Fate was in a good mood (Scorose)

It was Saturday and all members of The Herb had finished their homework the day before. They were all in their regular seats on the Griffindor table.
“So” Al started, “what are we doing today?”
“I have a meeting for the paper tonight, but I don’t have a title to report for, so maybe help me find some gossip?” Scorp suggested.
“Oooh, did I hear gossip?” James turned to them, dropping his conversation with Fred about the new fireworks in WWW, a knowing spark in his eyes, one corner of his mouth lifted a little. “I might or might not have heard a thing or two.”
“What about?” Alice asked.
“Well” he started, “I heard Anna Westbrook telling Julie Myers that she’s meeting Alexis Blear, Charlotte Wood’s girlfriend, today at 3 pm at the Astronomy tower.”
“How do you know that?” Rose wondered suspiciously.
“I went to the quiditch field to practice, there are try-outs next weekend, and they were just coming from their try-outs, I guess Hufflepuff got them done earlier-” He said it all in one fast breath, “-and I accidentally overheard their conversation! I think the truth should come out, all but Charlotte are absolute arses for doing this to her.”
“And it will bring a lot of drama and who doesn’t love drama?” Fred joined with a mischievous expression.
The Herb’s members looked at each other and came into a silent agreement. They were going to check it out, but first they had to plan it all out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They found themselves under the tree by the lake, soft wind blowing and some leaves falling down. Autumn colours were all around the place and it created such a cozy atmosphere. The girls’ scarves fit perfectly with the late September vibe, while the boys’ ones reminded of the summer months that passed previously. The students watching them from afar thought they looked like a sweet, innocent painting where every dot of colour was perfectly thought out.
Little did they know, the conversation was about stalking.
“No no no!” Rose said. “We cannot jump and confront them, have you lost your mind, Al?”
“Well, they’re going to see us anyways,” he defended himself. “The camera makes a sound. And, let me tell you, that sound is pretty loud!”
“Silencing charm,” Ali noted simply.
“Wait, there is a charm that removes the clicking sound?” Scorpius asked amazed.
“Well, of course, there’s a spell for everything nowadays,” she responded.
“Guys!” Rose said. “Anna Westbrook just showed up. We can’t talk about it here.”
“Where should we go, then?” Alice questioned.
Al thought for a minute and so did Rose. They shared a nervous look and she answered: “To one of us’ common room.”
“But isn’t it against the rules?” The Malfoy boy wondered. “Can’t we get in trouble?”
“Technically,” the Weasley girl said with calculated mischief in her voice, “there isn’t a rule against other houses in the common room. I would know, I read the rule book.”
“’Course you did,” her cousin muttered under his breath.
“Alright, which one are we going to?” Ali asked excitedly. The only way to describe her expression was ‘ready for risks’.
“I think Griffindor is safer,” Al answered. “We know more people there, after all.”
“Griffindor it is!” Ali exclaimed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were seated on the sofa in Griffindor’s common room and the boys felt surprisingly at home. There were stares only when they first walked in but now people seemed to not even acknowledge their existence, which was absolutely perfect.
The room was all in red and gold, except the wooden doors and floor. There was a large cork board on one of the walls with different news on it. The sofa they were sitting on was in the center of the room, but there wasn’t a table in front of it, unlike the other seats in the room, except the two armchairs in the corner. It was currently almost empty because most students were hanging out outside, taking advantage of the nice weather. Only The Silver Marauders (planning their next prank on McGonagall) and three fourth years (studying for their test on Monday) were there, too.
It seemed like none of them could sit normally on a couch. Ali was sitting on the armrest, even though there was enough space for her on the sofa itself, Scorp was scrunched up in a ball like a cat, Rose was upside-down and Al wasn’t even on the couch but on the floor.
“So,” Ali started, “let’s get over the plan. We put the silencing charm on Scorp’s camera while we’re still here.”
“Then, we go to the Astronomy tower at two thirty and hide behind the large statue in the corner, that we can all fit behind, and wait for them,” Al continued.
“I use my magic speech recorder to capture their conversation,” Rose added.
“Wait, you have a speech recorder?” Scorp asked.
“Yeah, uncle George gave me one for my birthday,” she explained. “They are available at the shop, but mine was a special edition.”
“Ok, then, anytime I see an interesting moment to film, I take a picture,” Scorp brought the subject back. “And when we’re done, I make a draft of an article based on the voice recording and the pictures. I’ll take everything with me when I go to the meeting at midnight.”
“Okay, this whole plan sounds good, but what happens if we get caught?” Ali questioned worried. “Are we going to confront them or something? I mean, we can’t lie, considering Scorp will have his camera, Rose – the speech recorder and we’ll be hiding behind statues. It will be very obvious what we’re doing.”
Al went over to his brother, who was at the other end of the room. He whispered something in his ear and James gestured towards the frame above the fireplace. He said something quickly and Al came back to his friends.
