Chapter 8 : Renegades
Keen though he was to know what big secret his two best friends were hiding from him, Albus was forced to put it on hold over the next few days. His mind was still sagging under the weight of his disapproval of his fathers decision, and without his brother to talk to, he found that Scorpius and Morrison were his only possible confidants. Not that they were very fond of this, of course.
" I just don't get it" Albus was still raving at breakfast on Friday morning. " I don't see why my dad would do something like that."
Morrison sighed. " Drop it" he said slowly.
" I'm not dropping it" Albus replied acidly. " This is a big deal, whether you want it to be or not!"
Scorpius snorted. " You sound like Rose" he said. He continued before Albus could curse at him. " And no, it's really not a big deal. No one's been hurt yet, and if you need any further proof that it was the right decision, I've been reading the prophet and there hasn't been a single word about your dad. No more riots, no more picket signs. The public thinks that he knows what he's doing. You should too."
Albus folded his arms and glared at both of them, though they didn't appear to notice. Either that or they were accustomed to it, anyway. He continued eating his bacon in silence, and only when the bell rang did he speak to his friends again.
" At least we've got potions next" he said as they walked down the stairs into the dungeons. " I can finally ask Mirra what plans she had at Hogsmeade..."
He quickly glanced at both of his friends to check and see if they exchanged their usual look, and was not disappointed. For a split second, they had eyed each other anxiously.
Albus had not yet had the opportunity to talk to Mirra about her mysterious cancellation of going to Hogsmeade with him. The only other class that they had, Care For Magical Creatures, had been cancelled due to rain, and as such as he was eager to see her again. They entered the Potions classroom and he saw that the Gryffindors were already there. Mirra was sitting in between Rose and Eckley at the back table. Unsure of how Rose would react if he approached them, he instead settled himself in between Morrison and Scorpius and decided that would ask her later.
Professor Handit emerged from the back room at this moment, and to everyone's surprise, he appeared to be grinning, something that he had scarcely done in his previous lessons.
" Okay, I know we've had some rough patches in this class so far this year" he said. " I wasn't really prepared to teach it...but today I think I've done a good job. Cauldrons out, we're making a potion!"
The class cheered, they had had free time for the previous three classes while their professor tried to work out what he would be teaching them. The first time it had been fun, but after a while, Albus had the feeling that the class longed to have something to do.
" We're going to be making an antidote for ashwinder venom today. It's not particularly challenging, as I managed to work it out, but there's some tricky bits involved. Sort yourselves into groups of three or four now!"
Albus immediately spun around, expecting Mirra to approach him and ask to partner up, but was sadly disappointed. She was still sitting with Rose and Eckley, and Hornsbrook had made them a group of four. He frowned. As far as he could recall, this was the first time in the past two years that she hadn't offered to partner with him. Feeling slightly dejected, he turned back around and brought his attention to Professor Handit again.
" Directions are on the board!" he said excitedly. " You have an hour. When you're done, fill a flask and your names so I can have it marked by next lesson!"
He looked absolutely ecstatic at actually being able to assign them work. Albus scanned the directions on the board and saw that it was pathetically easy. Nevertheless, Morrison rose from his seat to get the ingredients, and they began working soon after.
Despite the potions' simplicity however, Albus found that he struggled with it more than he normally would. Morrison ended up using the time at hand to jot down Divination homework, leaving his two friends to pick up all of the slack, though Albus found that he simply couldn't concentrate.
" Don't!" Scorpus spat, stopping Albus' hand from dropping in knarl quills. " We don't add those until after the stir the lacewing flies!"
" Right sorry!" he said, putting down the quills and making a grab for the puffskein eyes.
" No!" Scorpius said. " Just...just let me do it."
Albus frowned. Potions was normally his speciality, and now Scorpius was taking the reigns. " Sorry" he said. " I just can't concentrate."
He cast a furtive look behind him as he said this, as that was where his inability to focus stemmed from. Mirra was stirring the potion while Hornsbrook and Rose chatted, and Albus saw that Eckley was whispering something into her ear, making her giggle and playfully hit him. It seemed as though she had been giggling for the entire period.
