Chapter 7: The Mysterious Miss Wilkes
"She was up to something!" Rose said, back in the Gryffindor common room, still determined that Scorpius and Al should see how important this might be. Wendy and Melisenda Wilkes had been up to something last year. Rose had been privately sure it had something to do with Marduin, and now she was trying to break into the forbidden greenhouse? It couldn't be coincidence.
"So you've said," drawled Scorpius, sprawled on a couch (it was a dignified sprawl, Rose had to admit; Al never could have sprawled so neatly).
Al looked hesitant. "I know we don't like Wilkes, and Merlin knows she deserves it, but couldn't she just have been trying the door? You know? Out of curiosity?"
"You think Wilkes just happened to be trying to break into the same greenhouse that the Headmistress specifically mentioned at the Feast?"
"I'm saying she could have done because the Headmistress mentioned it at the Feast," said Al. "Maybe she wanted to know what was in there that was so dangerous."
"Hmmm," said Rose.
"James would have done the same thing," Al continued. "James probably already has done the same thing."
"Hmmm," said Rose again.
"I could ask her in detention tomorrow," Scorpius suggested innocently.
Rose just pulled a face at him.
"I think that was a very generous offer," he said with mock offense.
A gaggle of third years walked by, chattering excitedly about Quidditch tryouts, for which signups were ongoing. A piece of parchment had been tacked up after the Feast, and had rapidly filled with ink-spattered signatures of the Gryffindor Quidditch hopefuls. Technically, the only position that was open was that of Seeker, but Kimberly had decided that even previous members of the team would need to re-tryout for their spots. There had been a few grumbles, as the previous captain had not enforced that policy, but overall the Gryffindors were starved enough of Quidditch wins that the team would put up with some small indignities for the sake of at least making the Final this year.
"See you at tryouts, Potter!" a very pretty third year girl called over. Rose thought her name was Adeline.
Scorpius gave Al a very pointed look. "Friend of yours?" he asked. Al just went slightly red and changed the subject. Though why he thought talking about their first week of History of Magic was a good save, Rose had no idea.
Rose, undeterred, not distracted by Quidditch, and certainly not interested in reliving their already-excruciatingly-boring-the-first-time-around first week of History of Magic, silently vowed to keep a close watch on Melisenda.
She considered as she made her way up to her dormitory that it might be more difficult than she initially assumed, though. Melisenda was generally good at making herself scarce around the Gryffindor common room, and it wasn't as though they'd be throwing study parties together in the library anytime soon. Now that she thought about it, she had got quite used to only seeing Melisenda around during classes. Rose couldn't be completely positive she was even sleeping in Gryffindor tower anymore; the rich red drapes were consistently closed around her four-poster bed, and for the most part her trunk sat closed, undisturbed – although her wand was usually on the bedside table at night, so there was that.
Rose made sure there was water in Chelsea Bun's bottle and climbed into her own bed, thinking. Before bed, she started a letter to her parents. She usually tried to write them twice a week, but this first week had been so full she hadn't managed yet.
Dear Mum and Dad,
Sorry for not writing yet this week. Everything is fine! We have a rabbit in the girls' dormitory now. We've named her Chelsea Bun. We think it's a her.
All of my professors are the same this year, which is mostly nice. At least I'll know what to expect for exams. This week we started on Engorgement Charms. We were practicing on feathers, which sounds excellent at first, but by the end of class no one could move for feathers and there was a lot of sneezing.
I have a question. Do you remember what was in Greenhouse Five when you were here? It's off-limits this year, and I'm ever so curious about it. I'd ask Uncle Neville but he definitely wouldn't tell me, right?
Hagrid sends his love!
Love,
Rose
There. It probably wouldn't get her anywhere, but she felt better that she'd gotten started on Melisenda's trail in one way or another. And if anyone (aside from Uncle Neville) was going to remember what was in Greenhouse Five, it was certainly her mother.
. . .
Scorpius fairly stomped back into the Common Room after his detention on Saturday night. Well, he was Scorpius, so he didn't really stomp. His brow was furrowed and his footfalls were marginally heavier, though.
"That went well, yeah?" Al asked. He and Rose had staked out a corner of the Common Room and were devoting, at best, half-hearted efforts to a lengthy homework assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Jones had asked for a basic profile on five different Dark creatures (banshees, ghouls, hags, trolls, and vampires – essentially everything they'd spend the next two months learning about, and learning to defend themselves against). Rose had used about twelve sheets of parchment so far, which were scattered around her haphazardly. Al was still on his first. Scorpius took this all in with a glance and perched precariously on the edge of their table, careful to not disturb the disarray that was Rose completing her homework.
