Parts (38-43)
IV
Chapter 7
The Spirit of the Scepter
Part 1: Dreams or Nightmares
He was standing in the Chamber of Secrets, making out the snake pillars in the gloom. No, he was standing in the cave they'd used to hide the top of the Scepter as it was casting an eerie green glow across the still water. No, he was in the Ashain mansion? The walls were the same but it wasn't a room he recognized, it was so small and dark there. Wrong again, he was on the ground somewhere but he wasn't looking up to see where because he was in so much pain, as if he was being torn apart. The Scepter was right there...
Atticus jolted awake with a start and sat up in the darkness of his room in Hogwarts, breathing heavily with sweat rolling down his face. He felt like he was going to be sick, he staggered to the bathroom on shaking limbs and grabbed the sides of the sink but nothing came of it. The sensation passed. He turned on the water and splashed the refreshingly cold water onto his face to wash away the sweat before running his hands across his smooth cheeks and chin, he scowled. He was trying to grow back his beard since it bothered him and actually disturbed him somewhat how young he looked without it, he barely recognized himself but nothing was growing though and it had been weeks now.
It was just... weird. Then again, so was his skin taking on an olive tinge that had been there too long to be a tan even if getting one in such freezing weather wasn't equally disturbing. He caught a glimpse of his hands too as he went to lower them, his frown only deepening. The scars on his wrists had faded to near nothing as well, as had the ones on his arms and the accumulation of scars hidden beneath his t-shirt and pajama bottoms. From ones he'd had since he was six to the most recent ones he'd received during the Shadow War, they'd all faded to barely nothing. He'd thought of going to Marigold but was he supposed to say? That he was worried that he was healing? He'd be laughed at. He sighed, he probably shouldn't complain.
"Daddy?" Cassia questioned fearfully and he glanced to see her standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes, he scooped her up immediately and she buried her head in his neck, "I love you, Daddy."
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked gently as he cuddled her worriedly.
"I had a bad dream. I didn't like it."
"No one likes bad dreams," Atticus confirmed consoling and started carrying her back to her own bed, relaxing slightly although he still wasn't happy she was having nightmares. It could be worse though, he kept having the strangest feeling that he was being watched but there was nothing there even after he checked with magic.
"Can I sleep in your bed, Daddy?" Cassia pleaded, clinging to him tighter just as he reached her room. He hesitated and sighed again but he was hardly going to deny his scared six-year-old.
"Alright, just this night."
"You're the bestest, Daddy," Cassia informed him as he changed direction back to his own room.
He kissed her forehead gently although he was quite sure he wasn't the 'bestest', if he was then Antonius wouldn't have had the magic ripped out of his soul and Skye wouldn't have left. He felt his heart twist painfully at the thought of his wife. He was pretty sure he was failing as a single father too with Cassia having birds relieve themselves on people and cutting off her hair, Antonius also remained withdrawn and quiet. Living in Hogwarts probably wasn't the best situation for them either, they had no one their own age and even in his free time he had marking and lesson planning to do. He was trying his best though, he couldn't do any more than that. He tucked Cassia into his bed and climbed in beside her, she cuddled up to him the second he was in and he put his arm around her comfortingly but her eyes were open.
"So what was this bad dream about?" he asked her gently and she buried her head further into his neck again, "You know monsters in bad dreams are real and don't exist, they can't hurt you."
"It wasn'ted a monster," Cassia told him hesitantly, "I don't know what it was, I was just on the ground and there was a Scepter and I was hurting and I don't know why. I didn't have a dream before that was hurting, I didn't know dreams maded you be in pain."
"Well it's all over now and it can't hurt you anymore," Atticus assured her but felt more worried, wasn't that just what his dream had been before he'd woken up because of the pain? The Scepter had to be behind it but why?
"Dad?" Antonius whispered and he flicked his eyes open to see his son standing by the bed nervously with the dog, "I had a nightmare, can I sleep in your bed?"
"Alright," Atticus agreed and pulled back the covers to let Antonius climb in, Antonius also cuddled up to him and he put his arm around his eldest comfortingly too. He opened his mouth to ask Antonius about his dream but was distracted by the massive dog leaping onto the bed and lying down across his legs, "I didn't say you could, dog!"
Both his children burst out laughing at this, the dog lazily wagged her tail. Atticus rolled his eyes but smiled weakly, laughter was better than weird nightmares. They quietened down after a few minutes, Cassia seeming to have bounced back now as she was smiling as she patted the dog's head while Antonius' expression went back to being unreadable.
"You okay, Tony?" Atticus asked cautiously, hoping his son would bring up the dream himself because he wanted to know if it was the same as theirs - it was a weird coincidence otherwise - but not wanting to sadden them.
"Antonius," Antonius corrected.
He was still gone off the nickname he'd had since birth for no apparent reason, much like Brutus had when he'd decided 'Bruti' was too childish. Atticus scowled at this, he really didn't like comparing his children to himself and Brutus. He didn't want them to wind up on opposite sides of a war as well, he tried to encourage them to look out for each other and stick together. Then again, he and Brutus had been close at that age too. Shut up, mind, he complained at himself.
"The dog has a name, Cassia, she's not just called 'dog.'"
"I know," Cassia insisted as she stopped petting the dog, "Daddy calleded her dog too."
"Come on now, be nice to each other," Atticus told them, being overly paranoid because of his thought tangent. The chorused assurances they were before going quiet, it was now or never, "What was your nightmare about, Antonius?"
"There was a Scepter," Antonius admitted, Cassia's eyes shot back open immediately and Antonius clung to him tighter while Atticus felt his blood run colder with every one of his son's words, "And this pain, I felt like my soul was being ripped up again."
"Well it's all over now and it can't hurt you anymore," Cassia assured her brother with the same words that Atticus had said to her, smiling comfortingly and reaching across his chest to hold Antonius' hand, "I haded the samer dream but it's okay. Right, Daddy?"
"Yes," Atticus said and hoped it was actually true as he hugged his children closer as the feeling of being watched bore down on him again, "It's okay now."
Ron and Hermione's wedding was equally creative and at the Burrow, there was a huge amount of people there although less than Harry and Ginny's despite having some of Hermione's muggle family. It was still news in the paper but didn't make the headline, what made the headlines was that Ginny was pregnant with Harry Potter's first child. Not difficult to guess how that child would wind up, spoiled for being the firstborn son of the hero and evil for being a Weasley. Roman found himself less anxious at the wedding though, Audrey and Percy were happy to let him look after baby Molly which gave him something to do to take his mind of the amount of people and he could cuddle her for comfort any time. Luna was there with Rolf and Roman did his best to avoid them, still hurt at losing her. He just focused on his little niece.
In truth, Roman thought Audrey wasn't especially good at the mothering thing and frequently panicked, screaming for Percy to help if Molly did anything - once even panicking that Molly might be blinking too much - and Roman thought it was very good that Percy was on paternity leave as well. Naturally, both were eager to abandon their newborn child and get back to work. Although both were extremely proud when Molly used magic for the first time, making her mobile spin and the little birds taking flight. A new Weasley record for the first use of accidental magic. And then Roman was back to Hogwarts for another grueling few months. The work piled on and Audrey's letters became less frequent as she was busy with work and motherhood. Roman did win the final Quidditch match of the year though, reclaiming the Quidditch Cup for Slytherin and making up for the loss last year. He also didn't breakdown for the exams as he hadn't the first four years, he thought it had more to do with the results not mattering than overcoming his anxiety. His professors still kept a close eye on him but Roman still felt unhappy, the feeling of loneliness continued to ebb away at him. The only change was recurring nightmares about his parents' death, jogged by Molly's arrival but there was nothing could be done for that.
He was looking forward to going home more than usual, purely for Magnus' eyes. He wasn't disappointed as Audrey, Percy and baby Molly picked him up. It felt the quietest summer for a while, perhaps because of the lack of wedding although there was never a lack of Weasleys. Roman felt more alone than ever though, he wasn't one of them and he didn't belong there. This was never more apparent, the adults could relate and chat happily about old times as only Audrey hadn't been through anything at all with them, the little kids could relate and play happily together innocently and the babies were just babies. Roman was just there, on the peripheral of their world due to being the brother of a Weasley wife. He was only there at all because his sister had been burdened with looking after him or else he'd just disappear into barely being known by name like other siblings of Weasley wives. Audrey would get her wish. After his final year of Hogwarts, she would never see him again. She'd made her choice in what mattered more, what had ever happened to blood over water? How could she let herself be corrupted by evil? Why had neither of his siblings taken on board the morals their parents had taught them? Wasn't family supposed to matter? They'd both just stabbed him in the back and walked away into better lives, leaving him alone to cry for their dead parents.
There was actually a party for his birthday, it was an important one as it was when he came of age. Maybe Roman's heart was too broken to feel afraid this time as he didn't feel anxious or panic and pass out even during the cake, he just felt sad. Ginny had had to retire from Quidditch due to her pregnancy - whether temporary or permanent had yet to be decided - but still retained connections to the Holyhead Harpies, getting him another top of the range broomstick. Her other most noteworthy gift amongst the usual books - they were actually getting things he cared about by this point - and sweets was from Audrey and Percy. Given to him after they got back home when Roman had been about to go to bed. A pocket watch, it was tradition although Magnus had never had one, Roman's was a beautiful silver one and looked expensive.
"Do you like it?" Audrey asked him nervously.
"It's very nice," Roman admitted as he closed it.
"And you know... We were thinking," Audrey continued and he looked back up to her, "We have more money now and it is your final year so if... if you want, we could maybe hire a tutor for your NEWTs and you wouldn't have to do your final year at Hogwarts."
The evil bitch. She was offering him the very thing she knew he'd desperately wanted the day she'd decided to send him to the hell that was Hogwarts, just to torture him. It wasn't done out of kindness or love, if that was the case then she'd simply have decided on it. She was giving him a choice because she just wanted him to admit he was weak. That was saying yes would mean, that Roman was admitting he was weak, admitting he was pathetic and that he couldn't cope with what every other witch and wizard could deal with. Saying no was equally cruel at would be his choice to doom himself to another torturous year, freeing them from responsibility as it was entirely down to Roman. Damn her and Percy for doing his to him. Damn them all.
"I'd like to do my final year at Hogwarts," Roman choked out before he could lose his nerve and grab the chance of freedom like a coward. It was better to suffer with what little pride he had left than give it up then accept the deal with the devils.
"Are you sure?" Audrey wondered in surprise, clearly having been looking forward to laughing with Percy over his weakness. Roman nodded, he didn't trust himself to speak as he was sure he'd just scream to not let him go back to Hogwarts, "Okay then, we'll go to Diagon Alley tomorrow then. Happy Birthday, Roman."
At this, Audrey hesitated before hugging him, Roman was too afraid to fight it. And then she bade him goodnight and left, Roman put his newly Trace-free magic to the test and put up a non-verbal Silencing Charm after locking the door. He definitely didn't want Audrey and Percy to hear him cry because he cried a lot. He spent the majority of the rest of the holidays with baby Molly, it was something to do and he was fond of her. Sure, dealing with crying and diapers wasn't fun but cleaning out Smokey's litter trays wasn't fun either, it was part of caring for someone who couldn't do it for themselves. Molly still had Magnus' eyes, was cuddly, was easy to talk to because she couldn't understand his words any more than Smokey and was too young to be evil. She even smiled at him, he could never help but smile back. Roman thought he could've been good at being a parent, he'd never be lonely then and he could make sure they had a happy childhood instead of a nightmare like his had become. He'd never send them away somewhere they hated, never let them feel as horrible as he did.
It was bittersweet though, Molly's innocence wouldn't last and at some point she'd turn evil like the rest of her family. She was a Weasley after all and Audrey had long since been corrupted completely, poor Molly didn't stand a chance. Going back to Hogwarts was a horrible day, he got a letter - as did the others - inviting him to the wedding of Luna and Rolf in about a year, it worsened his already foul mood. Not that Audrey and Percy noticed, silence was normal for Roman. He tried to take comfort that it was his last year but it didn't work, he still had to do that year with the all-important NEWTs. He felt even worse when saying goodbye to Molly on the platform, kissing her on the forehead made her smile as she looked at him with Magnus' eyes. He nearly cried, wondering if she'd be evil next time he saw her. Why did those Death Eaters have to kill his parents? Then no one would be evil and he could be happy. Damn them all.
Michael had to drag himself out of the Hospital Wing on Friday, Wednesday had been the full moon but he was still feeling the strength-sapping effects. As much as he liked Marigold, he really was determined to deal with his condition in a better way than lying in a hospital bed until he felt better. Sometimes you actually felt better in a different setting although not in this case, in this case his eyes would rather roll back into his skull than stay open. He groaned inwardly but kept hauling his feet along regardless, he was still going to try for normalcy. He fished into his pocket for the stone to summon Nick instinctively, however it didn't quite come instinctively. He'd bitten his hand/paw during his transformation in a bid to distract himself in any way from the pain of turning, as well as to give his frustration a target. It was an improvement upon last month although he had a feeling that everyone was still going to give him hell for it, the clunky bandage was also slightly impeding his hand usage as he discovered. Using his fingers was fiddly and no sooner had he successfully grasped the stone, it slipped from his fingers. He scrambled on the ground immediately to grab it, he'd just have to use his other hand for a while.
"Michael, you're already up," Scorpius offered and Michael was so surprised, his head shot straight up and clattered painfully into a suit of armor. He cringed in pain and snatched up the stone quickly with his bandaged hand while Scorpius came over to him, rubbing his now-aching head with his free hand, "Are you okay?"
"Fine, nothing like a good whack to the head to wake you up in the morning," Michael said with false cheerfulness and a convincing smile as he got up with Scorpius' aid, Scorpius was still scowling worriedly though.
"Are you sure? You still look pretty beat and your hand is bandaged. You attacked yourself again, didn't you?"
"Michael!"
"What?!" Michael shot back with an uncalled for burst of anger, he was fed up of everyone giving him the third degree over it, "It's not like I did it on purpose and biting my hand once is hardly the worst thing in the world."
"It's still not healthy," Scorpius pointed out, looking concerned as they started heading to breakfast. Michael very much wishing that he could lie down on the floor and sleep instead.
"Well being a werewolf isn't particularly good for your health," Michael shrugged it off and tried to discretely pocket the stone since he was afraid of dropping it with his bandaged hand otherwise but Scorpius still saw.
"What's that?"
"Good luck charm, Mirra gave it to me," Michael lied dismissively, saying 'nothing' would just make Scorpius press more, "So how'd it go with Leebin yesterday?"
"Pretty good actually," Scorpius admitted to Michael's pleasant surprise, "I told him about being worried about my Mother's pregnancy, he was actually helpful."
"I'm glad," Michael smiled.
"Doesn't mean he's completely trustworthy, of course. But still."
"Obviously."
"But I was surprised. Are you sure you're okay? You look exhausted."
"I can deal!" Michael protested as they reached the Great Hall, Scorpius fell silent but didn't look happy about it as they sat down.
Michael tried to make himself eat, going for porridge because it took less effort to eat slop than chew hard food. It was hard to pay attention to the conversation though, Albus talking to Latimer about flying advice was the most noticeable because Albus spoke the loudest. Also Rose bragging about her new boyfriend, it irritated him oddly. It was Charms first thing, trying to stay awake through Grant's speech and scribble down something intelligible about the Banishing Charm for the written work. He didn't think he succeeded, he couldn't even read his own writing as he tried to read it back to himself and it took him half a page to realize he was writing r's backwards again. He screwed the parchment up into a ball in frustration and banished it rather successfully across the room, where it caught fire as he buried his head in his arms. Even when he tried, he failed.
"Why did you do that?" Scorpius wondered worriedly, "It looked like it was going well."
"You didn't even see it," Michael complained as he looked up, "It was illegible."
"Well your hand is bandaged and you're probably still tired from the full moon, it's natural that it would be harder with your Dyslexia."
"They're just excuses, the truth is that I just suck," Michael pointed out truthfully and went to put his head back down because his arms were pillow-like, his head still hurt so it was nice to rest his head too.
"No one sucks," Grant offered and Michael looked up again, apparently having retrieved Michael's work as he was smoothing out the charred parchment.
"You suck," Michael said stupidly as the bell went to signal the end of the lesson.
"Alright class dismissed but I want that essay on the similarities and differences between the Summoning and Banishing Charms done by our lesson on Monday, you have the whole weekend," Grant called to the class, they started packing up obediently and heading off. Michael tried to do the same but Grant held him back, "Not so fast, Sanford. I need to talk to you."
"Then he'll be late for the next lesson," Scorpius complained to try get him out of it, his gray eyes eying Grant loathingly as he spoke.
"Nice try, Malfoy, but I know you both have a break before your next lesson. Carry on, now," Grant offered and Scorpius took his time, leaving slowly and reluctantly before Grant turned back to him, "Alright, Michael, we need to talk about this."
"Can't you just give me a detention and be done with it?" Michael pointed out with a tired sigh.
"No."
"I'm sorry I insulted you, it was stupid and childish of me."
"I'm glad but this isn't about that really, it's about this," Grant told him and waved the charred parchment, "Your work. I get that you're going through a lot and this must be a difficult time for you but you're not even trying."
"I did try!" Michael protested in frustration and rubbed his throbbing head.
"With this? Yes you did, until you threw it away and lit it on fire. You look so dead on your feet right now so I'm not surprised if you're struggling more, it's no reason to destroy what you did. It's not the first outburst this year either, I keep giving you slack but you still hang yourself with it."
"Well you hate me so shouldn't you be glad that I'm failing?"
"I admit we didn't get off to a good start and it was probably more my fault than yours but I don't hate you, I don't want you to fail," Grant insisted, seeming to make an effort to not sound irritated, "I'm trying to help you right now. You're behind and I'm willing to put in extra time to help you catch up but it's down to you. You need to be willing, you need to put some effort in or you'll fall so far behind that you won't be able to catch up for your OWLs next year because we're already starting work for that now."
Michael snorted but said nothing as he stared off into space, there was no point worrying about tests over a year away. He'd only fail anyway, he was stupid. Assuming he even survived that long, which he considered unlikely with the Shadow War. What good were OWLs anyway? Even if he did outlive the war with some fragments of sanity and a vestige of his ruined body, it didn't matter. He was a werewolf, it wasn't like he had a future. He didn't even have a life.
"Michael?" Grant said and moved his hand slightly towards him, Michael flinched and Grant froze with a pathetic look of pity as he lowered his hand, "Just think about it, okay? Your education is in your hands."
"Can I go now?" Michael muttered and Grant gestured for the door.
Scorpius was waiting for him outside the door and they headed to the Common Room for their half an hour break before Care of Magical Creatures. Rose wanted to study but the others didn't, it was the only break that Scorpius and Molly had together so they went off to one side to talk or something, Albus and Abby decided to play Wizard's Chess to pass he time in a more enjoyable way. Rose had to study alone, shooting annoyed glances at the other two and occasionally commenting on how badly they were playing, telling them what they should be doing. He'd always liked how she had confidence. Michael didn't have the strength to really do anything though, he curled up on the comfy couch by the fire. He half-watching the flickering embers and half-listening to the three within earshot, it gradually all started to fade out though.
