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

16. Chapter 16: Life Goes On

Parts (90-92)

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IV

Chapter 16

Life Goes On

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Part 1: Plan A

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Cade was glad to have his son back but he was also quick to realize Orous was different after his ordeal, quite understandably. He asked the Healers about therapy but they looked at him like he'd grown an extra head, clearly it was not really a thing in the magical world which was unfortunate as he didn't see how a muggle therapist could help considering Orous would have to bend the truth. This made the whole thing seem pointless, if you weren't honest with therapists then they couldn't help you properly. He supposed it wasn't the most important thing, Orous was safe now and he could help him through it. He used up all the holidays he had to take time off to be with Orous constantly at first, now that Alzay wasn't there for them to work their shifts around to make sure someone was always home with him. He was still mad at her, how could she walk away from her own son like that? Her own flesh and blood child?

It didn't help that Orous' memory was suffering, he didn't remember everything from his childhood and it upset him to not be able to or that it found it difficult to. He couldn't remember Alzay very well and didn't know what she looked like, Cade didn't even have a picture of her as she had been extremely against photographs of herself. Any of her, she'd either destroyed or taken with her. It didn't help Orous' confidence that she'd left, which was shattered enough at it was. Orous was so quiet and timid now, he spoke barely louder than a whisper, startled easily and was extremely clingy. He didn't see to know what to do with himself either, Cade tried to coax him into doing things he use to like which seemed to help as Orous would remember and enjoy it. At least with some things, Orous no seemed creative or active really but he was more on board with things like TV, games or reading and enjoyed petting the dogs. Cade thought Orous would probably feel more active when he'd regained some weight, eating regularly again would give him more energy after all and the rest might come back when he'd had more time to heal. He was sort of right, Orous was more open to activity as the weeks wore on but was afraid of leaving the house especially with people around. Although holding his hand helped with that, quite literally.

Nightmares were also frequent, Cade was woken most nights by Orous screaming or crying and would always rush to his side. Cade would sit with him until he calmed down, cradling him close and saying soothing things as if it would magically undo the damage. He wished it would, anything to take away Orous' pain. He'd then usually get Orous a snack or drink or do something to take his mind of it, reading or watching something they had on DVD that Orous used to like or even playing a videogame, just for a little while to relax him before he went back to bed. Sometimes they'd even fall asleep watching the DVD together, Orous never woke from nightmares then. Other times it would be a silent nightmare or at least nothing woke Cade so Orous would come to him instead, asking to sleep in his bed and cuddling hi fearfully. Sometimes Orous felt like talking about his nightmares or what happened, sometimes not and Cade didn't pressure him either way. It was painful to listen to but he still did as talking about it was always said to be good, better than bottling it up inside but talking about it when Orous felt ready seemed appropriate.

The most worrying thing though was his use of magic. Orous had used magic before, accidental magic usage was normal and healthy for magical children. But this was different, every time Orous was upset - including nightmares - magic happened. Things randomly caught fire, blew up, was knocked around or sometimes other things, once it starting raining in Orous' room. Orous got so upset and apologetic that it made it worse, Cade just assured it was alright and cleaned up the mess. It wasn't like Orous was doing it on purpose, although it did make him worry about leaving Orous with other people. It did seem to get less frequent though, Cade didn't really have a choice though as he still needed to work for them to get money to live at the very least and he didn't want to leave Orous alone. Instead of hiring a babysitter, he got a friend to stay with Orous so at least he'd know Orous was in good hands and it was someone Orous knew. Or had known, vaguely recalled now. Of course, no one knew about his magic or the magical world in general so he just had to hope Orous didn't do magic around them or that it was more explainable as something knocked over was easier to explain than rain indoors with no sprinklers. So far so good.

It was an odd eleventh birthday, Orous just wanted a quiet day with no attention on him whereas usually Cade tried to make it special for him but he obliged Orous' request and they had a quiet day at home. Orous gave a now-rare smile though. It wasn't long after that that Orous' Hogwarts letter arrived, Orous was surprisingly unenthusiastic about it. Cade didn't really want to be separated from Orous especially so soon after just getting him back but a magical education was important, Cade was a muggle so it wasn't like he could teach him as the homeschool alternative. He was afraid of Orous missing out if he didn't send him to the school, he clearly needed to learn to control it and maybe it would be good for him to be around magical people anyway. It would be harder later on if Orous changed his mind to get him using magic than if he just went now, if he just got the basics down at least. At the very least, he thought he'd get the things on the list of supplies so they'd have the things if Orous did go and if not... well hopefully the books were really educational. Maybe he could find a magical tutor or something? Did wizards have those?

It wasn't too hard to get the things on the list once he'd realized Gringotts exchanged muggle money for wizard money, any time he'd been there before he - or rather Alzay, she never let him handle wizard money - had used Alzay's money from her vault but he didn't have access to that now. The only complications arose for a pet as he was nervous about getting a non-dog as he wasn't sure how they'd react to another animal, getting robes as Orous was uncomfortable with them being fitted - they were in there over an hour in the end before Orous could get through it without crying or panicking, he rewarded him after with ice cream - and getting a wand. After measuring Orous with a weird tape measure, the bored-looking Mr Ollivander preceded to start his son a variety of wands to try. Orous would wave them but they did nothing so another would be tried, resulting in the young-ish man asking him if he was sure Orous was left-handed and if he was sure Orous was magical. He was no longer bored after the first ten wands, instead he seemed annoyed.

"Let's try Yew with Dragon Heartstring," Mr Ollivander said as he offered Orous another wand, "If you're sure the boy is a wizard."

"He is. Would you like to see the acceptance letter?" Cade complained and Mr Ollivander held up his hands in surrender, "What are you looking for anyway?"

"Ignorant muggles," Mr Ollivander muttered with a roll of his eyes, he thought he saw Orous eyes flash with anger as he waved the wand. Instead of nothing happening though, the desk exploded. He pulled Orous immediately back protectively and Mr Ollivander snatched the wand violently back amidst the shower of wood splinters, "Definitely not."

"Isn't that what's supposed to happen?"

"Of course not! And I'm adding that to your bill by the way."

"I'm sorry about your desk," Orous apologized in the same quiet tone he kept using, "May I ask, what is supposed to happen?"

"We'll know when it happens," Mr Ollivander grumbled and went to get another wand.

