Parts (64-65)

II

Chapter 17

Dawn of War

Part 1: Unleashed

"Calderon! Calderon! Wake up, Dementors are coming!" Scorpius hissed in panic as he shook Calderon's shoulder, he didn't think his window of a Patronus would be nearly enough to fight them off.

"Not Dementors please, master," Calderon mumbled sleepily and scowled without opening his eyes, "not Dementors."

"Calderon!" Scorpius protested desperately, Calderon stirred but wasn't waking up close to fast enough to fight them off, "Expecto Patronum!"

Predictably, Scorpius' spell only conjured up a stupidly useless silver window. The hooded figures were swarming and he couldn't muster up anything more than a window to defend himself and Calderon, even that felt like it was eating his wrist alive. One of the Dementors swooped down as Calderon finally started to sit up groggily, giving a high-pitched shriek in realization and jamming his hands against his head as he squeezed his eyes shut and fell back down, too busy being overwhelmed by the Dementors to fight them off.

The Dementor was more interested in Scorpius though its scaly, scabby hand through the window like it was nothing and grabbed Scorpius' wrist, he dropped in wand in shock at the touch. The window started to disintegrate and it dawned on Scorpius that despite the apparent uselessness of his spell, it had been protecting him from the effects of the Dementor but now memories started to flicker through his mind. His abduction, his grandfather's death, scarring Michael, sacrificing his friends, Orous getting stabbed, watching the Shadow Master revived... And NO! He wasn't going to just watch something else bad happen, he had to do something. He had to fight. If he didn't then Calderon would be lost.

He tried to pull his arm away but the Dementor's hand might have well as been an iron vice, instead he scrambled with his free left hand for the fallen wand and found it. Scorpius clutched it in his palm, it was still stinging from the cut but he held it as tight as he could and fought for good memories to overcome the bad. The last Christmas with his family, the pillow-fight with his friends, the scent of cherries when Molly hugged him, flying, playing chess with Calderon on the train and recalled Professor Ashain's words to Michael: 'if you're thinking that you're going to fail then you're not concentrating fully on your memory and projecting the Patronus.' Focus.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Silver light erupted from the tip of his wand, the Dementor wailed and let go of his wrist, forced back by the light now shielding him and Calderon, the hooded swarm encircling them stopped their approach and backed off. He stood shakily, the pain in his wrist had never been that bad, like acid eating through his skin but he pushed past it as shoved his arm up into the air, forcing the magic on through, he needed the Dementors gone not hanging around nearby just not attacking. His first Patronus was fading anyway.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Scorpius had been expecting another pulse of silver light to come out the tip of his wand, to banish them but instead a creature came forth. A blindingly silver dazzling creature, he thought it was probably an odd Patronus to have but it didn't surprise him, not even slightly, when he thought about it, he wasn't sure what else it could have been but a Thestral.

It reared up on its hind legs and kicked the Dementor back with its front legs, the Dementor started to flee. The Thestral spread out its wings and took flight, gliding at the dark hooded shapes that fled, scattering back into the night like roaches running back to the shadows after being exposed to the light. The Thestral soared and drove them back until Scorpius could no longer see them or feel their effects.

The pain in his wrist was incredible though and when he finally had the courage to tear his eyes from his Patronus to look at his wrist, he saw it was glowing silver as was his hand. He dropped his wand in surprise for the second time, the rune scarred into his palm was gleaming with silver light, it blazed so brightly and the pain in his wrist intensified so much that he passed out...

"Scor?" Calderon's voice called and Scorpius felt himself being shaken slightly, he fought to open his eyes and Calderon looked relieved, "are you okay?"

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted as he struggled to sit up, finding they were still in the clearing where the building had once stood, he glanced at his left limb and saw it was no longer glowing and the bruise-that-wasn't-bruising was gone although the scar remained, "are you?"

"I don't know," Calderon shrugged but seemed to relax, "I'm not being abducted by Dementors so that's good."

"I cast a Patronus."

"Yes you did, a Thestral. Pretty cool. Not as cool as dragons - obviously - but cool."

"Yeah..." Scorpius said slowly without taking his eyes off his wrist, "except for my wrist hurting and passing out."

"Don't worry about it, I fixed it."

"You fixed it?" Scorpius repeated and Calderon seemed to be avoiding looking at him.

"The scar on your wrist... it was created by Dark Magic... by the Shadow Master and its... a kind of link..." Calderon told him awkwardly before sighing, "do you know where the Specters come from?"

"No... Do you?" Scorpius wondered in fearful surprise.

