ACT I - PARADOS
(Years 1 to 4)
Rather surprisingly, Rose soon found out she didn't really care for any of the girls in her year at Gryffindor. They seemed unsure as to what to think of her and acted differently around her every time they interacted. The four girls held her in a state of awe, yet at the same time they didn't seem to like her very much; they found her quirky, and weird and seemed to stay up late at night in their dorm whispering and staring at her.
In class they would pair up amongst themselves, leaving her the odd one out. They would sit together for meals away from her as they giggled behind their hands, or throw socks and quills at her toads when they hopped around. On the weekends they would all go off together and not invite her.
One time the two girls whose beds were nearest the door got into a minor argument at midnight for the second night in a row. Rose angrily told them to 'Pipe down and go to bed' – It was a silly fight about where a missing shoe was and it was too late at night to put up with such nonsense. Immediately they stopped talking and were quiet. It was unnatural, but they didn't say anything to her or tell her to mind her own business like anybody else would have. The next day however, Rose could see them pointing at her as they made faces at her and laughed, not even trying to be discrete.
Nothing was said to her face. Never was. Not that she really cared (maybe only a little). She would find friends elsewhere.
Rose and Aziza soon befriended a Slytherin girl who had fallen off the moving staircase and broken her arm in the second week of school. A prefect had told her to not run up a moving staircase and so she promptly tried it. She introduced herself as Pippa Wentworth and she had straight brown hair a little bit longer than her shoulders and bright blue eyes full of mischief. She very much loved getting into trouble. She had eleven detentions in her first month of school for deliberately not listening to the Professors. In Potions, she didn't even bother looking at the instructions; she just mixed different ingredients to see what would happen. She tried charms they weren't supposed to do for a few more years in Charms class, wrote essays that were always short of the requirement, and stayed out past curfew all the time.
Pippa didn't at all care for toads but she saw their usefulness, like Rose. And she didn't run screaming.
To Rose's astonishment, Scorpius had been keeping his distance from her. She always caught him staring at her, but he never said anything to her directly – just looked away quickly. She couldn't begin to guess if he was sorry for what he said on the train, or embarrassed, or just didn't want anything to do with her.
That stalemate lasted only about a month in. Rose was headed down to the Great Hall for lunch when she saw she had a little black companion trailing her. Usually Rose's toads were let loose; they weren't always by her side and had free range of the school. All cats left them alone, amazingly enough, all cats but one.
"Rigel!" Rose stopped in the hallway and turned around with her hands on her hips. "Leave! Stop following me everywhere."
Two of the girls from her year were passing by just at that moment. "She even talks to cats," she heard them say. Rose's face turned red; it wasn't her fault that the deranged cat had an awful habit of following her. It also wasn't her fault that she sometimes talked to her toads because none of the girls in Gryffindor would talk to her!
"Rigel! Go to Malfoy!"
He just sat demurely and stared up at her.
She threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, you know what! We're settling this once and for all." She stalked towards Rigel and picked him up, carrying him in the air away from her body.
She found Scorpius at his table in the Great Hall. Unfortunately Pippa wasn't there for moral support because she was seated over at the Hufflepuff table with Aziza.
"Malfoy," said Rose thrusting his kitten into his arms. "Keep your cat on a – on a leash or something. He follows me everywhere."
She then noticed that his friends were all staring up at her. She recognised Josef, who was the smart one, Nolan, the arrogant one, and then there was an older year sitting with them that Rose didn't know. Rose's neck turned red. She didn't want an audience; she should have thought out her plan a bit better.
"He's a kitten. It's not like I can tell him to stop," Scorpius said practically. He kept focused on his soup, not looking at Rose.
"Well figure something out! You know what I have for pets. I don't want to always worry about their safety because your cat always follows me and occasionally attacks."
Nolan and the older student started laughing.
"Who cares? They're just toads?" Nolan said, all pompous, as if his saying it would make Rose see reason. Rose noticed Scorpius wince, but he didn't say anything. Rose didn't really like Nolan. Just from what she'd seen and heard of him, he was not very nice.
"Yes, Nolan. They're toads. I'm surprised you're that observant – usually you can't even tell which end of your wand is up - but I didn't ask for a cankerous slime-ball's opinion. So don't give it!" she practically spit, frustrated. Yes, perhaps that was a bit too much. She needed to calm down a little and make Scorpius see reason, not focus on his friend.
Nolan looked completely flabbergasted. The older student started laughing and punched Nolan in the shoulder. "You just got told mate! Don't even try for a comeback now." He stood up and mock bowed at her.
"Whatever." Rose was sure the older student was making fun of her but she didn't want to insinuate anything else. She turned to Scorpius, who was covering a grin with his hand not too discretely. "Just please try to keep your cat contained."
He shrugged at her. "I'm still saying he's a kitten and will go where he pleases. There's not much I can do."
Rose could see the logic he was saying. She knew plain and simple that cats did what they wanted. She expected more from him though, for some reason.
"If I ever find one of my toads dead. . . you better watch out!"
"What are you going to do?" he asked. "You're not that scary Weasley."
Personally she thought she could get rather scary. She had red hair, freckles, and a temper that liked to show itself once in a while. People usually stayed out of the way.
"Are you kidding me? Did you hear what came from little ginger's saucy mouth?" the older student said.
Rose ignored the jibe and stayed focused on Scorpius. "You just don't want to even go there."
He stood up and faced her. They probably looked like quite a sight; two gawky first years looking fierce over at the Slytherin table. Rose's temper was flaring up. She just wanted him to say he would try to watch his cat. She also wanted his blonde hair to stop falling into his face and hiding it. It was annoying her.
"I don't like you coming over here and insulting my friends over a toad. I will go there," Scorpius said angrily.
"Yeah, we've been friends since before Hogwarts," said Nolan. "We're old family friends." Rose shot him a disgusted look and ignored him.
"Well I can insult you, Malfoy, instead then," she exclaimed, throwing her hands out and putting them on her hips. "You're a foul pigeon-toed currish bladder! How was that? You're a computer-cod surly varmint! A sanguine guts-griping swine!"
Rose was almost enjoying this too much now – letting her mouth run away like this. She never really got the chance before. The few Slytherin's listening were cracking up. And even though she was insulting Scorpius, he had an incredulous grin on his face and shook his head to try to get rid of it. He was losing the battle. Rose saw a dimple in his cheek briefly appear for the first time.
She felt hands enclose around her arms and then Aziza and Pippa were on either side of her.
"I've got your back," Pippa said, facing her fellow House with a serious face and bringing up her fists.
"Uh, Pippa, that's not why we came over! And Rose. You've restored your toads' honour. We should go eat. Way over there, like let's even go outside," Aziza was saying.
"Well, lovely talking to you Weasley. But Aziza is right. You better leave before you embarrass yourself even further." He turned around and sat back down still fighting that pronounced dimple on his face that came out when he was smiling.
Aziza pulled Pippa and Rose away before she had a chance to reply.
"Bloody hell! But he got the last word in!"
She wasn't allowed to go back and ream him out. Then to top things off, the black kitten walked out of the Great Hall and meowed at her.
"He is going to be the death of me, I swear. Him and that demented cat," Rose told them severely.
After that incident, Scorpius no longer completely avoided her. He also didn't even attempt to reign in his cat.
The first package Rose received from home left her quite homesick. The envelope contained separate letters from her mum, dad, and little brother. She missed them all dearly. It was Hugo's birthday the past week and in his letter he wrote all about the toad he picked out from the pet shop. His name was Hopkins because he was in the habit of jumping up on the tables and counters and all around the house.
Her mum mentioned the toad and sounded quite frazzled over it as he would jump out of nowhere and scare her.
The sound of ripping broke her concentration and she looked up to see Pippa tearing up a letter into tiny pieces.
"Uh what are you doing?" asked Aziza. She had her own letter from her family back in Kenya. "Didn't the owl just bring that to you?"
