Once James’s speaking voice had returned, he lost no time in telling everyone what he thought of Alice Longbottom. Scorpius couldn’t help but feel Alice had been at least partially justified in her actions, and that James would have done better to keep quiet about it since after denouncing Alice, everyone wanted to know just what she’d done to James. James would then generally explain that it was a private matter. Scorpius also couldn’t help but note that not only did this response start wild rumours about just what Alice had done but that Alice was getting congratulated in the halls a good deal. He rather doubted this was the effect that James had been trying for.
By Tuesday afternoon, the donkey aspect of the hex had made it into the rumours. Scorpius overheard Cassandra Tulley asking Rosie if Alice had really given James a donkey head.
Before Rosie could deny this, Mike Creevey added, “I heard she gave him a tail too!”
“Well you both heard wrong,” snapped James.
“So, why don’t you tell us what really happened?” asked Shannon Finnigan.
“Because it’s between Alice and myself,” retorted James.
Shannon raised an eyebrow. “Well, I suppose it must be even worse than either of those guesses then.”
Fred quietly pointed out to James, “Why don’t you just tell them the truth and be done with it?”
“Because it’s embarrassing,” answered James between gritted teeth. He added in a somewhat louder voice, “I hate that stupid Alice Longbottom, can you believe she put me through this?”
“Honestly, James! No one would have known anything happened if you’d kept your big mouth shut,” replied Rosie. “You were rude, and maybe Alice overreacted but it’s your own stupid fault that everyone knows something happened.”
James, who wasn’t used to having his pride bruised, left in a huff. Rosie rolled her eyes. “It’s still his own stupid fault.”
Scorpius looked after James. “He’d probably do better to just tell everyone the truth, no one will care in a week; they’ll have something else to gossip about by then.”
“Yeah,” Albus agreed. He sighed. “Next week they’ll probably all be talking about how evil you are again.”
Scorpius nodded. “Guess I’d better enjoy it while I can.” He practiced his most evil grin. “So what’s this I hear about how Alice turned James into a tap-dancing winged monkey before giving him donkey ears?”
Rosie giggled most of the way to Defence class but became a good deal more sombre upon entering the classroom. No one seemed to be looking forward to the prospect of trying to Disarm a retired Auror, especially in front of their peers.
Professor Proudfoot loudly cracked his knuckles. This proved more efficient than simply calling the class to order.
“As I’m sure you all recall, today will be a practice in Disarming. I will aim a harmless spell at you and your task will be to Disarm me. You will have three attempts to properly do so. Should you fail to perform the spell correctly, I will expect an essay on the topic for next class. Any volunteers?” he casually asked.
The class was silent. Scorpius rather felt he’d been brave enough last class for being a volunteer. He certainly didn’t want to be the first person to try the spell in front of everyone. What if he didn’t do it right? Even worse, what if he went first, didn’t do it right and then everyone else did manage it? He squirmed a bit in his seat at this unpleasant thought.
Rosie looked even more nervous than Scorpius. She leaned over and desperately whispered to him, “How does the wand movement go again?”
“Ah, thank you for volunteering, Miss Weasley,” called out Professor Proudfoot. “I do not permit talking in my class.”
The little colour that was left in Rosie’s face drained away. She bit her lip and Scorpius thought she might cry. He noticed her hands were shaking too and without thinking about it stood up.
“It’s my fault, Sir. I asked her a question and she was just answering it; I’ll go first.”
Professor Proudfoot gave Scorpius a stern look. Both he and Scorpius knew it to be a lie. After a moment Proudfoot answered, “Fine. Mr Malfoy, you will go first. Next time it will be detention.”
Scorpius gulped and walked up to the front of the class, painfully aware that all eyes were on him. As he passed Bernard he heard him quietly say something and Adam’s answering snicker.
“Mr Smith and Mr Jones, did you fail to understand what I said about talking in my class being prohibited or did you labour under the delusion that my rules do not apply to such as yourselves?” asked Proudfoot sternly.
By this point Scorpius had reached the front of the room and could turn to see the frightened faces of Bernard and Adam who were mumbling incoherently.
“I suggest you both pay close attention as you will be following Mr Malfoy,” added Proudfoot.
Professor Proudfoot nodded curtly to Scorpius. “On three.”
Scorpius gulped and nodded.
“One...”
He recited the incantation to himself for the millionth time.
“Two...”
Scorpius looked up for a fraction of a second and saw Rosie clutching her wand hard enough that she was likely to break it. Both she and Albus seemed to be doing their level best to silently cheer him on.
