Ch 20- Undercover
This chapter was sooooo much fun to write! I know I normally leave my notes for the end but I wanted to thank you all for reading with me! This is my favorite chapter yet, so please let me know what you think with a review!
This was bad. So bad. So, so bad of a thing she was doing, Rose kept thinking even as she continued up the Ravenclaw Tower stairs under the Invisibility Cloak with her cousin James. Since when was she such a bad person? She was breaking at least fifty school rules right now, not the least of which was willfully aiding and abetting known troublemakers, and soon to become actual thievery.
She swallowed audibly, "Why are we doing this again?"
"Sh! Now is not the time to get cold feet, Rosie!" James hissed instead of answering her question, focusing on not tripping up the steep stairwell.
Lorcan jumped at the noise and glared at them, a look greatly enhanced by the raven mask he was wearing. "Now's not the time to get caught, either! Pipe down already!" Grumbling, he turned and adjusted Lysander's Ravenclaw robes on his shoulders. Despite being twins their frames were a little different, though he doubted anyone could actually see the difference. He certainly felt it though, like he was borrowing a suit just half a size smaller. And the blue lining on the robes was just weird after being used to red all the time.
But, he knew, it was a perfect way to sneak into the Tower. There were benefits to being the bad twin; one of which was going undercover as the good twin. And people not batting an eye when he steals the personalized, magical mask of the good twin right in front of the whole Great Hall. Lysander hadn't even thought much of it, just gone back to his book with his usual dispassion.
He adjusted the beak of the raven and approached the door knocker, hitting it nervously. This was the one part that could ruin their plan; if the Eagle gave a riddle they couldn't figure out, they'd be stuck. Horribly.
The bronze face came to life and spoke "I'm so fast you can't see me, Though everyone sees straight through me. I don't stop until the day you die. What Am I?"
"Urm…" Lysander would know this. Totally. Lorcan though glanced at Rose and James- or at least where he expected them to be- and then said "Nothing?"
The Eagle looked at him with disapproval, then hardened again.
"No!" Rose groaned, "Stupid, the answer to a riddle is never 'nothing'!"
James cursed as well, looking around the corner. "Just have to give it another guess, then. Lor, is anyone coming toward the Tower?"
The disguised Gryffindor frowned. "How would I know?"
"Using the Map, genious."
Lorcan paled. "I thought you had it."
"Why would I have it? I'm under the Cloak!"
Rose groaned; they had just had to prove Roxanne right by forgetting to bring the Marauder's Map. She really did have to do everything, didn't she? "I'll give it a go," she muttered and stepped out from under the cloak, knocking on the eagle.
Because she'd been hidden by the Invisibility Cloak, it viewed her as a fresh riddler and therefore opened its mouth. "I'm so fast you can't see me, Though everyone sees straight through me. I won't stop until the day you die. What Am I?"
After a moment she looked over at Lorcan. "But- it just gave that one."
"Yeah." He muttered. "And it'll keep giving it until someone guesses right. Go on. Answer."
"Um…" Rose blinked and swallowed again. She didn't know. Obviously, this wasn't really a good riddle. Real riddles were supposed to be about logic and theories and stuff, not a wild guessing game. And with Lorcan's silly 'nothing' answer bouncing around in her head she couldn't think of anything better. It was ruining her detecting skills. She tried to stall for time, "It's complicated…"
"It's simple and easy," a smooth voice disagreed with her, making her turn to see a Ravenclaw student came up the stairs. The tall boy was black haired with sharp features, a small crease between his brown eyes the only expressive part of his face. And he was frowning at Rose. "But why is a Gryffindor trying to enter here?"
Rose froze nervously, staring at him like a deer in headlights. "Um… you see…"
"We're picking something up for Christine," Lorcan cut in with the smooth ease of a practiced liar, keeping the beak of his raven costume between his eyes and the newcomer's.
"Ah." The boy said, looking between the two as he continued up the staircase. James held his breath and pressed into the wall. Just because he was invisible didn't mean that he couldn't be walked into.
It was so close that he felt a tug on the fabric as the boy walked by, but walk by he did. The Ravenclaw knocked, the eagle gave the riddle for a third time, and he answered without hesitation "You are a blink."
Rose's mouth dropped open. That was almost as bad a guess as 'nothing'.
"Can't see it, can see through it, and stops when you die. My next guess would be breathe, but the initial wording implies that there's a bigger difference depending on first or second points of view."
