Author's note: This chapter is told from Scorpius' perspective.
"We shouldn't be doing this." I hissed at Rose. She had that deadly determined look on her face as she dragged me down a corridor leading to some graffiti. This could only end in disappointment. I was already disappointed... I could still have Rose's hands all over me in a shower stall if it wasn't for the 'mystery'. "You're supposed to be the one obsessed with the rules."
Rose stopped for a second bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Just for a second. I want to have a look before they scrub it off or put a fence around it."
At least we weren't going to potions. Not that I was going to point that out to Rosie.
We stood in the corner before the corridor listening to see if there was anyone around. I easily slipped my arm around her waist. My fingers crawled up her shirt brushing against the 'c' shaped curve of her hip. Rose giggled leaning back into me, her face flushed with excitement.
"Rosie," I murmured into her ear. "Are sure you weren't meant to be in Slytherin?"
"Gryffindor more like." Rose teased, swatting my hand away and continuing down the empty corridor.
She wasn't going to bring up my boggart and I wasn't going to bring up her deluded mindset. I could relax for a second and not rip my hair out over the massive, massive mistake I had made. Rose did not need to see my boggart. Merlin knows how hot she thought I was now.
But knowing Rose the nice silence and memory loss would only last for an hour at the most.
I returned my arm to her waist trying to slow her down and enjoy the moment.
Then Rose gasped and I wrinkled my nose at what we were faced with. The graffiti was a red triangle the same height as me with a square inside it and the stick running down its middle. It looked exactly like-
"That was on Flint's textbook." Rose stepped away from me. "That's the rune." She frowned. "If it is a rune."
I reached out to touch it but Rose swotted my arm back to my side. She scolded me sounding too much like my mother for comfort. "You don't know what that is! Don't you dare touch it."
Rose pulled out a textbook and a self-inking quill from her bag and quickly sketched the triangle on the contents page. She sniffed the air. "Do you think its blood?"
"Only one way to find out." I reached out again.
"Scorpius!"
The sound of footsteps filled the corridor. "Ah, Miss Rose Weasley," And that weird Auror from the train appeared. Oh great! What are the chances? He was examining my face like he was trying to make 'Malfoy' appear in neon letters across my forehead. "Curiousity runs in the family I see."
Rose gave him a closed mouth smile. "We were just leaving. It's a shortcut to class and we forgot," she added helplessly. "Oops." And cringed.
"How are your classes going?" He turned behind him like he had a sixth sense and waved at Miss Weasley, aka Rose's Mother, marching down the corridor. Not that it mattered, her bushy head was down and focused on a clipboard in her hands.
Rose laughed nervously and prodded me in the side, trying to leave the corridor as fast as possible-
"Ms Weasley, your daughter has come to say hello. It's a shame Mr Weasley has left."
Yeah, a real shame.
"I should leave," I muttered to Rose, making a break for it. Rose grabbed my hand and anchored me to her.
"You're going down with me." she hissed through a tight-lipped smile.
Hermione Weasley made a humming noise and looked up from her work. Her naturally serious expression turned into one dominated by raised eyebrows. She made my father's face look warm and Grandmother Narcissa's look jolly. Rose squeezed my hand like a stress ball.
"Hi, Mum." Rosie cleared her throat.
Hermione's eyes darted from me to our hands. They were intertwined in a way that couldn't be passed off as an accidental sticking charm mishap or a long friendly handshake.
"Rose," she walked over to us, glancing at the graffiti. Her expression snapped back into serious work mode again. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
Rose frowned. "No," she said weakly. "We're just going to the library." I could hear her swallow as she attempted to say the next piece of information. "Mum, this is…" she looked up at me and trailed off like she had forgotten my name.
I couldn't let her do it alone. Her cheeks were burning. I released her hand, easily transitioning into pureblood-manners mode.
I held out my hand to Hermione Weasley, looked her dead in the eye, didn't slouch and said, "Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy."
I realised that was a big mistake as soon as the words left my mouth. They were used at pureblood shindigs for a reason. I could feel Rose cringe beside me.
''Scorpius' would've done.' I could almost hear her shrill voice echoing through my head.
And I sounded like my father which was always promising.
I dropped my hand, she had been staring at it like it was a foreign object, and went to plan 'b' still slick with charm.
"Sorry," I said making my voice soft and my eyes wide. "I'm very nervous. Rosie has told me so much about you. And I want to make a good impression."
"Right," she replied dryly. I didn't think for a second she thought either of those introductions had a note of honesty in them. "Rose, you should be in potions right now. I checked your timetable."
"So you wouldn't run into me," Rose said sharply, making me flinch.
Hermione looked at her clipboard again then back at her daughter. She looked closer to Grandmother Narcissa's age than my own mother's. "Rose, I didn't want to upset you-"
Rose grabbed my hand again. "Scorpius is my boyfriend, Mum. I have been going out with him since last year. And he is nothing like Albus he is kind, clever and loyal to me."
I beamed.
Rose's face fell as the words came out of her mouth. She was stunned.
Rose's mother started laughing. My breath caught. This laughter had no humour in it.
"Rose, I don't have time for this." Her mother said suddenly stern. "I know being compared to me is hard but you shouldn't have to act out to feel different."
Rose's mouth opened and closed. "I don't care... what. You. Think. Come on, Scorpius," her voice caught. "We have to go to class-" she let go of my hand and stormed out of the corridor.
"Rose!"
Hermione Weasley gave me a look that said it was all my fault. Two seconds later, she was already halfway down the corridor talking to the Auror about the Daily Prophet and security measures for Hogwarts.
