Chapter 9 – Questions and Answers

Disclaimer - Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Nora could no longer pretend that she wasn't on edge, since it had now become painfully obvious to most people. Ever since Scorpius had come to talk to her a couple of weeks ago about how the ministry had asked him to be a witness in an investigation into her character that hadn't even started yet, she no longer knew how she was supposed to act. How was she supposed to pretend like nothing was wrong? Who was she supposed to turn to? Sure, she had a boyfriend who cared about her and friends who did as well, but Nora was starting to wish she had something else. Something like a parent; which was unfortunate since that was something she could never get back.

"Nora!" Al exclaimed, snapping Nora out of her thoughts.

"What?" Nora questioned in confusion.

Al sighed. "You're the one who asked me to help you study, so if you're not going to pay attention, then I refuse to quiz you."

Nora rubbed her face wearily and gave Al an apologetic look. "Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Al replied. "But you always refuse to tell me what's wrong."

Nora gave him a sour look. "Nothing's wrong. I've already told you that. I'm just a bit stressed from having to be on my best behaviour all the time," she insisted.

"And I still think you're sugar coating what's going on and I don't know why," Al replied with a hint of frustration.

"I can handle it," Nora replied. "This is something I can't get help with."

Al shot her a warning glance. "You know something," he began, "you are far too stubborn for your own good."

Nora leaned forward in her seat, so that her face was only a couple of inches in front of Al's. "You know you love it," she replied playfully, doing her best to change the subject.

Al gave her a withering look before closing the distance in between them and placing a quick kiss on her lips. "Oh, I adore it," he replied sarcastically as he pulled away. "So how about we get out of here. It's kind of useless to waste all this time in the library when it's so nice outside."

"Good idea," Nora replied as she stood up from her seat, doing her best to sound as cheerful as possible. She hated lying to him, but she knew she had to get through this on her own. If she always went around getting help from other people, then she would never be able to stand on her own.

Nora watched as Al began to pack away his things before letting her gaze wander. The library wasn't very busy since it was uncharacteristically warm for the middle of October, so most people were taking in the sun before it disappeared under months of gray clouds.

Nora looked over to the front desk, wondering if Madam Emerson was there so she could ask her about the unabridged biography on Merlin she had been dying to read, only for her balk as she stared at the back of a man who was undeniably Professor Grant as he was having a conversation with Emerson at her desk.

"Why is he here?" Nora hissed.

Al swung his book bag over his shoulder and stared in confusion at where Nora was looking, his gaze hardening slightly when he saw who Nora was looking at. "He's probably just asking about a book or something. Besides, maybe he's interested in Emerson. She isn't that horrible to look at when she isn't wearing animal print from head to toe."

"Does he really look like he's looking for a girlfriend," Nora snapped.

Al sighed and gave Nora a look that made her blood boil. "Have you ever stopped to think Nora," Al replied, "that all Professor Grant really is, is our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and nothing more than that."

"Yes," Nora replied stubbornly. "And then I stop and tell myself that I'm being stupid."

Al sighed again and began to walk away from her, forcing her to follow behind him as they walked out of the library.

"Al!" Nora whispered in a savage voice as they walked through the hallways. "Would you wait a second?"

Al suddenly stopped, making Nora check herself so she wouldn't run into him. "Why? You're not going to listen to me anyway."

Nora looked at him in surprise. "You know that I have to be careful, Al. I can't help but suspect that Grant could be here to do more than just teach."

"I understand that," Al replied in frustration. "Really I do. But don't you realize that the more you think about so many different people having hidden agendas; the more likely you are to have some sort of mental breakdown. You and I both know that your abilities are emotion based and if you don't relax, you're going to get yourself into trouble. I know you're not telling me everything that's going on inside that head of yours, and I get that you're a private person, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't bother me that your still being guarded around me after everything that we've been through."

Nora gritted her teeth as she looked up into his pleading big green eyes. Why couldn't she have fallen for an idiot? Her life would have been so much easier. "I told you, Al," Nora said slowly. "I'm fine. This is something that I have to look after myself."

