Curiosity Is Not a Sin

Slytherins

Breakfast the next morning was fairly uneventful, other than a short reply from Dominique and a long letter from her parents. Once she'd finished, she sped off to a double period of Ancient Runes.

After a full morning stuck in a classroom – she'd had Arithmancy after Ancient Runes – Rose was glad to escape outdoors for a Care of Magical Creatures Lesson. When she got there, she found Albus, Scorpius, and Damien lazing on the grass.

"Hey," she said, joining them. "Any idea what we're doing today?"

Albus shook his head. "Dunno. Woodmore didn't say."

As it transpired, they were doing hippogriffs that day. Rose found this very exciting; she'd been waiting to get to the interesting animals, especially now that she was a fifth year and felt fairly confident in her ability to deal with them.

Halfway through the lesson, as she and Albus were socializing cautiously with a brown and white hippogriff named Pelfeather, she noticed that while Damien seemed to be doing fine, Scorpius was giving the hippogriff the two of them were working with a very wide berth.

As Woodmore approached him, clearly intent on lecturing him about the importance of portraying confidence, Rose asked Albus, "What's his problem?"

"Who?" Her cousin followed her gaze. When he saw Scorpius, he let out a quiet chuckle. "Oh, Merlin." She cocked her head to one side, and he said, "Scorpius's father is really afraid of hippogriffs. He had a bad run-in with one when he was at Hogwarts, and I think he still thinks that they hold a grudge."

Rose stared at him incredulously. "What, all of them?"

Albus's grin widened. "Apparently. I think Scorpius has internalized his dad's warnings about this class a little too much, to be honest."

She glanced over at Scorpius again. With Woodmore's coaxing and Damien's encouragement, Scorpius was hesitantly stroking the feather of their hippogriff. It sneezed, and he leapt back as though it had tried to bite him. "Looks like it," she commented. Scorpius looked over at them, and she could see a faint tinge appear on his cheeks. She turned back to Pelfeather. "I like hippogriffs," she said. "Especially you. You're my favorite hippogriff."

Pelfeather turned its head and bumped her gently, and she giggled.

"Looks like the feeling is mutual," Albus said.

After class, they headed back up to the castle for lunch. Scorpius didn't bother to try and catch up with them; when Rose asked Albus about it, he said that his friend was probably more than a little embarrassed that she'd seen him being a little bit of a wimp.

That seemed to make a great deal of sense, and she made a mental note to say something vaguely reassuring to Scorpius about it later.

As usual, Rose and the rest of the Gryffindors enjoyed Charms, which on Wednesdays came right after lunch. Professor Harding could definitely be strict, but she was also a very good teacher, and by the end of the period, Rose was feeling fairly confident about her ability to perform an illusioning charm. When the bell rang, she and Albus exchanged a look of dread: up next was a double period of History of Magic.

The Slytherins had to make their way up to classroom from Herbology, so she and Albus had already settled in and were in the middle of debating whether or not he should use a snackbox when the door opened and the Slytherins started to file in. Scorpius was one of the last to enter the room; his left sleeve was dirty, and he was looking distinctly downtrodden.

He slid into the seat on the other side of Albus without looking at her. "I hate that class," he muttered, putting his head down on his desk.

"Are you okay?" Albus asked. Scorpius turned his head a little to look up at his friend, seemed to consider saying something, and closed his mouth again.