Prophet's News
The party was coming to a close and most of the older wizard couples were saying their goodbyes at half past 10. The party would officially end at 11 and everyone would be forced to either apparate or floo home. Scorpius had spent the whole night dancing and joking with his friends. Half an hour after James had left to get air, they gave up on looking or waiting for him to come back and both took turns either sitting off to the side and watching, or dancing with Rose so they could determine the results of the bets. In the end, Al had lost 9 sickles to his brother, Scorpius lost 10 sickles and 1 galleon to Rose as she had only tripped 3 times and didn't fall over once, but Rose lost 8 galleons to Scorpius as she had not only stepped on his toes once, but 11 times. She blamed it on his dancing skills but Scorpius and Al both knew that was just an excuse.
At just before 5 till, James finally appeared behind the three first years as they sat at the table making note of what they owed each other.
"James, you are one lucky wizard tonight," Al said looking up at his brother.
James face paled then blushed for a moment, "What do you mean? I just went out for some air is all."
"By the look of your face, too much. You must have almost froze out there, your nose is so red."
James rubbed the back of his neck and huffed out a chuckle, "It was extremely cold outside, but it was definitely better than being in here."
"Not likely mate, you missed a show with my last dance with Rose," Scorpius said proudly, "I earned 8 galleons just from that dance alone. She stepped on my foot 11 times."
"It was your terrible leading Ned! I bet if you had eight legs like your name sake it wouldn't have been an issue."
Scorpius chuckled and nodded to her, "Well maybe if your hands weren't so thorny, you could have properly felt my dance prompts and saved my poor aching toes." He leaned down to dramatically rub his toes in his dress shoes as Rose playfully slapped his shoulder. Soon goodbyes were being said with Scorpius reminding Al to owl him the rest of the break. Once all the party guests had left, the house elves were swifty cleaning things up and taking down decorations. Scorpius made his way up stairs to check on his sister. She hadn't come back for the rest of the party and he was upset that she had missed it, in both sense.
He entered her room to find her sitting on her soft chairs by the window reading the first year herbology book. He came towards her and sat in the chair opposite. "Miss you at the party. Not any fun just being a spectator?"
Aniara sighed and looked up at him, "No. Once you were dancing it seemed kind of pointless to stay. With all the old stuffy purebloods there it's not like I had a lot of good conversations to listen in on. Decided to do something better with my time."
"And you chose reading about dumb plants? Which ones are you reading about?" He craned his neck to see she had it open to the page about Aconite and its other known names and uses. "How you found plants more exciting than the party I don't understand."
She laughed a more whistful laugh than Scorpius had been expecting. She turned her gaze out her window towards the gardens and tucked a hair behind her ear. Scopius noticed something green in her hair and reached out to grab whatever had gotton stuck. Aniara snapped her head back towards him and gave him a confused look.
"You got something in your hair, Bear."
"Oh." she whispered and softly reached up to her ear and touch whatever it was.
"Its Snowdrop flower. They bloom in the winter. Its pretty huh?"
Scorpius leaned forward to get a better look and finally made out the shape of the petals that were almost invisible in her hair. He grinned at her and agreed with the statement. Then the realization hit him and he gave her a teasingly scolding look.
"You went out to the gardens didn't you?"
She nodded and gave him a cheeky grin, "Everyone was too engrossed in the party to notice me breaking the rules." Scorpius chuckled at her and stood back up. He gave her a kiss on the forhead before wishing her a good night and making his way back to his room. He didn't notice her take the flower out of her hair and place it in the book before closing it.
**************
It was two days before Scorpius was to return to Hogwarts and the twins sat at the small round table in the kitchen eating breakfast and reading their letters from Al and Rose. Rose had thanked Aniara for her Christmas present and was giving suggestions for the next book the two of them would read for their OBC. One suggestion was a book that was in her 'to be read' pile and Aniara made a note to select that one in her letter back. She heard Scorpius laugh at something he read in his letter and Aniara made another note to talk to Rose about how they could get the two boys to recognize and possibly admit their feels for one another. She chuckled to herself and took another bite of her sausage. When she heard another owl drop off more mail in the letterbox at the window, she got up from the table to retrieve it. She placed the Daily Prophet on the table nonchalantly, planning to read it after she finished the letter, not noticing the headline on the front page. Scorpius however had and made an audible gasp that got hitched in his throat at the end. Aniara looked up to her brother to question him and followed his gaze to the Prophet. The moving picture with the bold headline above it made their hearts sink into their stomachs. The picture showed a girl a few years older than them with straight black hair in a mess around her face. There were tears streaming down her face as she looked into the flash of the camera while she was hunched over gripping some sort of fabric to her chest that appeared to be covered in blood.
