Entry tags:

.fan fiction, f: harry potter series

HARRY POTTER: New Mutiny
Title: New Mutiny
Author: deludedvision/enterjonas
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: G
Summary: From ancient grudge break to new mutiny. (Scorpius/Rose)

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny.
In his sixth year, Muggle Studies becomes a requirement. There are murmurs of disapproval from the more prominent and old-set Pureblood families, but the agenda of tolerance and equality has come at last to its full potential; no one’s protests last long. Scorpius finds that this somewhat absurd decision would be much less bearable if it weren’t for one detail—Rose Weasley. The daughter of a headstrong Muggleborn witch and the granddaughter of a Muggle enthusiast, Rose naturally excels at Muggle Studies.

There’ve been plenty of occasions in their six years at Hogwarts when Scorpius Malfoy has felt it a mark of fortune that he’s one of Rose’s closest friends—his need for her insights with this particular course quickly finds its way to the list of the things he owes her for. He keeps the list in his mind now more to amuse himself than to keep a score; it’s a tradition from their first year at Hogwarts when she rescued him from one of Hagrid’s particularly foul creatures and stubbornly continued to help him, making it nearly impossible for him to make them even. Christmastime their third year, he’d irritably told her to kindly stop being such a good friend, as he never asked for her to be and it was making it hard to rid himself of her. She’d simply laughed and pointed out that if she stopped, it would be a good-natured act that would put him more in debt to her and if they weren’t friends, he’d never be able to repay her.

After those holidays, Scorpius’ resentment toward his father’s stubborn rivalry with Rose’s father mirrored his father’s resentment toward his grandfather’s terrible parenting and prejudices that nearly drove their family to shambles. His friendship with Rose grew from feeble to steadfast and they became the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin, always, inexplicably, at one another’s side.

As it turns out, Muggle Studies isn’t entirely horrific. It’s far better, in Scorpius’ opinion, than once again hearing the same wizard history that Professor Binns and his childhood tutors have been attempting to sketch into his memory for nearly a decade. With Rose agreeing to explain things he doesn’t understand about Muggle thought and behavior, his marks don’t slip.

“Well, Scorpius,” she concludes late one night as they sneak from the library under her cousin’s invisibility cloak. “I think you know enough about Muggles now that your grandfather should be properly horrified when you tell him over Easter Holiday. Write to me immediately after you’ve told him so you won’t forget any of the details of his reaction.”

He agrees with a grin of approval. Once shy and reserved, Rose has become as much a force to be reckoned with as her brother and cousins; he likes to think he’s had something to do with that.

They’re at the Ravenclaw commons now. Rose reaches out from beneath the cloak and knocked once. The bronze eagle stirs and offers its riddle. “The more you take, the more you leave behind. To what do I refer?”

Rose taps her fingers against her side in concentration, but answers after only a brief silence. “Time.”

The door slides open. Rose pulls the cloak from her shoulders and gives him a quick hug before sneaking inside. He watches her go, red curls gathered in a loose bun and robes dusty from combing though ancient volumes, until the door shuts. Dawn approaches; any professor keeping watching during the night has long since gone to bed, so he makes no attempt to hurry to the Slytherin common room and no attempt to hide himself.

*
Easter Holiday passes much less slowly than Scorpius imagined it would. Grandfather and Grandmother visit only once, scoff at his friendship with the Weasley and his horrifying tendency to rattle off facts about Muggles, and promise he’ll receive many fewer galleons upon graduating if he doesn’t finish top in his class.

Their first night back, Scorpius and Rose exchange holiday stories, laughing at their fathers’ distress over their friendship. “Dad thinks you’ll slip me a love potion and the boys won’t be clever enough to rescue me,” she confesses through giggles, nudging him gently with her elbow. “Didn’t seem at all comforted when I told him you couldn’t brew a love potion to save your life….or maybe it was the bit where I said you don’t need love potions to charm girls he didn’t like.” She shrugs playfully.

That night, Scorpius decides it’s time to come to grips with the simple truth that he’s probably falling in love with his best friend.

