A/N: I'm sorry in advance for what's coming in this chapter. Feel free to leave a review yelling at me
"Sons are frequently disappointments to their fathers, but it's pretty rare for a father to be a disappointment to a son," Achille joked in Albus's direction.
"You're not as funny as you think you are," Albus told him.
An emergency champions meeting had been called, and the reasoning was the identical pieces of paper being held in the hands of each of the champions. It was a thick piece of parchment that had a significant amount of weight to it, or maybe Albus was just imagining that the paper was heavy, owing to the contents of the message it carried.
Champions, your long journey is coming to an end. Please meet me at 5pm this afternoon at the edge of the Forbidden Forest past the Quidditch Pitch. The third task will take place in three days, and we must gather to prepare. All you need to bring are your lovely selves.
Sincerely, your friend,
Sanford Buckthorn.
Emma huffed and slammed her parchment down, clearly unable to bear looking at it any longer.
"You really haven't heard anything from your dad?" she asked for about the fifteenth time that week, and the hundredth time overall in the weeks since they sent the letter.
"No," Albus responded with the same answer as always.
"Well he definitely got the letter," Emma said. "Dave came back without it, and anyone that wasn't your dad who tried to get their hands on it would've got a mouthful of beak. And Dave bites hard."
Albus nodded, he had seen the beak on Emma's wedge tailed eagle Dave. He could easily slice off a finger. Albus didn't want to doubt Dave, however, he was a creature that was native to Australia not the United Kingdom. There was also the fact that he was entirely inconspicuous, and may not have even delivered the letter to the write person. Harry Potter was one of the most famous and recognisable wizards, but only to other wizards, not birds.
"How confident are we that your eagle delivered the letter to the right person?" Fransiska asked, evidently having the same thought.
"Dave has never got a letter wrong," Emma stated firmly.
"It might be too risky for dad to send a reply," Albus spoke up, relaying the other strong possibility for the lack of response. "The Ministry isn't allowed to investigate inside of Hogwarts without approval from the headmaster and the board, so Dad might be up to something illegal right now. He couldn't risk exposing himself in a letter that might get intercepted."
"I hope you're right," Dion said. "This might be our only chance to work out what's going on. And that's if your friend is even right."
"It's too strange to be a coincidence," Fransiska said confidently. "And if got me thinking, a missing house elf isn't the only strange thing to happen lately. Do you remember the journalist who got injured in the forest."
Albus's entire body went rigid and cold as if he'd been shot with a freezing spell.
"Yeah right," Emma said, considering the idea and pointing to Albus. "Your headmistress, she said something was weird about it. Basically accused one of us of trying to kill him."
"We never heard anything more so I assumed the situation was resolved, but maybe not," Fransiska said, beginning to spin a theory. "We think that missing house elf saw something and that's why he's missing. What if Striker also saw something, and so someone tried to get rid of him and make it look like an accident."
Albus bit his own finger, trying to think of an answer to give that would direct them away from investigating Striker, while also not implicating himself or Clara.
"We can't worry about it now," Albus stated, deliberately not meeting anyone's eyes as they looked at him. "The task is in three days, and we have to see Buckthorn tonight. That's what we need to focus on, and in the meantime just hope that my dad can find something."
"Your grand idea is to sit and wait?" Dion asked.
"No, prepare for the third task. You know, the ever looming threat that may kill one of us."
The room went quiet and everyone shuffled nervously. The reminder of their own morality was harrowing enough to send them into silence and demolish any hopes of a further conversation. They knew Albus was right of course, none of them wanted to admit it.
They were all looking for an opportunity to avoid thinking about the third task, and coming up with theories and ideas was a great way to achieve that. Albus understood where they were coming from. Just the day before he had sat in on the Defence Against the Dark Arts final exam and completed it, despite being excused from all end of year exams as a tournament champion.
The group of champion's split and went their separate ways. Albus found Octavian and Scorpius as they were leaving their morning Transfiguration exam and he gave them the update on the tournament situation. He handed over the small parchment solemnly to let them read the deadly summons.
"It's not good," Octavian stated the obvious.