They managed to finish the potion just as the bell rang, and Albus watched as Scorpius filled a flask of their respectable, but not quite perfect, potion. After placing it on the tray the three of them marched out of the classroom, Albus going a tad bit faster to catch up with Mirra.
As the dungeons were narrow, he had to carefully dodge other groups of students in order to catch up with them. Hoping that Rose wouldn't make a scene if he tried to talk to Mirra in the hallway, he hurried past the other children and finally caught up with the group of Gryffindors as they were turning the corner. They were all walking very close together, and Albus saw, upon close inspection, that two in particular were very close. Mirra and Eckley were holding hands.
His heart skipped a beat, maybe even two. He suddenly felt extremely lightheaded, and the noise around him seemed to subside momentarily. He ran his hands through his untidy hair and felt that his palms were sweatier than he could ever recall them being. Just when he though that he might faint, he heard a voice from behind him.
" Come on mate, let's go to lunch."
It was Morrison. One look at his face told Albus that he had seen the same thing. Scorpius, who had been walking slower and was just now catching up, emerged from a crowd and saw the morose look on his friends faces.
" What's up?" he said.
Morrison ignored his question. " Come on, I'm starving" he said, and five minutes later they were all sitting at the Slytherin table.
Albus was staring down at his empty plate, trying and failing to hide his crushed face. Morrison and Scorpius, who were sitting across from him, were also not eating. They were merely staring at him. Finally, Scorpius spoke.
" You okay Al? You look kind of down..."
Albus looked up and responded, though it was to Morrison that he directed his sentence.
" Where they holding hands?" he asked. " Mirra and Eckley, I mean?"
They didn't even bother exchanging a glance, though Scorpius hastily started piling his plate with mashed parsnips.
" Yeah they were" Morrison answered.
" So are they like...like going out or whatever? Like dating?" Albus asked.
Morrison stared at him for a moment before speaking. " Yeah. For about a week now actually."
" A week?"
" She went on a date with him to Hogsmeade" Scorpius said. " That's what she told us when we asked her last week anyway."
" Why'd you keep it a secret from me though?" Albus asked, his face burning. Did they know that he liked her? Was it that obvious?
" Just because we know that you don't like him" Scorpius said quickly. " I mean, we don't like him either, we found out by accident. Sorry..."
" And it's probably not even that big of a deal anyway" Morrison added. " I mean, they're thirteen years old! It's just a crush, really. Probably..."
But Albus was not listening, he had resumed staring at his empty plate, his entire world now crashing down. His father had released Fango Wilde from Azkaban...his brother was no longer talking to him...and now this. The girl he liked was dating Charles Eckley, the person at Hogwarts who he loathed most...
The rest of lunch, much like the end breakfast, was a quiet affair. No one spoke, which Albus was grateful for. He was lost in his own thoughts, and only the sound of the bell brought him back to reality.
They entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom five minutes later, and Albus was glad that it would be the last class of the week. He would have all of the weekend to mope. He settled himself in the back row with Morrison and Scorpius, both of whom normally rejected this, as they wanted to sit up front. Today however, they didn't seem to mind. The all sat in silence as the rest of the class entered, Fairhart sitting atop his desk as he usually did.
" Good afternoon students" he said.
" Good afternoon" the class said, all except Albus anyway.
" Today we'll be focusing a little bit on what we talked about earlier in the year..."
Albus immediately began tuning the professor out, something that he now did every lesson. He did not want to hear Fairhart rabble about emotions and theory, especially not today...
How could she be dating Eckley! he said to himself. Had she already forgotten the previous year, when he had fought Scorpius, another of her best friends? Did it not matter to her how much Albus loathed him? How much both of his friends loathed him too?
What does he have? What makes him so damn special?
Well, he was popular. He was always surrounded by people anyway. Wheras Albus mostly only talked to Morrison and Scorpius, Eckley was almost always seen with different people, sometimes even older students. Indeed, the only people that he continuously hung out with where Hornsbrook, Mirra, and Rose.
