Author's Note: This fic is written for Princessss for the November One-shot Exchange on HPFC. I used the pairing Rose/Scorpius, genre tragedy/angst, and the prompts arduous, turncoat, and Immortals by Fall Out Boy. The story is heavily inspired by the show Revolution, which was on NBC a few years back and will forever be my favorite television show ever. This story kinda ran away and dragged me along once I started writing, but I hope you enjoy all the craziness! I may or may not continue this since it's kind of an open ending, so if you'd be interested in reading a second (maybe even third?) chapter of this, let me know!

they say we are what we are, but we don't have to be

If the world could look into a funhouse mirror, the present would be its reflection. Left is right and right is wrong. Everything that the Second Wizarding War fought for has been distorted. Lines have been crossed. No one wanted this.

Scorpius could hardly put into words how it had happened. He remembered the world he grew up in, one where Muggleborns and Purebloods were friends. Perhaps that was the first mistake. The evolution of Wizarding society started as a leak that grew into a tsunami. Equality for all witches and wizards turned into ever increasing rights for Squibs and then to Muggles marrying into Wizarding families and then to all Muggles. Why should they not know about us? How can we deny them magic when it can help them?

When Scorpius entered Hogwarts, the world was at peace. On the eve of his graduation, it turned to chaos.

There were those who strived to get along, who created communities of both magical and Muggle. But there were also those who could not change. There were riots and guns and curses and casualties. Britain divided itself while magical communities around the world hide themselves further, fearing discovery in their own countries.

In the Borderlands, there is still a cry for peace, though it has grown quiet in recent years. They chose to live in the 'new world' where witches and wizards walk among Muggles without disguises. However, the new world is a poor world. They live without support, without resources. Scorpius has heard the Borderlands described as a walk back in time.

He doesn't know what has become of the Wizarding World to the north. He assumes it is much unchanged. It cannot be anything compared to the South. The Muggles are ingenious, their technology matching the most ancient of magic. Scorpius barely remembers a time before a conversation with his father was only a touch of a button away or how he used to carry a real photograph of his late mother in his pocket. His screen does not rip or wear away. In only a few seconds, he can stare down at his mum as she waves up at him with such clarity she almost seems real.

Scorpius is a Pureblood wizard living in a non-magical world. He and his father and his aunt are the only magical allies to the Muggles. And the most wanted betrayers of the magical world. Seven years after the Great Divide, there is peace. All will be hell again soon. These neighbouring nations cannot live together any longer. One must go.

Draco, Daphne, and Scorpius chose the winning side. Soon, they will be the only witch and wizards in all of Britain. If the two Malfoy men survive that is. They will lead the army, the moles that know every secret and every weakness of magic. They will conquer. They'll be heroes.

The future is the nightmare that keeps Scorpius awake every damn night.

~oOo~

i'm glad to hate you but i do it in the best way

Rose blows out all twenty-four candles on her cake, receiving cheers as loud as she once heard on the Quidditch pitch after scoring a goal. Is it selfish of her to miss her old life when she can look out the kitchen window and see those so much worse off? Her hardships are nothing compared to theirs.

The Borderlands have come a long way in the past few years, and most everyone credits that to past Minister for Magic Hermione Granger and past Prime Minister Gregory Deveroux. What was once a land of separate communities has turned into one small country with Minister Granger to the east and Minister Deveroux to the west. Now there are owls constantly sweeping through the skies to keep each town communicating with the other. They have no electricity besides what they can generate on their own, but these Muggles have magical friends now. Why waste energy on a fridge when one can enchant a cupboard into a cooling chamber? Who needs gasoline when a simple spell can have a car flying through the air? Life is simpler, yes, but they are growing and changing every minute. This is the start of a new era.

Unfortunately, the start of a new era comes with many hard days and little reason to celebrate. Rose is embarrassed that her birthday has become an annual celebration in Thomas, a town named after the most famous wizard martyr for the cause. There's games and music and dancing while Rose watches on. She is glad to see the smiles but all that joy is tainted by the guilt of self-indulgence. She already feels horrible for living in the largest house in all the Borderlands, with only her parents and brother to fill it. Despite having a well-stocked library, Rose can no longer bring herself to enjoy reading when she knows there are others right outside the walls who do not have the time for books when there are sheep to sheer and crops to gather.

