ACh 11 Back from Easter Break
My beta readers ask questions and make me clear up some things. Thank you!
Sunday April eleventh all the Hogwarts students came back to the castle, most by train, but many by Floo either to the Hogwarts Great Hall or to a Floo in Hogsmeade and then in through the entrance. After all the dangers Albus and Cleo faced they went back by Floo, the only ones to be sent from the Potter house to the private Floo in Minerva's office.
Sunday at dinner Cassie stayed glued to Scorpius, to his obvious discomfort. After dinner Scorpius told Albus, "We need to meet in our room, privately!"
Once in the dormitory Scorpius whispered, "Muffliato."
The two wizards sat on Scorpius's bed, and Scorpius began to pour out his grievances. "The more time I spend with Cassie the less I like her. Grandmother Black and Mrs. Starkey have everything planned out. We will get married right after Hogwarts, unless Cassie gets pregnant first. There is NO WAY I want to get Cassie pregnant! I never did what you need to do to get her pregnant! A little open mouth kissing, and maybe feeling her but not inside her clothes. Find some spells that will make it impossible, please! I do not want her to find some spell and before I know what happened, like when my father takes me somewhere … I do not want to do that with Cassie!"
"I will see what I can do," Albus replied. "Cleo may be able to help, do some reverse magic. She likes babies, but only good marriages."
"I would really appreciate it," Scorpius replied. "If I spend a week with Cassie right after the end of the school year, at her house or Malfoy Manor, they will let us spend the next week with you and your family, and then I can leave her and accompany you to the International Confederation of Witches and Wizards in Switzerland.
"They will let Cleo come over here after a day or two at Malfoy Manor. I think that is the best option. We missed a whole year, with no International Conference of Witches and Wizards last year, and almost no meeting with the Elves, Galadriel and Thorin. I don't want to mess that up now. I'll fight with Mrs. Starkey and great-grandmother Black after we are back from Switzerland.
"Grandmother is amused by the whole situation. Great-grandmother Malfoy is beside herself with anger and frustration. It is almost worth it to see how angry she is at me not marrying Cleo, which I would never do anyway. My father is torn; I sometimes hate him, but at other times feel sorry for him. He is supposed to be doing what his grandmother Malfoy wants, but his other grandmother and Mrs. Starkey have worn him down as well. It is not like he has any principals he believes in or follows.
"Once we are back from the ICWW I will break up with Cassie for good, I guess."
"What about Rose?" Albus wondered.
"If she gave me any indication that she wanted me to be anything but a friend I would jump at the chance, but I don't know what to say to her. The few times I tried to suggest something she almost bit my tongue off. It is like she is jealous of Cassie but doesn't want to be more than a friend.
"Girls seem to understand this romance thing, but we boys just have to try and figure it out, and at least for me I just don't have any idea how to get it right."
"How was your vacation at Malfoy Manor?" Rose wondered, looking warily at Cleopatra.
"It is like an adventure movie, where you are waiting for the inevitable explosion," Cleo laughed. "Great-grandmother Black and that stupid Mrs. Starkey have everything all planned out, and it is not going to work out! Everybody else is mad, except for grandmother Malfoy and me. We are just waiting for the big, dramatic breakup."
"Why doesn't he break up with her RIGHT NOW?" Rose shrieked. "Stupid Cassie," she mumbled.
"Because by playing along with them until just before the ICWW he can go without her, and I know he wants to break up with her after."
"I thought he had more courage than that," Rose muttered. "I'll never understand boys. I don't know why he ever started to go out with her."
"Do you want to date Scorpius, Rose?" Cleo tried to gently inquire.
"Boys are supposed to do the asking, so we just have to wait," Rose griped. "It seems real unfair. Mum says that girls should be free to ask too, but I would just feel like I was begging if I asked him first. Besides, his whole family hates me. How could I ask him to go against his whole family?"
"You know grandmother Malfoy, Rose," Cleo pled. "She would be on your side. Do not assume you could not win over someone else. Except for Astoria yech." Cleo made a face. "She is gaining weight because otherwise the healers say she is going to die, and she hates it. I should feel sorry for her, but sometimes I just wish she would starve herself to death. I know feeling that way is wrong, but she makes the whole house miserable.