Rose he thought bitterly. She had something to do with this. He recalled reading her diary in his first year, she practically worshipped that pompous fool. She probably got them together.
But no, that couldn't be it. Mirra made her own decisions. She didn't need her friends to decide things for her. Not even her best friends. Was she not one of Albus' best friends? Had she told him that she liked Eckley? The next time that they talked, would she even bother telling him that she had a boyfriend?
He was torn from his thoughts by Scorpius, who was answering a question.
" You said that dark magic didn't exist" he said.
" Correct!" Fairhart said. " I'm glad that you remembered. Do we all remember my first lesson?" he asked.
The class nodded and murmured yes.
" Good!" he said excitedly. " Todays lesson will be of a similar mold. We will be discussing the dark arts, and, more importantly, those who use them- and why. First question! What is a dark wizard? How do we know that they're ' dark'?"
Somebody in the front row raised their hand. " From the magic that they use?"
" But I thought that we established that magic was neither dark nor light?" Fairhart responded.
No, you established that Albus thought disdainfully. He hoped that picking at Fairharts inability to teach would at least cheer him up a little bit.
Somebody else raised their hand. " You said that all magic could be dangerous..."
" Indeed I did!" Fairhart said. " And I said that every spell should be considered ' dark magic' as much as the killing curse was! Now what if I told you that the killing curse wasn't dark at all!?
Then you'd be contradicting yourself Albus said to himself with a hint of a smile, something that he had failed to muster all day.
" Is killing always wrong?" Fairhart asked. " Is it never warranted?"
The class did not have an answer for this. No one raised their hand anyway. Fairhart seemed to take their silence as a reason to continue.
" Today's lesson will have to do more with your opinions, more with your ideas, than any other. I have told you that we will be learning things in this class that, when understood completely, will be invaluable to your abilities to confront, and defeat, the dark arts. The first step in stopping something is understanding it. Today, students, I'm going to give you a bit of a history lesson."
The class seemed to hang on every word. Albus was the only one who refused to sit up straight. The idea of Fairhart teaching them history was just silly. What, did he aim to take Professor Binns' job just as he had taken Professor Handits?
Fairhart stood up and began pacing, signaling that his story was about to begin. " Let's go back in time" he said. " Who here knows what a Death Eater is?"
A couple of students raised their hands, Scorpius included. Fairhart picked him to answer.
" A Death Eater was a wizard who supported Voldemort" he said.
" Not exactly" Fairhart said. " Though close. More accurately, a Death Eater actually worked for him. Did his bidding. There were many who supported him who were never branded with the Dark Mark. Does anyone know what the Dark Mark is?"
This time, Scorpius was the only one who raised his hand. " The Dark Mark was a symbol fired into the sky by a Death Eater to signify that a murder had occured. It was also put on someone's forearm to show that they were a Death Eater. When Voldemort touched his mark, they would be summoned to him."
" Absolutely correct!" Fairhart said.
Many students, Albus saw, turned around and looked at Scorpius suspiciously. Albus knew that the Malfoy name was a bad one, and personally thought that Scorpius had shown little tact in revealing how much he knew about Death Eaters. He seemed to notice as well, as he shrunk in his seat and started sweating at the attention that he was getting.
" Don't be nervous!" Fairhart said. " Don't be ashamed! It is good that you are so well informed! It is always good to be informed."
He stopped speaking and scratched his chin, apparently unsure of where to take his story next. " It's time to do a little math" he said. " They say that more than one hundred Death Eaters were arrested or killed during the Battle of Hogwarts. One Hundred. And yet, many got away as well! What do you think happened to the wizards and witches who fled the battle after Voldemort was defeated? You think they turned themselves in?"
" They were caught!" someone said.
" Were they? How were they caught? When they're not wearing masks, how do you tell a Death Eater apart from a regular wizard. Indeed, how do you tell a ' dark wizard' apart from another wizard?"
" The mark!" Milton Parish from Ravenclaw said. " They arrested the people with the mark!"
