Here we go for the next chapter—ta-da!
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Chapter 16: TOO MUCH IS REVEALED
Everyone was assembled in the kitchen, preparing to say their good byes. Hailey hugged Sirius and Remus, as well as Fred and George, and basically everyone else. When she faced Professor Snape though, she just stared at him hard.
"Dad misses you." She said quietly, looking in his black eyes. "He wants to apologize, and he says thank you."
"How do you know that?" Snape asked, arching an eyebrow. Hailey smiled, but it wouldn't quite reach her eyes. "Because I know him."
Rose was bothered by how indifferent Hailey and Scorpius were to each other, but she still faced her parents with a smile. "It's going to get better." She grinned.
"Yeah. Yeah, we know." Hermione smiled back, hugging her. Rose took a step back and hugged her father next, but only briefly.
"You two have to work out the courage, you know. Hugo and I want to exist." She grinned, just when Hugo appeared beside her. Hugo nodded along in agreement.
"And mum," he added. "It feels good to break the rules once in a while."
Hermione sniffed. "If you say so."
Hugo shook his head fondly, while Lily was consoling Ginny. "I know you never stopped loving him. You just stopped showing it." She whispered.
Ginny shook her head lightly. "I know."
"Well, this is goodbye." Teddy said quietly, hugging his parents one last time.
"I'm sure we're watching over you." Tonks cried, wiping away her tears.
"I know." Teddy replied, trying to mark himself with his mother's hug. His father hugged them both. "Take care very well, son. We love you. We'll always be proud of you."
"I'm glad to know someone lived up to my name and James'" Sirius told James, clapping him on the back. James beamed proudly. "Thank you!"
"I hope your pranks are as brilliant, though?" Sirius asked good- naturedly. Hailey stopped by them and slightly grinned. "As long as I plan it, Padfoot Original. The prank is as brilliant as it could ever be."
James snorted and walked to his parents instead.
"He's thick, that James." Sirius whispered to Hailey. "I think you have to drop that look a little, and try out something new."
Hailey lost herself. "I—w-what—h-he—"
Sirius laughed, and then walked away to talk to Albus. But Rose dropped the bomb when she grabbed Scorpius' hand and pulled him towards her parents. Scorpius looked at her in panic, about to ask what in Merlin's name was she doing, when she met her father's eyes and said, "Scorpius and I are dating, dad."
Hugo choked on his own saliva, Hermione laughed, and Ron… well, Ron was steadily growing red in the face. Everyone else's reactions were a blur to the official couple. Scorpius braced himself for the worst anyway, until Ron took a few intakes of deep breaths and looked up to meet his stormy gray eyes. "I hope, then, that you take care of my daughter very well… and I know you know what my Rosie is capable of, and what I and Hermione are capable of."
Scorpius gulped. At least this wasn't the worst. "Yes, sir."
Harry, meanwhile, looked at his best friend in wonder. He didn't sound like himself when he said that.
Finally, the time was up.
Teddy raised his wand. He shot a Petrificus Totalus in a wide circle, and then modified their memories. Leonard helped with an ancient spell, so as to lock it anyway.
Before anyone could get awake, Leonard instructed everyone to hold each other's hands as they formed a circle. Leonard spoke too fast—with far too much ancient Latin mixed with French that even Louis had trouble to keep up.
And, with a flash of yellow lightning, they were gone.
The air was dark and damp where they landed. The teenagers disentangled themselves from one another, groping in the dark. Each of them whispered 'Lumos' and the tips of their wands ignited, revealing a silent Laurent with them, not so far away, with a staff in his hand. As their minds generally concluded, they were in some sort of a cave.
"Great," Lily muttered, hugging herself. "How do we get out of here?"
"We don't get out." Leonard replied plainly, dusting himself. "We get in."
"We get in? There?" Rose asked, horror lighting her eyes. There seemed to be nothing more in the cave except for darkness… and more darkness. Scorpius grabbed her hand to reassure her, but that did not quite fill it. Even Teddy felt afraid, and that's saying something.
"Just hold each other's hands so no one gets lost." Teddy announced in his most Auror voice. Everyone did as he said so, not even daring to talk.
"We must be careful." Leonard whispered. "This is a very dangerous place, and has many dangerous traps. You must be of alertness."
They walk in silence. Once in a while bats chirped. Once in a while red eyes seemed to live in the darkness. Once in a while a rat or two passes by. But they kept on following Leonard anyway, and as deeper as the cave goes, the higher the pressure seemed to compress them. But they had no choice.
"So," James whispered to Rose, trying to lighten up the tension. "When do you and Scorpius plan to tell the future family anyway?"
Scorpius choked and Rose laughed shakily, assured by Scorpius' hand enclosing hers. "Some time. Maybe this Christmas."
"This Christmas?"
The others thought it was funny to hear Scorpius squeak like that.
"Yes, this Christmas. But if you want to make it sooner…"
"No, no it's fine like that! Christmas would be great!"
The others chuckled, and the tension seemed light, but the pressure did not change. Just then, the ground began to shake.
"Everyone, hold each other tightly! Right now," Teddy mustered, his eyes flashing different colors faster than anybody has ever seen, "I allow you to use your wands!"
A hoard of spiders came from nowhere, and spells were shot. They had to break off holding each other because there were too many to keep the hold in.
