-Almost twenty-five years after the end of the Second Wizarding War, Kingsley Shacklebolt's resignation as Ministry for Magic triggers a series of dangerous attacks that will entangle the lives of Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy in the most unexpected ways.-
Although the story that follows features many characters, some places and a few spells of my own invention, I do not own Harry Potter or JK Rowling's wizarding world (if only).
I truly hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it, and that you feel encouraged to leave a few reviews.
CHAPTER THREE
AFTERMATHS
It took her dad three attempts in three different parking places before finally being able to correctly park their car. Rose nervously checked the clock set on the tower of the station.
"We are going to be late", she wailed as her dad mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "bloody muggle things".
Next to him, Hermione shook her head at her daughter as she got Hugo's owl out of the car, "When have I ever let you be late for anything?".
The man exiting his car right next to them, wearing a suit and a tie and carrying a briefcase, looked oddly at their luggage. Inside his cage, Rose's cat, Mungo, hissed at him and he scurried away so fast he missed Rose's apologetic glance.
She turned her efforts to her family again, "Come on".
"Rosie, I love you", her father mumbled, finally shutting the car and walking towards the station dragging her trunk and Hugo's enormous school bag, "But if you complain one more time, I'm jinxing your mouth shut".
Starting to walk next to her, Hugo looked suddenly hopeful, "Please do".
As soon as their parents turned their backs on them, Rose smacked his brother on the back of his head. He tried to reach for her, but having to drag his trunk slowed him down enough for Rose to get out of the way before her could push her.
"I hate this", Hugo panted as they entered the station. Whether he was referring to the numerous groups of muggles getting in the way or to having to run across the hall to match their father's frenatic step, Rose didn't know.
She went through the barrier first, and was immediately welcomed by the smell of smoke.
Platform 9 and ¾ was a swarm of people calling to each other cheerfully and waving goodbye to the ones already on the train between the heavy fog.
A bittersweet feeling washed over her. Rose had always loved King's Cross on September first, but she suddenly felt the need of freeze it all, just for a second, so she could commit the whole image to memory and never let go of it.
The spell was broken when she noticed the increasing number of faces plastered to the windows, staring at her family. She wondered if they were trying to see Harry Potter or her own parents would do.
Next to her, Hermione turned her back on the train with practised ease, and to Rose's horror there were tears in her eyes.
"Mum…".
"I know, I know", she hugged her softly, voice muffled as she kissed her temple, "You have grown up too fast honey, I think I deserve a moment allowed to be an embarrassing mum, okay?".
"It just feels like the tears would be more appropriate at the graduation".
He mum sniffled a bit, but she didn't look about to cry any more. Ron placed his hand over his wife's shoulder and squeezed softly, Hermione's own hand flying to meet his in a gesture that was so natural, so tender, it made Rose feel like she should look away.
A streak of red caught her eye, and she squinted through the fog until she recognized the small figure of a woman not very far away, "I think I see Aunt Ginny".
Her father simply looked above all the heads surrounding them and nodded, "Yes, there she is".
Rose took a look at the clock, that informed her that she had still eight minutes before the train's departure. Enough time to say hello to her aunt. She dragged her trunk in her direction, calling her name once she reached her. Ginny, however, seemed not to hear her, staring at the Hogwarts Express without noticing her niece standing right besides her.
Rose touched her shoulder, "Aunt Ginny".
The older witch jumped at her touch, her right hand flying to her front pocket so fast it was clear she could take out her wand in seconds. As fast as if she had done it multiple times before.
"Good Gryffindor Rosie!", she exclaimed, moving both her hands to her chest, her beautiful face relaxing noticeably. "You scared me".
"Sorry, I…".
Ron stepped in front of Rose, effectively blocking her aunt from her sight for a second. "Hey Gin, everything al right?".
"Sure. It's just it's the first time Harry is not here to send off the kids". Ginny answered shaking her head as if trying to get rid of a bad thought, "Because apparently the Head of the Defence Department", she added sending a look at Hermione who smiled sympathetically back at her, "Can be late to work one morning, but he can not".
