Disclaimer: /disˈklāmər/Noun: a statement that denies something, especially responsibility. I deny responsibility itself.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

*Still Third Year*

This was the fourth time that I am sitting here across Scorpius Malfoy at the Hufflepuff table— well, the equivalent of it. All was awkward with every second. Though my company doesn't seem to experience the fair share of awkwardness I'm feeling as he was busy reading— no, glaring at the book he brought. His eyebrows were scrunched and his when-did-that-become-dark-gray eyes were full-out staring at a single word of the opened book.

"What," he snapped, startling me. "Sorry," he said, uncharacteristically, "I didn't mean to snap." He must have had a bad day.

Nod. A nod of reassurance is what I return. I still don't understand how my mind is so talkative and my mouth can't even say something like, 'It's fine.'

He returned to his book and pulled out some parchment, quill, and ink. Hmm. It seems to be an essay. I read mentally, 'Electricity is a current of energy used by Muggles to power most of their technology. It is a system of computer networks that are interconnected. Muggles…' — Wait.

"That's not right…" I thought.

"Sorry," he said, cutting me off from my thoughts. He sure is saying 'sorry' a lot these days. "But, did you say something?"

"—What?" Did I say something?

"Nevermind…" He said, though one eyebrow was raised, and returned to his essay. '… Can communicate with each other, see events and pictures from the past that are recorded by a Muggle gadget, produce sounds, and see news through the internet using a gadget that looks like the television.'

"Electricity can't do all that," I blurted out, instantly standing to point at the mistake. I hate seeing wrong information. "It can only generate power to Muggle appliances so that they can work." Eyebrows raised, he looked at me in confusion. I walked to the other side of the table and scanned the book he was reading. "See," I pointed at the word, "I- Internet. That's the thing you're writing about." Fascinating, I sat down beside him and started reading the book that I haven't seen until now. These Muggles are awesome. Airplanes, Televisions— wait, wasn't that the Pelevision? Oh well. Submarines? Rockets? How are they creating all these? Without magic, no less.

Cough. I heard a cough beside me. I settled down the book slowly and looked at the person beside me. "Sorry," I said sheepishly (What's this? Say 'Sorry' Day?) and his eyes held amusement, though his face tried to hide it.

"Thanks," he said, taking the book.

"For what?"

"For telling me my mistake,"

Well, that's a first. I smiled. I guess some people acknowledge information like I do.

"Oh," I replied, "—Um… You're welcome."

Silence… Keep the conversation going, Rose! Maybe this can satisfy your curiosity on this bloke you're supposed to hate, to beat at every test and to not be friendly with.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, referring to the book.

"The library," he simply said, and returned to his task at hand.

Tilting my head to see the title by the side of the book, I read, 'Muggle Terms. I never saw a 'Muggle Terms' in the library. Not that I've searched every nook and cranny of it.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow," I doubt it…" Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Well, for one, that's new, published last 2015, and the library only has old books for references, except if there were new textbooks which would need new references to coordinate with it, but this school didn't change their textbooks since 2010 which would mean that the references from the library would have to be at least published in 2010 or older. " I rambled really fast, "and somebody obviously owns it with the CM written on the first page."

"—It's from a friend."

"Can I borrow it?" I asked, a bit too eager to learn new things.

"I'll ask."

Leen then arrived with our lunch. You would have thought that it should come earlier as this was becoming a daily thing.

Conclusion to the conversation I had: I knew from before that he talks. I didn't know that he does it with a rule that says only use 6 words at most.

2 days. It's been 2 days and I still don't have the book. Surely it wouldn't take 35 hours, 28 minutes, and 42 seconds to borrow a book. I sighed. Oh, and by the way, I'm in the Library, again, glaring at a History of Magic reference book. Why wouldn't I be? My mother's name is Hermione Jean Granger, not Jane. Grumbling, I took a small piece of parchment and wrote 'Hermione Jean Granger' in it. I slipped the piece of paper on the page I was glaring at. I thought that it lacked something so I underlined 'Jean' to emphasize it. Satisfied, I turned to a different page.

"You," I heard somebody suddenly say. I looked up and saw that it was directed at me. A brunette stood before me who I recognized as the girl who I rode the boat with to Hogwarts, holding her hand out to point at me. Rude.

"Yes?" I asked warily, feeling a bit accused.

"Did you just write in that book?" she asked me with a tone filled with disappointment. Instinctively, I hung my head down like a child who was reprimanded for jumping on the couch.

"No, I—"

"In a library book, no less!" she exclaimed.

"Actually—"

"Library books are meant to be treated with care," she said in a way most people would be annoyed at but I'm not really part of 'most people' so I kind of appreciated what she did. But then, it kind of irritated me that she would think that I would write in a book. "Other people use it too. You can't just place mustaches on pictures because they look funny. Even if the book belongs to you, you can't just go destroying them… "And she continues, as if she rehearsed all this. I can already imagine that she does this all the time and the people she reprimanded would say all those excuses. I smiled. I guess some people care for books like I do.

