Albus and their roommates had made it a point that Scorpius wasn't to roam the halls alone unless absolutely necessary while the Gryffindors were still out for his blood, but after a few weeks it became harder and harder to justify everyone being late for class. Finally, Scorpius insisted Albus call off their friends and just let the conflict die - a conversation he had one day too early.

"Here comes the future murderer," said a particularly burly Gryffindor, approaching Scorpius in a mostly-quiet hall as he was on his way to the library.

"Just like his grandfather," agreed his tall companion.

Scorpius, determined to avoid any conflict, took a deep breath and kept walking, his eyes on the library doors. He was so close -

"Hey!"

The burly one got close enough to shoulder check him as he passed, and Scorpius dropped the book he was carrying.

"Why don't you get your boyfriend to pick it up for you?"

Scorpius held his tongue and took deep breaths, visualizing himself calm and collected as Professor McGonagall had taught him. He reached down and scooped the book up, determined to be on his way.

"Off to pick your next victim, freak?"

Scorpius heard the familiar clicking of a girls' uniform shoes, and turned to see Ainsley walking swiftly towards him. The taller Gryffindor rolled his eyes, clearly not interested in starting a fight with an audience. Ainsley sneered at him as she walked by, clearly disgusted, and caught Scorpius' arm to usher him along.

"Come on," she urged. "We have better things to do."

Together, they walked into the library.

"Thanks," Scorpius said.

"They've been like that for ages now," Ainsley replied, tossing her bag roughly onto a table. "It's so irritating. The whole house has it out for Slytherin."

"I'm not surprised," Scorpius admitted, taking a seat and setting his bag aside. "I did beat Taylor up pretty badly."

"In my opinion, he probably deserved it, but I also think it's because they know they're going to lose the match next week."

Ainsley rarely said an ill word about anyone, let alone one of her classmates.

"What's gotten into you?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing. Just behind on my homework and my mum is on me about 'choosing the right friends,' which clearly doesn't mean anyone in Hufflepuff."

"I'm sorry," said Scorpius. "Is she sending letters?"

"Worse," Ainsley said. "She keeps insisting I meet with her on the weekends, like I don't have anything better do to."

Ainsley pulled out her homework, squinting at it menacingly.

"I guess bad vision runs in the family," Scorpius said. Ainsley nodded.

"Are you caught up in potions?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you think you could help me?"

Scorpius smiled and sat down next to her, looking at her homework. It was good to feel like he was still good at something.


"You have to mean it, Mr. Malfoy," pressed Professor McGonagall.

"I do mean it," said Scorpius. "It's just not working."

Scorpius was frustrated, staring down a simple mug of water atop Professor McGonagall's desk. What came easily to him the day before was now difficult, and his eyes began to water with exertion and exhaustion.

Professor McGonagall, shook her head, pacing around Scorpius' chair.

"Take a moment, Mr. Malfoy."

Scorpius sighed and slumped in his seat.

"I don't know why I can't do it today," Scorpius said, defeated. "It was fine yesterday."

"You've done well," Professor McGonagall assured him, consulting a notepad on her desk. "It's been twenty days since your last incident, unless there's something you haven't mentioned."

Scorpius shook his head. He had been spending two hours a day with Professor McGonagall, working on lighting candles, boiling water, and moving objects first without a wand, and then without words.

Some days she was kind and understanding, and others she pressed him to the point of breaking. It was those days that he dragged his feet back to the dorm and barely made it to his bed before falling asleep. More than once, Albus had removed his shoes after he was unconscious.

"Do you think this is helping, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I don't feel as volatile anymore," said Scorpius. "Although not going to Dueling Club and avoiding large groups has been helping too."

"I imagine it has," said Professor McGonagall. "But you can't avoid everyone forever."

"I know," Scorpius muttered. He'd scarcely seen Albus or any of his friends for weeks, choosing instead to stay in the dorm or at the back of the library where little could get to him. He'd been solely focused on his schoolwork and McGonagall's training, which left little energy for anything else.