Rose didn't bother to point out she had barely seen her mother in the last week, as she was practically living at the Ministry since the attack.
"Albus and Lily are already on the train", her aunt carried on with a smile, "Al got an empty compartment. Apparently he scared off some second years when he stepped inside, being a seventh year already and all that".
"Can you believe they are graduating this year?", Ron said in wonder, winking at Rose, "You're about to get more education than I ever did".
Hermione, who had been in the middle of remembering Hugo for the hundredth time where his Quidditch supplies were, turned as if something had poked her in the back. "And whose fault is that, Ronald?", she hissed frowning, "I begged you and Harry, begged Ron, to come back with me to finish our last year. But you didn't".
"Oh for Merlin's sake", said aunt Ginny, making the same face Ron did when he really wanted to swear but had to hold himself back. "Not the bickering again. It's like you two are still fifteen, honestly".
"Like you're one to talk". Muttered Ron under his breath, fortunately keeping his voice barely audible. Pissing off Aunt Ginny was never a good idea.
"We have to go", said Hugo, leaning to let Hermione kiss him on both cheeks.
"Have a wonderful year honey", she told him, trying to straighten the collar of his shirt.
"And maybe write once in awhile", Ron added, stepping past hermione to give Hugo a tight hug, "Try to remember you have parents and such, okay pal?".
"Yeah, Yeah". Hugo rolled his eyes. And with that he picked up his things and paused to kiss Ginny's cheek before striding up to a sandy-haired boy waiting by the train. Rose recognized Niall Finningan, who had player as a chaser for the Gryffindor team for the past two years and whose sister was good friends with Rose.
"Well", she said quite uncomfortable as Hermione embraced her with all her might.
"I'm so proud of you Rosie. You know that right?". Her mum was suddenly serious as she looked her in the eye.
Rose also straightened up, "Of course I know, mum".
"Good", she hugged her once more before looking over her shoulder at what Rose assumed was Hugo boarding the train, "Please don't let your brother lose another broom".
"I'll see what I can do", answered Rose, picking up Mungo's cage from the floor.
"Seriously though", Ron said against her head as he too hugged her tightly, "This one is a brand new firebolt, it costs more than he does".
"Ron!".
"What?".
But Rose was laughing as she returned her father's hug for a second before stepping back.
She hurried to the closest carriage, waiting by the window until the doors closed in front of her. She waved at her smiling parents, Aunt Ginny now standing a little further down the platform, probably saying goodbye to Al and Lily.
She still looked a little shaken, like she was still jumpy from Rose's little scare.
However, it was Ron who got Rose's attention as the Hogwarts Express began to move slowly. He was openly smiling at her, but his hand hovered over his wand pocket without him realizing. Almost as if a memory, a ghost, had guided it there.
Under her knitted cardigan, Rose shivered.
XXX
James Potter strode inside the Leaky Cauldron, immediately greeted by the familiar smell of butterbeer and homemade soup. Behind the bar, Rachel McMillan smiled politely and pointed to one of the few seats still vacant on the table.
James shook his head at her offer and headed for the back of the room, as it was usual this time of a Friday evening, every table was full of witches and wizards enjoining a drink or a meal after work. He stopped to greet several familiar faces, and Michael and Suzanne Gordon, who had been members of the Quidditch team James's first year, invited him to a firewhiskey.
"No thanks", he said, scanning the room, "I have someone meeting me at the back".
"Good luck with that mate", Michael grumbled. "The place is absolutely packed".
But a couple of tables further down, James had no trouble finding Julianna Rowle sipping a glass of something bright blue. She had not changed much in the year or so since he had last seen her, on their Hogwarts graduation, with her auburn hair pinned away from her face and the same polished, holier-than-thou, perfectly put together air about her.
It had always driven James up the wall.
He took the seat in front of her, "You wanted to see me?".
