Chapter Seven

1st October

The Gryffindor Common Room

07:00 hours

...

'Rose, you have to ease up okay? We've only been back a month and I'm already worried that you're going to burn out.'

Scorpius had joined her on the last five kilometres of her daily run that morning, having adamantly refused to get up at five o'clock, despite her insistent poking. ('You and Mack are the only ones interested in this bloody competition - go run with him if it's so bloody important and let me sleep before I hex you!')

Mack actually had offered to run with her a few times, but Rose had always turned him down. She wasn't quite sure why either, as their breakups had always been reasonably pleasant and perfectly mature. The seventh years all hung out together too much for awkwardness and taking sides. Besides, last she'd heard, he'd been hooking up with Amity Chang from Ravenclaw.

Now, as they sat in the Common Room waiting for Albus to stagger out of bed, Scorpius turned to his friend with concern on his face.

'I'm serious Rose. I know you want this, but it shouldn't be at the expense of your health.'

'I don't want this.' She replied. 'I need this. It doesn't matter what I have to give up to win.'

'You don't come to parties anymore. When was the last time you had fun? Proper fun, not just training.' He retorted.

She cocked her head to the side, watching him through hooded eyes. 'I know people think I'm strange, but I don't care. Just because no-one believe people our age can be serious about their futures, doesn't mean we have to prove them right.'

'Just promise me okay? If you end up in the Hospital Wing form exhaustion-'

'I'm not going to end up in the hospital wing from exhaustion!' She laughed. 'I calculate the exact amount of sleep I need every night so my body has enough time to recuperate. I eat more healthily than you do by a long way. If anyone's going to burn out it will be you. I notice you pulled another all-nighter last night.'

'Bloody Herbology. It's going to kill me.' He groused as Albus finally staggered down the stairs from the boy's dormitory, rubbing sleep from his eyes and his robes on backwards.

'Head's meeting, patrols and I had to finish a horrible rune translation', he moaned as he righted his glasses on his nose. 'I was up 'til three.' He turned to Scorpius. 'You were up later than I was, how are you even conscious?'

'I haven't been to bed yet', Scorpius admitted and then began to traipse towards the portrait hole. 'I am entirely fuelled by caffeine and poor life choices at the moment.'

The portrait hole swung open and Albus clambered through. Rose was about to follow him when Scorpius caught her arm.

'Listen to me Rose, I worry because I care. But you need more in your life than just quidditch, believe me, it's not going to be healthy in the long run.'

Rose ignored him.

...

The Hallways

09:00 hours

...

Lily was juggling an armful of heavy textbooks and at least nine rolls of parchment when an loose shoelace became her undoing and she cannoned into something hard halfway along the second floor corridor. Giving up the effort to defy gravity, she let the books tumble to the ground and sat down hard with a muffled oomph! parchment spilling in all directions. Looking up through the curtain of red that had obscured her eyes during her fall she found, not a suit of armour as she had expected, but Keegan who had been hurrying in the opposite direction, nose buried in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven.

Lily muttered something inelegant and began to crawl around, picking up the books, systematically checking her wristwatch.

'I'm really sorry Lily', Keegan knelt down next to her and began gathering the rolls of parchment into a pyramid. 'I didn't even see you!'

'Some chaser you are', she teased, reaching for his copy of The Standard Book of Spells and handing it back to him. He reached to pick up her pile of books, but she stopped him. 'No, don't bother. Wingardium Leviosa.'

The books and parchment rose into the air and hovered by Lily's shoulder.

'I probably should have done that to begin with', she said ruefully. 'But I'm running late for Transfiguration and you know what Turpin is like.'

'A point for every minute, Miss Weasley. You waste my time, and I shall waste yours.' Keegan imitated, sucking in his face as though there was something sour on his tongue.

Lily let out a snort.

'I wouldn't worry about being late.' He continued, changing direction so they could walk side by side towards the Transfiguration classroom. 'Mack and Amity are having a massive row in the Great Hall at the moment, and then Mack's friend - that stupid blond one who looks part troll-'

'Stanley Bibbington-Smythe?'