"It's just junk mail. Nothing of importance." She gave a cheeky grin at the two. Rose tried peaking to see what it said but Pippa shielded it. She finished ripping the paper up and put it in her orange juice. She swirled it around with her fork to make a soupy mess.
"Pippa. . . ?"
"Alright alright!" She exclaimed. "It was a letter from my mother. She just sends so many of them there is almost no point."
"And so you completely destroy it. That makes sense."
"Yeah, you're right. I could be more creative with it actually. I'll think of something better tomorrow."
"That's not what I meant!" Rose said.
Pippa jumped off the bench. "Let's go outside to Hagrid's! He's got some weird fire breathing slugs we can go poke. They shoot fireballs!"
It was a cold winter day, winds howling around the castle and snow a couple metres deep when Albus managed to drag her to the library.
"I don't know why you don't like libraries," Al told her. "You love reading!"
Rose rolled her eyes and tried to straighten out her school uniform. She always felt so disassembled next to Al. There was always something she forgot to do, like tie her boots, tuck in her shirt, or pick strands of red hair off her robes - things that he seemed to never forget. His uniform never had wrinkles and his pants always reached his shoes. Rose even had a few green stains on her white shirt from Herbology class, and dirt under her nails still! It was basically sacrilegious! She did love Al, she loved him so much. She just felt so inferior next to him.
"I don't like reading in libraries though. It's so boring! I'd rather read outside or in the Great Hall or somewhere else. Plus this library doesn't have many plays, and those are my favourite things to read."
"You're so difficult to please. And I don't see you going outside in this weather," grumbled Al. "I have nobody to go with to the library. Can you at least come today for a few hours?"
Rose sighed. "I guess. Don't any of the Ravenclaws want to go with you? Isn't your House considered the most studious?"
Albus shrugged. "The girls would rather do other things."
Rose looked curiously at him. "And the boys? There's got to be some in your dorm who like to study."
Albus didn't meet her eyes as he said, "they don't really like libraries either."
"You're so difficult," Rose said, exasperated at him, causing him to smile at her. "I don't really like any of the students in my year in Gryffindor either. They think I'm really weird."
"You're the coolest person I know," Al said seriously and Rose couldn't help but hug him.
It was only one hour into their library stay when Rose got serious ants in her pants. She couldn't focus on her reading. It was too quiet. Too many students were glaring at her every time she started tapping her was too focused on his work. The Hufflepuff sitting two tables over was flirting in an embarrassing manner with his Slytherin study buddy and it was hard to watch, but she couldn't look away. Nothing was working out.
Her eyes finally left the couple and wandered around until they landed on Josef, the Slytherin first year who was friends with Malfoy. He was seated all by himself, curled up in one of the armchairs by the window. There was an empty table a short distance away with two chairs and Rose instantly got a splendid idea.
She shut Al's book on him and packed up his stuff – ignoring his protesting and questions when he asked what she was doing. She marched over to the table near Josef and plunked the books down. Rose then proceeded to drag the table and chairs closer to Josef. It screeched across the floor. She got lots of glares from other students and a Gryffindor Fifth year prefect told her off. She stuck her tongue out at him and got a detention. Al made a face at her and put his fingers to his lips. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, bringing him over.
"Hey Josef. This is Al. Al, this is Josef," Rose said. Josef looked surprised that someone was talking to him but said hello all the same in a shy voice.
"Al needs a library buddy today because I need to leave and kick some cats or something. I'm bored. Is that okay if he sits with you?"
"Yeah. Sure," Josef said. He uncurled from the armchair and pulled it closer to the table, sitting normally. He was the smallest first year Rose had seen yet and had dark brown hair and a rather disrumpled appearance, like Rose.
With his friendly nature towards Al and her, she knew she already liked him.
She didn't stay visiting too long; she really needed to do something else. Almost the whole library breathed a sigh of relief when she left.
Because of Pippa, Aziza and Rose spent quite a bit of their time in the Slytherin Common Room. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Common rooms were always populated and full – quite noisy – but usually the Slytherins didn't hang around theirs. So they proclaimed that their new hangout, even though the Slytherin Common Room wasn't the most welcoming. A green light emanated from an underwater window and permeated all around the room. It usually made their skin look like it was diseased. Yet despite all, they managed to ignore the gloom. Slytherins occupied it once in a while and most of them could care less that two members of different Houses were with them. None of the Slytherins really minded, except two. And Nolan was never in the common room anyway to raise a fuss. Scorpius was however, and that is where Rose always ran afoul of him.
Aziza, Pippa, and Rose had their homework spread out on the floor in front of the dying fireplace. They had just gotten out of class and were still wearing their school uniforms. Pippa had suggested coming here after they got kicked out of the library for talking too loud and because there were too many people in the Great Hall. Aziza and Rose heartedly agreed to it.
"So, moonstones are only useful during the full moon?" asked Aziza, thinking out loud. She was sitting cross legged in front of the couch ripping off small pieces of paper from her parchment and throwing them into the fire. She had her blue glasses pushed up on her head and two library books in front of her that weren't getting looked at.
"No, they're only useful in the daytime," Pippa said. She was busy writing away on her own parchment, choosing to not even write about when the moonstones were most useful – something Aziza and Rose thought was rather important for their essays.
"What?"
"Don't listen to her," Rose advised, flipping through one of the larger library books. "She doesn't know either. You'd assume they are at their maximum abilities during the apex of moonlight, but I haven't found a confirmation yet."
"We should go find Kahil and Denika," Aziza stated. "I bet they'd know."
"Yeah, but by the time we find them, I'll already have found the answer in this book. Or you might if you start reading the one in front of you."
"Homework stinks."
Rose and Pippa nodded in agreement. Rose wished they had something more interesting than essays like the other Slytherins in the Common Room. There was a group of sixth years sitting by the lake window and observing the aquatic wildlife they saw and then writing and sketching it in their books. That was so much more desirable than essays. Other than them the Common Room was virtually empty of all people. Rose's two toads were seated by the fire and half asleep, Guacamole's vocal sac was going in and out slowly.
It was at that moment that Scorpius came in, his black kitten trailing him. The kitten perked its head up, looked over to the fireplace, and immediately sprinted across the floor to jump on Matilda. Loud croaking filled the common room.
Rose gave a screech, her red hair flying behind her as she pried the kitten off Matilda while Aziza pulled Guacamole to safety.
"Malfoy control your dim-witted obtuse cat!" Luckily the kitten just pounced without his claws extended; Matilda wasn't harmed.
"Rigel can do what he wants. And no one in their right mind would bring toads to Hogwarts anyway so he would be doing you a favour if he ate those things."
"You're a pinprick." It was rather annoying how many jabs Scorpius took at her and her pets. It was very repetitive. He just didn't know when to leave it alone.
Rigel then strutted over to Rose, who pulled Matilda higher out of reach in her arms, and laid down on her homework, rolling on his back with his paws in the air. Rose glowered at the kitten. She wasn't petting him after he just terrorised her toads. Scorpius didn't seem to like the attention Rigel was giving Rose. He walked closer to them and put his hands on his hips. His black school robes were too big for him and it gave him the appearance of a sick vampire. Sick because of the green light in the common room reflecting off his pale skin.
"Wait a minute – what are you doing here?"
"Well we happen to go to school here Malfoy," Rose said sweetly, but venomously.
He rolled his eyes. "No I mean here – as in the Slytherin Common Room."
"What does it look like?" asked Aziza. Uninterested with homework and giving no more pretenses that she was working on it; she leaned back against the couch with Guacamole resting on her lap and started drawing designs on her hand with her quill. Swirls and loops soon formed from the black ink.
"Yeah, but you two aren't Slytherins!"
"Oooh, he's a smart one," Pippa said scathingly.
"You can't be here!"
"Well why not?" asked Rose. "Barely anybody else is and it's not like anybody else wants to sit here." Scorpius looked at her and frowned.
"Well I want to sit here."
