Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Scepter of Night

by Fiery Gray

UNDER EDITING! (IV): Scorpius is back for his Fourth Year and finds himself along with his friends fighting on different fronts with the Ministry's new approach, the resurgence of werewolf prejudice and even estrangement from his family. All the while still fighting to stop the Shadow Master from gathering the pieces of the Scepter, before it's too late. COMPLETE

12. Chapter 12: Downward Spirals

Parts (69-73)

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IV

Chapter 12

Downward Spirals

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Part 1: Adapting

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Scorpius had no choice but to just sit back and keep an eye on Professor Ashain, he did have plenty of other things drowning his time. With classes came homework and he also had to stick to his training to become an animagus, spending at least an hour a day focusing on trying to transform. So far, he still had no results. Rose continued to be bullied for her illness, the first week was full of crying until Latimer took her aside to speak to her. Whatever he said helped her and she stopped being visibly upset, the majority of the bullying actually seemed to stop when they realized it was no longer bothering her. Or at least not so that they could see, her skin had cleared up by the beginning of February and it stopped completely by then.

"Can I have the stone back now?" Michael asked one of the days when he'd finally started to recover from the full moon fatigue.

"No. I gave it to Annie to hold on to," Scorpius told him, it was basically true except he'd left out Roman. Michael gasped in shock.

"What?! Why would you do that?! I gave it to you to borrow, not to give away! You had no right!"

"Because I don't think it's healthy for either of us to use the stone, Annie can keep hold of it without using it and we know where it is if it comes to it," Scorpius pointed out, he'd come to peace with his tormented decision. Not using it but knowing how to get it if he did want to use it satisfied the positive and negative thoughts, it didn't satisfy Michael though and he was noticeably angry, avoiding him for the rest of the weekend but must've accepted it by the next week.

Counselling sessions were also back, this time for those who wanted or needed them. Or who the Ministry wanted information from, Latimer was still forced to go to that horrible woman and apparently a good few Slytherins with suspected Shadow-involved parents too. Sessions were fortnightly starting nearer the end of January, Scorpius was afraid to ask how Leebin's holiday had been in case the poor baby werewolf had died and it was painful to think about. He wanted to tell him about what had happened when he tried to make out with Molly and ask for advice on getting over that, he couldn't work up the courage in the first session though but he supposed it wasn't urgent. Instead he talked to Leebin happily about Sol, his parents kept him regularly informed on his brother's progress. Each letter made him smile even though it could be tedious, he was just glad that Sol was alive and growing healthily.

Michael's life seemed to have taken a better turn as well, he was regularly getting and receiving mail now - albeit from Annie not his parents - which seemed to make him happier. He wasn't quite back to his usual self but he was spending more time with them instead of Nick now and he was finally putting effort back into his schoolwork. Even if he wasn't meticulously taking notes and was still behind, he was actually doing his homework again and trying in class. Scorpius was afraid to say anything in case he jinxed it but he was glad that Michael was acting more like himself again, he was even starting to sound more like himself and inch back out of his shell more. Rose was also abandoning her obsession with looks and getting Michael's attention, Scorpius was very happy to see her walk into the Great Hall with her red hair returned. She was starting to be more like herself again too, except with a less judgmental attitude on appearance. It was nice being able to sit with both her and Latimer without loathing the looks she threw him, Latimer did get enough people calling out random insults to him because of his pockmarks without that.

"Hey," a voice greeted him one of the days when they were in the Library, Scorpius threw Calderon a filthy look as the assistant approached and saw the stab of hurt on his face.

"What do you want, assistant? I don't have time for you, I'm busy," Scorpius snapped at Calderon.

"Not here for you, Scor, I'm here for Latimer," Calderon told him seriously and sadly, blue lights sparked around him before he glanced at a surprised Latimer, "The Headmaster needs to see you now."

"Finally taking my prefect badge to give to someone who deserves it?" Latimer guessed.

"Just come on."

Latimer shrugged and left his stuff to leave with Calderon, Scorpius kind of hoped it was that. He hadn't seen Latimer as much without Molly around but he was still pretty sure that Latimer hadn't done anything to get him in trouble, meaning it was probably something serious or something really bad had happened. Vern had been taken to the Headmaster's Office to be informed of his parents' deaths after all, he could just be thinking the worst though. It probably was about his counselling sessions, the ones he didn't want. Leebin said Latimer should be able to refuse, he emphasized the should and admitted there was nothing he could do to get him out of it. When Latimer returned though, his expression was just grim as he started packing up his stuff silently. They waited for an explanation but he gave none.

"Well... What was that all about?" Albus prompted curiously as he motioned for Latimer to go on.

"Shadows tried to kill my Dad, he's severely injured and in St Mungo's," Latimer answered mechanically without altering his somber expression while they looked at him in shock.

"Geez, I'm sorry, mate. Will he be okay?"

"No idea."

"Are you going to see him?" Rose asked.

"Not allowed. I'm underage so I need permission from a parent or guardian, of which I only have one and he's too busy being injured."

"Well, we're here for you if you need anything," Abby offered kindly as Latimer finished packing up his things and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Whatever."

"Where are you going if you can't see your Dad in the hospital?" Albus wondered as Latimer started to leave.

"To be alone."

"What's the matter, Latimer? Did your Dad finally kill himself because you're so ugly?" James taunted from nearby, apparently having stopped himself from putting a book away as he heard of Austin's injury, "You could peel off your skin and look less disgusting, I'm not surprised your Dad would rather be dead than be around you."

"Drop dead, asshole," Latimer snapped sharply but Scorpius saw tears glistening in the elder boy's eyes as he left.

"Your Dad's the one dropping dead by the sound of it!" James called after him, Scorpius really hated him.

---

Alzay looked into her translation idea and was surprised to find there was no such commercial product available, there were random references here and there to similar things but no actual magical translating project. She thought there should be, it couldn't be that difficult to do. Anyone with half a brain could figure it out if they tried, she could even do that. She could, Alzay realized, what was stopping her? She was a smart witch and it might really help Maurice compensate for his deafness, it he could do that then maybe he wasn't so worthless after all. She continued her research and quickly came to realize why there was none, magical objects typically had quite a simple function and could be set up to so in creation. Registering an entire spoken language and translating it into written words was not a simply function.

There were thousands of words to begin with in the English language, there were nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, et cetera. Then there were words specific to the magical world - none of the girls in her dormitory had any idea what 'electricity' was for example - and words specific to the magical world, spells, creatures, items. There was also slang and contractions of words, out of fashion words, names of people. And that wasn't even counting being able to register the verbal cues, different accents twisted the sounds of words slightly which was seemingly trivial but had to be accounted for or the translation would only occur for those with perfect English. It was complex and while possible, would not work the way of general magical objects as there was no way she could make it that inherently powerful. The device would have to work the way of more complex magical objects, it would need the user's magic much like the obvious example of a wand.

Most people wouldn't want to have their strength be tied up like that and it would mean that they wouldn't be able to use spells at the same time as the translator either, hence why it never blossomed into more than the occasional rarity for desperate people. Alzay decided it was worth it, it was flawed but she thought it was better than that stupid hand-talking. It was better Maurice had something then nothing at all. Which just left Alzay with the actual physical object needed to serve as the translator, generally these were stones as what she gathered of the process of creating translating magic required a combination of magic and alchemy. Rabastan set her up with their alchemist - dating the Shadow Master's right hand man had its advantages - to help her with that side of things, she started working on it in her spare time as the year progressed.

Orous turning four cut into her free time even more as it was now her responsibility to homeschool him as they did in magical families, she'd be damned if she was sending her pureblooded magical child into an all-muggle environment. She couldn't afford a tutor and had no desire to send him to the training tower, Cade wasn't a wizard so he was useless although he did study up on homeschooling to help with the more non-magical mundane aspects of life such as reading, writing, numbers. She decided to allow this, she did still have a job and if Cade could get Orous to write a bloody 'r' the right way round then she'd take it. How hard was it to remember the direction of an 'r' anyway?! Were all children this stupid or was it just Orous? Cade thought making things 'fun' would help Orous learn easier as they did at the start of 'muggle school' which was stupid, class wasn't supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be serious, maybe if Cade was more serious than Orous wouldn't get distracted by something as uninteresting as a butterfly. Killing it just sent her son spiraling into sobs and set back her lesson plan, how could he be so pathetically weak?! Cade wasn't that weak and he was a muggle! He walked into burning buildings for a living without magical protection, Cade had some kind of a backbone despite the many things wrong with. But Orous got upset over a butterfly?! She told him for being so sensitive, ended up screaming at him and upsetting him more but she hoped the message sunk in so he would know that behavior was unacceptable.

She blamed the fathers of course, Roman and Cade. Roman was just pathetically weak and Orous was exposed to that from being related to him then there was Cade, he may have a backbone but he also had a bleeding heart and Orous was exposed to that from being raised by him. She wished she'd met Rabastan sooner, he'd make a brilliant father, and their children wouldn't be so weak and flawed. One positive thing she would say for homeschooling though, she could finally start teaching Orous things about magic and that magical world. He may be lacking in intelligence but he at least was old enough to start retaining the information, she could at least start having coherent - if simplistic - conversations with him. She also kept working on the translator for his brother as the months went by in the second year, she - and the alchemist - finally succeeded not long before the twins' fifth birthday. The translator necklace was born.

It was tricky to get the hang of using at first and trying to use it walking or while doing something else could be quite difficult but it worked, spoken language appeared as written words and it got easier the more you got used to it. Maurice would have the rest of his life to get used to it though, all that was left was to hand it over to him. Or rather to his personal tutor to give to him and explain it, Alzay didn't want to see him. To compensate the incredibly young age of those who were indoctrinated at two, an older teenage student was paired up with them to make sure they taken care of in regards to basic personal care like getting dressed or tooth brushing as well as ensuring they got to meals and classes in time. They also acted as encouragement for the program and helping them cope with life there, it was timed so that the elder student came of age and moved on just as the younger became capable of caring for themselves.

Maurice's tutor was more involved because of the deafness and stayed with him most of the time to act as translator since not all the staff had learned this. Maurice had actually been paired with Xerxes' - her old Legilimancy tutor - younger, half-blood brother. Alzay was disgusted her son was exposed to such filth but she couldn't blame them for dumping the task of a deaf child on a half-blood, Orous was exposed to muggles so that was worse anyway. She couldn't win. Pyrrhus Florian was the half-blood's name.

---

"What was that earlier?" Michael asked him later that day, Scorpius had just gotten back from his animagus session and apparently Michael was still awake while the others in the dormitory snoozed.

"What about Latimer? You think we should've gone after him? I thought we should give him some space," Scorpius pointed out.

"Not about that. What is up with you being so mean to Calderon?"

"You know about him using Specters."

"Yes and it's not reason to be such a jerk to him," Michael protested, "Whatever he's done in the past, he's sensitive and he wasn't faking the hurt in his eyes."

"What about my hurt?!" Scorpius snapped back irritably and blinked back tears, "I trusted him, I looked up to him and what did he do?! He went and betrayed me! Everything I thought was a lie and it just sucks! Why should I feel bad for how I speak to him when he doesn't feel bad for being such a back-stabbing liar!"

"He doesn't even know," Michael pointed out rationally while Scorpius sat down on his bed miserably.

"He should know."

"Then tell him, dammit. Tell him you know he controlled Specters and see what he says, maybe Varanian is wrong."

"I saw the memory! The poor guy was in cinders," Scorpius said and recalled the horrifically scene sadly, his sympathy going out for Varanian yet again.

"Exactly, he was hardly thinking straight. He was in agony and barely conscious, maybe the memory thing was mistaken."

"Pensieves don't work like that," Scorpius explained, "It would be accurate or its noticeable if the memory's not right. And it even makes sense, Calderon couldn't apparate. Not at that age, not without training, no matter how powerful he is, it requires a focus I lack. I don't know everything about it but I know that. Varanian wouldn't have been able to apparate either, not in that condition and he certainly wouldn't have been able to apparate Calderon back to safety after he was dropped off. Calderon using the Specters makes perfect sense, they can teleport somehow and he knows more about them than anyone. What other explanation is there!?"

"I don't know, ask Calderon. Don't you think he deserves a chance to explain himself before you condemn him as guilty?"

"I saw what I saw!"

"And look at everything you've seen him do in the present!" Michael countered, "He's done nothing but fight the Shadows now. Maybe he reformed, maybe he was forced into using Specters by his mother or other Death Eaters in the first place as we know he had a rough childhood to be tortured into... part-insanity. It is so hard to believe there's a rational explanation? He was just a kid, not much older than us. You shouldn't decide he's bad without exploring all options."

"And what if he is bad?" Scorpius asked quietly as the tears swelled in his eyes, "What if I confront him and there is no rational explanation? That he just turns around and admits to being an absolute psychopath. I don't want to ask him because I'm afraid he will say that, that he will be evil. I'd... I'd rather not know."

"Do you want me to ask him?"

"No!" Scorpius snapped immediately, "He's my cousin, I'm the one close to him. It has to be me. I will ask him... When I'm ready, just not now."

"Alright," Michael sighed, "But do you think that you could at least not be so mean to him? Even if the worst is true, he doesn't deserve that and you're better than that."

Scorpius nodded mutely and went to bed unhappily, he really didn't want to think about it. It wasn't like he saw Calderon much anyway as Elwood still had him locked in his room. For the next few days he barely saw Latimer either, Latimer often skipped meals and hung out alone aside from that. He was in his dormitory whenever Scorpius looked at the map - or in classes although Scorpius wasn't sure he was attending all of those - which was ironic considering he didn't look like he was sleeping, he looked a wreck and he picked at the food he did have. He'd only speak if spoken to and even then, his focus was hit and miss. Scorpius supposed he didn't blame him, James had spread the word about his dead and some people were cruel enough to taunt him for his father's hospitalization. James hadn't heard what for though so it varied with everything from Austin being evil because of Latimer and getting injured fighting Aurors to Austin attempting suicide or losing his sanity because of Latimer. It was always Latimer's fault somehow, James was the most vocal.

Latimer wasn't the only one doing badly either, Professor Ashain's health was deteriorating drastically. He was so weak that he walked - or stood - on visibly shaking legs, keeping his eyes open seemed a constant challenge to him. More and more, he was setting them book work just because he hadn't the strength to teach. He slumped back into his chair at his desk, struggling for consciousness for the rest of the lesson. Whatever was wrong with him, he was fighting it so hard. He still didn't look ill though, he acted ill and Scorpius had no doubt in his mind but he continued looking uncannily like a healthy Ashylos.

