"I'm quite sorry Mr. Filch, but it is your job to see that Peeves behaves to the best of your ability. You have tried before to get rid of him but it seems that he is… unable to leave the castle."
Professor McGonagall had returned with Filch lumbering behind her, a look of irritation and disappointment on his face. Scorpius hurriedly tucked the Wand he had found behind Albus Dumbledore's portrait inside his robes. McGonagall stood in the doorway staring at Scorpius.
"May I ask why you are behind my desk, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked.
"Oh, I …uh," he struggled for words. "I was admiring the portraits of the old Headmasters and Headmistress's, Professor."
McGonagall considered him for a moment before turning to Filch. "I think now is a good time for that detention, Mr. Filch. Would you do the honors?"
"Certainly," said Filch with an expression full of malevolence. He strode across the room towards Scorpius, grabbed him not too gently by the scruff of his robes, and pushed him out the doorway.
After minutes of walking through the castle, they finally came to Filch's office, which Scorpius recognized all too well. He made to turn into it until Filch pulled him away from the door.
"No, no Malfoy, you're not getting off that easy. We're doing something a little different tonight in the hope that you may finally get the message."
Filch steered Scorpius out onto the Hogwarts grounds. The sky was already dark since it was the dead of winter and many stars shined against the inky black sky. For a moment he thought he was being taken to the Forbidden Forest but Filch led him to Hagrid's Hut. There was a booming bark and the half-giant answered the door with a wide smile beneath his tangled black beard.
"Hello there, Malfoy," he boomed. "Sorry ter be yer detention tonight. At least I don' have anythin' too bad planned for yeh."
Filch once again steered Scorpius up the steps and into the shabby hut. Filch sat down at Hagrid's large dining table without being asked and crossed his arms, glowering at them both. Hagrid directed Scorpius over to a window with many thick, burgundy curtains next to his large leather chair.
"Now," Hagrid sighed. "Yer gonna need this."
Hagrid handed him a glass bottle, filled with black liquid, with a nozzle on the end used for spraying. A foul odor came from it, somewhere between new tar and rotting asparagus. On the side of the bottle, in bronze letters, was the word "Doxycide." Scorpius knew what that was. He had seen it in his cupboard of cleaning potions at home when his mother had to use it in the cellar after a rather harsh winter. He didn't think he would like what was coming next.
"I haven' been in me cabin so much lately with all the work ter be done around here and it seems tha' some doxies have seemed to take a likin' to these curtains." Hagrid handed Scorpius something else. A little gray bin with a rounded bottom obviously made for catching doxies out of the air after knocked unconscious by the Doxycide.
Hagrid sat by Filch, who again had a nasty grin on his face, and watched Scorpius intently. Scorpius readied himself, lightly grabbed the corner of the curtain, and took a deep breath before shaking it quickly.
A few of the mad little creatures flew out at him. They bared their two rows of poisonous teeth, ruffled the black fur that coated their small fairy-like bodies, and sped toward him with their beetle wings. He sprayed the first one with the Doxycide and held out the little bin. The doxy slid into unconsciousness and fell into the bin with a 'thud.'
The doxies didn't like to come out all at once, they wanted to play with Scorpius, so they only came out one or two at a time, making it longer for him to catch them all. After a little while, the doxies in the bin began to overcome the Doxycide and wake up so Scorpius would have even more swarming at him. Hagrid felt like helping many times but Filch put an arm out, holding Hagrid in his seat. Filch seemed to be rather enjoying himself.
The bin was finally full with the unconscious doxy bodies and no more seemed to be dwelling in the cloth. Scorpius sprayed some more Doxycide in the bin for good measure.
"Well done!" said Hagrid as he got out of his seat and took the gray bin from Scorpius. Filch too stood from the table as Hagrid walked out the door to dispose of the pests. Filch grabbed him by the scruff again and steered him outside.
"What else did you need to be done, Hagrid?" Filch asked. Scorpius groaned.
"Oh," replied Hagrid, obviously taken by surprise. "Well, Fang could use a bath. No magic though, movin, objects not connected to nothin' makes him howl."
