"Professor McGonagall!" I exclaimed, barely believing my eyes.
"Professor McG!" Scorpius shouted. "How lovely to see you."
"What are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked. "I demand to know what is happening!"
"Well, Professor," I started, but I was interrupted by the potato – brain next to me.
"How simply wonderful to run into you here, Professor," Scorpius continued. "Just spiffing. Yes, quite corking to see you here in Hogsmeade. Just spliffing. Spliffifying, in fact."
"Mr. Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall cried. "What has gotten into you? Have you been drinking? And Miss Weasley! I certainly hadn't expected this of you, I am most disappointed."
"Oh, Rose hasn't been drinking," Scorpius said, still speaking very loudly. "No, see, she knew that I was drinking and then she came down here to… uh… save me."
"Well, at least one of you is reasonable," Professor McGonagall said. "Come along, I want both of you back in the school at once. Follow me, now."
I sighed and tugged at Scorpius' arm and he stumbled along behind me as Professor McGonagall briskly led the way up to the school.
"Thanks for lying," I whispered to him.
"No problem," Scorpius yelled. "Anytime."
"Shush!" I said.
"Mr. Malfoy, keep it down," Professor McGonagall scolded. "The sooner we get you out of harm's way, the better."
"You know something, Rose?" Scorpius shouted.
"What?" I asked, feeling my cheeks to red. My hand around his wrist tightened. I didn't know why, but I had the feeling that Scorpius was about to say something embarrassing.
"You are the queen of my heart!" Scorpius said, still speaking very loudly.
"Oh," I said, actually very flattered. "Well, thank you very much."
Thankfully, Scorpius fell quiet after that, which let me reflect over what he had just told me. I knew that he was drunk and that he probably just told me that I was queen of his heart for fun, but for some reason it still made my heart race. I secretly cursed McGonagall for popping up just as we were about to kiss.
We finally entered the school. To my surprise it was only six in the afternoon and most of the other students were coming back from Hogsmeade. I felt like much more time had passed since that morning, when I had left the school in the company of Ophi. My mind drifted back to Hogshead for a second. What would the others think? What would they think that Scorpius and I were up to? Or perhaps they had seen McGonagall?
Inside the Entrance Hall McGonagall turned to us.
"Thank you very much for your help, Miss Weasley. It is much appreciated in the face of such stupidity." With those words she gave Scorpius a Death Glare that was even more powerful than mine. "You may return to your dormitory, Miss Weasley. Mr. Malfoy, you will accompany me. This is a most serious offence."
"Alright," Scorpius said, and turned to leave. Suddenly, though, he swiveled around on his heel. "Rose!" he called.
"What?" I asked, stopping in my tracks, almost afraid of what he might say now.
"I have to tell you something," he said.
"What?"
"It's a secret," Scorpius said, nodding solemnly. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly and tapped her foot on the floor. Scorpius ignored her.
"What is it?" I snapped.
Scorpius gave Professor McGonagall a suspicious glance and then looked around to see if anyone else was in the Entrance Hall. Finally, he whispered in a barely audible whisper –
"I'm Batman."
**
The next day I didn't see Scorpius at all. I began to wonder if Professor McGonagall had locked him into a dungeon as punishment. Throughout that long gloomy Sunday I began to wish that I would see him, just to get me out of my loneliness. Hanging out with a moody Al is only fun for so long. I also desperately wanted to ask Scorpius how he knew what Batman was. I hadn't been under the impression that the Malfoys let their children read Muggle comics.
I tried to speak to Felicia that morning after breakfast. She had ignored me from the minute we had gotten out of bed till she had finished her eggs, so I decided that it was time to do something about it. I caught up with her just as she was leaving the Great Hall.
"Felicia, wait!" I called.
She turned around for a second, and, seeing that it was me, turned on her heel and walked briskly off.
"Felicia!" I called after her. "Look, it's sunny out, and I was thinking of going outside and get some sun-"
"Why would you do that?" she asked, stopping so abruptly that I almost walked into her. "You're still a little pink since you got sunburned a week ago."
"Look, I just want to talk," I told her.
"Oh, yeah?" Felicia said. "About what?"
"About the fact that you're apparently dating my cousin!"
"What's your problem?" Felicia asked. "We already talked about this yesterday. I clearly remember that you didn't think that I was good enough to be dating someone from your family."
"I never said that!" I exclaimed.
