Well, here's chapter ten then. Please do review. Even if it's just one sentence.
Disclaimer: This world and these characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The only thing I own is the plot.
Rose,
Darling, you've got to prepare for these exams. I know you're a smart girl, but frankly, you've inherited your father's study habits – that is to say, you haven't got any. You're probably thinking that it's only first year, but even those exams are important. Tell Al and Alice, too! If your grades are not satisfactory I will be forced to take away your Quidditch privileges this summer. If you don't have time for studying, you won't have time to fly, I'm afraid. And what's this I hear about you, Al, Rose, and Scorpius getting detention for hexing some poor Slytherin – a certain Miles Corney, I believe? I will not tolerate this atrocious behavior! Breaking rules – I've had it up to here with the letters from the Headmistress about your bad behavior. Hexing the other students! It's unbelievable! Regardless of what your father says, we never had much excitement at Hogwarts. Yes, there were the Quidditch rivalries, and yes, your Uncle Harry and your father did once fly to Hogwarts in a car, but otherwise, we were fairly well behaved students. After all, your father and I were Prefects, and your Uncle Harry was Quidditch Captain – you've got to be a good student for that, you know, or they don't allow you to play. Dad sends his love. Hugo was wondering if you could stay at Hogwarts over the summer, too. He doesn't mean it, dear.
Love, Mum
P.S. I don't know how you managed to break into Filch's office, but that packet of detentions was because Neville wasn't a particularly talented Potions student, and Professor Snape didn't appreciate the Gryffindors. And there's a reason that packet wouldn't open! The protective charms are kept there for a reason, Rose Ginevra Weasley!
Looking up, Rose snorted. "Who's that from?" Al asked from across the table, buttering up a slice of toast.
"Mum," Rose answered, taking a bite of her eggs. Swallowing, she continued disgustedly, "She wanted to remind us to study more. She seems to think if we don't live in the library spending our weekends on revision, we'll somehow fail our O.W.L.s – typical."
"We don't need to study," Scorpius drawled cockily, grinning. Arrogant as that may sound, it was true. They reviewed material all the time; and not just from first year. They may have had an advantage with the pensieve, but they never would have gotten anywhere without the drive to succeed as well.
Rose gave her letter to Alice. "Look at the bottom. She says she doesn't want to know how we broke into Filch's office, but that really, Uncle Harry and Mum and Dad were well-behaved students."
At that, the other three burst into laughter. Alice passed the letter to Scorpius. "Well, to be fair, your mum doesn't know that we've already seen the packet. To her, we're mere first years, incapable of the sort of magic bypassing those charms requires."
"And she definitely doesn't know about the pensieve," Scorpius added.
Rose shrugged. "Did you see what Hugo put in? Still wishing for a little brother, Scorpius?"
He waved a hand. "I'm not changing my mind. I was right, even if you don't know it. So, are we gonna study tonight?"
Al nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "Outside." Rose looked up in surprise – this was news to her. Hugo, Lily, and Roxy and the others had snuck out only yesterday, and there was only every so often they could fly the distance from home to Hogsmeade without getting caught – with their skills, nearly every three days.
There was a reason that every single Legacy member could fly. The ones who had been born with the natural talent for it got a lot of practice and flew with the goal of making their house teams in their second year, as opposed to their third or fourth year – natural talent plus practice never failed, and they had grown up with the sport. The ones who couldn't fly a circle around a Quidditch hoop learned to become average on a broom, if not team player level. (These people were few and far between, especially with their parents. All three of the Potter kids had practically been born on a broomstick).
The four left breakfast for their first class, which was Transfiguration. Apparently, there was going to be some old witch lady talking to the students about their exams, and the Headmistress would be sitting in.
"I've heard she's a nightmare," Alice whispered. "James was totally rude to her yesterday; she was treating him like an idiot because he wasn't paying attention, and she said something about how he shouldn't expect to pass his exams when he do something, and he did it. . . I didn't get the details."
"We can expect that sort of treatment from her, then?" Scorpius asked.
"Of course," Al grumbled under his breath. "Another adult talking down to us. Life, mates, is bloody unfair."
"What are you talking about?" Scorpius demanded incredulously. "Like we can't handle anything she throws at us! We'll teach her that even first years shouldn't be treated like we don't know anything, and the Headmistress will be in the room to watch us prove Hogwarts students aren't idiots, no matter how young we are."
Scorpius, Rose reflected, had gotten considerably more arrogant since arriving at Hogwarts. Of course, you couldn't be a Gryffindor, and moreover part of Legacy, and not come off a little arrogant; there was a lot to be arrogant about.
They strolled into the room and took their seats. Scorpius saw Headmistress McGonagall in the back and was about to call out a cheerful "Minnie!" before noticing the old, grey-haired witch at the front of the classroom, standing imperiously beside Professor Bones. He may not have respected the bad-tempered witch, based on the older cousins' claims, but he definitely respected Minerva McGonagall, quite a lot.
