorpius rested his head on her shoulder, kissing her neck. "I think the night has worked out nicely," he whispered against her skin, "I love you."
Her smile widened at the words she'd wanted to say for so long, and had strayed away from. "I love you too," she told him, turning to face him, and kissing him softly, "and we are totally screwed." It would have been more romantic, were it not for Louis' interruption by gagging at the sight, though he left at Rose's vicious glare. It had been a good year so far, and this was a good end to the Easter term, of course, they may not be coming back for Summer.
A/N: Please review! x