9Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
"Rosieee," comes an annoying voice from behind me. I turn around and find Albus running to catch up with me.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" I ask when he catches up.
"Three thousand four hundred and seven times," he replies.
"And yet you always insist on calling me that. Some people never learn," I say.
We walk up to fat lady's portrait and after listening to her babble for a minute we are finally granted entry.
"So how pissed are you about potions?" asks Albus once we both sit down on two comfortable armchairs next to the window.
"Right now, not very; it is more of an overwhelming feeling of dread and impending disaster, but I can assure you once I actually get to working with Malfoy I will be very pissed," I reply.
"Call me stupid but I never did understand why you hate Malfoy so much. I mean, what has the poor guy ever done to you anyway?"
"Hmmm, lets see, in first year he called me 'Rose the Sore' and it took two years for that name to die out, and of course there was that one time when he transfigured my bacon into a real, live pig, and who can forget the day when he decided to dress as Rose Weasley for Halloween."
"Well, that wasn't too bad you know. In fact on popular consensus I can assure you that he made a better Rose than the original. You should really go ask him for some pointers. Especially for the hair; I loved what he had done with it."
"Albus," I say thwacking him with a book. He ducks and resurfaces laughing.
"Okay moving on, I need your help Rose," Albus says with a hint of seriousness, which is the maximum amount of seriousness Albus can ever manage.
"For what?" I say slightly suspicious.
"Remember what I showed you the other day in charms? The crystal ball?"
"Yes, I remember," I say with narrowed eyes.
"Um, when I was borrowing it, I never realized that I would also have to return it; that tiny detail just slipped out of my mind."
"Okay, so what do you want me to do about it? No wait let me guess. You want me to use my awesome sneaking skills to somehow go to the divination room in broad daylight and place Professor Trelawney's favourite crystal ball back under her nose."
"Well, it doesn't have to be in broad daylight. In fact I would advise you to do it in the dead of the night."
"Albus! There is no way that I am going to do something half as risky and stupid as that," I say, my voice going slightly high.
"Oh come on Rose, please, I am begging you. I would have done it myself but someone tipped her off and now I can't walk within a ten-mile radius of her without her giving me funny looks. She has become super suspicious of me and I just can't return the crystal ball."
"Even if I agree to do it, there is no way that I will manage to do it. I am not very good with all this sneaky, breaking-the-rules kind of stuff and you know that Al," I say. I want to help him, I really do but I just don't think that I am right person for the job. I mean, just the inkling that I am doing something that I am not supposed to and my brain stops working and body goes numb.
"I know you can do it, Rose. Please. I promise I will tell you exactly what to do and when to do. We will plan it out carefully and all you will have to do is follow the plan. That's all."
"All right. But don't get used to it," I say.
There is a first time for everything. Apparently, also a first time for me to sneak out of bed to return stolen merchandise.
…..
I really can't believe that I am doing this. Somehow, if I ever did imagine myself sneaking out then it most certainly wasn't to return a crystal ball to Professor Trelawney. Stupid Albus. The only thing that is preventing me from hyperventilating is the fact that I have the invisibility cloak with me. If mom, dad and Uncle Harry could spend six years without getting caught out of bed thanks to this cloak, I am sure I can survive one night.
As soon as I exit the common room it strike me exactly how real this is. I carefully make my way through the corridors and move towards the astronomy tower. The perpetual silence just keeps on getting on my nerves. Remember the guy who said that silence is golden, well he lied.
Just when I reach the corridor outside divination I hear a sound. I instantly freeze and then decide that the invisibility cloak is of no use since surely anyone with even the slightest hearing ability can hear my loud heartbeat. After waiting for about a minute I finally establish it safe to move again and quickly make my way to the divination room and place the ball on the nearest table I can find.
Relieved, I stumble my way out of the room. Thank god that is done and over with. With the considerably more risky part of the night over and done with, I start walking towards the common room.
