Disclaimer: You know, I don't own HP. Boo.

…

"He woke up not so long ago." The Healer told Harry, leading him towards one of the rooms. "He's doing a lot better, but his heart is still weak… we've been giving him strengthening potions every two hours, but as soon as the time's up, it starts failing again."

"So you're not yet sure of what happened to him?" Harry asked.

"No… he doesn't remember, either. But don't worry, we'll find out. He just needs to stay here in case something comes up." The Healer stopped by the closed door, smiling a little bit. "It'll be okay, Harry."

"I know, Parvati… I know you'll do a great job, as always." He offered her a small smile that she returned. "How about O'Halloran and Nash?"

"She's doing much better now that we finally stopped the internal bleeding and used some blood replenishing potions, but she hasn't fully regained consciousness yet… and Nash, he's finally calmed down… the other young Auror couldn't identify what kind of curse he received, but it is very odd indeed. He was cut and burnt, and his brain was somehow affected as well… he's finally coming back to his senses, but he seemed to be disconnected from reality, like he was dreaming, but looked wide awake."

"I have no idea what happened to him." Harry shook his head. "Can I see them?"

"Teddy is right here." She finally opened the door, and Harry was greeted by his brown haired godson, who smiled.

"Sorry about this, Harry." He apologized, making his godfather laugh weakly. Parvati exited the room and closed the door behind her, leaving them alone.

"You scared the living daylights out of me." Harry accused, making the young man smile a bit wider. "It's not funny, Theodore, it was—"

"Theodore? That's not a name you call someone who's almost been killed!" Ted joked, like always. Harry couldn't stop himself from smiling again.

"What happened, Teddy? Did you see who attacked you?" Harry asked. The young Auror shook his head, frowning slightly.

"Last thing I remember is being outside with Heidi… she told me she was going back inside, and that's it. It was suddenly all dark and cold…"

Ted sounded weak, alarming Harry, but then managed another small smile.

"I've never felt like that before, to be honest. It felt as if I was going insane… I kept hearing voices and seeing things, and it hurt." He pointed towards his heart. "A lot. I don't know what happened."

"Dementors?" Harry wondered aloud, making his godson shake his head.

"No, it was different. It didn't feel as if I couldn't feel happy… just as if I was going insane. I heard someone crying, and grandma screaming…" Ted looked deep in thought for a second. "I'm not sure what happened. I've never heard of a spell like that."

"Me neither. He was a very strong wizard… used magic I've never seen before, that's for sure."

"It was a him? I would've sworn it was a woman." Ted's perplexity was evident in his green eyes, and his hair lit up to an unusual light green shade.

"I thought you didn't remember anything?"

"This is kind of embarrassing to admit… but…" Ted's hair changed very fast to a dark shade of blue, which Harry had learned to associate with sadness. He sat by his godson's bed, wondering whether he should pat his shoulder or not. The young man sighed. "The crying… the screaming I heard… it was my mother. You know I've seen her… in the Pensieve with you, the day I turned seventeen. It was definitely her voice. She sounded heartbroken… and there was dad's voice, as well. And as I said before, grandma was crying… but there was a fourth voice, and it was awful… it was a woman's laugh, and it felt as if it was happening right inside my ears, as if she was making fun of me… felt as if she, whoever she was, was invading my head, my thoughts, making me go insane—"

"Legilimency." Harry interrupted in a whisper. Ted looked taken aback.

"Could that be it? I never made eye-contact with anyone tho… of course, I'm not very good at Occlumency…"

"Don't feel bad, neither am I." Harry had a brief flashback of a curtain of greasy black hair and a hooked nose, but chose it ignore it instead, reminding himself that the owner of those ungraceful featured had had a huge participation in his win against Riddle so many years ago. "It does sound as if someone was meddling with your head… but, as I was saying before, the person who attacked Nash was most definitely a man."

"Maybe there were two of them?"

"It certainly is a possibility." Harry muttered, trying to make sense of the situation, but to no avail. Instead of finding an answer, he was startled by the sudden opening of the door, where a very distraught Heidi O'Halloran stood, breathing heavily.

