In the late afternoon, when his last class was over, Scorpius went out to the greenhouses to see Professor Longbottom. He found him in his office in Greenhouse Six, the greenhouse where N.E.W.T. level Herbology was taught, surrounded by books and journals in untidy stacks, and various odd plants in pots on the open shelves in front of the expanse of glass. Professor Longbottom turned around in his chair as Scorpius entered and said cheerfully, –Come to see your plant, have you?â€
–Yes, sir,†Scorpius replied, flicking his glance left and right to try to spot it.
–It’s here on the bench,†Professor Longbottom said as he rose from his chair and took a few steps to the side of the room. –I didn’t open it up because I thought you’d like to do that yourself.â€
–Thank you, sir; I would,†Scorpius replied. –Do you think it’s okay?â€
The brown cardboard box was sitting on the bench; it was about seven inches square at the base and about a foot and a half tall. On the sides of the box were printed black arrows indicating –This End Up†and a notice saying –Perishable. Living Plants.â€
–I’m sure it’s fine,†Professor Longbottom reassured him. –It’s just an overnight delivery from the Isle of Guernsey.â€
–But did the owl keep it upright?†Scorpius persisted. He was worried, not wanting anything to go wrong. He didn’t want to give Rose a damaged or broken plant — that would hardly be a suitable symbol of his love for her.
–Probably not,†Professor Longbottom remarked offhandedly. –But they pack these things very well. The Guernsey greenhouses ship all over Europe. So go ahead, open it up. You’ll see.†He stepped back to let Scorpius approach the box on the bench.
Scorpius drew his wand and ran it along the margins of the box flaps where they were taped with strong strapping tape, then opened the flaps and peered inside. As the professor had predicted, the plant within was braced and padded with cardboard baffles and form-fitting pieces of plastic foam packing. It was so well protected that it looked as if it could have been actually dropped by the delivery owl without sustaining any damage.
He levitated the mass of plant, pot, packing material and cardboard baffles straight up out of the box and lowered it gently onto the bench, then started carefully removing the bracing material that had supported his plant in transit. There was also a clear plastic bag with papers inside it, and he stopped his unpacking for a moment to peel open the bag and check its contents. There were the inventory sheet for the purchase of this plant, a full-color brochure of care instructions, and a sheet which stated that this plant was a patented variety and that propagation of new plants, whether for sale or not, was strictly prohibited. Scorpius assumed that that prohibition did not apply to him; it was a Muggle rule for Muggle purchasers. He himself might need to propagate this plant, and he would not hesitate to do so. It was his plant; he had paid for it, and he could do whatever he wanted.
He turned back to the task of carefully removing the cardboard and plastic, and a few moments later the plant was revealed, its branches tied firmly into a long, narrow bundle with soft plastic strapping. Scorpius cut the straps, and the branches of the plant fanned out into a small bush, a rose bush with a cluster of three blooms at the top of the center branch, and a few unopened buds. He looked the plant over swiftly, searching for broken twigs or leaves, but there were none. It seemed perfect.
–You see, it arrived without a scratch, but you’ll want to repot it into a larger pot,†Professor Longbottom remarked. –The pot it’s in right now, the shipping pot, is much too small. I’ve got everything you need here.â€
–Thank you, sir,†Scorpius answered. –Let’s take this out into the sunlight to admire it properly.†Beautiful as the rose bush was in the greenhouse, he felt sure it would be even more radiant in the full light of the open air. He picked up the little pot, and together he and Professor Longbottom went out into the bright sunlight.
As the sun hit the opening petals, they blushed from subtly-striped apricot yellow to dazzling orange and deep red, producing a remarkable display against the deep dark green leaves and mahogany-red growth. The stems were smooth, with very few thorns, and Scorpius idly wondered if he could Vanish the thorns that remained. He put his face down to the flowers and inhaled, but there was only a faint odor.
–They don’t have much scent, sir,†he observed.
