Midnight on the Black Lake
"Scor" The annoying green-eyed twit whispered, climbing into my bed as softly as he could. "I can't sleep."
I didn't want to know what horrible notion found itself so complex that it dared to plague Al with restless sleep. Whatever it was though I knew it wasn't something I could fix without considerable effort. That meant it would interrupt my return to what had been a particularly pleasant dream.
"Go bother Aurora Al." I complained, despite moving to make room for him.
'His eyes never seem empty.' I thought, catching a glimpse of the emerald. 'Sometimes they seemed far away or maybe even a little lost, but never were they ever empty.' Something about their glow made me pull the covers up protectively over Al.
He merely blew away a strand of stray hair that had fallen into my face. The enigmatic boy regarded me for a long time, his expression too strange to decipher. Still it drew me in.
"Ok, your mysterious hypnotism has worked again, what is it?" I asked, making my annoyance plain. He merely looked at me quietly for a few more seconds, his irises shimmering softly like radiant jewels under starlight. I hated how close we were becoming. 'In the same bed again.'
On the one hand, Al felt safe and familiar, more truer a friend than I had ever been led to expect I could have. On the other, something about his eyes made me violently nauseous whenever i saw them. I mean run to the lou kind of nauseous. I felt physically ill over the fact that I had started to think of this boy I had barely known as a brother. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel.
It was stranger still that one person could hold so much power over another. One person who was both your very happiness and the source of all your anxiety. Magic poured from those orbs… I'm entirely certain it was Al tapping into some archaic and forgotten branch of magic that not even I or Rose could understand without years of study.
"Its not hypnotism, Scor. Don't be silly. It's my natural charm and staggering charisma." Al offered in a tone that might have been humorous had I not known he was really distressed by something.
"Would you like to take a walk around the grounds?" I tested.
"We could get into trouble." Al shot back, not entirely rejecting the idea.
I smiled.
For a genius it was absurd how obvious he was at times. My smile widened thinking how often I forgot that Al really was only eleven, how we all seemed to forget. Soon he would be twelve, I thought correcting myself remembering that Al's birthday fell sometime before Christmas... Mine did to.
"Get in trouble! No! Well thanks for that enlightening piece of information. I'd have never guessed" I shot sarcastically. "But now that you mention it, I'm feeling mischievous enough to go, even if you don't come with."
I looked around the room before moving to get out of bed.
"You can't go without me. I have the cloak." The indignant huff nearly had me laughing.
"Generations of students have snuck out of their beds without that sanctified cloak and I'm certain many of them went as equally unnoticed as I will. Since I'm already up, I think I'm going to take a walk." I added again, pulling my robe around my shoulders and dawning my slippers on in a single swift motion.
"Ok fine… but don't think I don't notice what you're doing. You're beyond obvious." he was squinting not so much to see through the darkness but in a serpentine expression of his skepticism. 'He almost always notices what i'm up to' I thought to myself. There was little use trying to trick him.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about… mon petit génie (my little genius)."
After pulling on his own robe and slippers he moved towards me, gracefully throwing the immense invisibility cloak over us. As the remarkable fabric glided downwards it completely veiled our eleven year old forms from the outside world.
'Shadows in the mist. Not even death could find us now.' That thought was too strange for words.
"I wonder if we both will be able to fit under here when we get older?" I asked Al as we left the dungeons and made our way towards the front entrance.
"Oh we will, assuming you and I are still alive, remain friends and I happen not to be in a particularly unaccommodating mood." Al teased with one of his playful shoulder nudges.
"Shut up you snarky snake..."
"..."
The quiet of our little excursion would have almost been pleasant had I not known he was upset.
"SOOOO. Dare I ask what terrifying thing you've got on your mind Al?"
"Well… its a whole mess of things really." he offered defeatedly, sighing as deeply as one could.
Oh please tell me its not a 'whole mess of things' I thought repeating his words whiningly to myself. Father would disapprove of me whining but well... he wasn't here. I wondered what he would think of me indulging his rival's son so entirely. That was definitely worse than whining.
"So… should we start with the Valois and their nonsense? Marvolo and his? Or maybe our weirdness with the Sorting and the DoM?" I asked mirroring his sigh perfectly. Al stopped to look at me with wide-eyed surprise. His abrupt halt nearly tore the cloak right off of me as I continued forward a few steps.
