Chapter Twelve

…

2nd November

The Restricted Section of the Library

0015 hours

…

'Who's there?'

Erin jumped as wand-light flooded over her. She lent back from the large tomb of records she had been squinting at through the gloom. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness and she winced, shielding her face with her hands.

'Greengrass? What are you doing here?'

'I was going to ask you the same question.'

'Amélie Greengrass was one of the Ravenclaw prefects in their year, but was so quiet that Erin, who mostly hung out with the boisterous Lily, had never spoken to her beyond 'What was the Transfiguration homework for Turpin?' and 'How do you spell Cinquefoil?' She was beautiful, and Erin was a good judge of such things, but she also wore overlarge glasses that she was self-conscious about, if the way she kept pushing them up her nose was any indication. She had obviously inherited her looks from her father, for she was tan and dark, unlike her sister Cecelia who was blond and pert. In fact, but for the last name, the two could never have been described as sisters.

Erin vaguely remembered a number of years ago when their last name had been Philips, and not Greengrass, but felt too embarrassed to even broach the subject. Something's were good manners after all.

'Oxley? What are you doing here? The library shut hours ago.' Greengrass didn't seem to be on duty which was fortunate as Erin really didn't time to sit detention this week, or any week for that matter. She also sounded more curious than annoyed which boded well.

'There's a trick door behind some of the shelves over there', Erin waved a hand in the general direction of the east side of the library. 'How did you get in?'

'Our common room', Amélie answered promptly, 'has a special door. If you go through it then you end up here.'

'But your common room is four floors above the library, how does that work?'

'I believe that when you suppress time you can expand space. I've heard that there is a room on the seventh floor that works on the same principle. I've spoken to Professor Turpin about it who said I could examine the properties of fourth dimensional storage for my N.E.W.T. Transfiguration personal study next year.'

'That sounds fascinating.' Erin said.

'Are you mocking me?' Amélie's hand flew to her glasses, and pushed them back up her nose.

'What? No, of course not! I was just thinking that I'd never really thought about it before. Do you take Arithmancy? I remember reading somewhere that the runes carved into wizarding architecture can contain strong numerical magical which might explain how Hogwarts always seems to grow and shrink to suit the need of its occupants...' Erin trailed off.

'An interesting hypothesis', Amélie took the seat across the table from Erin and steepled her fingers. 'It is true that the classrooms enlarge to suit larger classes and, however the quantity of students in each year fluctuates, the dormitories are always the right size. Perhaps the castle was actually built in fourth, or even fifth dimensional space, and only appears in our dimension as required.'

Both girls fell silent for a minute, then:

'And a further intriguing point', Amélie pointed out with the ghost of a rye smile, 'is that you managed to change the subject without telling me why you are here. I would have thought a Gryffindor would have better things to do at midnight than study-' she pulled the heavy book across the table and flipped it around to look at the cover '-A Consensus of Witches and Wizards Born in the 20th Century. What on earth are you doing reading this?'

Erin chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a few moments.

'You can't tell anyone.'

'Who would I tell?' Was Amélie's response which, while not entirely appeasing Erin, left her confident to carry on regardless.

'I'm trying to find my mum.'

'Your mum?'

'Yeah', Erin wondered what the expression that had skated so rapidly across Amélie's face had been. Something between understanding and pity perhaps. 'She left was I was just a baby, so it's always been just me and my dad. But this summer I found a box of her old stuff in the attic and I- I guess it just got me curious again. I don't remember her that much', she added. 'Just her smell, and the feel of her hair, and how she used to sing sometimes.'

'I have always found', Amélie said slowly, 'that when people leave, they tend to stay lost. When my father left-'

Erin looked up sharply, but Amélie was staring down at her interlocked fingers and did not meet her gaze.

'-I spent months writing him letters, trying to find his new address every time he moved on. I didn't get why Cecelia didn't want him to come back. I was only eleven', she added, as though this excused her desire to fix her family. 'And too stupid to know any better. Eventually I got the message and stopped trying. He didn't want to be a family any more, and I'm pretty sanguine about it now. But having my letters returned with "Not found at this address" scrawled on them in my father's handwriting was pretty soul-destroying. Sometimes it's better to simply let them stay lost.'

