Chapter 4

Thanks to LittleWuve for the awesome tittle =)

oOo

"That went all right, didn't it?" Al muttered, crossing his legs under him. The three of them had explained as little as possible to the Headmistress and were now waiting for her to return from her office, where she was supposed to be "taking care of things". They'd told her their names, Rose claiming that anything else would be unnecessary and dangerous. Still, it was a relief to have an adult putting all of the responsibility on her shoulders; the three teens were now simply lounging out in the empty classroom, waiting for McGonagall to find a solution to this mess.

"I thought she was going to have a seizure when you told her your first name," Rose laughed, hitting him lightly on the shoulder.

"So did I, and she didn't even get to hear the Severus part." Scorpius joked from where he was sprawled out on the classroom floor. Al frowned at the two of them and sighed dramatically.

"What did I ever do to my parents to get cursed with a name like that?" he asked the Heavens. "Especially considering how cool James' and Lily's names are and all. It makes me sick."

Rose suddenly stopped laughing and got thoughtful.

"James and Lily," she whispered slowly. "And the others, too. They must have noticed we were gone by now." Scorpius lifted himself up on one elbow to glance at her quizzically. "What do you think they're doing right now?"

"Well… they kind of haven't even been born yet, Rose." Al answered slowly, wondering if his cousin was going bonkers (and worrying about how they would ever get out of this mess if her brain went AWOL).

"I know, but just imagine if we didn't find a solution to this and never went back to our own time. What do you think they'd do about it? What would the parents say?"

"My mum would freak out, that's a sure fact. Dad would try and solve everything, like always."

"I wonder if my dad would notice," Scorpius said, more to himself than to the others.

"James would be pleased," Al muttered. "That's for sure." Scorpius shot him a look, but he chose to ignore it.

"Don't be a butt, Al. I know you two bicker but-"

"But nothing," he interrupted his cousin, looking out the window. "James wouldn't give anything to get me back, Rose. He hates me and I hate him. End of story."

"That's kind of dramatic," Rose muttered back but Scorpius told her to just let it go. And then they were all quiet for a couple of minutes, until the classroom door opened and a man they'd never seen before stepped in, followed closely by McGonagall, who closed the door after her.

Scorpius got up from the floor, McGonagall' s stern gaze on him and the two cousins hopped off the teacher's desk. The man drew out his wand and stared quietly at the three of them. Al stared right back, waiting for introductions, but when he felt Rose stiffen beside him and heard her draw in a quick breath, he wondered if he was supposed to recognize him or something. He was of average-height, pale and shabby looking, scars marking his face, but before he could figure out if he'd ever seen him before, the Headmistress spoke up.

"This is another member or the Order of the Phoenix; I'd like you to tell him exactly what you told me."

"Why is he here?" Rose asked almost rudely. She was eyeing the old witch in suspicion; Scorpius took one look at her face and reached in his back pocket to grab his wand. Albus stayed still, his posture tense. It didn't help that the man's eyes were now resting on him, weighing him down. He met his gaze, unwavering and unflinching, and when their eyes met, something tilted inside his brain, at the same time that the man's own eyes widened in surprise.

Albus knew those eyes.

"Remus is here to make sure you three aren't a couple of Death Eaters." McGonagall answered simply, clutching her own wand tightly but otherwise seemingly unaffected by the tension in the room.

"You don't trust us," Scorpius said matter-of-factly, while Al struggled to make sense of what was happening in front of him. Remus. He'd heard that name before.

"How do I know you aren't simply trying to infiltrate the Order, Mr. Malfoy?" The old witch shot back, meeting Scorpius' gaze sternly. "Unless you've forgotten, your family history doesn't make it any easier for us to believe your far-fetched story."

"His last name doesn't define him in any way!" Rose shouted at her, her ears starting to get red.

"I never said it did," McGonagall replied, "but it is to be added into the equation nonetheless. Now," she turned towards Remus, whose eyes were still glued to Al. "Shall we?"

The man nodded, carefully reaching for a flask inside his robes. Rose became very still as Scorpius and Al moved closer to her, tense and ready for anything.

"What is this?" she looked pointedly at the vial, taking a step back.

"This is simply some truth serum to make sure we can trust you," McGonagall answered.

"Veritaserum," Scorpius and Rose said in perfect sync as Remus stepped towards them, his free hand open as if to show them that he wasn't a threat.

"We only need one of you to take some, just to make sure your intentions aren't of danger to us." The old witch murmured.

"This is completely unnecessary," Rose shot back.

"I'll do it," Al said, stepping forward, cutting Rose off. "It's the only they'll help us." And since she looked just about ready to argue again, he added: "If they slip and ask a question that will reveal too much, you have my permission to stun me so I don't answer. You be the brains of this operation while I fulfill my purpose on this earth as eternal guinea pig. How's that?"