“The invisibility cloak is behind the picture above the fireplace,” He reported. “We’ll pick it up before we go there and we’ll hide under it. Escaping should be easy, in theory.”
Then, out of the blue, something jumped on Scorpius’ head. It was soft and ginger and it wasn’t happy. Instead of helping him, the others laughed. He was fighting for his life right there, in front of them, and they were laughing at him. He noted to himself to mention it, if he survives the battle with the furry monster. Rose calmed down and picked it up. Scorpius rose, his hair messy like he had just woken up and a little scratch on his cheek was visible. It wasn’t serious though. He looked at the redhead with a very offended expression. She was cuddling it. Rose was cuddling the tiny beast!
“This is Viv,” Al stated out of breath. “She’s Rose’s pet cat.”
“She seems to like you!” Ali said through her laughter.
“The feeling isn’t mutual.” Scorp made a face. Rose now had her full attention on the cat. It almost looked like it fell asleep in her lap, but then it glared at the blond boy with its sharp gaze. He glared back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Silencing charm?” Rose checked. Scorpius tested it by taking a picture. No sound came out.
“On,” he confirmed.
“Voice recorder ready?” Ali checked. Rose tested it.
“Ready,” she said. “Cloak?”
“Here,” Al showed it off to everyone. “We should her going, it’s two twenty already.”
They all got under the cloak and with all the ‘Ouch, you stepped on my foot!’ they somehow made it to Astronomy tower. They hid behind the statue of a famous astrologist, whose name none of them remembered, but didn’t take the cloak off. They waited and waited, and waited for what seemed like hours, but was, in fact, no more than twenty minutes, when Alexis showed up. A little bit later, Anna came by, too. Rose started recording. Scorpius got the camera ready.
“Annie!” Alexis whispered. Then, she did something kind of expected, but were still somewhat shocked to see. She kissed her. Scorp immediately got a picture. Drama.
“Lex” Anna started, “when are you going to finally break up with Wood? It’s been killing me to hide like this!”
“I know, I know!” Alexis responded. “It’s been awful to lie to her like this!”
“Ah, so it’s awful to her?” Anna exclaimed. “What about me? Do you think it’s fun to share like this? And everyone sees her as miss oh, so perfect, and the one in relationship with you! When we come clean, they’ll all whisper about me being awful and not a single soul will say anything about her in a negative light!”
“Having a better score than you on the O.W.Ls isn’t a crime, Annie.” Alexis tried to smooth her secret lover’s dark hair, but she pulled away.
“Oh, so you’re on her side again?” Anna countered. “Remind me, who do you love, me or her?”
“You, of co-”
“Then start showing it!” She interrupted. “Tell the others, tell her, and for Merlin’s sake, pick my side for once!”
“I know how to make it up to you…” Alexis’ tone changed to seductive. Anna’s expression softened. “I’ll be alone in the dorm tonight, I expect you to come over.”
All four made a face under the cloak. Why are sixth years so disgusting sometimes?
With a final kiss, which Scorpius took a photo of, of course, the girls went back to wherever they were before. Quietly, The Herb returned to Giffindor’s common room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That” Al started, “was a really messed up conversation!”
“How can someone be so awful?” Ali wondered. “I mean, sleeping with someone’s girlfriend is equal to getting a better score? Come on!”
“Well, now we have the conversation,” Rose said. “We can expose them.”
Scorpius began his attempts at making a draft. After two hour of his friends’ completely useless advice, it finally looked pretty catchy.
“Alright,” he started, “it’s ready. I better get going though. Meeting starts in twenty minutes.”
After a bunch of ‘Good luck!’s and ‘Have fun!’s he went back to the History of magic’s cabinet, where Slytherin’s meeting was going to be held.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, Malfoy,” one of the fifth years started, “do you have something to report this week?”
“Yes, actually, I do.”
He spent the next twenty minutes talking about what he saw, reading the draft he wrote, showing he pictures and playing the voice recording. Everyone was shocked. This was the most interesting report for the week!
The best thing was, no one even questioned how this first year found all of this out. They trusted him with it and he really felt like he fits in around these people like a puzzle. It was different from what it was like with his friends, though. Here, he was seen for the article and the gossip he brought, and even though it sound depressing, it felt good to have people who he couldn’t call friends who still didn’t see his last name only.
Meanwhile, The Herb and their cousins and siblings felt like home, like family. They look at him and see one of their own. With them, it doesn’t matter how juicy the gossip was or how good the article was, but neither did his heritage. He was just Scorp – a random boy that they basically adopted.
Still, he did fit in with the writing team, this was undeniable.
He got a sixth year, who used to be best friends with Anna until mid summer to help him with the writing. The way it was going, he was going to have his article published in a week or two.
But no matter how much Rosie helped him, he was not going to tolerate her furry monster.