Only a small pitter-patter of the previous night's downpours lingered as the pre-dawn light began to graze the sky outside the clock tower. Within, Castora and Scorpius' tangled, naked bodies lay beside each other, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak. Castora's unruly hair was fanned out on Scorpius' chest, and Scorpius' breathing was slightly shallower than normal from having her head lying on his torso. The air was heavy, but the tranquility that last night lacked was present here. The air was significantly colder as well.
Castora was the one who stirred first. Blinking her eyes open, the first thing she established was that she was lying across Scorpius' chest. Smiling mildly, she took her index finger and drew light circles around his nipples. She looked at his face, and saw Scorpius smile as well, as if he were dreamily deeply of a bright future. But Castora managed to establish next that the day was growing ever so nearer, and the day meant danger for Scorpius. The Aurors would be arriving soon to take him away from the Wizarding world forever.
Castora sat up and lightly brushed Scorpius' lips with her. Scorpius finally stirred. "Scorpius," she cooed. Scorpius' eyes fluttered open as he looked up at his young wife. "You need to leave."
"Is it day already?" he asked, shooting up. He looked out of the clock, and indeed, the navy blue sky was turning to a light purple. But Scorpius shrugged and lied back down. "You're kicking me out already!"
"No, I want you to stay! We have a Cloak, we could live under it! Make a tent for ourselves out of it!" Castora bugged, suddenly regretting waking her husband from his slumber.
"Well, then, I'll stay!" Scorpius announced, taking Castora back into his arms. Castora giggled. "Let them take me away and execute me!" he said with an oddly happy voice. "It is what my wife wants, what my love wants," he said, his voice growing softer as he kissed her shoulder and moved his lips up to her neck. "Let the Aurors execute me, it is what Castora wants!"
Castora almost had to slap herself to bring herself back down to earth. "No, never mind!" she said quickly. "You have to go! You need to be safe for me in Ireland!"
Castora touched Scorpius' pale, bony cheek and pressed her lips to his. "As much as I'd love you to stay, we cannot do anything about it. I'd kill—"
"—bad choice of words, darling," Scorpius muttered. Castora cleared her throat and corrected herself.
"I'd do anything BUT kill for a Time-Turner so we could go back to last night and keep going back, and back, and back so we could live forever in last night!" she sighed. "Time here without you is going to take forever." Five more minutes passed in silence, the two young lovers lying naked in each other's arms, afraid to face the uncertain day.
Suddenly, Scorpius sat up again and searched for his clothes. Without a word, he dressed himself. After a moment, Castora hesitantly did the same. "Must you leave so soon?"
"Not just yet," Scorpius said. "We have somewhere else to go first. Someone we need to speak to, I think."
"Where?" asked Castora. "Professor Longbottom wants to see us?"
"No."
Underneath the Invisibility Cloak, Scorpius led Castora down the deserted corridors of the castle, down to the ground floor and into the large room directly across from the Great Hall. He opened the large door, and then closed it silently behind them. The room was pitch black, at least until the sound of the door being shut echoed through the hall. Then several torches lit the room as Scorpius and Castora unveiled themselves.
"The Hall of the Honored?" Castora asked questioningly. "Why are we here? Your family didn't fight for this side, and I'm Muggleborn—"
"All our lives, we've seen professors and adults come in here alone to ask for advice and comfort from these brave people," Scorpius said. "It's our turn today."
"The only person I'm related to here is my Great-Aunt Lily. My dad never knew her," Castora whispered as Scorpius took her hand and began guiding her down the long hallway.
"It doesn't matter. Let's find her!" Scorpius said, walking briskly down the corridor with his wife behind him. He found her portrait almost immediately. She was the only portrait with the same fiery red hair Castora had. She was in a small section of the room along with several other portraits grouped as one. Castora recognized one to the left of Lily with bright pink hair, Tonks. She'd spoken once with Tonks before, but had never noticed Lily's portrait right beside her. Maybe Lily had been moving around when she was in there before? Next to Tonks was her husband, Remus Lupin. Above Remus in the circle was his friend Sirius Black, to Sirius' lower right, completing the circle, was James Potter, her Great-Uncle by marriage. Uncle Harry looked just like him.
"They're all asleep," whispered Scorpius.
"Ugh, not anymore," moaned a voice coming from Tonks' portrait. She awoke and stretched, then squinted her eyes to see who'd woken her. "I remember seeing you before," she said, pointing to Castora.
"I'm Castora Dursley," said Castora. Tonks smiled and nodded.
"Wotcher," she said, with a friendly tone. The name awoke Sirius and Lily next.
"I'm Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius said. The look on Tonks' face, surprisingly did not change.
