Whenever I woke up that morning it was to see the parchment glow faintly. I sat up groggily and folded it open.
"Morning gorgeous,
The HB said we have a meeting in the HB/HG common room after dinner tonight to discuss round duties. See you then! -SM"
I went through my bed side drawer and pulled out a quill.
"Got it, see you then. -RW"
After I wrote the words, Scorpius's hand writing vanished off the parchment like a sponge had absorbed the ink. I watched the parchment for about a minute, figured he had read it, then I casted the charm that vanished my writing on not only my side of the paper, but his as well. "How in Merlins sweaty underpants did you make this?" I jumped when I heard Harley's voice say loudly behind me. I turned around quickly to see she was sitting, already dressed in her school robes, on the edge of my bed looking over my shoulder where she had witnessed our messages transpire. "Sh!" I whispered loudly. She rolled her eyes, "Rose, Sarah and Hannah left five minutes ago. And if you don't hurry up and get ready, you'll be late." She said casually. I looked at my watch and nearly had a heart attack when I saw that classes would start in twenty minutes. Harley leaned against the wall cooly as she watched me race between the bathroom and dormitory getting ready. I was putting my black robes on when she said, "doesn't it help to get out of your pajamas first?" She said with a smirk. I quickly began to get dressed properly. Finally after ten minutes I stood, hopefully ready, in front of her. "Good?" I asked breathlessly. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up. As we walked quickly down the corridor, on our way to the dungeons for our potions lesson with Slytherin, Harley began to ask me about the message parchment. "So what exactly is it?" Harley asked as we walked past the doors of the great hall. I began to explain, "well, me and Scorpius don't exactly get to see each other often do we? Sneaking around and all- so yesterday on the train I made this." I held out the folded parchment, then stuffed it back inside my robes. "I'm not sure what to really call it, but if I write anything on this paper, his paper will see it. All I have to do is preform the scorgify charm, and the ink disappears on both my paper and his." I said simply. Harley nodded her head with an expression of impressed on her face. "I figured since we can't see each other when we want, at least now we can talk to each other when we want." I said shyly as we began to descend the stairs that led to the dungeons. Harley chuckled fondly as we walked down the cold, damp, stone corridor. "WEASLEY!" I turned around at the call of my name. The Head Boy, Ashton Wilson, was running down the corridor quickly. "What's up?" I asked simply as he tried to catch his breath. "There's a-" I interrupted him. "A meeting after dinner in the HB/HG common room discussing rounds, correct?" I said casually. Wilson stared at me with wide eyes. "But how did you know?" He asked in confusion. I felt a blush creep along my cheeks. "One of the prefects told me about it." I said quickly. Wilson looked at me with squinting eyes. "But- Iv only told Malfoy this morning. How did-?" He began to ask, "I'm going to be late, see you around!" I said quickly, grabbing Harley around the wrist and walking swiftly down the corridor. "Nosey git." Harley whispered irritably. I began to laugh, "is it possible? Did Harley Andrews, one of the most polite people in the world, just call the Head Boy, a git?" I asked in mock surprise. Harley rolled her eyes as we walked into the potions classroom. "Besides, I shouldn't have mentioned I already knew." I said quietly as we sat ourselves in the back of the classroom. Just as the bell rang a group of Slytherin boys and girls ran inside laughing. "Your so funny Scorpius. Thanks for helping me find my way around here again." I turned around in horror when I heard the shrill and annoying voice of none other than, Daisy Castro. Scorpius had a grimace on his face, "sure- you were only gone for a year though. I don't see how you forgot everything." He said with a raised eyebrow. Albus stuffed his fist in his mouth to stifle his laugh as Daisy blushed scarlet. I felt a burning in my stomach, I wanted to hex the dim witted bimbo to hell and back. "What is she doing here? I thought she transferred!" I whispered to Harley in anger. "Well, you know. The school in France is so much bigger. But I didn't fit in. So my mother said after the Christmas break I could transfer back to Hogwarts! And here I am!" She said shrilly. Her high pitched annoying voice already hurting my ears. Albus rolled his eyes in annoyance as he walked past our table and sat in front of Harley and I. Scorpius sat right beside Al, and Daisy chose to sit right next to Scorpius. She started to twirl her long brown hair as she looked at Scorpius with hungry eyes. I felt my face heat up in anger as I watched the dim wit flirt with my boyfriend. "Rosie, breath." Harley whispered in my ear. I took a deep breath and forced myself to look away from the horrible scene. I heard the dungeon door open and heavy footsteps. "Good morning class! Sorry I'm late, I slept in by mistake. Old age does that to you I'm afraid." Slughorn said with a chuckle as he made his way to the front of the class. Everyone fell silent as we waited for instructions. "Now, as it is the second semester, I feel we must review all we have learned. Your exams are not far away, and soon you will all find yourself in your seventh year." Many people high fived their neighbors at these words. "Now now children. Enjoy it while you can, you will miss it once it's gone." He said grimly. His words made my mind start to think, he was right... Soon we would all be gone and looking for jobs and we won't see Hogwarts anymore... The idea sent shivers down my spine. "So I was thinking we could do something relatively complicated." He said casually. I head a couple of people groan. "I do this every year for my sixth years, I think you will like the idea." He said with a smirk. We all waited and listened. "We will create the draught of living death. Disastrous should you get it wrong, but the one with the best potion, will get this." He pulled a tiny vial from his robes filled with gold liquid. I felt my heart hammer when I realized what it was. "Liquid luck!" I said loudly. Slughorn nodded his head at my words, "that is correct, also known as Felix Felicis. This should be enough to give you luck for about 12 hours. Open your text books to 394, and begin." He said dramatically. At that moment everyone started to rush to the store cupboard and get everything they needed, all desiring to get their hands on the Felix Felicis. Including me. To my surprise, even Daisy was trying to make the potion perfectly, and she kept shooting Scorpius eager glances. "There's no way she's winning this." I said quietly to Harley through clenched teeth. I put my hair in a messy bun and began read the directions in my text book.
