Chapter Twenty-two

The leaves had been vibrant, but they lost their color and fell; the rain had come and poured from the skies, but the pavement eventually dried; the snow had sprinkled white and covered the mountains, but it was melting in a steady pace now. The seasons were changing fast, indicating that the time was also going away with it. With a blink of an eye everything around started transforming, starting from good and twisting into nasty shades of a murky gray.

Two months had passed, but it was already feeling like an eternity. The school year had never seemed to drag on before, but with all of the deaths, accidents, and heartbreaks that had occurred, it was painfully pulling everyone down. (Well, some more than others.)

There were whispers being spread around the castle of Hogwarts for the last couple of weeks. People muttering under their breaths about rumors they had heard, serious matters that no student should have known. Nothing was clear, no one to confirm or deny what was going around, but they still passed the word around. Heads turned when certain people walked by, others looked in mourning or in worry, others cried and hid from their peers - but then again, the mind plays tricks when you are the most vulnerable.

And those are the times you find yourself making a storm inside a goblet of water.

"- -Oi, look." Removing his glare from two Second Year Hufflepuffs that he was sure were talking about him, Scorpius Malfoy zoomed his attention back to his table as three Gryffindors came marching at a fast pace. (Making a mental-note to remind those puny kids to think twice before looking his way.) "I just got this from Alice!"

Finding himself once again - like Deja Vu - being snapped away from his fantasies of a curvy redhead, Angelo Zabini huffed as he grabbed the newspaper Fred had chucked at the center of the table. "This better not be an article on some Herbology rubbish about Professor Longbottom finding a plant that can fully cure Dragonpox." He warned. "I am not in the mood to look at pictures of old wizards with purple bumps on their bums praising Neville like Merlin with an itching-relief potion."

"Gross." Lily stuck her tongue out, pushing away a half-eaten pumpkin pasty. "Mum showed me those pictures before I left home, she went mental because I kept playing in the mud."

"Yeah, and everyone knows you can't get Dragonpox from the mud." Peyton Weasley chirped, tossing his emerald tie to the side and scratching his neck aggressively. "Mothers, eh?"

"Oh, bloody hell." Zabini groaned. "I let you borrow my cloak last week, Weasley!"

"Will someone just read it!" Fred shouted at the people present, earning the attention of a few other students in the library.

"- -I'll read it." Speaking softly from a seat next to the blonde Slytherin, Lana McLaggen took the newspaper from Angelo's hands before he could swat Peyton with it. "If you don't mind."

Standing next to Fred and Louis, having caught all of the oxygen she had used up when she rushed over with them, Rose raised an eyebrow at Lana. "By all means, McLaggen, go ahead." She said politely, smiling at the girl - but as soon as Lana looked down, Rose rolled her eyes. "...I didn't even know she could read." She mumbled.

"Shh."Louis elbowed her, frowning like a loyal puppy to the Slytherin witch. (That traitor.)

"In the late hours of yesterday evening, Diagon Alley was submitted into a total lock-down by the Ministry of Magic- -" Lana began, furrowing her brows as the table went quiet and everyone listened in. "By the time our reporters arrived to the scene, Diagon Alley was surrounded by Ministry Officials; who closed down the entire perimeter and did not allow access. However, we would not be your Daily Prophet if we could not provide you with the real scoop and the constant information we specialize in."

"Go on, Lana." Louis called, aiming the girl as smile as she stopped.

But not paying particularly much attention to it, Lana handed Rose the newspaper; turning in the next second to look at her blank-looking boyfriend. "I...I've got this bad feeling in my chest." She whispered to him. "...My mum wrote me a letter yesterday morning, she was going to be at Madam Malkin's all day. She was helping her design new dresses for the upcoming month."

Nothing crossed through Scorpius's head because he didn't particularly care, he just did the most sensible thing he could without looking like a coldhearted bastard in front of the people. He took her hand and squeezed. (That is reassurance enough, isn't it?)

"Let's see here." Rose huffed, trying to contain her insides from vomiting themselves up her throat by Malfoy's affection towards the clueless witch. "Blah, Blah. Aha, here we are- -"She said incoherently after skimming through the article.

Alyssa Wood was apprehended and disarmed after attacking several families and a few others. One of which include the famous naturalist, Luna Thomas. It is reported by the witnesses present, that Alyssa Wood performed an Unforgivable on many of her victims; some that even lead back to the Leaky Cauldron where the culprit is currently staying in.

