Chapter One: Already Gone

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any part, the characters and the HP universe all still belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros. Last I checked. * sighs in disappointment *

A/N: So I saw this prompt in the Harmony&Co Prompts tumblr page and couldn't resist. Please let me know what you all think. Unbeta'd as always so any mistakes are purely my own. Also, the section in italics at the beginning of the second scene is a direct quote from GoF so therefore belongs to JKR.

Remember all the things we wanted
Now all our memories, they're haunted
We were always meant to say goodbye

-Kelly Clarkson

Undisclosed Location, Scotland, March 26th 2034

Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. She counted the seconds silently, ignoring the sweat dripping from her brow as she held the delicate gold chain perfectly still over the boiling hot cauldron.

Forty. Forty-one. She tried to ignore the sound of muffled bangs as they drew ever closer. Twenty seconds. Just twenty more seconds and they'd be free. Her eyes fluttered closed as a tiny pair of hands tugged at her threadbare robes. Forty-two. Forty-three.

"Mummy." The voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. She was a clever little thing, just like her mother and grandmother before her. She had learned to detect and avoid danger very early on in life, and had something of a sixth sense for impending trouble. She was sneaky and resourceful, and at the moment she was very very afraid. She had never seen her father look so tense, and she'd seen the way her mother's hands had shaken as she'd carefully prepared the ingredients for the special potion.

"Not now darling, Mummy's busy. Come and see your old dad instead." Tori thought that maybe Daddy was trying to use his happy voice, but it just came out sort of soft and wobbly and strange. She didn't like it at all, but still, he looked like he might need a cuddle, so she went to him.

Rose watched her daughter cross the room from the corner of her eye, still counting. Forty-nine. Fifty. The sounds were unbearably loud now. She felt the tears start to fall as she heard her husband whisper quiet words of comfort to the small blonde child. It made her heart break to see the pair of them together. With her right there in his arms, it was impossible to mistake them as anything other than father and daughter. Fifty-one.

"Rosie."

"Not now. Just nine more seconds."

"Rosie they're here. I know you felt the wards break."

"It's okay. It's fine I just need five more seconds." Fifty-five.

She heard him swallow hard before continuing. "And then how long to perform the ritual?"

"A minute." she whispered, frantically counting down the last few seconds in her head. Fifty-nine. SIXTY. Yes! She'd done it. They were free, now they could-

"One minute. I can give you that."

She froze, all earlier happiness vanished in an instant. "Scorpius, no. You're coming with us. We have to go together, all of us. We have a plan, you can't just-"

The rest of her sentence hung unfinished in the air as he swooped down upon her, stealing her very breath with a bruising kiss. She responded instantly, running her fingers through his matted hair as their tears mingled, forging woeful paths down dirt-stained cheeks. The kiss was brief. A second between seconds filled with a million unfulfilled promises. It tasted bittersweet on her tongue and left her with a heavy ball of lead in her stomach.

He pulled back, a wistful half-smile softening the sharp angles of his face. "You and your plans Rose. When do they ever work out?."

She laughed through tears as she reached out for her daughter, gathering the girl up in her arms tightly.

"Maybe one day." She tried to smile, but it felt wrong on her face. Instead, she buried her hair in Astoria's wild blonde curls, trying to draw comfort and strength from the little heartbeat thumping against her.

"Keep dreaming Potter."

"That's Malfoy to you." He closed his eyes, lost for a moment in fond memories. He released a single tear of his own as he reached out one hand to cup her face.

"We'll see each other again." He sounded so sure, she almost believed him.

"Where are you going Daddy?" He flinched at the sound of her voice, as though the thought of leaving her was physically painful.

"Nowhere sweetheart. You and Mummy are just going away on a little trip."

"Oh, they are, are they? How exciting."

Rose visibly stiffened, trying to carefully place the small necklace in her left pocket without being noticed.

"Hi Uncle Hugo. We're going on a trip." Tori smiled sweetly. She knew that Uncle Hugo was not a nice man, but she thought that maybe if she kept him talking, Mummy could get that minute she'd asked Daddy for.

"I heard." The redhead glared at the child, silently daring her to speak out of turn again. He despised children.

"As did I." Tori buried her head into her mother's shoulder at the sound of the next voice. It was Uncle Albus. He was evil. Even Aunt Luna used to say so, before she died, and Aunt Luna was nice to everyone.

"Albus, what a pleasant surprise."

"I think you'll find that the proper form of address is My Lord." Rose snorted in derision.

"I still remember you running around the garden of the Burrow in naught but Granny Molly's heels. If you think I'm going to go around calling you My Lord after that, you're sorely mistaken."

Rage flashed behind his usually flat green eyes.

"Very droll, sister mine. But tell me, will you find it so amusing when your little brat lies dead on the floor in front of you?"

Rose's grip on her daughter tightened as the girl nestled her head even further into the crook of her mother's neck.

"Piss off, Potter. Quit picking fights with witches for once in your miserable life. Stand up and fight like a man." And so the duel began, their spells illuminating the air. Lights flashed violent reds and angry purples as Scorpius ducked and dodged his way through the assault, taking on both wizards at once.

