Rose scowled once she sat down on the seat opposite Albus. He looked at her, worriedly and said, "What's wrong, Rose?" She actually didn't know what was wrong. She didn't know why she felt so annoyed. She was the Head Girl of Hogwarts, the best place in the world. She had a lot of friends and the Head Boy wasn't acting like a complete ass to her.
"I don't know. I just feel… frustrated. Do you ever feel annoyed for no reason?"
"I know what you mean." Albus said, nodding, although he didn't understand at all. She saw right through his lie and smiled at him knowingly. He looked away, avoiding her gaze.
"So, how's the new Head Boy?" Albus said, changing the topic quickly.
"Surprisingly civil." Rose replied, leaning back.
"Really? I heard that you told off a Gryffindor fourth year. I think she cried after that." Although he sounded more like he was stating a fact, Rose felt a little guilty. She quickly shoved the thought away, knowing it had to be done. She knew that she wouldn't be a good Head Girl if it was any other way.
"It needed to be done." She said, simply. "Plus, Malfoy thought I did a good thing." The words were out before she could have held her tongue. Albus stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he said, "I wasn't criticizing you. Simply stating a fact."
"Oh." She looked out of the window.
"And if Malfoy said you were doing a good job then who am I to deny it?" He winked at her playfully and Rose rolled her eyes at him and said, "Shut up. Or I'll tell James about the Firewhisky."
"You wouldn't…"
"Oh yes I would." Rose said, grinning at him although she knew that she actually wouldn't. Albus rolled his eyes when he saw her grin widen and scowling, looked out of the window again while Rose busied herself by talking to Lily and the Scamander twins.
Scorpius sat down opposite Charles in his own compartment. Charles waggled his eyebrows at him and Scorpius rolled his eyes at Charles. Finally Charles said, "So… how did it go?"
"She is literally the definition of a perfect Head Girl. It's so annoying!" Scorpius said. On his way to his compartment, he had decided that he would pretend he was beyond irritated by the fact that not only was she the Head Girl, but also that she was probably the only non-biased Head Girl in the history of Hogwarts. Sure, he admired this trait but he thought it unnecessary to let Charles know about that.
"Is she now?" Charles said, picking at the dirt underneath his fingernails. But the smile playing along his lips made Scorpius roll his eyes.
"Go on, Charles. Speak your mind."
"My mind says that you like her. Beyond the normal like. You're attracted to her."
"Really?" Scorpius drawled. "And what in the world would have you believe that?"
"It's clearly written all over your face, Scorpius." Charles said, stopping the picking for a moment to gesture towards Scorpius' face.
"It clearly isn't, Charles. You're obviously hallucinating again."
"Really? OK then. Petrificus Totalus!" Scorpius' eyes went wide and his body went rigid when Charles muttered the spell. Charles grabbed a muggle pen (where did he get that?!) and pounced onto Scorpius. Scorpius knew what he was going to write and tried to protest but couldn't. Once it was done, Charles waved his wand at Scorpius and the letters burned for a second, leaving a tingling feeling behind. Scorpius knew that Charles had obviously placed a spell on the words to make sure they stayed. Then Charles moved back and waved his wand again, "Finite Incantatum." Scorpius felt his body move again. Charles pulled out a mirror from his bag (why in the world does he have a mirror in his bag?! Scorpius wondered) and showed it to Scorpius. Across Scorpius' forehead was written:
I LOVE ROSE WEASLEY
Scorpius rolled his eyes at Charles, now really irritated. He said, "Real mature, Charles. Real mature. Now take it off before anyone sees it."
"Can't. Sorry. A little too busy laughing at you." Charles said, in between fits of laughter. Scorpius scowled, hoping it would go before the person written on his forehead saw it. But fate does have a funny way of working, doesn't it?
Rose stepped off the train, onto the Hogsmeade station platform and waited for Scorpius to get out too. He knew that he was supposed to come. She had told him before retreating into her compartment. And it wasn't as if he had a memory issue. Just as she thought this, Scorpius hopped out of the train, holding something around his head.
"Took you long enough. What's that around your head?" She asked, gesturing to the Slytherin-coloured scarf that Scorpius had wrapped around his forehead in an attempt to cover up the words written there. He had tried to make it work by tying it at the back or at the side like a bandana but it was too long and too lumpy to be done. So he had to continue holding it.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said.
"The scarf that's wrapped around your head. Stop pretending, Malfoy. You look ridiculous. Why are you wearing it?" Rose said, taking a few steps away from him, partly from embarrassment and partly because she didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea.
"Well… Charles Zabini, you know him, don't you? Yes, well he thought it would be… er… amusing, for lack of a better word, to write something on my forehead and then put a temporary sticking charm on it. And I need to cover it up because I have a reputation to uphold." He explained.
"And may I see what is written on your forehead?"
"No, you may not." Scorpius said, firmly. Rose resisted a giggle. Instead she resolved to saying, "I may be able to take it off or transfigure it to say something else, you know."
"It's a sticking charm!"
"I doubt it's as strong as a permanent sticking charm. Let me see." Scorpius opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, trying to form a valid argument. When he was finally defeated, he said, "Alright, but I'll only show you after all the students have gone." He gestured to the number of students getting off the train.
