In Which There is an Incident
Albus
The training room was colder than usual.
It was usually kept at a brisk temperature but today it seemed to be particularly frigid, Al remarked as he aimed another hit at the decrepit punching bag. He could have sworn it had been there since his father was in training.
Al and Scorpius had only eight more months until they became full-fledged Aurors. As they were the only two in their class, they had spent hours together. And because they shared the same flat, that was both inside and out of the Ministry. At first Albus had been weary about spending so much time with the son of his father's Hogwarts rival. But as he learned more about his now best mate, Albus realized that Scorpius was trying to break away from the stereotypes his father seemed to have been forced into at the young age of 16. They did not talk about the past much, both seeing the future as a far more important part of their lives. However, when it would come up- as it inevitably did- Scorpius was obviously ashamed of his grandfather's atrocities. One of the reasons Scorpius wanted to become an Auror, he once confessed to Al, was too repent for the sins of his ancestors and become the man his father always wished he was.
Harry Potter had never said much about the Malfoy's growing up. They just were another family in the wizarding world. Though their acts in the war were not forgotten. Harry just did not see the point of putting someone down for the things they themselves did not do. Some others did not feel the same. When it came out (in [large] part due to Albus) that Rose and Scorpius were friends, there was a mixed reaction amongst the family. While many, including Uncle Ron, were not happy at the friendship there was nothing anyone could do to stop Rose from befriending who she wanted. Even if the older members were not particularly thrilled she was studying with a pure blood, they eventually accepted that the world was much different than it had been. And now that Al and Scorpius were so close, the topic of the blonde man's heritage rarely came up at Potter or Weasley family dinners. At least not in front of Albus, who was sure to give anyone a mouthful if they were to judge someone based on the name they had no choice in carrying.
Al could not speak for his friend, but he could imagine it was not easy for Scorpius to go around with the name that he did. Al knew a little something about the weight of a name and sometimes he didn't know what would be worse: having expectations be unattainably high because of your surname or bottom of the barrel because of it.
And besides, they had bigger things to worry about then quarrels of their ancestors. The way Albus saw it was that if his family couldn't see what a great guy Scorpius was based off of the things he had done, then he could not care less about their opinion because it was clearly not based on any sort of fact. Like his cousin Molly who simply regurgitated the things she read that had hate for those whose families followed Voldemort. She did not have any thoughts for herself on the matter but would vomit up hateful speech that was almost as bad as calling someone a mudblood. Any kind of hate was bad, no matter what "side" you claimed to be on. That was one of the reasons Al had decided to become an Auror. He did not want to see innocent people hurt because of someone's bigoted and biased views.
Back in the training room, it was just Albus and Scorpius. They were third years and therefore the oldest in the academy. Most of the Aurors would be on assignment at this time of day and the newbies were still in orientation. The second years were on special opps somewhere in Ireland. The room was quiet except for the grunts of the two young men. Scorpius was busy stretching in a corner and every few minutes practicing pulling out his wand and aiming a silent spell at the wall for practice. The wall would absorb whatever he would throw at it, turning different colors to match the strength of whatever he was casting.
Albus continued to throw punches at the bag, his mind wandering like it would in the shower. They did not have much to do as their trainer had taken a day off to visit her father in Wales.
Albus thought of his own father down the hall. Harry had not gone out on any seriously dangerous missions since around the time James was born, opting instead for a desk job and letting the younger women and men take on the more taxing operations. Albus wondered if that too would be his fate. If he would also one day be sitting at a desk in a cold room filling out paper work watching others go out into battle. His father never complained though, claiming he had seen enough battle in his day. And while Albus understood that he could still help people even if he wasn't physically out there on the streets, he decided he didn't want that to be his fate. He would never want to be stuck doing paperwork forever.
Albus continued to think about his future. Where he would be in a the next few years. He was young, only 21. But at the same time at this age his father had already saved the wizarding world and was engaged to Ginny. There was no one Al could conceivably see himself getting engaged to. The majority of women he knew and saw on a regular basis either were Aurors or his cousins, both of which were off limits for so many reasons. The only person he could think of that could be a possible romantic partner was Meghan, who drove him up a wall or Alice.
Alice.
Al paused for a second in his punching. She was not someone he had ever really thought of romantically. He had even said she was like a sister. But that wasn't true because he thought of her and Lily in very different lights. Alice was just Alice. Not anything more or less. But that didn't make any sense because she was so much more than just a name given to her. She was her own person with a life Albus realized he didn't know much about. He was not even 100% sure of what she did for a living.
I've known her my entire life but I don't actually know her at all, Albus concluded. That's pretty shite of me.
Before Albus could strain his mind thinking up facts about Alice Longbottom, Scorpius interrupted.
"Wanna spar?"
Albus stopped punching the beaten up bag.
"Sure."
The two stood a few feet apart, slowly circling each other on the mat set up in the middle of the room. Their wands were placed on the shelves against the wall. This wasn't a wizard fight but a muggle one. As a trainee, they were taught many types of fighting skills and ways. Often times as an Auror, a wand would be useless and hand to hand combat was the only way to subdue a criminal. They had learned the art of Krav Maga, Karate, Tai Chi, and many other ancient forms of defense and combat alike.
