Draco barely kept Scorpius and Albus upright when they appeared before the fireplace. With his wand, he summoned the sofa from across the room, letting it slide to a halt beside them, just before the roaring fire. He deposited Scorpius onto the sofa, and when he fell back, taking up most of the space, Albus elected to sit on the floor with his back against the front rail. Draco settled onto the arm of the couch and the three men sat still in a disoriented silence for several minutes, interrupted only by Albus' twitching and grimacing.
"I think this has been the longest day of my life," Albus said finally, turning to look at Scorpius, who had sunk into the couch. Scorpius turned from looking at the ceiling and smiled sadly at Albus.
"Is it tomorrow yet?" Albus asked, massaging his leg. "It feels like it should be tomorrow."
Draco checked his watch.
"It's not even ten o'clock."
Albus rested his head on the cushion near Scorpius' chest, taking comfort in the sound of his breathing.
"Are you okay, Al?" Scorpius asked, moving a weary arm to rest across Albus' shoulders below his chin.
"I'm okay," Albus assured him.
Scorpius looked up to his father who sat above him. Draco hadn't taken his eyes form his son since they landed in the Manor, and reached down to brush his dirty hair back from his muddy face.
"Dad? Are you okay?"
"I'm not hurt," Draco told him. "And I'm so glad you're safe."
Albus took Scorpius' hand from his shoulder and held it tight.
"You gave us quite a scare," Albus said, and Scorpius looked between them.
"Thank you," he said quietly, and Draco smiled down at him.
"Anything for you," said Draco. He gave Scorpius' shoulder a squeeze before standing. "We need to get you cleaned up and you need to eat. I'll be right back."
Scorpius nodded and looked up at the portrait of his mother hanging over the fire place. Astoria looked down at her son with painted tears streaming down her face. Scorpius had to look away.
"How long was I gone?" he asked Albus.
"Fifteen days," Albus said. "The longest fifteen days. I can't imagine what you've been through."
Scorpius bit his lip and looked back to the ceiling. If Albus kept looking at him like that, he was going to cry again, and he was too exhausted to cry.
Albus pressed their clasped hands to his forehead, closing his eyes.
From the doorway, Albus could hear Draco instructing the house elves to be calm - that Scorpius had been through an ordeal, and that he needed a bit of time before he was back to his old self. Scorpius smiled tiredly when he heard Pike's shrill voice expressing concern.
Draco returned moments later with bowl of soup and set it down on a nearby table.
"You need to eat first," Draco said, and Scorpius looked at him as if the idea was simply exhausting.
"Do I?" he asked tiredly. "Can't I just sleep?"
"In a bit," Albus said, releasing his hand. He grimaced through another spasm and fought to keep his face from showing too much pain.
Scorpius nodded and allowed Draco to help him into a semi-seated position as Harry strode into the room.
"Daphne, Selwyn and Travers are all in Ministry custody," he said. "Pansy has been taken to Saint Mungo's, and there are two Aurors watching her room. I've also got a security team patrolling the grounds outside and watching the entrances until we can confirm there isn't anyone else involved."
"There isn't," Scorpius said, giving himself a spoonful of soup and cringing. "It's hot."
"It's because you're so cold. You're still shivering," said Draco. Harry grabbed a blanket from an armchair and wrapped it around Scorpius' shoulders, giving him a gentle hug while he did so.
"You really had us worried," Harry told him.
Scorpius gave him a sheepish look and looked back down at his soup.
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you, Harry," Draco said, sitting down on the edge of the couch between Scorpius and Albus, which made Albus pout a little bit until Harry crouched next to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Albus looked over his shoulder and saw that Draco had Scorpius occupied.
Albus shook his head, giving his father a pointed look.
"Come on," Harry said. "Let's get you cleaned up."
"Don't go," pled Scorpius.
"I'm not going anywhere," Albus said, letting Harry pull him to his feet and putting all his weight on his good leg. "I'm just going to go rinse off. That's all."
Scorpius nodded in reluctant agreement and turned back to Draco as Harry helped Albus from the room.
Draco watched as Scorpius took slow, careful sips of his soup, rubbing his son's back gently and carefully. He wanted to say something - anything to make him smile or laugh, or to assure him that everything was going to get better - but found himself at a rare loss.
Albus directed Harry to the nearest downstairs bathroom that had a shower in it, and when they arrived, he all but collapsed onto the counter.