And it kept on like that, either nothing happened or something disastrous like the window shattering, the door shattering, the chair exploding, a wand blowing up, fire. All of which Mr Ollivander was adding to their tab, assuming they ever managed to leave with a wand. Cade hadn't realized the whole process of getting a wand was so complex, Alzay had never mentioned it being such an exhausting ordeal. Unless it was just Orous, it surely couldn't be so destructive for everyone. If a wand wasn't so important then he would've left, he was seriously considering it already as he could sense Orous was upset by the chaos he was causing and the constant failure to get a wand.

"Alright, really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Twelve inches, Phoenix Feather, Elder wood," Mr Ollivander sighed and handed Orous yet another wand.

This time, something different happened. Orous' eyes widened the second he grasped the handle, a warm glow spread through him and the wand before he'd even waved it. When he did, a massive wave of light and wind swept it and Cade watched in amazement as it repaired everything it touched. The desk reformed from its broken splinters and the chair, the little shards of glass all slotted back into the little window panes as did glass in the door, the scorch marks repaired. Mr Ollivander looked amazed.

"This is my wand," Orous said, for once not speaking quietly and timidly but with absolute certainty and confidence. No one argued. And Cade didn't have to pay for the damage now.

"So how do you feel about going to Hogwarts?" Cade asked his son later when they'd gotten home, Orous looked up at him from his wand with a thoughtful expression.

"Okay," Orous whispered, reverting back to his quiet voice as he nodded.

The summer continued rather ominously for Cade, nervous about how Orous would be in Hogwarts and if he was doing the right thing after all. Orous got stronger at least, getting back to a healthier weight and becoming more comfortable outside, more relaxed inside as his memories seemed better. He seemed to be coming out of his shell slightly, slightly as he still seemed solemn and spoke quietly. Cade was worried about his sleeping too, Orous lost out on sleep from the nightmares and how long it took before he was back asleep and it lessened - especially the drastic magic, that had virtually stopped by September - but it still kept him up. He could only hope the work at Hogwarts would still give time to get some real rest, if not then he'd write to the teachers about it. He woke up on September and spent most of the morning trying to shake his low spirits, helping Orous to pack before heading to the station. Alzay had mentioned how to get onto the platform, he stood around and waited for someone else to do it before they went to. Orous clung fearfully to his hand and feeling rather foolish, the hurtled at the wall with the trolley. He closed his instinctively to brace for impact but it didn't happen, he opened them to find himself facing an old scarlet train and magical people all around with trunks as well.

He got the trunk onto the train and Orous continued to hold his hand tightly, Cade had to do a double take when he thought he saw Alzay. It wasn't his estranged wife though, it was a boy around Orous' age who just looked just like her. The same cold oceanic eyes, the same soft features, the same neutral expression, the same light brown hair with a slight wave to it and it was even a similar length to her. His suspicions seemed only confirmed by overhearing the man with the boy refer to him as 'Maurice' which was the name of Orous' twin, it hadn't occurred to him that Orous might be going to the same school as his brother. He tore his eyes away and decided it didn't matter, how likely was it that Orous would befriend his brother? There were a lot of kids. He knew he really should tell him about Maurice, especially now but he really didn't think Orous needed it on top of everything else he was going through. It could wait. On that thought, he held his son closely and tried not to notice that Maurice didn't get a hug or even a smile from his father. And then Orous went to board the train, taking his son away from him.

Cade would be lying if he said he didn't miss his son, he felt lonely without his child or even his wife. He was also concerned about the safety of Hogwarts now but then, Orous had been kidnapped from home so he wasn't much safer there. He still had the dogs and work, he and Orous wrote to each other frequently as well. He seemed to be doing well, he'd even made a friend which Orous had wanted before. Cade had to tell his friends and co-workers that Orous was at a special boarding school and stay extremely vague on it, it was one thing he really hated about the magical world. Being aware it but not really a part of it yet also not feeling truly a part of the muggle world anymore because he knew about the magical side, he couldn't be completely honest with anyone in his life which just made him feel more disconnected from the muggle world. Like he was trapped in some kind of limbo, it was much more noticeable with his family gone and no mission to find Orous to focus on. He finally got around to shaving his head again, it felt weird to have fair after keeping himself bald for so long. As a favor for his friend who ran the charity for dogs, he was looking after a pregnant Pit bull who had been saved from being used in dog fighting but they hadn't space for her right now.

He was looking forward to and was pleased when December came, meaning Orous could return for the holiday and talk in much more detail. Orous was doing alright, some classes he definitely favored more than others - but Cade thought it was like that with most kids - but he was learning and had friends although he was still suffering nightmares and speaking quietly. It was strange to have a Christmas without first having Alzay's birthday on Christmas Eve, it turned out to be a strange Christmas in general as the Pit bull went into labor. A sole girl puppy was born, it was the most he'd seen Orous smile since before he'd been taken. They named her Noelle since she was born on Christmas, even though he wasn't sure if they'd get to keep her but he was very determined to. His friend agreed but she would still need to stay with her mother until she was a bit older, Orous was happy nonetheless and seemed in slightly better spirits returning to Hogwarts and Cade was promised into taking lots of pictures. Puppies could be hard work but Cade was still happy to do it, he thought it rewarding still and it gave him something to focus on. By the time Orous returned for Easter, Noelle was old enough to be separated from her mother - who had been given a nice home of her own - but still a puppy. Orous was still getting nightmares and speaking quietly but he was more himself, they developed the Noelle pictures into moving magical pictures and made a scrapbook out of her life so far. That was a very Orous thing to do, Cade thought he was healing somewhat. He just wanted his son to be happy.

He had no idea that had almost been the last time he'd seen Orous, he was horrified when Aurors came to his house to tell him Orous had been taken out of school and stabbed in the gut trying to stop an evil wizard or something. He would be alright apparently but it still scared him, at home he was kidnapped and at school he was stabbed. Cade couldn't win. He asked therapy again and to his surprise, Mr Potter knew what he was talking about and admitted it wasn't a widely practiced in the wizarding world. They had a kind of wizard psychologist working at the Auror Office though, Mr Potter mentioned they were friends and offered to speak to him about seeing Orous if Cade wanted. He agreed although he was more concerned with his son just surviving in that moment, he was overcome with relief to see Orous on the platform and hugged him tightly in terror at almost losing him again. Orous was oddly in better spirits than he had been all year, he was speaking at normal volume again at least. He showed Cade the scar when they got home, in his abdomen on both his front and back. At least magic had healed him better than muggle medicine could, no internal damage was nice but he still was saddened his son had been through that and was now scarred on top of what he'd already been through. Cade just wanted his son to be safe.

