Sorry this chapter was so late coming!
There's been computer viruses, football games and an excessive amount of Manic Street Preachers gigs to blame, so please forgive me!
Decided to give this story a proper plot, so hope you like it!
xx Mazooo
Chapter 7
The hours dragged by, Scorpius wandering aimlessly around the school grounds. Lesson time was well over, but there were still several students sitting around the lake and beneath the great canopies of beech trees, never straying towards the Forbidden Forest. All had their cloaks tightly wrapped around them, as the October winds were building.
Scorpius, on the other hand, was in a white t-shirt, a relic of his Durmstrang days when the wearing of muggle clothing at the weekends was perfectly acceptable. The temperature was above freezing point – why would he be wearing anything else? After all, in Durmstrang it was rare to be able to go outside without pneumonia setting in. The crunch of his heavy black boots on twigs was the only sound, aside from the distant chatter of students and the echoing groans of trees and who-knew-what-else coming from the Forest.
Curiosity was starting to form in Scorpius's mind – there were no forests in Durmstrang, let alone forbidden ones. He glanced around furtively, checking that the Keeper of Grounds – an old-looking half giant – had his back turned and was prodding at huge pumpkins, and then took several hurried steps out of view into the trees.
Instantly an unnerving silence surrounded him, and he almost turned around and walked straight back out again, but the crazy part of his brain took control and he almost tripped in his haste to get further into the darkness, where the trees were packed more densely and the quickly disappearing sun was not visible through the massively thick leafy awnings. Adrenaline kicked in, and Scorpius's pace quickened even more, excitement mounting – he could sense something, something dangerous.
Draco rarely spoke of his time at Hogwarts, but Scorpius had heard enough to know that the Forbidden Forest was not a place where his father would want him to be. Maybe that was why he was now walking with a very strong purpose, deeper and deeper into the Forest. It was getting so dark that he drew his wand and muttered "lumos", lighting the path ahead dimly. He realised with a little confusion that he was in a clearing, but the trees had such wide spread canopies that he still could not see any natural light.
The glow from his wand reflected off something, and he looked down at his feet, bending and narrowing his eyes. The ground was pressed a little into the shape of a long-ago hoof-print, and Scorpius dug at the earth with his fingernails, pulling at the imprinted object, which continued to glint in the light of his wand. It was a ring. The black stone was cracked but beautiful, and the more his eyes squinted the more he thought he could see something deep within the gem – moving shapes.
He looked around, sitting back on his heels as the feeling of being watched settled on him. 'Who's there?' he called, cursing himself for his stupidity – since when was it ever a good idea to sound like a film character?
'You appear not to have changed,' a slow, calming voice said, and Scorpius spun around, gasping as he saw the centaur, clapping his hooves against the ground. 'The last time I saw you, you were leaving Hogwarts with your parents, seemingly never to return. That was a long time ago.'
'I – I've never even been to Hogwarts!' Scorpius stammered, the ring pressing deep into his palm as he closed his fists and swallowed.
'They look very alike, Bane,' another centaur stepped into the clearing, and Scorpius stood up, rapidly stumbling backwards. 'He is the son.'
'Then that can mean only one thing, Firenze,' the first centaur turned to the second. 'The second age of darkness is descending.'
'What the hell?' Scorpius was panicking, his wand slipping in his shaking fingers. 'I need to get back to the castle!'
But the two centaurs did not spare him a glance, looking with a blatant fear deep into each other's eyes. 'It cannot be, Bane! The darkest of ages are over, we agreed that.'
'Did you not listen when Ronan spoke of the coming times? You know what he said – when the great generation returned to Hogwarts, through the innocents, the second age would descend and the wizarding world would once again fall into peril!'
'And he will be in the middle,' Firenze turned slowly to look at Scorpius, who shook his head and ran, sprinting though he knew that his legs could be no faster than the men on four. But nothing followed him, and more panic filled his mind when he realised he had no idea of the way back out. The fear was short-lived, for pure luck found Scorpius staggering dizzily back into the open air, where evening had fallen and the flaming candles in the Great Hall were visible through the grand windows – dinner was already in session.
Could that have really just happened? Scorpius prayed it was his imagination, some delusion or hallucination, but the throbbing of his hand finally alerted him otherwise, after what could have been a minute or could have been several hours. He unfurled his fingers and looked down at the ring resting on his palm. It was real. On auto-pilot he slid it onto his finger, and looked up straight into the most horrific face he had ever seen.
He yelled aloud, falling backwards to the ground as he saw more faces – all human but all twisted with rage and evil. One face amongst the group stood out, a familiar mess of black hair and gaunt eyes. Scorpius had seen her portrait many times in Malfoy Manor, above the fireplace. It was his Grandmother's sister.
Ripping the ring off again and coughing with terror, he stared with wide eyes into the empty air around him. 'FUCK!' he choked, looking down at the ring, innocently watching him from between his fingers. 'Fuck.'
#
Rose Weasley could not deny that she owed something to Malfoy. What she did not know, for what could you possibly give someone who had prevented your rape? It was for that reason that she was hanging around in the Entrance Hall, ignoring the confused glances from the students passing by for dinner. She had checked the Slytherin table, and he was definitely not there, so he'd have to pass at some point.
'Malfoy!' she called, spotting him as he hurried towards the marble staircase. She planted herself in his path. 'Where are you going?'
'To my dormitory,' he sighed in reply, stepping to one side but finding his path blocked again.
'That's downstairs,' she rolled her eyes, 'I'm not that stupid.'
'Newsflash, I got moved to Gryffindor,' he said disdainfully, stepping the other way and dodging around her, taking the stairs two at a time.
'Yeah, well -' she shouted, stumbling after him in her high heels, 'I wanted to say thank you! There, is said it.'
'Then why are you still following me?' he said icily, turning around as he reached the Charms corridor and stepping backwards onto one of the moving staircases. Rose only just managed to jump on in time, narrowly avoiding falling back down the corridor below as it moved away. Scorpius groaned, moving to the other end of the stairs, but Rose followed his, clutching the banister – she had never stopped fearing the staircases.
'I don't actually know,' she shrugged, 'I just...you know...think I should say more than "thank you"!'
'Thank you very much?' he raised his eyebrows, stepping out onto the seventh floor and strolling over to the portrait of the Fat Lady, before realising with a sinking in the pit of his stomach that he had no idea what the password was. He turned reluctantly to Rose and sighed, 'fine, you win. What's the password?'
She leant in, however, and pressed her lips to his, taking him by massive surprise. The kiss was short – awkward – traits that Rose had never associated herself with.
'What the fuck?' Scorpius spat, pulling away and forcing a look of anger onto his face.
'Thank you,' she shrugged again, 'The Golden Trio.'
The portrait swung open, and Rose hurried inside, definitely not her usual, cool self.
For the third time that night, Scorpius announced 'Fuck.'
Pleasy pleasy pleaseeee review! It makes me HAPPY. Review mean updates, remember!
xx