" Oh, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" Fairhart said. " But no, not everyone with a Dark Mark is a ' dark wizard' and not every ' dark wizard' has a Dark Mark. Many wizards and witches were placed under the Imperius Curse, they could not control themselves! Yet they had the Mark! And many- hundreds of wizards were not in Voldemorts inner circle, they did not have the Mark, and yet they murdered countless innocents, tortured countless muggles. Parents killed. Childrens lives ruined...
" Confusion. Panic. Anarchy. The first time that Voldemort fell enough people were acquitted of their crimes so that when he rose again, he already had a small following! So what does the Ministry do? Voldemort has fallen. Death Eaters, wizards who were just bad but were never addressed as such, are running amok. There is no proof that they were not confunded or imperiused, and plenty of wizards got off on mere technicality. Some were never sent to Azkaban do to cooperation. Giving up the names of their partners in crime..."
Albus cringed at this. Though it may not have happened right after the war with Voldemort, his father had just released Fango Wilde for doing just that. Indeed, he wondered if Fairhart knew this...
" So the Ministry won't arrest people, not everybody" Fairhart continued, and the class was now not even blinking, not even breathing it seemed, they were so immersed in his words. " Hundreds of murderers are now walking the streets of Britain. Some have fled the country before they are found out. The Ministry of Magic refuses to put someone in Azkaban unless they are absolutely, one hundred percent positive that person performed acts of terror, or supported Voldemort, of their own accord. Do you know how hard it is to be one hundred percent sure of that? What does that tell you about our Ministry?"
" That they're corrupt!" someone shouted out.
" No" Fairhart replied, holding up his finger. " Not corrupt. Misguided. Their morals have made them inefficient, particularly the Law Enforcement branches."
Albus felt as though this were a personal jab at his heart. His father was Head Auror after all. And was Fairhart not an Auror too? Who was he to complain about inefficiency?
" So now this brings us to the key part of our little history lesson. There are witches and wizards, dangerous ones, who have avoided incarceration. And yet, they can kill again. Who's going to prevent this? Who's going to stop them? This was the state of our world after Voldemort fell. Dangerous people now had no leader to rally behind. Scary right? So what happened in the years following Voldemorts fall? Well I'm going to tell you."
The class stared hungrily at him, eager for information. Even Albus, despite still feeling the personal attack against his father, was interested. For a few moments, he forgot Mirra. But only a few.
Fairhart resumed sitting down atop his desk and searched carefully for how to word what he was going to say. After several moments, he spoke.
" Does anybody know what a Renegade is?"
The entire classroom, even Scorpius, shook their heads no. Fairhart continued.
" I thought not. The term was thrown around heavily before you were all born, I doubted that any of you would know what it means, in wizarding terms anyway. A Renegade is a term applied to a wizard or witch who, despite what the law says about being ' innocent until proven guilty' took it upon themselves to murder or incapaciate wizards or witches accused of, though never proven of, using the dark arts during the war. In lamest terms, Rengades are wizarding vigilantes."
He paused briefly to let the class soak this information in, then resumed speaking.
" The day before Voldemort was defeated he was just as powerful as he had been any other day. Hours before it happened, he was still the darkest, most feared wizard of all time. And he was killed seemingly overnight. People awoke the net morning to learn that the source of their fear was gone. Voldemorts fall inspired these people like nothing before it. This miracle gave them a revelation. If Voldemort could be stopped by someone who was not an auror, then what was stopping them from catching dark wizards themselves? Suddenly, the fear was gone. Suddenly, the Death eaters who were never arrested were the ones being terrorized. Terrorized by the public."
" Fact. In the four years following Voldemorts defeat, more Renegades were arrested than Death Eaters. And who were these Renegades? I'll tell you who they were. The man who watched his wife be murdered...and saw the Death Eater who did it, the Death Eater who wasn't in Azkaban because of lack of sufficient evidence, and murdered him in cold blood. He was a Renegade. He was put in Azkaban, probably still there. That woman, that sweet woman whose children were tortured and killed. And she found the wizard who did it, wasn't even a Death Eater, and she killed him so that no mother would ever have to feel the pain of losing their children to him like she did. Azkaban. Time and time again, these men and women were placed in Azkaban, and that rallied more and more of them."
