Chapter 6: Things That Go Bump in the Night

Scorpius

Happy. It was something he hadn't felt in a long time. But now he was happy that things were finally going his way. He had made two great new friends who, although one kind of ignored him, stuck with him, even though they were supposed to. He had also stayed with his promise and set off one morning to Professor Longbottom's office. Brandishing the wretched note, he had knocked on the office door.

"Welcome Scorpius. Won't you come in?" The professor had ushered a distraught Scorpius into the room. "Here's the letter my-" Scorpius had paused, and wondered how he could ever call Draco father again. To save the pain, he had pushed the letter across the desk for the Professor to read.

Several agonizing minutes passed while Professor Longbottom read the note, and had puased every once and a while to frown. When he was done reading, the Professor had looked as though there were many rude things he wanted to say.

Instead he had asked, "What are you going to do now that, erm, Mr. Malfoy has thrown you out?"

This had caused Scorpius some grief, as he hadn't though much about that part of the situation.

Finally the Professor had patted him on the shoulder and sent him out a with some sympathetic well-wishes.

Although that had been painful, Scorpius still held on to his reasons for happiness. Well, not now. Now was a time for terror and uncertainty. It wasn't a time for cheerfulness, even if he could have smiled. Why? Because he and his friends were trooping straight into the Forbidden Forest, a place of danger, dark creatures and doom.

Unsure of where they were, or what exaclty they were doing, the trio was meandering through the pitch black silence. There were few paths and nothing resembled what they were looking for.

Scorpius, one hand on Albus' shoulder to guide him, tried to puzzle it out. Exactly what were they looking for?

Albus had supposedly seen something flying around the other day, and Rose had had some crazy nightmare. He, Scorpius, hadn't seen anything, so what was he doing trooping around the forest, risking life and limb? Because his friends had persuaded him to come. They wanted to solve some obscure mystery, and he had been dragged into it. And where was he now? That's right. Lost.

"Augh!" Rose boys jumped straight up in the air. "What? What is it?" Albus shouted, panic-stricken. "This is the place in my dream!" screeched Rose.

The sighs of relief the boys let out might have misdirected a tornado. Rose''s scream could have meant, well, Scorpius decided he didn't want to think about it.

Rose was talking now. "A big, bright snake thing appeared over there." She pointed straight ahead, and took a step cautious forward, slipping out from under the fluidlike Invisitbility Cloak.

"Crack!" The three looked around, and realazed that none of them had made a sound.

"Crack!" The noise came again, and without a second thought they ran, but not before they saw the ghostly white figure appear before them.

Branches tore at their arms as they raced through the woods, determined to get as far away as possible from the clearing. The Invisibilty Cloak fell off the boys as they ran, but they didn't even consider stopping to retrieve it.

The ran as fast as they ever had in their life not thinking of taking a break, though they desperatley needed it. If an Olympic runner had been with them , the kids would have won any race. That was how terrified they were of the figure in the woods.

Somehow they managed to get out of the forest, appearing behind the greenhouses. The minute they were on familiar ground, all three collapsed on the grass and gasped for breath. Clutching his side, Scorpius arose and wondered how soon it would be before he got caught in another mess.

The other two were rising as well, and before Scorpius had opened his mouth, Albus panted, "We left the cloak in the forest! Dad is going to kill me!"

Rose, who was annoyed with her cousin once again, said something that sounded like "dumbbells". Then she twirled her wand around and pointed it towards the trees.

A minute later, the cloak came zooming out of the forest and landed at Rose's feet.

Scorpius' jaw dropped as the silvery cloak landed softly on the ground. He hadn't thought that such magic could be performed by a first year.

Rose looked completely non-pulssed by her display and ducked under the cloak. "We had better get going," she said. Albus rolled his eyes. "We can't see you Rosie."

A hand materialized out of the air and waved them over. Invisible yet again, they trooped up to the castle, not just to sleep , but to puzzle over the events of the midnight hour they spent in the woods.

*

Scorpius was wandering the halls feeling a new emotion. Grief. Sure, he had been sad before, but not like this. This was the burning hole in his stomach when he turned around. This was the pain he felt in his mind when he thought of the situation he was in. This sadness needed a different word, and that word was grief.

That morning, he, and the other two had slept until lunch, exhausteed after their escapade. They had hardly known the morning, only the sleep they had during it. The morning had been fine.

No, it was the note that had caused the grief. He had almost forgotten his father's words. The words in which he said he disowned him. The memory of the first note had been painfully brought back with this one.

I have sent all of your belongings to the castle. You are no longer welcome in my home.

That was what had caused the grief. Those few simple words, and yet they were nothing near simple.

Alll the possesions he had in the world were now crowding the dormitory. He was heading off to see Professor Longbottom, the only person he truly trusted now.

"I won't!" The peircing scream lifted Scorpius off hiw feet. He soon located the source of the shriek by finding the doorway where the pictures were shaking the most.

Scorpius was about to check if the occupant was all right, when more voices were heard. Quieter and more ominous than the first, this voice seemed to be scolding the other.

"Quiet! Do you want the whole castle on our trail? You just smarten up and hear me out."

The frist gave an annoyed huff, so the second person continued.

"It's not so much, just a small distraction. Then I'm free to coninue with the plan."

"How is the process going? You said you hit a snag."

"The snag hasn't been sorted yet, but the other problem has been done away with."

"Do you still want me to continue-" "With what you are doing, yes. We don't need them knowing anything."

There was a long pause, then the former spoke again. "You'll want to be careful. You were almost caught yesterday."

Scorpius backed quickly away from the dooorway, shocked at the conversation he ought not have heard. He heard some loud, pacing footsteps near the door, and he quickly walked away. He did have something important to do, after all.

*

"Your father stuck with what he said then?" The Professor inquired. Scorpius nodded miserably.

Professor Longbottom rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We could always put the stuff in the Room of Requirement..."

"Which room?" Scorpius asked eagerly. Professor Longbottom suddenly looked embaressed, like he hadn't meant for Scorpius to hear his thoughts.

"Just give me you things, and I'll take care of them for you."

Scorpius walked back to the common room, happy again. Suddenly an earsplitting scream rocked the castle.

Scorpius recognized the scream, but it wasn't that shriek that he had heard that morning. It was the shriek that he had heard last night.

It was Rose.