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

15. Chapter 15: Clearing Fog

Parts (85-89)

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IV

Chapter 15

Clearing Fog

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Part 1: Reunited

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Guilt tormented Alzay, Cade was more upset then she'd thought he'd be as well. What right had he to be upset? Orous wasn't his biological son, Orous was nothing to him so he should feel nothing for the boy. She insisted to the Aurors that it was Roman and the tedious letters begging for contact with Orous stopped, not that Roman had any doubts that they were behind it. He was riled up about it and Alzay had to magically assault him every time she saw him to get him to shut up about it, he had no right to care about Orous either even if Orous was his biological son. He hadn't seen the boy since Orous was a baby - barring the Aurors showing him a picture - he didn't even know what Orous looked like now, Orous was nothing to him either so he shouldn't be so upset. She was upset though. She tried to go to Rabastan for comfort but he was too busy working on the Blood Rune plans to give her much, she was furious with him. Could he not see she was concerned? She was pregnant with his child, the least he could do was care for her wellbeing. At least he still gave her missions to take her mind off it, there was nothing like taking your guilt or frustration or other bad emotions out on others.

Pyrrhus had oddly shut up talking to her about his father and childhood, he must know it was too late by now so he said nothing on the subject. He did still flirt with her though, usually she found it annoying but now she relished that someone was paying attention to her and thinking nice things about her when she was starting to feel like she was a bad person. Rabastan was too busy working, Cade was too busy searching for Orous, Orous was gone and the empty days where she would normally teach him dragged her down. After a few weeks she even confided in him her concerns and guilt, expecting him to comfort her.

"But I did it to save my father so am I really a bad person?" Alzay concluded and to her surprise, Pyrrhus laughed.

"Of course you're a bad person!" Pyrrhus scoffed as he composed himself, she scowled, "You're a horrible person. You only care about yourself and you only care about what you want. Even now, you're not concerned about your son suffering but your own feelings, you don't want him to be saved but just to feel better about yourself. You enjoy hurting, you enjoy killing. These are not traits of a good person. You're a bitch, Alzay, a selfish bitch."

"Crucio!" Alzay lashed out in frustration, Pyrrhus effortlessly flung himself out of the way and managed to turn his dive into a flip. She went to aim at him again but his agile movement took her off guard, he grabbed her wand with a flourish and held her wrist firmly aiming the wand away from him, "How the did you get so fucking agile anyway?"

"Ten years of gymnastics," Pyrrhus told her cheerfully with a smile, "You probably don't want that is."

"Some muggle... thing. Why do you always flirt with me if I'm such a horrible person?" Alzay tried to ask curiously but it came out as more of a furious demand.

"Quite simple really. I'll let you in on a secret," Pyrrhus informed her and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she snapped tiredly.

"Everyone is a horrible person," Pyrrhus whispered before moving his head back to face her but kept the low volume, "There's no such thing as good, there's only bad and worse. Everyone is bad, some are worse, some are different kinds of bad but it's all bad. There's no light in the world, it all comes from the distant sun and even that would incinerate you if you got up close. Just ask Icarus with his wings."

"You lost me slightly."

"There's no such thing as a good person, only bad people pretending. I'd rather have honest cruelty than malevolent kindness. You're a bitch but I always know where I stand with you, I like that. It's better than being suckered into trusting someone and stabbed in the back, I hate that. You should never trust anyone but yourself because everyone will hurt you."

"You're insane," Alzay laughed at him and he smirked.

"It wouldn't surprise me but really? More insane than a woman who sacrifices her two children to save one man?" Pyrrhus countered and her laughed died immediately.

"You just wouldn't understand parental love because your parents never gave a damn about you."

"Like your mother?" Pyrrhus asked and she instinctively went to slap him with her free hand but his reflexes were frustratingly faster and he grabbed her other wrist, his smirk only widened, "Touchy. I-"

She kissed him to shut him up and to distract him but she found herself enjoying it, it had been weeks since Rabastan or Cade had given her more than a quick peck. He abandoned her wrists immediately to put his arms around her, kissing her back with youthful enthusiasm. She wondered if he'd even been kissed before as she unleashed a nonverbal spell while he was distracted, Pyrrhus was thrown violently back against the wall and his fall to the ground was interrupted by the desk that be bounced painfully off before hitting the floor. He cringed in pain as he rubbed his head and Alzay smirked as she went over to him, flicking her want to send the Cruciatus Curse coursing through him. He bit down on his tongue to stop himself screaming, lasting even longer than Cade before she let him go and crouched to his level. He opened his mouth to speak and she slapped him.

"That's for the comment about my mother," Alzay told him and slapped him again across the other cheek, then the first again, then the other again, "That's for stopping me from slapping you before, that's from stopping me from cursing you before and that's for pissing me off."

"Okay," Pyrrhus said disinterestedly as he got to his feet.

"Do you still like me?"

"Absolutely."

"You're insane," Alzay repeated before kissing him again, he was more cautious about kissing her back this time but pocketed her wand to put her arms around him in turn. She only pulled away to breathe.

"You're insaner," Pyrrhus whispered, tempting her to slap him again but he was focused now and would probably stop her so she didn't. Instead she leaned in to whisper seductively in his ear.

"So do you have a bed or what?"

Pyrrhus almost tripped up scrambling to open the door on the right, it was so unusually clumsy that she again wondered whether he'd done this before. That door did lead to his bedroom so they could sleep together, it did take her mind off things. She didn't think anything of it, she didn't think there was anything to think about. However she was wrong, the next time she saw Rabastan he wasn't too busy to have time for her. He was furious.

"How could you cheat on me?!" Rabastan yelled at her immediately, she was so confused she almost laughed but stopped herself.

"Cheat on you?!" Alzay scoffed, "I have a husband, if anything I was cheating on him. With you and Pyrrhus."

"I don't think either of us counts the muggle as a real husband! But you and me? I thought we had something, we're having a child! And you go and cheat on me?! How could you do that to me?! I love you," Rabastan screamed at her, his rage turning to pain at the last as his eyes welled with tears. Alzay was stunned, where was this coming from? That made her feel angry, it was coming out of nowhere. They'd been together for years and all of a sudden it was wrong to sleep with other people when he was ignoring her and now he loved her? She was clearly the one in the right here.

"Please, this is your own fault! You haven't had any time for me lately, why shouldn't I be with someone else while you're too busy for me?! I can sleep with whoever I want to, are you honestly telling me that you haven't been with someone else the whole time we've been together?!"

"Of course I haven't!" Rabastan shrieked and looked offended by the thought, surprising her.

"Because you love me?" Alzay taunted irritably.

"Yes, I love you. I'd have proposed to you years ago if you weren't married to the muggle as a cover," Rabastan admitted as the tears seeped slowly down his face, "Don't you love me?"

"I... Well..." Alzay stammered nervously, she did care about him a lot which was saying something considering she had trouble feeling attached to people. He was looking at her expectantly which bothered, how was she supposed to know if she was in love?! "Don't put me on the spot like that!"

"It doesn't matter, I already know after what you did," Rabastan pointed out bitterly, the hurt on his face seemed so genuine that she tried to swallow her anger. She didn't like seeing him hurt.

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know it was such a big deal to you," Alzay told him truthfully, "Now that I know that it means so much to you, I won't sleep with anyone else."

"Forget it, Alzay, we're done," Rabastan said, she felt as if she'd been slapped in the face while he wiped his eyes but unspilled tears remained in his eyes, "We'll still be in contact for Soul Eater stuff and for our child but romantically, its over between us."

"You can't do that!" Alzay yelled, panic shooting through her at the thought of losing him, "You can't just leave me! I said I was sorry and now that I know, I won't do it again! What more do you want?!"

"You broke my heart, I can't be with you anymore," Rabastan told her and turned away, infuriating her as he disappeared into the shadows.

"DON'T WANT WALK AWAY FROM ME!" Alzay screamed at the space he'd been, her own eyes watering now, "RABASTAN! COME BACK! COME BACK! COME BACK! RABASTAN! RABASTAN! Rabastan! Rabastan..."

Rabastan didn't come back, nor did he change his mind about forgiving her. She was utterly miserable, how could he do this to her? And for such a stupid reason? He should have said something before. It was really his fault not hers, his and Pyrrhus' of course. Not that she could really be mad at Pyrrhus, he was pretty much the only person she had who she could talk to, be with and try to torture. Try as he was much better at dodging and defending himself, however his reluctance to attack her still made it possible. She missed Rabastan. And she missed Orous. And she missed her father. At least in the coming months, it was one thing to look forward to. Rabastan put her up in an apartment that she gradually started moving her things too as her father would need somewhere to stay and she would need to move out anyway, Cade would eventually notice her pregnancy and she'd rather he not find out lest he want to care for that child too. She wasn't showing, nothing some baggy clothes couldn't hide anyway before ultimately leaving him permanently - without telling him of course - at the New Year. The day she'd finally have her father back.

Just thinking about it made her smile, after all this time she would finally have him back. She thought of all the good memories that were often lost amongst dealing with life but they were still there, her father was the best. She wasn't allowed to be there for the attack on Azkaban, riding a broom while pregnant wasn't the smartest plan in the world. She was alright with it though, Rabastan assured her that her father would be with her before the sun rose. She couldn't sit still, she tried pacing but got bored with it, she tried reading but couldn't get past one sentence. Until finally, she heard someone call her name and lurched to her feet to see Rabastan vanishing into the Shadows but she left behind her father. She took a moment to drink in his appearance and he seemed to do the same with identical oceanic eyes to hers. He had aged - naturally - since she'd last seen him, his face was more worn and he despite the 'better' conditions of Azkaban, he was still frightfully thin. His hair was unkempt with a slight wave to it, still black but snaked with gray now. He smiled and it made him seem years younger again, she returned it as she ran to him and he threw his arms around her. It was the first time in her life that she'd ever cried for joy, nothing in the world could ever possibly compare to how happy she was as she clung to him.

"I thought I'd never see you again, Alzay," her father croaked weakly, his voice sounding disused and very much as if he too was crying but checking would mean pulling away from him. She just wanted to hug him forever as if that would somehow make sure she never lost him again, "I love you so much."

"Don't worry, Daddy, I never stopped trying to get you out," Alzay assured him through her tears as he kissed the top of her head, sacrificing her sons had never felt more worth it and she knew she'd made the right choice in that moment without any doubts. Anything was worth it for him, "I love you too."

---

It was a strange and sad Easter break, Marigold had them sitting with Latimer on rotation in pairs to not overcrowd the Hospital Wing although he let them have a bit of time altogether or else they were kicked out when Latimer started to crash. When not in the Hospital Wing, they just had to try amuse themselves in the empty castle. Scorpius knew Hogwarts was big but emptiness only amplified it, the lack of hundreds of students made the corridors seem that much wider and the rooms that much longer. Footsteps seemed to echo over and over, bouncing around with every single stride. He hadn't heard from Ashylos yet but he knew the spirit would be incredibly disappointed if he was not already, he hadn't heard from August and Lily either wanting answers as they were apparently content with their old siblings telling them it was none of their business. Well, he doubted they were content but they at least weren't pestering him. Cassia alone wanted the truth but she was generally busy as Professor Ashain seemed to be taking the time with no classes to spend time with his kids. Scorpius almost wished he'd have classes to take his mind of things but then he wouldn't be able to be there for Latimer.

At night he and Albus took it in turns watching the map to make sure Latimer didn't die while they were gone, his dot thankfully was holding on. Scorpius did start to feel bad for Marigold though, the guy spent every single night hovering around Latimer's bedside or going between the potion storage and the bed with little to no rest. Latimer didn't seem much better really, his breathing continued to be uneven although he started regaining consciousness occasionally but it never lasted more than a minute or so and they couldn't really talk to him. Scorpius didn't think he had much awareness of any of what was really happening, he was hanging in there though. The weekend passed and Vern shared the massive chocolate eggs his girlfriend had sent him for Easter, to cheer him up and they saved some for when/if Latimer pulled through. Latimer did start to show more improvement after Easter, his breathing seemed less awkward - although still not normal - and he started drifting awake more often. Still not for long but they could talk to him for a bit at least although he was somewhat out of it from the potions he was on, Scorpius still took it as a good sign as any improvement had to be good.

It wasn't until the last full day of the break that Austin showed up, a week after Latimer's suicide attempt. Scorpius hoped it was because he simply hadn't gotten word until then, he tore into Marigold with death threats if he didn't save his son. Marigold seemed too tired to care or maybe desensitized as Elwood came down daily to also threaten the healer if he let Latimer die. Marigold shooed them out to give Austin privacy, family trumped friends apparently. Scorpius caught a glimpse of Austin slipping Latimer's wand on the bedside table as he sat beside his son and took Latimer's hand gently, his anger replaced by concern. He also noticed a scar up the side of Austin's neck, presumably from the Shadow's attack as he hadn't had it when Scorpius had stayed in the summer. The weather was lightening up now at least, they actually got some fresh air without being pelted by rain or snow or whatever the sky was throwing down at them. Albus and Abby were visiting Professor Hagrid, Maurice was training with Lorcan and - oddly - Vern so he and Molly took the time to walk together with their fingers intertwined. He gripped Molly's hand a little tighter whenever they moved closer to the lake, recalling freezing up in the pipes pathetically. He told her about it all when asked, something he had left out of his account to the others.

"You shouldn't be ashamed, everyone has things they're afraid of," Molly offered gently as they made it back to the castle, "There's not a single person in class who has nothing to see in a boggart."

"It's one thing to be afraid, it's another thing to just stop functioning," Scorpius pointed out with a heavy sigh, "We could've died and all because I'm a coward, I nearly got Antonius killed. He's just a child, I was supposed to be protecting him. After everything Professor Ashain's done for me, I nearly killed his son just because I'm scared of water. What would he say if he knew?"

"Get some rest," Professor Ashain's voice said and Scorpius jumped in fearful shock before realizing that it wasn't directed at him, Professor Ashain was walking up the corridor with Calderon. The assistant looked dead on his feet as he trudged along with a bag slung over his shoulder, he was who the comment was aimed at.

"Really, Ticcy?" Calderon replied with a yawn as they passed by them, "I think the only reason Elwood lets me test that stuff for Harry is because he likes me being wiped out by it."

"Who cares what Elwood thinks? He's an idiot," Professor Ashain scoffed as they rounded the bend and out of sight.

"Scor, are you even listening to me?" Molly wondered and Scorpius glanced back to her, he hadn't even realized she'd been speaking.

"Calderon's back," Scorpius pointed out.

"I noticed. Are you still going to talk to him?"

"Yeah, I think I'll do it now."

"Now when he seems tired?"

"It's as good a time as any," Scorpius shrugged, shoving aside sympathy in favor of nervousness, "I want to do it before I lose my nerve."

"Alright," Molly agreed reluctantly and pecked him on the lips, "Good luck then."

"Thanks," Scorpius nodded as he left her to go after Calderon, he caught up just as Calderon was going into his room with the professor having already gone, "Calderon!"

"That's my name," Calderon confirmed with another yawn as he turned to him, his expression becoming surprised then saddening as Scorpius reached him. He jittered anxiously while blue magical lights flickered around him, "What's up?"

"I erm... I wanted to talk to you," Scorpius admitted, not really wanting to go into detail in the corridor, "Can I come in?"

"Err... Sure," Calderon swallowed nervously as they went into the tiny closet of a room that the assistant had once lived in, "Dragons."

Immediately the room seemed to revolve around them, the bricks breaking away and falling out of place into the spinning sensation. It stopped after a second, showing that room was now extended. It still looked bare as if Calderon didn't have enough things to fill it but it did seem more lived in than it had last year or at least pictures and tapestries made the windowless walls less vast. A mixture of landscapes and magical creatures, dragons featuring in quite a lot, there was a large painting of Hogwarts itself. There was the couch and armchairs closet still, they had cushions now, a rustic throw over the couch and a small table in the middle. The bookshelf didn't look crammed full of things but it also didn't have any spare rows now which made it look comfortable, in contrast the desk pushed against the wall was stacked with papers instead of being bare now. Calderon's single bed was still wedged in the corner but now had a bedside table with a spiraling candle, the trunk was still beneath it but presumably empty as there was a chest of draws. There were also now two rugs to break up the stone floor, the warm red one by the seats still and a fluffy blue one that seemed patterned off waves over by his bed.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Calderon asked as he put down the bag by the couch and sat, gesturing for Scorpius to do the same, "You can sit if you want to."

"I'd rather stand," Scorpius told him firmly and shifted nervously, clenching and unclenching his fists as he tried to think of how to start it, "I erm... You might have noticed that I um..."

"Hate me now?" Calderon finished the sentence for him and looked solemn, prompting the flickering lights to become slow waves, "I noticed."

"Good," Scorpius nodded and realized that was kind of a stupid thing to say, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before deciding to just come out of it, "I saw you using Specters in Varanian's memory."

"Yeah," Calderon admitted readily, guilt twisting his face but he looked at him as if expecting more, "Go on."

"That's it," Scorpius pointed out and the assistant seemed surprised.

"That's it?"

"Of course that's it, unless you have any other dark secrets you feel like sharing with me," Scorpius snapped harsher then he'd intended but Calderon's reaction hadn't been what he was expecting, "Haven't you got anything to say for yourself?! You were using evil... things! Just like the Shadow Master! How could you?! Why would you?!"

"Okay, I guess you deserve an explanation," Calderon sighed and took a deep breath as he looked away from Scorpius, starting to run a hand through his hair but it became more of just grasping at it. He lowered his hand shakily, still leaving his normally neat night-black hair in a mess, "You know how I told you before about the Shadows? And how the Shadow Master gets them?"

"Yes," Scorpius confirmed with a nod, "Specters are the Shadows of Dementors, the Shadow Master magically severs their ties to the Dementor and binds them to himself instead so he can use them."

"You know I was born in Azkaban, that I grew up there," Calderon continued in barely more than a whisper, staring off into his memories, "Dementors repress magic, it's not so bad for adults - well it is but not - as they've become accustomed to controlling their magic and only using it when they want to. Children don't have that, they haven't learned to control magic yet and it still tries to come out but can't as its being repressed. It builds and builds and builds, unable to get out until finally the pressure is too much and it erupts like a magical volcano.

"It was an accident. I was about eight the first time, one of the Dementors was approaching me and... and I didn't want it to... and magic just... happened. I couldn't control it, you can't at that age. I didn't know... I severed the Dementor's Shadow and bound it to myself as well," Calderon breathed tearfully as he looked down now, trembling as he buried his face in his hands and when he continued his voice was breaking from trying not to cry, "That's how I know so much, I was the first Master of the Shadows. I didn't want it, I was so scared of it. I was a child. I tried to get it leave but it was still bound to me and that just makes it worse, given half the chance at free will all it wants to do is destroy souls. It did it to someone, I... I don't even know their name but it destroyed his soul just to feed off that pain.

