DISCLAIMER: Lawyers on behalf of Ms Rowling specifically noted that she has"no complaint about innocent fan fiction written by genuine Harry Potter fans." Most of the characters in, and the basic idea of, this fanfic belong to J K Rowling and the fic conforms to her wishes about fan fiction ie it does not, and will not, contain any offensive material. The story is AU.
***Chapter 25***
***Truth***
"Him, Hermione? Of all the people you could have two-timed me with...him!"
"Malfoy and me? Don't be so bloody ridiculous, Ron, hell would freeze over before that happened!"
"Hey!" Draco said, a little hurt. Okay, he and Granger were friends now – she'd even admitted it herself – and he loved Astoria and would never dream of having an affair, but her quick dismissal of him as a non-starter still rankled. A wizard had his pride and not so long ago many witches considered him a good catch.
"No offence, Draco."
"None taken," he said, though his pained look belied his words.
"I need to side-along apparate with you to Scorpius." Hermione held out her arm.
Ron stared, open-mouthed. "What? Now you're letting Death Eaters wander about on their own?"
"Why not? Fat, ginger-haired idiots are out unescorted." Draco retorted.
"I'll wash my hands of the pair of you if you both keep trading insults," Hermione warned. "So stop it. Now. Okay?"
"Fine," they snapped in unison. Although Draco, being unfamiliar with the expression, wondered why on earth Granger needed to clean her hands first. Must be some weird muggle custom.
And Ron popped a large chunk of cake he'd brought with him into his mouth. He'd need sustenance to tell his wife what he had to tell her.
XXXXX
"Scorp..." Rose drew her friend's attention to the two figures materialising in the distance.
"It's Aunt Hermione and Scorpius's Dad," Albus added, somewhat unnecessarily.
Scorpius stared tight-lipped. He had adored his father once. Believed his lies about being an ordinary, popular student at Hogwarts. Never dreaming the truth: he'd been a spoilt, cowardly, nasty bully, who allowed the Death Eaters inside the castle and almost murdered Professor Dumbledore.
Rose chewed her lip as the beautiful scenes of spontaneous magic suddenly dissipated. All was grey and dismal once more and a harsh, unforgiving wind whipped up the lake. She shivered, feeling a twinge of pity for Draco Malfoy. "Don't be too hard on him," she whispered in Scorpius's ear. "Come on, Al." She gently chivvied her cousin to give father and son some privacy, for Albus stood transfixed by the sight of Scorpius's father. And small wonder. He had only ever seen him before as arrogant and opinionated, ranting about the inferiority of anyone who wasn't of pureblood birth, If it hadn't been for the white-blond hair and pale skin, he'd have sworn it wasn't the same wizard. This lanky man walked slowly, uncertainly, his face filled with trepidation, his hands balled into fists to try and hide the trembling there.
"Good luck. I'll be back soon to take you and Scorpius to the hospital." Hermione nodded at the three children and squeezed Draco's shoulder. He flinched at the touch. Not because of her blood status. No, he was over those ridiculous notions. It was Scorpius's expression. His silver-grey eyes were icy as the coldest winter's day.
"Scorp." His voice was a hoarse rasp. "Your mother has woken from Locking. Skip is fine too. Granger - Mrs Granger-Weasley, I mean – will side-along apparate us to St Mungo's very shortly."
"Thank you for telling me." Scorpius spoke with cold politeness, as if to a stranger, although naturally elated at the news of his mother's and the elf's recovery. But Dad had spoilt everything. They were no longer a close-knit family. His father was someone he never knew. "I would however prefer to to travel with Rose's Mum on my own."
Merlin, no, NO! Draco's heart snapped in two. His worst fears were realised. Scorpius had rejected him. And he'd brought it all on himself. Tears threatened his eyes. But he was a Malfoy. He refused to let them fall.
"Is it true you called witches and wizards born to muggles mudbloods?" Scorpius abruptly fired the question as though quizzing a criminal bound for Azkaban brought for judgement before the Wizengamot.
His father's throat burned with the raw emotion of despair. "Son, I'll never use that name again ever..."
"But you did once?" Scorpius challenged.
"Long, long ago, but I..."
"And at Hogwarts you bullied the other kids for not being pureblood." The young wizard spat out the word as though it were poison. "What did it matter, Dad? Isn't it more important to see the person for who they are? Why should it matter what anyone's blood status is?"
Despite everything, Draco felt a stab of pride. His son was without prejudices. He'd done so much wrong but at least he'd done the right thing by Scorpius. He'd wanted so much to lay to rest the ridiculous beliefs he'd been brought up with, for the world to be a better place, a place without hatred. But he couldn't change his part in perpetuating that hatred in the past. And he still had to answer for what he'd done.
