Death's True Hallows

by Ensis96

She had electric blue hair and emerald green eyes that twinkled with mirth at their surprise, but what put her even more out of place was her clothing. She had no robe or House emblem, nothing Wizardly about her at all. The halfblood beamed at the Poltergeist of Hogwarts and brightly spoke words that had never once been said: "Hi Peeves, it's nice to meet you!" (A Next-Gen fanfic)

23. Ch 23 Middlegame

Ch 23- Middlegame

Middlegame: Chess term referring to the part of a match after both teams have set up their strategies, but before important officers have been lost by either side.

---

Scorpius had thought he was sore that Sunday morning. Now it was sunset. And Scorpius had redefined his definition of the word. Flying a broom for hours on end was tough because it required core muscles for balance. Running the obstacle course, which Scorpius had learned the club called a 'gauntlet', was different. Sprinting on the ground required muscles he never used on a broom, and the obstacles like climbing, crawling and dodging required passing collisions even if they were done right. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy had never been more sore in his life.

As he trudged back to the castle after the club ended, his every muscle groaned in an offkey chorus of aching pain. He had easily twice as many bruises as he'd woken up with and was now certain that Nott had pushed him into the gauntlet for vengeance.

Now that he'd been there, though, he couldn't fault his friend. Dueling Cl- DDC was a lot better than he'd ever imagined. And the course, painful though it was, had been invigorating. Priscilla had gone inside ages ago, Nott a few hours after that for the start of dinner, but Scorpius had kept going through the challenge again and again until Rupert closed the club just before it got dark. Even after all that Scorpius's best time was barely halfway up the leaderboard, but Rupert assured him that was still very good for a first day and chalked up his success to his quidditch practices.

It made Scorpius realize that the same might benefit vice versa. DDC would help him build his endurance for sure, and probably some reflex skills, which would definitely show on the quidditch pitch. As far as he was concerned, dueling club had just gained a new member... on the days he actually time to attend. Between Slytherin Quidditch and tutoring Malam, Scorpius didn't have many days off.

The freezing rain that came with the start of winter fell in a light sprinkling, a few snowflakes dancing on the wind. The snow on the ground had was still too light to truly cushion footfalls, but it had been enough turn walkways and the obstacle course into a freezing slush. As they fell, slipped, and walked through it that freezing 'slush' they were all covered in started melting into freezing mud that clung to their clothes. Scorpius groaned internally as he remembered the long walk to get to his common room and a decent shower. Rupert saw him separating from the group and called "Oi, whaddya think you're doing?"

Stopping and looking over his shoulder Scorpius simply raised an eyebrow, since what 'he was doing' was plainly visible to the naked eye.

"Ya plannin to freeze, mate?" Rupert shook his head in amusement. "We get access to the quidditch locker rooms, and more importantly their showers, on days like this."

"Day's 'like this'?" Scorpius repeated curiously but eagerly took the advice. He'd much rather get clean immediately instead of walking cold and damp through the dungeons to his Common Room. The dungeons were cold and damp to start with.

"You know, foul weathers. Cold. Wet. Hot…" Rupert grinned, "Pretty much any day we need a decent shower before approaching a cute girl."

Well that was a random descriptor. Scorpius was saved from responding as Isabelle cried out in indignation at Rupert's comment, who quickly added "Or boy- approaching a cute girl or boy."

"And I'm not a cute girl?" Isabelle challenged, a few of her female friends backing her up.

"You smell as bad as I do."

The surrounding club members replied in unison "No she doesn't."

Scorpius huffed mildly in amusement, beginning to understand that he'd walked into a very strange subculture of Hogwarts. They were so serious in training, but they kept jeering and calling out to each other even in the locker room. Quidditch locker rooms were under the stadium and technically there were two of them, one for each of the teams after a game, but everyone poured into the closer one without second thought so Scorpius followed suit.

Being a room for quidditch teams Scorpius had of course been there before. Since he was finally an official part of the Slytherin Team he finally had his own locker this year. He pulled out a green towel and spare robes, things he always left in there. He surprised to see that the entire dueling club went the same locker for the same supplies. Curious, he walked up to Rupert as he watched towel after towel appear out of the obviously magical storage. "I didn't even know that was here."

"Enlargement charm. Put it there my third year." Rupert grinned with pride and pulled out his traditional school uniform. They were different from the dueling attire he'd been wearing all day. In addition to more Hufflepuff yellow decorations, his dueling robe was more form fitted with soft cushioning charms on the joints, a light anti-jinx property to it, and quite a few more scorch marks.

Scorpius looked down at the robe he was wearing and could see how it could soon become just as damaged and stained. He doubted even magic would get all this mud out. "What's it take to get one of those?" he inquired as they stepped into the boy's shower side.

The Sergeant blinked with surprise, but smiled. "Official membership. Which, before you ask, takes a current member's recommendation as well as the council's stamp of approval."

"Oh." he frowned, waiting for a moment but growing impatient when it seemed that he wouldn't be getting the answer he wanted. "Do I have your stamp of approval?"

"You're not a danger to yourself out there and Nott thinks highly of ya, so sure. Priscilla's probably good to go too, though I'd have to check with Izzy. Minimum attendance of twice a week, one weekday and one weekend. No exceptions."

"Got it." Scorpius nodded, stepping under the shower to get clean. The quidditch showers were notably rudimentary, nowhere near as elaborate as the Prefect baths were rumored to be. Unlike the dorm showers these were separated by curtains instead of walls and there was only one pressure setting- high. Nonetheless it felt heavenly as the warm water worked wonders on his many bruises, which were already raised and colorful against his pale complexion.

After scrubbing the mud from his arms and hair he stepped out, not one for long showers. A few minutes of waiting made him realize that he was one of the few, so he called out "Hey Sarge, what about people who aren't good with spells?"

It was only after he groaned "Not you too…" that Scorpius realized he'd just used Rupert's club nickname. He couldn't help it; as a Malfoy he found it rather hard to show respect to anyone he called 'Rupert'.

He went on "I can tell that you're all good with wandwork, and so were Priscilla and I. What's your policy on people who…" he paused to find a tactful way to say this "... aren't?"

"We take em too. You shoulda seen Izzy her first year; barely knew which end of her wand was the front." There was a note of pride in his voice, which was odd to Scorpius. No Slytherin would ever admit such a failing to anyone, certainly not to someone they barely knew. Vaguely remembering that Hufflepuffs were 'unafraid of toil', he wondered if they considered building a skillset more impressive than starting with a natural talent.

Scorpius shrugged, not caring either way about Isabelle and her apparent learning curve. "I'm talking about abysmally terrible magic skills. As in, this person can't even cast vermillious sparks properly."

"… forgive me for saying this," Rupert started slowly, but didn't sound particularly regretful. If anything his voice held a cautious query in it, one that Scorpius failed to notice. "But you don't seem the type to associate with someone of such 'low caliber'."

"I don't." He immediately assured, a knee-jerk reaction that somehow left a bad taste in his mouth after he said it. "But I'm in charge of tutoring the transfer's practical skills. I was thinking that she could use some real-life practice-"

The curtain opened and the Sergeant popped his head out to look at Scorpius. "You mean Zoey Malam?"

He sighed and made a mental note that Rupert insisted on face-to-face interactions. "Yeah. Do you know her?" Scorpius was a bit surprised that the Hufflepuff knew her name. Usually if he'd said 'Malam' he was met with incomprehension until he identified her as the school's only transfer student.

"Wait one sec-" Rupert ran off, dripping water as he went with suds still in his hair, then came back with a copy of the Scandals article and a towel around his waist. "Do you know if she's seen this yet?"

He all but glared at the publication. "No."

"No she hasn't or no-"

"I don't know." Scorpius clipped out, his mood worsening. Was this going to be the norm from now on? One word about Zoey and everyone started quoting that thing?

"Two of my housemates, Lily and Hugo, they're really worried about her. They asked all of us to get her a warning that this exists but- well- no one has. When's your next session with the transfer?"

"Tuesday afternoon." he said offhandedly. It's not like the tutoring was a secret or anything but it wasn't like they'd advertised the fact. He was more curious why a Potter and a Weasley cared that much about Malam; now that he thought about it, if he also counted Rose, Albus and Lysander she was tied up with a lot of the Legacy brats.

His eyes narrowed a touch. That probably wasn't a good thing; but, it was a consideration for another time. "If you don't believe it why are you carrying around one of those?"

Rupert shrugged. "We all figured it would be best to just let her see the article for herself. Could you give this to her tomorrow, just in case she hasn't yet?"

Tilting his head at it for a moment, Scorpius figured how to turn this to his advantage. "If I do, will you let her sit in on one of your practices? Give her some pointers?"

He looked surprised at the question, but cheerfully agreed with a wide smile. "Sure! I'd be glad to. She's welcome anytime."

"Really?" Scorpius asked with tangible doubt. Whether or not Rupert believed the article about Malam, he'd certainly believe that the school wouldn't look kindly at anyone who supported her.

"Really. DDC is open for anybody that works hard." He paused, and looked Scorpius in the eye. It was somehow serious even with conditioner suds in his hair. "Does she work hard?"

Scorpius thought back on his many sessions with the girl. The way she followed his critiques to the letter, the way she bit her lip in concentration, even the annoying questions which only meant she was interested in knowing more. "Malam is forgetful and curious to the point of distraction," he eventually decided, "but she seriously tries. She puts in so much effort it's shocking that she hasn't improved yet."

Rupert stared at him for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. "And Nott said you didn't give compliments."