The sun rests against the horizon, staring directly at the manor as crowds gather around its front with cups of ale. They laugh in time to the drumming music, only just starting to spin each other and sway together in each other's arms. Then all the usual sounds of the beginning of a festive night are cut off by the unfamiliar sound of a car engine. A Muggle car engine. One that rattles with the twisting cogs of a machine that has been silenced by enchantments in the Borderlands.

A small fleet of sleek black SUVs bound along the unkempt roads as the citizen of Thomas glance around at each other for explanation or instruction. As the Muggle cars roar closer, the crowd ushers their children back into their homes and gather into a semicircle with wands or knifes in hand. Rose stands next to her youngest cousin, Lily, the only Potter known to be alive. They exchange a nervous glance before both pairs of brown eyes stare down the intruders.

The SUVs pull right into the centre of the gathering, headlights pointing to the manor. The engines cut off and, for a moment, they stand in silence. Then a single door pops open.

Draco Malfoy steps out of the leading car, his polished black shoes stepping out into dust and dirt. The tension thickens around them. Rose glares, wanting nothing more than to curse the bastard. There's selfishness and than there's wanting to destroy an entire world so you're the only wizard left. If not for the military guns pointing out of every window of every SUV, Draco Malfoy would have been dead as soon as he took a single step.

"Good evening," he says with a casual lit and a condescending sneer.

Ron Weasley steps in front of the crowd with his wand raised. "What do you lot want?"

"We'd like a little chat with your wife," Draco says, his smirk unfazed. "Be a good host and fetch her for us, won't you?"

"Watch your mouth!" Ron steps forward with his wand pointed at Draco's chest, but then a chorus of clicks from the Muggle guns stops him. Rose gasps, grabbing Lily's hand.

Draco's eyes slide over to her before snapping back to her father as if taking note of her presence for later use. "We don't mean any harm, Weaslebee," he says, holding his unarmed hands in front of him in a mockery of peace. "We just want to talk."

"You can talk to me," Ron says.

"Sorry, but we're looking for intelligent conversation."

Ron's entire face blooms red in anger, but Rose is glad he doesn't walk any closer to Draco. The Weasley family lost many loved ones in the Great Divide. Rose doesn't want to lose anymore.

After a tense moment, Ron relaxes his posture and swallows his anger. "She's not here," he states quietly, though everyone around them hears. All of the citizens of Thomas glance around the crowd, only now realising their great Magical Minister isn't there. Rose, though, keeps her eyes on Draco, not at all surprised to hear her mother is gone. She always is lately.

Draco's smirk disappears as he, too, sees that Hermione Granger is not among the crowd. "Where is she then?"

"No idea."

Half the crowd sucks in a breath, worried by Ron's words, but the other half, including Rose and Lily, remain calms knowing it's a bluff.

Draco screws up his face, not pleased at all at having his moment taken from him. He probably thought this would be easy, that he would stroll in and leave with Hermione Granger without anyone daring to defy him. "Fine," he says, and his gaze drifts back to Rose. Her heart freezes. "I suppose you're daughter will have to do."

Chaos erupts too fast for Rose to pinpoint exactly how it happens. There are only snippets of motions and sounds—gunshots and shouting and spell-casting and lights flashing and bodies crashing. Lily pulls at her hand, trying to pull her into the safety of the nearest house, but Rose slows them down each time she pauses to cast her own curse at the Muggles invading their town. The rebel Muggles of Thomas stand little chance with their knifes and swords. The witches and wizards do what they can, falling as many Muggles as they can, but the battle sides are well-matched.

Rose is yanked back by the belt of her dress, falling into the grasp of two large black-clad Muggles. She struggles against them, but she can't overcome them physically and her wand falls to the ground uselessly. "Rose!" Lily shouts, ready to strike at the Muggles, but a jet of red light hits her in the chest and knocks her back to the ground.

"Lily!"

Her cousin's body is so petite, how can it handle being hit by such a strong stunner? Rose doesn't have time to watch Lily's body for signs that she is still breathing as she whirls around to face the wizard that cursed her cousin.

"How dare you!" she shouts at Draco Malfoy, straining against the hold the Muggles have on her even more. "You traitor! You monster!"

He says nothing. His pale face is unreadable as he points his wand at Rose's face, and she goes limp in the Muggle soldiers' arms.

~oOo~

i'll be the watcher of the eternal flame

It all happened so fast. Scorpius still can't quite comprehend how he ended up in the back seat of a jeep holding an unconscious Rose Weasley as he father curses in the driver's seat.

