Reality Is Bleeding
(A sequel to the one-shot "Dust")
I
Reunion
With a great blast of steam from the engine, and an even greater blast of its whistle, the Hogwarts Express pulled out of Kings Cross just as it did every September 1st.
"'bye, Albie, 'bye James," little Lily Potter waved sadly at the caboose.
"'bye, Rosie," Hugo Weasley mumbled, sniffling once, then wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"Two years, kids," Ron reminded them, as the billowing steam that had obscured the Platform upon their arrival cleared off in the wake of the train.
"Well, at least now we can see to get around," Hermione Weasley complained to her husband, "You'd think they'd install an exhaust fan?
"You'd think," Ginny Potter agreed, as the two couples gathered up their one remaining child each and turned towards the exit. Teddy Lupin sighed heavily.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find some excuse to visit Victoire," Hermione harassed him. Teddy's hair turned brilliant pink, as did his face.
"Erm, if you'll excuse me?" Teddy asked, "I really should go and keep an eye on, uhm, that one case?" He offered lamely, which made Harry laugh. Teddy then took his leave of them.
"Peace and quiet, at last," Harry smiled, looking all around the Platform, and momentarily losing himself in nostalgia. It didn't seem that long ago that he'd come with Andromeda Tonks to help send Teddy off to Hogwarts.
Harry then remembered how the Muggle station attendant had rebuked him for trying to be cute by asking for Platform 9 ¾, and how, by only the wildest stroke of luck, he'd overheard Ron's mother, Molly Weasley, complaining, "...packed with Muggles...," thus tipping Harry off to the fact that they were surely Wizards who might help him find the platform.
He remembered sharing a compartment with Ron, and how they'd gone overboard on candy during the trip. Harry also recalled how good it had felt to not only have money with which to buy candy, but also to have someone there with him to share in it. He remembered a panicked Neville Longbottom, and a very brusque and bossy Hermione Granger in search of Trevor the toad. He smiled as he then looked at Ron, who, impossibly, had dirt on the side of his nose again. Harry pointed this out, Ron wiped it away, and they all laughed.
Harry then remembered how he'd spurned Draco Malfoy's offer of friendship, and how that one simple act had had such repercussions - for both Draco and Ron.
"It's funny," Ron mused, as they were heading for the exit, "How things turn out, isn't it? I mean, remember when we ran into Malfoy on the train? How he wanted to meet you, and how you refused to shake his hand?"
Harry sighed and nodded. "I was just thinking of that."
"I've often wondered just how things might have turned out, if he hadn't been so belittling to you," Harry replied, "Or if he hadn't been so nasty at Madame Malkin's when Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley for the first time. Did I ever tell you that Draco was the first Wizarding child I ever met? I wanted so badly to be friends with him, until he started all that hateful talk."
"Innumerable times, Harry," Hermione smiled, "Usually when you were in a rage about something he'd done, too." Hermione then gave Ron 'the look'. "And you!" She informed him, "Telling Rose to make sure and beat Scorpius at everything, Ronald? What are you trying to do, make them hate each other already?"
"Well, if that Scorpius kid is anything like his father," Ron theorized, "Because he certainly looks enough like him! For a minute there, I thought it was 'Mini-Draco' or something, you know?"
Harry had to agree with that. The resemblance that Scorpius bore to Draco was uncanny, but when Harry thought about it, he had to admit that it was no stranger than the resemblance that Albus bore to himself. "Our sons are not us," Harry stated, sneaking Hugo a wink, "Besides, it's not like Albus and Scorpius don't know one another."
"That ice cream in Diagon Alley was years ago, Harry," Hermione reminded him, "And they've not seen one another in as many. Being quill-pals isn't the same thing."
Ron shook his head. "You should have explained to him about the Sorting, I mean, better, Harry. It's gonna really hurt Albie's feelings when the Hat puts him in Gryffindor, and his little quill-pal in Slytherin. It'll tear 'em apart, as if ol' Malfoy just up and vanishing with his family didn't already do that," Ron stated.
"Harry," Ginny had to agree, "I don't often admit it, but Ronald's making perfect sense." Ron winced. "They might have got on well when they were like six years old, but time's passed. And you know that a friendship like that certainly won't survive the Sorting."
Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm as they neared the exit. "Besides, we didn't even know what Scorpius Malfoy looked like until now. Don't you find it odd that Draco would just up and vanish like that? Did he even think of how it would make the boys feel? No," Hermione went on, as she began to sink into her element, "Typical Slytherin mindset - me and mine come first, and everyone else be damned. You just wait, Harry, trust me, you'll get a letter first thing tomorrow morning from Albus, telling you how he got Sorted to Gryffindor, and how his old friend went into Slytherin and abandoned him."
Hermione was so into her speech that she didn't notice the blond man in black sitting on the bench near the exit. She also didn't notice the pretty blonde lady who was imploring him to get up and go.
But the man seemed to be ignoring her. He just sat, staring at the vanishing point on the horizon where the train had long since disappeared. He seemed lost in thought, even unwell, when the Trio paused as he finally said something.
"I daresay you're wrong, again, Granger - Mrs. Weasley, I mean," Draco Malfoy said to the horizon. And while he didn't look at them, his tone made it clear that he wanted them to hear him.
"You must be the Potters and Weasleys," Astoria Malfoy quickly introduced herself. "Draco's told me so much about you?"
Ron blinked. "I'm sure he has?" Ron fumbled.
"Some of it was even good, too," Draco muttered, his colorless eyes never moving from the horizon. "You know," he then said, finally looking at Harry, "I don't think I ever thanked you three for saving my life that one night. Thank you," He added plainly.
"You're welcome," Harry replied, not sure of what to say as he gave Astoria an inquiring look.
"Let's go, Darling. Scorpy will be fine, I'm sure. We'll hear from him tomorrow, if not in the middle of the night, you know?" She then turned to the two couples, who were by this time, trying to manage their fidgeting children.
"Let's go!" Hugo whined.
"I so wanted to go," Lily said in a way unfitting a nine-year-old. "I hate to have to wait!"
"Scorpy wasn't looking forward to it at all," Draco then put in, as he slowly got up, almost as if unfolding himself, and straightened his coat with a hard tug. "It won't be easy for him," he told his wife.
"I know, Darling," she agreed, making the Potters and Weasleys wonder what they were talking about.
"I'm glad he got to be friends with Albus when they were little, even if it was for only a short time," Draco then said to Harry, finally looking him in the eye since they'd all spotted him in the clouds of smoke and steam.
"Our sons are not us," Harry said with a curt nod.
Then Draco Malfoy slowly, reluctantly, extended his hand.
And several decades too late, perhaps, Harry accepted it.
"It's a shame that only I remember...," Draco began, releasing Harry's hand and turning to go. "Never mind," he then decided. "Sometimes I wonder if I only imagined it all. It's just insane, really..." his voice faded off as he walked way, mumbling to himself.
"I...I'm sorry," Astoria offered, "He gets like this sometimes," she explained, as she took off after her husband.
"And here I thought we were all misty about sending the kids off?" Ron mused.
*****
"Honestly, you'd think they'd add another car," Rose Weasley was complaining, as she and her cousin Albus Potter lugged their trunks and owls down the aisle in search of a compartment with room for two more.
Actually, they'd already passed up a couple. But Rose had found fault with the occupants on sight, Albus knew. After all, Rose was very good at finding faults, and he knew that too. He also knew better than to start an argument with her when she was convinced that she was right, which was all of the time, really. Albus just wished she'd pick one, as he was getting tired of all the heads peeking out to stare at them and the whispers of "Harry Potter's other kid," and "Looks just like him!"
"Did you see that thuggish lot in the last one?" Rose asked, "Really! That one must have gorillas in his family tree!"
Albus just nodded. He'd thought about sitting with his brother James and his friends and cousins, but he'd thought better of it. Albus knew from experience that all he'd get from James would be a laughing greeting of "Go way, Squirt!"
"What about this one?" Albus asked, spying a compartment near the end of the very last car. The door was open, and it appeared to be deserted.
"Oh, well done, Albie!" Rose congratulated him, as she pushed her trunk inside and reached for the two owl cages. She'd just stashed them on the overhead shelf when she gasped. "OH! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there, Mr. ahhh ... oh dear!" She suddenly choked.
Albus' ears pricked up at once. If Rose had seen something that had made her shut up, it had to be a doozey, Albus knew.