Mr Potter was true to his word and Flannery Leebin came to see Orous, Mr Leebin struck Cade as slightly eccentric but likeable nonetheless. Orous seemed to like him too and was on board with seeing him weekly through the entire summer, it did seem to help as Orous came more out of his shell and was no longer timid. He seemed noticeably more confident and happier by the September and his nightmares had diminished even more, he did still want to go to Hogwarts though. As nervous as Cade was about sending him back after being stabbed, Orous wanted to go and how likely could it be really be that that would happen again? The magical world was at war with that Shadow group, called the Shadow War although he noticed the same skeletal snake symbol on the news in relation to muggle deaths. Mr Leebin claimed it wasn't unusual for Dark Wizards to go after muggles as there was a prejudice - he thought that explained Alzay's behavior in the past - in some families against them or wizards related to muggles - especially in the past - but said the Ministry were trying to protect muggles too, the muggle leaders were aware of the magical world and had been warned. Cade had had no idea, he was glad the worlds were connected higher up. Hogwarts itself was also supposed to be safe, Orous had been stabbed outside it.

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"Meet at Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Scorpius asked when Antonius had left, pressing the tip of his wand to the ring to send the message to Varanian before returning to the table with his friends now all there. He didn't get a reply until later that day reading: I'll try.

"So what are your plans for today?" Michael wondered of him as Scorpius was trying to decide what to wear the next morning, as he wasn't sure whether to try to dress nicely or try to look nondescript while the others were in the bathroom or already gone down for breakfast.

"Well, I have to meet my parents, try to meet Aaron too and then still try to find time to get Molly some really great birthday presents," Scorpius recounted as he finally settled on something as he realized clothing was probably the last thing to be worried about, "And maybe even get to see my friends on top of that."

"So not much then?"

They finished getting ready and headed down to breakfast, Latimer, Abby, Maurice and Corin were already there. Maurice was going over the paper as usual, Corin was trying to not look at Abby who was talking to Latimer about muggles.

"Do you like my dress?" Abby asked of them brightly, "It's a birthday gift from my sister."

"Didn't we just have your birthday last Saturday?" Albus wondered with a confused scowl.

"Heather's in the Bahamas right now, she's not the best with dates anyway."

"Look," Maurice told them, looking intrigued as he pushed the paper towards them, "They released a sketch of the guy who allegedly destroyed PAW."

"Hey Michael, he looks kind of like your Dad," Albus joked which had them all craning their necks, Scorpius supposed it did look similar to Jack but the lack of detail on the features hurt it. Jack also didn't have that demented a smile anyway, nor creepy shadowy eyes.

"It's generic enough to be a lot of people, see," Michael shrugged it off and pointed to a random Sixth or Seventh Year with short messy dark hair and the same shaped jaw as both Jack and the drawing, he was clearly too young though nor was he tall enough to match the description or robust enough, "A lot of people look like that, you really need more to go on with the face."

"It was dark and the survivor didn't get the best look at him," Maurice pointed out while Molly joined them, looking exasperated, "Best they can do. They're looking for a wizard anyway, not a muggle."

"What's up?" Scorpius asked of his girlfriend with concern.

"I realized it's just a week and a bit until the apparation test," Molly explained anxiously, "Only two more lessons. Now I'm nervous."

"You still have time, don't worry about it yet and I'm sure you'll do great anyway," Scorpius assured her with a smile and squeezed her hand gently, she seemed to visibly relax.

"So, have you made up your mind yet?" Albus wondered of Latimer.

"I'll go. A change of scenery would be nice I guess and I like the Hog's Head, might not stay very long though," Latimer decided, to which Albus nodded with a triumphant grin.

Rose finally arrived complaining about having had trouble deciding what to wear and how to have her hair but not Molly. She didn't have much time for breakfast before they headed outside for Professor Longbottom to start checking permission slips, starting with the eldest Seventh Years as usual and working down to the youngest - youngest to be allowed to go anyway - Third Years. It was when the Sixth Years went up that he noticed Maurice gazing at that Lenore girl as she went to queue, wearing similarly revealing clothing like when she'd spoken to them before. It did not go unnoticed by the others either.

"So that's Lenore?" Rose commented and tapped Maurice's shoulder to get his attention.

"I wasn't looking!" Maurice snapped immediately defensive as his hand went to his translator necklace.

"Of course you weren't," Albus said with heavy sarcasm that Maurice didn't notice as he nodded, assuming Albus as genuine.

They split into groups as they headed off, it still wasn't especially hot but it was a nice change to trudging through snow as they had had to the last few visits. Vern was going on a date with his girlfriend Olivia Nott again so he went off with her, the couple walking hand in hand. He and Molly walked with their fingers intertwined as well, Corin had moved as far away from Abby as possible to still be in the area with Maurice for company as the deaf boy was still somewhat avoidant of Latimer, Michael was kind of hanging back by himself with his head hung with Orous for company while the others walked together. Albus was loudly criticizing Olivia from what he caught, still biased against her for being a Slytherin. Mostly Scorpius just focused on Molly, trying to veer their conversation to what she wanted for her birthday without saying it outright with little success. He had to bid her and the others goodbye at the Three Broomsticks though, he spotted his parents immediately in their usual corner table and went over to be hugged by his mother.

"Scorpius, we missed you," his mother assured him with a smile as she pulled away, his father abided by his no hugging in public rule but gave him a smile as he sat opposite them. Baby Sol was on their father's lap, he had grown a bit more since the last time Scorpius had seen him and now had some tufts of dark hair sprouting. Sol was grasping at their father's cloak's clasp with interest before their mother scooped him up, pointing to Scorpius and the baby glanced at him, "Say hi to your brother."

"Hi Sol," Scorpius offered with an attempt at a welcoming smile, Sol grinned in return and babbled something intelligible, "Can he talk?"

"No, definitely not for a while yet but he's trying to learn," his father chuckled, Scorpius had thought four months was a bit young for speech but then he didn't really know much about babies, "So what do you think of Egypt?"

"Err... Sandy?" Scorpius answered in confusion, he'd been expecting to ask them about how he was or tell him how things were at home or ask about Hogwarts or well, pretty much anything but Egypt, "Why?"

"Because we're going on a family vacation there."

"We are? Why?" Scorpius wondered, feeling even more confused. And concerned, he'd need to be in the country for the Scepter depending on when they went after that. To visit Varanian in general, he'd need to be in England. Egypt was so far away.

"We could all use a break with everything going on," his mother explained as Sol started going after her cloak clasp instead, "And we haven't spent much time together as a family in a while so we think it'd be nice to get away for a bit, there's a lot of fascinating magical history to see there together."

