A/N: Hello my lovely readers! Here is the much anticipated second chapter of my story. I do realize this title is terrible, so everyone make a suggestion for me, and I may just put up a poll for a vote! I love doing that, and it let's readers feel involved!
Anyways, I have made a MAJOR update. From a suggestion from a reader (who I believe was correct in pointing this out) my first chapter could be split up. Knowing this was right, I have taken a large portion from the last chapter and added it to the beginning of this one. I have not edited it in any way, just moved it. So you can skip past it if you want, and I'll put in a large notice where you should take up reading it once more. Anyways, this chapter develops a relationship between Scorpius and Rose a little better, but I'm not saying why, you'll have to read! Haha!
CHAPTER 2
"Rose…" came a soft voice above her. However Rose did not want to open her eyes.
"Roooose?" came a second voice. Rose groaned.
"Rosie?" was the first voice again. That woke her up. Grabbing the pillow beneath her, she aimed for Albus' head.
"Toldjoo I dun wanna be called Rosie…" I said through gritted teeth.
"Well next time, go to sleep in your own bed so we don't have to wake you up ten minutes before breakfast!" Albus exclaimed.
"Ten minutes!" Rose cried. This sobered her right up. Jumping up, she ran to her room.
"How long before she realizes there's still an hour 'til breakfast?" Scorpius asked chuckling.
"Not lo–" Albus began before a cry was heard from above.
Coming down the stairs, completely dishevelled and fuming was Rose. "You toerags! There's still an hour 'til breakfast!" Her skirt was hiked up as though she'd pulled it on without thinking, and her buttons on her yellow blouse were mismatched.
"Whoa Rose, might want to fix yourself up there!" Albus grinned, however Scorpius couldn't help staring at the nice bit of thigh the girl was showing. Rose glared.
"Stop ogling, Scorpius. Or take a picture, maybe it will last longer," Scorpius blushed, and Albus looked at him bemused.
Turning around, Rose fixed her buttons with a flick of her wand and pulled her skirt back down. She also ran her wand over her hair, as the auburn locks were flying everywhere. Thank god for the little charms her mum had taught her before school.
Finally looking somewhat normal, she turned back to the pair.
"Can we just go downstairs now, before I kill you both?" she asked, and stormed past the chuckling boys.
They weren't the first Ravenclaws to arrive, however they seemed to be some of the first first year students. Which meant that for the amount of time it took them to find the Great Hall again (which, by the way, was a good half an hour) they bet it took the other students twice as long.
Sure enough when about a half an hour rolled by, some more first years strolled in, and by then there was food on the table. Yawning, Rose piled some toast on her plate, not really in the mood for anything else. So she was surprised when several sausages and an egg landed on her plate.
Groaning, she picked up a sausage and munched quietly on it.
After breakfast, a man, whom Albus pointed out as Bill Weasley's friend Professor Duke, the Astronomy Professor, and apparently Ravenclaw's new head of house, began to pass out the student timetables. Rose took hers gingerly from the good looking man, and began devouring it.
"Let's see, Defence Against the Dark Arts with Macmillan; Potions with Goldstein; Charms with Corner; Astronomy with Duke; Transfiguration with McGonagall; History of Magic with Binns; Flying with Wood; and Herbology with Nev- I mean Longbottom." Rose smiled. "Wow that's a lot. But Astronomy and Flying are only once a week, and Flying ends at Christmas unless you need more help. Monday I see double Defence first, with the Hufflepuffs, and then Herbology with the Gryffindors followed by Potions with the Hufflepuffs again and a Flying Lesson with the Slytherins. That's going to be an interesting day…"
Scorpius groaned, "At least we can find out where the classes are now. So want to go to the Owlery so you can mail your letter, and we'll take a look around?" he asked.
"Oh, yes!" Rose had completely forgotten about her letter. She pulled it out and scribbled what classes and Professors she had at the bottom. "Ready!"
The trio stood up and left the Great Hall, in an attempt to find the Owlery. Nearly an hour later they were panting amongst the softly hooting owls.
