Chapter o6

"There you are." I jumped as someone grabbed my shoulder, suprising me out of my odd daydream featuring flubberworms and Headmistress McGonagall. I turned around to see James grinning amusidly. I glared at him.

"Wanker." was all I said. He waved it off easily.

"How was your first day?" He asked, putting his hand back on my shoulder and forcing me to start walking. I kind of wanted to beat him in the head. Instead I just shrugged.

"Kind of boring. Well, except for Transfiguration. That one was pretty interesting." James started laughing. Hard. So hard that he had to stop, and I could continue walking and hoping that he wouldn't be able to catch up. It wasn't like there was anything funny anyways.

"You got ol' Annie, do ya?" Apparently luck wasn't with me, and in seconds he was walking next to me again, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Are you on drugs?" I asked, my voice monotone. He hated it when I did that, though he would never admit it.

"Maybe." James sent me a wink, and I rolled my eyes.

"Good. Go away."

"What's your problem?" He asked, frowning. "I mean, you do realize you gain popularity just be talking to me, right?" I shook my head and grimaced.

"I don't bloody care." I told him. "I'm too busy trying to figure out how to sneak out to the astronomy tower without getting caught tonight." Had it been just about anyone but my brother, I wouldn't have said it, but I knew that James probably did the same thing his first night as well.

"Oh, that's easy." James said, grinning as we entered the great hall for dinner. "You can borrow the cloak." and with that, he walked off towards the Gryffindor table, leaving me in confusion.

I walked over to the Slytherin table, seeing Scorpius and Rose already sitting there, talking in hushed voices as I approached. "James is a bloody idiot." I announced, sitting down next to Scorpius and breaking up their little sneak-fest.

"Obviously," Rose scoffed, "why this time?"

"Because I tell him what we're doing and he tells me to borrow his cloak. How can I possibly go around in the middle of the night with a cloak on and not get caught. Only he could come up with something that stupid-"

"Brilliant." Rose breathed, her eyes shining. I looked at her in confusion.

"We're talking about the same James, aren't we?" Scorpius asked, looking back and forth between us, "There aren't two, right?"

"Albus, you're a bloody idiot." Rose told me, and got up, walking quickly towards the Gryffindor table.

"I'm so confused." I sighed to Scorpius. He spluttered a bit.

"You're confused? At least you're positive who you're talking about!" I shrugged.

"All you had to do was ask." I told him. He gaped, looking quite unjustified. I had to try very hard not to start laughing.

Get to the astronomy tower. Wait for Rose and Scorpius. Go explore and cause mayhem. I watched from the corner of my eye as the last Slytherin left the common room, walking up the girls staircase and eyeing me suspicously. As soon as I heard the faint sound of a door closing, I jumped up, grabbing my cloak from under me and putting it on, while sliding the Transfiguration homework I'd been pretending to do under the chair so that it was hidden for me to retrieve when I got back. I stopped, listening intently to make sure no one was hanging in the stairways, and then sneaked carefully over to the door, knocking on it lightly so that the stone wall moved noiselessly and let me out. It was scarily dark and damn down in the dungeons, and only a few torches were lit along the way. I pulled my cloak closer to me, hoping that wearing it would make me look like a shadow as I scurried silently down the hall, my shoulder hitting the stone walls every few seconds because of the closer proximity. You are a ninja I told myself, heaving a shallow breath as the halls steadily rose, and then I was sneaking past the great hall, searching for the path I'd taken between Transfiguration and Dinner when I'd gone in search of it. It didn't take me long to do it, now that I knew where I was going, and I made it there without interruption.

It was darker up here than inside, with the clouds obscuring the sky, and the shadows too long to notice one from another. I took a deep breath, of both relief and exhaustion. This place was in dire need of an elevator.

"Al?" I froze. It was a whisper, barely even catching in my ears, but I still heard it.

"Scorpius?" I asked, sincerely hoping it was him, otherwise I would either be in deep shit or talking to myself, neither scenarios terribly pleasant to think about. I heard a slight woosh of fabric in the air, and an outline a few feet in front of me.

"Hey mate." Scorpius greeted, the relief evident in his voice. "Thank blood merlin your here, I was going crazy."

"Really?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah." He groaned. "I'm kinda afraid of the dark a bit. I mean," he added quickly, "I sleep in the dark and all that, but It freaks me out when I'm walking in pitch black, or standing in it, or...awake, really. Over-active imagination, and all that..." He trailed off.

"I'm sorry." I said sincerely, shuddering. I would have hated to be in his position. "Well, at least now you know I'm here. No crazy vampires after you or anything (a/n: that line is impeccibly ironic, you don't even know)" Scorpius laughed half-heartidly.

"I was more worried a teacher would come up or something. Especially that Transifiguration professor, Ms. Sanders or whatever."

"She's bloody scary." I agreed. "I call her 'The Professor'" I told him, my voice ominous. He chuckled a bit at that.

"Sounds right. She almost made me wet meself earlier. I had her first." I grimaced, even though he couldn't see it, and took his hand, edging towards one of the castle walls so that we could sit down.

"I can't even imagine that. She was my last class before dinner." I explained. "She turned the match into a mountain lion. I wanted to scream. I'm terrified of cats." I added, the cold stone suddenly hitting my fingertips in victory. I sat down against it with Scorpius close behind.

"Scarred for life?" He asked, but I was sure he already knew the answer.

"Crookshanks almost bit off his index finger when we were six." The both of us jumped at Rose's amused voice. "Mum had to re-attatch it, and Dad almost made her give Crookshanks away. You know us girls though. Always triumphant."

"Bugger off, Rosie." I murmured, feeling the familier Weasley blush heat up my face.

"A finger? Really?" Scorpius asked, obviously eager to hear more. Trying to forget the entire situation, I ignored him and changed the subject.

"So, do either of you have a suggestion? I said quickly, probably too much, even.

"Well," Scorpius started, taking the bait, "what about the Room of Requirement?"

and so it truly began.