"Can we tell, Kenny?" Abby pleaded stirring her steaming potion vigorously.
We were in our lovely end of day Potions class practising the Shrinking Solution when Abby brought up it up. Kenny had left our group table to get more leeches from the store cupboard after Abby bugged him mercilessly for ten minutes to get her more. I liked Potions because I found it relaxing but I couldn't enjoy the heat rising up from my cauldron when Abby was breathing down my neck. We had this conversation about a hundred times over the last couple of days.
"No," I answered firmly. "This is between you and me."
"I really want to see Kenny's reaction," Abby said. "And It's so annoying not being able to talk about Scorpius. I'm sizzling with questions that need to be answered. And they can't be answered because of Kenny's obliviousness with us 90% of the time."
"We can't go around the castle talking about this loudly and casually, Abby," I replied wincing as a drop of Abby's potion flew out of the cauldron onto her textbook. "If you stir that any faster it will go everywhere."
Abby sighed loudly, but didn't slow down, "How hard is it to go from brown to purple!?" she snapped at the bubbling contents of her potion. "I've been stirring for at least a half an hour. What's wrong with my potions skills today?! I can do this potion in my sleep.
"Your daisy roots were pretty thin that could've been it," I suggested stepping aside out of Abby's potion splash zone.
"Maybe," Abby said. "Do you have any?"
"No,"
"Kenny!" Abby yelled across the room.
Kenny was climbing down the store room ladder with a fresh jar of leeches balanced between the crook of his arm and his shoulder. He almost fell down the ladder at the sound of Abby's yell. He clung for dear life onto the ladder as the leech jar wobbled.
"What?!" he called back across the room, his voice came out as an uncomfortable whine.
"Some DAISY ROOTS!"
"What's the magic word?" Kenny asked annoyed.
"Avada Kedavra!" Abby shouted back.
Professor Nott, a quiet man who most of the time pretended he was deaf and blind when it came to class antics like Abby's, decided to step in. He stopped lecturing a Hufflepuff on the proper uses of the Shrinking Solution to march over to Abby.
"Miss Sliver, why would you say such a horrible, dangerous spell?" Professor Nott asked his nasally voice at an all-time nasally. "I think De-"
"Relax, Professor," Abby said still stirring her potion. "My wand wasn't involved. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."
Professor Nott's long beard twitched, "How about I'll see you in detention tomorrow, Sliver, does that hurt you?"
"Yes!" Abby said flicking her spoon out of her cauldron causing goop to fly everywhere.
Professor Nott, knowing better than to add fuel to Abby's raging fire, turned deaf again and walked to the other side of the room.
"Thanks, Abby." Kenny moaned looking down at the runny potion staining his robes. "These are a new pair."
Kenny had returned from the storage cupboard just in time to get soaked in half made Shrinking Solution.
"Just be happy it wasn't the finished potion," I said.
Kenny groaned at the thought and placed the jar of leeches on the table with a thump with the daisy roots on top of it.
"Professor Nott is so mean," Abby whined. "He seriously can't take a joke."
"Abby, if it was Professor Crespley you would've been expelled by now," I said calmly.
Abby grimaced, "Don't remind me of that wrinkled toad."
"Professor Crespley is an amazing teacher." Kenny inputted returning to his simmering potion next to me. "He gave me a loan of-"
Abby pulled a sour face, "Can you not see my face."
"I'm talking to Rose. I'm ignoring you." Kenny huffed. "You've screamed at me, almost made me fall off a ladder and ruined my robes all in the space of five minutes."
"Give me some credit," Abby said. "It was at least three."
"Did he let you borrow a book or notes?" I asked.
"A book," Kenny said brightening at the word. "It's quite interesting. It's about boggarts. Did you know that studies have shown boggarts are related to patronus'? I want to learn the background information before we have to face them in class."
"We all know what Rose's boggart is." Abby hummed organising her daisy root.
"I don't," Kenny said.
"A giant rat," I said giving Abby a 'shut up' glare. "When are we going to be confronting the boggart?"
"In a month, I think, Professor Crespley said it could be more depending on what type of boggarts in the castle he can find," Kenny replied.
"Kenny," Abby said innocently. "If Rose had a boyfriend who do you think it would be?"
"You're hilarious, Abby," I said dryly, trying to focus my attention on the bubbling potion before me.
Kenny snorted, "What do you mean 'if'? I thought she already had one."
"What?" I said my head snapping to Kenny. I did not expect him to say that.
Abby jumped in glee. I turned away from Kenny to glare daggers across the table at Abby. What had she said?
"Who?" Abby grinned. "How do you know? Whoooo?"
Kenny looked at me thoughtfully.
"I don't want to start a catfight-"
"Who?!" Abby and I both demanded.
Kenny put his hands up in the air in defeat, "That ummmm Slytherin guy, what's his name?"
"Kenny, you snooped without me!" Abby shook her fist at him.
"How do you know?" I exclaimed completely abandoning my potion. If he knew how many people did?
Kenny looked uncomfortable under all the urgent attention. He pulled at his collar.
"I saw you in the Library with him more than once. Looking rather close."
I flushed.
Abby slammed her hands down on the table making all our cauldrons shake.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, firstly, I thought it was old news because I've never heard you or Rose talk about it," Kenny said. "And secondly, I don't want to talk about Rose's love life. I hate romance and relationships they are predictable and boring."
