We All Fall Down
Scorpius's gaze flickered between his miniature quidditch figures. The figures flew and ducked and dived around the library, passing a miniature quaffle and searching for a miniature snitch. Scorpius had selected his favourite two teams to play with, and as a result he didn't really mind who won or lost. A sigh escaped his lips. He wished his Daddy would take him to a quidditch match soon, but lately Scorpius had a feeling something was wrong with his Daddy. He was spending a lot more time buried in his work, and whenever he was home, Daddy often looked upset and Scorpius had noticed that not even a smile completely erased the sadness lurking in his father's eyes.
Scorpius sighed again, barely noticing a purple clad chaser whiz by his ear. Why was Daddy so sad? He feverently wished he could make Daddy better, but what if by asking what was wrong, he became more upset? Then he would only have made Daddy worse. Scorpius stilled as a dreadful thought crawled its way into his head. What if he was the reason Daddy was so troubled? What if he'd done something terrible without realising it, and he hadn't apologised and his Daddy was disappointed in him and really upset and….and…and…
His lip quivered as large tears began to trickle down his cheeks.
"Aww, Sweetheart why are you crying?" a soft voice asked causing Scorpius to rub his eyes hiding the evidence and look to his right. Crouching next to him was a woman Scorpius had never seen before. She had long curling hair the colour of chestnuts and a gentle smile gracing her lips. An elegant dress enveloped her form in swirling colours of silver and gold. The most striking thing about her was her eyes. They were the colour of liquid chocolate, but they seemed to cradle all the emotion in the world in a soft, kind gaze aimed directly at him. Scorpius thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and without realising it, his hand had reached up and grabbed the soft silk of the dress. "I see you've calmed down a bit." The woman said wiping a hand to clean his tear stained cheeks. Scorpius bobbed his head in a jerky nod. "What had you so upset sweetheart?" the woman asked again. Somehow Scorpius felt he could trust this strange woman. Maybe Daddy had asked her to look after him instead of relying solely on the house elves like usual. The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them. "I've upset my Daddy."
The woman looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "What makes you think that?"
Scorpius sniffled and clutched tighter at the lady's dress. "I must have done something because Daddy's sad all the time now!" The woman's arms carefully wrapped around him in an embrace and scooped Scorpius up. Scorpius hugged her back as they made their way towards a chair tucked away in the corner. Craning his head, Scorpius realised with alarm that the woman was heading toward that chair. There was nothing really special about the chair. It wasn't ornate or expensive. It was just a simple comfy crimson chair, but the house elves were forbidden to touch it, Daddy wouldn't go near it and had made it very clear on many occasions that Scorpius was not allowed to sit or play on it. Obviously the lady didn't know about this, so Scorpius felt it was his duty to inform her about the chair to ensure she didn't get told off by Daddy. "We can't go on that chair. We're not allowed." Scorpius whispered fearfully, confident the woman would stop. However the lady grinned. "Don't worry Scorpius. I don't think your Daddy will mind if I sit in the chair." Scorpius wasn't convinced but before he could say anything more, the woman was sitting on the chair and he was safely sitting on her lap with her arms around him.
His eyes watched her for a few moments as he nestled further in her embrace. A radiant smile coated her mouth as she gazed back at him. "Sweetheart, you haven't upset you're Daddy." Her voice gently reassured him.
"How do you know?" Scorpius asked in a whisper. He watched as those lovely eyes began to swirl with sadness.
She let out a long sigh before saying "Because I'm the reason Draco is unhappy."
The poisonous confession slithered through his chest and choked his heart. How could this beautiful lady have caused Daddy to sink into sadness? In fact how dare she upset Daddy? Anger flared up and spread throughout his body, consuming everything in its path. He wanted to get out of her arms, get her out of the chair and make her go away! Scorpius wriggled and struggled violently in her arms, lashing out with his feet and fists. "Let go of me! Let go!" his voice screeched. The lady tightened her hold and began to talk frantically. "Scorpius! Please let me explain! Please! I need to tell you why Draco is upset with me. Please calm down!"
