Special thanks to LilyMay77, who pointed out a small plot hole from last chapter. As a first year Gryffindor, Albus would also be a roommate of Scorpius. It was easy enough to fix, so I remedied it in this chapter.

As always, your reviews are my primary source of motivation!

It wasn't Rose's fault that her cousin was a complete idiot. It wasn't her fault that he was turning out to be as big of a trouble maker as his grandfather. But she believed that if she didn't at least try to convince James to give up his foolish plan, then she would be a failure as a relative (and a disappointment to herself).

That was the reason why she was currently waiting in the Gryffindor common room late that night. Having claimed one of the oversize armchairs, she sat with a book in her hands, although her eyes only skimmed the words; her mind was elsewhere. Rose was far too worried that James and Joe's plan for Halloween night would go awry, as most of their ideas did, and that they would be thrown out of Hogwarts before you could say 'quidditch'. Even worse, now that Malfoy knew, her cousin could be ratted out on before too soon.

Merlin, she couldn't stand that smug-faced blond. He thought himself so high and above everyone else, simply expecting people to listen and hang to his every word, to follow him around with adoring faces. Rose couldn't understand why- it wasn't like he had had much luck since he had arrived; any normal person would have realized their mistake, but not Malfoy. He irritated her like no other.

Her thoughts on him were interrupted when the portrait swung open, admitting the one person she had been waiting for for hours.

"Teddy!" she exclaimed, leaping up from her cozy armchair and running to hug him.

"Whoa, Rosie! What's this all about?" Being a metamorphmagus like his mother, Teddy Lupin currently had his hair set to red; not the trademark Weasely sort of ginger, but a deep crimson to reflect his house's color. Rose guessed he must have been feeling particularly patriotic. "I mean, I know we don't hang out all that much at Hogwarts, but I feel this greeting is a little over-the-top."

"Right, sorry," she apologized, feeling a little red in the face. "I've just been waiting for you for a while now. Where have you been? Corven said you weren't in your dorm room, and it's past curfew."

Teddy shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, here and there."

The Weasely narrowed her eyes at her old family friend. He wasn't the sort to go sneaking about the castle late at night, so he must have had a good reason. Still, it was odd for him. "Whatever. Listen, I need you to talk to James."

"Aren't you capable of doing that yourself?"

"He won't listen to me, or Albus for that matter. I thought that since he actually has some respect for you, he may heed a warning from your mouth rather than his younger cousin." Rose checked the common room once more to make sure no one else was up- she wasn't going to make that mistake twice. "He's planning on exploring the sealed dungeon."

If she expected for Teddy to burst out in rage at his cousin's stupidity, Rose was sadly disappointed. He merely blinked at her expectantly. "And?"

"What do you mean, 'and?'! Talk him out of it! He'll listen to you!"

"Rose, I've known about James's little scheme for months now," he replied, looking amused.

"You what?!"

"I don't really see too much harm in it. I mean, yeah, the area may be dangerous, but there's a good chance that the teachers are just taking precautions."

"Like with the forbidden forest? You think they're being overcautious about that, too? Have you not heard the stories Uncle Harry and Dad tell?"

"Look," Teddy explained impatiently, "James will never give up trying to find a way in. If I talk him out of it now, he'll just try again down the road, next time without a plan I've approved. He's nosy, arrogant, and too curious for his own good. Maybe if we're lucky, something down there will spook him, and then he'll think twice about venturing where he's not suppose to in the future. Otherwise, not much harm can come to him."

Rose was utterly speechless. She had always thought of Teddy as sensible and smart- this seemed almost outside his personality. "Do you even hear yourself?" she screeched. "Even if whatever's down there doesn't kill him, he could be caught and expelled! Is that what you want for your oldest godbrother?"

Teddy shook his head. "Lower your voice, it's late. I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. From what I've seen, his plan seems pretty fool-proof, and I doubt he'll get caught. Now if you'll excuse me-"

"It's not foolproof!" Rose whispered fiercely. "Malfoy knows!"

The seventh year frowned at that. "That's not good. Have you asked him if he plans on telling?"

"What?" the red-head blinked in confusion. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I would think that if you couldn't convince James, you would at least do your best to protect his scheme. Or do you want him to go blabbing to Professor McGonagall?" Teddy sighed, turning back towards the stairs and to his bed. He spoke his last words over his shoulder. "Just ask if he'll keep his silence. I'm beat, so I'll say goodnight." And with that, he was gone.

