Parts (59-60)

II

Chapter 15

Rise of Hope

Part 1: Ups and Downs

Scorpius did try to get away to see Varanian one last time before they went but he didn't manage it with his family trying to squeeze in as much time with him before they left for the platform, even his grandmother was coming with him to see him off. He didn't mind, it was better than just being alone with his parents and he was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts now he wasn't afraid of Michael losing his memory so much. He started looking around for his friends when he got there but was surprised to spot Calderon there, leaning against the wall by himself dressed in only his muggle attire and the silver dragon necklace that Scorpius had gotten him the previous year.

"Calderon!" Scorpius exclaimed happily rushing over to hug him.

"Hey Scor," Calderon offered as Scorpius pulled away, "could you possibly yell my name louder next time? Trying to be inconspicuous here or people will be asking me stuff."

"Sorry, although people can see you," Scorpius muttered glancing around but it was so busy that no one seemed to have noticed, "what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Making sure the train journey back to Hogwarts goes alright, the Ministry finally relented and let me kick the Aurors so... safety's solely on me."

"You got rid of the Aurors?" Scorpius wondered hopefully and couldn't help but smile even before Calderon nodded, holding up his hand and little light stick people started walking grumpily away from the little light castle.

"When they start killing or nearly killing people, they become more of a hindrance than a help but the Ministry like to seem like they're doing something, the Ministry is an idiot."

"I think the Ministry is a bunch of people not just one person."

"Yes but individually they're alright, as a group they're an idiot."

"I... okay," Scorpius gave up, there was no getting past Calderon logic sometimes.

"Scorpius! There you are, don't wander off," his grandmother called out as she came over to them, lights immediately flashed around Calderon as she flicked her gaze to him, "and who are you?"

"Err... M-Marius. Calderon. Marius Calderon, yes," Calderon stammered for a moment and the lights flashed around him, "that's my who I am. Nice to... um... pleasure to... err... glad I could erm... hello and good after-morning-noon Mrs Malfoy."

"Ah you're Calderon, Scorpius has told us so much about you!" his grandmother offered brightly and even granted him a slight smile as she held out her hand for him to shake, Calderon looked at it like it was poisoned or some kind of trick for a moment before taking her hand, "its an honor to finally meet you... Or have we met before by any chance? Don't take this the wrong way but you remind me of someone but I can't place who."

"No we haven't met... I just have one of those faces that looks like everyone else. I don't... I don't know you. I mean I've heard of you. A lot about you but I've never seen you before in my life. Ever. Not once. Until now. I've... I've met you now. Just like now but I meant before that, you probably know what I meant. I just erm... " Calderon babbled unusually awkwardly and Scorpius was reminded of the memorial last year when he'd had a similar reaction to Andromeda, it was odd although a much darker thought struck him, Calderon had known his grandfather because he'd tortured him as a child, surely his grandmother wouldn't have done that as well? "my condolences on your husband, Mrs Malfoy."

"Thank you."

"Well its a pleasure to meet you but I really must go and check on the train, farewell. See you later, Scor," Calderon announced before hurrying away and darting into the train.

"Well you were right about his... oddness and magic, I've never seen anything..." his grandmother said to him before frowning then shaking her head, "he looks so familiar."

"He gets that a lot," Scorpius shrugged it off and made a mental note to ask him about it, "come on, let's find Mother and Father."

Scorpius only found his parents to say goodbye, no longer interested in finding his friends when Calderon was there, he hardly ever saw the former assistant whereas he saw his friends everyday. He went straight to the staff compartment where he'd first met Calderon, sure enough he was there looking thoughtful and avoiding the window although he looked at him when he came in instead.

"Can I join you?" Scorpius asked politely.

"If you wish," Calderon pointed out with a grin as he gestured to the seat opposite, "I will have to leave periodically to check the train though."

"Fair enough."

"Wizard Chess?"

"Definitely!" Scorpius agreed enthusiastically as he sat down.

A few games in and Scorpius noticed two things, the first was that he had improved, the second was that he'd forgotten how skilled Calderon was at chess. In fact, after being obliterated the first few times, Scorpius wasn't sure whether he was getting better at defending himself from Calderon's tactics or whether Calderon was simply manipulating the game to let him think he was having more of a chance so he wouldn't feel so bad at losing. Not that he felt bad, he was just glad to get to spend some time with Calderon again even if he stayed true to his word about leaving to check the train every so often. They talked as they played too, Calderon asked him about his electives although he already knew Scorpius' choices from going through the forms over Easter to start planning out the schedules.

"What would you have picked?" Scorpius asked curiously after Calderon checkmated him once more, "for electives, you know if you'd went to Hogwarts."

"Care of Magical Creatures definitely, creatures are cool and Study of Ancient Runes is pretty interesting so that," Calderon answered thoughtfully, "maybe Muggle Studies because its good to know about how the others live but I always liked the mathematical aspect of Arithmancy so I'd pick that then again I suppose it depends on how much I would know at this point, at thirteen I didn't really know anything about the subjects so I'd probably just pick the first two."

"What about Divination?"

"No. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the subject and I don't believe its as crazy as people say but I just don't want to know the future, never have. I'd rather not know then risk seeing its something bad."

"I never thought of that," Scorpius admitted, recalling Molly's ability and feeling bad for her for not having a choice, he'd been meaning to ask her if she'd liked her gift. It reminded him that there was something he was also meaning to ask Calderon, "Calderon... you know how... you know how my grandfather tortured you?"

"Yes," Calderon said slowly, pausing slightly in setting up the board again and lights flickered around him for a moment.

"Did my... I mean my grandmother... did..."