" It started weeks after Voldemorts fall. Two wizards saw a man who they had seen torturing muggles during the war. They killed him and were sentenced to Azkaban. Half of the public claimed they were no better than the Death Eaters themselves. The other half? Called them heroes. The media bought into it, it became a movement. There were groups of them, even. I recall one particular group, named themselves ' Wands and Redemption'. They consisted of some of the most brutal Renegades known at the time, more than half are in Azkaban now. They'd kill you if you were even so much as suspected of using the dark arts. It didn't matter if you did or didn't. It didn't matter if you were under the Imperius Curse. If you looked like the person who had watched someone be killed, hadn't even actually done it, they'd kill you on the spot. Ministry could have confirmed his innocence the next day. And this went on for years. Voldemort died. The war continued."
The class stared at him, mouths wide open. No one had ever heard these things before, nor had they expected to hear it when they entered the classroom, Albus was sure...
" Are there still Renegades today?" someone up front asked.
" Oh yes, not active, but there are. Many Renegades were never caught, some of them even started wearing masks in the later years. I believe the last case of a Renegade being charged and found guilty happened around fifteen years ago, they haven't been active since then. No, eventually it died down. But some Renegades...some are just as hunted today as some Death Eaters. And not all of them were caught too. No, there's a small group of wizards and witches the Ministry never found guilty and who the Renegades never caught. Renegades and Death Eaters. Both killers. Both walk among us today."
He stood up and began pacing again at this, as though he wanted to wrap this particular conversation up. There was only ten minutes left in the class.
" This was a dark time in the wizarding world. The Ministry would not want me talking about it, let alone elaborate on it, believe I know, I work there. Nor would your parents I think. But it is essential that you know this, because now I must inquire something of you. Renegades used the killing curse, for what they believed was a just cause. Is the curse still ' dark magic'? Is killing still part of the dark arts?"
" Yes" Albus said, before he could stop himself. He had found the entire conversation engrossing yes, but he knew what point Fairhart was trying to make and he disagreed with it. His father had told him, years ago, that there were dark wizards in the world, and that they did bad things and killing was one of them. Killing was bad, no matter which way you spun it.
Fairhart smiled at him, and the rest of the class turned to look at him. " Mr. Potter!" he said. " I believe that this is the first time you've spoken in my class all year! I've nearly marked you as absent a few times! You've stated your opinion, please explain it."
" Killing is wrong" he said simply.
" I daresay you'll find that few disagree with you" Fairhart said. " I think that it takes a powerful wizard to use the killing curse. But it takes an even stronger one when to know what gives them the right to use it, and to use it for the right cause. You don't think that there's a right cause Mr. Potter? You think that the Renegades were wrong?"
" The Renegades killed because they thought it was the right thing to do" Albus replied. " The Death Eaters knew it was wrong."
" Perhaps" Fairhart said. " But now I ask you Mr. Potter, and I pray that you are never in this situation, what would you do if given the option? If a man has murdered five hundred, and you had the opportunity to kill him before he could murder five hundred more, you would not do it? You would let him continue to kill?"
Albus felt his face go red. He had been in that situation before, or at least one close to it. The previous year he could have killed Ares, he had the Dragonfang Wand in his hands. And he had chosen not to do it. And yet...he had struggled. The wand had told him - no he had told himself- that he needed to take Ares' life. Who knows what would have happened had his father not shown up?
He decided to dodge the question. " It doesn't matter" he said. " It doesn't matter who's doing it for what reason, killing is still wrong."
The class was looking back and forth between Albus and Fairhart now, eager to see who caved first. Albus felt his temper rising. Fairhart was not just arguing with him, he was arguing with his father too. What gave him that right? Who was he to deny what his father, the man who had defeated the darkest wizard of all time, had said?
" So then the Renegades belong in Azkaban? And the wizards who were never confirmed as Death Eaters, let alone as users of the dark arts in general, they don't? They're allowed to walk free?"
Albus felt himself shaking with fury. Fairhart was twisting everything that he said. When he didn't speak, Fairhart continued.