To these serious accusations, Head Auror Potter had this to say: "The situation was contained as soon as my Aurors appeared on site. All of those who were harmed were taken to St. Mungo's urgently, and the others sent home. Diagon Alley will only be closed until some of my specialized Aurors make their rounds. It is just a protection precaution, nothing more."

Some of the injured, however, seem to refuse to place charges against the culprit. Including Mrs. Thomas who was severely hurt and finds herself in a secluded ward in the hospital. When asked about the release of an obviously dangerous witch, Head Auror Potter was not a hesitant to explain - "Miss Wood was placed under the Imperius Curse, there is no doubt about that. The skilled witches and wizards who were attacked immediately saw the lack of focus in the girl's eyes, and because of it, Miss Wood will not be held responsible."

"- -Oh, what a load of rubbish." Angelo interrupted Rose's reading. "How can they let her go? That woman is mad! Who in their right mind attacks Luna?"

Folding the Prophet, Rose frowned at the dark-skinned Slytherin. "Obviously someone who is not in their right mind, Zabini." She crossed her arms as Fred gave a nod of agreement. "I met her during the holidays, she's uncle Harry's new secretary."

Lily nodded also, but much more sadly. Her eyes sparkling at the information of her Godmother being hurt.

"Something must be out to get the Thomas family, mates." Louis pointed out. "Dean did get in an accident that almost cost him his life, then Luna gets viciously attack by some nutter off the streets."He looked around at the concerned expressions. "Is it just me or is there something foul going around?"

"Whatever it might have been, it is probably over." Zabini responded. "The Ministry is involved now, I don't think we should all be too panicked. We've got the best Aurors in all of Britain."

"Technically that's not true, Teddy just got promoted." Peyton commented, scratching his arm viciously. "I think we lose to Bulgaria now."

Lily rolled her eyes and stood from the table, pulling her cousin up from his chair. "Come on, Peyton, we got to find Dawn. She's going to be distraught when she finds out."

"Does that mean we have to find the Thomas twins?" Louis's eyes shot open, watching as Rose's brother was dragged away by Lily; kicking and whining. "Because Fred and I got plans with James."

"Go." Rose ordered, pointing her finger towards the direction the little ones of her family left. "And be nice about it, Louis, it's their mother."

"Why do we always have to do the 'right thing' in this family?" The blonde Gryffindor groaned, glaring at Rose as Fred shrugged. "New rule, mate - we are no longer sticking our noses where it doesn't belong. Next time Alice Longbottom hands you something, throw it at her face and lets run for it."

"Zabini, up."

"But I- -"

"Up."

"But I'm not a part of your family!"Angelo reminded the girl, moaning in despair as she furrowed her eyebrows and waited until he collected his schoolbag. "I give money to the needy, Rose, I don't volunteer."

"Quit your complaining, Zabini, we're not going to enjoy this either." Louis grabbed the Slytherin's robes, pulling him out the library as Fred followed behind silently.

"I should check the Owlery." Lana said after a few tensed seconds, noticing that the redhead Gryffindor did not follow her cousins. Instead she stood rigidly by the table, her brown-eyes looking at her and Malfoy with an expecting glint to them. "I'll see you at the Common Room later, yeah?"

Nodding his head once, Scorpius stretched a little smile on his face as his girlfriend moved his blonde hair away from his forehead; taking the opportunity to reach forward and press a kiss to the skin there.

"Lovely." Rose murmured after a moment of watching Malfoy look at Lana walk away. His silver-eyes following after hers with an essence of longing, but looking blank at the same time. "You two have lasted quite long. Definitely a shocker, if I may say."

Scorpius turned to Rose, his eyes lingering on her face with that bored expression he always gave her. Not bothering to say anything at all.

Taking the seat across from the blonde, Rose tried to look friendly. Pulling on an endearing smile and trying not to glower at his face.(His people skills sucked and she hated that he never tried to improve them.) "I actually lost a couple of sickles along with other Gryffindor girls. We wagered that you two wouldn't last a month, but here you are...The two of you growing strong."

He dropped that bored expression, replacing it with the glare that was starting to become usual for him. "Making bets on my behalf again, Weasley? I thought you learned your lesson when you wagered that I wouldn't knock you off of your broom that one Quidditch game years back." He didn't know what was starting to anger him, the fact that the redhead had the nerve to bet against how long his relationship with Lana McLaggen would last, or if he actually had it in him to make someone happy. "You ended up with a sprained arm, do you want that to happened again?"

"Breathe, Malfoy." Rose added quickly, trying to keep the conversation at peace. "I'm just...I'm trying to tell you that I'm...happy for your relationship with Lana."

