Summer With The Next Generation
Chapter 4
Of Picnics and Caves
Scorpius followed the Potters and the Weasley's up a large hill where they had decided to have a picnic. Well it started off as a normal picnic, with the food and gathering. Just as they plates where passed out a POP sound came from next to Harry and another POP followed right next to the other. Teddy sat there with a giant grin, apparently random apperationg right next to people was VERY common. Harry didn't even blink, in fact he held a sandwich out to Teddy. Teddy's hair was a vibrant shade of acid green, next to him Victoire had apperated.
"Hi Teddy, Hi Victoire." said Lily from where her and Hugo where fighting over who got which sandwich first.
"I figured you would all be up here." said Teddy, sitting in what most be hi place because he pushed James out of the spot.
"Shop empty and no note. Nice of you to think of us." said Victoire with a smirk as she pulled some more food out of what was a never ending basket.
"I didn't know you two where headed over today." said Harry.
"Oi, Harry. When are you going to pass the box of treakle tart?" asked Ron from where he sat across the blanket.
"Never." said Harry calmly as he went to talk to Teddy again.
"So it's a fight then?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, yeah I guess it is." said Harry.
Scorpius was found this very strange, but as everyone else laughed, he figured out it was a constant thing. It wasn't a wand fight or a play fight, more a less, a game of chase. Harry had left the box of tarts where he had been sitting. Ginny casually picked it up and emptied it into the picnic basket and put a salad in there. The adults laughed and Ginny had an evil smirk on her face. Scorpius liked having so many people around, it was getting kind of nice. He was just about to Albus this when Albus was no where to be found. Something bouncy hit him in the arm and he looked up to see Albus and Rose in the distance making hand gestures to follow them.
"You didn't hear a word we said, did you?" asked Albus as Scorpius caught up with them.
"No, I was far to amused by your family." said Scorpius.
"They are a riot sometimes." said Rose, who was smirking.
"So what's up?" asked Scorpius.
"Well, like we said. Though you did not hear. We want to show you our cave." said Albus.
"Why?" asked Scorpius, who would rather see if Harry or Ron won the tart, than look at a cave.
"Because it's our secret place." said Rose.
"It's really cool, its farther off into the woods, but its worth it. We found it when we came here for a family reunion when we where six and..." Albus was cut off.
"Al, he gets it. He doesn't need a historical briefing of the cave." said Rose.
"That wasn't historical. Historical is that the cave was most likely formed by limestone and acidic water carved it out millions of years ago." said Albus happily.
"... Sometimes Al, I get confused by your intelligence. You know facts, but you don't know when its time for you to stop stating them." said Rose.
"Sounds like you when it comes to charms." said Scorpius to Rose.
"Shut up Scorpius." said Rose, with an angry face that turned into a smile as she walked into the woods.
"So Al, what where you saying about acidic water?" asked Scorpius as they walked behind Rose.
The trio trudged along into deep brush. There was a brook running along them, fish swam lazily in the water. Albus and Scorpius talked about the muggle sciences Albus had learned in grade school. Rose commented a few times, but for the most part she was determined to get to the cave. When they finally reached it, it didn't seem much to Scorpius. The trees around it and the large amounts of flowers, seemed to be the only thing giving the cave beauty.
"It looks nice." said Scorpius, with an awkward smile.
"Not it doesn't." said Rose, "No need to force yourself to tell us otherwise."
"It's boring until we get inside." said Albus, who had gone ahead of Scorpius and Rose.
Albus entered the small opening carefully. Rose muttered something about snakes being in there sometimes and Scorpius felt the little enthusiasm for the cave he had, fade fast. He suddenly wanted to go back, but he wasn't sure how. He sighed, he really needed to stop being a follower. He climbed in through the hole after Rose. It was only the entrance that was small. Once in, Scorpius could see why the two came here. The inside was huge, and it glittered in the small light from the entrance. A click sound came from over by Rose and she held a red plastic thing that gave off light.
"What's that?" asked Scorpius.
"Torch." said Albus with a smile, "Muggle light."
"Oh, okay." said Scorpius, who was now more fascinated by that than the whole of the cave.
"Do you, uh, want to hold it?" asked Rose with a smirk.
"No, I'm fine." said Scorpius and he followed close behind Albus, who now had a green one.