"Merlin's pants, I never thought we'd find this place!" Albus exclaimed, doubled over and heaving.
"Where's my owl…?" Rose said, glancing around before finally finding the scrawny pigmy owl just like her father's deceased owl Pig, and she had named him accordingly.
"Hey Hogsworth, my little Hoggy!" she said, petting him before tying on the letter to his leg and giving him a discarded owl pellet. "Good boy, now bring this to mum and dad." The little owl took off then, leaving Rose watching 'til it disappeared.
"OK, now to find out where our classes will be. Let's see, Greenhouse One for Herbology is an easy one, let's try that?" Albus groaned to Scorpius' request, but complied.
Sure enough, ten minutes found them outside the greenhouse. Dominique was there with a few other Gryffindor first years.
"Well if it isn't my two traitor cousins," she said, but Rose knew she was joking from the smile on her face. "Herbology on Mondays together, eh? Should be fun," she laughed.
It took a moment for the three girls beside her to agree, as they were openly staring wide-eyed at the boys. Dominique rolled her eyes.
"Is that what guys look like when they look at me?" she asked, before noticing Scorpius slightly ogling her in the same fashion, "I take that as a yes…"
Rose smacked Scorpius upside the head, bringing him back to earth. He glared playfully at her for a moment, but all was well.
"Anyways, we're off to find our other classes, bye guys!" she said, dragging the three girls with her.
"Oh Dominique, what would we do without you?" Albus asked sarcastically. "Anyways, want to try for the Potions room? It's only one floor down; we can worry about upstairs after.
Finding the entrance to the dungeons was a little difficult, but eventually they found the stairs in the Entrance Hall. Two Slytherin first years lingered outside the Potions room, and proceeded to sneer at Scorpius.
"Bugger off wankers," Rose told them off. They glared at her, before retreating further into the dungeons. Rose smiled.
"OK, so two down, six to go. Well Flying is obviously on the grounds, no need to go looking for that. And Astronomy is in the Astronomy Tower. Charms classroom is on the third floor. Defence is on the first, and so is History of Magic. And Transfiguration is on the fourth floor. I suppose we'll check out the first floor first." said Scorpius.
Making their way around the castle, it was lunch time by the time they found everything.
"I am wiped! And sooo hungry!" Albus said, eating the food before he could even get it to his plate.
"Me too," said Scorpius, shoving some steak and kidney pie on his plate.
Rose rolled her eyes before grabbing several sandwich triangles and some potato salad.
…
It was Monday morning and Rose was rubbing sleep out of her eyes quite early in her four poster bed. That had been the first night sleeping in it for her, as the last two she had fallen asleep reading in the Common Room.
Getting up, she pulled on the black skirt belonging with the uniform and buttoned it on top. She pulled it up higher than her hips so it wouldn't be so long (past her knees) as she wasn't very tall. Then she pulled on a frilly light blue tank-top to wear under her white blouse. After she was dressed she adjusted her new Ravenclaw tie around her neck. Sadly, she was useless at tying it, so with a couple flicks of her wand later, the tie was done up. Another of her mother's charms.
She loved the look of the Ravenclaw tie, with its solid midnight blue background and bronze stripes. Silently she thanked Albus and Scorpius that she hadn't ended up in Gryffindor, red and gold would clash with her hair. Horribly so.
Pulling on her robes, she shoved her brand new Defence, Potions and Herbology books into her rucksack. The books may have been new, but if you looked closely, you'll see that the spine was broken. Rose had taken to reading all her books over the holidays.
Her gut wrenched, knowing there would be a Flying Lesson today, but she ignored it. Sure she had played Quidditch with the family, but she was more like her mom in this sense. Her feet belonged on the ground.
Grabbing her wand, and flinging the rucksack over her shoulder, she exited the room, leaving the three sleeping girls behind her. It must be fairly early… she thought.
She was the only person in the Great Hall, and breakfast hadn't even been served yet, so she decided to read some more of the Defence book before the double period this morning.
