Chapter 8 – Hypothetical Future Investigations
Disclaimer - Harry Potters is not mine, he belongs to J.K. Rowling.
"Would everyone please turn to page 230 of their textbooks and read the chapter detailing the proper way to transfigure a person into an animal," Professor Gale declared. "What you read today will be applied during the next few lessons, so practice your wand movements thoroughly."
Rose stared down at her textbook with new found interest. She was finally learning something that could come in very handy in the near future, since she'd been imagining what Tatiana would look like as a goat for almost two weeks.
Rose lifted her head to stare discreetly at the desk beside her where Scorpius and Tatiana were seated together.
Much to Rose's horror, Tatiana appeared to be rubbing the inside of Scorpius' thigh and she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it. However, Scorpius didn't seem at all bothered by what she was doing, since he was reading his textbook with an expression of both boredom and exasperation.
Rose quickly looked away from the scene unfolding beside her, her face heating with jealousy as she began to imagine different ways of murdering Zabini and then getting away with it afterwards.
He could be yours you know.
Rose glared down at her textbook. How could he be hers if it looked like he was patching things up with Zabini?
"Rose?" Alice, who was sitting next to her, suddenly asked.
"What?" Rose snapped.
Alice frowned at Rose's tone but continued. "I told you before class that I wanted to talk to you. Remember?"
Rose did recall Alice talking to her about something before transfiguration, but she had been too busy glaring at Zabini and hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation.
"Sure," Rose lied. "What's up?"
"It's Nora," Alice said in a low voice, her eyes darting over to where Nora was sitting with Al a couple of desks away from them. "She's been acting on edge for the past couple of weeks and I think she hasn't been sleeping properly."
"Really?" Rose said worriedly, her problems momentarily forgotten.
"Yes," Alice nodded. "Just look at her."
Rose turned her head to look behind her to see Nora positioned with her feet in Al's lap while reading a book about necromancy, her transfiguration textbook forgotten. While it probably wasn't noticeable to most people, Nora did seem to have acquired a pair of very dark circles under her eyes.
Rose frowned and turned to back to look at Alice. "Have you told, Al?"
"I think he already knows that something's up," Alice replied. "Do you think something happened?"
"I have no idea," Rose replied honestly.
"What about you? I couldn't help but notice that you're awfully... distracted lately."
Rose sighed. Distracted was one word for how she was acting, but she couldn't help it. All she could think about was Scorpius and how he was confusing her.
Most of the time he just ignored her and if he was ever forced to talk to her he would act so sickeningly polite that Rose was always tempted to scream at him. But not long after that she'd often catch him staring at her in a way that made her toes curl.
"I'm fine," Rose replied. "I've just had a lot on my mind. Anyway, just keep an eye on Nora since I don't live with the two of you anymore."
"Done and done," Alice said dutifully. "Oh – and here's an idea. You could ask Scorpius to ask Nora how she's doing. The two of them are awfully close these days."
Rose's mood plummeted drastically at the idea of asking Scorpius for anything, but it was true. Scorpius and Nora were rather close.
A light bulb suddenly seemed to switch itself on somewhere in the back of her head and Rose perked up as an idea began to take shape. If Scorpius knew important things about Nora, Nora would obviously know a few things about Scorpius as well. Why the hell hadn't she thought of this sooner. Nora would obviously know if Scorpius was getting back together with Zabini and she could easily pretend that she was just worried about walking in on them shagging in the middle of the common room and possibly being scarred for life. After all, Nora wasn't allowed to take anymore peeks inside her head.
But what if she tells you that Zabini and Scorpius are getting back together?
No, no. There will be no jumping to unnecessary conclusions. She was going to take this issue one step at a time.
Potions class was a class that Rose both dreaded and anticipated. She anticipated, greatly, the long periods of time where she could sit right beside Scorpius and 'accidently' brush any part of his body. However, she dreaded the curious looks from people around her when she had sometimes taken her 'accidents' a little too far and had sometimes managed to fall directly into Scorpius' arms, who was often forced to catch her in order to keep her from falling to the floor. Yes, she was never going to do that again. Marina Kozlova had even tried to convince Stone that she was drunk the other day since both her and Zabini seemed to have a pretty good idea of what she was up to. Much to her displeasure, her friends had found that hilarious.
But there would be none of that at in today's double potion's class. Today she needed to use her brain for something other than thinking up different ways of harming Zabini and start asking a few questions.
"So what are you up to this weekend, Malfoy?" Rose asked in an uninterested voice.
Scorpius, who had been diligently chopping up a few scarab beetles, turned his head to look at her in confusion. "Nothing really," he answered as he scrutinized her. "I have a quidditch practice on Sunday. Why?"
