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

5. Chapter 5: Birth of Beasts

Parts (18-21)

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VI

Chapter 5

Birth of Beasts

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Part 1: Dark Lights

---

"Hey Annie, can I talk to you for a second?" Dom questioned of the older woman nervously, Annie was putting away the groceries she'd just brought in.

"You just did," Annie pointed out unhelpfully without pausing but Dom ignored it, taking a deep breath.

"You were right, I am pregnant."

"I know it," Annie nodded as she continued putting the things away, Dom waited a second for her to say more but she didn't.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do I do?!" Dom demanded desperately, finally earning a glance from Annie who shrugged.

"I dunno, whatever you want. Nothing is happening right now this second, Pip's already out with Molly and Lat then Aurelius and Wyatt are out doing their animagi thing. Shadows are kind of inactive lately if you hadn't noticed, the ones in England are all focused on hunting Florian or us which doesn't help us deduce their plans and we still have no leads on saving Calderon or who killed half of Selwyn's men last month or why except it was something to do with a kidnapped kid-"

"I don't mean about that, I mean what am I going to do about being pregnant?!" Dom interrupted incredulously.

"Oh, I dunno. Why are you asking me?" Annie wondered before they were distracted by the sound of the door.

It wasn't the front door though but the door to Roman's room, he wandered out more nervously then Dom had and trembled. Roman Rivers wasn't looking good since his fiancée's death, he'd always been thin but it was still noticeable he'd lost weight. His face looked gaunt, his clothes disheveled and his dark hair in disarray, he also looked in need of sleep and a shave. Dom didn't know him well, he was her cousin Molly's maternal uncle but even she barely knew him. Roman spent most of his time in his room either crying or just being lost in his grief, he only really left to use the bathroom. His meals were brought to him and his laundry done for him, Wyatt, Molly and Annie seemed to put the most effort into caring for him.

"Well hey, look whose up," Annie said to him somewhat gently and patronizing as Roman shuffled over to her, "How are you doing?"

"I w-was wondering if there was anything I could do," Roman spoke very softly and hoarsely as he wrapped his arms protectively around himself, his shoulders hunching and his gaze drifting to the socks he was wearing with no shoes. He looked rather pathetic, Dom pitied him, "Y-You know, t-to help."

"Sure, you can help put the shopping away if you'd like," Annie offered and gestured to the bags, Roman slowly looked up at them and nodded a few times before moving to do it.

"Yeah, I-I can do that. I w-want to help."

"I know you do, you're doing great," Annie assured him encouragingly as Roman continued his task and she stopped to watch him instead.

"I n-need to g-get it together, b-be strong for my son."

"Of course."

"Annie, can I talk to you in private?" Dom insisted, not wanting the conversation she'd spent Annie's entire supply run working up the courage to speak about it while she waited for her return.

"I suppose," Annie reluctantly agreed and followed her into a seating area, "I'll be right back, Roman!"

"O-Okay," Roman's weak voice called back as Dom closed the door behind them.

"So what should I do about being pregnant?" Dom reiterated her original question and Annie rolled her eyes, opening the door again, "Annie!"

"Look, I'm not the one you should be talking to about this," Annie pointed out seriously, "I can help you with the health side but figuring out what do is really something to discuss with your husband."

"But I'm scared about how he'll react."

"So be brave and tell him, he's the one to talk to first and you know it," Annie offered her final advice as she left, leaving Dom to sigh and feel anxious.

She supposed Annie had a point, however she had wanted to talk to someone nonpartisan because she had a feeling Aurelius would freak out and knew it would stir things up with her family. At the very least with her father, she couldn't imagine him taking the news well at all. She slumped into one of the silent seats and put a hand to her churning stomach, their child had picked a really lousy time to exist, when tensions were still high with her father and they were in the midst of a freaking war that Dom was fighting in. Wars were no place for a baby. How was she supposed to fight in a war with a baby inside her?

"Hey," a familiar voice greeted her and Dom's head shot up immediately as her husband joined her.

She jumped to her feet and smiled instinctively to try hide the fact she was upset so he wouldn't ask so she could put off telling him because she still childishly wanted to avoid the subject. Aurelius Ashain was of average height but had quite a wiry frame, he was in his mid-sixties but didn't look it and could easily pass for one of his sons. He had a full head of extremely dark auburn hair that fell almost to his shoulders in faces, it framed a clean-shaven handsome face with dark chestnut eyes set into it and a perfect, pearly white smile that he gave her as he approached. As usual he was also dressed in robes of the most bizarre and clashing shades, he did have some eccentric tendencies that she'd come to grow fond of.

"Hey," she offered as he approached, pressing her lips against his gently when he reached her and he encircled his arms around her.

"You know, I think I actually might've found out something useful today," Aurelius told her cheerfully, seeming in a good mood. All the more reason to not tell him and ruin it, "I heard from a flock of geese, who heard from two pigeons, who heard from a mockingbird, who heard from an owl friend of its mate that in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the little girl who can talk to birds has them keeping an eye on some students."

"Keeping an eye on some students?"

"Yes, because apparently she thinks that some humans are trying to kill them and have already tried. It could be connected to the Shadows, it's just odd Scorpius hasn't mentioned it to Varanian," Aurelius concluded, his smile slipping to look thoughtful, "Oh, and there's a new teacher who apparently can also talk to birds."

"Interesting," Dom mused, trying to care but her mind was being weighed down by the baby thoughts while Aurelius nodded and his smile returned.

"So how has your day been, dear?"

"My day? Good. Great. Nothing to report," Dom lied and his expression immediately wavered.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Nothing's wrong," Dom protested but he didn't look the slightest bit convinced.

"Something's bothering you, I can tell. What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Is it your Father?"

"It's not my Father."

"Did something happen to Molly while she was out learning stealth with Varanian or something?"

"No," Dom insisted while Aurelius continued to look concerned, "Just drop it."

"Did something happen to someone else?"

"No."

"Is it to do with the Shadows?"

"No!"

"Are you sure it's not to do with your Father?" Aurelius inquired, starting to look very anxious now and she snapped.

"I'm pregnant!" Dom blurted out and he took half a step back as if he'd been slapped in the face.

"Are… Are you sure? I think I'm too old to sire children."

"You're not too old, I told you! I warned you we still had to be more careful but you didn't listen and now I'm pregnant!" Dom burst out and threw up her arms in defeat, finding tears spilling from her eyes, "I'm going to have a baby, an actual living human baby. In the middle of a world wrenching war that I'm supposed to be fighting. And my Father is going to be furious out and you're going to freak and-"

"Shhhh," Aurelius interrupted gently and put his arms back around her, holding her tightly close this time, surprised but grateful for the comfort, "Shhh, Dom, it'll be okay."

"How will it be okay? I don't know what to do," Dom sobbed into his shoulder, "We're in the middle of a war with Shadows, soul-destroying monsters, massive amounts of death and pain and suffering, darkness. There's so much darkness, Aurelius, how are we supposed to bring a child into this world when there's so much bad?"

"Maybe that's all the more reason to bring a child into this world, there fact there's so much bad is all the more reason to have something good to hold on to," Aurelius offered gently as he rubbed her back soothingly, "You need good things, they're like littles lights that show you just a little bit of the beautiful world you thought was lost forever in the darkness covering everything. It gets so dark you forget what the good looked like, forget that it's still there if you can just chase away the darkness. You don't want to be consumed by darkness, you want light. And the best lights are the people you love and who love you, for me that's my sons and my beautiful wonderful wife I am very sorry for not listening to."

"You could have a point," Dom admitted, smiling somewhat to herself at his words. She liked how he looked at the world, "But I still worry something bad could happen."

"Dom, you never stop worrying something bad could happen to your children," Aurelius said seriously, "It's part of being a parent not part of being in a war."

"What about the rest?"

"Your Father's issues are his own, he would have them whatever point in our lives we had children. And you can still help in the war, Austin and Roman don't leave the base so you can just stay and do what you can for here for the pregnancy. Once she's born, you can go back to usual and I'm sure we can arrange a schedule where she'll be cared for. If I could learn to take care of Brutus as an ignorant teenager when he was dumped on my doorstep then you can learn, I can show you. Babies are actually the easy part which you wouldn't think so with the sleep depravity but it is, it's when they get older that they get difficult."

"I have to say, you're taking this much better than I expected," Dom admitted, genuinely quite surprised.

"Well there is a part of me that wants to scream in terror and fly around in a mad panic but I figure that can wait, there needs to be a rule where only one of us can freak out at a time because if not then how are we going to support each other?" Aurelius explained and she smiled to herself again, pulling away to look him the eye, "That's what couples do. Or should do or… What?"

"I love you," Dom affirmed with the smile that he returned before she kissed him again, this time more lingering.

"I love you too."

---

"Huh," Xerxes mused to himself, he really needed to stop having sex when he was too drunk to remember contraceptive spells.

"THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?!" Maeghan shrieked at him, "MY FATHER CALLED ME A SLUT AND A DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY NAME, HE THREW ME OUT OF THE HOUSE BECAUSE OF THIS!"

"So did mine pretty much," Xerxes scoffed angrily at the memory and rubbed at his ear, "And could you stop yelling? If you're not going to discuss this as civilized adults then I'm going to leave and come back when you are, your voice hurts my ears."

"I don't want to talk!" Maeghan yelled but seemed to be trying to reign in her rage and continued through gritted teeth, "I want money for an abortion. Then maybe Daddy will let me go back home, I only have enough money with me for a few more nights here and I don't get paid until next week."

"No!" Xerxes burst out in shock, he didn't want his child to die. Maeghan looked like she was about to yell again but he held up his hand desperately and elaborated, "I want my child. I'll give you money to support you through the pregnancy if you keep it, make sure you have a roof over your head and are fed, if you keep the child after I'll give you money to baby things too and if you don't then I'll take full custody and responsibility. Just don't kill my child."

"IT'S NOT A CHILD YET, YOU IDIOT, IT'S AN UNBORN SPECK!"

"Well that's how I feel," Xerxes stated stubbornly as he folded his arms, "Take the money and keep the baby or pay for it yourself, I'm not helping you kill my own child. Even if it's unfortunate enough to have half of your DNA. So what do you think? And use your inside voice."

"I think I hate you! Don't you know how long I've had to think about this and when I finally come to a decision you make me go and have to rethink it all over again!"

"Yes or no?"

"I'LL THINK ABOUT IT!" Maeghan screeched, "NOW GET OUT!"

Xerxes was then glad to be told to leave and his ear drums thanked him, he could only hope she'd agree to give him the baby so he wouldn't have to talk to her again. Edythe took the news harder than he had, upset he was having a child with someone else in the first place and anxious at the thought of being overwhelmed by a second baby. Maeghan contacted him a few days later to agree to keeping the baby, he sent her enough money to cover the cost of the room until she was paid and advised to look for a place to live more permanently the sooner the better to work out how much money she'd need. He wasn't made of money, knowing how much he needed to give her would be useful. Maeghan's baby wasn't due until March whereas Edythe's was due in November, he was almost afraid to start dating but felt starved by October and caved. He arranged a date for October 22nd with the sister of one of his clients, however Edythe stopped him when he was literally about to walk out the door.

"X-Xerx, m-my w-water broke," Edythe told him fearfully, her face had completely drained of all color, "I th-think th-the baby's coming."

"It'll be okay," Xerxes shushed her gently and encircled his arms around her, she clung to him shakily and he apparated them to the nearest muggle hospital.

He felt very torn though, on one hand he was eager to see his child born but he did also want to go out still. Like someone had case the Wand-Lighting Charm inside his mind, he suddenly realized he could do both. Labor took forever, he just had to make sure the date was fast and he should be back with plenty of time to spare. Really, it was the only thing he could do because he couldn't let down his poor date.

"Edythe," Xerxes stated and took hold of her should gently as she started to waddle into the hospital, she turned back to him, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"You're still going on your date?" Edythe wondered incredulously.

"You don't want me to let this poor woman, do you? It's my first in a while and she'd be upset if she thought I stood her up," Xerxes protested and her eyes started to water, he wiped away the tears with his finger gently, "Look, we both read in the books that labor usually takes a long time. I'll be back long before the baby is actually born, I promise."

"Please Xerx, don't leave me now," Edythe pleaded with desperately, capturing his eyes with her beautiful sage green ones, "I've never asked you for anything before, I've done everything you've wanted, I haven't even complained about you cheating on me with those other women, I know the excuse you gave was bullshit but I still said it was okay because I love you. I'm scared, I'm really scared that something will go wrong, I don't want anything to happen to the baby. Please stay with me, Xerx, please, just do this one thing for me. I'll do anything you want, you can name the baby whatever you want just don't go. I beg you."

