It appeared that Scorpius truly was no longer interested in curses.
Or study of any kind for that matter.
He did not return to the small table behind the restricted section, though Lily continued to go there to study of an evening.
Lysander told Lily that he often missed classes too. Lily was worried that after years of searching for a cure for his mother's blood curse, loosing her had left him without any motivation at all.
The only time that Lily saw him was from afar during meals in the Great Hall. He would sit alone at the end of the Hufflepuff table picking at his food.
Occasionally, Lysander would make faces at him from the Ravenclaw table, but he only succeeded once in getting a small smirk onto his face before he went gloomily back to stabbing at his peas again.
During one such lunchtime, Lily was surprised to see Professor Montespan march into the hall. As the professor seemed to spend as much time as possible away from the students and alone eating in his office, it was a rare sight.
But he wasn't there to get some soup and pie. He marched straight over to the Hufflepuff table and stood towering over Scorpius who seemed to be pretending he hadn't noticed that he was there. This was terribly unconvincing as the entire Hufflepuff table had gone silent and all eyes were watching them.
'Mr Malfoy, you have failed to attend my classes three weeks in a row' Professor Montespan said disapprovingly attempting to get Scorpius to acknowledge his presence.
But Scorpius ignored him and continued to push his food around the plate apathetically.
'To my office, now!' Montespan bellowed in frustration.
The Headmistress stood up with a conflicted look on her face but didn't make a move towards them. She seemed to be internally debating whether it would be best to step in and prevent Montespan from berating a grieving student or whether non-attendance to class for three weeks was justifiably punishable.
'But it's eating hours professor' Scorpius drawled with a smirk, still looking down at his plate and making fork dents in his mash potato.
'No consultations during eating hours, remember?'
Montespan narrowed his eyes before suddenly grabbing Scorpius by the cuff of his robes and forcing him to turn to face him.
'Fine- we can do it here then' Montespan hissed.
Scorpius glared at him with a dark look.
'You have a lot of talent boy' the professor growled angrily.
They were not the words that anyone had expected him to say in such an angry state and a scattering of whispers could be heard as dozens of students looked around at each other in surprise.
'More talent and knowledge and the potential for hard work than any of the healing apprentices at St Mungo's I've ever seen' Montespan went on loudly, seeming to decide he'd let the whole hall hear it.
'So I don't need to go to class then' Scorpius retorted sarcastically.
Montespan grabbed the fork out of Scorpius hand, turned it upside down and stabbed it into the table with a loud thud. There was a shocked silence as the sound of metal vibrating reverberated around the hall.
'Professor Montespan!' the headmistress exclaimed and picked up her skirts so that she could rush over to them.
'If you waste this boy, you'll be nothing! You hear me?' Montespan roared.
'You could save lives! You could heal the sick! You could make a real change in the world with the amount that you've learnt and picked up at your age!'
The entire hall was watching the professor's outburst now with open mouths.
'But if you don't get up off your ass and do the rest of the work, then you'll fall behind! It takes decades of study and training to become a truly competent healer and you'll never bloody manage it without my help!'
'I never said I wanted to be-' Scorpius began to say quietly but Montespan wouldn't let him finish.
'-I don't know what your plans are for the rest of your life, but if all you've got is being a sulky little sod then Merlin help me if with that attitude you don't end up in BLOODY AZKABAN!'
He finished with a dramatic wave of his arms and turned on his heal to march off in a huff before the Headmistress could get to him.
'Professor Montespan! Professor-! We DO NOT threaten the students with the cutlery!' she yelled as she hurried after him.
Scorpius sat in stunned silence for a few moments before gathering his belongings and getting away from the hall and out from under everyone's gaze.
A few days later, Lily could not keep the smirk off of her face when Scorpius showed up to the library with a pile of healing textbooks.
He glanced at her with a grumpy look, warning her not to comment on it but Lily couldn't help herself.
'I'm beginning to like Professor Montespan' she said loudly with feigned innocence.
'Perhaps you'd like to read some of these then' Scorpius said with annoyance, shoving a few of the books in Lily's direction.
Lily picked them up and studied the covers; The Healing Techniques of Hags, Potions by Pukwudgies, The Merpeople and their Medicines, Cures Inspired by Centaurs.
Underneath each title was the name 'Galen Montespan'.
'Professor Montespan wrote these?'
Scorpius nodded voicelessly, already absorbed in one of the other books.
'He seems to have been very interested in the healing magic of magical peoples' Lily said flicking through Cures Inspired by Centaurs with interest.
'Yes, that's what he was famous for. It's also what he lost his healing license for, so I suppose it was a bit of a double edged sword…' Scorpius mumbled.
'What do you mean? I thought he lost his healing license for using unregulated remedies on witches and wizards?' Lily said with a frown.
'He did. He used an unregulated healing potion on a family of witches and wizards which he had learnt from the Pukwudgies of America' Scorpius explained.
'But- what happened to them? Did the family die?' Lily asked in a hushed voice.
