Chapter 3:
Songs I was listening to while writing: Sidewinder by Avenged Sevenfold, Bleed It Out by Linkin Park, Oh Well Oh Well by Mayday Parade, Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Scorpius's POV:
"Mr. Malfoy is not taking any visitors this morning." The secretary said lazily. "If you would like to leave a message for him, please fill out a memo form." She pointed one long, purple manicured finger at a stack of lavender paper on the corner of her desk and went back to writing something important-looking on a long roll of parchment. I huffed impatiently.
"Would you please tell him his son is here to see him?" I said shortly. She glanced up at me, her interest apparently peaked. She looked me up and down as if trying to see if I looked enough like my father to pass as his son (and I knew as well as anyone that I did).
"Mr. Malfoy is not in the office at the moment, Mister Malfoy. Scorpius, is it?" She drawled out again in the same bored tone as before.
"My father has never missed a day of work in his life." I said. I was getting annoyed and it was probably as obvious from the outside as it felt on the inside. My hands were balled into fists to keep me from wrenching open the door just feet away myself and stalking inside.
"He's regrettably away on business this morning. If you would like to leave a message," She said slowly, as if I was a small child and I couldn't understand her properly. "Please fill out a memo form." And she went back to her work.
"Yeah, I'd like to leave a message." I barked. "You can tell him—" What could I possibly say to him? That he was a sorry excuse for a father? I knew that would be a lie. As much as I didn't see eye to eye with him, I had learned everything I know about who I was from my father. I could always tell him he was being a ridiculous fucking pain in the arse.
I glanced at the shiny, silver plaque on his door. Draco Malfoy, Senior Wizengamot Official. Huffing out a sigh, I glanced back at his less than enthusiastic secretary and stuffed my hands in my pockets.
"Will you tell him I was here?" Her eyes flitted up toward me again and then back to her paper. I got the feeling she was telling me "yes", but I couldn't be sure. It seemed like she was going to call security on me if I didn't leave. I grabbed my wand in my pocket to feel like I had some control over something and turned to leave out of the hall that held all the Wizengamot Offices.
I had waited two days after Al had lectured me about Rose and after the most awkward dinner I had been forced to sit through at the Burrow. Ron Weasley blatantly glared at me all night and Rose wouldn't come out of the kitchen with Dominique. An hour earlier than usual this morning, I left for the Ministry in the hopes of catching my father before he started the trials of the day down in the courtrooms. I was almost positive it was bullshit that he was "away on business". He never left the office.
I was fast-walking mindlessly down the halls that connected the different Headquarters of the offices that made up the whole of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There were only a few workers littered around the halls with reports and memos flying around them in orbit. I paid them no notice as they stared at me while I tried my best to keep myself calm and find the Auror Headquarters.
Turning a corner sharply, I collided with something. Or rather, someone. They must have been smaller than me because upon collision, they fell to the ground. The force knocked me against the wall and I swore as a bruise bloomed on my shoulder where it had been hit.
I noticed I was surrounded by scattered papers and I instantly felt guilty. I had probably knocked some poor bloke's entire evening's work onto the floor.
"Shit, I'm sorry." I said, stooping down to the floor to help gather the papers into a messy pile.
"It's okay, really." They said in a flustered, feminine voice. A voice I would recognize in my sleep. Rose.
She was trying to shuffle the papers around in order and her hands were shaking. Her hair was down today, only a few pieces from the front pinned around the back, and it tumbled freely in loose red waves against the navy of her robes. She was blushing, though I couldn't fathom why. I was the one who had run into her.
"Here." I choked out, shoving the papers I had collected toward her. She looked up at me and I stared at her stupidly while she took the papers from my hand. She sorted them into her stack and her hands fumbled; more papers slipped to the floor.
"Thank you." She said quietly when I picked up those papers and handed them back to her. Her bag was lying a few feet away and I got to my feet to retrieve it. But someone beat me to it.
"Rose, this is your bag, right?" A tall guy with slicked dark hair had picked up her bag by the strap. I stood there, still frozen from my stupidity and shocked that I had actually knocked Rose to the ground for the third time in all my years of knowing her, while he handed Rose back her bag. She had straightened up from the floor and was smiling now, though her blush hadn't left. She glanced over at me and started, as if forgetting I had been there.
"Luke, this is my… friend, Scorpius." She said slowly. My stomach had done some impressive backflips when she paused before settling on "friend" and was now sitting like a rock inside me.
Luke walked over to me and extended his hand for me to shake.
"I'm Luke Sharman, Senior Correspondent for the Improper Use of Magic Office." He said. I shook his hand firmly. Something about him already pissed me off. It was probably because he had to sneak his title into his introduction.
"Scorpius Malfoy, Auror Trainee." I said coolly. I dropped his hand quickly and looked back over at Rose.
"Sorry, again." I said. She nodded quickly and smiled, but the smile didn't really reach her eyes. I felt something inside me deflate when she looked away and cast her eyes around for something to pretend to be interested in.
"Well, it's getting to be six." Luke said, an annoying grin on his face. "Rose? Can I escort you to the office?"
"Yes. Thank you, Luke." She said. She cast me one more glance and then turned, allowing Luke to catch up with her at the corner of the corridor.
"Nice meeting you, Scorpius." Luke called back at me. And then he was gone, Rose disappearing with him. I stood there in the hallway wondering how Rose had met him when I realized I was going to be late to Auror Training.