When she was several chapters in, Albus and Scorpius finally graced her with their presence. By this point there was food on the table, but Rose hadn't even noticed.
"You eaten yet?" Albus asked.
"Nope…actually, hadn't even noticed the food was there…this book is so easy to get caught up in you know?" Albus rolled his eyes, "And besides, I was waiting for you guys."
Grabbing a saucer, she began to fill it with porridge, but loaded it with several spoonfuls of brown sugar and a heaping of maple syrup.
"You see mate, that will keep her awake after the little sleep she had the weekend," Albus said, snorting and pointing at her meal. Scorpius laughed while Rose rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time since she'd arrived at Hogwarts.
Grabbing their things, they made their way to the first floor, where they knew the Defence room was. A couple of Hufflepuffs seemed to follow in their wake, but they didn't mind.
The day passed along quickly, with Rose showing fast how much she was like her mother, trying to answer every question. Yet no one complained, as she earned many points for Ravenclaw.
Finally it was time for their flying lesson. Rose gulped. This was the one thing she did not look forward to.
The Ravenclaws marched down the steps, and headed where they could see a woman standing with a bunch of brooms laid on the ground beside her, most of the Slytherins had already arrived. And there were two much older students standing on either end of the lines, obviously here to observe for Quidditch.
Once all of the students seemed to have arrived, Professor Wood smiled.
"Hello class, my name is Professor Katie Wood, if you didn't already know. Today is your first flying lesson. Now, I'm not the best at teaching, but Professor McGonagall is giving me a shot, seeing as how I used to be a chaser for Gryffindor." The Slytherins groaned, while the Ravenclaws listened intently. "OK class, approach the brooms and let's get started!"
Everyone stood next to a broom. The one by Rose's feet was already twitching with excitement it seemed, yet no one else's seemed to be moving. Odd.
"Now students, put your right hand over your broom," called Professor Wood, "and say 'Up!'"
Rose did as she was told, and was surprised when hers shot straight into her hand. Albus' had seemingly floated up into his and Scorpius' made a jagged ascent upwards into his. But at least theirs didn't meet the same fate as Felicity's. Hers had swung up and beat her on the back of the head. Even Sarah had an easier time than she did.
"OK, now for those whose brooms didn't respond, just pick them up. Right. Now we'll mount them." The Professor rounded about the lines and showed everyone how to mount without falling off. Rose was shaking at this point. "Just like your mum…" the Professor said to her, smiling. Rose smiled back tentatively once mounted.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground. Hard as you can," she began to the rest of the class, "Keep yourself steady, rise up several feet, not too high, tilt forwards and come back down. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good, three – two – one – " With that she blew the whistle.
Several brooms shot in the air, but Rose's lifted calmly as if she was meant to fly, and Rose didn't like that. Albus had a bit of a shaky start, even though he'd been riding for years. Must be the broom. Even Scorpius jolted upwards.
Once Rose was high enough, she tilted forwards and landed back down perfectly. Professor Wood was eyeing her, as if she'd never seen anything like it.
Instantly the Professor approached her. "It's odd, you see. Your mother may have given you her fear, but you seem to have the Weasley flying skills in you. I haven't seen flying like that since Harry Potter joined the Quidditch team in my second year. Maybe you should try out next year Rose." Rose grimaced.
The Ravenclaw Captain beamed at her, "Yes! I bet you'd fit right in!"
Albus didn't seem to like this much. When he touched down, all he could do was glare at Rose. Rose shrunk back, not meaning to have made him angry. Scorpius looked torn between the two.
When the lesson ended, Albus left Scorpius and Rose behind, rushing to the castle. Tears threatened to spill from Rose's eyes, and Scorpius looked at her sympathetically.
"I don't even like flying…" she said to him quietly. "S'not my fault, not like I tried to do better. It just happened."
"I know Rose, give him time to cool off," Scorpius said in return.
Rose groaned as they made their way to the castle. This was going to be a long day.