"Morning, class," Professor Bones greeted them. "This is Madam Geraldine Breycoff; she'll be overseeing the class today. Pass your essays up, please, and then we'll start."
Once they had done so, she began. "Today, we'll be doing a bit of revision before the exams. Now, I know you've –"
The woman coughed, and the four Gryffindors were reminded unpleasantly of Dolores Umbridge. "You have been doing revisions, I assume?"
"Yes," chorused the class. Really, it was a truthful answer. After much frightening rumor passed on to them by the amused older students, the first years were terrified of being sent to Azkaban for earning less than seventy-five percent on any exam, or of getting their wands snapped in half from the shame of failing to perform the perfect levitation spell in Charms. Rose, Al, Scorpius, and Alice practiced nightly, of course.
She scowled. "I tend not to believe you children when you claim such things."
The class was in stunned silence. "That's it," Scorpius muttered to Rose, losing the last tiny shred of respect he'd had for the woman. "We're showing her how 'childlike' we really are."
"For example," Madam Breycoff continued in a high voice. She pointed at the first row of Gryffindors, which happened to be the row that the four Legacy students were sitting in – not that they had planned it that way, of course.
"Transfigure these mice –" and here she turned their quills into mice, "- into goblets."
The class gasped; everyone knew that was second year work. What had happened to make this woman so nasty? The four exchanged determined glances as Professor Bones's eyebrows shot up in outrage and McGonagall prepared to intervene. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her nostrils were flared – she looked furious. Madam Breycoff gave the Headmistress a triumphant look; and the four immediately understood; it wasn't them the old witch had a problem with, it was McGonagall.
Before any protests could be uttered, however, the friends spoke as one: "Vera Verto."
To the astonishment of their fellow classmates and professor, the mice vanished and were replaced with four pristine crystal goblets. Madam Breycoff went white, and Scorpius twisted in his seat to watch his Headmistress's reaction.
For a moment, her eyes were wide with surprise, before they quickly went back to normal. Her mouth was set in a slight smirk, however, and Scorpius inwardly beamed at the pride shining in her eyes.
Her gaze swept the four of them, and when it landed on him, he offered her a grin. Turning back around happily, Scorpius grinned at his friends. "That was great!" he whispered so only they could hear.
From their expressions, they felt the same way. "I suppose," Madam Breycoff said stiffly, "that that was passable."
Their expressions dropped in outrage, and Rose slammed her hands down on the desk. "That was second year work!" she exclaimed angrily.
Sensing the tension in the air go up monumentally, Professor Bones quickly intervened. "Fifty points to Gryffindor for an incredible display of magic," she awarded them, smiling. As their Head of House, she felt the need to show them her pride, and added, "And ten more if you can conjure a snake and explain to me what type of Transfiguration this is and why is it considered such."
Al beat the others to it, and enunciated clearly, "Serpensortia!" A snake shot out of the end of his wand, and Professor Bones nodded.
"Well done," she said approvingly, "and the explanation?"
"It's a conjuration," Al answered easily. "One of the most difficult types of Transfiguration, but this particular spell isn't too hard, even for a first or second year. Although most conjuration spells are only taught to N.E.W.T. students, this in particular is a feat accomplishable by a younger student, provided the student has the knowledge necessary to perform the spell." Remembering how Scorpius's father had used it against his own when they dueled in their second year, he continued, "It's an effective spell in dueling, although vanishing the snake is even simpler, and is considered both a part of Transfiguration but also could be considered a counter-spell."
"Ten points to Gryffindor. Miss Longbottom! Care to demonstrate the vanishing spell?"
Almost lazily, Alice drew her wand and said, "Vipera Evanesca."
"Another five points to Gryffindor." There was a groan from the other side of the room, while the Gryffindors cheered; only the Scorpius, Al, Rose, and Alice could managed to earn Gryffindor seventy points in one class.
Of course, it was only fair, considering how many points their family lost the House.
There was a sudden long, low sound from outside, and then the sound of footsteps. Everyone in the room instantly froze, and then there was a scramble to shrink the pensieve and allow the younger kids to escape with it first. They snuck out back and were running off into the Forbidden Forest with their brooms before anyone could catch them.
Teddy was the next to go, considering he wasn't a Hogwarts student. Lucy, Dom, Vic, and Molly were right on his heels, and James tossed the four first years the invisibility cloak as he left with Fred and Louis – just as three people entered the room.
Al threw the cloak over the four of them just as the light from the first person's lumos hit them. "How the hell did we get in here?" a girl's voice asked harshly, and Al recognized her as a Slytherin. As the light spread, he realized all three were Slytherins.
"No idea," answered Girl 2. They all seemed to be around fourth year.
"I didn't know there was a room under the Whomping Willow. Who'd build something here? That bloody tree is mad, I'm telling you. I've got a huge bruise on my ribs!" exclaimed the third Slytherin, a boy.
"Oh dear," Girl 1 spoke dryly. "Do you need a Healer?"