"I had to keep a reign over it to protect everyone, I named it One and tried to understand it. Like Dementors, they can learn to speak... to think. Not that One ever wanted to do more than destroy, my life was so miserable that it was satisfied with pain constantly or off the others anguish so it was alright with learning and teaching me, terrifying me. It's not good to be so afraid, magic is linked to emotions and accidentally gaining Shadows happened a few times. I didn't name them though, didn't communicate with them like One. One was enough. Too much. I didn't want it but I couldn't get rid of them, you can destroy them - or Dementors even - if you just throw enough magic at them but I couldn't do that so young. The reason I'm so freaked out by Dementors is not because of what they can do, but because of what I can do.

"That night with Pippy..." Calderon paused to swallow, Scorpius saw the tears oozing through the gaps between his fingers, "He was in no condition to apparate himself to St Mungo's, Brutus had taken me there once before because he cared about my injuries like that so I knew about it. I couldn't apparate either of course, the Death Eaters wouldn't have saved him if I could wake them so I... I used the Shadows to get him to the hospital. He was badly hurt and I didn't know what else to do, I had no other way. That night was when I vowed to never be who I was born to be, I shoved my arm into the flames when I returned and burned off the Dark Mark my mother had cut into my flesh. And the... the Dementor guards came back, I created another one and... and the... the others saw, the Shadow Master saw how it was done now we were old enough to understand. Then I unbound myself to them and someone else was cursed with them, it's all my fault. The Shadow Master is all my fault..."

Calderon trailed off, his shaking shoulders implying he was crying as the flurry of blue lights swarmed around him. Scorpius stood there guiltily for a moment processing it, it had been an accident. Calderon hadn't been evil or even trying to be evil, he'd just been a child stuck in a horrible situation with magic he couldn't control. He shouldn't have doubted him, there had been a rational explanation all along and he'd just put it off. And been so mean to him. And now made some of his painful memories resurface. Scorpius went over to with a remorseful heart to sit beside him, wishing for the millionth time he was better at comforting people. He put a hand on the assistant's shoulder to try though.

"It's not your fault," Scorpius assured him gently, "Anyone would want to be free of those things, you can't blame yourself. The Shadow Master probably would've figured it out anyway, they don't strike me as someone who gives up easily or even as someone stupid. You were just a kid."

"I wasn't that much older than you," Calderon pointed out as he moved his hands, his damp face torn up in anguish and his eyes all red, puffy from crying, "Anger is the worst. I'm the worst."

"I'm the worst, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions without even talking to you. I'm so sorry, Marius," Scorpius apologized guiltily, Calderon patted him on the shoulder.

"It's okay. You're forgiven. I don't blame you, I hate myself as well sometimes," Calderon told him quietly and seemed to zone out again, haunting memories hiding in the shadows in his eyes.

"That's it right?" Scorpius asked, both to snap him out of it and because he wanted to make sure, "No other dark secrets in your past that I should worry about?"

Calderon jolted fearfully and his lights flashed bizarrely but Scorpius was sort of used to it by then, ever so slowly the assistant turned his gaze back to him properly for the first time. His dark red-rimmed eyes searching his face for a long moment, Scorpius was about to repeat the question as he wasn't sure that Calderon had heard him before his cousin spoke.

"No," Calderon whispered barely audibly as he shook his head, "That's it."

"Then we're okay," Scorpius pointed out with a kindly smile that Calderon weakly tried to return before Scorpius hugged him, Calderon's lights burst in a shower of blue like luminous rain that showered down on them which tended to be a sign of sorrow. Scorpius hugged him tighter, "Please don't feel bad, it's my fault. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

---

Part 2: Good Old Days Gone

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Roman knew he was a fool to have thought that was the end of it. Maurice was furious with him but Roman didn't care, even if it did remind of Alzay. Hating him and being safe was better than liking him while he was suffering, Leila was also fine with taking Maurice back to Greece with him. That didn't happen though, before the end of the week he felt a hand grab his shoulder and was whisked into the shadows. Alzay and that Death Eater threatened him with those 'Specters' that could destroy souls, it was terrifying and he didn't really have a choice but to agree. They would've destroyed his soul otherwise and Maurice would've suffered anyway, at least if Maurice was in Beauxbatons then he was safe the majority of the year as opposed to what would happen to him if Roman lost his soul. And even for Alzay, he was disgusted she could be fully aware and fully willing to hurt her own son. She was just plain evil. It didn't make him feel any better though, he was hardly a perfect parent.

If anything, it made him feel worse. He didn't know how he managed to keep a straight face the first time he told Maurice to use the blood quill, he wasn't sure whether it was worse or better that Maurice just went along with it without question. In a way it was better than if he'd been upset over it but in another, it saddened him to think Maurice considered it normal to be forced to inflict pain upon himself as if it was an everyday occurrence. It probably was an everyday occurrence now that he thought about it. He didn't have a choice though, not with the Specter residing within him and he felt almost like icy claws were digging into his heart for his moment of hesitation. It was either obey or suffer a fate worse than death. He broke down crying as soon as Maurice was out of the room, hating himself with every fragment of his being. And then there was something else to think about: Leila. She was expecting him to meet her back in Greece, expecting them to get married and have a future together.

But they couldn't have that now, he had to go to France to be their puppet. He very much doubted that he'd be able to explain the truth to her without losing his soul, even if he could then he didn't think she'd be let live or if she did then she would suffer. She'd either lose her life, her soul, her freedom like him or maybe he'd be forced to hurt as well. He hated every single one of those options and if he came up with a convincing lie and hide the blood quill use, she'd still be at risk. It broke his heart to think the best way to protect her was to break her own heart, end it with her so she'd stay away from him and be safe. He didn't have a future anymore, let alone one with her but she still could. It took him several attempts to write the break up letter, partially because it was hard to think of what to say but mostly because his tears kept messing up the words. He did get it done and sent it off, despite his hands desperate pleas to tear it to shreds and his mind screaming at him to not to. He did though and hated himself a little more, it would still hurt her regardless of his reasons. Reasons she'd never get to know.

Maybe someday things would be okay again, he would be free of the Specter and have his own free will again. Alzay would be dead or rotting away with her father where she belonged, Maurice could be safe and start to heal from his upbringing and he could finally reconcile with both Orous and Leila, maybe his siblings would even care about him again. Somehow he doubted that though, reality was always so much harsher. The most likely future was just that he would lose his soul eventually, Maurice and Orous would fall victim to Alzay's plans, Leila would just believe he was some kind of bastard who'd never loved her, he'd never see his siblings again then Alzay would get her father back and laugh everyone's pain. He didn't know how his father could ever have coped with being a Seer, he must've seen such horrible things. The future was always dark, the past was where occasional bursts of good memories lay. And he'd keep those memories in his heart because it was all the good he had, he'd also still figure out Leila's last riddle as he'd put it off with everything that had been happening.

He was up one of the nights thinking about it after sending off his acceptance letter for the French position along with the letter to ask for contact with Orous - which he thought was even more important now that he knew how willing Alzay was to harm her own children - when the answer struck him like a slap in the face. Leila was pregnant.

"Hey Roman," Alzay taunted and Roman jumped in shock, afraid she'd somehow known his thoughts and wanted to harm Leila and the baby - he hoped it wasn't twins again - out of spite as she smirked.

"What do you want?" Roman asked, sounding braver than he felt, "I accepted the position, I-"

"It's not about that," Alzay interrupted, "I just wanted to show you something that Specters can do, say goodbye to whatever happy memories you have of your little fiancée."

Roman tried to say what but he screamed instead, feeling as if icy claws were tearing through his brain. He fell to his knees clutching his head as he felt it, as if strips of his mind were being ripped out. Memories of Leila being taken from him, he tried to scream 'no' but he wasn't sure if he managed it as he desperately but helplessly tried to hold on to the years being taken from him. Less than a few minutes later, it was over and he hit the ground with a thud. The inside of his skull felt raw, waves of pain was pulsating inside his head and tears rolled down his face. He couldn't remember what she'd said she'd take, he wasn't sure what he'd lost or what he'd been thinking about. The tears were falling though, he felt as if he'd just lost something important whatever it was. He had no idea what that could be though.

"Behave," Alzay told him and he looked back to her fearfully, "Or we'll take the rest of your good memories, like your childhood."

Roman went to plead no but she left, leaving him to cry for reasons he didn't recall as his empty mind continued to throb. He now knew even more how they could make his life miserable, he was even more terrified to disobey. He got the job in France and moved there with Maurice, starting the process to get him into Beauxbatons quickly. He'd picked up some French from the likes of Fleur Weasley and the Delacours, he was still far from fluent but it gave him a starting point to study up from plus some did thankfully know English to help when he fell. Roman was used to it from traveling for his work, picking up at least a basic knowledge quite easily as well as knowing at least part of some dead languages from the actual artifacts he studied. Maurice would be the one it was hard for, he just hoped the translator necklace covered French as well. He'd ask but he didn't want to, he found himself being increasingly distant to his son and even outright cold. It was in part because it would hurt even more if he was closer to the son he was forcing to scar his poor skin but mostly because he wanted Maurice to hate him, Roman couldn't do anything or the Specter would get him but it wasn't his fault if Maurice went to authorities and got himself saved. It was the best that he could hope for in a situation almost devoid of it.

The first thing was to get Maurice a wand, which was done differently in France as they were custom based off on what tests determined would suite best or what you wanted if it was something specific. The weedy wand maker promised to owl him when the wand was ready, eying his son with such a dark look that it genuinely disturbed Roman. He found out why when Maurice actually got the wand, yew wood was best suited to him. The same wand wood as Voldemort himself had been best suited for, it was now tainted by association and the wand maker considered it a bad omen. Especially when coupled with the Thestral hair, Thestrals had a negative reputation due to what it took to see them in the first place so wands with them as a core also had this. Especially in France apparently, the wand maker acted like Maurice was the next Voldemort or at least a future Dark Wizard. As if his poor little victimized deaf eight year old would ever be capable of cruelty like torture and murder, regardless of how much like Alzay he was. Maurice would never use Dark Magic, he was a good albeit slightly misguided boy.

He started Beauxbatons and Roman started working for the French Ministry, which also required passing along information and sometimes setting things up to be stolen. He hated it, it was admittedly better than making Maurice use a blood quill but he still hated it. Roman knew he wasn't the best person in the world but he had a conscience, theft, abuse, what was next? He'd die if they ever tried to force him to use Dark Magic outright, he didn't think he could ever bring himself to anything like that or murder. If he did, then he'd have lost his soul already. He wrote to Maurice and his son actually replied, keeping him informed of his progress as Roman did want his son to do well. In the spirit of still trying to make Maurice turn on him, he never accepted anything the boy did as good enough. He also fiercely came crashing down on him when he mentioned being partnered with a girl in class, terrified of Maurice dating and winding up hurt like he had been. Dating was bad, it only ever led to pain. Women were frightening, which made it unfortunate both his boss and the Beauxbatons Headmistress - who he'd had to contact to get Maurice admitted from arriving in France so late - were women. He needed Calming Draught to get through a conversation with his boss, living in perpetual fear of what she would do to him if she found out about his crimes before his soul was destroyed anyway for being caught. If Maurice took nothing else from him then hopefully he could learn to stay away from girls so he would never have to suffer like he had with Alzay.

He had Maurice stay in Beauxbatons in Christmas, he still refused to celebrate the holiday linked to Alzay's birthday and besides, if Maurice came home then he'd be made to use the blood quill on him. Maurice was actually safer away from him, he could still try to protect him as best he could. Even if it was from himself. Roman had him stay for Easter as well, it was a stupid holiday anyway that was terrible for your health so he didn't celebrate that anyway either. It was that April that something strange happened though, it was perfectly common for artifacts to be passed around the different Ministries on loan to be studied by different minds in other countries. Someone from that Ministry would go to supervise to make sure the artifact arrived safely, signing into the responsibility of the other Ministry. It had happened plenty of times, signing in or even out of artifacts was a common part of his job responsibility and not something he thought twice about. Unless you had an insane person as the one from the other Ministry, which happened that spring with an Ancient Greek scepter being loaned to France from Greece. Leila Akram was her name, he thought she was a relation to Malik but didn't recall meeting her from his time in Egypt. He would have remembered her, she was stunningly beautiful and he kicked himself for even thinking that.

"It's magnificent," Roman commented upon seeing the scepter, both because it was the truth - even if it wasn't the one Alzay was after - and to distract himself from her. She was looking at him rather oddly and awkwardly anyway, it made him feel uncomfortable.

"It is, you should see Herpo's Scepter of Night but England are getting that," Akram told him and he looked back to take the forms to sign off on it, Alzay would want to hear about the Scepter moving to England, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"About what?" Roman wondered in both irrigation and confusion, was he suddenly expected to hold conversations with these people? Usually it was just to sign, maybe exchange some work related details about the artifact then go their separate ways. Clearly, she was new to this.

"I... I just thought we could talk, about things, about where we stand," Akram pointed out, seeming almost upset by his reaction. What was she expecting? What was she even talking about? When he said nothing, she went on, "How's Maurice doing?"

"None of you business," Roman snapped, disturbed and concerned she knew his son's name. She just looked even more upset.

"Aren't you even slightly curious?" Akram asked, meeting his eyes. She had warm brown eyes, like her father really.

"About what?"

"The baby. You don't ever wonder? Don't want to know the gender? The name I chose? The day they were born? See a picture? Any kind of interest in knowing anything at all?"

"Of course I don't," Roman scoffed in utter bewilderment, "It's got absolutely nothing to do with me, at all. You raise your kids and I'll raise mine. This is strictly professional, we're here to work not to chat about our children and personal lives."

"You're really just going to pretend that nothing happened between us?! That you don't care about me or the baby or how we're doing?! You're not even going to give me a real reason at the very least to what I did wrong?!" Akram half-said, half-shouted as if trying to reign in her temper.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't even know you," Roman pointed out truthfully as her eyes welled with tears, women were just crazy. Clearly she had made some kind of mistake, "I think you must have gotten me confused with someone else."

"Yeah, that must be it," Akram muttered bitterly in Arabic as she stalked off before the tears fell.

Had Roman really picked up that much Arabic while in Egypt? He must have learned more than he realized. At least she hadn't attacked him and had realized she'd gotten him mixed up with someone else, some poor sucker who was probably going to wind up tortured for whatever he'd done to upset her. He thought if they met again then she'd be more rational but they never did meet again, if they did business with Greece then it was always someone else. He was kind of glad, he didn't like feeling attracted to women and the encounter left him with a terrible headache anyway. He was disgusted with himself. His feelings only worsened when Maurice returned for the summer, being made to use blood quills on his child again. He was going to get him a really great present to make up for it but stopped himself, he was still trying to make Maurice hate him. He didn't give Maurice any presents or cake for his birthday, simply told him that he was now nine. He sent Orous gifts still though, although he very much doubted Alzay let him have them. He could still try.

---

Harry Potter sat in his office, he dreaded to think what time it was and was deliberately holding off on finding out as it would only make him feel worse about not being home. When he was home, he felt like he should be at work and when he was at work, he felt like he should be at home. He couldn't win. This time it was especially grating though, his lack of time home was almost certainly the reason only James had come home for Easter. Ginny had been particularly upset that her two youngest children hadn't wanted to come back to see her, everyone wanted to keep their families close in times like these. It surprised him James had returned, of any of them Harry had thought he was the most likely - not counting Vern - to stay due to being in trouble. Harry really didn't know what to do with him, suspended twice now and in trouble multiple times for bullying of all things. He didn't know whether to be concerned or optimistic that they'd gotten less letters back about James this year but the individual incidents had been worse, including harming Vern. He just couldn't get through to him.

Harry was sure his own absence might be part of the problem, which made it that much worse that he felt like he was sacrificing time with his family for nothing. He sighed and stood, finishing signing the papers he'd been going through to look at the board he kept in his office to chronicle their progress on the Shadows, staring into it with his gritty eyes as if it would suddenly reveal more secrets. But that was the thing, they had nothing. Absolutely nothing. The greatest threat since Voldemort himself, more hours, resources and manpower poured into stopping the threat since any other individual group or person since Harry had been an Auror but they still had nothing. Every lead they followed just had them running into a dead end, sometimes he even got people claiming to have information but when he went to talk to them, they didn't remember contacting him or having information. And no evidence of a memory charm. They still had the werewolf army but no useful information from them either, probably why the Shadows didn't care they were in custody.

On the subject of werewolves, they also had no luck stopping PAW. They'd caught members but the attacks still happened because Tyrone Helmut was a devious bastard who was incredibly good at making sure nothing came back to him, mastering the art of not having enough proof. Forcing him to waste valuable time, effort and resources on PAW that could be spent trying to stop the people they were at war with. They still had no idea who the Shadow Master was, no name, no face, no description, no gender, no species, no background, no age, not even a clear motive. And this was after years, actual years of trying to find out. Going after Voldemort, he'd been a mere teenager with nothing but his friends by his side and a vague plan from a wise old man. And they'd succeeded. And now, he was an experienced veteran Head Auror with every resource at his fingertips yet he continually found nothing. It was his responsibility, his job to stop Dark Wizards to protect his family, to protect the world and he was failing. All this time and effort but nothing. They were chasing Shadows, which never went well.

He had also come to be increasingly more certain there was a spy or spies amongst their ranks, casting Patoronuses to ensure no Specters lurked around or within anyone and constantly checking other for the Imperius Curse had only seemed to confirm it. He was increasingly afraid to trust, his inner circle was even smaller now which also meant those trusted had even more work that he was afraid to hand off to others. Ron and Cel were a given, Ron was his oldest friend and Cel had been his last protégée. He'd only had two, the first protégée had died in the second year of training and he'd become Head Auror just after Cel finished. Cel had joined just after graduating Hogwarts, leaving to find his parents murdered by Dark Magic and had joined to try bring the killers to justice. They never had found out who did it actually but he had gained a talented protégée nonetheless, he was a good friend who'd proved himself time and again. The Auror system worked with newcomers being assigned to a current Auror to mentor them after they were accepted. The fledgling Aurors bounced between practical work on the job with their mentor and training in a facility, gradually easing into more of the practical and given more responsibility and less of the facility over the three year period before taking the test to be a fully-fledged Auror. Those accepted from the Battle of Hogwarts had also had mentors - Harry included in this - but not needed the facility training as they were deemed good enough, learning purely practical on the job.