"That wasn't-"

"She's welcome here." Rupert repeated with a grin, his voice full of authority. "DDC could be a good place for her. And you are now rosy-clean enough to approach cute girls, so get to bed; you worked hard today."

Deciding that arguing wouldn't do him much good, Scorpius put the article in his bag and finished getting dressed. After subtly smelling himself to make sure he didn't actually smell like roses, because Malfoys were not 'floral', he walked out of the lockers and shivering in the crisp air. It felt even colder after being in the steam-warmed locker, but it was still better than being in mud-soaked robes. He walked up to the castle, barely making it in time for a bite of dinner before the Great Hall closed.

Nott had saved him a plate, and mentioned in passing that Zoethia Malam had already come in and then left the Great Hall. Scorpius released a breath of tension, glad that she was back and apparently unhurt for her absence. Then paused in confusion, because he never sighed with relief. Malfoys did not worry about problems, they fixed them.

The news of the Scandals article had leaked to the Slytherin table, and Malfoy was surprised to hear that most of the comments were in favor of Zoey. As the prime targets for Scandal pieces Slytherins were painfully aware of the paper's tendency to stretch the truth for sensationalism. The presiding opinion of the green-and-silver House was that this story was likely a punishment piece for Malam vouching in their favor on Halloween. While his Housemates may not be compelled to act in her defense, Scorpius finished his meal oddly comforted to know they were sympathetic rather than antagonistic towards Wainbata.

Safe in the knowledge that his opinion was well in line with that the table, Scorpius stood and felt his leg muscles clench in protest. The trip through the dungeons was long and his feet were literally dragging by the time he made it to his dorm, any higher reasoning drowned out by his complaining bruises and a need for sleep. He ended up only staying awake long enough to polish his chess set.

"Humpf," the black king sat back on his throne approvingly. "So you didn't forget."

"Malfoys keep their word," he mumbled back before setting the king to stand opposite his white counterpart on his nightstand. Scorpius barely had a moment to revel at the full day he'd had before stretching out for a deep and dreamless sleep.

---

On Monday, the school had a lot to talk about. Zoey Malam was back after her unexplained absence, and eyes trailed her wherever she went. The sensation crawled over her skin like a bad itch. Her lower-grade classes she once hated were now a relief, as it seemed most of the first and second years had little interest in the gossip and therefore their opinion of Zoey was unchanged. It bothered her more in the classes with people her age, the Third and Fourth Years, because they were the ones who stared. Twisted in their seats while Professors focused on the blackboards.

They weren't the ones that assaulted her in hallways, though. No, that honor was reserved for the students Zoey hadn't met, and she therefore assumed were older than her. She supposed it was the anonymity- them only knowing the bad rumors about Zoey, and Zoey knowing absolutely nothing about them.

There was a certain power in being unknown.

Zoey had suffered muggle bullying- bumped shoulders, whispers and giggles, glares and stares… now she was dealing with more than that. It had only been one day but she was already exhausted. Magic made a lot of things easier, and hazing was no exception.

Tuesday wasn't going much better than Monday had. So far, she'd pick up her bag after class to find the bottom torn open by a quick diffindo. Been doused with random streams of water by auguamenti when she walked outside. Had her writing ink drying out mid-class and ruining her notes by- actually, Zoey wasn't sure which spell that had been. But it was on her running list of things to find out, along with the unique spellwork involved with this most recent event.

Really, Zoey thought as she coughed a mouthful of sand, how much did these people rely on magic? At least her muggle bullies had been smart enough to hide their actions around teachers. But as she stood in the hall just outside her Transfiguration Classroom, she knew there was no way for this to go unnoticed. Or at least, she thought so. Magic was capable of a lot.

Her assailants- whom Zoey didn't know and truely didn't care to- high fived one another and walked away, leaving her alone in the hallway. Zoey sighed. This was what she got for trying to be perfectly on time to her class. She hadn't wanted to talk to Hugo, or Lily. They'd shower her with well-wishes that would make her feel better, but as of yet nobody had openly supported her.

That had been intentional; over the last 48 hours Zoey had done her hardest to avoid them, because if past experience was any indicator, their two minutes of support could turn into them being targeted as well. Zoey didn't want that, so she'd come to class as late as possible so that class could prevent conversation.

And thus, she found herself here. Right outside the classroom, with her classmates and professor inside, but she may as well have been a million miles away with the silencing spell over the doorway. Nobody would be in the halls until the next bell, so Zoey was left standing there until a patrol came along and got her in trouble for 'skipping' class.

When Zoey considered herself stuck she meant literally stuck. Her legs wouldn't move- she assumed it was some version of an immobulus spell- and above her was the top half of a giant hourglass, pouring a continuous stream of fine sand over her head and down her shirt.

… this was going to get old real quick. She was practically standing in a desert by now. With a sigh Zoey lifted an arm to divert her sandy shower to the side at least, but knew she wouldn't be able to do that for a whole hour. Assuming that a giant hourglass was still only an hour. There were two-minute hourglasses used to time things like brushing teeth or pictionary. And some hourglasses that went longer than an hour, to like three or six. So really, she had no idea how long this would take, but she doubted it would be two minutes.

Zoey really hoped she wouldn't have to stand here for three or six hours. Her arms would seriously cramp. Would her legs cramp? Or does the magically-immobilized-ness mean that her muscles were doing absolutely no work to keep her upright at the moment?

Deciding those were questions for someone who actually knew the answer she instead concentrated on how to get out of her predicament. Leaning forward, Zoey tried to tip herself over. Even if her legs were stuck at an awkward angle she expected to at least be able to drag herself off, but no such luck. No matter how she stretched her center of gravity her legs stayed square on the same tile.

"Was worth a shot." she sighed and looked up, unclipping her wandcase from her silver bracelet and letting it grow to a normal size as she considered her options. What would work here? Malfoy had been working on her defensive spells, but she supposed a Knockback Jinx might do something.

She slid the box open and took out the hazel wand, biting her lip in concentration as she swished her stick above her head and cried "Flipendo!"

The spell should have produced a loud 'bang' and at the very least pushed the falling sand back into the hourglass. Instead the wand vibrated in her hand and barely made a psst of pressure, sounding like a mocking kid sticking their tongue out. Zoey scowled at it, knowing an insult when she heard one, and tried the spell again.

The desired Bang! exploded around her but instead of damaging the hourglass her mother's wand recoiled in a violent kickback and slid back out of her grip. Its base struck her shoulder with bruising force, making her shout in surprised pain, and bounced behind her.

"Ow." Zoey mumbled passingly and massaged her left shoulder. Twisting around for a second time, she looked at the wand that lay innocently two feet behind her. "That hurt."

The wand, unsurprisingly, didn't respond to her accusations. It just lay there and quickly became buried in the still-falling sand. Actually if anything the sand had sped up for a few moments in the wake of her spell.

Zoey was flexible- she could touch her toes and was only a few inches away from doing splits- but she was fairly certain it was impossible to touch toes backwards. Unless that person was a professional athlete or something, but while she'd done gymnastics and martial arts growing up, olympian Zoey was not. Still, she groaned and twisted as much as possible to reach the dumb stick that had refused to help her and was now getting buried by the very spell it had failed to destroy. Karma.

If she just could have pivoted the balls of her feet she might as gotten the wand back. As it was though Zoey was unable to move her legs even a millimeter, and she gave up after a few moments of grabbing her own hip and twisting while arching her back behind her and reaching the other arm. She didn't get the wand. On the plus, she'd popped a crick out of her back. Zoey sighed and lifted a hand over her head to divert the sand again. Yup, this was already old.

A few minutes later she went to swap arms, but felt her hand tingle in a familiar manner when she lifted it off her thigh. Like the light needling of a limb that was almost asleep, but more akin to what she felt whenever she opened the door to Orion's rooms.

She stared at the hand for a moment, then Zoey brought a curved finger to her lips as she thought it over. ...really? Was it that simple? She manipulated the magic of standing enchantments all the time, but never had she tried it on anything living. Unless- she calmed Jon's magic sometimes. But that was because he wanted her to; she'd never tried countering a spell targeted on her specifically.

Back before Zelina had disappeared and had been a normal witch teaching her daughter the basics of magics, she'd made her daughter swear not to use any magic until it had been practiced and mastered in a safe environment. It was too dangerous. Zoey had tried to live by that, but she'd never heard of anyone who could manipulate magic in the direct manner that she could. There was nobody to teach her, so after some hesitation she decided that the only risk here would be to herself and she was willing to take that.

Putting a hand on each of her legs, Zoey took one last look around and made sure she was alone.

… of course she was alone. Shaking her head, Zoey did what she did best- take care of her own problems. Closing her eyes and trying to be very, very cautious about what she was dealing with, she reached her magic out for the enchantment that encased her.

She immediately felt a staggering difference between this and what she was used to. Most of the magics she had touched held the taste of dust and old layers to it. This magic was so fresh and hostile toward her interference that it startled her with an assault on all her senses the way a hot pepper makes eyes water and noses run. Surprised to find her vision fail, Zoey took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. This was just- just like vertigo, that thing when you get up too fast and black spots dance for a moment even though you can stand just fine.

In response she tried to slow her magical assessment, taking her time to get a much clearer sense of the spell. It hissed in distaste, but on further inspection it was infinitely weaker and smaller than she'd expected. It had no motivation, no determination to stand eternally as most of her previous opponents did. Smiling, Zoey decided not to be too fancy and just pushed the enchantment aside with a wave of her own magic. She kept pushing until she felt the hex harmlessly attach to the stone under her feet.