"Fuck." I mumbled, ignoring the insulted look of a middle-aged witch passing by me and took off down the hallway.
…
I sprinted into the Headquarters and stopped at Al's side just in time. Rowley was just going down the crowd of trainees and splitting us into pairs as I bent over, hands on my knees, to catch my breath.
"Merlin, Scorp. Did you run all the way here?" Al asked. Dom was staring at me concernedly and I straightened up, my heart still racing.
"My father wasn't in his office." I said between breaths, realizing again how angry I had been at his secretary. Al looked confused and opened his mouth, probably to ask another question, when Rowley came up to the three of us.
"I need pairs, not a trio." He said, glancing at Dom who was standing close to Al and me. She bit her lip nervously as Rowley directed her toward a tall, black haired girl and assigned them as partners. He turned back to us.
"Potter and Malfoy, is it?" He said, eyeing the two of us oddly. "Never thought I'd see a partnership with your names together." Al and I glanced at each other, both us of silently agreeing not to say anything. Rowley nodded once and headed toward the rest of the trainees that needed to find partners.
"Odd bloke, isn't he?" Al muttered, watching Rowley as he went along.
"I ran into Rose on the way back here." I said casually. Al snapped his head toward me and raised his eyebrows.
"And? Did she say anything?"
"Well, I sort of literally ran into her." I mumbled.
"Scorp, I know you've been out of practice but when you sweep a woman off her feet, you don't actually—"
"Shove it." I snapped. Al grinned at his own joke and would probably have said something else equally as unfunny if Rowley hadn't stepped up onto the stage and cleared his throat loudly. Rowley scanned the trainees and looked up behind us, as if waiting for something. The gilded doors opened and again, the Auror Heads entered the room and went to stand by on the sides of the walls.
"Trainees!" Rowley said enthusiastically. "I hope you've enjoyed your only two days in the Auror Academy where you won't be actually working." In the last two days, we had been given extensive tours of the Auror Headquarters along with learning how the memos worked and the name of each and every Auror in the office and what they were tracking.
"I'm sure more than one of you has been more than happy to sit back and watch the activity that goes on in the office. Well, that time is over. You all came to us for one reason. You want to be part of what allows most wizarding families to sleep without worry at night. You want to be out there, fighting. You want to be hot on the trail of the next big dark wizard and send them straight to Azkaban. Here's where it really begins."
Rowley's speech seemed to have an effect on most of the group. Al had tensed up considerably beside me. Dom was standing up straighter than usual, her chin cocked up as if she was looking down upon her competition. I had subconsciously bit my lip and felt blood in my mouth. The rest of the group shifted slightly while Rowley took the time to admire the group's attention on him. He cleared his throat again.
"In the next three years, you will all discover your strengths. Many of you will excel in stages where others will fail. However, all Aurors," and he sent his eyes roaming over the group again, as if trying to really look at each of us, "…Have to know how to properly duel. I'm assuming you learned from your respective schools what could pass for dueling against another student. In the real world, you're going to have to have many more powerful spells in your arsenal."
"Today, we're going to have a bit of fun. The Heads and I have decided to put you all up to a challenge: a Battle Royal of sorts." A slight murmur rose above the group as trainees whispered to their partners. Al sent an excited look my way and I automatically smirked back at him.
"You'll be dueling in groups of four, one pair against another. Traditionally, Aurors never battle alone unless they are split up and that's how the rules will go today. If one partner falls, the other must finish the duel. Last duo standing wins."
Rowley stepped off of the stage and the Heads moved from their positions to station the pairs around the room. Teddy came over to Al and me and smiled at us encouragingly.
"You two ready?" He asked, waving his hand for us to follow him across the room.
"This is what we've been waiting for, right Scorp?" Al said, whipping around to face me and walking backwards. "Real action!"
"Did they have you battle it out when you were in training?" I asked Teddy. It felt weird asking him a casual question. All the other groups were silent as their Heads positioned them. Teddy smirked and for a second, it was like looking into a bizarre blue-haired mirror image of myself.
"They wouldn't miss the chance to watch some spells fly." He said.
"How'd you do?" Al asked.
Teddy grimaced. "Knocked out in the second round. You lot be careful with each other. Not everyone plays fair." He stopped at the far left corner of the room, directly across from another pair of a tall, hulking blonde boy and a girl that could've been his sister.
"Rowley will lay down the ground rules. Make it a clean fight and make them remember you." Teddy said finally, grasping both our shoulders and joining the other Heads back against the wall. I gripped my wand tightly in my hand, meeting the gaze of the blonde boy. He audibly sniffed and looked away. His sister (I had decided they were related) was looking at anything but Albus and me. Glancing over at Albus, I could see he was mumbling jinxes under his breath. He was unable to keep a wild-looking grin off his face and shot me an excited smile again.
"Now that you've all been paired up, it's only polite courtesy to bow to each other." Rowley boomed from the front of the room. The trainees all looked around with confused faces. I was pretty sure all of us were thinking the same thing. In the event we were battling a seriously evil wizard, I doubted he would take the time to observe proper dueling manners.
"That's an order, trainees!" Rowley barked. As if a giant hand was pushing all of the trainees over, we awkwardly lowered our heads to each other. Rowley grinned on the stage and I noticed he had been joined by the rest of the Auror Heads.
