"Think you can sit up?" the Healer asked Erin. Rose's best friend gave a slow nod, pushing herself up on the hospital bed.

It was a relief to see that Erin already seemed much stronger than she had the day before. Her movements were still a bit stiff, but her mind had cleared up. She still couldn't remember the last year, but she was able to hold conversations like normal. And the bursts of pain she'd been having were fewer and much less severe.

Despite the fact that it was a Saturday, Rose was currently the only other person in Erin's room. Most of this was due to Erin's wishes. She'd been overwhelmed with all the concerned looks and questions she'd received from her family members. They hadn't taken her assurances that she was fine and that they didn't have to hover seriously until Dean had come in to tell them he felt comfortable doing a memory restoration procedure on her the following day.

It wasn't until now, after her parents and siblings were gone, that Erin let her strong exterior crack. Not entirely, but enough for Rose to know that this was more difficult for her than she'd been letting on.

"Deep breath," the Healer requested, checking over Erin as they'd been doing every few hours throughout the day. Rose would know. She'd been there since she'd been allowed in that morning.

It had been a long and sleepless night for Rose, tossing and turning in her old room at her parents' house. Going back to an empty flat had seemed an impossibility. Instead, she went back to her childhood home with Hugo the night before and had only stuck around long enough that morning to say goodbye to her brother. It was strange to think he'd be at Hogwarts the next day and that she wouldn't.

It was a sad thing to think about, but it was easier than some of her other options.

"Rose?"

Her attention snapped to Erin at the call of her name. "Yeah, do you need something?" asked Rose, standing from her seat by the window to approach the bed. Erin gave her a grateful smile before nodding in acknowledgment at the Healer who told her she'd be back to check on her in a few hours before leaving.

"You said you brought some socks?" Erin asked. Rose nodded, moving back to the bag she'd packed for Erin earlier in the day and digging through it.

"Are you cold?" Rose asked.

"A bit," said Erin. "These hospital gowns aren't exactly cozy."

Rose grinned, grabbing a few other items from the bag before approaching Erin. "Here," she said, dropping leggings and a jumper onto the bed as well as socks. "I doubt you'll get in trouble if you change."

Erin gave Rose a grateful smile, which turned curious as she grabbed the jumper. "This must be new," she commented. "I don't recognize it."

Rose looked more closely at the dark green jumper, realizing with a bit of trepidation where it came from. "Oh," she said, trying to play it off like it wasn't a big deal and hoping Erin wouldn't ask too many questions. "Nana Molly made that. I think it's Al's."

Erin's eyes widened in surprise, but rather than commenting, she looked down at the sweater and nodded before slowly standing from the bed. Rose made her way across the room to shut the door before coming back and assisting Erin, who seemed a bit embarrassed to be receiving help with such a simple task but needing it enough not to protest.

"Are you still hungry?" Rose asked as Erin climbed back into bed.

"No," she said, sighing as she leaned back into the pillows on her propped up bed and busied herself with rolling up the cuffs on the jumper. Erin continued to rub the material between her fingers when she was done. She looked contemplative and maybe a little nervous as she lifted her eyes to meet Rose's. "We're together, aren't we."

It wasn't a question, but Rose let out a deep breath and nodded, hating the look of pain that crossed Erin's face at the confirmation.

"It smells like him," she said, her voice thick with emotion as she continued to fiddle with the jumper. "I remember what he smells like and I remember that I love him and I know I didn't know any of that before, but that's it. I can't remember how or why."

Rose sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to give Erin's leg a comforting squeeze. "That's something, though," she encouraged. "It means not everything's gone, and the rest is going to all be sorted tomorrow."

"What if it isn't?" Erin asked, wiping at her eyes as tears threatened to fall. "What then?"

"Then…" Rose began uncertainly. "Then I'm sure Al would be more than willing to fill you in on everything you missed."

"Really?" she asked, the word coming out sarcastic and harsher than Rose expected. "When? It's not like he's been by to see me all day."

Rose cringed, knowing Erin was well within her rights to be upset about this. She was actually quite disappointed in her cousin for this as well, but in a way, she understood.

"I'm sure he wants to be here, but you know Al," she said. "He's shit when it comes to dealing with his emotions. Especially the ones that aren't easy."

"Like this is easy for me?" Erin said with a scoff. "And yeah, maybe I do know that about him, but there's apparently a whole lot more that I'm supposed to know that I now don't, and it would be great if he could stop being a prat and just bloody get over it."

