"Well, thank you again for the tea, Professor Longbottom," said Professor Dennis Creevey, getting up to leave after a nice long chat with Neville in his office. "Certainly is rare to get an easy moment in times such as these." The room was dimly lit only by a few floating candles. Neville was glad this meeting was ending. Something deep in the pit of his stomach told him there was a disturbance in the atmosphere…something was not right.
Neville nodded solemnly. "There must be some kind of way to help the boy's sentence. He didn't even have a trial!"
Professor Creevey nodded sadly. "But such as the times are, Neville. I'm afraid the boy must either face lifelong exile from our world, or death. Kingsley has spoken! The Aurors AND the Wizengamot have spoken! McGonagall...reluctant as she was, agreed to the sentence as well."
Neville nodded again. "Well, the hour is late—"
The door to the office was opened. Castora stood in the doorway. Her eyes were red with tear stains, but her face seemed almost neutral in appearance. Her curly red hair was disheveled and her robes were sloppily put on. She carried her wand.
"Castora!" Professor Creevey tsked. "You should be in bed at this late hour."
"I can't sleep, I keep thinking about him," said Castora. Her voice was shaky and unsteady.
Professor Creevey turned to Neville. "The poor girl, losing pretty much half her family in one week," he said sadly. "I'll leave you two alone." And with that he turned and left.
Once the door was closed behind her. Neville looked at Castora. Castora looked at Neville.
"Do you have ANY news from Scorpius?" asked Castora. "Anything? Even just a name signed on a page?"
Neville shook his head. That was when Castora lost her brave face. She felt the tears flow as she collapsed to the ground in a heap. Neville had to rush to her side and hold her in his arms so she wouldn't be lying flat on the ground.
"What is it?" asked Neville.
"Dead! He's dead!" Castora cried.
"No, you don't know that," Neville said. Castora shook free of Neville's comforting grip and heaved herself to her feet.
"Yes he is! The news came out tonight! Lily told me with her own words! Scorpius' body was found in the river on the border of Wales!"
Neville's eyes widened. "Is it official?"
Castora bit her lip and nodded. Neville felt his stomach do three flips in rapid succession. Castora gripped her wand in her hand. "My only love is dead…"
Neville had a gut feeling that Castora would try to kill herself. "Castora, give me your wand," he asked gently.
She shook her head, her body still shaking, but her tears gone, all the emotion and color was drained from her face. "I want to die, Professor."
"Castora, give me your wand, or I'll forcibly take it from you," Neville warned. His wand was in his desk. But he had to be quick if he wanted to go around the desk to retrieve it. For now, his only hope was to calm Castora down. She looked like a madwoman.
"No."
Castora swallowed and spoke again. "Professor…I want you to quickly send an owl up to Minerva McGonagall. Tell her you found my suicide note on your desk, and that I ran off and drowned myself in the Black Lake after losing my cousin."
"I will do no such thing," Neville warned. Castors wildly waved her wand at Neville, who stepped back. "Easy, Castora, I'm, unarmed!"
"I'm not going to drown myself, Professor. The castle is on lockdown. There is no way out without either an Invisibility Cloak or permission of the Aurors. I want to be with Scorpius, Professor. While everyone goes down to the lake to search for me, I'm going to sneak out a back way and head to Wales, and then…I'll…end it there."
Neville began inching his way over to the desk. Castora noticed his very slight movement and took two giant steps forward, her wand aimed at Neville's head. "DON'T MOVE ANOTHER STEP!!! WRITE THE OWL!!"
"No!" Neville said forcefully. "I will not allow you to commit suicide for the sake of Scorpius!"
Castora took another step, her body shaking violently now, as if she were about to use a Killing Curse on Neville. "DON'T TEMPT A DESPERATE WOMAN, PROFESSOR LONGBOTTOM!!!!" Castora hollered. "WRITE THE OWL!!"
"NO!" Neville stood his ground. After all, he was the authority figure in the room.
"WRITE THE OWL, DAMNIT!" Castora's voice grew in strength.
"CASTORA DURSLEY!! LISTEN TO YOURSELF!! YOU'RE HYSTERICAL!" Neville shouted.
"IMPERIO!"
The Unforgivable Curse flew out of her wand, strong and true, and took full control of Neville within a millisecond. Gritting her teeth in a madwoman's smile, Castora forced Neville to sit down at his desk, take out a piece of parchment and a quill, and write. Castora spoke the words as she made Neville write.
"Professor McGonagall, I found a suicide note from Hogwarts fifth-year Castora Dursley outside my office this evening, saying she drowned herself in the Black Lake for the sake of her cousin's death. I ran down to the lake and saw her body floating there for a moment before it was sunk with the current. Please tell Shacklebolt to order the Aurors currently on guard at Hogsmeade and Hogwarts down to the lake to help search for the body. Signed, Professor Longbottom."
Castora laughed hysterically as she forced Neville to seal an envelope, call the owl that always sat on a perch by his desk, give her the message, and send the owl off.
Castora then let go of the hold she had on Neville just long enough for him to take a breath. Then she attacked him again.
"Stupefy!"The force of the spell sent Neville hurdling backwards into the armoire behind his desk. Neville was knocked out cold. Castora then triple-locked the door. He was without his wand anyways, it would be days before he would be found and would be able to tell how the note came to be written.
"Sorry, Professor, but never tempt a desperate woman," Castora warned, wiping a single tear from her eye, before running out the door to await a safe time to make her breakaway.