She looked relieved to see him, her posture relaxing a bit, but she spoke in a calm and detached tone, "Yes. Thank you. I thought you were not going to show up".
"I almost didn't", he said honestly. She nodded as if she could see exactly what he was thinking, "I don't know anyone else at auror training. You were my only choice"
James had figured that much. During their seven years at Hogwarts, they had barely even talked to each other except during Quidditch games, and then it was as rivals playing against each other. And then, this morning, there she was, waiting for him at his desk and asking to meet him after work. But in the end, that she had come looking for him meant that she was desperate. Which told James she had probably something worth hearing about.
"I need a favour".
James snorted and sent away the bartender coming to take his order, "Yeah, I figured that much, Rowle".
She blinked, looking away. Busying herself with her drink once more until the silence stretched uncomfortably long. He was about to get up and leave when she talked again. "I'm working as an assistant for The Prophet".
"Congratulations", James said dryly.
She shot him a nasty glare and straightened her back until she could look at him over her nose. He almost smiled.
"I got to interview some of the victims of the Ministry Attack last week", she said, and suddenly he was interested on whatever she had to say, "And one of them, a woman… she keeps saying she saw the attacker apparating herself out of the Ministry while the commotion started".
James shook his head, "You can't use Apparition inside the Ministry".
"I know, that's why the aurors who talked to her dismissed her. Told her she was confused, probably still in shock".
"But you believe her?". It didn't take an answer to figure it out, it was all in her eyes, in the sudden plea of her expression. She did believe the woman. Fuck.
"Look", James started, trying to be gentle for reasons beyond himself. "If the aurors cleared her…".
"I know, I tried convincing them to revise her statement, but they won't listen". She placed a small vial on the table, filled with silver threads glowing faintly.
"You took her memories?".
"Of course not!", Rowle scowled,looking somewhat offended by the suggestion. "She gave them to me. It's from the moment of the attack".
"And what do you, exactly, intend to do with it?".
She sent him a look that clearly said she thought he was an idiot, "Well I don't have a Pensieve, so there's no much I can do. That's why I need your help".
James blinked at her. Sure, for a moment, that he had heard her wrong. Because maybe he had never particularly liked Julianna Rowle, but she didn't look like an idiot. Or nuts, for that matter.
She squirmed under his gaze, taking a deep breath before looking him right in the eye i¡once more. "Look, maybe there's nothing here, I realize that. But maybe she saw something, I don't know. A portkey, a clue about the attacker or what route did she use to leave… Isn't that worth a shot?".
So he had heard her right. And the worst part, he thought, was realizing he believed she was right. But couldn't do anything about it.
"And what I am supposed to do in this plan of yours? Steal the Pensieve? Talk the aurors into your witness once more?". And as soon as the words were out, he knew that was exactly what she wanted him to do, "Are you insane? I'm just in training, I can't show up at the office and suggest their judgement was wrong".
"So you do think they were wrong", she said with a relieved smile.
It dimmed a bit when James shook his head. "Even if I did, which I'm not admitting to, no one would listen to me".
"Your father would listen, wouldn't he? And he can made the aurors use it".
James considered the vial in front of him for a moment. His father would hear him, he realized, if James thought there was value, a clue, hidden inside the memory his dad would take out the Pensieve he kept in his office in a heartbeat.
But if the word got out he was discarding his aurors's judgment by using a woma they had already dismissed, and it turned out useless after all, the Department of Defence would masacre him without mercy.
He extended his palm, "I'll use it first, and if there's truly something of interest in it, I'll take to my father".
Rowle snatched the vial right out of his hand, clutching it to herself with a guarded expression. "What? No. We need a real auror".
James tried really hard not to snap at her, "Yes well, the real aurors are not going to help you, are they?".
She shook her head, but James noticed her grip on the vial relaxed a bit. He extended his hand towards it once again.
"I want to see it", she said suddenly, and James's hand froze in the air.
"What?".
"I want to see the memory when you do".