"She never tortured me," Calderon answered, thankfully catching on and Scorpius felt a bubble of relief.

"You did know her though, didn't you?"

"Yeah. She didn't like me very much. Probably a good thing she doesn't remember me."

"Well she thought you looked familiar."

"Trust me, Scor, if she remembered me she wouldn't need to see me to know who I was, hearing of my magic would have been enough."

"I wonder why she forgot then," Scorpius wondered thoughtfully but Calderon only shrugged.

Scorpius was in a good mood from talking to Calderon when he got off the train, he'd almost forgotten how much he liked his company. He was looking for his friends as they headed to the carriages, he caught sight of Molly getting into a carriage with Latimer, Caitlin, Freddie from the team, hearing her talking about Quidditch before she noticed him and waved him over. All she did was offer her hand to him to get into the carriage, he took it before his mind could remember he was trying to find the others and apologize for not sitting with them.

It was too late then though, not that he could mind spending time with Molly. She was wearing the charm bracelet with the new addition on it although she didn't stop to detract from Quidditch talk, it was just over a month until their last match and there was a lot riding on it. After Ravenclaw's slaughter of Slytherin and Gryffindors annihilation of Hufflepuff - even though James hadn't caught the Snitch - it meant the next game was basically Hufflepuff and Slytherin fighting for third place - unless either scored a positively miraculous number of points - meaning their match against Ravenclaw was essentially for the Quidditch Cup. There was a lot riding on the game for Molly, not only was it her first year as Captain but she was the youngest Captain for a long time, she had a lot to prove and as the sister of a squib people were expecting nothing from her anyway. Scorpius was determined to win it for her.

"And thanks for the charm by the way, Scor," Molly offered with a smile that made his heart skip another beat as they left the carriages and headed inside, "its really starting to look charmy! Wait is that a word?"

"It is now," Scorpius laughed as they continued in and joined his friends at the Gryffindor table, "sorry for not sitting with you on train, got caught up with Calderon and then Molly invited me to sit in her carriage too, I didn't even see you guys."

"Its okay," Michael brushed it off with a shrug.

And Scorpius had to do a double take on Michael. He was so used to seeing the grotesque eye with the scar that looked like it was watching you that he'd zoned out from it but now Michael's eye was different, the scar above, below and on his eyelid remained but the eye itself was different. The eye was normal looking in shape, he had a circular iris and pupil once more although the color was wrong. The pupil was navy rather than black, the iris was a deep shade of blue and almost seemed to be revolving and the white of his eye was actually blue-ish, a dark cyan. His eye was also bruised.

"Its a prosthetic," Michael explained, probably noticing him looking, "its blue right now but it adapts to you, in time it should change to be the same color as my real eye."

"Cool," Scorpius grinned, his day was just getting better and better although Michael didn't return his smile, "what's with the bruise?"

"Its from the process of getting rid of my old eye and getting a prosthetic."

"Are you sure?" Molly asked curiously.

"Of course I'm sure," Michael said quickly giving Molly an odd look.

Scorpius was still in good spirits through dinner, catching up with his friends and no longer under the eyes of the Aurors, Scorpius felt safer in Hogwarts at that moment than he ever had during both years combined. He was so happy he could've skipped to bed.
"You're in a good mood," Albus commented as they got into bed, "guess Molly told you then."

"And you're unusually grumpy," Scorpius offered, "wait, what about Molly?"

"Well I have to share a room with Vern with now on and he's living with us plus I spent the week grounded so I couldn't practice for the Quidditch tryouts."

"A Dursley coming to live with Potters after his parents were killed? Irony much?" Scorpius pointed out in morbid amusement, "and they'll be plenty of time to practice over the summer. So what about Molly?"

"She broke up with Nick."

"She did?!" Scorpius burst out delightedly, so much so that Reuben startled awake for a moment before going back to sleep, Albus laughed.

"Yep!"

"Could this day any better?" Scorpius sighed happily lying back down in bed and resisting the urge to wonder whether he was a bad person for being glad they broke up.

"If Crystal broke up with her boyfriend too?"

"Albus!" Michael snapped from his bed to which Albus chuckled again.

"I was joking!" Albus called back before adding quieter, "sort of."

Brutus sat by her bedside like he did every day, he couldn't spend the whole day with her but he always managed at least an hour. It felt wrong to just leave her like that although a part of him preferred being away, he hated seeing her so lifeless and silent, it wasn't like Sal at all and he continually checked just to reassure himself she was still breathing. He knew she was still alive, reaching out mentally but he still liked to be there with her in person, hold her hand so tight and will her to wake up miraculously. He knew she wouldn't but still.

The guilt gnawed away at him a little more everyday, he was supposed to protect her and he had failed. Completely and utterly failed. It was his fault it had gone wrong in the first place, he should never have told Lucius how to throw off the control or maybe he just hadn't been clear enough that doing that would result in the Specter taking his soul immediately as it was trained to do. And because of that Lucius had lost his soul and Sal was trapped in a coma she might possibly never wake up from, he did actually feel guilt for both but Sal was the priority of his concern at that moment.

They were fairly certain now what needed to be done to revive Sal, the issue was getting Scorpius and Tommy away from the safety of Hogwarts and to them to get co-operation. Brutus had zoned out of the debating, people often assumed he was stupid and underestimate him and usually he tended to agree with them but he had been thinking about this a lot. He knew a way to lure the pair away, give anyone a finite time limit and they'd act rashly especially if a life hung in the balance. He alone happened to know the people he'd need for his plan personally - with the exception of Scorpius but he was pretty sure he knew enough about him for his plan, he was sure he could manipulate them all into a positive outcome. The downside was that it put Atticus at risk, he hadn't lost his desire to protect his family any and his brother would suffer either way.

