Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Blood Runes

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (I): After a trauma, the Malfoys are reluctant to send their son off to Hogwarts, especially after Scorpius gets off to an eventful start and nothing goes as planned. He finds things are wrong at Hogwarts under the rule of a dangerous headmaster who has it in for him while in the shadows lie an even greater threat than anyone could have foreseen. COMPLETE

9. Chapter 9: Quidditch Dreams

Parts (41-46)

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I

Chapter 9

Quidditch Dreams

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Part 1: Halloween

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Varanian's nice streak didn't last very long. He was back in his seat on Wednesday lunchtime, his burns gone, his angry expression back and his hair now lengthy and black. He made Albus and Rose do more than the usual hour to make up for having gotten a few days free from the detention as had Nott, he apparently accused them of being corrupted by Scorpius' evil influence when they complained and not caring about protecting the school. That was much more like Varanian. Not that Scorpius was relieved, he rather preferred when his friends weren't being tortured.

Abby, Calderon and Professor Longbottom - and presumably Abby's brother and sister -weren't back yet either. Scorpius missed them. He liked the Librarian but he was no Calderon and doing the same thing every day was a lot less interesting than his usual varied routine. He missed Abby too, sometimes he felt rather left out when the cousins would start talking about family things and inside jokes that were lost on him. He even missed Professor Longbottom, every Herbology lesson they seemed to have a different professor substituting who all seemed to be in different places with what they thought they should be learning as well as differing levels of understanding, the Arithimancy teacher got two plants mixed up and got his hand violently bitten by something he thought would sing.

Michael was no better either, he was still confined to the hospital wing and looked worse every time Scorpius saw him but at least he didn't seem to breathing fire as frequently and by Friday it seemed to have stopped completely. He still remained in the hospital wing though, Madam Pomfrey took them aside that morning and quietly explained that the fire had torn up pretty bad inside, the internal remained even though the fire had stopped. Scorpius looked back at his friend anxiously as he left, Michael seemed even smaller being engulfed by the hospital bed, he looked so fragile and exhausted. That should be me, Scorpius thought miserably to himself as he went about his lessons.

Scorpius' day picked up greatly when he left his last lesson of the day, he saw a familiar figure standing in a swirl of dancing lights waiting for him. His face lit up when he saw Calderon, he ran to the assistant and threw his arms around him before he could really rationalize that it probably wasn't the best idea, even if the rest of the class wasn't watching.

"I'm so glad you're back!" Scorpius exclaimed as he pulled away, Calderon's dark eyes were ringed with fatigue but otherwise he looked cheerful enough.

"So am I, hospitals are so boring," Calderon pointed out as they started heading away from the dispersing class, "like seriously, its amazing that people don't die from boredom in that place. You have to lie in bed and there's nothing to do, I can't have nothing to do!"

"Then don't use magic so much it nearly kills you and you won't have to."

"Healing is difficult is all, Scor," Calderon explained and Scorpius smiled slightly at hearing his nickname again, "even if I manage not to absorb the injury then I have to use my own... energy? to heal them, it just sucks my strength. A lot. That's why Poppy told me to never heal anyone again unless I had a death wish."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Nevvy was going to die if I didn't, what's the point in having all this power if I can't use to save the people I care about? And then I felt bad that I was healing him because he was my friend and all those other people weren't getting healed just because they were strangers, it seemed selfish of me so I just tried to heal as many people as I could. Figured even if I died then at least I'd die doing something good."

"Well just don't do it again, I don't want you to get hurt and you can't do anything good if you're dead."

Calderon inclined his head in acknowledgement before asking how Scorpius' Quidditch and schoolwork were going, Scorpius was telling him when they reached the Great Hall. It wasn't uncommon for them to clean the hall, cleaning seemed to be something that Calderon was at least in part responsible for, which meant so was Scorpius. However usually when they did so, the hall would be empty but this time the tables were all there.

"We can clean around them," Calderon pointed out as he grinned, "we'll want this place to be all clean before we decorate it for Halloween, we only have two days! Usually I'd have everything up by now. You can clean the windows magically I start on the rest of the room."

Scorpius nodded obediently, the Halloween feast usually was looked forward to by the students, at least that's what Molly had said anyway and this year she'd mentioned being doubly excited as it was also happened to be the first weekend the older students were allowed to Hogsmeade, which happened to be her first time. Calderon conjured him a bucket of soapy water and a sponge for him to get started on the windows, Scorpius took out his wand to make the sponge float up to the windows and start to clean them as he'd gotten pretty efficient at doing.

Music shattered the silence and Scorpius looked back to Calderon who was standing on one of the tables, the streams of light music was floating around the assistant as he laughed his uniquely high-pitched maniacal laughter and flung his arms into the air. Light shot out of went around the room, a swarm of mops appeared and dipped themselves into Scorpius' bucket of water before starting to go around the room. The chairs at the teachers table, all the benches and all the tables - including the one that Calderon stood on - rose into the air to allow the mops space to glide across the floor. Calderon seemed to be conducting it all with his hands as he started dancing across the floating table, singing along to the song that continued to play. The assistant never ceased to amaze Scorpius, he smiled and shook his head as he went to concentrating on the windows. After awhile he realized that the music had stopped, he glanced back to see the assistant hopping onto the lower floating bench and back onto the floor as he moved over to the entrance.

Calderon sighed, before seeming to notice something in the corridor and he clapped. The furniture immediately shot obediently back into their places. He gestured and more light shot out from his fingers, the mops vanished and sponge vanished while the water from the bucket moved so fast out that Scorpius barely registered it as it swept across every surface in the room -including the tables and windows- to clean it before vanishing along with the bucket.

"Why did you tell me to clean the windows if you were going to do that all along?" Scorpius wondered and Calderon laughed again.

"I wasn't going to do that all along, I can hear Ruby's footsteps coming with the pumpkins faster than I thought and getting them ready is much more fun than cleaning."

Scorpius walked over to Calderon and saw Professor Hagrid dragging a huge sack behind him as he came up the corridor, he wasn't sure if the contents of the sack weren't heavy or if being a half-giant gave the professor much more strength because it didn't seem to be taking much effort either way. He let go of the sack as he reached them and pulled Calderon into a fierce hug before the assistant could react, Calderon was a tall man but he was completely dwarfed by Professor Hagrid.

"Don't scare us like that," Professor Hagrid complained as he let go of Calderon and clapped him on the back, "glad yer back."

"Thanks. Did I miss much?" Calderon asked as he went to magically lift the sack but the professor stopped him.

"Yer s'posed t' be restin' you are, no matter wha' Varanian says. I got it."

Calderon seemed to think better not to argue but lights started floating around him again as Professor Hagrid started dragging the sack up the Great Hall, going into a room off to the side from a door by the teacher's table. The professor asked Calderon if he'd heard about the new species of dragon that had been discovered, Calderon's face lit up and the pair excitedly launched into a conversation about the new dragon breed that they were still talking about as they got into the room and started emptying the sack of its contents. It was pumpkins. A lot of pumpkins.

Calderon conjured a bucket and told Scorpius to put the insides of the pumpkins in it as the adults set about to scooping out the middles, once they were settled in they went back to talking about dragons and telling Scorpius about dragons. Scorpius' ears were filled with nothing but dragons by the time all the pumpkins were ready to be carved, he was sure they hadn't exhausted their combined knowledge supply of dragons yet but they at least paused so Calderon could explain and show Scorpius how to carve a pumpkin. That was much more enjoyable and he could rest his stinging feet, even if on his first try the pumpkin looked rather like a little child's drawing come to life. He still felt rather proud of it and was determined to do the next one better.

Professor Hagrid stuck to various faces - as did Scorpius - but Calderon was noticeably more skilled than them, he carved other designs such as a dragon, a bat and a castle that looked a lot like Hogwarts. They also worked at different speeds, Scorpius would still be halfway through his first by the time Hagrid finished one while Calderon had just started on his third. He was still having a surprisingly good time tackling the pumpkins and Professor Hagrid and Calderon made for good company, when they weren't obsessing over dragons anyway. He felt unusually relaxed as the conversation drifted mostly between various magical creatures that Professor Hagrid found fascinating or wanted Calderon to 'pumpkinize' and anecdotes about previous Hogwarts Halloweens, stretching as far back as when the professor had been a student himself when he'd accidentally transfigured a fellow student's cat into a pumpkin with legs due to his allergic reaction to it and spent Halloween chasing the legged pumpkin, to as recent as last year when James Potter had freed one of the live bats as a prank and it had caused chaos as well as making his cousin Roxy Weasley faint.

Talking of James got them to talking about Harry Potter, Professor Hagrid mentioned how the Triwizard cup names -including the shock of Harry Potter's name being drawn- had occurred on Halloween. He immediately went quiet then and stared glumly at the ground, silently stabbing at the pumpkin, Calderon looked sympathetic and seemed to know what had upset him.

"Are you still fighting with her?" Calderon asked gently and the professor nodded.

"Yer. She still wants him to stay in Beauxbatons an' I still want him to come t' Hogwarts, thas always wha' it comes down t' in the end. Hogwarts is my home an' Beauxbatons is hers, they jus' happen t' be in differen' countries an' neither of us wanted t' leave our homes, love wasn't enough. Bu' we still have Corin an' he's jus' stuck in the middle," Professor told him sounding suddenly melancholy and Scorpius found himself a bit lost in the direction of the conversation, "although I reckon more on the French side o' things. I sen' him some sweets fer Halloween an' he sen' 'em back with a note sayin' 'thanks bu' no thanks, sweets are bad fer my health an' teeth so I think I'll pass.' Since when did tha' matter t' kids? T' him? Is tha' how it is France?"

"I don't know, some people worry about things like that."

"He's jus' a baby, someone's go' t' be tellin' him tha' stuff. He's been distant with me ever since he started at tha' school, eight is too young t' start learnin' magic anyway I think bu' not the point. If he's like tha' now then wha' will it be like if he stays there fer his whole magical education?"

"Why don't you see what he's like and what he's like when he's here over Christmas?"

"If he evens comes," Professor Hagrid said miserably, "in his last letter he said tha' he doesn't wan' t' come if his bes' friend can't come too. Varanian said he'd ge' back t' me abou' it and he hasn't yet, s'pose it doesn't help with these postal delays. Corin probably thinks I stopped listenin' t' him."

"I'm sure he doesn't, he knows you love him and that you wouldn't deliberately ignore him," Calderon offered comfortingly and the professor looked very slightly more at ease. Scorpius was dying to ask who Corin was and what they were talking about but restrained himself. He thought it would be impolite to ask, he didn't feel like part of the conversation anymore. He finished another pumpkin, he was definitely improving and Calderon seemed to notice, "you know I think its almost time for dinner, you should both probably get out there and I should grab some food before its gone."

"S'pose yer right," Professor Hagrid nodded in agreement as he finished his own pumpkin and the huge half-giant got to his feet, Scorpius and Calderon followed suit as they went out into the Great Hall where students and staff were both already gathering at the tables, the house-elves having put all the cutlery and plates before anyone had arrived. Scorpius suddenly felt extremely self-conscious about being so close to the teacher's table at the head of the hall, he hadn't been there when there were people around and he was getting some looks, "remember on yer first night an' we came in late, Scorpius? Yer win firs' prize fer havin' the most unique entrance since I've been here, havin' t' go back fer yer an' yer worryin' abou' Calderon an' shadows."

"Worrying about shadows?"

"Yeah," Scorpius admitted with a shrug at Calderon's intensely worried expression, "I was just jumping at nothing, probably nerves and adrenaline and stuff."

"What did you see?"

"It was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Scorpius said, in truth he wasn't a hundred percent sure but he didn't want Calderon to worry about it so soon after getting back from the hospital and the more he'd thought about it, the more he'd realized that it probably had been nothing after all, "I'll go sit down now. Will we get to do more of those tomorrow?"

"Hmm? Yeah," Calderon muttered distractedly as Professor Hagrid went to take his seat, Scorpius reluctantly left the assistant to chat to the nearest professor who'd started up a conversation with him about being pleased with Calderon's return.

He waved at Professor Ashain as they passed each other going to their seats and tried to find a seat, it was actually the first time that he his friends hadn't gotten there first or at the same time as him so he had an unusual freedom for seating. He smiled at the surprise on Albus and Rose's faces when they saw him, launching into an excited account of the pumpkin carving and the different faces he'd done, he'd tried to do each slightly different and saw them smiling oddly.

"Good to see you so happy about something for once," Albus offered with a shrug when he asked what.

"I'm just glad Calderon's okay. And pumpkin carving is awesome, just wait till you see them," Scorpius told them before he heard Varanian calling them all to order.

He now had stringy straw-colored hair, the other teachers were looking at him as if surprised he was making an announcement while Calderon was leaning against the wall by the door to the room they'd carved the pumpkins as he watched with a neutral expression, his fingers were twitching and he had a feeling that that was how Varanian's voice traveled so far and why Calderon always had to present for announcements.

"As you all have been made aware, Professor Longbottom was attacked and is taking some time off," Varanian began and worried mutterings spread throughout the hall, "and for that reason, for your own safety, all trips to Hogsmeade are suspended at least until the New Year. That is all."

