Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter: ghostwriterer, xxxxGryffindorGurlxxxx, Zayda, kittenonabroomstick, Aspieturtle, leosands, RyujiIshida, Asterix Tutnix - I appreciate all of your comments more than you know and this chapter is dedicated to you lot for inspiring me to get my rear in gear so quickly. I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please Review! - Frankie
Mediation
The Gryffindor boys, particularly Scorpius and Albus would by the end of dinner feel like the day had taken twenty years to go by and none of them would be happy about it. They were crossing the common room, their conversations with James, Molly and Lucy had been put aside for the moment, when two of their surnames were called by a voice with a slight accent. "Potter, Malfoy, come here," the accented voice said and half the common room turned to look at the first years.
Albus stopped in his tracks, eyes wide with horror as he looked at Scorpius whose expression had suddenly become the passive mask of a non-emotional reaction. Albus's cousin and Head Girl, Victoire Weasley had been the one to call their names. "Now," she added when the boys did not turn to look at her.
Albus winced but he and Scorpius turned together and walked toward the group of chairs near the windows where Victoire was standing. They both realized that Molly and Lucy were sitting nearby looking mildly sympathetic. "Yes Victoire?" Albus asked as calmly as he could but his voice quivered slightly.
"Rose has asked me to speak to you, Albus," Victoire said in a rather firm, overly formal sort of way. It was clear she was speaking as Head Girl rather than cousin Victoire.
"Oh?" Albus asked and tired to sound curious.
"Yes. She seems to think that Mr. Malfoy is a bad influence upon you, that he's goaded you into cheating in only your first two days of classes and that you are being disrespectful of your elders," Victoire said calmly and she looked between Albus and Scorpius carefully.
"And I will tell you that it is complete and utter nonsense," Albus said coolly. "Sam hasn't done anything wrong except be a Malfoy and get put in Gryffindor. Rose needs to stop being judgmental and snobbish, in my honest opinion," he added after a moment when Victoire said nothing.
Victoire looked at Scorpius. "I assume Sam is a nickname," she said calmly.
"Yes," Scorpius said politely and gave a respectful nod in the Head Girl's direction.
"What do you think of Albus's opinion?" Victoire asked as she looked at Scorpius carefully.
"That I have tried to get Rose Weasley to stop putting Albus into the middle of whatever problem she has with me, whether it is regarding my surname and family or if it is regarding possible jealousy due to grades," Scorpius said very calmly.
Victoire's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"That I do not want Al getting criticized because he's decided to be my friend. That I do not want Al fighting with his family, particularly someone he has been close with all of his life, because of me or because a member of his family has an issue with me. I would much rather they took that issue up with me and left Al the hell out of it," Scorpius said and he progressively lost his composure and had to force himself not to shout.
"And what is it that I hear about you calling Rose's father an ass?" Victoire asked calmly, although her accent came in a bit thicker.
"That was me!" Blake said from more than twenty feet away and eyes turned to him. "If you want to give me a detention for it, go right ahead. I'm the one that said it, Al might have agreed but it had nothing to do with Rose or Sam," he said quickly as he looked at Victoire.
"It was not timed to purposely upset Rose?" Victoire asked calmly.
"Hell no… er… sorry. No, it wasn't," Blake said and he shifted uncomfortably.
Victoire turned her attention from Blake to Albus and Scorpius again. Her gaze focused on Scorpius. "Is this true, Malfoy?" she asked calmly.
"That it had nothing to do with me and Rose Weasley, absolutely and although it probably wasn't the brightest thing to be saying in the middle of a corridor it had to do with seeing someone else entirely unconnected with Mr. Weasley," Scorpius said calmly.
"What did it have to do with?" Victoire asked calmly.
"Uncle Ron and my Mum having an argument that my Dad had to break up," Albus said quietly.
Victoire blinked. "Does Rose know about this argument?" she asked.
"That it happened, sure, but I didn't tell her I heard it," Albus said quietly. "And I would appreciate it if I didn't have to explain it to her either," he mumbled.
Victoire looked thoughtful for several moments. "Go to dinner, boys, I will speak to Rose," she said calmly and she turned away from them to say something to Molly and Lucy that apparently they weren't meant to hear since she waited until they had started to walk away before she spoke.
Scorpius and Albus rejoined Blake and Halim and they hurried out of the common room to head down to the Great Hall for dinner. "What just happened?" Blake asked as the four of them hurried toward the stairs.
"I have no idea… I think she believed us, but… maybe she's just waiting to question Rose again and then she's going to come down on us, I don't know," Albus said sounding concerned.
"She was with Molly and Lucy… what do you think that was about?" Scorpius asked curiously as they hurried from the seventh floor to the sixth.
Albus was about to answer when he heard something else that had his eyes widening. "It's Rose," he whispered and gestured at the footsteps and voices coming up the stairs.
"Quick, in here," Scorpius whispered and the four of them hurried into an empty classroom just as Rose, Amelia, Connie and Breana reached the sixth floor.
"Did you hear that?" Amelia's voice asked and the girls paused on the sixth floor.
"Hear what?" Breana asked curiously, a bit of an Irish accent in her voice.
"I thought I heard voices," Amelia said and the boys hoped that the four of them wouldn't decide to explore or they would stumble right across them.
"It could have been anyone," Connie said in a slightly curious sort of tone.
Blake mouthed curses at Connie from their position in the classroom. Halim put a hand over Blake's mouth and Albus put a finger to his lips. The four of them seemed to hold their breath, waiting for something to happen…
"Did you actually see anyone?" Rose asked after a long moment.
"No," Amelia replied.
"Then let's go back to the common room. We have that horrid essay for Transfiguration to do," Rose said a little primly.
Breana grumbled. "Why did you have to remind me of that?" she said irritably.
"Because we have to get it done, you don't want a detention do you?" Rose said primly and Breana and Connie sighed audibly.
"Let's go," Amelia said calmly and footsteps climbed the stairs calmly.
The four boys stood cautious and silent as they waited for the footsteps and voices to disappear. Blake pushed Halim's hand off of his face. "Why'd you do that for?" Blake asked sounding a bit annoyed.
