Thursday January 14th 2019:
"No no no, you're doing it all wrong," Rose stated out loud to Polly, who was seated at the desk in front of her.
"What a surprise," Dominic whispered to Albus and Scorpius seated at the table from behind him and Rose.
"You must aim just right with your wand. Unless of course you would fancy that rat becoming only half a goblet. Just one mistake can mess up the entire spell attempt," the Gryffindor said to her humiliated friend.
Polly shielded her face from the gawking eyes of the Transfiguration class as Rose drew attention to her.
Dominic leaned close to Polly's desk so he would not have to use Rose's volume of voice. "I find when it comes to Transformation branch of magic, it is best to get the most clear image in your mind of the outcome's proportions. So, perhaps try raising your wand a tad higher to where you believe the top of the water goblet would be, since we are using a shorter target."
Polly reacted more negatively to Dominic's words than Rose, insulted that a Slytherin dared to speak to her.
Tapping the curious rat thrice from a precise angle with her wand, Rose grinned in pride when the rat was replaced with a crystal clear water goblet.
"Your turn," Rose gestured to her study partner.
Dominic reenacted Rose's motions, but this time lowered his wand to match the rat's level of height instead. Just like Rose, he was successful. In the place of the water goblet was now a shabby brown rat with a rapidly twitching nose and whiskers. Dominic and Rose soothed the nervous animal from each of their own angles.
Albus was focusing on this little exchange much more than his own attempts, this was the happiest he's ever seen Rose and Dominic together. Despite them always getting excellent results when teaming up, they didn't seem to enjoy being close to each other. Now they were petting that untranfigured rat with proud smiles on their faces, especially when they were rewarded twenty house points for each of their houses.
"Not bad for a Slytherin," Rose said, elbowing Dominic's arm. "Told you we get the best results together."
"What does being a Slytherin have to do with anything?" Dominic asked, vexed.
Just like that, their friendly interaction was punctured like a pin in contact with a balloon. Albus decided to finally return to his own spell attempts so he would not have to endure the upcoming squabble.
"Well, not much when it comes to results, but attitude," Rose said.
"Look who's talking," Dominic mumbled.
"I heard that, and thank you for further proving my point."
Dominic refused to continue arguing and instead focused on his textbook with a frown.
Albus' failure at minding his own business further interfered with his own failed spell reciting. He was further appalled by the way Scorpius was looking at her; his palm was pushing up his cheek so much that Albus swore that his sweaty palm would eventually slip and he would knock his head against the desk. It's not like that precise accident never happened before, infact, it has been going on all school year so far. Albus disapproved of that dreamy and dumbfounded face Scorpius directed at Rose; it was an expression she did not deserve. Not to mention everytime that expression caught Albus' attention, or that one calm and admiring sigh of Scorpius reached his ears, he would get angry and mess up even more for whatever he was doing.
This time was not different, the Potter gave up on his weak attempt at a Transfiguration spell and threw his wand to the floor. That snapped Scorpius out of his trance and he rushed out of his seat so he could find the wand and pick it up.
"Albus Potter, please keep your temper under control," the diminutive middle-aged Professor Meldis demanded, her gaze on the Slytherin while strolling around the room to check the students.
"Yes, mam," Albus muttered.
Scorpius returned to his spot next to the frustrated pre-teen and held out his wand for him to take.
Albus looked up to see the Malfoy's sweetly smiling face and his heart had already started to melt. "Thanks," Albus mumbled, taking his wand back.
Rose was now by Polly's side and held her arm in position. "Now, remember to watch your aim."
"Just one mistake can mess up the smallest spell attempt," Scorpius fondly mimicked, in both the voice and the actions of Rose.
Several students laughed, but Rose sharply turned to the Malfoy with clear disapproval.
"She doesn't think I'm making fun of her, does she?" Scorpius whispered to Albus.
"Ask her yourself," Albus whispered back, irritated.
Scorpius faced the glaring Gryffindor and then looked back at his friend saying, "Yup, she thinks I was."
