Chapter 14 - In which Scorpius sends a text

In addition to being a sex god (despite being a virgin), Scorpius felt he was quickly becoming a texting master. Of course, he couldn't use his phone while within the walls of Hogwarts -magic and electronics tend not to mix well, as Scorpius had discovered after his microwave had blown up in charms class- but he got in quite a bit of texting while outside. Of course, as most witches and wizards didn't have cell phones, the only people he could text were muggles he'd met online and Professor Flitwick, who had recently gotten a cell phone and was quickly beginning to regret it.

Al entered his Slytherin dormitory. "What the hell are you doing?

"Look! No hands!" Scorpius said, texting with his toes.

"That's… weird."

"Thanks for the phone again," Scorpius said. "Now, let's see… 'Hey… Filius… What's… up…?'"

"Will you stop harassing Flitwick?" Al asked, flopping down on his bed.

"…No."

Al sighed. "How's that twitch? Has it calmed down any?"

Twitch. "I've never been better."

"I want to bring back someone else soon," Al said.

"Haven't you played God enough lately?" Scorpius asked, still texting. "I think the old boy's going to get jealous soon…"

"I have a duty to bring people back," Al said. "If I didn't… Well, it would be like a doctor refusing to treat patient even if he was the only one who had the cure."

"I read something in the newspaper yesterday about overpopulation," Scorpius said. "You know… Just keep that in mind." He continued his text. "Dear… Filius…"

"Seriously, Scropius…"

"Oh, by the way, I accidentally broke your caldron. Don't ask how."

"Uh…"

Suddenly, there was a loud boom, followed by a fizzing sound.

"Son of a bitch!" Scorpius yelled, holding his destroyed cell phone in his hands. "The mother fucker exploded."

"I can see that, Scorpius," Al said. "I thought you said you weren't going to use that thing inside. Remember the microwave?"

"Shut up," Scorpius said, tossing the destroyed cell phone onto his side table.

There was a knock at the door. A small Slytherin girl -neither Al nor Scorpius could remember her name at the moment- entered the room. "Headmistress McGonagall says she wants you to go to her office, Potter," she said in a tiny voice.

"Well, 'allo, darling," Scorpius said, forgetting about his phone and turning to the girl. "Why don't you come sit on my bed with me and tell me all about."

The girl gave a shriek and ran out of the room.

"So, I guess the whole pervert thing really was you, not just your deranged uncle," Al said.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, it's a little disappointing," Scorpius said. "But, hey, I've just gotta be me."

James rushed to McGonagall's office as fast as he could. Al was just a short way in front of him. James shoved his brother as he ran past him. "Out of my way, jerk ass!"

"Ow!" Al yelled. "Why are you running? Do you even know why we're being called to her office?"

"Something about Lily," James said, banging loudly on McGonagall's door.

The door swung open. "Mr. Potter, will you kindly refrain from attempting to kick down my door?" McGonagall asked. "I swear, every time…"

"What's going on? Is she okay? Is she here?" James asked. He pushed back McGonagall. Standing in her office were Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley-Potter, and a very much alive and awake Lily Potter.

"Lily!" James called out. He ran over to her and picked her up in his arms. The small redheaded girl let out a little shriek, but she quickly got over the surprise of her brother's hug attack and hugged him back.

"Careful, James," Harry said. "She only woke up this morning. She's still very weak."

"Lily lily lily!" James said, still squeezing his little sister tightly. "Silly, little Lily!"

"Holy crap, James," Lily squeaked. "You can stop hugging me now."

James let her down. "Do you remember what happened?"

"We already asked her that," James," Harry said. "She doesn't remember what happened to put her into a coma."

"What he said," Lily agreed.

Al strolled into the room. "Lily, you're awake."

Lily's face paled. "Hi, Al."

James couldn't help but notice the look that had come upon Lily's face as soon as Al had entered the room. "She does remember what happened," James thought to himself. "Whatever he did, she's covering for him."

Harry, Ginny, and McGonagall didn't seem to notice the high tension running between the three young Potter siblings. "The doctors at St. Mungo's still have no idea what happened that could have put her into a coma," Ginny explained to McGonagall. "But they think it might have been something she ate. So…"

"Yes, Ginny, I'll make sure to have the house elves watch what they put into the food," McGonagall said.

"It also might have happened in potions class, so…"

"Yes, I'll talk to Professor Slughorn about it."

"Or it may have…" Just then, one of McGonagall's many cats ran across the room, distracting Ginny for long enough to forget what she was saying.

"Just be careful," Harry said softly to Lily. He turned to James and Al. "You two watch out for her, alright?"

"I will," James said, glancing at Al. "I'll protect her from him as best I can," he wanted to add, but didn't.

"Sure," Al said. Now that he'd already extracted the older Lily's soul from her, he had no further use for little Lily Potter.

Al and Scorpius entered the Room of Requirements, each of them carrying a tray of food they'd stolen from the Great Hall that morning.. Lily Evans sat on a couch, her arms folded and a stern look on her face. "Either I get my own room or I'm outta here," she said.

Al sighed. He assumed that this had something to do with the undead Scorpius. "What's he been doing?"

"Let's just say I woke up last night being groped by a half-paralyzed zombie," she said.

