60*Joanne Rowling owns Harry Potter
*Also, I don't think I mentioned, but I'm in college now. So, that may possibly affect the speed at which I post. I'm about to be on holiday though, so I'll try to be as consistent as possible!
*Hope you like this chapter! Leave a review!
Albus sat on the sofa in the common room and pored over the letter in his hands. The parchment was battered, and not of his own doing. Out the window had gone his plans for his final year: win the House Cup, shag a couple girls, and do well enough on OWLs to justify working under his father. But now, the cryptic message was never far from his mind.
He tried to think of what he'd done to garner this sort of attention, this unnecessary selection. The more he thought about it the more his head hurt. What he wondered most of all was whether he was the only one who had received a letter. Apparently, being the "Chosen One" ran in the family.
Albus looked up as he heard a noise on the stairs. His younger sister Lily came down with her broom over her shoulder. Her black hair was tied back in a braid. He'd always heard how much he and his sister resembled one another, save for the fact that his eyes were green and hers were brown.
"Let's throw the quaffle around," she suggested.
"No," Albus replied shortly. "Don't you have friends to hang out with?"
"I'm just trying to get you out of that mood of yours."
"I don't have one."
"It's been a week and you haven't really spoken to anyone. But you're not in a mood?"
"No."
Lily raised her eyebrows. "Fine then. Least you're studying." She gestured to the letter in his hand.
"I am, so if you'd leave me to it that would be great."
"Whatever, have fun." Lily trotted out of the common room, carrying her broom with her.
Albus glanced at the clock over the fireplace. He glanced again at the letter, one line searing into his mind as he stared at it. There were directions at the very top, written cryptically and it had taken him a short while to decipher what exactly he was wanted to do.
At the even hour, visit the room you need the most
And there you will find a like set of hosts
To share with you a similar story
To fumble and fail or to preserve glory.
Rose flipped through her Potions book as she reviewed the notes she'd scrawled onto parchment the previous class session. Roxanne sat on the sofa above her, eating a large bag of candy and reading Witch Weekly.
"Classes haven't even been going on a week, what are you studying?" Roxanne demanded, not looking away from her magazine.
"Advanced Potions. I need to remember these recipes. These are the standard ones and if I don't have them memorized now, it's only going to get harder once we learn more."
"Eh, I suppose," Roxanne muttered. She offered some candy to Rose, who declined. She frowned suddenly, as if remembering something that put her in a bad mood. "I've got to leave soon. Scorpius called an emergency practice at noon. The prat."
Rose frowned suddenly. She had just spoken to Scorpius in the library that morning to tell him she couldn't make the meeting they'd scheduled before the schoolyear began, purposefully not explaining why. Oddly enough, when she'd told him, Scorpius had also shared that he had a meeting with his Herbology professor. It was strange, she thought, that Roxanne had blatantly lied, but even more strange Scorpius seemed to be lying as well.
"It's all right," Rose assured her. "I'm probably just going to keep studying." In actuality, she'd received a request in the letter to appear in the Room of Requirement by noon. At least that's what she'd deciphered from the letter. She hoped she was correct, seeing as she didn't particularly want to know what would happen if she were wrong.
Roxanne sighed. "I wish I was a little chubbier like you. Says here guys like that."
"Thanks?"
"What I mean is, you look gentle and cuddly." Rose had to admit her cousin did look a bit intimidating. She was tall and lean, and had muscular arms from the rigorous training she did as a quidditch player. "I might like to have a boyfriend is all. If there were a guy on this planet who wasn't a complete arse."
"Well, I think you're out of luck there," Rose said dismissively, still studying her notes. She glanced up at the clock again, realizing she'd need to leave in the next half hour. Receiving an anonymous letter wasn't particularly what she'd needed, especially in her final year of schooling. Being Head Girl was already sure to take up much of her time, and then she'd signed up to work in the Hospital Wing in order to get more medical experience. Mixed in with whatever the letter was asking her to do, and her regular studies, Rose wasn't sure where she'd have the time. Thinking about it all stressed her out already.
"Merlin, I don't want to get up. Your common room is so comfy. I feel like I'm melting into this sofa." Roxanne was right. The Ravenclaw common room boasted particularly comfortable furniture, especially since many of the students in the house studied day in and day out.
"Wouldn't want to miss practice," Rose said dismissively. She looked over at Roxanne, who wrinkled her eyebrows then quickly stopped. She closed her magazine and collected her wand and candy bag from the floor beside her.
