Parts (30-32)

II

Chapter 8

Friends and Enemies

Part 1: Meetings

Brutus sat drumming his fingers across the table in boredom as he waited for Achan Sayder to arrive, Achan wasn't particularly good at arriving on time. He wrapped his thick black cloak tighter around himself, it was a freezing November morning which was why no one at the cafeteria had chosen to sit outside, much preferring the comfort of the warm indoors. Honestly, Brutus would rather have that but outside he didn't have to deal with the stares and there wasn't much foot traffic in the cobbled streets due to the cold.

He sipped his coffee and cringed at the taste, despite being a black coffee it lacked any particular kick. He stirred the distasteful drink with his other hand and glanced around, making sure there was actually no one around or no one peering through the window at him. He slipped out a flash of Firewhiskey quickly and poured as much in as the cup mug would allow before flipped the lid shut, pocketing it once more. He sipped the 'coffee' again and was pleasantly greeted by the burn of the Firewhiskey, that was more like it. He didn't consider himself that much of a drinker, sometimes wine with meals and obviously if he was in a bar but since Achan had left to go to Egypt, he hadn't been to one, it seemed pointless alone. Recently he had been drinking more at home though, since Tommy had attacked Rodolphus, they'd had Dementors guarding them and Bellatrix had insisted Death Eaters still be with them too which meant Brutus was forced to endure the Dementors as well.

"Brutus!" Achan's voice exclaimed cheerfully and glanced behind him to see his friend emerging from a side alleyway just behind him, Brutus returned the smile as his friend lazily plopped himself down on the spindly seat opposite, "long time no see."

"That would be because you ran off to Egypt with the love of your life," Brutus pointed out mockingly and Achan laughed.

"Well girls love soppy crap like that, got me out of that old hag's house, didn't it?"

"For a limited time only."

"I will tell you what went wrong with Margo momentarily, after I get served," Achan offered before loudly hammering on the window of the cafeteria and hollering for some service.

Brutus patiently waited while the exasperated witch had to come out in the cold in short sleeves and an even shorter skirt to take Achan's order and endure being hitting on, if she hadn't been unnecessarily rude before than Brutus might actually have felt sorry for her. Achan had always been a scrawny child and now he was a weedy man, taller than Brutus had thought he would be but still scrawny with a tangled mane of wild curly black hair and electric eyes that had more than a slight glint of madness in them, especially combined with his ever-present demented grin. He was wear a thick cloak much like Brutus, only his was brown and looked new, the only other noticeable difference was his deeply tanned skin.

"About time," Achan complained as the woman returned with his drink.

"I'll pay," Brutus offered before she could ask for payment and nodded, returning inside as soon as Brutus had put the coins in her palm, she looked at them like they were tainted. Brutus always paid because Achan was not from a wealthy family at all, a near-broke mother and a father who left when he was young, never to return and it wasn't like Achan had a high-paying job. Or any job, for that matter.

"Despite the terrible, but admittedly hot service, I still would have preferred we meet in a bar like the Leaky or the like."

"I told you I'm busy tonight and the day crowd is annoying."

"Busy doing what? Being rich beyond my wildest dreams? Also, by annoying you mean starey," Achan commented and Brutus snorted in answer, not wanting to admit it was true, there were too many people passing through to get to Diagon Alley during the day for his liking, pointing, starting and whispering. He hated it.

"So how was Egypt?" Brutus questioned, as much out of curiosity as to change the subject.

"Sandy. And hot," Achan answered with a disgusted snort, "I had sand in places in I didn't even know I had and it is so freakin' hot. So hot that I'm actually enjoying the freezing, wet and generally terrible British weather."

"That bad?"

"Definitely. If I ever date another girl who wants to live in Egypt to work as a Curse-Breaker, remind me of the sand and the heat and slap me until I see sense!"

"Will do," Brutus smirked playfully before becoming more serious again, "so what did happen with Margo?"

"It wasn't my fault this time," Achan pointed out, also sounding more serious, "her sister married a muggle. I mean can you believe that?! I overlook the fact that Margo's a half-blood and her sister goes and does an atrocity like that! And you know, I could have overlooked the sister if Margo severed all contact and disowned her but Margo actually supported the marriage! 'My sister's in love,' 'he's a great guy', 'why should it matter he's a muggle?' Its all bull crap! How can people demean themselves by being with muggles? I feel the need to shower just from looking at those disgusting beings."

"I don't know how they do it either," Brutus said quietly and shoved the image of himself killing the muggle out of his mind as forcefully as he could, swallowing more of his improved coffee.

"Neither do I, can you even imagine? Margo and her stupid sister. What are women like, eh?"

"I wouldn't know, I've only dated gold-diggers and girls who lose bets and have to date the ugliest guy in school."

"That was one time! And I apologized and I don't even see why, you were happy when you thought she was actually into you."

"Its not fun finding out someone you care about was just going out with you for some stupid bet and doesn't care about you at all," Brutus told him miserably even though he knew Achan wouldn't understand.

"So? You still got to kiss her and stuff, she was hot, isn't that really all that matters? Love is for soppy morons," Achan told him and Brutus grunted again in answer, it was as pointless to argue about as it was to think about when you looked like he did, "so how's your brother? Still trying to off himself?"

"That was one time!" Brutus protested, he could never understand what Achan's problem with his brother was, "one freakin' time! And it was years ago! He's perfectly fine now. He succeeded in being an Auror in fact."

"Your brother, Atticus Ashain is an Auror?"

"Yes."

"The same one who couldn't keep his nose out of a book unless he was on a broom?" Achan laughed and Brutus scowled, "what does he do? Stand there and bore the criminals to tears so they turn themselves in to real Aurors just to get away from him?"

"No, he's a good Auror," Brutus growled defensively, just because he was afraid for his brother's safety didn't mean he thought Atty was a complete imbecile, "he's a smart, talented wizard and he has improved, I spent hours practicing dueling with him to make sure he'd be prepared. Lay off him."

"Well I hope he appreciates the hours of your life that he wasted having you train him. In away its actually a good thing, odds are he'll not survive the war, either from getting killed because he's an inferior duelist or killing himself because he's weak and can't cope which leaves you as the sole heir to the Ashain fortune."

"Technically my father's the heir not us, unless he dies before Grandfather. And I would much rather have my brother alive than money, I haven't even dented my trust fund yet."

"That old bastard isn't dead yet?"

"Nope, my grandparents are unfortunately still alive and kicking."

"Damn."

"Yep."

"How's your dad?" Achan asked as he sipped his drink, Brutus cringed.

"Not so great really, kind of in some kind of mental breakdown. He's now a paranoid, terrified recluse, he banned visitors from the house, which was why I couldn't invite you over by the way."

"Any particular reason why or did he just lose even more marbles since the last time I saw him? He is only like thirty-eight or thirty-nine, I forget when his birthday is."

"He was attacked by Death Eaters, they tortured him and he isn't coping so great still," Brutus admitted darkly and Achan looked surprised.