"Yes!" she cried in triumph as her legs gave way underneath her, depositing her harshly on the sandpile. They tingled with passing pain as she pulled them out of the sand they were under and dug around for her mother's wand, putting the stubborn thing back in its box. She ignored a slight nausea as she got to her feet. Now standing out from under the falling sand, she pointed at it and bragged "Take that, you sandy torture device!"
"That was impressive," one of the portraits around her murmured, a number of the others whispering to eachother. They'd stood silent witness to the entire ordeal and her escape, which had taken the better part of half an hour. The one that spoke seemed to the only one with the courage to as the others shied away from her presence. It was the victorian woman who had once shown Zoey where to find the kitchens.

Zoey smiled and scratched at the sand that was caught in her clothes. "Thanks. Never done it that way before, but figured it would be better than waiting here for who knows how long until that hourglass ran out."

Spinning a shade parasol, the woman tilted her head. "Be careful with it. Many magics are dangerous."

"Beg to differ," Zoey brushed herself off. "All magic is dangerous in overflow quantities. A cleaning spell could kill protective bacteria, a cooking charm could start a fire… being around or wielding simpler magics doesn't make them not dangerous, it's the intent that- what is with this sand?" she interrupted herself with a scowl, finding that it was everywhere. She stopped her feet and shook out her hair in a strange jig, but it just never stopped!

The portrait chuckled, seeming to finally relax as she pointed down the hallway. "You should go wash up. Unless you wish to attend class in that state?"

Looking at her classroom door, Zoey admitted to herself that she really didn't. Hugo would no doubt interrogate her, she had missed the lecture time anyways and would probably only arrive for the practical practice in which she'd only embarrass herself, and there was no way she'd be able to concentrate before shaking the sand from her clothes. "Where's the closest bathroom?"

"There is a lavatory over there," she gestured, "but I doubt you wish to use that one. I suggest going to the first floor."

"What wrong with this one? Is it flooded?" Zoey looked down the corridor curiously. She hadn't realized that OUT OF ORDER room was a bathroom, though she supposed it made sense.

The oil woman smiled. "Fortunately Myrtle has forgone that particular tendency, but people still don't use it. In recent memory this second floor girls bathroom is really only for people who wish to shed tears without interruption."

"Myrtle?"

"She used to be called Moaning Myrtle, poor girl who died in that bathroom nigh on eighty years now. She doesn't 'moan' as much as she once did, but the dear refuses to leave the place."

"Oh." Zoey said as she realized this Myrtle girl must be a ghost. She understood why it was abandoned; she wouldn't want to use a bathroom that a ghost liked to haunt. "Would you mind walking me to the next floor? I, um, tend to-"

"Get lost?" she finished, having heard that before.

"Frequently."

"C'mon then dearie. A lady does not refute a heartfelt request." She turned and walked smoothly into the next portrait to lead the way down the corridor.

Zoey stared at the bathroom for a moment longer before following her.

The sand of the hourglass continued to fall in the empty hall until it emptied, and then it and all the sand vanished just before the bell rang for the end of class. When the door opened to let a dejected Hugo Granger-Weasley and his classmates out, there was no sign that Zoey had ever been there at all.

---

"We may have a problem." Christine Creevy said as she caught up to Roxanne.

The red-haired witch was surprised at the hurried approach; Creevy usually tried not to associate with her or James in public places. Roxanne wasn't sure what that meant. "What do you mean, 'problem'?"

"Look what's behind me."

Glancing over at her shoulder, Roxanne almost stumbled in surprise. Rasputin was padding along a few feet behind them. Seeing their attention he flashed a toothy grin.

"It showed up with a note for me this morning," Creevy passed over the note, which had a few holes in it where it had been stuck onto Rasputin's quills. She explained even as Roxanne skimmed the parchment. "Orion requested I visit his office after the last class."

"Oh. That's, um, a problem." the Weasley had to gather her wits from the always unnerving sight of the Assistant's familiar. Then her brain caught up with her. "Wait- that's now!"

"Yes it is," the Ravenclaw responded in the manner of talking to a child. "I wasn't about to walk into his office uninformed."

Roxanne scoffed at the idea. If there was one thing Christine Creevy never was, it was 'uninformed'.

She went on without pausing "Can you think of any reason I should be worried?"

"Professors don't know who writes Scandals."

"No, but I don't know the reason the rat is after me."

Rasputin growled in warning.

Roxanne opened her mouth and then closed it, remembering Rose's near-identical reaction in the library the day before. "It was following us yesterday," the Gryffindor admitted… "but left after Rose had said the name 'Creevy'..."

"Your cousin did what?"

Oops. That last part wasn't supposed to be out loud. "Don't worry about it, Creevy, it's fine."

She didn't share the sentiment. At all. "This is not a light matter! What am I supposed to do here? He's not supposed to know you were even in the Tower, Weasley!"

"Right, about that- I wasn't the one in the tower on Halloween… Rose was."

That inspired a few very unladylike insults to be mumbled under Christine's breath before she asked with a note of panicked anger "Why did you insist on sneaking into the tower yourselves anyways? It made way more sense for me to do it!"

Roxanne frowned. James had said Creevy refused to do it, so they had to. She opened her mouth to ask more about it when a firm voice called "Miss Christine."

Both girls started guiltily then turned to find Jonovan Malam Orion himself walking a few feet behind them, smiling softly in the eternal manner of a snake. He spoke out again "Fortunate I ran into you; shall we proceed to our meeting?"

Roxanne nervously watched Rasputin climb up his master's robes and perch on his shoulders, smiling that toothy rat grin again. By the time she brought herself to look away Creevy was already walking toward the assistant with the reluctant air of dread about her. "Am I in trouble, sir?"

"There is an urgent matter that could not wait any longer." he said in a tense voice normally reserved for issuing detention. Orion's familiar hissed in agreement.

The girls' eyes met one last time before Creevy left with him, doing her best to maintain an air of nonchalance and innocence. Roxanne rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly, trying to think through what would happen to the girl, when her stomach growled.

She turned to go to the Great Hall. She'd tell James about this over a plate of food; he'd plan their next move from there.

---

Rose had finally decided what to do about the transfer's journal. She just needed to put it someplace the girl herself would find it and assume it was left behind. Simple, right?

Wrong. It was only now that Rose realized her only class with the transfer was astrology, and that tower was used by literally everyone in the school. It would be highly illogical for any lost item to stay there after that much foot traffic. So, with a sigh, Rose had come to the conclusion that she needed to leave the journal in their tutoring room.

She got to their session early and tucked it into one of the many student desks. It might take Zoey a few days to find it, but that would be even better. The more time passed the less of a surprise it would be to see it here.

Straightening up and brushing nonexistent dust from her knees, she turned to find Scorpius standing in the doorway. She jumped in surprise and wondered if he'd seen her.

"What is that book?"

He'd seen her. "It's- um- I dunno, it just- I found it." It didn't sound too obvious, since she'd said it a few times already. Some of her dormmates had asked about her newest book.

Scorpius walked over and pulled it out, frowning at the bindings. "Strange," he mumbled and opened it, then his eyebrows rose at the altered runes inside. "Now that's unique."

Rose hummed non-comitantly and walked away, not trusting her mouth to say anything.

He flipped through the pages for a bit to see if there was anything written in normal scripts, but there weren't. Eventually shrugged and put it back where he'd found it- runes were not one of his interests. He missed Rose's sigh of relief that his attention had moved on.

The silence stretched as they looked at the clock. Rose glanced up at the time repeatedly while Scorpius set up a chess set, then did a double take. "Is that- muggle?"

He raised an eyebrow without looking away from the pieces he was arranging. "You've seen me use them before."

"But-" Rose crouched in front of the board, floored by her discovery "-but you hate muggles."

"Do I, Thorn?" Scorpius finally turned a gaze on her. "Do I really?"

"Yes." She answered liked he'd just asked if the sky was blue.

"For someone who complains about preconceived opinions, Thorn, you have quite a few of your own. I do not 'hate' muggles."

"Of course you do. You always-" no, that wasn't right. "You call them-" actually, now that she thought back she'd never heard him insult muggles. "I- you just do!"

He snorted at her pitiful attempt to present an argument, considering his point to be made and won. "Malam doesn't have a wizard set, so we've been using this one until she plays better." A decent wizarding set would never listen to someone of her skills.

Rose watched him go about setting up the game to play against himself, as he always did during the hour she tried to teach Malam from textbooks. "...how about a match?"

Scorpius paused and flicked his eyes up to her, asking in a bland voice "What?"

"I- I mean," Rose blushed, "You always play the transfer, but- you've never played me, and I know how to play."

Letting the passing insult at Malam go for the moment, Scorpius leaned back and allowed note of surprise enter his voice. "You do?"

"Of course." She huffed and sat across from him, spinning the board so that she could have the white pieces. As she moved her pawn she bragged "My dad won the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in years during his first year here."

Scorpius's eyes narrowed a touch, then moved his King's pawn to match hers.

Grinning her success at getting him to play against with her, Rose eagerly responded quickly.

Ignoring her pawn push for the moment, Scorpius moved his queen. She pulled out her knight. He moved his bishop.

Rose hopped her horse again and smiled triumphantly as she announced "Garde!", flaunting the sportsmanlike term to show she could take his queen in the next round if he wasn't careful.

He didn't even blink and moved the queen all the way forward to take the king's side bishop pawn. As he took the piece he blandly reported "Checkmate."

"Wha-" she looked down at her board and her face flushed in mortification.

"Your dad may have had one good match here," Scorpius stood and leaned over the table as he knocked her king over for her. "But you are not your father."

