~*Chapter 9*~
Sunstones
Scorpius glanced at his parents, then back to Al, obviously unsure how to react. "Um. Hi," he finally muttered. He made a lame gesture between Al and his parents. "This is Al and Lily."
"Potter," Draco put in. His wife blinked, clearly startled, but she didn't say anything.
"Nice hat," Lily said sweetly, and Al lifted his hand to hide a grin.
Scorpius flushed. His coat was nice, nicer than anything Al owned, but the hat was clearly homemade. It was too large for his head, and whoever had knitted it had tried to make it striped with emerald and silver, the Slytherin colors. The stripes, however, varied wildly in width and ended up making more of a spiral around the crown. It was lumpy and ridiculous, and did not suit him at all.
Scorpius opened his mouth for a retort, but his mother gave a weak laugh from where she was drooping on the bench. "It's awful, I know," she said. "I was never very good at crochet or knitting. I worked hard on it, but in the end I gave it to him as a sort of joke." She smiled fondly up at her son. "Yet he kindly insists on wearing it."
Scorpius turned even redder, mouth twisted in an uncomfortable grimace.
Lily looked mortified. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know- I mean, it's very nice..." she trailed off pathetically. Mrs. Malfoy just laughed again, waving her hand to show she had not taken offense.
"Have you been in the Crystal Cave?" Al asked quickly, hoping to steer the conversation to safer shores. "Lily was curious about it."
"Oh, it's lovely," Mrs. Malfoy said, perking up a bit. "You really should see it. It's just over..." She looked to and fro, then pointed in a direction. "Just over there somewhere, I think. Past that garish tent. Scorpius, dear, you can show them."
"They have a map," Scorpius pointed out.
"Be nice, dear. And I know you'd like to spend at least some time today with your little friends. I need to get off my feet for a bit anyway."
"Dear," Draco started to protest, but she talked right over him.
"Oh, let him have some fun with children his own age for once. Go on, Scorpius, enjoy yourself." She smiled at Al, then began digging around in her handbag.
Scorpius and Al eyed each other a little warily, but when Draco didn't say anything else, Scorpius jerked his head and led the way through the crowd. The people were packed tightly here; there were several game booths set up. Lily ended up latching onto Al's hand to keep from being lost in the crowd, and Al had to follow very closely behind Scorpius.
"Well at least I'll be able to pick you out of the crowd," Al teased. "I just have to look for that hat."
Scorpius turned a glare on him, but Al only smiled impudently back.
"Ohhh, what's that?" Lily suddenly cried, tugging on Al's hand to stop him.
Some of the booths were actually selling things. The gaudy mauve booth Lily was pointing at had a man demonstrating with a pair of trainers with buzzing wings on the heels that levitated him a good six inches off the ground. Several adult witches and wizards were watching with amusement, unimpressed, but the children seemed fascinated.
"Merlin's beard, I hope Fred or Roxanne haven't seen this booth," Al said. "Can you imagine the trouble they'd get into whizzing all over the castle in those?"
"It'd make getting to class on time easier," Lily giggled.
"Yeah, until Fogworth or one of the Professors nicked 'em," Scorpius drawled. Al hadn't realized he'd hung back to look. "There's no way those would be allowed."
"What about those?" Lily pointed excitedly to the next booth. "Look, Al, little figurines of all the magical creatures here at the fair. I want to see if they've got a pegasus!" And before Al could stop her, she wiggled past the crowd and made her way towards the booth.
"Great, she's going to blow all the money Dad gave her on a tiny prancing horse whose enchantment will likely wear out in a month." With a heavy sigh, Al sat down on the nearest bench to wait for her.
After a moment's hesitation, Scorpius took a seat as well, though he kept a healthy distance between them. He opened the Carnival map to study it.
Al glanced over at him, searching for a conversation topic. Mr. Malfoy had looked a little haggard. As if he wasn't sleeping well. Even Mrs. Malfoy, though friendly, had borne shadows under her eyes. Al couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with what Scorpius had said in Hogsmeade about infighting amongst some of the purebloods. But bringing it up was sure to put Scorpius in a foul mood or even make him leave, so instead Al pointed to the map.
"My dad owned a map like that once. It was made by my grandfather and his friends. It showed everyone in Hogwarts, and where they were."