"Oh Medusa! Then sit." Pippa turned back to her homework and wrote another sentence.
Scorpius scowled and turned around to the armchair. He sat with a thump and crossed his arms angrily.
"Rigel, come here," he ordered.
The kitten didn't even seem to hear him. Rigel stood up and started purring as he winded around Rose's and Aziza's arms as they rested on the ground.
"Dumb cat," muttered Scorpius.
"Where's Josef?" asked Pippa. As the months went by, it was appearing that even 'old family friends' weren't enough to keep Scorpius's ties to Nolan all the time. Scorpius was found with Josef more often it seemed. Usually was more tolerable when that happened as well. Rose and co. stayed away from Nolan - there were usually a few too many hexes and jinxes thrown and detentions received. Nolan was the bane of their existence and mean about it too.
"He's still 'getting acquainted' with the library. He's being lame."
"Oh. Okay."
He stayed in his position, not moving. Ten minutes past of him just sitting there before Rose spoke out. "Since you were so insistent on sitting here, you might as well go get your homework and do it with us. Our essays are all due on the same day."
Rose caught his glance over to the fifth years. "I'm not doing homework with you."
"Well suit yourself then."
"This is a Slytherin area. . . you should leave." He said it half-heartedly, almost as if he was just doing it for a show, which Rose kind of thought was true. No one replied to him.
Rose continued to look through the library book for her answer to moonstones, shifting positions to be more comfortable on the grey carpet. The more she thought about it, the more she realised it was weird (specifically for her) to be in the Slytherin Common Room. She had only ever heard from her family about the Gryffindor one - how it was warm, comfy, and inviting. This was a definite contrast and not exactly in a bad way. There was no sunlight, but the lake window was pretty cool. When she wrote her parents about how most of their time was spent in this common room they were shocked, to say the least. The more time she spent here though, the more she realised she rather like it.
It was unique. Especially with the skulls and snakes for decoration and an over emphasis on the colour green; but then again all the other common rooms overemphasised their own House colours.
Rigel stopped winding around their arms and crawled up on Rose's lap, still purring, and curled up right next to Matilda. Rose was tense as she watched the kitten to make sure he didn't eat or attack her toad. He seemed to be fast asleep though.
The fifth years finished their assignment, got up, and left the common room.
Rose briefly glanced up at Scorpius who was still scowling vaguely in the direction of Rose and his kitten. She wondered if she asked him now if his answer would be different. . .
Rose sighed loudly for dramatic effect. "I can't find the answer in here!"
Aziza looked up in alarm. "No! Keep looking, I'm looking to write five inches on that part."
Rose raised her eyebrows. "As you're so busily looking? You're still drawing on your hand!" She couldn't see the designs from far away, but she knew Aziza was working steadily on it.
Aziza grinned cheekily. "Please Rose."
Rose shut the book loudly. "I'll look elsewhere maybe. Hey Malfoy, do you know the answer to when moonstones are most useful?"
He brought his hands to his face and rubbed it, pushing his hair straight up to sit on his head. "Yeah. Of course. I started that essay two days ago. Almost done now."
Aziza and Rose looked at each other. Rose tried to stop from smiling.
"Would you mind helping us a bit? We're stuck."
He shrugged in his chair and quickly scouted out the common room to make sure it was empty. "Well. . . maybe. . . I guess."
He oh-so-slowly got out of his chair and walked to his dormitory.
"Voila!" Pippa exclaimed as she flourished her quill in the air. "I'm finished!"
"I'm pretty sure it's too short."
"Only by four inches." She didn't even care; it was something she worked way too hard on, deliberately not finishing homework. Pippa rolled up her parchment and stuck it in her bag.
"Keep doing homework Rose, I'm going to try braiding your hair. My sister was just teaching me before we came here and now I need to practice."
"Oh, sure. And I didn't know you had a sister! Is she older or younger?"
Pippa was silent for a long time and then she moved behind Rose, out of view. "She's a lot older than me. Her name is Katie Maurice."
"Practice braiding lots! I desperately need help cornrowing mine," Aziza said. "I can't do it as well as my mum and it just gets too knotty too quickly otherwise. I might have to cut it all off if I can't figure this out." Aziza looked unhappy with the thought.
"I wish I had a sister," Rose said. "You're lucky."
Pippa assured Aziza she would practice as she sat down and picked up Rose's long hair that was hanging down her back. She started combing it with her fingers a bit and then separated it into a few strands. Rose winced a few times because there were quite a few knots in her hair.
Scorpius came back down the stairs and took Pippa's old spot, not commenting on the hair braiding.
Together, the three of them finished their essays. Scorpius knew a lot about moonstones, but what he didn't know Rose did and luckily they had enough information to get two feet of parchment filled.
Aziza, Pippa, and Rose soon found out that if they were all hanging out in the Slytherin common room, Scorpius was bound to join sooner or later. He always complained, moaned, and nagged them about being 'outsiders in a sacred place' or saying things like 'Salazar himself is turning around in his grave,' but eventually he would tone down and help with homework or chat with them.
"You better not have given them the password!" he said severely to Pippa one time.
"And if I did?" she challenged, sticking her snub nose in the air at him.
"Well – it's. . . why – no! It's secret!"
Rose scoffed. "Oh get over it and come draw constellations with us."
"I've just had the most amazing idea that we really have to do! Today!" exclaimed Pippa in the spring of their second year.
"Aren't you supposed to be in detention?" asked Aziza. Her and Rose were lazing around outside in the sun. All the snow finally melted after a cold, long winter and everything was finally turning green.
Pippa flapped her hands at them and then grabbed Aziza and Rose's hands and pulled them up. At the moment Pippa was the tallest and strongest of the lot.
"Professor Mowla fell asleep and he'll be out all afternoon, judging from past experience. So as long as I'm back by five and wake him up he'll never know I was missing!" He was the Charms Professor and getting on in his age.
Rose rolled her eyes. "If you would have just handed in that assignment on time you wouldn't even have to be in detention on Saturday! What's this brilliant idea you had that you had to make us get up for?"
"We're going to go swimming in the Black Lake!"
She was met with silence.
"The Black Lake? Did she just say that?" asked Rose to Aziza.
"She can't have said that, the ice just came off a week ago," Aziza said back.
"Yeah we must have heard her wrong. The water would be freezing!" was Rose's reply.
"Not to mention, I'm sure it's against the rules," Aziza added.
Pippa sighed in exasperation. "You two! Who cares about the rules? It's not like it actually says, 'No swimming in the Black Lake without adult supervision in Section 4 paragraph 12 of the Hogwarts Handbook of Official Rules for Students.'"
Aziza and Rose exchanged glances. "So you're saying that it does say that in the Hogwarts Handbook?"
"How about we just sit here and enjoy the sun," Aziza said. "Our afternoon was so relaxing."
"Nope! Come on!" Pippa dragged them both to the castle and to all their respective dorm rooms to get their bathing gear. Rose and Aziza went along with it after Pippa's enthusiasm started to rub off on them; once she got an idea in her head there was no turning back or saying no. They all excitedly got changed in the girls' lavatory before heading out to stand by the water, towels wrapped around them. The breeze was cool on their bare skin.
"Who wants to jump in first?" asked Pippa with a small squeak in her voice. They were standing by the edge of the grassy ledge, analysing the dark water a few feet below them. The water was very turbid and they couldn't make out the depth, or see the bottom. There were also a few waves that looked a lot scarier farther away but when they came into shore, only lapped the ledge lightly.
Pippa looked nervous now; she was rubbing her hands together and fidgeting.
Rose peered over the edge. "Well, at least the water doesn't look very black up close."
"You guys! I can still see snow at that end! This is nuts," Aziza proclaimed. And true enough, there were speckles of white gracing the other side of the lake.
There was no comment. The three looked at each other uneasily.
Aziza spoke up. "Well, Pippa you dragged us out here. You should jump in first."
"You guys. . . I don't know if we should jump in anymore." She looked pale and scared.