'That's the one. Anyway, he thought it would be a simply brilliant idea to hex Amity's friend Rufus, but his aim is about as good as Flint's is and he missed and hit the Hufflepuff hour glass, and there were diamonds everywhere! Then Amity's other friend Celia put levicorpus on Stanley, and it sort of descended from there really. Turpin came hurrying out of the Great Hall and skidded across most of the Entrance Hall on the diamonds and then Peeves turned up and started lobbing them at the crowds of people watching.'

He checked his watch.

'So, all in all, I reckon you could probably go and visit Hagrid for a bit and still make to Transfiguration on time.' He finished.

Lily snorted with laughter again as they cut through a door pretending to be wall and began to climb the stone steps hidden beyond it.

'Is it wrong of me that I kind of hope that McClaggen gets hexed badly enough to be too injured to train with us anymore?' Lily asked as they emerged onto the third floor corridor from behind a moth-eaten tapestry.

'Nah', Keegan said easily, running a hand through his curly hair. 'Even Rose agrees he's a total prat, and she hasn't had to share a dormitory with him for six years! But he is a damn good keeper, and I suppose that makes up for a lot.'

'Shame really, isn't it? How some people have all this talent and a head too big to get off the ground? I was watching that fourth year, Alex Simpson I think his name was, at tryouts. A lot of potential I thought. It's a shame McClaggen out flew him.' She added sourly, as they reached the door to the Transfiguration room. Judging by the amount of noise emanating from behind the closed door, Keegan had been right and the class hadn't started yet.

'Ah well', Keegan said easily, 'You win some, you lose some. He's not that bad', he added, on seeing her sceptical face. 'I know you don't like him because he calls you Red in that patronizing tone of his, but in our year we kind of just take him with a pinch of salt.'

'At least this year he won't start mooning over Rose again.' Lily let the stack of textbooks that had been peacefully floated just behind her throughout their climb drop into her arms, the pyramid of parchment neatly stacking themselves on top. 'Usually I moan and groan like anything about Rose's rules, but I think the no inter-team dating one is probably a good idea. No awkward breakups and team friction and all that.'

'Oh.' Said Keegan.

Lily noticed his sudden silence, and accounted for it by asking: 'Crap! Aren't you really late for your class? You didn't have to walk my to class you know.'

'What? Oh, that's alright. I have History of Magic now so Binns won't even notice if I walk in half way through.'

'You take N. E. W. T. History of Magic?' Lily mimed strangling herself with her tie. 'Urgh. I hate History of Magic almost as much as McClaggen! In fact', she dramatically looked over both her shoulders in mock secrecy. It's the only class I'm failing. But shh, don't tell anyone.'

'I promise, I won't.' Keegan smiled. 'You know, I could tutor you if you wanted? I mean, not to be presumptuous or anything-'

He stopped and flushed slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose.

'You're such a nerd', Lily said, but in a nice way. 'I would be incredibly grateful if you could help me. History and potions are the two sore spots on an otherwise perfect records.'

'Potions I can't do anything about, but I guarantee if you let me tutor you, you'll get an Outstanding in your O. W. L.'

'It's a deal.' With some manoeuvring Lily managed to extricate her hand from under the pile of books and they shook hands. Before he could pull away however, she added:

'And if there is anything you ever need that I can help with, not that that's likely, you cash in, yeah?'

'Sure'. Keegan smiled as they both stepped back, hearing the familiar clack-clack of Professor Turpin's shoes against the stone floor.

'Got to go', Lily said, pushing open the door to the classroom. 'But seriously Keegan, I owe you one.'

She vanished into the classroom and the door swung closed behind her as Professor Turpin hurried into view, looking harassed. Keegan hastily ducked behind a suit of armour as she burst into the classroom, the noise level dropping at least thirty decibels at her entrance.

