Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Crux of the Alchemist

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (VI): While the Shadow War continues far away from the walls of Hogwarts, Scorpius is left facing the frustration of being stuck inside starting his first year of NEWT classes. He finds himself drawn to the mysterious new Alchemy professor, the subject itself shedding light on certain things while Shadows and a defector lurk closer then he realizes. COMPLETE

10. Chapter 10: Figuring Things Out

Parts (40-43)

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VI

Chapter 10

Figuring Things Out

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Part 1: Life and Lies

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Xerxes thought his kindness for saving his half-brother despite the boy being damaged paid off because in September, he finally got his daughter who he was allowed to name Viola but she got the mother's last name. A fair trade off in his opinion, he loved the name Viola and he loved her. Sure she was colicky enough to rival Carver but she was just his most adorable little princess, he doted on her. He could dress her up in girl clothes and buy girl toys for her to play with, he showered with affection and was glad his sons were busy in the Training Tower so he had more time for her.

She became the most important girl in his life, he stayed away from his usual women. Well, except for when Viola was with her mother who stupidly wanted to share custody, why couldn't she have been the one to die in labor instead of Edythe? Then he'd have Viola all to himself. Although he did have a plan for that though, he'd already started on praising the school and convincing her it would be good for Viola's education to send her there. Thankfully, she was one of them ambitious Slytherin types so giving her daughter an educational head start was appealing to her. The year flew by and by the time Viola turned one, her mother had indeed signed up for a place with the Training Tower.

He had other things on his mind, the first was named Pyrrhus. The other teachers wanted him to take the test, believing him to be a weak link due to his short time there and lack of belief in the ideals they were trying to teach him. The second was named Alzay, he was mildly surprised to find she had signed up for the Soul Eaters but even more surprised to hear she'd had twin sons. From what he'd seen of her mind… somehow he didn't think she'd make a good mother, especially considering the children were flawed with one being albino and one deaf. They wanted him to learn sign language to be able to communicate with the deaf boy, the master had a plan for him and his brother. Now Alzay selling her sons' lives for her father's, that sadly didn't surprise him in the slightest.

He ultimately agreed on both counts, he'd tried his best with Pyrrhus clearly and either the boy would have what it takes or he didn't. And about the deaf boy… he was sold the second he heard his tutor would be some witch they'd hired, Brenna Watson, a half-blood with a deaf muggle uncle who was a rather stunning young lady. She had jet black hair, cloudy gray eyes and a piercing in her nose, he didn't see that often with purebloods. She was also quite open-minded and it didn't take him long to get into bed with her, she was fine with a casual thing with him. He was pleasantly surprised, it was also quite good because it meant he could concentrate on learning the language instead of focusing on how to seduce her, he tediously also got tasked with selecting a boy to be the deaf boy's bunk mate. He got another pleasant surprised when he learned Pyrrhus had managed to pass the test despite the short amount of time, he thought it was a good sign and solved his secondary task as well.

"So you passed the test," Xerxes told his brother proudly, sitting the battered youth across from in his office and pouring a glass of wine which had Pyrrhus raise his hanging head an inch to look at him with broken violet eyes, "How do you feel?"

"Sick," Pyrrhus said quietly, Xerxes scowled at the unenthusiastic response.

"Well chin up, it's better than death."

"Is it?" Pyrrhus wondered, sounding as if he was genuinely curious.

"Yes," Xerxes insisted, "And anyway now it's over with, you proved all of them wrong and succeeded."

"What?" Pyrrhus questioned in confusion, "You mean my teachers thought I'd fail? They sent me there expecting me to die?"

"Well yes but I told them you could do it and you did!" Xerxes offered enthusiastically while Pyrrhus looked off sadly again, a shadow of betrayal in his expression, "Anyway, as a reward how would you like to learn sign language?"

"Sign language? Like what deaf people use?"

"Yes! Exactly, most wizards don't know what it is. There's a deaf child coming to the school in July, I'd like for you to be his bunk mate. You'll have to take of him, make sure his needs are seen to and give him more than the usual helping hand in guiding him around since not many people will be able to communicate with him so you'll have more independent learning from missing some classes."

"Why me?" Pyrrhus questioned, looking quite puzzled.

"Because you'll likely have to get someone, it teaches responsibility and helps build bonds between generations. You're damaged mentally and he's deaf, seems perfect," Xerxes explained and gave a shrug, "Plus you're my brother and I trust you more than those other idiots, I have to learn it seems fair for both of us."

"You know deaf people can still lead perfectly full lives, right?"

"Do you want to do it or not?" Xerxes asked irritably and Pyrrhus looked thoughtful for a minute before nodding, he smiled and put down his wine, "Excellent. Alright, so let's start with the alphabet."

---

"Did you guys hear the radio?" Orous asked anxiously as the Fifth Years joined Scorpius and his friends in the Library, "W-With the Inferi…?"

"I think everyone has," Michael admitted.

"Brutal," Abby commented with a sad shake of her head.

"Well really it's quite logical," Maurice spoke up neutrally, "From the cities alone people are probably dying by the thousands, turning them into Inferi makes good use of the dead instead of them just being a waste. The world is a big place and if the Shadow Master has to take it all by himself with the Scepter then it'll take longer than if he can have someone leading part of the army as well who can take cities without the Scepter, as a negative this also means destroying the Scepter may not be as crippling as we'd originally hoped. On the positive side of things though, dividing the army can also backfire as naturally there's strength in numbers and we got the names of presumably high ranking Shadows as well: Stephan and Cyrus, the latter of whom was stupid enough to give away their names when translating which is dumb for even a child."

"Naturally, you would look at it like that," Orous criticized with a roll of his eyes.

"Of course he would, you know he's bad at being a person," Albus contributed disinterestedly, idly leaning on his hand pretending to write something his Charms essay which earned them both a scowl from Maurice.

"You know, it's not fair you people are so mean to me," Maurice spoke up irritably, earning a look of surprise from Albus.

"How are we mean to you?"

"Just because I think about things in a different, more rational way then you doesn't mean that I don't still have feelings and you shouldn't speak to me like I don't. I do a lot, okay?! And I wouldn't do it if I wasn't a person! I'm the one who has to check Lorcan, Lysander and Scorpius' dormitories every night to make sure there's no sabotage, I'm the one having to yo-yo around this whole castle constantly on alert to make sure they and Martha aren't targeted, I'm the one who has to teach Cassia Occlumency, I'm the everyone expects to figure things like this out because you care about my training and knowledge then!" Maurice ranted to them in frustration, "The least you could do is give me that fact I'm human and not mock my knowledge!"

"You're human, okay?" Scorpius assured him gently, "We get it and appreciate what you do, we're sorry."

"You know we don't mean it seriously, right?" Vern added and the fact Maurice blinked in surprise seemed to indicate to the contrary.

"What brought that on?" Albus wondered and Maurice shrugged unhappily.

"It's nearly Valentine's Day, its making him feel more miserably about Lenore than usual," Corin pointed out, covering his mouth with his hand.

"You know this necklace doesn't give a damn whether I see your mouths or not?" Maurice commented dryly.

"No, I did not but I've always wondered so I figured I may as well try it."

"Valentine's Day," Albus repeated miserably and buried his face in his hands, "Why Grozda, why?!"

"Because she wasn't as serious about the relationship as you were," Maurice pointed out and Albus looked back up again, his expression turning dark as he saw Abby approaching with Sequoia hand-in-hand.

"Sorry we're late, Quidditch practice ran over," Sequoia apologized, Abby had been watching it, "What's up, Al- Oh yeah, I'm sorry about your grandfather and you too, Rose. He sounded like a great guy."

"Thanks," Rose offered with a weak smile and Corin squeezed her hand supportively, "His funeral's this weekend so we'll miss the Hogsmeade trip."

"That's not why he's upset though, he's still bummed about Grozda dumping him," Abby explained for him.

"How do you know that?" Albus wondered in surprise.

"Your sad-about-Arthur face is slightly different to your sad-about-Grozda face," Abby told him with a shrug, causing the Gryffindor's face to crease into a scowl before something seemed to occur to him.

"Actually Sequoia, would you mind if asked you a kind of personal question?"

"No," Sequoia admitted slightly reluctantly as he seemingly wanted to get on with his girlfriends' friends, a flicker of worry crossed Abby's face.

"You graduate this year but Abby doesn't, what are your plans for the relationship then?"

"I-I don't see why that's relevant or any of your business," Sequoia said carefully and nervously scratched the back of his head, eying Abby with a look of concern.

"I don't mean to pry, it's just the reason me and Grozda broke up so I think it's important for couples to be on the same page," Albus explained with false innocence as he leaned confidently back in his chair.

"Oh right, well…" Sequoia started to say as he seemed to explanation, looking anxiously at Abby as beads of sweat formed on his brow, "I erm… I was hoping we could… erm… you know try the long distance thing, it's just a year and there's owls and Hogsmeade visits."

"Really?" Abby wondered in surprise, an expression she shared with Albus who clearly had been expecting him to say the opposite.

"Yes- I mean yeah if-if you'd like," Sequoia stammered out, the sweat starting to roll down the scars on his face, "B-But if you aren't up for being tied down to someone you don't see for a while then I-I totally understand, you deserve to be happy."

"Oh Sequoia, I'd love to try long distance with you," Abby agreed with a grin as she took his hands.

"Really?" Sequoia questioned, his face lighting up as if he'd been worried of the contrary. She answered with a nod and kissed him, Albus buried his face in his hands, "Well I should be going, I'll see you later, Abby and chin up, Al."

"Chin up, Al," Albus repeated mockingly as Sequoia left his girlfriend with them, Abby threw him a glare.

"What the hell was that?!" Abby demanded, "Were you trying to screw up our relationship?!"