Rose turned to her. "What! Pippa, why? We're already here and all changed. We might as well just do it."
Pippa pulled her hair out of its ponytail and wrapped the towel tighter around her. "I just think this is a bit rash. And dangerous."
"A bit rash?" Aziza said, shocked. "And dangerous? Pippa you only ever do impulsive things that are surely to injure yourself! And it's not like the water is very deep here. Is that why you're nervous – you're not a good swimmer?"
Pippa stepped back from the edge a step.
"Oh Pippa. . ." said Rose. "How about we all jump in together?"
"No – you guys. Can we do this next year instead? It was a bad idea. The water's freezing, and gross. It's probably deep and there's – creatures in it."
Rose was about to answer when two Ravenclaw fifth year prefects came up to them. "What are you three girls doing? No swimming is allowed in the Black Lake, it's against the rules."
"Of section 4 paragraph 12," Rose muttered under her breath. Why did prefects always come up to them? She'd seen Nolan and his gang bully students and they were never around, but as soon as it was Rose, Pippa, and Aziza they flocked over. None of the prefects seemed to like them and Rose was getting tired of it.
"You'll get hypothermia," added the second prefect. Rose huffed loudly in annoyance. These two prefects just gave her three weeks of detention for back talking two weeks ago when she got back late from a visit with Hagrid. "The water will be freezing this time of the year around."
Well, duh.
The two prefects were tall (but everyone was still considered tall to them). Rose was expecting Pippa to bite back and challenge authority like she always did to people who told her what to do, but instead she stood there looking forlorn and reluctant. Rose hated seeing her like that and she felt her temper flare.
"We don't care about the rules. Why don't you mind your own business?" Rose said and turned her back on them. She was worried about Pippa and didn't need some prissy prefects telling her what to do. Pippa looked sick. "It's just water and we're not going to be in it long enough to get hypothermia," she called over her shoulder. She chucked her towel to the side and Aziza did the same in anticipation.
Rose reached out her right hand and grabbed Aziza's, her left hand was held open to Pippa. Pippa took a few deep breaths and dropped the towel she was holding. She clutched Rose's hand tightly.
Her face was steady. "Are you ready?" She stared straight ahead towards the water, focused upon the surface.
"You're getting detentions again if you jump in," the prefects said with a warning tone. "Stop being stupid."
The three girls ignored the Ravenclaws.
"One," said Rose as they took a few steps forward.
"Two," said Aziza.
They all started running.
"Three!" screamed Pippa as they reached the edge and leaped, sailing through the air, wind tugging at their hair, sun in their eyes, Ravenclaws berating them at the ledge.
Gravity pulled them down.
The water was absolutely freezing. They came up gasping and laughing. Water was splashed around as they attempted to catch their breath.
If Pippa stood on her tiptoes her eyes and nose were above the water. Rose and Aziza had to tread.
"That's it we're telling a professor!" one of the prefects said angrily. "You three are out of line."
"W – w – we don't c – c – care," said Pippa, still trying to catch her breath. The prefects stalked away when they realised they weren't helping the situation and went to tell on them.
"This. Is. S – s - so. Cold," stuttered Aziza. "C - c - can. We. G - g - get. Some. Hot. Ch – ch – ch – chocolate. Now?"
Rose doggy paddled around the two. "I – I – if you k – k – keep moving it gets w - w - warmer."
"N – n – no. Th – th – this is good," Pippa said as she tip toed towards the edge to climb back up. Aziza followed her and Rose went last, enjoying the swim more than she thought, even in frigid waters.
They all got forty points docked from each of their houses and a month of detentions.
"Thanks," Pippa said quietly to Rose the next day. "We'll make this our tradition. Make sure I do it every year. I don't like being scared."
Rose heard a whimper coming from down the hallway, as if someone was crying. A bit apprehensive, she followed the sound - to see Nolan with his wand in Josef's neck.
". . . Near that swarmy Ravenclaw Potter again. We are Slytherin and don't consort with foul. . . "
Rose didn't hesitate; she sent a stinging hex at Nolan. "Back off. Josef can be friends with whomever he'd like."
"Weasley," he sighed as he aggressively rubbed his backside. "Getting in things you don't understand."
"No I understand well enough. Stop being a self-righteous twelve year old."
Nolan started muttering under his breath as he left, glaring at both of them.
Later that evening, Rose asked Pippa if Nolan ever terrorised her for being friends with her and Aziza.
"He tried. I've given him tentacles a few too many times for his liking so he leaves it well enough alone. Nobody tells me what to do."
That was certainly correct considering she just kicked a fourth year Hufflepuff's shins for telling her to stop throwing dungbombs from the Sixth Floor to hit innocents riding on the moving staircases.
A pea hit her face. Rose ignored it. Pippa was telling her a funny story and she didn't have time for silly antics.
Then another pea came. And another one.
Rose growled and gripped her fork as she stared straight ahead. "I will not let James annoy me. I will ignore James. He is a bawdy goat-breath harpy who is not worth my time," she said out loud.
Pippa rolled her eyes at them both. Rose heard snickering come from him and then more peas hit her face.
"James cannot bug me. He knows that if he lets me get my temper up I will take one of the forty peas he has thrown at me and shove it up his nose so far it will become attached to his dented cranium."
There was a pause in the pea throwing. Then a carrot hit her face.
"JAMES!"
After Herbology, Rose stayed behind to talk to Professor Longbottom about their latest homework assignment. She couldn't get a mark back yet for he needed her to reiterate some parts of it. She might have written it while flying on the back of a broom so there were a few places in her essay where her ink was smudging and the words weren't legible.
Rose rather liked Professor Longbottom. He'd come around their house enough over the summer holidays and winter that Rose wasn't scared to talk to him at Hogwarts. He always seemed like the kindest, most easy going person ever. Plus he chopped off a snake's head and that totally resonated bad-assery. In the second year's eyes, there was no higher honour.
It didn't take long for him to mark what she was able to read out to him and then she made the trek back to the castle, whistling random tunes to herself. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. Then again it was just a grassy slope so she didn't know why she would have to pay close attention.
Yet somehow when she was halfway up, she tripped over something and fell flat on her face. She gasped and pulled herself up. Thankfully she didn't land on Matilda.
There was laughing coming from above her and Rose pulled herself to her feet to see who it was, brushing the dirt off her shirt.
"Weasley, Weasley, Weasley. Falling at our feet. Such enthusiasm is not needed; you're only a little lower class than us." It was Nolan, his little posy of older students, and Scorpius. Scorpius was hanging around at the back and looked uncertain to what he should do.
"Actually, she's a lot," said one of the older students. "But outright worship is a bit much, you're right."
"Yes, because I would actually worship snivelling dung beetles," Rose said angrily. She hated Nolan. There was something about him she just wanted to avoid, or punch. None of the other fellows he hung with were worth swot either. "What you're sprouting is pretentious drivel not worth being said. Stop wasting the oxygen to help yourselves feel better."
There was a croak from her pocket and Rose put a hand on Matilda.
"Oh she has one of her vermin with her? Too bad she didn't crush the thing when she fell."
Rose looked at Scorpius. He was friendly enough with her and her friends when they were hanging out together. She actually liked him most of the time. His eyes were averted from her and he stood with his hands in his pockets, bunching up. At least he wasn't saying anything to side with Nolan, though he wasn't saying anything to show support to her either.
"Well then. I don't need this right now," Rose said and pushed past Nolan. She'd heard the Gryffindor girls talk about him at nighttime, about how he was so attractive and funny. Rose didn't think him good looking at all. He had fair hair and pale skin. Blue eyes with no kindness in them.
She almost made it up the hill when another tripping jinx was sent her way and she found herself on the ground again, this time in a mud puddle. She gasped at the cold water that seeped in through her robes and shirt.
"Grow up you piece of ill-breeded liver pus!"
She ignored their laughs and stalked away with flaming cheeks.