But he also hadn't lost his desire to protect Sal and she was family too now, sacrifice was necessary sometimes and he was confident he could keep his brother alive while still saving Sal, that was what mattered. He hoped Atticus would understand in time, he would understand. He would. Looking down at Sal, Brutus knew had no other choice, a sacrifice to save her life was more than worth it, he had to save her, he had to. His plan was the only one that would save her.

"I love you, Sal," Brutus whispered gently and leaned over to kiss her forehead tenderly as he squeezed her hand one final time before letting go and moving away, "I promise I'll get you out of this."

He wiped the wetness from his face, he could hardly go out and face the others with tears on his cheeks before taking a deep breath, his resolve hardened as he left Sal to rejoin the others. There was Rabastan of course, the only one who'd been loyal to Sal longer than he had who was just standing back shaking his head, their somewhat spy leader Celestine was arguing down some idiotic idea that the brute Selwyn had had in favor of an equally idiotic idea, the man who hated his brother for disfiguring him - Seraph - chimed in with occasional bursts of sarcasm to mock them both while the fifth and only woman in the room just sat watching them fight with one of her cold smiles. Alexis Azubah Loren wasn't usually privy to the higher up meetings but since leaving she had needed to stay with them to keep away from the general public, she had shortish light brown hair with a slight wave to it and oceanic colored eyes.

"Enough," Brutus growled and those speaking stopped to look at him, only Rabastan had noticed him entering prior to that and Brutus had a better relationship with him than the others anyway, the other three men's lips pursed in dislike and disgust while Alexis' expression became a mask of neutrality, "this has gone on long enough."

"Really?" Alexis quipped sarcastically, "and here I thought the plan was to incessantly argue enough to annoy the master enough to wake up to wring our necks."

"Oh shut up, Knox," Brutus snapped to piss her off and it worked, anger cracked the neutral expression as she sat stiffly up.

"You know I didn't take that muggle's name when I married him."

"I know, I just want you to shut the hell up and listen me," Brutus complained before smirking, he couldn't show them his reservations or they'd tear him apart like a pack of wild hyenas, "I have a plan that will actually work, so listen up because this is what we're doing..."

Scorpius was glad to be back, despite the increased workload in preparation for exams, Molly was piling on the Quidditch practices which meant more time with her and in the air. He thought Varanian was alright too, Scorpius 'ringed' him to ask him how he was daily and every time he replied 'fine'. While it wasn't as detailed as Scorpius hoped, at least it meant he was alive and health enough to reply. April was over before he knew it and May began, thankfully without a memorial massacre like the previous year.

The only thing really bothering him - aside from the Shadow professor fears hanging over his head - was Michael, maybe it was Scorpius' imagination but he seemed distant and quieter, he looked exhausted. Scorpius kept expecting him to ask about the whole situation with Varanian, he wasn't sure how to bring it up himself or what to say but Michael didn't. Scorpius was actually starting to worry that Varanian had somehow managed to erase Michael's memory despite his injuries, they were walking to Quidditch practice alone together at the start of the second week back with a rather noticeable lack of conversation and Scorpius finally decided to just look the dragon in the eye already and bring it up.

"So... You remember about Varanian over Easter, right?" Scorpius offered trying to sound casual.

"Of course, just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I forget," Michael pointed out sounding almost offended that Scorpius could think that, "how could I forget something like that?"

"Sorry, I just wondered since you haven't said anything about it."

"Neither have you and you told me not to."

"I didn't mean me."

"Sorry, usually you do so there's no point asking."

"I only keep things from you or the others if its your best interests," Scorpius protested, "I've been waiting for you to bring it up so I could explain."

"Look, Scorpius," Michael began seriously stopping and turning to face, "I believe you completely about what happened last year with Varanian and the Blood Runes but that doesn't mean I trust him. Maybe you know things I don't - you probably do - and have reasons for trusting him but I don't, I saved the life of the man who spent last year torturing my best friends, erasing their memories, trying to turn everyone in the school into Spectral puppets, being involved with this mega evil group, nearly killing people and torturing me. I don't like him or trust him right and I might have just saved the life of someone evil that you could be in danger from and its eating me up inside."

"I... I had no idea you felt like that," Scorpius admitted quietly, in fact it had never even crossed his mind, "look, I promise Varanian's not bad and I only don't say things because its better that way, the more people know the more risk Varanian's in and the more risk they'll tell someone. Not that I think you'd tell someone, its more of an Albus thing."

"Its okay, I get it, there's things I don't tell you either."

"But Varanian's okay really, we're against the Shadows and he's fighting them. I can't say too much without going into detail but trust me."

"That's your idea of an explanation?" Michael wondered before sighing, "alright Scorpius, I trust you. But I still don't trust him."

"Okay then."

Scorpius wasn't sure if that had helped any, Michael was particularly good at hiding that it was bothering him if at all, he thought things improved but he thought Michael still looked tired a lot like he hadn't been sleeping. Then again, there was a match coming up and Michael was more stressed about exams than the others as well, including Rose who had them pouring over books to study and revise what they'd learned for tests still a month away just about. Scorpius and Abby were indifferent, they accepted the studying but were confident enough that they knew enough to pass to not get overly anxious about it, especially not when it was a month away. Albus however just didn't seem to care and was forever earning a whack to the head with a book from his cousin for trying to draw them away from their focus of topic.

"I'm just going to the restroom, I'll be back," Rose announced the Sunday at the end of the first week back, she eyed them as she stood as if expecting them to bolt the instant she moved.