"No," Albus scoffed and shifted awkwardly, "I was just testing his loyalty, you know how much I want this relationship to succeed."

"No, you don't," Abby countered irritably.

"No I don't," Albus admitted, it was a pretty obvious lie after almost a year of dislike and criticism, "But still, it worked out even though Sequoia is a douche-wad."

"You're a douche-wad!" Abby yelled at him before storming off, Albus folded his arms crossly.

"Women, huh?"

---

That settled, Xerxes' life settled back into a comfortable routine and by July he had successfully mastered sign language as well as having passed it along to his brother. He always had been pretty good at languages, he was naturally talented like that because he was awesome. It gave him a chance to spend time with his brother when he hadn't before, he wasn't sure if he was imagining it but he thought Pyrrhus had become more unhinged then before he'd arrived. There was just something… off about his mind, his thoughts were difficult to comprehend even for Xerxes who was a brilliant Legilimens if he did say so himself. He was also still seeing Brenna, she was fine with continuing their causal relationship. His only regret was that she wasn't a Soul Eater, he had to be careful about what he said.

The deaf boy, Maurice, started alright at the Training Tower and Viola also later that year when she got her second birthday, Xerxes had the staff make extra allowances for her because she was little girl. That year, Carver's mother starting getting antsy to get him back which was quite tedious. They settled on returning him in the summer under the promise of teaching him better behavior, Maeghan didn't cared too much about education – because she was an idiot – but she did want him to behave. It wasn't the ideal amount of time but he brought Carver back anyway, it was kind of tedious because now he'd have to go all the way over to England to spend time with him, he'd gotten used to just having his son there whenever he wanted to see him. He needn't have worried, she was fed up less than a year later and wanted him to take Carver again when her new boyfriend didn't like him. Problem solved.

Life was good, he was turning thirty that year and he had a good stable job, four children and still plenty of time and energy to date. Until his problem was unsolved, Maeghan wanted Carver back after her boyfriend broke up with her. He returned Carver once again and started seeing him in England, usually seeing Brenna after or hitting the bars if she wasn't available. He threw Viola a huge birthday party – at least in terms of gifts and cake, only her brothers attended of course – for her third birthday but he was in for a bigger surprise that month. He was having drinks with Brenna one of the days at her house, she was celebrating because she'd opened up the bakery she'd been saving up to open up in Hogsmeade. It was a good thing he was a Legilimens, keeping track of this worthless information he was supposed to care about for these women would be rather tedious otherwise.

And it was a good thing he was skimming her mind because he noticed something: she'd recently discovered she was pregnant with his child. He nearly choked on his drink in shock and immediately snatched hers away from her.

"What are you doing drinking that?! It's bad for my baby!" Xerxes burst out before he could stop himself, Brenna glared at him.

"How do you even know about that?" Brenna questioned in surprise, looking quite offended.

"Never mind how I know, why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because it's not an issue," Brenna shrugged it off, "We're hardly exclusive and I'm not interested in being a mum, especially not at this point in my life. I'm getting an abortion tomorrow, it's dealt with."

"No!" Xerxes snapped in panic, "You can't do that, it's my child! I want it to live, I want my baby."

"Well tough, it's my body and my choice. If I cared what you thought or wanted then I'd have asked your opinion," Brenna snapped back irritably, why did Xerxes have to be careless when he was seeing the same woman for a long time? This is why he did better with one night stands.

"I'll give you money."

"No amount of you give me would make up for the cost of being stuck raising a child, I'm trying to start a new business. That's the only baby I care about right now."

"How about if I take care of the baby then?" Xerxes pleaded desperately but recognizing it was hopeless even as he spoke, he could see her mind and it was very much made up.

"No, Xerx, I don't want to be a mother right now, I don't want to go through all the pregnancy and labor crap, I don't want this baby, okay? My mind's made up," Brenna said with an unwavering note of finality she actually meant as she stood and Xerxes panicked, he wanted his child, he was never going to turn his back on his offspring like his parents had him, "And I think I'd like it if you left now."

"Imperio!" Xerxes cast without thinking and it struck her in the back, he swallowed nervously but didn't undo it.

He'd just have to keep her under it until the child was born, she could be her usual self minus the abortion. She'd see when the baby was born, she'd be overwhelmed with love and realize her foolish error, she'd even be grateful. Of course she'd be grateful, clearly he was right about this and knew better than her, he was older wiser and had four kids already.

And he did, he kept Brenna under the Imperius Curse to make her keep the baby. He considered dropping it after she'd passed the legal abortion period but decided it was safer for his baby to not risk it, he didn't know if she'd do anything illegal. Plus, she wouldn't forgive him until she held her baby in her arms. He was rather distracted for the rest of the pregnancy, finding using the Imperius Curse actually kind of uncomfortable. Finally in April, Brenna went into labor and he could remove the curse.

It was a girl, he was pleased to have a second daughter already with tufts of his red hair. She was adorable, naturally, he was so handsome that he produced the best looking children of anyone he knew even if they had a mother as ugly-looking as Carver's mother Maeghan. He carried his newborn in to meet her own mother, expecting Brenna to be overjoyed and desperate to hold her child but she just glared at him.

"Do you want to hold her?" Xerxes offered as he glanced into her mind, recognizing his plan had likely failed before she even opened her mouth.

"You're sick, Xerxes," Brenna told him darkly, "You had no right to Imperise me just because you didn't like my choice and it was my choice, if you want a baby then go get yourself pregnant!"

"Come on, I get you're mad at me but you can't take it out on our daughter. Don't you think she's beautiful?"

"No, she's an ugly wrinkled lump!" Brenna snapped, her loud volume waking the baby and starting her off crying, "I told you I don't want a baby and I still don't. Raise it, give it away, throw it in a dumpster, I don't care. Just take her from me, I never want to see her or you again."

Xerxes respected her wishes this time, knowing he couldn't force her to love her daughter. Not in any way the baby would appreciate, nothing he could keep up for the rest of her life. Maybe he had been in the wrong but… no, he was glad baby daughter number two was alive. He was raising Ethan solo, he'd just have to with this girl and hope she never had interest in learning about her mother.

He cradled her close and tried to think of a name, for some reason Edythe's voice came to mind. She'd wanted to name their child after her… grandmother? Great-grandmother? Whatever that old lady she'd lived with had been, if it was a girl. Martha. Martha had been the name, actually he quite liked that and he had quite liked Edythe, more then any of the women he'd ever been with. Well, in terms of personality anyway. He decided to honor that.

"Welcome to the world Martha Edythe Seneca," Xerxes whispered to the sleeping infant and kissed her gently on the forehead.

---

"Accio wand," Antonius stated firmly and held out his hand to his wand, sitting there on the table in front of him and still sitting there on the table in front of him even after he said it, "Accio wand. Accio wand. Accio wand. Accio wand!"

Nothing.

"Florian, how long do you expect me to keep this up?!" Antonius demanded irritably, "I've been at it for hours, I've been at it for hours every day for a month. Clearly I can't do it- I don't even have my wand to summon my wand! Clearly you're wasting time, clearly this ridiculous plan of yours is going to fail. Give it up, listen to the voices in your mind."

"Again, Antonius," Florian insisted firmly, he was supervising as they sat in yet another hotel room, "You're just not trying hard enough."

"I'm trying! I'm just ten and this spell is way more advanced than me."

"When did you get a backbone?"

"When you murdered my uncle!" Antonius snapped angrily and Florian rolled his violet eyes.

"The only reason it's not working is because you don't want it to work," Florian stated quite calmly while Oathan squealed with delight at successfully turning a match into a needle which earned him a smile and applause from his father, "If you're secretly holding back even subconsciously then you won't do it, you need to want to do it. It's your wand and your magic, make it work for you."

"Well I don't want to do it so I think it's quite impossible," Antonius decided and folded his arms crossly, his eyes drifting out the window sadly. He wondered how his family and friends were doing right now, if he'd ever see them again.

"Well why don't you want it to work?" Florian whined, maybe a touch more frustrated at the lack of progress then Antonius had initially thought.

"You would I want it work? You want to kill my friends," Antonius pointed out what he thought was fairly obvious.

"You now they're not really your friends, right? There's no such thing as friendship, they'll just turn on you. You're so much younger than them anyway, I doubt they ever really gave a damn about and have probably already forgotten about you."

"Even if you're right," Antonius said quickly to gloss over the fact the lunatic had touched on his own insecurities, "I don't care, I care about them and I'm loyal to them. Scorpius, Orous and Maurice are my friends, even Lorcan and Lysander don't deserve to die for your twisted plan."

"I find it interesting that you seem to care far more about their lives being sacrificed then your own," Florian mused thoughtfully and Antonius shrugged awkwardly.

"I know it's already too late for me," Antonius admitted while Florian watched him interestedly, "But it's not for them. Besides, it's my life and I can choose to sacrifice. You have no right to sacrifice other people's without them knowing or agreeing, that's not sacrifice. That's just murder."

"Well you're wrong there, kiddo."

"No, you're wrong," Antonius insisted determinedly and Florian looked quite taken aback, "I think you've been with the Shadows too long and they'd drilled their brainwashing into you too well and you think it's okay but it's not, you think you're helping but you're not. If you really wanted to help then you'd go to Varanian-"

"Have you ever tried to find Varanian?"

"-and think up a plan that doesn't involving killing so many people unnecessarily!"

"You know such black and white thinking is kind of childish?" Florian pointed out testily.

"I am a child!" Antonius yelled at him.

"That's no reason to be childish," Florian scoffed before they were both distracted by a woman's shriek.

