The Window

Breakfast had gone by rather uneventfully after its initial surprises. After Scorpius had finished his last waffle, he and Kate left together, much to James's dismay, as he had attempted to escort Kate out to her first class of the morning. Instead, he trailed a small distance behind them, close enough to hear their conversation, but far enough away so that he didn't appear to be walking with them.

"So did you do the homework Professor Bellevue assigned?" Scorpius asked, trying to make small talk.

Professor Bellevue was the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts. Years before Scorpius and Kate had even started at Hogwarts, the newly appointed Headmistress Shacklebolt, wife of the prodigious Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, had instated a policy that mandated the teaching of Muggle Studies to the students. From then on, it had become a core class which students were required to take each year. At the seventh year level, because of the strain of N.E.W.T.s-level courses, Muggle Studies was considerably lower pressure than during other years.

Knowing Kate, she probably hadn't done the homework. It wasn't that Kate was a bad student (in fact, quite the opposite as she was one of the best in their year); it was just that as a Halfblood witch, the Muggle world was a literal second nature to her. Scorpius didn't know much about the Muggle part of her childhood, being a Malfoy, but he gathered that much.

Kate looked up at him dubiously. "Oh yeah," she scoffed, "I really need to read up on the functionality of electricity." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey now," Scorpius replied lightly, "not all of us know so much about Muggles like you, Kate."

"Yeah, that's because you didn't grow up with a Muggle mother. Do your parents even have electricity?" Kate stopped in front of the classroom and looked through her bag. "Oh, bollocks."

"Hm?" Scorpius threw a questioning look her way.

"I must've forgotten my book in the Great Hall. I'll be right back." With that, Kate hurried back down the hall to retrieve her book, leaving Scorpius alone. He glanced at the pocket watch he kept in his robes, a gift from his mother after she'd gotten letters home from all of his professors for being late because he had no concept of time whatsoever. He still had a few minutes before class would start so he dawdled a little bit around the door to the classroom, waiting for Kate to come back.

Before he knew what had happened, James came at him from behind and shoved him hard enough to send him reeling. "What the hell?" Scorpius started to say, turning around with his fist balled and held out towards James. It wasn't uncommon that one of the huskier boys of the school would accidentally--sometimes purposely--shove Scorpius out of the way when they walked down the hall past him, but never hard enough to make him lose balance and almost fall on his face. When he saw James standing there smugly with a smirk on his face and his arms folded over his chest, his face fell. "Potter. What do you want?"

"Barking up that tree again already, I see. You know I told her not to talk to you. Shame she doesn't listen," James started. He turned to look over his shoulder at Kate's retreating form, hardly visible from this distance. "But that's women for you, eh? Not that you would know. The only woman you've ever kissed is dear old mummy, isn't it Malfoy?"

About to throw back a snide remark, Scorpius gritted his teeth and instead turned away from James. "Just shove off, Potter. I'm not in the mood."

"That's too bad." James turned to leave, but instead of actually doing so, he punched Scorpius right in the face. Scorpius doubled over, clutching his nose, which was still healing from the previous night's fight.

"Merlin almighty!" he yelped just as Kate had come back with her book, cheeks flustered from hurrying.

"What the--?" She glanced questioningly at James, but seeing a trail of blood dripping from beneath Scorpius's hands, she rushed to his side, helping him put pressure on his nose. She glared viciously up at James. "What the hell, James?"

"What's going on out here?" Professor Bellevue, upon hearing the commotion, came out of the classroom, demanding an explanation. Jasmine Bellevue was among the youngest staff members at Hogwarts. As such, she had a considerably youthful appearance, with a thin build and ruddy skin. Her amber-colored hair was short and cut into a severe bob. She wore eye makeup around her round, blue eyes--something the other teachers rarely did. Most of the students appreciated her presence, even if they didn't particularly like the class she taught. She was considerably laidback and had a knack for teaching classes in an engaging way that kept even the worst students interested. However, when it came to misbehavior she was very no-nonsense and there were usually no repeat offenders.

"Potter... Potter's punched me," Scorpius told her, his voice muffled from beneath his hands.