"Leg isn't easing up?" Harry asked. Albus shook his head.
"No. It's this constant muscle spasm from my side all the way down to my ankle," Albus said. He looked at himself in the mirror. His face was covered in dirt and soot, and his hair was lighter from all the dust that had settled in it. He peeled off his outer layers and threw them on the floor.
"Scorpius is going to be pissed that you ruined his sweater," Harry teased.
Albus smiled. "At least he's alive to be mad."
"I'm going to go scrounge up some ingredients for a restoration potion. It should at least ease the pain," Harry said. "Rinse off. I'll be back."
Albus nodded and Harry left him. He pulled himself into the shower painfully, and when he turned it on, he watched as all the grime washed down the drain. He stayed in the shower until the water ran clean, and then a bit longer until he had gathered himself.
Scorpius was barely conscious by the time Draco pulled him out of the shower and helped him negotiate getting into a pair of clean pajamas. Scorpius had tried to avoid looking in the mirror and had failed miserably, staring horrified at his own reflection.
"Do you want to go upstairs?" Draco asked, but Scorpius shook his head.
"I'm cold," Scorpius said, leaning on Draco as they walked. "Can I go back to the fireplace?"
"Of course."
Draco took him back to the sitting room where Albus and Harry were waiting. Scorpius collapsed into the couch next to Albus, who was quick to wrap an arm around his shoulders and take another drink of the potion in his hand.
"Do you feel any better?" Albus asked.
"I don't feel like I'm dying," Scorpius replied. "So that's an improvement."
Albus looked at his father for help and Harry stopped pacing. He and Draco looked down at their sons, concerned.
"Can you talk about what happened?" Harry asked.
Scorpius leaned away from Albus and into the arm of the couch, turning his face away from them and rubbing his forehead.
"I have to ask," said Harry, sympathetic and crouching in front of Scorpius. "I have to report what happened otherwise the Ministry can't hold Daphne and her accomplices."
"Pansy doesn't deserve Azkaban," Scorpius said quietly. "The rest of them do."
"Can you tell me why?"
Scorpius looked up at his mother's painting, wondering if she'd feel betrayed that he was putting her sister in the worst prison imaginable.
"Aunt Daph -" Scorpius stopped himself and took a deep breath, covering his eyes with his hand. It was easier of he couldn't see Albus and his father looking at him. "Daphne. She's not my family. I guess she heard about the outburst in Dueling Club. Got it in her head that I was the powerful pure-blood wizard that was going to lead her people back to greatness and subjugate the mudbloods and half-bloods. She decided she was going to 'fix' me, because my powers were proof that the Greengrass family curse was broken."
He glanced up at his mother's painting again and saw her staring down at him with compassion he didn't feel he deserved.
"And so she and Selwyn and Travers tortured me. I wouldn't get food until I did what she asked - make things levitate for a certain amount of time, light all the lanterns in the house at once without seeing them. Things like that. It got more and more difficult, and when I didn't comply, or if I didn't do well enough, one of them would use the Cruciatus curse, and I'd be thrown back down in the dungeon."
Albus looked down at his hands, helpless.
"Pansy was there when I was abducted, but that was it," Scorpius said. "She snuck me food behind Daphne's back and didn't raise her wand or hand to me a single time."
"I saw what you did," Harry said. "We all did. Why didn't you break yourself out?"
"They had these handcuffs that stopped me from using any magic at all," Scorpius said, holding out his blistered and bruised wrists. "And when they took them off so I could... practice, they made sure I knew one of them was out there, watching the three of you as you looked for me. She said she'd kill every person I cared if I stopped cooperating, starting with dad and Albus."
Albus didn't look up when he spoke.
"How did you let me know you were there?" he asked.
"How did you know?" Harry asked Albus. "You never said."
"I shocked him," Scorpius explained. "I heard dad's laugh and it echoed, and I just closed my eyes and tried to sense the people in the house. Kind of like using Homenum Revelio without a wand, I guess. And I found Albus. And I shocked him through the soles of his shoes. It was very... difficult, trying to work through the curse."
Scorpius looked up at his father, who had been notably quiet, and saw that he was leaning against the hearth with his back turned.
"And that's... about it, I guess," Scorpius concluded. Harry took Scorpius' hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze before standing.
"Thank you," he said. "I know that was difficult, but we'll get some kind of justice."
"Justice isn't going to help me sleep at night," Scorpius said.
"Or me," said Draco. He turned around, and folded his arms, his eyes red.
