December 2018
Scorpius bounced on his ankles as the train stopped at the King's cross station.
"Oh good, we are here." He said enthusiastically.
"I feel so loved right now, Scor. You just can't wait to get away from us." Albus said feigning a hurt look.
"There they go again. Gear up Rosie, we are about witness another lover's spat." Alex told Rose seriously. Rose rolled her eyes but her best friend Hope Grey giggled at Alex's comment.
Albus stuck his tongue out at Alex before giving Scorpius a conspiratorial grin.
Before anyone could blink, Alex was covered in black, horribly smelling liquid while Albus and Scorpius fell back in their seats laughing, Rose gave them exasperated looks before dragging her trunk down.
"Dang it, Guys!" Alex groaned, "Mum is going to kill me for smelling so bad."
"You could do with a bath too. You haven't taken a shower in weeks." Scorpius said chortling.
"Excuse me. I think its Al and you, who run away from baths. I take one every day."
"Its too cold." Albus said, "I don't like the idea of dying of frost bite."
"We do get hot water in the showers." Hope pointed out.
"Yeah, but the effort involved is too much." Scorpius added with a shrug.
"Are you guys planning to come along before our parents and 50 Aurors barge into the train to look for us?" Rose asked from the door way. "And Zabini, just stand still." She said as she pointed her wand his clothes, "Scourgify maxima."
"Thanks, Rose." Alex said gratefully looking at his shirt, which looked like a designer grey and white shirt and the stench was almost gone from it. Rose shrugged before walking about of her compartment.
Scorpius, Albus and Alex stepped out of the train and Alex was the first one to spot his father. He said a quick goodbye to the boys, before walking away to his family. Albus and Scorpius dragged their trunks around, looking for their family.
"THERE THEY ARE! ALBUS!" A voice shouted behind them, and Albus turned just in time to catch his little sister who had jumped straight into his arms. Scorpius stared at the mass of red hair on the little girl's head and then at the shorter girl running behind her, this girl had honey blonde hair and was wearing normal glasses.
"Carina?" Scorpius asked surprised, his sister looked much better she looked like she had gained some pounds, she looked taller, she looked happier and for once she was at the station to receive him.
"The one and only." Carina said with a grin before pulling Scorpius in a hug. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Scorpius said, holding his sister at an arms' length to look at her better. "Wow! You look different, you have grown so much."
Carina smiled at him warmly, "I feel better too. I will tell you all about it when we reach home."
By now Albus and Scorpius' families had converged to them. Albus and James were being picked up by Teddy while all the Malfoys were present at the station to pick up Scorpius.
Scorpius went ahead to give his mother and father a quick hug before turning to look at Teddy who was rough housing with James and Albus as Lily sat on a trunk and laughed. Carina was sitting beside Lily and her face was scrunched up as she laughed. Scorpius had not really paid attention to Lily Potter the one time her had met her that summer, he only got curious about her after several letters from Carina talking about a bunch of new people that Lily had introduced Lyra and her to, Carina almost sounded like her old self in those letters, full of life and happiness.
But now all of Scorpius' attention was focused on the youngest Potter. Her hair was a darker shade of red than James'. She had a childish innocence to her round face; she was mesmerising to look at. Scorpius kept staring at her, till Teddy came and ruffled up his hair.
He swatted away Teddy's hand before muttering, "Not the hair, Ted."
"Why? Are you trying to impress the ladies?" Teddy asked suggestively, sharing a wink a with his father.
"Eww… Scor, please don't tell me you have kissed someone." Carina said making a face.
"Oh! You don't know?" Alex said materializing next to Teddy; his family in tow.
"What is there to know?" Carina asked.
"Scor here is in a relationship with Al, there." Alex said with a grin.
"No, we are not." Scorpius said quickly.
"Ah! The way he breaks my heart. I don't know why I keep going back to him." Albus said dramatically.
Lily, Carina and Lyra were in splits by now. James however made a face, "Oh of course! You would break my heart and go for the Harry Potter look alike, Scorpius. Traitor!"
Everyone else was on their knees as they tried to stem their laughter.
"Should I be worried?" Draco asked Teddy.
"You should be. The Malfoy name could probably die out." Teddy said with a grin.
Draco smacked him upside down in the head before turning to Astoria, "It isn't late." He told her seriously, "Maybe we should consider getting another one. Just in case, Father would kill me if there is no one to take the Malfoy name forward."
Astoria shook her head in disbelief, the kids were still laughing, Lily and Carina were squealing "it hurts!" which propelled them to laugh even more.
"Has someone used a tickling charm on them?" Antlia asked, coming to stand next to Astoria with her mother at her heels.
"No, they were just fooling around." Teddy said loudly, which made them all laugh harder.
"Crazy the whole lot of them." She told Draco conspiratorially as she gave him a hug.
"Aren't we all?" Draco asked with a grin.
"When will they stop? This is getting creepy." Antlia said after watching them laugh for a while.
At her comment James looked up and wiped his eye, his face was red with laughter but the moment he saw her, he sobered up and sprang to his feet.
"Ah! Nott! Just the girl I wanted to see before going home for Christmas."
Antlia folded her arms, "What do you want Potter?"
