Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Call of the Dark

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (II): After the events of last year, Scorpius is reluctant to return to Hogwarts. The Shadows may have lost the battle but they haven't given up the war. The Shadows are after him. Scorpius finds himself with an unlikely ally in his fight against them as he seeks to save two missing boys on top of school. All the while though, the darkness is calling. COMPLETE

4. Chapter 4: Struggles

Parts (13-16)

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II

Chapter 4

Struggles

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Part 1: Patronuses

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Scorpius was starting to worry about the upcoming tryouts, would people really not want to be on the team just because it was being led by the sister of a squib? Were people really that bad? The thoughts were banished as they passed by the Aurors, wondering which of them was the Shadow, had one of them succeeded in killing Varanian? Was that why Scorpius had heard nothing from him? He tried to put it out of his mind as they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts, the tryouts weren't for a week anyway and not having to see Grant cheered him up immensely. Professor Ashain ushered them into the classroom and they took their seats.

"I don't know if anyone has wondered why you have three Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons a week rather than two?" Professor Ashain began and people exchanged looks for a moment but it seemed to be a rhetorical question as the professor continued, "its like that for all years and even NEWT students who didn't take the class have to have one lesson to learn this very particular and very important charm. You all know about the Shadows and the threat they pose, now while you are reasonably safe with staff and Aurors to protect you and the Ministry don't believe the Shadows are going to attack again anyway, it is still useful to know this magic.

"Those creatures that appeared at the Great Hall at the Welcoming Feast were Dementors, in case you didn't know. The spell we are working on in these lessons will not only repel them but it has been discovered that it also repels the Specters, which is why its important that you learn it. It also repels Lethifolds and some other Dark creatures. Now you probably also remember the silver Dragon that Calderon created, the huge one that chased away the Dementors? Despite the lack of a wand or incantation, that Dragon was Calderon's Patronus. And that's what we're going to be learning today and every Friday hereafter."

"We're going to be creating Dragons?!" one of the Slytherin students burst out and their was excited conversations throughout the room, even the people who didn't usually like Defense Against the Dark Arts perked up, "awesomest spell ever!"

"What have I told you about raising your hand?!" Professor Ashain complained to the boy who shied back in his seat with a slightly abashed look but his sheepish smile remained, "and no, we're not creating Dragons. Everyone's Patronus takes on a different shape, almost always its a reflection of your own inner animal which would also be your animagus form if you ever became one. More err... magical creatures are much rarer but not unheard of as clearly Calderon's is a Dragon and Albus Dumbledore's was a Phoenix, insects and extinct animals have also been known to be Patronuses. You may suspect you know what your Patronus is already, you know yourself better than anyone after all but you won't know for sure until you cast. However sometimes your Patronus can be a reflection on who you love instead, sharing the form of their Patronus or animagus or having a complimentary animal and sometimes your Patronus will change later on in life if you fall in love."

"My dad has the same Patronus as my grandfather's animagus form!" Albus burst out excitedly and Professor Ashain rolled his eyes.

"Hands! And yes sometimes your Patronus can be the same as your parents, my Patronus is the same as my mother's was although I don't think that's very common. However as eager as you may be to find your own Patronus I do not think its likely you will find out in this first lesson. You see there's two kinds of Patronuses, corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal are the solid ones that take a specific form, they are more powerful but also more difficult to create. Incorporeal ones are more like a silvery shield, easier to produce but not as powerful so you'll more likely get that before the corporeal one.

"The Patronus Charm is very ancient and mysterious magic as well as being fairly advanced but its never before been taught at Hogwarts so don't be disappointed if you find it challenging, many talented adult wizards have trouble with it. However Harry Potter had good results teaching it to the DA, personally I think its because of the nature of the spell and its fairly unusual way of being casted. The most important part of the spell is not the wand movement or concentrating on the incantation, the most important thing you need when casting this spell is a memory. Essentially the Patronus, whether corporeal or incorporeal is a force of positive energy and comprised of your most positive thoughts and emotions. And as children are generally more effected by their emotions it may in fact work in your favor, its why I believe some adults have more trouble with it because generally you don't want your emotions to interfere with your magic but in this case you have to channel the positive emotion into producing your Patronus Guardian.

"There isn't really a wand movement for this charm, just aim in the direction of your enemy and some people find flourishing it makes it easier to channel. The incantation is Expecto Patronum," Professor Ashain had drawn his wand while he'd been speaking and flourished it as he said the incantation, immediately a silvery turtle emerged from the tip of his wand and there was gasps of amazement as it glided over their heads before vanishing, "simple enough, see? Although it is a lot easier to cast when you're not in imminent danger, the particular creatures that Patronuses protect against are known for affecting your mind and emotions, unhinging you as it were which makes it more difficult to focus on what you need to cast the spell which as I mentioned is a memory.

"A good memory, a happy memory, a powerful memory, the strongest you've got and you need to be thinking of it when you cast the spell, more than that you need to let it fill your mind completely. I want everyone to get out your wands and close your eyes, I want you to choose a memory and I want you to focus on it. But first though make sure you know the incantation, its Expecto Patronum remember? Repeat it after me, Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," the class chorused as they got out their wands eagerly.

"Well done, now close your eyes and think of your happy memory everyone," Professor Ashain told them and Scorpius frowned as he mulled it over, what happy memory could he chose? All the memories with his family just reminded him that his grandfather being gone from them and all the memories of his friends made his guilt resurface, it felt wrong to use them as his good memory. He thought of Quidditch or Quidditch practices with Molly and that made him grin stupidly but it was wiped off by James having to have been there. It would have to be good enough though, "does everyone have a memory chosen? Alright when I count down from three I want you to say the incantation, open your eyes and flourish your wand unless you feel extremely strongly that it'll impede your magic. Everyone got that?

"Three... Everyone think of your memory, just because I'm counting down doesn't mean you should stop thinking about it, let it play out in your mind. Focus."

Scorpius tried to focus on it but having to dodge such vicious Bludgers directed at him was distracting, he tried to ignore James' malicious smirk. Stupid James.

"Two... Let the memory fill you up completely, think about how the memory made you feel, the good emotions associated with it, feel those emotions now. Focus."

Scorpius tried to focus on how he'd felt but how had he felt? Annoyed with James? Bad mind, shut up, he chastised himself mentally, he'd have to ignore James. Was it too late to pick a different memory?

"One!"

Scorpius opened his eyes and flourished his wand, saying the incantation along with everyone else but nothing happened. All around him he saw wisps of silver smoke or cloudy puffs coming out of everyone's wand, almost everyone anyway, Scorpius had nothing and Nott seemed to be only one he could see that also didn't succeed. Even Michael produced a silver cloud and it generally took Michael longer than most to learn spells, in fact Michael seemed to have the most amount of silver stuff in the class.

"Well done! Better than I did on my first try, it takes time to get it so don't be disheartened if you didn't succeed this time but everyone who produced anything silver should be proud of yourselves. In fact everyone take five points to your houses, now let's keep trying."

Scorpius could honestly say it was the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class he both disliked and failed to excel at, almost everyone may have produced something silver the first try but it was harder to repeat it. Rose didn't succeed beyond her first try which seemed to frustrate her immensely and despite doing brilliantly initially Michael produced a few more wisps then stopped being able to do it, generally most people struggled to reproduce it initially but started to get the hang of it more - and were able to it more consistently - nearer the end of the lesson. Of course there were a few exceptions, the Slytherin boy who'd called out and Abby were particularly good at producing silver wisps almost every time.

Scorpius however produced nothing. No Patronus. No shield. No cloud. No some. No puffs. No wisps. No specks. Not a sliver of silver left his wand all lesson. He tried switching memories and doing different ones, tried focusing on them, tried focusing on how he was feeling at the time - which he found especially difficult, how was he supposed to remember how he was feeling? - and had got nothing. It was officially the worst he'd ever done on a spell, Scorpius felt like a complete failure. Was there something wrong with him? He'd always been naturally good at spellwork, he'd never done so badly before.

It put him in a glum mood for the rest of the day, it didn't help that his friends were excited about it, even Rose despite her lack of success and he spent a grueling lunch listening to them discuss their Patronuses. Maybe it was because he was a gray soul that he couldn't do it? But no, Professor Ashain was a gray soul and he could cast a Patronus as was Calderon, in fact by all accounts Calderon had killed someone minutes before he cast a Patronus so clearly that wasn't a factor. Maybe there was just something wrong with him? Maybe he just didn't have a Patronus? What was wrong with him? Was his magic broken?

They finished lunch and went to another Transfiguration lesson, it was just as interactive and different as the first but Scorpius excelled at everything. It didn't make him feel much better, no amount of success in Transfiguration could make up for such a disappointment in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He felt like he'd failed Professor Ashain somehow for doing badly in his lesson, what did the professor think of him? Professor Ashain had nearly died to save his life and how did Scorpius repay him? By completely failing to cast a Patronus.

"So Library or Common Room to get started on our homework?" Rose asked as they left Transfiguration.

"I thought we were visiting my dad in the hospital wing?" Abby wondered.

"Oh yeah, I meant after."

"You forgot, didn't you?" Albus said teasingly.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"When did we decide this?" Scorpius interrupted before the cousins could bicker too much.

"Yesterday when you guys were in detention," Abby answered before looking worried, "you and Michael don't have to come if you don't want to, of course."

"No its fine, it'll be good to see how Professor Longbottom's doing."