–No, these specially bred roses often lose in scent as they gain in spectacular beauty,†Professor Longbottom said, –but it’s worth the trade-off. It looks like a Floribunda…â€
–That’s what the catalog said,†Scorpius interrupted.
–…so it should bloom constantly, with several flowers topping each stem. You made an excellent choice. This rose is fabulous. Does it have a name?â€
–Yes, it’s called ‘Antares’. I picked it partly for the name.â€
–Lucky for you the name you liked was attached to such a beautiful plant. Let’s take it back in and give it some water.â€
Scorpius was happy with how events were turning out. Professor Longbottom was pleased with the rose bush, as he would be with any remarkable or beautiful plant, so he could be depended upon for any necessary further assistance, which might be needed, because the whole affair was becoming more complicated than first conceived.
Scorpius had originally intended that he would give the rose to Rose, and that he, Scorpius, would look at the constellation Scorpius in her company, and it would all be just a mildly romantic play on words, a pleasant moment during their last weeks at Hogwarts. But then he had realized that the viewing platform on the Astronomy Tower would be locked and that he would need to solicit Professor Sinistra’s assistance, and the lighthearted moment had morphed into something more weighty. To gain Professor Sinistra’s co-operation he had had to present a far more serious petition involving some fast thinking on his feet, which he prided himself he had managed to pull off successfully. So he would have to play out the role of Serious Amateur Astronomer and Deep Thinker in order to maintain his credibility, and the presentation of the rose to Rose began to seem incongruously trivial in comparison. It too would have to be given more gravitas.
Back in the greenhouse, as he watered the rosebush with a little watering can, he told Professor Longbottom about his arrangement with Professor Sinistra to go up on the Astronomy Tower to look at the constellation of Scorpius through the large telescope.
–The brightest star in Scorpius is Antares, the red star,†he continued.
–I know,†Professor Longbottom said. –Now I see why you picked that particular rose for Rose.â€
–Well, I was thinking,†Scorpius went on, turning from the bench where the rose sat, –that I might offer to give a rose like this to Professor Sinistra also, if she likes it, as a gift and remembrance from a student who was grateful for her assistance in granting a special wish.†He knew that he needed to stay in role with Professor Longbottom also because eventually the two professors would discuss this episode with each other, and Scorpius wanted to keep his story straight. –Is there a way that this plant can be duplicated, if she says that she would like to have one? What’s the best way to do that?†It had occurred to him that presenting the rose plant to Rose while giving nothing to the other person present, Professor Sinistra, would be too blatantly obvious as a romantic gesture, and Professor Sinistra had already expressed her scorn for romance atop the Astronomy Tower. The gifts could be tied into sentiment — remembrance of a special event, gratitude for a favor granted, a parting token of the end of their school career. That should work. But he had to be able to come up with a second rose plant. The Guernsey greenhouse might not have another one immediately available.
–Well,†said Professor Longbottom, leaning back against the edge of the bench, –you could use a duplicating charm — there are a few different ones to choose from — if you want to get instant results, but the plants would be absolutely identical, a dead giveaway that they had been duplicated, and the charm would eventually start to fade, so the duplicated plant would have a limited lifespan. Still, that’s what I would do if, for example, I wanted half a dozen plants to decorate a stage for a ceremony, and then Vanish the duplicates afterwards. But if you want to give Professor Sinistra a top-quality gift, something that will live for years, perhaps indefinitely, you really need to go with natural propagation; take a cutting from this plant and root it in a separate pot. But of course that takes longer.â€
–How much longer?†Scorpius asked. The second rose plant needed to be fairly quickly available so as not to seem like an afterthought.
–A couple of weeks to develop good roots — we have a good potion to encourage root formation — and a few months to start growing a good scaffold of branches.â€
–Would it hurt this rose to take a cutting?†Scorpius asked with concern.
