Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Call of the Dark Chapter 13: A Taste of Choice, a harry potter fanfic

Parts (52-55)

Chapter 13

A Taste of Choice

Part 1: Divination Division

"Come to me, Scorpius."

Scorpius opened his eyes weakly, blinking away the sleep as he glanced around. He was no longer on the floor in the Potions classroom but lying in a bed in the hospital wing, he sat up and looked over at the other beds expecting to see at least Vipera, possibly Michael and the Shadow Auror but they were all empty. He frowned before he noticed the Head Healer - Marigold - coming over to him.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Marigold greeted him, "about bloody time."

"What about Michael and Vipera?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"What? Oh they're fine, Michael didn't need any healing and Professor Vipera was released days ago."

"What about that Auror?"

"He's not here anymore, the Aurors took him away and killed him."

"The Aurors took him away and killed him?" Scorpius repeated in confusion to which Marigold glared at him.

"Yes, weren't you listening? Its all over the papers, they took him to be questioned and he suddenly died in the interrogation room which is more than a little suspicious if you ask me. They let Varanian escape, they kill Trelawny, try to kill Vipera and kill one of their own just to cover it up then refuse to pull the Aurors out of Hogwarts against Calderon's wishes. Unbelievable," Marigold complained shaking his head, "now do you have any more questions or can I make sure you're alright?"

"Why did the Auror attack Vipera in the first place?"

"Apparently she caught him stealing from her storerooms so he attacked her, he probably would have killed her if you three hadn't shown up. Are you done now?"

"How long was I unconscious for?"

"Well its lunch on Thursday so nearly a week, the combination of head trauma and use of accidental wandless magic kept you out for awhile. Are you done now?"

Scorpius nodded and sat there in shock, it had been Friday just a second ago when he was lying on the floor. Marigold came over to run through the checks, asking him questions to test his mind was working and some spells to make sure he was alright. He found himself actually relaxing, compared to the evil healers at St Mungo's who insisted on a physical examination it was a breeze. Marigold did check his head and look at his wrist but that was all, Scorpius noticed the bruising-that-wasn't-bruising as vivid again.

"That should go with time depending on what spell that Auror used on you," Marigold pointed out scowling, "its a curse wound so it won't be healed magically, I did try, the spells that cause bruising that takes a long time to heal are usually more devastating than this so be glad you're wrist isn't broken and in the meantime endure."

"Thank you," Scorpius nodded while Marigold went to get him something to eat, if Marigold assumed it was caused by the attack on Friday than that was fine by him.

Marigold kept him there for the rest of the afternoon to keep an eye on him, it was boring but Scorpius supposed he could see the logic behind it and it gave him time to absorb what happened and to think, wondering what the Shadow Auror had been trying to steal and why. Things picked up when classes ended and his friends came to visit him though, at least he could talk to them although they didn't know anything more than anymore than Marigold had told him - unfortunately - so talk turned to trivial things. What he'd missed in classes, Albus' excitement that the events 'proved' Vipera was his soulmate and she 'obviously' realized it because she thanked him for helping save her life, Scorpius rolled his eyes but he was glad his friends were alright. And Vipera, he felt like he owed her an apology.

Marigold insisted he stay one more night just be sure but said he could go to classes tomorrow if the night went okay, aside from waking up drenched in sweat again it did so he was allowed back to classes. It wasn't the worst day, they only had the two double classes on Fridays and they were his favorite classes even if the Defense Against the Dark Arts one was the Patronus lesson, Molly also sat with him at breakfast so that was a plus. If his parents weren't still acting like prison guards then he was seriously considering asking Varanian to take him to Diagon Alley to get her her birthday present, she was practically glowing at breakfast. He couldn't help but feel oddly sad that Calderon hadn't visited him in the hospital wing, he missed Calderon.

He was very aware of the Aurors though, the Auror who'd attacked him hadn't been one of the ones Varanian had pointed out as a Shadow Auror. Transfiguration was good, Scorpius enjoyed the practical spellwork and he did like Florian. Scorpius did start to notice something slightly odd though, an unusual number of Gryffindors kept congratulating Michael, people hadn't paid that much attention to his friend since everyone had thought he could resurrect the dead after saving Scorpius. It wasn't until Professor Ashain congratulated him in Defense Against the Dark Arts that Scorpius finally decided to ask him about it, it was odd Michael would brag about what happened... a week ago. Scorpius decided Professor Ashain was right, waking up and finding out a lot of time had passed wasn't fun.

"Why is everyone congratulating you?" Scorpius asked after the professor moved along, "is there just a lot of people who have a crush on Vipera like Albus or something?"

"Oh its not about that," Michael answered blushing, "its about the Quidditch match."

"The Quidditch match?" Scorpius repeated in shock, he'd forgotten about it in the midst of Vipera's attack, "it happened without me?"

"They postponed it until Sunday but you still weren't conscious so... it happened. Didn't you know?"

"Why would I know? I was unconscious for nearly a week!"

"Sorry."

"How did it go?"

"Well, Molly convinced me to play and I guess after what happened it didn't seem as bad. She had to give James Seeker and Roxy his Beater position, since she's a reserve Beater and there's no reserve Seeker."

"Not James," Scorpius groaned putting his head in his hands, "I suck at the other positions, if I get replaced by him then I'll never get to spend any time with Molly."

"I wouldn't worry about that, James didn't catch the Snitch, the Hufflepuff Seeker did."

"What?! He actually lost to the Hufflepuff Seeker?! She's like the worst Seeker in the history of Seekers!" Scorpius protested and Michael just shrugged.

"Well he lost to her, but he was really upset about it, I tried to tell him he did his best and shouldn't feel bad but he just screamed at me and hit the showers."

"Well that's..." Scorpius started to chastise Michael for being nice to James but decided against it, "so how badly did we lose by?"

"We didn't. Hufflepuff caught the Snitch but we still had the most points."

"Really? Hufflepuff has a really good defense."

"Yep, final score was Gryffindor 210 to Hufflepuff 160."

"How many goals did you score?" Scorpius wondered with a delighted smirk.

"Fourteen for me, five for Latimer and two for Caitlin. And the Hufflepuff only got one goal in because Molly was dodging a Bludger to the head at the time."

"See? Didn't I tell you that you'd do great?"

"It was a team effort," Michael protested blushing again.

Brutus was feeling immensely guilty as they apparated away to where Pip Varanian and his family were hiding out, despite his issues with Varanian he hadn't wanted the guy to be tortured to death along with his wife and children. He much preferred it when the targets were people he didn't know. At least they were all wearing masks, he didn't want Varanian to know it was him. The last time he'd had to kill someone he knew they had looked at him like a traitor and begged for their life because they knew him - albeit not very well - and he didn't want to go through that again, Achan had actually stepped up and killed the last one because Brutus had actually been feeling sympathy. He thought Varanian was too proud to beg for his life but he might for his family and Ethel probably would.

He sighed sadly as they emerged in the cold countryside, he wished he'd just kept his mouth shut. Varanian lived - at least did while they were hiding - in an isolated cottage that they were looking down on from the edge of the woods on the hillside, it was in the middle of a field that might once have been a farm, he'd been smart enough to put up anti-apparation wards around it so they'd have to come in by foot but he'd also put wards up to alert him if anyone crossed the threshold of the anti-apparation area. That was the reason they were a fair distance away from it and the only reason they hadn't attacked the quaint little cottage immediately, for a few hopeful minutes Brutus had thought they might pick someone else who was less protected but no.

Brutus thought it was very typical of Pip Varanian, smart enough to put up defenses but too cocky to realize that leaving would have been the better option because he arrogantly assumed he could handle anything. If he'd thought of what was best for his family rather than his ego than clearly he wouldn't be about to be assaulted by Death Eaters, maybe he deserved to die for being a selfish jerk like that. Brutus flexed his fingers frustratedly, cramming them into five fingered gloves to hide his identity was actually incredibly uncomfortable and almost painful.

"I hate apparating," Sal grumbled as Rabastan brought her in slight pop, she came to stand beside him looking down at the target, "transport by Specter is much better."

"I beg to differ," Brutus complained half-heartedly.

"Well think about it, they're not bound by anti-apparation wards so we could've attacked them directly and with the element of surprise."

"Those things can get past the wards undetected?"

"Yep," Sal nodded and jerked her wrist in the direction of the cottage, Brutus was already chilled from the night so he couldn't really feel them as usual, her tone changed from excited to mournful, "watching them right now."

"What are they doing?"

"The man is telling the children a bedtime story and the woman is singing a lullaby to the baby."

"I wish our mother sang us lullabies and our father told us bedtime stories," Tommy pointed out sounding tearful and Brutus realized he'd also come over to them, also trying not to laugh at the mental image of Bellatrix and Voldemort doing things like that.

"Now he's putting them into bed, wrapping them up in the blankets so they don't get cold and kissing them goodnight."

"The woman's still singing, I've never heard singing before. I like it."

"I wish our parents were like that too."

"We can't attack them, Brutus, those kids are looking forward to Christmas tomorrow, its the baby's first."

"We have to attack them," Sal snapped darkly, "if we can't have a good life then why should they?"

"Because its nice to know there's not misery somewhere in the world," Tommy protested, "please, Brutus."

"Its out of my hands," Brutus told them truthfully.

"Its starting now," Rodolphus announced drawing the three of them back to the other Death Eaters, "I've put up our own anti-apparation wards in case they lower theirs and try to leave. There's two entrances we can see, Lucius, Selwyn and Rabastan will take the front door and the rest of us will take the back. Lucius, which twin do you want?"

"The girl," Lucius said immediately as the Dementors swarmed on poor Tommy.

"Very well, you get the boy."

"I said the girl."

"I know," Rodolphus pointed out and Brutus could hear the smirk in his voice even though the Death Eater's face was covered by the mask, "if he misbehaves then take him into another room to torture him, its the only way he'll learn and he can't fight back with the Dementors on him. Let's go."

Brutus swallowed nervously as he trudged off with Rodolphus, Loren and Sal, they were moving around to either side to get the shortest path to the door then attacking together. He knew Rodolphus was a cruel sadist but wasn't sure how well he actually did in a duel, he wasn't sure how Loren was in a duel either and actually didn't know a lot about him except that he was a single parent to a daughter starting Hogwarts next year because he frequently used her as an excuse to get off work. He just kept close to Sal, he didn't want her to get hit by a stray spell because there was no way Varanian wasn't going to put up a fight. At least it was easy to tell the twins from the other Death Eaters, they were the shortest - even though Tommy had gotten a bit taller, he was still shorter than them- and Tommy still had his sleeve up to reveal the Dark Mark that Bellatrix had carved into his arm anyway. They got in position and Rodolphus fired the signal into the sky, Brutus grabbed Sal's arm to make sure she could keep up as they ran through the grass as fast as they could.

"I don't understand," Sal commented to him sounding confused, "they could've escaped but they ran upstairs to get the children, that's only going to slow them down."

"That's what non-mudblood parents do," Brutus hissed back, afraid of Loren or Rodolphus hearing.

"But isn't the woman a-"

"Shut up back there!" Rodolphus snarled and Sal fell silent as they reached the back door.

Rodolphus charged in first with the three of them right on his heels, it was a tiny rustic-looking kitchen with a door almost directly in front of them that Pip Varanian had been coming out of. Brutus nearly froze in panic, he didn't look that much different than when Brutus had last seen him at their graduation, still sporting his favorite scruffy tawny hair with cold ice blue eyes currently, he did look a bit older but not much, he was still only twenty-five. What made Brutus stop though was the baby he was holding in his non-wand arm.

"Try the other door!" Varanian called over his shoulder backing away, Rodolphus and Loren both cast spells at him that Varanian deflected quickly, already lashing out with his next spell before the shield had finished fading.

