The Auror department was quite busy for a Sunday. Not that Albus really knew what it was usually like, but he had to assume this wasn't normal.

The day before had been a hectic one as well, but Al welcomed the chaos. It kept him occupied and distracted from things he knew he really shouldn't be ignoring. But that was how he'd always handled things, so what was the point in changing now? Especially considering the thing he was ignoring was one of the last things he'd ever imagined having to deal with. The frenzy of the Auror department was a welcome distraction. Invigorating, even.

Or at least it had been.

They'd only noticed Scorpius' absence when Al and the other trainees who were helping pour over the case files had finally taken a break Saturday evening. They'd gone to the cafeteria to grab dinner when Isaac had asked where he was.

"He was in the hospital last night," Zoey said with a raised eyebrow. "You expected him to be here after that?"

"I thought he was fine?" Eden asked Al. He'd sighed, realizing he was no longer allowed the luxury of not thinking about Scorpius, which came with a healthy dose of guilt at the moment.

"He is," he said with a shrug. "He's got a lot going on, though."

Everyone else had taken this excuse with nothing more than a few shrugs and inquisitive looks, but then Al had been unable to shake guilty thoughts of his best friend.

He'd checked their rooms first, but it didn't look like he'd been back there at all. The Manor was still partially a crime scene, but he'd been able to Floo over, only to find that neither of the Malfoys had seen Scorpius since they'd left the hospital the night before. Astoria had Floo called her sister, who hadn't seen him either, and Al's final destination had been to check with Rose.

They'd both tried very hard not to panic after that.

Al hadn't even gone in to see Erin once he realized his best friend truly seemed to be missing, returning to the Ministry as quickly as possible to fill in his dad. The official plan was to wait until Sunday to see if he showed up. It was always possible he was just blowing off steam or getting some air. But as the hours crept by and Sunday morning turned into Sunday afternoon, Al was growing agitated.

"Dad?"

Harry only glanced up from his desk at his son standing in his doorway before going back to the parchment the Head of the Auror Department was talking him through.

"And these are the only ones that fit the profile we established?" Harry asked. Auror Davis nodded.

"It's fewer than we thought," said Auror Davis, her eyes alight with determination as she took the list back from Harry. "Should make it easier to narrow down who might've had access to all locations."

"Right," said Harry, standing and following Davis as she made her way towards the door. "And tell Garrett he needs to get his team ready to go."

She nodded before slipping past Al and out into the busy Auror bullpen. Al barely wasted a moment as soon as he had his father's attention.

"Can we start looking for him now?"

His dad sighed and nodded. "That's what we're having Garrett's team do."

"Good," said Al, crossing his arms and meeting the knowing look on his dad's face with determination. "I'm going."

"No, you're not."

"Dad-"

"Trainee Potter," Harry snapped with a warning tone. "First year trainees do not go into the field when they've only been on the job for a month. Especially when they have a personal stake in the case. Are we clear?"

Jaw clenched and gaze stony, Al gave a jerky nod. He'd known his dad took his job seriously and was supposedly the best Auror to come through the Ministry in decades, but it hadn't been easy for Al to transition to seeing him as his superior. And he didn't see it getting any easier if his friends kept ending up in danger.

"Look," said Harry, his tough exterior softening, but only slightly, "I understand that you're upset, but just because you're my son, it doesn't mean you can fight me on things. I don't want to ever have to write you up for insubordination, and seeing as you told Scorpius our suspicions about his godfather when I specifically told you not to, you're already on some shaky ground. He probably wouldn't have run off if you hadn't and we wouldn't be in a situation where we have to send a team of Aurors looking for him. He's likely to get a suspension if he's been off doing what I think he's doing."

Al felt thoroughly chastened as shame and guilt welled up in him. "I'm sorry."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "I know. Just think before you act, yeah? I know you're smarter than this, and when you're ready, you are going to make a brilliant Auror, all right?"

Al nodded, still feeling a bit beat down but thankful that his dad knew how to combine his constructive criticism with encouragement. He was about to go back to trying to make himself useful when his dad rested a hand on his shoulder and steered him further into the office, closing the door behind them. His expression was much more caring when he spoke next.

"How's Erin?"