Varanian calmly sat back down and carried on eating like nothing had happened, Calderon's fingers stopped twitching and he retreated back into the room. The mutterings around the room became angry, conversations around him were all of outrage over the cancelled visits and he noticed a lot of the teachers all had furious expressions as they seemed to start to question the headmaster over his sudden decision but Varanian didn't give the slightest hint that it worried him. Scorpius went back to his food, it didn't effect him too much as a first year but he knew Molly would be sorely disappointed, she'd been looking forward to so much.

Sure enough, when he went down to do his homework in the common room with her she was upset about it, furious really although unlike most she registered the threat of the Shadows but still thought it was a bit too much, Hogsmeade had yet to fall victim to them after all.

"Varanian is overreacting I think, London's been attacked plenty of times before by them. I mean not on such a scale, usually they target a single family or person and kill them, just leave the mark in their blood or sometimes in the sky so it could just be coincidence that Professor Longbottom was there and isn't a direct on the school," Molly told him late that night, they were the only ones still down there, "its not like they could've known he would be there, by all accounts Varanian only tells the teachers that they're allowed to go on the day so only Varanian and Professor Longbottom knew beforehand, since it was morning it wasn't even like he'd been there long. I worry about Varanian's sanity lately."

"You do?" Scorpius wondered, surprised as she hadn't been subjected to any of the physical punishments that he and his friends - or Nott - had.

"Yeah, I mean did you notice he wasn't at meals for a few days? He had to be sick or something, this is his third year as headmaster and my third year in school and he never once he missed a meal before then. Also he changes his hair so much, it was almost always scruffy and this tawny color, now its different every meal and I don't know... he makes me shiver now," Molly said and looked around quickly to make sure they were truly alone, "and I think he checks our mail. My dad always sends me the paper, he thinks its important to be kept up on current events and I read it. I noticed recently that there seems to be less pages, when I looked at the numbers I found there's certain numbers missing. Once maybe you can chalk up to typos or bad delivery service but four times in a row? I think he's taking pages out, all the new regulations could easily be a cover for it and it explains the delays. I'm all for owl safety but in some cases, does it really take a week to help one owl?"

"You're really... just... amazing to notice that," Scorpius offered, thoroughly impressed that she'd picked on up it.

"Not really I just... I know it sounds crazy but sometimes I just get these feelings about things, they've yet to lead me wrong and I get a feeling that something wasn't right with the mail."

"I think you're right, I got this weird letter from my Aunt and I wondered if it had been tampered with."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said before scrambling to go get it to show her, so glad that he could finally talk to someone about it.

He wished he could tell her that he knew for a fact the mail was being checked but he'd overhead it when Varanian had been attacking Calderon, he couldn't tell about of that stuff in case Varanian put her on disc duty with his friends or just whipped her feet. They had to protect anyone else from falling victim to him, he especially didn't want her to get hurt, she'd been so good to him.

"I think that has been tampered with... You know if you leave it with me, if I can mind anytime between drowning in homework then I might - I might - be able to undo what he's done," Molly announced when she was done reading the letter, "if I can make a list of spells that could this and say the counter spells then it should be reversible, there's all kinds of magic that witches and wizards have been using to conceal secret messages. Assuming it has been tampered with, can't too anything if your Aunt wrote it like this but I can try... If you want me to."

"Go for it."

Molly had said that it could take awhile but Scorpius was still pleased, it was more than he could do or had even thought to do. It also gave him an idea on how to get the message out about Varanian, if they could conceal a message in a seemingly innocent message then they could pass the word along. It was a flawed plan though, he wasn't sure how thoroughly the letters were checked or if Varanian would notice but the hardest part was how to make the receivers know about the hidden message. He'd run it by the others when Abby was back and Michael was better, he was still half-hoping that Abby would somehow break free of the memory alteration and tell people about what Varanian was doing. He also thought of the blood rune book, now that he wasn't in the Library every day he would have to take it the next time because he didn't know how long before he'd be able to get into the restricted section again.

He was still afflicted by his strange feeling of hope the next day, Quidditch practice was as brilliant as ever and then getting the castle ready for Halloween. He was disappointed when they ran out of pumpkins to carve but excited when Calderon lowered the candles to put in them, he could see what he, Calderon and Professor Hagrid had done and he felt... proud, they decorated the rest of the castle too although he didn't think anything was half as impressive as the pumpkins that they'd done. Poor Michael still looked a state but Scorpius made sure the hospital wing was included in places they decorated to try cheer his friend up.

He'd never been more excited for Halloween in his life, it didn't even touch his mind that it was only thirteen days until his first Quidditch match. He was swamped with homework but he enjoyed the work, much to Albus' notice at being stuck with his only two friends who actually enjoyed working and his detention for the day was to help the house-elves in the kitchens, he got on well with all of them and knew their names by that point and he rather enjoyed helping make the Halloween-themed feast, his eye for detail was useful in both cooking and presenting the food. His feet were absolutely killing him by the time of the actual feast but he didn't care, he felt a real sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. He wasn't weak, he wished his parents were there so he could say 'look at what I did. I'm not broken like you think, I'm capable of doing useful things.'

To his surprise Michael was at the feast too, dressed in his pajamas like in the hospital with a thick jumper over them as well as shoes and a cloak but Madam Pomfrey had thought it would be good for him to not miss out on the festivities if he felt up to it. She had to sit with him though, in case anything went wrong and he wasn't allowed to eat anything solid or drink anything except water but apparently he was there for the entertainment not the feast, the feast that Scorpius had helped the house-elves make. Michael was smiling though, albeit weakly, it was the first time he'd left the hospital wing in a week. Scorpius was glad and he wasted no time in pointing out to him - and Madam Pomfrey - which pumpkins had been carved by Professor Hagrid, which by Calderon and which by himself, Rose and Albus groaned at having to hear him talk about it again but Michael didn't seem to mind, Scorpius supposed anything was probably better than suffering in silence in the hospital wing.

When the feast was over the entertainment could begin, he'd heard about it but wasn't sure what it was until it happened. It was a story-telling of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in a rather unique way than Scorpius was used to. Calderon stood quietly at the back but his hands never stopped moving, he quite literally brought the tales to life with illusions re-enacting the tales as the Astronomy professor narrated them. The illusions were massive and had no problem with getting up close to the students and teachers, even interacting with them at times. All of it was backed by the school Choir, conducted by Professor Flitwick. He was no stranger to the tales but he was very impressed with it all, as were his friends and Michael was grinning from ear to ear in amazement. Varanian alone didn't seem to be enjoying the festivities very much, he was leaned back strumming his fingers on the table impatient as if he couldn't wait for it to be over.

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Part 2: In The Hospital Wing

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They trudged back to their dormitory full and in a good mood for once, the Halloween events were all that they were talking about and Reuben and Angelo - who usually ignored Scorpius completely - were including him in the conversation about which had been their favorite. Angelo couldn't decide, Reuben liked the Warlock's Hairy Heart because he thought it was most in keeping with the Halloween spirit, Albus and Rose both liked the Three Brothers best but wouldn't say why. Scorpius' favorite was Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump, he liked that magic triumphed over the muggles in the end. He didn't give that as his reason though. He was curious what Michael had thought of it all but he'd had to go back to the hospital, he still wasn't well enough to return to Gryffindor Tower or classes.

Scorpius was relieved to get back to bed, he was worn out and his feet were in agony. He supposed it wasn't as bad during the week because he'd been mostly sitting for classes and sitting in the Library, giving the injured soles a rest but over the weekend he'd been on his feet constantly. He said goodnight to Albus before closing shut the drapes to get ready for bed, he took off his shoes first and noticed the sole of his socks were stained crimson. Worriedly he pulled them off and saw the bandages were soaked through with blood, maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to just leave his socks on constantly so he wouldn't have to look at the wounds.

He put his shoes back on, wary of leaving a trail of bloody footprints as he went to the first year boys' bathroom. It was quite a large room, there were several urinals and toilet cubicles one end, a semi-circle of sinks in the mid-section and wooden cubicles with the showers on the other end. There was also a large bath with the showers, it was the only one and he knew that some of others fought over it. Scorpius had never used it beyond washing his injured feet, baths took too long and every time he used the bathroom he tried to be fast as possible in case someone came in, he liked his privacy, Marvin had made him exceptionally paranoid about it.

He went over to the bath now though and filled it part away, just enough to be able to immerse his feet. He sat on the edge around the side of the bath and rolled up his trousers, took off his shoes, socks, unraveling the bandages quickly and plunging his feet into the scalding water. He winced at the sudden shock of heat in the otherwise chilly room, his feet stung painfully for a moment and he closed his eyes against the pain before it started to wash away in the water. He sighed, he wished all pain washed away so easily.

He heard the creak of the door and his eyes snapped open to see Albus, he almost gave a relieved sigh that it wasn't one of the others as he glanced down. The water was now the color of his blood. He shivered as his friend walked over to him, he had changed into his pajamas.

"You okay?" Albus wondered worriedly.

"Just my feet," Scorpius answered quietly as Albus looked into the water and cringed.

"Well that's this tub ruined for me. Show me your foot."

"Since when did you become a medical expert?"

"I'm not but two eyes are better than one, or two people are better than one or... whatever it is. Since Michael's not here and you refuse to go to Madam Pomf-"

"I'll go if you or Rose can think of a convincing explanation for how I got these injuries then I'll go, it not like I can say I tripped and fell and my wand accidentally whipped the souls of my feet with Varanian's favorite spell. Besides, if she breathed one word of it to Calderon then he would figure out that Varanian lied to him, he just got out of the hospital and I don't want to be responsible for putting him back. Or worse."

"Yeah, yeah I know. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Calderon knew, maybe he'd get so mad he'd like vaporize Varanian and all our problems would be solved.

"Somehow I doubt that," Scorpius muttered as he reluctantly pulled one of his feet out of the bath to show Albus the sole, resting the heel on the other side of the bath, "how does it look?"

"Kinda like when you first got it," Albus said with a shrug and a scowl, "maybe if we used Michael's muggle potion and bandaged it again then it'd be okay?"

"It's called antiseptic and its not a potion."

"How do you know so much about muggles?"

"We couldn't do that anyway because they seemed to be the last two bandages in the box," Scorpius pointed out and he saw a flicker of irritation at the ignored question but Albus seemed to decide to let it slide.

"Then we'll get some from the hospital wing."

"We can't tell Madam Pom-"

"I didn't say we tell her!" Albus interrupted and Scorpius put his foot back into the much more comfortable soothing warm water, "we just take them, I'm sure they have loads to spare."

"Stealing?!"

"It's not really stealing, I mean if she knew then she would bandage you herself but since she can't know - as you insist - then I say we take them."

"I don't like it. Stealing isn't right," Scorpius stated stubbornly, he hated the idea. A part of his mind reminded him of the blood rune book but that wasn't stealing, he would give it back, you couldn't give back bloody bandages.

"Do you have a better idea?" Albus asked with an eyebrow raised and Scorpius was forced to admit that he didn't, "we can't just leave you like this, Scorpius, I'm getting those bandages whether you approve or not."

"Fine we'll do it! But how do you propose we get them anyway?"

Albus didn't answer but his face split into a grin from ear to ear, he told Scorpius to wait there before bolting excitedly. Scorpius sighed again and just rested his head against the wall, swishing his feet gently in the water and silently cursing Varanian for ruining his day, he'd been happy for once not an hour ago. He didn't even deserve it, his family had nothing to do with the attack and he certainly hadn't. It seemed to take awhile before Albus returned, now dressed and carrying a strange cloak and two pairs of black socks.

"We're going to get them with this," Albus said enthusiastically as he wrapped the cloak around himself and vanished.

"An invisibility cloak?" Scorpius wondered in amazement as Albus took it off, still grinning.

"It was my dad's, he gave it to me last Christmas. Said its tradition to pass it on and since he got when he was eleven on Christmas that it was tradition I got it then too, said James was trouble enough visible and I should only use it responsibly. Been dying for an excuse to use it."

"And using it responsibly is stealing bandages?" Scorpius asked with an eyebrow raised, Albus' face tinged red but he stuck by his reasoning.

Albus thought they should wait until it was a bit later so there would be no one in the common room for sure and less - or hopefully no one - in the corridors for them to run in to, best be as safe as possible considering what Varanian was capable of. To pass the time Albus told him about his father's, aunt and uncle's experiences with the cloak and their adventures in Hogwarts. Scorpius listened until the water went so cold he felt like his feet were immersed in liquid ice, he decided they'd waited enough then and emptied the tub.

"I got you these socks, better than putting those bloody ones back on and two pairs should be thicker like a kind of a bandage. They're these super thick woolen ones my gran got me because she knows it can be cold in the winter," Albus explained as Scorpius put them on.

He'd never realized before how small his feet must be compared to his friend because the sock heel was up his ankle, then again Albus was taller than him and older, Albus had turned twelve earlier that month. Albus was right about them being thick though, Scorpius had to squish his doubly socked feet into the shoes. They took the cloak and crept through the dormitory - Reuben and Angelo were sound asleep - and continued down into the blissfully empty common room, Scorpius went to the exit and peered out to make sure that no one was around before stepping out with Albus following.

