The Music Still Plays On

Chapter 9: We Hoped Things Would Turn Out Better

My second year at Hogwarts seemed to be proceeding as uneventfully as the first one. Even Scorpius and I seemed to be on better terms, now meeting once a week like usual. I focused most of the time on my studies, naturally, but it looked like everyone else was having a good year as well.

One thing I did notice was that Isabella had come home from Christmas with a huge stack of beauty supplies. From magical detangling combs to perfumes that smelled like the finest flowers, Isabella seemed ready to open a shop in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory. When I showed her my sweater, she dismissed it as nerdy and pointed out the obvious- that it clashed horribly with my hair. I didn't care much about her opinion, but it still hurt. She had begun to give every girl in our year "makeovers" with her new products, despite never having had any experience in styling hair. After seeing how some of her styles turned out, I was skeptical about asking Isabella for beauty advice. Everyone else seemed to love getting their hair styled, though, so I kept quiet about it.

Now that it was nearly Valentine's Day, Isabella was busier than ever, as many girls wanted to have their hair and makeup done for their boyfriends. Of course, most of us second-years couldn't care less about boys at this point, but, to my surprise, several girls in the older years had taken advantage of Isabella's beauty parlor as well.

As for me, I knew enough by now not to mention the word "love" ever again around Scorpius. Still, I thought it would be nice if I styled my hair differently once in a while. Currently, it normally just sat on my head, flying out in all directions in a bright red, curly, bushy mass. I'd tried to straighten it with one of Victoire's magical hair straightening liquid, but even that only made it straight for a day at most. I knew better than to go to Isabella for a new look, though. I would rather try something out myself first. So, one day, I gathered my hairbrush and went to the girl's bathroom, because there was a mirror, and attempted to style my hair.
I soon realized, though, that I had no idea what I was doing. My hair began to look even worse as I brushed it. Defeated, I walked back to the common room, where I found Isabella hard at work, rolling Nan Fernandez's hair into pin curls.

"Rosie! I was just looking for you!" she exclaimed, distracting herself from her styling. "I have got to do your hair for Valentine's Day! I mean, it's nice the way you have it, but it's just so...boring, you know? It needs some..." She paused, continuing to pull at Nan's hair as Nan shouted in hysterics. "It needs some pizzazz, you know?"

"Um, I don't know," I said, hesitant. While I knew that I might be making a mistake, I figured that I probably wouldn't do a very good job if I tried to experiment with my hair myself. "I guess so."

"Great! I'll even do it for free," Isabella commented.

"I thought you did everyone's hair for free," I said, confused.

"Don't tell the first-years that!" Isabella whispered into my ear. "I charge them." While I found this a bit unfair, I didn't say a word. As Isabella finished with Nan's hair, she promptly grabbed a chunk of my hair into her first.

"Hmm...what can we do here?" Isabella wondered. "How about we try something fun? No offense, Rosie, but your hair has stayed the same ever since I met you. It's time for a change."

"Well, I do tend to want a more low-maintenance style..." I admitted. Isabella soon cut me off.

"Nonsense! What you need is a makeover, Rosie, and I'm here to deliver it. It's just like I told your cousin: just because you have ugly-looking glasses doesn't mean you have to feel ugly," she commented.

"Wait- you told Lily she had ugly-looking glasses?" I was shocked that she would do something like that.

"Well, isn't it obvious? Those things are huge- they look like a pair of targets on her face. She has got to get her vision corrected- then she'll have all the boys after her. What? It's not like you don't have anything wrong with you either. Look at those huge rabbit teeth of yours!" By now, I was starting to regret my decision to have Isabella give me a makeover if she was going to keep on insulting me.

"Isabella, I'm not letting you cut one inch of my hair if you insist on pointing out every flaw in my personality!" I shouted. Isabella wasn't fazed by my outburst in the slightest.

"Calm down! I was just suggesting areas that needed improvement, that's all. But when I'm done with you, your hair will look great. Just trust me, ok?" Sighing, I let Isabella begin to style my hair. How bad could it be?

Several minutes later, when Isabella held up the mirror for me to view my new look, I found out the answer to that question. I don't know how she managed to muck up my hair that badly, but apparently she was able to turn my once long, flowing curls- what was left of them, anyway- into a monstrosity. I was practically bald. My head looked like a red squirrel, with hair sticking up every which way like a punk rocker. In short, I was extremely irritated.

"Isabella! What did you do!" I shouted in horror.

"I know you didn't exactly ask for it, but I just love this look on you! It looks just like the lead singer for the Weird Sisters!" she exclaimed.

"Who also happens to be a man! What were you thinking? I look horrible!"

"No, you don't. Trust me. And if you don't like it...maybe you can wear a hat?" I was about to yell at Isabella again when Nellie burst into the room.

"Rosie, I was looking everywhere for you! Where...," Nellie then caught sight of my new look. "What happened to your hair?" she laughed.

"You don't like it either? I must be losing my touch," Isabella reasoned. I ran away from her in a huff and walked to Nellie, relating the whole debacle to her once we were in our dormitory.

"What are you going to do now?" Nellie asked.

