"Sorry about that," Scorpius apologizes, though his smirk informs me he's not all that sorry. I shoot him a look, which only makes his smirk wider.
Looking around, I see we're in some dusty library, with floor to ceiling dark wood bookshelves laden with stacks and stacks of books. There's a lingering smell of musk and cigarette smoke.
"Where are w-" I begin, but Scorpius puts his hand over my mouth. I give him a "What the heck?" look and he just puts a finger to his lips. He turns my shoulders so I'm facing some bookshelf where he takes out a book with a green leather spine. We peek through and I see two boys in dark cloaks, talking.
"Have you got him back at Burke Manor or not?" growls the taller of the two. There's sandy colored hair poking out from his hood.
"Which one?" says the other boy. His voice is higher, and it seems a little shaken.
"The Potter boy of course- you've already managed to loose our dear friend Malfoy," the taller boy spits. The other boy winces slightly.
I glance at Malfoy, but he's still watching the two.
"Felix, I'm telling you, there was this girl and she-"
"Stop lying to me, Lawrence! We both know there is no girl! You're all just too incompetent to even hold one hostage! I don't know why I even entrust you with the second, as I'm sure he'll escape too!" Felix barks. Lawrence cowers a bit in his hood.
"I- I'm sorry, Felix-"
"It's Yaxley, don't call me Felix, that's what my mum called me," he corrects.
"Sorry, Yaxley, but there really was this girl and-"
"Okay, Lawrence, then tell me about this girl. What's her name?"
"I- I don't know, Yaxley, but she's got red hair and she's kind of short-"
I'm not that short! I just don't take after my dad is all... Scorpius looks at me and smirks. I stick my tongue out at him, and he laughs silently.
"Red hair? Are you sure?"
"Unmistakably." He nods his head fervently.
"And who do we know who has red hair, Lawrence?"
"I don't know, Yaxley, who?"
Felix Yaxley conks poor Lawrence on the head. "Weasleys, you moron. Weasleys have red hair! She must be one of them."
"So what does that mean for us?" Lawrence asks timidly. I'd feel sorry for the guy if it weren't for the fact he was a part of this Greater Good trend.
"It means there's one more person we've got to kill."
"At the Station?"
"Yes, at the Station. Where else, you idiot?" Yaxley rubs his temples. "Why does everyone have to be so stupid?"
Good question, Felix. Good question.
"So is Potter at the Manor or not?" he asks finally.
Lawrence's face blanches. "Um, no, Yaxley, not yet. He's still at the safe house." He's ducking as though Yaxley might hit him again. Much to our surprise, Yaxley pats him on the head.
"Good, because I want to put the proper charms to keep this one in place," he bites. "Clearly you aren't capable of that."
Lawrence just nods his head, staring at the ground.
"Have the arrangements been made for the gala, Lawrence? You had better tell me 'yes' or you'll be seeing a whole new side of my Cruciatus."
Lawrence winces again. "Well, they- they're almost done, sir, but we've got to get Bryant out to the-"
"They're not done, Lawrence? Tsk, tsk, how many times must I warn you?" Yaxley poses his wand to torture Lawrence, the poor kid.
"W- Wait! Wait! I have good news too!" Lawrence waves his hands frantically. Yaxley lowers his wand.
"And you think I'll be interested?"
"The Minister's going to be there!" Lawrence practically squeals.
Yaxley's lips curl into a grin. "Ah, the Minister's going to be there. Very well, Lawrence, shall we go check on our guest?"
"Our guest?" He sounds so confused! It's cute, like he's a giant toddler.
Yaxley smacks Lawrence's head again. "Potter, you moron. Potter is the guest. After all, we've only got until Wednesday to talk to him."
Lawrence looks up at Yaxley. "What do you mean, 'til Wednesday?"
Yaxley's hands curl up into tight fists. "Dear Lord, Lawrence, no wonder you dropped out of Durmstrang. Honestly, how are you not mentally disabled? The gala is on Tuesday, remember? You know, the very same gala where we're going to ransom off Potter and then kill him?"