She cringed at the hiss in his voice and expected him to insult her further, but instead he sat back down and put his pieces back in place. That was one annoyance of muggle chess; the games had to be set himself. His own pieces knew to go to their spots on their own. "You use a wizarding set, right?"

"Yes." Rose said. It the same one her dad had used in his school days, and had been her grandfather's. Hand-me-downs were still very much a thing in the Weasley family.

"There you have it." Scorpius explained her easy loss. "That set would have warned you about the trap I had coming for you."

"What?" She asked, then realised he was talking about the incessant ramblings of any chess set. The pieces most definitely would have complained to her about an imminent loss. "Oh."

"That's the difference. Wizard sets, you have to ignore their opinions. Muggle sets-" he picked up his king for a moment and looked at it, then put it down. "-you're on your own. You have to think for yourself the whole way through." Which, in his opinion, was the best person to trust anyways.

Seeing the curt movements of his hands Rose could tell he was upset, and that made her scowl. He had no right to be upset right now. She was the one who had just lost the game in four moves! And after she'd finally gotten him to give her a chance at it instead of only playing the transfer. It wasn't fair.

Her passing though about Hogwarts' transfer student took her mind on a different path. Leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms Rose wondered what he thought of Zoey's relationship with Orion now that it was public knowledge. Now, Scorpius had certainly never said nor given any indication of believing the article and its slander, but to Rose that slander was fact and anyone who said otherwise didn't know the truth when they saw it. And Scorpius was no idiot. She knew it would be strange to just come out and ask him, but maybe it would come up if she just kept him talking. She thought back to her last conversations with him to think of a topic. "So how's that 'private project' going for you?"

Scorpius glanced up at her, wondering how her brain had jumped to that. "Why are you interested?"

She tapped her fingers on her arms for a few moments, then said "I know which books you've been checking out lately: Schools of Magics, Memoirs of Masters, Histories of Divining Arts, Specialties in Spells…"

After realizing she was not only capable but literally going through all the books he'd used in the past few weeks, he interrupted "And what did you discover from stalking my reading selections?"

She immediately blushed. "I- it's not stalking! I just- there was a huge gap in a shelf and I wondered who took them all and- it was you and your friends that- I am not a stalker."

His mouth tightened as he tried not to smile at her antics, rolling his wrist for her to actually get around to answering his question.

"And- well- you're researching types of magic." she finished, still beyond embarrassed. "You're going about it all wrong, though."

"How so?"

"There's better books on them. You're not even in the best shelf- you're looking at things far below your reading level."

"Was that a compliment?" He raised an eyebrow, considering what she'd told him.

"What- that- so what if it was?" She looked to the side and let her thick red hair fall forward to hide the blush she felt spreading, "It would be embarrassing for my rival to be anything less."

Scorpius blinked. First she outright said she admired his skills, then Rose admitted to a voluntary compliment. A backhanded compliment, to be sure, but he realised that was probably what she was most comfortable giving. He tilted his head at her for a few moments, needing only a few moments to make up his mind. "So help me find better ones."

"It's not like you-" her mouth dropped open when she realized what he'd said. "You want me to what?"

"Show me the books you were talking about." He commented as he started playing chess against himself, as was his norm. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at her. "Unless, of course, they don't actually exist."

She bristled at the insinuation she had made that up for some reason. "Of course they exist! I've read them a dozen times."

"Even better," he said, a stark contrast of calm against her explosive reactions. "You can tell me what sections I need to focus on."

Wait- now he wanted her to not only show the books to him, but to help his research? Rose's mouth dropped open and stayed there.

Scorpius smirked at her expression. "Unless you think you'd have nothing to contribute. In that case, I am more than capable-"

"Tomorrow. After tutoring." She said curtly, having made up her mind.

"Tomorrow it is." He smiled, taking the black king off the board with an expression of success.

"What about Wednesday?" Zoey asked as she walked in, having just barely heard the last words of their conversation from the door. Her hair was neon-green today. It was a color that should have made anyone look sickly, but made Malam just look more energetic. "Are we changing the times? If ya'll have practice after I don't mind coming here earlier or moving to Fri-"

"No. We're not." Rose clipped out, annoyed at the rambling interruption. She got up from the desk and glanced up at the clock. "You're here early."

"I know… is that a bad thing?" she said, and shocked them both by not following up with one of her extended follow-up questions. There was a long silence as they waited for her to continue while she waited for their answer.

"No." Scorpius eventually spoke in the slightly awkward atmosphere as she walked in and set her books down. He looked between the armful of textbooks and her bag, asking "Is there a particular reason you decided to use your arms instead of the readily available mode of transportation on your shoulder?"

'Is there a particular reason…' was a phrase he often used while tutoring her. 'Is there a particular reason… you haven't practiced adequately this since your last session?' Is there a particular reason… you did the motion for wingardium leviosa while you were casting flipendo?' 'Is there a particular reason… you are holding your wand with both hands… again?'

This time though, Zoey had a better answer than her usual embarrassed hems and haws. She pulled the empty bag from her shoulder, holding it sideways so that she could she look at them both through the giant cut at the bottom of it. "Boo." she said with amusement, since they both looked surprised anyways.

"What did you do?" Rose accused in shock, walking up to inspect the damage.

"I hardly expect she damaged her own item," Scorpius pointed out, seeing the cut just fine from a distance. He felt the article that Rupert had passed on to him burning a hole in his pocket; there was no way that had been an accident.

"And we have a winner!" Zoe smiled and made the dingdingding sound of a game show as she pointed at Scorpius. "Someone else was in charge of this fiasco. Not sure who; not that I mind. There's absolutely nothing wrong with my arms, and I have some thread up at my dorm. I'll fix it up tonight."

"Thread?" Rose scoffed distastefully and pulled out her wand, flicking it at the damaged item as she said "Repairo."

Zoey watched with no small amount of fascination as the rip in her bag mended itself in no time flat. "Thanks," she grinned, testing the strength of it before she started organizing her books back into it.

"Why would someone do that, anyways?" Rose scoffed, because Merlin knew Zoey didn't need yet another excuse to do poorly at class.

"You mean you haven't heard?" she looked at the Gryffindor girl with surprise and- Scorpius was confused to see- a bit of relief.

"Heard what?"

"The Scandals," Scorpius answered and pulled the article from his pocket, putting it on the desk closest to the middle of them. At Zoey's look of surprise he explained to her "Apparently the Hufflepuffs wanted to make sure you were warned ahead of time, so I was 'recruited' to make sure you knew."

Rose looked at the article in confusion, considering it to be entirely unrelated to the question she'd just asked. Her reaction looked like simple surprise to the onlookers.

Zoey's relief became even more palpable as she explained "Some idiots got it in their head that Orion and I are romantic. And decided that the entirety of Hogwarts should share that unfounded opinion. Which is quite rude; even if it were true-" she visibly shuddered at the thought. "It's not exactly tactful nor kind to make it everybody's business in this way. Or in any way, really."

Her jaw dropped at the blatant denial. It sounded sincere, but- "But you kiss him!"

They all looked at the article to see the incriminating but innocent contact occur. Scorpius frowned at the timing; Rose had pointed before it had happened. Had she actually seen this before?

"Have you ever kissed your brother?" Zoey asked instead of answered, deciding there wasn't much point in hiding their relationship anymore. "Or your mum? On the cheek, at like family occasions or when you haven't seen each other for a while?"

Rose froze and felt like she was choking. "You- are you saying-"

"You're related?" Scorpius finished in surprise, not expecting that.

"His family adopted me when I was, like, five." She spoke with too much confidence for that 'like' to have been true hesitation. It seemed more like her explanation was habitual and she wasn't actually thinking about what was coming from her mouth. And indeed it was as she explained blandly for what must have been the millionth time in her life "He's practically a brother. No romance there whatsoever. "

"That's why you call him Jon," Scorpius said with a small epiphany as all of her mannerisms relating to the assistant started making sense. "I take it McGonagall was the one who wanted to keep your relation under wraps?"

"We all thought it'd be distracting. You'd be surprised how many of his classmates used to bribe me to put in a good word as his 'little sister'." Her nose crinkled in distaste at the memory. "They were stupid, shallow- witches, most of the time. I didn't want to deal with that here."

Scorpius felt his eyebrows raise a fraction, shocked both at her near slip into the rhyming muggle insult and that her opinion actually matched his. He felt a kernel of regret that he'd ever considered her within that category; and that he hadn't taken the time to reevaluate her since. Though to be fair, this was probably the closest Wainbata had ever come to talking about herself.

"So-" Rose practically squeaked, then steeled herself. Adopted didn't mean related. It was new information, but it didn't disprove the article. Zoey was just putting on an act to get sympathy. She had to be. "So how is that related to your bag?"

Two sets of eyes looked at her incredulously, and Rose experience the unsettling sensation being treated as the stupid one for once.

"Thorn," Scorpius said with a note of disbelief, "what do you think would happen when Hogwarts students read something like this? Wizards have a tendency to take matters into their own hands. The students here are no exception, they read this and took punishing action. "

"Punishing? You mean- bullying?" The Legacy child couldn't imagine it. She'd been treated as a cherished and thrice-blessed girl her whole life, even by strangers. Rose had never so much as been seriously insulted by anyone who wasn't Slytherin, whose opinions didn't matter anyways. To her bullying was a thing that happened in books or in the past. It wasn't something that was really real.