"Why would Death Eaters attack him? He's a pureblood after all. Is it because he's dated mudbloods before?"

"No, they wanted him to join them. And he refused."

"Well that was stupid of him, he's lucky he's not dead," Achan pointed out seriously and Brutus grunted, not wanting to talk about it. Achan's expression changed almost as soon as he'd spoken though, his smile split his face and he glanced around before continuing, "you know how You-Know-Who's back?"

"No, I'm the only wizard in England who isn't aware of such an unimportant fact," Brutus snipped sarcastically but Achan's cheerfulness didn't sway.

"I had my most brilliant idea ever. We join him."

"What?!" Brutus exclaimed, choking slightly on his whiskey-coffee but Achan only nodded enthusiastically.

"Think about it, eradicating the muggle vermin and mudblood scum, along with those blood traitors. Isn't it our duty as practically-purebloods to help You-Know-Who in his quest to put the world to rights? Its the right thing to do and think of the glory of helping in such a noble ideal, we could be great, you know?"

"It not all that great, you have to kill and torture and stuff," Brutus pointed out quietly, restraining himself from touching his marked arm, "besides, we're not the ones who'd get glory or respect."

"Good!" Achan hissed and, if possible, his smile actually widened, "I want them to suffer, I want them to die and I want to be the one to help do it. I've always wanted to know what it feels like to kill, torture is something I've been fantasizing about since I was six and I killed the old hag's cat because she let father walk out on us. Do you remember the time we killed Pip Varanian's owl?"

"You killed his owl, I had nothing to do with it. I didn't even know you'd done it until he accused of it."

"Whatever. But the point is, that was the highlight of my year. I enjoyed killing the thing and I loved his reaction, so pissed off and upset at the same time. Blood traitor bastard deserved it."

"No, I think you went too far. It wasn't the owl's fault it had such a lousy owner."

"Merlin's sake, its just a bloody bird, an object of Varanian's that I destroyed to hurt him and it worked."

"What if he'd retaliated and killed my owl thinking I'd done it?"

"Then you could have just bought a new one, not like you're strapped for cash. Besides, he was too much of a Gryffindor for that, he's a pansy not capable of killing," Achan protested as he fidgeted, "you know I heard he married that mudblood? The one with the godawful name that he was joined at the hip too, they have a couple of kids now. I for one hope that they get targeted by the Death Eaters, wipe out the lot of them."

"Maybe Pip and the mudblood do but its not the kids fault they have lousy parents," Brutus said carefully although truthfully, as much he hated Varanian he wasn't sure he wanted him to die, purely on principle the mudblood Ethel yes but certainly not children.

"Kids grow up, Brutus, don't think of them as children but future assholes like their daddy. And don't join if you don't want to, if you're too weak but I've made up my mind and I am joining the Death Eaters, nothing you or mother the naggy hag can say is going to change my mind," Achan announced firmly as he got to his feet, taking out a necklace and tossing it to him quickly, "got you that as a souvenir from Egypt by the way. I'm going to go make history now though, goodbye."

"Wait!" Brutus called after him and Achan hesitated, not sure if he was doing the right thing or not as he jumped up after him and grabbed his friend's arm. He sighed and rolled up his sleeve enough to reveal the Dark Mark, Achan's eyes bulged in excitement before Brutus covered it again, glancing around to make sure no one saw but the street was empty. He lowered his voice anyway before Achan could spill the questions that he could practically see waiting to burst from his friend's lips, "if you want to be a Death Eater then you're going the wrong way, I can take you to them if you're really sure."

"I am, I want it more than I've ever wanted anything in my life," Achan told him with a look of awe etched into his grinning face, Brutus nodded grimly.

"Alright. Come on then."

Scorpius was woken up Sunday morning at six by the heat sensation coming from the ring, on the inside was directions to the clump of trees where he usually met with Varanian. He dressed and hurried there to find Varanian waiting, they'd practiced some with the rings the previous day in the house but Scorpius was still pleased to see that they worked over a longer distance. He thought that Varanian probably was too but it was difficult to tell with him, he looked even more tired than he had the day before.

"In case by any chance this vulture thing with Aurelius pans out then I'm going to teach you these spells, since I created them its extremely unlikely that they can be undone because Shadows - or Aurors - won't know what they're looking for," Varanian said to him after they were back in the basement, he handed Scorpius a piece of parchment with a letter to him explaining about Ellisar working for the Shadows and his appearance, "obviously you already know that and I'm not sending it but its just for an example, as you can see its important information that the Shadows wouldn't want you to know. The spells are dissimulo and dissiolvo. If you're sending a letter then you need to use dissimulo and if you're receiving a letter you'll need to use dissiolvo. Watch. Dissimulo."

Varanian flicked his wand at the letter that Scorpius was holding, immediately all the neatly written letters started moving and shifting, they seemed to be rearranging themselves. After a minute or so the letter was still there, it was still addressed to him and signed by Varanian but the content about Ellisar was gone, instead it was a random letter talking about the weather.

"It'll keep the letter intact but just rearrange the letters into an innocuous message, leaving the names alone because it'll be suspicious if you started signing your name as something completely different. Obviously we won't use my name in real letters because that would be equally suspicious. Now if I use dissiolvo," Varanian explained and tapped the letter as he said the spell, the letters again began rearranging themselves except this time back to the original message about Ellisar, "then it rearranges the letters back to their original format to be read."

"Useful," Scorpius offered feeling both impressed and oddly excited.

"Yes although like I said, only if the vulture thing pans out or in an extreme emergency. Now you just need to learn it."

This proved to be a lot easier said than done, Scorpius spent the rest of the morning trying to learn Varanian's spell. The letters stubbornly didn't want to rearrange themselves at all, or they would give up halfway through and just end up as a tangled mess of letters in the middle of the page, or they would lazily retain the same words which Varanian didn't consider good enough and would return it to its original format for him to try again. On the bright side, the Fidelius Charm was indeed protecting him from the Trace. Scorpius discovered the trick to dissimulo was having to keep your focus until the letters had finished rearranging themselves, by the time he was returned to bid farewell to his aunt, he had grasped it.

After lunch the letter spells continued, dissiolvo proved to be even more - if not more - difficult than dissimulo as the letters didn't seem to want to remember their original message, it was frustrating. The trick for that one was that you had to remember it was a reversal spell not a jumbling letters spell, the focus was on undoing what had been done not doing something. Varanian had him practice them both excessively for awhile, even after Scorpius succeeded at them. Following that, Varanian went through all the defensive things they'd done, asking Scorpius questions and to show him things to make sure he knew things as well as doing some of the exercises, Scorpius still wasn't perfect at them and was sorely disappointed with himself.

"Okay that's pretty much it, the only other important thing that I haven't gone over is Patronuses," Varanian said as he came to the end of his speech and sat down on the bed, "how are your Patronus classes with Ashain going?"

