Classes were going well so far. They were only two classes in, but still. They'd gotten turned around on the way to charms but had only been a few minutes late. This being their first day of classes and them being first years, they hadn't been scolded for it.
Scorpius was rather worried about this next one though. Not because of the class itself, he was very confident in his knowledge of the material. He hadn't told this to Albus or Rose out of fear of sounding too interested in the dark arts, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was the subject he was most excited for. He knew they wouldn't be doing anything truly interesting for a while, but he was very passionate about the field. No, the class itself wasn't the problem, it was the classmates.
Herbology had been with Hufflepuff, Charms had been with Ravenclaw, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was their first class with Slytherin. He'd been mostly ignored in the other classes besides the odd looks and glares. Knowing it was best to keep his head down, very down, for now, Scorpius hadn't raised his hand even though he'd known the answers. He feared the Slytherins wouldn't be so passive. They seemed to have taken his placement as a personal insult, like they thought Scorpius hadn't wanted to get Slytherin. That Scorpius thought Slytherin was bad or beneath him. Which wasn't true, he didn't have any animosity for Slytherin. He was still in shock that he wasn't in Slytherin. Scorpius truly believed the sorting hat had made a mistake but there was no changing it now.
Scorpius glanced anxiously down at his robes. The red and yellow still didn't look right on him. The disconnect was made even worse by the fact that Scorpius had never worn red in general until now. 'At least me and Endellion will match,' he thought miserably. The reminder that he'd had to leave Endellion and Veyle at home only made him feel even worse.
Fretful thoughts zipped through his head like loud snitches. What if Veyle got lonely? What if Endellion went out and got seen? Veyle was there but she couldn't exactly do anything to stop him. He'd never left them alone longer than a week. The school year, or at least until Christmas, stretched before him like a near infinite void, weighed down the type of dread that made everything feel slower than it really was. But it would have been impossible to bring them to school with him.
Albus was blissfully unaware of Scorpius' inner turmoil, the other boy was practically skipping down the hall. "What do you think we'll do first?" he wondered aloud excitedly. "Learn about werewolves? Gargoyles? Dragons?" Scorpius flinched. "Jinxes? I definitely need some of those."
"I doubt they start first years off with all that," Rose told him, shaking her head in exasperation. "And I don't think they'll be teaching first years the type of jinxes you want, Albus." She peered down at the textbook in her arms. "Going by the book, I assume we'll start with curse classifications and the wand lighting charm."
Scorpius nodded in agreement. He'd read through the textbook already. Nothing overly exciting for first years. He was very interested in the ghosts and poltergeists section, but that was likely much further in the year. What information was in the book had only made him more confused. He had loads of questions for the ghosts here at Hogwarts, if he could figure out how to ask them without raising suspicion. Peeves seemed like he was going to be useless. Worse than useless really. Scorpius had no idea where he could find a more sensible poltergeist.
Albus scowled. "Don't spoil my fun, Rosie." Then he sighed, deflating somewhat. "Suppose you're right though. Lumos is useful at least."
Flipping open the table of contents, Scorpius scanned the various chapter titles, eyes lingering on one in particular. "I think it's unfair to call some of these things 'dark'," he noted bitterly. "Just because something can be dangerous doesn't make it 'dark'. Like, dragons are dangerous, but they aren't evil or anything." People always freaked out when it was dragons…
"It does seem a bit harsh," Rose hummed. "Like, the curse that causes lycanthropy is dark, but the people themselves are just normal people. But Defense Against the Dark Arts is already a long name. It would be a full sentence if they added more."
They arrived at the DADA classroom with time to spare. Only a third of the seats were occupied and the professor wasn't there yet. The Slytherins' gazes snapped to him as they entered, and Scorpius suddenly regretted that they hadn't dragged their feet. Following Albus' lead, Scorpius sat down next to him at one of the middle desks. Rose sat at the table behind them, sharing her desk with her dormmate, Nina Goldhorn.
Across the room, Scorpius' eyes met Selina's, a girl he'd known for many years. He hadn't seen her in months, but she looked the same. The front of her silky black hair that looked even darker against her pale skin was done up in a fancy set of braids, one big braid with smaller braids going down it, that Scorpius wouldn't have any clue how to go about doing. The back part of her hair remained down. Sparkly silver clips decorated the braids, including a snake one to represent her new house. Put together, elegant, and in Slytherin, everything her parents wanted from her.