They both turned to see Jack had returned, silently shadow-teleporting or whatever it was called that he could to do that. He wasn't alone though, he had grabbed some poor woman who was shrieking in panic. Antonius felt his twist painfully, this happened too often for his liking. Jack taking people to destroy the souls of and this was only the ones Antonius saw, he only brought his victims back if he struggled to find someone alone. Antonius had tried to fail to save every one of them.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Antonius protested to Florian, gesturing at Jack, "You just let innocent people die!"

"I can't help that he's like… a pain… soul… vampire," Florian shrugged dismissively, "He needs it to live or whatever and I need him so I have to allow it."

"I hate you," Antonius spat as Jack threw the now sobbing woman onto the spare bed, holding up his head in readiness.

"Jack/One wait!" Florian cried out suddenly, jumping up excitedly as if he'd thought of something and causing both he and Jack to look at him with confused scowls. He smirked, "Okay, Antonius, here's the deal: if you can summon your wand before Jack destroys the soul of that admittedly pretty woman then her life will be spared. Sound fair?"

"No!" Antonius burst out in shock but Florian shrugged and gestured for Jack to continue anyway, he held out his hand and a shadowy black light shot out to hit the woman who immediately started screaming and convulsing, "Accio wand! Accio wand! Accio wand!"

Antonius yelled at his wand with a mixture of emotion, frustration at his failure, anger at the situation, desperation to save her life. All to no avail, all it did was tremble. Dammit! he thought to himself and hated himself for thinking of Florian's words as he willed his wand to obey, you are my wand and I want you, I need you. Come to my hand, right now!

"Accio wand!"

This time it worked, his wand flew from the table as if it been thrown to him by an invisible hand. He didn't even need to catch it, it came to his palm and he wrapped his hand around it triumphantly. He almost smiled, except he noticed the woman had stopped screaming. He turned and saw her lying dead on the bed, Jack folding his arms also triumphantly.

"Well done, Antonius!" Florian offered happily.

"Yay! He did it!" Oathan cried with a smile and clapped for him.

"Sorry kid, guess you were too slow," Jack/One shrugged with a smirk.

Antonius didn't feel pleased though, he felt as if was a cruel and unfair twist of fate. He'd done it, Florian should have ordered Jack to stop the second he saw the wand move and the woman should've gotten to live. He felt his body trembling with rage as he met the cold, dark eyes of that woman's killer and tightened the grip on the wand in his hand… the wand in his hand. He still had it, he raised it to Jack and the… man? Thing? Laughed.

"What, Antonius? What are you going to do?" Jack/One taunted, "Kill us? You can't without breaking your soul. Stun us? Body-bind us? Do something that Pyrrhus can undo with a snap of his fingers?"

"Give it back, Antonius, you won't get out of here even with a wand and you know it," Florian added. Antonius very slowly and bitterly lowered his wand, letting Florian pluck it back from his grip, "Very good first successful attempt but we're going to need to keep working on it to get you good enough to stand up to Sal."

---

Part 2: From the Mouths of Drunks

---

"So are we all going to Hogsmeade?" Maurice questioned of them at breakfast the morning of the trip.

Their group had actually drastically shrunk, only Scorpius himself, Michael, Maurice, Corin and Orous joining them from the Hufflepuff table since the others were all at the Weasley patriarch's funeral along with their Herbology teacher.

"Of course, this is actually perfect opportunity to get Rose a present for Valentine's Day," Corin announced brightly, somewhat to Scorpius' surprise.

"What happened to just dating because the people you can't be with who you want to be with?" Scorpius questioned curiously.

"That's why we did it at first but you know we actually have a lot in common," Corin explained, sounding almost surprised by this fact himself, "Besides, seeing Albus pining for Grozda and trying to screw up Abby's relationship… It made me realize I'd rather not be like that, she's happy and I'm happy. We both let it go and moved on."

"I guess that is a point, it's our second Valentine's so I should get Lily something special," Orous spoke up, "She could use something to cheer her up and take her mind off things. We can pair up and gift shop together?"

"Sure."

"No," Maurice scoffed and stabbed unhappily at his plate.

"I'm meeting Molly so I can worry about a gift after that," Scorpius said as he shoveled the last of his eggs into his mouth.

"She's not going to the funeral?" Michael wondered curiously and Scorpius could only shake his head, both because his mouth was full and because he hadn't really thought about it, "Guess it's just you and me, Maurice."

"You and me," Maurice repeated with a nod.

"And keep him away from alcohol," Scorpius added to Maurice, earning a scowl from Michael.

"I can keep myself away from alcohol perfectly fine, thank you very much," Michael insisted testily.

"I disagree."

"Yeah, usually you hate going to Hogsmeade but suddenly you're keen?" Corin prompted rather knowingly, "You British can't handle your alcohol. In France we know how to take our liqueur, Maman lets me have a glass of wine with dinner and I don't go nuts for it like you do. Moderation, my friend."

"I'll be fine, okay?!" Michael snapped irritably.

"I'm sorry, we're just trying to think of what's best for your health."

"Well I'm old enough to do that for myself, thanks."

"Let's just go, already," Orous offered as he pushed away his almost empty plate, "They'll be gathering us outside to check permission slips soon enough."

They headed outside, the sun was out but it seemed lacking in warmth or maybe the chilly wind was just taking it away. At any rate, Scorpius zipped up his leather jacket and waited for whoever Professor Longbottom's replacement form checker would be. He rolled his eyes when he saw it was Grant, how could such a jackass like him have such a great son like Wyatt? He called the Seventh Years first before them in the Sixth Years. As they started to line up though, he heard Michael cry out in panic. He spun just in time to see his permission slip smoldering into ashes carried away by the wind, Maurice pocketing his wand seemed to be the culprit.

"What the hell, Maurice?!" Michael snapped at him angrily, the deaf boy looked unconcerned as he shrugged, "Why did you do that?"

"Because I don't think you should go to Hogsmeade with your drinking problem," Maurice stated simply and Michael threw his arms in the air in exasperation, the others giving the youngest of their group dark looks.

"I guess I'll see you later then because there's no way bloody Grant is going to believe I actually do have permission."

"I know," Maurice admitted, seemingly this had been part of his plan and Michael stormed off.

"You know we want him to go to Hogsmeade, we're trying to get him over his unease there," Scorpius insisted irritably, Maurice's expression remained vacant, "As well as to not drink, you shouldn't have done that."

"I don't care," Maurice shrugged as they reached Grant with their forms, he waved them off with quick acceptance and they were on their way.

Scorpius trudged along still annoyed with Maurice, he also realized he didn't feel nervous about seeing Molly. He was looking forward to seeing her but he wasn't nervous, maybe it was because they'd been dating for so long or just his melancholic thoughts lately but he wasn't nervous. He wished he could leave with her, go off and do something useful with his life instead of wasting it in classes while his friend was gone. Again he had to endure Cistro's search before he could enter the dilapidated town, he thought it reflected the state of the wizarding world as a whole. Battered by the Shadows and struggling to hold on. He parted from his friends and headed to the Hog's Head where they were supposed to meet.

"Oi! Malfoy boy!" a gruff voice called the second he walked through the door and it wasn't Molly, Scorpius squinted through the shadows in the bar to notice Hogan Leebin sitting at one of tables and gesturing for him to approach. Scorpius cautiously did so and took a seat opposite, "Tell your family to back off, okay?"

"Back off?" Scorpius repeated in confusion.

"Yeah. Lysel's my great-nephew, he's my blood and your family had no right to take him from me, just because they're rich and they have money. I have money, I just also have alimony."

"Being rich and having money is the same thing," Scorpius pointed out and Hogan leaned over the table to him, he wasn't sure if it was the small circumference of the circular table or how much Hogan had had to drink was the reason but Scorpius smelt the putrid fumes on his breath.

"I know what words, boy," Hogan growled before leaning back and throwing down another shot, "Think you're smarter than me too, huh? Just because you didn't have to pull a Bircorn's horn out of someone's ass today."

"It's really nothing to do with me, I'm in Hogwarts," Scorpius insisted and held up his hands to protest his innocence although he did dislike the man despite the potential useful beliefs about Rooke, "Although from what I gather, your niece-in-law disliking you and drinking in a bar in the morning probably don't look good."

"I work weird hours, okay? And it's not my fault that bitch doesn't like me, Flan is fine with me so it's none of her business. What kind of awful woman marries a guy responsible for his own father's death?"

"You know your nephew's probably dead, right?"

"Nope. If they wanted him dead then they'd have left a body, I talked to Lysel too 'kay?" Hogan insisted as he started to pour more into his glass, Scorpius was really starting to notice the slight slur in his words, "He's probably in some deep dark hole having his brain drilled – maybe even literally – into to spill the juicy little secrets those Aurors tell him because the idiot thought being a muggle head doctor was a bright idea, it's not like I got him a job in St Mungo's despite the fact he's a waste of space or anything. You know for the first six years of his life, he thought muggles were a kind of cake? What the fuck kind of dumbass kid thinks that?! You know Flan would've wanted me to take his kids."

"Really?" Scorpius repeated dubiously.

"Yeah, his bitch of a wife may not like me but we're fine. If I took good care of him when I didn't even like him then imagine great I'd be at taking care of kids I actually do like, can't blame the poor blighters for the fact their dad is an assjack."

"You're an assjack."

"I'd rather than be an honest assjack then a guy who let his daddy die," Hogan said seriously and raised his glass before downing it, "And I am being serious. Who taught Flan to apparate because he flunked out of Hogwarts like an idiot before being taught how? Me. Who let him stay in the old family farmhouse when he was homeless? Me. Ungrateful git never even gave me the key back, not like I'd ever want to go to that wreck but it's the principle. And then there's how your folks took Lysel the werewolf wonder but what about Maurene? The other child. Girl's been awake for weeks, no one gave a crap about her, thought to visit her or fought for her custody. No one except me because I'm a caring person and being a caring person, I care that siblings should be kept together not one get custody in one place and one another or one dead because his son let him and die and one alive. Plus I can get Lysel's potions for free."