Brutus recognized the Acutus curse as it swiped through Rodolphus and Loren - they were in front of him and Sal - throwing them back, Sal held out her hand and the Death Eaters' bodies swerved to one side instead of crashing into them. The baby started crying from the disrupting commotion, Varanian's severe expression wavered as he spared a glance for his child and hugged it closer. Brutus knew then that Varanian would lose, they were reasonably evenly matched in a duel but his movements were hindered by the baby and he was distracted by thoughts of protecting his family instead of being wholly focused on the duel. It was the easiest and fastest duel against Varanian that Brutus had ever had, he had him backed into the front room and disarmed in minutes before Rodolphus and Loren rejoined the fray. Varanian still looked like he was going to make another go for his wand before he noticed one of the others already had his wife and kids at wand point, the only sound was the baby crying. Brutus wished he was anywhere but there.

Scorpius actually was impressed with himself that lesson, his silver wisps was more like the silver windows most of the class could cast. Of course he was left utterly exhausted, he hoped when he lay down to sleep that he wouldn't wake up again in days. Thankfully it was Saturday when he got up although he was still tired, it was the last taster session and he didn't want to miss it. It was Divination with the blind Elina. He spent breakfast listening to Rose rant incessantly about how completely useless and inaccurate Divination was and how everyone who practiced it was a delusional insane fraud and Copper agreed with, Scorpius felt rather like he was having a muggle drill bored into his skull. Rose really did not like Divination.

Again the Great Hall was filled with chairs but this time they were arranged in a kind of semi-circle facing the center of the room where there was a chair. They actually got seats right at the front, not everyone was so keen to sit so close in case they were called on as volunteers or simply didn't want to be near the woman missing her eyes. Rose was sitting with them until Copper came over, he threw a disgusted look at Michael - who was sitting to Rose's left - for so brief a second that he may not have done it all before he grinned with his oddly white looking teeth at Rose and offered out his hand for her to take.

"Come on, Rose, let's go sit with my friends further back," Copper offered kindly.

"No, I want to sit near the front so I get a close up look on what a complete fraud this woman is. Wanna join me?" Rose countered sweetly patting the empty seat to her right.

"Well erm... how about we sit over there? Its still at the front," Copper commented gesturing to a more distant part of the circle.

"Why not here? I always sit with your friends, why not sit here with me and mine?"

"You get a better view."

"Not really," Abby pointed out.

"Yeah, you're very welcome to sit with us," Albus added and Copper seemed to be struggling to think of an excuse to not to, Rose scowled at him and opened her mouth to speak before they were interrupted by Elina's arrival.

"Sit down everyone," Elina told them coming into the area the chairs were facing, Rose pulled Copper into the chair beside her before he could protest or move away as the blind woman went over to the central seat and sat down, casting a smile at the assembled students she couldn't see, "I am Elina Olga-Vasille, the new Divination professor. For those of you who don't know, Divination is the branch of magic focused on foreseeing future and gathering insight into future events. Its not a very cut and dry subject, sometimes there's no clear answer and its not the easiest of subjects to master. There are a lot of critics and skeptics on the subject, I'm sure there are some in this room. Before I continue let me just say that this session is designed to give you a better understanding of what you'll be learning should you take this subject so if you have any questions just interrupt me at any time, I'm blind so raising your hands is rather pointless."

"Shouldn't you know whose going to ask questions since you can see the future and all?" Rose called out rather rudely.

"Ah, the first skeptic," Elina said oddly brightly as she smiled at Rose, if Scorpius couldn't see the vacant holes where her eyes would be then he would think she was looking at her although he did notice her eyelids were drooped slightly, "this answer probably won't satisfy you but its the truth, what you are talking about is a common misconception, it is actually near impossible to predict your own future and any Divinator who tells you so is not worth listening to, predicting other people's is a yes but not your own. It would be rather contradictory if you could, for example say a man had been invited to a ball for the following day and he needed to buy dress robes as he had none, he wants to see how it will go so he looks into his own future and sees that he never makes it to the ball, a rogue dragon attacks Diagon Alley while he's buying dress robes and he is injured so he cannot go to the ball.

"Horrified, the man avoids going to Diagon Alley so he is not injured in the attack and simply wears his old tattered dress robes where he is humiliated. Since seeing that would change his future so that he doesn't go to Diagon Alley and get injured which means what he saw was no longer the future, so really he should have seen himself going to the ball in tattered robes and being humiliated which confuses him so he just goes to Diagon Alley to get new dress robes and is injured by the dragon thus what he saw was no longer the future. Seeing the original future stops it from being true which means he can't actually see the future.

"Its confusing isn't it? You see why predicting the future isn't so simple as skeptical people believe it should be, however if you think it through slowly and carefully then it makes sense which is what Divination is all about. Seeing the future isn't as hard as understanding what you see, misinterpretation is easy unfortunately, that and certain individuals damper the credibility of the subject. I dedicated my life to it, I've traveled the world and tried to learn as much as I can, there are some incredibly talented people out there but also some terrible frauds. Divination is also not just limited to magic-users, Centaurs have their own way of Divination and I was lucky enough to be here during a time when a Centaur was teaching. I will talk more about that in my class.

"The most well-known methods of Divination are the ones I'll be teaching you, those who take the class, briefly they are; Astrology which is to do with using the planets and stars, I won't be teaching Arithmancy as it is complex enough to have its own subject but I will touch upon it as Heptomology is related to it which is to do with using numbers to predict the future as well, Palmistry which is palm-reading, Pyromancy or Fire-Omens which shockingly involves fire, Cartomancy which is using Tarot cards, Tessomancy which is reading tea leaves, Crystal-Gazing which is seeing into a crystal ball, Ornithomancy which is involving birds - having your own owl will be useful here, Ovomancy which uses eggs - I know it sounds odd but is actually one of the easiest methods for beginners to pick up, Xylomancy which is an often overlooked method using twigs, we will also be looking at analyzing dreams and as I've mentioned the Centaur way, I will also talk about prophecies and Seers although there is only one Seer in the school and she's not in this year. Any questions?"

"Why don't you have eyes?" the Slytherin boy who never put his hand up before speaking in Defense Against the Dark Arts blurted out, he was sitting at the front like they were and the girl next to him hissed at him that he was being rude.

"Its quite alright, its natural to be curious," Elina said surprisingly, "I meant questions about Divination but I don't mind saying, during the Second Wizarding War a Death Eater gouged out my eyes."

"Didn't see that one coming," Copper snickered to Rose quietly but from the way Elina's head tilted, Scorpius realized she'd heard even before she replied.

"No I did not see it coming, as I've already mentioned its near-impossible to predict your own future and I was only a teenager at the time."

"Why didn't you get prosthetic eyes?" Michael asked cautiously.

"At the time I just could not afford it."

"And now?"

"Now?" Elina repeated and smiled a sad but knowing smile, "now maybe I just have the same reservations as you have about them. Besides, I don't need eyes to see the future, I see with my soul not my sight."

"Well that's just stupid," Rose complained under her breath although Michael looked taken aback but again Elina seemed to hear as she shrugged.

"You're entitled to believe what you want, nothing I can say or do is going to convince you anyway, you already have your mind made up on the subject and on me. Divination isn't for everyone - then again, what is? - and you've already closed yourself off to any possibility of it being anything other than a waste of time, you want to be right about that so even if you tried the subject it wouldn't work because at the back of your mind you don't want it to and magic - all magic, not just Divination - comes from within, meaning if you truly believe something won't work and don't want it to then it won't because magic's obeying your subconscious."

Rose fell silent at this as did Copper, apparently giving up saying anything behind Elina's back when she was capable of hearing and calling them out on it. The rest of the session was her talking in more detail about Divination and answering the questions thrown at her, it was really odd to have a teacher who actively encouraged speaking out of turn. In honesty Scorpius liked her, he'd been skeptical on Divination too but she made it sound a lot more plausible and possible than Professor Trelawny ever had. At any rate she'd given them a lot to think about as they filed out of the hall when the session was over, it was only after they got outside the hall that Scorpius realized Michael wasn't with them and glancing back he noticed he'd stayed back to talk to Elina.

"What are we waiting for?" Copper wondered with a grin, also seeming to notice Michael's absence as his friends rejoined him and them, "let's go hit the library."

"We need to wait for Michael," Scorpius pointed out.

"No we don't, come on."

"Why?" Albus asked looking confused, "what's a few minutes for waiting for our friend?"

"Well what's he actually going to learn in the library anyway? Its not like he can read."

"He's Dyslexic not illiterate," Abby added scowling.

"You don't... You don't have a problem with Michael, do you?" Rose questioned looking concerned, Copper's eyes bulged and he glanced around awkwardly as if trying to think of the best direction to run to get out of there, either mentally or physically.

"I just don't like him," Copper said slowly but his voice increased in confidence as he went on, "he just leeches onto you guys because you're better than him, he's a loser and you all aren't."

"Michael's not a loser."

"Yes he is and he's just using you all."

"No he's not!" Rose protested as her face turned as red as her hair with anger "if you knew him at all then you'd know he's not that kind of person."

"Or he's just a good actor!" Copper snapped back finding his voice more firmly and Rose backed away slightly, Scorpius didn't think she'd seen that time of him before, "the guy's a loser, he's stupid and manipulative and holding you all back! And I don't know how any of you put up with him! You're the children of heroes! Or teachers or have actually done something heroic yourselves but he's just... nothing! And with that disgusting eye and that hideous scar across his face, I don't know how you can look at him let alone consider yourself friends with such a useless leech!"

"How dare you talk about my friend that way!"

"No, you know what since you're my girlfriend I forbid you to be friends with him!"

"You can't forbid me from being friends with him!"

"Fine then, here's an ultimatum! Either ditch the zero or lose the hero, stop being friends with Michael or stop dating me!" Copper roared and the anger drained from Rose's face as she just looked horrified by the choice, tears pricked her eyes.

"That's not fair," Rose muttered miserably but Copper folded his arms firmly, his jaw set determinedly.

"Life's not fair. Pick. Its not a difficult decision."

"Please don't do this," Rose pleaded tearfully but Copper still didn't budge, the tears started seeping from her eyes before she spoke again, "you're right, its not a difficult decision."

"Glad you see things my way," Copper smirked.

"I pick Michael. Friends before boyfriends who give their girlfriends unfair ultimatums."

"What..." Copper started but trailed off seemingly absolutely stunned by this, he blinked a few times in surprise before anger flashed in his eyes, "fine then! We're through then!"

With that Copper stormed off furiously with his friends hastily jogging to keep up with him, Rose just stood there looking stunned as the tears started streaming from her eyes as she sobbed. Scorpius just stared after Copper in equal surprise before he noticed Michael returning, oblivious to the conflict just waged over him. He saw Rose and immediately was overtaken with concern.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked gently and Rose looked at him, red-eyed from tears as she glared at him before running off crying.

Part 2: Fighting Back

Brutus just tried to stare at a particularly uninteresting corner of the room, he didn't want to watch Pip Varanian and Ethel Embry be tortured as much as he disliked the guy, he disliked watching people be tortured even more. He only looked up when he was called upon to heal one of them, shoddy had been a very apt word for his healing skills. Rodolphus had stayed true to his word about not hurting the children but he'd also stayed true to his word on killing them, their bodies had at least been moved respectfully out of the way but he still preferred staring at the corner so he didn't have to look at the Christmas tree with presents or the children's toys dotted around. He could still hear screaming though, Rodolphus had moved onto Imperising them to torture each other, they'd been at it for hours and even the sadistic Rodolphus seemed to have been running out of ideas. Ethel was the torturer, he wished Varanian would go back to not screaming.

"Now Tommy," Lucius told the poor boy as he brought him back into the room again from being punished, Brutus glanced up and saw the two Dementors were actually gripping the trembling boy's arms, Tommy alone had taken off his mask off for... Brutus didn't even know why, his face was tear-stained and his dark eyes were pits of guilt, "if you complain, cry, yell for it to stop or try to stop it one more time then so help me I'll have you dragged back to Azkaban the second we step foot out of this house. Do you understand?"

