16
"What do you want Potter?" Scorpius growled under his breath when Al sat next to him at the Ravenclaw table. There was hardly anyone in the Great Hall for breakfast yet as it was fairly early but they kept their voices down anyway.
"I wanted to apologize," Al replied. "I shouldn't have said those things last night."
"Which ones? The things you said about my family or the part where you tried to manipulate me into helping you?"
"Both," Al replied solemnly.
"An apology's only good if you back it up with actions," Scorpius returned. "If you still plan on helping Strange then anything you say is meaningless." Scorpius hesitated a moment before continuing and when he did, some of the anger and bitterness had gone out of his voice, replaced with pain. "I'll also have to turn you in too, eventually," he said. "You're my friend, the first friend I had here. Aside from the half-giant but adults don't really count. But if I have to turn you in to stop this, I will."
Al took a deep breath and sighed. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about…"
Scorpius turned a suspicious eye away from his breakfast toward Al. It took a moment but eventually a look of realization dawned on Scorpius's face and he turned his full attention on Al. "You already did it, didn't you?"
Al nodded. "My dad personally came to take him away last night. The unspeakables confiscated his research and the time turner and are looking for ways to safely destroy it."
"What changed your mind?" Scorpius's eyes narrowed in suspicion again. "Did you think that maybe you'd still get your fame and recognition anyway if you turned him in? Were you going to tell the world that you caught him all by yourself?"
Al flinched. Scorpius's words stung but they were all the more painful because the thought had crossed his mind. Before he'd confronted Strange, he'd considered turning him in for the glory of it, for lack of a better phrase. Strange had known too.
"No," Al answered. "No one will know it was me who turned him in, except a few. Besides, it would be kind of awkward to explain why I didn't turn him in sooner, given I've known what he was up to for about a week." Al's attempt at levity fell flat and Scorpius's expression turned genuinely inquisitive.
"Then why?"
"Because of what you said," Al replied.
"What I said?"
"I still think that it would have been better to try and reintegrate the worlds before now, maybe even back in Grindelwald's day. Maybe the statute shouldn't have even been established. But that's all in the past. I don't know if Professor Strange's device would have ever worked like it was supposed to, but I know that what he wanted to do was wrong. Not because it was illegal, but because it was reckless. Going back to help Grindelwald could have easily changed history for the worse." When Al finished, he turned to face his friend once more. Scorpius's expression was thoughtful but otherwise, Al had no idea what the blond boy was thinking. "So, er, thanks," Al said lamely. "I'll just go back to the Slytherin table now."
Al stood from the table but Scorpius's hand on his wrist stopped him. "I forgive you," Scorpius said softly when Al met his gaze. "But next time you get it in your head to do something that seems even borderline evil Al, for Merlin's sake, consult me first."
Despite the obvious seriousness of his plea, Scorpius cracked a smile that Al couldn't help but return. "Yeah, I'll do that," Al replied.
Hope you guys enjoyed this. Please read and review and as for the Easter-eggs. I included one from the Netflix series "Dark" (Winden) as well as a couple from the "Anguis" series by Slide (Midnight Press, storming of Azkaban). It's a really good HP fanfic series and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it.
Until next time.
-Pandalien