When Professor Bellevue sharply turned her gaze to James, he quickly said, "Yeah, only because he said some pretty bad things about my grandmother." It was common knowledge that James's grandmother, the late Lily Evans Potter, was a Muggleborn witch, one who had bravely defied Lord Voldemort in his prime. "You should have heard him, professor." When Professor Bellevue's eyes narrowed like a hawk's as she looked back at Scorpius, he smirked triumphantly, knowing he'd hit a nerve. Professor Bellevue herself was Muggleborn and strongly opposed any opinion that implied Muggleborns were less than their pureblood counterparts.

"Is this true, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked carefully.

"Of course not, Professor. I don't give a damn about blood purity, you know that," Scorpius defended, glaring at James. "Potter's just trying to save his skin."

"I don't believe you would say that either, Scorpius," the professor began, "but given the circumstances, I don't know if I believe that James would just hit you without a reason."

"Because hating me isn't enough of a reason?" Scorpius grumbled. "Professor, I didn't say anything."

"Besides," Kate interjected, looking to Professor Bellevue now. "Even if he had, punching someone is hardly the appropriate response. Even if he'd said something, shouldn't James have just come to you instead of taking matters into his own hands? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

"Yes, I suppose it is." Professor Bellevue looked at the three pensively for a moment, before nodding shrewdly. "You're perfectly correct, Kate. That being said, I don't want to hear anymore of this nonsense around my classroom. If you've got an uncontrollable problem urge to hit each other, take it to the Headmistress." She looked beyond them, to the small crowd of students that had gathered, waiting to go to class. "Now run along, Potter, I've got a class to teach. I expect better from you and Mr. Malfoy."

James then left, but not without giving Scorpius a sneer first.

Once they had walked into the classroom and sat down, Professor Bellevue began the lesson. "What was that all about?" Kate muttered under her breath to Scorpius.

He gave a shrug and told her in a muted voice, "I dunno, he just came up to me, said some things about telling you not to talk to me and when I told him to leave me alone, he clocked me."

Kate rolled her eyes and gave an aggravated sigh.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Miss Nott?" Professor Bellevue demanded sharply as she glared in their direction. "I'm sure we'd love to hear exactly why the conveniences of a microwave oven are so frustrating to you."

Kate stared at her abruptly for a moment, before coughing and blurting out, "Cancer. Right. Some people think microwaves...cause cancer?"

Professor Bellevue arched a brow, a little dubious, but nodded. "Yes, some people do believe that, although there's no scientific proof, but I suppose that is relevant." She returned to her lecture, tapping her wand on the microwave oven sitting on her desk that she was using for the demonstration. "A microwave enables you to quickly cook things without magic. For example, if I press this button--" She pressed a button on the microwave. The headmistress had lifted the magic inhibiting electricity on the classroom for Professor Bellevue's electricity lesson, so it lit up and the bag of popcorn inside it began to pop. "Your popcorn will pop."

Muggle Studies class was uneventful as usual, and it wasn't until they were headed to their double Potions that Scorpius spoke to Kate again.

"Are you seriously going to break up with him, Kate?" He had stopped her with his hand on her arm, staring down at her somberly.

She sighed. "I don't know, Scorpius, I really don't. The more I think about it, the more I get confused... and I just really don't need this right now. Too much is going on and this is the last thing I want."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Kate, did something happen that you're not telling me?" She used to tell him everything that went on in her life, and even if she didn't still do that now, he knew when there was something bothering her. To other people, she may have seemed fearless and without care, but Scorpius could tell when she was worried, and right now, she certainly seemed to be. She never looked so distracted otherwise.

"I got an owl last night." She seemed hesitant to speak at first, her voice wavering, but then with a little more courage, she elaborated, "Dad's in hospital. He was taken to St. Mungo's yesterday. He was coughing up blood."

Scorpius let out a dejected sigh. "Kate, I'm really sorry. I never meant for this to happen."

"Yeah, well you haven't done much to stop it either," she shot back sharply and walked briskly into the Potions room to hide her teary eyes from him. Still, she let him sit next to her as they rounded on the Potions tables. They were still a bit early; the professor hadn't come out to start class yet and there were only a few students already in the room, chatting in hushed tones amongst themselves.

