The Querent Quest

Chapter 1: Sins of the Father


Malfoy Manor was perhaps, best worded as a distressed place. Wealth had once been obtained by its inhabitants—it towered over the maze and its pale sheened bricks that was almost the color of Galleons. But at the same time, it seemed unlikely anyone actually lived there. It was too tall and almost thin, having swept and sucked itself up to fit in among the hedges and the windows were large and glittering like heavy diamond earrings with the curtains pulled back like a lady's hair swept into a French twist to display them. But most distressing of all was the overbearing tower-like roofs and the small dark iron gates bordering every balcony. It became prison like and lost its delicate grace when night fell.

Yet, the Malfoy family lived there in Wiltshire, for hundreds of years now. The family tree was as twisting and almost as twisted at the maze. Brutus Malfoy, who sought to have Beedle's tale The Fountain of Fair Fortune banned and even burned several copies in the Drawing Room fireplace. Anastasia Malfoy, who died of a tragic accident at age sixteen. The names of Beatrice, Abraxas the II and Faustus Malfoy who all died before attending Hogwarts—and they were the only supposed squibs or dead children with graves in the family cemetery. Lucius Malfoy, the Dark Lord Voldemort's right-hand Death Eater. Draco Malfoy, his son who was ordered to murder Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

It was enough to haunt anyone's dreams.

There was screaming. A flash of silver—either reflected light off of metal slashing through the air or by spell. The entire house that was Malfoy Manor seemed to shudder.

So, he ran. Scorpius tripped down the halls and ran even faster down the stairs. Moonlight poured through the windows and seemed to gather the ghosts that otherwise stayed in their shadows. Paintings of Malfoy heirs, aristocrats the whole lot of them, sneered, a traditional smirk that had been passed on even to him.

Between the dark midnight sky and the bright moon, the world had turned grey before him except for a sole silhouette. One of the albino peacocks stared down at him from atop of a hedge—it's eyes for once not beady but wide and prominent. As a child, as much as he tried not to admit it, the peacocks terrified him and kept him off the grounds. Unlike his father as a child, who had attempted to ride them more than once like a broomstick; their fanning of feathers, the delicate beaks with sharp points all reminded him of his grandmother. But there were more of them outdoors than her in the house.

The peacock fluttered down to the grass and stalked haughtily off, his feathers drawing a train as they were carried into the maze. Scorpius followed him, his fear fading.

The white whisps of the feathers led him through the hedges, always whisking around another corner until he reached the heart of the maze. And then, the earth managed to shudder. The thought of an earthquake never occurred—Scorpius stood there even as the earth cracked and it rose up out of the soil and into the sky. The leaves bloomed and faded even as they opened, from green to scarlet. The earth calmed and a great wind blew, shaking the leaves off the great tree now, leaving each branch bare except for the portraits from the tapestry, a living family tree.

The peacock crooned and without a thought, Scorpius threw a leg over the peacock's back, clasping his hands around it's swan-like neck. There were no worries of weight—the peacock lifted straight up in a magnificent burst.

He was soaring, flying through the air. Scorpius Malfoy felt faster, higher than he had ever felt before but he also felt heavier. Looking down, he realized that he was so high up he couldn't see the ground below but also that he was on the back of a white eagle. The eagle looked normal enough even with white feathers that had transformed beneath him from a peacock's, but it must have been simply enormous to carry him and still fly easily. It flapped it's great wings, letting out a piercing cry. The fact that Scorpius was being flown away by an eagle and had no idea where he was going only made him tighten his grip, trusting the eagle as his guide.

Sometime later, he realized the great eagle was slowing, he could see the ground again and finally the talons touched earth as Scorpius slid off the eagle's back. Too late he realized, that the eagle was dumping him off as with a powerful burst of it's wings, knocked Scorpius down and the eagle took flight again, leaving him to collide with a large stone propped out of the ground. There was a sharp, not-quite a bark, but harsher than a gasp of laughter as something invisible gawked at him. A crow caw, he recognized. Getting to his knees, Scorpius grasped the stone, glancing at it to ensure it's steadiness before he realized where he was.