Selina's blue eyes flashed angrily, and she turned away huffily. Scorpius' heart sank at the rejection. They weren't friends exactly, their families just frequented many of the same events and businesses, so he saw her more often. She'd always been normal with him, which he'd always appreciated. Her parents seemed to have no desire for Scorpius to be their daughter's future husband and, as a result, his interactions with Selina had been far less awkward than with other girls. She was the only Slytherin Scorpius had thought maybe wouldn't be angry with him, but that clearly wasn't the case. If even she was upset with him, all the Slytherins must really hate him.
Another wave of students entered the room. There was a bustle as the new arrivals chose their seats. The Gryffindors and Slytherins were very divided, basically split straight down the middle. The other classes hadn't been like that with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, the groups had been fairly mixed. Scorpius had known about the Gryffindor- Slytherin rivalry, of course, but this was a lot more intense than he'd expected. It had been almost twenty years since Voldemort's defeat. How were things still so hostile now?
"What are you staring at, Malfoy?" a boy's voice sneered.
Scorpius startled, realizing he'd been gazing out at nothing in the Slytherin's direction. Corbin Carrow was the one who'd called out, a boy with brown windswept hair and predatory eyes that gave off the impression of a ruffled vulture. Scorpius had met Corbin before, but they'd never talked. All the Carrows disliked his family.
"Er, sorry, I wasn't looking at you," Scorpius apologized. "I wasn't really looking at anything." Albus was leaning around Scorpius to give Corbin a withering look. Rose was similarly displeased.
"Realizing you made a mistake, Malfoy?" Corbin asked sharply, getting out of his chair and prowling closer. "I wasn't surprised you didn't get Slytherin. A sniveling little weak-willed weasel like you. No ambition whatsoever." Scorpius wasn't as upset at the insults as he knew he probably should be. He knew Corbin had no idea what he was talking about. "Yes, someone as gormless as you fits right in with Gryffindor." There were gasps of outrage from the Gryffindor side of the room.
"We didn't want him!" a Gryffindor boy whose name Scorpius didn't remember shouted heatedly. At the same time Albus loudly accused, "You're just miffed you didn't get him for your house!" Albus whipped around to glare at the other boy.
Corbin's eyes darted to the Gryffindor who had shouted the rejection, then he smirked at Albus and turned back to Scorpius. He was looming directly in front of their desk now. "I expect no house wanted you, Malfoy. Not good enough for Slytherin, don't have the mind for Ravenclaw, too lazy and disloyal for Hufflepuff, the hat had to dump you with the cottonheads in Gryffindor." Snickering came from the Slytherins and more outrage from the Gryffindors.
"Look, Corbin, I don't want to fight," Scorpius attempted to appease. He tried to think of something he could say that wouldn't offend the Gryffindors but couldn't. "Class is going to start soon; the professor will be here any second…"
"Yeah, shove off," Albus said, far more aggressively than Scorpius.
Corbin leered at Albus. "Oh my, a Potter. Well, well, I simply must do what you say I suppose." He snatched Albus' open textbook from his desk. "I'm sure you don't need this. Daddy must have taught you everything already. Such a famous Auror after all. Can you cast a Patronus already? I hear your dad learned it quite young." Taking out his wand, Corbin fanned the pages of the book then said, "Incendio." A lick of flame shot out of the wand and began burning one of the pages.
"Corbin!" Scorpius gasped, alarmed that the boy was going so far. He pushed away that he was mildly impressed that Corbin could already cast the fire making charm. "You'll get in trouble!"
Albus shot to his feet, eyes blazing. Other Gryffindor stood up as well, furious at the attack on their house. Giggling broke out amongst the Slytherins, a few of them calling out encouragements to Corbin.
"What are you playing at?" Albus demanded. He attempted to grab back his book, but Corbin stepped out of reach. "Do you want to lose Slytherin points?! Not that you have a chance at the cup anyways."
Four pages had been devoured by the fire, which thankfully seemed to have a fairly controlled burn. It went out after destroying the pages that had bunched together instead of burning the entire book. Corbin set the next page ablaze, eyes locked with Albus. "Even if that were true, some things are worth losing points for. C'mon then, Potter. Stop me." His dark eyes were dancing with delighted malice. "Surely you know at least one spell?"
Albus gripped his wand, face growing red. Scorpius hesitated, trying to decide what to do. He knew plenty of jinxes that would send Corbin running (or to the hospital wing), but surely there was a better solution.
Rose was thinking the same thing. "Don't, Albus. He's just trying to get you in trouble too."
