Finally found some time to crank this out; hopefully tonight I'll be able to get started on Chapter 4, maybe even finish it! Doubtful though, depends on how energetic the voice in my head, Jaimy, is :)

Chapter 3

On the third Monday that I had been at Hogwarts, I believe I learned three very important things: that History of Magic was the worst and most pointless thing I had ever or would ever participate in, never to attempt at dyeing anything that belongs to a Malfoy pink, and that Hugo could come in very handy when you wanted an adventure.

Scorpius had been wavering in and out grim mood since the day after the sorting whence he had received a malicious Howler from his mother. She had made it plain that he was a disgrace to his family and that she would be damned if he ever set foot on her doorstep ever again. Thankfully, his father had calmed the storm a bit with a second letter, promising that his son was always welcome at home and to be brave. Apparently, Draco Malfoy had lost some of his earlier prejudices, and, at the moment, just wanted his son to get good grades.

This hope was lost on Professor Binns class, however. Within five minutes of our first class everyone was either daydreaming, passing notes, or in me and Scorpius's case, playing Electric Poker under the table. This carried on for approximately two weeks before Binns caught us in the act, and assigned us seats across the room from each other.

This consequenced in extreme levels of boredom, as I had no-one to talk to and Hugo often skipped class anyway. Therefore, on that fateful Monday-a rainy, dreary day- I decided to have some fun. Seeing as Scorpius was only a few rows ahead of me, and sitting on the aisle, he was in perfect aim for a charm or jinx. Keeping a wary eye on the droning ghost, I slipped my wand from my knee-sock (where I had taken to keeping it recently) and pointed it at my friend.

"Auricofucus adfectio," I whispered with glee, watching as a small spot of red flamed up in the back of his head. Slowly, the spot spread, the colour thinning out to a light but raucous pink. The two Ravenclaws perched behind him were beginning to snigger behind their hands.

Oh, if only Hugo were here to see this…

Slowly, Scorpius seemed to realize that the badly muffled snickers were aimed at him, and he reached a tentative hand to the back of his pink head. This caused an uproar in the laughter, and just as Scorpius turned around to yell, "Bloody hell, shut up, you lot!" Professor Binns looked up from his ghostly parchment to scold the disruptive class. Instead, he gave a mighty start, and declared,

"My word! Mr. Malfoy, my dear boy, what has been done to your hair?!" Shock slowly spread through the bewitched boys face. He snatched a hand mirror from the bag of the girl next to him, positively screaming when he saw the damage.

"Mr. Malfoy, I daresay go down to Professor Flitwick at once! You may take one person with you," He added as the boy bolted from the class. Scorpius whipped around, roughly grabbed me arm, and dragged me from the classroom.

By this time, my laughter had died down a bit, but traces of it were still left on my face.

"YOU!" he bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at me, "You did this! You coloured my hair pink! My hair!" The last part was said in utter horror, as if it was worse than an Unforgivable curse.

"Well, I'm sorry, but at least it disrupted the monotone for a bit. Say, lets get you fixed up. Flitwick has a class right now, so as much as I'm sure that you want to show off your brilliant new do, I know someone who can fix it better. And in private, to boot."

A sour look crossed his pointed features, and he narrowed his eyes at me. Crossing his arms a defiantly, he turned at walked towards Gryffindor tower, throwing over his shoulder,

"If this "someone" does anything more to ruin my previously perfect hair I will be extremely mad. You don't like me when I'm mad." Sure, Scorpius, whatever sinks your boat….

Eventually, after much complaining on his part, I dragged the be-pinked boy down to the kitchens, where I knew Hugo would be holed up. He had shown me the way only once, and he in turn had learned the way from James.

"Tickle the pear, right under the stem," I told a bemused Scorpius, who leapt back in surprise when the portrait slowly swung open. We were in the basement, only a few corridors along from the Hufflepuff common room. I smiled to myself when we entered the warm cavern. The house-elves bustled around, preparing lunch for the school; a welcoming aroma of baking bread washed over us. And sure enough, perched on the corner of a wooden cooking table, surrounded by different kinds of cookies and pastries, was my twin.

"Why, hello there, Rosie. I see you've brought the—Merlin's pants, Scorpy, what the bugger did you do to your hair?!" Hugo slid from his seat and rushed over to inspect the locks of my friend, who mouthed at me, You brought me to him? I shrugged, saying to him,

"So, do you think you can fix it? I would have, but Flitwick hasn't taught us the counterjinx, you know. I figured, since you hang around James so much recently, you would know." Looking over his subject of inspections' shoulder, Hugo raised a slim eyebrow at me.

"Rosie, you are the smartest girl I know. How could you not think of just changing his hair colour back to that silver-white? Just charm it again."

Needless to say, I was gaping like a fish. Why had I not thought of that before? What would Mum Say? Bloody hell…

Hugo drew his sycamore wand to perform the charm, but I bustled him out of the way, determined to make it right myself.