"Course not. I'm going to go make sure Fred knows."
Scorpius' shoes echoed in the hallway as he walked quickly. He took the pocket watch out of his robes and glanced at it, just to make sure he was still on time. "It's five till," he informed his fiancé.
She nodded solemnly. "We have time." She clasped her hand in Scorpius'. "Don't worry, we'll find out what it means," she said earnestly.
Scorpius nodded, not saying anything back. He appreciated Maxima's efforts to assure him, knowing fully she had to be just as nervous as he was.
"I just want to know what it means," he said, knowing full well it wasn't anything that he necessarily had to say out loud.
"So do I, love."
Scorpius brought the back of Maxima's hand to his lips and kissed it. He caught sight of her engagement ring. Thinking about it, he hadn't really had any good reason to propose to her. Sure, they'd been great friends all their lives because their fathers were extremely close. Over the past couple years, their friendship had somehow evolved into a romantic relationship, but nothing to the scale where marriage seemed to be the logical next step. He remembered a couple months earlier, when he'd come home and shown his father the ring he'd picked out at the spur of the moment. His father had asked him why he'd thought it appropriate to propose, and truthfully, his only real response had been "why not?".
He loved Maxima, he knew he did. Perhaps he'd done it to secure her, to make sure someone was always by his side. He hoped he wasn't that selfish. Or maybe he'd done it to assure he had a proper family. After all, if he was planning to go directly into the Ministry after Hogwarts, he didn't see the point of living life as a bachelor. Having his own wife and family would allow him to be less associated with the choices his family had made in the past, long before he was born and could protest he'd wanted no part of it.
"Scorpius?" Maxima said quietly, looking up at him. Her bright eyes contrasted with her golden skin. "This is it, isn't it? The Room of Requirement?"
"I think so." The heavy wooden door had appeared at the end of the corridor out of nowhere, and Scorpius wasn't quite sure what purpose it would serve. Maybe it would lead him to the meeting required by the letter, or perhaps it would provide him and Maxima with refuge from the situation entirely.
"Well, we wouldn't want to go in late," Maxima said dryly. She squeezed Scorpius' hand as he pushed the door open.
The room was dark, lit mostly by candles. Chairs were in the middle of the room, but no one was seated. He heard voices, and they sounded familiar. A group of figures, maybe five or six, stood far off away from the door. He couldn't quite make them out yet.
"Why didn't you tell me?" A voice demanded. Once he grew closer, he could identify the voice as Rose's. He had been right. She did receive a letter. She was speaking to Roxanne, who had an indignant expression on her face.
"Didn't think I was supposed to tell," she said smartly. "Anyhow, you didn't mention anything to me either. So we're even,"
"Stop, the two of you." Scorpius noticed Albus was with them as well, accompanied by Fred. The candlelight reflected in the rectangular frames of Albus' glasses. Was this a family reunion he'd accidentally been invited to?
"We shouldn't argue. We're all just as confused as the others." It took Scorpius a moment to identify the voice, and much longer to recognized who it belonged to. It was Lorcan Scamander, or Lysander, he couldn't be sure. The twins stood side by side, with their long blond hair touching their shoulders. Their light blue eyes seemed almost white in the candlelight.
"It's just strange is all," Rose persisted. "And we need to figure out what it means." She glanced over, hearing Scorpius' footsteps grow closer. He immediately grew self-conscious upon not receiving any warm looks.
"Now it's a party," Fred muttered. "I'm surprised you didn't rat on us soon as you found out. Now we know why."
"Wait, you guys told him?" Albus demanded.
Roxanne shook her head adamantly and glared daggers at Scorpius. "No, he was snooping on us on the train."
Scorpius really didn't appreciate how the cousins were collectively dragging him through the mud. If this was how they were going to think of him, he didn't want to be part of whatever they were all there to do.
"I wasn't snooping," he said, defending himself. "I was passing by and I happened to look and I saw-"
"Let's not worry about it," Lysander argued. "I'm sure we all want to know why we're here. We should start by trying to solve these letters."
"Think the seats indicate it's gonna take a while," Roxanne said dryly, seating herself. Scorpius ushered Maxima over to a seat and seated himself as well. The group followed suit.
"We should check by making sure they all say the same thing," Rose suggested.
