Chapter 33. Flying origami


He sat with Westlock, Nott, and Rose in History class.

Contrary to normal, he was not bored or annoyed out of his mind. He was not wishing he were elsewhere in the school. He did not even want to be outside playing Quidditch.

He was quite content sitting with his friends in History class, listening to Binns drone on about something-or-other and folding origami. They had quite a collection already since Rose and Scorpius had been folding origami all year with Bitz – they were basically professionals.

They showed the Nott and Westlock how to make a frog, a bird, and a fox. The simple animals. It was quite a contrast to the mastery floating around at the ceiling. Nott only folded one and then decided to be the responsible one in the group and pay attention to the lecture.

"Know how to enchant these to fly?" asked West.

Rose folded her paper, running her fingers along the edge to make it crisp. "No. Don't know anything about them."

"I think it's safe to say that Bitz folded them. All the origami around the school is from him since it only showed up after he arrived. But I don't know who charms them … one of Hogwarts's Great Mysteries," said Scorpius. He was working on a dog.

"I'm sure we could guess the charm," said Rose, focused on another fold. "We've learned a few locomotion spells. Combine it with a lifting spell … maybe?"

Westlock scrunched up his paper and threw it to the ground. "Sounds like something a seventh-year would have done before graduating. Prank the school."

"Weeeessstttt," Scorpius whined. "Don't scrunch your paper. Paper's more important than that." He stopped Westlock from grabbing a new piece. "Mistakes are okay – origami is about patience and respect. Bitz would chew me out if he saw you do that."

Westlock rolled his eyes, but bent under the desk to get the paper, pick it up, and smooth it out. He restarted.

"Maybe not a prank. It really looks nice," said Rose. "I'm going to ask Bitz later."

Class ended soon after and they all headed off to the Great Hall for lunch. Rose peeled off to fade into the walls as she normally did.

It had only been a few days since their big win and the school's biggest upset in recent times. Besides the Quidditch team, nobody from Hufflepuff really seemed to care that much.

"Meant to happen at some point," said a fourth-year in Gobstones Club.

"At least it was a good upset. Not a bad one, you know? They still demolished every team all year. Sucks that the game they lost was a semi-final game, but they'll win the next game. Next year's their year!" said one Quidditch fanatic in the library. The Hufflepuff team was still tutoring as per usual and all the players seemed more popular than ever. The support from the House was tremendous and Scorpius felt envious. Sometimes he wished more Ravenclaws cared about Quidditch.

Brawns blatantly ignored him in almost all their shared classes. It was as if Scorpius didn't exist, and he was fine with that. He only made one comment to him and Rose before Potions, "We'll dominate next year. This was a fluke."

Rose shrugged at him with a blank face and that seemed to piss him off. He left them well enough alone after that.

As much as the win seemed like the end of the season, all teams still had one last game. The game to determine Third and Fourth Place between Hufflepuff and Slytherin was happening on Saturday. The Finals between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was in two weeks.

It didn't quite seem real to Scorpius. He got Potter to pinch him twelve more times over the next week. Regardless of the rolled eyes and few punches instead of pinches, it was all real. Nobody was saying it was all a big joke – that he had been in a coma for a few weeks and was now waking up. That he had ingested more dust from the brain-eating plant and imagined their win.

He had some bruises on his arm for his folly, but it was all real. They had a break for a few days from the madness of Quidditch. Scorpius was enjoying the peace and quiet, letting his body recover. Rose had other plans that he spontaneously decided he wanted to join. He wanted to be part of all aspects of her life that she was willing to share … even if he had gone to bed at two am the previous night writing an essay for Transfiguration.

"I'm not forcing you to come. Stay here," she said as they walked down from the Ravenclaw Tower at the crack of dawn on Tuesday morning. She didn't look that well, so he was surprised she was going running still. He didn't know how he managed to get out of bed with all his muscles feeling like mush.

"Noooo. I want to go …I think. Why can't you go running in the evening?"

"I've already told you. I have a lot of energy to dispel right now and we don't have Quidditch to fill that void."

