Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Scepter of Night

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (IV): Scorpius is back for his Fourth Year and finds himself along with his friends fighting on different fronts with the Ministry's new approach, the resurgence of werewolf prejudice and even estrangement from his family. All the while still fighting to stop the Shadow Master from gathering the pieces of the Scepter, before it's too late. COMPLETE

21. Chapter 21: Reflecting

Parts (108-110)

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IV

Chapter 21

Reflecting

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Part 1: Dust To Dust

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"But I want to see if Scorpius and Varanian are okay!" August Longbottom was protesting as he was practically through out of the wall of the cliff face by his father as Orous and Lily reached the top, he saw the younger boy was soaked through.

"If Varanian's okay then he won't be for long!" the professor snapped angrily, "And I don't what you want, what were you thinking trying to save the others?!"

"Suddenly it's wrong to want to save my sister and friends?!"

"Yes, August, yes!" Longbottom spat, looking ready to start frothing at the mouth, "You're twelve! You supposed to be smart! You should've stayed and told us what happened so the experienced adults could deal with it, not let yourself be tricked into going off with a wanted criminal! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Do you have a death wish?! What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking that I could help people I care about," August protested, looking upset by his father's words.

"Well don't you care about your mother and I!? How do you think we'd feel if you went off and got yourself killed?! Do you honestly think that we could go through that again!?"

"Well, I see losing one son didn't teach you a lesson," a familiar voice offered conversationally, "Bad fathers don't deserve children."

Orous' neck turned so fast he almost gave himself whiplash to see their former professor, Pyrrhus Florian, standing there nonchalantly also listening to their conversation. Unlike the other Shadows, he was wearing casual muggle attire and looked very much like he'd just rolled out of bed and into the battle. He had the same slight frame but he looked younger than the previous year, in fact he appeared twenty years ago. His lined face was now smooth and his graying hair was now very vividly red, flowing down as if someone had poured ketchup over his head. His eyes were also the same violent violet and glinted unhealthy as he studied the Longbottoms.

"Avada Kedavra!" Longbottom cried without hesitation to Orous' surprise, jabbing his wand furiously at Florian. The former professor flipped flawlessly backwards and the blinding green light shot beneath him, landing with ease and bowing to them.

"Am I awesome or what?" Florian commented, cocking his head to one side with a smirk, "Nice try though, Neville, old boy."

"Avada Kedavra!" Longbottom tried again and Florian dodged it with equal ease, much to the professor's frustration as he instead threw an explosive spell to the ground beneath Florian's feet but he leaped clear readily, "You killed my son, just die you son of a bitch!"

"All true. I did kill Nick, my Mother was a bitch and someday I will die. Probably not today though."

"We'll see about that," Longbottom growled and lashed out with another spell.

Longbottom fought with fervor and coordinated fury, his prosthetic arm not slowing him down for a second but Florian merely seemed to be toying with him as he wasn't attacking. He made it look like a dance, countering every attack or avoiding them with movements so flowing that it could have been choreographed. Orous was reminded forcibly of his brother and glanced back to Maurice who fought with the same fluid disturbingly graceful style of death, reflexes and speed top of their game. His eyes drifted back to Florian, in particular to his hands which were for once uncovered to reveal the same overlapping scars from the blood quill that Maurice had. Florian had been trained to be a child soldier too. At least it certainly looked that way.

He scanned the Shadows as best he could with only flashes of spells for light but they seemed clear. They mostly seemed older and were par on with majority of the Aurors, decent but not as fast and fluid as Florian. The Shadows had been targeting prisons for a while, destroying them and either killing or capturing the inhabitants after Azkaban. They had some fighting force and they had their spies but they had more. They just accepted Maurice had been trained to be a soldier in his 'school' and was obsessed unhealthily with it, they never thought about the others there. The Shadows could have a whole army of brainwashed souls that they'd trained from childhood, more depending on what age they were willing to use them at and they weren't to be taken lightly if Maurice was anything to go by. The Shadow Master could just be saving them, throwing in the grunts first.

Orous' thoughts snapped wholly onto his brother's duel as Maurice threw another Killing Curse at their mother as overpowered the Auror she'd been dueling, she flicked her wand and threw the poor man in front of her as a human shield. If Maurice felt any remorse, it didn't show on his face that he had just killed an innocent man. What was Orous thinking? Maurice was as incapable of remorse as the woman opposite him. They looked so similar, if Maurice was just a bit taller and Alzay was less woman-shaped then they'd be impossible to tell apart in the darkness. Alzay had already thrown her own unmistakable blinding green spell back at him, Maurice dodged it and it hit a Shadow square in the back. Orous thought Killing Curses might not be the best spell to use when they were others dueling around you, he doubted the other two cared though as they eyed each other murderously.

And the duel began.

"Well, I'm bored of this," Florian decided abruptly which drew back Orous' attention to see him launch his first attack, except it wasn't at Longbottom. It was at his son.

Time seemed to slow as August was thrown backwards off the cliff, Longbottom's eyes widened in horror and he spun to cast a spell to save him while Orous also raised his wand. Florian had evidently been paying attention as a Disarming Spell punching Longbottom's and Orous' wands from their hands before they'd even finished raising them, Longbottom threw himself instead at the cliff and grabbing August with his prosthetic arm. Florian flicked his wand and the prosthetic detached itself from his shoulder, Longbottom cried out in fear and lunged forwards to grab his son with his right human arm but was now leaning much further over the cliff. Tears were bubbling in the professor's eyes, Florian was watching with all mirth erased from his face. Orous and Lily tried to move but Florian gestured his wand dismissively, tendrils of some plant shot out from the ground and grabbed hold of their ankles. Toppling them and holding them firmly in place, Lily started trying to tug hers free while Orous noticed his wand and instead started trying to reach it, he was so close.

"I'm sorry, August, I thought if I was distant then it would hurt less if I lost you another child," Longbottom apologized tearfully as he teetered on the edge of the cliff, "I was wrong."

"I forgive you, Dad," August's voice spoke up shakily which caused Florian's face twisted angrily as he raised his wand, just as Orous reached his.

"Expelliarmus!" Orous cried the first word to cross mind, Florian lurched out of the way but it stopped him firing his spell.

Orous' charm sailed by though, the jet soaring through the skirmish and striking his own mother. Her wand spun from her hand to her horror if the expression on her face was anything to go by, she dived after it while triumph crossed his brother's face. Orous felt his wand also rent from his grip, Florian taking it from him manually and tossing it well away from Orous' arm range. Orous swore he could hear bird call.

"I GAVE YOU LFE AND I WILL TAKE IT BACK!" Alzay cried over the clashing chaos, signing as she spoke so Maurice would understand which had him hesitate.

"I don't want to hurt you, Orous, don't be foolish now," Florian told him.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Maurice demanded of her.

"Why are you doing this?" Orous asked of Florian, just wanting to stall him until Longbottom could pull August although his gaze still rested on his family. He could definitely hear birds.

'I'm your mother,' Alzay signed and Maurice stepped back, shaking his head in disbelief.

"NO!" Maurice screamed, loud enough to cut off whatever Florian had been going to say and he instead turned to the source of the sound. Was Maurice crying? He lowered his wand at any rate and looked much more upset then Orous had thought he would be, "NOT YOU! ANYONE BUT YOU!"

'Look in the mirror. You're a lot like me,' Alzay signed before scooping up her wand while Maurice was too distracted, turning away in anguish and tears were definitely leaking from his eyes.

"Well that's only going to end badly," Florian commented to no one in particular but at least seemed to have forgotten about the Longbottoms for the time being, "Anyone else hear birds?"

"I guess it doesn't matter now," Maurice choked out as he turned back to her, raising his wand to her in perfect unison as she raised hers to him.

"No, it doesn't," Alzay admitted, despite Maurice being unable to hear her and his hand was nowhere near his necklace but her also shone with tears but her expression was determined, "Not after you killed my Father."

"Avada Kedavra!" Mother and son cried in unison.

Identical bursts of blinding green light shot from their wands, seeking each other and bathing the battle in emerald light. The spells collided in mid-air and exploded, green light ruptured and the shockwave threw both spell casters both violently backwards before crashing onto the ground.

Orous attention was torn away from them though by the loud squawking overhead, looking up from the ground was hard but he managed to see birds blanketing the sky and blocking out the stars. His eyes darted and he quickly found Cassia near the rock face, throwing her arms up into the air and cawing as she jabbed her finger at the fighters. The birds dived like a hail of arrows, showering down on the Shadows. Sharp beaks and talons tore into the cloaked figures while leaving the Aurors untouched, mercilessly pecking into unprotected eyes and ripping through vulnerable necks.

They couldn't speak with their throats under attack to cast spells nor could they even really aim their wands, some random flashes of magic fired from wands and some had been fast enough to defend themselves. Aurors were taking full advantage of the situation, stunning down those under relentless attack. The birds only left those who fell, either stunned or killed from the aerial assault. There were cracks all around like thunder without the lightning as Shadows started disapparating away in desperation to save themselves.

"Cool kid," Florian acknowledged, looking impressed as he surveyed the chaos befalling his comrades. His casual attire probably saving him from the attack, Cassia had probably told them to go after the ones in black cloaks with the skeletal snake symbols.

Orous' eyes darted back to his family, Maurice was still lying on the ground while Alzay tossed aside her cloak - possibly realizing what Orous just had? - as she got to her feet, which did spare her from the birds admittedly. She approached her younger son with murder rolling in the cold oceans of her eyes, Maurice stirred and rolled onto his back but was had no chance as Alzay flicked her wand before he was fully with it. Maurice screamed in pain as a sharp piece of rock shot from the ground to piece his stomach, Orous tried to get up to help his brother but was dragged back down immediately by the tendrils still holding him down.

Florian was moving away from him though, he stretched uselessly and desperately for his wand but was helpless. Maurice reached for his wand too with a trembling hand and Alzay gestured again with her wand, there was a snap and he cried out in pain as his arm twisted in the wrong direction. He took a deep breath and with pain still etched onto his face, reached out again for his wand. Alzay looked incredulous, she jerked her wand again which caused another crack and another yelp of pain but Maurice still tried to stretch his even more broken arm. Anger reignited in Alzay's eyes as she moved her wand again and again, rapidly using the same spell and snapping Maurice's arm over and over which had him screaming until she stopped.

"Y-You know that's one of the things I did to your Father when I tortured him?" Maurice pointed out while shakily trying to reach his wand with his further away left hand, Alzay stomped her foot down forcefully onto his arm which twisted his face back up with pain.

"Alzay, we should go," Florian offered as he reached her, she turned away from her son to look at him in surprise.

"Not until I have my revenge. Why are you even here?! You're not supposed to be," Alzay snapped at him.

"Got bored," Florian shrugged and Alzay shook her head as she turned back to Maurice, this time aiming her wand at her son's face. If Maurice was afraid, he didn't show it, "Are you really going to kill your own son?"

"There you go," Latimer's voice commented and Orous felt the pressure leave his ankles while Alzay's wand was thrown from her grip. Orous gave a garbled thanks but had no time as he lurched to his feet, grabbed up his wand and staggered to help his brother.

"That the best you got?" Alzay sneered as she went to retrieve it, giving Orous the perfect opportunity to get there and place himself protectively in front of Maurice. She scowled when she saw him, "I thought you died?"

"No," Orous said as he raised his wand at her, surprised by how he wasn't shaking but he did swallow, "Leave Maurice alone."