'No, they were healed. He saved their lives' Scorpius said lightly.
'What? Then what's the problem?' Lily said aghast.
'The problem was that it hadn't been cleared by the Ministry yet' Scorpius replied.
'The Ministry classifies all healing magic into three categories; regulated, unregulated and forbidden-' He went on, leaning forward a little now in his eagerness to explain.
'If Montespan had used forbidden magic he would be in Azkaban. If he had used regulated magic, he would still be a licensed healer. But he used unregulated magic, or in other words, magic which the Ministry hasn't had time to investigate and put into the regulated or forbidden categories yet. Regular witches and wizards might be able to get away with it but Healers need to adhere to a strict code of using only approved spells and potions. So Montespan lost his license and on top of that his books were banned to prevent anyone else doing the same thing'
'Montespan was right- you are knowledgeable about all this' Lily remarked, impressed.
Scorpius shrugged.
'He's started giving me lessons between classes. I guess he felt the best place to start was by teaching me what had caused him to fail'
'He gave up his entire career to heal those people… if that isn't the definition of a successful Healer then I don't know what is' Lily reflected sadly.
Scorpius nodded in agreement and the pair fell into silence.
'So you've decided to be a healer then?' Lily said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.
'I'll give it a try I guess- got nothing better to do' Scorpius muttered with an apathetic expression.
Lily tutted.
'With that attitude you'll end up in Azkaban Mr Malfoy' she said mimicking Montespan's outraged voice with a grin.
Scorpius rolled his eyes but Lily could see the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
'What're you going to do then?' he shot at her in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
'What do you mean?' Lily asked, taken aback.
'You know- in the future. What do you want to be?'
'Oh' Lily said glumly. Truth be told, she didn't like to be reminded of the topic. Whether or not she would be able to successfully assimilate into the adult wizarding society once she had graduated from Hogwarts had been bothering her for some time, ever since she had first been called a squib.
But she had thought about it. And there seemed to be only one option available to her.
'I guess I'd like to play Quidditch- like my mum does. It's sort of the only thing I'm good at' Lily shrugged, all of her earlier snark and confidence drained from her voice.
'But is that what you want to do?' Scorpius asked with a frown.
'Yeah… and well, I mean, I can't really think of many other options' Lily conceded.
Scorpius considered her for a moment.
'You could do other things' he said gently.
Lily nodded just trying to end the conversation before he began to feel sorry for her.
'You could do this for example' he said as though an idea had just come to him. He started rifling through his bag in search of something and within a few moments had taken out a badly crinkled piece of parchment.
He spread it out on the table in front of her.
'Oh Merlin' Lily sighed at the sight of it.
'Not that tournament that James has been raving about'
She had seen this particular notice being circulated around amongst James, Johnathan and many of the other Gryffindor boys. It was an advertisement for the school-wide dueling tournament that Professor Raleigh was organizing and Lily knew the details well as they had been the only thing on her brother's lips for the past few weeks.
'Are you going to enter?' Scorpius asked curiously.
'Are you making fun of me?' Lily shot back incredulously.
'I can't even use my wand! I'd be out of the competition faster than a snitch flying down wind'
'You did a good job taking out Carrow the other day- and you didn't use your wand for that' Scorpius pointed out.
'I caught him by surprise Scorpius! It was hardly a duel!' she scoffed.
'You used wandless magic Lily- do you have any idea how incredible that is?' Scorpius looked her in the eyes, shaking his head in awe.
Lily flushed.
'Wandless or not, it was a fluke' she retorted firmly.
Secretly however, she was rather pleased about the compliment. It had been a long time since she'd received encouragement for anything that hadn't been about Quidditch.
'Well that's a shame' Scorpius sighed leaning back in his chair in defeat.
'I was hoping you'd give Carrow a good blasting again'
'Don't worry' Lily said laughing at his ill intentions, 'I'm sure James will do that for you'
When Lily returned to the common room James was sitting on one of the large armchairs with a great number of Gryffindor boys gathered around him. His legs were crossed and he held his head high in a rather kingly manner.
'Did you hear James?' Bertie Brocklehurst was saying excitedly, 'If you win you'll be going to Beauxbatons to participate in the inter-school championships next year! I heard Professor Raleigh talking about it!'
'You mean when I win' James said with a smirk, twirling his wand confidently between his fingers.
'You're sure you'll win?' Johnathan laughed at his friend, 'I hear Sally MacDougal will be entering too and she's meant to be quite good'
'And Lucy-' Albus cut in with a frown. He was standing a few feet back from the rest of the boys and looked very disapproving of James' cockiness.
'Ah' said James with a self-assured smile, 'But does Sally and our dear cousin have a secret weapon?'
'You've got a secret weapon?' Thomas asked wide-eyed, just as James had hoped he would.
Albus rolled his eyes.
'James-' he began to say with a note of warning in his voice, but his brother ignored him.
James held out the wand he had been twirling for the other boys to see.
'This-' he paused dramatically looking around at the boys' faces '-is my father's wand'
'Harry Potter's wand?' Bertie exclaimed which had the effect of making James' smirk grow wider.