"Everywhere else must be full up," the small boy mumbled, never taking his eyes off of his highly polished black leather shoes. "But you're welcome to stay, if you don't mind what everyone will think, I guess." He then scooted as far back into the corner as he could, behind the door, pressing himself so hard against the wall that he seemed to be trying to pass through it.
Rose took in the slightly pointed face, almost ferret-like, the slicked-back and long, white-blond hair, and the small build. This boy wasn't much larger than her little brother Hugo, but his crystal-blue eyes looked so out of place on his near-perfect face. Rose's glance lingered, their eyes locked for a second, and she found that she really didn't really want to stop looking at this handsome boy - at those eyes that seemed to be saying that they'd seen too much already in his short life.
But the boy looked quickly away.
Perish the thought! Rose told herself, That's...that's...
"Scorpius Malfoy?!" She blurted, finally recognizing him from the Platform.
"Who?!" Albus exclaimed, tossing his own trunk inside and very nearly clobbering his cousin with it. He then opened the trunk as Rose was situating herself on the opposite seat.
Packed on the very top, and carefully wrapped in tissue paper, was a small rectangular box. Albus took it out, opened it, and held up a wallet size silver picture frame.
He looked from the picture to the pale boy, back again, and did this several times. He adjusted his rectangular glasses and blew the stray black hair out of his face. Finally, his green eyes rested upon the shy boy.
"Scorpy!" Albus breathed.
Scorpius Malfoy then looked up, his face a study in uncertainty. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Then he looked away again.
"You two know each other?" Rose gasped. "How?"
"H-hello, Albie," Scorpius finally replied, in a voice so soft that they could hardly hear him. "It's been a long time?"
Albus put the picture away, then sat down, looking as if he were about to cry.
Rose didn't understand it at all. From what her father had just told her on the Platform, and from all the stories she'd heard involving the Malfoys, Rose Weasley was convinced that they had just taken up temporary residence with the next worst thing to the Dark Lord himself!
"You two know each other?" She repeated pointedly to Scorpius. "How? Uncle Harry didn't even know you, and he knows everybody!"
"You never mentioned me?" Scorpius whispered, daring to glance quickly at them both before turning to stare out the window.
"My dad said your dad wouldn't like it," Albus shook his head. "So I never told a soul. But I never stopped writing," he added quickly, as he closed his trunk again.
"I...I had to," Scorpius admitted. "Daddy said it was too dangerous, after we started traveling. Someone sent him a package, that last year I sent you the Quidditch gloves for Christmas? It had a cursed little statue in it, and it...it...never mind, I'm not supposed to talk about it," Scorpius admitted.
"I brought the gloves," Albus nodded, as Rose looked on in confusion. If there was one thing that Rose Weasley couldn't stand, it was not knowing something.
Albus then dug the gloves out of this trunk and showed them off. Scorpius looked dumbfounded.
Rose was perplexed. She pushed her bushy reddish-brown hair back and snorted. This whole affair was definitely a problem that needed solving, how her cousin Albus somehow knew this seemingly notorious Scorpius-person that she was supposed to best at everything at school.
"They grow with the wearer, you know," Scorpius nodded slightly. Then he sighed. Albus jerked his head straighter and blew at his messy black hair again.
"What's wrong? Aren't you glad to see me?" Albus asked. "I thought...?"
"I am," Scorpius then finally smiled, "After the reception I got before I made it all the way back here, though, I was sort of expecting the same thing from you. It's been a long time, you know, and I figured your dad and uncles would talk."
"Would one of you please tell me how you two know each other?" Rose huffed.
"Albie?" Scorpius cocked his head at Albus.
"We met up in Diagon Alley when we were like five or six," Albus explained. "Scorpy's dad seemed to already know who I was, and he was very excited to see me. In fact, he was...he was a lot happier back then?"
"Old ghosts, you know," Scorpius nodded. "That's why we disappeared."
"I'm sorry," Albus offered, once again leaving Rose out of whatever it was that was passing between the two boys.
They were such a contrast, Rose thought: One with hair as black as night, the other as white as alabaster. Albus, being so outgoing; Scorpius, so withdrawn. Rose wondered how they could have ever gotten on together.