"You might as well have!" Felicia shouted, causing everyone else in hearing range to turn around and stare at us. "You don't want me to date James; you don't want me to date Hugo…"
"But that's not because they're in my family!" I exclaimed. "It's just because of who they are. I mean, come on, James?"
"You know that I've liked him for ages!"
"Yeah, but I never thought anything would happen…"
"So that's why you never helped me!" Felicia yelled, red with fury. "I asked you a million times to please say something to him, to talk to him for me, to mention me…. And you never did! Now I know why."
"Look, it's not because you're not good enough," I said, trying to be calm. "It's because I just don't see James and you making a good couple. Felicia, James is a jerk, James doesn't understand girls. He'll be with one girl one day and another one the next day. I just don't want you to get hurt."
"So you don't think that I mean anything to him?" Felicia asked. "You think that he doesn't care about me, so he'll cheat on me with the next pretty girl that he sees?"
"That's not what I meant," I said.
"Forget it, Rose," Felicia said. "Just forget it."
With those words Felicia turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd of people leaving the Great Hall.
Felicia and I had never had a real fight before. Sure, we'd had little arguments, tiny disagreements, but we'd never fought like this. I didn't know if I was angry at her, or felt bad about the fact that she was angry at me. Probably a little bit of both. I felt a lump rising in my throat and I dashed off towards the library. At least here no one would bother me.
Or so I thought.
Just as I was burying my head in a nice book, ready to forget about everything else, someone interrupted me.
"I heard that your friend was pretty mad at you."
I raised my head. Standing in front of me was Demetria, holding a couple of books in her hands.
"Hey," I said. "How'd you hear that?"
"Who didn't?" Demetria asked, dumping her books on the table and taking a seat across from me. "The two of you made a little racket outside of the Great Hall after breakfast."
"Merlin, how embarrassing," I muttered, shutting my book.
"Don't worry about it," Demetria said. "Everyone's probably forgotten about it now. No one cares that much about your petty little dramas."
"Thanks," I said dryly.
"Anyway," Demetria continued. "I came to ask where you and Scorpius went last night."
"Outside," I said. "And then Professor McGonagall saw us."
"She did not," Demetria breathed, her eyes widening in shock.
"She did," I confirmed. "And saw Scorpius' drunkenness."
"What did he do?" Demetria asked.
"Shouted a lot," I said. "Told me that he was Batman."
"He told you that he was Batman?" Demetria asked, smiling widely.
"Yeah," I said. "How does he know who Batman is?"
"Scorpius has a thing for Muggle comics," Demetria said. "Always has. He used to smuggle them into Malfoy Manor when he was younger. He tried to get me hooked on them as well, but it never worked."
"I thought Malfoys hated everything made by Muggles," I said.
Demetria shook her head. "Not Scorpius. I wouldn't say that he likes Muggles, but he doesn't have anything against them. He definitely likes their superheroes. And Batman is his favorite. Ask him about it someday, he'd love to give you an hour long lecture about it."
"I think I might," I said.
Demetria rolled her eyes and opened one of her books. I was about to go back to my own when a thought occurred to me.
"How are you and Scorpius so good friends?" I asked.
"Our parents are friends," Demetria said. "So we grew up together. We started Hogwarts together and got sorted into the same House…. I guess that we've just stuck together ever since. Kind of like you and your cousin, Al."
"Do you ever get into fights?" I asked.
"All the time," Demetria said. "Sometimes, I really think that Scorpius should get a shovel and dig himself into a hole. Like today. I went up to see him and he threw a pillow at me."
"Why would he do that?" I asked, bewildered.
Demetria looked at me as though I was stupid. "Hangover, Weasley. Merlin, I don't know if it's cute or ridiculous that you're so innocent and naïve. Maybe that's what Scorpius likes about you."
I felt myself blush bright red and turned back to my book. Demetria didn't say anything, but I saw her smirking, which infuriated me just a little.
Later, I found Al and dragged him outside, because obviously Felicia didn't want to join me. Al had been sad ever since that morning, when I had told him over breakfast that I had seen Felicia on a date with James in Hogsmeade.
"I'm pathetic," Al said, lying on the grass. "Only a loser is in love with a girl that his brother is dating."
"You are not pathetic," I told him. "And nor are you a loser. You're just… unlucky."
