Chapter one
Fifteen year old Scott ducked as another curse was flung his way. His opponent could be heard cackling his glee behind the silver mask that obscured his identity, one of many death eaters who had descended on his school in the late hours of a seemingly normal Thursday. Scott didn't know how much time he would be able to keep up with the barrage of attackers. His entire left side was in pain from the burning curse he had been hit with earlier, not to mention the number of cuts he had sustained.
"Scott! Look out! Duck!" was the last thing he heard before his world erupted into a bright white light, followed by total darkness and silence. Ilvermorney school of witchcraft and wizardry had fallen.
Scott woke up some time later, disorientated and floating on a cloud of fluffiness. He opened his eyes, expecting to feel pain and was pleasantly surprised when he felt only numbness. The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a bright white light hovering above his head. Turning to the left he saw a number of beds, all of which appeared to have occupants. Looking to his right, he spotted his dad sleeping at an awkward position on a blue plastic chair positioned next to his bed.
"Dad?" He tried to call out for him, not realising how dry and rough his mouth was. Trying to speak agitated his throat causing him to begin coughing. Thankfully this woke his father, who quickly helped him sip some water from a glass that was on the bedside table.
"Try to relax, Scott." His dad, Nate, told him while running his hand through Scott's hair comfortingly. "You've been through a lot, but you're fine now. You've been given some potions to help with any pain."
Scott tried once more to look around and see where he was and what was going on. He looked at his father enquiringly. "What happened?" He asked frowning. "All I remember is Death Eaters coming to the school. I was fighting them. I remember hearing you yelling at me to duck and then everything went black. Is everyone ok? What about my friends?"
"Lay back down, son." His father said as he gently pushed him back down.
Just as Scott was relaxing back into the pillow, the school mediwizard, Mr. James came in to check on his patient. "Hello Scott. How are you feeling?" He asked.
Scott shrugged in reply, so Mr. James continued, "You've sustained several injuries and you need to relax. You were brought in with some severe burns, they have been covered in burn salve and should heal up in the next few days. You have several cracked ribs which have been wrapped, but may take some time to heal. Other than a few other minor injuries, your physical condition seems to be improving quite well." He paused to let Scott absorb all the information that he had been given. "How do you feel? Any dizziness, numbness or anything else that we may not have noticed?"
Scott thought for a minute, working his way through his disorientation to determine if he was suffering from any of the symptoms the doctor had been describing. "No, I don't think so."
"Good." Mr. James said in his melodic and calming voice. "I think you will have to stay in here for observation for a few more days to make sure that there's nothing we missed, but you should be able to go home soon. Do you have any questions?"
Scott shook his head and Mr. James took his leave to attend to his other patients, satisfied that Scott was as comfortable as could be at the moment.
Turning to face his father, Scott asked once more about what happened.
"Son, I have some bad news for you. We lost a few people in the battle." Nate said before pausing, tears in his eyes, clearly struggling to get the information out. "Jazzy. I'm sorry. Jazzy is one of the students that didn't make it."
Scott felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Jazzy was his best friend, she couldn't possibly be gone. He didn't believe it. But his dad wouldn't lie about something like that. A mistake then? "What?" He asked, his voice breaking, hoping that he simply misheard.
The look on his dad's face told him otherwise, though. He could no longer hold in his pain and broke into heart breaking sobs. His father gathered him up into his arms and held on as Scott cried for his friend.
Scott must have fallen asleep at some point because he opened his eyes sometime later and noticed that it was now dark outside. He forgot for a minute after waking, the conversation he had with his dad about his friend. It all came rushing back to him. As much as he tried to fight it, he could not stop his eyes from welling up in tears.
Jazzy had been his friend for as long as he had been attending Ilvermorney. They had met on the way to the school, when some older boys were picking on her. Scott stepped in and tried to stop them. It ended up being the two of them running away from a giant elephant-shaped water balloon that was threatening to burst over their heads. They got very wet that day, but became inseparable from that moment on. He had been there for her when she got news that her father had been killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. She had been there for him when he had a giant target plastered over his head when the entire school found out that he was gay. The last he saw of her was when she was fighting the Death Eaters, slinging hexes at them and holding her own against wizards and witches far more experienced and older than herself. To hear that she had not made it through the battle made him rethink the whole moment. Wondering what he could have done differently, how he could have prevented them from getting separated. How he could have stopped her from dying.
He knew that was a bad idea. That the 'what-ifs' would be endless and there was nothing that he could do for her now except to make sure he was at her funeral to give a good send off. He knew, as long as he would live, he would remember her and the sacrifice she made to protect her fellow classmates.
Before he could be left to stew for any longer, he dad walked in carrying some food. Scott was surprised to see that behind him, his other father was walking in as well, concerned look on both their faces. "Pa, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in England?" He asked. "What if someone sees you here?"
His Pa, also known as the head of Slytherin, Professor Severus Snape, looked down at his son. When he was born, great lengths had been taken to ensure that he would not be recognised as Severus Snape's son. It would not do well to have Voldemort find out that Snape is a traitor and has a son. "I have a concealing charm on me. I couldn't stay away when I didn't know how injured you would be. How are you feeling?"
"Sad." Scott said truthfully. Thinking about the battle made tears well up in his eyes again. "I want to go home."
"You can go home soon." Nate promised. "We have something important to discuss with you."
Scott looked up at his parents. "What?" He sighed, resigning himself to more bad news.
"They are shutting the school down for the rest of the school. There was too much damage to the structure and a huge clean-up that needs to be undertaken before it will be deemed usable again. During that time, they have opted to send all our students to other schools around the world. I have been selected to chaperone our students that go to Hogwarts. We wanted to know which school you would prefer to go to?"
Scott thought to himself for a few seconds. He didn't seem to be taking this information as badly as his father assumed he would. In fact, he was rather relieved. He didn't think he would want to face going back to the school again. "What are my options?"
"Well, do you want to go to Hogwarts? You would need to hide the fact that Severus is your father. But we would be able to watch out for you. Or you could go to another school. With another chaperone." Nate explained.
Scott thought to himself for a minute, weighing up the pros and cons of attending Hogwarts. He decided that he would rather be somewhere with his parents at the moment, even if it would mean hiding who his father is. "I want to go to Hogwarts."
Both his parents looked at him, secretly pleased with his decision. "Ok, we'll arrange it for you. Don't worry about anything. Just try and rest." Severus said, leaning over and placing a fatherly kiss on Scott's forehead.
Scott yawned, drained. He fell asleep, feeling like there was one less thing he has to worry about. For the first time since the Death Eaters had crossed the threshold of his school, he was feeling positive about something.
