A/N Wow...that took forever to write. Well it was my first week at school...and I was a little busy haha. Anyways this chapter is extra long to make up for it. I would like to apologize for the mistake I made in my prologue someone mentioned that Teddy Lupin wouldn't be at Hogwarts with them...and they're absolutely right. I was just so focused on my storyline to even notice...I just needed another character to be in the conversation haha...I don't even think he's going to be in any more of the story...oh well. Anyways...I'll try to get the next chapter up as fast as I can...but it is going to be slow...so please bear with me! Keep reading...I love your reviews...in fact the last two I got gave me the motivation to finish this chapter...thanks so much! So please keep reviewing...and without further ado...
Chapter Three: Train Rides and Untrained Thoughts
"I'm so worried...what if I don't do my job the way I'm supposed to?" whined Rose.
"Sometimes I swear Rosie...if you didn't have that dark red hair of yours, you'd be a clone of your mother!" exclaimed Ron Weasley with an exasperated tone of voice.
"Seriously Rose...just shut up," stated Hugo Weasley flatly while shaking his chin length curly brown hair out of his face, "You know that you're going to be like...the best head girl ever...or something...since mom never got to be one."
"Oh stop it Hugo," said Hermione, "you're making your mother blush!"
"But really mom..." started Hugo, but Rose didn't really listen to the rest. She toned out what they were saying and just sort of stared blankly out the window. It was 10:30AM, September first of her last year at Hogwarts. She was excited to do her NEWTs of course...but it was just so sad...like what was supposed to be the best years of her life were coming to an end...
Rose was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her brother's voice crack. All the tension in the car dissipated as Hugo blushed when the other three Weasleys laughed at him. Hugo had turned fifteen the past week, and he was beginning to reach puberty. He had also grown about a foot over the summer, so besides his curly brown hair identical to that of his mother's, he was looking more and more like his father every day.
As the Weasley's automobile pulled up to King's Cross station, Rose took a deep breath. It was just seventh year...sure it was her last...and she was legal to drink...but it shouldn't be too different than the others...would it?
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Meters away, Scorpius Malfoy had just cleanly apparated into the blocked off handicapped stall of the King's Cross Men's Washrooms. It was the safest, and biggest place that was suggested by Ministry officials for 17 year olds to use if they did not want their family to see them off.
Scorpius definitely did not want his parents to see him off at the train station, so, being quite advanced in magic he had side-along apparated his trunk to go with him. Squeezing out of the stall, getting a few strange looks at the "closed for maintenance" sign on the door from men at urinals, Scorpius checked the time. It was 10:30AM...good, lots of time. He had to meet with the Head Girl in the first compartment at 10:45 to discuss events for the year and to talk to the prefects...etc.
Scorpius put his trunk on a trolley and walked briskly towards the divider between dividers 9 and 10. He wanted to be at least 10 minutes early. He was to be working with the Head Girl all year, and he wanted to make a good impression. He wanted her to know that he was trustworthy.
Scorpius wondered what she was like...he had been secretly dreaming about this day all summer. He would finally meet someone at the same intellectual level as himself. Maybe they could even be friends...
He started to jog...he was only a few meters away when–WHAM!–something hard hit his trolley causing it to fall over and his trunk to spring open, books and clothes spreading all over the floor.
Scorpius looked up to see if the person was hurt, and saw that it was a girl with dark red wavy hair. No it couldn't be...
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Rose gaped at the boy on the ground in front of her in horror. All that she could remember was that she had been running towards the barrier thinking about what she was say to the Head Boy...then she had hit something hard. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn't even seen the other cart.
"I'm..." said Rose awkwardly wanting to say sorry to the boy and help him up, but then he turned, "You!" she exclaimed.
"You are many things Rose Weasley," said Scorpius trying to gather his things up, "but I am definitely sure that you are not me."
"Are you following me? Why are you here at the exact same time?" asked Rose hysterically, "This is too much of a coincidence! The alley? The bookstore..." she trailed off.
"Now, now Rose think about this. You don't want to look even crazier after what you said at the bookstore. I think if any one of us is a stalker, I think it's you. I mean all that 'I will remember' stuff you were yelling...makes you seem like the weirdo, not me. So if you would excuse me, ms. lunatic, you have made me late." said Scorpius as he put the last book into his trunk, and lifted his trolley back onto it.
"How can you be late? The train doesn't leave for another...ummm" Rose looked around for a clock,
"55 minutes. Exactly. I am late." stated Scorpius, finishing Rose's sentence. And before Rose could say anything more, he had disappeared through the barrier.