Neville and Atticus were also trustworthy, he'd reinstated them as Aurors on top of their teaching positions to be able to call on them if necessary - Neville was out doing things now in fact - in the war. They'd both proved themselves time and again, Neville was another old friend and unlike many, he didn't think Atticus untrustworthy due to his brother's Shadow involvement. Quite the opposite, he'd known Atticus since becoming an Auror back after defeating Voldemort when the man had been tormented by guilt to the point of suicide because of killing his brother. These were not the actions of somehow who knew all along that his brother was alive and secretly on the Death Eater side, it took a great deal of courage to stand up to an enemy but even more to stand up to someone you love. Everything else just solidified his trust. The others he truly trusted weren't even Aurors like his family, old friends. Flann Leebin and Marius Calderon had also earned his trust, he'd even asked Marius if he'd like to be fast-tracked to being an Auror as he'd probably done more single-handedly to fight the Shadows than most. His power was incredible and he was smart, not entirely stable - as evidenced by the maniacal high-pitched laughter when Harry had offered him the job - admittedly but still someone he was glad to have on their side. He always reminded him of someone though every single time he saw him, Harry could not for the life of him place who though.

"Harry," Cel called abruptly and he was snapped from his thoughts by his sandy-haired protégée, he looked concerned, "You might want to come see this."

"See what?" Harry wondered as he crossed the distance between then, the Soul Eaters had no doubt struck again or PAW.

"There's this guy claiming to be a member of PAW who wandered in here," Cel explained as they walked, seeming to be leading him to the interrogation cells, "He says that some guy just obliterated their base and murdered everyone inside."

"Is he telling the truth?" Harry asked with a scowl, that was certainly not something he heard every day.

"Ron took his new protégée to go check it out so I don't know."

"I do," Ron announced hurrying over to them with his protégée with a severe expression, Hal Davis who Harry had hastily attached to him after his previous mentor had been killed recently. There were waves of people signing up in the Shadow War which was good except there wasn't enough Aurors to go around, "And it's true. At least about the destruction and death, the insane stuff he was saying is still... well insane and in question."

"How bad is it?" Harry questioned grimly and resisted asking about the insane stuff first.

"The building's been reduced to rubble, I counted maybe two dozen bodies but it's hard to tell with all the debris."

"They all had their eyes open and tears on their faces," Davis added, earning a dark look from Ron. The gangly teen looked terribly shaken, Harry guessed his first massacre. That Ron probably shouldn't have taken him too.

"Did I give you permission to speak while the grownups are talking? Why don't you go get me some Butterbeer, I need a drink after that but can't on the job," Ron said, making it sound much more like a command that the teen hastened to obey.

"Could you try go easy on him?" Harry complained, "You're supposed to mentor them not use them as a personal assistant."

"Pfft, what's the difference?" Ron brushed it off dismissively, "And how do you expect me to treat the son of Pansy Parkinson? He has no business being an Auror, he's not going to make it."

"That's why his parents disowned him and he's living in the Leaky Cauldron right now," Cel commented and Ron looked slightly taken aback.

"He never mentioned that."

"Focus," Harry interjected before they veered too far off topic, "So is this the Shadows?"

"It would look like it maybe except there was no creepy snake symbol."

"Doesn't it go against their MO to do something destructive then not take credit for it?" Cel wondered, his scowl deepening, "We might have a new player to worry about."

"Maybe. And what was the 'insane stuff' you mentioned?" Harry asked as Cel stopped outside one of the interrogation rooms.

"Speak to him and see for yourself," Ron offered ominously and Cel opened the door already, Harry went in cautiously.

The interrogation room was no different to the others with the same plain black walls and ceiling, a metal table in the center with two chairs and a mirror. Well, a see-through mirror that could also be magically altered like to black if you didn't want to be seen or the sky to create a calmer atmosphere. The PAW member was curled up in the corner, his knees hugged to his chest. He only looked young, late teens or early twenties, clearly not much older than Davis. His robes were all dusty - presumably from the rubble - and his curly hair was a complete mess, it was a dark brown but that might've just been the dirt it was matted with. His skin looked utterly drained of color and his eyes definitely were brown, seeming to bulge out of his skull as he rocked on the spot. Gently rocking, back and forth while gnawing on his fingernails so much that he didn't seem to notice he was biting so hard they were bleeding.

"Hey," Harry greeted him as he cleared his throat, the prisoner continued his demented rocking without acknowledging him. He approached and crouched down to the boy's level, definitely wanting Flann to take a look at him, "My name is Harry Potter. I hear you were telling the other Aurors about an attack?"

"Yes," the boy confirmed, his eyes managing to look even more like they popping as they widened in fear but still didn't look in his direction. Terror formed on his face as well as tears, his rocking and biting intensified.

"Could you tell me?"

"The man. The man. The man came. No man. A monster. A monster worse than werewolves. Dark, so dark. And cold. So cold," the boy babbled, shaking as the tears streamed down his face, "He destroyed everything. He blew it up in a second. An actual second. Destroyed everything but it wasn't enough for the monster. Nothing's ever enough for the monsters..."

"Then what?" Harry prompted as the boy trailed off into sobs and buried his head in his knees, it was stifled by his words and the boy looked back up but still not to him as he squeezed his arms around himself.

"Then... Then... He killed them. Out of his hands. His hands were death. His hands. Shadow-lights of death streaming at them. They screamed as it touched them. And screamed. And screamed," the boy continued and dug his nails into his scalp, "And screamed. And screamed. And screamed. And they went down. They went down. They were injured and confused but he still took them down. Down. Down. Down. And... And the lights. The lights came from them as they went down. Beautiful lights. And he took all the lights. He took the lights! He took them all."

"Then he left?" Harry guessed, starting to understand what Ron meant by 'insane stuff.'

"No!" the boy screamed and violently shook his head, more tears fleeing his eyes, "He laughed. He laughed. A madman. A monster. Laughing. He laughed. And it rained. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. I got away while he was talking."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Harry asked calmly and the boy abruptly lunged at him, grabbing his coat desperately and yanking him forwards so he was looking right into the bulging eyes of terror.

"YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" The boy screamed and sobbed while Cel and Ron burst into the room, "YOU HAVE TO PROTECT ME! YOU HAVE TO PROTECT ME FROM THE MONSTER! HE'LL COME FOR ME! THE MONSTER WILL COME FOR ME! THE MONSTER WILL COME! HELP ME! HELP ME!"

"I-" Harry was cut off as Cel blasted the boy back from him, Ron offered him a hand up that he took while the boy preceded to curl into a ball on the floor. Crying and clawing at his face, he started screaming as he scratched hard enough to leave bloody marks, "Someone get him in restraints."

"What do you think?" Ron inquired with concern while Cel magically bound the boy to stop him from hurting himself.

"I think I'm going to ask Flann what he thinks of our witness, if he thinks there's any truth to his story or this guy is just nuts," Harry told him as he hurried off, not sure if Flann was even still there at the late hour but if he was then he'd probably be leaving soon so he should be quick.

He reached Flann's office and was rewarded by the sight of the man in question, although he did look like he was packing up and just about to go home, he was standing in front of his desk with his coat on in fact. It was a shoebox of an office but the best Harry could provide that wasn't a cubicle, Flann very much needed privacy when talking to the Aurors about sensitive things. Both because people didn't necessarily want their private thoughts broadcast and because they often spoke of sensitive Auror mission information that he didn't want getting out, he'd even had Flann trained extensively in Occulmency to ensure he could keep Auror secrets secret if anyone ever tried to go after information with Legillimancy. There was a brown couch wedged up by the wall, a desk and plenty of filing cabinets. It was cluttered and stacks of parchment were everywhere, Harry also used it as dumping ground for Auror applications which was a lot recently. Harry had actually known him a long time, in fact since Flann was young enough to still have all his baby teeth. It made him feel old to remember when Flann had been young enough to sit on Ron's knee listening to him brag and embellish the stories of Voldemort's defeat, just like he did - even to the day - whenever someone brought a little one to work.

Flann's father, Logan Leebin, had been an Auror and Harry's mentor in fact. In the wake of the victory against Voldemort, his fame had been extremely high and he had constant attention from people. Logan had been one of the few people outside of family and close friends to treat him like a normal person which Harry had always been grateful for, not afraid to correct his mistakes and guide him when Harry didn't know what to do. And there was a lot more to being an Auror than just being good at dueling as he'd discovered. Logan and Flann were absolutely nothing alike though, from personality to appearance they were virtually polar opposites. They did have identical eyes though but even that didn't seem very noticeable as Flann wore glasses while Logan had not, they also both had sharp minds but applied it in different ways and he had a great respect for them both. Logan had been a good Auror and taught him everything he knew while he'd come to value Flann's knowledge of how people's minds worked, it had helped him out not just with Aurors and applicants but also with suspects and criminals.

"No," Flann said immediately.

"But I haven't said anything," Harry protested in puzzlement.

"You're going to say 'can you do me a favor' and the answer's no," Flann elaborated and suppressed a yawn, "I just finished getting my stuff back sorted in here, I'm going home to my family while it's still not tomorrow hopefully."

"You didn't even hear what I was going to ask."

"So it was a favor?"

"Maybe."

"You already owe me like five favors this year," Flann pointed out, rather truthfully although neither was good at keep track.

"And if you need a favor then I'll pay you right back, that's how favors work," Harry assured him, suppressing a yawn himself. It was contagious, "Whatever you want, pick something."

"A raise."

"Anything but that."

"To go home to my family."

"Please, Flann," Harry gave up, realizing he'd kind of lost on the favor front and instead switched to pleading. Flann's desire to help people often made him quite easy to get favors from, it did make him feel like he was taking advantage of him sometimes. But it wasn't like he had anyone else in Flann's line of work, he'd invented a... whatever his job description was that Harry needed to look up plus Harry was down to not trusting a lot of people so he leaned on who he had, "It won't take long. I just need you to talk to this guy from PAW and know if you think he's telling the truth or is just crazy."

"Alright," Flann sighed, stopping PAW was actually something he wanted considering his wife and son were a target. Well, wife and son if the boy was still alive as the poor baby wasn't expected to live very long. He explained the situation to Flann as they walked down to the interrogation rooms, Cel was keeping an eye on the prisoner through the window but Ron was gone.

"Where's Ron?"

"Went to get his wife's opinion," Cel offered as he looked back to them, opening the door for Flann to speak to him and closing it behind him. Harry moved over to stand behind him, the boy was now seated with magical restraints holding him into the chair, "So what do you think?"

"I don't know. I guess my first instinct to say Shadows, the Shadow Master and Marius are the only ones that we know of who have the degree of magical control to do something like this. If this isn't some delusion anyway."

"That we know of."

"We need to get that area seen to, round up whoever's still here and get them down to investigate. I'll go myself when we're done with this guy, I want to see this."

"One step ahead of you, Harry. Had them mobilized to go in as soon as Ron returned with the confirmation," Cel told him, Harry was pleased and proud, "You taught me well."

"Apparently so. Do we know if Helmut was amongst the dead yet?"

"Not that I saw," Ron commented as he and Hermione joined them, Hal scrambling behind with Ron's drink, "Bastard's either buried in rubble or thought even hanging out as his own base would get too much dirt on his hands."

"Do we know the survivor's name?" Hermione asked, naturally thinking of something he hadn't thought to ask yet while Ron took the Butterbeer.

Even after thirty years, the three of them were still together trying to unravel dark plots. Although he worried for Ron since he'd almost died a few years ago, he never had fully recovered from the injury and it still pained him at times, a lot more then he thought Ron let on for fear of being left behind. He'd never regained the weight he lost and not from lack of eating, leaving his face permanently gaunt which was amplified by lines of age. Gray also laced his hair now, coming in faster than even his elder brothers. Harry thought the stress of the war probably didn't help but what could they do? They were already putting everything they had into trying to end it.

"No," Cel answered with a shake of his head, "He didn't say."

"I know his name," Hal spoke up nervously, "Milton Parrish. He was in my year in Hogwarts, different house though but we were both prefects. His family was killed in the werewolf attack on Hogsmeade."

"You didn't think to mention this earlier?!" Ron complained at him with a glare.

"I tried but you told me to hush."

"Ronald," Hermione chastised him while Flann left the interrogation room to join them.

"So what do you think?" Harry inquired of Flann.

"I think he's telling the truth or at the very least believes he's telling the truth," Flann offered, "Considering how closely it ties to actual events, I'd say there's at least some truth to it. His 'insanity' is most likely a result of the trauma he experienced, we should be able to get more out of him when he's calmer and have a better idea of what happened. And I did manage to get a description of the 'monster' he says did it."

"A three headed centaur with horns that juggles fire?" Ron guessed jokingly.

"No. A man actually, tall, robust and Caucasian with dark hair - he's not sure of the color as it was dark - that was messy and short. He was wearing muggle clothes, jeans and a leather jacket," Flann explained before hesitating, muggle clothes were unexpected, "And... And he had shadows in his eyes."

"Like being possessed by a Specter?"

"No, like he had shadows in his eyes. He's quite convinced it was different as he was still in Hogwarts when Specters attacked so he knows what it looks like. Whether it was the light or he's mistaken or real, I don't know."

"So we're looking for a muggle with magic shadow-light beams shooting from his hands?"

"Wearing muggle clothes doesn't mean he was a muggle, look at Calderon," Hermione pointed out.

"It wasn't him, he wouldn't do this and he doesn't exactly fit the description," Harry said as he shook his head, "Besides, he's testing the magic-repressing potion. Right here in the Ministry. Being watched by Fitz and his assistants. His alibi is about as strong as they come."

"I wasn't saying it was him, just as an example of wizards in muggle clothes. Although admittedly, generic dark cloaks are more popular in attacks as it's less identifiable. Could it be the Shadow Master? We know they can do wandless magic."

"No," Cel disagreed, "The Shadows aren't sloppy enough to let someone escape. And even if they were then why not take credit for it like they do with their attacks? Why even go after PAW?"

"Maybe they didn't like the attention being off them?" Flann offered, "I think it could be the Shadows. The lights he mentioning leaving them and incapacitating them sounds an awful lot like the magic-pulling-from-soul thing that they do."

"I was just about to say that," Hermione pointed out and looked thoughtful, "None of the Ashains mentioned the shadow-light though but the Soul Eaters could've figured out a way to do it without needing Specters to enter their victims first, explaining the slight difference. If they were experimenting with the new method, it might explain why they didn't take credit. Or maybe the survivor escaping prompted them to flee before casting the symbol."

"Or it's some other new entity entirely," Cel suggested, "Copycats aren't uncommon."

"Did the attacker say anything?"

"'We are one,'" Flann answered and Harry recalled the boy babbling about that, Cel looked especially worried, "Whatever he meant by that."

"For once I actually hope it's the Shadows," Ron said with a sigh, "The last thing we need is another nutjob running around."

---

Part 3: Hope

---

Roman didn't become any more at peace with situation as the year wore on, if anything he started to become increasingly anxious about whatever Alzay's evil group's plans were. How long was this going to go on for? He didn't think he could live like this forever, Calming Draughts could only do so much and that helped his anxiety but his not his guilt. And none of that helped Maurice in any way, Alzay had even forbidden him from using a potion to ease the pain the blood quill caused. He couldn't be close to Maurice while he was being forced to hurt him, Maurice was so smart. Why didn't he just tell someone already? He was glad when Maurice went back to Beauxbatons for his second year, at least he was safer there. He kept up with his work, despite struggling with headaches.

He thought he died a little more inside with everything he did, everything he told Alzay, every time he told Maurice his class topping scores weren't good enough, every time he helped them steal something, every time he made Maurice harm himself. Maurice had started addressing him as 'Father' instead of 'Roman' now, why wasn't he hated the one time that he actually wanted to be hated? Maurice still didn't turn on him though, not after he left him in Beauxbatons for Christmas again or over Easter again either. It was after he'd gotten Maurice back for the summer when something happened, Aurors came to his door. He was terrified and relieved at the same time, relieved that maybe Maurice would be safe now but terrified of what would happen to him now. It wasn't about that though, Maurice still hadn't turned on him. It was about Orous, Orous was missing.

And they thought he'd done it?! Ignoring all other things wrong with the accusation, he was in France. Orous was in England. Did they not realize they were too separate countries with a channel of water between then? How dare those morons waste their time on him instead of finding Orous?! He had a feeling he already knew who was responsible though and he was again completely disgusted, how could she abduct her own son? What horrible things were being done to him? Had he been sent to Maurice's sick excuse for a school? He knew he was supposed to be cold to Maurice to make him hate him but after those Aurors left, he just hugged his son tightly as if it would help at all. He was glad whatever had happened to Orous, hadn't happened to Maurice as well. He confronted Alzay about it next time he saw her, determined to take a stand for Orous. And she attacked him. What did he expect? He kept bringing it up when he saw her and getting hurt over it, stupidly still trying because it was all he could think to do.

It was a horrible year, nothing helped alleviate the stress of knowing Orous was gone and the Aurors harassing him didn't help. It was strange not to send Orous a gift or letters every week but it was pointless as Orous wasn't there, Maurice didn't even know he had a twin let alone that he should be worried. Roman also ignored his birthday again, Maurice didn't seem to care though as if he didn't really know that birthdays were supposed to be a time for presents and cake. Maybe he didn't. He was glad to send Maurice to Beauxbatons again, he should be safe from any kidnapping attempts from Alzay there. Assuming she hadn't simply killed Orous, which was an even more chilling thought that he wouldn't put past her. That year was also when the attacks started, the Shadows and he connected them immediately to Alzay. It was starting. And Roman was helping them. He deserved the pain in his head, he despised himself. Maurice had a strange request for Christmas, to be allowed to go with his friend - Hagrid's son - to Hogwarts for the break. It went against his attempts to be mean to him but he agreed, wanting the only child he had left to have some kind of happiness. Maybe Hagrid would even notice the blood quill scars.

It turned out Hagrid didn't but he still hoped Maurice had had a good time, having friends was surely a good way to keep his feet firmly set on the path of right. It made it awkward when Alzay told him to discourage Maurice from being friends with a half-breed, he really thought she wouldn't be happy until all her children were utterly miserable. At least he didn't have to deal with her after Christmas, she randomly took a break and he had others to deal with instead. He preferred virtually anyone to Alzay. He had Maurice stay again at Easter, they didn't go to Hogwarts this time and Alzay started giving him his orders again. Roman didn't want Maurice - or Orous for that matter - to go to such a horrible school as Hogwarts but Alzay's plans were different, unfortunately she hadn't changed her mind. But at the start of May, something horrific happened and at Hogwarts no less. Alzay's Shadows attacked and who had been the very first victim? His sister. He cried his eyes out, he couldn't believe it. As if it was bad enough that Alzay had taken his very freedom and any kind of decent relationship with his sons away from him, her people had gone and killed his sister. He felt like he'd had his heart ripped out of his chest.