Recognizing the fire as the immediate problem, Scorpius hastily took out his wand and made an arching motion towards the fire. "Calor Vade." The fire stopped eating at the book, flickering harmlessly in place.
No one else seemed to understand what had happened at first, which was quite odd, Calor Vade was a well-known spell. Wasn't it? How could it not be? It took a bewildered Carrow pocketing his wand and placing his hand in the now heatless flames for the others to realize what the spell had done. Surprised murmuring spread through the room; students watched Corbin poking at the fire with wide eyes.
Everyone jumped when the door at the back of the room swung open and a man hurried down the stairs. He looked to be in his thirties, curly brown hair and a stern face. Rather than robes, he was wearing a long brown trench coat, the sleeves tight to his arms, over a simple white shirt and black pants. His red tie was very loose, Scorpius would never be allowed out with his tie in that state. This must be their professor, Damian Thorne. And he looked furious.
"What the blazes are you doing?!" the man demanded, dangerously quiet. Scorpius didn't think that was meant to be a pun. His stomach dropped when he realized the professor was glaring at him, as if Scorpius was the one who had done something wrong. He was suddenly very aware he was the only one with his wand fully out, Corbin had pocketed his wand to free up his other hand. "Malfoy, casting spells without supervision and-"
"It wasn't him," Albus cut in. "It was him." He pointed angrily at Corbin.
The man's gaze flicked to Corbin. He didn't say anything right away, instead waving his wand and extinguishing the fire. Wordless magic. Now there was something Scorpius wanted some classes on.
The professor snatched the book away from Corbin. "Twenty points from Slytherin!" he barked. "Now sit down." Corbin hurried to his seat, but Scorpius saw a smile flash briefly over the boy's face. Losing points didn't seem to have upset him much. Then the professor was speaking to Scorpius again, still seeming to believe Scorpius had done something wrong. "And what were you doing with your wand, Malfoy?"
"Oh, um, I was trying to save Albus' book…" Scorpius explained, not letting his voice waver.
"There will be no unsupervised magic in my classroom," the professor stated with harsh deliberation. "Two points from Gryffindor." What?!
"What?!" Albus gasped. "But professor-"
"I won't hear any arguments," Professor Thorne asserted, already striding to the chalkboard. "Now let's begin class before any more of you do anything stupid." The man was calmer as he continued, "My name is Professor Thorne. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor this year. It is my job to instill upon you the basics of defense. Your life may one day depend on the knowledge you gain in this classroom. The dark arts are constantly evolving and changing and we must continue to battle it lest it consume us all. By your seventh year, you will have what you need to stand against such darkness." This bloke was really hyping up the dark arts. Scorpius' research into the topic had left him with the belief that the dark arts were quite rubbish. Cheap ways for less talented wizards to get powerful effects with grave drawbacks. They were dangerous to combat, yes, Scorpius just didn't see the appeal in using them himself.
"I come from a long line of aurors," Professor Thorne continued briskly. "I myself have been an auror for over a decade now and I will be returning to it once my time teaching here is over." He tapped his wand to the board and the schedule for the class for the next two months appeared. Scorpius began writing it down. Curse classifications and lumos as expected. The Verdimillious charm at the start of the next month as well as a few days dedicated to doxies. All quite useful and not in direct order of the book. Maybe ghosts would be coming sooner than he thought. "This year we will be covering how to handle a selection of dark creatures as well as some simple, but vital, spells. We will be referring to the textbook quite frequently so do make sure to always bring it with you to class." Albus looked down at his damaged textbook crossly. Professor Thorne took out a scroll. "Now, when I call your name, raise your hand and say here."
As the professor began reading out names, Albus leaned in and whispered furiously, "That was ridiculous. Taking points from you like that. I can't believe James said this professor was cool. Where does he get off?!"
"He is the professor," Scorpius pointed out mildly. He did appreciate Albus' anger on his behalf, even if Scorpius wasn't all that upset himself. He was more confused than anything. "It does seem unfair, but it was only two points. Maybe he was just trying to set an example?"
"That's not an excuse!" Albus shook his head. Then, more curiously, "What spell was that anyways? The one you used on the fire?"
"Oh, it was the flame freezing charm," Scorpius explained. Maybe Albus just hadn't recognized the incantation. "It's the one all the wizards used in medieval times when muggles tried to burn them."
"Really?!" Albus said, looking terribly impressed. "Blimey! Where'd you learn to do that?"
