Parts (6-11)

IV

Chapter 2

Pride and Prejudice

Part 1: Sorting Out

"What? You stayed here for half the summer?" Rose wondered incredulously.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Scorpius scowled and she threw him a dark look.

"Yep," Michael shrugged disinterestedly, "They let me stay because I'm a werewolf."

"Why?" Rose demanded.

"Why does it matter?"

"You didn't reply to any of our letters," Albus pointed out.

"Why bother? It's not like you could read my replies anyway."

"That's not true," Abby protested but Michael looked dubious.

"And even if it was," Albus added carefully, "It doesn't mean we wouldn't want to hear from you to know that you're okay, we were bloody worried mate."

"Al, don't swear in front of the child!"

"Oops I mean bloo...ooody...sum...num. It means... extra worried in teenager talk," Albus lied to which Antonius frowned in a very Ashain-like way.

"I'm eight, not an idiot," Antonius told him seriously but Albus spoke to him in a very patronizing way.

"Why are you sitting here again? Wouldn't you much rather sit up there in the super special area with your Dada and ickle baby sister?"

"No. I get a better view of the Sorting here, I want to see it."

"The Sorting? More like super boring. How about, if you go sit with your Dada in the super special area then I will give you a super special present. How about that, huh?" Albus continued and withdrew a Knut that he held out for Antonius to see, "Ooh, look at that. A super special shiny Knut, that's magic money. Wouldn't you like that, huh? Impress all your super special-"

"Can you please stop saying super special, they don't even sound like words anymore," Corin interrupted with a roll of his eyes, Antonius didn't look impressed.

"This is how you talk to the children."

"I pity your future children," Antonius commented and withdrew a coin himself, Scorpius recognized it as a muggle penny, "See this? This is a rare muggle coin, equivalent to ten Galleons which is worth a lot more than a Knut. I'll give you this just to stop talking to me."

"Sold!" Albus agreed eagerly and snatched it from Antonius' hand, "Sweet. Cannot wait to exchange this."

"Al..." Scorpius began, ready to point out that Antonius was wrong it was essentially valueless but he saw Antonius suppressing a small smile and realized that Antonius was very aware of that fact, he just wanted Albus to leave him be so he could watch the Sorting in peace.

"What?"

"Never mind."

Scorpius brushed it off and allowed his eyes to drift as Albus started bragging about how he had been practicing all summer and was definitely going to make the Quidditch team this year. He saw that the three legged stool was already there with the tattered old Sorting Hat atop it, he frowned as that wasn't usual. He glanced at the staff table, recognizing most of the teachers from last year. Professors Koray, Kresmir, Vipera - although she was looking rather down - and Oring were all still there, so was the Head Healer Marigold. Binns naturally wasn't there for being a ghost and neither was Professor Hagrid - he'd be taking the First Years over - but there was still a chair for him. Professor Longbottom was there as well although he did look markedly unhappy, Elina the blind Divination Professor was still there and so was the annoying Arithmancy Professor Rivers. He noticed Rivers now had a vertical scar going down his cheek, presumably from the attack and probably why he'd been avoid meals, he looked completely miserable as he tried to hide it with his hand. Professor Ashain was there as he'd already seen, talking to his daughter and Grant was unfortunately still there. Grant the Charms Professor who despised him and Michael although oddly, his right hand now looked like it was a prosthetic. Wooden, similar to Professor Longbottom's.

"What happened to Grant's hand?" Scorpius wondered in confusion to no one in particular.

"Rumor has it that during the attack on Hogsmeade, he attacked a certain professor with the Cruciatus Curse and demanded he stop the attack because he had the mistaken impression that he was a Shadow," Michael explained and Scorpius caught on he meant Professor Ashain, it would explain Grant's behavior at the end of last year and Scorpius felt a surge of anger towards Grant again, "But the professor's brother stopped him, he crippled Grant's wand hand beyond repair and broke the other one. Grant made the difficult decision to amputate it rather than have to re-learn with his left so now he has a new hand and a new least favorite person in the world."

"Serves him right," Scorpius muttered, annoyed that Grant wasn't rotting in jail for it. As much as he disliked Brutus Ashain on principle, he was rather glad for what Brutus had done at least.

"Wasn't that guy at your Aunt Fleur's wedding?" Abby asked, pointing to one who Scorpius didn't recognize. A sallow man with a small beard, burly eyebrows and a large curved nose. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Viktor Krum, he used to be an international Quidditch star for Bulgaria. He retired after a severe spinal injury, was a Flying Instructor in another magical school and is now our new Flying Instructor since Dunbrooke... died," Michael told him and Scorpius nodded as it clicked into place, "His wife was killed in a Shadow attack recently, he wanted a change of scenery so here he is."

"He's nicer in person than he looks from afar," Antonius added, "So is his daughter."

"Yeah, Grozda's great," Michael agreed with a hint of a smile, "She's in the year above us, she has to get Sorted too because she's transferring from the Bulgarian school. Amazing on a broom."

"Grozda," Albus chuckled and Michael frowned at him.

"Be nice, there's nothing wrong with her name."

"But Grozda."

"You are so immature," Abby complained with a roll of her eyes, "So who's Florian's replacement?"

"Her," Michael said and gestured to a woman that Scorpius didn't recognize, she was pretty with curly light brown and large brown eyes. Younger than he'd expected and Albus sighed dreamily, "Hypatia Ayn Midas."

"I think I'm in lo-"

"Dammit, Albus, I said wait until you meet her!"

"Fine but I refuse to believe a woman that beautiful can be anything other than an angel," Albus insisted still gazing at her, "Do you think she'd be impressed by my Flying skills."

"No," Michael and Antonius said in unison, Michael elaborated alone, "She doesn't consider broomsticks very safe and believes they should be banned for the best of the wizard population's health. She was appointed by the new Minister personally as he deems her trustworthy, she's the new Headmaster's cousin too you see."

"Oh."

"So who's the new Headmaster then?" Rose asked.

"Don't you recognize him?" Michael wondered.

Scorpius looked to see a youngish man in the Headmaster's chair, he had bright blond curls for hair that seemed kind of familiar but Scorpius would have recognized his face. Part of his was heavily scarred from a burn, it seemed to cut through his eye and widen on his cheek to carry through down his neck. He was trying to smile but the scarred side made it look distorted creepily, the other side had dimples though and the scarred eyelid was dropped semi-closed but the good eye was a blue so dark it seemed almost navy. Scorpius scowled, he was definitely getting a feeling of deja vu but he knew he would recognize someone who looked like that.

"Silvanus Elwood," Michael told them when none spoke up, "The guy who was going to be Acting Headmaster in our Second Year before he was injured in that attack, he's an actual Headmaster now and the scars are a result of the attack."

"Oh that guy," Albus complained, "I totally recognize random guys I never interacted with and barely remember and look completely different that I saw once two years ago."

"Look, they're arriving!" Antonius exclaimed almost excitedly and pointed to the entrance to the Great Hall.

Sure enough, the large Professor Hagrid entered with the cluster of frightened looking First Years following in his wake who gasped in amazement at the hall. The professor took his seat and Calderon - who, Scorpius realized, had held open the door - moved to the front of the crowd. Marius Calderon - which wasn't his real name - was the son of Bellatrix Lestrange, making him Scorpius' cousin to some degree and they were close. His job title was 'assistant' and he did a variety of things around Hogwarts, he was deemed mad or at the very least eccentric and was incredibly powerful, he didn't have a wand but he was capable of extraordinary things with wandless magic as Scorpius had seen on multiple occasions. Only the Shadow Master was known to be capable of such things as well, due to the extreme torturous techniques Death Eaters had used to try teach them magic.

Calderon didn't look any different, he was in his thirties with dark eyes and neat, short dark hair that contrasted with his incredibly pale skin. Despite being - presumably - a pure-blood, he dressed in muggle jeans, sneakers and a navy sweater which all had a worn look to them. He wore a silver dragon necklace that had been a gift from Scorpius and had two Tiwaz arrow rune scars visible on each palm, which was normal for him but something was off. It was only when he got closer that it hit him way, Calderon appeared agitated which wasn't like him. Scorpius threw him a wave and Calderon threw him one half-heartedly back, glancing to Elwood as if to make sure he hadn't seen.

"Elwood doesn't like Calderon," Michael explained, seemingly noticing what was on his mind, "He's convinced Calderon is trying to steal his job since Calderon was Acting Headmaster before, he doesn't like him to do things."

"It's not very pleasant," Antonius agreed before the conversation was silence by the singing of the Sorting Hat.

"So here we are now

Back again, for another year

With many fresh faces

I wish we were gathered in cheer

But alas, it's not to be this time

For the world spins in shadow

War wages outside these walls

I sing my song in sorrow

This school was born years ago

With intentions pure and good

Founded by the best of friends

But soon clashed misunderstood

And so the best of reasons

Became tainted by the fight

I wish it were the last time

But conflict reigned since that night

Descended from one

But hated by all

The Darkest of Lords fought

And died within this hall

From the purest of hearts

Can come the most blinding of light

But do well to remember

It can also sire the darkest night

From the cruelest of hearts

Can come the blackest of night

But do well to remember

It can also create the purest of light

While the past has sheer relevance

It matters more where you are

The choices you make now

Is what decides the future."

The hall burst into applause but it was more on instant and starting more uncertainly than the previous time Scorpius had been there, the song was noticeable darker in tone and it didn't go unnoticed by anyone. Those used it and the nervous First Years seemed even more anxious, although those from wizarding families would know of the Shadow War already so it would be more understandable. He felt a stab of pity for those from muggle families, they were dragged into this world from their happy muggle lives in the midst of a dangerous war.

"Well that song sucked," Albus muttered.

"When I call out your name, come forward and sit on this stool. I will then place the Sorting Hat on your head and it will decide your house, go towards the applauding house and join your new housemates," Calderon said to the First Years, speaking slowly and sounding almost mechanical as if he was saying something he'd memorized off a speech or was reciting something he'd rehearsed. He glanced to Elwood as he spoke, the man gave him a thumbs up, "But first, we have a special student who is joining us all the way from the Durmstrang Institute. She will be joining those in Fifth Year but still must be sorted so would Grozda Krum please step forward."

"Elwood had Calderon practice this, it was the only way he'd let him do it," Michael told him tiredly as a girl moved through the crowd of younger students, "He had to rehearse speaking slower because apparently he talks too fast and only say the words on the cards Elwood had him learn, less flashy magic too."

"Liking that guy more already," Scorpius muttered sarcastically as the girl waved with a smile to Michael and Antonius - who waved back - before sitting on the stool, Calderon gestured and the hat slowly raised and lowered onto her head.

Grozda was tall and thin like her father with the same sallow complexion, her hair and eyes were dark too although hers was very bushy and tied back. She had a much more feminine face than her father though, also and lacking his rather obtuse nose. She had a serious expression like her father as well, fierce but he supposed she mustn't be that bad if she'd waved.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat cried and Grozda trudged over to the applauding table while Calderon started calling the names for the actual First Years.

Scorpius tried very hard not to find it boring but... well it was boring watching the younger students get sorted, he clapped when he had to and frequently was greeted by the new students from sitting right near the end with Maurice but it wasn't the most enjoyable thing in the world. They hadn't had breakfast either and his concern for Michael had prevented him from getting any sweets on the train so he hadn't eaten, he was pretty hungry. He was dying to talk to Michael alone - and Maurice too for that matter, about his abduction - and give him his gift but couldn't until the Sorting was over. Calderon seemed to have been resigned to lowering and raising the Hat without any colors or lights so it wasn't even visually interesting in that respect. His ears pricked up when he heard a name he recognized being called.

"Knight, Byron!"

Knight was a Slytherin boy in their year, Scorpius didn't know his first name but it was marginally more interesting than watching strangers be sorted. If Scorpius had to guess, he was sure Byron lived in Hogsmeade because he had scars from his cheek and down his neck from werewolf claws. It wasn't that unusual, several of the First Years and the older students were sporting scars from the ordeal. He had shoulder-length brown hair and warm brown eyes, he smiled broadly as his name was called and tried to rush forwards but fell flat on his face. The majority of the hall laughed as Calderon helped the boy up, Byron seemed unfazed but he did walk oddly slowly like there was something wrong with his legs. He sat on the stool and his smile returned, not looking nervous like most. It didn't take too long for the Hat to decide.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Byron beamed at having gotten the same house as his - presumably - brother or possibly some other relative, Byron again tried to move quickly and fell again which resulted in more laughter. Scorpius noticed James Potter and his friends laughing particularly hard but apparently he didn't want to risk losing more points by calling out, since Calderon had deducted them before for it. Calderon went to help him up again, Byron did look slightly embarrassed that time before moving more slowly over to the Slytherin table. Scorpius noted the applause had stopped already, Slytherin apparently less eager for someone who'd tripped over nothing. Twice. Scorpius still thought he walked oddly, maybe there was something wrong with his legs.

"Koray, Pollux!"

Scorpius sat up straighter at hearing another name he knew, Professor Koray was the Astronomy Professor and Scorpius noticed the professor sit up as well as he watched with barely contained glee. He also noticed Professor Longbottom had his head in his hands. Pollux had shorter hair than his father, it was also darker but he had the same tinge of olive skin and deep blue eyes. He was somewhat nervous as he sat down, the Hat seemed to take a bit of time to decide as well.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Pollux grinned happily at getting his father's house, bouncing down from the school and joining his house. Professor Koray clapped harder than the rest and looked overwhelmed with pride, excitedly turning to those closest to him to tell them his son made Ravenclaw. Even though they had all just witnessed it.

"What do you think would happen if you got the wrong house?" Antonius asked worriedly.

"You can't get a wrong house," Rose pointed out briskly as the Sorting moved on.

"Astor's is Head of Ravenclaw and was a Ravenclaw himself, he wanted his son to get Ravenclaw and Pollux just got it. Hagrid was a Gryffindor, he wanted his son to get Gryffindor and Corin got Gryffindor. Grant was a Gryffindor, he wanted his kids to be in Gryffindor and they were. So parents want their kids to be in the same house as them, right?"

"That's right, well done!" Albus offered extremely patronizingly again, Antonius rolled his eyes.

"So what if you get a different house to your parents? What if I don't get Ravenclaw and my Dad hates me?"

"Ah well you don't have to worry about that for a gazillion years, we'll be long gone by the time you're finally old enough."

"My first year will be your last, it's not that long away."

"Houses don't matter," Scorpius offered consolingly as Michael opened his mouth to do the same, "Professor Ashain is a great man, he'll love you no matter what house you get put in."

"Well that's good," Antonius nodded looking relieved, "And good for Cassia too. Grant always says she's a future Slytherin."