As if in agreement the bronze knocker closed and opened its eyes once before closing them permanently and opening the door. "A blink?" Rose muttered incredulously, "How is that riddle a good password?"
"Kept you out," the boy said dismissively as he took his shoes off, adding them to the pile by the door. "Didn't it?"
She felt her face flame, but James's invisible hand gripped her wrist and pulled none too lightly. "Focus," he whispered as loud as he dared. If Rose got into an argument with this bloke they'd lose their chance to find something before more people returned from the feast.
Lorcan walked her to the bottom of the girl's staircase and then picked up a book from the Ravenclaw Tower's private library. He might look like his twin brother Lysander, but Lorcan didn't sound like his smarter sibling and certainly couldn't talk like him. Opening his mouth for an extended period of time would be tantamount to confessing. Reading- or at least pretending to- would be the best way to dissuade the other Ravenclaw from attempting conversation.
Fortunately, the other boy seemed just as interested in reading material, pulling out a towering stack of books before he even started on the first. Rose was impressed by the private library amassed by Ravenclaw house, but there was a deplorable lack of organization on the shelves and far too many unofficial 'books' that looked like they'd been written by the students themselves.
James gave Rose another invisible shove, and then she was nervously walking up the stairs to the Ravenclaw dorms. Each step on the plush carpet echoed in her ears like a death toll, ringing with all the reasons she shouldn't be doing this. She paused halfway up the landing, looking down wistfully.
"What's wrong?" James asked, glancing back at the Ravenclaw boy with a light curse. If he hadn't been here there wouldn't be need for this Cloak or whispering.
"I just…" she gulped. "Are you sure?"
"Com'on Rose! You're the only one who can." James told her, knowing exactly what to say. "We need you."
Her eyes flickered in the direction of his invisible form for a moment, then she lifted her chin and nodded, going up the stairs to find Zoethia Malam's bedroom.
"He's late," Zambini mumbled for what felt like the hundredth time as he peered between the dark shelves of the seemingly endless Restricted Section. As the sun set the darkness of the library was quickly becoming overwhelming. A few sparse torches flickered in the hall to light a path for teacher and Prefect night patrols, but here, in the library, there was only a single lantern at the entrance. In the back shelves, it was easy to imagine the flickering shadows as shapes, a professor or the caretaker-elf prepared to jump from the shadows and catch them red-handed.
"I know that," Nott answered just as softly even as he checked his own watch anyways. Professor Sybble would be doing a bed check any moment now, and if the boys weren't there there'd be hell to pay. They needed time to reach the dungeons. He looked at the doorway, then back at Zambini and asked "Should we?"
It was no surprise that they were both considering whether they should just leave him on his own. They were Slytherins, after all. They all looked after priority number one first. It was more surprising that they'd waited this long already.
It spoke to how valuable Malfoy's allegiance was to them. Or maybe that was just an excuse to help their friend. Either way, they'd have to make a choice any moment now.
Zambini shifted his weight nervously, watching the shadows. "What if he blames us?"
"He'd have to be caught first," Nott snorted derisively at the possibility.
"Sybble will know he was somewhere tonight, though. He could pin it on us!"
"He wouldn't. It's not like that'd work, anyways- Sybble would just leave us all in trouble."
He whimpered a bit, spinning when the shadow he'd been eyeing moved with the curtains. Then an impossibly loud bang! echoed between the bookshelves. Both of them jumped and took cover under the study tables- they were taking cover, not hiding- until they were certain that nothing else was going to happen.
Putting a hand over his racing heart as they stood up from the ground, Zambini looked at his friend as he waited for the verdict.
The choice was made for them as Malfoy abruptly turned the corner, almost running into them in his haste to get back to the dorms. After a moment of mutual shock he scoffed and bonked Zambini on the head.
"What're you waiting for? Move." He commanded, but without any real bite to the tone.
They glanced at eachother before going after him, wondering how much of the conversation he'd overheard.
Malfoy lead them unerringly through the hallways despite the lack of light, his hand in his pocket as he thought back to the book he'd found with a frown. The Merlin, being defeated by someone, anyone at all- and by someone who'd claimed to be a sorcerer, not a wizard. It was mindboggling.
He's tried to read as much of the book as he could, finding the highlights. Back in that era, wizards and witches were far more secluded from Muggles than even now. Any magic user had been labeled as a druid and soothsayer, whether or not they had the gift of an all-seeing eye. The young Merlin, who was apparently called 'Emrys' at the time, was almost killed during a royal boar hunt. At the last moment though Arthur slayed the beast, saving his life and tending his wounds in secret.
