Chapter Nineteen: The-Boy-Who-Needs-Saving-Quite-a-Bit

It was the most awkward Easter celebration Scorpius had been to.

Draco, still bitter about affiliating himself with his old rivals, hardly took part in the family aspect of the holiday and usually could be found moping and sobbing in his room. Scorpius had tried to comfort his father, but the young Gryffindor had his own problems that kept him occupied. Albus and Rose were completely ignoring Scorpius, even though Scorpius had tried many times to apologize. Scorpius wanted to have fun with the Rapiers but didn't want Albus and Rose to think that he was throwing away their friendship, so he had to be very careful about the pranks he pulled with the Rapiers.

"Still ignoring you?" James asked Scorpius the day before Easter. The Rapiers were headed off to the village for the first time. Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily were tagging along, but they walking in a separate group than the Rapiers. That moment, Scorpius had tried to wave to his old friends but they had rudely turned their backs on him. Shrugging sadly, he nodded to James.

"Yeah," Scorpius mumbled, chewing on a citrus candy. He angrily kicked a stray blade of grass. "Ever since the train ride when I told Rose off, they've been ignoring me. I tried to apologize and everything, but they won't even hear it," Scorpius spat out his citrus candy angrily: it had turned from an orangey flavor to an awful lime one. "It's so annoying."

"They'll come around," reasoned Fred, narrowing his eyes quizzically at Lily, Hugo, Albus and Rose. The quartet was a bit ahead of the Rapiers, and they didn't show any signs of hearing Scorpius's conversation with the Rapiers. Scorpius was almost regretful about this; if only they could hear him say how sorry he was. Truthfully, Scorpius had many chances to apologize to Albus and Rose, but he clung onto his pride too heavily and this didn't allow him to deliver a sincere apology.

"See," Louis was munching on a chocolate egg, "Rose is just angry because you told her the truth, Scorpius. She's been bossing everyone around since forever! And you've seen her around Lucy, who's like her idol. Lucy's the most boring and just awful person to be around. No fun, Lucy is," Louis shook his head sadly. "It's been sad watching Rose turn into something like her. Rose is all studious and stuff, but she definitely got the bossiness from that Lucy Weasley."

James and Fred nodded in agreement. "Very true," James nodded, pointing a finger at Louis as he chewed on his Bertie's Blueberry-Flavored Bubble Gum. "I know Rose's family better than I know most of my other cousins. We've been friends since birth, and I can tell you, Rose has always been a smart one, albeit a tad bit bossy. But ever since Lucy was awarded Prefect and Head Girl and whatever the hell she wastes her life on, Rose has been obsessed with her. She wants to be just as smart, if not smarter, as Lucy. The bossiness and arrogance really kicked in this year."

"It was about time you told her off!" Fred announced loudly. To Scorpius's dismay, Albus turned around and shot Scorpius a very nasty look. Albus probably figured the Rapiers were talking about Rose, which was the truth. Albus hissed something into Rose's ear and Rose shook her head, her arms crossed over her chest. Hugo and Lily glanced back curiously. Scorpius hung his head while Fred muttered an apology.

"They think you're a bad influence on me," continued Scorpius, a wary eye trained on the quartet of Weasleys and Potters in front of him. They were walking faster now; James let out a sigh of exasperation as the Rapiers sped up. Unfortunately, Mr. Harry Potter had given Fred ("the most responsible out of you fools," Mr. Potter had claimed) the duty of watching everyone, so the Rapiers had to keep an eye on the younger cousins.

"There's a bit of truth in that," Fred figured, shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, we pull funny pranks on innocent people, but it's not like we're bad guys or anything. It's only for a good laugh; it's not like we're the next Voldemort, trying to recruit followers and hexing people to show how powerful we are. We're doing it for a completely different purpose: for a laugh. I guess Albus and Rose think we're bullies."

"They're just acting like a bunch of rule-following pricks," snorted James, angrily shaking his head. "I can't believe Al said that to you, Scorpius. It's funny; Al used to love pranking people for the fun of it, don't you remember in the beginning of the year, Scorpius? I think he joined in on one of our pranks against you once. Anyway, Rose is the one influencing him. Now he's quieter and softer. How hypocritical."

"I don't want to keep arguing with them," Scorpius said exasperatedly. They had hiked up the final hill and the village was looming below them. It was a pretty village; it had crammed, cobbled streets with stores lined among them, and further out were houses with farms. In the middle was a town square. Scorpius thought it was quite nice. "And I don't care who's influencing who. I just think everything will be back to normal once we're friends again."