The students of all four Houses were awoken abruptly on Thursday morning to the shocking news that there had been a third death on Hogwarts lands. The Auror guardians were called away from their posts (thus temporarily liberating the Slytherins), along with every professor and volunteer student possible, to search the Black Lake from top to bottom. An expert in Mermish was called in to ask the Merpeople if they'd seen anything (they hadn't, but were put on guard). People swallowed every ounce of gillyweed they could sneak away from Professor Longbottom's greenhouses (Professor Longbottom, however, was nowhere to be found) in order to be able to search below the water as well as above.
Again, Rose, Lily, and Hugo were called about this new loss. They stood wrapped in blankets on the shores of the lake, inconsolable, no matter who tries to talk them into a mug of cocoa or a warm hug of condolence. Lily and Hugo were taken by complete surprise over Castora's apparent suicide. Rose, however, knowing what she thought was the real reason, felt an extra pang of guilt in her heart.
After all, while it was Lily who delivered the news of Scorpius' untimely end, it had been Rose who tried to talk Castora out of loving him and into loving another, just because his House was on friendlier terms with hers.
Maybe, thought Rose. Maybe true love extends beyond the boundaries of Houses, of bloodlines. After all, my own father is pureblooded, and my mother is Muggle-born.
Whatever the reason, Rose began to think seriously of revealing the affair to the Aurors and McGonagall, and explain all. Perhaps, then, the fighting would cease in honor of her memory. Rose bit her lip and decided to leave Lily and Hugo on their own for a moment. There was a young man she had to find.
Weaving in and out of the search parties, Rose could see some vaguely familiar faces. Castora's father and brother, two Muggles, hysterically crying at the feet of Minerva McGonagall. The father looked ready to explode with rage and sadness. The brother was expressing his feelings more conservatively.
"You people did this to her!! I knew magic was dangerous!! I knew it wasn't all fairy dust and sugar!!" cried Mr. Dursley. Rose could feel his pain (although she definitely wasn't as extroverted in expressing it). She moved on before she lost her nerve to do the brave thing she was about to do.
Searching the crowds some more, she narrowly avoided being seen by her mother, who was obviously looking to smother her with tears and kisses. Rose shuddered and walked quickly away.
Then, she finally met eyes with Brady O'Toole, standing by himself, looking just as guilty as she did. "Brady O'Toole, we need to speak as soon as possible." Rose grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him behind a small pine tree at the very edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Brady, I know why she really killed herself. It wasn't the note…it had to be Scorpius," Rose said. Brady bit his bottom lip, looking confused.
"Scorpius? Why would she…?" Brady asked, his voice dwelling off.
"Don't lie to me!" Rose yelled. "You knew about their marriage too! You look just as guilty as I feel, and you know she died because of Scorpius' death!"
Brady took a deep breath. He almost turned blue. "R…Rose. What are you talking about, Scorpius is dead? Scorpius wrote to me just last night. He's perfectly fine at Professor Longbottom's aunt's house."
Rose gasped as Brady handed her the small parchment, signed in green ink "Scorpius H. Malfoy."
Dear friend Brady,
I hope the Aurors don't intercept this owl. I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Ireland alive, and am now in the good care of Augusta Longbottom's sister, July. I cannot write to Castora yet. If the Aurors do intercept this, it could mean more danger for her if her name's on it. If this does make it to you safely, please tell Castora that I am healthy as ever and cannot wait for our reunion!
Scorpius H. Malfoy
"I couldn't deliver the message right away because of the lockdown the Slytherins were put under," Brady explained.
Rose began feeling her insides shake. "That's impossible…Lily told us herself that Scorpius had drowned in the river that borders Wales…"
"Lily Potter? The girl who—" Brady looked back to last night and how Lily had come asking for information for Castora, and how she'd been harassed and left all angry and flustered.
"Rose, Lily lied to you."
"What?!"
"Out of spite. Last night, Castora sent her to me for information, but before I could give it to her, my friends worked out that she was a Gryffindor and thought her a spy. They nearly raped her, but I told them to back off. Afraid and angry, she stormed out before I could give her the parchment Scorpius sent me."
Rose felt a tear leave her eye. "So Castora killed herself for nothing?" she asked, her voice shaking. Brady took her into his grip. Rose, surprisingly, didn't struggle. She needed any comfort she could get right now, learning the tragic fate of her cousin
"I sent an owl back to Scorpius this morning bearing the sad news."
Rose gently let herself out of Brady's embrace. "We need to tell McGonagall, right now."
Brady nodded and held out his hand. Rose hesitated.
"We're both wearing our House colors," she warned. "If anyone saw us—"
"—from this moment on, there will be no Houses. Castora would've wanted it that way." Rose, after a cautious moment, agreed and took Brady's hand. They ran back to the Lake and found McGonagall quickly.
"Miss Weasley…Mr. O'Toole?" McGonagall looked incredibly perplexed by a Slytherin and a Gryffindor side by side without any dueling involved.
"We have some…information you really need to hear," Brady said. McGonagall raised a single eyebrow.
"Information? How much?"
"Loads," said Brady, nodding at Rose.
"Well, what information do you two have?" she asked, pursing her lips with interest.
Rose sighed, wiping a second tear from her eye. "First off, Scorpius Malfoy and Castora Dursley were married last Saturday…"