Rose sighed, understanding Erin's frustrations but unsure if there was a way she could make them better. Unless she went out and found her cousin and dragged him to the hospital by the ear.

"Whatever," said Erin dismissively, sniffing and wiping at her eyes once again. "I noticed you and Scorpius were holding hands yesterday. You two finally together?"

And there it was. The thing she'd been avoiding thinking about since she'd gotten out of bed that morning. Her night had been spent tossing and turning, thinking if she could've said or done anything differently while trying not to cry. She'd only mostly succeeded.

But there was too much there to really tell Erin about. Especially since she didn't even have the whole backstory. It would take hours, and neither of them could afford a sleepless night.

"Yeah, we are," Rose said simply, doing her best to not let her feelings show on her face even as her hand went up to fiddle with the necklace she wore almost every day. The one he'd bought her on their first sort-of date.

"Why hasn't he stopped by, then?"

Rose hesitated, but soon realized she probably had a very good idea where he was. "He's with his family. It's complicated, but they've got a lot going on right now."

Erin nodded, not seeming too entirely convinced but not asking questions either. "And Molly? Why was she here yesterday?"

"She's dating Ethan," Rose said with a grin, enjoying the gobsmacked look this news earned from Erin.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. "How long?"

"Just since the beginning of the summer," said Rose. "Though they wrote letters all last school year."

Erin nodded. "Right. Because Ethan wasn't there last school year. Because we graduated."

Rose could only nod as Erin took a few deep breaths, calming herself as she adjusted to her new reality. A reality that Rose hoped was temporary.

"I'm trying to decide how much I want you to tell me," said Erin, the words slow and thoughtful. "Because if whatever they do tomorrow works, I'll know anyway. And I'm not sure how much I can handle learning right now."

Rose gave her a small smile, moving off the bed to sit in the chair next to it. "You can ask me anything you want, but you definitely don't have to."

Erin smiled gratefully, but it was fleeting. "So," she began after a brief hesitation, "we ended up getting a flat together? Just like we planned?"

Rose nodded. "Just like we planned."

The fact that at least something had gone according to her plans seemed to bolster Erin's strength a bit. "And everyone else in my family is - wait." Her mind seemed to whir for a bit before she looked at Rose in confusion. "There was someone else here last night. I was a bit too preoccupied to really think about it, but I've got no clue who he is."

Rose thought for a minute, trying to figure out who Erin was talking about before it hit her. "Oh, that's right!" she said, surprised she'd forgotten herself. "That was Malcolm Bray. He's Charlotte's older brother and he's the new Muggle Studies professor. And he and Alice have been together since...well, I'm not entirely sure how long. It was a bit complicated."

Erin's mouth was now open in shock. "Ally's actually dating someone?" she asked, her expression turning hesitant a moment later. "Wait, he's a good bloke, right? Because the last one-"

"Yes, he's brilliant," Rose assured her with a smile. Erin let out a relieved sigh at this news before continuing to ask Rose an assortment of questions, whatever fears she'd had about being overwhelmed outweighed by curiosity for the time being. Most of it was about her family, or Rose and her family. Rose couldn't help noticing that Erin steered clear of anything that actually had to do with herself. Or Al. And Rose didn't really blame her. It would be a bit unnerving not to mention depressing to hear about so many things you'd done or experienced and couldn't even remember.

It had been about an hour since they'd been left alone by her family and the healers when there was a soft knock on the door. Their conversation had moved on to simply reminiscing about the years at Hogwarts that Erin remembered, but they fell silent in anticipation as they watched the door slowly open. It was Rose who let out a slightly disappointed sigh when they caught sight of who had arrived. Albus stuck his head through the crack in the doorway, looking a bit uncertain as his eyes glanced between the two of them.

"Hey," he said, fully entering the room but staying by the still open door. "Am I interrupting or-"

"You're fine," said Rose, glancing at Erin to make sure she was fine. There was a bit of color in her cheeks and she'd gone back to tugging on the sleeves of her jumper - Al's jumper - but she definitely didn't seem opposed to his presence.

"Good," said Al, giving Erin a quick but nervous smile before focusing his attention on Rose. "Can I have a word?"

Rose nodded and stood, giving Erin an encouraging smile before heading out of the room. She looked back in surprise when she heard Al tell Erin that they'd be quick. And then Al was moving out into the hall and closing the door behind him.

"I thought you wanted to talk to Erin," Rose said in confusion.