"I know who it was." She said, one of her hands clutching her side, and a small trail of blood falling down the corner of her very pale lips. Harry jumped towards her and held her before she hit the ground, a pack of Healers rushing in, apparently having chased her down the corridor.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, kneeling besides her. She seemed to be slowly slipping into unconsciousness, but Harry signaled the Healers to stop coming towards them. "Heidi?"

"Stevens…" she whispered, her voice feeble. Her body was shaking, but still she was fighting to keep her eyes open. "Hunter…"

…

"Malfoy, try getting your head in the Scrimmage or you'll be cut from the team! I don't care how many Snitches you've caught in the past!" James roared from his broomstick as he watched the game he had organized develop. Scorpius glared, speeding away from him, looking for the small golden orb. The Seeker from the other team was a small second-year, and he wasn't about to lose his position to a 12-year-old.

"Nice one, Lily!" Albus congratulated his sister as she scored yet again, proving that maybe Albus wasn't the most talented Chaser in the Potter family. Scorpius smiled, and suddenly he saw something gold flashing somewhere to his left. He turned fast, and saw the Snitch, flying by the posts that were being guarded by a broad fourth-year boy whose name he wasn't sure of. He realized that the small Seeker boy was on the other side of the pitch, looking around him, oblivious to his sighting. He smirked and raced, securing the ball and feeling its tiny wings flutter inside his hand. He heard Potter blowing his whistle, and they all flew back to the middle of the field.

"Well. I've got our team. Our two Chasers will be Al and Lily…"

"Of course, they're his siblings." A bad-tempered looking curly-haired boy said.

"Shut up, McLaggen, you didn't even score once. Now leave." James said, looking down at his list. "Beaters will be Edie Macmillan and Daniel Wood. Our Keeper shall be Fred Weasley, and Seeker… well, Malfoy, you obviously outflew Geoffrey… so yeah, Malfoy is our Seeker. Training sessions begin Monday, usual time! See you there."

There was much muttering over the selection of the two Potter siblings, but James was paying no attention, too busy talking to Fred about the next Hogsmeade trip. Scorpius watched the rejected fourth-year Keeper leave the place, talking animatedly to the small Colin Creevey, the boy who had tried as Seeker against him.

"Nice catch." Albus commented, patting his shoulder as he caught up to him.

"Nice hundredth goal of the scrimmage." He joked, making the green-eyed boy laugh.

"Did you see Lily? She was amazing! She plays a lot like mum, of course."

"Did you expect to end up playing in a line with your two siblings?"

"Not really, to be honest, but it'll be exciting. When was the last time three siblings played together as Chasers on the same team?"

"You'll have to ask Rose, she's the one who ate Hogwarts: A History when she was 7."

"I heard that." Her voice sounded upset, but she was smiling. "And as a matter-of-fact, I have no idea, Al. Nice try-out, I told you James wouldn't leave you out of the team."

"He sure looked like he wanted to." Albus smiled as he let the words out. "I'm starving."

"That's news." Rose's sarcasm didn't go undetected. "It is lunchtime already… we can grab a bite and then get started on our History of Magic homework."

"Sounds like an amazing way to spend a Saturday!" Rose glared at his cousin, who tried to look innocent. "No, I seriously mean it, Rose! It's not like we could go play in the grounds or go fishing in the lake… studying sounds a lot better!"

"Shut it, Al!" she said, laughing. "Okay, we can relax today… but we'll study tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan." Scorpius didn't mind studying, but relaxing sounded like a lovely idea after the rough week he'd had. He saw a group of three exiting the castle as they approached, and his smile slowly faded when he saw it was Vince Goyle and two other Slytherins. Vince looked gloomy, and it wasn't hard to guess why.

Albus and Rose had noticed them too, but the three of them silently decided to keep on walking, ignoring the boys.

"Malfoy." He was surprised they were addressing him. They all stopped, facing each other. Goyle was the biggest of the three Slytherins. The other two were Nott and Macnair, the first small and skinny, and the second shorter but stronger-looking.

"What do you want?" Albus asked, trying hard to control his voice: Goyle wasn't too bad, but Nott and Macnair were usually amongst those who teased Scorpius every day.

"We're speaking to Malfoy, Potter." Macnair snapped in his raspy voice. Albus glowered at him, his hand finding his wand.

"It's okay, Al. What is it, Goyle?" he finally asked, looking into the other boy's eyes. He could see the pain hiding just behind those dark eyes, because he had gotten so used to seeing it in his own reflection every morning.

