Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't been updating for a while. School is becoming more and more stressful, but I'll try to update more! Hope you like this chapter and remember that reviews are always appreciated:)
Scorpius felt sick at the sight in front of him. His dad, with blood coming out of a huge cut on his wrist. His dark mark, Scorpius realized vaguely. His dad couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. He felt himself fall to his knees.
He grabbed the still body, begging him to wake up. His mind was racing.
Harry was frozen, but then he snapped out of it and immediately took control. He gently pulled Scorpius's body off of his dad's and only then Scorpius began to cry. He watched as Harry carefully put a hand on Draco's neck, checking his pulse. Scorpius held his breath, and Harry let out a sigh of relief.
"He's still alive." Those words made Scorpius cry even more, only out of relief now. He collapsed onto the ground and sobbed. Harry patted his back gently, then stood up. Scorpius's vision was blurred with tears, but he saw Harry raise his wand.
"Expecto Patronum!" A silvery stag appeared, and Scorpius vaguely heard Harry order it to send a message to Saint Mungo's. Saint Mungo's? Was the injury that serious? But then he looked more closely at the cut and felt sick again. It was deep, and traced the edges of the dark mark. Scorpius had no doubt that his dad had done it to himself. He felt dizzy. Was it his fault, for running away after his dad had hit him? He had never known that his dad was so desperate and depressed that he would be willing to kill himself. But through the relief that his dad was alive and the guilt, he felt a tiny bit of anger. His dad was willing to leave him alone, with no one to take care of him?
Scorpius looked down at his dad's face. Draco looked nothing like he usually did. He was always so cool and confident all the time, but he looked so vulnerable now.
He pulled his dad's head into his lap and held him close. He couldn't lose another parent. He knew the grief and devastation, the hole in his heart that would never fade. He didn't think he could handle that grief a second time. And right now, when he was becoming closer to his dad, when he was finally starting to see why he acted the way he did, starting to understand him better.
No, Scorpius thought firmly. His dad was still alive. He was not going to die. Harry was calling Saint Mungo's, they would be here any minute.
"Scorpius. He's going to be ok," Harry said gently, kneeling down to look at his face. Scorpius looked at him, and seeing his worried face just made him begin crying again. Harry gently touched his shoulder, and they sat like that until they heard the familiar noises of people coming from the floo.
A man entered the room. He took one look at Draco and immediately pointed his wand at him.
"He's a Death Eater," the man gasped.
"He's not-" Scorpius began. But Harry interrupted him, turning to the man.
"And I'm Harry Potter. Your point?" The man's jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize." Normally, Scorpius would've been annoyed to see Harry using his hero status to his advantage like that. But this was for a good reason. The man pointed his wand at Draco again, and Scorpius jumped up, ready to defend his dad if needed. But the spell only lifted Draco up, and the man levitated him toward the Floo. He glanced at Scorpius.
"And you're his son?" he asked. Scorpius nodded hesitantly, hoping that the man hadn't heard any of the rumors. "Yeah."
The man pursed his lips and nodded. "Right..." he said, sounding skeptical. So he had heard the rumors, Scorpius thought sadly. It seemed like everyone knew about them.
"You can come with me now, but you will have to wait in the sitting room until your father is well," the man said.
Before Scorpius could answer, the man had already left. Scorpius glanced at Harry, who looked at him worriedly. "He'll be fine, Scorpius," Harry said softly. But he didn't sound so sure. Scorpius pretended to not notice and gave Harry a weak smile before stepping into the Floo for the third time that day and yelling "Saint Mungo's!"
He appeared in the fireplace of Saint Mungo's. He looked around to see the man who had been in his house earlier.
He sat down on the chair beside the man, and only then he realized how exhausted he was. He looked at a clock that was on the wall. No wonder. It was past midnight. He closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep, no dreams or anything. He was grateful for that.
Scorpius awoke suddenly to someone shaking his shoulder roughly. "Your dad is awake. You can come in now." the healer said.
Scorpius immediately jumped up, relief in his mind, all traces of grogginess gone. He followed the healer, impatient to see his dad.
Scorpius practically ran into the room that the healer pointed at.
"Dad!" He yelled, running to the bed, throwing his arms around him. Tears pricked his eyes. The relief at seeing his dad alive was overwhelming. He felt his dad flinch, and realized that he had touched the bandaged dark mark. He jumped up and backed away.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. His dad gave him a tired smile. "It's alright." He motioned for Scorpius to come closer.
The two of them embraced each other. Scorpius began crying again, and his dad pulled him closer. He felt guilty for crying and needing to be comforted while his dad was actually the one who needed comfort.
"Why did you do… that?" Scorpius asked, motioning towards the bandaged arm. His dad's face became hesitant, conflicted. He looked exhausted, Scorpius realized. Also pale, and weaker than Scorpius had ever seen him.
"I'm sorry for hurting you," his dad said, looking away in guilt. Scorpius could see that he meant it.
"It's ok, Dad. I forgive you," Scorpius smiled. His dad's mouth dropped open. He had obviously not expected Scorpius to forgive him so quickly.
"No, it's not ok. I swore to never hurt you. I swore to be better," he said quietly. Scorpius couldn't stand seeing his dad so sad.
"You are better, Dad. Much better than your father was to you," Scorpius said. His dad just looked at him tiredly.
"Your Grandfather made some mistakes, Scorpius, but he's still part of our family," he said firmly. "You should still be respectful."
But Scorpius didn't understand how his dad could love someone who had hurt him so much. His dad actually believed that his grandfather had done what was right. Anger rushed through him, towards his Grandfather, for probably the thousandth time this day.
Then he thought about how his dad had hit him, and he still forgave his dad. But this was different, he told himself. His dad had never hurt him before, only this once. But then he realized that his dad had avoided his question.
"You didn't answer me," Scorpius pointed out. He felt a sudden anger and stood up. His dad looked at him in surprise.
"Why did you try to kill yourself? And leave me here alone?" His dad winced at the anger in Scorpius's voice, but Scorpius found that he didn't care.
"How could you do this to me? Don't you know how horrible it was when Mom died? How would I have been able to handle it if you had died too?" Scorpius realized he was yelling now but couldn't stop. Scorpius was the type of person who wouldn't show his anger until he just exploded, yelling at whoever was unfortunate enough to be the brunt of his anger.
He realized he was crying as well, and quieted down.
"Scorpius," his dad said, and then stopped, as if not knowing what to say. Scorpius wiped away his tears and turned to walk out of the room, still angry.
"Wait," his dad called, desperately. "I thought you would be angry with me, for hitting you." He looked down. "I never wanted you to see me like that."
Scorpius whirled around. "And that's the only reason?" he asked. His dad sighed, but before he could say anything, the door was pushed open.
Of course the healer had to come in the moment his dad was going to tell him something. But Scorpius took a deep breath, knowing that he shouldn't blame the healer. He was only doing his job. But his dad looked annoyed. He raised his eyebrows, looking at the man.
"Yes?" he drawled, sounding every bit like the arrogant teenager Scorpius had seen in his memories.
The man looked at the two of them suspiciously. "You have some other visitors."
He walked out of the room, leaving his dad looking surprised. It was probably Harry, Scorpius thought. Or Albus, here to find out what happened. Scorpius knew that Harry wouldn't tell anyone about the incident unless he absolutely needed to.
But neither Scorpius or his dad were prepared for the people who stepped into the room.