…
"I'm sorry Albus! I swear I didn't do it on purpose! You know I hate flying!"
"Well next time, try not to do so good, OK? Pretty bad when his own son can't even be compared to him. But his niece? Whom he's not even blood related to? Sure let's compare them!" Albus scowled and turned back to his dinner.
"Albus, come on man. You know Rose better than I do. And even I know she would never purposely upstage someone like that…" Scorpius said to his friend.
Albus glared at Scorpius, "Fine take her side! You know what; I should have just let that damned hat put me in Gryffindor where I belong! If I had known my cousin was going to put me down like that, and have my friend take her side, I never would have joined Ravenclaw in the first place! I'd have probably even preferred Slytherin!" Albus stood and left the Great Hall.
Rose was crying now. She and Albus had never fought like this, and it greatly upset her. Scorpius did his best to comfort her, but there was only so much a boy could do.
Suddenly a tall leggy blonde wrapped her arms around Rose. Scorpius was confused, but Rose seemed to know her. Overall the girl was gorgeous, but Scorpius had no idea who she was. Yet somehow, she looked familiar.
"Oh Victoire…" of course, Dominique's older sister, "… he-he hates me! And I didn't even mean to!" Rose cried in the blonde's arms.
"Shh Rose, it'll be OK, Albus just needs to blow off some steam. He'll get over it eventually…just let it all blow over, it'll be fine…" Victoire was rubbing Rose's back as she sobbed in front of everyone. Then she turned to little blonde boy. "Scorpius, right?" He nodded, "Would you mind taking her up to your tower, I'd hate for her to make more of a scene in front of everyone." Scorpius nodded again, and grabbed Rose, hauling her from the bench. "That's a good girl, go get some sleep."
Scorpius nearly had to drag Rose all the way to Ravenclaw Tower, which was difficult, seeing as how it was on the seventh floor.
Finally they made it to the door, where Scorpius knocked once.
'What does man love more than life
Fear more than death or mortal strife
What the poor have, the rich require,
and what contented men desire,
What the miser spends and the spendthrift saves
And all men carry to their graves?'
Scorpius was stunned. He had no clue what the answer was, and really couldn't think straight.
"N-nothing…" said Rose beside him, between her sniffs.
"What?" asked Scorpius.
"Man loves nothing more than life. And fears nothing more than death or mortal strife. The poor have nothing, and the rich require nothing. Contented men desire nothing, the miser spends nothing, and the spendthrift saves nothing. And men carry nothing to their graves…"
"Correct Miss Weasley! Sharp on your toes as always I see!" came the Eagle's voice before the door swung open.
"Rose, I don't know how you do it, but thanks!" he said, dragging her inside by her sleeve. "Look I'll talk to Albus; you just go to bed, OK?"
Rose nodded, and then headed up the stairs for the long night ahead.
READ HERE
…
Turns out, Albus didn't want to talk to Scorpius. In fact, Rose and Scorpius hadn't been able to hold a civil conversation with him for nearly two months now, and it was Halloween.
Rose had tried everything, even convinced James to sneak out through an old tunnel to Honeydukes to buy him some chocolate, but to no avail.
He sat as far away from the pair as he could, which upset Rose even more. Scorpius did his best to console her, but knew it was on a dead ear that he was comforting.
"Look Rose, the big Halloween feast is tonight, at least try and be a bit happy. Albus is bound to forgive you eventually. I mean you're his best mate not me. If he has to forgive anyone, it's you. I mean it's hard enough sharing a room with someone who only glares at you. And the other two follow suit, pretending they're Albus' best friends," Scorpius huffed.
"Fine. I'll lighten up. But only for the feast. After that, I'm gloomy Rose again." Wiping her nose on a napkin, Rose sniffed one last time, and placed a somewhat decent smile on her face. "Happy enough for you?"
Scorpius grinned, "Perfect."
Classes flew past. Having Double Charms, then Herbology followed by Double Transfiguration. Overall it was a good day. Scorpius remained her partner in everything, while Albus paired up with anyone else that he could.