"Not so great," Scorpius admitted glumly, "no one in the class has come close to making a corporeal or incorporeal Patronus but that's supposedly normal because its a difficult spell, Professor Ashain was trying to make sure all of us could make wisps of silver by focusing on the happy memory every time we cast it, later expanding on that."

"Good tactic."

"Yeah but I... I'm kind of the only one in my class you hasn't made any silver anything... Professor Ashain was going to help with it the day after I got suspended but obviously I couldn't make it so now I'm probably going to be more behind than ever."

"Why do you have so much trouble with it?" Varanian demanded.

"I... think I have trouble focusing on a happy memory, its hard to think of the kind of one the spell needs. A lot of memories aren't happy and the ones that are just seem... not as strong anymore considering things change like my grandfather dying, happy memories with him just remind me of that," Scorpius told him quietly, feeling more uncomfortably saying it than to someone he liked like Professor Ashain but Varanian always seemed to make an effort to be honest with him and trust worked both ways, he wouldn't be able to help if Scorpius lied about it anyway. Varanian's expression actually softened as Scorpius spoke, he looked sympathetic and his eyes trailed to the photographs on the table.

"That can happen sometimes," Varanian said after a minute and looked back to him, "the spell doesn't require a memory really, what's more important than that is how the memory makes you feel, for most people memories are the best way to quickly make you feel the required way and allow you to focus on it. Other things can make you feel that way, sometimes just thinking about people you care about or pets or even objects can give you the emotions you need, another thing that can work is focusing on your hopes and dreams. Ashain will probably tell you the same, its the emotions you need, think about that for your next Patronus lesson."

"You're not going to teach me?"

"There's not really enough time to attempt to help you before you have to go, I want to test the rings more first. I want to drop you off in Plymouth then give you a few minutes to walk to another street and apparate a distance away then you can try giving me your location again so I can see if it still works."

"You mean drop me off in a wizard section of Plymouth right?" Scorpius asked fearfully as Varanian headed towards the stairs, stopping when Scorpius remained glued to his seat.

"There's not really a wizard section of Plymouth, I just meant like a high street. Now come on, we're wasting time."

"You can't be serious? You're just going to leave me alone in an area full of muggles?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Of course its a problem!" Scorpius burst out before he could stop himself and dripped the edges of the seat tightly, it was completely irrational and stupid, if Varanian intended to force him to go then holding the seat would do nothing. His wrist was burning, "take me to a wizard place, muggle places aren't safe."

"How are wizard places safer? Shadows are after you and everyone is after me, besides there's no kind of Diagon Alley in Plymouth."

"They just are!"

"Is it because of what happened to you?" Varanian asked and Scorpius looked away but he couldn't get around it, he struggled to get the words out.

"Yes. I-I don't... I don't want to be taken and... and hurt again. Its okay before because Yip was there and then I kind of knew Jack and then when he left it was a quiet area and I just had to hope I could find you but... you just... you just want to abandon me there with them and... and... I'm... I'm afraid."

"The Shadows want to kidnap you."

"Not to do... those things like the muggles."

"It won't be for very long."

"It doesn't take long."

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"I don't trust you!" Scorpius yelled, he knew maybe he was going too far but his heart was beating so loudly it drowned out rational thought.

"You have to face your fears sometime," Varanian whispered, "you can't just avoid things that scare you forever, I have things that terrify me, I'm scared of fire but I have to face it."

"I don't care! Its not he same! You've never been hurt in any way! I want to go home."

"Alright," Varanian agreed without hesitation before sighing, "come on then."

"Thank you," Scorpius offered as he jumped up and followed Varanian back up the stairs, continuing outside with the focus on getting safely back to his aunt's and away from potentially being abandoned by Varanian amongst muggles to take him. Just as they reached their usual apparation point, a thought struck Scorpius and he snatched his hand away, "how do I know that you're not trying to trick me and will just take me to Plymouth anyway?"

"Because I'm not a complete bastard, I wouldn't do that," Varanian told him and offered out his hand, Scorpius eyed the hand and focused on it for the first time in awhile. He noticed how badly scarred it was from being burned, it wasn't just a section but the whole hand, every piece of skin, the back of the hand, the palm, the fingers - there were no nails just scar, in between the fingers, the thumb and the scars looked like they continued up his sleeve. He felt an echo of guilt for his outburst, Varanian may never have been kidnapped by muggles but his fear of fire was justified, he had been hurt in other ways. Scorpius was still reluctant to take his hand though, he took a deep breathe before taking it, immediately feeling the sensation of being apparated and an instant later they were on the outskirts of his aunt's town, "be careful, Scorpius. I... I heard them talking last night, by the sounds of it one of the teachers are working with the Shadows."

"Really?" Scorpius wondered, feeling himself starting to relax as his fear slowly started to trickle away.

"Of course really so keep an eye out. If there's anyone suspicious let me know and I'll make it a priority to investiate them."

"Grant," Scorpius said immediately, "its Grant. Wynston Grant. He hates me, he has it in for me since the first day he met me. It has to be him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, the Shadows are going to mad about what I did to their leader so it makes sense, right?"

"It does. I'll look in to him," Varanian agreed with a slight nod, "take care."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized as Varanian turned as if to go, "for snapping at you."

"Its okay, it doesn't matter, I just wanted to make sure it worked. You're right anyway, its not the same."

"Not the same but still... Does... Does it hurt? Your scars?" Scorpius asked cautiously and Varanian blinked in surprise and looked down at his scarred hand.

"Not really. Well sort of. Sometimes. Its not as bad as getting them was," Varanian answered quietly, "I was burned really badly and they needed to regrow muscles, nerves and things. It wasn't fun, it hurt and they couldn't give me anything for the pain without it interfering plus pain meant it was working. It was a horrible experience. It didn't go quite to plan though, the skin was left too sensitive and... anything feels really rough, even soft things, the finest of silk still feels like rusty iron or something. If I didn't charm my clothes then I'd feel like I'm being grated by sandpaper all the time, takes a long time to stop hurting if I aggravate it. Near impossible not to, you can't go without touching everything, mostly my hands usually hurt but its bearable I guess. Just something you get used to having to live with."

"Does wearing the ring hurt?"

"Yeah but the gains way out the cost. I can cope, don't worry about it."

"I want to try it," Scorpius said before he could change his mind, it seemed unfair Varanian was willing to suffer to protect him and he wouldn't risk himself for one stupid exercise just because of a stupid irrational pathetic fear, Calderon and Professor Ashain would do it, "being in Plymouth and you finding me."

"No, its alright. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I'm sorry for pressuring you, I was just worried with you being so far away in Scotland that it wouldn't last such a range but it doesn't matter, it should suffice. Sometimes I forget you're just a child."

"I want to do it," Scorpius said more firmly, "please just do it while I'm psyched up for it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Scorpius snapped, he wasn't joking about doing it while he was still in the right frame of mind as he held out his hand to Varanian. Varanian took his hand and apparated immediately to a muggle alleyway.