–Not really,†Professor Longbottom replied as he inspected the little bush with his professorial eye. –The piece we take doesn’t have to be very big, and we can get a bit from one of these side branches that’s not budding yet. These things grow so fast, under the right conditions, of course, that you’d never miss it.â€
–Thank you, Professor,†Scorpius said with relief. –I don’t know for sure if she’ll want one, but if she does, you’ll help me with that?â€
–Of course.â€
–We’re going up to the Astronomy Tower on June seventh; I’ll ask her then. But for now, can I keep the rose here in the greenhouse?â€
–Sure, but it needs to be repotted soon. How about coming by tomorrow afternoon before dinner and we’ll do it then?â€
–Okay,†Scorpius agreed, –but not too big a pot. I’ll still need to carry it up to the top of the Astronomy Tower.â€
*****
An hour later Scorpius met Rose in the entrance hall before dinner. It was time to let her in on his plan; he needed to be sure she would be going along with it.
–Hi, Rose,†he greeted her. –I’ve got something you’re gonna like. You’ll never guess.â€
–Well then, I won’t even try. What is it?†she asked saucily. Her eyes twinkled brightly in her smiling face, framed by her perky auburn curls. Despite her often serious nature, she seemed happy this evening, perhaps because of the summery weather that brightened everyone’s spirits, and the anticipation of the end of the school year.
–Something special for us to do. I’ve got it all worked out.†Scorpius spoke rapidly in his eagerness to tell her all about it, and the words just tumbled out. –I’m going to go up on the Astronomy Tower and look at the constellation Scorpius through Professor Sinistra’s big telescope, and I want you to come with me. She says it’s okay.â€
–Whoa, whoa, wait a minute; you’re losing me. You’re going to do what?â€
–I’m going up on the Astronomy Tower with Professor Sinistra to look at Scorpius through her telescope in the middle of the night,†Scorpius repeated more slowly. –Scorpius is only visible in the summer, and we can’t see it from the ground because it’s too low in the horizon. So we’re going up on the tower. This is something special, a favor that Professor Sinistra is doing for me, because I specially asked her to.â€
–And she said yes because you’re her favorite Astronomy student? What’s this really about? And why do you want me to come?†Rose asked. But she spoke lightheartedly because it sounded like one of the slightly off-the-wall notions that Scorpius occasionally had.
–I just wanted to look at Scorpius because it’s the constellation I’m named after. And I wanted you to be with me to see it too. We get to look at it through Professor Sinistra’s telescope; isn’t that great? And I have a special present for you too, but don’t bother to ask me what it is because I won’t tell.â€
–This all sounds a little daft to me, but sure, I’ll come if you want me to. Are we doing it tonight? What time?†Rose said.
–No, not tonight,†Scorpius told her. –We’re doing it on the night of the new moon, when the sky is dark enough to see the stars at their very best. That’ll be Friday, June seventh. We’ll go up at midnight, and Professor Sinistra will bring her telescope, and I’ll bring your present.â€
–Now I’m all a-twitter to find out what it’s going to be,†she said eagerly.
–There’s just one catch,†Scorpius added.
–I should have known. There’s always a catch. Go ahead, what is it?†Rose sighed.
–Professor Sinistra says that when we go up to the tower, we first have to stop off in the celestial sphere classroom so she can quiz us about celestial mechanics before we go up to the platform,†Scorpius explained.
–What?â€
–That’s what she said. That’s her condition for taking us up to the platform. You know we can’t go up there by ourselves; it’s locked. So I had to agree. But how hard can it be? She knows we didn’t go past fifth year in Astronomy. She won’t ask us anything tough.â€
–Maybe it’s not hard for you, but I don’t remember a lot of that stuff,†Rose protested.
–Aw, I’m sure it’s still in the back of your brain somewhere, in long-term storage. A little revision, and it’ll all be fresh again,†he coaxed her.
–I don’t even have my old books with me,†Rose pointed out.
