Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Crux of the Alchemist

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (VI): While the Shadow War continues far away from the walls of Hogwarts, Scorpius is left facing the frustration of being stuck inside starting his first year of NEWT classes. He finds himself drawn to the mysterious new Alchemy professor, the subject itself shedding light on certain things while Shadows and a defector lurk closer then he realizes. COMPLETE

3. Chapter 3: Searching

Parts (8-12)

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VI

Chapter 3

Searching

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Part 1: Scheduling In

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Crystal was a nervous wreck, she couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat - if she tried, she just threw it back up as soon as Bertie's limbs crossed her mind - and she'd been sent home from work because she was so unfocused she was all but useless. She didn't blame them, her mind felt paralyzed and thoughts had to make it through the thoughts of Bertie clogging her head and the deafening beat of her heart. His finger had come Saturday, his ear had come Sunday and a toe on Monday. She put them in ice and kept them in the freezer, hoping - likely and stupidly in vain - he'd be returned in time that they could be reattached.

She didn't know how they got there, she would just return to the kitchen and find it there on the table. On the inside of each lid was an address to send Jack to when she found him, unfortunately she hadn't heard back from Jack or the owl yet. She almost broke down crying as she picked other three to school that day, it should have been Bertie's first day. The fact the others were starting to ask more questions didn't help either, she was glad when it was their bedtime finally. Then she could just sit anxiously in the kitchen, staring out the window waiting for John's owl to return or Jack to show up or.. something.

"Crystal Sanford, is it?" a voice questioned and she jumped about a foot in the air, spinning to see more strange people in the kitchen.

There was a teenage girl with red hair, freckles and muddy brown eyes accompanied the speaker, a man in his forties with steely gray eyes and messy dark brown hair spattered with grays. He had a vivid scar across his face, running diagonally from the right side of his forehead above the eye straight through to the far side of his left cheek. Did they work for the red-haired man?

"I don't know where Jack is!" Crystal blurted out desperately, why was that so hard to believe?! The man struck her - hard - and she fell back into the chair with her eye now stinging and fear filling her yet again as memories of Bob flashed in her mind, he flicked his wand and the arm rests wrapped themselves around her wrists to keep her in place.

"We're not looking for Jack Thorne," the man growled as he stepped forwards, the girl stood watching blankly, "We're looking for Pyrrhus Florian."

"Who?" Crystal wondered in confusion and the man struck her again.

"Pyrrhus Florian," the man repeated more slowly and clearly, as if that would make her suddenly know it.

"I still don't know who that is!"

The man jabbed his wand at her and there was a flash of red then Crystal felt pain shooting through her, every fiber of her being felt as if thousands of red hot drills were boring into her body. She could hear herself screaming and her bound body trying to writhe against the pain.

"Stop!" a girl's voice cried abruptly and the pain stopped, receding waves still washing over her and her body shook against her will. She saw it was the teenager who'd spoken, she felt a flicker of hope the girl might not be so bad.

"You wanted to be a witch, if you want to learn magic from us then you better stop being so soft," the man informed her with a smirk.

"I'm not being soft, Selwyn," the girl scoffed, stepping forwards and folding her arms as if offended, "I feed of pain now, remember? She was in more pain when you hit her, physical and emotional pain. It tastes juicier if you beat on her, you'll get more information that way too."

"I don't know who Pyrrhus Florian is!" Crystal cried and the man she'd called Selwyn lashed out at her again and again, she tasted blood in her mouth after the first blow and memories of Bob blinded her vision.

"And just to be clear," the girl interrupted and Selwyn stopped, Crystal tried to look through bleary eyes trying to swell shut to see the girl throw him a dark look, "I didn't say to stop beating her, I'm hungry."

"I don't take orders from you, they hear better this way," Selwyn insisted.

"Pyrrhus Florian is a youngish kind of guy, lanky and nutty with red hair - darker shade then mine - and purple eyes. Do you know who that guy is?"

"Yes," Crystal confirmed, trying not to nod but her throbbing head objected, "H-He was here. He was looking for Jack."

"Why?" Selwyn demanded.

"I don't know why," Crystal offered and he hit her again, she saw stars as her head hit the back of the chair, "I don't know why! He didn't say! He just wanted to find him and thought I knew, h-he took my-my son. My li-little boy, s-said he'd send him b-back in pieces if I d-didn't find him."

"And you don't know where Jack is," Selwyn mused as she'd said as much earlier, the girl started checking the fridge and freezer.

"She's right, there's body parts," the girl confirmed, looking visibly upset as she closed the door, "That's horrible."

"But effective. I bet you're trying to find Jack for him now, aren't you?"

"Y-Yes," Crystal stammered out, just as Ivy ran into the kitchen.

"Can I have a glass of water, pl-" Ivy froze as she saw the strangers, fear filling her little face.

"Run, Ivy!" Crystal screamed at her and Ivy turned on her heel to do so.

"Stop if you don't want me to hurt your Mummy," Selwyn offered with another punch and Ivy froze immediately, "You don't want me to hurt your Mummy, do you?"

"No," Ivy whimpered and turned back, tears in her eyes. Crystal opened her mouth to insist she run but Selwyn clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her, "Please, don't hurt my Mummy."

"Then do as I say and come here," Selwyn commanded and Ivy walked over obediently, he let go of Crystal's mouth to take Ivy's hand, "Now... Ivy, was it?"

"Yes."

"Ivy is going to come with us for a little bit," Selwyn told her as he walked back over to the teenager, he flicked his wand and the chair let Crystal go, "If you want her back whole then find us Pyrrhus Florian, we'll check in daily."

"NO!" Crystal screamed desperately, jumping up uselessly but the girl put her hand on Selwyn's shoulder and the three vanished into the darkness. She sunk to the ground where they'd just been, sobbing.

Fuck's sake, Bob's voice spat in her mind and she flinched violently in terror, stupidly expecting him to be there to continue beating her or worse, Can't you do anything right?! Now you've lost two of them!

---

Scorpius spent most of the Saturday 'relaxing' - he shut up about it but inwardly the guilt gnawed at him - because his friends seemed determined to keep an eye on him - although he did use this to his advantage to let Michael search his trunk for alcohol, thankfully he found none - after his poisoning, the rest of the time he spent practicing his animagi training. He transformed somehow every try without fail now, not completely yet but something was always happening which was both more tiring, sometimes painful and a good sign he was closer. He fell asleep to strange nightmares he could only half-remember regarding Ashylos and Rojer, waking early and in a sweat. He was the only one up although Michael's bed was empty, murky orange light filtered in through the curtains.

He decided to just go ahead and get up, not even wanting to attempt trying to get back to sleep with more nightmares. He'd just have to try put it out of his mind. He got washed and dressed, finding it a strange feeling to have to pin his Captain badge onto his robes. Especially since he was so used to seeing it on Molly, he was the Captain now though. He pulled out the Map - the Marauder's Map, that was - which showed where most people were in Hogwarts, checking Michael's location and found him already in the Great Hall as expected. He also couldn't help but scan for a different name and found a dot labelled simply 'Rojer' in one of the disused towers, about as far removed from anyone else as one could be in Hogwarts. He supposed it made sense, Ashylos hadn't seemed to have a last name and must not have given Rojer one. It only further nailed in that he really was Ashylos' son. Sighing unhappily, he put the map away and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Scorpius?" a small voice questioned just as he was about to enter the Great Hall. He turned to see it was Martha, the girl from the train who was now adorned in Hufflepuff robes.

"Hi Martha," Scorpius greeted her pleasantly and mustered a smile, "How's things?"

"Well, I made Hufflepuff," Martha offered nervously, gesturing to her robes, "Did not expect that but erm... it's alright, the Common Room is pretty neat and Auriga says it doesn't matter that she's in Ravenclaw, we can still be friends."

"Of course you can be friends with other houses, I have friends in Hufflepuff in fact," Scorpius assured her and she looked a bit more at ease, "Vern Dursley, the Hufflepuff Prefect is one of them even. He's a decent guy so if you need anything then he's someone who'd be happy to help."

"Thanks, he seemed pretty nice," Martha nodded and returned his smile for a second before worry crept back in, "Are you okay? I-I heard you were poisoned or something?"

"I was but its okay, I'm okay now. Someone saved me."

"That was lucky. It's scary to think you might've died so suddenly, you seemed fine before."

"Well these things happen but the important thing is that it's over and no one got hurt," Scorpius brushed it off.

"Did they find out who did it?"

"No."

"Then it might not be over," Martha protested anxiously, "What if they try to kill you again? Or what if they try to kill someone else?"

"Then we'll catch them," Scorpius reassured her as her large, cloudy gray eyes focused on him worriedly, "Hogwarts is pretty safe. Now we're here, it'll be harder for anyone to get to me or you or anyone else. The staff aren't going to let anything happen, Martha, please try not to worry about it."

"I'll try," Martha agreed as she took a deep breathe, Scorpius patted her on the shoulder gently and tried to give a reassuring smile that she somewhat returned.

"So are you looking forward to your classes tod-"

"Hey Martha!" a vaguely familiar voice called and Scorpius glanced to see Auriga Koray rushing over on her way into the Great Hall as well, she came to a halt and noticed him with her expression switching to concern, "Hi Scorpius, how are you doing?"

"Alright," Scorpius assured her and Auriga smiled at this.

"Good. My Father says they're trying to find out the person who did it so don't worry, my Mother is Deputy Head of the Department of Law Enforcement and she will make sure justice is served."

"I'm sure she will," Scorpius nodded along in agreement, "Good luck with your classes both of you."

The girls chorused their thanks and they went their separate ways, Scorpius joining Michael at the Gryffindor table. He was still trying to get used to the beard, it had only taken him all of last year to get used to the height and voice. Michael paused when he joined him, only going back to his own food when Scorpius started pulling some food onto his own plate.

"You okay?" Scorpius wondered of his friend and Michael gave a semi-shrug.

"You almost died. You may not care about that but I do," Michael pointed out seriously, dropping his head onto his palm, "I need a drink."

"You need to not drink," Scorpius insisted determinedly, "You know, Annie's doing great sober."

"Well good for Annie," Michael offered and scratched at his beard with his free hand, "Still feels weird to have this."

"Then why not shave it off?" Scorpius wondered and to his surprise, Michael's face reddened in embarrassment which made him seem immediately younger.

"I don't know how," Michael admitted under his breath.

"Why didn't you ask..."

"Who?" Michael scoffed incredulously, "My mother? My little siblings who haven't even hit puberty yet? There's not exactly an abundance of options."

"Hey guys!" Albus called cheerfully as he plopped himself down beside them, effectively ending their conversation as he starting piling his plate high, "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Eating breakfast," Scorpius added and Albus nodded vaguely as he started drowning his mountain of food in ketchup.

"You seem glum today," Albus commented to Michael who gave another semi-shrug, "Do you know what you need?"

"A drink?" Michael guessed and ignored the venomous look Scorpius threw him.

"A girlfriend," Albus corrected to which Michael rolled his eyes, "I'm serious! Michael, it would change your life and cheer you right up. You'd be drunk on love! I used to feel hopeless too and then I met the future Mrs Potter, if it could happen for me then it can happen for you."

"I don't want a girlfriend. I'm sixteen and I'm a werewolf."

"Nonsense. Werewolves are just as entitled to love as the rest of us and it is my mission this year to get you a girlfriend."

"I don't want a girlfriend, Albus," Michael insisted seriously with a hint of irritation as Albus shoveled a forkful of food into his mouth, he opened his mouth to reply, "And don't you dare speak with your mouth full!"

Michael remained vehemently opposed while Albus seemed convinced it would help his friend, thankfully the arrival of the others seemed to put an end to the conversation. For once Rose's... loudness seemed to come in useful as it changed the topic to what she wanted to talk about, NEWT classes. Scorpius was actually looking forward to it, he was distracted by a small body though.

"Scor!" Cassia exclaimed as she threw her arms around him, he barely had time to register his surprise before the now apparently green-haired child let him go to glare angrily as she folded her arms, "What the bloody hell were you thinking?! You get poisoned and then don't bother seeing me and Antonius so we'd know you got better okay? Aren't we still friends?"

"I'm sorry, I was just... busy," Scorpius offered lamely, surprised at her reaction.

"Busy with what, your day off?" Cassia wondered and Albus chuckled, Scorpius threw him a dark look.

"What?" Albus complained, quickly swallowing first to avoid another reprimand from Michael, "Kid's got a point."

"Damn straight, I got a point. Antonius was worried sick."

"Well I'm sorry, I didn't think," Scorpius admitted and Cassia shrugged, her rage over as soon as it began.

"Well use your brain next time, jerkface," Cassia told him and turned to leave but Scorpius grabbed her back as something occurred to him.

"Cassia, wait!"

"I'm sorry I called you a jerkface, if I didn't like you and was really mad then I'd have called you worse," Cassia pointed out immediately, "Like actual worse. Aurors have worse mouths then teenagers."

"I don't mind about tha- The Aurors are still patrolling the grounds?" Scorpius changed his sentence halfway through and the girl nodded, on one hand he supposed it was good but on the other he felt a pang of disappointment considering the Shadows, "Can you tell me anything about them?"

"Erm... They keep mostly outside patrolling the grounds but some of them are chattier, Syntyche Cistro is in charge of them," Cassia recounted thoughtfully as she scratched her chin, "She's a bitch. Daddy hates her and she hates Daddy. She hates us too and she hates birds, doesn't like us interfearancing with her Aurors and thinks we stole a wand holster for no good reason."

"What about the other new staff then?"