'I had no idea', Erin said after a moment. 'And I'm so sorry about your dad. But I have to do this. My mum isn't like your dad, and I'm sure she's out there, trying to find me too. She wouldn't have left unless she had to.'

Amélie stood up, and Erin saw for the first time that she was in her pajamas, a thick blue dressing gown wrapped firmly around her. 'I hope for your sake that she is. But don't hope too hard, that's all I can advice. In the end, the only person it hurts is you.'

She was about to walk back into the shadowy depths of the library from whence she had come when Erin called after her.

'How do you know he hasn't changed his mind?'

'How do I know who hasn't changed his mind?'

'Your father. I mean, that was four years ago, how do you know he hasn't been trying to find you?'

'It doesn't matter what he wants now', Amélie said resolutely. 'The real truth is now I don't want him to find me. He wasted his chance. He doesn't deserve to be my father any more.'

Perhaps she noticed how Erin had sagged in her seat at her disheartening words, but she checked her steps and came back to the table.

'It might be different for you', she said grudgingly. Really, she wasn't sure how to cope with this. Erin, who was loud and popular, was nice, but only in as much as she wasn't mean. She was always bubbling over with optimism, and looked through the people who didn't do the same. Amélie didn't really blame her for never taking an interest in the nerdy Ravenclaw. If there roles had been reversed, she wasn't sure she would have taken an interest in herself either.

'I- I could help you, if you wanted?' She said after a moment. Immediately she was shocked with herself, but Erin was looking so hopeful that it was impossible to backtrack. 'I mean, only if you wanted me to. I've had some practice at finding people who don't want to be found.'

'You'd help me? Oh thank you so much! I've been so confused about knowing where to start and-'

'On one condition', Amélie cut over Erin's delighted babbling. 'Don't become too invested in this. She might not want to be found.'

'She will.' Erin said with so much certainty that Amélie felt a bubble of pity rise up in her stomach. She squashed it. 'It's late now, we should head back to our dormitories. Why don't we meet tomorrow, I mean today, at nine? That's after your quidditch practice right?'

'It's a date!'

Amélie smiled, and was about to disappear back into the shadows when Erin called after her.

'What were you doing in the library in the wee small hours?'

Amélie pondered for a moment, then half turned.

'Maybe you weren't the only one seeking a little bit of guidance this evening.'

…

Outside the Gryffindor Portrait Hole

013o hours

…

Erin was about to tell an irate Fat Lady ('You woke me up! You deserve to sleep in the Forbidden Forest with Peeves!') when it swung open from the inside and Alex Simpson stepped out into the corridor.

'Alex?' For the second time that night, Erin jumped out of her skin. 'What are you doing?'

'I was going to ask you that.' He replied.

Deja Vu, Erin thought, and smiled ruefully. For some reason she couldn't stop seeing the ghost of the smile that had flashed across Amélie's lips.

'You know, if you need help studying', Alex suddenly looked very self-conscious as he gazed at her. 'I could help. I mean, I've noticed you sneaking into the library a lot recently, and I just thought that if you needed any help...'

It was the longest sentence she'd ever heard him utter.

'That's very kind of you', Erin replied, 'But actually I'm not studying, it's more of a personal project I guess.'

A pause, and Alex didn't fill it.

'Well, I'd better be' She gestured vaguely to the common room, which was visible through the still open portrait hole.

'If you wanted any help with your project, I would be happy to help.'

'Thanks Alex, but I think I'm okay.'

Alex looked like he was steeling himself. Then, suddenly, he reached forwards and took her hand.

It felt odd, the way it always did when a guy was near her, clammy and uninviting. He took a step nearer and she realised that all he needed to do was reach down and he could kiss her. The ghost smile of Amélie flew though Erin's mind and she hastily stepped back.

'Please don't tell anyone I'm sneaking out, Alex.' She pleaded. 'I'm, er, seeing someone, and I don't want the others to know just yet.'

Alex never said a lot, but when he did, his words carried weight. So when Alex opened his mouth, Erin knew that he got it. Far more than any of her other friends could have done.

'I understand', he said, and turned and climbed through the portrait hole.