Albus pulled him close, reminding him they needed to be under the cloak in case anyone saw. He tossed it over them, Scorpius was relieved that it covered them both and that you could still see out easily. He didn't like having to be so close to Albus though, being so physically close to people made him feel uncomfortable and this was no exception, being under a cloak didn't help. He supposed it couldn't be helped, it was better than letting Albus go alone but he still hoped it wouldn't take too long.

"Isn't this cool?" Albus whispered excitedly into Scorpius' ear, "like we're on an adventure, like my dad and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron while they were in Hogwarts. This is more what I was hoping for for Hogwarts, rather than everything with Varanian."

"I kinda hoped I could just fade into the background actually. No adventure, no excitement, no danger just... normalcy."

"You kinda failed there. Big time."

"I know."

Scorpius fell silent and concentrated on leading them, Albus was walking immediately behind him as Scorpius knew the way better. As they walked, Scorpius discovered that Albus could really ramble on a lot when he was excited and that having someone literally speaking into your ear was annoying when you were trying to focus on where they were going and not getting caught. His feet were still in agony and their progress was painfully slow from having to walk so close together under the cloak, Albus seemed oblivious as he chatted away.

To his surprise when they reached the hospital wing there was all lights and the sounds of voices coming from inside, Albus shut up immediately and hissed at him that they should go. Neither of them moved though. Calderon and Varanian were coming up from the opposite side to them, Scorpius felt a stab of panic before he remembered that they were invisible and kept reminding himself of that fact.

"Well what happened?!" Varanian was demanding angrily of Calderon as they walked, he was now a brunette with incredibly neat hair.

"I don't know, if I didn't know the first time I'm not going to have known magically the next twenty-two times in a row. Poppy said a student seemed to have been attacked, to get you and that was all before I went to get you," Calderon answered with a roll of his eyes as they stopped outside the entrance to the hospital wing, Varanian looking nervous as his neat hair became a tangled mess, "you have got to try get over your fear of hospitals, or at least of the hospital wing."

"Oh shut up, you," Varanian snapped irritably before marching into the room, Calderon sighed before following him inside. Scorpius was afraid to breathe a sigh of relief in case they heard and came back and caught them, they didn't seem to have noticed them at least. He hesitated before headed forwards and he heard Albus' strangled whine of panic in his ear.

"Scorpius, we should go back," Albus whispered quietly, "that's Varanian."

"Exactly, we need to know any information involving him," Scorpius said so quietly he could barely hear it himself but Albus must have.

"Please Scorpius, I'm scared."

"Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be brave?"

"Well I... I think I'm kinda only here because I asked the hat to put me here."

"This was your idea, your adventure. This could be important," Scorpius pointed out feeling slightly irritated that the hat let Albus have a say but not him before he shoved it out of his mind and starting onwards again, he half expected Albus to slip out of the cloak and leave - or worse leave with it - but he followed silently.

Scorpius' heart was pounding as they wandered into the hospital wing as quietly as he could, he saw Michael in his bed further up on the left. His friend was half sitting up to get a closer look at what the adults looking at, seemingly trying to do it discretely from the way he had a one eye open and the other closed. The adults were gathered round a bed on the right and one up from Michael, he saw Madam Pomfrey as well as Varanian and his assistant along with Professors Hagrid and Ashain. He saw an older boy that Scorpius didn't really recognize and was in normal clothes so his house wasn't obvious, he looked very pale and very unconscious. He seemed to be caught somewhere between a shiver and a seizure.

"- we don't know wha' happened!" Professor Hagrid was saying with the same exasperated look Calderon had had when he was being asked it, "his friends dared him t' go into the forest 'cause its Halloween an' all, they heard him scream an' wen' t' investigate then found him like this. Came an' got me an' I found him like this so I brough' him here, that's all I know!"

"Well someone has to know more!" Varanian shrieked furiously, "children don't just... collapse and start convulsing for no reason, nothing that can't be stopped magically anyway. Marius, heal him."

"Put those hands down or I'll put them down for you, do you have a death wish? And you, unless you want to hire a new assistant, back off. He needs to rest, especially to not heal," Madam Pomfrey said sternly as Calderon went went to obey the headmaster, there was an almost flicker of concern in Varanian's eyes as he gestured for Calderon to obey her and the assistant lowered his hands.

"I saw something like this before," Professor Ashain spoke up thoughtfully and Varanian shot him a dark look, "when we were after Seraph, we were spreading out and exploring the rooms. We heard a scream and when we looked one of the Aurors was... convulsing on the floor like this, no spell would help him."

"What happened to him?" Calderon asked quietly.

"I don't really know."

"How useful," Varanian snapped, "why are you here anyway?"

"I was up on one of the towers and I saw the boys by the edge of the forest, went down to tell them to go to bed and Hagrid was carrying this one inside."

"Why were up on one of the towers in the middle of night?"

"Err... ad-admiring the... view," Professor Ashain lied awkwardly as he seemed caught off-guard by the question, Scorpius knew he went up the towers every night since his probation had been lifted to check his messages and see if his wife would call. Scorpius thought it was sad really, "stars are pretty."

"There's no stars tonight," Professor Hagrid pointed out unhelpfully.

"Which I realized when I got up there! Focus people, sick boy."

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey said firmly and looked relieved, "I've tried every spell I can think of to help but nothing touches him. Whatever potions that would usually help I've also tried, there's a few others we could try but they're much older and not used so much anymore so I don't have any to hand. I'm not even sure they'll work though, I fear there's some kind of Dark Magic at work that's preventing anything from working. Ashain was about to try a spell that senses traces of Dark Magic before you showed up and started questioning us like we're criminals instead of trying to help the poor boy."

"Try it then, Ticcy."

At Calderon's words, Professor Ashain raised the wand that he'd probably got out ready before Varanian's interruption. He muttered a spell and a light came from the end of his wand, like Lumos but dimmer and with a greenish tinge, he moved the wand over the boy's shuddering body but nothing happened. Not to the boy anyway.

Scorpius felt the scar on his wrist burning, more excruciating than before and he had to bit down on his tongue so hard that he tasted blood, just to stop himself from screaming. He repositioned his hand to look at the scar, it was glowing with the same color light as from the professor's wand. He felt like he was going to pass out from the pain, he would have collapsed if not for Albus standing behind him and his friend somehow managed to keep him on his feet. He squeezed his eyes shut and clasped his hand over the glowing scar, irrationally worried that it might be seen or at least that Professor Ashain would sense it, it was his spell.

"Well that's weird," Professor's Ashain's voice was saying through the haze of pain, Scorpius managed to open his eyes a crack and noticed him glancing around the room with a scowl before he lowered his wand, the glow and the pain all stopped, "I feel like the spell's working but I don't see anything."

"Well clearly you're doing wrong," Varanian snapped and had his wand out in an instant, waving it furiously so it exploded with the same greenish light and the pain came back with renewed frenzy. Scorpius put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming, his eyes were closed against the pain but Varanian seemed to have as little luck and the pain stopped, "okay fine, I'll admit its... unusual, Ashain. Maybe the spell's reacting to something else in the room, possibly Miles' affliction had traces of Dark Magic or something. Whatever touched Ryan isn't detected by it, some things can avoid it."

"Its Michael and Ryley," Calderon corrected and Scorpius opened his again, forcing his breathing to remain calm.

"Whatever!"

"Want me to go wake Horry for the potions then?"

"Obviously!" Varanian growled and Calderon ran off before the headmaster started to walk back towards the exit, the other adults in tow as he starting talking about what they were going to do. Scorpius and Albus had to hurriedly back off to the side but no one seemed to notice them still, at least the invisibility cloak seemed to work pretty well.

He would have zoned in to the rest of the adult's conversation if he hadn't heard Michael gasp, he looked back just in time to see what the mudblood was gasping at. He thought so anyway, he wasn't entirely sure that his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him. He thought he saw a cloud of darkness or a shadow moving out of the boy's - Ryley's - body, it was just a blur as it seemed to jerk violently towards the window and vanish from sight. The adults all turned their attention to Michael.

"What's wrong?" Madam Pomfrey asked worriedly as she came over to Michael.

"Th-There was a... a darkness," Michael told them in his currently rasping voice, it sounded almost breathless when he tried to talk louder, "this... darkness just... zoomed out of that boy."

"A darkness?" Professor Hagrid repeated but before Michael could say more, Ryley was regaining consciousness and had stopped shaking.

"What happened?" Ryley questioned of no one in particular as he sat up scowling, "why am I in the hospital wing? I don't feel sick or hurt."

"You don't remember what happened?" Madam Pomfrey wondered as she and the other adults returned to his bedside.

"I remember the Halloween feast, going back to my dormitory and... then I'm here. What happened?"

The adults spent awhile trying to press more details from him, Ryley seeming extremely confused and as curious as to what had happened and how he'd recovered as the rest of them, not seeming to know anything beyond returning to the Ravenclaw common rooms. Varanian kept fiercely demanding askance of what had happened until Ryley seemed on the verge of tears at being unable to tell him, Varanian actually started accusing the boy of lying to him and threatened to expel him if he didn't say. Ryley burst into tears then.

"Leave the poor boy alone!" Professor Ashain snapped defensively before the other two adults could, although Scorpius noticed that both Professor Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey had their mouths open to protest and disapproval on their faces, "clearly he doesn't remember and badgering him isn't going to help any."

"Perhaps you're right," Varanian mused as his hair turned jet-black, staring at the sobbing boy with cold eyes, "some memory charms might job his memory much better."

"Yer wan' t' use memory charms on a third year!?" Professor Hagrid burst out with an outraged expression, "yer can't do tha' Varanian."

"I can do whatever I want. We have to know what happened, the Shadows are after this school and we need to protect it, the more information we have the better."

"I'm pretty sure that you need parental permission to do spells like that on their children," Professor Ashain pointed out calmly and Varanian's hair turned spiky and red as he glowered at the shorter professor, "unless they're of age, then they could give their own permission but he's just thirteen. You have the power to make your own rules but not break the Ministry's, those rules are for the children's own safety and protection. Besides, memory charms can be damaging and are risky, you wouldn't hurting a child just for the sake of a few lost hours?"

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made."

"Well good luck getting the parents to agree to it... You wouldn't do anything without the permission? You'd go to Azkaban for that."

"Of course not," Varanian growled irritably before Calderon returned with Professor Slughorn, who looked like he'd just gotten out of bed and pulled on a robe over his pajamas. Varanian's hair turned black and wavy as he turned his attention to them, as did Professor Ashain as the two men both went over to meet them while Professor Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey stayed with Ryley, seeming to try to calm him and ask him about his health - the one thing Varanian hadn't asked, "your services are not required anymore, Rhys has come out of it."

"Ryley."

"Whatever!"

"Ah, well I'm glad the boy's alright," Professor Slughorn said with a sleepy nod and a yawn, "do you need me for anything or can I go back to sleep now?"

"Knock yourself out!"

"So what was wrong with Ryley?" Calderon asked as the Potions Master started to waddle away tiredly.

"Probably just a fright or a fit or something. He snapped out of it completely except for some mild memory issues but otherwise he's in perfect health."

"What about the darkness that Michael saw?" Professor Ashain wondered, Scorpius spared his friend a glance to see that Michael was very much awake and listening just as they were.

"Boy's all doped up on potions, he couldn't tell the sun from the stars."

"The sun is a star."

"Well don't you just know everything?!" Varanian spat venomously as his hair turned bright green, "its an expression, I know bloody well what the sun is! Didn't your month's probation end a few weeks ago?"

"Yes."

"Well you're back on probation again, congratulations!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Because I said so! Unless that breaks the Ministry's rules too! Marius, tell that worthless nurse to keep an eye on the boy," Varanian yelled as he started stalking for the exit and Professor Ashain sighed heavily.

"Kill me now."

---

Part 3: Falling Into Place

---

Scorpius and Albus had to wait by the wall for a long time. They happened to have gone to the wall by Michael's bed to avoid the adults and Professor Ashain decided to ask Michael about the darkness he'd seen, standing in the way of them leaving. Michael must have been feeling lonely or apprehensive or something because he asked the professor about what he'd been missing in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Ashain launched into an extremely long, detailed account of the week's work - which seemed to cheer him up a bit - while Michael scribbled down notes happily in his notebook as he'd requested it for something to read while bored to keep up with the work.

Professor Hagrid left fairly quickly, seeming to decide that there was no further use of him and returned to his hut presumably. Madam Pomfrey fussed over Ryley for awhile but the boy seemed to be in perfect health, aside from his memory loss, before deciding he was okay but should sleep in the hospital wing that night and he did, he seemed asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Calderon just stood around for awhile, arms folded and looking anxious before Madam Pomfrey insisted he had to rest and chased him off to go to bed. Even after Professor Ashain finally finished talking, wished Michael a speedy recovery and left, Albus insisted they still get the bandages.

They had to wait until Madam Pomfrey left the room which was taking a surprisingly long amount of time, finally Scorpius had had enough and his feet were killing him. He took out his wand and levitated an empty potion vial, throwing it out into the corridor which made the nurse go investigate. He made a mental apology to her as they hurriedly opened the cabinet and swiped the bandages, closing the door quickly as she returned. Finally they could head back to Gryffindor Tower, Albus almost made it all the way there before asking him the question that Scorpius had been dreading.