"I don't think so but I'm glad you're here. I can kill you both, I can kill you all!" Alzay started to tell him but it turned into a shriek as she aimed her wand at him but Florian put a hand on her shoulder, the chaos was dying down now and Aurors were becoming aware of her, "Avada-"

There was a thunderous crack and the pair disapparated into the night, Orous slowly lowered his wand as the icy wind whistled around him. It suddenly seemed too quiet. Coughing sounds encroached on his mind and Orous recalled Maurice, turning back to his brother and kneeling beside him. Maurice was hacking violently on his own blood, Orous dropped his wand in panic and pulled his brother into a semi sitting position to make sure he didn't choke on his own blood.

He hadn't noticed how badly hurt his twin was until then, his clothes were torn and his body riddled with open wounds that had occurred long before dueling Alzay. Not all the blood belonged to other people. The hole in his abdomen was gushing blood and his right arm was mangled, twisted impossibly with pieces of bones jutting out in places. Maurice leaned heavily against him, his whole body shuddering.

"I need a Healer!" Orous called out to no one in particular, he just didn't know what else to do and Maurice clearly needed help. He put his hand over the gaping wound, putting pressure on injuries was a thing even as Maurice cried on in pain and his head lolled onto Orous' shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maurice croaked out and Orous opened his mouth to tell him to save his strength and not speak but closed it, Maurice wasn't looking at him let alone using his necklace or in any condition to be using it right then so he wouldn't hear his words or if he gave an answer anyway, "Why didn't you tell me Alzay was our mother?"

Maurice descended into another coughing fit, spitting out blood and falling weakly back against him as his strength apparently failed him. Orous just held his twin and tried to keep pressure on the wound, he could feel his brother's blood flowing through his fingers but he still didn't let go until a Healer arrived. For better or worse, they were still brothers, family.

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"What do we do now then?" Antonius asked of him worriedly as they headed out into the maze, his voice hard to make out over the shaking world.

"Don't suppose you were paying attention to which way to go?" Scorpius wondered distractedly.

"I tried but I can't even tell left from right at the moment."

Everything was still violently shuddering after all, the ferocious rumbling dominating his ear drums and Scorpius had no idea how to navigate the maze. It didn't help the ground wasn't trying to throw them off and dust wasn't starting to seep through the ceiling, his hand was still searing and his body felt battered from being knocked about which was distracting. He had to keep going though, he had to save Antonius and Varanian but he didn't know the way to go and he didn't want to risk using any explosive spells since he was pretty sure it would start collapsing soon anyway. This made time very pressing but it still seemed impossible without Ashylos. And that thought caused the guilt to stab at him again, it was hard to believe that just yesterday Ashylos had been showing him memories and telling him spells. Spells. One of which was a spell for breaking through walls in a non-explosive way, he just had to hope that they were going in the right direction.

"Pick a direction, Anton, I'm just going to blow through this walls if I can get this spell to work," Scorpius decided he'd just have to risk is as he whisked out his wand.

"Erm... That way, I think," Antonius commented and gestured to the wall in front of them.

"Oxaspopla," Scorpius - hopefully cast - as there was no indication it was working, then again Ashylos had said it stayed on like the Wand-Lighting Charm until he said it again for the final time. He slashed his wand at the wall before them, awkwardly as it was his left hand and feeling rather foolish. He decided to try seven as it was an important magical number, he slashed six before repeating the spell on the final motion, "Oxaspopla!"

To his relief and surprise, a section of the wall of the labyrinth burst outwards without the ceiling collapsing in on them. They clambered through the gap and continued forward, Scorpius hurriedly breaking through every wall blocking their path and feeling even guiltier. He should've just put markers or a trail or something, even if it probably would've been lost in the quake. Instead he was using Ashylos' spells to save himself after destroying the spirit's soul, although he was doing it for Antonius and Varanian so it wasn't entirely for a bad reason. He thought Ashylos would approve. He hoped so. The fresh memory of Ashylos erupting into an explosion of light tugged at his eyes, he tried to shove it away as now wasn't the time and his wrist was twinging.

"It worked!" Antonius cried, drawing him back to reality and Scorpius saw his last wall had brought him out to the entrance where Varanian's burned body still lay.

Scorpius rushed to Varanian's side, dropping to his knees to see that he was thankfully still breathing raggedly. Raggedly was better than dead, he didn't want anyone else to die that night. Now there was just the task of getting them all out alive, Varanian was in no state to stand unaided let alone walk. He could carry him magically but Scorpius would rather have his wand free in case it was needed, he didn't even know if the Shadow Master had left the mansion yet after all. He thought back to the memory Varanian, where Calderon had saved him but supporting him and forcing him to walk. Scorpius bit his lip but he didn't see another option.

"Scor-Scorpius, my wand just fixed itself. You don't... you don't think that means my Dad died, do you?" Antonius asked of him fearfully.

"I don't think so," Scorpius brushed it off dismissively and took a deep breath, "I'm really sorry, Varanian, but we're going to have to walk out of here together. And... And I know it'll hurt."

Scorpius swallowed before awkwardly reaching out to take Varanian's arm, it caused a scream of pain but Scorpius forced himself to go through with it. He pulled the arm around his shoulder with difficulty as Scorpius could only use one arm, Varanian continued crying out in pain. Scorpius managed to stand, drawing Varanian to his feet as he did so although Varanian was still very much a deadweight trying to drag him down. It made Scorpius realize how tall he'd gotten, although he didn't think he was quite at full adult height yet. Varanian stopped screaming but his breathing only worsened as if he was desperately trying to breathe through the pain and fighting to stay awake, his head hung forwards and his eyes remained closed but he hung in there.

"I'm sorry, Varanian, but we need to get out of here," Scorpius apologized, sincerely not enjoying causing him pain, "You need to just try and move your feet okay? We're nearly there, we just need to walk. I got you, just walk and you can... rest soon and... and be helped and... and you know, not be in pain."

"Are you trying to sound comforting?" Antonius asked of him, looking incredibly dubious.

"I'm not good at that stuff," Scorpius admitted, wishing yet again he knew what to say to people but he took a step forward and Varanian made an effort to move his leg to walk although his breathing became even more torn, "Try to breathe, it'll be over soon."

Their progress was painfully slow, quite literally each step seemed agonizing for Varanian and it wasn't easy taking the majority of the smell either so they couldn't move very fast. The smell of Varanian's burnt flesh also made him want to nauseous and oddly more of his still throbbing hand. Antonius took the lead for them, easily staying in front and held the... wall open for them when they finally got to the top of the stairs. Scorpius thought he knew the way out and Antonius apparently thought so too as he started to go in that direction, he wasn't sure they'd make it though as the main house was also shaking and destroying the valuable items being forced to meet the floor. He wondered where Corvinus was with all this, another threat to look out for.

"Look out!" Scorpius cried out in horror as the ceiling started to collapse over Antonius, the boy jumped away as marble turned to rubble where he'd been standing. They had to get out of here. Now. His eyes darted for an escape and he noticed a window at the opposite end of the corridor to Antonius, "Forget getting to the exit, we just have to get out of here. Go towards the window."

"We're... We're going to jump out the window?" Antonius wondered dubiously but complied with Scorpius' change in direction.

"Just trust me," Scorpius told him tiredly as he tried to increase their pace, causing Varanian to whimper in pain, "Sorry."

He was just starting to breathe a sigh of relief as they reached the window when the ceiling overheard gave way, Antonius slammed up the wand handle from the Scepter - hadn't Scorpius cut that in half? - and the ceiling froze, teetering dangerously above them. Antonius' hand was trembling, the strain showing through his dust-stained face which still had pale trails where the tears had rolled through. Scorpius hastily fumbled for his wand.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast," Antonius said seriously as Scorpius grasped it, "I'm not sure how I'm doing this or how long I can keep it up."

"On the count of three, we jump out of the window and I'll cast a spell to slow our fall," Scorpius explained and Antonius nodded in acknowledgement, "One, two, three!"

Scorpius lunged through the window, painful shards of glass cutting into him but he ignored it especially as he had been trying to take the brunt of it. Varanian still screamed in pain as Scorpius dragged him through with him, Antonius simply jumped. The spell was on his lips as the ground drew closer but time was up, there was a deafening boom behind them and they were suddenly thrown up further away into the air. Varanian was torn from his grip and he lost sight of Antonius in the dark night, cold air sliced over his skin but he still hoped his spell would work as they spiraled closer to the ground.

"Immobulus!" Scorpius cried but couldn't hear his own voice as his ears were still ringing from the bang.

He felt his momentum slowing before he thudded onto the grass, it might have been gentle if he wasn't injured. Everything was hurting now, everywhere was pain. The grass was soft though. Nice and soft. So soft he could almost sleep. His eyelids were feeling pretty heavy. He was on his stomach and tried to force his eyes open further, he could see flames at random points on the grounds which was the only source of light aside from distant stars. And there was a graveyard of rubble where the mansion had once been, they'd been thrown further then he'd thought. He just needed to get Varanian and Antonius, Portkey them back to the hideout so he could get Wyatt and Annie for help with their injuries. He commanded his body to move, it twitched but was too spent to move. He could do that or he could just sleep on the nice, soft pillow he was lying on. Grass, not a pillow, grass. He was lying on the ground outside. He tried to fight the urge to sleep but his eyelids had already abandoned him, dragging him down into the darkness.

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Part 2: The Roads We Walk

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Scorpius was running through a forest, his feet skidding through the detritus and the trees speeding by him as he ran. He didn't know where he was, the ground was shaking so much that it was hard to tell. He spotted Antonius Ashain playing by a glistening stream that was so still it was almost mirror-like, Ashylos was stalking towards him with a stern expression with his back to Scorpius. Antonius turned towards his ancestor, his face was dusty and he had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead like Harry Potter. He raised his wand arm but instead of his wand, he was holding a sword bejeweled with rubies. A jet of blinding green shot out from it though, Antonius' face twisted in horror and he tried to cry out but it was too late. The spell struck Ashylos in the back and there was an ear-splitting screech as he exploded into a shower of light, Scorpius laughed the deep, dark laugh of the Shadow Master as Ashylos died and Antonius stepped back into the stream. The second he did, the water became a blaze and Antonius screamed as the inferno consumed him... Scorpius jolted awake with a start at the disturbing dream.

"Hey, it's okay, it was just a dream," a child's voice offered comfortingly and Scorpius' head swiveled to see Antonius sitting at his bedside. He was in a bed, not a forest. And he had curtains drawn around him. Antonius also did not have a scar on his forehead, he was actually looking clean and unhurt although his eyes were shadowed with tiredness that made him resemble his father all the more.

"What happened? Where am I?" Scorpius wondered with a confused scowl, trying to sit up more and seeing his right hand was now bandaged. He also felt the deadweight of Calderon or Antonius' huge snoring lump of a dog lying across his legs.

"Wyatt came back like he said he would when that woman had helped him with his arm," Antonius explained, "He got Varanian back to the hideout to be helped and took us back so we could get help from real Healers since we're not wanted criminals and all. You're in the Hospital Wing in Hogwarts and it's now Thursday, Marigold wanted you to rest so he gave you a draught to let you sleep."

"How's everyone else? Varanian, my friends, your Dad."