"Well like I said, its nothing to do with me," Scorpius reiterated and heard the door as Hogan opened his mouth to reply, relief flooding him when he saw a flurry of fiery curls, "Bye."

"Wh- But I-"

Scorpius had already abandoned Hogan, walking over to his girlfriend in the doorway where her beautiful scent of cherries was already being carried in by tendrils of the breeze sneaking in as the door closed. She smiled at him but he noticed the dark circles beneath her incredible sky blue eyes, she was tired. He kissed her in greeting before putting his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry about your grandfather," Scorpius whispered into her ear and Molly hugged him harder.

"Thank you," Molly said equally quietly, they took each other's hands and simultaneously seemed to agree to just leave for a walk around town.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything but you know I would've understood if you had gone to your grandfather's funeral," Scorpius pointed out as they walked, "He seemed like a good man."

"He was," Molly sighed and looked at the scorched cobblestones, "And it's not really because of you, if I face my family then they'll ask questions and I don't have much to say to them. Gray is all I do and it happens to be not what they're all for, it's just easier if I stay away. I like to think Grampa would have understood, this is the world I'm fighting for, to try stop more of our family dying and if I get locked up then I can't do that. I'm not entirely sure what his stance on Gray was but I know he was for the world, he loved his family and h-he loved me."

"I'm sure he would've," Scorpius assured her gently and gave her hand a comforting squeeze, "How are you doing?"

"I'm hanging in there."

"Are you sure? You look tired."

"So do you," Molly countered as she looked back up, "Antonius or the muggles?"

"Both," Scorpius admitted quietly and she nodded as she gave his own hand a comforting squeeze, "What about you?"

"Bad dreams," Molly told him after a long pause, her expression darkening and becoming very serious, "Seery dreams."

"Don't suppose you see the Shadow Master's head on a stick?" Scorpius questioned in a lighter tone, trying to lift her spirits even slightly.

"I see my cousin torturing Leebin."

"Beating him?"

"Way beyond beating him," Molly said quietly, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground, "Last night I dreamed he was peeling the skin off Leebin's arm, going as slowly as possible to prolong his agony and then he poured scalding water over the wounds… He'll break, you know? Physically, he's broken already and he can't last forever mentally, James will do whatever he wants to him and get whatever he wants from him. We won't save him from this."

"What do you mean we won't save him from this?" Scorpius questioned and Molly blinked back to him in surprise.

"What? No, I'm hoping we can help the poor guy. I don't know why I said that," Molly insisted strangely and frowned.

"Do you see anything recently? Maybe to do with Antonius-" Scorpius started to say but was interrupted by her suddenly gasping, her eyes widening at a battered looking bakery – creatively named 'Brenna's Bakery' if the peeling poorly put together sign was to be believed – that she pulled him over to, "What is it?"

"I don't know, I just had a weird feeling this was relevant for some reason but I was mistaken."

"What-"

"Don't question the insane Seer girl, Scorpius," Molly chastised and turned away with a sigh, looking rather much like she didn't want to talk about it, "Let's go and… I don't know, do anything other then this."

"Okay… So how's Gray aside from that?"

---

Albus Severus Potter felt rather miserable. His grandfather was dead. His little friend was missing. His girlfriend had broken his heart by breaking up with him and now he was going to die alone and miserable and unloved because he'd never be able to find someone else because had no good qualities and failed consistently to live up to the family name in any way. His best friend was still dating a douche bag and now was mad at him for it instead of seeing he was only trying – and was the only one trying – to help her. NEWT work was hard. There was a war… Well everything just sucked.

He tried to think the funeral was nice but in truth he hated it, he hated that yet another member of his family was dead. They were dropping like flies even without the Shadows being involved, he spent far too much time at funerals these days. He hated them, he hated listening to his grandmother crying her heart out, he hated seeing less and less Weasley/Potter heads in the crowd, he hated knowing he'd never see that person again. After he pointed out that he was of age and should be treated more like a grown up, he ended up stuck with Vale for the event. Not what he'd had in mind. The strange toddler just kept a toy car hugged to his chest and never shed a tear, Albus almost missed being young enough to not understand or have to worry about anything like Vale. Kid had it easy. Except for the dead people in his life anyway.

After the funeral, it was back to the Burrow for close friends and family to drink – for everyone of age except Albus apparently – and fondly reminisce more personally, Freddie and Louis trying to sing a rendition of their grandfather's favorite muggle son. It wasn't until very late that his mum finally let them Floo home, she also told Albus to go upstairs and change so his dad could take him back to Hogwarts. Vern and Lily got to stay until morning but he couldn't because he had stupid apparation lessons, he thought of that as he was changing. He'd kept it together all funeral, all day but thinking of that made him realize his grandfather wouldn't be alive to see him get his license. For some reason that made him snap, he curled up under his bed covers and cried. It wasn't fair, so what if his grandfather had been old? Old people weren't supposed to just suddenly die! He cried, utterly lost in the river of tears and snot mingling down his face.

"Al? Aunt Ginny wants you to hurry up," Vern's voice questioned, surprising Albus as he remembered there was an initial reason he'd gone up there, "It's late."

"I wasn't crying!" Albus blurted out as he popped his head up out of the covers and hastily wiped his sleeve across his face although instead of wiping away the liquids on his face, he felt as if he'd just spread them more and hung his face ashamedly.

"It's okay to be upset, you know?" Vern offered hesitantly but gently as he sat down on his bed beside Albus' own, "Loss hurts."

"I know, okay?!" Albus insisted and folded his arms childishly, not wanting his Dursley cousin to see him cry or console him, "I said I wasn't crying."

Vern raised an eyebrow.

"Well not because of that," Albus lied, not wanting to talk about. Especially not with Vern, he could hardly complain about his grandfather when the Hufflepuff had been orphaned.

"Was it because of Abby?" Vern inquired curiously and Albus was rather taken aback.

"Why would it be because of Abby?"

"Come on, isn't it obvious?" Vern prompted and Albus shook his head, "You hate Sequoia even though he's a really nice guy-"

"He's not a nice guy, just you wait!"

"You hated Corin as well when he dated her-"

"He poisoned me with Laxative Potion!"

"Yet you're on better terms with him now," Vern pointed out and Albus shut up, hadn't he just matured? He was mature, he was so mature, he was the most mature even. He was of age after all, "It's the principle of Abby dating you hate not the guys, you just don't want her to date anyone even if they were good."

"Well not anyone ever but I mean clearly she keeps picking jackasses and erm… is better off not dating right now, she's too young and not ready," Albus tried to protest awkwardly while Vern just looked at him, "I've known her since forever, I can just see what these particular guys are wrong for her. I don't want her to be hurt."

"And who's right for her? You?"

"No!" Albus gasped in shock, frantically waving his hands, "No! No! No! No! No! Merlin's ass, Vern, no! I've known her since babyhood, she's like my best friend, like a sister or another cousin who is not as annoying as Rose can be! I can't believe you'd even suggest even suggest such a thing, Abby? No! I don't like her, I hate her! I mean obviously I don't hate her she's my friend but in a romantic way I hate her because it would be… just weird, Heather is the hot one in the family anyway. Abby is just… just Abby. Get your mind out of the gutter, pal."

"Whatever you say, Al," Vern shrugged and lay down on his bed, "Now are you going to finish getting changed and going downstairs? Because I am kind of tired."

"What? Oh yeah," Albus muttered as he recalled again he was supposed to be going, Vern rolled his eyes at him, "Hey! Don't you roll your eyes at me, Hufflepuff, we Gryffindors like to be fashionably late."

"Fashionably in more trouble is like it," Vern joked and Albus threw his pillow at him, Vern pushed it away and wrinkled his face in disgust, "Gross! This has your snot on it!"

"Well it serves you right," Albus scoffed as he hastily finished changing although he smiled slightly to himself inwardly, despite being completely wrong Vern had managed to take his mind of things. He didn't remember his brother ever actually doing that, "See you tomorrow."

"See you."

Albus threw his pillow back onto his bed and went to clean up, he definitely didn't want his mum and dad to know he'd been crying. How babyish was that? Then he went downstairs and found the strangest sight as he walked into the kitchen about to call to his mum, his dad sitting at the kitchen table. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, after all his dad was taking him back since he needed to use the fireplace in his office but it was the fact his dad had a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand.

"Whassup Al?" his dad said in a heavily slurred tone as Albus cautiously approached the rare sight.

"Erm… What are you doing?" Albus wondered in confusion.

"Tekin' a night off for once in nevner, what'd'ya think?" his dad told him before breaking down into tears, "Is hard, Al, it's hard to fight a war. I thought… I thought I was doing okay and then my best friend stabs me in the back. Stabs me, right through to the heart. Thirty freaking years of friendship, defeating the dark damnest dark lord that ever did exist together and he turns on me. How could he do that? How could this happen? How did I miss my friend falling into the shadows? What did I do, Al? Oh Dumbledore, please tell me."

"Dad, I'm your son not Dumbledore," Albus pointed out and patted his dad awkwardly on the shoulder, his dad stopped crying and squinted at him through his spectacles.

"Oh right, Daddy's had a little too much tipsy juice. Go back to bed, dear," his dad waved him off and Albus had just turned when he started crying again, "Oh go, why don't you! Go and vanish just like… just like… just like…"

"James?" Albus provided as he turned back to him.

"Just like James!" his dad sobbed, "Why can I defeat Voldemort but I can't protect my own son?! My firstborn son, my sweet little boy with violent bullying tendagocies. I can't even help my best friend to not turn evil, what kind of man am I? I can't even stop elderly men from having heart attacks, everyone can do that!"

"I don't think they can, Dad."