"Its not fair," Tommy whimpered and Brutus realized the screaming had stopped.

"Alright, she's breaking free," Rodolphus announced gleefully, "time to swap."

Brutus spared a look at the action to see one of the others snatching the wand off Ethel and shoving her to the ground beside her husband, she was sobbing and apologizing as Varanian sat up and put his arms around her to hold her tight, his mouth was moving but Brutus wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying. Rodolphus Imperised him next though, Varanian punched his wife before he got to his feet and was handed the wand Ethel had been using and turning it on his wife to cruciate her. Rodolphus laughed in amusement as the mudblood screamed and Brutus started to turn back to his wall, catching a glimpse of Tommy as the fifteen year old clenched his fist.

Brutus wasn't sure if it was just perfect timing or Tommy just noticed first or Tommy actually did something but a second later Rodolphus stopped laughing and Ethel stopped screaming, he looked back to Varanian to see he must have broken free and went to move his wand arm to subdue him as did the others but it was too late. Varanian launched a spell at the ground that made it pulse out and throw them all - Brutus included - off their feet with more people's wands also having been thrown from their grip. Tommy yelped a frustratingly high-pitched yelp that made Brutus wish his voice would break already, as Brutus sat up he saw Tommy was still on his feet but only because the Dementors had dug their nails - did they have nails? - into his arm so forcefully.

It happened so fast and all at once. Varanian aimed for them next, launching a silvery Patronus at them with the wand and offering a hand to help Ethel to her feet with the other hand. The other Death Eaters and Brutus were sitting up and scrambling for their wands as the Patronus was driving off the Dementors but Sal just held out her palm at the couple, a jet of green light shot from her palm and everyone else but Ethel - who noticed as she went to pick up a wand - was too distracted to notice it heading for Varanian.

"Pip!" Ethel cried desperately as she threw herself in the path of the magic, the jet of light struck her in the back and she was dead as she collapsed against her husband.

It was sad how Brutus had once wished Varanian would have nothing and when he actually had nothing, Brutus got no pleasure from it. Varanian was so shocked he dropped the wand to hold his dead wife with both hands, he didn't blink as his eyes watered, too stunned to react. His legs trembled before the five jets of magic hit him to subdue him to the ground, he fell on his side beside his wife's body as tears escaped his eyes. Brutus looked back to Sal who was getting to her feet, he should have been more surprised than he was that she'd just taken a life but he wasn't, he wished she wasn't wearing a mask because he wanted to see her face, was she pleased? Guilty? Did she feel anything?

"Okay this has gone on long enough," Rodolphus decided hauling Varanian magically to his feet, his eyes were still on Ethel, "time to die, traitor."

"Then go ahead you coward, if I break free again I'm killing you," Varanian snapped and actually managed to make it sound threatening despite the fact he was crying.

Instead of replying Rodolphus simply waved his wand and another slash appeared in Varanian's already torn up muggle clothes, Varanian didn't scream although he did tense and pain crossed his face. Rodolphus rather liked using that spell as it slashed him deeply as if mauled by an animal, Brutus couldn't heal it completely but he could stop the bleeding to keep him alive although he correctly guessed he wasn't going to heal him anymore.

"You know I actually think you people are the worst," Rodolphus told his prisoner, "muggles and mudbloods are filth, half-bloods aren't much better but they can't help they were just born wrong but blood traitors? You could've had everything but you turn away from it, betray your own blood and for what? Filth? Is it not odd to be so protective of a lump of dirt?"

"Are you going to kill me or just lecture me on your ridiculous racist beliefs?" Varanian shot back and launched a kick at Rodolphus despite being in the air, it actually struck the Death Eater's knee. Rodolphus growled angrily and slashed with his wand again, this time making air into fists to beat him before letting him drop to the ground completely battered again, Rodolphus still aimed a much more effective kick at him out of spite.

"I'm going to burn you alive, you'll have plenty of time to think about the errors of your life and I'll make sure you last as long as possible. Any last words?"

"See you in hell."

Brutus just watched as Varanian was magically bound at his ankles and wrists, his wrists being tied up against the ceiling light. It was very rushed and he realized Tommy was the reason, the Dementors had been successfully driven off but the boy seemed to stunned to do anything, he was still staring at Ethel's body unmoving. Brutus gently guided him outside but kept looking back in as they finished using whatever spells they were using to ensure a slow, painful death for Varanian. The flames started before anyone had raised their wands and they hurried out as the fire spread shockingly fast, it was Sal who'd done it although he wasn't sure whether it was purposely or not. They started to head back towards the treeline where they could apparate, Varanian's screams tarnishing the night once more.

"Why do you do it?!" Tommy shrieked so suddenly and so high-pitched that Brutus jumped, seeing Tommy had slipped over towards Sal and was confronting her furiously, blood colored crimson lights were blazing around him, "you killed that woman! You killed her!"

"Tommy," Rodolphus growled threateningly going to raise his wand but Tommy was faster and Tommy looked pissed, he shot his arm towards Rodolphus and a burst of magic shot out. Brutus was unconscious before the light tossed him and the others through the air and onto the unforgiving ground.

"Did I miss something?" Michael asked anxiously looking between them while Albus glared in the direction Copper had left in before stalking off while Abby started off after Rose.

"Err... yeah," Scorpius pointed out starting to follow Albus, "I'm going to go see where he's going, you go ask Abby to fill you in."

Michael still looked immensely confused as Scorpius hurried away, he wasn't very good at comforting people anyway and he didn't really want to tell Michael that he was the reason Rose had broken up with Copper. Scorpius didn't seeing his friend hurt and upset but good riddance to Copper, Michael however would probably feel bad. Also Scorpius was confused why Albus would randomly run off like that, Scorpius actually had to jog to catch up to him because he was walking so fast. He had his wand out.

"Where are you going?" Scorpius inquired with a scowl, Albus was looking incredibly determined and fury brewed beneath his emerald eyes.

"To get Copper," Albus spat darkly, "he insulted one of my best friends and made my cousin cry. No one treats my cousin that way."

"So what are you going to-"

"Hey Copper!" Albus yelled interrupting him as they came into view of Copper and his friends, Copper turned around just in time to see Albus cast the Bat-Bogey Hex. Copper was fast though, he threw himself out of the way to dodge the jet of light and had his wand out by the time he was back on his feet.

"Expelliarmus!" Copper cried before he was fully back on his feet, Albus didn't start moving in time to dodge and his wand went flying away from his hand before Copper was upright again, the Ravenclaw smirked triumphantly, "nice try, Pot-"

He was cut off as Albus jumped at him, seeming to decide if beat Copper with magic then he'd simply beat him. Copper was so surprised he didn't have time to defend himself as he was knocked to the ground with a fist in his face, he dropped his wand in an effort to try shield his face as Albus went to punch again. And again. Copper shrieked for help and his friends were jolted to action, the duo drew their wands to duel with Albus who was still on top of Copper beating him, yelling insults at how dare Copper treat Rose like that.

Scorpius also drew his wand to protect his friend and disarmed the faster of the Ravenclaws before he could curse Albus, the other one turned on Scorpius instead and tried to disarm him. Varanian's training kicked in and he dodged effortlessly already fighting back with the same spell, the scrawny boy jumped out of the way carelessly and slammed himself into the wall, his wand dropped from his fingers as he rubbed his shoulder. The other boy had retrieved his wand and lost the element of surprise by screaming 'Exelliarmus' at him, his aim was pretty bad and Scorpius basically just had to side-step to avoid as he disarmed the boy yet again. He was trying to decide whether he should do a Maurice and body-bind them or just keep them at bay, he kept aiming his wand at one then shifting which was working before a prefect came upon them.

"Hey, hey, what is this?! Stop fighting!" Hal demanded authoritatively as he came from one of the other corridors, Albus didn't stop though and actually Scorpius wasn't sure he could hear him over his yelling. Hal instead drew his wand and nonverbally cast Albus away from the Ravenclaw, Albus' eyes blazed with rage but dimmed when he noticed the prefect, Copper just lay there clutching his face, blood was streaming from his nose, "fighting is not permitted in Hogwarts, ten points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor house. Now get your friend to the hospital wing and be grateful I don't give you detention."

"Okay," one of Copper's friends mumbled meekly as he helped Copper to his feet, the other scooped up the fallen wands before they left.

"Now you on the other hand," Hal pointed out nodding at Albus as he got to the feet, "you do have a detention."

"Typical jerk Slytherin," Albus muttered under his breath.

"I'll talk to Professor Vipera today, go to her classroom after lunch for your detention."

"Does he have to?" Scorpius pleaded with Hal, their parents were friends and the sixth year had been good to him since he started Hogwarts out of guilt for feeling responsible for Scorpius' abduction. While Scorpius liked how Hal seemed to have become a much better person, he did feel bad that Hal was so guilt-ridden, after all since he now knew the Shadows were involved it probably wouldn't have made a difference what Hal did. Hal's expression wavered guiltily and Scorpius knew he'd give in, even though he would have punished any other student that wasn't Scorpius' friend.

"I suppose I could let him off since I've never caught him breaking the rules before," Hal said slowly but Albus looked horrified.

"No, no, I did wrong and I totally deserve to be punished by Vipera," Albus spoke up eagerly and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Nevermind," Scorpius sighed, "but thanks anyway Hal."

Albus had gone from enraged to excited out of his mind, Scorpius had to endure Albus' rant about how great it was to have given Copper what was coming to him and been lucky enough to get a 'date' with Vipera for it. Albus spent the rest of the time before lunch changing his clothes and brushing his hair to try make it neater because he wanted to look his best for Vipera, Scorpius wished he could go with the others but he had actually didn't know where they were as they weren't in the Common Room and he was too tired to be bothered to scour the castle for them. Plus he assumed he'd see them at lunch.

Michael and the girls did show up at lunch, Rose was no longer crying but wasn't cheerful and Michael had to do his plate-switching to get her to eat something. Copper was there healed, he kept his head down the entire meal while his friends shot glares in their direction. Albus dominated the conversation telling them about his 'date' with Vipera, Scorpius didn't think anyone had ever been so excited for a detention. While Albus was at detention the rest of them spent the day in the Gryffindor Common Room doing their homework to take Rose's mind off Copper and to avoid the risk of running into him by using the library. Albus was already at the table at dinner, staring dreamily in Vipera's direction as they ate but didn't rant about the detention.

"So how did it go?" Scorpius finally asked, having a feeling he'd regret it.

"She's in love with me," Albus sighed happily, "I told you we were destined to be together, soul mates for all time."

"Did she actually say that?" Abby wondered dubiously.

"She said 'I feel kind of bad giving you a detention after you practically saved my life', read between the lines though, she loves me back."

"You're an idiot," Maurice said plainly but it didn't dampen his spirit.

"An idiot in love, you're just jealous."

"Jealous of what? Insanity?" Maurice scoffed and shook his head, "relationships are a completely pointless waste of time and effort."

"I can't believe that I actually agree with you for once," Rose muttered shaking her head, Maurice looked triumphant.

"See, even Rose agrees with me. Relationships are completely pointless and fantasizing about a relationship that is never going to happen is even more pointless, there's nothing to gain but everything to lose because it distracts from things that actually matter like studying and since relationships always end badly you're just guaranteed to get upset even though you should be celebrating the end of a valueless exercise."

"Not all relationships end badly," Albus protested while Rose looked like she was having an epiphany.

"Merlin help me but you're actually right, Maurice, I should be celebrating not being upset. Who needs him? He was just a selfish jerk."

"I'm always right," Maurice pointed out arrogantly with one of his cold smiles but Rose didn't seem to care for once.

