Chapter 6

Songs I was listening to while writing: By the Way by Hinder, Roots & Branches (Meant To Be Alone) by This Wild Life, A Song for Patsy Cline by The Wonder Years

Scorpius's POV:

"You want to what?" Al spluttered over his second cup of tea, choking slightly. Giselle thumped him on the back and I rolled my eyes, resisting yelling at Al for being such an anti-morning person. The clock on the kitchen counter still pointed to the early minutes of six AM, but I was wide awake. My hands were fidgeting by my sides with nervous energy at the plan I had hatched in my head overnight.

"I want to break into the Auror records office and find out what this Goyle bloke's been up to." I said for the second time. Even as I knowingly said the words, they sounded mad. Who knew what kind of security was placed on the records and what would happen to me if I was found looking through them without permission?

"Scorp," Al muttered, his eyes closed as if he was trying to compose himself. "I'm going to count to three. And when I open my eyes, we're going to start the whole morning over. You'll never have brought this up, and I'll go back to sleep, and we'll try again."

"Dammit, Al." I groaned, pressing a fist against my forehead. I could feel a headache coming on at his theatrics. Giselle smiled sympathetically at me and pressed a kiss to Albus's cheek.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to take you up on that offer and get back to bed." She yawned widely as her pink slippers noiselessly shuffled down the hall and back to Al's room. I pointedly looked at Al in the bluish morning light.

"You're telling me you're not interested in knowing more about him?" I pressed on. Al rolled his eyes now, taking another deep sip of his tea and placing the empty mug in the sink with a dull clatter.

"'Course I want to know more. I just don't want to get kicked out of the program for trying to find out. We can't go fighting dark wizards like him if we're not able to train, Scorp."

"We won't get caught. We'll get Dom's help. Maybe even Teddy could get us in—" Al scoffed.

"You want to drag Teddy into this too? You want to see him lose his job? No, if we're doing this Scorp, it'll be you and me. Dom if she's willing."

A feeling like a weight lifting off my chest came over me. I relaxed, leaning against the counter behind me as Al made his way back to his room to change into his training robes.

"I owe you." I called after him, ignoring his rude gesture that followed around the corner at me. Knowing Al would take his time getting ready, I took a seat at the bar and drummed my fingers against the surface. I knew it was a stupid plan. But I didn't seem to have any other choice. Ever since Goyle had cursed me and landed me in St. Mungo's, I'd wanted to know how that had been able to happen. I remembered Teddy telling us about the character tests we had to go through before being accepted and Goyle didn't exactly seem like the kind of bloke to go handing out Galleons to the poor and rescuing puppies from drowning in rivers. How the hell had his sadistic arse gotten into the training program?

Twenty minutes and another mug of tea later, Al was ready to leave. We Disapparated to the dark streets and hurried to the Ministry. Even though nobody knew about our plan but us, a chill kept at my spine as if every passerby was onto what we would be doing in a few hours. I kept my eyes low as we entered the Leaky Cauldron and passed by other wizards getting their coffees before the morning really started.

After a handful of floo powder each thrown into the fireplace, we stumbled out into the Atrium which was bustling with the early morning buzz of witches and wizards arriving for work. Al didn't say anything as he made his way to the lifts and I followed him, an anxious knot forming in my chest. The plan felt stupid when I had first explained it but now, in the reality of the Ministry it seemed even stupider. How the hell were we going to go through with this without getting caught?

Al was still silent in the lift and I resisted questioning him. Maybe he was angry with me, I couldn't be sure. I was asking a lot of him this morning. But he glanced at me as we exited the golden doors and headed for the Auror offices with a half-hearted smile which was better than nothing.

"We have to find Dom. We're not going to be able to do this without her. And we have to do it now because training starts in twenty minutes." He spoke in a low whisper. I tried my best to keep my expression controlled, not wanting to give away that we were up to something. Truthfully, Al and I probably could have boasted our plan loudly while firing off sparks and dancing around the room and the Aurors busily working the office wouldn't have noticed. There was too much commotion. I was glad for it, if it would give us any chance of enough time to find a file amongst the thousands in the Records Room.

"There you two are, I've been looking for you!" Dom exclaimed upon seeing us. She had been leaning against Teddy's desk but Teddy was nowhere to be found.

"We've been looking for you too." Al said, tapping his wand rapidly against his leg. "Where's Teddy?"

"With Rowley. He told me he had to get our assignments for today. He won't be long though, why?"

