Their moment of relief at being back across the border did not last long as they heard the voices carry from the celebration at the grounds.
"What do we do!?" Rose said panic filling her voice as they realised that they couldn't go further into the grounds without attracting attention.
"We need to get them to the infirmary!" Thalia exclaimed back barely taking her eyes of her unconscious sister in Scorpius' arms.
"But if we go in there, they'll ask…." Rose began before Scorpius cut her off.
"We'll think of something, right now they have to get to the infirmary!" Scorpius continued walking. Rose followed behind uncertainly. The next few hours were a blur the crowds as they emerged from the forest surround them. Albus' father breaking through the crowds followed shortly by Albus' mum then Rose and Thalia's parents. Being dragged up to the infirmary as security desperately tried to push the crowds away. The bustle of the hospital as Madame Lakehurst quickly assessed that, while Hugo just seemed to have a few broken bones, Violet, Sienna and Lily were far worse and would need to be transferred to St Mungo's immediately. Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Thalia being pulled into the headmasters office to be questioned on what happened. Scorpius blurting out that Lily and Hugo had wandered off to find the hippogriffs, Violet had followed them, and Sienna saw them all go and alerted the group who went to go and save them. Being lectured on the importance of not going into danger and instead going to get an adult. Before any of them knew it they were all sat in the hospital wing as Madame Lakehurst, after dealing with Hugo's broken leg began cleaning and dressing the wounds they'd all sustained. Just as the gravity of the situation they'd all found themselves in was starting to hit they were pulled away from there thoughts by the doors being slammed open and Draco Malfoy rushing in.
"Excuse me sir…." Madame Lakehurst began but Draco payed her no attention as he ran over to Scorpius who was stunned into silence as his mouth fell open slightly.
"Are you hurt?" Draco asked gravely. Scorpius stared at his father in confusion as his dad examined the bandages around Scorpius' arm and ankle, owing to a fall he sustained running out of the tomb and the cut on his face where he'd been caught by one of Morana's servants' swords as they escaped. Scorpius couldn't get himself to speak out loud so just shook his head trying to wrap his mind around why his father was here right now.
"What happened to you? Who did this? Have they given you wiggenweld? How did this happen…" Draco's questions snapped Scorpius out of his stunned silence.
"Father! I'm fine. It was a Hippogriff accident I barely got scratched! I don't need wiggenweld it was just some scratches. I'm okay. …. What are you doing here?" Scorpius bluntly asked taking Draco aback.
"Scorpius…"
"Why did you even come here today? You've been holed up in your room you haven't even seen the sunlight in 2 years now yet alone made a public appearance now all of a sudden you've decided you HAD to come to the celebration of the victory of a battle you fought on the other side of! Then you're here demanding to know how I am like you care!..."
"I…"
"You know what I don't even care why you're here, just leave. Go back to the hole you crawled out from and leave me be PLEASE." Scorpius implored finally allowing himself to look his father in the eyes who looked as though he'd been hit with a stunning charm. After a moment of stunned silence Draco straightened his shoulders back collecting himself again he nodded curtiously stood up and paused in place for a second Scorpius thought he might say something but he changed his mind at the last second and silently left the room doors slamming behind him. Scorpius allowed a single tear to shed as he watched the doors hating himself for silently hoping his father might come back in and tell him he wasn't going to leave him.
"Scorpius?" Rose tentatively asked reminding Scorpius of the fact that she, Albus and Thalia were sitting nearby and despite Albus and Thalia's awkward glances away Scorpius could tell they'd all seen exactly what had happened. Rose had made her way over to the end of his bed and placed a hand tentatively on his shoulder as they sat close together. Scorpius quickly wiped the tear away and smiled at her trying his best not to show how much he deeply wanted to run after his father and beg him to stay, beg him to love him.
"I'm fine." Scorpius lied, Rose smiled back a little more unsure.
"Do you want to…"
"Let's just not talk about it please…" Scorpius dried his eyes again. Rose smiled at him finally catching his eyes silently agreeing with him. Now the terror of nearly loosing her brother had subsided Rose was left too empty to fight with Scorpius, she figured he'd tell her when he felt she watched her brother sleep in the bed next to them Rose allowed the weight of how bad today could have been to hit her. Rose began to tear up at the thought and leant her head onto Scorpius' shoulder for support. Rose could feel his shoulder tense as he looked down to see her cry and began to relax putting his arm around her as his head fell on top of hers. After a while Scorpius was unsure who was leaning on who for support, he supposed in a way they were both leaning on each other, and maybe that was okay.