"Yeah, you were a good influence on Rose and Albus, I suppose," Louis reasoned, his eyes lighting up once he caught sight of the village. "Rose became a lot less uptight and kind of relaxed, didn't you notice?" James and Fred nodded. "And Al - you gave him a harder shell, Scorpius. He's always been a bit sensitive and thoughtful from the start, but I think he's grown to be a bit tougher. And you're also a pretty good influence on us. You made us see logic when we were about to pull a stupid prank."

"Yeah," grinned Fred. "You're not afraid to fight with us, and that's why we like you so much!"

Scorpius beamed as James smiled smugly. "Oooh, what trick should we pull on the Muggles now?" James asked, his brown eyes glittering with excitement. Scorpius saw his right hand shift and guessed that the eldest Potter was pulling his wand out of his pocket. "We can't do Lumos again, the Muggles thought it was a cheap 'splashlight' or whatever they called it."

"Flashlight, I think," murmured Fred, twirling his wand in his hands. His blue eyes were narrowed in thought. "Hmm, we could do something like that, though. It just can't be too obvious that we're actually performing magic... because then we'll get in trouble with Hogwarts... definitely not a jinx..." Fred shook his head as if erasing ideas from his head.

"I've got it," Scorpius said craftily, taking out his own wand with his left hand. A vision of vampires flashed through his head as he grinned at the Rapiers, who were looking at him with interest. "The fire spell. Incendio. Or the Bluebell Charm if you want to be soft." Scorpius muttered the incantation and a spark of fire erupted from his wand. The Rapiers' excited faces gleamed in the firelight.

"Perfect!" Louis Weasley said, his blonde hair turned orange from the flame. "Yes... it won't cause too much attention, but it'll scare the Muggles a bit! Incendio!" The tip of Louis's wand had turned to flame. The blonde Weasley looked at it, grinning. "So, which of us will have the honors of casting the spell? Oh - I shouldn't even have to ask," He beamed with a glance at James.

James's eyes darkened cunningly. To Scorpius's surprise, the Rapiers' eyes were aimed at him. "It was your idea," James grinned at Scorpius, who looked taken aback. "Why don't you show the Muggles living in Ottery St. Catchpole a little magic trick?" Scorpius gulped, glancing at his wand. What if he was caught and expelled from Hogwarts? What if he made something explode? You're acting like Rose Weasley! His mind scolded him.

"I - " he began, glancing from Fred to Louis to James. They were all looking at him nonchalantly, but Scorpius knew that there was a deeper meaning in their expressions. If he refused, he would lose their respect forever, and then, where would that leave him? He would basically be friendless, just like he was earlier in the year. " - I - I don't know how to show magic to Muggles, exactly."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's easy, and I thought you were supposed to be the second smartest in your class," He walked over to Scorpius, waving his wand. "See, you tell them you're a retired magician or whatever and ask if they'd like to see a neat little trick. They say sure, you perform a very small amount of magic and you watch their expressions! Honestly, it should be some sort of sport, it's so entertaining."

"O-okay," stammered Scorpius, looking nervously at James. The Rapiers had reached the village now; the quartet of Rose, Albus, Lily and Hugo were departing towards the town square. Motioning the group with his hand, Fred trotted after them, followed by the rest of the Rapiers. Scorpius glanced around the village and was surprised when he saw the Muggles. They were dressed really strangely; they didn't wear robes. Some seemed to be holding up a square box to their ears and jabbering in it, while others were browsing on a square box. Scorpius turned to ask Louis what the Muggles were using, but he glanced up and saw Louis sprinting around a corner. Sighing in anger, Scorpius stuffed his wand in his sock and followed the Rapiers and the quartet down the dark alleyway.

The sun was beginning to set, casting long and dark shadows among the alleyway. The Weasleys and Potters had disappeared; Scorpius stopped in the alleyway, glancing around to look for his friends. To his dismay, the alleyway melted into different passageways that led all around the village. Scorpius examined them, confused, and chose the darkest-looking one that led to the brightest part of the village. Scorpius assumed he was headed back to the town square.

His footsteps echoed down the alleyway as he made his way towards the bright square in front of him. Scorpius heard a shuffle of footsteps behind him and guessed that the Weasleys and Potters had finally found him. Scorpius turned around gratefully. "Where have you guys been - ?" he asked angrily. Scorpius stopped mid-sentence when he saw who the footsteps belonged to.