"You know what, Maurice? Fine," Albus stated suddenly, "I don't want to argue with you and ruin my dinner but you're allowed to make your point. Meet me in the Common Room when everyone is going to bed and we'll talk about it then, if you can convince me you're right about relationships then I'll never insult your father again."

"Alright, you're on."

Albus' good mood seemed to return at this and the conversation went back to normal things without arguing, Scorpius did think it was weird about Albus' offer or maybe he was just trying to find a way to shut Maurice at meals by promising to make good on talking to him about his points after then not showing up. Scorpius was surprised when Albus did actually go down to the Common Room while they were getting ready for bed, however he was back in just a few minutes and snuggled into bed happily. Scorpius scowled as he climbed into his own bed, he supposed Albus had just told Maurice to shut up and left.

Michael was having a hard time sleeping that night, he tossed and turned but his head was pounding no matter what way he lay. He supposed it probably didn't matter, his mind wouldn't stop thinking anyway, about Rose having broken up with Copper because of him. He managed to feel guilty and glad at the same time which just made him feel guiltier. He sighed and buried his head in his pillow again, willing himself to sleep. He wasn't sure if he succeeded or was just drifting off when he heard the door creak, he jolted awake in panic for a second irrationally fearing it was Bob coming to drag him back home or an Auror coming to torture him or a werewolf just coming to shred everyone - it wasn't like Hogwarts was safe, nowhere was.

He took a deep breath and reached out his wand, at least knowing he could at least try to defend himself and the others made him feel better as he cautiously and quietly got out of bed to see it was actually none of the things he had thought it was. It was Maurice, his face blotchy from bruises and blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Michael didn't hesitate to go to help the younger boy, he led him out of the dormitory into the Second Year Boys' bathroom where he could get a better look without waking up the others.

Maurice opened his mouth, either trying to speak or just showing him his broken teeth which was very reminiscent of James. He used the same spell to repair the damage, it worked immediately and flawlessly fixing Maurice's teeth just as it had with James. Michael was still surprised it worked, the last time he'd done it on James had been the very first time he'd used the spell and spells never worked for him first time or even the second, it struggled with multiple attempts before they worked and even then it took even more attempts before they worked properly. On top of that, healing magic wasn't supposed to be easy yet he felt naturally more inclined to it.

He recalled another of the spells from the healing books and cast it on Maurice before he could think better of it, it worked on the eye it was aimed at and Maurice's ocean colored right eye became clear again. He tried it again and again until the majority of the visible bruises were faded away and most of the ones hidden by Maurice's ruffled robes, he was impressed that it worked but found himself teetering on the windowsill. Healing magic was also known for sapping your strength a lot faster than normal spells, you had to put your own energy into healing or alternatively you absorbed their injury because transfer was easier than repairing. That was what Michael had tried for the bruises as it was the easiest according to the books, the bruises transferred on Michael weren't visible but he ached familiarly.

"Thank you," Maurice told him quietly as he put a hand to his translator necklace, his expression was as neutral as ever, Michael would have nodded if he wasn't afraid it would make him pass out.

"What happened?" Michael asked.

"I came down to argue my point to Albus like we said but he said he couldn't hear with all the noise in the Common Room, suggested we go to an empty classroom and said the closest he knew. He was in his pajamas so he said for me to go on and he'd join me just as soon as he pulled on something for his feet so I went to the classroom and someone hit me from behind with a spell that stopped me from moving, then James and his friends beat me up, tied me up and put me in a cupboard, James kicked my teeth in before taking away the movement spell and left me there," Maurice explained sounding almost on the verge of tears but none came, if Michael wasn't feeling so drained he might have gone to wake Albus up immediately to demand an explanation, "I only got free just now and came to you because you're good at healing."

"Why not just go to the hospital wing?"

"And admit I let myself get attacked?"

"You say it almost like its shameful."

"It is shameful," Maurice protested stubbornly, "it proves you're weak and that's something to be ashamed of."

"No, cursing an eleven year old while their back is turned to make them incapable of defending themselves while you beat them up is shameful," Michael pointed out firmly, "they're two or three whole years older than you."

"I didn't say they were in the right, it was indecent of them to not fight face to face. But its still shameful, if I was stronger or even if I could've heard that spell coming then I could have defended myself. There's a war happening and we're all soldiers and I have to be able to defend myself, everyone does or they'll die, only the strong will survive."

"We're not soldiers, we're kids."

"That doesn't matter. My father shipped me off to my first school when I was two years old, the first thing they tell you is that you're a soldier, if you're strong then you'll succeed and if you're weak then you'll die."

"This same school that condones making children write in their blood to scar their skin?" Michael said as he scowled, "real good school that."

"Its a great school," Maurice told him defensively, "and they do that to make sure you learn and that's far from the worst thing they do anyway."

"What... What else do they do?" Michael wondered with morbid curiosity, magic schools were definitely not as safe as muggle schools. Maurice hesitated as if unsure whether he should tell him.

"Do you know what the Cruciatus Curse is?" Maurice asked and Michael nodded with a suppressed shiver as memories of jarring pain flickered in the corners of his mind for a moment, "they use that on you, to punish rule breaking and for teaching. They use it to teach you to resist torture, for example being told a word and the torturer tries to make you tell them by torturing you with Crucio. Its not permanently physically damaging and they stop when you reach the point where it becomes a risk to your sanity, you have to learn to hold on until then. If the enemy did torture you to that point then the word would be safely locked in your mind forever so as long as you can hold on until then the secret's safe or the torturer wants you to do something and you have to refuse it."

"That's just sick."

"It is really horrible, I have nightmares about it sometimes," Maurice admitted before giving a weak cold smile sadly, "but it works, I can last it now."

"That doesn't make it right, how can you think its a great school?"

"Because I learned more from that school to prepare me for the war than Beauxbatons and Hogwarts put together, at the end of the day the ability to survive through the war is more important than your wellbeing and happiness."

"And you sure it was a real school and not just a bunch of psychos?" Michael asked worriedly.

"Of course, in fact I've seen two of the teachers here at Hogwarts. One is an Auror now and one actually teaches here now."

"You're not serious? Which teacher?"

"I can't tell you that, he told me not to say."

"And you don't have to do everything he wants," Michael pointed out feeling suddenly fearful of his Hogwarts teachers, or at least the male ones as Maurice had said 'he'.

"But I like him," Maurice protested looking offending, "he asked me for a favor and I'm obliging. If it makes you feel better he wasn't the one who taught resisting torture."

"Well what about the one that's an Auror, did he tell you not to say?"

"No but since you don't know the Auror's names then telling you he's called Ellisar won't narrow down who he is," Maurice told him before something dawned on Michael.

"Wait, they told you were a soldier in a war when you were two? I thought the who Shadows was all just happening recently?"

"Divination," Maurice shrugged dismissively.

"Okay," Michael said with a nod, even more sure that he was taking Divination, "but you really think your father is a good person when he sends you to a school that tortures you?"

"Didn't your mother do the same?"

"She didn't know Varanian was torturing me."

"My father didn't know either," Maurice pointed out defensively, "in fact he pulled me out when he realized that, if I had of known then I wouldn't have said anything. He only started making me use the blood quill himself after I started Beauxbatons. He is a good father, he hugged me twice that I can remember."

"He's only hugged you twice?" Michael repeated feeling slightly more grateful for Jack, he could be worse.

"Yes, when he pulled me out of that first school and after the Aurors questioned him for the first time about the missing boy. That's why I know he wasn't involved, he was really upset and that's the first time I've ever seen him upset," Maurice told him and Michael sighed, he wasn't going to convince him right then.

"So I suppose it'd be too much to ask that you tell a teacher what James and his friends did to you so they can be punished?"

"Yes it would be too much to ask, I'm going to kill them myself."

"Don't do that," Michael groaned as Maurice got up, "at least sleep on it."

"Fine, I'll sleep on," Maurice agreed, "come on then, let's get back to bed."

They headed out to the dormitories, it was only five to a room so there were actually more than one dormitory for each year although each year had their own bathroom that all dormitories in that year shared. Actually Michael didn't think Maurice was allowed in the second year bathroom that he'd taken him into, then again boys weren't allowed in girls dormitories but he had been earlier when Abby insisted on dragging him up to help deal with Rose. He and Maurice were about to separate and turn into their respective year dorms when he heard a bizarre clunk coming, he blinked in shock and glanced over to the second year dormitory it had came from.

"What is it?" Maurice asked in puzzlement, unable to hear the sound.

There was another clunk and Scorpius stumbled out, falling flat on his face. Shocked, Michael and Maurice ran over to him and offered him a hand up but instead he started trying to crawl with his left hand and get up awkwardly by himself, Michael was about to ask him what he was doing when he noticed Scorpius' eyes were closed as he staggered, walking rather like a zombie in the movies, towards the steps leading down to the Common Room before falling flat on his face again. Again the fall apparently didn't wake him.

Michael thought it was odd, he didn't remember Scorpius sleepwalking before although there had been that time he started a fire in his sleep, you never knew with Scorpius. He sighed and went to help his friend up before Maurice levitated him, Michael opened the doors for Maurice to guide Scorpius back to his bed. For the third time that year, Michael got Scorpius back into bed and closed the drapes the way Scorpius liked it before bidding Maurice a goodnight and climbing back into his own bed. Unlike before, he fell asleep really quickly although it was troubled, nightmares plagued his dreams.

Scorpius woke up feeling incredibly tired, if he hadn't got a super long essay that Grant wanted first thing tomorrow to write then he might have simply skipped breakfast and had a lie in. Also he was hungry. He got up and ready to find he was actually the first of his friends up, Angelo and Reuben had gone but Albus and Michael were both still asleep. It wasn't unusual for Albus to oversleep but not Michael, he was always the first one up and the one who got them up on the weekdays for classes.

Michael was curled up lying on his side, his eyes were both closed and the scarred side of his face was buried in the pillow making him look normal again, like he had before Scorpius had injured him. He looked very young without it as he slept, he had very delicate features and was small for his age - all four of their first year friends were taller than him, the bed looked too big for him. On the other end of the spectrum, Albus was sprawled out at a bizarre angle with his mouth wide open. Scorpius woke them up, Albus didn't mind getting up since he'd developed a crush on Vipera and Michael just nodded and closed the drapes to change.

"You know you were sleepwalking last night?" Michael commented to him as they headed down the Grand Staircase to breakfast.

"No, I didn't," Scorpius told him truthfully, "but I did it a few times at home, I never made it out of my room though."

"I'm surprised you didn't wake up, you fell flat on your face twice. Maurice had to levitate you back to bed."

"Maurice?" Albus repeated in surprise, "why were you hanging out with Maurice in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know, maybe because your brother attacked him and he wanted me to help him so I did," Michael snapped with uncharacteristic anger that made Albus jump, "what is wrong with you?! Why did you set up an eleven year old to have the crap beaten out of him?! Do you have any idea what that feels like?!"

"James just wanted me to help to get back at Maurice for attacking them before! - And by the way, thank you so much for telling me about it the both of you! - But I've been putting it off since Christmas because I had a feeling you'd be mad at me but he deserves it!" Albus shot back.

"What Maurice did was wrong but aside from kicking James' teeth he actually just used the body-bind curse on them in defense when James was bullying Orous, they want justice they should have told a damn teacher instead of jinxing a deaf boy while his back is turned so they beat him up! What is wrong with you!?"

"What? James told me Maurice hurt them really badly not just used the body bind curse on them," Albus said looking genuinely surprised.

"Well James doesn't exaggerate at all," Scorpius muttered sarcastically and Albus looked glum.

"It doesn't even matter what he did!" Michael continued still looking livid, "no one deserves to be beaten! If you had any idea what that feels like then you'd understand."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know they were going to hurt him so badly," Albus protested and Michael snorted in disgust, "I didn't! I never asked what they were going to do."