"But you're both here, now," Rose reminded them, "And we'll all be in the same classes, I'll bet! You can see each other every day!"
That statement only seemed to make Scorpius withdraw even more, though. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself, folded his legs up, and looked to be trying to make himself just as small as he could. Rose thought that it wouldn't take much.
"The only reason you say that now is because we haven't been Sorted yet," Scorpius finally answered, after a very long and awkward pause. "Every Malfoy in history, according to Daddy, has been a Slytherin. Mum's a Slytherin, and so was Grandma Black and almost all her family."
"The Blacks did have one Gryffindor in there, you know," She reminded them. "Sirius? Uncle Harry's Godfather?" Albus nodded happily at his old friend.
But Scorpius just sighed again, and it was really an awful sound, Rose thought. What was even more awful, though, was the fact that the sound of it made her want to hug the sad boy, to try and make him feel better. She didn't understand it at all, other than knowing that a hug always seemed to work for her when she felt bad.
Rose, you cannot hug this person...this...this Malfoy! She berated herself. Dad would just croak!
But the more she looked at him, the more she could see that Scorpius Malfoy was suffering. She had to wonder if he were going to tell them why. And why had Albus kept his brief childhood friendship with him a secret, even from her?! Weren't they each other's confidant, each other's partners in crime - as their parents referred to them? None of this was making any sense, which was making Rose very irritable.
Albus picked up on this at once as Rose began to twirl a strand of her bushy red hair. It was the danger signal that he knew too well.
"Well, our whole family has been in Gryffindor," Albus said, "Haven't they, Rosie?"
"Oh yes," Rose agreed happily, immediately launching into a dissertation that was only interrupted by the Witch with the snack trolley.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" She asked happily, glancing into the compartment and failing to notice Scorpius until he spoke up.
"Give us three of everything, please," Scorpius asked politely, almost bashfully, as he handed her a bunch of coins.
"Mmmmm," the Witch simply replied, as she waved her wand and filled his order. She then headed up the corridor, mumbling something about buying friends.
"See what I mean?" Scorpius asked.
"How rude!" Rose exclaimed.
"Why did she do that?" Albus wondered.
"She recognized me," Scorpius shrugged. "I'm used to it, though. That's why you found me back here, near all the stock and baggage. Nobody wanted to be seen in the company of a Malfoy, you know."
"But why?" Rose asked, visibly upset by how the trolley-Witch had treated Scorpius. "What did you ever do to anyone?"
"Apparently, I was born," Scorpius shook his head in resignation. "It all started when I enrolled in elementary school, you know. You and Albus were the lucky ones, going to a Muggle school." Scorpius then unwrapped a chocolate frog, expertly preventing it from jumping away. He then looked at the card. "Sometimes I wish I'd been born a Squib, then I could have been foisted off on some Muggles and not had to deal with any of it." He then dropped the card on the floor.
Albus picked it up.
The Wizard on the card didn't look very happy about being dropped, either, as Albus brushed the dust off of him. He had penetrating black eyes that seemed to see right through Albus, and long black hair that looked a bit greasy. Albus knew him at once - his namesake. Or rather, one of them:
"Severus Snape," he nodded, smiling. "Dad speaks very highly of him, you know. That's my middle name, you know?"
On the card, Severus Snape rolled his eyes and stalked out of the frame.
"What's yours then?" Rose asked Scorpius.
"Hyperion," Scorpius replied.
"Well, that sounds nice and dark," Rose rolled her eyes. "You two need aliases, is what I think. I'll try and think up some for you, shall I? Albie & Scorpy just don't sound right for here."
"Knock yourself out, Rosie," Albus conceded. After all, he'd learned better than to argue with Rose over the past eleven years. Rose was infinitely smarter than he was, although Albus always prided himself on his marks; he was certainly not dim. He just wasn't as quick as Rose.
He didn't think anyone was.
"Let's just drop it, shall we?" Scorpius asked, "Enjoy it while we can? I mean, the Sorting's going to blow it all to bits for us, anyway." He looked out the window again, absently reaching into his Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Albus made to stop him when he recognized a yellowish-gray one, but too late - Scorpius bit into it.
Vomit-flavored, Albus winced, but Scorpius didn't even blink.