"Hey, I know what we could talk about that's always fun, who is Michael's cr-" Albus started to say as Rose went to stand, whatever Albus was going to say was abruptly cut off as his body jolted like he'd had a hiccup, Rose cast him a scowl as she left, "why the bloody hell did you kick me?!"

"You can't talk about my crush in front of Rose!" Michael hissed looking panicked as his face went scarlet.

"Why not?"

"Because... Because isn't it obvious?! Its your cousin, okay, just stop asking me about it, my crush is your cousin and I just didn't want to say in case it was weird and you laughed at me but just don't say anything to her, please!"

"Wait, which cousin?"

"Which one do you think!?" Michael burst out looking exasperated although Scorpius exchanged a puzzled look with Abby, did Michael mean who they thought he meant?

"Erm... Vic?"

"No."

"Dom?"

"No."

"Please don't tell me you like Molly too!?"

"No!"

"Roxy?"

"No!"

"Err... Lucy?"

"NO! Its Rose!"

"Quiet over there," the librarian complained.

"She back already?" Albus wondered looking around, Michael looked like he wanted to bang his head against the table.

"No, Rose my crush," Michael pointed out quietly and Scorpius couldn't help it, apparently neither could Abby or Albus because they all burst out laughing, "why are you laughing?!"

"Because... Because... Rose! Of all people! Are you sure you don't mean a different Rose?"

"No. I like her, okay? I really like her. I have for a long time."

"But its Rose," Scorpius couldn't help but add as he tried to calm down to spare Michael's feelings, "she's great as a friend and all but... c'mon, Rose?!"

"She's so... Rose," Abby concluded lamely still laughing along with Albus, Scorpius couldn't resist the urge to join in again, it just seemed to strange and random for Michael to like Rose when she could be so abrasive.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Michael muttered miserably as Rose came back into sight, "and please don't tell her."

"Why are you laughing?" Rose demanded sitting back down, "you're supposed to be studying."

"Because... Because the healer's name is Marigold!" Albus lied and laughed even harder, he genuinely did find the name amusing while Rose shook her head disapprovingly.

"Well if you don't shut up then we'll get kicked out so hush, unless you want to fail your exams and get expelled."

"You don't get expelled for failing exams, you just have to repeat the year," Abby pointed out as she sobered along with Scorpius, still trying to figure out the appeal of Rose as a girlfriend.

They didn't mention it again all week except to apologize to Michael for laughing, at least it shut Albus up pestering Michael for his mystery crush's identity and gave Albus a good comeback when he asked Michael questions about Crystal - why shouldn't he like Michael's mother when Michael liked his cousin? Although Scorpius was on Michael's side with this - as well as when Albus took great delight in telling Vern, Corin, Orous and Maurice. Corin also laughed while the two Hufflepuffs were more dignified, Maurice simply pointed out once more how stupid crushes and relationships were. Rose remained blissfully ignorant.

The Hufflepuff versus Slytherin game was as expected, simply a battle for third place as neither came close to scoring near enough goals. Slytherin won in the end, it was essentially a tie before Kyle Nott caught the Snitch seeming to have overcome his fear of the pitch turning to ice and killing people enough to not do utterly terribly like he had before. Scorpius had been cheering for Hufflepuff for Orous and Vern, he was disappointed Hufflepuff lost although he expected as much with their terrible Seeker - he still didn't know how James could've lost to her - even though he hated Kyle for picking on Molly when he first met her, he was more talented as a Seeker but definitely not as a person.

Part 2: Victory

Scorpius found the anxiety was catching after the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match, it marked two weeks until the final game and it was only another week after that until exams. Every day only lessened the gap and Molly had them practicing every day, battling with the Ravenclaw captain for custody of the pitch who also wanted to train daily leading up to the match, studying and homework on top of that was also smothering him, he stayed up late every day until Friday with Michael to get it done. Although some professors were nicer than others, Professors Ashain and Longbottom both gave him and Michael extra time for assignments because of the practices.

He was dreading Friday though despite the fact it was his favorite two subjects, the Patronus lesson always left him feeling drained - although he was proud to say he was improving, he could make a large window when he tried - and he didn't need to feel drained when he had Quidditch practice after and needed to study. He was seriously tempted to not even bother trying and Michael seemed to be in the same frame of thought because his attempts were more futile than usual, Professor Ashain seemed to pick up on it.

"Come on, you two, the Quidditch match isn't until next week," Professor Ashain complained, "you're not even trying."

"What's the point? I'm going to fail anyway," Michael pointed out glumly.

"Well you are with that attitude, if you're thinking that you're going to fail then you're not concentrating fully on your memory and projecting the Patronus," the professor explained and Michael actually looked like something had clicked in his mind.

"Okay that makes sense, I think I can," Michael muttered thoughtfully before taking a breath and as he flicked his wand again, "Expecto Patronum!"

Usually when everyone in the class said the by that point, it caused a silver window to appear, of varying size and opacity and in Michael's case it was usually a thready weak one. But not that time, a spectacular shimmering shield of silver spread out from around him, most of the class stopped to look in surprise and amazement.

"Well done, Michael!" Professor Ashain exclaimed happily, "twenty points for Gryffindor, that's a incorporeal Patronus everyone."

"No wait I think I can do more, Expecto Patronum!" Michael said again, brandishing his wand once more and the silver shield blazed brighter and spread but Michael looked steadfastly determined, "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Every time Michael said it the shield grew, increasing to also enclose those around him in a protective bubble but at the last Michael stood and yelled it fiercely but the sound of the spell was lost in a roar. That time the shield didn't increase, the silver light seemed to implode in on itself and morphed into an animal that leaped from Michael's wand and clean over the desk in front.

