Curiosity Is Not a Sin

Gossip

Between all the time Rose had been spending with Scorpius and the frequent Quidditch practices, the state of her schoolwork had become truly dire. She was up for at least another hour and a half after everyone else had gone to bed, and even with that, she was going to need to use her free period the next day to finish her Transfiguration assignment.

The only reason she woke up the next morning was that she was literally pulled out of bed.

She had been up until the crack of dawn finishing her schoolwork, and when the other girls in her dorm had begun to move around only a few hours after she had fallen into bed, she'd pulled her pillow over her head and decided to ignore them. It wasn't a good plan, but she'd been pulling it off until Roxanne stuck her head in and, upon seeing that Rose was still in bed, had taken out her wand and unceremoniously dumped Rose out of her bed and onto the floor.

She ate breakfast with minimal communication with the people around her. When she got to Care of Magical Creatures and Scorpius greeted her with a smile, it was all she could do to keep from groaning.

He looked a little taken aback. "Are you okay?"

"Just tired," she said, yawning widely. "I was up late finishing my assignments."

Scorpius frowned. "If you had so much work, why did you spend almost two hours with me after hours last night?"

Rose was too tired to dissemble, so she simply said, "I wanted to."

Before he could respond, the professor called the class to order. He turned away, but she could see a smile on his lips, and when Woodmore turned around a few minutes later, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

Rose saw Albus roll his eyes, and she quickly discovered that Albus wasn't the only person who had noticed. As soon as they sat down to lunch, Holly leaned forward and asked, "So what's going on between you and Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Do I have to talk about it now?" Rose asked, rubbing her temples. Colleen was all right - she knew a little of it already, after all, and she was almost sure that Damien had heard about it from Scorpius or Albus, if not both - but she wasn't particularly keen on discussing Scorpius Malfoy with the Gryffindor fifth years as a whole, especially not when she was so exhausted.

"Yes," Colleen and Holly said together.

"It's not a big deal."

Holly turned to Albus, her blonde curls brushing across her shoulders. "He's your friend. Don't you know what's going on?"

Rose's heart sank. The last thing she needed was Holly latching onto her relationship with Scorpius. Holly was a decent sort, but she could be very silly, very giggly, and very, very gossipy.

Albus shrugged. "No idea. No one ever tells me anything," he said blandly.

Rose made a face at Damien, who was looking very bored. "Does it really matter?" he asked. "Or were one of you thinking of asking Rose out?"

Rose snorted, and Colleen and Holly both shot him a dirty look. "You're not the least bit curious?" Holly asked.

"No, I'm not," he said. "And I don't see why you are." They scowled at him, and he asked Rose, rather more loudly than he had to, "How's Quidditch practice been going? I don't want to announce at a game Gryffindor loses."

"Fine," Rose answered. "Don't worry. We'll win." After a moment, Colleen and Holly allowed Albus to steer them off the topic, though Rose doubted that that would be the end of it.

At least her housemates were just curious, not attacking her - which was certainly preferable to Scorpius's situation.

When they got up to go to Potions a short while later, Rose deliberately hung back as Damien stuffed the book he'd been reading into his bag.