"But why do you have to do whatever it is your doing by yourself?" Al asked, his voice rising.

"Because I need to do this on my own if I am ever going to get stronger," Nora insisted.

"And that is what I don't understand," Al replied vehemently. "What do you need to get stronger for?"
"I just do!" Nora exclaimed angrily.

Al just stared down at Nora sadly. The conversation was over, they both knew it was, but Nora could tell that Al wanted to say something else; she could see it in his eyes. But instead of saying anything, Al, much to Nora's surprise, quickly pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. Nora blinked as she tried to hide her shock over Al's sudden show of affection. They weren't the most public of couple's, Nora knew that. She wasn't someone who liked having her personal life on display for the world to see, especially now, and Al never had any problem with that since he was used to wanting to shy away from the public eye. So when Al acted like this, Nora never knew what to say or do in response, but he never seemed to notice.

Al buried his head into the crook of her neck and sighed, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine. How was it that he was able to calm her down completely, just by hugging her? In his arms, the only thing she felt was safe, as if his arms created some sort of invisible shield around her that protected her from the unblinking critical gaze of the entire world. Nora, realizing that he probably wasn't going to let go of her until she made it clear to him that she was alright, lifted her arms and wrapped them gently around his mid-section.

Al lifted his head slightly, so that his mouth was at her ear. "Just don't do anything stupid, Nora," Al whispered into her ear before kissing her on the side of the head and letting go of her. Nora found herself longing for him to hold her again but she managed to compose herself in order to give him a response.

"I won't," Nora replied.

Al stared at her, as if he was trying to read her mind, before looking away. "I'll see you later then."

Nora nodded and she watched as Al turned away from her and walked down the corridor, until he turned a corner and was out of sight. Nora stared off into space, not bothering to move from where she was standing in the middle of the hallway.

She had to do this on her own. She needed to become strong enough to live on her own, so she could show the ministry that they weren't scaring her. To show her friends that she wasn't always going to be in trouble and to show her father that she didn't need him or his money. She wanted to secure her own place in this world and she didn't want to do it by relying on the Potter's and the Weasley's influence on the ministry. She wanted to become strong on her own and she wanted the whole world to see her do it.

But why did she have the feeling that she was going about everything completely backwards.

"Miss. Wilson!" a voice called out from behind Nora and she turned in surprise to see Professor Grant rushing towards her. Nora instantly stiffened at the sight of him. What did he want now?"

"Hello professor," Nora replied in a monotone voice as she tried to decide if it was too late to make a break for it.

"May I speak with you for a moment?" Grant replied in a cheerful voice. "It will only take a minute."

Nora sighed and turned herself around to face him as he stopped in front of her. "Sure, professor. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask if you were alright." Grant replied, his tone serious.

Nora blinked. "Er- I'm fine," she replied with a hint of confusion.

Grant didn't seem convinced by her answer. "Are you feeling stressed from your work load? Because you are allowed to inform your professor's if you are."

"Once again professor, I feel fine," Nora replied in exasperation. Maybe Al was right. Nora had, had several classes with Grant over the past month and a half and he acted more concerned for her well-being than a mother would for her five year old child. Perhaps he had been one of those useless auror's that they had gotten rid of because he was a hindrance to everyone else. For all Nora knew, all of his scars were the result of him acting like an idiot and possibly bating whatever creature had almost mauled him to death.

"Are you sure Miss. Wilson, because a few weeks ago when your body was glowing as you walked through the hallways in a panic, does not usually fall under my definition of fine," Grant replied in a severe voice that caused Nora to take a step back as she watched her professor's usually pleasant expression melt away in an instant. Nora had never seen such a change in personality in her entire life. Grant had gone from being cheerful and concerned for her well-being, to stone-faced in a matter of seconds. He didn't even look like himself anymore, since all Nora could see in front of her was a man who could easily get rid of anyone that got in his way. The laughter that always seemed to be present in his eyes had now vanished and in its place was a look that chilled Nora to her core. This man was an auror, through and through. He wasn't one of the sad men who worked only a desk job inside of the auror department; his best days far behind him due to either age or some cruel hand fate had dealt him. No this man was still very much in his prime. The question was, why was he at Hogwarts teaching eleven year olds about the difference between hippogriffs and unicorns?