"I'm not unlucky," Al said. "Unlucky would have been me never meeting Felicia. I'm a loser. I never even asked her on a date. I never even told her that I liked her. She has every right to go out with and James – damn him – has every right to go out with her."
"Look, Al, he's just going out with her because she's drop dead gorgeous," I said.
"She might be drop dead gorgeous, I wouldn't know," Al said gloomily.
"Don't be upset about your blindness too," I said, exasperated. "Look, I'm not having the best day either, okay? I was on a date yesterday with a guy I don't even like, the guy I do like is hiding in his dormitory because of a hangover, and my best friend hates me. Now you're suffering from self – esteem issues. This is the worst Sunday of fifth year so far."
"Who's the guy you like?" Al asked, completely ignoring all of my other sufferings.
"That doesn't matter," I said.
"The guy you like has a hangover?" Al continued. "I thought that you were against drinking."
"I am."
"But who on Earth could that be?" Al asked, more to himself than me.
"Forget it," I said. "The chances of it actually happening are not that big."
"But does he like you?" Al asked.
"I'm pretty sure," I said, glad that Al couldn't see how red my face was.
"Then something probably will happen," he said.
"Yeah, but we're so different," I said. "I don't know. Mum and dad and your parents probably wouldn't like him."
With those words something dawned on me. Something that I hadn't thought about before. How could Scorpius and I ever be together when our parents would hate each other? I know that it's very romantic with the whole forbidden love concept, but my family was such a huge part of who I was. How could I go against them and everything they stood for?
**
I spoke to James after dinner in the Common Room.
"Why are you going out with Felicia?" I asked, not bothering to be polite.
"Because she's hot," James said, not even looking up from his Quidditch magazine.
"That's it?" I asked.
"Sometimes she's sort of funny," James said.
"She's practically in love with you," I told him.
James finally looked up from his magazine.
"Seriously?" he asked.
I nodded. "For a really long time."
James frowned. "Weird," he said. "Hey, Magnus!" he called to a muscular guy at the other end of the Common Room. "Come look at this new broom!"
I knew I wasn't going to get anymore out of him so I gave up and went to bed. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and when I finally did I had dreams of Batman saving me from Felicia trying to put fire to my hair.
**
The next day I ended up sitting next to an unusual person at lunch. Al was still gloomy and had stopped coming to the Great Hall because seeing Felicia with James made him feel even more like a loser and he was therefore taking his meals in the school kitchen. Felicia still hated me and was sitting at the other end of the table, next to James, who seemed to be following Felicia wherever she went. So the seat next to me that was usually occupied by Felicia, James or Al, was suddenly occupied by Eurydice.
As soon as she sat down next to me she gave a great sigh that clearly meant that I was supposed to ask her if something was wrong. I didn't want to take the bait though, so I desperately turned to Jane.
"What are you reading?" I asked.
"Oh, it's a novel," Jane said, looking up from her book. "It's about this sixteen year old witch who's really talented, but she lives with these evil Muggles who won't let her go to Hogwarts."
"Exciting," I said absent mindedly as Eurydice sighed again.
"So then she meets this really cute wizard boy who helps her escape and wants to take her to Hogwarts and then they fall in love, but then this evil wizard comes-"
Eurydice sighed again.
"- and they have a duel, and the evil wizard kidnaps the witch and, well, that's as far as I've gotten."
Eurydice sighed very audibly.
"Are you okay?" I finally asked.
She looked at me with mournful eyes. "I won't be going on anymore dates with Scorpius," she said.
"Why not?" I asked. My heart was beginning to race.
"I ran into him this morning and told him that I had a good time Saturday," Eurydice said. "Then he told me that he had had a good time too, but that he thought that we would be better off as friends. He said that he liked someone else."
"He did?" I gasped.
"Yeah," Eurydice said, nodding solemnly. "I don't know what to do, Rose, I'm so broken hearted. I wonder who that other girl is."
"Me too," I lied, pretty sure that I knew just who she was.
"I'll rip her throat out when I find out," Eurydice said.
"You will?" I asked, appalled.
"Absolutely," Eurydice assured. "Especially if it's someone I know. What a bitch. I bet it's Demetria."
"Why?"
"I don't know," Eurydice said. "It's just so unnatural that a guy and a girl can hang out together all the time without any feelings involved."
I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing there," I said. I glanced over at the Slytherin table. Scorpius was having a conversation with someone from the Quidditch team. It was the first time that I had seen him since Saturday night. I suddenly felt very warm.
