Chapter 28: Finding Courage & Surprising Secrets

Disclaimer: Don't own.

AN: Hey everyone, I know two days in a row right? I really need to stop posting Chapters at 4am like I did with the last one. Anyways, this chapters is where the T rating comes in quite strongly, it's a little different then anything I've tried before so bare with me. Oh and the Quidditch thing, the way that I'm working it is that each team plays each other twice during the school year and then the two teams with the most wins face off in the finals. Anyways, please please read and review! Cheers!

-SM

"How are things with Robin?" Rose asked as she sat beside Scorpius in their Potions class on a Friday afternoon. Al had long since apologized about the incident and Rose had taken to even more rigorous practices that had the entire team practically begging for Jenkins to return. Their hard work had however, paid off as Ravenclaw had not only slaughtered both Hufflepuff and Slytherin but were also confident that the Gryffindor would meet a similar fate once the teams faced off again after the holidays.

Rose, Hugo, Al and Lily would be spending the holidays at Hogwarts this year and were pleased to find out that Scorpius would be remaining as well and Charlotte had finally convinced her parents to let her do the same. Her muggle parents and four older brothers weren't to please at first when she had expressed her desire to spend the holidays in the castle, but had relented at last. The holidays were only a day away, making their Friday afternoon double potions class even more restless then usual.

"Fine." Scorpius replied.

"Fine. That's it. Just fine?" Rose raised an eyebrow as she added eye of newt to her cauldron stirring seven times counterclockwise before adding the lace-wing flies and watching her mixture turn the exact shade of deep purple that it was supposed to.

"Yeah. We're meeting after class to exchange gifts before she goes home for the holidays." He told her as his potion turned a similar shade as Rose's.

"Bloody Hell!" Exclaimed Al as his potion began bubbling and turned an angry shade of red.

"I told you! You're supposed to stir before you add the flies!" Exclaimed Charlotte, smiling victoriously at her boyfriend. A loud crack was heard in the back of the room, followed by a high pitched scream and laughter as the entire class turned to look at a Violet Finnigan, who was currently covered in green sludge, steam rising from her cauldron. How she had managed to make it into NEWT level potions, no one would ever know, seeing as she had inherited her fathers nack for potions.

"That's it for today, please submit a vial of your potion for grading." Professor Dira told her students, tossing her waist length hair over her shoulder, a smile gracing her pretty features as she did so. Professor Aydan Dira was a favourite professor at the school. At only 25, she was the best potions master that Hogwarts had seen since Snape and Slughorn had been at the school, and the youngest head of house in Hogwarts History, having taken over the position of Ravenclaw head of house when Flitwick had finally retired the previous year. She had began at Hogwarts when Rose was in first year, having taken over when the previous potions master had retired. She was an enchanting woman with long dark brown hair that reached her waist and chocolate brown eyes that were full of wisdom and knowledge. She had a very soft subtle British accent that she had gained from the years in the UK, having moved from North America for her father, a Muggle business man's job. Most of the boys in their year had taken quite the shining to the young woman, though she seemed completely unaware of the fact. "Happy Holidays to all of you, now go on, I bet most of you have some packing to do." She smiled again, and Rose rolled her eyes at how most of the male population seemed to drool as she did so. "Miss. Finnigan, can I have a moment please."

Rose and Scorpius exited their dungeon classroom alongside Al and Charlotte. "Smell that? That is the scent of freedom!" Al exclaimed, earning him odd looks from his friends and girlfriend. "What? What did I do?"

The other three laughed out loud at Al's confusion as Scorpius excused himself to go and meet Robin.


Robin Sparrow paced back and forth in the entrance hall waiting for her boyfriend to finish class. This charade had gone on long enough and she needed to end this relationship sooner rather then later, before she fell in love with Scorpius, something that would only leave her heart broken. She hated to do this to him right before the holidays, but she needed to do this before she chickened out again. She took a deep breath as she heard foot steps coming towards her and a pair of strong arms encircled her waist as Scorpius dropped a soft kiss onto her head before spinning her around and kissing her softly on the lips, leaving her slightly breathless. "Happy Christmas." He told her, as she grabbed his hand and lead him down a corridor to an empty classroom.