"What exactly is it that you want professor?" Nora asked her voice hard.

"I had no idea that in order for you to take me seriously I would have to act as if I was interrogating a bloody mass murderer," Grant replied with a tired sigh. "I was told to be gentle and all it got me was a whole lot of contempt on your end. Let me tell you Wilson, you are definitely not like most girls your age."

Nora just stared at her professor in shock. What the bloody hell was going on? "Once again... what exactly do you want professor?" Nora reiterated slowly.

"I was sent here by Mr. Potter to teach you about the Ministry of Magic," Grant replied in a hushed voice. "Which is something that we ought to keep hushed up, so how about we take this conversation somewhere more private."

"Monroe has already taught me all I need to know about the ministry. So I won't be needing your help," Nora replied dryly.

Grant snorted. "Do you think Cassandra Monroe would have let me inside of this school if she did not know what I was up to? That woman can see inside anyone's head. It's absolutely terrifying sometimes."

Nora pursed her lips together in distaste as she stared at the man in front of her. "So you're telling me that you work for Monroe and Mr. Potter."

"And the Minister of Magic," Grant added. "Now can we please at least go back to my office, so I can talk to you about when we can meet."

"Wait- you work for Sampson?" Nora said in disbelief. "He's the one who wants me out of this school and deported back to Canada, so why the hell would he want to teach me about the ministry?"

Grant let out an exasperated sigh before responding. "And this is why Monroe would like me to teach you who's pulling the strings behind this entire charade that currently has you front and center for the world to see."

Nora shook her head, trying to clear her mind, completely flabbergasted by what she was hearing. "No. I refuse. I will not have private lessons with a man who might be bipolar. Mr. Potter and Monroe would have told me earlier if I was getting secret lessons from my new professor."

"They didn't tell you because this is all supposed to be a secret," Grant replied with a hiss. "Now can we please take this conversation elsewhere before the whole bloody school figures out I'm not just the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"How about this," Nora replied with a mock smile. "You can take your private secret lessons and go riding off into the sunset with them, because I don't need any help. Like I said at the beginning of this wonderful conversation, I'm fine."

"Wilson," Grant said in warning tone.

"Have a wonderful day professor," Nora replied, cutting him off, before turning away from him and hurrying down the hallway.

"How do you feel about a themed Christmas this year?" Rose asked, as she chewed on the end of her quill.

"Why do we even need a themed Christmas?" Scorpius questioned, looking up from the book he was reading in his chair by the fireplace in their common room.

Rose sighed. "Right then," she replied and then scribbled a large 'no' beside Beatrice Reynolds idea for an 'all white' Christmas. Not that Rose minded axing the idea. If Scorpius had, for some unfathomable reason, decided it was a good idea, both of them would have had to convince poor Flitwick that his decorations weren't modern enough too most students. It wasn't even like it mattered; barely anyone stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas break anyway.

"That is," Scorpius added quickly. "If you think a themed Christmas is a good idea, I'm all for it."

Rose looked up from the piece of parchment she was writing on and couldn't help but give him a small smile. "Don't worry," Rose replied. "I thought it wasn't the greatest idea either, but I promised Beatrice I'd ask you."

"Oh... well good," Scorpius replied awkwardly before returning to his book.

Rose stared at his averted face, still smiling as she tried to figure out what made Scorpius tick. One minute he could be acting cocky and completely insufferable, but if she were ever to say something that he guessed was uncharacteristic of her, he'd become tongue-tied and always try to hide his embarrassment with the shortest response he could think of.

However, there was one thing that was painfully obvious to Rose.

She knew nothing about him.

Sure, she knew that his family wasn't very big and half of them were death eaters. And she definitely knew that her father thought his entire family were a bunch of gits. She might have grown up always competing with him, but even so, she had no idea what he wanted to be once he left Hogwarts, what sort of hobbies he was interested in, or even what his favourite colour was.