He swallowed. "I realise now that that it doesn't. Believe me, Scorpius, I wish so much I could change what happened..."
"What did happen, Dad? Rose and Albus told me some stuff and I read some stuff but I never heard anything from you."
"It's all true. What you heard, what you read." Draco gazed down at the blades of grass swaying in the chill wind, not wanting to witness his child's pain at seeing his father for who he really was. The thick Hogwarts history book detailing The Second Wizarding War and The Battle of Hogwarts was accurate. He had read it himself to check. And he had no reason to question Rose and Albus's stories. Strong, brave Gryffindors like Potter, Granger and Weasley would never twist the truth to their offspring for their own ends. Unlike a Slytherin.
"Rose said you refused to identify her Uncle Harry when he was trapped in the Manor with her Mum and Dad." Scorpius's tone was slightly less cold. But only just.
"Yes. That's true too." A sliver of the guilt lifted as the memories flooded back. Not that they were ever very far from the surface. Often in the early days of their relationship Astoria would wake him from the terrible nightmares. They were less and less frequent since he became a husband and father, but every once in a while would still catch him unawares and they still put a silencing charm around their room so as not to frighten Scorpius. Glad though he was that he'd done something it had been flimsy protection; Aunt Bellatrix soon realised who the captured trio were.
"But you stood by and did nothing while Bellatrix tortured Rose's Mum. Rose and Albus didn't tell me that," he added, quick to defend his friends. "I pieced it together from what I read."
"We never use that room now! None of that wing!" It had been closed for decades. The dungeons were long gone too. He had allowed Scorpius to believe they were shut off merely because the building was too big for a family of three and their house-elf. Scorpius had believed the lie. What was one more in the hundreds already told? Somewhere at the back of his mind Draco remembered they would never use any of the Manor's rooms again because Malfoy Manor was burnt to ashes due to Skip accidentally setting it on fire, but none of that seemed to matter any more. Possessions could be replaced. People couldn't. You could love possessions but possessions would never love you. But lose the love of people you loved and you lost everything.
And then the question came. The one Astoria had always told him he would have to face one day. The moment she had warned him would inevitably arrive.
"Why didn't you tell me, Dad? About your being a Death Eater, about what you did." Scorpius's voice caught. "Why did you let me go to Hogwarts thinking everything was fine?"
Heart-scalded, he looked up to reassure, reached out his arms to wrap around his son's shoulders and hug him to his chest just as he had always done before when the child he loved beyond life itself was hurt. It was a mistake. Scorpius stood immobile, his arms folded, his lips pressed together, his gaze accusing, and did not reach back.
XXXXX
Professor Diamond Gladthink, the principal of Hogwarts since Minerva McGonagall's well-deserved retirement, stared at the owl communications. It was most irregular. The parents of the two students, Jeremy Preston and Cosmo Blakewood, who had withdrawn their sons from Hogwarts after being informed the son of an ex-Death Eater had been bullying them had written to say they begged them to inform her they now admitted to being the instigators of the blood racist fight with Scorpius Malfoy.
The owls were already winging their way to their homes with Diamond's reply their reinstatements would be accepted provided they apologised to Scorpius. She didn't doubt for a second young Malfoy not accepting their apology. Despite her early misgivings (and prejudice because of the name Malfoy, she sternly rebuked herself) he seemed a pleasant enough child. No, it was the other puzzle. The reason she thought it advisable to give him time out in the company of his friends Rose and Albus. (Yet another oddity, in addition to him being Sorted into Columbidae, the House of peace, wisdom, free thinking and humour - a Malfoy being friends with the children of Potter, Granger and Weasley!)
During her training to be a tutor of young magical folk, Gladthink had chosen Rare Magic as her thesis and found the subject so fascinating she'd continued its study long after her probation at small private magical schools. And rare magic seemed to be the only logical answer now. She tapped the feather quill first on her teeth and then on the mahogany desk as she reflected on the recent events.
Both Cosmo and Jeremy claimed to have been visited by, of all creatures, a golden owl. The owl had done nothing more sinister than fly around their respective bedrooms, hooting as if in disapproval, but each student had somehow known instinctively they needed to tell the truth that they provoked Scorpius with derogatory racist names, not the other way round. As soon as they thought this the owl vanished.
