A/N A huge thank you to all you people who took out some time to go through my story. Your valuable support is much appreciated. A shoutout to all those who favourited/followed and reviewed it. I'm really, really, really grateful to you all. You people are the best.
And now, another chapter fresh from the proverbial ovens. This one is a little bit lengthier than the previous ones. I hope you guys don't mind. Enjoy. And don't forget to review, good people! I know you want to ;)
Disclaimer: All original Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I only own the story.
Christmas was almost upon them. The weather outside had turned chilly and sharp blasts of icy wind rattled the panes of the castle once in a while. Students did their best to capture a seat anywhere near a crackling fire with the juniors often coming off the worst. The poor dears had to huddle together in a corner, blowing on their frozen hands and rubbing their red noses to keep them warm.
It was one such morning that Hugo thumped down a large tome in front of the three and grumbled, 'You guys are so lucky.'
Scorpius looked up from his book. 'What makes you say so?'
'Hogsmeade.'
Lily who had been practicing her levitation charm by making Rose's quill hover above all their head, gasped. The discarded quill floated down to settle down on top of Rose's homework.
'And what's so exciting about Hogsmeade?' asked Rose.
'Everything!' scowled Hugo, 'They have Zonko's and The Three Broomsticks and of course Honeydukes…'
He and Lily had identical dreamy looks on their faces.
Rose snapped a finger before them, 'Who told you?'
'James.'
Scorpius turned to Al who shook his head. 'Did they put up any notice?'
Hugo pointed to a cluster of students jostling each other to have a better look at something. 'Only third years and above can go. It's bloody unfair!'
'Watch your tongue, young man. Or I'll have to report to mother,' hissed Rose.
Hugo scoffed, 'Yeah. Like I'm any worse than you.' He winked at Scorpius before turning and striding off towards a group of his classmates.
Scorpius snorted, earning a death glare from her.
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'What do you think of the Hogsmeade trip?' asked Scorpius as they hurried towards greenhouse three to escape the biting cold.
'I think it's brilliant!' grinned Al.
'What about you, Carrots?'
'I could do with some Butterbeer. They say Madam Rosemarta serves the best Butterbeer in the entire country. Brrrrr. I'm freezing all over.'
'When is it again?'
Albus pulled out a crumpled leaflet and groaned, 'Oh no. It's on Friday.'
'So?' asked Rose.
'We have Quidditch practice on Friday.'
'Tell your captain you have injured your leg,' suggested Rose.
'Yeah. And when he finds out I have been able to make an entire trip to Hogemeade and back on my injured leg…' Al let the sentence hang.
They continued discussing various excuses to get him out of the practice till Professor Longbottom rapped on a flowerpot to get their attention.
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Turned out Albus did not have to make excuses to get out of match practice. Captain Menos himself had badly wanted to go to the Hogsmeade trip and had cancelled the practice session beforehand.
'So,' said Scorpius, slinging an arm over Al's shoulders, 'What do you plan to do?'
'I must visit the stationery shop. I'm out of quills and parchment. What do you plan to do?'
'Three Broomsticks. And afterwards the legendary Shrieking Shack.'
'Oh yes. Good idea. Let's go tell Rosie.'
They tracked her down to the Gryffindor common room. She had her hands on her hips and was railing at James and Henry for daring to frighten away a first year boy from near the fireplace.
'YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! HOW DARE YOU SCARE THE BOY AWAY! HE HAS AS MUCH RIGHT TO SIT NEAR THE FIREPLACE AS YOU ALL SLUGHEADS!'
Needless to say, James and Henry wore similar scared expressions. They mumbled something only to be drowned by another barrage of rebukes.
'WAIT TILL I TELL AUNT GINNY! BULLYING OTHERS ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN! I AM ASHAMED OF YOU!'
The first year boy flinched when she turned to her. 'C'mon,' she soothed, 'You can sit in that chair anytime you wish. And tell me if those two morons bother you again.'
The boy nodded jerkily before scampering away.
Al sniggered, 'Sometimes she reminds me of Grandma Weasley. Mom says she too could vanquish Uncle Fred and George with only her glower and her tongue.'
'Remind me never to anger your cousin.'
'Trust me. You shouldn't.'
They walked upto her. 'Hey Rosie!'
'What!' she snapped.
'Umm…Hogsmeade planning?'
She took a deep breath and nodded. 'Sorry about that. I was having trouble memorising the runes. And then those two had to come and muddle everything. Why do you have your eyes closed?'
Al held up his hand, 'Hush. I'm trying to fix the sight of Jamie's scared face in my mind. It is such a rare sight that I need to stop and savour it for all its worth.'
