Rewritten || Scorpius x Hermione Time Travel AU

11 | Chamber of Secrets

He chucked it away from the pile he labelled as 'Disappointments' and angrily grabbed onto the next book.

"What is this extra-curricular you are working on?" Hermione questioned, perhaps for the nth time. Scorpius wasn't really keeping tabs.

"And I told you, Granger, we're not that—"

"—close yet, I know." She surreptitiously looked around to see if there were eavesdroppers nearby, before leaning closer and whispering, "Is this for Voldemort?"

"Shh," he hissed, paling at the mention of the Dark Lord.

A smug smile appeared on her face despite his death glare. "It is," she triumphantly stated. "Does Dumbledore know about this?"

Scorpius scowled. "Of course, he does," he snapped. "He's the first person to know about what I'm... I'm doing."

"Which is?"

"Tough luck, Granger."

"Come on. You told Dumbledore!"

"Which is the right choice, because I trust him," he drawled back, lips twitching when she frowned in concurrence. "Seriously, Granger, you should do something about that curiosity of yours. You might discover things you wish you didn't know at all."

Hermione crossed her arms across her chest. "Sometimes it is necessary to know so that we can properly plan for the inevitable," she reasoned out.

"And sometimes it isn't necessary to know everything because it's not your bloody business."

The Gryffindor witch scowled in frustration, and Scorpius couldn't help but flash a smirk at her antics. "Why do you need to know what I do?" he asked.

"Because there's something seriously different. About you. Your..." – she gestured wildly to pertain to his Dark Mark – "and your attitude. Your change of allegiances and your sudden vast knowledge about You-Know-Who's weakness when even Dumbledore didn't know he had seven of those horrible things he created. I mean, Dumbledore knows everything!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore doesn't know everything," he corrected.

"Yes, I know, because apparently, you know more about things in this war than he ever did," she said. "There's something about you for these past few days. My brain gets... gets so itchy trying to figure you out, but I can never make any connection. It doesn't make any sense." Her eyes narrowed accusingly. "You don't make any sense, to be honest."

The Slytherin mockingly placed a hand against his heart. "I am delightfully honoured to know that the brightest witch of her age thinks of me as a difficult puzzle to solve," he jibed.

Hermione sighed and a stray curl flew from her forehead.

"Okay, Granger, I'll compromise," he finally relented. Watching Rose's mother losing her cool was absolutely amusing; he somehow felt a little guilty for making her frustrated like that. "We're not friends and that's a fact. I don't trust you yet and you most certainly don't trust me either. What if every time I tell something about myself, something not everybody really knew, you'd tell me something about yourself in return? One day, I might tell you about this... this mission I have for... you know. It's for me to decide whether I trust you enough already."

"How will I know you'll not use my secrets to blackmail me in the future?" she spat, eyes still narrowed.

Scorpius smirked and stretched out his right forearm. "Unbreakable Vow?" he asked.

Hermione's eyes widened. "You're barmy," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know it's stupid, but it was worth suggesting," he said while chuckling. Granger glared, but he wasn't unfazed. "The look on your face when I even suggested it, ha! Merlin, Granger, do you honestly think I'm desperate to earn your friendship?"