"I'm sorry," Xerxes apologized guiltily and she went to turn her head away but he cupped her chin in his hand and turned it back, her tears dribbled down onto his fingers, "Nothing will go wrong, I swear to you and if it does then I'll be back in time to help."

"Sure," Edythe said as she put a hand to her bulging baby bump, not sounding the slightest bit like she believed him as she went to turn away again but he again stopped her, "Xerxes, I'm in pain! I need the doctors, if you want to go then get the hell out of here already."

"I love you," Xerxes told her seriously and her expression softened as his lips pressed hers before he apparated away.

Xerxes did kind of regret his decision to leave, he was distracted the whole date by thinking about Edythe and the baby. But he knew himself, if he had stayed then he'd have been by distracted thinking about his date the whole time. There really was no point in his being there so early anyway, the books had said it nearly always took a long time. It'd be uncomfortable watching her be in pain when there was nothing he could do about it, there was no point that they both suffer. Even distracted he still managed to worm his way into her mind to use it against her, she invited him back to her place after and he stayed true to his word about returning to the hospital when it was over. He was in a much better mood then he'd been in a few hours ago, he strolled up to the front desk with confidence.

"I'm here for my girlfriend, Edythe Blake," Xerxes told the slightly plump but nonetheless attractive receptionist, "She called me a few hours ago to tell me she was in labor, I was out of town but I came as fast as I could."

"Blake? Are you Xerxes Seneca?" a passing nurse repeated and Xerxes nodded, she swallowed nervously, "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Xerxes demanded and the nurse averted her eyes, he almost dived into her mind but somehow he was afraid to, "What happened? Where is she? Is the baby okay?"

"Maybe you should sit down and wait for the doctor," the nurse muttered and he stalked over to her determinedly.

"No! I want to see her, take me to her. Take me to her right now!"

"Then I'd have to take you to the morgue," the nurse told him in a whisper and Xerxes backed away in horror, "There were complications… She said if it came down to it then we should save the baby… We did everything we could but she didn't make it, I'm so sorry."

"What-What about the baby?" Xerxes quietly, shakily falling into one of the waiting chars because if he didn't sit then he thought he'd collapse.

"The baby survived, you have a healthy baby boy. Would you like to see him?"

"Of course I want to see him!" Xerxes snapped, his voice breaking as she scuttled away.

He buried his face in his hands to try hide his sobs, he couldn't believe Edythe was dead. She'd been fine a few hours ago, she'd been alive. He knew some healing spells and he knew where Saint… something, the British magical hospital was, if he had been there then he probably could have saved her. He wasn't sure why he was crying so hard though, he hadn't realized he'd cared that much or maybe he was just sad his son had lost his mother.

He heard a cough and glanced up, wiping his eyes hastily as the nurse had returned with a bundle of squirming, sky blue blankets. He held out his arms and she handed him his son, his second son. The baby was much smaller than Stephan had been, he had tufts of red hair and when he opened his little eyes, Xerxes saw Edythe's sage green ones staring back at him. He cried as he smiled at the small baby that he was free to name whatever he wanted… What had been the ugly name Edythe had been so fond of?

"Ethan."

---

Carver Matthew Edwards stalked through the halls of unhappy memories, the Training Tower it was called, where Shadows sent children to become elite soldiers. He despised the place and the regime in general, he didn't think it was right for them to treat people this way let alone children. They started young too, deliberately to try make them forget their families so their only loyalty was to the Shadows. He was still quite angry at Harry Potter for not accepting his uncle's deal, these kids had had a real chance to be saved when Pyrrhus had murdered all the staff, he wasn't sure if all the kids had a chance at a normal life but he felt they still should've had the chance. It was too late now though, they'd essentially done the magical equivalent of changing the locks and hid its location. Even if the Ministry was told where it was now, they'd have a fight on their hands to say the least and they'd just move the kids to Greece or Turkey. There were some muggles slaves there too now, they did things like cleaning and cooking as far as he knew. They also could've been saved if Potter hadn't been so stupid, how had he not thought Pyrrhus' deal was worth it? Was he so caught up on petty squabbles that he was willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives, and children's lives at that?

If Potter had just agreed then Carver wouldn't be in this mess, he didn't like his uncle's plan but he didn't see much choice. Reminding himself that seven lives weren't worth more than the rest of the world only did so much to ease his guilt, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. Still, when it boiled down to the better option between life on the run, joining the people trying to destroy the world or doing something – albeit drastic – to stop the war, Pyrrhus' plan seemed like the lesser of evils. He still didn't know if it would work though especially now that its mastermind was hallucinating dead brothers, they could be killing these kids for nothing so it was a gamble. At least when they died they'd die for something, it was better to die for a chance at peace or at least Carver thought so. He didn't want to die but he would if it was necessary, at least he'd know he died trying to do the right thing for once. He knew he'd made a lot of mistakes, he hoped putting an end to the Shadow Master helped atone. Either that or it was just another mistake he was making, he was dumb as mud so he couldn't be sure.

He wasn't at the Training Tower for that though, he was making a social call to wish his brother a happy birthday. Carver would be lying if he said he was a good brother, Xerxes had had eight children aside from him and his mother five so he had a grand total of thirteen half-siblings, all but two of them being younger. As a child he'd always resented this, he'd just be presented with a screaming bundle and told it was his brother or sister that he was supposed to love. He'd never understood why that was supposed to matter, never known how he was supposed to love this annoying crying thing that turned into an annoying whiney thing that constantly got in the way, especially since he didn't see much of them. While his views had mellowed and he'd grown to care for them, he was by no means close to all fourteen of them and hadn't always been good to them. He very much disliked Stephan and Viola, he also hadn't met the child his mother had been pregnant with when she turned her back on him. He did worry greatly for them though, they either had to live under the Shadows' or his stepfather's regime for the most part, then there was the sister risking her life in Hogwarts to kill the kids.

Carver sighed heavily as he reached his brother's door, knocking to announce his presence before unlocking it and entering. It was a decent sized room but very bare, there was a narrow bed in the corner with the bedding removed, a comfortable couch pressed up against the wall with a view of the barred window, a desk with the sharp edges turned to soft padding and a few chairs, there was also a door in the far corner that led to the also restricted bathroom. Ethan had a fragile mental state thanks to the Shadows' regime and his own opposition to hurting people, Xerxes had had to take precautions to keep his suicidal son alive and thankfully Stephan had ensured these remained intact even after his demise. Stephan may be a cruel bastard but he did care to some degree about his younger siblings, he had some loyalty to family. Ethan was tall like their father with a strong jaw but his features were much softer and his body very thin, he had short red hair like Xerxes but striking sage green eyes that carried thick shadows beneath them. He also wasn't alone.

"Carver!" Davin Dawson cried excitedly as he rushed over, he was his father's seventh born child who was seven years old. He was a scrawny boy with a tangled head of dirty blond hair and violently violet eyes, he threw his arms around him and Carver returned the hug, "Haven't seen you in ages."

"I know," Carver admitted as Davin pulled away, shocking Carver as he noticed a scar running down the boy's cheek.

"Did you know that Dad died?" Davin asked him seriously and sadly before Carver could comment on it, "They said that Uncle Pyrrhus killed him."

"Yes I know," Carver confirmed dismissively and gestured to the scar, "What happened to your face? They're not supposed to hurt you."

"Oh," Davin said and lowered his voice, his eyes widening slightly in surprise and he nodded his head behind him where Ethan was healing a boy he didn't know, "Got it protecting Cyrus ages ago, he's blind so it's hard for him to train and they're not kind to him. They were using a whipping spell and when they wouldn't stop I tried to help him so they disarmed me so I jumped in the way to protect him."

"Why the hell did you do that?!"

"It worked, they had to stop," Davin protested, "My Mommy said you should look out for the people who can't look out for their selves."

"You shouldn't sacrifice yourself to do it," Carver insisted, anxious at the thought of his brother putting himself in harm's way. Davin's mother had been killed by the Shadows when she found out about the Training Tower and intended to tell, he didn't want the same to happen to Davin.

"If I don't then who will? It's really rough for Cyrus and he doesn't deserve it, he's a nice person and he doesn't even want to be a soldier. Thinking of seeing his Mommy again is all that is keeping him going on, did I tell you they're not kind to him?"

"You told me."

"He's smart though and he can speak three languages, English, Greek and Arabic. I think the Arabic will come in useful when we take over Egypt, he can translate and stuff so it might be better for him then. Unless you want to help him escape and find his Mommy, her name is Leil-"

"All done," Ethan's soft voice spoke up from behind them and both brothers turned, seeing he was done with the healing.

"Thank you," Cyrus said in a small but grateful voice and Davin ran immediately back over to him, it gave Carver a better look.

Cyrus was small, maybe slightly younger than Davin with fair skin and much neater blond hair. There was no definition in his eyes, they were just all cloudy as if someone had captured smoke in them. It was the strangest thing though, Carver thought he looked oddly familiar or at least reminded him of someone. He couldn't quite put his finger on who though.

"Thanks, Ethan, you're the best," Davin offered to his brother grateful and hugged him as well, taking the wand from his brother – Ethan wasn't allowed to keep his own wand on him - and pocketing it before taking Cyrus' heavily scarred hand to lead him towards the door, "I'll see you later. This way, Cyrus, we should still have time for lunch. Bye Carver."

"See you," Carver nodded and felt sympathetic as the boys moved past him.

"That's another of my brothers, Carver," Davin explained to Cyrus as they left, Carver closed the door behind them.

"Let me guess, Pyrrhus needs to be healed again or maybe you need another of our family to sacrifice?" Ethan guessed incorrectly and rather unhappily as Carver approached him.

"Can't I just drop in to see my brother on his birthday?" Carver complained as he pulled up a chair to sit facing Ethan.

"Today's my birthday?" Ethan wondered in surprise and Carver nodded, "Huh, I didn't know. How old am I know?"

"Eighteen."

"I'm getting old," Ethan mused sadly and rubbed his eyes.

"We both are," Carver agreed, he felt too old to be only seventeen, "How are you doing?"

"Great. Every day is paradise when you're confined to a room and not allowed anything."

"They have to do that for your own safety, if you didn't keep trying to kill yourself then you'd be allowed out."

"I don't want to live in the Soul Eaters' world of cruelty and pain, I don't want to live, I don't want to be a soldier and a torturer and a murderer," Ethan insisted fiercely, "I just want to die. It's my choice and everyone should respect that, if anyone else was my father then the Soul Eaters would have killed me themselves."

"When Pyrrhus' plan comes to fruition, the war should end and you won't have to live in the Soul Eaters' world anymore."

"Pyrrhus' plan is going to fail, dear brother," Ethan told him, sounding very sure as he stood to pace around him, "He's going to get himself killed, you'll die with him, so will she and they'll even butcher Oathan because if they don't then Viola will."

"It will work, the war will end," Carver protested determinedly as he stood to face Ethan, the lanky boy now standing staring out of the window with his arms folded, "My siblings don't have to be soldiers and James can go back to his family before he falls too far."

"The war will only end in the Soul Eaters' victory, there's no hope, no one can stop it especially not a teenager, a child, a toddler and a crazy person. You're going to die Carve, you're going to die," Ethan reiterated and his eyes welled with tears, "Will you even live to your eighteenth birthday? Its only March but I'm not even sure anymore. And you're going to get my sister killed along with you."

"Martha wants to help, she wants the war to end just like I do."

"Of course she wants the war to end, our Father just died. She, Davin and I don't have mothers anymore, Father was all we had and now all we have our each other. She doesn't want to lose anyone else."

"It's her choice, she knows what she signed up for."

"Martha is a child!" Ethan yelled, "She's not even passed the test and you're just throwing her out there, locking her away in Hogwarts where she's alone, where you won't be able to protect her when the Soul Eaters find out. We know they've infiltrated the Aurors, Aurors who patrol the grounds now. Do you think it will be hard for them to kill her? They'll torture her until they get your names and then she'll die horribly, they don't want the marked children to die. And then there's Gray, half of them are part of Varanian's lot and Maurice is trained. I don't know where Varanian stands but you know Maurice will torture her until he gets your names, he didn't hesitate on his own grandfather and he won't hesitate to butcher her. She'll die horribly either way then everyone will be after you and then you die too. Both of you dead because you chose to chase the dreams of a madman."

"They won't find out," Carver insisted, he had no intention of getting his sister killed.

"You don't think they'll put it together when the marked children start dying? Martha and I are the only ones to have our father's name, Maurice will recognize it and so will the Shadows. You'll both die. Pyrrhus and Oathan too. Everyone will die," Ethan said, wiping at the tears spilling from his eyes, "And I'll just be alone, locked in my little room because I'm not allowed to so instead I just have to watch everyone I love die. The Shadow Master will win and when she does, everyone else will lose. We already have."

