Roses on the Sidewalk {HP}

Chapter 10

I broke my bread into tiny pieces and stared off into space. Bex and Albus were discussing what they wanted to do in Hogsmeade again; I didn't really care. 

Scorpius was jeering in his table. Mohini had told me that he had gotten into the team- which was quite obvious seeing how boastful the boy was today. 

He punched Yaxley in the arm and glanced up, catching my eye. I immediately looked down and pretended not to notice. What would he think if he saw me looking at him? Hopefully not that I liked him. Because I do not. Oh Merlin, how is it even possible to like such an obnoxious person? Exactly. You can't. Its physically impossible. 

I was still quite upset I hadn't gotten into the team- I really wanted to. It was great to feel the rush of the wind as you flew after the Quaffle. Ateast Lily got in. She's really hyper about it. 

Like Really hyper.

She was literally jumping around the common room last time I saw her. I focused back to my friends. Bex was mouthing something to one of the twins and Albus was reading the book he stole from the room of Requirement. Andrew was munching on food and looked at me then quickly looked the opposite direction. 

Some girls passed by us giggling and flirtatiously flipped their hair and waved at Al. Just so you can see how tuned in he is to the world, He barely noticed and just murmured under his breath something which sounded suspiciously like 'Rumplesteilskein'. 

I sucked in my cheeks and pushed away my plate. It almost immidiatley floated down to the kitchens. 

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the hall ways, causing my toes to curl and my ears to cry out in agony. Albus let go of his book and covered his ears with his hands and Bex almost fell out of her chair, since she was so distracted trying to mime something to Lorcan and Lysandar. Madame Pompfrey, who now had a new assistant called Madame Havinna (whom, might I add, is sure to replace her at some point), ran into the grand hall panting. She looked up at the teachers table and indicated that Hagrid should follow her; I heard Headmistress McGonagall had been out, taking care of school business with the ministry. Madame Havinna was gesturing wildly and her round specs slipped down her turned up nose, and I noticed there were various bits and bobs sticking out of her large white apron pockets.

The little of Hagrid's face which wasn't covered by hair paled ever so slightly and he ushered Havinna out following her closely. Albus and I exchanged a glance and immediately stood up, racing other students to the door. I noticed that barely none of the Slytherins had gotten up and Scorpius was whispering with his groupies and snickering quietly. 

A large amount of people had gathered around where Hagrid was tryig - unsuccesfully- to push students away. 
"NOTHIN' TO SEE 'ERE!" he waved his huge hands around and wagged his fingers at first yearers. 

I noticed Madame Pomfrey was bent down so that I could barely see her over all the heaps of people. I pushed my way through the swarm and finally managed to sneek a decent view. 

A Gryffindor was twitching uncontrollably on the floor, his eyes glazed over and his skin pale. His name was Gregory Thomas; I was pretty sure he was a fourth yearer. I gasped and Albus stared horrified at the scene in front of us. 

The head boy, Cedric caught my eye.
"Little help here Gryffindor?" he shouted over the commotion. Albus pulled Lily away and told people to leave. 

"PEOPLE!" I cupped my hands over my mouth.No one barely looked at me. Peeves fluttered my cackling gleeful. 

"The ickle firsties are scared!!" he sang as if he hadn't noticed what happened below. He brought with him a large bucket which threatened to spill over. "Now; who wants some toilet water to the head?" he flew over the crowd, spilling drops of water everywhere. 

"PEEVES!" someone moaned. 
"Oh GROSS!" another screamed as water fell on to their arm. The crowd started swarming away. Peeves dropped the bucket, spilling water to the floor and splattering my robes with specs of water. I held back a groan and followed the flow of people away as the nurse and Hagrid took the poor boy to the infirmary.

This whole event was quite ratlling; the fact that I caught Malfoy staring at me just added to the sentimemt. What was he planning now?  And why does he insist on staring at me?