Al's heart clenched in his chest at the question, his breathing immediately becoming shallower as the one thing he'd been trying so hard not to think about came screaming to the forefront of his mind. And he felt shame fill him once again as he answered. "I don't know."

Harry quirked a brow in question. "What do you mean? I thought you went to see her."

"Well, I planned to," Al explained, avoiding his father's eyes and scratching nervously at his jaw. "But I talked to Rose and got distracted by all this stuff with Scorpius."

"So you haven't seen her since Friday night? Al-"

"I know, all right?" he snapped at the judgmental tone in his father's voice. "I'm being a shit boyfriend but I'm too scared out of my fucking mind to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to do this."

His hands were shaking as he linked his fingers together and rested them on the top of his head. He stared at the ceiling and tried to get his panicked breathing under control. The sound of his father sighing and then moving around the office barely registered, until he heard the Floo lighting up. Al tilted his head down to watch as his dad stuck his head in the flames, waiting uncertainly for him to finish. When he did a few moments later, he stood and dusted off his knees before facing Al.

"She's having a procedure done to help reverse the effects of the memory charm in the next hour. You should go."

A gush of breath left Al as he dropped his hands to his sides. "How... who were you-?"

"St. Mungo's," said Harry, shrugging and folding his arms. "I told them it was related to an ongoing case and they were happy to relay the information. But they'll probably start prepping her soon so you need to get over there now."

Fear rippled through Al. Not just because he was scared that things were changed forever, but because he had no idea what to say to the girl he'd lost his heart to a long time ago. Especially if she had no idea she had it.

The future he'd imagined for himself had seemed so certain, and in the blink of an eye, it wasn't. And what if he now never got a chance to even try to have it? It scared him more than he thought it would. He had no idea how to cope with this type of fear.

"Dad…"

He didn't realize he was close to tears until his vision became cloudy. And then he was sniffing and pressing his fingers against his closed eyes. But he couldn't stop the sob that escaped him as he felt the familiar arms of his father wrap around him.

He hated the fact that he was crying for the third time in the past forty-eight hours, but he couldn't help it. His emotional and physical exhaustion were keeping him from holding much of anything back at this point.

"You love her, yeah?" his dad asked. Al could do nothing more than nod his head as a sob escaped him. Harry gripped him tighter.

"It'll be fine," his dad said, one arm around Al's shoulders and the other on the back of his head as he let his son cry against him. "She still knows you, and I'd bet she still loves you too. I've seen enough of magic to know that a poorly cast memory charm isn't nearly enough to make someone forget what's in their heart."

Al drew in a few rattling breaths, the amount of love he had for Erin threatening to overwhelm him. Even if she didn't remember the last year, she had seemed comforted by his presence. Maybe his dad was right.

"Of course, you'll never know if you don't go and talk to her."

Al gave a hollow chuckle, feeling calmer despite his remaining fear as he pulled away. He wiped at his eyes and let out another deep breath before reluctantly meeting his dad's gaze. The wise green eyes sparkled with understanding behind familiar glasses, and Al could only nod gratefully when Harry offered to let him take his office Floo.

"Don't get used to it," he said with a pointed look as Al took a handful of the powder. "These are extreme circumstances, and I can't have people thinking I'm giving you special treatment. Teddy didn't get any, and you won't either."

Al finally managed to crack a slight smile as he threw the powder into the flames. He was about to step in when someone knocked on the door.

They both watched as the door opened and Teddy walked in leading Blaise Zabini, composed and smartly dressed as ever, but his hands fidgeting with a briefcase in agitation.

"Potter," he acknowledged Harry with a nod, his eyes turning to Al and then repeating the gesture before focusing back on the Head of the DMLE. "I hear you're looking for my nephew?"

Harry's furrowed brow lifted in surprise. He glanced at Al, who'd stepped back from the flames and had every intention of putting his plans to leave on hold. Harry hesitated only a moment before turning back to their visitor with a sigh, and Al let out a relieved one of his own, grateful that he wasn't being sent away.

"We are," said Harry as Teddy closed the door, remaining in the room. "Do you have information?"

Blaise nodded. "He came by to see me yesterday around one in the morning."

"What?" asked Al in shock.