Unwittingly the young Arthur had saved the entire society of wizards with his silence. Had it been discovered that had accidentally set foot in the royal forests during their wanderings they would have been executed. Or at least, the muggle knights would have attempted to execute them. Anyways, from that day on he'd gained Emrys's loyalty. Emrys left the forests to repay Arthur, but he did so against the wishes of his elders and was exiled from his family.
That was when he took the name 'Merlin'.
Mordred 'the sorcerer', from what Scorpius had gathered, had also been exiled but from a different group of magic-users. He was a bastard child of one of the nobles and had embarked on a one-man crusade to demolish all he could of England's ruling class. According to the memoir, he could have succeeded if not for Merlin.
He'd only gotten that far before a chill permeated his bones as a voice sang in off-tune notes "Oh what fun- a boy is being dumb. Watch him leave and he'll be done~"
Scorpius had paused mid-step and halfway through flipping the old page, looking up at the familiar voice. Gritting his jaw and standing wearily, he saw Peeves floating just ahead of him. The poltergeist was glowing a soft blue in the dim light and smiling impossibly wide.
He hadn't seen Peeves in a while; was he still a 'friend', or was Peeves here to expose him?
"Snottgrout would find it fun as well," he said, his words all teeth as he floated closer to Scorpius.
He had instinctively taken a few steps back in response, then looked down in surprise. When had he gotten off the ladder? A few more steps forward and he would have triggered the library wards, landing himself in detention and ruining his record of success. He glanced at the memoir, then closed it with a frown. Was this book cursed in some way to captivate its readers, or was he seriously so tired he'd forgotten that?
Maybe he'd been pushing himself too much, Scorpius mused as they reached the dungeons. Not only had he almost walked out of the Restricted Section with an unchecked book, but he had failed to notice Peeves until the poltergeist had spoken up.
He hadn't noticed the glowing, floating pest of Hogwarts. There was a small chance Peeves hadn't been there that long, but it was small. It was more likely that Scorpius was either tired or slipping, and Scorpius refused to believe he was slipping.
...but maybe joining Nott at the Dueling Club from time to time couldn't hurt.
The trio slowed to match the pace of a few other stragglers leaving the feast late, walking slowly and slowing their breath. In a few moments when they turned the corner they'd pick up the pace again, because any Slytherin who didn't rush to meet Sybble's schedule was just begging for detention.
"We struck out," Nott reported, eager to know if the night had been worth their venture. Zambini was watching with hope in his eyes as well.
"I found something," Scorpius admitted after a moment, "But I didn't get a good enough look at it."
They deflated visibly. "Damn. It'll be hard to sneak in again."
"No sneaking required," Scorpius smirked, looking over them both. "We just need unrestricted access to the Restricted Section."
Nott laughed at the idea. "As if that even exists."
Zambini caught on quicker for once, narrowing his gaze. "Wait…"
"Oh but it does exist. Someone already has it," Scorpius smiled a Salazar grin, adjusting the cuffs of his robes. "And I plan to take it from her."
Everyone was always in the dumps the day after a holiday; after the rush and excitement was over, there was not one person immune to what Zoey called the 'holiday mourning period', and so breakfast the next day was notedly quieter than usual. Or at least, that's what she would have called it if she were anywhere to be found.
Jonovan Orion frowned as he looked through the crowds in the Great Hall the morning of November 1st. He couldn't see Zoey anywhere. Of course, she could just be blending in for once since her hair should be her normal color still. He tapped his plate for a moment, then slid his gaze to his left shoulder, where Rasputin was waiting as always.
"Can you find her for me?"
The murtlap paused his breakfast and met his master's gaze, then nodded before he scurried off to do as he was bade. Quite a few people moved out of his way and lifted their feet off the ground, used to the sight of Rasputin on the prowl.
It took Jon a few more bites of bacon to realize what had just happened; Raz had nodded. Nodded. That was unbelievably human. Jon had long ago realized his familiar was smarter than average, but he wasn't that smart. Or at least, he certainly hadn't been when they got him from Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley.
He should keep a closer eye on that, he decided as he watched his familiar scour the hall for Zoey.
Rasputin searched the giant room diligently, ignoring many of the people he passed since he could tell by scent alone they weren't his second master. She wasn't at her usual table, so he moved on to the others.
Roxanne Weasley was happily eating her breakfast when she felt Rasputin scurry over her foot, and she jumped with a scream, almost falling into Lorcan's lap.