"Well what's your plan? What would you have me do?!" Carver questioned of his crying brother, throwing up his hands in frustration, "Give up and wait to die?!"

"I don't have a plan, I don't know what to do. I just want to die, there's no other way out and I can't cope with all this. I can't."

---

Part 2: A Trip to Hogsmeade

---

Scorpius couldn't help but feel incredibly disappointed that Molly wasn't meeting him in Hogsmeade and very concerned, they were supposed to be trying to make it work long distance but she couldn't meet him or even take the time to reply to his messages? Had she lost interest in him? Was she less committed to the relationship then he was? Surly there was a way around this, after all Annie had been staying with Varanian all of last year and they'd still written to each other. Or was he being paranoid? It was only October still.

"Of course you're being paranoid," Michael insisted when he expressed these worries to him at breakfast the day before the Hogsmeade trip, he threw up his hands in frustration, "And seriously?! You'll obsess over this before giving any thought to who tried to kill you?! You know you can't date Molly if you're dead."

"I know," Scorpius protested as the others started joining them.

"Well?" Albus questioned immediately of Michael, rubbing his hands together eagerly, "Have you thought about it?"

"No, the answer is no just like it was when you first asked me," Michael stated, throwing him a look of irritation.

"Come on!" Albus pleaded and stamped his foot on the ground childishly, "Grozda's friend is really nice, I've met her and I've shown you she's good-looking. What's the problem? You can at least give her a chance."

"The problem is I don't want to date anyone right now. How can I make this any clearer? If you really want to help me then drop it."

"But-"

"Drop it," Maurice spoke up firmly, "If he doesn't want to date then you can't force him so leave it alone, you're getting as bad as Scorpius is about Rojer. There are more pressing concerns, like how someone is trying to murder Scorpius and Lysander. Cassia is doing more than you people and she's eight."

"Ashain's kids are strange people," Albus brushed it off dismissively, "Good but strange."

"And that's why one day she'll be Head Auror and you'll be sweeping floors for a living."

"Hey! I'm going to be a Potioneer, I'll have you know."

"A Potioneer who didn't even get an Outstanding for OWL Potions?" Maurice scoffed coolly and Albus' face went red, he looked upset, "Yeah, right. And that's your best subject."

"Leave him alone!" Abby snapped immediately, "What is your problem?! Not everyone can be good at everything like you can, you know?!"

"I'm just being honest," Maurice shrugged, looking somewhere between surprised and offended while Albus just stared glumly into his bowl.

"Are you even going to Hogsmeade, Michael?" Rose inquired, almost as if to change the subject.

"Wasn't planning on it," Michael brushed it off dismissively.

"You have to come," Scorpius insisted, "Molly's not coming and if you're not coming then I have no one, everyone else has a date."

"What am I, a potted plant?" Maurice spoke up irritably to Scorpius' surprise.

"No, I just thought you'd be going with Len-" Scorpius started to say but trailed off as he recalled the girl was dead, Maurice looked away upset while the rest of his friends looked at him incredulously.

"I'm going to go make sure my things are ready for the first class," Maurice muttered as he stood and left.

"Tres bien," Corin said, his tone sarcastic even if Scorpius didn't know what the words were, "Don't you know he still cries at night over her?"

"I'm sorry, I just forgot," Scorpius admitted guiltily.

"You forgot?"

"I just wasn't thinking."

"Well I guess now I have to go," Michael said with a heavy sigh, "One of us there should be thinking."

Maurice acted like nothing had happened for the rest of the day so Scorpius was left very uncertain whether to apologize or just say nothing, Maurice had never apologized to Albus. The next day, Albus was in better spirits despite taking up most of breakfast anxiously trying to decide what to wear to his date with Grozda which required asking them tedious questions and delaying their descent to breakfast.

"I'm of age now," Albus pointed out when they finally headed down, his birthday was earlier that month, "It's more serious dating when you're of age, I have to make a good impression especially on our anniversary."

"Alright, alright," Scorpius and Michael brushed it off.

"And you know, Michael, there's always time for you to dress up and maybe shave to go out with Grozda's friend."

"No!" Michael snapped irritably as they entered the Great Hall, going over to the others.

Albus opened his mouth to reply but something caught his eye and he did a double take, gazing at Abby who had dressed herself up for her date – as had Rose but Scorpius didn't think he'd be looking at his cousin that way – and let down the long golden hair she usually kept in a massive braid. Scorpius elbowed him when he noticed him staring and Albus staggered forward, he'd snapped out of it when he righted himself though and sat down across from her with a disapproving expression.

"So that's what you're going to wear on your date, Abby?" Albus questioned of her, "Really?"

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Abby wondered, somewhere between worried and irritated to which Albus held up his hands as if innocent.

"Nothing. I mean I'm just saying if you have to try so hard to keep Pentakel interested by dressing like that then he can't really like you that much."

"Maybe I just felt like dressing up nice!" Abby protested angrily as Albus started piling food onto his plate, "And how can you criticize me when you're dressed like that?!"

"I'm taking Grozda to a fancy restaurant, I have to dress up nice," Albus pointed out as if it were obvious, he also paused and started adding extra to his plate, "Should eat up, last time I was there I was still hungry when I left because the portions are so smile."

"Oh, I see," Abby said suddenly looking more smug, she seemed to calm a bit she went back to eating her food much to Albus' puzzlement.

"See what?"

"Nothing. I mean it's just kind of obvious that if you have to try so hard to keep Grozda interested by taking her to fancy restaurants and showering with gifts then she can't really like you that much."

"It's not like that at all!" Albus snapped angrily, "Grozda likes me loads, I'll have you know. We're soul mates, we were made for each other, we're madly in love and one day Grozda is going to be the next Mrs Potter."

"You say that but does she?" Abby countered, "You do all these romantic gestures for her but what has she ever done for you? What has she ever done to show you that she's invested in the relationship?"

"Abby, she's a girl," Albus scoffed, "Girls don't have to do that stuff, guys have to do stuff for them so we don't have to be sad and alone."

"Lenore learned sign language for me," Maurice pointed out before his expression turned wistful.

"That proves nothing!"

"Face it, if anyone is not interested then its Grozda in you," Abby stated triumphantly, earning a glare from Albus.

"That is not so true, we have a much better relationship then you and Pentakel," Albus insisted determinedly, "We're been together way longer and have way more in common, he doesn't even have a sense of humor."

"That doesn't mean anything! And just because he doesn't laugh at other people's names, it doesn't mean he doesn't have a sense of humor! He's just more mature then you so you wouldn't understand."

"You're just mistaking maturity for boredom."

"Well you're just-"

"You two just pack it in and eat your damn breakfast or I'll knock your heads together!" Michael snapped at them in frustration, the pair exchanged dark looks with each other but obliged and silently – albeit angrily – ate their food.

"If I could have your attention!" an irritating and loud voice spoke up, Scorpius turned unenthusiastically to the Headmaster, Weedy Larry. He had to put his wand to his neck to make his squeaky voice loud enough to be heard by the whole hall, sadly Scorpius recalled that Calderon just took care of that for Headmasters before… he missed his cousin, "This applies to any students planning to go to Hogsmeade today. Due to the recent trouble, the Aurors patrolling the grounds will also be patrolling the route to Hogsmeade and the town. This is for your own protection so do not be alarmed by their presence, they will be on the lookout for any suspicious behavior. That is all, have a pleasant day and we hope you enjoy your visit."

"Prick," Scorpius muttered under his breath, he hadn't forgotten being told off by him nor had he forgotten several Aurors were Shadows.

They filed out as usual where Professor Longbottom was there to check permission slips, starting from the oldest years and working their way down. Grozda and Sequoia Pentakel both got their slips checked first then waited around for their dates, Albus and Abby left with their respective partners immediately, walking as far away from each other as possible while still being on the same path. Rose had to wait for Corin's to be checked since he was the year below before leaving, Vern and his girlfriend Olivia left when they were checked while Orous had to wait since Lily was the year below. August watched them go unhappily and hung back with Hugo and Lorcan, Lysander seemed to have a date with a girl he didn't know and was grinning from ear to ear. Nott and Knight had also stayed back oddly, waiting with Byron and Pol who were now old enough to go to Hogsmeade and Knight went over to queue with them.

"What's all that?" Scorpius couldn't help but wonder aloud as Knight seemed to show the professor an extra piece of paper, unfortunately he was in earshot of Nott.

"They're orphans and their grandparents died in the last Hogsmeade attack," Nott spoke up solemnly, "They granted Kenelm adult status and guardianship of Byron since he's only a year away from being of age, saves on finding family or homes for them. He just wanted to make sure Byron's slip is accepted, he brought the letter from the Ministry just in case."

"Right."

"Plus we have to stay with Pol and make sure he's okay, it was the only way Koray would let him go since there's a lot of walking and it's stressful on his damaged lungs," Nott explained, "Why are you waiting?"

"No idea, Scorpius just decided to watch everyone," Maurice offered and Scorpius felt himself blushing.

"Come on," Scorpius growled and stalked off, the other two following.

"You'll randomly watch everyone get their permission slips signed but you won't think about the people trying to kill you?" Michael wondered as they walked in the surprisingly pleasant weather, it wasn't warm exactly but it also wasn't cold, windy or wet so he felt pretty content.

"I'm just not used to walking to Hogsmeade without Molly, I felt like I had to wait for her."

They walked in an odd silence, Maurice had to be because his translator necklace was awkward to use while walking, Scorpius wasn't the best at making conversation and Michael seemed too lost in his own dread of Hogsmeade. He noticed the Aurors as promised, walking on the outskirts of the route which immediately make Scorpius feel on edge considering some of them were Shadows and the Shadows had tried to kill him. It wasn't until they reached the gates to Hogsmeade that he had to interact with any of them though, a middle-aged female Auror was standing guard by it and watching those going through warily. Her graying brown hair was wavy and shorter than shoulder-length which served to frame a face lined by age, her lips were very pursed and her dark eyes were sharp. And when they saw Scorpius, they narrowed.

"Halt," the woman said and held out her arm to stop him, "You're Scorpius Malfoy, aren't you?"

"Yes," Scorpius confirmed uncertainly, "Who are you?"

"Syntyche Cistro, I'm in charge of the Aurors guarding the school," she introduced herself, sounding quite proud but looking at him with a look of loathing, "And I'm going to have to search you before I can allow you into Hogsmeade."

"What? Why? You haven't been doing that to others," Michael protested with a scowl.

"The others didn't give me cause to be suspicious. You two are fine to go, it's just Malfoy you must be searched."

"What have I done?" Scorpius demanded and her eyes snapped back to him.

"You're a known associate of Atticus Ashain."

"So? He's one of the good guys."

"Good guys?" Cistro scoffed, her face contorted with rage, "He's aided and abetted Death Eaters, Soul Eaters and fugitives. He deserves to rot in New Azkaban for the rest of his life for his crimes, helping a criminal makes you just as bad. And an Auror who betrays their duty to do this is even worse, it makes them a traitor. I can't stand traitors."

"He was an Auror, he fought the bad guys," Scorpius protested incredulously.

"Not if they were his brother," Cistro sneered and drew her wand, seemingly from nowhere until Scorpius noticed a wand holster he hadn't noticed prior, "Now spread your legs and hold out your arms."

"Fine but you know you're wrong," Scorpius stated defensively as he complied with the foolish position, Cistro used some nonverbal spell to make her wand light up and started to run it over his arms, "Professor Ashain fought his own brother and thought he killed him in the first war."

"But he didn't. Rather suspicious, don't you think?" Cistro commented and deliberately ran the wand around his head without warning him to shut his eyes against the glaring light, she paused to empty his pockets and throw the contents into the dirt, "And now here Brutus is, the right hand man of the Shadow Master. If you can call the deformed freak of nature a man, he's a monster."

"He believed Brutus was dead, I'm sure of it. I've seen how he was," Scorpius insisted, recalling how the professor had spoken of it in his First Year and how he'd reacted to seeing Brutus alive. He jolted as Cistro moved her wand down, feeling incredibly uncomfortable how close it was.

"People lie, it's just an act. He knew, I know knew," Cistro stated darkly as she seemingly finished and stepped back, taking his wand from him as he did so, "Take off your jacket, I think the thick leather might be interfering with the process."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Do it. Or I'll take you back to Hogwarts to be interrogated, strip searched and your dormitory belongings looked through with a fine toothed comb," Cistro threatened and Scorpius reluctantly took off his jacket that she threw into the dirt, he gritted his teeth and returned to his position as she did the same again, "Enemies don't actively help each other the way the Ashains have on numerous occasions."