"Scor!" a familiar voice he'd missed called him when he was heading to the Great Hall for breakfast, he grinned as he saw Molly but she wasn't smiling, "Sorry, I just found out something really important and reunions can kind of wait."

"About what?" Scorpius wondered as she grabbed his arm and led him into a random empty classroom nearby.

"About Ashain and Ashylos. Do you remember how I asked my Dad ages ago about the Horcrux effects except Ashain being healthy and everything?"

"Yeah," Scorpius admitted as Molly withdrew a piece of paper from her pocket.

"He did actually find something out, he wrote out the letter but it was the day before term ended so he figured it could wait until he saw me in person but forgot. I was helping him sort through his and Penelope's stuff and I found it and erm... Well you should read it for yourself," Molly told him and shoved the paper at him so he could read it, jabbing her finger at the appropriate paragraph.

I did find out something, it's a vague unconfirmed rumor really but it's all I have similar to your predicament. In 1348, there was this Dark Wizard Dravakth who allegedly had a Horcrux after he was killed. Now he had a son called Corvath who was on the side of good the polar opposite and even the one responsible for killing Dravakth in his late teens, he also was supposedly exposed to the Horcrux without realizing it later on in his life. Corvath started experiencing some of the symptoms of Horcrux possession like blackouts and sleepwalking - both of which are actually the Horcrux taking over, just ask your Aunt Ginny - but his fears were repeatedly dismissed due to his good health. He wasn't weak or sick but perfectly healthy, in fact he actually started getting healthier as he was suffering from multiple ailments in his advanced age due to a long career as an Auror. These starting healing though, recovering his health and decades worth of battle scars even healed completely as if they'd never been there. He started to get younger too, drastically reverting back to late thirties or early forties which is the age Dravakth had been at death. He started to look more like his father too, his hair went from gray back to brown and his green eyes turned brown like his father's, he even starting getting his father's scars and birthmark.

Then he started complaining of feeling ill, weak, tired and suffering from headaches but there was no sign of anything physically wrong with him. He only got worse, struggling more and more to even keep his eyes open. He claimed it was his father's soul from the Horcrux, theorizing because of the genetic connection that Dravakth didn't need to reform his own body but simply turn his son into him as he'd been upon death. He was desperate to find and destroy the Horcrux before it was too late since he hadn't the strength, saying his father's soul was sapping away his own bit by bit until one day there was nothing left of him and only Dravakth's soul remained. He must've failed though as he became a Dark Wizard himself after that until he was finally killed, either that or he just went insane as it was widely believed. Picked up from where his father left off with all Dravakth's skill and knowledge.

"Ashylos is a Horcrux, willingly or not," Molly swallowed nervously and Scorpius looked up in horror.

"And when he returns to full strength, there'll be nothing left of Professor Ashain."

---

Part 2: Subtle

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Roman felt rather pleased with himself for deducing the riddle, albeit with Leila's help. He was asked to extend his stay in Egypt to continue with the city after the year was up, he was more than happy too - Egypt was better than England in every way - although Maurice's school was really starting to annoy him. They kept claiming their short, slow replied to his queries about his son was because he was living in Egypt... Despite the fact he was using Malik's expensive owls, owls that were noted for their speed and endurance as Malik did like the best. Alzay was still ignoring his weekly letters about Orous. Roman sent them both expensive birthday gifts, four was a big milestone as it was starting to leave toddlerhood behind. He really wanted to see them, he wrote to the school to ask them to let him take Maurice back to stay with him in Egypt. The bastards didn't even reply that time, it apparently was lost in transit. A lie.

His own birthday surprised him most though, he hadn't celebrated his birthday since he'd left Percy and Audrey but both Malik and Leila had decided to. And unlike the Weasleys, it wasn't a torturous event but just a quiet celebration with those of Malik's family he knew and the servants around as they would normally be as they knew he disliked crowds. There was a cake and they got him presents like Malik did for his own family, massively smaller and less extravagant of course but still. The best thing though was Leila's gift, she'd actually gone and bought - or had her father buy - one of the healing ankhs they'd recovered as well as one for her but that was irrelevant. He kept it on the chain with the pocket watch Audrey and Percy had gotten him, feeling a sense of safety juts from having it nearby with the spell to activate it. It wasn't perfect but it soothed his anxious mind to have it to hand, in case Alzay ever came back. He weaned himself off Calming Draught as the year went on, Leila's personality improved as she was more knowledgeable and less in need of asking questions. He was still attracted to her though, his own human nature disgusted him. Did it not realize that it just led to pain and suffering?! Pathetic.

Leila was actually quite... passable to be around when she wasn't asking annoying questions - as evidenced by their riddle solving - and aside from the history that she pretended to be interested in, she also loved puzzles like he did. In place of discussing the riddle they solved, they frequently made up riddles for each other to solve. It was fun. The absence of Maurice weighed on his mind even more, this was the third year now that he'd gone without seeing his child and the school was being completely unreasonable. They were a terrible school and he was a terrible father, Maurice was getting older now and he really wanted to be there. Even if Maurice was deaf, Roman still practiced sign language. The year came and went, probably the best one since his parents had died. They finally finished chronicling the city's artifacts, all that was left for him to do was leave.

"You don't have to go, you know," Leila told him sadly, making him jump as he was just finishing packing up his things.

"Yes I do," Roman insisted, decided to just let her forgetting to knock slide for that moment as she walked over to him.

"You can get work here, it'd be pretty easy for you. And it's not like my Father's kicking you out in the meantime."

"I know but I have to go back."

"Why? You love it here."

"Yes but I love my son too and I'm never going to get him back if I stay in Egypt, after that then... Who knows? But for now, I need to return to England," Roman admitted with a heavy sigh and realized he was meeting Leila's eyes, "Why do you even care so much?"

"Why do you think?" Leila countered and Roman scratched his chin thoughtfully, that was a tricky question... Did she want to torture him after all? She looked incredulous when he struggled for an answer.

He opened his mouth to protest he wasn't a Legilimens but she silenced him with a kiss, his shock turned to passion as his ignored feelings towards her washed through his mind and he kissed her back. He wasn't sure who put their arms around whom first but he felt her fingers grasping his hair as his glided through her lustrous stream of gold, he felt as if fireworks were going off in his mind in unfocused delight. Logic finally managed to fight the tide of emotion and forcefully remind him of Alzay, he lurched away from Leila as if burned. Claws of terror tearing at his heart as waves of torturous memories battered his eyeballs, the pain, the suffering, the cruelty, the force, the horrific everything. What was he thinking risking go through that again?! It would happen, he knew it would happen. It happened with Alzay, it had to happen with Leila. He shook in fear from the thought of enduring that again and wanted to throw up abruptly, he was sick. He was a sick person, he knew this was wrong and bad yet he still kissed Leila! And he still wanted to kiss her. He disgusted himself.

"We can't do this," Roman breathed and turned his head away when she leaned in to kiss him again, half-expecting her to suddenly whip out her wand to force him to obey but she didn't.

"I don't mind waiting until you get your son and return," Leila admitted as he forced himself to look back to her, "I'm all for you reuniting with him, family matters."

"No, I mean we can't date. At all."

"Why? If this is because of my Father, don't worry, he is very fond of you."

"It's not that!" Roman protested, like that was on his mind. Although he felt his opinion of himself lower even more as he realized, he shouldn't be attracted to Malik's daughter. It was betraying the elder man's trust surely, after all he'd done for him, "We can't date because I'm gay. Married. Gay and married. Married to a man. A giant... half. Half-giant. He's ten foot ten and absolutely is the jealous type."

"You were swapping spit with me pretty intensely and pretty lengthily for a gay guy, Rome, and it would be registered if you were married. You don't think my Father did a background check on you before letting you share a house with us?" Leila told him but looked unhappy as she stepped back and shook her head, "If you don't like me, at least have the stones to tell me instead of making up stupid lies."

"Leila," Roman sighed as she started to walk away and his thundered fearfully before he grabbed her wrist to pull her back, "You're right, those were lies and it's wrong to tell lies."

"These are facts."

"It's not that I don't like you, I just..." Roman tried to explain but trailed off. What was he supposed to say? What did he even want to say? Why had he mentioned liking her? Why hadn't he just let her walk away? Better she hate him then date him. She looked at him expectantly and he realized trailing off wasn't the best way to end a sentence, he thought she'd take it the wrong way if he told her that dating was disgusting and wrong and he didn't want to get hurt. She'd inevitably bring up Alzay and he couldn't tell her about what Alzay had done to him, it was too painful and shameful to even think about let alone speak about. He turned his head away as a forgotten voice in his mind started screaming he kiss her, "I just can't right now."

"Okay," Leila whispered and Roman felt a jolt of fear that she'd just turn around and torture him like Alzay would've but she didn't, she just headed for the door, "I'll see you, Rome."

---

Scorpius could barely hear anything over the pounding of his heart in his ears, he had to speak to Ashylos to get him to leave Professor Ashain before it was too late. He wasn't sure if Ashylos was doing it intentionally or not, the Greek had mentioned coming less to the bathroom in case he was causing it and he wasn't lying as he hadn't been to that bathroom since the night Scorpius had last spoken to him. However, Scorpius supposed he could just be lying. Either way, he had to talk to him. He had Defense Against the Dark Arts later that they, he just had to hope that Ashylos could pay attention to what happened in the professor's life. He waited until they were in session, silently reading up on new spells he wished they were trying out. Scorpius cleared his throat as loudly - loud enough to make the professor's eyes flick open to him - as possible.

"So Michael," Scorpius began emphatically, speaking as loud as he could without it becoming shouting. It felt really strange, "Don't you think that it was strange that in Divination earlier that I predicted myself going to the bathroom tonight?"

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked in a confused quieter voice, "We haven't had Divination today. And you predicted nothing of the sort, we've only just started learning about fire-omens."

"I'm serious, I saw myself going to the bathroom and not in the Gryffindor bathroom but it was definitely tonight. I think something might be wrong."

"Scor, if you're not feeling well then go to the Hospital Wing," Professor Ashain spoke up, sounding somewhere between tired and annoyed, "Otherwise, please quieten down and get on with your work."

"Sorry, Professor," Scorpius apologized and blushed despite getting the result he'd wanted.

"What was that all about?" Michael wondered.

"Trying to subtly get Ashylos to meet me tonight. I'll explain why later, Molly found something out."

"That's subtle? You sounded completely unnatural."

"Well I had to make sure the professor heard, you try speaking that loudly and sounding normal."

Scorpius did get around to filling the others in later or rather Molly did, she even managed to drag Latimer out of his misery long enough to care. He was sure they talked about it but he didn't want to partake, nor did was he really interested in what they had to say. Not until after he'd talked to Ashylos about it. He had a stack of homework but he did none of it, he didn't want to distract himself or do homework. He needed to speak to Ashylos and as far as he was concerned, time was moving far too slowly. He spent the majority of the afternoon sitting and waiting, despite Rose's complaints of his work. They had dinner and they went to bed, Albus and Michael were both staying up to see what happened but Scorpius was meeting him alone. He threw the cloak over himself and headed off, deciding that he would wait for Ashylos for a chance. He stood in the deserted bathroom, listening to the bathroom's ghost crying in a cubicle.

"Finally," Scorpius breathed in relief when Ashylos entered, "I was starting to worry that you hadn't understood my message."

"Why would I not? You weren't exactly subtle," Ashylos pointed out and Scorpius resisted the urge to give the same response he'd given Michael, "What is wrong, Skorpios?"

"Read this," Scorpius told him and shoved the letter - Molly had torn off the appropriate paragraphs for him - which Ashylos took cautiously, "You can read English, right?"

"Nai," Ashylos commented as his eyes skimmed the page, Scorpius hoped that meant yes, "I feared something like this might happen when Atticus' health started to deteriorate, although I did not think that severe."

"When you get to full strength, Professor Ashain will be dead," Scorpius said seriously as Ashylos handed the paper back, his expression was unreadable, "You need to leave him."

"I cannot," Ashylos shook his head sadly, "The Scepter is still out there."

"And we can still get it, we know where they are and whose blood we need to get where. We can still reunite your soul and destroy the Scepter before the Shadow Master can get it, I promise, but you just can't be there because it will kill Professor Ashain."

"No, Skorpios," Ashylos whispered and Scorpius felt anger ignite in his heart.

"What do you mean 'no'?! You promised to not hurt Professor Ashain and he will die if you don't back off!"

"And when I made that promise I genuinely did not realize I was having an adverse effect on his health! I do not want this either, I did not want an innocent to die any more than I want to be a damned Horcrux!" Ashylos shot back before seeming to make an attempt to reign in his temper, "But if I have to choose between him and me... I have been waiting for this chance for so long, I do not know if you can succeed in what you promise without me. I can't just sit back and do nothing, I have to make sure the Scepter is destroyed."

"You don't want to sit back and do nothing but you're fine with sitting back while Professor Ashain dies?! He's your own descendant! Your own flesh and blood!"

"Whose survival is more important? Mine so I can destroy something your Shadow Master could use to cause the gates to Tartarus to open and unleash a new age of darkness like the suffering Herpo inflicted or Atticus' so he can... teach rude, unruly children?" Ashylos asked him, "He has tried to take his own life four times in the past anyway, his desire to live is not great anyway. Does he really deserve to live?"

"Of course he deserves to live, it's his life!" Scorpius protested and Ashylos looked away unhappily, "He has a life, he has friends, he has family, he has people who care about him, he has two little kids who depend on him!"

"Children can survive without parents, the boy has a broken soul anyway."

"And that makes it okay?!"

"Atticus is a brave man and an Auror, he has willingly risked death for others in the past even when it was unlikely he would survive such as saving your own life," Ashylos pointed out, "He would lay his own life down to save lives and stop evils in a heartbeat. If he was aware of what was going on, do you not think he would sacrifice himself for the greater good if he had a choice?"

"That's exactly the thing, he doesn't have a choice!" Scorpius yelled fiercely, his fists clenching into balls of rage, "He has no clue what's going on or what's happening to him, no way to speak out or fight it or what! He has no choice, he has no power and what you're doing to him is straight up murder!

"Is it really?" Ashylos wondered quietly.

"Yes! It is, I know that and I think you know that too or you wouldn't be trying so hard to find a reason to justify killing him!" Scorpius continued and tried to make an effort to reign in his own temper, his fists continued trembling in outrage however, "If you're a really good person, who wants to do a good thing then you'll see this is wrong. There are other ways, other options that don't involve killing Professor Ashain. You're being selfish."

