"What do you smell of?" Was the first thing Scorpius said to me when we got in to our car on the train.

"EXCUSE me?" I glared at him. "I am going to need you to repeat that slowly. The Aurors are going to want to know exactly how this all went down later."

"No! I meant it as a nice thing. You don't smell smell, like not bad." He waved his hands. "You smell good. Like flowers. And bread. Good bread. Fresh bread."

I just glared at him and put my things away and got Amata settled.

Boys.

What do you smell of?

I swear boys have no sense what so ever. How do you say stuff like that out loud? Do they run these things through any sort of filters at all?

I decided to change the subject. "Where is Albus?"

Scorpius looked around and opened the car door looking both ways and shrugged. "He was right behind us. Maybe he had to use the loo?"

"Charming." I sighed. Sometimes boys as best friends meant you went without the social graces.

It wasn't long before Albus came rushing in with Rose right behind him. Which was definitely not normal. Those two aren't exactly best friends.

In fact, sometimes I get the feeling that if I wasn't there to act as a buffer maybe they would be worse than just neutral towards each other.

I nodded to her. "Rosie."

"Hello, Lilliana." She smiled at me.

Scorpius pounced. "Oh Rose, you wouldn't be put out if a guy told you that you smelled like bread would you?"

"I wasn't "put out" Scorpius." Why did he have to bring Rose in to this? "You started out by telling me I smelled."

Rose wrinkled her nose. "Smelled of what now?"

Albus was ignoring all of this glancing out the windows like he was… waiting for something.

"Bread. Nice bread." When Rose shook her head and walked out Scorpius called, "Good bread… what's wrong with bread?!"

You could actually hear Rose rolling her eyes. "What's wrong with bread... Smooth Scorpius. Real smooth."

Albus looked frantic. Excited and scared and just plain… frantic. He was almost starting to scare me. And he hadn't stopped wearing all black either.

With this new energy he was kind of giving off a serial killer vibe.

Before I could get a word out Albus grabbed me and hugged me really tight. "Ummm… Albus, this is, OK, alright…" I patted him on the back.

"I am sorry I have been such a shite friend, Lils, I am going to make it up to you." He choked out. "I am going to be the very best friend you ever had. We are going to have adventures and bond and everything. Just like we are supposed to."

"But are we supposed to? Do I want to? What?" Why would I want adventure? I had Quidditch. And potion lessons. "I am not sure I have time for adventures Albus. They sound like the sort of thing that makes you late for practice. Marcus really wouldn't like that."

"Of course we have time for adventure! All the time in the world in fact!" I didn't like how he said that bit. It was creepy. He hugged me tighter. "It is how lifelong friendships are formed. We will never lose each other this way!"

I looked at Scorpius frantically. Albus was really starting to scare me.

"Alright Albus turn Lilliana loose you are starting to…" Scorpius was taken off guard when Albus hugged him just as fiercely. "Ok. Hello. Um. Do we hug? Have we hugged before?"

Scorpius and I shared a look. I could tell he was as concerned about Albus as I was.

What was going on with our best friend?

"I am sorry, it has just been a really weird 24 hours." Albus explained.

"You don't say?" I muttered.

Even Amata was looking at him suspiciously, like if she twitched he might start hugging her too. And like if he tried it she would start using his shins as a scratching post.

And if the ends of my bed posts were any indication he would not enjoy that experience.

"What has happened in them?" Scorpius asked sitting down.

Albus motioned at the door "I will explain later. Right now we have to get off of this train."

Scorpius and I looked at each other and back at Albus.

"Off the train?" Scorpius asked hesitating.

"WHY do we want to get off of the train Albus?' I was trying to talk soothingly. The way you might talk to a dangerous animal. Or a deranged mad man.

"I think we should stay on the train." Scorpius said in a reasonable tone.

There are so many things wrong with what you just said Albus I don't even know where to start…" I pitched a bit as the train lurched forward.

"Too late. The train is moving," Scorpius said almost too happily. "All ahoy to Hogwarts."

"Then we have to get off of a moving train." It was official Albus HAD lost his mind.

It would have been fascinating to watch if it wasn't MY best friend we were talking about.

The idea was cemented when Albus opened the bloody window like he was just going to climb out of a moving train.

"Albus!" I grabbed his waist to pull him back.

"Pumpkin Pasty? Cauldron Cake?" This was the second time I had wanted to kiss that trolley witch right on the mouth.

"Albus Severus Potter." Scorpius warned. "Get that crazed look out of your eye and sit down."

I grabbed some items from the trolley witch and shoved them at Albus.

"Eat." I ordered. "And start at the beginning."

"There is no time... we have to go!" Albus complained.

"WHY do we have to go?" Scorpius demanded. "Can you at least tell us that?"

