Chapter 17 Scheming Cousins

Albus' POV

"Where are we?" Albus inquired. He held his lighted wand up to study the cavernous tunnel better.

Fred paused in the act of moving a ceiling high pile of debris out of their way to grin at his cousin. "That is for me to know and you to find out." He told Albus mysteriously.

Albus just looked at the older boy. "You do realize that you just used a muggle expression, don't you?" He asked deadpan. Albus and his siblings had the excuse of a parent being raised in the muggle world when they made such a slip. Fred, however, was born of two people raised in the wizard world.

"I'm aware." Fred replied in that easy way of his. "Now come help me move this rubbish."

Albus did as his cousin asked. Suddenly, he stopped and his eyebrows knit with thought. "Didn't you say earlier that you use this passageway often?" He asked curiously. The older boy affirmed the statement with a nod. "Then would you care to explain the presence of this pile of rubbish?"

Fred only grinned secretively."You'll see," was all he said.

This statement was greeted with muffled muttering from Albus. "Bloody cousin," He mumbled low enough that Fred couldn't hear, "Worse than my bloody brother." He pretended not to see Fred's grin grow wider.

It didn't take long to remove the pile of debris from the passageway and restack it haphazardly behind them. When they were finished, Fred led Albus forward. From their new vantage point, the boys could see a light at the end of the passageway. The light was coming through small cracks in a wooden door. Albus soon figured out the purpose of the pile blocking the way. With the block in place, anyone coming from either side would assume the tunnel had caved long ago and make no further effort to investigate.

The space between the door and the barrier in the tunnel was filled with boxes. The small space resembled a storage room of some sort. Fred covered the few feet to the door in two long strides. Before Albus could do anything, he threw the door open unceremoniously. Al's mouth dropped open in shock as he caught sight of what was on the other side.

Rose's POV

"Come on, Vic." Rose coaxed. "You promised."

"I know," the older girl sighed. "And I'm going to do it. Don't worry." With yet another sigh, the prefect pushed herself up from the Gryffindor table and made her way over to the table where the Scamander twins were seated.

Rose watched as Victoire plopped down in the seat across from the two and they lifted their faces to see the part-veela girl smile at them. Judging from Victoire's expression, their conversation seemed to be going well, but Rose wasn't by a nature a patient person. She decided to go see what was taking her cousin so long.

Rose walked as inconspicuously as possible over to the Ravenclaw table and sat beside a giggling group of second years a few feet away from Victoire, Lorcan, and Lysander. The second years abruptly stopped giggling as Rose plopped down beside them.

"Rose?" One of them asked. Rose looked up to find her cousin Dominique. One notable thing about Dominique Weasley was the fact that her hair was a shade lighter than the rest of the Weasley family. Her hair was as blonde as it was red, making her stand out. Another, slightly more notable thing was that she was the only Weasley ever to not be in Gryffindor. Rather than causing her to be disowned (as Rose's father had threatened to do), this only made the second year more popular with her family.

Rose held back a smile. She would happen to sit down right next to the only Ravenclaw that would talk to her. "I haven't seen you in forever, Dom." She told the older girl.

"Not since school started at least." The strawberry-blonde agreed. She introduced her group of friends whose names Rose promptly forgot. As Dom and her friends went back to their conversation, Rose let out a sigh of relief. As much as she loved her cousins, she couldn't let them distract her.

Rose turned her attention back to Victoire and the Scamanders just in time to hear one of the boys (she couldn't tell them apart) say, "We have a whole collection of rare plants, if you would like to see them. Mum and Dad send them from all over."

"I'm curious about that one in particular." Victoire batted her eyelashes flirtatiously and Rose silently commended herself for not picking Andromeda to do this job. Merlin knew, Andromeda couldn't flirt like that. As it was, Lorcan and Lysander were practically drooling over Victoire. "Could you tell me more about it, Lorcan?" The twin Victoire referred to as Lorcan puffed up proudly.

"The phaedranassa," Lorcan began. "Is really rare-"

"You can only find it in certain parts of South America," The other twin interrupted. It was useless information, as Rose already knew it.

"That's neat." Victoire said. "And it's so pretty. I would love to have one to put in my room."

"Well…" The one called Lysander started.

"We could always give you one of ours," Lorcan finished.