Before he knew it, he was back home in Bob's house. Crystal was there, her skin sickly pale in contrast to the blackness from exhaustion marring her eyes. She looked so weak, she had a hand gripping her poor heart and put the other out against the wall to steady herself. And Michael was there, on four paws. A growl rose deep in the back of his throat, she looked towards him with dazzling hazel eyes that he'd once had and he ran at her. Crystal started screaming for her eldest son for help her, Michael yelled at his werewolf body but it was no use. He felt his own teeth bite into his mother's neck and tear out her life. He screamed and jolted awake, breathing heavily and trembling violently. He was still in the Gryffindor Common Room except it was now empty, his friends were gone. He squeezed shut his eyes, nightmares like that plagued him frequently. It was so horrible. Thankfully, he was distracted by the portrait hole opening and Maurice came through.
"Hey," Michael called out as Maurice noticed him, the younger boy was looking oddly shaken but he put his hand on his translator necklace and came over to him regardless, "Have I been asleep all day?"
"Pretty much," Maurice shrugged and Michael scowled in annoyance, they could've woken him up, "Scorpius and the others mentioned leaving you to sleep at lunch, they checked but you were still out then. You're not in trouble, staff are pretty understanding of you needing rest after the full moon."
"Where is everyone now then?"
"Class. I wasn't feeling well so Elina let me leave Divination early but everyone is still... wherever."
"You're not feeling well?" Michael repeated, getting the sense that Maurice may not be entirely truthful but something was clearly bothering him. Maurice looked down and nodded mutely before glancing back to him, anxiety breaking his usual neutral expression. Michael softened his own expression, "Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps."
Maurice looked at him for a long time, Michael didn't risk speaking as he didn't want to push Maurice if he didn't feel up to it nor did he want to change the subject in case Maurice thought his offer wouldn't stand. Finally Maurice came over and sat beside him, still hesitating before speaking.
"I'm scared I might be evil," Maurice admitted finally.
"Why?" Michael probed cautiously, figuring something specific must have brought this on.
"Because it's coming up to Christmas, Elina let us do something different since we're ahead with the Tarot cards. Someone asked about Crystal-gazing so we were doing that, Orous saw Roman with a dove but I saw... I saw... myself," Maurice continued reluctantly, "I was standing on a pile of corpses, dressed in blood-stained robes with the skeletal snake symbol of the Soul Eaters writing on it, my hands were soaked in blood too and I was firing Killing Curses while Orous cried and looked like he was begging me not to, then he jumped in front of the curse and I'd killed my own brother."
"Those don't always show what will happen, it can be more metaphorical."
"And you think that's any better?" Maurice wondered and hesitated again, this time barely audibly, "I've done things. Bad things."
"Like what?"
"Standing and watching while Pyrrhus murdered Dunbrooke and Nick for one."
"Nick's not..." Michael started to say but stopped himself, that would mean telling Maurice about the stone, "I mean, you can't blame yourself for what he did. You were brainwashed for years, you chose the right side in the end and that's what mattered."
"Yeah and I tortured him with an Unforgivable Curse. I still care about him and that's the point, if you can hurt someone you care about like that with a spell like that then you should be able to do it on anyone," Maurice admitted and swallowed, "He's proud of me for that, that's why he wanted me to take the test."
"And that's the reason you disappeared?" Michael guessed and Maurice nodded.
"You're put in this mountainous forest area and you have to survive, you either live and win or fail and die. There's other people taking the test too and you're left in different places to start from, you have to survive and get to this building. There are people - Imperised against their will - that attack you and different magical creatures that attack you, you have to defend yourself and fight them as well as dealing with finding your own food, water and shelter because you're completely on your own. There's no help, if you can't survive then you'll die because they won't save you and you can't refuse because they'll attack you anyway, it's kill or be killed. If you want it to stop and get away from there then you have to find this building, hidden magically and you can only get there by capturing attackers, torturing them for the information on where it is and how it's concealed to get to it. I tried to refuse at first but the attacks will keep coming, I didn't have a choice because I can't fight everything off forever. So I did it," Maurice admitted and squeezed his eyes shut, tears were glistening when they opened again, "I became the hunter.
"I didn't feel so bad at the time, I was just focused on survival and I thought they were all Shadows. Enemies so it didn't matter if I tortured them... If I killed them. You do what you have to do to survive. I made it to the building and then you have another hellish maze of puzzles and challenges to test to get to the top, there's a portkey in there to get you away. You can't get to the top floor alone though, in the second to last floor you get sealed in there's another man behind a magical shield who tells you that you have to wait for a second challenger to make it. When they do, it's a duel to the death. I won the duel but I didn't want to kill him, he wasn't that much older than me and it just seemed so pointless. Hadn't there been enough violence? He was unconscious, it seemed unnecessary. The man said I had to and when I refused, he tortured me to try make me do it and left his protection. He said I had no choice, the enchantment locking the door to the top floor won't break unless there's a death. So I had this cool idea, since this guy seemed like a bastard and he had been torturing me. He never said that it had to be one of us who died. So I agreed to kill and he let me go.
"I pretended like I was about to kill the kid but then I turned the spell on him at the last second, the Killing Curse. I killed him and the door opened. I revived the boy and told him we could make it out of here together, he'd seemed nice so I thought maybe he could go home to his family and not become a Soul Eater after all. He said it sounded like a good idea, he thanked me for not killing him and said he'd probably have killed me if our positions had been reversed so he was grateful. And then he died. Killing Curse to the back when he didn't turn quick enough to the crack of apparition arriving, I couldn't hear it of course. I don't even know his name. That bitch, Alzay, was the one who fired it. She said only one could pass the test and she was glad it was me, then she told me about how all those attackers were innocent people just abducted and Imperised against their will. Not Shadows after all, innocents," Maurice told him with guilt dragging his words, the tears leaked from his eyes as he fumbled with his robes to take them off to reveal a fresh skeletal snake symbol writhing - literally the scar moving in his flesh - on his chest, overlaying the scores of words engraved into his skin, "She gave me that after she beat me in a duel, said it's so I won't forget where my loyalties lie. Then I got to portkey back to Orous and Cade. I pretended I didn't remember but really, I haven't stopped thinking about since."
"It's not your fault they tricked you," Michael offered gently as Maurice fixed his robes, he wondered whether Maurice realized Alzay was his mother, "You clearly feel horrible about it."
"Of course I feel horrible, I didn't want to hurt innocent people," Maurice sobbed, "I know I fixate on us being soldiers but that's because its true and I don't want my friends or those poor First Years or even Ashain's little kids to die just because they couldn't defend themselves like that boy. The Shadows aren't going to stop with the hurting and killing and destruction and world domination or whatever unless they're stopped. We have to fight them and make them stop, the best way to fight fire is with fire. I want to fight them not to join them, I don't want to be evil."
"And you're not evil," Michael said seriously as Maurice tried to wipe away the flooding tears, "If you were evil then you wouldn't be crying right now, you wouldn't care about the innocents. You're only human, some people say we all have light and dark inside of us and you have to act on what part but I think they're wrong. Inside we're just gray, we're all capable of good and bad things both unintentionally and intentionally. What makes someone good or evil is not so much our actions but the reason behind them, whether you try to good things or try to bad things. At the end of the day that's the only choice you really have to make, whether we want to hurt or to help. We just have to live with the consequences of our mistakes in the meantime."
Maurice nodded in understanding and Michael hugged his friend, knowing the thirteen year old didn't get hugged a lot but he could probably really use the comfort. Michael felt tormented enough about Greyback and Greyback certainly hadn't been innocent. Maurice hugged him tightly back. Morbidly, Michael wondered how many more would die by their hands before the end of the war and if either of them would live to see it.
Alzay waited. She spent the majority of the holidays sitting on her bed, expecting the Aurors to come in at any moment to take her away for killing her mother and stepfather. But they never did. Her foster parents sat her down and told her about Adelaide's potential murder but that was it, she wasn't a suspect. Why would she be? She'd been so young and innocent when her mother cruelly abandoned her family, the last time Alzay had seen her until the murder and Adelaide hadn't left her anything so money didn't seem to be a motive. Who were they to suspect the barely of age child who hadn't had contact with her in years and had nothing noticeable to gain from the killing? As it turned out, the fire had actually helped cover it up anyway and they couldn't even be sure whether the couple had been killed in the fire or before it.
She was surprised, it seemed so obvious what had happened yet the Ministry really didn't know? Was it that easy to get away with a crime? Was the Ministry really that incompetent? Idiots. Alzay returned to Hogwarts with a lot to think about, if it was that easy to get away with murder - technically she'd committed more crimes than that however - then what else was possible? It opened up a whole new world to her, the laws was no longer a solid set of unbreakable walls but rather flexible slabs to be bent to the will of someone smart enough to know how. Her goal of saving her father from Azkaban suddenly seemed even more within reach, she was capable and she could get him back. It was surprisingly easy to slip back into the routine of Hogwarts, working on NEWTs and now studying the law and politics in her free time, she mastered apparition easier than most. The year was over before she'd even bothered to give it the time of day.
However, it wasn't back to the foster parents but rather to a ministry official as in the months since coming of age, they'd worked out everything - her father's money had been taken upon his arrest - and she was given her inheritance. Even when her parents weren't around, her father still managed to do more for her life than Adelaide ever had. It wasn't any kind of vast fortune but it was enough for an apartment, the cost of living and the final year of Hogwarts equipment, the money wouldn't last forever but it was something. She took herself to the train station all alone to go to Hogwarts, seeing all the happy children leaving happy parents and felt a painful stab into her heart as she stood alone. Her father should've gotten to be there, to see her off on her very first day and to be there then to proudly see her off for her last. Maybe he'd get to see his grandchildren off if she succeeded in saving him from Azkaban but still, no amount of success could change the past.
"I wish you were here, Dad," Alzay muttered quietly and wistfully to herself.
"Your Death Eater Dad deserves to rot in whatever hole he's in," a voice from a random passerby boarding the train spat in her direction.
"Hey!" Alzay snapped and rushed after the boy, no one insulted her father and got away with it. She grabbed his arm and almost laughed, Roman Rivers, the weirdest loser who had the mental breakdown during OWLs and whose only friend was a cat. Why he was such a freak was anyone's guess, he was tall, handsome, somewhat intelligent in classes and a talented Seeker yet he shunned anyone who dared to be kind to him, he deserved what he got when he could so easily have made things better for himself. She could probably blow on him and he'd have a heart attack, she smirked and pushed him away, "Forget it, you're so pathetic that you're not even worth silencing. Tell me, are your sainted parents proud of having a worthless disappointment for a son? Oh wait, they're dead."
"You're a horrible person," Roman told her as he cuddled his cat like a child, his voice cracking and he hurried into a compartment but not fast enough so that she didn't see the tears. Alzay laughed at his tears.
"You're an adult of age and still crying like a baby, geez!" Alzay called loud enough for those within earshot to hear, causing laughter amongst the crowd and Roman only cried harder as he slammed shut the door of the compartment to wallow in his humiliation. She might do something at a later date to make him pay for insulting her father but for now, that was satisfying enough.
Part 2: The White of Night
The year got off to an even worse start on the train, he must have muttered too loudly as the Slytherin girl from his year had overheard and made him feel worse. Roman didn't know her name, he didn't bother to know the names of his classmates - he didn't know the names of the people on the Quidditch team either - but he officially hated her. There were less people to bully him this year as it was his last so only those in his year really did so but it did still hurt, especially coupled with the stress of NEWTs and the pressure was on as the professors drilled into his already fragile mind. He didn't know what he would've done without Quidditch and Smokey, Quidditch gave him something to look forward to and feel good about, Smokey gave him much needed comfort amidst a sea of anxiety. He was very proud to win his final Quidditch match against Gryffindor although cried afterwards because he realized it was his last, he only had three matches left and then he'd never be able to play again. That was depressing. Audrey was writing to him less still although he did learn that Angelina was also pregnant now too, if Weasleys weren't having weddings then they were having babies.
He naturally decided to stay for Christmas, despite an odd increase in letters where Audrey begged for him to come home to celebrate Molly's first Christmas with them and because Harry Potter's child would be born too. Roman refused on the grounds he needed to study, it was partially true anyway and he wasn't going to give Audrey the satisfaction. She hadn't wanted him to come home before, she'd forced him to stay in the castle he despised so now she could see what it felt like to have the positions reversed somewhat. Assuming her desire was genuine anyway, he thought it was more out of courtesy because it was obvious that the Weasleys didn't want him there. He wasn't family. He still received a letter to inform him of James Sirius Potter being born on the twentieth of December, although he could've just read it in the Daily Prophet because it was not only covered but made the front page.
He deeply came to regret staying for Christmas however as the girl he'd offended in September was also staying, he didn't give it a second thought at the time. Until he suddenly decided he was in love her one morning after sipping his usual pumpkin juice, literally everything else stopped mattering to him in favor of dedicating thoughts to her. Alzay. How had he not remembered her name? It was beautiful. He didn't study, he didn't practice Quidditch, he barely remembered to take care of Smokey, he didn't even feel anxious as his life suddenly felt like it revolved around her. He doted on her, showered her with what gifts he could - including the unicorn necklace that he'd planned to give to Luna - as well as flowers and transfigurations, he'd do anything for her and was more than happy to complete whatever task she asked of him. The tasks could be anything, from writing her an essay on the current political climate within the reformed Ministry of Magic to running around the Quidditch pitch five hundred times to singing and dancing for her, he did everything she asked of him and was rewarded with praise and a kiss. Every second with her was perfect and amazing.
Until she stopped giving him the Love Potion when the break ended. The false feelings of infatuation faded away and left Roman to drown in his humiliation, he felt so ashamed. She'd made him look a fool, essentially taken away his free will and worst of all, she'd stolen his first kiss that he'd been saving for Luna in marriage. He cried his eyes out and if it hadn't been the year of the all-important NEWTs then he didn't think he'd have been able to drag himself out of the dungeon, where he coincidentally saw Alzay - he'd never forget her damn freakish name now - also heading to breakfast. He felt a surge of anger welling in the pit of his stomach.
"Hey!" Roman yelled out and she stopped to turn back to him in surprise, he lost his nerve immediately as she looked at him with the cold-hearted oceanic eyes that chilled his soul, "Wh-Wh-Y-Y-You us-used Love Potion on me."
"Yes," Alzay admitted readily with a nonchalant shrug, "What about it?"
"Y-You-You're a hor-horrible pe-person, y-you hum-humiliated me an-and t-t-took m-my vir-virginity! I w-was s-saving my-myself for mar-marriage w-with s-s-someone I l-loved f-for r-real."
"What?" Alzay exclaimed and looked genuinely confused, "The most we did was kiss. What are you talking about?"
"Is-Isn't that what virginity is?" Roman wondered genuinely.
Alzay looked at him for a moment before bursting out laughing, she opened her mouth a few times as if about to explain what the fun thing was but seemed to give up. She walked away laughing and Roman felt his cheeks burning at clearly missing something. NEWTs or not, he fled back to his dormitory to cry alone in shame. He hated her, he absolutely hated her. So much so that he wanted to get back at her, it wasn't just a random act of bullying after all but much more personal and hurtful even if - he looked it up - he hadn't lost his virginity. He lost his final match against Ravenclaw because he was distracted which only sought to crush his spirits further. He decided he'd give her a taste of her own medicine, he went on the hellish Hogsmeade on the next trip and bought some Love Potion of his own from George's new Hogsmeade joke shop branch. Thankfully, George didn't work there. It took him a few weeks of meticulous planning to work up the courage to slip some of it into her goblet at dinner one of the Fridays, he was only to keep it up for the weekend.
It worked. By the next morning, she was obsessed with him. It was fun for the first few hours, Roman had her random things like she'd done with him such as digging a hole or eating ten chicken legs or singing children's songs. Unlike her though, he didn't kiss her as a reward for completely tasks, partly he wanted to save his first willing kiss for someone he didn't hate but mostly because he wasn't that cruel. He was determined to stick with it for the whole weekend like he'd intended but he was starting to feel bad by the afternoon, instead he just had her study as well and talked to her. He did the same the following day, it was actually nice to have someone to talk to and made him all the more aware of his loneliness. It was nice to talk to someone who talked back, even if all they did was agree with you and praise you because of the Love Potion. He was almost sad to lose that companionship, if it was actually real and it wasn't someone evil like Alzay.
"Hey!" Alzay's voice snapped at him on his way to breakfast the next day, he turned in time to receive a stinging slap across the face, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT?! GIVING ME LOVE POTION!?"
"R-Revenge," Roman stammered out fearfully as he put a hand to his sore cheek, who said girls didn't hit hard? Alzay looked absolutely stumped by this as she stepped back with the anger evaporated.
"Revenge?" she repeated incredulously and he nodded, she cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, "That's weirdly impressive of you, just when I thought you were a complete cowardly lump."
"Erm... Thanks?" Roman offered unsurely as she walked away, he rubbed his cheek and watched after her in confusion. Not that he could complain about not being attacked worse, he was glad that she was apparently letting it go. He doubted he'd ever speak to her again, not knowing in two years that she'd be pregnant with his sons.
Scorpius was actually surprised with how well things went with Leebin, he was feeling better about his mother's pregnancy anyway. Although his good mood dispersed when he saw Michael had attacked himself again, he was really starting to worry about his friend. He left Michael to rest when he fell asleep in the Common Room, he hadn't recovered from the full moon so it seemed the right thing. Michael wasn't pleased though and his mood didn't improve when Scorpius decided to stay on map duty that night so Michael could rest.
"It's after the full moon, I've been asleep most of the day," Michael pointed out irritably, "Give me the map, I can do this."
"You should still rest," Scorpius protested, "I can do this."
"So can I!"
"Well you should rest."
"I don't want to rest."
"Geez," Albus interrupted and swiped the map from Scorpius' hands, "How about I watch the map and you two sleep, that way sleepin' and sleepo don't wake up, no one gets their own way and everyone's happy? Plus you got it from my brother so it's like technically my map through family like. I can do it, I'm more responsible now."
Scorpius and Michael both reluctantly agreed to this, Scorpius couldn't think of a good reason to refuse except and was aware of the other two sleeping boys in the dormitory. Odds were that nothing would happen anyway, the possessor had been keeping a low profile since its near discovery. It was still somewhat of a challenge to get to sleep, he was still worried about Michael and decided to try Leebin's cloud thing to clear his mind. Scorpius seemed to fall asleep immediately after that, he was having a rather nice dream about Molly actually...
"Scorpius!" Albus' voice hissed and he jumped awake, somehow managing to whack his head on the bedpost.
"Ow," Scorpius complained and rubbed his head, blinking in the still-darkness, "What?"
"Ashain's is moving," Albus told him and shoved the map at him, tapping his Lumos-light wand at the shifting dot in the girl's bathroom, his smaragdine eyes were alight with excitement, "So what do we do now? Do we wake up Michael? Do we get reinforcements? Do we confront him?"
"Yes and no, not too many questions," Scorpius offered as he sat up, "I want to try spy on him for a while with the cloak, maybe seeing him or he'll say something will figure out what who he is and why he's doing this to Professor Ashain. We should leave the others because the cloak is only so big, besides Orous and Vern are in the Hufflepuff dormitories which we don't know how to get into and then there's Molly and Abby who are in the girls dormitories so we can't really go there. We'll leave Michael to sleep because he's still weak from the full moon, he needs his sleep. We get dressed and go."
