Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 70: Tension On The Rise

"Join us or die," Lucius enunciated clearly, pointing his wand straight at Rose's face. Her whole body was trembling.

"N-Never," she whispered feebly, bracing herself for impact.

"Very well, Miss Weasley," Lucius said hollowly. "Avada Kedavra!"

After a blinding flash of green light, everything went dark.

* * *

Rose sat up in her bed with a start, her chest heaving. Tears streamed down her face, and her body was shuddering violently, just as it had in the dream. She felt the urge to make sure Scorpius was alright, but then she remembered what had happened between them, and decided against it. The image of Lucius Malfoy's face right before he killed her was permanently embedded in her mind. She hadn't had a dream so perturbing in a long time.

As much as it bothered her day by day, Rose never told her friends about the nightmare. She figured they each already had enough to worry about, such as continuing their last year of Hogwarts whilst preparing for an oncoming prophecy. Rose could barely read or study anymore, she was so stressed out. And she could tell her friends were as paranoid as she was, as the weeks kept flying by and no sign of trouble displayed itself.

Sometimes, Rose wondered if the prophecy would actually ever occur. She hated not knowing when it was going to happen, which caused her to be on edge nearly every second of the day. In fact, she almost hexed a poor first year who accidentally bumped into her.

As for her and Scorpius, well...they were back at square one after their breakup. Rose avoided him anytime she could, unless they had to go down to the Chamber of Secrets with him to check on the basilisk egg. If that was the case, they'd exchange a few comments here and there. Otherwise, they never acknowledged each other. They didn't even bother to discuss their kiss.

Having Scorpius as only an acquaintance was simply for the best.

Or is it? Rowena questioned.

Please don't, Rose thought to the nosy woman in her head.

I cannot help that I am so appreciative of a great romance.

Over my dead body. Rose instantly regretted using that particular phrase.

She continued writing her Potions essay, occasionally glancing out her window as she gathered information in her brain about bezoars. As she gazed out the window, she didn't notice the tears that had already escaped her eyes.

Gryffindor Tower unfortunately offered a clear view of the courtyard that was in Rose's nightmare.

* * *

"There," Holly said, leaning back to observe her handiwork.

Albus grabbed Holly's compact and looked in the mirror. He sighed with relief.

"Thanks Holly," he told his girlfriend gratefully.

The 7th years had started Apparition classes that day, and let's just say it didn't go very well for Albus. Well, it could have gone worse. He just lost both of his eyebrows, which Holly thankfully fixed for him.

"I'm just glad you didn't lose a body part," Holly replied, examining her finger. She lost half her fingernail.

Albus turned to Scorpius, who was sitting across from him and Holly. "I don't see how you and Rose got it on only your second tries!"

Scorpius shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess we're just that good."

"Whatever." Then Albus noticed his friend's long face. "Hey, what's bothering you, mate?"

Scorpius shook his head, avoiding Albus's gaze. "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

"Because you won't look at me."

"I'm just stressed, okay?" Scorpius said exasperatedly. "Try having Salazar Slytherin in your head while you're attempting to Apparate for the first time. It's kinda hard when all you hear is 'That's not how you do it, Scorpius.'"

Albus laughed at Scorpius's impression. "Nice excuse, but I know that's not what's bugging you. You're thinking about what happened between you and Rose, aren't you?"

Yes, Scorpius told Albus what he did. Let's just say Albus's stomach was still sore from laughing so hard.

"Good God, Scorpius, what did you do now?" Holly asked with mock amazement, making Albus snort.

"I didn't do anything!" Scorpius protested, then shrunk in his seat. "Well, yeah, I kinda, um...I sort of kissed her."

"YOU WHAT?" Holly roared, then proceeded by smacking Scorpius's head. Then she turned to Albus, making him gulp. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Scorpius made me promise not to tell anyone!" Albus exclaimed, pointing at Scorpius accusingly.

Holly huffed in frustration. "Scorpius, you idiot!"

"I'm already aware," Scorpius mumbled.

"What were you thinking?" Holly demanded him. "You can't just randomly kiss her because you still love her! Now you've confused her!"

Albus watched the bickering friends like a tennis match. He never realized just how much drama existed in their small friend group.

"It was a spur of the moment thing," Scorpius countered. "I don't know what came over me, I swear. Bloody hell, what have I done?" He buried his face in his hands.

"Something stupid, that's what," Holly answered his question.

"I think that was a rhetoric question, dear," Albus whispered to her.

* * *

That night, it was Albus and Scorpius's shift in the Chamber of Secrets. Albus really hated going down there. He would never say this out loud to Rose, but lately, going down there was a huge waste of time. The egg has remained in the same condition since the night they first found it.

To make matters worse, Scorpius was in a terrible mood, and he was not a fun person to be around when he was moody. Whenever Albus tried to make conversation on their way down the the chamber, Scorpius would always give one worded answers, a sign that he wasn't in the mood to chat. Albus respected that, so the two boys walked in silence.

When they arrived at the chamber's stone vault door, Albus watched as Scorpius spoke in Parseltongue, hissing something that he swore sounded like, I hate everything.

The door unlocked itself, creaking open. Scorpius led the way, yawning mundanely. Albus could tell there were a million other things his friend would rather be doing right now. And Albus felt the same way as they walked into the dreary chamber.

They kept walking down the runway, until Scorpius stopped abruptly, causing Albus to run straight into his back. He noticed Scorpius's whole body was tense.

"Why'd you stop, mate?" Albus asked curiously.

"Where's the egg?" Scorpius said lowly, staring straight ahead at the Salazar Slytherin statue. His face was ten shades paler.

"What?" Albus muttered, following his gaze. When his eyes landed on the mouth of the statue, his eyes widened. The basilisk egg was gone.

The two boys took off running down the runway, immediately climbing up the statue. They frantically searched every crevice, trying to spot the egg. It was nowhere to be seen. Someone had been in here and moved it. Then a terrible thought occurred to Albus.

What if the egg had hatched?

Albus's gulped, his heart sinking with dread. "This is not good."

~ ~ ~

Oh dear... :O

I really enjoyed writing this chapter! I can't believe this story is up to SEVENTY CHAPTERS!!! My goal is to make it to 75, but that may change depending on how I pace everything leading up to the end. Thing are about to get crazy, just FYI.

Question: How did you guys find my story? I'm curious :)

Alright, you know the drill! Please vote, comment, and share! Thanks so much for reading! Love ya! *infinite kissy faces*