" Albus makes a very good point" he said, now addressing the class. " The act of killing goes against nature. Who are we to decide who lives and who dies? And yet, this decision can often save as many lives at it takes. The killing curse is often described as part of the dark arts. But you are not facing the killing curse, you are facing the person using it, the person who may just feel justified in doing so -"
" So Voldemort wasn't so bad after all, huh!" Albus yelled out, rising from his seat before he could stop himself, and the class gasped. He even saw Morrison mouthing wordlessly at him. " He had a right to kill those innocent people, because he felt justified in doing it!? That's what you're say-"
" One hundred points from Slytherin!" Fairhart barked, and the class gasped once more. Fairharts face, the side that wasn't mangled anyway, was now a bright red, he looked furious. it was the first time that he had lost his composure all year. " How dare you! I never said - I've never claimed- I never will....how dare you!?"
Albus knew that he had crossed the line, but he could do little else than stare, his face equally red.
" You were not alive!" Fairhart yelled. " You know nothing, nothing of the atrocities committed...the families torn asunder...I was making the point that killing was justified when used against men like him...how dare you!"he repeated.
The bell rang at the next second, and the class shuffled past Fairhart as fast as they could. Albus expected to be told to stay, but he wasn't. Fairhart merely sat behind his desk while Albus quickly exited the classroom.
No sooner had he left then Morrison addressed what had happened.
" Mate...what was that all about?" he said, a bewildered look on his face.
" I don't want to talk about it" he muttered back through gritted teeth. The truth was, he knew why he had picked a fight with Fairhart. He had been trying to vent his anger and frustration over Mirra, and all that it had done was lost Slytherin one hundred points.
They walked down the hallway in silence, though the people around them were muttering about his outburst. Scorpius spoke as they turned the corner.
" I think one hundred points was a little much" he said, clearly trying to make his friend feel better. " Maybe you should go and talk to him and clear-"
" No!" Albus shouted, loud enough for the entire hallway to hear him. Then, without thinking, something that had occurred quite frequently today, he inarticulately shouted a slew of curse words that made several people gasp. He had hoped that yelling would make him feel better, but alas, it did nothing.
" Detention" came a voice that he barely recognized from behind him.
He spun around on the spot and saw James standing behind him, his prefect badge perfectly visible, his arms at his hips. He had never looked more like an authority figure. Albus realized that this was the first word that his brother had said to him in weeks, but he was far too distracted to mention this.
" What?" he said.
" Detention" James repeated, his cold eyes not even blinking. " Student code of conduct forbids profanity, vulgarity, or any form of obscenity from being said loud enough for other students in the general vicinity to hear it. Normally I would let someone off with a warning...but don't expect any favors" he finished icily.
Albus stared at him, mouth wide open, though unable to speak. Even Morrison and Scorpius seemed to be at a loss for words. And without further ado, his brother pushed past him and continued down the hall as though nothing had happened.
It did not take long for the news to spread. Within the hour, everyone seemed to know that Albus Potter had screwed over his house again. Though still early in the year, losing one hundred points was bound to make it nearly impossible to come back and win the house cup. What was more, his detention banned him from playing the first match of the season, which, Albus thought bitterly, meant that he had been better off taking it weeks ago. At least then he would still have the cloak, anyway.
He meandered through the halls of Hogwarts for the next two hours or so, completely void of a destination. Scorpius and Morrison had returned to the common room to leave him alone, which he was grateful for. He was just about to bang his head against a random wall when he heard his name.
" Potter!"
He turned and saw that it was Atticus. His heart sunk.
" Potter, what's this I hear about you being banned from the first match of the season!?" he asked, now face to face with him.
" I got a detention" Albus muttered back, trying not to make eye contact.
Atticus threw his arms up in the air. " How? Why?"
" My brother" Albus said, hoping that at least James could end up taking some of the blame for this. " He was way out of line really....gave me detention for cursing."
" Cursing?"Atticus said, astounded. " Your a teenager, of course you curse!"
" Student code of conduct says-" he started lazily.
" Well bully for the code of conduct!" Atticus said. " Go sort this out with Professor Longbottom! Detention for cursing....stupidest thing I've ever heard..."
