Author's Note: This story is written for Pokeeeeeee for the Ultimate Fic Exchange. I used Haley Bonar's song 'Sun Don't Shine' for inspiration for this fic and used some lyrics throughout the story. Hope you enjoy it!
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Before I lay my head to rest
Gonna get on a train and head out west
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Scorpius and Albus sat in silence on their way to Hogwarts for their third year. It had only been ten minutes since Scorpius had told Albus about his mother's death. Neither of them knew what to say next.
Like all things Astoria Malfoy did, her death happened at a time most convenient for her son. Well, maybe not most convenient since most convenient would be not dying at all, but at least Scorpius wouldn't be called to the Headmistress's office in the middle of the night in a fortnight or two. He'd gotten to spend time with her in her last days
"How did it happen?" Albus asked, finally breaking the silence. "You know, if you want to talk about it."
Scorpius shrugged. "I don't mind. She's been sick for a really long time. Scrofungulus. I guess it finally got the better of her."
Albus nodded like he knew exactly what Scrofungulus was, but Scorpius doubted he had any idea. The disease was rare, especially in Britain. It was an exotic disease from near the equator. She'd caught it during Scorpius' first holiday when he was a baby. His parents had wanted to go some place special, some place out of the country, out of the continent. Scorpius, only three months old, had spent his first Christmas there.
"I'm sorry, mate," Albus said, repeating the same phrase Scorpius kept hearing from people. He didn't mind, though. What else did he expect them to say?
"Have you ever been to a funeral before?" Scorpius asked.
"Um, one, a couple years ago," Albus said, scrunching his face as he seemed to draw up the memory. "It was for Great Aunt Muriel. I don't thin she was my great aunt—I don't know who's great aunt she was exactly—but I remember it being a small funeral. People were sad and all, but no one really cried. I'm sure your mum's funeral won't be like that," he added quickly. "Everyone loved your mum."
"Yeah."
It was true. Astoria Malfoy was a hard person not to love. She was the most selfless Slytherin in the world. She never took a single sickle for the portraits she did despite how they were life-like enough to have earned a fortune. She was clever too, always the first to give a quip under breath when visiting either set of Scorpius' grandparents, and intuitive enough to always know when she was being lied to or when someone was lying to themselves.
"So when is the funeral?" Albus asked.
"This weekend, on Saturday. My dad said he'd figure out a way to get us to the Manor by Friday, even if he has to buy the Hogwarts Express to do it."
Albus chuckled. "I'm surprised he hasn't already."
"Mum mostly."
She kept Dad grounded when he needed it most, and Scorpius couldn't imagine what they're lives would be like now that she was gone. After over a decade of sore throats and ten cups of tea a day, Scorpius didn't know how he would spend his summers other than wishing she had gone to St Mungo's as soon as they had come back to England all those years ago. The Healers could have fixed her up in a heartbeat, but she didn't go. She'd taken doses upon doses of Pepper-Up and Cough-Be-Gone potions instead. By the time she finally went to St Mungo's in the summer, there was nothing anyone could do.
"It'll be alright, mate," Albus said, patting Scorpius on the shoulder.
"Why do you say that?"
"I dunno… I guess I'm being hopeful."
"Well, stop it. Your sudden change of character is really freaking me out."
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Cause the world is made of many things
God don't slow on the angel wings
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The inside of the flying horse-drawn carriage was silent as Scorpius, his father, and Albus made their way to the cemetery.
Professor McGonagall had connected her fireplace to the Floo Network to allow the boys to travel to the Manor right after dinner on Friday night. Scorpius' father had already gone to bed when they arrived. Scorpius managed to find a cot for Albus to sleep on that night and even made them a small breakfast of toast and jam, which was quite remarkable considering Malfoy Manor didn't have anything close to the Muggle toaster Albus' family used.
