Chapter 15 – Bad news

The sunset was beautiful. The sky was coloured of light blue with a few clouds that reflected the setting sun in various shades from bright yellow to deep purple.

In a tree in the Courtyard sat a single black crow nobody was noticing. It wasn't a rare occurrence by any standard to see one near Hogwarts. Maybe it was a little closer to humans than a normal crow would feel safe to be, and maybe it was a bit strange to see it alone, but it didn't attract attention.

The Crow wasn't interested in the beauty of the sunset behind him, he didn't even notice it. He was on the qui vive for two stupid teenager boys, listening to the chatter between students to gain any helpful informations. He couldn't enter Hogwarts while it was still bright but he had no problem watching.

He waited until deep into the night, and only then, moved for the first time that. Flying to the ground he noticed a motion out of the corner of his eye, nearly a second to late. Still hidden in his animagus form, he turned towards a tall brunette woman. She smiled at him and placed a few nuts and meat on the ground before she vanished as fast as she had come, without a word. Rigid and still, he waited to see if she was gone for good before he looked at her offering and picked it up with his beak, sceptical. He was hungry and there was no reason for this food to go to waste if it wasn't poisoned, but he looked at it longer than a few seconds, until he decided it was fine and ate it.

He didn't transform back into his human body that night to explore Hogwarts, as the risk was to high after someone had noticed his animal form. A normal crow wouldn't fly away at night so all he could do was to stay and continue watching and listening. The boys would need to cross the Courtyard sooner or later.

XxX

"She's bad news Alb, can't you see?" Scorpius plead with his friend again but Albus just shook his head. They both knew the argument would continue forever because they were both too stubborn. Scorpius stood up with the swift grace his father had thought him since he was a small boy and vanished into the bathroom. Albus grabbed his blanket and went to sleep, tired from arguing with his best friend again and again, holding the letter he had received earlier today close his chest, the one that had restarted the whole arguing.

In the bathroom, Scorpius decided, while brushing his teeth, that he would do as planed and talk to Miss Granger tomorrow before breakfast. After the second letter from his father had come in, he had started to call her by her maiden name in his head, like his father did. He wanted to accomplish something and Albus was a lost cause for now. He wouldn't give up of course, but it was the smartest move to retreat for now. He needed to show it to Albus, else he would never see his point.

XxX

Scorpius hurried through Hogwarts early in the morning while most of his peers were deep asleep in their beds and the only thing alive in the old castle were the birds and maybe a pet or two. He hoped Miss Granger was awake yet when he knocked at her door.

When the knock sounded, Hermione rubbed her tired eyes and stood up. She took a few seconds to collect herself and cast a Glamour on her global appearance to erase the tiredness on her face. Whoever was at her door didn't need to know she hadn't slept most of the night and had rather hovered over a book she had acquired the day before. After all these years, it was still her safe haven if she was feeling insecure. And if she didn't know everything about something she needed, she was always feeling insecure. She liked to have all the facts to make a decision. There were rarely things she decided on a gut feeling like Ron and Harry always did it. Things like quitting her job as Minister of Magic or divorcing her husband.

She winced when she remembered just how many of her decisions the last few days had been made without having all facts, even if she didn't regret them. So she had done the thing she always did and buried herself in books since she came here and had access to the library.

She knew the history of the last twenty years by heart now and had also read up on Ginny's publications. She knew how every single child born to her friends and family was called and how she managed to make her way towards Minister of Magic. What she didn't know was why she was so emotional all the time or how she could right the wrong that was done by coming here and replacing the woman who had lived those years.

Opening the door she looked into a well known face and a smile spread on her tired face.

"Scorpius." she greeted him and wanted to hug him but remembered just a few seconds later that he wasn't her son in this world. Straightening herself, she stepped aside and suggested him to come inside.

The room wasn't what he had expected it to be but the mismatched colours that greeted him were soothing and the room looked like home. Still, he had never in his life seen different shades of green, yellow and brown mixed together like this.

"Thank you for letting me in Miss Granger. I'm sorry to disturb you this early." he bowed before her, acting like the gentleman his parents had tried to bring him up to be.

The weekend is nearly over, but school started last week again so Eva needed the weekend to vanish my mistakes ;)

Might switch to publish on sudays to give her time, because I remember school to be a pain in the ass. Lucky I haven't been there for years.