In third year Aziza shot up taller than Pippa and she was devastated.
"Aziza, no! Shrink back down. I liked being the tallest," she said as she ran her hand from the top of her head up to Aziza's curly head. Even when Aziza's hair was flattened, she was still taller.
"You didn't see Rose's dad this summer," Aziza said. "He's super tall. She'll probably grow soon too." The past summer Aziza spent a week at Rose's house. Pippa had been invited but hadn't replied. She later told them that she goes abroad in the summer and is always out of contact.
"No! That's not fair. I'm already as tall as my mum and sister. They said I'm not going to grow anymore."
"Oh, height doesn't matter," Rose said as she looked up from her book. "We'll love you no matter how tall or short you are. Or short, as it will be in your case."
Pippa punched her in the shoulder. "Oh shut it! You're the shortest right now."
Rose made a face and rubbed the sore spot. "I feel like a Hobbit right now because I'm so bloody short and have such large feet compared to my size." She held up one of her shoes and it was almost double Pippa's foot size.
"This is what's been hiding under your robes all these years? Wow. I've never really looked at your feet before."
"Aren't Hobbit feet really hairy?"
Rose glowered at Aziza. "Yes. But mine aren't hairy! It was just the feet to height ratio I chose to make the connection with."
"Never heard of that book. Is it a 'normal' book or one of your boring play books?" Pippa asked. She had something against the types of books Rose preferred reading.
"My mum is trying to get me to expand my tastes. So it's a normal book. It's not as good though."
Pippa grabbed the book from her hands and threw it under the couch. "How about we go with all books suck! Let's go do something. I'm tired of sitting here."
"Ugh. Can't I just read in peace for once?"
"No. Up and at 'em Rose!"
Rose rolled her eyes. "We have Defence in half an hour though. So why don't we just sit and. . . read! Or something that doesn't involve moving Rose from her spot and book."
"You really don't need a bigger vocabulary from more books," Aziza pointed out as she took of her glasses to rub her eyes.
"If you say so pumpkin ruffle-nylon."
Aziza dropped her glasses in her lap and started laughing. "You're ridiculous."
Pippa kept persisting and finally the three of them left to the seventh floor. They ran into Al and persuaded him to come with them to try an experiment that he told them wouldn't work a few days ago. Also accompanying them was Guacamole in Rose's right pocket.
They set Al in place and then moved a few metres back, placing Guacamole in front of him. Albus looked like he wanted to be anywhere but standing there with the girls and the toad. The only reason he hadn't run yet was because he strongly believed they would fail.
"Okay, so Guacamole when we say attack. You attack, alright?" Pippa had her nose on the ground to stare down the toad. Even though she kept her distance from him, she still had less aversion to him than Albus.
"That thing's a toad, not a dog," Al said haughtily. He had his arms crossed and his brown hair was slicked back in some semblance of control that was completely unlike his fathers. Never one to have a feather ruffled, his shirt sleeves were impeccably rolled back, not a crease in sight.
"Shh!" she said. Pippa got up from the ground and stood beside Rose.
"Ready? One, Two, Three. . . Attack!" yelled Pippa, raising her arm in the air like a charge. Guacamole didn't budge. Aziza nudged him with her foot and he tipped over, his nose hitting the floor. He stayed like that.
"Holy Merlin-cats! I think I killed your toad," Aziza said horrified to Rose.
"He's okay. He does that sometimes. I think it's a defense mechanism or something." She knelt down and set her toad back upright. She pet him until he croaked.
Albus grimaced at the sound. "Can I go now? I have better things to do than – "
"Attack!" whispered Rose and Guacamole took the biggest leap forward.
Albus fell backwards in fright as the toad advanced – he sent out a spell of some sort with his flailing arms before he completely fell to the ground –
The spell hit the suit of armour, instead of the intended target of the toad and it wobbled to and fro to all their horrors –
Before it collapsed with a crash on top of Rose.
And that is why Rose missed the Defense against the Dark Arts Class where they got the chance to face a Boggart.
"Mine was an octopus," said Pippa after class in the Hospital Wing when they went to visit Rose. "It was so embarrassing. I've never even seen a real one before in my life and apparently I'm scared of them! Fancy that."
"It was better than an oven! I can't believe how many people were laughing when the Boggart took that shape. I guess my dad told me the story of Hansel and Gretel too many times when I was younger." Aziza shook her head and shivered. "It would be a horrible way to die. I hate ovens!"
"And Aziza the vegetarian was born," Pippa said in a deep joking voice. Aziza looked thoughtful at her comment.
Rose laughed. "I think I know what my boggart would be. But then again, it might have changed! I guess I won't know now thanks to Al and his fear of toads. Was that his?"
"Yes!" squealed Aziza and Pippa. They both cracked up joyfully. "We couldn't stop teasing him. I think he hates us now. He flipped us off and went to the library with Josef."
"He's starting to turn into a real library bug," said Rose. "It's all he really does now." She readjusted one of the bandages on her head and then looked at her hands as they played with the white sheets. She had three cracked ribs, one sprained wrist, two broken fingers, a bruised head and bruised knees and elbows. All from one stinkin' suit of armour. Who knew they were so heavy. "What was Malfoy's?"
Aziza and Pippa looked hesitant for a moment. "His was interesting. And kind of sad. We couldn't really make fun of him for it because as he pointed out if we were faced with the real live thing, we would probably run away screaming."
"And!" Rose said curiously. "What was it?"
"His father," whispered Aziza.
"No!"
"Yeah. Nolan and his idiot friends really tore a hole into Scorpius. They called him a bunch of names and were laughing at him."
They heard footsteps echoing in the Hospital Wing and turned to see Scorpius himself walking towards them carrying a dark object in his arms. "Stop gossiping about that class," he said. "You guys are horrible."
Aziza rolled her eyes. "Oh like I didn't just hear Al telling you all about Rose's accident? Who's really been gossiping?"
Rose was frowning at Scorpius though. She hadn't quite forgiven him from that day after Herbology. She was still a little angry about it, especially because he didn't say anything about that day, just moved on and pretended it hadn't happened. So she said rather frostily, "why are you holding Matilda?"
Scorpius looked sheepish but couldn't help a small smile come through. "Thought it was the least I could do for someone who just had a suit of armour fall on them. Rigel was prowling around her."
He set Matilda on the hospital bed by Rose's legs and then stared around at the three of them.
"Alright. Well I'm just going to – "
But the rest of his sentence was cut short by more footsteps echoing by the door. Scorpius quickly took action and dove behind the hospital bed and sliding under. Just in the nick of time too. The reason why was revealed a few seconds later.
Two Slytherin third years, Nolan and Amelia, walked into the hospital wing. Nolan paused in front of Rose's bed. "Heard about the suit of armour. I'll have to thank Albus and send him flowers."
"He likes purple tulips. I'll tell him they're coming you expatiated codswallop," Rose shot back quickly.
Amelia shook her head. "We came to see Monsieur Tremblay. Not annoy Weasley." She seemed to be favouring her left arm and tugged Nolan away from the group.
"They're in his office Malfoy. You can make your getaway now," Rose said, leaning over the bed to look down at him after Nolan and Amelia disappeared; her unhealed injuries protested and she grimaced in pain.
Scorpius was silently hitting his forehead with one of his hands as he laid on his back. He was mumbling under his breath 'stupid, stupid' over and over. Once he saw Rose's head poke down he shut up and put his hands down. He listened carefully to double check if the coast was clear and then rolled out and quickly stood up, brushing layers of dust off of him. The particles clouded the air and Aziza started coughed.
"Shake off somewhere else!" she exclaimed. "I can't breathe!"
He moved away from them, but instead of leaving immediately he quickly came back and pulled out a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "I also brought you this. Hope you get better quickly." He scurried away from them.
"Yes!" exclaimed Pippa as she pounced on them. "I love these things."
