“Scorpius you, have to eat something,” Marissa pleaded. It was lunch time in the Great Hall after a rough morning of classes. The fifth years had so much homework that they would probably have no free time at all during the rest of the week. Everyone was happy for a short break. That is, everyone except Scorpius.
He had gone to the Hospital Wing after Care of Magical Creatures to see if Madam Boot could do anything about the gash on his cheek. She could only heal it a little, she said, but Scorpius knew better. Madame Boot could heal cuts in seconds; she was never fond of Scorpius, so she probably wanted this to serve as a point of humiliation for him. It was now prickling unpleasantly because of the potion she had put on it. Then, since he was late to Arithmancy, Professor Jensen had taken off 30 points from Slytherin. Even worse, in Potions he had accidently mixed up pomegranate juice with salamander blood, causing his cauldron to explode, resulting with Professor Slughorn giving him a detention. Scorpius’s day was not going well. And all of this happened right in front of the taunting eyes of Rose Weasley. When lunch came around, he was not in the mood to eat anything.
Scorpius muttered, “I’m not hungry.” Marissa gave up and started to moodily pick at her salad. Scorpius noticed a lot of eyes from all around the Great Hall were staring at the wound on his cheek. It seemed as though the whole school knew about the Malfoy/Weasley fight, and most people were amazed that Rose had the nerve to do that to someone. Having people staring was an uncomfortable experience. Scorpius stood up from the bench, pulling slightly at the collar of his shirt. Marissa looked up at him hopefully, starting to get up as well, but Scorpius stopped her. “Not now Marissa. Er…bathroom,” he mumbled. Marissa pouted, sitting down again, pushing her shiny brown hair out of her face.
Scorpius quickly left the Great Hall, swinging his school bag over his shoulder. As he walked down one corridor, he stopped, hearing voices. And the voices were way too familiar for him to ignore.
“…Rose, tell me exactly what happened. Now.”
“James, I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”
James Potter was sitting on the bottom of one of Hogwarts’ many staircases, Rose Weasley standing in front of him.
Scorpius quickly pressed his back against the nearest wall to make sure that he wasn’t in their lines of vision. It didn’t take much guesswork to figure out what they were talking about.
James was not one to be dissuaded. He stood up heatedly, towering over his cousin. “Rose, I mean it. Tell me or I swear-”
“You swear what, exactly?”asked Rose, narrowing her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. It was times like these where she sounded almost exactly like her mother. “You don’t scare me James.”
“Oh yeah?” James grabbed Rose’s shoulder, for she was turning away to leave. “You do know that I know about your diary, right?” Rose whipped back around, her face pale.
“How did you find out?”
“I heard you and Lily talking about how you were both keeping one,” said James, smiling naughtily, now knowing that he had her right where he wanted her. “It would be horrible if someone was to, say, make copies of it and distributed it to your whole year.” This was so like James to threaten to use a person’s weakness to get information.
“You wouldn’t,” Rose whispered.
“Oh, but I would.”
Rose paused for a moment, defeated.
“Fine,” said Rose finally. “I’ll tell you. But tell me why it’s so important for you to know.” James ran a hand through his auburn hair.
“Because you’re like a little sister to me, Rose. Also, you’re family. And I protect family. Now tell me exactly what happened between you and that slimy git, Malfoy.”
Scorpius shifted his position so he could hear them better. Rose then said the entire tale, with some minor changes. She left out everything about Scorpius harming her in any way, and Scorpius wondered why, for showing that he was some sort of horrible beast in this tale would have made him get into heaps of trouble with both the Potter and Weasley families.
When Rose was done, James looked at her admirably. “You punched him in the face?” He sounded awed. “Did the prat cry?” Before Rose could speak, Scorpius decided to make an appearance.
“No, I didn’t Potter. Why? Would you have?” He strutted out right in front of them, hands in his pockets. James looked murderous, while Rose looked slightly terrified.
“How much did you hear, Malfoy?” Rose said quietly.
“Oh, enough. So, Weasley, what secrets do you have hidden in your diary?”
Even though she blushed a livid scarlet, she kept her head held high and said, “Nice face, Malfoy. Don’t you think it’s a bit too early to wear your Halloween mask?” James stifled a snigger.
Scorpius retorted, “Nice bracelets, Weasley. I didn’t think purple was really your color.” Rose put her hands behind her back, hiding them from view, where her hidden wrists were bruised a brilliant purple where Scorpius had gripped them.
James grabbed Rose’s arm and held it up to examine her wrist. After letting go, he asked his cousin roughly, “Did he do this to you? What else did he do to you that you didn’t tell me?” Rose cast a sideways glance at Scorpius and didn’t answer. James started to advance towards Scorpius, pulling out his wand. “You think its okay to harm my cousin and get away scot-free?” he growled.
Rose whispered “James, no, don’t. I’m fine, honestly…”
“No you’re not!” James snarled spinning around. Scorpius had to give Rose points for not shrinking away in the shadows. “Obviously, you aren’t capable of taking care of yourself. But I’ll deal with you later.” As he pointed his wand at Scorpius, the bell for the closing of lunch rang. This was a new addition to the Hogwarts school setup, for McGonagall thought it would be more orderly . As students scurried out of the Great Hall for their afternoon classes, James lowered his wand.
“You are so lucky that that bell saved you,” James said furiously. “Next time you mess with anyone in my family, Malfoy, I promise you, you will be very sorry.” He grabbed Rose’s arm gruffly, dragging her down the Transfiguration corridor, saying ,“I’ll walk you to your next class.” As James dragged her along, Rose glanced back at Scorpius. Her expression was still full of fear, yet her eyes were filled with vehemence. She turned back and continued to permit James to haul her along.
Scorpius clapped a hand to his forehead. How could he have been so stupid? First of all, it was dumb to even show James and Rose that he was listening to their conversation. Second of all, he shouldn’t have brought attention to Rose’s wrists, because James was so close to murdering him a minute ago. Rose was probably even angrier at him, because now James was furious with her. On the bright side, he managed to make Rose’s life a little more difficult, with James now harassing her, and he found out her one weakness: She owns a diary.
Why didn’t he think of that before? Most girls spill their hearts out into those things, and all this time while trying to discover what made her vulnerable, it was something so obvious that he didn’t he think about it. Maybe it was because he didn’t think that Rose was that kind of girl, or maybe it was because Rose was stupid enough to leave her secrets lying around in some notebook that anyone could read. Walking to Transfiguration, he realized that he could torture Rose all he wanted now, verbally, at least, because she would probably not tell James about anything anymore, because of his temper. His day brightening slightly, he continued to walk with a new satisfaction.
Spark by panda_patronus
Chapter Notes: SORRY SORRY SORRY for not updating this sooner!!! For some reason I thought I updated this but I didn't! GRRRR!! But here is Chapter Six!! Enjoy, my lovely readers who have patience and have been eagerly awaiting this chapter!!!!!
***NOTE*** I will be going on vacation sometime in mid-August, so if you don't hear from me for a while, DO NOT PANIC. Everything will be okay. Thanks!!!
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks sooooooooo much for reading! You have no idea how much it means to me that people are taking the time to read my writing! Please review if you get the chance!