My eyebrows shoot up. I look at Malfoy, who looks a little less surprised than me.
"But- but wait! How can we ransom him off if we're going to kill him anyway?"
"That's the point, you idiot. We'll take the money and kill him and then leave. Now come, let's go." Yaxley briskly grabs Lawrence's arm, spins, and with a dull crack! they're gone.
My face falls into my hands. "What are we going to do, Scorpius?" I feel like crying. It's so hopeless, we have no idea what's going on, and now Al is going to be killed by this scumbag and his dimwitted assistant!
"Rose, you know we're going to find him. We're not going to just sit around and do nothing, are we? We'll figure out what it all means," he tells me confidently. I really don't want to cry, because I hate crying, but I can't help it. I wipe a tear off my cheek with the back of my hand while I nod.
"Don't even worry about it, everything's going to be okay," he says soothingly, putting his hands on my shoulders. I nod again and give him a watery smile.
"How did you know to come here?" I finally manage after collecting myself.
He smirks. "Because I'm Scorpius Malfoy, of course."
I whack his arm lightly. "Seriously."
"Back at the Burke Manor, everyone kept reminding this bloke to go to a library this morning," he explains.
"So how did you know it was this one?" I ask.
"This is the only library I know of," he says, looking around.
"What do you mean?" I'm still kind of confused.
"We're in Malfoy Manor, Rose," he says softly, almost reluctantly. Apprehension dawns on my face. "They kept asking me to join them, and I think it was partly because they wanted to use my house as a base or something." He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. "Well, are you ready to leave, Miss Weasley?" he asks, extending his arm for me to grab. I hook arms with him and we Disapparate back to London, outside of the bakery we ate breakfast at. This time I don't feel quite as queasy.
"Thanks for the warning this time," I joke, brushing off my shirt. "So what's this gala they were talking about?"
"I don't know, but if it's something the Minister's attending then it's probably Ministry related, right?" suggets Scorpius.
That makes sense, except... "But Yaxley was surprised that he would be going, wasn't he?" I counter, worried.
"But the Minister hardly ever goes to public functions like galas, so maybe he just decided to come to this one," Scorpius tries.
I nod. "Well, okay, should we go the Ministry and tell them what Yaxley's planning to do?"
"Do you really think they'll believe the son of Draco Malfoy and a Weasley? They already think we're a bunch of spoiled brats as it is. They'll think we're making it up for attention or something," he says bitterly. It might sound a little dramatic but he's probably right. Besides, how crazy does this whole thing sound?
"So what do we do? I mean, we don't know anything about this gala or whatever, and we're supposed to somehow stop those nutters from kill- Wait, what are you smirking at?"
"'Those nutters'?" he repeats with laughter in his voice.
"Scorpius Malfoy! I am trying to be bloody serious here! Now focus, or so help me God, I will Avada your arse into the next ice age!" I swear, this boy drives me insane. Really! They're going to murder my cousin and all he can think about is the fact that I said 'nutters'! It's not like it's even that funny! What an arse!
Now he's just full on laughing. "I'm sorry, Rose, but you can't just go around saying things like that and not expect people to laugh!" he says.
I huff at him. "Well, if you're not going to help me, then I'll just do this on my own. Goodbye." I start walking down the street, but he easily catches up to me.
"Don't be such a drama queen, Rose. Besides, if there's some sort of social event, my Aunt Daphne will know about it. Now, if you don't mind, can we please just go?" He offers me his arm and I sigh.
"You're right, I'm sorry." I take his arm and we're gone in a flash.
We end up in a living room frighteningly adorned in white lace. There's a large doily on the round coffee table, the pillows on the green sofa have lace covers, the curtains are made of what looks like Chantilly lace; you get the picture. Everything else is either emerald green or a dark brown. Sipping tea on an uncomfortable looking wooden chair is a pale woman with dark brown hair, wearing a long black dress, like the kind you might wear to a funeral. She looks mildly surprised that we're here.