Then Dad had come down to the kitchen, ushering them out into the garden where a pristine white carriage attached to an equally pristine white horse waited for them. No one had said a word since climbing inside.
"Where are we going?" Scorpius asked.
His dad jumped at the sound of his voice like he had been sleeping with his eyes open and was woken up. "What?"
"Where are we going?" Scorpius felt a tad annoyed but tried not to let it show. His dad gave him a stern, are-you-joking? look, so Scorpius rephrased. "Where's the cemetery?"
"Near by," his father said in a finishing tone, accented by the gentle thud of the carriage landing.
Scorpius let the subject drop, knowing one day his father would be in a better mood and would tell him where he could visit his mother's grave. At least, Scorpius hoped he would.
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There's always someone waiting at the gates
Gonna roll away to heaven on a pair of roller skates
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Scorpius' father did not return with them after the funeral. He'd told the boys to return home, that he would follow shortly. Scorpius doubted it would be 'shortly'.
The carriage lifted into the air as quiet as before. Scorpius understood why his father had chosen to stay behind at his mother's grave for a little while long, but he didn't like it. Throughout the days of Healer visits and bedrest and potions, Scorpius had kept it together while his father fell apart. He locked himself in his apothecary lab, creating potion after potion that he hoped would save his wife, and when he wasn't in his lab, he was by her side, brushing his fingers through her dark hair. He never told either of them that it was going to be okay.
"You okay?" Albus asked from the opposite side of the carriage, as far from Scorpius as he could get.
"Not really, no," Scorpius said. "I just want to go back to Hogwarts."
"We can send a letter to Professor McGonagall," Albus suggested, moving ever so slightly closer to Scorpius. "She'll let us go back as soon as we're ready."
"Okay."
Albus paused before getting up to sit right next to Scorpius. He put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "I don't know much about death, but I hear it's a pretty great place."
Scorpius sniffled and wiped away the first tear he could remember letting out since he was old enough to understand his mother was dying. "She seemed happy enough here."
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No more waiting for time to pass
Life's too short to make things last
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"You can come over any time you want," Albus said as they pulled into King's Cross station.
The boys had done such a fantastic job of going back to normal after the funeral and had spent the ride home for Christmas holiday quizzing each other with chocolate frog cards. Well, mostly it had been Albus reading off names for Scorpius to list off accomplishments that went far beyond what was written on the cards, but they both enjoyed it nonetheless.
The happy mood shattered at Albus' words.
"I don't think your dad would like that very much," Scorpius said.
"He doesn't like me very much anyways. He can get over it."
The train stopped, and Albus stood and gathered his things while Scorpius remained sitting, frozen. Albus pretended not to notice, giving Scorpius the time and space to get out of his thoughts again. A thundering herd of students passed their compartment, and Albus finally had to face Scorpius or leave him behind.
"Scorpius?"
His eyes focused but expression remained lost. In a breathy, distant voice he said, "I don't want to go home."
"Like I said, you can come stay with me—"
"I don't want to do that either."
Albus swallowed against the nerves crawling up from deep in his belly. He'd been waiting for the moment Scorpius would cry like a child who lost their mother is supposed to. Albus had begun to think that the time for that had already passed before they got to school. He had hoped that he had missed it. Scorpius was his best mate, but he had no idea what to do when anyone cried, let alone the person he spent nearly every day—every hour—with.
"Do you… do you want to go back to Hogwarts?"
"No." Scorpius shook his head, standing up in slow motion and walking towards the compartment door. "I don't know what I want," he said before walking out.
Albus suspected he knew exactly what Scorpius wanted, but it was something he could never have again.
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You can run away with me to a sunny sky
We'll both be older when we die
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Albus didn't ask how Scorpius' holiday went. He could tell by the way his friend stood next to his father, neither of them looking at each other and barely even saying goodbye, that Christmas had not gone well at Malfoy Manor. Scorpius hadn't even responded to Albus', "Hey."