"I can't even end a war that's spanning countries," his dad continued as if he hadn't spoken, choking up again, "I couldn't even protect Flan. And then Alaric warned me, he said- he said- he said 'Harry, don't tell Ron and Cel' and what did I do? I told Ron and Cel. Because I trusted them, I trusted them like an idiot, I trusted people."

"It's not wrong to trust people."

"I first met Flan when he was five years old," his dad continued once more as if he were a mute, holding up his hands to an empty chair to show the number, "'Twas at a fundraiser that the Ministry did to raise money for the rebuilt the world from you-know- well you-don't-really-know-who since you never met him. My mentor's son, he told me to watch him while his boss had to go to the bathroom or… I forget but... but he says-he says- he says 'Harry, you protect my son' and what did I do? Twenty-five years later, I did not protect him. Because I trusted Ron, I trusted my best friend- Never trust your best friend, Alba- Albananus. Never."

"Never," Albus muttered quietly and his dad nodded in approval as he wiped at his tears, thinking about Abby.

"Y'know even then Flan wanted to help people, he lived in Hogsmeade, he was close to the action. He gave all his allowance to the fundraiser, all five Knuts of it which was a lot for a little kid with nothing. The people with the least to give, tend give the most. Just the Weasleys gave me a home with already one, two, three… five? Merlie knows how many mouths to feed whereas the rich Dursleys never did," his dad continued and looked saddened, "And you know what? I keep thinking of what horrible things those monsters are doing to him, trying to torture out Calderon's location and… and I keep seeing him as that five year old kid who just wanted to help people, who was happy and innocent. Who does that to a five year old kid? What kind of person am I? Why did I let him do it?"

"What do you mean Calderon's location? Leebin's the one who knows?" Albus questioned and his dad's face drained of color, his emerald eyes shifted to the bottle and he slowly put it down.

"I think I've had enough to say and I've said drink too much."

---

Part 3: Appearing and Disappearing

---

Scorpius enjoyed his time with Molly even if she didn't really have any new news on Antonius, she had to leave earlier then he would've ideally liked but it gave him to buy up on Valentine's gifts and hang out with Corin and Orous. Maurice had apparently better things to do and left them earlier. Scorpius felt incredibly guilty on the walk back though, there he was having fun talking to his girlfriend while Antonius was still a prisoner. He felt like a horrible person and he felt even worse when he walked back into his dormitory to see Michael.

"What's up?" Michael greeted him with an unfortunately familiar slur in his words.

"Michael, are you drunk?" Scorpius questioned of him immediately.

"Yes, I found a spell to turn water into wine so suck it," Michael spat out drunkenly and irritably as he tried to keep his balance sitting on his bed, "I can not drink if I want and I can drink if I want so don't think you can around controlling my life and burning my permission slips! I'm an adult, my parents had me when I was this age so I can do my own life things!"

"Dammit, Michael!"

Scorpius felt a mixture of anger, upset and hurt that Michael had gotten drunk. He also thought Maurice took blame in this, he wasn't sure how it would've gone if he'd been in Hogsmeade but he knew it had clearly gone badly now. He couldn't even talk to Michael, he started to storm off but returned momentarily to snatch Michael's wand so he couldn't make any more alcohol and locked the door so he couldn't wander around drunk. Maurice however wasn't particularly remorseful, seeming his usual neutral self at dinner.

"Not my fault," Maurice shrugged it off dismissively, "I wanted to do some research and try find Antonius, I couldn't be dealing with Michael's drinking problem. You should deal with it, you're his best friend."

"Maurice- Wait, what?" Scorpius changed his sentence, rage switching to hope, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Maurice admitted and his rage returned.

"Then dammit, Maurice!"

He was in a bad mood by the time he retired to bed, Michael having already fallen asleep and his other roommates quite annoyed by the locked door. He fell into a horrible nightmare about Antonius handcuffed to a bed while James peeled his skin off, he woke up with a scream which also startled Michael awake and caused his friend to thud off the bed. He heard Michael groan while he sat there, bolt upright and breathing heavily with his sweat plastering his hair to his head. Sunlight was streaming innocently through the windows, that made him think it was late. That and the fact his other roommates were gone. Scorpius rubbed at his head, trying to push the horrible dream from his head.

"What's the…" Michael started to question sleepily before the sound of vomiting could be heard, just what he wanted to hear first thing in the morning.

"You brought this upon yourself," Scorpius commented unsympathetically, not in the mood to deal with it. Especially not when they were starting apparation lessons later.

He got himself up, washed, dressed and then had to get Michael up and on the path to do the same since he fell back asleep in the pool of his own puke while Scorpius was gone. He had to practically drag Michael down to breakfast, who cringed at the noise as he rubbed at his temples. Abby and Rose were already there due to also being ready to start apparation but surprisingly Albus – who Scorpius thought was supposed to have come back last night read for apparation – joined the non-apparaters in arriving late.

"Hey guys!" Albus greeted them cheerfully and Michael flinched.

"Talk quieter," Michael moaned as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Stop drinking," Rose countered testily, "Honestly, why did you guys let him get drunk?"

"Apparently he can't be left alone," Corin shrugged before smiling at his girlfriend and leaning down – very much so due to his height – to kiss her in greeting.

"Anyway, guess what I found out," Albus blurted out excitedly.

"Weren't you supposed to come back last night?" Scorpius wondered curiously.

"Yes but Dad got too drunk, bad for that but good for informat-"

"It's not good for anyone, Vern and I were looking forward to our lie in but because you took so long we had to be at the crack of dawn instead," Lily complained from nearby, throwing a scowl at her brother, "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," Albus brushed it off, "So when my dad was drunk last night, he spilled something very interesting."

"Beer?" Michael wondered stupidly.

"Information. I know why the Shadows took Leebin, he's the one who knows Calderon's location."

"Room," Maurice snapped, glaring at the older boy, "We need to discuss things like this in the Room That Doesn't Exist so it's away from eager ears, not to blurt it out at breakfast."

"No one's listening and that's pretty much it, he clammed up and sent me to bed as soon as he realized he'd said it," Albus admitted with a hint of disappointment before perking up again excitedly, "But isn't that great? We know why! And I was the one to find out. Me. Albus Potter. I did something useful."

"So what do you want, a medal?" Maurice questioned and Albus looked slightly disheartened.

"We can pass it on to Aaron but it doesn't really help us much anyway," Scorpius added with a shrug that made Albus look even more disheartened, "It doesn't help us save Antonius, it doesn't help us save Leebin, it doesn't even help us save Calderon since we need Leebin to get to him."

"Assuming they haven't moved him already."

"Oh, right," Albus muttered and rested his head on his hand sadly.

"Still good to know," Abby offered gently and Albus threw her an oddly angry look, "Aren't you going to eat any breakfast?"

"We ate at home."

"No, we didn-"

"Shut up, Lily!" Albus snapped at his sister and the girl fell into stony silence, "So who's looking forward to apparation?"

"Do we have to?" Michael wondered as he rubbed his head, "That cracking sound is loud and it's not like I'll be able to do it."

"What makes you say that?" Scorpius asked in confusion.

"Because not everyone masters spells immediately like you and Maurice do," Rose supplied usefully.

---

Carver was delighted to be home, no more classes and work, he could play and he had his mum back… He'd almost forgotten how difficult it could be with his mum. She expected him to be well-behaved much like in his school except she had strange thoughts on what he should know, she seemed annoyed he still couldn't bathe himself and upset he didn't know how to cook or clean. What school did she think he went to? She didn't seem interested in hearing about what he actually was learning, she was glad he could read though but didn't like that he couldn't read all of the words like the long complicated ones he was still learning and learning the meaning of. Carver didn't see why she was bothered, she didn't know what they meant either and if she didn't know then how would he?

She still didn't like playing with him either, telling him to grow up already and stop being childish. She still didn't like hugging him either, telling him he was being too clingy. He also no longer liked bedtimes, his dad always tucked him in and gave him a kiss goodnight but his mum just told him to go to bed then got mad if he wandered back downstairs. He didn't complain though, it was still better than being in the school with all his mean classmates when he had to do stuff constantly and rarely got to play. Aside from all that, Carver thought things were better. He had been taught to behave better so she didn't tend to get upset with him things like that, he felt guilty for being unhappy sometimes still.

They may get on better but they still weren't really close, even less close then he was to his dad. He was starting to notice that about his dad, he'd tuck him in at night, play with him, cuddle him and talk to him but he didn't listen. For Christmas he asked for a toy broomstick, asking both his parents repeatedly. He didn't get it, his mum said she hadn't noticed he asked and his dad didn't even seem to notice him complaining about the lack of his toy broomstick. Ethan always listened to him though, Ethan was good like that. Carver desperately tried to improve the relationship with both his parents, he was nice to precious Viola that his dad loved and he did his best to keep everything neat and tidy like his mum liked. Neither seemed to notice the effort on his part, they still didn't seem to listen to him.

It was all for naught though, in the winter his mum introduced him to her friend Henry. He said he'd leave if Carver stayed, trying to be good Carver left the room since he thought his mum would rather talk to her friend Henry then him. The room wasn't good enough though and she decided he should go back to the Training Tower again, he felt his little heart shattering again. Hadn't he been trying hard enough? Why did he have to go away? He was dumped back into class, smack bang in the time in between his and Ethan's birthdays when they were in a different class where he was back to being taunted and teased behind his back. He hated them, he hated all of them. People were just jerks. At least his mum sent him a card this time for his fifth birthday and he was moved back up into Ethan's class, at least Ethan would never get fed up with him. Would he? He seemed quieter than usual.