"—Anyhow," she started, forcing me away from my thoughts, "What you did was unacceptable, so I would like to borrow the book for a minute so I can tidy it up."

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to convince her by words, I calmly gave the book to her and waited as she scanned it. I was a bit curious on how she would react so I paid attention to her actions. It took a while for her to find the page, but when she did, slowly, a hue of crimson red spread throughout her cheeks, almost rivaling with the infamous Weasley blush.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. Somehow, I felt bad waiting for her reaction.

"It's fine," I said as I took the book she offered back to me.

"I'm really, really sorry!" she sat down on the chair next to mine and started rambling; "I thought that you did! I just get really annoyed at those who scribble in books. I mean, why would they? If they wouldn't appreciate books, might as well not own them. They don't understand how wonderful books are! Books are keepers of knowledge and imagination…" Her ramble was quite long and I just looked at her, amused. She didn't notice me until she earned a 'shush' from Madam Pince.

"I'm sorry," she said again, quietly, still embarrassed.

"It's fine, really," I assured her. "I understand."

"You do?"

"I'd be annoyed too if I would see portraits with mustaches on the books I'm reading," she smiled at my helpless joke. "I'm Rose Weasley," I introduced, feeling like we would be great friends.

"I know," she said, slightly grinning. "Who wouldn't try to know the person who preferred to swim to Hogwarts rather than ride the boat with us?" I laughed.

"I'm Cassidy. Cassidy Maclaine, but you can call me Cass."

"Oh yeah," I started, "Books here have various spells that prevents students from defacing or stealing them. I have a book that states it. It's called Hogwarts: A History."

"Really?" and we continued chatting and catching up with each other as if regretting that we haven't met earlier.

Cass left a little while later. She said she'd be late for something. It was lunch by the time she left. What could she be late for? Anyway, I stayed at the Library for a while and lost track of time, as always. I was on my way to the kitchens, again. It was quite becoming a pattern. I preferred eating in the kitchens. You see, I ate lunch in the Great Hall yesterday. It made me realize the elves are far more welcoming. Not that I don't enjoy eating with my family. I just don't enjoy eating silently. Talking during a meal always felt warm. It reminds me of home. I rarely join them though. They still talk during meals, but it's not quite the same. Ugh. This is depressing.

"Weasley," I heard a familiar, yet unknown voice call. I didn't turn. I figured it was probably another Weasley they're calling. I turned around once before and it was embarrassing.

"Weasley!" he called, a bit louder this time. His footsteps indicating that he was running. The corridors were empty as most of them were having lunch so he could be calling for me, but then again… You can never be sure, with the Weasleys making up half the population of Hogwarts.

"Rose!" Now, that made me turn around. I saw Scorpius Malfoy skidding to a stop, holding a book in his hands. "Here," he said, handing me the book I asked to borrow.

"Uh… Thanks." I said and he walked away in the same direction I was going to; the kitchens.

I walked behind him, knowing that we are going in the same direction. Silently, he tickled the pear and went inside. I followed. When we arrived, Leen already set the table. Thanking her, we both ate our lunch. He was silent throughout the meal while I was chatting with the house elves. After eating, we said thanks and goodbyes to the house elves and left the kitchens. Just as we were outside, before he could walk away, I asked.

"You're going to Muggle Studies next aren't you?"

He looked at skeptically and nodded.

"Can I go with you? I asked, earning a bewildered expression from Malfoy. "I mean, I'm going there too so I figured I could ask because it'd be weird if you'd feel like I'm following you…" I wandered from whatever I was talking about. What was I talking about again?

He nodded reluctantly. So I walked by his side with a distance silently. Far too silent for my liking. We earned quite a few stares, as some people were going to their own classes but we both ignored it. I hated the deafening silence so I asked.

"Why did you take Muggle Studies, Malfoy?" I asked politely, trying to start a conversation. "You don't seem to be the type."

"What type?" he asked in a stiff manner as if he was infuriated,

"You don't seem to be the type who would take it because it's an easy subject." I explained, wondering why he reacted like that.

"Oh," his shoulder's relaxed, "the other subjects didn't strike me, I suppose."

I noticed that wasn't the whole truth, but I let it go and continued to walk in silence. We arrived in the classroom and he let me go in first. What a gentleman, I thought. There, I saw Cass. She was waving at me and offered both of the seats beside her, which was funny. Why would she offer both seats? My question was answered when Malfoy took the seat beside her while I took the other side. I raised an eyebrow at Cass.

"So you've met?" she asked.

A/N: Well… I'm really, really sorry for updating so slow. I won't place excuses because I don't want to bore you (partly. My main reason is I'm too lazy). Anyhow, my story's nowhere near to progressing. Gah. This writing thing is hard. Forgive me. It's my first, after all. I would love some criticism so I can do better. Actually, I prefer criticism rather than praises. The praises make me smile. Criticisms make me want to do better and prove myself. What's the point of writing if you're just going to suck all the time? Reviews are much appreciated.

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~QueenoftheDarkMoon04)