Scorpius stilled once more to her cries. The lady's words were coated with desperation and despair, causing him to turn around and look at her again. Her eyes were glossy and her lips twitched as though she were about to cry. Instantly, guilt smothered his soul snuffing out the brief life of the anger. Perhaps he had gone too far if she was on the verge of tears. Besides, he may not know how to make Daddy better, but Scorpius bet the lady could, therefore Scorpius had to make the lady happy again so she could make Daddy happy! He raised a hand and placed it on her cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered as she turned her head to gaze at him. "Please don't cry." The woman covered his hand with her own and smiled.
Dropping her hand but still encasing his, the woman brought their hands on her lap to rest. Scorpius stared at their joined hands for a moment before flicking his eyes up to her face. Surprise flitted across his face when he saw that the woman too, was watching their interlinked hands. "Your Daddy and me," she began without warning "we loved each other very much. He would've done anything for me, and I…well I would've done anything for him." The woman smiled sadly, her gaze distant with memories as Scorpius listened with rapt attention. "One day, a long time ago I gave Draco a rose. I'd enchanted it so that if the day ever came when I'd have to leave him; the red petals would turn black. Your Daddy said not to be silly, it would be a long time before I left him. And I replied you never know." Scorpius watched as her eyelids blinked rapidly. "Then a few years later something happened that wasn't anybody's fault and I had to go away, even though I didn't want to. I had so much I needed to stay for, and I fought so hard to stay, but in the end it wasn't my choice and I had to leave." The tears that had been held back finally trickled down the woman's cheeks, and with each word that fell off her lips it sounded as though her heart was breaking. The sight of the woman crying stirred some unknown emotion within Scorpius, and carefully he released her hand from his and reached up to hug her, hoping she'd feel better. Immediately she hugged him back and he felt the tears fall through his hair as her cheek pressed against it. "That's why your Daddy's so upset. I turned the rose black and it's coming up to the day I left, which is painful for Daddy to deal with. It's not your fault Scorpius." She whispered before lifting her head from atop his. Scorpius nodded his head in understanding, working it out in his thoughts. The lady had made the rose go black and that's why Daddy was so upset, as well as the problem that it was coming up to the anniversary of when she'd had to leave. Pleased that he'd figured it out, Scorpius turned his attention back to the pretty lady. "Can you do something for me Scorpius?" the woman asked wiping her eyes. "Can you tell Daddy I'm sorry that I turned the rose black? It's really important he knows that." She asked, piercing him with her stare. He bobbed his head.
"I promise I'll tell him." Scorpius replied confused as to why the lady couldn't tell Daddy herself. Ruffling his hair, the woman asked another question. "Can you tell Daddy that I love him?" After the question left her mouth, Scorpius noticed that she bit her bottom lip as if she was scared he'd say no. He didn't want the woman to be scared, somehow it didn't seem right. "I'll tell him that too." At his words, the bottom lip was released and the worry that had been creating a storm in her eyes slowly evaporated.
"One more thing," the woman began lifting him off her lap and putting him back onto the library floor. "Can you tell him the message is from Hermione? It's especially important he hears that part."
Scorpius nodded, "I'll remember." A dazzling smile lit up her face, as though it was the first time she'd been happy in years. "You're a good boy Scorpius." The lady said proudly as she got up from the chair. The miniature quidditch figures that had been left unattended began whizzing past Scorpius as he got closer to the toys. The lady leaned against a nearby book shelf and watched as he reunited with the figures. Scorpius began gathering the teams up and putting them in the box. However the beater of one of the teams had other ideas and began flying around the book shelves causing Scorpius to chase him. As the figure curved around, a dawning horror crept over Scorpius as he realised the beater was heading straight for the beautiful woman. Yet she didn't move. Had she not seen it? Scorpius opened his mouth to yell a warning…when the beater passed through her.
Rushing after the toy, Scorpius quickly apprehended the rogue beater and rapidly put him in the box with the others. He quickly looked up at the book shelf, wanting to ask Hermione for an explanation.
Hermione was gone.