"You'll both go to Gryffindor, I'll go to Slytherin, and this brief little reunion will be done for good, Albie," Scorpius warned him.
"It must have been good, once," Rose said wistfully, "Because no one calls him 'Albie' but for family."
"Only my folks call me 'Scorpy'," Scorpius nodded back. "Licorice Wand?" He held out a box, trying to change the subject.
"Ehhh, the brain over there will probably sort into Ravenclaw," Albus offered, trading a Licorice Wand for Peppermint Humbug.
"Ravenclaw would be perfectly acceptable," Rose replied haughtily. "Mum and Dad said even Hufflepuff would be fine, but that Gran and Grandpa Weasley would be upset if I didn't make Gryffindor."
"J-James was teasing me about...about being in S-Slytherin," Albus finally said it, and finding out that saying it to the two of them made it sound not so bad. "But Dad said he'd be proud of me, no matter which House I get into. Stupid prat," Albus added.
"He means James, his older brother, of course," Rose put in, as Scorpius just gaped at his old friend.
"Oh!" Scorpius realized.
"Yeah, James kept telling me my initials, A.S.P., spell out 'asp', a snake, and that's a sure sign I'm Slytherin material," Albus explained. "But Dad said he had to ask the Hat to not put him there, can you imagine?" Albus added quickly.
"Sometimes I wish I'd had a brother," Scorpius mused, popping a Drooble's bubble all over his face.
"You can have James, free," Albus shook his head. "But you know," he reconsidered, "I guess he's not so bad? Dad just said he likes to have a good time?"
As if on queue, James Potter then stuck his auburn head in the door. "There you are, Squirt!" He yelled at Albus. "I thought you'd fell out the back or something! Hey, Rosie," he added.
"It's 'Rose', if you don't mind, Jimmy-boy," Rose glared at him, affecting a convincing Irish brogue.
James seemed to stand down at once. Albus wasn't the only one who'd learned early on not to tangle with cousin Rose and her temper!
"Didja find 'em yet, me Jimmie-boy?" Another boy's voice called out, and in the same Irish brogue. Rose looked rather smug about the whole thing. Scorpius snickered, the first sign of mirth he'd shown the whole time.
"Yeah, Sean, I did! In here," James replied, right about the time that Scorpius snickered too. James noticed him, and his eyes went wide. "Are you that Malfoy kid?" James then asked.
"See what I mean?" Scorpius held out his hands. "That would be me, yes, Mr. Jimmie-boy - Scorpius Malfoy, Dark Wizard Extraordinaire, and very probably future Dark Lord. Pleased to meet you," he added sarcastically.
"I don't want you two hangin' 'round him," James pointed his finger at Albus and Rose, "I heard all about him from that Goyle-brute down a few cars! If Dad hadn't warned me..."
"Then I'd suggest you heed it," Rose interrupted him, "Because I'm finding young Master Malfoy more and more interesting by the minute. Aren't you, Albus?"
"Move, now!" James ordered them.
"Make me!" Albus challenged him. "'sides, everywhere else is full up!"
"I'm writing Dad and Uncle Ron!" James threatened them, as he stormed off with his Irish friend and a few other boys Rose didn't know.
"Well, that's got rid of him," Rose observed haughtily.
"For now," Albus groaned.
"You didn't tell your own brother about me?" Scorpius asked, confused.
Albus shook his head.
"Thanks, I think," Scorpius then grinned again, but only with the left side of his face. It was something between a smile and a smirk.
"Ignore him, he's just being James," Rose advised, glancing out the window. "I'd say we have some time before we arrive, so let's make use of it, shall we?" She asked, pulling out The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1.
"Are we allowed to do magic in here?" Albus asked, nervously pulling out his wand. Albus' wand, everyone in the family knew, was prone to random outbursts of unexpected magic whenever he got nervous with it - which was most of the time.
Sure enough, he promptly lit the hem of Scorpius' robe on fire!
"Aquamenti!" Rose yelled, promptly dousing Scorpius in cold water. Scorpius didn't look impressed at all.
"Thanks awfully," he drawled, as he drew his own wand and dried himself out. "One doesn't grow up moving all over the world and hiding from people who want to kill you, without learning a few spells," Scorpius added, "And that was genuine Tibetan silk, I'll have you know!"