He thinks, with a pout, that it is incredibly annoying and that his heart has shoddy timing.

Next day, his late night ponderings are confirmed before Muggle Studies begins. He and Rose are discussing the subject of their studies for the remainder of the semester—Muggle literature—when Brady Wood interrupts to ask Rose if she’d like to go with him for butterbeer next Hogsmeade weekend. She rejects his offer politely, but Scorpius finds himself shooting Wood scathing glares over her shoulder.

Before he can remark on Wood’s failure, Professor Bell enters and begins class. “We will begin our study of Muggle literature by very briefly outlining its flow from earliest written traditions to the twentieth century. Because we cannot cover everything in detail, I’ve selected a play by William Shakespeare entitled Romeo and Juliet. The Muggleborn witches and wizards here will know the story quite well and will perhaps find it trite, but it’s a classic.”

The glances and giggles some of the girls exchange at this news solidifies his suspicions that this is a very bad thing.

*

He does not like Romeo and Juliet. “They’re both idiots,” he complains as he reads a passage for the fifth time, working to decipher Shakespeare’s old English. They’ve just finished reading the play in class and, after spending a few class periods reviewing pertinent sections and Shakespeare’s writing style, they’ll be expected to write an essay on all of it. He’s paying the price now for being best friends with a Ravenclaw—they’ve started early.

He really does not like Romeo and Juliet. He doesn’t like the way the girls behave over it, all giggly and constantly going on about love. He doesn’t like that characters die accidentally. He hates Romeo and Juliet’s parents for their great failure as parents, particularly Juliet’s. He understands that it wasn’t the custom of the time to allow children to choose their mates based upon love, but he finds it infuriating that they couldn’t stop behaving like children long enough to keep their sixteen year olds from doing the series of moronic things they do. He hates Romeo for being such a pompous idiot and Juliet for behaving like an air-headed girl. He hates them both for not thinking to inform the other of their so-called clever plans.

But what bothers Scorpius the most is not any of these things, though he readily rants to anyone who sets him off about the “star-crossed lovers’” immense stupidity. No, what bothers him most is that Romeo and Juliet cannot keep their friends and relatives from dying. Their inability to secretly be together leads to the death of innocent people. And this is the worst part, not just because it’s really quite infuriating, but also because Rose—despite knowing it was coming—cries when Mercutio dies and tells him later how she’s always liked Mercutio because he reminds her so much of her Uncle George.

Scorpius does not like to see Rose Weasley cry.

Rose looks up from her essay—nearly completed already—with a start. “Well. Yes.”

“Their parents, too. Stupidity. Romeo and Juliet let their hormones lead to the death of his friend and her cousin. Then they don’t even escape properly. Best thing they do in this story is die.” He flips through the pages of his Romeo and Juliet, rolling his eyes. “‘Break forth to new mutiny’? Mutiny? Really?”

“Scorpius, do you have a point?” Rose asks with an exaggeratedly patient tone and a smirk.

“Their so-called mutiny is terrible. I think,” he offers a flirtatious grin, “you and I could do much better.”

“Could we?”

“Oh, definitely. You see, our fathers and grandfathers will find it positively maddening, which will be fantastic. But none of them will do anything about it and wouldn’t succeed if they tried. We’ll throw them all off. The Slytherin son of the long line of Muggle loathing Purebloods and the Ravenclaw daughter of the Muggleborn witch. No one will know what to do about us.” He pauses, attempting to read her thoughts. “What do you think?”

Fighting a smile, she takes his hand. “Okay, then. Let’s!” She moves closer, placing an arm around his waist. She has an inexplicably victorious look about her he’ll have to ask her about later, but for now…“We should find some pumpkin juice or something—to toast to our new—”

Their first kiss is rough and awkward, but it’s Rose and he decides that’s enough to make it perfect. It feels like victory. After, he twists his fingers around her curls and doesn’t try to hide his grin. “I think that’s better than a toast,” he says.

“We’ll see.” She pulls him close for a second kiss.