He chuckled and caught her with ease, leaving his arm around her waist as they glared at the magical rodent. "Want me to squish it?"
Rasputin stopped walking, looked at them over his shoulder and bared his teeth in obvious challenge.
White as a sheet, Rox quickly shook her head until the Orion's familiar resumed his wandering. "That thing creeps me out," she confessed, keeping her feet off the floor and leaning against Lor to keep her balance.
"You look almost as bad as Rose," he teased, looking over at the other girl in question.
Rose Weasley looked like the walking dead. Her hair was tangled and obviously unbrushed, she kept jumping at every footstep, and there were dark circles the sizes of Galleons under her eyes.
"Whose fault do you think that is?" she groused, lifting a dark gaze toward Roxanne and Lorcan in turn. "Not only did you pin your job on me, but you and James abandoned me when a patrol came!"
Roxanne joined in on the accusing glare toward Lorcan.
He raised his free hand. "In my defense, we thought you knew about that secret passage."
"Well obviously you were wrong. How am I supposed to know about a passage that's supposed to be a secret?" Rose scowled. She had been dead lucky she hadn't been caught.
"Which one was that?" Rox asked, looking at Lorcan.
"The sixth floor crest tapestry."
"Really? I thought everyone knew that one." Rox looked at Rose with something resembling pity. Lorcan smirked triumphantly.
"I saved your mission last night. You two should be groveling with gratitude."
Roxanne considered actually doing that just to make fun of Rose, then she remembered that Rasputin was still running around down there and decided against it. "Oh right- what did you find? Any juicy information?"
"She did even better," Lorcan said with obvious embellishment. "She got a picture."
"Oh I'll bet Christine Creevy loved that. What were they doing?"
"It wasn't enchanted yet," Rose said with pride, "But I just had this feeling about it, you know? It was of her and Orion, so I grabbed it and we dunked it in the photograph potion."
Lorcan picked up the tale. "It was a picture of them on a date. And at the end…" he couldn't resist a pause to build the suspense.
"What? What?" Roxanne pestered, elbowing him ruthlessly.
Lorcan and Rose met each other's gaze over the table, then smirked and said at the same time "Zoey kissed him."
Rasputin's ears pricked at the sound of his second master's name, but by the time he got close again the conversation had moved on to something regarding news and he lost interest. He had to return to his master unsuccessful.
Jon frowned at the failure, but he wasn't mad with his familiar. He was just worried about Zoey being alone, today of all days.
Lysander was having a great day. So far, he'd gone through breakfast, potions class, transfiguration, herbology, and now even lunch without someone breaking his concentration. He'd almost finished his second book of the day- and his turkey sandwich- when he realized he hadn't had to answer a single onslaught of questioning from a certain energetic, stocking-clad Ravenclaw all morning.
Looking up in a rare moment of curiosity, he found that the seat to his right wasn't occupied. Come to think of it, Zoey hadn't been at breakfast either...
"Hey, Lysander?"
The Ravenclaw looked up and over, raising a curious eyebrow at the Gryffindor.
Albus squirmed under the speculative gaze, "Have you seen Zoey? She wasn't in Astrology last night, or Ancient Runes today."
Lysander shrugged, "Maybe she was skipping?"
"Zoey doesn't skip class."
It did seem unlikely of her, but Al's tone was unnecessarily defensive. Then he remembered that the young Potter had a budding crush on the girl. Hadn't they gone out for date recently? Lysander tilted his head.
"Have you seen her since your date to Hogsmead?"
"No. Some. Only during class. It's not like she would avoid me because of it." Albus flushed, now trying to quell his own doubts. "So we may have run into Leena, and she may have freaked out at the idea of Madam Puddifoot's before I took her to the Shrieking shack… and… oh, I forgot to actually say it was a date…"
Lysander raised both eyebrows now, tapping his finger on the book.
"Well I'm sure she knew! We did... Other things. Like... Um... Oh- we had butterbeer and candies and, ah..." Albus trailed off uncertainly, looking down. Now that he thought about it, it hadn't been date-y as far as first dates go. Had he screwed up his chances with her?
Albus's self-conscious discomfort was practically palpable. Lysander pressed the bridge of his nose with a soundless sigh. "You did fine, Zoey told me she had a lot of fun."
"Really?" he perked up, "What did she say?"
"She... said she had fun." Lysander replied conclusively. Of course that hadn't been all the girl had said, but frankly she had talked so much that the Ravenclaw had tried to tune out her distractive ramblings. The corners of his mouth went down into a frown. He hadn't been entirely successful.