Michael's Patronus was a lion, a great and rather large lion. It stood at the front of the class, shaking its magnificent mane of silver tendrils as it pawed the ground and glanced over them, its tail moving as it remained in place. It gave one last roar as it faded away, the class erupted into applause at one of them in Second Year casting a Patronus, as far as Scorpius knew he was the first to have done it in their year. Michael just smiled sheepishly.

Word actually spread shockingly quickly and after changing into their Quidditch robes for practice, were frequently stopped by random strangers to ask if it was true or congratulate Michael on casting the Patronus - or in Maurice's case, demand to know how he did it. Considering the reaction, Scorpius was pretty sure that Michael was the first in Second Year and youngest in the school to cast a Patronus. Scorpius was impressed and hopeful, if Michael - who wasn't particularly skilled at spellwork - could do it then surely he could.

"Heard you cast a Patronus, Michael," Latimer offered with a rare grin as he joined them heading out to the pitch.

"Yeah I did," Michael admitted, "why does everyone know?"

"You're the first Second Year in the school to do it, no First Years have yet either. A few of the Third Years can, about half us Fourth Years can, most of Fifth and all or nearly all of Sixth. Its impressive, what animal was it?"

"A lion."

"Very Gryffindor, I'm a mink."

"Can Molly do it?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Yeah, she's some kind of owl and Nick's a snake," Latimer told him brightly as they arrived at the pitch where the others already were.

"Congratulations on getting a Patronus!" Freddie congratulated Michael immediately, clapping on the shoulder.

"Thanks. Does everyone know?" Michael offered in reply.

"Welcome to the club! Mine's a hyena and Caitlin's got a lynx, Louis has got a doneky or something."

"Its a stallion," Louis protested brushing back his blond hair from his eyes and looking offended, "not a donkey."

"It doesn't matter whose Patronus is what when we're on this pitch," Molly interrupted sounding very Captain-like, "now everyone get up in the air, we only have a week and a day until the final match until Calderon gives out the Cup and if you want it to be us then we need to practice."

"Wait, will Calderon be at the match?" Scorpius wondered hopefully.

"Yep, he has to be to hand out the Cup. So move it everyone!"

Scorpius felt more determined as the week wore on, he didn't want Calderon to see him lose and he didn't want to let Molly down by losing - like James had - so he had to win. No pressure. The week managed to go by both too quickly and not quick enough for Scorpius' liking, he wanted the match to just be over with already but then also wanted it to not happen yet in case he failed. He was also more than a little disappointed at failing to cast a Patronus again, Michael cast his lion effortlessly every time but Scorpius got nothing as did everyone else in the class. And then it was just one more practice, bed and the final dawned.

"I'm so excited!" Albus announced cheerfully as he headed down to breakfast with Scorpius and Michael, who looked ready to throw up again, "I can't wait for the match, its going to be epic."

"Please stop talking about the match," Michael mumbled quietly as the sat down and buried his face in his hands.

"How can you possibly be nervous after last game? That was tres merveilleux!" Corin announced enthusiastically.

"Yeah, you'll do fine," Rose agreed patting his arm, "also if you could absolute slaughter Ravenclaw then that'd be great because I'd really like to rub Copper's nose in it."

"We'll do our best," Scorpius promised putting some food onto his plate while Michael remained with his head in his hands.

"Quidditch is stupid," Maurice commented plainly.

"C'mon, you should eat something," Albus pointed out.

"I can't even look at food right now," Michael offered violently shoving his plate away and going back to holding his head in his hands.

"And please can you use my broom, its the last game and maybe your last chance to use it before the year's up, I could make the team next year after all. I want Gryffindor to win and I want you to do well and I want you to use my broom. Won't having an extra edge cheer you up?"

"If I use your broom can you stop talking about Quidditch and food?"

"Food yes, Quidditch no."

"Fine," Michael sighed while Albus fist-pumped the air.

Molly came to get them to take them to the locker rooms soon after. Michael looked like he had no color left in his face, Latimer looked extremely focused, Freddie was talking to his little sister about strategy while Caitlin sat humming to herself, Molly was pacing. Scorpius felt unusually at ease noticing that James wasn't there, he'd been banned from the last game for attacking Maurice after all. Molly finally cleared her throat.

"Alright then team, I really suck at these motivational speeches so I'll keep it short," Molly began, "I know at the start of the year people didn't have high hopes for us, people barely showed up for tryouts which means I have all the more faith in you, look at our record. In the first game, despite the crazy horrible shit that happened, we won. In the second game, despite not having our Seeker or catching the Snitch, we won. You may look at it as severely bad luck but I see it as us beating the odds again and again, if we can overcome all that then we can overcome Ravenclaw today easily. We can do it, I have faith in every one of you and I know we can do this so let's go for it! Let's go out there and show them what we're made of! Show then that against the odds we can win one more time! Time for lions to take the skies!"

The team cheered before preparing to head out, he heard the Ravenclaw team called first and thunderous applause they got before Gryffindor were called out. They also received cheers although maybe less than Ravenclaw but Scorpius found he didn't care, the people he cared about were rooting for him, even Calderon, it didn't matter what anyone else thought. He was winning this for Molly and nothing was going to get in his way. The Captain was a tall dark-skinned boy who played Beater, his expression was neutral as he shook Molly's hand and they got up into the air. Scorpius faced the Ravenclaw Seeker, he didn't know the boy's name but he had very neat brown hair and sharp blue eyes, the boy surprisingly smiled at him.

"I've been looking forward you to playing you, Scorpius Malfoy," the Ravenclaw Seeker offered, "may the best Seeker win."