"But we spoke to your wife last night and she said you hadn't seen him," said Harry with a warning glare at Al.

"She didn't," said Blaise, "but she was unaware that I had."

Harry nodded. "Any particular reason you're just telling us this now?"

"Yes," said Blaise, and he resumed his nervous fiddling with the briefcase. "I also hear you're looking for Theodore Nott Jr.?"

There was a tense pause, and then Harry nodded again. Blaise let out a resigned sigh. "Perhaps it's best if we do this privately," he said with a pointed glance at Al.

"Not happening," Al snapped, but the look that his father shot him was becoming a little too familiar, and he knew there was nothing left to do but back off.

"Go to the hospital, Al," Harry said firmly. "I'll fill you in on what I can later."

After a few seconds of glaring at both of them in frustration and receiving an encouraging nod from Teddy, Al stepped into the still burning flames.

"Wait, so you're telling me that Theo might actually have something to do with this?"

It had taken immense effort for Scorpius to voice this question, but with everything his uncle had told him over the last half hour, it was one he could no longer avoid.

As soon as Pansy had told him that his uncle might know where Theo was, Scorpius Flooed to the home his aunt and uncle shared, straight into his uncle's office. Blaise Zabini was sitting at his desk and looked up in surprise at his nephew's sudden appearance.

"Scorpius," he said, checking his watch before looking up at him in confusion. "It's after one o'clock in the morning. I thought you were going to come say goodbye to your cousin tomorrow?"

"Yeah," said Scorpius, surprised for a moment at the reminder that it was now technically the last day of August. "I came to see you, actually."

His uncle looked at him in surprise for a moment before gesturing to the chair across from him and going back to the parchment on his desk. Scorpius waited patiently as Blaise made a few final marks with his quill before setting it aside and giving his attention to his nephew. His open and expectant expression turned to one of concern as he noticed the bruise on Scorpius' jaw.

"There was a break in at the Manor and I showed up in the middle of it," Scorpius said before he could even ask. "I'm fine, and Erin Longbottom was there at the time and she's mostly fine. The reason I'm here is because there've been quite a few break ins at old and wealthy wizarding homes and the Aurors have got it into their head that Theo is somehow involved."

He stopped to catch his breath and scrutinize his uncle's reaction. Blaise Zabini wasn't the warmest person, but he'd never been unnecessarily cold. He was, however, stoic and unreadable as he listened to Scorpius.

"I see," he said when his nephew gave no indication that he planned to continue. "I imagine that's a bit difficult for you to comprehend."

"Because it's not true!" Scorpius snapped. "I know Theo, all right? He wouldn't harm anyone."

"I agree," said Blaise, nodding and holding up his hands in a placating way. "I don't believe him capable of ever directly or intentionally harming anyone either."

His phrasing didn't sit well with Scorpius. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's just that I could say the same about any of us Scorpius," Blaise said calmly. "I don't believe you're capable of hurting anyone, but can you tell me that you never have?"

A guilty swoop went through Scorpius' stomach as the look on Rose's face as he walked away from her only a few hours ago flashed across his mind. But he brushed it aside. His words might have hurt her, but she'd hurt him as well. And now wasn't the time for him to sort any of that out.

"Look, I didn't come here to discuss your philosophies on life," Scorpius said impatiently. "I'm trying to find Theo. I have no clue where he went when he left town a few weeks ago."

Blaise's brow rose in question. "And you think I do?"

Scorpius nodded. "I went to see Pansy. She didn't know where he'd be, but said some bloke named Simon Vaisy and you were my best bets."

As his uncle nodded with his face pinched in contemplation, the feelings of confusion and even hurt Scorpius had felt when Pansy first said Blaise's name came sneaking back in. He knew that his father and uncle and godfather had all known each other in school and had grown closer once the war ended. Their closeness had remained up until Theo and Pansy had divorced, beginning the season of life they were now in where Theo only showed up when he pleased. And if Blaise and Theo had remained close as the years wore on, Scorpius had been ignorant of it.

Blaise continued to sit in silence, and Scorpius did his best to remain patient as his uncle studied him. What was he looking for? An ulterior motive? Was there a reason Theo lived under the radar? Would he be in some type of danger if people knew where he was?

