Glory |A. Potter|

Seventy-Two

Deep, heaving breaths. One more stair until he reached the top of the staircase. He repositioned the textbooks in his arms, attempted to calm down his panting to no avail. He dragged his feet down the corridor, turned in the end of it, glanced at the watch strapped around his wrist. The moment he saw the time, he jogged to the end of the corridor, came to a stop in front of the doors in front of him. He glared at the doors. It was time he entered hostile territory. The one place he had promised himself never to step foot into again.

The library.

Scorpius glared at the closed doors once more before he took in a deep breath and entered. His steps were quick as he got inside, strides purposeful as he moved along the shelves in search of one specific table in the depths of the library. Soon, he found it.

He collapsed against the only spare chair around the table, his textbooks scattered on it, bringing the three occupants of this corner of the torture room of the castle to look over at him, entirely unimpressed as he attempted to catch his breath he had yet to recover from his attempt to climb up the stairs.

"Have you started yet?"

Jane's expression remained unimpressed as she raised a brow at him. "Of course. You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago."

"I lost track of time," he whined as he drew out his chair and sat down, rushed to collect his books from Jane's side of the table where they had slipped. Ramona scooted to the side to let him sit beside her more comfortably as he laid his upper body on the table. "Have you finished studying?"

"Transfiguration, yes," Albus replied as he raised his textbook, allowing Scorpius to see he had moved on to Astronomy.

Scorpius frowned. The study date had been his idea in the first place and he had been late by twenty minutes. It was safe to say this meeting wasn't starting well.

"What are you studying?"

"Ancient Runes," Ramona murmured, her gaze on the text as Jane replied, "Arithmancy."

"I see."

"Start studying, Scorpius," Jane urged him, and with that, the boy fell silent as he opened his textbooks and with a deep sigh, started studying. Hardly any words were exchanged between them as the hours passed, and they lost time in that little part of the library.

Albus was the first one to finish his studying. He closed his Astronomy textbook, looked at his companions. No look of his was returned, though, letting him know they were focused in what they were doing. Aware he would be left to his own devices for a while, he allowed his mind to wander, thoughts soon turning to the upcoming exams and his graduation that would come afterwards, then the future waiting for him, where nothing would be the same. Before he had realised it, a question had slipped from his lips.

"Have you decided what you want to do after graduating?" All eyes turned to him, Scorpius's and Jane's expressions showing a hint of confusion due to being pulled away from something they had focused on for such a long time. Without being prompted, he elaborated. "What are you goals? What professions will you apply to follow?"

Ramona tilted her head to the side, a habit she had picked up from Jane initially when they had been younger but she now used it even more often than Jane did when she wanted to openly analyze a person or a situation. "A position in the Ministry would be nice despite my displeasure with politics. The ideal job would be in the Department of Mysteries, for me."

Albus didn't bother hiding his surprise at her words. "Really? It's no easy feat to get in the Department of Mysteries, I didn't know you were interested in it."

"My primary interest remains to be modeling," she explained with a small smile. "That doesn't mean it's my only interest. Besides, I aspire to be on the cover of Witch Weekly or the New Prophet and that's not going to happen if I become just a model. The Department of Mysteries is interesting and there is a chance I could be accepted. The subjects I've taken, after all, are Divination, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Transfiguration and Charms. I would think based on that, I'm qualified to have a position within."