"The new Headmaster is Laurence Winthrop, some Ministry stiff who worked in the Department of Education. We call him Weedy Larry because he looks like a weed and pops up like one too."

"Cassia, you should some respect for your elders!" Rose snapped at her.

"What?" Cassia complained as she crossed her arms again, "I have respect, people just have to deserve it. If you treated all-growed ups with respect then you'd have to treat Shadows with respect and they don't deserve and neither does Weedy Larry! Or Syn the evil bitch."

"And someone should wash your mouth out with soap for your language!"

"Hey, I think my English language is pretty fucking great thank you very much."

"Moving on, who else is new?" Scorpius interjected.

"Penny Durante is the Transfiguration Professor, she's so nice and sweet and lovely," Cassia told them, brightening up, "And be nice to her, this is her very first time teaching and she's a bit nervous but she is super talented and good. She was practicing on us."

"She's hot too," Albus commented with a wink in Michael's direction, the werewolf rolled his eyes.

"And then there's the new Caretaker, Grace Warren, who is mega grumpy so I'd stay the hell away from her if I was you."

"What about Rojer?" Scorpius questioned curiously.

"I'm not sure about him," Cassia admitted thoughtfully, "He likes to stay by himself and can be grumpy too but he's nicer to me and Antonius if we're alone, I think he just doesn't like people very much and Avaris thinks he's just scared of them because people can be scary. He saved your life though, oh and you'll never guess what."

"What?" Albus wondered curiously and Cassia looked around as if to make sure no one was listening before leaning in closer and dropping her voice.

"He can talk to birds too," Cassia told them in a whisper, "He pretends not to but the birds know he can hear them."

"Cassia, why don't you go sit with your Father?" a new voice offered and Scorpius nearly jumped as he noticed Professor Longbottom had come up to them. Antonius was also coming over to them, "I need to speak to them about their classes, Sixth Years are the most complicated."

"Okay, come on," Cassia agreed and took her brother's hand, pulling him away before he could speak to them to go join Professor Ashain at the staff table while the professor gave Corin his schedule quickly since he was the lone Fifth Year now Maurice was skipped ahead.

"So let's start with you Rose, you wanted to continue in all of the core subjects, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well you got Os and Es for everything but History of Magic, I'm afraid Binns only accepts passing grades to continue onto the NEWT level. Do you want just the six or one of the electives?"

"I'll go for Muggle Studies, that's useful with Ministry work and an Outstanding should be alright for Oring?"

"Absolutely," Professor Longbottom nodded and flicked his wand at the schedule before handing it over to Rose, "Rivers, you got Outstandings for everything so you can really have your pick. Do you still want the subjects you chose before?"

"Yes, Sir," Maurice confirmed and the professor tapped his wand on the parchment, handing the timetable over to the younger boy.

"Albus, thankfully only Exceeds Expectations is acceptable for all the subjects you wanted," Professor Longbottom told him as he moved on, "Except for Transfiguration, Professor Durante has lowered the bar but a Poor is still not going to cut it. Oring and Koray both accept Acceptables though and Hagrid is fine with an Exceeds Expectations, Binns doesn't take Dreadfuls though. I'd recommend Care of Magical Creatures, it's your highest mark."

"No way!" Albus scoffed, "I love Hagrid but I also love living, I'll take Astronomy."

"Are you sure? Muggle Studies has more applications."

"Nah, Astronomy is more interesting," Albus insisted and the professor obediently flicked his wand over the paper, handing him his timetable and not noticing as Albus muttered under his breathe, "And easier to sleep through."

"Abby," Professor Longbottom moved onto his daughter, both of their faces flushing in awkward embarrassment, he cleared his throat nervously, "Well you got Outstandings in Charms and Herbology so you're fine for them, Ashain is alright with Exceeds Expectations as well. You flunked Potions and Transfiguration though, you'll need other choices. You're good for anything else except History, which you also failed. I'd recommend the electives at least."

"Okay, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies," Abby told him and her father raised an eyebrow at her.

"You're only going to take five subjects?"

"I'd rather focus on a few then take more than I can handle," Abby offered nervously and her father's face didn't betray how he felt about this, "Unless I can take Alchemy?"

"No, Voltur wants passing grades in Potions and Transfiguration," Professor Longbottom shook his head, "At least take Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures as well, six? Meet me halfway, Abby, I know you can do it. Your sister took seven."

"I'm not my sister. And you already knew I was going to take five."

"That was before you failed three subjects, I don't want you to fail at life as well."

"Dad..." Abby muttered, looking upset and embarrassed at the same time. Professor Longbottom sighed and flicked his wand over her schedule, apparently relenting as he handed her the timetable, "Thank you."

"It's your choice," Professor Longbottom informed her and moved on, "Well, Michael, you passed all five subjects you need for Healer and the passing grades in Transfiguration and Potions is enough for Alchemy."

"What? No, I don't want to take Alchemy," Michael protested anxiously, "I just put my name down because Maurice said it and I thought I'd flunk out for sure. I want to take History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures instead."

"You can't, you already put your name down for Alchemy. You can drop the subject once you've started it but you need to at least go to the first lesson or it'll be cancelled for everyone because of a lack of numbers."

"Well can't I do that and be put down for them two instead?"

"No, you can take one of them and Alchemy then drop Alchemy and have six but you can't replace it. I'm sorry," Professor Longbottom told him apologetically and Michael sighed heavily, "Would you like to do that or just stick with what you had?"

"Put me down for Care of Magical Creatures then," Michael sighed and the professor waved his wand over the schedule before handing it to the disappointed boy who scanned it with a scowl, "Why do we have to have double Alchemy every freaking day?"

"Because it's a new subject with a lot to learn," Professor Longbottom pointed out and Michael sighed yet again as the Head of House moved on to Scorpius, "Well your grades are certainly good enough for whatever you want, you got five Outstandings."

"You got five Outstandings?!" Rose burst out incredulously and Scorpius nodded, she slumped back disappointingly, "I only got four!"

"I got none," Albus offered unhappily, "Even James got some."

"I got eleven," Maurice spoke up smugly, "And I'm a year younger then all of you."

"Yeah but you're some inhuman super soldier who knows everything."

"You all passed, it doesn't matter who got what," Professor Longbottom pointed out before turning back to Scorpius, "You passed Potions and Transfiguration so you're good for Alchemy.

"Good, I wanted Alchemy. And I'll take all the subjects I got Outstandings in," Scorpius told him, knowing they were all subjects he quite enjoyed which left just one slot and he wanted - and needed, considering he didn't have a career plan - a full schedule, "And one more."

"Potions is your best bet, it has the most applications and Vipera is fine with Exceeds Expectations."

"Does Professor Kresmir accept Exceeds Expectations for Study of Ancient Runes?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll have that," Scorpius decided in relief that he could take it, "I like Runes."

"Are you sure? Potions may be the better choice here, the core subjects are core for a reason."

"I'm sure, I'd rather take subjects I enjoy."

"Alright," Professor Longbottom agreed and tapped his schedule, handing it to Scorpius, "Good luck."

"You should've taken Potions," Rose insisted testily as the professor left.

Scorpius shrugged disinterestedly as he looked over his schedule, noticing the increase in double lessons and more space then he'd had since before electives. He did indeed have double Alchemy daily as Michael had noticed, except Thursday it was always the last class before dinner as well. He was slightly disappointed to realize he'd be with his friends less, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Herbology were the only subjects they were all taking. He'd have Michael and Maurice in every class but Study of Ancient Runes though, Rose was also in Transfiguration as well. Abby would be alone for Arithmancy too, she and Rose alone in Muggle Studies, Rose and Albus alone in Astronomy then he and Abby would be absent for Potions that the other four were all taking.

He was quite disappointed to see the week got off to a crappy start with double Charms with Grant, he despised Grant and the feeling was mutual although not as bad as it had once been. Still, he had tortured Scorpius' favorite professor and locked his friends in to do die with werewolves, his son may be a good guy but Grant wasn't. The lesson wasn't even interesting, Grant spent most of the class waffling on about the importance of NEWTs and a bit about what they'd be doing that year then had some doing some easy spells they already knew to make sure they were confident in them because next lesson would be attempting them nonverbally. Double Care of Magical Creatures after it was better, although strange to just be with only Michael and Maurice - the girls had Muggle Studies while Albus had a free period - in a much smaller class. Professor Hagrid gave a speech not dissimilar from Grant's, however he did actually let them get on with some work as well as he introduced them to some Kneazles which was surprisingly tame but he supposed half the lesson had been wasted with the speech.

After that was lunch then Double Potions for his friends - except Abby, who had nothing - and Double Study of Ancient Runes for Scorpius, he almost regretted his decision due to the lack of his friends. He spotted Byron's brother in the class though and sat beside him as he remember what he'd promised the boy, not that it mattered as Professor Kresmir also gave a speech about NEWTs with the added challenge of having to write down what he was saying in Runic to get back into the swing of things so it was more slow going but more fun. Professor Kresmir had a way of making the subject come alive, Scorpius didn't think he'd like it as much if he didn't have such a great teacher. After that was a break for them all then a single Herbology, Professor Longbottom only had time to talk about the importance of NEWTs with the lesser amount of time. Still, Scorpius wondered why they all felt the need to waste a lesson giving such similar speeches, did no teacher just want to teach? After that was another break then Alchemy and Scorpius would be done for the day, Albus and Rose would have Astronomy every night but otherwise it was over. And so, he and Maurice had to drag the disinterested off to their first Alchemy class.

Scorpius had an increasingly ominous feeling on the way though, apparently the class was in the same far off, disused tower room that Rojer had been in earlier. Was he assisting in Rayan's class? Scorpius felt very nervous as he stood outside waiting with his friends, he might've complained about the day's lessons but it had taken his mind off his guilt. More showed up to join them, there was actually eleven it seemed who had chosen to take Alchemy including Nott and Knight. He didn't know the rest, four Ravenclaws, a Slytherin girl and a lone Hufflepuff. He thought one of the Ravenclaws had been the person who'd had a problem with Michael being a werewolf in Professor Hagrid's class a while ago, he was just pondering this when he was snapped from his thoughts by the door abruptly flying open. They stood staring at it for a minute.

"Do we go inside?" Knight asked of them all in a curious whisper.

"Yes, you come inside. How many classes do you have when you stand outside of the door?" Rojer's accented voice complained in reply, Scorpius was sure if he could see him then he'd be rolling his eyes.

The students filed into the room, it was larger than Scorpius had expected but still quite small in comparison to other classrooms. There were workbenches like in a Potions classroom but much less, cabinets lined most of the walls and there were two doors leading off. It was dark and surprisingly dusty, there were only three – admittedly large – windows, situated at the front of the room which revealed a beautiful view of the lake but the twilight sky provided little light. Rojer was sitting at the front of the class in front of it, at his own table with some potion brewing and a chalk board behind him. He was peeling something with a knife as they entered, not even bothering to look as they sat.

"What happened to Rayan Fintan?" Scorpius couldn't help but ask, earning him confused looks from some of the other students, "The old Alchemy teacher."

"Rayan is not well," Rojer explained without stopping in his peeling or sparing him a glance, Scorpius felt his spirits sink. He was going to be taught by the son of the man whose soul he'd destroyed, "Until he is better, he ask me to teach his class. I am his friend so I do this, I do not know how long until he is well again. I am a Alchemist, that is what I do for my life so I know what I talk about but I do not teach. If you do not like this then you can go."

---

"It's your turn," Oathan offered cheerfully.

Pyrrhus glanced over at them from across the hotel room, his son was being so kind and welcoming to their hostage. Oathan was trying to teach him chess, which was quite interesting considering Pyrrhus hadn't finished teaching Oathan to play yet so it was some hybrid game. Not that Bertie seemed overly receptive, he was very quiet but always seemed more relaxed with Oathan around. He heard a knock on the door, he waited for a second while the correct assortment of knocks played out before opening it for his nephew.

"Hello Carv-"

Pyrrhus' greeting was cut off prematurely as Carver greeted him with a violent punch, he fell back and hit his head painfully on a stupidly placed dresser. Carver hauled him to his feet with one hand, despite being only seventeen he was taller and burlier then Pyrrhus was, muscular from his days on the Quidditch team as a Beater despite having lost some weight since going into hiding. His hair had grown a tad but was still brutally short and brown, flecks of red and curls - both of which he knew his nephew despised - visible so it would likely be shaved soon. His beady blue eyes were filled oddly and unusually with murderous rage.

"WHAT THE HELL, PYRRHUS?!" Carver screamed at him.

Pyrrhus opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about but Carver struck him again instead. He grabbed him as he started to stagger back and slammed him against the wall instead, his free hand already punching again. Why were people so violent? He focused on his magic and opened his fist, unleashing a burst of air to throw his nephew back off him. Carver went flying and landed on his back on the carpet, Oathan leaped up and dropped down beside the teen. In his left hand, he held a knife to Carver's throat and in his right, he held a wand to Carver's head.

"That's my boy," Pyrrhus applauded his son as he jumped up, rubbing his throbbing jaw while Oathan grinned at the praise, "Now Carver, are you going to calm down so we can talk about whatever's bothering you rather than trying to pummel me into oblivion?"

"Fine," Carver spat, "Oathan, get off me."

Oathan didn't move, he glanced in askance at Pyrrhus. He smiled at his son and nodded in approval, only then did Oathan let him go. He holstered his wand and slipped his knife back into the sheath on his waist while Carver got to his feet, Bertie just sat frozen in terror.

"Well done," Pyrrhus offered and clapped his son approvingly on the shoulder, "That was brilliant."

