ARITHMANCY & ALCHEMY | h.p.a.u

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𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊, 𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖔𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖋𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖑𝖊 𝖔𝖗 𝖋𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖌𝖞

🜄 

DIANA THOMAS WAS LAUGHING AT something no doubt stupid said by a Hufflepuff girl. 

Albus could't pull his gaze away as her slender wrist peeked out of her robes when she reached up to grab mail from her owl. Scorpius had jabbed his elbow into his side for the third time during dinner. 

"What's wrong with you? You've been spacing out. Didn't even pay attention in Arithmancy today." he scowled. 

Albus struggled to find a response to that. What excuse would his best mate buy? 

Luckily he didn't have to rack his brain too much. Althea was already storming over with a newspaper in her hand after bursting into the Great Hall, her black hair swishing at her sharp jaw line. Albus straightened his back at that sight. She looked even more vicious now than with her pixie cut. 

"I'm going to destroy Ravenclaw." she snarled, throwing the newspaper on the table.

Scorpius huffed, lifting the newspaper. "Don't over-exaggerate, Althea. What happened? Someone wrote about your new hair?"

He choked on his butterbeer when Scorpius snapped the newspaper straight. The team Captain of Ravenclaw was on the spread on page nine, the article written by none other than Ginervra Potter. His very own Mum. 

Scorpius snatched it up before he could, skimming the article before reading a line out: "Slytherin has been subpar in their quidditch performance thus far, resorting to pesky hexes to secure victory. Ravenclaw won't be as easy a target as Gryffindor was this year- oh come off it! I didn't cheat!"

"Why is Mum covering this?" Albus reached for the magazine, following the lines even lower to see a rather disheartening paragraph: "-professional Quidditch prospects like Althea Nott and Scorpius Malfoy will no longer be considered for Britain's team if the allegations against Slytherin's quidditch team are proven true. Quoted from a Mentor Metaxas, Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee..."

He and Scorpius both looked up from the magazine to Althea, whose fist was clenched tight around a silver chalice filled with pomegranate juice. 

"Still think I'm over-exaggerating?" she bit out

Althea's dream was to play Quidditch professionally. And while Scorpius was considered for his fast reflexes, he had no true passion for the sport. He played simply because Rose did. 

"Thea, I'm sure that once the cheating scandal has passed, we'll be fine. They can't turn you away just for this, right?" he offered hopefully. 

She laughed, the sound dry and lackluster. "The rulebook for on-and-off pitch magic is nineteen volumes. They take magical cheating very seriously."

"Bloody hell." Scorpius sighed and downed the rest of his matching butter beer. "Alright, let's go speak with Slughorn and Headmistress McGonagall. We'll get this squared away."

They both departed, leaving Albus to stare down at the moving image of Diana Thomas, wearing the same outfit from yesterday. Butterfly clips and all. He'd have a stern talk with her about acting upon rumors during the lab class today.