"Rose!" said a female voice from behind her. Rose turned and saw that it was her younger cousin Lily Potter. She had her bright red hair in a plait down her back, and Rose noticed that a badge with a large P was pinned to her chest.
"Oh!" exclaimed Rose, "I forgot that you were made a prefect!"
"Yah," said Lily, "I'm the first in the family..." Rose looked behind her cousin to see that Lily's older brother Albus was not there.
"Where's Al?" inquired Rose.
"Oh...he's coming later. He wanted to apparate. I expect he wants to be fashionably late or something idiotic like that...well you know how he is now." said Lily as she rolled her eyes.
Rose knew exactly what Lily was talking about. Albus had always been a timid boy, but it had turned out that it was only because of his older brother James. James had always teased his younger brother quite mercilessly about not being on the Gryfiindor Quidditch team. So when James had graduated two years previous and Albus had taken his position as Seeker, quite a dramatic change had taken place.
It turned out that Albus had directly acquired his father and grandfather's superb seeking talents. Where James had been a better than average seeker, Albus was amazing. This had all gone to the boy's head, causing him to bear a striking resemblance of his older brother's namesake. He had become rather arrogant, and had gotten into the habit of messing up his hair whenever girls came close.
"Yeah whatever...where's your parents?" inquired Rose looking around for her uncle's untidy black hair or her aunt's shocking red locks.
"Oh...Mum's staying behind to make sure Albus leaves OK and Dad just dropped me off on the way to work...he has like something important to do or something...Auror stuff...naturally he couldn't tell me what..." said Lily, looking slightly crestfallen.
"Meh...it's probably a lot more boring than it sounds," said Rose encouragingly as she looked at the clock on the wall, "Oh no! I'm late! I was supposed to meet the head boy at 10:45! I'll see you at 11:00 for the prefects meeting OK Lily? Bye!"
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"Good morning, my name is Scorpius Malfoy, I'm Head boy for this year...no...Pleased to meet you, I am Scorpius Malfoy but you can call me Scorpy...no! What the hell was that? Argh!" yelled Scorpius as he checked his watch.
"10:45...she'll be here at any second and I have no idea what to say...I'm so bad with people..." Wailed Scorpius miserably, "If only that Weasley girl hadn't waylaid me, I would have had 10 more minutes at least to think!"
Scorpius paced the length of the rather large Head Boy and Girl compartment. He did this for what seemed like hours...he looked at his watch again. 10:55...she was late! How dare she be late! Forcing himself to calm down, Scorpius took several deep breaths to steady himself. He was sure that there was a perfectly good explanation for the Head Girl to be late.
"Ah! Stupid door! Open!" sounded a female voice from behind the doors of the compartment. There was a struggle–as the door was stuck–and finally the door flew open, catching the girl off guard, causing her to fall into the compartment, and into the arms of Scorpius.
Unable to speak, having stopped a stranger from falling on her face, Scorpius just stood there also unable to move. He smelled the pleasant smell of vanilla wafting from the girl, and he looked down to see the top of an auburn head.
"Oh...my...no...way..." was all managed Scopius managed to say as he let go of the girl as fast as if she had burnt him. He was staring at her with eyes as big as dinner plates, but she hadn't even noticed. Standing in front of him, was Rose Weasley...again.
"Thanks so much..." said Rose as she pulled up her knee socks, "that door was really...WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!" she yelled suddenly as she finally looked into the face of her saviour.
Confusion turned to surprise, then quickly to anger in a span of five seconds in Scorpius' mind.
"You're late! Didn't your mother ever teach you common courtesy? Are you sure you're smart enough to be Head Girl?" snapped Scorpius
"Who are you calling stupid Malfoy?" yelled Rose, her voice becoming very shrill, "'Oh you made me late' he says. Late for being early? How stupid is that?"
"Well at least I can open a door!" spat Scorpius, his voice starting to raise as well.
"Well...it was stuck! It wasn't my fault!" screamed Rose hysterically
"Yah! But you didn't have to go all falling all over me! I knew you were a stalker!"
There was a knock, and the door opened.
"WHAT!" yelled both Rose and Scorpius, turning towards the intrusion, both breathing heavily from the row.
"We're...here...for the prefect's meeting...?" asked a short blond haired boy rather shakily, looking terrified.
"Oh..." said Scorpius, feeling mortified at what those eight fifth years might have heard...
"Come on in!" said Rose cheerily, suddenly with a large welcoming smile on her face, as if what had just transpired in the compartment had never happened.
Scorpius shook his head amazed at her ability to recover as he closed the door behind the last prefect to enter the compartment.