Moreover, Jeremy and Cosmo believed, without being aware of the other's experience, the luminous owl that shone gold in the moonlight to be a Patronus. But to create a Patronus required complicated magic far beyond the capabilities of an 11-year-old unless…
Unless the controversial philosopher Eurythsapientiae was correct in his theory of Spontaneous Patronus. Because for a Patronus to take it upon itself to communicate went against every magical law known to wizardkind. Spontaneous Patronuses, however, the great wizard claimed, would have such powers. Did Scorpius Malfoy unknowingly cast a Spontaneous Patronus?
Diamond drew in a deep breath at the startling thought and absently played a catchy drum beat on her desk with her knuckles and the quill, longing to discuss this interesting conundrum with her friend Hermione, but Hermione was busy with a floo call from her husband. And there was so much Diamond wanted to discuss.
Were her suspicions correct? Was Scorpius Malfoy gifted with exceptional powers to alter magic including that rare (and oft disputed) talent of raising a Spontaneous Patronus? According to the ancient philosopher for this to be achieved:-
If two magical souls intertwine with a bond of unconditional love given by the eldest soul to the younger soul at the precise moment when all magic in the magical universe is unified, viz during the split second of light that falls but once in each ten thousandth year bearing witness to the death of old magic and the birth of new magic, then the witch or wizard so magicked, viz the newest soul, will be gifted with exceptional powers, viz this soul will henceforth be possessed of extraordinary ability to alter magic, to create Spontaneous Patronus..."
2006, the year Scorpius was born, was certainly the date of the last tenth magic millennium and the love of a parent for a child was an exceptionally strong bond, but were either Draco Malfoy or Astoria Greengrass capable of such an overwhelming love? Furthermore, according to Eurythsapientiae's Law the witch or wizard must themselves have undergone a life-changing event resulting in them becoming a better and completely different person. Which made the gifting of rare magic almost impossible. Almost.
Diamond had met Astoria and thought her a sweet, unassuming witch. She had never supported pureblood superiority, the reason the Greengrass family disowned her. But Scorpius's father...Was Draco Malfoy, infamous at Hogwarts for being a nasty, cowardly bully and Death Eater, capable of such great love for his son? Draco Malfoy, ex-Death Eater, now a Healer, husband and father. A better and completely different person. And Dumbledore had always thought Draco Malfoy's soul worth saving.
They yellow light of an Indian Summer was beginning to coat the beautiful English countryside and stream inside, lighting up her illustrious predecessor's portrait. "Oh, Albus! How much did you know?" Diamond wondered aloud. She could have sworn he winked.
His wise blue eyes were definitely twinkling.
XXXXX
Draco dropped his arms, gulped back a sob, closed his eyes, unable to bear his child's pain. "Because I didn't want to lose you," he whispered. "Because I didn't want you to know I was a coward and a bully and a bigot. Because I didn't want you to know I believed what I was told growing up, about pureblood superiority, about muggleborns stealing our magic, about muggles being worthless..." He took a deep shuddering breath. "Because I'm still a coward. And it's too late to tell you...it's too late to tell you I...I realise how wrong I was to believe what I did growing up. Too late to tell you how much I regret being what I was."
"Dad. Dad, look at me. You're not blood prejudiced any more?"
"I swear. Never again." He forced himself to look. Fighting back the tears. Unaware he was unsuccessful and his eyes shone bright as stars.
"Why don't you ever cry, Dad?" Scorpius asked suddenly, thinking back to the handful of times he'd witnessed his father's emotion. When Granny Narcissa died. When he saw him off on the Hogwarts Express. Now.
"I do. All the time. In my heart." Draco didn't know where the words came from. They sprang unbidden to his lips. He was almost ashamed of admitting to such a weakness. "I'm sorry, Scorp." The words rushed out again. He wiped the corners of his eyes with his fingertips. Maybe it was a time for honesty instead of hiding behind the mask of indifference. A time for seeing instead of closing his eyes. Nobody could change the past. But they could change the future. "Really, really sorry. Sorry for not telling you. Sorry for being what I was. I'd give anything to go back in time and change who I was."
"But I didn't know you then," Scorpius said simply. "I've only ever known you as my Dad."
And Draco felt a small pair of arms being flung tightly around his waist.
Far away down by the lake where she and Albus strolled, Rose thumped her cousin's arm in delight.
"Wow!" were the only words a breathless Albus could articulate. "Wow!"
The trees and flowers were filling with blossom and music again. The sky was lightening and the sun breathing a gentle autumn warmth over Hogwarts and its vast grounds. And a golden owl skimmed heaven and earth.
"They made up," Rose said. Her happy grin the size of the Cheshire cat's.
A/N: The next chapter will be the last.