"At least I won't be so worried about you going home for Christmas in a few weeks," said McGonagall. Scorpius was touched that she'd be concerned. "Try again."

Scorpius took a deep breath and sat up straight in his chair. He stared at the mug, trying to imagine that it had done something to him - anything at all. He tried to recall how he'd felt when Cliff came after him during their duel, and when that didn't work, he imagined the way he felt when Albus kissed him, but only managed to muster a light tingling in his fingertips.

After a few minutes, Scorpius shook his head.

"It's useless," he said. "It comes and it goes. I think I've been getting lucky lighting those candles."

McGonagall shook her head. "It's not luck, Mr. Malfoy. Those days you had magic to redirect. Today you need to learn to find it."

Scorpius looked back at the mug, defeated.

"Hold out your hand," McGonagall said. "Reach for the water without touching it."

Scorpius did as she asked, holding his arm out toward the mug, his fingertips centimeters from the ceramic edge.

"Think about the water. Now imagine heat coming from your chest. Right here," she said, pointing to the place just above her heart. "Now imagine that heat like a red stream coming from your chest to your shoulder and down your arm to your fingertips."

Scorpius closed his eyes, and tried to visualize the energy McGonagall was talking about - the magic that he couldn't quite control. He saw the color red and breathed deeply, picturing it moving down his arm to his fingertips and, to his surprise, felt heat moving through his veins down to his hand. He imagined that heat flowing from his fingertips through the ceramic mug and into the water it held, and he held the image for a long time, his arm tingling like it did when his fingers sparked or he set something on fire.

When the water in the mug began to boil, Professor McGonagall let out an unexpected cheer of delight.

"Excellent work, Mr. Malfoy," she said.

Scorpius lowered his hand. Though he was winded, this accomplishment had been the easiest thus far.

"I did it?"

"Indeed, you did," said Professor McGonagall, withdrawing a teabag from her desk. "Generally, I prefer loose leaf, but this is one of my favorite blends, so I like to keep it handy."

McGonagall steeped the tea for a moment while Scorpius caught his breath, and then pressed the mug into his hands.

"You still have a long way to go, Mr. Malfoy," said Professor McGonagall. "But you've made an excellent start. I think you can start spending time with your friends again."

Scorpius took a sip of his tea and looked at her, confused.

"It's my job to notice things," McGonagall admitted, and Scorpius smiled, believing for the first time that things could actually go back to something resembling normal.


Scorpius found the dormitory empty when the returned. Normally he would have seized the opportunity to climb into bed early, but he wanted to see Albus, so he started straightening things up - stacking up books for his roommates and putting away the clean clothes the house elves had left on each of their beds. He organized his own notes, and then rummaged through Albus' bag to do the same since he knew he'd been distracted leading up to the big match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

If the other boys were to be believed, they were the two most evenly-matched teams in years, and Albus had been spending all his evenings on the pitch or in the field practicing with his teammates for the last week. Between practices, classes, and his detentions with McGonagall, he'd only seen Albus at meals and before bed each night.

"But you're getting better," Albus had said a few days before. "Nothing's happened for weeks."

It was encouraging, but Scorpius knew Albus had been too busy to notice how exhausted he'd been, and that was exactly how he wanted it. If he was going to be miserable, he didn't want Albus to be miserable with him.

Scorpius was already in his pajamas and ready for bed when the other boys came back, noses red from the cold.

"Winter's coming early," Albus said with a grin when he saw Scorpius organizing papers on his desk. "What are you doing?"

"Your notes for next week's Defense Against the Dark Arts test are a mess," Scorpius said. "I'm just trying to fix them since you've been busy."

"You're so thoughtful," Albus said. He kissed Scorpius on the cheek and Flint groaned at them.

"Rules," he said. "No cuteness in the dorm."

"Sorry," Albus mock-apologized. "When I'm overcome with gratitude, I get mushy."

Flint scoffed and went to peel off his dirty Quidditch robes.

"How are things going with McGonagall?" Albus asked as he sat on his bed, pulling off his boots.

"I actually think I'm starting to get it under control," Scorpius told him. "Today she had me visualize heat as a red light, and it really helped."