"I know," said Sirius. "I was visiting the portrait that stands outside the courtyard last night. I know EXACTLY who you are…"
Scorpius bit his lips. Castora gripped his hand tighter.
"No need to worry, though," Lily said, her smooth, comforting motherly voice warming Castora's blood. "We understand everything. We won't tell."
"Then you know we're married, right?" Castora asked. Remus snorted awake after a moment.
"What…?" he muttered. "Who…oh, hello!" he said with a cheeriness that startled Scorpius.
Lily shook her head. "We didn't know that. You got married?!"
Tonks raised an eyebrow. "How was the wedding night action?" Sirius laughed, startling James awake.
"Dora, for Merlin's sake!" Remus said, scolding his wife. "You woke James!"
"I was up already," James lied, yawning loudly.
Scorpius ran his long, thin fingers through his hair. "Actually, it was just yesterday," he confessed. "Just before…what you saw happened, Sirius."
Lily gave Castora a sympathetic look. "The Aurors haven't arrested you yet?" she asked.
"They're coming for me soon!"
"Is that why you're here?" asked Remus. Scorpius shook his head.
"I'm making my escape before dawn—"
"—it's almost dawn now!" pointed out Tonks.
Scorpius nodded. "I'm running away to Ireland until Castora and Professor Longbottom can explain everything to everyone, then she'll come for me."
Castora nodded. "We just wanted to see you before Scorpius set off. We need your comfort."
Remus smiled. Castora couldn't help but notice how warm his smile seemed to be. "You both are incredibly brave young people. Trying to end these ridiculous Blood Wars. Makes our sacrifices seem in vain."
"No it doesn't!" Tonks interrupted. "We fought for people like you, Scorpius, Castora. You can do this. You can bring peace back to Hogwarts and the world."
"It seems so impossible," Castora moaned.
James shook his head. "No way. You know what impossible is?"
"What?"
"I knew your Grandmother for a very little while," James said. "Right before Lily and I married. She was such a bitter girl, and her boyfriend, that Vernon fellow, they were both two peas in a pod. They had your father around the same time we had Harry, and I knew that boy would be just like his crazy parents. Now here I am, looking at their granddaughter, and I see none of them in you. THAT'S something that seems impossible."
Castora blushed as her grip on Scorpius' hand tightened.
"I taught your father, Scorpius," declared Remus. "For one year, I taught him Defense Against the Dark Arts. Always such a narrow-minded lad. He always had to be in control, he never opened his mind. Now here you are, his son, married for love instead of blood-status, and at fifteen to boot! You look exactly like him, but I can tell just from these few minutes of conversation that you are NOT alike in the least. THAT's impossible."
Scorpius beamed at the thought of not being his father's son.
"You two are a miracle," Lily said gently. "Together, you can stop the fighting and bring back the peace that Hogwarts hasn't seen since our years at school."
"I bet Uncle Harry would be so proud of you, Castora," Sirius said. "If he knew, I know he would be."
"Yeah, if I hadn't just married and slept with the man who killed his sons," Castora muttered. James bit his lips.
"She's got a point, Padfoot," James muttered.
"And if he wasn't an Auror on the way right now to arrest me and banish me from the Wizarding world," Scorpius said.
"Banishment?" Tonks asked with concern in her voice. Scorpius nodded solemnly, and Castora wiped a tear away from her eye.
"That's why he has to hide in Ireland for a while," Castora murmured. "I don't know how I'll be able to live without seeing you…"
Scorpius turned to face Castora. He took both her hands in his. "Trust me, love. I don't doubt we'll be together soon. And all these bad days will be nothing but things to laugh about in our future," he vowed.
"You'd better make haste," Remus warned. "Go, now! The sun's beginning to rise…"
Sure enough, when Castora and Scorpius raced to the edge of the grounds of Hogwarts underneath the Cloak, the sun's beams were beginning to peek from the eastern hills. Castora could've sworn she heard the sound of distance Auror brooms humming, coming closer.
"I'll be okay. I promise I'll send you an owl as soon as I reach Professor Longbottom's aunt's house."
Castora refused to let go of Scorpius. "Oh Merlin. Something inside me keeps scaring me. I keep seeing us lying dead in the bottom of a tomb," Castora said. It was true; the image had been randomly plaguing her all night and morning. The scene got more vivid each time she'd imagined it. Scorpius: lying face-up bleeding, dead. Castora saw herself sprawled out over his chest, face down.
"I love you," Scorpius whispered, ignoring her warning and slipping quickly under the Cloak. Castora heard his footsteps run further and further away towards the Forbidden Forest. Castora sank to her knees in the cold, dewey morning and watched from a distance as the swarm of Aurors approached Hogwarts castle.