"Minister Jackal is going to be furious… She has to understand… It's not my fault the Mudblood Minister wasn't there… I've got her daughter, for Merlin's sake… That's got to make up for losing a quarter of her men…"

Draco continues talking to himself as they bump along the uneven ground of the Borderlands. Scorpius holds Rose's limp body to keep her from falling to the floor or cracking her head against a window. Her head rests in the crook of his elbow, her fiery hair splayed across her face and wrapped around his arm and climbing up the side of the car door like vines. Merlin, he forgot how much hair she had.

There are many things he forgot to remember about her, like the way her nose turns up slightly on the end and how pale her eyelashes are. She has more freckles sprinkled across her face than she did the last time they were together.

Now that's a day Scorpius wishes he could forget.

"She can't come," his father had said as Scorpius stared down at Rose, tucked away on a mattress on the floor. Grimmauld Place was one of only a few safe places left for those who could not choose a side. The Weasleys had trusted Scorpius when he brought his father with him. They shouldn't have.

"Hmmm." Rose thrashes her head in her sleep and hums against Scorpius' chest. He holds her closer until she stills. His chest floods with affection even as he reminds himself that if she were awake, his touch would give her no comfort. He betrayed her and her family as much as his father did. There will never be enough love in her heart to forgive him.

"I think she might be waking up," Scorpius says, interrupting his father's monologue.

"Not like she's going anywhere," Draco says in a mumbled voice. He's only been driving for a year now and still can hardly concentrate on any other task when behind the wheel. "Besides, we're almost there."

Scorpius nods, his eyes drifting down to Rose's tied wrists and ankles. He can't catch his breath. What is he doing? Why is he doing this? Holy Merlin, what he would do for a chance to go back and fix all this.

He was never supposed to see her again. That was the justification. He went with his father because that's what a good son would do. He figured they would probably be killed the moment they approached the parliament building anyways. If they somehow survived and found themselves safe, Scorpius would find a way to save Rose too.

Instead, he'd been part of an invasive into her town that captured her and killed half the people she's been living with for the past seven years. He's a failure.

"Why do we need her anyways?" Scorpius asks, escaping from his own shock enough to ask questions. "Didn't we want her mum?"

"We'll still have her," Draco says. "She'll come for her daughter. I guarantee that."

"What happens to her after that?"

Draco is silent for a moment before saying, "She'll tell Minister Jackal what she wants to know."

"She won't." The words are out before Scorpius can stop them. He knows Hermione Granger, though. She would never betray them like he and his father have.

"Information doesn't have to be given voluntarily."

The words silence Scorpius, leaving him only with more guilt to process. He stares down at Rose to distract himself. He can't tell if it's the rattling of the car or if she's nuzzling her face into his side. "Would Minister Jackal spare her," he says. "She could be like us. After everything you've helped them with, you could convince—"

The car swerves as Draco's temper flares. "I won't be doing any convincing on behalf of that girl you fancy." He glares into the review mirror and straight at his son. "You can try to negotiate for her life yourself. I already saved you from the Weasleys once. I won't do it again."

~oOo~

i'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams

Rose's world comes into view slowly. The aching in her chest and head are all she can concentrate on until her blurry vision begins to harden into shapes. A groan squeezes out her throat as she turns her head from side to side. It feels too heavy to properly lift, and she knocks her chin against her shoulder several times.

"Rose?" a whispered voice says, reaching her from far away, from the past.

"Scorpius?" She blinks away the last effects of the spell and focuses on the blond boy kneeling in front of her. No, not a boy anymore. In seven years since she's seen him, he's grown up. There are dark sleepless bruises around his eyes and a pale scruff around his face.

A mix of emotions flood Rose as she struggles to sort through them and the cloudiness in her mind. She wants to laugh and cry and kiss him and curse him and run away. The last memory of him flies to the front, though she supposes it isn't the last memory of when they were together. It is the first memory of his absence—how she woke up to find the sofa he'd been sleeping on empty, how her brain listed off all the rational explanations until she realized his father was gone too, and how she begged her parents to give her an answer that was anything but the truth.

"You bastard!" she shouts, about to slap him until the rope around her wrists stop her. Then she kicks out with her legs, flopping around like a mermaid out of water. The ropes around her ankles remain tight as she tries to force her legs apart. Her wrists burn against her binds, rubbing into her skin in her desperation.

"Rose, stop! Stop!" Scorpius holds down her feet, but she makes contact with his stomach and pushes as hard as she can. He falls back but bounces back to her side in a second, panting and attempting to hold on to some part of her. "Stop! You're only going to hurt yourself!"

