While everyone else was attempting to track Riley down in order to find the three kidnapped children, Lucius gathered up those who had been left behind at the asylum to question them.

Sophie Buckand was the newly employed receptionist. She was young, naive and apparently oblivious to what had just gone on at her workplace. She was a gum-chewer, and the loud smacking of her mouth drove Lucius nearly into insanity.

"Those children walked in here on their own, Mr. Malfoy. I don't know what happened after they went through those doors. I'm not allowed in that section of the building."

The cafeteria cook was much older and moodier. He wasn't as cooperative either. Copper Wild shot off insults at Lucius for forcing him to sit down in a chair so that Lucius could ask him questions.

"And everyone wonders why Riley does what he does! You wizards think you can bully us just because you have magic! You wait, Lucius Malfoy! Our turn is coming, and when it does, I'm coming after you first!" He then spat in Lucius's face.

Cringing, Lucius wiped off the foul splatter and refrained from cursing the man with a spell. Instead, he muted him so he could talk to the next one.

It was strange for a house-elf to stay behind. Usually, they were the first to scatter— unless their master ordered them to stay behind. Juni was a pudgy little creature with pink eyes, something that was unheard of for their species. Juni squirmed in his assigned spot, wringing his hands nervously.

"May I ask why you did not escape along with the other house-elves?"

"Juni had no time, sir. Everything happened so fast! Riley promised to help Juni, but now Juni doesn't know if he was tricked!"

"What did he promise to help you with?"

"Juni can't cast magic like the others. Riley said he could fix that. Riley told Juni that Juni will be magical very soon."

"What happened to your magic?"

Juni lowered his head. "Juni never had any magic, sir…"

"You were born without it?" Lucius had never heard of such a thing with a house-elf.

"That's why Juni's eyes are pink!" Juni pointed to his right eye. "It marks my disability!"

"Do you know where Riley could have gone?"

"No! He never told Juni that he was going anywhere! He left Juni all alone! Juni shouldn't have trusted him!"

"I will not argue with that," Lucius agreed. "Listen, he has kidnapped my grandchildren, and I would appreciate any assistance from you."

Juni ears flopped. "I wish I knew, sir! I really do, sir! But I don't! I assure you, sir, I've only been a patient here at this asylum. Juni had nothing to do with those children!"

Lucius nodded. "I believe you."

Juni's jaw dropped in surprise. "You do?"

"I can't see you being…" Lucius stopped himself from saying "useful", not wanting to offend the helpless creature. "being much of an assistance to him."

"Juni couldn't do much, no. But it didn't matter, Riley has all the help he needs. That book is about all he needs."

"Book?"

"Yes, the book. He uses it as a guide."

"Do you know the title of it? Who wrote it?"

Juni shook his head. "It's not a published work, sir!"

"No?" Lucius wondered, confused. "What kind of book is it then?"

Juni whimpered quietly. "If I tell you, I might get in a lot of trouble! I'm not supposed to know about it!"

"I will personally see to it that you will be kept safe from any harm," Lucius promised. "I am only trying to get my grandchildren back. I have no other intentions."

Juni momentarily thought on Lucius's offer. He shifted uneasily before he made his decision. "Okay, sir. Juni accepts your deal. I'll tell you what I know about the book."

*/*

Simon stirred awake, soaked in a pool of sweat. He sat up, breathing hard, trying to remember what he had been dreaming about. It had been terrifying. Someone had been crying, and he remembered that he could do nothing but watch, unable to help the person in need.

He held his head in his hands, shaking the fading thought away. The nightmare wasn't real, so there was no need to torture himself over it.

He pulled the covers off of him, shivering as the cool air invaded him. Something moved near him, and he tumbled out of bed, crawling away from the hovering creature near him.

It was a ghost! A bloody ghost was right above his bed right now! It wasn't a human one though, instead, it was a tiny, colourful, transparent bird, and it was chirping in a frenzy.

Simon shielded his head as it flew toward him, thinking that it was going to attack him, but all it did was chirp louder.

"You can see me again!"

Simon lowered his arms down to look at the ghost who eagerly flapped her wings to stay in flight.