"You have to come find us as soon as you get back from the meeting," Scorpius said earnestly. "We'll only have a few days to go over the clues and information Buckthorn gives you. We need to get started as soon as possible."
"Don't you have a million more exams to do this week?" Albus stated. "Scorpius, how are you ever going to beat Rose in class if you keep on helping me."
"It's only four exams left," Scorpius said. "And making sure you don't die is more important."
"Besides, Scorpius has been running a pretty successful distraction campaign against Rose, haven't you," Octavian added. Scorpius froze and stared at him, and Octavian continued talking with a knowing smile. "I mean, why else would you restart all those study sessions you've been doing with her."
"Um, right, yeah," Scorpius said quietly.
"Speaking of Rose, we should get her help as well," Albus said, the exchange between his two friends soaring completely over his head. "I know she doesn't care about exams."
"Joy of joys," Octavian commented with a sigh.
By the time it reached 5PM, Albus wanted to flee for the hills. He considered his chances of survival in trying to flee through the Forbidden Forest. Comparing his chances of death with the forest or the tournament Albus was chilled at the thought that they might both be equally fatal.
Whoever it was that had thrown him into the mess that was the Archwizard Tournament, had not shown themselves. The longer it went without answers, the more unsettled Albus became. He had been unable to stop thinking about his own father, and how the great Harry Potter had felt on approach to his third task.
As he walked down to the Quidditch Pitch, Albus considered the chance that maybe this all was just another scheme to bring Voldemort back from the dead. It was impossible, his dad had reassured him of that, but considering that the Archwizard Tournament was just The Triwizard Tournament in a different colour hat, the thought wouldn't stop crossing his mind.
Albus past the Quidditch Pitch and rounded the corner, immediately coming upon a new structure that had been launched onto the empty space that hugged the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was probably three times the size of the spectator stands that had constitute the first task, but looked eerily similar to that of a stadium. It curved around in a half circle shaped, the inside of the half circle facing toward the forest.
A group of people were gathered near the entrance to the stadium, and one of them raised a hand to beckon Albus over. As he got closer he saw Buckthorn standing at the head of the group that consisted of the five other champions and the school headmasters and headmistresses. Professor McGonagall moved to stand with Albus once he finally joined them.
"Just a smidge late there my boy," Buckthorn commented "But you're with us now so let's get this tour off and running. Come, come!"
Buckthorn led them to a large archway that opened up into the stadium. There were stairs on either side as they moved through that provided access to the spectators seating. Albus glanced upward as they moved through, seeing a large glass box at the highest level in the dead centre of the stands. A VIP box.
Buckthorn was prattling away and gesturing to the stands as they walked. He talked only about spectators and an audience, and how it would be the biggest event in the history of interschool tournaments. Albus caught the expression of his headmistress as Buckthorn talked, McGonagall was scowling at him.
"What is that?" Emma stopped in the middle of the stadium's floor
She was pointing at a large opening in the ground that angled downwards in a smooth ramp. The hole in the ground beyond the ramp was dark and entirely unlit, displaying nothing but a void. Albus tracked the angle of the underground ramp and noted that it was directed into the Forbidden Forest.
"That, is where you will be in three days' time. Within it, lies your third task," Buckthorn said. "We call is The Labyrinth."
Albus stared into the hole and the hole stared back at him.
"Would you like a little preview of what lies ahead?" Buckthorn asked, opening his arm toward the opening.
Albus wanted to say no, in fact he wanted to scream and run the other way. He could feel a chill coming out from the underground opening that ran over his body, gripping him down to the bone. But the rest of the champions had nodded their heads in agreement, and Albus found himself walking down to the hole.
"Sorry professors," Buckthorn stopped the heads of school from coming forward. "This is a champions only privilege. You'll have them back shortly."
The second Albus took his first step onto the ramp, the hair on the back of his neck shot up. The breeze rushing through the underground cavern made a quiet whistling noise, Albus thought it almost sounded like whispers creeping up out of the dark.
Buckthorn had initially been following behind them, but as Albus stepped off the ramp and into the underground cavern itself, he looked back up to see that Buckthorn had not come down the ramp with them. The last thing Albus saw before the ramp pulled itself upward and closed, was Buckthorn flicking his wand at them.