"Scorpius." She said softly, looking at the floor. "We need to have a conversation." She looked up, meeting his gray eyes as he nodded simply and she took a deep breath. "Scorpius, you're a great guy, you really are. You're kind, sweet, funny, athletic, and from what I can tell, nothing like your father or grandfather were in the past, but I just can't do this anymore. I need to stop pretending. It's not fair to me or you or Rose." Scorpius opened his mouth to protest, but she shook her head, effectively silencing him. "I'm not blind nor stupid. I see the way that the pair of you are together. I'm just a substitute, and it's not fair, not to any of us. I deserve to have a boyfriend who likes me for me, not because I remind him of someone else. I just can't do this anymore Scorpius, and I'm sorry for doing this right before Christmas, but I needed to get this off my chest before I lost my nerve. Please don't hate me, you're a great guy and you deserve to be happy with the girl who you truly love, not just a substitute. I really, truly hope that we can remain friends, because I really do like you and I'd hate to lose you as a friend. I know that everyone says that when they break up but-" Scorpius placed a long slender finger to her lips.

"I'm the one that should be apologizing to you Robin. You deserve so much more then this. I should have ended this months ago when Al and Charlotte pointed out to me how similar you are Rose were, and I'm truly sorry for leading you on. I really, honestly do like you Robin-"

"You're just in love with Rose. I know, anyone with eyes can see that much, well apparently everyone except for Rose." Robin said, and he chuckled sadly, not even bothering to try and protest. "So what do you say? Friends?"

"Friends." He repeated and she gave him a hug before leaving him alone in the empty classroom. Scorpius sighed and couldn't help but feel awful for stringing Robin along for such a long time. He was surprised, but also grateful at how calmly she had been. He had expected and deserved to be yelled at, but he truly admired Robin's maturity about everything. Scorpius sighed sadly as he walked back to Ravenclaw tower, he put his hands in his pockets, feeling the long slender jewelry box that contained Robin's Christmas present. He changed direction, heading towards the owlery. He scribbled a quick not on a piece of parchment before selecting a large black owl, tying the note and the box to his leg and setting him off before heading back to the common room.


"You alright?" Rose asked him as he slumped onto the sofa beside him. He nodded.

"I'm fine Rosie." He told her unconvincingly, earning him a raised eyebrow.

"You don't sound fine. Everything okay with Robin?" She asked and Scorpius sighed.

"Yeah, it's fine. She broke up with me is all." He told her.

"What?" Rose exclaimed. "Why? The pair of you were a good match."

"My heart hasn't completely been in it for the past little while." He told her, stretching the truth slightly. "She called me out on it, and we decided that we'd be better off friends. Now can we please talk about something else." Rose nodded, letting the subject drop.

"Sure Scorp, but if you ever want to talk, I'll listen." She told him, smiling softly, which he returned. "Now. Al, Lily, Hugo, Charlotte and I are having a little Christmas camp out in the Room of Requirement on Christmas Eve. You better be planning on joining us." Scopius' face broke into a wide grin.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."


Christmas Eve night had finally arrived, and Al, Charlotte, Lily, Hugo, Scorpius and Rose made their way to the seventh floor corridor across from the strange painting of the trolls learning ballet, avoiding patrolling professors with the aid of the Marauders Map. Rose paced back and fourth three times and a door appeared. She opened the large wooden door, and the six teens entered the grand room. Six beds sat against one wall opposite the fire, where there stood plush arm chairs and sofas much like the ones in the common rooms and a large, beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in the far corner.

"Wow." Lily exclaimed, flopping down on the bed closest to the door.

"I could get used to this place." Said Hugo as he sat down on the bed beside the only Lily was currently occupying. "So, what are we going to do. It's only half past nine. Rosie, don't even think about suggesting homework, it's Christmas Eve for Merlin's sake!" Everyone laughed as Rose looked highly offended.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Hugo. I was going to suggest that we play a game." She told her brother matter-of-factly as she reached into her bag and extracting a rather decent sized vial and placing it on the table in front of the fire. "Anyone up for a game of truth?"