They headed to the hospital wing, only Michael looking uncomfortable and Scorpius had an idea why. Professor Longbottom was Abby's dad, he was also a family friend to Rose and Albus who knew him and Scorpius knew him from his detentions whereas he was just a normal teacher to Michael, Michael didn't complain or back out though. Scorpius actually cheered up slightly at the thought of seeing Professor Longbottom, it would be good to see how the professor was doing.

The hospital wing was unusually busy, quite a few beds were occupied by still recovering staff and Scorpius' eyes narrowed as he saw Grant was having his injured leg checked over on one of the beds. Professor Longbottom thankfully wasn't very near him, he was sitting propped up in bed against a stack of pillows and was talking to the snowy-haired Head Healer that Scorpius didn't know the name of.

"We have to wait to get you a prosthetic I'm afraid," the healer was saying, "none of the injuries seem to respond to magical healing, its most odd, I mean some injuries are clearly caused by a spell that normally would respond to magical healing so I really don't understand why, I had to transfer Elwood to St Mungo's because there's not much I can do for him, I still don't think his odds are high of surviving the week. But anyway obviously we can't regrow your arm but we have to wait until your body naturally heals enough to get a prosthetic, otherwise its just going to aggravate the wound and make it worse, not to mention cause you pain."

"I understand, I was just asking," Professor Longbottom pointed out, he was looking unnaturally pale but smiled when he saw them, especially Abby, "Sweetheart, what a nice surprise!"

"Daddy!" Abby greeted him happily and went over to hug him slightly awkwardly.

It was as they got closer that Scorpius noticed the very prominent absence of the professor's left arm, there was a slight bandaged bulge on his left shoulder but no arm. Professor Longbottom was missing his arm, not just his hand or his forearm but his entire arm. It was one thing to hear about it but to actually see it made it so much worse, it was the professor's wand arm to boot, he'd lost his dominant arm.

They stayed in the hospital wing for awhile, mostly Abby was excitedly telling her father about her lessons as he'd asked before the professor asked them how they were doing too. They all gave similar accounts although Scorpius noticed his friends - like himself - only mentioned the positives, Scorpius and Michael said nothing of Grant's treatment of them and simply refrained from speaking of Charms at all, even after Grant had left. The head healer shooed them out to let Professor Longbottom rest after all, the professor insisted he was alright but Scorpius did notice he looked a little drained so they left.

They agreed on the Library and did some work on their homework, in particular there was a Charms essay that Scorpius was worried about due to Grant's behavior and he spent more time than usual making sure his facts were right and everything made sense. From the extremely slow way Michael was writing, Scorpius thought he was trying to make sure his spelling was passable - that or his wrist was just paining him especially badly - because of Grant's heavy criticism and unyielding belief that Michael was inventing Dyslexia. It reminded Scorpius of their detention with Grant souring their weekend and after dinner he went to bed with a sense of dread and the feeling of failure still hanging over his head.

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Part 2: The Weekend

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Predictably Scorpius woke up caked in sweat and not having any idea what he'd been dreaming about again, it was really getting on his nerves. He trudged along to breakfast with Michael and Albus, Abby and Rose joined them not long after and they ate away at their breakfast.

"Look at her," Albus said after awhile, nodding dreamily at the teacher's table where a quick glance revealed he'd sat to give himself a perfect view of Vipera, "she even manages to eat beautifully."

"She's eating awkwardly with one hand because of her injured wrist," Abby pointed out with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes but even she manages to make that look graceful," Albus informed them before scowling, "she's talking to Calderon, Koray and Ashain, you don't think they're trying to steal her from me are they?"

"Steal her from you?" Rose repeated, "for all you know she could have a husband and-and seven children at home."

"Well I can dream, can't I? And seriously, do you think they're trying to steal her from me?"

"Professor Ashain and Professor Koray are married," Scorpius told him firmly, "and Calderon doesn't date, your imaginary dream relationship is perfectly intact."

"Thank you."

"What are we talking about?" Corin asked as he and Maurice joined them, Maurice immediately putting his hand on his necklace to translate their words.

"Albus' crush on the new Potions Master or is it Potions Mistress?" Abby wondered and Corin gave a derisive snort as he started piling food onto his plate.

"That's just silly, you don't stand a chance dating a teacher."

"I can dream!" Albus protested.

"Crushes are stupid and childish and primitive and detract you from your studies," Maurice pointed out loftily, "you're an idiot. More intelligent people don't sink to such distractions."

"Well you're eleven, what do you know?"

"More than you, clearly."

"You're annoying, you know that?"

"If no one has anything nice to say than no one say anything at all, okay?" Michael intervened, ever the peacekeeper.

"I can't be the only one in love with a teacher," Albus said after all but a few seconds of everyone going back to their food, "doesn't anyone else have a crush?"

"Of course not," Corin answered looking offended that Albus could possibly suggest such a thing.

"No, I'm not an idiot," Maurice scoffed.

"Not really," Abby shrugged, "I mean I know people who I like or think are good looking but I'm not 'in love' with anyone like you are. Unless you count celebrities."

"Devin Copper," Rose blurted out and everyone looked surprised, except Corin and Maurice, Corin didn't look like he cared and Maurice snorted as if in disgust, "you know that really smart cute Ravenclaw boy?"

"We know who he is," Michael said quickly.

"Well him and what are you looking surprised for? Its less weird than Albus liking a teacher or Scorpius liking Molly, he's actually really nice."

"You like Molly?!" Albus wondered turning on Scorpius as did Abby, Scorpius' face burned as red as his crush's hair and he looked around quickly but Molly wasn't around. Thankfully. He wondered if that knowledge was something his friends hadn't been able to remember.

"Not so loud," Scorpius hissed.

"But you do?" Abby pressed in a slightly lower tone.

"Yes now shut up, she could be here any second."

"She's not going to appear out of thin air at any second and suddenly know you have a crush on he- oh hi Molly!" Albus told him and Scorpius looked around in panic but Molly wasn't there, he turned back to see Albus laughing, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist! Relax, mate, your secret's safe with us. But my cousin, seriously?"

"I'm disappointed in you," Corin pointed out sadly.

"Well... tough, Molly's amazing so back off," Scorpius growled irritably, he didn't feel like discussing it with his friends and he was still afraid of Molly appearing, "so what about you, Michael?"

"Me?" Michael wondered and seemed caught off guard as the spotlight turned to him, he lowered his head quickly and his mass of wild tangled hair nearly managed to hide the blush on his face that indicated what he said next wasn't entirely truthful, "I don't have a crush. And I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go to my detention with Grant early."

"You have a detention with Grant today?!" Albus burst out before groaning, "come on, we were supposed to practice flying today for the tryouts next week."

"Just do it without us, or tomorrow, you knew about this detention since the first class. I'm obviously not going to make the team and Scorpius is already all the team, just you guys practice."

"You wouldn't have got that detention in the first place if you had listened to me about not helping Vern."

"What do you have against your cousin?"

"He's a Dursley! Dursleys are bad!"

"You know that's pretty much the same attitude your brother has against Malfoys," Michael pointed out and Albus looked slightly flustered.

"That's completely different."

"How?"

"Because Scorpius is good once you get to know him whereas I've known Vern since forever and he sucks," Albus explained defensively, "all Dursleys do. His elder sister is one of the most boring people on the planet and his elder brother is an outright bully, we have a private war with them and we dread having to visit them. I don't know why we do anyway, you know his grandparents used to make my dad sleep in a cupboard under the stairs."

"Maybe they were just poor?" Michael suggested dismissively, "my mum and I have had to live in the car before because things were so bad. You're doing just what your brother does, judging Vern for his family and not for himself. What specifically has Vern done to you?"

"It didn't sound like they were poor the way they said it!" Albus protested and folded his arms thoughtfully.

"Did you really live in your car?" Abby wondered, "was it magically extended or something? It had to be right, how could you live in a normal car?"

"Mudblood, remember?" Michael pointed out and everyone started slightly in shock, except Maurice who Scorpius saw had stopped using his translator necklace in favor of eating his breakfast.

"You shouldn't call yourself a mudblood," Scorpius said quietly and felt bad for thinking it of Michael before, hearing his friend say it made it sound so much worse than it did in his mind or from his own mouth.

"Its what Varanian started calling me..." Michael trailed off before looking back to Albus and seemed determined to change the subject or rather get it back on track, "well? What has Vern done to you?"

"I can't think of anything exactly," Albus reluctantly admitted, "usually he just sits quietly and lets his brother and sister do all the work."

"Well there, if you actually gave him a chance and got to know him instead of judging him for his family then you'd see he wasn't that bad."

"You've met him like twice, maybe if you got to know him then you'd see he actually is that bad, did you ever think of that?"

"Its better to give someone a chance and be wrong about them then to not give them a chance at all."

"Don't you have a detention to get to?" Albus grumbled under his breath and Michael said goodbye before leaving, Scorpius hastily doing the same.

They headed onwards to the Charms classroom, Scorpius was somewhat irked at having to skip half of his breakfast. Michael could have at least waited until Molly arrived long enough for them to say hello, he hadn't realized how much he was looking forward to seeing her at breakfast until he hadn't gotten to. Then again, Michael probably had expected Scorpius to stay and finish his breakfast if he wanted but Scorpius wouldn't let his friend walk around alone against potential enemy Aurors if he could help it.

"Michael!"