"Take this, and read it alone." Goyle looked at the roll of parchment he was carrying, and gave it to the confused blond. "I was told not to… but you deserve to know. Come on, guys."

The three of them left, not looking back at the Gryffindor trio. Albus was still holding his wand, but didn't look murderous anymore: he simply looked stunned.

"Well… that was strange." He sentenced, putting his wand away. They remained silent for a few seconds, just looking at the three boys walking away. Finally, Rose turned towards Scorpius, opening her mouth.

"Lunch." Scorpius reminded them before she asked about the message he had received, and she didn't press the matter further: he wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to share whatever it said with the cousins, not yet at least: the pain in Goyle's eyes had so mirrored the one in his heart that he thought, he supposed, he knew he must read that alone. Albus and Rose were his world right now, but some things he knew he had to do alone.

He didn't speak much during lunch, and his friends didn't push him to do so either. He heard them discussing whether it would be a good idea to go fishing in the lake after eating, but wasn't catching on to much of the details: whatever it was, he would probably agree.

"Hello." A blonde girl approached them with a small smile. "How are you doing?"

"Hey, Anne." Albus replied immediately, smiling widely. Scorpius had to conceal his laughter in a coughing fit. Rose, on the other hand, suddenly seemed to have the urge to stab her food with vicious force. "Do you want to sit with us?"

"No, thank you. I was just wondering if I could borrow your Muggle Studies notes, Al… I seem to have lost mine."

"Sure, no problem. I don't have them with me right now, but I could bring them down for dinner."

"Oh… well, I was hoping to study during the day, but if you can't, that's okay." The girl said, throwing her long silvery blonde hair over her shoulder. Scorpius looked at her for a second, his mouth slightly agape, but was quickly kicked under the table by the red-haired girl. He snapped out of it, setting his grey eyes on Rose's blues, which seemed to be about to start shooting curses.

"I can get them from my room. I'll be right back!" Albus stood up quite abruptly, tripping over the bench and almost falling, making the people around them laugh a bit. He just ignored them and proceeded to jog down between the two tables.

"You can go back to your table, Annabelle. I'm sure Al will find you there." Rose said with a fake smile. The Hufflepuff girl smiled at her and left, sitting amongst her friends at the next table over.

"You look murderous." Scorpius noted, trying not to smile. Rose glared at him. "Hey, I'm not the one who ran like a puppy asked to fetch something."

"I can't stand that girl!" she snapped. Scorpius nodded. "She's so arrogant and full of herself and I hate how she gets everyone to do what she wants." He nodded again, knowing that he'd get an earful if he disagreed. "And Albus always falls for it, he's such a man! And even you got all stary-eyed when she did that stupid hair flip—"

"What can I say, little cousin? They say a nice behind draws more than a yoke of oxen." Fred said matter-of-factly as he sat on the seat that had just been vacated by Albus and started eating his food. "Right, James?"

"Sadly, it is true." The oldest Potter boy answered, sitting on Rose's other side. "Poor baby Al has fallen under the spell of the one-eighth Veela girl. I don't blame him though, I wouldn't mind getting a piece—"

"Shut up, James." Rose interrupted, elbowing her older cousin's side, making him laugh.

"Are you going to eat that?" Fred asked, looking at Rose's half finished plate, obviously done with Albus' lunch.

"Yes. Now please, go away!" she snapped. The two teenagers laughed, getting up and messing her hair before leaving. "Ugh, I hate them so much!"

"I can tell."

"Stop grinning, Scorpius Malfoy, it is NOT funny!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. But you should calm down, it's not that bad. Albus is usually very well behaved, and you don't have to see him drooling over her in Muggle Studies like I do, so you should be thankful."

"Like you don't drool as well." She expressed, frowning deeply. "Here he comes…"

Surely enough, Albus was back, carrying his Muggle Studies notes. He went straight to the Hufflepuff table, where Annabelle greeted him with a huge smile. She stood up to talk to him, and Rose was glaring at them from her place.

"Rose, you should calm down…"

"If that bimbo hurts him, I will curse the magic out of her." She muttered, her ears as red as every time she was angry.