He hadn't spoken to her in years, she'd never apologized to him. But nor had he. His last words to her had been in anger, lashing out for the misery of his childhood since their parents' death. He wished he could take it back now, she'd died thinking that he hated her. And she'd died hating him, never being sorry, and never forgiving him. It was too late now. One of them would never swallow their stubbornness and reach out, they'd never reconcile. She was dead. Hadn't losing his parents been enough?! Life had to go and take Audrey now too?! And what made it hurt even worse was that he was helping the people responsible, was it all his fault? He was distraught, he couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, his head was pounding painfully constantly and he broke down at nothing. He didn't care what Alzay would say, he didn't even care what his work would say. He returned to England, wanting to pay his respects at her funeral. If nothing else, the least he could do was go to his sister's funeral. He had hoped to just slip in quietly, stand at the back unnoticed but it didn't happen like that. Percy spotted him.

"You have some nerve you know!" Percy yelled as he stormed over to him, looking very much he was fighting off tears in contrast to the rage in his voice, "You pick now to show up?! After years of never bothering to even write once to the sister who raised you?! You only come to her funeral?! You have no right to be here, you weren't there for her life!"

"Please, like you weren't glad to be rid of me," Roman snapped and felt his own anger ignited while tears simultaneously pricked his eyes, how dare Percy be mad at him when he'd corrupted her?! When he'd not protected his wife?! And killed Enas, "And you have the nerve to be mad at me?! You're right, I wasn't there but you were. You right there and you let her die! You let her die!"

"SHUT UP!" Percy screamed in anguish and his fist lashed out before either of them realized it, colliding painfully with Roman's eye and aggravated the agony in his head.

Percy looked shocked by what he'd done, he opened his mouth but Roman threw his own fist into it with a force that surprised him and something write flew from Percy's mouth along with a spattering of crimson. It was the first time Roman had ever hit someone before, it felt terrifying, exhilarating, painful, right and wrong all in one go. He would've thought more of it but a primal rage took over his thoughts, years of unspent anger against his brother-in-law. Percy swung back with his own fist, Roman dodged it instinctively and struck him again send more blood spraying from his mouth. And again. And- Percy ducked his third blow and slammed his fist forcefully into Roman's stomach, he gasped and jerked to one side to avoid another. Rapidly straightening and throwing his fist up to smash into Percy's nose, the momentum knocking him to be caught by George. Percy tried to move forwards despite the blood now streaming from his nose to go at him again but George had grabbed his brother's arms to hold him back, Roman went to strike him again while Percy was caught but someone held him back from behind as well.

"STOP FIGHTING!" a girl's voice screeched and Roman glanced to recognize Molly immediately from his father's eyes, they were crying. His anger trickled out of him, leaving just pain and grief, "It's not what she'd want."

"Calm down," Charlie offered gently, he was the one holding Roman back although his grip relaxed when he realized Roman was no longer trying to go after his brother. He jerked his arms free and straightened his coat, keeping his eyes down to not want to look at the others.

"Roman..." Percy began but Roman turned on the spot, disapparating as he did so.

It wasn't good to apparate without a destination in mind but his subconscious must've done the work because he found himself in the place he'd grown up, the simple cottage in the beautiful calm fields and the tree Aubrey had once fallen from. He walked towards it mutely, watching memories of his young happy child self with his living happy family go by and fade into nothing. They were nothing but memories now after all, only existing inside his head. He trekked to the house, the doorway seeming so small now he was tall and grown. The door wasn't even locked, there was nothing to steal anyway. It was empty, caked in dust with only cobwebs for decoration. His mother would freak if she could see the state of it, he would clean it but it felt wrong to disturb it. He was thirty years old and the happiest time in his life had still been his early childhood, he thought that was pretty pathetic really. He sunk to the ground and cried, craving comfort he couldn't get. He wanted his sister back. He wanted his parents back. He wanted his sons back. He wanted his cat back. He wanted his life back. He never got anything he wanted though.

---

Orous was so glad to have his dad back, Roman's ankh had done the trick. In fact, it hadn't just healed his mind but all the wounds his mother had caused and more than that, it had even healed his scars. Old faded scars that Orous had just gotten used to seeing were now just gone, the Healers all viewed it as some kind of magical miracle to be extensively looked at and the Ministry had to put effort into keeping it quiet. After all, it was counter-productive to do an article on the miraculous recovery of a victim when their attacker was still out there, they might come back and finish the job. While they had gotten the Scepter - which of course, he hadn't told the Ministry about - he wasn't so sure anymore that that meant his mother wouldn't come back, out of spite or pride or something. He didn't want that.

However, despite being fully physically healed and having his sanity restored, his dad could still remember and was visibly shaken. He was noticeably on edge and jumped at loud sounds, even though Aurors had put up protective wards to alert them if magic was used inside the house in case she attacked again. Orous didn't blame him for being affected by it, he knew what it was like to be tortured and being tortured into insanity had to be worse. His dad was putting on a brave face on it though, trying to be strong for him. When he did jump at something, checking to make sure Orous was alright was always the first thing he did. It was a shame he'd been healed so close to the end of the Easter break, Orous very much wanted to spend time with him and be there for him. Orous wasn't the best wizard in the world clearly and he was still learning but he was a wizard, his dad couldn't protect himself from magic. He really was starting to see why Michael thought his muggle family was safer cut off from him.

The whole thing also left him without something else to think about, his other father: Roman. He'd never really cared much in honesty, Cade had been the one there for him and who loved him while his real father had been a nameless figure who had better things to do. Why should Orous give a second of thought to a man who showed no interest in him? Why when he had Cade anyway? Even after learning who Roman was, his feelings hadn't really changed much and even after meeting him. But now? Cade had confirmed the letters, Roman hadn't been lying about trying to contact him. His mother just hadn't let him. He really did seem to regret leaving him, could Orous really blame him for making a mistake trying to escape a stressful, abusive situation? No more than he could blame Scorpius for ignoring him really. There was what he had done to Maurice but that had been the Shadows really, he didn't hold Maurice's grudge. Roman had done the impossible and saved Cade, used up something that clearly was special just for the sake of giving Orous back his dad. And he was grateful.

At the very least, he was curious about Roman now. He'd heard about him but he never had really heard his side until now, even then he didn't know much. But he wanted to, he was interested in finding out more about Roman now. He wanted to see him again too, to thank him for sure and return the ankh he was keeping on him. And maybe also get to know him a bit better, Roman might be more relaxed if they had more than five minute conversations. These thoughts also made him feel incredibly guilty though, he did still think of Cade as his dad and didn't love him any less, he was glad Cade had recovered. Yet he was still curious about Roman, it made him feel terrible. Was it alright to care about both your stepdad dad and your biological dad? Or did even thinking about all this make him an awful son to Cade? He didn't want to hurt Cade's feelings but then he wouldn't even have Cade without Roman saving him, he'd only told Cade and Michael about Roman's ankh. Michael might've told his aunt or Varanian but it generally wasn't common knowledge, he thought it was probably best kept a secret if only for Roman's safety.

On top of that, he also felt guilty for giving up the Scepter but how could he not to save his dad? The ankh would've been useless if she had killed him, her own husband. He also felt bad that his own mother had done it. At least Latimer was doing better though, or at least was still alive. Aside from wanting to see how Latimer was doing, he actually wasn't too keen to get back to Hogwarts. He'd just gotten his dad back, he didn't really want to leave him so soon. He was afraid he might not even have a dad to come back to if his mother went after him again while he was in Hogwarts. He packed up his things ready to go back but lay awake that night worrying about it all, wondering if his dad would possibly let him stay for an extra bit. What did he really have desperately to do in Hogwarts anyway?

Exams? They weren't until June and Orous wasn't worried about them anyway, not because he was naturally gifted - like Scorpius or Maurice for example - or studied excessively - like Rose or Corin for example - but just because he didn't view his grades as important. What was the point of them anyway? A nice job for the future? What future? He put in just enough effort to appease his friends and his father, unless it was something he considered especially useful or enjoyable. In truth he generally hated classes, he disliked the rigid structure after having being spoiled by homeschooled until then. He didn't say anything because he didn't like to complain, it wasn't like anyone could do anything about it anyway. In fact his friends wouldn't even understand, Corin, Maurice and Vern had all grown up in school environments so it was normal for them, they liked it. His older friends might understand but they didn't have classes with him due to not being in his year, his dad might understand but he didn't want him to think that he was miserable in Hogwarts which wasn't true. He did like some classes, they just tended to be the ones more flexible in structure and his friends made up for the downsides, Quidditch was also a welcome break. The next match wasn't until May, Orous still thought Gryffindor and Hufflepuff should have a rematch. He'd only won because Scorpius had been trying to save Vern, he didn't consider it a true or a fair victory but the captains and referee - Krum - did.

Vern was incredibly nervous about the next match, James had destroyed his cousin's confidence to the point he'd seriously considered quitting. Not that James would care because James was... well, he struck Orous as complete bastard. He hadn't apologized to Vern nor had he shown any concern for his health, then again the Potters weren't especially kind to Vern. Even Albus who they were friends with, Vern already felt rather abandoned by his family so the Potters' attitude wasn't particularly helpful. Vern was also nervous as the match was against Slytherin, not only his girlfriend's house but her eldest brother was the team captain. Orous supposed it was a good thing that he'd never have to worry about that, albinism wasn't something girls found appealing from what he gathered. However his brother was, girls coming over to ask him about Maurice were not uncommon. Maurice was considered handsome, was top of the class in every subject - unless you counted the Patronus class as a separate subject - and his disinterested attitude in them was appealing for some reason. Some didn't even realize he was deaf and since he acted 'normal' anyway, they considered it a non-issue. Orous supposed it didn't matter, he liked girls but there was no one in particular he had a crush on and the thought of dating was as terrifying as it was enticing. Who'd want ugly damaged albino goods anyway? No one. Sometimes he even still woke up screaming and his dorm mates were not kind about it.

He finally got out of bed to go get himself a drink, tired of tossing and turning. Lumpy groaned at Orous' movement disturbing his sleep, he petted the dog as way of apology before leaving. No sooner had he left the room then Lumpy bounded out after him, deciding whatever Orous was doing was more interesting than sleeping. He smiled and stroked Lumpy again, very much wishing - not for the first time - that Hogwarts allowed dogs as one of the pets. He continued down the corridor and stopped abruptly when he heard a gasp as he passed his dad's room, he froze.

"Was just a dream, she's not here," his dad's voice breathed in relief and Orous bit his lip guiltily, he was nightmares about what his mother had done to him now? He heard what sounded like one of the other dogs licking him, "Thank you, Noelle, I absolutely wanted my hand covered in dog slobber."

"Dad?" Orous called out as he opened the door to his dad's bedroom, wanting to comfort him the way his dad was always there for him. His dad sat up, Anubis raised his head and Noelle lost in interest in his dad's arm to glance at him with a wagging tail.

"You okay?" his dad asked with concern.

"I... I had a nightmare, c-can I sleep in your bed?" Orous lied, not sure what he should do to comfort him but being there was probably a good start.

"Aren't you getting too old to sleep in my bed?" his dad sighed and Orous turned around in defeat, feeling like he'd very much failed and saddened. He'd dreaded teenage years for being the time you lost closeness with your parents, or just his dad in his case. He didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive his mother for what she'd done, "I didn't say no."

Orous headed over to his father in better spirits, his dad moved over as much as he could with Anubis in the way to let him climb in and snuggle up childishly. He always felt safe with his dad and the dogs, safer than Hogwarts, safer than anywhere really. Even now. And connected, he found it hard to put into words but physical contact with living things - preferably things or people he felt comfortable with - was the only time he felt like he was part of the world, felt like he was actually there in existence. The feeling had eased but never faded since the magic from his soul had been taken from him and returned, Antonius was the only one who he thought truly understood it and that was only because he experienced it himself. Lumpy clambered onto the bed as well, not wanting to be left out and Noelle greeted him by licking his hand with great enthusiasm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" his dad asked him gently as he held him close.

"No."

"Okay. You're safe now anyway, it's over," his dad offered and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, Orous hoped his dad believed his own words.

"So are you," Orous told him cautiously but his dad - rather expectedly - brushed him off.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me."

"Do I have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow? I don't mean drop out completely, just have a little more time."

"School doesn't work like that, I'm afraid," his dad shot him down, it was expected but still slightly disappointing, "It's not that long anyway until the summer, it's only three months and May is the only full one of those to get through. In fact I think it's the shortest term, I'll be alright and we'll have the whole summer to make up for... Easter. You'll be safe in Hogwarts."

"Can I ask you something?" Orous wondered as something occurred to him.

"You can always talk to me about anything," his dad assured him.

"Why... Why did you stay with her all those years?" Orous risking asking and his dad's movements briefly stopped in surprise, "If you don't mind. If you do then its okay, I was just curious. Since she... well..."

"Because leaving her would've meant leaving you, she would've got custody of you since she's a biological parent and I'm not," his dad admitted as he recovered from his surprise, "I wouldn't leave you, I especially wouldn't leave you at risk. It was worth going through for you. And I don't regret it. You come first, Orous, always."

"Your safety matters to me too," Orous whispered, not sure whether to feel guilty or grateful that his dad would stay just for him. He did think he was lucky to have his dad though... And to have another dad who'd sacrifice something valuable to save his real dad, "You still don't regret it? Even after what she did to you last week?"

"I still don't regret it. Honestly, the thought of her doing that to you scares me so much more than her doing it to me. I love you, son."

"I love you too, Dad."

---

He was utterly unhappy through the month, mechanically getting through the days. It wasn't until early June that he finally got some good news, Orous was miraculously recovered. His initial relief at his son's safety turned to horror when the Aurors - still suspecting him, he'd lost the little respect he had now - told him what his son had been through, he actually vomited. If Maurice hadn't still been in Beauxbatons, he'd have hugged him forever. And Alzay knew. Her own son. She even told him about Orous having a Specter rip the magic out of his soul and put it back, which sounded painful and damaging. And she didn't seem to have any remorse, heartless bitch. He was at least glad that Orous was in his muggle stepfather's custody not hers or even his, being forced to use a blood quill was the last thing Orous needed after all. He just hoped the muggle was a good man, Orous needed kindness and support not more pain and suffering. He wished he could see him. He was moving to England, transferring over to work in the British Ministry and could only hope to not have to interact with any of the many Weasleys working there. He was pretty sure no one worked in his department though, he was glad. Percy would probably gloat at him being stuck in the place he'd never wanted to work but he'd tried to force him into.

Maurice actually seemed pleased to be moving to England, Hagrid's son was also switching to Hogwarts so he didn't even still have his friend. The blood quill and completely ignoring his eleventh birthday didn't dampen his spirits any. Roman was depressed to get Maurice's Hogwarts letter and stressed as he had to go through hoops to make sure Maurice wouldn't be given the Trace or he'd lose his ability to use the necklace outside of school, he wasn't sure if it was just England or the troubled times that made it so much more difficult to do than in France. He even had to have Maurice prove it would trigger a trace before he was allowed to be exempt, it was a waste of time when he'd been right all along. It felt rather like he was preparing his son for a funeral as they got all the necessary things, recalling how awful the school was. He could only hope Maurice had a better experience. Maurice as keen to get a pet this time but Roman denied him, he didn't want Maurice to have to go through the pain of losing the pet as he inevitably would just like Roman had lost Smokey. And so the day came, the day when he took his son to that dreaded train station, alone not hugging him or happy amongst all the other parents. Maurice was used to it now.

And then he saw him, Orous. It had to be Orous, how many albino wizards his age could there be really? It saddened him even more that Orous would have to endure Hogwarts, the muggle mustn't have been kind after all. He looked so sad, so hurt. Roman couldn't take his eyes off him as he etched the details of his son's face into his mind, he wanted nothing more than to go over and speak to him even if he didn't know what to say. He just wanted to be a part of the boy's life but he couldn't, Alzay would kill him. So he just walked away, feeling sorrowful and cried alone when he got home. Maurice continued to write to him, talking about the albino - who was named Orous, confirming it - being naturally gifted at spells. He continued encouraging him to do better and to stay away from Weasleys now that it was an issue as well as still against girls as Maurice was getting older, as well as non-purebloods and half-breeds like Alzay made him warn him against. He was so proud neither of his children got the evil house like their parents, although Maurice had gotten the Weasley house of all things. He was proud of Orous for getting Hufflepuff though, that and Ravenclaw were the best in his opinion. Maurice also told him about the Patronus classes as it had been discovered that they repelled Specters, Roman obsessed over trying to get Maurice to be good at it. Desperate Maurice would be able to protect himself if Alzay or the Shadows ever tried to force him to work for them the way that he had been. He didn't want Maurice to suffer the same fate as him or have his soul damaged like Orous, he could only hope Orous did well at it too.

Aurors started following him, still thinking he'd kidnapped his son and the Malfoy boy and these other twins. Honestly, what kind of person did Harry take him for? It didn't help his anxiety and he confronted Harry in person about it when the Aurors interfered with his work, they did back off a bit. Alzay stopped seeing him again in November much to his delight, others seeing him and others telling him that he was now expected to take Maurice home for breaks to use the blood quill on him. Much to his regret, although his heart twisted again when he saw Orous. It was torturous to be so close yet so far. He at least tried to gear the blood quill use to get Maurice to do better with Patronuses, he wanted Maurice to be able to protect himself from those horrible creatures after all and they hadn't been specific on what exactly to make him write. Maurice shocked him though, giving him a gift on Christmas despite Roman's abhorrence for the holiday due to its link to Alzay and never having celebrated or encouraged it with him. He was still touched, Maurice was trying to be normal and trying to do a kind thing for him. Even trying to pick something he'd like based on his occupation and name as they weren't close enough for Maurice to have a better idea, he grabbed Maurice back when he tried to leave. He didn't want to be cold to him, he wanted them to be close.

"I love you so much, son, even though it doesn't seem like it a lot," Roman blurted out desperately.