LUCIUS ABRAXAS MALFOY

"We have, I fear, confused power with greatness"

November 3, 1953-December 28, 2014

Scorpius was lost in a graveyard. A very nice, if odd looking one too, he realized once he had gotten to his feet. Some areas of the cemetery where bright with sunshine and around others were a fog and shade.

Laughter reached his ears. Looking around suddenly, he spotted the cause of it: Albus and Rose were walking by, the sunlight cast over them.

"Hello!" Scorpius called out. "Albus, Rose!"

Neither one of the turned around, but continued their amusement, their laughter trailing off. Without hesitation, Scorpius followed after them. But their figures started fading, as the way obscured with mist and he was lost. Unable to discern his way, Scorpius fell to the ground, leaning back on another headstone. A snake slithered past his feet and the sharp caw rang out again as the black bird swooped past and after the snake.

"Scorpius Hyperion," a faint voice suddenly whispered, her words echoing. He stood up quickly, turning in place to look for the voice in the mist before he saw her.

She had been standing behind the gravestone and although the mist had parted enough for him to see her clearly, she was like mist herself, ethereal and faint. Pale blonde hair down to her waist and wavy all throughout. Huge bright eyes, like she was surprised to see him too. She wore what he thought were old-fashioned witch's robes but just as well might have been the clothing of an ancient goddess despite her relative youth. Her mouth was very small though, especially when paired with such moon-like eyes. It was what might be called a rosebud and she opened it. Words escaped her, sounding too strong and terrible for such a pretty witch.

"Son of the Star, thrown from his Tower

Beware the Emperor and his reversed power

Draw quick the Cup, Wand and Sword so choose

Or else the Devil will draw and you'll surely lose

Do not stray from the pack, you are to attend

For the thirteenth card was not the end."

A bell began to toll, ringing clearly through the mist. The ghost then faded or perhaps the fog came back and coated her. But Scorpius reached out for her and found nothing but the grave. He fell to his knees and tried to trace the letters, unable to read them through the mist.

"S…o…l…" He whispered as the bell sounds faded too.

"Scorpius! Scorp!" Another voice shouted. He turned around and there was his friends behind him, Albus and Rose, Elora…the bird caw was deepening and slowing. "Caw!" Caw!" Cahooot!" Hooting?

His first sight from the darkness that had threatened to overwhelm him was the sapphire-shaded walls, significantly lighter in the morning sun. His breathing slowed and Scorpius felt calmer just to recognize his room as he managed to extract himself from his bed sheets. Pluto hooted and ruffled his feathers at the disturbance and even managed a glower.

"Sorry," he murmured, and then felt foolish for apologizing to an owl.

Then, there was a quick crack and Mully the house-elf was peering up him giddily from the end of the bed. "Young Scorpius sleep well?" the house-elf asked.

"Not really, but you can tell Mother I'm up." He yawned.

"Mully will have out Young Scorpius's lemon tea, his favorite of all teas." Mully reassured him. "Missus Asteria is downstairs in the dining room with Master Draco and the Mistress having breakfast. Master Draco is almost to the business page of his Daily Prophet."

"Thanks Mully," Scorpius said, pulling on a pair of pants. The house-elf bowed and disapparated away.

Scorpius hurriedly finished getting dressed, ran the comb through his hair and strode down the stairs. Malfoys don't run, especially to the dinner table, Grandmother Narcissa had trained him well. His father had just turned the last page of the business section in the Daily Prophet to the sports page when Scorpius made it to breakfast.

"Good morning Scorpius," his mother said, her voice low and soft. Asteria Malfoy was a dark and straight-haired woman, with paler eyebrows and grey-green eyes who always wore the same exact three pieces of silver jewelry: an emerald-eyed snake bangle, a scorpion pin and aster flower earrings.

Draco Malfoy nodded once to Scorpius and then to the tea sitting at his usual seat. "Mully brought you tea. Did you sleep well?"