"When are we going?"

"For the month of July."

"The whole month? Why?"

"Why not? Don't you want to spend time with us?" his father questioned.

"It's just... awhile. And it's not that I don't want to spend time with my family, I'm just not a little kid anymore," Scorpius started to say and saw his mother's face falling, "But I'm sure it'll be fun."

"I'm glad you feel that way because you would be going anyway."

"I do have to leave early though, its Molly's birthday tomorrow and I need to get her gifts."

"That's fine, sweetheart," his mother agreed, "Sol is having a play date with his little friend Lysel anyway, we can arrive a little early."

"Astoria, they're not friends," his father insisted with a roll of his eyes, "They're babies, Sol couldn't the difference between Lysel and any other baby or even a cushion for that matter."

"It's still good for him to socialize."

"Not with a werewolf baby who could infect him."

"Werewolves can only infect people on the full moon," Scorpius pointed out, defensive of werewolves and who he could only assume was Leebin's son.

"And he has no teeth yet," his mother added and Scorpius realized for the first time she was now wearing a werewolf bracelet as well, "What's he going to do? Gum Sol to death? Licking perhaps?"

"You know what I mean," his father protested, "Besides, Lysel is going to die one of these full moons. Why have him befriend someone who's just going to die?"

"It's not how long life is that matters, it's what you do with it. Speaking of life length, how old will your girlfriend be?"

"Seventeen," Scorpius told them, "She's coming of age so it's even more special a birthday so I need to get her some really nice things."

"I wouldn't spend too much," his father said dismissively before a waitress came over to take their order.

"Why?" Scorpius asked as soon as she'd gone.

"Because, she's two years older than you. She's coming of age, becoming an adult and leaving Hogwarts next year when you'll only just be doing your OWLs. She's not going to want to be dating a younger Hogwarts student but someone mature, her own age that she can see regularly, it's only a matter of time before your relationship dissolves."

"Draco, don't scare him," his mother hissed, apparently noticing the horrified look on Scorpius' face, "So how are your classes going?"

They talked for a while, about his classes and Quidditch although they hadn't really started practices since the Easter break yet. They also told him about things at home, how Sol was doing and about their plans for the trip to Egypt. He listened and took part but he couldn't shake his father's words about their relationship with Molly dissolving, they already missed on time together due to their different schedules and years. Would it be worse next year with her having NEWTs and him having OWLs to cram for? He bade goodbye to his parents and little Sol early but worriedly, he needed to find her some kind of miracle gift.

"Scorpius," Varanian's voice called and he looked in surprise to see a stranger around his age approaching, or rather just Varanian in an altered appearance. Varanian gestured for him to follow in the direction out of town like before, "It's me. You wanted to talk?"

"Do you think if a girl is dating someone two years than her that she'd break up with them when she's graduating Hogwarts next year?" Scorpius blurted out the first thing on his mind as he went with Varanian.

"Please tell me that's not what you called me here to ask," Varanian told him seriously, his eyes piercing regardless of being an utterly different shape and color, "Because I think I might actually kill you."

"It's not," Scorpius blushed, "I just... wondered. And we could use something to talk about while we walk."

"Why do you think I know these things? Seriously, why?" Varanian complained as they reached the edge of the town, heading into the heavily wooded area from which they could get to the caves or move deeper into the forest he supposed, "And I really don't know, it probably depends on the people. So what did you want to speak to me about?"

"Aren't we going to go to the caves?"

"Here's isolated enough, all the times Ethel and I used to come here we never once ran into anyone else. People tend to stick to the town. I'll put some charms up anyway."

"Professor Ashain's getting sick again," Scorpius explained while Varanian flicked his wand around them, "It's only a matter of time before Ashylos returns to full strength and Professor Ashain dies, we need to get the Scepter before that."

"I'm working on it," Varanian sighed and rubbed his eyes, Scorpius would guess he would look tired if he was using his real appearance, "I thought I might be able to find and steal back the piece they got but it was taken to the Shadow Master pretty quickly, the Shadow Master isn't even in England right now and their location is hard to find as most don't it. Those that do know, aren't stupid enough to be eavesdropped upon or they wouldn't be allowed to know. I'm still trying though."

"Well maybe we should worry about that last."

"It's the most difficult to get so that's why I want to start with it. We know where the other two are after all, one in the Ashain mansion according to your Ashylos and the other in is in a cave Voldemort once used to hide a Horcrux. Getting to them is still a challenge, Dom might be able to help us into the Ashain mansion but even then she can't figure out how to get down to the labyrinth and we have no idea what to expect down there. The cave is easier but we still need Longbottom, Potter and Ashain blood."

"Abby, Albus and both Ashain kids are willing to help," Scorpius pointed out.

"I know that and it helps but they are still underage wizards, you sneaking out is one thing but all of them? Especially the Ashain kids as they're not even of Hogwarts age, people are going to start notice and if the fathers have half a brain they'll realize why. I'm also pretty sure that at some point this becomes kidnapping."

"I guess it doesn't help my parents are taking me out of the country for a vacation in July."

"Well we can do this without you if necessary," Varanian shrugged it off and Scorpius felt oddly bothered by this fact, "That woman could help, if Longbottom and Potter could go to stay with her and Michael for a part of the summer break then we can get them easily. And the sooner the better, the Shadows will be after them if they want the Scepter. It just leaves one of the Ashain kids, will they stay in Hogwarts all summer?"

"I assume so. They should be able to use a Portkey though, Cassia used one before and they aren't stupid."

"Alright, closer to the end of the school year then give the ring to whichever Ashain kid is older unless we can think of something better before then. And you talk to Michael, Longbottom and Potter about staying together for the holiday," Varanian decided before scowling, "I guess I'll have to talk to that woman."

"Her name's Annie."

"I know what her bloody name is!"

"What if Professor Ashain doesn't have until the school year ends then?"

"Then we'll have to change our plans. We still have Marius to worry about anyway."

"Actually, he's not evil," Scorpius told him feeling cheerful for the first time during the conversation and filled him in what Calderon had said.

"Wait, One?" Varanian interrupted him randomly, frowning, "The Specter's name is One?"

"Err... Yeah, so?"

"Have you heard about the attack on PAW?"

"Yes, hasn't everyone?" Scorpius wondered before it dawned on him, "Wait, do you know who did it? It was the Shadows?"