Albus leaned forward, his face in his hands.
Scorpius picked the blanket up from the floor and wrapped it around himself to make it clear that he was done talking.
"I'm going to go file the report," Harry told Draco as they walked toward the door. "We'll have to get an in-person statement in a few days, but it can wait."
Harry looked back at Albus and Scorpius. Albus had slid to the floor, giving Scorpius room to stretch out, arranging himself in the least painful position possible. He and Draco watched as Albus tucked the blanket around Scorpius a little tighter and made sure his feet were covered.
Harry had always struggled to see his children as anything other than children. When he looked at Lily, he saw her as a child playing with wildflowers, her hair still in pigtails, and when he looked at Albus and James, he pictured them barely older than toddlers, learning to ride their first brooms or trying to read on the living room floor.
But when he looked at Albus now, comforting the person he loved as he fell asleep after a horrific ordeal, he saw something else. His son was strong, and he'd had faith. Albus had been quick to react in a fight, and Harry knew he would never see Albus as anything less than a good man again.
"Leave them here tonight," Draco said quietly, seeing Scorpius' eyes start to close.
"I don't think Al would let me do otherwise," Harry said. "I'll be back in the morning to check in."
Draco nodded, and Harry turned to leave. Draco caught his arm before he could.
"Thank you, Harry," Draco said. "If you weren't Head of Magical Law Enforcement... I'm not sure we would have found him."
Harry nodded, unsure of what to say. Draco Malfoy wasn't usually prone to heartfelt exchanges with him.
"Any time, Draco," he said finally, and Draco released his arm looking back to Scorpius as Harry walked away.
Albus had sent Draco on to sleep in the next room, since he knew he wouldn't be moving from his place beside Scorpius anyway.
"At least one of us should get some rest," Albus said. "My leg is still killing me anyway."
And so he sat beside Scorpius, tossing wood into the fire whenever it got low and making sure the blanket stayed tucked just beneath his chin. When he would start to toss and turn, Albus would reach out and stroke the side of his face and whisper assurances until he calmed and his face relaxed again.
Eventually, though, Albus dozed off, his head resting awkwardly by Scorpius' arm. In the middle of the night, Scorpius started talking in his sleep, saying "no," and "not again," over and over again until Albus woke up. His face was contorted and Albus pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the couch.
"Scorpius?"
Albus shook his shoulders gently, but Scorpius didn't wake. He cried out, and Albus shook him harder, saying his name until Scorpius' eyes opened, wide and frightened.
Albus leaned over him and stroked the side of his face with his thumb.
"Hey," he said gently. "It's okay. You're home now."
Scorpius stared up at him, slowly coming to his senses.
"Al?" he whimpered. Albus didn't like that at all.
"I'm right here," Albus assured him. "I'm not going anywhere."
Scorpius sat up against the arm of the chair and looked at the fire, his breathing slowing as Albus tucked the blanket around him again. The warmer glow of the fire made his face seem less pale and empty, which was a small comfort to Albus.
"What can I do?" Albus asked.
Scorpius shook his head and rubbed his face.
"I can't get their faces out of my head," he said. "I can't stop the fear I felt when one of them would come at me to use the Cruciatus curse."
Albus didn't know what to do. He gently pulled Scorpius' hands from his face to meet his eyes.
"I can't imagine what you're going through," Albus said. "Or what you've been through. But I can tell you that I'm not letting you out of my sight. I swear, I'll maim anyone who tries to do you harm for the rest of your life."
Scorpius' expression softened and he reached out and ran his hands over Albus' side.
"You got hurt," he said.
"It's nothing," Albus said quickly. "It's a small price to pay for having you home."
"I talked to dad... while you were taking a shower. I don't think he knew what to say, so he told me about you," Scorpius said, toying with the hem of Albus' shirt absently. "He said you threatened a Ministry worker."
"The Chief of Investigations, actually," Albus admitted, trying to smile. "She really didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. It was the day you went missing."
"He also said that you pulled together most of the pieces. That you watched Daphne's house for days, and that you went with them every place they investigated. And he said it was you who finally figured out where I was," Scorpius said.
"I wouldn't go that far," Albus said. "I kind of just... kept kicking rocks until something turned up."
"He said you barely slept," Scorpius continued. Albus wished Draco hadn't told him these things.
"You were missing," Albus said. "Of course I didn't sleep. I knew you were out there and I knew you were hurt."