"You have no idea what a relief this is, Simon! There is a lot going on that you need to know about!" Her voice was soft and calming, reminding Simon of an early primary school teacher or perhaps even a character in a children's television program.

"I… don't remember… you?" he said slowly, searching his mind for the ghost bird.

"I was just able to speak to you in your sleep; you remembered me then, and even acknowledged that you and your friends are in severe danger!"

"Friends?" Simon didn't have friends. None that he remembered, but then again he had lost his entire memory recently, so he wasn't going to remember anyone. "What kind of danger?"

The ghost lowered herself down to rest on Simon's knee. "You have to try to remember yourself, Simon. I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You must make your own opinion about it. I cannot persuade your thoughts, I can only guide you."

"Then you're like Jiminy Cricket? And I'm like… Pinocchio?" He wrinkled his nose over the thought of him representing a wooden puppet.

"I'm you katu—"

"Gesundheit."

"No, Simon, I didn't sneeze! Katu is the type of spirit I am. It'll all come back to you later. Right now, I need you to focus on the nightmare that you just had."

"I don't want to," Simon grumbled.

"I know it's hard to understand right now, but if you don't remember your friends, something bad is going to happen to them! Something really bad!"

"I don't remember having any friends," he said with a sigh.

"But you do have them, and if you don't save them, you'll never have another one! Your future depends on this!"

"How do you even know what's going to happen to me?"

"I'm your Katu. I see things before they happen, but I also see things that could happen if the right choices aren't made— I'm here to ensure that you make those right choices."

"I'm dreaming," Simon suddenly declared. "I'm not really a wizard, that magical man from last night isn't really my dad, and you're not actually here. This is all just a dream." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking that if he wished himself awake, all this nonsense would disappear.

When he opened them back up, the ghost bird was hovering right in front of his nose. Simon tossed his head back with a groan.

"This is all real," the ghost told him gently. "Please try to remember us."

Simon thinned his lips. He grunted. He didn't really want to, but it was evident that the ghost wasn't going to give up until he did. "Fine," Simon muttered his defeat.

"You heard crying in your nightmare," the ghost immediately started. "Focus on that. What type of crying was it?"

Simon pressed his eyes closed, thinking on it. "A child's cry?" he wondered to himself.

"Why is the child crying?"

"She's scared," Simon decided after a moment. "The child is a girl, and she's scared." He shuddered. For some reason, he could understand her fear.

His eyes grew wide then, and he abruptly stood up, clutching his chest. "No!" he whispered, afraid to speak any louder.

"Where did all these disgusting things come from?!" a woman shouted at him.

"I— I don't know!" Simon wailed out. He jumped backwards, feeling a tiny, slimy body touch his leg, but upon looking down at the ground, he saw that nothing was there.

"I didn't mean it!" Simon pleaded. "Honest— no please don't!" He sank to the floor, balling himself up into a bunch, protecting his body from a swing of a baseball bat.

"Simon?" the ghost spoke out after he had stayed in that position for several moments.

"They didn't understand me!" Simon said through a sob, terrified of the vivid memory during his time with the Morgans. "I didn't understand myself."

"I know. I remember having to watch what they did to you."

"I don't want to go back there!"

"You won't have to," Huldah told him. "You'll never have to see them again."

Simon lifted his head to look at his katu. He smiled slightly, in heavy relief. "I remember you now," he announced with a sniff.

Huldah did an excited backflip. "That's wonderful! Do you remember anything else?"

"I'm not sure…" he said slowly in thought. A boy's face flashed into his mind, and the memory of nearly hitting him came back. Simon had been so angry when he had been accused of stealing the mirror.

"Why would you think that I would want your mirror. How vain do you think I am?"

"It's not that type of mirror, and you know it," the boy told Simon bluntly. "Have you seen it or not?"

"Are you're accusing me of swiping it?!" Simon snapped, jumping up from his bed and balling up a fist, threateningly, ready to connect it with the boy's face. "I'm really getting tired of you, sunshine—"

Sunshine…

"You remember something?" Huldah asked hopefully.

"A boy," Simon mused. "A boy I call sunshine. Ugh, he made me so angry!" Simon balled up a fist, narrowing his eyes.

"But you did steal his mirror, didn't you?"

Simon loosened his hand up, sighing. "I was hoping it would help me find my dad."