And so, Albus departed from Atticus and went to the third floor to meet Neville. He could not fathom how his Herbology professor could possibly help, but as trying was better than nothing, he knocked on the door to Neville's office and took a deep breath.
" Come in."
Albus entered and saw Neville sitting at his desk. His office was small and cramped, and smelled strongly of fertilizer. He could see numerous potted plants, some of which were actually moving. Neville looked up, he appeared to have been writing something. " Albus?" he said. " How can I help you?"
Albus closed the door behind him. " Hi" he said. " Ermm...I wanted to talk to you about something real quick?"
Neville quickly organized the papers at his desk, then became much more business like. " Yes?"
" Ermm...James gave me a detention earlier" he said, unsure of if that was the right way to start.
" Yes, James is a prefect" Neville said. " I believe Professor McGonagall did that to see if it would help him mature. Was this detention randomly assigned? Was there a purpose to it?"
" Well" Albus started, and he started scratching the back of his head, if not for the mere purpose of occupying his hands. " I cursed out loud" he said. " And James gave me one."
Neville frowned. " I'm sorry Albus. Profanity is a legitimate reason. Most times, you can be given some lee-way if it's a first time offense, but James did have the right to do that. Indeed, he was obligated to."
" I know" Albus said quickly. " But I'm on the Quidditch team, and now I can't play the first game. Is there anyway that I could serve a normal detention, instead of that being my punishment?"
Neville frowned again. " Nothing in my power" he said. " I'm sorry. The most you could to is go to your Head of House and see if he could assign you a normal one. As the prefect was from my house, I have no say in the matter. I'm sure Professor Fairhart would be willing to help you."
Albus groaned. " Is there no other way?" he said desperately. Fairhart had already taken one hundred points from him today. He did not want to see him again.
" I'm afraid not" Neville said.
Albus left Nevilles office feeling even worse than he had before. He knew that Fairhart would never do him a favor, especially not after the fiasco that had just occurred. Feeling that it would be best to not inform Atticus of this disappointment right away, he neglected to return to the common room. He instead spent the rest of the day in the Room of Requirement, refusing to even join his housemates for dinner.
He knew that he could not hide all day however, as if he were caught in the halls after hours things would only turn worse. He finally re-entered his common room just before nine o' clock, and saw, to his immense relief, that it was empty. Almost empty, anyway.
" Where've you been?" Scorpius said once he had entered. He was sitting on one of the comfortable armchairs by the fire, a large book open on his lap.
" Room of Requirement" Albus said sulkily. " Morrison in bed?"
Scorpius nodded. There was a moment of silence, and then he spoke. " So...bad day huh?"
Albus groaned and took a seat in the armchair across from him. He did not need Scorpius' sarcasm, not now. Feeling it would be best to not answer, he stared into the fire, ignoring his friends question.
" Look mate, I know it doesn't matter, but a lot of people don't blame you for the hundred points. Everyone says that's way too much. Fairhart was bang out of order-"
" It's not just that" Albus said grimly. " Today was the worst" he added, and he truly meant it.
" No chance of playing Quidditch?" Scorpius asked. " Atticus mentioned you were going to talk to Professor Longbottom-"
" It's not that either" Albus said,still staring into the fire. Losing one hundred points hurt, as did being unable to play Quidditch. And James giving him a detention out of pure spite was a low blow. But no, those weren't the worst thing. It was something else that he would be losing sleep over tonight. The thought that Mirra was dating Eckley. The thought that right now, at this very moment, they were in their common room holding hands...and laughing together...and kissing...
" Is it Mirra dating that idiot?" Scorpius said suddenly.
Albus turned to him, ready to voice what he had been keeping inside all day.
" It just doesn't make any sense!" he blurted out. " What's so good about him?"
" Well I hate complimenting the kid as much as you do" Scorpius said. " But he is popular, and supposedly attractive, and all that."
" But he's an ass!" Albus responded. " He bullied us last year! And he's always saying those arrogant things, and bragging and boasting...she shouldn't be with someone like that! She should be with someone-"
" - Like you?" Scorpius finished for him.