"The Shadows hurt his son, he's not one of them," Scorpius insisted and jolted again as Cistro moved her wand lower, "They're still brothers even if they're enemies, that's all."

"The Shadows let his son live, he is one of them. They're brothers in arms against the world not each other, Atticus Ashain is a traitor and you're a fool if you don't believe that, Scorpius Malfoy," Cistro told him seriously as she stepped back, deliberately stepping on his jacket, "He belongs in New Azkaban. His kids too, rotten little psychotic brats that they are and his head case of a father. And that new Alchemy professor, he looks like an Ashain."

"Are you done?" Scorpius questioned and Cistro reluctantly handed him back his wand.

"You're clear to pass," Cistro confirmed and Scorpius had to pick his things up off the ground, she didn't step off his jacket.

"Would you mind?" Scorpius asked through gritted teeth Cistro wordlessly walked across it to get off it, Scorpius picked it up and tried to brush the dirt off as they moved past her, "Cassia's right, she's a bitch."

"Are Aurors really allowed to treat people that way?" Michael wondered, looking outraged.

"I can kill her if you want," Maurice offered, sounding quite serious and Scorpius was quite sure he was.

"No," Scorpius shook his head and stopped to make sure Maurice was clear on what he was saying, "You can't go around killing people just because they're not nice."

"Hog's Head?" Michael asked and Scorpius inclined his head in agreement.

They started to head off there and Scorpius got his first good look at Hogsmeade, he'd been completely distracted before by Cistro. It was… different. The cobbled streets remained but the houses were mostly poorly constructed hovels, it improved into the town itself as the shops had been rebuilt more or less to their former glory.

"Why did they rebuild the shops properly but not the houses?" Scorpius wondered aloud as they entered the familiar pub that he favored over the crowded Three Broomsticks, it seemed more or less the same thankfully.

"Money," Aberforth the old, bearded bartender cleaning a glass offered in answer and the two approached the bar while Maurice scuttled away with a comment about getting a table, "The Ministry put a lot of money into helping rebuild Hogsmeade after the werewolf army, they don't have enough to help again so soon. Commercial places like shops or pubs make a lot of money so it's more economically viable, they got the gold while regular folk have to struggle alone because they can't afford it, most people are already in debt from the last time. People are lucky to have anything at all, there's more homeless than ever. The Aurors chased them out just now though, want to make it all pretty for the students."

"That's awful," Scorpius admitted, feeling horrible once more to think of how he lived in a lavish mansion while these people were in such hard ties.

"A Fire whiskey and two Butterbeers please," Michael said and Scorpius snapped back to reality immediately in shock, he caught Michael's eye, "What? This isn't Hogwarts."

"Hey!" Scorpius snapped at Aberforth who had actually gotten two bottles of Butterbeer and was getting the Fire whiskey ready, someone else entered as he was speaking, "He's only sixteen, he's not old enough for you to sell him Fire whiskey."

"He's sixteen?" Aberforth wondered in surprise, jerking his head at Michael.

"Yes!"

"No," Michael lied at the same time as Scorpius spoke the truth.

"He's birthday's the last day of August, he's a Sixth Year like me," Scorpius elaborated and Michael threw him a dark look, Aberforth looked between them and seemed to realize who was telling the truth.

"No Fire whiskey for you then, kid," Aberforth decided firmly and Michael threw up his arms frustratedly, "And if you try another stunt like that then you won't be welcome to Fire whiskey here even when you do come of age."

"I'll take it," the newcomer offered eagerly.

Scorpius was surprised to see he recognized him, he thought he was the same drunk from the last year who he'd figured out about Michael's drinking from observing. He was tall but very thin and dressed in tattered, torn robes – Scorpius was sure they were the same as last year – with filthy scraggly hair and beard, it was mattered with dirt with twigs and bits of moss stuck to it as well as his robes. His face was scarred as were his hands, wrists and what he could see of his arms, he also looked like he'd been beaten and the bruises also made it harder to deduce his age. One of his eyes were swollen shut and the other was bloodshot, he reeked of alcohol and body odor, he also oddly had no fingernails. He dropped some money onto the counter, Aberforth snatched it up but didn't give him the drink he'd requested.

"Come on," the man pleaded, "That's more than enough."

"You owe me way more than that, Lamb," Aberforth protested, "I told you, I'm not serving you again until you pay off your debt."

"That's a start!" Lamb whined desperately, looking on the verge of tears.

Scorpius threw Michael a dark look and jerked his head at Lamb, trying to silently ask him if that was what he wanted to end up like with his drinking but Michael wasn't looking at him. Aberforth shook his head and went to put away the door, Lamb lunged for it and there was a bang as Aberforth was apparently fast to the draw. Lamb was blasted across the room and slammed into the wall, he whimpered in pain like a wounded animal.

"Take that, you worthless dog!" one of the other patrons spat and Lamb fled.

"I'm going to make sure he's okay," Michael told Scorpius quickly before running after him.

"Michael-" Scorpius tried to protest but his friend was already gone, he sighed and turned back to Aberforth to pay for the drinks, "Make that three Butterbeers."

---

Xerxes was not having a good time of things in the wake of Edythe's death, he missed her and he'd just gotten used to having home cooked meals again too and now they were gone. He also had Ethan who he was a single father to, he didn't have someone to share the responsibility as he hoped. He had to start having his lessons in his own home so he could be there for the baby, he couldn't afford a baby sitter when he had to keep giving money to Maeghan. Xerxes wondered how people did it without a break, he knew from Stephan babies kept you up but he also would get a break from him and time to catch up on his sleep when Senna took him. This was not a luxury he had with Ethan, which had the unfortunate knock on effect of interfering with his teaching because he needed to be focused. It also affected his romantic life, he couldn't go out looking for women with Ethan there and he tended to be too tired more often than not. The only women he saw were clients, Maeghan and once Senna when he had Stephan.

"Look, Stephan, this is your new baby brother. His name is Ethan," Xerxes introduced the toddler excitedly, the little boy crinkled his nose as if in disgust as he peered over the edge of the crib. Without warning, Stephan hawked and spat right onto Ethan's face.

"Don't like it!" Stephan moaned as Ethan started crying, Xerxes slapped Stephan angrily as his father had occasionally done and the older boy blinked in shock.

"You will be nice to your brother, Stephan! He's your blood, your family not some random old man crossing the street. You be nice to your brother, do you understand?!"

Stephan nodded mutely, still looking surprised as Xerxes tended to Ethan and gave Stephan a quick hug to show he still loved him too. As a blessing, Ethan was actually a much easier baby then Stephan, he was much less fussy and easier to care for comparatively. Xerxes was extremely grateful, especially considering he had a third on the way. He took him to Edythe's grave on her birthday and told him of her despite the fact he was too young to understand yet, it seemed a start on honoring her. He wanted Ethan to know of her, after all he knew nothing of his mother after she'd left and didn't want his kids to feel cut off like that. It got him thinking a lot about his mother, she could be dead for all he knew and despite his resentment for her, he would like to find her because she'd always be his mother albeit a terrible one. He would start looking for her again, when Ethan was slightly older and he had time of course. It was the end March when he received an owl, informing him of Maeghan being in labor at St Mungo's and he went to go be there like he hadn't been for Edythe.

"She doesn't want you in there," the Healer told him with a disinterested shrug, "She says she doesn't like you and you can wait outside."

"But it's my child," Xerxes protested.

"It's hers too and currently her wishes are slightly more important so if you could please wait outside, we'll inform you when the child is born and you can see it."

Xerxes was forced to abide by the idiot Healer's rules and wait with Ethan, who as sleeping peacefully. And he waited. And he waited. And then he waited some more. Eventually he had to leave because Ethan was starving and he also had to cancel some classes, the child still hadn't been born when he returned. Bitterly, he couldn't help but feel annoyed that Ethan had been so quickly when he'd been gone just a few hours while an entire day later and Maeghan still hadn't had her baby yet. If they had been reversed then Edythe would still be alive. Finally though, the Healer did return and he was allowed in to meet his son. He was quite disappointed, he already had two sons and would really like a daughter for a change, Viola. He was also quite surprised when he saw the baby Maeghan held, he was a big baby. Ethan had been small for his age, Stephan average and this boy was large for his age.

"I blame you," Maeghan commented immediately, looking just as disappointed as he did, "He's a fat, ugly lump. I thought babies were supposed to be cute and cuddly?"

"He has just been born, give him a break," Xerxes protested in defense of his son, the boy's beady eyes were surveying them sleepily, "Look, Ethan, that's your new baby brother."

"Ethan? That's a stupid name."

"I know but it's the name the mother wanted."

"Well don't let him drool on my baby," Maeghan insisted and Xerxes shifted his position, wiping Ethan's mouth as he did so.

"Have you thought of any names?" Xerxes wondered, partly to change the subject and partly because he did want a name for his child.

"I was going to call him Matthew."

"Matthew. Not too bad."

"But now he's been born, I'm calling him Carver since I feel like he carved his way out of me. Matthew can be his middle name."

"That's a stupid reason to name him!" Xerxes protested irritably and Maeghan shrugged.

"WELL TOUGH! WHEN SOMETHING CARVES ITS WAY OUT OF YOU THEN YOU CAN NAME IT WHAT YOU WANT BUT I WANT TO CALL HIM CARVER SO I'M GOING TO BLOODY CALL HIM CARVER!" Maeghan screamed at him and the apparently named Carver immediately burst out crying at the disruptive noise, "WELL GREAT, NOW YOU'VE GONE AND WOKEN HIM UP! SHUT UP, CARVER!"

"You can't tell a baby to shut up, they don't understand English," Xerxes pointed out and Maeghan actually looked very surprised at this, "This can't be news to you?"

"I knew they didn't talk but I thought they could understand it surely, does Carver have brain damage? How are you supposed to get them to stop crying if they don't understand when you tell them to stop?" Maeghan wondered curiously, looking genuinely concerned. Xerxes pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed, suddenly he missed single fatherhood.

---

Scorpius joined Maurice at the table he'd selected with the three Butterbeers, one for Michael when he got back. He sipped his drink and felt the warmth of the brew filling him, it was a nice feeling. It felt strange to be drinking it without Molly though, he said as much to Maurice and the deaf boy looked at him quite coldly.

"Scorpius, my girlfriend is dead," Maurice pointed out, "Molly may not be here right now but she's currently living. Be glad."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius muttered, averting his eyes and feeling quite foolish.

"Why do you like this place?"

"Molly liked it. It's less crowded and quiet, I like that."

"I'm deaf so everywhere is silent to me," Maurice said as he sipped his drink, "I see your point though. My experience with hearing was not pleasant, I don't know how you people stand it. I like the silence."

"I guess we're just used to it. It'd be as strange for me to suddenly go deaf as it is for you to hear."

"True enough," Maurice nodded and the conversation actually went silent, Michael still hadn't returned.

"So how are things with you and Orous?" Scorpius asked to break the silence as much as anything, "He doesn't seem to talk to you much these days."

"I know, it's strange," Maurice agreed, his neutral expression showing a hint of worry, "He's been like this since he got better, it's like he avoids me and avoids talking to me then if he has to then he keeps conversation minimal and leaves as much as possible. At first I thought it was just because he was recovering but now I don't know, it was awful all summer."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"No. Why would I have done that?" Maurice questioned, sounding as if he didn't know.

"Because if you don't talk to him then you won't find out what's wrong and be able to move past it," Scorpius pointed out and Maurice nodded slowly in understanding before going quiet again, "You don't seem as obsessed with war these days."

"Just because I don't talk about it constantly, it doesn't mean I don't think about it. Although Lenore did teach me there's more to life than just being a soldier," Maurice answered and shifted his position slightly, "I just don't feel like talking as much, all you people do is tell me to shut up about it anyway. Especially you. I'm trying to figure out who's trying to murder you and you're obsessed over a teacher, I think Rojer would actually find it quite disturbing."

"I can't help it, I feel so terrible," Scorpius admitted guiltily in a whisper, "I liked Ashylos, he was a good man, he was a hero. But he's dead now, deader than the dead. Because of me. And then his last child who he worried for walks into my life to save mine, I punched him in the face. How am I supposed to move past it?"

"Have you tried talking to him about it? Take your own advice."

"I can't just tell him that!"

"You can," Maurice insisted and looked as if he had an epiphany, "And you will. You have a week to talk to Rojer or I will."

"You can't be serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Maurice said seriously and Scorpius could only gape in surprise, "You need to get your head back in the game, not obsessed and focused on this. You talk to him in a week or I will talk to him for you."

"I'm not going to let you do that," Scorpius scoffed and Maurice gave him a cold smile.

"Good luck stopping me."