"I woulded have moved in quicklier but since its Carver, I didn't know," Oathan admitted.

"You did the right thing," Pyrrhus assured him and Oathan smiled as he went back over to Bertie, Pyrrhus turned back to his fuming nephew, "Well?"

"What the hell, Pyrrhus?!" Carver repeated more calmly but still angrily, "I didn't sign up for this."

"What are you talking about?"

"You were supposed to talk to the woman, maybe torture her a bit if you really had to and it seemed like she was hiding something. You were not supposed to kidnap and butcher her son!"

"Well I felt guilty hitting her," Pyrrhus protested truthfully.

"And you don't feel guilty about hacking up her four year old?!" Carver raged at him and Pyrrhus laughed, that was what he was mad about?

"Bertie, come her," Pyrrhus commanded and Carver looked somewhere between confused and outraged as the little boy approached, he held up the boys hands to show off he had all fingers and toes then turned his head to show both ears. Now, Carver looked only confused, "Do you need me to take off his shoes or do you get the point?"

"I don't understand," Carver stammered out, "But the Shadows tracked you to her, they saw the body parts?"

"It's called magic," Pyrrhus commented and withdrew his wand.

He drew it over Bertie's hand using a cutting spell to leave a small cut which had the boy start bawling as he always did. He fished in his pocket for a suitable item and found a coin, he pulled it out and let some of the blood land on the coin. He then healed Bertie's hand and held the bloody coin out to Carver, using a more complex Transfiguration spell to turn the coin into an exact replica of Bertie's thumb.

"It's just a spell..." Carver realized in surprise.

"Of course," Pyrrhus scoffed, feeling quite offended, "Do you really think I'd do that to a little kid? What kind of psychotic monster do you take me for? If I really had to then I'd at least give them a clean death first but the threat has to seem real for it to be feared and obeyed, you just need a bit of blood, an object to substitute and the right spell to make it look real though. She's a muggle, she's not going to know. Crystal can have her son back whole if she does what I want."

"I miss Crystal," Bertie sobbed and Pyrrhus rolled his eyes as he dropped to the boy's level.

"Look, kid, stop crying so much. This could be a lot worse. A word of advice, no one likes a crybaby. Even people who like babies don't like it when they cry," Pyrrhus insisted and the boy's face screwed up as he seemed to try not to cry, "Save the tears for real problems, not paper cuts that I healed."

"Okay," Bertie cried and Pyrrhus sighed, gesturing for the boy to go and he ran back to Oathan in tears.

"And your father thought wizards should be strong."

"He's a wizard?" Carver wondered in surprise as Pyrrhus stood back up, nodding in confirmation.

"Oathan let him play with his wand one of the days and well... Seems like Michael isn't the only magical one in the family. I'm thinking of keeping him as a friend for Oathan if she can't find Jack," Pyrrhus shrugged it off and folded his arms, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to apologize for attacking me?"

"I'm sorry for attacking you," Carver said dryly and Pyrrhus decided it was good enough, "I still hate this plan. You didn't kill the Scamanders, Scorpius survived his poisoning and this is fruitless. So far plus now the Soul Eaters took another of her kids to force her hand as well, if she doesn't find you for them then they'll kill her daughter."

"And Brutus approves of that?" Pyrrhus wondered in surprise.

"Brutus doesn't know."

"Well tell him and he should deal with it, you know he has a soft spot for kids. Especially now he's playing Daddy to the young Lords of Darkness."

"Sure, I'll just go talk to the Shadow Master's right hand man because I'm that important," Carver complained sardonically, "I haven't even been able to get out of England yet, I haven't seen James."

"Just do your best - not that it's really any of our fault - and tell your sibling not to screw up again, Scorpius and the Scamanders need to die," Pyrrhus insisted, "I'll keep trying to get Jack."

---

Part 2: Alchemy

---

"What is that you're making?" Knight wondered, sounding intrigued as Rojer finished his peeling and tossed the ingredients into the cauldron.

"No idea, I just like to keep my hands busy," Rojer answered with a shrug as he finally turned to them and put down the knife, guiltily Scorpius noticed his cheek was bruising where Scorpius had struck him when he was saving his life. He rubbed his hands idly together as his dark chestnut eyes scanned them, hands - Scorpius noticed for the first time - were scarred in random patches as if from burns, "So you decide to take Alchemy, one of the older, mysterious and most difficult branches of magic. Before we begin, we will go around of the room. You will tell me your name, a fact of yourself and why you choose this class."

"You haven't even told us your name," the Slytherin girl whined, she was sitting at the station behind Scorpius.

"Rojer Voltur. Now you."

"Polley Oliver. I'm of Slytherin house and I will be of age as of tomorrow," the girl introduced herself proudly, she still sounded whiny though, "And I chose this class because my parents insisted that I keep all my class options open."

"Very good, next," Rojer stated dismissively and gestured for the person next to her to go on, he picked up the knife in his other hand and idly twirled it.

"Ferne Murdoch," the Ravenclaw girl offered, "I got five Outstandings on my exams and I took the class because Polley did, she's my best friend and she didn't want to take it alone."

"Glad to see so many of you are so enthusiast about the subject," Rojer commented with dry sarcasm and gestured for those on the next work station to speak, a gangly, pale Ravenclaw boy with scruffy brown hair.

"Martin Hargrave. And erm… I have a pet toad called Eagle," the boy told them, looking nervous as if unsure if he was doing well, "I choose Alchemy because I've read about it and I think it sounds really interesting."

"Good to know, next."

"My name is Abraham Elm," the next Ravenclaw offered, a small boy with shinier and wavier hair then the boy next to him, "I took Alchemy because I think it could be cool and my fact… did you know the kid over there with the golden eye is a werewolf?"

"I did not know and I do not care," Rojer shrugged dismissively, much to Elm's apparent disappoint while Scorpius threw him a dark look, "Next."

"I'm Henrietta Hayes," the lone Hufflepuff introduced herself, she had frizzy, curled blond hair and a very small stature, she could easily pass for a younger student and had a bland look to her, "Most people call me Etta and I took Alchemy because I want to be an Alchemist."

"Always a good reason to take," Rojer nodded and gestured for the boy on the table in front to go next, an olive-skinned boy with short, neat, black hair and dark eyes.

"My name is Orhan Eklund, I'm in Ravenclaw like all my family," Orhan told him and twiddled his thumbs nervously, "I choose Alchemy because I think it sounds interesting and at the very least could be useful."

"Very good, next."

"Well, Professor Voltu-"

"No," Rojer interjected as Knight started to speak, "I told you, I do not teach as my job. You do not have need to address me as 'Professor.'"

"Well you're teaching us now. And what if my parents taught me to always treat people with respect?"

"Then your parents are wrong," Rojer shrugged and Knight looked like he'd been slapped in the face, "Dignity is what you should always treat the other people with. Dignity is given, respect is earned and trust is built. Some do not deserve respect and in my experience, those who lord over of others with their title are often the least for deserving."

"So… We should just call you Voltur?" Knight wondered uncertainly.

"That or Rojer, I answer to Rojer faster but say whatever does make you happy."

"Why is your English so bad?" Polley Oliver complained rudely.

"English is not my first, second or even third language so forgive me if I do not sound as flawless as those who speak it all their life," Rojer offered, sounding somewhat apologetic.

"Wow, how many languages do you speak?" Knight burst out excitedly and Rojer grunted unhappily.

"Too many. Now go on."

"Oh right, yeah and by the way, I think your English is fine and my name is Kenelm Knight," Knight introduced himself and scratched his head as if thinking of what to say, "About me… My parents are dead. And my grandparents are dead. And I have a little brother in Third Year and I'm responsible for him now. I picked Alchemy because it's a special rare subject, who doesn't want in on special rare subjects? Plus it sounds pretty cool like with the Philosopher's Stone and stuff, will you teach us to make that?"

"There is no Philosopher's Stone."

"Yes there is," Elm announced confidently, leaning back and folding his arms, "I read about it in a book, Harry Potter himself got it in his First Year to stop Voldemort."

"Is that so?" Rojer mused and put the knife down for a second, opening one of the draws in his table and rifling around. A second later, his hand reemerged with a reddish lump of rock that he threw to Elm, "There is one of the Philosopher's Stone. Go on, Abraham, make us an Elixir of Life or turn something to gold."

"Well I erm… I…" Elm stammered out, staring at the rock blankly. He pulled at it, banged it on the desk and even tried taking a bite out of it which just got him laughed at by half the class. His face reddened, "I erm… I don't know how it works."

"Because it does not work," Rojer insisted and held out his hands, Elm tossed it defeatedly back to him, "The Philosopher's Stone is not a stone, it can be transmuted to a stone but it is useless as a stone unless you know how to transmute it to a useable state."

"S-So that's really the Philosopher's Stone?"

"No," Rojer scoffed as he tossed it lazily back into the draw, "It is just a rock, I do not care for gold or eternal life. Next."

"Maximus Nott," Nott said immediately, apparently still remembering where they were before the shit in conversation, "I'm a pure-blood Slytherin, second son and second eldest child of Theodore and Millicent Nott. I took Alchemy because I want to be a Healer and I think it could help with that, it was amazing how you saved Malfoy the other day."

"It was nothing," Rojer brushed it off, either not thinking it was or not wanting to make it into a big deal. He finally gestured to the table Scorpius, Michael and Maurice sat at, "Next."

"Maurice Rivers," Maurice stated formally, "I'm deaf so I have to sit at the front and hold onto this necklace to translate sounds to words I can read, I'm only fifteen but I skipped a year ahead. I took Alchemy because I haven't learned it yet, knowledge is power. Was that really Alchemy how you saved Scorpius?"

"Yes, it was."

"Will you teach us that?"

"Maybe later. Next."

"Michael Sanford. I'm a werewolf. I took it because Maurice asked me too," Michael admitted tiredly.

"Such loyal friendships in this class," Rojer commented and finally turned to Scorpius, he felt his heart start to beat more frantically as the guilt churned in his stomach, "And you, Scorpius Malfoy?"

"I took Alchemy because I think it sounds interesting, especially the soul stuff," Scorpius told him lamely while his mind screamed at him that he'd killed Rojer's father. He also realized he still needed a fact about himself and had to try really hard to resist the urge to blurt out he'd killed Rojer's father, like his mind kept repeating, "And my fact erm… I err… I don't know, I erm… Am in Hogwarts?"

"Good to have someone in the class who does not know anything about themself," Rojer quipped sarcastically before turning back to the class while Scorpius felt his face burn, "So now that getting to know is out of the way, we can begin."

"How was that getting to know us?" Polley Oliver complained incredulously, "You just learned our names, a random fact and why we are taking Alchemy."

"That is all I need to know. Who you are, why you are here and a basic sense of who you are, you can tell a lot about a person from what they say and how they say."

"Like what?"

"The first thing you tell me is that you are Slytherin, you say this because you are very proud. And you say you come of age tomorrow, you say because you are excited for your birthday. Right?"

"Right," Polly confirmed, sounding surprised.

"And since you are coming of age tomorrow, do you not think that you should take the classes that you want not what your parents say to you?"

"Yeah, yeah I think I should. Thank you… I'm sorry, I can't pronounce your weird name," Polly said and Scorpius heard her stool as she got up and left, "Bye. Come on, Ferne."

"Wait for me!" Ferne Murdoch cried and rushed after her friend.

"Anyone else want to go?" Rojer asked of the remaining class members, they didn't move. He withdrew his wand and waved it at the door, it closed after the girls, "Well two down."

"Doesn't it bother you they left the class?" Knight wondered curiously as Rojer stood.

"No. Why would it bother? Less is better, especially to learn and if you all leave then I can get to go home where people are not always stand in my way," Rojer shrugged as he idly rubbed his hands together again, drawing Scorpius' attention back to the burns. Where they and his leg the result of Alchemy? "So Alchemy, it is date back to Ancient Egypt and has been go for a long time, it is a very broad subject and covers many a different things so we will not have time in just two years to get through every last part of it but we will do what we can. Alchemy in itself is also very experimentable in nature, which is part of why it makes so dangerous. Trying new things can discover great goods and great disasters, along with dangerous processes, things can explode."

"Is that how you burned your hands?" Elm asked worriedly and Rojer glanced at his hands for a minute.

"Eh, hard to say since they were burned in childhood so even with healing you have scars. I think yes so be careful and do as I say when practical working for your own safeness but first you should know some basic things," Rojer continued and looked up from his hands, drawing his wand again and waving it at the chalkboard where four identically sized triangles drew themselves where his wand went. Two were upside down and two with lines through them, , "Alchemy was a secret art in the past and symbols were used to hide meaning, you will learn these but for now just the basic. What are the four basic aspects of nature? There is only ten of us in the room, Maurice, it is a waste of time to raise your hand and wait to be picked. Just say what you know."

"Earth, Fire, Water and Air," Maurice answered as he lowered the hand he'd raised, Rojer tapped each of them in term as they were mentioned.

"Very good. Take five points to your house. But they represent more of then the obvious that you think. Fire is the life-force, burning will to live. Water is our emotion, easily flows and not completely in our control. Air is our intelligence, above it all. Earth is our body, the solid matter we are made of," Rojer explained and drew three more symbols with his wand beneath the elements, one was a cross with a triangle on top, one a cross with a circle on top with another semi-circle on top of that and finally a circle with a horizontal line through it, "These are the three primes. What are they?"

"Sulfur, Mercury and Salt," Etta Hayes spoke up, again Rojer tapped the symbol as she said the word.