"I don't know. I'll probably just wear a hat, like Isabella suggested. Why did I ever let her cut my hair in the first place? I hoped it would turn out better than this!" I lamented.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, to be honest with you. When I was six, I got chewing gum stuck in my hair- we had to cut it out with scissors. I looked horrible! After a while, though, it grew back. Yours isn't nearly as bad as mine was. Besides, it's not like you have any boys to impress, right?" I giggled after she said this, knowing in my mind how very wrong she was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turned out, my haircut was just the beginning of a terrible week. Lily had contracted a cold earlier in the week, which she passed onto me. Now, in addition to having an ugly haircut, my nose was bright red. I had hoped that my cold would clear up by today, Valentine's Day, but it was still as worse as ever. Today was the day that Scorpius and I were supposed to meet to study, but I was having such a bad day that hearts and flowers were the last things on my mind.

As I made my way to the classroom where Scorpius and I met, it occurred to me that Guy had scheduled an extra Quidditch practice today, in preparation for our upcoming game against Hufflepuff. I considered going for a few minutes, but after sneezing several times in succession decided against it. I'd been to every other practice- they wouldn't miss me just this once.

When I first saw Scorpius, who was already sitting at a desk at the front of the room, I couldn't wait to sit down next to him. The day had been terrible so far, and I needed to tell someone about it.

"Hey, Scorpius," I said.

"Rosie? What happened to your hair?" he asked. I had forgotten that Scorpius hadn't seen my haircut yet. Up until now, I had hidden my hair under a huge black hat, lest anyone see the damage. I must have forgotten to put my hat back on.

"Oh, this," I said, gesturing up at what was left of my hair. "Isabella did it. I know it's horrible, but it'll grow out eventually. I hope," I added, fully prepared for him to make some snide comment.

"Oh, it's not horrible. It's just...different."

"You're just saying that!"

"No, I mean it. You look just like the lead singer from the Weird Sisters!" he exclaimed.

"So I've heard. I still look terrible, though. My nose is all red, I fell out of bed this morning and bumped my head on the cabinet, my hair looks like a squirrel..." I trailed off when I noticed he wasn't listening. After I finished, he started to laugh. "Great," I thought. "Now he really knows what a fool I am."

"Rosie...do you honestly think I care about all that? You look fine, trust me." I was amazed that he was being so understanding.

"Well...ok," I said, relieved.

"Hey, don't you have to be at Quidditch practice right now?" Scorpius asked, changing the topic.

"How do you know about that?" I asked.

"Lenore wanted me to spy on you guys during your practice today- she makes me do all of her dirty work because I'm the youngest on the team," he explained. I was shocked. I mean, I knew that Lenore often used dirty tactics, but I didn't think that she would stoop this low.

"But you told her no, right?"

"She kinda threatened me into saying yes, but I'm obviously here and not watching you play, right? I figured I'd probably get caught anyway if I actually went though with it. Besides, I was supposed to have a Gobstones tournament tonight with Blaine and Blair, and..." Scorpius was cut off when we heard a small commotion outside the door. Normally, our weekly sessions went uninterrupted, as the small classroom that we met in was never in use. I had no idea what was making all that noise, but somehow I knew that it was something bad.

I slowly opened the door with Scorpius behind me, only to come face to face with James and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Needless to say, James was shocked to see who I was with.

"Rosie! What the hell are you doing here? You know Guy scheduled an extra Quidditch practice tonight, right? Where were you?" James yelled.

"I...I..." I stammered.

"And who's this with you?" James asked, gesturing towards Scorpius. "I go and look all over Hogwarts for you, only to find you snogging Scorpius Malfoy with a rat's nest on your head! Have you forgotten what I told you on your very first day here?"

"I...I..." Just as I thought things couldn't get any worse, Blaine, Blair, and Tamika came running down the hall.

"Hey! What's everybody yelling about!" Tamika shrieked at first. Then her eyes met Scorpius and I.

"Scorpius! Are you meaning to tell me that this is where you go when you 'study'? Since when do you hang out with a Weasley? She's such a freak!" she screamed. Scorpius and I froze with equal expressions of fear on our faces. I'll admit that it was naïve of us to think that we could continue this ruse for so long, but we didn't expect to be found out this soon. I tried to speak, but was drowned out by the shouts of James and Tamika.

"Wait until your father hears about this!" James shouted.

"Honestly, Scorpius, I thought you had better taste than her!" Tamika shrieked. Finally, Scorpius looked as if he was about to speak. I was prepared for him to defend me and tell all of his friends our secret.

"You're right, Tamika," he said. I was confused. This was not what I was expecting at all. "She's a freak. She wanted to study with me- like I was going to let that happened. I was just telling her that she wouldn't be receiving any help from me, that's for sure." Tears ran down my face as I began to comprehend what he had just said. Why would he betray me after all our months of friendship? It didn't make sense. Not knowing what else to, I ran. Normally, I was terrible at sprinting, but today I was fueled by something more than adrenaline. Now I knew how Victoire must have felt when she and Teddy had that fight. But I didn't really love Scorpius...did I?