Name Game (completed)

Chapter Three

AUTHOR'S NOTE: edited 02-06-2014

Rose was sitting cross-legged before the dying embers of the fire, a long piece of parchment resting on the thick textbook balanced across her knees. The Potions essay was proving even more challenging than she had anticipated – The Principles of Accipitrine Derivatives Within Elixirs was an infuriatingly explicit yet extensive topic. Swaddled in an unraveling blue jumper – the standard Weasley Christmas gift – and tattered grey tracksuits, she sucked thoughtfully at the end of her somewhat bedraggled eagle feather quill, pondering her Potions essay.

“Still working on that, are you?”

She spun her head round sharply at the sound of the voice, alarmed by its suddenness. Until that point she’d been unaware of anyone else’s presence in the Common Room. She relaxed, however, as she saw the familiar fair-haired boy making his way over.

“Yes,” she replied wearily.

“Let me see.” He pulled the sheets of parchment towards himself and studied the looping blue writing. “You’ve written loads, more than enough – a lot more than me. He only asked for three rolls, and you’ve got...” He hastily counted the parchment in his hands. “... five!”

“Are you sure?” Rose looked worriedly at her essay, and ran her hands through her hair, which stuck up at odd angles, tousled from a sleepless night. “I need to make sure I’ve included everything.”

“I’m sure you have,” Scorpius reassured her, rapidly reading through the essay. “I’m fairly sure you’ve put everything I have.” He picked up her hand and examined her ink-stained fingers with mild concern. “Have you been working on it for long?”

“Oh...” Rose waved a careless hand. “I don’t know, a couple of hours, maybe more.” She yawned.

Scorpius’ grey eyes narrowed and he looked at the dimly glowing numbers on his digital watch: 6.30.

“Go to bed, Rose, you need some rest. You’re barely sleeping.”

“I’m alright, Scorp, don’t worry about it.” She shrugged off the tentative hand he’d laid on her shoulder. “I just need to be more, you know, a bit more organised, so I don’t have to wake up early to finish off homework.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Rose, you’re always doing homework. What you need to do is stop obsessing over your work the whole time. It’s not good for you.”

“Don’t fuss, Scorp, you sound like my grandma.” She prepared to get up.

“Are you going to go to bed now.?”

“No time; I need to get ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what?” Scorpius asked, puzzled.

“For the Hogsmeade visit – Ashley’s taking me to Madame Puddifoot’s.” She began hastily to pack away her stuff in the leather satchel she carried about everywhere. A bottle of ink and her quill dropped as she was doing so.

He re-erected the inkbottle and secured the lid. “Scourgify,” he said, pointing his wand at the ink that had spilt on the carpet. He then reached for her quill, smiling slightly as he did so; it had been his present to her, on her fourteenth birthday.

“Still using this old thing?”

Rose smiled; her eyes squeezed shut with tiredness.

“Yeah, it’s still my favourite. Also, I don’t currently have any others, I mean I manage to lose them so easily.”

“Why do you need to get ready anyway?” Scorpius asked, “you look fine.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Scorpius, these are basically pyjamas.” She slung her satchel over one shoulder, inducing the slightly lop-sided stance she’d inherited from her mother.