31 July, 2022 22:32
Azkaban Prison
The boat gently hit the dock as two men jumped out with ropes to tie it in place. Their passenger smoothly made his way out of the boat onto the rocky grounds of the island pulling his cloak tighter around him holding his wand up to cast a pale light in the gloom. He made his way up the one and only rather uneven path towards the front gates; the guards recognizing him, silently let him pass. As he reached the gates made out of a dark metal they opened to let the man through, silently closing behind him once he had passed. The wizard paused for a second, mentally preparing himself before he entered the imposing fortress.
Now inside his footsteps echoed as he made his way down the hall ignoring both guards and prisoners his mind focusing solely on his reason for being here. At the end of the hall the man entered an office that was far warmer and cozier than one would expect in a place like this. He settled himself warily in front of the fire patiently waiting. Finally three others entered, two male, the last female.
"Mr. Potter," one of the males said to the wizard sitting near the fire. Harry looked up from where he was sitting to look at his companions, not letting his emotions show. Snape had been right about showing one's emotions, at least in the line of work Harry was in.
"We have the results of our tests that we conducted."
Harry Potter leaned forward in his seat the firelight flickering across his forehead lighting up his scar.
"Well…" he demanded.
Rose Weasley's eyes flickered opened, sitting up she stretched before making her way to the bathroom. She brushed her hair mechanically as she looked into the mirror, her dead eyes looking back at her. She blinked than looked down into the sink. Looking at herself was still painful after…
"Rose?" Hermione's voice came in through the door, Rose turned her head.
"Yes?" Rose responded softly to her mother who hesitated from the other side of the door.
"Ben, Lily and Scorpius are here," she answered finally. Rose's fingers clenched over her brush.
"Okay," she called out turning back to the mirror and her dead eyes.
Hermione sighed from outside the bathroom door before turning and making her way back downstairs where three teenagers sitting in the front room turned to look at her.
Hermione forced a smile "She'll be right down," before she retreated to the kitchen leaving the three teenagers in the sitting room staring at one another.
Ben bit his lip turning his hands over in his lap. Every day since school had let out he and Lily and Scorpius had come to visit Rose. She was his friend and after the way he had treated her the past school year he needed to make it up to her. Ben held back his tears. If he had only been there, if he hadn't been avoiding Rose last year, maybe, he would have noticed something was wrong.
Scorpius shifted in his seat. Months ago he never would have expected to be a regular visitor to a Weasley household, but for the past few months he had been here every day. It was nice. Cozy. He wished he would have been a visitor before this thing had happened. In a far different capacity than as a friend of the girl who lived here. If indeed they were friends. Rose didn't really seem to notice him or anyone in fact. She knew they were there and responded accordingly but it seemed like she was there in body only.
Lily sighed. The whole house was different. She used to love coming over to Aunt Hermione's and Uncle Ron's place. Now she felt like she needed to. To try to make up for what her brother had done. She swallowed down the familiar sick feeling in her stomach. How desperately she wished things would be normal again. Lily closed her eyes in pain at the thought her mind drifting to her father. He had seemed quiet at breakfast that morning. Lily knew he had been out late at Azkaban where her brother now resided, she wondered what had happened. Whatever it was, she wished, hard, that it didn't have to happen on her father's birthday.
Hermione sat in the kitchen shaking. She hated this; she hated what her daughter had gone through, what she was still going through. If she could do something, anything she would. She would rather be crucio'd by Bellatrix again, than have Rose go through something like this. Especially at the hands of her favorite cousin and best friend, the boy she had grown up with. Hermione shook her head remembering when Al and Rose were children together, they had been so close and no one would have, could have ever imagined anything like this. Hermione stifled a sob. Who could have predicted something like this? The woman wondered what exactly had happened to Al to make him do something so incomprehensible.
Rose made her way slowly down the stairs watching her feet as they made contact with each step until she entered the front sitting room when she looked up. The two boys stood up when she entered the sitting room, Lily blinked at her, her mind slowly leaving whatever thoughts had kept her occupied. The younger red haired girl smiled at Rose who kept her gaze solely on her. Though it didn't show, Lily was the only one who kept her in the room. She couldn't be alone with anyone who was male just yet, although that was an improvement since she used to leave the room whenever a male entered. Even her father and Hugo, but that was before she started therapy. Even now she was still jittery with Scorpius and Ben there. Usually she tried to just ignore them speaking with Lily when she spoke at all. Rose glanced at the two boys before looking down at her hands.
Harry sat at his desk ignoring the piles of paper that covered it. He felt different emotions flicker through him as he once again played what he had been told about his son through his head. Three emotions were prevalent; anger, guilt and hope.
James Potter sat not moving as the warm breeze swept over his body. A tear slipped its way out from under his closed eyelid. He hadn't been home since graduation. He couldn't. He had moved out right afterward, now living in the flat above WWW where his Uncles Fred and George had lived when they first left Hogwarts. He worked in his Uncle's store getting up hours before the store opened and working until hours after the store closed before collapsing in his bed and sleeping for a few hours before starting all over again. Elizabeth would stop by every so often and try to get James to talk to her. He would usually just sit and not say a word until she sighed and sat with him in silence.
Albus Potter sat with his eyes closed, not moving, the only light in his cell coming in through the small hole in the door illuminating the dark stains on the stone walls. He thought about Rose. Beautiful, sweet Rose. He felt a pang of sadness as he thought about their dead child. Al wondered if it had been a boy or girl. He let his mind form a picture of what the child would have looked like. He imagined a little girl with his dark hair and Rose's blue eyes, and a little boy with dark red hair and his green eyes. Al sighed. It was okay. Once he got out, which he would, they would have a chance to create another child together. More than one. If anyone had been watching him they would have seen the grin spread across his face.
