Days passed, and before long, the students were returning to Hogwarts to finish out the school year. All in all, it had been a restful holiday after a tumultuous beginning to the school year and Albus was anxious to see how everyone was getting along. At first, he'd been thrilled to have two weeks to spend at home with his family, but as presents were unwrapped and the festivities came to a close, he found he missed his schoolmates. He began to wonder about Jeremy Wright; if he'd passed his exams and if he would be waiting at Hogwarts when the other students returned. He also worried about Sarah Vineyard, who had managed, in just one school tern, to get herself into bigger trouble that most witches aspire to during their whole life. He wondered if she'd been expelled and what would become of her, if so. And of course, he was looking forward to seeing his housemates; Jesse, Donner, Malcom, and Scorpius. Despite all their faults, Albus had grown to appreciate their company and their finer qualities.

It was strange, but it seemed to him that they saw him in a way no one else did, especially Scorpius. Even though they hadn't know each other very long, he and Scorpius seemed to have a natural connection. Perhaps it was because they shared the burden of inherited expectations which blinded others, even those to whom they were closest, to who they really were. When Scorpius was around, he didn't seem to see Albus as just a "new Harry Potter", "Another Weasley", or even, "James' Younger Brother". Albus was simply, "Albus", and he wondered if Scorpius didn't feel the same way about him. After all, the stigma of being the "Son-of-a-Deatheater" had to be even more tiresome than what Albus dealt with!

The return to school on the Hogwarts Express was surprisingly quiet. The students had mostly gone feral over the holiday and many of them were catching up on their sleep as the train rocked along thorough the drippy, dreary mid-winter toward school, the place of order and civilization. James, Albus, Freddy, and Rose sat together in a compartment, but spent most of the trip gazing contently out of the window and dozing off.

Albus was slightly alarmed not to find Scorpius on the train, but his concerns were washed away once they stepped into the great hall and found him sitting at the Slytherin table, speaking with Donner and Malcolm. He smiled at Albus as he approached and sat down.

"Where were you?" Albus demanded.

"I was right here."

"Why weren't you on the train?"

"Father brought me up the day before yesterday. My mother is still in Belgium with her family and he has a mess of work to do. If I'd stayed locked up in the house with my grandfather, one of us wasn't going to make it out alive!" Albus chuckled in response. The table began to get more and more crowded as the students began piling in. Albus noticed the presence of Jeremy Wright amongst the first years.

"I guess Wright managed to pass his mid-terms," he commented. Scorpius turned and glanced in Wright's direction.

"I reckon so. He must have done alright over the holiday. They let him come back to the table, anyway." Wright had spent a great deal of the previous term sitting at the seclusion table, due to his high level of aggression and unwillingness to conform to social boundaries.

"Maybe he's going to act right now," Donner suggested unenthusiastically.

"He's an awful mess," Albus said, "My dad says he'd going to need lots of encouragement if he's going to go anywhere in life besides prison."

"Grandfather says he needs a good belt across his backside," declared Scorpius.

"Well, the old man could be right for once in his life," Malcolm provided.

"Potter's dad is making us be friendly to him," Scorpius informed him. Donner snorted and Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"I'll be friendly…if he quits trying to kill everyone he sees! And since when does Potter's dad tell you what to do, Malfoy?" Scorpius shrugged.

"He's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement! Are you going to tell him 'no'?"

"Scorpius doesn't have to do what my dad tells him," Albus corrected, "It's just a good idea."

"If you ask me, putting a whole lot of air between that goon and myself is an even better one!" Malcolm insisted and Donner nodded his agreement.

Finally, all the students were in the hall and the meal was served. Albus glanced over at the Hufflepuff table.

"Sarah Vineyard's not there," Albus observed sadly.

"No," Scorpius confirmed with a grim expression, "She hasn't been. I was hoping she'd be on the train. I guess she was expelled after all."

"Expelled?" Malcolm exclaimed, "Why would she be expelled?" Albus and Scorpius exchanged alarmed looks. They were the only students who knew that Sarah Vineyard had bound the spell that had nearly killed several of their classmates.

"Er…maybe she didn't pass her mid-terms…" Scorpius lied.

"Please," Donner responded sarcastically, "If Wright managed, I'm sure Vineyard passed. She's probably just off somewhere having another crying fit!" Albus and Scorpius tactfully absorbed themselves into their dinners and didn't say anymore about it.

The next morning, classes resumed and the second years found themselves in a mountain of schoolwork again. Unsurprisingly, Professor Schlegel instantly determined that his students had been slacking off during his extended period of convalescence and overloaded them with extra essays and study time with a notable attitude of venom. Also unsurprisingly, his wrath knew no mercy on Albus and Scorpius, despite the fact that they'd saved his miserable life not three weeks earlier. Herbology, however, had become much more enjoyable now that Professor Longbottom was making a concerted effort not to scold or punish Scorpius at every opportunity. He even awarded Slytherin five points when Scorpius was first to finish deseeding his Krumpkweed pods.

It was the second day of resumed classes when Scorpius rounded a corner and nearly toppled over a distressed-looking Sarah Vineyard.

"Sarah!" he exclaimed, "Your back!" Sarah's visage changed to a nervous smile as she recognized her friend. It melted away again as soon as Scorpius asked her why she hadn't been on the train with the other students.

"I had to go to the doctor," Sarah whispered uncertainly as she lowered her eyes to the floor.

"The doctor?" he persisted, "Why ever would a witch ever go to a doctor?"

"I's sick…" she mumbled almost incoherently.