Two huge, broad-shouldered men were standing in the alleyway, their arms crossed over their chests. They were completely dressed in black; Scorpius faintly noticed that their clothing had holes and cuts in it. Their beards were scruffy. Scorpius guessed these men were very poor. Scorpius glanced back towards the village and saw many people milling around. If only he could reach the light...

The men began to approach him. They didn't look too friendly. They also didn't look very fast. Scorpius gulped and sprinted towards the village, his heart thumping as he willed his legs to go as fast as possible. Immediately, Scorpius felt a stampede of footsteps hurtling after him as he began to sprint. Scorpius began to yell and scream for help. He was about to reach the light, happy village when Scorpius felt his legs buckle as one of the men tackled him to the cold, stone ground.

Scorpius struggled, pounding his fists onto the ground and yelling for help. Where were the Weasleys? He thought desperately as one of the men tied a shirt around his legs and his mouth. Scorpius was gagged; he no longer could yell. He could move his hands, but this wouldn't help him at all. The men easily carried him to the darkest part of the alleyway, where they threw him against a garbage can.

"Give us your money, rich boy," one of them snarled, his face dangerously close to Scorpius's. Scorpius closed his eyes in dismay as he remembered his appearance; he looked well-groomed and was wearing very nice clothing. No wonder the men had targeted him; they thought he was some rich Muggle boy wandering down the alleyways.

"Dnnn... haff... neee..." Scorpius tried to gasp. The rope gagging him prevented him from speaking, though; the next thing he knew, he was being carried upside down from his ankles. The biggest of the two men shook him in an attempt to empty his pockets. Luckily, Scorpius had tucked his wand in his sock, so it didn't fall out. Scorpius had been carrying three Galleons and some candy in his pockets. They fell to the floor with a series of clinks.

"What's this?" The smaller of the two men asked, picking up one of the Galleons. He looked at it interestedly, his piggy, scarred face contorted into a mask of confusion. The larger man dropped Scorpius and the boy landed on his head with a 'thump!'. Scorpius's eyes watered in pain as his head throbbed. He rolled around on the ground in an attempt to escape. However, one of the men kicked him. "I asked you a question!" he roared.

"Whut?" Scorpius managed to mutter out of his gag.

"Just take it off," the bigger man growled, pointing at Scorpius's gag. "We'll never be able to get a word out of him while it's on."

"What if he yells?" the smaller man asked, untying the shirt around Scorpius's mouth.

"Punch him or sommat, I'unno," the bigger man's eyes narrowed at Scorpius. He was holding up a golden Galleon. "Now boy, where'd you manage to get this piece of gold? Is this foreign money or something?"

Scorpius's head was throbbing so badly; every sound ached. Scorpius decided to play smart and did his best impression of a Russian accent. "Yiiis," he said, guessing that the poor men weren't that smart. "I come from distant country vere ve 'ave gold as our currency," he cleared his throat; this Russian accent was quite taxing on his throat. "My father eez big Russian celebrity body guard..."

"Yeah, right," snorted the bigger man, rolling his eyes. "Russian body guard? He's probably some rich old Siberian man."

"How much money will this gold get us?" the smaller man asked, holding up the two remaining Galleons.

"Nothing," the bigger man shook his head. "Maybe one hundred pounds, give or take," His gaze turned back to Scorpius. "Where's the rest of your money, kid? If you don't choke up more, we'll kill you."

Scorpius took the threat seriously. "I don't have any," he blurted in his English accent. The two men exchanged a surprised glance and narrowed their eyes suspiciously at Scorpius, whose eyes widened. Crap. I just gave my cover away! He thought, trying to reach in his sock for his wand. However, the bigger man saw that Scorpius was attempting to reach for something and kicked him in the face. Scorpius yelled out in pain and collapsed to the ground, tears running freely down his face.

"Tell us where the rest of your loot is, Russian boy," snarled the bigger man. Scorpius was floating in and out of consciousness; his head felt like it was being ripped open. "You know that we're not afraid to kill you, punk."

Scorpius heard a flutter of footsteps from another alley. He only had once chance to save his life. "HELP!" he yelled as loudly as he could, "SOMEONE! HELP! PLEASE!" Before he could finish his screaming, he saw a foot hurtle towards his face. Scorpius bellowed in pain as the foot connected with his nose and flew backwards, the cement wall connecting with the back of his head. His head exploding in pain, Scorpius drifted into unconsciousness.