Zoey laughed at her response, relieved to finally be talking to someone else who found this whole situation just as ridiculous as she did. "Yeah Rose, bullying. I have to admit you wizards get really creative with it though- I was caught in the most ridiculous contraption earlier. Someone was pouring sand over me from a giant hourglass, can you imagine?" Tilting her head forward, she shook her fingers in her bright hair to make some sand fall with a soft patter to the ground. She frowned- despite almost an hour in the bathroom she knew that would keep happening until she got time for a decent shower.

Rose's mouth dropped opened at the obvious proof. "Who- who was it?"

"Dunno. Never met them." The Ravenclaw shrugged, but it was a small motion that was more theatrical than genuine. "Not that I care to. People who believe something like that are either idiots or too easily influenced by others. And the people who start it are always hardcore gossips desperate for drama because there's something missing in their own lives."

Rose stiffened, then stiffened more when Scorpius laughed in surprised amusement. It was only for a few seconds, but it was still a laugh. "That was a wonderfully refreshing way to describe those kinds of people."

Those kinds of people… his words echoed in Rose's head and made her miss the continuation of the conversation.

"I mean really- not one person has actually been brave enough to ask me about it! Not even the Gryffindors!"

"Oh? So you think they've lost their bravery?"

Zoey protested, blushing a pretty soft pink that made Scorpius smile at her embarrassment, pointing out that she'd been the one to say it, after all.

Something nasty churned in Rose's gut. She couldn't have blushed like that if she wanted to- she'd just turn into an unattractive, glowing tomatohead. And why was she being ignored? "Maybe they don't need to ask you about it," she muttered just loud enough to be heard.

Zoey blinked mid-protest and turned to look at her tutor, blinking in honest confusion. "What?"

"Maybe they don't need to ask. Maybe they believe their own eyes instead of what they're told. Maybe they're not stupid and their lives are perfectly fine!"

Shrinking back from her snap of anger, the transfer student tried vainly to understand what had set her friend off this time. She glanced at Scorpius for help, but he was watching at the Granger-Weasley as well and missed her silent plea.

Rose saw it though and it didn't do much to calm her. This girl had everyone wrapped around her little finger, didn't she? Even Scorpius bloody Malfoy. All it had taken was two minutes and he made a complete change from his standing opinion to agree with her.

"I- I wasn't talking about you," Zoey protested with no idea that she actually had been. Then she realized that Rose had just referenced people she had deemed as the instigators of the rumor. She sat up straight with eagerness at the idea, forgetting her confusion. "Rose, do you know who wrote this? If I could just talk to them maybe-"

"That would be rather pointless." Scorpius Malfoy cut off the supremely bad idea. "All it would do is give the culprit more fuel to their accusations no matter what you said. Whoever it was obviously thinks they're right and whatever you say won't change that. Their opinion is obviously- set…" He trailed off. The word he'd meant to use was 'preconceived', making him relate back to his comment about Rose's character. That and her overreaction a mere moment ago gave him a very bad suspicion about how, exactly, Rose knew who wrote the article.

The Ravenclaw's face fell, and with it her mask for a few moments. It was enough to see how drained Zoey was after just a few days of this. Scorpius frowned and racked his brains for what words could help her, but before he could try she had lifted her gaze and her determination back up.

"I guess you're right Malfoy. Well- well, who cares." She straightened and stretched with a deep breath, as though she needed a physical confirmation of her own pep talk. "Who cares what they do? I can take it. I'm not that weak- and besides, it's not like anyone I know believes this sham, right? Nobody who knows me would give it a second glance… no way."

It was so obvious that she was convincing herself that even Rose realised how much strain she was under to keep up her 'normal' facade. For a moment her heart went out to the girl, to her pain in this situation that was far from her own fault…

Then she caught herself and scowled. This was exactly what she'd meant earlier. Zoey Malam was a manipulative actor that was just lying to get sympathy; she had to be. If she wasn't that would mean Rose was… wrong. And that everything she'd done was- was for nothing, and that Zoey was innocent. And that- no, she thought as she fiercely shoved her guilt back down. No. Zoey was lying… she had to be.

If she stayed here one more second, though, she knew her resolve would weaken. Zoey's- lies would sway her. She picked up her bag and said softly "I quit."

For the second time her whispered comment made them look at her incredulously. "You what?" Scorpius asked, his disbelief lined with a bit of hope.

"I quit. I'm not tutoring you any more. This- this sort of thing is not something I want to get mixed up in." Rose waved at the article, her throat still tight. Not anymore, at least.

"But…" Zoey mumbled, looking up with moist green eyes that were begging Rose not to leave because of this.

Rose felt her resolve waiver before she ruthlessly shoved her guilt away a second time. She couldn't stay, she just couldn't. It would hurt too much. "I quit." She declared a third and final time, but added as an afterthought "I'll see you on tomorrow after you're done with her, Scorpius."

He raised his eyebrows at the callous words that flaunted Rose's rejection of Zoey but her acceptance on him in the Zoey's face. After a moment of consideration he decided that her assistance in his research was still necessary though, so he nodded once in agreement.

She nodded before turning on her heel and resuming her walk out the door. The Ravenclaw closed her mouth silently and watched Rose go, her stomach plummeting.

Scorpius Malfoy blinked at the door for a few moments, half expecting the Weasley to come back just as quickly as she'd left. Her sudden attitude and departure, for all he knew, was part of one of her strange Weasley moodswings… or, his suspicions could be right and she'd not only known but been part of the creation of the Scandals article.

After a few moments Zoey chuckled under her breath, letting it trail off into a sigh. "Don't blame her, really. If I could just walk away from this I would." She paused, remembering Jon's suggestion to leave Hogwarts and her immediate denial, then amended her statement. "If I could walk away from this happening to someone else I would… maybe… if it was someone I didn't know or… didn't care about…"

Scorpius saw that she was working herself back into a depression, but really had no idea what could excuse Rose's action. If he didn't say something she would just talk herself worse. "You probably would just treat that friend like you always do. You're so oblivious, you probably wouldn't care what they thought of you for it or even notice how everyone else was acting around them."

She chuckled lightly. "Thanks… I think."

Considering his statement, Scorpius Malfoy realized he was probably best with backhanded compliments as well. Which probably wasn't helpful to her right now, so instead of speaking he nodded once. He regretted that for a moment when the silence stretched on.

Eventually Zoey sighed and met his gaze. "Look, thanks for being here and all, but after- all of today," she dodged saying Rose's name, "I really don't think I could focus. Can we take a rain check on my tutoring for now?"

Scorpius looked back at her and realized she was trying to give him an out, an excuse to do the exact same thing that Rose had but with less fanfare. And, since she'd yet to utter a lie to him, she probably really didn't think she could focus. But he still had the suspicion that as soon as she was alone she'd hide someplace and cry.

He realised his revelation left him in a very perilous predicament. If he left, 'Scorpius Malfoy' would be be labeled as the guy who abandoned her in a moment of need. If Scorpius stayed, he'd be the guy who didn't give her the space she wanted. He put a couple of fingers to his temple as he felt a migraine coming. He did not know how to deal with girl drama. His eyes fell to the article, and Scorpius Malfoy felt a metaphorical light go off in his mind as he remembered how he'd gotten it.

"Actually," he proposed, "How do you feel about a field trip?"

---

Harry Potter sighed as he faced his persistent and undying nemesis: Paperwork. The stacks loomed around his Ministry Office and he'd made barely a dent in it despite working through them most of the morning.

He practically leapt from his chair when his alarm went off to let him know that it was time for his meeting, eager for interaction with people. He told himself that it was the paperwork and not his age that made his back ache with the movement.

"Can I help you Mr. Potter?" his newly-appointed assistant asked as he walked through the Auror office toward the elevator.

Having someone at his literal beck-and-call had once made Harry uncomfortable, but now it was just part of his daily routine. "Tell any visitors I am booked for the next hour. At least- actually, tell them an hour and a half."

"Yes sir." Colin agreed and wrote that down while the elevator dinged and opened.

Hermione was already waiting inside and she nodded to Harry as he added over his shoulder "And get Sanderson to finish those reports by the end of the day."

"...he's out, sir."

Harry stopped stepping into the elevator and looked at his assistant. "Out?"

"The Creature's department put him on assignment to help with Dementors," he said mildly, his voice growing timid. "It was in the transcripts…"

A deep sigh. "Put his reports on my desk." He'd have to do them himself, then.

"Yes sir. Anything else?"

"Not at the moment, Colin." he said, startling the assistant who would only be there a week and had not expected the Harry Potter to know let alone remember his name. Harry walked into the elevator, sighing but eager to get to his lunch 'meeting' with the Minister of Magic. Hermione could tell he wanted a moment of silence and gave it him, the pair walking silently to the Minister of Magic's office.

Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt had learned long ago that, as politicians, there was always someone who wanted to see them for a meeting. Rushing from crisis to crisis was stressful and not a very healthy lifestyle. Ginny, bless her, had been the one to suggest that the pair make an official meeting with each other over their lunch to make sure they could actually eat. Hermione came along from time to time as well.

And of course, as Minister of Magic and the Head of Aurors, their small talk would inevitably turn to serious matters anyways. As it did this time, when Harry- after finishing his meal and finding a few spare minutes left- requested a planning meeting over the dementor issues.

"I understand Magical Creatures Department needing my people, Shacklebolt, I really do- but they need to do a better job of letting me know!"

Kingsley sighed. Having once been an auror himself he understood the frustration of random assignments, his people being called upon by what felt like all of the Ministry.

"If you actually did your paperwork, Harry," Hermione Granger felt obliged to point out, "You'd have that warning. I swear, I've never seen a place as messy as your office."

A small grumble of reluctant agreement later, Harry added "I still have a point. Almost a third of my men are working on the dementor problem and I'm left sitting in my office- twiddling my thumbs- wondering where everyone's going!"