"My Dad's okay, it worked and we saved him, he's alright. I don't know how Varanian's doing but he was alive and getting help last I saw him, poor Roman had the magic ripped out of his soul though so his life's over now. Maurice and Vern are still in the Hospital Wing but they'll be okay, Maurice just needs rest and Vern's healing slowly. Some minor injuries but everyone else is okay pretty much, they're up and about and everything."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, somewhat in relief that at least everyone was alive and would be alright. He was glad Ashylos' sacrifice wasn't in vain, even if he still felt bad although he was worried about what had happened to Maurice after he'd been left in Hogsmeade. Had he actually found a way to catch up to them? He almost asked but met Antonius' tired eyes instead, he'd forgotten to ask about the boy, "And what about you? How are you doing?"

"I have a lightning bolt scar on my chest now and I'm allergic to a main ingredient in pain potions so it still hurts but I'll live," Antonius informed with a shrug and added barely audible, "Unfortunately."

"What do you mean by unfortunately?"

"It means the opposite of fortunately."

"I know what it means!" Scorpius protested, "I meant why-"

"I know what you meant," Antonius interrupted and gave another shrug, "You just wouldn't understand. And if anyone asks, please say we left the final Scepter piece when we escaped. I told them that we only took the hat, not that I took the wand or that it fixed itself back together."

"Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure they'd take it away from me, the Shadow Aurors would tell the Shadows and they'd just steal it. I think it's better that everyone thinks it was lost in the rubble, don't you?" Antonius pointed out and Scorpius couldn't help but be impressed by the boy's cleverness.

"You're one smart kid, you know that?" Scorpius offered with an attempt at an encouraging smile, Antonius averted his eyes nervously.

"I also lied because the wand chose me and I don't want to lose it, it's my wand not Herpo's Scepter anymore."

"Fair enough."

"Okay," Antonius nodded and attempted a smile, "I have to get Marigold now, I was only allowed to stay with you if I got him when you were awake."

Antonius left and the dog lunged after him loyally, he returned with Marigold and had to endure being checked over with a few spells as well as a visual inspection of his hand. It wasn't looking any better, still a bright yellowy-white blistering mess but at least the sickening smell was gone. He wondered how Varanian was doing, he'd been burned much worse after all and only had Annie. Marigold explained his healing regime, he had rub on a salve first thing in the morning and last thing at night, take a potion twice daily, another every other day and one daily for the pain as well as having to change the bandage dressing. He couldn't even use his injured hand still and Marigold wanted to keep him in the Hospital Wing another day or so just to make sure. He wasn't alone there though, Vern was in the bed opposite and Maurice in the bed to Scorpius' left with his arm in a sling, there was also the Slytherin First Year Byron Knight in the bed on Scorpius' right for some reason. His friends were both sleeping though, he just had Byron for company and Antonius had left for lunch.

"So um... What happened to you?" Scorpius asked of the boy awkwardly but curiously, not sure how a First Year could possibly have been caught up in everything considering they'd left from Hogsmeade and Byron would be too young.

"What?" Byron wondered, jolting in surprise at being spoken to turning to him although his eyes didn't meet Scorpius', "I-I fell down the Grand Staircase, I have two prosthetic legs and it's hard to get used to them so I'm clumsy. I broke my collar bone, arm in two places and three ribs. My brother made me come here and Marigold made me stay overnight because to make sure I'm okay since falling happened a few days ago, it has nothing to do with everything that happened with you guys."

"Oh okay," Scorpius nodded dismissively and realized that sounded somewhat insensitive, "Hope you feel better and everything."

Byron inclined his head and went to staring back sadly into nothing, leaving Scorpius to his own thoughts. It was strange being back in Hogwarts, after the chaotic mad rush to get the Scepter it was strange to just be lying in a bed doing nothing. He couldn't decide whether he should even be pleased or not. Ashylos had been lost and the Shadow Master had left with two pieces of the Scepter which was bad, however the two pieces were broken - although he had no idea whether the Shadow Master would be able to repair them or not - and they still had one plus they'd saved Professor Ashain which was all good. Scorpius thought he must be somewhat of a pessimist as the bad weighed on his thoughts over the good although he still wanted to keep his promise and kill the Shadow Master, kill the son of Voldemort.

His friends did visit him, Vern and Maurice after lunch but they couldn't really talk about anything meaningful with Byron in the next bed and Marigold hovering around. Latimer had a very visible sign of injury was he now had a vertical wound from his forehead to his neck to join his assortment of pockmarks and horizontal-ish scars where he'd been clawed at by a werewolf, the others seemed visibility unhurt though. Vern drifted in and out of consciousness but Maurice stayed sleeping. It was still good to see them and they agreed to swap stories later on what had happened, they did talk about other things though. The details weren't all known to the public and in fact, no one really cared as word of the Shadow Master's revelation had got out. Voldemort was still something people dreaded to think about, everyone feared the Shadows and their master so to learn the Shadows' leader was the son of the most famous Dark Wizard of modern times was terrifying to the general public. It had been the front page news since it hit apparently.

Knight - Scorpius didn't know his first name but he was in their year - came to visit his brother too and Byron was allowed to leave that evening around the same time his friends were kicked out, he couldn't help but notice the fearful way Byron eyed Albus as they all left for some reason. Marigold showed him how to put on the salve and gave something to make sure Scorpius got some sleep - promising it wouldn't keep him out for days this time - and he fell into a surprisingly pleasant dreamless sleep. Upon waking, Marigold had him apply the salve himself to make sure he was able to do it. He'd just finished redressing his wound correctly when a visitor arrived who he hadn't been expecting, Harry Potter himself. He went over to check on Vern briefly before stalking over to Scorpius, reminding him rather forcefully of how he'd stood up to and defied the Head Auror the last time they met. He could very well be in trouble for it, Harry was looking stern but had the same overworked tiredness ingrained into his features as Varanian. His eyes weren't inherently piercing like Varanian's but they were striking nonetheless, even behind his round-rimmed glasses that gazed at him expressionless for a minute.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Harry asked of him.

"Why? You wouldn't believe me anyway," Scorpius blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Varanian is a criminal, Scorpius," Harry insisted immediately, "Even if he's not a Soul Eater, taking the law into your own hands is a crime and so is evading arrest, you've seen him kill with your own eyes. An innocent man would turn himself in because that's the right thing to do, tell the authorities what he thinks he knows."

"There's Shadows amongst your ranks, he can't turn himself in or they'd kill him!"

"That's no reason to not turn himself in, even if there are Soul Eaters in the Ministry or Auror Office then we can put in extra measures protect him until we've investigated these claims."

"I don't believe that, there's too many of them and Specters are hard to protect against."

"They're just excuses so he won't have to face the consequences of his actions!" Harry protested, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "The man's a coward! We can protect our prisoners."

"He's not a coward!" Scorpius shot back defiantly, "Varanian is a brave man."

"Brave men don't hide behind children!"

"I'm not a child! And he didn't hide behind me, I jumped in front of him and I would do it again in a heartbeat! He wouldn't have even needed protecting if he hadn't wasted time saving my life!" Scorpius shouted defensively, realizing he should probably calm down but he felt oddly passionate about this, "We look out for each other."

"Dragging you and others into situation where your lives are in danger is not looking out for you!"

"There's a war going on! Our lives are in danger no matter what we do. It's better to be aware of it and fighting it then be caught unprepared by surprise! Your daughter would be dead right now if Varanian hadn't taken us after her and the others! I know things went wrong but plans always go wrong and it would've been worse if we hadn't been there!"

"That doesn't make it okay! Dragging Albus into it just puts him at risk too!" Harry yelled at him and seemed to also realize how loud he was being as he made a visible effort to calm himself, "Varanian is not a good person, Scorpius."

"You're just jumping to conclusions because you have it out for him."

"I don't have it out for him, this is based on fact. Good people don't lead children to their deaths."

"No one died," Scorpius pointed out in confusion.

"Antonius Ashain was hit by a Killing Curse square in the chest," Harry told him seriously, "That would have been fatal for anyone else."

"Why did he survive?"

"There's some different theories about how the Killing Curse works specifically," Harry sighed as he plopped down in a seat by Scorpius' bed, rubbing the faded lightning bolt scar on his forehead, "One of those and the one we're leaning towards right now because of this is that it banishes the soul from your body, forces you to move on. This would explain why victims cannot be revived in any way. We suspect the damage to his soul stopped it being banished so he lived, it trying to banish his soul might explain why he describes the pain as his soul hurting. It's the only thing we can think of, no one gave their lives for him and the fact the curse scarred him shows it was certainly strong enough to kill him. It's not something anyone's keen to test though."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, not sure what else to say as he did think that was probably the most likely thing. It wasn't a good thing that Antonius had had his soul damaged but he was glad that he'd survived.

"If Varanian go nears you again then tell an adult not your friends, don't get them involved and don't get yourself involved," Harry said as he stood, "Watch yourself, Scorpius, because you're only going to get hurt worse or killed or in trouble with my department if you keep defending a criminal. Technically, I could charge you with crimes right now for what you did back in the cave but I'm going to let you off because you're underage I can choose whether or not to charge you. He's just twisting your mind and you need to realize that."

"Was your mind being twisted all that stuff you did to stop Voldemort?" Scorpius asked of him as Harry turned to leave, pausing to look back to him.

"We suspect Varanian's the one who massacred PAW, it fits with his vigilante thing he claims to have going and being able to change his appearance means he could easily have disguised himself to what the witness saw."

"It wasn't Varanian, he has no idea who or what did that. He told me so."

"People can lie," Harry pointed out dryly, "He's not going to admit to something that brutal and regardless of what they did, mass-murdering like that is not a good thing or someone it's safe to be around."

"I trust Varanian and I'm telling you he didn't do it," Scorpius insisted firmly, he knew Varanian hadn't done it. He wasn't a psychotic killer and he'd even worried about who had done it, he was after the Shadows not PAW and even then he didn't think Varanian would kill everyone, "Plus he doesn't have that kind of power."

"That you know of."

Scorpius fell back onto his pillows in frustrated defeat at being unable to convince him of the truth but he had no real proof. Harry moved on, Scorpius had thought he was leaving but he instead went over to Maurice's bed. The deaf boy was sleepily stirring, Harry took Maurice's non-bandaged hand and closed it over his translator necklace. Maurice looked much more awake all of a sudden.

"I know that you used Dark Magic, I know you killed, I know you used the Killing Curse to do so and I know Aurors were caught in the crossfire too," Harry told Maurice in a deathly quiet voice, without backing away from the bed but Maurice held his gaze steadily, "But chasing down everything to prove it is much more difficult, you're messing with laws that your age won't save you from. That being said, you're thirteen and I know you've been raised to walk down a certain path but the path you're on is a bad one and it will only end in a cell in New Azkaban prison with your name on it. Get off this path before it's too late, Maurice, or you'll lose yourself, your freedom, your life and everyone you care about. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Maurice confirmed although understanding and complying were two different things. Harry still nodded in satisfaction before leaving, Maurice let go of his necklace and was asleep again before Harry had even reached the door.

Scorpius thought it ironic how Vern was conscious more - drifting in and out - despite being hurt worse than Maurice, Maurice had simply exhausted himself so slept pretty consistently until he'd recovered. Both of them were allowed out that weekend though, leaving only Vern in the Hospital Wing. It was only then that they gathered in the Room That Doesn't Exist to talk, Corin and Rose both insisted on wanting to be there and claimed to have information. Vern's girlfriend, Olivia, also came to him wanting to be there at Vern's request. August had told his friends what had happened and he, Lily, Hugo and Lorcan also wanted in on it at Abby's request. Antonius and Cassia also asked to be included at Maurice's request. Scorpius supposed it was acceptable as they had all been involved in the struggle for the Scepter in one way or another, however it was just for that and they didn't get to know everything else.