"Cut up the sopophorus bean"
I took my dagger and tried to cut the bean, but it jumped out of my daggers blade to across the table. I looked around the class and saw everyone els was having the same problem. I looked back at my bean, then at the text book. 'This can't be right...' I thought to myself. I aimed my dagger at the bean, but when the point of the dagger touched it, the bean jumped once more away. 'Something isn't right about these instructions...' I grabbed the bean again, but instead of cutting, I crushed the bean with the edge of my blade. To my surprise the juices came out with ease. I watched with a smile as I dropped its juices into my cauldron, and it turned the proper color of dark brown. "How did you do that?" Harley asked breathlessly. "Don't cut it, crush it." I said as I began to read the next line of instruction. Harley shook her head, "but it specifically says to cut! You know how exact these need to be!" Harley said in surprise. I shrugged my shoulders, "it worked didn't it?" I said as I added water and poured sea salt into the cauldron. I looked up to see Daisy stabbing the bean everywhere it jumped, making it look like a run away grasshopper. Scorpius looked as if he had given up on the bean, and had just thrown the whole bean inside making his cauldron smoke. Albus just copied Scorpius. I began to laugh as I continued to make my potion. Finally, after many notes inside my potions book, (many of these instructions were inaccurate) and a lot of steam making my hair bushy beyond compare, my potion was complete. I watched as Slughorn walked past each table shaking his head. "I don't understand. Each year no one gets this right... Im starting to think something is wrong with these potion text books." He said as he looked at a green blob that was moving on its own that had come out of Daisy's cauldron. Finally he reached my cauldron. "Miss Weasley! It's- well- perfect! This reminds me so much of your Uncle Harry. He too was a master at potions when I began to teach here." He said with a swell of pride. I tried to hide my blush by looking down at my cauldron. The bell rang and Slughorn gave me the bottle of liquid luck. "Use it well miss Weasley." He said with a smile as I walked out of the classroom. When I got into the corridor it was to see Albus, Harley, and Scorpius waiting outside. I could see the sparkle in Scorpius's eye, but I knew he couldn't say anything. "How did you do that?" Harley said in disbelief. "Really! I just copied Scorpius, and I don't think our potion was suppose to turn pink." He said with a glance at Scorpius. I shrugged my shoulders, "I- I don't really know. There were a lot of errors in the book, so I just- you know... Made a few changes?" I said with a faint smile. "I have to give you props Weasley." Scorpius said. I nodded my head, I wanted to hug him- but I couldn't. "We'll see you two around." Albus said, giving Harley a kiss on the cheek. "We have Herbology with Hufflepuffs today." And we watched them walk away down the corridor. "I don't know why you just don't tell him." Harley said sadly as we began to walk to the charms corridor. "I want to, but it's not me who will suffer the most if Albus finds out. It's Scorpius, it's him who needs to tell him when he's ready." I said sadly. "But maybe Albus won't mind?" Harley said in a doubtful town of voice. "Albus is really protective of his family. And he knows Scorpius better than both of us, and I guess Albus knows how Scorpius is with girls, and the idea of him being with one of his family members might just drive him crazy." I said quietly as we entered professor Flitwicks classroom. Harley nodded her head, then stopped. "How IS he with girls exactly?" She asked with raised eyebrows. I rolled my eyes, "not with me! But I already know him and Daisy- um. And I'd rather not think about the girls before her." I said with an oddly sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "So you don't mind that he's- well- you know, slept with other girls?" She whispered. My stomach sank at her words, "well it's not like he's done it behind my back. He did it when we weren't seeing each other- so-" I stopped talking because I didn't know how to end that sentence. The truth was, I did mind he had slept with other girls. It made me feel like he was expecting the same from me, and it bothered me that I might not be able to compete with those other girls. But how many were there that I had to compete with exactly? Does he even know the names of the girls he slept with? Or were they all one night stands? Thoughts began to buzz around my mind and it just made me feel worse. The whole class period I kept getting distracted from my thoughts, making my aqumentay charm only produce drops of water from my wand. I was more than happy when the bell rang and it was time for lunch. I told Harley I needed to go to the library, but really I went to the owlery to see Romeo. I didn't see Romeo on the bottom floor of the tower, so I began to climb the steps until I made it to the top of the owlery tower. He was perched inside a column in the wall. He saw me and fluttered down and rested on my forearm. He hooted softly as I stoked his feathers. "I don't know why this is bothering me so much." I whispered sadly to Romeo. He nibbled my finger affectionately and flew back up the his perch. Suddenly I felt a tingle inside my robes, and I pulled out the glowing parchment.