The Hogwarts Express clicked along the tracks for what seemed like forever before Scorpius even lifted his head to look at Albus. "I hate my dad." He said it as if coming up with the write answer to an Arithmancy question. There was no malice, just mild surprise.
"Welcome to the club," Albus said and continued picking at his box of Bertie Bott's beans, snapping them in half and tossing them back in without eating any of them.
Scorpius slid his wand from his sleeve. "Accio," he said, pointing it at the box. The weak Summoning Charm only caused a handful of broken up jelly beans to float into Scorpius' hand, which seemed to be exactly what he wanted. He sprinkled a few crumbs into his mouth.
It was long after Albus' comment before Scorpius responded to it. "If I kick you out of the club, can you get another a permission form so we can go to Hogsmeade."
Albus felt his cheeks grow warm. "You… you want to go to Hogsmeade?"
"It'd be something different."
That was the first time Albus felt at all guilty for ripping up his permission form in front of his dad at the beginning of the year. What a terrible friend he was turning out to be.
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Lose myself in the sand and the wine
'Cause God don't go where the sun don't shine
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Over ten months ago, Astoria Malfoy died. Things were finally back to normal.
"You really suck at this game, you know that, right?"
"I hadn't noticed." Albus glared at the chessboard spread out on the floor of their compartment. He had never been the best at Wizard's Chess despite many attempts from Uncle Ron to teach him, but normally he wasn't this bad. He hated to admit it, but he was rather distracted by Scorpius' cheery mood. With summer upon them, Albus had expected Scorpius to—if Albus was honest with himself—get depressed thinking about going home again.
Scorpius never told Albus exactly what happened over Christmas, though Albus suspected there was nothing to be talked about. And that was the problem. Nothing had happened.
When Great Aunt Muriel had died, his family had at least toasted her on Christmas Day. The only sign that Scorpius had even celebrated Christmas was the knew set of history books that he had gone through in less than a month. Albus doubted summer would turn out any better.
"Any plans over break?" Albus asked, trying to sound nonchalant and peering across the chessboard as if deep in thought about his next move.
"We're staying with my aunt and uncle in Italy."
"Really?" Albus couldn't dull his interest. "That's fantastic. Better than being stuck here all summer anyways."
Scorpius nodded, his whole appearance seeming to dull as his cheeriness disappeared. Albus sent one of his knights to the centre of the board in a hurry, wishing now that he hadn't been so curious. With one move, Scorpius took Albus' knight and muttered, "Checkmate."
"Play again?"
"No, we're almost to the station."
Albus took out his wand to put the game away, enjoying his last bit of magic for the next three months. His charms still weren't the best, though, and the board merely flipped over on itself. Scorpius laughed as the little pieces scurried away, the hopping pawns lagging behind.
"Like you could have done any better," Albus grumbled, though his sour face broke into a smile a moment later.
Scorpius took out his wand. "I'll show you how a proper wizard does it."
As it turned out, what a proper wizard does was to send the board flying into the door of the compartment. Eventually, the two boys managed to get the entire chess set back into its box while exclaiming how proud Professor Linnet would be to see them practising so much.
The train's breaks squeaked to a stop, and they had to hurriedly grab their things after wasting so much time with the chess set. They ended up being the last two off the train and gave sheepish smiles to the conductor.
Mr Malfoy stood far back on the platform, his eyes on his watch instead of his son. Scorpius fidgeted with his robes—which they hadn't had time to change out of.
Albus opened his mouth to extend the same invitation he had before Christmas break when Scorpius turned and hugged him. Albus froze, not having ever been this close to his best friend before and not sure what he was supposed to do. He patted Scorpius' back only once before he pulled away.
"Sorry," Scorpius said. "I'm not normally a hugger. But thanks." He gave Albus a warm smile before turning and dragging his trunk over to his father.
Albus didn't know exactly what he'd done that deserved a thanks, but he was glad he had done it.