Albus was determined to stay awake until he got news on Lily, Sienna and Violet from his parents who were at the hospital, but the sunlight streaming through his window waking him slowly indicated that he'd failed. he jerked himself awake and sat bolt upright as the realization hit.
"Hey, Hey it's okay!" James' put a hand on Albus' arm to calm him. Albus calmed slightly at the sight of his brother rather than his parents.
"Are they okay? What time is it? Where's mum and dad?" Albus spewed out so fast James' had barely been able to make out his words as Albus shook the sleep out of his eyes.
"It's alright" James tried to reassure. "It's 7am, you finally passed out at around 2am, mum send a message a little over an hour ago I guess, I didn't want to wake you since you were finally asleep, she says their going to stay there with Lily but she's doing okay, they've managed to heal the fractured wrist but it'll be a while before she has full use of it, the bleedings stopped and they're giving her regular wiggenweld they reckon she'll be in for about a week tops for observations and healing, but she's going to be okay." Albus let out a breath he didn't know he was carrying. As James came to sit down next to him on the bed.
"What about Sienna and Violet?" Albus' breathing was beginning to speed up as he thought back to the blood all over Sienna and Violet's unconscious body hanging to the tree. James rubbed his shoulder in reassurance.
"The little girl got concussed pretty badly, but mum said she'd just started to wake up. Theie gonna keep her in for a while to do some tests and heal any potential brain damage. Sienna defiantly took the brunt of most of it, the rest of them got away with mild scratches compared to what she went through! Mum said she got cut up so badly she's been put on wiggenweld, wound cleaning potion, blood replenishing potion and mertlap essence and they've been performing episkey all though the night. She must have been a hell of a fighter to endure all of that and keep going!" James marvelled watching his brother as he started off into the middle distance.
"She is" Albus tried to hold back his tears.
"She's going to be okay Al, they all are." That finally broke Albus unable to hold in in anymore the tears began. James' frowned as he heard Albus sob.
"Hey, No, it's okay…" James moved to put his arms around Albus who promptly fell into his chest holding tightly to the back of his robes he allowed himself to sob into James who rubbed his back as he held him tightly. "…It's okay Al. It'll all be okay…" James considered when the last time he had seen his brother cry was, and failed to recall it. James wasn't stupid, he was aware that he and his brother hadn't been close these past couple of years but James wondered if they were so unclose that he couldn't have come to James about whatever had happened. James believed the hippogriff story about as much as he believed that his brother had been in the hospital earlier this year for 'sleepwalking'. He'd hoped Albus might come to him about what had really happened in time but instead they'd barely spoken and it had got worse. As James held his brother an unease filled him. Whatever path Albus was on right now was clearly dangerous and if he didn't let him in soon James wondered how far down Albus might go.
That day had finally given them all a chance to rest after receiving the news that everyone would eventually be okay. Scorpius however was having trouble getting his mind to rest. After they all got discharged from the hospital wing that afternoon, he called them all into a group meeting, however they struggled to find a place to hold it. With final exams days away, the library was jam packed, as were the common rooms and since there little escapade the teachers had been keeping an especially close eye on the four of them. After an attempt to find a secluded area of the courtyard to talk in but failing to find a spot that the teachers wouldn't follow them too Scorpius came up with the brilliant idea of using the room of requirement. During the hustle and bustle of everyone leaving the hall after there feast the group used the crowds to dodge the teachers attempting to keep an eye on them and made it to the seventh floor with no followers. Scorpius elected to open the doors asking for 'a quiet place to talk' he was pleasantly surprised when he found a cozy living room inside. As he and Rose and Thalia sat down on the sofa Albus took the armchair closest to the lit fireplace.
"Guys we need a plan here, the hippogriff story was a stroke of genius but how are we going to convince Lily, Hugo and Violet to go along with it?" Scorpius pondered. Albus leaned forward on his chair.