"Bloody hell Rowle, I can't snuck you into my father's office".
But the determined look on her face suggested he better find a way to do just that, if he wanted access to the memories himself.
When he stared at her without saying anything for a moment, she took a deep breath. And her big brown eyes softened. "Please", she said quietly, and she placed the vial on his hands, but didn't let go of it, "I need to know".
And before he could stop himself to ponder the situation, the agreement tumbled out James's mouth, "Fine".
He had never been good at thinking before acting anyway.
XXX
The prefect's carriage was bigger than every other one in the train, walls decorated with small banners from the fours houses mixed together in a rather flamboyant exhibition of the inter-house camaraderie expected of them.
Still, Scorpius strode to the furthest corner of the large table set in the middle of the compartment, where everyone seated displayed silver and green prefect badges.
Selene Zabini, the other seventh year Slytherin prefect, narrowed her dark eyes at him as he took the seat next to hers, "Where were you?".
"Lost track of time, sorry". In front of him, his cousin leaned over the table to hear his conversation, he turned to her, "What are you looking at?".
Helene stuck her tongue at him, "I thought maybe you had something interesting to say for once".
Scorpius grinned at her deadpan tone, she was definitely Aunt Daphne's daughter, "I can't believe they made you perfect. You are just going to scare the first years".
The corners of her mouth turned upwards, a worrisome smirk on her face. The boy sitting next to her, who Scorpius guessed was her fifth year partner, looked a bit uneasy.
Actually, Scorpius realized looking around, none of the other new perfects seemed in better condition than the boy. Except for, perhaps, Lily Potter, who was seating in the Gryffindor end of the table with her chin raised in a proud position.
The room quieted a bit as Potter strode in, followed by Rose Weasley. Scorpius watched as they made their way to the Gryffindor corner, sitting next to their siblings without making eye contact with anyone.
The room filled with whispers once again, and Scorpius could see the witch body tense up. She bit her lower lip so viciously it draw a bit of blood. Potter, on the other hand, sat relaxed and did a fairly successful show of ignoring the stares in his direction .
Next to Scorpius, Selene let out a heavy breath, "Weasley didn't get Head Girl? Call the papers, why don't you? The world has come to an end".
A week ago, Scorpius would have laughed at his friend's rather accurate comment, but now, starting to Rose Weasley's sad face, all he could think about was the kind expression on her eyes as she accepted his thanks for helping him out of the auror's interrogatory. And some sort of misplaced loyalty crept up his chest.
Selene shed him an estranged look, but finally lifted her shoulders and turned to the door, where finally the Head Boy and Girl appeared. "Is that Gracie Thomas?".
Indeed, it seemed like Ravenclaw's prefect Samuel Foster and Hufflepuff's Grace Thomas were in charge this year.,
She sent a tentative glance at Rose Weasley, as if she was expecting her to leap her and take the Head Girl badge by the force.
That, Scorpius couldn't help but think, he would definitely want to see.
Except Rose Weasley didn't look ready to attack anyone. In fact, he noted, she looked pale and shaky, and the bags under her eyes suggested she hadn't slept well last night.
"Well", Thomas trailed off in an animated voice, "Welcome to a new school year! As most of you know we are going to assign each of you a patrol partner…".
Suddenly, Rose Weasley turned sharply, staring directly at him. Grace Thomas's voice turned off in Scorpius mind, becoming a distant buzz.
For a split of a second, he thought Weasley was going to say something to him. He could practically see the wheels of her brain working full speed behind her eyes, the uneasiness of her gaze made him want to squirm. She wanted to talk about the attack. Of course she did.
He had been stupid enough to warn her when he heard the curse. Stupid enough to let her see he knew something. And because she had helped him that day Scorpius now owed her to answer her questions.
Merlin, he was an idiot.
But when she opened her mouth, she only did it to bit her lower lip again. Scorpius looked away.
Avoiding her wouldn't be all that hard, he supposed. After all, they had been doing it unintentionally during six years.
XXX