"Stupefy!"
"Ah, drat it!" James shouted. "Maxima bombarda!"
All spiders came hurtling out, and with them are a few stones rolling down, until the cave shook, blocking out the way where they came before; their way of exit. They didn't notice something wrong when someone screamed. Hugo.
Their wands ignited, they all crouched to see Hugo, whose leg was stuck between two large rocks. His face was contorted in pain.
"Hugo!" Rose shrieked, running a hand through his hair. "Hang on, we're going to levitate these off!"
As fast as they could, they removed the rock that was lying on Hugo, and pulled him just in time. "Can you walk?" Louis asked. Hugo swallowed and nodded, trying his best to smile, but it turned out to be a grimace.
Louis let him wrap his arm around his neck for good measure, and Hugo was half walking half limping as they run to catch up with Leonard.
"Hang on, wait!" Hailey called loudly, stopping everyone. She tore off a piece of her sleeve and secured it around Hugo's bleeding leg. "I wish we could perform Episkey with it, but I don't think it's going to hold even the broken bones."
"You have to hurry, quick!" Leonard shouted at them. They all resumed running, following the sound of his voice, until they reached what seemed to be the end of the cave.
Leonard had stopped in front of a large boulder blocking the way. There is empty void at the far end of the side, but that did not help in the case. Below there, there must be something that is big… and growling… and a pit so deep you'd never hear a stone falling flat against ground. His face looked grim and set. "I'm afraid the real challenge starts here."
"What?" Teddy asked, looking around cautiously.
As if on cue, the ground shook, and a dragon emerged from the ground. If they had Fred Weasley II with them, they'd probably know what dragon it was, but they didn't. And another sound echoed through the walls. Some sort of an oversized scorpion came crawling from the pit. Neither the dragon nor the scorpion looked happy.
"S- Scorpius? Can't you t-talk with the scorpion? Y-you have the same name, you know?" Hailey asked, a sense of dread washing over her. Her lame joke didn't even make anyone smile. "H-how do we—" Lily stuttered. This time, Teddy went on full protecting mode.
"Louis—I want you to go secure Lily and Hugo. Don't look at me like that Lily, yes I permit you to fight, but don't stray too far from Louis. Rose, Scorpius, Al take on the scorpion. James, Hailey and I will take on the dragon. Now move!"
Of all the things Hogwarts should have taught, it didn't teach how to fight a dragon. Just that it spews fire.
They battled with the monsters fiercely. Thankfully, they had wide enough space to move around, but they were also careful to not step near the pit.
Scorpius sidestepped as he fired a spell to the scorpion, who lashed out them with its black pincers. It's in shell. I have to break through its shell.
At that exact moment, he caught Rose's eyes, and then Al's. They all shout the same thing. "Diffindo!"
Rose had been too close. While the scorpion wheeled around and writhed in pain, its pincers did not miss Rose's arm and she staggered back, her face paling quickly at the loss of blood. She's close to losing her breath.
"NO!" Scorpius shouted. With one last blow at the scorpion, it fell in the pit; but Rose wasn't safe. Scorpius went up to Rose, patting her face. "Rose, Rose, hold on—you've got to hold on—"
Tears streamed down his face as he held her.
"Move." A soft voice commanded from above him. He saw Leonard Laurent, his white eyes not focused on him but on Rose. Scorpius was too numb to argue, so he did, seeing the man kneel down and raise a hand over Rose's body. He muttered a quick few words, and it was like Rose's skin stitched back to normal. Color began to resume in her face. Scorpius hugged her quickly, wiping the dust off her face.
"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling back from her. She nods, albeit a little bit dizzily as Scorpius helps her to stand.
"GUYS! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Hailey shouted. The dragon was one big problem; all of them are already battling with it, but its scales seemed to absorb their spells and he only grew bigger and bigger as time passed by.
Leonard watched it quietly. He can't interfere; he interfered enough to heal the girl's wounds, especially when he felt the desperation of the boy radiate to him. Yes, Leonard might not see things. But he feels them. Every bit off it, he does. And when the dragon spewed fire, and Hailey Malfoy rolled to avoid it, he also felt the ground feel lighter; she was thrown off to the Pit. And he acted as quickly as he could. He pushed the girl away, but he did not any more feel the ground beneath his feet… and he sure was going to fall.
But just as he thought he'll come down plummeting towards his death, he takes hold of something hard; a ledge. A voice hovers on top of him; the girl. "Mr. Laurent, grab my hand. I can't reach you!" she shouted.
But Leonard cannot see where she is. Nor where her hand is. He shook his head, looking up to where he believed she was.
"I believe," he mustered. "That this is my time to go. After all, Time Wanderers like me should not have existed."
He saw something light; they were purple. Was his sight coming back? No. Most probably not. But he did let her know who he was, who he is, and what he went through. He connected their minds to the point where her timeline touched his, until he could feel wet things on his face. It took him a moment to realize she was crying.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered, and then he could finally see her face. She looks just like her mother. He smiled sadly, and let go of the tiny ledge.
Well… that's… eventful. There are two more chapters left, by the way. So review guys. I want to hear your voices! Or, rather, read your voices! Wait, what?
Uh. Never mind.
I hope you enjoyed!