Rose had to laugh. There was just something about the boy that did it to her. "I told them not to let Albie have one of those new overpowered, dual-core wands," Rose said in that tone that so annoyed Albus. He also wished she'd stop calling him 'Albie'. Having a childish nickname was the last thing he wanted at Hogwarts!
"Well, what's in it, then?" Scorpius asked, actually showing some genuine interest instead of the sense of impending disaster he'd shown so far. "Mine's ironwood and phoenix feather combined with hippogriff tail hair?"
"Holly, like my dad's," Albus said proudly, but with a look of rapt surprise on his face, "And it's got a hippogriff and phoenix feather at the core!"
"Oh, Merlin save us," Rose groaned. "Am I the only one with a normal wand?"
"Define 'normal', Miss," Scorpius threw back at her, and for the first time, all three of them laughed aloud together.
"Let's enjoy it while we can," Scorpius suggested, and the three of them did that.
They were practicing some of the elementary spells from their book when the door slid open to reveal some rather unsavory looking Second Years and a few frightened First Years.
"Potter said he was back here," a large and obnoxious looking Second Year boy announced to the gang of them.
"Goyle," Scorpius rolled his eyes, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Well, how's about some of that candy, for starters? Consider it health insurance?" Goyle snickered, reaching for the pile of sweets.
He drew his hand back with a startled yelp, though, as Rose hit him with a Stinging Hex. Goyle's hand began to swell at once. "Why you little..." he began. "Who do you think you are, girl?!"
"Rose Weasley," Rose informed him bluntly, leveling her wand at him. "Fear the name. There's about a million of us, you know, and we're all nasty tempered! In fact, I think one of us might even be Head Girl?"
Albus heard the name 'Victoire' mentioned by someone in the gang, and that seemed to shut the boys up almost at once.
"Actually, we just wanted to see what you looked like these days, Shrimp," Goyle snorted at Scorpius. "You remember him, don't you, Nott? Before his daddy ran off and went into hiding?"
"Thomas," Scorpius said coolly, "Head been glowing lately?" He sneered at him. "And where did you find that robe? Gladrags having a closeout sale?"
One of the smaller boys blushed red in frustration. "I didn't miss him a bit," Nott sneered back at him. "Besides, least I don't smell like a burnin' trash heap!"
"I, uhhh, sort of set him on fire," Albus offered.
Goyle blinked. "Cool!" He exclaimed. Then his grin faded. "We'll see where you Sort, Malfoy. But given your daddy's record," he elbowed one of his friends, as if to prompt him to laugh, too, "I don't have much hope. Like father, like son, they say?"
And with that, the gang of them headed back up the aisle.
"See what I mean?" Scorpius sighed, as that gloomy pall seemed to fall over him once again. "If you don't mind, I think I'll try for a nap?" He then stretched out on the seat, rolling his cloak into a makeshift pillow.
Rose and Albus exchanged a shrug. For a while, they looked over their schoolbooks. The countryside continued to roll by. The train passed through a few scattered showers, but it seemed to be clearing off as the sun was going down. Fortunately, no one else came by to bother them.
Albus just watched it all going by, remembering a time that seemed like so long ago when they'd sneaked off from their parents one Halloween night and gone back to Malfoy Manor to gorge on Butterbeer and candy and wreck the place by flying their broomsticks in the house.
"I can't believe you met him when you were little," Rose said, as the train began slowing. Albus realized, with just a bit of a start, that he'd gone to sleep too.
"What? Oh, yeah!" Albus nodded, rubbing his eyes. Scorpius was still asleep, he noticed.
"Get your robe on, Albie," Rose told him. "I suspect we'll be arriving soon?"
Rose was right, as usual, Albus found out.
He shook Scorpius awake, and the three of them waited until the cars had cleared before disembarking. They were bringing up the rear of the crowd of nervous First Years, listening to the rumors about having to fight off a Troll or perform some complicated spell to be admitted, but Albus and Rose knew better. Scorpius just looked indifferent as he stared at children being put into small boats by a giant of a man.
"Albie! Rosie!" Rubeus Hagrid bellowed when he saw them.
"'Albie'?" Someone in the crowd snickered, and Albus had the sinking feeling it had been that Nott boy.