There seemed to be a light ahead of him. Scorpius swam towards the light, eager to escape the darkness. However, right before clasping his hand around the tiny orb of fire, Scorpius heard familiar voices from below him. Scorpius widened his eyes in surprise when he saw a pool of water beneath his feet. Scorpius's confusion grew when he realized that he seemed to be floating in this darkness.

He glanced up at the ball of light regretfully at he swam downwards towards the water. The closer he got to the water, the more clearer the voices became. Scorpius heard the familiar, slightly high-pitched voice of his best friend. Albus? thought Scorpius, confused. Albus's name echoed in the darkness as Scorpius bent down closer to the pool of water. When he put his hand in the freezing-cold depths, he could make out the words Albus was saying.

"His heart... is it beating?"

"Slowly," the reply murmured. Scorpius's stomach flipped when he recognized the frightened whisper of Rose. She sounded really concerned about something. Scorpius dipped his other hand into the water so that he could hear his ex-friends more clearly. Rose continued to speak quietly. This time, Scorpius took his hands out of the water and decided to stand in it.

"It's... it's slowing down...!" Rose's whisper grew louder and more high-pitched. Scorpius panicked; whose heart was slowing down? Was it James? Fred? Louis? His dad? Scorpius took a deep breath and completely plunged into the water. To his surprise, the sandy bottom which he had been standing upon completely disappeared and the darkness from outside had begun to surround him. Bubbles flew out of his mouth as Scorpius gasped in fear; once again, the darkness engulfed him.

However, this time, Scorpius felt pain. There were worried sounds around him, and when Scorpius tried to blink open his eyes he felt as if he had been clubbed by thirty-thousand hammers. Biting his lip in pain, Scorpius squinted open his eyes and found himself to be laying down in a familiar looking house. Why am I not dead? he thought groggily, remembering when he had been jumped in the alleyway. Is this heaven...?

There was a hand on his heart. It twitched when Scorpius had opened his eyes. "Hey!" A high-pitched, light voice called. Scorpius recognized Rose's voice. "Hey, Mr. Malfoy, sir! It's Scorpius! His heart stopped - " There was a 'no!' from the corner of the room, but Rose continued. " - but now it's beating faster! I think he'll be alright...!"

There was a stampede of footsteps and Scorpius saw two figures skid into the room. One was his father, Draco, who was looking extremely pale and gray with worry. The other was Albus, who like Scorpius's father, looked very concerned, but there was also a guilty glimmer in his eyes. No, Scorpius thought. This can't be heaven. Someone's saved me... again... but who?

Scorpius's father and Albus crouched over Scorpius's twitching figure. Scorpius was in so much pain, he could barely keep his eyes open without his head feeling like it was going to split apart. Summoning up all of the strength he had, Scorpius attempted to say something. However, it only came out as a whisper. "D... dad... how..."

"He's alive!" gasped Albus, pointing at the stirring Scorpius. "He's been beaten up so many times this year, I never thought - "

" - Scorpius," Draco lightly shook his weak son. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"N... no..." Scorpius was using every ounce of strength he contained in order to force the words out of his mouth. "My... head..."

"Oh!" Scorpius's father muttered in astonishment, rifling through his robes until he located his wand. "Okay, easy fix, buddy. You're going to feel a bit of pain - " Draco tapped his wand on Scorpius's face, and Scorpius felt a jolt of pain course through him. Yelling out in pain, Scorpius writhed and twitched on the bed he was laying upon. The pain ended almost as quickly as it started. Scorpius relaxed, allowing his body to go limp.

" - Can you talk now?" Draco asked nervously.

Scorpius sat up, blearily rubbing his eyes. His head was still aching slightly, but it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did three minutes ago. Once his eyes were fully open, he propped himself against the headboard and nodded. "Yeah, I-I feel a lot better," he murmured, taking time to move his arms and his legs to make sure he was alright.

"What happened?" Albus whispered from Scorpius's right. Scorpius was surprised that Albus was talking to him, but didn't want to question it. Sighing, Scorpius began his story. He told the three in the room about how he had tried to catch up to everyone, but got lost in the confusing network of alleyways. Then, Scorpius explained how he was jumped by the dirty men and how he faked his accent. He further illustrated his tale by adding how he was thrown, tied and gagged around. When he was finished, all three of the people gathered around him looked disgusted.