James gave her a lopsided grin, "Nothing just wanted to wish a good Christmas." He said with a shrug. "I think I will go wait by the car. Do you want to come along Lils?"
Lily jumped off the trunk, said a quick goodbye to her friends and walked off arm in arm with James. Scorpius watched them go and felt a pang of regret, to him it felt like Lily took the light away with her. Quick goodbyes followed her departure, Teddy promised Draco that he would them on Christmas if not before.
Scorpius sat on his bed, reading a book when Carina crept into his room. She snuggled beside him and offered him a part of the chocolate bar she was eating. Scorpius grinned his thanks before taking a bite of the chocolate.
"How are you Carina? Really?"
"I am fine. I feel better. I still have a lot of recovering to do."
"And the urge?"
"It's there, sometimes it gets too much and I do vomit it all out but I am doing it lesser and lesser. And I feel hungry too."
"Shouldn't you have no urges at all?"
"No, Victoire and Mrs. Thompson say it is alright to have these urges, it will take me some time to recover completely."
Scorpius nodded. "Lyra and Lily have been really good friends. They would come, stay with me when things started getting difficult."
"I am glad you have such good friends then."
"I know I don't know why I didn't talk to Lyra before."
"You told them?" Scorpius asked curiously.
"Yeah. Victoire says, the more I talk about it, the easier it will be for me to get better."
"Is Victoire your mind healer too?"
"No. They wouldn't allow her to take my case anyway she is undergoing training right now. She is training under Mrs. Thompson, that's how she knows of my case. She is great. I like Teddy and her together. Lily hopes they would get married soon." Carina sighed.
"I know. I had a huge crush on her during my first year. I was so jealous of Teddy. Albus and Alex had the time of their lives with that one."
Carina laughed, "Have you looked at yourself? I mean you would have been such a midget to her."
"I reached her shoulder!" Scorpius protested. "And I will have you know, she was very kind to me after finding out that I had a crush on her. I think some part of me still has a crush on her."
"Does Teddy know?" Carina asked with a giggle.
"I dunno. Never talked to Teddy about it; I guess you understand why."
Carina nodded. "You didn't introduce me to your boyfriend though; I would have liked to meet him."
Scorpius shoved Carina, who rolled down the bed and climbed back on the bed laughing.
Scorpius tried to hide his grin but he couldn't when his sister looked so happy. He pulled her to him and gave her a bear hug, mussing her hair in the process.
"Anyway, what else did you do while I was gone?" Scorpius asked her.
"Oh! Got bored mostly, but mum and dad ensured that I spent a lot of time with Lyra, Viktor, Lily and Lily's friends. They have been coming over a lot while you were gone." Carina reported, "Scorpius! I have to show you something! Come on!" She said excitedly, scrambling out of bed.
"What? Now? Nina, you know mum and dad would kill us if they catch us." Scorpius yelped, following his sister nevertheless.
"They are in bed, silly. They won't catch us." Carina whispered as she pulled him along.
Scorpius realized that they were heading towards the Quidditch pitch, Carina quickly slipped off and came back with two coats and continued towards the broom shed.
"Nina, do you even know how to handle a minor broom because right now you are holding a Firebolt next gen." Scorpius said cautiously.
Carina grinned before mounting the broom and zooming away into the night sky. Scorpius watched in awe as his sister looped and zoomed through the pitch before doing a complete lap of the pitch and landing back gracefully. Sure, her movements were still jerky, but he was sure, come summer and a little practice, Carina would make a decent flyer.
"That was amazing Nina. Who taught you that? Teddy?" He asked.
Carina grinned devilishly, "No, Lily. She is an amazing chaser, you should see her play. She scored past Viktor, that's the only time I have seen him react." Carina gushed, "She has been teaching Lyra and me. Though, Lyra is a bit of a lost cause, but I didn't know flying could be this much fun. I feel SO free when I am in the air. I love it."
Scorpius felt a stab of jealousy course through him. Of course Lily taught her! Of course, she would listen to Lily!
"Of course!" Scorpius scoffed, hoping that his tone was playful and not dripping with the jealousy he felt. "I tell you for years that flying is wonderful and you don't give it a chance but Lily says it and there you are flying like a pro!"
"Scor?" Carina asked tentatively, "You okay?"
Scorpius looked at his sister and how vulnerable she looked and curbed his annoyance. He knew he should feel glad that Carina finally had someone who was such a great friend to her but it bothered him that she taught Carina how to fly. It had been Scorpius' dream, ever since Teddy and his dad had taught him how to fly, that someday he would be just as good a flying instructor to his little Nina.
"Yeah." Scorpius sighed after a long pause. "I am just tired and you must be freezing! What were you thinking, flying around in the middle of the night!"
Carina sighed and shook her head. "You are an oddball, do you know that?" She said walking beside him to the broom shed to put the broom back.
"And you are little Miss. Oddity Odd then?" Scorpius said in a sing song voice, before running ahead of her.
"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, you get back here!" Carina cried chasing after him, their laughter ringing in the silent night.
AN: So, last chapter till we see you next week. Please do read and review and if you like the story don't forget to favorite/follow us.
Happy Reading.
Eagerly waiting for your reviews and love.
The fishes