ROGUE DEATH EATER MURDERS FAMILY
On the evening of January 2nd tragedy struck Kenswick. Under the calling card of known death eater Bartholomew Xender, one of the last remaining few death eaters evading capture, the Rollins family was brutally murdered in their home. Xender has been evading capture for years and has become more bold by attacking muggleborns more and more over the last year. He has been labled undesirable number one, with the efforts of his apprehension lead by Auror, and defected Death Eater, Draco Malfoy.
The Rollins family, consisting of Parents Scott and Tanya, both muggleborn, and their children Joshua (14), and Seraphina (11) were found the next morning by the family's oldest daughter June (16). She is the sole survivor of the family having admitted to sneaking out to see her boyfriend during the night. This teenage rebellion saved her life, but has left her an orphan and, rightfully, distraught (see picture).
Auror Malfoy gave a statement as to the DMLE response this this heinous act.
"The department is tripling out efforts to capture this monster. The only good thing to come of this tragic event is that he made many mistakes that night, which we are hoping to use to aid in his capture once and for all. No other comments will be given at this time, aside from our condollences to their friends and family."
A sudden wet spot on the paper pulled Aniara's attention away from reading. That was when she noticed the wetness of her cheeks and realized it was her own tears marking the paper. She looked over at her brother and noticed his shocked but sunken expression. He felt her gaze and looked over at her with his own tears threatening to fall from his eyes. The twins didn't need to speak out loud or even through their bond to know what the other was thinking. Their father's behavior now made sense. He had woken them up early in the morning with a firm hug and expressing his love for them before leaving with a steel expression on his face. He must have gotten the summons for the murder after they went to their room that night, then he must have come home for a moment to see them both for his own comfort before going back to work.
"Good morning my darlings. What are we having for breakfast this morning?" They both turned at the sound of their mother's voice coming from the kitchen entrance. Her happy expression instantly fell at the look of her children's faces and she looked between them to find the paper. Rushing forward she picked it up and made a short high pitched shreik before throwing the paper to the side and pulling them both into her embrace.
"Sweet stars above! Your father... too young... damn him..." It seemed like she was trying to find the words to say while also trying to comfort her children, "You should not have had to see that! I'm so sorry my loves." She put her hands on either side of their faces and kissed their forheads. She then called for Pip and instructed the elf to make the twins tea. When Pip had inqurired why, while proceeded to follow her instructions, Astoria mearly pointed towards the paper on the ground and pulled Scorpius and Aniara back into her arms.
Dear Aniara,
Sorry its been a while since my last letter. My dad has been worried about our family and I didn't get a chance to send any letters until I got back to school. Ned told me you two had read the paper before your mum could talk to you about it. I'm so sorry. He said that picture was chilling to see. My mum caught the paper before the rest of us saw it and made it a point that none of us could read it for the next couple days to make sure we didn't see any other scaring photos or articles.
I hope you are okay, know that I am here if you need to talk about anything. Just wish I could be there for you like I am for Ned. He puts on a happy face, but I can see that he is hurting somewhere inside. I've also noticed he becomes quieter every day. I haven't heard anyone being mean to him, but maybe they are when the three of us aren't around. I know Al would beat them up if anyone said anything mean to your brother. Andy has also taken the news hard too and I find him in the common room at night crying by himself.
