Crickets were chirping into the dark of the night and the air still smelled of rain from the previous day. Four teenagers were standing on the muddy ground in front of the Forbidden Forest, the only light being the faint glow coming from the tips of their wands.

"I can't believe the little goody two shoes Rose Granger-Weasley has detention," chuckled James, soon joined in laughter by his younger cousin Fred. "Why are you here anyway?" Fred asked.

"Because she slapped the dung-brains out of Huxley Flint," Malfoy answered with a smirk on his face before Rose could even say anything.

James's face could only be described as gleaming. "Rosie, never in my entire life have I been prouder to call you my cousin," he said. Rose, who had no idea how to respond mumbled something under her breath before asking James what brings him to detention, not that she actually cared what the answer would be. Probably another one of their stupid pranks, she thought.

She was right, in a way. It was a prank that provided James and Fred with detention that night. It goes without saying that the cousins continued the legacy of their namesakes, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Fred Weasley, all renowned pranksters. It was debatable, however, whether their prank was really as stupid as Rose had labelled it. They were very proud of it themselves, after all.

"We broke into the Potions Storeroom and had our fun with the brews," James said in a raised voice. "Swapped Veritaserum with Babbling Beverage, Amortentia with Draught of Peace and Pepperup with Laxative potion."

Both he and Fred looked unbelievably pleased with themselves, each looking an inch taller than they really were.

"What were you thinking? Oh right, your brains are incapable of that," she huffed. "That could have serious consequences! The nurse uses Pepper–"

"Thank you, Rose, but we've already received a lecture from the Headmistress, you don't need to bother," James said. Knowing her cousins, Rose accepted it was meaningless to try to lecture them, and instead turned to Scorpius, who was trying to suppress his laughter.

"You're a prefect, Malfoy! Stop laughing at their stupid jokes! You shouldn't approve of such irresponsible, immature behaviour!"

"I don't approve," Scorpius defended himself, stepping back when she approached him with her signature angry look. "But you've got to admit, that was pretty funny. Laxative instead of Pepperup?"

Rose rolled her eyes, turned around and let a puff of air out of her mouth. "You're hopeless," she muttered and noticed the cousins high fiving in the corner of her eye.

The next few minutes felt like an eternity of silence. Rose was looking somewhere in the distance with arms crossed and her mouth tightened into a thin line. Scorpius was quietly looking at her while James and Fred exchanged a few whispers. The (almost) silence was broken by heavy steps as Hagrid finally showed, ready to get their detention started. Fang, an already greying boarhound was diligently standing at his side, drool dripping from his snout. Rose greeted Hagrid pleasantly, knowing that the sooner they get things started – the sooner she can leave.

Hagrid chuckled as James and Fred told him about their wrongdoing. "Nice one! Livin' up ter yer namesakes' reputation, I see – khm, I mean, no, erm," he stumbled with words when Rose scowled at him. He coughed once more before leaving the topic alone.

"Oh well, I've got somethin' special fer yeh today," he said. "C'mon now, get a move on. Gonna collect some Knotgrass fer the Storeroom some of yeh messed with so – er –" he carefully looked at Rose, "so recklessly." She gave him a slight nod.

"Let's put yeh in two groups now, yeah? Little Fred with James, the youngest an' the oldest, an' that leaves the two o' yeh, doesn' it?"

Oh no.

"Don' yeh worry. I'll keep watch over James and Freddy here, an' Fang'll join yeh," he gestured towards Scorpius and Rose. "That is not what I'm worried about, Hagrid." mumbled the latter under her breath, as the elderly hound obediently stepped in between them.

Rose kept telling herself that it will be over soon if she focuses hard on her chore. She was determined to fill up the foraging bag Hagrid gave her as quickly as possible and was doing quite a good job, save for a few scratches she got from the thick and thorny undergrowth. She was trying to ignore Scorpius quietly whistling while he was plucking weeds of Knotgrass beside her. As annoying as it was, she thought it better to pretend not to care.

Suddenly, she heard the crack of a twig breaking somewhere amid the briars on her left and she flinched. She knew it was neither Scorpius nor Fang, as both of them were standing opposite to where the sound was coming from. As much as she didn't want to let it show, being in the Forbidden Forest was kind of unsettling after having heard and read about all the creatures and dangers lurking inside it. She thought she had managed to conceal her startlement, but Scorpius had clearly seen through her.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's just a Thestral." He gave her a side look and noticed her confusion. "One of those invisible horses pulling the carriage," he smirked.

She suppressed the desire to snap back at him and say she knows what Thestrals are. Only then did she register what that insinuated and a realisation hit her. "You… You can see them?" she asked barely louder than the sound of the wind playing with the trees.

"Ever since my mum…" he stumbled on his words.

"I'm sorry," said Rose, feeling bad about bringing up his mother's death, but now realising that she shouldn't just shrug it off. "Do you miss her?"

"Everyday." Even though it was dark, Rose could swear she saw a flicker of light in Scorpius' eyes. "She would've liked you."

"Really?" Rose was unable hide a genuine look of surprise overtaking her face. She couldn't believe that anybody from the Malfoy family wouldn't consider her a filthy Mudblood.

"Yeah. She always held a high level of respect for people who were clever and hardworking."

It shocked her to hear that Scorpius had such an opinion of her and she felt a rush of blood colour her cheeks. "I thought your family hated Half-bloods."

"My father used to. I think mum really changed him. She was… different." A moment of silence passed before Scorpius added: "Think dad for some reason still holds a grudge against your family though."

"Yeah well, mine's not so fond of him either."

"It would've been different if mum were still here," he said, his eyes once again lighting up. "I know it would've. She would probably force dad to apologize to your folks, for whatever is between them."

Rose didn't know how to respond. The rest of their punishment was spent mostly in silence. Rose sometimes glanced at Malfoy while gathering more Knotgrass. She let the chill smell of rain fill her nostrils and found herself, for the first time, thinking that there was something deep within the fair-haired boy that she had previously overlooked.