Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the genius behind this amazing world. I am simply momentarily occupying it.
Once Upon All Hallows' Eve
Chapter Two
The First Night Begins
"Augh," Rose groaned, throwing yet another sweater onto her bed in frustration. Ella looked up from her book, a curious expression on her face.
"What's wrong, Rosie?" she asked, true concern filling her voice.
"I have no idea what to pack! Is the Shack cold? Will I need a jumper? Which jumper should I bring? What pajamas should I wear? The one with the pattern? With a funny print? Why do I even care?" Rose let out an exasperated sigh and flung herself onto her clothing-covered bed.
"This is a Carly problem," Ella stated, putting down her book to go search for the dark haired girl. Just as she reached the door, it was flung open by none other than Carly herself.
"Just the girly-girl I was looking for."
"You require my extremely girly services?" Carly asked, surveying the dorm. Her eyes stopped once they landed on Rose's bed, the auburn haired girl sprawled across it.
"Major packing crisis," Ella stated, returning to her bed and the book she'd been reading. Carly walked over to Rose and shooed her off the bed.
"Move so I can see what I'm working with," Carly instructed. She then began digging through the clothes strewn across the bed. Quickly, piles began forming as Carly sorted the clothes. Once everything was in a pile, Carly began whizzing around the room, digging through trunks and dressers and pulling out various articles of clothing. She then added them to one of the piles. After five minutes, Carly took a step back to admire her work.
"Not to toot my own horn, but I do have to say this is some of my best work. Rose, you will look absolutely stunning for your evening alone with Scorpius!" Then, with a flick of her wand, Carly sent the large pile to Rose's bag and the others to her trunk.
"I was more worried about comfort than what I'd look like, Carly. I have no desire whatsoever to look good for Scorpius. He is foul, annoying, and not worth my time," Rose spoke with finality. Yet she made no move to undo Carly's packing. A smirk crossed the dark haired girl's face, which Rose chose to ignore. She wasn't unpacking Carly's clothes because it would mean she would have to try and pack again. It had nothing to do with Scorpius.
Rose took a quick look at the clock hanging on the wall of the dormitory. She sighed.
"Well, it's time to be off. You lot coming to see me off?"
Rose, Ella, and Carly met Albus and Scorpius outside the Great Hall. Dinner had finished an hour ago, so the area was relatively empty. After exchanging greetings and other pleasantries, the small group set out across the grounds. Curfew was not for a few more hours, so they were not concerned with being spotted. Several other students also wandered the grounds, taking in the crisp fall air before it got too cold.
The small group headed towards the Whomping Willow. When her parents had attended Hogwarts, it had been a large tree that would take out anything or anyone that got too close. Now, the tree was slow with age, making it quite easy to slip through the branches without an immobilizing spell.
Upon reaching the gnarled roots, the fivesome halted. Albus turned to look at Rose and Scorpius.
"Tonight, you follow in the footsteps of two brave students who have come before you. Tonight, on this most sacred of magical holidays, when even the muggle world acknowledges our existence, the two of you will spend the night in one of the most haunted buildings in all of the UK. I have placed enchantments upon the Shack, so I will know if you leave at any time. Once the night is over, and you've survived it, you will be given the bragging rights for such a prestigious honour. Now, go forth brave souls and face your destiny!"
Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin. He'd always had a flair for the dramatic. She turned to her friends, bid them a quick goodbye, and then turned to Scorpius. She looked expectantly at him and motioned to a small hole in the tree roots. The well-known passageway led right underneath the Shrieking Shack.
"Ladies first," Scorpius spoke, obviously having deduced the meaning behind Rose's look. He motioned towards the hole.
"Oh no, age before beauty," Rose responding, copying Scorpius' motion.
"That still leaves you going first, Rosie," Scorpius spoke, winking at her. Rose's mouth fell open, flabbergasted at the implication in his statement. Had he just called her ugly? The nerve!
"Oh, for the love of Merlin! Rosie, just go first. Scorpius will be right behind you. I'll make sure of it," Albus butted in, exasperated at the antics of the two. Rose let out an annoyed huff of air but descended into the hole anyway.
It was a steep go, and Rose took each step carefully. She could sense Scorpius behind her, urging her forward. A few steps from the bottom, the slope dropped out. However, Rose, having never been down the passage, was unaware of this fact. She did not discover the drop-off's location until she put her foot out and encountered nothing but air.
Suddenly, Rose felt herself falling forward and reached out for anything to stop herself. She found nothing and resigned herself to the pain, scrapes, and bruises that would result from her collision with ground, when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back onto solid ground.
"Mind your step. The ground drops out at the bottom," Scorpius whispered in her ear. The sensation of his hot breath on her ear sent shivers up her spine.