I was disapointed when I didn't get to meet you at Christmas. Ned said you were resting more under healers orders, so I hope you are feeling better. Your brother is a great dancer by the way, just don't tell him I said that. I lost good money because of my poor dancing skills, don't tell him I said that either. And, in response to your letter, yes I have noticed that Al might have a crush on Scorpius and agree we should figure out how to get them together because they would make such a cute couple. They already do as friends, they spend more time with each other than with the rest of us. And anytime I danced with Al at the party, I could see him glancing over my shoulder to Ned mulitple times. Imagine if the two of them eventually got married. We would be family! How great would that be!!!
Well wishes and love,
Rosie
Aniara smiled at her friend's letter and began reading the next page, which was their OBC discussion. They began writing their friendship and book club letter separate to make it easier to respond back and forth. She had been worried Rose wouldn't want to write her anymore after not getting a letter for a week and a half, the longest it had ever taken for Rose to respond. Aniara was relieved to know that Rose was still friends with her brother and also looking out for him. However, she frowned at how right her friend was about things being said to Scorpius out of earshot of his friends and even out earshot of her brother. Aniara was trying to reign her anger in, as it caused her brother even more stress and anxiety feeling her emotions so strongly, but it was hard when it was slowly getting worse and worse.
But Aniara noticed that other students had taken the news hard too. She saw many crying in coridors and overheard conversations from muggle borns and halfblood about if their family was safe. She just hoped that her dad could catch Xender and the other two remaining known rogue death eaters before anyone else was hurt.
*********
"Turn."
Scorpius' was writing down hit notes about the movement pattern of Venus in the corner of the libarary. Al was at Hagrid's for tea while Rose and Andy were somewhere in the castle trying to locate a hidden passage they had come across in a book they found. This left Scorpius time to spend in the library enjoying his rare moments alone. He was happy he had friends, but ever since New Years they were constantly around him trying to keep him happy. He knew they meant well, but he also wasn't use to being doted on by anyone but his parents, sister, and Pip. Having such supportive friends was a new experience he wasn't use to. Aniara was next to him at the table reading another book from the library as Scorpius had to turn pages for her. He was enjoying the quite and almost alone time. Aniara only spoke up to inform him when she needed the pages turned.
Every now and then he felt eyes on him, or heard faint whispers, but as always it never bothered him. Almost 12 years of being a Malfoy had conditioned him to ignore what people said about him and his family. He felt his sister get slightly aggitatted about the whispers behind them, but he was thankful that she did her best to ignore them and continue reading. He heard faint footsteps behind him and the whispering stopped, which meant it was either one of his friends or one of James' friends.
"Gorgons, Ghasts, and Ghouls? Didn't realize you were interested in the macabe Malfoy." Charlie said as they sat down on the other side of the table. Scorpius looked up at them confused then realized Charlie was talking about the book Ani was reading. "Or are they somehow related to your astronomy chart?"
Scorpius chuckled and swiftly came up with an excuse for why he had the book open next to him, "My sister had mentioned something over the break about the planets alignments effecting the behavior of attic ghouls. I remembered it as I was reading about Venus and thought I would see if she was right."
Charlie's eyebrows raised as they put their chin into their hand, "And was she?"
Scorpius nodded, never one to question his sister's knowlege, and she had mentioned that fact when she asked him to grab the book for her. Scorpius took stock of Charlie's current hairstyle, it was cut a bit shorter on the sides since Christmas and was no longer green. Now it was an icy blue with sporatic gold streaks thoughout.
"I like the hair."
Charlie smiled at him and twirled a lock in their finger for a moment, "So far you are the only one. Everyone else thinks its either too plain or too contrasting. But, not like their opinions have ever mattered to me. And its not like I won't get bored and change it again in two weeks."
"Oh hey," Scorpius remembered the game the seconds years had been playing just a few weeks ago, "I never heard what happened with Pin the Star on the Christmas Charlie. Who won and what did they get?"
Charlie's face beamed at Scorpius before leaning in with a smug look on their face, "I did! Now I get to pick everyone else's new hair color! I've already decided on bright pink for Farris and traffic cone orange for James, its gonna be worse than his uncle's hair I promise," Scorpius chuckled remembering how ginger the Weasleys are. "I can't decide on Clairr though. That girl has almost no shame, and the whole point is to embarrass them for a month."
"How about a mustard yellow? Or like a vomit green?" Scorpius offered.