Right now, Rose wasn't quite sure how to classify their relationship. Over the past couple of weeks they had developed a sort of tentative friendship that was mostly made up of either short polite conversations or arguments filled with double meanings. Now, what Rose wanted was to actually become some sort of friend to him since becoming his girlfriend was still out of the question.

Rose began to chew on her lip as she recalled the conversation she had had with Nora a couple of days ago.

"I want to get to know Malfoy a bit better," Rose said suddenly while studying in the library together.

"Huh?" Nora replied in confusion.

"I know nothing about him and how can I work with him if I have no idea what he likes or dislikes," Rose continued, ignoring the baffled look on Nora's face.

"Because we all know it's impossible to work with him without knowing whether he prefers cats or owls," Nora replied sarcastically.

"Do you know which one he likes best?" Rose asked eagerly, failing to notice the sarcasm in Nora's voice.

"What? Yes I do but-that's beside the point. If you want to know this stuff then why don't you just ask him?" Nora replied in exasperation.

"But I don't know how to do that without looking like I'm interested in him for different reasons," Rose replied quickly.

Nora gave Rose a look of intense irritation before responding. "Well I guess you're just going to have to take that risk."

Rose frowned at the memory. That was easy for her to say. She wasn't risking possibly getting Scorpius killed just by going after him and there was still the problem of Zabini's threat of Scorpius always being hers, but she would just have to ignore that for now. Now was as good a time as any. They were both alone in their common room not doing much of anything and the only people who could interrupt them were Monroe and Professor Longbottom.

"Scorpius?" Rose questioned hesitantly. She had decided that she was going to be less formal with him. Apparently using his last name all the time didn't exactly convey the message of friendship.

Scorpius looked up from his book to give her a look of surprise. "Yes," he answered uncertainly.

"I know this is kind of out of the blue – but... what do you want to do after you graduate?"

Scorpius stared at her in confusion, obviously trying to process the fact that Rose seemed to be interested in his life. "I don't understand," he replied, as if he was waiting for her to yell 'just kidding!'

"You know," Rose replied awkwardly. "I plan on applying to become a sort of archaeologist who specializes more in the translating the runes on artefacts, then actually going to find them."

"Oh," Scorpius replied, still giving her an odd look. "Well, I haven't given it much thought but I am interested in what goes on inside the Department of Mysteries – even though we don't really know what goes on in there."

Rose smiled. "So you want to become an unspeakable?"

"Or something like it," Scorpius replied, now more relaxed. "I'm just worried about not being able to get in."

"You have great grades, so you'll be fine," Rose reassured.

"But there's the problem of – never mind," Scorpius began but changed the subject when Rose gave him a confused look.

Rose decided not to press the subject, since he was already looking back down at his book. Well that had been easier than she thought it would be. He'd been surprised by her question, but he had still answered honestly, and she had no idea that was what Scorpius was interested in. Rose stared at him, nibbling on her lip as more questions began to form in the back of her mind.

"How about we play a game of 20 questions?" Rose blurted out before she would have time to convince herself not to.

Now Scorpius looked very surprised. "What?"

"It's a game. I ask you a question then you ask me one, but you only have 20 questions to find out what you want to about the other person. Muggles use it all the time to get to know one another," Rose explained.

"So you're telling me that you want to get to know me better," Scorpius questioned, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes that instantly put Rose on guard.

"Professor Longbottom said it would be easier to work together if we knew a little about each other," Rose lied with a straight face.

"Ah," Scorpius replied with a smirk as he placed the book on his lap on the table in front of him. "So, just to make sure, you can ask me whatever question you want and I can ask you whatever question I want. Right?"

"Right," Rose replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "But we can say pass if we don't want to answer something."

"Well that's not much fun," Scorpius replied jokingly.

"But, someone saying pass to a question can often be seen as an enlightening answer in itself," Rose added.

"Alright," Scorpius said with a grin. "How about we test that theory then?"

Rose fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat as she began to realize that she may not have thought everything through very well.

Scorpius' grin vanished suddenly, his face turning serious. "Why did you end it with White last year?" He asked with an unreadable expression on his face.