Maurice didn't hear though as he was deaf and not touching his translator necklace. He shook his head and waved him to leave to hurt himself again, he wished he was anyone but himself. He gazed at the paperweight though, already it earned a place in his heart as a sign of Maurice's good side without the disturbing Alzay taint. It was hard not to see resemblance despite his best attempts, he remembered what he suffered at her hands every time he looked into his son's eyes. The rest of the year passed uneventfully although he also now had to appraise and look at items in the despicable Corvinus Ashain's collection, a Shadow who openly bragged about murdering his squib son, his wife, his family to get his full inheritance and his intentions to murder his other son after he became immortal and no more use for a bloodline. And even suggested Roman would be better off with a similar philosophy and own son being a good first kill, it was almost as if he just enjoyed freaking Roman out. Something else noteworthy thing was the arrival of Herpo the Foul's Scepter from Greece. The Shadows seemed oddly lacking in interest now though, he learned their 'master' was comatose but was warned that didn't mean the Specter wouldn't destroy him now on a moment's notice. The pain in his head continued to worsen though, pain potions didn't even seem to touch it and he was told it was the result of the Specter. Another reason to hate them. He also had to hurt Maurice again for Easter, he suddenly wished that Hogwarts also only let him see Maurice for a week a year like the Shadow 'school' so he'd be safer. The start of June shocked him though.

The Shadow Master had been revived from the coma by the Malfoy boy who stopped her in the first place and Orous had been there, he'd been stabbed for trying to stop it. Orous survived thankfully, Roman couldn't help but feel both concerned and proud to have a child who'd stand up to the forces of darkness like that. Especially after he'd already been through so much. He thought both his children were actually probably braver then him and - at least Orous - better people, he was glad for that. When he saw Orous on the platform, it took a surprising amount of control to not go over and talk to him, tell him how proud he was. Orous could've died, he wanted to have at least have had one conversation with his child before death claimed one of them. Probably himself. If he hadn't heard Orous cry 'dad' as he happily ran to hug a muggle, he very well might of despite the threat residing within him. Instead he went home in misery with Maurice. War was officially declared on the Shadows that summer, being dubbed 'The Shadow War.' Roman alone encouraged his son to be out and about by himself, he couldn't make Maurice do anything with the blood quill if his son happened to not be around after all. Besides, his sister had left him alone all the time so clearly it was perfectly alright to. The dawn of war also excited Maurice disturbingly, he was eager to get involved in the war and fight. He was more like Alzay every day, it chilled him to the core. And the lack of success with a Patronus wasn't a good sign, maybe he was just in denial. He was Alzay's son.

At least the Aurors finally left him alone, either because the missing boys had been found now or because they were too busy with the war but they did. He almost wished they didn't, all that time following him and they hadn't figured out he was being forced to work for those Shadows? Well, he was only contacted when the Aurors weren't around. Specters gave the advantage of when it was safe to talk to him, he supposed. And now the Shadow Master was back, the interest in the Scepter and acquiring it returned. It was more valuable than the other things he'd helped them with, meaning more protected and Roman would be more involved this time. At least it required more planning, giving him plenty of time for anxiety and headaches to wrestle to be the cause of his death before then. It was probably going to go wrong and he'd die, he indulged in a pensieve to go over some memories of his life, both good and bad. He was pretty terrible at life, maybe death wouldn't actually be so bad. Death not soul destruction, that would still be bad but just dying. He'd be with his family, be with his happy memories and Maurice would be safe. Hopefully. It wasn't like he'd ever get to see Orous, there was no hope for him. The theft was set to happen around Christmas, now the holiday was associated with Alzay and theft. He also got a request from Maurice to have a friend over for the winter break, Roman almost refused as Maurice's use of a Killing Curse in a demonstration terrified, infuriated and saddened him but he agreed. He couldn't possibly be expected to make Maurice use a blood quill when there was another person there and he still didn't want that.

The Malfoy boy, he would've preferred his son to not be friends with the child of a Death Eater but the boy clearly had some good points after some of the things he'd done. He mostly left them to their own devices, he had evil people to help first. It was to go down on Boxing Day, Roman couldn't see himself surviving it. He put a memory of it and his agreeing to join then in the pensieve, he couldn't be bothered to get rid of what was already in there but he left it in. Maybe the Aurors would see it when they investigated him after his death, finally see Alzay for the villain that she was and expose whatever other Shadows were in those memories. He would do more but he was afraid they might get suspicious, maybe they'd think to get rid of them anyway. He supposed it didn't matter anyway, he was at the end of the road as he couldn't see the theft having a good outcome for him. For once he was wrong in a way that wasn't terrible for him, the day of the attack he paced anxiously before he saw the Malfoy boy was up. And someone cried the magic words, it felt rather like having the breath pushed out of his lungs and all the pain was purged from his head as the Specter was purged from his body. He fell to the ground from force of it but he didn't care, he was free. He was actually free. He was so relieved that he could cry.

Not that he had time to relax, his saviors wanted information as Scorpius had seen his memories in the pensieve and was are of the attack. He actually wasn't concerned about the gross breach of his privacy for once. But he was worried about them wanting to stop them getting the Scepter, why couldn't they just want to get to safety? Because the Shadows would be back. They attacked before Varanian finally listened to him about getting out of there, he wouldn't have injured his arm if he'd listened to Roman in the first place. And then he had to Maurice everything, he expected Maurice to be mad but his son actually tried to cruciate him and would've succeeded if Scorpius hadn't averted his aim. His heart fell, Maurice was turning bad. It confirmed the Unforgivable Curse in the demonstration hadn't been a once off, Maurice was Alzay's son through and through. There was no hope, it was just a matter of time before his son turned completely to the Shadows. Maybe instead of trying to protect Maurice from Roman himself, he should've been trying to protect Maurice from his own Alzay influenced mind. Every good thing he tried to do backfired on him. And he somehow roped into helping them stop the Shadows getting the Scepter, terror and anxiety tearing him apart. But he didn't see himself as having much of a choice, he didn't know anything about hiding from the Shadows. And besides, it felt a poor way to repay his saviors. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful or that he didn't want to stop the Shadows, he just knew he hadn't the courage or the skills to be of any use. He still ended up helping though, they refused to give up. Typical Gryffindors rushing head first into everything.

By the time the sun set though, he was indeed no longer being forced to work from the Shadows but he'd been wrong to think himself free. Now he was a fugitive, wanted by the Aurors and the Shadows. He couldn't go out without the risk of death, couldn't finally be a real father to his sons. He wasn't free, not really. Maybe there was just no such thing as true freedom. At least not for him.

---

Brutus Ashain was sitting with his lover - who also happened to the Shadow Master - in the villa they had in Greece, late at night as he watched her with the Scepter. Or at least the piece of it they had acquired, the shattered crystal orb with rusted serpents wrapped around it. Sal was currently reassembling it, building the orb back up with the shards they'd found like it was some kind of three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. They'd had almost all of them, they'd found the rest of them after getting that Scepter piece. As the orb had once held a part of Herpo the Foul's soul, they were all linked by their Dark Magic Horcrux taint and Sal had figured out the locations from having the main orb magically. He'd long since stopped questioning the things she or Tommy were capable of or figuring out how a normal witch or wizard would be able to do it. He couldn't be happy though, he was too worried.

He almost regretted not simply killing that Sanford boy and his family but he hadn't wanted to, he didn't like when children got hurt or killed. It hadn't been completely necessary for the boy to do so why not? There was enough dead and enough death coming so why not spare the descendant of his ancestor's friend? Even if the woman had been a filthy muggle. Sal wouldn't really complain even if she did know, which she didn't in her condition as she was using the Specters much more sparingly and leaving it to him, Rabastan and Celestine. Except now he was terrified for his brother's life, the more he thought about it the more he thought how much sense it made for Ashylos to be possessing him. It explained the illness, even the strange note by Celestine about Scorpius thinking he'd been near the Chamber Entrance late at night. Trying to gain strength faster, this was very bad for Atticus' health. It would kill him eventually if it was the truth. He sighed and looked at Sal, focusing intently in the light of the setting sun. It was a beautiful view, Sal looked luminous in the dying rays of day and the landscape behind her was nice too. It was actually probably his favorite place they 'lived' actually, sometimes he could almost pretend they were just a normal happy couple without plans to change the world. Almost. He wished they were.

"Stop worrying, it'll be fine," Sal offered without looking away from the task in her hands.

"You don't even know what I'm worrying about," Brutus pointed out as he finished the last of his Retsina, a kind of Greek wine.

"Either me or your brother. And to both, don't. It'll be fine."

"But what if my brother is possessed by Ashylos? If we don't get rid of Ashylos' soul then he'll die and destroying the Horcrux would be the only way to do that."

"I'm sure it's not the only way. I could probably dispel or vaporize Ashylos' soul if I threw enough magic at it, we don't want a soul in the Scepter anyway."

Sal paused as she finished slotting all the pieces in place, a smile played on her lips as the orb glowed green. He wasn't sure if it was her or if the Scepter was doing it by itself but either way, he looked away from the blinding flash. He only looked back when it had faded, seeing that the noticeable lines from where the pieces were no longer existed. It had been restored to its former glory, now one smooth crystal orb again with no hint that it had been once been smashed to destroy Herpo's Horcrux. She picked up the orb and stood, making her swollen stomach visible.

"C'mon apparate me," Sal half-asked, half-ordered him eagerly.

"Can't we finish our conversation first?" Brutus inquired, he'd much prefer to just stay safe and sound in the villa while she was pregnant with his child. Or at least put off testing the orb on the cave.

"We can talk and test the orb," Sal insisted and Brutus rolled his eyes, "C'mon, or I'll just call get the Specters."

"Or you could learn to apparate," Brutus prompted but stood in defeat, putting his arms around her protectively.

"I can apparate if I want to, I just choose not to," Sal protested what he knew was a lie, she'd just failed at learning it frequently. Not that she liked admitting it, he smiled at her teasingly before apparating.

They reappeared at the entrance to Herpo's cave low down on Mount Olympus. Or rather the supposed entrance to Herpo's lair where he did all his research and kept all his notes, sealing it with a magic that supposedly required the Scepter. The other reason Sal desired it. She turned to the 'door' and he realized the orb was glowing green again, she let go of it but it hovered in mid-air from her magic. She gestured and the scepter head shot over to the stone slab in the slightest circle-shaped indent, the mountain started to shake and he grabbed Sal in readiness to apparate her away to safety in case just one part of the Scepter wasn't enough while drawing his wand in the other.

Sal held up a hand though and he watched as green light appeared around the 'door' showing that it was actually a lopsided rectangle, like a door. And it was opening, the thick stone slab was sliding open shakily. It stopped when the door was open, the orb stopped glowing and started to drop before Sal gestured as if catching it and it remained levitating. He could make out tables buried in books and parchment in the dusk light, they had apparently been right after all. He went to go in first to make sure it was safe, however the second he reached the spot the door had been, there was a flash of green. He was abruptly thrown back, his wand falling from his hands and a flick of the wrist from Sal was the only thing that stopped him tumbling down the mountain. He hovered there in mid-air before she moved back to land on his feet gently, he swiped up his wand.

"You okay?" Sal asked him with concern.

"Yeah," Brutus assured her truthfully, at least he felt fine, "Thanks. What was that?"

"Herpo made it so that only someone with his or his mentor's blood could get through, you're descended from neither so it rejected you."

"How'd you figure that out?" Brutus wondered, impressed and she smirked with a not to the rock overhanging the door, where Greek letters were fading into it.

"Came up with a warning, that's what I got from it. I should be able to get into it though," Sal pointed out and he reached out to take her to stop her, not liking the thought of her going in there alone, "I'll be fine, Brutus. Stop worrying."

"What if you can't get rid of Ashylos' soul?" Brutus questioned, both to prolong her going in and because he genuinely wanted to talk about it more, "What if the only way is to destroy the Scepter? Would you do it to save my brother?"

"If the worst comes to it then we can destroy the Scepter," Sal agreed reluctantly, "The orb is what we really need, it can open the door by itself and we should be able to recreate a Scepter for it to be attached to. Even easier if there's notes on it in there. The orb was what held Herpo's soul, I'm positive Ashylos isn't in that or you would've been affected from handling shards and his soul would be a lot more broken. It's in these rusted serpents wrapped around it, that's why you can't touch it. And presumably in the other two pieces in your family's home and my Father's Horcrux cave, if what the boy said was true. But I'm telling you it won't come to needing to destroy it."

"You'd really do that?"

"I know how much your brother means to you, I wouldn't let him die if I can help it without impeding my goals," Sal assured him and leaned in to kiss his lips tenderly, he didn't worry about that. He worried what would happen if saving his brother did impede with plans.

"And what if he dies before we do it in time?" Brutus whispered as she pulled away, caressing her cheek gently.

"If the girl hadn't failed then we'd probably have the whole Scepter by now, we just need a new plan to get the children whose blood we need. And I have one already. Before the Hogwarts year is up, your brother will be saved and we will have the Scepter," Sal told him and smiled, "And then night will fall."

---

Part 4: Taking The Good With The Bad

---

Alzay was delighted to have her father back, even if he wasn't completely like she remembered him which was to be expected considering how much had time had passed since they'd last seen each other. She wasn't the same either and they had a lot to catch up on, his reactions both pleased and confused her as she filled him in on her life. He was extremely proud of her good grades and progress in Hogwarts but seemed actually disappointed she had focused on saving him instead of pursuing a career more befitting of her talent, he looked visibly upset rather than pleased when she spoke of killing her mother but said nothing about it. He didn't mind her treatment of Roman or Cade or the guy who she'd set up for her crimes, however he seemed shocked by her willingness to sacrifice her children to save him when she joined the Soul Eaters. Because of that, she chose to leave out details of what had happened to Maurice during his training and Orous since his abduction as they'd been forced to harm his soul to break the mental connection. Rabastan was actually something that infuriated him though, viewing Rabastan as having taken advantage of her due to being around her father's age.

It struck a chord with her, she still cared very much about Rabastan and was protective of him. And it wasn't true anyway, if it was then he wouldn't have broken up with her over something so stupid or been monogamous if he didn't care about her really or even care about them having a child together. He wasn't like that anyway, he'd been barely out of Hogwarts when he'd been sent to Azkaban and had missed out on the best years of his life before being a wanted criminal. So he wasn't even as experienced with women as he'd have probably liked to be, if anything, he'd been surprised when she showed romantic interest in him. Rabastan always put his Soul Eater work before his personal life anyway. She saw him for work but it wasn't the same, she missed him a lot. Maybe she did love him after all. Her father would just have to get used to her not being a child anymore and accept Rabastan as they'd need to have a civil relationship to work together.

Her father was oddly reluctant to join up with the Soul Eaters but he relented at her encouragement, he was branded with the skeletal snake symbol in place of his Dark Mark and started training. And was to be treated better than the other prisoners-turned-soldiers, Seraph wasn't exactly known for going easy on people and not everyone was as willing as her father. It took him away from her but they stayed in regular contact through letter and saw each other every weekend, not that she had much to tell him as she was limited on Soul Eater things until he'd completed training and proved himself loyal. Rabastan had taken her off active missions anyway due to being more heavily pregnant with their child - a son she was sure, she wanted a son to carry on the Loren name. Girls were too sensitive and emotional anyway - and she was more down to planning things or non-active things. Which she gratefully preferred to when she was on maternity leave and not allowed to do anything, with the Soul Eaters or the Ministry. It just left her with too much time to think and Orous started popping back into her mind again. Their son was taking his sweet time in being born, it was an incredibly long labor when it did finally happen in early March. It was as if she was being punished for hurting Rabastan and Orous, she did get the son she wanted though. And he was actually perfectly healthy, not albino or deaf. He was her new favorite son.

"You can name him," Alzay offered to Rabastan as he cradled their child, the Healer had left and her father had gone to get her a drink of water as he'd been allowed out of training to be there for the birth of his first grandson. The first one he'd get to see anyway, he hadn't said anything to Rabastan but if looks could kill then Rabastan would've died long before his son's birth.

"By name him, you mean pick the first letter?" Rabastan wondered, knowing of her family's naming tradition.

"Yes," Alzay confirmed, if he didn't want to then she was naming the baby Rathan after her father and Rabastan as it used the same first letter of his name. The people who mattered most to her life.

"The 'v' for 'victory' so Vathan," Rabastan told her after a moment's thought and the bundle of blankets stirred, Rabastan smiled, "Do you like that name, huh? Vathan? Is that your name?"

"You know I... I realized that I do love you so I erm... thought that we could... we could be together again," Alzay offered nervously and Rabastan lost his smile, looking back to her in surprise and meeting her eyes for a long moment.

"I don't believe you," Rabastan admitted and looked saddened as he turned back to Vathan, "I don't trust you anymore and I don't think I could again."

"Don't you think you're milking this?!" Alzay snapped at him irritation, "I said I won't do it again, what more do you want from me?!"

"An apology would be nice. Any kind of remorse."

"But I have to apologize for, I didn't know you'd be bothered by it," Alzay protested and Rabastan shook his head before handing Vathan to her.

"I should go, I have things to do to catch up," Rabastan said and kissed their son's forehead in farewell, "I'll see you soon."

"Don't go! Rabastan!"

He stepped back into the Shadows anyway and vanished from sight, sinking her spirits and prompting to Vathan to start crying. Why couldn't babies just be born when they were older and not completely impossible to work with? Her father came back in that point though and soothed him for her while she could have her water, or maybe she was just bad with babies. Rabastan got a babysitter to help them with Vathan anyway if they were busy with work, she had a feeling she used the woman more than he did though as he doted on his son whenever he did have spare time. It wasn't that she didn't like him and in fact she did like him more than the twins, she just found babies boring and tedious to deal with. There was nothing rewarding about it, not until they got older. She started seeing Pyrrhus again out of desperation for some romance in her life, he was no Rabastan though. In fact, she thought he was insane and unlikable because of it but even he was easier to be around than a baby. She wasn't careful though, she didn't think it was possible to pregnant again so soon after giving birth. However, by the end of April she was feeling morning sickness again and a Healer confirmed she was pregnant again.

"If you want to dance, if you want it all then you know that I'm the girl that you should call," Pyrrhus was singing when she got up one of the mornings, still trying to figure out what to do. He was only in his underwear, showing the repulsive blood quill scars riddling his flesh. He was dancing as he sang, all the while chopping vegetables. Vathan was nearby, a bottle magically feeding him which was useful at least, "Boy when you're with me, I'll give you a taste and make it like your birthday every day."

"You're still a guy, right?" Alzay complained of him which silenced him at least.

"Of course, it's just a song," Pyrrhus told her with a smile, "I always sing while I'm chopping vegetables, it puts me in a good mood."

"Do you always dance too? Because it looks like it would be very easy to chop off your fingers if you don't stand still."

"Aww, Alzay, you almost sounded like you care about my health."

"No," Alzay snapped irritably to which he merely laughed, she was actually horrified to think that lunatic was going to be a father. To her child. And worse than that, him being the father meant the thing inside her was a filthy half-blood. That was albinism and deafness combined.