They all laughed at that and walked towards the Great Hall for lunch.
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They had History of Magic on Friday morning. A duller class there was none. Ten minutes into the monotonous drone of their ghost teacher, Professor Binns, and everyone wore a glazed look in his or her eyes. For the thousandth time, Scorpius envied the back benchers. Rose was scratching away with a quill. To others it would appear she was furiously taking down notes. But only he knew she was doing a doodle of heaven knew what. He nudged her with his foot.
'What?' she asked.
'What are you drawing?'
'You'll see.' She went back to her doodling. Scorpius stifled a yawn and looked to his left. Only Al was alert. He nodded every now and then and took down real notes. Suddenly he put up his hand. Professor Binns, unused to being interrupted, came to an abrupt halt.
'Please Sir, can you tell us something about the history of the Shrieking Shack?'
Everyone stirred up, interested.
'I don't see its relation to the current topic we were discussing, mister Parton.'
'Potter, sir. But Sir,' Al pressed on, 'I was told that the traitor Pettigrew who was vital to the resurrection of Voldemort was forcefully revealed in that shack. I just wanted to know the significance of the site.'
The rest of the class followed their exchange with much enthusiasm.
Unable to ignore the eager faces of the students and unused to the sudden interest, the professor cleared his throat and launched into a detailed history of the shack, right from its construction to its enigmatic name down to the vicious murder of Severus Snape. When the bell rang half an hour later, almost all had their mouths hanging open.
'Bloody hell!' exclaimed Stephen Biggs, Scorpius's dorm-mate, 'That was the best History of Magic class I ever attended!' Others nodded their heads in agreement.
'Did you hear it?' Scorpius turned to Rose, who was hastily dumping everything into her satchel.
'Mmhmm.'
'Wasn't that a great tale?'
She shrugged, 'I wasn't listening. Mum told me about that ages ago.'
'What were you doing then?!' Al asked suspiciously.
'This,' she thrust a parchment into his hands.
It was a cartoon of Professor Binns, with droopy eyes and nose hair.
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'I want to go too,' whined Lily, as they stood in line to submit their trip passes to Filch, the caretaker.
Al rolled his eyes, 'Don't be a baby, Lil.'
'I want to go to Hogsmeade,' she pouted, making puppy eyes. 'Please.'
'Why don't you go and pester Jamie?'
'I can't find him.'
Scorpius watched the two siblings with interest. They apparently couldn't stand each other and yet there was a strong bond of love between them. He envied Albus secretly. Then again, nobody could resist liking Lily Potter. She had the uncanny ability to create a soft spot in a person's heart and stay there.
And she looked ready to cry.
'We'll bring you loads of candies from Honeydukes',' he found himself telling the little girl.
'Will you really?' she turned her adorable green eyes to him, ignoring her brother's groan.
'Yes poppet, I promise,' he smiled down at her.
'Thanks Scorp. I have decided I like you better than most people,' she stressed the 'most' with a significant glare at her brother.
'Have you seen Rosie?' Al ignored the insult as any long suffering elder brother would.
Lily shook her head. The queue pressed forward slowly.
'Where on earth is she?' Al wondered aloud, looking about. Suddenly, as if summoned by magic, Rose materialized beside them, a bit tousled and red-nosed.
'Where have you been?!'
'Had a letter from Grandma Weasley just as I was coming down. Hailey was frozen, poor thing.'
Lily suddenly squealed 'Cookies' and set off at a sprint towards the stairs.
Scorpius frowned, 'The cookies?'
He had once tasted one those cookies. It was heavenly. His mouth watered at the thought.
'So,' Rose pulled her cloak closer, 'Where to?'
Al answered, 'Let's go to The Three Broomsticks first.'
They trudged down the lane following the other groups at a distance. Couples held hands while friends fooled around with each other. James, Henry and a few of their cronies discussed items found in Zonko's. Everyone was in a hurry to reach Hogsmeade.
Hogsmeade was a quaint sight to behold. Shops displayed artifacts in well-lit windows. The post office housed a hundred varieties of owls—long distance, short distance, express. People moved around, walking from shop to shop, admiring the displays. Some chattered amongst friends. Somewhere a shop bell tinkled. An air of festivity pervaded the entire scene.
'Shall we?' called Al, holding a door open. Scorpius glimpsed up. A lopsided, snow-covered sign-board proclaimed the famous Three Broomsticks. They quickly entered the inn and found a corner table.
Madam Rosemarta sauntered down to them to take orders. She had been a beauty in her prime.