"I've took you somewhere you've been so hopefully it won't be so bad, just go into one of these side streets and press the ring and I'll be right there. Hold your wand at all times if it makes you feel safer, you're a perfectly capable wizard, rememb-"

"Scorpius!" a voice he recognized called and he turned to see Jack, glancing briefly around, Scorpius realized they were in the street where he'd first met Jack. He strode over to him looking anxious and a quick glance revealed Varanian only had time to have hid his scars not altered his appearance, Jack eyed him for a second, "whose this?"

"Babysitter," Scorpius and Varanian answered in near perfect unison much to his surprise, Jack nodded in understanding.

"Can I talk to you alone?"

"Do the thing you were going to do," Scorpius told Varanian, feeling safer with Jack and Varanian nodded before disapparating in a slight pop.

"I totally want to do that," Jack complained before turning back to him, running a hand through his untidy dark hair, "I wanted to apologize for taking off like that and ditching you. I shouldn't have done that even if I was upset. I was worried, looking for you after but I couldn't find you."

"Its alright, I understand. Can't blame you for being upset."

"Well for what its worth I'm sorry, I don't think you hurt Mikey on purpose and I've made enough mistakes to not hold it against people for making their own."

"Thanks, Jack," Scorpius offered feeling a twinge of hope, if Jack could forgive him then maybe Michael could too.

"And erm... could you tell Mikey that if he wants then... he could always spend the Christmas holidays with me if he doesn't already have plans, my current apartment actually has a bed this time so he wouldn't have to sleep on a couch so... just erm... pass that on please."

"I will," Scorpius promised and Jack nodded.

"Thanks. Is that guy coming back or... does everyone ditch you around here?"

"He's coming back, I just need to go to that alley over there."

"Okay then, see you."

"Bye," Scorpius offered before remembering something and started to take off the leather jacket, "oh yeah, your leather jacket. I have it for you, you can have it back."

"Keep it," Jack told him with a grin as he waved it off, "if you want."

"Thanks," Scorpius smiled.

Scorpius walked over to the alleyway opposite with his wand out, it was deserted and Jack watched him from across the way with an anxious expression. Scorpius took a deep breath, backing away until he was slightly out of Jack's line of sight - he didn't want anyone to find out about their secret way of communicating, not even a muggle - before tapping the ring, he felt it heat up to indicate it was working. An instant later he heard a pop and Varanian was by his side, apparently just coming from Aberdeen. Rings worked.

"I should erase his memory," Varanian commented as he returned him to his aunt's village, "he saw us together and it could be dangerous."

"No! You can't, he's a muggle, he's not a threat and the Shadows would never think to ask him," Scorpius protested, "plus my friends already know I contact him - not about what - and that he replied so it would be weird if he had no memory. Please Varanian."

"I suppose you're right," Varanian grudgingly admitted, "the father of a friend you accidentally scarred isn't something the Shadows would automatically connect. I'll leave him for now... Well done, you've done well, Scorpius, good luck."

In another pop he was gone and Scorpius was suddenly anxious about returning to Hogwarts.

Part 2: Missing Something

Scorpius returned to Malfoy Manor after his aunt came back from work, she joined them for dinner as it would be the last time they saw each other before Christmas. He wanted her to stay as long as possible so they would be safe, he tried to make more of an effort to engage in conversation with them but his mind kept drifting. Knowing at least one of the Aurors by sight was a Shadow was worrying, as well as that Grant was working with them. He was also anxious about everything in general, would he even still have friends?

"Scorpius... Come...To... Me... NOW!"

He woke with a start, breathing heavily and peering around in the dense darkness, he was sticky from sweat. He had to go. His wrist was burning, burning in agony and it hurt so much he wanted to cry out but he couldn't, he had to go. For some reason he just kept staring staring at his trembling wrist, he had to go, he swung his legs jerkily over the side of his bed and tried to walk, staggering awkwardly as he tried so hard to stay upright but it was too hard but he had to go. His body collapsed onto the floor but he'd lost consciousness before his head touched the ground.

When Scorpius opened his eyes again, he was still lying in the same position only with sunlight streaming through the drapes, his limbs tangled up awkwardly and uncomfortably. His wrist wasn't hurting anymore though, was he sleepwalking now? He got up, stretching his stiff limbs and feeling oddly exhausted. He hesitated before pulling up his pajama sleeve and the friendship bracelet to look at his wrist, the scars were so dark they seemed almost black and the bruising-that-wasn't-bruising tainted the skin around it. He gently brushed his wrist with his fingers, it was tender to the touch, sore like a real bruise. He knew his wrist hadn't been like that before but he also knew the cause of the wound had nothing to do with magic so it couldn't be anything serious. He knew it. And that was the end of it, muggles and muggles alone had caused the wound so it wasn't anything to worry about. It was just kind of weird. He yanked his sleeve back down and refused to dwell on it further.

He had enough actual things to worry about, like Shadow Aurors and his friends hating him and how Michael was doing and being behind on classes. His wrist was successfully shoved from his thoughts by the time he was dressed and downstairs for breakfast, even his grandmother joined them as it would be the last time until the Christmas break. His grandmother was taking a particularly long time in hugging him goodbye before he was Flooing over to the Potter's household, yet again being reminded to speak clearly and keep his elbows tucked in. They have no respect for you at all, its like your five. Scorpius sighed as he was hugged again by his parents before tossing the powder into the fire, slinging his bag over his shoulder and stepping into the lapping emerald flames.

"12 Grimmauld Place," Scorpius spoke and felt his world whirling, momentarily he was stepping out in a different room.

It was colder than he thought the Potter-Weasley's home would be yet warmer than what he'd thought the Black house would be, considering it was both, Scorpius supposed it was spot on. The couches had an old regal feeling about them, the stuffed animals were distinctively not though. His narrowed instinctively when he saw James, leaning in the doorway and James glared back.

"Come with me," James said stiffly, "Dad's waiting."

Scorpius didn't say anything, it wouldn't have mattered if he did because James was moving the instant his lips stopped moving and Scorpius hurried to keep up as he followed. He kept one eye on James but constantly swiveled his head to glance at the walls, they were crammed with pictures. There were a lot featuring a variety of people at a variety of ages all with red hair, not that their wasn't other hair colors, untidy black hair seemed the next most common. He would have liked to look in more detail but James didn't pause so Scorpius begrudgingly followed, abruptly James opened a door and barged in.

"I'm doing everything I can to find them, Luna, I-" Harry Potter was saying before he was interrupted by James' arrival, he was standing addressing the two at the kitchen table.

"Malfoy's here. Can we go now?" James stated rudely.

"What have I told you about knocking?!" Mrs Potter hissed and Scorpius realized both James' parents along with a woman were in the kitchen, the woman looked vaguely familiar but he didn't know her. She had long unkempt dirty blond hair and silver eyes that shimmered with unshed tears, she was wearing her blouse backwards and had a necklace made of bottle caps, she was clutching at a photo in her hand.