As the feast approached, Rose could actually feel herself feeling truly happy. She'd earned a whopping fifty points today for Ravenclaw, a new record! Even more than her mum had ever earned for Gryffindor. In Charms, she had been the only one able to levitate the feather; her match had turned shiny silver and was slightly pointed at one end in Transfiguration. Not the needle she had intended, but the best in the class. And Neville had given her extra points for recalling that Devil's Snare was used in an attempt to guard the Philosopher's Stone during his time at Hogwarts.
Scorpius patted her on the head. "Now that's a good girl. See, it isn't so hard, now is it?"
Rose smiled.
When they entered the Great Hall, pumpkins carved into Jack-o-Lanterns hung midair above the tables, which were lined heavily with food and sweets all along their length. Rose and Scorpius stared in awe. Grabbing a spot at the Ravenclaw table, they began filling their plates. Rose was intent on eating the massive amounts of chicken wings and some potato crisps. She also had some steamed vegetables followed by a slab of marble cheesecake.
"If I eat any more, I'll explode!" Rose cried. However she grabbed her sack and filled it with sweets for later. Scorpius laughed, but did the same.
Suddenly the doors of the Great Hall burst open, and in stormed Hagrid, who lumbered all the way to the Head Table. "Er, Professor McGonagall, we got ourselves a problem!" he said none too quietly.
"Yes Hagrid? What is it?" Professor McGonagall asked sombrely.
"Some creatures gon' an' scared the Acromantula from the forest an' thur swarmin' the castle," he said, going pale. As did McGonagall.
"Oh my, we better get students back to their dormitories at once…Prefects! Heads! Lead the students back to the Common Rooms immediately. There's a situation, and all students must make their way to their dormitories!"
Students near the front were panicking, they had heard what Hagrid said, and it travelled the length of the tables. Rose stared blankly ahead. Spiders? Now this was something she had inherited from her father. An intense fear of arachnids.
Scorpius all but dragged Rose to her feet, and she grabbed her rucksack so as not to leave it behind. "Come on Rose! We've got to get to Ravenclaw tower!"
"Wait! Where's Albus! I haven't seen him since class!" Rose exclaimed.
"Oh, Albus? Last I checked he had detention cleaning the potion storage cupboard in the dungeons," Jacob said from behind her.
This was all Rose needed to hear, and she took off. If Albus was in the dungeons, then he surely hadn't heard of the Acromantula. Getting to the Entrance Hall, she forced herself down the stairs before the Slytherins had even arrived and ran the length of the corridor.
Scorpius ran behind her, the girl was nuts! Surely Albus would know what was going on when the Slytherins ran down. Did she have to go looking for him?
When they reached the storage cupboard he was no where in sight, he must have finished his detention and headed upstairs. Running back to the Entrance Hall, Rose ran smack into James.
"Oi! Rose! Bugger, watch where you're running! No need to panic!" James said, rubbing his nose.
"James! Where's that damned map of yours…" Rose said hastily.
"The map? In my sack, why?"
"Let me see it!" Rose cried, reaching for James rucksack and tearing it open. Pointing her wand at it, she muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Scorpius was confused, it was just a blank piece of parchment, how was this a map? However when she said those last words, he understood.
Words began appearing, but she took no heed – while Scorpius looked at it in awe – ripping the pages open and searching it desperately. Finally she found what she was looking for. There, wandering the second floor was Albus Potter. Muttering "Mischief Managed", she handed the now blank parchment back to James, grabbed Scorpius' wrist and ran.
"Come on Scorpius! He's alone in the corridor, if he gets attacked, I'll never forgive myself!"
Running they made their way to the second floor, and like Rose said, it was nearly empty, save one soul.
"Albus!" Rose cried in a panic, and ran for the boy.
"Rose…" he replied stonily. "Scorpius."
"Albus, we've got to get to Ravenclaw tower now! Something's gone and scared the acromantula out of the forest, and they're making their way to the castle!"