"May the best Seeker win," Scorpius echoed nodding.

Eben threw the Quaffle up into the cloudy and the match began. Latimer was the first one to it, he passed it to Michael who weaved through the players still scrambling for position and scored before the Keeper managed to get to the hoop, he had to narrowly avoid crashing into it but the goal stood.

Scorpius was rather impressed with his team, the hours of practice seemed to be paying off. Michael was exceptionally fast - even more so than usual on Albus' Cloudcutter - and Latimer was also skilled, Caitlin was probably the weakest of the three but regardless they worked in perfect harmony to get the Quaffle up the field and score. Roxy may not be as strong as James but she made up for it in skill - and not frequently trying to hit members of her own team - and worked much more in unison with her brother, they worked as a team rather than more solo the way Freddie and James did. Molly of course was amazing as ever.

However Ravenclaw were good too, they were very in sync with each other and the Chasers and Beaters worked well united to score, making it seem confusing who was going to score in what post and deliberately keeping Molly away - or trying to - when their teammates were trying to score. Their tactic had a downside though, it did leave the field open if Gryffindor could get the Quaffle back and also meant there was no one to keep an eye on the Seekers. As bad luck would have it, the Snitch was being elusive as after fifteen minutes in they'd only spotted once and lost it with the commotion of the other players in the way, Scorpius had also faked seeing it once to draw the Beaters away to allow Molly to score. The Ravenclaw Seeker - whose name was Pentakel as Scorpius learned from the commentary - was sharp eyed, he'd spotted it only the second after that Scorpius had and had realized Scorpius was feigning and called off the Beaters, too late to stop Molly blocking and getting the Quaffle back to Gryffindor hands but it proved his observation to realize that.

The next time they spied it was the final time and they saw it in unison, from opposite sides of the pitch and urged their brooms to speed after the glint of gold. Hurtling closer and closer, it was quite high up and Scorpius had the advantage of being higher than Pentakel, the Ravenclaw had to move towards it and rise. However as they neared it, the Snitch abruptly dropped and pelted downwards at a complete vertical angle. Scorpius felt a flicker of fear as he jolted downwards, not Pentakel had the advantage and despite a faster broom, the Ravenclaw was closer and Scorpius couldn't lose, he couldn't let Molly down. But how could he move faster?!

The thought that struck him was an odd one but he acted before fully thinking it though, it would either work spectacularly or fail epically. Pentakel was reaching for it and Scorpius jumped from his broom, letting go on the secure grip needed for such a steep drop and allowing gravity to propel him downwards. He plucked the Snitch from Pentakel's waiting hands and hugged the tiny golden ball to his body as he reached out with his legs to twist them around the tip of the broom and drag it close enough to grab once more and pull it up just before he could collide with the ground, grazing over the grass.

Scorpius landed and held up the Snitch for all to see, the applause that time was definitely loud. The rest of the team were coming over to join him, grins splitting faces as they cheered themselves, clapping him on the back or hugging him. It took Scorpius a moment to register that it wasn't just a game he'd won for Molly, he'd just won his entire house the Quidditch Cup. The Ravenclaw team landed too, trudging back to the locker rooms in defeat although Pentakel hung back for a moment to speak to him.

"You're completely mad, y'know with that move," Pentakel pointed out and for a second Scorpius thought he was going to be mad but instead he simply offered out his hand to shake, "but congratulations, good game."

"Thanks," Scorpius accepted his hand and Pentakel smirked good-naturedly.

"Just don't get too comfortable with that trophy because I am winning it back next year."

"Good luck with that," Scorpius grinned as Pentakel, "you're welcome to try."

"I look forward to it," Pentakel told him as he headed back with the rest of the team.

It was only then that Scorpius noticed Calderon was walking onto the pitch to award Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup, he clapped his hands and the trophy appeared in a flurry of lights to hover in the air. Calderon took it and offered it to Molly, she couldn't stop smiling as she grasped it carefully as if afraid it might

"And the winners of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup of 2018-2019 are Gryffindor!" Calderon announced so loudly his voice seemed to magically carry once more as Molly raised it triumphantly into the air, it was a good thing Calderon had magically enhanced his voice because the noise from the crowd just blurred into one loud deafening indistinguishable mass of sound but he could still hear Calderon only this time he was speaking to him alone and he smiled, "well done Scor, scary but well done."

"Come here, Scor, help me with this," Molly added still unable to stop smiling and Scorpius obliged as she lowered the glittering golden cup to shove one handle towards him, he reluctantly took it with his free hand as she thrust it into the air again with him holding on, the crowd reignited in their fervor as Gryffindor - and those who'd taken Gryffindor's side after realizing their house had lost - cheered their lungs out, the Ravenclaws - and those who'd taken Ravenclaw's side after realizing their house had lost - seemed to be filing out already so only the cheering remained. Despite disliking the attention, Scorpius smiled at a much needed win.

The atmosphere in Gryffindor changed noticeably after that, Scorpius had people he never talked to congratulating him and shaking his hand as did Michael, Reuben and Angelo from their dormitory seemed to make more of an effort to make idle conversation with him. They were winners to Gryffindor - they truly were a fickle house - and everything else seemed forgotten, it didn't matter Latimer was weird with questionable hygiene and pockmarks, it didn't matter Michael had a still weird-looking blue prosthetic eye and scar across his face, didn't matter Caitlin had stuck by her boyfriend despite his squib cousin, it didn't even matter that there was a squib in the family and she was Molly's sister anymore, they didn't even care that Scorpius was a Malfoy who should never have been in the house in the first place and Michael had stuck by him.