Rose was astonished by the bluntness of his question. Why did he want to know about that? Sure, she had never gone into detail with anyone on why she had broken up with Darren last year and she only realized at the end of the year why she had never been able to fall in love with him in the first place, no matter how much she would have liked too. Merlin only knew that if she had fallen for Darren her life would have been a lot easier than it currently was. However, she had to answer the question. The whole point of the game was for her to get to know him better, so if he asked her some uncomfortable questions she would just have to suck it up and do her best to answer them as vaguely as possible.

Rose huffed lightly and gave Scorpius a hard look. "If you have to know, I broke up with him because I didn't fancy him as much as he fancied me," Rose replied. "It wasn't fair to keep the relationship going if I knew my feelings for him were never going to change."

Scorpius continued to stare at her, as if trying to detect some sort of give away that would show him whether or not she was lying. She wasn't lying to him though; she just wasn't going into as much detail as he probably wanted. Rose watched as Scorpius leaned back in his chair, his eyes still watching her. "I see," he replied. "Well that makes sense. So it had nothing to do with anyone in particular?"

Rose gave him a stony look and his grin returned. "No," she replied irritably, "and you're down to eighteen questions now by the way, since you just asked two in a row."

"Duly noted," Scorpius smirked. "So I guess it's your turn."

Rose became thoughtful. What should she ask him? The entire point of this little game was to get to know him a little bit better, but what exactly did she want to know about him? If she got too personal there was the chance he could freeze up and just say pass, but if she never took any risks she could miss out on getting answers to some very juicy questions.

"Ask me a question then," Scorpius offered. "Anything you can think of."

Rose eyed him critically. However, if she started off with just simple questions she might be able to trick him later into revealing some scintillating details. "Alright," Rose said with a grin. "What's your favourite colour?"

Scorpius snorted. "Really? That's your big question? I just asked you why you broke up with White and you ask me what my favourite colour is."

Rose scowled at him from across the table. "Just answer the question you idiot," she snapped.

Scorpius gave her a small smile before answering. "Green."

"Figures," Rose muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Scorpius chuckled under his breath at her reaction. "Before the beginning of this year it used to be blue you know."

"That's nice," Rose said in an uninterested voice.

"Don't you want to know why my favourite colour changed?" Scorpius asked with a grin. Rose frowned. She was actually more interested in why he was grinning like an idiot, so she decided to play along.

"Alright. Why did you change your mind?" she asked.

"You changed my mind."

"Me!" Rose said in surprise.

"Yes," he replied with a smirk.

"Why?" Rose asked warily.

"You changed my mind at last year's New Years Eve Gala. I decided from the moment I saw you in that dress that Nora made -which you looked bloody amazing in by the way- that I would always love the colour green more than any other," Scorpius said seriously as he stared into Rose's wide eyes.

Rose stared at Scorpius, a blush creeping onto her cheeks, completely lost for words. "Oh."

Scorpius smirked at her reaction. "By the way, you just asked three questions in a row, so you're down to seventeen now."

Rose just gawked at him, producing a loud laugh from Scorpius causing her to instantly retaliate with the worst glare she could possibly come up with.

Several minutes of innocuous questions later, Rose had gotten no further in her plan to find out Scorpius' deep dark secrets than she had been when she had thought up this stupid game. Every time she thought she was going to surprise him with a personal question that he would have to answer in some way, she would, for some unknown reason, ask him if he had ever had any pets growing up. Not only was that part of her plan backfiring but Scorpius seemed to be enjoying the entire ordeal immensely. He had even asked her, in a completely serious voice, how far she had ever gone with a guy, which she had immediately refused to comment on. Now they were both on their last questions and Rose knew it was either now or never. She had to ask him at least one question that would make him at least a little flustered.

"Oi, Weasley. It's your turn," Scorpius said, lifting Rose from her thoughts.

"Right," Rose said distractedly before she began to rack her brains for the right question.

"Remember this is your last question, so feel free to ask whatever you like," Scorpius said with a grin. "You still haven't asked me whether or not I prefer apples or oranges."