"Where are you? -SM"
I sighed heavily and pulled out a quill.
"Wasn't very hungry, just studying. -RW" I replied.
"Are you feeling okay? -SM"
"Yea I'm fine, just need to finish this essay in Flitwicks class. -RW" I lied.
"Rose, we didn't get an essay in Flitwicks class.- SM" he replied. I hit my head in frustration. I used the charm that erased the messages, folded the parchment, and put it back inside my robes. I was so going to hear it from him later. Ignoring the never ending tingling from the parchment, I began to descend the stairs of the owlery. As I turned a sharp corner to go down another set of steps, I ran into someone I hadn't seen for weeks, I had almost forgotten him actually. Jake Peck looked startled he had ran into me. "Sorry, didn't see you there." He said casually. His deep brown eyes bore into my eyes, and I felt that awkward and scary feeling I got around him. He looked rather familiar actually... Well of course he did! I go to school with him. I shook my head to rid my mind of my idiotic thoughts. "Something wrong?" He asked silkily. "No..." I said slowly, not sure if I believed myself. "Excuse me." I said quickly as I darted past him, down the stairs, and out of the owlery as quickly as possible. His eyes just scared me, like a never ending pit of something, a mix of anger and hunger. I walked down the corridor feeling slightly cold. Only a couple of more classes, and then a meeting.
The day passed by quickly, me being too busy in my own mind to notice the lessons. Finally after dinner I made my way to the HB/HG common room for the meeting. The HB/HG got their own common room, and inside were stairs that led to a separate bedroom. Now usually you would think this was a bad idea, but a few years ago the previous HB/HG demanded a separate common room and rooms of their own, they said that they deserved to have a separate common room from the prefects and regular students, and to my amazement, the Headmistresses agreed. I knocked on the large double oak wood doors, and the head girl opened the door for me. "On time as always." She said as we walked into the large circular room. One side was blue while the other was green, the head girl was a Ravenclaw and the head boy was a Slytherin, so the room matched the owners. Once you become HB/HG, you are allowed to decorate the room how you wish, I'm guessing this was their compromise. I looked around the room and saw that both Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw prefects were here. But Jake, Scorpius, and the other Slytherin girl prefect were missing. "Okay, because three of us are missing, I think we can start-" at that moment, the HB stopped talking because Scorpius came running in, followed by Jake and the Slytherin girl. "Sorry- got caught up." Scorpius said breathlessly. He sat down in a chair that was not far from me. He caught my eye, and I looked away. I still wasn't sure why this was bothering me! I've known for a long time that that's what he did, but all the sudden I've started to think about OTHER girls. How many has he already slept with? What if- what if he's expecting that from me, and if he gets it he will leave me. I'll be just another number... My heart was hurting as I thought about this. But he wouldn't do that to me- right? "Thank you for joining us." The HG said coldly. "Anyways, as I was saying." The HB continued. "This is a simple matter. The Headmistress has said she wishes us to do rounds with people from other houses, something about 'House unity' or something like that. Same thing as before, but we figured we would remind you since the break just passed." He went over to a desk drawer and pulled out a folder. He started to hand out papers to us all. Once I got mine, I saw it was a schedule.