"Oh," he deflated again at the repeated answer, "okay... Well, if you see her tell her I said 'Hi'."
Seeing that the conversation was ending, Lysander hummed an agreeing affirmative as he turned back to his book. Albus sat next to him, most likely in hopes that Zoey would show up for lunch. She didn't come though. It was just the two of them for the meal, which didn't bother Lysander. And he wasn't worried about the transfer student.
With every tick of the clock Rose felt her face twitch with the threat of snapping in two. She paced behind the empty teacher's desk with a scowl on her face, her face growing more red by a shade or two every time she looked at the clock.
Sorpius Malfoy was doing his best to ignore the irate Weasley as he played against himself in a game of chess, but wasn't succeeding particularly well. "Would it kill you to sit, Thorn?"
"Yes!" she answered instinctively, then paused as she actually realized the question. With a huff she sat atop the teacher's desk, rapping her nails on the wood with quick, angry motions.
Visibly disappointed that the action hadn't actually caused her to explode or some such similar, Scorpius looked at her with continuing annoyance. "Stop acting like this is such a huge deal."
"But it is! Here we are, forced to take out our precious time to teach her ungrateful arse, and she doesn't even bother to show up!"
"How dare she."
"How dare she," Rose agreed with far more emotion. "How dare she- she-" words failed her.
"Without any kind of warning or even a letter," Scorpius supplied calmly, leaning over his chess set and netting his fingers together.
"It's atrocious manners! Completely inexcusable! As a human being!"
"Nobody should skip tutoring without any kind of warning."
"Exactly! Nob-" Realizing far too late his dry and subtly accusing tone had been backing her into a corner Rose stopped midsentence, shutting her mouth with a snap.
"How disrespectful- atrocious manners, for someone to disappear in this fashion. Without word or warning. There is absolutely nothing that makes that okay," he summarized in a dry tone, obviously referring to Rose's own disappearing act on him and Zoey the last session.
Setting her jaw, Rose took the bait. "Well, well I suppose if there were a real emergency, then… it might be okay."
He raised an eyebrow.
"But- but come on! It's Zoey, when does she ever take anything seriously? I mean we've been working with her for a month now and there's barely been any kind of progress. You can't honestly think she's trying." Rose blew at a bang that was on her forehead. "She's just using us to pick up her slack."
A muscle in his jaw clenched. So just because some people had more difficulties, they were dismissable? His mind flew to Melissa and her situation, and he only curbed his biting comments by a hair.
"If that's how you feel," he said instead, "then why are you letting her?"
"I am not 'letting' her!" Rose defended with a frown. "I just… she…"
Scorpius watched her avoid his gaze with a frown of his own. "Thorn, is everything alright?"
He had no idea why he'd asked that. What was wrong with his mouth? It was not supposed to ask that.
Rose missed his moment of panic in the wake of her own, tilting her head forward so that her hair covered her eyes. "Wh- wh- what on earth do you mean?"
"Are you- are you crying?" Scorpius got up to try and see her face.
"No!" She shrieked even as she jumped away from the desk- and him, her voice suspiciously tight. "Merlin. Just because you caught me crying once does not mean that I cry at the drop of a hat like a pathetic brat."
"Okay then. What do you cry about?"
Huh? Rose looked at him over her shoulder, wondering why he cared.
Scorpius repeated the question "What makes Rose Weasley cry?"
"I…" Her face was glowing she was blushing so much. "It- just stress. About- about stuff, and- noneofyourbusiness."
"Well that was unnecessary," Scorpius quipped, but he was smiling. Were her insults always a result of her nerves?
Her stomach did a funny little flip at his soft expression, and she scratched her nose nervously. She realized Albus was right, Scorpius's smile was infinitely different from his usual smirk. And he'd smiled for Zoey before.
For some reason that notion made her want his attention for a bit longer. "It's.. hard. To live up to everyone's expectations, I mean. Like- it feels like someone's always watching me, you know?"
Scorpius did know. He lived with that pressure- the trailing eyes, the lingering whispers, the preconceived images people held of his personality before they even met. Though Rose likely hadn't been the target of jinxes and spells and other malicious intents, it was doubtless stressful on the rebound.
Now that he thought about it her mom had been pretty renowned for being a genius, and a lot of her teachers expected her to be just as stellar in all her classes. And he supposed that, as the daughter of two of the Golden Trio, she had her own share of limelight in the public eye. She probably wasn't falsely accused of attempting blood rituals in her backyard on a semi-yearly basis, but again, Scorpius could imagine stress as stress.