"Very good; now, there are only a few key rules we expect each of you to follow." He began pacing back and forth across the stage with his hands behind his back. "Rule number one, no curses that could seriously harm your opponent. Rule two, no physical contact; wands only. And rule number three, we are aiming to win in a fair fight, no unforgiveable curses."
Rowley's eyes roved over the crowd to make sure we had all been listening. There was a kind of energy sparking through the air around us, as if our wands were so excited to be put to proper action, they were making magic without our guidance.
"Let's make this a fair fight, ladies and gentlemen. Now—" But Rowley was cut off by a hand suddenly thrust into the air. It belonged to a burly looking trainee with a buzzed, dark haircut and a very unflattering unibrow. I recognized him as the bloke that had been staring at me the first time the trainees were in a crowd together.
"I don't remember asking for questions, Trainee."
"Just one thing, sir. What do we get if we win?" Al scoffed next to me.
"You're here to learn. You get the experience and the satisfaction that in a real duel, you may just survive." Rowley smiled darkly like he was trying to keep from really yelling at the trainee.
"Wands at the ready!" Rowley carried on as if he hadn't been interrupted. His voice was loud enough to carry out to our group of Albus and myself against the siblings all the way at the other end of the room. All four of us drew our wands and worked ourselves into defensive positions.
"Three, two, one, duel!"
Before Rowley's words could finish echoing around the cavernous space, the room was lit up with different colored spells flashing through the air like a lightning storm. The blonde trainee standing directly across from me barely had time to open his mouth.
"Locomotor Mortis!" I shouted. With a flash of blue light, the trainee's eyes widened comically and he fell to the ground, his legs locked together. He angrily shot a jinx at my ankles and I jumped out of the way just as his sister got a Petrificus Totalus to the chest. She froze as she, too, fell to the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" Al and I both shouted together. The siblings' wands flew from their hands and straight into ours. The brother was outraged, his upper body thrashing around while his legs remained glued.
"Do over!" He shouted. Teddy appeared behind him looking like he was trying not to laugh.
"There are no do overs in the real world, McKinley. I'm afraid you and your sister are out of the competition." Teddy said. I fought back the smile that was itching to grow on my face as Teddy waved his wand and both McKinleys were able to fully move again. They stalked off to the side of the room where a few other pairs of defeated trainees were dejectedly gathered.
"Well done, you two." Teddy said, smiling at me and Al before returning to the stage. Al was practically skipping now with excitement.
"Did you see her face when she fell over? Merlin, I doubt the other groups are going to be that easy." He said, slightly out of breath from his own energy.
A few minutes later, after the other groups that had lost were cleared off the floor, we were paired up with a new set of opponents. Opposite me was a male trainee that almost rivaled a half giant in size paired with a heavily muscled dark-skinned boy who was scowling at Al.
"Begin!" Rowley shouted from the stage. His grin was almost maniacal in its excitement at the only barely controlled violence in front of him. It was no question why he became the Head Trainer for the Aurors. It seemed like he lived for this stuff.
"Rictumsempra!" The half-giant trainee shouted. I barely had time to throw up a shield charm and duck to miss his second jinx, which was fired seconds after the first. Next to me, Al and the second trainee were rapidly firing spells at each other so that they were obscured by the bright lights of the spells and their shields.
"Tarantallegra!" I shouted, still on my hands and knees on the floor. My opponent's size was against him. He was too huge to duck out of the way of my spell in time and started performing a complicated looking jig that I was positive he had never practiced before. He stared in mild horror at his dancing feet. His distraction gave me enough time to push myself off the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" His wand soared out of his hand jerkily, as he was now doing what looked like the muggle dance "the Macarena", and landed in mine. This time, I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Amazingly, my still nameless opponent was smiling too.
"You got me. Well done. Can you put me right again?" He was being whipped around in a series of turns and I quickly aimed my wand at him.
"Finite." His dancing stopped and he collapsed, looking dizzy. I went over to him and offered my hand, hoping I wasn't being stupid for feeling slightly bad. He took my hand and I struggled to pull him to his feet, seeing as there was much of him to go around. Once he was standing, he flashed a grin at me.
"I'm Terrence Mabery. And I promise, I'm not a dancer." I laughed and shook his hand, still feeling the effects of my second victory in me. I felt like running a lap around the room— or five.
"Oi!" Al yelped, thumping me on the back when Terrence and his partner had crossed the room to join the slowly growing crowd of unsuccessful groups. "Making friends with your enemies? Going to shake the hand of every dark wizard we're after?"
I shoved him off of me. "Piss off, Al. He's hardly a dark wizard."
"I know that," Al said. "I just don't want you getting distracted by making friends. We're in the middle of a battle here! This is life or death!" I rolled my eyes at Al's theatrics.
"Al, I'm focused. I promise." I felt the corner of my mouth quirk up. "Besides, we're kicking ass." Al grinned widely and threw an arm around my shoulder again. This time, I didn't fight him.
"Hell yeah, we are!"
Al's energy only grew more plentiful, if that was possible, as we continued to fight against our trainee opponents. It even began to rub off on me. Three victories, four, five, and the two of us felt practically unstoppable. There were only four groups left dueling each other when Al and I were finally matched against Dominique and her partner, whom I had just defeated after no small effort.
