Hey guys, I know most of you are anxiously waiting for me to update my Auslly stories, but I've been having a bit of writer's block and this was already typed up so I'm updating it first.
I don't own Harry Potter
Scorpius and Clarie got closer as the year dragged on, and people started noticing. Rose and Albus, for instance, were constantly finding themselves alone in the common room when their friends had gone off to do something by themselves.
"Are they together?" Albus asked one evening as he sat across from Rose in the common room, attempting to beat her at wizard's chess. He wasn't doing a very good job.
"I don't know," Rose said skeptically. She captured one of Albus's pieces and muttered, "Check."
"Check with who? Don't you think it'd be really awkward to just go up to one of them and ask if they're dating?"
"I said 'check' for the game, idiot." Rose rolled her eyes. It had been much more fun playing this game with Scorpius, who had appeared to be an expert at it and could even give Rose a run for her galleons. "But no, I don't think that'd be very awkward. You ask Scorpius, he seems to get along with you alright."
"Well why can't you ask Clarie?" Albus asked frowning. "She's been your friend for years."
"They aren't dating," said a voice behind them, before Rose had the chance to respond to this. It was James, grinning down at them in a superior manner.
"How do you know?" Rose demanded.
"Because I asked," James said shrugging. "I thought the same thing you did, but apparently they're 'practically siblings' or so they say."
Rose stared at him. "You're sure that's what they said? Cause they spend an awful lot of time together."
"So did our dad and your mum," James countered, "and they never had anything go on between them, despite others believing they did. Like siblings, my dad says. They've always been like siblings."
There was suddenly a loud booming noise outside and a shout issuing from across the hall. Someone ran through the open portrait of the fat lady, breathing hard. "There's fire!" the kid screeched. "Fire! Actual fire, and it's green! It's coming from Malfoy's room!"
The three of them shot up so fast that the chess pieces went flying, but no one cared. They all went running out of the portrait hole, just in time to see Scorpius beating back the flames in his room with his wand that was emitting water. "Aguamenti!" He yelled, and the water gushed even harder out the end of his wand. James rushed forward to help, seeing as he was a third year and was actually supposed to know that spell already, and they managed to get the green fire under control within a matter of minutes.
"Where's Clarie?" Albus asked, when all the fire had gone. "They were supposed to have been together."
Rose looked around. Clarie was nowhere to be seen.
"Scorpius, is Clarie with you?" Rose asked, raising her voice over the crowd of people demanding to know what had happened.
"No!" Scorpius yelled back. Rose sighed with relief, but Albus still looked nervous.
"He's sure?"
"I think he'd know if she were in his room, Albus, and certainly if it'd caught fire with her in there."
Albus seemed reluctant, but accepted this eventually. "Green fire," he said in wonder. "What on earth could cause green fire?"
"Iron?" Rose suggested thoughtfully.
"Out of the way!" yelled a familiar voice. Neville came strolling through, parting the crowd. He seemed to be having a murmured conversation with Scorpius, and then, "Everyone is to return to their dormitories at once. No damage was done, no harm was inflicted. Please go back to your own common rooms."
Albus made as if to follow orders, but Rose held him back. "Random green fires don't just happen, Al," she whispered. "He's our friend. We need to talk to him, see what happened."
"He doesn't want to talk to anyone," James said grumpily as he made his way back over to where they were standing, "and Neville said we'd all have detention if we didn't get back in our common room with the rest."
Rose still didn't want to leave, but with both of her cousins dragging her through the portrait hole, she didn't really have much choice. She thought she might have glimpsed someone small with blonde hair run by, but couldn't be sure because the portrait swung shut right as she was about to say something.
"That was close," Clarie said, wiping sweat away from her forehead as she picked a now-two-year-old Aria up and carried her back to where Scorpius and Professor Longbottom were standing.
"You think?" Scorpius said, breathing hard. "She hasn't had one this bad since we were at home, right after…."
He didn't finish his sentence, glancing at Clarie briefly and away again.
"Scorpius, what keeps setting her off?" Professor Longbottom asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Scorpius shrugged it off and wiped his sleeve across his face. It came away with ash and soot covering it. "I don't know. It's usually when she's upset, but I don't know what could have upset her tonight."
"I want Mama," Aria said, glaring up at Clarie. Scorpius's eyes widened, as did Clarie's and Professor Longbottom's.
"Scorpius, is she usually thinking of your mother when this happens?" Clarie asked.
Scorpius thought for a moment, but couldn't remember. "Well, it doesn't happen every time she's upset…." he considered, "but she didn't say anything about Mum this afternoon."
"I want Mama!" Aria said, a bit more fiercely.