"It's not all that hard," Scorpius remarked, purposefully avoiding the question. "Especially against fire made by a first year with the basic flame making charm. I-"
"Malfoy!" Scorpius startled. Was that supposed to be the roll call? But Thorne had just read out Goldhorn, he couldn't be at the M's yet. In his second of hesitation, Thorne had time to continue, "Chit chatting in class? Think you don't need to pay attention? You think yourself above your fellow students? Or do you believe you'll never need the knowledge gained from this class?" The man was glaring at him like he thought Scorpius was a particularly ugly toad. Despite the scolding being, in Scorpius' opinion, unmerited, the rest of the class seemed quite eager about the rebuke. Their whispering didn't seem to upset Professor Thorne at all.
Scorpius concluded that this professor did not like him. He wasn't sure why, though he could make a few guesses. Drat, this class wasn't going to be anywhere near as helpful as he'd been hoping, was it?
"What? No," Scorpius rushed to assure. He had been paying attention to what the professor was saying, he really had been, he hadn't wanted to miss his name. "I wasn't-"
"Tell me, Malfoy, what spell can be used to repel an acromantula?" Thorne demanded out of nowhere.
"Arania Exumai," Scorpius answered automatically, brain more occupied with being confused as to why he was being asked the question.
The professor didn't seem to have actually wanted the answer though, or at least not the correct one, because he only looked more annoyed. Instead of acknowledging Scorpius had answered correctly, Thorne asked another question. "What are the three categories of magical creatures?"
"Being, beast, and spirit," Scorpius listed off. He assumed the professor wanted him to not be able to answer, but why? It would hardly make Scorpius look bad. This was their first day, students were expected to not know pretty much anything.
Thorne's face was growing noticeably red. "And what is the ministry of magic's classifications for these creatures?"
How much detail did he want? "There are five," Scorpius replied, deciding to keep it simple. He didn't want to show off, but he also wasn't going to purposefully get an answer wrong just to please an ill-tempered professor. "each rank uses a different number of X's. One X being the lowest meaning boring and five X's being the most dangerous, those are known wizard killers and are impossible to train." Or so they claimed.
"What ghoul is capable of disguising itself?" Scorpius was getting annoyed now. That wasn't even in their textbook.
"Chameleon ghouls," Scorpius responded evenly. How long was this going to go on? "Er, professor-"
"You're quite familiar with the dark arts, aren't you Malfoy?" Thorne snapped.
"Are you serious?!" Albus burst, jumping out of his chair, nearly startling Scorpius out of his own chair. "He's just answering the questions you're asking! And none of that was dark arts, it was defense stuff and- and monster qualifications!" Classifications, but no one really cared about pedantics right now.
The professor studied Albus with a frigid expression. For a second, Scorpius was hopeful. This was Harry Potter's son, after all, but then Thorne retorted, "Five points from Gryffindor. There will be no outbursts in my class."
Scorpius' eyes narrowed slightly, a strong dislike for Thorne rearing up. It was one thing to go after Scorpius, he was used to it, but it seemed like this man was a general prick. Thorne was a professor though, there wasn't much Scorpius could do about him.
"Aren't you going to give me points for getting the answers correct, sir?" Scorpius asked coolly. A hint of snideness crept in. "Those were supposed to be difficult questions, right?"
Thorne's attention shifted back to Scorpius. "You don't get to decide when I give out points, Malfoy," Thorne growled. "Five points from Gryffindor, for being a conceited brat."
"What?!" Rose gasped, as outraged as Albus, though she stayed in her seat. "One of those questions wasn't even from the book. He shouldn't have-"
"Five more points from Gryffindor," Thorne said flippantly. "I highly recommend you lot shutting up." The number of points they were losing was making Scorpius anxious. They'd almost lost as many points as Slytherin now. The other Gryffindor students were glaring at the three of them as if they were the ones at fault for losing so many points, which really wasn't the case. Anyone with an ounce of sense could see the professor was being unfair. Scorpius didn't care about the house cup himself, but he didn't need to give Gryffindor more reason to resent him.
Thankfully, Thorne left them alone the rest of the class. Weirdly, the class itself was normal. No more fits or unrealistic expectations or harsh words, even the homework was minimal. The man treated the Slytherins the same as the Gryffindors, so his problem must lie with Scorpius specifically.