"I'm fucking awake!" Michael barked and the both of them jumped, Albus whacking his head on the bed this time.
"Ow," Albus moaned as he rubbed his head.
"Well then I guess we're all going, everyone get dressed," Scorpius pointed out, feeling abashed and Albus retreated to get changed out of his pajamas as Scorpius pulled shut the drapes to do the same. When he pulled them back, Michael was already ready and leaning against the bedposts with an extremely irritated expression, "You know I only said that because I was worried about your health, right? Not because I was trying to be mean, you know you're not at full strength."
"Can we just go?" Michael muttered.
It proved to be slightly more difficult than they'd originally thought, Scorpius and Albus were both much taller and closer to adult height while the cloak remained the same size. Michael was still short but it was still more awkward to fit the three of them at the same time without their feet showing, they did get it in the end but Albus had to stoop over the map in the lead. They were off on the uncomfortable journey in silence, Scorpius at the back as they crept through the darkness. They moved slowly, both to make sure they stayed invisible and to make sure they made no noise with their footsteps across the stone.
And then he heard footsteps on stone, he was about to ask Albus if he could see anything on the map when they were forced to freeze in a stairwell. On Leebin's floor, Scorpius tried to look round Albus' head to see as the counsellor also reached that stairwell, coming up instead of down like them. Scorpius' heart was in his mouth but Leebin seemed oblivious and tired as he suppressed a yawn and turned down that floor without looking, Scorpius just started to relax and felt the tension leave his friends too.
"Leebin!" a voice barked abruptly and caused everyone but the man in question to jump, someone had apparently been waiting in the shadows by Leebin's door for him. Scorpius vaguely recognized him as one of the other counsellors that he'd seen at meals, he didn't remember the guy's name though nor had he ever spoken to him. He was much taller and bulkier than Leebin, his robes looked too tight and he had scruffy hair that blended in with the darkness.
"Were you waiting for me, Rutherford?" Leebin asked somewhere between curious and annoyed.
"Yes. What took you so long?" the man - presumably Rutherford - demanded as he glowered.
"Hmm, I didn't realize there was a time limit on how long I'm allowed to spend with my family on my free time," Leebin mused and scratched his chin, "Of course, if you'd told me you'd wanted to speak with me instead of senselessly standing in wait for... who knows how long then I might've made an effort to be back sooner or spoken to you before I left. What's this about?"
"You know what it's about, the same thing it's always about," Rutherford growled and Leebin rolled his eyes, "Why aren't you keeping notes on some of them?"
"You went through my stuff?!" Leebin exclaimed, his expression switching to anger in an instant, "You can't do that!"
"Watch me, Flannery, Rutherford spat out Leebin's first name like it was the most derogatory insult in the world but Leebin stayed calm and didn't react.
"Flannery," Albus repeated in a whisper and chuckled near-inaudibly beneath the cloak but was silenced as Rutherford spoke again.
"This isn't a game!" Rutherford snapped and slammed Leebin against the wall, forcefully enough to make a loud thump and to make Leebin cringe in pain, "Some of these brats and staff might be hiding the very information that we need to stop the Shadows and end this freakin' war! It's like you don't even care."
"It's like you don't even care that you're supposed to be helping these children not interrogating them, Gerhard."
"Information is more important than this counselling crap, you've been told this."
"Not in those exact words," Leebin muttered and for a moment, Scorpius thought that Rutherford would actually hit him from the way he clenched his fist, "It's not counselling crap and it's hardly my fault if they don't know anything pertinent to the war, I'd tell you if someone had told me the name, location and key to destroying the Shadow Master. But they haven't."
"Why aren't you keeping notes on some of them?"
"Well I'm not going to keep notes on any of them if you're going to break into my office and read them," Leebin pointed out irritably and Rutherford shoved him harder against the wall, completely pinning him now, "Some prefer I don't keep notes on them so I respect their wishes, it's not some weird conspiracy."
"Is that so?" Rutherford growled with his face only inches from Leebin's, his hate-filled eyes reflecting in Leebin's glasses, "I'm a Legilimens, you know?"
"I'm a Libra. Oh wait, yeah, also I know Occlumency," Leebin told him cheerfully, managing to not look afraid or intimidated in the slightest while Rutherford's , he attempted to cock his head to one side, "Was that supposed to be a threat, Gerhard?"
"Just an observation. And here's another, you can't hog the people who are most likely to have information if you're not going to even try get it out of them," Rutherford said in a low tone that made every word sound threatening, "Think about this, results matter and if you failure to produce them usually means that something happens. Something bad. If they're not saying anything interesting then you need to take a more extreme approach or give the persons of interest to someone who will, or else something bad is going to happen. Think about your family, what would they think?"
"My family is pretty happy about me having a soul actually. In fact, on our wedding day, my wife - well future wife at the time - turns to me and says 'Oh Flan, do you know what I love most about you?'," Leebin recounted or possibly invented, using a high-pitched voice for his wife, "My purple eyes? 'They're green, Flan.'"
"Blue," Rutherford correctly tiredly but Leebin ignored it.
"'And no. It's how you have a soul, I think souls are super great-'"
"I get it!" Rutherford barked and shoved Leebin violently still against the wall as he stepped back, "You're weird. And you should still think about it, better to do it now than when you're living on the streets without two coins to scrape together for food to feed your dog."
On that note, Rutherford stalked off and glided by them rapidly before an irate Leebin could reply. Leebin watched him go darkly, waiting until he was out of sight before rubbing his arm where Rutherford had pushed him. He muttered something that sounded like 'asshole' as he stood there for a moment, his eyes closed tiredly. Finally, he yawned again before heading into his office.
"Okay, you're totally right about the counsellors being terrible people," Albus offered quietly as they continued on, "Although Leebin's pretty funny."
"Yeah," Scorpius murmured, not wanting to think about it for the moment, "But let's just focus on Professor Ashain right now."
"Right."
Alzay didn't find the final year particularly difficult, she didn't understand why her classmates struggled to grasp things that she found simple. She supposed she was just more intelligent or possibly more focused, she didn't think good grades would be difficult to attain, she didn't even need to study half as much as her friends to stay on top of her work. It gave her plenty of time to focus on getting her father out of Azkaban, despite her newfound confidence in her ability to manipulate the law, she'd rather get him out legally if possible. That way, he'd be able to the fullest possible life without having to be in hiding although if that wasn't possible then she'd work on just breaking him out. Although the 'legal' way didn't necessarily mean 'legal'.
To get him out legally, she'd need the Ministry to agree to it. The reformed Ministry wasn't much better than the old Ministry, they were passing laws to improve things for werewolves, house-elves and tipping the scales in favor of mudbloods. Alzay didn't really care about werewolves or house-elves but she disagreed with the laws about blood purity, was it not bad enough that wizards had to live in the shadows of the mass of muggles without making things worse? There were billions of muggles so it was natural for more mudbloods to be popping up but purebloods were a dying breed, they shouldn't be making things even harder for them. When would they stop? When those of magical blood had all been so tainted by interbreeding that there was no magic left? That actually scared Alzay, it genuinely frightened her to think of the magical world gone. The reformed Ministry would destroy the magical community that it was supposed to protect.
It was all complete garbage anyway, they weren't making things fairer for everyone. They were making things unfair on purebloods and those who wanted to adhere to traditions, it was a dishonor to their ancestors. But worst of all was still the treatment of prisoners, sure they'd gotten rid of Dementors but did they really make it more humane? Muggles treated prisoners better, when muggles were doing something better, you knew the world was screwed. Muggles were actually allowed to visit prisoners, they had chances to appeal the muggle court's decision, they could get out early with good behavior, they had things to improve their lives. It was atrocious in comparison to how they treated magical prisoners. They were thrown in cells in isolation with no chance of getting out until their sentence was up - assuming it wasn't for life - and only taken out to wash, they didn't get exercise or anything to do, they weren't allowed any visitors - barring rarely awarded death bed visits but you needed connections for that - and weren't allowed to appeal. There hadn't even been trials after the Battle of Hogwarts, those deemed not Imperised were just sent to Azkaban for life. How was that fair? Where were her father's rights? How could they claim fairness for all but forget her father?
To change these laws, she'd need to get them to vote on it first. There were two ways to do this, a long grueling climb within the Law Department to be in a position to try push for these things or gathering enough support to force them to do something about it. That was the difficult part, getting them to vote in favor was easier with the ways out there to manipulate people such as the Imperius Curse. Alzay favored gathering support, her father had lost enough years already without taking the long route, she'd like for him to get out before he went senile. To that she'd need to raise awareness for her cause, protests, and petitions, make it known that prisoners needed to be treated better. One thing she needed though was someone to take the fall, she would need to walk on the wrong side of the law to guarantee she could get her father out. As pleased as she was with getting away with her mother and stepfather's murder, it was still unsolved and having someone to take the fall would've tied it up nicely. She needed someone to be able to take the fall for her in the future, should anything go wrong then she'd need to stay out of Azkaban herself or she'd never save her father.
There was three ways to control people, the Imperius Curse, Legilimancy and Love Potion as well as just basic non-magical manipulation. The middle two required practice, she didn't want to risk using an Unforgivable Curse within Hogwarts as a good number of the teachers had fought in the war and Legilimancy was really something you needed to be taught as you'd need someone to practice with at least. She'd have to wait on that but she was curious how far someone under the effects of Love Potion would obey, especially since it was already quite easy to manipulate people you were dating. She decided to test it out over the Christmas break, Roman Rivers became the obvious target, and it would serve him right for insulting her father at the start of the year. It was incredibly amusing to see him completely turned around, he also did anything she suggest and threw his own stiff beliefs about Death Eaters out the window. She thought it could come in useful, she could definitely work with that although daily dosages weren't the most practical. She didn't give a second's thought and started researching ways to learn Legilimancy as well as continued work on her NEWTs.
Until she suddenly found herself infatuated with Roman for a weekend, she was livid at him for using Love Potion back at her. How dare he, did he not realize she actually was a murderer? Was he really that sad and pathetic that he needed that to talk to someone? Why her when she'd brought him to tears just a few months ago? His answer of revenge shocked her, she'd genuinely thought he was too weak to do something like that. She let him go with that although as she walked away, she realized that he'd make a good scapegoat. He was generally a weak person that would be easy enough to manipulate but could do something drastic if pushed enough, he was such a weirdo that it shouldn't be surprising if he lost his mind and did something illegal. She liked a challenge.
"Why didn't you notice them anyway?" Michael wondered in a whisper as they continued down the final few floors, "Aren't you looking at the map?"
"I was looking at Ashain's dot to make sure he was still in the bathroom, I didn't think to make sure the coast was clear for us," Albus protested, "I mean it's the middle of the night, who would be up? Except for us. And Latimer in the prefect's bathroom, did you know his first name is Tobias not Latimer? I didn't. Oh and that Hufflepuff in the kitchens, probably stealing food. And the ghosts floating about, don't they sleep? And Calderon doesn't show up so I guess he could be out... Sorry, I'll pay more attention now.
"Doesn't matter, we're basically here."
"Moaning Myrtle's in the bathroom with Ashain, have you tried asking her what he does? She might know. I mean, it is her bathroom."
"We're actually here, now shush," Scorpius whispered as they reached the right door.
Albus handed the map back to him, Scorpius glanced at it and saw that thankfully, Professor Ashain was standing nowhere near the door and Moaning Myrtle was in a cubicle. Ever so gently, Albus pushed it open enough for the three of them to see the professor standing over the closed entrance with his back to them. Taking it as a good sign, they crept into the room without opening the door any more than necessary to fit the trio in and closed it with silent care.
Professor Ashain still didn't seem to notice as they inched ever closer, his eyes were closed. There was an awkward, still few minutes with nothing happening before the professor straightened up and his eyes snapped open. His eyes were hard and his expression, stoic as he turned around but he didn't seem to see them as he just faced opposite the entrance while they stood off to his right. He walked forward a few steps before pausing, abruptly the arm on their side snaked out and a jet of white light blazed out. They didn't have time to react and it struck Scorpius in the center of his chest, he was launched violently backwards to collide painfully with the wall while the cloak was torn off all three of them.
"I see you have returned again, Malfoy," Not-Ashain commented in the same different tone and accent to his professor. He turned to them and eyes that didn't belong to the possessor darted casually between Albus and Michael, both of whom had drawn their wands, "And I see you brought friends."
"Yes," Albus announced bravely but unsteadily, his wand remained trained on the professor however, "And you... you better let our professor go before we hurt you."
"Pros Theon'," Not-Ashain sneered before jerking his arm and a jet of light shot towards Michael this time, Scorpius tried to move but his limps weren't listening to him. Nor was his mouth. His heart wasn't even capable of beating fearfully.
"Protego!" Michael cried, his shield formed in time but the magic cut through it like butter and threw Michael back to land beside him.
"You dishonor your ancestor by siding with someone of his bloodline," Not-Ashain commented darkly to Michael before glancing at Albus dully, "Hmm. I do not know who you are, your bloodline must be insignificant."
"Insignificant?! I'm Harry Potter's son, the Harry Potter," Albus protested defensively but Not-Ashain just blinked blankly.
"I am unaware of this man."
"He-He defeated Voldemort."
"I am unaware of this person also."
"Do you live under a freakin' rock?! Voldemort was the most evil wizard ever and my Dad defeated him, twice and the second time permanently. He only saved the world, pretty much, the actual world. My Dad's the greatest," Albus demanded, seeming to forget he was speaking to some powerful... entity in order to defend his father, "You really haven't heard of either of them?!"
"I really haven't," Not-Ashain admitted and closed his eyes, the expression on his face suddenly flashed to one of agony before shifting back to the stoic expression as his eyes opened, "Now I do, however."
"Just like that?"
"Atticus has memories of both Harry Potter and Voldemort, now I know what he knows of them. An impressive feat by your father's hands but his bloodline is still insignificant, Voldemort however..." Not-Ashain trailed off as his eyes glinted darkly, Albus threw an uncertain look back to them in askance of what to do but Scorpius still couldn't move and he guessed Michael couldn't either, "Your blood is important now though, Albus Severus Potter, we shall meet again when I have need for that blood."
"I-Wh-Well, you're a creepy weirdo," Albus managed as he swallowed, "Now get out of Ashain before I unleash some Potter power."
"You're not your father. You lack his skill, his talents, his power. You have nothing but his blood and I have nothing to fear from you, pais."
"Yeah well, what-what is your blood? Evil Herpo-Parselmouth-ness?" Albus accused angrily.
It was the wrong thing to say, Not-Ashain's eyes blazed with rage and his hand lashed out. Albus wasn't as fast as Michael, his shield didn't even get to form before his body was hurtled back more forcefully then Scorpius and Michael. Albus crashed into the wall high above and fell to the ground like a broken rag doll tossed on its side, Albus' nose was drizzling blood and his leg looked at the wrong angle.
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO HIM!?" Not-Ashain screamed and swiped his hand at them again, there was another flash of white and everything went black.
Part 3: In Plain Sight
Roman tried to put the entire Alzay thing out of his mind and focus on his NEWTs, he stayed over Easter despite Audrey's pleas that he be there for Molly's first birthday to focus on this. Alzay didn't stay this time, thankfully. He was painfully lonely and anxious, he craved conversations that had more than his own voice speaking. He was so desperate that after Easter, he wrestled with his crushing anxiety to make attempts to make friends. Not Slytherins obviously because they were evil but he tried talking to several different people from the other three houses, his attempts ended either in being laughed at, told to go away, being walked away from, having a panic attack or fleeing after getting too tongue-tied to even understand himself. Roman didn't blame them for not wanting to be friends with them, he wouldn't want to be friends with himself if he was them. He was completely worthless. No wonder Luna didn't love him.
It was with unhappiness that he slipped into May, despite the happy news that Angelina had her baby - a girl this time, Roxanne - and that Ginny had done a Fleur, already being pregnant with her second child despite the first still being young. With May also came the crushing pressure of the final Quidditch match and NEWTs being so close, despite his desperate attempts not to, Roman was stressed again. Sleep became more and more elusive until he couldn't find it at all, pain returned as the tension was tearing his head apart, if he dared eat then he'd lose it in the tide of nausea and chest pain joined the rest as his heart beat so hard that it physically hurt him. His focus was shot, he couldn't handle it and he frequently burst into tears, had panic attacks and screamed at any professor who attempted to try calm him. How could he not? He'd failed all his OWLs - Audrey had told him so - which meant he was more likely to fail his NEWTs, his NEWTs were the only grades he'd have worth a damn. He was sure he'd gotten the worst OWL scores in the history of the tests, Aubrey and Audrey had gotten all Os but no, he'd failed miserably and he would again.
It wasn't just like last time, it was worse than last time. Roman broke down completely, he couldn't function and had to be taken to St Mungo's because the strain was causing havoc on his heart as well. He didn't see how this helped his heart, not being able to study made him feel worse about his NEWTs and he missed his final Quidditch match from his hospitalization too which was upsetting. Roman couldn't remember much of the week he spent in St Mungo's though, it was hard to sift through the haze of heavy-duty potions but what he did remember was awful, Audrey yelling at him that he was a failure and a disgrace to his parents, Percy mocking him for his struggle, Aubrey dressed in golden robes and explaining that he left because Roman wasn't worth the time, he even saw his parents murder play out in the hospital. He was told he had been suffering hallucinations from not sleeping so he wasn't sure what even had been real or not. Seeing baby Molly did cheer him up somewhat, she was desperately trying to walk now but she still had Magnus' eyes, he hoped she'd never feel anxious about exams. Audrey and Percy both encouraged him to relax more before hugging him goodbye, the Healer advised he talk to friends or family about his worries to keep them bearable. That wasn't happening, Audrey had betrayed him and he still refused to write back. He was too embarrassed to admit he had no friends.
He returned to Hogwarts on an even more extensive regime of potions, he also had to visit the Hospital Wing every few days to check up that he was alright and frequently was forced to put up with professors faking concern over his health. Roman supposed it could be worse, he was no longer getting headaches, chest pain - or even his heartbeat speeding up - and could sleep again, he also had a special meal plan to ensure he was eating right and could focus on studying. He still worried but it was more in a detached way, mostly he felt crushing depression and shame for being the only person in Hogwarts - or the world - to struggle like he did. He didn't think he'd ever hated himself more. He liked to cuddle Smokey and cry at night, wondering how disappointed his parents would be if they were alive.
The strangest thing happened though, one day in the Library when the one and only Alzay came to sit with him. She wasn't being her usual cruel, psychotic self but kind, offering help and encouragement with his studying out of sympathy. Roman knew he should be thinking that it was some evil master plan from an evil person but evil or not, she was actually intelligent and her help was worthwhile. He was too defeated, broken and exhausted to turn away kind words and help, even from someone he hated. Or thought he hated. Was it possible that she wasn't really that bad? He was a Slytherin and not evil, maybe Alzay was the same. Although she had given him Love Potion before, she wasn't this time, she couldn't because the frequent Hospital Wing checkups would've picked it up. He regretted giving her Love Potion and making her do stupid things, she was so nice to him and always listened, it was nice finally having someone to talk to. He even worked up the courage to apologize to her, she brushed it off. She apologized in turn and they went back to their work.