Because he did know, he didn't see any reason to deny it. "I know." he told her and was surprised by the emotion that accompanied the words. He cleared his throat lightly in an attempt to clear it.
Rose blushed and looked down, surprised he hadn't made fun of her for being weak or something. Feeling like she should offer him something in return, she asked "And… is everything okay with you?"
Unprepared for the query, it was Scorpius's turn to get defensive. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"Well- you've been in the library a lot. Not like I'm following you or anything! I just- I'm in there a lot myself, and I've noticed. And you, um, you're there at the same time, and… you and your pals haven't been tormenting us this year."
Tormenting? She'd only been hit with the light stuff. Scorpius Malfoy scoffed, wondering if she was exaggerating or if Rose was seriously that fragile.
"Which- which is a good thing! I, um, with everything happening this year, I'd probably be behind in class if you were still doing that." she blushed and explained "Albus and James have been fighting. I've been trying to be mediator, but…"
"Ah." That explained a lot. There was trouble in both of Potter's paradises- no wonder the Legacies had been unusually quiet. Realizing she was still waiting for an answer, he told her "I've got it under control. We- I have been researching a private project this year."
Rose frowned, private project? No doubt it was another prank to pull on her cousins. She was about to ask him what the 'project' entailed but his gaze swept past her. Rose looked over her shoulder as a culmination of voices crescendoed from the hallway.
Scorpius moved to open the door, revealing a shockingly large influx of green and blue robed students originating from the direction of the quidditch pitch. After a moment of confusion the Slytherin went to close the door.
"Their scrimmage must've ended." He realized, a hint of disappointed annoyance tinging his words. If he'd known Malam was going to skip the tutoring session he would've been out there with the rest of his team, taking notes and practicing to perfect his technique.
"Wait." Rose grabbed Scorpius' arm to stop him from shutting the door, "Zoey might be with them."
"And if she is you're going to...?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow, waiting.
"Hex her ungrateful arse and drag it back to this bloody classroom."
Scorpius felt his mouth twitch in amusement; it seemed Rose wasn't as calm and composed as she appeared. They both began to scan the crowd, looking for the girl with unmistakable blue hair and striped stockings, but to no avail.
Scorpius saw Zambini and Nott laughing and mimicking some of the plays as they passed by, neither of them noticing their housemate. Odetta was beaming at her players as she watched them disperse in various directions, while the Ravenclaw team did likewise- although with a much more deflated air. Scorpius felt himself smile, he could correctly conclude the practice match had been a victory for his house.
The pair peeking out from the classroom went widely ignored for the most part, the flow of students soon becoming a trickle. Neither tutors had spotted Zoey. Rose was getting frustrated, her foot tapping irritably on the stone flooring. It stopped abruptly as she spotted her brother Albus, walking alongside a familiar Ravenclaw bookworm.
"Lysander!"
The head buried in the book tilted upwards, glancing around before finding the source of the noise. "Rose?"
"Have you seen Zoey? She was supposed to be here ages ago."
"Nope." Lysander replied deftly, "Haven't seen her."
"You're sure?"
His gaze flickered to Scorpius before back to his book, "Positive. Haven't seen her all day."
"Maybe you haven't seen her because you've been buried in that book all day." Rose snapped, annoyed at the fact that so much of her day had been wasted.
Lysander frowned. He was smart enough to realize the passing insult was just an outlet for her general frustration. But that didn't make it right.
Albus caught up with his friend, planning to congratulate him on the match that'd only been lost because of a bludger injury early in the game. He frowned at Rose's harsh words. "Seen who exactly?"
"Zoey," Scorpius answered as Rose hid behind his arm for some inexplicable reason. "She didn't come to tutoring.
Al's frown deepened, "Hm, she wasn't in ancient runes today either."
"She's in Runes?" Rose asked in surprise, realizing that she must be at the lower level like Albus if that were true. She wondered why the girl hadn't asked for any tutoring in that subject yet- it was a hard class.
Her gaze met Albus's and she froze with nerves, remembering their last conversation. She still didn't know if he'd forgiven her for calling him a kid…
Albus was remembering that conversation as well, but he was beaming. "Looks like you took my advice, Rose! When'd you tell him?"