"What happened to your wrist?"

"I don't know," Scorpius hissed in reply, willing Albus to let it go.

"The scar was glowing."

"I noticed."

"How did you get that anyway?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Scorpius said firmly as they finally made it back to the common room and he could throw off the cloak and breath easily again.

He wasted no time in yanking up his sleeve to inspect his wrist properly, the scars looked even more livid than it had since last week, darker too and there was more of the purple tinge around his skin, now mixed with a greenish tinge like the skin was bruised around the scar. He ghosted the scars with his fingers, they raised slightly of his skin and the bruised skin was tender to his touch. What was wrong with it? What was wrong with him? Albus started moving over to him and he yanked his sleeve back down, crossing his arms firmly to make sure there was no chance of Albus seeing it. It was one problem that was his and his alone.

"Did... Did your family give you that scar?" Albus asked carefully and Scorpius couldn't help but blaze with anger, the dying fire burst back into life.

"Of course not!"

"We're friends, you can tell me anything you want," Albus said gently and looked at him with such a caring yet anxious expression but Scorpius was still angry, he didn't go around accusing Albus' family of giving him scars.

"My family didn't do anything to me! Just because my father and grandfather used to be Death Eaters, it doesn't mean that they're evil and certainly not to me so stop assuming that they are."

"Then how do you hurt your wrist?! Why did it glow and cause you pain?!"

"It's none of your concern," Scorpius snapped darkly as he stalked off back to the dormitory, the fire died behind him.

He got back to his bed and yanked shut the all the drapes, sitting down on the side and looking at his wrist again. He hated it. It was like a constant reminder of Marvin scarred into his skin, what Marvin had done to him and what he'd done to the Marvin in the end. It was part of him and he couldn't get rid of it, anymore than he could get rid of the whole time he'd been abducted and he hated that, he wished none of it had happened. He covered it back up with his sleeve and stared at the ground, he kept trying to ignore it, shove it so far into the back of his mind that it didn't effect him. But it was always there.

"I'm sorry," Albus spoke as he pulled back the drapes and Scorpius blinked in surprise, "I shouldn't pressure you like that, if you don't want to say its fine but you're my friend and I just worry about you sometimes is all."

"It's okay," Scorpius mumbled and decided that if Albus would let it go then so would be. He noticed that Albus didn't apologize for accusing his family though.

"So let's try get your feet sorted."

Scorpius took off the socks to give back to Albus as his friend got the antiseptic from Michael's things, he hoped Albus was careful as Michael was a lot neater than Albus and he didn't want Michael to come back and find everything he owned in disarray and have to fix it all. They pulled shut the drapes so Scorpius could use Lumos so Albus could see what he was doing as he sat opposite him on the bad, it stung painfully again but his feet were already hurting so much anyway that it didn't seem as bad and Albus seemed determined to talk to him throughout anyway.

"That was weird though, wasn't it?" Albus said thoughtfully, "I mean we go to the forest everyday and haven't ever had seizures or bits of our memories erased, never had darkness come out of us either. I don't even know what that was that came out of him."

"Maybe it was the Dark Magic leaving him because it had done whatever it was done... erasing his memory or whatever it was doing to him something like that."

"It's creepy. Why would anything want to erase his memory anyway?"

"So he wouldn't be able to tell anyone who or what attacked him?" Scorpius guessed and Albus scowled with worry.

They wracked their minds as they bandaged a foot each, both didn't seem as neatly done as when Michael had done it but overall he thought they didn't do a bad job, but they couldn't think of any spell they'd heard of that could do that. They both went to bed after that, it was late after all. Scorpius was surprised but pleased that he slept so well that night, he supposed it was because he was so tired but he was glad for the lack of dreams and a restful night. He was still worried about the darkness the next morning though.

The next day Albus filled in Rose, who was furious at them for going without even thinking of taking her with them and most of their conversations that day were wondering what had happened to Ryley and what the darkness was, not believing Varanian's explanation anymore than Professor Ashain had but they had as much luck as the adults at figuring out what happened. Ryley was no longer in the hospital when they visited Michael before breakfast, Scorpius spotted the older boy at breakfast after seemingly no worse for wear after his whole ordeal. Varanian never mentioned it to the school.

At breakfast Scorpius noticed that the teachers all look worried - presumably they'd been told what happened - except for Varanian, his expression was unreadable. Calderon was by the headmaster's side as usual and looked like he'd slept little, or maybe he had because he'd look exhausted since he'd gotten back, Professor Ashain didn't look like he'd slept at all either. The rest of the school were too amused by James Potter's howler to really pay attention to the teachers though, by the sound of it the school had sent his parents a letter about what happened with Michael because it shrieked that James hadn't mentioned putting a little first year in the hospital wing and that he shouldn't pick on first years - regardless of who they were or why they were friends with - and how dare he lie to them about the circumstances, it said Gryffindors were better than that and so was James.

Scorpius had to snort with amusement at that line. James' face was red by the time it was done and people were laughing, James met Scorpius' eyes and hatred seared in them before he stalked out of the room. Scorpius got the impression that James somehow blamed him for it, how was it was his fault that James' father had morals? What kind of pathetic stuck up person tried to use their father's influence to help them get out of trouble that they'd caused anyway? They must have also sent a letter to Scorpius' parents too though because he got a letter too, the next day but the tone was completely different.

There were a million questions about if he was alright, telling him to try not pick fights with other kids if he could help it because they were stronger and more experienced, he needed to take it easy because he was weaker. They didn't seem to notice or care - or perhaps didn't know - about Michael being in the hospital or his attacking James, he knew he shouldn't let it bother him but it did. He wrote a long reply all about Halloween, the entertainment, his helping with the feast and the pumpkin carving, he even used Professor Hagrid's name because he was too annoyed with them to care what they thought of his good opinion on the professor. They wrote back in confusion, not understanding why he was enjoying his detentions and having to 'menial' things for people that didn't matter. He was tempted to write back that it was because he liked helping people, he liked feeling useful, he liked talking to the house-elves and the teachers and he loved going around with Calderon. But he didn't. He didn't reply at all.

He was surprised by the papers though, they arrived late of course but the attack on the Leaky Cauldron had made the front page and it was mentioned that almost all those who survived and were brought to the hospital had being healed 'by the impressive efforts of certain people' but Calderon wasn't given the credit that he deserved. He wasn't mentioned by name at all.

"I asked them not to," Calderon explained when he asked him about it, "knowing I did something good is enough, I don't need or want recognition."

Scorpius thought he was being too modest for his own good, he'd saved everyone's lives on the train and then had saved a load of people's lives at the hospital and both times had almost died, both times hardly anyone knew that he was hero. It didn't seem fair. Then again, Calderon was pretty self-depreciating for all his cheerful attitude and Scorpius would hate being in the public eye if it were him, the attention would be a nightmare when you just wanted to be invisible and unnoticed. He thought Calderon felt the same. He'd asked Calderon about what happened with Ryley too after Michael - not realizing that he and Albus had been there until they told him about the cloak, he was amazed - so he could Albus' secret and not lie to Calderon as Michael had told him. The assistant didn't know much more than they had though.

"Pippy lied to the others when he brushed it off as nothing, he thinks the same people that attacked the train and the Leaky Cauldron attacked Ryley because he thinks they're after the school," Calderon told him, "apart from that you know as much as I do."

---

"Wakey wakey, sleepy head," Brutus' voice gruff spoke into in his ear and Lucius jumped, he hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep at his desk.

"What do you want?" Lucius snapped irritably as the Soul Eater walked around to the other side of the desk, already seeming to have helped himself to more of liquor while Lucius was sleeping and was guzzling the expensive bottle happily as he moved.

"Your next task, of course."

"Oh joy."

"No killing this time," Brutus informed him with a smirk, "you just need to go to the Ministry and request to see Harry Potter, tell him that Seraph contacted you - pretend he's in perfect health and powerful - and that he told you he's planning a mass breakout of Azkaban prison to gain an army for his master, he requested your help but you refused because but you're content with your life the way it is and too old for this hassle. For your refusal say Seraph said the first thing he'd do after the breakout is kill you, demand that they beef up security there to stop him and refuse to leave until he gives you his assurances that he will. Be convincing."

"And then?"

"That's it for now."

"That's it?" Lucius wondered in surprise with a frown as Brutus nodded.

"Potter may not like you very much as person but he's at peace with you, he respects that you changed sides in the end and will most likely take your worry about Seraph and a breakout seriously, Seraph tried to unite the remnants of Death Eaters before after all and if he doesn't we'll take steps to make the threat more credible."

"What has that got to do with anything else you've asked of me?!"

"Nothing, we're making a bit of progress with the Hogwarts stuff, the master thinks the spell will have to be completed before the Specters can survive properly there. There's more than one thing going on, in case you hadn't noticed."

"But why do you want the security in Azkaban to improve then? Why do want Specters to be able to survive properly in Hogwarts? What spell are you talking about? What purpose does any of that serve?" Lucius questioned frustratedly, at least as a Death Eater he'd been aware of things and knew why he was doing things, he didn't like being kept in the dark, "tell me, you moron!"

"Why should I tell you anything when you're such a jerk to me? You ever play Wizard chess? You're a Pawn, Lucius. You can only see the one square in front of you, you can only go forwards even though you have no idea what will happen when you move but you have to go where you're told, Pawns can be useful but they're expendable. You're not the one playing it so you don't get to see the whole board like the master can, you don't get to know all the plans," Brutus told him as he became serious once more and started to turn away, "you just move forwards when you're told."

"If I'm a Pawn and the master is the one playing the game, what does that make you?" Lucius called after him and he stopped to look back as the shadows gathered around him, he seemed to pause before coming back with a reply.

"I'm a King. The most important piece that can go whatever direction I want."

"Isn't the King also confined to still only moving one square though? You're still trapped, you can go anywhere but only a limited distance where the master lets you. You just think you're free but really you're just a different kind of pawn, the kind of pawn too stupid to realize what it is," Lucius said and Brutus was glaring as the darkness consumed him.

---

The first week of November passed surprisingly quickly with Calderon back. His feet were still bad though, the wounds kept opening up if he was on his feet too much. He'd found a spell to remove the blood from the bandages, to reuse them and save them having to take more - Albus seeming both relieved and disappointed at this. He didn't think that was good, he didn't see how they could heal properly like that but he couldn't very well take some time off to recover. It did worry him a bit, the one on his cheek - and the ones on Calderon's - had taken a long time to heal completely, longer than he thought a normal wound would which he thought was part of the spell. He wished he could ask Calderon about it but he knew he couldn't. He did miss walking without being in constant pain but he was learning to live with it, it was bearable for the most part and he had a string of curses ready to mutter under his breath about Varanian - courtesy of Professor Ashain - for when it wasn't.

He did feel bad for lying to Calderon though, the assistant had noticed something was up and he'd lied about having shoes that were too small because his feet had grown. Calderon had offered to grow then larger but Scorpius had managed to refuse, claiming Calderon was supposed to be taking it easy on the magic front which put made the assistant snort in irritation and defiantly use magic as much as possible for the rest of the day. A lot of teachers had been saying that to him, it got on his nerves after awhile.

"It's not like I can stop using magic, even if I wanted to," Calderon told him irritably, "and believe me I've tried. Dementors are he only thing that stop it, they suck the magic out of you along with everything else good so its not worth living if you're around them constantly. I can control what the magic does but I can't stop it, why do you think there's random lights that float around me or music all the time? Its best to channel it into something, if I try to suppress it then things have a habit of exploding. Exploding isn't good."

Calderon grumbled for awhile before get distracted and excited when he remembered what they were doing, which happened to be going to help Professor Hagrid trap an injured unicorn so they could help the poor creature. He never asked about Scorpius' feet again but Scorpius knew he wouldn't if he thought that Scorpius would 'nag' him about magic again. Scorpius was finding school life easier in general though, once you had a routine then everything kind of slotted into place and you got used to it, he wasn't feeling swamped anymore.

He found himself less withdrawn too, he had a good relationship with almost all the staff - minus Varanian, Professor Binns as he had no detentions with the ghost and the Arithimancy professor was a lost cause - and enjoyed his conversations with them during his detentions. In just two months of being in the school, Scorpius had found out several tips and new spells from his detention work with the teachers too, he wondered if it was normal to enjoy detentions so much. He may not get along well with the majority of the students but he was more talkative with his friends and the Quidditch team - minus James - who he always had a good time with, as well as Calderon of course. His life was far from perfect, especially with Varanian still taking his friends for their unpleasant detentions but he was in such a better place than he had been at the same time last year, then again most things were better than having to live through the things Marvin had done to him every day.

It was on the Thursday of the second week of November when the Longbottom family returned, he noticed Professor Longbottom's seat was no longer empty, the man not looking like he'd nearly died a few weeks ago at all and was glad to see Abby sitting eating breakfast. She grinned from ear to ear when she saw them and ran to greet them, throwing her arms around the cousins before they both had even noticed her, Albus' cheeks were scarlet when she let them go. He smiled to himself and shook his head at their surprisingly bad observation skills, conversation was no excuse. Abby almost seemed ready to hug him too before she noticed Michael's absence, insisted on seeing him before lessons which cost them their breakfast. Michael was still in the hospital wing, he finally seemed to be doing better though, they visited him every day. Abby had had her memory altered just like Rose had and was upset by her inability to have helped them, especially when she learned of what Varanian had done to Scorpius' feet because the cousins insisted on telling her.