Rose quickly brushed aside the part of her that bristled at his words. She knew what he was doing. He was giving her that minute. One last promise fulfilled. One last chance to break her heart by showing her exactly what kind of a man he was. One final chance to give his wife and daughter the life they deserved.

Well, I had better make it count then. Determined, she whispered complex incantations under her breath. She spoke so quickly it sounded like an ancient chant, or an old prayer for mercy spoken so many times she could recite it by heart. Wandlessly, she sliced a small cut in her left thumb before doing the same for her daughter. Begging the girl with her eyes to stay silent, she pressed their thumbs together, allowing the blood to mix. The five year old bit her lip as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She knew that she had to stay quiet, so she did, but it hurt so much.

"Fight like a man, hmm. Surely this isn't what you meant Malfoy? Pathetic. Crucio." Rose screwed her eyes up tight as the sound of her husbands screams rent the air. Unable to bear it any longer, Astoria exploded.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it! Stop hurting my Daddy!" She screeched at the top of her lungs, louder than she ever had in her life. There was a sudden whoosh of magical energy as the wizard's wands were ripped from their hands. Hugo stared for a second, dumbfounded as Albus hissed angrily. Right there, on his left cheek, was a deep red gash.

"That's my girl." Scorpius smiled then. It was a horrible, pained expression, his teeth stained with blood as he lay twitching on the floor.

"You insolent little bitch!." Albus raised his hand above his head , summoning the wand back to his person. "No-one takes my wand from me and lives to tell the tale." Rose locked eyes with her husband and nodded slightly. She was ready. It was time.

'I love you' she mouthed, reaching her bloodied thumb into her pocket and pressing it down hard on the delicate spindle. The magic built slowly, far more slowly than she had expected. Heat crackled though the room, alerting Albus to the presence of magic. Just as Rose started to feel herself grow lighter, less substantial, she found him standing right in front of her. Wand in hand.

"What are you doing? Avada Kedavra."

"No!"

The last thing Rose saw before her world went black was the cold, dead eyes of Scorpius Malfoy, smiling as he lay at her brother's feet.

Seventh Floor Corridor, Hogwarts, Scotland, 25th December 1994

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione; her hair was coming down out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in anger.

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as – Oh my God!"

Rose blinked her eyes opened slowly, not quite able to place the voices. Although they did sound vaguely familiar to her.

"Quick Ron, fetch Madame Pomfrey. Harry you go and get Dumbledore, I'll stay with them."

The hands on her head felt cool and comforting. She felt as though she had been in this exact same position many times before. She breathed in the soft lilac scent that so reminder her of her mother.

Her mother?! She started to hyperventilate as it all came back to her in flashes. The ritual. A duel. Bright flashes of light. A dull thud as Scorpius' body hit the floor.

Oh my god, Scorpius. She let out a low keening sound, letting grief take over her entire body.

She wailed and cried and scratched at her face. She'd lost him. He was gone. Her husband, Tori's father, was dead.

"Shhh.. It'll be okay. I'm so sorry. Help is on the way." The girls voice was calm and reassuring as she pulled Rose's hands away from her face, firmly pinning them by her sides to prevent her from doing any further damage to herself.

"It's not okay. It'll never be okay again." Her voice was dull now, lifeless, as though all the fight had gone out of her in an instant.

"Maybe not." The girl agreed, slowly stroking the back of her hand with her thumb. "But that little girl over there looks very scared, and very alone. She needs someone to hold her, and it looks like she might belong to you. That's got to be worth something, at least?"

"Tori," she croaked, nodding. "Let go of my arms. Bring her to me. Please."

The girl stared at her for a few moments, searching. She must have found whatever it was she was looking for though, because no sooner than she had released Rose's arms, she had placed Tori in them.

"Mummy. What happened? Is Daddy okay?" She found herself unable to answer, so instead she chose to sit up, still cradling the girl in her arms as she stared straight ahead.

"It appears, my boy, that you did not exaggerate when you said that it was an emergency."

"No sir." Rose lifted her eyes at the sound of the voice . As she looked up she found herself met with a horrifyingly familiar pair of bright green eyes.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, scrambling around on the floor in search of her wand.

"Tori. Get behind me!" Her eyes were wild, terrified. "What did you do with my wand? Give it back to me!"

She advanced on the girl menacingly. She had just lost her husband, she wasn't about to let him take her daughter too. The girl looked over to the two men at the other side of the corridor, panicked.

"I don't have it!" She insisted.

"Liar!" Rose roared, charging the girl at full speed until, suddenly, the world grew black once more.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Madame Pomfrey gasped at the scene she had just walked in on.

"That," Dumbledore replied , "appears to be the question." None of the three teenagers missed his solemn tone, or the absence of his signature twinkle.

"Poppy, might I suggest you take our visitors to the hospital wing. Hopefully more answers will be forthcoming in the morning."

A/N: SO there it is, the first chapter done. Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Til next time,

SJ