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“Why are you crying?”
“I’m not,” he snarled, turning away from them and looking out at the distant hills.
“Yes, you are…ow! Rose!”
Rose let go of Albus’s ear and shook her head at him. Up above them the owls shuffled on their perches, occasionally hiccupping up a pellet of bones and fur. The wind coming through the open windows was cool, but, unlike the rushing, roaring school below, it was peaceful here. Scorpius scrubbed his eyes with a handful of his cloak and turned around, face set.
“Here,” said Albus,” have a frog.”
Scorpius looked down at the chocolate frog being pushed into his hand.
“You might as well – and some exploding sherbets. James is only going to take them when he finds out Teddy gave them to me.”
For a moment longer Scorpius hesitated and then he tore open the frog and began to eat it.
Sitting on the window ledge with their backs to a hundred yard drop, the three ate in silence for a few minutes. Rose finished first, while the other two were still trying to make exploding sherbets come out their noses.
“That’s revolting,” she said absently, then, “Scorpius, what was wrong? Are you homesick already?”
“Homesick! I’m not a baby!”
He tried to look dignified and scornful - difficult with purple sparks coming out of your nose.
Rose looked unbelieving. “Something’s wrong.”
Scorpius looked away. Every emotion faded put of his face until he looked like one of the marble wizards in the Garden of Statues.
“My father is going to kill me when he finds out I’m in Gryffindor. And my mother. And, and, everyone,” he gulped, his voice wobbling even though he was controlling his face.
Rose considered it.
“My father isn’t going to be very happy when he finds out I’m in Ravenclaw. Mum might be pleased, though.”
“Yeah, and James isn’t going to kill me – it’s too fast. He’s just going to torture me. He doesn’t want me at Hogwarts, forget being in Gryffindor!”
Rose nodded thoughtfully. She swung around, hugging her knees, to stare out over the valleys and hills below them. Eyeing her warily, Albus stuffed all the empty sweets wrappers back into his bag. A silent Rose he knew to his cost was a planning Rose – and the door was too far away for him to be able to make a break for it.
“So…,” said Rose, “we need to join forces. Help each other overcome… difficulties. Your brother is going to try and make your life a misery, Albie, and I’m the first Weasley ever to not be in Gryffindor.”
She stopped and for the first time Albus realised she minded. When the hat had called out Ravenclaw she had clasped her hands above her head like a winning boxer and run to the table. Albus, already safe at Gryffindor, had watched miserably. Rose was another piece of home he was being separated from.
Rose shook her curls back and started again.
“And, Scorpius, I’m sorry, but I bet it isn’t just going to be just your mum and dad who don’t want you in Gryffindor.”
Albus remembered the heavy silence in their dorm last night and realised that Rose was – as always – right. Scorpius was doing his statue face again but suddenly Albus was pleased he’d given him his last black pepper imps.
“So, we’ll make a – league. No! A triumvirate! That’s it – we’ll be a triumvirate!”
Scorpius and Albus exchanged glances – a tri-whatty?
“Oh, honestly! Don’t you boys know anything? Haven’t you read any Roman history?”
“Erm…”
“Ah…”
“It’s a political regime – well, that’s Hogwarts - dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir. They’re us!”
The boys still looked uncertain but Rose, red curls bouncing, had enough enthusiasm for all of them.
“Albie, give me three of your Famous Wizards cards!”
“But…” Albus looked at Rose and stopped – what was the point? He would wind up doing what she wanted. He began to shuffle through his cards looking for least favourite ones. He was still hesitating between a slightly bent and dog-eared Almeric Sawbridge and a Balfour (boring) Blane when Rose grabbed three cards with an impatient “Huumphh!”
Rose bent over them, whispering words that Albus was almost sure were a spell. He looked longingly towards the stairs. James would torture him, but Rose would probably get him expelled.
“Here!”
Rose handed a card to each of the boys. Albus noted sadly that he only got Nicholas Flamel while Rose had Severus Snape.
“If you’re in trouble hold your card and the other triumvirs should feel it.”
Albus looked down at his card and then back at Rose. In his mind he started a list of why this was probably a very bad idea.
- The sort of trouble Rose was likely to get in would probably involve (a) giant trolls (b) gigantic exploding bat bogies (c) lots of angry Seventh Years (d) his brother James (All very well for Rose to say ‘You just have to stand up to him’ – he wasn’t her brother!)
- There was really no trouble he could imagine being in that wouldn’t get worse if Rose came to help
- Scorpius was, well, you know, Draco Malfoy’s son!
“That was magic,” Scorpius said, impressed. “This is only our second day!”
Rose attempted to look modest.
“Oh, well – my mum has a lot of books. Now, come on – we should disperse!”
She wrapped her cloak completely around her and began to sidle – suspiciously – out of the owlery.
“Remember the password is three!” Her voice floated back up to them.
Scorpius and Albus looked at each other.
“Who is protecting us from her?” Scorpius asked with almost a smile.
“Can’t be done,” said Albus briefly as he began to climb down the ladder clutching his magicked card.
After a moment Scorpius slid his card into his pocket and followed.