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It was a good length meeting...considering that they hadn't really had a chance to plan before hand. The head boy and girl meeting at 10:45 was supposed to be a time to brainstorm sort of a plan for the year. Since Rose was late...and then they just yelled for the rest...the brainstorming had to be extended to the Prefect meeting.
Rose was impressed with the Prefects, they had come up with several good ideas for things like conflict resolution and things like that. One girl had even gone so far to suggest having people do the whole trust exercise where you have to catch each other or something like that, but Scorpius had vehemently refused to do it.
As the meeting drew to a close, Rose, feeling thoroughly embarrassed for being caught in a shouting match, told Scorpius that she needed to go and get a bit of fresh air. He gave her a strange look, but let her go just the same. It wasn't until she was halfway down the train when she realized how stupid she must of sounded. Fresh air? She was on a train! The only way she would have gotten fresh air was if she like...jumped off...no wonder he gave her that puzzling look with those beautiful eyes...WHOA. What was that? Well they are kind of nice...
Lost in her thoughts, Rose wandered down the corridor, not really caring how fast she was going or what time it was...she was thinking out the meeting...when the little blond prefect–who they had found out was named Daniel Groves–had raised his hand to ask to go to the bathroom, Scorpius had laughed and told him that they weren't their teachers. It was the first time Rose had ever seen him looking genuinely amused and having a smile that wasn't dripping with sarcasm...
Suddenly, an image of a young Scorpius flashed through her head, smiling the same smile...but what did it mean? Was she getting closer to the secret? Would her memories be coming back like this, in flashes?
"Well hello there honey...you lost? You want me to turn you on to where you need to go?" said an obnoxious male voice from behind her. Rose turned, ready to hex the creeper but...
"Albus? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" shrieked Rose realizing who it was.
"Rose...ah...I didn't realize...you look really good today...I mean...ew you're my cousin...oh merlin I'm so sorry..." stammered Al looking around for some sort of escape from the situation he had found himself, "Gotta find the food trolley...I'm famished...see you!" and he ran off in the other direction.
Rose, kind of freaked out by being hit on by her cousin, decided that she couldn't turn her back on her predicament any longer. She walked the way back to the head boy and girl compartment at the front of the train. She suddenly felt a cold chill and she rubbed her arms. If only I had those strong arms to hold me and warm me up...What? Rose shook her head violently side to side as if the shake the strange thoughts of Scorpius off of her brain.
By time she reached her dreaded destination, she had an apology speech all prepared. She opened the door ready to spit it out, but she never had the chance. There, lying on the bench with his mouth slightly open, fast asleep, was Scorpius. He looks so cute...NO he doesn't...get a grip Rose! Since he looked so...peaceful...Rose decided to let him sleep, and she drifted off herself as the sun began to go behind the hills.
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"...ius!...Scorpius wake up we're here!" said a female voice close to him,
"No mum...five more minutes..." mumbled Scorpius, half asleep.
"I am not your mother! Get up! Are you Head Boy or not? You're not even in your robes yet!" said the same voice, but more impatiently. Scorpius opened his eyes, and saw Rose Weasley standing before him throwing on her long black traveling cloak. Sounds from outside the compartment began to filter into his head. There was no rhythmic rumbling of the train in motion...just excited voices and footsteps.
"Oh...we're here!" said Scorpius in a panicked voice,
"Yes!" said Rose, rolling her eyes, "That's what I just said! Now I'm going to go help organize the first years with Hagrid, when you've changed, go and show the second years where the carriages are. Ok?" and she swept out of the room.
"Wow...what a bossy girl..." said Scorpius while shaking his head...he changed as fast as he possibly could and he rushed out to help the second years with his Slytherin prefects.
"Second years! Over here! Just hop onto one of these carriages here..." hollered Scorpius over the hubbub of the baggage collection.
"Hey ladies!" called a voice from the back of the crowd that was getting off the train. "Hop on the Al-Bus instead! Plenty of room in the BACK!"
Scorpius magnified his voice magically, "Whoever said that, may I remind you that these girls are twelve years old!" and his meaning must have gotten through because the voice didn't say anything more.
It was quite an uneventful ride...unless you count having to stop a couple of third years levitating the carriage in front of them...or the group of girls who had filled his carriage with bewitched love notes that tapped at his head until he opened them.
Scorpius wondered how Rose was doing with the first years...he remembered his ride over the lake as a child...in fact he had been in the same boat as Rose...