"What else can you remember?"

"Sit down, please."

Simon sat down on a bench outside of the common room. He wasn't up to hearing the lecture that the Slytherin prefect had prepared for him, but prefects had a higher authority and Adrian would likely go to the head of Slytherin should Simon act up any further.

He surely didn't want to be kicked out of Hogwarts and go back to his "home".

"You are a Slytherin," Adrian started gently. "That automatically makes you family to every Slytherin in this school. And while families fight and they have their fueds, in Hogwarts, we respect each other and their things. We do not make public disturbances amongst ourselves. Understand?"

"I do," Simon acknowledged.

"Good," Adrian approved, and he took a seat next to Simon. "I'll admit, Scorpius's goodie attitude can get on your nerves, but he means well, and if you have a problem, he will help you with it— we all will. You just have to ask us, we're here for you, Simon."

Simon nodded, eager to get this uncomfortable speech over with. He was taught at an early age that the only person he could rely on was himself.

"Now go apologize for taking his mirror, and take a moment to listen to what he has to say. You have a decent brother in your life now, all you got to do is accept him— and no more stealing!"

As Simon watched Adrian walk away, he grunted to himself, not at all willing to apologize to that ruddy ray of sunshine, but by the time he had seen that dumb boy again, Simon had realized he had been in the wrong and recalled how horrible he had felt when he accidentally broke Scorpius's precious mirror.

"Scorpius!" Simon gasped out, and all at once the memories of his best mate came flooding back. His chest felt crushed from the wonderful memories of Scorpius— the kindest person he had ever known. Scorpius protected Simon. He had helped him numerous times. Scorpius had stood up for Simon and had even saved his life!

Simon covered his face up with his hands as a stack of emotions overwhelmed him. All those memories, the good and bad, were back.

"I remember the nightmare clearly now," he announced. He still had his face buried into his hands. A sob escaped him, and he pulled his trembling hands away from his face to look at Huldah. "My dad," he whispered, horrified with the memory. "He was choking my friend!"

"You can save them, Simon!" Huldah told him. "Only you can stop Riley from further harming people!"

"How? He's so much stronger than me!"

"It just appears that way, but that's not at all true, and if you don't do something now, more bad things will happen, especially to Scorpius."

Simon trembled, fearing for his friend. He couldn't think clearly, so he sat in his spot, sobbing hopelessly. "How?" he cried. "I don't know how! I barely know any spells! I can't attack Riley!"

"There are other ways to stop people from doing bad things than to fight them. Hasn't Scorpius taught you that yet?"

Simon wiped the tears from his eyes, and he nodded. Scorpius absolutely hated fighting. Still, Simon didn't know how he could stop Riley.

He stood up and walked to the bathroom that was connected to the room he was in to clear his nose. After crumbling up the tissue to throw it into the toilet, he noticed that the water in the toilet bowl was flashing green.

"Scorpius," he said under his breath. "That's Scorpius's light!"

Huldah, who had followed him into the bathroom, was perched on the bathroom vanity. "It sure is! Maybe you should follow it," she suggested.

Simon made a face. "How?"

"Some wizards teleport by flushing themselves down the loo."

"What?!" Simon shrieked. "That's completely disgusting! Do they even care about what gets flushed down and into those pipes?!"

"I'm sure that they do," the ghost replied indifferently. "But the way I see it, it's your only way to Scorpius."

Simon huffed at the idea, but if this would reunite him with Scorpius, he really had no other choice.

Carefully he stepped into the bowl of green water, hissing as the cold water instantly soaked through his socks. He reached over, took in a breath and pressed the flusher down. He closed his eyes when he started spinning in circles, and he had to pinch his nose shut when he felt himself being sucked down into the pipe, surrounded by very cold water. Thankfully, the ordeal didn't last very long at all, in just a matter of seconds, he was being pushed out of the pipe, and thrown into another bathroom. It took him several moments to recover from his claustrophobia.

"Ugh!" Simon shuddered in disgust. "That was the most revolting thing that I have ever done! I smell like toilet water!"

"Well, you do have your wand," Huldah reminded him. "You could easily fix that."