Al sighed heavily. "Okay, listen quickly and don't react the way you normally would." He rambled off the plan shortly and though Dom's bright blue eyes widened considerably, she didn't squeal or hit him— both very uncharacteristic actions of her.

"Two questions." She said once Al had finished. I was tapping my foot against the floor, bursting with nervous energy. Glancing at my wristwatch, I almost ditched both of them and ran off to the records myself. We really only had fifteen minutes to get this done. And who knows what kind of distractions we would need to put in place to get any Aurors working in that room out or to keep them from coming in?

"One, are both of you inhaling cauldron fumes? Because you sound mad!" She shrieked as quietly as she could, which for Dominique still presented itself as a yell.

Al was about to argue but Dominique held up a finger. "I said two questions. The second one is, what do you need me to do?"

"Right now, we all need to hurry." I said shortly, beckoning for them to follow me as I turned the other way and made a sharp right into the narrow hallway that led to the Records Office.

"Right, Dom you're going to keep watch outside. Distract anyone who walks by. Whatever you do, don't let them in." Al instructed in a whisper. Dominique nodded quickly, gripping her wand tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. I could tell she was nervous and I felt like shit. What if we got caught? All three of us would be in trouble even though it was only my idea. We stopped outside the door to the room, which I prayed wasn't locked. If I had to guess, Alohamora wasn't going to work on the lock keeping the records of highly dangerous criminals from being exposed to the public.

"I just want to thank both of you for doing this. I owe you—" I started to say, but Al cut me off.

"You can kiss my ass later Scorp, right now we don't have time."

The door swung open sharply and all three of us jumped. A pimply young Auror was glaring at us.

"Would you mind keeping it down, there's important work going on in here!" He hissed. Annoyed, I was about to say something— probably stupid— but Dominique swooped in looking like Molly Weasley with her hands on her hips and pink patches on her cheeks.

"Rowley has been looking all over for you!" She snapped. Al and I exchanged confused looks, but quickly played along by nodding and— on Al's part— flexing to look more menacing. "He's trying to round up all first-year Aurors and you're the only one not present. He sent us to find you!"

The Auror narrowed his eyes suspiciously but I could see a tremor of fear in his face.

"Why would he—"

"Do you really want to wait around here even longer when the Head Trainer is expecting you? Go!" The Auror, whether he truly believed her or not, looked terrified and ran down the corridor, his robes whipping behind him as he turned the corner. He had left the door ajar in his haste and Dominique grabbed the handle, holding it open for us.

I peered inside, making sure no one else was there to keep us out. Giving Al the all clear sign, we slipped inside. Dominique closed the door behind us and we were alone.

Al gave a low whistle and I nodded my awed agreement. We had seen this room briefly before, but the sheer size of the amount of files surrounding us still took me by surprise. From floor to ceiling were shelves with purple files packed in so tightly together I wasn't sure we'd be able to extract Goyle's once we'd found it— if we could find it at all.

"Better start looking." Al said, striding forward and scanning the shelves to see what order they were listed in. "These are the M's. So he's probably on that wall over there." Pointing to his right, I followed his finger toward the far wall and began perusing the names on the files sticking out to my eye level.

"Blimey, these names are familiar." Al spoke up. "Merlin knows how many times my dad has told me stories…Hang on…" Al trailed off but I was barely listening to him. I had found the G's and was scanning them as quickly as I could read. I wished Rose was with us as she could probably finish an entire book before I had even begun the table of contents, but that would put another friend in possible trouble because of me and I already felt guilty enough.

"Gleyner…Gornuck…Greyback…" I mumbled to myself, reading the files. Goyle should have been somewhere in there. Where was he? Frustrated, I went to start at the beginning of the G's.

"Scorp, wait." Al said. I turned on the spot, worried we'd been caught. But he was standing where he'd been only a few minutes ago. I couldn't figure out why he looked so concerned and I crossed to his side.

He was still at the M's and my stomach dropped unpleasantly when I realized what he'd found. "Malfoy, Lucius" and "Malfoy, Draco" were side by side on the shelf, looking battered and old but still here.

I had learned from a young age that my father's role in the Second Wizarding War wasn't a good one, but he had always impressed upon me that his regrets for his actions were deep and he would never be able to change who he was at sixteen. He had worked his entire adult life under scrutiny from other wizards who doubted him but he still managed to build a name for himself. He married my mother, innocent from the actions in the war, and he told me to never be ashamed of my name.

