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NOTE: In this chapter, I talk about a magical creature. A Chimaera. If anyone wants to go look at what this creature is here's where you can find it.
harrypotter . fandom / wiki / Chimaera (Take out the spaces)
Now on to the chapter!
Chapter 25
December 22nd
Sunday Night
~oOo~
He limped heavily as he made his way down the sidewalk in a district of Westminster, focusing on his breathing and taking slow painful steps forward. The street lamps lining the small road shone dimly, not helping much in terms of light. The cold night air bit at his exposed skin harshly, leaving his cheeks and nose pink and freezing. The large black trench coat he wore smelled odd and musky and the man didn't want to think about why.
Brown eyes danced around his surroundings, watching for anyone who might be focusing too hard on him and his odd attire. But the lonely street held no threat to him as most of the small shops or buildings seemed to be closed at this hour and people were scarce and far between.
The sky above him was a dark grey-blue, the heavy cloud coverage not letting in any of the moons feeble light, making the already dark alleyways and cobbled streets seem darker with a void of unknown shadows.
Ahead of him loomed a corner, one heading out onto a more public street but also closer to his destination. His mind reeled as he made his way slowly forwards, trying in vain to think of a way out of the situation he had been put in. But there wasn't any.
And he knew it.
The main street buzzed with the night activity. The man pulled his too-large coat more tightly around himself, turning his head away and into the lifted collar as a couple walked towards him, hoping that they wouldn't see the red streaks of blood running down from a large gash in his temple.
The memories of receiving the gash were fuzzy, probably because of how many times he had been hit in the head. His body ached and pain seemed to have become normal. He wasn't sure what was broken and what was simply bruised but he knew he looked awful.
A few curls of his dark hair fell across his forehead, looking oddly clumped and heavy as well as darker than the rest almost as if they were wet. And with something that wasn't water.
Thoughts ran through his head over and over, plans he couldn't help try and form, ideas that were hair-brained and impossible and that would end in nothing but his death. But the mind is a funny thing, even when there is no hope it can't help but try to form a small spark of it.
However, when Atticus Bolton lifted his eyes next and focused on the abandoned faded red telephone booth just across the street from him, he knew it was all hopeless. There was no escape and he was just as much of an idiot as the first time for thinking there ever could be.
He had dug this grave, now he had to bloody well lie in it.
~oOo~
December 23rd
Monday
"What are you doing?"
Rose tore her gaze away from the journal in her lap. Scorpius stood in the doorway of the attic, bathed in the stripes of light that came through the window Rose was currently leaning against.
It was noontime now. Rose was hiding from everyone in the hopes that she could have some peace. After the conversation with her father earlier, she didn't want anyone else to see how tired and awful she looked. She needed some time to herself.
It was strange, she had longed to see her family so much while she was at Hogwarts but now that she was home the excessive noise and interactions were too much. She needed quiet, at least for a little while.
So she had escaped up here with Healer Lynde's journals.
Surprisingly, Scorpius hadn't come to find her right away. He had sensed she supposed that she needed a little time. but now here he was, standing there in an old green jumper, sweat pants that seemed baggy on him and bare feet.
He looked as tired as she felt. God, even when he was a mess he was still perfect.
Rose moved her eyes over his face, taking in his questioning eyes before she dropped her gaze to the one place she could not stop thinking about last night, those lips.
Lips that were currently moving in fact.
"-weren't there."
Rose shook her head slightly, moving her gaze away from the temptation. "Sorry what?"
Scorpius frowned a little and stepped into the dusty room, allowing the door to fall almost closed behind him. His steps across the floor were gentle, a pitter-patter that seemed too light.
"I said I came downstairs to find you this morning and you weren't there. What have you been doing up here?"
Rose said nothing as Scorpius sat down heavily next to her, stretching out his long legs in front of him and leaning back against the large circular window that almost touched both floor and ceiling of the tiny attic.
Instead of focusing on his warm body next to her, Rose ran her fingers lightly over the pages in front of her, taking comfort in the rough-textured paper beneath her fingertips.
"Reading."
"I can see that funnily enough. I mean what are you reading?"
His warm laugh filled the air of the attic and her it seemed. The sound made her body tingly and a warmth spread through her stomach.
Rose almost blushed at how much that simple sound affected her.
"It's Healer Lynde's mother's journals." Rose offered, keeping her eyes on the pages.
The handwriting was a thin and slating cursive, almost difficult to read at points because it seemed to have been rushed out in excitement.
It was interesting, flipping through the books, seeing the different colour inks, drawings, and diagrams that had been scribbled down in a need to understand everything.
Looking at it made Rose want to write her own journal, to pencil down all the thoughts in her head, to get it onto paper so she could take a step back and understand everything.
"Ahhh." The soft note pulled Rose gently from her musings and back to the attic.