"Why?" Roman asked after a minute after thinking about it, she glanced back to him and met his eyes.
"Why?" Alzay wondered.
"Why did you give me Love Potion that first time?" Roman repeated and she studied for a minute as if she couldn't think what to say.
"Why do you think?"
"I-I don't know..." Roman trailed off, unwilling to say revenge in that moment as it occurred to him that he feared losing the closest thing he'd had to a friend. Especially in the stress of exams, he felt as if he was in the eye of his anxiety storm and it threatened to be torn apart at any moment. He didn't want to offend her by accusing her of holding a grudge over one muttered comment about her father.
"The same reason people usually use Love Potions," Alzay admitted and brushed her hair back over her ear.
Roman became acutely aware of how close they actually where to each other, their faces were so close that he almost see himself drowning in the oceans of her eyes. Was she actually saying that she liked him? That she thought he was somehow attractive? He felt his heart start to beat an oddly different tune, and it had nothing to do with exam anxiety. She was actually pretty... pretty herself. Nothing on Luna though... But so what? Luna didn't love him, Luna was getting married, Luna didn't care about him. Alzay was there now and actually interested, he'd have to let Luna go at some point, he should at least try.
Thoughtlessly, his lips crossed the small distance between them and captured hers. Feeling suddenly horrific embarrassed - should he have asked first?! - he went to pull away but Alzay wrapped her arms around him, her hand gripping the back of his head to kiss her harder. His worries melted out of his mind as lips melded into hers except this time, he was completely willing.
Scorpius came too slowly, finding himself lying comfortably in his bed in his dormitory. He groaned and sat up, shimmering sunlight was streaming through the windows and he got the feeling that Reuben and Angelo's beds had been empty for a while. Albus and Michael were there though and also seemed to be coming to, the cloak was neatly folded on the end of Michael's bed with the map resting on top.
"Did anyone else have the same weird dream that we confronted possessed-Ashain and he attacked us with white light and now my leg hurts?" Albus asked in a yawn.
"It wasn't a dream, that's what he does," Scorpius pointed out irritably, annoyed at their utter failure while Michael glanced at the map.
"I am so glad that we're not dead. Did anyone else think we were going to be dead? Is anyone else glad we're not dead?"
"He's not there now," Michael offered as he looked back up, "Looks like we missed breakfast too from the lack of people in the Great Hall."
"Seriously, is anyone else's leg hurting?" Albus wondered as he tried to stand, he cringed in pain and sat immediately back down, breathing heavily and rubbing the leg that had looked broken after being thrown against the wall, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, Merlin's ass crack, that hurts!"
"Let me see."
"Knock yourself out," Albus muttered and rolled up his injured leg, it didn't actually look hurt except for a faint tinge of purple as if from an almost healed bruise. Michael muttered a spell that Scorpius didn't recognize, running his wand up Albus' leg with a faint blue light that he was sure he'd seen Marigold or other healers use.
"Your leg was broken from that fall last night," Michael told him after a minute, "It's healed now."
"If it's healed then why does it hurt?"
"Because they didn't heal it very well, they healed the bone but not the internal damage to the liga-"
"I get it," Albus interrupted, "No need to gross me out. So what should I do?"
"Well we should get you to Marigold or maybe..." Michael trailed off and muttered another spell, a flash of gold accompanied this and Albus jolted for a minute but the tinge faded away, "Does that feel better?"
"Yes, actually, how do you know these things?"
"Those healing books you people give me, Marigold also talks to me about at the full moon to pass time sometimes."
"Marigold," Albus chuckled to which Michael rolled his eyes, "Hey, is Leebin's first name really Flannery? Flannery."
"Honestly, sometimes I think that Cassia is more mature than you are."
"Well Ashain's got weird kids," Albus shrugged before looking worried as he scratched his head, "So... now what?"
"We go fill in the others," Scorpius told them.
Alzay was feeling increasingly confident as the year went on, she was on top of her NEWTs and returned to her apartment over Easter to work on planning her campaign to free her father. She also visited the Ministry to look for potential opening entry level positions for when she graduated, she wanted - and needed financially - a part-time job to give her easy access to the Ministry and its employees, it could potentially be useful. Something in the Law Department may be good or the Census Department to get a grasp on numbers in the wizarding population, as well as blood statuses, wealth, those who would be more eager for her cause. She returned to Hogwarts happy in the knowledge that she had plans.
And the next step was manipulating Roman, if he was going to be a potential scapegoat then she needed to be close to him in some capacity. Either a friend or a girlfriend would do or she could risk trying the Imperius Curse, her dilemma was halted however by Roman's mental breakdown. He was taken to St Mungo's and she had no chance, if he ever came back then his falling apart would make it even more believable if he went nuts and did something crazy because... Well, clearly he had issues if he was that broken up over some simple tests. He returned after a week or so though and after some observation, she made her move. He wasn't entirely trusting at first but she was smart and he seemed to believe he needed the help, he didn't seem to think nine pass grades in OWLs were good. She also got the impression that he was just that desperate to not be alone, even more so when he started opening up to her. She played the kind, concerned citizen and sneered at his pathetic life behind his back, it was so easy to manipulate the lonely loser.
She got a bit rattled when he eventually asked her why she'd used Love Potion on him, unsure what to say but he seemed to buy her reason and the kiss sealed the deal. Roman was an idiot. Their sort-of-dating relationship carried on for the last few weeks of the school year, Alzay was dutiful on listening to his stupid swell of anxiety for NEWTs and consoling him that he could succeed because Roman had an unhealthy amount of self-doubt. Alzay thought the exams were actually pretty easy, time would tell though as they'd have to wait for the results to come through. Roman continued to worry about them though instead of being relieved that it was over like everyone else, his obsessive concern was rather tedious. He also seemed to withdraw from her the last few days of Hogwarts, which was worrying because she still needed him close to her if he was going to be her scapegoat. There wasn't much more she could do though.
She thought going back across the lake was a great way to leave the castle, she'd crossed the water for the first time as a dainty little girl and returned a strong grown witch. And a killer. She wondered what her father had thought when he sat where she sat, had he thought he was good too? And what had he thought at the last battle there? She missed him still. But she wouldn't for long, not when she got him out of Azkaban. One way or another. She would save her father, no matter what. She sat with Roman on the train back for the first time ever, he was especially quiet and she was too as she contemplated what her father would think of her. Would he be proud of how she turned out now that she had graduated Hogwarts? She hated how she could actually relate to Roman missing his parents - although she refused to miss her mother, Adelaide didn't deserve it - but she couldn't help it. Despite barely speaking, they did spend the journey cuddled together with their fingers intertwined. She gave him her address to stay in touch before heading out while he was stuck waiting for family.
The next few weeks were both productive and frustrating, Alzay could continue with her planning and research but couldn't attempt to find a job because the Ministry wanted to wait for NEWT results and it made her want to wait for them too. She didn't hear from Roman either, this should bother her more but she hadn't need of a scapegoat that second and she was enjoying the break from him. She was very pleased when she finally did get her NEWT results back though, she'd taken seven subjects and got Os in all seven subjects. She hoped her father would be proud of her for that, all Os for both OWLs and NEWTs was an achievement to be proud of. It was just too bad she had no one in her life to share her success with, no one she actually cared about anyway. It was the day after that that she heard a knock on her door late, just when she was going to bed because she was falling asleep rereading the Ministry's by-laws. She expected it to be some insignificant wrong address but was immensely surprised when she saw Roman was standing there in the lashing rain with a bag slung over his shoulder and his blasted cat in his arms.
"Hi Roman," was all Alzay could manage in her surprise.
"Can... Can I stay with you for a bit? I don't... I don't have anywhere else to go," Roman said uncertainly, looking and sounding upset. Alzay repressed a smile as she stepped aside to let him in, locking the door behind him.
"I can't believe you three went to confront Ashain alone," Molly complained when they were done filling her, Latimer, Abby, Vern, Orous and Maurice in at the Room That Doesn't Exist, "You could've been hurt, or killed! And you missed Quidditch practice this morning."
"He wouldn't kill them," Maurice assured her as if it was obvious, "The fact he laid low after Scorpius told on him to Longbottom, implies that he doesn't want to draw suspicions to himself and get caught. Killing three students would definitely draw unwanted attention, especially after one of them accused him of being possessed and hanging out in the very same place that the bodies were found. It would be foolish to kill them and two of them are high-risk anyway, the Malfoys are wealthy enough to cause trouble and Albus is the son of the Head Auror, as well as one of the most famous wizards of our time, he wouldn't just do nothing if his youngest son was murdered."
"You know, Maurice, I don't know whether to be impressed or disturbed about how well you methodically think out the good and bad about your friends' death," Albus commented and Maurice leaned back with his expression staying stoically neutral.
"You're not my friend, you tricked me so your brother could beat me up," Maurice pointed out darkly and Albus looked incredulous that the deaf boy was still holding it against him but Maurice continued before he could protest, "And it's always wise to think from the viewpoint of your enemies, understanding their motives is the best way to predict their actions. Also, I now think that your Horcrux theory is more likely. That phrase he said 'Pros Theon' is Ancient Greek for 'by the Gods', you tend to curse or exclaim like that in your own language even if you speak more than one. So the possessor is probably a native of Ancient Greek because it's not the same as present day Greek, thus it's more likely to be a Horcrux of someone from that time."
"I was actually going to say that your theory about Legilimancy makes more sense, if he was Herpo then he wouldn't have freaked out when I called him that."
"Why don't we just ask him who he - or she or they or it - is and what he wants?" Orous wondered.
"We already know what he wants, the Scepter," Abby offered, "Plus, he's hardly going to just talk, he's evil."
"For an evil guy, he was weirdly offended when you accused him of being evil," Molly said thoughtfully as she ran a hand through her hair.
"If he wasn't evil then he wouldn't be possessing Professor Ashain," Scorpius protested, "Even if he isn't taking a toll on the professor's health."
"Yes he is," Maurice complained, "He looked through Ashain's memories to find out about Potter and Voldemort, it's painful and intrusive having your memories forcibly looked through against your will. That's why his flashed and pain and why he seems to have a headache today."
"He might be evil and just not think he's evil," Vern pointed out as he sat up, Scorpius noticed he was sporting a black eye for some reason, "I mean, like James is a bully but he doesn't see himself as bad. Maybe the possessor doesn't see themselves as being bad so they get offended at being called that."
"Did James give you that black eye?" Albus asked, also apparently noticed and Vern blushed.
"Y-Yeah. I told him that he should erm... leave my girlfriend alone and not punch her in the face. He erm... laughed and hit me."
"Does Dad know?"
"Do you want me to hea-"
"Can I see the map?" Latimer asked randomly before Michael could complete his sentence, Michael looked bemused but shrugged and handed it over to Latimer. Latimer started studying the map, Michael's eyes flicked to a random empty space as if he was listening to someone else speaking before glancing back to them.
"The Horcrux doesn't have to be Herpo, someone else could've just used the Scepter for the same thing," Michael offered, "That would explain why he hasn't used Parseltongue to open the entrance yet."
"It could be Herpo, remember what he said to Albus about blood?" Maurice spoke up again, "It's entirely plausible that Potter could've put in other defenses and Herpo knows that he simply can't get past them which is why he hasn't bothered entering the chamber."
"You got all that from blood?" Abby wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"There's an enchantment that makes it so that blood is required to cross through the barrier, you can go one step further and make it so that only your blood specifically can get through. Tricky but effective. However, the catch is that any children you produce have the same blood as you so their blood too would allow entry. It's entirely possible that Potter would do something like that, maybe Ashain threw his blood into the ring too and maybe that's why they need to possess him to get his blood as well."
"I think the answer may be right in front of us," Latimer told them as he stood abruptly to put the map on the table in-between all of them, withdrawing his wand as he did so.
"What do you mean?"
"The map," Latimer said and jerked his head at the piece of parchment, it was currently folded specifically to show the blurring dot of Professor Ashain alone in his office, "The blurring dot. Why is it doing that?"
"It's detecting that something's possessing Professor Ashain," Scorpius gave what he - and the others - had come to unanimously assume was the reason, "It knows that he's not completely himself anymore."
"Exactly. What if it's not just detecting that someone is possessing him but who is possessing him? What if the name is actually changing to the name of the person possessing him and just changing back too quickly for us to read it? I mean, look at it. We only know that its Ashain now because we know the blurring dot is his, the name isn't recognizable as his own anymore. It was before, I think it's because the possessor is getting stronger so it's becoming less Ashain and more the possessor."
"Could work," Maurice nodded.
"But we still can't make out the second name," Vern pointed out truthfully, it was still just blurring.
"True," Latimer admitted and inclined his head to concede the point but it didn't take the edge of excitement out of his voice, "But there's this spell used in creating magical artwork, after animating it you can use this spell if you want to make a slight alteration without having to undo and redo the spell. It slows it down to nearly nothing, I can do it and I think it'll work to slow the name."
"Do it."
Scorpius wasn't sure who spoke, it might've been himself or someone else but Latimer obeyed. He flicked his wand once at the parchment, doing something that caused the professor's blurring name to magnify and hover over the map. Scorpius thought this was just to make it easier to see and not part of the spell. Latimer swallowed nervously before making a spiraling motion with his wand that Scorpius hadn't seen used before, he aimed it at the map and there was an odd look of distortion shot from his wand. The effect was instantaneous and visible on the name over the map that indicated it was working, the blurring slowed down. Scorpius was reminded of one of those muggle clocks with the numbers rolling back. 'Atticus Ashain' became visible clearly and Scorpius didn't think anyone was breathing as it rolled over, sending ice running through Scorpius as it revealed: 'Ashylos'.
Part 4: Secrets
"Ashylos?" Michael repeated in shock after a few minutes of silence for the news to sink in, "As in one of the people to stop Herpo and destroy the Horcrux in the Scepter, he is the one possessing Ashain?!"
"With a Horcrux," Maurice added, looking very interested, "Either Ashylos and Pancratius weren't the heroes history tells them to be or someone took a fall from grace."
"I guess it's a good thing that no one pays attention in History of Magic since its wrong anyway," Albus tried to joke but his smile and words faltered, "How are we supposed to save Ashain if he's possessed by someone powerful enough to defeat a Dark Wizard?"
"You weren't worried when you thought that it was a Dark Wizard? Saving Ashain doesn't involve confronting Ashylos anyway. The only way to save Ashain is to destroy the thing Ashylos is bound to, presumably the Scepter, since he doesn't seem to have a physical body although I'm still confused by Ashain's good health. We still just need to destroy the Scepter."
"You mean the one hidden in the Chamber of Secrets that none of us could open for not being Parselmouths even with Albus' blood?" Molly wondered.
"I think we should talk to him first," Orous offered defensively, "He helped destroy Herpo the Foul, the Dark Wizard. Maybe there's a reason he did something as horrible as splitting his soul."
"It's not that difficult to create a Horcrux really," Maurice pointed out, "You just need to-"
"We neither need nor want to know!" Albus interrupted and Maurice looked confused, "Its majorly Dark, evil magic. You shouldn't even know that. No one should, there's a reason they took the books out of the Library. Horcruxes are bad news."
"I was just saying."
"So what do we do now?" Vern asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.
"I don't know," Scorpius admitted as he scratched his head, "We just need to figure out a way to get into the Chamber of Secrets, steal the Scepter and destroy it. It saves Professor Ashain and makes sure the Soul Eaters can't use it."
"I meant more specifically."
"It's not that difficult," Maurice offered and started counting his fingers up with each thing as he continued, "Task one: entering the Chamber of Secrets. We know where it is, how to open it and Scorpius is friends with Calderon the Parselmouth, he can tell us something in Parseltongue to open it. Task two: stealing the Scepter. We have Albus for his blood, we can grab one of Ashain's kids if we do need their blood too because they'd want to help save their father and then we just retrieve the Scepter, dealing with any other protective enchantments if and when we come to them. Task three: destroying the Scepter. There are several things that destroy Horcruxes, Fiendfyre is one of them and I know how to conjure it. Simple."
"You don't think Calderon's going to find it the least bit suspicious that Scorpius suddenly wants to know Parseltongue?" Latimer wondered, "Calderon has to have helped hide the damn thing in the first place for it to be in the Chamber."
"It's called being strategic, or there's other ways to get information out of someone. Interrogation, trickery, torture-"
"We're not torturing Calderon!" Scorpius protested fiercely and Maurice looked taken aback.
"I wasn't suggesting we do, I was just saying that there's other ways to get information and giving examples. I didn't mean we should use them on him."
"Well... good."
"You could try just remembering what Parseltongue sounds like to open it too, are specific sounds really that difficult to replicate if you can hear them to begin with?"
"Sometimes I forget that you're deaf," Abby admitted with a somewhat worried glance in his direction, "And you know, my Dad has the sword of Gryffindor hanging in his office. That's imbued with Basilisk venom and can destroy Horcruxes, safer than Fiendfyre."
"Aren't we forgetting about Ashylos?" Albus pointed out, "What if he tries to stop us? Maybe he won't kill us but he just waves his hand to flash some light and we're back in bed, we can't get to the Scepter if he's in the way."
"We have the map, we just make sure he's not there if and when we go after the Scepter," Latimer stated as if it was obvious, "For all we know this could scare him back into not doing anything again for a while."
Roman found he had extremely conflicting emotions about his relationship with Alzay, he wasn't sure whether they were dating or not because he didn't know a lot about the concept he didn't approve of. On one hand, dating was improper but he'd already had his first kiss under the effects of the Love Potion so did it matter? It was nice to feel wanted, to have someone to talk to and kissing - he did refuse to go further than that - willingly wasn't exactly a negative experience but Alzay was still the child of a Death Eater and a Slytherin, he wasn't sure whether he should really trust her. Luna also frequently came to mind, he felt almost like he was betraying her but they had never been in a relationship and Luna had made it painfully clear that she had no interest in him. Mostly though, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. He just didn't want to go back to being all alone, he was so tired of always being alone and anxious, he just physically did not want to go back to that.
Alzay did help him take off his mind of his NEWTs as well as his potion regime, he had something almost resembling calm as he took the NEWT exams. 'Nastily Exhausting' was a good name for them despite everything he was on to prevent that, he still felt mentally drained after, he couldn't imagine how tough it must've been for Alzay to take seven. Alzay seemed okay with them though, everyone in the world was okay with them except Roman. He was even more concerned after them though, knowing that it was too late to do anything to alter the grades was worrying. He couldn't hope for the best, he could only worry for the worst although his potions did take the kick away thankfully. Some of the pressure was lifted though and replaced by the negative sides to his relationship with Alzay intruding on his thoughts, was he really so desperate to not be alone that he'd date the daughter of a Death Eater? The unfortunate answer was still yes. Soon enough the year was up though, the time apart from Alzay would hopefully make it easier to think through his options.