Rose wasn't sure what to think, standing frozen in the empty common room for a few minutes. That meeting did not go anywhere near how I thought it would.
Jumping out of her shocked state at the soft chime of the midnight clock stroke, she suddenly realized how tired she was. It was late, and she had school tomorrow. Slowly she dragged her feet up the seemingly never-ending dormitory staircase to her room.

It was dark in the room, the only source of light from the meek half-moon peeking between cloudy skies. Clearly her room mates had not waited for her return. Rose knew the room well enough by now not to need her wand to see. Having already changed into her pajamas before her long wait in the common room, she made her way to her bed. Though tired, her mind was racing with the recent argument. Teddy, of all people, had agreed with James's decision to explore dangerous grounds? If she hadn't known better, Rose might have suspected he was under some sort of spell. In all her years of knowing Ted, he had never seemed like the type to approve such a lunatic idea; he got excellent grades, was a prefect, and had a rather stern mindset. Unless, of course, that was all an act- Teddy was more than six years older than her, so they didn't hang around much at school. For all she knew, he could be sneaking out at night to do all kinds of dangerous stunts. It didn't seem like the guy that Rose had known in her childhood; but then again, he had always looked up to his mother and father's reputations, and part of that included being troublemakers at school. Perhaps he was merely more discreet than they had been.

Rose's mind drifted towards Teddy's last words to her. Just ask if he'll keep his silence. Ha! Like she'd ever beg to that blond jerk. Yet, the threat of his knowledge loomed over her. If Malfoy told one of the professors about James's extra-curricular activity on Halloween, she'd never forgive herself if she had known she may have been able to prevent it.

Clearly convincing James and Joseph to abandon their plan would be pointless, and now Rose knew she didn't even have Teddy's support in this. Should she ask Victorie, or maybe Dominique? They were the only other older cousins at Hogwarts. But she pushed the thought away angrily. James would never listen to any of his female cousins, even if they were older- as for younger relations, there was no hope. The oldest Potter was of the opinion that anybody beneath his age 'knew nothing equivalent to the knowledge of his experiences!'

"Experiences at detention!" Rose muttered crossly to herself.

"Whassat?" replied a drowsy voice from across the room. It sounded like Syla.

The red-head turned over on her side, hugging the pillow to her head. Nobody would be able to convince James out of his stupidity. Rose could always write a letter to Uncle Harry, but the thought was dismissed as soon as it occurred- that would only end terribly. Harry would either write to his son, demanding him to forget the foolish scheme (which would probably fuel James on even more), or tell the Professors, which would land her cousin in deep trouble anyways. Despite his inflated ego, she didn't want to wish that upon him.

Rose took a deep breath, realizing that what Teddy had said was right. If she couldn't get James to give up, she had to try to cover for him as much as possible. Guess I'll have to talk to Malfoy.

The weather was steadily growing colder and windier as the month of October dragged on. With the big Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match coming up, each house team was growing excited- the contenders for obvious reasons, and Hufflepuff and Gryffindor eager to view their rivals new tactics and advances.

Rose, too, was beginning to feel the buzz of the game. She had inherited her father's love for Quidditch, eagerly following the Chudley Cannons since she was just a little tyke. However, she tried to keep her interest in the sport under wraps, refusing to submit to buying merchandise and posters to litter her room back at home. Besides, compared to the rest of her family, she wasn't a particularly skilled flier- not bad, but rather dull.

Unfortunately, her excitement for the sport could not outweigh her growing sense of apprehension. Halloween was just two days away, and she still hadn't spoken to Malfoy about keeping the secret he'd overheard that night to himself. Rose's excuse to herself was that it was because the time never seemed right, but she knew that she was just putting off the inevitable fact that she'd have to talk to the insufferable jerk. Her dislike of the boy continued to grow, despite his lack of further distasteful actions. True, he ignored her completely and still seemed like a smug prat, but had done nothing particularly wrong in the past week. Yet in Rose's head she continued to fester her intense animosity, turning over every rotten thing he'd done to her (and others) since day one at school. Her father's word of warning on Platform 9 3/4 rang in her head continuously: "Don't get too close to him, Rosie, or Grandfather Weasely will never forgive you."

Hmph, she thought to herself, as if I could ever grow close to the likes of him.

Still, for the sake of her idiotic cousin, she needed to find a good time to pull him aside for a quick word. Thankfully it was Friday evening, so it shouldn't take her long to locate him at dinner.

Sure enough, sitting at his usual end of the Gryffindor table, the blond sat next to Nick Renskallius, having an animated discussion with the Scot. Rose couldn't understand what her friend saw in Malfoy but respected him enough not to pressure him. Besides, Malfoy seemed amicable enough with Nick, so there didn't seem much ground to challenge their friendship.