Draco rubbed his face wearily. Why did he employ such idiots again? It wasn't that difficult to review paperwork to check for faults was it? Obviously it was if you were Harrison because you needed to make a personal call, leaving the paperwork on the desk, then upon return finding it missing not realising it contained an extremely important contract and then when searching for it tripping over the chair and thereby accidentally setting off the fire alarm which had then led to a whole host of other problems….
Draco shook his head trying to dispel the events of the day as he walked into Malfoy Manor. Turning into the living room, he headed for the sofa before collapsing into it. At least he could come home to Scorpius; his son had always managed to ease the stress of the day. "Winny!" Draco called as a house elf appeared with a crack. The pillow clad elf looked at Draco with large watery eyes. "Master called for Winny?"
"Yes, do you know whereabouts Scorpius is?" A frown marred Draco's features as Winny started to fidget nervously. "Winny, what has happened to my son?" the question had a slight threatening edge entwined with it. Winny continued toying with the edge of her pillow case dress as she uttered, "Winny is worried about Little Master she is."
"Why?" The elf seemed reluctant to continue causing Draco's frown to deepen. "Tell me Winny, if anything happens to him I don't know what I'd do."
Winny nodded knowing how much the master loved his child. "We left Scorpius in the library we did. Playing with the quidditch teams. Then after lots of minutes Little Master came to us all in the kitchen and then…" Winny cut off looking casting a nervous gaze at him.
"What happened next Winny?" Draco questioned feeling his heart accelerate against his chest, his mind coming up with various awful situations involving his son. Then a voice as soft as a whisper was coaxed from Winny's mouth. "He asked about the Mistress."
Draco felt his blood freeze in his veins at the news. Slowly he stood up still staring at Winny. "He did what?"
"He asked about the Mistress." Winny repeated lowering her watery eyes to the floor.
"What…what did he say?" Draco whispered apprehensive.
"Little Master asks us about a woman named Hermione. He is saying he needs to tell Daddy something."
Draco remained standing for a few moments trying to absorb what Winny was saying. He didn't doubt the house elf's words; it must have been a shock for her and the others when Scorpius had begun asking them questions about something he hadn't yet been told himself. And what had Winny said about Scorpius needing to tell him something? Draco sighed. He needed to get to the bottom of this, the sooner the better. "Winny," the house elf snapped her head up watching her Master warily, "would you be kind enough to take me to Scorpius? It seems we need to have a talk."
Winny led Draco through the corridors and past a selection of ancient portraits towards Scorpius's bedroom. "Thank you Winny." Draco said his gaze never leaving the door. The elf nodded and apparated with a crack. Taking a deep breath, Draco prepared himself for what might occur behind the door. Eventually Draco summoned his courage and pushed open the door. The sight that greeted him was Scorpius sitting on his bed watching as a toy dragon flew above him in a lazy circle. Draco's heart leapt in his chest when he realised that the toy was one Hermione had brought when she was pregnant. Brushing it off as coincidence, Draco stepped further into the room before addressing his son. "Scorpius."
The minute he heard his name called Scorpius whirled around to look at Draco. "Daddy!" he cried leaping off the bed and abandoning the flying dragon. Draco felt his little arms encase his legs. Without meaning to, Draco felt a smile emerge across his face. Reaching down, he lifted his son up into his arms cradling him against his chest before sitting them on Scorpius's bed. "Did anything interesting happen today?" Draco murmured cautiously attempting to gently coax from the boy what could have led to the questions posed to the house elves. Scorpius nodded vigorously. "A nice lady called Hermione talked to me in the library." He said excitedly. For the second time since coming home, Draco felt his blood run cold. "Son, you couldn't have spoken to Hermione." Draco said looking Scorpius in the eyes.
A small voice rose from Scorpius's position on his lap. "You don't believe me?"
Draco's gaze softened at the tone. "Oh Scorpius. I do believe you, but Hermione had to go to the angels a long time ago." His voice wavered with the response.
"But Daddy, I know. My quidditch player went through her!" Scorpius exclaimed. Draco stared at his son as though he'd just announced he was training hippogriffs for the circus. "Scorpius, what exactly happened in the library today?"