"So, have you seen Ophi since Saturday?" Eurydice asked.
"Uh – no," I said. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about Ophi, which wasn't all that nice of me. "I haven't been able to find him."
"Too bad," Eurydice said. "After you left, Ophi said that he really likes you."
My stomach twisted. "He did?"
"Yeah," Eurydice said. "That's so romantic. I'm actually a little jealous. I'll never find true love." She sighed heavily. "Scorpius has broken my heart."
At the Slytherin table I saw Scorpius get up to leave. I jumped out of my seat.
"I have to go," I told Eurydice. "I have to - uh – look something up before Transfiguration."
"We just had Transfiguration," Eurydice said.
"So it's all the more important!" I cried. "Professor McGonagall said something in class that I didn't quite understand and if I don't look it up now I'll forget about it… so… uh… right. Bye!"
I darted out of the Great Hall after Scorpius. I finally caught up with him in a deserted corridor.
"Hey, Scorpius – Batman!" I called.
Scorpius turned around and smiled. "Very funny," he said.
"So you do remember something from Saturday night?" I teased.
"I remember everything from Saturday night," Scorpius said.
I couldn't look him in the eye and examined my shoes instead.
"I had a good time," I said awkwardly.
"Me too," Scorpius said. "Even though McGonagall gave me detention."
"Uh – I just talked to Eurydice," I said, finally gathering the courage to look up again. "She said that she was heartbroken, because you liked someone else."
Scorpius shrugged. "She'll get over it."
"Who is that someone else?" I blurted out.
Scorpius blinked. "You, of course," he said bluntly.
I suddenly found myself grinning widely.
"Really?"
"Of course," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "Do you really mean to tell me that you are so insecure that after everything I told you Saturday you still think that I don't have any feelings for you?"
"Well, you were drunk," I said. "I didn't know if you were telling the truth or just joking."
"I was telling the truth," Scorpius said.
There was a pause in which we just looked at each other. I took in everything about him. The platinum blonde uncombed hair, the green eyes, examining my face… the lips…
Scorpius took two steps forward, closing the distance between us. "Rose…" he breathed.
"Yeah?" I whispered, looking up, my heart hammering. I wondered if he could hear it.
"I was really disappointed with McGonagall interrupted us the other night," he said.
I smiled a little, and then Scorpius leaned in – I could feel his breath on my face – his hand was suddenly on my waist –
"ROSE!"
I jumped about a foot into the air, bonking my nose into Scorpius'.
"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?" James roared.
I turned to look at him, my nose throbbing. I had actual tears in my eyes from the searing pain. James was slightly blurred. Behind me I could hear Scorpius muttering to himself about the pain.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" James yelled. "HE IS CAPTAIN OF THE SLYTHERIN TEAM AND YOU ARE KISSING HIM! KISSING HIM!"
"I – well, I wasn't exactly…" I trailed off, rubbing my nose. The pain was unbelievable.
"YOU HAVE BETRAYED US!" James bellowed, storming forward to point a finger into my face. "Unbelievable!" he hissed.
"James, be reasonable," I said.
"What's the matter, Potter?" Scorpius asked. "Got a problem with me?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," James said, pushing me aside and giving Scorpius a shove. "Don't kiss my cousin."
Scorpius shoved James back. "I'll kiss her if I want."
"Guys!" I cried, horrified. What if they were going to fight? "Stop it!"
James turned to look at me, his eyes bulging and his nostrils flaring.
"If you want to be with this piece of dust, you can't be on the Quidditch team," James said.
"What?" I gasped.
"You can't be on the Quidditch team," James repeated. "And I'll write to Uncle Ron."
"That's not fair!" I exclaimed.
"What's not fair, Rose, is betraying your family!" James cried. "What's not fair is going behind my back to kiss the one person that I hate the most. We're more than just cousins, Rose; I thought that we were friends."
"We are," I said desperately.
James didn't say anything. He only stood beside Scorpius with his arms crossed. I looked between the two of them desperately. I really liked Scorpius, but I couldn't stand the thought of one more of my friends hating me. And what about the rest of the Quidditch team? And the rest of my family? I could feel that I was about to cry again.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to Scorpius. Then I turned on my heel and ran away.
**
Thanks so much for reading! And thanks to my faithful reviewers for reviewing. It means the world to me and it keeps me writing. =) PLEASE tell me what you think about the chapter!