"Albus Severus Potter!" Dom shrieked when Albus fired an Aguamenti at her face, ruining her makeup and hair. "You are incorrigible!"
"I always knew you liked me, Dom!" Al laughed, handing her back her wand that he had won and ducking her hand, which was flying after him.
Once Dom and her partner were led off the floor, Rowley came down from the stage to stand between the pairing of Al and myself and the other pairing of a curly haired girl and the bloke from before who had asked a question before the beginning of the "battle".
Rowley applauded slowly, his booming claps louder than the rest of the trainees who were sulkily applauding against the left wall.
"Well done!" Rowley barked. "You four all still have much to learn in the way of dueling for the future. However, your skills have gotten you this far in our annual competition, and for that, I and the Heads congratulate you."
The room was silent. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for Rowley to let the two finalists duel and find out who would be the winners. Rowley seemed to be enjoying the attention on him and finally spoke after a few seconds' pause.
"The rules still apply for the final match. I don't want to see anything but a fair, clean fight. I do expect it to be interesting. And I've made you all wait long enough. It's time to see what you four can do." And finally, Rowley stepped out of the way of our two pairs and backed against the wall in front of the trainees who were crowded around, watching.
"Three, two, one, duel!"
There was no time to prepare. I fired off the first jinx I thought of and immediately threw up a block against a red jet of light— Stupefy. This arse was already breaking rules.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I shouted. My opponent ducked to the side, narrowly missing being hit and barked out an ugly laugh.
"Incarcerous!" He boomed. I rolled on the ground to avoid the black ropes that had sprung out of his wand and got to my feet quickly. He was laughing again.
"Bit like facing the real world, isn't it, Malfoy?"
"How do you know my name?" I demanded, throwing up a block to a nonverbal jinx that he had lazily flicked out of his wand. I fired back, my wand coordinating with my mind as I thought Furnunculus. This time, he was too busy jeering at me to defend himself. He became covered in angry red boils and cried out angrily, feeling his face with his hands before shooting me a furious look.
"You think I don't know who the Malfoys are?" He said, gripping his wand and pointing it at me, though he wasn't using it. Out of the corner of my eye, it looked like Al was winning against the girl. Still, they were fighting ferociously and it seemed like most of the crowd was watching them.
"Better yet, you think I don't know what the Malfoys did?" My opponent looked like he was having a hard time talking through the boils on his face. Still, he shot another nonverbal spell at me and the battle resumed before I had time to think about what he had said.
We were dueling back and forth now, our shield charms the only things protecting us from each other's jinxes while we circled each other. More than once I had to duck to the ground to avoid his rapid spell firing and he took the time to his advantage, using a counter-jinx and clearing his skin.
"It's harder than you thought it would be, isn't it Malfoy?"
"What? Dueling you? I'm having a spectacular time, thanks for asking." I was getting tired of talking while we dueled. It took enough energy to keep up the spells and shields without wasting my breath.
"It's hard not getting what you want right when you want it." He said in an eerily calm voice. "That's something I know about the Malfoys. They don't care who gets in the way of what they want!" He fired off three consecutive jinxes and I blocked them just barely. By this time, my blood was boiling.
"You don't know shit about my family!" I didn't care if the trainers heard me swear.
"Crucio!"
I could barely believe my ears as the violently red spell came shooting out of his wand. I threw myself to the ground, watching the red light ricochet off the marble, leaving a blackened scorch mark in its wake.
"Are you fucking insane?" I yelled, getting to my feet again. I felt like I had been stunned. This bloke wasn't serious. He couldn't be. He would stoop low enough as to use an Unforgivable Curse in a training battle just to win, even though he knew he would be sent to Azkaban for it?
"Aguamenti! Stupefy!"
As if my arm was acting against my mind, I raised my wand and cast the Protego charm to protect myself from the stream of water coming straight toward me. In my head, I felt like I hadn't moved at all. I was still watching the Cruciatis curse being fired at me from another trainee, frozen in shock.
And then, I registered that the stunning spell hadn't come in contact with my shield charm. On my left, Al fell to the ground, unconscious.
I heard him shout another spell, something I had never heard before. A few people in the crowd watching gasped, their hands over their mouths, as I was hit, too shocked from before to react in time.
I felt something warm and wet underneath my shirt and pressed my hand against my chest. It came away red with blood and, numbly, I realized it was my own. I could tell there was a deep cut now open on my chest and I fell to my knees, gasping, as more cuts appeared all over my skin; blood welling up everywhere. I collapsed onto my side, not caring that I was lying in a small pool of my own blood now. I barely registered Teddy running toward me, flanked by Dominique and several of the trainees, and Rowley surrounding my smiling opponent with a group of Aurors before I blacked out.
Rose's POV:
When a silver glowing swan had appeared literally out of thin air in the middle of Luke's desk, I knew I was having a bad day.
Dom rarely ever sent me messages by Patronus. That's how I knew it was serious when she— or rather her glowing swan— told me to get to St. Mungo's as fast as I could. Now, sitting next to a bed on the Fourth floor of the hospital for Spell Damage, the swan Patronus had been replaced by the real Dominique and she hadn't stopped talking since I had sat down.
"It was awful." She hiccupped in a small voice. There were pink patches on her cheeks and she was wringing her hands nervously in her lap. She hadn't changed out of her training robes and I noticed her left sleeve was singed as if someone had burned it.