Vern's voice broke through his thoughts and he saw Albus' cousin coming over to them from a corridor off to the side, his stringy brown hair looked plastered to his head as if he'd been out in the rain and likewise his clothes were damp and he had water dripping down his face and clothes. In contrast his companion looked completely dry, Orous was carrying parchment on top of a book in one hand and a quill in the other, both of which also seemed dry. Orous still looked hopelessly sad though.

"Hey Vern, Orous. How's it going?" Michael greeted the two boys kindly with a smile that wavered, "why are you wet?"

"Oh... Erm... just no... well... erm..." Vern seemed to debate whether to tell him or not and looked worried before deciding to divulge the answer, "James decided to make it rain on me so... I'm all wet."

"You should go a teacher," Scorpius said immediately and Vern only looked more anxious.

"I-I don't want to get my cousin in trouble, I'm sure he was just teasing and he didn't mean it and he won't do it again... There was no witnesses but his friends anyway, Orous wasn't there."

"I'm drawing a map of the school so I won't get lost again. I never want to get lost again," Orous spoke, still so quietly it was little more than a whisper.

"A map of the school?" Scorpius repeated incredulously, "you realize how big this place is? I don't think its possible."

"I can try," Orous mumbled quietly without looking up, Scorpius scowled as he looked at the albino holding the quill in his left hand... there was just something about it, something about him.

"Okay then, see you later," Michael was saying and Scorpius had a feeling he'd zoned out of the conversation as Michael waved the boys off and they continued on their way to Charms.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked after the younger boys were out of earshot.

"Agreed to try help him with their homework later if we finish our detention soon enough."

Scorpius nodded in understanding and they carried on to the classroom, Grant was surprisingly already there and Scorpius recalled that he hadn't actually seen him at dinner. The Charms Professor was sitting at his desk, it was a different one than the one that Professor Flitwick had had. Scorpius was glad, it would be a disgrace to Professor Flitwick's good name if someone as awful as Grant had taken over his desk. Grant didn't seem to notice them at first, he seemed immersed in staring sadly at a picture. Only when Michael cleared his throat did Grant look up, his narrowing darkly on them and he put the picture back down with the image facing away from them.

"Bit earlier than I thought," Grant said after a moment after he awkwardly rose to come over to them, his injures seeming to make movement slightly awkward but his face lacked the twinges of pain that Professor Ashain's had when he moved, Scorpius took that to mean that Grant wasn't allergic to pain potions, "your detention isn't lines today, you'll be cleaning trophies - without magic - in the trophy room. Come with me."

They didn't object to this or say a word although Michael looked relieved, despite his insistence to the contrary Scorpius was sure his wrist was paining him after a lot of writing or spellwork. Scorpius knew where the Trophy Room was but he hadn't spent time there, Calderon either didn't think the trophies needed a lot of cleaning or always did it himself. It was a bigger room than he'd thought but Scorpius was in agreement with Michael, he'd rather clean than do more lines, if only to spare his ink.

"There's a bucket of water and clothes, get to work," Grant said and gestured with his head to a bucket with two blue bobbing clothes already there, Scorpius immediately went to obey but Michael hesitated.

"Um... Professor, I was wondering," Michael began and Grant's face looked livid over Michael having the audacity to speak to him when he was supposed to be silently carrying out his detention, "there's um... a friend of mine was being hassled by another student but he doesn't want to get the student in trouble, I was wondering if you could just deal with the bully or something without having to worry my friend with it."

"Why in the world would I do that?"

"Because you're a teacher and its your job to act in the best interests of the students."

"If Malfoy wants help then he should at least not be coward enough to make you ask in his place when he's in the same room no less."

"Its not me!" Scorpius protested irritably, "he's talking about a first year."

"Trying to taint the minds of the young with your poisonous ideals?"

"No!" Scorpius spat and the wave of anger overcame him before he could stop it, "how dare you assume just because my last name's Malfoy that I have 'poisonous ideals' and that I'm trying to 'taint' people with them?! I haven't done anything wrong and I haven't done anything to you! You're more than the blood you carry, you can't let yourself be defined by your family and their beliefs and I don't!"

"Wow," Grant laughed, Scorpius felt so angry at the reaction his wrist started to burn, "you know Calderon said the exact same thing when I asked him to expel you?"

"You-You asked Calderon to expel me?" Scorpius spluttered and his anger was extinguished by shock, both that Grant had done it and that he'd so openly admitted it to Scorpius but he managed to catch himself.

In fact he was amused, Calderon wouldn't do anything like that to him, they were close and Calderon's parents being Death Eaters made him particularly irritated by people judging others for being related to them. He imagined Calderon had either been mad or just laughed his demented laugh at the ludicrously of what Grant had been asking, or both probably, he wished he could've seen Grant's reaction and Calderon's . In fact he wished he could just see Calderon. Scorpius missed him.

"It was worth a shot," Grant stated stiffly and Scorpius tried very hard not to smile, "now get to work."

"But my friend-" Michael started to say but was cut off by Grant.

"I don't care, Sanford, get to work. And don't say a word."

They each took a cloth and got to work cleaning the trophies, silently agreeing to start on opposite sides of the room. Scorpius let his mind wander again, no longer preferring cleaning to lines, it reminded him of missing Calderon. Would it be weird if Scorpius just went to visit him? Would Calderon even want to see him? Would Calderon actually have time to see him? Where was Calderon anyway? Was he using the Headmaster's office or somewhere else? Was he using the Headmaster's quarters even or still in the broom closet that apparently passed for a bedroom? Was it weird if he went to visit Calderon?

"Why don't you sit down?" Michael questioned after awhile and Scorpius was surprised before he realized that his friend was talking to Grant, Grant looked as surprised as Scorpius felt, "standing there all day isn't healthy for your leg, you need to be resting it."

"What, so you can skive off your detention?" Grant sneered glaring at Michael who in turn looked offended that Grant had accused him of that.

"No! I just know something about first aid and your body needs rest to recover, just conjure a chair to sit to watch us even, just to take the pressure off your leg from holding up your body-weight," Michael told him hotly before turning back to what he was doing and added in a much lower tone that he wasn't sure Grant heard or not, "or just ignore me and suffer."

They went back to work without another word but it didn't go unnoticed by Scorpius that after a few minutes, Grant did indeed begrudgingly conjure a chair and sit down on it. Scorpius couldn't help but feel both a smug satisfaction at Michael being right and a twinge of annoyance that Grant was now more comfortable, he sighed and just went back to cleaning the various trophies. Amusing himself by seeing the various names on them, occasionally seeing one he recognized.

He only looked up again when he heard snoring, he looked back and saw Grant was sleeping on his chair. He exchanged an incredulous look with Michael, teachers were supposed to stay awake during detentions, it seemed a very fundamental rule. Shaking his head at Grant, he went back to cleaning the trophies, in particular he was onto Quidditch victors and his eye was caught by a Ravenclaw victory from the early nineties with 'A. Ashain' listed as the Seeker. He grinned, not having any doubt that was his favorite professor and took special care when cleaning that shield before moving onto the next ones. He wasn't the only Ashain listed on a shield, he saw a Slytherin victory from the eighties with 'B. Ashain' listed as a Beater, he could only assume that was Professor Ashain's brother, Brutus, that the professor had accidentally killed in a duel during the Battle of Hogwarts. He took special care on that one too, he thought Professor Ashain would want that.

He was just starting to wonder if his and Molly's names would ever appear on one of the trophies like that, if maybe thirty years from then it would be some other poor student stuck cleaning the trophies who would see his name. Would they dismiss it as insignificant or spit on his name because it was Malfoy? He sighed and picked up the next one, a Gryffindor victory and he was again drawn to one of the names 'P. Varanian' was listed as a Chaser. He hadn't known Varanian had played Quidditch, for some reason that amused him and he gave a small laugh despite everything.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked glancing over at him, giving Grant a wary look quickly but the man was still snoring.

"Varanian played Quidditch, he was a Chaser."

"Who'd have thought?"

"Yeah," Scorpius muttered under his breath as a thought stuck him: records. There were records of Varanian and there would be records of Varanian's wife too, if he could find out Ethel's last name then maybe he could find her parents and find Varanian. It was a weak link maybe but Varanian's comment about his in-laws helping him was all he had to go on, even if they were unfortunately muggles.

"Hey Scorpius, reckon this guy is related to Calderon? He looks quite a bit like him, a grandfather maybe because its from the forties," Michael was saying but Scorpius wasn't interested in that right then.

"Did you notice any mention of an Ethel around Varanian's time?"

"Ethel? Err... yeah, the Gryffindor Prefect from his year was an Ethel Embry, why?"

"I think that was his wife, Ethel isn't that common a name unless you're ancient," Scorpius pointed out excitedly but Grant took that moment to wake up, he stretched and yawned and they went back to working in silence.

They didn't work for as long as Scorpius had originally thought, Grant let them go when they'd finished cleaning the trophies and didn't criticize their work or give them extra detentions. Scorpius wasn't sure if it was because of Calderon's reaction to asking for him to be expelled or because Grant couldn't bothered because his injuries seemed to be taxing him or for some reason but he wasn't about to complain, with any luck it would be the last of their detentions with the man.

Scorpius just hung around with Michael as he met up with Vern and Orous in the Library, Scorpius didn't know whether Orous was listening or not as he silently carried on with his homework but Vern hung off of Michael's - and Scorpius' when he chimed in - every word. Vern may be a bit reluctant to be a wizard but he was no slacker to work, he seemed to genuinely try hard to do well and Scorpius had to admit he didn't seem a bad person like Albus thought. Vern came across as timid and constantly thanked them for taking the time to help him, Orous didn't say a word but still looked thoroughly sad for whatever reason.