Scorpius swallowed hard and drew indefinite shapes on Albus' stomach with his fingers.
"He said he's never seen that kind of devotion from one person to another."
Albus couldn't meet Scorpius' eyes. After such a long and grueling day, it seemed like too much. He'd already cried enough.
But Scorpius tapped the bottom of his chin until he looked up.
"He said I'm damn lucky to have you," Scorpius said, brushing Albus' hair out of his face. "He said I should hold onto you."
"You'd be hard pressed to get rid of me now," Albus said. "Though I don't think I've been a very good boyfriend. I was distracted. I wasn't paying attention to what you were going through."
He cringed a bit as his leg ached again and took a deep breath to wait until it subsided, but Scorpius leaned forward and placed his hand on his leg. His hand was warm like a hot water bottle and Albus was relieved when he started massaging the tendon that kept twitching just above his knee.
"So, you're in control now?" Albus asked. He rubbed Scorpius' back lightly while he dug his palm into the sore muscle.
"Yes," Scorpius said. "I think Professor McGonagall's lessons helped save me. I was able to visualize what I was doing and it helped."
Albus watched the faint glow coming from Scorpius' hand in awe, and after a moment, he placed his own hand over it.
"That's pretty impressive," he said.
Scorpius shrugged. "Something useful had to come out of this."
Albus saw at the raw skin circling Scorpius' wrists and frowned.
"Does it hurt? Your wrists?"
"A bit," Scorpius said. "Dad put some salve on them earlier to help it heal."
"We'll go to Saint Mungo's tomorrow," Albus assured him. "They'll help you feel better. At least physically."
"And they'll take a look at that leg," Scorpius replied.
Albus shrugged. "It's not my top priority."
"What was the surprise?" Scorpius asked abruptly.
"What?"
"When I was on my way to Hogsmeade that day, you had said you had a surprise for me."
Albus had completely forgotten about the party - about the Magical Archives and the Magizoology Society. He'd forgotten all about what he was going to ask.
"Your dad and I planned a little party for you at the Three Broomsticks," Albus confessed. "The letter was sent to him by mistake, but you were accepted for the position at the Magical Archives of Britain."
"I'd forgotten all about that," Scorpius said. "This has felt a lot longer than two weeks."
"I know. But I was also going to tell you that I'd been given a provisional acceptance for an internship at the Magizoology Society in London. And I was going... um..." Albus began to stammer. "I was going to ask you if maybe you wanted to move in together... and start thinking about things... like that."
For the first time since the morning of the Quidditch match, Albus got a genuine smile from Scorpius.
"You just helped fight off an evil, torturous bitch who would have killed you if she'd had the chance," Scorpius said, "and you're stuttering asking me if I want to get a flat with you?"
"Yeah," Albus replied, laughing at himself quietly. "I guess I am."
"Are you blushing?"
Albus rolled his eyes and Scorpius leaned into him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"It's a silly question," Scorpius said. "You know I'd love that."
"It does seem silly. And that was before. But now I just..." Albus struggled to find the words. "I just want the chance to love you better. I was... really terrified that I'd lost you, and that I'd never get the chance to tell you that."
Scorpius kissed Albus' cheek softly and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against Albus'.
"And here I was thinking I was the bad boyfriend for being temperamental and withdrawn," Scorpius said. "You're not a bad boyfriend. If you were, I wouldn't have thought about you every night. I knew you were out there looking for me. It got me through."
Albus bit his lip. It had been months since he'd kissed Scorpius - really kissed him, like he meant it. He thought back to July in the damp grass on his birthday. It seemed like an eon ago.
Scorpius seemed to know what he was thinking, and before Albus could think of anything to say, Scorpius kissed him, sliding his hands around his waist. Albus kissed him back, gently at first and then biting his lower lip, ignoring the dull ache that was coming back around his knee and hip. He pulled Scorpius closer, accepting his weight gratefully - worshipfully - and kissed him until Scorpius pulled away with a weary smile.
"When I'm better," Scorpius said, "we are spending an entire weekend in the Room of Requirement."
Albus laughed and leaned back on the couch, stretching out and arranging arms and legs until Scorpius could rest his head on his chest. He stretched his sore leg out across the arm, well aware of how ridiculous they looked packed onto the too-small couch, but Albus couldn't imagine anywhere in the world he would have rather been than in front of a roaring fire in the small hours of New Year's Eve with Scorpius asleep on his chest.