"Oh, move, there you go. Ok, here we go. Auricomus Adfectio." In less than a few seconds, the silken silver colour spread back, and Scorpius examined his reflection in the back of a shiny pot. He gave a satisfied smirk, turned aristocratically, and—Oof!

Suddenly, I was on the ground, with the wind completely knocked out of me. I wriggled, trying to get out from under the weight on my stomach. Something smacked me in the face, and my foot came into contact with something soft, accompanied by a soft yelp.

"Scorpius..!" I growled, shoving him off of me. He rolled onto his back, panting,

"Well…I have to say…you deserved it…" I merely grunted, already feeling the bruises on my backside forming from the flagstone floor. Hugo pulled me up, laughing at my disheveled appearance.

"Well, now that you two are done scrapping, what say you we take the rest of the day off? At least until Transfiguration—Vogel would be downright cranky if anyone missed her class."

Though the idea appealed, I still couldn't stand the thought of missing class without a purpose. Mum wouldn't have heard of it, though Dad might have been a bit more encouraging…

"Hugo, I dunno, I mean, what if Professor Binns lets slip to Flitwick about the situation with Scorpius's hair? If he finds out that we weren't there—"

"And that is where you are wrong. Professor Binns never leaves his office unless its' to talk to a student. I daresay Flitwick has never said more than five words to him," came a bored voice from the floor. Scorpius was sitting cross-legged, picking invisible lint from his robes. I stared at him for a moment, thinking hard.

"Oh—oh, alright. But just this once! And if you two get us killed, or worse, expelled, you'll never hear the end of it from me!"

Clapping a jolly hand on my shoulder, my brother explained how he had just discovered a new passage, down in the dungeons, and how it was imperative for us to see it.

"Its' near Slughorn's office, you know, down one more level. It's so cool! It's all dark and stuff, and when you walk, the torches light up, and at the very end, there's this big iron door—I haven't gone in it yet because I wanted somebody with me, you know, just in case, and—well, you can just see for yourself," Hugo's face was lit with excitement, and he was already tugging on my sleeve.

"Well, Rosie," Scorpius began, when I looked at his place on the ground, "I say we go and see. Who knows, we might find some old relic or something from The Second War. Maybe an old hideaway for the Death Eaters!" Suddenly, he seemed very excited as well—the big history dork—and it appeared as if I were overruled.

"Oh, fine. But if we get expelled it'll—"

"Be on our heads, yeah yeah we know! Can we go already?" my twin interrupted, tugging at his shoulder length red hair. Wow, Mum was right when she said he would start looking like a girl if Dad let it grow any longer…I thought randomly to myself as I watched him swirl around towards the door.

With a grunt, my best friend pulled himself up from the floor, almost tugging me down as he did so. Smirking, we trotted ahead to keep up with our guide.


"Woah…"

"Holy…"

"Told you, didn't I?"

At the end of the torch-lit passage was, just as Hugo said, a large wrought-iron door. Carved into the metal were runes of some kind and tiny pictures; the handle was the neck and head of a dragon extending from one of the scenes. The lock was imbedded in a sea of flames flowing from the serpents' mouth.

Scorpius reached out a tentative hand to clasp the handle, but I slapped it before he could touch it.

"Don't do that!" I said at his incredulous look, "What if it's charmed, or something? In the least it could be locked! Here, let me," I drew my wand from its' usual place in my sock, brandishing it threateningly at the door.

"Alohomora!" One click from the door, and it swung open a few inches.

"Alohomora?" Scorpius and Hugo said at once, staring at me as if I were a llama in a tuxedo or something. I rolled my eyes.

"Standard Book Of Spells, chapter 8! Mum made me read it before I left; she said it helped her immensely in her first year at school."

"Then why didn't she make me read it, sister?" my brother said, an accusatory lilt to his voice.

"Honestly, Hugo, when could we ever get you to read anything besides Quidditch Through The Ages?" Scorpius was watching this whole exchange with a funny snigger painted on his face. Snickering, he pointed to the door.

"Well, you two, I don't know about you, but I want to go explore some more. We only have about half an hour till Transfiguration, according to my watch, and it took us almost fifteen minutes to find this place. I'm going in, are you coming or not?"

Annoyed with Hugo, I nodded curtly and shoved my way past the two boys, stepping into the shadows.

"Lumos" I whispered, quoting The Standard Book of Spells once again. The bright orb of light revealed a wide, circular room, papered in gold of all things! The carpet was soft and clean, as far as I could tell. The room was devoid of any furniture, except for three royal blue footstools placed at intervals around the walls. Mirrors glinted as well; the three were placed in the wall space between each seat. A chandelier with drips of wax still left on the candelabra hung from the high ceiling, the crystals clicking from the draft of the newly opened door.

"Oh, because this is so inetersting! We took so much time, and we just come upon an abandoned sitting room! I mean, how—"

"Hugo," Scorpius interrupted from my left; he lifted a pale hand and pointed towards one of the mirrors. "You didn't notice the other door, did you? Dolt."