It was the day after Abby was back that he got assigned detention in the Library for the first time since Calderon's return, he was itching to get to the Restricted Section to get the blood rune book - assuming it was still there - but there was an annoying number of non-restricted to put away, he was actually beginning to give up hope that someone would show up before his Quidditch practice before finally a sixth year Ravenclaw brought back a single book from that section. He hurried to put it back and was relieved to find the blood rune book was there, he hesitated for just a second before pocketing the small blood rune book.

"I'll bring it back," Scorpius promised of the silent witnesses, "I promise."

When he got back, the Librarian told him he could go to his Quidditch practice. He tucked the book under his pillow before grabbing his broom and getting changed, hurrying to the pitch without being more than a minute late. Captain Cole was being especially hard on them that day, it was only after it was over that he realized why: tomorrow was their first match of the season.

---

Part 4: Nerves

---

Scorpius had a feeling that his face went even paler than usual when Captain Cole started his end-of-practice speech about the game tomorrow, Scorpius knew he should be listening but his mind was in panic. How had time passed so quickly? It couldn't be the game already. A real, actual Quidditch game with real, actual people playing Quidditch. He wasn't a real, actual Quidditch player like everyone else was. He was just himself.

"Good luck, Scorpius," Danielle Scraffer - one of the Chasers - offered as they started to disperse. Molly had stayed behind to shower in locker rooms so he couldn't walk with her as usual.

"And get an early night," Christine Wood - another of the Chasers - added as the older girls went to walk by him, "you'll need to be well rested if you're going to beat Nott!"

"Yep and you damn well better beat him because I bet a lot on you!" Freddie offered with a laugh he clapped Scorpius on the back but Scorpius but the worry must have shown on his face because the elder boy's expression softened slightly, "hey, cheer up. It shows I have faith in you. We all do, you'll play circles around Nott."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered awkwardly with a nod which seemed enough to Freddie as he walked away, loudly planning the victory party.

"I don't have faith in you," James sneered appearing at his ear, "you're going to fail, Malfoy. In front of the entire school and everyone will know what a worthless cheat you are, you Death Eater scum."

"Hey, we're on the same side, remember?" Cole snapped as they wandered close enough to be in earshot, James rolled his eyes irritably at this and nodded.

"Enjoy the game," James said loudly and Cole passed them by looking satisfied, James waited until he was far enough way before his tone darkened, "while you can because it'll be your first and last. I'm twice the Seeker that Nott is and you're not even half as good as him, you're a fraud and when everyone knows it, you'll be off the team faster than you say... boo!"

Scorpius couldn't help but jump as James yelled the last word into his ears, the older boy walked away shrieking with laughter. Scorpius couldn't actually be bothered to think of a comeback, he was too nervous about the game. Everyone would be watching him, from every house, from every year, all the teachers even. Everyone either counting on him to catch the Snitch - he didn't want to let them down, or expecting to fail - he wanted to prove those jerks like James wrong.

He started cursing his own name under his breath in place of Varanian, why couldn't he just have failed to catch it the first time? Why couldn't he be as bad at flying at Albus? Then he wouldn't be on the team and no one would be expecting things of him or waiting to laugh when he failed. Or if only he hadn't been put in the wrong house, the other houses all had older Seekers so there was no way he would have got the position. Why did the stupid hat have to have put him in the wrong house? He was anxious by the time he got back to the common rooms, Abby, Albus and Rose were lounging around on the chairs chatting happily, especially Rose, she was beaming before she noticed him and ran over excitedly with the other two hurrying to catch up.

"Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!" Rose asked him repeatedly, literally bouncing up and down with enthusiasm, Scorpius opened his mouth to reply but she couldn't wait, "my dad's okay! He's awake! He's awake and he's alive and he's okay! Isn't that great!? Varanian gave me my mail from yesterday and Mum says that Dad's awake and the hospital think now he's awake that he's going to be okay! Isn't that just great?!"

"Real great," Scorpius confirmed with a slightly forced smile, he was glad her dad was okay but he had other things on his mind and he didn't think she should get her hopes up too much until he was at least out of the hospital. Hospitals had a habit of telling you people were going to be okay but they died anyway, like his poor sister.

"I know, right?!"

"Uncle Ron would wait until the day after the Longbottoms get back to wake up, wouldn't he?"Albus said with a hint of smile, "and Michael is allowed out of the hospital wing for the match tomorrow! He's allowed to come back to lessons on Monday too, well just the first one and see how he feels but its a start."

"That's great," Scorpius repeated with another forced awkward smile, he was pleased for his friend but the mention of the match again made his stomach churn.

"And also because of that Quidditch match, Varanian is letting off detention!" Abby piped up happily.

"That's really great," Scorpius said again with a final forced smile at the cheerful faces, "I'm going to go get changed now, then I have homework."

"How can you even think about doing homework at a time like this?!" Albus burst out looking horrified, "you need to rest for the game! C'mon, Scorpius, you need to get your head in the game so we can win! I don't want my house, two of my cousins, my brother and one of my best friends to lose their first game together! There's a lot riding on this game."

"No pressure there then."

"You're not worried are you?" Rose laughed, "from the way Freddie's been going on it, the game's in the bag and you could catch the Snitch with your eyes closed and one hand tied around your back!

"Yeah," Scorpius sighed and forced another smile, his face was starting to hurt from smiling too much and he didn't want to ruin their good mood by telling them that he was worried, Freddie was overconfident and he'd never played a game before and it was different with everyone in the school watching you, "we have a pretty awesome team, nothing to worry about. Gonna go lie down for a bit though, rest up and all."

They all nodded and went back to the chairs, still beaming and talking excitedly. Scorpius managed to keep his fake smile until he'd turned away and was heading up the stairs, he threw himself down onto his bed miserably. Trying not to think of a thousand of pairs of eyes on him yet finding it impossible not to imagine, he groaned and hugged his face to pillow. Feeling a slight stab of surprise when he felt a book under it before recalling he'd taken the blood rune book, he took it out and flipped through the pages again, almost as if to reassure himself that it was still before replacing it. He had been going to tell his friends about it after Quidditch practice, update them on everything he hadn't told them yet about finding the obelisk and what Professor Ashain had told him. He could hardly say that now, not when they were in such a good mood, what kind of friend would he be?

He sighed heavily and got changed into ordinary clothes once more, sparing a glance for his wrist as the strange bruising-looking colors had yet to go away or even fade. He didn't feel like lying down, he knew he'd just worry more. He wanted to do his homework or do something to take his mind off it at least, he got out his books and started on the work, so happy that he had a whole essay to write for the time he went down for dinner it was the only thing on his mind, unfortunately it wasn't the only thing for everyone else. Quidditch was the talk of the table and Scorpius' mind was plunged back into worry. He was scared. Scared of failing, scared of succeeding, the prospect of having to play in front of everyone just scared him in general. He ate as quick as he could, finished before everyone else and said by to his friends as he left the Great Hall.

"Hey Scorpius!" Molly's voice called and he glanced back to see her chasing after him, "I... I did it."

"Did what?" Scorpius wondered tiredly and Molly glanced around to make sure there was no one around before she slipped out his Aunt's letter and handed it to him. She looked worried and for the first time, Scorpius realized that it probably wasn't Quidditch nerves getting to her.

"Varanian did tamper with it..." Molly whispered anxiously, "I wanted to give you it now before I forget but don't read it until after the game, wouldn't want you to be distracted from your first game."

"Okay," Scorpius lied and she smiled brightly, wishing him luck in the game before racing back into the Great Hall to finish her dinner. He couldn't wait though. He read it as he walked.

Dear Scorpius

How's my favorite little nephew? Although I suppose you're not really so little now that you're at Hogwarts! Well you're the littlest in the school but hey, you gotta start somewhere. Hope no one's giving you a tough time, if they are then just tell me and I'll knock them into the middle of next week for you!

I don't want to scare you or anything but I got a temp job at the Ministry, I heard some things and I really think that you have a right to be warned since they're keeping it quiet. You may have noticed some strange things on the train journey, they may have told you that it was technical difficulties or a prank or whatever lie they're telling you but it wasn't. There's this... shall we say, dark group? That have been causing havoc recently, deaths, thefts, attacks on muggles and possibly even some disappearances, the Ministry haven't been this worried since You-Know-Who, they call them the Shadows. The Shadows are responsible for the strangeness on the train journey.

They destroyed a viaduct that the Hogwarts Express was meant to cross, with fiendfye no less - you haven't been with muggles so long that you've forgotten what that is, have you? - and in plenty of other places to try to derail the train, they managed to rig the train to be stuck on go once it was started. You're lucky to be alive. That's how serious this is, Scorpius. It's a miracle a former Auror and this man - Marius Calderon - were on the train to stop it, the Auror managed to counter the Dark Magic that was forcing the train to move and this Calderon guy... I'm not sure I believe that he created 'tracks of light' and without a wand or spell to boot but he did something to save the train.

On the same night as that they killed several former Hogwarts staff members. For awhile the Ministry thought Hogwarts might be a target but the Shadows have made no further attempt, the Shadows are targeting so many things at seemingly random its so hard to tell, there's so many avenue's for them to explore, too many. I'm not trying to scare you, Scorpius but I feel like you have a right to know the truth that they kept out of the papers, just in case, I don't want anything else to happen to you. Remember to pay a lot of attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts!

So there, now you know. Its probably best that you keep this information to yourself, you can keep a secret right? Like I said I'm not trying to scare you but I feel like you have a right to know that the Ministry think you (or rather the school) could possibly be a target. And don't be ashamed if you want to come home, it's not weak to need more time to recover and with everything else it may be safer if you prefer but personally I think it could be safer at Hogwarts for you, its heavily protected by ancient and new magic since the last battle, it would take some serious magic to get past it. I haven't told your parents any of this because I know your Malfoy relatives would take you out in an instant if they knew, I think you deserve a choice so just be careful.

All my love

Aunt Daph xxx

"Careful there, Scor!" Calderon's voice rang out and Scorpius glanced up from the letter, realizing he and Calderon had almost walked into each other as they rounded the same bend from opposite sides. His heart sank when he noticed the fresh welt on the assistant's face, that hadn't been there earlier. He hated Varanian. He actually was starting to hope that the headmaster would come after him again, just so he'd have a chance to stand up to him and try out the spells they'd been learning in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Are you okay?" Scorpius asked worriedly, the letter forgotten as his focus shifted and the assistant gave him an almost convincing smile.

"Yeah, no harm done. Should probably pay more attention to where you're going though, and so should I."

"Yeah... So why did Varanian attack you this time?"

"Varanian didn't attack me," Calderon lied as a hand went to the injury, cringing slightly as his fingers brushed it and seemed to think better of lying as Scorpius scowled, "for asking him not to erase Rose's memory if she visits her father in the hospital. It doesn't matter its not the worst, don't worry about it."

"You don't want Rose's memory erased?" Scorpius wondered after forcing himself to bite back an angry comment that it did matter and that Varanian was insane and evil and he shouldn't attack anyone at all.

"Of course I don't, I don't think its healthy to have your memory altered or erased. I didn't think he would do that. In fact the whole time I was in hospital I kept expecting Abby to tell her father and to be arrested at any moment."

"Why would you be arrested if anyone found out about Varanian?"

"What do you think will happen when everyone finds out about Varanian?"

"Well obviously he'll be arrested," Scorpius answered feeling slightly confused, he thought it went without saying, "get charged and go to Azkaban, not sure for how long but I reckon he'll probably die there or be too old when he gets out to remember his own name. With him gone then Hogwarts will go back to being what it was like before when it was good and no one got attacked."

"And you think Varanian's just going to confess and quietly going along with that? He's going to try to take everyone with him, the other staff he'll accuse will probably be suspended for awhile although as they genuinely don't know their names should be cleared. But I do know. I'm an adult and I didn't stop him, I'll be crucified, Scor. I will be arrested, they'll put me in Azkaban with the Dementors, lock me in the darkest hole imaginable and throw away the key, never to see the light of day again," Calderon told him sounding surprisingly calm considering what he was saying even if his expression was melancholy and his eyes were no longer looking at Scorpius, "I'll die there, Scor, its only a matter of time... It's poetic really... Keep hoping and waiting for Pippy to snap out of it, be himself again and stop but I don't know, I'm telling the Ministry if its not right by my birthday... Can just try to prepare everything for when I'm gone, enjoy what time I have left."

"Don't you think you're being a bit morbid? I don't think any of that would happen," Scorpius spoke up worriedly, he didn't want Calderon to go to Azkaban or die. Calderon shifted his focus back from nothing and laughed maniacally again, spinning around randomly as sparks of light flew around him for moment before he calmed back down but his smile remained.

"Sure, I probably am. You'll not be worrying about that when you have your Quidditch match though, I'm sure you'll have as much fun as the practices and maybe you can tell me all about it," Calderon said as his usual cheerfulness seemed to have returned and he started to walk away, "see you later."