"They come from Dementors, Scor, they're the Shadows of Dementors. The Dementors suck out the souls with they kiss for their Shadows to feed on, they feed off pain and tearing souls up is the most painful thing which is why its the best although they feed off any pain, physical or mental even from paper cuts to torture to emotional anguish. You can magically sever their ties to their Dementor and bind them to yourself instead, that's what the Shadow Master does. I think the Shadow Master linked you to... to themselves to feed them because well they probably don't want to be in pain all the time but want the Shadows to do things for them without them complaining and fighting against them because they're not satisfied.

"That bruise on your wrist wasn't a bruise, it was a mark of them latching onto you magically waiting to feed, distance doesn't matter with a magical connection to them, the worse the bruising looked the deeper the tighter they latched and the more influence they'd have. I don't think you were sleepwalking earlier, I think they told the Shadows to call to you and you were subconsciously answering the call. It'd be harder to call to you since you're not their master but it would be possible since you're bound to their master, subconsciously and with more power and more time to develop an influence its possible.

"You passed out casting a Patronus because they're repelled by it too, it was hurting them and because of the connection it hurt you too. I can't break the connection to the Shadow Master, I noticed some Dark Magic connection - although didn't realize it was to the Shadow Master and Shadows - the first time I healed you in first year after James and his friends hurt you, I noticed it when I got to your wrist but it just hurt you and I don't want to risk hurting or killing you by breaking that connection, especially now with the Blood Runes I wouldn't know what it would do. I sealed it as much as I could and the Shadows won't be able to latch onto you anymore."

"You didn't learn all this from the Shadow Master telling you last year, did you?" Scorpius guessed and Calderon still wouldn't look at him, "otherwise you would have said, you knew this from before you came to Hogwarts, didn't you?"

"Yes," Calderon admitted so quietly his voice was barely audible, Scorpius decided to risk pressing for more.

"And the Shadow Master has magic like you and knows about you."

"Yes."

"You know who the Shadow Master is, don't you?" Scorpius asked and Calderon hesitated.

"I know its someone who knew me when your grandfather did."

"But you know who they are?"

"Would it matter if I did?" Calderon protested, "I don't know where they are or have any way to contact them so it'd be completely useless, any description I might possibly have is twenty-two years out of date so also useless. A name they wouldn't even use anymore is useless. It could be a number of people, plenty of people knew about me from then."

"Was there others my grandfather tortured then?" Scorpius wondered and Calderon nodded, "did Brutus torture you too?"

"No. He was one of the guards though, Brutus was always good to me," Calderon explained and Scorpius was reminded of one thing Brutus had said that weighed heavily on his mind.

"Brutus... Brutus said something... slightly odd in there... when he was pretending that the Shadow Master was you to trick me into saving you and reviving him..."

"Well I did tell you before to never try to save me."

"That's not what was weird. He said... He said you were my cousin," Scorpius offered and looked to Calderon for his reaction but he was still not looking at him.

"Technically... we are," Calderon confirmed and Scorpius jolted in shock, "Bellatrix Lestrange was my mother. Which makes your grandparents are my aunt and uncle, your father my cousin which would make you my cousin too but a different kind of cousin because there's different numbers and removed cousins, I don't know how it works."

"Bellatrix?" Scorpius repeated in confusion, "but wouldn't she have been in Azkaban when you were born?"

"She was. I was born there, my name never registered because Azkaban is outside of the England considered zone. I grew up there until my mother was broken out, I along with her when I was thirteen which is why I never got a chance to use a wand or go to Hogwarts before then. Never stood a chance at sanity, did I?"

"I'm sorry," Scorpius said while realizing it made sense, Calderon's awkward reactions to his aunts, them thinking he looked familiar was probably noticing a familial resemblance, about his past, his intense dislike and fear of Azkaban and Dementors, his lack of sanity, although it did mean Scorpius' great aunt would have been the psycho who carved the Dark Mark into her son's arm and that Rodolphus was probably Calderon's father which meant he had killed his own father, "who else knows?"

"Aside from the Death Eaters who knew about me? Only you and Varanian."

"So we're really cousins?"

"Yep," Calderon nodded Scorpius felt a smile creep onto his face, delighted at the thought of his hero being related to him, even if it meant he felt a worse pang of guilt that his grandfather could torture his own nephew.

"Cool, I never had a cousin before," Scorpius pointed out and Calderon finally looked up at him in surprise before cautiously returning the smile, "so your birth name is Tommy Lestrange?"