Roman wished he could feel proud to have survived all seven hellish years of Hogwarts but he was too tired, it had done nothing but take from him. Brewing up anxiety and battering down his confidence, giving him the joy of Quidditch just to destroy his dream and putting him in hospital from pressure. An awful, awful place and he was so glad to never be returning. No amount of potions could make the boat journey back anything short of torturous, he hated the sensation of being in a boat bobbing across water and potions couldn't stop that. He was happy to finally be back on the train with Smokey and Alzay, he didn't look back. It was a quiet journey of reflection on the way back before he bade goodbye to Alzay and waited for his late sister, his last ever return to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and they were late. And they blamed it on little Molly, for shame.
And so began the uncomfortable months of waiting for NEWT results and being weaned back off of his potion regime. He couldn't get a job if he tried until the results came back, Audrey and Percy were relentless in their talk of Ministry Departments and career options. Apparently, with the Weasley family collective influence - Audrey, Percy, Hermione, Ron, Mr Weasley and Harry Potter all worked at the Ministry now - and from having made a good impression on those people Percy had introduced him too at one of the weddings, he would be able to get a job in any department he wanted. As long as his NEWTs were passable then he would even be able to get a position above what a normal Hogwarts graduate would get. Roman was oddly against this though, yes it would be good money and a potential career but... Roman didn't want it, not like that. He didn't want to do well just because his sister had betrayed him to the evil Weasleys - it was clearly another attempt to lord over him as well - and wanted to do well because of his own merits. He didn't even really want a career in the Ministry, the Ministry was a big place with lots of people and he wasn't sure his heart could cope with that. He wanted a career that wouldn't leave him shattered and terrified every day.
He started looking around in his own time and thinking about what he really wanted since he wasn't good enough to be a professional Quidditch player. The thing that came back to mind oddly was his love for the past, the stories he'd adored from his childhood and the fact history had been his favorite subject until Binns had ruined it. There was a man in Diagon Alley who specialized in dealing with Ancient Magical Artifacts, identifying, studying, finding, appraising the price of, researching and Roman thought was interesting. The man was looking for an apprentice and warned of long hours alone, Roman was more than happy with this and intended to apply when his NEWTs came back. The faster he got a job, the faster he could make money and leave. He had all but the things he needed daily packed up with an undetectable extension charm to leave anyway, he'd rather wait until he had slightly more stability though as he'd be completely screwed if his NEWTs were terrible. Then he'd never be able to get a job, never leave, he'd die insane and broken while the Weasleys laughed at his pain. He found himself missing Alzay but still struggling with it still, she still loved her evil father after all.
His eighteenth birthday was the same week of Luna's wedding but before it, there was a small party at the Burrow to celebrate where Roman managed to not have a panic attack. It was nice to actually be treated like an adult finally considering the Weasley grandchildren were all toddlers, babies or small children, far too young for him to relate to. Hermione also informed them of her pregnancy - causing Ron to choke on his piece of cake in surprise - which meant every married Weasley member would have children soon enough now, that'd make nine of them in total when the baby and Ginny's second child were born, there'd been none when Roman first met the family. Well there was Teddy but he wasn't a Weasley, Roman had no qualms with the poor orphan. A few days after, his NEWT results arrived and he tore them open while he was still on his potion regime.
NASTILY EXHAUSTING WIZARDING TEST RESULTS
Pass Grades
Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades
Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)
Roman Magnus Rivers has achieved:
Charms: O
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
History of Magic: O
Study of Ancient Runes: O
Transfiguration: O
Roman knew he should be proud but he couldn't help but feel they were inadequate for some reason, maybe it was just because he felt like he was inadequate for some reason. At least he could apply for that position and wave his sister's concerns away that he was still thinking about his career, they were less nagging with the wedding to worry about. Roman asked not to go but Audrey told him it would be rude not to since Luna had planned it for the summer specifically so he could be there and not be stuck in Hogwarts. Roman got a reply back the day of the wedding that he'd been accepted as the man's apprentice, he officially had a job to start and the basis for a career. He would've felt glad if he wasn't going to Luna's wedding, it was held in Luna's father's garden as a change of pace. The decoration was more creative and bizarre, the scope of people different but despite the fresh, interesting change of pace, Roman thought it was tied with Audrey's for the worst wedding he'd ever been to. It had nothing to do with the people this time, he was too upset to even care about them. It had everything to do with Luna.
They couldn't really get any further, there was nothing more to say and only things to do. Scorpius knew they were right, finding the Scepter and destroying it would be the only way to save Professor Ashain. Calderon was the only Parselmouth he knew but he still didn't rush to his cousin's side immediately, he remembered how ill Calderon had been last year from being poisoned and he didn't want to do anything to impede Calderon's health. He actually thought that he'd rather just be honest with him than tricking him into giving away any Parseltongue, in fact Calderon might even be able to do something for Professor Ashain with his unusual, impressive magic or at least help them through the enchantments to destroy the Scepter. However, he still didn't want to say anything until he knew Calderon was okay so he refrained from mentioning it. He wanted to try asking Varanian's opinion too, he'd sent the letter with most of the information so ringing him advice should be easier without a mass of things to share. Calderon wasn't in his room when he tried to visit him anyway.
He was also oddly disturbed by the fact that it had been Ashylos possessing Professor Ashain all along. He hadn't given much thought to the long dead Greek but oddly it bothered him now, Ashylos had faced off against the Dark Wizard terrorizing the world. He and Pancratius had killed Herpo, faced off against his army and Basilisk, saved who knew how many lives in the process and restored peace. But now, Ashylos had created a Horcrux and was possessing - and probably slowly killing despite the weird positive health effects - Professor Ashain, a good, innocent person. Somewhere down the line, Ashylos had to have gone from a brave and heroic person to becoming the very thing he'd fought against. He didn't know enough about how or why or even Ashylos himself to know details but it bothered him.
If it could happen to Ashylos then what was to stop other good people from falling into the corruption of Dark Magic? The Ministry was clearly slipping back into its old ways and Harry Potter still was after the innocent Varanian and Roman, was it the start of a fall from grace? What about Maurice? He had actually used Unforgivable Curses before, so had Professors Ashain and Longbottom for that matter. What about Varanian, he had no qualms about stealing, spying and had tortured Linden when they were looking for the Scamander twins, would he fall too? And what about Scorpius himself, he agreed with Varanian's actions and justification and supported him fully, was it possible that he'd fall too? In his First Year, he'd felt bad for borrowing that Blood Rune book without saying but last year he'd had no problem slipping potions to teachers. And well... he was a Malfoy. Malfoys weren't exactly known for their good deeds. It was a terrifying thought, that you could become the very thing you fought so hard against. How did it happen? Why? It bothered him so much that he had to use Leebin's technique to get it out of his mind to stop worrying about it.
"Are you there?" Scorpius asked when he was finally alone, having gone to his dormitory earlier than the others for bed so he could speak with Varanian. He had the tip of his wand on the golden band to send it, thankfully he felt the heat just a second later and read the words of reply.
Yes. We should talk
"That's why I'm doing this," Scorpius pointed out, waiting a second for the message to cross over before continuing, "I figured out the possession."
I mean talk in person
"Three weeks is too long."
I can meet you in Hogsmeade, Varanian replied and Scorpius scowled, that was next week but he was still supposed to meet his parents and get his Christmas shopping done. It was important though, if Varanian could get away with being there. Scorpius still wished it was sooner though, Is that okay.
"Okay," Scorpius agreed, "How?"
I'll find you there
"My Father will be there," Scorpius pointed out, recalling how Varanian had gotten his attention last time by disguising himself as the older Malfoy. It would backfire badly if he turned up with real Draco Malfoy, "Just a heads up."
Okay, Varanian's words appeared in understanding, melding back from sight to be replaced by something more chilling, And don't trust Marius.
"Why?" Scorpius protested in confusion, Calderon was one of the few people he did trust and Varanian had seemed to as well.
Tell you in Hogsmeade, Varanian replied unhelpfully, leaving Scorpius even more confused and concerned.
"I th-Hey Scorpius," Michael said as he entered, sounding oddly nervous for a minute before he put on a smile but it didn't go unnoticed by Scorpius that he'd almost been seeming to say something else, "What's up?"
"Varanian wants to meet me in Hogsmeade and for me to not trust Calderon," Scorpius explained, "What's up with you?"
"Nothing," Michael shrugged it off and started to move to his bed but Scorpius jumped up to block him.
"Are you talking to yourself again?"
"No."
"Then why were you going to say something else when you came in?"
"Because I was going to say something to you but then I saw you looked anxious so I changed my sentence."
"No, you changed your sentence to 'Hey Scorpius' not 'what's wrong,' you're lying," Scorpius snapped much harsher than he'd intended.
"So what if I was talking to myself? I can be insane if I want to," Michael protested and went to run a hand through his hair, the bandage impeded his movement though and he dropped the odd good luck charm that Mirra had gotten him. He went to grab it immediately but Scorpius' Seeker reflexes came in handy and he caught it in midair, Michael's mismatched eyes bulged with fear as he held out his hand, "Thanks, give it back now."
"Not until you start being honest with me."
"Fine, I was talking to myself. Give it back," Michael told him and held out his hand again, his eyes darting desperately and Scorpius glanced down at his hand holding. He scowled as it dawned on him that Michael often had his hand like that most of the current school year, presumably from holding it as well. But he'd been like that since before he started dating Mirra, who supposedly gave it to him.
"This was a gift from your girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you have it from before then?"
"It was a gift when we were still friends," Michael lied clearly and believably.
"If I asked Mirra, would she tell me that?" Scorpius asked quietly and watched as it threw Michael off his game, he felt both a jab of hurt and anger at being lied to.
"Okay, it's not from Mirra. It was from someone else," Michael admitted and seemed to be struggling to think of an answer.
"Did it? Did it really?" Scorpius demanded darkly and looked at the thing for the first time, a small stone with some scratches and a crack on it? That was what Michael was lying about?
"No," Michael sighed and held out his hand again, "Please just give it back to me."
"Where did it come from then?!" Scorpius snapped, just wanting a straight answer and Michael's eyes only glinted with anger at the tone.
"It's none of your business, okay? It's something of mine that has nothing to do with you so give it back," Michael shot out and Scorpius closed his fist on the stone determinedly, "What is your problem?!"
"What is my problem?! What is your problem!" Scorpius yelled, "You talk to yourself, you have a secret piece of crap rock, you won't rest when you need it, you attack yourself, you don't care about your work anymore, you lash out in class, you snap at people all of a sudden, what is going on with you?!"
"You're the one trying to pick a fight!"
"Because there's a damn war going on and we need to be able to trust each other!"
"So just trust me! It has nothing to do with you and nothing to do with the war so it's not relevant! What the fuck does it matter?!"
"You're my friend. I'm worried about you, I want to help you," Scorpius admitted, trying to curb his anger but Michael thought different.
"I never asked for your help, Scorpius! My problems are mine and mine alone! It's none of your business," Michael snapped, "But if you really want to help then just give me back my stone and shut the fuck up about it!"
"Fine! If you want your stupid stone so badly then there!" Scorpius yelled angrily, pulling back his arm to throw the stone. It missed the shorter boy though, flying well over Michael's head and out of his reach to fall - unintentionally - out of the window.
"NO!" Michael screamed and bolted in an instant to run down to get it.
"Just wait, we learned the summoning..." Scorpius started to say but Michael was already gone and well out of earshot, he sighed irritably but had no desire to go chasing down the stairs after him after just fighting with him. Instead he simply drew his wand and focused, "Accio stone."
Scorpius waited a moment patiently and obediently, the stone sped back through the window and into his waiting palm. He could give Michael back his stupid special stone when he got back, in the meantime he lay back but dressed on his bed as the others started arriving for bed. Michael didn't return though, Scorpius checked the map and watched his dot scrabble round where the stone would have fallen. Michael searched. And searched. And searched. He was literally out there for hours searching, Scorpius scowled. What could be so important about the stone that Michael would search for it hours on end in the cold, night with the risk of getting in trouble? It had to be because of some sentimental reason, what else could be the significance of a rock? Michael did actually get in trouble, Grant's dot came across him and started to bring him in. Scorpius was following them before he noticed the Ashain/Ashylos dot on its way to the Chamber entrance from nearby, he grabbed the cloak and glanced over at the sleeping Albus before heading off.
He didn't see her until she walked down the aisle, dressed in a bright yellow ruffle dress and he thought he died a little more inside with every step she took further towards a future husband that wasn't him. Roman wanted to scream and cry all at the same time, couldn't she see how much he loved her? Why couldn't she care? He didn't know how he managed to stay calm, he thought it had most everything to do with holding Molly and losing it while responsible for her would make him as bad an uncle as Audrey was a sister. He had to bite his tongue when it was asked if there were any objections, the desire to cry and scream at Luna that she was making a mistake was almost unbearable. He looked away, he couldn't watch or he would lose it. He didn't look back until it was announced they were married and could kiss, it destroyed his heart to see it. He intended to go home as soon as he could hand Molly off to someone, he couldn't be there anymore. The wedding decoration was so... Luna, it made it all the more painful.
"You're of age now, want to try some of this?" Charlie Weasley the Dragon Keeper asked him cheerfully when he'd finally managed to hand off Molly for the buffet, Charlie was waving some kind of alcoholic drink in front of him. Roman hadn't had alcohol before, wasn't it supposed to dull pain? He tried it without further thought and choked on the taste, it felt like he'd just swallowed acid. Charlie laughed and clapped him on the back, "Sorry, couldn't resist! Firewhiskey takes some getting used to. Here have some wine, it's not so strong."
Roman found that wine was indeed not as strong and the taste was much more bearable, maybe he'd stick around and drink for a while as he waited for the pain-dulling to kick in. He found it certainly helped with his anxiety and conversation slipped off his tongue much easier, he danced with several women in a stupid but desperate attempt to make the newlywed jealous. It didn't work. Luna did speak to him once though, the wine didn't help with that and he could only smile stupidly through gritted teeth, barking out barely coherent jolts of conversation if she asked him a question. He wasn't listening, he was too busy burning her face into his mind because it would be the very last time he ever saw her and biting his tongue to tell her that she'd made a mistake. Fucking Rolf took her away to dance though.
"Hello, Roman," Fleur's sister greeted him with a confident smirk, her accent no longer making her intelligible, "How's my English now? Understandable? I learned to lose my accent since I'm a Healer-in-training and communication is important."
"Well bully for you," Roman muttered before taking a final swig and leaving to refill his now empty glass.
Stupid wine wasn't working though, he wasn't feeling any different. He should have gone with the stronger stuff because the stupid wine wasn't working, he wasn't feeling any... Wait, hadn't he just thought that? Roman switched to the Firewhiskey anyway, not sure whether it was destroying more taste buds or brain cells as he downed as much as he could. Audrey came to get him just then, it was late now and pouring rain, crying the tears Roman was bottling up. They were heading home because baby Molly had had enough. Roman felt an odd flare of anger, normally he would have just held his tongue and curse her betrayal but go along with it. Normally though, Roman hadn't been drinking.
"You take her out when she's had enough?" Roman demanded accusingly and stupidly.
"Yes, she's a baby and can't last these late nights. She's ready to go home," Audrey pointed out, looking confused and Roman just lost it.
"AND WHAT ABOUT ME?! WHAT ABOUT WHEN I WAS READY TO GO HOME?!" Roman screamed at her, shocking everyone and seemingly halting the party but he didn't stop, "YOU KNEW I HAVE A HARD TIME WITH CROWDS AND PEOPLE BUT YOU STILL ALWAYS, ALWAYS DRAGGED ME ALONG TO THESE WEDDINGS! ALWAYS! EVERY DAMN LAST ONE!"
"Roman calm down," Audrey said warningly.
"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Roman raged and words starting spewing from his mouth, years of pent up resentment and anxiety and anger had finally burst like a volcano of fury exploding.
He couldn't stop it. He told - or rather yelled - at her about his anxiety, about how horrible it was to be left alone and have panic attacks and what it felt like to have your heart physically hurt from beating so violently. He told her the truth about Hogwarts, about how despicable it was, the bullying, the loneliness, the anxiety, how he cried every night at first because he was so unhappy but she never let him go home. He told her how stressful the exams were, the nightmares, he told her how bad it all felt, how bad he felt about himself because of it all. He lashed out at her for betraying him and marrying the evil Percy, who had murdered Enas the words wouldn't stop. He told her everything except about Luna and Alzay. His throat was hoarse and raw, dry by the time he was done. Standing there in the sea of watching eyes, rage bubbling away but he only had eyes for his sister. He might've been crying. Her face was expressionless.
"You're drunk," Audrey managed finally.
"I was a child, you were supposed to look out for me and you failed," Roman told her coldly, "You failed, Audrey, you're a terrible sister, mother and person. And... And I hate you. I hate you."
He thought he saw tears in his sister's eyes but disapparated in a loud crack that could've been mistaken for the thunder. Those were the least words he'd ever speak to his sister, spat out in anger, and it was the last time he'd ever see her, her eyes filled with tears from his words. He returned to his home and cried, tears sloppily falling although Roman couldn't pinpoint why. From bringing up painful memories, from seeing fresh painful memories, from severing ties to the last family member he had, a combination. He didn't though, he just packed up the last of his things, grabbed Smokey and left. He'd been planning to anyway and there was no going back now, not after his outburst. There was nothing left for him there.
Part 5: Screams From The Past
It took him a few minutes to realize that he had no idea where to go. It took a long time for his Firewhiskey-filled mind to recall Alzay, he grasped at the address and apparated there. Where else did he have to go? She willingly let him in without question, she looked like she'd just been about to go to bed. Her nightgown was thin and tight. Short too, revealing long, slender legs. He hadn't noticed so much before but she was actually quite beautiful, her face was flawless despite the frequent neutral expression. He must have said something along those lines because Alzay smiled seductively and kissed him, he'd missed kissing her, and he'd missed not being alone. He burned all of Luna's letters from over the years in a fit of fury and lost his virginity for real that night, he woke up beside Alzay feeling intensely ashamed and disgusted with himself while also having a thundering headache to boot. He couldn't look back though, he could only look forwards.
And so started the odd seven and a half months of living with Alzay, in her small ground level apartment. There were only three rooms, the kitchen/sitting area/eating area, the bathroom and the bedroom, the latter two were absolutely tiny. It was bearable though, Alzay didn't have a lot of decoration which made it easier for him to keep clean - Alzay hadn't the same standards of tidiness as he and Audrey did - as the housework fell to him as did the cooking as he was much better than she was at it although she was still exceptionally better than Audrey, in fact mostly she liked eating cold foods because she couldn't be bothered to cook. Roman didn't mind pulling his weight with housework, it was her house after all and he'd rather do it to his higher standards then let her do it to the lower ones. He half expected Audrey to write to him but she never did, he half-considered writing to her to apologize for maybe going too far at the wedding but he never did.
One thing he quickly came to love though, was his job. Learning about the different artifacts absolutely fascinated him, initially he spent a lot of time with his boss learning the ropes of what to check for this and that and how and everything but at least his boss was a man of few words. He gradually started letting Roman do more and more by himself though, he excelled and it boosted up the confidence battered away by bullies and anxiety, he could even talk to strangers - such as shopkeepers, he still didn't do random conversation - without stuttering. He also had no problem putting in the extra hours, confidence and not constantly being surrounded by people did wonders for his anxiety and it was nice to not always hear his heart beating. For the first time in a long time, Roman was actually starting to feel good about himself again and was happy about an aspect of his life. He was making a fairly decent wage for an apprentice as well, his boss was generous with his money if Roman was generous with his time and he gave half of it to Alzay to put towards the rent.