MONDAY: MALFOY/WEASLEY, 3rd floor
PECK/BURNAM, 2nd floor
CATHLOC/ STERNUM, dungeons
LEXIS/ JOHNSON, 7th floor
"Now everyday you will alternate. So Weasley, Malfoy. You have 3rd floor tonight? Tomorrow you have fourth floor. Peck, Burnam, you have second floor tonight? Tomorrow you have 3rd floor. Once you get to the eighth floor, you go back to floor one the next day. It's simple and easy. Any questions?" The HG asked as she looked around us, my hand flew in the air. "Weasley." She said looking at me. "Who will take care of the rest of the floors the prefects don't patrol?" I asked. The HG nodded her head, "Ashton and I will take care of those floors." She said pointing at the HB. "Okay, you are dismissed. Go patrol." The HB said. We all got up and began to walk out of the room. Scorpius and I stayed quiet until we were on the 3rd floor corridor, alone. "So are you going to tell me why you won't look me in the eye? Oh and while you explain maybe mention why you weren't at lunch." He said casually, but I could hear the resentment in his voice. "Told you, I was doing work." I said quietly, looking straight ahead. Not sure if I could meet his eyes. "I can't believe your lying to me right now." He said angrily. I heard him stop walking, so I stopped walking as well. Still not turning around to meet his eyes. "What is bothering you so much that you can't tell me!" He yelled. Before I could stop myself, "how many?" I whispered. I turned around to finally look at him, and he looked like he was about to yell, but stopped with a look of confusion. "Wait- what?" He asked. I cast my gaze downward, and looked at the floor intently. "How- how many- girls, have you been with." I said quietly. I looked back up to see his silver eyes were wide with shock. I quickly looked away. He didn't say anything, but I could feel him staring at me. "Where did this come from?" He asked, and I was frightened by how firm his voice was. I shrugged my shoulders, "Harley and I were talking, about why Albus couldn't know about us and stuff. And- it just came up." I said quietly, my voice shaking a little. "Rose. Me and you both know that you don't want to hear the answer." He said stiffly. I wasn't sure what I wanted to hear, either way I wasn't going to like the answer. But- I felt obligated to know... I think. "How many." I whispered. I heard him sigh heavily, "What is the answer going to prove?" He asked, sounding very frustrated. "I don't know! I just want to know!" I yelled, finally looking up at him. He looked at me with a firm face. "Fine." He said. He didn't take his eyes off mine, he was silent for awhile, thinking I assumed. My heart was hammering faster and faster as the seconds zoomed by. He took a deep breath, his face blank of emotion, "Maybe, I don't know, ten? At the most." He sighed. I didn't say anything. I simply looked into his eyes, not sure what I was feeling from his answer. Was ten a lot? Did he remember any of their names? Did they mean anything to him? "Are you happy?" He said angrily. I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." I said quietly. "Do- do you remember any of them? Did they matter to you?" I asked, closing my eyes tightly. Bracing myself for his answer. But all I felt was a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around me. "None of them mattered. They were all a one night thing, and I don't remember any of their names, except maybe Daisy. But let's face it, with her annoying voice? Who would forget it." I wrapped my arms tightly around his mid section and held on to him tightly at his words. "The only reason I was with any of them, was because I hoped they would get you out of my mind. It never worked obviously. And I wouldn't expect you to do anything you weren't ready for Rose." He whispered into my hair. My stomach unclenched, and my heart felt light at his words. I lifted my head to look up at him, his silver eyes sparkled as he looked into my eyes. I stood on my tip toes and kissed him, he kissed me slowly, and we stayed that way for awhile. Only stopping when we needed air. "Are you done being mad at me?" He asked innocently. I smirked and kissed him again, "maybe." I said slowly. He bent down to kiss me again, but just to mess with him, I ducked away from his arms and began to walk away. "Oi! You can't just leave mid- kiss! That isn't fair!" He called after my retreating figure. "All is fair in love and war!" I yelled. I heard him laugh as he ran to catch up to me, wrapping his fingers in mine as we set off down the corridor together. He walked me to the fat lady portrait, "Goodnight, milady" he said with a smirk, kissing my right hand. I rolled my eyes. "Oh shut up." I said with a laugh, pulling him down by his collar and kissing him. I heard a gasp and pulled away quickly, I looked over and saw the fat lady watching. "As sweet as this may be, I would like to go to sleep now." She said hotly. She shot a look at Scorpius, "if you ever want a woman darling, I'm always here." She said with a wink. "Oh shove off!" I whispered to the portrait woman angrily, pulling Scorpius away by his wrist. "Jealous much?" He mocked me with a wink. "Watch it Malfoy, I hear Brandon Woods might visit us soon." I said with raised eyebrows. He went scarlet, "wait what?" He said with wide eyes. I kissed him on his cheek and began to walk away. "Wait- Rose! Is he really going to visit? Wait! Ugh Weasley!" He kept calling after me. I laughed as I reached the portrait again. "He's hot." The portrait said. "Stay away from that guy Rose!" I heard Scorpius yell as he walked down the stairs. I laughed, "I know he is." I said as I entered the portrait hole and stepped inside the Gryffindor common room.