"Because you didn't want to know and you didn't care," Michael pointed out bitterly and Albus didn't say anything as they continued down the steps in cold silence.

When they reached the bottom, Scorpius actually noticed Maurice was standing leaning against the wall with his arms folded and watching the moving staircases darkly. They moved over to him cautiously, he flicked Albus a murderous look.

"Go away, Albus," Maurice told him forcefully, Albus seemed to sense they wanted to talk to Maurice and went to go stand by the door.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius asked after gesturing for Maurice to use his translator necklace which he did.

"Waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"HEY JAMES!" Maurice bellowed deafeningly loudly.

Scorpius spun to see James and his friends coming down the Grand Staircase, they were almost on the second floor. He looked back at Maurice to see his wand was out in a flash aimed at the bullies, his habit of whispering incantations made it hard to know the spell he used but the people on the staircase yelled as it abruptly started to move in time with Maurice's wand before he flicked it again and the steps snapped down to make a slope that the students started to slip down on. Maurice expressionlessly waved his wand a few times in rapid succession, those who weren't James and his friends stayed stuck in place while the bullies fell.

For a split second Scorpius was about to help them, his hand was poised to draw his wand and stop them from hitting the ground but he stopped. Why should he save them? They'd been nothing but horrible to him and to his friends, if not for James then Michael would never have gotten hurt, Orous had been through more than enough and Vern was too loyal to the cousin that hated him to tell anyone, he'd beaten Maurice for defending them. James and his friends were bad people, they deserved to suffer.

"Immobulus!" Michael cried shattering Scorpius' thoughts as he aimed his wand at the falling boys who came to a halt mid-air, Michael never had been good at the spell in class - Grant had mocked him for it - and they came crashing down to the ground regardless, although from a less greater height. Maurice turned to look at him with a hand on his translator necklace but Michael spoke before he could, "what are you trying to do? Kill them?"

"I told you I would," Maurice commented the oceans of his eyes were icy but were watery as if he gleaning with tears that wouldn't fall, Scorpius wasn't actually sure whether he was joking or not, "they hurt me, why should they get away with it? Why did you help them? Scorpius didn't."

"Because it was the right thing to do," Michael said quietly while Albus came rushing over to the fallen boys with a teacher he must have gotten when Maurice attacked, Scorpius felt as though he'd been slapped in the face. He always tried to do the right thing, he should have helped James even if he hated him, he could have stopped them falling better than Michael had. What was wrong with him? And then Scorpius noticed it, Maurice's wand was now aimed at the ground but he was gripping it so tightly he was sure his knuckles were white behind the leather. But what drew his attention was the dissipating ring of fire circling Maurice's wrist.

Part 3: The Choices We Make

It was an interesting turn of events, Maurice was put in detentions until the Easter break for severely injuring several students while Michael was awarded fifty points from Gryffindor for trying to help them. Maurice didn't mention why he attacked them but Albus did the right thing and confessed about setting Maurice up to be hurt and James and his friends attacking him, Scorpius thought it might have saved Maurice from suspension as it was more justified then outright attacking for no reason and he had stopped the non-bullies from getting hurt. It also meant Albus, James and his friends were also put into detentions until the Easter holidays and James was additionally banned from Quidditch for the rest of the school year - much to Scorpius and Latimer's delight.

Michael seemed to forgive Albus after he did the right thing and told about what he did but Maurice didn't, then again Albus didn't like him either and hadn't actually apologized to Maurice either so the feeling was mutual. Rose on the other was getting on better with him, she had to considering she could no longer go hang out with Copper and the Ravenclaws, she did alternate between being upset about breaking up and being glad he was gone a lot. In general Scorpius' friends were actually getting along better, Maurice, Corin, Vern and Orous were all friends anyway and all nine of them sometimes took up the big table in the library to do homework.

Scorpius' biggest concern though was the fire he'd seen around Maurice's wrist, he was sure that meant Maurice also had the same scar as him, Orous and Lysander - probably Lorcan too - and was the other boy Linden had spoken about. However there was problems with this, Maurice's fingerless leather gloves extended far enough to hide the scar - if there was one - so Scorpius had no way of checking. According to Linden the other boy was the first marked and suffered in other ways, Maurice didn't seem to be suffering though or to have suffered, he had nothing but praise for Beauxbatons and the nameless wizarding school before it that had taught him so much that he'd been in since he was two.

According to Linden it would also mean Orous and Maurice were twins which actually seemed laughable considering how different they were, in looks as well as personality. It also seemed strange considering things like Orous had been born as an albino while Maurice had been born deaf, Maurice claimed his mother abandoned him when he was a baby for being deaf while Orous claimed his father abandoned him when he was a baby for being albino, Orous was left-handed while Maurice was right-handed, was any of that normal for twins? Although he did find out they shared the same birthday, Orous said he'd been born in the early hour of the morning while Maurice said he'd been born in the late evening making Orous actually the older of the two, twins or not. Scorpius was going to ask Varanian if he could find out at Easter or whether Scorpius had just been seeing things, he was also going to ask him about his thoughts on Roman Rivers being involved. Scorpius was also going to ask about the sleepwalking, that night wasn't the last time Michael found him doing it and brought him back to bed.

The week before Easter, Scorpius, Michael, Abby, Albus and Rose were also given the paper to fill out their elective choices for the third year. They sat down in the Common Room on the luckily sunny Saturdays they set aside to discuss it, actually getting the comfy seats by the fire as most people were outside enjoying the weather. Scorpius already had a good idea of what he wanted to pick but they were deciding and discussing it together to try get into classes together if possible.

"Okay," Michael spoke first, "let's go in order we took the taster so first was Care of Magical Creatures, what did we think of that?"

"I loved it!" Scorpius burst out immediately, "Thestrals are the coolest creatures in the magical world and I got to ride one! It was amazing and interesting to learn about them."

"I also liked it and I like Hagrid," Abby agreed smiling, "it was kinda fun feeding them and in general I think the subject is interesting, it'd be cool to learn about how to care for different magical creatures."

"Dad says Hagrids lessons are kind of erm... dangerous," Rose pointed out unsurely.

"I think we should all take it," Albus offered, "then at least we all have one elective we take together and we all know Hagrid - except Michael - and we should take his class on principle. Hagrid's awesome."

"Good plan," Abby commented while they nodded in acceptance - even Rose - and checked it down on their lists, "so next was... Arithmancy."

"No."

"No," Scorpius said almost the same second as Albus.

"Definitely no," Rose agreed firmly, "Rivers is just... no. We had to endure him the Christmas before last and there's no way I'm agreeing to at least three years trapped in a classroom with him. He's a nightmare, honestly."

"Plus we all fell asleep, if we can't even stay awake for an hour long taster then how are we supposed to last at least three years worth of classes?"

"Good point!" Albus grinned but Abby and Michael didn't look convinced.

"Well... I thought it was kinda interesting," Abby spoke up quietly, "I don't know what Rivers is like but the subject was kinda good if you didn't fall asleep. And for the record not all of us fell asleep, Michael and I didn't."

"You're not seriously considering taking the subject, are you?"

"Well I was... I want to. I don't want to take it alone though, I was hoping some of you would like it."

"I'll take it with you, Abby," Michael offered kindly and shrugged when they looked at him like he was mad, Abby looked relieved though as the two marked it down, "I'm here to learn magic so why not learn magic? So next was the Study of Ancient Runes."

"I've had enough runes to last me the rest of my life," Albus announced shaking his head, "I'm not interested in learning about them."

"You don't even have all your memories back."

"Well what I do remember is enough."

"I think it could be useful and its kinda interesting," Scorpius disagreed and glanced at the rune scarred into his palm, "it'd be nice to know what they actually mean."

"I think so too," Rose nodded in agreement.

"Well I'm with Al on this I'm afraid," Abby said with a sigh, "the teacher was nice but I'm not interested."

"What about you, Michael?"

"Sure, why the hell not?" Michael wondered with another shrug as he, Scorpius and Rose checked it down, "so Muggle Studies. Well that's a very boring and pointless no."

"I loved it. Its a fascinating subject how muggles live, we really don't know enough about them. After staying with my grandparents, it seemed like an alien world and it really shouldn't be."

"Yeah, I thought it was interesting," Abby agreed.

"About as interesting as a class can be anyway," Albus added with a smirk while Michael scowled, "I want to take it."

"I know more than enough about muggles, I'm out," Scorpius told them to which Michael looked grateful while the other three marked it down, "so the last one is Divination."

"Absolutely not," Rose decided looking almost affronted just from the word, "a useless waste of time, completely inaccurate or plain crazy. An atrocious subject says both of my parents."

"I didn't think it was that bad but I think three subjects is enough for me," Abby pointed out, "I'd rather stick with the three I have."

"I liked it," Michael offered quietly, "she was really nice and its interesting."

"Are you mad?" Albus scoffed, "you're already taking three subjects and you want to take fourth?"

"Yes I do, we're here to learn so the more subjects the better. You only have two."

"And I'm sticking with two, Divination is for loonies and that woman is damn creepy without her eyes or lack of."

"That is completely mean and uncalled for!" Michael protested defensively.

"Alright fine, I apologize and retract the comment about her creepy eyes but I'm still sticking with two."

"I wanted to take it," Scorpius said before Michael could reply, "I thought it was interesting too."

"You two are cuckoo."

"Thank you, Al," Scorpius quipped sarcastically as he and Michael marked down the last subject, "so I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes and Divination, Rose is taking the same only Muggle Studies instead of Divination, Abby is taking the same as that only Arithmancy instead of Ancient Runes, Albus is having the same minus Arithmancy leaving him with only two subjects and Michael is taking on everything but Muggle Studies."

"Yep, sounds about right," Abby nodded and smiled, "it'll be fun."

Tommy looked around at the fallen in panic and gripped his hair, hopping in frustratedly in circles. Stupid, stupid, stupid magic, he hadn't meant to knock everyone out, he'd just wanted them to shut up so he could be angry at Sal and even then he hadn't expected them to do it at all. He stopped moving, his eyes darting over the bodies frantically but there was no sign of them waking although they were breathing. What was he supposed to do? He had no guards, no masters, no walls or doors or bars locking him in, what was anyone supposed to do in that situation? And he could still hear Varanian screaming, screaming and screaming and screaming... He wished at least that Brutus or Rabastan were awake, maybe he could've convinced one of them to save Varanian and stop him suffering because they were nicer. And then it hit him. He could help Varanian, couldn't he? Slowly he lowered his hands from his head, everyone was else was sleeping, they couldn't stop him.

He ran back towards the house being engulfed in flames, the door was open but a wall of red blazed in its place. Fire wasn't solid though. Tommy leaped through the flames and yelped in pain as he felt the heat glide over him for a moment before it stopped abruptly but he could still see the fire, confused he glanced at his hands and saw there was a strange sheen of light around his limbs,around his legs too, it moved when he did. That was probably what was stopping him from getting burned, so magic could be useful after all although if he tried to do that then he couldn't.

Trying to put it out of his mind, Tommy walked through the fire unscathed into the room where Varanian was still where they'd left him. It was hard to see through the flames made even worse by the could of thick black smoke that should probably be choking him, apparently his magic bubble protected him from that too, it would be really useful to know what his magic was actually doing before it did it. There was the most horrible smell though, a sicking smell that seemed to claw its way into his nose and even his mouth, he could practically taste the clogging stench that made him want to throw up if he'd had any food in his stomach then maybe he would have. Apparently the bubble didn't protect against the smell.