Pippa eagerly opened the box and dumped it on the bed, chucking the container to the side. Only Rose noticed the 'I'm sorry' written extremely small on one of the flaps in Scorpius's handwriting. She pocketed it.
They all started peering at the beans, guessing the flavour and eating them. It was a game they invented back on the train ride in second year.
"Grape," Aziza said as she held up a purpleish one to the light. She popped it in her mouth, chewed, and looked queasy. "Nope. It's beef. . . Weird colour. And gross."
Rose sorted through them before deciding on a red one. "This looks like a spicy cinammon strawberry jam!"
Pippa shook her head. "You're never going to get one right if you always guess complicated things."
Rose didn't change her answer though. She took three nibbles and then spit it out on the pillow, partly gagging. "Bloody hell. It's blood!"
"Sucker! You guys don't know how to pick them." Pippa eyeballed a few colours before settling one a white one. "This'll be cauliflower."
"It's not going to be cauliflower," Aziza said as she also decided on her next one to eat.
"Well you never know. . . Ha! It is cauliflower. I think this is the sixth one I've ever gotten right in my life!"
"I don't know how you've gotten six! I haven't even guessed one right out of all the boxes we've eaten in the past two years. Sugar-free peanut butter!" predicted Rose before popping it in her mouth. "Nope. It's – wood. Or a tree branch or something. Bark? Hmm, not as bad as you'd think."
"Well I've never guessed one right either," commented Aziza. "This one'll be. . . carrots!"
Pippa shook her head. "It's not carrots. I'm guessing cheese."
"I don't want to eat it now! What if it is cheese? I don't fancy the stuff."
"Oh just try it and tell me if I'm right. Rose had to eat blood."
Aziza chewed one end carefully and then gaped at Pippa. "I hate you."
"Seven! Yes! Two in one day has got to be a record."
"You know what. He's a funny kid," Rose said thoughtfully as she leaned back against the headrest on the bed and looked again at his message on the candy box. It looked like he wrote it very carefully, it was much more legible than his handwriting in class. Aziza and Pippa asked what she was talking about.
"Malfoy. Scorpius. He's interesting, don't you think? He always does random things that we don't expect." And acts like a complete nincompoop the other times, she added silently to herself.
"I dunno. I guess." Aziza wasn't really interested in Rose's thoughts. She showed Pippa her next one. "I think this one is. . . parchment paper?"
"Nah. It'll be salt."
"Hmm. No, it's not salt. It's milk."
"Well, two in a row was rather unbelievable." Pippa slapped Rose's leg. "Stop daydreaming and pick another colour!"
Rose's face went red. "I wasn't daydreaming!"
"Then guess again! I think this one is a turnip! Try it."
After her hospital visit, things were rather hectic while she caught up with homework, spells, and letters. One would think her family would talk amongst themselves about her health instead of all sending separate letters. Not that she didn't appreciate all the love.
One rainy Saturday, Rose finally had some peace and quiet to go read her book. She chose Hamlet by Shakespeare. She felt like a good tragedy. She loved her friends and family, but sometimes she just wanted to read, without interruption.
She found an umbrella laying on the floor in her dorm and headed outside to find a tree by the Black Lake.
Third year was almost done and she really should have been studying, but she couldn't help put it off when she had the options of Wilde, Shakespeare, Barrie, and Ibsen at her beck and call. She also couldn't really find motivation to study because of Pippa's lacadaisy attitude regarding finals. It was rubbing off.
She should really join Al and Josef in the library some time.
Matilda and Guacamole were both splashing around in the shallow waters of the lake. Then she had another visitor: Rigel. He was soaking wet as he trotted out of the Forbidden Forest and came to her. He looked so pitiful with his fur all flattened and damp.
"Hey Rigel. I hope you ate a big meal of rats and mice." She picked him up and cuddled him to her chest, warming him up a little. Cats weren't that bad, she decided, for cuddling a toad wasn't quite the same. Toads didn't purr. They didn't feel the greatest either against the skin, though if anyone ever implied the same to her she would defend her toads like no other. Rose was always able to ignore those not so perfect characteristics in favour of the one reason toads were invaluable to her. She stretched her legs out and stared down at her feet.
"I really do have big feet. I wonder when the rest of me is going to grow," Rose said out loud. She was so short compared to everyone else in her year. Her hands seemed to be growing too, and her hair never stopped. Rose continued reading as Rigel fell asleep in her lap.
Her brother, now a first year at Hogwarts, was the one who braved the rainy weather to come sit with her.
"Good morning Rose," he said with a cheerful grin, shaking the water from his lion's mane. They were always told that if Rose were to cut her hair, the two of them would look like identical twins. They both had the same hair shade of reddy-orange, the same unruly curl to their hair, their mother's nose and brown eyes, and freckles galore all over them. The only real big difference between them (besides their sex and age) were the two dimples in Hugo's cheeks that no other relative had; leading her mum to do some ancestor searching on the Granger side to see when that genetic trait last came up. The research was still ongoing.
Hugo's dimples made her think of the one that graced Scorpius's cheek. She wondered which side of the family he got that one from.
Adding to the Weasley family of Matilda and Guacamole, Hugo brought his toad Hopkins. It was of similar breed to Rose's two, but much more hyperactive. Hopkins joined Matilda and Guacamole by the water.
"Hey Hugo. Brought homework?"
"Yeah I have some Transfiguration and Potions and Astronomy. Lily might join later. Her and her friends found chalk in one of the broom cupboards and so they're playing hopscotch in the Entrance Hall right now."
"You have that much homework? They're really loading it on you for the last month," Rose exclaimed.
"Well this is the last essay for Trans. And I only have two more star charts for Astronomy. Whose cat is that?" asked Hugo. Rigel stretched and changed positions on her lap, his head hanging off her legs and his stomach exposed to the air. He was slowly drying off.
"Oh it's Scorpius Malfoys'. One of the boys in Slytherin in my year."
"I think I know him. He's told me he likes my toad." Rose looked at her brother in disbelief.
"No way! From all the trouble he gave me over my toads I can hardly believe he said that to you."
Hugo grinned at her and then brought out his homework and got started on it.
Why would Scorpius say that? He seemed to make fun of her constantly because of her pets. The only other person to openly do that was Nolan. And somehow it enraged her more to have Nolan tease her than Scorpius; at least Scorpius was nice and let it drop. Then would do homework with them. But Rose didn't want to think about all that and so she got comfortable again and opened up Hamlet to where she left off:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
"Hey cool!" Aziza said one morning at breakfast. The post had just arrived and Aziza received lots of baked goods from her mum that she immediately shared, and a few letters. After reading her parents and grandparents letter, she opened the unknown. "Kahil and Denika sent us another letter asking how things are."
Pippa nodded vaguely, reading the daily letter from her mum with a frown on her face. It was three years without fail that she received it. Most mornings she didn't open it up at the table. And then once again it was destroyed, this time with a vanishing spell.
"No way! What are they up to? I wish they still went to Hogwarts," exclaimed Rose. "Hugo! Come here for a second."
Hugo was eating breakfast a short ways away and slid down the bench towards his sister to listen in. Al also focused his attention away from his plate to listen.
"Good morning Aziza, Rose and Pippa. We were unsure who to send this letter to, but decided on the fellow Hufflepuff whom we met first on the train in your First Year. We hope everything is going well with you all and that Pippa isn't getting as many detentions – "
Pippa bolted upright and shoved a muffin in her pocket. "MEDUSA I have one right now. Don't reply to the letter 'till I'm back!"
" – that Rose is taking good care of Matilda and Guacamole, and that Aziza is doodling more than ever. Thing for us have been rather busy these past years. Denika and I have just finished our university degrees, hers was in Russian literature and language, and mine was in herpetology. So right now we're not sure where that will all lead or what we will do. We've rendez-vous'ed for the first time in a while and thought we should check up on our friends at Hogwarts. Take care all, Love Kahil and Denika."
Rose was talking excitedly to Hugo. "Kahil is studying toads and snakes and all the reptiles! He was in Seventh year when we were in First and knew everything about them."