"Fine," Scorpius answered. "Are we going to Diagon Alley today, Dad?"

Although his friends felt it remarkably easy to call their parents 'Mum' 'Dad' or in Elora's case 'Mumsy' and as the Scamander twins called their parents simply 'Luna and Rolf', Scorpius often found that that he could only ever manage to refer to his parents as Mum and Dad when he was alone with them; otherwise, his tongue referred to them as mother and father or even Draco and Asteria Malfoy.

"That was the plan," Draco said, frowning over the headline of the Tornados' defeat. "I needed to stop by Borgin and Burkes to see about a Grey Sisters' Eye they claim to have."

Scorpius nodded, taking a bite of his toast. His father worked as a freelance magical artifact expert, either in identifying them or even repairing broken objects and the store Borgin and Burkes were one of his biggest employers. "You'll be fine by yourself though, getting your books and supplies?"

"Well, I'd thought I'd stop by the joke shop and see if Albus or Rose might be there or go to the Leaky Cauldron and find Elora." Scorpius suggested.

On the very end of the table, came a faint cough. Narcissa Malfoy tapped her cane and the two Italian greyhounds at her feet made soft dog noises in response. "How are your friends doing this summer, Scorpius?" Grandmother Narcissa asked.

Grandmother Narcissa never asked questions unless she thought you'd know the correct answer already. Scorpius answered, slightly bewildered. "They are fine. Rose and Albus have spent most of the summer together and Elora's sister is seeing someone."

His grandmother nodded sagely. "I wouldn't be surprised if those girls started seeing other boys this year. Thirteen is a wonderful age to be…"

"Why wouldn't they hang out with Albus and I?" Scorpius asked, abruptly surprised by the turn in conversation. "Even if they did decide to go on a date with some git, why not?"

"Come along Scorpius," Draco said, setting down his newspaper. "My appointment's at nine, we'll have to Apparate there now."

"Good-bye Mum, Grandmother." Scorpius said as he allowed his father to grasp his arm tightly. There was a quick sensation of squeezing through a tube, his ears popped and then filled with the hustle and bustle sounds of Diagon Alley.

Draco looked down at him, although Scorpius had grown over the past two years to reach his father's shoulder finally. "Albus and the Weasley girl probably won't arrive until later in the day and I doubt Elora Longbottom will be let out of working until after the morning rush is done. Why don't you come along with me until I've finished this appointment? I can get your books for you afterwards and you can explore with your friends then."

Scorpius shrugged and followed his father down the cobbled, narrow street of Diagon Alley, side-stepping around the street vendors' carts full of dragon livers and lunascopes. Knockturn Alley was located precisely between Jigger's Apothecary (which was owned by his own Potions Professor and Head of House) and across from Gringotts. Despite Ministry efforts to clean it up several years ago, Scorpius knew from his father's work that Knockturn Alley was still the place to go when buying rarer, more expensive, or more dangerous stuff, despite Ministry laws. A lot of shops had even closed from Ministry orders and if Borgin and Burkes hadn't been re-opened by a distant relative, they probably wouldn't be hiring his father so often.

"Mr. Malfoy!" The shop manager said, placing a hand down on the counter as they entered, the bell twinkling overheard. "And the younger Mr. Malfoy as well. I am so pleased that you are able to assist us on proving the authencity of our Grey Sisters' Eye."

"I'll see what I can determine." Draco said calmly. "In the meantime, I'd like my son to stay in here. I trust him not to cause a distraction; he's been well-trained in the handling of magical objects, specifically in the ones that shouldn't be touched."

The shop manager eyed him as if wishing him ill fortune but allowed Draco into the backroom and even shut the door behind them, leaving Scorpius in the room alone.

Borgin and Burkes had many, many things lining the walls: there was a hangman's noose, a hand of mysteries, two cracked and misty crystal balls, a boxlike object underneath a dark sheet…Scorpius wandered the shelves, not daring to touch anything like his father said. Not because Draco Malfoy had said it though, but because he knew well enough the dangers of touching unknown magical objects. When he was six, he tried to use a cursed wand and his hand turned black.