"Fine," she huffed. "But I don't like this."

Al turned towards the man, his stance guarded. Remus was watching him carefully as well as he handed him the flask.

"One sip will do," he said as Al dipped his head back and swallowed the dark liquid, not giving himself the time to think this through and chicken out.

oOo

His eyes got glassy right away and Rose watched nervously as Lupin grabbed him under the elbow to keep him from falling to the ground and steered him towards a nearby chair, pushing her cousin down on it. The man crouched in front of Albus, who actually kind of looked like he was unconscious. It was both fascinating and revolting at the same time; Rose had never seen anything like the interview she was about to witness, and she was a bit curious, but at the same time, this was her cousin they were going to interrogate. She grabbed Scorpius' wrist and whispered in his ear;

"Watch out. If the questions hit too close to home, I'm going to need your help to keep him from answering."

He didn't answer, only nodded as they watched Lupin ask what they both knew to be the standard question always asked first to Veritaserum-drugged people.

"Do you know who I am?"

Albus' eyes remained unchanged, clouded and foggy, but Rose could have sworn she saw a flash of recognition light up in them; right then, she was ready to bet everything she owned that her cousin had just made the connection.

"Yes", he replied, voice clear despite his drugged appearance. "You're Teddy Lupin's father."

Rose saw Remus' eyes go wide and she realized a second too late that this was exactly the kind of thing she had been supposed to prevent from slipping out.

Damn.

oOo

Lupin did get over his initial shock, and relatively rapidly too, which was pretty impressive, in Rose's opinion, taking into consideration the circumstances and all. He didn't ask for unnecessary details, just went on with his questioning calmly.

"Who are you?"

"Albus Severus Potter."

He did flinch and send an unreadable glance at McGonagall at this; but it wasn't like Rose could've stopped it either, right? Maybe she wasn't so good at this "brains of the operation" thing… He went on quickly;

"Where are you from?"

"London."

"When are you from?"

"2022."

"Who are the boy and the girl accompanying you?"

"Rose Weasley and Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy."

Hyperion? Seriously? Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rose couldn't help smirking at Scorpius who was keeping his eyes carefully averted from hers.

"Why are you here?"

Rose stiffened.

"Wait-" she started, but already Albus was answering, and in a direct way at that.

"We were sent here by Gregory Goyle to make sure that Harry Potter doesn't kill Voldemort."

Rose gulped, watched as McGonagall sucked in a sudden breath, praying they wouldn't think that this was the goal that the three of them actually wanted to achieve. But already Lupin was getting up and turning towards them, his wand drawn and ready, the name of the spell forming on his lips. Rose stayed where she was, unable to yell that they had it wrong, that she, Scorpius and Albus weren't a threat to them. In fact, as a blinding flash of red light filled the room, she could only imagine the way her parents' faces would look when the two of them realized she would never, ever be coming home.

oOo

Scorpius didn't saw it coming and he would have been lying if he said he had.

It was a reflex reaction, really. He only saw that Remus guy – Teddy's father, isn't that what Al had said? – raise his wand, take a step towards Rose, who was as still as a statue. Scorp reacted instantly and stupefied the guy with such force that he wasn't simply stunned, but blown against the classroom's wall as well, knocking down a few chairs and desks on the way. Then, he wheeled towards McGonagall, but it seemed that the few seconds it had taken him to put out Lupin had been enough for Rose to get back on track. She had stunned the Headmistress as well (and Scorp couldn't help but shudder at the consequences this action would surely bring forward later) and was already running towards Al, grabbing his hand and attempting to pull him to his feet. Scrop followed suite and when he was just behind her, she wheeled around and they both stared at each other, eyes wide and breathless.

"What just happened?" he asked stupidly and Rose bit her lip, tugging on her sleeve nervously.

"We stunned a teacher!" she finally spat out, blinking tears back rapidly, "we stunned the Headmistress and Teddy's dad! Oh Merlin, we are in so much trouble…"

"I didn't think," he answered, like somehow, this could explain what he'd just done. "I saw him come towards you and I thought he would-"

"I know-"

"He thought we were Voldemort followers or something-"

"He was preparing himself to stun us, or worst-"

"He wouldn't have killed us, not after hearing Al's surname-"

"Still, we didn't have a choice-"

"And, anyway, they'll be alright-"

"We did the only thing we could," Rose concluded, putting her wand back inside her jean's back pocket and wiping away the nervous tears on her cheeks, but Scorpius felt like he should still add something.

"I thought he would hurt you," he whispered, his voice low. "It made me so mad and I just acted." He looked right into her eyes, unable to read her expression. "He'll be all right, though, won't he? I mean, I like Teddy and all, so I wouldn't want to have killed his dad before he could get his mum pregnant with-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Rose threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth; it was sudden and unexpected, he hadn't seen it coming in the least, and it quite made him forget, if only for an instant, where or when he was.