And Carver would find out why as he was introduced to torture class, where they were taught to resist giving up information to the enemy. Finally, Carver understood why his classmates acted like idiots. The pain was worse than anything he'd ever found his small brain was capable of imaging, he felt like he'd never stop shaking. His dad cuddled him afterwards but promised it was necessary, that it was better in the long run and he was getting it less often than the other students so he could hardly complain. So Carver didn't complain, he just cried and wished he was good enough for his mum to love him.

"Of course you're good enough, Carver," Ethan assured him one of the days when he caught him crying and pulled him into a hug that Carver returned desperately as he cried into his shoulder, "You didn't do anything wrong, it's not your fault you were born. Your mum is the one who is acting wrong. She wanted you back before, she will again. You'll see and then you'll be away from that horrible spell."

"I h-hate it s-so much," Carver sobbed into his older but smaller brother's shoulders.

"I know, Carve, I know."

Ethan proved to be spectacularly correct when his mum turned around again and decided she wanted him back, not long after Viola's third birthday. Her friend had left now so it was okay for him to go back, he didn't get as enthusiastic a greeting but he hadn't expected one. His mum just wasn't as excited about his return as he ever was, at least he was away from the torture curse and he could try live up to his mum's high standards. Carver had learned more stuff, not about cooking and cleaning though. He'd very much like to do the former, he loved food. Despite Carver's best efforts, the relationship with his mum remained strained. In fact when he tried to do things she wanted it just made it worse, he tried to cook after seeing her do it and ended up making inedible lumps and a mess.

Regardless, she didn't send him away. They had a lovely Christmas – or at least until Carver threw up from eating too much, much to his mum's chagrin – and she didn't send him away in the winter. Spring dawned and he spent his sixth birthday with her for the first time in what felt like a long time, a month after that he got yet another sister, Martha. Carver didn't see why his dad insisted he meet her, Viola had taken years before she could play or speak with him properly and even then he thought she was quite annoying. Carver saw much less of his siblings though while he was living with his mum.

He was really starting to relax into his new home life as spring turned back to summer then fall marking a whole year he'd been back with his mum. He could just play and have fun, he didn't have to worry about learning and boring stuff. His relationship with his mum continued to be strained though, it was like the longer he was there the more frustrated she'd get over things that annoyed. The longer he was there the more he relaxed he also got and stopped putting so much effort into making her happy, it wasn't like she'd ever be satisfied anyway. In general she seemed quite unhappy, she complained constantly about hating her job and left him with babysitters to go on dates – not the tasty kind Carver could eat – that she seemed upset never seemed to work out. Maybe he thought he should've paid more attention.

As the new year dawned, Carver was introduced to yet another baby much to his immense frustration. Martha was still a baby, why did his dad have to go and have another one?! Where did he even get these things? This one was a boy apparently called Andreas, not that it made even the slightest bit of difference to Carver. It was still a small, boring lump of flesh, it was just dressed in a different colored onesie. At least Martha could crawl, even that seemed a pretty lame accomplishment to Carver. The next month after a failed Valentine's Day, his mum also decided he should go back to the Training Tower. Carver once again was crushed but this time the abandonment left a bitter taste in his mouth and a spark of anger in his heart.

---

They finished their breakfast, the others chatting about the funeral before clearing out so they could prepare the Great Hall for the apparation lesson. They filed back in shortly to find the tables were now gone and the Heads of House had assembled, Professors Longbottom, Vipera, Koray and Oring, along with Cistro the Auror who hated him. Suddenly, Scorpius was not looking as forward to apparation lessons. It was a useful skill to have though and much easier then he thought if Annie and Austin were anything to go by, if he could get it quickly then he could drop the class until the end. He was thinking of that when he noticed Professor Longbottom approaching them, Scorpius thought for his daughter but it was Maurice that he stopped by.

"I'm sorry, Maurice, but you can't be here," Professor Longbottom told him, Maurice looked rather offended but the teacher continued before he could protest, "I know you're extremely talented and taking Sixth Year classes but apparation is strictly an age thing, not to do with year. You'll have to come next year when you're the right age."

"But that's hardly fair," Maurice protested, "I have every right to learn apparation, I'm the best in the year."

"Well I can't change the law, I'm sorry," Professor Longbottom offered apologetically and Maurice stalked off without another word, the professor smiled at his daughter and patted her on the shoulder, "Good luck, sweetie."

"Thanks, Dad," Abby said nervously but gratefully before he went back to the front of the class, only then did Cistro clear her throat.

"Morning, I am Lead Auror at Hogwarts Syntyche Cistro," Cistro began as she surveyed them all with a look more fitting to a suspect then a student, "Normally apparation and disapparation are not possible within Hogwarts, it has been removed only in the Great Hall for an hour for this class so remember to be on time. Considering the potential risk this causes in these dire times, as an extra precaution I will be teaching this class and there are several Aurors outside in case. Don't worry, I passed my test first try with ease age seventeen and I have been given a course on how to teach it anyway so you should still be prepared when the twelve weeks are up for your test even though this is not my usual job

"For any idiots out there who didn't research what they signed up, apparation is a magical method of transformation. Disappearing from one place – disapparating – and appearing in another – apparating – almost instantly, it is a wandless use of magic thus very difficult anyway and very dangerous as insufficient focus causes splinching. This is when random body parts are separated, it can be minimal to life-threatening depending on how bad it is so this is one class where it is dangerous to not pay attention," Cistro concluded darkly and looked at them as if daring someone to not listen to her, "So anyway, I'd like you to place yourselves so you have a clear five foot space in front of you. Your Heads of House will help."

The silence was broken as everyone started moving around, the Heads of House dividing them up house and spacing them out quite nicely. Cistro just stood at the front, arms folded and foot tapping impatiently. When they were done, Cistro waved her wand and conjured four boxes of that she handed out to each of the House Heads who started to hand out contents. Scorpius was surprised and even more so when Professor Longbottom handed him a lump of chalk, he wasn't the only one looking confused.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Knight spoke up nervously and she threw him a glare.

"That's Lead Auror Cistro," Cistro corrected him, "And I'm not taking questions. Everyone draw an outline of a shape large enough for you to stand in in the five foot space in front of you then step back into your position."

"It's just my grandparents mentioned hoops?" Knight blurted out still in confusion as the hall started to obey, "Why are we drawing?"

"Because part of apparation is choosing where you want to go, an area you yourself marked is more noticeable to you then a generic hoop. Now do it or leave the Great Hall."

Knight obliged as did everyone else, some doing basic shapes and some trying to make them more memorable. Scorpius was torn between a basic circle and the more memorable triangle, ultimately ending up with a kind of shield shape mixture of the both of them, he hoped it would serve him well as he stepped back into place.

"Alright so when learning to apparate, you need to bear in mind the three D's: Destination, Determination, Deliberation," Cistro continued when everyone was done, counting them off on her fingers as she spoke, "Step one: Destination. For this class, it's the shape you drew in front of you. Concentrate now, focus on your destination. I'm not your destination, look at the bloody floor! Listen with your ears, not with your eyes."

Everyone hastily turned their attention to the ground, staring at their shapes and trying to focus on such a thing. Scorpius used a trick Leebin had taught him to clear his mind first, trying to eliminate all thoughts other than his strange shield-shaped destination.

"Step two: Determination. Like with all you magic, you have to want to do it. So want it. Yearn for it. Desire it. Be determined to be at your destination, feel that determination," Cistro spoke up after a moment to allow them to do that, Scorpius flooded his mind with determination to do it, "Finally, step three: Deliberation. When I give the word, turn on the spot and feel your way into nothingness. Move with deliberation into your location, apparate there like your life depends on it because some day it may do. NOW!"

Collectively the hall seemed to spin on the spot, several people fell over including Albus knocking into Abby. He scrambled off her so quickly and desperately that he accidentally shoved her back down on the ground when she also tried to get up, he stared off into his… blob shape with a red face as if nothing had happened. Abby could only throw him a slightly confused scowl as Michael helped her up, no one seemed to have apparated.

"It's alright, it tends to take a while," Cistro shrugged it off, sounding quite bored, "Now again, let's go back to step one…"

And they did but again nothing happened, Scorpius was really quite upset. He thought he was doing it right, it wasn't like him to fail at something. The third try there was a loud bang and Scorpius looked around in confusion to see who had gotten it before he had, he was surprised to see everyone else was standing around away from their chalk shapes. The teachers seemed equally confused by this as they looked around, no one seemed to have done it and even if they had done it on the spot then someone had to have felt the effects of it.

"I guess someone must have splinched a piece of hair or something," Cistro said finally, "Anyway, again."

This time there was another crack, only this it wasn't nothing and the cause was immediately obvious. Knight was screaming as he stood inside a chalk outline, his shoulder streaming blood while his arm lay back on the ground on his original spot. The teachers rushed to help him – Michael also tried before realizing they were dealing with it – and seemed to reattach it, the boy continued to look rather shaken though. There was a couple more splinching incidents but no one else Scorpius knew and no one at all managed to successfully apparate, not even Scorpius. He was really quite surprised as he trailed out with his friends.

"So how was it?" Rose questioned of them excitedly as they left.

"Too loud," Michael complained tiredly but Rose seemed unconcerned.

"Once I think I felt a tingling in my feet!"

"I didn't feel anything," Albus admitted with a sigh, "As usual, I suck."

"I got nothing either," Abby pointed out before shooting him a dark look, "Apart from you falling on me. You could have said sorry."

"Oh right, well sorry. I didn't think about it, I was too busy thinking of Ds."

"I can't believe I didn't do it," Scorpius pointed out, feeling genuinely surprised and annoyed with himself, "I mean it was a whole hour and nothing, I didn't even splinch myself."

"Holy mother of Merlin! You went a whole class without making progress?! Stop the presses, call the Minister!" Albus gasped in mock shock before dropping it to switch to a blunt tone, "Welcome to the real world. This is what it's like for people who aren't you."