They spent about an hour or so with them before it was time for dinner, he noticed the disapproval on Albus' face as he saw them with Vern and Orous before joining them. Corin, Maurice and Molly were sitting with them again, Molly looked extremely tired, Corin extremely angry and Maurice's expression was neutral as he nibbled at his food without bothering with his translator necklace to pay attention to what they were saying. Abby and Rose were in better moods and Albus lightened up a bit when he learned that they hadn't been with his cousin long after the detention ended, too late for them to practice Quidditch with them anyway as they had long since gone inside to carry on with their homework. Scorpius noticed that Corin - like Albus - was staring at the staff table, unlike Albus however Corin was glaring furiously rather than staring dreamily.

Scorpius followed his gaze and realized he was looking at two new editions to the staff table, Professor Ashain was sitting with a small child either side of him. He recognized them both from the pictures in the professor's office and from seeing them once in the St Mungo's, Professor Ashain was sitting with his children. The little girl, who looked like straw had been dumped on her head, was enthusiastically chatting away to her father and gazing around the room in awe every few seconds while the slightly elder boy, who shared his father's extremely dark auburn hair was talking to Professor Hagrid with a look of interest on his face, Professor Hagrid was laughing at whatever Antonius - Scorpius thought that was what his name was anyway - was saying.

"Something bothering you Cor-"

"Yes!" Corin snapped before Michael had finished his question, "look at Ashain over there with his kids! I was the only one who ever got to sit at the staff table despite not being staff, I was the only one who got to visit a father in Hogwarts, why do Ashain's brats get to do it?! Ashain has only been here a year, my father more than fifty and Ashain has been on probation like a zillion times anyway, most teachers who are parents visit their own children, they don't bring them in."

"Professor Ashain isn't supposed to travel magically because of his injuries," Scorpius pointed out defensively, "and really it would be a waste to use the Hogwarts Express because it would take too long, his wife's a muggle so its a lot harder to meet them half-way. Its easier to bring the kids to him until he recovers... he-he was hurt really bad from the attack on the memorial."

"So what?!" Corin barked for which Scorpius was grateful as it took his mind away from that day, there'd been so much blood, "don't you get it? I was supposed to be the only one, I was supposed to be special and now I can't even have that?! My wants get ignored and Ashain's brats just get whatever they want, is that how it works? Just because Marius is friendly with Ashain they get everything? My father has known Marius longer, my father knew him when he was nothing, when he was scared of his own shadow and freaked out over everything, when he was completely and utterly insane, not just mental. He would still be nothing if not for my father's support and what thanks does my father get? To have his son replaced by some new teacher's kids."

"I don't actually get your problem, you're attending Hogwarts," Albus said slowly, "what does it matter what Ashain or his kids does? What has it got to do with Calderon's relationship to Ashain and your father anyway? I'm sure if Hagrid had another child who wasn't attending Hogwarts then they'd be allowed to visit like you were, its not a competition where only one person is allowed to have their kids visit."

"I don't care! I don't like it!" Corin practically yelled and Scorpius was again reminded of a small child having a tantrum.

Maurice finally seemed to notice his friend's upset and started gesturing with his hands to Corin in their sign language, Corin angrily started making gestures back but at least Corin went silent. Scorpius' gaze drifted lazily back to Professor Ashain who was still with his children looking happy, he wasn't happy with Scorpius though. He probably thought Scorpius was the worst person in the world, he'd nearly died saving Scorpius and for what? So Scorpius could fail, completely and utterly fail. He must be so ashamed and disappointed, Scorpius had to hastily wipe away the tears pricking his eyes. Scorpius was a weak, pathetic failure.

It continued to bother Scorpius on Sunday, he went out with his friends to practice Quidditch as promise but all he really wanted to do was practice the Patronus Charm so he could prove he wasn't a failure. It was interesting though to see his friends play, they cycled between pretending to be Keeper and practicing Chaser. Unfortunately Scorpius they weren't as talented as he'd hoped, Rose had managed to overcome her fear of falling but only by going extremely slowly, so slowly Scorpius could have literally flown two laps of the pitch before she even reached the height of the rings, she took a long time to size up the shot too - whether to pass or to score - and was abysmal at catching. Scorpius considered her the least likely to make the team.

Albus was second worst, he was much faster but he truly lacked talent on a broom, everything he did on a broom seemed awkward, his turns were wide and slow, his control was jerky and like Rose he took time awhile - although not as long as her - to size up shots which while made it more accurate... in a real game they'd lose the Bludger in seconds. With practice maybe he could improve but he would only make the team if Molly were in dire need of bodies, Albus truly tried his best but he just wasn't skillful. Abby was much better, her shots were faster and more on target and her broom control was average but was much better than Albus and Rose by comparison - as she explained, she helped Nick practice at home by trying to score against him and in trying to outmaneuver him had developed some talent - however she was terrible at passing. She threw the ball at them too forcefully, more like she was trying to hit something rather than pass it along but the worst was catching, she tried to dodge rather than catch for fear of being hurt or knocked off her broom unless it was a very easy and slow catch. Scorpius thought with practice and getting over her dislike of having things thrown at her that she could possibly make the team, at least as a reserve anyway but she still wasn't great.

Michael surprised him though, Michael had skill. He alone was on a school broom rather than one that they owned - Scorpius had his Dart, Rose had gotten a broom as a gift from her father, Abby had her brother's old broom and Albus had the Cloudcutter that Scorpius had gotten him last Christmas - but was easily the best out of his friends. Michael was coordinated with his shots and his passes - catching passes anyway, his throwing passes could use some work - and it was a testament to his talent that he could force a crummy old school broom to keep up with the likes of their much sleeker, skillful models. Michael was most adept at flying in general, he was agile with his turning and being able to veer into different directions so fast was impressive. Michael only had one major flaw: he couldn't stop. He could change direction flawlessly - he would be good at dodging Bludgers but he couldn't stop, he nearly crashed - or did crash - into the hoops and stands so many times and almost fell of his broom from the effort of trying to stop. It was a big flaw, however Scorpius thought his skill made up for it and practices would hopefully teach him to stop or at the very least use it to their advantage.

Of them all, Scorpius thought Michael was the only one who had a serious chance of making the team. This actually made him feel worse though, Albus was the one who desperately wanted to the team while for the others it was more for fun and Albus' enthusiasm rubbing off on them, not a serious attempt and they wouldn't mind if they were off the team. Albus however would probably be crushed, even more so if his friend got the position and not him, especially a friend without a broom. Scorpius was dreading the tryouts the following week, he wanted his friends to do well but there was no way any of them - bar Michael - would have improved enough in a week. Unless of course no one showed up and they won spots by default, Scorpius was both hoping and dreading that. The Aurors guarding the outside called them down before it got dark and they returned inside the castle, going back to doing homework.

Scorpius lay awake for a long time that night alternating between worrying and trying the Patronus Charm. He fell asleep still a failure and no less worried about the tryouts, for some reason Varanian as a Chaser popped into his mind before he finally fell asleep with a fragment of amusement on his mind.

---

Part 3: Failing

---

The week got off to a bad start with Charms being first thing, Grant was as cheery as ever with the rest of the class even going as far to ask them if they'd had a good weekend and a few people even gave answers. Scorpius was tempted to say about the detention ruining his weekend but he didn't, his schedule was currently free of any more detentions with Grant and he intended to keep it that way. Plus it hadn't been a complete waste as he knew Varanian's wife's name, although he still wasn't sure how to find them, how did you find muggles?

He was dragged from his thoughts by Grant asking them for their homework assignment, the weekend question had probably been a tactical way to not seem like a jerk for asking for homework first. Scorpius saw right through him though, the manipulative bastard. His entire demeanor changed when he reached Scorpius and Michael though, their chosen seats making the last to be picked. He peered over Scorpius' work before taking it and started to do the same for Michael before shaking his head.

"I can't accept this," Grant announced.

"What do you mean you can't accept it?" Michael wondered worriedly as Grant put down the other assignments down on his desk.

"Your handwriting, your spelling, its just illegible and gibberish and its not good enough for my class," Grant explained and took Michael's quill, writing a huge zero at the top of the pages.

"B-But that's not fair, I-I tr- I tried," Michael stammered and he both looked and sounded like he was fighting off tears, he'd never gotten a zero before but Grant's expression remained uncaring and cold, "y-you didn't even read it."

"I can't read it, its that bad."

"Give him a break," Scorpius snapped angrily and Grant turned his unfeeling eyes on Scorpius, "you could at least take it and read it."

"Alright," Grant agreed with a smirk and shoved Michael's assignment at Scorpius, "read me the first sentence, if you can understand it then age is just catching up to my eyes and its not that bad."

Michael looked at him hopefully while Grant looked triumphant, not expecting Scorpius to be able to understand it either. Scorpius wanted so badly to able to understand it and shove it back in Grant's face, as it turned out though the first sentence was particularly bad. Scorpius bit his lip, he needed time to puzzle it out but Michael seemed to realize that he couldn't get it because the hope in his hazel eyes was extinguished.

"Well read it out then! Surely your keen Seeker eyes can puzzle it out!" Grant said so loudly that people were now waiting for Scorpius to read it.