You most probably don't know this about me, but I am pretty much the unluckiest person alive. So imagine my surprise when I somehow manage to return the crystal ball and make my way halfway to the common room without a single mishap happening. Then just as if someone up there noticed this at the same time that I did, I tripped, fell and extremely conveniently slipped out of the cloak. The resulting thud did not seem to attract any attention at first but then I heard the tippity-tap footsteps of Flich. Then my worse nightmares were confirmed when he called out in a raspy voice, "who's there?"
I then did what seemed to be the only reflex reaction I was capable of. I grabbed the cloak and ran as fast as I could. Of course, had I been in any condition to think then I would have just put on the cloak and stood silently in a corner patiently waiting for Filch to pass by.
I ran until I could run no more and finally entered a classroom on the seventh floor.
"Uhm," came a sound from behind me. I turned around in shock and found Scorpius Malfoy staring at me with a sly smirk and an amused expression.
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, "I - uh- umm- well- its not-," I grasped around my brain for something to say and then finally like an idiot I blurted out, "my owl was hungry," I don't even have an owl.
He raised one eyebrow and said, "Your owl was hungry. Right."
"Hey don't give me that look. It's not just me. I hate to break this to you but even you happen to be in exactly the same dilemma as me. Filch is out there and he might just come in any second."
"Don't sweat it, Weasley. Filch is not exactly the sharpest tool in the box and I really doubt it he will know we are here. But of course it is better if we wait in here for a few minutes to be certain."
"Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded.
Somewhat reassured I went and sat down on a chair. I mean no matter what a big prat Malfoy is, he know all this rule breaking stuff better than anyone. He broke the awkward silence that followed after a minute.
"So, fed your owl?" asked Scorpius.
"What? Oh, umm, yeah sure." I replied.
"Never thought the day would come when I would find you breaking any rules, Weasley."
For some strange reason that got to me. I mean, its not that I disagreed with anything that he said. I am not a rule breaker. But I guess the thing that I had a problem with was that he also thought that. If it makes any sense.
"I will have you know, that I do actually break rules pretty often," I said.
"Really? I'm not sure you know this but getting a B in a subject doesn't really count as breaking rules."
"Yeah and you would know everything about breaking rules since you have six years of experience to learn from."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" he asked grinning.
"Yes, it was and also just for your information I do often sneak out of bed after curfew."
"Yeah, that became clear by your very experienced handling of the Filch situation. I am sure you are quite the rebel," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Whatever. Why are you here anyway?"
"Oh, just to feed my rat. It was hungry."
"You don't have a rat."
"You don't have an owl."
After that I had no choice but to fix him with the Rose Weasley Glare. If you come to my school and ask around then people will most probably tell you that I am very scary when angry. Here's a secret, that reputation has been achieved only because of this glare.
"Weasley, I have been on the receiving end of your glare so often that it has lost all its scariness, really."
"Yeah, and you deserved it every time."
"Well, I wouldn't say that. I mean that one time when you accused me of stealing your hot chocolate? Completely unjust. If you made a little more effort at paying attention to your surroundings rather than glaring at me then perhaps you would have seen Albus right behind you sipping you hot chocolate and getting free entertainment."
"Oh. Anyway, that hot chocolate was pretty hideous."
"I know. I actually have a theory, that the house elves were all hung over and that is why they accidently mixed onion powder instead of hot chocolate in the milk," he said smiling.
"Yeah, that or they all got kidnapped and then Filch had to make all of it."
"Speaking of whom, I think it should be safe to go now," said Malfoy as he walked towards the door, "Try not to get caught, Weasley."
He walked out the room and just then I realized that he had forgotten a piece of paper. I thought about calling out after him but then discarded the idea as soon as it dawned on me that it was still the middle of the night and that I was still breaking quite a few school rules.
Deciding that I will give him the paper tomorrow I put on the cloak and made my way back to the common room. Upon reaching the common room I hastily entered my dorm. The familiar comfort of my bed greeted me and I lay down comfortable as ever. I slept, my brain swimming with thoughts about the night's proceedings.
…..
A/N: Another chapter done! I just haven't been able to update as recently as I would like to and the worst part is that I don't even have any reasonable excuse to offer.
Anyway, better get going now. Tomorrow is the first day of school after vacations and I am SUPER excited! R&R.