AUTHORS NOTE: Okay, so I gave up on the whole 'not gonna write' thing, because I have decided I like writing and don't need to stop just because of silly stuff. Anyways, here's chapter 21! And if anyone knows any editors and/or someone who could make me a cover, please send me a message? Thanks! Enjoy! -C
I sat crossed legged in one of the confortable red chairs by the fire, a book open in my lap about DADA, but my eyes glued to the fire intensly.
The flames skittered around, sometimes going from orange to purple and back, the wood sizzling as it was reduced to ash by the flames engulfing it. The fire's warmth kept the cold off my face- it had recently started snowing, and the weather was as gloomy as ever. Soon it would be the Hogsmeade weekend before the ball, and it will be awful to go out like this. Especially if I must try on dresses, which you might understand, I am not too found of.
I started chewing on my nails, my eyes still glued to the orange flames. I also had a DADA exam this week. And a Charms one too. In preparation for the OWLS. After the Christmas holidays, I'm sure all the homework will become much longer and trickier as the OWLs near us. I shivered, thinking of what my mom said in her letter: "It might be good to start studying, at least revising earlier topics. I'll send you some revision schemes, if you want." I think she'll send them to me anyways, but I suppose they won't do any harm. I think Albus is getting them too- after mom sent them to James and helped him pass all of his OWLs minus three or four, Harry has begged her to send them to all his kids.
I don't believe she minds. She also told me some of the funds raised by the ball are going to her endangered species fund, the Endangered Magical Species Society, or EMSS. She has a thing for abbreviations. Like SPEW. I think she has a fndraiser going on with SPEW. I don't know. The Ministry lets her do whatever she wants, they're so tired of hearing her never ending speeches.
But of course, before she shows it to them, she must run it over with us. Hugo usually slips away mid-way through it, and mostly I follow. The only one witht he pacience to hear it all is dad (even though I suspect he has masterd the art of sleeping with his eyes open).
"Reddo?" James pokes my arm and waves his free hand in front of my face. I avert my eyes from the fire and look up at him. He cocks his head mischeiviously and pulls another seat over, plopping down and hooking his foot under the table to bring it closer. "I must ask of you a favour." he declares, folding out a large piece of parchment on the table between us. It's blank. Then he pulls out another piece of parchment, neatly folded, but still decaying and rather crumpled.
"The Marauderes map?" I ask, reaching for it. He places it carefully beside the other piece of parchment.
"Right." He looks around, checking that no one is looking. The only other person in the common room is Caleb Hook and some other girl, doing homework by the long desk at the other end of the room. Some first yearers strolll by, not even taking a second glance at us.
"Well before I tell you anything, you ought to promise you'll tell no one." he half-whispers,looking around quickly. "Swear it. The Marauderer way." he adds hastily, as a second thought.
I sigh and repeat the familiar words Albus taught me when we were young, raising my right hand ceremoniously.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
James leans in, satysfied, and speaks in a low voice, which I can hear easily bu others will definatley strain to, interpreating as an uncomprihendible whisper, after James waves his wand casting a muffliato spell for good measure.
"You see this parchment here?" he taps it with his wand, whispering the infamous Marauderer's swear. From the entre of the page an image starts to blossm, branching out to every edge of the expanse paper.
"You created a new Marauderer's map?!" I hiss, disbelieving, watching the drawings spread, forming the neat outlines of the castle I knew so well. James hushes me and nods in confirmation.
"Yes. Fred and I did, along with Roxanne. And a little help from one of the Lovegood twins- Lorcan, I think. Albus helped too- but, indirectly, as well as McGonagall and Flitwick. But that's beside the point- the fact is, yes this is the new generations map." I whistle. Quite a long list he has there. I don't even want to know how McGonagall and Flitwick helped. I just hope they didn't jinx them or use veritaserum on them. Which, by the way, I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing.
"Well the real point is that we need your help." he finally admits, cracking his knuckles.
I stop and hold my hand out as if to stop him. "Wait, let me see if I understand this, You manage to replicate ibe if the most complex magical objects I've ever seen- yet you can't manage to merely pass are your OWLs with ease?" I laugh to myself at the irony, recalling how pnicked James was two years ago, when he figured out the OWLs also included written exams.
James finds this completly out of context and waits unil I'm finished with an un-amused epression. "Red, I need you to do this. Haven't you noticed there is a crucial part missing?" before I manage to answer he continues urgently, "No people."
I glance down at the parchment, realising he is right; there are no footsteps with name tags wandering around.
"And you expect me to find a solution?" I ask, chewing on my nails again.
James nods uneasily. I know he doesn't like asking for big favour like this, because he doesn't like owing people. The concept bothers him, even though he's like my brother and he doesn't owe me anything. "I s'ppose you'll be lik a Marauderer then. SInce you helped make the map. Your code name will be... 'Red, the Smart Unicorn'" he announces, spreading his hands draatically. I smile and poke around the new map curiously. It is rather magical. Obviously.
"My codename is Pang. No- Hoof. Panghoof." he muses, pacing in front of the fire thoughtfuully. I giggle at the frivoulous ideas, not daring to comment on how ridiculous they are. "You see, they are a mix between Padfoot and Prongs. Sort of. And moose maybe, because thats my patronus."