"Something like that," Calderon shrugged before they were distracted by someone emerging from the treeline, Scorpius grabbed up his wand in readiness but it was only Varanian with a boy that was almost certainly the missing Lorcan, "ah Pippy, glad the floor didn't eat you to death."

"The floor didn't eat me," Varanian insisted while he and Lorcan looked around the clearing in puzzlement, "it just gave way and led to a dungeon, I found Lorcan and we got out this long tunnel then saw some kind of explosion and headed towards it. What happened to the building?"

"It... explosioned."

"Explosioned is not a word," Lorcan informed them, eying the both of them suspiciously and hanging close by to Varanian with a lit up wand in hand.

"How did it explode? What happened? Where's Ashain?" Varanian questioned not interested in Calderon's odd word choice as the pair came over to them.

"Me and the Shadow Master were fighting and it exploded," Calderon told him with another tired shrug and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"Wait, the Shadow Master is back?"

"They revived the Shadow Master?" Lorcan added, speaking at the same time as Varanian and sharing his expression of shock.

"Did everyone know the Shadow Master was in a coma but me?" Calderon complained looking exasperated while Varanian gave Scorpius an accusing look that shot him with guilt. He'd fallen for Brutus' deception, hadn't stopped the Shadow Master's revival and then hadn't had the guts to kill him just then. It was all his fault, "did I just miss something?"

"Apparently yes. How could you let the Shadow Master be revived?!" Lorcan demanded sounding distraught before a pop distracted them for a moment but it was just Professor Ashain, "the Shadows were lost with their master, now all hell is going to break loose."

"Didn't there used to be a whole manor house place here?" Professor Ashain wondered in shock.

"Used to."

"What happened to..." Professor Ashain began but trailed off looking anxious although seemed afraid to finish that sentence, Scorpius guessed what he was worried about though.

"Your brother got away with the Shadow Master," Scorpius answered for him and the professor managed to look extremely relieved, guilty and anxious all at once while Varanian started in shock.

"Your brother?! Brutus Ashain is alive and working for the Shadow Master?! You faked his death?! Are you working for them too?!" Varanian reeled off the questions again.

"I didn't fake his death, I thought he was dead!" Professor Ashain protested casting a glare at Varanian, "I have nothing to do with those people."

"Why should we believe you about being innocent?"

"Why should we believe you about being innocent?!" Professor Ashain countered and Varanian's shock of anger was also replaced by guilt.

"Fair point."

"Whose the little boy?"

"Lorcan Scamander," Lorcan answered for himself, "Varanian saved me."

"Wait, what happened to Orous?" Scorpius wondered, reminded anxiously of his friend.

"I brought him to the hospital wing, that's where I went after I... I don't know how I got outside but I hope that never happens to me again and where I was. Marigold is seeing to him, he should be alright," Professor Ashain explained and Scorpius felt a bubble of relief.

"Speaking of which, we should probably be getting back to Hogwarts," Calderon offered as he stood, cringing in pain as he wrapped his torn sweater around himself to hide the brand.

"Yeah you should," Varanian agreed and his eyes rested on Scorpius as he also got up, clearly intending to talk to him about it more later, "and I have things to do."

"What!? No, no, no! You're a fugitive, we can't just let you go!" Professor Ashain burst out and raised his wand at Varanian, Lorcan defensively stepped in front of Varanian and pointed the wand at the professor but went completely unnoticed by either man, "you're come back to turn yourself in."

"I'm not the freakin' Shadow Master!"

"And I believe you, really I do which is all the more reason to turn yourself in! Explain it to Harry, agree to truth serum and Legilimancy and they can clear your name."

"I can't. There's Shadows in the Aurors and Ministry, they'd kill me first like they tried to do before which is why I ran in the first place."

"Come on, I was an Auror for over a decade, I can't just let fugitives walk free. Harry will protect you from any Shadow Aurors."

"They killed that Shadow Auror while he was in custody," Varanian pointed out and Professor Ashain's wand wavered as he seemed to consider this before finally lowering it and sighing heavily, Varanian inclined his head in gratitude.

"Kill me now," Professor Ashain muttered looking away as Varanian disapparated, Lorcan lowered the wand and looked around sadly before reluctantly moving closer to them, "alright let's get back then."

"Do we have to apparate? I don't like to be touched," Lorcan told them quietly.

"We do have to apparete," Calderon confirmed gently, "but I'll tell you what, just take my sleeve when you're ready."

"Come on, Scor," Professor Ashain offered tiredly, Scorpius took it and was apparated back reluctantly to the hospital wing where everyone seemed to have moved.