The warmth beside her shifted and in a moment Scorpius was leaning over her shoulder, eyes trained on the journal.
Rose melted into him, angled a little so she was more against him under the cover of shifting so he could see the pages better.
It was lovely, the warmth and peace that seeped into her, it was like the gentlest fire running along her skin and through her veins.
Scorpius must have felt it too because he moved a little tighter against her and rested his head against her shoulder, putting his face so very close to hers.
"You found anything interesting yet?"
Rose ran her fingers over the page she had been re-reading. It was the first journal in the collection that was full of information that she had already learned from library books and Healer Lynde herself. But one drawing fascinated her. It was a moving sketch of what happened when the couple first bond, when their souls bond, like how they had in the hallway on Rose's birthday. The drawing showed the man labeled "Titan" levitating up and flying to the girl labeled "Annabel". Annabel caught Titan and they both landed on the ground wrapped up in each other. It was so similar to what Rose remembered.
That November day seemed like an eternity ago. The girl that had followed Al and Scorpius out of the dorms was not Rose anymore. It was like she was a pale imitation, a petty know-it-all who thought that the world was so black and white.
The Rose sitting in the attic now, with the boy by her side, the answers in her lap, and the snow falling gently behind her was not that girl. She had grown so much and learned hard lesson after hard lesson. She had gone through so much and it had hurt and it was painful, but Rose now saw that it had been worth it.
She was different now, better, no longer so judgy and petty. She still had flaws, still had her downfalls, still had things she needed to work on, but now she understood that there had to be room to grow. That she could never be so set in her ways again to not allow herself to change.
Because change, no matter how hard, led to new things.
It had led her to Scorpius.
And Rose was pretty sure that he would end up being the best thing that had ever happened to her.
He had gone from the boy she despised to the boy she was falling for. Cause she was, she was falling for him. She was no longer afraid to admit that. He had somehow become one of the most important people in her life and because of everything she was no longer afraid of that.
Because it was a good thing, something she never had to be afraid of.
He was good. Both as a person and for her. And she knew that no matter what happened that wouldn't change.
"I'm not sure actually," Rose replied softly. Moving the book that she had been going through aside, Rose reached over and grabbed a different book, one with a thicker binding, and started flipping through the pages. "Last night I was skimming through the journals. The first few were boring because there was no new information in them so I grabbed one of the later journals. This caught my eye."
She had opened the book to one of the last few pages. The ink on both sides of the book was a dark blue, standing out sharply against the browning parchment. While the thin cursive ran all along the left side of the right page, the top righthand corner was adorned by a moving drawing encased in a simple box.
"Look at this," Rose said, lifting the book up a little so Scorpius could see better, "this entry was made during the last few weeks Healer Lynde's mother was on the case."
Scorpius peered over her shoulder, his eyes moving along the page as he read.
July 24th, 1932
I was in London working in my new position at St. Mungo's when I was contacted by a Ministry official. I was being summoned by the Grecian government to assist with a situation with Mr. and Mrs. Orfanos. The last time I had seen them was their wedding day years ago. They summoned me because of my research with them through their school years in hopes that I would be able to offer an explanation for the extraordinary circumstances that had occurred.
When I arrived, Titan and Annabel were both unconscious. They had placed them together in the same bed in the position they were discovered in a decade ago. I agreed with the Head Healer that keeping them close would assist in their healing. But from what? I was then told that the couple was attacked by a Chimaera and survived. Not only that, but the Chimaera was found dead on the scene. How could this be? Immediately I rushed to the place they were found. The Chimaera carcass was still on site being researched by a team of magizoologists. The creature did not hold my attention however, what amazed me was the obvious destruction of the woods surrounding the clearing of the battle. It appeared to me that it was some sort of blast radius surrounding the markings of the couple.
It took three days before Mr. and Mrs. O. awoke. They told me that they had been duelling in the forest in an effort to shed some of their excess Bond magic before it was uncontrollable. Titan tells me that he remembers everything up until the point of hearing The Chimaera's growl coming from the forest and seeing the yellow eyes in the darkness. Annabel says she remembered Titan telling her to run because, "I am dead either way but there is still hope you may survive." He then turned to face the Chimaera alone. Annabel then remembers thinking, "if you die, I will die too." The last thing she remembers is making the decision to stay.
I know this couple. I know the extent to their power, their abilities, their combined strength. I pushed this couple to their limits to see what they could and could not do with Bond Magic. They are both incredibly powerful, but their magic has its limits. Taking all of this into account, they should not have survived a Chimaera attack. I do not have an explanation for this. I must do additional research, discovering what happened is of the utmost importance.
Signing off,
Bonnie.
There was quiet in the attic as Rose finished reading, not a sound was heard but for the distant bustle on the ground floor that was her family.