And so Sunday afternoon, he had the seventeen of them plus Antonius' dog gathered in The Room That Doesn't Exist. It was only then that Scorpius got the whole story, finding out why the hat had appeared and how Maurice, Orous and Latimer had caught up which had probably saved Roman and Molly's lives as they'd been seriously outnumbered, what had happened to Roman, why his wrist had hurt, why Harry would be concerned about Maurice's path and how the battle had finally ended with Cassia doing what he'd seen Ashylos do in his memories and bringing the wrath of birds down upon them. Scorpius kept his own account the opposite of what he did when telling Varanian things, non-detailed and short because he didn't really want to go into it. He didn't think any of them did really, they said enough to satisfy curiosity but not graphic detail like Maurice 'interrogated' a Shadow without explaining how. Scorpius didn't think he wanted to know that anyway. Abby, Lily and Cassia all said little about their imprisonment but did mention being 'punished' for resisting capture and being kept separate. Scorpius thought it was fair enough, they were all pretty worn out after everything and what they did say was enough.

---

"Here you go, Mrs Ashain," the woman offered, snapping Dom from her thoughts to accept the glass of water, she was in the St Mungo's Tearoom where she'd gone to get a drink quickly before returning to Aurelius.

"Thank you," Dom told her with a weak smile of gratitude as she turned away and left the queue.

"You're using his name now?" a familiar voice growled disapprovingly and she glanced up in surprise to see her father standing there.

"Yes," Dom said stiffly as she continued on her route back to her husband, her father walking with her, "I took his name when I married him, it's this thing that couples do. You know, like how Mum took your name when she married you."

"That's completely different," her father protested, "We were in love and we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together."

"And we don't?"

"No, you're just confused. He's just taking advantage of you, he doesn't care about you at all."

"No, he's not," Dom pointed out with a roll of her eyes, she really wasn't in the mood for this, "Which you might realize if you bothered to learn anything about him besides his age."

"He's a freak even without taking into account his age!" her father insisted, "And he's both a freak and a creep with his age, you're a smart girl and you have to realize that! This is wrong, this is bad for you, this is screwing up your life, he won't even let you see your family!"

"Wrong again, Dad!" Dom snapped at him, "Aurelius has done nothing but encourage me to stay in contact with my family and I am in contact with everyone except you! You're the reason I'm staying away, not Aurelius because I knew if I showed up with him then you'd cause a scene!"

"He's a bad person, Dom! I'm just trying to protect you but he's twisted your mind so much that you can't see that!"

"He hasn't twisted my mind! I get that you're being overprotective and I get especially since Mum died that you're feeling worse, I even get why you jump to conclusions about him but you're wrong!" Dom yelled and made an effort to keep her voice down, aware of them being in a crowded hospital and drawing some attention, "Aurelius is a good man, I love him and he makes me happy. Do you know he's hurt right now because he was protecting me? Do you even care he saved my life?"

"The marriage is a mistake! You-"

"If it's a mistake then it's my mistake to make!" Dom interrupted fiercely as they reached Aurelius' ward which seemed to shut her father up a bit, she took a calming breath, "If things go south then they go south, if I get hurt then I get hurt, part of life is making mistakes. I'd rather try and it be a mistake then never try at all and spend my life wishing I had so I'm going to do it until death does us part or something screws it up but I'm serious about this. I'm not a little kid anymore, I don't need you to protect me but I could use your support. You can either accept that or... or stay away from us Ashains. Especially right now, Aurelius needs support not death threats."

"Dom-"

Dom left him there, hoping he'd think about it as she really didn't want to lose her dad. She missed him. She returned to her husband's bedside where Aurelius was still sleeping, they'd given him something to help him sleep as he was unable to take a potion for the pain due to his allergy to the main ingredient. She held his hand tightly, her eyes tracing their identical wedding bands and she squeezed his hand lovingly. Aurelius' eyelids twitched and he stirred slowly, pain faintly creasing his handsome features.

"Brutus?" Aurelius mumbled sleepily as his eyes flickered open.

"No it's me, why would it be Brutus?" Dom wondered and his eyes opened wide, seemingly coming fully awake in a panic.

"Dom, are you okay?! Did you get my message?! You didn't go home, did you?! He didn't hurt you, did he?!" Aurelius questioned of her anxiously.

"I got your message and I'm alright, if I wasn't then I would be in one of these beds myself," Dom assured him with a calming smile and he breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm fine. How are you doing?"

"Been better," Aurelius admitted with a weak attempt at a smile, "But I am alive. You're okay and that's what matters, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you."

"Mr Aurelius Zeus Ashain?" a rasping guttural voice asked and Dom glanced back as it didn't sound like her father, she noticed him scuttling away and in his place was a goblin with large dark eyes. Aurelius pulled himself weakly into a sitting position while she wondered whether her father would think about it or whether he was walking out of her life forever, she hoped the latter.

"Yes?"

"I am Urnok, a representative of Gringotts Wizarding Bank," the goblin introduced himself as he hobbled over, withdrawing a letter with one of his large hands as he did so to hand to Aurelius, "Upon the death of Corvinus Ares Ashain, sole control over the Ashain fortune falls to you his son and heir. Your trust fund has been moved back to the main vault, within the envelope please find enclosed the key to that vault. You have fourteen working days after you leave this hospital to come to Gringotts Wizarding bank to fill out the formal paperwork and to return the key to your trust fund vault, failure to comply except in extenuating circumstance will result in the Ashain fortune reverting to the control over Gringotts Wizarding Bank permanently. Do you understand?"

"I think so," Aurelius agreed but frowned in confusion and she shared in his puzzlement, when had Corvinus died? "But I don't understand, how did my Father die? He was alive when I saw him last."

"People tend to be alive when they're last seen," Urnok commented dryly, "And we do not know or care, we are only alerted at the time of death not the cause so we can set about it reordering the funds as fast as possible for the next in line. We go into more detail when we see you in Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

"Okay. Thank you, it was nice of you to tell me this."

"I like helping people," Urnok growled deadpan as he turned to go, leaving them alone. Aurelius looked down at the letter solemnly as he fell back against his pillows.

"Are you okay?" Dom asked him gently and rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"Just... surprised that my Father's dead," Aurelius admitted, "I can't decide whether I should be more upset or less considering everything."

"You can feel however you want," Dom pointed out gently, "At least we won't have to worry about him trying to kill us when we get home and... I'm sorry. You were right, I was stupid to want to get involved stopping the Shadows. It just got you hurt, both of us nearly killed. When we go home, we can just stay there safe and I'll tell Varanian I can't help him anymore."

"No, Dom, I was wrong," Aurelius shook his head and glanced back to her, "You fight for what you're passionate about and I love that about you, some things are worth fighting for. Tell Varanian whatever money he needs he can have, I want to whatever I can to help stop this."

"What about Brutus?" Dom wondered in surprise at his change of heart.

"Brutus is still a good person at heart, I know it. He visited me."

"Are you sure it wasn't the potions you're on?"

"Yes," Aurelius insisted and met her eyes seriously, "Brutus was here. And it made me realize even more how much I shouldn't just hide away, the world is still out, people are still out there, your family is still out there, my family is still out there. I can't just hide away and leave the world to fall apart, you were right. War is good for no one, ending it is the only way to save everyone. Including Brutus, he doesn't like this war either and he'll realize he's fighting for the wrong side."

"Aur-"

"I know it sounds like wishful thinking but I know my son, there's still hope for him," Aurelius told her, managing to sound desperate and certain at the same time. She wasn't going to argue with him, she thought if probably was wistful thinking but a little hope wasn't a bad thing. He took her hand and she gripped it tightly back, "I'd rather die fighting with you then all alone in hiding."

"Me too, we'll get through this together. Or die trying," Dom agreed truthfully and returned Aurelius' smile before leaning in to kiss him.

---

After that, they just had the last few weeks of Hogwarts. None of them were OWL or NEWT students so they didn't still have exams, they'd missed the normal end of year exams so weren't getting their results back except Rose and Corin. Classes were light on work if at all, quite a few teachers just let them have a free period or just attendance be optional. Scorpius was glad because classes were no fun at all when his right arm was unusable, it was the hand he wrote with and cast with after all. It was a good thing in general, after the chaos of rushing to get the Scepter it was a relief to be able to relax. There had been no word on the Shadows, whether that meant the Scepter was unusable or they were still repairing it he didn't know but every day with nothing of rehashed stories of the Shadow Master being the son of Voldemort was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing that nothing bad happened but a curse because they were still out there, Scepter or no. They could all use a break, maybe that family vacation to Egypt wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. He and Varanian both needed time to recover so they couldn't really do much in the way of training anyway so he wasn't missing out on much now.

His friends were actually rather quiet in the wake of everything or possibly just the intense strength-sapping power of the sun, it was going to be a hot summer by the looks of things. He found himself spending a lot of time with Molly, a lack of classes and Quidditch being over for the year gave them more time for each other. Although they didn't do much, he didn't want to try making out with his injured hand and Molly had also hurt her shoulder in the battle although they did still kiss. Mostly they sat cuddled up in the blissful shade of one of the trees talking or just enjoying feeling close to each other, sometimes her fingers would idly toy with his hair. Other times they lay together on the grass, her head resting on his shoulder and his arm around her as they watched the clouds, laughing over the weird shapes they could make out. It was weird maybe but it helped him unwind and relax, took his mind off all the darkness and guilt clogging it. Orous and Maurice also seemed to not feel like doing anything too, he wasn't sure Maurice had his strength back completely and still had his arm in a sling. In contrast Albus and Latimer spent most of their days taking advantage of the unused pitch to practice, Albus often dragging Abby with them to try cheer her up although Abby was spending a fair amount of time with her father in the greenhouses too. Rose, Michael and Corin were hitting the books hard, throwing themselves into school work and reading. Vern was still in the Hospital Wing but they visited him frequently, he was getting better slowly.

Mid-way through the next week, Scorpius got word of Calderon's return and went to visit him. He felt somewhat bad as he hadn't managed to get Calderon a birthday present because of everything going on with the Shadows. Again. Next year, he was getting something way in advance. Although that wasn't what he wanted to talk to him about, the Shadow Master had said to ask Tommy for confirmation about the Shadow Master being Voldemort's son. Tommy being Calderon's real first name. He went to Calderon's room and knocked, finding it somewhat odd to do so with his left hand.

"No, I'm not done with the timetables yet. It hasn't even been a day, Elwood," Calderon's voice called unhappily from inside, "It takes time to work it out."

"I'm not Elwood," Scorpius pointed out.

"Scor? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Alright," Calderon sighed, "It's open, come in."

Scorpius opened the unlocked door and saw it was already giving him access to the larger room without having to say a password, he supposed Calderon had either opened it from the other side or simply hadn't closed it off when he was in to hear anyone knocking. He was met by an unusual site though, it was raining blue light. Quite literally the entire room had drops of azure light showering down on everything continuously and there was also a light breeze, it was odd even by Calderon standards. Calderon was sitting on his couch amidst the rain, his usual neat black hair was a scruffy mess and he had stubble where normally he was clean-shaven. The small table was scattered with papers but not with anything to do with timetables, it was all the newspaper articles on the son of Voldemort. Calderon made an attempt at a smile as he gestured for Scorpius to sit.