"There's such a thing?" Hugo said excitedly. "I want to do that! Can you ask him what he gets to do?"
"For sure!" Aziza said. She already had her head bent over and was scribbling a reply back to the letter.
Al was making faces and shaking his head. "Rose and Hugo, that's disgusting!"
"Toads are the coolest amphibians ever! Come on Al, there's three toads in the family. You have to get over it sometime."
Al made a face and pushed his food away from him. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm headed to the library." He got up and left the Great Hall. Hugo grinned at Rose and then slid back down the bench to his friends.
Rose heard a loud ripping noise and turned to the source.
"Did you just rip out your History of Magic notes!" exclaimed Rose to Aziza.
Aziza flashed her pearly whites. "I'm showing Kahil my doodles! And it's not like I take good notes anyway."
"Well. . . at least you draw good goblins, " Rose said. And winced. Her poor notebook.
"Here, you can add on to what I wrote and then as soon as Pippa writes down what she wants to say we'll send it back."
For Aziza's 14th birthday they went flying over the forest. She was the only one who had a birthday during the year; Rose and Pippa's were during the summer.
Aziza collected brooms from the Quidditch pitch earlier in the day since Pippa had some vengeance against the game and the pitch. During First year broom lessons she purposely crashed her broom into the Ravenclaw Quidditch stands and split the broom in half, just so she didn't have to fly. She also broke her ankle in the process. She was basically told to stay away from the pitch after that.
Rose borrowed Lily's broom and they set out after supper.
"Hey Al, cover for us?" asked Rose as they walked out of the door.
He raised his head and frowned. "You're breaking school rules again."
"Please Al."
He sighed and flapped his hand at her. "Just be back before dark. And your mother wrote to me to make sure you were brushing your hair still since birds almost started nesting in your hair this summer."
Rose rolled her eyes.
"That's disgusting," he stated. "Brush your hair."
"Yeaahh. Thanks Al. See you later."
"Wait. Why do you have a stick strapped around your waist?"
She paused in the doorway and looked down. Well that was rather embarrassing.
"We were swordfighting. . . I was Peter Pan. Pippa was Captain Hook. It's one of my plays," she said when Al looked confused. "Oh come on! This has been my favourite play for years, I know I told you about it."
He shook his head and let her get on her way.
"Come find me later! I'll lend you my comb!" he called out as she just exited the doors. Rose couldn't help but smile at him. Hair combed flat wasn't really her style!
You're fouling up our common room again?" Scorpius drawled as he entered and saw the three girls seated on the floor near the end of fourth year. Even though he didn't say any names, they all knew he was saying it in reference to Rose to antagonise her.
"Have you not grown tired of that same sentence yet?" Rose asked. Pippa was French braiding her hair in a zigzag pattern so her head was tilted way to the side. Rose could see Scorpius make his way towards them and flop in his usual complaining chair, stretching his long legs in front of him. Of all the people to start growing! Aziza was still getting taller; Pippa more or less stopped growing in first year, but she was still taller than Rose. She only grew half an inch over the summer! She was so oddly proportioned. She tucked her legs underneath her and her hands went to the sides. All she was was knobby knees and elbows with too large feet and hands.
Scorpius sighed loudly as he crossed and uncrossed his legs. He pulled something that looked like a pocket watch from his pocket, briefly glanced at it, scowled, and put it back inside his robes. "No," he said sullenly.
He was infuriating as he just sat there and made obnoxious noises. Rose stopped thinking about her insecurities and focused on him.
At least twice a week he mentioned how Rose was unwelcome in the common room, and then he had the nerve to sit with them and bug them! You'd think he'd grow tired of the routine after four years of it.
"The name 'common room' implies a place for people share. I am a person so I don't see the problem."
"That's debatable," he muttered, just loud enough for them to hear. He chose to ignore her glare. "This is Slytherin's territory. . . you and Azzy aren't Slytherins!"
"Get over it Malfoy. And you just squeaked," Pippa said. Scorpius's face turned red and he cleared his throat. Pippa turned Rose's head the other way to braid the zig.
"I suppose you brought your nasty amphibians with you for Rigel to eat?" he lowered the tone of his voice to avoid squeaking again. She suddenly recognised this mood of Scorpius's. It was when he hung out with Nolan beforehand that he usually was extra unpleasant towards them, at the start anyway. Eventually he would cool down. That didn't mean that Rose wouldn't take offense.
"I'll have you know that all the cats in Hogwarts leave the two toads alone, which you know is quite a few of those devilry beasts. All of them except your onion-eyed puttock cat Rigel!" It came out as a hiss from Rose.
Rigel, as if he knew conversation hovered around him, jumped into Rose's lap and started purring. Rose sighed. She both liked and hated the beast. He was a perfectly acceptable pet when he didn't carry some sort of animosity against her toads. His black head looked up at her and he nudged her arm with his face. She didn't have the heart to kick him off of her.
"Matilda and Guacamole aren't here," Aziza said. "Hugo has them for the day." She had a sketchbook in front of her and was doodling random shapes and figures on it.
Scorpius snickered, like he usually did when the name 'Guacamole' was mentioned. He uttered the empty threat numerous times of taking Guacamole to the kitchen to actually be made into guacamole. He then crossed his arms and stared at the girls. Like usual, the common room was empty of all people.
"Do you not have anywhere better to be?" asked Rose. "You're getting creepy."
He scowled and looked at the wall. "Josef is in the library again. . . I'm bored." Josef and Al had become almost inseparable since first year. Rose half felt bad for introducing them for Scorpius didn't have many other good friends and was usually stuck with Nolan.
Pippa shifted Rose's head back the other way for the zag.
"Well do you want to learn how to braid Rose's hair then?" asked Pippa. Aziza started laughing at Rose's shocked expression.
"Pippa!" yelped Rose. "No!"
"Well, it's better than him just staring at you Rose! And I'm almost done the hard part on your head. I'll put a ponytail in so it's not ruined and he can try the rest."
Scorpius was shaking his head throughout the conversation. "I'm not a girl!"
"So? Doesn't mean you can't try it. You have hair on your head too in case you didn't realise. Besides nobody is going to come in the Common Room anyway, nobody ever does except you."
He wrinkled his nose, but stopped shaking his head so aggressively. "I'll pass. . . "
But he looked kind of curious. Rose goggled at him. "You're not touching my hair Malfoy. Get that look off your face."
"Come on Rose, give the fella a chance," Aziza said. "It's not like he has First Year cooties still and will infect you with his touch."
"Not funny Azzy."
Scorpius slowly sat up in the armchair. Then he inched forwards, focused on Rose. His fingers were resting under his chin and they were tapping together.
He finally got up and started walking over.
"No! You sit back down Malfoy. Go! Shoo! Vamoose! I'm warning you. . ." Rose said, flicking her hands at him to ward him off. Scorpius smile got bigger and his dimple more pronounced the closer he got to Rose.
"You've given me so many warnings these past years that they've lost their meaning. What are you going to do – wave your arms at me? You're very scary Weasley."
Rose tried to stand up but Pippa yanked her hair back down. "Ow!" Rose rubbed her head with her hands.
"Well don't move! I'll yank your hair again if you do."
Pippa proceeded to show Scorpius the finer points of braiding. First she demonstrated: "Three strands Malfoy. Now it's very simple, you might even be able to figure it out. Outside in, see?"
Rose had hair over halfway down her back and she could feel the braid travelling down with Pippa's deft fingers. Scorpius watched with only a few interruptions.
Now that he was out of her eyesight Rose was wary, sitting with her back ramrod straight. Before, she had been leaning lazily in Pippa's lap as the braiding was being done, but now was leaned forward. She couldn't see what he was doing.
Pippa unravelled her braid. "Your turn." She stood up and let Scorpius sit where she had previously occupied. Rose could see Scorpius's knees poking out on either side of her body and felt the warmth from his body. She held very, very still now. All her nerves seemed to be standing on end inside her.