The conversation ended they went through further string of names that Scorpius didn't know, he was really starving. Why couldn't they just carry on the Sorting while there was still good on the table? Surely everyone else was just as hungry as he was, including the First Years.

"Pentakel, Terra!"

Scorpius' attention drifted back to the name called, he recognized the last name again. Sequoia Pentakel was the Ravenclaw Seeker in the year above him, Scorpius knew him vaguely from the pitch and Pentakel had always come across as nice. There was another Pentakel in the year below him, he forgot her name but she'd been a good duelist and then Mirra Pentakel was in Molly's year, a Hufflepuff prefect who'd helped Michael with his work last year when he was injured. He knew none of them well but it was still marginally more interesting, Terra had blond hair but the same sharp blue eyes as the others and she didn't seem nervous either although the Hat took its time.

"RAVENCLAW!"

She grinned at the Hat's declaration and practically ran to the Ravenclaw table, Sequoia was there to greet her and Scorpius realized he had two shiny badges on his robes. Had he made Prefect and Quidditch Captain? Scorpius wasn't sure from the distance but a potential Captainship was worrying, he'd make Ravenclaw a force to be reckoned with. Or maybe not, he'd been severely injured in the Hogsmeade attack - Scorpius and Varanian had saved his life - and while recovered, he was badly scarred. His face and hands were covered in crisscrossing scars, worse than Latimer and they hadn't missed his eyes, one was very milky looking now. There was nothing else of note as the Sorting continued, no other names until finally Reshim Zekron made Ravenclaw and then the new Headmaster stood.

"Greetings everyone! Welcome to or back to Hogwarts," Elwood offered brightly but his smile wavered for a moment as he eyed the door fearfully as if expecting an attack, Scorpius supposed he couldn't blame him since the last time Elwood had tried to address the school, there had been an attack. Nothing happened though which seemed to relieve the new Headmaster greatly, "I'm sure we're all very hungry so I'll keep this brief. To new students, you should be aware that the Forbidden Forest in forbidden and older students should remember that as well. Quidditch tryouts will be held the second week of term, Quidditch Captains are to book the pitch and arrange the times with our new Flying Instructor before then and put up a notice in the Common Room for those wishing to try out.

"As most of you know and a few of you may not, the previous Flying Instructor died tragically and we are sad to see him go but very glad to welcome our new Flying Instructor. An international Quidditch Champion and a former Triwizard Champion, Viktor Krum!" Elwood sounded almost excited by this as he gestured to Krum, the man stood and waved once as the school roared with applause, Krum sat back down quickly as if he didn't like the attention, "We are very lucky to have such a talented and experienced teacher and I hope you'll all give him a warm welcome. We are also welcoming a new professor as a replacement for the previous Transfiguration Professor who is now a known Shadow. Everyone give a warm welcome to my esteemed cousin, Hypatia Ayn Midas!" Elwood gestured to his cousin as the woman stood to wave, the applause was notably less and the older students especially were wary. Her predecessor had turned out to be a maniac after all who had killed the Headmistress, the Flying Instructor, a student and tried to kill plenty more.

"The only other new member of staff is myself of course, Silvanus Elwood and I am taking over from the previous Head who also tragically died. It is a loss to the Wizarding world and Minerva McGonagall will be greatly missed, I know I cannot truly replace her but I indeed to do my best to serve this school and by extension its pupils for what is a school without its students? You have all been unfortunate these past few years, with the tragedy of McGonagall's death last year, the lack of structure the year prior with the Triwizard Tournament taking the Headmistress away and of course the years with a known Shadow criminal Varanian-"

"Varanian's innocent!" a voice called out and Elwood froze in shock as did everyone else, Lorcan was the one who'd spoken. It would be Lorcan, "Don't insult him."

"My boy, Varanian is a wanted fugitive of the Ministry of Magic. It is not an insult but a fact and if you could refrain from interrupting then that would be most helpful."

"He's a hero and they're wrong about him!" Lorcan protested fiercely.

"And that swiftly moves me back to what I was saying," Elwood continued with a more severe look, "Many of you have been under a great deal of stress, a great deal of trauma and a great deal of misinformation. The Shadow War rages. Which is why for your benefit, there will be mandatory counselling sessions for all students - and staff - to help you in your time of need. If you are alright then it need not be long and for those who need more help, it is available as we at the Ministry believe that your mental wellbeing is just as important as your studies. More detail on this is to come and in the meantime, please enjoy this magnificent feast."

"What does he think? That we're weak?" Scorpius demanded immediately as his guard shot up.

"There's an ulterior motive," Maurice commented, speaking for what might've been the first time since on the platform but he didn't bother putting his hand on his necklace to translate, apparently just vocalizing his thoughts and not wanting to talk, "There has to be. Probably just after information."

Scorpius fell quiet, eating the food he was no longer hungry for and mulling over the situation. It took him awhile to notice that Michael too was withdrawn, he looked exhausted and didn't even attempt to be cheerful or keep the conversation going or anything as he usually die. If he did talk, it was mostly to Antonius. He was full and ready for bed by the time the meal was over, grateful when they could finally bid Antonius goodbye head back up to Gryffindor Tower. Scorpius didn't think he'd ever been happier to see that Common Room.

He did still want to talk to Michael though so after he was ready for bed, he reopened his drapes to see if Michael would stay up later than the others. The other two they shared the room with were Angelo Jordan and Reuben Tear, Scorpius noticed seemed to deliberately try to avoid Michael in the room. They went to sleep quickly though, as did Albus. Michael lay awake though.

"Michael, are you awake?" Scorpius asked, already knowing the answer as he watched his friend lying on his back. Michael sighed heavily and rolled onto his side to face him.

"Yep. Bet you're wondering what happened with Bob? Although I don't know why since you squealed to Jack anyway," Michael commented said tiredly.

"I told him not to do anything until tomorrow, I'm sorry. I was just worried about you an-"

"It's fine. I don't care anymore," Michael interrupted dismissively, "I went and told Mr Potter - just like I told you I would - the next day. When he came to arrest Bob, Jack was beating the crap out of him. They arrested Bob, threw him in a jail cell somewhere. Stress of it all wrecked what's left of Crystal's heart, she went to hospital, the little ones went to live with Bob's mother and I got landed with Jack. I ran away the full moon in August, used my werewolfness to my advantage because I couldn't stay there. Been here since."

"Was it really that bad living with Jack?" Scorpius wondered and Michael just shrugged, "I'm sorry about your mum, will she-"

"I said its fine. She'll be okay when they get around to doing this operation she needs, she'll get the little ones back and they live happily ever after."

"What about you?"

"They're safer away from me. I'm a werewolf, Scorpius, didn't you see the bracelet of death?" Michael quipped and gestured to the black bracelet before his expression became one of dread, "Tomorrow's the full moon."

"That reminds me, I got something for you," Scorpius remembered and hastily searched the pockets of his robes for the friendship bracelet, Michael sat up and Scorpius sat down beside him as he tied it onto Michael's wrist, "I'm sorry I couldn't get you a nicer present, I kinda couldn't go into the Wizarding World because I was running from my family and I don't know what muggle thing would be good so I... I made you this. It's a friendship bracelet, I know it's kind of childish but... so what? You're the first best friend I ever really had and after everything we've been through, it doesn't matter that you're a werewolf. You're still you and you're still my friend... You don't have to wear it if you don't want, I'm sorry it's not cooler or better made but Happy Birthday for yesterday."

"Thanks," Michael offered quietly as he gazed down at the bracelet, "It's great, I never had a friendship bracelet before."

"You're welcome," Scorpius told him before Michael hugged him, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Michael said as he hastily pulled away and wiped his eyes before looking back to him, the ghost of a smile on his face for the first time that Scorpius had seen since he'd been turned. Scorpius also realized for the first time that the iris of Michael's prosthetic eye was now golden, "Alright as I can be anyway. So what is this about you running away from your family?"

Part 2: Good Start

It was late by the time he'd finished filling Michael in on everything but Michael seemed more his usual self than at dinner, at least he seemed to be paying attention instead of being lost in his own mind. Scorpius wasn't bothered by the lateness though, he'd missed his friend and sleep could wait. It didn't take him long to fall asleep anyway, he seemed to blink and it was already day. Michael was already up and gone down to breakfast already, Scorpius found himself in a good mood, looking forward to getting back into classes and being with his friends again. Although Albus didn't share his cheer after Scorpius had finally managed to get him up.

"I don't see why we have to get up so early," Albus yawned as he trudged down the Grand Staircase with Scorpius, "And today's Friday, they could've given us the day off to ease us back into it. And for classes, why does there have to be so much work?"

"I like it," Scorpius admitted truthfully.

"And you're weird for it. I hope we have few classes and lots of breaks today. Oh and Transfiguration, love to get to know that new drop dead gorgeous professor better."

"You have a problem."

"You're just jealous of the bond of we share," Albus told him dreamily, now seemingly awake as they joined everyone else at the Gryffindor table. Scorpius was doubtful they'd get to eat anything as Albus had taken so long to drag himself out of bed.

"You haven't even met her yet," Scorpius pointed out incredulously.

"And that's proof of the depth of the bonds of love that bind our souls."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"Seriously, Al, what is wrong with you?" Rose complained with a shake of her head before seeming to notice something, Scorpius followed her gaze to see she was watching Calderon hand out the class schedules, "Look its Calderon."

"Oh, did he suddenly get hot too?! Now who has a problem?!" Albus told her triumphantly.

"Firstly, he's always been attractive and I've never obsessed over him. Secondly, I meant more that he's handing out schedules and I want to know what I have. I hope Transfiguration."

"Get your own soul-mate professor!"

"I meant for the lesson content! Who knows what we missed with Florian?"

"Well good because she's mine."

"You two are despicable," Maurice pointed out with a look of disgust, "Romantic relationships are wrong. It only ends badly, it's a waste of time and quite frankly, it's disgusting."

"One of these days, you're going to hit puberty and you're going to eat those words," Albus with a smirk and Maurice threw him a dark look.

"Here are your schedules," Calderon announced brightly as he started handing them out.

"Hey Calderon, how are you?" Scorpius greeted his cousin brightly while the others skimmed the schedules.

"I shouldn't complain," Calderon told him carefully with another glance at the Headmaster, "You? I hear you ran away, Scor."

"I'm alright now."

"Calderon, I think there's some kind of mistake," Maurice spoke up with a bemused expression, "This says I have Flying lessons on Wednesdays."

"Because you do," Calderon admitted, "You went to Eben at the end of last year wanting to improve your basic broom skills, he pleaded with me to let you have classes next year because a few weeks wouldn't have been enough and he really wanted to help you. It was the last thing he ever asked of me so I wanted to see it through and eventually got Elwood to agree, I worked out all the schedules around it. Pleased much?"

"Merlin's ass, damn. You get to be taught to fly by a Quidditch champion," Albus complained.

"I-I didn't..." Maurice stammered out uncharacteristically as Calderon looked confused, Maurice had only done that as a distraction and in truth disliked Flying and had no desire to improve but he sighed, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Got to finish handing these out," Calderon admitted, "See you later."

"Bye," Scorpius offered as Calderon went away to continue handing the last few out. Maurice groaned, "Why didn't you just tell him you didn't really want Flying lessons?"

"After they went through all that trouble?" Maurice sighed and shook his head.

"How very human of you, Maurice," Rose commented, looking impressed but Maurice seemed to take it the wrong way as he looked upset.

"I am human, okay? I am."

"She didn't mean-" Corin started to say but stopped as the bell for first classes began, "Well there's the bell. We have Arithmancy, au revoir."

"What do we have?" Scorpius asked as everyone started filing out of the Great Hall for the start of lessons.

"Charms," Rose answered and Scorpius groaned, no longer looking forward to it.

"Great, Grant is the first lesson back."

Scorpius' good mood wavered as they made it to Charms, he skimmed his schedule to reassure himself and saw - to his relief - that there were other good lessons that day. After Charms they had a break before double Care of Magical Creatures, they also had Herbology after lunch which were both classes he generally liked even if they weren't his favorites. He actually did have his favorites, Defense Against the Dark Arts was his last class so if nothing else they had that. There was Transfiguration too but he wasn't sure what to expect with the new teacher, he hoped she wouldn't ruin the class for him like Grant had ruined Charms.

Grant hadn't changed, he was tall and robust with beady eyes and hair that still hadn't made up its mind whether it was gray or white. Except for his new hand anyway. He started a lengthy explanation on how everything they did now was getting ready to prepare them for OWLs next year, how Charms was an important subject and they should try especially hard in it. Scorpius and his friends had taken their usual seats in the corner but he noticed that oddly, the other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs seemed to be sitting as far away as possible. He couldn't say anything though as Grant was still talking, finally moving on to how they would be learning the Summoning Charm. Since it was only a single but they had a double on Monday, they were doing theory and would have a large amount of homework on it for the weekend. It took Scorpius awhile to notice that something else was off, Michael wasn't taking notes like he usually did. He said as much when Grant was finally done.

"What's the point?" Michael wondered as he rubbed his head, Scorpius noticed for the first time that Michael was looking kind of ill, "Not like it matters, I was always going to fail this subject anyway. I'm terrible at practical because I'm a lousy wizard and terrible at written because I'm Dyslexic, Grant hates me so he never cuts me a shred of slack either."

"That's not true, you were doing so well," Rose protested.

"No, you were all right. I'm too stupid to take on four subjects plus the core subjects, was just failing them all."

"That's absolutely not true! You were doing great, you were succeeding and-"

"All Mirra. I'm going to fail. Especially now I'll have to miss classes to recover from transformations, if I'm behind anyway then I can't catch up. I already feel ill and it hasn't even happened yet."

"Sanford," Grant said as he strode over, Michael sighed and Scorpius was sure he was about to tell them off for talking while working but his expression was something akin to sympathy, "I know it's the full moon tonight, I know your strength will vary from month to month so just do as much of the work you feel able to today. And don't worry about the essay, you can have a week to do that starting from the next Charms class you can attend. Is that alright?"

"Sure," Michael shrugged and rubbed his eyes again.

"If you need to go and rest then you can as well," Grant offered, sounding disturbingly sincere and Michael merely nodded but continued with his work. Grant eyed Scorpius' own, "Good start, Malfoy."

"Seriously?" Scorpius wondered dubiously with a raised eyebrow, Grant always said his name with malice and never said anything remotely resembling a compliment unless it was so begrudging that it was like pulling a hair from within a stone.

"Yes, I look forward to reading your essay," Grant confirmed before moving on and Scorpius was left in bewilderment.

"Did he hit his head?"