Orous was in one of the beds with Marigold tending to him, Professor Ashain's son was in the bed beside him and seemed to be sleeping but was breathing. Skye was sitting beside her son, holding his hand with a concerned expression, Michael was sitting in between the two beds, Maurice was pacing and Professor Ashain's daughter was sitting beside Michael rather than on the other side with her mother with Calderon's dog at their feet asleep. It was only a minute later that Calderon returned with Lorcan, he left them there just after to contact people or something. Marigold urged him and Lorcan to sit in beds until he was ready for them since they were injured, Michael and Maurice both came over to sit with him while Professor Ashain took his seat beside his daughter who immediately preceded to climb onto his lap. It was strange to be back, it made the night's events seem so surreal to return to suddenly to such a normal place. Scorpius rather wished it wasn't real.

No one actually said much, Skye was the only one who tried to talk but Professor Ashain made it pretty clear he wasn't interested in talking, Marigold grumbled constantly but only to himself. Lorcan sat gripping the wand tightly and jumping at every sound, looking incredibly anxious. Scorpius was glad no one spoke to him because he didn't really feel like talking either, he was still too busy digesting and feeling guilty. Marigold finished dealing with Orous quickly, telling them he'd be alright - much to Scorpius and everyone's immense relief - before having a quick out of earshot conversation with Lorcan before coming over to tend to his hand, Scorpius thought Calderon probably needed treatment more than him. Marigold had just finished with him when Calderon returned with Lorcan's parents and twin, they ran to Lorcan delightedly but Lorcan flinched away as he was pulled into three hugs at once with them.

"I don't like to be touched," Lorcan mumbled looking petrified as they backed off to give him some space, clinging to the wand like it was his lifeline, the upset was visible on their faces, Lysander seemed confused, his mother nodded in acceptance while his father teared up and started to protest that hugs were good and they missed and loved him.

"You three can go back to your dormitories, get some rest," Calderon offered to Scorpius, Michael and Maurice, Scorpius nearly jumped having not noticed him come over to them.

They nodded but Scorpius hesitated before leaving to hug his newfound cousin, he thought Calderon would probably need it considering how he was either going to be slaughtered by the Aurors for putting Hogwarts at risk and getting a student stabbed or praised as a hero for saving Lorcan. Either way he felt a sliver of comfort when Calderon hugged him back, he had just unleashed the Shadow Master back into the world after all and saving them from Dementors didn't seem as impressive when he thought of that.

Part 2: This Is War

"So are you going to tell us what happened?" Maurice demanded as soon as they were out of the hospital wing which earned him a dark look from Michael, "because Ashain was all not talking about it and apparently has no idea how Orous got stabbed."

"I don't really want to talk about it," Scorpius muttered, "I just want to go to bed, we still have exams tomorrow."

"Did you fight any Shadows? Specters? Did you see the actual Shadow Master? Did any of you four kill the Shadow Master? Did you kill anyone? Who stabbed Orous?"

"He said he doesn't want to talk about it!" Michael snapped defensively and Maurice just looked annoyed.

"I'm not allowed to come with you and then you won't tell me anything, aren't you curious?"

"I really don't want to talk about it," Scorpius answered irritably which made Maurice sigh but he seemed to realize it was futile to ask again at least. Scorpius was just glad when he could finally bid farewell to Maurice and crawl back into bed.

"Are you alright?" Michael asked him as he went to pull back the drapes.

"Fine," Scorpius insisted before closing them.

He didn't think he would sleep well but casting the Patronus still drained him and he slipped into sleep quickly, for the first time in a long time he didn't wake up the following morning with his sweat soaked clothes sticking to him. For the first time in what felt like forever he actually felt well rested. Michael however wasn't, he'd apparently been up studying all night because he couldn't sleep although neither mentioned anything about the night's events to the others and Maurice didn't seem to either and even when Vern came over to ask about Orous they only mentioned something had happened last night but he would be alright and didn't elaborate, they, there was no point distracting the others from their exams and Scorpius still didn't feel like talking about it. The exams were a welcome distraction.

The exams were actually generally easier than Scorpius had thought, the written ones were all questions he basically knew the answer to from covering it in class - although he wasn't as confident on his History of Magic one - and Michael had been given extra time to account for his dyslexia so Scorpius hoped that would help. He aced the practicals especially the spellwork - although considering how Grant glared at him loathingly, he was slightly concerned about failing just because Grant hated him - and impressed himself with his Herbology practical, from Professor Longbottom's smile he thought the professor was impressed too.