"Technically, neither of you are zomb…"

"When are you going to fix my hip?" Scorpius 1 yelled from one of the back rooms, cutting off Al's "I'm not creating zombies" speech. "I can barely move. How am I ever going to impress the ladies without my mad dance skills?"

"I seriously hope that's a joke, old man," Lily called at the older Scorpius. She turned back to Al and Scorpius. "Seriously, he's disgusting. I can't live like this anymore. I'm leaving."

Al sighed, since sighing was what Al did best. "Lily, we've been over this before. You can't leave yet."

"Why?" Lily asked. "Why can't you just explain things to Harry and let me see him?"

"The time isn't right," Al said.

Lily furrowed her brow. She was beginning to think that the time would never be right. "You can't keep me locked up forever, kid."

Al ignored her and went into the older Scorpius' room to give the old man his food and test out a couple of bone mending potions he'd been working on.

The younger Scorpius sat down his tray in front of Lily. He shrugged a sort of "Sorry about my crazy friend" shrug and then sat down.

Lily was sick of this. While she was technically about sixty, in all physical and mental aspects she was still twenty-two. She'd never had much of a childhood and her teen years had been filled with war, an early marriage, and a baby. She'd been killed before her life had really started, and being cooped up in a room away from the world was absolutely the last thing she wanted.

Lily leaned forward and looked at Scorpius square in the eyes. "You need to get me out of here."

Scorpius tore his eyes away from Lily's. "Sorry. No can do."

"Scorpius, I can't take this anymore. I'm going insane. No one to talk to, nothing to do, nowhere to go… It's too much."

"Al wants to bring back more people," Scorpius said. It wasn't really a response to Lily, but he felt like now was as good a time as any to tell her.

"Good grief," Lily said. "Who?"

"I don't know yet," he said. "I don't think he has anyone specific in mind. He just likes bringing people back to life."

"Why's that?" Lily asked. "He's doesn't particularly strike me as a people person."

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't ask questions. If Al wants to create a zombie army, I just assume he has a good reason and I go with it."

"You know what I think?" Lily began. "I think he doesn't give a rat's ass about bringing people back from the dead. Do you really think that Al brought back some old pervert who he'd never even met just out of the kindness of his heart? It's a power thing, Scorpius. He wants to bring back a bunch of us and then use it as a reason to convince people that he's somehow superior to the rest of the world. It's just going to get worse and worse, Scorpius, and you need to stop him."

Scorpius shook his head. "You're wrong about him. He brought back 'the old pervert' because he needed to test out the process again and it was just easier to ask me for help than to Imperio some other kid. And as far as bringing back you goes, did it ever occur to you that maybe Al just genuinely cared about you?"

Lily snorted. "Why would he care about me? He'd never even met me."

"I've been thinking about that a lot," Scorpius said, grabbing a sandwich off of Lily's untouched tray. "And the thing is, I think he has met you before."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Do explain, young Scorpius."

"Well… Mmm, tomato," Scorpius said, taking bite after bite from his sandwich. "Damn, those house elves can cook."

"Ahem."

"Oh, right," Scorpius said, wiping some mayo from his mouth. "Well, as I was saying, Al probably has met you before. Think about it: your soul was tucked away in some twelve year old and I had the soul of the old pervert living in me, so who's to say there isn't more to Al than meets the eye? It's all in the name…"

"…Albus?" Lily asked. "You're saying… You're saying that the soul of Albus Dumbledore is tucked away in my grandson? And that that part of Al wanted to bring me back?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Possibly. I wouldn't be surprised. Keep in mind, though, that Al does have more than one name."

"Do I even want to know what his middle name is?" Lily asked.

Scorpius leaned forward a little. "Does the name Severus mean anything to you?"

Lily turned pale. "Severus?"

"That's the name, don't wear it out," Scorpius said.

Lily shrank in her seat. "I… I have to go lie down." She got up and walked away to one of the back rooms hidden away in the Room of Requirements. Scorpius watched as she walked away, a strange look upon his face.

Al walked out of the older Scorpius' room. "Well, assuming my calculations are correct, his hip will be mended in a matter of hours." He noticed the odd look on Scorpius' face. "What's up?"

Scorpius looked up at Al. "I hope you don't mind me saying this… but your grandmother has a great ass."

Al rolled his eyes. "Forget I asked."

James and the younger Lily sat in the common room together that night. "So, you don't remember anything? Anything at all?"

Lily shook her head. "Nothing, James."

James was pissed. His little sister was lying to him and he didn't know why. "Are you positive?"

"Holy fuck, James! Yes, I… am… positive," Lily said.

James crossed his arms. "Lily, why are you covering for him? Why won't you just tell me what he did to you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lily said.

"I'm going to find out what happened," James said. "And when I do, he's dead." He stormed out of the room and went up to his dormitory.

Lily sat by the fire, deep in thought. In truth, she didn't remember much about what had happened. She knew that Al had been there and she knew that even since the incident it had felt like some part of her was missing. But other than that, she had no idea what had happened to her. She stared at the flames, wishing that somehow they would spell out an answer for her. "Oh, for fuck's sake…" Little Lily Potter said as she got up and strolled off to bed.