"Very good. Take ten points to your house," Rojer told her with a vague nod in her direction, "These is make up the matter of all life. Salt is the base matter, what we are made of. Sulfur is the spirit of life, the soul for a lack of a better word. And Mercury is the connect between the both, the mind. Like with this, Alchemy is also multi-layered. It link to our potion-making and transformation magics which is why you must have a basic grasp of this, to muggle chemistry and my least favorite part, the philo… the philosp..."

"Philosophy," Maurice provided and Rojer gestured in his direction approvingly without looking away from the random direction of space he was staring into.

"Yes, that," Rojer nodded and drew his grim gaze back to them, he rubbed his hands together idly again, "But the important word to remember is transmutation, at the core this is what Alchemy is. It is all to do changing things, creating and mixing and merging but unlike in potions, it is not just with liquids and the final product is not limited to a vial of liquid. Now, I am tired of speak and I am bored, the sound of my voice is annoying. Let us do something, we shall try to get you to create Aqua Vitae, a common alchemic experiment and this will introduce some of the process you use. To do is the best way to learn not to listen, there are too many languages and too many words but the thing is always the very same. I started with water in this… whatever I make, let us make it pure again."

"So you did have a plan for that all along," Knight mused.

"No, I am just making up as I go along but I like how you could think that," Rojer offered as he limped over to the cupboards while Knight laughed, "Everything item equipment you need should be in here and materials to work with is in the cupboard there."

"Did you get that limp because of Alchemy?" Elm asked worriedly while Rojer started to retrieve the things they wound need, this time he didn't hesitate in shaking his head.

The rest of the lesson was practical, Rojer added some liquid to his potion then doled it out for them purify. He had his own setup at the front of the class to demonstrate as they went along, explaining as he went and making sure everyone was doing it right. Scorpius found it was more complicated than potion making, each step seemed more complicated to remove different things or mix something in to bind it to something else so they could remove them both. He also got the danger, there was no leaving things to simmer and instead using an intense heat to burn way things in a crucible that could explode if you hadn't successfully gotten rid of all the seeds from the previous step. Wands were also more of a presence, from creating the fire to magically stirring while muttering some minor transfiguration incantations.

And if this was just a simple Alchemic thing then Scorpius dreaded to think what Rojer would consider complex, although Scorpius supposed it would help if his mind didn't keep wandering. Guilt nipped as his mind, trying to chase the truth out of his mouth. He didn't know why, he just felt compelled to blurt out the truth and beg for forgiveness. Rojer was actually a pretty good teacher, he was clear in his explanation, demonstration and made sure everyone was keeping up. He did still look grim, Scorpius thought that was just the way his permanent expression had been set which made it clash more tragically with the smiling child from the memory.

Until Ashylos had been killed anyway. He seemed in pain too, it was more noticeable as the lesson went on when more walking was involved and he got better at noticing a cringe from his regular expression. Scorpius was sure his leg was paining him, once or twice he'd seem him rub the leg he limped on. That was something else, he hadn't been crippled with a limp in the memory that Ashylos had showed him. What had happened to him?

"Alright, then now we should be done and if you have done it all right as we have then…" Rojer announced, snapping Scorpius back from his thoughts as they poured the liquid through the final filter. He held up his flash, showing a perfectly clear, still liquid that he downed, "…You should be able to drink it. Ah, refreshening."

The reactions were a bit mixed, some – Elm and Michael - cringed, some eyed their liquid uncertainly – Martin and Orhan - and some – Knight and Maurice - confidently downing it as well. Seeing the latter two nod in approval and look impressed, Scorpius and the rest started drinking theirs. Scorpius found himself pleasantly surprised, it tasted like water but very pure and oddly invigorating. He was almost disappointed that was it, they had been working a while and it had been even longer since lunch time.

"That stuff is good," Elm complimented Rojer.

"If it wasn't then you would have been dead," Rojer shrugged which elicited a horrified expression on Elm's face as the bell went for dinner, "Perfect timing. Now go and I will see anyone still wanting this class tomorrow."

"What about this stuff?" Knight wondered as the others started to file out.

"I will clean it up, I do not eat dinner with the hall," Rojer insisted, practically shooing him out the door.

"Great class then, Rojer, see you tomorrow," Knight called back, others adding similar as they left.

"I've never done that before, it was very interesting," Maurice started to say as Scorpius went to leave with them but stopped, glancing back to see Rojer limping around to clean up after them, "Scor, stop obsessing. Just come on."

"I'm just going to help him clean up, I'll catch up," Scorpius decided and the deaf boy rolled his eyes before heading down.

"See you at dinner then," Michael offered and clapped him on the shoulder as he left, Scorpius headed back inside.

"Want some help?"

"Not necessarily," Rojer shrugged and rolled his eyes when Scorpius started to help him gather up the equipment.

I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father, Scorpius' mind immediately started repeating.

"It was a good class," Scorpius told him nervously but truthfully as they piled the things up by the sink, he couldn't wait to learn more about the soul stuff and got the impression Rojer had touched on it with the primes, "Very… enlightening."

"If you say so, I do not teach."

"I erm…"

I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father.

"I am sorry that if I upset you when I was saving your life, it was necessary," Rojer apologized, taking Scorpius by surprise as he started filling the sink with water to clean, "If it bother you this much then next time I will just levitate out of the way and let you die."

"Oh right, no that's okay. I-I understand," Scorpius stammered out, feeling his heart thundering with guilt, "I'm sorry I hit you. I just… freaked out."

"It is fine," Rojer offered disinterestedly as he started cleaning the equipment, Scorpius started to put it away to keep himself useful.

"And you know, I don't… I don't think I ever thanked you."

"Thanked you for what?"

"Saving my life."

"Ah right, I did not notice because I do not care," Rojer told him dismissively, "I do not save your life to be thanked. I do it because you were in my way to get food. And it is right thing to do."

"Well still, thank you," Scorpius insisted and Rojer spared him a grim look before going back to his work, he seemed miserable. Ashylos would want his son to be happy, "You know, you erm… you don't strike me as a happy person."

"Really? This surprises me," Rojer quipped sarcastically, "And now you have thank me, if there is nothing other than you can go. I can do this."

I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father. I killed your father.

"Erm… Ok-Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Scorpius offered and almost tripped over his own feet as he left to go to dinner, he'd have to do something about that.

"How was Alchemy?" Albus asked through a mouthful of spaghetti as he joined his friends at the table.

"Good."

"Are you done obsessing over Rojer now?"

"No," Scorpius admitted and his friends collectively groaned, "I can't just ignore it! He's Ashylos' son. I killed Ashylos."

"You destroyed his soul after his dead, there's a difference," Maurice pointed out and Scorpius felt like slapping himself.

"Thank you, that makes it sound so much better," Scorpius complained irritably as he tossed some food onto his plate.

"He has a point though," Rose spoke up, "If that guy is Ashylos' son then he lost his father long before you came along so his life is irrelevant and you don't have to obsess over him."

"Shut up, Rose," Maurice barked darkly, making the girl look taken aback, "Don't agree with me."

"Ashylos would want me to help his son," Scorpius protested seriously.

"Help him do what?" Michael wondered slowly, "Rojer is a grown man. With a life."

"Well he seems unhappy, maybe if I told him about Ashylos then he'd have closure and he could be happy."

"Scor," Abby said gently and he glanced at her to see her shake her head, "I don't think so."

"Of course he's unhappy, the last time you saw him his father was being murdered by Grindelwald's men," Maurice pointed out as he scarfed down some chicken, "They probably captured him and tortured him for information, try to deduce if Ashylos was alone or not. Kid was traumatized and broken long before you destroyed his father's soul."

"If he is this Rojer who was Ashylos' son then he's been alive a long time," Corin stated seriously, "A million things could have happened that have nothing to do with Ashylos, maybe he doesn't even remember him anymore."

"He could just be unhappy because the other Alchemist teacher is sick," Michael prompted while Scorpius felt his spirits sink further, "He mentioned Rayan was his friend after all."

"Rayan did have a pretty nasty cough when I met him," Scorpius admitted as he recalled the memory and he supposed it was a reason, he wouldn't be happy if his friend was ill, "But we don't know how close they were or anything."

"Exactly my point," Corin reiterated, "You don't know him, you don't anything about him or what's going on with his life. It's none of your business."

"Ashylos would care if he was here but he's not here because I destroyed him so it's my business to care now."

"That's just your guilt talking," Albus insisted as he swallowed quickly to avoid a reprimand from Michael, "And you know, if your assassin returns then you won't have to worry about it. Can we please talk about that?"

"The mood I'm in right now, if an assassin comes then I wouldn't mind them killing me," Scorpius sighed heavily.

---

Part 3: Help

---

Crystal was devastated, she really struggled to believe it. First some lunatic had taken Bertie and now a different lunatic had taken Ivy. They were children, they were muggles, they weren't a part of this and neither was she. What had she actually done to deserve this? What had she done to get herself dragged into this situation, she didn't know who Pyrrhus Florian was and why he wanted Jack and she didn't know who those people were and why they wanted Florian. Why was this even happening to her family? The questions tore at her mind all night, her mind that was trapped in her throbbing battered skull. She didn't sleep, she hadn't slept, she hadn't eaten either and the next morning she had Agnes and Flynn all the more confused and lost for their lost siblings. And still no reply from Jack or return of the owl, she was seriously beginning to think that Jack had just killed the poor bird.

She sent the only two kids she had left off to school, hoping against hope they'd be safer in a crowded school environment. She couldn't sit around waiting for the next piece of her son to come to her, she had to do something to find this psycho Florian guy to save Ivy while waiting on the owl. John had seemed to imply the tracking spell he used on the letter was only one of several, he'd also mentioned it was illegal which could be why no one knew about them. She just needed to go back to Knockturn Alley, not be so obvious about being a muggle this time, what had he said about the tattoo on his arm? Crystal recalled it from memory and drew it only her arm, smudging it and fading it, making it look identical to John's. She also found a suitable stick to pretend to be a wand and then headed off back to the Wizarding World.

She rolled up her sleeves to reveal the fake tattoo when she got to Knockturn Alley, heading back down into the gloomy twisted streets while her heart screamed in her ears. She couldn't believe she was doing this but then what choice did she have? She had to do something, it didn't matter if it was illegal and what happened to her as long as she could protect her children. She had to start somewhere.

"Hey! You there!" Crystal barked at a random passerby, trying to sound tough and to not recoil in fear when the weedy wizard turned to face her, "I-I'm looking for information and you… you better tell me."

"Is that so?" the man sneered.

"Yeah!" Crystal insisted and pointed to the fake tattoo with her fake wand, "Or… Or I- Or else. Bad stuff will happen to you. With magic. That I'll do to you."

"Oh, Bambi," a familiar voice sighed and Crystal felt a hand grab her arm, yet again she being compressed into darkness and then she was back on the outskirts of Diagon Alley again with John facing her, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"What… What you said," Crystal stammered out, his eyes widened when they saw the fake tattoo, "Being like I belong."

"What the hell is this?!" John demanded as he grabbed her arm with the mark, "Did you seriously get a tattoo of this?!"

"No!" Crystal protested as she yanked her arm free, "I just drew it. I used to be good at art."

"Don't you know what that is? What that represents?"

"No idea."

"It's the Dark Mark, Voldemort's Mark that he gave to his followers. And in case you didn't know, Voldemort is the guy who wanted to kill all muggles and is the apparent father of the Shadow Master," John explained to her as he waved his wand over her arm, vanishing the mark in an instant, "You can't go around with the Dark Mark on your arm."

"Put it back!" Crystal insisted, "I need it! I don't care what it means."

"No," John said firmly, "And for the record, your plan was not going to work anyway. The intimidating effect is kind of ruined by the face full of bruises. Plus you just flat out suck at it."

"Well I don't have magic to heal me," Crystal pointed out miserably and John raised his wand again, he muttered something under his breath and waved it at her. She felt the pain slowly receding and was sure if she could see her face then she'd see the bruises fading, "Thank you."

"What are you even looking for now?"

"Tracking spells. I need to find someone else," Crystal admitted as she instinctively rolled her sleeves back down and wrapped her arms protectively around herself.

"Why are trying to find so many people?" John wondered incredulously and Crystal glanced at him, catching his vivid, cerulean eyes as a thought occurred to her. She used to like blue eyes.

"Do you really want to know?" Crystal asked quietly as he folded his arms. She needed help and she was quite sure John had nothing to do with law enforcement.

"Well, not really. It's more of a mild curiosi-"

"A few days this random psycho kidnapped my youngest son and told me if I didn't find my ex-boyfriend for him then he'd kill him and he-he'd send him back in pieces until I did, he's been doing that. And then last night these two other people appeared, a girl and this Selwyn man and they told me the psycho was called Pyrrhus Florian, they're after him and they took my youngest daughter and told me if I didn't find Florian then they'll do the same. I still haven't heard from my ex-husband since I sent the owl so I'm trying to find a way to find Florian which might be done with tracking spells which you said were illegal which is why I was looking in Knockturn Alley," Crystal blurted out desperately, her eyes watering by the time she was done, "Do you know anything that could help?"

"Why did you have to go and tell me that!?" John snapped at her angrily and she couldn't help but flinch slightly in fear.

Maybe he'll beat you, you deserve it, Bob's voice told her unhelpfully.

"I'm sorry," Crystal muttered weakly and John sighed.

"Did you keep the pieces?"

"What?"

"The pieces of your son that Florian sent you, did you keep them?" John elaborated and Crystal nodded, feeling like vomiting just talking about it, "No spell is going to help you find Florian, he's defected from the Soul Eaters and both they and the Aurors are after him. If they're struggling to find him then no tracking spell you can do is going to help."

