7.
Plunging into the water before him, Scorpius felt a wave of cold wash over him. As predicted, it was icy cold and stung all over his previously warm body. It stung, ached and was uncomfortable. The sensation was familiar though and within seconds, he adjusted to the new temperature. Extending his arms forward, he started with small strokes but increased his pace as his fury increased.
Faced down, glancing at the tiles underneath him, he felt safe which was strange considering how he'd been feeling the past few days. His body may have gotten used to the coldness of the water but his mind continued to scream at him, warning him not to test his limits.
He internally scoffed as he pushed himself towards the deeper end of the pool. He propelled forward, his kicks alternating and speeds varying.
This was how it was supposed to be, he thought, ignoring the numbing feeling that engulfed him. He was beyond care- he wanted it all. The burning, the aches in muscles, the pain, the cold and all that came with it. He didn't stop or take a pause except for when his need for oxygen surpassed that of his need to test his limits.
Back at home, he'd taken swimming lessons as a child. In fear of seeing her son drowning, Hermione Malfoy had ensured that he'd had lessons and been taught how to manage himself in water.
The water soothed him, decided Scorpius, regardless of the fact that he really shouldn't have been swimming so soon after recovering from his leg injury. Then again, he hadn't fully recovered either but why would he start following the rules when he'd avoided doing so in the past.
His thoughts were killing him. He couldn't bear it; any silence was formidable but he seemed to have been craving it that morning. Before Hermione had even risen from bed, the young man had left her flat at around 5 AM and scurried off to the nearest pool he could find.
As the faces of his parents, sister, grandparents and friends began to show up in his head, he increased his speed to a tenfold. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on painful memories, it wasn't good for him or for the cause.
But it hurt.
So terribly.
He didn't belong in this world and he felt immensely frustrated at his father for imposing such a task on him and then he felt frustrated at himself. Why was he thinking about himself when there was so much more at stake?
Being alone was a price he'd have to pay and he planned to fight tooth and nail. He wouldn't give up on the cause- he aimed to fight to the end even if it meant that he'd end up dead.
He was beyond caring. All he wanted was a chance to take down as much death eater scum as he possibly could, her royal craziness: Bellatrix and her comrades: Yaxley and Jeremiah being on top of his list.
Yes, thought Scorpius, a little pain wouldn't kill him, would it?
He'd have to adapt.
Live.
And continue to fight until he was devoid of a single breath.
After all, he was a Malfoy and Malfoys never ever gave up.
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Ron Weasley had never been shocked by the many things that had happened to him in the last few years since he had met and become best mates with Harry Potter. The most outrageous news he'd heard in a very long time was what his friend and sister's significant other, Harry was telling the rest of the Weasleys and a few of their friends at that very moment.
He shared a look with Blaise Zabini, who sat across the long meeting -room table, looking equally shocked and amused at the same. Ron's wife, Pansy sat right next to him and sensing his upcoming outrage, she grasped his hand.
"Draco and Granger have a kid from the future?" laughed Blaise. "You have got to be kidding me. This is better than the time I found Pansy snogging Weasley on the Astronomy Tower in seventh year."
"Of course you'd find this funny", said Ginny, glaring daggers at Blaise and then her slightly red-faced brother. "The fact that Hermione and Malfoy ended up together a few years from now is amusing, isn't it? It's not like we're about to face the re-birth of You-Know-Who, are we? We've more urgent matters on our hands which need to be dealt with now."
"I'm with Ginny", Harry shot a look of gratitude towards his fiancée. Now that all of you know what is going on I'm really interested in hearing some suggestions concerning what we ought to do", said Harry.
The rest of the Weasleys, Lavender Brown,Blaise Zabini, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood looked thoughtful.
"Where is Hermione?" asked Ron, glancing around to the room.
"And speaking of Granger, where are Draco and Scorpius?" asked Blaise.
Just then, they heard some foot-steps coming from down the hall and Hermione entered the dining room, two blonde men right behind her.
"Thank Merlin, you're finally here Hermione!" said Ron in relief. He stood up, tucked his chair in and hugged her. He caught sight of Draco and Scorpius standing together by the door and rushed over to them. "MALFOY! You...You...YOU bloody prat, stay far away from our Hermione or I'll...I'll have Harry lock you up in Azkaban. I wonder what you did to her brain so she marries you in the future."
"Oh shut the hell up, Weasel", snarled Draco, towering a few inches over the ginger-wizard and itching to extract his wand from his robes. "Pansy may be enough of a saint to tolerate you but I'll remind you for the last time, I'm not and never will be."
Scorpius looked nervous; very nervous. In fact, he looked as if he wanted to high-tail out of the room and Hermione didn't fail to notice this. "Mr. Weasley", his voice was an epitome of polite-ness as he faced Ron.
Ron's jaw dropped. "He's like a mini-version of Malfoy", he said.
"Not exactly though", added Luna. "Scorpius and Hermione's eyes are the same."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Scorpius", said Pansy pleasantly. 'Hmm, this is interesting, Scorpius looks so much like Draco', she thought, 'I really hope that Ron doesn't cause any more problems, seeing as poor Hermione looks worried as it is'.
Scorpius smiled at her then shuddered slightly as he his eyes landed on Ron.
"Now that everyone is here, can we finally decide what to do?" questioned George Weasley, watching the exchange between the arrival from the future and the rest. As frightening as it was to look at a replica of Draco Malfoy, there were more important matters at hand, as stressed by Harry and Ginny.