Lorcan and his family were gone by the following day but Orous and Tony - Professor Ashain's son - were, Orous recovered quickly and was out by Wednesday while Tony remained for longer. Scorpius hadn't thought about it at the time but having the magic ripped out of his soul and put back left Tony in the same sad state that Orous was in, he didn't speak for days although Orous was spending a lot of time with him to try help him cope with it, enlisting the help of Calderon's dog since Orous claimed petting animals helped. Tony didn't seem to have improved all week but he went home anyway, he spoke for the first time to thank Orous which Scorpius took to be a good sign, he hoped he'd be alright.

The circumstances surrounding Lorcan's recovery were in the papers, Lorcan apparently had spoken out in defense of Varanian and cited him as his savior which had sparked quite the controversy. Their was conflicting stories and views, the majority continued believing Varanian still to be the Shadow Master and had simply tricked Lorcan to seem innocent or had altered his memory or that Lorcan had mistaken Varanian for someone else due to his metamorphmagi status while others thought Varanian was innocent and being framed either by the Shadows or some wild conspiracy theory about the Ministry. The Ministry launched an official statement that the circumstances surrounding Lorcan's rescue were 'complicated' and they weren't sure of Varanian's involvement or the extent of his involvement.

No one asked Scorpius about it except his friends but he still didn't elaborate. It felt wrong to talk about it, it wasn't his story to tell, he had no right to divulge private information about Tony and Orous or Calderon and Professor Ashain or Lorcan, he certainly couldn't say about Varanian and risk him. Except to Michael. He felt increasingly anxious about it after the distraction of exams ended, the Shadows actually hadn't attacked since their master's revival but Scorpius was dreading when the attacks started again, every last one would be his fault for not killing the man when he had the chance or even not reviving him when he had the chance.

He had a newfound understanding for Michael's worry over helping Varanian and thinking he might have helped the Shadow Master, Michael alone hadn't asked him about what had happened, not once. That was Scorpius finally made up his mind to take a leap and trust him, he really needed someone to talk to about it and Calderon was too busy, Professor Ashain - who he couldn't tell everything to anyway - had taken summer vacation early and gone home after the exams and Orous or Maurice he couldn't tell without being afraid of divulging the fact they might be twins. That Saturday he took Michael to the Room That Doesn't Exist and told him everything everything, he hadn't fully been intending to at first but he felt the need to explain things and Michael was a good listener. Scorpius told him everything he'd left out last year about the Blood Runes, as briefly as he could about Marvin and the muggles, his alliance with Varanian, their fight with the Shadows, his wrist and everything that had happened in Pandoran Hills. He was glad Michael didn't interrupt because he didn't think he'd have been able to talk about it if he'd been interrupted and had to start again. He was relieved when he got to the end.

"Do you feel better?" Michael asked him when he was finished.

"Depends on what you think," Scorpius pointed out.

"Well I think you shouldn't feel bad, killing someone isn't easy and killing someone in self-defense is different to just outright killing someone, Shadow Master or not."

"I was weak and now the Shadow Master's going to wreak havoc and its all my fault, I could've stopped it."

"You don't know that, if you had properly tried to kill the Shadow Master then he or Brutus probably would have reacted whatever he said, he's not going to stand around stupidly and let himself be killed. Having morals doesn't make you weak, it might've saved both of your lives because they could've killed you when they reacted and then you couldn't have saved you both from the Dementors. You can't blame yourself, you did the best you could and you saved yourself and Calderon, everyone got out okay so take that as a win. And you cast a Patronus."

"Wait that's it? That's your reaction?" Scorpius wondered in surprise, "I tell you all that and your reaction is try and make me feel better?"

"How did you expect me to react? I'm surprised yeah but you're still my friend, I'm not ditching you just because things have been tough for you. Friends are there for each other."

"It doesn't bother you I killed someone?"

"Its not like you assassinated a saint," Michael pointed out, "I don't blame you."

"What about being willing to kill you to save the school?"

"Scorpius, I'd give my life in a second to save a thousand others, not to mention how many others would've died on top of that from the army of possessed children."

"You're an unusual person, you know that?" Scorpius offered to which Michael nodded and Scorpius was so relieved he hugged him, "thank you, you're a good friend."

