Unexpected Things

KeysCanHurt: Smart guess ;) Gah, you know me too well :P :))

Guess Who (MalfoyMaiden?) (EDIT: turns out I'm wrong. It's not Malfoy Maiden xD): Thankies! Excellent theories ;)

crazy-wee-cat: thanks for fave-ing and story alert-ing :) Thank ya! I'm pretty fond of Al too :D

serpent 3: awesome guess :D

mimimi213: thankies fer luvin' this :D Yeah, poor Scor and Rose...

Zee: Lol, the twins wouldn't be any fun if the paint was easy to wash off :P Hahah! Werewolf- great guess! :D

heartshaped-sunglasses: hmm... it could be ;)

Mwahahahah! Scorpius reaches the height of his emoness in this chapter! :| As for your awesome guesses, you'll have to wait 'till chapter eleven, when Al figures it out. ;P

Chapter Nine

Care of Magical Creatures

"G'mornin', class!" Hagrid's booming voice silenced the chatter of the students gathered in the grounds. It was Care of Magical Creatures, and Al was eager to see the family's friend in action, teaching students about what he loves most- magical creatures.

"I got a couple o' creatures out back, a few o' 'em are more common than others. I'll be teachin' ye abou' beasts like 'em fer as long as yer takin' me class." Hagrid waved one of his huge hands, gesturing for them to follow.

Al noticed that a lot of students hesitated. He, Scorpius and the twins had spent time with Hagrid before, on several occasions, doing homework in his cabin. They went ahead while the other students followed. Tricia Nott, a Slytherin girl who Al knew fancied Scorpius, walked with them, batting her eyelashes at Scorpius.

She reached out for Scorpius, in an attempt to hug him. Scorpius backed away. "Not now, Tricia." There was a strength and coldness in Scorpius's tone that was… different.

Tricia looked disappointed, but for once didn't continue to bother him. She slowed her pace to walk with Mars and Beth. Al could just barely hear her ranting.

Scorpius would have been relieved… glad even. But he seemed distracted, troubled. Al noticed that ever since Scorpius came back from Divination, he had been distant and moody more often than usual. When asked what was wrong, Scorpius either snapped or didn't even respond. Al tried looking for Jacqui to ask her, but he rarely saw her. Even Paula would rarely know where Jacqui would be.

Theo later said that Trelawney predicted pain from someone blond for Jacqui, and then predicted Scorpius would go down a dark road or something like that. Al worried how much that bothered Scorpius and Jacqui. When Al asked Scorpius how he was doing and if he wanted to talk to Jacqui, Scorpius muttered something about not wanting to hurt her.

When Scorpius wasn't moody, he would be normal enough, but when he was moody… Al didn't like it. He wished Scorpius and Jacqui would just talk. On the rare times that they see Jacqui nearby as they walked along corridors, Scorpius would vanish. If Slytherin shared a class with Ravenclaw, the two picked seats far away from each other… or at least… Jacqui picked a seat, would look at Scorpius, and then Scorpius would look away and sit far from her.

They gathered around the creatures Hagrid had. One was Thorntalon, strutting around proudly. Two were half visible creatures that pretty much looked like green and silver silhouettes chained to a post. One looked like a walking stickman snarling from within a cage. The last creature was a fluffy black one in a crate.

"Who can tell the class wot beasts are 'ere? Anyone? Ye should know at least one o' the beasts 'ere."

Al raised his hand. When Hagrid nodded at him, Al pointed out Thorntalon. "That's a Hippogriff."

"Good, Al! Five points fer Slytherin."

Al grinned, the twins grinned back, but Scorpius was still distracted. The other Slytherins weren't paying attention either.

"Wot about the other beasts?" Hagrid asked the class.

"Miss Chua!" Al looked at the name Hagrid called. There was Jacqui, at the back of the class.

"The black one's a Niffler, sir."

"Very good! Five points fer Ravenclaw!"

Al didn't miss how Jacqui glanced at Scorpius, but Scorpius didn't look in her direction. Two Ravenclaw boys with Jacqui looked like they were congratulating her, but Jacqui barely paid attention to them.

"Why don't you talk to her?" Al asked Scorpius as the twins raised their hands.

"Why should I bother? Everyone thinks I'll hurt her anyway."

"Higgs, whichever one o' yeh." Hagrid chuckled.

"THESTRALS!" the Higgs brothers pointed at the green and silver shadowy creatures. Obviously, they were proud of their masterpiece- green and silver thestrals.

Al returned his attention to Scorpius. "So what? She wants to talk to you!" Couldn't he see that?

"How do you know?" Scorpius snapped. "Besides, if she's smart, she'll stay away from me so she won't be hurt! By the way, she's in Ravenclaw, therefore she is smart!"

"Would you really hurt her?"

"Trelawney and everyone in this school will tell you yes."

Al rolled his eyes. "I was asking you. What do you think?"

Scorpius glared at him. "Of course I wouldn't! But who cares what I think? Who cares to hear my side?"

"She does!"

Scorpius opened his mouth, and then closed it. Al hoped Scorpius would act on whatever thought came into the Malfoy's head. This… distance between Scorpius and Jacqui only caused sorrow.

That afternoon, Al invited his friends from Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to a picnic he planned for the next day, which was Saturday. He wanted them to bond… to maintain friendships among each other despite being from different Houses. Besides, wasn't that what the Sorting Hat said last week?

Saturday morning found four Slytherins walking towards the lake.

The twins eagerly took food from the kitchens for the picnic.

Scorpius lagged behind as they walked over to the grassy spot near the lake. "Who did you invite?"

"Not Flint, don't worry." Al answered evasively.

"Ya invited the bookluver from Hufflepuff, right? Timberwood?" Theo asked.

