The remaining months before their final exams were, to put it into the eloquent words of Albus Potter, bloody awful.
They had been pushed to their limit with revision, but luckily the three friends (and some of the older Weasleys) had agreed to tutor each other, thus taking most of the pressure off. So now, as Scorpius walked through the school halls on a hazy Saturday afternoon, he felt he could actually relax before his final exam on Monday. It was going to be his Potions and, as Rose and Albus had drained every inch of Potions knowledge out of him, he had been given a break from revision for the time being. The crickets chirped quietly against the silence, the sun beating down against the grass. Scorpius loved the sun, the way it gave a kind of warmth that gets you in the heart, the kind that shines through you and gives you hope. Although, Scorpius tended to avoid bright sunlight when he could, it wasn't anything bad but...
There was a laugh from behind him in the hallway. Loud. Clear. Scorpius jolted, but frowned slightly. It didn't sound like anything aimed at him... There was another blast of laughter, louder this time and, ... Were there two of them? He turned to look towards the end of the corridor, hoping to see the source of the sound. When he failed to, his curiosity getting the better of him, he followed it. He stepped slowly, hesitantly. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure what he was so interested in about this laughter, but it was something to do, so the least he could do was 'satisfy his curiosity in a non-destructive way', to express it in the bantering words of his father. There was chatter- okay, so there was definitely more than one person, maybe a third?- and Scorpius felt his pace quicken. Quickly turning the corner he- well, he couldn't have expected any less. Fred and James turned to look at him, grins forming on their faces that clearly read you don't want to know what we're doing, but we all know you're going to ask anyway. Deciding to give them the satisfaction, he relented.
"So, are you going to tell me what you're up to?" They chuckled, walking over to place their hands on Scorpius' shoulders.
"Scorpius, my dear boy, you may not be able to handle the truth. Do you think he can handle it, Jamesie?"
"Don't think he'll be able to, Freddie... Buuut we may as well tell him. He probably won't say anything."
"Very true, very true, Jamesie. Would you like to introduce him?"
"It would be my pleasure." James took his hand away from the blonde's shoulder, taking a step forward. "Look, mate. He's a friend. You can come out now."
Scorpius would have called James mad had it been for the fact a voice suddenly came from the walls, scaring the blonde more than he would have liked to admit. "I dunno, James. He seems pretty suspicious. If he's anything like that dad of his..." Fred sighed, "He's not. Give him a chance."
"If you're sure." Instantly, there was a figure walking out of the wall and next to James. Scorpius knew it was a ghost, he had seen the house ghosts before but, for some reason, this one seemed to look a lot like... "F-Fred?!"
Beside him, the redhead chuckled. "Well, I suppose you're sort of right, but I think you didn't mean to be." The ghost beside James smirked slightly at Fred. "Personally, I think you look more like George, but that's just personal opinion." He turned to Scorpius, "So you're Malfoy's son? You look loads like him. But... You're a Ravenclaw. And friends with the Weasleys. So I suppose you're okay." The ghost smiled, but it was hesitant. "It's a pleasure. Fred Weasley, Senior." Scorpius blinked, then felt his heart sink slightly. "Y-You're-" he felt a hand on his shoulder again. He looked up at James, who was looking down at him with a look that clearly read to Scorpius as don't worry about it.
The blonde sighed, then realised something. "Wait... Aren't- oh. Oh god." Scorpius scowled slightly to himself before looking up at the three of them, all of whom had guilty yet somewhat proud grins spread across their faces. Then, almost as if on cue, there was a anguished cry of "JAMES! FRED! YOU BASTARDS!" The blonde smirked, "Was that...?"
"Yep."
"Our darling cousin, Dominique."
"Do I even want to know?"
"Oh no you do not. Now, I think that's our cue to run, eh Freddie?"
"Definitely." And with that the two boys, with calls of goodbye thrown at Fred the First and Scorpius, ran off down the hall with wide smirks on their faces. Scorpius smiled at their retreating backs before stepping forward to leave.
"It wasn't your dad's fault, you know." Scorpius jumped, turning to the ethereal figure behind him. Fred was standing there, a pained expression on his face, "I mean, I hated the guy. But I'd never blame him for what happened to me." The blonde had to force himself to not tear up. "B-But... He was the bad guy, the villain, he was your enemy-"
"Kid... Scorpius, was it? There's something you need to remember. No matter how hard your dad could have tried- which he didn't, really, now that I think about it- he could have never been the villain. He was an idiot, I'm sure even he will admit that, and we all made mistakes in that war. Yes, he was my enemy, and I still hate him, but he didn't cause that explosion. He didn't tell You-Know-Who what to do, he followed orders and he didn't realise until too late that he had chosen the wrong side." Fred sighed, starting to walk back towards the wall. Before he stepped into it, he turned back to Scorpius. "He may have been a bad guy, but he wasn't the bad guy. Don't beat yourself up about it, kid."
Scorpius stepped through the door into the Ravenclaw common room, only to be welcomed by Rose and Albus. "Scorpius! Where were you mate? We looked for you everywhere!" The blonde smiled, "Sorry Albus. I, uh... Ran into Fred and James. They were playing a prank on Dominique and I got dragged into it. I'm still not, uh, totally sure what happened to her." Rose rolled her eyes, "I was wondering why her hair was green. Then again, she deserved it. She said Alice was fat, so obviously those two had to unleash their wrath on her." Scorpius chuckled, "yeah, I suppose. Hey, I'm, uh... Going to get a bit of rest before I go down to dinner, okay?" His friends frowned, but didn't question it. "Okay, mate... Well, Rose and I will be down here..."
The blonde nodded, quickly running up the stairs and lying on his bed in the dormitory. Fred's words stuck in his head as Scorpius pressed his face into the pillow. He grinned, knowing that he was one person closer to redeeming himself. He was one step closer to happiness.
When he returned downstairs, now dressed more appropriately in a short sleeved shirt, Scorpius found Rose and Albus curled up quite comfortably on opposite sides of the common room sofa. They both looked up to smile at him, until Rose started giggling the second she saw the blonde.
Scorpius frowned, "w-what?!"
Albus began to laugh as well, "S-Scorpius! You didn't tell us you got freckles!"
The blonde glanced down at him arms, pouting slightly at the sight of the freckles against his pale complexion. "It's my mum. She gets loads of freckles in the summer... It takes a lot for me to tan..."
"We just thought that you didn't go out in the sun because of your hair or something!"
Scorpius rolled his eyes, going back up to the dormitory to change.
As he left, he heard Albus call after him, "No! Scorp! Come back! They're lovely, honestly!"
Judging by the fact they were still laughing when he came back downstairs, Scorpius decided that despite the fact they came from a family of befreckled members, he'd probably have to keep his sleeves down from now on.
"Come on, show us again! We won't laugh!"
"Yes you will!"
And, as they wrestled him out of his jumper, Scorpius started to laugh as well.
LOOK
LOOK GUYS
A HAPPY CHAPTER
WITH GHOST!FRED WEASLEY
AND FRECKLED!SCORPIUS
AND HAPPINESS
I WANTED TO CHEER YOU ALL UP AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER SO HERE YOU GO
I APOLOGISE FOR THE DELAY