"The nag I call drop parties me give of op jets war rise put the one cons ant is that ew do give then-"

"I think that's enough," Grant interrupted still smirking triumphantly and most of the class was laughing, Michael looked like he wanted the desk to eat him alive.

"The magical properties we give to objects varies but the one constant is that we do give them..." Michael spoke up to correct the part of the sentence that Scorpius had read out.

"Sorry," Scorpius apologized guiltily, "I would have got it with more time. That makes much more sense, its a good start."

"Well unfortunately I don't have time to decipher when I should be reading, I'm a teacher not a code breaker. You need to improve, Sanford, don't be so lazy and apply yourself or you'll continue to do badly because if I can't read it then its a zero regardless of the contents," Grant informed Michael stiffly, Michael swallowed and wiped his eyes hastily.

Grant turned back to the class and went back to talking about the Enlargement Charm, saying that he hoped to move onto the next spell the following week as he was pleased with their progress. Michael had buried his head in his hands rather than taking notes like he usually did, it was eerily quiet without the scratching of his quill. Grant said the rest of the lesson would be practical though, they'd talk about its most common applications and things later on in the week. Scorpius practiced it but didn't really see the point, Grant continued to find flaws in his work that he didn't seem to find in anyone else's regardless of what he did. Michael remained with his head in his hands and didn't try at all. Scorpius was afraid trying to comfort him would get them detentions again, he was pretty sure if he said Grant was being unfair and to not let it get to him that the professor would hear.

"Passable but not perfect, that's what happens when you say the spell too quickly," Grant complained to him once more before turning to Michael, "slacking off again, Sanford? Let's see you try it."

Michael finally looked up and took out his wand, his eyes looked watery but he seemed to be holding back the tears. He flicked his wand and muttered the incantation darkly, the targeted apple immediately responded and bulged in size massively before exploding and splattering himself, Scorpius, Grant and the other nearby people and furniture in apple innards.

"Well that was an atrocious attempt, are you even trying at all? Do you think this a joke? If you don't improve then you'll have to repeat your second year, do you want that? Or to be put back in the first?" Grant snapped at him and when Michael blinked the tears leaked from his eyes, "your schoolwork is serious, if you can't be bothered to write coherently or so much as practice the spells then you will continue to fail, fair on your classwork, fail on your homework, fail on your exams, there's only so many times you can fail before you'll be kicked out of this school. Is that what you want?!"

"N-N-No," Michael stammered out tearfully, "I-I n-need t-to u-use th-the ba-bathroom, I c-can't..."

Grant made a motion with his hand that Michael seemed to take as confirmation as he fled the classroom without another word, Grant took out his wand to clean up the apple and carried on like nothing had happened. Scorpius glared at him furiously, his wrist was burning again but nothing caught fire. Scorpius was actually disappointed, Grant deserved to have some part of his classroom burned for being such a jerk to Michael. Michael didn't return to Charms though, Scorpius and the others opted to take his things with them in case Grant decided to throw them out or punish him or something. They were forced to head to Transfiguration without him, they didn't see him the corridors or waiting outside the classroom either.

"You were right," Albus said while they waited on Florian, "Grant's an asshole."

"Should we go looking for Michael or something?" Rose wondered worriedly, "I don't see him."

"Nah, he'll show up. He wouldn't miss a class."

As they took their seats in class though, Michael still didn't show up. It wasn't a practical lesson but nonetheless Florian was incredibly skilled at making a written lesson interactive, it was more of a discussion with segments of reading and writing than simply copying from a book. Scorpius had decided to begrudgingly admit that Florian wasn't a bad teacher but he still wasn't one of the teachers that Scorpius knew and liked, although he thought that may be in part because Transfiguration was one of his favorite subjects. Michael still didn't appear during the whole lesson though and they were again forced to leave without him, this time to go to lunch where again he wasn't there.

"Where's Michael?" Maurice asked them curiously as they sat down with them out of force of habit, as usual the deaf boy was leaning on one hand and holding his translator necklace in the other, Corin looked livid for some reason.

"We don't know," Albus admitted anxiously, "there was a... thing in Charms and we haven't seen him since."

"Grant still treating him and you like garbage then?" Maurice questioned of Scorpius who nodded, not really wanting to go into detail.

"Could this day possibly get any worse?!" Corin snapped angrily and stabbed his plate so hard it shattered, Maurice promptly took out his wand and repaired the plate effortlessly.

"What's up with you?" Abby wondered disinterestedly and Scorpius noticed that all of them were picking at their food.

"We've had Defense Against the Dark Arts all morning, trying to do the Patronus Charm and failing spectacularly," Maurice answered in place of his friend, Corin's eyes glittered darkly and he had to hold himself back from cracking another plate, "Corin is rather upset about it."

"Aren't you?"

"We did no worse than everyone else, Orous couldn't do it so I'm happy. Besides, I can't see us being tested on it - except maybe the theoretical knowledge - and I already knew that from the school I went to before Beauxbatons so Father won't be displeased. How did you do on it or have you not had your Patronus lesson yet? Did your brother get attacked by maggots for being evil?"

"My brother's not evil," Albus protested defensively, "he's just... kind of a jerk sometimes. But not evil."

"Sure," Maurice commented with another cold smile, "that was sarcasm by the way. In case you couldn't tell. There's supposed to be a tone of voice for it, I'm not sure if I get it."

"I'm surprised you didn't get attacked by maggots," Rose muttered under her breath but Maurice's necklace seemed to have picked it up because he lost his smile immediately.

"I couldn't get it either," Scorpius admitted glumly, "I failed miserably. I'm a failure. Professor Ashain probably hates me now."

"You did hear the part where he said that it was complex and advanced magic and to not be surprised or disheartened if you didn't get it?" Abby asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course I did but I still failed!"

"Hey!" Molly greeted them as she sat down beside Scorpius, grinning and Scorpius couldn't help but stupidly return her smile and just for a moment all his worries flew out of his brain, "so sorry I'm late, I just had Herbology with Eben and stayed behind to work out the tryout schedule, was so excited to get it arranged that I went to put up the notice right away. Tryouts are on for first thing Sunday morning."

"Not Saturday?" Albus wondered.

"No, Ravenclaw already beat me to Saturday morning and I don't want an afternoon so Sunday. Probably for the best, give more people a chance to get over their idiotic prejudices and actually show up for practice."

"You're really worried about people not trying out because of Lucy?"

"Al, I can't even get people to sit next to me in class and I have to assemble a whole team."

"Mum is campaigning to get Squibs fairer rights," Rose pointed out hopefully.

"That's great but it takes time, people aren't just going to get over it overnight and that doesn't help me with getting a Quidditch team now. Hey, that reminds me, where's Michael? Father put Lucy into muggle school and I wanted to ask Michael about it because he's the only muggle-born I really know whose still talking to me."

"Grant upset him and now he's gone," Maurice answered bluntly.

"We should look for him," Albus commented but Molly shook her head.

"I wouldn't, the Aurors didn't like that I was going to Gryffindor Tower to put up a notice when I should be in the Great Hall, I think they'd like it even less if you were just wondering around aimlessly searching," Molly told them looking thoughtful, "unless you specifically know where he is anyway, maybe the Aurors will get him to come back to the Great Hall or you should tell them he's miss-"

"No!" Scorpius burst out frantically and was suddenly afraid for Michael's life, "we can't tell the Aurors, we shouldn't trust them."

"Aurors are good," Rose pointed out as if speaking to a three year old, "remember?"

"Still..." Scorpius trailed off, he couldn't give his reasons for not trusting them without telling them about seeing Varanian and he couldn't do that for fear of getting Varanian caught and killed.

"If he's still missing by next class then you have to tell someone," Molly said frowning, "he could be in danger."

"Ah!" Albus gasped as if suddenly realizing something, "next class is a double with Professor Vipera! How do I look? How does my breath smell?"

"Erm... well kind of like bacon."

"My looks or breath?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at Albus' hopeless infatuation and went back to picking at his food, his thoughts shifted to his own crush, were things just as hopeless for him with Molly? He didn't want it to be hopeless for him with Molly. He shoved it out of his mind forcefully, he couldn't think about it then, it was weird with her sitting right next to him anyway, she always sat next to him at meals.

He was anxious by the time they headed off to Potions, every Auror they passed only made him feel worse and when they finally reached the Potions Classroom, Michael wasn't there. They didn't have to wait long for Vipera to call them into the classroom, Michael still wasn't there. Albus tore his eyes away from his crush long enough to exchange a worried look with Scorpius as they took their usual seats at the front, Abby and Rose took the table beside them again.

"So as promised, we reach our double lesson and we will start our second year curriculum and I shall give you back your marks for last week's work which I will do after we start the practical," Vipera started the class, "today we shall be learning about-"

"Sorry I'm late," Michael said and Scorpius jolted with relieved surprise as Michael carefully closed the door behind him and went to sit down in between Albus and Scorpius as usual, Vipera inclined her head in acknowledgement before continuing her speech without further comment.

Scorpius wordlessly handed Michael his things and Michael silently mouthed thanks as he started taking down notes on what she was saying like he usually did, he looked like he'd been crying. Scorpius did his best to pay attention, since he was failing Professor Ashain and Charms from Grant's bias, he really couldn't afford to fail Potions too. He was glad for the practical to take his mind off things, Vipera tortuously had decided to go from the back of the class first to give them their results before slowing moving forwards to them.