"So maybe that's what you need to do. Picture the magic?"

"It doesn't feel the same as casting a spell," Scorpius said, clipping Albus' notes together and tucking them into a fresh folder from his own stash. "It's more like raw energy."

"That's terrifying," said Albus. He threw his boots and robes into a pile with Flint and Farley's.

Scorpius shrugged. "It's what I've got to deal with."

"Are you coming to the match tomorrow? You skipped Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw last week."

"Of course," said Scorpius. "You're playing."

Albus smiled and checked that no one was paying attention before giving Scorpius a brief kiss.

"You're the best," Albus said. "Really. I know you're having problems and I've barely seen you. I've wanted to help -"

"There's nothing you could do," Scorpius assured him for the millionth time.

"But things are getting better," Albus said, taking Scorpius' hand and holding it tight. "And I have a surprise for you tomorrow after the game."

Scorpius' expression must have betrayed his apprehension, because Albus smiled and laughed.

"It's a good surprise," he said. "I promise. I'm really proud of you."

Scorpius gave Albus a smile and handed him the reorganized notes.

"Thanks," Scorpius said. It was the little victories that counted.


In the morning, Scorpius rose first and laid out Albus' clean Quidditch uniform across his trunk and re-laced his boots so they wouldn't dig into his toes. He went downstairs and grabbed a carafe of coffee and mugs and a stack of breakfast sandwiches and slipped back into the dorm just as the rest of the boys were rising.

"Damn," said Pucey, throwing a pillow at Farley. "The alarm didn't go off."

"I turned it off," said Scorpius. "Brought breakfast up. Thought you could all use the extra sleep."

"That was nice of you," said Farley as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Consider it my sole contribution to your victory today," said Scorpius, pouring the coffee and distributing it. Albus had barely stirred, so Scorpius walked over to his bed and shook him awake, coffee in hand.

"Al? Come on, you have a game to win."

"Five more minutes," Albus muttered.

"It's cold out here. Please don't make me take away your blanket."

Albus gripped his blanket tight and turned his face into his pillow.

Pucey grinned at the foot of Albus' bed and when Scorpius gave him the nod he seized the bottom of the comforter and ripped it from atop Albus like he was pulling a tablecloth from under a dinner setting.

Albus, suddenly very cold, sat up in bed and glared at them both.

"I hate you all."

"No, you don't," said Scorpius. "Here's your coffee."

Albus clutched the mug, muttering dramatically about hypothermia.

Pucey and Scorpius sat back as the others pulled on their uniforms, going over last minute tactics to stop Rose and her chasers and to ensure Albus had a good shot at catching the snitch. Scorpius suggested keeping one of the Slytherin beaters on Seeker patrol so he'd have more space to look for the snitch, but truthfully it was because he panicked every time one of the bludgers got within ten meters of Albus.

When it was time to go, Albus gulped down the rest of his coffee and handed his mug back to Scorpius who was sitting on his trunk.

"Meet me at the Hog's Head after the match, okay?"

Scorpius smiled and nodded and Albus bent down to kiss him, but Flint had him by the arm and pulled him out the door.

"Come on, lover boy," Flint said, Farley in tow. "We've got a match to win."

Albus laughed as he was pulled along out the door. "Right after the match!"

"Okay!"

"And thank you for fixing my boots!"


"You'd think they were playing for the cup," Ainsley said, watching the brutal match in front of her. Scorpius' eyes followed Albus around the pitch, disregarding the rest of the game.

"It's pretty aggressive," Scorpius said. They were down by ten, but the score had been flip-flopping the entire game and neither team was going to win without the snitch. Gryffindor and Slytherin were evenly matched on both defense and offense, and this had been one of the longest school games he'd ever witnessed.

"I think they're starting to get tired," Ainsley commented. "Granger-Weasley isn't moving quite as fast -"

Ainsley was cut off by a cheer from the Slytherins as Albus streaked straight towards the ground. Scorpius held his breath as the Gryffindor seeker followed, but was too slow to catch up. Albus turned and chased the snitch around the perimeter of the pitch, skimming the grass as everyone screamed and Farley chased him, deflecting bludgers until finally, Albus came up from the ground, his hand raised in victory as he clutched the snitch.