Kingsley was well aware that the head of the auror office never had spare time to actually 'twiddle his thumbs', Harry just tended to get dramatic when emotional. "What are you proposing?"

He couldn't believe he was about to say this… "I want a meeting with them. I want to see their investigators in person, ask the questions I want answers to, and know they have a rhyme and reason to where they're sending my Aurors."

Hermione blinked at him in shock, considering that he never would have calmly suggested something like that when he started working as an Auror. He would've have insisted on being put in the front line immediately and then bothered over the details. Smiling as she sipped her cup of tea, she turned to the Minister. "Sounds reasonable to me."

Kingsley nodded agreement, "I'll put it together."

There was a few more minutes of pleasant conversation before a courier arrived with mail for each of them. The three adults sighed almost in unison; this was always the unofficial end to their lunch breaks. They would all sort through their mail, find something that was inevitably urgent requiring their interventions, and then disperse.

Kingsley was the one who found an urgent letter first. "Hogwarts?" he said aloud in shock as he recognized the wax seal, frowning when he saw it was from Jonovan Orion. He opened it in silence- it seemed that some students were digging unnecessarily deep into Zoethia's past, and Jonovan had been investigating. He immersed himself in the letter- that wouldn't do…

"That reminds me Harry-" Hermione said as they waited for the Minister to inevitably dismiss them from his office. "When are we going back for that follow-up lesson on Patronuses?"

"I have it set for the last weekend of November, just before they get off for Christmas." he reported, "I'll send the exact date to you; it's escaping my mind for the moment."

"Hm." Hermione hummed passingly, "Do you suppose that they'll do any better?"

"Well-"

"What," Kingsley Shacklebolt interrupted their conversation, having just finished Jon's letter and shocked to find the names of a young Potter and Granger-Weasley in the list, "Are your children doing at Hogwarts?"

---

The cold winter air burned in Scorpius' lungs. He finished running the DDC obstacle course for the tenth time, grinning from ear to ear. His idea to take Zoey to this club sooner rather than later had been particularly inspired, and had done its job of alleviating the drama.

Confused by his field trip suggestion, Zoey Malam had barely mumbled "Sure…?" before he'd had her pick up her things and led the way down and out to the Hogwarts grounds walking so fast she was practically jogging to keep up.

Rupert had been surprised to see them but not overly so; he'd expected Scorpius to bring her over eventually. He greeted the confused Ravenclaw with a smile and introduced himself with a firm handshake.

"I'm Rupert Tring."

"...Zoethia Malam." She took the hand, still a bit bewildered by the turn of events. "Call me Zoey."

"Call him Sergeant." Scorpius had told her, filling her in on the title since Isabelle and Nott were both busy overseeing the dueling pits. "The whole club does."

Rupert looked at him with exasperation. "Something I try to discourage."

"Okay…" she thought for a moment to find a nickname that suited his real name. "Can I call you RT then? Or should I call you Pert or Rupy instead?"

Scorpius snorted behind his fist while the club president turned a deep red and said "Stick with Sarge."

"Got it Sarge." Zoey grinned triumphantly, making both boys wonder if she'd intentionally picked such terrible suggestions so she could use the one she wanted.

She was then given a tour of the place and was obviously intrigued by what she saw, the obstacle course in particular catching her eye. It had pits, planks, and climbing vines that club members were already navigating, a number of them dirty and sweaty from the physical endeavor. One section of the course was timed with a single person charging through at top speed and their time recording itself onto a floating blackboard, and if it was good enough they signed their name on the overall top records.

Zoey read that Rupert, Nott, and Isabelle- in that order- held the top three records for the standard course. On all the special courses, which she was told changed periodically to challenge different skills, they were at least in the top ten.

"What's with the vines?" She asked curiously, her usual personality showing more and more as she relaxed "How do they move like that? Why do they respond to the spells that hit them- how do they know to replace and reform a lost structure? Are they sentient?" She winced at the idea and finished "Do they feel pain?"

Rupert had been momentarily distracted by her energetic tone and hand waving that matched her queries, as this was his first time seeing it. Then he chuckled and shook his head as he tried to answer "Longbottom made them- a very tame and controlled Devil's Snare and Venomous Tentacula crossbreed. He experimented with it for years before deeming it safe enough for this environment."

Zoey didn't know better, but Scorpius's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the vines with new consideration. Those were two of the most dangerous plants known to wizardkind. His opinion of the Herbology Professor went up a few notches.

"Do they feel pain?" Zoey asked again, noting that he hadn't answered.

Rupert paused, then shook his head. "They're still plants. I would think not."

She frowned at his uncertain response and decided she would have to ask Longbottom.

Then Zoey was taken aside so Rupert could personally help the girl with her wandwork, leaving Scorpius to do his own activities in the Obstacle Course.

It had been a win-win in his opinion; he'd given Zoey a suitable distraction from her imminent tears, AND was far enough from her that he wasn't crowding her. More than that, having watched Rupert's interaction with her, he knew the Hufflepuff was true to his word concerning Malam. There was no malice or prejudice in their interaction, and he had genuinely accepted her into the club. The other members recognized Zoey from a great distance with her neon green hair, but having seen their 'Sergeant' openly endorse her they had either maintained a respectful distance or been polite in conversation with the girl. She was welcome here.

Scorpius was about to go through the course again when a shrill whistle went through the club, and Rupert called out "All right Club! Time's up for tonight- let's get to dinner."

Half the members groaned in disappointment, others gave halfhearted cheers, but everyone readily went to the castle to get their food. No showers at the quidditch lockers today- they were just as freezing cold, but the snow was thick enough that none of them were covered in slush like before.

He followed the crowd up the slope to the castle, then looked around with a small frown. A certain distinctive head of vibrant hair was missing. Figuring another girl would know, he walked up to Isabelle. "Where did Malam go?"

"She said she was going to meet a friend down by the lake docks."

The lake? He frowned, looking in that direction. The lake docks that had been made for spectators during the Second Challenge of Harry Potter's Triwizard Tournament were still there and sometimes used by students who enjoyed the peaceful scenery. Not many people ever went that way because it was a long walk away from, well, anywhere.

Personally, he had never been there. But he knew the way. The Slytherin looked down the path that would take him there, then started walking down it without so much as a 'goodbye' to the DDC members. Malam's tutoring time wasn't technically over yet so technically, Scorpius Malfoy was supposed to stay with the transfer student. Headmistress McGonagall's orders.

If he also happened to be curious about who Wainbata's 'friend' was, well, that was just two targets with one spell.

As he walked the edge of the freezing lake he saw a group of girls standing at the very edge of the docks, their voices carrying on the wind. Walking the curve gave him a new point of view with every step and soon enough that he saw the group was four girls circled around a green-haired individual.

He started walking faster, careful not to slip on ice patches.

Something loud carried on the wind, then a scream of indignation before one of the girls shoved Zoey, who gave a short cry of her own before falling into the freezing lake.

Scorpius felt his pulse stutter with shock as she fell through the thin layer of ice, running faster toward it even as the group ran away in panic.

Leena led them, looking at her three friends with panic. "Don't tell anyone."

"But what if she tells McGonagall?"

"She wouldn't dare." Leena assured, but her voice wavered with uncertainty. None of them noticed Scorpius approaching or even that they'd been seen.

His gaze narrowed at the girls as he saw red, sorely tempted to follow them to make sure a professor would know about this. Instead he tore himself away to check on Malam first. Would his Accio be strong enough to pull her to the surface? In his rush he forgot to check his footing and slipped a few inches on the ice covering the docks, and the pause made him realize that the docks weren't silent.

"No, that does not count as saving my life again." he heard Zoey saying "I would have made it myself, and the first time it was your nets that almost drowned us."

Soft clicks and screeches answered Zoey's words.

"Ha ha." A pause. "Can you help me get up now?"

Scorpius made it to the end of the docs in time to see Zoey soar through the air to land on the freezing wood in a very undignified manner, landing heavily on her side with a wet thud. Despite rubbing her hip, which would undoubtedly bruise from the collision, she mumbled through chattering teeth "You're ge-get-ting better T-Tristan."

A screeching laugh came from under her.

"Tristan?" Scorpius asked, now close enough to think announcing his presence was necessary.

Zoey jumped in surprise at his proximity, then shivered in the cold wind. She curled into herself and breathed on her freezing fingers as she chided "Are you trying to make me fall in again Malfoy?"

"You did not fall." He corrected, entirely aware of the fake tale she was preparing to give him. "And who is 'Tristan'?"

She had the dignity to blush at being caught in the lie and gestured over the dock "He is."

Scorpius carefully leaned over to look at the water below them and was shocked to see a pair of large yellow eyes looking back at him. Floating- well, swimming in the water below them was the only merperson he had ever seen. He took in the stringy green hair, glowing fish eyes and large silver tail with no small trace of awe. His scaled torso was well muscled and certainly capable of throwing a fourteen-year-old human onto the dock.

Tristan, the friend she'd been meeting, was a merman?

As if sensing his shock the merman chattered something else in mermish before diving back under the water with a powerful flick of a long silver tail, sending spiderwebbing cracks across the thin ice of the lake.

"That was unnecessary!" Zoey shouted after him, annoyed. Then she cradled back around a purple flame she'd grown in her hands, craving the small warmth it it gave her. The wet strands of her hair looked more like green icicles.