Albus started to eat. "Alright I think we have time for a few questions."

I thought he was going to allow US to ask questions.

I was wrong.

Albus sighed " Ok. First question. What do you know about the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Ooooh, a quiz!" Scorpius almost squealed like a girl. "Three schools pick three champions to compete in three tasks for one Cup. What's that got to do with anything?"

"You really are an enormous geek, you know that?" Albus gave his first genuine laugh of the day.

"Yeah but he is my geek." I blushed. "I mean, you know, our geek."

They did not seem to have noticed. Scorpius just agreed with his geekiness. "Ya-huh."

Albus nodded "Ok, good. "Second question. Why has the Triwizard Tournament not been run in over twenty years?"

Fair question, I had no idea.

Scorpius knew, because he ruddy well knew everything. "The last competition included your dad and a boy called Cedric Diggory they decided to win together but the Cup was a Portkey and they were transported to Voldemort. Cedric was killed. They canceled the competition immediately after."

"Wow." I had no idea. That was left out of our standard history books. "That is terrible."

Albus nodded at me. "Exactly! Third question: Did Cedric need to be killed? Easy question, easy answer: No. The words Voldemort said were "Kill the spare." The spare. He died only because he was with my father and my father couldn't save him but we can. A mistake has been made and we're going to right it. We're going to use a Time-Turner. We're going to bring him back."

Scorpius frowned and shuddered. "Albus, for obvious reasons, I'm not a massive fan of Time-Turners…"

Most of those rumors had died down but not all. And they must still really hurt.

I leaned in and wrapped an arm around Scorpius. He leaned in to me.

Albus ignored him. "When Amos Diggory asked for the Time-Turner my father denied they even existed. He lied to an old man who just wanted his son back who just loved his son. And he did it because he didn't care…"

I frowned. "Albus that isn't true or fair. I know you and Uncle Harry must be arguing right now but…"

Albus cut me off forcefully "because he doesn't care. Everyone talks about all the brave things Dad did. But he made some mistakes too. Some big mistakes, in fact. I want to set one of those mistakes right. I want us to save Cedric."

Scorpius almost looked nauseated. I knew how he felt. "Okay, whatever was holding your brain together seems to have snapped."

Albus pleaded. "I'm going to do this, Scorpius. I need to do this. And you both know as well as I do, I'll entirely mess it up if you two don't come with me. Come on. Please Lilliana. I need you."

How was I supposed to deny my best friend pleading with me?

Oh I know, easy.

"Albus, this is MADNESS!" I shouted "You want us to hop off of a moving train and then if that doesn't kill us you want us to travel through time and if THAT doesn't kill us we have to face down the most evil dark lord in history and keep him from killing someone?"

Scorpius looked relieved that someone had said it.

"We will stop Cedric BEFORE he gets to Voldemort Lilliana, I am not completely stupid." How DARE Albus sound affronted?

"Could have fooled me." Scorpius grumbled.

"Albus what about Amata?" I looked down at my cat sleeping quietly. "I can't just leave her."

"She isn't a cat, Lils." Albus laughed. "She is a KNEAZEL she will saunter off the trainer be waiting for you in her basket a little annoyed that you weren't there with breakfast on tie but otherwise perfectly fine."

He grinned and climbed right out the bloody window!

Scorpius and I looked at each other a long time.

"Are we doing this then?" I asked.

"Are we letting him climb out of a window on his own?" Scorpius countered. "He really is quite helpess without the two of us.

"I guess that answers that question then." I sighed.

Scorpius only hesitated for a moment. He made a face making me laugh. And then hoisted himself up and disappeared after Albus.

I settled Amata who looked at me as though I was the biggest fool she had ever seen. I cracked the door. "Alright, love when the train stops, go up to my room and stay there. Or find Rose, she will make sure you are fed until I return. I shouldn't be long. I just have to make Albus come back inside. I mean really, he will probably only want to climb on top of the train. When he sees adventures are fast and scary he will come right back inside."

Amata wrapped her tail around herself and laid back down ignoring me entirely.

I grabbed all of our cloaks, since both of my boys had left without them, and even though they were a bit bulky I tied them about myself. I grabbed my hair and wound it into a fast bun, the last thing I needed was to be blinded by strands of hair blowing in my eyes, and with a grimace I pulled myself out the window.

The train was moving along so fast it would have been terrifying if I was not already used to compensating for the wind as a Quidditch player. There a great number of handholds and the clib was surprisingly easy. In no time I swung myself On to the top of the train.

Albus and Scorpius were only a few feet ahead of me. I pulled off their cloaks and handed one to each of them.

"Thanks, Lils." Scorpius tied his around and shoved his arms through the holes

He turned back to Albus who was doing the same, intent on getting us all back inside as fast as possible.

...