Halim rubbed his hand on his robes. "I didn't want you giving away our position to the enemy," Halim said in an overly serious tone.
Albus and Scorpius snorted aloud and Blake stared for a moment before he erupted into laughter. They were all about to exit the classroom when they heard, "I knew I heard someone!" Amelia's voice carried down the stairs.
"Bugger all," Scorpius hissed and the four of them erupted out of the classroom and in the opposite direction of the stairs.
"Who is it?!" Rose's voice called.
"I'm not sure!" Connie replied quickly.
Scorpius, Albus, Blake and Halim didn't waste breath speaking. The four of them were extremely sick of being in fights with girls, or rather Rose, and none of them wanted another confrontation. Scorpius skidded to a halt near a tapestry.
"Why are you stopping?" Blake asked.
Scorpius ripped the tapestry aside and it revealed a set of dimly lit stairs leading down at least two floors. "Come on," Scorpius said and the four of them piled into the staircase.
The tapestry stilled as hurried footsteps came toward them down the corridor. "Stop!" Halim whispered and the four boys froze on the stairs.
The hurried footsteps simply passed the tapestry and tapered off.
"Move quietly," Halim whispered and the four of them practically tip toed down the stairs where they burst out of another tapestry on the fourth floor.
"Whoa," Blake said as he looked around.
"Sam, how did you know about that passage?" Albus asked as the four of them straightened their robes and made their way toward another set of stairs.
Scorpius shrugged. "I saw the corner of the tapestry move and there wasn't a wall behind it," he said calmly as they started down the stairs again headed to the Great Hall.
"Did you really?" Blake asked with narrowed eyes.
"Okay, no, I didn't," Scorpius admitted.
"Did someone tell you about it?" Albus asked calmly.
"No. I just… I had a feeling about it," Scorpius said quietly.
"What sort of feeling?" Albus asked.
"I don't know. Just… that there was an escape route right there," Scorpius said with a slightly uncomfortable shrug. That was the feeling he had had, the reason he had skidded to a stop… he simply couldn't explain why he'd had the feeling.
"Weird. Are there psychics in the wizarding world?" Blake asked as he looked at Scorpius.
"There are Seers, but they generally do Prophecy or… read tea leaves or something," Albus said with a shrug.
"It was just an instinct. I followed it. It's not a big deal," Scorpius said calmly.
"I've done that before," Halim admitted. "Like… déjà vu," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, like déjà vu," Scorpius said and latched onto the idea since it was more comforting than uncertainty. The other boys mostly forgot about his instinct as soon as they reached the Great Hall and sat down to eat, but Scorpius couldn't forget it, it had just been too weird.
The Gryffindor boys enjoyed their dinner and tried to forget their conversation with Victoire and their less than masculine scamper from the annoying girls. Scorpius and Albus were still distracted however and they ate slowly and did their best to keep up with conversation. Before they knew it they were on their way back upstairs with the intention of reading the chapter or two that Professor Flitwick had assigned them to read by tomorrow.
The boys were sitting in the common room together reading the section and commenting to one another about it. Blake kept up a halfway sarcastic commentary that kept making the other three start laughing. They ignored pretty much everyone else in the common room although Scorpius kept feeling that he was being watched, but he wasn't sure who was doing it. Rose didn't appear to be looking at him but writing something, probably her Transfiguration essay and her cousins didn't appear to be paying him any more attention at the moment. It was a little disturbing to him and he tried to ignore it but it got to the point where he couldn't concentrate.
Scorpius shifted in his seat, twitched his book and tried to read it as it sat in front of him but the hair on the back of his neck kept rising and sending a chill down his spine. "Damnit," he muttered and he looked up and around the common room on purpose.
"Something wrong?" Albus asked sounding a little concerned.
"I feel like I'm being watched," Scorpius muttered so only his friends could hear.
Halim frowned. "Who's watching you?" he asked.
"I don't know. I haven't caught anyone at it but it's beginning to really tick me off," Scorpius said irritably.
Blake looked around the common room. "Let's just go upstairs. It's not like we have to study down here. It's a bit loud anyway," he said calmly as something exploded and it appeared to be a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product.
They collected their things and got to their feet. They headed to the boy's staircase and then up to their dormitory. No one seemed to even notice that they went and his feeling continued to bother Scorpius as they trooped up the stairs. They spent the next little while finishing reading the section Flitwick had assigned them. When Scorpius finished he shoved his book back into his bag.
"Done Sam?" Blake asked from where he sat on his bed.
"Yeah," Scorpius replied.
"Me too," Albus said calmly from where he sat propped up by his pillow at the head of his bed as he set aside his book.
"I will be in a minute," Halim said calmly.
"Then keep reading," Blake said with some amusement.
Halim rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said with some sarcasm.
Blake snickered. He looked at Scorpius. "You really think someone was watching you down stairs?" he asked sounding a bit curious.
Scorpius shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid," Scorpius said and he dragged a hand through his hair.
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't after you," Halim said in a calm and extremely rational tone of voice. All eyes turned to him. He started to smile despite attempts to keep a straight face.
"Git," Scorpius said but he started to smile too.
Albus snorted and Blake started to snicker. Halim started to laugh and set Scorpius to laughing and the other two started to actually laugh too. "You're all mad," Albus managed in between bursts of laughter.
"I hope you're not leaving yourself out of that comment, because you are too," Blake said and as he grinned at him, Albus leaned forward and pulled his pillow out from behind his back and flung it at Blake.
Instead of hitting Blake the pillow flew off course and hit Scorpius in the face with a soft thump. "Oi!" Scorpius said and he took hold of the pillow and hit Albus with it.
"Hey! It's my pillow!" Albus said and tried to catch it as Scorpius came back for another hit. He got hold of his end and Scorpius still had a hold on the other.
"You hit me with it!" Scorpius said loudly, although he was having trouble keeping from laughing.
"I was trying to hit Blake!" Albus said and he yanked on his pillow again. His grip slipped and Scorpius stumbled back into his bed.
"You missed," Scorpius said with a tone in his voice that clearly said, 'That's obvious'.
"Yeah, sorry," Albus said and he reached for his pillow again.