"Brutus crippled both his hands in the attack, meaning he couldn't use his wand, meaning he would've been a sitting duck to the werewolves. Ashain saved his life and got him to the caves, even after Grant apparently tortured him. Maybe it finally made him realize not to make such harsh judgments on people based on their families and not themselves," Abby explained.

"I still don't like him," Scorpius insisted, "I don't believe he's changed and even if he has, he still hurt Professor Ashain. He's a good person and he's been through enough without being tortured."

"Your loyalty is strange and admirable," Albus offered, "But you're overreacting, it's not that big of a deal. Ashain's probably used it from being an Auror."

"Albus, I've actually had the Cruciatus Curse used on me. Several times," Michael pointed out, "There's a reason it's unforgivable, you don't get used to it. It still hurts."

"Yeah but Ashain's an adult."

"Adults can still feel pain," Rose agreed with a glowering look to her cousin.

The conversation dwindled as they focused on their work, much to Albus' dislike as he grunted repeatedly in exasperation at having to work. Michael alone didn't seem to do much, whether because of his apparent new attitude or the full moon, Scorpius wasn't sure. After that, they spent their break carrying on with it while Michael said he wanted to lie down for a bit before the next lesson plus he needed to take his Wolfsbane. Scorpius reluctantly bade his friend goodbye until the next class, he rejoined them as they gathered in the grounds in the biting wind for Professor Hagrid's class. Scorpius noticed again, that the others in the class seemed to be standing well back away from them.

"All right', welcome back everyone!" Professor Hagrid greeted them brightly, standing beside two huge crates, "Go' a real treat fer yeh t' start us off t' a good year an- Yes, Elm?"

"Are we going to be studying werewolves?" a boy who Scorpius didn't know but vaguely recognized as someone in their year and class who he'd never spoken to before, "Since there's one of those things in this class and tonight is a full moon at all. I think it'd be rather interesting to see the creature up close so we can fight them better next time, we could tie it on a leash and wait for it to turn or whatever."

"Hey!" Scorpius snapped before he could stop himself, "Don't speak about my friend like that!"

"It's hardly my fault that that thing," the boy said and eyed Michael with a look of disgust as he said it, "Is allowed to move among us when it belongs locked up with the rest of its filthy kind."

Scorpius felt anger flash through him that someone could even think of Michael as a 'thing', he was still a person. His wand was in his hand before he realized it, curses dancing on his lips as his burning anger begged him to hurt him as bad as he could. Professor Hagrid stepped in though, snatching his wand from his hand before he could curse the boy. The boy who was too stupid to draw his wand in self-defense.

"We'll 'ave none o' that now. I very rarely give detentions but Elm, yeh earned that. We don' talk abou' our classmates like tha' an' we don' talk about werewolves like that either, tha' is the wrong kind of attitude," Professor Hagrid announced, sounding unusually severe, "An' Scorpius, we don' duel each other either. Do yeh both understand?"

"Yes," Scorpius agreed, his anger still pulsed in his heart but at the very least, he knew it was pointless to duel someone in front of a teacher in a class. Professor Hagrid handed him back his wand as the other boy said yes too, he shuffled back over to the crates while Scorpius pocketed his wand.

"I bet the staff has to be nice to those creatures for the sake of politeness but we all know those things are worse than any of the animals we learn about here," the boy said to the other students.

Scorpius would've drawn his wand again but Albus was faster and closer, the boy had Albus' fist slammed into his face almost as soon as he was done speaking. The other boy threw a far off punch before Albus tackled him to the ground and started pummeling the smaller boy. Professor Hagrid's cry for it to stop fell unheard and he was forced to physically pull Albus off the boy, who tried to hit Albus back while stuck in the professor's grip which forced the half-giant to put himself between them.

"I SAY THA'S ENOUGH!" Professor Hagrid boomed, "Elm, ge' ou' of my class. Get yerself seen to an' don' come back 'til we've talked about this!"

"Doesn't he get a detention, he attacked me!" the boy protested, looking rather pitiful with blood dribbling from his nose.

"Never yeh mind abou' him," Professor Hagrid said and the boy trudged off unhappily.

"Yeah, you better run, you bastard!" Albus yelled furiously.

"Enough outta yeh as well, Al! Anyone else want to cause trouble then get outta here right now, if yeh staying then I expect yeh to behave and be civil!"

"Fine."

"And... well, he is right. I do have to give yeh a detention, I'm afraid. It wouldn' be fair else."

"Fine."

"Alright," Professor Hagrid stated, seeming to have lost his cheer but the class was now silent as he let go of Albus finally and moved back to the crates, "Today we'll be lookin' at Nifflers."

Professor Hagrid's usual cheerfulness was slow to return as he talked about the treasure-digging creatures to the very silent class, Scorpius stood beside Michael who had now hung his head very low. He tried to listen but he couldn't focus, were people really that prejudiced against werewolves? Michael was just fourteen, he had only turned three times even and the only people he'd hurt were other werewolves. It really bothered Scorpius and now he was bothering to pay attention, he saw most of the class threw dirty looks in Michael's direction.

Apparently Professor Hagrid had put Leprechaun gold around and they had to pick their Nifflers, the one who found the most gold got some chocolate, he warned them to put away any shiny things first though. The class went over to the crates to choose their creature and get started after pocketing any jewelry or watches or things like that, Scorpius himself decided his rings were safer in his pocket. As they went to go over there though, Professor Hagrid stopped Michael.

"Are yeh alright, Michael?" Professor Hagrid asked gently with genuine concern and Michael nodded mutely, "Yeh can go rest a bit if yeh need to an' I'm sorry abou' him, some people are jus' ridiculous like that 'specially after what happened at Hogsmeade. Don' let it get to yeh, eh?"

"It's okay," Michael muttered still quietly.

"Alrigh' and jus' so yeh warned, it may be best fer yeh to wait until the others have picked so I can help yeh get one. They have a good sense o' smell an' well... yeh being a werewolf might get t' them, it should be okay if we jus' do it careful an' they see yeh are not danger-"

"Actually, I think I will lie down," Michael interrupted, "Sorry, Hagrid."

"It's alrigh', we can catch yeh up later on," Professor Hagrid offered kindly but Scorpius had a feeling that Michael's wish to leave had more to do with the Nifflers possibly having a problem with him being a werewolf than from feeling unwell.

"See you guys later."

"Do people really still think like that, Hagrid?" Rose asked with concern as Michael left, "Aren't there supposed to be laws and things to make it fairer for werewolves?"

"There are bu' tha' don' stop people feeling how they're feeling, folks are scared from the Shadows an' the attacks with werewolves an' all. Fear makes people act rashly an' tha' ruddy Helmut's not helpin' with all his anti-werewolf nonsense."

"People suck," Scorpius complained as he moved past to get his Niffler.

Scorpius soon realized that maybe waiting to choose last hadn't been a great idea, all the good Nifflers were gone and he had the runt. All his Niffler seemed to want to do was sleep or nuzzle him, he needn't have bothered hiding his rings. He wound up just sitting on the grass with his Niffler using his legs for a pillow, stroking the sleeping creature and watching the others with their own Nifflers. Rose and Albus' was also quite lax although at least seemed marginally interested in sniffling the ground, Albus was trying very hard to make his be more enthusiastic by telling it to dig repeatedly and excitedly as he patted the ground himself. Abby's was the opposite, overly enthusiastic and kept knocking her over in its attempts to find gold.

It would actually have been quite a fun lesson without the taint of the starting incident and Michael having left. And possibly a more energetic Niffler. The winner won a slab of chocolate but it was some girl that Scorpius didn't know, after that they headed to lunch. Michael was already there, Corin and Maurice were just joining him when they got into the Great Hall.

"How was your day so far?" Corin asked his girlfriend enthusiastically as they sat as Abby filled him in, Scorpius noticed that Michael had an empty plate and Maurice was again not bothering to listen to the conversation, "My day? Pretty good actually, had Charms and Herbology which is the classes we have with Vern and Orous even though Grant's a dick. First thing was Arithmancy though, Rivers dismissed us early because someone pointed out the scar on his face and he ran off crying."

"He sucks," Albus laughed.

"Wonder if we'll still have Arithmancy later then," Abby mused thoughtfully, "It's supposed to be after Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Scorpius prompted of Michael.

"Not hungry," Michael muttered and pushed the plate away.

"What's with Maurice not paying attention to us?" Rose scowled as she'd opened her mouth to say something to Maurice but he wasn't even looking at them.

"Orous says he's been withdrawn like that since he got back, he didn't pay much attention to us in class either," Corin admitted worriedly.

"Maybe those counselling sessions will be good for him."

"Not likely," Scorpius scoffed feeling his blood boil again, how dare they think he was weak?! After everything he'd done, he was not a weak little child anymore. He bet it was his parent's idea.

He couldn't coax Michael to eat anything or successfully draw Maurice into conversation, Scorpius wanted to ask him what was bothering but he didn't think it was the best time. After lunch they headed down to the greenhouses for Herbology while Maurice and Corin headed off to Transfiguration, he couldn't help but notice now that random people were throwing Michael - and by extension, Scorpius and his friends - dirty looks as well. Herbology was surprisingly disappointing, Professor Longbottom had them revising what they'd done the previous year and seemed completely lacking in his usual enthusiasm and good humor. Scorpius understood why, the loss of a child was a hard thing to cope with, he could still remember his parents after losing Lyra... He felt a painful twinge in his heart, they'd soon all be going through that again when his new baby sister died.

It was just a single lesson for Herbology so it wasn't long before they were on their way to Transfiguration with the new professor, Midas. His friends were divided over this, Albus looked eager - Scorpius suspected solely because of her appearance - while Michael looked positively unenthusiastic. The girls were more indifferent along with Scorpius, just waiting to see how the class played out. They went to sit down but to his surprise, they were approached by the new professor, Albus grinned from ear to ear.

"Now, Michael, you can't sit there," Midas told him, her voice was so high-pitched it was practically a squeak. She gestured to a single chair and small lone table in front of all the others that was wedged in the corner, it hadn't been there when Florian or Professor McGonagall had taught the subject, "That's your sit, steps must be taken to make it better for your condition."

"Because he's a werewolf?" Albus wondered in confusion.

"No, no, you mistake me," Midas pointed out hastily and laughed nervously, a squeaky little laugh, "That would be discrimination which of course, we at the Ministry don't condone. No, this is simply to make it easier for him to learn with his Dysthessia just like I also put a poor young boy who suffers from lack of hearing there too."

"It's Dyslexia," Michael corrected.

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Can we at least sit with him?" Scorpius asked with a frown as Michael stood to move.

"No, no, now that would impede the point of having him sequestered against distractions and to have a more personalized learning plan. I'm sure you mean will but it's better for Michael that he's alone."

"I disagree," Scorpius grumbled as she led Michael over to the lone table, "Stupid teacher."

"Maybe she is just trying to help him," Albus offered defensively and Scorpius simply threw him a dark look.

"Alright class, welcome to Fourth Year Transfiguration with me, I am Professor Midas," she introduced herself to the class when they'd all arrived, she frowned at something momentarily. Quickly, she moved over to Michael and pulled his sleeve all the way down to his elbow to make his black bracelet even more obvious before smiling content and returning to stand in the center, "The last two years your education for this subject has been in the hands of a criminal and probably not the best so for the first term at least, we will be going over the work you covered in the past two years so let's begin."

It was easily the most grueling double Transfiguration lesson that Scorpius could ever recall having. Midas spoke to them in a slow patronizing tone as she went through things they'd already covered and that Scorpius already knew, talking amongst themselves was also not allowed and they had to write it all down. As much as he despised Florian, he couldn't help but feel he preferred those classes. From the general atmosphere of boredom, he thought the class felt the same. Florian had always made the lessons fun somehow and for some reason. Why had a psychotic maniac made his classes fun anyway?

Scorpius was more than happy for the class to be over and to head on over to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Ashain wouldn't let him down. There was no way that his now sole favorite class could be ruined, especially not by his favorite professor.

"You're quiet, Al," Abby pointed out as they walked, "No more comments about how wonderful Midas is?"

"I think my mind is dead," Albus groaned, "And I think there's something wrong with my wrist from writing so much. And what is up with not letting us talk? Or sit together?"

"Mother of Merlin," Rose gasped and they followed her gaze again, seeing she was looking at a Slytherin boy waiting for Defense Against the Dark Arts with them, Knight, "Is it just me or did Kenelm suddenly get hot?"

"Is it just me or did you suddenly lose your mind?!" Albus complained and his cousin scowled at him, "Honestly, Rose, what the hell!?"

"Better than falling in love with a different woman old enough to be your mother!"

"Times like this, I'm really glad I have a boyfriend," Abby commented with a roll of her eyes.

"Wait, Knight's first name is Kenelm?" Scorpius realized.

They went into the classroom and took their usual seats at the front but Scorpius was surprised to see a difference, the professor had put a desk in the corner at the front away from the others. It wasn't for Michael though, Antonius and Cassia were sitting at it. Both writing as if they were getting on with work they'd been given, Scorpius supposed they might be. After all they still needed to learn things before Hogwarts such as reading and writing, they didn't have a muggle school or tutors so Professor Ashain would have to teach them.

"Alright class, welcome back," Professor Ashain said as soon as he had their attention, he was standing in the front of the class and hadn't changed much. He had dark chestnut brown eyes and an extremely dark shade of auburn for his hair, it was brushed back but not as neatly as it used to be. Instead of a beard now, he instead just had stubble and despite being in his mid-forties now, he looked about ten years younger. While his children wore muggle clothes, the professor wore fine wizard robes, "Now I could go on about how this is an important year, the last year before OWLs et cetera and I could recap what we covered last year briefly but I'm not. To start the year off, I want you to get right back into it since you'll undoubtedly be rusty after the summer.

"Today we'll start learning a very important and a very useful spell, this spell is used frequently in duels and in one of the most important spells at a duelist's arsenal. It's also one of the most important defensive spells I'll teach you, which is why I want to get started on it early and we'll spend a lot of time on it. Considering the state of the world, it may very well save your life someday so you'll do well to pay attention," Professor Ashain continued but he needn't have said that, his lessons had already saved people's lives in Hogsmeade. After the events of last year, everyone was paying apt attention in case another situation when they needed to defend themselves arose. Scorpius also realized that Cassia had stopped what she was doing, listening to her father's speech enthralled instead and Antonius' writing speed had also decreased, "I'm talking about the Stunning Spell, commonly referred to as a stunner. The incantation is Stupefy and the wand movement is very simple, making it much faster to use because speed is everything. If you're being attacked, it doesn't matter how much you know if you're not fast enough to use it in time."