Scorpius did feel a lot better after talking to Michael and he agreed to try help him find out the Shadow teacher next year too, Scorpius still didn't feel blame-free about the Shadow Master but he did feel better. In general things weren't so bad at the end of that year, there was lots of free time - especially since Defense Against the Dark Arts were free periods until the summer - to hang out with his friends and he wasn't sleepwalking or waking up drenched in sweat anymore. It was almost relaxing if not for the Shadows on his thoughts, he was dreading going home and having to explain to Varanian about reviving and then not killing the Shadow Master plus he refused to forgive his parents for St Mungo's at Christmas. They got their exam results back in the second week and Scorpius was pleased with his grades:

Astronomy: 85%

Charms: 85%

Defense Against the Dark Arts: 95%

Herbology: 90%

History of Magic: 70%

Potions: 90%

Transfiguration: 95%

None of his friends had done really badly, Michael and Rose - who was distraught to realize she hadn't come top of the class for any subject - had passed everything, Abby had scraped a pass in everything but History of Magic which she only got 50% for and Albus had only failed History of Magic and Astronomy - which he claimed to have fallen asleep for. Vern and Corin had passed everything as well, Orous had been exempt from exams due to his injury and Maurice had done flawlessly as expected, having gotten the highest marks for every subject across the entire year. Molly also claimed to have passed everything although she admitted to barely scraping through in History of Magic but a pass was a pass as far as she was concerned.

And then it was the last week, Scorpius couldn't believe how quickly time passed before he was sitting in the Great Hall for the End-Of-Term Feast. Calderon naturally would wait for everyone to be engaged in conversation for making the high-pitched whistle to draw their attention to him to listen, he was smiling though.

"Before we eat I finally get to perform my very last duties as Acting Headmaster, award the House Cup for this year, when you all come back next year - and you will because the Seventh Years are in Beauxbatons - Headmistress McGonagall will have returned and give you the results for the Triwizard Tournament," Calderon announced brightly, "so firstly the House Cup, currently the points stand with Gryffindor in fourth place with three-hundred and seventy-five, Slytherin in third place with four-hundred, Hufflepuff in second place with four-hundred and twenty-five and Ravenclaw in first place with four-hundred and seventy. Before we celebrate there are some last minute points I want to award.

"To Scorpius Malfoy of Gryffindor and Orous Knox of Hufflepuff I award each fifty points for incredible courage in the face of adversity and to Michael Sanford for always doing the right thing regardless of the personal cost or the credit, fifty points. For those of you who can count and those who count, that now puts Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in joint first place with four-hundred and seventy-five!"

The hall erupted into cheer from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, jumping up as if that would make the cheers louder and people hugging or clapping each other on the back and those nearest congratulating him and Michael. Scorpius stood up to clap, he still refused to feel like a Gryffindor but he was glad Hufflepuff had taken joint first and that Michael had earned those well-deserved points, he thought he saw a hint of a smile on Orous' face as people started hugging him and clapping him on the back for his points. Maurice alone remained seated at the Gryffindor table, disinterested in the festivities and looking actually bored with all it despite his house's victory.

"Why are you sitting?!" Rose demanded of him fiercely.

"I don't care about stupid things like house points," Maurice stated stiffly with a shrug but Rose hauled him up to his feet looking completely bewildered, "unhand me, woman!"

"Not until you applaud! Three of your friends just won enough points to joint win the House Cup and your own house was one of those victors so you are going to cheer, dammit!" Rose yelled at him, Maurice gave her a poisonous look before clapping half-heartedly, "have to rub it in Copper's face!

"Yay for winning," Maurice said emotionlessly but Rose seemed content enough, it was about all you were going to get out of Maurice before Calderon whistled again and gestured for everyone to sit back down.

"I wasn't done yet!" Calderon insisted to the hall and cleared his throat, "there's still the Triwizard thing. Alright now finally, the winner of the Triwizard Tournament is Heather Longbottom of Hogwarts! We're all winners today."

This time every person in the hall cheered, Professor Longbottom looked like his face was going to burst with pride as he applauded with his mismatched hands, Nick and Abby were going ballistic. Maurice continued his unenthusiastic applause but the mood in Hogwarts that day was a good one. Almost good enough to forget that they'd be returning home the following day.

Michael was again enlisted to help the other three pack before they headed off down to breakfast, Albus was in good spirits, excitedly blabbering about seeing them at the Quidditch World Cup and about last night's victories although Michael was very quiet as was Scorpius. He was surprised to find Maurice and Corin already down there - that wasn't unusual, they usually were there first - but what was surprising was that Vern and Orous were sitting with them.

"Um... Forget your table?" Albus offered as they sat down.

"My father said its alright for them to sit here, its breakfast on the last day of term so who cares?" Corin answered dismissively with a shrug, Scorpius didn't mind although Vern apparently did as he looked utterly miserable before the girls arrived, getting the same answer from Corin for the same question.