Charlie put their finger over their mouth in thought, "That could work. Both together would be splendid, but the deal was only one color, sadly."
Scorpius chuckled and brought his gaze back to the book he was taking notes on. Charlie didn't speak up again for a while. The two of them sat at the table in silence with only the rustling of parchement and scraping of quills. Aniara, no longer able to read her book because of Charlie's presence, got up to eves drop on other students and look over their shoulders.
Everything was calm for a while, until it was broken by two older Hufflepuffs walking by.
"Oh Lina, I hope this chick knows she is in the presense of a Death Eater. Wouldn't want to read about her family in the news next week." The boy said to the girl next to him.
The Hufflepuff girl snickered and brushed her hair off her shoulder, "She won't be able to hide with that hair."
Charlie didn't say anything, but Scorpius turned towards the two and surprised himself by calmly saying, "Careful what you say. I'm sure Charlie here knows how to get hair coloring potion into your products without you knowing. Wouldn't want to end up with bright pink hair for the rest of the year." The two students looked stunned at being calmly threatened by a first year, "And it's they, not she thank you very much."
Scorpius calmly glared at the two for a moment longer, enjoying their faces showing the faintest hint of fear, before turning back to his book as if nothing happened.
"I think you lot would look better with a more sickly green color actually. I'm sure I can get the brew just right to have it last until the fall too." Charlie said with as not as calm of a voice as Scorpius had used, but none the less just as threatening, "And I'm sure my friend's pronouns are not 'Death Eater' so you might want to wash your mouths out with a rinse. Maybe I can figure out how to brew something that changes the color of teeth as well."
The two Hufflepuffs, now properly worried about having their apperances changed semi permanently by the two younger students, hurried away, their shoes loudly tapping on the stone floor of the library. There was a silent beat before Scorpius looked up at Charlie, and the two burst out into silent laughter. Once Scorpius had wiped away his tears, he smiled wistfully at Charlie, "You know, I think WWW has a candy that changes the color of teeth. Maybe we should order some for later."
"I was just thinking the same thing young Slytherin," Charlie said with a wink and the two continued their quiet studying with no futher interruptions.
***************
She had only just sent off her reply letter to Rose, when a loud thud came from the letterbox of Aniara's bedroom window. Turning back around from her bedroom door, Aniara slowly made her way back to the window wondering what sort of mail she would be reciving on a regular monday afternoon. In the box she found a small rectangular package with an envelope attached to it. It was addressed to her in handwriting she wasn't familiar with. She sat down on her soft cushion chair and untied the letter from the package. The return address and name made her smile in surprise. She opened up the letter first, eagar to see what he had written to her, excited by the fact that he had thought to write to her. When she pulled out the letter, a small white flower fell onto her lap.
Dear Snowdrop,
A late Christmas gift is better than no Christmas gift. At least I hope it is. Sorry I haven't sent it to you earlier, but I wanted to make sure that they work before sending over defective books. My uncle helped me with them and knowing his reputation it would have ended up exploding in my face or something. Or worse, exploding in yours, and I couldn't have that. And I also owed you for your helpful lesson on munkswood, it saved me from a potentially embarrasing moment a week ago during herbology. My friends would have never let me live it down.
Speaking of friends, due to a fun game we play just before Christmas, I should warn you that my normally handsome dark hair has now been dyed an impressive, and unsightly, orange. Not like my mum's hair orange, like a warning sign orange. Don't worry, it is only temporary and my beautiful hair dark locks shall return before your birthday. Don't tell your brother, but we are planning a surprise party for him. He has seemed down more and more since the break and we thought a party would cheer him up. I'm trying to figure out a way to sneak you into the castle, but its proving to be hard. Don't get me wrong, getting you in is the easy part, its getting you out of your home thats trickier. But don't fret, I haven't forgotten about you love and have a birthday surprise for you as well. And before you freak out on me, just know that I have recently come into 10 galleons that have been burning a hole in my robes, so money isn't an issue.
