Curiosity Is Not a Sin

A 'Friendly' Jinx

By the time Rose woke up on Monday morning, Holly and Caitlin had already gone down to breakfast, and Colleen was putting her books in her bag.

As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, Colleen looked over at her. "Finally awake?"

"Is it really that late, or are you lot just up that early?" Rose asked, throwing the covers back. Judging from the sun streaming in through the window, it certainly didn't seem that late, but the days were getting shorter, and Rose had trouble keeping track.

Colleen smoothed back her blankets and sat cross-legged on her bed to wait for Rose got dressed. "It's not that late," she answered. "Holly and Caitlin were up early. They said something about ambushing your cousin."

"Which cousin?" Rose asked curiously as she pulled on a jumper. When she emerged from it, Colleen was grinning.

"Albus."

After a moment of processing that, Rose got the joke. "Well, good luck to them," she said. Given what Scorpius had told her about the incident with Gretchen, this was bound to be amusing. She grabbed her bag off her trunk, and Colleen got to her feet. "Come on. I want to see this."

There was no sign of Albus or either of the girls in the Common Room, so they hurried down to the Great Hall. When they got there, they found Albus sitting with Damien at the near end of the table. When Rose and Colleen slid in across from them, Rose could see that his face was bright red.

"Holly Zeller corner you, then?" Colleen asked, the corner of her mouth twitching.

Albus groaned and put his head in his hands. When he spoke, his voice was muffled. "Leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it."

Rose couldn't help but giggle. "Did you break her heart?" she teased.

"I told her no, if that's what you mean."

"Oh, Al." She shook her head as Colleen tried (without much success) to stop from breaking out into laughter herself. "Come on. What's not to like?"

He lifted up his head and made a face as he surveyed the food on the platters in front of them. "I don't think I'm hungry," he said. She cleared her throat, and he glanced over at her. "I heard you. She's nice enough, but she's so vapid."

"And he panicked," Damien added, and Albus sighed.

"That too," he admitted.

"You're such a snob," Rose told him as he picked up an apple and examined it. "So she doesn't think very much. Neither do you, so what's the problem?"

Albus wrinkled his nose. "Yes, Rosie, you're hilarious. Why me?"

"You're probably just cool by association," said a familiar voice, and James slid in next to Rose while Roxanne sat in the empty seat next to Albus. "I'm pretty amazing. People must be under the mistaken impression that you are, too, just because you're my brother."

Given that Albus managed to be quite well-liked all on his own, Rose couldn't blame Albus for rolling his eyes. "Good morning to you, too."

James grinned back. "Morning," he said cheerfully as Albus took a bite of the apple. "You can do better than Holly Zeller, anyway."

Albus choked. "You knew about it?" James shrugged, which Rose took to mean yes. "Why didn't you warn me?"

"Where's the fun in that?" asked James. He reached across the table and ruffled his brother's hair. "I knew you'd handle it all right."

"I don't know if I'd use the phrase 'all right,'" Damien said. "He stood there and stammered that he was sorry but just didn't think so."

James raised his eyebrows. "Well, then." He seemed to be at a loss for words. Given his surprise, Rose could only assume that he hadn't heard about the Gretchen situation, either. "You could have handled it better," he said eventually. "What is wrong with you?"