"Isn't it cool?" asked Albus, pointing to the small water patches in the water.
"Yeah." said Scorpius, in all honesty it was.
"But we can't make to much noise once we get passed that small side opening. Or we'll wake the bats." said Rose in a whisper.
"Oh... bats. How pleasant." said Scorpius, he looked at the exit again.
"It'll be fine. They don't bite. Their fruit bats, not vampire." said Rose.
"Vampires! What?" asked Scorpius.
"No, not our kind of vampires. Just bats that drink blood. Mostly off livestock." said Albus with a laugh.
"You know, its not finny. It's hard going from wizard terms to muggle one you know." said Scorpius his brows furrowed.
"I know, but your doing fine." said Albus.
"Al, how did we switch positions?" asked Rose, realizing she was in the back of the group.
"You where talking to Scorp and I moved on ahead." said Albus.
"Oh yeah. Well remember to keep an eye out for things." said Rose, as she gingerly stepped by a weird shaped rock.
"Shh, the bats are coming." said Scorpius, remembering the statement from earlier.
"I have half a mind to yell right now." muttered Rose darkly, but their was an air of sarcasim behind it.
The narrow entrance they where entering forced them all to turn sideways. Albus grabbed onto Scorpius shoulder, making sure he ducked before they reached the exit of the passage. It was a good thing too, because even though Albus yanked his shoulder down, he still managed to graze the large sickle hanging there. Scorpius grabbed Rose's wrist, pulling her down away from the sickle. He waited for her to make a statement like, "I knew it was there," but she didn't.
"T-Thanks. I forgot about that." said Rose.
"Shh." said Albus.
The bats where rather large for fruit bats and they hung above sleeping. The flashlight made it seem like there where three times as many because of the shadows. Then thinking, Scorpius decided maybe the shadows made them appear larger. They went into a small opening they had to crouch through and then a large bridge like structure with water on either side. The torches light allowed them to see the bottom. Large spiked of stone pierced the water surface and Scorpius swore he saw something large swimming in the depths, but it shot out of sight.
"Did you see that?" asked Scorpius.
"We call it Molly. We don't know what it is." said Albus, who pulled a sandwich out of his bag and dropped it.
The sandwich sank to the bottom and a strange arm like thing shot out and grabbed it from under the bridge. Something flew out of the water, a sparkling crystal rock. Albus grabbed it and put it back into his bag. Rose answered before Scorpius could voice his question.
"She or it likes food. It gives us those for a sandwich or a chicken leg. Stuff like that. Albus has a whole desk full of them. I only like the blue ones." said Rose.
"I'll show you when we get home." said Albus happily.
"Do you not find Molly creepy." said Scorpius.
"Oh the first and second time. Yes. You see when we first came she just sprang out of the water with these huge teeth and she looked like she was going to tear us limb by limb... Scorp are you okay. You look pale." said Albus.
"Let's not talk about Molly." said Scorpius.
"Come on, she wont hurt you." said Rose, taking Scorpius hand and pulling him up some jagged natural steps.
"So this is a casual thing for you. Feeding possibly dangerous creatures?" asked Scorpius.
"Yeah. You should see what we do for fun." said Albus with a smile.
"Suddenly, I feel kind of homesick." said Scorpius in an under tone.
"We havn't reached our favorite room yet." said Rose as they went through a small stone labyrinth.
Scorpius got lost just following Rose, but she and Albus seemed to have it understood to an art form. They reached a broad room with natural water caused designs and patterns and in the center of the room, large spikes of Amythist stuck out. It was surrounded by crystals and it seemed to glow without the help of the torches. Scorpius now understood why they came here, this room alone was amazing, and as he looked on the wall, bright shades of green shone. There where flattened crystal in different areas of the room, Albus layered on one of the large ones. Scoupius sat on the end near his feet, Rose had taken a spot where it looked like a stool sprouting from the ground and made of crystal and glass.
"It's amazing." said Scorpius.
"We know." said Albus and Rose at the same time.
"We try to come here as much as possible. But since where in school now, we don't get much chances. We're coming here this christmas and easter break though." said Albus.
"We should get back though." said Rose, "Our parents tend to worry if we're out here over 30 minutes."
"I personally think they have reason." said Scorpius with a quick thought back to their previous year.
"They always say we attract trouble faster than they did, whatever that means." said Albus as they walked back through the opening.