Scorpius spent the better part of the day trying to convince Maurice otherwise but the deaf soldier seemed quite determined to stick to his ultimatum, he'd almost forgotten that Michael was supposed to return until their friend joined them. Not Michael though but Albus, who slumped into his seat and helped himself to the cold Butterbeer that had originally been for Michael. Where was he anyway?

"Don't you have a date?" Maurice wondered of Albus curiously.

"Grozda wanted to meet up with some friends and do some shopping as well so she cut it short," Albus explained and looked somewhat concerned, "You don't think Abby's right, do you? About Grozda not liking me as much? I told her I loved her, she just smiled and said 'aww I think you're great too' then kissed me and asked if I'd mind if she left early to meet her friends to do some shopping. So I figured since the others are on dates, I'd come hang with you guys and squeeze some more Hogsmeade time in"

"She is from another country, maybe it's a cultural thing."

"Yeah, a cultural thing," Albus repeated, looking more optimistic, "That could be it."

"Maybe," Scorpius muttered, in truth he really didn't know, "You didn't happen to see Michael out there, did you? He ran off to make sure some drunk was okay and we haven't seen him since."

"Nope. Didn't see him," Albus shook his head before snapping his fingers as something seemed to occur to him, "But you know who I did see, strangely?"

"No."

"His sister. The one with half her face all clawed and nasty."

"Her name is Agnes," Scorpius provided and Albus nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, her. I saw her. And even weirder was that she was with Lenore's uncle, the Death Eater guy."

"His name is John," Maurice offered, looking puzzled, "Are you sure it was him?"

"It looked like him, he had a scar on his face though."

"John didn't have a scar on his face the last time I saw him."

"Well he does now," Albus scoffed as he sipped Michael's cold Butterbeer.

"Well are you sure it was Agnes?" Scorpius wondered, "She's a muggle and a child, why would she even be in Hogsmeade."

"Oh yeah, she waved," Albus pointed out and Scorpius scowled in confusion.

"What would Michael's muggle half-sister be doing with Lenore's Death Eater uncle?"

"I don't know, that's why I thought it was worth mentioning. It's such a weird combination."

"Maybe it's not them and just people using Polyjuice?" Maurice offered, earning looks from the both of them.

"Who would even want to pretend to be Michael's muggle half-sister hanging out with Lenore's Death Eater uncle?"

"Fair point. It is rather odd, unless you were mistaken."

Scorpius wondered if the bizarre occurrence had anything to do with the fact they'd had to fake their deaths, he wasn't sure how John would be involved though. Although to be fair, he didn't know much about either of them. He'd have liked to inform Michael of it and ask his opinion, too bad his friend was nowhere to be found. They didn't actually see him until they left to go look for him, he was staggering over to them and grinned when he saw them.

"H'Was just going looking for you guys," Michael greeted them with a heavy slur to his words, Scorpius felt immediately angry.

"Michael, are you drunk?" Scorpius demanded and Michael nodded without hesitation, "You s-"

"Hey, I don't have any on me," Michael pointed out, opening his arms as if to show them there was nothing, "Y'll only get in trouble if you have it on you and I don't, they can't punish you for me for that so it's good. We drunk it already."

"Michael-"

"Don't yell at him," Albus interrupted, looking bitterly disappointed while Michael nearly fell as he took a step back and gave a lopsided grin.

"I's don't mind," Michael told them, holding out his arms again and nearly tripping over his own feet, "Yells if you want, I'm okay."

"He's drunk, he's not going to register what you're saying. Yell at him later, we can take it in turns."

"Imperio," Maurice cast on Michael, shocking them both while the deaf boy just shrugged as he pocketed his wand while Michael immediately stood normally, "Unless you two have a better idea on how to get him past the Auror guarding the gates who has it out for Scorpius."

"Fine," Scorpius agreed through gritted teeth and started off at a fast pace, wanting to get back as soon as possible, "Don't wait for me to be searched if she does it again, just go."

"Okay."

"And don't use Dark Magic so casually."

"Especially not Unforgiveables," Albus hissed, if Maurice was listening then Scorpius knew he wouldn't care, "So what about this Auror?"

Scorpius filled Albus in about their entrance as they walked, it helped take his mind of his anger at Michael for getting drunk, Maurice for using the Imperius Curse and giving the ultimatum and himself for letting it happen. He was also saddened as he passed Myriam Leebin going back into her house in the way out, it was one of the hovels. Did his mother know her closest friend was living in a one-story, lopsided piece of crap that looked like something a young child had drawn? He would've said hello but she didn't see him and had already gone in by the time he reached her, it only made him feel guiltier. He could just destroy the souls of heroes and go back to his lavish mansion because he was a Malfoy while others struggled.

Cistro was still guarding the gate and let his friends go by but Scorpius was again subject to search, this time they didn't wait for him as he'd said and had the foresight to take of his precious leather jacket beforehand to try put it down on a cleaner bit of ground. He trudged back to the castle still unhappily, Maurice had taken the curse off Michael and he was now drunkenly rambling when Scorpius came in. What was he going to do about Michael's drinking? He sighed heavily before being distracted by an ear-splitting screech, Scorpius grabbed Maurice – who hadn't heard it and seemed quite oblivious – to drag him to investigate. They were still screaming, it was coming from one of the dormitories in the Fourth Year. Lysander. They burst in and sure enough, Lysander was the one in peril.

He seemed to be sinking into his bed, the bedding suddenly looked like it was made of liquid or sinking sand and Lysander was drowning in it to the point only his head and hand remained visible. Some of the others from his year were trying to pull him out but stopped as it just made him sink faster, Scorpius whipped out his wand and tried levitating him out but it had no effect. Maurice was weaving a complicated motion with his, abruptly there was a boing sound and Lysander was thrown from the four poster which suddenly seemed to solidify. The blond was spewed out onto the ground, covered in scarlet and gold ooze like the bedcover and gasping for breath. The first time hadn't just been a fluke, someone was definitely trying to kill Lysander. He couldn't ignore it.

---

Part 3: Final Masquerade

---

"Sleep well?" Scorpius demanded of Michael as loudly and deliberately close to his ear as possible the next morning when everyone else had gone to breakfast, he startled awake with a start and cringed.

"I was until you yelled in my ear," Michael mumbled into his pillow while Scorpius tore open the curtains, making him cringe even more at the flood of light, "You're not mad about the drinking are you?"

"Of course I'm mad about the drinking!" Scorpius exploded at him, "You ditch us to go get wasted, don't you know how much trouble you could've be in?!"

"I didn't mean to ditch you," Michael insisted, his voice sounding hoarse, "I went outside to see if that guy was okay and he begged me for alcohol, I said I couldn't because I'm under age so he suggested I give him the money and he could buy it. I-I couldn't say no to that, it's been forever since I had a drink."

"It's been less than two months!"

"Well it feels like longer, besides I didn't bring any back with me so you couldn't get in trouble."

"You could've still gotten in trouble for being drunk! We had to go straight by that Auror who hates me because I know Professor Ashain, I wouldn't have put it past her to crucify you just for knowing me."

"My worry was never for myself," Michael pointed out as he buried his face into his pillow with a groan, "I feel like crap. That Fire whiskey really has a kick so could you please stop yelling so much?"

"Well it serves you right for drinking it!" Scorpius yelled at him loudly and yanked away the blankets, "What were you thinking?! And you went off with that random guy, he could've been a Shadow! Someone has tried to kill me and Lysander twice now, you could be next!"

"Now you care about that?" Michael wondered as he groggily sat up, letting his head drop back into his hands as he groaned again, "And that guy's not a Shadow. He's a werewolf, he was turned in Hogsmeade like I was when he was trying to protect his wife and baby daughter. After he turned, his wife died trying to protect the baby from him while still not wanting to hurt him. He killed his own wife, she died horribly at his own claws and jaws because she was unwilling to hurt him."

"You drank with him because you felt bad for him?!"

"No, he only told me after," Michael stated as he stood, he looked like crap, "I just want you to remind Albus about that next time he tells me to date."

"You-"

Scorpius was cut off mid-sentence as Michael bolted for the bathroom, he followed in time to hear the sound of Michael retching. He patiently waited for Michael to finish and come back over to clean himself up, he leaned in the doorway scowling disapprovingly and folded his arms.

"You have a problem, you know?" Scorpius pointed out, trying to be calmer.

"I have a lot of problems, Scorpius," Michael said tiredly as he splashed water on his face, he sighed as he looked into the mirror, "I don't even recognize myself anymore."

"The drinking isn't helping."

"It's helping me," Michael insisted and turned back to him, "What do you want from me, Scorpius? An apology? I'm sorry I left you to go drinking. But I'm not sorry I'm drinking and I don't intend to stop, I won't drink inside Hogwarts to avoid what happened with Rutherford but outside is fair game. If you don't like it then tough."

"It's not helping you, Michael, you may feel like it is but it's not. You-"

"Wait, did you say two attempts on Lysander?" Michael interrupted, seeming to only now be registering what Scorpius had said earlier.

"Yes, you missed it when you were drunk but his bed tried to drown him or something," Scorpius informed him testily and Michael looked concerned, "See what you miss out on when you're drinking?"

"At least I'm not missing out on it because I'm obsessing over Rojer," Michael countered and Scorpius tried not to look embarrassed as he kept the subject on track.

"It narrows it down though, it had to be someone who didn't go to Hogsmeade so almost certainly a First or Second Year unless an older student stayed."

"Martha."

"Lysander is a Gryffindor and it happened in his dormitory, only a Gryffindor would know the password and Martha is a Hufflepuff so it couldn't be her," Scorpius pointed out and Michael ran his hand through his already tangled mane of hair, making it worse, "What the hell do you even have against this poor girl?"

"Well I don't know then, thinking is hard right now."

"I'm not surprised. And stop trying to change the subject!"

"What is the subject?" Michael wondered in confusion, cringing at the raised volume again and Scorpius threw his arms up in exasperation.

"Your drinking!"

"Are you still on that?" Michael complained and rubbed his head as if it pained him, "I think I've said all I wanted to say on the matter, unless you have anything to add."

"Sometimes you're the bravest, kindest and most self-less person I know," Scorpius told him in irritation, "And sometimes you're the most hypocritical, self-centered jackass."

Scorpius stalked off without another word, feeling quite frustrated. For someone good at helping people, Michael was terrible at letting people help him. Or maybe Scorpius was just bad at helping people, he tended to do more harm than good despite his best efforts. He was in a bad mood for the rest of the weekend, he couldn't even throw himself into his animagi training because he was doing it for Michael and he was mad at him. He did finally 'ring' Varanian to fill him in about the murder attempts, using the communicating portkey rings. Varanian's response was much like Scorpius would've expected: 'why didn't you tell me sooner?' Scorpius could only apologize in response. Varanian also seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Maurice but he did contribute something new.

'Only thing I can think of in common is wrists,' Varanian's words appeared on the ring, 'The scars the Shadows gave you both.'

"Then why only two out of five?" Scorpius questioned, pressing the wand tip to the ring so his words would appear on Varanian's ring.

'Maybe they're going one at a time. Could be wrong though, just a thought. Be careful.'

Scorpius thought that was fair enough and in Hogwarts itself they were taking steps to protect the very frightened Lysander, Maurice magically scanned his dormitory when Lysander was going to bed and they made sure he was never alone. Maurice stayed with him during all his free time and in classes Lorcan, Lily, Hugo and August made sure to stay with him and keep an eye out. At night, Maurice would put a protective enchantment on the door and Scorpius was supposed to check to make sure Lysander was okay before he went to sleep as he stayed up late at night for his training. Plus, Scorpius could hear which was useful in dark of night. The darkness was increasing as winter drew closer, October shifting to November that very week.

If Scorpius had thought Maurice would forget about his ultimatum because he was busy with his new duty to protect Lysander, he was wrong. Every mealtime after Alchemy that week, Maurice would ask him if he'd told Rojer yet. He hadn't, he hadn't even tried. It had seemed the best and only solution at the time but when he tried to put it into words, 'I destroyed your father's soul to save my friend and stop the bad guys getting this scepter' it didn't sound so good. Was there any good way to put that? And what would Rojer say? Would he just yell or would he attack him? Would he try to kill him? He had killed before after all and Scorpius wouldn't blame him for being upset, he was upset with himself after all. Would he throw him out of the class? Would he lose his opportunity to learn about soul?

"H-Hey," a young offered, jolting Scorpius in surprise as he was in his dormitory having just gotten changed to go to a Quidditch practice. He spun to see Antonius Ashain standing restlessly in the doorway, fiddling with his hands with his dog by his side.

"What are you doing here?" Scorpius wondered in shock and Antonius looked quite put down.