"Maybe it wouldn't even be such a bad thing if we just came clean and told our parents the truth…" Albus debated. Rose's eyes went wide.
"NO!" She insisted. "We can't, do you know how bad things could get if they found out I …" Rose stopped midsentence as she realised what she was saying when the rest of the group turned to look at her confused. As the realisation of what she said hit them all Albus was the first one to speak
"You still think this is your fault?" Rose looked down refusing to meet anybody's eyes.
"Rose…" Thalia began.
"Don't! look I know you all think it's not about me it's about how strong she is but your wrong all of you!..."
"Rose she possessed me too…" Thalia tried to cut Rose off.
"SHE DIDN'T POSSESS ME!" Rose finally snapped quieting everyone. She took a shaky breath as she tried to hold back tears. "She didn't possess me to break her soul free from the mirror, she talked to me and I did what she said… I did it on my own accord. If the adults find out about this I could get into serious trouble with the ministry for tampering with dark artefacts and I won't have the possession card to play because I wasn't…. I did this myself. It IS my fault." Rose explained. For a moment the room was silent everyone digesting the news.
"She may not have possessed you, but she manipulated you. She used you. She messed with you Rose. I know the ministry may not see it that way but it's true, it's not your fault. We're still kids Rose, and you got conned by a vengeful spirit. I blame her way more than I blame you right guys?" Albus asked Scorpius and Thalia who readily nodded their agreement.
"Doesn't mean the ministry's going to see it that way…"
"You're a child though surely you can't get convicted…" Thalia began but failed to finish when she saw Scorpius biting his lip and Albus gently shake his head at her.
"The ministry have charged underage wizards and witches before, uncle Harry once had to face the entire wizengamot." Rose reminisced. "I understand though if you all feel like you have to tell our parents, I know how bad things got this time…" Thalia looked at both the boys uncertain faces before saying.
"I don't know about you two, but I won't say anything. I know it was bad but it could have also been a lot worse, and we're on the brink of understanding what's going on with her, we CAN fix this before anyone even figures out if happened!" Thalia insisted Rose looked up at the boys who both smiled at her.
"We're all involved in this now, there's no turning back. It's all of our secret now!" Scorpius reassured her as he held her hand to calm her.
"Thanks guys, but even if were not going to say anything how can we be sure Lily, Hugo and Violet won't?"
"Hugo's pretty easy if you ask him he'll probably go along with the story…" Albus decided
"And since Violet got concussed and is a muggle child it's unlikely anyone will believe her if she tells the truth anyway but I can always talk to her…" Thalia concluded.
"It's just…"
"Lily." Albus sighed knowing how hard it would be to get his baby sister to keep a secret.
"If you talk to her…" Scorpius started
"She'll never go along with it!" Albus cut him off.
"Bribing her?" Rose suggested. Albus wasted no time considering this.
"She won't take it, Lily's too stubborn, if she knows I lied about something she'll want to tell our parents the truth no matter what!"
"Do you have anything on her? Any valuable information your parents shouldn't know that we can blackmail her with?" Thalia asked
"Hmm, there's a box of magical creatures she showed me that she keeps under her bed but that's not nearly good enough…" Scorpius wondered out loud. Albus' eyes widened in joy at Scorpius' last comment.
"Wait that's it!" the group turned to look at Albus hesitantly wondering what idea he'd came up with. "We don't need to blackmail her… just ask her nicely!" Albus looked as though he was holding back laughter now.
"But you said…" Thalia tried to understand
"Not me. Scorpius. If he asks she'll go along" Scorpius' eyebrows knitted together.
"Why me?" He asked Albus let out a small chuckle at that moment.
"She keeps this stupid little diary, mostly filled with different creatures and plants she's found on her little adventures I read it every now and again to make sure she's not doing anything crazy when she wonders off and well… ever since school started she's been doodling little hearts with your name in it! You should read it it's hilarious she idolises you!" Scorpius' mouth hung open in shock his cheeks turning red in embarrassment as he caught a giggle coming from Thalia he shot her a look to immediately stop. Thalia tried her best to hide her smile.
"She has a crush on you!" Thalia failed to hide her laughter.
"She's got it BAD! I bet all you'd have to do it bat your eyes at her and Lily would keep our secret!"