"What!?" Rose squeaked, her voice cracking, "I- I didn't, I don't..." Her eyes followed Al's gaze and she flushed crimson as she violently yanked her hand off of Scorpius' arm and stepped away from his side. "That's not- I mean- He- I- It's not-" with every stammer she could feel the heat in her cheeks intensify.
Scorpius was beyond perplexed. His brow creasing as he looked between the two Legacies. "What in the wizarding world are you two blethering about?" Lysander was actually curious enough to look up from his book.
Caught under their combined stares Rose scratched her nose again. "I, um, it's just… Scorpius, I really-" She couldn't do it. She couldn't tell him she liked him, let alone how long she'd like him for. Especially not with an audience. "-admire you. In class, I mean. You're always focused you're really impressive with your spells and stuff."
Scorpius Malfoy didn't know what to say. He was- he was beyond flattered. Whether she was lying or not didn't even occur to him, just the idea of being recognised for his personal merits by someone who'd pinned him down by his family name for so long had him soaring with elation.
Rose blushed at the look he was giving her.
Lysander looked between them and in a moment deduced her lingering feelings. He discarded the information as unimportant, simply because he hated drama.
"No." Albus, oblivious to the embarrassment of the moment, looked at Malfoy, "That's not what I meant Rosie. When did you tell him that you-"
"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER! If you say one more word I swear I will strap you to a chair, yank your hair out and feed you to the giant squid!" Rose screeched, bursting through the opened doorway to grab her cousin by the arm. Albus protested vocally as he was dragged down the hallway.
Scorpius watched her go in confusion, then turned to Lysander since he was the only person left. "Aren't you going to rescue him?"
"No." Lysander shrugged. "He'll slip away on his own. He's had plenty of practice, after all."
Sure enough Albus escaped her hold and disappeared around a corner. Lysander was certain Rose would never find him, and so resumed reading his book as he went on his way.
Scorpius watched him leave, then looked back at Rose and shook his head.
He still didn't understand girls.
Once upon a time, Zoethia Malam reflected over a small cup of cheaply-brewed hot chocolate in each hand, she had looked forward to coming to this place. Taking a sip and willing herself not to grimace at the taste, she kept her pace even so as not to spill the other.
She nodded at the Healer, who recognized her and opened the door to the restricted security. Restricted security was a bad contradiction in terms, she realized. It implied that the security was restricted and not increased to reduce access.
The man coughed a bit, and Zoey came out of her thoughts to find she'd stopped moving as she mused. Blushing and apologizing quickly, she started walking down the hallway that took exactly forty-nine steps for her to walk down.
That number had been a lot bigger when she first came here, Zoey remembered and sighed as she took another sip of the chocolate drink. This could really use some marshmallows. There were none though-
Chiding herself for her own distractible mind as she counted the twenties out with her steps, Zoey looked into the other rooms of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies with passing interest. It was a fine tool to dissuade other people from opening unwanted conversations, but it did her little good when on her own.
There were new people in the rooms. At first that had inspired her, shown her that the magical doctors had a record of success. Now she found that it just reminded her of how long she'd been waiting, and was horrified to find herself relieved when she saw faces multiple times. For now it was the reminder that waiting was normal that settled her nerves, but part of her feared she'd someday become vindictive enough to be happy that at least other people were suffering the same way.
Fourty-nine steps. Zoey paused at the open door to R527, taking a deep breath. She was feeling fear, anxiety, and dread. That wasn't allowable, so she pictured them traveling like leaves on the breath of her exhale to leave her positive emotions behind. Smiling like she always did, Zoey turned the corner.
"I'm back!" she called, stepping aside to let a training healer get to the fresh sheets. She bit her lip before she could ask a habitual did you miss me?
It was a good thing she did. Zelina Avery was out of bed and sitting by the window, her emerald green eyes staring out the glass in a vacant expression that only came after an episode. At the words though they turned a piercing sharp look in Zoey's direction, narrowed in suspicion. "Back from where?"
Feeling that blade deep in her soul, she was careful to keep the smile going. "Oh, I've been out of London for a little while. I was just telling Crissy I'd returned."
The training assistant, used to this charade, smiled and played along. "It's good to see you again," she agreed even though Zoey had been standing in the room not ten minutes earlier.
Walking slowly to the window, Zoey adjusted the Healer robes she was borrowing and held out the spare cup that had been intended for Zelina all along. "Would you like some hot chocolate?"
Blinking in surprise, Zelina took it. Her hands, and her entire demeanor, flowed with a grace that had been ingrained from her upbringing. Holding her pinky out a touch from the styrofoam cup, she frowned softly at the flavor. "This needs marshmallows."