Scorpius grinned and said, "I won't." And in an instant he'd whipped around and flung Albus's pillow at Blake's head. It hit with a whumph and Scorpius started to laugh.
Blake ended up with Albus's pillow in one hand and an evil grin on his face. "Shouldn't have done that Sam," Blake said and his pillow was in his hand a moment later. Cackling, he shouted, "Pillow fight!" and he jumped onto Scorpius's bed whipping the two pillows in his hands as he went.
Scorpius managed to duck the first strike, but was caught by the second one as he dove forward to get his pillow from his bed. Albus went after Blake to get his own pillow back and got hit more than he did anything else. Scorpius whipped his pillow at Blake's head but missed and then Halim came from nowhere and smacked Blake in the back of the head. The shock of being struck from behind had him dropping Albus's pillow and Albus was then able to pick it up and an all out war was on. All four of them were laughing and whacking one another with their pillows while trying to fend off being hit themselves.
A few minutes later Blake was trying to catch his breath as he stumbled out of the group to lean against Albus's bed. "Okay, okay, enough!" he called when he was hit by all three pillows at once.
Smirking and laughing Albus said, "What? Had enough?"
Blake rolled his eyes. "I can't breathe," he said and he sounded winded.
"Ten galleons say it's a distraction," Scorpius said sounding amused but he was also breathing a little fast.
"What do you think, Halim?" Albus asked.
Halim looked at Blake skeptically but then he let the tension out of his arm holding his pillow. "He might be serious," he said taking a few deep breaths.
Albus relaxed slightly. Blake grinned. "Suckers," he said and he whipped the pillow in Albus's direction. Albus dodged and turned, lifting his pillow as he went and nailing Blake in the back. Scorpius shouted, "I told you so!" and he also lifted his pillow to hit Blake. Halim joined in and the three of them ganged up on Blake to the point where he was kneeling on the floor, covering his head and shouting, "All right! I give up!"
Albus, Halim and Scorpius backed up and started laughing when Blake looked up at them. His face was bright red and he sat up and started laughing with them. The four of them were laughing when the door opened and Bernard Griswold came in looking rather annoyed. "What the bloody hell are you four doing?" he asked sounding just as annoyed as he looked.
The four boys immediately fell silent and looked up at the sixth year prefect with wide eyes. Scorpius tried to keep a straight face but he couldn't and he grinned a bit as he said, "They owe me ten galleons."
Albus, Halim and Blake burst out laughing again and Scorpius soon joined them to the displeasure of Griswold. "For Merlin's sake, people are trying to go to sleep. Will the four of you keep it down? I do not want to have to come up here again tonight or the lot of you will get detention for as long as I can wrangle it, got it?!" he said and he sounded angry.
Albus bit his lip as he tried to stop laughing. Halim covered his mouth as he tried to stop laughing. Blake had fallen onto his side and couldn't stop laughing while he tried to apologize for it at the same time. Scorpius had his eyes closed tightly as he took deep breaths and tried to stop laughing. "We will… try to… be quieter," he managed and he looked at Bernard.
Bernard scowled. "You had better," he said irritably and he turned and left the room, closing the door behind him with a snap.
Silence fell for about a second and then the four boys started laughing again and they didn't stop for several minutes, but eventually they trailed off.
"The look on his face was priceless," Blake said with a grin as he finally sat up.
"Yes, it was. And you two," Scorpius said and looked at Halim and Albus, "You owe me ten galleons," he said with a grin.
Blake snickered. "You should see the looks on your faces," he said as he smirked.
Albus and Halim exchanged a look and then at the same time they swung their pillows and hit Blake in the head, but instead of coming back pristine pillows they both tore open and feathers spilled out onto Blake and scattered all over the floor.
Blake spat and a few feathers flew out of his mouth as Albus and Halim stared. The four of them started laughing again. When they'd stopped Scorpius managed to remember the spell to fix the pillows and the feathers flew back where they belonged.
"We should probably try to go to sleep," Albus said after a moment when he'd tossed his repaired pillow back on his bed.
Halim returned to his bed and smirked at Albus. "You actually think you're going to fall asleep after that?" he asked.
Albus shrugged.
Scorpius sighed. "He's right though," he said.
"You lot are boring," Blake said but he got to his feet and went to his bed.
"We have class in the morning," Scorpius said with a slight shrug.
Blake rolled his eyes but said nothing. The four boys began to prepare to go to sleep digging pajamas out of their trunks and changing for bed. "Goodnight," Blake said although he sounded a little put out that they were going to sleep.
Scorpius sighed but he didn't want to go back down to the common room and their curfew had come and gone… not that that would stop him if he really wanted to go out. He just wasn't interested at the moment because he had too much preoccupying his mind. The things that he had pushed into the back of his mind most of the day sprang to the forefront of it with restless abandon as he lay down to sleep.
The sensation of being watched in the common room came first and the frustration of not being able to find the culprit. He would have blamed Rose but he was nearly positive that it hadn't been her. She had been too busy with her homework and with her rather violent reactions regarding theirs and possible cheating he did not think that even her anger would distract her from completing it. And the Head Girl, his next suspect had been chatting with her friends and he knew that was harder to fake than Rose writing her essay…
And Professor Nott coming out of the Forbidden Forest and looking at him like… like a Malfoy was almost depressing. Not unexpected, but depressing. It made him wonder whether the whole school would always think of him as a Malfoy excepting his friends. It made his whole head feel like exploding so he didn't have to think of it…
And then there was the Flying Instructor being attacked in Hogsmeade, the most worrying bit about the whole day, particularly when it was taken with the letter from Al's father, Harry Potter, Head of the Auror Department, defeater of Voldemort the most feared Dark Wizard in centuries. If Harry Potter was worried… only Merlin knew when all hell was going to break loose, unless he was just worried about his children… Scorpius hoped that it was only Albus's and James's wellbeing their father was so worried about, because if it wasn't…
He didn't want to think about what new terror could be unleashed into the world.
In the morning when the boys woke, Scorpius was groggy. His mind had roamed and wandered for a long time before it had finally shut off and let him sleep. He did his best to wake up and not act like a grouchy prat when he did. He knew there were names that people would probably call him if they truly knew just how much he worried about… everything.