"Don't you touch me!" she shouts. With no other option for defense, she spits in his face.

Both of them stop cold in shock, mouths hanging open and limbs still. Then Scorpius lifts the sleeve of his shirt to his face and wipes it away. "I guess I deserved that."

"You bloody well better believe you deserved that." Rose kicks her ankle into the dirt floor one last time before settling against the wooden beam she's tied to. She takes the moment to observe her prison, though there isn't much to observe. They appear to be in a simple tent with nothing inside of it besides the pole against her back and a wooden chair Scorpius must have knocked over in his haste to check on her. The steady pelting of raindrops against the canvas of the tent is the most interesting part of her surroundings. "Do you mind telling me what I'm doing here?"

"You're not going to like it," Scorpius says to the ground. He brushes a bit of dirt from his boots while Rose stares at him, willing him to answer her. When he glances up and sees her glare, he sighs. "They want your mum, not you."

Rose's throat constricts in fear. Of course, they would use her as bait for who they truly want. No matter how smart she is, Rose is no replacement for her mother. "So it's 'them' now, is it?" she says, lashing out instead of fearing how successful the Muggles' plan could be. "Isn't it 'we'?"

Scorpius shrugs, his gaze returning to the toe of his boot as it taps against the ground. "Not really, no. I haven't ever felt like part of them." He opens his mouth as if to go on but stops. Rose stays quiet, hoping to hear more. Information—any information–is better to have than not. After a long pause, Scorpius finally says, "Besides, there are two sides to this war. I would've thought the Borderlands would be on our side, protecting Muggles and all, instead of letting the magical world destroy them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, the war. The big bloody war that's been brewing since the Great Divide."

Rose scrunches her face in confusion. "The Great Divide was the end of the war," she says. "Everyone is living as peacefully as they can despite the threats from the South."

Scorpius' foot stills midair. "You have to know that the North is planning to take out the South?"

"No, they aren't." Rose speaks slowly, both trying to process what she is hearing and hoping Scorpius is listening to what she is saying. "The North only wants the fighting to stop. My mum—"

She cuts herself off, but Scorpius' eyes widen in interest. "Your mum what?"

"My mum…" Merlin, she shouldn't say anything, but Rose can see that Scorpius only half believes her. Stupid bloke thinking he knows everything and that she's the one being lied to. "My mum's been meeting with them."

"Them? The North? What are they meeting about? What are they planning?"

Rose rolls her eyes. "Why do they have to be planning anything? She keeps in touch with them, keeps the peace. But trust me, if they were planning some genocide of Muggles, we would all know about it."

If she had thought Scorpius had been still before, he is now utterly frozen. His eyes are open and unblinking, and Rose can't even see the rise and fall of his chest. "Well," she says, "at least I know now you're just as much a prisoner here as I am."

~oOo~

if we meet forever now, you pull the blackout curtains down

Scorpius barely has a moment to think about Rose' words before the guns fire. "I think your mum's arrived," he says.

"What do they want from her?" Rose asks, straining against her rope binds. Of all of the mistakes that he has made, this is the worst one. How did he ever get here, watching the one person he loves more than anyone, even his deceased mother, as she pulls against the ropes he tied around her wrists?

The least he can do is answer her question. "Minister Jackal wants her help getting past the magical defenses of the North."

Rose scoffs. "Yeah, like my mum would help with that."

"Information doesn't have to be given voluntarily." Scorpius repeats the words that his father told him when Scorpius had brought up the same point when first discussing this plan. He thinks that his face must have paled then as much as Rose's does now. "There's not telling what they'll do to get it."

Rose shakes her head back and forth. "No… She'll crack… She… As soon as someone puts a gun to head, she'll tell them anything."

The image rampages into Scorpius' mind in vivid detail. "They won't hurt you," he says in stubbornness. "They won't—"

"And why not?" Rose interrupts. "Because you ask them not to? Considering that they've gone to such measures to capture my mum, I assume that both you and your father have run out of usefulness. You don't have the leverage to save my life."

It's too much. She's too right. The first few years spent in the South had been wonderful. The Malfoys had bee respected and even slightly feared. That is no more now. Scorpius doesn't even have enough leverage to save his own life. "But I do have this," he says, drawing his wand from his pocket and lifting it up between their faces.

He hates the flash of fear in Rose's eyes. "What are you doing?" she asks, struggling to move away from him as he lowers his wand to her feet.