"Agreed," Zoey nodded, knowing she was smiling a bit much at the small comment that happened to match her own opinion.
"Strange," the woman mumbled, "I've been craving this, but I know I had some recently…"
The Healer trainee froze, panicking a bit. She was under strict orders not to let this patient realize how much time had passed since she'd been admitted to Mungo's. Zelina Avery's memory lapses should only be addressed when there was a professional nearby.
Fortunately, Zoey was far more practiced at conversing with this patient as long as possible. "It's hot chocolate. Personally, I always crave hot chocolate." She beamed at the woman.
A small twitch to her lips was the closest to a smile Zelina could manage. "True," she said with a ghost of amusement as she looked out the window. Their reflections were quite similar, Zelina realized... they had the same cheekbones. After a moment of mutual silence, she turned her gaze back to the girl at her side. "You seem young to be a Healer."
"I'm not, actually." She answered with the truth, "I'm just here so much that they let me borrow it quite often. Plus I know the Minister." Still the truth.
"Quite the connection," Zelina said approvingly as she sipped in a refined manner. "Why are you here so often?"
Feeling her throat constrict and her heart twist painfully once more, Zoey closed her eyes against the gaze that was green as her own. "My… my mother's been here for almost ten years now. I used to come every week, but… school."
"Oh I see. Then-" Zelina cut herself off and stood abruptly, already facing the door wearily as a trio of healers came in with a cupcake. Her stance was battle ready and her face hardened into a glacial glare with her left hand going to her hip as though to draw a weapon, though Zoey doubted she knew her hand had gone there at all.
The nurse in the middle walked slowly so as to not startle the patient further, but still proceeded inside the room with a small cupcake. Holding her hand protectively around the candle, they didn't sing but just said in unison "Happy Birthday Zoey."
Zelina blinked and slowly relaxed, but not completely seeing as there were so many people in the room. Their presence set her nerves on edge. "Birthday?"
Zoey nodded with a blush. "I'm fourteen today," she admitted softly, biting her lip and looking nervous.
"My daughter's only five." Looking at the cupcake herself, Zelina's face turned wistful. Then she covered it with a cough and tried to cover her moment of softness with a gruffly said "Happy Birthday."
She had no idea why the two words made the nurses gasp and one of them hug Zoey with a squeal, urging her to blow out the single candle before 'the birthday luck ran out'.
Her throat far to tight for words and desperately trying to hold back the tears that would only cause confusion and ruin the moment, Zoey made her wish and puffed out the small flame, watching with delight as it's last puff of smoke rose in spiraling sparks to explode in a tiny firework.
Smiling and pleasantly surprised, she caught the twinkling sparks and looked up with a smile. What she saw shattered her heart.
Zelina Avery had frozen in place, her mouth slightly open as her eyes glazed over in a vacant expression that Zoey had come to hate. Her chest rose and fell terribly slowly and she didn't move until one of the nurses hesitantly asked "ma'am?"
Jerking as though she'd been woken from a long sleep Zelina backed up, crouching as her hand again flew to her hip. "Who are you?" She hissed in accusation, all but snarling at the people that had somehow appeared without her noticing. They didn't look like a threat, but that didn't mean she'd be compliant.
"Oh darling…" It was hard to tell who Crissy was talking to as she looked between the defensive woman and the girl who'd just lost her birthday wish.
Zoey nodded and smiled, trying to say what she always did after one of Zelina's episodes. To promise that it was safe, see how much if anything at all she remembered, and like she always did assure that- that everything was alright.
Except this time she couldn't. Taking the cupcake with a nod and a smile, she left the room before the air itself choked her. Zoey was planning to run somewhere, anywhere as far as her legs could carry, but didn't get particularly far before she was halted by a familiar face.
Jonovan Malam Orion looked murderous as he grabbed her shoulder to make sure she didn't make a run for it, looking into the room. "How long have you been lying to me?"
"About what?" Zoey asked, because there were a lot of options. About her sneaking off, about the Healer trainee robes she was wearing, about how not 'alright' she was…
Yeah. There were a lot of options. But Jon was only concerned about one.
He looked at the woman currently preparing to battle the nurses that were preparing a sedative for their panicked patient. A short woman with dark hair, high cheekbones and eyes the exact vibrant green of Zoey's. "How long have you known your mom was alive?"
Next chapter will start with Jon&Zoey talking more about her background. I know ya'll have been waiting, thanks for being patient!
~E