"But the Healers at St. Mungo's…" Scorpius began to insist but Sarah suddenly pushed past him and hurried down the corridor. Scorpius watched her go with confusion and worry.

Later that evening, Scorpius observed Sarah in much better spirits, walking briskly beside her house prefect, who'd been making a deliberate attempt all year at helping Sarah feel at home. Sarah was proudly showing her a colorful, plastic necklace, the kind which a child would make.

"Did you notice that Vineyard is back?" he asked Albus as he took his usual seat beside him in the great hall. Albus craned his neck to look at the Hufflepuff table and smiled when he caught sight of Sarah.

"I guess she gets to stay after all!" he said with relief.

"I was wondering what kept her," Scorpius told his friend, "She said she had to see a doctor." Albus furrowed his brow.

"A doctor? Why would she see a doctor?" Scorpius shrugged.

"I think she might have been lying about it. I think maybe it was just an excuse." Albus shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe it is. Maybe the real reason she was late is something personal she didn't want you to know." Scorpius didn't seem satisfied.

"Maybe…but…What if something bad happened to her?"

"Like what?" Scorpius looked down, conflicted about what to say. Sarah hadn't sworn him to secrecy or anything, but he knew that the dream she'd shared with him was meant to be kept to himself He didn't know how to voice his concerns to Albus without betraying her confidence.

"I don't know…just something bad." Albus looked over at the Hufflepuff table where Sarah sat beaming at the two older students who sat on either side of her.

"Well, she looks alright to me," Albus concluded, "And it isn't as if she's in any danger at Hogwarts." Scorpius sighed and returned his physical attention to his meal, despite the fact that he couldn't get his mind to stop worrying about Sarah.

Later, he found her sitting alone in the library, her tiny frame dwarfed even more by the piles of books on the table.

"Did you have a nice Christmas?" he asked her in a whisper. Sarah looked up from her book and smiled at him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a muggle toy. It was a plastic figurine of a spotted dog, which fit into a purple and pink doghouse. Sarah showed him how when she 'rubbed' it with a magnetic brush, its ears and tail began to wiggle. Scorpius smiled enthusiastically even though he found it to be a rather infantile toy for a girl Sarah's age.

"I got this too!" she whispered, pulling the long collection of plastic beads from under her robes and handing them to Scorpius. He examined the necklace. It was a pattern of pink, purple, and yellow plastic beads, punctuated by larger, brightly-colored butterfly charms. There was one charm in particular that was larger than the rest and Scorpius realized that it opened to reveal a photograph of a little girl. Though the child in the picture was smiling and wearing her school uniform, Scorpius recognized her as the traumatized girl from Sarah's dream.

"Who is this?" Scorpius asked, trying to sound politely curious and not nosey.

"That's my sister, Dinah," Sarah explained happily, "She made me this for Christmas!" Scorpius handed it back to her and as she looked at the picture of her sister, the gloom settled into her face once more.

"I didn't want to leave her alone…" she whispered sadly. Scorpius didn't know what to say, so he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I didn't have to leave her," Sarah complained, her eyes brimming with tears, "Who will keep her safe when I'm not home?" Scorpius knew even less what to say. He wanted to ask why it was Sarah didn't think her sister was safe in her own home.

"Don't worry," he replied at last, "She'll be coming to Hogwarts too, before you know it." Sarah shook her head sadly and placed the necklace around her neck. Scorpius pulled a chair up and sat down beside.

"Sarah, are you afraid the man in your dream will hurt Dinah?" Sarah looked up at him with her eyes wide, then shook her head.

"No," she insisted with a tinge of anger, "He's gone."

"Did he die?" Scorpius asked gently.

"No, he left," she insisted vehemently, "And he'd never coming back. I made him go. That's why my mum hates me." She looked down and tears streamed down her face.

"She hates that I do magic. She's afraid of me. But I had to do it. I had to make him go."

"Was he your father?" Scorpius asked her softly. Sarah shook her head.

"I don't have a father."

"Did he die?"

"No."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't have a father." Scorpius didn't know what to make of that statement. He knew that Sarah absolutely had to have a father. Every creature on earth had a father but he decided not to press the issue.

"But, if the man from your dream isn't coming back, why are you worried about Dinah?" To his surprise, Sarah's face filled with sudden, uncharacteristic anger.

"Because they'll be a new one. There's always a new one." Scorpius thought he understood now and he was filled with sympathy for Sarah.

Later that evening, he made his way into the common room.

"You're past your hour, Mr. Malfoy," commented the portrait of the old potions master that hung over the mantle, "First and second years are to be in their house common room or dormitories by nine o'clock in the evening.

"You can't tell me what to do, you're a painting!" he retorted irritably. The portrait's eyes narrowed.

"I only observe that loosing house point for tardiness is hardly the best start to a new year." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"I was taking a walk and I'm only seven minutes late. Schlegel isn't taking points off his own house for seven measly minutes!"

"Quite right, Mr. Malfoy," came the voice of his head-of-house, who had apparently been sitting inconspicuously in the corner during the entire exchange, "But nine o'clock is nine o'clock." Schlegel gestured for his student to approach him and Scorpius slunk red-faced between the twin sneers of Schlegel and Snape.

"Now, what to do with you? It so happens that I have seven cauldrons that I used to reduce wrathwax root serum today. Nasty stuff, that. It won't be charmed off. It has to be scrubbed off using a special potion that smells like a cross between frying grease and rotten squid. You can make up your time doing that tomorrow. One cauldron per minute late. Now, that's fair isn't it?" Scorpius didn't think it was fair at all but he had the sense not to say so.

"Go to bed," his teacher directed and Scorpius did as he was told.