Reminded of her imminent danger of hypothermia Scorpius shrugged off his robe and draped it around her soggy form, knowing that her soaked uniform was refreezing her every time the wind blew. He wasn't sure what had happened between her and the girls that had pushed her, but his mind was still busy wrapping itself around the fact that Wainbata could understand Mermish. "How do you know a merman?"

"Tristan s-saved me and Hugo." She said, sighing with relief and growing the flame a bit larger now that she was starting to regain feeling in her limbs. She was still pale and her lips were almost literally blue from her brief submersion, her whole body shivering with every light breeze. "He and his people were hunting the Kelpie that attacked us on our way to the Sorting Ceremony; we sorta got caught in their nets and started drowning."

"Oh is that all?" he said, amused by how casual she was being about someone who had almost drowned her. He pulled Malam to her feet and helped her start walking off the docks so she wouldn't slip like he had earlier. It was far too windy on the lake.

"He has since apologized. And he's really nice." She defended, stumbling as she tried to walk on numb legs. She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.

"You can actually understand him?"

"Please. I've heard worse accents." She paused. "Sometimes. Rarely. Okay not really, but I still know what he means."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow, but didn't pry any further. As soon as as they were on solid ground he bent over and put a hand behind her knees, lifting her up as easily as he had the second time they'd met.

"Wha- what're you- hold on-" her surprise made her lose concentration on the magic flame in her hands and she shivered violently from its loss. Her teeth started chattering audibly. "Wh-wh-what-t ar-re you do-oing?"

"Blocking the wind." He declared clinically and adjusted his grip, as though daring her to question his medical decision as he walked them up to Hogwarts castle. "Get that flame back up."

Not able to really argue against the action or claim that she wasn't warmer with the solid body by her blocking the freezing winter air, Zoey nodded and breathed into her hands again, concentrating. With every small bit of warmth she breathed onto herself she cradled her magic around and captured the heat until it grew, aware that her fingers would glow a soft lavender until she opened them to reveal a fresh flame that burned royal purple.

Scorpius had watched her make the magic fire with interest. "You didn't use your wand."

She grinned as the charms of her bracelet clicked against each other. "It's not very ha-andy right now."

It seemed she'd missed the point of the query so he clarified. "You didn't need it?"

"No?" Zoey answered with an edge of confusion, looking up at him. "...should I? It's pretty simple."

Scorpius looked at the small purple flame. It looked like a variation of bluebell flames, but it gave off far more warmth and he'd never heard of a witch conjuring them without their wand. Though he supposed he'd never heard of it being impossible either.

He decided to test her skill with it their next tutoring session and refocused on the problem at hand. "So I saw Leena- who else was with her?"

Zoey immediately shook her head, turning to look up at him. "Don't, Malfoy. It was an accident."

"Oh, how silly of me. So they didn't push you into the frozen lake and leave you there to freeze to death. Is there a particular reason you decided a swim at the start of winter was a good idea?"

She flicked one of the arms that was holding her. "Don't be dramatic; at worst, I will catch a cold. Gawd you're as bad as Tristan."

…Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy wasn't sure how to respond to being compared to a merman. He decided that silence would work best.

Zoey sighed and explained "I'm not saying they didn't push me, Malfoy. I'm only saying that they didn't push me into the lake. I lost my balance on an ice patch and fell in on my own."

"And then they just left you."

"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "What were you doing down by the lake anyways?"

He met her gaze for a moment, then looked away to focus on the stairs up to the castle as he pointed out "I asked first, Malam."

There was a moment of silence as he waited for her own curiosity to break her resolve, which it inevitably did. Zoey sighed and admitted "Look, I don't blame them for the push. It was- well, I might have- just a bit- said that Leena was bright as a troll and deserved a lifetime of warts and boils to match her personality."

Scorpius nearly choked on his attempt to smother his laughter. He knew Malam had absolutely no filter between her opinions and her mouth, but hadn't realized it extended to other people until she'd insulted the school's gossip chain earlier. Leena Derving was part of that chain. That girl knew she was hands down the prettiest girl of their year and had a snobbery personality to match. He would have paid to see Leena's reaction to an honest insult like that.

Though, he realized as Wainbata shivered again, he probably just had.

"So?" Zoey poked him. "Your turn, Malfoy."

"You know it's funny," He full out grinned as he pictured her reaction to his next words. "But I don't remember actually agreeing to this 'deal' of yours. You assumed."

She didn't disappoint him. Zoey's mouth dropped open at the familiar words and she pushed back so she could look him dead in the eye as she warned with all the ferocity of a clawless cat. "Oh no you did not…"

"Use the exact same trick I used to learn your first name?" Scorpius smirked, setting her down just outside the doors into the castle. Her cheeks were puffed with indignation and he'd wager she was a few irritations away from literally growling. "Why yes, I did. No wonder you don't get better against me in chess, Wainbata."

"Youugh…" grumbling words under her breath Zoey opened the giant door, privately ranting and waving her hands in the air to accentuate her own points. The only part he understood was "...never going to live that down..."

"Not a chance."

Actually growling at the fact that he'd heard her Zoey rushed ahead of him into the castle. After a few steps though she stopped and sighed in relief at the warmth that the school gave her. Her shivers starting up again at the change of environment and she rubbed her arms to increase her own bloodflow.

Scorpius caught up and pulled his robe off her shoulders as he kept walking past Zoey, folding the soggy article over his arm. It wasn't helping her anymore and "I don't plan on waiting a year to get this back again."

"It was a week before I got that house-elf to give it back to you. It's not my fault if you can't tell them apart," she rushed a few steps to catch up with them. "That is the point of them being uni-form. The word literally means 'one'-'shape' when you break it down! It's not like you really missed it or anything, took you all summer to notice."

"Hm." He hummed noncommittally, ready to let her rant on her way through the halls. Which she did quite readily, undeterred by his silence.

Then she paused mid-word in the middle of the hallway, freezing in place. She tilted her head as though listening to something in the silent air, then turned to face a unicorn tapestry. She stared at it as though expecting it to come to life, standing in a strange pose with her hands up from her previous ranting.

"Malam?"

She ignored his query but started moving, straightening to a normal position as she walked to the tapestry and straight through the passage behind it. After a moment Scorpius followed her, absentmindedly inspecting the secret passage he'd never seen before.

Zoey turned around the dark corners with surprising confidence until it opened into another main hallway, pushing open a portrait like a door to see a pair of boys underneath her, talking loudly.

"You've been following me since dinner." James Sirius Potter scowled at the Ravenclaw boy behind him. "Stop stalking me."

"A surprising request, since you seem to crave attention." The boy challenged, his voice formal even as he said the biting words.

Scorpius smiled in silent agreement as he stood by Zoey, towering over her smaller frame. He looked down at her from the corner of his eye and pointed his chin to the Ravenclaw. "Friend of yours?"

She nodded quickly, her lips pressed together in a thin line. Zoey didn't elaborate further as she crouched down in the passageway, content to stay out of sight for the moment. As Scorpius Malfoy had no interest in the proceedings, he decided he may as well follow her lead and leaned against the wall.

"... especially since you know who's been infiltrating my House's security." The Ravenclaw continued, his dark hair blocking his expression from the two eavesdroppers. "That needs to stop."

"Oh that's rich, coming from someone who's been hounding my family all weekend. That's right, Roxanne warned me about you. You cornered Rose in the library about that article that's been going around."

"Your cousin was the one who collided into me. Does your entire family have a tendency to stretch truth for their own purposes, or is that just your specialty?"

"Don't-" James warned, drawing his wand, "-insult my family. We saved the wizarding world."

"No," he argued, entirely cold and relaxed despite the threat of violence. "Your parents did. It does you no benefit to claim their accomplishments as your own. In fact, I would say the pressure of their legacy has done you more harm than good."

There was a heavy pause, then James asked "Who are you, anyways?"

The Ravenclaw responded with a condescending smile. "Someone who knows you, and your pension for pressing for answers where you have no business meddling."

Scorpius Malfoy found himself mirroring James' question, unsure of the Ravenclaw's identity but wanting to give the boy a firm handshake of respect. Where had this guy been the past four years? He looked down to ask Zoey about him only to see her drop from the waist-high passage to the ground, her soaked shoes squishing on the soft carpet.

James saw her first, his jaw dropping at the transfer's unexpected arrival. Then he straightened and adjusted his round glasses, his gaze narrowing. "What are you doing here?" his gaze went up to the passage, and he snarled "Malfoy."

"Potter." he returned with a fair amount of his own venom before dropping out of the passage himself. As far as greetings between them went, this was actually fairly tame.

The Ravenclaw paused a moment before looking over his shoulder, then turned completely without care that it left him exposed to James's wand. "What happened?"

"Slipped into the lake," Zoey answered with her usual chipper tone as she approached them, "The docks had a lot of ice on it. As did the lake- though it's not too solid yet. I would know. I made a nice me-shaped hole in it. Luckily Tristan and Malfoy were around to help me out."

Scorpius debated correcting her white lie, but decided that Leena's actions weren't James's business. He stayed behind and a bit to the side of the conversation, discreetly pulling out his hawthorn wand to match Potter's.

"A Malfoy? Helping someone?" James snorted unattractively and spoke as though the person himself wasn't even there. "Why would a snake like that fake humanity?"

Zoey's mouth dropped open and her eyes flashed, then she took half a breath and calmed herself down. "Well I would imagine it would have to do with the fact that he's my friend."

Scorpius winced internally, wishing that he'd just let her walk away instead of following her to this point. James Potter did not treat Malfoy's friends nicely. His eyes already held a calculating light as they looked over the transfer.

"When did that happen?" The Ravenclaw reminded them of his presence as he looked Scorpius over in an assessing manner that felt vaguely familiar. His eyes paused over then dismissed the wand Scorpius held, rising again to the Slytherin's face.