None of it mattered to Gryffindor in the face of victory. With the exception of Maurice - who still thought Quidditch was stupid - along with James and his friends, James cast them more loathing looks than usual, Scorpius would've thought he'd be pleased of Gryffindor's win but no, apparently not being able to win and soak in the glory or the fact Scorpius had caught the Snitch or... whatever his hang-ups were stopped him from enjoying it. Molly was no longer shunned by her former friends but she sat with Scorpius and his friends a meals more.

"Not sitting with your friends?" Albus commented on this on Monday at breakfast.

"Friends?" Molly wondered with a slight laugh, Scorpius loved her laugh so much, "they ditched me as soon as they found out my sister was a squib, when the school was shunning me they turned their backs with them and now I'm Captain of the winning Quidditch team they suddenly like me again? They're not my friends, were they ever really? I don't want to hang out with people who turn on me when they need me most."

"Fair enough, although they're passing some laws according to dad to improve squib rights so maybe people won't be such dickholes from now on."

"What did Uncle Percy say?" Rose asked curiously, "when you told him you won?"

"Well firstly he apologized for accidentally sending me a letter to offer his condolences on my losing in my first year as Captain and urged me to consider quitting next year to focus on my OWLs, great how much faith he had in me," Molly explained with sarcasm evident in the last sentence, "then congratulated me on being the youngest winning Captain in recent Hogwarts memory, he doesn't want me to quit anymore but does remind me that Quidditch Captains can still be Prefects and Head Girls. Gotta love his priorities."

"Well he should be proud, you did brilliantly and we couldn't have won without you, Molly," Scorpius spoke up and she surprisingly blushed.

"Thanks but really it was the team."

Despite the victory that Scorpius was delighted over it, be barely had time to relax about it for the rest of the week. As the last week before exams and without the excuse of Quidditch practice, the teachers buried them in work and lectures about the importance of them as all exams had been cancelled last year in light of the attack - OWL and NEWT students had had to come in over the summer to do them. Scorpius personally thought he'd do a lot better without the stress and copious amounts of studying to wear his mind out, he wasn't stupid although Michael was incredibly anxious.

Scorpius was disappointed to once again fail at casting a Patronus on the Friday when Michael's lion still roamed the room, he tried so hard but all he could get was an average sized window. He tried so hard it left him even more exhausted than usual and he didn't wake up until late on the Saturday, didn't even have time to breathe before being plunged into more studying which was much like Sunday minus the late start. It was only on Sunday at dinner that he realized what day it was, the day before the exams yes but was also reminded of what had happened last year at that time. Saturday had been June 5th, both his father's birthday and when the Shadow attack had begun and his grandfather had lost his soul while Sunday was June 6th, both Calderon's birthday and the day of their victory and the day he'd killed Marvin. Time flew.

He also was wracked with guilt over forgetting about Calderon's birthday, he'd have to make it up to him next year. They took to bed early to get a good night's sleep before the exams - although from Michael's tossing and turning, he wasn't doing much sleeping - but Scorpius found himself pulled into sleep shockingly quickly. He smiled to himself, glad to be able to get some rest and hoping Michael could do the same.

Cassia Ashain couldn't sleep. She was sleepy but she couldn't drift off, she was cold and no matter what way she wrapped herself up in the extra blankets her mummy had given her, she was still cold. She didn't know why it was so cold, it was supposed to be summer but she was cold and so was Tony so she wasn't making it up even though her mummy said it wasn't cold. It was a cold house not like Hogwarts, Hogwarts wasn't cold but they weren't allowed to stay over the night there with her daddy. She wished they were, she missed seeing her daddy everyday. She knew where the Portkey was but that was for with grown-ups watching only or if there was an emergency, missing your daddy didn't count as an emergency nor did being cold.

She was distracted from the cold by noise, heard the unmistakable ding of the doorbell. She excitedly got up and raced to the top of the stairs, nearly running into Tony who seemed to have the same idea that it might be their daddy. They perched at the top and peered through the wooden bars in the bannister, you didn't get a view of the door but you would when they came further into the house which they needed to do to get to the front room or the kitchen or the garden. You could also hear voices.

"The cure is ready now," a woman's voice that wasn't her mummy was saying and Cassia was filled with dread, there was only one cure she could be talking about that her mummy would care about when it was dark outside and past bedtime.

"Really?" her mummy's voice replied as the two speakers came into view along with the feet of two others behind them, her mummy and another woman with shortish light brown hair with a slight wave to it and oceanic eyes, she smiled a cold smile that made Cassia shiver.

"Yes, Skye, we did say we'd contact you immediately when it was ready," the woman continued, "we actually finished the cure awhile ago but due to the young age of your children, we wished to test it first to ensure it was safe. It is and has had a hundred percent success rate."

"Well that's wonderful although is there any chance you could come back tomorrow? I put them to bed not too long ago."

"No," a man's voice added, "something urgent has come up and we're leaving tomorrow, won't be back for months. The sooner we cure them, the less damage magic can do to them."

"Al-Alright," their mummy agreed, "I'll get them."

"We're already here!" Tony announced cheerfully and obediently, taking Cassia's hand to pull her with him downstairs before she could think of what to do.

Usually their mummy would tell them off for doing that but she didn't that time, probably just happy they could do it faster. Cassia recognized the men as the people who'd came before, Roland and Riddle she thought their names were, Riddle was the one who'd said she had her daddy's eyes, he looked sad. She didn't like any of them, magic wasn't a disease and they were liars even if her mummy said it was a bad word. She wished Tony wasn't holding her hand so she could run away and hide, she didn't want to lose her magic. She was scared.

"Good, we can begin, my name's Alexis," the woman introduced herself sweetly, "we're going to make you all better. Who should we do first?"