"I erm… th-thought maybe we could hang out or something…? I-If you'd like," Antonius stammered out nervously, "I haven't seen much of you this year. And you shouldn't really be alone with people trying to kill you out there."

"Well sorry, little buddy but we got Quidditch practice just now," Albus pointed out and patted the boy's head affectionately, "You can watch though if you'd like."

"He means how did you get in here?" Michael spoke up, "You need the password."

"Oh, I just asked my Dad," Antonius explained as if it were obvious, "The staff know all the different house passwords."

"Maybe some other time but we really need to get out onto the pitch now," Scorpius offered gently and Antonius nodded in understanding before trudging away with Hope while the trio headed down to the pitch, his head hung almost in disappointment.

"Isn't that interesting about the professors?" Michael commented as they walked, "It widens our search pool for assassins."

"You think one of the professors is trying to kill me?"

"No, I think Martha is trying to kill you."

"Err… Martha isn't a professor," Albus pointed out in confusion, Michael rolled his eyes.

"No but Koray is and he happens to have two kids in Hogwarts, the younger of which happens to be friends with Martha," Michael explained, "She could've asked the Koray girl to ask her father for the password to get into Gryffindor Tower, she is back on the suspect list."

"Just because Professor Ashain told Antonius, it doesn't mean Professor Koray would tell his kids as well," Scorpius protested defensively, "For all we know, he wouldn't be so free with the passwords."

"And for all we know he is free with the passwords. We should ask one of the Koray kids."

Scorpius supposed it was a possibility although he still didn't believe Martha was the assassin, she didn't seem suspicious to him and in truth he just felt bad for her, besides she'd been a white soul when he'd looked with the Eye of the Thestral potion. He tried to push it out of his mind for the practice, being a good Captain was still important. Martha was watching again and as usual, stayed behind to help him and Michael with the equipment.

"You still friends with the Koray girl?" Michael demanded of her, almost accusatory making the small girl jump and nearly drop the bats she'd been carrying.

"Yeah, Auriga is my best friend," Martha admitted and Michael nodded, continuing to glare at her darkly and her delicate freckled face wrinkled in worry, "Why? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, he's just grouchy because of the full moon next week," Scorpius interjected and Martha glanced back to him with her cloudy gray eyes, quickly averting them and blushing slightly as they continued carrying the equipment.

"Okay. I'm sorry, it must be tough being a werewolf," Martha nodded and turned her attention back to Michael, he gave an indistinguishable grunt as a reply, "Do you really have to take Wolfsbane to stay sane during the transformation?"

"Yes," Michael answered in a growl, "Every day for a week up to the full moon."

"What does it taste like?" Martha wondered curiously and Michael's look was practically murderous.

"Disgusting."

"I'm sorry," Martha offered apologetically, earning only another dark look from Michael.

Scorpius made a mental note to snap at him for being so mean to her later and did so as soon as they parted ways even, Michael could only shrug disinterested and reiterate he thought she was suspicious. The week came to a close and his Friday ended with Alchemy, the last class of the week and his last class with Rojer where he was supposed to tell him about Ashylos. He stayed behind as usual to help pack up the equipment, remind him oddly of Martha. Was it really that suspicious she stayed behind to help when he did the exact same with Rojer?

He chickened out yet again and left Rojer still obliviously, wondering if he could get away with lying to Maurice that he'd told Rojer. Considering he'd undoubtedly ask about the reaction and Scorpius could only envision bad ones, he thought not. He was so anxious about it that night he barely slept, he had to tell him or Maurice would. He actually seriously considered letting Maurice just tell him which made him realize just how much he did need to tell him, Rojer should hear it from him.

And so after lunch, he checked to make sure Rojer was in his tower – it was a Saturday after all, staff had more freedom – before heading up the steps to check on him. Scorpius was so used to just walking in that he didn't knock despite the fact it wasn't a class, not thinking. Rojer was sitting at the front as usual, working on a massive building structure made entirely out of dice. His eyes drifted to Scorpius as he entered though, his usual grim expression still in place rather than any kind of surprise.

"There is no class," Rojer pointed out as his eyes drifted back to his building, continuing his construction, "There is never class on this day."

"I know," Scorpius admitted, feeling his heart pounding anxiously. He decided he'd try to ease into it, "Why erm… Why do you make those buildings out of random things?"

"Because I like to keep my hands busy, I say this before," Rojer stated dismissively, "Normally I would do Alchemy but it is better to do when more awake, by the time I do this I am usually awake."

"Why always buildings?"

"They are the most big."

"Have you had lunch?"

"Your lunch is my break-fast," Rojer shrugged as he leaned back to give him his attention, waving his wand and vanishing the dice structure, "Do not stall, what did you want?"

"Me? I erm… Nothing," Scorpius stammered out awkwardly.

"Then buh-bye. Come back when this is class," Rojer told him with a dismissive wave, not looking convinced but Scorpius didn't think he cared and probably just wanted his weekend of peace. Scorpius left and found Maurice waiting at the bottom of the stairs, he felt an odd surge of anger.

"Look, Maurice, I am going to tell him but in my own time not yours," Scorpius blurted out irritably, trying to keep his voice low so Rojer wouldn't hear and with Maurice's deafness volume was irrelevant, "It's not something you just blurt out, maybe soldiers do it that way but people don't. You're going to give me until the Christmas break and if I haven't told him by then, I'll walk you to the Alchemy Tower myself. Got it?"

"Got it," Maurice said quietly and reluctantly before turning and walking away, much to Scorpius' relief.

Thankfully, Maurice seemed content with this for whatever reason and Scorpius felt more at ease as the first full week of November began. He actually got a chance to talk to one of the Korays sooner rather than later as he spotted Pollux Koray struggling up the Grand Staircase when he was taking the weakened Michael to the Hospital Wing ready for the full moon, he was moving at a snail's pace and clutching the bannister. Scorpius felt quite bad for him, he was already breathing heavily. He silently cursed James for damaging his lungs.

"See that?" Scorpius wondered of his friend and Michael nodded weakly, he was leaning on him for support as they approached him, "Hey Pol."

"Hey… Scorpius and… Michael," Pollux greeted them in between breaths, Scorpius wasn't sure if it was because of his labored breathing or from struggling to remember their names.

"How are you doing?"

"Great, I love struggling to breathe… all the girls are really into it," Pollux offered sarcastically as the three of them moved up slowly, "Your friend okay?"

"Just weak from the full moon," Michael pointed out tiredly, "Wolfsbane tastes worse every month."

"Least Wolfsbane works, stuff that's supposed to help me breathe… Well, it tastes like swallowing rusted nails and you can see how brill… brilliantly it works."

"We actually wanted to ask you something," Scorpius spoke up and Pollux shrugged.

"Shoot. I'm not going anywhere quickly."

"Do you think your Father would give you or Auriga the password to other common rooms if you asked?"

"Yep," Pollux agreed without hesitation, "He's done it before when I wanted… to talk to Byron. I'm not telling you though if that's… what you're driving at."

"It's not."

"Told you," Michael pointed out triumphantly, trying to smile but it was weak. He also apparently didn't think to not say anything in front of the Ravenclaw, although the attempts on his Lysander's lives were common knowledge, "It could still be Martha trying to kill you."

"Martha is not trying to kill him," Pollux scoffed as if it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Haven't you… noticed she watches most of your Quidditch… practices?"

"That's why he thinks she's so suspicious," Scorpius admitted and Pollux shook his head.

"Wrong."

"Why does she go to the practices then?" Michael wondered and Pollux actually stopped to glance at them for a minute, looking torn, "What is it?"

"Promise you won't say anything?" Pollux pleaded with a heavy sigh, "I said… I said I wouldn't but if it's the only way you'll stop thinking she's a murderer…"

"We won't say anything," Scorpius assured him seriously and Pollux nodded slowly, looking around as if to make sure they were alone for a second before continuing.

"She has a major crush on you."

"Me?" Scorpius questioned in shock and Pollux nodded in confirmation, "Why would she have a crush on me?"

"I don't know, I'm not a girl," Pollux shrugged as he started climbing again, while Scorpius was still left feeling stumped, "See you, I have to keep… moving if I want to get to bed before the… dawn."

"Thanks," Scorpius added absentmindedly, turning to Michael, "See? I told you, just a poor girl with a weird crush."

"She could be lying about it," Michael protested as they also started walking again, "Maybe that's why she switched to trying to kill Lysander."

"Why lie about something embarrassingly personal like that?"

"Because people wouldn't think she would lie about it," Michael insisted and Scorpius rolled his eyes incredulously, "I'm sorry. I just have a bad feeling about her, okay?"

Scorpius left Michael in the Hospital Wing, feeling even more certain that Martha wasn't the one trying to kill them. And also somewhat awkward knowing an eleven year old had a crush on him, hopefully it would wear off. He went back to vigorously practicing his animagi training, desperately – and maybe delusionally – hoping to master it before Michael's transformation. No luck though. He was exhausted from pushing himself so hard practicing for the full moon so decided to call it a night earlier than usual although still later than the rest of his dormitory, when he felt the spell to keep his mind intact starting to fade he packed it in. First, he just had his obligation to check on Lysander. So far, he'd noticed nothing but this time he saw the boy creeping out of his room.

"Where are you going?" Scorpius hissed at him and Lysander jolted in surprise before relaxing when he saw him, putting a hand to his heart.

"Oh it's just you, just the person I wanted to see in fact," Lysander offered before grinning and waving a piece of paper at him, "Guess what?"

"More like, what are you doing out of bed? And don't say the bathroom because you get to them from your dormitory not this way."

"I got a secret admirer," Lysander explained and waved the paper more vigorously, "She wants me to meet her tonight and obviously not here. It's so exciting, my first lover's tryst."

"Lysander, someone is trying to kill you," Scorpius pointed out in disbelief.

"All the more reason to live and love as much as possible."

"No, Lysander, can't you see this could be a trap?!" Scorpius insisted and Lysander looked at him quite blankly, apparently not having considered this, "They pretend to be an admirer to lure you away in the middle of the night so they can kill you."

"Oh no, I hadn't thought of that," Lysander admitted as his face fell, "Do you think my secret admirer knows?"

"I think there is no secret admirer!" Scorpius snapped and held out his hand, "Give me the note and go to bed, I'll check it out."

"No!" Lysander whined and yanked the note further away from him, "What if you're wrong and there is a secret admirer? I can't just leave her hanging. I have to risk it."

"Are you mad?!"

"No, not mad. Excited and now kind of fearful but still willing to risk it," Lysander said and Scorpius almost slapped his hand to his face in frustration, Lysander had thought he meant angry-mad not insane-mad like any normal person would, "Besides, with my fairy guardian my side I'm feeling quite safe… You could always come with me if you want, if it's a trap then I'm the bait and you'll get them and if it's not then you can just leave us be."

"I'd rather just go alone," Scorpius moaned, feeling as if this was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

"Well it's my secret admirer and my call, I want to do this my way and there's no time," Lysander insisted, "So what do you say?"

"Fine," Scorpius agreed through gritted teeth and Lysander grinned.

"Great then let's go before we're late!"

On that note, Lysander skipped – quite literally – off and Scorpius trudged after him. He actually hoped they would get caught just because it meant a definite end would be put to Lysander being at risk tonight, a stupid risk at that. They didn't run into anyone though unfortunately, just dark corridors and silent night. He was surprised to see the meeting room was an unused one quite close to the Hospital Wing, wasn't this person – admirer or assassin – concerned about Marigold and Michael hearing? It was the full moon, Marigold stayed up at least a little bit to stay with Michael. They went in to wait and a person stepped out from the shadows, Scorpius had his wand aimed in a second but froze in surprise. It was neither assassin nor admirer but rather a familiar teenage boy with bushy red hair, Hugo Weasley held up his hands as if to show he was innocent and not putting up a fight.

"Hugo? You're my secret admirer?" Lysander wondered, looking incredibly disappointed, "I'm sorry, I don't swing that way."

"What are you talking about?" Hugo asked in confusion, "Lorcan's the one with a secret admirer."

"Explain," Scorpius insisted, as confused as the younger boys.

"Lorcan got a letter from a secret admirer, he's not interested in daring right now but I thought it might hurt her feelings if he didn't show so he said I could go instead to let her down so here I am. What are you two doing here?"

"Lysander also got a letter from a secret admirer, he wanted to meet her but I thought it might be a trap so I came with him," Scorpius explained as he lowered his wand, "This is looking more like a trap."

"Or just someone screwing with us," Hugo offered as he looked around, "There's no assassin here either."

"Well, this is rather disappointing," Lysander admitted before the three froze at the sound of footsteps.