"Scorpius and the other boy were talking but we couldn't hear what they were saying. And then he stunned Albus and he—" Dom bit her lip and broke off as she had been doing every time she tried to recount exactly what had happened to Scorpius. I took one of her hands in my own and she relaxed slightly.
"You don't have to try to explain. I know it must have been hard to watch." I said. I tried to keep my voice as soothing as possible like my mum had done when I was being confronted about my secret relationship with Scorpius in sixth year. Even in my emotional state then, my mum's voice had helped to keep me from exploding. I was hoping the same effect would help Dom.
We both glanced at Scorpius on the bed as he rolled onto his back from his side for the dozenth time in the last few minutes. No matter what the Healers tried, they couldn't seem to get Scorpius to lie still, even in his unconscious state. I wondered if he was having bad dreams.
When I had first come into the ward, I had expected to see one of my family members in the bed. Before I had Apparated to the hospital, I had to prepare myself for the possibility that I would see Albus lying still and pale for the second time. Somehow, Scorpius's frail form was even harder to process in my mind than it would be to see one of my cousins'.
He was covered in bandages, though the cuts underneath had healed long ago. I remembered the look of his smooth, pale skin, unmarked and slightly pink, when they had changed the bandages an hour ago. An Auror on the scene had already healed the damage from the curse before he was moved. Still, they didn't want any after effects of the curse to surprise them and so Scorpius remained wrapped up like a mummy. His hair was fanned messily over the pillow, almost blending in with the white surroundings of the hospital sheets. His face looked relaxed while he slept, though every now and then he would wince as if he was in pain again and my heart would jolt uncomfortably in my chest.
"Tell me again why you lot were allowed to duel to the death?" I said. There was a slight edge to my voice and I was surprised to hear it. I had worked so hard to keep myself calm ever since I had sat down but it was slowly becoming harder to conceal what I really felt. I was angry.
"We weren't." Al spoke up from the doorway of the room. Both Dom and I jumped in our seats. He had left almost an hour ago without any kind of explanation. It seemed he was taking Scorpius's injury pretty hard. He stepped into the room and went to stand on the opposite side of the bed. His hair was sticking up even more than usual as if he had been running his hands through it.
"No one was actually supposed to get hurt. That scum Scorp was dueling was insane. They had to subdue him before taking him down to the Wizengamot for questioning." Al's voice sounded hollow and tired. I wanted to reach over to him and comfort him. Somehow I could tell, just as James had felt when Al had been knocked off his broom, that he thought this was his fault.
"How did you find that out?" Dom asked.
"I went to see my dad. I wanted to know if he knew anything about the spell that was used. He only told me a little. He said the effects wouldn't be lasting and that Scorp will be fine as long as they healed him properly. He looked like he…" Al trailed off and slumped into another chair against the wall.
"I should've realized something was wrong." He said. He was so quiet, I could barely hear him over the sound of Healers passing by the room and the rustling of the sheets as Scorpius tossed and turned. As if by habit, I laid my hand down over his bandage-wrapped forearm. Immediately, he stopped fidgeting.
"It wasn't your fault, Albus." Dom said in a stronger voice than I had heard her use all afternoon. "That nutter stunned you before you could help. And he tried to use an Unforgivable curse! I don't think he would have let anything get in his way if the Aurors hadn't stepped in—"
"Don't you think, Dominique that in a real battle a dark wizard might try to stun me before I can be useful? They're not going to be polite and wait for us to prepare ourselves! That was the whole fucking point—"
"Shut it, both of you!" I snapped. I realized I was probably gripping Scorpius's arm too tightly now and I let go. For a moment, I wondered if he would move again but he remained still. I focused on his chest rising and falling slowly and matched my breathing to his. Jokingly, I thought for probably the first time in his life, Scorpius was the calmest person in the room.
"Albus, this wasn't your fault. Don't try to explain why it is, because it just isn't." I said. Al opened his mouth to argue but I sent a glare his way and he abruptly shut up. "Dom, why don't we stop talking about it? None of this is going to help him when he wakes up."
But now Dom was glaring at me. "You won't even say his name." She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. The patches on her cheeks were brighter than before. "I know you're worried about him. I can see it in your face. He's not even awake and you won't say his name!"
"…he is awake and he's wondering why everyone is yelling."
All three of us jumped at the sound of Scorpius's voice and turned our attention to the bed. He looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open and his eyebrows were scrunched together. Still, he was already trying to sit up.
"Shit!" He groaned, and he fell back to the bed. Dom shot up from her seat. Albus was already standing over the bed, the worried look in his eyes contradicted by the relieved smile on his face.
"I'll get the Healer." I said, standing up quickly and crossing the room. I couldn't stay there. Not when he was waking up. Not when he would see me and wonder why I was there. What would I say to him after almost two years of silence?
As I fast-walked down the hallway looking for the Healer of the ward, I tried to ignore what Dom had said. I did say Scorpius's name. I just didn't say it out loud. This had seemed perfectly reasonable behavior up until about five minutes ago. I leaned against the wall and sighed, twirling the end of my ponytail around my finger. Dom just didn't understand. What were you supposed to say to someone when you couldn't even say their name out loud?