Rose didn't seem to let that small misunderstanding go, because when she had class with the Slytherins again later on that day for History of Magic, she was lecturing Scorpius
"That is wrong and you know it! At least, you should know it," Rose barked pretentiously.
"Not to be disrespectful towards you or anything," Scorpius said politely, "but I think you are confusing me with you."
The entire class of second-year students observed this little 'Battle of the Nerds' happening before them, all while barely anybody understood what exactly they were arguing about. Their "battle" translated into gibberish to the student's ears, but it was still the only interesting thing to ever come out of that class.
Adjusting his spectacles and sluggishly looking over the book he was reading at his desk, Professor Binns commanded, "What is this? Enough with this petty squabble."
"It is not petty, Professor. The history of our world is a necessity, and people need to learn from their mistakes. Like Malfoy over here needs to," Rose argued, throwing a sharp glare towards the blond.
While watching this commotion, Albus pondered why they didn't simply ask Professor Binns himself to confirm these answers, but mostly pondered why Rose was being the way she was. At least Scorpius was being civilized. It's as if Rose was the offspring of a past Death Eater and snobby Malfoy, not Scorpius.
"You can be such a prat, Malfoy," Rose said.
That insult was enough for Albus to forcefully rise from his seat and shout out a defensive charm as he pointed his wand in Rose's direction and a bright white light erupted from the peak and knocked her from her seat and onto the floor.
Professor Binns approached Albus as everyone's eyes were now on the outcast Slytherin—including the ones on the floor helping Rose up.
"Albert Perkins, report to the Headmistress at once," Binns said.
Rose appeared to be unharmed as she returned to her seat; she glared directly at her cousin and said, "You really do belong in Slytherin."
Albus' face grew grim. "You're right. I do."
"In what way exactly?" Scorpius questioned Rose, for the first time ever sounding genuinely upset with her. "If you are referring to the way that he's ""bad"", that's not what the Slytherin house truly represents. You said something similar to Dominic as well. I don't think you—"
"Enough!" Binns demanded, his usual droning voice raising ever so slightly. "You and Miss Grant go with Albert Perkins to the Headmistress' office for interrupting my class."
"Scorpius didn't even do anything!" Albus protested.
"Go, now."
Albus marched away in frustration with the classroom complaining in disappointment from the show being over.
Once Albus reached the corridor, Scorpius called out to him. Albus didn't stop, but he did slow down.
Scorpius caught up, and once he did, neither of them bothered once to look at the slowly walking Rose far behind them.
"I'm sorry that I got you into trouble," Scorpius quietly apologised.
"You're sorry?" Albus growled. "You were the one being respectful, all while my stuck-up cousin acts like she's Merlin himself and finds nothing wrong with continuously insulting people."
Albus' speed increased. "Rose always was stuck-up since we were little, but even then she knew when to quit and actually be fun and respectful. I don't know what happened to her. I have no idea what you see in her."
"I know there's good in Rose that she's not showing. Look, forget about her, let's just—"
"Great idea," Albus interrupted.
"Albus, there's something else I wanted to tell you," Scorpius admitted, capturing his friend's pace of walking as well as he could. "Do you know why I got put into Slytherin?"
Albus was about to reply, but then he quickly realised that he didn't know why. "No."
"I felt pressured," Scorpius said. "My parents were both in Slytherin, so was my aunt, and so were my grandparents on both sides. I wanted to make my family proud, so I had myself set on not getting any other house. If I didn't have my head so set on it, who knows?"
Albus stopped in his tracks. "So, you weren't meant to be in Slytherin this whole time?"
"Well, no. I didn't say that exactly. I said I might have been put somewhere else."
"Why are you telling me all of this now?"
"Because of Rose bringing our house up, and I figured I would be honest with you."
Albus was at a loss for words, not even caring about Rose's glare while passing by both of them.
"Sorry it didn't work for you. I know you were more set on being in Gryffindor," Scorpius said.
Albus still didn't know what to say, and eventually he simply followed Scorpius down the corridor without speaking—closer and closer to receiving their punishment.