Simon pulled the sopping-wet shirt from his skin and took out the wand that was tucked in a magical pocket made specifically for wand storage. He quickly dried himself off and applied a cologne so that he smelled better.

"Simon?" a voice gasped, making Simon jump back.

"Talli!" he breathed out in relief. They hugged quickly before he asked about Scorpius.

"Come on!" Talli took his hand and pulled him out of the bathroom, leading him to an adjoining bedroom suite.

"Simon!" Scorpius croaked out, standing from a tiny table. He smiled weakly before the boys met up together for a hug.

"Oh, Merlin, he really messed you up, didn't he," Simon noted grimly when they separated. Scorpius's neck was blackened with an ugly bruise.

Scorpius rubbed his neck with a wince. "Yeah," he said softly. He couldn't speak too loud, else it caused him pain.

"That's not a natural bruise," Talli informed worriedly, sitting down at the table. She had a plate of food in front of her, but it looked to be untouched.

"Yeah," Simon agreed, eyeing it over. "Riley did this with magic." His eyes fell to his feet.

"Because I wouldn't mind him!" Talli added, her voice cracking. "He's going to kill Scorpius unless I do what he wants!"

"He won't hurt Scorpius anymore," Simon assured her sternly, setting a hand to her shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."

Talli looked him in the eye as tears pooled into her own. Her bottom lip quivered. "Scorpius told me who Riley really is," she whispered in horror.

Simon set his jaw. "He is my father."

"And…" Talli paused, tucking her lip into her mouth, unsure if she wanted to go on. "He killed his own wife."

Simon closed his eyes, nodding slightly. His stomach suddenly felt queasy as the haunting memory of his very own father slitting the throat of his beloved mother invaded his mind.

"We've got to get out of here," he said shakily, swallowing down a threatening sob.

"We're trapped," Scorpius informed. "And my amulet doesn't seem to be helping us right now."

"Well, it lead me to you," Simon told him. "And, I've got my wand."

"He let you have your wand?" Talli asked in surprise.

"Riley wants to make up for lost time," Simon explained. "He plans to teach me the rest of my magical education."

During this time, Scorpius had been silent as he felt the sides of his robes, and a moment later, he pulled out his own wand. This caused Talli to do the same.

"Did he purposely let us keep our wands?" Talli wondered, knowing Riley liked being in absolute control.

"They did seem useless against him, so why would he feel the need to take them?" Scorpius pointed out.

"Magic works around him now," Simon informed, and he told them about the night before when Riley showed him some spells.

Talli made a quick Lumos spell to test to see if her magic was working. When the tip of her wand lit up, she jumped up from the table. "I've got an idea!"

The boys followed her to the bathroom where they crowded around the vanity, standing in front of the mirror.

"What are you going to do?" Scorpius asked.

"Before I learned that I was a witch, I used to watch Mum and Dad do all sorts of spells. I was so envious of magic, I wanted to know everything about it. So when I finally did learn that I was a witch, I knew plenty about spells. With little effort, I mastered the simple spells quickly— that's how I got high marks in school this semester— anyway, I was there when Dad was creating his two-way mirrors. I'm wondering if I can do it too but with this mirror instead."

"Wouldn't you need to have each mirror in your physical presence?" Scorpius questioned her idea.

Talli tilted her head, considering his question. "Perhaps," she agreed slowly. "But we've got nothing to lose with trying."

"What mirror are you going to try and connect this one to?"

"Well," Talli thought on it. "I think one in the Manor would be best," she said, speaking about her grandparents' home. "They have lots of house-elves there, so the odds of connecting to someone would be higher than a mirror in our own home."

"What if Riley has cameras here like he did at the asylum?"

"I think he would already have presented himself if that were the case. He did say that he had had little time in preparing our current location."

"Besides," Simon spoke up, "he would be more curious as to why I was holding a conversation with myself while I was talking with Huldah."

The three shared a nod, considering themselves safe from being filmed with Muggle technology before Talli went to work. It took her a bit since she had to search her mind for the memory of her father's two-way mirror charm, but surprisingly, she was able to connect to the mirror in the foyer of the Manor.

"Can anyone hear or see me?" Talli spoke into what was now a visible tunnel. The home was still. No one was around. She let out a sigh of disappointment. "I guess it could take longer than I was hoping."

