Chapter 12: Into the Pensieve
Author's Notes: For the sake of accurately portraying some scenes from Harry's past, I have taken some of the dialogue from the first two Harry Potter books.
As he fell, Scorpius realized that he was going to crash right into the roof of Madame Malkin's! He braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, he floated through the ceiling as if he were a ghost.
"Am I dead?" he whispered to himself. He looked at his hands and feet and felt himself...he still felt solid and alive. Then why did he just fall through the roof of the shop where he had bought his school robes? He then saw himself, or perhaps a clone, standing a few feet away and talking to a very familiar boy with messy black hair.
"Albus? Are you dead too? What's going on?" he asked, but then he heard what the other Scorpius was saying.
"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways," the other Scorpius sneered.
"Let what other sort in where? What are you talking about?" Scorpius demanded, although as his "clone" talked on, he realized with a sinking feeling that he was referring to muggleborns being allowed at Hogwarts, especially when he asked what the black-haired boy's surname was. Suddenly, the whole scene disappeared, and Scorpius felt like he was flying again. This time when he landed, he was in the Hogwarts Express, and that same black-haired boy was there, now accompanied by a redhaired boy that looked a lot like a younger version of Ron Weasley. Scorpius took a good look at the boy he had thought was Albus Potter, and then noticed the scar.
"That's Harry Potter...but...why is he my age?" he asked aloud, although it didn't seem like Harry and Ron's younger selves, if that's what they were, could hear Scorpius talking. In fact, it seemed like they were looking right through him, and then he was startled as his snooty clone spoke from right behind him.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle. And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." Scorpius stared, realizing what was going on. That wasn't himself, that was his father, as a child!
"Why I am I in my father's past here? What's going on?" he asked, although it was getting obvious even to Scorpius that no one was able to listen to him. He then grew angry as Draco went on to insult the Weasley family and Hagrid.
"How dare you! The Weasleys are going to help save everyone from Voldemort! They're heroes!" he shouted. He then watched as Ron's rat attacked Goyle when he tried to steal Harry and Ron's snacks, still noticing how eerie it was to see his father's younger self. He felt like he was looking into a distorted mirror that showed himself saying such awful things about his heroes. Once again, the scene changed, now to a grassy field where several students, including the younger versions of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, were standing with broomsticks as a boy who looked like he might be hurt was being taken off the field. Scorpius's heart went out for the boy, he himself had not yet mastered a broom yet and still could barely mount before it would send him crashing backwards. The worst had been the last flying class he had, where he was thrown into a tree. Scorpius was distracted and angered again when his father's past self started laughing at the boy who had been hurt. A girl he didn't recognize tried to stick up for the boy who had been hurt, and then a Slytherin girl with a pug face spoke.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati," she sneered. Scorpius gasped when he heard the name "Longbottom," that boy who had been hurt had to be the younger self of his Herbology teacher, Neville Longbottom! Then he saw his dad grab Neville's Remembrall and fly away with it, despite Harry's warning to give it back. Scorpius desired more than anything to grab a broom himself and chase his dad's past self to get that Remembrall back, but of course he couldn't touch anything. All he could do was watch in awe as Harry flew after Draco and was able to catch the Remembrall in mid-air.
"Go get him, Harry!" Scorpius cheered, but then the scene changed again. Now Scorpius was in Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, where there was a crowd of people, mostly witches, who looked like they were excited about a blond guy in blue robes who looked like he had his face on lots of books. However, there was a different blond person Scorpius noticed, and that was his own father, who looked slightly older.
"Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookstore without making the front page," Draco sneered.
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" Scorpius then smiled as Ginny Weasley came to Harry's rescue.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" Draco commented snidely, and Scorpius just gaped in shock. Was his father a Seer? He found that to be a rather eerie thing to say, since Scorpius knew very well that Ginny did later marry Harry. He was then distracted as Ron and what looked like a younger Hermione Granger came over and Draco made yet another crack at Ron for being poor. He was ready to join Ron in attacking Draco, but then a man he could only guess was Ron's father, the famous Arthur Weasley, entered the scene.
"Well well well, Arthur Weasley." Scorpius glared at the man who was his grandfather Lucius. How DARE his evil Death Eater grandfather speak to the wonderful Weasleys like that!
"You deserved to be killed for what you did!" he shouted.
"Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard when they don't even pay you well for it?" Lucius sneered.
"You're the disgrace! I HATE you, grandfather!" Scorpius screamed, barely hearing the retort as he lunged at Lucius, wanting badly to bash that stupid sneering, smirking face in. Of course, since this was only a memory of the past, Scorpius crashed right through his ghostly grandfather, falling to the floor with a thud that should have hurt. He then heard a commotion, and Arthur and Lucius were fighting.
"Go get him! Go get him, Mr. Weasley!" Scorpius cheered through the tears that were forming in his eyes. He hated it, how he was descended from such awful, evil people. And the worst part was that he couldn't escape it, couldn't escape his family name, and certainly couldn't escape the fact that he truly did look like a clone of his father and his evil grandfather. It then became worse as Hagrid entered the shop and pulled Arthur and Lucius away from each other.
"Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that, no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter, bad blood, that's what it is..." Scorpius began to sob as he heard what Hagrid had to say, because it was true. His whole family was evil and rotten, just a bunch of nasty blood purist snobs. As he sunk to the floor, the world spun again, and now he was back on the Quidditch pitch, sitting in the grass. This time, it looked like it might be time for a practice or a game, since both the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were there, dressed in their uniforms. Ron and Hermione were there too, and as usual, Draco had an awful smirk on his face.
"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley. Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team," Draco bragged, "Good, aren't they. But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."
"I look just like him...it's like looking into a horrible mirror," Scorpius whimpered to himself as the Slytherin team roared with laughter.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione sharply retorted, but Scorpius didn't feel any better, especially when he heard what Draco said next.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood."
"DON'T CALL HER THAT!!" Scorpius screamed, lunging at Draco again, once again falling to the grass, not able to touch the people in these visions of the past. He could only watch as the Gryffindor team was in an uproar and Ron tried to curse Draco. However, it looked like the curse had backfired because of a broken wand, and Ron began spitting up slugs.
"No wonder Ron hates me," Scorpius moaned as the scenery changed once more. Now he was in an unfamiliar room that was full of green, snakey decor. Draco and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, were there, but oddly enough, Harry was nowhere to be seen.
"You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave," Draco was saying scornfully, and to Scorpius's surprise, Crabbe looked angry. He claimed it was a stomachache, but Scorpius knew a look of anger when he saw one. Then he was just confused as Draco began talking about Dumbledore hushing up attacks of some sort because he loved muggleborns. And then, in an imitation of someone named "Creevey" who Scorpius thought must be his History of Magic teacher, Draco began to pretend to take pictures.
"Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, Potter?" Though Scorpius knew that his father was referring to someone else, it looked horribly like Draco was mocking Scorpius himself, a mockery of the adoration and respect Scorpius felt towards the Potter family.
"Saint Potter, the Mudblood's friend. He's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think he's Slytherin's heir. I wish I knew who it is, I could help them." Scorpius screamed again, wordlessly, overcome by frustration at not knowing what was going on, what the "Slytherin's heir" thing was about, at Harry Potter being mocked and insulted, and at hearing Hermione referred to by the m-word. Suddenly he felt like he was being lifted upwards. He looked up and saw a rather anxious James Potter pulling him by the hand, and in a flash, he was back on the floor of Harry Potter's office.