"You don't understand," Ashylos muttered quietly and rubbed his temple.

"What's to understand?! You-"

"I already tried to leave Atticus," Ashylos admitted in interruption and Scorpius felt as if the rage bubbling through him froze over in an instant, Ashylos' expression was solemn, "The stronger I get, the more I become aware of his own failing strength. I tried to leave him when he first got sick and I suspected it was because of me, I tried again when his symptoms became severe. I cannot break my hold, even if I want to. You confirming my suspicions now does not make it any easier, Atticus will die."

"There's nothing to do? What if... What if we got to the Scepter, could you like jump back in?" Scorpius babbled fearfully.

"Perhaps but I do not think Atticus would survive it, the closer we get in proximity to the Scepter the worse he is. Just at this distance now, it is like his mind is burning and I am aware of his pain even as he is unconscious," Ashylos explained emotionlessly, "The connection is too strong for leaving to break it now. If you got to the Scepter part within this castle and destroyed it without me, which would save him. I do not think you could succeed though because of the Parselmouth, he has magic in place to alert him and the Aurors if the Scepter locations are breached. They would be upon you in seconds. The magic-blocking potion he tests is the only way the enchantment is broken, from what I gather it does not work properly yet but still should disrupt him enough to be unaware. And destroying it would include destroying the part of my soul residing within, I would have no chance of reuniting my soul and moving on then. If you want to do that then I shall not stop you but nor could I help you, you would have to find another way of destroying it or helping with the Aurors and you would have to use one of the children for the Ashain blood. And that is not me being selfish, that is Atticus' soul dying from the proximity to the Scepter as it speeds up the process. I wanted to regain my strength so I could find all the pieces, reunite my soul then destroy them ideally but I would give up my soul for the sake of stopping your Shadow Master."

"Is there any other way?" Scorpius asked unhappily, not wanting Professor Ashain to die but he didn't really want to Ashylos to either. Plus it seemed unlikely they'd succeed with Calderon's enchantments like that, even if Scorpius did try that. Ashylos paused thoughtfully for a long moment.

"Maybe. I could try doing what a traditional Horcrux does, manifesting their own physical body instead of the host becoming them. It might take the pressure of Atticus," Ashylos told him, "It would not be a permanent solution though, and at best it would just buy us time as inevitably a life needs to be taken for a Horcrux to be fully realized as that person again. I so hoped I wasn't bound by Horcrux rules as it was not my choice, Atticus would still die for me to fully regain my strength even then."

"Time is good, we can go after the Scepter as soon as we can then go after the others."

"We still have to wait for the Parselmouth to leave."

"Then let's hope Calderon leaves soon," Scorpius sighed worriedly, "And that Professor Ashain can hold on that long."

---

"So what's your brother like?" Alzay asked conversationally of Xerxes as he led her through the training tower to where she was meeting him to tell him how to use the translator necklace she'd created, she was hoping the brat was intelligent enough that she wouldn't have to spend too long explaining as Orous made her doubt the intelligence of youths, "I didn't even know you had a half-brother."

"Somewhere between very unstable and bat-shit psychotic," Xerxes shrugged the worrisome description off, "And of course I never mentioned him, one does not tend to mention their mother's affairs and the half-blood children she abandoned to their muggle fathers out of shame in civil conversation. I only thought of him when I got involved with the Soul Eaters, wondering what would become of him when all this went down. I looked him up, found he hadn't even been allowed to go to Hogwarts and was having no kind of magical education. Half-blood or not, that's not right. He is my mother's son so I took him here, the muggle was hardly going to stop me. That was after I left you though, I think."

"Is he any good?"

"In terms of magical aptitude? Surprisingly yes. But in terms of personality? Like I said, crazy. He even accidentally killed a fellow student in a duel."

"Well, muggles are animals and he was raised by them for the most part. You wouldn't expect a feral child raised by werewolves to know table manners."

"True enough. His father was especially bad though, the muggle abused him."

"Your brother the wizard allowed himself to be abused by his father the muggle?" Alzay wondered in surprise to which Xerxes nodded, "Child or not, that is just shameful. Hurt by a muggle, honestly. What's next? Wizard children getting beaten up by butterflies? I guess it just goes to show that non-purebloods aren't as strong."

"We're here," Xerxes announced and opened a door for her.

Alzay went in to some kind of office room which probably belonged to Xerxes from the name on the door. Pyrrhus Florian - at least she assumed it was him - was lazily lounging at the desk that wasn't his as he picked at his nails, she was surprised by the resemblance to Xerxes as he had the same ketchup colored hair - although it was much longer - and violently violet eyes. There were still rather drastic differences though, Pyrrhus was still in his later teens unlike his brother and his youth showed. He was a weedy and gangly with a face full of pimples, his frame much slimmer than his more robust brother. He also looked incredibly pale, his waxy and his features not as striking or appealing as his brother. Nonetheless, he sat up straight when he saw them and abruptly - making her jump - leaped over the desk. A demented grin seeped in from ear to ear, aimed at her as he ran a hand through the greasy lava he had for hair and offered the other to her.

"Pyrrhus Florian, pleasure to meet you Mrs Maurice's MILF," Pyrrhus greeted her and she eyed his gloved hand with disgust, she had no intention of shaking it. When she didn't comply he grabbed her hand regardless and she had to snatch it away irritably.

"It's Alzay Loren," Alzay corrected him, already disliking him. She whispered back to a scowling Xerxes, "And what is a 'milf'?"

"I don't know. Crazy, remember?" Xerxes whispered back.

"Why do you have such a low opinion of me, dear brother?" Pyrrhus asked, dropping his voice to match their whispering volume.

"It's half-broth- and why are you whispering?"

"I thought that's what we were all doing when you two started doing it, I wanted to be in on the cool big kid stuff too. I hang around with a deaf kid so much that I often forget how much fun it is to listen to whispers about me in the same room, you two are so amazing at hiding it."

"Let's just make this fast," Alzay announced, clearing her throat and speaking up back to normal volume. She withdrew the translator necklace from her pocket and handed it - reluctantly - over to Pyrrhus, he gasped which made her close her mouth in surprise before she could explain, "What?"

"And here I thought, I'd never live to see a pretty girl buying me jewelry," Pyrrhus commented in a high-pitched voice to imitate a woman as he studied the necklace before switching back to his normal voice as his expression blanked, "Wait, isn't this supposed to be the other way around?"

"It's the translator necklace I created for my son."

"Really?" Pyrrhus gasped in mock surprise, "I would never have guessed this necklace thing you just handed me was the necklace thing that I came here to be handed. Wait..."

"Pyrrhus, no one likes a smart mouth," Xerxes chided him, eying his brother disapprovingly. Pyrrhus grinned and made to reply but Alzay cut him off.

"So it works like this," Alzay interrupted, wanting very much for it to be over with, "He just needs to be grasping it in a hand and channeling magic into it like you would a wand, maybe one day he'll be good enough to not need to hold it but for now it's the easiest way."

"Like this?" Pyrrhus asked as he closed his hand around the necklace in his palm, eying his head with surprisingly focus.

"Yes then just channel magic into it like you would a wand, words will appear around the heads of anyone speaking within range and he'll just need to read them. It's a bit tricky at first so don't expect him to get it quickly, or to get it yourself easily to demonstr-"

"Done," Pyrrhus announced and giggled childishly, Alzay was shocked to see the telltale blue light seeping through the gaps between his fingers to indicate it was working, "You had words around your head."

"That's what it's supposed to do."

"Are you impressed much?" Pyrrhus asked, smirking at her salaciously.

"That that much," Alzay lied, "And since you've got it covered, I'll be going now."

"Don't be like that," Pyrrhus cooed as she turned, stopping in the doorway as she watched vines filled down laden with all kinds of exotic flowers of every color and shape. One dropped down right in front of her and transfigured into a striking sapphire necklace, huge and shaped like a heart as it dangled from the vine waiting to be plucked. She looked back to him in surprise, he grinned, "It's the gentlemanly thing to do, to buy the lady the jewelry."

"I'm no lady," Alzay smirked and walked out, leaving Pyrrhus and his necklaces behind. She doubted she'd see him again at least.

---

Part 3: Seeing Things

---

Orous was happy with his dad being his dad, he couldn't care less about his 'real' father when he had the best dad in the world. His mum was a different matter, she never seemed to want to spend time with him and she didn't seem to like him very much when she did spend time with him. He felt like he was disappointing her, like he wasn't good enough. She scared him sometimes, her smiles were cold and her eyes made him think of icy water. He remembered her hurting his dad with magic one time, or maybe it had just been a bad dream. It wasn't that he didn't love his mother, he just wished she was nicer and happier.

He was looking forward to spending more time with her when she said he had to start homeschooling, he thought it sounded fun until it began. Orous tried, he really did but it was difficult to keep up when she was expecting him to remember so much so fast and used complicated words with more letters than he could count to explain things. More often than not, he needed an explanation for the explanation. She got mad at him if he was distracted by something, he didn't understand why. If something interesting was happening, why wouldn't you look at it? She got frustrated with him and yelled at him frequently for being stupid, for not learning fast enough, once she killed a beautiful butterfly and was furious at him for being upset. It made him feel worse, especially when he had been trying to make her proud. He preferred when his dad, it wasn't like his dad never told him off but it was always because he did something bad not because Orous was the thing bad like his mum made him feel.

It was more fun when his dad taught him, he did things simpler so it was easier for him to understand and more fun so it was easier to remember. Although it wasn't all bad with his mum, things like about the magical world were interesting when she didn't lose him. Orous couldn't wait until he was old enough to do real proper magic with a wand, he couldn't wait to learn to fly either because Quidditch sounded awesome, he would love to fly. He also loved history, it fascinated him how people had lived without normal things and what cool things people had done in the past. It was like stories his dad read to him or that he saw on TV except they'd really happened, it was amazing. His dad also took him out every week - unless he was working - somewhere fun, taking him to see all the cool creatures in the zoo or the aquarium or to the cinema or alternatively to do an activity, taking him swimming or rock-climbing or ice-skating or fencing. There were also rarer things - but still good - like taking him to a carnival or theme park or to the beach or camping, he loved the weekend. His dad did things at home with him too, there was a park nearby where he took him and walked Phoenix the dog too or teaching him to ride a bike or even in the house there were things. His dad read to him or watched TV with him or they played videogames or his dad just played with him, his dad was so great to have time for him when his mum never did. He wished that she would.

Orous was an imaginative child and his dad always encouraged this, something as mundane tidying up could become rebuilding a city in the wake of a mysterious chaos or walking through the aquarium became he and his dad were officers from the starship Enterprise exploring a wondrous new ocean planet. For his fifth birthday he got a cheap little camera as one of his gifts, Orous loved it and took pictures of their adventures and chronicled the animals he saw in the aquarium or zoo or those they caught - before they released them back into the sea - from the tide pools on the beach. His mum got him some Developing Solution from the wizarding world to turn them into moving pictures because something was wrong with muggle ones for some reason, he and his dad then spent hours making scrapbooks out of the pictures and souvenirs, decorating them nice. Something they would continue to do in the following few years of the future.

It was that year that Orous really started to notice he was different and not because he was a wizard. He'd known he was albino for a while, it was why his dad always worried about him being in the sun too long and buried him in sun cream during the summer. But he hadn't really given much thought to it beyond trying to stick to the shade, after all he'd seen people with white heir even if they were old. Everyone had different colored - and styled - hair and eyes, his dad shaved his hair but Orous knew he'd be blond because that was the color of his face hair if he hadn't shaved his face in a while and his mum's hair was light brown. No one had really said anything but then the people he saw most outside his parents were his dad's friends from work who also sometimes babysat him, they were always nice to him but he became aware of the stares he got from people. As he got older he got more interested in expanding outside of his imagination and play with other children at the park, few were alright but most looked at him in disgust.

"You're a freak!" one boy spat, "No one wants to play with an abnormal freak like you."

The number of people who were put off by his appearance outnumbered those that didn't mind, it upset him that people could dislike others for being different in real life. He'd always thought differences were cool, like what the different alien or fantasy races looked like and lived like in things or all the different animals in the world, both muggle ones and magical ones. It hurt to think he'd never have friends and why? Just because he looked different? He said as much to his dad one night, his dad was always there for him if he needed to talk about him, his dad cared about his life. He wished his mum did too.

"That doesn't mean you'll never have friends," his dad assured him as he put his arms around him comfortingly, Orous cuddled against him, "Some people just don't like those who are different, it's their problem though not yours. There's nothing wrong with being albino any more than it's wrong to have dark skin or be a girl or be magical, what really matters is whether you're a good or bad person and if someone is judging someone because of what they look like then they're not a good person. Unfortunately not everyone in the world is a good person."

"So I won't have friends because the kids in the park are bad?" Orous wondered fearfully and looked up at his dad fearfully.

"There's more kids in the world than just that park, Orous," his dad pointed out, "A real friend wouldn't care about how you look anyway, they'll just see you for the wonderful person you are and there are people out there like that. You have more chance of making real friends than those kids from the park, real friends care about you for who are and will stick by you no matter what. That's worth waiting for, better than being around bad people who don't care about you for the sake of it. You'll have friend someday, trust me. You do trust me, right?"

"Yes, Daddy," Orous nodded truthfully.

"Good. And in the meantime, you have me and Mummy. And Phoenix," his dad told him and gestured to the dog curled by at his feet, Orous smiled, "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Then I'll see you at the sunrise," his dad said and tucked him, kissing him on the forehead before heading out to work. Orous hoped he could get friends soon.

He still didn't over the following months but his dad had given him hope at least, the year went by and his sixth birthday came. Orous was awoken to Phoenix licking his face, or so he thought. Opening his eyes, he saw it was actually a different dog. A lumpy little black puppy with bits of brown, Orous sat up in surprise and the puppy started wagging its tail. It was so cute, Orous smiled and started petting it before realizing his dad was watching him from the doorway.

"Daddy, there's a puppy!" Orous told him excitedly and the dog starting licking his face as he'd stopped, Orous giggled and his dad smile.

"He's your puppy," his dad explained, "You wanted a friend. Happy Birthday."

"Really?!" Orous exclaimed delightedly.

"Yes, really," his dad laughed as he came over, to pet the little puppy and Phoenix too, "You can name him and everything, you have to take real good care of him though."