"Al knows how to take care of himself." Scorpius said, looking over his shoulder at his friend, who was still talking to the Hufflepuff girl, who was laughing very graciously. He had to admit the girl was probably the best-looking girl in their year but just because of her heritage: she just stunned people with her beauty in a way that came out as unnatural. Finally Albus made his way to the Gryffindor table, a wide grin across his face.

"Why so happy? Did your jog up the stairs brighten up your day?" Rose asked snarkily.

"I invited Annabelle to go to Hogsmeade with me." He announced, sitting by her again. "And she said yes."

Scorpius decided it was a good time to go back to eating and day-dreaming so he wouldn't have to consciously put up with Rose's complaints.

…

"He's living in London, it shouldn't be too hard to find him." Hermione told him, closing her office's door. Harry nodded, looking down at his half-empty bottle of Butterbeer. "Are you sure he's involved?"

"One of the Aurors injured, Heidi O'Halloran, says she recognized him. He was in Hogwarts at the same time as Ted, just a couple of years above."

"Hufflepuff, according to the school's records." She added, pointing at the piece of parchment on her desk. Harry picked it up and read it, his eyes tired. "Have you slept?"

"Not much, really. It's been crazy, with Ted in the hospital and this whole fiasco…"

"Is Teddy doing better?"

"Yeah, they put him on some Muggle medicine that seems to be doing well to his heart… they're still not sure what happened, but as long as he's getting better…" he sounded doubtful, and his friend was quick to pick that up.

"But…?"

"It's just disheartening, whoever these people are, they seem to be extremely skilled, and what they did to Ted, Heidi and Matt… I don't know, Hermione, it's very strange. This is exactly why I want to find Hunter Stevens myself to see if we can find something that will lead us to the bottom of this."

"We'll find him, Harry. We won't let this go further."

"Thanks. I appreciate your help. Just like when we were younger." He said, smiling. Hermione laughed, the corners of her eyes showing small wrinkles, the proof that they no longer were 17.

"Ron told me you went to Hogwarts a few days ago." She commented, waving her wand towards the muggle coffee-maker in the corner.

"I went to talk to Goyle's son personally, and coincidentally got to talk to Scorpius as well."

"Rose is mad worried about him." Hermione sighed. "She says he's acting almost too normal for what happened…"

"I can't believe Malfoy is dead." Harry stated, shaking his head. "I talked to him the morning of that same day he and Astoria were killed. He was planning a family vacation to some beach in France before Scorpius went back to school. He asked me if I'd let Albus come along with them… he hadn't told Scorpius about it when we spoke, but I told him that if Al wanted to go with them, he was allowed to. It seems like such a normal thing to speak about… not in a million year I would've thought he'd die just a few hours later."

"I've grown to be quite fond of Scorpius… Ron doesn't agree, of course, but I like the boy. He's very polite and gentle, not at all like Draco was when we were in school."

"Astoria made sure her only child was protected and kept away from anything too dodgy. By talking to him I realized he has no much real idea of what Draco did and didn't do, nor about Lucius Malfoy's works either. He was just kept in a small perfect world… he barely has one recollection of his father arguing with his grandfather, and even of that he doesn't know much. I meant to speak to Narcissa about it, but Andromeda said she hadn't been too well lately…"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. Hermione waved her wand to open it, greeting her husband with a smile that wasn't returned.

"Are you okay, Ron?" she asked, standing up. Ron walked into the room, closing the door behind him. His face looked almost disgusted.

"He left." He spat, shaking his head. "Conway left. He left his cubicle, took all his things. He didn't even bother with resigning, he just disappeared."

"Are you serious?" Harry's heart sank. He didn't particularly like Conway, but the young Auror was surely skilled and experienced, not to mention his leadership qualities. "I'll go find him. I'll send you a Patronus if I need you."

"I'll go with you." Ron held his friend's arm.

"Me too." Hermione added, holding Harry's free arm.

"Just like old times, eh?" Harry joked, but he was deeply grateful for his friends' constant presence over the last 30 years.

…

Hey! This is probably the last update in a while, but that doesn't mean I'll stop writing! Classes start again on Monday so I'll be really busy again, but I won't abandon this story: I'm having way too much fun writing it!

I hope you liked this one, and I'll be waiting for your reviews, eh? :P

-Phankam