…

The Quidditch Pitch

12oo hours

…

'-a beautiful save from the Ravenclaw keeper Jason Inglebee, who passes back to Ravenclaw captain Robert Davies, and my, what a fine ass that boy has got-'

'Miss Reading!'

'Only the truth Professor, only the truth! Anyway, Davies heading for goal – dodges a bludger from Goyle, dodges a bludger from Bibbington-Smythe, dodges chaser Bullstrode, oh my, just the keeper to beat – RAVENCLAW SCORE! One hundred and seventy points to nothing. Slytherin just can't keep possession at all today. And while the beautiful Davies does a lap of the pitch may I just remind you to pay your respects to the wonderful Alfie Jordan who has allowed me the honour of commentating today as he is currently in detention. Alfie, our thoughts are with you!'

'What is happening in the game Miss Reading?'

'Absolutely nothing Professor, Slytherin simply can't keep possession at all. At the rate they're going this competition is only going to be playing with three teams.'

'Jessica, I know you're a Ravenclaw but please try and be impartial!'

'I'm just telling it like it is Professor! Oh look at that, Ravenclaw has possession again, and – oh that was beautiful beater work from the power twins there, Rose Weasley are you watching this?'

Rose Weasley, who had indeed been watching the Goldstein twins with interest, jumped slightly as her name rang out over the stadium. She waved to Jessica in the commentator's box, and carried on scribbling in her notebook, occasionally staring at a play through the binoculars slung around her neck.

Ruby and Roger Goldstein were fourth years, but already had the making of players of the calibre of Rose herself. Perhaps it was their natural link as twins, but they could almost read each other's minds. Rose had always enjoyed studying the dynamics between the beaters on quidditch teams, at Hogwarts and in the league. She and Roxy had been as close a sisters growing up, and the Ravenclaw beaters were, well, twins. The Slytherin beaters were frankly dismal, but then everyone knew that Goyle didn't like Bibbington-Smythe who was an idiot in everyone's book. Hufflepuff, too, suffered from having out of sync beaters as Laurence Livington was a burly seventh year, and Zoe Smith was a fifth year who had a serious attitude problem after Livington had caught her skiving off practise to make out with her boyfriend in that oh-so-classy place, the broom cupboard on the third floor.

'Corner passes to Stretton, who reverse passes to Davies and - Merlin's Pants! - what was that?'

Warrington had suddenly lurched, and fallen straight off his broom into the dirt at the foot of the Slytherin goal posts. He looked so shocked for a minute that everyone froze, even the players, and then he waved a hand over his head.

'Warrington's caught the snitch!' Jessica crowed, 'Slytherin get the snitch but Ravenclaw win by twenty points! Take that you slimy-'

Jessica was saved from the detention that had claimed her predecessor by the roar of noise that had emitted from the crowds of blue and bronze.

…

The Hogwarts Grounds

12oo hours

…

'Well, Rose will be ecstatic, this means Slytherin is pretty much out of the running now and it doesn't matter that they beat us', Said Al as he strolled back up towards the castle after the last straggling spectators.

'They both played very well', Lizzie returned diplomatically, as Albus pulled open the heavy double doors and gestured for her to walk through them. She swung her arms about slightly as she waited for him to close the doors, and accidentally whacked him on the arm when he came too close.

And all at once, and without giving her time to do more than potentially think "oh shit!", he had kissed her square on the mouth.

He had the same way of smiling slightly as he kissed her as James did, and, though he was slightly taller than his brother, Al was cradling her in a way that made her feel small, and almost breakable. She didn't like it. She wanted to look up and see James's cheerful, twinkling brown eyes staring down at her, she wanted to feel James rough stubble against her cheek because James was always busy, and never had time to properly shave. Albus's face was smooth, and had none of the tan and freckles of his outdoorsy brother.

She yanked herself out of his grip and staggered back.

'What the hell are you doing?'

'I- What?' He was gaping at her rather like a stranded fish, colour rushing to his face. 'I- fuck, Lizzie I'm so sorry-'

It was all so awkward that Lizzie felt tears begin to prick behind her eyelids. She tried to blink them away, but they were insistent, clouding her vision.