"No reason," Rose replied nonchalantly. "Just curious."
Rose immediately noticed the bewildered expression on Scorpius' face over her answer and she couldn't help but smile slightly.
"You're curious about what I'm up to this weekend," Scorpius replied in disbelief.
"Yes," Rose replied turning to look at him. "Are those practices open for visitors?"
Scorpius' eyes widened in surprise. "Er- yes. Do you want to come watch?"
Rose couldn't help but shoot him a playful look even though she had decided she was going to be serious today. Screw being serious. If Scorpius had the right to confuse her, she could act out of character and confuse him right back.
"I might," Rose replied thoughtfully as she emptied a vial of doxy wings into the cauldron sitting in front of them, causing the concoction inside of it to sizzle loudly.
Scorpius appeared to be flustered by her answer and Rose's insides couldn't help but celebrate her victory. Flirting with Scorpius was easy if she caught him off guard. She was definitely going to have to do this more often.
"I think I forgot the dragon's blood," Scorpius said distractedly as he looked around the surface of the table they were working at, his eyes glancing at her in a way that made Rose realize that he was waiting for her to snap at him over something inconsequential. However, only irrational Rose would do something like that. Today, she was calm, cool and collected and there was nothing that could change that.
"I'll go get it," Rose replied cheerfully. "Just remember to stir the potion in a minute."
Scorpius just blinked at her in response and Rose took that as a sign that he had gotten the message, as she got off of her chair and walked herself over to the cupboard where all the potions ingredients were located.
"You think you're so clever, don't you Weasley," an easily recognizable voice hissed from behind Rose as she went to go open the storeroom cupboard. Rose sighed and turned her head to meet Zabini's glare.
"What do you want, Zabini?" Rose asked in exasperation as she pried open the cupboard door and peered inside.
"Do you really think that I have no idea what you're up to?" Zabini whispered as she shoved Rose slightly so she could gain access to the cupboard. "You've been all over Scorpius for the past week and a half and it's really starting to look pathetic."
Rose gritted her teeth at Zabini's comment and shot her a glare. "If my 'advances' are so pathetic Zabini, then why are you getting so worked up over them?"
"Ha," Zabini taunted as she grabbed a vial from the cupboard. "Like I would ever get worked up over someone as plain as you trying to take what's already mine. I just find it horribly entertaining that you think what you're doing right now will actually get Scorpius to forget about me and take up with you of all people.
"Right," Rose said sarcastically as she pushed several different vials aside to reach what she was looking for, trying in vain to ignore the glare Zabini was giving her. She had promised herself to remain calm for the entire potion's lesson and there was no way she was going to let Zabini be the one to break that promise. "Shouldn't you be going now?"
"Cute," Zabini replied mockingly. "But just remember, out of the two of us, who do you think he was with last night?"
Rose shot Zabini a dangerous look and Zabini just smirked at her before walking away and leaving Rose alone with her thoughts.
Okay. Remain calm. Just because Scorpius was with Zabini last night doesn't mean he was doing anything with her. Rose grabbed the vial of dragon's blood from the confines of the cupboard and looked over her shoulder to see Zabini giving her a smug look from where she was sitting beside Nora.
Rose huffed in indignation and turned her head to look down at the corked vial of blood in her hand. She could only imagine how wonderful it would feel to 'accidentally' drop it on her bloody head and then watch with satisfaction as the smug smirk on her face would vanish in an instant.
Why do you have to imagine doing it, when you could just... do it?
Rose stared wide-eyed down at the vial in her hands. Did she dare? Rose let her eyes drift back over to Zabini, who was staring hungrily over at Scorpius. Rose's expression darkened. Yup, she dared.
With a slight smirk plastered on her face, Rose backed up and closed the cupboard doors, and began to walk slowly, but deliberately, in the direction of Zabini while inconspicuously uncorking the vial of blood in her hands. Now how was she going to do this without looking completely obvious? She could easily claim that she was only walking behind her to get to her desk, since hers was beside Zabini and Nora's. Another problem was the risk of splashing some on Nora. While there was a higher chance of Nora just laughing at Zabini getting covered in something disgusting, there was also the chance that her lack of sleep had completely removed her sense of humour and replaced it with a heightened level of irritability.
Rose cringed as the scene of Nora throttling her began to play out in her head and Rose sighed, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all. She was head girl after all. What kind of example would she be showing to everyone else if she was pouring dragon's blood down people's sides just because she thought they were giant gits?