****

I pushed my hair behind my ears and tried to concentrate in reading the ingredients for the Beffudlement Draught we would have to make when Slughorn finally came back. 

Bewitched paper airplanes and origami's flew overhead and people were shouting across the room; Naomi was telling Albus how some girl called Sierra wanted to go on a date with him while he didn't understand a thing, Bex was peering over a potion which was brewed inside a cauldron sitting on the Professors desk (I think she dropped her earring in there) whilst some boys were watching a Quidditch match by using a charm they found on the Internet. 
Summing up, the class was in a state of total chaos. 

"Oh yeaah! I totally need to get a new quill. This one is way too old." Ruth rambled to another Hufflepuff. Hearing this, I reminded myself that two days from now, On Saturday we were going to Hogsmeade. I smiled to myself. The weather was dreadful- no surprise there, its always raining and cold- but it was supposed to be less windy on Saturday. 

"Rose, am I attractive to your girl mind?" Albus asked sincerely. I snorted and looked up from my book. His eyes didn't twinkle like James when he played a joke; they were dead serious. I burst out laughing. 

How could he keep such a straight face whilst asking me such a ridiculous question? 

"Seriously now!" he waited for me to calm down, checked that Slughorn wasn't by the door and continued,"Like 3 girls asked if I wanted to go with them to Hogsmeade today. And they never asked me before. Aand, I haven't even talked to one of them!" 

I rolled my eyes at him. "Albus I am in no position to tell you if your 'hot' or not." I said air-quoting with two fingers. He leaned against his hand and sighed. 

How would I know if my cousin was attractive? Its not something you really get asked everyday. yeah I suppose Albus might be 'cute' to other girls; most of them die only because of green eyes (ridiculous, I know). Slughorn trudged in, his big stomach making way and his fingers looked sticky, probably from crystallized pineapples or something. The class settled down and he gave us some lame excuse about 'Forgetting which room we were in'. 

Seeing that we had lessons only in this dungeon, I found it hard to believe.

After reciving a pat on the back and a 'Brilliant!' from Proffessor Slughorn (not boasting!) we filled out of the room for our free period which was supposed to be used to study for OWLs and do homework- I had a heap of homework, all the teachers gave it like if we didn't have any other homework.  

"No- they say she shall at least suspend.." a pompous man said to another in one of the various paintings while I climbed up the moving staicases. 

A witch with a red cape stared me off while her acquaintance muttered in her ear. 

I stopped and looked around. I was in an empty corridor Which I had barely ever noticed. I decided to poke around, even though my homework was weighing down my bag. 

I heard a faint humming; was someone else here?I walked further towards the humming. It was loud now. A man with a long white hair was strolling through some paintings to my left. His purple robes called my attention, as did his huge beard, which was tied up close to the bottom with a decorative elastic band. 

I don't think he noticed me for he continued humming and strolling aimlessly. His nose seemed crooked and he had blue piercing eyes. I immediately put my hand to my nose. Much to my displeasure I had the same nose as my dad, long and sloped. Urgh. 

As the man turned he noticed me and winked joyfully. As I saw him head-on I remembered seeing him in McGonagalls office. He was Albus Dumbledore! The Headmaster everyone talked about and the one who gave dad the Deluminator! And also, the one who Al was named after.  Obviously.

I watched him walk away calmly, just watching. 
"Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore!" a frilly voice called angrily. I couldn't see who it belonged to but soon enough she was talking again. "You left the portrait?! You know Minerva wanted you opinion! You're the one who know's the school best! Now come along!!" 

"My dear Eossa, I do not know who could have possible set of such a horrible set of traps and curses. I haven't been alive for over 20 years now.." Dumbledore replied in a calm voice . The woman, Eossa, sighed and just walked away, possibly followed by Professor Dumbledore, or not. 

"Maybe.." a voice, Albus Dumbledore's voice, rang through the corridor, "Perhaps we should give a couple of students a shot-" 

Eossa must have shot him a warning glance because that was the last I heard from either of them.