"Be careful, the steps can hurt if you fall." said Rose.
"I know that way to well." said Albus, "Are you sure you want to be in the back Scorp?"
"If Rose will give me the torch, I'll be fine." said Scorpius, with a shrug.
"Here you go." said Rose, handing over the torch.
"Thanks. Ohm quick question. Do we have to feed Molly again?" asked Scorpius fearing that creature, what ever it may be.
"Normally yes. We don't mind her, but we don't want to test her." said Rose, with a serious look.
"Do you want to feed her?" asked Albus.
"I'd rather not lean over open water and feed creepy Molly." said Scorpius.
Reentering the Molly area, Scorpius decided it was safer to grab onto the back of Albus shirt, just as a precaution that he wouldn't fall in. Rose and Albus seemed determined to believe that if they fell in, Molly wouldn't eat them. Scorpius seriously doubted this idea, he didn't know Molly, and he really didn't want too. When they finally got out of the cave, Scorpius suddenly realized the air difference from the cave. It was much easier to breath out here. At the picnic site, they noticed some people had gone. George, Angelina, Fred, and Roxy where gone. James was playing frisbee with Teddy, Ron, Harry, Hugo, and Lily.
"Hey kids." said Hermione from where she sat talking to Ginny.
"Did you show Scorpius that place your always running off too?" asked Ginny as she looked at her watch.
"Yeah." said Albus as he sat on the blanket by his mother.
"Hello Scorpius. I honestly don't think we where properly introduced. I'm Victoire." she said extending her hand.
"Nice to meet you." said Scorpius shaking her hand.
"How long are you staying?" asked Victoire.
"Till Albus Birthday. So August 10th." said Scorpius cheerfully.
"You'll get to meet my sister and little brother then. My sister wanted to try school in France, but she said it was too conformist. She's transferring to Hogwarts next year." said Victoire, she was rather chatty.
"So what is the plan for tonight?" asked Teddy plopping on the blanket on the other side of where Scorpius sat by Rose.
"Game Night." said Ron, with a smile.
"Oh yeah. I forgot all about it." said Harry, in deep thought.
"You always forget. Honestly I think Voldemort managed to cause some brain damage." said Ginny with a smirk.
"No, he was always like that. Even before Moldy Voldie." said Ron, jokingly pushing Harry over.
"You know what. Don't talk to me." said Harry in a playful jest.
Scorpius was in shock. He'd never heard Voldemort's name used so openly. His parents had said the name only once and then it became "The Dark Lord" or "You-Know-Who." He'd never imagined, especially these people using it in daily conversation. He had no problem with the name, it had never had an effect on him before in his life, but his parents panicked every time he said it.
"Would you mind if I used the word Voldemort?" the words left his mouth quicker than he could control.
"Mind? Mind? Harry do we mind?" asked Hermione with a small chuckle.
"We encourage the use of it, actually." said Harry, "It took six years of my life do get Ron here to say it. Feel free to use it."
"I on the other hand, dislike the name." said Victoire.
"Your odd... and I like it." said Teddy, putting his arm around her.
"Yeah, don't get to comfortable. I have to leave. I told my parents I'd have a family dinner tonight." said Victoire as she stood up.
"Give them our love." said Harry as he picked up some plates off the ground.
"I will. Bye Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Aunt Ginny, bye guys." said Victoire giving them a each a hug and waving to the rest.
Teddy got up and grabbed Victoire's hand and walked with her down the hill. Scorpius was sure that everyone knew what they entered to do once out of visual and this was voiced by James who gave a loud, "Its gross, she's our cousin." This landed in a discussion on how Teddy was like his brother and how it was weird that his 'brother' was dating his cousin. James took it way too seriously as they cleaned up. Scorpius could kind of see his point, but at the same time didn't hide back the laugh when the others gave a couple of snickers.
"You don't say much Scorpius." said Harry as he picked up the blanket.
"Uh, yeah. Not really much of a talker." said Scorpius, he felt slightly sad by this statement, but Harry just smiled.
"Ever played the UnGame Scorpius?" asked Rose, "You know what. I know you havn't."
TO BE CONTINUED
for those who havn't gotten it, Torch is a flashlight loves. Also the Ungame... my favorite Game Night game beside Apples to Apples (me and my friends have a weekly game night to unwinde from the weeks abuses).