Albus pretended to not understand what he had meant. " What are you talking about?" he said.
Scorpius rolled his eyes and closed his book." You know exactly what I'm talking about, and if you don't, then you're the only one who doesn't."
Albus stared at him. Of all the people that he considered confessing his feelings for Mirra too,Scorpius had been the least likely. Morrison at least would try to ease the situation...but Scorpius' sardonic attitude sometimes got the better of him. But still....he was one of his two best friends....and he had started the conversation...
" I like Mirra" Albus said. " A lot. Like, really a lot."
" I know" Scorpius said. " Pretty much everyone who knows you knows. You made it pretty obvious."
Albus scoffed at him. " I did not!"
" You most certainly did!"
" Name one time!"
Scorpius put his hand to his chin, mockingly suggesting that he was in deep thought. " Oh, I don't know, maybe when you dragged us into a dungeon filled with lethal mist to save her!"
" That was to save the wizarding world!" he replied indignantly.
" Or how about how whenever me and Morrison had an idea last year, it was stupid, but when Mirra said it, it was brilliant!"
" She makes more sense than you guys! She's better with words-"
" Or how about how every time you've been near her this year you've stared at her until she looked back, then acted like you weren't looking?"
Scorpius said this particular one with a smirk, and Albus now understood. He had seen the way Albus had looked at her when she was bandaging his hand. And he had seen it every other time too...
Albus buried his head in his hands. " Does everyone really know?" he said.
Scorpius shrugged. " Pretty much. She probably doesn't though, now that I think about it. You guys are such good friends. She probably thinks of you as like a brother or something."
Albus did not know the intended effect of this statement, but it made him feel fifty times worse. A brother?
He heaved a sigh. " What do I do?" he asked hopelessly. " She's with Eckley..."
Scorpius snorted. " Al, they're thirteen. You act like they're getting married, like they're going to live happily ever after together. This is just a crush. Only a mutual one. Lots of people get their first crush at thirteen."
" Who's yours?" Albus spat, and Scorpius ignored this question, though he went slightly pink.
" Look don't focus on it so much. You're still her friend. And this thing won't last forever."
" So you think I have a chance?" Albus asked quickly.
A very pained expression appeared on his friends face. He looked as though he were struggling with how to word his sentence. " Honestly" he said. " No, I don't."
Albus hung his head, defeated.
" Sorry" Scorpius said.
" Why not?" Albus asked.
Scorpius frowned. " Take a good look around mate."
Albus stared at him, then actually glanced left and right.
" Notice anything?" Scorpius said.
Albus continued to stare blankly. " What am I supposed to be seeing?"
" You're in the Slytherin common room!" Scorpius practically shouted. " Of course she likes Eckley! She has every class with him, eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him, she's always with him. You have two classes with her. You barely see her otherwise. When's the last time you went to the library to meet up, eh? You're in an entirely different house, and the worst one to be in too! Trust me mate, my entire family's been in Slytherin, and when you're in Slytherin, you either date someone from your own house, or you're single."
" That's not true!" Albus replied, sweating profusely.
" It is" Scorpius said sadly. " When's the last time you saw a Slytheirn and Gryffindor holding hands? There's still bad blood with our house mate, especially with Gryffindor."
" I wouldn't care" Albus said through gritted teeth.
" But would she?" Scorpius said. " She didn't come to Hogwarts expecting friends mate. She didn't come here expecting to make it to her third year. She's pretty popular over there in Gryffindor. You think she'd throw that away?"
Albus hung his head once more, lost for words.
" There's just too many things in the way" Scorpius said. "Sorry. But you have to let it go before it gets worse. Someone had to tell you..."
" I'll talk to Morrison about this tomorrow" Albus said, rising from seat and walking up the stairs to his dormitory. He didn't want to talk to Scorpius anymore. He didn't want to hear about how he could never get Mirra to like him back, he didn't want to hear about how there were too many things in the way. But as he closed the dormitory door behind him, he knew that everything that Scorpius had said had been the painful truth.
He collapsed on his bed, unable to sleep. He didn't hear Scorpius enter all night.