"What's wrong with you?" Abby asked of Vern, also noticing his upset.

"Just not looking forward to the summer," Vern told her quietly, picking at his food.

"Why?" Albus wondered looking genuinely puzzled, "you get to see the Quidditch World Cup because we got landed with you and I'm the one who has to give up my room to share with you."

"My parents are dead, Al, I lost my family and I'll be spending the summer in a house full of people who hate me and don't want me there," Vern answered suddenly struggling to fight off tears, "James said Uncle Harry's going to make me pay for my grandparents being s-so horrible to him and I'll have to eat dirt and sleep in a cupboard."

"Ignore James or I'll just set his robes on fire again," Orous offered gently and everyone looked at him in shock except Maurice who looked proud before Orous seemed to realize what he'd said, "it was an accident, I didn't mean to and I wouldn't really do it again on purpose even if I knew how. James is just being mean."

"Well don't listen to James," Albus spoke up to everyone's surprise, "Dad really is very into us being nice to you, he doesn't blame people for the wrongs of their families. You're... alright, Dursl- Vern."

"Thanks," Vern whispered with a weak smile.

Albus immediately changed the subject and started asking Michael about Crystal's opinion on his shirt much to Michael's chagrin, Scorpius actually didn't mind too much considering he wouldn't see any of his friends until the Quidditch World Cup. They headed out to the carriages pulled by the Thestals, he smiled as he saw them, his Patronus animal and petted Tenebrus gently before getting in with Abby, Albus, Michael and Molly.

"By the way, my Patronus is a Thestral," Scorpius offered to the group who looked at him in surprise except Michael who already know, "in case you were wondering, I cast it that night I can't talk about."

"Awesome!" Molly beamed and high-fived him, Scorpius' grin only widened, he suddenly felt like never washing that hand again as she excitedly started talking about her Eagle Owl Patronus that she didn't usually mention because Second Years - or most - couldn't do it.

Molly sat with them in the train as well along with Dom who spent the entire time writing a novel-length letter to Aurelius, the journey went too quickly before they pulled into the platform. Molly said goodbye as she went over to her father and squib sister, catching a glimmer of the lecture he started about exam results and wanting her to get prefect which made Molly roll her eyes and Abby also left with Nick and her mother fairly quickly. Corin had to leave immediately to get to another platform to take the train to France again so Scorpius didn't get to see him but he did meet up with his other first year friends.

"Mikey! And Mikey's friend with the awesome leather jacket and others," Jack's voice greeted them and both Michael and Albus looked incredibly excited but Scorpius didn't mind him despite his flaws, he had given Scorpius' his leather jacket although it was getting a bit small, it was still his favorite.

"Michael. Where's Crystal? Or Bob?" Michael asked immediately, Jack looked slightly hurt.

"Crystal asked me to pick you up 'cause she was working so here I am, said I'd make it up to you for missing that eye thing but I am totally loving the blue...ness. Gotta admit that whole wall thing is pretty awesome but, thought I was going to just fall run into knock myself out there but no sailed right on through, I did it several times until some grumpy dude with a rod up his ass told me to not to. Although I must say a train? Not even a flying train, magical people couldn't think of a cooler way to get to places than a train."

"There's my father," Maurice pointed out and waved bye as he went over to his father who was staring creepily at Orous again.

"What'd'ya know, that's the guy who told me not to keep running through the barrier!"

"What'd'ya know, there's my mum!" Albus exclaimed happily, Vern looked petrified suddenly as Mrs Potter came over to them with Lily and Hugo, once more she was minding her nephew and picking up her niece because Mr and Mrs Weasley - the ones who were Rose's parents - were busy working like her husband, "hey Mum, Lils, Hugo."

"Well if it isn't the most beautiful red-haired fox in the train station tonight," Jack offered with a grin and a wink, "miss me?"

"Like Dragon Pox," Mrs Potter answered coolly, Michael looked somewhere between deeply ashamed and apologetic.

"I don't know what that is so I'm just going to assume its magic talk for yes."

"Do you want me to throw you in front of that train?"

"Is that magic talk for what I think it is?" Jack wondered seductively.

"I-"

"Jack, can we please just go?" Michael pleaded and Jack rolled his eyes.

"All wizards, does like magic replace your sense of fun? Gah," Jack complained before turning back to Ginny, "my love-ly Gin - which coincidentally is my favorite drink - I bit you adieu."

