Curiosity Is Not a Sin

The Hogwarts Express

Riding the Hogwarts Express with Scorpius-Malfoy-her-boyfriend took a little getting used to. She generally rode the train with James, Roxanne, and some of their friends, and when she thought about it, she wasn't sure a year had gone by where she and Scorpius didn't get into some argument during the ride.

Which was, in retrospect, really quite impressive - she certainly hadn't managed to do so with anyone else.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

Rose, who'd been watching the bare trees through the train window as she thought, started. "What?" she asked, turning her attention back to the compartment.

Scorpius looked a little amused; his grey eyes were gleaming, and as she studied him, he ran a hand through his hair in a way that vaguely reminded her of her cousin James. Knowing that he'd be horrified by the comparison, though, she kept her mouth shut.

"Oh, you know. This and that." She glanced over at Albus and Noah, who were sitting across from them. Their attention seemed fixed on the chessboard sitting on the seat between them.

Sitting in such an empty compartment was taking some getting used to, too. Usually, she was squeezing into a compartment with twice this many people.

She lowered her voice. "I was just thinking about how you always managed to pick a fight with me."

"Well, there's still time for that." She elbowed him, and he grinned. "Yeah, I was actually just thinking that it's a lot nicer to ride the train with my arm around my pretty girlfriend than it is to stew about the pretty girl I fancy."

She kissed his cheek, and his smile turned into a smirk.

"Gag me," Albus muttered. He appeared to have lost the chess game. The sunlight streaming through the window was making his red hair glow almost as brightly as Rose was sure hers was. "I think I might have actually preferred the feuding."

"No, you didn't," Noah said, glancing up from the box he'd just finished putting his pieces into. "I might have, though the jealous jerk routine was getting a little old."

Scorpius seemed to be ignoring them both, though Rose suspected him of having distinctly ulterior motives when he gently turned her face toward him and leaned in for a kiss.

Rose smiled and kissed him back. His grip on her tightened, and she gave a loud squeak as he pulled her into his lap and opened his mouth.

Before she could decide whether to have some respect for their friends' sensibilities or to just take whatever snogging she could get before a long Christmas holiday, a small box hit Scorpius in the side of the head. In the process of jerking back from Rose, he slammed his head into the window.

He cursed and raised a hand to his head. "Ow."

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, scrambling up to peer at his head.

He leaned around her to glare at his cousin, whose face was buried in his book. "Noah, you're a prat."

Noah shrugged and turned the page. "Serves you right."

Rose exchanged a look with Albus. "It does, you know," the red-haired boy told Scorpius. "You're being a little bit of a prat yourself. You know that if you do starting doing that when you visit her, my uncle might actually kill you, right?"

"Well, only if we get caught - and why do you think I'm getting it out of my system now?"

Albus began to rummage in his bag. "Sure, that's exactly what you're doing." He pulled out a few scraps of parchment. "Hey, Rosie, are you done with your Christmas shopping?"