"It wasn't them," Varanian shook his head, "But I did hear that 'one' escaped and - and I quote - 'did some freaky Specter shit to get a body.' They were very much hoping the Shadow Master orders the Specter/Human hybrid killed soon as it unnerves and scares them what the thing is capable of, I didn't quite understand but if One is the name of the Specter and the most developed then it makes more sense. It is certainly not on their side anymore at any rate."

"How did One get a body?"

"I don't know, most of them don't much about it except to be afraid as it can apparently destroy souls at will like what it did to PAW. And can also steal the magic of its victims without its body being destroyed. What I don't get is why it went after PAW, Specters didn't strike me as too picky on the people they kill. Why go through the effort of finding their previously unknown headquarters and destroying them? It would be easier to just walk into Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade if it was just after magic or souls or whatever."

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted, feeling worried himself. A Human-Specter didn't sound good, "I kind of hope the Shadows do kill it though, we have enough to worry about without something like that."

"Yeah," Varanian agreed with a nod, "Bye for now, it's getting late."

Scorpius opened his mouth to say goodbye as well but Varanian disapparated, leaving him alone and concerned. He also realized that Varanian had been right, it was later then he thought. He didn't have much time to spend on Molly's present before he would be expected to head back, he got her chocolate, a Quidditch pitch cake complete with floating icing clouds and chocolate balls - a new pair of expensive leather Quidditch gloves embroidered with her initials, a set of different colored flame candles that were supposed to help you relax as he knew she worried about things, another charm for her bracelet - a cloud as she'd mentioned liking cloudy skies - and a stuffed sheep because he grabbed it by mistake instead of an owl, the guy had been closing the shop and wouldn't let him change it. He decided that next time, he was going to buy her things in advance when he had time instead of waiting to closer to the day when other things were getting in the way. He filled the others in on what Varanian had said that evening, not wanting to taint Molly's birthday by waiting for tomorrow. Latimer also asked to be informed.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Scorpius asked of his friend, he didn't want to leave Latimer out but he also didn't want to make it harder for Latimer to cope if he couldn't handle it.

"Yes. I wouldn't have asked otherwise," Latimer insisted but seemed to catch on why he was reluctant, "I'm okay. Trust me, this was one of the few things helping keep me sane. It's good to have a purpose, to be trying to do something worthwhile."

---

He relented and let Orous go back, hoping he was making the right choice but it seemed wrong to deny his son a magical education. Now that Orous was recovering though, he really had no excuse to not tell him about his father and brother. Especially when Maurice was one of his closest friends, Orous had a right to know as did Maurice really but he had no control over what Maurice was told. He wished Alzay had let Orous know years ago, he would've much easier. He booked them a holiday in Canada for December at a ski resort, he had wanted to take Orous on vacation for years like his parents used to do with him but Alzay had always refused and he thought - and hoped - it would be a fun new experience for Orous. Thankfully, Orous was enthusiastic for it from his letters and he had a friend in travel to ensure the dogs could make it. Meeting some of his son's friends' families on the platform only confirmed with absolute certainty that his son's friend was indeed his twin brother, he'd tell him during that break. Orous seemed to be enjoying himself, relaxing and seeming much happier much to Cade's relief. As long as Orous was happy then he was okay, the dogs seemed to like it too. Or at least the snow. It took him a while to work up to trying to tell Orous about his father and Maurice, Orous actually seemed alright with it after he got over his shock. He had questions though, Cade had no answers though. Alzay hadn't told him much and he wasn't even sure if what she'd said was true now, she'd hadn't stayed in touch. Not even when her son had been stabbed.

It was when he was got back to England that he was greeted by Aurors yet again, being informed of the attack on Ministry and Roman's part in it. He was now a fugitive which made Maurice devoid of a parent or guardian, technically he was Maurice's stepfather as well so was offered custody or he'd be in foster care. Cade accepted, he didn't really want to abandon Maurice the way everyone else seemed to, he was his son's twin anyway. He signed up to learn sign language as he knew Maurice was deaf, although Maurice didn't come back for Easter unlike Orous who helped him with doing up the spare room into a bedroom for Maurice for when he came for the summer and helped Orous with sign language that also interested him. The dogs tried to help too, they liked lying just in the way. He hoped Maurice was alright with dogs, he hadn't had any contact with the boy really so he wasn't sure what he was like beyond things that Orous had said. He was nervous about the summer now, taking on an almost-teenager who had never lived in a muggle environment was a bit different then raising your baby stepson with your wife. He wondered where Alzay was, did she even care that her ex-boyfriend was apparently a Shadow and that her son had no one now? At least Orous didn't get stabbed but there was an entire werewolf attack on the Hogsmeade place and one of the teachers was a Shadow, who murdered the Headmistress and some others. Maurice was tortured magically apparently but one of those who fought him off.

He had been right about Maurice being different, he was skeptical of anything muggle which was alien to him - very much like his mother - and any attempt to talk to him earned him a look as if he was insane. Mostly Maurice just wanted to be alone to read books on topics that a twelve year old probably shouldn't have but then he did have a definite soldier mentality, Cade saw the scars on his hands too. Maurice had probably been through a lot as well, maybe more than people tended to realize. Maybe Alzay had had some truth to her past, anyone who would send a child - let alone their own - to people who made them write scars into their skin and twist his mind like they had were sick. And that was just what they knew Maurice had had done to him, the poor kid was only twelve. Getting him birthday gifts was a challenge, everything he liked revolved around war and Cade didn't want to encourage that really although Orous was easy, he got him the most expensive broom he could afford as Orous would be on the Quidditch team. Orous wanted to go to a carnival for his birthday as it had been a while since he'd been, he got the impression that Maurice wasn't use to having his birthday celebrated as he seemed to view it as an alien concept and was visibly shocked by the fact birthday cakes weren't a myth. Cade very much wished he could go back in time and do something to give Maurice a better childhood or any kind of childhood at all from what he gathered, he just hoped Maurice would like carnivals too. It turned out that didn't matter as Maurice went missing, Cade felt awful. Why was everyone else in the world so capable of not letting the children in their care be abducted? He couldn't even get the muggle police involve as his custody of Maurice was purely from the magical world, he thought Maurice could probably defend himself from muggles anyway due to having a wand and being able to use it. The Aurors claimed a Portkey had almost certainly been used, they had no luck finding him though.