He went on to demonstrate it and had them practice both the incantation and wand movement, he also had them learn the Reviving Spell, Rennervate. In case they needed to revive those who'd be knocked out, although really there was no way to know how they'd do on either until they got practicing. Cassia and Antonius apparently lose interest in watching people practicing or maybe because the professor went over to check on them as they paired up, Scorpius went with Michael, who was still looking rather down.

"Want to try stun me first?" Scorpius asked, it took Michael longer to get spells than him and maybe going first would cheer him up a bit.

"Alright," Michael agreed as they faced off against each other, Michael raised his wand and took a deep breath before moving quickly, "Stupefy!"

Scorpius barely had time to register the jet of light that sprang from Michael's charred wand before he was knocked into oblivion.

Part 3: Bullying

"Easy there, Scor," Professor Ashain's voice came to mind as Scorpius' eyes fluttered open, seeing the professor and Michael standing over him, "You were just stunned very enthusiastically."

"I was?" Scorpius wondered as the professor offered him his hand, Scorpius took and allowed himself to be helped to his feet by the professor.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," Michael offered apologetically.

"No, it's good that it worked."

They went back to practicing the spell, it took Scorpius a few attempts to get it but still faster than the rest of the class and generally when he could do the spell, he could do it every time. Michael didn't succeed at as frequently but from the tired and anxious expression, Scorpius thought his failure was more to do with fear of hurting him and the full moon messing him up. Knight and Nott were the pair to get it after them, Knight even managed to stun someone from another by accident and Nott managed it not long after that, Abby got it just after he did. Albus and Rose took longer but both had succeeded by the end of class, almost everyone had at least once. Scorpius thought it would be hard not to succeed with Professor Ashain giving them so much help, he was really determined that they succeed. Scorpius really liked that about him.

"That was awesome, now we'll be able to take on the forces of the darkness!" Albus announced cheerfully as they left the lesson, "Just like my Dad."

"You do that, we have Arithmancy," Abby pointed out and Michael sighed.

"Let's hope it's less tiring than stunning," Michael muttered weakly as he left with Abby while they headed back to the Common Room.

"Hey Scor!" a voice called out as they got there, they stopped and Scorpius turned to see Latimer coming over to him.

"Shouldn't you have classes or something?" Rose complained as she wrinkled her nose at Latimer.

"Not for another half hour."

"What classes did you take?" Scorpius asked with genuine curiosity to which Rose threw him a dark look for some reason.

"Well not enough interest to do Alchemy which is a shame, I really wanted that. Midas only accepts 'O' level students for Transfiguration so she wouldn't let me or Molly do it because 'E' isn't good enough for her. Longbottom also thinks 'A' isn't good enough so he wouldn't let me take Herbology so I took Care of Magical Creatures instead. I also went with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Runes and Astronomy plus Molly convinced me to do Charms. Eugh, Grant, that'll be fun."

"Did Molly take the same?"

"No, she got an 'O' so she went with Herbology instead of Astronomy, she didn't take Runes so she went with Divination and went with Arithmancy since she wasn't allowed to do Transfiguration. She's doing seven because her Dad told her to, naturally. She's in Herbology now."

"It's good to take seven," Rose insisted, "The more you study, the more you learn. Maybe you should've taken seven."

"He's taking six, that's only one less than seven," Albus pointed out.

"One can count for a lot. And did you want something anyway... Druss?"

"Latimer. That's not even close," Latimer complained before looking back to Scorpius, "And yeah, I just thought you might like your money back sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Scorpius agreed and Latimer immediately went to retrieve it while his friends looked at him curiously, "What?"

"Why does he have your money?" Albus wondered.

"Oh, I agreed to pay Austin - Latimer's Dad - for letting me stay but not how much. Latimer suggested hiding half my money amongst his stuff because Austin's... Well... He'd kind of have no problems taking everything I had."

"Why would you stay with someone who would knowingly hide you from the Ministry in exchange for money?! What kind of person takes money from a runaway?!" Rose demanded irritably.

"It wasn't that bad," Scorpius admitted truthfully, "Latimer's good. Even if his Dad isn't."

"I don't know how you could do it," Rose continued as Latimer returned with Scorpius' bag of money, "I mean Latimer is so ugly. Every time I see his face, it makes me want to vomit. No offense."

"I'm still right here and I still have ears, they work pretty good," Latimer pointed out as he handed Scorpius the money.

"I said no offense."

"How can that not be construed as..." Latimer started to say but seemed to give up, "Never mind, I just go and... I just have to go."

"How rude, walks off in the middle of a conversation," Rose griped as Latimer left, "Hideous and rude, why are you friends with him again?"

"Can you at least try to be nice to him?!" Scorpius complained as he stalked off to put away his money, leaving Rose asking Albus how she'd not been nice to Latimer.

They made a start on their Charms work as they waited for Arithmancy to let up, Michael and Abby joined them shortly. Although only Abby started work on the essay with them, Michael just lay down on one of the couches weakly with his arm over his eyes. Scorpius realized they were given wide berth, one look at the black bracelet on Michael's wrist and the other students moved away. It was really bothering him by the time they headed to dinner, Michael didn't seem to notice though as he looked ready to pass out.

"I might just skip dinner and go straight to the Hospital Wing," Michael told them as he rubbed his eyes.

"The Hospital Wing?" Rose wondered with a bemused expression.

"That's where I'm supposed to stay for the full moon, there's beds and Marigold's there if I need anything."

"Marigold," Albus repeated and chuckled to himself.

"You are so childish," Abby complained with a roll of her eyes.

"But Marigold. His name is Marigold."

"I'm glad Corin is more mature than that."

"Hey!" Albus snapped immediately, "I am way more mature than Corin, I'm an entire year older than him! I'm so much more mature than him, if there was a competition for the most mature person in the world than I would win it and he would lose because I'm better than him and he can suck it!"

"Good comeback," Scorpius commented sarcastically before being distracted by the sounds of laughter.

Scorpius saw that it was James Potter and his cronies, they were aiming their wands at the feet of a Slytherin boy that looked maybe Second Year. He cringed inwardly as he recognized what they were doing, forcing him to dance by aiming spells at his feet. They'd done that to him in his First Year. Not fun. There was a small crowd watching, mostly First Years and the majority of non-Slytherins were laughing.

"I-I don't... You shouldn't pick on people like that. It... It's not nice," a voice piped up and the speaker stepped out of the crowd, the bullying and laughter stopped. Scorpius realized that he recognized the boy from the Sorting, Byron Knight, a Slytherin, "I-I think that you... you should maybe leave him alone."

"Is that what you think, huh?" James said in a sneer, his attention gone from the Second Year - who fled in an instant like his life depended on it - as the gang instead turned their focus to little Byron.

"Y-Yes," Byron admitted but fidgeted under the gazes of the crowd and the teenagers.

"Well don't you just have ants in your pants?" Carver - one of James' cronies - pointed out before abruptly flicking his wand at Byron as he muttered something.

The spell struck the younger boy unchallenged and the effects weren't immediately apparent, Carver smirked cruelly and Scorpius noticed that Byron's pants now bulged oddly. They also wriggled. Byron yelped abruptly and leaped into the air, James hi-fived Carver as they laughed and the crowd started laughing too as Byron jumped about with tears in his eyes as he screamed. Desperately, Byron started trying to take his pants off and Scorpius got a glimpse of the angry red ants that went for his hands which made him cry out in pain again. One of the others of James' group flicked his wand and the pants seemed to tighten, leaving Byron unable to remove them.

"They're stinging me!" Byron shrieked in a sob as he continued to flail about, "Stop it! Stop it! It hurts, stop it!"

"You wanted us to leave him alone," Carver commented.

"Scumbag shadowy Slytherin, didn't even say please!" James added.

"PLEASE!" Byron screamed, tears streaming down his face, "Please! Please! Please! Make it stop, please make it stop!"

"Typical Slytherin, no loyalty whatever to their beliefs."

"Slimy snakes," Carver agreed which seemed to give James an idea, he smiled and aimed his wand at Byron.

Byron seemed to pause for a moment, thinking James was finally taking pity on him but James didn't and whatever spell he muttered made Byron scream. The shape of the wriggling bulge had changed and Scorpius could now hear hissing, James had turned the ants in Byron's pants to snakes. James laughed as Byron screamed, he was still screaming and clawing at his pants to try remove them.

"STOP!" Byron yelled, "They're biting me! Please, please, stop! PLEASE!"

"They're only little ones and they're not poisonous," James smirked as Carver hi-fived him, laughing hysterically himself although Scorpius was at least pleased to see that not all of the students were laughing now. Scorpius had to do something to help the poor boy, he drew his wand and-

"Expelliarmus!" Michael cried before Scorpius could.

It not only disarmed James but throwing back against the wall, Carver made to defend his friend but Scorpius had his wand trained on him warningly. Carver did nothing as Michael stalked over and slashed his wand at Byron, muttering a spell as he did so that cut Byron's pants and underwear away to free him from the snakes. They started to slither around and the crowd shrieked in panic, Carver quickly got rid of them with a spell Scorpius didn't know before they could bite him.

Scorpius realized he'd been right about Byron having something wrong with his legs, he had two magical aluminum prosthetics from a different place on each scarred - it looked like werewolf claw damage - thighs. Blood was dribbling down them and there were loads of red bumps from the ant stings as well as bites from the snakes, he was shaking as Michael wrapped his own cloak around the younger boy to cover him. No one was laughing, the only sound was coming from Byron who was still sobbing quietly. Albus was looking at the ground with a deep expression of shame, Rose and Abby both had their wands on James' other friends and James himself... Was that a flicker of regret on his face? Had James maybe realized he'd gone too far? Or just annoyance at

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Michael demanded of James furiously, James' eyes now burning with rage in response, "He's a freakin' First Year!"

"Slytherins are shadowy, Death Eatery scum and they deserve to be put in their place," James stated coolly, "He doesn't count as human. Then again, neither do you, you werewolf."

"He's more human than you," Byron muttered, sounding more like it was saying to himself but the silence as the young crowd scattered from Michael in horror ensured it reached everyone's ears. Including an even more outraged James.

"I'm Harry Potter's son, I know who's good and who's bad, I-"

"You're a disgrace to your father's name!" Michael snapped in interruption and James just looked stunned, "You're a disgrace to your family's name! They'd be ashamed to see what you just did, what you just did to an innocent child! And don't you dare say because he's a Slytherin! Nick was a Slytherin but he had the smarts of a Ravenclaw to break a NEWT level spell, the hard work of a Hufflepuff for all the effort he used and the bravery of a Gryffindor to stand up to the Shadows. Houses don't matter, we're all just people and its petty people like you that make the world a worse place. It's no wonder that your father hates you! You sicken me."

"Who cares what you think, Dragon-breath?" Carver shot out defensively.

"And you're just as bad but you're not worth my time, you're just a pathetic follower with barely half a brain cell left."

"Wha-"

"It's going to be okay," Michael offered gently to Byron as he rubbed the eleven year old's shoulders soothingly as he pulled up his pants, cutting off and ignoring whatever Carver had been going to say, "Marigold is a great Healer, he'll get you fixed up and stop the pain. Okay?"

"Thank you," Byron whispered tearfully as Michael started to lead him away.

Scorpius wanted to follow but he also was afraid that if he lowered his wand than Carver would attack Michael while his back was turned. Especially from the livid way that Carver was eying them. His other friends seemed just as frozen. It was only when Michael was out of sight that he lowered his wand, the crowd slowly dispersed to dinner and James got up to rejoin his friends. His shock seemed to have worn off, replaced by a look of determination. He threw them a look of loathing before leaving with his friends but Scorpius still caught a flash of conversation from James as they passed.

"I'm going to get that jumped up werewolf, mark my words."

On that disturbing note, they continued on to dinner in silence. Maurice was paying attention to their conversation this time but only seemed to be doing it half-heartedly as they told him and Corin about what had happened with James. Scorpius also realized that he hadn't seen Maurice in his fingerless gloves all day.

"Hi," a voice greeted them and they looked up to see Mirra Pentakel had approached, Albus gasped and started choking but a quick flick off the wand from Maurice and his discomfort passed. Mirra frowned and handed him his goblet of pumpkin juice that Albus started gulping down, "Wash it down with that. Are you alright?"

"Finokay," Albus wheezed incoherently and somehow managed to make the pumpkin juice splutter out of his mouth as he spoke, dribbling down his chin and raining on his food. His face went as red as his tomatoes and Abby tutted as she started helping him clean up with her napkin.

"Good. So I'm looking for Michael, I figure now he'll miss classes from his condition that he might like some studying help again to keep on top of it. I already cleared it with our Heads of Houses so if he wants to then it'll be alright."

"It's a full moon tonight," Scorpius explained, "He went to the Hospital Wing already."

"I know, I wasn't sure whether he'd be at dinner," Mirra pointed out before shrugging, "Oh well. Just let him know, okay?"

"Will do," Scorpius promised and Mirra smiled as she thanked them and left.

"Well that's great," Rose spoke up, "Just the thing to get him focused on his studies again."

"Forget that, I'm in love," Albus sighed dreamily.

"Bloody hell. Not this again."

"How can you possibly like Midas?" Scorpius demanded of him, "She was so cruel to Michael, making him sit over there and showing off his bracelet more. Who actually believes it was to help with his Dyslexia?"

"Not Midas! Gah, she's yesterday's news. No, I'm taking about Mirra and you can't say that's weird because she's the same age as Molly who you're dating so suck it. Mirra is my soul mate, I can see it now. We're destined to be together like the colors of a rainbow," Albus told him with a happy sigh.

"That doesn't even make any sense," Corin complained.

"It doesn't have to make sense, I'm in love!"

"Well tres bien but good luck getting her to like you back, you managed to choke and barf juice in front of her. Girls love that," Corin commented and Albus' face burned crimson again.

"Shut up, I'll make it up to her."

"What is wrong with you people?" Maurice snapped irritably.

"You're the odd one out here, not us," Albus pointed out to which Maurice simply shook his head and let go of his necklace to eat alone, "What is his problem?"

"Roman probably," Scorpius shrugged.

His attention drifted as he saw the full moon through the window and felt a pang of pain for Michael, he'd be transforming if he hadn't already. He also felt incredibly guilty, if Michael hadn't stepped in then it could very well be him or Rose - or both - in the Hospital Wing turning right now. Assuming they'd have survived in the first place. It was on that gloomy thought that Scorpius headed to bed, Michael's empty bed was also a sore reminder and Albus shut up about Mirra to gaze at it sadly. It took a long time to fall into an uneasy sleep.