'Three mugs of Butterbeer please.' Rose took off her pompom hat and ran fingers through her tangled hair. Scorpius found it oddly pleasing to follow the repetitive path of her small hands.
'What!' he snapped to attention at her enquiry.
'Your hair.'
'What about it?' she scowled.
'It has grown darker,' he offered to mollify her wounded pride, not that it was not true.
Rose snorted but looked slightly pleased. Al rolled his eyes. Girls, he muttered under his breath.
Their Butterbeers arrived. It turned out to be better than they had expected. They took tiny sips and observed the other people. The Three Broomsticks seemed to have a large patronage. Wizard looking all important in their expensive cloaks and polished shoes, languished in the chairs. Officials from some nearby establishments discussed current topics with their colleagues over mugs of firewhiskey. At the back, some witcheswitches who must have been out shopping chattered continuously, arguing the best use of flutterby flowers.
'Look, there's Professor Hagrid,' Rose whispered suddenly.
'Where?'
'Over there, by the window,' she pointed to her left.
Sure enough, there he sat, nursing a firewhiskey and talking to Madam Rosemarta.
'Shall we go and say hello?'
'Sure.'
They paid their coins and strode over to him.
'Hello Professor,' smiled Rose.
He turned. 'Rosie!' he boomed, his eyes crinkling. 'Am no'fessor now. Call me Hagrid. C'm'ere an' give an ol' man a hug,' he engulfed Rose in his huge arms.
Scorpius was slightly intimidated by his height, but no one could be afraid of the man for long. With his graying hair and round middle, he resembles Father Christmas, he mused.
'An' who is this?' Hagrid turned to him suddenly.
'Scorpius Malfoy, sir.'
Hagrid's smile slipped slightly. 'I knew your father,' he said.
Scorpius felt himself turning red. Most people did not have pleasant memories of his father. They only saw Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater, whenever they discussed him. For Scorpius, it was an excruciating experience. He knew his father better than most. And the injustice that they should judge without knowing his father caused him pain.
'He's become a good man.'
Scorpius blinked. Had he heard the giant right? He glanced up to find Hagrid looking at him thoughtfully.
'Yes,' he nodded, 'He's a good man. An' so are you.'
Scorpius blushed again, not knowing where to look. This was the first time someone said something good about his father. His eyes were drawn to Rose's on their own volition.
She was beaming from ear to ear.
They said their goodbyes outside the inn and made their way towards the stationery shop. Al selected a bunch of quills while Rose browsed a stack of vellum.
'I'm thinking of buying Christmas gifts for Mom and Dad. What do you think?' she asked the boys. Al shrugged. Scorpius nodded, 'Good idea. Let's go find some gift shop.'
Twenty minutes later, they found themselves shaking their heads and browsing through heaps of scarves and books and silver-backed hairbrushes and dragon-hide wallets.
'I give up,' said Al after another five minutes.
Rose selected a scarf and a mokeskin pouch, 'There. I'm done.'
Scorpius was still at a loss. He looked at Rose with pleading eyes.
'Do one thing,' she said, 'first, close your eyes.'
He did.
'Now picture your mother clearly in your head. Do you have her?'
'Yes.'
'Now open your eyes and look at the items. Which one reminds you of her?'
Scorpius swept his eyes across the numerous displays. Then his eyes lit up.
'There,' he pointed out, 'I'll have that crystal bottle of perfume.'
'And what about your dad?'
He couldn't find anything in the shop to remind him of his father. He closed his eyes again and pictured him—tall, stately and elegant, reserved, aloof and a little bit sad…
…and the sight of a long eagle feather quill crept into his vision.
'Not here,' he muttered, dragging Al and Rose behind him.
They went back to the stationery shop. Al grumbled about his nose falling off in the cold all the time the shopkeeper was wrapping the quill in paper. Scorpius took his wrapped parcels and they turned towards home.
'We have yet to visit Honeyduke's,' Al grumbled.
'Good gracious! I had forgotten I owe Lily some candies!'
'Don't worry about her,' said Al, 'she is probably stuffed with cookies by now.'
'A promise is a promise.'
Rose snorted, 'You clearly do not have siblings. Or you'd have known that promises such as these are made to be broken quite often.'
'But won't she be hurt?'
'She might be angry, cry even but we are all forgiven in the end.'
'Really?!'
'Yes.'
'But why?'
'Because we are family,' she smiled.
What Scorpius Malfoy didn't realise as he ordered a dozen sherbet lemons and bonbons and sugared quills at Honeyduke's was that he had unknowingly learnt a valuable lesson from the Weasleys that day. That no matter what, a family always sticks together.
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To be continued...
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