"You could run stairs."

"Too public. I don't like people. This'll be nice. Its springtime, everything is turning green in the forest. I have a well-worn path so there's no chance of getting lost."

Scorpius groaned and rubbed at his eyes. He'd been complaining non-stop about running from the tower to the forest and she didn't kick him to the side yet. Why was he ever curious about her life? It seemed like it was going to end painfully for him.

He was correct in that thought, he realized in the first five minutes of the run. Her starting pace was much too quick for him. He was not going to last an hour!

He tried slowing down slightly but she went ahead. "I'm not part gazelle," he called out. "You run way faster than I do."

She slowed down. "Right. Okay. I can run slow."

Scorpius made a face. He wasn't running slow. She slowly picked up speed again and Scorpius could feel the burning in his muscles – much earlier than he anticipated. "You're going fast again," he called.

She slowed down again. "Sorry. Don't even realise."

He nodded. He understood the desire to run and run and push the body. He didn't quite have her stamina at the ungodly hour with his half-asleep mind.

As it turned out, he ended up telling her to run ahead after another fifteen minutes when she started picking up her pace again. He needed to pace himself, or take a small break.

He ended up finding a nice lakeside spot with an eastern view of the sunrise and sat down. So calm … so peaceful. His breathing slowed.

Next thing he knew a hand was shaking his shoulder.

"Scorpius. Scorpius. We've got to get back to the school." Her face was sweaty and her breathing was quicker.

"Shit. What happened?"

"You fell asleep."

"Oh. Okay. Damn." He picked himself up and shook off. Rose nudged her head to the side and then they were running again. Just like that. What a weird sensation to immediately wake up and start running. Everything was processing.

Her pace was noticeably slower, but he wasn't sure that was specifically for him or not.

Quicker than he realised, he got into the ease of things. The little nap revitalized him. He didn't feel so tired. "So you're going to be a werewolf in five days," Scorpius said. "You've already started taking Wolfsbane Potion?"

"Started two days ago."

"Have you ever … found the recipe in a book again after third-year?"

"Not on school property."

"What's in it?"

"Didn't you ask the librarian for the book?"

"Ha. He made it seem like everyone and their owls were asking for it. I messaged a few Potions supply stores and it all seems to be on backorder."

Her eyebrows raised. "People are weird … I have a copy somewhere in the dorm. You can borrow it if you'd like."

He nodded in thanks and they continued onwards, arriving back at the school. They paused at the entrance.

"Straight to the kitchens?" he asked. Screw the shower, food was the priority now.

She took a breath and looked at him. It was a blank look, but her eyes were calculating. This look was reminiscent to the pre-friendship days.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. What was triggering about this?

"Yes … sure." Her voice was hesitant. Scorpius didn't say anything and led the way to the kitchens, looking back once or twice to make sure she was following.

It was still early for the students and kitchens were quiet. They loaded a tray of food and carried it over to the table.

"So I can't help but notice that you're going to more classes than you did before the newspapers went insane," Scorpius said.

Rose eyed the plate of food like it was vermin and picked up a piece of toast to start nibbling on. "No point now. I was trying to hide the werewolf gambit from everyone. Plus my parents may have been called to the school by the Headmaster and we may have had a meeting about how I'm a normal student now thus should be going to class more regularly."

"Shit. That's too bad."

"Yeah … I'll still skip class when I need. May have a few more consequences now when it's not before a full moon," she gave a toothy grin. Her toast was finished and she took the smallest nibble of a second one before setting it on her plate. She picked it up again to take another small bite by the time Scorpius had finished three sausages, two fried tomatoes, three hard boiled eggs, and a scone.

This was odd. Scorpius polished off another sausage in three seconds and she had another bite. She normally matched him and passed him for food consumption. Something was up. "Are you going to start talking or do I need to ask?"

She scowled at her food, nibbled at it, and set it down on her plate. "Wolfsbane makes me nauseous."

Scorpius scooped some honey into his tea. "Go on."