Hagrid then grabbed Albus and promptly proceeded to bruise all of his ribs - or so Albus felt.
"Heya, Hagrid!" Albus smiled down at him. Hagrid, after all, was as much a fixture to Grimmauld Place as Teddy Lupin was, and Albus was used to rough handling by now.
"Boats 'er a'fillin' up fast, but I saved one fer yehs," Hagrid nodded, as he placed Rose and Albus in the last empty one. He then turned to see that Scorpius was the last one left on the dock.
Hagrid glanced at the other boats, but of the ones that weren't full, all of the other children just turned away.
"I hate ter do it ter yeh two, but," Hagrid started to say, and it set off something inside of Albus.
WHY was everyone treating Scorpius like he had some sort of terrible disease?
"Scorpius?" Albus said, reaching out his hand.
Rose did the same.
Scorpius looked surprised.
"Are you two sure?" Hagrid asked, "Don't think yer folks'd like you associatin' with..."
"SCORPIUS IS MY FRIEND!" Albus then blurted, standing up and rocking the boat. Hagrid steadied him as several of the other children just watched.
"I'd rather swim, before I sit with THEM!" Scorpius then scowled in seeming disgust. "Who do you think you're talking to, Potter? ME, a Malfoy, sit with the spawn of Blood Traitors and Mudbloods?"
Albus just gaped at him in surprise, then a stabbing pain tore through the left side of his head. It was so severe that it doubled him over in the boat.
But as suddenly as it had come, the pain was gone.
"Hagrid, please seat Mr. Malfoy in our boat, would you?" Rose said snootily.
"Have it yer own way, then," Hagrid conceded, as he helped Scorpius into the little boat. Even Hagrid, it seemed, knew not to tangle with Rose when she'd made up her mind!
Albus just stared back and forth between Rose and Scorpius.
Had he really just seen and heard what he thought he had? But wasn't Scorpius reaching out his hand to him, as Hagrid lowered the slight boy into the boat? Seemingly of its own accord, Albus' left hand reached out as well.
That hand then clasped Scorpius', and in that slight 'smack' sound, both boys shuddered as if a chill wind had just blown by. Hagrid glanced around, and the boys saw Rose's hair billowing.
It hadn't been their imagination - the wind had picked up, then died just as fast.
"Glad you could make it," Rose smiled at Scorpius.
"Do you two have any idea what you're getting yourselves into, being nice to me?" Scorpius asked, staring down at the black water as the boats began to move. "And why? Why risk it?"
"B-but you jus'...just said all those mean things?" Albus fumbled, but they both looked at him as if he were daft.
"Because I missed you," Albus said sincerely, but Scorpius didn't meet his gaze as Albus decided to not pursue what he thought he'd just seen.
They were halfway across the Black Lake, engulfed in darkness without even a sliver of moon, when Rose gasped.
"Boys, look!" She pointed ahead.
Standing before them was Hogwarts Castle, all aglow in warm lights and shining like a beacon.
Even Scorpius gasped in wonder, but the look didn't last.
"Why bother?" He sighed. "It won't be any different here."
"Scorpius," Albus informed him, "You may not realize it, but we've already left Hagrid scanderized, so let's use it, why don't we?"
"That's 'scandalized,' Albie," Rose corrected him, as she always did, "And I agree! Let's not let something as trivial as a little Sorting wreck this impromptu friendship! I'm rather enjoying it so far," she smiled. "Besides, it'll drive Daddy absolutely mad!"
"Oh," Scorpius nodded nervously, turning to Albus to see the lights of the Castle reflected in his glasses. He remembered his father, Draco, once saying that Albus' father had no sense of fashion when he'd taken the badly nearsighted little boy to their optometrist and gotten him newer, trendier glasses.
It was the glasses that brought something back to Scorpius, and he smiled again.
"I missed you, too, Albie," He finally admitted.
"You have got to have aliases," Rose sighed, as the boats docked and Hagrid continued unloading and ushering them all up the steps and into the foyer.
"Thank you, sir," Scorpius mumbled, as Hagrid hoisted him last out of the boat.
"Erm, yer welcome?" Hagrid managed, looking confused at the straggling trio bringing up the rear of the group.
"Oh, dear," He murmured, as the wind picked up again and he brushed some dust off his hands.