He was completely conflicted about Alzay. At first it was alright, she was her nice supportive self and there were a lot of things he discovered you could enjoy about dating when he could get Luna off his mind. However, not only was she a Death Eater's child but she was actively wasting her time campaigning to free him. When she wasn't her part-time job at the Ministry, she was out arranging protests, gathering signatures for petitions and otherwise working on freeing him. The psychotic murderous Death Eater. And she didn't see a problem with that. She couldn't hide it when they were living together. She also started slipping from her niceness, snide comments and snapping getting through sometimes, as did her true beliefs. They started fighting too, over her obsession with freeing her father.
Roman really had to start thinking more and more about where their relationship was going, he wasn't going to marry her. Not with her beliefs and her bloodline and his increasing distrust with her, so really there was no point in being in a relationship that he had no intention of seeing through. Why was he with her really anyway? To have somewhere to stay and out of desperation to not feel alone, they didn't even have anything in common when he wasn't leaning on her pathetically for support which he was needing less now his life was calmer except for the occasional nightmare of his parents' death. He spent little so his accumulated wages would help him get by on his own but the loneliness... The thought of being alone forever actually made his heart start beating rapidly in fear again. He tried telling himself that he could do better, that he deserved better but the words just bounced back off his skull as he couldn't bring himself to believe them.
Did the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? No. But did he have the courage to leave her and risk being alone forever? No. Not for the first seven and a half months anyway but the fights were getting more frequent until finally in the middle of an argument, Roman had had enough. Was this really what he wanted? Fighting and yelling forever? There had to be something better, even for him. In that instant he had a spark of courage, fueled by anger, he decided to leave.
"That's it!" Roman snapped at her as he threw up his arms, feeling both fear and relief in his decision, "I'm done! I'm leaving, goodbye Alzay!"
"NO YOU DON'T!" Alzay shrieked but Roman had already turned on his heel to walk away, "CRUCIO!"
Roman felt the perfectly placed spell strike him in the back, knocking him to the ground even before the pain hit. It was as if all the pain receptors in his body had been attacked at once, every fiber of his being was in agony as shockwaves of pain coursed through him unrelentingly. There was no escaping the pain, no matter which way he writhed, the claws of agony continued to twist and tear through him from every angle. He didn't have his father's courage and his own screams were the only sound he was aware of, his mind howled at him to do something but the best he could offer was twisting his screams into pleas for mercy.
He'd do anything to make it stop. He thought he must've said as much but in an instant the intense pain vanished, residual shockwaves were still sparking but it felt like nothing in comparison to before. He curled his trembling body up into the fetal position as much as possible, sobs making him shake even worse but he hardly cared. He'd almost completely forgotten about Alzay until she spoke.
"You're not going to leave now, are you?" she asked and he moved his head a fraction to see standing over him, unscathed and unconcerned with either the pain she'd inflicted on him or the fact she'd done something that would earn her a cell alongside her father for the rest of her life.
"Y-Y-" Roman started to try conveying his determination to leave, now more than ever but she raised her wand threateningly.
"Think very carefully about you answer," she snapped warningly, her face harsh and her oceanic eyes cold as he whimpered in terror.
"I'll stay!" he cried tearfully, desperately "I'll stay! Just don't hurt me, please don't hurt me."
Alzay smiled maliciously and raised her wand still, Roman yelped in fear and wrapped his arms around himself ever tighter. She lowered it though and walked away laughing. Roman lay there and cried.
He could've woken Albus but for some reason, Scorpius just felt like he should talk to Ashylos alone. Scorpius slipped out as silently as possibly, leaving thoughts about Michael's strange stone behind. He came down easily, his movements much easier and faster without two other people under the cloak. He reached the bathroom and tossed aside the cloak as soon as he entered, keeping just his wand in hand.
"I know who you are, Ashylos," Scorpius called out and the possessed professor turned, a mixture of surprise and amusement playing on his face.
"Figured it out, did you, Malfoy?" Ashylos said with a smirk, "Not bad, I didn't expect such from one such of your bloodline. You're an odd one, although you might've got it with the descendant of Pan on your side."
"You have some nerve to criticize my bloodline," Scorpius spat as he felt anger well inside him as he aimed his wand at Ashylos, "What about you?! You're a fraud, a traitor and a lie! And that's even worse than just being evil! What else is missing from the history books?! How did it really go down?! Did you murder Pancratius and try to steal Herpo's Scepter for yourself?! You're supposed to be a hero! You're not supposed to turn evil!"
"I never said I was a hero!" Ashylos snapped, his smile wiped in an instant, "Ou'pote! And I didn't turn evil, clearly you missed out several steps in your botched attempt to the truth. Malfoys, honestly."
"You're stealing a good man's life! He's a real hero, he saved my life!" Scorpius screamed furiously and Ashylos closed his eyes, the flicker of pain on the professor's marking Ashylos was searching through his memories before reopening his eyes, "Don't do that! I know it caused Professor Ashain pain!"
"It's an unfortunate side effect which is why I do refrain from doing it but it was the fastest way to confirm your story," Ashylos told him as he crossed his arms, "I try to be as non-invasive as possible. Even though I have strength enough now, I still only take control at night to not affect his life as much as possible, he doesn't even realize. I'm not the enemy here and if you're not either then you should see this."
"You are the enemy, you hurt Albus," Scorpius protested.
"He pissed me off," Ashylos shrugged, "And I healed him regardless."
"You made a Horcrux!"
"I did not!" Ashylos snapped suddenly and Scorpius was forced to bite his tongue for a moment, "You think I'd willingly choose to bind myself to life at the cost of what a Horcrux does?! I never had any desire to live forever!"
"You know what? I don't even care!" Scorpius shot back irritably, still not liking his favorite professor being possessed, "If you have any last, tiny, miniscule shred of decency left then you'll leave Professor Ashain alone!"
"I can't do that, Skorpios," Ashylos shook his head and crossed his arms, "I have to get to the Scepter, try to save my soul then destroy it."
"Wait, what?" Scorpius wondered in confusion and finally lowered his wand, scowling, "I don't understand."
Ashylos grunted before throwing out his arms, there was a deafening whooshing sound and blinding white light shot out from every direction, so bright that Scorpius had to cover his eyes. He expected to find himself back in his bed the following morning but he remained standing.
"Are you sure this will work, Pan?" a voice wondered. It wasn't speaking English - he had a strong suspicion it was Ancient Greek - but somehow, Scorpius could understand and he thought it was Ashylos speaking.
Scorpius lowered his arms and saw to his shock, that he was no longer standing in a bathroom in Hogwarts and Ashylos was standing next to him. He was standing outside some kind of desolate landscape with an overcast sky, the sullen earth was bare and the trees devoid of leaves. There was an odd number of birds on them, wedged together tightly on the branches as if trying to cram as many of their bodies into the trees as possible. There were a high number of them in the air too, flying randomly overhead and more were waddling around idly on the ground. There were odd huts and tents about too - also laden with birds - with decrepit bronze-skinned people, some were just lying as if they'd collapsed and were too weak to carry on, others were scouring the fallen but all were backing away from something.
There were two men making their way through the landscape, both astride horses. The elder of the two rode the white horse, he only looked in his late teens or early twenties at most. He was scruffy looking, his cropped sepia-brown hair was unkempt and mingled with dirt. His stubbled face marked him as in need of a shave but still, he might've been considered handsome if his expression wasn't so serious. His eyes though, ringed with tiredness but retained a dazzling hazel color that made him think of Michael. They both looked worn and tired, their cloaks tattered. The younger was the one that really caused Scorpius to do a double take due to the overwhelming resemblance to Professor Ashain, especially his current appearance.
He had the same dark chestnut brown eyes, the same extremely dark shade of auburn on his hair - although it was longer than the professor's - and the same high cheekbones. The features weren't exactly the same but it was still an uncanny resemblance, he could easily have mistaken it for a younger Professor Ashain as the man was young. He only looked around sixteen or seventeen, not much older than Scorpius himself. He was clean-shaven - he might not even be old enough to need to - and lankier than Professor Ashain too, his youth could count that aside though. He had the same olive-tinted skin as Professor Ashain did currently, as did the older companion. He also had a vulture on his shoulder.
"If I didn't then do you really think I'd be riding out now?" the older man - presumably Pan - wondered, he smiled, "Contrary to popular belief, Ashylos, I don't have a death wish."
"That's you?" Scorpius guessed and gestured to the younger rider, the man beside him nodded, "And Pancratius?"
"Yes," Ashylos confirmed and gestured himself to almost behind Scorpius, the pair were approaching a wall with a gate. There two black clad guards with a fanged emblem on their cloaks, both were holding dark-wooded scepters and stood either side of the gate, "This is the palace of Herpo the Foul that we're approaching for the final battle, we set out to put an end to his reign of terror. His army is beyond those gates and his palace beyond them. I am showing you my memory, you understand the language because I can and it's my memory."
"How old were you?"
"Barely seventeen, Pan was just two years older."
"I thought you both would be older," Scorpius pointed out as they kept pace with the past-Ashylos and Pancratius through their trek towards the gates, "Why does Professor Ashain look so much like you?"
"Ashains are descended from me," Ashylos explained, "Magical genes generally carry more strongly than non-magical ones, it's why the resemblance between magical families is often so strong. It's why I can possess Atticus so easily, we're connected through blood so it's not necessary for a lot of time to be spent with the Scepter for me to latch on."
"I wish you wouldn't," Scorpius complained irritably, his amazement with the past around him dulling as he recalled the situation.
"I told you, I didn't choose this. Pancratius did this to me."
Scorpius opened his mouth to protest his shock and disbelief but was distracted by a woman shrieking, she'd gotten too close to one of the guards and he'd raised his scepter at her. She was backing away and babbling incoherently in terror, the guard didn't care and moved it almost in a wand movement. A jet of light from a spell shot out, blasting her backward and leaving her gasping in pain with blood pouring from her side. No one moved to help her, aside from moving even further from the guards, none of the people reacted. Past-Ashylos and Pancratius' expression both hardened at once, they said nothing though and made no move to help her. Past-Ashylos cawed at the vulture on his shoulder, exactly how Cassia spoke to birds - Scorpius recalled Roman mentioning Ashylos too was an Avisora, capable of talking to birds - and stroked the bird's neck affectionately. The vulture cawed itself and nuzzled Past-Ashylos, the teen smiled sadly and twittered again like a bird which prompted the vulture to fly off.
"Halt!" one of the guards barked, "Dismount, your horses and belongings of value are now property of King Herpo, failure to comply will result in you being charged with treason and executed."
"He's a King now, Pan?" Past-Ashylos wondered to Pancratius, his tone mocking, "Don't you need some kind of royal blood or ruling power or something for that?"
"You're absolutely right, Ash," Pancratius confirmed, also mocking, "Royalty are really lowering the standards these days, it's almost like all you need to do to be king is declare yourself one. Any old talentless moronic hack can do that."
"Insulting of the King shall not be tolerated!" the second guard blurted out, "You two are under arr-"
"Good afternoon," Pancratius greeted them and completely disregarded the guard's attempt to threaten him, a smile was playing darkly on his face, "I completely wasn't listening, your voice is as dull as wash water. But I have a request."
"A request?!" the first one wondered incredulously while the second went red with rage.
"Yes, are you hard of hearing?" Pancratius asked but continued before the man could snap a response, "So anyway, my request is that you two let my friend and I in and tell the army to stand down so we can get to your 'King' Herpo."
"Why would we do that, you absolute lunatic?" the second guard wondered, his anger forgotten in the wake of the ludicrously of Pancratius' request.
"Because," Pancratius said and laughed as if at some private joke, his smile still in place while Ashylos just held the reigns of his horse stoically, "Because if not then we'll just have to kill you all."
The guards looked between each and burst out laughing, howling in amusement and the second was clutching his sides at the hilarity of it. The first one called through the bars of the gate to tell someone on the other side of Pancratius' request, laughter ensued from behind at the nerve of these two adolescents. Pancratius didn't lose his smile but he didn't say anything, patiently waiting for them to be done.
"I thought you might say that," Pancratius admitted almost regretfully.
In one fluid motion, Pancratius drew a wand - or scepter? It was much longer than their wands after all - from inside his cloak and aimed it at the first guard causing jet of yellow light shot out, just like the guard had used on the woman. Except Pancratius' spell struck the man through the heart, a corpse with a blood, gaping hole in its chest fell back. Pancratius' serious expression was back, the second guard stopped laughing immediately and scrambled for his scepter too late as Pancratius sent a second spell to end his life as well. Behind the gate, the other guards aimed scepters - or wands? - at the gate which caused it to become a solid slab of stone indistinguishable from the wall.
Pancratius and Ashylos were unfazed, Ashylos also drew his scepter/wand and they both started slashing them through the air, creating odd overlapping lines of white light in front of the wall. They stopped in unison and aimed their wands at it, identical beams of magic shot out to strike the lines. To Scorpius' surprise, it caused a blast that obliterated the new wall inwards towards their enemies, sending chunks of stone flying and cries of pain and surprise could be heard. It also opened them up to attack from the guards and Pancratius slammed up a powerful Shield Charm-like spell, protecting both of them except it was translucent and could take multiple hits from jets of light, all it did was make the semi-bubble ripple upon contact.
"Any time now, Ash," Pancratius commented to Ashylos.
The younger man nodded and looked somewhere between nervous and determined as threw up his arms into the air, he squawked fiercely loudly just as Cassia did. The assortment of birds from around them shot up into the sky as obediently as they did for her, swarming in the air except in much greater numbers, hundreds, thousands... Scorpius could barely even see snatches of sky through the blanket of flapping bodies. Ashylos pointed at the army just as Pancratius' bubble burst, the birds flooded down upon them. There were screams as the birds starting attacking relentlessly, pecking and tearing at the soldiers' eyes predominantly and pulling the focus away from the young wizards.
"Now or never!" Ashylos yelled and they yanked at the reigns, Pancratius did the same and the two charged into the sea of chaos.
Scorpius felt the scene change oddly, shifting him - and present-Ashylos - to keep up with the two wizards moving faster on horseback which he supposed made sense since it was Ashylos' memory and they weren't effect by anything happening either. The birds were causing havoc for the black-clad wizards, spells were being fired blindly as they sought to protect their eyes, they passed many with gouged eyes screaming in pain and once Scorpius almost gagged at seeing a bird actually tearing out an eye. Those were managing to fend of the birds, were just as screwed. Pancratius and Ashylos were a two-man torrent of death by themselves regardless, slaughtering soldier after soldier who even looked remotely about to attack them. Mostly using the same yellow spell hitting target after target with - he'd guess - practiced precision through the heart, neck or head to end them immediately as well as shield-like charms to defend themselves.
And it went on and on, the army was massive, their cloaks were splattering by the blood of their victims as they fought and charged their way through. Abruptly a spell managed to strike Pancratius' horse, not covered by the protective charms and the wizard was knocked to the ground. Ashylos jumped to his aid, killing the caster almost without looking. Pancratius had fallen with his leg twisted at an impossible angle though, his teeth were gritted against the pain although his hazel eyes still scanned for enemies not fighting birds to target with beams of death. He threw up another shield-thing as Ashylos reached him and looked nervous, waving his wand over the injured leg which made Pancratius scream. It seemed to mend it though and Ashylos helped him to his feet, he still looked somewhat in pain though and walked on shaky legs now.
"I'm sorry," Ashylos offered, his youth showing through as he blushed and looked both abashed and apologetic, "Healing is still not my strong point."
"It's fine," Pancratius brushed it off and gave an encouraging smile through the pain, "It's good enough, I can walk and move still and I'm not even on fire this time."
"Would you let that go already?" Ashylos complained but smiled weakly at something that was lost on Scorpius, "The horses are gone."
"Then we go by foot," Pancratius announced as the horses must have run off while none of them were looking, he clapped Ashylos on the shoulder and walked on with a limp, "Then we can finally be done with this and I can home to my wife, meet my baby girl."
"If we survive," Ashylos muttered morbidly as he shot down another attacker as they walked.
"Pancratius had a wife and child?" Scorpius asked of present-Ashylos as they kept pace with the two wizards, now on foot heading through the army and had to put a bit more effort into fighting as they were no longer on horseback.
"Yes," present-Ashylos confirmed and sounded oddly sad, "His wife was pregnant when we left or else she would've come, his daughter was born while we were gone and his wife died in labor. He never got to see his child or know of his wife's death."
"How unfortunate," Scorpius muttered and shoved aside thoughts of his mother's pregnancy again, instead he focused on something else that Ashylos had said, "You're mentioned 'Pan's descendant' before, you mean Pancratius' descendant from that daughter?"
"Yes."
"Who is the descendant?"
"Who do you think? Remember, magical genes can carry features through strongly."
"Michael?" Scorpius guessed in confusion but Ashylos nodded, "But he's a muggle-born."
"Pan's daughter wasn't magical not were any of her bloodline up until my death, it resurfaces eventually though," Ashylos told him, "Your friend is descended from the greatest man I ever know, your other friend is the son of one of the greatest heroes of your time. Why are their friends with someone of your bloodline?"
"You can't let yourself by your family and their beliefs, we're more than the blood we carry," Scorpius recounted Calderon's words, feeling a painful twinge in his heart. What could have caused Varanian to lose his trust in him? "We are who we choose to be, not who we're born to be."
"Fair advice."
"You should take it," Scorpius shot out truthfully and Ashylos said nothing as they continued on, watching the impressive skill with magic, "What are those spells you're using? They're good."
"They fell out of use, I suppose. A shame, they were good."
"Why are you showing me this?" Scorpius asked after another minute, looking to the possessed professor for an answer.
"Because showing is better than telling," Ashylos told him seriously, "I feel we got off to the wrong foot, we may be on the same side and an alliance here would be easier on all of us. To do that, I need you to see I'm not evil."
"You said Pancratius did this to you?"
"Not purposelessly but you'll see that but yes," Ashylos confirmed, "When he lost control he did something that hasn't been done before or since, he divided my own soul like one does for a Horcrux and sealed that part of me away in the only surviving thing he could see: Herpo's Scepter. He made me immortal, I never aged a day after this day, never got to shave, never got to watch my hair turn gray, never saw my skin become wrinkled...I healed quickly and had inhumanly good reflexes, traits my many descendants inherited. I lived for hundreds and hundreds of years before my death.
"Only then did I really understand what Pan had done to me, the reason behind the curse. Instead of the afterlife I was looking forward to, I found myself back in the Scepter, my fragmented soul reuniting somewhat within it. But the Scepter is broken, I took half of the handle for a new wand while the other half with the orb upon it was eventually lost. My soul remains shattered and unstable, ruined further by it being divided further in an effort to hide it from these the Soul Eaters. I want to reunite it, I think then my soul will be intact again and I finally go into the light. Failing that, I want to finish doing what I sought to do during my life: destroy Herpo's Scepter. Stop it from falling into the wrong hands, a goal I feel may be more important than ever with this the Shadow Master. I possess Atticus because I have no choice, there's no other way for me to do this. I need to grow stronger so I can find the Scepter before it's too late."