Still, this was my father's dark past summed up into a neat folder right before me. How far into the dark side had he ventured before he realized how wrong he'd been? Had he ever killed anyone? I felt sick as these questions that I had always pushed aside finally came to the front of my mind. Reaching up a hand, I took the folder from the shelf before I knew what I was doing.

"Scorp, you don't want to do that." Al protested. I tucked the folder into my robes and ignored him. "Scorp!"

The door swung open. Dominique looked nervous, biting her lip.

"Training starts in a few minutes. We have to go— what's happened?" I didn't know what I looked like but my disgust at finding my father's file must have been clear on my face.

"Nothing, let's go." I mumbled. I shoulder my way out the door past Dominique and fast-walked down the hall.

"Well did you find anything?" Dominique questioned behind me.

"Not what we were looking for, but yes." Al muttered. I turned to face him, silently asking him not to say anything. He glared, but nodded. Dominique looked utterly confused.

"What do you mean? Goyle wasn't in there?"

"I couldn't find him. I thought there would be something but… you can't get into the Auror Academy with a criminal record. It was a stupid plan." I answered her. I felt exhausted. Most of the night had been spent dwelling on Goyle, the plan, what I might find. I hadn't gotten proper sleep in what felt like a long time. Now, I knew the prospect of rest was out of question with the weight of my father's folder in my robes and the weight of the question weighing heavily on my mind— would I read it?

Auror training was a silent affair for the rest of the day. Al wasn't talking to me because he was disappointed. I could tell. He had warned me against taking my father's folder but what did he know? He didn't understand what it was like, having the pressures that the Malfoy name put on someone. His dad was a hero. Dom wasn't talking because she was angry that Albus and I weren't talking. However, Dom seemed the closest to breaking the silence. Even I could affirm that Dominique Weasley couldn't go five minutes without voicing (rather loudly and/or shrilly) her opinion.

"What's the matter with you lot?" Teddy said, glancing at each of us in turn. He had been going over a few important points we would need to remember for our first exams which were taking place this afternoon. "I grew up in the Potter-Weasley family and I know tension when I see it."

I chanced a look over in Albus's direction. He was tracing his finger along the table top in front of him. Dominique sat between us twiddling her fingers and pursing her lips, no doubt to show her disapproval at our behavior. I was reminded of an initially disastrous Hogsmeade weekend that had actually begun my friendship with Albus, all Rose's idea.

Teddy shook his head as if in defeat and then pulled a chair out, taking a seat.

"I shouldn't be talking about this to you, you're all just trainees but… seeing as Scorpius was heavily involved…" Al sat up slowly, looking over at me with brows furrowed in confusion. I shrugged. I had no idea what Teddy was about to tell us.

"The trainee that attacked you, Scorpius—"

"Goyle." I said, unable to stop myself.

"Yes. Him." Teddy added, smirking slightly. I was relieved he hadn't been annoyed by my interruption. Maybe he understood, as we were related, my inability to sit back and wonder about what was going to happen. After all, I had been a Slytherin and we were an ambitious folk.

Teddy sighed deeply. "Well, there's no easy way to put this. Goyle's whereabouts have been… lost."

It took a few seconds for this to sink in. Dominique audibly gasped next to me but somehow it was hard to process what I'd just heard. Goyle was missing. How? How had an entire department of highly trained Aurors been unable to keep watch of and then overtake him when he made his escape?

"Teddy you're not serious." Albus said, his voice shaking slightly.

"He's dangerous!" Dominique half-shouted. "He could be anywhere! He could come looking for Scorpius again— oh, I'm sorry Scorpius." She stopped herself, wringing her hands nervously in her lap.

"No, you're right." I said dully. My voice seemed flat. I wasn't scared but I knew Dominique wasn't wrong. Goyle had almost killed me once, I was pretty sure he wasn't going to let that go. He was probably plotting the best way to get me alone right as we spoke.

"Wait, Teddy. I thought they were going to take Goyle to Azkaban. I mean for fuck's sake he tried to torture Scorpius with an Unforgivable!" Al pressed.

Ignoring Al's language, Teddy rubbed a spot between his eyes with his thumb. He seemed even more tired than I was. I had a lot of sympathy for him and another wave of guilt washed over me about this morning. If any of us had been caught, Teddy definitely would have gotten shit for it.

"The thing is, Goyle is still a minor." Teddy explained slowly. Dom, Al and I exchanged looks that mirrored each other's disbelief.

"He's not seventeen?" Al asked.