Orous took it worse than he did, maybe because he knew Maurice better or because he'd already been through this with Orous so he was used to it. After a month, Maurice just showed up though. Battered and injured but he returned, he'd suffered burns, bruises, cuts, scrapes, even some cracked ribs and had the skeletal snake symbol branded onto his chest, he also learned how extensive the blood quill scarring was. Most of the wounds had been caused by magic or magical creatures, meaning they were either unhealable or left scars. Maurice didn't want to talk about what happened and Cade didn't blame him, although he did say Alzay had been the one to brand him. Maurice didn't seem to realize that was his mother's nickname and preferred name, she hated being Alexis after all. He had to rethink things with Roman, if she was a Shadow then maybe there might be truth to him being branded which would mean she could be responsible for Maurice's past suffering? In fact, the Shadows had been responsible for Orous' abduction too. She... She couldn't have helped them, she wouldn't put her own children through these horrible things despite her faults... Would she? Maurice was even more withdrawn after that and extremely on edge, he snapped at him if he said anything and just wanted to get back to Hogwarts. Cade supposed he probably blamed him for being abducted, at least he was nicer to Orous. He wrote to Mr Leebin to ask if he could talk to Maurice - although Maurice would probably view it the wrong way due to his warped world view - but Mr Leebin apologetically refused due to health issues apparently.

Then Hogwarts started up again, leaving Cade alone again. His friends started encouraging him to start dating again, it had been two years since Alzay left which they thought was long enough. The thought did appeal to him, it would be nice to try to find someone who didn't have psychotic tendencies to be with and he was lonely but he couldn't. It would be cheating on Alzay and he refused to cheat, even someone like her and he couldn't leave her. He didn't even take off his wedding ring or try to legally divorce Alzay despite how things were, he was too afraid of losing Orous and Maurice as he would no longer be their stepfather technically. He wasn't going to risk them just because he missed female companionship, even if by some miracle he could leave Alzay and still be a father then he still couldn't do it. How was he supposed to date someone if he couldn't be honest about basic things like his ex-wife/wife or the twins? Lying to his friends was one thing but to someone he was dating, especially if it was serious, if he fell in love. He didn't think he was allowed to tell anyone about magic and even if he was, there was no guarantee they could handle it. Or he supposed, he could try date a witch who he could be honest with and wind up married to someone else psychotic and abusive who he couldn't properly defend himself against. He knew that wasn't fair, all witches couldn't be like Alzay but still. He was better off just alone, he had nothing to offer anyway.

He continued writing to Orous and started writing to Maurice to, he was his responsibility and he still cared about how Maurice was doing even if they didn't have the same relationship he had with Orous. Maurice's replies were less frequent but that was alright and understandable, the difference on their views was amazing. Like what Orous described as 'counsellors', Maurice described as 'corrupt government spies trying to pilfer information from the minds of untrained soldiers'. The twins were also invited to a Weasley wedding, they were related through Roman's sister's husband and friends with several Weasleys and he was invited due to being their stepfather. Good thing he'd made no Christmas plans, he was in contact with Mrs Potter - people in the wizarding world were weirdly connected due to it being smaller than the muggle one from what he gathered - who was a Weasley before she married to know where to go, sleeping arrangements and about dress robes that wizards wore. He got the boys them when they returned to be authentic but stuck to muggle clothing himself, as fun as it would be to dress up like a wizard, he thought it might be offensive somehow for a muggle to do so. He drove all night to beat the traffic to get to the Burrow which was where the wedding was, winding up helping with the preparations. He was rather exhausted but rather fascinated all the same to see what it was like in a purely magical home, he thought it was rather like what Maurice must feel except the opposite. After everything Alzay had done to him, he'd forgotten how amazing magic was when it wasn't being used to hurt you. The Weasleys were all friendly enough as well, Arthur was forever asking him about muggle things and seemed to view it as about as interesting as he thought magical things were.

The wedding itself was nice too, he'd never been to a magical wedding before. He was surprised by how many women wanted to dance with him for being a muggle though, he didn't think he'd ever been so popular at any point in his life ever. After that it was back to worrying about Christmas, Maurice was still unenthusiastic but he did seem less withdrawn than the summer and took a liking to certain films randomly despite not seeming to remember the plots to any of the titles. Maurice still didn't seem to like him through but he hadn't been kidnapped, he'd been safe at least so Cade was okay with that. They went back to Hogwarts again, where it seemed somewhat safer anyway as opposed to the previous two years. Maurice chose not to return for Easter but Orous did, although Orous was concerned about his friend's suicide attempt. Cade couldn't do much more than assure Orous it wasn't his fault and that the Healers at Hogwarts would do all they could, if they could save stab victims and fix broken spines then he thought - and hoped - they could help Latimer. It was only after Orous went to bed that he heard a voice he never thought he'd hear again.

"Hi Cade, did you miss your wife?" Alzay asked and he jumped up in surprise to see her standing there with a smirk on her face.

"Go away," Cade told her, fearing she might try to brand Orous like she had Maurice. He tried to position himself protectively between her and the door she'd need to take to get to Orous, although he thought that was stupid the second he did. If she was after Orous then she could've gone straight to his room, "I know what you did to Maurice, I know you're a Shadow."

"So what if you do know?" Alzay scoffed, "It's not like you can call for help and Aurors will magically flock to you."

"You're not welcome here, I'm not going to let you hurt him."

"Maybe I don't want to hurt him, you make me sound like I'm a bad person or something."

"What do you want then?" Cade asked, confused and curious.

"Something that Orous may or may not have. And you," Alzay said with a shrug, he became very aware of the wand in her hand, "You see, I hate you. I married you to get away with a crime and I tricked you with Love Potion to help me but well, I hate you. Muggles are filth and I've wanted to break you since you first stood up to me torturing you. You were useful for a while but now using you to force Orous to help me is what I need so I'm going to break you, also kill you if he doesn't have it or will help me so... Have fun knowing your life was a lie."

On that note she flicked her wand at him, no words came out when he tried to speak. She tortured him continuously, if he tried to get up then she lashed out with a spell that cracked down on his back like a whip and forced him back down, covering him in bloody gashes. Then she'd go back to torturing him as a vicious cycle of endless pain and silent screaming, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get up to stop her. Eventually he couldn't even try to get up anymore, he didn't have the strength or control as his body shook so badly. He was terrified she'd do this to Orous and he'd be completely helpless, he wished Orous could hear him scream and run for his life so he'd be safe from her. He couldn't do anything to protect Orous though, he couldn't even do anything to protect himself. He was a failure as a father. And she still didn't relent, she didn't take the spell off and the longer it went on the worse it was. The pain started overwhelming his thoughts, he couldn't think of fighting, he couldn't think of protecting Orous, he wouldn't even have been able to think of begging for mercy. It enveloped his thoughts completely like some kind of heavy weight gas that filled his mind and crushed everything else inside, the pressure was incredible. He could lay there lost in his own agony before his mind finally snapped under the pressure of the pain, shattering his sanity and shredding the shards with every second it continued.