"Want some carrots?"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT SOME BLOODY CARROTS?!" Alzay yelled at him angrily, he paused in his movement and cocked his head to one side.

"Yes?" Pyrrhus guessed and she launched at a spell at him in anger, he dodged it with ease and laughed at her attempt as he went back to chopping, "I was kidding, Mrs Bitchier-Than-Usual. Maybe you should try getting out the other side of the bed, clearly the side I got out of is the right side t-"

"I'm pregnant," Alzay interrupted and he froze completely for a moment before smiling.

"Cool," Pyrrhus commented with an enthusiastic yet demented grin, "I haven't been a father before, it looks like fun. It will be interesting, I reckon I'd be rather good at it or at least I know what not to do. And no sending little Pyro or Pyra away to-"

"You're not the father," Alzay blurted out the lie, his enthusiasm scaring her even more then if he hadn't cared. She didn't want him to be involved in raising it, he lost his smile and looked at her as if waiting for her to elaborate. She thought of the perfect cover story to account for any resemblance and continued more confidently in a sneer, "Please, do you really think I'd allow myself to fall pregnant by a filthy half-blood like you? Especially you, you're insane. It's your brother's, Xerxes."

"Huh. Well I wish I could say I was surprised but I'm really not," Pyrrhus mused and tapped his head with the butt of the knife before laughing, "At least you have a lot in common, you're both cruel and slutty. Your kid is going to be seriously messed up."

Alzay thought the child would be seriously messed up but not because of her or Xerxes. However, the Soul Eaters soon found their plans interrupted when the Blood Runes failed. Or rather, they were stopped by the Malfoy boy, Riddle's brother and the Headmaster when things went wrong. Hundreds of Specters were destroyed and worst of all, Riddle was put into a coma that they struggled to wake her from. Orous was also 'found' the same day as Riddle was excessively fond of her own birthday. She was told and went to the hospital to see him, arriving just in time to hear the Healer tell Cade his injuries. The muggles had lied again, she wished she could also say she was surprised but deep down she supposed, she'd known that from what Pyrrhus had told her. And she'd still let him go. And now he was still gone, what use was he now after all? Whatever part of his mind left after being scrambled by the Specter who tore the magic from his school, would just be scrambled from what had happened. Cade could have him, she didn't care anymore. She had better children, Maurice was superior and Vathan would outclass him when he was older. Orous was useless, utterly broken now with any potential lost.

"So, I hear I'm going to be a father?" Xerxes commented of her the next time he saw her, raising an eyebrow at what he knew was clearly false, "Care to fill me in here?"

"I need a favor," Alzay began.

"I figured."

"It's quite simple really, Pyrrhus is insane and I don't want him to raise this child. So I figure that since we're friends, we could just pretend it's yours so he won't. Any resemblance can just brushed off because your his half-brother and the baby can be raised as a pure-blood too since we both are," Alzay explained, "You don't have to do anything at all, just let Pyrrhus think it's yours. You already have nine kids so what's one more fake child?"

"First let's set one thing straight, I have seven children not nine," Xerxes protested with a smirk, "And I agree it's a good plan. I just don't see what I get out of it."

"Friendship isn't enough?" Alzay wondered in mock shock and returned his smirk, she had expected as much, "Name your price."

"Hmm... I don't actually know, you'll just have to owe me one until you have something I want," Xerxes admitted after a moment's thought.

"Deal. Shake on it? You pretend to be the father and I owe you one in the future?" Alzay repeated and offered his hand that he took readily.

"Agreed. Oh, and we have to actually have sex so it's believable."

"Sounds fair," Alzay agreed readily and smiled at him seductively, she did like Xerxes, "Doing anything right now then?"

"Nothing that can't wait," Xerxes returned her smile and led her away.

---

Scorpius tried to make up for being so cold to Calderon by spending time with him for the final part of the break, catching up with him - or at least on non-Scepter things, he didn't want it to dampen the mood and he wasn't sure whether he should tell him or not anyway - about school, Sol and giving him the Easter eggs his parents had sent him. Calderon did seem tired from the magic-repressing potion he was testing but Scorpius wasn't sure he'd have time when classes started up, he'd have less time at least anyway with the exams looming as it meant they were given more work to prepare. He bade goodbye to his cousin and headed down to dinner, he'd forgotten about the rest of the school returning until he saw the tables completely filled. He was the last of his friends to arrive and was hugged by Rose in greeting.

"Where were you?" Rose demanded as they sat back down.

"Nice to see you too," Scorpius quipped sarcastically and he held up a hand in greeting to Corin and Michael, seeing Orous over at the Hufflepuff table as well, "And I was with Calderon. Why?"

"Because we should be celebrating, didn't you hear?"

"No."

"Then maybe you should spent time less time with Calderon and more time with your friend in the Hospital Wing," Rose scoffed and jabbed an accusing finger at him.

"I have! Every day except now, I-"

"It doesn't matter, he's going to be okay!" Rose interrupted delightedly.

"Really?"

"Marigold thinks so," Molly elaborated, more cautious in her optimism but Scorpius was still relieved, "Lat woke up long enough to reverse the Heavyweight Spell so it should be easier to heal the damage now, hopefully. It will still probably be a few days before he's up and moving, he broke his spine a lot worse and in a lot more places than Vern which is what he's worried most about for some reason."

"Do you not get how important your spine is to your nervous system?" Michael wondered, Albus giggled.

"Silly Michael, being nervous is an emotion. It comes from your brain not your back," Albus pointed out and Michael look exasperated.

"The Nervous System not being nervous. They're different things."

"I know what you mean," Maurice assured him, "Going after the spine can be a useful way to paralyze someone or kill them, and you can do a lot of damage with the right spell aimed in the right place."

"Glad to see you're as disturbing as ever," Rose commented.

"What about what I just said could possibly be construed as disturbing?"

"Everything!"

"So anything new?" Scorpius asked of Michael conversationally, just leaving Rose and Maurice to bicker.

"Quite a lot," Michael nodded, "Crystal's heart defect was repaired in St Mungo's and Bob's mother died so the little ones are living with her again as soon as she gets out in a few days."

"That's good."

"It's weird though," Michael pointed out with a concerned frown, "She died the exact same way as Bob."

"And?"

"And she was healthier then him, why would her heart suddenly give out?"

"She was mother so she was older," Abby guessed.

"Even older people don't tend to die for no reason in the exact same way as their son did a few months prior," Michael insisted and looked around at their unworried faces, "I'm the one who thinks is weird?"

"Yep," Albus nodded.

"Yeah," Corin said at the same time.

"Pretty much," Abby shrugged also at the same time.

"Probably," Molly agreed.

"Sometimes weird things just happen," Scorpius told him cautiously while Rose gave up on Maurice and they turned to them instead, Maurice smirking triumphantly, "And even if something is up, so what? They were hardly good people. Good riddance I say."

"Are you talking about PAW?" Maurice asked curiously.

"Why? What about PAW?" Michael questioned immediately, naturally more concerned about it since they killed werewolves and had gone after him before.

"Don't you guys read the papers?"

"No," they chorused in unison to which Maurice rolled his eyes.

"I was in France," Corin added in his defensive.

"Their headquarters were attacked," Maurice explained, "The Aurors are keeping information quite limited but we do know the building was completely destroyed everyone but a lone survivor was killed. The strange thing is aside from the ruins of the building, there wasn't many signs of a struggle and those who didn't die from the building falling have no visible sign of what killed them. They promise to keep us informed when they know more, including a description of the suspect and yes only one suspect. They think a single random person walked in off the street, destroyed a manor and killed over two dozen people who didn't even try to defend themselves."

"Shadows?" Abby offered what they were all thinking, "Specters might explain it."

"That's the thing, they don't know if it was the Shadows. The Soul Eaters haven't taken credit and there symbol wasn't anywhere in sight, they don't know whether to write it off as a Shadow attack or if it was someone out for revenge or what."

"Well that's good right?" Albus wondered with a grin, "They were bad, killing werewolves and going after our friends. I'm with Scorpius, good riddance. You're in luck, Michael, people who were a threat to you are dropping like flies."

"Thanks, Albus, that makes me so much better and not cursed at all," Michael pointed out with a scowl.

"I wouldn't be glad if I was you," Maurice spoke up, "Killing PAW might've been good but mysterious killers who can down over two dozen people who have some kind of capacity to fight and the building they're in are not good. We don't know why they did or if they'll go after a group less deserving next."

"See, everything you say is depressing," Rose complained as she flipped her hair over her shoulder the way she did.

"Not everything I say. The fact that you thought everything was disturbing a minute ago doesn't help your argument, if you can't make your mind up on what you're fighting for then how are you supposed to win the argument," Maurice protested and Rose through him a dark look and set them off again.

"They're almost as bad as Annie and Aaron," Michael commented with a sigh.

---

Satisfied with her personal situation, she could turn her attention to worrying about the Soul Eater's. At first she thought it would be quite simple to revive Riddle and get back on recovering from this, they were all magical after all. But it turned out to be more difficult than that, stupid Blood Runes but they thought the Malfoy boy might be the key. Rabastan was both deeply concerned and extremely stressed, they lacked the ease of control that Riddle had with the Specters and it was taking its toll on Rabastan. Well, Brutus too but she never had liked him and Rooke got off due to mostly having to keep his cover up. Pyrrhus was chosen to infiltrate Hogwarts due to his talent with Transfiguration to be a professor, using an aging potion to make him look more mature. She found it incredibly amusing to watch the barely twenty-four year old pretend to be twenty years older, it also got rid of him for her pregnancy so that was a plus. They kept failing to capture or kill the Malfoy boy though, which didn't bode well for Riddle.

Rabastan dumped her with the task of getting mudblood parents to want to 'cure' their children of magic, due to her being pregnant and because of her knowledge of muggles from being married to Cade. It was necessary as they needed to replenish their Specter ranks, severing them from their Dementors was easy for Riddle with her power but they didn't have that. It was incredibly taxing and difficult, unless they used magic from people's souls which could create multiple at once if they gathered some Dementors together and they did have some. Getting parents to agree ensured they wouldn't tell anyone when the process went 'wrong' and their child died, especially if they'd already severed ties to the magical world or hadn't even learned of the magical world yet. They could always come back and kill them quietly if necessary, Alzay's Ministry job gave her perfect access to all the information as well. Rabastan taught certain Specters to obey her commands to do the magic tearing, she felt quite powerful to be able to control them. She also had the job of working on experiments he'd been doing with trying to make muggles magical, since muggles outnumbered wizards it would be much easier to get magic to use to make Specters if they could get it from muggles. She quickly gauged that it was probably impossible, not without Specters anyway. She also met One, the first and only talking Specter who kept the others obedient for her.

Her father also finally finished his training though, moving in with her and Vathan much to her delight. Although she was slightly disappointed as she had been looking forward to working missions by his side, which she couldn't do at that moment in time. He was good to have him there though, he adored Vathan and was seeming much himself now he'd had time to recover from his incarceration. He even expressed a desire to get revenge on the people who had imprisoned him. She very much wanted that too and thought it was the perfect bonding activity to show him she was now an adult as well as get revenge on those bastards who'd taken her father from her, she found the people - those still alive anyway - through her Ministry job and told him. He certainly looked impressed and that night, they tracked them down and murdered them all. She also tore the magic from their souls first so she would be able to tell Rabastan that it had had a practical purpose, they burned down their victims homes after to leave no ties to the Soul Eaters. It reminded her of burning her mother's things and burning down her mother's house, her father put his arm around her and they smiled as they watched the flames burn.

It was actually a very easy pregnancy, baggy clothes were covering the little she was showing by December. It was why she was so surprised when she went into early labor at the end of December, she wound up blurting out about Xerxes not really being the father when he went to go get him as well as the Healer. Hastily explaining and swearing him to secrecy before she finally let him go to get the Healer, expecting to have plenty of time but the baby didn't want to wait. She gave birth alone - unless you counted Vathan sleeping in the other room - to her fourth son by the time he returned with the Healer, the filthy mongrel half-blood. She named him Oathan, a play on the 'oath' of secrecy regarding his true father. She wasn't going to name the mongrel after her father after all, it would be an insult to his name. He was healthy but in her opinion, his tainted blood status was worse than being deaf or albino. He was her new least favorite son. She kept trying to look past his blood, the way her father could and believe her lie but she couldn't. The lie barely mattered, she knew. And she couldn't un-know. She threw herself back into work as soon as possible, not wanting to be around him at all.

It didn't help Pyrrhus was around for the holiday and came to visit his new 'nephew', in fact he was in an incredibly good mood. Another set of magical twins had been taken back in May for the experiment, Orous having to have the magic ripped from his soul and put back had made the results unreliable so two more boys had been taken. Varanian and the Malfoy boy had found their way back to Pyrrhus' father to save them - although only one was there at the time, they didn't think he could handle two wizard children alone - and tortured Pyrrhus' father, Brutus had let Pyrrhus watch through Specters before destroying the old man's soul. Pyrrhus was ecstatic and had a new respect for both Varanian and Brutus, Alzay would be lying if she said that she wasn't glad that Pyrrhus' father was dead but she also didn't feel like celebrating it. She didn't relax until he was back in Hogwarts, thankfully he still didn't suspect the truth about Oathan. Ironically, her father disapproved of her being with someone so much younger than her now. They still had no luck with saving Riddle though and Rabastan had her quit her Ministry job to focus full time on getting the magic from mudblood's souls, she was surprised they even had souls really.

They were celebrating Vathan's first birthday before she realized it, he was capable of saying a few words by then and seemed smarter than Orous had been as a baby. He was showered with gifts and attention, also earning a big chocolate cake for him to blow out the candle with. Instead of doing that though, he grabbed the flame before they could stop him but wasn't burned. His first instance of magic, she was extremely proud. It was good to celebrate something in the wake of their plans being so completely interrupted and because of Oathan, she didn't know her father managed to look past it. Brutus also came up with a plan to revive Riddle, she doubted it would work. This was Brutus after all. They set to working on it anyway, if nothing else then she looked forward to the suffering of someone related to Brutus. She had to eat her words when it did work though, the only slight hitch was from her own son trying to stop it and almost dying with Riddle stabbed him. She was impressed with Orous, even if it had been trying to help the wrong side. It must still have taken a lot of guts, maybe there was still hope for him after all. Riddle was back with a bang and the Shadow War officially began, Alzay was excited. Genuinely and truly, she had started off just wanting to save her father but now she wanted the war. She wanted to fight, she wanted to kill, she wanted to turn the world on its head and watch the impure burned away. It would be a better place then, a better world for her father. And children. It was worth dying for.

She no longer needed to take the magic from mudblood's souls but she did still had to deal with testing muggles or squibs, she thought Rabastan was just punishing her as there was no reason for it really. He also wanted more time with his son and they alternated taking care of him, Rabastan had him Friday through Sunday and she had Vathan the rest of the week. Which she hated, she didn't like when there was only Oathan and there was only one babysitter. She couldn't wait for the day Oathan was old enough to be dumped in the training tower and not seen again until he was a soldier, he was corrupting Vathan. When the two played together, Vathan was nice to his brother. Nice to the filthy half-blood. Once, she even saw Vathan hug his little brother and clap when - presumably - Oathan transfigured a ball into an identical stuffed griffin to the one they had been playing with. She snatched it off them of course and turned it back, making them both cry. She was seriously considering sending Vathan to the training tower, despite some of the practices it clearly worked. Maurice had cast a Killing Curse at just twelve, after being out of the school for four years after all. It was clearly ingrained into him with no negative side effects, she wanted Vathan to be like that. Except not deaf or half-Roman Rivers. The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was a good idea, the sooner he was mature the better.

They had another hitch in their plans when they failed to get that Scepter at Christmas - although they did still kill the Minister of Magic so it wasn't a complete failure - and even more disappointingly, Roman had been liberated. She wanted him to continue to suffer, he'd be hard to find under Varanian's protection. Hard but not impossible, when she saw him again she was going to put her Specter training to good use and tear the magic from his pathetic soul. Then she'd kill him. It served him right for insulting her father. She also wound up in a relationship with one of the muggles she was testing out of desperation to get him to stay on board, the idiot wanted to quit just because his son had gotten hurt. Trying to stop them from getting the Scepter no less, not that the muggle knew that. She also got a strange feeling that One was up to something. In contrast to Vathan, she did nothing to mark Oathan's first birthday despite her father wanting to. It was almost like he cared about his grandsons, which made no sense as he didn't like Rabastan so had no reason to favor Vathan like she did and he knew Oathan was secretly a mongrel. It didn't matter, she'd made up her mind to send Vathan to the training tower.

"No!" Rabastan protested when she told him.

"You said you would have no problem with it before," Alzay threw out immediately.

"I was just trying to make you feel better about Orous, I didn't think you were serious. Or if you were then I figured you'd change your mind when you weren't upset! Don't you know what is like for them?!"

"It worked pretty well for Maurice, it should do even better for Vathan since he's naturally better."

"Yes, it gets results but at what cost?!" Rabastan demanded of her, "They break them, they torture them, they scar them for life and some don't cope well with the program, end up dead. Vathan would come out a soldier but he'd lose his childhood, is that what you want? He wouldn't be happy, he wouldn't be able to have a normal life."

"So what if he loses his childhood?" Alzay wondered, "Children are pathetic and useless, the sooner he grows up the better. There'll be plenty of time for him to adjust to 'normal' life when we've won the war."

"Are you insane?"

"You agreed! You can't go back on your word!" Alzay spat furiously, "First you leave me, then you won't forgive me, then you're punishing me with lame work instead of letting me and my father work together and now you're going back on your word! Don't be a hypocrite, if you're not willing to give your own son to your own cause then you can't be very loyal to it or to her, can you?!"

"I am loyal!" Rabastan insisted, visibly upset by the accusation, "I just... just want Vathan to be happy."

"Happy is useless to us. If you really put the Soul Eaters over your personal feelings then you'll do it."

"Fine," Rabastan agreed hesitantly and Alzay smirked, she always got what she wanted. Eventually.

She talked to Xerxes and the other teachers, making sure they knew not to go easy on Vathan. Instead of a second birthday, he got a farewell although her father had still gotten him presents as he didn't realize they didn't really get personal items in the school. Then again, she had been extremely vague on the training as she was afraid he wouldn't like it. Rabastan hugged him goodbye after they brought him to the school, holding Vathan close and whispering something into his ear before leaving with tears in his eyes for the second time since she'd known him. She didn't say goodbye, instead she had Xerxes take them to the basement. Vathan looked at her in confusion, he had strange mossy eyes that Rabastan claimed were his mother's and black hair like both his father - before he'd gone gray - and his grandfather with a slight wave to it. His features were softer than Rabastan's though, more like herself or maybe it was just because it was so young. Only two. But she was doing the right thing.