James had always hated it when she cried. He was too used to the hard-as-nails females in his family who probably could withhold dragon flames without breaking a sweat. He used to pat her awkwardly on the back, and push a chocolate frog over to her with an uncomfortable grin, then go and hide with Roxanne and Fred until she was herself again.

These thoughts of James were making her feel sick. She had been completely justified in breaking up with him, but he had been so much fun. He'd made her feel so alive, so happy. She'd never wanted Al to think of her like this. And suddenly, seeing him staring at her so beseechingly, like a puppy that was about to be kicked, but was going to stay there anyway, she snapped.

'Albus, stop this now. I have made it perfectly clear that I am not interested in you in anyway. For Merlin's sake, I'm in love with your brother! When will you get that into your thick skull?'

There was so much hurt on Albus's face that she wanted to reach out to him, to apologise for her harsh words, however true they had been. But then his face hardened.

'I'm so sick of James getting everything first!' He erupted. 'He's the brightest one, the best at quidditch, has the most friends, and he fucking gets you as well!'

'Gets me?' she screamed back, 'I'm not a fucking object! How dare you you treat me like I'm, I'm-' But those annoying, would-have-frightened-James-away tears were pouring down her face. 'I though we were friends Al', she whispered, '-and I thought I meant more to you than another way of competing with James...'

'You are Lizzie, you know how much you mean to me-'

He tried to reach out to her, but she slapped his hand away.

'Just go away Al', she sobbed. 'Please just go away.'

'Lizzie? What's happened?'

'Oh for fuck's sake', she heard Albus mutter, 'Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.'

'Belinda, Rosemary, it's nothing, really! Let's just go to the common room.'

'Potter, what did you do?'

…

Albus was having a bad day, and, when you thought about it, it was all James's fault. He wasn't quite sure how it was James's fault, especially when James was currently working in a bar five hundred miles away, but it usually was his fault and so what was the point of breaking with tradition?

The jinx though, even Al couldn't blame that on James.

Albus was glad that most people were currently in the Great Hall having lunch because it allowed him to wind his way at speed back to Gryffindor Tower with the bare minimum of people seeing his humiliation. Who knew antlers were actually that big? He was Head Boy! Screaming in humiliation at the girl who had just rejected him was hardly dignified, even if it had covered the sound of his heart breaking in two.

Scorpius was hardly sympathetic, though he did get rid of the antlers with a minimal amount of hilarity.

'What were you thinking? You know Lizzie doesn't fancy you. Hell! Everyone knows Lizzie doesn't fancy you, and then you completely humiliated her. I'm sorry Al, I know we're friends and all but get your head out of your arse!'

Albus, unsurprisingly, wasn't soothed by Scorpius's words, and his temper, still bubbling at the surface after his encounter with the best of Belinda Bones's jinxes, steamed once more out of control.

'Fine! You know best of course. Maybe I'm blind when it comes to Lizzie but least my head isn't so far up my arse it's a hat! Stop moping over Isabelle and actually remember what happened at that party in fifth year. Then maybe you'll stop being so bloody pompous!'

'I don't know what you're talking about', Scorpius said with false calm, but Al couldn't help noticing that the back of his neck had gone red.

…

The Gryffindor Changing Rooms

20oo hours

…

It was hard to say who was most distracted in practise that night. There was a distinct coolness in the air, a tension that needed a knife to be sawn through. Lily and Keegan were so deliberately not looking at each other that their passes were wildly inaccurate and Erin kept having to fly low to retrieve the quaffle. She herself refused to go anywhere near Alex and the goalposts, causing Alex to fall off his broom when the quaffle, finally, came anywhere near the goalposts. Scorpius was circling at least thirty feet above all the other players, ostensibly trying to find the snitch. But as the snitch was currently fluttering by Rose's left shoulder, and had been for at least the last minute, she had to assume he was trying to avoid her. Even Lucy seemed distracted, accidentally sending a bludger almost thirty degrees out of alignment and almost catching Keegan right in the unmentionables.

Eventually, Rose gave up and the seven discontented players hit the mud and aimlessly began to head back to the changing rooms. Rose hung back, waiting for Scorpius, but he hurried past her with Keegan. The back of his neck was red.