Scorpius picked up her heavy hair, his long fingers touching her neck briefly. His fingers were cold. As soon as she noticed that, Rose started blushing - from her face to her neck. Her whole head was going to burn off now! This was such a stupid idea.
He copied Pippa's example and started braiding from the base of her skull. Only a few times did she have to remind him of what to do.
Scorpius steadily made his way down, keeping his slow pace.
"Look at that! You've just done your first braid!" Pippa said when he finished. "Now, take it apart and do it again. This time tighter."
"What! What's wrong with this one?" exclaimed Scorpius.
"It's too loose. Pull tighter."
"But I don't want to – hurt her."
Aziza looked up from her sketchpad. "Awh, they both are blushing," she said with a grin.
Pippa yanked Rose's hair again.
"Ow!"
"See? She's tough, you'll be fine. You won't be pulling nearly as hard and you can see she didn't have a heart attack there. Aziza I can go get that book for you now."
"Oooh, yay!" She set down her sketchbook and stood up.
"Wait – no! Where are you two going?" Rose asked. Her brown eyes were opened wide, pleading, at their departing forms. They couldn't leave her alone with Scorpius! Not when he was braiding her hair!
"Oh Medusa. Calm down. We'll be back in five. Scorpius keep practising."
They left the room and everything was silent. Rose could feel Scorpius pick up her hair to unravel and braid it again.
Rigel finally crawled off her lap, still purring, and wrapped himself around Scorpius's leg.
"Oh now he comes to me," muttered Scorpius. "You have really soft hair."
"Err thanks. That's what Pippa says too."
"And it's really long. Why do you like it so long?"
Rose shrugged. "I don't know. I've just never cut it. I probably will eventually." Rose laughed softly. "Pippa says she'll de-friend me if I do. She likes practising braids on it because of its length."
Scorpius chuckled. "It looks nice when it's all long-ish. Don't cut it."
Rose raised her eyebrows, even though Scorpius couldn't see. He liked something about her? She really wanted to fan her face because it was burning more than ever. She hoped he didn't notice it. That would be embarrassing. "I – we'll see. I guess."
"I'm not pulling too hard, am I?" he asked her.
"Can barely feel it actually."
"Good."
He was about a quarter of the way down her back and he couldn't finish quickly enough for her. She could feel his fingers gently touch her rigid back every now and then. Rose's back was getting sore from its unrelenting position.
"Can I start calling you Scorpius?" Rose asked suddenly. "It feels silly calling you 'Malfoy' all the time since we're kind of friends now."
There was a pause in the hair braiding. His fingers were resting on her back. "As long as I can call you Rose."
She grinned happily. "Absolutely!" The braiding commenced again.
"Can I ask you a weird question now without you freaking out at me or anything? I don't mean any offense by it either."
"Okay," Rose said cautiously.
"Why do you like toads so much? Out of owls and cats, why'd you pick them to bring?"
Rose was pondering if she should actually spill her secret when Aziza and Pippa came back into the room.
"Hey, nice braid! You're a natural!" Aziza said as she came over to check it out.
Pippa was more critical. "Not bad, you can see where you loosened the strands though. You've more or less got the hang of it though, I think."
"Err, yeah. Well I'm leaving now – I'll go bug Josef and Al or go walk in the forest. We're never speaking of this again."
He squeaked on the last word and quickly scampered out of there.
Aziza and Pippa burst out laughing.
"You guys are horrible!" Rose said. She pulled her braid over her shoulder to inspect Scorpius's handiwork. It was actually fairly well done. She ran her hands over it a few times. She couldn't believe he actually braided her hair.
"Oh, you still love us." Aziza grinned at her. Rose punched them both in the shoulder. Prats.
"Hey! Little spitfire cousin of mine," James shouted at her from one floor above her. She saw his head poke out above the banister and then three of his friends looked over as well.
"James I'm busy!"
Aziza and Pippa stopped walking when Rose shouted and they turned around to look up at him too. The ice just melted off the lake and they were geared up in swim suits and had towels wrapped around them.
"Yeah, yeah. Just hold on a second."
Him and his friends raced down the stairs to them. "You're jumping in the Black Lake right now? Is that why you're in swim suits?"
Rose was shocked. Of all people to confront her – prefects, professors, older students, younger students, ghosts, cats – she did not expect it to be James. At all.
"Listen James. You're not going to stop us. We've been doing this since second year and we don't care about the deten –"
James cut her off. "Hold your horses! We want to come with you too."
Rose's mouth dropped. She noticed similar expressions of surprise on Aziza and Pippa.
The latter told James, "did you realise that the water is going to be bloody cold?" She looked at him contemptuously as if testing his audaciousness.
James wiggled his eyebrows and ran a hand through his messy auburn hair (horribly messy like his dad and opposite his brothers), but no freckles. He and all his friends were taller than the girls, but Pippa didn't back down. "Challenge accepted. Cold water doesn't scare us. We graduate next year, might as well do a few fun things before we kick the coop."
"You might get detention," she said.
James laughed. "Are you kidding? I already have enough detentions stacked up to last for a few years. What's one more?"
"Oh do you? I bet I have more," Pippa said.
Rose sighed, not wanting to stay around to hear the argument. "You can argue on the way to the water. It's peak sun right now, let's head out."
Pippa didn't move from in front of James. He looked at Rose and put his hands together, pleading.
"Pippa, come on. They can join," Rose said, tugging at Pippa's arm. "It'll be fun to see James squeal like a pig when he jumps in."
With Rose tugging at her arm, Pippa turned around and didn't say anything else to James. "I guess," she said reluctantly. They exited the doors and started walking to their jumping spot. "But this is our thing. I don't want the whole bloody school swimming too."
Final exams were upon them and the whole school seemed to be stuck in a quiet and calm state. Everyone was frantically cracking the books open and cramming like mad.
"I don't really see the point of exams," Pippa said. She had a closed book in front of her
"We're studying. No talking!" exclaimed Aziza, for perhaps the sixth time.
"The Professors spend the whole year watching and quizzing us. Shouldn't they know our abilities? It should be a pass or fail. All the stress that comes with tests seems so unnecessary. And most of what you guys are cramming for is going to be forgotten in a week."
"Pippa. Shut it!"
"See! That's the stress coming through. I mean what do exams even tell people? That you can retain large amounts of useless information for a short period of time? Who even cares about the renegade unicorns of 1334."
"It was 1534."
"Whatever. . . It's just renegade unicorns. Why does that exact year need to be known? For what purpose will it benefit us? . . . You guys carry on studying and wasting the beautiful day outside. You will never again experience this exact day ever again. Do you really want to spend it with your nose stuck in a boring book? Wouldn't you want to look back in the future and think 'man that was a worthwhile, stress-free day spent with my amazing friends. I'm glad I didn't study and worry myself sick!' This is a pointless exam, it will be forgotten in ten years' time and nobody will ever hold your marks against you."
Rose finally had enough and picked up her ink bottle and lobbed it at Pippa's head. She ducked at the last moment and it splattered on the ground, sending black ink everywhere.
"There's the stress acting up again!"
Rose picked her wand up and held it in front of her. "What was the Bat-Bogey hex again Azzy?" she asked.
"Fine! I'll leave." Pippa raised her hands in defeat. "I have such goody-two shoe friends. Medusa. I'll go hex some library dwellers or something. Good riddance."
"That girl is going to kill me from the months of May to June," said Rose as she stabbed her quill angrily into the parchment. Every year without fail, Pippa couldn't accept that her friends had exams to study for. And she tried hard to get them to stop studying. "And so are these exams."
"Summer's almost here, then we can relax."
She couldn't wait.
~xx~
Literature referenced, roman numerals are the (act, scene, line):
The Hobbit (1937) - J. R. R. Tolkein
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (I. V .VC) (1603) - William Shakespeare
Peter Pan (1902) - J. M Barrie