"Damn," Crystal sighed defeatedly and hung her head, so much for that plan.

"But there is a tracking spell we can do to find the rest of your son," John continued and Crystal's head shot back up, "If he's with Florian then that finds us Florian."

"You'll help me?" Crystal wondered hopefully to which John grunted.

"Unfortunately, yes."

---

Scorpius threw himself into his animagi training for the rest of the evening, if he couldn't help Rojer then maybe he could at least help Michael. He failed on that front too, at least in the sense of transforming completely. It did leave him tired enough to sleep easy though, not that he had a big day tomorrow. Lessons were much more sporadic, after lunch he had a couple of hours until his next lesson then even longer before the final class of the day which was Alchemy. First thing was Transfiguration though – except for Abby who had Arithmancy instead and Albus who had nothing – which meant meeting the new teacher, Penny Durante according to Cassia. She probably had been introduced at the Start of Term feast as well but Scorpius had missed that. It felt weird to be having a Transfiguration class without Abby and Albus.

"Goodmorning Sixth Years," Durante offered pleasantly with a kindly smile after they were seated, Michael sat beside Scorpius and she gave no indication of minding or wanting him to sit alone like Midas had, "I know you've had quite a rocky time with Transfiguration professors in the past but with any luck, those days are behind us. I'm Pen-Professor Durante, I haven't taught classes before but I've tutored homeschooled children and Transfiguration has always been my best subject. I'm going to talk to you a little about NEWT level Transfiguration and then we'll do some exercises to see where we all stand, how does that sound?"

There was a murmuring of acceptance and nodding as Durante started on her NEWT speech, Scorpius noticed many of the boys seemed to be paying more attention than usual. She was fairly young and shoulder-length, dirty blond hair framed a face that could easily be considered attractive, she was maybe a little shorter than average but had a slender frame nonetheless. She did come across as quite friendly but since all she talked about was NEWTs and had them go over some previous spells to gauge where they were, Scorpius wasn't sure how she'd fare as a teacher yet. After that was another lonely runic lesson but at least they were doing work this lesson, Professor Kresmir seemed back to his usual enthusiastic self and it was catching. Plus it took his mind off Rojer, he gave them homework though. Scorpius took to working it while the rest of his friends went to relax in the dormitory or were in classes if they were in the younger years, it felt strange to be doing homework alone.

"Hey Scor," a voice offered and Scorpius' head shot up to see Lorcan, "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Err… Sure," Scorpius agreed and Lorcan gratefully took a seat, not before scanning the Library first as if making sure they weren't about to suffer imminent attack.

"I'm sorry, the others are in class except Lily. Normally I'd sit with her right now but Orous has a free while the others have Arithmancy so they're off doing dating stuff I guess," Lorcan explained as he opened a Potions book, looking bored already and nervously thumbing his wand as his eyes skimmed the pages.

"Why don't you sit with your brother? He seems to like you again."

"I… I kind of wanted a break," Lorcan admitted guiltily, "He's kind of… kind of… erm… exhausting."

"Hey Lorc!" Lysander called happily and joined them at the table, "For a second I thought I'd lost you! Oh, hi Scorpius, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Scorpius offered uncertainly and Lysander looked concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're looking a little gray today."

"Gray?"

"Yes, when your aura is gray it tends to indicate there's a problem, that you're emotionally distressed or sad," Lysander explained seriously and Lorcan pinched the bridge of his nose, "To say you're feeling blue is wrong and a common misconception."

"You can't see auras anyway."

"You can if you drink the milk of a Nundu, my friend let me have some at breakfast."

"Well I'm okay," Scorpius insisted, having no intention of talking about it with Lysander.

"You can lie to me with your words all your want but your aura never lies and you shouldn't tell lies, it'll fill your brain with black smoke," Lysander told him knowingly while Lorcan gave a Scorpius a look that pleaded with him to not ask, the younger twin turned back to the older, "So Lorc, how are you?"

"Nothing much has changed since the last time I saw you five minutes ago in Potions," Lorcan pointed out.

"Oh right," Lysander nodded and bit his lip nervously, "Well would you like me to get you anything? A book you need for your Potions homework maybe?"

"I already have the book I need."

"You should have waited for me, I could've gotten it for you."

"I don't mind."

"Well would you like me to get you something? Something to drink maybe? I find a nice cup of tea is quite lovely in the afternoon."

"I don't drink tea," Lorcan insisted.

"Oh right, you don't. Some juice maybe? Or just plain water?"

"We're in the Library," Scorpius pointed out, "You're not allowed drinks in here."

"Really? Since when?" Lysander wondered, seeming genuinely shocked by this revelation.

"Since always! It's not exactly a new rule."

"Oh, I never realized. I'm sorry, Lorcan," Lysander apologized, his face screwing up with guilt, "I'm so sorry that I can't get you a drink. Well I could still get you a drink and you would just have to drink it outside the room."

"I didn't want a drink," Lorcan reminded him and Lysander relaxed slightly.

"Oh, right. Would you like something to eat then? I could bring you a snack or something, whatever you want."

"You're not allowed to eat in here either," Scorpius told him and Lysander's face fell again.

"Who makes these cruel and unusual rules? What's next? We're not allowed to whistle in here? I'm so sorry, Lor-"

"But it's okay because I'm not hungry either," Lorcan interjected quickly and Lysander relaxed a bit again.

"Well is there anything else I can get you that you want?"

"No, let's just get on with this Potions essay."

"Oh, okay, whatever you want to do because I'm here for you, brother," Lysander assured his twin with a warm smile, Lorcan gritted his teeth in an attempt at a smile and they went back to their work. It lasted for all of five minutes before Lysander spoke up again, "Are you thirsty now, Lorcan?"

"No but I do need the toilet," Lorcan decided, looking exasperated as he stood.

"Do you want me to go with you? I could help-"

"I don't need help to go to the toilet!" Lorcan snapped and stalked off in frustration, Lysander watched him walk away before sighing and abruptly slapping Scorpius' arm.

"What was that for?" Scorpius wondered incredulously.

"You could try being nicer to him," Lysander complained at him, amber eyes narrowing darkly, "My brother's very fragile right now, he needs support not to be ignored. That's why he needed the toilet, to get away from you."

"I erm… ah… what?!" Scorpius stammered out finally, having no idea what to say to that and feeling quite sure he wasn't the reason for Lorcan's departure. Lysander sighed heavily but his expression softened.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't snap at you when your aura is all gray, it's not your fault that you don't understand him anyway. You don't have the bond we do because you're not a twin," Lysander told him and patted his arm gently, he sighed, "I wish I knew how to help him more but I fear he'll never have peace so long as he can remember those terrible, dark days."

Scorpius felt very relieved when he could leave the Scamanders and head to Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was just a single lesson and the designated Patronus lesson. It was good to see Professor Ashain – and his kids - again though, he gave them a NEWT speech as well but it was more succinct at least and then he had them trying to do a Patronus. Nonverbally. Scorpius was surprised to find he struggled with it as he'd been doing plenty of nonverbal magic with Varanian, some spells were harder to do nonverbally though and this was apparently one of them. The best he got was a few wisps which was more than pretty much anyone else, even Michael drew a blank and he was something of a Patronus prodigy.

"Gee, you guys really suck at this," Cassia offered unhelpfully.

"Like you could do better," Rose grumbled irritably, although she had never managed to cast a Patronus anyway.

"I bet I could."

"Patronuses are hard," Antonius agreed, making Scorpius wonder if he still was practicing magic. Somehow, he found it extremely unlikely the answer was no, "And do your work."

"Numbers are boring."

"You still need to know them, mathematics is very important," Rose spoke up again.

"I already do know it," Cassia insisted, "It's easy."

"You think it's easy, huh?" Albus scoffed and reached over to snatch her work away from her then, "What's twenty-four times multiplied by seven then?"

"It's…" Cassia mused and paused to think for a minute, "One hundred and sixty-eight."

"Hah! No, it's… It's um… What is the answer?" Albus trailed off and dropped his voice to ask them.

"She's right," Maurice said dismissively, he hadn't been trying very hard to do a Patronus which was unusual for the work-crazy solider boy.

"Damn," Albus muttered as Antonius snatched his work back and slid it back to his sister, "An eight year old is better at math then me."

"Don't feel bad, Albie," Cassia offered gently and stretched across to pat him on the shoulder, "It's not your fault that your Daddy isn't an all-powerful, super awesome, mega talented genius like ours to inherit stuff. You're not an Ashain."

"My Dad is Harry Potter."

"So? My Daddy is Atticus Ashain and he's the best in the world ever," Cassia scoffed determinedly as she folded her arms proudly, "If I'm half of your age and better at math then you then it just proves who is the best Daddy."

"M-"

"Give it up, Al, you're going to win in an argument with her about her Dad," Abby interjected and Albus sighed resignedly.

"I win," Cassia grinned toothily, "Seriously though, we should get to together sometime before the assassin strikes again."

"We'd love to but Scorpius doesn't care about that," Michael pointed out and the smile was wiped from her face in her instant.

"There's an assassin trying to murder you and you don't care? Did you go crazy over the summer?"

"What if they try to kill you again?" Antonius asked, looking incredibly anxious and terrified of this thought.

"This is Hogwarts, its safe… ish and I'm sure the Aurors patrolling aren't going to let anyone in to kill me," Scorpius brushed it off, not wanting to have to think about it.

"Since when did you have faith in Aurors?"

"Yeah, half are Shadows and the other half are so stupid they don't even notice when one of their wand holsters go missing," Cassia scoffed, earning a scowl from her brother, "We can figure out who's trying to kill you and get them, I heard Marigold-"

"Hehe, Marigold," Albus chuckled, Abby rolled her eyes.

"-Talking to Daddy about it, the poison used is pretty fast so the timeline means you had to have been poisoned on the train. It's so toxic that you just have to touch it to be infected so either someone poisoned your pasty or someone touched you, no one else was poisoned so it was just you they were after and the other food was okay," Cassia explained and shoved a spare piece of parchment, "So right a list of everyone that you had contact with, just people brushing past you could've touched you."

"I'm not doing that," Scorpius insisted, handing the paper back to her, "In that case, it could've been anyone I walked by and I wasn't paying attention to everyone I walked by."

"It would be a start, you have a investigation."

"Good luck getting him to do that, Cassia, every time I bring it up he brushes it off to obsess over his guilt trip about Rojer."

"Why are you obsessed with Rojer instead of who tried to kill you?" Antonius wondered incredulously.

"Well you can't obsess over him if assassins kill you first," Cassia pointed out determinedly, "You should take this seriouslier, Scor. I'd rather investigate your attempted murder then your murder."

"Why do you need to investigate at all?" Scorpius complained, wishing everyone would stop making such a big deal out of it, "We know it's almost certainly the Shadows."

"Acause you're my friend and stopping the Shadows is what… Aaron's… colors do," Cassia offered seriously, managing to use code, "Plus in ten years I'll be an Auror and in twenty I'll be the Head Auror, investigating is part of catching the bad guys."

"She's right you know, they're not just going to give up," Maurice added and Scorpius sighed in frustration.

"If you lot don't get on with your work then I'm going to split you up," Professor Ashain chided them as he passed by, "I don't mind you talking but you have to actually do the work."

"Yeah, get to work," Cassia commanded at them, jabbing her finger.

"I saw you talking to them," Professor Ashain pointed out and Cassia's face flushed at being caught out, "Get on with your own work, if you interfere with the class then you can do your math in my office."

"Yes, Daddy."

Scorpius was glad it meant they shut up about the poison but the lesson ended shortly after that anyway, he took he break in classes to work on his animagi training since the only homework so far had been from Runes and he'd finished that earlier. He was determined to do it, those gaps in the timetable could be very useful. After that he trudged on back up for Alchemy with Maurice and surprisingly, Michael still.

"Aren't you going to drop Alchemy now you've had the first lesson?" Scorpius wondered of him as they climbed the steps of the tower, "I got the impression that was what you were going to do."

"It was," Michael admitted, "But I changed my mind. Don't you remember what Nott said? It could be useful for healing, at the very least we know it can save people dying from poison like Rojer did to you. I want to learn how to do that, especially since the assassin you're choosing to ignore could try again so I might have to use it."

"You know, you people accuse me of obsessing but you're the ones obsessing over this stupid poison thing."

"Are you still here, Sanford?" a voice demanded angrily as they reached the top of the stairs where the rest of the class were clustered, minus the two girls who'd left and would likely not be back. Elm was the speaker, "Thought you'd have dropped out by now. Don't you have a full moon to go bark at, you filthy dog?"

"Hey! Don't insult my friend," Scorpius snapped and had his wand in his hand in an instant, Maurice hastily grabbed his necklace.

"What did I miss?" Maurice wondered as he also drew his wand.

"Just drop it," Michael sighed.

"I wasn't insulting your friend, I was insulting the dog," Elm said determinedly, folding his arms.

"Are you English allergic to the opening of doors?" Rojer's accented voice complained as the door opened, this time the Alchemist had opened it by hand and gestured for them to enter, "Seriously, go into the class do not stand outside it or next time there will be no class."

"Got it," Knight nodded as they started to file in but Rojer held up his hand to halt Scorpius and Maurice.

"No. You two go away, no class for you today."

"What?! Why!?" Maurice burst out incredulously, Rojer's eyes darted immediately to their wands.

"There is no fighting. Come back tomorrow and be calm or do not come back."

"We were just defending our friend," Scorpius pointed out desperately.

"Suckers," Elm smirked but Rojer halted him too.

"Same for you, my ears work. There is no bullying. Come back tomorrow and be calm or do not come back."