"Um... Any reason for the blue light rain?" Scorpius wondered curiously as he sat opposite Calderon, noticing sadness replace his cousin's smile.

"Because if I made real rain then everything would get wet," Calderon pointed out as if it were obvious while running a hand through his hair and gazing at the articles, it was a good sign that it might have dredged up some memories of who the Voldemort's son - thus the Shadow Master - was. It was also bad that they were likely painful memories as Calderon's childhood hadn't been happy.

"Are you okay?"

"The power-suppressing potion worked," Calderon told him and shivered, all the raindrops shuddered in time with him, "It's good that it does work but it's not... it's not very pleasant to experience. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm alright. Except my hand I guess but that's healing," Scorpius shrugged it off, he did still feel guilty about Ashylos but he didn't want to talk about it, "I just wanted to talk to you about the Shadow Master."

"I told you, I don't know who the Shadow Master is," Calderon said immediately.

"I know but... well you have to have heard about the claim of being Voldemort's son," Scorpius explained and gestured to the papers on the table, Calderon nodded without looking at him, "He said that you'd know it was true."

"Did he?"

"Yes. So is it? Was one of the others Voldemort's son that you know of?"

"Where those his exact words? To claim he was the son of Voldemort."

"Um... Pretty much," Scorpius confirmed as he tried to recall, "Herpo's descendant, Slytherin's heir and Voldemort's child I think which is the same difference. He'd polyjuiced into you again."

"I heard," Calderon sighed and buried his face in his hands, "And it is true, Voldemort had at least one child. He wanted another Horcrux, he thought an heir would be the perfect object for that. He didn't care about them. He never loved them. They were just as much tools to him as everyone else, tools need to be sharpened to be useful. He didn't care that it hurt them, he just wanted them to be useful."

"Well Voldemort was a psychotic monster, a trait he passed onto his son," Scorpius said harshly, recalling angrily the Shadow Master's willingness to hurt or kill a child and Calderon finally looked at him. He looked as if he was on the verge of tears, he was probably bringing up painful memories for the assistant but he couldn't help it. If he could identify the Shadow Master then it was a big breakthrough.

"You don't know that," Calderon whimpered blinking back tears, "People are more than the blood they carry, everyone has a choice."

"There's a difference between regular people and Voldemort, you can't really think anything from him could possibly be good? Any child he had would be just the same, just as psychotic, just as cruel, just as evil, just as sadistic, just as screwed up in the head and any child of the Shadow Master would be the same," Scorpius pointed out while Calderon only seemed to look closer to tears, "Everyone in that bloodline is bad, from Herpo to Slytherin to Voldemort and his son."

"Even Voldemort's son has a choice," Calderon protested, why he was defending the Shadow Master was beyond him, "Maybe he is screwed up in the head but that doesn't mean he's evil, maybe he wanted to make his own path, maybe he hates seeing people in pain let alone causing pain, maybe he likes helping people not hurting them, maybe he doesn't want to be evil, maybe he does his best to be a good person."

"Not Voldemort's son. Anything would clearly be not good enough even if they had a sliver of good, Voldemort's son's an evil maniac trying to destroy the world or rule it or whatever the Shadows goals are," Scorpius stated firmly, "Unless you know something I don't."

"I... I do know something," Calderon told him and took a deep breath, looking back to him and holding his gaze, "I... I... I err... am... I..."

"What?" Scorpius pressed as Calderon trailed off.

"I have no idea who Voldemort's child is," Calderon admitted as he sighed and looked down, "None of the others bragged about it and none of them were psychotic and evil, if they were as bad as you think then I didn't notice."

"Oh right, damn," Scorpius sighed feeling somewhat disappointed but it hadn't hurt to ask, "Guess we're still at square one then."

"Always."

"Well it doesn't matter then really. Want a game of Wizard's Chess?" Scorpius offered, both because he felt bad for resurfacing Calderon's painful memories especially for no reason and because he'd like to spend time with his cousin, "We can relax and talk, catch up and stuff."

"Maybe some other time, I'm still not feeling great from the potion and I can't focus," Calderon turned him down as he stood, "I think I'm just going to get some rest, Scor."

"Okay, sure," Scorpius agreed as he also stood, they did still have time and he'd rather Calderon rest if he wasn't feeling well. He hugged Calderon instead in farewell, "I hope you feel better."

---

Orous thought it was strange to just be back in Hogwarts like nothing had happened, something had happened. A lot of things had happened. He bounced between feeling like he should be punished and wanting to be with Roman to help him with the aftermath of having the magic from his soul ripped out then put back, it was the least he could do considering he was responsible for dooming him to a life with a broken soul but of course he couldn't. He even got to miss out on exams which was a plus in his eyes when he didn't deserve it, he was feeling more alone without Vern though despite still visiting him in the Hospital Wing. His friends also preferred hanging outside in the sunshine which he preferred to avoid as he was more sensitive to it or working and Orous didn't enjoy schoolwork enough to join them most of the times, it made him feel more lost and uncertain what to do.

"Hey Orous," Hugo called to him brightly, snapping him from his thoughts to see the bushy red-haired boy passing him in the corridor with August, Lily and Lorcan, "We were going to go dip our feet in the lake, do you want to come with us? You're looking a bit lonely."

"No thanks, I was just going to find Maurice," Orous brushed it off.

"When you find him, tell him that he can still teach me even with his arm broken," Lorcan told him sharply, his shadowed amber eyes serious and his wand still tightly gripped in his hand as ever, "I still need to fight better, whenever he's ready."

"What you need is a hobby," August pointed out, Lorcan threw him a look, "You'll never relax if you only ever focus on something you have to be on edge for."

"Like what?"

"Reading, gardening, Quidditch, drawing..." Hugo recounted as he veered into a long list of hobbies, Orous turned instead to Lily.

"How are you doing, Lily?" Orous asked her politely, she had been kidnapped after all but his question caused her to blanch and her eyes to bulge.

"I-I erm... uh... I..." Lily babbled with sweat swelling on her forehead, trying to smooth her untidy hair which just made it worse so she switched to smoothing her dress with sweaty hands, "F-Fine. Good. Good and fine. Fine is good. I'm good. How about you- How are you?"

"Okay," Orous said slowly, wondering if he'd done something to offend her or if it was just the heat, "Well have fun at the lake, see you."

"We will do it. That. Have fun. I mean we will have fun. At the lake. Where we're going. Now."

"Bye," the boys offered instead as Orous left.

It wasn't a complete lie, Maurice also wasn't really doing anything these days and he knew he should really talk to his brother but he had been putting it off. He supposed he shouldn't put it off anymore, Maurice wasn't with any of his friends so he was probably either in Gryffindor Tower so Orous couldn't talk to him or somewhere else he'd go to be alone. He started with the most private place he could think of in Hogwarts, The Room That Doesn't Exist and found Maurice was there and apparently hadn't bothered thinking of solitude as Orous could get in. Maurice had made it dark in there except for the opposite wall which was a mirror, he was sitting on a comfortable brown couch with his back to him gazing into the mirror but the flicker of his gaze acknowledged he noticed Orous' arrival. Orous closed the door behind him and went to sit by Maurice, his twin's free hand went to his translator necklace. His other arm was still in a sling from Alzay breaking it in multiple places, curse wounds were harder to heal. Orous opened and closed his mouth a few times before Maurice spoke first.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maurice asked him quietly, "Why didn't you tell me that Alzay was our mother?"

"At first I didn't realize you didn't know then I didn't want to upset you and finally I just thought you wouldn't care," Orous shrugged it off and Maurice fell silent for a moment.

"At the back of my mind, I guess I thought or hoped that she was like me. That she was misguided and tricked too, that she wasn't really bad and maybe I'd have a parent I could connect with for once," Maurice admitted to Orous' surprise, "Boy was I wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if she purposely gave our lives to be Shadow playthings."

"It wouldn't surprise me either," Orous realized rather sadly.

"Was right about her being like me though," Maurice pointed out, gazing into his reflection, "Every time I look into a mirror now I see her in myself, I see what I could become."

"You're not going to become our Mother."

"Please," Maurice scoffed, "You think I'm a heartless monster."

"I never said that," Orous protested defensively, "I just... I just think it's not healthy that you're so remorseless when you do anything bad."

"Orous, just because I don't sit there crying my eyes out and whining about what a terrible person I am, it doesn't mean I don't feel anything," Maurice told him seriously, "Okay I enjoy fighting, I've been training for it my whole life and to finally be fulfilling my purpose is nice. But I don't enjoy torturing and I don't enjoy killing, I feel like crap about some of the things I've done. Absolute crap. Part of being a good soldier though, is having the courage to do what's necessary and being able to live with the things you've done. How you feel doesn't matter because you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for whatever you're fighting for. And I'm fighting for you, for my friends so that you can have a future after the war. I can bear that burden for you."

"I didn't know that. What about for yourself though?"

"I'll either die fighting in this war or wind up in a cell in New Azkaban prison with my name on it, there's no hope for me," Maurice said and met his eyes, "We both know that. I'm not like the rest of you, I don't even look at the world in the same way."

"What happened to us all being soldiers?"

"I'm a monster not just a soldier."

"You're not a monster, Maurice, you still care about people and that matters. You just need to try lay off the war obsession and torture and killing and stuff," Orous pointed out and Maurice fell quiet for another while.

"Do you ever wonder what we'd be like if our positions had been reversed?" Maurice asked randomly, "If Roman had taken you, if you'd been the one sent to the Shadow school and I'd been the one to stay with Alzay, be raised by Cade and be kidnapped."

"All the time," Orous admitted truthfully, "I'm sorry I've been giving you a hard time lately, I guess I've only been focusing on the bad."

"I don't blame you," Maurice shrugged, "It's not like I don't have a dark side if you subscribe to the commonly held beliefs of regular society, I recognize I might come across as insensitive too. But I'm glad you're my brother, Orous, for better or worse."

"I don't agree with everything you do and say but I know your heart's in the right place, you're my brother and I love you," Orous offered and Maurice's neutral expression was shattered by one of shock as if he'd just been slapped across the face, "What?"

"No one's ever said they love me before," Maurice told him quietly and shakily. Orous felt a stab of sympathy and pulled his twin into a hug, Maurice hugged him tightly back, "I love you too, brother."

---

Part 3: The Scepter of Night

---

The last few weeks of Hogwarts passed uneventfully for Scorpius, there was still no word of the Shadows and really not much happening in school. Vern was allowed out of the Hospital Wing a few days after his talk with Calderon, he was somewhat slow moving and still needed a fair amount of rest - although like Scorpius, he was also taking the free time to spend more time with his own girlfriend, Olivia - but Scorpius was still glad he was recovering. He did try to spend some time with Calderon too, his cousin continued seeming oddly down. Scorpius hoped he never had to try that potion again if it was affecting him that much, especially so long after having taken it although he supposed it would be good to use on the Shadow Master. Scorpius wanted that son of a bastard to suffer, he wasn't sure how likely it would be for his promise to be carried out but he was going to try. The last two weeks, Scorpius did have to do some exercises with his burned hand to make sure his mobility was alright. He was glad, he couldn't wait to have his hand properly back even if there would be scarring. Time went surprisingly quickly how the hot days dragged by before they were packing up their trunks to return home, Michael was again roped into helping Albus pack his trunk to make everything fit. Their other dorm mates, Reuben and Angelo, had also apparently gotten over their werewolf prejudice to enlist Michael's help with their trunks too before they headed down to breakfast. Maurice grinned at them oddly for some reason and tossed the paper he'd been reading at them.