"You could've of whispered it to me, at least," Abby said. "It's Scorpius Malfoy after all. Malfoy, with a capital 'M'."
"Don't so dramatic, Abby," Kenny said. "The first letter of all surnames are capitalised."
"Scorpius Malfoy," Abby repeated spitting it out. "Not even a gasp? Do I need to spell it out for you? S-"
"You don't need to spell it out for him," I said shortly. "He's on the good side. Does anyone else know?"
Kenny raised an eyebrow, "How should I know? I kind of forgot about it until Abby brought up the boyfriend thing."
"I hope no one does," I said. "Was there anyone with you?"
"I'll say it again." Abby interrupted. "Scorpius Malfoy. Blonde, pureblood, Slytherin, is in a gang, son of Draco Malfoy and his grandfather had his soul sucked out by a dementor for being an evil death eater."
"Malfoy is alright." Kenny shrugged returning to his potion. "Hasn't done anything against me."
"What?" Abby exclaimed.
"But was anyone around or with you?" I pressed.
"Rose, it's the Library. A public place." Kenny said heating up his cauldron. "I was much more interested in the books than you and other people. I just noticed you and him because you talk loud, laugh a lot and get shushed by Madam Pince. If you leave that simmering any longer it'll go flat?" Kenny pointed to my neglected potion. "There's nothing worse than a flat Shrinking Solution."
I frowned, "Right," I picked up my spoon and started stirring again.
"15 minutes before bottling, everyone, and not a second over." Professor Nott's voice rang out and snapped me back to attention.
Merlin, I was far behind.
Abby cursed and quickly sliced and diced her daisy roots.
"Pray that this works," Abby moaned chucking the roots into her cauldron. "I confronted Scorpius, Kenny."
"I guessed that," Kenny said briskly. His potion was miles ahead of mine and Abby's.
"You should meet him. He's surprisingly boring. The boy you would picture Rose falling for."
"He's not boring. He has a great personality."
Abby exclaimed, "That's what you say about a boy when you're scraping the bottom of the barrel."
"He does!" I protested adding the rat's spleen (ew) to the potion. "And he's funny, reliable, kind, smart and-"
"A rebel without a cause." Abby batted her eyelashes and put on a squeaky voice. "A handsome young Romeo Montague."
"You two continue talking about him," Kenny said. "I'll be over here with my potion."
"He says at the age of 66 surrounded by cats," Abby commented with a laugh.
"That sounds like a nice future. I'll be on the other side of the country to you two." Kenny replied.
"Nice idea, Kenny," I said moving quickly. "I think I'm might make it."
"Why aren't you changing to purple? PURPLE!" Abby raged at her potion. "How is it still brown? What do you have against me, potion!?"
By the end of potions class, Abby had managed to make her potion turn purple. After a lot more daisies, leeches, and a colour changing charm. I was sweating, flustered mess by the time I stoppered my potion in a vial.
"Are we going to Hagrid's?" Abby asked after a fail attempted at swapping her Shrinking Solution with Kenny's. Kenny had swatted her hand away and threatened to use the Sticky Fingers jinx on her.
"Yeah, we haven't seen him in a while. I want to see how the thestrals are doing." I said.
"Maybe, he'll show us the hippogriff. We can pick up some skills before the hippogriff lesson." Abby grinned to herself. "Imagine flying on the back of a hippogriff. Do you think it would more comfortable than a broom?"
"I really don't want to imagine anything broom related. Do you want to come, Kenny?" I asked.
"I was planning on finishing a couple of essays. I might join you next time." Kenny said keeping one eye on his Shrinking Solution and the other on Abby.
"You should. Hagrid's thestrals are amazing."
"Spoiler alert his rock cakes are actual rocks." Abby staged whispered.
"I can't argue with that." I agreed. "Don't tell Hagrid, though. He takes pride in his cooking."
We put our potions on the professor's desk and headed for the door. Even though the classroom was in the Dungeons the air felt stuffy and damp. I couldn't wait to get outside.
"Aren't you going to bring Stephen?" Kenny asked. He didn't ask it in a teasing way he asked it casually.
"Who's Stephen? Do you mean Scorpius?"
"That's a great idea!" Abby burst out as we left the potions classroom. "The more people who see that Scorpius isn't a Malfoy-"
"I thought he was," Kenny said, clueless. "Are we talking about someone else again?"
"Inside, Kenny." Abby made a jabbing motion at her chest. "Inside! Hagrid adores flobberworms so how can he not adore Rose's boyfriend?"
Even though I knew Abby was thinking of a completely different world of never ending rainbows I couldn't help but smile at the word 'boyfriend'. I had to ask him if he was. I wished he would spontaneously come out and say it. Although the title didn't bother me as much as it used to. I was happy with the way life was going.
Author's Note: This chapter is a bit short but I wanted to post something tonight, you had to wait long enough for it. Sorry for the slow update November and the start of December were overwhelming and writer's block wasn't particularly kind to me. Thanks for sticking with me through that rough patch! I appreciate all the reviews, follows and favs they seriously make my day :) Beyond happy to be back in action. Expect more around the weekend! Thanks again!