"Leave it open," Scorpius instructed. "Perhaps someone might notice the tunnel that you have made."

"Yeah, surely when one of the house-elves go to clean it, they will notice that there is no reflection!"

"What should we do in the meantime?" Simon asked.

Talli shrugged. "I doubt Riley will be happy if he sees us all together…"

"Yeah," Scorpius said slowly. "He might get angry."

"Your amulet led me here though," Simon explained. "So I'm supposed to be with you."

"What do you suppose he'll do if he catches you here?" Talli asked.

"I'm not sure," Simon said. "He's not someone I want to upset." The others agreed with Simon here.

"Maybe we should try to eat," Scorpius suggested.

Reluctantly, Talli led the way back to the table where breakfast was awaiting them. Riley had also provided some for Scorpius to eat.

As the three shared the prepared meal,Talli and Scorpius told Simon what had happened that morning when Riley came to their room.

"I dreamt about it," Simon said with a shudder. "It was awful! I think it helped me get my memory back though."

"Now you know what I go through nearly every night," Scorpius added, speaking about his own nightmares that he channels from Simon while he sleeps.

"Least we are all in our right minds," Talli pointed out. "Though, who knows for how long, if Riley can help it."

"It's nice to have our wands too," Scorpius said, gripping his tightly.

Talli thoroughly chewed her bite of food as a look went across her face.

"What is it?" her brother asked.

She got up from the table, holding out her wand and made her way to the door of the suite. "Alohomora!" The three gaped at one another when the lock on the door clicked. Talli reached out, grabbed the knob and turned it, pulling the door open.

They inched out into a hallway, quietly listening for any movement or voices. It appeared to be deserted. Quickly, they tiptoed up the path, each holding out their wand.

Simon watched as Huldah took the lead. "I'll check up ahead," she announced to Simon, disappearing around the corner that was up ahead.

Simon led the others, able to communicate with the katu, with Scorpius in the middle. Talli was last in the line, and she closely followed her brother, looking over her shoulder every so few seconds.

Huldah returned back to them shortly, informing that there was a deserted exit up ahead. They picked up their pace, eager to make their escape. They huddled around the door that Huldah had spoken about and Simon turned its knob, hoping that it wasn't locked. As soon as the door pulled open, a loud, obnoxious alarm penetrated their ears.

They knew their chances of escaping were slim, but they made a run for it anyway, heading straight for the overgrown brush that was surrounding the estate. When the alarm abruptly stopped they all dropped into the foliage to hide.

"Don't move," Scorpius whispered. He was panting quietly, closely watching the large home that they had just emerged from, looking for any movement.

"He knows we're gone!" Talli said tearfully.

Simon said nothing. He suddenly got an eerie feeling that was starting to become a normality for him. He quickly looked away from the home, clamping his eyes shut. He shook his head, trying to shake the urge to look back.

"No!" he cried out.

"Shh!" Scorpius scolded him.

Simon puffed out a breath, fighting an inner battle. He curled up into the grass, rolling himself up into a ball. "I don't want to look!" he whispered.

"What's wrong with him?" Talli asked.

Scorpius looked at his friend then back at the building, remembering what Simon had recently said to him. He crawled to Simon, setting a hand to his chest.

"You're okay," he told Simon.

"I don't want to see anymore!" Simon wailed. "Make it go away!"

"I know," Scorpius said softly. "It's hard, but you have to be quiet right now. Alright?"

Simon began shaking violently. "I can't hold it back anymore!"

Scorpius nodded and prepared himself for whatever sighting Simon may have. He took his amulet off his neck and cupped it into Simon's hand.

"Here," he offered. "See if you can transfer it into the amulet."

Simon immediately went still, and his breathing slowed. A bead of sweat trailed off of his forehead.

"I'm ready," Simon announced, slowly sitting up. His eyes locked onto the building.

"What's he doing?" Talli asked in a murmur.

"He gets visions from structures, and he's having one now."

Talli gave a single nod, and they watched Simon closely. The teenager made no movement. He didn't even blink.

"What'd you do to my son?!"

Both Talli and Scorpius jumped a mile, and they huddled together upon seeing that Riley was standing nearby.

