The Chaser [sequel to The Mudblood]

Chapter 4: Year 1

By the end of class, I didn't make any Gryffindor friends, but when Professor Pearson asked who each of us befriended, I named Rose. Rose then said she'd befriended me, Albus, and Scorpius, a triple whammy that delighted our professor tremendously. Of course she would be a teacher's pet.

And of course Scorpius squealed over their new "friendship." He twirled in circles our whole walk to the Great Hall for lunch while Duncan, Mose, and Jewel took turns trying to trip him.

Britney stayed in the potions classroom presumably throughout lunch, because she appeared in Charms afterward with a vial for the boys to share. Other than Scorpius, they each eagerly took a sip once she told them it would remove their makeup, which it did...before sprouting their eyebrows into bushes that covered their foreheads. She ran from the room crying while the boys frantically searched their textbooks for charms to fix it.

Unsurprisingly, Leah followed Britney to console her, but I didn't since I surely would have made the situation worse by commending her uncanny ability to humiliate both Duncan and Albus at once.

Despite learning almost nothing, the day ended with a pile of homework that I spent the whole evening working on. While most others ate dinner, I planned to sneak into the boys' room to look for my journal, but they were all in there, tediously plucking their forehead-brows. Dejected, I collected some food from the Great Hall and retreated to my bed, where I used the wall as a desk for my measly little parchment.

While documenting the day's ideas, I must have fallen asleep, because I awoke in the dark to the sound of voices bickering in the hallway. Scrambling from bed, I grabbed my cloak and hurried to the common room, where Scorpius and Albus stood near the exit in aggressive stances, pointing at each other.

"My father warned me you'd be a bully!" Albus fumed.

"Oh yeah? My father warned me you'd be a loser! I gave you a free makeover and you cried about it! Who doesn't like makeup?"

"Me," I contributed as I approached. Scorpius gave me an even more disgusted look than usual.

"And most boys," Albus added, his fury deflated. He probably didn't know what to do with me taking his side in the argument.

"Most boys are uncultured," Scorpius huffed as he pushed past us toward the giant boulder. "My mum started the fashion movement in Hogwarts, and I intend to finish it."

I shot a skeptical glance at Albus, whose nose twitched before he stalked away. I supposed I shouldn't have expected a less snobby response.

"Let's dispel the negative energy, shall we?" Scorpius proposed as the boulder slid aside. "We're about to embark on our first double date, and I want it to be romantic—"

The last word barely finished before Albus shoved him into the dungeon corridor and pinned him to the damp wall. I reached for my wand but quickly realized I'd forgotten it in my room. That should have increased my panic, but what would I have done with magic anyway? The only spell I knew was Furnunculus, and I doubted Albus would care much about pimples.

"You stay the hell away from Rose," he snarled, though it was difficult to take his threat too seriously when he still had hair flowing from his forehead like a fallen wig.

"I was joking," Scorpius amended, eerily smooth. "You think I'd fancy someone from your family? You're mental."

Albus glared at him for a long moment before stalking away, disappearing up the staircase.

Then Scorpius spun on me, hands on his hips. "You were supposed to have my back!"

"You'll have to stop being so dumb first. Potter's less predictable than Exploding Snap."