James was furious. How dare Dragon-breath interfere with him? Those Slytherins deserved what they got, he was doling out justice like his Dad did. And he'd gone and ratted him out to the scumbag Healer, Neville had pulled him aside after lunch to scold him and give him detentions. Stupid Neville. And stupid Albus, he hadn't even tried to stop his friends from stopping him. James had looked like an idiot. And what right had Dragon-breath to say his family hated him? Just because his Dad had been obsessively concerned about Dragon-breath for no reason over the summer, it didn't mean they didn't like him. And what did he know anyway?! Dragon-breath had a lousy relationship with his family, he was clearly just jealous and taking it out on someone who had everything he craved. The only bright side was that his Dad always wrote the letters to tell him off himself, he knew the difference between his parents' handwriting and writing both names didn't make it from them both.

"Have you thought about how you're going to get Dragon-breath back though?" Carver asked of him in his now-broken gravelly voice, lying lazily down on his bed which was to the left of James'.

They were in their dormitory, the others were getting some sleep before Astronomy but he was too riled up, ranting to Carver. Carver was his best friend and had been since meeting him on the train to Hogwarts in First Year, he was tall and had brownish hair that was always shaved to be incredibly short. His eyes, while beady, were a brilliant azure and his face was very handsome. He had been somewhat overweight but a year's worth of serving as a Reserve Beater - meaning he still attended practices - had encouraged more exercising since Carver could be lazy at times but his fat had now morphed more into impressive muscle.

"Tonight's the full moon," Carver continued, James loved how he talked now, "We could try use that to our advantage, he's going to be weak as shit tomorrow. A pillow would probably take him down, he's so tiny. I swear my little sister's bigger than him and she's three."

"Hmm... Maybe tonight's the perfect time to go after him," James mused thoughtfully.

"Jay, do you not remember what werewolves are like?"

"Yeah but if he even tries to defend himself then it'll get him expelled because he can do some serious damage," James insisted with a smirk, "That'd be great, it'd mess Malfoy up to lose his boyfriend to expulsion."

"I'm more worried about Dragon-breath messing you up first."

"I'll be fine, Carve, plus I'd be in the Hospital Wing."

"Yeah, you should totally trust that Slytherin Healer," Carver quipped sarcastically before grunting, "Marigold's scum. He couldn't heal his way out of a paper bag. He couldn't heal Pentakel."

"Werewolf wounds can't be healed magically, my Uncle Bill's still scarred all these years later," James pointed out.

He felt his anger rise again at Pentakel. The jerk was a prefect and the new Quidditch Captain. And a Seeker. He no longer had his good looks though, the werewolves had brutalized him and James no longer had any regrets over his decision to not help him. It wasn't like he'd died. He also felt a renewed pang of anger for the Shadows at the thought of his Uncle Bill, James had liked his Aunt Fleur and those bastards had killed her. It made all the more determined to get those Slytherins, he wanted to be doing something. His Dad should be proud, he wouldn't defend a Shadow from the same thing after all. He hoped Neville had killed the one who'd killed her, Cel hadn't been sure. Cel was so awesome to take on three Shadows at once and live. Cel was awesome, period.

"Werewolves don't like fire, especially not Dragon-breath after his arm got fried," Carver said with a sudden smirk, "Do we still have some of your Uncle George's products?"

"Yes," James confirmed as he returned the smile as an idea formed, "Yes we do."

His anger was replaced by glee at the chance of revenge and he was in a highly good mood when they finally headed off to Astronomy, unfortunately he only had enough Fever Fudge left for him so he'd have to go it alone. He left the products and the cure-end of the fudge in his dormitory before they went. Then he simply waited until Koray had started talking about his boring sky and how important the year was because it was OWLs, who cared what stars were called? Pentakel cared though, dumb bastard was lapping it up although James wasn't sure why, he was half-surprised that Pentakel could still see. James waited a few minutes before taking eating the fudge, feeling the effects before he'd swallowed it, his skull felt like it was on fire.

"Professor Koray, I don't feel well," James complained as he raised his hand, Koray sighed and trudged over to him, "I think I have a fever."

"Mr Potter, I appreciate this may not be your favorite class but it's no excuse to fake illness every time," Koray scolded him, annoying bastard but that was why he'd left the cure-end in the dormitory.

"I'm not faking. Feel my forehead," James lied.

"Not necessary, I know about Skiving Snack boxes and remember you using them last year. Take out the antidote side and bite it."

"I don't have it, Sir, I'm really ill."

"Must we do this again? Turn out your pockets," Koray commanded and James immediately obliged, proving he had nothing, the professor's expression turned to one of apologetic concern, "I'm really sorry, you understand why I was dubious. Get yourself over to the Hospital Wing, I hope you feel better soon."

Lying bastard, James thought to himself as he nodded meekly and left, his head still burning but he'd have to put up with it for a while yet. He went straight back to the dormitory to retrieve the cure-end and the Wildfire Whiz-Bangs but couldn't use it as he still had Marigold to see. Unlike Koray, Marigold wouldn't check his pockets because skiving students tended to not bother going to the Hospital Wing at night. At least, he never had before. This proved to be correct, Marigold gave him something for the fever and told him to rest. Stupid scumbag Slytherin Shadow snake, he was probably only alive because he was one of them. Monster.

And there was his target. Right down in the furthest bed closest to the window. Dragon-breath made for a small werewolf compared to the ones at Hogsmeade but that was to be expected, Dragon-breath was short. It was still larger than James, a large but scrawny wolf with the same odd coloring as Dragon-breath's hair and the black bracelet that marked him for what he was still on but now looked tight on the leg. It was curled up like dog although took up most of the bed, its eyes were open and if werewolf's had expressions then it would be sad. His eyes were oddly the same though, one hazel and one gold except now the prosthetic was hazel and the real eye was gold. He was staring off into space idly but his eyes were fluttering closed like he was trying to sleep.

James ate the cure fudge as soon as Marigold was gone but waited a bit more before making his move, giving Marigold a chance to - hopefully - sleep and for Dragon-breath's mismatched eyes to stay closed for a while. Finally he crept over with the box of product, placing them right beside Dragon-breath's tail and back leg before moving with equal stealth back to his bed. He waited a moment, Dragon-breath didn't stir and Marigold didn't come rushing out of the Nurse's Office for having noticed anything. With a smirk, James drew his wand and aimed it at the box of fireworks, he could thank Ashain for his incredible aim as he launched the spell.

It had the desired effect. An explosion of color burst out in a bang that almost completely masked Dragon-breath's terrified yelp of surprise, blasts of brightness were flying anywhere as Dragon-breath darted around in panic. James' laughed was lost to the sounds screeching around him. And then one of the fireworks struck him, tossing Dragon-breath out of the window with a shattering crash. He thought he heard Marigold finally rushing out but it was hard to hear over the wailing fireworks. He was too busy running to the window anyway, seeing the explosion of lights from the firework but Dragon-breath had been knocked to the ground safely before then. James supposed it was a good thing that it was only the First Floor but werewolves were tough anyway, Dragon-breath didn't seem too badly hurt as he scrambled to his feet and bolted into the Forbidden Forest. Good riddance.

"And stay out!" James called out, despite the fact that he doubted Dragon-breath could hear him even as the fireworks died, "No one messes with James Sirius Potter!"

"Well James Sirius Potter is in a lot of trouble," Marigold commented crossly from beside him.

Part 4: Bells and Stones

Michael lay on the ground where he'd collapsed from the painful transformation back to human, his body still ached, he breathing heavily as the last residual twinges of strength left him. He felt so drained and weak that he could have slept right there on the cold uncomfortable ground, littered with twigs and stones that were stabbing his naked flesh. He had really hoped he wouldn't find himself in that situation again but he'd been scared to go back to the castle as a werewolf, in case he'd be attacked again or he'd scare people. His brain groaned from the effort of thinking but he pushed past it, focusing was better than sleeping in the forest.

He'd fiercely hoped that James and his friends would've stopped or that someone else could've defended the boy, he wasn't sure he'd had the strength to disarm so the force of his success had surprised and drained him. He'd left quickly after snapping at him with as much energy because consciousness kept threatening to abandon him and passing out in front of James would not have been good, he'd managed to get the poor boy to the Hospital Wing though before finally being able to lie down. He'd drifted in and out of sleep for a while before Marigold warned him of the impeding moon, Marigold had put a screen up for his privacy. He'd loosened the friendship bracelet to still be able to wear it as a werewolf but stripped everything else for it to not be destroyed by his turning, the boy had stayed to talk to him for a while after he'd turned even though Michael couldn't talk back. He tried to take Michael's mind off it or cheer him up before Marigold had sent him to bed in his dormitory, he was a sweet boy.

And then James had arrived, sick with a fever apparently. Michael had just tried to ignore him and go to sleep which was actually kind of difficult when his werewolf body begged to be used, he thought he'd finally succeeded though before the explosion of lights. At first he'd thought it was spells of people attacking him but looking back, he thought it was more likely that James had set off some fireworks that his Uncle sold. At any rate, he'd been caught by one and thrown out the window, spared cuts and major damage maybe from being a werewolf although he was still sore from falling and his hip was especially painful from being struck by the firework. He'd ran into the forest and stayed there for the night, wandering aimlessly around. And still he was there.

His body groaned even more as he forced it to move, pulling himself into a sitting position and leaning against the nearest tree. He was in some kind of clearing, he knew his way back but it was a fair walk. If he had the strength then he'd have kicked himself for not moving closer to the edge while he'd had the chance, maybe they'd be looking for him but he wasn't going to sit around and wait to be found despite his body's protests. He was just going to rest for a minute to get some semblance of strength before trying to find his way back, he was going to have to live with his post-moon sickliness for the rest of his life so he was going to have to learn to deal with it at some point. He fixed his friendship bracelet back to fit his human wrist, he didn't deserve it though. He was a terrible friend, he'd almost killed Scorpius and Rose and had actually gotten Nick killed. He shivered at the thought and the cold, wishing that he still had clothes.

Michael sighed and took deep breaths, scanning around the eerily still forest to stop his mind from giving into sleep. Harsh light filtered weakly through the trees but there was no warmth in it, he shifted his gaze to the ground where spidery tree roots covered the dirt. It was all scattered with an assortment of twigs and stones, he scowled as something caught his eye. He picked up the black stone, it actually looked like someone had etched on something in to it. A triangle with a circle inside it and a vertical line going through it, there was a crack going through the vertical line perfectly. It wasn't a letter, it wasn't a rune but it still seemed odd.

He idly started turning it over and over in his hand, dismissing it from his mind as he recalled the times he'd been in the forest last year. Being attacked by a Bicorn defending Hugo, spying on Greyback which was where he'd incurred the werewolf's wrath... He only had himself to blame for his condition, how he hated his stupid self. And then there was after the attack when he'd shifted back to human for the first time, thinking he was going to die. He sighed again, Nick had died and he'd lived. He wished it was the other way around, Nick had more life to live than he had especially as a werewolf, he saw how people looked at him when they spotted the damn bracelet. That was his fault too, he should've just stayed to help Nick warn people before even considering Hogsmeade.

Michael heard movement and looked up, surprised he'd been found so quickly. He was wrong. It wasn't Calderon or Hagrid or one of the other staff but a teenage boy. A dead teenage boy. Nick Longbottom. He was more substantial than a ghost and not silvery colored or translucent nor was he floating but at the same time, he didn't seem... alive either. He was wearing the same clothes that he'd worn the last time that Michael had seen him, he looked almost the same except no longer stressed and maybe healthier for it.

"Am I dead?" Michael wondered in confusion but Nick only smiled and shook his head, "Are you dead?"

"Yes, quite dead," Nick assured him.

"Then how..." Michael tried to ask but trailed off, wondering if he was going mad and hallucinating but Nick seemed to catch on.

"You're not insane, I'm not a hallucination. That stone called me back," Nick explained and jerked his head to the strange stone he'd been turning, Michael blinked in shock and also became very aware he was still naked and tried to shift position to cover himself accordingly, "It can't bring me back to life, no magic can do that. But it can bring me back, only so long as you're holding it and only you can see me."

"Wow," Michael breathed in amazement, not sure what else he could stay to that as he studied the strange stone again. Why was it just lying discarded in a forest?

"MICHAEL!" Hagrid's voice boomed, Michael was taken by surprise so much that he dropped the stone. Nick vanished the instant it left his fingertips.

"Nick, no! Come back!" Michael cried out desperately, he didn't want Nick to be gone. He hadn't even had a chance to apologize for getting Nick killed yet.

He scrambled for the stone in panic and clutched it tightly, hearing the half-giant's footsteps approaching as his yelling had drawn Hagrid's attention. It didn't matter, he just needed to hold on to the stone and he could call Nick back again. Probably when he wasn't fighting exhaustion and his mind could think more clearly.

Scorpius headed down to breakfast alone, Albus was having a lie in since it was a Saturday and Michael obviously wasn't in the dormitory. He'd tried to kill some time by unpacking his things neatly, the photographs he liked to keep on his bedside along with the Golden Snitch from his first game and decorating his wall with posters of motorcycles from the magazines he'd brought. He trudged down the stairs wondering whether he should visit Michael before or after breakfast in the Hospital Wing, last time he'd slept for a while but he had been injured. He wanted to show his support either way.

"Scor!" a voice called and Scorpius was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of his girlfriend's voice, he smiled and looked up to see her sitting in one of the armchairs with a book that she was closing to wave at him.

"Hey Molly," he greeted her happily and approached, making a mental note that he really needed to find opportunities to spend time with her especially since there'd be no Quidditch practices for a week weeks and they weren't in the same classes for being in different years. And he'd missed her, "What's up?"

"Doing some reading about Quidditch, we may need to up our game now that Pentakel's Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain and Hufflepuff may get a half-way decent Seeker now that the previous one's left," Molly explained, her uncle being Aubrey Rivers the Arithmancy professor on her mother's side, "What are you doing?"

"I was going to breakfast. Don't you want to eat?"

"Usually I wait for Latimer and we eat together but he's not down yet."

"We could go together?" Scorpius offered hopefully.

"Or you could wait here with me?" Molly counter-offered and moved offer to give him some space, he sat down beside her and rather liked how close they were sitting.

"So what's it like being a NEWT level student?" Scorpius asked conversationally.

"Kinda weird, there's loads of doubles and free spaces. I'm really frustrated at not being able to study Transfiguration, Florian and McGonagall both accepted 'E' but not Midas apparently. I guess I should be glad I got an 'E' at all though, during the exam I just constantly kept being reminded of Florian teaching us and then get mad at him for being evil and upset about Nick and then fail whatever I was doing from not thinking straight. Midas said I'm not allowed to retake the exam though. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not allowed though, I already don't like her and I already have a teacher I can't stand for Charms. Rivers was over the moon that I'm continuing with Arithmancy instead though so I guess at least someone's happy. What do you think of Fourth Year so far?"