Neither wanted to make the first move.
Black against white (hair). Scorpius wore regulation clothes, a dark grey t-shirt and shorts every member of the academy was given multiple pairs of. Albus wore a white tank top he found in the bottom of his drawer and a pair of sweatpants that were slightly too short. Scorpius was wearing socks, Albus was barefoot. Both had a determined look in their eyes.
Albus moved first.
The next thing he remembered was looking up at the opaque ceiling of the training room. Somehow Scorpius had flipped him onto his back before Al could fight back. The next thing he remembered was the shooting pain in the back of his skull and in his left leg. After that it was Scorpius' pale face hovering over him, yelling at him to "Stay still. Do not move!"
Albus didn't think he could move even if he wanted. There was a pain worse than anything he had felt in a very long time.
Scorpius disappeared from view for a minute. Albus suddenly left the ground. Then his father was there, helping Scorpius lead Albus out of the training room and down the stone hallway. After that everything went black.
He awoke fully in a stale white room. Everything about the room was white. The ceiling he was staring at, the rough sheets that lay on top of him, the cast that covered his ankle to hip on the left side of his body that he could barely make out. He could only turn his neck a little bit. Albus felt something on his head and lifted a tired arm to feel the hard material that covered it. He couldn't see it but assumed it was white as well.
His whole entire body was sore, as if he had fallen off of his broom high above the field again and again and again. He could barely move any part of his body besides his right arm.
Somehow they must have known he was awake because a young healer came rushing into the room.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Potter?" The man asked with a strong Irish accent.
"Like I was hit by a Hippogriff." Albus had a feeling that telling it like it was would be the best choice in his current situation.
The healer smiled, his crooked teeth showing behind his lips.
"Well it's good to see you awake."
"What happened to me?" Albus croaked. He felt like he hadn't used his voice in a very long time."
"Well, you were brought in yesterday with a severe injury to you head as well as to your left leg. We were able to stop the bleeding in both and repair the damage in your leg. You should be able to walk on it again no problem by the end of the day."
Albus sighed in relief. If he was permanently physically injured he would not know what to do. He still had no intention at being stuck at a desk forever.
"What about my head?" Albus asked.
"Well," the healer seemed a bit more nervous which made Albus very nervous. "You will make a full recovery. However our knowledge in brain injuries are not as advanced as one would hope. There is a treatment to help you but it will be extremely painful. Yet if you do not go through with it you will suffer permanent short term memory loss."
"How long will it take?" Also not wanting his mental faculties to be weakened. Especially not something as vital as memory.
"About a week. We already started it as soon as we could yesterday so your memory should be fine for now. But if we were to stop it, there could be unforeseen side effects including the undoing of all the work done thus far."
"So I have to stay here for the next week?" Albus clarified. "But then I'll be all good to go?"
"All good to go." The healer repeated.
Albus smiled crookedly. While it sucked that he would have to spend the next seven days in St. Mungo's, at least he would make a full recovery. It could have been much worse.
"There is a friend waiting outside for you if you want me to send them in."
"Yes, thank you."
The ginger healer nodded and opened the door. He shut it quietly behind him. Albus could not see who was waiting outside as he could only turn his neck a little.
Suddenly a white blonde head appeared in his vision and his green eyes were met with nervous grey ones.
"Hey," His visitor said.
"I'm sorry, this is probably awfully rude as you came to visit and all, but who are you?"
If it was possible the man paled even more.
"Merlin, they said that you might forget things but I didn't think it would be real."
Albus broke out into a pained laugh as Scorpius looked at him shocked.
"I'm just messing with you, mate."
Scorpius physically relaxed.
"So, what exactly happened?" Albus asked, wanting to get an answer as to why he was lying face up in a hospital bead.
"Well," Scorpius ruffled his hair, a bad habit he had picked up from Al himself. "We were sparring and I guess my leg swipe was too aggressive because the next thing I know you were in a heap on the ground. I heard your head hit the floor and you must have fallen weird on your leg because it was twisted in a way it should not have been."
Al sighed. So Scorpius had done this to him. He would get him back. In a friendly way, of course.
"Well I'm just glad that you get to explain to Maggie why I am out of training for the next week. She'll be devastated! Number one in the class taken out by last place."
Scorpius rolled his eyes, "You do know there are only two of us, right?"
Albus ignored him and continued to wail about the injustices that happened to those who just strived to be their best selves. Scorpius was laughing at the ridiculousness until suddenly he wasn't. Albus could see that he was staring toward the direction of the door but had no idea who he was looking it.
"Hey," Scorpius said in a tone very unlike his usual one.
"Hi," It was a voice Al knew well as he had been hearing this particular women talk for as long as she had been capable.
She walked toward the bed, her bright red hair came into view.
"I just came to visit my favorite cousin," Rose said, a smile that didn't reach her eyes plastered on her face.