"I know Ari," Scorpius muttered, coming forward and taking his little sister out of Clarie's arms. Clarie had just recently gotten to where she'd hold the kid without freaking out, about the time Christmas break had rolled along and they'd both stayed at Hogwarts.
Aria put her head on Scorpius's shoulder, and he could feel her tears start to go through the fabric of his pajamas. "Mama," she muttered.
Belatedly, they noticed a small, green flame had started growing along the wall. Professor Longbottom swore and rushed forward to put it out.
Clarie turned back to Scorpius, her expression infinitely sad. "Well there's not much we can do about grief fire, is there?"
Scorpius shook his head, because he couldn't think of anything.
"Ari," he whispered, "why do you make the green fires?"
"Mama go bye-bye," Aria said, sticking her thumb in her mouth.
Scorpius sighed. "I know Mama went bye-bye, honey, but why do you make the fires?"
"Mama go bye-bye," she said again. "Big green light go swoosh and Mama went bye-bye. When she coming back?"
Scorpius felt his heart thudding hard against his chest. He turned toward the others, and they were both giving him shocked, horrified looks. He'd never told either one of them, never told anyone actually, the way his mother had been killed.
He'd never told anyone that he and his baby sister had watched it happen.
"Scorpius…" Clarie whispered. Professor Longbottom put his hand on her shoulder to silence her. Scorpius looked down at his shoes, still stroking his little sister's back as she wept.
"Scorpius," Professor Longbottom said tentatively, "do you know how your mother died?"
Scorpius nodded without looking up.
"Did you and your sister….did you watch it happen?" he asked, even slower this time.
Scorpius nodded again and heard one of them, maybe both, suck in their breath.
"What was it?" he asked, so softly Scorpius almost had to strain to hear him.
"Avada Kedavra," Scorpius whispered, even lower still.
Aria let out a sob and said, "Mama," again.
"She saw the green light," Professor Longbottom said. "She associates the green fires with the green light that…"
He did not finish his sentence, and Scorpius silently thanked him for that. He did not want to hear what they were all thinking: Aria set off uncontrollable green fires when she missed their mum because she'd seen the same blinding green light that Scorpius had when their mother had been killed.
"Do you know who did it?" the professor asked.
Scorpius shook his head. "Just that they were Death Eaters. They came late one night, when we were all watching the muggle TV. Dad was in the bathroom. They said….they said it was payback, for my father deserting the dark lord years ago at the battle. My dad heard them yell the curse, but he didn't get there in time to save her."
"Nothing could have," Professor Longbottom said softly.
"They put a curse on my father too," Scorpius continued. "Made it to where he couldn't move, but could still watch. They'd already killed our mum, and they were going to make him watch as they tortured us."
Professor Longbottom looked up at this, his eyes burning.
"What did they do?"
"They yelled 'Crucio!' and my whole body hurt, my mind hurt. I wished they'd just kill me, like they did my mum. But then it all stopped, and I knew they'd go for Aria next."
Clarie looked sick, her father livid.
"They didn't," Clarie said, her hand to her mouth.
"No," Scorpius shook his head. "They would have, except my dad didn't seem to care much about what happened to us. He kept his eyes on our mum, ignoring my screams when they put that curse on me, ignoring Aria's cries as she yanked at our mums hand. That's when they realized they'd hurt him most deeply by killing our mum. They said they should have tortured her instead of us, that they weren't planning on killing his kids, only making him watch as they tortured us.
"They were really mad, and put the curse they'd done on me on my dad. He screamed and screamed for what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Then they left. My dad crawled over to our mum, pushing Aria away. She was crying, and kept asking for our mum, but Dad kept screaming at her to go away, and she finally came to me. She hasn't wanted to go near our dad since.
"That's why he took up drinking," Scorpius said, pausing only momentarily to place Aria, who was now asleep, in her bed. "He didn't care about anything anymore. He hated his children, he hated his life, and he didn't care what happened after that. Yes, he loved our mother, but us? No, I think, to him, we died right along with her."
Clarie had tears running down her face now. She got up and hugged Scorpius tightly.
Professor Longbottom was still looking slightly horrified.
"So that's why," he murmured.
"What's why?" Clarie asked, pulling back from Scorpius and wiping her eyes.
"That's why he's acting the way he is," Professor Longbottom said, finally looking up. "Those Death Eaters must've been really stupid. Scorpius, that first spell they used on your father would've made it impossible for him to move, to react. He might have cared more than you think."
"But they took it off him!" Scorpius said, almost angrily, but he wasn't quite sure who he was even angry at. "They took the spell off him, and he didn't care about us then!"