"Wait, tell you about it?" Scorpius questioned anxiously as the assistant looked back at him, "won't... won't you be there?"

"Nah, I don't go to Quidditch matches. When I first started here I went to see the first one with the rest of the school, all the flying things kinda scared me, my nerves were shot back then and I lost control... everything kinda stopped. I immobilized the whole pitch, all the balls and the players were just floating slowly and gently like clouds... no one was very happy, Minerva and I both thought that it was best if I sat out matches from then on. I'm sure I told you that before?"

"But you wouldn't do that now?"

"I sure hope not!"

"So you could come?"

"I... could," Calderon said very slowly as his smile became a scowl, "but I'd rather not risk it, I don't want to risk hurting anyone."

"But.. I..."

"You didn't think I'd be there, did you?"

"Well... yeah," Scorpius admitted staring miserably at the ground, everyone would be watching him except the one person he wanted to be there. He wasn't sure why it mattered so much but it did, he looked up to Calderon more than anyone and it was a comfort to think that he would be there, at least one person wouldn't care then whether he won or lost.

"Everyone else will be there, does it really matter if I am? Your friends will be cheering for you, your whole house - and a mixture of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw too, depending on which team they support - and all the teachers will be rooting for you too, you have plenty of support," Calderon pointed out with a comforting smile that Scorpius found he couldn't return, he had to bite his lip to stop himself saying but not you, "I'll be rooting for you from inside."

"It's fine," Scorpius heard himself saying as he forced another smile, "goodnight."

He left before Calderon could say anything else, his feet screaming in protest at the fast pace but he just wanted to be away. He hurried back to Gryffindor Tower and to his empty dormitory, closing all the drapes quickly and just lying there in worry. Even if he tried to shove aside Quidditch it just made him feel worse worrying about whether Calderon really could end up dead in Azkaban, worrying about his Aunt's letter and what Professor Ashain had said about the blood runes destroying the school's protection to replace it with its own. His worries chased themselves around inside his mind for the rest of the night, he wasn't sure that he slept at all but he hadn't changed out of his clothes.

"Wake up, Scorpius!" Albus yelled cheerfully in the morning.

"Yeah get up!" Reuben's voice added, "you have to win the match!"

"He better win the match!" Angelo called as Scorpius heard footsteps thundering down the stairs.

"Seriously, are you awake?" Albus asked to which Scorpius sighed before answering.

"I'm awake! I'll meet you at breakfast."

He heard Albus say okay and leave, he sighed again. He forced himself to get changed, wishing the ground would swallow him up so he wouldn't have to play. He almost considered refusing to play, he couldn't do that though. Molly and the team were counting on him, he couldn't let them down. They'd never win if James was Seeker and Scorpius knew that the Gryffindor would blame him for it somehow, just like he had for the howler. As he walked to the Great Hall it dawned on him that if he did win then he would be winning for the house he despised, he groaned as he plonked himself down next to his friends.

"Was about to come get you!" Cole said from somewhere and Scorpius glanced back up in time to get a plate of food dumped in front of him, "eat up, you'll need your strength."

"I'm not very hungry," Scorpius muttered truthfully.

"Captain's orders!" Cole announced with a smile as he clapped him on the back and went to go back to his seat, Scorpius frowned at the food.

"What's the matter, Malfoy?" James sneered from nearby, "finally realized you're a failing fraud?"

"Why? Is that's what bothering you?" Michael commented in a still raspy voice as he took the seat on Scorpius' other side, he still looked so frail.

"Hey dragon-breath, didn't realize you were still here," James said as he glowered at them both but smirked cruelly, "thought they'd have sent you to Romania to be studied by my Uncle Charlie by now like the other dragons, little short and ugly by dragon standards though aren't you?"

"Have you no shame?!" Albus snapped protectively as he glared at his brother, "he's been in the hospital for three weeks because of you!"

"Well then maybe it'll teach him to not go around making friends with the wrong sort of people, Death Eaters are scum and anyone who follows them and protects them deserve what they get. It's not my fault your friend's either suicidal or stupid enough to get in the way, from what I hear about his class performance its stupidity."

"Shut up!"

"Make me, traitor. Oh wait, you can't because Quiddich! The thing that I play and you don't because you suck."

"And what position do you play again? Seeker? Oh wait, you couldn't beat a first year for it!" Albus countered and James' eyes burned with anger as he stormed off, Albus sighed, "damn, now I feel bad."

---

Part 5: The Match

---

"I can't believe how much of a bully he is in school," Abby said with a heavy sigh to Albus, "I mean he's always teasing everyone but sometimes he's downright cruel. Don't feel bad."

"I'll try," Albus muttered as they went back to their food, "so how are you, Michael?"

"Getting there slowly," Michael answered weakly but he was grinning as he started putting handfuls of toast and eggs on his plate, "excited to see a Quidditch match! And to eat real solid food again, although Madam Pomfrey says to try only eat bland foods as to not upset my stomach."

The conversation went back to normal, everyone in a better mood than usual. Except Scorpius. He had to force himself to eat the food, although he could have been swallowing lumps of rock for all he cared. He didn't think eating was a good idea though, his felt queasy from nerves. The fact that everyone around him was talking about the Quidditch match didn't help any, he glanced at the teacher's table and saw neither Varanian nor Professor Ashain were there, Calderon wasn't either but then he wasn't there for every meal and he never attended a meal that the headmaster wasn't at, its not like the assistant got to eat anything anyway. Despite Scorpius' best hopes, time didn't miraculously stop for him. Shockingly soon, he found himself surrounded by empty plates as people started shuffling out to get to the match.

"Scorpius!" a familiar voice called and for a second Scorpius thought he'd started hallucinating from stress before his father was hugging the breath from his body, "it's so good to see you! It's been so long."

"It's been less than three months," Scorpius corrected awkwardly as his father pulled away, smiling but as he looked at him and almost seemed about to hug him before the assortment of people must have put him off. He straightened quickly and cleared his throat, there was a flicker of embarrassment on his face before his smile returned. Scorpius wasn't hallucinating, people were looking at his father whose presence he was extremely confused by and he felt both horrified and happy at the prospect of being taken home so he wouldn't have to play, "what are you doing here?"

"You didn't think I'd miss your first Quidditch match, did you?" his father pointed out and Scorpius managed not to scowl, he didn't want his father to think he was ungrateful for the support but he was still confused, "your mother and grandparents would be here but apparently the school has a strict policy on family visiting, if your grandfather hadn't given the Ministry some useful information then I don't think I'd be allowed to be here at all."

"Good thing the Malfoys run the Ministry then and can do whatever they want then, isn't it?" Varanian grumbled angrily under his breath so quietly that Scorpius almost didn't hear, the headmaster was standing near his father with a head of fiery red hair and his arms folded moodily. Scorpius didn't think his father heard, if he did he gave absolutely no reaction.

"I guess," Scorpius said finally and managed a weak smile, he didn't want his father to think he wasn't glad to see him even if his father's arrival made him feel even more pressured, "it's good to see you, father. I hope I don't let you down."

"You could never let me down, Scorpius. I'm... I'm so proud of you anyway," his father told him gently before his eyes darted nervously around at the crowd, as if afraid of anyone hearing him admit that. The elder Malfoy seemed to notice some people watching them because he nodded behind Scorpius, "are those your friends?"

"Err..." Scorpius started and glanced back to see his four friends were indeed watching them, Abby looked nervous, Michael looked intrigued, Rose was scowling and Albus' eyes were writhing with hatred as he stared at his father, "yeah..."

"Aren't you going to introduce them?"

"Err..." Scorpius started again and mentally slapped himself, he wasn't ashamed of his friends and if his father didn't like it then his father would just have to not like it, it wasn't like he'd deliberately gone out and befriended everyone his grandfather had told him not to, they'd just kind of united because of Varanian and gotten to be friends. He motioned for his friends to come closer so he could introduce them, "yeah... This is Rose Weasley, Albus Potter, Abby Longbottom and Michael Sanford and everyone this is my father, Draco Malfoy."

Scorpius noticed how his father cringed slightly at every name - bar Michael's, but cringed slightly as he eyed the boy although whether he was disapproving of the muggle clothing or the state of Michael's health, Scorpius wasn't sure - but said nothing. Everyone said nothing. The silence was uncomfortable but Scorpius kept a strained smile and looked between the five, willing someone to speak up because he really would rather that his father and friends could at least be civil. Michael was the bravest or perhaps just the most tolerant, he cleared his throat and offered out his hand with a forced smile.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Michael said firmly but weakly in his raspy voice and to Scorpius' amazement and relief, his father shook the boy's hand and returned the forced smile.

"Likewise I'm sure, any friend of Scorpius' is alright by me."

"Even though they're the children of people you hate or mudbloods?" Scorpius blurted out before he could think better of it and his father's reaction thoroughly shocked him, from the looks on his friends and Varanian's faces it shocked them too.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy! You know we don't use outdated terms like that, you don't listen to your grandfather and his nonsense about muggle-borns! You don't think like that, you can't!"

"I... I know... I... I don't... I... I didn't mean... I..." Scorpius stammered awkwardly, it was the first time his father had been angry at him since he'd gotten back and the first time he'd ever been angry at him for saying mudblood. Then again, he wasn't sure he'd said in front of his father before or that his father had ever said it, his grandfather was the one with the problem, his father was more tolerant but he still thought his father believed the same things, "I'm sorry."

His father's anger seemed to vanish as suddenly as it had appeared, his expression turned to one of concern and he was looking at Scorpius as if afraid he might shatter into a million pieces at any second for being told off. Scorpius was tempted to say that he was fine, he wasn't as weak as his family thought and he was quite capable of surviving being yelled at even if he was confused as to why. But he didn't and another awkward silence settled on them before Rose had a strange look as if realizing something, it made her beam.

"Well its great to finally meet you, Scorpius has told us such good things about you," Rose said cheerfully and he was forced to mask his confusion, he rarely spoke about his family and his other friends shared in his puzzlement as she started talking about how Scorpius apparently looked up to him - this made his father look worried more than anything else - before switching to Scorpius' academic achievements, it almost sounding like she was boasting except about him. This just confused him further but his father looked a little proud.

"Ashain!" Varanian snapped suddenly and Scorpius' attention was drawn away from the chatty Rose back to the headmaster as Professor Ashain tried to head to the Great Hall presumably to eat, the professor sighed and shot Varanian an irritated look.

"What did I do now?" Professor Ashain wondered sounding exasperated.

"Nothing, nothing. Did you want to see the Quidditch match?"

"Being on probation bans me from that according to your five pages of rules."

"Are you still on probation? Consider it revoked," Varanian offered with a dismissive wave of his hand as his hair turned to curly bond.

"What do you want, Varanian?" Professor Ashain asked with another sigh.

"Watch Malfoy until I return," Varanian commanded and Scorpius saw his father definitely heard that even though Varanian had lowered his voice a bit, "he has to watch his son's game and I have something to attend to quickly. Don't let him out of your sight or you're fired, if he tries anything threatening then kill him, you're good at that."

"What?!" Draco Malfoy burst out angrily but Varanian just gave him a very cold look before walking away, "hey! What is his problem?! I really don't think I like him."

"Join the club."

"Scorpius!" Molly called and Scorpius saw her racing towards him and grabbing his arm, "come on, players need to be there before the audience!"

"I was just... err... this is my father," Scorpius said awkwardly and Molly cast a brief smile towards the other man.

"Nice to meet you, might want to make your way to the stands if you want to get a good spot, bye! Come on, Scorpius!"

Scorpius barely had time to wave goodbye and hear their wishes of luck as he pulled away, they tore through the castle and Scorpius discovered that Molly was an incredibly fast runner. She slowed the pace as they got further away, probably realizing they should be preserving their strength for the match but she kept her grip on his hand and led him slightly like a child. He could have been annoyed but something about holding her hand gave him a warm feeling inside, he'd never a held a girl's hand before. Not outside of family anyway. He was disappointed when she seemed to realize and hastily let go. He mentally slapped himself again, why on Earth would he be disappointed?

"Sorry, I was just afraid you weren't coming or James had hexed you into a tree or something so he could take over," Molly apologized as they made it outside to the grounds, "Captain Cole's rather excited to be making his first pep-talk and he'd rather we all be there too."

Scorpius could do nothing but nod as they made their way to the locker rooms, the rest of the team were already there and so was his broom. Excited may have been an understatement for Cole though, he practically bouncing off the floor and beaming from ear-to-ear with a very toothy smile, with his mass of hair covering his eyes it actually looked like he was all smile and hair.

He tried to listen to the speech as Cole went over their strategy and giving them a long-winded speech about victory and trying their best, that he believed in all of them, Gryffindor could win... Scorpius zoned out then. He didn't want to listen to anymore, the pep-talk just made him even more pressured. Cole wanted to win so badly, it was the only year he'd get to prove himself as Captain and the last time that the two other Chasers would be on the team and they were good to him, they deserved a win. Freddie, Molly, his friends, his father, most of the teachers he was close to, the entire Gryffindor house - minus maybe James' friends - were all expecting him to catch the Snitch. What if he didn't? What if he failed? What if Nott really was better than him? What if he did catch it but Gryffindor were too far behind for it make a difference and he was blamed for the failure? It wasn't like he was rooting for the house he'd got stuck in, he wanted to win for completely different reasons. He wished Cole's speech would never end.