"Did you forget I forced a stalemate out of you, silly?" I asked nudging his shoulder a little harder than required. He merely laughed, nudging me back. "Surprise isn't a good look for you Al. Not only does it frighten me to see, but you end up with that same vacant 'James' expression that does nothing to remedy the perception that ALL Potters really are half troll." I teased repeating a part of his favorite criticism of his brother.
"Doooo NooooT!" Al whined, forgetting his troubles momentarily before his face fell back into solemn contemplation.
*SIGH*
"International, Domestic, or Personal?" I asked again.
"Marvolo… for starters…" Al answered back. "Besides he can't be as bad as that though. Scor… he's hardly a 'Domestic' threat. I just get this weird feeling from him."
"..." I was quiet at that. Al had no idea how dangerous that boy could be. I can never let him find out who Marvolo really was.
"How do you know him anyway?" Al asked as we crossed from the hard stone of the courtyard onto the soft grass of the grounds proper. This place was so remarkable. 'What a wildly fantastic childhood we get to have… to grow up on these enchanted grounds' I thought marveling at the sight of the castle behind us.
"Lets just say his dad wasn't exactly a source of great happiness during the war…" I started. Hopefully it was clear to him how little I wanted to talk about it. "You should be worried about him Al… I consider it disgustingly perverse … his being allowed to attend school here with the rest of us… I remember him as a child and he was wrong even back then."
APOV
"All you need concern yourself with Al, is that should he try and hurt you or even Rose or Louis, I will not hesitate to do what is necessary to stop him." Scor's assertion was more vehement and forceful than I had ever believed him capable.
It was like looking at the mad-eyed Scorpius who had attacked Nott in my defense that first night in the Dungeons. This was the resoluteness of the Black side of his family. Admittedly with a little touch of overt self assurance that came with a Malfoy.
I had stopped when I realized what Scor had meant by 'necessary'.
That he would choose to defend me again so strongly was amazing. This time he slipped completely out from beneath the cloak and turned to face my invisible form. Somehow his eyes found mine even though I'm certain he could not have seen them through the fabric. "You know Louis isn't the only one related to that god awful family…" Scor added quietly.
"Yeah... I know… Lucius's sister Lucinda was Augustin's Grandmother." I replied, trying not to give away my judgements on the subject. The simply truth was that Draco and Augustin were cousins. To top it all off, the original Malfoys had also married into an earlier main branch of the family. Gods it was depressing.
"Cyrille is rather unlike the rest though don't you think?" I offered. "Its almost as if you fused Louis and well… you… into one shy angelic mess" I continued chuckling at the thought.
"Hahahah. I suppose you're right." Scor added, laughing in the moonlight. His eyes flashed a strange color for a split second and I thought he might have taken offense to my comment. He had merely laughed again. I removed the cloak from myself this time and began to lead us towards the lake.
"Come on, there is something I have been meaning to try." I called to Scor over my shoulder as I ran ahead.
"Al it's slippery you're going to get your clothes all mucked up."
"Stop fussing over me Mom. And besides no I won't " I shot grinning mischievously, grabbing Scor's hand.
"Al what are you doing we are going to get wet." Scor complained, pulling back on my arm.
"First of all you say 'wet' so distastefully… I wasn't aware you were part cat. Second… just … trust me ok?" I finished, stopping at the water's edge.
"Close your eyes… just do it" I snapped before the idiot could object again. I summoned what energy I knew was required for this and closed my own eyes for a few moments before walking steadily forward.
It had worked! I watched as we both glided smoothly over the surface of the water. This was exhaustingly complex…but i was really doing it!
"Al… this is amazing!" Scor burst out loud, realizing what had happened and having opened his eyes prematurely.
"Is it really?" I asked, feeling a little warm from the compliment. Scor immediately caught himself… I could almost hear 'Malfoys do not compliment other people' echoing in his stupid brain. "Well don't let it get to your head Potter we wouldn't want your ego to grow too large for you to carry, it might sink us into the lake. Besides you still got my slippers wet… try remedying that next time." Scor pouted indignantly.
"Maybe I should let go of your hand and fix the rest of your clothes then? Then they'll all be wet."