"Hold still," he says before muttering a severing charm that slices through the ropes. Rose's legs still at their freedom, and Scorpius moves to wrists. As soon as the rope goes slack, Rose's hands fly away into her lap, then she's on her feet and facing him. He can see the questions in her eyes—the 'why's and 'what now's–but now is not the time to explain. Instead, he grabs her hand and says, "Let's go."

She follows more easily than he would have expected, and he leads her to the back of the tent where the commotion outside is less. "I know how to get you out of here," he says as he lifts up the flapping door and glances out. The rain casts the scene into black and white, the only colour being the splashes of mud. The uniformed Muggles working for his father dart around at seemingly random, though it seems most of them are gone, probably surrounding the break-in. "All the tents are guarded equally," he whispers, watching for an opening to run. "They didn't want to make it obvious where you were being kept."

"Smart," she said under her breath, though the way she says it makes it sound like 'terrifying'.

Shouts erupt from somewhere to the left, and Scorpius ducks his head back into the tent as several soldiers run by. He squeezes Rose's hand, takes a second to check again, then runs into the rain towards the nearest tent. Rose is only dragged behind a second before she's running at his side and reaches the next tent at the same time he does. Their hands slip from each other as they dive through the flap door.

They both taking in a few deep breaths—more from the stress and adrenaline than the short run—as the chilled rain soaks through their clothes and freezes their skin. Rose's shoulder shiver in a random rhythm as she attempts to suppress them. "Hold on," Scorpius says, lifting his wand and stepping towards her. "I'll cast a warming charm."

Rose's parted lips close and almost perk up into an affectionate smile, but then splashing footsteps race towards the tent and the flap is jerking open. All Scorpius can think is, We've been caught. Everything else is instinct.

He grabs Rose's arm and faced her towards the flap as he grabs her by the shoulders. His wand is at her throat by the time the flap is pushed open.

"Mum?"

Scorpius' wand moves with the bobbing of Rose's voice, and it is only her words that bring recognition to his eyes. Hermione Granger pulls down her black hood and frees her trademark bushy hair. She glares at Scorpius in a way that could kill and her wand points straight at his head.

"Wait," he says in a pitch he hasn't hear from himself since puberty. He drops his arms and lifts his hands in the air. Rose stumbles forward but embraces her mum before Hermione can react. Then she holds her daughter close and returns her hard stare to Scorpius. Great. He finally managed to hold Rose again and now he's going to die for it. "I was helping, I swear. I thought you were one of them, one of the soldiers."

Hermione's wand remains trained to the spot between his eyebrows, but Rose grabs her mother's hand and forces her to lower it. "He's telling the truth, Mum," she says. "He was helping me."

For a moment, Scorpius fears that Rose's words don't mean much and he's about to of his head cursed off anyways, but Hermione glances between the two of them for a moment before nodding. Maybe she still holds the same soft spot for him that she had when he and Rose had dated. "Thank you," she says. "Now we have to go."

"I can help with that," Scorpius says before they can turn away. "It's where Rose and I were going. It's that way." He points towards the back flap of the tent. "A few meters that way is where all the cars are parked. That's where the anti-Apparition charms end."

Hermione nods. "That's good information for everyone to have."

"Everyone?" Rose asks.

"You're a Weasley and the minister's daughter. I couldn't have come here alone if I wanted to," Hermione says with a brief smile. "Now, we've really got to go."

She has one hand on the tent flap when Rose says, "Wait." She looks at Scorpius with as desperate of a face as he saw when she first woke up. "Come with us."

He wants to say yes. He wants to return to Rose and her family more than anything else. The war had not been easy, but those months in Grimmauld Place were his best memories despite that. This is his chance to get that back. To get Rose back.

"I can't," he says, looking away before he can see the disappointment on Rose's face. "If I leave, that's one more reason for Minister Jackal to distrust my dad. I can't leave without him."

Scorpius waits to hear the crinkling sound of them leaving through the tent flap, but instead he hears Rose's running footsteps as she surges forward and kisses him. For one second, all of his worries about the coming war and his father and the state of the entire country vanish. None of it matters when Rose's lips press against his.

Then she's gone, staring up at him with those big brown eyes that he fell in love with years ago. "Thank you."

He can't get any words out in reply as she steps back beside her mum, who's face flashes a pained expression before she's all business again. "If you're staying," she says, "we should make sure they don't have any reason to suspect you were part of this." She lifts her wand to his chest. "I'm sorry about this."

Scorpius has no time to feel any confusion or fear. She mutters, "Stupefy," and all Scorpius can see is red and then black.