He would be even more despised in school, people would debate whether he failed on purpose or failed because he is just a crazy weirdo who can't do anything right. He would be kicked off the team and never get to go to Quidditch practice again, they would hate him the most. His friends would probably not be his friends anymore, they'd feel ashamed for even being friends with him in the past. James would smirk and laugh, tell him that he was right all along about Scorpius being a cheat and a failure, even though he was wrong but no one would believe the truth then. His father's reaction would be the worst, his father who was in the stands at that very moment would be there to see him fail. He'd see the crushing disappointment in his father's eyes, confirming every belief that Scorpius was weak and broken and ruined and incapable of everything, the only child he had left was... nothing. He didn't want to let his father down. He didn't want to let anyone down.

"I'm sorry, father," Scorpius sighed.

"Why are you sorry?" Molly wondered with a raised eyebrow and he reddened as he realized that she'd heard him.

"Because... I'm probably going to fail and disappoint him."

"Scorpius," Molly said gently with a weak smile as she shook her head, "you have a father who loves you enough to come to your first Quidditch match to support you, do you really think he'd be disappointed if you don't catch the Snitch? Or do you think he'd be proud that you tried, that you made the team in your very first year? It doesn't matter if we lose."

"But-" Scorpius started to protest worriedly even if what she was saying up until it not mattering had been making sense.

"The world won't end if we lose a Quidditch match. You know Gryffindor lost in the first game I played in? 180-70, I let in three goals and kicked myself for it for weeks after," Molly interrupted and Scorpius blinked in surprise, "but I learned from my mistakes and now I'm a better player for it, if we lose then we just get up and try again."

"Thanks," Scorpius offered with a weak smile that she returned and they went back to listening to the end of Captain Cole's speech.

He was feeling slightly less nervous by the time it was time to play although his stomach still felt like it was in knots as they walked onto the pitch, the crowd cheered and Scorpius became all too aware of the thousand eyes on him. He gripped his broom firmly as they rose into the air, rising to be opposite the undefeated Slytherin Seeker, Kyle Nott. He'd barely seen the boy since he'd defeated him on the train, he seemed to have been growing his hair longer than since but otherwise seemed the same. Kyle was smirking in a way that reminded him of James, Scorpius got the impression that Kyle didn't think he'd be much competition.

"And what a fantastic match we have for today folks! Gryffindor versus Slytherin!" the commentator's voice echoed over the roar of the crowd, he wasn't sure who was speaking but it was a girl's voice and Scorpius managed not to roll his eyes, he didn't understand house pride as he hated his house although his dislike for the Nott brothers put him off Slytherin too, "Gryffindor has a particularly interesting team this year, after the departure of the brilliant, beautiful yet brutal Beater Victoire Weasley the team is now led by Sixth Year Chaser Cole Stampson, the Chasers all remain the same as last year which will make things tough for the Third Year Slytherin Keeper, Nick Longbottom! The Gryffindor Keeper is also a Third Year, Molly Weasley - fun fact, both Keepers are related to Hogwarts Professors who belong to the opposing houses! - and her Fourth Year cousin Freddie Weasley returns also as Beater and yet another Weasley cousin takes over for Vic, Second Year James Potter who is also the eldest son of the famous Harry Potter! The son of two incredible Seekers, its amazing he didn't get the position of Seeker which went to Scorpius Malfoy! A mere First Year, the youngest player on the team since James' father! How will do against the undefeated Slytherin Fourth Year Seeker Kyle Nott?!"

Scorpius zoned out at that point, he didn't want to listen to people saying things about him although he was curious which professor she was related to. He closed his eyes and Calderon's voice appeared in his mind even though it was now nothing to do with magic, focus, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. It made him feel oddly comforted even though it was a vague memory and he was reminded that he was on a broom in the air, he'd beaten James on the very same pitch, he could do this. He had to. Madam Hooch was now holding the Quaffle. This was it. Now or never.

She flung the Quaffle into the air and the match began.

The start of match chaos seemed to erupt around him as the colorful Chasers fought to get the Quaffle and everyone else surged to avoid the Bludgers as they bolted into the crisp, cold air. Scorpius found a Bludger after him almost immediately until Freddie whacked it away from him, winking before he whizzed away.

Kyle began darting around looking for the Snitch while Scorpius just rose higher to get an overview look of the pitch, he didn't catch a golden glimpse as he'd been hoping, he didn't want it to be a long match. It was different to the practices, he was oddly thrown by the different colors of the two teams as during practices there was only red figures on brooms to look out. It made it easier to keep track of what was happening, even without the commentator's voice still blasting out.

It was also the first time he'd seen any of the Slytherin team play, he didn't think the Chasers were particularly good compared to what he was used to seeing - or at least not as coordinated - but Nick made a surprisingly good Keeper, Scorpius was impressed until he blew a kiss to the crowd after his fifth save, relishing in the praise and attention he was getting, he rolled his eyes at Abby's brother. Molly was much better than him, she'd stopped every attempt on the rings too but had just had less to stop because the Slytherin Chasers weren't as good, which was probably why Kyle was so important on the team as they needed the Snitch to make up for the lack of goals. The Beaters were better though, the one had a ferocious swing and the other was scrawnier but had an incredibly good aim, perhaps even better than Freddie and certainly better than James - although considering James had a habit of 'accidentally' hitting Bludgers at him, it made it hard to tell whether he would be good if he tried properly.

His eyes caught a flash of gold on the opposite side of the pitch to where Kyle was and he dived for it, the broom arching beautifully towards the flash that became Snitch-sized as he got closer. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement, making a split-second decision he yanked the handle to move out of the way and a Bludger sped by his ear. Scorpius felt a slightly stab of panic, if he hadn't moved then the Bludger would have hit him square in the head, he hadn't known it was a Bludger when he'd moved. He glanced around and saw the scrawny Seeker grinning at him, he saluted with the bat and Scorpius looked back but the Snitch had moved out of sight, he hadn't hit Scorpius but he had stopped him from getting the Snitch. That time at least.

He flew back up to his post just in time to see Cole get the first goal of the match in, tricking Nick with a feint and pretending to be scoring for one of the hoops and then tossing it instead into the furthest one from them both, it was an impressive throw and the crowd went wild.

Scorpius went back to looking for the Snitch, scanning the field from above until he noticed another glimmer of gold at the same time that Kyle seemed to notice it from below. They both sped towards it, getting closer and closer and Scorpius half-expected the older boy to fly away for fear of crashing into him but he didn't. At the last second the Snitch shot towards the left and both Seekers veered towards it, rising to be in the same level as they flew after it. Kyle's arms were longer but Scorpius' broom was faster so they were fairly even, their finges were almost touching as they reached for the tiny golden ball.

His heart was thundering in his ears, he as so close he could feel the wind from its wings caressing the tips of his fingers teasingly. He pushed the broom harder and the Snitch moved faster to avoid him, he was now overtaking Kyle who must have realized that on their current path Scorpius would be the victor.

Violently Kyle slammed his elbow into Scorpius' face with enough force to throw him backwards, if he hadn't been gripping his so tightly then he would have been knocked off. As it was, Scorpius' grip saved him but the moment still made him spin around backwards twice before he managed to right himself. The only upside was that in distracting Scorpius, Kyle had also distracted himself and had lost the Snitch as well as getting fouled. Scorpius felt wetness on his cheek and put his fingers to his face, thinking it was starting to rain but his fingers came back crimson. Kyle's arm guard had cut him, that never happened in practice.

He flew back to his spot in the air to resume looking but was distracted by the rest of the game, one of the Slytherin's was getting ready to attempt to score and Molly was wavering in position to stop him. The ferocious Slytherin Beater seemed to notice this and he whacked the bat at a nearby Bludger, it hurtled toward Molly at the same time as the Quaffle did. She couldn't avoid the Bludger without letting the Quaffle through, her jaw became determinedly set as she seemed to decide stopping the ball was worth it. She stopped the Quaffle and the Bludger slammed into her outstretched arm, he saw the pain on her face as her arm snapped unnaturally back at the elbow, she looked like she bit her tongue hard to stop herself from crying out, he wasn't sure whether the snap sound he heard was real or just his imagination but it looked painful. She clutched the misshapen arm to her chest, breathing heavily and looked extremely pale. Cold seemed to say something to her but whatever he said she shook her head violently at and determinedly centered herself between the rings once more, calling back a reply that he assumed was something of the lines of her deciding to carry on playing.

Everything seemed to spill out of his mind like water out of a cup, nothing mattered now except catching that Snitch to end the game so Molly could get medical attention for her arm. While attention had been on Molly getting injured, Kyle must have spotted the Snitch because he seemed to be diving for it.

Scorpius plunged after him and Scorpius was faster, his hand was outstretched to catch it, his fingers ghosted the wings before he felt something smash into his head. The force knocked him into Kyle and he screamed from both pain and frustration, he gripped his broom tightly with his hands to stay his balance through the pain in his head and tried to glance around in confusion. His one eye was refusing to open and the other one seared with pain with just a flicker of an eyelid, but he saw just enough to see the hint of a smirk on James' face. James was still trying to make him lose? In a real match?! Didn't he care that his cousin was hurt? Didn't he care for his stupid beloved house? Was now really the time for a petty grudge?!

"-oh no!" the commentator's voice rang out and Scorpius just hung their numbly in the air, he'd failed everyone, "Potter accidentally hits that Bludger into Malfoy rather than Nott! I think it may have just lost Gryffindor the match, Malfoy looks hurt and Nott is almost upon the Sn-"

"Over my dead body," Scorpius breathed as it dawned on him that he still had a chance

He forced the broom to continue downwards, hurtling through the air. He knew it was stupid the second he dived, he could barely see as it was. The intensity of the pain in his head only worsened and his skull was ringing, the world surged dizzily around him, so bad his stomach heaved and he felt like he was about to throw up. But he didn't stop. He reached out his right hand, everything was starting to go dark which was leaving with just a sliver of vision and it was of the Snitch. He gripped the broom tightly with his left hand, the scar on his wrist seared in agony as he rocketed forwards.

He was so close. His eyes closed against his will. He was losing consciousness, he could feel his body started to slip from his control. With his last ounce of strength he snatched the Snitch out of the sky, he grasped the tiny ball and clutched it to his chest. He'd caught it. For his father, for his family, for his friends, for himself, he could tell them he wasn't a failure now. He won. The hand on his broom felt so slippery and he couldn't hold it, he could feel himself falling but he smiled as he finally lost consciousness. No one could take that from him.

---

Part 6: Disturbing Dreams

---

He was back in the room. His left wrist was handcuffed to the bedpost. He was trapped. He could hear the TV. He was reaching for the lamp beside the bed, he wasn't sure why as he didn't remember doing that before. His fingers brushed the lamp, they seemed strange somehow, smaller than his hands should be and the skin seemed colorless more so than pale, some of the veins were visible beneath the skin.

He finally grabbed the lamp, it was a lot heavier than he'd thought but he managed to slam the end into the handcuff anyway, he was aiming for the chain links. He hit it again and again and again. His arm was hurting from the force of the blows and his other arm was hurting from the occasional glancing blow but he couldn't give up, he had to get away somehow. He heard himself crying, he just wanted to go home.

He brought it down again but this time something was different, there was a burst of pain from his cuffed wrist as the lamp collided with the chain magical sparks flung off it and the link snapped cleanly in two. He blinked in surprise for a moment, amazed that he'd done it before carefully placing his bare feet onto the dusty floorboards. He felt drained from his efforts with the lamp, when had been the last time he'd been allowed eat? He wiped his eyes and shoved it all mentally aside, he just had to focus on escaping and force himself to be strong. He stood up on shaky legs but pushed himself onwards to the door, turning the handle and to his horror realizing it was locked.

Alohomora, he thought as he recalled the spell that Professor Ashain had used to unlock the door. Immediately his left cuffed wrist glowed and he cried out in pain as a burst of magic shot through him and into the lock, the door started to open. That was weird.

"Thank you, strange voice in my head... I think," his mouth spoke but his voice wasn't his own. He was confused as he tried to rub his wrist at the receding pain and slipped out into the corridor.

He peered down into both directions with eyes that seemed to have a sharper focus than usual, he didn't know which way to go but at least no one seemed to have heard. He guessed left and hurried away, terrified at any moment that he might run into someone but there didn't seem to be anyone around. He was glad. He was so scared, his heart was pounding so much that he half expected it to jump out of his chest as he crept through the house.

He heard snoring coming from one of the rooms on the second floor and took that as a good sign but he heard voices when he reached the ground floor, fearfully he tiptoed off the stairs and heard Joel's voice talking on the phone from a room off to the right which looked like the kitchen as he could see a fridge through the crack in the door. Joel was Marvin's older brother, he hated him just as much.

He decided to risk moving, the front door was directly in front of him, all he needed to do was get outside and he'd be okay. He could scream and shout and run for help, it didn't matter if Joel grabbed him because other people would have to see and help. He just had to get out that door. He was so close.