Slytherins had double Potions with the Gryffindors, so typically the classroom was segregated heavily by house. Despite the dwindling inter-house hatred, Gryffindors still tended to keep well to themselves when it came to classes they had with the Slytherins. The Slytherins didn't seem to mind too much anyway.

James had come into the classroom with Bruno Lynch, Levi Summerby, and Lincoln Wood, the most boisterous of the seventh year Gryffindor boys. Kate hadn't noticed him as the group sat several rows behind where she and Scorpius were sitting. The rest of the class had begun to file into the room in small groups and soon the tables were filled and they were waiting on the teacher.

Kate could hear Olivia Vaisey and Isabelle Yaxley twittering loudly to the other Slytherin girls when the professor came into the room from her office.

Professor Pandora Lee was perhaps infamous for her nature. She had a biting, almost drawling sort of sarcastic wit that the Slytherins appreciated and by which the Gryffindors seemed to be patronized. She was a relatively young woman with slanted gray eyes and luxurious, straight black hair she wore in a simplistic style. She had facial features that strongly suggested Asian descent and a slim, elegant body. She always seemed to dress in dark clothing, and today was no different.

"I would wish you a good morning," she began, "but I can already tell you that it's not going to be one." She smirked dryly and sat on the edge of her desk. "As you all know by now, the art of potionmaking isn't all about succeeding--although it's very important that you do. Another crucial point of potionmaking is that you are able to overcome challenges of all kinds. Even those that seemed impossible." Several students began whispering under their breath as she got an impish sort of gleam in her eye. As she spoke again, the room hushed.

"Today, we will be brewing Amortentia." No sooner had the words left her mouth than had the class started chattering wildly. "Don't get yourselves too excited, because today, you're not picking your partners." There were several groans, but she continued, "I am." The groaning positively exploded.

"So if you'll please wait until I pair everybody, gather your things and go to the back of the room."

The students all shuffled to take their things with them as they moved to the back of the room, groaning and grunting with disproval.

"Alright, Campbell. Cadwallader. I want you two at this table right here." Professor Lee pointed at the table directly to her left. The Gryffindor girl and the Slytherin boy begrudgingly sat next to each other, each eyeing the other up testily. "Right then. Cattermole, Wood, you two here. Hobday and Entwhistle. Good, good. Malkin and Krum. Warrington and Lynch."

The class watched as one by one, Professor Lee paired the Gryffindors with the Slytherins.

"Weasley and Entwhistle. Zabini and Summerby. Come on now, don't complain. You're adults. Avery and Sloper. Derrick and Wagtail. Ivanova and Cauldwell. Montague and Longbottom. Nott and Creevey. Vaisey and Peasegood. Yaxley and Thruston. And last but not least, Malfoy and Potter."

"Professor you can't be serious!" Scorpius interjected quickly as she finished calling off names.

"But I am, Mr. Malfoy," she told him sharply. "Is there a problem or can we move along?"

When he looked helplessly at Kate, she just covered her face with her palm and groaned. It was going to be a long lesson.

Half an hour into the class, most of the groups were well underway with brewing the potion successfully. A few groups were still floundering to do it correctly, but Professor Lee was quickly helping them back on the right path. Kate was amazed to see that Scorpius and James hadn't killed each other yet. She looked over her shoulder to watch them for a moment. Scorpius was diligently brewing the potion in such a painstaking fashion that he was bent over his cauldron, stirring and adding ingredients precisely. James seemed not to mind that Scorpius was doing all the work and had kicked back, dictating directions from the book to his partner every so often if he did something against instruction.

"Those two still at it?"

Kate turned to her partner, Marjorie Creevey. Marjorie was a tall, thin girl who wore her curly golden hair in a low ponytail tied with a red ribbon. She had large eyes the color of milk chocolate and freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. The two had a mutual friend in Anna Abercrombie, a seventh year girl who captained the all-girl Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Anna was a childhood friend of Kate's, and Marjorie's girlfriend Millaray Pritchard played as a Chaser on the Hufflepuff team. Initially, Kate and Marjorie hadn't been very close, but over the last two school years, they were on very good, friendly terms. It didn't bother Kate at all to be working with Marjorie, even if Potions wasn't the Gryffindor's forte.

She sighed a little and nodded. "I wish they weren't. Or, at least that they weren't so public about it. It's annoying to go down the hall and hear about it from a random Hufflepuff."