I ran out of the corridor and found Rose huddled in a corner, tears springing freely from her eyes. I sat down beside her not saying anything. She heaved sobs into my chest, holding onto me like I was the only thing keeping her attached to the earth. I rested my chin on her head and rocked her soothingly. I wished the wizarding world could be simple, that Voldemort never existed, the Golden Trio was never formed and Rose could be my Rosie again.
When I approached the Slytherin portrait I was greeted by Professor Crepsley. He had emerged from the shadows in all black robes with his usual distasteful expression written around his curling mouth and beady eyes.
"Professor," I greeted, trying to sidestep him.
Crepsley folded his arms, not having it. I tried to count all the things I did wrong today that could warrant his attention. Which was confusing because Crepsley rarely ever visited the common room or approached any student.
"Mr Malfoy, how are you this evening?"
"Fine." I felt my shoulders go up in a shrug.
His nose wrinkled. "Not at all concerned about the symbol that has mysteriously appeared on the wall?"
I frowned. There was a clear note of accusation in his voice, maybe he knew about me and Rose having a look earlier.
"It's graffiti done by some Gryffindors, surely sir?"
Crepsley crossed arms loosened a fraction. "Surely, Mr Malfoy."
"You don't think I had anything to do with it?"
Crepsley didn't look that stunned by my question, almost like he had been expecting it. I shifted, cold in the dungeons and uncomfortable.
"I know a lot more about you than you would think, Mr Malfoy." He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. Dramatic. "And I know you wouldn't kill a wood inch or be anywhere other than with your Ravenclaw buddies on a Thursday evening."
I kept my face straight.
"But you listen," Crepsley's lips curled higher. "To the boys you are forced to share your dormitory with."
"You think Potter did this?" my voice went up an octave and an involuntary laugh escaped from me.
Crepsley didn't look impressed. "Merlin's beard, no. I think Mr Potter might have encouraged someone maybe. He would not do such an act. I cannot picture him doing anything without direct credit."
"Sir, why are we having this conversation?"
"Because I trust Draco Malfoy. And if anything is being said about the origins of the symbol in Slytherin house I have no doubt it would make it back to you and stick with you, the resident outsider of Slytherin."
My hand went to my tie. "Potter and his thugs don't come into the dorm to do anything other than sleep."
Crepsley nodded. "Mr Flint is looking for you, I believe."
I raised an eyebrow, Eleanor Flint's older brother. Come to beat me up?
"The captain of the duelling club." And Professor Crepsley's cold hand went to my shoulder. The boney limb was heavy.
I swallowed.
"I may have put in a good word for you after I told him in detail how you defended his little sibling."
I moved out from under his grip. "You're playing me," I stated, seeing right through him. "You want me to be your gossip owl."
Crespley nodded, looking around the corridor suspiciously. "Tell me if Miss Weasley, the short ginger one you seem so fond of, has anything to add to my suspicions."
I frowned as he disappeared into the shadows again, adding to my growing suspicions that he was a vampire or an extremely sad and lonely wizard.
"Good night, Professor," I called to the now-empty shadows.
I shook my head, trying to get the bad taste of that encounter out of my mouth. I turned to the portrait that had been silently watching us.
"Pureblood," I muttered the password. He swung back eyeing me the entire time.
I was met with the deafening sound of about twenty voices cheering. The portrait slammed firmly shut behind me. The common room even though it was packed and the fire was blazing was still cold.
"One more time!" Potter yelled from a study table, conducting the crowd. "HARRY POTTER IS DEAD! HAAARRRY POTTER! DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!"
I winced at the squealing quality of Potter's voice and crackling quality of about a hundred others.
And in the corner watching the whole scene with bemused crooked smiles were Flint and a group of seventh years. I made my way through the crowd trying not to think too much about creepy Crepsley and how deeply I was stepping into Slytherin. Was I even ready for this? I was almost elbowed in the face by a particularly enthusiastic cheerer.
When Flint saw me coming he straightened up and whispered something to the girl perched on the arm of his chair. She snickered.
"Crepsley said you were looking for me," I called over the cheers.
Flint stood up, taking time to straighten his robes.
"We were." The girl answered for him. She held out her hand and I shook it, warily. "Aw, isn't he so cute. Just a baby fourth year." She chuckled. She directed the next part to Flint. "Are you sure we shouldn't wait another year?" she stuck her lip out at me and said in a mocking baby voice. "He might get seriously injured. Daddy Draco might get angry at us."
Flint waved her off, his expression stony. "Ignore, Yaxley, she can't tell when the joke gets old."
"I can see," I scowled at the tall, thin brunette with a face that reminded me of the peacocks that strutted around at the manor.
"We already have a baby on the team." She added in, her eyebrows raised at Flint. "Nott is already annoying enough."
The guy on the floor still watching the festivities I recognised as Gregory Nott, the older brother of the guy who followed Potter around like a puppy. They shared the same dull expression and hooded eyes.
"I'm two months older than you." Nott snapped, mockingly punching Yaxley in the shin. Yaxley's snap back mostly consisted of swear words. I winced as she almost stabbed him in the eye with her heeled shoe.
Flint yawned. "I heard what you did for my little sis and in comparison to what the rest of the year is doing for her that earns you major brownie points." He shook my hand. "Valentine Flint, captain of the Slytherin duelling club, that's my co-captain Nessa Yaxley and our only regular member Gregory Nott. And, you, Malfoy, are regular member number two." He dropped back into his chair. "We meet every Wednesday and Saturday at eight o'clock in Crepsley's room. Be late and you're out."
"Bring your wand," Yaxley added with a shark-like grin.
"Bye." Flint waved me off.
And just like that, I was member number two of the Slytherin duelling club.