"If I eat food while I'm taking wolfsbane I usually throw it up or feel terrible after eating. Something in the potion hates my body. Sometimes I can manage a bit of food, especially when there's exercise around eating it. Most times it all comes up."

"How do you know it's the wolfsbane and not your body getting ready for the transformation?"

She curled one of her fingers around her confused hair and glared at her toast. "It's the wolfsbane, pretty sure. My … first transformation had to be free of wolfsbane because all first transformations have to and there's always a chance maybe I wasn't infected. Well I was. But I didn't get sick that week when I ate. I've been sick ever since, the day I start taking Wolfsbane."

That was curious. "Did you tell Professor Perdsmith?"

"Yes … but, I don't know. He kind of said there was nothing he could do. It's basically the only option for me, regardless of some of the side effects. A number of ingredients are very rare and expensive. There's no money or resources to modify the potion for one person."

"Well that's pretty bullshit."

She made a noise in her throat. "I can't say that to him. He's literally the person brewing a lifesaving potion for me. I have to have a lot of trust in him and what he brews … I hate it."

"I think I would hate it too." Now he really wanted to look at the Wolfsbane Potion to read the ingredients and see the process. He knew it was complex and that only the most skilled potioneers undertook it. Besides the scarcity of ingredients, how complex was it really? And maybe it wasn't actually that hard of a potion – but because of the human lives at stake, it meant that only professionals could undertake it because of the risk involved if something went wrong.

Rose looked at her toast again, picked it up and set it down. "I'm bloody hungry but my stomach is queasy. It's the worst feeling."

Scorpius felt guilty about the large amount of food he had consumed seconds ago. "All foods? Are some better than others?"

"Haven't experimented that much. It sucks puking everything up so I avoid as much as possible now. Bland foods seem better."

"That can't be healthy …"

"I already have a shorter than normal life expectancy as a werewolf. What's a few more years off that?" Her eyes were grim. Dark and stormy. She took another nibble.

"Have you ever heard of another werewolf experiencing the same with Wolfsbane?"

A soft snort came from her. "If we were anywhere else I would start laughing. And then die of my laughter."

"What?"

"You think I know anything about any other werewolves? It's all taboo," her voice started rising. "Everything's hidden and secret. Lives are secret. There's barely any information out there for werewolves that's public knowledge. Nobody talks about the 'small stuff' such as how Wolfsbane makes you feel, or how to pick hair out of your teeth after a transformation. I know nothing. Especially nothing in regards to being a non-male werewolf."

Scorpius felt like a complete idiot for asking, but he also knew nothing. "Have – have – I mean, there has to have been female werewolves in history? Right?"

"Maybe. Have I found any documentation? No. Nothing in the Hogwarts library. I've checked out a few magical libraries near me. It's possible – I just – I don't know. I don't know where to turn, where to look. Werewolves have been so ostracized and hated throughout history nobody has ever bothered to really document our lives outside the transformation aspects until recently. Lots on all the ways to kill werewolves, of course. Not much on daily life."

She started taking her frustration out on her toast, ripping it into tiny shreds. "I mean, there has to have been a few female werewolves in history, right? But even the Healers I've asked can't name any names, and just say, 'Golly-gee, of course there were female werewolves. Werewolves don't solely attack one gender.' Yet, there's no accounts. No brief mention in some obscure book. It's all about male werewolves and transformations. Even all the authors are men. It's as if women don't exist in this world."

"Why does history suck so much sometimes," Scorpius said, holding his tea close.

"Right! And I really want to know more about the biology. Have any werewolves been pregnant, is that even possible? That's nine full transformations while carrying a child! Did they still get periods regularly? Is there a biological reason why I can't drink Wolfsbane since it was made for male werewolves? Is getting sick with Wolfsbane common for anyone else?"

Her toast was demolished into small pieces and she stacked them into a pyramid. "Werewolves have been shunted to the edge of society and killed for so long without any cares, nobody around me can answer those questions. Did women even survive beyond their twenties in a male dominated society usually filled with more dark magic than normal … as they were most likely living in poverty … as they were actively hunted by all humans? It's ridiculous … our history. Thousands of years this has been happening, and I know nothing."