Someone screamed, someone else started cursing. Albus had no idea who was who. They had been plunged entirely into darkness. He felt hands grabbing at him, maybe more than one, and heard more hysterical yelling as they tried to work out what was going on.
They didn't have a chance. A flash of light through the tunnel blurred Albus's vision, and the last conscious thought he remembered having was the feeling of hitting the ground.
"I don't like this," Clara stated.
Once she had emerged from her Divination exam, Octavian and Scorpius had told her what Albus had told them. It had certainly cast a dark cloud over their dinner. And not just because it was an overcast night outside the castle, which was being mirrored in the ceiling of the Great Hall.
"Did your Divination exam shed any light on the situation maybe?" Octavian asked as a joke. "Perhaps the crystal ball knows who put Albus's name in the goblet."
Scorpius and Clara shared a look. It was a question Scorpius had asked her when he'd learned of Clara's dreams. She claimed to have seen a figure once or twice in her dream about Albus being pushed into the blue fire, but she purported that she could never see them clearly.
"Shouldn't Albus be back by now?" Clara asked, changing the subject.
"We don't know how long Buckthorn wants them for," Scorpius said. "But as soon as he gets back we need to gather and start planning. Like we did for the second task."
"I have two exams tomorrow," Octavian stated. "Plus, I'm not here to be smart, I'm here to be the comic relief."
"You say that, but you did single-handedly uncover the house elf mystery," Clara nudged him proudly. "Besides we might need you to do some more flight reconnaissance."
"No!" Scorpius said sternly. "No. We've committed enough illegal activities already. Stop adding to it."
"What can I say, I'm a high achiever," Octavian shrugged.
At that moment, the Gryffindor sixth years entered the Great Hall in their usual pack formation. Scorpius saw them come in, being faced closest to the entry way. He easily picked out Rose in the group despite her smaller than average height. He watched her for a second, not fully aware of what he was doing.
Clara followed his line of sight and looked at the group of Gryffindor's, which unfortunately included more people than just Rose. Kitty looked over, and seeing that Clara was glancing in their direction, she pulled her eyes tight at the side, making them appear thin as she expressed the mocking, racist gesture at Clara.
Everyone saw it, and about half of the Gryffindors laughed, particularly when they saw Clara flush red and look away. There was some dissent in the group towards Kitty's actions, some murmured protests that were shrugged away by Kitty with a laugh.
"What the fuck is your problem!" Octavian demanded, shouting down the Great Hall at Kitty and drawing many eyes their way.
"Octavian don't," Clara warned.
"No," Octavian said firmly. "They're not getting away with that shit."
Octavian shot to his feet and started marching down the Great Hall in the direction of where Kitty and her friends had sat down. He stomped with determination, swinging his arms at his side as if he were a soldier. Scorpius and Clara scrambled to follow him.
"I asked you a question," Octavian said when he got to their table. "What the fuck is your problem?"
"My problem is your psycho friend there attacked me," Kitty gestured to Clara.
"I don't see how that's a problem because you deserved it," Octavian stated, much to the distain of Kitty. "And it's hardly an excuse to be a racist bitch."
"Oh please," Kitty dismissed him with an eye roll.
"Please what? Please hit you again? Because I would fucking love to right now," Octavian retorted.
"Octavian stop it," Scorpius said.
At the same second, Rose spoke. "Kitty, leave it."
"Kitty, I challenge you to a duel," Octavian declared.
Everyone fell quiet, staring between Octavian and Kitty.
She scoffed. "Are you serious?"
"Nope, I'm Octavian. And right now I need an excuse to knock you off your high horse, and as a fellow Gryffindor, I know you're all about nobility and chivalry and whatever"
Octavian held out his hand to her, offering the handshake that would seal their promise of a duel. Kitty stared at his hand, bemused and trying hard not to laugh. The other Gryffindors around her were giggling as well, with the exception of Rose who was watching the situation unfold stoically.
"No way," Kitty dismissed him.
"Scared you'll lose?" Octavian challenged.