Rose stared forlornly down at the vial in her hands as she began to walk behind where Nora was seated. Not paying attention to where she was walking, Rose completely missed that Nora had suddenly pushed out her chair, causing Rose to easily hook her foot on one of the chair legs. Rose let out of a yelp of surprise as she pitched forward, the vial of blood flying from her hands as she scrambled to keep herself on her feet.
A blood curdling scream instantly followed Rose's slip up and she looked up in horror to see Zabini staring at her with a deranged look on her face as a stream of dark red liquid trickled down the side of her neck and down into her once very white oxford, staining it in a very gruesome fashion.
Rose stared at the quickly growing stain on Zabini's shirt with complete astonishment. She actually hadn't even meant to spill it on Zabini and she ended up doing what she had wanted to do anyway.
"Weasley!" Zabini shrieked. "You did that on purpose!"
Rose heard a few collective snickers ring out from around her and Nora snorted loudly beside her at Zabini's comment. "I did not," Rose protested as she straightened herself up from her hunched over position. "I just tripped over the chair leg."
"Really," Zabini snarled. "So you just happened to be uncorking the vial just as you were walking by where I sat?"
Rose spluttered with annoyance as she tried to come up with a retort but she was suddenly cut off by the appearance of Professor Stone.
"Is there something wrong ladies?" Stone asked.
"Yes. Weasley purposefully dumped an entire vial of blood down my shirt," Zabini replied, pointing at her stained shirt.
"And what possessed Miss. Weasley to do such a thing?" Stone replied in a bored voice.
Zabini instantly shut her mouth and Rose couldn't help but smirk. There was no way that the general population of Hogwarts would ever believe that she actually fancied Scorpius to the point of being jealous of her, so poor Zabini was left without any legitimate reason for Rose purposefully spilling something gross on her.
"It was an accident professor," Nora said with exasperation. "Rose almost landed on her face when she tripped over the back of my chair. You'd have to be blind to not be able to tell that this was all an accident."
Zabini glared at Nora and Stone sighed. "Alright. Miss. Weasley please take your seat and refrain from uncorking vials as you are walking, since it is unnecessary, and Miss. Zabini, you can easily perform a simple cleaning charm on yourself, so there is no need to draw this out any more than it already has been," Stone ordered in an uninterested voice and Rose blushed slightly.
"Yes, professor," Rose replied sheepishly.
"Unbelievable," Zabini exclaimed. "You're not going to punish her professor. She hates me and everyone knows it!"
Professor Stone just gave Zabini a withering look before turning his back on her. "Please feel free to use the bathroom if you wish Miss. Zabini," Stone offered as he was walked back to his desk at the front of the room, causing several people to snort loudly when they saw the dumbfounded look on Zabini's face.
Before Zabini could try and hex her, Rose scooted past her and practically dived back into her seat with a sigh of relief. Thank Merlin Stone cared so little about his student's feelings or she probably would have had detention and the whole school asking her a whole lot of unwanted questions.
"Nice one, Weasley," Scorpius said from beside her and Rose jumped in surprise. She had completely forgotten about Scorpius in all of the excitement.
"Thanks," Rose replied sarcastically.
"No really," he replied back. "You looked very graceful while your arms were flailing around looking for something to hold onto."
"Sod off, Malfoy," Rose snapped as she inwardly grinned. Now this was the Scorpius she liked. The one who wasn't afraid to say whatever he was thinking, while being fully aware it could get him in a lot of trouble.
Scorpius smirked and ignored her last comment. "Just to inform you, we still need dragon's blood since the vial you 'accidentally' poured down Tatiana's shirt is no longer of any use to either of us."
Rose just glared up at him, while her insides cheered.
Scorpius wasn't quite sure what to think of his relationship with Rose at the present time. Was he actually succeeding in making her jealous, because there were times when she acted absolutely barmy and others where she didn't seem upset at all. He also wasn't sure how long he could keep up the act of getting back together with Tatiana without having to sell his soul to the bloody devil.
Scorpius chanced a look in Rose's direction as she cleaned up their station; their double potions period now almost over. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been somewhat thrilled to be paired with her and boy did she make double potions far more interesting. Seeing Tatiana covered in dragon's blood had been hilarious, even while knowing he was going to get an earful from her later for not sticking up for her.
"Mr. Malfoy," Stone called out from the front of the room over the rustling of students packing away their things. "The headmistress would like to see you in her office after class as soon as possible."
Scorpius gave Stone a look of confusion. "Why?"
Stone's expression darkened. "She failed to give me the details, but it is supposedly quite urgent."
Scorpius' brow furrowed in thought, well aware of the curious looks several people were giving him. Now why would Monroe want to see only him? It couldn't be a head meeting, since Rose would also have been asked to come see her as well and he was about 99% sure that he hadn't done anything horribly wrong lately. Therefore, this meeting must be about something else.