"Shut up," Boy snapped. Then he seemed to notice the room. "I still have no idea what we're doing here. One moment, we're sneaking across the grounds, talking about what the older Riddlers told Guinesse the other day about how they were thinking of getting some first years to join us so they can spy on bloody Lucy Weasley, Will Raven, Holly Charlotte, and Dylan Curtis's lot, and the next thing I know, we've slid through some mad hole into this place. Oh, hell – is that blood? Look at all these scratches. . . Merlin, d'you think it really is haunted?"
"Don't be silly," Girl 1 snorted, rolling her eyes. "It hasn't been haunted for years."
Older Riddlers? Rose mouthed at Alice, bewildered and suspicious at the mention of her cousin and their friends.
"This could be a good meeting place for us. . ." Girl 2 murmured thoughtfully.
Oh, Merlin, no! The four friends were engulfed in identical feelings of pure panic before they froze in sudden realization. Within a second, they were moving in tandem, as only people who had spent innumerable hours engaged in deviously reckless behavior and shared the closest sort of friendship that extended into family could do.
In other words, they took advantage of the one thing Gryffindors thrived on – fear. Al tossed some Peruvian instant darkness powder (which they all carried, after that incident in the forbidden corridor by the dungeons) into the air, and the seven students were enveloped in darkness.
"What was that?" hissed Boy in a high voice.
Knowing the darkness would hide them, Rose, Scorpius, and Alice slipped out from under the cloak, concealed with precautionary disillusionment charms. "You dare," boomed Scorpius from one corner of the room. His voice was low and rather Bloody-Baron like, in all honesty.
The three Slytherins caught their breath in unison. "Look, whoever you are, I know you're a student."
"For years," Rose hissed from the other side of the room, letting her voice become scratchy and tortured, "I have suffered. . . for years, I've waited for students to come back. . . I'm hungry. . . hungry. . ."
The three did not even consider defiance – what were they, Gryffindors? They weren't stupid! They backed up to the door slowly, but Alice was there instantly, stopping them. She let her voice go high, cackling insanely. "Hee hee hee! Ha ha! Ho ho ho ha hee hee hee!"
And then Al joined in, laughing in a growling voice modeled after Mad-Eye Moody's, "Ha ha ha ha ha!" It was the perfect evil villain laugh. "You should not have come. We cannot deny ourselves meat that so willingly wanders into our midst."
Boy let out a whimper, and they four took that as a cue to start laughing again. Alice's high, maniacal guffaws, Scorpius's low, menacing chuckles, Rose's scratchy, painful hisses, and Al's deep-throated, snarling laughs echoed in the room, and the Slytherins screamed.
"Please!" shouted Girl 2. "We'll do anything. We can offer you loads of meat!"
"Can you?" Scorpius mused, sounding sinisterly fascinated.
"We can?" Boy hissed.
"Yes, you idiot! We'll give them the Mudbloods! What better way to get rid of them and escape with our lives?"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Scorpius bellowed, his voice thundering. Gryffindor or not, Rose would have run like hell if she'd heard him speak to her like that. What were they going to do? They'd be found out. . . unless. . .
She moved closer to Alice and whispered almost inaudibly into her ear. Alice stiffened, but Rose felt her nod. Rose moved over to Al and repeated the action while Alice told Scorpius, cackling madly to keep the Slytherins distracted.
It was advanced magic, and they couldn't do it yet – but maybe. . . Alice slipped out, and a minute later, she was back with Lucy, who had a cold expression on her face. Dom and Molly followed. This was illegal, which was why they'd tried to refrain from doing it. . . if anyone ever found out. . . nevertheless, it was necessary; and besides, they'd broken many more laws than just this. They could go to Azkaban for their crimes.
Lucy stepped forward, feeling around, and she grabbed someone by their robes. It was Boy, who yelped. Dom and Molly each felt around and grabbed a Slytherin, making sure they had the right person before they all hissed in low voices, "Obliviate."
They heard thuds as the Slytherins were knocked back with the force of the spells, and Molly let out a shaky breath. "Merlin. . ."
They stood there in silence for several moments, the weight of what they'd just done suffocating them. Finally, Lucy spoke up in an emotionless voice. "We've got to get them out; replace their memories with something harmless."
"They were taking a walk," Alice volunteered, the usual attitude gone from her voice.
"Right," Dom agreed. "Listen, you four – get out of here. We'll take care of things, all right? Don't worry about it."
Figuring that it wasn't the time to explain what they had learned from the Slytherins, Al, Rose, Scorpius, and Alice quickly left, taking the invisibility cloak with them.
The walk back to the castle was a solemn one. None of them spoke, all lost in their thoughts. They went up to the dormitories early, although not one of them managed to fall asleep.
It was only much later, several hours after midnight, when it occurred to any of them what they had forgotten, in the midst of "taking care" of the Slytherins: there was a lot more to the Riddlers than any of them had known.
They were planning something.