It was a pressure point for most Gryffindor's, the threat of losing and the promise of a challenge. Evidently, Kitty was one of those Gryffindors as she flared her nostrils at Octavian's words and put a hand on the arm of the person next to her. Sam Treston. He stood up smoothly at Kitty' silent command and grabbed Octavian's outstretched hand to shake it.
"Alright," Octavian didn't appear displeased by the change in plans. "Let's take this outside."
Octavian and the Gryffindors started to move for the entryway, sending Clara and Scorpius frantic. They ran along behind Octavian begging him to stop but of course, Octavian didn't listen. They were also attempting to do this as quietly and as inconspicuously as possible so as to not tip off the teachers sitting at the staff table behind them. Rose was also pleading with her friends to reconsider.
Octavian chose a spot on the grass outside, not far from the entrance to the castle. Either he was banking on all of the teachers being at dinner, or he didn't care about being caught. He and Sam took their positions opposite each other, wands at the ready.
"Scorpius you'll be my second right?" Octavian asked.
"No!" Scorpius exclaimed. "You need to stop Octavian."
"Maybe you should listen to your friend," Sam suggested smugly as he faced down Octavian. "You're not gonna like how this ends."
"Sam, will you stop!" Rose called out to him. "He's egging you on so you get caught. Just walk away, they're not worth it!"
"We're not worth it are we?" Octavian asked, gesturing to himself then back at Clara and Scorpius. "That's funny because one would think from the way you're hooking up with Scorpius that you think at least he's worth it."
It was probably the only statement or comment with enough force to be able to get everyone to lower their wands in stunned silence. All of Rose's friends turned to look at her and she buckled under their gaze, refusing to look at them. Instead, she stared daggers at Octavian, and by default, Scorpius who was standing directly behind him.
"How?" Scorpius asked quietly at Octavian.
"I saw you two together," Octavian answered grimly. "I've known for ages now mate, you're useless at keeping a secret remember."
Scorpius would have laughed if it weren't for the sad stare coming from Octavian's direction.
"Why would you not tell me?" Octavian asked quietly. "What do you think of me Scorp? Do you think I don't want you to be happy? Did you think I was going to make you miserable, or do something to Rose? Am I really that untrustworthy that you have to lie to me? I mean, did you keep it a secret because you wanted to or did you feel like you had to?"
"Octavian," Scorpius said his name gently.
"No one told you because you're practically a child," Kitty snapped, reminding them that they were still in fact surrounded by a pack of near rabid Gryffindor's that were awaiting a duel of honour. "You've got some ridiculous vendetta against me, and against Rose. If anyone told you, you would've thrown a tantrum about Scorpius paying attention to someone that isn't you."
"Quite a bold statement from someone who is – at present – throwing a tantrum," Octavian responded without a second of hesitation. "Personally I think it's a lot more childish to make racist gestures, but to each their own I guess."
"Octavian," Scorpius said his name and softly grabbed his arm to try and pull him away from Kitty. "Can we please go somewhere and talk about this?"
"See!" Kitty clapped her hand and gestured to the two boys, wearing an 'I told you so expression,' forcing Rose to look at them. "What did I say when you started going out with him? You're always going to be playing catch up to the rest of them. You should be the priority not them. Merlin, Rose, you think you would've learned your lesson after you asked him to the Yule Ball and he just cast you aside."
Scorpius's fingertips went cold. He felt a thin trail of ice go down the back of his neck as he slowly tuned his head to look from Kitty, to Rose, who was doing everything she could not to make eye contact with him. The anger that bubbled up in him wasn't hot or rageful, it was frozen, quiet, and sharp.
"Kitty's known this whole time?" Scorpius asked her darkly. "Have the rest of them known all along as well?"
Rose didn't answer, but she didn't need to. Scorpius caught the shared looks between the other Gryffindors. They looked downright amused, as if the whole situation was a joke and Scorpius was nothing but the sick and twisted punchline.
"You lied to me."
It wasn't even a question on Scorpius's part. He was stating the facts clearly to Rose. He could see her trembling, and there was an awful nauseating and unsettling feeling that came from experiencing simultaneous emotions of wanting to comfort her and being angry.