"Considering how early we got to sleep, you don't look like you got much," Albus said when they were sitting down to breakfast.
"Mind wouldn't shut up. It's no big deal," Scorpius said as he started to fill his plate.
"You sure?" Albus asked as he too started to serve himself breakfast.
"Yeah," Scorpius said although he wasn't entirely sure. He began to eat and was looking up at one of the fourth or fifth years, who were seated just along the table from them, one of them was reading the Daily Prophet. A title there caught his eye and he stared as he tried to make it out.
"What is it Sam?" Halim asked frowning.
"The Prophet…" Scorpius trailed off and frowned.
Blake, who was closest, looked at the title that Scorpius couldn't quite see. "You there," Blake said and gestured at the older boy with the paper.
"Aye? What do you want?" he asked frowning at the first year.
"The front page of your paper, if you'd be so kind," Blake said with a winning smile and a slight nod.
He frowned and then rolled his eyes as he pulled the first page loose and passed it along the table. "I was done with it anyway," he said and then promptly set about to ignore the first years.
Blake took the paper and passed it to Scorpius since he had been the one the paper had caught the attention of. Scorpius took the paper and on the bottom half of the front page was where the story that had caught his eye was printed. He frowned at it.
"What is it?" Albus asked and he was also frowning.
Scorpius shoved aside his plate and Albus's to make room for the paper as he flattened it on the table. "That's what," Scorpius said and pointed to the headline.
"Read it," Halim said quietly.
"Hogwarts Teacher Hospitalized," Scorpius began and then continued. "Tabitha Jenkins, 21, of Godric's Hollow was committed to the Spell Damage Ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Sunday evening. The daughter of former Chudley Cannon's beater, Joey Jenkins, Ms. Jenkins was hospitalized for reasons unknown," Scorpius said quietly as he read the story aloud.
"That's true enough. Dad said they didn't know what had happened," Albus said quietly.
"Wait, listen to this," Scorpius said and he continued with the story. "Ms. Jenkins placement in the Spell Damage Ward has given rise to speculation that the Dark Arts were involved in her as yet unknown illness. The Ministry of Magic has denied rumors that the Auror Department, and particularly Harry Potter, is involved in an investigation. Mr. Potter could not be reached for comment," Scorpius said and he looked up at Albus.
Albus frowned. "Either Mum has broken out her Bat-Bogey Hex again or something weird is going on," he said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Halim asked, frowning.
"Every time Dad's been involved with something since… as far back as I can remember at least, they've printed something he's said or printed that he had no comment or whatever," Albus said quietly and he looked at Halim.
"So…" Blake said frowning.
"So, it means Dad isn't at home and hasn't been since whenever the Prophet's leeches found out about Ms. Jenkins," Albus said quietly and he looked worried.
"I'm sure he's fine, Al. Believe me, if something had happened to your Dad you would definitely know," Scorpius said in a voice barely above a whisper. He did not want to start a rumor about Harry Potter.
Albus looked like he was about to say something when a shadow passed over them and the four of them looked up. Professor Longbottom was standing over them. "Good morning. How is the Prophet this morning?" he asked calmly.
"Printing stories," Albus replied.
"More like tall tales," Professor Longbottom said calmly. "I would like to see the four of you in my office. Now, please," he said and he turned and walked away.
The boys exchanged looks but they got to their feet. Scorpius tucked the page of the Prophet into his bag and they followed in their Head of House's footsteps. "I was done eating anyway," Blake said although he looked longingly at a piece of toast a third year was about to munch on.
Albus snorted but made no other comment. They walked up the marble staircase and down a corridor where they could just see Professor Longbottom entering his office. The boys came to the door and he said, "Come in boys."
The boys filed in and stood side by side on one side of Professor Longbottom's desk. There was a small cutting of a Mimbulus Mimbletonia on one side of the desk and a pair of photographs on the other. Professor Longbottom stood calmly behind his desk but he didn't sit down. "You wanted to see us, sir?" Scorpius said calmly when it didn't seem like Albus was going to say anything or that the Professor was going to speak.
Professor Longbottom shrugged. "Not really, actually," he said in a calm tone.
The office door closed behind the boys and the four of them jumped and looked around. It had been like an invisible hand had closed the door. They exchanged looks and shrugged.
"What took you so long?" Professor Longbottom asked calmly.
The boys looked deeply confused. "You're going to scare them, Neville," a voice said from an empty corner of the room.
Albus would have recognized that voice anywhere. "Dad! What are you doing here?!" he asked and his father came out from beneath an Invisibility Cloak that had been in the family for generations.
"Mostly keeping an eye on you," Harry Potter said calmly although he smiled slightly.
Scorpius frowned. "How long have you been here? Sir?" he asked curiously.
Harry smiled and nearly started to laugh but he covered his mouth and looked at his son and his former nemesis's son. "Most of yesterday," he said calmly, smiling.
"Wait a minute," Blake said loudly. "Sam thought he was being watched all night! Were you… spying on us with that… thing?" he asked.
"This," Harry said and held up the shimmering fabric that was folded over one arm, "is an Invisibility Cloak. Yes, they're real. No, you cannot try it out," he said and he grinned a little at Neville.
"You didn't answer Blake's second question," Scorpius said calmly as he looked at Harry Potter.
"I wasn't… spying, so much as…" Harry trailed off and shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you lot weren't going to go out and start investigating things on your own," he said calmly.
"Okay. So, you were in the common room last night?" Scorpius asked.
"Yes. I'm sorry if I upset you… Sam, was it? You were the only one who seemed to notice me at all," Harry said and he sounded mildly apologetic but also quite amused.
Scorpius blinked when Harry called him Sam. "It drove me nuts when I couldn't figure out who was looking at me," he said and he looked at Harry with a slight frown.
"My apologies. But I do have a question for you," Harry said calmly.
"Okay."
"May I ask why you kept looking at Rose?" he said calmly.
Scorpius blinked. Blake smirked. Albus sighed. Halim looked indifferent. "She… er… takes to glaring at me, sometimes, sir, and I thought it was her since I didn't realize the Head of the Auror Department was lurking in the common room," he said calmly although his cheeks had gone slightly pink.