Sticking to what had worked in Herbology and Charms, Scorpius didn't raise his hand or speak the entire class, just silently watched. This time though, Rose and Albus were similarly quiet, their expressions cold. It wasn't too surprising for Albus, but Rose? Her hand had shot up at every question the last two classes. For her to not raise it at all…
Scorpius felt awful for dragging them down with him. He wouldn't blame them for wanting to keep their distance after this. This had to have been the final straw. It would be awkward with him and Albus sharing a room now (which was very much stressing Scorpius out. Going from having your own room to having to share a room with three people was… overwhelming), but Scorpius was good at keeping his head down.
That Defense Against the Dark Arts class must have been one of the longest hours in Scorpius' life. When it was finally over, Scorpius rushed to escape the room. Rose and Albus followed close behind.
"I can't believe him!" Rose exploded as soon as they were out of view of the door. "And he calls himself a professor?! Going after a student like that! A first year no less! There's no way he thought for more than a second that you were the one who set Albus' book on fire. Unless he's a blind idiot, which he very well might be given what we've seen so far. We should go to Professor Longbottom about him. Or maybe the headmistress."
"No," Scorpius quickly rejected. "No, I don't want any trouble. It's fine. I know to be careful around him now. And he'll probably cool off after a while…"
"It's not just you he's affecting though, Scorp," Albus argued. "You'd have to be confunded to think answering questions correctly should lose more points than setting another student's book on fire."
"He didn't take points for right answers," Scorpius sighed. "He does seem exceptionally unreasonable though."
Albus shook his head in bewilderment. "Merlin, how are you always so calm, Scorp? I wanted to throttle him as soon as he opened his gob." Why didn't he seem mad at Scorpius? Maybe he just didn't want to say anything to Scorpius' face.
Scorpius shrugged. "That's just how people are."
The pair frowned, but before anyone could say anything more, James Potter came bounding down the corridor.
"Albus, Rose, there you are," the older boy greeted. James ignored Scorpius entirely. "How are classes so far?"
"They were good," Albus scowled. "Until Thorne crawled out of his hole. I don't know how I'm going to stand that man for an entire year."
James frowned down at Albus with a baffled expression. "You didn't like Professor Thorne? He's one of the coolest teachers at Hogwarts. He's even helped me and my friends with a few of our… projects, before. What didn't you like about him?"
"He's an arse," Albus huffed. "He took, like, twenty points from Gryffindor for no reason." Rose nodded indignantly in agreement.
"Twenty points?!" James exclaimed, eyes widening. A few passing students glanced over at them, and James lowered his voice. "Merlin's beard, Albus, you're first years! They go soft on first years. They only give or take, like, one or two points for most things your first year. How the blazes did you lose twenty points three classes in on your first day?!" Really, it had only been seventeen points, but Scorpius didn't think his correction would help. "Were you the one who lost the points?"
Albus rolled his eyes. "Like you don't lose points all the time. Only one class was the problem. And I only lost five. Rose lost five too, though it all evens out for her at least, she earned five points in the other classes. Those classes had good professors. Thorne just has it out for Scorpius. Scorp was brilliant in class, he should've earned loads of points, but Thorne refused and used the flimsiest, pettiest excuses he could get his hands on to dock points."
James finally acknowledged Scorpius' presence. The taller boy's eyes slid over to him, a new glint of understanding there, as if it all suddenly made sense. "So, the Malfoy's the one losing the points, huh?"
"No," Rose quickly defended, subtly moving to partially block James from Scorpius. "It was the professor's fault. He was being really awful. He was trying to trip Scorpius up by asking difficult questions then got mad when Scorpius got them all right." She twisted to look back at Scorpius. "You really did do well, Scorpius," she said admiringly. "Even I didn't know that last one."
"Thanks," Scorpius muttered, very aware that James seemed one wrong word away from jinxing him and forcibly dragging his brother away from 'the Malfoy'. He doubted the boy would actually manage to hit him with anything though, James' wand wasn't even out yet and he didn't strike Scorpius as a particularly fast caster. Scorpius didn't think there was anything he could say to convince James that he wasn't some dark wizard or whatever he thought Scorpius was. He felt awful that he was causing Albus to fight with his brother. Albus had told him that James was usually a great brother and Scorpius believed him.