Kitty rolled her eyes at Rose's reaction. "You can be so sad sometimes Rosie," Kitty chided her as if speaking to a toddler. "When I told you to drop your standards and stop going for blokes out of your league, I didn't mean drop your standards this low."
She gestured dismissively to Scorpius.
"Wow, you can't even be a decent person to your own friend," Octavian expressed.
"You shut up!" Rose exploded at him, her voice sounded as if she was close to crying. "This is all your fault, Octavian. You keep ruining everything!"
Rose flew away in a rush, very obviously fighting off tears as she sniffled and choked on her sobs while she ran back into the castle. None of her friends moved to follow her. Instead, they all looked expectantly at Scorpius. Kitty even raised her eyebrow smugly. Jaw clenched, Scorpius followed Rose, walking fast to catch up with her.
Clara, left behind at the scene of the crime along with Octavian, grabbed her friend and whispered in his ear to retreat. The promise of a duel still hung in the air like a sword dangling above them on a frayed rope. Fortunately, the Gryffindors did not follow. There were some shouts involving words such as 'cowards' and other related insults, but there was no active pursuit.
The pursuit that was in fact taking place, was Scorpius's chase of Rose. She didn't go far, but she was trying her absolute best to escape the situation. She sought refuge in the Prefects bathroom on the first floor. This was a confusing manoeuvre considering Scorpius was also a prefect. Maybe if he had been thinking clear he might have considered that maybe she was letting him follow her. The intricacies why they had reached the destination of the Prefects bathroom were lost on Scorpius, he had more pressing concerns.
"Not only did you lie to me Rose, you made me lie to my friends," Scorpius started on her, trying to keep his voice from wavering as he watched her hunch over a bathroom sink with her hands clutched around the edge of it to brace herself.
"Kitty was right, this was stupid," Rose's voice was cracked and high pitched. "You don't care about me."
"Of course I care about you Rose!" Scorpius snapped, raising his voice so loud that his words bounced off the high ceilinged bathroom and echoed around them. "That's the worst thing about this! I care about you so much and you know that but you still lied to me!"
"Then why couldn't you have just told everyone in the first place!" Rose whirled around onto him. Her face was red and splotched, her eyes so watery that they reflected the dim light in the room with a glint. "You went back and forth for weeks. First, you don't even know what you want to do. And then one minute you want to tell people, then we have to wait, and then by the time you make up your mind it's too late. Because Octavian has to get in the way! And then Clara has to go and make everything worse by attacking my friends!"
"You and I both know that it was your friends that started it!" Scorpius argued, baffled by the direction of their argument. But the blame being pointed to his friends lit a fire under his feet that quickly roared through the rest of him. "Were you even listening to the shit that Kitty was saying about me? You just let her call me sad and pitiful while she knew we were dating. At least Clara defends the people she cares about!"
"Oh because we should all be so fortunate to have such perfect and wonderful friends like Clara?" Rose mocked. "And Octavian? Octavian is the reason this is happening. He's hateful, and spiteful and I don't even know how you can be friends with him in the first place."
"You do not get to talk about my friends like that," Scorpius said fiercely, his voice coming down in volume but raising in intensity. "What I don't understand is how you can be friends with people like that."
"Like what?" Rose demanded. "Friends who actually care about me, and look out for me?"
The absurdity of Rose's statement actually caused Scorpius to falter for the first time during their exchange. Out of sheer shock and surprise, he laughed. This was a poor move as Rose's distress immediately increased tenfold in response.
"Why do you have such a problem with them?" Rose demanded, harsher and higher pitched.
"I'm not the one with a problem here," Scorpius cut off his laughter. "You're the one with the problem. If you think at all that Kitty is looking out for you, then you're delusional. She's manipulating you, and using you. If you can't see that then you're not as smart as I thought you were."
Scorpius was no longer thinking about his words before he spoke. In fact, he was no longer thinking at all. He was neither in control of his body or his mouth. Everything was numb. From the highest platinum blonde hair on his scalp, all the way down to his immaculately polished shoes. Scorpius had overloaded on his emotions, or he was so trapped in the moment of the argument that he had locked himself out from them.