Cade would have no later what he'd been thinking during the time of his insanity, his mind was too fragmented for even himself to follow but he did remember what it was like. Being so completely incapable of caring for himself on a basic level, hearing their kind but patronizing words as they cared for him and seeing the son he hadn't recognized desperately trying to be there for him. Orous and the man - who turned out to be Roman - healed him, the magical ankh putting the shredded shards of his sanity back together and healing him physically. Washing away the painful wounds, washing away scars long forgotten about and even fixing his infertility. He was grateful, he had no idea what would've happened to Orous or Maurice if he'd been sent to live on permanent lockdown and for himself to have to live like that. He'd rather she just killed him than have to live like that forever. Healers were amazed before Orous told him the truth, testing him physically and mentally extensively which he could rather have done without. He just wanted to go home with his son, once home he thought he'd rather be anywhere else but there with his son. He was ashamed, deeply and utterly ashamed to have been so weak and to have crumpled under the pressure of the pain and wound up in such a pitiful, pathetic state. He was scared of her coming back to try again or even worse, to do that to Orous. He wanted his son to be safe so he agreed for the Auror to put up the protective wards, true time with his son had been stolen from him that break and as much as he would like to spend time with him, Orous was safer in Hogwarts so he sent him back when the break ended.

Work was terrible, the Ministry had to get involved and exempt him higher up from anything medical to hide the fact of his miraculous healing and he now had to go to magical Healers not muggle Doctors only for his physical health. Healers who just wanted to study him forever, it made him extremely uncomfortable. He didn't want to be to the medical marvel of the magical world but he kept silent on the ankh, Roman had clearly sacrificed something important to save his life and he didn't want to put the guy at risk by giving away he used Poly-something potion to change his appearance. All that didn't stop people from noticing and questioning his disappearance - he'd supposed to have been in work that week, no one had told them anything - or the fact his noticeable scars had healed if they knew him well enough, he wasn't sure if 'scar cream' was even a thing. It was a stupid lie. In a way he was kind of glad Orous was gone, he was a wreck. He was on edge constantly, Alzay could slip in so quietly that the smallest sound had him jumping into panic. He couldn't sleep at night and when he did, he was plagued by nightmares of her hurting him or worse, Orous. He'd wake up terrified that his mind had just snapped again before realizing he wouldn't be wondering that if it had or wake up screaming for her to stop hurting Orous because in his nightmares he was helpless, just a vacant zombie watching the son he didn't recognize as his son suffer while the part of his mind still him screamed in helpless silence and uselessly fought to control his body to stop her. He wanted and hoped that he'd feel more together by the time Orous and Maurice came back for the summer. That was as long as Alzay didn't come back first.

---

Part 2: Strange Starts and Odd Ends

---

Scorpius filled Latimer in on everything he'd missed out on, meaning all his friends were up to date. Except Corin and Rose who hadn't been interested in things with the Shadows. Albus suggested waiting to arrange it until closer to the time, or at least when he wasn't in trouble so much. Molly seemed to like her gifts and laughed when he apologetically explained why she'd gotten a sheep, he wished he'd gotten her more. Of course the most important gift was not from him but the pocket watch from her father, tradition for wizards and witches coming of age. It made him think oddly of Latimer, he didn't think Latimer would be getting a pocket watch for his seventeenth considering the state of his home life. Scorpius knew what he was getting Latimer for his birthday. He was also determined to get finally get Calderon a nice birthday gift, especially after treating him badly. He made an effort to visit his cousin that week after Molly's birthday as well, they had few games of Wizard's Chess where Calderon annihilated him repeatedly.

Quidditch practices also started up properly that week, they'd been irregular since Easter but Molly started them up regularly again now. Caitlin was back to practices now she'd had the baby and Latimer was attending consistently again too. Carver seemed to be trying to avoid Latimer and was nice to him if they did have to interact, he also stopped aiming Bludgers at Latimer at all which Molly chided him for as practicing dodging Bludgers the was a regular - and important - part of training. On the negative side, he started to notice what Antonius was talking about as Professor Ashain was losing his energy and rubbing his temples the way Michael did when he had a headache. The sooner they could get to the Scepter, the better. April ended and the first of May marked the day for Apparation tests, at least for those who had come of age before then like Molly. Latimer couldn't take it as his birthday wasn't until July, Scorpius thought it was a stupid rule but maybe that was just because he too wouldn't be able to take the test in his Sixth Year due to being born in August. There was another test day near the start of the Seventh Year for those who hadn't been old enough, people who failed then had the option to sign up for classes again. Molly passed her test successfully and gained her apparation license, much to her delight. Scorpius hadn't doubted her.

With May, the workload and pressure only increased due to exams being just a month away. They were lectured in various subjects about the importance of Fourth Year exams as they were the last ones before the all-important OWLs, Scorpius didn't think this was true. After all, he was doing perfectly fine for only having taken Second Year exams so far and only OWLs and NEWTs had a lasting impact on grades and even then they didn't necessarily matter. His, Albus, Rose and Abby's fathers all had gotten by just fine without NEWTs, Albus and Rose's fathers hadn't even done their final year at Hogwarts but had high ranking jobs in the Ministry and Leebin admitted to failing his OWLs and flunking out of Hogwarts but he was alright. Not that Scorpius wasn't going to try, he just didn't think they were important and he wasn't worried. Then again, he was doing decently to brilliantly in his classes anyway so he couldn't see himself randomly failing the exams. He was even doing well in the Patronus class, at least he could easily summon his Patronus every time but still couldn't make it talk or make multiple Patronuses like Michael could. Michael could summon three now if he pushed himself, Professor Ashain thought it was impressive. Scorpius wished he had luck with that, or with becoming an animagi as despite ritualistically practicing - almost - every night without fail, he still had had no luck. Wyatt had said it took time though so he tried not to be discouraged.