"Is Scorpius as good looking as I think he is, Rose?"
Rose nodded yes. "He is tall and thin, but he is handsome. I really like it that he is usually neatly dressed. Some boys are just slobs, but Scorpius always knows how to dress."
"So do you, Rose," Cleo argued. "You make a handsome couple."
"Except we are NOT a couple," Rose insisted. "We have never dated, or kissed, or done anything but school work, or just been friends with you and Albus and others. We like spending time together, but if we start to kiss, and I let him hold me, and … everything will change. I don't know."
The first week they were back Albus and Cleo found Firenze.
"We have not seen the centaurs since Cleo was captured," Albus noted.
"The centaurs are embarrassed," Firenze explained. "They blame themselves for not suspecting something was wrong when the Merpeople asked to see you."
"How could they have known?" Albus wondered.
"We have a not always deserved our reputation for being wise," Firenze admitted. "Yours is not the only story going on. There are major changes with what will, we think, be the High Elves. They are talking to the leaders of the herds of centaurs, the few of us there are. There are only a dozen herds, all in or close to Europe. We are a creation of the Greek Magi, not magic brought over from whatever or wherever magic came from."
"Is there anything Cleo or I can do?" Albus wondered.
"I do not know," Firenze admitted. "There is some indication that the king and queen of the Magi owns the centaurs, and we centaurs do not wish to be owned like cattle. Nothing is clear in the prophesies or documents, though."
"I do not want to be a king," Albus replied. "I will do what I have to do, but to be a king and start a dynasty, and eventually have a bad descendent or an incompetent one take over, that's not a good idea."
"You probably do not have a choice about being the ruler of the Magi, if you fulfill the prophesies," Firenze proclaimed. "You may have a choice as to how the Magi will be ruled, when and if you succeed.
"People who say that centaurs say yes and no at the same time will complain that I did not tell you that you could choose how the Magi will be ruled. I am sure you will have a choice, but I do not think anyone knows what the boundaries of those choices will be."
"Prophecy is not the same thing as fortune telling, as people keep reminding me," Albus sighed. "Well, after the terror of Cleo's capture and a very long and slow recovery, we really have had a quiet year."
Ruth Stanford approached Albus and Scorpius as dinner was ending, and told them, "The headmistress wants to see us."
Albus send a mental message to Cleo, 'Scorpius and I will be busy for a while.'
Cleo told Rose, 'Albus let me know that he and Scorpius are going to be busy for a while."
Rose scowled. "This mind to mind communication thing you and Albus have is really strange! How do you know when he wants to, like, communicate? Does he ring you up, like on a mobile?"
"Oh, I just know," Cleo replied. "Sometimes, when I am lost in music or something else, my ring does lets me know, though."
"What ring?" Rose wondered.
Cleo touched her ring, and thought, and it became visible, but only to Rose.
"Albus has one like it," Cleo thought, her face scrunched up the way it did when she was contemplating something. "Professor Snape said it is only supposed to work for married couples, but Albus and I don't have any problem." She sighed a big sigh. "The sooner we marry the better as far as I am concerned."
Percy walked over to the two girls, and quipped, "Scorpius abandon you, Rose?"
"He is JUST a friend, and he is busy, thank you!" Rose snapped.
"Sorry!" Percy apologized, hastily backing away with his hands up. Percy was beginning to wonder if Rose wasn't more trouble than she was worth.
Professor McGonagall met the three young Magi, Ruth, Albus, and Scorpius, and accompanied them up to her office.
"What we are talking about needs to be kept in confidence, please," the headmistress stressed.
Everyone nodded their acceptance.
"We are picking prefects for next year," Minerva continued. "We want Ruth's brother Abraham, and for the witch we are considering Annabella Bulstrode."
Albus and Scorpius looked at each other.
"I really did not like Burley, her brother," Albus volunteered, "but Annabella is … well, she isn't much for controversy. She is a good enough student, but very shy. She tries to avoid taking sides. I think she is seeing Richard Fagan from Hufflepuff, and I think he has Muggle parents. If they get together is will probably be a big problem for her.