"Not too different from being a Third Year except people seem to mention OWLs a lot but I guess it's only been a day so who knows? And missing out on Midas is definitely a good thing," Scorpius told her and went on to say about what she'd done to Michael, isolating him for his Dyslexia and making his werewolf bracelet unnecessarily obvious as well as the terrible lesson, "I only had her for one lesson so far and I already don't like her."

"Hey Molly. And Scor," Freddie greeted his cousin with an oddly nervous smile, he was dark skinned but still had Weasley-red hair in the form of dreadlocks and Scorpius knew him from the Quidditch team where he played Beater. Freddie was a Seventh Year now but they also had an amicable relationship, "Could I just talk to you real quick about the tryouts?"

"I don't know when they'll be yet, I'm going to talk to Krum today though so I should know by this evening," Molly told him.

"Great but not what I was going to ask. I just wondered if you could do me a favor, you know my girlfriend Caitlin Birch who normally plays Chaser?"

"Can't say that I do. Do you recall us ever having Freddie's girlfriend as a Chaser on the team, Scor?" Molly wondered sarcastically.

"I didn't even realize Freddie had a girlfriend. And a Chaser, you say?" Scorpius continued with the sarcasm to which Molly smiled and he caved in smiling too.

"Ha ha, very funny you two," Freddie commented with slow clapping.

"Yes, I know Caitlin obviously," Molly confirmed, "What about her?"

"Well she's going to try out for Chaser again this year."

"Great."

"No, no, no, not great!" Freddie burst out desperately as he waved his hands out, "I wanted to ask you if you could not let her on the team."

"What? Why?" Molly asked in confusion that Scorpius shared, Caitlin was pretty good and nice enough. Molly seemed to guess the reason though as her expression changed to one of more severity, "Look, I'm sorry if you two are having problems but I'm not going to deny her a spot on the team for it. If it's best for the team then I'm happy to have her, I play fair."

"No! No, no, we're not having problems!" Freddie exclaimed, flailing his arms even more and seeming to be losing his composure uncharacteristically, "Things are great between us, I love her and we're so strong together."

"Then why don't you want her on the team?" Scorpius wondered with a frown, he'd hate if he or Molly weren't on the team.

"For her health! Quidditch is dangerous, there's Bludgers flying around and those things hit hard, we're high up so a fall would be devastating then there's all the fighting over the Quaffle that Chasers have to go through and have we ever really thought about how healthy it is to fly around on thin little sticks? And then there's the weather, if it's a long match we could be out there in pouring rain or snow or hail or freezing winds that feel like you're being stabbed by icicles and it's all made worse from being in the air," Freddie burst out in a panicked rant, "She needs to be safe right now, on safe ground, doing safe things. Not Quidditch."

"With that kind of attitude, we may as well disband Quidditch altogether," Molly complained, looking even more confused.

"No its fine for us but just not for her, not right now."

"Why? Is she sick or something?"

"She's just... I mean... Not sick exactly... She just needs to be careful... Well sort of sick, I suppose maybe you could..." Freddie babbled unhelpfully as he scratched his head, finally he just sighed, "Never mind."

"Well that wasn't weird at all," Molly muttered as Freddie left, Scorpius shared in her puzzlement, "So what were we talking about? Oh yeah, Midas. I'd normally say to tell someone but considering Elwood's the Headmaster and her cousin, I don't think he'd do anything about it. Maybe she'll get better once you get to know her?"

"You really think that?"

"Not really but one lesson isn't always the best gauge for how things will be, especially the first one. All you can do is hang in there and hope she lightens up once she gets to know Michael."

"Somehow I doubt it."

"Just going to have to hang in there anyway, I'm afraid," Molly offered apologetically and kissed him on the cheek, he took her hand gently, "Anything good about your first day?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Ashain was teaching us stunning," Scorpius told her enthusiastically, she smiled.

"You know, I love the way you call the teachers you like Professor something instead of just by their last name. Can always tell which teachers you like and dislike."

"I didn't even realize I did that," Scorpius admitted with a blush but he smiled, "You know, I love the way you notice something random like that."

"You love the way I notice one random thing?" Molly wondered as she blushed.

"Yeah," Scorpius confirmed before pressing his lips against hers gently, relishing the feeling as he felt her kissing him back.

"Hey Molly!" a more unpleasant voice barked and they pulled apart in an instant as James Potter strode over to them, he said nothing to Scorpius but did throw a hateful glare in his direction before flicking his gaze back to Molly, "I need to talk to you about Quidditch."

"I'm not making you Seeker," Molly complained with a roll of her eyes, "You're not as good as Scorpius, you're not even as good as Lily as Seeker. I'm sorry but no."

"It's not about that!" James snapped at her fiercely, "Although I think all three of us know the real reason for that is because you're dating him, if not you'd see him for the talentless hack that he is."

"Everything about that statement is wrong. I wasn't dating him the last two years that he made the team and I wasn't even Captain the first year," Molly pointed out and James just snorted, "He's just a better Seeker than you and you're a better Beater than him."

"I need you to give up Captain so I can be Captain," James insisted, seeming to decide to just get to the point.

"Erm... No."

"Molly! I need it! I'm having a bad fucking day so just do something right for once! Pentakel is a prefect and Captain and I'm neither, I have to do something to best that arrogant prick."

"What did he do?"

"He told me that the Headmaster wants to see me later, rubbed it my face that I'm going to be in trouble. Elwood's a lazy ass anyway, he was too lazy to get out of bed to punish me so I got told off by that scumbag Marigold and Neville."

"Then maybe you shouldn't torture First Years."

"You heard about that?" Scorpius wondered to her in surprise.

"One of the prefects' younger brothers saw it, was telling us during the patrolling last night," Molly explained briefly.

"It's not even about that, you idiots!" James snapped frustrated.

"What is about then?"

"None of your damn business! So will you give me Captain or have you fallen too far into the side of the dark that you've forsaken your family?!"

"James, Captainship doesn't even work like that and I don't really want to give it up anyway, especially not for a stupid reason to someone who'll just abuse the position to make themselves Seeker and kick decent players off the team out of bias," Molly told him firmly and James eyed her darkly.

"You suck, Molly!" James screamed accusingly, "You're a disgrace to the Weasley name! You're a horrible, awful person and I hate you! I hate you!"

"Hate me all you want, I'm not giving you Captain," Molly affirmed and James turned to leave angrily.

"Well I have to go vomit though because the sight of you kissing a psychotic snake is disgusting!" James shouted as he stormed off, Molly scowled, "BLOOD TRAITOR!"

"What the hell is his problem?" Latimer wondered as he passed by James - James purposely knocked into Latimer - to come over to them.

"He's just an asshole," Scorpius said darkly.

"Let's just go to breakfast before he comes back," Molly sighed as she stood and they headed off, "Or someone else to talk about Quidditch. Every time I see Albus, he begs me to let him on the team and talks about how much he's improving."

"And that bothers you?"

"It bothers me that his heart's so set on it so when the tryouts come I have to crush his dreams if he's not good enough to make the team again."

"He'll probably get my spot, I suck," Latimer commented bitterly.

"You'll do fine, you're a good Chaser."

"I can't even walk straight," Latimer pointed out truthfully. He did have a limp now but that didn't mean his flying would be worsened, plenty of people were graceful in the air but not on the ground. Scorpius also noticed he had his silver prefect badge on too.

"That doesn't mean you won't be able to fly straight."

"Did you decide to keep on being prefect then?" Scorpius asked to change the subject as Latimer looked dubious over Molly's statement.

"No," Latimer snorted, "Longbottom told him to give a shot because he thinks I'll be a good prefect, apparently it's mostly because of how I was in Hogsmeade. Last time I help people out if I get this kind of thing as a result."

"What, something good?"

"I can't be a prefect. I'll be terrible at it. I'll screw it up."

"You'll be a good prefect. It's not that difficult anyway, more just tedious and time-consuming," Molly spoke up as a First Year ran by.

"Hey!" Latimer barked and put his arm out to bring the boy to a halt. Scorpius recognized him from the Sorting as Pollux Koray, the Astronomy professor's son, "No running in the corridors! Don't you know the rules?!"

"No," Pollux admitted and Latimer rolled his eyes before pointing his arm violently in a different direction.

"Well go to the Library, check out a book on the Hogwarts rules, read it and then you know!"

"Yes sir," Pollux agreed and scuttled off in the direction Latimer had pointed while they continued on to the Great Hall.

"See you did good," Molly offered, "Maybe less shouty but otherwise that's spot on."

"I can't be a prefect," Latimer insisted.

"Why not?" Scorpius wondered, "There are much worse people who could be prefects. Likes James or Kyle Nott."

"My mother was a prefect."

"So? That's great, second generation prefect."

"I'm nothing like her and I can't live up to that, it's an insult to her memory. You people wouldn't understand," Latimer complained as they made it to the Great Hall, Scorpius spotted the girls already there with Corin and Maurice where they started to head towards them but Latimer made to sit down at an emptier space further up the table, "You go on, I'll eat by myself. I wouldn't want to make you cousin throw up her breakfast."

"What?" Molly wondered.

"Never mind. Come on, she'll be nice," Scorpius pleaded, he'd been looking forward to sitting with Molly for breakfast but it was hardly fair to leave Latimer alone, "If she's not then we'll move."

"Fine," Latimer agreed with another roll of his eyes as they went over to them.

Rose said nothing but gave Latimer a disgusted look anyway, in fact Rose seemed quite annoyed with the breakfast company as a whole. Albus and Michael weren't there, Corin mostly talked with Abby, Molly mostly talked with Scorpius and Maurice wasn't even using his translator necklace. Rose rather liked talking so she seemed to go between trying to pry Maurice into a conversation with her and talking at Latimer. Albus arrived sleepily just as they were finishing, yawning loudly and lazily as he started piling food onto his plate.

"So, Scor, what did you do to the dormitory?" Albus wondered of him immediately.

"Just unpacked a bit, posters and photographs. I really wish I had more photographs, most of them are family not friends," Scorpius pointed out.

"What's with the motorbikes?"

"They're cool."

"Cool enough to put on you wall?" Albus complained, "They don't even move."

Scorpius was about to reply but they were distracted by the arrival of the post, the swarm of owls fluttered in. Scorpius as surprised when a cluster of identical white ones dropped identical letters in front of him, Molly, Rose, Albus, Corin and Abby as well as a some others further down the hall but he wasn't close enough to see who the receivers were though. Some also dropped them off at the staff table, Professors Longbottom, Hagrid and the new Flying Instructor Krum all got them.

He picked up the pristine white envelope curiously, seeing his full name on the front in curving, intricate raised golden letters that glistened on the page. He turned it over to open it and saw the back was decorated by an image of golden bells, also raised but these were moving and swinging on the page. He opened it carefully, not really wanting to damage it and read.

You are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of:

Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley

At midday

Friday December 23rd 2020

At The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon

"I'm invited to your cousin's wedding?" Scorpius wondered as he read the invitation again just to be sure, he did recall hearing about it last year but it still surprised him for some reason.

"Yep, told you," Molly confirmed.

"I know but I've never even met Teddy Lupin unless you count seeing him from a distance and I've barely spoken two words to Victoire, if that."

"Well Teddy's technically your cousin because your grandmothers were sisters and your Molly's boyfriend anyway so you're in," Rose reeled off and Scorpius' eyes darted around for Calderon but not finding him, realizing Teddy Lupin would also be Calderon's cousin except Calderon's mother was their grandmother's sisters. Teddy wouldn't know that though, nor would his grandmother, "I wonder where Michael's invitation is."

"Well he's not in this room right now so the owl wouldn't deliver it," Maurice chimed in, apparently drawn back to them by the interesting assortment of letters, "They always deliver it to the person in question."

"Is Calderon or my family invited?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"No," Rose said immediately, "Considering they disowned Teddy's grandmother, I doubt they'd care about her grandson. And why would Calderon be invited?"

"I don't know, just... you know because he's Calderon."

"How come I'm invited but Maurice isn't?" Corin questioned with a frown.

"You're only invited because your Dad is family friend," Albus pointed out testily, clearly not happy that Corin was invited.

"You can probably come, Maurice," Rose spoke up hopefully, "You're technically Molly's cousin by her mother and your father, plus our friend so Vic and Teddy should be okay with it."

"Weddings are stupid," Maurice complained.

"Well tough. You're being invited and probably Orous too, his stepdad out of politeness maybe."

"I've never actually been to a wedding," Latimer admitted, "Are wizard weddings any different to the muggle weddings on TV?"

"You're not invited!" Rose shrieked.

"Wait, how is this going to work?" Scorpius wondered with another frown, both because he was curious and to stop Rose saying something more insulting to Latimer, "If I leave Hogwarts then my parents will probably drag me back home and never let me out."

"You don't have to worry about that until the summer, it's an ongoing year so you're safe," Maurice offered and Scorpius relaxed slightly.

"Still, I was just going to stay in Hogwarts for the holidays. Is it even possible to leave just for day?"

"We'll work out the details closer to the time," Molly pointed out dismissively, "It'll be fine."

"Hey Scor," Calderon greeted him and Scorpius turned to see the assistant had come over to him, Scorpius started to smile but noticed the assistant seemed somewhat nervous, "You have to come with me now, your parents are here to see you."

"What?!" Scorpius burst out in panic, "They can't pull me out of Hogwarts! I'm safe, that's the rules!"

"No, they're not doing that. They can't," Calderon assured him, sounding genuine and Scorpius relaxed greatly but it was replaced by a new kind of worry. Was something wrong? Had his baby sister been born months early and died already? He felt his heart twinge painfully at that thought, "But they still have a right to see you, they've arranged it with Elwood and Harry so... yeah."

"Wait, Harry? As in my Dad, Harry?" Albus wondered in confusion.

"Yeah. For safety they've limited the use of the Floo Network within Hogwarts, only the Headmaster's fireplace can be used for full-body erm... Flooing? Is that the word? Flooing sounds strange. That's funny," Calderon rambled, smiling as he veered into a tangent that made golden lights dance around him, "It's a cool word though, like whoosh. Whooshing and-"

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk really fast?"

"Yes, yes they have. What was I saying again? Oh yeah, for safety only the Headmaster's fireplace can be used for full-body Flooing. The fireplace in the Auror Office is the only one that can go to the castle and it can only go from the castle to certain locations chosen by the professors mostly so Harry needed to know about it to allow access anyway. He was coming here today anyway for something so let the Malfoys tag along."

"Dad's here? Can I see him?" Albus asked excitedly and Calderon looking slightly sympathetic.