Scorpius aimed his wand at the door before relaxing as he recognized the odd pacing off the steps, limping. A second later, he was proved correct as Rojer walked by with an empty plate in his hands, presumably carrying it back down to be washed since he ate separate. He paused to glance in at them, his expression not surprised or angered in the slightest.

"Does not Hogwarts have some kind of curfew?" Rojer wondered curiously.

"Err… Yeah," Scorpius admitted and Rojer nodded.

"I thought as much. If you do not wish to be caught, I suggest you speak quieter," Rojer commented disinterestedly and continued on without another word, his limping footsteps fading into the night before any of them spoke.

"What a strange but pleasant man," Lysander decided to himself before they froze again at another sound.

This time it wasn't because of Rojer's footsteps, or any footsteps. It was because there was a blood-curdling scream, a man's scream that sounded suspiciously like Marigold… Scorpius felt his heart start to pound, had something happened to Michael? Distantly, he realized he could hear sounds of a struggle, furniture smashing and glass being shattered. He was distracted by a deafening howl of a werewolf just as he started to move, it wasn't coming from the Hospital Wing but the room they were in.

They looked around in shock, wands being drawn and lit up immediately but there was no werewolf around causing the incessant howling. Hugo started pulling out drawers of abandoned desks shoved in the corner, finally pulling one out that only increased the volume. There was a box in it, Hugo threw it to the ground and stomped on it. The box shattered and the howling ceased immediately but Scorpius still suspected it was too late, something was very wrong here and there were better off away.

"We need to get out of here now," Scorpius told them and the other two nodded in unanimous agreement before starting to run for the door.

They slammed to a halt though as a hulking shape appeared in the doorway, a massive brownish-blond wolf that growled ferociously as it made its way in. The silver moonlight from the window sliding over it as it walked in, revealing it had one golden eye and one hazel along with the shiny crimson on the massive claws and matted into the fur. It was Michael. Except from the menacing growl, Scorpius didn't think it was Michael anymore and things start clicking into place. The assassin must've sabotaged Michael's Wolfsbane and set a trap to lure the Scamanders to their deaths, letting Michael kill them for him. He felt sickened and angry, how dare someone try to use his friend that way?! There was also a pang of fear, what the hell was he supposed to do against his friend the werewolf?

"Hey Michael!" Lysander called cheerfully, apparently not recognizing the danger, "It's so cool to see you in were-"

Michael lunged at Lysander, Scorpius threw himself at the younger boy to tackle him out of the way and narrowly made it, he was still close enough to see the shadow of Michael jumping over him. He yanked Lysander to his feet and pushed the shaking boy towards the door while Michael skidded to a halt in front of the wall.

"Go! Get help!" Scorpius yelled at him.

Lysander didn't need telling twice, he fled. And Michael launched after him, Scorpius conjured ropes to bind him and his friend yelped as the four furred legs were caught up in the rope. He skidded as he fell, sliding into the corner near the door.

"Let's go!" Scorpius snapped at Hugo, "While he's bound!"

"We can seal him in!" Hugo added excitedly while Michael tore at the ropes.

Michael gave a ferocious snarl and lunged, snapping the ropes and Scorpius recast the spell to tie them again which had him drop over Hugo and land at Scorpius' feet with a painful thud. Scorpius raised his wand to try transfiguring the rope to something more substantial but Michael batted at him with a paw already free, his wand shot from his grasp as Scorpius was thrown back violently. He hit the ground painfully and saw Michael was already growling as he got to his feet, his eyes skimmed desperately and he saw his wand had slid uselessly over to the other side of the room. Michael jumped at him.

"Expulso!" Hugo screamed, apparently not keen on leaving Scorpius as he jabbed his wand at Michael with a panicked apologetic expression.

The spell missed, hitting the wall behind Scorpius instead. It blew a crater into the wall, the shockwave from the blast and the debris shooting out was still enough to waver Michael's course and knock him away from Scorpius. It was also enough to incur Michael's wrath, the werewolf snarled viciously and ran immediately at Hugo in a blur of bloody fur.

"Expul-"

"NO!" Scorpius cried.

Hugo didn't even manage to finish the spell before Michael reached him, Scorpius was too far from his wand or Hugo to do anything other than watch as his thundered in panic. Michael's powerful jaws clamped down on Hugo's forearm, there was a sickening snap as the limb twisted and Hugo screamed in agony. Michael tossed the boy and Hugo was thrown like a rag doll through a side door, his wand still in hand though.

"Sever your arm!" Scorpius screamed at him as he scrambled to his feet to try reach his wand while his voice had Michael spin back to him, growling as Hugo's blood dripping off his teeth. He felt immense pity and guilt twist inside him at Hugo's choice of becoming an amputee or a werewolf, he couldn't help, "Sever your arm, Hugo, or you'll turn into a werewolf!"

Scorpius tried to run for his wand but Michael was faster, in the next instant he felt the weight of a werewolf landing on him and felt at least some of his ribs crack painfully. He gasped in pain and screamed as Michael's claws tore through his chest, he looked into his friend's mismatched eyes and Michael didn't look back.

For the first time in his life, Scorpius felt true fear for his own life because of his best friend. There was only thing in the world he could possibly do to save himself now, the spells were weak but still intact after all. It was now or never. He willed himself to change, to become an animagus.

A shimmering gray aura embraced Michael, Scorpius raised his arm to try protect himself as the wolfish jaws bit at him. He saw his own arm changing, thinning and lengthening as it contorted while Michael's teeth tore painfully into his elbow while the hand was compressed into a hoof. He tried to cry out in pain but a shrill and strange shriek came out from his enlarging throat instead, he could feel his body changing.

He felt as if he was being yanked and torn every which way internally, Michael backed off in surprise and he fell forwards onto the hooves that had once been his hands. His body was growing and compressing at the same time, his flesh being squished to a skeletal form but his body growing to larger than his human one. He felt a tail sprout, his hair grow into a long mane and as if the skin of his back was being ripped off again, stretching out and forming into large leathery wings. A minute later, a Thestral stood where a human had been.

Scorpius knew he had to have transformed completely or else the bite would've turned him into a werewolf instead. He could feel the stinging painfully, his arm- leg now was shaking from his putting pressure on the injured limb. He had done it though, he was an animagus. Michael growled at him and jumped at him once more, Scorpius tried to cry out – again emitting a shrill shriek instead – as he reared up instinctively and kicked back down on Michael with his front legs. Michael yelped and retreated back, blinking his eyes as if disoriented from being kicked in the head but still snarling.

He noticed a second aura behind Michael as he did so, coming from Rojer who he spotted standing in the doorway. He threw a vial at Michael and jabbed his wand as well, there was a blue explosion of light and then Michael was on the ground with a thick bluish translucent substance covering his limbs and the ground. He was struggling but whatever the stuff was, it was holding him strong. Scorpius stared down at him in sad shock as Rojer strode towards him, this was not how he'd intended on his first animagi transformation to go.

"You can turn back now," Rojer told him, rubbing his injured leg idly as if it pained him while Michael started barking, "It is done."

It occurred to Scorpius as he said this that he didn't know how to turn back, hadn't Wyatt said you usually snapped back after turning the first time? He… He didn't remember, it was hard to remember. Another thought sent a shiver down his soul, how long did he have before the spell to keep his human mind wore off?

"Scorpius?"

Scorpius stepped back painfully with his injured limb, trying to will himself to turn back but he could already feel his mind failing him, feel it all merging into mush as his heart started pounding in panic.

He blinked in surprise as his panic spread, he was injured, there was a werewolf barking on the ground and he was in a strange room. There was a human there, its lips were moving but the words were incomprehensible. He should really be getting out of there, he took another step back and the human raised a thin stick he knew to be a weapon.

A jet of light shot out but he lurched out of the way, he kicked wildly and thought he heard the human cry out but he ignored it as he jumped clean out of the window. It shattered loudly and he felt a few shards of glass slice him on the way out but it was nothing compared to escaping whatever kind of imprisonment he'd found himself in, he soared through the sky much to his delight as he enjoyed flying with the wind through his mane. He glided to the ground and galloped as fast as he could with his injured leg into the forest, his home.

---

Part 4: A Rude Awakening

---

He galloped through the dense woodland as fast as he could with his injured leg, his chest also hurt from his fight with the werewolf. He came to a halt only when he needed to catch his breath, the pain in his leg also continued to overwhelm him. He didn't even know where he was going, he shouldn't be running blindly. He should find water first and foremost, some others of his own kind would also be nice since he didn't recall who he was or how he'd gotten inside a castle in the first place.

'Hello?' he called out into the forest, the shrill shriek scaring off a flock of birds, 'Is there anyone out there?'

No reply.

He shook himself off and sniffed the air, taking in the aroma of the forest to get a sense of his surroundings and pinpoint the location of the nearest body of water. He started off towards that, this time at a trot and an unfortunate limp due to his injured leg. He thought of flying but decided against it, he wanted the cover of the trees not to risk the werewolf seeing him again. Maybe at full-strength he'd do it but with his injuries, it wasn't smart to pick fights.

He found the stream easily and lowered his head to drink, lapping up the refreshing liquid and soothing his thirst. Now that he thought about it, he could also use a bite to eat. He heard a tweeting and turned his attention to the various birds that inhabited the trees, he simply waited for one to fly by and took off. He shot up, his injured leg not hindering his flight and he seized the small bird in his fangs before landing.

He felt it struggling against the teeth digging into its small, feathered body and bit down hard. There was a crunch as its little bones snapped and the thing went limp, dead. He lifted his head, ensuring gravity was on his side as he threw it slightly to get it more in his mouth before devouring the creature. It may have been small but it did have a little fat belly so he got some meat from it, not a lot but he had only wanted a snack anyway.

He'd need something more sizable for a proper meal, this could be an issue with his leg. Although once the full moon passed, he wouldn't have to worry about the werewolf so could have the advantage of flight again. Maybe it would work out after all. He took another drink from the stream to wash the bird down and caught sight of his dragon-like face, his eyes were a glittering gray rather than white which was quite odd. Was that why he'd been in the castle? Had he been expelled from his flock because his eyes were the wrong color? He wasn't sure and he had no way of knowing, he pushed it out of his mind for now though. Instead, he wandered over to a nearby tree because he figured he could use some rest.

He lay down and cringed at the pain in his leg as he did so, bending it was really quite agonizing and he struggled to get comfortable with it amongst the thick tree roots for a minute. Finally he closed his eyes and settled in to sleep, having a strange dream about humans of all things. He snapped awake abruptly at the sound of a breaking twig, his dream vanishing but it was something to do with humans and he was pretty sure they'd called him 'scorpion' in it. He wasn't a scorpion and neither were humans so really, it was rather odd.

'Greetings,' a newcomer and he focused solely on reality as another Thestral emerged from the trees.

'Hello,' he greeted the new Thestral excitedly and jumped up, immediately regretting it as the shockwaves of pain that rippled form his injured leg were unbearable.

'You are injured,' the Thestral stated, tilting its head to one side and peering at the wounds curiously.

'Got into a fight with a werewolf,' he explained, 'It was attacking me for some reason, it's the first thing I remember.'

'But you are young, how can that be your first memory?'

'I don't know,' he admitted uncertainly, 'I was just there in the castle being attacked by a werewolf then by a human, I fled here.'

'Hmm… Maybe you are a new addition the humans acquired but were attacked by a werewolf,' the Thestral mused thoughtfully, 'Occasionally they like to add new blood to our herd.'

'You serve humans?' he wondered suspiciously, not sure how he felt about that.

'It is more of a symbiotic relationship, we help each other. Humans can do things we can't, they could take care of your leg,' the Thestral explained and nodded his head at the injuries, 'And we can do things they can't, its beneficial for us both to work together.'

'I suppose,' he admitted and kicked at the ground with his unharmed leg, 'Is there any chance I can join your flock?'

'There is a chance of everything. I came to investigate your call after all,' the Thestral pointed out as he approached him, he lowered his head submissively and the Thestral circled around him, sizing him up and sniffing before standing before him once more, 'Alright. I will take you to the rest of the herd in our paddock.'

'Thank you,' he said with relief and the Thestral started off.

'Tenebrus. That is what they call me.'

'I don't know what they call me,' he admitted uncertainly.

He followed Tenebrus through the forest, being filled in about the forest and its various inhabitants as well as their territories. There was an impressive variety, he would've liked to hunt but Tenebrus informed him that the humans kept them well fed so they didn't really have to. In fact, some they were specifically told to stay away from. Especially owls, thankfully the bird he had killed earlier had not been an owl.

They reached the paddock, a blissfully dark and especially dense part of the forest that made it difficult to tell the time of day due to a lack of sunlight. It was good though, the glaring sun only ever got in the way. Tenebrus introduced him to the rest of the herd, quite a sizeable bunch with some attractive females.