"Why is bye-bye to me?" Vathan asked gently as she took his shirt off.

"You're going to be a soldier, Vathan, like Mummy and Daddy and Grandpa," Alzay told him proudly as she restrained him, "These people are going to teach you, when you're good enough then you can come home."

"I don't want," Vathan whimpered as his eyes welled with tears.

"You will," Alzay promised as she drew her wand, "I'm going to give you a special Shadow badge now."

She muttered the spell and Vathan screamed in agony, struggling uselessly against his restraints but she ignored her child's continuous cries. She didn't hesitate as she dragged her wand over his flesh, wrinkling her nose at the stench of his skin burning as she branded him with the skeletal snake symbol. Like Rabastan and Rathan, except Vathan's went from his wrist right up to his shoulder. He sat there shaking and sobbing at the pain, clutching his hurt arm but she was already moving on to the unmarked one. He screamed for her to not but she ignored it again, doing the same again to the other arm. She was quite satisfied with her handiwork, she smiled to herself as she turned and walked away from her son.

"You can be really cold sometimes," Xerxes commented quietly, had he really not expected to go through with it just because he was her son? Her favorite son no less. They didn't usually mark the children, just like they didn't mark the adults who hadn't been Death Eaters but Maurice had so why not? She thought it was a good omen.

"What's wrong with cold?" Alzay asked rhetorically as she walked by him.

---

Scorpius was actually glad for his friends and for classes to be back, he thought he would've made a pretty good Ravenclaw. Better than he was a Gryffindor at least due to his cowardice. He hadn't been wrong about the work either, every class started with a lecture on the importance of Fourth Year exams before they got to the actual lesson. Although his day was interrupted constantly by his various friends asking when they were going to go to the Room That Doesn't Exist to get more detail on what had happened, the first day was a Friday so it wasn't like they were lacking in time. He said Saturday as he wanted to visit Latimer after classes that day, catching up could wait for them to be there for their friend.

There was no sign of Austin, whether was just somewhere else in that moment or whether he'd gone home or been forced to go home, Scorpius didn't know. Latimer's wand was also gone, he wasn't sure whether it was a bad sign or whether Marigold had simply taken it away for the time being in case Latimer tried to harm himself. Latimer was sitting propped up on his pillows instead of lying down and was no longer bandaged, he thought his friend was sleeping though. Until Latimer's reddish brown eyes flicked feebly open when they approached him, sending a wave of relief through him.

"Hey buddy, how you feeling?" Albus asked him eagerly as he pulled up a chair with a grin plastered across his face.

"Like crap. But I guess that's how you know you're alive, right?" Latimer croaked weakly, his voice sounding hoarse. It was possibly from disuse over the past week and a bit or from his injuries maybe.

"And being alive is good," Rose pointed out patronizingly as she patted his hand with an unusually kind smile that looked somewhat disturbing on her face.

"So who tried to kill you?" Maurice questioned with genuine curiosity, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Corin while Latimer looked away uncomfortably and ashamedly.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Scorpius assured him.

"N-No one tried to kill me," Latimer admitted, averting his eyes guiltily, "Please don't go around trying to get people in trouble."

"We know, Maurice is just being Maurice."

"Someone must have erased your memory," Maurice decided determinedly and Scorpius very much wished he could gag his friend at that moment.

"Maurice, shut up," Corin hissed.

"No one erased my memory, Maurice, I tried to kill myself," Latimer whispered, looking very much like he wanted the bed to swallow him whole.

"No, you wouldn't do that. Someone must have implanted false memories in your mind," Maurice insisted and Corin abruptly hauled him away, signing something that looked like needing to speak to him alone.

"Why are you people here anyway? Don't you have anything better to do?" Latimer wondered quietly and hopelessly, "I'm not of any use."

"Friends are supposed to be useless," Albus told him and Scorpius seriously wondered whether they should have gone over some ground rules of things not to say to make Latimer feel worse before they went in but he thought some things should've went without saying, "We're all useless but at the end of the day we have each other's backs, we still stick together because that's what friends do. You'd be there for us and we'd be here for you, nothing's more important than friendship and family. And they're basically the same thing anyway. That's what my Dad says."

"That's weirdly mature of you, Al," Abby commented and Scorpius was forced to agree.

"I can be mature," Albus protested, "And don't worry, Lat, if anyone is mean to you then I am going to punch them in the face. Just like I punched James."

"That sounds more like you," Abby sighed and Scorpius again agreed while Corin returned alone.

"You punched your own brother?" Latimer wondered dubiously, still looking somewhat upset but he raised his head to look back to them ever so cautiously.

"Oh absolutely," Albus agreed with a grin as he launched into the story that was even more exaggerated then one of Cassia's.

If nothing else at least it was taking his Latimer's mind off things, or at least Scorpius hoped it was. Now he was going to be okay, they just had to worry about him staying okay and not wanting to commit suicide. Marigold shooed them out later when he claimed Latimer needed rest, Scorpius hoped Marigold would be able to get some as the Healer looked completely exhausted from getting little to no sleep all the past week from single handedly keeping Latimer alive.

"Thank you," Scorpius told him truthfully, interrupting the Healer's grumbles of them not leaving fast enough or understanding the usefulness of rest. Marigold looked at him like he'd grown an extra head, "For saving my friend."

"Oh," Marigold said and seemed utterly at a loss to how to react to that, "You're... You're welcome, I erm… try my best."

---

Part 5: Fighting

---

Oathan seemed rather lost without his brother, or at least he kept searching for Vathan because he was too young to understand. Alzay send Vathan to the school because she thought it was for the best, she wanted Oathan there just because she didn't want him. He was a mongrel and nothing was going to change that, he was tainted to the core. Rabastan seemed to change his mind after that and started letting her go on missions with her father again, although she still had to deal with the muggles. She was overjoyed to be getting to spend more time with her father again and being more active, that missed that and got to spend less time with Oathan who now had the babysitter all to himself. It was very different to working with Pyrrhus aside from having a better relationship, her father lacked his impressive agility, animagi ability or wandless magic talent so they were more on even footing going in as Alzay also lacked those things. Her father was physically stronger though and more patient, at first she almost viewed this as a hindrance but she quickly saw that a little bit of recon could actually go a long way to be being prepared and plans going off without a hitch. Her father was much calmer than Pyrrhus on missions and more ordered, which she also saw as advantages. She wondered what he thought of her.

The attack to get Hogwarts didn't quite go as planned, a bunch of brats - including Maurice and the Malfoy boy - messed Pyrrhus' only job of lowering the wards. Pyrrhus was given the blame and was severely punished, meaning he was extensively tortured. And Greyback stupidly got himself over his petty vengeance, losing them the werewolf army which Riddle planned to regain as soon as they had a replacement alpha as Specters could easily teleport them out of confinement. It wasn't a complete failure though, the Soul Eater name was revealed and they did some serious damage to Hogsmeade. Further instilling fear, panic and inadvertently creating PAW, as well as some vigilante attacks. While they didn't really care either way about the werewolves, it wasn't a bad thing that the Aurors were wasting time on them or that the Wizarding World was further descending into anarchy and attacking each other. It would just make it easier for them in the long run so it was all good really. The muggle ended it with her and with helping them but it didn't matter so much, with the attention on PAW they didn't muggles to run errands and they still had other muggles and squibs to work with anyway. Ones that were thankfully given to someone else to deal with, although she could still get Specters to attack for her. That came in useful, on top on being able to get them to teleport you when necessary as Soul Eater operatives were taught.

It was decided though on a more personal level that Maurice should take the test, to try lean him back to their side as they didn't want someone with that kind of training against them. She volunteered readily to be a part of it, it mostly involved kidnapping random people to be Imperised as the threats were already set up. They tricked him into being Portkeyed to the testing area, which was on the same island as the magically hidden training tower. It was riddled with various dangerous creatures, other Soul Eaters and Imperised people for them to get through. Those being tested had to find their way to the top of the 'exit tower' - really just a watch tower - and duel to the death to earn an escape, no assistance was to be given and if they died then it simply proved them unworthy. No help was given and it didn't matter how willing they were, reaching the goal was the only way they could get of the island or if they managed to survive until someone did win. Depending on how well they did, they were either killed if they hadn't showed enough skill or allowed another chance after a severe punishment of course. They had to defend themselves from the different things, survive by themselves out in the wilderness and would need to torture for information on how to find the magically hidden tower. Finding and following their own trail to the different wards ensured they had to take on the magical creatures in those areas as they tended to be territorial, Soul Eaters or Imperised wizards attacked at random points to keep them on edge and those being tested also were expected to fight to the death or at least to incapacitation. It was kill or be killed all the way, she was very interested to see how Maurice would do. And if he died then it would only prove that clearly he hadn't had the talent she'd thought, he'd deserve to perish then.

They didn't have a warning for the test, they were just thrown into it when their teachers thought they were ready. Although everyone else went from the training tower, Maurice would be the first to come into it after five years out so his continued study outside of it would really be what made or broke him. She thought he had a fair chance though, Pyrrhus had the record for the least amount of time in the training tower at just a year before taking - and succeeding - and the youngest to succeed had been just an eleven year old girl so Maurice just had to be as good as she hoped. He already had the advantage of it being summer, surviving in winter was somewhat harder. Specters were used to keep an eye on progress, even if they noticed them, none of them were taught to use Patronuses except Maurice who was a complete failure at it by all accounts anyway. They were Portkeyed to a random point on the island, Maurice being unlucky enough to be taken near a Manticore. A creature with a lion's body and scorpion's tail, its skin repelled all known charms and the sting was fatal. It was trained to only protect its territory as there was a ward in that area, Maurice wouldn't know that though as he'd only started off there. He initially struggled with it and Alzay thought he was a goner before he tricked it into stinging itself, she wasn't sure whether it was fatal to itself but it certainly incapacitated it. She'd doubted too soon, if Maurice could take out a Manticore then he should be able to win.

She couldn't watch or help with the task constantly due to the length of time it took, they worked in six hour shifts but she did observe her son whenever she could. He could take care of himself but seemed reluctant to take part at first, his first human kill was purely an accident while dueling in self-defense. Constantly having to fight for his life had the intended effect though, reluctance cost him especially when he was already down a sense. His spells stopped being so kid-friendly, he even began using his deafness to his advantage by using spells to cause sounds to distract or disturb others while remaining unaffected himself and he started trying to find the exit by torturing as intended. She was impressed, he also was one of the few to take the test to catch on herbs or even parts from the creatures could be used in rudimentary crafted potions. She only wondered why he hadn't been put in Slytherin with his resourcefulness and cunning as evident in the test, not that she doubted his bravery - or thought courage was a bad thing - and in face she preferred his sorting to Orous' - Hufflepuff was the useless house after all - but still thought he'd have done better in the house of his family. Lorens were generally all Slytherins, as were Rosiers - which was the family name before Roman's father changed it - but neither twin got into her house. Even Roman had gotten into Slytherin, his absolute uselessness was more deserving of Hufflepuff which was probably why Orous got landed there. But Gryffindor for Maurice?

Maurice succeeded anyway, or at least got to the top of the tower - which required getting through several floors of puzzles and enchantments - to duel to the death with the next person to get there. It was necessary as the Portkey was beyond that room, sealed with a particularly nasty enchantment that required a life be lost to open. The second to get there was slightly older but he hadn't done anything as impressive as taking out a Manticore, Alzay wasn't really worried and was glad to be controlling the Imperised overseer of their duel. Maurice however, tried to convince the boy they shouldn't be fighting as they were on the same side, both forced into training. Thankfully, the boy didn't see it that way but Maurice still bested him. He just wouldn't kill him after disarming, the boy seemed much more willing to listen to Maurice then. She really didn't think she could be any clearer than 'there is no way out of this room unless someone dies' as it was sealed once the second boy went in, he still refused and she resorted to Cruciating him to try force him to accept his victory by killing.

---

"That's amazing," Abby commented in regards to the healing ankh when Orous had finished giving them the details of what had happened with the Scepter after Scorpius had finished filling him and Michael in, "Before they died, we used to visit my grandparents who suffered the same thing. It's a terrible fate."

"Please, it's not amazing," Maurice scoffed, he'd been glowering the second that Orous mentioned Roman, "If it really was that great then it would be able to be used more than once, it's hardly practical."

"It saved my father's life," Orous insisted, giving his twin an uncharacteristically dark look, "Does that matter to you at all?"

"Don't worry about it, he's just saying it because you have Daddy issues," Albus pointed out.

"I do not have Daddy issues!" Maurice protested irritably as he repositioned and composed himself, "In fact, I'm an orphan. My parents are dead to me."

"Sure, that's not a sign of issues with your parents at all," Molly said sarcastically to which Maurice nodded, missing her tone.

"Thank you. And I never said I wasn't glad that Cade was okay, just that Roman's amazing ankh was being oversold. Next time, Orous, you just need to work on hiding things and not giving in."

"No, don't send anything else dangerous home!" Orous burst out, looking horrified, "I'm the fighting the Shadows but at there's my Dad and the dogs at home, he's not and they can't defend themselves if anything happens. I don't want them to be at risk."

"Cade was at risk the second he agreed to marry your mother."

"She used Love Potion on him."

"It's still his fault, if he'd never been dating in the first place then she wouldn't have been able to slip him Love Potion. Further proof that dating is always bad. But my point was that he's still at risk, he knew what he was getting himself into when he put himself out there."

"He didn't even know magic existed!"

"Well he should have," Maurice decided stubbornly and Orous looked actually angry, "Therefore, he signed himself up for risk when he agreed to date your mother and got himself metaphorically. If he wants out of danger from the magical world then he should get a divorce, get rid of the magical kids he's a guardian for and go back to his boring prior life. He doesn't so clearly he accepts the risk, you're the one at fault here. You shouldn't have given her the Scepter."

"What would you rather I have done?! Stand there and let him die?!" Orous demanded, his clenched fists shaking with rage while Maurice remained perfectly calm as he jumped lightly to his feet.

"You fight, Orous, you fight the Shadows. You only let her complete the objective over your dead body, that's what soldiers do. You never give up and you never give in," Maurice said firmly, "Maybe if you and Cade were stronger then the Shadows wouldn't have the Scepter and he wouldn't have needed saving."

"Maurice, why don't you quit while you're-" Albus started to say but was cut off as Orous lashed out with his fist, Maurice dodged it as effortlessly as he had Scorpius' previous attempt and the albino's fist collided painfully with the wall.

"You people suck at punching."

"Well I never hit someone before," Orous muttered as he rubbed his hand.

"You still haven't," Maurice pointed out unhelpfully.

"Sometimes there's nothing you can do," Orous said instead, seeming to try a different tactic as he tried to attempt to reign in his anger, "What would you have done if it was someone you cared about being tortured and only ten seconds before they died? What if it was one of us? What if it was me? And your only choice is give them the Scepter or that person dies. What would you do then?"

"It's not a realistic scenario, I'd try to save you and the Scept-"

"Answer the question!"

"But it's wrong," Maurice protested, "There's never just-"

"Maurice!"

"Then I'd have to let you die in that ridiculous scenario," Maurice admitted irritably, "If they got the Scepter then you'd die anyway along with so many more. The enemy doesn't necessary keep their word and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a single person anyway, its basic math."

"You're just like our mother, you know?" Orous told him quietly, his expression becoming neutral enough to rival his twin, "You look like her, you act like her, you sound like her. You're just like her."

"You're wrong. I'm nothing like her!" Maurice spat defensively.

"Try saying that after you meet her. I have to go now and..." Orous trailed off before shaking his head and heading for the door, "I just have to go. And I'm sorry I tried to hit you, that was out of line."

"Maurice, go apologize to your brother," Vern demanded of him immediately while Michael went after the albino.

"What do I have to apologize for?" Maurice wondered incredulously, "He's the one who insulted me."

"It's called being a human being," Albus pointed out to which Maurice looked offended, "Try it some time."

"I am a human being."

"Could've fooled us after how talked to him, and Latimer. You have the compassion of a stone," Albus commented icily while Maurice stalked off, although Scorpius somehow doubted it was to apologize to his brother.

Scorpius disliked being right sometimes, Maurice and Orous showed no signs of making up. Unlike Abby and Corin, they didn't seem to mind being around each other. They just didn't interact and acted for the most part like the other wasn't there, it was short and civil but cold the odd times they did interact. Unless they were around Latimer, then Maurice just went off on his own. Latimer was doing better recovery wise at least, he was up and walking - albeit slowly as he was still recovering from his injuries - around the Hospital Wing that weekend. They visited him daily, although not necessarily at the same time now they had conflicting class schedules. The others on the Quidditch team visited him too, as well as giving him different sweets as a get well presents and cards of well wishes which he also got from some of the teacher and a handful of random well-wishing students. The little - and often forgotten - First Year Reserve Keeper Rufus Rhett brought him a whole box of cupcakes all stylized differently because his muggle parents ran a bakery apparently, Caitlin and Freddie let him choose a second middle name for their daughter - bringing her rather lengthy name to Charla Michaela Lark Weasley or Charley as a nickname - to which Latimer chose his mother's name. Even Carver tried to see him.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, no!" Albus exclaimed when he saw him, rushing over to block the older and bigger boy's path. Scorpius left the others with Latimer to see what was up, "What do you think you're doing here?! You have some nerve to show your face here."

"I erm... wanted to erm... apologize to Latimer... for stuff," Carver offered nervously as he eyed his feet, shifting uncomfortably and wringing a piece of paper. He abruptly smoothed the paper out as if panicked, Scorpius realized it was a card with a smiley face and 'Get Well' in blue letters on a sky background. Of course it was all wrinkled and creased now, torn slightly from Carver twisting it, "I even got him a get well card. See."

"And you think a card makes up for what you did?!"

"It's better than nothing, right? It's the best I can do, it's not like I wanted him to kill himself."

"Well maybe you should think about that before you go around picking on people! You're a horrible person. Just beat it. Seeing someone who tormented him is not productive to his healing."

"Oh right," Carver muttered unhappily, "I guess that makes sense."

"Say sorry to him when he's out of the Hospital Wing," Scorpius suggested and Carver nodded, finally looking up slightly as he held out the crumpled card.

"Can you at least give him this then?"

"Sure, we'll give it to him later," Albus interrupted and snatched it away, Carver nodded again as he left with his head still hung.

---

"I'll do it!" Maurice accepted after a while and she dropped the curse, he was still shaking from the after effects of the curse as he picked up his wand which caused the boy to cower in fear.