"If I was back at Hogwarts then I wouldn't even be here to interrupt."

"If you don't show some manners we won't let you go out," Potter pointed calmly and James blanched.

"I'm sorry for forgetting to knock," James apologized meekly although Scorpius was sure that James hadn't 'forgotten' it.

"Better."

"So can we go now?" James asked brightly but his parents exchanged a look, "please? I don't want to miss the first class of the day."

"Alright," Harry Potter sighed before turning to the woman, her hands move slightly and Scorpius realized the picture was of identical twin boys, the missing Scamander twins. The woman - presumably Luna - was probably their mother, "I'll be back in about half an hour if you want to wait with Ginny but there's no leads so I have no news for you, we'll keep looking."

"Thank you," Luna spoke quietly and flickered her eyes to Scorpius, "nice jacket."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered as Potter came out into the hallway with him while James went to say his goodbyes to his mother, feeling oddly upset that the twins hadn't been found yet, it had been over five months. Five months for him had been Christmas, it had been hell, "why do you waste so much time, effort and Aurors hunting an innocent man instead of finding the twins? They're just children, bad things could be happening to them."

"Believe me, I know," Potter agreed quietly, "I've already explained to you about Varanian but I am looking for the boys too, problem is they disappeared without a trace and have no new leads whereas with Varanian we do. In fact we have the opposite problem with him, so many reported sightings and we have to investigate them all even if they think its him because some shopkeeper looked at them funny or because they don't like someone. Because he's a metamorphmagus everyone thinks he could be anyone, you would not believe how many people think he's killed and replaced someone they know just because they're behaving slightly differently."

"Have you tried looking for the twins in muggle places?"

"Not all muggles... take children."

"I'm not saying all muggles obviously, I just mean don't rule it out."

"I won't," Potter offered before James came back out of the kitchen, grinning with his own bag slung over his shoulder, "let's go then."

Brutus wasn't sure whether leading Achan Sayder to the Death Eaters had been the right thing to do or not, he didn't want his only friend to be at risk as well but then on the rare occasion that Achan was serious about something then he was serious and you'd have more chance of resurrecting the dead than you had of changing his mind. If he hadn't led Achan to the Death Eaters then he would have got there on his own anyway, only difference was be that he'd be mad with Brutus for not divulging the information sooner. At least Achan was happy. Someone should be.

He trudged along to the basement for his duty, it bothered him more than usual as he couldn't tell Achan anything about what he'd done as a Death Eater because he'd been put with the twins, the twins that were to be kept a secret from everyone who didn't already know or anyone else chosen to guard them. Achan had not been chosen to guard them so Brutus couldn't tell him, which made Achan displeased with him anyway.

Brutus was surprised to see the basement was devoid of Dementors when he came down though, that did improve his mood. It was just Sal though meaning poor Tommy was being tortured, Sal was jumping to her feet from the mattress and blankets she had for a bed when he came down the steps, hastily wiping her eyes and glaring at him furiously.

"I wasn't crying!" Sal snapped immediately and Brutus paused, noticing the slight sheen in her dark eyes for the first time and the red actually was more color than he was used to seeing on either of the twins' faces.

"Of course you weren't," Brutus offered slowly and she nodded determinedly, "but you know its okay to cry."

"I don't care, I wasn't crying."

"Neither was I."

"Good."

"Glad we got that sorted."

"Yes," Sal agreed firmly and folded her arms, staring off into the corner while Brutus leaned against a wall.

"What happened to the Dementors?"

"Master took them with Tommy."

"If they repress magic then doesn't that defeat the object of teaching him to use magic?"

"He has them stay outside, close enough to come in and stop Tommy if his power gets out of control but far enough away to not interfere with his ability to use magic."

"Right," Brutus nodded in understanding and hesitated before going back to what was bothering Sal, "anything on your mind?"

"Well…" Sal began, seeing hesitant as well as she glanced back to him finally, "my cousin is in Hogwarts on a mission to help Father by killing Albus Dumbledore and I'm locked in a basement after having just been tortured for four hours."

"Okay," Brutus said slowly, resisting the urge to say both options sucked. It actually made him feel down again, he had nothing against Dumbledore, he had never looked at Brutus with disgust like most people and had been rather to him, Brutus thought, and good to his brother too. And now he was marked for death. He doubted the pansy Malfoy kid would have stomach to go through with it though, plus Dumbledore was an exceptional wizard by all accounts, he would wipe the floor with Malfoy.

"Everything is wrong with that. Just because I can't do magic with a wand doesn't mean I'm not powerful, I'm more powerful than beloved Draco is. Voldemort is my Father and you've seen what Tommy can do. I can feel it, I can feel the power running through my veins when I try but I'm just not as good at unleashing it as Tommy. I'm perfectly capable, I just can't prove it," Sal explained starting to sound angry, "its so frustrating, I can't do magic and I can't do it even worse with a wand and just because of that I get treated worse than a muggle deserves.

"And why should he get to go to Hogwarts? If I can't go and I'm the daughter of the greatest sorcerer to walk the Earth then no one should get to go, its not fair. I'm better than them, they shouldn't get something that I want when I myself can't even have it. The school should be destroyed and everyone in it and that bastard Dumbledore should die for not letting people older than eleven in, its not my fault I was born in Azkaban and didn't get freed until I was thirteen, too old. How dare Dumbeldore reject us!"

"I don't think Dumbledore rejected you, I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually know that you and Tommy exist," Brutus pointed out which was true, Dumbledore wouldn't have let them rot in Azkaban if he knew regardless of who their father was… would he? Sal didn't seem to hear him or just didn't believe him or care though because she continued.

"And the worst part is that Father gave Draco the mission. Father spent all of five minutes with us but he has time to indoctrinate Draco into the Death Eaters and give him a mission," Sal continued, sounding upset more than angry then and he could hear the effort of not crying in her voice, "he has time for everything but us, we didn't even see him for thirteen years because he was vanquished and we were prisoners and he doesn't even care. I could be useful too, if he would just talk to me he would see, I could help him. But he doesn't care, he didn't even remember my name, Brutus, no one remembers my name."

"It'll be okay, Sal," Brutus offered lamely, truthfully he had nothing to say to that. With anyone else he would hazard a vague cheery comment that deep down her father cared about her, he forgot her name because he was stressed and busy with work but really he did care. But he couldn't bring himself to lie, they'd been born to be horcruxes not because the Dark Lord wanted a family, they were just as much tools to him as everyone else was.

"How is it going to be okay?" Sal demanded noticing the lack of belief that Brutus had in his own words.

"Because… Because…" Brutus tried to think of something comforting and finally it came to him, a variation the same thing he'd told himself a thousand times from knowing his filthy mudblood mother hated him, "because screw Voldemort, its his loss. You have a lot of potential, you're gonna be great one day and he'll regret not paying attention to you and underestimating you and not giving you the freakin' respect you deserved! Everyone will."