–Neither do I, but we can borrow from the little kids.â€
Rose was silent, thinking this over, while Scorpius waited. Finally she said, –Okay, I’ll do it for you, but you’re asking a lot. I should be spending my extra time studying for N.E.W.T.s, not going over old subjects.â€
–Oh thank you,†Scorpius said happily. –It’ll be fun. You’ll see. You won’t be sorry.â€
Crowds of students were pushing past Scorpius and Rose to enter the Great Hall for dinner. –We gotta go in now,†he said hastily, giving her a peck on the cheek. –See you later.â€
During dinner, Scorpius kept an eye on Professor Sinistra to note when she appeared to be about finished with her meal, and then he rose from his bench to speak with her before she left the hall. He approached her where she was seated at the High Table chatting with Professor Morehouse, the Transfiguration professor, and stood silently until she acknowledged his presence.
–Do you wish to speak with me, Mr. Malfoy?†she inquired in a congenial tone.
–I wanted to tell you, ma’am, that I spoke with Miss Weasley and she agrees with our plans for the evening of June seventh. So it’s all set,†he said.
–Thank you for informing me,†the professor replied, and she turned to Professor Morehouse again and resumed their conversation.
As he turned away for the High Table, Scorpius felt a pang of guilt for leading Professor Sinistra to believe that his chief motivation was to explore the stars, when his first impulse had really been simply to spend some special time with Rose. She probably doesn’t have a lot of students who are interested enough to pursue Astronomy N.E.W.T.s. I’ll bet they’re few and far between. Astronomy is not a subject that figures in many people’s career plans. He suddenly felt a little bit sorry for her; she obviously loved Astronomy, and he wondered if she felt lonely or distanced from the students. It must be hard to teach a subject that most students would never pursue.
That evening, after finishing his other homework, Scorpius opened the Astronomy textbook that he had borrowed from a second-year student and began reading through it, one chapter after another. It was a very rapid read; all the material was familiar to him, and it was coming back quickly because he was just being reminded of stuff he already knew. He thought about how he had struggled with these concepts when he had first encountered them as a young student, and how they now seemed like old friends.
Actually, he was enjoying it, and he remembered that at the time he had found it interesting, even though he had been no more than an average student in Astronomy, back when the pressures of N.E.W.T.s and careers had seemed far in the future, before his decisions had to be based on practicality and economics and what would be good for business.
His thoughts strayed from the words and diagrams on the printed pages in his hands to the brass telescope he had see in Professor Sinistra’s office. He had thought he admired it because it was a beautiful object, an exquisite work of art. He was keenly familiar with things of beauty and skilled craftsmanship; his home in Wiltshire was full of them — rugs, tapestries, paintings, delicate porcelain bowls that were never actually used to hold anything, goblets and platters of precious metals that were similarly never used except as decoration, even a suit of armor that never saw a battle. But Professor Sinistra’s telescope was not just an objet d’art. She used it regularly; it served a purpose other than simply to exist and be gazed at, and he realized that that was what he loved most about it, that it held out the tantalizing possibility of being used, that a person might place their hands on it, put their eye to the eyepiece, and through this marvelous brass instrument see the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, or the craters of the moon.
His mind strayed to his own small telescope, now stored in some cupboard in his bedroom at home to keep it from cluttering up the free space in his room. Then he realized that his mother and father must have had telescopes which they used during their school years, stored away so remotely now that no one could remember exactly where they were. He was sure they still had them; they would never have sold them or given them away; that was not the Malfoy custom.
It occurred to him, for the first time in his life, that it had not been necessary to buy him a new telescope when he first entered Hogwarts; he could have used one of theirs. He suddenly felt a pang of sadness for those telescopes abandoned in the dark for so many long years. He would not do that to his own telescope. When he went home for the summer he would take it outside at night, where there were no curfews to prevent him, and look at the stars. His parents would think he was insane. He smiled at the thought.