Curiosity Is Not a Sin

Confessions Are Awkward Business

Rose woke up resolved to forget about the conversation she'd overheard - or at the very least, push it out of her mind. She actually made a pretty good show of it on Tuesday, which was definitely helped along by the distraction of Quidditch practice and the fact that Scorpius couldn't follow her while she patrolled even if he'd wanted to because he'd landed himself in detention for skipping class again.

By Wednesday, however, it was starting to eat away at her, especially with the Quidditch match fast approaching. By the end of Care of Magical Creatures, her resolve had crumbled.

She'd managed to greet Scorpius perfectly normally when she sat down next to him, but when he'd grabbed hold of her hand partway through the lesson, it had brought the conversation she'd overheard rushing back. By the end of class, he could clearly tell something was wrong.

The only mercy was that he didn't appear to realise yet that it had to do with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern during a lull in the lesson, and she forced a smile.

"I'll live." He continued to study her, and the worry lines on his forehead deepened. Rose made a split second decision. "Can you - er - after class-"

"Sure," he said quickly. "Yeah. Absolutely."

When the rest of the fifth years began to trudge up the hill toward the castle, he hung back while she took her time about packing up her books. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to have turned into hippogriffs, which really was extraordinarily uncomfortable, and she was having a hard time breathing. If it was just admitting that she'd eavesdropped, that would be one thing, but this was probably going to require her to deal with what she'd overheard, and she was more than a little afraid of what a conversation about that might lead to.

"So what's wrong?" he asked as they started to follow their classmates up to the castle, albeit at a much slower pace.

For a moment, Rose was sorely tempted to try to distract him. She was fairly certain that she could... but then she'd be giving into cowardice, and that would be wrong.

A cool breeze blew across their faces, and she felt herself relax a little. The issue confronting her was no different than it had been five minutes before, but there was something about the autumn air that improved her disposition enough to give her the strength to tackle the issue.

"I-" She swallowed hard. This was even harder than she'd expected it to be, and from the expression on his face, he was starting to catch up. "I was in the library two nights ago," she said in a rush before she could lose her nerve. "I just - I didn't mean to be, I just was, and..." she trailed off. They'd reached a small patch of trees, and she let herself collapse into a pile of leaves under one of them, feeling very miserable.

She had liked it much better when she hadn't felt guilty about eavesdropping on him.

"And you overheard something?" Scorpius asked carefully. She nodded, and he knelt down. "A conversation between me and Noah?" She nodded again, and he rocked back onto his heels. "Bloody hell."

"I didn't mean it," she said again without looking up from the ground. She didn't want to see his face. "I was just there, and then you were talking, and before I could-"

"Before you could what?" he asked. His voice was already heated. "Tell us you were there?" She didn't respond, and he let himself fall backward so that he was sitting on the leaves, too. "It's really not that hard. All you have to say is, 'Hey, guys, I'm here.'"

"I couldn't." He gave a snort of skepticism, and she felt her temper start to rise, too. "It's true," she snapped. "There I was in the library, minding my own business and trying to find a book, and suddenly there you are talking about - it's not my fault. I didn't go there to eavesdrop on you, believe it or not." She spat the last few words out, and he sighed.