"I will, I will," Orous promised happily and picked up the lumpy puppy to cuddle - something Phoenix was too big for - and look at, smiling from ear to ear as he thought of what to call him. There was only one thing that came to mind, "I promise I'll take good care of you, Lumpy."

"Lumpy?"

"Yes, he's really lumpy," Orous pointed out and giggled as the puppy licked him again.

"Are you sure? You don't want to think about it more?" his dad asked with an eyebrow raised and Orous nodded, "Alright then, hello Lumpy."

"Thank you so much, Daddy," Orous thanked him gratefully as Lumpy started sniffing Phoenix's face curiously, he threw his arms around his father happily but jerked away when his dad gasped in pain. Orous felt immediately flooded with guilt and terrified his dad would be mad at him, "I'm sorry. What's wrong? I'm sorry."

"It's okay," his dad assured him gently, "I just hurt my shoulder, it's not your fault."

"Oh," Orous said, feeling slightly relieved and his dad hugged him instead where Orous got a glimpse of a bandage through the neck hole of his dad's white t-shirt over his left shoulder. He'd have to watch that, he also noticed his dad had a stitched up cut on the side of his neck up to his ear, "What happened, Daddy? You're hurted there too."

"It's nothing," his dad brushed it off quickly, "Just work."

"Alright," Orous nodded although still felt concerned, his dad get hurt sometimes from his job but his dad hadn't been working last night.

"So, do you want to feed Lumpy for the very first time all by yourself?" his dad offered and Orous grinned eagerly as the injuries left his mind.

"Yeah!"

---

"You know what I think we should do?" Maurice commented when Scorpius was done filling the others in on what had happened with Ashylos, "We should go after the Scepter right now and destroy it, Fiendfyre would destroy it and I can do."

"Did you just miss the part about Calderon's enchantments?" Latimer wondered.

"Enchantments can be overcome, even Calderon's. There are plenty of potions we could slip him to screw him up to not notice we're getting in, a powerful Sleeping Draught could work or something to make him severely ill might knock him. If we're desperate, a potion to mess him mentally would distract him. I know how to make this great one, the Drink of Despair, that would work."

"Started off interesting, veered off into slightly dangerously psychotic there," Orous commented with mild concern, "We don't want to harm Calderon."

"Nothing I suggested couldn't be reversed by us just as easily."

"I really don't think it's a good idea to mess with someone as powerful and already erm... slightly unsound as Calderon, he might unintentionally hurt himself or someone else in the process," Vern agreed, "How would we get him the potion anyway?"

"Ashain's kids," Maurice answered readily, "We'd have to use one of them anyway, they're not stupid and they know something is wrong with their father. Tell them that helping us is the only way to save him and they'll do anything, they see Calderon more than any of us do."

"We're not doing that," Scorpius decided firmly, "At least not unless it's a last resort, we'll give Ashylos a chance and if Professor Ashain doesn't improve before Calderon leaves again then we might have to. But until then, no. Calderon is too dangerous to be messed with. We still need to know how to open the entrance in Parseltongue anyway."

"I know a spell that can do that, as long as you have a memory of hearing Calderon speak Parseltongue."

"I do."

"Then that's easy."

"Well we're still waiting, unless anyone besides you objects," Scorpius decided and everyone but must Maurice did agree, Calderon was not someone to be messed with lightly regardless of what direction his moral compass was pointing.

At first it actually seemed like they would have to work with Maurice's plan as the next day, Professor Ashain spent in the Hospital Wing. However, the day after he was back on his feet. He still looked like Ashylos and was far from being at full strength but his he was in better spirits, it was a practical lesson that he didn't spend at his desk fighting for consciousness. Scorpius was relieved, he just hope it work long enough for Calderon to be test that potion again. He wrote to Varanian to fill him in and used the spell to scramble the message, he gave it to Michael to send to Annie to pass on to him since she knew where he was and it was an unspoken decision between them that 'Aaron' meant Varanian.

Molly's return prompted the return of Quidditch practice with vehemence, especially to make up for the few weeks they'd lost in her absence with some team changes. James was back on the team, he had beaten Roxy in strength and beaten Carver in accuracy to take back his position as Beater alongside Freddie but under strict orders of behavior. Caitlin was officially off the team for the duration of her pregnancy, putting Louis as a non-reserve Chaser for the first time even though he had been in matches before. It was a nice distraction as Scorpius found himself incapable of relaxing recently although apparently Latimer didn't think so, he was missing practices and didn't seem to care one way or the other. Scorpius supposed he couldn't blame him, there'd been no further word of Austin's condition and Latimer was getting so little sleep that his eyes were actually red from fatigue. He thought no news was better than news of his death though.

For the first time, Scorpius was actually dreading the match and not because of nerves but because of who he'd be facing. Vern and Orous were both on the Hufflepuff team, he'd be facing two of his friends and going up directly against Orous as the new Hufflepuff Seeker. He was afraid of hurting Orous' feelings if he won and afraid of hurting Molly's if he lost, it bothered him so much that he spoke to Leebin about it. It actually helped, Leebin pointed out he wouldn't feel pressured or upset if they were just having a friendly game outside of Hogwarts and encouraged him that he should treat it no differently. He was actually glad that he'd agreed to have sessions with Leebin, he wished Latimer had Leebin instead of that awful woman.

January progressed into a still-freezing February before he knew it, Scorpius still had had no progress with his attempts to become an animagi despite doing what Wyatt had taught him every day. Much to his disappointment, Michael hadn't harmed himself during the full moon in January though so that was something at least. Professor Ashain was also showing signs of improvement, he still wasn't quite himself but he was starting to look like himself again which Scorpius took to be a good sign. His body recovered its muscle tone, his face started to age back to his own, stubble on his face indicated he was trying to grow back his beard and his skin lost the olive tinge. He wasn't completely back to his usual appearance and age by the end of January but he was getting there, he wasn't sure where Ashylos was though.

Valentine's Day was on an unhelpful Tuesday but they did have the first Hogsmeade trip since coming back on the Saturday before it, he had been spending time with Molly when they could squeeze in time together. He thought she was a bit more cautious about kissing him now though, especially if they were longer and they hadn't tried to make out again. Scorpius was determined to show her a good time on the trip to make it up to her and buy her lots for Valentine's Day, concerns of her leaving him because of his abnormal reaction still lingered. Why wouldn't she want someone more normal? Michael was going with Mirra and Vern was going with Olivia on more dates like him with Molly. Abby, Albus and Rose were going together and Orous, Maurice and Corin together since Corin and Abby didn't really like hanging out since their breakup. Especially Corin. Latimer was insisting on staying in Hogwarts. He'd almost completely forgotten about having to meet his parents, not until after he'd already planned out taking her to one of the nice new restaurants and was in a foul mood over his ruined plans. His parents wanted to meet him at the Three Broomsticks as usual, except with baby Sol with them this time.

The snow was thick on the ground as they headed off, Scorpius agreed to try meet Molly in the Hog's Head whenever he was done with his family. He still walked there with her though, holding hands as they wandered through the white landscape. Molly talked to him about how she was nervous about her second apparition lessons tomorrow, she'd found the first difficult and hadn't had anything. Then again, neither had anyone else but he wasn't surprised. He'd never heard learning to apparate described as easy before, he could still sympathize as frequently failing with any success with becoming an animagi wasn't fun. He told her as much as they reached Hogsmeade and encouraged her not to be disheartened.

"Why are you trying to become an animagus?" Molly asked him curiously, "It's not easy, especially for those underage."

"Because..." Scorpius began and hesitated, he decided he could tell Molly though, "Because of Michael. I know these werewolf transformations aren't easy and animals can be around werewolves when people can't, I want to be able to be there to help him through it. Like the Marauders did for Teddy's Dad."

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to," Scorpius said seriously and Molly stopped to smile at him.

"You're really sweet sometimes, you know that?" Molly commented and leaned it to kiss him.

She stopped abruptly though, her eyes rolled back into her skull for a minute and she staggered back as if she was going to pass out. He rushed to stead her but she snapped out of quickly as she'd started to it, a look of panic crossed her face as she froze but her eyes still looked out of focus.

"Did you hear that?!" she asked him anxiously, her wand in her hand in an instant and her head twitched as if she was hearing something that he was not.

"Hear wha- Molly!" Scorpius started to say but trailed off as she bolted.

He recovered quickly and charged after her, she was actually a really fast runner. They both got some odd looks as they pelted through the town, she headed out of the town though and down into the forest area where Varanian had taken him through to get the caves. Molly stopped her though, looking around frantically with her wand ready.

"Stupefy!" Molly cried abruptly and flourished her wand, the jet of magic came out and struck a random tree which shot splinters flying from it.

"There's no one here!" Scorpius protested and grabbed her arms before she could cast another pointless spell, she looked at him and her eyes rolled back again. This time she did collapse, dropping like deadweight but he managed to stop her hitting the ground and instead found the strength to lower against into a sitting position back against the tree. He kept a loose grip on his wrists and worriedly as he knelt to be on her level, she was already coming to though, "Are you okay?"

"What... What happened?" Molly asked fearfully as she looked around the forest in confusion.

"I don't know, you asked me if I heard something then just ran off here and tried to stun a tree," Scorpius explained and gestured to the tree sporting a scorch-dent from the spell struck to prove it.

"I did?" Molly wondered in surprise and he scowled.

"Don't you remember?" Scorpius questioned and she just shook her head, "Are you feeling okay?"

"No, I feel really tired and weak all of a sudden. My eyes kind of hurt too, my head," Molly admitted quietly, "I think I should go to the Hospital Wing."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed and helped her to her feet, her legs were shaking unsteadily so he let her lean on him for support and kept his arm around her protectively as they made their way back to the town. The shaking diminished as they walked at their slow pace, it had stopped almost completely by the time they reached Hogsmeade again but she still leaned on him and moved slowly.

"I think I can get back to Hogwarts by myself alright," Molly announced as they reached the Three Broomsticks, "You can still stay and enjoy yourself, say hi to your folks for me."

"No," Scorpius shook his head, his only thought on his mind was her health in that moment and he wasn't going to leave her, "What if you have another episode? What if you collapse again? It's freezing out here, I'm not just abandoning you out here."

"But-"

"If our positions were reversed, would you want me going back to Hogwarts alone?" Scorpius cut her off to ask and her expression changed immediately.

"No. At least say goodbye to them."

"Okay," Scorpius promised and kissed her gently, "I'll be right back."

Scorpius left her reluctantly and headed into the overcrowded pub, spotting Abby, Albus and Rose with oddly enough James, standing beside them and appeared to be talking to Albus. The snatch of conversation he heard sounded like James was apologizing through gritted teeth, it wasn't important. He briefly thought of asking one or all of them to take Molly instead but dismissed, she was his girlfriend and he wanted to make sure she was okay. He spotted his parents with baby Sol, he had grown a bit but remained bald with blue eyes. His parents smiled when they saw him, Sol was far too fascinated with his own hand to notice.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" his mother asked him, was his concern for Molly that obvious?

"I can't stay," Scorpius told them, it was best to cut to the point so he could get back to Molly.

"Scorpius," his father began, his pointed face forming into a scowl, "We agreed that-"

"Molly's sick," Scorpius interrupted, "She just had a weird episode and I'm taking her back to Hogwarts to the Hospital Wing to make sure she's alright, I'm sorry but her health is more important. I'll see you in a few weeks but I have to help my girlfriend now."

"We-"

"Okay," his mother agreed after a moment and Scorpius let out a relieved breath.

"Thanks for understanding," Scorpius said gratefully and half-hugged his mother in the chair, pecking her on the cheek as he did so. His father wasn't keen on showing affection in public so he left him but kissed the top of baby Sol's head too and his brother gurgled in delight, Scorpius had to do a double take as the baby smiled at him for the first time. It was impossible not to smile back, "I'll see you soon, little brother, Mother, Father."

"Bye, Scorpius. Hope Molly feels better."

"So do I," Scorpius muttered worriedly as he nodded and left, Molly was leaning back sleepily against the wall to the pub waiting for him.

They headed back to Hogwarts, it had started snowing again now. Molly was still unsteady on her feet and he readily supported her, they walked essentially in silence. Scorpius realized just when they had reached the castle that he probably should have spoken, tried to be reassuring and comforting, and encouraging. He mentally kicked himself for being useless, he was a terrible boyfriend. Michael would have known what to say, he probably would've had her smiling by the time they got to Hogwarts. Even Albus would at least have tried to say something, it would probably be wrong but it would come across that his heart was in the right place. Why did he never know what to say in those situations?! Everyone else did. At least he did get her back to the Hospital Wing for Marigold to look at her and told him what happened.

"Well?" Scorpius tried to prompt but it came out sounding more like a demand than he'd intended.

"I think you had a premonition," Marigold announced, Scorpius frowned while Molly just looked surprised, "It's something Seers can suffer- I mean experience, it's still rare and only seen in the most powerful of them. It's a bit like a prophecy except it's more like a flash-forward to a specific scene, they lose touch with reality during it and may try to react to what they're seeing especially if unexperienced. Generally they can describe write down what they're saying or write them down while they're experiencing it, they forget what they saw afterwards like with a prophecy but are more aware that something happened as it's more draining and more precise. After effects include weakness, tiredness and sometimes pain in the head or eyes especially in those inexperienced or if it's a lengthy or further into the future or simply intense."

"Does that mean I'll get more of them?" Molly asked worriedly.

"Hard to say, it varies from person to person and its rarity means there's even less information to go off of, the last person known to have premonitions was from about fifty years ago. He claimed they were a common occurrence but others before him claim they're more unusual so I can't tell you what to expect, I'll talk to Elina and in the meantime I'll give you draught to help you rest. We'll keep an eye on you but you should feel better after that, rest is really the only thing to help with the after effects."

"Okay, thank you," Molly offered and sighed as Marigold moved on.

"You'll be okay," Scorpius assured her as he squeezed her hand gently, feeling somewhat relieved.

"Yeah, I just really wish I wasn't a Seer," Molly admitted sadly and squeezed his hand back for comfort, "I wonder what I saw, I don't think it was anything good."

Scorpius thought she was right there, she'd probably seen someone being attacked and tried to help them hence running off and attacking the tree. Not good. Marigold returned with the potion a few minutes later for Molly, she fell asleep quite quickly with her hand still clutching his. Scorpius stayed by her side until she woke again, he didn't feel like he should be anywhere else. She was feeling better at least when she did awaken, he was glad for that.