"Wait!" Scorpius made to stop Riley from disrupting Simon. "He's fine! Let him be!"

Riley pushed Scorpius away. "He looks traumatized!" He pulled Simon up to his feet. "Simon?" He tapped the teenager's cheek to bring him out of his trance. "You best hope he's not damaged!" he snarled at Scorpius. "I'll kill you! I will!"

"He didn't do anything to Simon, you creep!" Talli cried out. "He'd never hurt Simon!"

"Simon?" Riley knelt down to Simon's level. "My son, are you alright?" He brushed back the boy's curly hair, giving him a good look over. Then he straightened back up, looking dumbfounded. "He's a seer?" Riley mused to himself.

Talli was gripping Scorpius's shirt, watching the man closely, trembling in fear.

"It's alright," her brother said softly, intently watching the scene.

Simon was stirring from his trance, and he finally blinked, wetting his dry, irritated eyes. He looked up at the man before him who was smiling.

"You're okay!" the man breathed in relief. "Why didn't you tell me you were a seer?!"

Simon squirmed from Riley's hold and stepped back from him. "I'm not a seer," he lied.

Riley chuckled. "Simon, I have worked around seers for over two decades, I know that look when I see it."

Simon shook his head. "You're mistaken then," he firmly said. His hand twitched, and Riley's eyes shifted toward the movement.

"What's this?" Riley snatched the amulet from Simon.

"Give that back!"

"This doesn't belong to you, son." Riley then turned to Scorpius. "What would Simon need this for, sunshine?"

"I was attempting to heal him," Scorpius answered without a thought.

Talli shrunk back when Riley's eyes addressed her. "Your brother is lying to me, isn't he?"

"No," she answered with a squeak.

"Mmhm," Riley hummed out doubtfully. "Someone better tell me the truth before I get very angry, and by now, you all know that no one wants me to lose my patience. Right?" He gave them all each a look.

Simon heaved out a defeated sigh. "Your parents abandoned you, didn't they?"

Riley looked at the building that the kids had ran from. "That's what you saw?" He didn't remove his stare as he asked the question.

"You were born without magic, and they were ashamed of you."

The man forced a swallow. "You saw this just now?" His voice had cracked a little.

"Yes," Simon simply confirmed.

Riley's head tilted. He was now looking at the ground, evidently ashamed of his being born a Squib. "What else did you see?"

Simon shifted his feet uncomfortably, and he shared a look with Scorpius. He stiffened his stance. "That you killed my mum."

Riley's head snapped up to look at Simon. His eyes were wide. "Who told you that?!"

"I saw it." Simon's welled up with tears. "I see it every time I try to sleep!" His voice was steadily rising as he became angry. "I watch as she chokes on her own blood— every night!"

A sob escaped Talli, and Scorpius gently squeezed her hand, attempting to comfort her.

"Why did you do it?! Why did you kill my mum?!"

"Now just a minute—"

"NO!" Simon shouted out, making the man jump a little, surprised by the sudden outburst. "You wait a minute! Now I'm am tired of your lies!" He took a calculated inhale to calm himself. "I want to know why you killed my mother."

"She wanted me to—"

"That's rubbish!"

"No, Simon, you have to believe me. I swear! Your mother, she was a strange woman! She believed that she was an absolute servant to her curse! If I hadn't had done it—"

Simon turned away from him, pulling at his hair. "You wanted her dead!"

Riley stepped toward Simon, setting a hand to his shoulder. "You've got it all wrong, Simon—"

Simon twirled around, smacking Riley away and pointing his wand at the man. Tears rolled down his cheeks. "Stay away from me, you murderer! Just stay away!"

Riley rose his hands up. "Simon, your wand is useless against me. Alright, son? We should just go back inside and talk about this. I'll explain everything."

Simon shook his head. "Don't call me your son," he said darkly. "You are not my father."

"Damnit, boy, you're going to listen to me!" Riley lost his cool, and he flung his arm to release a spell, but nothing happened. He tried again without success. "What's happening?!" Riley asked, horrified that he couldn't cast the spell that he wanted to.

Scorpius, Simon and Talli grouped up, all pointing their wands at Riley, separating themselves from him.