Filch smirked and Hagrid called the large boarhound. The dog bounded out of the cabin and put his paws on Scorpius's shoulders and licked his face, coating it with thick, hot slime. He almost gagged. Hagrid pulled a large wooden bin from behind the pumpkin patch along with a battered looking brush with a handle that looked as if Hagrid might have used it on his beard.
"No way," muttered Scorpius, pushing the large dog off his shoulders.
"What was that, boy?" snarled Filch.
'Now way," Scorpius repeated. "I am not washing that beast of an animal with that beast of a tool. I bet the giant used it on himself, it's so filthy."
Hagrid's shoulders drooped and his eyes seemed to glisten but he thundered at Scorpius.
"Why, you ungrateful li'l…li'l…" Hagrid began.
"Look, Filch, he can't even come up with an insult. I'm going to bed, if you two don't mind."
Scorpius began to turn around when Filch grabbed his shoulder and whirled Scorpius around. Filch's dirty, unshaven face was in his own. Scorpius's arms snapped to his sides in slight fear and he felt the odd shape of the special wand he had found in Professor McGonagall's office. Thinking fast, he pulled it out of his robes, pointed it between Filch's eyes and said, "Confundo."
The caretaker's pupil's immediately turned in opposite directions and his grip on Scorpius's robes slackened enough for him to slip out of his grasp. Hagrid again boomed at Scorpius.
"What do yeh think yer doin' puttin' a charm on someone o' authority?"
Scorpius snorted, pointed the wand at Hagrid, and again said, "Confundo" The gamekeeper's furious stare slid off his huge face at once and he stared up at the stars absentmindedly.
"Now," said Scorpius. "I'm going up to bed. Is that alright with you two?"
Grunt. Grunt.
"And you wouldn't mind not telling any Professors about this would you? I just don't want you two to have to worry about me any longer so you could enjoy your night, but I don't think they would see it that way. It would be much better if we keep this between ourselves."
"Alrigh'," mumbled Hagrid.
"Yes, sir," said Filch.
"Sir," whispered Scorpius as he trudged up to the castle, leaving the two confused adults behind. "I like the sound of that."
The next day went by wonderfully. Scorpius's attitude towards Charms had lightened greatly ever since he had successfully used a charm that was a little ahead of his year. Professor Flitwick praised him for being able to use the Carpe Retractum Spell to pull the ink bottle on his partner's desk to him. He also was praised by Professor McGonagall for transfiguring his teapot into a tortoise on the first try. It was just so simple for him. He barely had to wave the special wand and, it didn't matter the spell, it worked every time, flawlessly.
"Hey, Scorpius!" called his best friend, Patrick Parkinson across the Slytherin Common Room later that day. Patrick was sprawled across one of the emerald green sofas with two other third year Slytherins, Lane Zabini and Stan Bulstrode, sitting across from him on another. Scorpius joined them and looked straight at Patrick, a sign for him to continue.
"You've got to help us out, mate," said Patrick.
Zabini and Bulstrode stared at Scorpius, waiting, an obvious sign that the other two boys were in charge of this little gang.
"Okay," said Scorpius. "What exactly do you mean?"
"What you did in class today!" replied Patrick. "You were a genius."
Scorpius smiled at this flattery. "That takes lots of practice, boys. I suggest you get some"
He made to get to their dorm but Patrick stopped him. "You've got to help us out. I can't change my teapot into a tortoise unless you've seen some turtles walking around with spouts for necks and kettles for bodies, and Zabini here nearly took out my eye when he tried jinx a Grindylow in Defense Against the Dark Arts. But you. You performed everything perfectly today. How did you do it?"
Scorpius stood in the doorway to the boy's dormitories, gripping the wand under his robes tightly. "Like I told you," he muttered, "lots of practice."
A few days later, in Herbology, Patrick and the others didn't seem to let up on their hope of getting help out of Scorpius. They made sure they all had to prod Puffapod seeds to open on the same tray so Scorpius had to listen to their pleads.
"Just one lesson on Cheering Charms?"
"I can't seem to do Carpe Retractum as well as you.'