"So the 'codenames' will be based on our patronuses?" I ask, pulling out my wand to try out a spell I read in an old library book. James stopped and bit his lip thoughtfully.
"Yes, that is exactley what I meant." I rolled my eyes and told him to keep still so I could try the spell. "Ostendere viame incantatem" I mutter, recalling the words, which, from what I rember, meant something about followig their paths in latin.
I touched the tip of my wand onto the parchment and watched closely, looking for the Gryffindor common rooms tower. To my surprise, there James was, standing still in the common room. He started walking towads me to see if it worked and so did the footprints on the page.
The only problem was I would have to charm every single person in the shool to manage to see what all of them were doing and where. I sighed and folded the map.
"Awesome!" James muttered, sittin down again, as I stood up, the map under my arm.
"Okay SO I'll help you. But I have to keep the map with me." I told him. James eyes widedned and he bit his lip thoughtfully.
"But no one can see it. And- well me and Fred were thinking of makin some additions-" he started, counting reasons off his fingers of why couldn't keep it. I could feel my temper rising- it was late, I wanted to sleep and I told him I would help him. Isn't that enough?
"Do you want me to help you or not?" I ask impatiently, tapping my foot. James shrinks into the chair and gives in. "Okay, good night." I manage to mutter in a civilised manner, strutting to the girls tower, annoyed.
***********
Part of me wanted to sleep in.
The other part of me knew that even if I wanted to, I couldn't.
I kept up with this debate in my head, wondering if I should miss out on breakfast and sleep in. I am so not a morning person. But I am also my father's daughter, so to prove that, my stomach rumbles, cancelling whatever plans I had of attempting to miss breakfast. I sigh and sit upon my bed, throwing the crimson covers off me, stretching my legs in the winter cold of the room.
Bex is up already, brushing her hair and wandering round the room like she always does, supposedly to help get up. Evy is yawning in front of her trunk, staring down at t and Charlie is still snoring lightly in her corner. I step ono the cold floor, wincing at the sunlight which is penetrating our room.
As I take a look in the mirror I feel like just fogetting about the existence of my hair. It's a tangled mess of red curls, and completely static, sticking out horribly. What was the spell that Victoire taught me to untangle my hair? I paused in front of the mirror and took my wand waiving it around my head carefully. My hair smoothed itself out, laying in perfect waves down my shoulders, unlike it's usual curl-ball. I smirk, satisfied . Thank god for Victoire an her hair tricks. No wonder her hair is so luxurious. She must know about a thousand different spells for it. Like Lucy does. She paints her hair red, to blend in with the family. I remember the day she dragged me into the hair saloon so that she could pick the exact colour.
I pulled on my school uniform and pulled the Gryffinor coloured striped tie over my head, shaking my hair so it came out of it. I took my robe and tugged it on as I descended the stairs, suddenly falling and sliding down. I couldn't help but let out a small squeak as I slid down, falling neatly onto the floorby the door. Fred looked down at me, his dark eyes crinkling in amusement. "Hello, my dearest cousin." he greets. I huff and straighten my robes, and ignore him walking to the Great Hall.
I notice most of the tables are empty. I really don't know why, since the bell which soars through the castle announcing classes hasn't gone yet, and I'm pretty sure it isn't all that early. Or is it?
I try looking around for my friends on the Gryffindor table but no one seems to be around, so I end up sitting alone, trying to drown the cereal flakes in the milk.
It's quite boring, frankly, and I'm telling myself I should have stayed in bed when I feel someone sitting down beside me. I turn to see Dark green slytherin robes shining back at me and I smile. I didn't mean to smile. I just did.
"'Mornin Weasley," Scorpius greets me, taking a roll from a nearby basket and breaking it into pieces.
"Mornin' Malfoy," I reply in the same way, sipping my pumpkin juice coolly. He smirks at my imitation.
"Your hair is different." he comments vaguely, reaching out for it but thinking better of it and dropping his hand onto the bench. I blush a bit and concentrate on my food.
"Aren't you going to watch the match?" he inquires, breaking the silence and biting into the roll. I feel my eyes widening and gape in understanding.
"There's a match today?" I ask, obviously astonished. Scorpius laughs and nods.
"Have you been too ingrossed in your studies to notice the warnings?" he asked mockingly, finishing off his bread. "But relax, it's only Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw, nothing too interesting." he stands up and waits for me.
"Oh." I mutter feebly, thinking about how I actually did notice a few new fliers on the notice board. And McGonagall did say something about this morning. I stand up an decide I might as well miss it, since my latest experiences with Quidditch weren't all that friendly.
"You are coming, right?" Scorpius asks, staring pointedly into my eyes. I grimace and am about to remind him about my unfortunate incident last game (but I'm pretty sure he rembers himself, considering what happened later with him) when he rolls his eyes and takes my hand, dragging me outside.
"It'll be fun," he says, dragging me along. I let him drag me, feeling the warmth of his hand in minhe (okay, his hand is more like covering my hand but whatever). It's like his han was a puzzle pice made to fit into mine. God, that is so soppy. I roll my eyes at myself as we crunch through the fresh snow, and I finally realise I don't have a scarf on. And it's bloody cold.