Scorpius glanced at him sidelong. "I heard it mentioned once, though I thought it was bullocks." Al wondered if Draco had been the one to let mention of it slip, but didn't ask. "I always thought it was a great idea for a spell, but it seemed really tricky." He looked back at the map. "This one is even more clever. Being able to find someone specific instead of a load of names all over the place cluttering it up."
"Unless you were trying to figure out who was who," Al said, pointing to a random dot. "This map only shows you who you're looking for. My father's map was able to tell you who might be sneaking up on you down the hall, even if they were disguised."
"Hm." Scorpius frowned slightly, finger skimming along the masses of dots. "What if you had a map that could do both?"
"That would be amazing," Al admitted. "But I've never heard of such a thing. My father's map was pretty large; it had to be, to show everywhere and everyone without, well... 'cluttering it up'. This map is too small to show everyone."
"So with a big enough map, you could do both." Scorpius lifted his head slightly and stared off into space. "I've never heard of anyone doing it, either. But then, this is the first time I've seen a map like this. I suppose very few wizards could figure out the correct spells to make it work."
Al studied his expression, trying to catalog it. It wasn't one he recalled seeing Scorpius wear before. Intense but detached at the same time. He was picking the problem apart in his mind, Al realized. Trying to decode the secret of it and guess how it might have been done.
"D'you think it would take some sort of transfiguration?"
Scorpius blinked, seeming to come back to himself. "Probably." His eyes dropped to the map again. "Some complicated charms, too." He frowned suddenly, stuffing the map in his pocket. "But that sort of thing could turn out to be dangerous, too. In the wrong hands."
"You think you could ever make something like that?"
Scorpius finally looked right at him, mouth still turned slightly downwards, though his eyes were thoughtful. "I dunno. I like trying to figure out how certain spells are done. Or undone. I suppose it's why I enjoy Transfiguration class."
Al found himself fascinated. This was a glimpse of Scorpius he had been unaware of. Picking apart unknown or complicated spells was not his idea of a good time, and he suspected he was not clever enough for it. But it cast Scorpius in a different light, somehow, knowing such complicated puzzles were what kept him preoccupied in his downtime. "My Uncle Bill used to be a curse breaker. For Gringotts. He got to travel all over the world deciphering and breaking curses that protected treasure and other things like that. Maybe you should think about getting a job like that after school."
"A curse breaker?" Scorpius frowned again, his brows knitted. "I didn't even know such a job existed." He looked away, lost in thought for a few moments, then sighed quietly and shrugged, dismissing the idea. "Father would never approve."
"So what? It's your life, isn't it?"
Scorpius clenched his hands together tightly in his lap, still looking away. "Yeah. But I think he has his hopes set on me working at the Ministry."
Al turned his attention back to the crowded booths, wondering if Lily was still picking out a figurine. He was thinking perhaps he ought to wade into the throng and fish her out when Scorpius asked with casual disinterest, "How big would it have to be?"
"What?"
"A map like that. You said your father's was large."
"Oh. Er... I dunno. I've never actually seen it. He might've lost it. Or just didn't want me or James to ask to bring it to school. But he did say when it was fully opened, it practically covered his whole bed." He made folding gestures with his hands. "It folded up multiple times so that it could be carried around. Parts of it were cut and then reattached, and then they folded. For the different floors, I suppose."
"Hm." Scorpius had that pensive look on his face again.
Just then Lily wiggled her way out of the crowd and hurried over, empty-handed. "They were all out of pegasus," she sighed.
"Pegasi," Scorpius corrected automatically.
Lily made a face at him, and Al had to turn his head to hide a smile. "Whatever. Anyway, they had a unicorn one, but they were all really expensive, so I guess I'll hang onto my gold for now. I can always check back later if I don't find any other souvenirs to buy." She looked suddenly worried. "But what if all the good ones are sold out by then?"
"Never mind," Al said firmly, getting to his feet. "Come on, I thought you wanted to see the Crystal Cave."
Scorpius took the lead again, and soon they found the queue for the cave. Al could not tell if the hillside was real or manufactured by hand or magic somehow, but it certainly looked like a grassy hillside from where he was standing. There was a craggy cave opening that clumps of people were being let into, and even from where they stood at the back of the line, they could see something sparkling enticingly from inside.