"Scorpius," he said, looking incredibly tired now. It was the first time Scorpius had ever thought he looked old, but he could see now that the professor's hair had started to grey a bit. "The cruciatus curse can make you go insane if it's used on you for too long. You only had it for a bit, and I know it must have hurt worse than anything you'd ever experienced, but there's a difference. The longer it's on you, the worse your mind becomes. It's one of the most cruel things you can do to a person, even worse than the killing curse, in my own personal opinion."
Clarie was staring at her father now, her wide eyes filling with tears again. "Is that what happened to them?" She whispered.
Professor Longbottom nodded.
"To who?" Scorpius asked.
"My parents," he said, closing his eyes. Clarie had gotten up and reached for his hand. Professor Longbottom pulled her into his lap, almost absentmindedly. "Voldemort's Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband, used it on them. My parents were aurors and I was only a year old, and that woman tortured them for information. My parents wouldn't give it, so they used the cruciatus curse on them, which eventually drove them out of their mind. They are in St. Mungo's as we speak, unable to recognize their own son. They haven't been able to recognize me for as long as I can remember, but I do remember the screaming…"
Scorpius looked up, and only then realized his face was wet. He'd been crying, thinking back on that dreadful memory, and also on this new information. Could Scorpius even dare think his father might have cared about him, just been unable to show it because of the curses put upon him?
"You know who you should talk to?" Professor Longbottom said suddenly. "Albus and James's dad. He was only a year old when his parents died, but he'll tell anyone who asks he can still remember the green light."
"I just don't want my sister to set herself on fire," Scorpius said wearily. He didn't know about talking to Harry Potter…
"Rose's mum might know something," Clarie said shrugging.
But she didn't. Hermione Weasley sent them an owl several days later, saying how incredibly sorry she was, and though she would continue looking, she knew of nothing to prevent Aria from setting the fires.
She also agreed not to tell Rose of any of this, which he was incredibly grateful for. Rose was already very suspicious about the subject of his sister (and his whole family, really), that he really didn't want to give her another clue to figure out what's been going on. And if her mother had said something about the green fires, Scorpius was sure Rose would know exactly what was happening.
Rose was almost spluttering when she found out that Scorpius would be staying with Clarie and the Longbottoms over the summer.
"Why?" Rose asked. She couldn't in her wildest dreams imagine why he wouldn't want to go home for the summer. He'd stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas, and hadn't seen his family in nearly a year.
"My parents are away," he said. Rose stared at him.
"And you aren't going away with them? What kind of vacation is so important that they can't take their son?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Non-refundable tickets, I guess. They'll probably write."
"What about your sister?" Rose asked.
"What about her?"
Was it just Rose's imagination, or did he look really nervous when she brought up Aria Malfoy?
"Aren't you going to miss her? You took such great care of her last summer in Diagon Alley and on the train…"
"If you want me to go home alone so bad, I'm sure I can convince Professor Longbottom that my family is totally there and just throw a couple of wild parties instead," Scorpius said dryly. That was the only kind of humor Rose had ever heard him use; dry. "I'm sure we'll get drunk enough to use a bunch of magic and get expelled from Hogwarts. But who cares? No parents! Sounds like a blast!"
He was definitely being overly sarcastic now. Rose rolled her eyes and pushed him. "Whatever, let's just go to the carriages."
They walked for another five minutes or so to where the carriages sat waiting for them. Scorpius jumped in surprise. "What the bloody blazes are those things?"
Rose blinked and looked at the carriages. She knew what was supposed to be there, only because her parents, aunts and uncles had told her of the thestrals' existence. But, of course, Rose had never seen one, because she'd never seen someone die.
"What's it look like?" she asked Scorpius, her eyes narrowing.
"Like a horse, but dead," he said, his eyes wide with horror. "All skin. You can see the skeleton and the eye sockets…." He shuddered.
Rose gulped. "If I were you," she said slowly, "I wouldn't tell anyone else that you can see these things."
"Why?" Scorpius asked, his eyes widening. "Can't everyone?"
Rose shook her head, hating to tell him but knowing she had to. "No, they can't. Only….Only people who've seen death can see them."
Scorpius went white. "Would...Would you believe me if I told you I knew that and said 'Gotcha!' because this is all a big joke and I can't really see them?"
"No," Rose said quietly. "You don't have that kind of humor."
"Well it doesn't matter," Scorpius said abruptly, turning away. "I'm staying in Hogsmeade for the summer, remember?
Rose sighed. "Be sure and visit us when Neville comes over."
Scorpius nodded, not turning back around. "Will do. See you Rose."
And he left, never once turning his head back around to look at her.
Albus dragged his trunk over to where she was standing and stared at Malfoy's retreating back as well. "What's up with him?"
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*I don't own anything you might recognize.
-Daddysgirl11