Scorpius' eyes drifted over to where Nora was talking with Al before the bell, signalling the end of class, rang out around the room. Scorpius grabbed his things and swung his bag over his shoulder; quickly exiting the room before Tatiana could corner him and start badgering him with questions and her thoughts about how much she hated Rose.
Making his way through the throng of students streaming out of the different classrooms, Scorpius couldn't help but notice a few reproachful looks sent in his direction, but he had long ago chosen to ignore them. After all, he was head boy now and most students knew better then to make any comments about his family. And even if they ever did make any comments about his family, it wasn't as if he hadn't heard it all before. He had never blamed his parents for all the comments directed at him. He loved them both, even if he never really admitted it.
However, that was his biggest problem. The fact that he loved them and wanted to make sure that they were always comfortable and happy was the main thing keeping him back from doing what he wanted. Sure, he may have recently been making steps to change that, but deep down, Scorpius knew that it was going to be very hard to do anything that could upset his parents too much.
Scorpius agilely dodged a pair of third years and then walked up a long flight of stairs, stopping directly in front of the entrance to Monroe's office. Much to his surprise the griffin that guarded the doorway moved aside on its own, as if it had been waiting for him to arrive, and Scorpius walked past it and climbed the spiralling staircase up to the open doorway to the headmistress's office.
The first thing that Scorpius noticed was that Monroe was not alone. With her was a tall greying man with a moustache that looked as if it had been glued onto his face and short woman with platinum blonde curled hair, wearing a lime green set of robes that could easily blind small children.
"Ah, Mr. Malfoy," Monroe greeted, her expression brightening as he walked into the room, instantly informing Scorpius that the professor obviously did not like her company. "Thank you for coming here so quickly. Please take a seat so Clive can tell us what he's here for."
The man with the wonky moustache gave Monroe a stern look as Scorpius made his way over to one of the vacant seats in front of Monroe's desk. "Mr. Malfoy," the man said, outstretching his hand towards Scorpius as he took a seat in the chair opposite of him. "Clive Branshaw and this young woman is my assistant, Nina."
Scorpius took the man's hand and shook it firmly; flashing him a pleasant smile he had been taught to give to anyone who could possibly be a member of the ministry. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Branshaw replied and removed his hand from Scorpius'. "However, you're probably wondering what I have come here to tell you."
As if on cue, Nina pulled out her wand and conjured up a roll of parchment and a large peacock quill and then began to stare intently at Scorpius, making him quite uncomfortable.
"I was told that whatever this meeting is about, it's quite urgent, so naturally I'm a bit curious," Scorpius replied as politely as possible, while trying to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he wanted to know what the idiot wanted to tell him. He wouldn't have come if he hadn't.
"Alright. Let's do this as quickly as possible then," Branshaw said with a forced smile and Scorpius' expression darkened. It seemed he was talking to someone who really didn't like his father much. Then again, not many people did. Scorpius was often more surprised when he found a person who truly liked his father. "Nina. Remember to get everything in writing," he ordered.
"Yes, Mr. Branshaw," Nina replied in a shrill voice that made Monroe wince and then pat her ear.
"Er – what's going on?" Scorpius asked in confusion as Nina began to scribble furiously on the parchment in her hands. "What exactly does she have to write down?"
"Clive Branshaw is what we would call a 'legal aid' to the Winzengamot's special inquiries division. One or several members of the Winzengamot will often send him out to get witnesses to give statements that they sign themselves or even just to verify that a witness is willing to be a witness," Monroe explained with a look of displeasure.
"In your case, Mr. Malfoy," Branshaw added. "I am only here to verify that you are willing to be a witness in a possible upcoming investigation."
"What possible upcoming investigation?" Scorpius questioned.
Branshaw fidgeted nervously in his chair before explaining. "This little meeting is just to insure that, if any future events were to occur that could lead to a possible investigation into Miss. Wilson, then the ministry would be aware that you are available to be used as a witness."
"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Scorpius exclaimed and turned to look at Monroe. "Professor, I thought they decided that Darius' death was an accident. What the hell do they have to investigate?"
"This has nothing to do with that Mr. Malfoy," Monroe replied softly. "It's just like Clive said. The ministry just wants to be organized in case Miss. Wilson does anything that could give them the authority to launch an investigation."
Scorpius stared in dismay at Monroe before turning to look at Branshaw; who was giving the headmistress a very disapproving look. "Headmistress, please, you are making something sound so much more... nefarious than it actually is."