"You really shouldn't read her diary you know…" Rose reasoned also sucking her lip to keep herself from smiling as she glanced at Scorpius who was now the colour of a beetroot hiding her head in his hands.
"Yeah well reading her diary is going to be the thing that kept our secret so how about you save your moral speeches and we focus on how Scorpius is going to flirt Lily into keeping her mouth shut." At the word flirt Scorpius head shot up an anger in his eyes.
"No! I'm not doing this! Just couse she's got a stupid crush doesn't mean that I have to… Look do you really want me flirting with your little sister…" Scorpius struggled to get a sentence out his voice getting quieter at the word flirting barely able to get it out as the girls couldn't hold there laughed any longer.
"Well no, but you don't like her do you?" Albus rolled his eyes as if this was obvious.
"NO! she's a child of course I don't…"
"…Then as long as it keeps the secret I'm fine with it. It's not as if we have any other options…" Scorpius sighed at Albus' comment realising it was true.
"Fine I'll ASK her not flirt with her and you guys can't be there when I do!" Scorpius insisted the group nodded as they continued laughing at Scorpius' embarrassment, the exact kind of laughter they needed after what they'd been through, finally letting the fear and dread wash away with every giggle that escaped their mouths.
The next day Rose went to help Hugo return to his dorm after Madame Lakehurst had discharged him, she took this opportunity to ask him to go along with the story, as predicted Hugo reluctantly agreed, unable to resist his sisters' insistent ways. Thalia had gotten approval from Headmaster Harlow to visit her sister who was awaiting results from her tests to see if any extensive brain damage had happened. As their parents left them be, Thalia took the opportunity to ask Violet what she remembered about what happened, and when Violet told her she didn't remember anything Thalia saw it as a perfect opportunity to let her continue to believe the hippogriff story their parents had told her. After all being attacked by hippogriffs was a lot less scarring than what had happened. Luckily for the gang Lily was not keen to talk about what had happened so the family had avoided mentioning it in front of her entirely. Albus had been to visit the hospital every day after class with his brother and while he was there to check on his sister, he was also there to check in on Sienna. After a few days Sienna was beginning to heal and was often awake when Albus visited. Albus and Thalia's visits were easily the best part of Sienna's day. As they didn't have family Scorpius and Rose hadn't been permitted to visit her but Thalia and Albus came to visit her every evening after checking on their siblings. As the days went on Albus was getting more and more concerned about the scars across Sienna's face that had definatly healed but weren't fading away as he'd hoped, he wondered how Sienna would be able to look in the mirror without remembering the exact moment she got each scar, he knew he couldn't avoid thinking about it whenever he looked at her. If it did bother her, she hadn't let it show for even a second, Albus admired. Thalia would always leave a little earlier than Albus to get some studying in for their exams before curfew, Sienna was secretly thankful for that as that half an hour of uninterrupted time alone before the nurse would kick Albus out made everything she'd been through feel worth it.
In total Lily spent 5 days in St. mungo's and was unfortunately out just in time for final exams which despite her parents protests Headmaster Harlow had insisted she take. She'd barely been back in the castle an hour when Scorpius had managed to find her, he caught her unpacking her hospital bag while the rest of her dorm were at there first classes of the day. She'd jumped slightly when she heard the faint courtesy knock on the wooden door. Scorpius felt it obligatory, even though the door was already open so as not to startle her too much. He wished he hadn't noticed her eyes light up when she saw him or the pinkness in her cheeks as he came closer. He couldn't quite believe he was doing this; it would never work he wasn't charming or handsome or crush-worthy at all and Lily would realise that as soon as he actually spoke to her. Not to mention trying to charm his best friend's little sister felt wrong and she felt like a little sister to him this was creepy. He smiled at her and noticed her hands ever so slightly tremble as he did and nearly backed out then and there and ran straight back out, but as he thought of Rose's fear in the room of requirement, he knew he couldn't let anyone find out about what they'd done. He had to do this. He noticed Lily holding onto one of her shirts, her wrist bandaged up, Infront of her open trunk.
"You want some help with that?" Scorpius offered pointing down to her shirt in her hands. Lily nodded enthusiastically. Scorpius reached into her hospital bag and began folding a skirt. "How have you been?" He asked putting a hand on her shoulder that made her tense up.