"Ugh, reading," Albus groaned while Maurice put his hand back to his translator necklace since the other arm was still in a sling, "Can't you just tell us what it says?"

"Well partially because the Theodore Nott - Vern's girlfriend's father - is gathering support to have Elwood fired for negligence due to the kidnappings and injuries. But mostly because the Ministry stopping the werewolf bracelets," Maurice explained as they sat, "Due to the amount of people wearing them who aren't werewolves, it's making the whole thing pointless so they're getting rid of it."

"Well that is good news!"

"I can't believe something we started actually ended up having an impact," Corin agreed brightly and Scorpius also couldn't help but smile.

"We're awesome like that."

"You're so arrogant, Al," Rose complained with a roll of her eyes, "And that's why Scor is going to make prefect over you, you need to have more modesty like me."

"I said we," Albus protested, "And you're not modest."

"I'm so modest! If there was an award for being modest then I'd win it because I'm totally the best at being best," Rose insisted and flipped her hair back over her shoulder while Maurice snorted with suppressed, "What?"

"Bragging about being modest is the exact opposite of being modest," Maurice pointed out with a confident smirk at being correct.

"That's wasn't bragging."

"Then what would you call it?"

"Just stating facts."

"All of what you said is opinion based not based on fact at all."

"Is not!" Rose protested and Scorpius stopped paying attention to the pair's bickering, Albus was talking to Abby brightly about summer plans as he was unrelentingly trying to cheer her up so Scorpius instead noticed Michael seemed unhappy.

"What's up?" Scorpius asked of him, "Aren't you pleased about the werewolf bracelets?"

"I'm just not keen to get home," Michael shrugged it off, "Annie's practically living with Aaron to heal him and Jack's... Jack so I'll be back with Crystal and the little ones."

"But that's good?"

"Not if it puts them in danger just for being around me."

"You're not dangerous to be around," Scorpius insisted and Michael yanked up his sleeve to show a bandage, "Did you-"

"The full moon last week. I'm dangerous just around myself," Michael told him seriously as he pulled his sleeve back down, much to Scorpius' concern, "Then there's PAW or the Shadows trying to kill me again or just go after my family because."

"PAW's in smithereens right now, the Shadows already got what they wanted from you and Greyback's dead so there's no one with a personal vendetta against you. They're in no more danger with you then they would be without you, in fact they're safer with you because you can do magic so you can try to protect them."

"Because I protected Crystal so great the last time," Michael sighed, "And what if the little ones have a problem with me? They were attacked by a werewolf and I'm a werewolf plus it's my fault their Dad was sent to the jail he died in."

"Don't you think overthinking this slightly?"

"It'll be fine, Michael, your family will be happy to see you," Molly assured him with a smile, "I promise."

"I'll try not to worry," Michael offered but still didn't sound convinced as they finished breakfast and started to head down to the carriages.

"Scor! Could I talk to you for a minute?" a familiar voice called and Scorpius turned to see Professor Ashain.

"Err.. Sure," Scorpius agreed and turned back to his friends as he let go of Molly's hand, "I'll catch up."

"It won't take long," Professor Ashain reaffirmed as he led Scorpius away, heading back to the first corridor that no one was using and made sure no one was around before turning to him. Scorpius was glad to see he was looking healthier again, just like his regular self, "I erm... I felt like I should thank you for saving my life."

"You don't need to thank me," Scorpius pointed out, feeling somewhat embarrassed, "Now we're even, I guess."

"Although next time I'm possessed by my ancestor's spirit, just tell me. Don't drag my kids into it, I'd rather die than see harm come to them. I trust you, Scor, if you told me something then at the very least then I'd look into it."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, "Anything else?"

"Just have a good break, you've earned it," Professor Ashain offered with a kind smile, "Hope your hand heals up alright."

"Thanks, Professor," Scorpius returned his smile, "You too."

Scorpius bade the professor farewell and headed back to his friends to where everyone was gathering for the carriages, they were waiting for him so they were hanging back. He was bother eager and nervous about going home, he would miss his friends though.

"And Scor, make sure you get my cloak back from... from Aaron," Albus said the second Scorpius had rejoined them, "Molly said she left it with Roman there and I kind of want it back, my Dad will kill me if I lose it and I think he still wants to kill me enough for turning against him and everything."

"I will," Scorpius assured him.

"Lenore!" Maurice exclaimed abruptly, trying not to smile.

"Not her!" Rose groaned and rolled her eyes as the older girl who Maurice liked walked over to them, wearing a short sleeveless dress and sandals. Maurice was too focused on her to pay attention to Rose having said anything though.

"Hey Maurice," Lenore greeted him with a smile that seemed oddly insincere, "I heard about what you did, that was pretty heroic of you."

"It was nothing," Maurice brushed it off which only widened Lenore's smile.

"You're so modest."

"He's not modest!" Rose protested and Lenore glanced at her, "Not even slightly, he's the exact opposite of modest! He's so arrogant!"

"Are you really that insecure that you have to be jealous of your friend's modesty?" Lenore asked of her which had Rose's face flush.

"I'm not jealous!"

"Use your inside voice, Weasley, and maybe then your blatant denial would at least sound credible," Lenore told her in the most patronizing tone possible, Rose's entire face went a darker shade of scarlet to match her hair with anger and she opened her mouth to reply but Lenore dismissively turned back to Maurice, "I just wanted to say goodbye to you, I've been busy studying so I haven't had much free time."

"It's okay," Maurice assured her, oblivious to Rose still fuming as he seemed incapable of taking his eyes off her. Scorpius wasn't even sure he was blinking.

"Well, I remembered that I'd explain to you why people like dating before you left. The thing is that you don't have to be dating to kiss but dating does guarantee that you get to kiss."

"And kissing is supposed to be that great?" Maurice scoffed dubiously.

Lenore cast him a smile before leaning in and pressing her lips against his to everyone's surprise, Rose gasped in shock and clamped her hands across her mouth. Maurice's eyes bulged at first but slowly fluttered shut as the kiss went on, he didn't seem to be kissing back but he also wasn't trying to pull away. After a few seconds, Lenore broke off the kiss and flashed Maurice a more seductive smile before darting away into the crowd. Maurice watched her go then looked back to them, his mouth was still somewhat open and his face stunned as if his mind was still trying to process what had just happened.

"Can you believe the nerve of that girl?! She's a freak! A bitch! A freakish psychotic bitch! Forcing herself on him like that! And she's older than him by a few years! What is wrong with her?!" Rose burst out angrily before put a sympathetic hand on Maurice's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

'Are you okay?' Orous reiterated in sign language - at least that was what Scorpius thought it was - as Maurice was still frozen, his hand wasn't on his necklace though.

"I... um... I... uh... I..." Maurice babbled for a moment before taking a deep breath, looking embarrassed as his cheeks tinged, "I erm... I think... I think that I..."

"Do you want to tell a teacher?" Rose guessed, apparently forgetting he wasn't capable of hearing her without his necklace or maybe she thought Orous would translate.

"I think... I get... why... some people... might... be interested... in dating," Maurice said slowly before bolting after her, "Lenore!"

"For the love of Merlin's saggy left ball sack!" Rose screeched in frustration, grasping at her hair as if preparing to tear chunks out, "If that's all it took to convince him about dating them one of us should have kissed him ages ago!"

"Cheer up, Rose," Michael offered gently as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's one kiss, they probably won't get together or anything. She's probably just leading him on and screwing with him."

"Hmm... You could be right," Rose mused as she calmed down somewhat, "She is a Slytherin, screwing with people is probably fun for her. You know, since they're evil and all."

"My girlfriend-" Vern started to say defensively but was interrupted.

"With some exceptions!"

"Forget that," Albus groaned as he buried his head in hands, "Maurice has had his first kiss and I haven't. Maurice! The war-obsessed child soldier who doesn't understand the societal convention of dating or whatever bizarre way he'd phrase it that no one can understand. Why has everyone in the world except me had their first kiss?!"

"I haven't," Latimer pointed out.

"Me either," Orous added.

"There's plenty of time, Al, you're only fifteen," Abby offered gently while Scorpius noticed Antonius and Cassia coming over, a vulture perched on Cassia's shoulder and Antonius' dog bounding after them.

"Hey guys," Antonius greeted them with a faint smile, sounding more confident somehow, "What's up?"

"My life is empty and has no meaning," Albus grumbled unhappily as he crossed his arms which had the Ashain kids wear identical scowls of confusion.

"Ignore him, he's just upset he hasn't been kissed yet," Abby brushed it.

"Aww, Albie, doesn't your Daddy give you a kiss goodnight when he tucks you in at night?" Cassia wondered innocently, patting his arm sympathetically to which Albus pinched the bridge of his nose and blushed, "There, there."

"I think he means a kiss on the lips," Antonius prompted and Cassia wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ugh, why would you want that? It looks icky. And slobbery."

"What's with the bird?" Latimer asked curiously as he eyed the vulture.

"Oh, this is Avaris," Cassia introduced the bird and stroked its ugly wrinkled white head, it looked somewhat like a skull and the bird gave a loud caw, "His home got blowed up, Daddy said I could keep him. Avaris says goodbye, we only came to say goodbye."

"As long as he isn't saying 'kill them all' then I'm happy, Cas," Albus offered somewhat nervously, probably thinking about when Cassia had had the birds attack the Shadows.

"Why, Albie, does it make you nervous that I can make birds kill people?" Cassia questioned in a sweet tone with a smile but her eyes were dark, "Freaky, right?"

"Absolutely. But we're friends and we love the weirdness about each other."

"You didn't want to be my friends," Cassia pointed out somewhat testily.

"Some things you go through, you just can't help but be friends. Everything we've gone through, is one of those things," Albus told her before pulling her into a hug, Avaris cawing in protest while Cassia simply smiled, "Have a good summer."

They bade goodbye to the Ashains and made it to the carriages just as Maurice returned to them, positively glowing as an indication that whatever had happened or had been said with Lenore was positive. Vern's girlfriend, Olivia, had got a carriage and her boyfriend joined her, as did Corin who was smart enough to drag Maurice with him before he could upset Rose by mentioning Lenore.

"That was really decent of you," Abby commented to Albus as Latimer helped a fuming Rose into another carriage and got in after her, "To tell Cassia we were all friends like that, it probably means a lot to her as there's no one her own age to befriend."

"I can be a decent person! I figure after being kidnapped, tortured and bringing the wrath of birds down upon everyone, the least we can do is just let her think we're friends," Albus pointed out with a sigh as he helped Abby in and climbed in after her, "Even if Ashain's kids are still weird."

Michael sighed tiredly as he and Orous got into a last carriage while Scorpius petted the closest Thestral to pull them happily, it nuzzled into his hand as a sign it was enjoying the affection. Why did people think they were bad? Molly joined him in stroking the creature briefly and he noticed her expression was sad.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked of her worriedly.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling sometimes," Molly explained with a shrug as they moved away from the Thestrals to join Orous and Michael in the carriage.

"About what?"

"I wish I knew," Molly admitted.