“Three! Rictusempra!”
“Expelliarmus!”
Scorpius had always hated being so ticklish. He was laughing on the floor for only a few seconds before Proudfoot lifted the spell and offered him a grizzled hand.
“A good first attempt but you had a moment’s hesitation. In the real world, that can cost you your life. I certainly felt a tug on my wrist though. Are you ready to try again, Mr Malfoy?”
Scorpius nodded. He wasn’t sure it was the charm or the faint praise from his teacher, but felt a good deal of the tension leave him. Even if he got it wrong two more times, he’d gone first, he’d been close, his friends were supporting him and an essay wasn’t the end of the world.
“On three. One… two… three!”
“Expelliarmus!”
“Petrificus Totalis!”
This time the wand flew from Proudfoot’s hand, landing somewhere between them. “Excellent! Five points to Gryffindor! You may return to your seat, Mr Malfoy. Next!”
Bernard looked rather peaky as he passed Scorpius to take his turn in front of the class. Meanwhile, Scorpius took his seat between Albus and Rosie. Albus had given him the thumbs up sign as soon as the wand had left Proudfoot’s hand and was grinning ear to ear. Rosie still looked frightened about her upcoming turn but gave Scorpius’s hand a squeeze once he sat down. She was still clearly too frightened to risk talking in class again.
Bernard managed the spell on his third attempt. Scorpius felt slightly smug over how it had taken Bernard three tries and couldn’t help but be happy that Bernard wasn’t awarded any points either. As an added bonus, he got to watch both Bernard and Adam do some sort of jig after having Tarantallegra used on them. Scorpius made a mental note to look the wand movement up that night, it seemed quite effective. This thought was interrupted by the joyous discovery that Adam hadn’t managed the spell properly at all and was the first to be set the essay. Scorpius was beginning to think that Defence class would soon be his favourite, except perhaps Herbology. He hoped that Adam’s failure would help Rosie to relax a bit; at least now even if she didn’t do it right, she wouldn’t be the first to get it wrong.
Shannon Finnigan managed on her first try and was awarded five points. Cassandra Tulley was the next to have to write an essay. Mike Creevey managed on his second attempt, as did Albus. Scorpius gave him a congratulatory clap on the back; he couldn’t help but notice that Albus didn’t look very happy though.
“Miss Weasley, you’re next,” called Proudfoot.
Scorpius gave Rosie’s upper arm a quick squeeze and mouthed, “Good luck!” He hoped for her sake that she would do fine. Albus was crossing his fingers for her too.
“One… two… three! Rictusempra!”
“Ex-expelliarmus!” squeaked Rosie.
She was soon giggling as a result of the Tickling Charm though. “Your wand movement was perfect, but you need to be a bit more careful of pronunciation, Miss Weasley.”
Rosie nodded, her face as red as her hair.
Professor Proudfoot smiled. “After all, a few misplaced syllables and I may end up with a baboon’s head instead of having my wand fly from my hand. I suppose that could still be considered an effective defensive manoeuvre, however, I would prefer that we stick with Disarming me.”
Rosie only managed a small smile in return but seemed a good deal less frightened of her teacher.
“On three. One… two… three! Locomotor Mortis!”
“Expelliarmus!”
To Scorpius’s dismay, the wand remained in Proudfoot’s hand.
“Your pronunciation was much better that time and I did feel a pull. One more try then: one... two… three!”
“Expelliarmus!”
“Petrificus Totalis!”
Scorpius let out a sigh of relief as Proudfoot’s wand soared across the room. Rosie was positively beaming as she returned to her seat. As soon as class ended, Scorpius found himself engulfed in a hug.
“Thank you so much! You shouldn’t have lied for me but I’m so grateful you did and if you hadn’t helped me practice I never would have gotten the spell right at all and just… well, thank you.”
Scorpius smiled rather awkwardly as Rosie let go of him. “That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Still, I wanted to say ‘thank you’. It was awfully brave of you to go first like that.”
“It’s really not a big deal,” Scorpius replied, beginning to feel embarrassed.
“She’s right; it was a pretty brave thing to do,” agreed Albus, clapping Scorpius on the back.
He grinned in reply and rolled his eyes. “Next you’ll be telling me that the Sorting Hat knew what it was doing.”
Scorpius couldn’t help but feel that Albus’s smile didn’t seem quite genuine. He resolved to ask him about it later, once they were back in their dormitory. In the meantime he was enjoying the hateful looks he was receiving from Bernard and Adam, upon hearing Rosie’s and Albus’s praise.