"I bet," said Marjorie as she stirred the contents of the cauldron. "I mean, Scorpius isn't exactly being very nice to you about this or anything. He's your best friend so he should at least be happy for you being happy, instead of being miserable about it all the time. Do I stir this four or five times?"

"Five." Kate listened to Marjorie as she continued to chatter, propping her head on her hand, watching the other girl stir.

"Right, anyway," Marjorie continued, "everyone knows that he, y'know, doesn't really like James and all, but that doesn't mean he has to be a big old prat about it like he is. Even if James is the one starting the fights, can't he just walk away? I mean, James hasn't really been the best boyfriend either."

Kate snapped to attention, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I just mean that he and Cathleen Derek..." Marjorie trailed off, staring wide eyed at Kate. "I shouldn't have said that."

"What?" Kate asked sharply. "What about Cathleen Derek?"

Looking guiltily at the table, Marjorie murmured, "They just flirt a lot, okay?"

Kate pursed her lips, feeling that Marjorie wasn't being entirely truthful, but didn't press her further. Instead, she dropped the crushed rose petals the instructions indicated into the cauldron.

"I wonder why she's having us brew Amortentia..." Marjorie thought aloud, relieved to change the subject.

Kate welcomed the change in topic and gave a shrug. "Probably no reason other than to torture us. Seems she likes to do that."

The two spent the rest of the class chattering about frivolous things. Ten minutes before the class ended, Professor Lee called everyone to attention again. "Alright, I trust now that you've all done your potion correctly, so we're going to perform a little experiment. The idea of Amortentia is that it gives the imbiber a sense of obsession toward a person. It will wear off, but it is very powerful. If your potion is brewed right, it should have this effect. However, because it's unethical, I can't let you administer it to each other to see if it works. Instead, there's another test. A correctly brewed Amortentia has three things: a mother-of-pearl sheen, spirals of smoke, and the smell of attraction.

"That is, each individual smells Amortentia differently, according to what he or she is attracted to." Professor Lee moved to the table in front of her where Royce Campbell and Tatiana Cadwallader sat with their cauldron. "For example," she began, "I smell peppermint, rain, and burnt wood." She glanced around the room quickly before calling out, "Miss Creevey, what about you? What do you smell?"

Marjorie almost jumped at being called on--it was a rarity in Potions class that she knew an answer so she didn't like to brought to attention very much. "Oh, uhm..." She hesitated, sniffing the potion, and then said, "Honeysuckle, pine and fresh linens."

"And you, Miss Nott?"

Kate leaned forward to smell the potion, several different scents flooding her at once. "Clove," she listed, "broom varnish and old books." She wasn't exactly sure where the last two had come from, but her father always smelled like cloves. It was one of her favorite scents.

"Curious. " Professor Lee gazed around the room again before settling on James and Scorpius. "Potter, Malfoy, you look like you're having fun up there. Tell me about your Amortentia."

James stuck his nose to the cauldron, took a great whiff, and declared, "Pumpkin juice, a new broomstick, and some kind of flower. Lilac, I guess."

Scorpius spoke then, confidently as if he had smelled Amortentia a thousand times before. "Leather, vanilla, and..." He paused, looking apprehensively at James, then at Kate.

"And?" Professor Lee pressed.

"Lilacs," he told her. "The third thing I smell is lilac, professor."

"Well, that's interesting. It looks like Gryffindors and Slytherins can have something in common after all." Professor Lee gave them her typical impish grin and moved back to her desk. "I'd like an essay on the lesson you learned today. It doesn't have to be long, just make it good. Class dismissed."

Kate began to walk out of the classroom when James stopped her. He pulled her close to him, smelled her hair, and then moved back, grinning. "Lilac. I thought so." He slipped his arm around her shoulder and smiled softly at her. "Listen, babe, I'm really sorry about everything this week. I want to make it up to you. Go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Kate started to speak, but was quickly cut off when Scorpius came to her, holding out a book. "Here, Kate," he said. "You forgot your book."

She took it from him, about to bid him goodbye as he turned to leave, but James pulled his arm away from her and grabbed Scorpius instead. "Lilac, Malfoy? What are you playing at?"