Molly she did seem to cheer up during the carriage journey as talking with them probably took her mind of it, Michael expressed his worry about OWLs next year - although Scorpius thought it was a good sign he was caring about his exams - and Molly had similar fears about NEWTs. It was scary to think of it being Molly's last year next year, would she really break up with him because she'd be leaving Hogwarts and he wouldn't? He was far more concerned about that then his exams, Orous agreed wholeheartedly with him and wasn't worried either. Scorpius instead switched the conversation to Quidditch, that was always something to cheer Molly up and it worked. She went into her adorable focused rants on next year, she wanted to do well in her last stint as Captain. Even Orous came out of his shell a bit, he was on the Quidditch team too after all except for a different house.

"Scor!" Calderon called to him as they reached the platform, Scorpius went over to the assistant who had finally shaved.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Scorpius offered truthfully and returned the smile.

"I figure I might as well enjoy the time I have," Calderon gave a half-shrug, "All hell is going to break loose at some point, I know that and I've known it for years. Until that point, you gotta live while you're alive."

"Well I'm glad."

Scorpius assumed he was afraid of his Lestrange parentage being revealed and thinking the worst. Scorpius didn't think it would matter too much, lots of people were the children of Death Eaters. He hugged Calderon and they bade each farewell before he rejoined his friends on the train. Molly and Latimer headed off to the Prefect's compartment, he wished Molly could've stayed with him although he thought it was a good sign that Latimer had stopped saying he didn't deserve to be a prefect and went without issue. Scorpius almost hoped he'd get prefect to be able to spend more time with Molly, unlike Rose though he thought Albus would probably get it. Albus was Harry Potter's son after all, they weren't going to give Gryffindor prefect to a Malfoy who was related to Death Eaters. Although Scorpius was starting to feel more accepting of his house personally, the sword of Gryffindor had appeared to him after all. Even if he didn't think he deserved it.

The rest of them actually sat by year, Scorpius shared a compartment with Michael, Abby, Albus and Rose while Orous, Maurice, Corin, Vern and Olivia shared another. Both because it was getting much harder to cram everyone in, because Vern wanted to sit with his girlfriend and Rose was still in a rage about Lenore. Albus managed to take everyone's mind off things with games of Exploding Snap, it even made Rose lose interest in Lenore and Maurice. Instead Rose started talking excitedly about next year, her eagerness to get to prefect duties and wanting to make her parents proud with good OWL results. Scorpius was somewhat glad to when the train pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters and they could start filing out, Rose, Albus and Abby all spotted their mothers - or in Rose's case, grandparents - quickly and bade him goodbye. He noticed Hugo and August joining their elder sisters, both giving Scorpius a friendly wave of farewell. Corin gave him them hugs before leaving to go get the train back to France as always, Latimer wished them a good summer before finding Austin who - surprisingly - pulled his son immediately into a hug, Latimer was as tall as his father now. Vern didn't seem to want to go, he and Olivia were glued to each other's lips before Lily came over.

"Vern, Mum wants to go now," Lily pointed out as she tapped her cousin on the shoulder, the couple reluctantly pulled apart before the girl noticed them waiting nearby and immediately started sweating. Someone called Olivia's name and she waved as she left while Vern eyed the waiting Potters unhappily.

"Bye guys," Vern offered to them and started to head over, halting when Lily stayed trying to smooth her dress or possibly just trying to wipe the sweat off her hands, "Lily?"

"C-C-Coming. B-B-Bye," Lily stuttered and Scorpius realized she was looking at Orous specifically before she went with Vern.

"What's her problem?" Maurice wondered in confusion, "Her words are coming out strangely."

"Because she's stuttering," Scorpius told him.

"Oh good, I thought there might be a problem with my necklace. Why is she stuttering?"

"Maybe she's just affected by being kidnapped?"

"I think I offended her somehow," Orous disagreed worriedly before noticing something else and pointing to where his stepdad stood, "Come on, Maurice, there's Dad. Bye, have a nice break."

"Bye," they offered as the twins went off to Cade, Orous throwing his arms around him the second they saw him.

"Michael!" some unfamiliar tiny voices chorused and Scorpius barely had time to turn his head before Michael had four small children throwing themselves at him for hugs.

"We misseded you!" one little boy cried.

"You've been goned so long!" another little girl exclaimed.

"It's good to see you!" the eldest assured him.

"Michael!" the youngest toddler just repeated and buried his head in Michael's leg.

"And you were worried they'd have a problem with you?" Scorpius chided him with a smile and Michael threw him a look but failed not to return the smile, "See you."

"See you," Michael called as he dragged away to their waiting mother by the four little ones who were eagerly showering him with questions, Crystal was actually looking much healthier as she hugged her eldest son tightly.

"Told him so," Molly said in a sing-song voice before capturing Scorpius' lips in hers, she pulled away surprisingly quickly though, "Sorry, Scor, my Dad's here to pick me up and it feels weird kissing in front of him."

"It's okay," Scorpius brushed it off, understanding even though he would've preferred more and pecked her on the cheek instead, "See you."

"I'll write to you first," Molly promised with a smile that he returned and held up a hand in goodbye as she went over to her Dad.

"Dad!" a semi-familiar cried and snapped his focus.

Although it was the volume not the voice that drew Scorpius' attention to the Scamander twins, who seemed to be getting picked up by their father as he saw the amber-eyed man with now scarred hands similar to Varanian's. Scorpius idly wondered if his hand would like that as Lysander threw himself into his father's waiting arms happily, he knew it was Lysander even though they were identical from their expressions alone. Lorcan was standing nearby with his wand still tightly gripped in his hand as if expecting attack at any moment, however his usual vigilant scowl was replaced by seeming somewhat nervous while his twin pulled away from his father.

"Where's Mum?" Lysander questioned curiously, still smiling brightly.

"Your Mum got caught up trying to get the next edition of the Quibbler done before the deadline so she stayed home but we'll see her when we get back," Mr Scamander explained before spotting Lorcan and his smile died, he made no move to hug him and if anything his amber eyes flickered with fear as he inclined his head, "Hello Lorcan. Ready to go?"

"Dad, you... you can hug me too," Lorcan offered shakily, sounding terrified. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away, stretching out his arms in readiness as his entire body visibly tensed to brace himself.

"I'm not going to hug you," Mr Scamander insisted, looking at his son with a mixture of fear and concern for the boy's sanity.

"Go... Go on, Dad, I know it's important to you," Lorcan prompted as his body started to tremble fearfully, he sounded on the verge of tears.

"No."

"I've been working up the courage all day, just hug me."

"No."

"Dad, please, I want to do this."

"No."

"Dad-"

"I don't want to hug you, Lorcan, not now and not ever!" Mr Scamander snapped abruptly, liquid leaked from Lorcan's eyes as he opened them and lowered his arms, "Just come on so we can get home."

"You're such a freak," Lysander hissed at his brother under his breath out of their father's earshot.

Mr Scamander turned away to get their trunks, Lysander caught up easily and launched into an explanation of classes. Lorcan couldn't wipe his eyes fast enough to stop the tears as he went after his family with his head hung low, Scorpius almost called out to him to offer something comforting but he hesitated as he had no idea what to say. Lorcan had moved well out of range by the time he had thought of something, Scorpius sighed as his uselessness with people. He heard crying and thought he might have another shot with Lorcan but it was just that First Year, Byron Knight.

"Please don't make me go back next year, please!" Byron was sobbing to a scowling old couple who were eying a sheet of paper, "Look how bad my grades are, I did so terribly that they're probably going to expel me if I don't do better so you might as well save them the trouble and not send me back!"

"We can work on getting your grades up," his elder brother offered gently, he was in Scorpius' year but he didn't know his name.

"No!" Byron screeched desperately, "No, I'll never do better so it's pointless to send me back! Don't send me back! Don't! Don't send me back!"

"You're going to graduate Hogwarts if it takes you the rest of your life," the old woman told him darkly and gestured for the boys to follow the old man who was pushing one of their trolleys.

Byron only cried harder as he left with his family, continuing to beg to not go back to Hogwarts until he was out of his earshot. Scorpius wondered what was his problem, was James still giving him a hard time? He didn't know and he really didn't see anything he could, especially not right then. He wondered how willing Albus would be in getting James in trouble when he got prefect as he continued scanning around for his family, he spotted a glimpse of red hair but it was just Lenore. Although she'd changed into jeans and a long sleeve plaid shirt over a white sweater, she sighed unhappily as pushed her trolley over to a man dressed rather scruffily in clothes stained with dirt. He had tough brown hair and a course, lined face with crisp cerulean eyes that watched her darkly. He said nothing but held out his hand, she handed him an exam results letter that he tore open immediately and scanned.

"Don't I even get a happy birthday?" Lenore asked of him.

"What do you think?" the man scoffed and waved the paper at her, "And what do you call this?! Did you really think this was acceptable?! I put a roof over your head, I feed you, I clothe you - when you can be bothered to not dress like a slut - and what do you do?! You give me E's!"

"You know E's are a pass too, right?" Lenore pointed out and the man threw her a dark look.

"Maybe for idiots who want who want to spend their lives shoveling Hippogriff shit but I raised you better than that! You need O's if you want to get a good job, you need O's if you're going to get Head Girl which increases your chances of a good job! And what do you do?!"

"I give you E's," Lenore said with a roll of her eyes, "You know there's more O's then E's right?"

"It doesn't matter how many O's there are! People only see the failures!" the man insisted angrily.

"Are you sure it's not just you who only sees the failures?" Lenore complained as the man handed her back the paper.

"No one likes a smart mouth," the man stated strictly as he took the trolley from her and started heading off with Lenore in tow, "Grandma finally died last night but she didn't leave us enough to cover her funeral by half so we're in for a rough summer, these are the kind of things people who get good grades and become Head Girls and good jobs don't have to worry about. Happy Birthday."

"Scorpius!" his father's voice called and he turned to see his parents hurrying hastily over to him, his father carrying baby Sol while his mother pulled him into a tight hug, "Sorry we're late, Sol needed a last minute diaper change."

"We're so glad you're okay," his mother whispered as she pulled away, instead lifting his bandaged burned hand to look at it tearfully, "Oh Scorpius, every time you come back from that school you come back with another scar."

"It's okay," Scorpius brushed it off, it really didn't seem that bad compared to how extensively Varanian had been burned. He even thought he deserved it considering he'd destroyed a good man's soul or maybe it was karma for his family's crimes, "Please don't be upset."

"It's not okay, these things shouldn't be happening to you every time you go to school."

"These things shouldn't be happening to the world, Mother, but they are," Scorpius pointed out and sighed, recalling his epiphany down in the labyrinth, "I really do get it now, I know that you just want to protect me because you care about me but sometimes you just can't. There's a war going on, everywhere and everyone is in danger no matter what. If I can do something to stop that or save someone then I will, sometimes... sometimes you have to let go and make a sacrifice for the greater good. Even if it hurts."

"Let's not talk about this now," his father offered and put a hand on his shoulder to lead him away, "You're alright and you're home and that's what matters right now."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded as they went to get his trunk, he made an attempt at a smile, "I'm looking forward to Egypt."

"Excellent," his mother grinned, "Because we're leaving tomorrow. First of July just like we said."