"Yeah, I do," said Al a bit nervously. "But I need to fill you in first."

"Okay," said Rose, folding her arms and scrutinizing her cousin. He looked exhausted. "Maybe start with where you've been all day?"

"Ministry," said Al. "With what happened at the Malfoy's yesterday, it's been a bit all hands on deck. There've been other incidents with a lot of similarities in recent months, so they've been building a case and they're cracking down even harder now. Dad's...begrudgingly letting me in on it. Most of the trainees have been helping look through the incident reports, actually. I figured I couldn't really be of much help here," he said with a shrug, "so I might as well do everything I could to be useful elsewhere."

Rose nodded but couldn't help disagreeing. "She's wanted to see you all day, though," she said softly. "And I know this isn't easy for you, but it's terrifying and confusing for her."

"I know," said Al, the words almost a sigh as he rubbed at his tired face. "I know, and I'm probably not handling this well, but do you think anyone would?"

He had a point there.

"Look, we need to talk about Scorpius," said Al, his tone turning serious. "Have you seen him?"

Rose looked down and shook her head, not really wanting to talk about it but knowing they probably had to. "He wasn't too happy with me last night. I didn't exactly agree with his view of things when it comes to Theo."

She heard Al let out a muffled curse but kept her gaze focused on her shoes, willing herself not to panic about her relationship or do something embarrassing like cry.

"Has he been with you at the Ministry?" Rose asked. "Did he say anything?"

Looking up, she hesitantly glanced at her cousin. He had his lower lip between his teeth and was staring at the ceiling with his hands on his head as he shook it. "No. I haven't seen him all day either."

"Oh," said Rose. "Well, I suppose he's with his parents."

"He isn't," said Al, who sighed and rubbed at his face again. "Fuck, I was really hoping you'd know where he was."

Panic surged through Rose at his words. "What? What do you mean? Where is he?"

"That's the point, Rose," said Al. "No one's seen him. Not since he left the hospital last night."

It had started out as a simple plan - prove that Theo didn't have any part in all of this.

He'd then quickly realized that, as he had no idea where Theo was, that was a near impossibility.

As a kid, he'd had dreams of tracking down his godfather, putting together clues and showing up on Theo's doorstep in a surprising and impressive fashion. Now, however, he was realizing how difficult of a task that would be. They'd done a bit of work on investigative skills in his short time as an Auror trainee, but that came more with experience than anything else, and that was something he didn't have yet.

Rather than going back to his shared dorm with Albus after leaving the hospital, Scorpius had wandered the streets of London, attempting to clear his head. Theo hadn't lived in London for ages, and Scorpius only had vague ideas as to the other places he'd stayed. He'd spent time in Spain, Italy, and Morocco, because he'd brought things back from those places for Scorpius when he was a kid. But that had been a while ago. He hadn't been up front in a long time about where he was living or traveling to.

Scorpius shoved the part of him that realized how suspicious this was to the deep recesses of his mind.

Well, seeing as he didn't know where he'd been last, the best place to start would probably be the last place Scorpius knew for sure he'd lived.

Thankfully, Scorpius knew the person who still lived there.

With determination in his stride, he made his way to the Leaky Cauldron, where he quickly took the Floo to Nott Manor.

The home was a bit smaller than the one he grew up in, but in some ways more grand. This was due to the fact that, while his mother preferred a rather understated decor, there was nothing subtle about Pansy Nott.

Scorpius only had a moment to take in the frilly drapes and elegant lounge chairs before a House Elf entered the room and gave him a slight bow.

"Master Malfoy," the elf said in a young and squeaky voice. "Is Mistress expecting you?"

"No," said Scorpius, checking the clock on the mantle. "And I know it's late, but is she around?"

The elf nodded. "But Mistress was just going to bed. She is not liking to be bothered by Lolly when she is going to bed, sir."

Scorpius sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, I normally wouldn't ask, but it's important, Lolly. Please?"

The House Elf hesitated for a few seconds, her big, round eyes looking nervous before she was gone with a crack. Scorpius took a seat on the least fancy looking piece of furniture, trying to formulate what he was going to say as he waited. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long before he heard the sound of heeled shoes coming down the grand staircase he knew was right outside the sitting room. He stood to greet his host and wasn't at all surprised by what he saw when she entered.