"That's completely unfair!" Elm protested angrily.

"That is my rules. No fighting. No bullying. You treat all people with dignity in my class or you do not come in my class. Buh-bye," Rojer insisted with a note of finality before closing the door on them.

---

Part 4: Fingers, Blood and Talks

---

Crystal headed out with John and took him back to her home – or rather just told him the address and he teleported them there because it was faster – while her remaining children were still in school. She started to have second thoughts as she let him into the house, she was putting her trust in a random stranger who could very well betray her or kill her or whatever. She had had to accept she was an awful judge of character. She didn't think she had a choice though, what was the worst that could happen really? If he killed her then maybe the psychos would let her children go since they had no reason to hold them hostage anymore, for one stupid second she hoped he would kill her. And then she noticed another box on the kitchen table.

Great plan, what piece of our child did the psycho cut off now while you were failing as a mother?! Bob's voice growled at her inside her mind darkly, Answer me, you stupid bitch! Why can't you protect our children!?

"No," Crystal whimpered tearfully, putting a hand to her face.

"This is the kind of box Florian is sending you pieces of your son?" John asked bluntly as he strode over, Crystal cringed at horrible words and managed a nod before John flipped it open while retaining his unreadable expression, "Hm. Where are the other parts?"

"Freezer," Crystal muttered and John immediately went to retrieve them, "I erm… thought… thought maybe they could be reattached if I get him back."

"I understand," John stated as he placed the three tubs on the table.

"What erm… What… What part of…?"

"Another finger," John answered before she had to complete her sentence and looked away as he took the parts out.

"And you… you really think you can find him with… with those?"

"No."

"No? What? But you said…" Crystal shot out desperately, turning back round to see John was waving his wand over the body parts that he'd laid out on the table. She resisted the urge to throw up.

"Look," John offered and made a gesture with his wand, immediately the small chunks of flesh shifted to become two coins, a tissue and a Lego block, "These are not your son's limbs. It's a Transfiguration spell, a bit of blood onto an object and you can turn it into an exact replica of that person's body parts. I guess its true Florian has a gift for Transfiguration."

"So Bertie's not had his limbs cut off?" Crystal wondered, feeling a flood of relief coursing through her.

"No. Or if he has, Florian hasn't given them to you. It means one of two things, either he didn't have the stomach to mutilate your son or…"

"Or what?"

"Or he's already dead and using the spell to make it seem like your son is still alive," John admitted reluctantly and Crystal had to fight back the wave of despair that crashed against her, "There's no way to tell. I'm sorry."

Why didn't you protect them?! Bob's voice screamed at her angrily, You can't do anything right! You can't do anything at all! My son is dead because of you, Crystal, this is on you! You killed him! You've killed them all!

"Is… Is there anything we can do still?" Crystal pleaded, glancing back to John who had crossed his arms and averted his eyes with a thoughtful expression.

"There is one spell I know that could work. It's Dark Magic though."

"Okay," Crystal agreed readily, she'd realized John would likely use bad magic when she accepted his help.

"I'll need to prepare a potion, may take a while."

"Okay," Crystal agreed again with only a hint of reluctance, not wanting to wait but accepting it was better than nothing.

"It'll require your blood," John pointed out and Crystal was slightly taken aback for a minute but quickly decided it was worth it.

"Okay. Whatever it takes."

"Okay then," John nodded in understanding as he approached her, he tapped her shoulder and she felt herself being compressed again. They reappeared by her car back in London, "I'll get started on this potion, I'll come for you when it's time for you."

"I'll be waiting," Crystal confirmed as John turned away, vanishing with a sound like a thunderclap.

Crystal could only cling to hope that it would work and she was doing the right thing as she drove home, trying not to think about the possibility that Bertie was already dead. Somehow she didn't put it past Florian to have already killed him and there was Ivy, she had no way of knowing whether she was alive. Had her children been dead the moment they were taken? Was she just chasing ghosts? Was there any hope left?

Only a fool could possibly think there's still hope, Bob's voice scoffed, Bertie and Ivy are with me now, I'll keep them safer then you ever did. But you're going to keep trying anyway because you are a fool

Crystal just nodded, wondering whether she should be concerned for her mental health as she pulled in at her home. Not that it felt much like a home now. She headed inside, thinking back to her thoughts when she'd walked inside earlier. Would her children really be better off without her?

"Hey," a gruff unfamiliar voice barked as Crystal walked into the kitchen, she jumped and spun to see a heavyset stranger in wizard's robes leering at her, "Have you found Florian yet?"

"N-No," Crystal stammered out.

"Well that's too bad," the man smirked before turning on his heel and disappearing with a pop.

Crystal had an incredibly bad feeling but was distracted by a squawk, she turned to see John's owl had returned. She rushed over to it and it nudged a piece of paper towards her that it had probably brought, it wasn't an envelope but nonetheless it seemed that Jack had replied. It read simply: If you really want to meet then be home tonight, I'll come. Crystal let out a relieved breath that she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in, finally some good news. If he was open to meeting then maybe he'd be open to meeting Florian, which might spare Bertie. That was assuming she did still have a son to save.

Seeing she had nothing else to do besides her jobs that she was still completely ignoring, she hid the note along with the lid of the box with the newest location for Jack to meet Florian on the inside of it. She also made some sandwiches for Agnes and Flynn when they came in, it shouldn't be long now. She jolted again as there was another pop, spinning to see the man had returned. Except now he was covered in a spattering of red.

"Here," the man offered and tossed something to her, she caught it before glancing at it. It was a finger, a child's bloody finger. Crystal couldn't help but scream in horror as she dropped it, the man laughed and she looked back to see he was holding a second digit, "They've been charmed, squeeze that one when you want to summon us and we'll know from this one. If you find Florian then you'll get your brat back and if you don't then you don't get her back, there's only a limited amount of pieces especially in such a small body so I suggest you hurry."

"You sick bastard," Crystal sobbed and the man had his wand on her an instant, she felt the spell of pain again yet somehow the mental anguish of her daughter's pain was worse. Ivy had been whole before he'd left, she was sure.

If you were a better mother then my daughter would still be unharmed, you worthless bitch, Bob's voice spat into her mind.

"Insult me again and you'll how sick I can be, muggle scum," the man said threateningly as he stopped the spell.

She looked back to him as the residual waves of pain rippled through her, she saw him take one of the sandwiches she'd made for her kids. He took a bite, his hands still sprayed with her daughter's blood before vanishing with another pop and taking the sandwich. Crystal caught sight of her daughter's bloody finger there on the floor where she'd dropped it, she pictured her poor little girl in pain and burst into tears. She had to pick herself up though, putting the finger away in the freezer so Agnes and Flynn wouldn't have to see it when they came in. They returned just after she sat down at the table when she was done putting it away, they both looked worried and she braced herself for more questions.

"It's going to be okay, Mummy," Flynn assured her instead as he hugged her tightly, "It's going to be okay."

"You don't even know what's wrong," Crystal couldn't help but point out and Flynn just squeezed her tighter.

"It doesn't matter what's wrong, Mummy, I know it'll be okay. We'll be okay, we always are. Ivy and Bertie too."

"Oh sweetheart," Crystal whispered as she hugged her son back, Agnes came over to hug her as well, "I love you both so much."

"We love you too," Agnes whispered as Crystal pulled away and mustered a smile for them.

"Just eat your sandwiches and go watch some TV, okay?"

"Do we live off sandwiches now?" Flynn wondered jokily.

"I just don't have time to cook right now."

Agnes and Flynn took the sandwiches and went to watch the television, Crystal hoped it would take their minds of things and wished she could do the same. She remained in the kitchen, ignoring phone calls about the work she was missing and waiting for John. She rested her head on her hands, her eyes stinging and memories playing over in her mind. She tried to remember the last time she'd felt at peace, felt as if things were okay. Those days were long gone, half a lifetime away now. She hadn't realized she'd been drifting into sleep until she heard a loud bang like a thunderclap, jolting to see John had returned.

"It's time," John said simply while Flynn and Agnes rushed in to see what the noise was, he scowled at them.

"Who are you?" Agnes demanded, somewhere between firmly and fearfully.

"Relax, this is just my… friend, John," Crystal offered uncertainly, not sure how else to describe him without having to elaborate, "Just go back to what you were doing, we need to have a grown up talk alone. Okay?"

"Okay, Mummy," Flynn agreed, he eyed John somewhat cautiously but nonetheless the kids went back into the front room while John turned on her.

"How many kids do you actually have?" John questioned of her.

"Five," Crystal admitted, "That was Agnes and Flynn, Bertie and Ivy are the ones missing then my eldest, Michael, just started his Sixth Year in Hogwarts."

"You have a sixteen year old son?" John scoffed, looking at her incredulously, "What did you have him when you were like twelve?"

"Sixteen," Crystal said, not for the first time as she got to her feet and wrapped her arms protectively around herself, "His father is the one Florian wants."

"A wizard?"

"No."

"No?" John repeated in surprise, "What does he want with a muggle then?"

"Jack… Jack kind of… sold his soul with a Specter and became one or something. I don't… I don't know what he wants with him, I didn't even realize others knew."

"You have the weirdest life," John sighed and shook his head, "Do you have anyone to watch the kids left or do you want me to bring them?"

"Bring them."

---

"You know this is never going to work, right?" Joel taunted and Pyrrhus tore his eyes away from the magic two-way conversation mirror he was staring at it, "It's been four days now. If the woman knows where Jack is then she doesn't care enough to tell you."

"Maybe she just needs time," Pyrrhus insisted and went back to watching the mirror because he didn't want to look as his brother, usually he used it for staying in contact with Carver but now he was using it to watch the most recent location he'd given as the meeting place. It was safer to keep switching it.

"Face it, Pyrrhy, it's a dead end. We both know Mothers abandon their sons."

"Not all mothers."

"Yours, mine, Oathan's, Alzay's. Can you even name a mother who hasn't abandoned her child?"

"Carver's mother?" Pyrrhus offered testily, throwing another look at his dead brother. Not sure why he kept engaging his hallucination, if it was anything like feeding like birds then it was just encouraging insanity to stay.

"She ditched him plenty of times, it was her husband convinced her it was proper to keep her son. She threw him to the curb pretty fast when he was accused of being a Shadow too."

"Oh go to hell and die."

"I already died and I can't go to hell, Brutus destroyed my soul," Joel pointed out cheerfully, "You're stuck with me, brother. My little, mad brother."

"Does your Daddy usually talk to people that aren't there?" Bertie's small voice asked from across the room and Pyrrhus glanced over at the two boys, who apparently thought just because they were in a vacant muggle home – freshly built and for sale – rather than a hotel room that he couldn't hear across the room.

"Not usually," Oathan admitted and Bertie flinched when he noticed Pyrrhus looking, he turned back to his mirror, "You don't have to be scared of my Daddy, you know, he's really nice."

"Nice people don't take children away from their families."

"He has a point, you know?" Joel pointed out.

"I never said I was a nice person," Pyrrhus countered truthfully, "There's no such thing as a nice person. Everyone is bad. Everyone. Only infants are innocent and that's just because they don't know anything, they're infants."

"Daddy has beended nice to you, Daddy has not hurt you," Oathan's voice drew him back to the children's conversation, "He's nice and he's trying to stop the war and get peace for us, some of the times you have to do bad things to make a good thing happen."

"I don't care about the war, I miss my family," Bertie whimpered, the kid was such a crybaby. Oathan was younger and had been through worse but he wasn't that bad, Oathan must just be stronger he realized, "I just want to go home."

"Well it's your family's fault that you're not home. My Daddy would letted you go home if they just do what he wants, maybe your Mother just doesn't want you back. Mothers are like that."

"No, they're not!" Bertie insisted with an unusual burst of determination, "Mummy's love their children."

"Do not," Oathan spat and Pyrrhus spared a glance to see his son pointing to the scars on his face, "See these? My Mother did that to me and I have more scars under beneath my shirt that she gived me."

"Your own Mother?" Bertie repeated, his little jaw dropping in absolute shock at this revelation. Oathan nodded.

"My own Mother. When I turned two, she scarred the Shadow Mark on me – which really, really hurts - and hurted my face when I struggled. She left me in a bad place where they hurt Oathan. And when I turned three, she hurted my face again when I begged her to let me go home," Oathan recounted with his watery, "Maybe they don't want you back. Mothers don't love their children."

"I'm sorry your Mummy hurted you," Bertie offered, sounding sincere before swallowing and gesturing to the scars he had from Greyback, "But do you know how I got my scars?"

"A werewolf. Fenrir Greyback."

"He camed to our house, I don't know how he got but the sound woke me and I went downstairs. Greyback was attacking my family, he hitted my Daddy's legs and he crawled into the basement. He closed the door behind him and locked it with my sisters and brother banging on the door begging to be let in so they would be safe too," Bertie told him in a quieter tone, looking upset, "And do you know where my Mummy was?"

"No."

"Jumping in front of them to protect my sisters and brother, Greyback was hitting her with his claws over and over and she was screaming and screaming but she didn't move. She didn't move because she wanted to protect her children not hide and leave us to die," Bertie recounted, fresh tears leaking from his eyes and his voice cracked, "They think I am too young to rememrember but I can't forget. Then Mummy went quiet, she was so hurt she fell asleep and Greyback lifted his claws again and lifted them high."

"He was going to kill her?" Oathan guessed, possibly correctly but Bertie ignored it.