Scorpius breathed a sigh of relief and watched as the Slytherin team hit the ground and gathered in a celebratory mass. In the middle, Scorpius could just see Albus' mess of black hair and his hand still clutching the ball.


Albus entered the Three Broomsticks and threw off his coat and robes, l hooking them on the rack by the door. Half the team was a bit behind him, but Albus was in a rush. He had someone to meet.

In the corner with a few tables pushed together was Draco Malfoy, standing over a cake and several ready pitchers of butterbeer.

"Everything set?" Albus asked, striding over.

"Yes," said Draco. "Pike made his favorite cake once I told her."

"What exactly are we doing?" asked Maggie at Albus' shoulder. She waved at Draco politely.

"It's good to see you, Miss Goyle," Draco said. "Scorpius has received one of the coveted fellowships at the Magical Archives of Britain. The letter came to the manor instead of to him, and so I talked to Albus and we decided to surprise him."

"He's been having a rough semester," Albus said.

"Yeah, he has," agreed Pucey. "Barely comes out of the library."

Flint and Farley sat down at the table as Draco began pouring drinks, waving off the barmaid who offered to take care of it.

Albus nodded. "He needs a pick me up, so I've got Ainsley stalling so everyone who doesn't hate him after the dueling incident can get here."

"That's elaborate," said Maggie. "I'm impressed."

"Well, what he doesn't know is that I applied for an internship at the Magizoology Society in London," Albus told her. "And I have provisional acceptance based on my NEWT scores at the end of the year. I didn't even tell him I was looking at it, but if he's at the archives and I'm at the zoo -"

"Then you're both in London," Maggie finished.

"And so I'm going to ask him if he wants to move in together," Albus said, rocking uncertainly onto his toes.

"That's kind of a big deal," Maggie said and looked to Draco. "Are you endorsing this?"

"I'm making my peace," said Draco as a few of Scorpius' Hufflepuff friends joined them. Though Scorpius had always been kind to everyone, Albus knew the only Gryffindors in attendance would be Rose, Lily and Hugo, wherever they were.

"I just want to start thinking about what comes next."

Albus sat down beside Flint, who now had Maggie on his lap, and stared at the door expectantly.

"Ainsley's doing a good job stalling," said Farley. They all had their drinks and were eyeing the cake hungrily, and still, no Scorpius.

"Do you think he had another incident?" Draco asked Albus quietly. He shook his head.

"No, he's been good for a while now," Albus said. "I think the worst has passed."

Draco nodded and folded his arms, impatient.

The door opened, bring with it a gust of cold wind, and at first Albus perceived what entered as a single, large, awkwardly-shaped person, but as it approached their table at a decent clip, he realized it was Lily and Hugo with Ainsley suspended between them, Rose in tow.

"Help," Hugo said.

Albus and Draco rushed forward, watched by all the occupants of the pub, and took Ainsley, depositing her in the nearest empty chair. Albus finally got a good look at her and saw her face smeared with dirt, her hair full of leaves and her robes torn down one side.

"What happened?" Draco asked, kneeling in front of her.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "I told Scorpius I had to go back to the castle for my better coat, and we were walking down the path to get here."

Albus grabbed a glass of water from the table and handed it to her, and she took a grateful gulp.

"These people came out of nowhere and ambushed us -"

Albus went cold and knelt beside Draco.

"And he told me to run, but I wouldn't. They said he had to go with them - something about family duty - but he refused, and I told them to leave. One of them called me a blood traitor and raised his wand at me, and Scorpius got in the way and they fought."

She sobbed again, choking, and stopped for another drink.

"What next?" Albus demanded.

"I tried to help, but one of them hexed me and I fell and I think they were on him, but when I woke up I was in this crater and Scorpius was gone."

"That's where we found her," Lily said. Ainsley met Albus' eyes as the truth started to dawn on him.

"Al, I think they took him."