---

The next year came with two new classes for Maurice, learning spells and learning about other magical things. The spell class wasn't actually getting to use spells as they were too young but still learning the names of them, the incantations, the wand movements, effects and good times to use it. Specific focus was on recognizing the spell from the wand movements in duels as well as remembering the information for future use, Maurice hadn't realized there were so many ways to hurt people before and they learned all the best places to target. The second new class was more on miscellaneous magical things, learning either about magical objects or potions generally. They learned what they were, what they did, when to use it and use to use and/or make them. Maurice loved these classes despite the use of the blood quill, they were fascinating and didn't include torture like the torture class. The story class also changed form, turning more into learning different battle strategies and tactics used in these wars or battles.

'You need to start writing your name on your work,' Flame signed to him one of the days, when they were writing down what they could remember of the spells they'd learned that day. Maurice had learned to have a good memory. Flame confused him though.

'What are you on about?' Maurice signed back, having to stop working for a minute to focus.

'Your name, you need to write it on the paper so they know you did.'

'I have a name?' Maurice wondered in confusion, he'd given other people names - Flame, Taker, Moon and other teachers and teachers - but had always just thought of himself as himself. Flame looked at him in utter shock, his jaw dropped and his eyes bulged as if Maurice had said the strangest thing he'd ever heard.

'Yes,' Flame signed when he'd recovered, 'You have a name. Everyone does.'

'What's my name?'

'M-A-U-R-I-C-E. Your name is M-A-U-R-I-C-E,' Flame told him and Maurice wrote it down to see what it looked, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He had a name.

'What's your name?'

'P-Y-R-R-H-U-S. What have you been calling me?'

'F-L-A-M-E,' Maurice signed and Flame-Pyrrhus laughed maniacally, grinning at him.

'I like that. Who else do you have names for?'

And Maurice spend a good deal of time that year learning the true names for all the people he'd given names to, it was fascinating learning names for people as well as last names. He even discovered the father who'd abandoned him was named Roman Rivers as well as discovering Flame-Pyrrhus was Taker-Xerxes' half-brother and the girl who didn't have to use a blood quill or go through torture class was Xerxes' daughter, Viola. It explained the special treatment. Nothing could quite top finding out his name was Maurice Rivers though, he wasn't a nameless soldier amongst thousands. He wasn't just nothing, he had a name, he had an identity. He was Maurice Rivers. He wrote it repeatedly on the parchments he used even when he wasn't told to, it was the only thing he really wanted engraved into his flesh.

He did have a lot of words by this point, the continuous dull ache of the quill's work was a constant thing to the point he'd forgotten what it was like otherwise. His fingers, face, neck and underwear regions were exempt but every other piece of skin covering his body was covered in blood quill scars. The lessons he'd learned were literally engraved into his flesh, overlapping nonsensically at random angles all over him. His skin was a unique work of ridges and dents from all the accumulated letters, it was varied so he hurt mildly all over instead of severely in one place although his back still seared sometimes. Pyrrhus told him it was the mark of a true soldier, if he could endure that and the torture then he could endure whatever the enemy would ever try to do him. He would be a good soldier, Maurice relished staying at the tops of his classes for the rare slivers of praise and the slight bubbles of pride he got from succeeding. It was the only good thing he had to look forward, the only way to feel slightly better about himself. He couldn't wait to prove himself, put all his training to good use and do something worthwhile. Deaf or not, he was going to be a good soldier. That was all that mattered, all they did and focused on. All the pain he was going through would be worth it in the end.

Another year passed to get to his fifth birthday, not that Maurice really had a concept of what time of the date as no one ever told him although Pyrrhus had explained how time and calendars worked and he had no understanding of birthdays. It was around that time though that Pyrrhus gave him his translator necklace, he just had to channel magic into it and it would translate speech into words so he could communicate with people who didn't know sign language. He just had to talk what he wanted to say and read their replies, simply enough but much more difficult in practice. He had to learn how to use that on top of the two new classes that came with the next year, how to survive and how to torture. How to survive was just that, it was outside a lot and they learned how to do things like build shelter, make fire for warmth, how to get food and water and things like that, both if they had a wand and if they didn't from losing it in battle or something. It also covered how to survive encounters with magical creatures you might come across in the wild that would be dangerous, those would virtually always require magic. And how to torture was learning to how to inflict pain on someone, specifically with the goal of gaining information in mind and they also learned much more in-depth about human - and other sentient creatures you might need to torture to a lesser extent - anatomy. It was important to understand the body to know the best way to hurt it, it was horrific yet morbidly fascinating. There were practical demonstrations too.

The hardest part was actually not the lessons but using the necklace, he had to have a hand around it to use it and he needed to focus. They'd come far enough in their magic class for him to be able to channel magic into it but he needed to keep it up continuously to keep it working, trying to focus on doing that and reading the words was difficult to get used to. Especially when it was so draining, younger children had less stamina when it came to using magic and Maurice was no exception. It may not be using spells but it was some magic and it was so tiring to keep it up, he felt as if his strength was being sapped from him every time he touched it. If he couldn't keep up with everyone still, he was punished. He slept as soon as Pyrrhus left him in his room after classes, his body desperately trying to replenish his energy reserves. It was never enough and every morning he was woken with raw, stinging eyes and to force them to stay open as he fought to get through the day so he could sleep again. They had no weekends, every day was classes, so every day was the same. He thought whoever had thought up the necklace would be good at torturing people.

It got worse before it got better but eventually it did. When older children first started using magic, their bodies had to get used to it and in time they were able to do more magic and more powerful spells. It was like strengthening a muscle that got stronger with use and was able to do more, Maurice was the same after the period of rough hell. His body was forced to adapt and get used to what he was forcing it to do, it stopped being so exhausting to use the necklace. Maurice was still tired and would ultimately become expert as staying sharp seeing the world through raw eyes but not unbearably so, he got better at using magic while still reading, eventually it would become second nature to him. His teachers were secretly pleased, it would give him a head start by the time he did come to using spells. Maurice did still have to spend all his free time sleeping to compensate but he'd need that less and less too as he got older. By the time his sixth birthday - still unknown to him - came, he was starting to feel comfortable with his necklace.

'I got you something,' Pyrrhus signed after he'd brought Maurice back to their room after their classes, thankfully he tended to sign still which made life easier. Pyrrhus handed him a pair of fingerless leather gloves similar to his own, 'You'll need them.'

'Why?' Maurice signed in reply before putting them on, they fitted perfectly.

'Use your words,' Pyrrhus chided him, he still wanted to Maurice to speak not sign. Maurice really didn't like, it was strange when he had no way of knowing whether he was saying something right or not and was still being tortured in talking class for not being perfect and sounding too deaf, 'You'll be staying with your father for a bit, you have to make sure he doesn't see your blood quill scars so you'll need to make sure to always wear long sleeves and long pants and use the gloves to cover your hands.'

"What?" Maurice hoped he was asking in shock, "I'm leaving here?"

'Temporarily to stay with your father. He is not one of us so watch your tongue and hands, he cannot be trusted to know what happens here.'

"I don't want to stay with my father, how am I supposed to be a good soldier if I leave and miss classes? I thought he didn't want me anyway? Is it some kind of trap? I don't want to leave here, I don't know what it's like. What will I do without classes?"

'You don't have a choice unfortunately except to go and ride it out,' Pyrrhus signed and Maurice grunted irritably, he hated this already.

---

Part 4: Beating Quidditch

---

Molly was feeling fine the next day and had no other premonition episodes, she still had no progress with apparating but Latimer did. He actually managed to apparate apparently except left his prosthetic foot behind, causing him to fall over and be laughed at. For Valentine's Day, all Scorpius could do was trying to find some flowers that survived the snowfall and promise to do better for her birthday. Molly assured him he didn't have to try so hard, she liked him for who he was and not because he could afford to buy her expensive things. They kissed for a bit but both were too afraid of ruining to try making out again after last time, Scorpius thought they probably ruined the mood anyway.

"At least you and Michael have someone," Albus sighed unhappily at dinner as he moved his vegetables around his plate, "I feel like I'm going to be alone forever."

"Well what do you expect if you keep obsessing over adult women instead of girls you actually have a chance with?" Rose chided him with a roll of her eyes, "Michael's finally here."

"Great, he can rub it in too," Albus complained and Scorpius glanced over to see Michael and Mirra trying to tear themselves away from each other's lips to go to their respective tables.

"Wait, how did I rub it in?" Scorpius wondered, "All I said was it could've gone better when you asked how it went."

"I wasn't listening," Albus shrugged miserably, "I'm fifteen already and have never had a girlfriend."

"Calderon's in his late thirties and he's never had a girlfriend. Does that make you feel better?"

"No!" Albus moaned and dropped his fork, "Calderon's a trillion times cooler, more powerful and better looking than me. If even he can't get a girl then I'm screwed."

"Would you stop obsessing all of you?!" Maurice snapped at them, "Honestly, dating is wrong and be glad that you aren't doing it."

"Maurice, do you even like your Dad?" Rose asked curiously.

"No. He betrayed me and I hate him."

"So why do you still believe his twisted views of dating?"

"Just because I may not like him, it doesn't mean everything he said was wrong," Maurice insisted, "His argument is logical."

"I'm pretty sure he's only so against dating because he had a really bad experience with your mother, it doesn't mean dating is wrong. Roman is just... odd," Scorpius pointed out while Michael finally joined them, grinning from ear to ear which highlighted his good looks aside from the scar and mismatched eyes. Rose sighed wistfully.

"Good afternoon," Michael greeted them happily, his good mood evident.

"What's so good about it?" Albus demanded darkly and Michael's face wiped of joy, instead changing the subject and not mentioning Mirra.

Albus wasn't the only one to have a bad Valentine's Day, Carver had been broken up and was positively miserable for the next few practices while James was oddly chipper over his friend's heartache. The whole thing did finally give him the courage to confide in Leebin in their next session that weekend, telling him about what had happened with trying to make out with Molly over the break. He really wanted to get over his issues, even if it was incredibly difficult to talk about.

"So how can I get over it?" Scorpius asked desperately, "I thought I was over the muggles."

"I know you probably don't want to hear this but simply deciding you're over it and then refusing to think or talk about it doesn't mean that you are 'over it' in fact," Leebin told him cautiously and Scorpius scowled, "That's kind of a bad way to phrase it anyway, no one really 'gets over' things like that and I'm referring to traumatic events in general here not your situation specifically. Bad events shape our lives just as much as good ones, you can't just lock it away in a corner of your mind and pretend it never happened. What you need to do is learn to accept it and then you can let it go, you can move on."

"That sounds like it will take a long time."

"Probably yes, healing isn't a fast process. That's why 'bad' always tends to have the upper hand in life, things take a long time to build or grow but only seconds to destroy. Even with magic, healing spells are generally harder than harmful ones. I can help you to accept it if you want me too. And in the meantime, there are things you can do with Molly. You just need to recondition yourself to be alright with more intimate contact like that again, you got used to being touched again so you can do this."

"I don't know how I did that though," Scorpius admitted unhappily.

"Odds are you did the same thing I'm going to tell you, just without realizing it," Leebin pointed out and went on to tell him some techniques he could try.

The first being going slowly, being careful and cautious to get himself used to being so close to her and gradually get more passionate when he felt more comfortable. The second was to do with his senses, play music or light incense to get a smell or sound that he associated with good emotions or thoughts or memories while trying to make out to start associating it with good things not bad memories. And the third was not losing himself in the moment, instead thinking of positive things about Molly or just in general as memories were less likely to intrude if his mind was focused on having to think of other things. Leebin also suggested using a combination of them.

He thought Molly would be on board, when they actually had time anyway. His session with Leebin marked three weeks to the next match and Molly was upping their practices to prepare, school work also wasn't diminishing for him or Molly and the apparation classes cut into her free time on Sundays. When they did have time together, it usually wasn't very private or very long. Latimer also finally got word about Austin recovering, he did start showing up for the practices more again - much to Molly's relief, it had been causing some friction between them. She was his friend but his Quidditch Captain too after all - then but still seemed depressed and withdrawn. Then again, he was still apparating without his prosthetic foot and being laughed at for falling over so much so Scorpius didn't blame him for not wanting to be around people so much. Scorpius also finally got word back from Varanian via Annie.

"Annie says this is from Aaron," Michael told him at breakfast as he slipped him the letter, naturally it was scrambled and in need of Scorpius' spell.

"Who's Aaron?" Albus asked in a whine, "It's not her boyfriend is it?"

"No, he's-" Scorpius began to say friend but was cut off.

"Yes," Michael interrupted Scorpius, jumping at the chance for a reason to stop Albus liking her, "He's her boyfriend, she's not single so you have no chance with her. Move on. Go find someone not related me to like."

"Damn," Albus grumbled unhappily.

"Al, you're the son of Harry Potter," Abby pointed out, "If you want a girlfriend that badly then just ask one of the plenty who would jump at the chance to date the son of wizarding hero."

"I can't talk to girls anyway."

"Wait, why is her boyfriend writing to you?" Rose wondered curiously.

"Motorcycles," Scorpius invented as he blurted out, "He works with motorcycles and you know I love them, I asked Michael to write to him to ask for some stuff about them and he did."

"I don't understand why you like those things, they don't look very safe," Rose complained, buying his lie.

"Flying doesn't look safe either but that's awesome," Scorpius protested defensively and the conversation shifted. It wasn't until later that he got a chance to decode and read the letter, it wasn't very long:

Scorpius,

If Ashylos' plan is working then go with it, we don't want you or your friends to get caught. I got in contact with Dom and she agreed to spy on Corvinus, downside is she only would if she could tell Aurelius so now he knows as well. No news on that yet. But Dom does think she knows the entrance to get to the Scepter handle that Ashylos used for a want, Aurelius showed her a room you need Ashain blood to go through. It leads nowhere but a password or key or something could change all that. As soon as Calderon leaves for the next testing, go for the Scepter though because I've heard whispers there's another Shadow within the school who's been sent to retrieve it and is waiting for the same opportunity. You'll need to get to it before they do.

- Varanian

Unfortunately, Calderon showed no signs of having to leave yet. Scorpius still was putting off speaking to him, he'd taken to just ignoring the assistant whenever he did see him. The thought of another Shadow in the school was worrying, his first thought was still Grant because he hated him. Or maybe Midas because he didn't like her either. Although just because he liked or didn't like someone, it had no bearing on their allegiance as he'd liked Florian. Until he realized what a psychotic Shadow he was anyway.

The Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match was the weekend after his session with Leebin, it was also two days before the full moon - Scorpius was still having no luck with becoming an animagus - so Michael was tired for it. Both teams had Captains who were Seekers but aside from that, they were polar opposites. Captain Kyle Nott for Slytherin was a talented Seeker but not so great as Captain, his Keeper was inadequate, his Chasers were terrible and his Beaters... were alright. They had terrible aim but when they did hit, they hit hard and inaccurate Bludgers could still be cumbersome. In contrast, Captain Sequoia Pentakel for Ravenclaw had a brilliant team, his Keeper was on the ball, his Chasers were coordinated and his Beaters were effective. Pentakel had been a good Seeker but the injuries from the werewolf attack were still impeding him, he seemed to have improved since playing against Hufflepuff but his game was still off.

Scorpius felt bad for him, he thought it must be terrible to lose your talent. He wished he and Varanian had saved Pentakel sooner, the Ravenclaw had always come across as a smart and decent guy when Scorpius' played against him and he didn't really deserve this. Pentakel was a good Captain and Ravenclaw were still winning though, they were slaughtering Slytherin. Kyle needed to catch the Snitch quickly if he expected to beat them and make up for his lousy Captainship skills, he didn't though. The Beaters kept him at bay the few times he spotted it, Pentakel apparently ordering them on it as he knew that the rest of his team could hold up without their aid against the rest of Slytherin team.

"And that's why I worry about us going up against Ravenclaw," Molly grumbled while shivering, it was a freezing day. The air felt ice and the wind was like pierced with daggers, Scorpius thought everyone was wishing the match would end faster, "Pentakel is smart and tactical, he's a great Captain."

"That's ironic," Mirra laughed, she was sitting with Michael so was with them to watch her brother's match, "You're the Captain that Sequoia considers the best and most of a threat to him."

It turned out to be a long game, everyone was frozen by the end of it. All hopes of Pentakel catching the Snitch were obliterated by a violent Bludger to his arm, he cradled it to his chest for the rest of the game. Kyle did eventually catch the Snitch, outmaneuvering the Ravenclaw Beaters in an admittedly impressive display. It didn't matter though, Slytherin had exactly the same number of points as the Snitch earned and Ravenclaw had more than double. Ravenclaw cheered at their victory, Pentakel alone didn't look pleased with his victory. His team may have won but Pentakel had personally lost after all.

Molly upped the practices as much as possible, despite Michael missing most in the following week due to recovering from the full moon. Scorpius became increasingly nervous for the match, he wondered if Orous and Vern were training just as hard. February passed into March, the snow finally melted but the acidic cold remained and kept all week. It wasn't the best conditions for the match against Hufflepuff, on the bright side it wasn't the best conditions for Hufflepuff either. Scorpius was nervous but oddly giddily excited, he hadn't been able to play the first match of the year. He hadn't realized how much he missed an actual game until he was walking onto the pitch, it was strange to see Orous and Vern walking in opposite.

"Good luck," Orous offered him as they kicked off into the air to wait for the match to begin, his smile was kind.

"Good luck," Scorpius agreed as he returned the smile despite the fierce wind stabbing them.

And the match began. Hufflepuff was currently notorious for their good defenses but less impressive offense, today was no exception. Gryffindor had more of an even team but not without flaw, James and Freddie were good Beaters but didn't work together as well as Hufflepuff. James had outgrown his habit of trying to hit his own team members at least though. Latimer was also off his game, his missed practices showed and his efforts seemed sloppy in comparison to usual. He could fly circles around the Hufflepuff Chasers though. The Snitch was being elusive, neither he nor Orous saw it until after the first fifteen minutes. What he did see though was that Vern was on fire, he was really giving it all and blocking goal after goal from Louis and Latimer and even he even could keep up with Michael's speed half the time. They got a few goals in but not nearly as many as Scorpius would've expected, he supposed it was just more important that he caught the Snitch and end the game already.

Orous was actually the first to see the Snitch, Scorpius saw it just after his friend started diving for it. James smashed a Bludger in Orous' direction, making his friend veer off and also disrupting his own view of the Snitch so they both lost sight of it. Snitch: 1, Seekers: 0. The second time, Scorpius spotted it first and Orous dived just after. One of the Hufflepuff Beaters sent a Bludger hurtling his way and he was forced to spin off course to avoid it, his dodge also blocked Orous' view and they both lost it again. Snitch: 2, Seekers: 0. The third time, they both saw it at the same time from different sides of the pitch when it was in a more central location and both plunged towards it with the wind stinging their eyes. They both stretched out their dominant arms - Scorpius' right, Orous' left - to reach for it at the same time, there were only millimeters between themselves as well as the Snitch and - WHAM!

A Bludger crashed down in their arms, catching both of them due to their proximity. Scorpius felt an intense pain explode in his elbow as it snapped in the wrong direction, amplified by the same sound coming from Orous' arm. They both spun off in opposite direction, their balance knocked by the Bludger. By the time Scorpius righted himself, the Snitch was gone as Orous had been righting himself as well. Snitch: 3, Seekers: 0 still. Scorpius tried to move his injured arm, gritting his teeth at the flood of pain it caused but he still failed. It would move from his shoulder but his elbow wouldn't bend, his hand and fingers moved but weakly. It was going to make it harder to fly with one essentially useless arm, Orous' predicament seemed the same so he supposed at least they were even.

"You're welcome," James called from nearby, brandishing the bat with a grin near the Hufflepuff goal posts.

"I think you broke my arm," Scorpius pointed out irritably as he rose unsteadily to James to get used to flying one armed as much as anything.

"I was aiming for the ghost, not my fault you were so close. You know, if I was Seeker," James bragged, "Like I should be then I would've still caught the Snitch."

"Didn't you lose the only match you got to play Seeker in?" Scorpius countered and James' smirk was wiped in an instant, replaced by rage.

They were distracted by the match, Michael and Latimer approaching with the Quaffle bouncing between them to try score. James swung his bat hard at a passing Bludger, aiming it in Vern's direction to prevent him stopping it. In an expert display of skill, Vern spun out of the Bludger's path to narrowly avoid it and still just about reached the Quaffle in time to block it. Hufflepuff - and those supporting Hufflepuff - cheered crazily from the stands as the Quaffle into the arms of the Hufflepuff Chasers, they shot up the pitch and the Gryffindor Chasers and action with them.

"You suck, Latimer!" James yelled out angrily while Vern hovered by them, a smile on his face.

"Good game, huh?" Vern asked breathlessly but James just looked at him with murderous rage.

"For you maybe," James grunted and Vern's smile wavered, instead he looked nervous.

"Do you think your parents will be proud of me?" Vern wondered anxiously, his emerald eyes very much looking like they were craving approval.

"-And it looks like Knox has seen the Snitch!" the commentator's echoed through the window.

Time seemed to slow as Scorpius went to turn while out of the corner of his he, he saw James' face twisted further into a vile rage. James forcefully swung his bat but there were no Bludgers nearby nor was an iron ball the target of his attack, Vern was. The bat collided with the younger boy's face violently, smashing into his teeth and beyond. Vern was taken so much by surprise that he was knocked clean off his broom, his head struck the top the hoop and he fell backwards through it. Out of the corner of his other eye he could see Orous diving for a glint of gold, he hesitated for a moment.

He was torn between going after the Snitch as he could probably get to it in time if he tried or at least at the same time as Orous to have a chance to it, or going after Vern before his friend hit the ground. What was he thinking about? He tore his eyes away guiltily and sped after Vern, the moment of procrastination had been a moment too much. He didn't reach Vern in time and there was a sickening crack as Vern hit the ground, his body arched and he went still. Scorpius reached him and was relieved to see he was breathing at least, his skin looked as if it lost all color during the fall and his teeth were all smashed from the initial blow.

Scorpius was surprised by the cheering until he realized why and why no one had been paying attention to Vern to help him, Orous had caught the Snitch. Hufflepuff won. James didn't come to help his cousin, he stayed up there in the sky. Scorpius called for help and people finally started coming, Marigold came out from the stands with the other Hogwarts healers and the players gathered around.

"What happened?" Latimer asked with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

"You lost us the game. You're worthless, Latimer, go die in a hole because everyone hates you," James spat at him, Latimer's look became between incredulous and irritated.

"I meant with Vern."

"Oh. Random Bludger to the face, he sucks at dodging."

"You bloody liar!" Scorpius yelled angrily, "You hit your own cousin in the face with a bat and knocked him out of the sky!"

"And if he wasn't so useless at dodging then he wouldn't have fallen out of the sky!" James countered furiously.

"What is wrong with you?" Latimer wondered and James sneered as he went to reply but was cut off.

"His back's broken," Marigold announced as Vern was put onto a stretcher that someone had conjured.

"Will he be okay?" Orous asked worriedly, guilt etched on his face and the Snitch clutched into his good arm. It dawned on Scorpius that he'd really lost, for the first time he had actually lost a match.

"Of course he'll be okay, I'd be a pretty useless Healer if I couldn't heal a broken back!" Marigold insisted as if Orous' question had been an accusation against his efficiency before he glanced at James who's expression blanked, "Someone's going to be in a lot of trouble though."

---

Cade didn't think he really had a choice but to go with Alzay's decision to homeschool Orous, he read up on it so he could help because he had a feeling Alzay would go about it wrong. Not because she wasn't trying but rather that she tended to expect Orous to act like an adult already, she didn't really understand kids. She never had liked the silly fun things you could do with kids, Alzay was a serious person. They could generally work their schedules to make sure someone was always home with Orous, he didn't think it would be too hard to give some of the time to teaching him. Cade was nervous about screwing it up though, teachers were trained to teach and he really didn't want them to ruin Orous' education. Part of his job was going to schools sometimes to raise awareness of fires, he asked some of the teachers there for advice too.

He thought - or rather hoped - he was doing okay, that Orous was learning at a normal pace. He was pretty pleased with any progress Orous made but he had no idea whether it was better or worse or on par with regular schools, he just tried to be encouraging because Orous learned easier when he was happier and having fun as it captured his interest. He kept up the trips to places, especially since Orous was being homeschooled. He didn't want Orous to miss out on getting to see the outside world, there were a lot of things out there to experience and he didn't want Orous to miss out. Alzay disliked her son being around muggles so much and refused to let Orous go to clubs, which Cade wanted so that Orous could socialize with kids his own age and make friends. Cade was really starting to think that Alzay had a problem with muggles sometimes.

The next year was okay, Alzay was still busy with some project she was doing for work but without that to distract her, things started to get worse after Orous turned five. Cade also started to notice she got a lot of letters with the same handwriting that she burned without reading, she destroyed a package with the same handwriting too and snapped at him for 'spying' on her for noticing when it was nothing to do with him. Alzay did start to focus more on her son and was critical of pretty much everything Cade was doing, he wasn't making Orous learn fast enough, he was wasting time teaching him useless muggle stuff, he was wasting time taking him to more muggle places. After Orous told him he was worried about not making friends, Cade tried to convince her even more to let him sign Orous up for some clubs to try get him some friends with children since he thought kids would care less about his albinism if they liked similar things already. Orous' social life didn't rank high on her list of concerns though, she didn't think having friends mattered at all. They started really getting fights about it, about everything.

That was when she started using magic on him. The first time was when he was fed up arguing and decided to walk away to cool down, she hit him with that same agony inducing spell from before when his back was turned. He fought through the pain and managed to knock the wand from her hand, she immediately gave him the excuse that she'd given him last time about thinking he was going to attack her irrationally. He let it go again and she tried to be nice to him for a while but they were quickly back to fighting, that time when he tried to walk away she slashed his back with some spell that acted like a whip and left a welt. And then she did it again when he tried to get up. She tried to do it again but he ignored the pain to grab her wand arm to stop her doing it again, she really didn't seem to know how to react when he did that. She gave him the same excuse again and pretended-said she was sorry, was nice to him awhile - less time - before slipping back. And it kept happening, it became a regular pattern.

When he tried to walk away from a fight or refused to agree with her, she would attack then in some way until he managed to stop her then she'd pretend to be sorry. Things would be alright for a while but she'd slip back when they started arguing again, she nearly severed his arm from the shoulder when he got Orous a puppy for his sixth birthday. He had a former fighter friend who ran a charity for dogs and cats hurt or abandoned, the puppy's mother had found a good home but they didn't want the puppies so Cade had gotten the last one. He thought it might make Orous feel better about having no friends to have his own dog, they had Phoenix anyway so it didn't seem that crazy to get another dog. Alzay disagreed, apparently dogs weren't very magical and she was against Orous having one. She relented after nearly attacking him though and Orous was none the wiser, he was happy with his puppy.

Cade didn't know what to do about Alzay though, not even almost cutting his arm off seemed to concern her enough to not attack him again. And that was what really bothered him, she claimed she attacked him because she was scared but she didn't act scared and she never came across as showing remorse. Being nice to him after seemed more like something she did because she thought it would make him forget about it, she quickly grew bored of that anyway. In fact, as time went on she abandoned that completely and just seemed annoyed that he'd stopped her instead, and that he still wouldn't agree with her about whatever it was they'd been arguing about. She really didn't seem to care about him at all, or show signs of wanting to not injure him. And really, Cade didn't think he loved her either. He cared about her but he didn't love her, if he ever really had then a year of fights and attacks and seeing her cold remorseless eyes smile at his pain had definitely ruined it for him. Although ironically she was still interested in romance.

It still left him confused on what to do, what was someone supposed to do when their witch wife kept attacking him with magic? She didn't want to change and she didn't care he was hurt, he could sympathize with her troubled past but it didn't mean hurting him was okay. He couldn't protect himself from magic any more than he already tried to, he wasn't sure how to make her stop or even if it was classed as a crime. The obvious choice was just to get a divorce and leave her but he couldn't do that. Orous was technically his stepson, he had no right to take him with him if he left her because he wasn't leaving Orous. He didn't think Alzay would hurt him but he certainly wasn't going to risk leaving him there alone in case she did turn on him without Cade there, and that was his least strongest reason for staying. Cade wasn't going to just walk away from the child he'd raised and loved for six years, Orous may not be his biological child but he was his son and he wasn't going to just abandon him. He wanted to be there to see Orous grow up, even though the dreaded teenage years. He loved being a father and he loved his son. He would just have to try to ride out Alzay, maybe if he kept up what he was doing then she'd realize she couldn't bully him into agreeing with her and she'd stop because he certainly wasn't going to give up the fight. He could survive being married to Alzay.

