2nd chances (Scorose)

Chapter 24

"Really, Miss Weasley? I thought I was the Headmistress of this school; not you," Professor McGonagall said.

Wincing, I waited for her to continue her rage about how being the headmistress meant she would decide whether to revoke our Prefect's duties or not, but none came. Looking up, I saw her glancing between the two of us.

"This is your second warning. If I hear any rumor of this happening again, you'll both lose your positions"

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. "We won't let you down, I promise. It won't happen ag-"

"-If you'd let me finish, Miss Weasley," Professor McGonagall interrupted. "That is not to say that there won't be consequences for this disrespect of the school prefects' duties. As of now you are both on probation and will serve your future rounds with Mr Filch until I think necessary"

"With Filch?" Scorpius complained.

"What is with you two and your disrespectful interrupting?" Professor McGonagall wearily asked us.

Scorpius and I shrugged.

"As I said, you will be completing your prefect's rounds with Filch to ensure you don't drop your duties and encourage other students to sneak off for acts of love. From this point onwards, you are banned from other house common rooms and I shall be conversing with your teachers over your seating arrangements."

"We can't sit together?" Scorpius asked in a hollow voice.

"I'll leave that decision up to your teachers, but I shall be making them aware of the...dangers," she said, hovering over the word, "of you being around each other."

My mouth was open in horror but no words would come out.

Nodding at the two of us, she turned on her heel and went back the way she came, clearly forgetting why she'd been going along the 1st floor corridor anyway.

"We're doing rounds with Filch?" Scorpius asked again, as if he couldn't get over the fact.

I nodded, just as shocked as he was.

"Filch?" I looked at him just as he exclaimed, "He's going to dwell over this so much! It'll be, 'how the mighty have fallen' and 'can't say the Headmistress isn't wrong, but in the old days you'd have had a boot up the butt for this.'"

Secretly, I agreed with him, but there was no time for me to say anything because Peeves chose that moment to float around the corner. Catching sight of Scorpius and me, he swooped down and spit on us before disappearing again. Knowing him, it wouldn't take long for him to return with a supply of dungbombs or stinkpellets.

Scorpius took my hand and hurried further down the corridor. There wasn't much else to say for the remainder of our rounds. We finished patrolling the castle and went our separate ways to our common rooms, though we probably spent a good five minutes, if not longer, lip-locked, trying to savor the feeling since it would be a while before we'd get to kiss one another.

"See you tomorrow," he said gloomily.

I nodded, squeezed his hand and then let go, continuing up to the seventh floor but I felt just as miserable as he looked.

Everybody was asleep by the time I got back to my dorm. And I wasn't surprised. By the time, Professor McGonagall had finished with us; we were delayed in our coverage of the castle. It had taken us another three hours to work our way through the floors and even then another fifteen minutes had been added when we found one of the third year Slytherins in the Restricted Section of the Library and had to escort him to his common room. Even with the various secret passages of the school, it was impossible to complete rounds without taking longer than four hours. There were always students out of bed and in the wrong parts of the castle. I just thanked Merlin that we didn't have to check the Forbidden Forest as well because there was- ugh spiders.