"Doctor says the wrist should be fully healed in about two weeks but they used so much dittany that they didn't want to risk using too much skele-grow so they used enough to turn the break into a minor fracture and told me as long as it's in this bandage it should be healed soon." Lily rambled.
"That's good, all healed in time for summer then!"
"Yeah… you're staying with Teddy this summer, right? You know he comes over for Friday night dinners, are you going to be coming too?" Lily tried and failed to keep the excitement out of her voice. Scorpius felt a pang of guilt as he hoped this wouldn't lead her on, after all he was NOT going to flirt with her… just charm her enough.
"Maybe… Do you remember much about the hippogriff accident?" Scorpius tried to change the subject back to her injuries. Lily's excitement faded as she looked away from Scorpius, her arms instinctively curled around her chest where she'd been cut, hugging herself. She slowly shook her head. Scorpius could see this had shaken Lily big time. As she slowly recoiled herself and began folding her clothes to put into the trunk again. He'd hoped she hadn't remembered what had happened but he could see now she clearly remembered too much and it wasn't fair to treat her like she was crazy by trying to convince her the things that were terrifying her hadn't happened. He sighed.
"You and I both know that it wasn't hippogriffs don't we…" Lily's eyes widened as she turned to meet his eye again.
"Then why is everyone saying…" It was clear she had been worried she had made the entire thing up in her head when everyone started asking her about hippogriffs.
"Because that's what they have to believe that Lily. Look… what happened… It was scary and terrifying… and if they knew that's what we'd been dealing with we wouldn't be allowed back to Hogwarts." She looked at him confused.
"But she knew you all… you've already been dealing with her…" He'd hoped she wouldn't piece that together but as young as Lily was she was bright too. Scorpius thought for a moment before replying
"Yeah… we have" he reluctantly replied. "And that's why we have to tell everyone that it was hippogriffs because it dangerous to be dealing with her and we don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"But if we all got roped into this, whose to say she won't get our families roped into this… shouldn't we prepare them?" He considered how to proceed for a moment without telling her everything.
"We're not going to let them hurt anyone else Lils, I swear. This is all our nightmare to deal with you shouldn't have even been dragged in in the first place but you were and since your involved in this now I'm going to need you to let them believe the lies and let us deal with this. Please Lily can you just help me and keep this to yourself, our secret?" Scorpius cursed himself for doing what he promised he wouldn't do lead her on. As he saw Lily stare deeply into his eyes he forced himself not to recoil uncomfortably and met her eyes.
"You're secrets safe with me I promise." He sighed in relief. "But I have two conditions…" she waited to hear his objections but he just nervously waited. "Number 1, you come to Friday night dinners over the summer." Scorpius tried hard not to cringe as he watched her bite her lip nervously. "And number 2, I would ask for you come clean about exactly who that was and why she wanted you but I don't think you're going to do that…" Scorpius shrugged and gave her a knowing smile. "So instead I just want you to come to me if you need to about her. You don't have to keep me in the dark I'm not a child I can handle it." Scorpius was about to argue that she was absolutely still a child and he was not going to put her back into anymore danger but he reminded himself that Lily didn't need to know he wouldn't come to her, she just needed to believe that he would. Scorpius smiled and held his hand out Lily blushed as she shook it. As Scorpius put the last of her clothes into his trunk he stood up.
"I'd better get back to the library, I have a potions exam this afternoon and I haven't even gone back over the material! … Thank you Lily. I'm sorry you got all mixed up in this." He glanced at her bandaged wrist sympathetically. She drew a breath and with it her cheeriness seemed to return. As Scorpius reached the door he turned back unexpectedly making Lily's heart jump "Oh and… maybe it would be a good idea if you stick to wondering off within the boundaries from now on… just to be sure." Lily chucked as she watched him leave.