---

Part 5: Losing

---

Apparently breaking your back could be fatal depending on where the break occurred, if Vern had landed in a slightly different position then he could easily have died before help could reach him which was why Marigold considered James in big trouble. Healing the spin also was harder than a normal bone to heal due to nerves or something so Vern would be in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the weekend although his teeth had been mended, Scorpius and Orous both had broken arms that Marigold fixed up quickly when he was done seeing to Vern. It was quite crowded in the Hospital Wing but because Scorpius and Orous had been injured too, they could kind of skate the visitor number by saying they were for them. The Hufflepuff team, Molly, Mirra, Latimer, Louis, Freddie and his now heavily pregnant girlfriend Caitlin stopped by to check on him before leaving. Scorpius, Michael and Orous stayed though and were joined by Abby, Albus, Rose, Maurice, Corin and Vern's girlfriend Olivia. James was also there, sulking in the corner in wait for the trip to the Headmaster.

"Welcome back, Vern," Michael offered when Vern finally came to, much to everyone's relief.

"Why... Why can't I move?" Vern wondered weakly with a concerned scowl.

"You had a nasty fall and broke your spine," Marigold explained and Vern's eyes bulged in terror, "Its fine, we can fix it. The potion's working now, it just works better if you don't move so you're on a potion to temporarily paralyze you."

"Um... Right, how long will...?"

"Just this weekend if everything goes to plan."

"Okay," Vern breathed in relief.

"How are you feeling?" Olivia asked worriedly, like Vern her hair had started to grow back was still really short.

"Like I can't move but other than that, okay I guess," Vern told her and smiled weakly.

"It's not okay," Maurice announced darkly, "James broke your spine. I say we break his, vengeance should be had."

"Do you want to get expelled?" Rose complained as if it was the most important thing in the world.

"We'd have to get caught first."

"I can hear you!" James called from his corner although it was lost on the deaf Maurice.

"I'm with you, except on the psychotic severe injury part," Olivia spoke up although in a quieter tone and Maurice blinked in surprise, "I could get my brother to help."

"Don't encourage him," Rose chided the Slytherin.

"You know, Olivia," Maurice smirked "I suddenly like you a lot more than I did this morning. What not psychotic revenge do you suggest?"

"No revenge attacking James," Vern told them seriously, "From anyone. He's still my cousin, I don't want Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny to kick me out for getting their son into trouble."

"I'm actually with Maurice and Olivia here," Orous pointed out, "Nearly killing you is something that deserves justice or revenge, Elwood's so biased we won't get the first so the latter will do."

"I'm surprised you, brother," Maurice offered and his smile widened at his twin, "Pleased but surprised."

"I'm still on the non-psychotic side of revenge though."

"I say not stooping to his level is good, I'm sure James will get some kind of punishment," Michael said, "And getting him back will do nothing anyway, it's not like he'll learn anything. Besides, two wrongs don't make a right and we don't all want to wind up in detention."

"If Elwood doesn't tell my parents then I will and I promise, they will punish him," Albus offered, "He will get punished. In a correct way."

"Whose side are you on, Al?" Maurice asked of him as Marigold walked over to them with James in tow.

"Yeah, Al, whose side are you on?" James agreed, "Your flesh and blood brother or distant Dursley cousin that's probably not even technically our cousin who we never wanted to get dumped with in the first place?"

"You really are a coldhearted bastard, you know that?" Olivia commented, glaring at him with murderous eyes.

"C'mon, there's no sides," Albus pointed out, shifting nervously as he started to sweat, "I can't pick."

"How can you not pick!?" James roared furiously, "It's like asking which is better, a tropical paradise or a kick to the nuts! One's not even a real answer!"

"Enough," Marigold interjected while Olivia muttered something that sounded like 'I want to kick him in the nuts,' "Malfoy, come on. You witnessed what happened, you need to tell that to Elwood since Dursley is still bedridden so come on."

"See you later," Scorpius half-waved goodbye as he left with James and Marigold.

The silence was sullen as they reached the Headmaster's Office where the password was 'Harry Potter.' Elwood had them both sit opposite him while Marigold just stood awkwardly beside the Headmaster facing them, folding and unfolding his arms like he wasn't sure what he should be doing with himself. To his credit, Elwood actually let Scorpius say what he'd seen first.

"I see, I see," Elwood mused thoughtfully when he was done, "And your side, James?"

"I accidentally tapped Vern with the bat when trying to gesture with it for Malfoy to go after the Snitch that I saw and he didn't because he's a bad Seeker," James lied, Marigold's incredulous expression was identical to Scorpius' own, "I didn't mean to harm Vern at all, I didn't even see him there."

"That's a lie!" Scorpius protested, "You did see him, you glared right at him, you were having a freaking conversation with him!"

"And for the record, most of Dursley's teeth were completely smashed in and he hit his head with enough force on the ring coming down to render him unconscious and give him a concussion," Marigold spoke up seriously, "This is not the result of an 'accidental tap' but a forceful blow that could very easily have resulted in the death of the victim. If this had happened in a professional Quidditch match then Potter would've been banned from playing for life at the very least and charged with deliberate assault at most, worse if the victim had actually died. Which I say again, was very possible if he'd landed just landed slightly higher."

"This isn't fair, Headmaster Elwood," James pleaded, trying to sound as innocent as possible, "They're just ganging up on me because they hate me, they discriminate against me just because I'm a Gryffindor and the son of Harry Potter. I bet you were a Gryffindor, sir, and I can see you're a great believer in my father's heroism unlike these two, a Slytherin and a Malfoy with Death Eaters for fathers."

"I don't even know who my father is."

"And whose mothers were probably Slytherins and Death Eaters."

"My mother is a muggle."

"My mother was only fifteen when the war ended," Scorpius pointed out, "And she was a Ravenclaw."

"I said probably," James scoffed, "You never know when Death Eaters will start recruiting Ravenclaw teenagers and muggles since Slytherins were dying so fast because they suck."

"I've heard enough," Elwood interjected before Scorpius could point out how stupid his statement was and Marigold seemed to have been about to the same, "James, I am really sorry for this but it appears some action has to be taken as the boy was injured."

"You don't apologize to the student in trouble," Marigold complained and slapped a palm to his face which Elwood chose to ignore.

"You will have to some detentions and I will take ten points from Gryffindor."

"Ten?!"

"You're right, that's a bit too harsh. Five," Elwood decided and Marigold threw up his arms in frustration, Elwood didn't notice however as Marigold was standing beside not in front of him where his attention was, "I think three detentions will be enough."

"Three?!"

"You're right, that's too harsh. Two detentions would suffice," Elwood corrected and Marigold slapped his palm to his face even harder, James was trying not to smile while Scorpius shared in Marigold's sentiments, "Two detentions for two days of recovery, it seems fair. I will have to tell your father, he has this thing about wanting to know when you get in trouble but I won't ban you from playing Quidditch. It's up to your Captain. And again, I am really sorry about this. Is that all, Marigold?"

"Are you going to fire Grant yet for trying to kill people?" Marigold wondered tiredly, probably referring to the previous year where Grant had sealed him, Professor Ashain, Michael and Cassia in the Hospital Wing to contain the werewolf threat.

"For the last time, n-" Elwood started to deny this as he turned to Marigold and stopped, noticing the redness on the Head Healer's face from where he'd slapped himself, "Are you feeling alright? You face is a little red."

"Can we go now?" James asked while Scorpius heard the door.

"Yes, of course. Have a pleasant weekend and again, I'm really sorry," Elwood said and Scorpius resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the apology, so much for justice. He stopped however as he realized the person to come through the door was Calderon, his cousin cast him a smile that Scorpius didn't return and the assistant looked down sadly instead as he passed by them on his way to Elwood. It wasn't mean, it was just nice, "I thought you weren't going to the Ministry for a few more weeks, Calderon?"

"I'm not, I just came off to drop off this latest load of paperwork," Calderon explained to Elwood as he reached the Headmaster's desk, flourishing grandly and a stack of parchment appeared on the desk.

"Come on," Marigold said to Scorpius and ushered him to keep moving to the door, forcing him to leave before he could hear more. He'd still gotten something useful though, Calderon would be going to the Ministry in a few more weeks.

He decided to wait until Vern had recovered to fill in the others, Easter was in a few weeks so it probably wasn't worth risking leaving in case Calderon left then. Unless it happened before hand, in which they were good. Something good did happen the next day at least - although not for Latimer, he was still the laughing stock of his apparation class for transporting without his prosthetic and falling over - when James received a howler from Harry Potter himself for what he'd done to Vern. Laughter erupted in the hall and James' head slowly lowered as it burned red, whether in anger or humiliation or being upset at being told off, Scorpius didn't know. He did know James ran out of the hall after, he had no sympathy for the bully. Michael was the only one he told about what he'd heard Calderon say so he could write to tell Varanian.

"I guess that means I'm staying for Easter," Michael sighed.

"No, Michael, you need to go," Scorpius insisted and Michael looked at him in surprise, "One of us needs to talk to Varanian, plan some way to get the Scepter out to him. He can keep it safe until we can get the other pieces to save Ashylos then destroy it, you and Annie know where he is and you can Patronus us with whatever he knows."

"I don't know, aren't you the one Varanian likes? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to go and me to stay?"

"I have the ring, I can leave quickly if it comes to the worst. Plus I think I need to stay for Maurice's spell to get Parseltongue to work. And Varanian likes you too, you did save his life."

"Okay then," Michael agreed hesitantly.

Scorpius told the others about Calderon leaving in a few weeks in the Room That Doesn't Exist on Monday after classes, Vern was back on his feet and thankfully had recovered alright. No thanks to Scorpius. He shoved that thought aside guiltily.

"I wish you'd told me this sooner," Orous pointed out unhappily, "I already wrote to my Dad to tell him I was going back for Easter, what do I tell him?"

"Same," Molly added and bit her lip nervously, "I was going to see how he was doing with Penelope's death, he's still pretty broken up about it."

"Then both of you go," Scorpius told them, "There's nine of us, we should be able to still be able to get to the Scepter with a few less. If you want to go back for Easter then feel free too, except Abby and Albus. You two have to stay for the blood. And I'm staying obviously."

"I'm staying," Maurice agreed immediately.

"Count me in," Vern nodded as well, "Lily's staying and so is Albus, it'll just be awkward with me and James home alone together anyway."

"Why is Lily staying?" Albus wondered in confusion, apparently this was news to him.

"Hugo was saying. Lily, Lorcan and August had all decided to stay, he felt bad that he was going in desperation to spend any time with his parents."

"It's probably because of August," Abby spoke up with a sigh, "After Christmas, he's not enthusiastic to go home. Nor am I really. So Latimer? Staying or going to see your Dad?"

"Might as well stay," Latimer shrugged and sighed unhappily, "I do have to go now though, I have a counselling session with that bitch."

"It can't be that bad," Albus prompted as Latimer stood.

"She makes me want to kill myself," Latimer complained spiritlessly as he left.

"Should we be worried about that?"

It turned out to be an unhappier week than Scorpius had thought, rain poured down outside and Quidditch practices left them soaked to the bone and freezing. And there were practices, Gryffindor had lost the match and Molly was dealing with it by continued their training when it was usually winding down for Easter. Molly hadn't had any doubts in her decision and James had been kicked off the team, resulting in hate-filled looks from him wherever Molly went. She was actually getting a lot of them, so were Scorpius, Michael and Latimer. They'd lost and Gryffindor were not pleased with them for losing, angry looks were thrown their way and some people even called out insults or blamed them. The reasons were ridiculous, some people accused Michael's werewolf condition as being why they lost or the fact he and Michael were friends with Vern and Orous so they had 'let' Hufflepuff win. Others blamed Latimer just because of his looks or because of his lost foot and Molly was criticized for being too young or having a squib for a sister or even being accused of choosing a team based off her relationships with them - three of her cousins were on the team after all, Latimer her friend and Scorpius her boyfriend - rather than for skill. He was sure Freddie and Louis were going through similar, maybe James too even if he was off the team now.

The Hogsmeade visit was that weekend and even that seemed solemn as they headed through the curtain of rain, or maybe it was just because Molly and Scorpius were in low spirits. He tried to cheer her up but naturally, sucked at it. Scorpius wasn't sure what he felt worse about, letting her down or letting Vern down. If he really was a good person then he would've been able to save Vern before he hit the ground and still have had time to catch the Snitch, at least the whole thing wasn't affecting their friendship with the Hufflepuffs. He bade goodbye to Molly and had to endure his parents trying to console him over losing at Quidditch, at least getting to cuddle Sol cheered him up a bit. He thought Sol was kind of lucky to not have to deal with anything like that, it made him feel guilty that he'd be dragging Antonius into the midst of things soon to go after the Scepter. He hoped the war would be over before Sol was old enough to worry about it. He used the time after his parents left to buy birthday presents for Molly's birthday after Easter this year and have a quick drink with his friends in the much preferred Hog's Head. Latimer hadn't gone out again however, he was in the Common Room curled up in one of the comfy armchairs by the fire drawing in his sketchbook with his cat on the arm beside him.

"Cool, what you drawing?" Albus wondered curiously as he peered over the elder boy's shoulder, "Some kind of party? Or celebration? Looks like fun either way."

"It's my funeral," Latimer explained without looking up from the drawing and Albus was somewhat taken aback by this.

"Erm... Shouldn't people be sad at funerals?"

"Not at my funeral. Everyone's happy that I'm dead so they're celebrating, no one will miss me or care that I'm gone. And finished," Latimer insisted before scowling and tearing out the page, tossing it into the fire. The flames surged and reflected off Latimer's eyes, highlighting the redness inside and making the shadows beneath them seem even darker.

"When was the last time you slept?" Scorpius asked as Latimer scratched his cat behind the ears gently, eliciting an approving purr.

"Soon enough."

"That doesn't exactly ans-"

"Oh wow, Latimer," Rose gasped suddenly and picked up the photograph Latimer had of himself and his mother in his sketchbook, "Is that you're mother? She's beautiful, I wish I could look that radiant. Do you know what skin and hair products she uses?"

"Yeah it's my dead mother," Latimer prompted and Rose blushed in embarrassment, Scorpius also recalled her assuming Latimer's mother was ugly before.

"Sorry. Is that your little brother? He's adorable."

"No, that's me."

"Wow, really?" Rose wondered and looked between the picture and Latimer in surprise as if trying to see the resemblance before Latimer plucked it off her, "You were such a beautiful child. And still are. A beautiful person. On the inside. And the outside."

"Nice try, Rose," Latimer offered as she got flustered, "Goodnight."

"It's not even dinner time yet," Abby pointed out.

"I know but I'm tired, I just can't sleep at night."

