Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine. It's all JK Rowling's. :) dammit.

The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please
(Chapter Ten-Expect the Unexpected)

To say James loved free lessons was an understatement. To say he loved having the first lesson on Monday free was an even bigger understatement.

Especially when, last week, he saw that it was not just he and Fred who had that lesson free.

Louisa was free too.

And this morning, Fred had chosen to go back to bed.

So James and Louisa were alone, and after yesterday's moment, to say James was happy was an understatement.

"James, are you even writing?" Louisa asked, leaning over his shoulder and looking down at the paper in front of him.
"Wh-what?" James stuttered, coming out of his distraction.

"You seem really far away. You'll never get that essay done if you keep letting your mind wander."
James nodded, picking up his quill which had been left in one place in the parchment for so long that there was now a large ink blot in the middle of his essay.

He could feel Louisa smiling at him satisfactorily as he pretended to write, before she leant back over her page to scribble more on her already pages long essay.

God, she was cute when she was concentrating. She leant so far over her work that her hair fanned over the desk, and every now and again she would lean back, examine her work and bite her lip... How was James ever meant to concentrate with her sat so close to him?

"So how are you, after you know, yesterday?" Louisa asked quietly as she wrote.

He sighed, since he was trying not to think about it. He still felt guilty over it all, especially as Lily had looked so broken this morning. "I'm alright."

"Really?"

He nodded unconvincingly, trying to save face in front of her. After all, he'd already been all weird and honest in front of her yesterday; he didn't want her to think he was a complete loser.

She nodded, putting her quill down.

"It's funny, the more I talk to you, the more I think I was wrong about you."
James smiled. "That's good isn't it?"

She nodded. "I guess so."

She picked up her quill and started to write again.

"You haven't asked me out in while, all this year in fact." She said nonchalantly, her eyes firmly on the paper in front of her even though James could tell she wasn't writing a word.

"Yeah, are you sad about that?" he joked hopefully, nudging her.

She glanced up. "I was just saying." He raised her eyebrows at her, and she squirmed. "Get back to your essay."

He smiled to himself, and then leant back over his paper as if writing but secretly studying her.

In fact, in the whole free lesson, he only wrote two words in tiny writing in the corner of the desk.

Louisa Potter.

God, he was such a girl.

...

Al got back from breakfast to find Scorpius waiting for him, sat on the bed with his arms folded.

"Hey." Al said simply.

"How was breakfast?" Scorpius asked quietly.

"Same as always. I-I bumped into Rose. She was waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs, but she's not there anymore so it's ok."
"Yeah, it's fine. I've only got the next four lessons with her." He replied sarcastically.

Al nodded, not sure what else to do. As much as he was on Scorpius' side, he didn't much like the position he was now in. His entire family had, for some reason, decided to be on Rose's side, and since Al was mad with Rose, he was forced into not talking to his family. He couldn't tease James or laugh at Lily, and he couldn't joke with Fred; it was like he'd lost his friends. He hoped it would all end soon, but he looked up at Scorpius and decided that that wasn't likely anytime soon.

"Shall we go to potions then?" Al suggested.

Scorpius nodded, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Did you see the Quidditch list?" Al asked awkwardly as they headed down the staircase.

"Yeah."

"Sorry about James crossing you out. I don't know what he was thinking, Gemma's rubbish compared to you."
Scorpius nodded. "But it's not about Quidditch skills, is it?"

Al didn't reply, and they walked in complete silence all the way to Potions. They hadn't really talked much in the whole weekend. In fact, Scorpius had kept his curtains closed around his bed for the majority of time since the whole Rose thing.

When they arrived in Potions, it was quite empty. But not empty enough that they didn't have a few whispers about them when they went inside.

Al was dreading Rose coming to the lesson. Especially because she was assigned the seat right next to them.

"Hey Scorpius!"

Paige Parkinson's voice was a sound that Al found scratching a chalkboard preferable to.

She was the biggest pain ever. And, because her mother had been best friends with Scorpius' Dad, she felt she was supposed to be Scorpius' best friend, despite the fact he very strongly disliked her.

"What do you want, Paige?" Scorpius sighed tiredly, starting to take his books out of his bag.

"Nothing, just wanted to say that I heard what you did to Dave. You were completely right, I think. And I heard that Weasley girl told you off for it. She's completely pathetic-"

"Shut it, Paige."
Despite the fact he was angry with her, Scorpius still would hear a bad word against Rose from anyone. He even got angry when Al ranted about what she'd said.

Paige glared at Scorpius for a second. He continued to unpack his bag obliviously, but then accidentally knocked it over sending the contents flying towards Parkinson.

She giggled annoyingly, and bent down to pick up books for him.

"What's this?" She asked, standing up and holding a book that Al had never seen before. It was too scruffy to be one of Scorpius' possessions, Al was sure.

"Give it back." Scorpius said simply, reaching towards the book.

Instead of doing as she was told, Paige flicked the book open.

"'This book is the property of Rose Jean Weasley'. Wait, is this Weasley's diary?" She asked excitedly, turning to one of her friends and smiling.

"Give it back." Scorpius said again, looking slightly angrier. Al just looked at Scorp questioningly. Why did he have her diary? He hadn't stolen it, had he?

Paige looked at him for a second, as if considering following Scorpius' commands, but then changed her mind and stood up on the table, holding the diary out of his reach.

Scorpius immediately pulled his wand out of his pocket.

"You can't." Al said, looking at him meaningfully. "You heard McGonagall, if you curse one more person you're out of here."

Scorpius sighed, putting his wand back resignedly.

Al considered cursing Paige himself, but his body didn't seem to allow this; cursing her would just bring far more attention to the whole thing.

So Al could only stand and watch as Paige read aloud from the diary, teenagers pulling their chairs towards her to hear better. He felt as helpless as Scorpius looked.

"'25th December, 2021.'" Paige started, in a posh voice that Al assumed was meant to be Rose's. "'I hate this time of year. It's not that I don't love spending time with the pains in the ass that are my family, but I just find it depressing. All the parents get all upset over the people who aren't here, and then the war stories start. I know that it was an awful time, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I've never understood why a time that's meant to be so happy has to be ruined with such upsetting stories. It's worse because James and Fred aren't here, and I hate to admit it but they do make everything a bit more fun. Al and Hugo have spent the whole day outside on their stupid brooms, and Louis and Dom are over in France. It's been so boring that I've had nothing to do but think. Think about this time last year. I still can't believe it was only a year ago when it seems like only yesterday to me. I wish so much that I could forget it like he has; but I can't. He means too much to me.'"

Al wasn't sure what Rose was writing about, but one glance at Scorpius told him that he understood every word.

"'I wonder sometimes if he knows how I feel. Sometimes he gives me these looks and I think, just for a second, that it's possible he feels the same way. But then I'm reminded of his words 'Just the mistletoe' and I see that I'm just being stupid. He doesn't love me like I love him.'" Paige laughed. "She's a bit emotional isn't she? 'He'll never love me like I love him'." She laughed again, and the Slytherins joined in. "Bless her, poor little rejected Weasley! 'And that's why this Christmas is really miserable. Because he's not here. And I'm always a little bit miserable when he's... not...'" Paige stuttered, and Al span around to see Rose in the doorway.

She stood, tears filling her eyes, before turning and fleeing the classroom.

"Tetchy!" Paige joked awkwardly, getting down from the table.

"Just give me it!" Scorpius yelled, holding his shaking hands out. Paige practically threw the book at him, and Scorpius ran out of the room without saying anything else.

Al just stared at the door his best friend and his cousin had just run through, hating the fact that he was completely oblivious to everything.