Monroe raised an eyebrow in Branshaw's direction causing the man to pale slightly. Scorpius grinned at his misfortune before fixing the man next to him with an unpleasant look. "So you're telling me that you're here to make sure that I'll be a witness in this hypothetical investigation that the ministry has convinced itself will happen."
"In a sense," Branshaw replied awkwardly. "Yes."
"In that case," Scorpius replied, turning to look at Nina, who was still furiously writing away at speed's Scorpius had never seen. "Write this down. "I, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, give my consent to be a witness in any hypothetical future investigations into my friend Nora Wilson's character, since I'm guessing that, that is what this is about."
Branshaw sighed. "Lovely. Thank y-"
"I wasn't finished," Scorpius interrupted, fixing the man with an icy look. "You can also write down that I will, in no way, be doing anything to smear Nora's name, since I have come to consider her as the little sister I never had. So as a witness in this made up investigation, I only plan to defend her in any way I possibly can."
Branshaw stared uneasily at Scorpius while Nina stared at him wide-eyed. He couldn't help but feel smug. Everyone thought it was surprising that Draco Malfoy's son having feelings for something other than a fellow Slytherin, or money, was absolutely unprecedented.
"I see," Branshaw replied giving Nina a look that told Scorpius that he didn't want her to write down all of what he had just said. "We will make a note of that Mr. Malfoy. We're really just happy that we have your cooperation."
"And why wouldn't you?" Scorpius questioned in a biting tone.
"Well," Branshaw hesitated. "Your father was voicing his opinion on the matter recently and, with the way he was talking, it sounded as if he did not want you to be a part of this ministry investigation."
Scorpius stared at the man in front of him. So, his father, or more likely his grandfather, was already voicing his opinion on how he didn't like him getting so involved in potentially sticky situations. How very surprising. "I'm old enough to be making my own decisions," Scorpius replied coolly, while his insides silently began to doubt his decision. Was his father finally starting to show his reservations about him being friends with Nora? It wasn't like he hadn't seen it coming; he had just hoped it would have taken him longer to decide how he felt about her being around his son.
Monroe, who had been watching Scorpius and Branshaw for the past few minutes, suddenly cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I believe that you now have all you need, Clive," she said with a note of finality to her voice. "Don't you think?"
"Yes. You are right," Branshaw replied, sounding relieved as he quickly got up from his seat. "You can pack up, Nina."
Scorpius watched as the young woman flicked her wand, and without a word, the parchment and peacock quill vanished, all the while she was staring at Scorpius with a new found interest.
Scorpius got up from his seat as Branshaw turned to look at Monroe and him. "Well," Branshaw began. "Have a good day Mr. Malfoy, headmistress. I'm glad that this meeting went so smoothly."
Monroe gave Branshaw a sweet smile in return, causing the man to stiffen. "I am as well, Clive."
Branshaw gave her a nervous look before turning his back on both of them and hurrying from the room, Nina staring at everyone in awe as she followed after him.
As soon as the both of them were out of sight, Scorpius angrily snatched up his bag, wanting nothing more than to write a strongly worded letter to his father that he knew he would never send.
"Mr. Malfoy," Monroe suddenly said, causing Scorpius to jump slightly.
"Yes," Scorpius replied as he turned to face her.
"I'm proud of you," Monroe said with a smile.
Scorpius stared at her with genuine surprise. "What?"
"I'm proud of you," she replied simply. "You just confirmed that you are definitely your mother's son, which many people will be very thankful for in the near future."
Scorpius just stared at Monroe with complete confusion. He was his mother's son? What did that mean?
"You may leave now by the way," Monroe replied as she grabbed a book from the side of her desk and placed it in front of her. "I'm sure you have plenty of things to do."
"Right," Scorpius replied and he turned away from Monroe and strode across the room.
"Oh," Monroe suddenly declared, causing Scorpius to stop and turn. "Also, please do not be afraid to surprise more people in the future. I made you head boy for a reason."
Scorpius gave Monroe a bewildered look. What the bloody hell was she going on about? Scorpius, after giving his professor one last look of confusion, hurried out of the room; silently wondering how he was going to tell Nora what he had just found out.
A/N- Yes, it took me forever to write this. Hopefully now that I'm in school I'll be more driven. Anyway, this chapter is more of a filler with illusions of what is possibly about to come. And for those who are wondering, I did make Scorpius older than Nora since she was born January 1, 2006 and Scorpius was born in December 2005, so he's only a few weeks older and since in Britain how old you are when you start school is different from here in Canada, which is a bit confusing but w/e. I will try and get my act together and get chapter 9 up quicker than this one but I'm not giving any promises.
Please read and review as always. Toodles :)