'What is going on?'

There was a certain frankness to Rose's voice that said she was fed up to the back teeth and more besides. It was also a voice that said that she was going to get answers because if she didn't, her quidditch team would be ruined and then she would detonate like a very large bomb, taking her unfortunate team with her.

There was an uncomfortable silence, and some general shifting of weight, but no-one said anything which, as it turned out, was the wrong thing to do.

'I have never seen you play so badly. There is no communication, so I say again: What is going on?'

'Nothing', Lily groused, not looking up from her careful inspection of her fingernails. 'Merlin Rose, calm down.'

Another silence. Rose sighed and looked over to the table where her sneakerscope was supposed to stand before she'd coined it to Hugo for information. It was incredibly lax of her not to have replaced it yet.

'If no-one is willing to give me any answers I shall have to assume that whatever the issue is, then it exists off my quidditch pitch.' Rose stretched out the sore muscles in her right shoulder. 'Which leads me to implement a new rule: Anything that happens off the pitch, stays off the pitch. I will not have petty arguments and hormone-driven quarrels messing up my team-'

'For Merlin's sake! Rose you can't just force us to put aside everything that makes us human just because you're obsessed with this bloody sport. I'm so sick of all your stupid rules. We all are!' Lily exploded, 'You think that just because you put yet another stupid rule in place that it will magically solve all our problems? What the hell is wrong with you? You're a machine when it comes to this bloody sport!'

The changing room was very quiet when she finished. She buried her head in her hands, suddenly feeling very tired, and very foolish.

'I said at the beginning of term', Rose said, trying to hide her shock, 'That I would not run this team as a dictatorship. Lily, if you have problems, talk to us about them and we can try and fix them! I don't understand, I thought you loved quidditch, and cared about it too.'

'You know how much I love this sport Rosie', Lily said tiredly, 'But I'm not like you. I want a life outside the pitch as well. I want to go to Hogsmeade with a boy, not have to worry about finishing assignments at three in the morning because I've been at the fifth training session of the week. Rosie, this isn't a professional training camp, it's school, and I think you sometimes forget that.'

Rose took a step back, surprised at the genuine tone of her little cousin's words. She glanced over at Scorpius, who was staring back at her, his face entirely blank.

'I'm sorry if you think I'm driving you all too hard', she said stiffly, 'But I feel with this competition, and the opportunities it presents-'

'I'm so sick of this damned competition!' Lily yelled. 'I'm sick of how it's become all you care about any more. I'm sick of how you expect all this rules to make us into the machine you are!'

'Guys.'

'I'm a machine?' Rose wasn't sure whether to be flattered, or hurt beyond belief. 'You think I'm a machine?'

'Guys!'

'Are you even human Rose?' Lily snapped back. 'Don't you feel like normal human beings? Don't you want to have functioning relationships like normal human beings? Because it bloody well doesn't seem like it!'

'GUYS!'

'WHAT?' Rose and Lily snapped, turning on Alex who was stood in a corner, apparently completely ignoring the argument.

He stepped forwards and laid something on the bench by the two cousins and they both stared down as the rest of the team gathered around them.

A small charm was laid against the dark wood of the bench, a recording rune etched into its surface.

A/N.

Goodness, what a lot of arguments! This chapter is all very dramatic, but I hope it moves the plot along a bit. I know things have been moving quite slowly, but hopefully the next few chapters will be a little more interesting.

Sorry about missing last weeks update! My baby brother turned eighteen so there were parties and presents to be sorted, and lots of alcohol to drink of course!

Plot bunnies:

Cinquefoil is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the rose family. In ancient folk lore, if you filled a handkerchief with Cinquefoil and placed it under your pillow then help and guidance would come your way. I thought it was a nice touch.

Recording charms were an invention of my own, though admittedly, not a very original one. As magic tends to play havoc with muggle bugging systems, I decided that sneaky wizards probably have their own ways of spying on people!

What did you think?

Was Lily justified in her shouting match with Rose?

What did we make of Amélie Greengrass? I've been waiting to introduce her for a while now!

Is our dear Scorpius beginning to have feelings for Rose again?

Let me know!

Love and hugs

A.A.A.