The next week was the last full one before the Easter break as well as the last full one of March, as a result the teachers were also winding down for the holidays. Calderon still hadn't left yet though, it would really help if he showed up on the map but he didn't. Instead they were reduced to Maurice having asked Cassia to tell them when Calderon left, the Ashain kids saw the assistant more than they did after all. The week went by quickly and Scorpius had his final session with Leebin until after Easter, he managed to open up to Leebin about his abduction and the muggles as well as play some chess which he realized Leebin did because he knew it relaxed him. It was hard to talk about but Leebin said he should be proud they'd made a good start, he hadn't failed Scorpius yet so he was hopeful that he could get over it for real.

"Good morning," Albus greeted Latimer and Molly as they joined them for breakfast on Monday.

"What's so good about it?" Latimer snapped moodily.

"Apparation classes didn't go well?" Albus guessed or just said, Latimer had missed dinner because he was upset about it.

"No."

"Is it really that hard to apparate without your foot?" Corin wondered.

"That's the problem, the instructor says I'm probably not thinking about the prosthetic as a part of me so I leave it behind," Latimer shook his head irritably and tried to pick at his food, "I guess it doesn't really matter, I'll not take the test."

"Why? When's your birthday again?" Rose asked.

"The last day of July."

"Ah yeah, too young. Will you be able to take it, Molly?"

"Yeah, it's the first day of May so it's after my birthday," Molly confirmed and looked nervous, "Almost a month away only."

"I'm sure you'll do great," Scorpius offered encouragingly and she gave him a weak smile.

"Thanks."

"Did you go out and practice flying today, Al?" Latimer asked of Albus, Scorpius would assume so. It was a religious habit for Albus now and a good one, he actually got up in the mornings to do it.

"In this freezing torrential rain?" Albus wondered before grinning, "Absolutely. I'm doing awesome, dodging the raindrops and all. Okay maybe not that good but still."

"Good," Latimer offered and his pockmarked face twisted into the closest thing to resemblance a smile in months, Scorpius was starting to worry about him though. His face was gaunt and the angular lines and pallid skin emphasized the shadows beneath his red, veiny eyes from barely eating or sleeping, his greasy hair was matted and filthy, his teeth yellowed as if he wasn't taking care of his personal hygiene either, "You need to keep it up if you're going to replace me."

"I'll do my best," Albus promised and started talking about flying techniques with Latimer, Molly eagerly jumping in at the subject of Quidditch.

"You know," Michael announced weakly after the bell went. It was the day before the full moon and he looked wiped already, his mismatched eyes fought to stay open and he moved on slow shaky legs, "I think I'm going to go to the Hospital Wing."

"Really?" Scorpius wondered in pleased surprise, recalling how earlier in the year Michael would push himself unnecessarily while the walked on obliviously.

"Yeah," Michael nodded and sighed with an awkward shrug, "No point staying, is there? I'm a werewolf and I've got to get used to my own limitations, one of those is resting when I need it... Right?"

"Right," Scorpius agreed and smiled as he clapped Michael on the shoulder gently, his smile was weakly returned, "I'm proud of you. Want me to walk you down?"

"Sure, long as you don't mind being late."

"Professor Ashain will understand," Scorpius pointed out and they headed off.

"And I... I'm sorry," Michael told him nervously, "For being such a jerk the start of the year. You were right, I was out of control. I was just really struggling with being a werewolf and stuff, just taking it out on everyone. I shouldn't have been like and I'm sorry, I was a lousy friend when you were just trying to help me with the werewolf bracelets and everything. I do actually appreciate it, even if I usually try rejecting it. It's just weird to accept help when you're so used to dealing with shit alone, I always feel like I'm supposed to be strong all the time and needing help doesn't seem strong."

"I'm sorry too, I wasn't innocent in this. And its okay, I get that it must be tough so don't beat yourself up about it. You've been through a lot."

"We both have," Michael pointed out, quite truthfully.

"And there's more to come," Scorpius admitted sadly, thinking of the war.

"And there's no place I'd rather be when all hell breaks loose then fighting by your side to stop it," Michael offered with a better attempt at a smile that Scorpius returned.

"Spoken like a true descendant of Pancratius."

"Or I'm just nuts."

"Or we both are."

"Maybe we just all are," Michael countered with a shrug, "I broke up with Mirra yesterday."

"What?! Why?!" Scorpius blurted out in shock as his smile vanished in an instant, "You two seemed so great together."

"And we were and she's really nice, she's great," Michael insisted before elaborating, "But then she starts talking about going all the way and getting serious, she's of age now and she's thinking of her future and stuff but I'm not. She has plans and things, safe nice plans, dating a dangerous werewolf who's secretly fighting Shadows behind her back doesn't fit into that even if she wouldn't admit it. She already lost her parents to the Shadows, the last thing she needs or wants is her boyfriend deliberating risking his life or being in danger. Which I am. It wasn't fair on her, we're in different places and on different paths. You always seem to envy what I had with Mirra but you're the lucky one, you and Molly have more of a connection than Mirra and I ever did, you're closer if you're not as intimate, you've been together over a year! You can hold hands and walk down the path together, you should be glad you have that."

"I am," Scorpius admitted truthfully, he was glad he had Molly although Michael's envy of their relationship surprised him. He was still feeling bad for Michael though, "I'm sorry it didn't work out with Mirra."

"Thanks. Probably for the best anyway," Michael sighed and a hand through his hair, "I'm not sure I ever really completely got over Rose."

"Does that mean you're going go after her?"

"After I just broke up with Mirra yesterday?" Michael protested and looked at him incredulously, "Just because I ended it, doesn't mean it wasn't hard for me."

"I didn't mean right now this second!" Scorpius complained, "Just in the future in general."

"No," Michael shook his head seriously, surprising him again, "I was right the first time about staying from dating, I shouldn't have gone out with Mirra in the first place. I should never have considered, I mean look at my parents. They were pregnant when they were just a year older than us, Jack cheated on her and broke both of their hearts then every guy Crystal's dated since was a psycho who hurt us. Maurice isn't completely wrong, relationships can end really badly as a human let alone as a werewolf, as me. Accepting my limitations is accepting that I can't date, its better this way."

"If you say so. I guess Maurice will pleased," Scorpius offered, not sure Michael was really right to give up so easily and so young but it was Michael's choice and it was the wrong time to talk about it.

"Yeah," Michael smiled half-heartedly but they'd reached the Hospital Wing anyway, Freddie was there with his heavily pregnant girlfriend Caitlin who complaining of not feeling well to Marigold.

"I'll see you later, Michael."

"See you, Scorpius," Michael agreed with a tired nod and Scorpius hesitated a moment before hugging him, feeling like he had his friend back.

He was in a good mood for the rest of that morning, even if he had Divination without any of his friends as only he and Michael took it. The Slytherin boy Knight partnered with him instead, it wasn't like any Gryffindors were going to after he lost them the match. Scorpius was sorely lacking in knowing the names of the people in his classes, he recognized them by sight but he didn't interact with them enough to really have learned names. He wondered if that was another strike of his similarities to Varanian. In fact, he didn't even know Knight's first name. He knew the younger brother was called Byron but not Knight's, he was too embarrassed to ask. Knight was actually pretty good at Divination, he came across as friendly even if he talked a lot. Scorpius thought it was alright, he wasn't the best talker himself.

The day did take a downward turn at lunch though, apparently James had played a prank on Latimer that involved spraying him with Invisible Ink. It made the clothes minus underwear go invisible, completely humiliating Latimer who Scorpius recalled saying something about going to the prefect's bathroom in the first place because he was afraid of being laughed at. Latimer had taken off and hadn't been seen since, he was in his dormitory according to the map. Scorpius thought it was a cruel prank, he still wouldn't get undressed unless the drapes the closed.

"I don't get why he's so upset," Rose complained.

"Because of being almost naked and everyone was laughing at him?" Albus prompted as if it was obvious, it kind of was, "It's like that bad dream of being in front of the class naked, except it actually happened."

"Not about that!" Rose protested with a glare at her cousin, "I get why it upset him but he's actually pretty fit and in shape, he shouldn't be ashamed or why people laughed."

"Because of the pockmarks, scars and prosthetic foot," Abby pointed out, "People are cruel."

"That is so superficial, Abby," Rose chided and flicked her hair back over her shoulder, making everyone - even Maurice - look at her incredulously - while Albus choked on his spinach at a failed laugh, "I didn't even notice that stuff."

"Latimer's right, it's freakishly weird when you're being nice to him," Maurice told her and Rose threw up her arms in frustration, "Almost as strange as your freakishly unnatural blond hair."

"I can't win with you people!"

Things didn't improve though, Latimer didn't come out for classes or for dinner that day or night as he had Astronomy ever week night. He didn't show up for any classes or any of the meals the next day either or night either, Molly tried to bring him some food but he was in the bathroom and hadn't come out until after she was shooed away by the other boys in Latimer's dormitory. Scorpius seriously thought about going to talk to him but he wasn't Michael, he wouldn't know what to say and would probably only wind up making Latimer worse. Michael was still in the Hospital Wing for the full moon though. He didn't show up for breakfast either the next day but Albus said Latimer had joined him on his morning flying practice session to help him as he did sometimes, he didn't show up for lunch either but was at dinner and had apparently showed up to his afternoon classes. Scorpius thought it was a good sign.

"It's a beautiful day, don't you think?" Latimer commented to no one in particular as they ate, they were basking in the luminous light from the sunset.

"Yeah, the rain's finally let up," Abby spoke up in agreement, "It'll be good for the plants."

"It'll be better when most of the school is gone home tomorrow," Scorpius offered, tomorrow was the day people were heading back for Easter so at least Latimer wouldn't have to deal with bullies for a week, he thought it might help his spirits.

"Yeah," Latimer nodded as he went back to his food, "I wish it was over now."

"Want to go flying with me in the morning?" Albus asked him cheerfully, "We can stay out and avoid those ass holes. Until we need to say goodbye to you guys anyway."

"Sure, Al," Latimer agreed with a somewhat sad smile, "Sounds good. You're pretty much good enough to replace me anyway, you should get onto the team as soon as possible."

"I still don't know why so many of you people are staying," Rose complained to him.

"Well things are so awkward with James right now," Albus pointed out.

"I want to stay with my brother," Abby said at the same time.

"I'm still having issues with my parents," Scorpius added, also at the same time.

"Muggle stuff is weird," Maurice also spoke overlapping.

"I felt like it," Latimer shrugged, "But that reminds me, Molly, can I please borrow Hopper? It's my Dad's birthday in almost a week and I want to make sure he gets it."

"Sure," Molly agreed and Latimer smiled at her.

"Thanks, Molly, you were a good friend."

They finished their dinner and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, Latimer bade them all goodnight and they all returned to their respective dormitories. Latimer returned to their dormitory a few minutes later though with his cat, Daftodil, in his arms.

"Could you guys do me a favor?" Latimer asked of them, "My roommates are playing a game of try kick the cat and since I have to go to Astronomy soon, could you just keep her in your dormitory for tonight?"

"Okay," Albus agreed and Latimer handed him the cat after hugging it a final time.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"See you at the sunrise," Scorpius offered in farewell as Albus cooed over the cat, Latimer just looked sad again.

"See you there," Latimer nodded and smiled weakly as he left.

Scorpius checked the map as he did every night to look for signs of Ashylos, aside from the wavering dot of Professor Ashain there had been none. He saw Latimer's dot go to the empty prefect's bathroom then to Astronomy with Professor Koray and a class amount of dots while Michael was still in the Hospital Wing, he'd be back out tomorrow to leave. Oddly though, Freddie and Caitlin were both in the Hospital Wing too and Marigold was with him. He hoped they were okay, that was no problem with the baby or anything. Latimer returned to his dormitory then went to the Owlery, presumably to send Austin's gift. Marigold's dot was still by the two Seventh Years, it hovered around them but stayed by them while Michael's dot started moving between him and the supply room as if he getting things for them. Latimer's dot left the Owlery, Scorpius assumed back to his dormitory. There was still movement in the Hospital Wing, he hoped everything was alright and that Michael could get some rest. Calderon could leave any day so he'd need it, he was too tired to keep watching random dots though so he put it away.

Albus was already sleeping with Latimer's cat curled up at his feet, Scorpius soon joined them to be awoken by a frustrated grunt from Albus. Scorpius yawned loudly as he sat up, Albus slumped onto his own bed and scooped up Daftodil the cat to pet. The cat purred approvingly. The other boys who shared their dormitory, Reuben and Angelo were desperately scrambling to pack their trunks. Michael's was already packed and resting on the bed, Scorpius and Albus were staying so they didn't need to worry about it.

"What's up?" Scorpius asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Staying up late staring at dots was not ideal.

"Latimer didn't show up to fly with me this morning," Albus grumbled.

"He probably overslept," Scorpius shrugged it off, "He hasn't exactly been getting a lot of sleep lately, he probably crashed from exhaustion."

"I guess... It is good he's finally getting some rest," Albus conceded with a nod, "So wanna go get some breakfast and watch everyone leaving?"

"I'd rather sleep but sure."

Albus gave him a few minutes to get washed and dressed, they left the other two desperately trying to cram things in without Michael's usual aid. At least Albus had the good taste to wait until they'd left the dormitory to laugh at the other two for their lack of organization, they ran into Molly in the Common Room and headed down together. Scorpius intertwining his fingers with hers, they didn't have a lot of time before she would be gone for a whole week. Maybe it wasn't that long but she was still leaving.

"Wait up," Calderon called them back when they tried to go into the Great Hall, blue lights flickered around him and his expression was grave, "Can I talk to you for a minute, Molly?"

"Okay," Molly agreed uncertainly and moved away with Calderon into an empty part of the corridor out of their earshot.

"What do you think that is all about?" Albus wondered worriedly, "You don't think anything happened to Uncle Percy do you? He's a bit of a bore but he's my still my uncle and Molly's widowed father."

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted, Molly definitely looked upset by whatever Calderon was saying, "Doesn't he usually take them to Elwood if something's serious like that?"

"What is it then?"

"I don't know, I'm standing right beside you. I know as much as you do."

"Yeah but you might know more."

"Why would I know more?" Scorpius wondered and glanced back to Albus.

"I don't know, you just always seem to know more than me," Albus pointed out with a shrug, "Doesn't matter she's coming back."

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked her with concern, seeing she looked on the verge of crying.

"Latimer tried to kill himself last night," Molly told them and swallowed tearfully, "He-He might not make it."