"What are you thinking?" Riley asked. He actually sounded a bit worried.

"Will our magic work on him now?" Scorpius asked Simon.

Simon shrugged, clueless of the answer. He cast a simple binding spell that brought the man to his knees.

"You little shits!" Riley snarled when he couldn't break free. "Release me now, and I'll forget everything!"

"The potion must have worn off," Talli suggested.

"Let's get out of here," Simon said, not wanting to be in close-proximity with Riley for any longer.

Riley laughed. "You think because I don't have magic that you're free to go?! Aren't you just adorable! You've forgotten one thing— Connie!"

And just like that, their small moment of freedom was gone. Connie threw a magical net onto them when she apparated, wrapping them up tightly together. She then released her master from the spell that Simon had bound him up with.

"When will you learn that you are no match for me?" Riley asked, triumph returning to his voice.

"Probably never," Scorpius muttered a response.

"Alright, Connie, take them inside," Riley ordered simply and turned on his heel, leading the way back to the large home.

Connie lifted the group with levitation, and they floated after Riley, trapped in the net.

"Her magic is too strong," Simon announced after trying to cancel the house elf's magic.

"I wish Mum would find us," Talli whimpered.

"She will," Scorpius assured her.

Once inside, Connie lowered them to the floor and removed the net.

"Connie, I'm going to have my talk with Simon. The other two aren't needed, you may lock them back up— separately." He sent Scorpius and Talli each a look, daring them to argue with his statement, but they both knew that now was not the time to raise an outcry.

When the others had been escorted out of the room, Riley pointed to a desk. "Sit."

"I don't care to hear what you have to say," Simon announced, squaring his shoulders.

"I have little use for Scorpius anymore, so if you wish for him to remain among the living, I suggest that it would be best not to further test my patience."

Reluctantly, Simon approached the desk and dropped into the chair. He ran a hand through his hair. "Let's hear it then."

Riley removed a book from his robes and set it onto the top of the desk. "This was your mother's diary. She wrote her sightings into it."

Simon slid the book over to him and opened it up to read the first entry. The handwriting was fairly messy, and after a little struggle with making sense of it, he realized why; his mum had been just a young girl when she had started writing in it:

May 1st, 1983

I got a vissin today. Dayshaun said I shood rite it down. I thout he had a good idea. He rites all his vissins in his book and sometimes he will read them to me. So hear is my vissin. We wont spend the holidays with grandpa this year. We will go to a beach instead. That sounds fun but its to bad that grandpa wont be with us. I wonder why.

"It starts off slow, and then as each year progresses, she adds more and more to it," Riley explained.

"How does this have anything to do with you?"

"She knew of me before we even met." Riley leaned over and flipped a dozen pages before tapping one. "Read that."

The writing for this entry was incredibly squiggly, looking as if Simon's mother had trouble writing whatever was on her mind.

January 22nd, 1991

I didn't have a good day today. It happened in Potions class. While I waited for Nackerbelt to grind up the snake teeth that we needed to continue our brew, I looked into the cauldron to make sure that it was turning purple as Professor Shape had explained in his lecture. What I saw was not a potion brew! I saw something awful. I saw something horrible! I saw something that I wish I hadn't seen!

I had a vision of myself being murdered! I'm going to be murdered! I just can't believe it! My entire future has suddenly come crashing down! I don't even know what to think right now! My hands are shaking, I can't even eat! My stomach is a wretched mess!

And that's not even the worst thing! The man who is going to kill me is the same man that I will eventually marry!

Oh, how am I going to follow through with this life path?!

Simon swallowed hard. To think his mum was still a student when she had this vision. He could feel the fear in her penmanship.

"Why did you kill my mum?" Simon asked. He didn't look up from his mother's diary entry, the words of it blurred into his vision.

"She wanted me to."

Simon jumped up from his seat. "Like hell she did!"

"Calm down and listen," Riley told him softly.

Simon shook his head. A tear slipped from an eye. "You are a horrible being!" he spat out through a sob. "I don't understand how anyone can justify murdering anyone in cold blood!"

"That woman sought me out!" Riley countered. "She was completely delusional!"

"Right, so you killed her anyway!" Simon retorted with sarcasm. "To spare her the pain? Instead of just getting her the help that she needed?!"

