Enclosed

Chapter Eight: Interruptions

The worst thing about being friends with your self-proclaimed enemy is not knowing how to interact with them. Rose could do the arguments and the silence. She could handle the bickering and the stony glares. It was the timid smiles and awkward silences that proved to be the true challenge. Was she supposed to ask him about his day or what his favorite color was? Could she ignore him or would that be rude?

It was all so unnatural; being his friend. The thing with friendships was that they were supposed to be easy. They weren't supposed to make your life complicated or your brain steam from overthinking.

Rose thought she knew how to be a friend. When it came to being one with Scorpius Malfoy she was clueless.

It'd been three days since they'd agreed to a temporary friendship. In that time they'd had one civil conversation about the book Rose lent him. She was shocked to learn he shared many of the same opinions as her. 

It was almost a pleasant conversation until Malfoy brought up Victor Hugo's alleged involvement in the Dragon Debacle of 1858. Things quickly turned into a heated bickering match where Rose tried to explain that his involvement was backed up by several facts. Malfoy disagreed certain Victor's involvement was a conspiracy meant to cover up his true alliance with a Muggle religious society. A claim Rose scoffed at.

Between working and completing the theories board (Malfoy's name for it) they hadn't been forced to interact all that much. Malfoy stopped by the office at least once a day to remind her that all humans needed food to function (a task she was certain Al requested). He would then promptly throw whatever food item he managed to scrounge up at her head and demanded she eat.

Tuesday it was an entire loaf of bread. Wednesday a chicken leg full of grease plastered her forehead and left a sticky mess in its wake (he'd earned an earful after that). She was slightly curious to see what he'd throw today.

Right on cue, the door to her office opened and a brightly colored object hurtled her way. It was no secret Rose was clumsy. She tripped over the air and ran into walls. Her hand-eye coordination, however, did not fall prey to the Granger genetics. With swift reflexes, Rose caught the object. Fighting back a smirk, she examined the gleaming red apple.

Rising from her desk, she took a bite and leaned against the edge. "What possible reason could you have for barging into my office today?"

"Oh Weasley, I thought we'd agreed to be friends? Friends visit one another, don't they?" Malfoy grinned wickedly, resting his back against the door frame. He tossed another apple between his hands, "Are you sick of me already?"

Refusing to dignify his question with a response, Rose wiped her hands on her robes and moved toward the Theories Board. "Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful. Would you mind looking at this for me? I could use an auror's perspective. Your  perspective."

All playfulness dropped from Malfoy's expression. He followed her gaze, studying the board closely. She'd spent hours putting every piece of information--speculative and facts--hoping to stretch her horizons. The pieces were there. They just needed a connection to force them together.

On one side of the board were 41 snapshots of captured Reformed members (including the 15 Al's team brought in last month). Slightly below that were the names and photos of suspected members. Using disappearing ink she'd included every piece of detail about each person: their age, date of birth, place of birth, parents, family, friends, known acquaintances, schools, O.W.L scores, N.E.W.T scores, work history, and any other nibble of information that could fit on the board.

A rainbow of colored strings connected people and tied them together with the bulleted list of evidence placed in the top right corner. Sprinkled beneath that was a map with the highlighted locations of known Extractions (periwinkle blue) and kidnappings (peach pink).