"Yes, I did." Al chuckled. Did Theo fancy Katy Timberwood? Theo, the fun-loving prankster, and Katy the thoughtful reader. Interesting. Al's thoughts on pairings drifted to Demelza. Al and Demelza were... different.

Al sat down in the grass and laid out a white blanket they brought, then put the food he brought onto it. Tom and Theo put the rest of the food down. Put together, the food they smuggled was enough for a miniature feast, which in a lot of ways, this picnic was. Scorpius placed the drinks together with the food.

Sitting down, Scorpius picked a bottle of pumpkin juice from the selection and drank from it.

The Gryffindors soon arrived, Rose lagging behind. She looked just about as troubled as Scorpius did. Ria sat near Al. When Demelza immediately joined the twins, Al felt the pang of an emotion he couldn't identify. He looked away from the twins and Demelza to see Rose sit closer to the lake than most of them, hugging her knees.

"Was Lily able to come?" Al asked them.

"No," Ria answered, shaking her head. "She had a load of homework she needed to do."

"Weasley too." Theo said. "The firsties still have to get used to doing their homework instead of procrastinating."

"You procrastinate." Tom pointed out.

"So do you."

"How 'bout James? Will he be coming?" Al asked before argument could start.

"He said he had something to do." At Demelza's disappointed tone, Al felt it again.

"Paula and Scorpy's girl are coming!"

At what Theo said, Al looked at Scorpius, and saw that he was paler than ever. Then Al noticed that Demelza and Ria were looking at Rose. Al realized his cousin was even further away. He couldn't see her expression though; she was looking towards the lake, her red hair blocking her face from view.

Jacqui and Paula sat down next to Ria. Jacqui looked uncomfortable and upset. Paula kept glancing worriedly at Jacqui. Another glance at Scorpius told Al that he was looking towards the lake, still moody as he leaned against a tree.

Rose, Scorpius and Jacqui were so far away from each other… Al worried that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. How much further could the tension increase when the Hufflepuffs came? Raph was a Hufflepuff and Al knew he and Scorpius didn't get along well.

As Ria and Paula made small talk, the twins resumed their laughing and joking with Demelza, although in a somewhat hushed way compared to the usual. Al considered joining Demelza and the Higgs brothers. Just as he was thinking about it, the Hufflepuffs arrived.

Raphael strode over to them, called a greeting and sat by Rose.

Katy Timberwood of Hufflepuff glanced at Rose and Raph, as if wondering whether or not it was okay to join them. Deciding not to, she sat among Al, Paula and Ria.

"So… uh…" Everyone looked at Al. Worry went through him when he saw how gloomy Rose looked. Jacqui had a similar expression. "How are you all doing? It's third year, we've got more subjects… how's life?" That's what he first thought of asking.

"I'm doin' alright. D.A.D.A., I'm doin' great!" Raph answered first.

"That's only because Smith prefers Hufflepuffs above all other Houses. Smith also hates Slytherin." Scorpius's remark made Raph's smile fade. Raph folded his arms across his chest and glared at Scorpius. He would come up with a retort for Scorpius any minute now.

"I think Care of Magical Creatures is fun." Al spoke up. From the way Raph was glaring, Al could assume an argument could break out. It was just begging to happen.

"I think Arithmancy is fun." Tom was grinning.

Theo made a face. "Ew, calculations. Divination is better!"

"Divination is a very uncertain branch of magic." Ria said quietly. "And true Seers are also really rare."

"Divination isn't accurate?" Jacqui looked at Ria.

"Mum said that it isn't, and that Arithmancy is more accurate." Rose finally spoke.

"But so what? Accurate or not, people don't care about the truth. Rumors and gossip are more important."

"Scorpius…" Al couldn't believe it. The way Scorpius was thinking was just unhealthy for him. It was destroying him.

"The truth isn't important. Popular belief is all that matters." Scorpius drawled, still leaning casually against the tree.

"Can you just stop stressing over what other people think?" Al wished he would.

Scorpius stood up. "You know what? This is pointless. You're not supposed to be my friends. Malfoys who go down dark paths, Malfoys who turn evil… aren't meant to have friends."

"Malfoy! You're talkin' nonsense!"

"Scorpy! We're your mates-"

"-and nothing anyone says can prove that wrong!"

"Didn't we agree to forget things like that when we made friends with you?" Al agreed with what Rose said. Why did Scorpius just forget that? Even if Rose had her fights with Scorpius, she remembered it.

"Scorpius!" Jacqui stood up and walked straight to him. "You're a good person, and worth befriending. People just can't see that."

"But Trelawney-"

"Trelawney is an old fraud!" Rose stood up, drew closer to them and looked Scorpius straight in the eye. "The chances of her predictions coming true are highly unlikely."

"But what about her prophecy? The one about Voldemort and Harry Potter, that happened. What about that?"

Al's father never clearly explained the prophecy that made Harry Potter the Chosen One. But now more than ever, he wished he knew, then it would be easier to find the right words to reassure Scorpius, to convince him that he won't turn out as bad as Voldemort and the Death Eaters. "This is differe-"

"Bye." Scorpius turned around and walked away from them.

Just then, James strutted over to them and went straight to Paula. "Hello, beautiful!" James waved his wand and a bouquet of flowers sprouted from the tip.

There was a grin on James's face, but when he saw everyone's expressions, it slowly faded. "Did I miss something?"

Oh, I wanna warn y'all. On Friday, I'll be out of town, and internet access will be unlikely... but don't y'all worry, I'll come back with chapters after that leave :P

Hmm... Chapter ten will be kind of... filler-ish. The reactions to what happened. Eleven will be exciting, that I promise ya ;)