It took his skilled reflexes not to raise his eyebrow in shock, so instead he gave her that tiny smile he had given his girlfriend. "She's a sweet girl."

And if he tried not to look surprised, Rose tried not to gag or roll her eyes at his comment. (Leave it to Malfoy to make everything bad. Like if she honestly cared if Lana McLaggen was sweet. The girl was a hollow bint, and Rose couldn't believe she had even lost her sickles in the first place.) "Love finds you in the strangest places, doesn't it?"

"Love is a strong word." Scorpius said automatically to Rose, correcting her statement and the suggestion of something else in her voice.

"...It is." She smiled dimly, her brown-eyes lingering on his face. "You love Lana." And something inside of her held itself together, not permitting to let that feeling of hurt in her chest take over and break something.

Scorpius practically scoffed. "I don't."

"You don't care about a lot of people, Malfoy, but when you do...there's something in your eyes." Rose whispered. "You follow Lana around with your stare and you are always cautious of every step that she takes...That's called love."

"It's called being protective of the person you are with, Weasley." The blonde took it upon himself to correct her again. (How dare she be tossing that L-word around and tie him into it?) "If Damien McLaggen wasn't so full of rubbish, he'd probably be wary of you and the disaster you storm up wherever you go."

Rose's solemn expression deflated, a frown crawling on her face. "Maybe so, Malfoy, but Damien is not afraid of love."She crossed her arms, looking angry. "The things that happen between his parents did not cripple him - nor Lana for that matter - to love the people closest to them. And unlike him, that's a quality you lack."

Scorpius frowned back, even more aggressively. "What does that mean, Weasley?"

"It means that your parents have made you an idiot to love someone, Scorpius." Rose hissed at him, leaning forward as Madam Pince passed behind her. "It's just like them if you think about it."

"You know nothing about my parents."Scorpius pressed his fist roughly into the tabletop, wanting his eyes to explode flames and fry the redhead in front of him. "My parents have had fifteen years of great marriage - -" He glared deeper as the girl scoffed as his remark. "They have nothing to do with me not being 'in love' with someone - no one here is worth it."

Rose swallowed a knot in her throat and scoffed again. "Right."

Settling the shaking in his right fist, Scorpius straightened his back on the chair. A small sneer appearing on his face. "You disagree." He responded lightly, mock in his tone. "Doesn't surprise me, you always thought too much of yourself." And just as the redhead look taken aback, Malfoy let his sneer expand. "Let's get one thing out in the air, shall we? If I ever get fortunate enough to have a marriage like my parents, it will be with someone worth while. And you, Rose, are not worth while."

The Gryffindor witch bit her lip, stopping a cry from escaping her body. "I don't- -"

"Of course you don't." Malfoy interjected, rolling his silvery-eyes as he stood from his chair. "You should pray to Merlin that McLaggen can actually fall in love with you instead of just wanting to pass the time - he's your only option."

"- -Maybe you should pray to Merlin, you spineless git." Rose snapped, something inside her exploding with anger as he burst the soft bubble in her chest. "You want to have a marriage like you parents? Please. They are in the middle of a bloody divorce, Malfoy - Oh, yes, I can imagine the endless happiness you'll be in."

Feeling like he got punched in the gut with an iron beater's bat, Scorpius let his confusion seep onto his face. "What...What divorce?"

"Why don't you let daddy dearest tell you? I'm not going to break Teddy's promise." Rose grabbed the Daily Prophet from the table and stood from the chair. "Have a splendid day, Scorpius."

She left him standing there on his own - his world falling all around him, but she couldn't care. With every step that she took his words echoed in her ear, and she was emotionally exhausted when it came to him. He had purposely tore her heart, and she left him there.

Finally, her turn to walk away.

X

She couldn't sleep.

The noises inside of her dormitory were excruciating loud the entire two hours she attempted to sleep; the sound digging their way into her eardrums and drilling themselves there. She had tossed and turned countless of times, and even attempted to count Hippogriffs for twenty minutes. But once she found herself counting the same Hippogriff for what was the hundredth time, she placed her feet on the cold marbled of the room and lifted herself away from her four-poster.

Hope this helps.

I'm sorry,

J.P.

She turned the corner of the corridor, her footsteps faint and graceful on the ground as she kept her eyes focused on the thin strip of paper between her fingers. Reading the escape and silver-lining to the miserable night that she was experiencing a few hours ago.

She had walked all over the castle, even stopped inside an empty Potions classroom and sat there for what seemed like ages. Her mind was everywhere and she could not make her thoughts come back into the now and focus; everything just seemed too complex and unbearable that her mind had gone M.I.A from her own self-will.

