Who exactly was this younger boy? Besides Elijahâs shadow. He spoke like he knew who Juliette was. The nickname was informal enough. Itâs not as though he had ever been in art club. Please. Scorpius would have known. Heâd been attending the club since first year. He knew every face that entered. And this child was still talking. âIf he signs up for the shifts, then yes. I donât know how much of actual policy Iâm allowed to discuss. You would be better off asking him of his schedule.âÂ
Scorpius raised his eyebrows, the perfect prefect smile still stuck on his face. What in Salazarâs name was happening? âYouâve seen my work.â It wasnât as though he didnât appreciate the compliments. Scorpius wouldnât mind spending a large chunk of his day receiving praise. That was a large part of how he spent his time while not at Hogwarts. But his work wasnât highly publicized. Sure, it adorned some of the walls of the art room. Heâd done a few quick doodles here and there for Professor Longbottom. But he wasnât very forthcoming of who he discussed art with. âWhy exactly is it that you know I have a busy year?â Sixth year was notoriously difficult but there was a lot of details of his personal life being shared at the present moment. It made him significantly uncomfortable. âHas Elijah been speaking to you about me?â Perhaps there was a worse reason. A reason Scorpius thought he had nipped in the bud. There were someâŚoverzealous students who had a tendency to follow him sometimes. It got worse when he was with Albus. Or any of the Potters. He really thought he had put an end to this. At least this time it wasnât a fourth year girl.
Policy? Allowed? That made prefects sound like some sort of secret society. âI, um... I never knew people were so wary of, um, policies being discussed. Itâs true it doesnât matter much to us non-prefects, but itâs not like anything could be used to, to... damage the way... it works?â Maxwellâs voice was terribly hesitant, as he wasnât even sure what he was going for. Had it been someone he knew better, Elijah himself, he would have said it flat out: what does it matter what we know? If this rule exists, itâs paranoid and silly. But this was Scorpius Malfoy and, for some reason, the Hufflepuff felt like he was steadily wearing out his welcome.
Which was why he took care not to answer Scorpiusâ (rhetorical) question right away, gathering his thoughts first and making sure he wouldnât stammer, since he couldnât do anything about his flushing cheeks. âI have, itâs-- well, some of it is up on the walls, so Iâve at least seen those, a-and besides, weâve been in art club together for four years now, going on five, so- so of course I would have seen some of your work at some point.â Dammit, the taller (oh Merlin, he was taller than a prefect !) teenager cursed inwardly. He hadnât meant to sound like he knew so much, now he better find a way to not throw Eli under the proverbial bus. âEveryone knows sixth year is busy, and youâre a prefect, which on the one hand adds to your schedule, and on the other hand proves you also achieve at least good grades and are a serious student, otherwise you wouldnât have been picked. And, well, I did scold Eli about him taking the maximum amount of NEWT-level classes. He tried telling me he wasnât the only one doing such a thing, and your name dropped in the conversation then. So itâs- thatâs all he said, but between that and everything else, well...â