"So what is it, really?" Al asked, arching a brow at Scorpius. He had half expected the boy to abandon them as soon as they found the place, and was hoping to distract him. "Just a bunch of crystals stuck in the walls?"
"Yes and no." Scorpius reached into his pocket and held out what looked like a chunk of glass or quartz smaller than his thumb. Every time he turned it and let the sun hit it, it sent off myriad rainbow flashes.
"Ooo, so pretty," Lily breathed, entranced.
"You don't know what this is?" Scorpius gave them both a haughty look. "Of course you don't. This is a rainbow crystal."
"Aptly named," Al said dryly. "Big deal. Does it actually do anything besides glitter like that?"
Scorpius sighed as if disappointed in Al's ignorance. He obviously enjoyed proving he knew more than they did. "The weaker ones do. One like this, for instance, would usually just be cut into jewelry. It's really popular for engagement rings and pendants and the like. My mother has one passed on from her grandmother. She figures she'll pass it to me some day, I suppose. Anyway, this one's kind of milky, see? Cloudy. But the strong ones are clear, and they shine like crazy. Another name for them is sunstone. You leave one out in the sun for a day and it will store the light and then shine with it for eight or twelve hours. You keep it in a little lead box, and then take it out in the dark and it'll light up the room. Supposedly they're also used when making crystal balls for seers. You grind it up and mix it with the molten glass, and it's supposed to hold onto prophecies so you can store them. But they're pretty expensive." He pocketed the crystal. "Anyway, pretty much all the crystals in the cave are fake. Glass, quartz, things like that. They've just been enchanted to glow and sparkle. If you were to bring a fake one out into the sunlight, it'd be obvious right away. But there's a room you go through, near the end, and the floor is just covered in pieces like this one. You're allowed to pick one up. Most of them are garbage. Just pieces of the fakes throughout the cave. But some, like this one," he patted his pocket with a smug look, "are real. My mother actually found this one, but she gave it to me. Early Christmas gift. It doesn't have any practical use, a cloudy one like this, but she says I should hang onto it and maybe one day I'll want to get it fashioned into some sort of jewelry." He rolled his eyes. Al suspected he was more interested in owning a rare and expensive sunstone for the prestige than he was in owning any jewelry it might be crafted into.
Lily was practically bouncing in place. "Al, can you imagine if we pick up a real sunstone? Even if it's one of those cloudy ones, I could have a necklace or a ring made out of it! Or one of the other ones, the clear ones, how useful that would be. Let's go!" She tried to push them both towards the line.
"They only let you go through once a day," Scorpius said, sidestepping her hand. "Otherwise just about everyone would be tromping through nonstop, digging for real sunstones."
"How long does it take to go through the cave?" Al asked.
Scorpius shrugged. "I dunno, maybe ten minutes?"
Al hesitated, glancing from the cave to Lily. He did not have any particular interest in owning a sunstone. And if he and Lily went in now, Scorpius would surely return to his parents.
Lily seemed to sense his reluctance. "I can go in without you," she said quickly. "You wouldn't really be leaving me alone. It's just ten minutes, and I'll be with a group, like the others." She pointed towards the front of the line, where the wizard checking tickets was selecting five customers to let through.
"Well... all right, but-"
Lily barely waited for his agreement before rushing off to join the queue. Scorpius shifted his feet awkwardly, perhaps wondering why Al had remained behind and if his mother would scold him for returning so quickly.
"C'mon," Al said. "Let's try some of these game booths."
Scorpius tagged along reluctantly, but by the time they'd played Rescue the House Elf, Bullseye the Dementor, and Toad Racing, he was in better spirits.
Al was teasing him about his lousy aim as they tried to lob spinning firecracker rings onto dancing bottles, when it occurred to him that it had been well over ten minutes and Lily had still not returned.
As soon as they finished the game, Al took out the Carnival map and tapped it with his wand. "Lily Potter." One of the dots immediately lit up. To Al's surprise, she seemed to just be emerging from the cage. "How is she just now finishing? It's been like twenty minutes already."
Looking over his shoulder at the map, Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned. His score in the ring toss had been miserably low, just enough to earn him a chocolate frog, which he was already unwrapping. "Maybe the queue to get in moved slower than expected." He caught the frog when it tried to leap away, and dug the card out of the wrapper. He looked at it, grunted, and flipped it around for Al to see. Al found himself staring at a tiny moving portrait of his father. Underneath the photo was a description and a very short biography.