Keegan pushed his book into his bag, then stuck his hands into his pockets and set off for History of Magic, whistling. Even bumping into Peeves on the moving staircase wasn't enough to dent his good mood and when he arrived at Binn's classroom, covered in chalk dust, he was quite right. Binns didn't notice him at all.

...

The Hallways

12:57 hours

...

Lucy Weasley was hurrying towards the staircase in an attempt to beat the masses to lunch when a trip jinx missed her by inches and hit a nearby suit of armour. The streak of light rebounded and was absorbed by the tapestry opposite. Lucy drew her wand in time to block a second jinx and craned her neck to see who had cast it.

Lucy's scowl deepened when she saw Tommy Tillian appear around a corner, his not inconsiderable bulk filling the corridor.

'Hello Lucy-Toilet-Head', he grinned, and Lucy took a hasty step backwards, wishing she'd taken her cousin Rose's advice and started carrying her beater's bat with her at all times. One nice swing, and she could dive through the secret passageway beside the urn at the end of the corridor before Tillian worked out what had happened. Though, she took one disparaging look at the forth year, at his two chins and the greasy napkin in the hand that was not holding his wand, she rather thought that her bat might simply be absorbed into the rolls of fat, never to see the light of day again.

Lucy was about to start feeling guilty for her thoughts about his weight when Tillian reached down and yanked hard on one of her ginger plaits. Immediately she stopped feeling sorry for him.

'What do you want Tillian? Don't you have some first years to go and bully?'

'Nope.' As Lucy tried to push by him, Tillian stuck out an arm, effectively blocking the corridor.

'I can't believe you're a year older than me', Lucy said from between gritted teeth. 'You act like a bloody toddler.'

'Such language my dear toilet.' He laughed and the fat wobbled slightly.

'Let me through.' Lucy clutched her wand more tightly in her hand, wondering if, if the heat of the moment, she could actually remember how to cast something. The only spells that were circling through her brain where Alohamora, Lumos, and the Jelly-Legs Jinx, none of which would exactly be much help. The prickling feeling of nervous sweat erupted on her palms. She hated being alone with Tillian. He had always had it in for her, and seemed to take an unusual delight in tormenting the younger girl.

'Yeah', he growled, no longer laughing. 'And let you run off to your scheming friends. I know it was you who tattled on me to Marchling last week about Ruthie Maxwell. Don't lie!' he added when she opened her mouth. 'I know your stupid sister's her friend and she deserved it! She cheeked me.'

'She said that if you ate less you might be happier and have some friends', Lucy snapped back. 'Which I thought showed great perspicacity for a first year. And-' she stuck her wand into his chest, '-Don't you dare talk about my sister like that!'

Lucy was quite aware that she was probably only making things worse for her sister who, as a lowly first year, had less standing in Ravenclaw Tower than the fourth year Tommy Tillian. But everyone knew Tillian had a history of bullying the younger kids, and enough of the students had younger siblings to make him universally disliked.

'Why? What are you going to do?' He sneered. 'Shout at me a bit more? Stamp your foot? Hex me? We both know you don't have the stones. Go on Lucy-Loo, I dare you!'

Her annoyance at the petty name calling aside - and really, how unoriginal could you get? - Lucy steeled herself.

'No. But I will tell Rose Weasley that you want to lose weight.'

She narrowed her eyes and tried to look as threatening as possible which was difficult as, even without his bulk, Tillian was at least a foot taller than she was.

'And you know my dear cousin', Lucy carried on. 'She trained in Russian last summer. I'm sure she's picked up some interesting tips from the Russian national coach. Tips like four am starts and twenty mile runs. You might even be happier after a year of hard dieting and Rose's intensive fitness regime.'

Tillian laughed, but Lucy could tell that her cousin's reputation was making him uneasy.

'And that's not to mention', Lucy saw her advantage and pushed the knife home. 'She's pretty much the favourite student of all the teachers here, and she's the daughter of Hermione Granger-Weasley who's tipped to be the next Mistress of Magic. I dread to think was Rose is capable of.'