Mrs Potter sighed tiredly and glared after him but Jack did leave with Michael, Scorpius and Orous said goodbye and also moved away to give them some privacy as she greeted Vern kindly. Scorpius spotted his parents but Orous' dad seemed late and wanting to put off speaking to his parents he stayed with Orous for a moment.

"Its not over is it?" Orous asked him with a sigh, although louder like a normal person instead of being extremely quiet like he had been all year, "with the Shadows."

"No," Scorpius admitted quietly, "don't feel bad though, you really tried to stop him."

"I know and even though I failed... It was good to fight him, he destroyed my life and now Tony's not to mention what he had people do to us and poor Lorcan... I want to fight, him and Specters, I don't want anyone else to go through that. That's my mission in life, that's my one goal. Its good to have something to focus on."

"Well its... a fine goal," Scorpius offered with a weak smile that Orous actually returned as he noticed the same muggle he'd seen hug Orous before come through the barrier, "we'll get him someday."

"Yeah. Have a good summer, I'll see you in September," Orous said waving bye as he ran to the muggle stepfather he called 'dad' to be pulled into a tight hug, Scorpius reluctantly trudged over to his own parents.

"Scorpius!" his mother greeted him happily but he didn't return the smile.

"Look this has to stop," his father began sternly before sighing when his mother shot him a dark look, "Scorpius, we're sorry, alright? Not for taking you to St Mungo's but we shouldn't have got the healers to knock you out to examine you, we should have waited for you to be comfortable with it, that was wrong and we're sorry. We were just worried about you, okay? We love you, son."

"I..." Scorpius started, sorry didn't magically make everything better but he supposed it was a start, at least they realized their mistake and they looked so genuine, he hugged his mother gently, "I love you too... Just please don't ever do that again."

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Sal?" Brutus questioned of her anxiously, now thankfully the Polyjuice Potion had worn off and she was herself again, very alive and not coma-y, "you only just got out of a year-long coma, you should be resting or something."

"I'm fine, Brutus, I've spent a year too long lying in bed doing nothing and we're behind with my plans," Sal insisted - not for the first time - defensively and turned back to him, taking his hands and he squeezed them gently as he gazed down into her dark eyes, grateful his plan had worked, she was alive and revived, Atticus and even his half-blood son had survived and those trapped in Hogwarts had also got out while the anti-apparation wards were down, "I'm not weak."

On that note he felt the sensation of Specter transportation overcome him and an instant later he was in the air above the target town, prevented from falling by the blue platform of light that Sal summoned so quickly that starting to fall was like stepping down. She let go of his hands and turned around, focusing on the task at hand, Brutus would rather have not been there but he was worried about her health and had asked to be there in case something went wrong so he could get her back to safety.

Sal raised her arms and summoned Specterally twelve balls of the magic taken from souls, some people in the town were starting to notice the two cloaked figures standing on a glowing square but it didn't matter. She gestured and balls dispersed, raining down on the populace below. He could hear the explosions and the screaming but refused to look as Sal manipulated the devastating force of raw power, he could see the shine of light from the magic even from keeping his eyes on the back of her head.

"I never said you were weak, just that I was worried," Brutus pointed out, weak was certainly not a word he would use to describe her, "I don't want to lose you."

Sal spun back round to face him, her expression softened as she cupped his face gently in her hands as she kissed him tenderly and he encircled his arms protectively around her. He managed to lose himself for a moment in her kiss and block out the chaos below before she pulled away, bursting his bubble.

"Its sweet that you worry and care but I do know my own strength," Sal promised him, "I love you."

She turned back to the scene to survey the damage of the city being decimated and destroyed by magic they hadn't even believed in until that down. A necessary sacrifice yes and they were only muggles, still he wanted the war to just be over already despite only having just begun. Brutus forced himself to peer down, it had been a thriving town when they'd arrived but it was unrecognizable then. It was a wasteland, all that remained were magical fires and ravaged ruins of buildings soon to be leveled, bodies and broken vehicles littered the ground. It almost didn't look real from up there, maybe if he couldn't smell the smoke then he could almost believe it wasn't. Sal leaned back against him and he wrapped his arms around her gently once more.

"I love you," Brutus whispered into her ear.

Sal moved her wrist and the Soul Eater symbol she'd designed shot into the sky, a fiery version of the skeletal snake symbol he also bore on his wrist that coiled into a random position with its head in the center, flicking out its forked tongue at whatever was left of the soon-to-be-dead people. The symbol would remain though for the Ministry to find, as would the blazing words that wrote themselves beneath it reading: This is War