Scorpius's POV:
I hated the smell of the hospital. My father had taken me with him when we had visited my grandmother on my mother's side the day she had died. I remembered gripping onto his hand tightly and tripping over my own feet to keep up while I whipped my head around, staring at the Healers passing by with strange potions and instruments in their hands. My mother hadn't even let me stay in the waiting room while my father talked to the welcome witch. I barely caught a glimpse of a wizard with his feet on backwards repeatedly stumbling into a wall before she picked me up and carried me away.
I didn't remember much else about that visit. I was too young to really understand why my mother was crying so much after my grandmother had died. Still, the smell of the hospital lingered with me. The clean, almost bitter stench that permeated the sheets of the bed and the air around me never left my mind.
That's how I knew where I was the minute I woke up. I could recognize that smell anywhere. I resisted throwing up and tried to open my eyes, but they felt heavy. The effort was almost enough to put me back to sleep.
I heard voices as I continued waking up. I couldn't tell if I knew whom they belonged to or if they were Healers. I really hoped it wasn't the latter. The Healers scared the shit out of me when I was little. I tried to listen harder so I could make out what the voices were saying.
"They're not going to be polite and wait for us to prepare ourselves! That was the whole fucking point—"
Immediately, I knew that was Al. There was no mistaking his voice. I could almost picture the way he was standing just from hearing him. But he sounded angry. Not even just angry— he sounded furious. I wondered who he was yelling at.
I felt myself roll over on what I assumed was a bed beneath me and face the voices. I was still too groggy to try and figure out who it was that the rest of them belonged to. It seemed like my body was frustrated with my brain for its lack of sense at the moment. I couldn't stop tossing around like a frustrated child.
Then I felt something on my arm. Someone's fingers had lightly wrapped themselves around my forearm, just above my wrist. I stopped moving— something I had been trying to do for the last few hurried seconds— and listened intently.
"Shut it, both of you!" A female voice said sharply. I didn't know how I knew, but this hand belonged to that voice. And even though my mind was working about as well as it used to in Potions class, I could tell this voice was important to me.
"Albus, this wasn't your fault. Don't try to explain why it is, because it just isn't." There was a slight pause and I almost laughed as I pictured what Al's reaction might be. I knew he didn't take shit from anyone, he was almost as cocky as me, and thought it must be one of his family members.
"Dom, why don't we stop talking about it?" The voice said again. Her voice. I could tell it was a girl. "None of this is going to help him when he wakes up."
I felt like a piece of ice was slipping down my throat and into my stomach when I realized who it was. Or who I was hoping it would be when I could finally open my eyes. Merlin, I hoped it was her. Just knowing she had actually come to my sickbed made the tight ache of my skin and bones lessen.
"You won't even say his name. I know you're worried about him. I can see it in your face." I was broken out of my thoughts about Rose by a voice so shrill I couldn't miss it if I tried. I wasn't sure why it had taken me so long to realize that Dominique was a part of those gathered around me. She sounded seriously pissed, which wasn't much of a contrast from what she was like the last time I saw her. Somehow, I didn't think she was still angry about getting a water curse to the face via Al.
The atmosphere in the room had gotten suddenly tenser. Even I could feel it, and my senses were worth absolute shit in the state I was in. I figured it was about time I made another grasp for consciousness and kept whatever fight that was brewing from happening.
"He's not even awake and you won't say his name!" Dom shrieked. I forced my eyes open and resisted shutting them immediately at the bright lamps lit around the room.
"He is awake, and he's wondering why everyone is yelling." I said. I internally winced at my voice which came out cracking more than it had during puberty— a dark age for me. I ignored the stunned faces of Rose, Al and Dominique around me and adjusted my arms to push myself into a sitting position.
It was a bad idea right away. My skin felt tight and stretched, like it might open and start gushing blood again. A sharp throb of pain pulsed through my body.
"Shit!" I fell back to the bed and tried to stop myself from throwing up. Al's face loomed over me with a dumb smile. On my other side I could see Dominique reaching for my pillow to fluff it and fluttering her hands around nervously. Rose mumbled something and left. I barely caught the sight of her red curls whipping away as she practically ran out the door before she was gone. Some dull, numb part of my chest told me that she probably wasn't going to come back.
"Son of a bitch." Al muttered, shaking his head. He had leaned back out of my face and was now standing next to my bed. "If you didn't look half dead right now, I'd punch you."
It was all I could do to stare up at him, slightly bewildered but all the same, not surprised. "You think I wouldn't punch you back?"
"You can't even sit up. You're getting soft, Scorp." Al's smile had returned, wider than even before. "Fuck. Never do that again. You had me scared shitless."
"Never do what? Duel a lunatic?" I broke off to sit up again, this time preparing myself for the wave of nausea to pass. Al and Dom both visibly tensed as if waiting for me to pass out. I took a deep breath once I was sitting upright and turned to Al again.
"Hate to break it to you mate, but we're training to be Aurors. We're going to be dealing with a lot of nut cases in the next twenty years." I forced a smirk onto my face even though I still felt like I was turning fuzzy around the edges.
Al let out a laugh, the stupid smile back on his face.
"You two alright then?" I said, glancing down at my bandages and wondering if they were really necessary. It didn't look or feel like I was bleeding.
"Are we alright?" Al's face looked disbelieving. "You were on the ground bleeding to death and you're wondering if we're feeling okay?"