He ran over to Varanian and started untying the rope around his ankles, magically made to be immune from the flames before reaching up to untie his wrists. It would be easier if he was taller, Tommy thought it would be cool to be taller but he doubted that would happen. Varanian collapsed as soon as the rope was loose enough and would have hit the ground if Tommy hadn't been there to awkwardly try to hold him up, the flames evaporated the second Varanian touched him and the bubble coated over him as well. Tommy almost smiled to himself but Varanian didn't try to walk away and escape, he must still have been hurt although it was hard to see him through the black haze swallowing them even though Tommy was holding him upright. Tommy tried to sling Varanian's arm around his shoulder to support him which made Varanian cry out in pain, Tommy felt tears well guiltily at having aggravated his pain, he couldn't even help someone right. He was a completely useless and utterly horrible bad person, what had he been thinking trying to save Varanian without a master?

Still, he could hardly go back and try to wake Brutus or Rabastan then, he wasn't even sure they'd help. He felt even worse when he tried to move, Varanian seemed more in pain with every step but Tommy didn't know how to ease his pain especially not while they were still inside a burning building. It was slow progress even though Tommy tried to urge Varanian to move faster, the ceiling seemed to be groaning in a way he didn't like and he was afraid his magic would stop working at any moment.

He breathed a sigh of relief as they made it outside, slowing the pace as he got Varanian further away from the inferno blazing and awkwardly lay him on the grass. Varanian moaned in pain as he did this, for the first time Tommy truly realized why, from the neck down Varanian was burned, badly. Nothing beneath his head had been spared. He barely even looked human, his clothes had either melted or melded into his charred, blackened flesh, pieces actually seemed to be peeling off to reveal bits of yellow. Tommy felt sick and tears slid from his eyes, why people were so intent on destroying each other was beyond him, people just seemed the same to him. Or maybe he was just as stupid as Master Rodolphus said. Tommy thought he'd rather be stupid than understand that.

Varanian's breathing was jerky and the agony he was feeling engraved in his face, his eyes were screwed shut, at least he was still alive though. Tommy held his hands over him and willed him to heal, trying to channel his energy into making it work but he failed and moved his hands away guiltily. His magic could shield him from fire when he wasn't trying but wouldn't heal someone when he was trying, how did anyone ever learn to control it?! A bolt of lightning came from nowhere abruptly and stamped the ground beside him, he groaned frustratedly, his magic would do that but not heal someone in need of healing attention?! He closed his eyes and balled his fists against his head in frustration, he was so terrible at helping people it was unbelievable. You're such a worthless horrible person, he told himself angrily and felt more tears pushed out from beneath his eyelids, can't help a single person.

"H-Hospital," Varanian croaked weakly and Tommy flicked his eyes back open, Varanian was looking at him with icy blue eyes, "h-hospital..."

"Can you apparate there?" Tommy asked biting his lip, he couldn't apparate after all and even if he knew how an attempt would probably kill them both but if Varanian lowered the anti-apparation wards and apparating to safety it'd be okay.

"C-Can't," Varanian whimpered as his eyes closed again, "I... c-can't... t-too... m-much... I... c-can't... h-hurts..."

"It'll be okay," Tommy offered trying to be comforting while he thought of something. Shadows. The Shadows could get them to St Mungo's, they'd transported them before, "no, I don't want to."

Tommy shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, he didn't like that feeling and he didn't like them. But... he couldn't think of anything else and Varanian needed help fast or maybe he would die, he couldn't let the first and probably only person he'd ever get to help die because of a few Shadows.

Determinedly he took a deep breath and found his shadow, Shadows hid in the shadow of their master unless told otherwise and called to them. It would make no sense if he tried to describe it, he'd come off sounding mad although everyone told him he was mad anyway, if he mentally asked for them they obeyed his call otherwise they just hid in his shadow and fed quietly upon his pain unless told different. They could call to him to, wishing to egg him on into inflicting pain and helping them get souls to tear apart because it was the best pain, he hated that so much.

They left his shadow to enter his body, chilling him through to his soul to communicate or at least one did, they were all connected to each other when they shared a master and the one could pass on instructions. One was actually what he thought of almost as a name for the first one he'd bound to himself, much like Dementors they could learn things like speech if they thought it would help them with their goals and One had. It was a lot easier to communicate with them when they understood the language of his thoughts.

I want you to do the teleporting thing you did before, take me and him to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, the one Brutus took me too before, Tommy thought and One understood, he saw more of the Shadows fleeing his shadow and speeding away too fast for him to keep track. Tommy hadn't asked or wanted to ask how the process completely worked but he knew Shadows could only transport you to a place with more Shadows bound to you were already there waiting.

Ready when you are, One spoke back after a moment, the words made his head feel cold but he ignored it as he placed a hand on Varanian's forehead - it seemed better than aggravating the burns - and willed One to go for it. He felt the sensation again like he was gliding before being blinded by the lights of St Mungo's.

"Help! I need help over here!" Tommy called out immediately and people actually rushed to obey.

Tommy got up and stepped back as healers swarmed on Varanian, they were calling things that sounded related to healing and a few seconds later they were levitating Varanian onto a stretched and taking him away. Tommy backed away into the wall, they'd taken him to the 'Cauldron Explosions' section because it was his focal point if he told them to go there like he had to find Brutus' brother to make sure he was alright. He laughed at the memory, it seemed strange now that he was literate how he could've made such an error. Although he still thought Calderon sounded cooler.

"So what happened to your friend?" a healer asked him abruptly looking at him like he was insane, people looked at him like that a lot especially when he laughed for some reason, was he laughing wrong or something? He stopped laughing as she spoke though, feeling fearful. He'd never spoken to someone who wasn't a master or family before, unless you counted Varanian from a few moments ago. What if he said something wrong?

"Death Eaters," Tommy answered realizing she was expecting him to answer at some point in the near future, "they attacked him for being a blood traitor, he was tortured and then they burned him alive. I don't know the specifics but please try your best to save him anyway."

"We will," the healer promised, "are you hurt? Your arm..."

"Its okay," Tommy said quickly noticing her looking at the scar from his mother carving the Dark Mark into his skin, it was too late to heal it he was sure, Varanian's injuries were much more in need of healing. However the healer's eyes bulged at the mark and she drew her wand as she shrieked.

"DEATH EATER!"

The bustling ward around him disintegrated into chaos, some people were screaming he was evil, some people were just screaming, some people were crying, some people were fleeing or helping others flee and some... others were drawing their wands at him. A dozen jets of multicolored lights were suddenly upon him, Tommy yelped in surprise and was even more surprise when a shield of golden light pulsed around him and deflected the lights in random directions across the room, some actually caused explosions and chunks of wall, bed or ceiling to be torn apart. His heart was beating rapidly as they went to fire again.

"NO!" Tommy screamed clutching at his head in desperation but it was too late and another pulse of light shot out, this time his magic knocked people out for the second time that night, this time all those with wands aimed at him.

He bolted down the nearest corridor and called for One to get him way, take him back and he felt himself gliding again before he was back in the night outside the burning house. He fell to his knees in the grass the second he returned, already in tears as uncontrollable sobs wracked his body, he hugged his arms around himself and tried to rock himself comfortingly.

Brutus was right, everyone not a Death Eater hated him just as much as the Death Eaters did. Even when he was trying to do something nice and help someone they saw the evil inside him and outside him. He didn't want to be evil! He didn't! He didn't want to hurt or kill or watch people suffering, he had suffered and he knew how horrible it was, no one ever helped him but he would help them because people should help each other, they should care, they should be kind and nice. Wasn't that better than killing and inflicting pain? They were all just people, their souls were the same to the Shadows, they all bled the same color blood despite it being so important.

He didn't want to be evil. He wanted to be good, to help people, he thought one good deed did much more to make the world a better place than the eradicating scores of innocents in the name of blood purity. He just wanted to be loved, he wanted his parents to love him more than anything but he wasn't going to hurt or kill to make them happy, a victory wasn't worth it if someone got hurt. He could feel the magic pouring out of him as he cried, pulses of gold lashing out at the ground around but he couldn't stop it. He hated his power, having something dangerous deep inside himself that he couldn't control terrified him, he actually wished he was a squib like Marius Black had been sometimes, then he wouldn't have that problem and he wouldn't even be able to see Dementors or Shadows as a bonus. He hated them so much. He just wanted to be normal, safe and happy, couldn't people see that? Didn't it matter at all?

But no, it didn't. He was Voldemort's son, destined to be evil - doomed more like - and being unable to control his magic - and it was getting worse - made him even more terrified that one day he'd snap and turn into everything he hated. He didn't want to be evil though, he didn't! He knew none of the things he wanted would ever come to pass, he'd never be safe, normal, happy, good or loved. People hated him on instinct anyway as he'd just seen, he'd never be able to fit in their world but maybe, just maybe, he could stop himself being evil. After all, he'd stopped Varanian from dying hadn't he? He actually had some choices, he'd - and Sal -refused to eat meat since learning its origins a year ago exactly and he would continue to do so, they hadn't been able to force him no matter what Rodolphus did. He had some choices, you could fight for his choices. And he would.

Determinedly he got to his feet and headed towards the burning building once more, his tears drying up as he stalked defiantly into the flames, once more magic protected him. But he didn't want magic to protect him, he put his scarred arm into the fire again and again and willed as hard as he could, he was going to get rid of that blasted mark and he wasn't going to let his own magic stop him! It worked. Tommy screamed as that part of his arm was denied protection, the flames lapping the exposed skin up as much as the Shadows would be enjoying his pain. His scream became a laugh at the agony of the fire burning through his flesh, the sickening scent filled his nose again and he realized it must be the smell of skin burning. He didn't care at that moment though, it was working! It was actually working!

"Take it!" Tommy screamed to the roaring flames and empty night, "here and now, I vow that I am never going to let myself be like the masters, the Death Eaters or even my parents! As long as I draw breath I'm going to fight! I'm going to fight it no matter what happens! I won't be who you want me to be and I don't care what you do to me! Do you hear me!?"

Almost as if it had heard him, the ceiling started to collapse on him. Tommy threw up his hands in a useless way of defending himself but magic shot out and kept the roof up, he took the opportunity to run back outside while it was holding. He felt it go the second he got outside but the roof remained intact albeit in flames, it must have just been the floor above falling. Tommy spared the still unconscious people a glance before moving away from both them and the fire to lie down on the grass, his legs were shaking and his arm was in agony.

Tommy felt actually calm though despite the pain, his arm wasn't burned as badly as Varanian but hopefully enough to burn off the Dark Mark. A part of him thought if he was smart then he should leave while he had the chance but it wasn't like he had anywhere to go, he'd never be accepted anywhere for his heritage and really he had no idea how to survive in their world anyway. He wasn't a master, after all, he was a nothing. He was going to be punished though, Rodolphus would destroy him for what he'd done, worse if he ever found out that Varanian lived but he was oddly resigned to his fate. He wasn't going to let himself do wrong, all choosing had consequences and his was that he'd suffer the pain he refused to inflict, it was a fair enough deal.

He looked up at the sky and noticed the stars were there, he'd never actually gotten such a good view of them before but they were incredibly beautiful, twinkling down on him in the night, not judging or hating him. He wished he could reach out and touch them but it was impossible, it was just like life, the best things always were unreachable but you could admire from a distance all you wanted. He smiled to the stars, his eyelids daring to close but the image of the stars remained in his mind as he dreamed of flying through the stars on the back of a dragon or was the dragon, he wasn't entirely sure when he drifted back into reality. The stars were gone then, replaced by the dawn colors. Usually it was a vast wealth of beautiful bright hues but that day it was just a bloody sky, as red as the flames still ravaging the ruins of the cottage.

And then he felt it, the feeling of all life and hope being drained from him as the Dementor guards swopped down on him. He screamed and tried to curl up in a ball but his arm seared with pain too much to be truly successful, tears streamed from his eyes as he willed them to leave, the memories of his life already etched into his mind burning once more as he was forced to remember. He wished it would stop.