'Are you threatening me Toilet-Head?' Tillian hissed, reaching out and grabbing her braid again. He gave it another hard yank and Lucy felt tears of pain prick her eyes. She blinked them back and retorted: 'I'm telling you to leave my sister alone, or you'll make an enemy of one of the most dangerous students at Hogwarts.'

His grip slackened and she darted under his arm, stepping sharply out of reach. She was already hurrying away down the corridor when he yelled after her.

'Rose Weasley isn't always going to be around to save your neck Loo-Roll. Then you'd better watch your back.'

She darted into an alcove as a third jinx missed her - really, how bad was this boy's aim? - and twisted the urn clockwise. The stone wall split open behind her as, unmistakably, came the sound of the shuffling feet of the ancient caretaker Argus Filch, and the soft meows of his cat.

Lucy hears him croon: 'Miscreants using magic in the corridors, my sweet. We'll catch them and chain them up by their thumbs', but she was already clambering through the hole in the wall and scurrying away down the stone steps. The light of the corridor faded away, as the wall closed behind her.

...

The Great Hall

13:07 hours

...

When Lucy entered the Great Hall and began to walk towards the Gryffindor table, she saw at once that the girls from her dormitory had not resolved their fight from that morning as they were all pointedly not looking at each other. Changing direction with the speed of a bludger, she headed for the Ravenclaw table after checking that Tillian was not there, and swung down into a seat next to her sister.

Ruthie, sat opposite, saw Lucy's face and said: 'Let me guess, you're the reason Filch is dragging Tommy Tillian to Professor Turpin's office by the ear.'

Lucy managed a weak smile and began to make a sandwich, layering cheese, ham, pickle and salad in between three pieces of bread.

'One day', she advised around a mouthful of bread, 'That smart mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble.' She took another bite. 'It never fails to amaze me how you Ravenclaws are supposed to be the intelligent ones.'

'Well, if you're going to be rude', Molly took a delicate bite of her own lunch, 'You can always go and sit with your bolshy Gryffindor buddies.'

'Sorry Mols', Lucy said with a rueful smile. 'They haven't resolved their fight from this morning yet and I really don't want to have to pick sides.'

'What's happened now?' Ruthie asked eagerly, accidentally putting her elbow in the butter. 'Your dorm mates are better than an episode of Unseen City on the WWN!'

'I didn't think anything was better than your stupid radio dramas', Molly sniffed disparagingly, taking another bite.

'Hey!' Ruthie immediately fired up. 'Robbie's just been murdered and Aurors are tracking down a rogue unspeakable, and last week they revealed that Leanne's baby isn't Simon's-'

'Unseen City aside', Lucy cut across the two younger students before Molly could retaliate. 'I was up early this morning to go running with Rose, so I only heard the end of it but from what I can make out Violet 'borrowed' Mary's new sparkly eye-shadow without asking.'

'And what's so bad about that?' Molly asked, setting down her cutlery with a slight clink. 'The girls in your dormitory are always swapping clothes and makeup.'

'The problem was', Lucy continued, 'then Ella 'borrowed' it from Violet and dropped it which broke up all the colours. So then Ella tried to get Letty to fix it and she sort of did, but the colours went all murky so Ella tried to sneak it back to Violet, who tried to sort the colours out but just ended up turning them all red.'

'I'm sure Mary couldn't fail to notice that.' Ruthie laughed. 'So what happened then?'

'So Mary tried to get Bea to ice Ella and Violet out, but both Bea and Letty told Mary she was being really hypocritical because last week Mary 'borrowed' Ella's Herbology notes and spilt pumpkin juice all over them.'

'So now you're sitting here with us so you don't get hit by flying food.' Molly said. 'Honestly, I hope hormones never invade our dormitory. You guys were all really good friends last year.'

'They'll sort themselves out eventually.' Lucy wiped a finger in the spilt pickle on her plate then stuck it into her mouth.