After a moment Scorpius moved, sighing, "I don't think we'll ever understand the Bond. New things keep popping up everywhere. These books must be teaming with information that we just never knew."
"I know. Even with all this research, the bond is still so old and complex." Rose ran her fingers along the page, "I just wish I knew what happened to them. I tried reading on, but she didn't make any more entries on it. Only once did she mention how frustrated she was to have found nothing on the subject."
Scorpius raised an eyebrow, "she didn't find out anything?"
Rose shook her head, "no, nothing. Meaning we have no idea how they were able to kill the Chimaera. It frightens me a little actually, not knowing what happened. How do we know something like that couldn't happen to us?"
Scorpius frowned, "you mean a Chimaera attacking us?"
"No, not that. I'm saying what if we are ever in danger? Does this entry point to us being able to save ourselves even against all odds?"
Scorpius let out another sigh, slouching down a little against the window sill, "I don't know, maybe? But I don't think we have to worry about that for now, I mean I don't plan on being in mortal danger anytime soon. Do you?"
Rose rolled her eyes, feeling warmth flood through her at the small smirk that now graced his face. "Don't be an idiot, this is useful stuff we should know."
"Yes, yes. But I think there are more interesting things we could talk about right now. Like what happened last night."
Rose's cheeks were cherry red in an instant and the self-satisfied smirk on Scorpius's face widened until Rose was sure it was the most pleased she had ever seen him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, raising her chin in a defiant kind of way.
Scorpius laughed, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Of course you don't Weasley. You know nothing about it at all."
Rose's eyes widened when he was suddenly moving forward, getting far too close for comfort. The first thing Rose noticed was his smell, the shampoo he used smelled stronger this morning, meaning he probably showered earlier. The soft vanilla scent filled all her senses and Rose felt like she was high on it. His warmth next to her was so welcome in the chilly attic that Rose wanted nothing more than to cuddle up against his side and just breath in the scent and be surrounded by his warmth.
His eyes were so intense, even when they were scrunched up a little in amusement, almost like under the playfulness there was a lion just waiting for the right moment to pounce.
To take what was his.
Rose felt the heat in her cheeks grow and she was sure that even her ears were red at this point, but she couldn't look away from those eyes. She was perfectly happy to stay there and get lost in those grey-blue depths forever.
Then the sound of small loud footsteps echoed into the small attic and both teens looked up, breaking whatever moment they had been having.
The door to the attic burst open to reveal a small grinning face covered in what looked to be chocolate.
"Hey Remmy," Rose chuckled, trying her best to get rid of her blush. The small boy dashed across the room and flopped down in her lap, narrowly missing crushing the book that had been there moments before but had been saved by a quick-thinking Scorpius.
"I've been looking for you," Remus said, "and I found you," his smile widened, his blonde hair now turning red like Rose's, his eyes for some reason going grey-blue as he also smiled at Scorpius.
This gave Rose a start. The small boy sitting on her lap had her hair and Scorpius's eyes.
Images that were not her own flashed through her head, of a boy looking like Remus but a little different. The boy had Scorpius's high cheekbones and Rose's gentle nose. The images of a family, of parents she knew were her and Scorpius, older looking, happily holding the giggling child.
But just as quickly as they came they were gone. Rose felt Scorpius pull away a little, the door to his mind slamming shut and standing firm.
Rose knew that they had been his thoughts and even though she felt a little panic at the thought that he was imaging a life with her, she also felt that same warmth she had been feeling since he had come up here.
"Yes, you found me," Rose said grinning at the boy, leaning down and giving him their traditional Eskimo kiss. "But now that you found me I think it's time we go downstairs for lunch. What do you say to that? You hungry?"
The enthusiasm of his nod made Rose laugh, "alright then come on, up you go."
In the next moment, Rose was on her feet with a small hand wrapped tightly in her own and Remus pulling at it to get her moving.
Scorpius was still getting to his feet next to her, his face turned away, a small frown pulling at his lips. He was worried about what Rose had seen.
She knew she would have to talk to him about it, because while it didn't bother her, she had to explain that it was far too soon to be thinking about things like that.
But then again it was too soon for her, Scorpius had these feelings for a very long time, for him it must not be strange to think about the future like that.
Whatever the case Rose couldn't talk to him right then, but she also didn't want him worrying that she was panicked.
So she stepped forward, placing her hand gently on his cheek and grinning a little as she turned his head, meeting his startled eyes. Leaning forward she placed a soft kiss to his cheek before dropping her hand and intertwining their fingers.
The warmth that spread through her was so pleasant that Rose grinned a little bigger.
"Come on," she said as Remus tugged on her hand a little harder, pulling her along, making Rose pull Scorpius as well, "Grandma hates when we're late to lunch."