That was a bad thing to wish for though, he felt the power bursting from him towards the Dementor. He screamed 'no' with every speck of air left in his lungs as he sat bolt upright but it was already too late, the two Dementors furthest fled once more while the closest one was trapped. Its body convulsed and contorted violently but silently, its Shadow stretching out and no longer following its movements. Tommy screamed no one last time as the Dementor stopped, hanging there limply with its Shadow no longer attached. It drifted aimlessly away, they needed a few hours to recover from the shock from what he gathered.

The newly liberated Shadow shot towards Tommy and he felt it binding to him, it felt like his body was actually burning just from cold not heat. Then he was forced to the ground with a thud as he felt it bound or rather he felt bound, as if invisible chains of ice were snapping tightly on him and forcing him down, the weight was too much for a moment before he recovered and sat back up, the feeling receding.

"So that's how you do it," Sal commented and Tommy looked back round to see his twin watching him, the others were still unmoving but she was sitting up near where she'd been unconscious only now without her mask and a look of curiosity on her face, "I think I can unbind Shadows - or Specters - and bind them to myself, I can become the Shadow Master."

"What is wrong with you!?" Tommy demanded feeling his fury resurface from before as he got his feet, Sal following suite and facing him across the grass, "you want to be a master, you want to take over the world or something, you killed that woman and you started that fire to burn Varanian alive!"

"So what?!" Sal shot back looking as livid as he felt, "being a master is better than being nothing! Than being tortured, then being worthless, then being treated like dirt! We're the children of Voldemort, the heirs of Salazar Slytherin and dammit we deserve better! Respect is earned not given, I don't want to be nothing and I can do a much better job with the world, its a horrific place! And damn straight I killed those people, if I can't be happy or loved then why should they?! Why should anyone?! Its not fair, Tommy!"

"Because its good that good exists outside of our lives somewhere in the world! Nice things should be preserved not destroyed just because you can't have it!"

"Its selfish of them to hog it in the first place! With our blood we should be able to do whatever we want anyone but we don't because our parents don't spare us five seconds to see we're not valueless, our power is greater than anyone with a wand could imagine and we should use it, we know things no one else knows and we should use it for the good of the world!"

"And people think I'm mad!?"

"You are mad!"

"Damn straight I am! And you know what, Sal?! FINE! If you want to be the Shadow Master then go the hell ahead!" Tommy yelled angrily and threw out his arm towards her.

He didn't even know if it was possible, he didn't truly think it would work but it did. Magic erupted around him and the Shadows stretched over towards his twin. Sal cried out as the Shadows were bound to her, she fell to her knees from the weight of it and be could practically see the invisible chains forcing her down. And Tommy screamed, his body jerking against his will and he didn't even know how he remained upright or actually care as the Shadows were severed from him, he ripped the bonds aside to leave them on Sal.

And then it was over, he lowered his arm and stood there shaking. He couldn't believe what he'd done. He felt freer than he had in a long time but at the same time guilt replaced his anger, he'd either cursed his sister or cursed the world depending on what happened. It hurt, severing the connection to the Shadows left him feeling like he'd had a limb torn off that was no longer there but the gaping wound remained sore where the connection had been. Sal was on the ground on her side facing him, breathing heavily and shaking. His legs could no longer hold him anymore and he collapsed onto his side the ground, he tried to stay conscious but it was too hard, he felt so drained and hurt. Sal met his eyes before they both passed out, identically dark eyes catching for the last time.

Part 4: Offers

Scorpius was both dreading and looking forward to the Easter break, on one hand he was desperate to talk to Varanian and find out if he'd learned anything more to go after Lorcan or the Shadow Master but on the other hand, there were his parents. He was still mad at him from Christmas, dragging him to healers to be examined against his will was just cruel and irrational. He'd just have to endure, plus with the ring being a portkey it was easier to get away, lock the door and leave then they'd be none the wiser, just check back every so often and show up for food to not arouse suspicion and he'd be good. Feeling more confident he got up and started packing the things he was taking back with him, patiently waited while Michael systemically made sure the others succeeded before heading down for breakfast.

"Good morning," Albus announced cheerfully as the girls arrived shortly after they did.

"What's so good about it?" Corin grumbled irritably.

"Vipera is looking gorgeous today, she's so beautiful and her very presence lights up the world like the sun."

"Doesn't the sun also burn?"

"What is up with you today?"

"Vern is staying for Easter so I decided to stay so he won't have to be alone, Father got the mistaken impression it was to spend time with him and he's being rather annoying about it."

"Yeah, sure," Albus mumbled disinterestedly, Scorpius thought he'd probably been speaking rhetorically and neither wanted to know or cared what had Corin down, "whose taking in Vern again? Is it his grandmother or people on his mother's side? Or is he going to an orphanage or something?"

"He didn't say," Michael answered for him with a shrug, "just said that he was going to put off leaving Hogwarts for as long as possible because he didn't want to go there."

"Probably an orphanage."

"So what do you want to do later, Michael?" Corin asked curiously, "if we already make plans then I'll have an excuse and you're the expert."

"I'm going home for Easter," Michael announced and everyone looked at him in shock, even Maurice's oceanic eyes widened in a moment of surprise breaking his usually neutral expression, "what? Is that really so weird? I have a family too, you know."

"Well... yeah," Rose nodded, "you always stay and you never said anything until now."

"No one asked."

"Because we assumed you would stay as usual."

"Well... I'm not, my mum wrote to me at Christmas to say to come home for Easter so... yeah."

"This is great," Albus spoke up grinning broadly, "I was going to wait until the year ended because you never go back and you'll need your parents to agree to it and I wanted to say it to both of you at the same time, I got permission weeks ago."

"Permission for what?"

"To invite you both to come to the Quidditch World Cup over the summer!"

"Wow, really?" Scorpius wondered in surprise as Albus nodded enthusiastically, he wasn't too bothered about the world cup but it would get him away from his parents and he did like spending time with his friends.

"Yep!" Albus affirmed and added in a sing-song voice, "and Molly'll be there."

"I'm in," Scorpius agreed trying not to blush at Albus mentioning her in public like that, he was glad she was sitting away with Dom, "but not just because of Molly. Have to check with my parents though."

"Which is why I'm asking you now so we can ask them on the platform, I'm not completely stupid. So what do you say Michael?"

"I don't know if I'll be allowed, my stepdad..." Michael said quietly and trailed off as he seemed to think better of what he was going to say, "I don't know if I'll be allowed but thanks anyway."

"Well it couldn't hurt to ask right?" Albus pointed out and Michael actually laughed for some reason before abruptly stopping when he realized no one else was.

"Err... sure, we can ask."

"Excellent."

Brutus wasn't entirely sure about what happened between the twins but he awakened the sound of Tommy screaming, they were both unconscious before he was on his feet. He had no idea why, he was the first Death Eater awake then again Tommy was insane so maybe he just felt like screaming for no reason? He had managed to severely burn his arm though, obliterating the Dark Mark scar, Brutus couldn't heal it particularly good so just bandaged it to stop dirt getting or... whatever the reason for them was.

Rodolphus and Lucius were both angry at Tommy though, Rodolphus tried to wake the boy up but to no avail although he left Sal alone at least as she remained asleep too. After they got them back, the twins were seperated with Sal going back to the basement and Tommy given a small windowless secure room upstairs. Neither of them did all morning or afternoon, as soon as Tommy did they were moving him, apparently it had been decided that isolation and more security was best for him. Sal was staying, she wasn't perfect but she had killed Ethel and Pip Varanian, Rabastan was to be in charge of her training while Rodolphus would go to the secluded location with Tommy. It made Brutus sad, Tommy wouldn't survive long with Rodolphus, one of them would wind up killing the other and he doubted Tommy would be the killer. He didn't deserve to die. Sal woke up in the evening but it took Tommy three days, when he got back from a night's rest he was told that Tommy had woken and been taken away. Brutus hadn't even gotten to say goodbye, nor had Sal even.

Rabastan kicked Brutus off guard duty for no apparent reason so he didn't get to see her and he wasn't even told where Tommy had been taken let alone be assigned to him, Brutus wasn't actually sure what he'd done wrong especially since his relationship with Rabastan was much better than Rodolphus. He hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Sal either or even to speak to Rabastan for an explanation, he much preferred guard duty to his other tasks. Achan was extremely enthusiastic for the war though, Brutus wished it was over everyday though and he could go home and talk to his family again, convince them the world was a better place with Lord Voldemort running it or at least that as pure-bloods they'd be safe.

Until the beginning of May came and all the Death Eaters were called for an attack on Hogwarts - along with their allies, or Brutus thought all were supposed to be called anyway, he tried to find Rabastan to finally get an answer but neither of the Lestrange brothers were present, he supposed they were still guarding the twins. He recognized other guards though, Selwyn he noticed and Loren - who had been allowed stay on guard duty - who was ranting how relieved he was his daughter didn't start Hogwarts - if it was still standing - until September. It felt like a dream, it was surreal to be attacking the school he'd spent seven years of his life, it didn't feel real or possible and actually he wished it wasn't real or possible, he'd rather be anywhere in the world but there.

They had to wait a to give those in Hogwarts a chance to meet the ultimatum, Brutus thought it was pointless because he couldn't see them giving up the boy who lived, they'd have to win by force. Midnight came and went and predictably Brutus had been right, they refused and the attack was launched. They had Dementors, Giants and... some scary looking big spiders that they'd driven out of the forest. Brutus actually didn't care about the battle, he had a horrible feeling Atticus would be there, he couldn't imagine him being anywhere else while everything was going on. He had to keep him safe, had to convince him to switch sides before he died.

Brutus was a good duelist and he never realized it as much as he did when he joined the battle, it was actually too easy, the spells and movements coming as naturally and effortlessly as breathing, he frequently had to keep stepping in to help Achan out. He didn't kill though, he didn't want to kill teachers who'd taught him and some of the fighters were just kids, they had no place being a battle and it was shameful that Potter had forced them to fight for him, it was shameful that the teachers who were supposed to protect them were making them risk their lives and it was shameful that Potter had gone there to put their lives at risk in the first place.

Brutus just lost track of time, it was spell after another and generic faces that weren't his brother, he thought they may have breached the castle at one point but he wasn't sure, he just followed Achan and kept him from getting killed. They ended up on the wall the far side of Hogwarts at some point, the cool air was nice, he went to point his wand at the next enemy and they did the same, it was at that moment he realized it was Atticus and Atticus realized it was him. Neither fired and almost as if in planned unison they lowered their wands, Achan's electric eyes were just darting between them in confusion.

"Atty-" Brutus started but Atticus spoke first.

"You have to stop this, Brutus," Atticus insisted, "you're on the wrong side and its only going to end badly, just switch sides and defend the castle."

"You're the one on the wrong side and Potter's going to lose, please brother, don't be stubborn and die senselessly just because your mother was a bad person. You'd be rewarded for joining and you're a pure-blood, you could be great and safe and its not so bad."

"You-Know-Voldemort is evil, I wouldn't want to live anyway in his twisted views of the world. For once listen to reason not to Achan, you'd be given a pardon and everything for changing sides and helping, you're talented and you could make a difference."

"This is pointless!" Achan snapped suddenly and launched a spell before either Ashain could react to stop it, the best Atticus could muster was trying to jump out of the way but it still caught him and caused a cut on his lower chest.

Brutus opened his mouth to chastise Achan for attacking his brother but Atticus was already firing another spell back, Achan tried to dodge but with less success than Atticus and it caught him squarely in the center of his chest. It was just a stunning spell but it still threw him back, his body seemed to curl in the air as he was flung and the back of his head was the first part of him to collide with the ground. There was a sickening and impossible loud crack, his head snapped back forwards and back down on the stone violently. He was dead. His electric eyes were staring sightlessly up at the sky, unblinking, his body unmoving. Brutus just gaped in shock for a moment, had his brother just killed his best friend?