"Callister made us turn all of the buttons back into beetles from lessons this week. Then we had to set up their terrarium and feed them," he said with a sigh, wiping his hand on his robe and then running it through his hair. "The worst was that one of us," he said meaningfully, "didn't quite have the Transfiguration right, so we kept finding buttons in the terrarium and having to reach in." He shuddered. "Insects have too many legs."
"Did you ask Wilkes why she was trying to break into Greenhouse Five?" Rose asked without looking up from her parchment, not entirely serious. She couldn't imagine that would have come up naturally during a detention, and even if it had, she couldn't see Melisenda saying anything useful.
"Yes, and then we had a lovely discussion over cream tea. I think she's not a complete nightmare, just misunderstood," Scorpius deadpanned.
"Didn't think so," said Rose.
"No," Scorpius confirmed. "I did bring it up to Callister, though."
"You what?" Al asked, sitting up straighter. "Why?"
"I wanted to see if he'd tell me what was inside."
"And did he?" Rose asked.
"No. He looked at me as though I'd grown a second head and told me that he could easily cast a Silencio Charm if I was going to keep asking inane questions. Wilkes jumped about a foot in the air when I asked, though."
"Hmmmph," said Rose.
"Well, at least I tried," said Scorpius. "How's the Defense assignment?"
"I'm nearly done," Rose and Al responded at the exact same time. Scorpius looked meaningfully at the stack of parchment around Rose and then at Al's single, lonely page. He watched Rose's quill scratch rapidly across the page. The low buzz of other students in the Common Room filled the silence. Louis and James were holding court over by the fireplace, showing off the newest gadget or potion or powder from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Uncle George was smart to give the pair of them, along with Fred and Roxy, early access to new merchandise, Rose considered. No one could have advertised better for the store than this generation's troublemakers.
After a moment, Scorpius spoke. "Why do you think," he said, "My grandfather wanted to see Melisenda?" Rose's quill stopped (Al's quill had never really started back up again).
"He had her called up to the High Table, but his . . . his assistant or whatever said it was because he knew her grandpa," Al said, looking up earnestly.
"Great-uncle," Rose corrected.
"He did," Scorpius said.
"An old Death Eater pal?" Rose asked, trying to keep her tone light.
"In point of fact, yes."
"So you think that – "
"I don't think anything. Just that Wilkes had some strange comments in detention."
"Such as?" Al asked.
"I don't know," Scorpius sighed. "Nothing obvious. Some nonsense about me failing to live up to the family name."
"You shouldn't let it get to you, Scorpius," said Al. "Wilkes is – "
"There's no family name to live up to!" Scorpius burst out, loudly enough that several students around the room turned to look at them. He shook his head and pushed his hair back, waiting for the stares to subside before continuing. "Wilkes is deluded. People hear 'Malfoy' and think 'Death Eater.' Half the school looks at me like there'd be a Dark Mark if I rolled up my sleeve."
"But we know you're not like that, Malfoy," Rose said. She'd never heard him talk like this before. First there was the whole Muggle primary school thing, and now this . . . "You'd never –"
"Of course not," said Scorpius. "I'm the harmless Malfoy. The Potters' little pet," now his tone was bitter. Al looked as though Scorpius had slapped him.
"I'm sorry," Scorpius said, sighing. "I didn't mean that. Really. Melisenda said it, and I just . . . I can't figure out why my grandfather would want to see her and not . . . it doesn't matter."
"I thought you said you and your grandfather weren't close anyways," Rose said. One look at Scorpius's face told her she'd been a little too flippant.
"I don't feel like I need to explain myself to you, Weasley," he said shortly.
Don't rise to the bait, Rose thought to herself, while simultaneously feeling herself immediately rise to the bait. She opened her mouth, probably to say something stupid, but faltered at Scorpius's deep, frustrated sigh– at her, or at himself, or the situation, she wasn't sure.
"It's just complicated," he said, and Rose's irritation ebbed, because of course that much was true and she knew it. Family was always complicated – wizarding families doubly so.
"I know," she said, hesitating because what she really wanted to say was I still can't understand why his opinion is at all important to you, but she wasn't sure how to communicate that without making everything worse.