"But Agnes jumped in the way to protect Mummy and half her face got hit instead, there was so much blood. Then Flynn threwed a lamp at Greyback and yelled to run, Greyback went for him and we ran for the front door but it wouldn't open. Greyback hit Flynn aside and ran for us instead, Ivy pushed me behind her and told me to go back upstairs. He got her then chased me too and then it was over. Most horrible, scariest night of my whole entire life," Bertie concluded and tried to wipe at his streaming tears, "But it made me know something good. My family is a family that will fight for each other and protect each other. I know they love me and want me back just like I know I feel the same about them, and I know my Mummy will try to protect me until she gets so hurt she goes asleep."

"Carver's right, you know? Crystal's a dead end on finding Jack," Joel spoke up again and Pyrrhus averted his eyes while his son tried to comfort Bertie, "Face it. You took a mad gamble and it didn't pay off. You've never going to find Jack Thorne, without him you'll never be able to make Antonius strong enough to stand a chance against the Shadow Master. You may as well return the boy then come back here, kill Oathan and yourself. You can't run forever and you can't protect him forever, maybe death will be kinder to you then life. You'll finally be free of me and Dad and all the other crap that's happened to you, and Oathan will die innocent not a mad, bad, broken wreck like you."

"I'm not giving up," Pyrrhus insisted, not ready to throw in the towel although tears did prick his eyes, "But maybe Crystal is a dead end. Bertie!"

Pyrrhus jumped up and the boy jumped even higher, he grabbed him by the shoulder and led him outside. He apparated them both back to his home, expecting to see Crystal getting the happiest surprise of her life to find her youngest some home, unhurt and free. She wasn't there though. He did a quick run through of the house and found it empty. He decides to show mercy and she couldn't even be bothered to stay in the house? Who did that?! He couldn't very well leave the boy alone so he returned them back to the vacant house.

"Sorry, Bertie, false alarm," Pyrrhus offered as he released the sniffling boy back to his son and picked up the mirror, glad to see Joel was gone. So much for that idea but he had tried.

---

"Tell them not to leave anything behind that they want, they might not be able to come back here," John told her after filling him in and having sending Agnes and Flynn off to pack.

"Why not?" Crystal wondered in surprise and John looked slightly incredulous.

"What do you think the Soul Eaters are going to do when this is done?" John questioned of her, "Do you really think if you do everything they want that they'll just give you back your children and live happily ever after?"

"I… Yes? No? I don't know," Crystal stammered out uncertainly and wrapped her arms around herself protectively, John's expression remained as unreadably stoic as ever, "I guess I haven't really thought about it."

"You and your children will just be a loose end when you've outlasted your purpose, memory charms can be broken but the dead can't talk. They'll kill you and the girl they took at the very least."

"What… What makes you think that?"

"Because I was a Death Eater, this is what we would've been told to do," John said seriously and Crystal's eyes drifted to his arm where he had the mark, "I know Selwyn, he's cruel, merciful and thorough. If he's in charge of this operation then he'll definitely be ready to kill you."

"Did you ever do anything like this when you were a Death Eater?" Crystal asked worriedly and John hesitated before replying.

"Not this exact situation, no. But this is what they will do, trust me. And even if you don't believe me, Bambi, do you really think it's wise to stay in a place that they know your location?"

"So what, I should… I should go into hiding?" Crystal wondering, thinking it sounded insane.

"If you want your children to live," John said seriously and she sighed.

"I'll think about it."

"Think fast and move faster," John offered as Crystal went to pass the world along to her kids and pack herself, for Ivy and Bertie too.

She returned when they were done and John teleported them away one by one, still wondering whether it was to trust a man who admitted to being part of a group who apparently mercilessly killed families who were loose ends. She still found herself failing to think of another option though. She wasn't sure where she'd been expecting John to take them but she hadn't expected it to be a dump, some old farmhouse with a roof so badly patched it looked almost like a quilt. The windows were all boarded up or cracked and it didn't improve up close, the wood the place was made up of looked gritty and unfinished, rotting or rotten.

If she'd thought it might be a magical cover for a nice interior, she'd also have been wrong. Inside had the same rotted wood for the walls, floorboards, doors, door and window frames, even the ceiling looked just like the floorboards from upstairs. There was a sagging fireplace with a smoldering fire inside it, a table and couch – also with rotted wood – which had upholstery on it at least and there were two other doors leading off. On the table was a steaming black cauldron, an assortment of random items consisting mostly of stuff she'd seen in apothecaries but there was also, bandages, parchment – a map upon closer inspection – and a knife. There were several stacks of boxes littered around as well as if John was in the process of moving, her children didn't look impressed.

"Nice place," Crystal said politely and John grunted.

"It's okay, I know it's a dump," John admitted as he strode straight over to the cauldron as if to check on it, "This is what you're left with when the Ministry takes your family's money as reparations for their crimes."

"Why don't you kids go have a look around?" Crystal offered to them, they spared her a glance but said nothing as they wondered out, "If that's okay with you."

"It's fine. There's nothing to see away," John brushed it off as he stirred the cauldron.

Crystal set down her bags and started over to him, she paused only when she noticed the contents of one of the boxes. Some old children's things, some stuffed animals, picture – moving ones – books and dolls. She picked up the largest doll in surprise, she wouldn't have thought a little girl lived here.

"Do you have a daughter?" Crystal wondered curiously.

"No," John shot it down immediately and she scowled in confusion, John must have noticed as he elaborated, "I had a niece. I raised her since she was four years old."

"Is she in Hogwarts?" Crystal guessed and pain flashed in John's eyes, he kept them on the potions.

"She died in Hogwarts. The attack a few months ago."

"I'm sorry," Crystal offered with a rush of sympathy as she put the doll back down, John shrugged it off but his eyes still looked sad as he tended the potion. She walked over to him, "What was she like?"

"She was a good kid," John said quietly as he sprinkled some yellow dust into the potion and stirred it, "Makes me almost wish I'd raised her to be a worse person, maybe if she'd tried to save herself instead of random students stuck outside then she'd still be alive. It's always the good ones who die."

"Yeah," Crystal muttered, wondering if Michael would be in such bad shape if he was a more selfish person, "But at least you can be proud."

"Yeah," John murmured and nodded slightly as he dropped in some purple stuff, "I'll have to cut you with a knife to get your blood and the wound can't be healed, when it closes it won't track them anymore."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"Once. I used it to find my niece," John told her and finally spared her a glance, she looked at him with interest, "I was a Death Eater, I did ten years for my crimes. All my family was Death Eaters, my grandfather and father died in the wars though so it was just my brothers and I. I gave myself up while they fled, my eldest brother eventually died when they caught up to him and tried to arrest him and my middle brother was arrested himself just before I was released. He got life. He told me about his daughter, he begged me to find her when I got out and make sure she was okay because he didn't think her mother would care for her. I used this spell to find her."

"Did it work?" Crystal asked with a mixture of hope for her children and curiosity.

"Yep. Found her abandoned, her muggle mother had locked her in a closest and left her to die. She has half-dead when I found her, starved and dehydrated. Her fingers were bloody from clawing at the door to try get out, she was so weak and frightened of dying alone in the dark… And I promised I'd take care of her, keep her safe…"

"That's horrible," Crystal stated when John trailed off, feeling quite sick at the thought of someone doing that to their child.

"It was. But my point was spell will locate them even if they're in a bad state," John pointed out as he went over to the door her kids and left through.

"What happened to her father?"

"Killed himself in Azkaban," John said bluntly and picked up the knife, he dipped it in the potion and lifted it out now with a watery sheath around it, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Crystal confirmed with a deep breath as she rolled up her sleeve, offering her arm to him. He took her wrist and held the blade to her forearm, she tried to brace herself but John hesitated as he glanced at her, "What's wrong?"

"You know this will hurt, right?"

"And you think I've never been hurt before?" Crystal scoffed and John slowly turned back to the knife, she bit her tongue to stop herself crying out as the blade tore through her arm. John held her arm over the cauldron, letting the crimson liquid fall in, "Is that enough?"

"No, it needs quite a bit," John shook his head while the cut continued to sting painfully and the potion hissed with the addition, "What happened to their father?"

"What?"

"The father of your younger kids."

"He erm… He went to jail and my ex-boyfriend killed him there," Crystal offered, starting to feel a bit light-headed from the blood loss.

"Why was he in jail?"

"H-He was abusive to my eldest son and I."

"Did he beat him?"

"Yes," Crystal admitted guiltily.

"Did he beat you?"

"Y-Yes," Crystal mumbled, not wanting to talk about it.

"Did he rape you?" John asked and Crystal could only flinch, John moved her arm away and started to bandage her arm, "That's enough."

"Okay," Crystal muttered, still feeling woozy and John helped her to sit down as he bandaged her arm, "Did… Did it work?"

"Let's find out."

John took a deep breath as he stood and returned to the cauldron, he waved his wand over it and started speaking words she didn't understand. It had stopped steaming and abruptly he slashed his wand through the air, the potion lurched out of the cauldron. The liquid was the color of blood and spiraled out like some kind of crimson snake, it disintegrated in the air and rained down on the map. John peered over it, breathing heavily as he scanned it.

"One in Hogwarts, two here which means the other two dots are the locations of your missing children," John said, sounding almost as if he was speaking to himself now, "One in a town, which I'd guess Florian, and one more isolated out in the country, which I'd guess Soul Eaters. At any rate, we got them. You're getting your children back tonight."

---

Part 5: Many Happy Returns

---

John gave Crystal some Blood-Replenishing potion before teleporting her back home to wait for Jack, she just sat at the kitchen table and tried to keep her eyes open. She was still feeling weak from blood loss and cold, John said she had to pace herself with the potion. Jack hadn't exactly specified when he would show up but she felt increasingly anxious he wouldn't appear at all, she wasn't entirely convinced he'd show in the first place. She'd given John her phone to ring him from the house phone if Jack appeared, she wasn't sure how it fit into his plans if Jack didn't show up. She was afraid to hope John was right.

"Hey," a familiar voice said from behind her and Crystal stood, spinning in shock.

Sure enough, there was Jack Thorne standing behind her. He looked exactly the same as the last time she'd seen him, she wasn't sure why she was surprised. He had the same sapphiric eyes set in a handsome face, dark unruly hair that he kept short and a muscular build. He was dressed casually, jeans and a leather jacket. Nothing about his appearance indicated what he'd done, what he'd become. Looks could be deceiving though.

"Jack," Crystal breathed as she drank in his appearance, still surprised to see him and starting to feel hurt at what he'd done, "I can't believe you really came."

"I still love you, Crystal, I'll always come if you call," Jack assured her gently as he approached, Crystal wrapped her arms protectively around herself before he smirked, "Please, you nearly chickened out several times."

"Are you still killing criminals?" Crystal blurted out before he could argue more with himself.

Of course they are, everyone you screw ends up being a psycho, Bob's voice scoffed inside her head, Things get worse, people get worse. They only get worse. Life goes down not up, if you weren't such a stupid piece of trash then you'd know this

"We realized that we don't have to kill criminals, we can already see the colors of people's souls. We already know who's good and bad. We only destroy the souls of those who aren't pure, white souls so it's okay," Jack told her and Crystal squeezed her eyes shut, her heart twisting in pain at what he'd become. He'd been nice once, they'd been happy once, "You're in more perpetual anguish than usual, why did you call us here? Is something the matter?"

"Pyrrhus Florian is looking for you," Crystal said with a sigh as she opened her eyes, "He took Bertie, he won't give him back unless I find you."

"What does he want with us?"

"I have no idea. But I have an address you're supposed to meet him, please go to him."

"Are you mad?" Jack scoffed, "You want us to risk our life to meet a lunatic and for what? Bertie isn't even the one that's Jack's son, he's Bob's. Why should we care?"

"Because he's still my son, my baby boy," Crystal protested, feeling tears prick her eyes at his words, "If you really care about me at all then you'll please do this for me."

"Of course I really care about you, we'll do it," Jack assured her before scowling, "No, we won't. Jack, Bertie was the one we wanted to kill, he's not your son. Why should we risk a trap to save this child?"

"Why not?" Jack snapped angrily at himself, "Do you fear Pyrrhus Florian, One? Of course I don't! Then why not?! We have nothing to fear from him! We can destroy his soul if he tries to harm us, we can save Bertie. It's no risk for us anyway."

"I still don't see the point," Jack insisted testily as he folded his arms, "Why waste time on this? Because I want to help Crystal. Well I don't. We'll get to destroy a soul. We just did that yesterday, we can live a few days without it. I'm enjoying learning to swim. Have you ever swam before, Crystal? It really is quite the sensation."

"I-I have," Crystal stammered out uncertainly, finding him talking to himself quite disturbing and harder to distinguish between Jack and… One.

"Don't speak to her," Jack hissed at himself, "And I can't believe you're turning down a soul. You're so much more willing to destroy them now that I don't have to worry about starving, instead I can focus on enjoying life. Well maybe if you don't do this then I'll stop being so willing. No, you won't. Fine, I won't but I'll keep nagging you. Try enjoying life then. Alright, let's get this over with then."

"Do we get a kiss as a reward for heroically saving the boy? Been awhile since we did that, that's pretty fun," Jack wondered with a smile before his expression flashed to one of anger, "Don't speak to her! We'll save Bertie and save him just because I care."

"Thank you," Crystal muttered, grateful, disturbed and saddened all at the same time. She picked up the box lid, showing him - or them - the address, "That's where he wants you to meet him."

"We'll be back soon," Jack assured her before he vanished in a haze of darkness.

"What have you become?" Crystal asked of the silence with a sad sigh as she went to pick up the phone, punching in the numbers to the phone she'd given John. He didn't answer though, there was just a thunderous crack and he appeared, "Why does everyone teleport quieter then you?"