'Oh!' Ruthie suddenly pointed her finger dramatically at Lucy. Confused, Lucy glanced behind her, but couldn't see anything at all out of the ordinary.

'What?'

'You changed the subject', Molly answered for her friend. 'You didn't tell us why Tommy Tillian is currently being threatened with disembowelment by Filch.'

Lucy felt her pulse quicken again with anger.

'He wanted to teach me a lesson after I went to Marchling after he broke ink over all your books last week. It seems he guessed it was me and wanted revenge. I just wish he'd leave me alone.' She added dismally.

There was a silence, then Molly spoke.

'He's a nasty bully, but it is odd how he always victimizes you, especially when you're one of the only people who actually stands up to him. He likes to torment the younger years because it makes him feel powerful, so logically if you keep standing up to him he should eventually leave you alone.'

'I don't think it's that at all', Ruthie interjected. 'I think he fancies you Lucy, but he doesn't know how to act around normal human beings so he pulls your hair and calls you names to get your attention.'

Before Lucy could deny all claims of being even remotely fanciable, the doors swung open and Tillian strode in, heading for an empty space at the Ravenclaw table. When he saw the two Weasley sisters and Ruth Maxwell watching him, he scowled, though as he hurried past Lucy could see that the back of his neck was bright red.

'Even if he does fancy Lucy, that is absolutely no excuse.' Molly answered. 'His behaviour is not acceptable whether he's in love or not.' All too often people use love as an excuse for horrific behaviour.'

'Love?' Lucy spluttered. 'Who said anything about love?'

'Molly's right', Ruthie added, reaching for her goblet of juice. 'It shouldn't change anything.'

Lucy craned her neck, looking along the table to where Tillian was sat alone, a book propped open in front of him to hide his face.

'You're right, it doesn't make a difference.' Lucy conceded. 'I'd want him to change because he realised what he is doing is wrong, not because he thinks it will impress me.'

'I feel really guilty though.' Lucy continued, setting down her sandwich with a sigh. 'Whenever he's horrible to me I always retaliate about his weight, even though I know that's cruel.'

'I always wonder-' Molly said in her sage little way, '-where the line is. To torment anyone is wrong of course, but when you are relentlessly attacked it becomes difficult to simply walk away without making the situation more complex. Obviously, the mature and logical solution would be to ignore him and wait for him to get bored. But if what we hypothesised is correct then that is unlikely to be successful in your case. Therefore one must ask themselves: Is it worse to attack someone because of their hair colour, as he does to you, or their weight, as you did to him. I think often people are too politically correct about certain aspects of one's appearance, but discard any thought for others.'

'Ergo, society doesn't punish you for laughing at someone's hair colour, but reviles you for fat-shaming.' Finished Ruthie.

Lucy couldn't ever remember using Latin in everyday conversation, especially as a first year, but supposed it was the Ravenclaw touch.

'So was I right or wrong?'

'What I'm trying to say', Molly said, looking so much like their father that it made Lucy smile, 'is that society imposes a sliding scale on our internal moral compass. Yes, you have hair the colour of carrots. There is very little you can do about it. Yes, Tillian is obese. This is affecting his health and happiness. There is a difference, but it is only up to him to decide to change that.'

Molly noticed her sister's slightly befuddled face and smiled.

'You were right to stand up for yourself, but it is wrong to exploit someone's insecurities, no matter how foul they are. The complexity lies in his personality, not his appearance.'

'What Molly is trying to say', supplied Ruthie, 'Is next time insult his mind, not his body.'

'No Ruthie, that's not what I'm saying at all', Molly sighed.

Molly and Lucy finally let the subject drop and Lucy finished her lunch in peace. There were a lot of bonuses to avoiding her warring dorm mates, and at least the conversation at the Ravenclaw table contained words of more than two syllables. But Lucy sometimes wished that Molly wasn't quite so intelligent. There was a lot to be said for the mundane, and it didn't get much more mundane than red sparkly eye-shadow.