Al cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm, uh . . . I think I'm done for the night. Do you want to head up, Scorpius? I think I have some chocolate in my trunk and . . ."
Scorpius nodded and Al packed up his bag, including his single piece of parchment, stowed with great care in the pages of a book for the wrong class.
"Malfoy," Rose said as they were heading up. "Don't – "
"Don't let my emotions be dictated by a psychopathic twelve-year-old," Scorpius said, very much in control again now. "I know."
"I was going to say try not to get detention again," Rose said. It was as close as she could come to an apologetic tone. She wasn't even sure what she was apologizing for, exactly. "It doesn't suit you." She could have sworn he was grinning slightly as he walked up the stairs.
. . .
The next person to get a detention, though, was James, to absolutely no one's surprise. James got detention the way small children got colds – frequently and usually because he had touched something he shouldn't have.
This time it was because he'd been caught trying to sneak down to the kitchens late at night after Quidditch tryouts. The tryouts, according to Al, had gone nearly exactly as expected. All six returning members of the team had won their spots again, with he and James easily routing the other would-be Beaters who'd showed. The new Seeker would be the third-year girl who had tried to talk to Al – Adeline Cadamus. Apparently she'd never tried out before; no one would have been able to come close to Actis Aurelion while he'd been at Hogwarts.
Ostensibly, James's food-stealing incident came about because the team was going to stage a little post-tryout celebration in the Common Room to welcome Adeline. James came into the Common Room, red-faced and muttering something about a map and Roxy. The phrase "Serves me right," was repeated multiple times.
It being a weeknight, the Common Room was somewhat less crowded than it might have been on a weekend. Rose and Scorpius had easily found a place to do work, even with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team taking up most of the prime real estate couches by the fire. Conveniently, they were close enough that Al was able to surreptitiously glance over at their work, no doubt hoping that this would cut down the amount of time he had to spend on his own assignment. Rose and Scorpius had, quite generously she thought, not called him out on this behavior. She had enough Gryffindor spirit to want what was best for the team, and what was best for the team was Albus Potter not failing his classes and earning himself a suspension.
"What happened to the food, Potter?" called a Fourth year named Genevieve Stout, one of the Chasers. Al cleared his throat loudly. "Er, Potter the Elder," Genevieve corrected herself.
"No food," James said blackly, "And now I've got a detention with Pelfer."
"Pelfer?" asked Fred.
"Yeah, Pelfer. The new Filch. He must have been patrolling or learning the halls or something. Found me on my way down."
"But didn't you have the . . . you know . . . er," Fred began, then stopped suddenly.
"I lent it to Roxy," James said shortly. "Temporarily."
"Poor timing, mate," Fred said. James just grunted.
"It's fine," said Kimberly Ashfield, standing. "I think I've got some butterbeers upstairs in my trunk."
"I didn't hear that," said one of the other Chasers, the Fifth year Prefect named Tor.
"For emergencies only," Kimberly said, winking at Fred, who cleared his throat. James grunted again. Despite being firmly back on the Quidditch team, the night was not going well for him.
It was at that moment that Melisenda Wilkes stormed into the common room, and this time the word quite applied. She looked as though she'd been in a real storm, with her hair in a nest, her robes looking windblown, and, strangely, bits of leaves and grass stuck all over. Rose caught Scorpius's eye meaningfully and tried to follow Melisenda up the stairs to the dormitory without being too overt. Unfortunately, Melisenda was also in a foul and, apparently, suspicious mood.
"You following me for a reason, Weasley?" she snarled, turning to confront Rose at the top of the stairs.
"We live in the same room, Wilkes," Rose reminded her, "And I was going to feed Chelsea Bun, if you must know."
"Feed her and get out, then!" Melisenda fairly yelled, flinging the door open and gesturing towards the cage.
Rose looked at Melisenda, who looked nothing short of enraged – eyes wide and wild, breath uneven. Her hand was shaking. "On second thought, I'll feed her later," she said coolly, turning around and heading back down the stairs. She couldn't help adding, "I'd rather not spend any more time with you than absolutely necessary, Wilkes."
"The feeling is mutual, Weasley," Melisenda called after her.
"Nothing new to report," Rose said quietly when she got back to the table in the common room, "Wilkes is unbalanced."
"Ah, but you repeat yourself," said Scorpius.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! As usual, feedback is appreciated in any form. Hope you're having a fantastic week, and welcome to the weekend!
Love always, bbh