Harry grinned and then he started to laugh. "She is so like her mother," he said and he looked at Neville.
"I've seen more of Ron lately than Hermione," Professor Longbottom said calmly.
"Oh? How bad have things got in four days?" Harry asked.
It was Blake's turn to flush.
"She hasn't hit anyone yet, if you're wondering," Professor Longbottom said with a grin.
Scorpius looked at Albus. "Are we on the outside of an inside joke?" he asked calmly.
"Probably talking about when my Aunt hit your Dad… something about Buckbeak and Hagrid, I can't remember," Albus said with a shrug.
Scorpius's brow went up.
"I'll tell you about it later," Albus said quietly.
"I think we're being distracted," Halim said calmly from beside Blake who jumped slightly. Halim smirked when he did.
"What was your name?" Harry asked calmly.
"Halim Griffin."
"Well, I guess nothing gets past you, Halim," Harry said and he sighed and sent a shrug in Neville's direction.
"Harry," Professor Longbottom said in a slightly warning tone.
"If we keep things from them they're just going to go looking for answers, Neville. I remember what it's like. You were there when we stumbled across Fluffy our first year," Harry said calmly.
"Which led you to Hagrid and Nicholas Flamel if I remember correctly," Professor Longbottom said and he sighed.
"And near death experiences," Harry said calmly.
"Voldemort is dead, Harry."
"Neville, just because he's dead doesn't mean someone else isn't planning or plotting something. St. Mungo's has no idea what happened to Tabitha Jenkins," Harry said firmly.
"That doesn't necessarily preclude Dark magic being involved," Professor Longbottom said calmly.
"No, it doesn't, but in my experience it certainly makes it more likely and I'd rather my son knew what was going on than hiding things from him because the Ministry is walking on tip-toes," Harry said a little heatedly.
"Telling them will probably make them all the more curious, Harry!"
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Then I'd sure as hell rather they knew what they were walking into, Neville! Dumbledore kept secrets that damn near got me killed… I can't even remember how many times," Harry said heatedly.
"Oi! Professor!" Scorpius said loudly.
Harry and Professor Longbottom stopped arguing when they finally heard Scorpius's shout and realized they weren't alone. It was clearly an argument they hadn't completely finished out yet, but had probably had at least once since Saturday. "Yes?" Professor Longbottom asked.
"You may find it hard to believe but we worked out all this on our own all ready," Scorpius said calmly. "Unless there was something particularly weird about where or how Ms. Jenkins was found, or there's something else you were thinking of telling us…" he trailed off and shrugged slightly.
Harry sent Professor Longbottom a pointed look. "We don't know anything more for sure, but the Board's involvement is peculiar. Not unprecedented, but peculiar, particularly since I offered to instruct you lot without pay and they still didn't want me here," Harry said calmly as he looked at the boys.
"That sounds really dumb," Blake injected.
"That's what I thought, but I wasn't overly suspicious until Neville here told me that they also wouldn't let your Headmistress hire someone to take Ms. Jenkins place," Harry said calmly.
"Sir?" Scorpius said calmly.
"Yes Sam?"
"I don't know if it helps any, but no one seems to know anything… I mean… no one looks like they're sitting on some huge secret or anything," Scorpius said quietly and he hoped that he would get the message as intended.
"By no one, you mean the Slytherin students?" Harry asked.
"Yes, sir," Scorpius said awkwardly. "I may not be… but I've seen my father hiding things, not bad or anything, just stuff from my Mum, and the signs are sort of universal," he said and he dragged a hand through his hair.
"And most people don't think kids notice anything," Harry said slightly under his breath. "Thank you for that, Sam," he said calmly.
Scorpius shrugged.
Suddenly the bell rang. "Crap," the boys intoned almost as one.
Professor Longbottom leaned down and picked something up from his desk. It was a pass with their names written on and his signature. "If anyone asks I called you down here to speak to you about the ruckus in your dormitory last night," he said calmly.
"How did you know about that?" Blake asked, frowning. "Did that Griswold-"
"I heard you lot," Harry said calmly gave the slightest smile. "Oh, and don't tell anyone you saw me, not even James. I don't need him poking into things. He's not affected by this so it probably won't bother him," he said calmly although slightly pointedly.
"Yes, Dad," Albus said calmly.
"You had better get going. You have a bit of a trip downstairs for Potions," Professor Longbottom said calmly.
"Bye Professor," the boys said almost together. They waited until Harry had ducked underneath his Invisibility Cloak again and then they opened the door.
The boys disappeared out the door and hurried downstairs to the dungeons. They didn't make it before the beginning of class but Professor Goldwyn didn't question their excuse as Albus handed her the pass from Professor Longbottom.
"Take your seats boys," Professor Goldwyn said and they quickly found seats near the back.
Albus ended up on the aisle seat across from Eldora Connor who completely ignored him. He sighed as he got his things out and looked up toward the front of the classroom to listen to Professor Goldwyn's lecture after she collected their essays. Scorpius was thinking about all the things they had heard in Professor Longbottom's office and he wondered whether Harry Potter was going to remain in the castle or leave since he had seemingly done what he had come to do. But soon he was drawn into the lesson for the day and temporarily forgot about Ms. Jenkins and Dark magic and Aurors under Invisibility Cloaks.
While the class was taking notes Albus had a separate scrap of paper on top of the parchment he was using for notes and he wrote a short note on it and then folded it and kept it in his free hand. When they started to prepare the potion that they were working on that day that would have to stew for a few days and the class got to their feet to get their potions supplies, Albus surreptitiously slipped the short note a little ways into Eldora Connor's potions textbook before hurrying to collect his ingredients.
When he returned to his station after Eldora had returned to hers he found her glaring at him rather pointedly. Obviously his attempt at a note of apology had failed. He sighed quietly and got started on his potion.
"You okay, Al?" Scorpius asked from beside him when he's reached a point with his potion where it had to simmer for a few minutes.
Albus shrugged. "Yeah," he said and he unconsciously ruffled his hair.