"Mr Malfoy, an impressive ninety-four and ninety-six percent," Vipera informed him and Scorpius felt a burst of relief followed by anxiousness, was that good enough? He'd never gotten a hundred percent before on a potion, did that make him a failure? Did he need to try harder, "Mr Potter, a ninety-two and ninety-eight percent. Your second potion was the best in the class but the first was a bit off, did you cut your finger or something?"

"Err... N-No, why would you think that?" Albus stammered nervously gazing into her green eyes, she cocked her head to one side and an raised an eyebrow as if she didn't believe his lie.

"It would explain the slight dilution is all, a few accidental drops in a basic potion may not matter too much but in more advanced potions such as OWL level or NEWT level if you choose to pursue it can make a drastic difference or even make the potion useless, even a few accidental drops can change the function of a potion entirely as blood can be used as an ingredient. Obviously you won't be learning the likes of that but the ingredients can still react to it, be wary in the future. Although since you didn't do that, you likely didn't boil your Hemlock root thoroughly," Vipera explained and Albus' cheeks tinged pink as he nodded but she was already turning her attention to Michael, gently taking his wrist as he went to add snake fangs to his potion, "its six not nine, you don't want to make the potion too potent."

"Sorry," Michael mumbled miserably while Albus' eyes bulged as Michael freed his hand and discarded three of the fangs before adding the correct six.

Vipera gave him his marks, not as high as theirs but still good before the lesson resumed. It was an oddly silent lesson despite the fact that Vipera allowed them to speak, Albus was again determinedly focused and refusing conversation and Michael mostly asked about what he'd missed in Transfiguration, he didn't mention Grant or where he'd been at all. Scorpius didn't really want to say anything about it with Vipera walking around to check and help out with potions, it was only after they left and headed off to Herbology that they could speak freely.

"Where were you?!" Rose asked in exasperation, "you missed a whole class!"

"What she means is that we were worried about you," Abby offered in translation.

"Yeah its not safe," Scorpius chimed in, both wanting to hug him in relief that he was alright and yell at him for risking his life with the Aurors.

"Forget all that!" Albus burst out as Michael opened his mouth to reply, "what was it like?!"

"What was it like?" Michael repeated in confusion.

"Professor Vipera touched your hand! What was it like? Tell me everything!"

"Erm... it wasn't painful?"

"Was her skin soft like the wings of butterflies or the smoothest silk that spiders have to offer or so light like fluffy clouds?" Albus asked desperately and Scorpius choked on his laughter as did Michael, Rose and Abby were less reserved and just outright laughed, "stop laughing!"

"Sorry," Michael apologized, "and I don't know, her skin was like skin."

"Very descriptive," Albus muttered dryly as they went outside to the greenhouses, everyone calming down.

"So where were you anyway?" Rose wondered.

"In this weird room on the seventh floor," Michael answered and looked suddenly fascinated, "I swear it looked just like Mum's dream home. Before we moved in with Bob, she had a picture that she cut out of a magazine of this fantastic apartment that would suit us perfectly and said one day we'd get there and not be struggling all the time and life would be good for once, it looked just like that, right down to the circular pattern on the couch cushions and the small stain they'd tried to hide with the table leg."

"There's no room like that on the seventh floor," Scorpius said with a scowl.

"Yes there is, I was just there. Near the tapestry of that guy, I was lost and wandering around the corridor trying to figure out where I was and then I noticed the door. I don't know how I missed it but it was there, I heard a bunch of Aurors talking and coming closer so ducked inside to avoid them and there it was."

"I would know if there was a room there like that, I was on that floor plenty of times with Calderon and there was no room like that."

"I'll show you after Herbology, it was there."

Time seemed to drag by in Herbology, all of them were just eager to see this room that looked just like Michael's mother's dream home. Scorpius doubted his existence, he was sure he would have noticed a room like that, he ticked off all the rooms on the seventh floor and couldn't think of what Michael was talking about. They walked as fast as they could to the seventh floor when the lesson was over, Michael stopped in front of a random stretch of blank wall and scowled.

"It-It was right here," Michael said walking up to the wall and rapping his knuckles against it as if to check that it was stone, scowling deeply, "I swear it was here."

"I told you I would know if there was a room," Scorpius pointed out as Michael continued to pat the wall and frown at it.

"It was here, it was. I swear it was here."

"You seemed really upset, I'm sure you weren't paying that much attention to where you were," Albus offered gently.

"No! It was here, it was, it really was."

"Well its not here now," Rose announced with a note of finality while Michael continued to stare at the wall, "Al's right, you probably got confuse between it and the Common Room."

"I wasn't confused! I made sure I knew where it was so I could come back, I know the difference between it and the Common Room. It really was there earlier."

"Rooms don't just come and go."

"I-I guess not," Michael nodded solemnly in agreement but continued to stare at the wall in confusion, "I was so sure it was there."

"Well its not so let's go get cracking on our homework, I believe we have a Potions essay to do!" Albus said with unusual enthusiasm that had to be because of Vipera as he clapped his hands together cheerfully, Scorpius rolled his eyes but they went to go do their homework anyway, Michael looking back wistfully at the wall as they went.

It was a bad start to a bad week as it turned out, Herbology was almost as dull as History of Magic without Professor Longbottom, he couldn't focus in Astronomy for being reminded of his grandfather's death and Charms was just horrible. Grant gave him back his homework, he'd given Scorpius less than ten, citing it was too long so he'd simply disregarded the latter sections and claimed what he did have was too detailed and too 'waffley.' He didn't bring Michael to tears again or even comment on what had happened the previous lesson but he continued to criticize every little thing about their work, it made Scorpius furious and by the end of the double lesson he actually wanted his burning wrist to shoot out fire, he wanted to lash out at Grant so badly, injured or not. Potions and Transfiguration were alright, Defense Against the Dark Arts would have been except for the Patronus lesson on Friday where yet again he failed abysmally to produce anything at all.

James was hassling him again too, citing he intended to tryout for Seeker and that year Scorpius wasn't going to cheat his way into the position again. Despite his fears about his friends, he was looking forward to proving James wrong, again.

---

Part 4: Trying

---

Scorpius woke up soaked in sweat once more, it was just a daily occurrence by then even though he couldn't remember the dreams. All it did was add to his increasingly bad mood, he was frustrated with his failures and it seemed stupid waking up on the weekend and not going to have a detention with Calderon anyway. He trudged along with Michael and Albus to breakfast, Albus no longer sleeping in lest he miss the opportunity to gaze dreamily at Vipera at breakfast, the girls weren't there yet.

"She looks angelic in the morning, don't you think?" Albus commented, predictably staring at the Potions professor.

"You know we don't think that," Michael pointed out disinterestedly as he added food to his plate, Albus looked back at him and smirked.

"So who is she?"

"What?" Michael wondered looking confused while Scorpius stabbed at his sausage frustratedly, "I don't anymore about her than you do."

"No! Whose your crush?"

"I told you before, I don't have one."

"Oh come on, I noticed you blushing like crazy when you denied it."

"I don't have a crush," Michael said firmly before adding in a lower tone, "and even if I did I wouldn't tell you so it would be pointless to keep asking when you could be watching Vipera bore Calderon."

Albus seemed content with that logic for then as he went back to watching Vipera, Scorpius went back to picking at his food irritably while Michael attempted to make conversation with little success. Corin and Maurice were actually the next to join them, Scorpius wasn't sure whether they counted as friends or why the pair had randomly taken to sitting with them. They didn't seem much into talking either, Maurice kept his hand away from his translator necklace while Corin was reading as he ate. It wasn't any of the girls who arrived next though, it was Vern who came over to them.

"Hi!" Vern greeted them happily, Albus shot him a dark look but said nothing, Maurice put his hand on his translator necklace while Scorpius, Corin and Michael said hello back, "I wanted to thank you, I got ninety-nine percent on the Charms homework you helped me with."

"Putain. I only got ninety-one," Corin muttered irritably.

"I got a hundred. Without help," Maurice pointed out as he smiled another cold smile, "what did Orous get?"

"Erm... like seventy," Vern answered hesitantly and Maurice looked even more triumphant.

"Sucker."

"Its not really anything to be proud of, Orous isn't very interested in his grades or anything. He didn't even want to come to Hogwarts, his dad made him though."

"Why?" Albus asked of his cousin and Vern looked surprised at being addressed.

"Erm... I'm not really sure its my place to say."

"Typical, won't even tell your own cousin. Just when I was thinking that maybe you weren't that bad."

"Really? You were?" Vern wondered looking oddly hopeful, Michael shot Albus a dark look that went ignored as Albus nodded, "well his parents were magical but his biological dad abandoned him when he was baby, his mum married a normal non-magical person when he very little instead. His mum left over the summer and his non-magical dad wanted him to go to Hogwarts because he can't teach him to use magic obviously and he thought it was important to be learned to stop accidental magic from happening."

"I meant why didn't he want to go to Hogwarts, every magical kid who isn't you wants to go to Hogwarts."

"Oh right. I don't know that, he didn't say and I realize it was important."

"He's a weird kid. Not just in looks."

"I know, he's quiet and sad and he gets picked on a lot which just makes it worse. Do you think you could tell James to lay off him?"

"Why doesn't he just fight back?" Maurice questioned, "he's got skill with a wand, he should use it. I know some majorly cool spells I learned at the school before Beauxbatons that would be good for fighting back, I could teach you. It'd be amusing to see James have his ass handed to him by a first year, even more so than watching his robes on fire."