"You got stunned. I didn't have time to block it for you." I said pointedly. Al rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine. Fit as a hippogriff. Dom did her hair and makeup again— ouch! Stop doing that!" Al yelped as Dom slapped his shoulder. I tentatively reached for the bandage wrapped around my forearm— the one Rose had touched— and was fiddling with the end of it when a Healer came striding into the room.
"Not so fast, Mister Malfoy!" She was probably in her mid-forties with graying brown hair and a pinched expression like she was permanently having to clean up the messes in the waiting room. She tapped her wand against some papers posted next to my wall and squinted to read writing that appeared as if someone's invisible hand and quill was reporting my condition.
"Er… sorry." I mumbled. I dropped my hands to my sides and tried not to shift around too much while the Healer started poking my shoulder with her wand none too gently. Al and Dom watched quietly; Al stifling laughter when the Healer stuck her wand under my armpit to check my temperature.
"Your vitals are back to normal. There doesn't seem to be any bleeding or side effects apart from nausea." The Healer tapped her wand against the papers and the writing disappeared. She glanced back at me with a somewhat softer expression. "You're free to leave."
She quickly turned to the doorway like she couldn't wait to be gone. "Wait," I called out. She turned, looking annoyed again. I wondered if I had done something while I was unconscious that had pissed her off. Did I drool on her? "How much should I leave for the room?"
She drew a clipboard out of the pocket of her robes that shouldn't have fit inside and glanced through the papers attached to it.
"This room and the attention to your wounds have already been paid for. You only have to check out with the Welcome Witch."
"Already paid for?" I repeated dumbly. I glanced over at Al who looked as confused as me. "Is there a name?"
"It says here a Mister Draco Malfoy. I really must be getting back to my work, Mister Malfoy. Please keep in mind that this room needs to be available to other sick and injured people." The Healer finally turned and left, somehow leaving me with the guilty feeling that it was all my fault I had been cursed and had to be taken to hospital. I shook my head and threw the covers off, slipping out of the bed.
"What's got her wand stuck up her arse?" Al said jokingly. He glanced back at me and turned quickly around as if he had just remembered something. "I brought you clothes from the flat. The Auror office said to take the rest of the day off. Training's been cancelled anyway. They're looking into the bloke you dueled."
He tossed my wand, a sweatshirt, and jeans onto the bed and I grabbed them. Dom hurried out of the room as I pulled off my Auror Academy shirt which was still covered in some pretty gross blood stains. I glanced at it with mild disgust and tossed it on the ground.
"I asked my dad if they'd found anything out about him." Al said conversationally, ducking down to pick up my bloodied shirt. "Grandma Weasley could get these out in about a minute." He gestured to the stains and folded the shirt, stuffing it into the pocket of his robes. I didn't doubt him. Molly Weasley was a force to be reckoned with when it came to stains. I'd seen her work out grass stains from James' Quidditch Uniform that seemed hopeless.
"Do they have a name?" I asked. I was pulling on the jeans now with great difficulty considering my stomach continued to protest at any movement I made. Al chuckled at me while I almost fell over trying to shove my right foot into a pant leg.
"My dad only said 'Goyle'. I'd probably be barking mad if that was my name too." Al said, twirling his wand around his fingers. I threw a half-hearted punch at his shoulder when I was finished and we exited the room, looking for Dominique.
"Oi! Dom!" Al shouted as we caught a glimpse of Dominique's blonde hair around the corner. "We're leaving, you coming back to the flat?"
Dom came trotting down the corridor. She glanced back at where she had come from and turned back to us with an expression that said she was seriously pissed.
"I'm going to head home. I have something to work out. I hope you feel better soon, Scorpius." She threw her arms around me in a hug and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out at the stiff pain that followed. She gave Albus an equally enthusiastic hug and turned down the corridor out of sight.
"I'd shell out every last Galleon I owned if it meant I could figure out what she was doing all the time." Al mumbled, shaking his head and heading down the length of the hall. I followed, walking stiffly and clutching my wand tightly in my hand.
Al babbled on about how the Aurors had reacted and what had happened after I blacked out. I was only half listening. I kept thinking about what the Healer had said. Draco Malfoy had paid for my room.
Why had my father, whom I hadn't talked to or seen in weeks, voluntarily paid for a hospital room when he had made it clear anything that happened to me in Auror Training was my own decision? And how had he found out? I assumed someone had been told to alert him that his son was injured, but I hadn't thought he would act on it.
I almost expected to see him sitting in the waiting room. I was probably still loopy from my near-death experience if I thought my father in his dark robes and practically regal posture would fit in with the lot of catastrophe-ridden wizards and witches sitting in the room. Al stupidly stared at a witch whose skin was rapidly changing colors no matter how much the wizard next to her, whom I assumed was her husband, waved his wand and shouted things. I nudged him hard in the ribs and signed my name on the Welcome Witch's notepad quickly. All I wanted to do was get out of St. Mungo's and forget about the business with my father.
If he had been close enough to pay for my room the minute I had been moved to St. Mungo's, it made sense that he would have been in his office all along this morning. I thought about trying again at the Ministry and barging through his door this time, bossy secretary or not. But that would be stupid, and I had made enough stupid decisions for a lifetime.
Al side-along Apparated us to the flat and after I became sick in my bathroom toilet, he vowed to visit the Leaky Cauldron and not come back unless he was laden down with enough drinks for the rest of the evening.