"We were looking for you," Rose spoke for the first time. Her voice was quiet, and like Albus, she looked extremely guilty. "Albus and I. Louis, Fred, James, Lily and Hugo all spread out to look around the village, but Al and I figured you got lost finding us in the alley... everyone kind of forgot you've never been in the village before. We heard screams and stuff, and when we went over, we saw you being thrown a-against a wall..." Her voice was beginning to stammer. "S-so then we did that jinx you always do on people... Petrificus Totalus... we did that... it's d-during the school year, so we shouldn't get in too much t-trouble... b-but i-it threatened the Statue of S-S-Secrecy..."

Scorpius felt awful. He knew how much Rose had probably struggled to cast the spell; Rose, the anti-Rapier, never would have cast a spell on a Muggle unless she absolutely needed to. "Thanks," Scorpius said, smiling slightly. He turned his head and noticed something strange; no one else seemed to be in the Burrow. This was unusual, because the Weasleys usually housed at least thirty people during the holidays. "Where's everyone else?" he asked lightly.

Draco gravely looked down, while Rose and Albus exchanged apprehensive glances. His two best friends' eyes moved towards Scorpius's father, who looked extremely distraught. "There's... been a problem," Draco began. His voice was very hoarse. Scorpius felt his heart thumping. Something very serious had clearly happened. "Azkaban prisoners revolted and killed the guards... there's been a break-out, Scorpius - "

" - W-what?" Scorpius stammered. "Y-you don't mean that everyone's broken out, d'you...?"

"... Most have," Draco looked very upset. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, Angelina, Audrey, Fleur, Charlie, George, Percy, Bill, Ginny, Mr. Weasley... everyone that has ties to the Ministry had to leave to address the problem. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Tonks have stayed behind, but... there's going to be more security around Hogwarts, I think. We... there's going to be guards watching out for you, too."

"Why me?" Scorpius's brain wasn't quite processing what was happening.

"Because Scorp..." Draco looked his son in the eye for the first time. "Your grandfather is the one who led the escape."

"See Scorpius, look," Rose threw the latest Daily Prophet at Scorpius. Albus, Rose and Scorpius were on their way back to Hogwarts from the Easter holidays. It had taken Scorpius about three days to recover from his physical and mental wounds. The Rapiers had tried to cheer Scorpius up, but these days, Scorpius was acting very haunted and scared. He was afraid that Lucius would try to target him again.

Scorpius glanced down at the Daily Prophet. The front page article read 'MASSIVE BREAKOUT IN AZKABAN: THE FIRST IN TWENTY YEARS!'. Below it was a picture of the many convicts that had escaped. In the middle of the mug-shots of the criminals was the prison itself. The prison had completely crumbled, and a strange, circular sign with a cross through the middle was burning over Azkaban. Scorpius felt a pang of realization slap him across the face.

"It's the sign," Rose began to explain. "Look, see? It's there again, there must be - "

"- I know who was wearing it!" Scorpius gasped suddenly, his eyes widening in fear. He almost punched his still-throbbing head in frustration. He hadn't been able to remember who was wearing the symbol because Scorpius had been trying to block out the night... but no, now that night was constantly flashing through his brain so he was able to remember... "It was my grandfather! Lucius! I saw him wearing it around his neck."

"That would make a lot of sense!" Albus exclaimed, pointing fervently at the article. "He was wearing it... he's always hated Muggle-borns and the symbol always burns over them when they're killed... he was one of Voldemort's followers, so that's probably where he got the idea to throw the symbol over his slain for... and he escaped, and the symbol's burning in the air! D'you think he's trying to become the next Voldemort?"

"Maybe..." Rose looked at Albus with surprise; usually, Albus didn't come to these types of intelligent conclusions. "I think it's a stretch to say that Lucius was trying to become the next Voldemort. Mr. Malfoy did switch sides during the War, after all, and plus, Voldemort was an extremely evil and twisted man. He created eight Horcruxes! Lucius may be evil, but I think there's a fine line between evil and insane."

"That's true," yawned Scorpius, wishing to get the subject out of his head. Every time Lucius's name was mentioned, Scorpius felt a shadow of the Cruciatus Curse burning into him. Turning to Albus, Scorpius decided to change the pace of the conversation. "So, Al, you ready for the Ravenclaw Championship game in two weeks?" Fred and James had decided to keep Spence in St. Mungo's, just in case Oaks tried to bring him back.