He was sized up similarly by the herd, he bowed his head and let them encircle him, sniffing him as well. It was actually kind of uncomfortable, for some reason he got the impression he didn't like strangers being so close to his personal space. He still stood politely, he didn't want to be out there on his own. At the very least he needed the safety of numbers while he was injured.

'It's a bit odd,' one of the older looking Thestrals commented, cocking its head to one side, 'Why bring a Thestral into the castle? None of us have ever been brought into the castle. Why would Hagrid do this?'

'Maybe he didn't, maybe our newcomer here just bolted,' one of the female Thestrals said as she surveyed him, 'He seems a bit wild.'

'I hunted and killed a bird earlier,' he announced proudly and tossed his head back to try show off his mane to impress her, 'Despite my injuries.'

'A bird? I hope you didn't hurt yourself, you've got to be wary of those birds,' she said with a snort of amusement and he hung his head ashamedly.

'It better not have been an owl,' another Thestral growled, a rather large one who stamped the ground disapprovingly, 'Hagrid will not be pleased. There's no place for disrespectful youths in our flock.'

'It wasn't an owl,' he insisted truthfully, not that he thought he should be held accountable if it was because he hadn't known about it at the time.

'There's something off about him anyway.'

'His eyes are gray not white,' Tenebrus pointed out, 'I don't think there's anything wrong with that though, visual appearance is not everything.'

'I like the eyes,' the female commented.

'I don't,' the big one snapped and snarled to show off his fangs, 'His blood smells a bit funny too, something is off about him.'

'Could just be because he's new though,' the older Thestral spoke up again, 'No reason to not accept him. I say he's fine, if he proves unworthy then we can always revoke our acceptance later.'

'I agree,' Tenebrus announced and there was a general murmuring of agreement from the rest of the herd, Tenebrus gave him a respectful bow and he felt a surge of relief, 'Welcome to the group.'

---

"Harry! Wake up!"

Harry Potter jolted awake at the sound of his name, he'd fallen asleep at his desk it seemed and it was strange to wake into a sitting position. He blinked his bleary eyes and had to fix his glasses, he'd drifted off wearing them so they'd gone askew. Only then did he saw the cause for his rude awakening, he'd expected Ron for someone reason but he was surprised to find it was the Minister. Alaric Layton was looking as if he'd received a rude awakening of his own, he appeared exhausted but also oddly animated.

"Wake up," Alaric reiterated impatiently, "I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Harry wondered tiredly and annoyed himself, at Alaric though not the awakening because work was more important than sleeping.

"Have you heard about Michael Sanford attacking some of the students?"

"Of course I heard about it, my nephew was the victim!" Harry insisted incredulously, Alaric looked mildly surprised by this which only frustrated further. Did Alaric not bother to learn anything about a subject before bringing it up?

"Right, of course," Alaric nodded and idly rubbed his hands together, seemingly trying to decide whether it was impolite to jump back to his original point immediately, "How is he?"

"His Mother's with him," Harry admitted, he hoped Hugo was doing alright.

"Good. So did you see the article the Prophet wants to print on it as their cover story?" Alaric dived back to his original point briskly and Harry sighed. Suddenly, he was also pretty sure Alaric had no family to be so unsympathetic.

"No."

"Well, let's say it does not shed a very favorable light on werewolves to say the least," Alaric explained and slipped into the chair opposite Harry, a flicker of relief crossing his face as if he'd been waiting to sit before launching back into his point, "And I'd really rather not have that. There's two ways to look at this, there's the truth that some utterly despicable person tampered with a poor boy's treatment to use him as a weapon to deliberately hurt or kill others - which is utterly despicable, I mean what kind of sick, twisted, inhuman freak does that?! It's outrageous and then they have the nerve to turn around and call the werewolf the monster, they were the ones taking measures to manage their natures and someone sabotages that?! It's worse than despicable, it is downright atrocious, it's the most contemptible, heinous act-"

Alaric paused abruptly, seeming to realize he had veered slightly off point into a surprisingly passionate rant. Maybe he hadn't just been lying to Scorpius when he'd mentioned being pro-werewolf, Harry wondered if they'd had any luck finding the missing boy because he'd just kind of vanished. Alaric cleared his throat.

"My point is, it will either be spun as werewolves being inherently evil, vicious monsters and reignite that whole conflict which is the last thing we need when we're already in a war or it will be spun as werewolves just as much a victim since Sanford's Wolfsbane was tampered with which is the truth," Alaric explained, "There'll be a negative backlash against werewolves either way but the latter will diminish it."

"I agree," Harry admitted with a nod of acknowledgement, he was worried it would spark life back into PAW and he'd have to split his resources between them and the Shadows again, "But I don't see why you're telling me, you are the Minister so if you want the Prophet to spin it more positively then just order them too."

"I can't," Alaric stated seriously, "If they know I'm being supportive of werewolves then I'll lose my non-werewolf supporters. Politics, Harry, the ultimate strategy game."

"Well even if I go down there myself I'd need to tell them it's on your authority so they'd know anyway."

"I know," Alaric pointed out and looked around as if to make sure they were truly alone before lowering his voice and continuing, "But that wouldn't matter if you blackmailed Rita Skeeter the way you did as a teenager, whatever you have on her must've been good. Use it again, make her change her article."

"You're asking me to blackmail her?" Harry wondered in shock as Alaric stood, giving him a wolfish smile.

"No," Alaric said quietly, "I'm telling you to."

"If I do this, will you let Flan talk to Riddle?" Harry called after him as Alaric went to leave, the Minister paused and sighed.

"Harry, if he sees Riddle then the guarding Aurors will see him," Alaric insisted unfairly yet again, "The less people know the better."

"They don't know the location though."

"But they will know the person to direct the Soul Eaters too and like you say, he's a civilian and he'll crumble if they torture him."

"But he might be able to get some information out of him, we've still had no luck interrogating him."

"I'll think about it when you do what I want," Alaric offered non-committedly as he left, passing by Ron on his way in. His friend was looking just as bad as Alaric, they both watched the Minister leave darkly.

"Nice to see when I leave for a few hours you have time to hang out with your new best buddy," Ron quipped irritably as he came in and slumped into the seat Alaric had been sitting in, Harry sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes.

Ever since Alaric was making him not tell Ron and Cel the location Riddle was being kept and that Flannery Leebin was the only other one who knew it aside from Harry himself, the pair had been rather cross with him to say the least. They accused him of not trusting them and favoring Alaric, they shared similar opinions of the Minister to Harry. Ron stared off unhappily, he was looking very gaunt and his hair more gray then red now.

"He's not my buddy, he just wanted something," Harry pointed out truthfully.

"Oh so you were doing a favor for your buddy," Ron complained irritably which made Harry scowl.

"Ron, you-"

"I'm sorry," Ron apologized half-heartedly, sinking back into his seat and looking depressed, "You can be buddies with Layton all you want, I don't care. My son's a werewolf."

"How is Hugo doing?" Harry wondered with genuine concern.

"Still sleeping it off, he has some wounds where he attacked himself but nothing too major except his arm's also kind of mangled from the bite. He should've given it the chop when he had the chance."

"Is it really that bad? Will he still be able to use it?"

"Sure when its healed but it's still better to lose an arm then become a werewolf," Ron pointed out as if it were obvious, "Better that and a good prosthetic then agonizing painful transformation and illness every month, the risk of running amuck as a psycho animal and oh yeah, all the prejudice of the Wizarding World. There's still attacks on werewolves, they get harassed and all. You know Flan has gotten death threats for his baby? Being told he should put that 'unnatural lupine abomination' out of its misery or they would. I never wanted that for Hugo, what was the kid thinking?"

"I don't know," Harry shook his head, "Any other news?"

"Scorpius Malfoy is still missing, last Lysander and Hugo saw he was in with Michael. Michael was in too much of a state to get any information out of, best we got is that he went out of the smashed window then they had to give him something to help him sleep. I wanted to be angry at him but the kid's a wreck, what kind of sick person sabotages a werewolf's Wolfsbane?" Ron demanded but refrained from a tangent like Alaric, "Someone's trying to kill Luna's kids and I reckon the Aurors aren't able to stop them because they're already inside. Oh and Marigold should be okay, Michael mauled him pretty badly and his arm is broken in several places but he managed to make sure he wasn't bitten and he should pull through. After Michael ran off, he treated his wounds to some degree before succumbing to the pain and blacking out so the damage isn't as bad as it could've been."

"Good to know," Harry nodded as Cel Rooke walked in, his handsome sandy-haired protégé, "I think I'll see him after I'm done doing something for Alaric."

"Sure, by all means do a favor for your new best buddy," Cel quipped immediately, folding his arms testily, "The guy who orders you to do things then ditches you not the friends you've known for years."

"Thirty years and counting," Ron pointed out as Harry stood to leave, looking quite introspective, "Blimey, Harry, did you ever think we'd make it this far?"

"And yet, he doesn't trust you."

"I trust you!" Harry insisted in frustration, "Alaric is the one who doesn't. Besides it's not even really necessary, he's just keeping the loop very small."

"And us out of it," Ron added.

"I'll see you later."

"Where are you even going?" Cel wondered as Harry headed for the door.

"To blackmail a beetle," Harry admitted, Alaric hadn't told him to keep that to himself, "Alaric wants an article less biased against werewolves."

"Then you may want to know what I actually came to tell you, the Potions professor managed to confirm Sanford's Wolfsbane was indeed messed with. There were traces of other ingredients in the vial it was in, it was sabotaged and by someone in Hogwarts too."

"The Shadows?" Ron guessed with a surge of anger, "Did the Shadows do this to my boy?!"

"It could be," Cel said slowly, "But I have no idea what they'd stand to gain from killing the Scamanders, we could be looking at a third party."

"Well, we'll talk about it later," Harry promised truthfully.

"Yes, because unlike your new best buddy we didn't go home and abandon you!" Ron or Cel called after him as he left. Harry hated this.

---

He felt much more at ease with the herd, there was safety in numbers and it was a nicer part of the forest, most of the Thestrals seemed quite accepting of him anyway. They journeyed to a nearer stream for another drink of water before returning to settle down to sleep, he found a comfortable nook by a tree root that he could rest his head on. Once he'd gone through the awkward process of trying to sit with his injured leg, his chest also pained him still but the legs were the ones taking the brunt of his weight.

He again dreamed of humans and was again awoken by the sound of someone approaching, this time it wasn't Tenebrus but a human. The same human who'd tried to attack him from before, the other Thestrals didn't seem as concerned by him. He jumped up in panic though, screeching at pain he'd aggravated in his leg without thinking and nudged Tenebrus in panic.

'What?' Tenebrus wondered, flicking his tail in disapproval at the awakening.

'That human is the one who tried to attack me from before!' he screeched desperately, the other Thestral's eyes widened but it was too late.

The human had already fired a flash of light at him, this time he was stuck between a tree and a Thestral so unable to dodge it. He was thrown back and abruptly felt his body contorting and compressing, he screeched in pain and heard his fellow Thestrals shrieking in panic. He felt his wings and tail melding into his back, his hooves become strange fleshy limbs and his hair receding, he also felt like he was shrinking.

And then it was over, he was forced to be on his knees because his front and back legs were no longer the same length. He stared down at the strange pale five pronged stumps, he looked up at Tenebrus who backed away from him slightly and the other Thestrals all seemed to have stopped moving. He didn't understand what was happening to him, he tried to whimper and realized the anatomy of his head had also changed.

He didn't want to be changed, how was he supposed to live like this?! How could he fly without wings?! How as he expected to hunt with this wrongful body?! Why did he have cloths on him?! What kind of Thestral was he now?! He felt like a freak of nature, he just wanted to normal. He heard movement again and spun to face the human, he tried to scramble away but he was hit by another flash of light. He tumbled backwards and memories started soaking back into his mind, gushing in like floodgates had been opened.

"Is this you alright now, Scorpius?" Rojer questioned in his usual accented voice, looking as grim as ever.

Scorpius looked back to him in shock, he nodded but kept trembling fearfully. He couldn't believe how completely he'd lost his mind, lost all thoughts of his family and friends, the Shadows, the war… It had all been gone. He could've lived out his entire existence as a Thestral, completely abandoning them. The thought terrified him. It absolutely terrified him.

"Come on. Let us go," Rojer spoke again and Scorpius realized he'd limped over to him, he jerked his head in a random direction. Scorpius had no idea where they were but he very much didn't want to be there, the Alchemist rolled his eyes and reluctantly offered him his scarred hand to help him up, "We have need to get back."

"Okay," Scorpius muttered finally and took Rojer's hand to get up off the dirt shakily, he cradled his injured arm to his chest and watched the surprised Thestrals, "Let's go home."