I tossed my wand onto my bed in my room, not bothering to throw back the curtains on my window. I was pretty sure the room hadn't seen actual sunlight in about a month. I wouldn't be surprised if mold grew.
I pulled my now soiled shirt over my head and threw it on the floor, rummaging through my drawers to find a new one. I pushed aside the purple and gold socks and my old Slytherin scarf until my hand came in contact with something papery.
With difficulty, owing to the fact that I had never learned to properly fold clothes and my drawer was overflowing, I pulled out a crumpled envelope. I recognized the long, slanted writing in jade ink on the front. My father had written to me.
"Will Master Scorpius be needing to send a reply?" A squeaky voice spoke up behind me. Instinctively, I whirled around, grabbing the nearest object that could be used as a weapon off the top of my drawers and flattening myself against the wall.
Binny the house elf stood in the center of my bed. His pillow case had a weird raspberry colored stain on the front and I winced. House-Elf Law made it clear that it was forbidden to keep an elf from wearing clothes. Still, Binny came from a long line of Malfoy-family elves and still refused to go near my sock drawer unless it was to put them away.
"Merlin, Binny! You scared the shit out of me." I gasped, lowering my weapon. Looking in my hand, I realized I had grabbed a rolled up copy of Which Broomstick. Terrifying.
"Binny is sorry, Master Scorpius!" He squeaked, bowing deeply.
"Are you alright? What's the stain from?" I asked. Binny glanced down at his pillowcase in mild surprise as if he hadn't realized it wasn't in the same pristine condition he usually kept it in.
"Binny is making raspberry pie for Mistress Astoria! She asks for them when she feels upset, she told Binny. Mistress Astoria also asks Binny to pass along her love for Master Scorpius." I felt a pang in my chest and reached a hand up to my hair. I hadn't seen my mum in what felt like ages.
"Tell her I miss her. I'll write to her soon." I said. Binny nodded fervently.
"And what about Master Draco?" Binny asked tentatively. I huffed out a sigh and crumbled the envelope still in my other hand. Slackening my fingers, I let it fall to the ground.
"I'm not reading it." I said. Binny shifted uncomfortably on his spindly legs. I was surprised he hadn't tripped over the unmade sheets yet, but past experience told me if I offered a seat to him, he wouldn't be able to look me in the eye for the next ten minutes.
"Master Scorpius must not rush into hasty decisions. Master Draco was most concerned when he heard the news of Master Scorpius's injuries." Binny said quickly.
"I'm not reading it." I repeated bluntly. "I won't need a reply written. You can get back to your pies."
Binny sighed as if he had failed somehow. I wondered if my father had actually sent him to deliver a letter amongst my clothes where there was only a slim chance I would find it right away once I was home. Then again, Binny was my house elf. He had always been something of a friend at the manor. I had no idea my father had ever picked up on the fact that the elf was somewhat special to me.
"Binny," I said suddenly, stopping him before he could snap his fingers and disappear. "It's good to see you."
Binny smiled widely. "Binny has missed Master Scorpius! Will Master Scorpius be returning to the Manor soon?"
I bit the inside of my cheek. "I don't know. Maybe. I'll be in touch." And with that, Binny turned on the spot, disappearing with a loud crack and leaving me somewhat alone.
"Scorp!" Al called from the front of the flat. I hadn't even heard him Apparate back. I grabbed my wand from my bed and shuffled out to the hall.
"I hope you bought out the Leaky Cauldron, Al. I need a drink right now."
But Al wasn't alone. He was accompanied by not only two humongous bottles of Firewhiskey, but by Rose. She stood by the doorway as if rooting herself somewhere she could make a quick escape. Al whistled cheerily and crossed the room to the counter.
"I ran into Rose in Diagon Alley. She asked to come back. But I won't be here long, Giselle wants to meet back in the bar for drinks." Al rambled on. I was barely listening to him. My feet had glued themselves to the floor and I couldn't look away from Rose.
She bit her lip nervously, glancing over at Al. She was still wearing her Ministry Robes and a pile of papers was tucked in the crook of her arm. Both of us watched Al as he pulled out two glasses from the cupboard and continued whistling off-key. He started when he realized we were both staring at him.
"Have I got something on my face?" He cracked a grin and slid a full glass of whiskey down the counter to me.
"Anyway, I've got to get going. Giselle's waiting. Rose, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. Scorp, don't drink too much." He clapped me on the shoulder, pulled Rose into a one-armed hug, and was out the door in seconds.
Blindly, I moved to the counter and gripped the glass in my hand. Rose stayed by the door, gripping her wand and her papers tightly. It seemed insane that only this morning, I had knocked her to the floor.
"Er, I'm sorry again about this morning—" I started. But Rose cut me off practically before I had begun.
"I need to talk to you."
A/N: Let me start off by apologizing profusely for the fact that I haven't updated as regularly as I wanted to start off this story! I'm currently in the busiest year of my life so far in the school year with dance and my classes. I've had to find time to squeeze in writing when I'm not busy and I hope this long chapter makes it up to you guys! I don't have much else to say other than it's a super beautiful day outside right now and I'm very much looking forward to the holidays now that's it's Autumn! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! Your reviews are what keeps this story alive and it helps me as an author to know if you guys are enjoying where the plot is going! So keep reviewing and please let me know what you think! I love each and every one of you!
~yours in eternity, xx Amy