"Right", said Harry, nodding slightly. "Firstly, I'd like to stress on the importance of being on guard at all times.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "He's right", she agreed, "and this is why I've come up with something that can be of use to us." Holding up a basket filled with galleons, she said, "These aren't your ordinary galleons. Using a Protean Charm, I've designed them in such a way that they'll heat up when the main one- the master galleon- sets a date for us to meet."
"I asked Hermione for an idea", said Harry, "and I'm more than pleased with what she came up with. The master coin will be in my possession and I'll be the one working it. It's much safer than using owls that can be very well intercepted."
Draco held a galleon for it to be visible to all the occupants in the room."You see the numerals around the edges if the coins?" he said. "On real galleons, that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting."
"Don't forget to take one before you leave", added Hermione.
"I was thinking that it'd be useful if we set up charms or wards around our houses as well. Although we haven't been threatened and aren't likely to be in threat at this point", said Draco, "you should take these precautions right now rather than regret it later on."
Ginny stood up and turned to look at Harry. "I'll go check on dinner", she said quietly. "Everyone must be starving so please wrap things up in ten minutes, okay?"
With that being said, the redhead witch walked out of the room without waiting for a response. Molly Weasley was right behind her daughter, muttering something about how malnourished all these youngsters looked.
It was as though they didn't have any concerns for their health.
At all.
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.
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Bill Weasley came face-to-face with Harry. "We trust you, mate", he said firmly. "It's difficult to build trust while it's extremely easy to lose it… I'm speaking on behalf of my whole family when I say that we'll stand by your side as long as we have faith in you, which we do but I'll have to add that we're not blindly accepting whatever you're suggesting. As long as we're kept in the light, we're aware of what's going on, we'll support you."
"I don't think this is a very wise idea", said Lavender Brown nervously. "Harry, I don't think we should start an organization such as the Order… or re-start it in this case."
Scorpius cleared his throat. "I don't recall putting your name on the list of people I wanted to include in this meeting, Miss Brown", he said, "and if my memory serves me correct, I can remember that you died while fleeing an encounter with death eaters in Hogsmeade. In my era, of course. Now, I don't know you at all but I can say this: the choice is yours."
Lavender shut up promptly while Luna, Blaise, Neville and Seamus agreed to the cause. The mere thought of his parents' torturer roaming free sent a shiver down Neville Longbottom's spine and he desired to face that cruel soul that had destroyed his parents (and through them, shattered him).
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A few minutes later, dinner was served to the number of people that had collected at Grimmauld Place. Not a single one of them dug in their meal with enthusiasm. Scorpius faded into the background as the silence became too much for him to deal with. He walked out and headed up to get a look around the house.
He wasn't the only one who'd escaped the dining room, noticed Pansy, watching as Hermione and Draco slipped out as well.
She bit her lip, hoping that all would be alright but knew that there were chances that the duo would begin to fight if they somehow crossed paths. Which they would.
She sighed, turned her attention to her plate and stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork.
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Meanwhile, Hermione walked around the garden. Having escaped dinner, she hoped to have a few moments to herself before she went home. The past few days had been tough for her and although she was putting up a strong front, she was anything but calm.
She stared at the dark night sky, full of tiny stars shining brightly and thought about Scorpius. How strange must it be for him, she thought, a pang of pain erupting in her chest.
Draco chose that moment to arrive from behind and break Hermione's reverie. "You alright?" he asked. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his Muggle jeans, he felt awkward standing by Hermione Granger's side; eager to know what was running through her head.
"I'm fine", lied Hermione.
"You're lying", he stated. "I can tell from the way you're avoiding eye-contact. Granger, as much as it annoys me to acknowledge this, you and I- we're in the same damn boat and I suppose that you're the only one who has more than a gist of how messed up our situation is."
"Look, I'm really not in the mood to talk about this. You may be troubled, Malfoy, but I'm absolutely fine so please, yes, I'm saying please, go take your troubles elsewhere. I can't really deal with anyone right now. Especially you."
That stung, thought Draco. "I'm just trying to be nice", he said defensively. "But you wouldn't know the meaning of the word, would you? At least not where I'm concerned."
"I'm not nice? Hello! Have you forgotten that you and I have never ever gotten along. We greet each other occasionally and often bear the other's presence but honestly, we- well, you- can't understand the seriousness of the situation and for obvious reasons, we can't lean on each other for support."
"You think you're so high and mighty, aren't you, Granger? Claiming to be fine when you're clearly two steps away from jumping off a bridge. I'm not saying that we becoming blooming friends, woman, I'm only trying to suggest that it would benefit us as well as the others if we got along!"
"I'm not troubled", shot back Hermione. "Maybe you are but I'm not. I hate the fact that the world is danger, I hate the way things are going and I hate that I feel so useless but just so you know, no way am I angry or disappointed that Scorpius is my son and you are his father. I don't know how but when it comes to him, I feel this urge to protect him as though I really am his mum."
Draco didn't tell her that he felt the same way. He knew that there was no point in letting her know that he didn't resent that his future children (Scorpius and Arianna) weren't Pure-blooded. He didn't care. To an extent, it did bother him that Hermione bloody Granger was his future wife.
It infuriated him to think that he'd actually married the woman a few years from now. How had that happened? What had changed?
He wondered if it wouldn't be awkward to ask Scorpius.
Maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Or perhaps it would.
"I'm heading back inside", he said, ignoring her previous statement.
Hermione looked at the man that was a few steps away from her. "Malfoy?" she said.
"Yeah?"
I'm extremely upset & frustrated with this chapter. The first version that I re-wrote of this was much much better and I lost it the night before.
Things will be speeding up from… let's say the next chapter.
Curious as to how?