"They'll be gone soon." Rose said and she was right. Soon enough all the students had gotten into carriages. She looked at Scorpius expectantly once all the carriages had gone. There was one carriage still left which was supposed to take them. Albus had tried to wait for Rose but the crowd had carried him away.
"Fine." Scorpius said, dragging out the 'i' and then he unwrapped the scarf. Rose looked at it, reading it and Scorpius watched her reaction. At first she looked like she was about to laugh but then she got to her name and all traces of laughter were wiped from her face. Her eyes widened and a slight blush tinted her cheeks. She re-read her name several times before she said, "Oh no. Oh Merlin's beard no! This will not do! This will not do at all! Oh wait, I have an idea. Sorry Malfoy, I don't think I can remove it but I can change the letters to spell something else."
"What?" Scorpius knew that anything would probably be better than this.
"I can change it to spell I'm The King." She said. He nodded eagerly and she waved her wand, changing it to say:
SCORPIUS MALFOY THE KING
She nodded once it was done and he said, "Do you have a mirror?"
"What?! No! I don't carry mirrors around with me when I go to Hogwarts!"
"Alright! It was just a question!" Scorpius said. Then to himself, he said, "Plus, Charles had one." Rose, thankfully, didn't hear the last part and they got into the carriage and went to Hogwarts.
Charles' jaw dropped when Rose and Scorpius entered the Great Hall. Not because they entered together, obviously. It was more because what he had written had been transfigured. Scorpius smirked at Charles' expression and went to the Slytherin table while Rose went to the Gryffindor table. Rose sat down and began an animated conversation with Lily about her fifth year. How her OWLs were not going to be all that hard if she worked hard the whole year. Fred II was telling her otherwise. He kept telling her that she was going to fail and Rose told him off for saying so. Albus told Lily not to worry (which only made her worry more). Even Roxanne was consoling Lily about the OWLs even though her OWLs were in the same year. Alice II was consoling Lily too. Scorpius watched all of this in silence and only went back to reality when Charles called his name, "Scorpius!"
"Yeah?"
"Are you watching Rose Weasley?" Charles asked, loud enough for half the Slytherin table to hear. The table fell silent and watched Scorpius. He felt flustered under all their stares.
"No I was not!" Scorpius said, looking Charles in the eye. Charles searched his face for signs of lies and when he found none, he sighed and leaned back, defeated. Scorpius smirked and went back to eating. Once dinner was done, Professor McGonagall stood up (she was now the headmistress) and announced the rules. None of the corridors were off-bounds but the Astronomy Tower was to be closed when it was not in use. The Forbidden Forest was out of bounds unless you were accompanied by a seventh year or a teacher. Finally she announced the names of the new Head Boy and Girl and then asked the prefects to escort the students back to their common rooms while she had a word with the Head Girl and Boy. Once the hall had cleared and only McGonagall and the teachers remained, McGonagall said, "Please, have a seat." She conjured two chairs out of thin air and Rose and Scorpius sat down. Rose was fidgeting with the hem of her robes while Scorpius had balled his fists into his lap tightly, clenching and unclenching continuously out of nervousness.
"You may relax. I just need to inform you of your duties and then you may leave." Professor McGonagall said, "As you must know, you will share a common room while living in different dorms, of course. I will escort you to your common room as soon as this discussion is over. As Head Boy and Head Girl, you will need to assist the professors in any way possible in maintaining decorum within the walls of this school. You have the power to take away points but not the power to hand out detentions. That powers rests with the professors alone. If your assistance is required for any job, no matter how small, I expect you to provide the assistance. Even if it's simply getting a student out of a broom cupboard because they cannot remember the Alohomora spell. I hope you will give these duties as much of a priority as you give for the studying for your NEWT examinations." She looked at them and Scorpius was about to respond when Rose did so for both of them.
"We will not let you down, professor." She said, sincerely. Professor McGonagall smiled at this sincerity and nodded, moving to the door to lead the way to their common room. On the way, Scorpius could hear Rose furiously muttering the various directions they could take to reach their common room. He didn't know how she knew so many directions but didn't ask. Once they arrived at their common room, Professor McGonagall smiled at the large portrait of Albus Dumbledore hanging at the entrance of the room. He smiled back and said, "Hello Minerva."
"Albus."
"I suppose these are the new Head Boy and Head Girl." He nodded towards Rose and Scorpius. Rose blushed furiously at being addressed by Albus Dumbledore himself while Scorpius just stared at the ground, a slight blush tinting his cheeks too.
"They are. Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy."
"Hello." Dumbledore said, smiling pleasantly at the two students, unfazed by the fact that they were too busy blushing to notice that he was speaking.
"Not very talkative, I see. Well, they must be tired, I suppose. The password, Minerva, is Gillyweed." Rose's attention snapped up and she caught Albus Dumbledore's eye as he shared a smile and a memory with her. Both regarding Harry's second task during the TriWizard Tournament.
"Thank you, Albus. Gillyweed."
"Not a problem." He said, sliding aside (unlike in the Gryffindor common room where the portrait swung aside) to reveal a door. McGonagall opened the door and led the two Heads of Hogwarts in. They barely had time to marvel at the common room before they were pushed off to bed by Professor McGonagall. Rose entered her room and the only thing that registered was the presence of a bed. She fell onto it, exhausted from the long train ride, and went to sleep immediately, still in her school robes. Scorpius just managed to pull on a pair of pajama bottoms in his own room before he fell asleep too.