"Sixteen." Teddy answered. "He didn't come from Hogwarts. He was schooled privately. He was an unusually young recruit but…"

"He was smart." I finished for him. Dominique made a disgusted face. "I mean let's face it, he had to get in here somehow. And whatever spell he used… I've never read it in a text book before."

The atmosphere in the room had gone from tense to dark in only a matter of minutes. I wondered what the other training groups were doing right now. They probably had no idea Goyle was out there. But then again, they probably wouldn't have to worry about it even if they did. Goyle had come after me specifically. He said he knew my family… my father's file in my robes seemed like a bludger in my pocket.

There wasn't much of an attitude for studying after Teddy's news and we sat together in whispers wondering where Goyle could be and how the Aurors were tracking him until it was time for our first exams in Stealth and Tracking. We followed Teddy out into the main office in front of the double doors that led to the Training Hall we had dueled in. Rowley was standing before them, hands behind his back and looking just as serious as ever.

"Welcome, trainees, to your first exams. This is a test to see how well you have mastered the art of Stealth and Tracking in your first weeks as possible Aurors. You will go in alone. Oh and feel free to tell your peers how it went all you'd like— the exam is slightly different for each and every one of you."

At this, the rest of the trainees began whispering to each other. None of us really knew what to be prepared for. We had worked with more charms and techniques than I could count in the last few weeks. Now was the time to see what we could really do with them.

We filed into an unorganized line while Rowley called the first trainee in. There was a slight scuffle to see what was in the Hall, but the gap before the doors closed only showed darkness that appeared to swallowed the trainee whole. Whispers broke out immediately and I heard Dominique muttering spells under her breath.

"Scorp, listen." Al said in a low voice. I crossed my arms, looking at him pointedly.

"I wish you hadn't taken your father's file." He started. I opened my mouth to retort but he gave me a look that said to shut it if I knew what was good for me. "But I'm going to support whatever choice you make about it. And with Goyle on the loose…"

He leaned in closer. "You're my best mate Scorp. Don't be reckless. Don't go looking for him. You have a lot of people that want you alive."

He clapped me on the shoulder and I nodded, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The silence broken, we quizzed each other on what we knew about Stealth and Tracking while names were called and the line of trainees diminished slowly. None of the trainees that went in came out the same way, and I tried to ignore this as best as I could. Truthfully, my mind was as far away from the Auror office as possible. Even though I knew this exam was supposed to be my main concern at the moment, I couldn't tear my mind away from the file in my robes and the connection between my family and the person that wanted me dead.

"It could have been worse." Al announced as we finally exited the Auror office at 5 pm. The exams had taken much longer than was expected. I was one of the last to go in and while my tracking spells had almost taken me down a few wrong turns, I was shocked to hear I had passed with flying colors.

"Are you mad?" Dominique groaned, her normally sleek blonde hair frizzing out around her slightly. "That was the most stressful experience I've ever been through. It's a miracle I passed."

"Cheer up darling Dominique, one of these days you'll learn how to walk not bounce— I'm only joking! Merlin, if I can't lighten up the tension these days…" Al grumbled as he put up his hands as a shield against Dominique's tiny fists, which while flying toward him I'm sure looked very menacing.

I smirked, running my fingers through my hair and slowly allowing myself to relax after the events of the day. The exams had really been the least of my worries and now I was fully able to think about the dangers that faced me. If Goyle was out in the streets, at will to torture passerby as he pleased, I would have to start being more vigilante.

"Dinner at the Burrow tonight, Scorp?" Al asked, snapping me back to reality. We were outside the lift.

"What, you're not cooking?" I joked. Al grimaced.

"My chicken tasted absolutely fine."

"That's because you cut yourself the only part that wasn't burnt black."

"Dominique, are you hearing these lies against me? The nerve of—"

Al's dramatic speech and Dominique's giggles were cut off and confused, I whipped around to see who they were staring at.

My father stood stiffly, looking down at me and clutching his briefcase tightly against his side.

"Scorpius," He said. "A word? If it doesn't trouble you too much."

I was about to say something really well thought out and scholarly like "Fuck off", when Al nudged me.

"Dom let's go find Teddy. We'll invite him to dinner." The two of them made their escape with apologetic glances over their shoulders.

"What do you want?" I asked, turning back to my father. Sticking my hands into my pockets, I could feel his file against my fingertips. I wondered if he could sense his past only inches away from him.