For a second Scorpius looked horrified, nearly crushing my hand in his strengthened hold. I almost thought he was going to grab onto me entirely before something occurred to him.
"You wouldn't dare" He started in a fright. Then his eyes twinkled cunningly before he shrugged off his concern casually. He closed his eyes just like I had and waved his left hand out in front of him. Suddenly an enormous portion of the water around us crystalized, freezing into a solid mass all the way to the shore. He stepped up onto the ice and turned to look at me, grinning madly as though he thought he were the funniest thing on the planet.
"Frost theory… I'd like to see you top that." Scor offered smugly.
'I think I am the only person who can make him smile.' I thought to myself. 'I never see him do it for anyone else.' It was rather nice to own something so pleasant.
I stepped up onto the ice as well. "You watch me." I barked teasingly, pausing to find that stream of magic inside and around me. This was going to be taxing to try and do wandlessly. 'I had better not mess this up.'
I put my hands together reviewing everything I knew about water and frost theory and I realized after a few moments that my breath had began to fog in front of me.
"Al?" Scor asked sounding more curious than worried.
That's when I heard the cracking.
"If you dump us into this lake Albus Potter so help me…" Scor started before realizing that the cracking was the sound of the ice expanding outward from our frozen peninsula. I watched it continue, farther and farther until the entire surface of the lake became a mirrored pane of shimmering frost to its far end. The moonlight reflected softly back up at us from the lake's now flawless surface and it somehow reminded me of his incredibly blue eyes.
"You were saying?" I asked lightheadedly turning to face a bewildered Scor.
"Al... that was amazing… hey your nose is bleeding."
"Really? Well that was exhausting." I rasped softly… only half registering my nose bleed. I didn't want to admit i had only frozen the surface. Scor understood frost magic better than I did.
"Here, let me." the purple eyed blond offered, pulling out his handkerchief to dap at my nose for a few moments.
Purple? that was strange… they were blue… weren't they?
"Come on, lets get back before somebody realizes what we've done."
Scor continued pulling me towards the shore when I realized I hadn't the slightest idea how to walk.
"You could have just spelled that mess away. You didn't have to dirty your handkerchief for me."
"Shut up twit besides I didn't think of that-Oh crap…" Scor cursed curtly, pausing before an approaching figure on the shore.
"What have we here?"
The tall dark skinned woman looked so majestic in her sarong. I had trouble registering that we might be in trouble.
"Oh professor Patil… you look beautiful this evening... we were just… um… well…" I stumbled lightheadedly, trying to remember what we had even set out to do in the first place.
"Wandering the grounds after hours… performing dangerous and experimental magic without wands in what is barely enough light to see two inches in front of your faces?" She finished for me, brows raised skeptically.
"Um… yeah… I think that's about right…" I acknowledged rather stupidly. My brain felt as though it were in a fog. I realized too late that that spell had been too much for me to try without a wand.
"You know better than that Albus. Since you two seem to have so much fun wandering around dangerously in the dark I should think a night's detention in the forbidden forest with Hagrid should be just what you need to teach you otherwise." She finished.
"Oh professor! The idiot couldn't sleep! I was only trying to get him to exhaust himself." I pleaded.
"Just be happy she's not taking points for this Scor."
"I blame youuuuu" my twit hissed turning to me, his eyes blazing with fury. I merely smiled back at him. I was dizzy and the eerie blue light of the moon on the frozen lake woke some forgotten winter chill in Scor's eyes. I must have dreamed that they were purple...
They were ice blue sometimes and sky blue others. 'I wondered if he couldn't pierce glass with them.'
It was an odd thought I realized… 'piercing glass'. I was too tired to think.
"Sorry mr. Giant Squid." I offered softly turning back towards the lake one last time. 'That hadn't been very nice of me.'
"Come on you dolt." Scor ordered, grabbing my arm to support me. I felt like I imagine my parents and aunts do when they drink too much at christmas.
"Coming Mom." I answered to Scor as we followed the Professor back to the castle.
Hope you enjoyed. The story is being reworked in an effort to revamp the writing so please leave a review if you like the story.
Getting the author to dredge up all the prewritten chapters and continue this adventure after so long wasn't easy! He lives purely on cookies, i mean reviews, so seriously leave some feedback if you like what you're reading.