Scorpius launched into the events that had occurred earlier, about how a pretty woman had found him in the library and that she sat in that chair and that Draco wouldn't mind. "Then what happened?" Draco questioned curious.
"She said that she was the reason you were upset all the time. She said she didn't want to leave you and she fought really hard to stay but she had no choice and had to go." Draco felt the water start to gather in his eyes as he heard what his son had to say, and blinked rapidly to get rid of them. "What next?" he asked surprised to hear his voice have an unsteady tone. Scorpius seemed to pick up on his emotions and said softly "She told me it was really important you know that she's sorry she turned the rose black, and that she loves you a whole lot." A lone tear managed to spill over onto Draco's cheek at the answer and he hugged his son tightly. A soft pressure on his cheek caused him to loosen his hold as Scorpius kept his hand on Draco's cheek. "Don't be sad Daddy. Hermione said it was really important that you knew."
Draco smiled "It was Scorpius. It was."
"I want to show you something," Draco said wiping his face as Scorpius sat looking up at him with concern. "Come on," Draco encouraged placing Scorpius on the floor and reaching his hand down to hold his son's. Draco stood leaving the toy dragon flying above the bed as holding hands, they left the room and travelled through a few more corridors and up a staircase. Draco pushed open the door to the master bedroom and led Scorpius over to the bed. He placed his son on the bed, mindful of Scorpius's curious stare. Draco turned to the bedside table and pulled open the small drawer before reaching in and carefully pulling out a collection of various photographs. Sitting next to Scorpius on the bed, Draco pulled a few out. Two were in large expensive and ornate frames, the other few scattered on his lap. Scorpius crawled over to get a better look at one of the photographs in a frame. "That's Hermione!" he exclaimed at the moving picture of her in a white dress standing next to Draco. "That's our wedding photo" Draco explained pointing to Hermione in the dress, "See? That's Hermione's wedding dress."
"Hermione pretty." Scorpius whispered tracing the wedding couple with his fingers. "Hermione's a Malfoy." Scorpius stated with sudden realisation. Draco chuckled. "Yes she is. Now what about this picture?" Draco said taking the wedding picture away and replacing it with the other framed picture. He watched as Scorpius's intent gaze roamed the photo of him, sitting next to Hermione on the hospital bed with a baby Scorpius cradled in her arms. Draco knew the exact moment Scorpius made the connection as his son turned towards him, his mouth slightly open. Then without warning, two drops of water simultaneously cascaded down Scorpius's face, followed by two more and then the tears flowed thick and fast. He latched onto Draco causing the photo to slip onto the bed. "Mommy." Scorpius wept between cries.
"I know son, I know." Draco murmured pulling Scorpius close and trying to hold back his own tears.
When both Malfoy men had shed their last tear, Draco reached around his son and picked up a photograph. "Scorpius, would you like a picture of mommy?" Draco murmured keeping his voice gentle. Scorpius sniffled and nodded. He reached out at the moving photo in Draco's hands and pulled it towards him. For some reason, a large smile spread across Scorpius's face as he reached a hand and carefully ran it over the picture of his mother in a silver and gold ball gown. A little grumbling, gurgle alerted Draco to the fact that Scorpius was hungry. Checking his watch Draco realised with surprise it was seven o' clock and that the house elves would have dinner ready very soon. "Come on son, let's go get dinner. The house elves would never forgive us if we didn't show." Scorpius ran out the room still clutching the photo tightly. Shaking his head, Draco gathered up the photos and placed them carefully back in the drawer. Once they were safely back inside, Draco caressed the soft ebony petals of the rose that sat above the drawer of the bedside table. "Goodbye Hermione," Draco whispered, before releasing the petals and leaving the room.
As the bedroom door closed, Draco didn't notice a transparent woman with curling brown hair, and dressed in a silver and gold gown staring at the shut door. "Goodbye Draco." she whispered to the empty room before disappearing.
For those who are wondering about the library chair, it belonged to Hermione when she was alive. Hope you enjoyed!