"What's that?" Hugo asked his sister as everyone joined her by the fire. Rose just smiled.

"It's veritaserum of course." Rose stated and the others just stared at her like she had lost her marbles. "What?" She asked innocently.

"Where did you get that?" Al asked disbelievingly.

"Well dear cousin, do you remember when we brewed this potion last month? I may have forgotten to vanish a certain quantity of mine. You have nothing to worry about, I received perfect marks for it, Professor Dira was particularly impressed by it. It's perfectly safe." She said, and the others continued to stare at her. "Oh come off it you lot, even I break the rules every so often. I am a Weasley after all." She smiled sweetly. "So? Who's in?"

The group made a circle by the fire, placing the vial in the centre. "I've never played this before." Scorpius said.

"It's quite simple really. Basically the way that we always play is that someone poses a question and everyone in the circle must answer it truthfully or face a dare. The veritaserum will make this a whole lot more interesting." Charlotte told him. "It's always interesting what you learn about one another.

"Oh so it's like truth or dare without the options?" Al asked, and Charlotte nodded.

Over the next two hours the group learned many new things about each other. They learned that Hugo only pretended to love the cannons because he didn't have the heart to tell his father otherwise, Charlotte dreaded going home over school holidays because her four older brothers still tormented and made fun of her for being a witch, Lily's greatest ambition, much to Al's displeasure, was to work with dragons like her Uncle Charlie and she was the sole Potter child to inherit her fathers ability to speak parstletongue, Al often wished that he had been sorted into Slytherin over Gryffindor just so then he would have something to set him apart from his father and older brother, Scorpius hadn't spoken with his grandfather since his argument the past summer with the old man about his friendship with Rose, and he still to this day didn't know why the old man had ever been released from Azakaban and Rose had a lot more of a hidden rebellious streak then she had ever let on, being made apparent by the small tattoo of a phenoix that was present on her hip, something that had shocked her friends and family members who were now sworn to secrecy about it because she knew that her parents would kill her if they ever found out. Al had been forced to drink a nasty concoction of pumpkin juice mixed with cockroach clusters, vomit flavoured Berty Bots and Troll Bogies when he refused to answer the question of who his favourite cousin was. Scorpius was forced to run starkers through both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dorms when he refused to answer Charlotte's question of who he was in love with, Rose meeting a similar fate having to go skinny dipping in the black lake at her refusal to answer the same question.

Rose grinned wickedly as the group returned to the Room of Requirement after her little outdoor adventure and dried off. If Charlotte wanted to play dirty she could play dirty. "Okay, so who here is a virgin?" Rose asked, completely forgetting for a minute that she was related to half the room. Everyone took a sip of the veritaserum, but Hugo hesitated, something which didn't go unnoticed by Rose, who had just come to the realization that she was playing this game with her brother and cousins, not the girls in the Ravenclaw dorm. "Hugo! For Merlin's sake you're only fourteen." Rose exclaimed in horror at her younger brother. Hugo blushed a bright red, quickly taking a swig from the vial.

After Charlotte revealed that yes in fact she and Al had been sleeping together for quite some time now, and Scorpius had revealed that he had with Robin, Hugo managed to convince his sister that no he in fact not done that with Mika Longbottom, it was Scorpius' turn to ask a question, and Rose immediately regretted the direction that she had taken the game in. "Okay, so who here has had oral sex?" Scorpius asked cheekily. Lily looked absolutely disgusted, much to Al's delight as she answered no along with Hugo. Al, Charlotte and Scorpius' answers were unsurprising yeses, but everyones jaws dropped as Rose turned bright red and nodded.

"Oh my ears!" Hugo exclaimed in horror, and Lily looked like she was going to throw up.

"Okay, well I think that I'm permanently scared for life." The youngest Potter said before heading off to get ready for bed, Hugo following shortly after.

"You?" Scorpius said, eyes wide as he processed the new bit of information that he had just learned about his best friend. "When? With who?" Rose blushed a deeper shade of red and mumbled something so softly that no one could hear her.

"What was that?" Charlotte asked, smirking. Scorpius sometimes thought that she would have done very well in Slytherin.

"Jenkins okay. Someone spiked the punch after the finals last year and well..."