Sal looked at him for a long time with her piercing dark eyes, seeming to contemplate what he was saying although her expression was unreadable. Finally though she smiled and the basement was bathed in crimson might have freaked him out slightly if he wasn't used to Tommy.

"Damn straight. I'll prove it to him, to all of them that I deserve to be a Riddle. No one will ever forget my name and look down on me again."

"That's the spirit!" Brutus said brightly, grinning as well at having cheered her up and he had an idea of what also would. He took out his wand and offered it to her before she could change her mind, "unless you think you'll have more success if only Rodolphus teaches you magic?"

They didn't go straight away to Hogwarts but rather to the Ministry because they were going to arrive with the next shift of Aurors because Potter thought it was safer than them randomly going there. Scorpius didn't agree with it anymore than he had when Potter had told him at lunch but he didn't have a choice, plus he still couldn't object on the basis of something Varanian had said.

Scorpius hadn't been to the Ministry before and had for the briefest of moments as he stepped into the flames cheered up at being able to see it. He was sorely disappointed to find the fireplace they were exiting from was hooked up automatically with the one in Potter's office when they said Ministry, he stepped out to find an office. A surprisingly ordinary looking office considering Potter was the Head Auror, it didn't look that different to his grandfather's one, only smaller and with warmer colors.

"We'll be returning to Hogwarts that way too," Potter said stepping out behind Scorpius and James – who had been let go first for being older – who looked bored, "I just need to assemble the Aurors, they should already he waiting as the others were due back two minutes-"

"Harry!" a man yelled as he stormed into Potter's office looking most irate, a handful of Aurors on his heels moving as if to stop him. Too late. The man looked like he'd come from outside where it was raining, Scorpius guessed this from the fact his brown cloak was damp and his short dripping black hair plastered to his head. His tired eyes gave Scorpius an odd déjà vu feeling but he didn't know the tall angry stranger but from the disapproving look on Potter's face, he did, "I demand you have the Aurors stop stalking me!"

"Aurors aren't stalking you, Roman… Tailing you maybe."

"Stalk, tail, same difference! I had nothing to do with the boy's disappearance and I have nothing to do with those missing twins, lay off me! I didn't do anything wrong."

"Interesting how you refer to him as the boy."

"You've known me since I was a child!" the man – presumably Roman – protested angrily, "I'm not a kidnapper. A jerk, fine but not a criminal. I didn't do anything to anyone and if you really believed I did you would have taken my son off me and had me fired, you're unfairly harassing me for… I don't even know why, because I defended myself when your brother-in-law attacked me?"

"You're lucky I'm not charging you for that."

"The Ministry charges for muggle fist-fights now?"

"Roman Rivers?" Scorpius guessed to himself curiously but the adults didn't seem to notice, James nodded in confirmation though without looking away from Roman, folding his arms in an identical manner to how his father was too. Studying Roman again, he did think he bore some resemblance to his older siblings and did share their eyes.

"Roman, just go wait outside, dry off and I'll see to you shortly."

"Talk to me now, dammit! I didn't do anything to the boy or the Scamander twins or the first one, I want you to quit having Aurors follow me around for no reason!"

"The boy has a name! And his mother accused you!"

"Well I don't know it because I had nothing to do with it!" Roman yelled, "and she's a lying bitch!"

"Don't swear in front of my son," Potter growled and Roman seemed to notice Scorpius and James for the first time, he took a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll wait but don't you dare blow me off."

"I won't," Potter promised and Roman shot all of them a dark look before stalking back out while the Aurors exchanged apologetic looks.

"Sorry boss," one said, "he just… kind of slipped past us, he's good with a wand."

"Its alright, just don't let it happen again. Watch him for a minute and send in the next four to go to Hogwarts while you're at it," Potter told the man and the Aurors that hadn't followed Roman back already shuffled back out and Potter turned back to them, "sorry about that. Alright now, you're both going back and its imperative that you behave yourselves. It doesn't take a genius to see that you two don't get along – James if you say, 'but he's a Malfoy' one more time then you are marching straight back home – in life people don't always get along but sometimes you have to at least be civil, you two have to be civil to one another. Shake hands."

"No!" Scorpius and James cried together, Potter's expression remained stony.

"You both promised to be civil and now you will prove it by shaking hands. Or going home."

James gave him a look of loathing and Scorpius returned the glare, he may not hate James as much as some people but he did utterly despise the bully, it may be Scorpius' spell but James had his own share of blame in Michael's injury. Scorpius forced his hand out and James looked at it like it was poisoned before reaching out to clasp his hand, shaking it once before snatching it away.

Potter nodded content before four different Aurors joined them in the office, he recognized one immediately at Ellisar. The one who'd tried to murder Varanian. The man only smiled at him though, an innocuous smile but his golden eyes glinted darkly and didn't move from Scorpius. Scorpius longed to tell Potter, he may not be perfect but at least he was fighting the Shadows, he could deal with Ellisar and it would be one less Shadow left darkening the world. He knew he couldn't though, it was impossible for him to know about Ellisar being one of the Shadows without Varanian which would ruin the credibility of Scorpius' accusation as well as putting Varanian at risk.

"Can I go first?" Scorpius asked instead and Potter nodded, James looked like this was the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard but as Potter pointed out, James had got to go first from Grimmauld Place. Scorpius threw the Floo powder into the fire and stepped into the flames, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Part 3: Back to School

Scorpius stepped out of the fireplace, finding himself once more in the headmaster's office. He had yet to get used to all the portraits facing the correct direction, most of them still seemed to be sleeping. Calderon was sitting at the headmaster's chair, petting his dog but stopped when Scorpius arrived and smiled. Scorpius was surprised considering Calderon should be at breakfast and how he'd been last time they'd seen each other but nonetheless grateful for what he was taking as forgiveness and returned the smile. Calderon tilted his head to one side curiously and raised an eyebrow as Scorpius walked over to him.

"What's with the ring?" Calderon asked curiously as James stepped out of the fireplace.

"I like rings," Scorpius told him cautiously, he didn't like lying to Calderon but he couldn't tell him the truth, especially not while they weren't alone, "aren't you missing breakfast?"

"Pfft breakfast," Calderon brushed it off, "I don't always eat at meals. Three meals a day is more meals a day than I've ever had in my life, if I ate all that food then I think I'd explode."

"You can't explode from eating food," James complained loftily but Calderon seemed unfazed as he gestured and an explosion of light burst from the air in front as if to illustrate his point.

"How do you know?"

"Because its obvious! Everyone knows that, its never happened before."

"Ah but there's a first time for everything," Calderon pointed out and James rolled his eyes.

"Well then just starve but you're missing out, Hogwarts breakfasts are the best, you can have as much bacon as you want."

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Then you're missing out even more!" James moaned as Harry Potter stepped out of the fireplace and took his son aside to talk to him quietly out of earshot, from the eye rolls it looked like a lecture. Another Auror stepped out of the fireplace.