"Did you know I still can't change my owl into a water goblet?"
"Somehow you managed to stop that Kappa from throttling you in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"How'd you do it?"
After about half an hour of none stop interrogation, Scorpius finally got so irritated he dropped a whole tray of Puffapods seedpods. The green seeds burst into great pink flowers as they hit the ground at their feet. Scorpius scowled at all three of them. Zabini and Bulstrode sunk into another group to avoid his gaze but Patrick stood his ground.
"Not letting it go, mate," he said with a smirk. "You've learned or you've done something to make you good at this stuff and I'm not giving up until I find out how you've done it. It's not really fair you know, holding out on your friends."
"If I cared, you would know," snarled Scorpius. "But you don't have to worry because I'm not hiding anything. Give it a rest before I make that Kappa throttle all of you next time."
He made his way out of the greenhouses in a rush, trying to get away from all of them. Who did they think they were, asking him to practically do their work for them? What a bunch of idiots. Just because he was better at magic than they were now made them think they had the right to his wand?
But they don't know about the wand, he reminded himself. They think I can do all of this stuff on my own. They think I've just become extremely talented. Maybe I should keep it that way.
"How did you do it?" said a voice behind him.
Scorpius stopped trudging up the hill to the castle to look who had spoken and a Gryffindor girl with flaming red curls caught up with him. Rose Weasley. His stomach was suddenly in a knot.
"W-What are you t-talking about?" he stuttered.
"Sorry, but I kind of overheard you and your friends conversation back in the greenhouse. And I saw you in Transfiguration. Plus my friend April McGarrow, Ravenclaw, is in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class. How did you manage all of those things?"
Scorpius stared at her large brown eyes as she spoke and didn't realize when she had stopped.
"Uh… Scorpius?"
"Huh… What?"
"You didn't answer me."
"Oh, right." He mentally kicked himself for staring. "Just like I told Pat and the others, lots of practice," he finished, trying to reassemble his usual scowl on his face.
"Well," Rose Weasley continued. "I'll be honest; I didn't expect that coming from you, Scorpius. I expected you to say you just got good overnight." A small smile flicked across her face. "I can admire determined practice. I may have to get you to tutor me sometime."
Rose giggled to herself and Scorpius's stomach did a somersault. He racked his brain for a way to make it stop. To his surprise, she didn't leave him to walk on his own, but stayed by his side in light conversation. They were talking about how ridiculous Professor Flitwick looked with the bonnet he wore from a Christmas cracker back in December. To Scorpius's delight, he even made her laugh a few times.
Their conversation was cut short by an unwelcome surprise. Albus Potter had caught up with them from the greenhouses as they walked through the doors of the castle. He called across the hall and Rose stopped to wait for him. Scorpius groaned.
"Hey, I forgot to tell you. I-" Albus stopped dead and his eyes widened with stifled horror as he gazed from Rose to Scorpius. "What are you doing?" he demanded Rose.
"What do you mean?" asked Rose.
"Why are you talking to Malfoy?"
Rose looked at Scorpius and back at Albus. "I'm aloud to, aren't I?"
"To a limit," replied Albus.
"What's that supposed to mean, Al?"
"He's a Malfoy!"
"And you're a Potter," spat Scorpius suddenly.
Both Rose and Albus glared at him. "Why does this matter?" demanded Rose.
"It seems little Albus here wants to continue a two generation dispute. So be it." Scorpius began to walk away before Rose grabbed the sleeve of his robe. The feeling in his stomach had returned.
"You two are really going to do this?" she asked, looking from one to the other boy. Neither answered. Albus put a hand on Rose's arm and steered her away from Scorpius. As they walked down a different corridor, he heard Rose say "Don't touch me, Al. You're worse than him, by far," and a smile spread across Scorpius's face.
If this is the kind of attention the Wand gave him, why would he stop using it?
So I don't think I'm too pleased with this chapter but I do have a few plans for later ones. If you have any ideas you think would work, don't hesitate to tell me. But you have to review to do that!
I absolutely ADORE anyone who reviews so come on, don't be shy! I'll post soon.