Scorpius headed hope with his parents and baby brother, he didn't talk to them as much as usual as he had to pack with Yip the house-elf's help because of his hand. He could manage it with one hand but it was slower and his mother insisted, although he did still have dinner and endure all their questions about how things were going with his classes, Quidditch and everything. His family also rather seemed to agree with Rose that he would be a prefect next year, he supposed he'd have to see whether he or Albus got it. He didn't mind as much though, knowing they could be annoyingly overprotective because they loved him and not because they thought he was weak and pathetic made him feel much more at ease. Of course, he was still eager to see Varanian and was thankfully given the chance when his mother suggested an early night as they had to be up early tomorrow. He bade them goodnight and Portkeyed to Varanian's hideout, the sky was a pastel red despite the later hour as it was the summer. He reached it and expected Roman to pop his head out but he didn't, he also noticed the hatch to Varanian's basement room was already open.

"Anyone home?" Scorpius called out uncertainly and there was a scampering of feet before Wyatt poked his head down.

"Hey Scor!" Wyatt greeted him cheerfully as he jumped down the last few steps, "What can I do for you? How's your hand?"

"I just came to see how Varanian is doing before I head off to Egypt. Hand's fine."

"Of course," Wyatt nodded and Roman finally wondered out of his room, he didn't look physically different but his eyes were devoid of hope as he watched them blankly, "Hey Roman, this is Scorpius. Do you remember Scorpius?"

Roman said nothing.

"Don't feel bad, he's like that with everyone," Wyatt explained, "His mind's still a little shot. But he's getting better slowly, last month he couldn't even walk. But now, he can walk, eat, drink, use the bathroom all by himself, dress himself and he's started responding to sounds more. He doesn't really speak much yet but he looks at you and sometimes comes to investigate sound, isn't that right, Roman?"

Roman nodded slowly.

"Well done for nodding!" Wyatt congratulated him as if it was a grand achievement while Scorpius felt concerned and it must have shown on his face because Wyatt added, "I know it seems bad but it takes time to recover, Orous told the Aurors he was the same and it took Antonius awhile too."

"I... I hope he gets better," Scorpius offered sincerely, he hadn't been Roman's best friend but he hadn't hated him either and he didn't think he deserved to be like that.

"Varanian's down in his room, Annie's with him. I'm going to see if Roman ate his dinner, I have to go soon anyway. With Varanian out of commission, the spying is solely down to me."

"Okay, good luck," Scorpius nodded as he headed down into the basement while Wyatt wondered back over to Roman.

He saw the basement had changed slightly, there were now stacks of books on healing dotted around and a cauldron bubbling away on table he usually kept the wands on except it had been moved to the corner. Varanian's bedside was no longer lined with photographs of his family but rather vials of potions and rolls of bandages, all rather neatly laid out. Varanian was in the bed with his eyes closed while Annie was stirring the potion lazily with one hand and sipping from a bottle of beer in the other.

"Hey," Scorpius said feeling suddenly nervous.

"Hey," Annie greeted him in turn, "What can I help you with, Scor?"

"I just came to see Varanian."

"He's the guy in the bed that looks like Varanian," Annie offered with a nod in Varanian's direction.

"I figured, he looks like he's sleeping."

"Probably because he is."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Well you can talk but this isn't a movie coma so he won't hear you."

"I meant-"

"I know what you meant, I'm just screwing with you," Annie interrupted and grinned to herself as she gulped down the last of the beer, "And I don't know. Do you really want to talk to him that badly? I've been keeping him out of it, I was going to hold off on waking him until it's been a month but I can do it now a few days earlier if it means that much to you."

"Would it bad for his health to wake up sooner?" Scorpius wondered worriedly and Annie shrugged.

"Won't know until I wake him up really."

"Then yes, I'd like to speak to him. I don't have a lot of time right now and I won't be back until August."

"Alrighty then," Annie agreed and went over to Varanian, plucking the smallest vial and lifting his head to pour the blue liquid down his throat before stepping back as she carefully lay his head back down, "He should wake up any second so just stay with him. I'm just going up to grab myself another beer then I'll be back down."

Scorpius said as she jogged upstairs, he wondered if it was the healthiest thing in the world for her to be drinking while working on saving Varanian. He pulled up a chair and sat down by Varanian, feeling nervous as Varanian started to stir. He heard rather then saw Annie's return as he kept his focus on Varanian, his eyes slowly fluttered open, one an icy blue and one a steely gray.

"What... What happened?" Varanian mumbled weakly before scowling, "What did you do to me?"

"You can't move because you're some neuromuscular-blockers," Annie pointed out, hovering nearby Varanian as she sipped her fresh beer.

"I meant what did you do to me because there's no pain?"

"Damn me and my diabolical plot to ease your pain," Annie quipped sarcastically and Varanian threw her a dark look, "What? You should just be glad I wasted my time on you, Wyatt thought throwing water on would heal you so um... that wouldn't have gone well."

"Are you okay, Scorpius?" Varanian asked instead as he looked back to him, "What happened with the Scepter? I don't remember anything after the... the..."

"The fire?" Annie prompted and Varanian cringed at the word.

"Yeah."

"Um... Kind of a lot," Scorpius admitted.

---

The war is going to tear the world apart..."

Brutus Ashain sighed as he gazed down at his sleeping son, cradling him close. It was hard to believe the twins were almost two months old now, they had grown certainly yet still seemed so small and fragile. He made an effort to spend time with them both every day, even if he did feel incredibly jarring going from planning world domination to reading children's stories to them or something else equally alien to him. At least learning of his nephew's miraculous survival had stopped him feeling guilty, he'd felt terrible spending time with his sons knowing that his brother had lost his because of Sal. He was aware of the time pressing down on him though, time for his kids was over for today. He stood, being careful to not jostle his son too much as he carried him back over to his crib and kissed him gently on the forehead before laying him down. The other twin was already in his crib, Brutus had put him down to sleep already for their afternoon nap. He took one more wistful look at his children and rubbed his cheek as it twinged, Scorpius' spell had cut him literally straight to the bone and it still stung. He shoved it out of his mind though before disapparating on the spot.

He reappeared standing on a rise with a perfect view of Athens, the capital and largest city in Greece. Brutus actually liked the city, muggles had a habit of building everything up and shoving their roads through everything for the metallic automobiles through everything but Athens still held some of the charm from the Ancient World. He liked that. Sal and Rabastan were already there, Celestine wasn't because going all the way to Greece while keeping his cover was rather difficult. Sal was actually looking like herself although she had a thick black cloak on that would do well to disguise her and a vial of Polyjuice if necessary, the cloak did have a hood but it was down right now and the gentle breeze slithered through her wavy black locks. In her hand, she gripped the Scepter of Night. She had worked tirelessly to repair it and she'd succeeded, of course she had succeeded. She'd even supplanted Ashylos' wand - which had been lost in the destruction of the Ashain mansion - with the Elder Wand, she'd stolen the thing from Dumbledore's tomb a few years ago now when attacking the memorial. Rabastan had brought his son and was holding Vathan, pointing out the city to him.

"You're going to see history in the making, my boy," Rabastan was saying with a smile.

"Are you ready, Brutus?" Sal asked of him and Brutus nodded much more calmly then he felt, Sal smiled as she turned back to the city, "Then let's show this world what Voldemort's eldest child is capable of. Happy Birthday, Harry Potter."

"...The skies will turn dark in the day..."

Sal raised the Scepter into the sky and a pulse of emerald light shot out, spreading out through the city and even from a distance he noticed it still as the muggle electricity was knocked out, all the automobiles stopped in their tracks. Sal tightened her grip on the Scepter and raised it higher, the symbols engraved in the side all glowed with an azure light and the orb took on the same glow. The now blue orb brightened while at the same time the sky darkened, the light seeming to bleed out of the sky and into the Scepter, the sun itself became shrouded in shadow. The only source of illumination came from the Scepter.

Sal aimed the Scepter at the sky and luminous azure light darted out, the long thread forming into the Shadow Mark - the name for the skeletal snake symbol she'd created - and hung there threateningly in the sky but it cast some light back on the city. Sal closed her eyes and let go of the Scepter, it hovered in the air where she'd left it as she raised her arms slowly and the still-glowing Scepter rose with it. Roaring shattered the silence and he felt the wind gushing over him as the dragons somewhere between them took to the blackened sky, the ones taken from the Romanian Dragon Reserve who were now until Sal's control through Specters. Hundreds of the things, different breeds and shapes but all with pitch black eyes. The dragons soared straight for the city and even from a distance, crimson flames lighting up the darkness as they tore into the city. Even from a distance, could hear the screaming as the dragons descended upon the unsuspecting muggles.

"Brutus, can you hold him?" Rabastan asked him looking excited, drawing Brutus from the scene to have the toddler handed off to him, "I'll have to go in a minute."

"Okay," Brutus agreed and took the child, Vathan's eyes were glued to the scene so intensely that Brutus didn't think he'd even noticed he'd been moved.

"...the rivers will run red with blood..."

They were far from done. Sal rose into the air, placing her hands either side of the Scepter still with her eyes closed and blue tendrils of light started swirling around her as if she encased by neon blue lightning bolts from every angle. And then she threw out her arms and opened her eyes, magma - or was it lava? - erupted from the ground around the city and through every one of those muggle roads. The lava seemed to have its own livid glow to it as it snaked through the streets, the screaming only intensified. Sal held up her palm and a column of the liquid fire swirled into the air from the center of city, swelling in size like some kind of giant cocoon before it burst. As if some kind of giant work had been led lose, it showered into a disturbing pretty pattern of luminosity. And then it beat down on the city like daggers of death.

Sal raised her arms back into the air and this time the city rose with her, or at least all the muggle buildings were uprooted. Literally, the city was torn from his roots and raised into the air. Brutus could honestly say he'd never seen a floating city before. The dragons were still attacking, claws tearing through the buildings and breathing flames against the helpless people. Even wizards would have trouble against dragons, especially all scattered out alone like they would be. Sal lowered one of her arms and waved it around as if drawing her fingers through a bowl of water, the lava spread out. Now unhindered from the buildings in the way, it flooded across the ground like sea of blood that also had a piercing luminous orange caught in the tide that only avoided certain ancient landmarks left behind. Sal clenched her fist and the lava froze over rapidly, turning to stone as if Medusa had stared at it and once again casting darkness around them where a vibrant city had been not too long.

Sal unclenched her fist and the flaming buildings all plummeted back down to the ground, some managing to stay upright while others collapsed into piles of smiling rubble. Brutus was confused by the tears in his eyes and hastily wiped them, hundreds of thousands of people lived there though even if they were muggles. Saying shock and awe was a good tactic logically was very different to seeing such wanton destruction, what had he become? It was too late to turn back now though. Sal dropped suddenly from the sky, not fast enough to be in trouble but not slow enough for it to be completely gentle. She half-landed and was half-caught by Brutus' free arm not holding Vathan, the sparks of blue lights went out around her and the Scepter went back to her hand. And then she laughed. A deep, deranged, bone-chilling laugh.

"Sal, you're sort of scaring me slightly," Brutus pointed out and she stopped, although continued leaning against him heavily on shaky legs. It was still glowing and the sky was still dark, the dragons flew dangerously around the ruins of the city.

"Rabastan, now's the time," Sal said instead to the older man, "Ready the ground troops then apparate to the Greek Ministry, tell them to surrender control to the Soul Eaters or your master will kill them all. When they agree, send in the troops. You know what to do."

"Yes, Sal," Rabastan agreed and disapparated with a fierce crack as Sal staggered away from him to look at the destruction she'd caused with a strange expression.

"Thank Brutus she's on our side," Vathan whispered to him with his mossy green still looking wide enough to pop suddenly, "It's bad for the other guys."

"...The serpent's heir will cast the world into shadow."