"Head boy person!" came a high pitched voice below him, as he walked up to the castle, "Rodney vomited in the carriage!" Scorpius sighed and thought 'what is the point of this Head Boy thing anyways?' and he walked towards the sick 12 year old trying only to think about how good this will all look on his application to graduate school...
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Meanwhile, Rose was just reaching the other end of the lake with the first years. She was wrapping a young blond haired boy in her travelling cloak when she had another flash of memory. It was her...and Scorpius...on a boat...this boat! Wait...her mind must be playing tricks on her. She had definitely not ridden on the same boat as Scorpius Malfoy in her first year.
As they docked the small boats, she took her cloak back from the young boy and entered the warm castle. She showed the first years to the room where they were to wait to be sorted, and she went to her own seat in the great hall at the Gryffindor table.
The sorting and the feast seemed to blur together...she was sort of listening to the girls next to her but not really...snippets of their conversation drifted in and out of Rose's consciousness...
"Did you read the new Harriet L. Felixa novel?"... "I heard the L. stands for Lovula...isn't that interesting?" ... "I think it's just weird..."
Rose felt lonely. She had always gotten along pretty well with her peers, but had never had very many close friends. She was close to her cousin Lily...but she was younger than her and had her own school friends...Rose had only ever had one true friend...
"Ouch!" said Rose as her head gave a painful throb. She must have a headache from herding all the little first years...a distant magically magnified clearing of a throat echoed throughout the hall as everyone's finished pudding disappeared from the tables.
"Good evening students!" exclaimed the Headmaster Professor Dumas.
"Oh great," said the girl next Rose, "Professor Dumb-ass is going to make a speech. I wonder what part he'll forget this time..."
"It's pronounced Doo-mah Jen! May I remind you that you're sitting next to the head girl, and that you're insulting the headmaster?" said Rose testily
"Whatever..." muttered Jen.
"Today is the beginning of a new term! Some of you are new...some of you are veterans to this kind of thing, but rules are rules! No using magic in the hallways...no going into the forest etc. you know the drill...well except you new students I guess...you wouldn't know...that's why I'm telling you...*ahem* just ask your prefects if you want the full list of regulations. Anyways...first years, follow your prefects to your dormitories, Head Boy and Girl, to me please. Have a good year all!" said Professor Dumas.
Rose reached the head table before Scorpius, being as her table was adjacent to it. When Scorpius got there, the Headmaster started to walk towards the doors of the now empty Great Hall. Rose being confused, opened her mouth to ask where they were going, but the Headmaster, almost reading her mind, spoke first,
"Rose, Scorpius, I am bringing you to your new dormitories." said Dumas walking up the marble staircase.
"But...Head Boy last year was in the Slytherin Dormitory, his room was just down the hall from mine!" said Scorpius sounding a little shaken. Being a Slytherin, he liked to have everything planned to the smallest detail. Rose guessed that the unknown very much frightened Scorpius.
"Ah yes! But do you also remember that the Head Boy last year nearly lost his Head? ...Literally?" said Dumas, chuckling at his own joke.
"You mean when Lucy Bloomingdale pushed him down the steps of the Quidditch stands?" asked Rose, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well...Lucy Bloomingdale was Head Girl! Is it not the point of Head Boy and Girl to cooperate and help the smooth running of the school?" inquired Dumas.
"Well yes..." started Scorpius.
"That was a rhetorical question." said Dumas curtly and Scorpius blushed, "Anyways, we had a chat about the topic over the summer–the heads of house and I–and we decided, especially since you two are from Gryffindor and Slytherin, that extra measures must be taken to help make you closer, and ultimately perhaps become...friends? hmmm?"
Rose was speechless as they reached the end of the Transfiguration corridor. She was also looking at their surroundings. They had turned down a rather narrow passage that Rose had never noticed before. There, at the end of the hallway, was a painting of a couple obviously in the throes of young love. They seemed to be snogging quite forcefully as they reached them, and Dumas had to clear his throat to get them to stop.
"Cooperation!" he said, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a small common room and library.
"Here is your common room, and private Head Boy and Girl Library. Through the far door is your shared bathroom. The other washroom is undergoing repair...biting toilet seat...nasty business...Connected to the bathroom are the doors to your separate bedrooms. Each of you may set your own password to get into your bedroom." said Dumas in a monotone voice, sounding like a recording almost. He walked back towards the portrait.
"Professor this is ridiculous! How is this going to work?" exclaimed Scorpius
"Shared Washrooms? We barely know each other!" exclaimed Rose at the same time.
"No questions?" said the Professor as he walked out of the door, "Good!" He smiled, ignoring both of their furious faces, and closed it.