"I didn't quite realise there was an information deficit out there about werewolves. Probably rather naïve of me to lump all the genders together I guess … It's slightly more acceptable now than it ever was in history. I'm sure there has to be more information. Different country. Different language. Oral tradition. Something."

"Probably."

"Now that this is public, it may be more of a possibility than ever before … Would you want to be contacted?"

"No … yes … maybe." She looked conflicted. "Regardless … might be hard now – all my mail is being diverted straight home now since the story has gone public. There's been thousands of letters that include howlers and cursed objects so I haven't seen it." Her voice got quiet. "I hope to find a few people. As much as I wish no one to be cursed like me. It would be … nice to have that community. To see someone out of Hogwarts and living life."

He could understand that. He had a sudden thought and was now suddenly curious. "Do you want to have kids one day?"

She sighed. "You're really interested in actually being my friend and hearing all the terrible and weird things about my life?"

"Rose, we wouldn't have had a physical fist fight outside two months ago if it wasn't the case. We're like blood brothers now, but without the blood. And not brothers. So … not blood brothers really. Bad analogy. More like friends – regular friends, who don't take each other's shit but also listen to each other's shit."

And still, she was fighting with some inner turmoil in her mind. And he could really read it now. It wasn't expressionless. It was turmoil; her eyes gave it all away. The slight tensing of her hands. There was the smallest scrunch in her eyebrows. This was basically her norm. Scorpius didn't know where this came from, but he wanted to be there for her. Wanted to know everything. This inexplicable urge filled his chest. He wanted to tell her to trust him, and that he wouldn't betray her.

But he couldn't force her and they still had a long way to go for the trust to completely build up between them.

"I can't have kids."

"What do you mean?"

"I got my period for half a day for the first time three years ago. I haven't had one since. Besides the obvious reason, it's not possible to have kids."

"The obvious reason?"

"I'm a bloody wereworld you tincan. I already said there were a lot of unknowns and nobody knows if it's even possible. What if the kid was born a werewolf? That's a terrible fate."

Scorpius didn't really know what to say. He took a drink of his cold tea. "I really hope one day you'll find all these answers … it's ridiculous that you haven't yet and this curse has been around for longer than we really know."

He saw her swallow and look at her plate. "Do you want to have kids one day?"

That made him pause. "I … guess I do. I haven't thought about it at all to be honest. But it would be nice to have a small family one day. At some point, maybe."

She flicked over her toast pyramid and all the pieces went flying. "We're too young for all that anyway. We should get going. I'd like to shower before class. I'm not going to be able to eat anything so no point in staying longer."

Not like he was enjoying his cold tea anyway. That was the longest, deepest discussion they'd had to date. Rather incredible considering where they were a few months ago. "Want to go play chess on the roof instead of going to class?"

She gave a faint smile. "I want to be alone for a bit. But maybe after lunch."

The morning was rather silent for Scorpius. He had a hard time concentrating, thinking of werewolf-y things and thus did not feel like talking that much in class. What it was like to be a werewolf? What ingredient in the potion would react with her like that?

There had to be somewhere in the world with more information about werewolves – on a different continent, different language. It was a matter of finding it.

Westlock challenged him to an exploding snap game before Herbology and his mood lifted. Professor Longbottom was so nice. And he really like Herbology. It was a relaxing way to spend a few hours – potting, pruning, and harvesting magical plants.

They ran into Bitz on the hillslope and he shared the secret of the flying origami: Junior's spellcasting.

"Yeah he messed up a Charms spell and they have been living at the ceiling ever since. He's the one that keeps charming them around the school. I don't actually remember his spell."

Westlock looked amazed. "My little brother beautifying the school. That's so cool."

"Very. I wonder why he's never told anyone. I want to learn the charm so I can put my hundreds of origami animals around the school. My collection is getting too big."

Turns out it wasn't that easy to get the charm.

"It'll cost you Sour Gummy Worms, Lemon Sherberts, Licorice, Candied Peach Slices, Pepper Imps, Chocoballs, Sugar Quills, Acid Pops, and some Fudge Flies," Junior said smugly, counting off the items on his fingers. "It's a new spell. Can't share it that easily."