"Michael, come with me," Maurice's voice hissed and they all jumped in surprise, spinning just in time to catch the swish of his cloak vanishing into an empty classroom.

They followed him in and suddenly the disembodied bang from earlier made sense, Maurice was throwing the invisibility cloak off himself. It was soaked in blood and so was Maurice himself, his right shoulder was a bloody mess and seemed to be holding on by threats of flesh. He half-collapsed onto a seat and Michael rushed to help him, Maurice's face was ashen as he continued breathing heavily as Michael tended to him.

"What the hell, Maurice?!" Michael snapped at him.

"You took my cloak!" Albus screamed as he rushed to the bloody fabric.

"I imagine you people are wondering what happened," Maurice managed to get out, half through teeth clenched against the pain, "I took Al's cloak and went back in to learn how to apparate since it seemed unfair, I just had to use mental lines of chalk but hey I did it and I did it before everyone else a year older them me so there! I just destroyed my shoulder in the process, I had to tend to it, magically make sure it wasn't audibly or visually obvious what I did so I wouldn't get in trouble. I basically sat there bleeding in agony the rest of the damn hour, now I'm feeling like my head is full of air instead of brain matter and standing makes my legs wobbly."

"Well it serves you right for being an idiot!" Rose snapped at him while Maurice's body drooped sleepily as if he was struggling for consciousness, "This is serious!"

"You people know that I can't understand you without my necklace, righ…" Maurice trailed off as his body went limp.

"He's just unconscious," Michael offered quickly as he stood, "Come on, let's get him to Marigold. I don't have the resources to treat this, he didn't get immediate treatment and needs potions now."

---

Part 4: The Assassin

---

They took Maurice to the Hospital Wing and left him in the capable hands of Marigold, he assured them Maurice would be fine in a few days to recover from the blood loss. Scorpius was relieved although somewhat concerned, if Maurice had also failed to apparate – although he had made more progress than Scorpius since he splinched himself – then it must be difficult. How long would it take?

"I'm going to try wash the blood off my cloak," Albus grumbled as they returned to their dormitory, the Potter boy heading into the bathroom with the bloodstained cloak.

"Finally, quiet," Michael said with a sigh of relief as he threw himself back down onto his own bed and rubbed his forehead, his eyes drifting closed.

"Finally quiet," Scorpius repeated and scowled at him, "Michael, you have a problem. I'm sorry Maurice burned your Hogsmeade slip but dammit, you can't keep drinking. You of all people know the damage it can do, to yourself, to the people around you."

"I don't care, it makes me feel better," Michael muttered disinterestedly and rolled onto his side, "Just leave me alone, I'm tired."

"It doesn't make you feel better, it only temporarily messes with your brain so you think you feel better but you don't."

"I know, I'll still take it," Michael shrugged with a yawn as he closed the drapes, "Night."

Scorpius stalked off in frustration, silently cursing whoever invented alcohol and went to go plan some Quidditch practices to try take his mind off things. Their match against Hufflepuff was only a fortnight away, it had been switched with the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match because of the proximity to the full moon so they had less time. He was very nervous about the match, he'd failed to catch the Snitch in his last game and this time he'd be up against his friend, Orous, both as Seeker and Captain. It was his twin who took issue with him though he realized the next day when they foolishly thought to visit their friend in the Hospital Wing, the deaf boy was furious at them for taking him to Marigold and getting him in trouble as the Headmaster had personally taken fifty points plus detentions until Easter.

"How long is Maurice going to be in the Hospital Wing?" Lorcan demanded of him on the way to the way back to the Great Hall for breakfast, "The killer could still be and probably is still out there, without Maurice to protect us we're vulnerable. Especially Lysander."

"It's just a few days, just be careful and hopefully it'll be okay," Scorpius offered, he hadn't even thought of that although nothing had happened yesterday so maybe the killer and Shadow needed more time than they had to plan their attacks.

"Hopefully doesn't keep my brother alive!" Lorcan snapped angrily.

"Why are you mad at me? Maurice is the one who snuck into apparation class and splinched himself," Scorpius insisted and Lorcan sighed, rubbing at the black circles beneath his amber eyes, "I can try go around with you if you want but Maurice is the one who knows what to look for."

"I'm sorry, I'm just really worried," Lorcan admitted before walking off back to his waiting twin, Lysander looking much less concerned and quite happy but then he usually did.

It seemed that Lorcan's worries were unfounded though as there were no attempts on any of their lives over the tense next few days while Maurice was recovering, not that Scorpius was complaining. The days passed uneventfully and on Wednesday, Maurice was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing and return to classes as usual. It was only then that he was approached by another under Maurice's protection, also on the way to breakfast.

"Hey Scorpius!" a voice he hadn't heard in a while called and Scorpius turned in surprise, leaving Albus' complaints about Valentine's Day tomorrow going unheard. Martha bounded over to him, looking exceedingly nervous.

"Hey," Scorpius offered politely but uncomfortably, becoming acutely aware of her crush and the fact it was Valentine's Day tomorrow. He didn't really want to have to have to awkwardly reject an eleven year old, he also felt somewhat bad. He'd meant to see how she was doing ages ago but had forgotten in the wake of learning about Antonius' abduction, "How are you do-"

"C-Can I talk to you in private?" Martha blurted out nervously before he could finish his sentence, he spared a glance to Michael and Albus who both shrugged.

"Err… Sure," Scorpius agreed hesitantly and followed the small girl, dreading rejecting her as she led him into an empty classroom and closed the door behind them. Then locked it, locked it magically and cast a charm eavesdropping charm, maybe a little too much for a simple crush, "Martha, what's going on? Did something happen?"

"Okay," Martha said as she took a deep breath, pacing around nervously for a minute before stopping to pick at her fingernails instead before she abandoned that to finally look at him, "Do… Do you remember how someone was trying to kill you and the Scamanders? For a while your friends thought it was me before I was attacked by the Shadows for the same reason. Well… They were right."

"Wh- Th- You?!" Scorpius stammered out in shock and Martha nodded ashamedly, "Wha- Why?! Why would you do that?!"

"Because Pyrrhus Florian wants you dead," Martha admitted, staring off unhappily, "I don't know a lot, okay? We decided it was best to keep me in the dark in case I was found out. He has a plan to kill the Shadow Master and to do that, you three have to die because of the wrist connection unless there's some other way to sever it."

"Why just us? Why not Orous and Maurice?"

"I don't know, I was only told you and the Scamanders."

"Well what about Antonius? Why did he take Antonius?!" Scorpius demanded of her, feeling increasingly angry, "Why is Jack helping him?"

"I don't know, he never mentioned that stuff to me. Like I said, the less I know the better."

"Well how could you even do that?!" Scorpius spat at her furiously while she continued not looking at him, "I saved your life, I helped you, I defended you and all this time you were trying to kill me?! Kill the Scamanders?! You sabotaged my best friend's Wolfsbane! Don't you know how much it hurt him to go nuts like that!? And you're the reason Hugo became a werewolf!"

"I know," Martha muttered quietly, "Michael suspected me, I thought if I used him then it would get him expelled or take his mind off me. None of my plans worked the way I meant or wanted."

"You're sick!" Scorpius snapped and angrily kicked a random chair off to the side, Martha said nothing and something else occurred to him, "Why are you even telling me this?! Is this a trap!? Are you-"

"I'm telling you because you saved my life when you shouldn't have, I didn't deserve it and I feel like I owe you the truth," Martha explained, still without looking at him, "This isn't a trap, this is just the truth."

"Why should I believe you?"

"If I was trying to kill you right now, don't you think I'd be doing something other than staring at my shoes?" Martha countered and Scorpius supposed that was a fair point, he swallowed and tried to take his anger with it to speak to her calmly.

"Are you even still trying to kill us?" Scorpius asked curiously and she gave a kind of vague half-shrug, either not sure of the answer herself or just didn't want to tell him, "Why are you even working with Florian? You know he murdered your father, right?"

"I know," Martha admitted and pain flickered in her eyes, "I loved my dad, really I did and I miss him every day but as much as I hate what Pyrrhus did, I want this war to end. Pyrrhus actually has a plan for that."

"A plan you don't even know?"

"One of my siblings is also on board and knows the whole thing, they wouldn't be if it wasn't plausible," Martha explained with a shrug and moved to leave, Scorpius grabbed her wrist to hold her back though, "I've told you all I wanted to say, I've answered your questions."

"Well what's to stop me turning you in? You confessed to trying to kill me, I'm not just going to let you go," Scorpius insisted seriously, "What's to stop me taking you to the headmaster or getting Maurice in here to torture information out of you?"

"Then do it," Martha told him disinterestedly.

Scorpius seriously did for a minute before deciding against it, she was more useful alive and available to them captured or killed by the Shadows – undoubtedly what turning her in would eventually end in – plus he was against Maurice torturing information out of people. Despite what she'd done, he was still angry with her. Scorpius pushed her away and Martha removed the charms before leaving, her head hung miserably as she walked. Scorpius left as well and returned to the Gryffindor table, seeing Orous walking away.

"Why was Orous here?" Scorpius asked distractedly as he sat down.

"Seeing if I was okay," Maurice spat irritably, "No thanks to you people, turning me in."

"Would you rather have bled to death?" Rose countered.

"I would rather you people have improvised, in war you don't give your allies away to the enemy just because they have better medical facilities," Maurice grumbled and Scorpius sighed to himself, hoping he wasn't doing the wrong thing in telling Maurice.

"Well anyway, I know who was trying to kill the Scamanders so I propose heading off to the Room That Doesn't Exist after classes to discuss the matter," Scorpius announced and his friends heads swiveled to him in surprise, they opened their mouths but he held up his hand to silence them, "Not in public, remember?"

"Just because you listen to me sometimes, doesn't mean I forgive you for getting me in trouble."