He lashed out with a spell in anger before he could stop himself, all the time he spent worrying and trying to protect his brother and then what did Atticus do?! Turn around and kill his one and only friend! It wasn't a fatal spell or even a dangerous one, it was just his frustration being vented but Atticus deflected it regardless, so effortlessly and quickly that it just fueled Brutus' anger, he wasn't even allowed to vent his frustration?! He lashed out again, and again, and again but Atticus deflected it every single time!

Again. And Again. And Again. And... what was Brutus doing? Killer or not he was supposed to be protecting his little brother not attacking him, he'd deal with Achan's death later. He fired his final spell, ready to ceasefire but was unfortunate enough that the angle it hit Atticus' shield that it deflected straight back at him. He didn't think he even had time to look surprised, let alone try to defend himself as it struck him perfectly and threw him through the air, propelling him backwards over the wall to hurtle downwards to a fall he couldn't survive. He was blissfully unconscious the second the spell struck him though, the last thing he saw was the look of absolute horror on his brother's face.

The journey passed by quickly, Scorpius got a compartment with Abby, Albus, Rose, Michael, Molly and still managed to squeeze Maurice and Orous in. It was a relaxing, pleasant trip as they talked and played games of Exploding Snap although Maurice refused thinking it was silly. He didn't even time to worry about things, although he could of sworn Michael seemed more nervous as they got closer before the train finally came to a halt.

"Ask Scorpius' parents first," Michael said to Albus as they started heading out, "I'll see if anyone's here for me, my stepdad has a habit of being late although if its my mum then we're okay."

"Will do," Albus agreed as Michael slipped away to search for his family, Molly also spotted her dad and waved them goodbye and good luck.

Scorpius scanned around for his parents and noticed Maurice's father staring at Orous again, his expression was as unreadable as his son's but it was actually kind of disturbing and this time Orous noticed, shifting fearfully. Scorpius put his arm around him protectively and drew him into a walk away from Roman whose eyes followed them even after Maurice bid them goodbye and went over to his father.

"Maurice's father is one creepy bastard for a supposedly innocent guy," Albus commented quietly before Orous spotted his dad, thanking them before rushing over to the man who pulled him into a hug.

"Scorpius!" his mother called to him eagerly and he went over to them with his friends, his parents were wearing those stupidly fake smiles before he introduced Abby, Albus and Rose to her, "pleasure to meet you all."

"What can we do for you?" his father asked, catching on there was probably more to it than simply meeting his son's friends again.

"Al invited me to go to the Quidditch World Cup with his family over the summer, am I allowed?" Scorpius asked plainly, his parents looked surprised and exchanged a look.

"Of course you can," his mother agreed first and his father seemed to hesitantly nod to confirm the consent, Albus punched the air and whooped cheerfully which made his father scowl, "we'll make arrangements closer to the time I presume but alright, Scorpius."

"Thank you."

"Great, let's go see if Michael found his folks," Rose announced brightly and Scorpius went to follow them, he wanting to know Michael's answer and meet his elusive stepdad and mother.

"Back in a minute!" Scorpius called to his parents as he moved off with them.

It didn't take long to spot Michael, he'd just caught up with Abby, Albus and Rose when he heard Albus gasp. Michael was talking to a woman who Scorpius was forced to admit was very beautiful - although she still had nothing on Molly - which was odd considering he could see the resemblance to Michael, she had the same dazzling hazel eyes and the same unusual shade of hair only hers wasn't an unruly tangled mass but long and flowing, tied back. She had the same delicate soft features as him too only hers were a much more feminine, the same flawless skin except for where her hand was bandaged. She was dressed incredibly plainly though, her clothes looked ill-fitting and had the same worn-in look that Calderon's did but it didn't detract from her beauty, she was also wearing military dog tags and some kind of locket.

"Okay, Crystal," Michael nodded at her and she moved away for a moment so they approached.

"I'm in love," Albus told them breathing out dreamily.

"Yeah, yeah, Vipera, you're told us a million times," Rose complained while all but Michael rolled their eyes at him but Albus looked surprised and scowled at them.

"Screw Vipera, she's had like seven months and there's only so long I'm waiting for her."

"Weren't you just saying this morning how-" Abby began but Albus cut her off.

"That was forever go! I have a new love, Michael, you must tell me the name of your sister, my one true love."

"My... what?!" Michael wondered looking confused before it seemed to click just as the woman returned, he smiled an awkward kind of smile, "Crystal, these are my friends, Scorpius, Rose, Abby and Albus. Guys, this is my mother, Crystal."

"Mother?!" Albus spluttered out in shock before any of them could say anything, "how are you old enough to be a mother?! What did you have him when you were like twelve?!"

"Sixteen," Crystal corrected him in a gentle tone.

"Well... you... look really, it doesn't show," Albus offered lamely trying not to blush in humiliation, Scorpius didn't know whether to feel bad for him for mistaking Michael's mother for his sister and proclaiming his love for her or just laugh.

"Should have seen me a decade ago then," Crystal commented with a sarcastic edge that was lost on him, Michael exchanged a knowing look with her though, "its nice to meet you all but we really must be getting back, its a long drive and my husband... worries."

"Its alright, we just wanted to ask you something," Rose said sweetly and nudged Albus who was sweating profusely and staring at the ground, "tell her, A."

"Um... I just erm... was erm... canMichaelcometotheQuidditchWorldCupwithmeandmyfam ily?" Albus blurted out suddenly high-pitched.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Crystal told him hesitantly while Albus fidgeted and went a few shades of red brighter than a Weasley's hair.

"The Quidditch World Cup," Michael stepped in, "Albus invited me and Scorpius to go to it over the summer."

"Quidditch is the thing with the broomsticks, right?"

"Yes it is," Albus said loudly finding his voice again, "there's two teams of seven players one Keeper one Seeker two Beaters and three Chasers and there's four types of three balls I mean three types of ball and there's four of them the Golden Snitch the Quaffle and two Bludgers and the Seeker's job is to catch the Golden Snitch which is work 150 points because it flies around and is hard to spot and catch and the Beaters have to hit the Bludgers at the enemy players with bats to stop them because they also fly around and they're really heavy and the there's three hoops that the Keeper defends because the Chasers have to score in the hoops by throwing the Quaffle through them and the Quaffle is the only ball that doesn't fly alone and there's teams of leagues like muggle sports and teams for countries and they play in the World Cup every four years and they're playing this year and the Quidditch World Cup started in 1473 and Hogwarts has a Quidditch team where the houses play each other and my dad was a Seeker for Gryffindor when he was at Hogwarts and my mum was a Chaser and reserve Seeker and she also played professionally for the Holyhead Harpies before I was born and Scorpius is Seeker for Gryffindor which is the house we're in and my brother is a Beater and two of my cousins are Beaters and my other cousins is the Keeper and the Captain of the team and she's the youngest Captain for a long time and Scorpius has a crush on her-"

"Hey!" Scorpius protested at Albus just blurting that out but he didn't pause or stop his rant.

"- and two of my cousins are Chasers and Michael is also a Chaser and he's really good and-"

"You're on the Quidditch team?" Crystal interrupted to look at her son in surprise, Michael blushed and Albus actually stopped this time to draw breath, he'd managed his whole speech without drawing breath.

"Just this year, I hadn't had a chance to tell you yet," Michael offered nervously but Crystal only smiled and hugged him, Albus made a strange sound as he looked up.

"That's great, Michael, you can go to the Quidditch Cup if you like."

"Its in August," Albus squeaked as she pulled away from Michael who looked worried.

"Are you sure Bob will like that?" Michael asked quietly and Crystal almost seemed to flinch at the name.

"He doesn't have to like it, it has nothing to do with him and he has four months to get used to it anyway," Crystal answered equally quietly, Scorpius got the impression he was missing something before she turned back to them and smiled but it didn't reach her eyes that time if you looked carefully, so much like when Michael did that, "that's a yes, Michael will be there."

"Great!" Albus said brightly, "you can come over to my mum to talk about arrangements now if you like."

"Sure, that's probably easier than owling," Crystal agreed looking slightly relieved as Albus happily led them over to Mrs Potter.

Scorpius quickly went to get his parents, clearly there'd been a change of plan in the arrangements and he didn't want his parents left out. He brought them over to the two mothers who introduced themselves, his father had met Mrs Potter before but his mother had only met Harry Potter and neither had met Crystal. They went to shake hands politely and he was surprised when Crystal flinched at the outstretched hand before covering for it by trying to shake hands really fast. That was odd. They moved a bit away to give the parents some time to talk through it, Albus sighed dreamily.

"Albus, you are not in love with Crystal, she's my mother," Michael growled but Albus gazed at her from a distance the same way he looked at Vipera, "are you listening to me?"

"Wakey wakey, sleepy head," a voice cooed and Brutus jolted awake in surprise.

"Atticus, I have to..." Brutus began with the events of the battle at Hogwarts fresh in his mind but he wasn't in Hogwarts anymore, he was in the basement where Sal and Tommy - before he was moved - was kept. He looked around and realized Sal was the speaker, she was leaning against the wooden railings of the steps and smiled weakly while he sat up on the bed.

"Atticus is alive as far as I can tell, his name wasn't amongst the listed dead at any rate and Specters can't get into Hogwarts for some reason."

"But the battle..."

"Is over. Your brother knocked you off the wall, you would have fallen to your death if we hadn't saved you and brought you here. I waited to wake you up until the battle was over and the war was over."

"The war is over?"

"I was right, Father was wrong and he lost," Sal told him sadly and he spotted the twinged of pain on her face, "Harry Potter killed him, managed to destroy all the horcruxes and killed him, Father should have made me or Tommy a horcrux after all and he'd still be alive. Mother died too. The people are celebrating Tommy and ours becoming orphaned, its sick, celebrating death."

"Thank you," Brutus offered as his mind tried to catch up with the information he was being force fed and struggled to digest it, "and I'm sorry about your parents."

"Its alright," Sal said quietly looking down sorrowfully for a minute before taking a deep breath, staying strong although her eyes looked a little red like she'd been crying before, "what to focus on is what we do now."

"I... don't know," Brutus admitted still trying to play catch-up, "see my family again?"

"You can't, Brutus, you were a Death Eater who fought against the victors. You can't just walk back into your life that didn't happen, you've been involved in crimes, that doesn't go away and get forgotten just because the war's over. Auror brother or not they'll lock you in Azkaban, even if you ignore the fact they think you're dead."

"Then what would rather I do?"

"Join me," Sal offered meeting his eyes and holding his gaze, "I'm serious about the campaign I'm planning and I'd... I'd really like for you to help."

"What does Rabastan think of this?"

"He's completely on board, what do you think we've doing since Christmas? I've been experimenting with the capabilities of the Specters on the supposed guards, I told him to kick you because I know you wouldn't want to be experimented on with them."

"The... what?"

"Tommy gave me control of them, severed his connection to them and bound them to me," Sal told him with an almost whole-hearted smile, "I'm the Shadow Master now. Rabastan and I have already erased the memories of me and Tommy from everyone who had contact or knew about us, except for you and Rodolphus of course. I'm in the shadows now, no one has any idea I exist and we have free reign to prepare."

"What happens to me if I don't join you?" Brutus asked slightly worriedly, Sal had made the transition from tortured prisoner to daughter of the Dark Lord pretty quickly.

"Your memory will be erased like the others, just give a location and we'll drop you off there first. You don't really think I'd hurt you after you've been so good to me?"

Brutus just shrugged lamely, unsure of how to respond, what to even think. The war was over, the Dark Lord was dead and everyone thought Brutus was dead too. Sal was right too, if he went to his family he'd be thrown in Azkaban with the Dementors and their blasted Shadows. What choice did he have? Follow a fifteen year old, struggle on by himself or get thrown in Azkaban for the rest of his natural life. He sighed heavily.

"Alright, Sal, I'll join you."