...

The Hallways

21:oo hours

...

Alex Simpson was the kind of boy who didn't say very much.

For many years his parents had thought he couldn't, and then wouldn't. They enticed, bribed, ordered and threatened in equal measures. Then, at seven years of age, it turned out that Alexander Simpson could speak perfectly well, he just didn't want to.

So then began a procession of doctors and healer - for between his muggle father and witch mother, they never could agree - therapists and specialists until, at age eleven, Alec could speak as well as anyone.

That is not to say he did it all the time though. His fellow fourth years had become accustomed to his silence, and had learnt over the years that he was a nice boy, and not at all standoffish as they had first thought. He simply just didn't have that much to say.

So when Erin was caught sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower just after curfew by Alex Simpson, she knew he wouldn't say anything. But still, as she hurried off to her destination, she worried that those dark eyes understood more than she wished.

...

The Hallways

22:oo hours

...

Rose and Scorpius were employing the Marauder's Map - stolen from Uncle Harry by James, pinched from James by Lily, blackmailed from Lily by Hugo, confiscated from Hugo by Albus, extracted from Albus by Rose - in an attempt to sneak back up to Gryffindor Tower without being spotted by Filch, or worse, Peeves. The prefects were less of an issue, and mostly let the rules slide for the seventh years. Anyway, Merlin help the prefect who interrupted Rose's training schedule by trying to put her in detention.

They were sneaking through the Entrance Hall, brooms over their shoulders, returning from a late night training session, when they turned the corner and crashed straight into the last two people Rose or Scorpius had ever expected to see. Isabelle Summers, hands in hand with the Hufflepuff captain, Marco Ives.

Rose wondered for a moment is Scorpius was going to be sick again, like in yesterday's practise when he hadn't noticed the bludger in time and got concussion.

'Weasley. Malfoy.' Ives said awkwardly.

Scorpius opened his mouth, then closed it, his face oddly blank.

'Scorpius, I-' Isabelle started, but then looked down at her shoes, leaving her half-started sentence hanging there between them.

Scorpius was so pale that he didn't blush, but his cheeks had flushed pink, and the knuckles of the hand clutching his broom were taut and white as the blood left them.

It was all so awkward, and so confusing, and Rose felt so desperately sorry for her best friend that she did the only thing that she could think of.

'Was that Peeves?' She invented wildly, glancing over her shoulders. 'Come on, we better run before we all end up in detention.'

It was a lie, and not even a very good one, but Scorpius seized onto it like a life raft.

'We'd better run, need to get to the tower before we get caught.'

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her past the two Hufflepuffs and up onto the stairs.

'Scorpius, listen to me-' Isabelle called out after them. 'I'm sorry, I never meant you to find out like this-'

But they were already gone, running along the first floor corridor until they found their secret passageway. Rose was faster than Scorpius, and normally she would have raced him. But tonight she simply kept pace with him, feeling her heart beat all the way down to the tips of her fingers which were still clasped in his.

A.N.

Though officially a Scorpius/Rose story, I really wanted to follow all of the members of the quidditch team, and what they're up to throughout this story, so Lily, Erin, Keegan and Lucy will be popping up quite a lot!

Important Disclaimer: Lucy's run in with Tommy Tillian raised some interesting questions regarding fat-shaming for me, and I want to clarify here that I do not believe that insulting anyone because of their weight is acceptable. But I also feel that society does assign more blame to certain insults about appearance than others. Therefore I want to say that the views and opinions expressed by characters within this chapter in no way express the views and opinions of the author.

For those reading outside of the UK, Loo is a colloquialism for toilet, along with facilities, bogs, privy, and spending a penny.

...

What did you make of Molly and Ruthie?

Do we think Scorpius will ever get over Isabelle?

Is Rose going to sacrifice everything for her quidditch dreams?

Let me know!

Review!

Update next week,

Love and Hugs

A.A.A.