---

Xerxes was quite pleased with his daughter, it felt like a while since he'd had a newborn to care for and not since Ethan had he had a motherless child. As far as babies went, she was pretty easy to care for and not very difficult much to his relief. She started sleeping through the night at just a month old so to celebrate and end his unfortunate time of celibacy, he got Pyrrhus to watch her one of the nights. His since his deaf charge slept through the night so it was easy for him to leave and he was doing a decent job with Maurice, it was the first time he let his brother meet one of his children. He was getting older now, he was more capable.

In hindsight, Xerxes thought he took celebrating too far as he ended up getting completely wasted but remembered fragments of the night with a young beautiful dark-skinned girl with deep chocolate eyes and brown curls. He didn't think much of the one night stand and returned to the Training Tower, continuing to teach and care for his baby girl. A letter arrived one of the days and he was glad the girl had thought to mention the date and night because he hadn't remembered her name was Josslyn Webb, she informed him she was pregnant with his child and wanted to speak with him about child support as well as if he wanted anything to do with raising it since she'd decided to keep it. Xerxes was rather surprised but quite pleased after the hassle with Brenna, Josslyn's approach was very welcome.

He wrote back and met with her and made arrangements, agreeing to give her money and working out shared custody quite pleasantly. He was actually quite excited for his sixth child, it would be his first mixed-race child and his first with a muggle-born mother. Life continued, he was still quite busy with Martha and was careful with his liquor on his nights off. Carver's mother Maeghan was being antsy again, he didn't understand why she had so much trouble with Carver. She had one child to deal with, he had almost six yet he had no trouble. Clearly it was as he'd always thought, he was just naturally an amazing father and far superior to her in regards to raising children. His son was born in January, after a bit of debate he was allowed to pick the first name but Josslyn got the middle and last name so Andreas Aiden Webb it was. He considered it a fair deal, the first name was the most important one.

Andreas proved to take after his mother, inheriting her chocolate eyes and curly brown hair but his face shape was Xerxes. His skin tone settled somewhere in the middle of both of them, lighter than Josslyn but darker than Xerxes leaving a mocha skinned baby. Xerxes found him adorable, he was quite a bubbly, smiley baby and the joint custody gave both him and Josslyn a break which was good for him considering he still had Martha to deal with. He also still had Carver's frustrating mother who ultimately sent him back to the Training Tower, Xerxes wished the bitch would just make her mind up, it was quite tedious and could she not see he was busy with Martha and Andreas right now? Babies required more work than children.

The next few years proved to be quite hectic for him, juggling Martha and Andreas while still having time for his other kids. He also became incredibly anxious when he was told the other staff intended for Stephan to take the test at just eleven, he wanted to make it easier for him but the others and the boy's mother both insisted he was ready. Apparently, he was at the top of his class. Did Xerxes know how to make babies or what? Of course his children would be talented, he didn't know why this surprised him. Still he found himself doing nothing but pacing around with Martha while Stephan was taking the test in the dead of winter, the little girl sleeping peacefully and oblivious to the fact her brother's life was on the line. Finally, he was given the good news, that Stephan had passed the test. He was so proud, Stephan had done brilliantly and clearly he got it from Xerxes himself. He took it upon himself to start teaching Stephan Legilimency and Occlumency, thinking his son would share in his talent despite his young age. He didn't prove to disappoint, he didn't master it immediately but he proved better than most adults and Xerxes made a mental note to teach all his children this.

Martha turned two in the new year and he started her on the Training Tower, freeing up his time considerably to focus on teaching Stephan – and spending time with Viola since she was his firstborn girl, his special little princess – and his son seemed happy to have more time with him. He was quite pleased to notice the pre-teen was already starting to notice girls, dating was discouraged as a distraction but nonetheless it was normal and he wanted his children to be able to date, have children of their own so his bloodline would continue. Maybe not right now and not with the other Soul Eater brain-washed zombies but at some point, he was slightly concerned by the violent streak he noticed from Stephan's memories but he supposed it came with being raised a soldier. He actually introduced him to Pyrrhus as well, thinking he was old enough to hopefully not be influence by the lunatic.

Carver turned eight and Maeghan decided she wanted him back yet again so Xerxes obliged, only for her to change her mind a few freaking months later. Damn, that woman was annoying. Josslyn was much better, with promised breaks like a regular school she allowed Andreas to start at the Training Tower. He was really the only one Xerxes had had to compromise with, he had full control over Ethan and Martha, Viola pretty much since her mother still was somewhat obsessed with him, Senna was also a Soul Eater and very much wanted Stephan to be trained as well then Maeghan just fluctuated from no contact to full custody. At first it was quite nice having control over his free time without babies to juggle but as the year wore on, he started to really miss it. He still spent time with his children of course because he was the perfect father but they hardly depended on him since they had everything going for them with the Training Tower, Stephan was even learning to apparate now. Xerxes was in his thirties now, was he losing his touch? Was he losing his fertility? He certainly wasn't losing his libido.

---

The meeting later went about as well as Scorpius had expected, thankfully he convinced Maurice to not go after her but he did rescind protecting her. Scorpius also ringed this information over to Varanian along with what he'd learned about Leebin from Albus, he'd forgotten to tell him. The more he thought about it as his anger faded the more he thought he could use it to his advantage, even if Martha didn't know where Florian was – which seemed likely considering he seemed to move a lot and Martha didn't know much of the plan – she might at least have some way to contact him. She might be their ticket to getting Antonius back, Scorpius just needed something to offer her other than their heads on a silver platter.

Actually he was also rather intrigued by Florian's supposed plan to rid the world of the Shadow Master, if it wasn't complete lunacy anyway. And if it wasn't, what if it was the only way? Was it possible to break the connection without the Shadow Master himself removing it or them dying? And if not… Did it mean the only way to stop the Shadow Master was to kill the Scamanders and then himself? He had more questions than answers and no way to get them, he still didn't know where Antonius and Jack fit into it either or why Florian had no interest in Alzay's twins. Scorpius couldn't think of anything but the scarred wrists he had in common with the Scamanders so that was the logical answer but Orous and Maurice had that too, did Orous' being severed briefly before or the fact Maurice's alone was unsealed make a difference? Were they really safe or was Florian planning something else with them that he just hadn't told Martha about? The Shadows still needed to be stopped, Syria fell that week and they didn't even wait a whole week before attacking New Zealand without the Inferi.

The rest of the week passed much more uneventfully aside from the fall of Syria, classes and Quidditch practices. Again they had an apparation lesson that Sunday – thankfully, Maurice couldn't and didn't sneakily attend this one due to the timing of his detention – but progress wasn't much better, a few incidences of splinching but none successful. And nothing on Scorpius' part again. That was two classes with no success, what was wrong with him? He wasn't looking forward to the next lesson but before that, he had a Quidditch match to get through. The week seemed fly by far too quickly and he exchanged plenty of nervous looks with Orous, both were working their teams hard to the point Sequoia half-jokingly complained about them hogging the pitch for practices.

There was also more shocking news with the Shadows though, Jerusalem was attacked despite the fact the assault continued on New Zealand on the other side of the world. This time with an army of Inferi and started the war for Israel coming in from both Lebanon and Egypt, both bordering countries so they were fighting on both ends. There was more news this time, the blackout of information not so complete when the Shadow Master wasn't personally involved. Both muggle and magical world leaders were getting antsy and debating involvement, countries in proximity to the war were apparently starting to freak out. The United States especially were starting talking about an assault, wanting to launch a missile strike on 'Shadow Territory' and the magical government trying to get them to calm down until they could locate the Shadow Master. It only furthered the point that they still had to be stopped, the war was raging and if Florian had a plan to stop it then Scorpius wanted to know what it was. He was starting to feel very frustrated with being stuck in Hogwarts, surely he could be doing something more useful than flying and studying while the world went to hell? It had been a cloudy February so far and the morning of the match, Scorpius awoke to a sheet of rain pouring down from the skies.

"The Shadow Master's trying to conquer the world faster," Maurice told them seriously at breakfast, "Syria was a test to see how the army did with the Shadow Master also helping, with Israel they're getting even more free reign. Ideally, he seems to want to be able to use his army independently of himself so Scepter or not they're a capable and serious threat capable of taking down countries. It'll work too, their army can move freely between most of the countries they control so they have resources and might to throw at Israel and can attack from two fronts because of Egypt. Any die join the army as an Inferi so every loss only adds to their numbers."

"Do you have to make it sound like defeat is so imminent?" Rose said with an anxious sigh.

"I'm just stating here facts and logical deductions based from them, it's not my fault things aren't looking good for the world."

"It's so much bigger than us," Albus commented quietly as he stirred at his oatmeal disinterestedly, "In my dad's time, it seemed so much more achievable and he was already the chosen one. We have no chosen one and its everywhere, how are we supposed to beat that?"

"Take out the Shadow Master for starters, take out the person controlling the masses of Inferi which is likely this Stephan person and the rest of the leadership," Maurice stated as if it was obvious, "Cut off the head and the snake will die, it may still writhe around a bit but it won't last so just keeping hitting it until it dies."

"You make it sound so easy," Rose sighed again and Maurice scowled at her.

"Again, it's just logic. And it's harder said than done, we don't know who either of this people are or where they are."

"Maybe we should ask Martha," Michael spoke up, lifting his head from his hands. He wasn't hungover – Scorpius had been careful to keep an eye on him – but still wracked with nerves before the match, he'd already thrown up twice.

"I'll be keeping an eye on her during the match to make sure she doesn't try anything," Maurice spoke up readily, "I could ask her."

"Maybe after the match I'll ask her," Scorpius insisted as he wasn't sure if Maurice would ask with words or wands, he also Maurice a dark look as he opened his mouth, "And shut up about the war, we need to focus on the match right now."