He walked over to it as quietly as he could and undid the latch, to his amazement and relief the door wasn't locked from the outside. He stepped back and pulled the door open fully, he could see the street outside, he could see other houses, cars, he could feel the wind on his face for the first time in months. He felt a surge of happiness and almost smiled as he ran towards the exit.

The second his body touched the doorway there was a flash of light and he felt his body flung violently backwards far enough back so he was almost at the stairs he'd just came down, footsteps were thundering and the phone conversation seemed to have stopped. He scrambled to his feet with tears streaming down his face again, he couldn't fail now, not when he was so close. They were just muggles, why couldn't he get through the door? He charged at it again and was again thrown back, this time he thudded against a man and hands grabbed him roughly from behind.

Scorpius woke with a start, it was such a strange dream and for a moment he was even more confused by where he was, he wasn't in his bed in the dormitory. He started to sit up and realized he was in the hospital wing, his father beamed when he saw he was awake. Things started coming back to him, the match, the Snitch, the Bludger, Molly getting hurt... He glanced around and saw Professor Ashain was sitting at the end of the bed looking tired, Abby was sitting beside him reading, Michael was talking to Madam Pomfrey about something as they walked up the room and he noticed Molly in another nearby bed, Albus and Rose were with her.

Everything felt strange somehow, almost surreal compared to the vividness of the dream. He felt so detached, distant compared to everything and everyone else around him. He supposed that was probably what happened when you took a Bludger to the head. Regardless he went to pinch himself to make sure he hadn't just slipped into another dream and was actually still lying on the pitch unconscious or something, he blinked in surprise as he moved his hand, he was clutching the Golden Snitch.

"I-I caught the Snitch?" Scorpius wondered in amazement, he'd actually started to assume that he'd just dreamed he'd caught it as he'd been losing consciousness but Professor Ashain and Abby both nodded and smiled, "I thought I imagined it."

"No, Nott was reaching for it and you swiped it before he could touch it, it was amazing! You caught it, you won the game for Gryffindor!" Abby told him excitedly, "even more impressive as you did it with your eyes closed!"

"Good," Scorpius muttered and allowed himself a smile before it became a scowl as he realized someone was missing, "where's my father?"

"He had to leave," Professor Ashain said as he lost his smile, "Varanian was insistent."

"Yeah, he was only supposed to stay for the match and Varanian wouldn't let him stay until you woke up," Abby added giving him a sympathetic look as Michael came over to them, "you dad didn't really want to leave, he refused and tried to convince Varanian to let him stay and I think Varanian was considering it for awhile until he asked what Varanian would do if it was his son and then... Varanian kinda flew into a rage and threatened to expel you if he didn't leave."

"Oh," Scorpius sighed, it would have been nice to say goodbye. Damn Varanian, "how's Molly?"

"Broken arm," Michael answered in his still raspy voice even though he was smiling, "Madam Pomfrey repaired it, she just has to go easy on the arm and stay the night as she had a woozy reaction to the healing. We were actually more worried about you, head injures are tricky. How are you feeling?"

"Um... okay, my head doesn't hurt at all," Scorpius offered and debated mentioning how weird he felt, afraid they'd ask how he'd slept and he couldn't talk to them about his dream. He tried to put both out of his mind, his dream was stupid and the weird feeling would hopefully go away by itself, "so how did you like Quidditch?"

Michael launched into an excited account of the game, Scorpius realized it was probably similar to what he sounded like when he went on about how great Quidditch practice was but at least Michael was happy about something and congratulated Scorpius repeatedly on winning the game. The three Weasley cousins had come over to his bed by the time Michael was finished, all three also seemed just as ecstatic and determined to congratulate him as much as possible. He managed to feel immensely proud of himself and extremely embarrassed by the attention at the same time but he was glad they were in good spirits, as well as being pleased that Molly was alright.

He did glean some new information from the excited ramble, it was evening and he'd been unconscious most of the day which was a lot longer than he'd initially thought and that everyone thought that James had only hit him by accident, that he'd been 'trying' to hit Kyle. A part of him wanted to correct them but he couldn't exactly prove it, it would just be his word against James' after all and he thought it would ruin the mood. Besides, he'd won despite James' attempt to sabotage him and he was sure that was driving James crazy. After a bit Madam Pomfrey came over to chase Molly back into a bed, apparently she was supposed to be resting to which Molly gave a frustrated eye roll but obediently returned to her bed albeit with a grumpy expression. It was around then that he noticed that Professor Ashain was no longer with them, he scowled.

"What happened to Professor Ashain?" Scorpius wondered aloud and his friends stopped talking to glance around, not seeming to have noticed his absence either.

"Probably went back to... wherever teachers go when they're not in class or meals," Albus offered with a shrug, "when your dad left he said it was on the condition that someone stay with you until you wake up, Ashain volunteered. Guess he left now that you're okay, probably to eat since he missed all meals."

"It would have been nice to say goodbye, is no one allowed to say goodbye to me today?"

"Don't worry about it. Do you want to hear the other good news?"

"I didn't realize there was any."

"That's because we couldn't say anything in front of Molly," Rose spoke up and glanced back to make sure that her cousin was indeed out of earshot and not listening in, from the bored way Molly was strumming her fingers and on the table and yawning it didn't seem like she was, "well you remember the letter we've been trying to figure out to send about Varanian?"

"Of course," Scorpius confirmed and felt suddenly like someone had stabbed him in the heart with ice, "what about it?"

"Well we didn't want to risk telling your dad while he was still in Hogwarts, you know in case Varanian tried anything but I got the letter," Rose continued with an excitement to rival the Quidditch, Scorpius just felt the ice twist deeper, "he knows about my dad being injured because its in all the papers, I said I would really like to get that letter to him but hated the delays - he hates them too - so I asked if he would send it for me tomorrow, even offered to pay him and everything. He said yes! Yes! Handed off the letter so we should be rid of Varanian sometime tomorrow probably, Dad wouldn't ignore a letter from me and they'll get right on. Isn't it great?"

Scorpius forced himself to nod but his good mood was evaporated as he recalled his conversation with Calderon from the previous day, was the assistant really in danger of Azkaban for knowing? Varanian was the kind to go down fighting and he had threatened to destroy Calderon if he dared turn against him before, Calderon had mentioned Varanian intending to accuse other teachers too but was sure their names would be cleared. But what if they weren't? What if the Ministry sent the lot of them to Azkaban and they all died? How many teachers had Varanian been intent of trying to take down with him? What was the point in stopping Varanian if a bunch of innocent people went to Azkaban with him? Was it worth destroying lives just to spare themselves? Calderon was sure he'd die.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked gently and Scorpius realized he'd been quiet for awhile, he'd completely zoned out. Had they been talking?

"I'm just tired," Scorpius offered, it wasn't a complete lie. He'd felt drained ever since he'd woken up even if it wasn't why he'd zoned out.

"Well then you should get some rest," Madam Pomfrey announced loudly, appearing from somewhere and starting to shoo his friends away, "you'll sleep here so I can keep an eye on you for tonight, just to be sure your head's alright. The rest of you, out."

"Can I leave?" Molly quipped hopefully which earned her a stern look, "worth a try."

Madam Pomfrey handed him his pajamas, he assumed one of his friends had fetched them earlier or she'd conjured them from his dormitory. She pulled dividers around his bed to give him some privacy and left him to change, he managed to feel more comfortable and less comfortable at the same time knowing there was only women in the room beyond the drapes.

He was so tired that he did actually sleep for a bit, he seemed to slip in and out of half-remembered dreams about Calderon dying and the Hogwarts staff being trapped in Azkaban when Varanian swore revenge. Finally he gave up and sighed heavily, feeling miserable and everything still felt surreal.

"You awake?" Molly asked and he glanced across the darkness to see she had moved to a closer bed, she was now only one bed down from him opposite so it was easier to talk.

"Disturbing dreams," Scorpius admitted before he could consider whether it was good idea.

"Tell me about it, last night I was dreaming about this creepy dark chamber with this creepy ugly statue and weirdly enough one of the things that the Shadows stole, weird right?"

"One of the things they stole?"

"Yeah, you know how I said they steal things? Magical artifacts mostly, things related to the Dark Arts or potion ingredients. This was about this blood rune obelisk thing," Molly told him conversationally and he was instantly alert.

"The Shadows stole a blood rune obelisk?"

"Yep. Its like one of the only intact ones left in the world, it was being moved from Greece to here for study and they stole it at the very start of Summer or the very end of Spring, I forget exactly when but it was around exam time. I don't know what its supposed to do but its worth a lot, in my dream the runes on it were turning red with I guess creepily was blood when someone put their hand on this rune - Tiwaz! That's what it was, thank you Ancient Runes! - but someone was screaming no. There was this little black orb perched on top of the point of the obelisk too, it was just disturbing."

"It sounds it," Scorpius admitted worriedly, cycling through the implications that the obelisk Varanian had was the stolen one.

"You shouldn't be having bad dreams though, not after we won! Didn't I tell you that you could beat Kyle with your eyes closed and one hand behind your back?"

"Yes, I think you did," Scorpius said and he managed to weakly return her smile through his worry, he wished he was holding her hand then. He immediately mentally slapped himself for that thought, what possessed him to think that?!

"Stop talking and sleep," Madam Pomfrey complained as she came out of her office to check on them.

They both went silent and he thought Molly seemed to fall asleep after awhile, she stopped tossing and turning eventually and her body went still, an incredibly peaceful expression on her face. He tore his eyes away from her and went back to gazing at the ceiling but sleep refused to come to him again.

He kept thinking of Varanian and Calderon and the letter. He wondered what time it was, how long would it be before his father was posting the letter? How long before Rose's dad was reading? How long before their sleepy school Sunday would be torn apart by Aurors rushing in to arrest Varanian and anyone else he accused? Varanian had to be stopped. His friends deserved to be safe as did the rest of the school, especially if Varanian was involved with the Shadows, their lives could be in danger. But then... what if it did more harm than good? What if Varanian accusing the teachers did get them in trouble and no one was left to protect the school? Maybe the Shadows wanted Varanian wanted Calderon in Azkaban, after all he had saved everyone on the train they'd sabotaged and healed the victims of the attack on the Leaky Cauldron, maybe they wanted him out of the way?

Guilt gnawed at his insides and terror ate at his heart. What should he do? Let Rose's dad get the letter and wait for all Hell to break loose or try to stop it somehow and protect Varanian? He had so many questions and no answers and no time. Maybe Varanian wasn't so bad, maybe he was the lesser of two evils, he had apologized for those random few days he'd been nice and in pain. He was only hurting his friends for the stupid wards, maybe when they were done then he really wouldn't hurt anyone else and he probably wouldn't activate the blood rune things anyway. Professor Ashain thought it was a bad idea and he'd need to kill someone, Varanian wouldn't kill himself, besides he still needed an orb to make it work and what were the odds he'd have all three?

Shakily he got out of bed and slipped his feet into his shoes, he teetered on the edge of the bed for a long moment that seemed to last a lifetime. He could at least warn Calderon, he couldn't just let him die. He couldn't. He headed towards the exit, Madam Pomfrey came out to complain but he said he was going to the toilet and she relented but told him to be quick.

He didn't go to the toilet though. He hurried through the corridors fearfully, jumping at every ghost and portrait he passed. He used his knowledge of the secret passageways he'd gleaned from Calderon to use them as much as possible, decrease his risk of being seen and he missed Albus' invisibility cloak. He wasn't far from Calderon's room when he heard voices and pressed himself against hurriedly behind a wall.

"- so now there's no chance of anyone finding it," Varanian was saying.

"I still think its a bad idea, can't you just stop with the blood rune stuff? Please Pippy," Calderon pleaded worriedly in reply, their voices sounded like they were drawing closer.

"For the millionth time, no! Dammit Marius, don't you want to protect the school? The wards are nearly complete and now the obelisk is now secured."

"Feeding first years to blood-sucking stones doesn't seem very protective to me."

"Sacrifices must be made!" Varanian snapped angrily, they were definitely getting closer, "that's the whole point, the willingness to sacrifice matters more than the sacrifice itself, its a powerful thing. If you weren't a murderer then it could be you."

"I-"

"I don't care, Tommy, I told you before I don't want to know how your soul became gray. I have a hard enough time trusting you as the son of Death Eaters without knowing what you did to taint your soul, let's not risk losing that balance in our friendship by hearing what you did. Constantly disagreeing with me doesn't help your cause."

"Maybe next time I'll just let you burn," Calderon grumbled as their voices seemed to be fading, Scorpius looked round the bend and saw them turning up another corridor.

"No you wouldn't, you would have tried to save Voldemort. You're incapable of-"

"Wait!" Scorpius called out desperately rushing after them before they got too far away and he lost his nerve, both men turned to face him in surprise. Varanian immediately looked furiously and Calderon just looked sad, and was covered in dirt and grime and damp for some reason.

"What in the world are you doing?!" Varanian yelled angrily, "following people around like a sneaky creepy little evil-"

"I'm trying to warn you!" Scorpius yelled back and Varanian just looked confused, "my father has a letter detailing what you've done, if you don't stop him from sending it tomorrow then it'll go to the Aurors and you'll go to Azkaban."