Unlike Lily Sienna was in St. Mungo's for a total of 15 days meaning she wouldn't be able to take her final exams, unfortunately however Headmaster Harlow had decided she would be allowed to continue onto her fourth year classes but at the end of next term would sit her normal exams and resit third years exams. Sienna had tried to argue this was an unreasonable workload for one person, but he hadn't cared. By the time Sienna had come out of the hospital it was the last day of school. Which meant she was just in time to pack up her stuff and leave again. The group had met her from the headmasters office and they'd had lunch together discussing there plans for how to keep safe and keep researching over the summer, not that Sienna had to care she wasn't going to be able to research anything magical from a muggle orphanage anyway. Rose had offered to give her some books of hers to looks through again, but she had enough schoolwork to keep up with over the summer doing two sets of revision and preparation. As they eat Sienna noticed the unfortunate side effects of there escapade, the Junior Marauders, as Albus told her they liked to call themselves, wouldn't leave them alone. She figured James was getting a bit protective of Albus but the longer they stuck around the more agitated Albus got at James, the more Fred would wind Rose up like he knew exactly how to push her buttons. It was uncomfortable for the rest of them who kept being placed in the middle of family feuds. When Rose had finally had enough, she declared she was going to finish off her packing to which James' and Fred couldn't resist 'helping' her with. Scorpius decided it was his duty to 'protect' her from the junior marauders 'help' which earned him an eye roll of Sienna who could see right through his obvious ploy to spend more time with her. The thought of packing however reminded Sienna that the train was departing in 2 hours and she hadn't even started yet, she excused herself but when Albus stood up and offered to come down to help her she couldn't keep the smile off her face. She turned to apologise to Thalia for leaving her alone but found her and Louis engaged in discussion so interesting they hadn't even noticed they'd got up to leave, so she took him up on his offer.
The Slytherin common room was empty as most of its inhabitants had already packed and were eating lunch and lazing around the castle waiting for the train. Sienna was painfully aware of the fact that they were finally alone together again. As he began folding her clothes she began clearing her bedside draws. Before long they were all pack as he helped carry her trunk down to the common room door. He turned to look at her as if a question he was unable to speak were on his mind. They hadn't said a lot since she'd lost the hospital, Sienna could feel there was so much unspoken in the air between them. She could feel the tension as they caught each other's eyes Albus reached his hand out to touch her face he traced the biggest of her scars trailing from her right temple to just below her lip on her left side. As his fingers traced her face she felt every inch of her body turn to static, holding her breath as he hesitated by her lip.
"Are they not going to fade?" He broke the tension by asking her. Sienna took a second to get her bearing as his eyes drifted to the scar across her right arm.
"Doctor says they can heal the injury, but they can't make the scars go away." She shrugged. Albus looked down guiltily. Sienna could see he was trying to speak but failed to find the words.
"… I'm so sorry." He finally landed on.
"Don't be sorry, I got some sick looking scars out of it! Makes me looks even tougher than I already looked…." Sienna joked when she saw Albus' unsettled face she tried to reassure him "It's just all the more motivation to kick that pile of red smoke back into the hell pit she crawled out of!" The corners of Albus' mouth twitched upwards slightly at this. Sienna could see there was so much Albus wanted to say by the conflicted look on his face as his eyes flittered between her scars prevented him.
"You want to know exactly how it happened?" She wondered weather that was what he was trying to ask. His eyes snapped up to meet hers in shock.
"No! … I mean… I don't think I can hear that… all the details of what they did…I think about it enough. I think about it every time I look at them…" his eyes fell down to her scars again. Sienna began to understand at last.
"Stop looking at me like I'm a victim." She forcefully stated. Albus looked at confused.
"But you are…"
"No. I'm not." She insisted. "I'm not a victim. I'm a survivor, when I look at these scars I don't feel the pain I went through to get them, I feel proud that I survived it. I'm not some fragile little thing you know, yes that pain was…" Sienna stopped for a second to recall the beating of her heart, the searing pain across her body before continuing. "…Unlike anything I've ever felt. But these scars remind me that I can deal with all that… and still survive. I'm okay Albus and that's the main thing here. So please stop dwelling on how bad it could have been and start realised how strong I am!" Albus smiled at her finally fully meeting her eyes.
"I've always known how strong you are. Anyone ever tell you you'd make an excellent Gryffindor?" Sienna's mouth dropped as she looked at him in mock outrage.
"How dare you!" She tried not to laugh. Albus laughed back at her.
"I'm serious… going through that amount of pain and refusing to give in to it… that's very brave of you." Sienna rolled her eyes.