"You can go now, Scor," Calderon offered leaning back in the chair, "get your stuff put away and go to breakfast, if you've already eaten you can just hang around before your first class. Just please don't wind up back here again, if James is bothering you just come to me, okay?"

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, feeling relieved at the use of his nickname, "I won't let you down, Calderon. See you."

"You too. Password to you Common Room is 'sherbert lemon' by the way, I checked."

"Thanks."

Scorpius left the office with James still being talked to by his father and headed back to Gryffindor Tower alone, it was strange to be back but at the same time he was glad. The corridors were virtually empty, the students were all at breakfast but he did see the occasional Auror, he gripped his wand tightly whenever he passed them but they didn't say or do anything to him. Gryffindor Tower was empty too, his bed was neatly made and resting just as he'd left it. He put away his things and got his Charms books ready for the unfortunate first lesson, his eyes kept drifting over to Michael's empty even neater bed and wondering how his friend was doing. Or even if they were still friends considering what Scorpius had done to him.

He sighed and left for the Great Hall, he thought it would be best if he could try speak to his friends before the first class. Plus there was safety in numbers. And he'd be more likely to see James again if he hung around Gryffindor Tower. He still hesitated as he reached the Great Hall, psyching himself up as tried to prepare himself for a potentially cold or angry greeting. Calderon may have seemed to have forgiven him but that didn't mean Michael would've, or even that his other friends wouldn't hate him for what he'd done. He found his legs had jumped before his mind could finish worrying and he entered the hall.

He regretted it immediately, heads swiveled towards him and there was a sudden flood of hushed whispers and fingers pointed at him. The Gryffindor table were casting him a lot of dirty looks as he strode down, suddenly wishing his friends sat at the opposite end of the table. He finally found his friends though, most of them anyway. Rose, Abby and Albus were sitting together in their usual area although Molly wasn't with them, nor were Corin and Maurice who were sitting further down talking with their hands. Scorpius decided to just leave them for now as he cleared his throat by the trio, Albus and Abby looked at him with neutral expressions while Rose hazarded a smile and gestured for him to sit down beside her.

"Hi," Scorpius offered nervously.

"So... how was your vacation?" Albus asked with a slightly forced cheerfulness and a visibly strained smile.

"It was... different. Um... why is everyone glaring at me?"

"You and James lost two hundred points for Gryffindor in a single afternoon," Abby pointed out, "there's pretty much no chance of us winning the House Cup now, you and him aren't very popular at the moment with Gryffindor."

"Not like I was popular anyway," Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned by the house he didn't belong in losing or not liking him. Actually he was rather annoyed, they cared more about a stupid cup than about someone getting hurt, "where's Molly?"

"Early Quidditch practice I think," Albus answered and the trio exchanged an odd look before avoiding looking at Scorpius, he frowned as he got the impression he was missing something, "she doesn't really eat with us anymore anyway. Still practices though, thinks if she trains hard enough then not only can she win the Quidditch Cup but salvage the House Cup if she can get enough goals. Its obviously not going to happen though, no amount of training can make Louis, Latimer or Freddie's girlfriend good enough to get that many goals. Gives her something to focus on though I guess, she's still getting a lot of trouble for being Lucy's sister."

"Is there anything I should know about Molly?"

"No," the three answered in perfect unison without looking at him, his frown deepened but he decided to let it slide for the moment as he hadn't asked the most important question yet of all.

"Where's Michael?"

"Not here," Rose told him hesitantly, "he comes to breakfast early when no one else is around and leaves before most people arrive, not sure where he hangs out until class, not the Library or Gryffindor Tower though. Its a mystery."

"And none of you go with him?!" Scorpius burst out in surprise and they all shifted uncomfortably.

"Its complicated," Albus protested as he picked at his plate, "you know we were on rocky ground before you left, I did apologize but he told me to not to and I should be glad I got my wish about him not being able to play. Not until the new year at least, according to the healer. But I am totally not glad by the way, I feel terrible, I never wanted him to get hurt. He said we're okay though after that but... well they wrote to his mother and stepfather about his eye and he got a letter from home as a reply, don't know what it said but since then he's been really withdrawn."

"You ditched him because he went quiet?!"

"No! We were still hanging out then," Rose exclaimed looking exasperated, "we just started being around Devin Copper - you remember that boy I liked? - and his friends, I guess he feels self conscious because he started avoiding us then after he stopped wearing the bandages. Even though Devin is totally cool with him... By the way, did I tell you that Devin asked me out?! We're dating now!"

"Well that's great," Scorpius offered dismissively, "but what about Michael?"

"What about him? Did you not hear me say he's avoiding us? He comes to breakfast so early he's gone before us, skips lunch and arrives really late to dinner so he can sit far away from us, if he turns up for dinner at all. He sits away from us in lessons and... we actually have no idea where he goes all day, not the Library or the Common Room."

"Not the dormitory either," Albus added, "and he barely arrives within time for the curfew, he does a you and closes the drapes. Sometimes you see him around Vern and Orous but mostly he's just... not around, we figured he just needs some space for now."

"Maybe," Scorpius muttered worriedly and swallowed, "how's... how's his eye?"

"He didn't magically get his sight back in it one or a prosthetic one if that's what you mean," Abby informed him as she pushed aside her empty bowl.

"Has a really gross scar though," Rose said with a cringe, "and his blind eye is gross too."

"Are you guys mad at me?" Scorpius questioned quietly with a sinking feeling as he idly thumbed the friendship bracelet around his wrist.

"Meh, maybe a few weeks ago but we've come to terms with it now," Albus shrugged before sighing, "please don't try blind James again though, I know he can be a total jerk and he's just as much as responsible for Michael as you are but please don't take his eye out, he is still my brother. And if only so you don't get expelled, please don't."

"I wasn't trying to blind him, I was going for his chest. Michael's just shorter than James..."

Scorpius was spared having to talk about it more as the bell for the first class rang out and everyone started shuffling out, he overheard James complaining to his friends about Gryffindor being mad at him for losing points when it was clearly Scorpius' fault. Scorpius wondered if he was a bad person for being cheered up marginally by James' misery as they headed off to Charms, he did keep his eye out for Michael but didn't see him. The trio talked to him about work he'd missed in Charms until they arrived at the classroom, taking their usual seats.

He noticed Grant sitting at the table staring at him with his beady little eyes and his friends' speech faded out, Grant's injuries seemed to have healed well enough. He either hadn't been injured at all and was completely faking it to look innocent or he was so insanely dedicated to the Shadows that he had allowed himself to be injured to look innocent. He had to be the one working with the Shadows, Scorpius knew it was him. He knew it. It explained why Grant hated him, it explained why he had been so desperate for Calderon to expel him, to make him an easy target for them. It could even explain why he'd been such a jerk to Michael, Michael had stopped the Shadows from abducting him in Diagon Alley... Michael had saved him. And he'd blinded him.

"I see you're back from your suspension," Grant stated as he stood up and approached Scorpius, the look of loathing was unmasked.

"Clearly," Scorpius said firmly, holding the man's gaze determinedly.