Scorpius noticed the signs that Albus was giving off and recognized them as very similar to those he'd seen after Albus had run into Eldora Connor. He glanced at her and found her looking haughty and unconcerned with being alone at her table. He thought she looked annoyed though and he suspected that Albus might have attempted another apology, written this time. "You want me to talk to her?" he asked in a low voice.
Albus shook his head. "No," he said calmly and tried to focus on his potion.
Scorpius didn't think that Albus really understood why Eldora didn't want to be associated with him. That she did not want to show weakness beyond her "impure" blood, and that she had to exist among the Slytherins to survive. And as far as the Slytherins were concerned, Albus Potter was the worst sort of blood traitor and he was now in the same lot, although he didn't care all that much anymore. He was pretty sure he had got the best end of the stick.
Five minutes before class ended Professor Goldwyn announced that their potion should be ready to set for the period until their next class. Their potions were labeled and set aside while Professor Goldwyn watched to insure no one attempted to sabotage another student's potion. She assigned them a section to read in their textbook to be completed by their next class before the bell rang and the class was dismissed.
The boys headed upstairs. They had an hour break before their next Charms class. They headed to the Library since it was only a floor above the Charms corridor and it would be harder to get lost with only one floor to traverse to get to class. They found a table together and talked quietly in the hope that Madam Pince would not notice that they were there.
"Since we were interrupted in the Great Hall, was there anything else important about that story in the Prophet?" Halim asked calmly as he took out his Potions book and notes.
Scorpius shrugged but he dug the paper out of his bag and opened it up again. He reread the story very quickly and then shook his head. "Only that the reporter tried to ask Joey Jenkins about the rumors and Jenkins essentially told him to piss off and that he was only worried about his daughter getting well," Scorpius said calmly.
"I think you should keep the article," Halim said when Scorpius looked tempted to toss it in the rubbish.
"Why?" Scorpius asked, frowning.
"Just because something in it may be more important than we've recognized," Halim said calmly.
"He has a point," Blake said with a nod of agreement.
"Okay. If we're going to keep it, where should we put it? I mean carrying it around or shoving it in one of our trunks is going to get it torn up in no time," Albus said quietly.
Scorpius frowned a little. "One of us could… keep it in one of our textbooks or something," he suggested with a shrug.
"What about a blank book? One we could write all the information we have and also our theories?" Blake asked calmly.
"That could work, but if we're going to do it that way with theories and what not, we might need some sort of protection on it. I mean, there's no guarantee that someone who we don't want to have it would get a hold of it," Halim said quietly.
"The Marauder's Map," Albus whispered.
"What? What is that?" Scorpius asked frowning.
"My Granddad and his friends made it. It was a map of the school," Albus said quietly.
"Sweet! Where is it?" Blake asked sounding eager and interested.
Albus shook his head. "I don't know. I've only heard about it. My Dad had it when he was at school but I think he swore to my Mum that he wouldn't let any of us have it," Albus said quietly.
"Damn," Blake said and he sounded supremely disappointed.
"Yeah, and it showed everyone in the castle. And I heard a story about my Dad getting caught by Professor Snape-"
"The Snape?" Scorpius interrupted.
"Yes. Anyway, Professor Snape was trying to make the Map work and it… apparently almost had a mind of its own. It insulted him rather than work for him," Albus said quietly.
Scorpius looked thoughtful. "You know, we could try and make our own," he said after a moment.
"Are you mad?" Albus asked incredulously. "I wouldn't even know where to start!"
"We're sitting in the middle of a library with more books of spells in it than we could read in a life time. It shouldn't be too hard to find the spells to do it," Halim said rather thoughtfully.
"Unless you want to try and find your Dad's," Blake said with a mischievous grin.
Albus stared at Blake with his mouth hanging open a little. "I wouldn't know where to look," he said sounding baffled.
"Maybe it won't come to that," Scorpius said calmly. "I think the idea is a good one, but it needs some thought. I mean, there might be better things we could do than spend an age exactly plotting the castle just so we'd know where everyone was," he said calmly.
"It would be really helpful for nighttime excursions," Blake suggested.
"Shh, we don't need people overhearing us," Halim said quietly.
"I imagine there's a magical solution to that as well, Halim," Scorpius said and he gestured around at the books.
"Well, that will give us something to do if we get bored," Albus said with a shrug.
Blake snickered. "I'm actually looking forward to this, you know that?" he said grinning.
Halim laughed. "Be that as it may, we'd better get going or we're going to be late for Charms," he said calmly and he started putting his things away. His thoughts that they would perhaps read their Potions assignment were mistaken but he didn't mind. They now had a possible project to get involved in, even if it would take ages to work out how to do what they wanted and figure out just what they did want to make.
The four boys headed to their Charms class discussing their interesting idea and Halim even wondered if their teachers would be interested in helping them. "Professor Nott would probably rather eat dragon dung than help us," Scorpius muttered.
"That doesn't matter, I'm sure I'd be able to figure out any Transfiguration stuff we needed to do and if I couldn't… well…" Halim trailed off and shrugged.
"I could always ask my Aunt," Albus said with a shrug.
"Do you think she'd be willing to help you do something that could possibly contribute to us breaking rules in the future?" Blake asked with a pointed look.
"Er… probably not," Albus admitted and they fell silent in their discussion of their idea as they approached the Charms classroom.
Their lesson that day had to do with the ethics of using magic; the how's and why's and when's of appropriate magic use. It wasn't exactly the most thrilling lesson ever, but Professor Flitwick made it interesting enough by demonstrating some bad things that could happen if a witch or wizard weren't careful while using magic. Situations where it was never appropriate to use magic and cases in which witches and wizards should use magic, particularly if it would save themselves or others, even Muggles, from serious harm. They were assigned an essay that had to be at least one foot long and would be due in their next class.
Lunch came and went although Scorpius did suggest that one of them should get a subscription to the Prophet so they wouldn't have to keep borrowing them or nicking them from others. It was decided that Scorpius was the least likely to be questioned about his sudden interest in the goings on of the Wizarding world. He scribbled a note to himself to remember to write to his mother.