"Erm... Cassia," her mummy said with a smile that just made Cassia even more scared, her mummy knew she didn't want to lose her magic, surely she wouldn't let the liars take it away.

"Okay," Roland agreed with a smile that actually looked evil and made Cassia really want her daddy, did liars trying to take your magic count as an emergency? He moved over to her just as Tony let go, she tried to run immediately but Roland grabbed her, "no, no, don't you want to get better?"

"NO!" Cassia yelled, tears erupting from her eyes as he picked her up to stop her running and carrying her into the front room, "NO! I DON'T WANNA LOSE MY MAGIC! MUMMY DON'T LET THEM! MUMMY! NO! NO! HELP! HELP!"

"Do you have to be so rough?!" her mummy demanded but didn't try to stop them, Cassia kept sobbing, why wasn't she stopping them?! "calm down, Cassie, they're making you better."

"It won't take a minute," Riddle promised, "she needs to stop struggling."

"NO! NO! HELP! NO! MUMMY! I DON'T WANT TO BE BETTER!" Cassia screamed kicking and struggling and hitting Roland's arms even though fighting was bad, she'd rather be in trouble than lose her magic, she was so desperate she fought with all her strength but Roland was so strong, "HELP ME! HELP ME! MUMMY! HELP! HELP! NO! HELP ME! TONY RUN! GET DADDY! GET HELP!"

"She needs to lie down and be still if Rabastan's to do this."

"Cassie, calm down," her mummy offered gently but Cassia didn't listen, she just cried harder and clawed at Roland's hands, he was holding her so tight it hurt now, "you're being ridiculous, these people are nice. Maybe if you let her down she'd calm down a bit first."

"I'll do it," Tony offered so abruptly that Cassia was stunned into silence, he smiled at their mummy, "when I do it and its not so bad then Cassie will see its okay and then daddy and then we'll all be happy and safe and not dead like you want, Mummy."

"That's my little angel," her mummy said kissing him gently on the top of his head while he went over to the couch and lay down. Roland didn't put Cassia down though.

"TONY! DON'T DO IT!" Cassia called to him desperately feeling very afraid for him all of a sudden, was she the only one who could see this was wrong? "please Tony, run while you can and get help!"

"Would you shut up," Roland growled in her ear as he put a hand over her mouth.

"Please don't do that," her mummy told him looking finally worried.

"When she calms down."

"Alright," Alexis nodded and smiled coldly at Riddle, "tell Rabastan to go for it. She won't take a second, Skye, assuming you're up for this."

Riddle didn't say anything but he squeezed his eyes shut and after a moment mouthed something that looked like 'forgive me'. It seemed colder in the room as a shadow stretched out from the darkness and... and stood up, the shadow stood up like a person only without a features and just pitch black holes where its eyes would be if it was a person. And it was standing over her brother. Cassia screamed in fear for him and bit Roland's hand even though biting was also bad, he grunted but didn't move his hand. And then the shadow-person stepped into her brother, he shivered and then his eyes were pitch black.

"What-"

"This is part of the process," Alexis interrupted before her mummy could ask the question.

Tony screamed, a horrible ear-splitting scream and he screamed again and again. He wouldn't stop screaming and his small body was jerking violently, convulsing and contorting at unusual positions. Their mummy started shrieking for them to stop, she tried to run to him but Alexis flicked her wand and their mummy was knocked to the ground. Riddle was the only one who wasn't staring, looking away instead. Her brother screamed and seized, Cassia had never been so horrified or terrified in her life and she'd give anything to help him.

His body arched for one final time and then it was over, he slumped weakly and silently back onto the couch like all the strength had been sucked from him, the shadow sidled away from him. A beautiful ball of light floated up from his body and Riddle stepped forward, flicking a wand to put it into a little glass box that he pocketed in a leather pouch around his hip. Roland finally moved his hand away from her mouth but she was too shocked to speak as her eyes drifted fearfully back to her brother, he wasn't smiling anymore, he looked too devoid of hope to ever smile again and tears were flooding from his eyes silently as she stared up at the ceiling with his pale blues eyes as normal again.

"What did you do to him!?" her mummy demanded as was finally allowed to run to Tony, he glanced at her but said nothing nor moved beyond that as she hugged him to her, he didn't respond or hug back or move at all, "Tony?! Are you alright?"

"Did exactly what you wanted," Riddle spat angrily, "that light was the magic from his soul. Magic isn't a disease though, you people are, its a part of our souls and to remove it is to rip out a piece of you soul. He'll die now, you murdered your own son, you stupid psycho bitch. Tell Atty he'll never save his son. Only Orous Knox knows where we keep the magic and he'd never say."

"You-You lied to me."

"Muggles are so slow, the little girl's probably more up to speed than this one," Alexis commented with a roll of her eyes and Roland abruptly dropped her, Cassia hit the ground painfully and resisted the urge to cry while Riddle shot the other man a glare.

"We should do her too, get both Ashain's children just for good measure," Roland offered sounding actually happy.

Cassia didn't wait to hear a reply though. She ran. She didn't wait to see if they were following her either. She just ran. Raced up the stairs faster than she ever had before, she had to get her daddy, he'd know what to do. She saw the battered-looking Portkey on top of the side table and jumped, she could just about reach it if she jumped. Sure enough she felt like was being dragged from something crazy and then she was thudding to the ground again, this time back in the safety and warmth of her daddy's office at Hogwarts. She looked up fearfully and saw him sitting at his desk with a load of papers, he glanced up in surprise and she ran to him in tears as he got up to move over to her. Babbling out the events of the past few minutes as fast as they'd leave her lips.