Albus looked blankly at her, "Are you serious?" he asked.
"Would I joke about bloody spiders in the castle Albus?" she huffed.
"No, I guess you have a point, let's go!" he said, turning to Scorpius. However Scorpius had a look of fear on his face.
"It's a little late for that," he whispered, pointing behind them.
Turning there were hundreds of football to small car sized spiders heading their way. Rose was unable to move, frozen out of fear.
Albus grabbed her and pulled. "This way!" he cried, dragging himself and Rose in the other direction, and Scorpius following behind. Rose could hear Scorpius' shouts of Arania Exumai and blinding lights were filling the hall.
Rose felt herself thrown through a door and against a wall, and a muttering of 'Colloportus' made the door seal. Looking around, the boys could see they were in a girl's loo, that hadn't been frequented in a while.
"Hey!" Albus cried, "This is Moaning Myrtle's toilet!"
Scorpius grinned. "Out of all the places to lock us in Al…" shaking his head, he looked at the door.
Slams could be heard from the other side, as the spiders attempted to enter the room, but it was no use. The door held its own.
Rose was crying from fear now. She now understood why she would never make a good Gryffindor. Her fear had locked her in place, not a smidgeon of bravery in her.
"Hey Rose, shh, it'll be OK," Scorpius soothed her, wrapping his arms around her small frame.
Rose just wanted to be in her four poster bed, and being stuck in this bathroom was not her cup of tea.
Sniffing, she wiped at her tears. "I'm – I'm fine," she lied.
"Liar," said Albus, as if reading her mind. "You're more afraid of spiders than your father was, and I know that. Pretending to be brave doesn't do you any good Rose."
Rose glared at him. "Don't talk to me Albus; I've done fine without you these last two months. I think I can deal."
Albus looked hurt. "You don't mean that, do you Rose? I was upset over something so stupid, and I don't even know why I was upset. I guess I was jealous, OK? Jealous, that I was beaten by a girl, my own cousin and friend. I'm not used to that, OK. Everyone's allowed to be jealous. Remember when I won that case of Filibuster's Fireworks? And you wouldn't talk to me for a week? Remember that? But you forgave me, and all was well? Why can't you do the same now?" he was pleading, his eyes showed it.
Rose grumbled. On one hand, he was her best mate, on the other, he had abandoned her over something so stupid.
"Fine…" she said quietly, "I forgive you."
Albus grinned, and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"Now that everyone has made up, how in the name of Merlin are we getting out of here?" Scorpius asked.
Looking around, Rose grinned.
"Hey, Myrtle!"
Turning, the boys saw the figure of a girl stream through the second stall's doors.
"Myrtle, do you think you could find us a Professor so we can get out of here? The acromantula won't hurt you. You can use your ectoplasmic skills to find one and tell him what's going on!" Rose said.
Myrtle seemed to hesitate, until her eyes rested on Albus. "Hey, I recognize you both, but last time the two of you were in this bathroom, there was a duel, and you," she pointed at Scorpius, "Were nearly killed. But wait, no you look different. Both of you do. And that had to be more than twenty years ago! Surely you'd have aged…unless…"
"Are you talking about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy?" Rose asked, "Because if so, then those are their sons!"
Myrtle squealed. "Oh how you look so much like them! And yet more handsome…hmm…promise to visit me if I find you a Professor?" she asked.
Albus hesitated, but Rose eyed him. "Yeah, of course Myrtle. Any time!" he rushed. Scorpius grinned in agreement.
"Wonderful! I'll go find someone now!" and with that, Myrtle disappeared through the wall.
Rose laughed. Full laughter from deep within. "I'd forgotten about her!" she cried, "My dad told me that when your father's were in school, she had huge crushes on them! Especially your dad Albus! Oh that was priceless!"
Scorpius grumbled and Albus glared at her. "Oh shut it!" he said.
Nearly an hour later, they could see light streams from under the crack in the door, and then the door burst open.