"Really?" Victoire rewarded the boys with a smile. "That would be so sweet of you."

Rose decided that she had heard enough. She said goodbye to Dominique and with a secretive smile, she went back to the Gryffindor table. When she got there, she was surprised to find Albus seated in his normal seat next to Emmett.

She hadn't seen him since the beginning of Defense Against the Dark Arts when Fred had pulled him from class. She hadn't seen Fred since then either. Now, the two of them were sitting innocently across from each other as if nothing had happened. Rose sat down beside Albus and eyed Fred suspiciously.

"Hello, Rosie." He said cheerfully.

"What did you blow up today?" Rose asked in reply.

"Nothing." Fred replied a touch too innocently. "Can't a bloke be cheerful for five minutes without having his motives questioned?"

Rose gave him a dubious look, but was saved from answering by the arrival of Andromeda. "A bloke, yes." The older girl replied, taking the seat to Fred's right. "You, no."

Fred and Andromeda began to argue, but Rose was more focused on the first years sitting beside her. She saw Emmet nudge Albus and ask, "What did McGonagall want you for earlier?"

Albus shrugged, "Something about Filch complaining about students being out after hours. After my detention earlier for the same thing, she felt the need to warn me." If Rose hadn't been paying close attention, she would have missed the nervous glance Albus sent across the table to Fred.

Emmett, however, remained oblivious to the scheming cousins. He took Albus' answer in stride and soon, the two were onto the subject of Quidditch and Albus' absence from DADA was forgotten by everyone but Rose. Rose had grown up with Fred. She knew him well enough to know that whatever he was cooking up, it couldn't be good. She didn't know why Albus had gotten involved, but then she had a feeling she didn't want to.

Rose went to transfiguration still lost in thought about her cousins, the potion, and Malfoy the Git as she had dubbed the Slytherin. Rose thanked Merlin that Fred wasn't in her year. She loved her cousin, but she couldn't take his antics on a regular basis.

The rest of the day was fairly eventless. Albus and Emmett were in most of her classes. Since they were in her year, they sat down in front of her in charms. She couldn't help but notice that Patton, who usually could not be pried from the boys' side, was nowhere to be seen. Rose realized that she hadn't seen the cat all day. She began to wonder if auror business had pulled him away, but was distracted as the professor entered the classroom.

"Hello, class." Filius Flitwick, the one and only Hogwarts charms professor, waddled into the classroom. His height inhibited him from doing much of anything else. Rose knew that this was because of the fact that he was half-goblin, but that was irrelevant to the situation. He walked to the front of the room and said in his high voice, "Today, we are going to practice the Wingardium Leviosa spell." This statement was greeted with cheers. "However, as with all charms, to do it you must first learn all about the charm itself. Yes, this means book work."

Quite a few people booed and Flitwick tried to stifle their protests. To say the least, he was not an intimidating figure. In fact, he was quite laughable. Eventually, the class quieted enough to do the assigned work. Rose, as usual, was the first one finished. She rose to turn in her parchment and was distracted by a loud screeching noise coming from the hall. If Rose hadn't known better, she would say it was the sound of a two cats getting into a fight.

Half of the class looked up from their work to eye the door. As if on cue, it was thrown open by a very distressed-looking Filch. He was clutching something in his hand that seemed to be the source of the screeching. "Whose cat is this?" He demanded in his creepy way.

Rose immediately recognized the cat as Patton. She saw Albus and Emmett exchange glances. Tentatively, Albus raised his hand. "It's mine, sir." He told Filch.

"Keep it away from Mrs. Norris if you want to keep it." The man replied brusquely. With that, he tossed the cat on the floor and exited the room.

"May I…?" Albus began, his question directed at Flitwick.

The little man nodded graciously. "Turn in what you have finished so far, Mr. Potter. Then you may take the cat back to your room." Albus hurried to turn in his paper. Half the class was still watching as he held open the door for the cat to exit behind him. Rose turned in her finished paper and followed them to the Gryffindor common room.

When they made it to the tower, a few older students were milling around or studying during their free periods. Albus, Rose, and Patton ignored them and made a beeline from Al's room. When they got there, Patton shifted back to his human form.

"That's much better," the auror said, sitting down on Emmett's bed. "Now, as you may have guessed, business called me away. I have an important message from your father, Albus."