"Not right now, he wants to do the thing he came here for first. Well second, he also wants to see your brother because James did a bad thing. Several bad things really, Elwood needs to see him too and I have to get him as well. I'll ask Harry about it for later though, okay?"

"Okay," Albus sighed and added almost inaudibly, "Bet it'll be a no."

"Come on then, Scor."

Part 5: Reacquainting

Scorpius bade the others goodbye and followed Calderon down the table to get James, he was evidently done with his tantrum and laughing with his gang of cronies. It dawned on Scorpius that he'd known them by sight since his First Year but didn't know the name of any beside Carver, since Carver was a Reserve Beater.

"You need to come with me, I'm afraid," Calderon interrupted the Fifth Years conversations.

"That lazy arse finally wake up and decide to punish me?" James quipped as his expression darkened immediately.

"Your Dad's here actually."

"Really!?" James burst out with both excitement and delight as he jumped to his feet, Calderon nodded.

"He probably just wants to tell you off," Carver pointed out lazily to which James snorted and lost his mirth, "It'd explain the lack of a Howler."

"He only has time for me when he's telling me off so I'm not surprised, I'll take it," James shrugged dismissively, "Catch you guys later and- What the bloody hell?!"

"What?" Calderon wondered as they started off, James having noticed Scorpius with them and glaring loathingly.

"My Dad's here to see him too?! Why does he have time for everyone but his own children?!" James demanded angrily, "What is wrong with you, Malfoy?! Find a different non-Death Eater Daddy to steal!"

"I'm not-"

"His parents are here to see him for a completely unrelated reason," Calderon interjected before Scorpius could finish an angry retort, going on to explain about the restrictions to the Floo Network as they walked. It appeased James somewhat but he still seemed sulky to be walking alongside someone he despised before they finally reached the gargoyle guarded entrance to the Headmaster's Office, "The Battle of Hogwarts."

"The Battle of Hogwarts?" James repeated curiously as the started to ascend.

"Elwood's a big fan of your father's. Ron and Hermione Weasley as well. The whole defeat of Da-Da-Dark Lord... thing," Calderon started to explained before tripping over his words at the end, magic lights flashed in panic for a moment for some reason.

"You shouldn't be scared to say his name," James scoffed as they reached the top and headed off.

Scorpius would've protested that Calderon wasn't scared to say the name and had just got his tongue tied up but he didn't want to be arguing with James when they went into the room. He caught a snatch of conversation before Calderon knocked politely on the door, it sounded like Harry had been congratulating his parents. Presumably on his baby sister. His baby sister who would soon die after she was born.

"Enter," Elwood's voice called and the conversation ended as they entered.

Elwood sat pleasantly at the desk where his predecessor had died although it was mostly full of papers now, much more than Headmistress McGonagall yet somehow he looked quite orderly. His mother was seated on the other side with her back to him, his father stood beside with his hand on the top of the chair protectively at her shoulder and both looked back as he entered. Harry Potter was standing on the opposite side to his father but not as close to the chair and facing in their direction, leaning against the desk and had had a smile on his face albeit somewhat strained. It vanished the instant he laid eyes on his son though, straightening up as his expression became stony. What had James done again? Or was this a reaction to what he'd done to poor Byron Knight? Or both?

"James."

Harry greeted his son in an almost growl and gestured for his son to follow, taking him out of the room to yell at him while Scorpius went in with Calderon. Calderon flicked his wrist to close the door behind him but it didn't stop them from catching a snatch of Harry yelling, 'WHAT WERE YOU THINKING' before it became muffled from the closed door. Elwood didn't seem to lose his smile though. On the contrary, he was beaming. Scorpius dragged his feet over to his parents, only to be surprised by his mother jumping up and pulling him into a rib-crushing hug.

"Thank Merlin's stars you're alright!" his mother burst out as - if possible - she tightened her grip, he could feel her tears against his hair, "Your father and I were worried sick!"

"There's a war going on, Scorpius, what were you thinking running off like that?!" his father demanded when his mother finally loosened her grip enough for him to draw breath and angrily detangle himself, "You could've been hurt! You could've been killed! You could've been taken!"

"Well I wasn't!" Scorpius protested irritably, "Nothing bad happened, I can take care of myself and that should prove it! I'm fourteen years old not four!"

"You weren't there for your birthday," his mother pointed out tearfully.

"I'd rather have no birthday then no freedom!"

"Scorpius, no one was trying to take away your freedom," his father insisted.

"Confining me to the manor, not letting me go to Hogwarts or see my friends is... what then? Is that supposed to be fun for me?"

"Watch your tone! And we never said you couldn't see your friends, just that the werewolf couldn't stay with us!"

"That attitude isn't very politically correct, a more polite way to phrase it is that 'we couldn't allow your friend to stay with us at this moment in time for a reason that has nothing to do with his condition,'" Elwood reeled off.

"Couldn't you give us some privacy?"

"See, that's much more politically correct and polite, don't you feel all the better for it-" Elwood started to say happily but trailed off when Draco threw him a filthy look, "I'll be just over there."

"Where did you even go?" his mother wondered as Elwood moved back to the furthest corner away from both them and the Potters, where Calderon had moved to give them privacy. There was still muffled shouting coming from the outside though and the portraits were doing a bad job of pretending to sleep convincingly.

"I stayed with a friend," Scorpius admitted, it was true enough. As he spoke though, he felt a tingling warm sensation coming from the ring to alert him to a message. He covered it quickly with his hand and glanced down at the letters forming before they faded: Potter's there. Do you know why?

"Was it the werewolf?"

"No! It wasn't Michael, he has a name!"

"I know, I just didn't think of it. Who did you stay with?"

"I'm not telling you!"

"Why are you being so hostile?" his father asked him with a sad look in his eyes, "We're just trying to do what's best for you, we're trying to protect you."

"Well that's not what's best for me anymore!" Scorpius snapped and had to put effort into trying to reign in his temper, "I'm not a child anymore, I don't need you to protect me... I need you to support me. I'm staying in Hogwarts and you can't do anything about it legally, you can either accept it or... not."

"How can we possibly support you endangering your life?" his mother wondered but his father just looked at him and sighed before hugging him.

"We want to support you, we just want you to be alive too," his father told him as he pulled away, "Please come home, we can work out something where you're safe but still in contact with your friends."

"I'm staying," Scorpius affirmed determinedly, feeling oddly good to have control for once.

"Alright but we will be revisiting this at the end of the year."

"Yes, Father," Scorpius nodded, he expected it even though he had every intention of leaving again if they still wanted to keep him trapped.

"And we're going to stay in contact, no owl silence."

"Yes, Father."

"And we're going to arrange to meet you in Hogsmeade."

"What?" Scorpius wondered as his head shot up in surprise, "But Hogsmeade is when I can go on dates with Molly or hang out with my friends outside of school."

"This isn't up for debate," his father said sternly, "If Hogsmeade gets attacked again then I want to be there to make sure you don't get hurt. If not then we'll just revoke parental consent which is still necessary, even if you go to Hogwarts against their will. You wanted Hogwarts and you can stay in Hogwarts."

"Alright, fine," Scorpius agreed reluctantly, not happy about it but he thought he'd prefer it to no Hogsmeade.

"Okay," Harry said and Scorpius glanced to see him returning with James, residual rage still written on his face while James just looked sulky as he was marched over to Elwood, "What is his school punishment?"

"What?" Elwood wondered, losing his smile for the first time to look shocked while James looked somewhat relieved, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"You're not going to punish him for brutally assaulting an eleven year old and almost killing a teenager?!" Harry demanded incredulously.

"Oh no, no, of course, it's just well... Usually I'd punish someone quiet severely for something like that, even if I was being lenient because it's the start of term."

"Well do it!"

"Scorpius, are you even listening to me?" his mother's voice drifted to his ears but Scorpius hadn't even realized she'd been speaking.

"Oh erm... well okay, James Potter, you're suspended," Elwood announced, pulling himself up to full height, "For six weeks."

"Six weeks?! That's completely unfair!" James burst out.

"So is having ants sting and snakes bite a little boy and launching fireworks at a werewolf, you knocked him out of a window."

"What did you do to Michael?!" Scorpius demanded furiously, his hand going to his wand on instinct and had to make a conscious effort to stop himself. Forgetting that he really wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping and was supposed to be talking to his parents, the fire suddenly burned intensely but it went unnoticed.

"It's hardly my fault that Dragon-breath was stupid enough to fall out a-"

"JAMES!" Harry boomed and James fell silent immediately, "Go get your things! You're coming home. Suspended for the second time!"

"But it's not fair."

"Not fair?! You're lucky to not be expelled! Now go!" Harry yelled furiously and James sulkily left, "Sorry about that."

"He's gone now, pay attention to us," his mother insisted and Scorpius looked back to her, still simmering that James had tried to get back at Michael.

"It's alright, I'm sure it's not your fault," Elwood offered comfortingly, his grin returning while the anger drained from Harry's tired face to become one of regret, "But you know if you wanted to make up for it then... then my... erm... niece would love your autograph."

"What's her name?" Harry sighed and Elwood eagerly pulled out a Chocolate Frog Card to hand to him.

"Silvanus," Elwood told him and Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that a boy's name? And your name?"

"Yes... She was... named after me."

"How old is she?"

"She's... two. The same age as Ashain's daughter."

"Cassia's six," Calderon pointed out.

"Quiet you."

"Scorpius, you're still not listening," his father complained, Scorpius hadn't realized his father had started speaking. He needed to overhear though, Varanian wanted him to find out why Harry was there.

"I'm sorry, I just found out my friend was injured somehow. Now I'm worried," Scorpius told them, it wasn't a complete lie. He was worried but if he was severely injured then James' punishment would've been worse so seeing him could wait until Harry was gone, "I just want to see him and makes sure he's okay."

"Can't it wait? If he was severely injured then Potter's son would've been more severely punished, I'm sure he can live without you while we talk for a bit. We haven't seen you for a month."

"But Michael's hurt now. October 29th is the next Hogsmeade trip, I'll see you really soon," Scorpius pleaded.

"Why don't we do both?" his mother offered and Scorpius couldn't think of a reason to disagree as they went over to ask Elwood.

"Yes, that'd be fine. My assistant can fetch you when Mr Head Auror Boy Who Lived Harry Potter is ready to leave," Elwood agreed, "When he's done with important Auror business. That I'm helping with."

"Yes, well done," Harry commented monotonously as the Malfoys went to leave, "I'll Patronus them that we're ready for it, Marius if you could get Neville and Atticus ready."

Scorpius left with his parents before he could hear more although it was something at least, Professors Ashain and Longbottom were involved and they were waiting on an 'it'. It wasn't a lot but maybe his parents would be done with him soon so he could find out more. His parents were quite talkative as they went, his mother mentioning things from her school days as they passed through the corridors. Scorpius just hoped people wouldn't throw him such dark looks in front of his parents, they'd want him to go to Hogwarts even less then. Most people seemed to still be at breakfast though.

He did get to see Michael but Marigold had given him something to help him sleep after healing his minor injuries, Scorpius did finally learn what James had done though. Calderon had repaired it all but Marigold told them, Scorpius kind of wished his parents hadn't though because it was sure to dampen their view on Hogwarts even more. They didn't say anything about it though except to express sympathy as they headed back to the Elwood's office, asking him about how his first day of classes had went mostly. Elwood was there but Harry and Calderon were both gone, he waited outside to give them more privacy this time.

His parents didn't complain again about his running away, although they did ask him about his summer had been with his unnamed friend. Scorpius did try to be as honest as possible but at the same time, tried to leave out anything negative or anything that would alert them to how he got away in the first place. He couldn't let them know about the ring and he didn't want to let them know about Latimer or the Knight Bus, if he did have to run away again then they'd know where to look. It felt really sad to have to think like that about his parents and diminished his anger against his parents somewhat, he supposed it didn't matter though. Like anything bad that happened in the Malfoy family, it was just never spoken of again.

They talked a bit about how things were back home, mostly about how they were decorating the nursery for the new baby. Scorpius' spirits sunk even lower at the thought of this, soon his new baby's death would join Lyra in being unmentionable. Why did bad things have to happen to everyone but him? His sisters died but he lived. Michael was turned into a werewolf but Scorpius got off unscathed. His grandfather destroyed his soul to save his life. What kind of horrible person was he that awful things happened to the people he cared about but he continued to get away unharmed?

Scorpius was more relieved than disappointed when Elwood told them time was up and had apparently been waiting with a scowling James, his parents bade him goodbye and reinforced they'd stay in contact before he went. He was feeling rather disappointed with himself for not getting away sooner, there was no way he'd be able to find the Map to locate Harry to find out where they were and what they were doing before it was too late. He passed Harry and Calderon returning as he left, Professors Longbottom and Ashain now with them.

"I would see him and Lily but we really need to get this done before there's another attempt," Harry was saying in a low tone that was hard for Scorpius to hear.

Scorpius was ignored by all but Calderon who spared him a wave as they continued by. Somehow he doubted that Calderon would feel up to telling him. Or Professor Ashain for that matter. Clearly there was something going on but he didn't know enough to even hazard a guess. He supposed he was glad to be on speaking terms with his parents again and he certainly wouldn't miss James but he no longer felt happy like he had earlier with Molly. He hoped Varanian wouldn't feel like he'd failed him and that Michael would be awake later, he'd thought of going to visit him but - to his surprise - it actually wasn't even lunch year and Marigold had said the potion would last until the mid-afternoon at least. Instead, he simply headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

Most people were no longer in breakfast and he was still getting plenty of looks, although not nearly as many as he got with Michael with him. He decided he'd just head up to his dormitory, think for a bit, maybe contact Varanian on what little he'd found out or at the very least use the Map to find his friends. He was surprised however as he noticed a familiar boy with light-brown hair heading up to his own dormitory, he rushed forward to tap Maurice's shoulder to get the deaf boy's attention.

"What?" Maurice questioned of him as his hand shot to his translator necklace.

"What are you doing up here?" Scorpius asked to open conversation, realizing it was the perfect time to ask him about his disappearance.

"Vern, Orous and Albus wanted to practice Quidditch for the tryouts since I have no interest in the sport, I'm not with them. Abby, Corin and Rose were studying in the Library but Abby and Corin keep kissing instead so now I'm here."

"Maurice, can I ask you something?" Scorpius wondered nervously and led his friend into his empty dormitory, glancing around to assure himself of this fact before asking.

"I don't remember what happened when I was disappeared."

"Really?" Scorpius said doubtfully, really trying to let his expression show his doubt for once so Maurice would understand, "You don't remember anything?"

"What does it matter if I do? I don't want to talk about it," Maurice insisted and a worrying thought occurred to Scorpius.

"It wasn't muggles was it?"

"No."

"Magical torture?"

"I said I don't remember."