"Please," the boy begged and Alzay smiled to herself as Maurice aimed his wand at the boy, her mudblood puppet lowered his wand as she thought it was unnecessary.

"Avada Kedavra!" Maurice cried but at the last second, jerked his aim to cast it at her puppet instead and the mudblood died in an instant.

She sat there in shock for a moment before smiling, impressed by his cunning out-of-the-box thinking. Someone had to die, the magic didn't care if it was one of those being tested or the overseer. Maurice hadn't liked the options so he'd carved his own way out of the situation. How had he not gotten Slytherin? He'd be brilliant and would be a good soldier on their side, he might even have earned a place as her joint favorite with Vathan. Although the other boy would have to be dealt with now, she volunteered and was transported using the Specters to the tower. Maurice had his back to her, helping the other boy to his feet. He had to die, the other to make it the tower always did.

"Avada Kedavra," Alzay muttered and killed the teenager her son helped up.

She disarmed Maurice before he could withdraw his wand and flicked her wand again to make the stone slabs turn into restraints for all but one arm as she wanted him to use the necklace to communicate with her. She did still know sign but she didn't want to have to pocket her wand, she magically removed the muggle shirt - he only had the same clothes he'd been in when he'd been abducted after all, which was muggle as Cade had taken him in being the bleeding heart he was - although his clothes were filthy, gashed, singed and splattered with blood from everything he'd been through. It was actually the first time she'd seen him in person since he was a baby, injuries were rampant from his ordeal, cuts, bruises and burns in vary stages of healing marring his already blood quill scared visage and he still had the livid scar wrapped around his wrist from the experiment. His hair was matted with dirt and blood at that moment and a complete mess but it was the same light brown as hers, his exhaustion showed on his injured face but she still saw the resemblance to herself if she looked in a mirror. Likewise his eyes had dark gray circles chained to them but they were oceanic like her and her father, she'd never realized how much he looked at her until just that moment. It surprised her as none of her other children were so much like her, his expression was neutral like hers too. His free arm was reaching out for his wand though, she lashed out with a violent spell to stop him and caused a deep gash in his shoulder while also kicking his wand across the room and out of the way. He gasped in pain and had to stop but his eyes were defiant as he looked up at her, she admired his strength.

"Are you going to kill me too?" Maurice asked expressionlessly, sounding perfectly normal and she levitated his arm to touch his necklace that he grasped readily while blood trickled down from his wound.

"No, you won. You passed the test," Alzay told him, still finding it difficult to take her eyes of her son. Even more sure that she was right to send Vathan - and soon Oathan - to the training tower, she wanted them to be like this. She smirked at him though, "I'm glad it was you. Clever to kill the overseer like that when you didn't want to kill the boy, that's never happened before. It was smart, even if you should've just killed the boy since I killed him anyway and that guy was just an Imperised puppet I was controlling."

"If I passed then what do you want with me?" Maurice questioned, his neutral expression returning after being shaken by her last sentence.

"To remind you of the side you should be fighting for."

On that, Alzay flicked her wand, yanking his injured arm to his side and tearing the translator necklace from his neck as she did so. It remained clutched in his fist though as she had the ground restrain that arm too and she diverted her wand aim to his chest. Maurice screamed but she ignored it effortlessly, even easier than Vathan as he already smelled bad so the scent of his skin burning didn't bother her. She branded him with the skeletal snake symbol - Riddle really needed to name that - except on his chest, to compliment the one on his back. He'd be more aware of this one on his chest, she couldn't wait to see what she was going to Oathan. She was yet again impressed as she looked at the writhing skeletal snake across her son's chest, Maurice's head fell back weakly. He could use a rest.

"All done," Alzay pointed out with another smirk as she removed the restraints, "Portkey's through there, it'll disintegrate upon taking you back to Cade's house."

"Who are you?" Maurice asked as she turned away to be whisked away by waiting Specters, she glanced back to see him sitting up already.

"Alzay," she introduced herself and recognition didn't cross his face, had no one told him his own mother's name?! "Don't you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are. The next time I see you, I'm going to kill you," Maurice promised and met her eyes, completely serious. He was good but he wasn't her or she might have been more worried, they'd have to improve their relationship at some point. Presumably when he realized the side he was supposed to be fighting for or at least when he wasn't so sore about having himself injured, she'd tell him who she was then.

"Good luck," Alzay offered in farewell as the Specters took her away.

---

Scorpius was pretty sure Latimer never got it though, he didn't see it amongst the cards and he was quite sure it was the thing that Albus tossed into the first fireplace they came across after. Albus said he lost it if asked though. Latimer was more mobile that week, Marigold encouraged them to walk with him - Marigold wasn't keen on Latimer going anywhere alone - outside or even around the castle as it was good for his repaired muscles to be used. Latimer seemed extremely at first and tensed whenever they passed anyone but relaxed after realizing people weren't paying attention to him, he started eating meals in the Great Hall by the end of that week and gradually going back to classes in the week after. They had a kind of unspoken agreement to make sure Latimer was never alone as much as they could and Scorpius was determined to make sure he was eating right as Leebin said. He was somewhat withdrawn and quiet but was actually doing better than he had been before, people were giving less of a hard time generally and those who did were quickly silenced.

"The teachers are actually pretty good generally, all homework is optional so that's kind of a relief. Less homework is never a bad thing," Latimer was saying one of the times at dinner, "And Ashain gave me some really great advice."

"Hey Latimer," a random boy walking down to a take a seat called out, he might've been a Fifth or Sixth Year, "What happened? Are you actually too stupid to kill yourself right?"

"Hey stupid," Albus retaliated as he stood to face the boy, the boy turned to Albus just in time to be smacked perfectly in the face with Albus' dinner place. The boy was knocked to the ground, clutching his nose which had rivers of blood streaming from it, "What happened? You are actually too stupid to avoid being hit in the face by a plate?"

"I think you broke my fucking nose!" the boy screeched while Albus sat back down.

"I can't hear you over the sound of me not caring."

"Potter!" Midas squeaked as she came down from the staff table to see what was going on, "Ten points from Gryffindor and you just earned yourself a detention. Same for you, Mr Cotton, get yourself down to the Hospital Wing."

"Can you help me up?" the boy - presumably Mr Cotton - asked and reached up with a bloody hand, the professor recoiled in horror.

"Icky. You, help him," Midas commanded of a random student from the next table before going to sit back down at the staff table.

"Why are Potters so violent?" Maurice wondered.

"Lily isn't," Albus said defensively.

"You guys have to stop doing that," Latimer complained with a scowl, "I appreciate what you're trying to do and all but you'll get yourselves expelled if you keep going after every single person who says anything mean to me."

"Like Elwood's ever going to expel a son of his idol especially with the crap James gets away with it."

"I didn't realize all my friends were sons of Harry Potter," Latimer quipped sarcastically, sounding very much like himself.

Albus had further accumulated twelve detentions and lost thirty points by the end of the week, Molly had seven and had lost twenty, Maurice had nine but had lost thirty-five, Rose had five but had lost forty, Orous had one detention and lost person and Vern had two as well having lost ten points for his own house. Abby and Corin both had the advantage of having professors for fathers to threaten apologies out of, Michael did a similar thing due to his being a werewolf and everyone tended to jump in before Scorpius could. The two times he actually would've gotten in trouble, Professor Ashain had been nearby and had absolved him of punishment. It was almost a competition to see who get in the most trouble, at least amongst some of his friends. Others from the Quidditch team also stuck up for him and a handful of others like Knight oddly was passionately defensive despite never having met Latimer, Vern's girlfriend Olivia had even gotten her elder brother - who traditionally a bully to Latimer - to defend him instead. He hoped it helped make Latimer feel like he mattered to outweigh the negativity.

"Do you think I should ask Latimer on a date to Hogsmeade for tomorrow?" Rose asked them at breakfast on Saturday before Latimer had joined them from the Hospital Wing as he was still sleeping there at the moment, Albus choked on his sausages.

"Quoi?! Tu es folle?!" Corin burst out.

"I think he means, what the fuck?!" Albus exclaimed himself when he'd recovered, "Why would you want to go out with him when you used to think he was ugly?!"

"Exactly," Rose insisted, "What better way to prove that I'm not shallow and that I don't care about his appearance anymore then to ask him out? It might cheer him up to have a date."

"Not with you," Albus scoffed.

"Rose, going on a date with someone to prove you're not shallow is..." Michael tried to say but trailed off better as if debating the kindest way to say it, "You should only go out with someone because you like them, not just to prove something."

"Well no one I want to go out with will do so," Rose muttered bitterly, Scorpius might have been mistaken but her eyes seemed to drift between Michael and Maurice as she said that, "I hate being single."

"Dating is bad," Maurice pointed out, "Staying away from it is good."

"Shut up, Maurice."

"You know, I bet Lenore's single," Albus prompted with a smirk that earned him a look of murderous rage from Maurice and confusion from Rose.

"Who's Lenore?"

"The girl Maurice was drooling over."

"I was not drooling over anyone, ever. I don't even remember the girl you were talking about."

"Sure," Albus nodded and pointed to a random girl with an unfortunate amount of pimples who was certainly not Lenore, "That's her over there."

"Don't be stupid, that's not her. She's not even here yet," Maurice snapped, realizing too late he'd fallen for Albus' trap, "I only know because I'm good with faces. Not because I like her. Or think she's attractive. Which she's not. Or maybe she is. I wouldn't know."

"Scorpius, can I talk to you?" a little voice asked and Scorpius almost jumped, he hadn't noticed Antonius coming over to them with his dog in tow.

"Err... Sure," Scorpius agreed as he got up, "I'll be right back."

He passed Latimer arriving as he followed Antonius, they hadn't filled in Latimer in on things with the Scepter yet as they didn't want to stress or depress him during his recovery. However, he thought he'd tell him soon or at least offer to tell him if he wanted to know. At some point, it stopped being for his own good and started being keeping something from him. They stopped abruptly as they were distracted by a fight, involving Lily Potter and Viola Kalya. Albus might have to rethink defending his sister's lack of violent tendencies as she was on top and pummeling the Shadow girl well enough to match either of her brothers, although her glasses were skewed and she had scratches on her cheeks.

"Should we do something?" Antonius wondered, Scorpius was about to answer when Lily was abruptly hauled up by Molly who held her back.

"Calm down," Molly commanded and Lily only stopped when she realized it was her cousin, Viola scrambled to her feet and straightened her robes as if she hadn't just had the crap beaten out of her.

"I demand she be punished, she attacked me," Viola demanded, spitting blood out of her mouth as she spoke.

"Kalya, just go to the Hospital Wing before I punish you," Molly told the younger girl, Viola's violent eyes glinted darkly before she stalked off. Molly waited until she was out of sight before addressing Lily, "What was that all about?"

"Nothing," Lily spat as she fixed her glasses, "She just was trying to befriend me, as if I'd trust that soul-stealing, back-stabbing bitch!"

"Okay, moving on," Scorpius offered and motioned for Antonius to carry on, the young Ashain led him just to an abandoned classroom nearby for privacy presumably, "What's up?"

"My Father's sick again," Antonius blurter out as his expression became serious and concerned, he stroked the dog as if for comfort, "Not regular sick, like what I know was because of Ashylos."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I deliberately waited to make sure. The same thing, headaches with no cure and feeling weak even if it's not showing so much because it's just beginning," Antonius said with certainty as he looked back to him and let go of the dog, looking at him with his favorite professor's eyes. Eyes watering with tears as his voice quietened, "What are we going to do? We can't save him without the Scepter pieces and the Soul Eaters have one of them. We can't lose him, he's all we have."

"Don't give up," Scorpius tried to sound encouraging as he put a comforting hand on Antonius' shoulder, "He's only starting to get sick, we still have time to save him. I have friends on the outside looking for the Shadows' Scepter piece, we know where the others are. It's just a matter of getting out of here and getting to them, I'll talk to me friend on the outside and get back to you."

---

She was in a good mood after that, pleased with how Maurice had turned out. They just needed to get him back onto the Soul Eater side, which she didn't think would be so hard. Maurice had showed his true colors during the test, he still believed the things he'd been taught even if he didn't want to use them. Even if he wanted to be normal, he wasn't and couldn't even try hard enough. It was only a matter of time before he embraced his roots really, he could hardly be on the other side anyway when technically he'd already committed enough crimes to earn him a one way ticket to Azkaban. Or whatever prison they were using instead of Azkaban since it had been destroyed. Maurice didn't really have a choice, the sooner he accepted that the better for everyone. She knew her father would be pleased to meet his grandson and she'd like to get to know him better herself. She was in such a good mood that she decided to indulge the lack of romance in her life and start seeing Pyrrhus again now he was no longer a teacher, he seemed slightly withdrawn though and admitted to missing teaching as considered it fun.

"What's not fun about it?" Pyrrhus inquired with a grin, his appearance young again now as he'd stopped taking the Aging Potion, "People were actually paying attention to me, I had an entire school of children listening to what I said and doing whatever I want. What's not fun about that? I never get to do what I want, I never have and no one's ever paid that much attention to me or cared what I said ever. It was nice to see Maurice again, I also met your other son. And under my two years teaching, Transfiguration scores from Hogwarts were the best out of all European magic schools. Not bad for someone who never got to go to that stuck-up school, is it?"

"You got lucky," Alzay shrugged it off.

"And I got to kill that evil bitch McGonagall, she should have let me go to Hogwarts instead of letting my father hold me back just so he could hurt me or instead of letting my bastard brother take me away to be indoctrinated. No one ever tried to protect me because all people are bad," Pyrrhus ranting before frowning as he propped himself on one elbow to look at her, "And on that note, I haven't seen Vathan around here recently, just Oathan. Is Rabastan spending more time with him or what?"

"I sent him to the training tower," Alzay told him with a shrug and his expression soured, "Don't you dare lecture me on morality here, you murdered a random teenager for no reason."

"There was a reason, Neville was a terrible father and he didn't deserve to have a son after treating him so terribly. And then at the very last second, he pretends to be nice and pretends to care. It pissed me off, I'm sorry Nick had to die but all children suffer for the crimes of their parents. Neville didn't deserve a son though so I had to take Nick from him, I hope he's suffering and that pain will make him appreciate the children he has left and be a better father to them. Or he's completely heartless like you, in which case I look forward to killing him if I get the chance then I regret Nick died in vain."

"You are completely and utterly insane, that makes no sense. And I'm not completely heartless," Alzay snapped defensively.

"I had to torture Maurice to try get him on our side, as well as trying to make that evil bitch McGonagall lower the apparation wards," Pyrrhus pointed out, "Maurice was just the boy I mentored and I feel remorse, guilt, regret that I put him through pain even if it was necessary. Maurice is your actual son, do you feel anything for putting him through pain?"

"No, it was necessary to save my father and I'd do it again, it made him into a better person anyway just like it will for Vathan and Oathan. I don't see why I should feel bad, you just can't understand because your father wasn't good."

"I find it incredibly ironic that you adore your father for being so attentive to you yet treat your sons so coldly, it's like you saw everything a parent should do right then did the opposite," Pyrrhus said with a smirk.

"You can't talk, you don't have any kids," Alzay scoffed, it was a lie but he didn't know that.

"If I ever do then I'd defect before I sell out their safety."

Alzay couldn't wait even more to send Oathan to the training tower, she enjoyed the irony of Pyrrhus' son being harmed without his knowledge. Oathan deserved to suffer anyway for his father's insanity by Pyrrhus' own logic anyway, plus the boy was a filthy mongrel. She hated the boy, he could either earn his worth like Maurice by being a good soldier or die trying. She was looking forward to December, she didn't really have much to do over the autumn months as Riddle was holding back out of curiosity to see how things with PAW were going. In the meantime, the focus was on getting the Scepter but New Year's they'd get their werewolf army back and move more forwards with their plans again regardless. She also realized what One had been up to, merging with the muggle's soul and Riddle was also keeping an interested eye on that. Their plans fell through though, not because of anything going wrong but because Riddle called it off due to her pregnancy and wanting to wait until the baby was born. Hopefully not dead this time or Alzay predicted the Malfoys would lose their newborn as quickly as the last.

December twenty-eighth finally came and after her father said goodbye with a kind hug, she took Oathan to the training tower and down to the basement. She really out did herself on Oathan's skeletal snake symbol, having it winding around both his arms, back and chest with a huge head to go with the lengthy body. He struggled and screamed of course, inadvertently using magic to transfigure a restraint into a vine that tried to knock the wand from her hand. She slashed him across the face with the Acutus Curse as punishment and he didn't do magic again, he did pass out once from the pain or maybe the sickening smell but she woke him. He looked a lot like Pyrrhus, he had the same violet eyes and red hair - which Xerxes shared - but a more pointed face like Pyrrhus whereas Xerxes' jaw was decidedly 's features were softer like hers or maybe it was just because he was young, she still didn't think anyone would notice though. They were subtle things after all, she told Wolfe - one of the teachers who were down there with her - to ensure no one went easy on him. She didn't think Xerxes would really since it wasn't his real son but still, then she left.

"Don't you miss your children, Alzay?" her father asked her as they watched the fireworks on New Year's together, "Now that they're sent away?"

"Not really," Alzay admitted, in fact she was glad to not have to deal with them as energetic toddlers now and glad for Oathan to be gone in general, "I like them better when they're older, you can talk to them and they can actually answer properly. Why?"

"Just curious," her father shrugged and they went back to watching the display.

Alzay was itching to do something as the months went on, they had less people left to go after now and it was just muggles to entice fear for the most part which wasn't much of a challenge for her and her father. In fact they were frequently dumped with babysitting kids from the training tower who were learning to do missions from practical experience, one girl broke down crying after killing the target and another boy threw up, yet another just rocked in the corner afterwards. Some were alright but those that weren't were infuriating and even those who did it right, could ask stupid questions like what if it was normal to feel bad for killing. She hoped her sons would be some of the better ones when they got around to doing it, she'd killed her own mother so she didn't see why a random muggle concerned the kids. You could really tell who was on their first mission or not from the reactions alone.

She was pleased when she found out the plan to get the Scepter was in the works, they just needed Riddle's brother to leave Hogwarts then Xerxes' child should get them the Scepter part in Hogwarts as well as the blood necessary to get the other part. However that fell through, the girl was foiled by Maurice. Alzay was both proud and annoyed, she supposed it just went to show how training suffered when they were given special treatment like Xerxes did to any of his kids. Or at least just the ones in the training tower, not all of his children could be pulled away from their mothers to go there. The girl did say though that she had Portkeyed the Scepter piece, Maurice had just diverted it so they might still have a chance to get it if they could find out where. The obvious choice was to where Cade and Orous were, Alzay volunteered for the task. It was about time she saw her husband and eldest son again.