Indeed, there was a very obscure doorknob peeking from behind one of the crimson curtains on the side of the far left mirror.

The two boys stared, looked from one to the other, until Hugo said,

"Well, you noticed it first, so you get to open it."

Pursing his lips and puffing out his chest like a snow-white peacock, the Malfoy boy strode forward, wand out, arm outstretched. As he approached the door, it began to rattle suspiciously. This did not deter the boy, and the closer he got, the more it shook. As he neared it, and pulled back the curtains, the ordinary wooden door slowly began to emit a black…fog, of sorts. Scorpius coked his head, and reached out to touch it.

"No!" I called, starting forwards. But it was too late. A loud zapping sound echoed…sparks flew from the boys fingers as he fell back….the door began to emit a horrific screaming…the curtains snapped shut…Scorpius lay unmoving on the pearly carpet…Hugo called out and turned to flee…

I almost dropped my wand as I ran forwards, almost diving to grab Scorpius… The screaming was ringing in my ears; it made my skull ache... I seized my friends shoulders and dragged him across the spacious floor; when we got to the door at long last, I simply fell out, lashing at the door with my foot as I did so. It slammed shut, creating a deafening silence marred by only our breathing. Hugo sank dwon the wall, his eyes wide with shock.

I retrieved my wand; it had gone rolling when I had dived. As soon as I had it in my palm I performed the only locking spell I knew, sighing when I heard the click.

Scorpius still lay unmoving on the floor; his fingers were blistering and burned. His hawthorn wand was still clutched in his left hand. I bent over him, willing him to wake up. When nothing happened, even after I tried talking to him, I simply slapped him as hard as I could.

He jerked up, almost hyperventilating. He scuttled back from me on his bottom until his back hit the wall; he was babbling almost incoherently.

"its' alright, man, it's alright! It's just me, just Rosie! Calm down!" I said, preparing to deliver another smack about his face. At the sound of my voice Scorpius's head seemed to clear, and his breathing slowed down a bit.

"What…what in the name of Merlins' pants happened?" he gasped, staring at his now swelling fingers.

"Well, you went to touch that door—I yelled at you not to, but it was too late—and suddenly there was this like, screaming and—"

"And this black smog stuff came sifting out, and you fell, and Rosie ran in to grab you cause you obviously blacked out, and I ran out and we shut the door and now everything has calmed down a bit," Hugo said matter-of-factly, his shock dissipating as quickly as steam released into the air.

"I—I don't remember anything after touching the door. I remember this sharp, sizzling sensation through my fingers, and then this intense pain and a burning smell…and then, nothing!" Scorpius continued to investigate his fingers before shoving them in his mouth to cool them off.

"Why, it sounds like you've been electrocuted!" I exclaimed; the thought had popped into my head quite suddenly, but it all made perfect sense!

"Yeah, you're right! Like, remember when Dad got electrocuted, messing around with Mums' toaster? He stuck a fork in it, remember?" Hugo said eagerly, kneeling forwards a bit.

The injured boy, however, was looking at us like we were insane. His eyebrows nearly reached his hairline they had shot up so fast, and his eyes suggested that he was trying to work out a rather difficult crossword puzzle.

"What do you mean, elecmo-thingied?"

Laughing at his rendition of the new word, I explained, "Electrocuted. It's a Muggle thing; wizards can't be because we don't have electricity. It's like getting a severe shock, like you were hit by…lighting or something," I was trying to find a suitable metaphor for the situation, but nothing really came out.

"Hugo," I began, turning towards him, but he spoke before I could.

"No, Rosie. No way are we reporting this to Professor Vogel! Just think, we'd have to explain how we got here in the first place, and that's way too much trouble than it's worth."

"But what if it's dangerous? I mean, like that story Uncle Harry and Mum told us bout the troll—they fought one in first year, remember? And they weren't supposed to be there! They could have been killed!"

As usual, however, nobody agreed with me, and I was stuck grumbling to myself dejectedly as we made our way back up to the Transfig. classroom.

The voices in my head were having a battle of wills, though I already knew which side had already won.

You HAVE to report this! Other kids could get really hurt!

But who else is going to go all the way down there? It isn't like its common to have tea parties in the dungeons.

But what about that thing behind the door? What if it gets out?

And how do you propose to tell the Headmistress what you were doing when you discovered this?

But…

No buts. Besides, would you really sell out your best friend and your brother?

Back and forth, back and forth, just like a Muggle tennis match. I was just thinking how the day couldn't have been any worse when the classroom door opened as we approached it, a stern face looking out.

"You're late."

Thanks to:

Tory-unfortunatly, as much as I'd love to, I wont be able to update every day :( Real life gets in the way, and at the moment a lot of stressful things have been goin on. But I'll try to crank it out for you as much as possible, 'kay?

Avanell-yay!! glad you like it, still!! keep reading, again, sorry for the wait.

Johanna-yep, I'm tryin! feel free to complain if my work isnt up to snuff :P