Ignoring her usual spot beside Albus and Katie, Rose made he way down to the two and promptly plopped herself in a seat across from them. "Hello," she said, hoping her smile seemed genuine. Judging by the weird looks the two boys gave her, it was as brittle as it felt. Ignoring the questioning looks from her friends further down, she leaned forward towards the blond across from her, pushing a platter of drumsticks out of the way. "We need to talk," she said pointedly.

Malfoy only raised an eyebrow. "We do?"

"Yes. About what you heard my cousins and I speaking about last week."

"Oh, that." His face split into a devious grin. "You should be more careful where you talk about such things."

Growing more irritated by the second, Rose merely nodded. "Look, I can't make you not talk, but I would...appreciate it if you kept what you now know to yourself. I don't exactly think it's James's brightest plan, but I don't think he should be expelled for it, either."

Malfoy took a bite of lemon chicken, chewing thoughtfully and taking his time to swallow. Rose resisted the urge to strangle him. "Appreciate it? I'm sure you would. But what's in it for me?"

"Hey, Scorpius," Nick interjected, looking uncomfortable, "can't you just-"

"No, wait, I want to hear this."

The red-head glared at her fast-growing enemy. "I have nothing to offer you," she replied coldly.

"How about this... I'll make you an offer, and it's up to you and your family if you accept my terms." All teasing was gone from his voice, meeting Rose's blue eyes with his serious silver ones. "Let me come with him, and I won't tell."

"What?" Rose cried, forgetting where she was. She lowered her voice when heads turned. "Why do you care about what's in the dungeons?"

"Aren't I allowed to be curious? Aren't you curious?"

The Weasely hadn't really given it much thought. So focused had she been on keeping James from getting in trouble that she had never really asked herself that question. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was highly interested in what was locked up deep in the school's lower levels- or more importantly, why there was anything to lock up in Hogwarts in the first place. "I suppose," she reluctantly admitted.

Malfoy sat back, looking satisfied.

"That doesn't mean I'd risk expulsion to find out!" she argued, unsettled by his smug expression. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought it back," he countered. "Similarly to your cousin, the thought of what could be down there has been eating at me since it was announced. It reminds me of the stories my dad told about when he was in school: the Chamber of Secrets, the trap door hiding the Philosopher's stone—"

"In case you forgot," Nick interrupted dryly, reminding them of his presence, "the people who explored those were nearly killed."

Malfoy waved away his comment dismissively. "Whatever. The point is, there was always something fascinating in those places. I'm not saying we need to throw yourself into danger and be all heroic like Potter..." he curled his lip at the name, "but simply gratify our own curiosity. You can't tell me you aren't inclined."

He was right, of course, but Rose didn't want to give him that satisfaction. "Look, I don't care if you go with James," she snapped impatiently, "as long as you don't rat him out. Don't expect me to accompany you three."

"Sure. It might actually be fun if you don't come!"

"Shut up."

Sliding down the bench to her friends, Rose tried to cool her rising temper. Arrogant toerag. Either Malfoy and James would get along swimmingly or they'd be at each other's throats—the thought almost made Rose regret not going.

"What was that about?" Katie whispered to her when she joined them.

"Nothing to worry about," the red-head assured, "just making sure James doesn't get ratted out. Malfoy made me promise to let him go along with the plan in return, that's all."

Albus narrowed his eyes to where the blond now sat down the table. Nick seemed to be arguing with him intensely over something, with his friend only offering a few words or a shrug in response. "James might not like that," he warned.

"James doesn't have a choice," Katie retorted. "He got himself into this mess in the first place, so he should be grateful Rose tried to clean it up."

Rose knew that it wasn't entirely her cousin's fault, as they had all been speaking loudly that night in the common room, but she said nothing. Instead, she drizzled onion gravy on her potatoes. "He's such a prick," she muttered to nobody in particular.

"Who? James? I'll agree to that."

"No, Malfoy!" Rose protested, stifling a laugh at Albus's response. "He acts so high and mighty all the time. I wish he would deflate his ego a bit."

The younger Potter shrugged. "I don't know, he seems okay enough to me. Yeah, he was kind of a jerk for the first few months, but he seems to have cooled down a bit."

"Especially since Nick befriended him," Katie added.

Rose frowned. She was not expecting her friends to defend Malfoy. "Yeah, well…"

"I share a room with him, remember?" Albus helped himself to a platter of honeyed ham, looking thoughtful. "Him, Gavin, Vincent, Salux and I. Oh, and John."