Damn this British weather. I curse, stopping in our tracks suddenly. "I need to go back inside, get my scarf-"
Scorpius scrunches up his nose. "Come on, Rose, it's not even that cold. And the match started, look." he says, pointing at a figure hovering over the field. Probably the seeker. I smile but try an let go of his grip on my hand grudgingly, but he keeps a tight hold. He yanks off his own scarf and extends it to me.
"Take min, I'm not cold." when I make no move to grab it, he wraps it around my neck and proceeds to dragging me along once again. I smile secretly, his scarf smells strongly of whatever perfume he uses- like a mix between grass and something else.
It was great.
We climbed up some random stand and sat down in a corner to watch the match, and I crossed my legs in the spacey stand. I think it was a Slytherin stand but it was an old one and there were very few people here; a few third years (I think) were leaning over the front edge, cheering hysterically for Hufflepuff while a couple of Ravenclaws gave them dirty looks and egged on their own team.
I chewed on my nails, distracted, since the Game was pretty boring; Ravenclaw scored, Hufflepuff scored, and the seekers were literally asking each other where the snitch was. Scorpius nudged me just as I locked eyes with Andrew, Albus's friend and pointed at something right above our heads. I looked up and saw the golden snitch fluttering up and down. It seemed even it was bored with this game. "How can they not see this?" he asks incredulously him being a seeker. And even though I wish he wasn't, he was rather good.
"I know right..." I agreed, even though I probably woudn't notice it either, me being a rubbish seeker and all. The snitch fluttered away, slowly making it's way around chasers and other players. That's when the Ravenclaw seeker finally noticed it, swooping down in a jet of light, closely followed by a yellow blur.
But they lost it. I slapped my hand over my forehead, exasperated the lack of perseverance of these people. I stand up, pulling my robes straight again and turn to Scorpius.
"Shall we leave?" I ask, getting my bag from the bench, and looking him in the eye. His eyes avert quickly to the game and then back to me.
"Sure," he shrugs, standing up as well.
"So where do you want to go?" he asks, carefully treading on the snow. I stop and scoop some up in my hand letting it fall in between my fingers.
I breath out and shrug. "Dunno." I say, wiping the cold off my hands.
Scorpius lightens up and nods towards the lake. "Lets go over there!" he suggests, starting to had there. I laugh. Really, what are we going to do by a frozen lake? Sit in the snow and get frostbite? I ask him this and he shakes his head in disapproval.
"Rose Weasley, you don't think we're wizards for nothing, do you?" He gets about 50 centimeters away from the tree and takes his wand out surprisingly fast. "Incendio." He chants, waving his wand around a area easily. A small fire burns down the snow, making a round circle, almost as big as the tree itself and burns off, leaving a faint trace of smoke.
"You could've set fire to the tree!" I exclaim after I realise what he did. Scorpius shows his tongueat me and smirks.
"Nah, I wouldn't. I'm too smart for that," he replies cockily, sitting down. I touch the grass cautiously, and when I realise it is dry I sit down beside him rather grudgingly. At least it wan't windy, I told myself in an attempt to cheer up. But I like Autumn much better than winter, so I bury my head into my legs and close my eyes sleepily.
"So are you exited for the Hogsmeade weekend?" Scorpius asks conversationally. I mutter a feeble no into my legs and keep my eyes shut.
"Murf? Ooo-kay then.." he mutters, laying down on his back lazily. I hold my head up and say very clearly so he understands:
"No."
I can see a smile forming on his face and roll my eyes. "Why?" he asks cautiously, leaning n his forearms curiously.
I sigh. "Because Rebeca want's to go dress shopping and that never ends well, while Albus want's go to the Zooming Quaffle and the joke shop and James wants me to give him back his ma-" I stop in mid sentence and close my mouth, noticing how I almost gave James secret map away "-His maroon quill..." I say, and it comes out more like a question, but Scorpius seems satisfied.
"Then come with me." he suggests simply, lying down at staring at the blue sky through the branches of the trees. I laugh. As if it where that simple.
"I can't, because I promised Bex I would go with her." I explain in a smaller version of why I couldn't go- first off, James (if he saw me with Scorpius) would officially go mad and probably curse his head off, which wouldn't be good for either of them. Second, Bex would be mad at me because I was out with a 'filthy little Sluterin' and didn't tell her about it; Albus would probably shrug it off, but Lily woud have another fit because she told me Scorpius was hot and would probably be all 'I told you so!'. Louis, on the other hand- well, you get the point, most of my family would go bonkers.
And it's not that I don't want to go with Scorpius- I mean, he seems really nice and when he 'taught me how to dance' the other day, it really was fun. And I'm sure going to Hogsmeade with him would be even better but, the fact that my family is a bunch of
Anyways, Scorpius just rolled his eyes and tayed quiet, sitting up and staring blankly at the lake. Taking his silence as a hint, I took out my book and started to read, seeing as the conversation ended there.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Vote for Rose and comment for Scorpius...?