"Potter? Malfoy? You in here! Ah, there you are! And Rose, too, I see! Myrtle never mentioned you…oh well. Good to see your safe!"
Professor Duke entered the loo they had been hiding out in. "Good thing you managed to get yourselves in here, who knows what could have happened! Now explain yourselves as to why you're not in your dormitories where everyone else is…"
"Well you see Professor…" Rose was about to recount what had happened, when she changed her mind, "Scorpius and I got separated from the group, and Albus came looking for us. Mind you, we ran into those dreadful spiders, and we had to run in here for safety. Scorpius and Albus did some wonderful wand-work too with that 'Arania Exumai' spell; I was too scared to even get my wand out! Then we sent Myrtle looking for a Professor!"
"Very well then, for the getting off course, minus five points for each of you," he pointed to Scorpius and Rose, "However, for the wand-work, ten points each," he pointed to Albus and Scorpius, "And five for thinking on your feet with Myrtle Miss Weasley. Now I'll escort you to the dormitories, some spiders are still loose."
They made it back to Ravenclaw tower unscathed, and their newly re-instated friendships remained. Knocking once on the door, the riddle sounded.
'If I were to tell you that everything I said was a lie
Would this be the truth? Or would I be lying as we speak?'
"And this is why I hate being in Ravenclaw…" Albus groaned. The Professor had left at this point, and Scorpius looked uninterested.
"Honestly! It's obviously a lie! It couldn't be a truth, or he would be contradicting himself then, wouldn't he? But just because it's a lie, doesn't mean that everything he says is true. It could just mean that some things he says are lies. Am I right?"
'Correct!' came the voice of the eagle as the door opened.
"From now on, I'm making sure you're with me to answer the riddle Rose, I got so many wrong when we were fighting. I spent several nights in the corridor, not knowing how to answer." Albus looked relieved that she had been able to answer.
"Oh hush, the past is the past; now get inside before my knees give out on me here. After seeing those spiders, I'm amazed I can even walk!"
Entering the common room, they found their roommates plus several prefects and Head Boy Markus Burrow waiting. Everyone else seemed to have gone to bed.
"Thank GOD!" exclaimed Markus. "We thought you were all dead!"
"Nice job keeping your cool 'Mr. Head Boy'," exclaimed a boy seemingly in sixth year.
"Anyways," Markus continued, glaring at the boy, "Where were you three? We saw you never returned and we've been waiting for nearly two hours! Thought the acromantula had gotten you for sure!"
"Well, this one here," Scorpius pointed to Albus, "Was late getting to the feast thanks to a detention. So we," he said, pointing to himself and Rose, "Decided to make sure he didn't get his sorry arse killed by the giant spiders. However we ran into a lot of them, and had to hide out in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, until we sent her to find a Professor. Luckily Professor Duke found us, and got us safely back here."
Markus seemed to find this an acceptable answer, considering he nodded and smiled. "OK, s'long as your not dead on my watch, I'm happy. Now off to bed you lot, before a Professor checks on us all!"
Everyone scrambled to get to their beds; however Rose, Albus and Scorpius lingered behind.
Albus looked at the two of them, "Thanks guys…" he said.
"You would do the same for us Al," Scorpius said.
Rose said nothing, but pulled Albus in for a bone crunching hug. She noticed Scorpius standing idly aside, so she pulled him in too.
"Ah group hugs! Now we're all good…NIGHT!" and with that, Rose skipped off to the dormitories.
A/N: I trust you all enjoyed this chapter and it's newest developments. Now I warn you ahead of time, this story does have points in it where it skips large periods of time as the main part of the story is actually supposed to occur in sixth or seventh year, not really sure which will be more important just yet. So if you're reading and it suddenly skips a month or two, or a full year, don't worry. You're not going crazy, it's all part of my plan, and I'm sorry if I piss you off because of it, but otherwise my story would take forever, so I just show key points over the five years leading up to the main storyline.
Anyways, expect another chapter before the week is out, I hope. If not, Sunday at the latest.
Read, Love and Review :)