Dramione ~ 20 Years Later

Fireworks and France

"No."

Annabel looked mildly offended that I'd rejected her idea before she could even elaborate better.

"What? Why not. He'd never tell! I reckon he'll be more than willing to help us carry out our prank on James, too."

I pursed my lips and considered it momentarily as I watched a group of forth years shuffled past us and out the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Deciding I needed to avoid her pleading blue eyes if I wanted to stand by my firm no, I turned to stare instead at the ruby red flames flickering in the fireplace.

Currently, we were both huddled in an oversized armchair beside the warmth of the fire whilst Annabel attempted to convince me of her idea. The rest of the Gryffindors occupying the common room continued to send us amused glances throughtout our bickering as we got louder and louder.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of quickly glancing at her wide hopeful eyes and felt my resolve crumbling at how eager she was to go though with her plan.

I huffed and twisted so that I was completely facing her, "oh fine. We'll ask for his help and he can be kept in the loop of our upcoming plans and whatever."

She clasped her hands together in delight and skipped to the other side of the common room where Albus Potter was sprawled in a beanbag with his nose buried in a very heavy looking book.

Annabel seemed to be under the impression that we needed more brains on our pranking team. If we were going to avoid getting caught and having a series of detentions, we should have a look out, and someone to tell us if our plans are stupid and impossible. She reckoned Albus Potter was that person.

After a hushed conversation (that I couldn't hear) Annabel danced back towards me with Albus' poor hand squashed in between both of hers.

She smiled at me briefly before turning back towards her cousin. "Al," she began in a cheery tone, "meet my new best friend Scorpius Malfoy,"

Albus raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something (maybe introduce himself) but Annabel was already facing me again and saying, "Scorp, meet my favourite cousin Albus Potter,"

The two of us shared an amused glance at her enthusiasm before we both stuck out our hands to shake the other's.

"Nice to meet you, Albus" I told him reluctantly as he settled in a seat opposite us.

"Call me Al. Now please, allow me to assist you in the endeavours you wish to pursue."

___________________________________

It turned out, that Al's intellectual abilities were extremely useful to our pranking escapades (and I learnt a lot of long words). So far, he had contributed to a personal prank we were planning on a few Ravenclaws who had been extremely rude when they brutally teased Annabel in the Library because she had been fumbling over her words as she read a section from her History of Magic essay.

By the time it was 7PM, we figured that we may as well consider the details of the prank Amara wanted us to do on poor James Potter.

"Why did she want you to do it, anyway?" Annabel asked, with a quizzical look in her intelligent blue eyes.

I shrugged, "Dunno. Think James gave her a few too many witty remarks during their detention and she wants to shut him up."

"We just need to think of what the best prank to pull on him would be," Annabel mused aloud.

We sat is silence for a moment, the fire crackling beside us with the sound of quiet chatter from a huddle of fifth years on the other side of the room (the only people left other than us). Al tapped his chin as he leant back in the sofa opposite me and Annabel, whilst Annabel herself stared intently into the flames as though they held all the secrets to the universe.