The rest of the week went by fast. Scorpius ended up playing many games of chess on the roof of the school on nice days and started organizing his notes from the beginning of the year as prep for finals.

Hufflepuff won their last game on Saturday, getting Third place overall in the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. It wasn't a surprise.

Luckily it was a Hogsmeade weekend. Astrid and Jazz joined their group to split the cost of the insane amount of candy and chocolate. Junior willingly gave over the spell when they gave him the collected goods.

Westlock brought his fingers together under his chin. "I'm so excited to unleash your creations on the school Rose and Scorp. Dibs on the chameleons."

Between him, Rose, Astrid, and Jazz they had a huge collection. They each picked a creature and a location to charm it. They set a flock of dragons in the back corners of the library. Some cranes in Greenhouse Five. Chameleons above some doorways. A few hippogriffs in the Hospital Wing. Astrid tried charming a snake to follow the Bloody Baron's ghost. Her spell went straight through the ghost and hit blue-haired Higgs the Slytherin Captain. The snake started following her and they all struggled to not make a sound until they left the vicinity.

Jazz almost keeled over she was laughing so hard when they got away safely.

It was soon to be May. Slowly but surely he was almost done his sixth-year. Quidditch would be done next weekend when they played Gryffindor in the finals. After that it was only class finals and then summertime.

Days were quickly ticking by faster than he could keep up.

On Sunday afternoon Scorpius was reading a novel in a window nook on the wall. Gold came up to him, put a stick in his book, and closed the book on him.

"Hey! What're you doing?" he asked, reaching for his book that was now in her hands.

She stepped back out of reach. Her brown eyes had a flash of anger in them. "Get up and go find Nott. He is bloody stubborn and won't find you himself. He needs you. Greenhouse Fifteen."

Why would Nott need him? They hadn't really talked recently but he wasn't sure if that was his doing because he was terrible with keeping up with people, or Nott avoiding him. Nott internalized most things and rarely opened up to him and West.

He left the school and went into the greenhouses. Professor Longbottom was near the front, hands in a pile of dirt and filling up small pots. He was always in the greenhouses. His knowledge of plants was astounding and Scorpius knew he didn't maximize what he could learn … maybe next year he'd spend more time in the greenhouses. He did love helping his mother at home and Longbottom was always looking for help and willing to teach what he knew.

"If you're looking for Nott, he's pruning some tomatoes in Greenhouse Fifteen." One of the food greenhouses; one they never went to in class.

It was a new world for Scorpius. He'd never even been to Greenhouses Ten to Fourteen. Longbottom suited him up with an apron and some shears.

"What's this for?"

"Cutting off suckers, picking ripe tomatoes. Nott will show you."

He tentatively snuck to the tomato greenhouse. It was earthly silent. It was humid and there was greenery all about. His heart was pattering and it felt obtrusive in this quiet place. Sunshine shone through the glass, catching some crystals and projecting a rainbow across the walkway. He spotted Nott halfway down a row. He was using a hover charm to get to the top of the plants.

Scorpius walked to the other side to face Nott. He picked ripe tomatoes until he figured out what Longbottom meant by cutting off the suckers from watching Nott.

Nott didn't really acknowledge him as he was pruning and cutting. Scorpius followed suite across from him. Nott would talk when he was ready.

"Aubrey and I come out here often. She's interested in growing food and gardening."

You don't need to explain yourself, Scorpius wanted to say. I'm not going to question you.

They made it to the end of the row, and then halfway up the next, Scorpius watching Nott swallowing repeatedly – his Adam's apple moving up and down.

Eventually he spoke.

"He was denied parole. Again."

He could be talking about numerous people, since there was a large portion of his family that had been Death Eaters currently in Azkaban, but Scorpius knew. It was his father. His father who had been denied parole once before.

"How do you feel about that?"

"I mean. He's a Death Eater. Deserves to rot away forever in a prison for the horrendous things he did when he was younger."