"I did what she expected of me."

"In reality, you knew what you were doing to me was wrong, and you couldn't have her ruin whatever you were doing!"

Riley's lips pressed together. "That's not true—"

"You were working on the serum then, weren't you? What were you injecting me with?"

"How do you even know this?! Who told you? Was it Picket?"

Simon clenched his jaw, sending Riley a dark, accusing look. "I told you already, I dream about it! Every-bloody-night!"

"You said you dream about your mother's murder, not anything more."

"I dream about the event that led up to it. You come home one day, Mum confronts you about you using me as a lab rat, and then you ask where I'm at. She tells you that you'll never see me again, and then—" Simon turned away. He choked on a sob at the vision of Riley taking away his mother's life so quickly, so easily.

"You didn't notice something, son. In this dream of yours, does your mother fight me? Does she plead me to not kill her? Does she even look afraid that I have a knife drawn up to her neck? She was sick, Simon. If I hadn't had done the job, she would have done it herself."

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HER!" Simon bellowed out, grabbing the chair next to him and hurling it across the room. It crashed into a shelf where a bunch of figurines tumbled down and shattered upon hitting the floor. "You could have just gotten her the help that she needed! But you had other plans, and she would have gotten in your way!"

Riley laughed. "I suppose it doesn't really matter anymore. You're obviously going to believe what you want." He shrugged. "If I was in your place, I guess I wouldn't think any differently though."

"There's nothing you can say that would justify what you've done! You've murdered my mum and you murdered Lockberry! You've threatened my friend, and you've even threatened me."

"I wasn't really going to hurt you, Simon."

"Yes, well, you already have."

Riley's expression changed then. He looked wounded as if Simon's words had physically hit him. He shook his head. "Everything I've done was for us," he said softly.

"You've made piss poor choices, is what you did, and I don't want anything to do with you."

"Oh, now you can't mean that." Riley sounded hurt.

Simon folded his arms across his chest. "Just let us go back to the Malfoys. It's not right keeping us here, locked away from society."

"I can't do that."

"Can't? Or won't?"

"Well, both, I suppose."

"Fine, since you insist on being the arse of the century, take me back to my room. I don't want to see your face right now."

"Simon, please—"

Simon began walking away. "Where is my room?" he asked, ignoring Riley's pleas. "Is it down this hallway, I can't remember."

Riley heaved a sigh. "I'll show you."

The walk there was a silent, uncomfortable one. Simon stepped into his room and went to shut it, but Riley stopped him. He held out the diary.

"I want you to have this."

Hesitantly, Simon took it, only because it was the last thing he knew that his mother had possessed, and he was curious to read more about her.

"She cherished you, Simon."

Simon turned from Riley and sat on the bed. "You may leave now."

"For the record, I do have regrets. If I could change how I managed my life, I would. Especially how I handled you and your mother."

"If that were true, you wouldn't be holding me and my friends as your prisoners. You're not even trying to change. You don't care about anyone but yourself."

Riley left without responding to that, and Simon buried his face into a pillow to weep.


AN: Yes, this chapter was mostly in Simon's PoV, but I figured it was most appropriate to write it this way.

So, I sincerely hope all my readers are staying healthy during this whole virus mess that is affecting the entire world! Crazy, isn't it? I never would have thought that I would be alive through something like this. Amazing how things can change just overnight. I watched a video chat between Jason Issacs (Lucius Malfoy) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) on Youtube yesterday, and it's just so hard to see even celebrities thinking very much like the rest of us 'normal' people. If you want to watch it, it's on Issac's channel. He renamed it since yesterday, he's named it "Jason Isaacs Has No Idea What he's Doing". I thoroughly enjoyed the video chat.

Try to conserve those squares of toilet paper, and three to four ounces of meat is all you need in a serving (that's around 100g, IIRC). This hasn't really affected my lifestyle much tbh. I am usually stuck home anyway.

Review Responses:

chapou69: I don't blame you a bit, Riley is a piece of ugly work!

tmtcltb: Gonna try to cover a little Dramione in the next chapter. :)

cloakedauthor21: You are totally right! Hope your fingers aren't cramping from all the hanging on you're doing!