His spine straightened, meeting the gaze. "Are my relationships of particular importance to you, mister…?"

"Smith." He answered, his brisque manner again striking a familiar chord. "And yours are of no consequence. Zoey's, however…"

All three boys looked at the girl to see her response.

"It- well… He's one of my-" she shifted her weight, her countenance going from nervous to just sad as she corrected herself "he's the private tutor McGonagall assigned me."

"You have him for a tutor? What, did McGonagall not think Rose was good enough?" James saw the expression on her face and went from insulted in taunting, tapping his wand on his cheek. "Oh, don't tell me- Rosie was fine, but you were the one that wasn't good enough?"

Zoey opened her mouth to respond, then just closed it and looked to the side, her cheeks flushing.

Scorpius pressed a couple fingers to his temple. Perfect, now she was back to being depressed about Rose. He blamed Potter.

He wasn't the only one. The Ravenclaw stepped between Malam and the Legacy child, his gaze dark. "Your own unremarkable skills give you no basis for an insult of that caliber Mr. Potter. You should take that back." His voice was no louder, but now held the deadly potential of a snake and it looked to Scorpius like the boy was standing taller than he had been.

James sneered, stepping forward. "Maybe I'd consider it, if you hadn't been after my own family. And you still haven't answered my question."

It wasn't Scorpius's imagination, the Ravenclaw was taller as he started looming over Potter, his words coming out more clipped "The world. Does not answer. To you."

A tense silence filled the hall as the James staggered back in a moment of shock. If it weren't so very unbecoming of a Malfoy, Scorpius would have broken out in applause. As it was he only wished there was a bigger audience.

Scorpius watched as James fidgeted under the gaze of the Ravenclaw, who even unarmed gave off waves of confidence, danger, and cold fury.

"Okay that's it." The pure frustration in Zoey's snapping words startled them all. Grabbing her fellow Ravenclaw by the back of his robes and pulling, she commanded "You need a time out. All of you."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. He'd been relatively well behaved, hadn't he? The fire in her gaze clearly made this an unwise protest to voice out loud.

The Ravenclaw continued to stare James down for a few more moments, then allowed himself to be pulled after his Housemate.

James fingered his wand, covering his earlier nerves with a dismissing scoff as he watched their backs, then turned to Malfoy with a grim expression.

The Slytherin realised this was the first time they'd been alone since Potter had stolen his wand during last year's finals, and was surprised to find his grip tightened on instinct. It didn't go unnoticed, and both wands slowly started rising.

Zoey stopped her march down the hall and whirled back to them, her gaze narrowed accusingly. The Ravenclaw at her side turned with her and also felt the rise of aggression in the pair they'd just left. He waved a dismissive hand in their direction, then grabbed Malam by the arm and pulled her away and down the corridor.

After a moments consideration Malfoy put his wand away, realizing a duel with such a potent wild card nearby was not wise.

Fortunately Potter saw the same logic as he put his weapon away as well, straightening his robes as he muttered "Who was that guy to say all that anyways? What right did he- you know the transfer," James's attention suddenly shifted to the only nearby person and jerked a thumb after the pair. "What do you know about this bloke?"

A bit surprised at even being acknowledged, Scorpius saw no benefit in hiding his lack of information. "Never seen him before."

"Yeah. Yeah, me neither." James straightened his cuffs, then reset the shoulder seams. "Know what that means? He was- he's got to be one of those weirdos Ravenclaw sometimes spits out. Should've known with a name like 'Smith'. What is he, medieval? No wonder he skipped Halloween Feast to read in the Tower. Probably lives in there or the library and never gets out. I'd wager we were his first conversation in days. He obviously has no clue what normal people are like, just look who he spends time with…"

Malfoy listened for a few moments, watching him continue to fuss with his appearance and insult the pair that had left. He felt a soft smile spread across his features as he said "He got to you, didn't he?"

Remembering who he was talking to James straightened and glared at the younger boy. "Don't be daft."

Oh no, there was no way he was letting this opportunity go. "Other than myself, he's the first person you've taken such an avid disliking to. You're usually much more 'respectable', Potter."

"What do you expect?" James attempted to defend himself. "He's a right pain, skulking after me all afternoon for who knows why-"

"Infiltrating Ravenclaw House," Scorpius quoted from the overheard conversation, the words that had all but confirmed his early suspicion at tutoring. That and James's impossible knowledge of what was going in inside Ravenclaw Tower on October 31st, when Thorn had seemingly been there as well. "You and Rose had something to do with the article, didn't you?"

There was once again a pause, but then Potter straightened to his usual standing. "And if we did? What would you do about it, Malfoy?"

This time it was his turn to stress the last name, and Scorpius realized with an inward curse he was outmatched before it even began. There was nothing he could do with his suspicions. Nobody could believe a Malfoy over a Potter.

...but it wasn't about Potters and Malfoys this time, was it? Scorpius connected all the factors in this confrontation, pleased by the picture they presented. "You've overstretched your influence, Potter. With a critical mistake. Zoethia Malam is not going to just take this lying down."

"Whassit matter? She's a nobody." The Gryffindor declared with bravado.

"Exactly." Scorpius grinned. Malam wasn't him, or Nott, or Priscilla or Zambini- Merlin, Wainbata wasn't even Slytherin. James was trying to turn Hogwarts against someone who wasn't already feared and hated. It wouldn't work. "You're little battle is opening too many fronts for you to handle Potter. If just one piece falls, the rest will follow."

James Potter didn't believe it for a second. He didn't… "What makes you so sure?"

"I have mastered the art of seeing moves through the endgame. Of course if you don't believe me, you shouldn't worry about it." Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy turned away with a chuckle, reveling in the knowledge that all he had to do was sit back and watch Potter's poor strategy fall in on itself.

---

"Smith? Smith…" Zoethia Malam scowled and kept repeating the name with greater venom, adrenaline fueled steps taking them far away from spectators. "Smith!? Pressured for a name, you come up with JOHN. SMITH?"

Jonovan Malam Orion's Ravenclaw morph was giving way for his darker form, his brown eyes glowing acidic green. He brushed off his shoulder to change his cloak from a student's back to staff apparel, his voice tight. "I wouldn't be too worried about it. I'm about done with that face anyways."

Zoey felt waves of magic pulse dangerously from her cousin, impacting the passive enchantments on the castle torches and portraits as the very air grew charged with his sizzling power. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

Jon was unaware of the terror his form inspired, growing inhumanly tall as his fury simmered deep inside him. His hair grew waxy and black as it brushed itself back from an angular face, the eyes flickering between acidic green and obsidian black. With every passing second he looked more and more like a living demon of old.

The people of the portraits were running away, stampeding over each other in their haste to escape. There wasn't time to get to his office, Zoey realized as she saw his nails turn black and start to sharpen themselves.

"This way," she said and pulled him to the closest window. She put her hand on the latch and dispelled the magical lock to push them open, vaguely aware of glass cracking.

Jonovon instinctively followed her, his blood pounding in his ears.

"Give it to me." she told him, then sighed and stepped onto the ledge so she was almost to his face.

Rasputin arrived and climbed up his master's shoulders, his lips pulled back in a perpetual snarl. Still Orion didn't respond, glancing down the halls.

She put a hand on her cousin's cheek to hold his attention, speaking softly despite the warring instincts that tried to make her panic. "Jon, I'm right here- I'm fine. Safe." She tugged gently at the frayed edges of his magic. "No one will see. Please."

The magic between them flickered, hesitating, then Jon's reasoning won the battle and the force of his anger crashed down like a tidal wave. Had she been anyone other than his cherished family it would have promptly devoured her from the inside out instead of singeing slowly.

Zoey hissed as his magic burned through her, feeling instantly that she'd already waited too long to purge it. It had been thoroughly contaminated by his emotions- even now it was leaving a staining touch on the magic she was trying to contain it with.

Oh Rex was going to kill her for this… The Minister of Magic had been explicitly clear not to do this…

His magic shuddered again, and she stopped hesitating. Zoey changed the shape of her magic from a closed loop between them to a funnel centered on her left hand, feeling the mutilated essence shoot from her fingers like a gyser. She hoped it would spread and disperse like mist. Instead it erupted in a magical flame that put Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs to shame. Unable to stop the explosion now that it had been released Zoey could only direct it as much as possible, out the window and far from Hogwarts while gagging at its stench of rotting fruit.

While she tried to contain her stomach Jon breathed a sigh of relief, the tension of his form relaxing as his magic stopped blinding him. He shrank to a normal height, his hair turning blond-brown again and Rasputin settling down his spikes. His normally brown eyes still glowed green as he looked about to assess their surroundings, shocked to realize they weren't in the private confines of his room.

Zoey's own eyes were wide and unseeing, shining a soft lavender as she literally burned the stained magic from both of them until the taste was gone from her mouth. As soon as it was possible she severed their connection with the deftness of a surgeon, lightheaded from the combined powers she'd wielded. She swayed uncertainly on the windowsill.

Jonovan caught her easily and set her down to let her catch her breath, checking her pulse while Rasputin crooned comfortingly. The History Assistant was cursing himself internally. He was aware that investigating had made him unstable, but he'd have been able to control it fine if that Potter brat hadn't insulted her-

"Hey Jon?" Zoey mumbled, on the verge of passing out. "I think I lied…"

His mouth twitched into a smile before he picked her up, making them both invisible with what remained of his power. "About what?" he asked as she closed her eyes, trusting him to take care of it.

"Someone definitely saw that."