Early Friday afternoon Scorpius took some time to write to his parents.
Dear Mum and Dad,
I’m really liking Hogwarts! Professor Longbottom and Professor Proudfoot are really cool! I burnt off half of my eyebrow in Transfiguration but I did really well in Defence class. I was even given points!
Rosie and Albus are my best friends. We went to the kitchens last week (don’t worry, Professor Longbottom sort of said it was alright). We went with Albus’s brother James and their cousin Fred. While we were there, James got into an argument with Alice Longbottom and she used a really cool charm on him. I like her, she seems really nice. Her dad is Professor Longbottom and her mum is Luna Longbottom! I’m hoping I’ll get to meet her mum later this year when she visits Hogwarts! I brought my copy of her book and I’m going to ask her to sign it! Anyway, everyone keeps talking about the fight James and Alice had so no one seems to be talking about me anymore which is really nice for a change.
I was wondering if you could teach me some spells like the one Alice used when I come home next. Flying lessons are next week, I’m going to go even though you already taught me how since I won’t get many other chances to fly this year. I’d like to try out for the Quidditch team next year. James and Fred both are this year, they really want to be Beaters, but there’s only an opening for a Chaser and Keeper. They’re going to go practice this afternoon while Albus, Rosie and I go to visit Professor Hagrid for tea. He said he might even let us see the Hippogriffs! I can hardly wait!
Luv,
Scorpius
“Hurry up, Scorpius,” urged Albus impatiently.
“Just a second,” he replied, careful to hide the last words of his letter in case Albus saw that he’d written ‘Luv’.
“We do have plenty of time,” pointed out Rosie.
Albus shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s Friday, and we haven’t been outside since Tuesday. If we leave soon we can skip stones at the lake for a bit.”
Scorpius carefully sealed his letter. “Can we stop at the owlery first?”
“I don’t think we’ll need to. Isn’t that Merlin at the window?” Rosie asked, pointing at the large common room window where the little owl was waiting expectantly.
Scorpius beamed. “Yes, I told him at breakfast that I’d have a letter for him after lunch. He’s an awfully smart owl,” he added with affection.
Merlin gave a hoot of pleasure at the compliment before flying off with the letter and then the three friends set off for the lake. On their way they passed James and Fred, bound for the Quidditch pitch in order to have a practice session before tryouts. Arthur was already a Chaser and had agreed to give them some tips.
It seemed to Scorpius as though it were a perfect day for flying. He dearly wished he’d been allowed to bring his broom to Hogwarts with him. First years were stuck using the school brooms until second year. It seemed a stupid rule to him, but his father had explained that it was because so many first years who didn’t know how to fly would get lost at night. Besides, the Forbidden Forest was a dangerous place to be lost, especially after dark. Scorpius gave a small involuntary shiver at the thought, despite the warm September day. This thought quickly vanished as he heard a loud splash followed by a screech; Albus had just thrown a large rock into the lake and managed to splash Rosie in the process. Within minutes the three of them were laughing and splashing each other.
“What are we going to do now? We’re all soaking wet!” exclaimed Scorpius, laughing.
“Don’t worry, Hagrid’ll dry us,” answered Albus as he sent another wave of water in Scorpius’s direction.
“We should get going,” chimed in Rosie. “We told him we’d be there in fifteen minutes.”
The dripping trio walked towards Hagrid’s hut, chatting happily. At first when Rosie looked up and screamed, Scorpius thought that James and Fred had decided to pull a practical joke on them. He quickly realized though that there were three cloaked people on broomsticks, and they were all much larger than either Fred or James.
“Stupefy!” roared one.
Scorpius dodged the jet of red light as Rosie screamed again. He fumbled with his wand, trying to pull it from his wet robes; Albus seemed to be having difficulty finding his wand too. Rosie had withdrawn hers and yelled, “Expelliarmus!”
The wand flew out of the first man’s hand but Rosie kept her eyes on the wand’s flight, rather than their assailants.
“Petrificus Totalis!” bellowed another man on broomstick, his face hidden behind a mask.
The look of triumph over having correctly used the spell froze on Rosie’s face. Her entire body went stiff as she continued to tightly clutch her own wand.
“No!” screamed Albus frantically, scrambling to grab the wand that had fallen.
Having finally freed his own wand, all Scorpius could think to do was raise it and shout, “Expelliarmus!”
Another of their attackers’ wands flew high in the air but as it did so, the man swooped low and snatched up Rosie. To Scorpius and Albus’s horror the three men flew off with her, taking her over the Forbidden Forest. Rosie was gone.