Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 69: The Mysterious Traitor and Scorpius's Mistake

The girl shoved him aside, storming down the hallway and out of sight. Albus debated on running after her, but was too tired to bother. He really was the laziest prefect ever.

On his way back to Gryffindor Tower, Albus thought about the hooded girl he'd just bumped into. She seemed like she was up to no good, wearing an all-black cloak with a hood to hide her face. And she was crying too. For such a seemingly tough girl, what in the world had made her cry like that? Then Albus recalled what she had said to him, before realizing something.

He'd heard her voice before, but he couldn't place his finger on whose it was.

* * *

Scorpius crossed his fingers, hoping Rose's plan would work. It was their shift in the Chamber of Secrets tonight.

Rose took a deep breath, her wand pointed up towards the open mouth of the Salazar Slytherin statue, straight at the basilisk egg. Then she shouted, "Reducto!"

A flash of blue light erupted from her wand, hitting its exact target. When the dust cleared away, Scorpius and Rose were astounded to find the basilisk egg was perfectly in tact. The only damage the spell did was slightly chip the lip of the statue.

How dare she damage my face! Salazar exclaimed in horror in Scorpius's mind.

Gosh, you're even more dramatic than Albus, Scorpius replied.

"Why didn't it work?" Rose asked herself in disbelief. "It was supposed to destroy the egg."

"Maybe it's indestructible?" Scorpius suggested.

"That's impossible," Rose countered. "Basilisks may be indestructible against magic, but its egg is not. Maybe I was wrong and it's not a basilisk..."

"No, you're correct," Scorpius assured her. "That is a basilisk."

Rose gave him a puzzled look. "How do you know?"

"Because..." Scorpius's voice trailed off. He didn't know how to explain it. He just knew that they were dealing with a basilisk egg. It was almost like he could sense the creature, in a way. Maybe it had something to do with the guy in his head who had plenty of experience with a basilisk.

"I just know it, okay?" he said finally, sighing in frustration. "But it's no ordinary basilisk."

"Well that just makes matters worse," Rose grumbled. Then she pointed her wand up at the egg again, her eyes manifesting with determination. "Reducto!"

Nothing happened, although Scorpius swore he saw the egg twitch a bit, as if it were taunting them. He imagined the baby basilisk inside the egg laughing at their failed attempts to destroy it.

Growling angrily, Rose began shooting spells one after the other at the egg. "Expulso! Incendio! Bombarda Maxima!"

None of these destructive spells harmed the egg, though the last one rebounded and caused Rose to stumble backwards, though luckily Scorpius was behind her to catch her. He blushed slightly as her body came in contact with his. Rose quickly pushed herself off of him, brushing herself off sheepishly.

"There has to be a strong protective spell of some kind on that egg," Scorpius ventured, gazing at the egg like he was trying to figure it out. He thought he could hear it buzzing.

"Most likely," Rose agreed, observing her wand. "Whatever it is, it was strong enough to crack my wand."

"Maybe we should call it a night," Scorpius offered, worried about Rose. He knew she was never going to give up now. "Before we hurt ourselves..."

"We're running out of time!" Rose replied rather shrilly. "It's been nearly two months since we found the egg and we haven't figured out anything other than the fact that it contains a basilisk that could hatch any day now. Everyone is counting on us!"

"We're trying our best, Rose," Scorpius said consolingly. "What else can we do?"

Rose threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't know! That's what frustrates me. The prophecy is approaching and none of us have a clue as to what to do about it."

Scorpius gulped, knowing that everything that Rose was saying was true. They were all clueless, dealing with something that was far greater than what a normal person their age could handle. And that was beyond frustrating, not to mention terrifying.

After what seemed like forever of tense silence, Rose sighed and said, "I'm done for the night. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

She started to walk away, but Scorpius scurried after her. "Rose, wait!"

He caught her by her arm, both of them jolting as they touched. Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

Scorpius looked into her eyes, his expression serious. "We're going to figure this out. You're Rose Weasley, for Merlin's sake. We already have the advantage here."

Rose tried to stifle her smile, but failed. "You're just saying that." Then she frowned. "And no, we most certainly do not have to advantage here! We have a bloody basilisk egg to deal with, we have absolutely no idea how to destroy it, and our powers are probably nothing compared to whatever is threatening Hogwarts, and-"

To stop Rose's rambling, Scorpius probably did the stupidest thing he could think of. He grabbed her face and kissed her.

For a few seconds, Rose was completely frozen in shock. Scorpius knew he had just made a horrible mistake, but that thought quickly materialized when he felt Rose's lips moving underneath his own. Was he just imagining it? No, she was definitely kissing him back.

Scorpius had been waiting for this moment ever since he and Rose broke up. Their lips fit together like puzzle pieces, as they always had. He knew he didn't deserve to have her back, but he did want to enjoy kissing her for as long as he could. Besides, there was no telling what was going to happen when the two of them pulled away.

Eventually, they did pull away, and Scorpius found himself grinning. As soon as he opened his eyes, he expected to see Rose's beautiful, beaming face.

Instead, he saw her hand coming directly towards him. A millisecond later, Rose's hand came in contact with his cheek. Hard.

Scorpius cupped his stinging cheek with his hand, his eyes wide with shock. "Rose, what...?"

"I-I'm so sorry," Rose whispered, staring at the hand she slapped him with like it was a monster, clearly as surprised as he was.

Then she spun around and bolted out of the Chamber of Secrets, leaving Scorpius alone in an aghast state. What had he just done? Why did he do it? Why was he such an idiot?

Do you want me to answer that? Salazar asked, amused, referring to Scorpius's last question he asked himself.

Scorpius groaned at his stupidity.

~ ~ ~

Well, THAT just happened.

Wow, of all chapters, I made Scorpius and Rose kiss again in chapter 69. Oh, the irony. XD

So who's the mysterious traitor who's working for Lucius? Do you think Albus knows them? What's next for Scorose?

You know the drill! Please vote, comment, and share! And thanks so freaking much for reading! I love you all! *infinite kissy faces*