2.

Year: 2004.

Seconds later, Scorpius' eyes flashed open and he blinked as he was blinded with all the bright light around him. Looking around at his surroundings, he saw that he was at a park.

Of all places to arrive at, he arrived at a park where there were bound to be children roaming about. The seventeen year old was sure that his face was covered with dirt, his clothes were absolutely filthy, he was sporting a mini-beard and if anyone were to look at him, they'd categorize him as some sort of shady bloke who clearly looked as though he were up to no good.

He dashed behind a tree and hurriedly cast a cleaning charm. It wasn't quite effective as his mother's charm work was but it would suffice until he got a chance to shower.

Mum, he thought with a pang. 'What am I supposed to do?' If she were here, she'd know exactly how to proceed.

Just as he was about to make a decision as to what he would do, someone tapped his shoulder.

Startled, he turned around to face a red-haired woman. "You have your wand out in a Muggle neighbourhood", she said, "It would be better if you put that away."

Scorpius stared at her strangely. Her face was oddly familiar. Those eyes!

It was her.

"You look lost", continued the woman.

" Mrs. Potter ", he said dumbly.

"It's Weasley", corrected Ginny, scrutinizing the boy with narrowed eyes. "Miss Weasley."

Just then a small child walked over and tugged at Ginny's pants. "Mama", he said, smiling wildly. "Play ball?"

"Sure James", replied his mother, grabbing onto her son's hand. The two had only taken a few steps forward when they heard a loud thud behind them. Turning around, Ginny gasped as she saw the blonde boy lying sprawled across the grass, eyes closed.

With sudden movement, Ginny kneeled down and took his pulse.

"Baby", she said to James. "Can you go get Aunt Hermione?" She pointed to a bench that was a little distance away. "Tell her that someone's hurt and needs help immediately. Okay?"

James ran off in the other direction, eager to get his aunt.

.

.

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Hermione Granger tossed aside the book that she'd been reading and made her way over to where Ginny was crouched over someone "Merlin, what happened to him?" she said, jumping into healer mode as soon as she saw a man (well, not exactly a man but in fact, a boy who looked to be barely sixteen or seventeen years old) was grievously injured.

"Doesn't look like an ordinary hex to me", she muttered, studying the deep gash on his leg. "It's dark magic. I can't do anything right here- I'm taking him to St. Mungos."

Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure that not a single Muggle was in sight and apparated away with the unconscious stranger.

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.

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"How can I help you, Healer Granger?" greeted the receptionist. "Aren't you supposed to be off duty today?"

Hermione didn't pause to return the greeting."Lavender, send a nurse and call Healer Pethwick ASAP", she ordered. "As you can see, I'm in need of some help."

She levitated the young man on a stretcher and headed to the closest patient-care room. "Renervate", she pointed her wand at him and waited a minute until his eyes opened.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking at her with bleary brown eyes.

"St. Mungos", she answered. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine", replied Scorpius, wincing as pain shot up through his body.

"You don't look fine to me", commented Hermione, pulling on sterile gloves to see to his wound. She reached over and grabbed a tube of ointment and began to apply it gently. "This'll lessen the pain for now but I need to know what exactly happened if you want me to treat this properly." She popped open a bottle and placed a pill in his outstretched hand.

Scorpius winced once more. "Fuuuuuck", he swore as a wave of coolness spread across the gash.

"Mind your language, mister," reprimanded Hermione. "Kids these days!"

"Granger, I just want to let you know that Pethwick's on his way", said Nurse Parkinson-Weasley, showing her face through the door way. "He'll be here soon."

Hermione nodded. "Good", she said. "He's an expert in injuries related to dark magic", she explained to her patient. "He's the best in this field. Anyway, what's your name? Do you want us to call your parents?"

"Granger?" exclaimed Scorpius, straining to get a better look at her. Then he re-called Mrs. Potter… er… Ginny telling her son to get 'Aunt Hermione'… "Hermione Granger?"

"That would be me", replied Hermione, unfazed by the fact he knew her name, "and who are you?"

Your son- that's what he wanted to say but chose not to. He needed a strategy before he revealed his identity to anyone. It wasn't that he planned to hide the truth about himself but he just wanted to regain some energy before the questioning began. "Scorpius", he said.

"Who're your parents?" asked Pansy. "I'll send for them."

Scorpius shook his head. "My parents.." he glanced at Hermione, "they're-"

"Oh", said Pansy, jumping to a conclusion that he was an orphan (hence the hesitation to name his parents. "How old are you? If you are of age, then just tell me your details and medical history so that we can proceed with your treatment plan."

"Seventeen and a half years old, Half-blood, prone to headaches and allergic to peanuts and uh, I guess that's it."

"I'm allergic to peanuts too", declared Hermione. "If I have one of those…" she drew a finger across her throat, "I'll be lying half-dead on the floor."

"What a coincidence", said Pansy, moving forward to thoroughly examine Scorpius.

What a coincidence indeed, mused Scorpius. What a coincidence indeed.

Hello to all you new readers and as for you previous ones, welcome back. Now do tell me if this has caught your attention. Like it so far? Yes, there are many changes!