"A little sooner would have been nice," Rose responded, removing his arm from around her waist and continuing on down the dark, musty passage. Once they were on level ground and Rose no longer needed her arms for balance and support, she pulled out her wand and cast a lumos spell. The light from the wand did not penetrate the darkness very far, but it enabled Rose to see the first few feet in front of her. She would not be tripping on the ground, or lack thereof, again. A thud from behind her signaled Scorpius had landed on the more even ground.
The two continued on the rest of the way without any major issues or mishaps. At one point, Rose had spotted a few spiders crawling on the dirt wall, but she pushed down her fears and forged onwards. After walking for nearly half an hour, they reached a set of rickety stairs. Rose performed a quick repairing spell to ensure they would not crumble beneath her, and then confidently climbed them.
A trap door led them to what had once been a small, country kitchen. The small space was covered in cobwebs and several of the cabinet doors where either missing or barely hanging on. Judging by the shape of the kitchen, no one had provided the shack with some TLC in ages.
"There's a relatively nice bedroom upstairs," Scorpius spoke, coming up behind Rose, "we should set up camp there." He then moved passed her and into the house. Rose quickly followed, not wanting to get lost or left behind.
"You seem to have a fair amount of knowledge about this place," Rose commented as they climbed yet another set of decaying stairs.
"Slytherins have been using this place since the Great War as a sort of clubhouse. I come here at least once a month, though usually during the day."
"Ah."
The bedroom Scorpius had been talking about was the third door to the left off the second floor landing. Compared to the rest of the house, it was fairly clean. Dust and cobwebs did not cover every surface. The large bed looked sturdy and the sheets covering it looked new and recently laundered. Rose was about to inquire as to why the room appeared as it did but thought better. She was pretty sure she could guess why it was taken care of.
Rose, deciding that sleeping on the bed was not a good idea, walked over to the sole window in the room and pulled a sleeping bag out of her magically enlarged pack. She was just about to uncurl it, when a grunt from Scorpius stopped her.
"Yes?" she asked, turning to face him. He was standing by the bed, observing her with a puzzled expression.
"You do realize there is a bed in here, right? You don't need to sleep on the floor."
"Yes, I noticed the one bed. I just didn't find the idea of sharing it with you appealing, so I decided to set up here."
"Most girls would kill for a chance to sleep with me," Scorpius muttered, leaping onto the bed. He folded his arms beneath his head, crossed one leg over the other and turned to watch Rose set up her sleeping area.
"Well, I am not like most girls."
"I know," Scorpius muttered quietly. The comment was obviously meant to be kept to himself, yet Rose still heard it. He hadn't spoken it with distaste, contempt, or venom like she had expected. Instead, those two words were spoken with a softer emotion, though Rose couldn't describe it more than that.
She chose to send any further thought on the subject to the back of her mind for the time being. In its place, she focused on her set up and settling in for the evening.
Three hours into the evening just as the clock struck eleven, Rose completed the first of the four books she had packed. She had finished her schoolwork earlier in the week and was now afforded the luxury of reading for pleasure. She had recently discovered a series of novels about a race of men who hunted demons and was now wholly invested in the exhilarating tale of the red haired heroine who found herself thrust into the strange world of angels, demons, and mystical creatures.
Closing the book with a satisfying clap, Rose turned her attention to the large bed and its sole occupant. Scorpius, unlike Rose, had not previously accomplished his school work and was taking advantage of this time away from his friends, and their distractions, to complete it.
Currently, he was in the process of practicing a particularly advanced animation charm. It involved inanimate objects being brought to life and charmed to dance an Irish jig. Scorpius was successful in making his inanimate object, the charms textbook, come to life. Where he was being tripped up was in charming it to dance. It would seem his textbook had a very strong will and did not feel like doing a jig.
"Try giving it some incentive," Rose offered. Scorpius looked up from his book and was rewarded with a swift kick to the hand, courtesy of the upset book.
"Ow!" He quickly cast on immobilization spell on the book and turned back to Rose. "What was that you said?"
"Try giving it some incentive, like removing all the notes and things you've written in it. Your book will be a lot more receptive to dancing if it will get something out of it." Scorpius seemed to consider her suggestion for a minute.
"If you will dance this stupid jig for me, then I will rebind you in the finest Italian leather and remove all my notes, once the year is over," he promised. He then raised his wand, removed the immobilization spell, and spoke the incantation to make the book dance. He ended with the necessary flourish. Almost immediately, the book began dancing.
"Thanks," Scorpius muttered sheepishly, casting the counter-animation charm and returning his book to an inanimate textbook.
"No problem," Rose responded. She made to return to her books but was frozen in place by a distant banging noise. She and Scorpius were supposed to be the only two in the house and she was sure he hadn't made the noise.
Shivers raced up her spine as she turned to Scorpius for an answer. From the look of fear on his face, he did not have one.
The bang sounded again, only this time it was closer.
To be continued