The Malfoys and Me

33. Extracurricular Activities...

"Ergh!" you jump as Scorpius exclaims and lets his head fall on the sleek mahogany of the table in the common room.

"What?" you ask, suddenly worried something's terribly wrong; Scorpius never loses his temper. "What is it?!"

"I just can't do the stupid—" he pounds his fist on the table as if to emphasise the word, "—stupid transfiguration homework! I thought we were done with most of the actual spellwork this year!"

"Who told you that?" you laugh, scooting your chair next to his so you can see what he's struggling with. "It certainly wasn't prof. Weston."

"Yeah," Scorpius says, putting his head in his hands. "It's just... it's really hard to turn a fried chicken wing into an un-fried one." you nod in sympathy, even though you're really quite adept at transfiguration; you have a feeling that you're prof. Weston's favourite student. You sit in silence for a moment, awkwardly patting Scorpius on the back, and then it hits you.

"Hey!" you say, sitting bolt upright in your chair and making Scorpius jump this time.

"What?" he asks, bemused curiosity written on the angles of his beautiful face.

"We're trying to turn things into animals this year, right?" you say, meeting his eyes with growing excitement.

"Riiiiiiiiiiight," Scorpius says, his blond eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "that is the general idea, yes."

"Well then," you say, looking around you and lowering your voice to a whisper so that no-one can hear you, "why not practise... on ourselves?"

"What?!?" Scorpius yelps, literally jumping out of his seat in surprise. You shush him hurriedly, and pull him back into his seat. "Y/n, you want us to become—"

"Not so loud!" you hiss, putting a silencing hand over his mouth. The touch of his lips against your skin makes you shiver, but you ignore the sensation. Now is not the time. Scorpius looks around, and draws your hand away from his mouth when the coast is clear.

"Are you suggesting," he asks in a low voice, leaning in so you can hear him, "that we become illegal Animagi?" your face breaks out into a wide, crooked grin, and you nod slowly.

"What," you ask innocently, "you don't think sneaking out of the castle every night to practise complicated, illegal magic in the name of homework would be fun?"

"Oh no," Scorpius says after a minute, lowering his voice to more of a purr, a crooked grin of his own slowly spreading across his face in a rare show of mischief, "I think sneaking out of the castle to do complicated, illegal things is a capital idea!" you feel blood rush into your cheeks as you realise just how close you two actually are, so close you can taste the cinnamon and sage on his breath. You want to move away but you can't; you're trapped in the swirling grey-blue mist of Scorpius Malfoy's gorgeous, dazzling orbs. You take in his face, the newly-appeared jawline, the slight curl to his short blond hair, the amazing fairness of his unblemished skin. The moment lasts a little too long, and Scorpius seems to realise it. His eyes widen slightly, and the smile drops from his face, his eyes flicking down to the peaks of your lips, and back up to your eyes, as if asking a question.

"G-great," you say, pulling yourself away from his intoxicating scent with a shaky laugh and forcing a carefree tone. "When should we start?" he drops his eyes as a blush colours his cheeks.

"I-I dunno," he stammers, but regains himself in a flash, smiling sheepishly over at you. "Maybe we should start in a few days? It'll give us some time to research the process a bit more."

"It's a deal!" you say, and you shake on it.

~-----------------------------------~

"Come on!" you whisper-yell, practically pulling Scorpius by the sleeve across the lawn to the greenhouse. "I didn't do all that research for nothing; we've got the potion and the moon is right, now all we need are some mandrake leaves, and we're home free!"

"I-I'm starting to have second thoughts about this, Y/n..." he says, and you roll your eyes.

"You always seem to have second thoughts about this kind of stuff," you huff, turning back to him, "where's your Slytherin rule breaking glee?"

"I fear mum ironed that out of me a long time ago," he mutters, but he's still coming, so you smile.

"Fine then," you say a bit more teasingly, "then where's your manly sense of adventure? Did someone iron that out of you, too?"

"No," he says with a huff of his own, "but it's currently being drowned out by my heavy dose of common sense!" you laugh, and pull him to a stop by the greenhouse door.

"Come on, this'll be a cinch! We just have to do this stuff for a month or so, and then we'll unlock our inner animal or whatever." Scorpius raises an incredulous eyebrow, but gives you a nervous smile.

"Your vagueness on such a dangerous subject is not calculated to inspire confidence, I think." You stare at him.

"Do you always speak like a Victorian novel when you're anxious?" you ask with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry," he laughs, "my Muggle Studies teacher's going on a Jane Austen rampage, and we've watched nearly every film adaptation in class the past week!" you burst out laughing as well.

"That makes sense now," you say, opening the door of the greenhouse slowly and carefully, "but all joking aside, let's do this thing right!"

"Agreed!" Scorpius says with a grin, going into the greenhouse to pick the mandrake leaves.