Harry J. Potter – The Boy Who Lived – The Chosen One – Hero of the Second Wizarding War
Best known as the only known survivor of the Killing Curse and the vanquisher of Lord Voldemort during the second Wizarding War.
A talented Seeker in Hogwarts Quidditch and discoverer of the Chamber of Secrets in his youth, he became a skilled Auror.
Harry is currently married to Ginny Potter (née Weasley), previously of the Holyhead Harpies. Father of three children.
"Mom keeps these every time she finds one," Al admitted with a grin. The Harry in the portrait smiled and waved. "She's got a box full. She knows it annoys Dad. I think he was pleased to be put on the cards, but not with all the ridiculous titles they put on there with him. At least he actually looks like an adult in this one. The oldest ones she has, he's only eighteen or so."
"Al!" Lily came running up, beaming and clutching something in her fist. "It was so pretty in there. Here, hold out you hand."
He did so automatically, and she dropped a crystal into his hand. It was bigger than Scorpius's, about half the length of his wand, but thicker. It glittered and shone so much he had to squint. "Is this-?"
"A clear sunstone!" Lily looked immensely pleased with herself.
Scorpius was staring at the crystal with his mouth slightly agape. "How did you get one so big?"
Lily shrugged, glancing away. "I dug around a lot. There were a few bigger ones like this, but I had a good feeling about this one. Anyway..." She smiled again. "Al, it's for you. An early Christmas present, because I couldn't really think of anything good to get you this year, so what I did get you is kinda lame. This can make up for it!"
"Lily, that's too much," Al protested, trying to hand it back. "You found it, it's a really lucky find. You keep it."
"It's okay, I have another one." She reached in her pocket and pulled out one a little smaller than Scorpius's, and similarly clouded. "I can make this one into jewelry some day."
"You're only supposed to take one," Scorpius said, looking irritated. "You can't just steal two. How did they not notice you had two? They checked everyone with the Accio spell before they were allowed to leave the cave when I went through earlier."
Lily flushed. "I... um... someone had dropped this one. Right outside the cave. Maybe they didn't want one that was all cloudy or whatever. I figured I'd keep this one and Al could have the other one."
Al looked from the shining crystal to his sister, unsure. "Lily-"
"There you are!"
They turned, startled. Andrew and Dustin were hurrying over, grinning. Andrew was waving the Carnival map over his head. "This thing's bloody useful. I was afraid I'd have to search for you all over the pla- What is he doing here?" His smile turned quickly into a scowl as he noticed Scorpius. "Nice hat, Malfoy. Did you dig it out of a rubbish bin?"
"Hey," Al snapped, but Scorpius flicked the Harry Potter card at Al, spun on his heel, and stormed off. Al picked the card up out of the dirt and turned to give Andrew an impatient look. "He was actually being nice to me for once. What'd you have to go at him like that for?"
Andrew shrugged, unmoved. "You can't trust him, Al, I keep tellin' ya. Anyway, what rides have you done? Dustin and I only just got here about ten minutes ago. I want to try everything." He and Dustin seemed to notice the crystal in Al's hand at the same time. "What is that?"
"I know what that is," Dustin said excitedly. "That's a sunstone! My grandmother had one, but someone stole it from her a few years ago. They're really rare, how did you get one?"
Lily began explaining the cave, and Al glanced back to see if Scorpius was still in sight. He'd slipped away into the crowd, however, and was long gone.
Afterwards, as they threaded their way through the crowds to visit the barrel ride that had so disturbed Mrs. Malfoy, Lily tugged on Al's sleeve to slow him down a bit.
"I saw another one," she whispered. "That weird snake picture. Someone carved it into one of the crystals right inside the Crystal Cave. One of the wizards working there saw it and got really weird about it, he rushed us right by it."
Al frowned. "Maybe the others are right, and it really is just some silly graffiti. It pops up in the weirdest places, but doesn't seem to actually mean anything." He ruffled her hair when she looked ready to argue. "Don't worry about it, Lily. And thanks for the sunstone. Maybe it'll come in handy some day. Now c'mon, forget about that weird drawing. Let's just enjoy the Carnival."