"Password?"

With her thoughts threatening to flee into somewhere in the past or somewhere secluded, the girl looked up with the remaining of her self-control at the giant woman looking at her. Her pink dress glowing an almost faded red by the light of the candle, her old expression twisted into a scowl from the sudden disruption of her sleep.

"Password?" The Fat Lady spoke again, this time a little louder than before.

"Lemon drop." The girl said, clearing her throat uncomfortably as the portrait swung open and she could see the view of her common room. "Thank you." She added, entering quickly as the portrait began closing rapidly behind her.

'In the darkness, things are always more miserable than they seem, but if you turn on the light, you remember that everything has a solution.'

'...Poet, are you now, Potter?'

'I'd like to consider myself talented with words.' James Potter spoke, taking a seat next to her on the grassy ground as someone else took the seat on the opposite side. 'We knew we would find you here.'

'This is your hill after all.' Al commented in a low voice, his emerald eyes flicking towards her. '- -You should come inside, it's starting to get cold now.'

'You know what happened.' She stated, already knowing the reason why the two Potter brothers were coexisting for the time being.

James sighed. 'Of course we know.'

She huffed lightly, a humorless smile appearing on her face. 'You should leave now, both of you.'

'But- -'

'But what?' The girl interrupted Al, stopping him in his tracks before he could say how sorry they were and how they just wanted to help. (But they seemed to be forgetting she was not a charity case.) 'What can either of you possibly tell me to make it better?'

There was silence among the three, just the sound of the wind dragging leaves across the grounds of Hogwarts.

'Love is complicated - in more ways than we will ever know.'

'Should you actually be speaking about love, Al?' She turned her gaze towards the youngest Potter son, frowning deeply at him. 'You can't even fight for what you want, what can you possibly say? You know nothing about love - neither of you do.' She corrected before she could throw all the pressure at Al as she caught sight of James as well.

'I love you.' James said, placing a hand on hers. 'You know I do.'

She scoffed again, but it was drowned away by the intense silence Al Potter submerged himself into. He just watched as the leaves keep flying by them, his fists clenched together, and his brother wooing the smallest concept of love he had left.

She was right, and they all knew it. That's why the silence reigned on and she was left to wallow in her misery.

"- -You're late."

Blinking away the memory she had before the sun had faded away, Ariana furrowed her brows at the figure glowing orange by the fireplace. "...What are you doing here?" She asked in a whisper, crossing her arms as she stopped on her way towards the girls dormitories.

"Waiting for you."Silver-eyes that burned copper because of the flames turned to look up at her. Appearing solemn and blank as hers looked disturbed and slightly shocked. "You took your sweet time in the Potions classroom, but you did leave right on time. Mrs. Norris was starting to circle that level of the castle when you decided to leave."

Ariana frowned lightly. "How do you even know any of this?"

"A handy-dandy map, beast." Scorpius raised a wrinkled pack of parchment at his sister, his body still comfortably sprawled on the small couch by the flames of the Gryffindors fireplace. "It shows you where everyone in this castle is at any minute of the day." A sneer crossed his face. "For example, if you wanted to know where the Poltergeist was, I can tell you Peeves has spent the past hour in the girls lavatory in the second floor."

"I knew Moaning Myrtle was cheerful lately."Ariana grimaced. "It seems like she has gotten herself a boyfriend."

"Even the dead need company."

But as quickly as she was getting side-tracked by the nasty piece of information, she pulled on her frown again as her brother's sneer glowed by the fire. "Where did you get the Marauders Map from Scorpius? And how did you even get in?"

Tucking the map back into his Slytherin robes, the blonde boy shrugged at his sister. "Al let me borrow it. It seemed he was feeling rather guilty about a fight you two had, and he knew you were going to sneak your way out." He stared at her like he knew that there was a deeper meaning to the reason why she had been fighting with his best friend a lot more than usual. (And even though his skin began to crawl at the mere thought, Malfoy did his best not to hex Al in the face when he handed him the map.)

"That map belongs to James." Ariana pointed out, ignoring his penetrating gaze. "He's going to kill your little friend once he finds out he took his map."

Scorpius rolled his eyes, not particularly caring. "How did you manage to get out, beast? Did the giants pull you out the window?"

"You still haven't told me how you got in."

"Little Lily Luna of course." Scorpius said with a tone that suggested that the answer should have been obvious. "It seems that all of Gryffindor-house is quite worried about you, beast, that none of them particularly cared that I was hanging about in their common room. They all knew why I was here, and no complaint escaped them." He uncrossed his arms, smiling. "Especially not from the girls of this house. I practically caused a riot, none of them wanted to go to bed."