Whatever the story was, Scorpius was now convinced that his uncle knew something. He just hoped he'd be willing to give up whatever information he had.

"Uncle Blaise, please," he finally said. "I just need to find him so we can clear this whole mess up."

Blaise stoically held his gaze for a few moments longer, but then all the rigid tension left him as he sighed and slumped back in his seat. And fear settled in Scorpius' gut as his uncle looked at him apologetically.

"I've always questioned why your father was never more upfront with you about all this," Blaise began cryptically. "Then again, I'm not even sure how much Draco knows about Theo's more recent...endeavors. Still, with what's been going on lately…"

He trailed off and looked at Scorpius uncertainly.

"Just tell me," Scorpius said with a sigh, resigned to whatever he was about to hear.

Blaise nodded, his expression regretful as he began.

"How much do you know about Theo's father?"

The story that Blaise had then proceeded to tell left Scorpius in grieved disbelief and confusion. Theo's father had conducted shady and even disgraceful business his whole life, some of which had been started by his own father or even a generation before. It included a number of dark practices and the buying and selling of goods and creatures that, much to Scorpius' frustrations, Blaise refused to discuss.

"I'm protecting you and Theo by not telling you," his uncle had insisted. "And he doesn't do everything his father did. He kept it all going at first, but I truly believe that it was more out of a sense of duty as well as feeling like he had no other option than any type of belief that what he was doing was in any way right."

He went on to explain that while Theo was involved in whatever business his father had left behind upon his death, Blaise was convinced that Theo wasn't the one now pulling all the strings.

"I've helped him with fudging some of the legal stuff over the years," Blaise admitted. "And no one knows about this. Not your aunt or your cousin or even your father. Theo came to me after the divorce before he left the country. Pansy had been doing a lot of the work on that end for him, so she's not as innocent as she pretends to be. Once their marriage was over, he needed someone else to help him get past all the Ministry restrictions on international trade. I'm not proud of everything I've done, but it's done. And I actually haven't been in touch with him since he left."

Scorpius shook his head to try and clear his overwhelmed mind. "So...so this Vaisey? He's involved with all this too?"

Blaise nodded. "But he left London as well, last I heard. They're pretty much equal partners at this point, but like I said, I have a feeling there's someone else that Theo is answering to, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's in some hot water with whoever it is. He seemed pretty skittish the last time he left town, like he was having to watch his back and that was the main reason he was leaving."

"Okay," said Scorpius uncertainly. "I still don't see how any of this has anything to do with the break in at the Manor."

There were a few moments where the only sound was the crackling of the fire in the hearth, Blaise watching Scorpius with pursed lips. "Back when he was working primarily out of London, Theo had access to a lot of the old Pureblood homes throughout the U.K. I'm not sure how, but he did. He even did a lot of his moving of goods through them. And if he really feels like he's in trouble with whomever is pulling the strings, I wouldn't be surprised if he's trying to clear up some evidence."

He couldn't believe it. There was no way that he'd been the one to not see things clearly. That sticking up for his godfather had been a mistake. That he'd been blinded by the trust he'd mistakenly placed in Theo Nott.

"Wait, so you're telling me that Theo might actually have something to do with this?"

"Yes," said Blaise. "I doubt he's done any of the breaking in himself, but his involvement is something I wouldn't be surprised to learn about."

Scorpius swore under his breath and buried his face in his hands. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He stood abruptly from his seat, unable to sit still anymore.

"Scorpius?"

"You need to go to the Ministry," Scorpius said abruptly. "If they find out you were involved with all this...it could get messy, okay? They're looking really closely at Theo and it would be best for you if you just came forward with everything."

He didn't wait around to hear a response from his uncle. It didn't matter to him that his original understanding of the situation had changed. His conviction to find his godfather and fix this mess remained. If the Aurors were looking for Theo, there was no telling what type of force they'd use to bring him in if he resisted. If Scorpius could find him and fix this before that happened, he would. And he had one more lead to follow.

A/N: Only a day later than I'd hoped to post! hope you enjoyed. I've finally been able to get ahead in this story and I'm very excited to share the next few chapters with you in the coming weeks! Thanks as always for reviewing and favoriting and following! I've had some wonderful support that has meant so much to me.