Run – A Harry Potter Fan Fiction featuring Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy
Chapter One – Somewhere A Clock is Ticking
"They betrayed all that we once stood for." A dark figure rasped. The figure stood at the front of a gathering of like figures, all cloaked in black, "Those who have forsaken our Lord will suffer for their betrayal, just as these traitors have." The figure raised its left hand and pointed a wand into the sky, "MORSMORDRE!" the figure screamed, and out from the tip of the wand erupted a mass of green, it pierced the night sky - a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, the Dark Mark. Laughter echoed across the gathering, a maniacal, deadly laughter. After a few minutes, the laughter subsided and the figures began to disapparate. The head figure pulled its robe to the side to reveal four bodies, all with sleek blond hair, two women, and two men. The figure looked down, spit upon the bodies, and disapparated. As the figures all disappeared, the bodies lay, motionless at the foot of a stately manor house, beneath the moon.
In the darkness, Albus Potter could just make out the steady breathing of his fellow fourth-year classmates; they were all fast asleep. Slowly, Albus lifted himself from his four-poster bed, pulled back the curtains, and tiptoed across the dormitory floor. As he slowly made his way down out to the Slytherin common room, Albus noticed a puff of blond hair bobbing behind a chair facing the fireplace.
"Malfoy!" almost escaped his lips as a shout, surprised that anyone else was up at this hour, Albus quickly turned around, but before he could, Scorpius Malfoy's voice came from behind the chair,
"Whoever you are, you do not have to pretend as if you are not there. I just couldn't sleep." Before he could say anything, Albus realized he must have dozed off at some point, he had not realized Scorpius was missing from his dormitory, which could only mean he had snuck down to the common room earlier. But why was Malfoy down here? This was not how his plan was supposed to work out.
"Potter!" came Malfoy's voice, in the time Albus had taken to collect his thoughts, Scorpius Malfoy had risen from his chair and was now facing Albus. "Why are you down here at this hour?"
"The same could be asked of you, Malfoy." Albus shot back. Malfoy stood across the room, firelight glinting off of his pale, pointed face. His blond hair not its usual perfectly styled-self was instead askew as if he had been asleep already but was woken up. His face looked sad, his grey eyes looked as if they were holding something back.
"I just couldn't sleep, bad dream." Malfoy's answer came, rather surprisingly to Albus. They hadn't spoken too often, they were civil to each other, but they had never been much more than passing conversation between the two of them, but a close friendship had never developed. But something was off right now, Albus could tell, and though he did not quite understand why, he decided to press on with the conversation.
"Bad dreams?" Albus asked, with a hint of sympathy.
"Yes, I'd rather not discuss it, honestly." Malfoy responded.
"Oh, ok." Albus answered back, awkwardly, "Well if you're sure-."
"I'm sure." Malfoy responded, quickly, "just go on down to the kitchens, like you were planning on."
"How did you know I was planning on going down to the kitchens?" Albus asked.
"Potter, I've been sharing a dormitory with you for going on four years, I think I know your routine by now."
"Oh…right, well if you're sure you will be alright, I'll go then." Albus awkwardly responded. As if to respond for him, his stomach chose that moment to groan. "Sorry…" Albus said quickly.
"It's alright, just go." Scorpius responded, his voice sounding broken. Albus nodded his head and quickly walked towards the common room exit, noticing that Malfoy had a look of utter pain on his face, but no tears. Albus looked away, confused, and unsure what to do, other than listen to his classmate, and leave him be. Albus exited the common room, and began his walk to the kitchen, still curious as to why Scorpius Malfoy was behaving so oddly, the normally composed and proper Malfoy was now near tears, and Albus was unsure why.
When he heard Potter leave, Scorpius breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out the picture of his father, Draco, and his mother, Astoria, he looked longingly down at the picture cursing the world, afraid, alone, and angry. Scorpius had been asleep, when his head of house, Professor Slughorn, had interrupted his dreams and insisted Scorpius follow him down to his office. Scorpius had followed Slughorn, sensing something was wrong. As he walked into the Professor's office, he could see the headmistress, Professor McGonagall, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic gathered around a table. Scorpius knew, immediately, that something terrible had happened, and was only confirmed when, the Minister told him. The elder Malfoys, Draco, Astoria, and his grandparent's Narcissa and Lucius had all been found, murdered at Malfoy Manor. The shock, at the time prevented him from reacting. Professor McGonagall reached out to him, insisting that everything would be alright, and that he would continue to have a place at the school and would be kept safe, and all necessary arrangements would be made for his parents and grandparents. The Minister also insisted that the Aurors would begin investigating immediately. The last thing they told him was about the mark, the Dark Mark, Voldemort's mark had been found above Malfoy Manor. The followers of Voldemort, who himself had been defeated by Harry Potter roughly twenty-two years ago, had returned.
All of the assurances of the Minister and Professor McGonagall could not fill the hole that had begun to form in his chest, a feeling that nothing would ever be right again. Somehow, Scorpius had made it back to the common room, had lit a fire, and collapsed in the chair, exhausted from the emotional news, and the overwhelming urge to end it all right then. Scorpius however, could not cry. He did have a picture of he and his parents in his robes, he pulled it out and began to stare at it. It was then that Albus Potter had interrupted, he quickly composed himself, not wanting to talk about it, not wanting to make it real.