"Fighting just gets you in trouble!" Vern shrieked in panic, "I don't want to get in trouble with a teacher."

"Only if you're dumb enough to get caught."

"Did you set James' robes on fire?" Albus asked out of nowhere and Maurice looked taken aback.

"Of course not!"

"Really?" Corin wondered disbelievingly.

"Really!" Maurice snapped stiffly, "if I was going to attack James then I would have burned a lot than his robes, believe me. I thought Scorpius did it."

"I didn't do it! I thought you'd done it," Scorpius protested and scowled, "wait so if you didn't do it and I didn't then who did?"

"I don't know but it was definitely wandless magic, that's why I thought it was you because I didn't think anyone else in the vicinity was capable of it was Ashain and I know he didn't do it."

"How do you know it was wandless magic?" Albus questioned curiously as Scorpius noticed Orous coming over to them from the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Because fire from a wand is concentrated where the wand was aimed but the fire sprang up from multiple places so either it was wandless magic or there was more than one person who did it but that's even less likely."

"Um... were you going to come to the library or what?" Orous whispered barely audibly to Vern.

"Hey Orous, did you see who set James Potter's robes on fire? You were there," Corin asked and Orous answered as quietly as ever.

"No. I have no idea who did it."

"So the mystery remains," Albus sighed.

It was a dull in all, they ended up spending it cooped up in the library studying and working on homework. Normally Scorpius wouldn't have minded but he was feeling restless, he wanted to be doing something. He wanted to be using magic, he wanted something to burn, his wrist was aching. He didn't want to be sitting in a stuffy room listening to Albus go on about his crush or Abby natter on about her dad's health or Rose drone on about the homework or Michael constantly asking him if his work was legible.

The Shadows were out there and in at least one of them was probably in the school right then, even if he had no way of telling who. He still hadn't heard from Varanian much to his frustration, he wasn't sure what he was hoping for but he craved more information, more than that he wanted to do something. Varanian was out there hunting the man who'd taken his grandfather's soul and what was he doing? Pointless Charms homework for a teacher that would just give him a bad grade anyway. It was stupid, the whole thing was stupid.

"Michael, if you wanted to find a muggle then how would you do it?" Scorpius asked after awhile.

"Ask Jack," Michael answered without hesitation or looking up.

"Your dad? He can just find people?"

"One time he tracked down this guy who owed him money all the way to Manchester, I know it was true because he went to jail for attacking the guy. Another time my mum was dating this really bad guy and when she broke up with him, he stole her grandmother's necklace and took off. It really means a lot to her and he tracked the guy down and brought her back the necklace."

"Could he find someone for me?" Scorpius wondered and Michael finally looked up, all his friends were looking at him oddly.

"I don't know. You could ask though I suppose, just owl him. Might want to do it fast before he lands himself back in jail," Michael told him with a hint of bitterness and an unreadable expression, "why do you want to find someone?"

"Its just nothing," Scorpius lied as he grabbed a spare piece of parchment and immediately started penning his letter to Jack.

It improved his mood greatly and he rushed off to send it as soon as he'd rechecked it several times to make sure it sounded alright, making sure to include instructions on how to reply in case Jack did something weird to Free instead of simply handing the bird the letter, even muggles could use owls if the other recipient was a witch or wizard. There was nothing on the door to the Owlry like there had been last year, you just retrieved your bird and had them send the letter like it was supposed to have been. Before he could open the door however, someone opened it from the other side and he came face to face with Molly.

"Hi," Scorpius offered as a smile seeped onto his face.

"Hi," Molly greeted him cheerfully and returned his smile, his palms started to sweat again, "here to send a letter or to visit Free?"

"Letter. You?"

"Just visiting, hence the ear," Molly explained and gestured to her right ear that bore a red mark from being bitten, "Hopper was being Hopper."

"I figured."

"Actually I did want to ask you something, would you mind coming with me early tomorrow to help set everything up for the tryouts?"

"Sure," Scorpius agreed without hesitation, "see you then."

"Great," Molly grinned, "catch you later."

Scorpius was in an even better mood after that, suddenly he couldn't wait for the tryouts. He sent Free off with the letter and practically skipped back to the library, not that his concentration improved, if anything it worsened. Molly had asked him to help, not Freddie, not Louis, not James but him. The rational part of his brain told him it was nothing to be excited about, it didn't mean anything but the bubble of hope was drowning out the rationality. Fantasies of walking onto the pitch hand-in-hand with her clogged his mind, they'd make sure everything was ready and then fly for a bit because they both loved it, Molly always looked so beautiful with her fiery locks blowing in the breeze. They'd stop in front of the hoops, hover there real close as they surveyed the pitch, she'd be laughing at someone cool that he'd said then she'd stop. They'd just gaze into each other's eyes for a moment, everything would be perfect and they'd both lean forwards, close their eyes to the blissful smell of cherries as they pressed their lips together for their very first kiss...

"Err... Scorpius?" Albus voice prompted and he was jolted from his fantasy.

"What?" Scorpius demanded irritably.

"For the seventh time: dinner, are you coming?"

"Oh right, yeah."

It was the first morning in a while where he didn't wake up with his clothes sticking to him, it was so early that it was barely light out but he didn't mind, he was too excited to go back to sleep anyway. Surprisingly Michael was awake, practicing spells and Scorpius was afraid to ask how early his friend had been awake since as they headed down to an early breakfast, leaving the rest of their dormitory - including Albus to sleep. Usually Michael was the one who initiated conversation but Scorpius found his mouth seemed stuck on go, he was just talking and talking and he couldn't stop talking, he wasn't even very aware of what he was saying. Michael was nervous about the tryouts, afraid of looking like an idiot because he was so bad, Scorpius gathered that much but he found it focus on a coherent answer, he also noticed Orous leaving as they arrived. They returned to the Common Room after they ate, no one was really around so they sat down or at least Michael did, Scorpius' legs didn't want to be still and he paced around.

It felt like forever before Molly came down, she insisted on being too nervous to eat unless he hadn't already so they just set off. All talk revolved around the tryout as they got the balls and bats ready, along with making sure there were a few school brooms for people who didn't have them or in case they were needed. Scorpius managed to sound normal although his heart was beating so loudly that he was surprised that she didn't hear it, especially when she suggested they flew around for a bit just to get a feel for the air. It was a crisp, cold day but he really didn't care. It felt good to be in the air again, his worries melted away and it was just him and Molly and then she stopped in front of the rings, he hovered beside her and his heart beat a little faster and he was glad he'd decided to wear the Thestral gloves that she'd gotten him for his birthday or his palms would be so sweaty that his grip would be bad.

His fantasy returned to his mind, that wasn't how it happened though, was it? How did relationships work? How did they start? Did you just kiss like that? Did you discuss it logically and decide to date? Should he just blurt out that he liked her and hope for the best? How did it work?! Why didn't he know more? He needed to ask someone for advice, why had he only thought of that now?! But no, he was overreacting, it was just a fantasy and Molly was completely focused on the tryouts. Like he should be, not on stupid fantasies. I don't want them to just be fantasies, his mind pointed out pathetically.

"It feels good to be in the air again," Molly began and Scorpius nodded in agreement, he did enjoy flying, "thanks, you know for coming and helping set up. If I'd asked Freddie he would have just made jokes, if I'd asked James he would just have badgered me about Seeker and Louis isn't even sure he can make the tryouts in the first place but you, you're a good listener. Honestly I'm really nervous about the whole tryout, even though I'm guaranteed a place on the team, its my first task as Captain and its kinda scary. My father's been putting more pressure on me than ever, with Mother being gone... I guess he feels like its solely up to him to motivate me to do well and with Lucy being a squib... I'm the only magical child he has that can do well, magically anyway and he actually has no idea how to react or what to expect from Lucy now.

"For the first time ever he actually thoroughly supports my love of Quidditch, partly because Lucy can never play and partly because I'm the Captain, especially at a young age and he's really on me to do well. I don't want to let him down. Or Mother... I still miss her a lot even though we weren't that close, I wish that we'd been closer and that she... that she had at least died happy and being proud of me and not thinking her daughter was a failure who was going to fail everything. Even Rivers is putting pressure on me as the only 'normal' relation - Lucy being a squib and Maurice being deaf - and both expects and wants me to do well, despite the fact he doesn't even remember the name of the 'silly broomstick game'. With everyone hating me too, even my so-called friends I really want to prove that I can do something good, you know?"

"You will do good," Scorpius promise seriously and smiled in a way he hoped looked encouraging, "you really think through thoroughly at Qudditch, even when you weren't the Captain you were thinking about the other team's strategies and things and... honestly it kinda went over my head because I hadn't thought about Quidditch in a long time but it shows that if anyone is good enough to be Captain its you. Freddie's older than you but they chose you to be the Captain because they knew you'd do a better job, you're the best person they could've chosen. If we don't win this year then its because the cup just couldn't be won, the greatest professional Qudditch Captain in the world couldn't have saved it. If anyone can do it you can, besides win or lose at least we can fly. It'll be okay, you'll see."

"Thanks, Scor," Molly offered and returned his smile briefly, "can... can I ask you something a bit personal? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I don't want to upset you but... I just... just wanted to hear it from you."

"Um... okay," Scorpius agreed worriedly and Molly bit her lip nervously.

