Curiosity Is Not a Sin

Fighting with Scorpius

By the time Rose and Albus left Defense Against the Dark Arts that afternoon, she had completely forgotten that she'd told him she would join him and Scorpius in the library to do some work at breakfast that morning. However, when she started to continue up the stairs to Gryffindor tower, Albus called after her, "Weren't you going to work with us in the library?"

It took Rose a moment to remember what he was talking about. "I forgot," she said as she retreated back down the stairs.

Her cousin rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."

"Well, it's been a long day."

He didn't look sympathetic, probably because a significant part of her long day had involved sneaking into the village to see Fred and playing exploding snap with Marion once James had gone to Transfiguration.

Scorpius was already there when they arrived. He looked up from his Potions book as they sat down across from them. "Get caught?" he asked. Albus had clearly enlightened him on why Rose had rushed off in such a hurry.

Rose smirked as she pulled her Arithmancy essay out of her bag. "Of course not. We never do." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Albus and Scorpius exchange a look, but neither bothered to respond.

Other than a few whispered questions, they worked in silence. Rose glanced up at the clock frequently, and when it hit six o'clock, she began to stuff her books into it.

"You're done already?" Scorpius asked in surprise.

"No, but I'm hungry - I skipped lunch, remember? If you both want to keep working for a bit, go ahead, but I need to eat something."

She was not surprised when Scorpius immediately began to pack up his bag. Albus waved them off. "I'll be down in a little while, I want to finish this essay first," he said. He was clearly amused by how eager his friend was to follow Rose out of the library.

As they left the library, she glanced at Scorpius. "You know I'm not sitting with you at the Slytherin table, right?"

"I know," he said cheerfully, shoving his hands inside his pockets. "But I figured I'd walk you down and leave you to enjoy dinner with your narcissistic cousin." She stopped dead in her tracks, and he looked at her, clearly realizing a moment too late that he'd stepped over the line. "I mean—"

With difficulty, she managed to restrain herself from taking out her wand. "Don't insult James," she snapped. He opened his mouth, but she cut him off before he could say anything. "You don't have to like him, but if you can't keep your mouth shut, you can sod off right now."

At this point, she had him backed up against a wall, and he swallowed audibly. However, when he replied, his voice was just as irritated as hers was.

"Oh, so that's it, then?" he asked. "Your brilliant cousin can treat me like scum for four years, but if I want to get with you I just have to shut up and take it?"

Rose was caught between wanting to take out her wand to jinx the hell out of him and feeling vaguely pleased that at least liking her hadn't completely taken away his backbone.

She crossed her arms and backed off a little. "I don't care what you think of him or why, he's my cousin and I love him and I'm not going to just stand here while some stupid snake has a go at him."

His eyes had narrowed considerably, and the sneer she'd always disliked so much was back for the first time in weeks. "Don't call me names."

"Then don't insult my cousin."

Scorpius closed his eyes for a minute and took several deep breaths. When he opened them, he looked a little calmer. "Fine. I'm sorry I insulted your cousin." When she didn't respond, he said patiently, "See, this is the part where you also apologize for calling me names."