"And you expect me to believe that?" Scorpius wondered, annoyed that Ashylos gave no indication of lying.
Ashylos simply gestured and either Scorpius hadn't been paying attention or time had skipped because the pair had now made it through the army, they were inside a grand but ancient styled... palace. Everything looked ornate and perfect. The pair were sporting minor injuries now. Past-Ashylos now had his hands full fighting a giant snake while Pancratius was involved in a duel with a man, a man holding Herpo's Scepter. Except it wasn't old, it looked polished it and the green orb was not only intact but glowing, there was also a thinner handle beneath that carved segment attached to make it longer.
The man holding it was tall and dressed in expensive-looking robes, he was extremely pale with dark eyes and a long black beard despite being bald. He had snake slits for nostrils and a creepily forked tongue, furthering both the serpentine vibe that Scorpius got as well as making his smile look all the more demented. Scorpius got the strangest feeling of familiarity in a way, he wasn't sure who he was reminded of though. He was powerful though, brushing aside complex and powerful blasts of magic from Pancratius effortless with his Scepter. Scorpius looked back to the possessed professor.
"That's Herpo the Foul, isn't it?" Scorpius asked and the man nodded again, his eyes narrowed darkly on Herpo.
"Yes," Ashylos said simply.
Scorpius looked back to the battle as Herpo finally fought back, disarming Pancratius cleanly but with enough force to knock him back and blasting his wand into oblivion while it was still in the air. Herpo laughed, a high, cold, cruel laugh and shot a jet of light from his Scepter at Pancratius, the man was looking somewhere between desperate and determined. Pancratius threw up his hands and a magic shield - looking much like a Shield Charm, except cantaloupe - materialized, deflecting Herpo's spell back into one of the majestic pillars surrounding them. Herpo seemed unfazed though, throwing another. And another. And another. Pancratius was deflecting every one and looking more confident in his. Herpo raised his Scepter again, this time the orb pulsated green and a ball of black and green flames shot forth.
Pancratius jumped to his feet, not throwing up a shield this time but an intense pale orange was emanating from him and obliterated the blast. Herpo lost his smile. Pancratius threw out his hand and a jet of cantaloupe light shot out, forcing Herpo to deflect it this time. And another. And another. Pancratius was on the attack now, the glow engulfing him growing brighter with every blast. Herpo seemed to have enough though as he launched his own attack, colliding in mid-air with Pancratius that caused an explosion large enough to crack the ground around them but both men were untouched themselves. Herpo's Scepter started pulsating permanently green as he threw out his own attacks, intense ball of flame or energy or outright destructive beams or blasts that only increased in size as he tried to take down Pancratius but were having more of an effect on his beautiful palace. Taking out holes here and there, cracks and craters ruined everything. Pieces of stone and debris quickly became part of the atmosphere, a permanent cloud of dust from it all clung to the air.
And Pancratius was also coming into his own, everything Herpo threw at him was deflected or destroyed and the light from him only got stronger and stronger. His own attacks were becoming greater as well, a massive collision of his spell and Herpo's actually seemed to displace the ceiling as pieces of roof fell around them. Scorpius heard a scream and glanced back to Ashylos fighting the basilisk, a stray piece of ceiling had fallen onto him. Crushing his entire left side, Ashylos used his wand to move the huge chunk of rock but it didn't matter. The basilisk lunged his head, forcing Ashylos to abandon it to aim his wand at it instead. Its massive mouth looked ready to bite down on the teen's arm for a minute but Ashylos cast the same spell they'd used on enemies, shooting a hole through its head and splattering its brains onto the wall. It was still too late though, the fangs had already found a place in Ashylos' arm. His scream was agonizing.
Ashylos blasted the corpse away from him and finally wrenched the ceiling free of him, he tried to stand but staggered forward and fell. His left half was mangled from the ceiling, the arm and leg both so badly broken that bones were jutting out where they weren't supposed to, the fangs were also still embedded into his flesh. His face was a mask of pain as he coughed up crimson liquid, his broken body breathing unevenly. Still he tried to fight though, feebly trying to raise his wand to summon the strength for a spell into the fight. A fight that Scorpius remembered and looked back to, Pancratius was now was just a glowing orange light, so bright that it hurt to look but Scorpius also couldn't look away. Pancratius was laughing, he laughed until he screamed. Just like what Calderon did when he was using magic like that.
"If you take on too much power then you'll destroy yourself!" Herpo cried desperately, looking afraid now as he launched a green wall of magic at his foe that turned to wisps of nothing upon contact with Pancratius, disintegrating before his eyes.
"If I'm going then I'm taking you with me!" Pancratius shrieked through his screams and held out his arm for another attack.
Herpo threw up a marvelous blinding green shield but it was nothing, Pancratius' magic was overwhelming and obliterated both the shield and the man. Herpo screaming in agony as his body was obliterated by the orange light, letting his Scepter clatter uselessly to the floor. Pancratius gestured and the Scepter shot over to where Ashylos was still clinging to life but caused his wand to explode upon being inadvertently touched by the light, Pancratius was already losing control though as orange blasts of magical energy were zapping out randomly and obliterating whatever part of the palace that it touched.
"Destroy it, Ashylos! Then he can never return!" Pancratius roared.
Ashylos flicked his semi-open eyes weakly, glancing for a weapon and managing to pull one of the fangs out of his arms. He cried out, tears leaking from his eyes at the pain he must be in. He dragged his half-mangled body into some semblance of a sitting position before slamming the fang down into the green crystal orb of the Scepter with probably all the strength he could muster, black smoky light billowed out as the orb was shattered exactly as it was like in the present. Ashylos smiled weakly and exhaustedly before his battered body toppled over beside the ruined Scepter.
Pancratius' was still out of control though, he was hovering off the ground now with his scream becoming synonymous with the thrum of his magic. He moved his wand and Ashylos was engulfed by the light, his wounds healing miraculously and magically right before his eyes. Pancratius went to move his hand back, Ashylos was screaming now as something silvery and wispy - it reminded Scorpius somehow of a Patronus and ghost at the same time but he didn't get a long enough look to know for sure - was torn from his body and cast into the Scepter lying beside him. Maybe Ashylos had been telling the truth.
Pancratius turned away from him, apparently content and incapable of stopping the magic, Scorpius thought he heard crying through the magic. It was exploding out of him now, engulfing everything in sight and turning the walls into streams of dust that were thrown away into the light. Scorpius tried to keep watching, squinting violently to watch as the light-outline of Pancratius was torn apart by his own magic. There was a final blast of magic too bright for Scorpius to look at it, overwhelming his senses entirely. And then it was over. Scorpius opened his eyes and saw there was nothing left. They were literally standing in a crater of ashes, Ashylos and the Scepter all that was left. The desolation was incredible. No more palace and no more army, the thousands of soldiers were just gone. There were only birds overheard and an earth scorched black. Abruptly, he noticed the decrepit people from before were randomly there on the edge of the crater looking in.
"Sorry that its jarring, I was passed out for a long while," Ashylos apologized, "When I awoke, they had come to investigate."
"What... What occurred here?" a new voice asked, Scorpius looked up to see a man had ran into the devastation. An elegantly dressed man with a pale, pointed face, gray eyes and white-blonde hair... A Malfoy?
"Who's that?" Scorpius asked in barely a whisper as past-Ashylos scrambled for his no longer existent wand, seeing only the Scepter. He snapped off the lower half as a weapon, aiming it at the newcomer.
"The son of Herpo's mentor, Kakopistis," Ashylos told him, a vulture with an injured wing landing on his shoulder his stood, "You're descended from the man who helped Herpo become the monster that he was. You wonder why I distrust your bloodline? The very name means 'bad faith,' Skorpios, Malfoys are his descendants."
"Herpo is dead and you'll soon join him," past-Ashylos spat darkly as he raised the piece of Scepter like a wand.
"It's him!" Kakopistis' son screeched and jabbed an accusing finger at past-Ashylos for the crowd, "He caused this chaos! It was him!"
Wands were raised and Ashylos was forced to disapparate with the vulture, just in time to avoid the onslaught of slating spells. The memory ended there and Scorpius was standing back in the girl's bathroom with the possessed professor, the cold sending shivers down his spine.
Part 6: Pain and Gain
Alzay was overjoyed at Roman winding up living with her, what better way to keep him close for when she needed that scapegoat? It also had the unexpected benefit of Roman putting money towards the rent so she had less to contribute, he even cooked and cleaned which saved her the trouble. She got a job in the census department of the Ministry part-time purely for the access to records that it provided, giving her the addresses of witches and wizards across the country so she knew which houses to go to for signatures for her petition, she even knew which currently had family in Azkaban and any who had been in Azkaban in the past who'd be more likely to agree with her cause. Roman had a problem with this but she couldn't exactly hide it, she needed to work on it at home and there wasn't enough space for her to do it without his knowledge.
She also reached out to learn Legilimancy, talking to several who'd teach her and finally settling on a man named Xerxes Seneca as he came across as the most knowledgeable of the less reputable. He had a very hands on approach to teaching, often having her jump in to try it a few times to see how she did before giving her advice or explaining because he thought it made more sense after you had some feel for it. He also disliked holding her hand too much, preferring to use puzzles and challenges for her to find her own way to the answer which she actually liked. He used either himself as the target of her attempts or sometimes a reluctant woman, Jada, as his assistant. It was especially useful in showing the differences between penetrating minds as each was different, it was also good as she - unlike Xerxes - was not an Occlumens so Alzay could get a feel for the differences in that too. Xerxes used his Occlumency to hide specific things he didn't want her to see when using Legilimancy on him, allowing her to see how to it worked in relation to Legilimancy, how to recognize it and even how to overcome it if the Occlumens wasn't especially skilled. She enjoyed learning it and was pleased with her continued success. Xerxes was also rather handsome, his hair was dark red and his violently violet eyes stood out and she began an affair with him.
She was pleased with her Legilimancy, the progress she was making with her campaign as the signatures were piling up although Roman still continued to bother her. He didn't like her caring about his father's incarceration and trying to change the rules out of it, he was becoming more vocal about it as time went by and Alzay struggled to hold her temper when her father was involved which resulted in increasingly frequent arguments. Ultimately resulting in Roman deciding to leave, ruining Alzay's plans for a scapegoat. In anger at him for lashing out, the Cruciatus Curse left her wand. She watched him writhing and screaming mercilessly, he deserved it all for wrecking her plans and insulting her father, he was a pathetic waste of space that no one would miss if he was gone. She let him go after half an hour or so, bored of his pleading. She watched him curl into a ball sobbing pathetically, thinking on what to do next. She'd used an Unforgivable Curse and he knew it, he also knew some very high-profile Aurors. She couldn't risk letting him leave her and live in case he told, or maybe there was another way. Roman was so weak.
She tried threatening him and he agreed to stay without hesitation, she smiled to herself. Apparently you could catch more flies with torture than with honey. Why had she been using niceness to manipulate him when fear worked even better? It worked much better, if Roman didn't want to go her way then one little curse had him begging to do it her way. She enjoyed tormenting him much more than she should, he was just so easy to screw with and he deserved it. It was also good practice for torturing someone, yet another way to force people into doing what you want. She grew more confident and started trying other things too aside from the Cruciatus Curse, spells that burned, broke bones, caused bruises, cuts, otherwise maimed. She was descending into the realm of Dark Magic in the different ways to inflict pain and didn't mind this, she had everything to gain and nothing to lose. After all, she'd already committed murder so this was nothing. She also practiced her Legilimancy on him, being as invasive as possible and tormented him with his own memories of his precious parents' murder. He was too terrified to leave her or tell on her then.
Sometimes Roman tried to defend himself, he wasn't exactly bad at defensive spells but she'd trained herself so much and for so much that she brushed aside his attempts fairly easily. Especially when he didn't go as far as she did, she didn't care how badly she hurt him or what she destroyed inadvertently but he did and holding back cost him dearly. He had to go to St Mungo's sometimes from his more severe injuries, she was concerned by this until she realized that he was far too ashamed to admit how he'd received them so she was safe. It only got better as he tried even harder to defend himself, sometimes giving her minor injuries that would leave no scars but she played them up and had no problem citing Roman as causing them. With a few fake tears, the Healers were completely understanding and frequently often refused Roman potions for the pain out of dislike as some of the curse wounds were painful would take a while to heal.
She even got pity signatures from the Healers and even other patients, painting the picture of her misguided, saintly father being misled and mistreated by the Ministry. It wasn't a complete lie, she did consider the Ministry's treatment of prisoners inhumane and her father had always been the best to her, however he had been right and completely justified as a Death Eater just as she was completely justified in her actions to get him back. But, people disliked Death Eaters so if pandering to it being wrong and him being misguided helped her get signatures for her petition and support for her cause then she'd do it. The ends justified the means completely. Alzay's only negative about the year came when Xerxes told her that her training was done and he was leaving, he said they may meet again but she still found she missed him. They'd had things in common like Xerxes shared her convictions about pure-bloods, no one else in her life did. She missed the physical intimacy too, it took her almost a month to recall that Roman was also a man.
"Hey Roman," Alzay said to him conversationally, dropping the Cruciatus Curse she'd been holding on him as she smiled, "Feel like doing something we haven't done in a while?"
Roman cringed as he tried to curl his trembling body into a ball, shaking his head against the ground as he probably thought it was something bad.
"Feel like having sex?"
"No!" Roman barked immediately, looking horrified at the thought which made her scowl. Had she gotten uglier or something?
"Well tough," Alzay scoffed irritably, "Imperio."
"I propose a truce, Skorpios," Ashylos announced and Scorpius glanced back to him, still reeling from the memory, "I do not want to harm Atticus, taking over his body is just the fastest way for me to regain enough strength to reunite the Scepter. I want to try reunite my fragmented soul so I can finally move on and failing that or if I succeed even, I want to destroy the Scepter so that your Shadow Master or anyone will never be able to use it. After that I will either be non-existent or moved on, Atticus can continue his life as normal. Do you have issue with this?"
"No," Scorpius admitted hesitantly, Ashylos had every right to want his soul intact so he could move on and he wasn't hurting Professor Ashain, "I don't want the Shadow Master to get his hands on the Scepter either, we tried to destroy it before but... Well the Aurors got in the way. As long as Professor Ashain is okay."
"Of course," Ashylos agreed and held out his hand, "So do we have a deal? You will stop coming here because it saps my strength to deal with you. When my task is done, Atticus will be fine and the Scepter destroyed."
"I want to help you. If you are telling the truth then let me help you with the Scepter, we go after it together to save your soul and destroy it before the Shadows can get their hands on it," Scorpius offered, definitely seeing the advantage of having such a powerful and knowledgeable wizard on their side against and wanting to keep a watch still in case Ashylos was being dishonest.
"I accept," Ashylos smiled cautiously and Scorpius took his hand.
Scorpius returned to his dormitory with a lot to think about, needing to process everything he'd learned from Ashylos before he could think what to do. He thought it made more sense and seemed to line up, why would Ashylos lie anyway? And if he was lying then why would he agree? Scorpius didn't think he was lying and genuinely wanted to help him reunite his soul, he was actually kind of excited after seeing Ashylos and Pancratius make their way through that army. If Ashylos could do that then getting the Scepter and destroying it would be easy, and imagine if he could get Ashylos to teach him some of that stuff? Perfect for the fighting the Shadows, it would've been great against the werewolves. He drifted into a pleasant sleep, dreaming of destroying the Scepter and for some reason the Shadow Master - who for some reason looked just like Herpo - died too and peace was restored, Ashylos' soul was freed and Professor Ashain was back to normal, his mother didn't die in labor, Michael was happy again and human with no scars and Scorpius himself was normal again, he could make out with Molly.
Everyone was already gone down to breakfast when he woke up and Scorpius dressed quickly to go join them, eager to tell them but found that he had overslept and his friends had already finished breakfast. He practically ran back to his room to get the map to locate them, they weren't even all together. Scorpius headed out to get the furthest away first, Albus and Latimer on the Quidditch pitch where Latimer was helping Albus with his flying. He flagged them down and sent them to the room to wait, heading back to the greenhouses where Abby was talking with her younger brother, August.
"Hey August, can I just borrow your sister for a bit?" Scorpius tried to intervene tactfully.
"Why not?" August sighed miserably, half waving and stalking off to which Abby scowled, "No one wants to be around me anyway."
"What's up with him?"
"That's what I was trying to figure out," Abby admitted, "So what's going on?"
"Big news about Ashylos, I'll meet you in the room when I'm finished rounding everyone up."
Abby nodded and Scorpius headed off to get Molly from the Common Room where she was studying dutifully, starting back down the stairs after Sathan and Lathan Loren as the map called them although Scorpius actually wasn't sure which was Maurice and which Orous. They were in the middle of a discussion that was making Orous look nervous.
"Oh Scor, we were just looking for you," Maurice told him excitedly, "I had an idea of how we can get more powerful to match Ashylos or the Shadow Master."
"We don't need... What?" Scorpius changed his sentence half-way out of curiosity even though Ashylos wasn't heir enemy.
"These scars," Maurice explained and pointed to the near identical scars wrapped around their left wrists, except Maurice was lacking the other two, "Lorcan accidentally tapped into our own magic that time he freaked out, I tapped it into to stop it. Presumably one of the reasons the Shadow Master did it because he wanted access to extra magic if necessary but we should learn to harness it instead, tapping into it if necessary and tapping into the Shadow Master's own magic. My connection isn't sealed so I could theoretically tap into the Shadow Master's magic, they'd be weaker and we'd be stronger."
"I don't... I don't think we should really be messing with that," Scorpius admitted after a minute as he gazed at the scar, it reminded him of his abduction and he wasn't so eager to use it. He'd much rather prefer that it was just gone, scar, connection and all. Just be done with it, "And Calderon sealed it for a reason. You should really get it sealed."
"I told you, Maurice," Orous said, apparently sharing Scorpius' sentiments while his twin scowled, "We should just leave it alone."
"Can't you see this could be a great way to sap the Shadow Master's own strength and use it against him if we can get it right?" Maurice wondered incredulously.
"Well sometimes the gain doesn't outweigh the cost, it's too risky."
"And the Shadow Master's not exactly going to sit idly by while we take his strength anyway," Scorpius added which was backed up by a nod from Orous, "He's not stupid."
"Fine," Maurice grumbled, looking rather like his father all of a sudden, "Waste the opportunity then. What did you want us for anyway?"
"News on Ashylos, go wait in the Room That Doesn't Exist while I get the others."
The twins headed off and Scorpius continued on, only Vern and Michael left. Michael was outside in the same place he'd been last night, presumably still searching for that stupid stone. Scorpius was painfully reminded of their argument and his anger sparked slightly, he'd been putting off getting him because he didn't want to get into confrontation especially when he just wanted to talk about Ashylos. He put Michael off again and instead went after Vern, finding him in a corridor that laughter was echoing from. Curiously and somewhat worriedly, he headed down it and saw Vern was talking to some boy his own age who was oddly completely bald who was being laughed by the other students in the corridor going by. No, he realized, it was a girl. It was Vern's girlfriend, Olivia.