"Oye I can still hear you." Hugo said. "Please wait until I'm out of ear shot, there are some thing that I have no desire to know about my sister." Everyone laughed at Hugo and decided to call it a night and went to prepare for bed.

"Oye! Potter, Mason, no funny business, I think we've already scared the young ones enough for one night." Scorpius teased the couple as they climbed into the bed closest to the wall.

"Oh sod off Malfoy." Al called back "You and my cousin better behave yourselves too, after all, we wouldn't want Hugo to have an aneurysm, on second though... ow! Hugo!" Rose and Scorpius both blushed at Al's words as Hugo launched a well aimed stinging spell at the raven haired boy. Scorpius made his way over to his bed, where Rose was sitting cross legged on the end and he climbed onto the bed mirroring her position.

"Remind me why I thought that it would be a good idea to play that game with my brother and cousins?" Rose asked him, pulling her legs to her chest and burying her head in her knees, as Scorpius laughed.

"I don't know Rosie, but you're the one who changed the tone of the game." She shook her head.

"Oh please, Charlotte was headed in that direction when she dared you to run starkers through the dorms. I wasn't expecting her to actually answer it, and well I just sort of got caught up and forgot that it wasn't the girls in the Ravenclaw dorms that I was playing with." Scorpius laughed again.

"Jenkins? Really Rosie? You could do so much better then that." Rose groaned.

"That was just a huge mistake Scorp, if it wasn't for the spiked punch it never would have happened." She told him.

"Uh huh. So, did you enjoy it?" Rose glared at him as she reached over grabbing his pillow and hitting him with it repeatedly until he held his hands up in surrender moments later and the pair flopped back on the bed laughing.


Scorpius awoke the next morning to the whispers of Lily and Hugo and the feeling of a warm body laying beside him. He opened his eyes to a mass of dark red curls and smiled. The pair had stayed up talking for at least an hour after the others had gone to sleep. Scorpius carefully untangled his legs from hers and climbed out of the bed, pulling the covers up around her and pushing a stay curl out of her face, before turning around and remembering that he wasn't alone in the room as Lily and Hugo stood there grinning like cheshire cats.

"Oh shut up." Scorpius told the pair of fourteen year olds.

"Malfoy, you're an idiot." Hugo told him. "Will you just tell her already? Your pining is getting old."

"Tell who what?" He asked feigning ignorance.

"You bloody well know what he's on about. The whole bloody school knows what he's on about." Lily told him as Al and Charlotte joined them.

"So, who gets to wake Rose?" Al said, and four sets of eyes landed on Scorpius.

"Me? Why me?"

"Well, out of all of us, she's least likely to cause you any lasting bodily harm." Al told him.

"Plus, she's in your bed." Charlotte added with a smirk that would have made his grandfather proud. Scorpius sighed in defeat before making his way over to where Rose slept and sat down on the side of the bed, shaking her softly.

"Rosie? Come on love, time to wake up." He said softly. She shifted slightly before opening her eyes. "Happy Christmas love." He said with a smile "Everyone's waiting for you." Rose stretched and climbed out of bed and the pair made their way over to where the others sat by the tree and the group began to open their presents.

"Oh! Scorp! Char! Looks like grandmum sent the pair of you jumpers." Rose exclaimed excitedly as she passed her friends the lumpy packages.

"Looks like the pair of you are honourary Weasley's now." Hugo said and Scorpius smiled. As much as his grandfather would despise that, Scorpius loved the thought. Scorpius looked over at Rose who was currently deep in a conversation with Lily and Charlotte, the simple silver pendent that he had given her, secured around her neck.

"Will you just bloody tell her." Hugo said once again. "She fancies you too you know." Scorpius just looked at the young fire haired boy.

"It's not that easy Hugo. I'm a Malfoy."

"So what? It's not like your last names stopped you from being friends." Hugo said.

"That's different, Hugo. Friends is one thing. Your father would kill me. Besides, why would she love me?"

Hugo just shook his head. "Will you just think about it Malfoy. The last thing you want is to be living with regrets. Just open your eyes and you';; see what I mean. Now come on, we should go down to breakfast. I'm starving."