"Former Death Eater. That's an important distinction."

Nott focused on carefully pulling a ripe tomato off the branch and putting it in his apron. "My mum was really excited and hopeful. She wanted us to be a whole family again – not that we ever were before. But she was excited to eat meals together and go to the fucking park or whatever normal families do. I don't even know."

"I'm sorry to hear that he was denied parole."

"I'm not sorry. That's what sucks. I'm terrified of him. I don't even know him. He's been in there my whole life and mum and I have our routine down. I don't want him to come home … but part of me also doesn't want him to stay there. Mum's devasted over it. She says 'he's changed' and all … but I don't know."

"Are you going to visit him soon?"

"Mum's going when she can. I might later this summer. It's weird. I don't know what to think of any of it. I think he was really looking forward to coming home as well. He was talking about flying a broom again. Eating ice-cream. Basic things. Anyway. Death Eater fathers, hey? Fun times."

Scorpius squished an aphid between his fingers. "Fun times indeed. Good thing we turned out so normal considering the circumstances."

"I mean, I'm pretty normal. Not sure about you." Nott cracked a small smile.

"Whatever."

"Seriously though. We both are alright. And I mean I'll be fine. Mum'll be fine. Life will continue …" The light scattering throughout the greenhouse was blocked by a cloud moving over the sun. "Part of me wonders. If it would be better … or worse."

"Well, coming from one who has a Death Eater father figure. It comes with lectures all the time about making the right choice. Everyone thinking you'll turn out evil if you even accidentally sniff at something that could be questionable. Getting hit with a lot of easy jokes about Dark magic. Did I mention lectures? Also public shame and the feeling that everyone is watching you when in public. People expecting the worst all the time … did I mention lectures?"

"What right does my father have to lecture me though? You know. He doesn't know me, he doesn't know what I've been through. What if he gets out one day and thinks I'm a major screwup? Or doesn't want anything to do with me because I'm a failure."

"Then he thinks you're a screwup and failure and you move on. I wouldn't worry too much about it. All fathers think their son's are screw-ups at some points. I think. Or maybe that's only in Death Eater families. But I also don't know what so-called 'normal' is."

Normal was overrated anyway, in his opinion. It was a fake word to describe an artificial reality. Real families were more complex. Real families had quirks and eccentricities.

Real families were filled with good and bad times.

As much as Scorpius loved his father, when he was younger he did wish his father and grandparents were locked away in Azkaban for what they did when younger. He knew it was a terrible thought to wish someone you loved away. So so terrible. Yet, sometimes he wondered if it would make life easier once in awhile. Nobody would have questioned his upbringing. Nobody would have wondered about the influence of his family on him. Nobody would assume he wasn't to be trusted automatically based on his last name.

That was an idealistic way to think.

There most likely would have been different challenges, but it wouldn't be any easier. It was unfair of him to think that. He loved his family. His father had worked so damn hard to make a better name for them. Scorpius had to continue the work. He had to prove himself and make it to the British Quidditch Leagues. He had to prove that he would never stoop to Dark magic. That he would never be tempted by dangerous power and knowledge. His record needed to be cleaner than every single person in the country because everyone was waiting for him to fail – to say I told you so. He's just like his father.

They picked tomatoes and pruned in silence. They made it to the end of the row again and started on the next.

Scorpius spoke up again. "It would be some big adjustments to have someone move in with you and your mum. You both do have a routine and are comfortable with it. I'm sure people would judge you more than ever and scrutinize your every move. There's not much trust in the world right now, especially for those who made mistakes in their past. But I think … he's probably also scared and nervous about eventually leaving Azkaban. The world is a very different place now from what he knew back then."

Nott nodded. "That's a good point."

"You know, we're always here for you. If you need to talk – or prune vegetables, I guess. You can always come to Westlock and me. Also Rose."

Nott gave a wry smile. "I'm glad she's joined our little group now. Didn't realise we were missing a person until she showed up."

"Seems like that, hey?"

They finished a few more rows and joined Longbottom at the front for a brief spell before heading back to the castle.