However, Al didn't know this. "I-I'm still playing?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, Spence is still in the hospital, dummy," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "And plus, even if Spence was back, he wouldn't be playing. He hasn't caught the Snitch the entire time he's been on the team. You're only a first-year and you beat the best Seeker at Hogwarts to the Snitch! The team wouldn't allow Oaks to bring back Spence."

Albus looked shocked. Scorpius yawned again and stretched his arms. "I need to find James, Fred and Louis," he mumbled, needing a pick-me-up. He had to ask the Rapiers a few questions about the prank they were going to pull on a group of Slytherins at Hogsmeade (Scorpius wasn't allowed to visit the village, obviously, but James was convinced he had a way to sneak the first-year in). "I'll be back in like, ten minutes."

"See you in ten minutes," Albus said, feeding his ferret, Dibbles, a spare carrot.

Scorpius waved and exited the compartment. He glanced to his right, and then to his left; the Rapiers always sat to the back of the Express, so that meant that Scorpius would have to go to the right. Scorpius looked into the compartments as he was passing them. He saw his friends, Everett, Flynn and Harrison, and waved to them, but didn't stop by to chat. Towards the back of the train, Scorpius saw a group of Slytherins huddled in a compartment. They looked as if they were planning something. One of them caught Scorpius's eye and pointed to him; the rest of the group looked at Scorpius, their eyes wide with surprise. To Scorpius's dismay, the Slytherin who had spotted Scorpius stepped out of the compartment and began to follow Scorpius.

"Hey, you!" called the kid. Scorpius turned around to face the thin, lanky, brown-haired fifth-year. The Slytherin extended a pale hand. "My name's Alec Meath. I'm from Slytherin, as you can tell by my robes..." Scorpius apprehensively shook the fifth-year's hand. Alec didn't appear like he wanted to harm Scorpius; in fact, his hands were both hanging by his sides in an attempt to show Scorpius that he wasn't carrying a wand.

"Anyway," Meath continued. "You're a Malfoy, right? What's your first name? Something with an S... uh, hold on, let me guess - Sylvester - ?"

" - Scorpius," Scorpius muttered.

"Ah, Scorpius, okay," Meath chuckled. He seemed friendly; Scorpius was pleasantly surprised that there was a human in Slytherin who was acting nice towards him. "Well, as you've heard... there's been a massive break-out in Azkaban, your grandfather leading the charge, of course. Anyway, although you're not the most popular bloke in Slytherin, us Agnos agree that because you're a pureblood, we might as well warn you. As you know, us purebloods are dwindling as campaigns for Muggle-born and half-blood equality prevail..." There was a flash of anger in Meath's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"What are you trying to say?" Scorpius asked warily. He was confused on one word that Meath had said: Agnos. What were the Agnos? However, he didn't think it would be wise to ask.

"Right to the point then," Meath grinned. "So, the student Agnos are planning a sort of... diversion during the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Championship match. I know you're playing in it, so I wanted to warn you not to attend. I would warn that other pureblood, Roxanne Weasley, who's playing for Ravenclaw, but her family's a bunch of blood-traitors so it doesn't even matter if she's hurt - "

" - Roxanne's my friend," Scorpius said coldly, his respect for the Slytherin dwindling after every word Meath uttered. "And what exactly do you mean by diversion? And who are the Agnos?"

"Ahh, quite misinformed, aren't you?" Meath's smile grew wider. He looked quite malicious. "Well, I would've thought since you are the grandson of Lucius that you would know... anyway, why don't you ask your grandfather? Write to him about the Quest, and the Agnos, and I'm sure he'd love to inform you. I'm quite surprised that your father isn't part of the Agnos, really - "

" - my grandfather and I aren't on speaking terms," growled Scorpius.

"Not my problem," Meath was beginning to look impatient. "Look, I don't have time to tell you all about the Movement, and this isn't quite the place to tell you. If you'd like to learn more, I'd be glad to talk to you later. However, I suggest that you write your grandfather before I tell you anything about the Agnos or the Movement. I just want to leave you with one thing, Scorpius: don't go to that game. I know you're playing in it, and I know it's the Championship, but I don't want to risk killing a pureblood, especially Lucius's grandson. Our numbers are already running out."

He turned and stalked back to his compartment, leaving Scorpius as confused and scared as ever.

Whoo, finally the story is heating up! Hopefully you'll remember the prologue; it's going to tie in soon. Now the real action begins! I'd love to know what you guys think! xx