It was odd. Really, it would probably be best for everyone if Scorpius just quietly backed out of this inexplicable friendship with Rose and Albus. Pull up the roots before they got too deep and became more painful and difficult to remove later. Albus and Rose would reconcile with their families and would surely become very popular at Hogwarts. Scorpius would gain more freedom. With Albus and Rose always being around him he hadn't even been able to start looking for the spot from that book. It would also be easier to research things without worrying about them looking over his shoulder. Scorpius hadn't even been planning on having any friends really. He hadn't been upset about it. Stepping away from this friendship now should theoretically, logically, be easy. It wasn't even going to work out in the long term, there was no way it would. But…
Despite not having wanted it, despite knowing it would cause problems, despite knowing it couldn't last, Scorpius couldn't bring himself to give it up so easily. He wasn't sure why.
James' lip curled in disgust. "Uh huh. Sure. Well, Thorne has more reason to dislike Scorpius than most. His aunt killed Professor Thorne's brother and uncle during the Second War."
"What?!" Scorpius yelped, jerking his head up, offended at the accusation. "My aunt's never killed anyone!" Aunt Daphne could be a bit unpleasant at times, but she was no murderer. She hadn't even sided with Voldemort during the war.
"Even if that were true," Albus scoffed. "What's that got to do with Scorpius?"
"It's not true," Scorpius insisted testily. "Aunt Daphne's never so much as hurt anyone! She was a student at the time, she was mostly just trying to keep her head down and avoid the Death Eaters." Aunt Daphne hadn't helped fight against Voldemort, but she hadn't fought for him either.
James eyebrows furrowed. "Daphne? I'm talking about Bellatrix." What?
"Bellatrix Lestrange?" Scorpius repeated, confused. "She's not my aunt." She'd been father's aunt, so he supposed they were somewhat related, but Scorpius had never considered her family.
Alarm budded up within him. He'd expected people to dislike him for Grandfather's crimes and Father's bullying, but it had never occurred to him that people would associate him with Bellatrix as well. She'd never been present in his life; she just didn't come to mind. On the very, very rare occasion Bellatrix came up, maybe three times in his whole life, Father didn't say much besides that she was a horrible, terrifying woman and that he was happy she was dead. The fear that crept into his father's eyes when the witch was mentioned, Scorpius hated the woman even with how little he knew about her.
"Great aunt then," James corrected coldly.
"I never met Bellatrix, thank God," Scorpius told him crossly. "She was dead long before I was born. I'm quite certain she would be trying to kill me if she were still alive."
"Yeah," Albus nodded, glaring mutinously up at his brother. "You'd have to be an idiot to connect them together."
"Teddy's related to Bellatrix in the exact same way," Rose pointed out. Teddy? "I don't see you or anyone else going around accusing him of anything. And Auntie Tonks is Bellatrix's sister. Being related to someone awful doesn't mean anything." Did they mean Andromeda? Scorpius had only met her once and he barely remembered it. The family had never managed to mend that bridge. He wasn't even sure if they'd tried.
"Don't compare them to him," James snapped, affronted. "They have a long history of making the right choices." Taking a breath, James shook his head. "But whatever, I didn't come here about the Malfoy. I came here to get you two. We all have some free time now that it's lunch. Hagrid's invited us to go see him."
"Oh," Albus said, untensing a bit but looking disgruntled. He'd likely been hoping for a worse reason, a request he could easily reject. "Well, I suppose we could go but…" He gave Scorpius a concerned glance. Scorpius would obviously not be welcomed at this meeting, which meant he'd be left alone at Gryffindor table. That was fine. This might actually work out very well for him.
"You should go," Scorpius encouraged. "He's an old family friend, right? I can meet back up with you at Transfiguration." That was a decent amount of time to investigate. He wasn't hungry anyways, no reason to go to the Great Hall.
"Well, alright," Rose agreed, nervously brushing her hair back. "You should try to avoid Carrow if you can, Scorpius. Maybe don't linger in the Great Hall too long…"
James made a face. "Carrow? Was one of the Carrows giving you trouble?"
"Corbin Carrow set my Defense Against the Dark Arts book on fire," Albus informed him mildly, nowhere near as upset as he'd been when talking about Thorne.
James started. "And you didn't think to mention that?!"
"Well, Thorne hacked me off more," Albus shrugged. Really? Scorpius didn't understand why that would be.
James shook his head. "You can tell me on the way." He started dragging Albus off and Rose followed. Scorpius could still hear him as they went down the hallway, the words growing quieter the further they went. "Never take shit from a Carrow, Albus. I can teach you a thing or two about dealing with their kind. It's all the Slytherins really, but some of them are-" That was the last Scorpius made out before they were out of sight.
Scorpius shoved his books into his bag. He should use this time best he could.