"Scorpius, what do you think?"
"Annabella is better than Helena Rosier, that is for sure!" Scorpius stressed.
"There were not many students in Slytherin that year," Minerva reflected. "We have not chosen, and please do not hint at anything, but thank you for your insights."
Jane Clark approached Albus a few days later, as he was sitting in the Portrait Room with Scorpius, Rose and Cleo. "Could three of my friends use your Floo to come over and see me next summer?" she wondered. "I know your Floo is well guarded, but if Mabel knew who was coming and you agreed we should be able to use it. My uncle and his wife, I guess she is my aunt now, are Muggles so we do not have a Floo. I can walk into the garden area through the garage at the end of the street. You have to know the spell to unlock the doors, but that is no big deal."
"We will have to ask my parents," Albus replied. "Who do you want to come over?"
"Roseanne Creevey, she is in Gryffindor with me, one of my roommates, and Cara Chang Koizumi and Joey Middy Jr. from Ravenclaw."
"Three girls and Joey?" Albus wondered.
"Cara assures us he's NOT gay," Jane giggled. "REALLY not gay."
Albus laughed.
"He is NOT gay," Cleo confirmed. "Listening to him talk to Rose about women's clothes is funny, though! His family has made several of my dresses, and I LIKE what he does!"
Albus called his mother on his mobile.
"Hello, mother."
…
"I called because Jane wants to know if three of her friends could use our Floo to come over to visit her this summer. Roseanne Creevey, Cara Chang Koizumi, and Joey Middy Jr."
…
"I will make sure we have the mobile numbers for all of their parents. How does Mabel feel about using her mobile?"
…
"I know Mabel has a love/hate relationship with all this modern Magical/Muggle technology," Albus laughed. "She is not exactly an abused house elf, just one who likes to complain about how different our home is from what she was raised to expect. She really appreciates being thanked, but thinks she has to object when someone thanks her. When she thinks you are not looking she smiles.
"I know enough Elfish, and have heard her talking to her friends, bragging about us. She just cannot admit it to us."
…
"It will be good to be home for the summer. Just over two weeks.
…
"I love you too, mum."
Albus looked at Jane. "My mother just needs the mobile numbers of your friends' mother and fathers' and she will get everything set up."
"Thank you, Albus!" Jane exclaimed. "I am going to be babysitting some for my uncle and aunt, and earning a little money. My father says I can start to work and earn a little at Mario's when I am sixteen.
"Dad is not too bad. There are enough Magi that go to lunch or dinner at the restaurant, and he is getting used to magic. I still am glad I am living with my uncle and aunt, though. THANK you for letting me live with you!"
"That was mostly mum and dad, but you are welcome," Albus responded.
"I will be at your house Monday, May third," Cleo told Rose. "I have just heard from grandmother Malfoy. Scorpius will be there Monday May tenth. The only problem is that he has to bring Cassie along, and he hates the idea. At least we are accompanying your parents to Switzerland the end of May, and I think Cassie has to go home the end of that second week in May."
Rose grumbled, "If Scorpius has Cassie over I'm going to invite Percy. I'm not about to be the only witch without a boyfriend."
"I thought Percy was not exactly your boyfriend, Rose?" Cleo wondered.
Rose gave Cleo a furious look. If Scorpius could have a girlfriend she could have a boyfriend. Just because it took her a long time to find a dance partner, and things were not all that natural with Percy, did not mean she could not invite him to her house. Three couples was better than two couples and a spare, and she would be the geeky unlovable spare.
"Would you like to spend a week with me the first week of June, at our summer house?" Rose asked Percy the next time the two were together, and there were no other people around.
"Sure," Percy beamed. This was the first hint that his relationship with Rose was anything more than him being a convenient dance partner, although he had always hoped for more.
"I will ask my parents, then," Rose indicated. "Albus and Cleo, Scorpius and Cassie and I will be there, and it will be more fun if it is three couples."
That evening Rose reflected that she had indicated that she and Percy were a couple, one of three couples. That was not really what she wanted, but she was not sure what she wanted.
2021