"Over the summer... there were articles in the paper about... you being... being taken by muggles and..." Molly asked and trailed off, Scorpius squeezed shut his eyes, you didn't have to take Divination to know what was coming next, "was... Was it true?"

"Yes," Scorpius answered so quickly and quietly that he surprised himself, he flicked his eyes back open and glanced at her to see her reaction, expecting to see her looking disgusted or angry but she just looked sad, "mostly anyway, some of the details were wrong and all that stuff about how that guy heroically rescued me was a lie. I never even met that guy."

"I'm sorry."

"Its okay. I get that the paper's unreliable."

"No, I meant I'm sorry that it happened to you. If there's anything I can do to help or something, just say the word, okay? You can get through it."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered in barely more than a whisper as he stared at the ground for a moment, "do... do my friends know?"

"Albus and Rose do, I'm near certain Abby does too. I don't think Michael does though, him being from a muggle family and all... You should try telling him."

Scorpius opened his mouth to reply but quickly closed it when he noticed people starting to arrive, they flew down to meet them. It turned out to be a much smaller crowd than it had been last year, less than half, less than a quarter even and there were even less people in the stands. Although Scorpius didn't think it was just because of Molly being the sister of a squib, they were missing a whole year of students plus Chasers were really the only spots open and not everyone wanted to be a Chaser.

"When are the Seeker tryouts?" James asked immediately and Molly rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't planning on doing any," Molly pointed out as if speaking to someone a lot more than a year junior to her, "Scor's got it. Same goes for Keeper, I've got it."

"I wanted to tryout for Seeker! I should at least get a chance, I've been practicing and Malfoy could've got worse since he last played. Its only fair you hold a tryout for Seeker since people have turned up for it."

"Who else besides James, wants to try out for Seeker?" Molly called to the small crowd and not a single person raised their hands, "so by people you mean you?"

"Yes."

"Alright," Molly agreed and without warning had her wand whipped out and shot sparks at the chest containing the balls, the Golden Snitch soared into the sky, "what are you two waiting for?"

Scorpius was back on his broom in an instant, moving faster than James and speeding into the air. It was a lot easier to spot without the chaos of a game going on, without the chaos of a game going on the Snitch had less reason to move in the first place. He spotted the glimmer of gold easier and made a beeline for it, James only noticed it because of him and sped after him but far too slow as Scorpius snatched the winged ball from the air, holding it triumphantly up as he returned to Molly with a fuming James flying on his tail.

"Scor gets it!" Molly yelled, "big surprise."

"I demand a rematch! He clearly cheated," James spat, predictably.

"James, you were closer to the Snitch than he was, if anything he had the unfair advantage and he still beat you. You lost. He's a better Seeker than you, accept it. You can bitch and moan and be ignored and not make the team or you can try out for a position you actually have some talent at. Your choice."

"You're mean."

"Was that you accepting option number one?"

"No! I'll try for Beater, I want to be on the team!"

"Well then good because that's next, anyone trying out for Beater step forward."

"Does reserve Beater count?" Freddie's sister Roxy Weasley asked, she was in the third year like James and was tall for her age. Her skin was dark but shades lighter than her brother's and unlike his, her hair was dark. She, Freddie and James were the only ones who stepped forward.

"Yes it does."

Molly did things differently to Cole had, she had them take a few shots with the bat on the ground first just to test their swing and try hit a particular spot on the stands for accuracy, surprisingly all three had power behind their shots but Roxy was behind the boys and her accuracy was way off by comparison, she certainly had potential though.

Molly had them all - including herself, Scorpius and the Chasers - in the air next with the Bludgers, alternating the trio between one defending the other fliers, one trying to hit the other fliers and one just as one of the fliers. Scorpius noticed James deliberately trying to go for him and deliberately trying not to protect him, to a lesser extent he also did the same to Michael and a pockmarked boy that Scorpius didn't know.

"How is it that you're so on target now but manage to nearly hit your own team when we're in games?" Molly wondered to James shaking her head.

After they'd each had three turns on each she announced that she was moving onto Chasers which comprised the remaining students, almost half of which were his friends. Albus had been hit the most times by Bludgers but seemed the most unfazed regardless, grinning madly as Molly told them they had to make their way across the field passing to each other.

"This is it," Albus said to him as he flew past and winked to him, "time to make the team and win my love's heart, the way to a woman's heart is Quidditch!"

Molly had them do this several times, splitting the nine into three teams of three and having them go up the field passing and alternating the teams to see who worked well together so everyone had had a go with everyone. Anyone who went with Rose did badly as her slow speed just made it awkward for everyone, Albus fumbled awkwardly with the Quaffle and dropped it twice, Abby could fly well and pass reasonably but panicked if the Quaffle was thrown at her and dropped it but Michael was quite successful, especially with the other people trying out. The others consisted of two first years, one of which could barely stay on his broom and the other was just terrible at everything, a girl in Freddie and Louis' year - who Scorpius learned was Freddie's girlfriend - who was reasonably average much like Louis, the dashing blonde Weasley Louis himself and the pockmarked boy who looked about Molly's age, he was skilled and the latter three and Michael were easily the best candidates.

Finally Molly moved to the ring and told them to try score against her, the first years and Albus were abysmally bad, Rose was more on target but so slow to aim and score that Molly had plenty of time to easily block it, Louis and Freddie's girlfriend were average, Abby and the pockmarked boy seemed to make Molly work more to block it and Michael - Michael scored against Molly. He was so fast and zigzagging that it was impossible to tell which ring he was aiming for, the only downside was that he couldn't stop and managed to crash into the stands.

"How is it you can so effortlessly weave your way past Bludgers but crash into a giant looming object like a freakin' stand?!" Molly demanded of him as Michael flew back over after insisting he was fine.

"Stopping is hard," Michael pointed out.

They carried on for a bit, Michael's shots were easily the most difficult to block and he scored against Molly once more before Molly changed their routine again, mixing the two tasks and having them pass it to each other from the other end of the pitch and try to score at the end, adding the Beaters into the mix trying to defend and attack after awhile. She started off with mixing the Chaser trios quite a bit but the more time passed the more she started only using a mixture of four individuals, the pockmarked boy, Louis, Freddie's girlfriend and Michael. After awhile she just kept the pockmarked boy in permanently, then stopped removing Michael and finally was just switching between Louis and Freddie's girlfriend before she finally seemed to make a decision. Scorpius had a feeling he already knew who she'd chosen as she called them down to the ground.

"This was a really tough decision but I have decided the team is thus," Molly announced, Albus looked so hopeful it was sad. Everyone else - except the pockmarked boy who was looking anxious - seemed to either have realized they wouldn't get it or resigned themselves to not being bothered too much or stressed by the results, "I, Molly Weasley, am the Keeper and Captain. Scorpius Malfoy is the Seeker. Freddie Weasley -"

"Fast Freddie Weasley," Freddie interrupted proudly.

"No one calls you that but you!" multiple people cried in unison but Freddie's grin remained as Molly rolled her eyes at her cousin.

"Freddie Weasley and James Potter are Beaters, Roxy Weasley as our reserve," Molly continued and everyone seemed to accept this, she paused nervously before continuing, "Caitlin Birch, Tobias Latimer and Michael Sanford are Chasers, Louis Weasley as our reserve."

Reactions were mixed. The two first years - who appeared to be friends - shrugged and walked off together, chatting happily about how they couldn't wait to tell their other friends about how close they got, Roxy and Louis also walked off smiling after being congratulated quickly by Freddie, Latimer looked extremely relieved as he too walked off. Freddie proceeded to congratulate his girlfriend by kissing her and announcing how fantastic she was which made the pale blond giggle as they walked off hand-in-hand with each other. Abby and Rose called their congratulations and headed back to get out of the cold. Albus and Michael looked too stunned for words while James looked ready to start frothing at the moment.

"Are you sure you didn't get my name confused with someone else?" Michael asked carefully.

"What the hell?!" James burst out after a second of silent fuming before Molly could reply, "you pick Malfoy the psycho as Seeker - even though clearly it should be me because he's a dirty, rotten cheat - and then the butt-ugly freak Latimer and Dragon-breath the loser as Chasers?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"As I said," Molly pointed out firmly, "Scor beat you, how many times does he have to win for you to get that he has skill? Latimer has talent - appearance is irrelevant - and so does Michael."

"He crashed in to a bloody stand!"

"He scored against me! On a school broom no less! We can work on the stopping issue."

"Its not a team its a freakshow of losers!"

"You will talk about your teammates with respect on the pitch or get off the team," Molly growled fiercely and James' anger seemed to be reigned in by the threat, "I've made my decision. When you're Captain you can choose who you like but I've chosen."

"Fine," James spat and stalked off still looking livid.

"So... So I really made the team?" Michael asked again and Molly cast him a smile.

"Yes, yes you did. Well done," Molly told him and Michael smiled cautiously before she turned to Albus, "Al, I wanted to ask you a favor. I know this isn't usual but-"

"Whatever it is I'll do it!" Albus interrupted desperately, "anything to get on the team."

"Err... well I just wondered if you'd lend Michael your broom for practices and games, since he doesn't have one and all and the Cloudcutter is a bloody good broom."

"Oh, that's alright, yeah of course," Albus muttered as realization dawned on him, he stared at his feet but Scorpius still caught the crushing disappointment on his face and the tears glistening in his green eyes as he added something so quiet that Scorpius wasn't sure if he'd spoken at all, "not like I wanted to be on the team or anything."