Curiosity Is Not a Sin

Eavesdropping in the Library (Again)

Rose remembered all too well what Scorpius had said about her eavesdropping. She knew that he would be exceedingly unhappy if he knew that she was there if she didn't speak up right now. The thought of his face if he found out made her seriously consider stepping out from behind the bookshelves, quickly, before he could answer Noah's question.

However, she wasn't entirely sure that she could have moved even if she'd wanted to. Her feet felt fixed to the spot.

"I know," she heard Scorpius say. "I know."

If she was going to say something to announce her presence, she knew she needed to say it now.

She didn't.

Noah sounded much less amused than he usually did when he was talking about Scorpius's feelings about Rose. "Scorpius, what is wrong with you?"

"Well, I didn't say it," Scorpius muttered defensively, and she wrinkled her nose, wishing that they would stop being so vague. She already knew that she was going to feel exceedingly guilty about this later, and she wanted the guilt to at least be worth her while.

"Did you mean it?" Noah asked. She wasn't always good at reading between the lines, and while she felt like she probably should have at least some inkling of what they were talking about, she didn't have a clue. She couldn't even think of a time recently where it had seemed like Scorpius was going to say something and didn't at the last minute, though Merlin knew that she wouldn't have necessarily noticed, anyway.

Scorpius cleared his throat. After a moment, he muttered something that she couldn't quite catch. She leaned in closer to the bookshelf and rose up on her tiptoes, though she doubted that either adjustment would help her hearing. She wished that she had an extendable ear with her, but she didn't have the nerve to summon one - it was too risky, and at any rate, it probably wouldn't even get there in time.

There was a long silence. Just as she was starting to get antsy, Noah spoke again. "Scorpius," he said in a voice that was far too calm to be natural, "you've been going out with her - or whatever you want to call it - for, what, a month? How can you love her?"

Rose's stomach leapt into her throat, and she felt her legs start to weaken. She allowed herself to sink down to the floor, afraid that if she didn't sit down immediately, her legs would give out, anyway.

She was so distracted by this revelation that she missed the next minute of conversation, and she refocused just as Scorpius said, "Look, I know it was stupid."

"No," she whispered sarcastically. "You think?" Now she knew exactly when he'd almost said it: it must have been by the lake. She was very glad he hadn't; at least now she could process it without having to talk to him, too, because at the moment, she had absolutely no idea how she felt about the revelation.

Noah muttered something. She couldn't hear the words, but his tone made his general sentiment clear: he thought that his cousin was an idiot.

"It just kind of felt right, you know?" Scorpius said. He sounded a little desperate, and she realised with a start just how unfortunate it was for him that he was going out with one of the two girls he couldn't possibly speak completely openly about with Albus. Rose was coming to understand the friendship the three boys shared a little better, and it was clear that Noah tended to be a little more blunt and a little less sympathetic.

Noah declined to answer the question directly. "You've spent four years antagonizing her, Scorpius. Really?"

"I like her now, though. She's funny and she does have a sweet side-"