"Well, they all told us to come here," Albus reminded her. Rose nodded distractedly. Scorpius watched as she took her letter out of her robes and cleared her throat. He envied the fact that she was so easily able to take charge in a situation like this. He felt, as Head Boy, he should have been as brave, but didn't think anyone in the group respected him enough to listen to him. He barely knew the Scamander twins. He'd never spoken to Albus, so he assumed he was rather indifferent toward him. Rose at least, he assumed, he got along with reasonably well. The past week hadn't brought up any issues between them. Fred and Roxanne, however, seemed to dislike him for reasons unknown. He'd never done anything to them, not that he could remember. He'd actually been interested in the two of them his first couple years at Hogwarts. They'd been funny and outgoing, different than many of his other housemates. Apparently against his better judgement, he remembered finding Roxanne to be quite pretty at one point. Now, he saw her as nothing short of annoying.
"But it could be like a puzzle, all of us having individual clues and such, that's what I think she means." It had barely registered to Scorpius that Maxima had spoken up. Her voice was rather quiet, but the rest of the room was silent, so he knew they'd heard her.
"Right, that's what I mean," Rose agreed. Maxima smiled to herself, which made Scorpius smile as well. "I'll read mine, and then we'll see if they're all the same."
Rose unfolded her letter and began to read:
"From a savior's daughter comes a sacred mixture,
To bring life full circle and complete the picture,
What last piece makes an unfinished flow,
Coupled with that which is scarce to grow."
"Mine does not say that," Fred told the group.
"Neither does mine."
"Me either."
"Man, I'm shit at riddles."
"They're all riddles."
Rose folded the letter up and put it back in her pocket. "I've been thinking about it a bit. I'm good with potions, I know it's got something to do with that. Everything else, I've got no idea," she admitted. "Special plants, maybe. Anyone else?"
"I've got a question," Lorcan volunteered to the room. "What does all this mean? What are we supposed to do with these riddles?"
"Doubt it's just a group for shits and giggles," Albus said acerbically. "There's something we're meant to solve obviously. It must be important too. Think about it. We're not just any random Seventh Years. Our parents are war heroes. And well, Scorpius and Maxima, your fathers-"
Scorpius shook his head. "Don't speak badly about our fathers," he challenged.
"I wasn't. It's just that, they had close involvement with the War too, so they have some insight other people might not necessarily have," Albus said quickly, trying to save face.
Scorpius clenched his jaw. He was sick of his father's actions following him. His father most definitely wasn't currently the man he'd been when he was Scorpius' age, and hadn't been for a while.
"If this is how it's going to be, then I don't want any part of this," Scorpius said indignantly.
Roxanne scoffed. "Doubt you've got a choice there, love," she said with fake sympathy.
Rose cast her a harsh glare. "Stop, you're not making anything better." She met eyes with Scorpius. If she meant to emasculate him, he was doing wonderfully.
"How, dear Rosie, do we make this better?" Fred questioned. "I've got other things to worry about, like quidditch-"
"We've all got other things to worry about," Rose snapped. "Scorpius and I especially. We've got to run a school on top of all this, and we don't know if Hogwarts is in danger-"
"Merlin, not again," Lysander complained. Why can't things just be easy? Why's that so much to ask?"
Albus sat at the table in the Great Hall and filled his plate with food. His friends chattered around him, but he wasn't listening. He was too busy watching Dominique laugh with her friends, a group of pretty girls he'd quite like to speak to. When Dominique caught his eye, he waved her over.
"What?" She demanded, her face contorted with irritation. "Do you need something?"
Albus met her with a devilish grin. "D'you think you could introduce me to one of your friends? Er… how about the blonde one?"
Dominique swatted her cousin's shoulder. "No, these are my friends, not your bedmates!"
Albus laughed at his cousin. "They can learn to multitask, I'm sure. Tell her my bed's always open if she ever wants to accept my offer." He glanced over Dominique's shoulder at the blonde he fancied. "Is she part Veela too?"
"No?"
"So just naturally gorgeous, then? I like it- Ow!"
"You're a pig!" Dominique hissed. She looked up above Albus' head, clearly focusing on something behind him. A Gryffindor rushed quickly up to the table, the doors of the Great Hall were still swinging shut behind him. "Isn't that one of your roommates?"
Albus turned around. Sure enough, one of his roommates approached the two of them in a hurry.
"What is it, Sean? Fell on your wand again?" Albus joked, staring at his roommate expectantly. He regarded Albus, still panicked and confused-looking.
"Someone's broken into our room," Sean said. "Your stuff is everywhere."
*A/N: aaaaahhhh, it's heating up! Leave a review!