'The wand that took down Voldemort…' Johnathan said under his breath in surprise.
Apparently James had successfully kept the secret from even his best friend up until this point. But now, in his excitement about the tournament, he had let his pride get the best of him.
The boys crowded in closer and each took turns in looking over James's new Phoenix feather core wand.
Once the commotion had died down and the boys had gone to bed Albus and Lily rounded on him.
'What did you go and tell everyone that for?' Albus demanded.
'Why not?' James said happily, 'It'll make for an even better story when I win'
'Everyone in Gryffindor will know now James' Lily said steadily shaking her head 'According to the rules of the tournament, there are only twenty bouts and you need to be challenged by the winner of a bout to be able to participate.'
'So?' said James indifferently.
'So not all the entrants will get to duel! And no one is going to challenge you if they know you have a powerful wand!' Lily said exasperated.
'Yes they will' James said cheerfully.
'Now that they all know I have a good chance of winning for Gryffindor, I'll ask all of the Gryffindors to promise to challenge me if they get the chance'
So that's why he'd done it; to ensure he had better odds of being in the competition. Trust James to know just how to charm everyone onto his side, Lily thought skeptically.
'Well I won't' Albus said with a disgusted look.
'Oh come on Albus!' James laughed. 'Better to have me win than some snarky Slytherin! It'll be one hundred points to whatever house the victor is from!'
Albus was silent for a moment, thinking hard.
'Alright then- If I get the chance, I'll challenge you' he said finally making James's face burst into a victorious smile.
'But only-' Albus added quickly '-on the condition that you challenge me if you get into the competition before me'
'Yes yes, whatever you like' James brushed him off gleefully.
The week which lead up to the weekend of the dueling tournament proved challenging for Lily. All she wanted to do was prepare for their first Quidditch match of the season, which would be exactly one week after the dueling tournament, but this was difficult when their captain was so utterly distracted.
James had been practicing his dueling techniques with Johnathan all week long and didn't stop to participate in Quidditch practice which greatly irked Albus.
'He's meant to be the Captain!' Albus growled to a sympathetic Lily after another evening of practice in which Albus was forced to be the intermediary in Lily and Poppy's disagreements about Chaser strategies.
Lily was finding it incredibly hard to see eye to eye with Poppy long enough for them to be able to work together and score a goal. But it was even worse when James wasn't there to be the voice of authority.
'Well it will be all over after this weekend at least' Lily said, trying to stay positive.
The first round of ten duels would take place in the hall on Saturday, to be followed by a second and final round of ten duels on Sunday. When the weekend finally arrived, the Great Hall was set up with the help of the entire board of staff; even Hagrid was there with his temperamental wand trying to get some decorative banners to stay floating in the air. A long, thin stage where the duelers would fight was placed in the middle and stands- much like the ones surrounding the Quidditch pitch- were set up lined against the walls on either side.
Lily took a seat next to Lysander on the stands as the hall filled with excited students. Those who had entered and were keen to be challenged to a duel did not climb up the stands but rather milled towards the edge of the stage, in the hope that being within the duelers direct line of vision would give them a better chance of being selected.
As the official organizer and judge Professor Raleigh sat in a very high wooden chair which towered over the stage at the centre of the hall. The sight of him in such a domineering position sent a shiver down Lily's spine.
He cleared his throat, called for everyone's attention and began to read out the rules from a roll of parchment.
'The first dueler shall be decided through a drawing of lots. Thereafter, that dueler shall challenge one other student to a duel. The winner of that duel shall then challenge another student and so on until twenty bouts have been fought and we are left with one victor'
Lily could see James with a look of determination on his face down in the fray of students eagerly edging closer towards the stage.
'The winner of a duel will be decided in one of two ways; either the losing dueler admits defeat by stepping off the stage or they are physically subdued by their opponent to a point wherein there can be no doubt that they are no longer able to fight back'
So all those stunning spells James had been mouthing to himself during breakfast should probably come in handy then Lily though wryly.
'In the latter case the judge shall call an end to the duel' The Professor finished, rolling up the parchment. With a flick of his wand he then levitated a silver goblet towards him which appeared to carry a number of pieces of parchments with the entrants names on them.
As he reached inside the goblet, the hall went silent in anticipation. He picked out a folded up piece of parchment, unfolded it and read;
'Lucy Weasley!'
The Ravenclaws burst into applause for their favorite. Lily saw her red-haired her cousin make her way up the steps to the side of the stage and into it's centre, below Professor Raleigh.
'Choose your opponent Miss Weasley' the Professor directed.
Lucy scanned the room, thinking her choice over silently. After a few moments she said;
'Miss Sally MacDougal, if you please Sir'
The Slytherins cheered as whispers of excitement broke out amongst the other houses. The competition had only just started and already two of the favorites were about to battle it out.
A/N: Hi everyone, sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger! Please do let me know what you think in the reviews and if you've got a theory, who you think will win the dueling tournament!