Pansy Nott still had her dark hair fancily done up, beautiful jewels still in her ears. She was wearing a silk robe over a matching silk nightgown, heeled slippers lined with fur on her feet. While she'd never been the most beautiful woman in the world, there was still something striking about her appearance. His mother had once said that she'd matured into her features, looking better with age. It had been a few years since Scorpius had seen Pansy, and he found he had to agree with his mother as she took him in, her rather regal features scrunched up in confusion as she appraised her late night guest.

"Scorpius, is everything all right?" she asked. "What happened to your face?"

"Oh," said Scorpius, his hand going to his injured jaw. "Right, yeah, it's been a bit of a long night. Someone broke into the Manor."

"What?!" she asked, her voice shrill in outrage and a bit of fear in her stance as she clutched at her nightgown. "What on earth for? What happened?"

"We don't know, and they attacked Erin Longbottom right before I showed up looking for her. They left after taking a blow at me as well."

Pansy shook her head, her arms crossed and her hands gripping her biceps as if to hold herself. "That doesn't make any sense. Surely Draco has all sorts of protections in place."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't good enough, apparently," said Scorpius, growing frustrated the longer they spent not discussing what he'd come there for in the first place. "Listen-"

"But surely your enchantments have been compromised," she continued, looking a bit panicked now. "I mean, otherwise it would have to be someone who already had access-"

"We know, Pansy," Scorpius cut in. "The Aurors are working on it and I'm sure they'll be checking in on all the other possible at-risk homes so you'll probably hear from them soon. But that's not why I came."

For a moment, she looked like she was about to argue with him, but he breathed a sigh of relief when she sat herself on one of the chairs instead and watched him expectantly.

Scorpius remained standing in front of her and paused for a moment before deciding just to be blunt about it. "I have some questions about Theo."

Unsurprisingly, this made Pansy's eyes widen in surprise, but she was scoffing and standing a moment later with her hands on her hips. "If you came over here at one o'clock in the morning just to ask me about my ex husband, you're more of an idiot than he is."

"Pansy, please," said Scorpius. "I've got no clue where he is and they think he's got something to do with all of this. I just need to find him and straighten this whole thing out."

Pansy raised an unimpressed brow at him. "And what makes you think he's innocent?"

Her question stunned Scorpius, but he should have been prepared for it. While Pansy didn't really like much of anything or anyone, she especially didn't like her ex husband. She probably believed him capable of just about anything.

"Look, just help me, please," said Scorpius. "I know you hate him, but he means a lot to me. And I'd rather find him before the Aurors do."

Pansy gave an unamused snort. "I might not be Potter's biggest fan, but I do know he's got that department whipped into pretty good shape. If they're really looking at Theo for this, it won't be long before they come asking me questions too, and they've got a lot more resources at their disposal than you do."

"I know," said Scorpius. "Which is why it would be great if you could tell me anything you can."

With a resigned sigh, Pansy resumed her seat, and Scorpius sat across from her. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything that can help me find him."

Pansy fiddled with her earring and thought for a moment, her lips pursed. "I really don't think I know much of anything that will be of use to you. I don't know where he's been living or much about what he's been doing. Everything I can tell you would simply be guess work at this point."

"Okay," said Scorpius. "When was the last time you saw him?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "He showed up here drunk off his arse a few weeks ago. I didn't let him stick around very long and he was babbling on about fixing things. Which he'll never be able to do."

It somewhat amused Scorpius the intensity with which Pansy insisted on her negative feelings for her former husband. Almost as if she were convincing herself it was how she felt.

"Nothing about where he was going?"

"Nope. Just that he'd be back. And before you ask, he didn't say when."

Scorpius sighed. "Okay, well, do you know who he might have told? Is there anyone else who might know something?"

There was a pause as Pansy seemed to contemplate not what to tell him, but whether or not she should. "I'm probably going to regret this," she said in hesitation, "but there's two people you could talk to."

Finally feeling like he had some hope, Scorpius sat forward, listening intently as Pansy took a deep breath and braced herself.

"The first is Simon Vaisey," she said. "I know they used to do some work together and from what I've heard, they've kept in touch. I have his sister's address if you'd like it."

Scorpius nodded. "That would be great. And the second?"

Pansy paused again, her hesitation and obvious distress a bit unnerving. And Scorpius understood her reluctance a moment later.

"That would be your uncle. Blaise Zabini."

A/N: a little shorter this tome but at least I updated! I got a little distracted writing some oneshots that I'll probably post soon but I figured it was about time I get this out there first. Thanks for all your lovely reviews! They seriously are very appreciated.