"Sounds like a squeeze."

"It's not too bad. Vincent's an airhead but is mostly out of the dorms anyways. Gavin and Salux can be a little rowdy from time to time, but they'll tone it down if you ask. Malfoy seems to keep to himself, not a bad roommate—at least, he doesn't come to bed at unreasonable hours or leave his stuff strewn all over."

Katie picked at her melting ice cream, already full from a large helping of dinner. "How come there's six Gryffindor boys and only three girls in our year?"

"I think it just varies annually. Like there's a lot of Hufflepuff first-year girls and only a few guys."

"What about John?" Rose interrupted, re-routing the topic. "You didn't say much about him."

"Oh. Well, none of us really know him very well. He's really quiet and reserved: taciturn, you might say. That's him down the table, next to Wendy."

Rose craned her neck over the many bowed heads at Gryffindor table, as did Katie. It took a few moments to spot him on the far end: dark brown hair and a book in one hand as he ate. It was hard to get a good look at him.

"I rarely see him except at meal times or before bed," Albus continued. "Besides class, of course. Dunno where he spends his free time, but it's not in the tower. Anywho, I guess my roommates could be worse—Cormac told me his snore like a belching frog."

"Is he really not all the bad?" Rose asked curiously. "Malfoy, I mean. He's always been a toad to me, but I guess you're right that he's seemed to have gotten better in the last week."

The young Potter shrugged. "I don't know whether or not he's a good personality. I just know he's easy to deal with when you live with him. But trust Nick a bit more. He's a Ravenclaw, after all, and they're good at judging characters. Maybe he sees something we don't."

Rose couldn't help but doubt it.

By the time Halloween rolled around a few days later, the entire school was abuzz. Professor Kratchet, the charms teacher, set about raising the jack-o-lanterns to float above the tables where the candles normally did. Two sixth year Slytherins had enchanted a flock of paper bats to fly around the halls. Some of the younger students rigged rotten pumpkins to be flung at Dolvowitz's window, for which they were given a month's worth of detention.

Having come from a magical family, Rose had heard all about the Halloween feast from her parents. Several times her mother told the story of her own first year when a mountain troll had been admitted through the school dungeon. Hermione would have been killed if it weren't for Uncle Harry and Dad. Despite her mother's teasing letter from a few weeks ago about having her own circumstance on Halloween, Rose doubted she would approve of the current plan. Dear Mum, Guess what? James, his annoying friend, and Malfoy are sneaking down to the forbidden level tonight to get a glimpse at the dangerous thing holed up there! This will bond us together, won't it? Thanks for the advice! Rose smiled briefly at the thought of her mother's reaction to reading such a letter.

Right now she sat in the warm sunshine outside, her back leaning against the cool stones of the school's outer walls. Albus, Katie, and Nick were with her, enjoying the view. Down the hill the Quidditch pitch was alive with last-minute Ravenclaw training, and even from their distance, the four friends could hear the occasional shout of Captain Bayfield as he berated one of his team mates.

"I wish I could play Quidditch," Nick was saying, one hand above his eyes to shield them from the noon sun.

"Maybe not this year, but second years are allowed to try out," Katie tried to assure her friend. "You won't have to wait too long. Just practice a lot over the summer when you get home."

The Scot buried his face in his hands. "But I don't have a broom stick! How would I practice without one?"

Rose found that it was easy to forget that Nick was muggleborn; he was whip-smart and such a natural with spells that one might believe he had done it his whole life. She envied his easy skill at magical art. "Well, your birthday is in May," she pointed out kindly. "You could try asking for one then. It doesn't need to be a very fancy or new broom- in fact, you can get second-hands for reasonably cheap."

He shook his head resignedly. "What, like an old Comet 42? If I want to be on the Ravenclaw team, I'll have to be fast enough to keep up with both my team mates and opponents. I mean, look at James Potter; he has a Stormchaser 500! It's one of the fastest brooms out there right now."

"You don't necessarily need speed for all parts of Quidditch," Albus interjected. "Take beaters for instance; their main goal is to deflect the bludgers from their team, and even an ancient Cleansweep 7 could keep up with those reasonably well. Or keeper position- they need a decent amount of speed, but they mostly have to have good balance in order to stay on their broom during sudden pitfalls to protect the goal rings."

"I suppose," Nick replied weakly, though Rose could tell he felt a little better. "I guess this is assuming I get on the team at all."

"I'm sure you will," Katie comforted. "Don't let stereotypes bring you down. I know the general consensus is that brainy folk are rubbish at sports, but that's a load of bogglewash. Look at Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies: she was a brilliant player, but also academically gifted. Don't worry about it, Nick, I'm sure you'll be great."