School has been great so far. I'm actually doing a bit better in astronomy, but I wish I had your grandfather's book. It would make it so much easier and more entertaining as well. Maybe you can help me with it sometime. My friends and I are talking about joining the Rebel Kids for study sessions on Fridays. Farris is behind on muggle studies, Claire can't figure out how to transfigure her ferret into a goblet without it having ears and a bushy tail, and Charlie won't stop whinging to us about how unfocused we are with school. They, on the other hand, are top of our class. I think they put some sort of knowlege enhancing charm into their hair potions, which is why they change their hair every few weeks. This week its an icy blue with gold streaks that none of us are fond of, but knowing Char, they are gonna change it by February.
I wish you could meet my friends, you would really like them. And with as high rolling of a better you are, they could stand to make some good spending cash. I would have to brief you of the rules of course. We may not follow all of the school rules, but when we impose rules on each other, they are binding.
As for your Christmas gift, I am hoping that these make you feel a little less trapped. And you won't have to wait so long to hear from Rose. Her and I already have our matching copies, and your's are color coded. Lilac for Rose, because its her favorite color, I'm not an idiot, and the maroon one for me because it's my favorite color. I know, Gryffindor red, how cliche. But I really hope you enjoy them and I can't wait to hear from you soon, because I am confused on this week's assignment about the effects Jupiters assent has on moonwater.
Your favorite Potter,
James Sirius
P.S. I found a patch of Snowdrops on my way to tea with my dad, brother, and Uncle Hagrid and picked one for you to put in your hair. I really like the way it looks.
Aniara picked up the flower and imediatly tucked it into the top of her double braided hair. She then put the letter on her side table and unwrapped the package. She found two leather bound journals, one lilac and one maroon. The lilac journal was embossed with simple rose shapes in gold and silver. The maroon journal didn't have any designs on it except for three silver letters at the bottom in a swirling script. A.C.M.
She opened the maroon journal to find a small bit of parchment placed inside.
James Potter and George Weasley present Gemini Journals. These journals come in a set of two that are linked. Any writing in one is charmed to appear inside its companion. Any writing will only appear to the owner of each journal, so privacy is guaranteed. Please enjoy your journal and use it wisely.
Aniara had never recieved any gift as thoughtful as this one. She almost didn't believe it was true. She rushed to her vanity to find her set of quills and ink to test out her new gift. She opened the maroon journal to the first page and began writing.
If this thing acutally works, then tell me which constellation I showed you first in the book.
She watched as the ink from her words dried and waiting for something to happen. 'What are you doing, its not like he sat with his book open after he sent them.' She shook her head as she scolded herself and walked to her bookshelf to find a book to read while she waited for her reply. She grabbed a muggle book she had read before and had been wanting to reread for a while now, and sat at her vanity reading. After an hour she had only made it five pages in, stopping too often to check if there was any reply in her gemini journal, when she heard a pop sound behind her.
"Miss Ani, lunch is ready."
"Thank you Pip. I will be down in a second." Aniara said to the house elf, not taking her eyes off the journal, willing words to show up.
"Did you get a new book miss?" Pip inquired, looking at the journal that held Aniara's attention.
Aniara nodded and explained the gift.
"And why is Miss getting a Christmas gift from James Potter?" Pip said with a slight teasing tone.
"I may or may not have run into him on Christmas Eve..." Aniara said, pausing to pull her attention away from the journal and towards the elf, "We talked for a while and he didn't want me to be so lonely. He already knew I've been writing to Rose and thought someting more... er... instant would be helpful to our friendship."
Pip smiled and clasped her hands together, "I am glad you are making friends Miss Aniara. You seem happier than you have been in a long time."
Aniara smiled and flicked her gaze to the book to see a line of words suddenly appear below her own. She did a double take and picked the book up in both hands to read the slanted scratched words.
The bear. Then the dog. Are you questioning my charms skills Snowdrop?
Aniara chuckled and quickly grabbed her quill to respond back. She only slightly caught Pip's comment about bringing lunch up to her room.
A- Just making sure that its acutally you on the other end Munkswood. Can never be to careful with the products your uncle has a hand in making.
J- Fair point. Do you like the books?
A- I love them. However I might need another one just for book club with Rosie. We write almost entire essays to each other.