"So now I'm an idiot?" Rose asked, her voice crack becoming more pronounced. "That's what you really think of me Scorpius? I'm a delusional idiot."
"That's the worst part about it Rose, you're not stupid. You waste your intelligence running around after pathetic people who all think they're better than everyone else just because a few of them are a bit mouthy. You don't care about anything of value."
"Maybe I consider my friendships valuable, did you ever think about that? I guess you didn't. I mean, the only reason you have friends in the first place is because a few poor unfortunate souls were nice to you once out of pity, and then you latched onto them like a leech, making them suffer perpetually through your own arrogance."
"Oh so I'm arrogant now! Is it even you talking or is it just Kitty?" Scorpius demanded. "You're really going to put her and the rest of them above everything else. What so nothing else matters as long as your friends still like you? You are the most superficial girl I've ever met."
"And you are the most conceited boy I've ever met."
"I'm conceited!" Scorpius exclaimed. "You're a self-absorbed brat."
"You don't get to call me self-absorbed when the only thing you care about is yourself!" Rose shouted back. Her face was still red, but the tears had well and truly stopped. "Did you think I never noticed how obsessed you are with beating my grades? And why? All because you think you're the smartest person in the world and can't possibly bare to admit that just maybe someone out there is better at something than you."
"That's not the reason!" Scorpius tried to defend himself. "Do you have any idea how it feels to watch you do nothing and still get the top marks in each class. No studying, no homework, nothing!. All that work I do is pointless because all you need to do is show up. It fucking stings Rose. And then you have the audacity to go and cry about it like it's a problem for you!"
Scorpius's spirit crashed back into his own body, plummeting back to earth in an instant. He felt the force of his own words reach back and slap him in the face. Seeing Rose's face fall in horror was the second blow. The tears sprung back, and Scorpius felt the nauseating guilt engulf him. Rose took a step back from him, and he felt the urge to reach out and pull her back. He didn't act on it, and remained rooted to the spot. The force of his own shame kept him there.
"We're done," Rose said, not enough strength in her voice to take herself any louder than a whisper.
She stumbled out of the Prefect's bathroom, unsteady on her feet from all of the crying and shaking that have overtaken her. This time, Scorpius didn't follow. He felt like collapsing to the ground, but still didn't move. In fact he stayed standing in the centre of the bathroom for an unknowable period of time. His body was hollow. That numbness from earlier returned, only this time his ability to think caught up with him. All of the thinking he should have done during the ill-fated argument hit him at once.
Albus shot up in bed, covered in sweat, vision blurred. He fumbled around with the sheets for a second, confirming that he was in fact in his own bed. As the room gradually slowed with its spinning, Albus felt his heart rate calming down as well. His watch had been placed gently on his bedside table, and Albus promptly grappled for it, trying to orient himself. It took him a second of processing and some slow purposeful breaths to be able to read the clock hands.
9:17 PM
Four hours. Albus had been out for four hours. Possibly more, because he wasn't sure what day it was. He doubled checked the watch, still the same day, so thankfully only four hours.
He pulled back the bed covers and threw his legs over the side, not standing up just yet in case he was still recovering from a spell. He rubbed at the back of his head, feeling what might be a bruised area, or just a headache. His mind was foggy, and to some extent so was the rest of him as well, but mostly his mind.
He tried to replay what had happened, saw the ramped entrance containing the dark void within it. Everything before and after that was jumbled and discontinued, like puzzle pieces that all had the same connections, he couldn't work out what went were.
More concerningly, Albus couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something. It was a feeling that ran parallel to the feeling Albus would get when he left the house every year on the morning of September 1st to travel to Kings Cross train station. Like he was missing something. He knew for certain something had been left behind, but he couldn't remember exactly what.
A/N: Now's about the time I should mention I am planning a second story. I'm telling you this now to soften that blow I just hit you with. This is not the end for Scorose. Call it an elaborate one sided rivalry, to friends, to enemies, to lovers, to enemies, to lovers arc. Just remember what happens at the end of this particular story isn't the be all and end all. I'm planning the next one, which will be set during seventh year.