"Apparating. It's called apparating, not teleporting," John insisted and she noticed he'd changed into wizarding robes, black, "And I can't help it. I taught myself because I dropped out of Hogwarts to join the Death Eaters before they could teach me, I can do it but not as good or as quiet as most."

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it," Crystal offered truthfully, it had been an idle question and she was feeling a bit light-headed, "Jack just came and left to go see Florian, I think."

"Okay then now's the time," John said more confidently and went over to the cabinets, he withdrew a mug and a bottle from his robes that he poured into the cup before striding back over, "You need to summon the Shadows now, give them the location of the meet. They should go there, less will stay behind to guard the girl. I'll retrieve her first since she's the one guarded, Bertie should be unprotected when he leaves so I'll get him second. I'll take them back to my home, leave them with their siblings then return for you. Okay?"

It's going to fail, you know? Nothing ever goes right for dumb whores like you, Bob's voice taunted in her mind.

"Okay," Crystal nodded although still afraid to believe it would work and John handed her the mug, "What's this?"

"If the Shadow tries to kill you, throw it over them," John told her and she eyed the clear liquid worriedly, "I can't be in multiple places at once to protect you."

"What will it do?" Crystal asked nervously as she glanced back to the stoic face and met his harsh cerulean eyes.

"What needs to be done," John answered after a moment's hesitation.

"I erm… I don't think I want this," Crystal admitted, suspecting it did something bad as she tried to hand it back to him but he pushed it back to her and held her hands over the mug.

"My niece is dead," John stated bluntly, "She was all I had left in the world, all that mattered to me. And she's dead. Gone forever because they killed her. I'd do anything if it meant she'd be alive, whatever it takes, whatever the cost. You'll regret what you didn't do if your children die a lot more then you'll regret what you did do if your children live, would you rather your children live or the monsters who are willing to hack your children into tiny pieces?"

"My children," Crystal whispered with a pounding heart and John took a step back as he let her go, "Whatever it takes."

---

Pyrrhus Florian finished tucking Oathan into bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead, his three year old smiled at him as he closed his eyes to sleep. Pyrrhus stood with a sad sigh, wishing his father's way of saying goodnight could've been normal like that. He glanced over at Bertie's bed to make sure he was in it, he was lying on his side watching him and quickly slammed his eyes shut when he caught Pyrrhus looking. Pyrrhus shook his head as he wandered back over to his spot, he sat cross-legged on the table and took his mirror back out to watch for signs of life before he'd have to try catch a few z's himself.

He wasn't expecting to see anything, especially after finding Crystal's home empty when she'd tried to return Bertie earlier. He turned out to be phenomenally wrong though as he caught a glimpse of a man in the abandoned warehouse, he matched the description for Jack Thorne. Pyrrhus scrambled to get up excitedly and made sure his magical enchantments were still in place to protect the boys - as well as to make sure Bertie couldn't escape – before heading out, leaving his mirror behind and apparating to the warehouse. There was no time to waste, mostly because he was afraid of Jack leaving before he had a chance to speak to him.

"Jack Thorne, I presume?" Pyrrhus questioned cheerfully as he appeared, his eagerness shining through and he grinned as the man spun to face him, "And One, of course."

"Thank you for noticing," Jack said with a grin before his expression soured and his voice changed slightly, "That would make you Pyrrhus Florian then?"

"The one and only," Pyrrhus confirmed with a flourishing bow, "We have much to discuss."

"The only thing I'm interested in discussing is the return of Crystal's son."

"No, that's not very important but-"

Pyrrhus had started to brush it off when Jack disappeared into the shadows, he reappeared right in front of him before he had time to panic. Jack lashed out immediately with an unnaturally strong punch, Pyrrhus was thrown violently backwards and smacked painfully against the wall. He groaned in pain, wondering why people had to be so violent and felt fear creeping in over his delight at finding the man he'd been looking for. Jack was a man, he didn't like being alone with them. He got to his feet and jumped as Jack reappeared in front of him yet again, his fist already in motion to smash Pyrrhus' face into the wall. His skull was ringing as he crumpled to the ground, trying to decide whether it was wise to fight back against someone he wanted as an ally. He decided against it as a show of good faith.

"The only thing I'm interested in is returning Crystal's son to her! Where is he?!" Jack yelled, punctuating every single word with a vicious kick to his chest or stomach, "I'm not, I couldn't care less but I am enjoying your pain."

"Not until you hear me out," Pyrrhus insisted as he got back to his feet, resisting the urge to cringe at the throbbing and aching pain coming from his front now. It hurt to breathe too, a rib or two might've been cracked unhelpfully. Jack raised his fist again, "And hitting me is not going to allow me to talk any faster!"

"What do you want then?" Jack wondered as he folded his arms, an eyebrow rising, "You trying to kill us to get back into the Soul Eaters good books?"

"No," Pyrrhus scoffed, "Quite the opposite. I have a plan to kill the Shadow Master and I need you."

"Are you as really mad as they say? You think you can kill the Shadow Master? And you really think we'd risk fighting one of only two people in the world with the power to destroy us?"

"I didn't say anything about us going up against the Shadow Master personally," Pyrrhus pointed out and Jack looked a bit more interested, still angry but slightly interested, "My plan involves us weakening her enough so that Calderon could kill her, he's the one who has to fight her. All we do is weaken her from afar and throw him out to fight her, he was willing at Hogwarts and he'd be willing again. He'd win if we weakened her, at the very least die destroying them both. Wouldn't you like that? The two people in the world with the power to destroy you dying? The war ending and your son being safe from it?"

"I'm listening," Jack admitted, slightly dubiously but still listening all the same.

Pyrrhus launched into an explanation of his plan, trying to get through it as quickly as possible. He stopped abruptly when he heard a slight popping sound, he froze midsentence and wandlessly acciod his mirror to his pocket as he noticed the shadows shifting and footsteps from outside. The Shadows had probably tracked him again or possibly Jack, they were probably surrounding the place. He tried to apparate just to test it and found himself incapable, they'd put up wards to trap him.

Jack also seemed to be listening to the footsteps and small pops as they gathered, Pyrrhus opened his mouth to ask if he was staying to fight or not because it would change the strategy. No sooner had he done that though then the doors and windows burst open, Jack grabbed him roughly and in the next instance they were hurtling through space. Cold, dark space but space nonetheless. They reappeared in the middle of nowhere, Pyrrhus wasn't sure where they were exactly but he was sure it was quite far from wherever they had been.

"You saved me," Pyrrhus pointed out, somewhat surprised by this.

"Give Crystal back her healthy, unhurt son - make sure to apologize too - and we're in, for now. If he's hurt we're not in and if he's dead then we'll kill you," Jack agreed reluctantly with a sigh, "Thousands have died already, millions of people are enslaved. Seven lives to end the war is a small price comparatively, even if one of those is a child, several are teenagers and one is Michael's best friend. Michael may be upset but at least he will be alive to be upset, Crystal too. Sacrifices must be made to protect the ones you love."

---

John left with another thunderclap and Crystal returned to the kitchen, putting the mug of strange potion and retrieving the grisly finger the Shadow man had given her. She sat down with the chair facing away from the table and resisted the urge to vomit as she squeezed it, she felt her heartbeat pounding in her ears with each passing second. Finally there was a pop and the heavyset man from before appeared before her, he hadn't changed out of his robes still spattered with her daughter's blood. Crystal slid the lid across the table to him.

"Pyrrhus Florian is meeting someone there now," Crystal informed him as the man picked up the lid and glance at the address, "Now give me my daughter back."

"We have to see if this checks out first," the man growled before disappearing once again.

This will never work, you know? Bob's voice taunted in her mind, She's dead. Bertie's dead. They're dead now, long gone from this world. Our children are dead because of you, you're so worthless you failed to protect him

"Good news, scum," the man spat as he returned with another pop, "Your tip proved to be correct."

"So I get my daughter back?" Crystal wondered hopefully.

"You get her back, it'll just be on the other side," the man told her with a cruel smirk that sent a chill through her bones, "The only question that remains is how painfully I can make your death because I like killing muggle filth like you. And which of you bitches I should kill first."

"Pl-Please," Crystal stammered out fearfully and her heart thundered as her trembling hands picked up the mug, she held it close to her, "Selwyn said if I found him…"

"The problem is that you know too much now, too much that you could spill to the Aurors and if we gave you your sweet little girl back then you'd have no reason to not tell them."

"I won't tell them, I promise," Crystal pleaded desperately as she gripped the mug tighter, wondering whether she'd be capable of throwing it at him or what he even did, "I'll do whatever you want."

"I know," the man smiled as he leaned over her, putting one hand on her thigh and aiming his wand at her with the other, "Because I'm going to kill you in such slow agony that you'll be begging me for death in the end and in that moment, I'll grant you your wish and kill your little girl, maybe make a crown out of the rest of her fingers for you to wear."

Crystal flicked the mug and the water-looking liquid was splashed onto the man's face, for the briefest of seconds he started to laugh as he staggered back. And then he started to scream. There was a horrible hissing and his face started smoking, the potion was like acid eating through his flesh. He fell to the ground screaming, wiping at his face to try to get the potion off but all it did was start to melt away his fingers too. Crystal wasn't sure what compelled her to walk over and pour the rest over his head, his screaming intensified and then he was just dead.

Her insides churned, she felt physically sick at what she'd done but at the same time couldn't muster regret that he was dead. She clutched at her father's dog tags around her neck, wondering if he or her grandfather had ever killed anyone in the line of duty, wondering if John was killing anyone right now. She couldn't take her eyes off the corpse she'd killed, couldn't take her eyes off the gruesome mess of his flesh that was his face. She would've expected there'd be a horrible smell but it was more like bleach and something flowery, it reminded her a bit of tea tree oil. The silence was deafening, making it even more noticeable when she heard a pop. Crystal spun, expecting more Soul Eaters or Shadows or whatever they were called. It was the red-headed man though, Pyrrhus Florian, and he was gripping Bertie's shoulder.

"Mummy!" Bertie cried and Florian willingly let him go, he rushed towards her and Crystal enveloped him in her arms. She scooped him up, holding him so tightly as he sobbed into her shoulder and clung to her. She should've been happy but she couldn't take her eyes off Florian, fearful that he might decide to do as the man had, "Mummy."

"I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your aid," Florian offered and she felt a fragment of frustrating fear for Jack.

"What about Jack?" Crystal risked asking, noticing his face looked bruised. John was right, it did make someone look less threatening, "Did you hurt him?"

"No, I want his help not his death," Florian scoffed as if it was obvious and his violently violet eyes flickered to the body behind her, he looked almost amused, "And if you want to avoid yours, I suggest your run. The Shadows will kill you if they find you."

On that note, Florian turned away and disappeared with another crack. Crystal finally allowed the relief to flood through her, drops spilling from her eyes as she held her son close and kissed the top of his head, muttering declarations of love into his hair. She never wanted to let him go again, she was half-afraid if she put him down then she'd lose him again. She was only distracted by a sound like a thunderclap, spinning again to see John had returned. In one hand he held his wand and in the other, he had Ivy.

"Mummy!" Ivy cried desperately and John set her down, revealing that side of his face was suffering from a jagged cut and bleeding freely. Crystal crouched down and Ivy ran to her in tears, her left hand was in a bloody bandage. Crystal hugged her daughter to her, holding both her children close, "And Bertie, you're okay."

"Come on," John said gruffly, "You can't stay here, more will come."

"But you killed them all."

"And more will still come when they give up going after Florian," John pointed out and his eyes flickered to the dead man, "Or when they realize he's missing."

"Okay," Crystal nodded as she stood, taking her children by the hand and walking back over to John, "Take them to the Agnes and Flynn."

"I can still only apparate one at a time, I told you I'm not good at it."

Ivy discarded her hand reluctantly to take John's, seeming more comfortable with him then Bertie who eyed him fearfully. Crystal supposed it made sense as he'd just saved her whereas Bertie didn't know him, he kept a vice-like grip on her hand as John teleport- apparated away with Ivy. Crystal hated seeing her go but it would only be for a second. He returned a second later to get Bertie, she had to pry his hand off hers so John could take him.

John returned a final time but didn't immediately do anything, up close she noticed his robes had blood on them. The wound on his face continued down his neck and to his shoulder, it seemed worse there or maybe had been injured with something else. His forearm was burned and there was a gash on his left side, the rest of the blood didn't look it was his. It silenced her from complaining about the brutality of the acid potion, he'd saved her children and gotten hurt doing it. Gratitude overwhelmed the bad.

"Thank you," Crystal offered gratefully while John continued looking stoic, "Really, I can't thank you enough."

"I told you they'd try to kill you," John said instead, ignoring her words and gazing at the body, "I'm sorry."

"Whatever it takes, right?" Crystal muttered, not wanting to talk about it as her eyes also lingered on it.

"I'd recommend faking your death and torching this place, the ones who went after Florian will be back and I doubt they're the only ones. They might not believe you really died but fire will make it harder to trace you and I doubt they put enough value on you to put too much effort into finding you, long as you be careful then you should be able to hide from them."

"What will I do? Where will I go?" Crystal questioned fearfully although she already recognized it was something she would have to do.

"I don't know. I'm not the boss of your life, Bambi," John insisted almost irritably, "Just make up your mind before the Shadows show up or I pass out from my injuries, if not your kids will be on their own. One thing at a time."

"Okay, okay burn the place," Crystal nodded as the urgency returned to her and John flicked his wand, all around them started to light up with fierce flames. She sighed heavily and tearfully as he took her hand, disappearing in a thunderclap and leaving her home to burn.