J- I should have thought about that. I will write to my uncle about making another one. Color?
A- Do you have to ask?
J- Dark purple, got it!
***************
Weekly study sessions had now gotten a little more crowded than Scorpius would have liked. He sat in between Al and Charlie with James directly across from him. Though he was greatful to have Charlie's occasional assistance during the session, he could do without Faris and Claire's whinging. Rose and Andy sat across from each other on Al's other side and were quietly discussing their astronomy work. Scorpius got bored of trying to read his herbology textbook and glanced at Al and his work. He was two paragraphs into his herbology essay and was very focused. His face was hovered just over the parchement and there was an ink smudge on his nose. His hair had grown out a bit and was almost covering his eyes. Every few minutes, Al would stop writing to run his hand in his hair to push it out of the way, only for it to fall down over his face a few seconds later. Scorpius let out a breath through his nose and got caught up in watching his best friend write his essay. He hadn't realized he was staring for so long until he felt a slight nudge on his arm from Charlie.
He whipped his head around to see Charlie pointing towards his text book and mouthing the words, 'you need to be reading.' Scorpius blushed and mouthed an apology back before begrudgingly reading his text book again.
After another 20 minutes of reletively silent studying, Charlie spoke up to the group, "Ok, check in time, where is everyone at?"
"All caught up, can we go back to the dorms and play exploding snaps now?" Claire whinged in a feigned exhausted voice. Faris concured with her statement and started to pack up his things before Charlie grabbed both of their essay's before they could leave.
"Nice try, but you two aren't even half way done with you essays. Get back to it and stop your complaining. Al, how's yours coming along?" Charlie's eyes took a quick glance at Scorpius before landing on Al.
"I'm going to need help leading into this conclusion, but I think I'm almost done."
"Good," Charlie smiled at him before looking over at Scorpius, "I'm sure your best friend here can help with that." Scorpius smiled and took that suggestion as an excuse to stop reading boring herbology. He leaned in close to Al to read over his essay so far to aid in the conclusion.
"We are a week ahead over here." Rose shot over towards the rest of the group before leaning back over the table to get back to her conversation with Andi.
"Wasn't worried about you two birds over there, but thanks for the update. James?"
Scorpius looked up from Al's paper to take a glance at James. He hadn't imediatly answered his friend and had his nose in his book writing notes with a dumb grin on his face. When Charlie sad his name again, James seemed to ignore it. He stopped his writing and read over his notes for a long minute before pulling his lips into his mouth and grinning, then he inked his quill some more and went back to writing more notes.
Charlie reached over and tapped their wand on James' book to get his attention. His head snapped up and the smile on his face dropped in embarrassment as he looked at his best friend, "What? Huh? What did I miss?"
Charlie chuckled at their friend and informed him of the check in they were doing with everyone. Scorpius took at peak at James' writing in his white journal but was puzzled when he didn't see anything. He had been sure that James had just been writing on that page not a second before, but the page was blank. Maybe in his suprise, James had accidentally let a few pages turn, losing his place in his notes.
"Oh, I guess I got a bit distracted. Getting back on it boss, " he did a sarcastic salute to Charlie before pulling out his text book from underneith his journal. Charlie had accepting his excuse and went back to their own work, but Scorpius caught James write one final quickly scratched note in the journal before closing it and tucking it away in his bag.
After a few minutes Scorpius felt the familiar buzz sensation through his body meaning his sister would be showing up in a minute. He reached out to her mentally to chat while he pretened to get back to reading his book.
"You almost missed study time, Bear." He quickly glanced up to see where she situated herself to see her sat crisscross on the table with her back to him. She was hunched over a bit so he assumed she had a book in her hand. "More fun on the table?" He teased her.
"The only person bothered by it is you Racky."
"Not going to look through the library for later? I thought we burned through your list this week."
He saw her streatch out from the corner of his eye, "Don't really feel like studying at the moment. Speaking of, isn't that what you should be doing?"
"No," He lied to her.
She didn't reply and, after a second, Scorpius sighed and tried to actually study. He failed. All he could think about was Al's really good paper he was tempted to copy and the fact his sister was just sat on the table in front of him. He also just hated herbology.