On the second to lowest shelf in the four aisles Scorpius wandered through, he saw a deck of cards. Curious, he crouched and studied them intently. They weren't cards for poker or gambling or even for a good game of Exploding Snap. They had strange, medieval styled-drawings on them, of tiny people. There was a girl muzzling a lion on one, a robed figure on the other holding up a white wand, both with an infinity sign over their heads, the third card was a man walking off the edge of a cliff, a bird trying to fly into his face and the fourth card was reversed, so only the pointless decorative back could be seen from behind the glass.

Scorpius's fingers itched to turn it over and see what the other cards looked like, but then the door opened back up and his father's voice was echoing over his head.

"I'm very glad I could authenticate it for you, and I'll stop by again to study it some more if you'd like, but I have to take my son to get his belongings. Scorpius? Scorpius, your friends should be there by now, if you are ready to go."

"Yeah, I am..." Scorpius said, straightening up. He winded his way through the aisles back to the front of the shop and exited back out with his father.

"That was fairly quick," Draco commented. "Seems they really do have a Grey Sisters' Eye."

"What is that?" Scorpius asked.

"It will answer any one question you may have as long as the answer is already known." Draco answered. "Sounds pointless, but as long as one living person in the world knows it, so will it if you ask it."

"Malfoy!" Somebody snarled. Scorpius glanced behind him to see a one legged man crutching towards them and felt his arm gripped tightly.

"Don't look," his father ordered, walking a bit faster now as his cloak flapped around his ankles. "They want a reaction, don't respond and just keep walking. They won't follow us out of Knockturn Alley."

"Coward!" the man was screaming now. "Death Eater, monstrous, murdering, snake…you took away my leg. A hero, the Ministry calls me! A Death Eater, they tell us you are! Where's your Dark Mark, Malfoy? Where's the Azkaban chains? A hero, I am, and I'm without a leg, sleeping in the streets, and you still live in your manor with your family and you've got a son!" The man screamed harshly. Draco's grip tightened on Scorpius. "A son and he's exactly like you—"

Draco whipped around, his cloak flashing before Scorpius as he stumbled backwards. Draco Malfoy's wand was out and pointed, standing before his son.

"Don't you dare mention my son again." Draco hissed, almost snake-like, his eyes smoldering as the man limped and cowered. "I made my amends. He has no sins. Son, come along."

"I am what you called a mudblood!" the man howled, determined to not be silenced. "What was my sin? To be born to a muggle father? That's his sin, it is, born to Draco Malfoy!"

Draco's hand settled back on Scorpius's upper arm and squeezed it as the two Malfoy men left Knockturn Alley and the crippled man's rage behind and stepped out into the bright sunlight of the summer day. Scorpius swallowed a breath and was glad for the crowd that pushed them towards the front doors of Gringotts and away from the alley. He resisted the urge to pull his hood up and cover his white-blond hair.

"Are you alright?" His father asked, his face pale and concern creased in his temple. "Nobody should bother you like that in, in Knockturn Alley or not. I'll send a MLEP man down there..."

"I'm fine." Scorpius said to his father. "I'm going to find my friends."


Six months away...and we are on to Year 3: The Querent Quest! For new readers, you might want to read Years 1 & 2 first to understand characters and thier pasts better, but you may forge forward and read and review! (Yes, PLEASE review! And if you are really wanting to review, I have a Draco/Asteria oneshot up since the last chapter of Year 2...)

Just a warning...in case you couldn't tell by this ending, the kids are growing up. This equals hormones, puberty, romance, and the nastier side of situations. The rating's going up for a reason!

The quote on Lucius's grave is by Stewart L. Udall.

And thanks to Brighton Belle, who noticed a number of errors in this chapter, making me realize I had submitted the orginal, unedited for mistakes version. I have since fixed that. Thanks!