Scorpius glanced up at him, confused. "What now, Potter? I have class. Leave me alone."

"You're really pathetic, you know. Don't you have the decency to leave other people's girlfriends alone? I've been really nice about it this whole time, but you just can't seem to get it into your thick, grease-haired skull that you need to stay away from my girlfriend," James growled, shoving Scorpius.

"James, stop it," Kate hissed. "He didn't do anything. Leave him alone."

"Kate, shut up. You're always feeling sorry for him and defending him, and I'm getting to think it's kind of encouraging him," James spat back. He glared at Scorpius, backing him against the wall. "Listen to me, and listen to me good Malfoy." His voice dropped. "You leave my girlfriend alone, or so help me, I will fuck your day up."

"She's not your property, James. You can't keep treating her like you own her. She can do what she pleases," Scorpius shot back. "What happens when you break up, huh?"

James grinned deviously. "Oh, I suppose you'll jump right at her feet again? And you think she'll take you in?"

"Well, at least she might be happy then."

"SHUT YOUR FAT MOUTH, MALFOY!" James bellowed as he tackled Scorpius to the ground. The two began to brawl violently as Kate tried desperately to pull them away from each other. "Stay out of this!" James growled. "Haven't you caused enough trouble?"

Angrily, Kate began to storm off. Professor Lee came out into the hall, saw what was happening and yelled, "Stop it right now!" She flicked her wand and James and Scorpius flew apart violently. "Hold it right there, Nott. I want an explanation."

"You want an explanation?" Kate spat, turning around to face the teacher. "Well, professor, I can't really speak for those two, but I can tell you that I'm sick of them fighting."

Professor Lee raised a brow, clearly not wanting to get involved any further than she had to. She turned to the boys and asked sternly, "What's going on here?"

Scorpius, who already received a black eye from James, grumbled, "Potter attacked me, Professor. You can ask Kate. She saw it." He glared up at Kate.

James, who was huffing to catch his breath, bent over, face bruised, didn't bother to defend himself.

"You three seem to be causing quite a few problems around here." Professor Lee looked at each of the three in turn then declared, "Five points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin for your nonsense. Potter, I hope you didn't have plans for this weekend because you're to serve detention with me Friday and Saturday night. The same goes for you, Malfoy, next weekend, detention. I don't want you two serving together." She turned around to Kate. "As for you, Miss Nott, I really hope you sort your priorities, lest you find yourself in detention as well." She spun on her heel to go back into her classroom, calling over her shoulder, "Five o'clock Friday, Potter. Don't forget, or your sentence will be doubled."

When Professor Lee was out of earshot, James finally got up and cornered Kate. "Look what you've done. You've messed up everything. This is all your fault, Kate. Maybe if you'd just listen to me--"

Kate cut him off before he could continue, "James, maybe I don't want to listen to you. Maybe I don't even want to be around you anymore. I liked you, I really did, but I feel as though you're not even trying. Scorpius at least has done that, but every time he tries to ignore you, you always throw punches. How do you ignore that James? Can't you be the bigger man, for once?"

"Bigger man?" he scoffed. "As if Malfoy will ever be a bigger man than I am."

"Well, in my eyes, he's certainly becoming that," she told him sharply.

"Then why don't you be his girlfriend?" he quipped patronizingly.

"I think I'd like that much better than being yours right now, James Potter!"

"Kate, you don't mean that," James said quickly.

"No, I think I do, James." Kate folded her arms over her chest and glared venomously at him. "I'm sick of you and your immaturity, and your stupid need to have my attention all the time. I have other priorities in life than raining nonstop praise and glory on you. You can't even compromise for me a little bit. I'm done with you, James. Go find yourself another girl."

"Come on, Katie," James pleaded, grabbing her arm. "We can talk about this."

"Enough, James! Go talk about it to someone who cares!" she shrieked. "Maybe Cathleen Derek will!" She shoved him out of her way and stormed out of sight.

Scorpius began to slink off inconspicuously in the same direction but James caught him by the collar. "You're lucky I don't rip your ugly face off, you rat." He let him go and stomped off, but not before hissing, "Watch your slimy back, Malfoy. I'll get you, I swear."

Scorpius groaned to himself, watching the two go off in opposite directions. What had he gotten himself into?