"Yeah well attacking children is just a low blow for anyone. I wasn't about to let a bunch of cowards willing to kidnap and attack children beat me! That's determination not bravery!" Albus hesitated unsure of whether or not to say what he said next.
"But taking the brunt of it to protect those kids… that's incredible. And very chivalrous." Sienna looked around the room awkwardly unsure of what to reply before she finally settled on.
"I had ulterior motives for that… Nobody messes with my friends, or their families." Albus smiled at her.
"Regardless of your motives I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for saving my sister."
"Like I said you don't need to thank me, those guys were prats." Albus met her eyes with a hint of challenge in them.
"Dismiss it all you want but you can't hide it anymore. You saved them because you care. You care about us." Sienna was mildly impressed with Albus' challenge. Every instinct in her body told her to run, to leave now and save herself, not to let herself go through what she'd been through too many times to count. It happened whenever she let herself grow close to a family or another kid at the home, they'd leave her. People come and go no one stays so it's safer never to get too attached, that was a truth Sienna had learnt a long time ago, soon enough he'd discover just how much trouble Sienna could be and abandon her just like everyone else did. But this boy, this damn boy that wouldn't give up, this stubborn Gryffindor had snuck his way in under all the defences and now the thought of running away from him scared her just as much as the thought of him abandoning her. She silently cursed herself because what he said was true, she cared, she cared too damn much for these people and soon enough she was going to pay for it when she's left heartbroken and alone. As she watched his soft green eyes she heard Scorpius' voice in her head reminding her that if she let this go, if she ran away again, she'd never know. As much as it would hurt when he'd leave, she'd rather have him in her life briefly and loose him then never have him at all. She took a shaky breath as she met the challenge in his eyes, praying he couldn't see how terrified she was.
"As much as I love the rest of our little band of misfits. It wasn't them I did it all for." She tried desperately to keep the shaking fear out of her breath. Albus smirked as he raised his eyebrow.
"Oh really. Then why did you do it?" Albus dare her to defy him. Sienna felt herself on the precipice her heart beating fast as she took a step closer to him feeling his breathing quicken as his confident demeanour softened. Sienna willed herself to take the plunge as she met his eyes her entire body braced itself, her flight or fight responses kicking it.
"For you. I care about you." Her voice broke slightly at the end. As she drew herself up to Albus' height resting her hands on his cheeks she willed herself to stay steady as her forehead leant forward onto his, his arms shakily settling onto her hips. Sienna felt a calm wash over her as she embraced the free fall. She saw Albus' eyes close as she closed the gap between them. It took Albus' a few seconds to comprehend what was happening before kissing her back. As electricity seemed to fill from her body to his and for a moment Albus was blissfully unaware to comprehend life outside of kissing Sienna. As she began to pull away Albus' eyes remained closed for a second in shock. As she began to move away Albus' eyes fluttered open staring at her in shock as she smiled smugly at his stunned demeanour.
"What…. Was that?" Albus barely managed to get out. Sienna rolled her eyes as she gave him a seductive smile. She reached into the satchel resting at her feet and pulled out a small piece of paper she'd got from James' muggle school supplies shop and began writing. Albus looked down at the paper she handed him with a string of number and the word 'Si' underneath followed by a small heart.
"Call me over the summer and you'll figure it out." She said as she closed the common room door slowly Infront of Albus. Albus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as the biggest smile etched across his face. As he floated back up to the Gryffindor common room, he thought about how long 6 weeks of summer felt and wondered how different things would be next year.
As the group sat together in there train compartment laughing as Albus explained to Sienna how they'd gotten Lily to keep quiet and all about her crush on Scorpius much to Scorpius' chagrin Albus couldn't help but feel a warmth spread through him, Sienna was right despite all the awful things that had happened they had endured and they shouldn't waste another second overcome with fear, Morana could strike at any moment, which made every moment they had especially valuable, especially ones like these. Albus didn't even mind when the Junior Marauders had decided to join them and crowd there carriage. He resigned himself to the fact that maybe danger like this was going to follow him throughout his life, but that was no reason not to enjoy him life, as his hand intertwined with Sienna's under the table Albus took a minute to take it all in, next year was likely to bring even more problems as he was reminded of the journal copy he had in his satchel but that could wait until tomorrow. For now everyone was safe, he was surrounded by his friends, his family and that was enough for today.