"There's a lot of talk throughout the Ministry. You probably know by now it's very hard to keep secrets." He started. "I know that the trainee who attacked you is out of custody."

"He escaped. It's not like they let him loose." I scoffed impatiently.

"I understand that Scorpius and if you think I don't fear for your safety in the situation, you're very wrong."

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet. Not breaking the eye contact between us, I allowed an awkward silence to form. My father was the one to break it.

"I have information and I know you're looking for it. I know more about this than you think, Scorpius. If you would just let me—"

"Let you do what? You haven't let me do anything for seventeen years."

"Scorpius, I'm trying to help you."

"I didn't ask for your help. I don't want it. If you'll excuse me I have to be going. I have a dinner with my family."

I didn't wait for him to say anything as I brushed past him, walking aimlessly in the wrong direction but looking for any reason to get away from him. My heart was pounding and I could feel myself getting redder. I didn't even know where I was really going until I turned another corner and found a side set of lifts.

I ducked inside, pushing the button for the atrium harder than what was necessary and letting out a long breath. The doors were just closing when a hand shot out between them, stopping their progress.

Rose slipped inside, the doors closing behind her. She was so busy reading a scroll only inches from her face that she hadn't noticed I was next to her. I cleared my throat, already feeling my temper begin to fade as she jumped and looked up.

"Scorpius!" She tucked the scroll into a pocket of her robes and smiled at me. "I thought you would've already left."

"I was going to. I ran into my father." She looked surprised and not for the first time, I could physically feel my angers slipping away. Her presence was the only thing that was truly able to calm me down.

"And you haven't spoken to him in months?"

"Well, not voluntarily."

"Are you alright?"

Her question caught me slightly off guard. No one had really asked me that regarding my situation with my father in a long time. I could feel my walls going up no matter how much I wanted to break them down. But Rose didn't deserve to hear about my problems— I had already caused her enough trouble.

"I'm fine."

She gave me a look that said she didn't believe me.

"Scorpius, you know I can tell when you're lying."

"Rose, drop it."

I hadn't meant to snap at her but hurt flickered across her face and I mentally kicked myself. Insulting Rose was the last thing I wanted to do but she didn't understand… she couldn't.

We rode the rest of the way down in an awkward silence that was thick enough to touch. The doors didn't open until we reached the atrium and we filed out. I didn't know why she didn't just walk ahead of me but she quickened her pace to keep up with me.

"So I think dinner is happening at the Burrow." I said, more to break the tension than anything. Of course Rose would know about dinner at her family home.

"Yeah." She mumbled. "Um, are you and Albus stopping by?"

"Should be."

"That's good. Dom and I are going. And I invited Luke—" She cut herself off, brushing a red curl behind her ear.

I stopped walking. Rose only took a few steps before she realized anything had happened and she looked at me with concern.

"Since when does Luke get invited to Potter-Weasley affairs?" I asked.

"He doesn't really have any family in London. I just thought it would be a nice change of pace for him to eat some proper food."

Again, my heart was pounding too fast than what was probably healthy. Of course Rose invited Luke to dinner. It wasn't Rose's fault that she was the nicest, most forgiving and most understanding person in all of Great Britain. It was only my fault that I also happened to be the most jealous and arrogant arse imaginable.

"So what, your office doesn't care if bosses date interns?" My tone was more laced with mocking than I had meant it to and I could see Rose was offended.

"We're not dating."

"But you're more than friends."

It took a few seconds longer than I would have liked for Rose to answer me.

"I'm not sure."

My heart was deflating in my chest. I had told Albus a long time ago not to let Rose think our breakup was her fault. Still, he argued she was allowed to see other blokes if she wanted. And all this time, I had known the idiots Rose went on dates with would never be compatible with her. I didn't know why I had been stupid enough to think Rose would wait for me to get my shit together.

"I think I might eat at home tonight. Tell Molly I said hello." I forced myself to keep my voice even and without waiting for Rose to say something— and trying to squash the ridiculous hope that she would beg for me to stay— I left, more alone than I had been a while.

A/N: So… hello! I realize it's been a long time. As much as I love it, I had to set aside Unbreakable for a while due to being busy with getting ready for colleges and other personal issues that made it hard for me to find time or motivation to write. But I'm back and more ready than ever to dive back into the world of Harry Potter and the characters that I love so much! If you want to throw produce at me, feel free. But please know I'm not even close to being done with Unbreakable and I hope you'll stick with me for the ride. :)

~yours in eternity, Amy xx