"You missed work."

"I figured."

"Here," Grant offered as he shoved a piece of parchment in Scorpius' hands, "its a list of what we covered while you were absent with the appropriate chapters that I want you to read through, Calderon is most insistent that both of you don't suffer for missing weeks of your education. At the end of the month I shall arrange for you to come after class so we can go through it and make sure you're caught up. Understand?"

"Yes," Scorpius told him icily although he was fairly sure without Calderon that Grant would be perfectly content to just leave him a few weeks behind the rest of the class.

Grant nodded curtly and went to the front of the class to begin the lesson, his beaming smile on his face once more as he addressed the cheerful looking students. Scorpius was half about to ask why they were starting without Michael when he noticed that his friend must have slipped in while he was occupied with Grant, he was sitting opposite him across from the space where Grant stood to lecture.

The bandages were gone from his face as were the stitches but the mark of Scorpius - and James' - work remained, the jagged wound was now closed up but the scar remained livid on his skin. The eye was somewhat disturbing, the spell had cut straight through the pupil and iris, as a result seeming to eliminate them completely, replacing the bright hazel with a gaping vertical wound. The mismatched eyes seemed to remain in unison though, both of them were glancing between Grant and the page, giving the impression that Michael could see from the creepy vertical wound that - from across the room anyway - looked like it had been taken from some kind of demonic snake. He knew Michael couldn't see out of it but it still looked where he did.

"Lumus!" Sal cried as she waved the wand in a way similar to what Brutus had told her to do but nothing happened, she flinched and looked at Brutus with a petrified look while a fire started in the corner of the room.

"I'm not going to torture you if you get it wrong, Sal," Brutus offered trying to make his voice sound soothing which was actually not that easy, "I'm trying to help you not... what Rodolphus is doing, I use to struggle with spells too - except kind of dueling, defense against the dark artsy spells - and while I wasn't tortured, I was always told off and insulted for it by my grandparents. They used to take it in turns sending me Howlers whenever I did a spell wrong, everyone thought it was hilarious... but not the point, the point is that bad things happening to you for failing is not helpful. It just makes you stressed and upset which makes it harder to succeed at the next thing, torture has got to have a much more severe effect than Howlers which is why I think you and Tommy struggle so much when very clearly you both have power."

"So what does help?"

"You're saying it wrong, its Lumos not Lumus. Loo-mos. There's no need to rush, you'll get it in your own time so just say it a few times first to make sure you know it and weren't in so much of a hurry that you weren't really paying attention. Without waving the wand," Brutus explained and Sal patiently repeated the correct pronunciation, when Brutus was content he moved back over to her and guided her hand in the correct movement for the spell, "alright good, now you were slightly off on the wand movement too, its slightly more like this. Practice that a few times too."

"Alright," Sal nodded as she practiced and perfected the wand movement.

"Good, now try again."

"Lumos," Sal tried again flourishing the wand correctly but still produced no light, she scowled worriedly and looked at him in askance to explain her failure.

"Say it like you actually believe it will work," Brutus told her seriously, "you control the magic and if you don't believe it will work than subconsciously you're fighting against the magic and the magic is losing. Keep trying, every failed attempt is one closer to your successful attempt."

"You really think I can do it?"

"Don't you think you can do it?"

"I... don't know," Sal admitted slowly, looking thoughtful as she fiddled with the wand in her hands, "but I see your point, if a part of you is telling magic to do things and another part of you isn't then the magic doesn't know what to do, you need focus to properly perform magic."

"Exactly!" Brutus agreed, pleased that she seemed to grasp it before the door lock clicked open and he hurriedly snatched his wand back in time before the door swung open.

Brutus shivered violently, both from the Dementors and Shadows as they came down into the basement that had actually been bearably not cold until then. He glanced up the stairs and saw as Rodolphus violently kicked Tommy down the stairs, Tommy whimpered in pain and curled up in a ball on the floor at the bottom of the steps. Rodolphus gave a sadistic satisfied smirk and slammed shut the door, Brutus still had the rest of his shift after all. He helped Tommy to sit up, the poor boy was trembling, his face was blotchy from bruises again and blood was dribbling from his mouth. Despite Tommy's somewhat terrifying display of magic, Brutus still felt bad for him and attempted to heal the injuries which wasn't easy with the Dementors. Tommy closed his exhausted eyes hopelessly and rested his battered head against the wooden bannister, hugging his arms around himself.

"If you didn't want to be tortured then you should have just killed him or let me kill him and then we'd be free," Sal pointed out unsympathetically as she crossed her arms.

"Rather suffer than watch other people suffer," Tommy said defensively, "I don't like watching people suffer. Even bad people. It just reminds me what it feels like and then I feel bad."

"That's no excuse for not killing him!"

"Now's not the time," Brutus intervened before they could start arguing, Tommy didn't look like he had it in him to go another round anyway, his eyes were fluttering closed tiredly and a second later he was asleep. Or possibly passed out. Brutus sighed and scooped up Tommy's worryingly light body, carrying him over to the mattress and blankets that passed for a bed. Brutus lay him down and threw the blanket over him, he could probably use some rest. Brutus shivered again at the cold, even though the Dementors had orders to stay away from the guarding Dementors it didn't wholly help or maybe it was the Shadows still that made him so cold. Or possibly both? How was he supposed to know these things? "can you please send the Shadows away? I know it doesn't effect you but I'm freezing."

"Could just be Dementors, only you think Shadows make you cold," Sal told him unhelpfully, "you should be glad though, it could be useful having a special sense to spot the Shadows."

"Well we won't know unless you try it."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not the Shadow Master."

"Hey Michael!" Scorpius called out anxiously as they all filed out of Charms to head to the next lesson, jogging to keep up to Michael, who was surprisingly fast for someone so short. He was looking at a letter as he walked but pocketed it as Scorpius reached him, glancing at him with his newly mismatched eyes, the scar was even more noticeable close up and the eye still disturbing. The worst part for Scorpius really wasn't the injury itself but seeing it on Michael, he hadn't had that before. You did that to him, his mind reminded his already guilty conscience and his mouth struggled to find words, "how... how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," Michael told him as they continued walking on the way to the next class.

"How's your eye?"

"It hurts."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized glumly and Michael sighed.

"Okay here's the deal. Stop telling me you're sorry and I'll forgive you," Michael offered and Scorpius blinked in surprise.

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes!" Michael told him and smiled comfortingly, making the part of the scar on his cheek move, "its not a big deal, just a scar and I have plenty of those, I still have my other eye and even my injured eye isn't completely blind. You know if its bright then everything is white instead of black if I close my good eye?"

"We're really okay?" Scorpius said slowly, unsure whether Michael was genuinely smiling or putting on one of his extremely convincing fake smiles and didn't think seeing a vacuum of white instead of black made up for losing vision.

"If you stop apologizing. Don't look so shocked, life doesn't stop just because something bad happens, you just have to put one foot forwards and get on with it."