After lunch it was time for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class and all of the boys had rather been looking forward to it. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was Professor Harwell who was also the Head of Hufflepuff House. She was a young teacher, younger than Professors Longbottom and Nott. She had a pleasant attitude and personality. She was a determined witch however, and most of that determination was in making sure that the students of Hogwarts were prepared for what they could face in their lives outside the school whether or not the odds were high that they would face them.
The boys entered the classroom to find that Professor Harwell was already inside and seemed to be preparing for their class. She turned toward them and smiled. "Good afternoon boys," Professor Harwell said and she turned her attention to them.
"Good afternoon, Professor," the boys intoned together as they took seats with a good view but with a desire of not seeming too eager to be at the head of the class.
Professor Drina Harwell was a pretty woman. She had golden blonde hair that was cut short seemingly only to keep it out of her eyes which were a deep brown. There were smile lines around the cupid's bow of her mouth and her nose was petite and upturned a little at the end. Her ears almost looked pointed and gave her a very pixie-like appearance. She was about five and a half feet tall and she was fairly thin as well.
"You must be my Gryffindors," she said with a smile.
"Yes, Professor," Blake said with a bit of a grin.
Before anything else could be said Breana, Connie and Amelia walked into the room talking to one another. Albus saw them and he frowned. "Where's Rose?" he asked.
Amelia ignored him. Breana looked mostly amused. Connie smiled and replied, "She got into a fight with that Connor girl. The Slytherin."
"What?!" Albus said loudly. "How? Why?" he asked quickly.
"It wasn't that bad, really," Breana said but she sounded as if it had been the best thing she'd seen all week.
"You really should not sound so amused, Breana," Amelia said a little coolly.
"Amelia, she was asking for it and you know it," Breana replied.
"What exactly happened?" Scorpius asked on Albus's behalf since his friend had fallen silent to stare in horror at the girls.
"Rose was being rather rude, actually," Connie admitted calmly.
"She said something to Connor that none of us quite heard properly and… well, Connor whirled around and said something else… it all got quite confused at least until Professor Goldwyn intervened," Amelia said coolly and sounded relieved when she mentioned their Potions Mistress.
"So… where is she?" Albus managed.
"Er… I'm not sure," Connie said apologetically. "Professor Goldwyn told us to leave and Rose didn't come find us before Charms. And then she didn't sit with us in Charms or come to lunch. I'm sure she'll be here soon though," she said quickly when Albus looked worried.
Scorpius looked at Albus and said quietly, "I'm sure Connor didn't do anything too bad."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Albus said quietly.
"Oh?"
"I'm worried that Connor will think all of us Gryffindors share Rose's biased opinion," he said quietly and he turned back around in his seat to face the front of the class.
Scorpius sighed a little bit and resolved himself to talking to Eldora Connor before too much longer. He felt a little bad for Albus who he was sure couldn't really understand the mindset of someone who had to get along with Slytherins even if they were despised.
Just before the bell rang Rose walked into the room, ignored her friends and Albus who asked where she had been and promptly focused upon Professor Harwell who shortly began to take roll.
When Professor Harwell had finished she set aside the class list and looked up at them with a small smile. "Well, I imagine many of you have at least a bit of an idea about the Dark Arts from family, from your new found friends or from reading your textbook. But this class is not only about the bad things that wizards can do to other wizards or to Muggles. This won't simply be a history lesson on Voldemort. There are also creatures in this world that would dearly love to harm you because it is in their natures. This class will teach you about all of these things and how to defend against them," she said calmly as she looked at each of them in turn.
"Do not worry about what you know or do not know right now, those things are of little consequence to how well you will do in this classroom. You're all starting from the beginning, do not feel nervous about it and do not hesitate to raise your hand if you have a question or need assistance with something. I will be happy to help with anything you need," Harwell said and she continued to smile politely as she looked at the class.
To the surprise of the entire class Professor Harwell didn't begin with a lesson or even a quiz to figure out what they knew or thought they knew about Defense Against the Dark Arts; instead she began with getting-to-know-you questions for the class. "We're going to be in classes quite often, and I find that it helps the learning environment if we're all comfortable with each other," Professor Harwell said as she continued to smile despite the dubious looks a few people were sending her. "Yes, Miss Weasley?" she asked when she saw Rose's hand in the air.
"How do you define comfortable, Professor?" Rose asked primly from where she sat alone at her table.
Eyes turned to glance at Rose and then refocus on the professor. None of them had exactly thought about what she meant. The question didn't startle Professor Harwell and she continued to smile. "I suppose that depends on you lot," she said calmly. "For instance, who would rather I call on them by their surname?" she asked calmly and waited for the class to get over their surprise. None of the boys raised their hands. Amelia and Rose raised theirs out of the girls while Breana and Connie didn't. "Very well, that should be easy to remember," she said calmly and she smiled.
Scorpius and Albus raised their hands nearly at the same time.
Professor Harwell looked curious. "Yes boys?" she asked.
"Professor, I would actually prefer to go by the name Sam," Scorpius said calmly.
"Sam, very well," she said and looked at Albus.
"Most people call me Al and use Albus when they're angry with me, actually," Albus said with a slight shrug.
Professor Harwell smiled. "Al and Sam… does anyone else have a nickname they would rather be known by?" she asked as she looked around. She saw Rose begin to scowl but chose to ignore it and no one else expressed a nickname they wanted to be known by. Harwell continued to ask questions like: "What is your favorite color?" and "Who is your favorite Quidditch team?" until the hour was up. It was the oddest class any of them had had yet and the only other class they had yet to experience was Astronomy.
However, because of the somewhat rowdy nature of the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, no one heard the footsteps of an invisible guest among them and no one noticed when a scrap of parchment appeared from seemingly no where on Scorpius Malfoy's rucksack.
The class was beginning to wind down after a rather enjoyable hour where most of them learned something interesting about the other members of their House year when Scorpius looked down at his bag to pick it up and he saw the parchment on it, neatly folded. He frowned slightly but pocketed it. Stranger things had happened that day, and he felt it was possible it could be connected as he glanced around the room and saw no one in particular paying him much attention. But that feeling of being watched returned and he had the feeling a certain Auror was hanging about and could be responsible for the parchment.