"Brainwashing?"

"Why does it matter so much?"

"Because clearly it's bothering you, you're my friend and I'm worried about you," Scorpius told him seriously and Maurice's neutral expression flickered ashamedly.

"It's nothing like that," Maurice said reluctantly, "It was a test."

"A test?" Scorpius repeated in confusion and Maurice's neutral expression was torn by guilt and shame.

"You either win and live or fail and die."

"I don't understand."

"I passed the test," Maurice told him guiltily.

"I still don't understand," Scorpius admitted and Maurice just shook his head in annoyance, scowling and stalking off.

Part 6: Friends and Family

Alexis Azubah Loren was born on Christmas Eve in 1986 to Rathan Abaddon Loren and his wife, Adelaide Alexa Loren. She had her father's eyes and the same slight wave in the hair as her father but the light-brown coloring and features were her mother's. The couple were happy initially but Adelaide soon became dissatisfied with being a housewife to a colicky baby while Rathan worked as much over time at the Ministry as he could, determined to provide his daughter with more luxury than he'd had growing up. He doted on his daughter, giving her the nickname 'Alzay' by taking the 'Al' from Alexis, the 'z' from Azubah and the 'ay' because it was the first thing she said. While Adelaide just became increasingly frustrated with her life, feeling neglected by her husband and bored with motherhood.

She got a job behind the counter at the local Apothecary for part-time, more out of desperation for some reason to leave the house than from financial necessity. That was where she met Stuart Hunt, a muggle-born who travelled the world as a Magizoologist to research magical creatures. Adelaide hadn't had much interest in magical creatures before - or the muggle things he spoke of - but his tales of his travels brightened up her mundane existence, escaping from Acromantulas or seeing Phoenixes in flight were much more exciting than Alexis learning to walk or managing to magic her spaghetti onto Adelaide's head when she didn't want to eat it, even muggle machines that could fly were more interesting than looking at the unintelligible scribbles of a toddler. She began an affair with Stuart without any regrets, she'd married Rathan more for the sake of marrying pureblood than love and even before he seemed to have decided to devote attention to his daughter rather than her, he was frustratingly moody.

Rathan was completely clueless of course which bothered Adelaide even more, he didn't pay enough attention to his wife to notice she was having an affair. Stuart paid attention to her, even when he was away they owled frequently and he was always buying her gifts. Rathan hadn't bought her a gift outside of special occasions since before Alexis was born, he frequently bought new toys for his daughter though. Stuart wanted her to leave her husband and travel with him, the catch was that he had no interest in having children. Adelaide didn't mind this, she thought one was more than enough but he also wasn't interested in being a stepfather to Alexis and she didn't think Rathan would stop until he got his daughter back anyway. She'd have to leave her daughter behind.

Adelaide realized she had to have a choice, Stuart wasn't going to wait for her to leave her family forever. She could either choose a life of fun, excitement and adventure that was free of responsibility with Stuart or stay in the mundane life she despised with her moody, attentive husband and feisty daughter. Which did she love more, her child or her lover? Which was the better life that she wanted more? She choose Stuart, it had to be Stuart. Rathan's reaction was both unexpected and expected, be bounced between screaming obscenities at her and crying pathetically as she packed up her things to leave but he didn't try to stop her. Alexis just watched, the four year old probably couldn't even grasp what was happening, Adelaide supposed it was better that way. Rathan was a sobbing wreck on the doorstep, begging her not to leave him with Alexis silently watching by his side. Stuart helped her load the things into his car and they drove off, Adelaide never looked back.

Rathan was devastated as he watched his life drive away, hurt and angry. He stormed back into the house, a picture of him and Adelaide on their wedding day shattered magically without his meaning it too. It made him feel slightly better, if she could destroy his heart then he could destroy the picture. It didn't feel like enough though, he swung out his arm and swept all of the pictures off to send them smashing to the ground. He stalked around the house in a rage, grabbing every picture of her and everything of hers that she'd left then tossing it to the ground. He realized after a while that Alzay was following him and joining in the destruction, seeming to think it was a game. He watched her jumping on a bottle of what had once been Adelaide's perfume and felt his anger freezing, he still had his daughter. The daughter that Adelaide was abandoning, he was all Alzay had.

Alzay stopped, seeing him watching her and smiled proudly. He went over to scoop her up and hug her, he'd wanted nothing more than the best for her since the day he'd held her in his arms, completely forgetting that he'd wanted a son. She was his baby girl and she came first, she always had. They weren't the ones missing out, Adelaide was for choosing to walk away from her own flesh and blood child. He put Alzay down and instead took out his wand, whisking the destruction he'd caused out of the house and into the backyard. He then went round with Alzay and collected everything they'd missed of Adelaide's, adding to the pile of Adelaide's things. Then he took his wand and set it alight, shielding them both magically from the flames so they could watch it burn. It was very cathartic and soothing actually, he sat with Alzay happily in the light of the fire, even summoning marshmallows to roast on the fire of Adelaide's things.

He talked to Alzay about how awful Adelaide and that mudblood she'd ran off with were, she preferred filthy scum to her own child, wanting to assure her that it wasn't her fault as he'd believed as a child when his father left. In truth, Rathan hadn't had much problem with muggle-borns before besides knowing purebloods were naturally superior but now he understood why they were so despised. They were wife-stealing and child-hating scum. He wasn't cruel enough to wish his wide dead but he wished that Stuart was in the fire burning, he smiled at the thought of the mudblood dying in agony. He also spoke of the great life Alzay was going to lead, he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy and have a good life.

Michael kept the stone hidden in his clenched fist when Hagrid had found him and hidden it inside the pillow before Marigold had given him the potion to help him sleep, which he was extremely grateful for as sleep was something he was still struggling with. He was still eager to use the stone again though, he just wanted his strength back already but his body truly despised him and refused to allow it. He spent the weekend drifting in and out of consciousness, even when he was awake his friends tended to be there or at least some of them.

He wasn't really awake and alone until Monday when his friends were in classes, Marigold had insisted he stay in the Hospital Wing which Michael supposed was fair since he did still feel extremely weak and tired. He'd maybe Michael would be released later but not for classes, especially not after the added recovery of James' attack. As much as he disliked James - and seemed to get worse every year - he felt bad that he was part if not wholly responsible for James' suspension, he didn't like being the cause for something bad. He still had to wait for Marigold to retreat to his office though since he came to check on Michael and had also brought him his breakfast, as he did with his meals in the Hospital Wing. Michael actually had an amicable relationship with the Head Healer, he wasn't so grouchy when you got to know him a bit.

Michael still needed him gone for the stone to work though and what felt like a lot longer than it actually was, Marigold obliged and Michael could take out the stone. He held it in his hands and thought of Nick but nothing happened. He frowned, there had to be more to it than that. He hadn't said anything in the forest to activate it, he'd just been sitting there turning it over. Maybe that was it? He started turning it over in his hands, thinking of Nick and was rewarded with his friend's return. He smiled tiredly but happily.

"Glad you're back," Michael told him with relief, "I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it again."

"I don't think it's the kind of thing that runs out," Nick shrugged as he sat down on the bed, looking at him with a sympathetic expression and Michael opened his mouth to apologize for getting him killed but Nick spoke first, "I'm really sorry, you know?"

"Sorry? For what?" Michael wondered in confusion, he'd gotten Nick killed. What could Nick possibly be sorry for? Nick sighed.

"For getting you turned into a werewolf, I shouldn't have let you go to Hogsmeade like that. It's my fault you got hurt."

"What? No, it's not your fault, it's mine. And if anyone should be sorry then it should be me, you're dead because of me. I just left you to deal with Florian by yourself," Michael admitted guiltily and Nick looked stunned.

"What? How can you possibly blame yourself for that?" Nick asked incredulously, "It's not your fault that I'm dead, I had the easy task and I still screwed it up. There's no way you could've known that but I just let you, someone with two years less magical experience and skill, and someone even younger go into the midst of any army of werewolves where their vicious, psychotic leader was after you. I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you, please don't blame yourself. It was my decision and it seemed like a good idea at the time. And you didn't screw up, you fought Florian bravely."

"Bravely?" Nick gave a derisive snort and his expression twisted to one of guilt and shame, "I died a coward. When Florian tortured me, I gave in and told him how we used the Shield Charm just to make the pain stop. If I'd held out instead of doing what he wanted like a pathetic coward, maybe things would've gone differently."

"You're not a coward, torture is what it is. Everyone has limits, you're only human. And even after being tortured, you still stood up to him and told you Dad to not give in."

"Well he's my Dad, I didn't want him to die."

"You held out for something more important than a Shield Charm, that's not cowardice," Michael insisted and went to put his hand on Nick's shoulder to comfort him but his hand fell though.

"Still dead," Nick smiled sadly, "Why don't we both just admit we both screwed up so neither screwed up and talk about something less depressing?"

"Alright," Michael agreed with an attempt at a weak smile for Nick's benefit.

"And get some rest, eh? You look like crap," Nick pointed out as the cheer seeped back into his voice.

"I spent two days resting, I'm feeling better than I did on Saturday."

"Dude, I look better than you and I'm dead," Nick told him and despite himself, Michael laughed and Nick gave him a smile.

"Alright but I... I'll talk to you soon, okay?" Michael offered, abruptly terrified that it'd be the last time he spoke to Nick. Nick stood up and nodded as he stepped back.

"I'll be waiting," Nick assured him, "Tell my family I say hi."

Michael let go of the stone and Nick was gone again but he wasn't feeling so bad now he thought he could get it to work again, he picked up the stone and tucked it safely back inside the pillow. Despite Nick's request, Michael thought he'd hold off on passing along the message. He didn't want anyone else to know about the stone. He was sure an adult would take it from him, a stone that resurrected the dead didn't seem like something he'd be allowed to keep hold of and he didn't want to let go, he didn't want Nick to be dead. The stone was his.

Celestine laughed heartily on demand at the story that Ron Weasley had been telling him, on a rare hour off they were in the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. He'd actually lost track of the story because Ron had been laughing too hard at his own story for Celestine to understand but he was supposed to be drunk too so it didn't matter, he'd gotten good at acting drunk when he wasn't. He had drank something of course but made it look like he'd consumed as much as Ron, Ron wouldn't buy it as friends drinking together if he wasn't drunk but if he wasn't drunk then he'd be useless for gathering the required information on the Scepter. He'd already slipped Ron the Veritaserum so it was just a matter of steering the conversation in the right direction subtly.

"Tha's a good story," Celestine commented with a false slur in his voice, Ron grinned stupidly and proudly at getting complimented as he gulped down more beer, not the buttery variety, "But I 'lways liked the one with the stone."

"The Resurrection Stone?" Ron guessed in confusion and Celestine laughed falsely drunkenly, waving his half-empty glass.

"No, th'others one with the stone. Flamel's stone."

"Oh right," Ron said and laughed hysterically, so much that he had to wipe a tear from his eye, "That's is a much better story! Makes more senses."

"Makes more senses? Y'mean there's more than five? Whatever it is, I want it!"

"Not senses!" Ron laughed harder, "Shu' up, Cel, m'yam drunk!

"Mebbe we shoulden drank so much, Harry'll be pissed."

"If Harry was pissed then he wouldn't be mad!" Ron pointed out and Celestine faked laughter again, Ron grinned, "He's jus' wounded up 'bout James gettin' suspecterended. I'm sooo glad that mine stay outta trouble, they gots my good looks an' their mothers' head."

"Wait, did you jus' call your kids ugly?" Celestine quipped and it took Ron a moment for his drunken mind to process it.

"Hey!" Ron complained and threw a... nut? at him, "Not all of us can be pretty like you, wait 'til you get to old age will to you get down. You an' Gabrielle's kid ain't going tebbe ugly."

"Wait, did you jus' call me pretty?" Celestine wondered and Ron laughed.

"Y'know what I mean! Firs' time I saw you, I thought Harry had drawn the short end of the goat with a protégée. Had bets on how long you'd last, I was on five minutes," Ron told him and Celestine managed an amused smile that he didn't feel in the slightest, he'd always known they were never really his 'friends', two-faced bastards, "You proved me wrong though, proved us all wrong."

"Thanks," Celestine muttered without meaning as he stared into his beer, looking up abruptly as a smiling Ron clapped him on the shoulder.

"Imma proud. You did good, kid."

"Not good 'nuff for Harry to trust me with wha' we're doing to protect that Scepter," Celestine decided to risk pointing out.

"Tha's got nuthin' to do with trust," Ron insisted with a shake of his head, "He's tryin' to lessen your workload 'cause you're gonna be a Daddy soon, it's not a major thing so he decidered to let you off of it. Less know the better anyway, he's afraid of lurkin' Specters overhearing."

Celestine was somewhat glad that his position hadn't compromised although he disliked being reminded of his impending fatherhood and Gabrielle. Comforting your wife over the death of her sister that you'd killed wasn't as fun as it sounded, if the baby was a girl then she'd be named in her honor. Celestine really didn't care, he just wanted the thing to be dead.

"It's safe though, isn't it?" Celestine wondered, putting concern into his voice and Ron smiled assuringly, "Kingsley died for them being after that thing, don' want 'em to get it and make his death in vain."

"It's safe," Ron promised, as oblivious to the fact that Celestine had killed the former Minister as he was to the fact that Celestine had been the one to almost kill Ron a few years ago. Ron hadn't a hundred percent recovered still either, he'd lost a lot of weight and hadn't regained it and the injury still pained him sometimes. There were flecks of gray appearing in his hair now too, "S'actually really clever, got the idea from the dead Dark Lord hisself! Voldie's cave had this blood toll, y'know?"

"Harry did that too?"

"Nah, much better. Made it so that it has t'be specific blood," Ron explained in a lower but excited tone, eager to spread the brilliance of the plan in his drunken state, he really couldn't help but brag, "Only the blood of Harry, Neville and Atticus can open it."

"That is clever," Celestine commented with a lopsidedly false drunken grin, this egged Ron on to continue happily.

"Oh but there's more, he split it into two pieces. The sticky bit an' the stony bit and hid them both in different places, Old Voldie's cave and Hogwarts, jus' tebbe sure. That part was my idea."

"Bloody brilliant," Celestine lied and Ron laughed happily.

"Yep, mebbe my kids got summa my brains too then! Another round please!"

Ron said the last to a passing waitress, Celestine smiled inwardly and let himself relax. He had his answer and he had a way to combat it, he knew something that clearly Ron and possibly the others hadn't realized. With spells like that, blood flowed in more than that person's veins in the form of their children. Assuming they had any. Which Harry, Neville and Atticus all did. They just needed to locate the cave and specific part of Hogwarts where it was hidden, the rest was child's play.