Rose shot him a withering look and continued to think. Now what was it that she wanted to know the most about him?

Rose looked over at him hesitantly and he grinned. "I'm waiting. Give me your best shot, Weasley."

Rose chewed on her lip nervously, the question already floating around in her mind. Just do it, Rose. You've been asking him about his favourite everything for the past half hour; he's definitely not expecting anything personal.

"Why – um...," Rose hesitated, while staring down at her hands. "Why did you..." Come on, Rose. Get it together. Rose took a deep breath in and out and raised her head, her expression serious. Scorpius noticed her change in expression and he sat up slightly as Rose opened her mouth again. "Why did you try to kiss me those two times last year?" Rose asked.

Scorpius just stared at her, his wide eyes locked with hers. Rose watched him open his mouth to say something but he quickly closed it and looked away from her serious expression. "I was just being an idiot," he mumbled under his breath, while looking anywhere but at her.

Rose went from hesitant to angry in a matter of seconds. "What do you mean you were being an idiot?" Rose exclaimed.

"Just drop it, Weasley," Scorpius muttered angrily before getting up from his seat in an obvious attempt to run away from the situation that was about to unfold.

"I will not," Rose shouted, shooting up from her seat. "This has been bothering me for months and I know I wasn't seeing things. You tried to kiss me once when I was still with Darren and you would have kissed me at the end of last year if you hadn't been interrupted by a psychopath. So I demand to know why you tried to kiss me. Twice!"

Scorpius rounded on her, his expression wild. "Alright. I have one more question. Did you even want me to kiss you?"

Rose stared at him in surprise. "Well, no but-," Rose spluttered, trying to think up a proper answer to his question.

"So why do you give a damn?" Scorpius yelled.

"Why do I give a damn?" Rose questioned in astonishment. "You tried to kiss me! There has to be a reason why you thought that was a good idea."

Scorpius just shook his head in frustration and turned away from her. "And I told you I was being an idiot. You don't want me, so it's a good thing nothing happened. So how about we end this conversation before we say something we'll regret."

Rose stared at Scorpius in enraged astonishment as he began to walk towards the staircase that lead up to his room. How dare he say something like that and then walk away from her? "Who said I didn't want you?" Rose exclaimed in a hysterical voice.

Scorpius immediately froze where he stood at the foot of the stairs and Rose didn't need to see his face to know that he was surprised. Hell, she was surprised too but for some reason she didn't feel like stopping. "You asked me if I wanted you to kiss me last year and my answer was no, because I didn't then. Well, actually I might have – but I'm still not all that positive if that's true," Rose rambled. "But something's changed, and I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to describe it, but I'm pretty sure if you tried to kiss me right now... I'd let you."

The silence that enveloped the room was almost stifling. Like the calm before a storm, Rose stood in the middle of the common room holding her breath as she waited for Scorpius to say something, almost as if she were bracing herself for the first clap of thunder and the torrential downpour that would follow it.

"Scorpius?" Rose asked tentatively, his hand shaking slightly when she said his name. "Say something." But he didn't. He didn't even move. He just stood at the foot of the stairs as still as a marble statue on display in a museum; cold and too far away to touch. A ball of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

"Please," Rose pleaded.

Scorpius turned his head slightly, just enough for Rose to see the unreadable expression he always wore when he didn't want to let anyone see how he was really feeling, but still he didn't say anything. He just stared at her over his shoulder for another strained moment before turning away from her and bounding up the stairs to his room.

Rose sunk back into her seat, completely lost for words. What just happened? What had she just done? She could feel the tears coming and she tried in vain to blink them back. Rose buried her head in her hands, knowing full well that she had just opened the floodgates on her relationship with Scorpius and there was no turning back now.

A/N - Well this doesn't look very good does it. But do not worry my friends, it will not last long. That is a promise. And we have also learned a few new things about Hogwarts newest professor. Anyway, I am deeply sorry for not updating sooner but a whole bunch of different things prevented me from making a speedy update to the last chapter. I hope to have the next chapter up around Halloween since that's when Chapter 10 is taking place but I make no promises. Please read and review as always. Ciao.