The bell rang to signal the end of their last class of the day and Scorpius quietly said to his friends, "I think we have a message from a certain invisible spy."
"What?" Albus asked and he frowned at Scorpius.
"There was a bit of parchment on my bag I didn't notice until a minute ago. No one in the class knows enough magic yet to just make it… appear there without anyone noticing," Scorpius said in a low voice as he noticed that Rose was eyeing them suspiciously again.
"Let's go find somewhere to read it then," Albus said quickly; Blake and Halim nodded their agreement and the boys wandered off to find a deserted place to see what the parchment said.
They lost any possible tail on their way up the stairs from the first floor when they were on the fourth floor and they ducked into their newly discovered "secret" passage. They headed upstairs to the sixth floor and made their way into an empty classroom well away from the marble staircase so they didn't have a repeat of their dash away from the Gryffindor girls the night before. They entered the classroom and Halim closed the door securely and stood by it to listen for eavesdroppers.
"What does it say?" Albus asked quickly.
Scorpius pulled the parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was in handwriting that he didn't recognize and he began to read the note aloud:
Boys. – By the time you're actually reading this I should have left the grounds.
"Ha! It is from my Dad," Albus interrupted with a highly amused grin.
"Let him read, Al," Halim admonished.
I stayed much longer than I intended and I'm sure Al's Mum isn't going to be very happy with me. I forgot how much I missed Hogwarts.
Anyway, I'm doing something that would probably have Neville extremely irked with me and my wife rather perturbed as well, but I thought it was better than letting you lot get overheard when discussing Ms. Jenkins or my Invisible presence at the school over the last day or so. Al, do not let Rose know I gave you this spell she'll tell her Mum and then Hermione will likely beat my head in, she has disliked this spell since I found it at school.
"Considering she's the Head of Magical Law Enforcement and we'll probably end up breaking dozens of school rules with that, I have absolutely no intention of telling Rose about this spell let alone telling her where I got it from," Albus said aloud sounding almost disappointed with his Dad.
"Let him get to the spell, Al, or we'll be here all day," Blake said sounding mildly irritated at the interruption.
"Fine. Sorry. Sheesh," Al said and motioned for Scorpius to continue reading.
The spell is Muffliato, it will prevent eavesdroppers from hearing any conversation you may have about… well, I imagine anything you want now since I won't know when or why you're using it. Don't use this spell in Neville's classes either or he'll know. It produces a sort of low key buzzing sound that prevents anyone from being able to hone in on what you're saying. It's useful. Just, please don't abuse it boys, or it'll be the last time I tell you something quite as interesting.
"Do you think if you asked he'd let you use that Marauders Map you were talking about earlier?" Blake asked, interrupting.
Albus aimed a look at Blake and Blake held up his hands apologetically. "Go on, Sam," Albus said calmly.
Again, don't tell anyone I was there. Don't tell anyone what you know about Ms. Jenkins. Be careful and don't go investigating if you can possibly help it. Study and do your homework. Enjoy yourselves.
Sincerely,
- H
Scorpius finished reading a looked up at the others. "Al, your Dad is awesome," Blake said with a grin as soon as Scorpius looked up.
Albus almost blushed. "He's pretty cool, yeah," he admitted.
"We should see if we can even pull off the spell," Halim said calmly from the door. "Sam, you try it first for the three of you, and I'll see if I hear the buzzing," he added after a moment.
Scorpius shrugged slightly and pulled his wand from the pocket of his robes. He found the spell on the letter again and, hoping he was pronouncing it right after Flitwick's discussion earlier that day, he held his wand out tried to focus on what he wanted done and said, "Muffliato!"
"Say something," Halim said when nothing happened.
"Did it work?" Blake asked sounding hopeful.
"I don't know," Scorpius said frowning and he looked at Halim.
"What did you say? Did you hear me tell you to say something?" Halim asked a little loudly as he frowned.
Albus started to grin and he clapped Scorpius on the shoulder. "That is the coolest thing I have seen in ages," he said as he grinned.
"Oi! You want to end the spell?!" Halim said sounding gruff and slightly annoyed.
"Oh, er… Finite Incantatem!" Scorpius said strongly after quickly racking his brain for the spell he needed. He had heard his mother use it once on a malfunctioning piano tuner that had seriously ticked her off.
"Thank you!" Halim said sounding grateful as he rubbed at his ears. "That is annoying, wow," he said frowning. "Are we sure that's what it's supposed to do?" he asked.
Scorpius shrugged and he looked a little apologetic. "I think maybe I over did it, sorry," he said.
"No problem. I mean, it worked, I couldn't hear what you were saying but the buzzing was rather obvious," Halim said as he frowned slightly.
"I'll work on it. You lot should too, maybe one of you will manage it better," Scorpius said calmly and he tucked his wand back into the pocket of his robes.
"I think we need to start working on that book we were talking about, if we're going to be getting secret notes from Al's Dad about the goings on of some serious stuff… I mean, Weasley is likely to snoop if she gets the chance, don't deny it Al, she will, even if she claims to be so utterly holier-than-thou," Blake said calmly although he raised his voice a little when he saw Albus about to protest.
Albus sighed and ran a hand through his hair making it stick up conspicuously. "Yeah, you're right," he said and he sounded rather disappointed.
"We should start looking for possible spells as soon as we can and we can find somewhere in the dorm to hide our… sensitive items in the mean time," Scorpius said calmly and he ran a hand through his hair, smiling slightly. Things were starting to get interesting and he was looking forward to creating something distinctly magical and mostly original with his friends.
Blake grinned. "This is so cool," he said and he smirked.
"Yeah, it is. It's just going to take a lot of work," Halim said calmly.
Scorpius hoped that Blake's slight impatience would not inhibit the research and development of their project and the four of them left the classroom they had hidden out in as deserted as it had been when they initially walked into it. They returned to the common room and their dormitory to drop off their bags, maybe work on their homework and wait for dinner to arrive.
Author's Note: I hope you all liked the chapter! Please Review! The more reviews I get the sooner I post another chapter! All comments and criticism welcome! Thanks for Reading! - Frankie