Ariana rolled her eyes. "Well...apparently we found excellent help with the Potter family." She raised a black cloak in the air, letting her brother take in the magic of the material she was holding.

"That belongs to Al." Scorpius replied, throwing her another all-knowing stare as he mimicked her. "He's going to hex your little boyfriend to pieces once he finds out that he is lending the Potters famous invisibility cloak out to any animal he sees."

And at that, Ariana lost any shred of interest to know why Scorpius had invaded her common room; she just gave him a glare and hoped he would combust into particles that would fly out of the nearest window. "...I'm not in the mood to fight, Scorpius."She mumbled tiredly as she plopped herself on the seat next to him. "Just leave."

At the proximity the girl had taken, Scorpius recoiled into the corner of the small couch, his eyes turning to look at the flames giving them warmth. "...Did you ever imagine we would find ourselves in this situation?" He asked her lowly. "...Not knowing how to handle it?"

The Gryffindor fingered the cloak on her lap, a knot appearing inside her throat. A knot full of emotions that it was forbidding any wave of air to pass down normally. "I always...I always thought they would last f-forever." She braved herself to say through the knot. "I just d-don't understand what went wrong.."

"Everyone talks to us like we are clueless." The blonde's voice came out a bit rough. Frowning at the memories of people just patting his back, giving him a smile like he was four again and he had just lost his owl and they tried to explain 'where' it went. (It was dead, not coming back - how hard was it to get to the point instead of making him believe there was some owl-heaven?) "And what's worse is they don't talk to us..."

Ariana felt a burning sensation build underneath the skin of her nose; causing her eyes to water in the process. "We are supposed to be a family." She squeaked against her will, her chest contracting from the lack of oxygen she was getting. "What about D-Demi? They have forgotten about her, Scorpius. How can...We're just not complete anymore. Everything has gone to hell and that's it...That's i-it.."

I don't want love to destroy me like it did my family, Scorpius thought to himself bitterly as he watched his little sister blink away a few tears. He had spent the rest of the day since Rose Weasley brutally told him about the divorce between his parents locked away inside himself. He had clenched his teeth, his hands formed in fists, and the cruel fight in his blood ready to ignite itself into dangerous sparks. He had pushed his best friends away, loathing that they all already knew about his situation before him. (All of them sworn not to say that the Malfoy family no longer existed.)

But as he walked around in his secluded anger, he ended up in front of the Fat Lady. Not exactly knowing at the moment why he was there but that when he looked at the lonesome dot on the map that read Ariana Malfoy in a Potions classroom, Scorpius figured that there was someone inside the castle of Hogwarts that did get him. There was someone who was lost in solitaire, someone who had the same anger burning in their heart, someone who also had their world crashed down around them.

He never had much to say to her - basically because he was sure his mother had picked her up from a gang of trolls and she was inferior to him - but Scorpius had the strangest sensation that he just needed to be there for Ariana. Because she was that someone; that someone that understood his silent pain.

"Demi, you, and I- -" Without knowing what was possessing him, Scorpius pushed himself away from the corner of the couch; throwing an arm around Ariana's her completely off guard, causing her to raise her fist in the air for defense at his sudden contact. "We are still a family, beast."

Their matching silver eyes connected, the two offspring of Hermione and Draco Malfoy looking at each other for the first time in years with gazes of sympathy. A look of warmth, of understanding; of brother and sister.

And with a quivering bottom lip, Ariana did something she swore that she would never do in her life. She cried - cried in front of Scorpius. She clung onto her brother's arm, letting him reel her in towards his chest as she gripped his Slytherin robes with that anger in her blood burning like flames.

Narrowing his eyes from the overload of emotions and misery circling the Gryffindor common room, Scorpius whispered the main thought carving itself onto his brain. "...We're still a family." Not sure whether he was trying to ease Ariana's pain, or convince both of them that it was true.

Because his family was torn now, and he knew that he needed a miracle to make it work again. But as a Malfoy he was positive of one thing - there was no such thing as a miracle.

They were screwed, and that was that.

AN: Hmmm...Can you guys sense the love? No? Well then, I guess I did my job. Lol.

I had like this major idea planned out in my head about how Scorpius and Ariana would show their sibling love and all that nice fluffy family stuff, but then I thought...THEY'RE MALFOY'S! That does NOT work out. Lol. So this is the closest it came to, hope you like.

Thank you so much for all of you that wished my sickness away. It made my week :)