"Hello, Auntie," says Scorpius, bowing his head at her briefly.
When she smiles at us, her mouth takes up the majority of her face. She puts her teacup down on its saucer on the coffee table. "Well, hello there, my dear Scorpius. And who is this- friend you've brought here?" The way she says 'friend' makes me quite certain she doesn't like me, just by looking at me. I admit, my clothes may look a bit disheveled and I haven't combed my hair since early yesterday morning.
"This is Rose Weasley. Rose, this is my dear aunt, Daphne Greengrass," Scorpius says politely.
I take her hand in mine and shake it. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Greengrass," I say brightly, putting on my best smile.
She smiles politely at me, though I can tell it's not sincere. She's sort of glaring at my hand, so I nervously drop it to my side.
"And to what do I owe this pleasure, Scorpius?" she asks.
"Well, Auntie, were you invited to a gala recently?" Scorpius asks smoothly. I'm a little nervous how he's going to do this. Doesn't she know that Scorpius is supposed to be kind of AWOL right now?
"That's none of your business, darling, and shouldn't you be in school?" she counters, which confirms that she surprisingly doesn't know that he's "missing".
"Well, yes, but my mother wanted me to ask you for the details, because she couldn't read her invitation," he improvises. I just nod at this, as though I've heard this story before.
"Why not? She can read, can't she?" Daphne snaps.
"Er, well, yes, Auntie, but her letter- it, um-" He looks at me for help.
"-Got caught in the rain," I lie, and poorly. It hasn't rained in weeks, but I've got nothing else. "It got caught in the rain, so the ink smudged."
Scorpius smirks at me, and I want to laugh but I'm too nervous.
"It got caught in the rain," Daphne repeats flatly. "What rain?" Her eyes narrow at me. I have to admit, I feel a bit scared.
"My parents were on holiday in Romania, so it was raining when they got it." How can he keep his voice that calm? I can't understand it. It's like he's a natural born performer. Either that, or just a good liar.
"Ah, of course they were. Happiest little couple, are they?" she remarks sourly. Her lip curls. "Fine then. Accio invitation!" she chimes, raising her stubby wand. A cream colored piece of parchment lands in her hands. "Here you go, feel free to keep it. I shan't be going if your darling parents are." She looks like she's smelled something awful. "Now get out of here, I've got my company to attend to," she commands, before having an animated discussion about the tendencies of redheads with an invisible guest. Some of them make me blush.
Scorpius is trying not to laugh. "Thank you, Auntie." He kisses the top of her head and we walk outside of the house. The heavy wooden door closes with a thud.
"Nicely done, Rose. 'Caught in the rain'? That was brilliant." I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not, especially when he's smirking like that. We walk down the pathway leading to the front gate.
"Thanks," I reply. "And what was that all about? Why doesn't she like your parents?" I ask curiously.
"Well, you see, my father wasn't supposed to marry my mum. He was supposed to marry her sister, my aunt, Daphne, but then he and my mum fell in love, and the rest is history," he explains, as though he's told the story many times already. "My mum used to like to tell me the story before I fell asleep because she claimed it was 'so romantic' or some other rubbish like that," he adds fondly. I feel like he's told me a secret.
"Wait, but then why was she talking to herself?" I blurt.
He laughs a little. "I don't know, maybe being a spinster sent her off the deep end?"
Just like Scorpius to be a prick about everything!
But I can't help myself from giggling anyways.
A/N Yay! Fast updating!
Don't you just love how much free time we have during the summer? I sure do, even if I do get extremely bored! But it's worth it, not to go to school!
So anyways. Not a lot of action in this chapter, but it gives you a lot of hints about what's to come! It was necessary for the plot to progress, anyways. Because guess what? I actually have a plan! Well, it's not really a plan... it's more like a super vague outline about what the chapters are about. (Sort of.) With this guide, there's going to be about 17 chapters in total, give or take a few.
Thanks so much for all your support, everybody! I love you guys!
xx
Ali