Rose quietly shared in Nick's doubts. She herself, while a great lover of Quidditch, wasn't sure that her passion would make her a great flier. Sure, she wanted to try out for the Gryffindor team when the time came- she just hoped she would have inherited her father's skill rather than her mother's. "Teddy's been excited for the game," she said absently. "Being the Gryffindor captain, he wants to examine the opposing teams' tactics."

Her Ravenclaw friend snorted, "Good luck. Bayfield's too smart to use the same feints over and over again. What you see in an hour you won't see again, so there'll be nothing to hold over us!"

The four friends argued playfully on the subject of rival Quidditch teams, pointing out each others' weaknesses and playthroughs. Slowly they made their way back inside the school, where they split away from Nick with a few final teasing words- they would have to change into something more comfortable for the windy stands of the pitch.

Ignoring the prone figure of Syla as she napped on her bed, Rose picked out her Gryffindor scarf and matching hat from her trunk. Though it had been a pleasant temperature outside in the sunshine, clouds had been drifting across the skies, and it would be chilly in the shade. Having already had lunch in the past hour, she bid farewell to her unresponsive room mate and headed downstairs to the common room.

'Packed' probably wasn't quite the right word to describe the main chamber, but it certainly seemed crowded to Rose. A large group of Gryffindors were huddled together, excitement radiating from the black robed students as they gathered to head down to the Quidditch pitch. She spotted her house's team, lead by Teddy Lupin, among them. "The game starts in fifteen minutes!" someone called out. "We should head over there now if we don't want to miss it."

"Right!" Joseph Finnigan, one of the team's beaters, called out in his foghorn voice. "Remember everyone, enjoy the game, but remember what could be useful in the future for us! Some of us have particular players we're suppose to keep an eye on- you know who you are!"

"Right, thanks Joe," Teddy muttered, sounding slightly cross. "Let's head out."

With a great amount of chattering the group squeezed out the portrait hole two at a time. Katie and Albus were swept up with the crowd, leaving Rose to tag along at the rear. However, before she could climb through, a flash of blond hair pushed his way into the common room. The red-head blinked in surprise as Scorpius Malfoy swept past her. "Hey," she called out, unable to help her curiosity, "Aren't you going to the game?"

"Nope," he responded bluntly, plonking himself onto one of the overstuffed armchairs and pulling out a book.

Rose was surprised. Most students looked forward to Quidditch matches (even those who didn't care much for the sport got caught up in the excitement). If anything, she would have expected him to be supporting Slytherin this game. She didn't have him pegged as someone who would willingly stay behind in the deserted common room. "Why not?"

Malfoy sent her an irritated glance. "Because I don't really feel like sitting up in cold, windy stands to watch two teams I couldn't care less about. Besides, I have some charms homework to do."

"Oh. Okay then." Rose frowned at the lone boy. He was impossible to understand sometimes. Ever since he had arrived, he had made it clear how he felt about his house placement, continually hanging around that Slytherin group like a lost puppy. Now he openly admitted to her that he had no love for the Slytherin quidditch team. Whose side was he on? Can't he make up his mind?

As Rose turned to climb out the portrait hole after the long-gone crowd, Scorpius called out to her. "Hey Weasely, wait! Do you know the plan for tonight? Like when your cousin's sneaking out? I haven't had a chance to talk to him."

"He's leaving at one," Rose replied bitterly over her shoulder. She still thought the whole plan was a practically a plea for expulsion. Ignoring Malfoy's small noise of agreement, she pushed her way out onto the Grand Staircase and down towards the grounds. Stupid, stupid boys. Did they have no sense of wits about them? Sure, Rose could understand their sense of fascination with the sealed dungeon. And, okay, she was tempted to check it out for herself. But that didn't mean she would!

Nobody was inclined to fulfill their curiosity. That was a choice...right?

End for Chapter 5!

Sorry I didn't update all weekend. I had a particularly busy one, what with volunteering, the MFL, and getting caught up on Math. To make up for the wait, I made this one a little longer! I hope it was a satisfactory chapter for y'all.

I think there'll be two more chapters after this for first year before we skip to third year. Haven't quite decided on how long we'll dwell there, but probably not more than four chapters.

If I succeeded in my writing, Rose should be coming off as hard-headed and quick-tempered- she gets this from her dad! I also thought it might be a bit fun and different if I stepped out of the "Rose barely cares about quidditch" stereotype. We'll see how this progresses.

Please review like always!