Suddenly, the common room door swung open again, and Albus Potter had returned, along with a bit of treacle tart and a small glass of pumpkin juice.
"You looked like you could use something," Albus answered the inquisitive look Scorpius was giving him.
"It's alright, I'm not hungry, I'm just going to go to sleep now." And with that, Scorpius left the chair and rushed up to the dormitory.
Albus stood there, with the treacle tart and pumpkin juice, unsure as to what had just happened. Clearly something was bothering Malfoy, but he didn't know what. Albus moved over to the table near the chair and to sit the snack and drink on the table, when he glanced down he could see the slightest movement. Albus reached down, his fingers curled around something flat, a photograph. Albus looked at it, and could see the smiling face of an older man with pointed features and slick blond hair, undoubtedly Scorpius' father, Draco. As well as a quite beautiful woman, and was undoubtedly a younger Scorpius, their beaming eyes showed they were quite a happy family. Little Scorpius kept reaching up tug on his mother's long, straight hair. Albus had just seen his parents at Platform 9 ¾ when the students boarded the Hogwarts Express to start their new term and could remember Scorpius hugging his parents good bye.
"May I have that back please?" the voice of Scorpius Malfoy came up from behind him." Albus nearly dropped the image, somehow ashamed that he had been looking at what was clearly something very special.
"O-of course." Albus stammered, "I'm sorry, it was lying on the floor and I just picked it up. This is you and your parents, yeah?"
"Yes, when I was much younger." Draco replied.
"You and your father look so much alike." Albus said the first thing that came to mind.
"We looked so much alike…" Scorpius responded, holding out his hand. Albus handed the photo to Malfoy and caught his eyes, the tears still hadn't left, and then it hit him, looked, something had happened to Malfoy's parents.
"Scorpius, what happened?" Albus asked, immediately, using Malfoy's first name seemed foreign, but this instance called for it, he believed.
"They were murdered." Scorpius' voice cracked, and he nearly fell down as he reached for the photograph. Albus rushed forwards and caught Scorpius before he fell. Awkwardly, Albus moved his arm around Scorpius as all of the pent up emotion came pouring out. Scorpius sobs were muffled into Albus' shoulder and all Albus could do was take it, this situation was one he'd never been in, and he was unsure what to say, but he felt, somehow, that just being the literal shoulder to cry on may be the best thing he could be at this very moment.
Scorpius couldn't contain it any longer, the sobs, the emotion, everything came pouring out of him and onto Albus Potter, the most unlikely candidate to be his rock at this very moment in time. But somehow, Potter's arm felt comforting, and that was all he needed right now. Scorpius noticed that Albus was very quiet, and he was thankful, after the Professor and the Minister's endless apologies and sympathies, a silent shoulder was much needed. As he sat there, crying into Albus Potter's shoulder, he realized that his parents and grandparents were gone, the enormous weight finally settled and he realized now that he would be on his own, and that scared him more than anything. After a few minutes, his sobbing started to subside, the tears came less quickly, and his runny nose began to stuff up. He pulled himself away from Albus, and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry..I -."
"Don't apologize, I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now. I'm glad I was here; nobody should have to go through something like this alone." Albus said.
The Ministry of Magic was in an uproar, Harry Potter, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has been called in to look into the incident at Malfoy Manor. Given the circumstances, the fact that an entire family had been murdered, and now a son was left alone, Harry felt a special connection to this case, not only because of the familiarity of the subject matter, but also because he had worked so hard to insure Draco Malfoy and his family would be brought back into the fold of the magical world, not living as pariahs. Given that Draco Malfoy and his family were all very astute, knowledgably and powerful wizards and witches, the idea that all of them could have been overcome was a terrifying thought. Furthermore, the prescense of the Dark Mark indicated that this was most likely perpetrated by followers of Voldemort. But why had they chosen now to show their faces? Harry's scar had not hurt in 22 years, it hadn't started, so either these were imitators, or something more sinister was at work here.
"Harry!" Hermione's familiar voice came from his office door, "thank Merlin you're here! This is a nightmare."
"Yes, Hermione, I know. Has Scorpius, been informed?"
"Yes, Kingsley himself went to Hogwarts." She answered.
"Do we know how Scorpius is doing?" Harry asked.
"Professor McGonagall sent me an owl, to let me know that he had returned to his dormitory, but other than that, we have not heard anything else." Hermione responded.
"Harry, the mark, HIS mark was there. What could this mean?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, but we need to know. We need to know why an entire family was killed and why the mark was there." Harry said, in a determined voice.
"Well, during Voldemort's time, the Malfoys were his supporters, and now they have publicly denounced him. The Malfoys, especially Draco and Astoria began working with assisting building muggle relations with the Ministry. Some would call them traitors for that. It's possible that some dark remnants could have wanted some kind of twisted revenge." Hermione answered. She was always thinking, that was something Harry desperately appreciated about Hermione. He thought on this for a minute or two before answering her.
"Hermione, you may be onto something. We will need to look into every angle we can. I need to get with the aurors that have been to Malfoy Manor." Harry answered.
"Harry, we will figure out who did this, they will be brought to justice." Hermione must have been able to connect the dots of Harry's feelings, because that was exactly what he needed to hear at the moment.
"Thanks Hermione, we will also need to keep a lookout for any additional, strange activity. Something bigger may be happening, and we need to be prepared." Harry stated. Hermione nodded.