He grinned as he read the Daily Prophet. Albus Potter, the loved middle child, of Harry Potter was in Azkaban. They were keeping the reason why quiet, although the public had many theories. He knew though. He was one of the few who did. Albus Potter had gone after his cousin, Rose Weasley. He had become obsessed with her. The man closed his copy of the paper and left the table he was sitting at whistling. It took months, but his revenge on Potter had been better than even he had imagined.
Scorpius Malfoy walked into his family home closing the door behind him after returning from visiting the Weasleys. Not that he would tell his father that. The young man went up to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. Sitting down on his bed he tried to ignore the roiling in his stomach. What had happened to Rose… he could have prevented it. He knew… Scorpius picked up his pillow and threw it across the room. He could have done something, but he was a coward and listened to his father when he told him to stay out of it. Scorpius stood up. It was time.
Harry Potter took the letter that the owl held in its beak and watched it fly away. He opened the envelope, hands shaking as he opened the letter and read it. He stared at it then threw it across the room. His eyes shut; he put his head in his hands. There was nothing they could do. His son, he was very ill, and there was nothing that they could do. He swallowed a sob down. A knock came at his door. The wizard wiped his eyes and got out of his chair to let his visitor in his office.
Scorpius looked at Mr. Potter, his face taking on a surprised expression as he looked at the boy.
"There's something I need to tell you," Scorpius said nervously. Harry looked at him a moment more before opening his door wider as an invite in. As soon as Scorpius Malfoy entered the room, Harry firmly shut the door behind him.
Rose Weasley stared down at her dinner plate as her parents talked quietly with her brother Hugo, each taking turns to peek nervously at the soon to be 18 year old who was pushing food around her plate, eyes staring at something beyond what was on the piece of china. There were only a few weeks left before Hogwarts started up again. Rose let her mind flash back to this time last year when her and Al were the best of friends before he had suddenly become obsessed with her. She frowned at her potatoes. There had to have been something, some event or trigger of some sort that had started it all. He had shown no signs of being a stalker this time last year and talking with Elizabeth a couple of days before had proven that to Rose.
"At the beginning of the year he had merely seemed concern about some rumours that were going around about you and your reputation." Elizabeth said. The two girls were up in Rose's room. "As the year went on, he seemed more obsessive about it and was determined to put a stop to your…erm, activities," the young Slytherin confessed. She shook her head, "I had no idea that he was… well crazy," she said a flash of guilt on her face. Rose sighed.
"Don't blame yourself, Elizabeth," she said, "before Halloween, he seemed to want to spend all his time with me, but I didn't think anything of it," Rose said.
"I don't think anyone would have predicted this," she said softly looking at her hands.
Rose put her fork down and pushed back from the table, "May I be excused?" she asked her parents. They nodded as she got up and walked out of the room. The young woman went up the stairs and turned the corner reaching her hand out and placing it on the cold doorknob. She hesitated before slowly turning the knob and entering her room. Shutting the door behind her, Rose rested her back against it. What had happened before Halloween of last year?
Ron and Hermione looked up from their dinner table when their childhood friend, Harry Potter entered. He looked around his eyes resting briefly on Hugo before they landed on Hermione and Ron who were sitting next to each other.
"Hugo, out," Ron commanded his son. Hugo sighed and got up leaving the room.
"Fine, but I'm not doing the dishes," he said as he went up the stairs.
Hermione and Ron ignored their son, their attention focused on Harry who sat down in the chair Hugo vacated. Harry breathed in heavily as he looked at them.
"What's going on Harry?"
Harry looked down at his hands and then back up at his friends.
"They ran some tests on Albus. He, his blood, showed signs of a love potion," Harry said slowly. Hermione went to say something, but Ron put his hand over hers to stop her.
"Except it," the man hesitated, "it's not a normal love potion. Whoever brewed it, he or she," Harry's voice broke. It was a few moments before he was able to compose himself. "Some of the best potioneers in the world have examined Al's blood to determine what was used in it. They don't know what kind of antidote to use to help Al," Harry said before going silent.
"A love potion?" Hermione said her brows furrowed.
Harry nodded, "That's not all though."
Ron leaned forward to look at his friend, face unusually serious.
"I had a visitor at my office today. He told me," Harry took a breath, "he heard some things. He- he said that he heard, this, what happened to Albus, wasn't an accident," the man went silent, staring at the floor.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice was soft, gentle, questioning. Harry looked up at her, eyes rimmed red.
"The person that did this to my son, to my niece, he did it on purpose. To get back at me," Harry hissed, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence. The man buried his face in his hands, shoulders heaving. He didn't look up when he felt arms go around him, Hermione's gentle breathing in his ear.
Rose leaned back against the wall. A love potion. That's why Al had gone after her and raped her. He was under the influence of a love potion. Rose felt a strange sense of relief at what she had overheard. If they could counteract the effects of the potion, maybe- maybe things could go back to the way they had been before all of this. Except- could Rose ever look at Al after what he had done? Sure this was something which was done to him, he was as much a victim as she was, but still, the memories wouldn't ever go away. Rose took in a deep breath as she straightened up. She still had to try to help her cousin. After, if she succeeded, at least they could try to work things out and deal with what had happened. The girl paused. Her uncle had said that some of the best potioneers in the world didn't know how to help Albus. Rose had met some of these potioneers in the past at parties for Harry. They had been scary smart and if they didn't know how to help Al, how could she? Rose turned and made her way back up the stairs and into her room closing the door behind her.