"J-James c-cut of-off m-my h-h-hair," Olivia was trying to get out through her tears, "I-I-I'm ug-ugly, s-s-so I c-c-can't g-go t-to Hog-Hogsmeade w-with you n-next we-week."
"I still want to go out with you, I still like you," Vern protested, looking deeply concerned and reaching out to her but she backed away as a gaggle of girls passed by, pointing and laughing hysterically that Vern turned on angrily, "Stop laughing! What is wrong with you people?!"
"I-I'm so-sorry, V-Ver-Vern, I h-h-have t-to g-go," Olivia apologized, hiccupping on her tears as she turned and ran with students stopping to laugh at her.
"Wait!"
"Vern," Scorpius interrupted and halted him before he could run after her, "Just leave her, she probably wants to be alone for a bit."
"You think?" Vern wondered anxiously, "You don't think I should try to comfort her?"
"No, she needs some space right now," Scorpius told him, not having any idea whether it was true or not but he didn't want to wait for Vern to console her, "Come on, I have news on Ashylos. I'll meet you in the Room That Doesn't Exist just after I get Michael."
"Well... Okay," Vern agreed hesitantly but still looked worried, "If you're sure."
Scorpius nodded and practically bolted to go after Michael, realizing he probably could've worked his order of people more coherently to save himself needed to rush through the castle so randomly. He almost just headed to the Room with Vern and would simply tell Michael later but ultimately decided against it, he should just get talking to him over with. Maybe Michael would even have calmed down and be willing to apologize, then again he was stubborn. Sure enough, Michael was looking around in the dirt in the same clothes he'd been wearing the previous day. He looked as if he'd been digging.
"Hey," Scorpius called and Michael flashed him a look of immediate anger that clearly meant he was not over their argument, "So did you get into a lot of trouble last night?"
"No," Michael said darkly, "I'm a werewolf and Hogwarts wouldn't want it to seem that they're discriminating against me. What do you want, I'm busy?"
"I have news about Ashylos so come on," Scorpius told him and for a second feared that Michael would refuse but serious issues trumped their spat, Michael went with him to the Room albeit in sullen silence.
Scorpius could finally fill them, telling them all about his conversation with Ashylos and what he'd seen in Ashylos' memory. He left out only that Michael was Pancratius' descendant and that Scorpius himself was Kakopistis' descendant, just because he thought they were a bit personal and not really relevant. Naturally, Maurice was suspicious but the others seemed to accept it and whether Ashylos was being honest or not, agreeing to help him find and destroy the Scepter was in the best interests of everyone. If he did turn out bad, they'd be right there to stop him but Scorpius doubted it would be necessary. After, everyone started filing out with Michael the first to the door.
Scorpius had homework to do and was annoyed that Michael was blowing it off to search for his stupid stone, Scorpius was tempted to go out and give it to him but he was curious to just how long Michael would continue looking. Michael skipped both lunch and dinner in favor of staying out there, he also didn't go to bed with the rest of them as he was still out there. Scorpius lay there watching Michael's dot on the map, long after the others had gone to sleep before taking out the stone. He turned it over idly a few times, gazing into it and trying to figure out the significance of the tiny rock.
"What'cha doing?" an innocent little girl's voice asked.
Scorpius looked up in surprise, expecting to see Cassia just sounding a little odd but it was a stranger. A little girl no older than four was standing there, she didn't look entirely substantial like a ghost but she was definitely not a ghost and had color as she wore a white dress with a bright blue bow tied around. Her white-blond hair was kept in two small ponytail bunches and her gray eyes watched him intently, a smile was radiating on her pale, pointed face. She could easily pass for a Malfoy.
"How did you get here?" Scorpius asked in surprise, the girl closed her mouth and shrugged in confusion.
"Don't know. How did you get here?"
"This is my dormitory. A boy's dormitory," Scorpius added but the girl seemed unconcerned as she had gone back to smiling.
"So?" the girl wondered and walked closer to his bed, "I'm is just happy that I can see you."
"Who are you?"
"I'm your sister, silly!" the girl giggled before looking hurt, worry forming on her young face, "Don't you memrember me?"
"I-I-Wha-I-" Scorpius babbled uselessly, aware that his mouth was hanging open.
"Lyra! Lyra Malfoy!" the girl yelled, stamping her feet on the ground, "That's my name! Can't'ed you memrember me, brother? Lyra!"
"I remember!" Scorpius protested, reaching out to touch her arm to calm her while feeling as if ice water was now running through his veins but his hand went straight through her, "But you're... you're dead?"
"Of course I'm dead, I dieded," Lyra told him, her expression saddened as he moved away, "But I'm are here now, this is what I would be like now if I was aliver but I'm here now. Isn't that what matters, big brother?"
"I erm... I," Scorpius still found himself at a loss for words, the lump in his throat making it hard to form words anyway as he drank in his dead sister's face. Pain at her passing twisting his heart up oddly in confusion on what was happening, was he going mad? Or... Or was she alive? Was she... appearing her as a projection somehow while her body was somewhere else? He felt his heart flutter at the bubble of hope, could she really be alive? She wasn't a ghost and maybe... maybe the Soul Eaters had faked her death to kidnap her, they'd kidnapped him after all.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just... How would you like to meet my good friend, Albus? Just wait here a minute," Scorpius offered and she nodded enthusiastically, he smiled and put down the stone to climbed over to Albus' bed to gently shake him awake, "Al, Al, wake up!"
"What? Where's the fire?" Albus babbled stupidly as he came too, "What's going on?"
"My sister's here."
"Your mother had the baby?" Albus wondered in confusion and Scorpius vigorously shook his head.
"No. I mean my other sister, Lyra, the one who died. Or maybe not died after all, she's here," Scorpius told him excitedly but Albus didn't seem to share his cheerfulness and in fact, looked at him like he'd sprouted an extra head, "Lyra, come over here."
"Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?" Albus said gently, placing a comforting arm on his shoulder.
"Of course I'm sure, look," Scorpius protested and turned to gesture to his sister but she was gone, Albus peered dubiously into the darkness, "She's just four, she must be playing hide-and-seek or... or something. Lyra, please, we can play later."
"Scorpius, she's dead."
"No, I just saw her!" Scorpius insisted and Albus just looked at him sadly, "Really!"
"You know... When my Uncle Charlie first died, I-I kept seeing his face everywhere but it wasn't because he was dead. I guess, it was just my mind being desperate at getting to see him again."
"She was here!" Scorpius cried desperately, "Albus, she was right here! I swear it!"
"I know it feels that way-"
"It was that way!" Scorpius interrupted in a shriek that caused Reuben to stir, "I saw my sister, Albus! Dammit, I saw her!"
"Okay, Scor, you saw her," Albus agreed without meaning in the words, "Where is she now?"
"I don't know but she was here! She was."
Scorpius knew he was sounding pathetic and desperate now but he had seen her, he had. He turned away and started searching to see if she had hidden or simply moved, she couldn't have gone far. There was no sign of her though, Scorpius was forced to admit defeat. She was still dead. He climbed back into bed and felt his heart sink like a stone into a crushing sea of depression, Lyra would always be dead like the new baby. The buried his face in his pillow and cried for his dead sister.
"Scorpius? What's wrong?" a much more familiar voice asked after a while, Scorpius looked up and saw Michael had finally returned.
"Oh, now you care?" Scorpius demanded through his tears, if he hadn't been waiting up for Michael with his stupid stone then he would be asleep instead of upset. He grabbed it off his bedside table and threw it at Michael, this time hitting his friend in the chest, "There's your stupid stone! I summoned it as soon as I through it which you would've known if you'd bothered to talk to me!"
"Oh... Thanks," Michael muttered uncomfortably and pocketed the stone, looking back to him in concern, "So what's wrong?"
"None of your fucking business! My problems are mine and mine alone!" Scorpius shot out with Michael's own words from before, knowing he was just using Michael as a target for his grief now but he didn't care, "It's nothing to do with you so just leave me alone!"
"Scorpius-"
"I said go, dammit!" Scorpius screamed, making his dorm mates stir for a second time before he closed all his drapes and went back to sobbing into his pillow.
Alzay soon found herself feeling oddly ill not too long after sleeping with Roman, nausea became her common companion and sometimes even made her sick. She thought it was just a bug at first but normal potion remedies didn't help and it continued past November and into December, it tended to occur in the morning and gradually get better throughout the day usually although sometimes it didn't go away. She was convinced that it must be some kind of potion that Roman was poisoning her with as the food he made no longer tasted nice, he denied it no matter how much she tortured him though. She was finally forced to go to St Mungo's for it, which revealed it was actually from morning sickness from pregnancy. They gave her a specific potion for the morning sickness and cleared it right up but that was hardly the issue at hand now. Pregnant. She would have an actual baby. Roman's baby.
She needed to think about it before she told him, wait for the shock to wear off before she could process it. As much as she hated Roman, she didn't hate the idea of being a mother. She wanted the Loren bloodline to continue - obviously the baby would have her last name - and she'd always kind of just thought that naturally she would be a mother at some point, it was a lot sooner than expected but still. Maybe it would be good to have a child now, she had no way of knowing when she'd marry - obviously Roman was not a candidate - and have children in the future, at the very least she would know what to expect now. She'd loved her father and he'd loved her, clearly parenting had benefits and maybe she could be close to the baby too and have someone she actually cared about in her life. She didn't want to be her mother. It got her curious about Roman's bloodline though, if she was going to have Roman's baby then he damn well better be as pureblooded as he claimed. She'd never even heard of 'Rivers' before his father. Abusing her position in the Ministry, she dug into Roman's bloodline. His mother's checked out fine, American pureblood but his father... She struggled to find anything until she discovered that Magnus had actually changed his name, he'd been born Magnus Rosier and changed it as soon as he came of age.
Magnus Rosier was indeed a pureblood thus Roman was too, Magnus Rosier actually made history as the youngest Seer when he made his first prophecy at the tender age of fourteen. He also had a very checkered past, including his mother dying just after birth, being thrown out by his father when he was nine, being deemed insane and sent to St Mungo's which cost him a Hogwarts education, escaping and being picked up several times with Death Eaters but never believed to be one due to his age and being a suspect in his father's brutal torture and murder where he was again dismissed due to his young age of fourteen and lack of a wand or magical education. Alzay thought it was worth noting that while Magnus had never actually bought a wand or been given one, he'd clearly owned one and had known enough magic to homeschool his children. It was also interesting that the wand he'd possessed upon death matched perfectly to a wand belonging to a mudblood who was supposedly murdered by Death Eaters, it had never been recovered.
While Alzay couldn't be entirely sure of anything, she thought it was too much of a coincidence that Magnus hadn't at least had some connection to Death Eaters at one point and really, she thought Magnus as his father's killer made more sense than Death Eaters as the elder Rosier had been a pure-blood who supported Voldemort's ideas even if he wasn't a Death Eater himself. At the very least, he wasn't the saint that Roman thought he was and he'd either had a change of heart in his later life or was simply insane after all to refuse the Death Eaters. It actually made her feel much better about having Roman's child, Roman may be a pathetic weakling but his bloodline wasn't. All that was left to do was to tell Roman.
"Roman, I need to talk to you," Alzay announced conversationally the second he returned from work that day, practically pouncing on him which made him flinch and eye her fearfully, "It's nothing bad, now just come over here. And sit."
"Why?" Roman wondered nervously as he sat on the couch, she allowed him this and sat on the table in front of him as she thought he might faint or freak out or something. This was Roman after all. She didn't bother justifying him with an answer though, instead cutting right to it.
"Because I'm pregnant," Alzay told him calmly and to her surprise, he didn't freak out in the slightest and just looked her dead in the eye.
"Get rid of it."
"What?"
"I don't want it, I don't want to be father because of you, especially not like this," Roman said strictly and eyed her darkly, hatred overriding the usual perpetual fear, "Get rid of it. You hate me and I hate you, children shouldn't be born from hate."
"No," Alzay protested irritably, Roman wouldn't have much to do with his child anyway as he was still her scapegoat. In fact, the child would make the connection even stronger so the Ministry would be even less likely to look into Roman's presumed eventual claims of innocence, "I've already made up my mind, and I'm having this baby. You're going to be a father when you want to or not so deal with it."
Scorpius started his week off unhappily, still reeling from the vividly and weirdly real dream of Lyra. So much so that he was actually trying to work up the courage to talk to Leebin about it on Sunday for his next session, Leebin already knew about his worries from his mother's current pregnancy and he thought that it was probably the reason for stirring him up like that. The rift between him and Michael remained, Scorpius wasn't even sure why. Michael had been speaking less himself all year but now he didn't speak at all in class unless Scorpius awkwardly tried to make and keep conversation going with Michael's short answers, he didn't even actively try to sit next to him anymore.
Michael spent his free time exclusively - outside of Quidditch matches - with Mirra or alone, withdrawing not just from Scorpius but the others, although he did talk to the more at meals. Scorpius really didn't know why, he'd been trying to help Michael had given him back his stupid stone so why was he being punished? Now that he knew about the stone - or maybe Michael was just being more protective of it - but Scorpius noticed it more and more in Michael's possession, he also noticed the odd way that Michael frequently looked like he was listening to someone while he was holding it. Scorpius still kept expecting Michael to come over and apologize, maybe relent and tell him what was wrong and what the deal with the stone was so he could help him then things would go back to normal. It didn't happen though.
He'd lost the worry over Ashylos just to gain the worry about Michael, he missed his friend. He was tempted to visit Ashylos at night but Ashylos did tend to come out late, he visited him on Tuesday though after Astronomy since he was up anyway. He also went alone, the others were interested in meeting Ashylos but Scorpius didn't want to swamp him with lots of people and instead talk to him first. They talked mostly about the Shadow War and the previous two Wizarding Wars with Voldemort, Scorpius filling Ashylos in on the more recent events and the current state of the war as well as the Specters which perked up Ashylos' interest but he said he'd tell him what he knew on another night so Scorpius could get some rest and Ashylos could get back before Professor Ashain needed to waken for his children.
The week still flew by though, teachers cramming in the last serious work of the term since the week after was the final week before the Christmas break which was definitely a week of winding down. Scorpius was both excited and nervous, over the holidays was the Weasley wedding he'd be going to and when his sister was due. He wasn't completely sure of the exact plan, something he was hoping his parents would clear up when seeing them in Hogsmeade. He was also looking forward to seeing Varanian again, finding out what it was that had caused the sudden distrust of Calderon. He was really hoping that it was more temporary, like not wanting him to tell Calderon because of the strain from the Ministry testing or because Calderon's room was being spied on or something. He couldn't imagine what else it could be, this was Calderon they were talking about. He may not be sane but he was a good person, trustworthy. It would be a busy day though, Scorpius needed to talk to his parents, talk to Varanian, get his Christmas shopping done and try squeeze in some actual time to enjoy the time in Hogsmeade with his friends and girlfriend if he could.
"So what's the plan for today?" Scorpius asked conversationally at breakfast on Saturday.
"Well I'm spending it with Harry, he's taking me to one of those new restaurants," Rose announced and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Dad's going to be there?" Albus wondered hopefully.
"No! My boyfriend's name is Harry! Don't you pay attention?!"
"Your boyfriend's name is the same as your uncle's? Isn't that a little weird?"
"No. Uncle Harry is Uncle Harry and Harry is just Harry. It's not my fault his parents decided to name him after The Boy Who Lived," Rose protested before they were joined by an infuriated looking Maurice who sat down violently enough to make the table shake, "What's up with you?"
"Something unbelievably horrific happened," Maurice told them seriously, still looking enraged while Scorpius felt concern that something was wrong. Orous and Vern also joined them despite being Hufflepuffs, Vern oddly having his hood up and a hat on but no one seemed to notice or care.
"What?" Corin asked.
"A girl asked me out on a date," Maurice announced and Scorpius - as did all of the others - couldn't resist exploding into laughter at the absolute seriousness of his tone, "Stop laughing at me! It's not funny, it's atrocious! Could you believe?! She asked out me. Me!"
"What-What did you say?" Molly wondered as they started sobering.
"I hope you let her down gently," Michael added.
"Obviously, I explained to her in depth that dating was wrong which is why I'm late."
"Well, you would," Abby sighed with a roll of her eyes, "The poor girl."
"Poor girl? I'm the victim here. She asked me out."
"Damn, the curse of being attractive to girls and the chance of not dying alone, unwanted and unloved," Latimer quipped sarcastically which Maurice missed.
"Thank you. See, Latimer gets it. Unlike the rest of you lunatics."
"I give up on you, Maurice," Latimer offered and gestured dismissively with his hand.
"Why are you two here?" Albus asked of the two Hufflepuffs.
"It's at the front so it's easier to move over to the Slytherin table," Vern answered nervously, "Don't worry, I'm not eating anything."
"Why do you want-"
"There she is," Orous interrupted and pointed to where Olivia Nott was scuttling unhappily to the Slytherin table, a hat crammed over her head to hide the baldness.
"Olivia!" Vern called out, scrambling to reach her so fast he banged his leg on the table and had to hobble over to her where she stopped in surprise. Even more surprisingly, Vern took off his head and pulled down his hood to show that he was now completely bald as well which resulted in a score of laughter from those nearest but he completely ignored it, "I-I'm ugly now too so... so I fig-erm... I mean, now you're not alone and we can just be ugly together. Who... Who cares what those idiots think?"
"Vern..." Olivia began but just trailed off, trying and failing not to smile before simply taking off her hat and pulling Vern into a long, lingering kiss that Scorpius eventually looked away from because he was starting to feel uncomfortable watching them.
"Well that's not going to last," Albus scoffed.
"You're just jealous," Latimer pointed out deadpan and Albus' face burned a Gryffindor scarlet while Latimer continued at his oatmeal.
"I think it's sweet," Abby admitted.
"I-I'm not. Jealous," Albus insisted, still blushing, "What's to be jealous of? That Vern is now an ugly bald and is dating an ugly bald girl? And they're insane? And being laughed at? Nope. Not jealous. Not jealous even a little bit."
"Better than being alone," Latimer said as he stirred his food solemnly.
"It's better to be alone than be with someone hideous," Rose protested.
"My mother always said it's what's inside that counts not what's on the outside."
"Honestly, Latimer, that's what ugly people say or she was just trying to make you feel better about being ugly."
"My mother..." Latimer started to say but seemed to decide that Rose was pointless convincing and waved a dismissive hand, Rose was wrong anyway as Latimer's mother was not ugly from the pictures and from the timeline of Latimer's mother's death and his scarring Dragon pox...
"Your mother was dead by the time you got scarred, wasn't she?" Scorpius asked him quietly since he was sitting right next to him.
"Yep."
"I'm not jealous," Albus was still protesting, "I could have a girlfriend if I wanted one, I'm just enjoying the single life like, relishing my awesome bachelor freedom."
"Can we talk about something else?" Maurice complained.
"No."
"Can we please talk about something else?" Orous chimed in unhappily.
"How about we finish talking about today's plans?" Scorpius offered, genuinely wanting to know what they were doing.
"I'm going," Michael admitted miserably, Scorpius noticed his empty plate remained pristinely clean.
"You couldn't have said that before I agreed to spend the day with Harry?!" Rose burst out in frustration.
"I thought the plan was we ditch you with your parents then go have fun?" Albus joked and Scorpius thought that sounded about right.