The second week of May was the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match, it was a bright day but the wind was somewhat cold as they settled themselves in to cheer for their Hufflepuff friends. The match didn't last very long though, Hufflepuff had only just started to dominate the abysmal Slytherin Chasers and Keeper before Kyle Nott saw the Snitch. Orous saw it too and shot to fly by the bigger Seeker's side, Kyle went to elbow the albino but in an impressive display of agility, Orous dodged. He jerked away and veered his broom to slide under Kyle's, Kyle's movement jarred in confusion while Orous took the lead and plucked the golden ball before Kyle's greedy fingers could grab it. All within the first quarter of an hour, it did mean though that they would need to do well in their next match. Slytherin had definitely secured last place but first, second and third were all close and it really depended on how Gryffindor - and Ravenclaw - did on their final match in two weeks meaning practice became every more intense and important. Not the most important though, Professor Ashain's health was deteriorating much faster than it had before. During the Patronus lesson on Wednesday, his favorite professor sat down weakly at his desk rubbing his temple with the shadow of pain on his face after setting them up to get on with it. Most people were talking instead, very up for just a relaxing lesson of nothing with the pressure of exams. Until Cassia stood up and disturbed them all with a high-pitched whistle to rival Calderon's, everyone's attention jerked to the rude interruption.

"HEY!" Cassia snapped at them, managing to sound perfectly like yet nothing like her father at the same time, "This is class time not break time, work not talk! Get on with it!"

"Cassia, don't shout at the class," Professor Ashain chided her, looking somewhat embarrassed and some of the class snickered before he looked back to them with a serious expression while Cassia plopped herself back down, "And do what she says! I want to see Patronuses, exams are important but learning to defend yourself is even more important."

"Well there goes my chance to get some extra study in," Rose grumbled while Professor Ashain dragged himself up to go around the class as usual, looking very much like he was ready to pass out. Cassia smiled with saccharine smugness as the class started working again, ironically she didn't seem to be doing much of the work her father had given her to do herself but rather just watched the class like she did every lesson.

"Look!" Albus gasped and Scorpius glanced to his friend just in time to see his latest attempt at a Patronus was paying off. Instead of the usual silvery shield, a creature burst forth. A donkey. Albus' face went completely red and he buried his face in his hands while a few people snickered nearby, "Don't look!"

"Well done, Mr Potter," Professor Ashain congratulated him with a weak smile but Albus still looked deeply unhappy as he moved his hands away from his face, his other attempts were very clearly half-hearted, "You're not even trying."

"I am, it's just hard to do it again," Albus grumbled as the bell went, Professor Ashain dismissed them and Albus trudged out with his shoulders slumped.

"What is with you?" Scorpius complained of him in confusion, "You've wanted to summon a Patronus for ages and now you did, you don't want to?"

"I got a donkey! A donkey!"

"Donkeys are cute," Abby pointed out with a kind smile that earned her a dark look.

"Donkeys are a joke! My Dad gets an awesome stag, my Mum gets a cool horse and James can summon a freaking bear but I get a donkey?! Everyone gets a cool animal but me."

"At least people know what donkeys are, I got a tapir. Whenever I tell anyone that, they just ask what a tapir is."

"At least you can do a Patronus at all," Rose said snappishly and flicked her hair over her shoulder irritably, "I still can't do it. But at least Maurice can't either."

"I wish I couldn't either," Albus muttered moodily.

Albus remained in a foul mood for the rest of the week over his Patronus, which did not bode well for anyone stupid enough to insult Latimer in front of him. He was still in a bad mood on Saturday, stomping into the Library from his detention loud enough to earn a reprimand before he slumped down at the table with them. Not looking like he had any intention of working at all, he hadn't any of his things either.

"What I'm most concerned about is Transfiguration," Rose continued anxiously, choosing to ignore her cousin's arrival with only a glance in greeting, "Are we going to be tested on what Midas has been teaching us or what Midas should have been teaching us? Because all she's been doing is teaching things that Florian already taught us."

"That's the point, she thinks he didn't teach us properly so she's going over things again," Abby explained and sighed, "In excruciating dull and boring detail."

"Where's Vern?" Albus asked abruptly.

"With his girlfriend, Orous and Corin at their own table."

"What does he see in her? That girl's just a slimy Slytherin coward, she's only dating him because he's related to my Dad and even that's an obscure relation."

"Lay off Vern," Michael chided with a sigh, "And Olivia, you can't judge her when you won't take two seconds to even talk to her."

"Because she's a Slytherin."

"Well now you just sound like James," Scorpius complained and Albus threw him a moody look before noticing something else.

"Cassia, what the bloody hell did you do to your hair?" Albus demanded of the child in shock, they turned to her as she approached. She looked as if someone had dumped black paint onto straw and plopped the whole mess onto her head, she grinned nonetheless while Rose kicked him under the table, "Ow!"

"Don't swear in front of the child," Rose hissed.

"Yes, Al, don't you bloody dare swear in front of the fucking child, you asshole. Shit like that is going to fuck the little bitch up," Cassia recounted and grinned at their surprise, "Do you want me to say more or are you is going to stop talking about me like I was born yesterday? I learned a lot of bad words from listening to people arounded Hogwarts."

"See, Rose? I can swear just fine," Albus pointed out triumphantly to which his cousin scowled before he turned back to Cassia, "So what did you do to your hair? Did someone pour paint on you?"

"It's ink. I is was trying to dyed my hair acause now it growed back, it looks like Skye but Daddy tolded me to not cut my hair off again so I made it differenter. Cool, huh?"

"Very... natural."

"It looks better than Rose's did when she went blond," Maurice added which earned him a menacing look from Rose, which he either remained oblivious too or chose to ignore in favor of focusing on Cassia.

"That's what I thought," Cassia agreed, causing Rose's face to fume red with rage while Cassia became more nervous. She shifted uncomfortably and twiddled with her thumbs, looking down at her ink spattered sandals, "So um... Did you know that it is my birthday tomorrow?"

"No," they admitted at off-times together.

"Well then, it's my birthday tomorrow and I will be seven," Cassia informed them and danced on the spot, "Skye didn'ter let me have a birthday party acause in case I used magic and I had no friends but now, you is my friends so I... I was wonder if you would like to come for my birthday. There will be cake and we could is do games and what like everyone else does."

"Look Cassia, we're not friends," Albus told her calmly as the girl raised her head, "We're... allies but we're not friends, friends have to be close to your own age and we're not."

"We're not friends?" Cassia wondered quietly in surprise, her eyes bubbling with tears.

"We have to study for exams," Michael interjected, "You're really great and we hope you have a nice birthday but we need to do this now and tomorrow too or we'll fail and get kicked out of Hogwarts."

"But we're not friends?"

"Not really," Abby admitted begrudgingly and Cassia lowered her head, looking heartbroken, "Look, I-"

"I don't care," Cassia snapped, wiping her eyes as her expression turned angry as she stepped back, "I don't care if you're not my friends. I don't care if I never have any friends. I don't need friends. It's not importanter."

"Um... Okay," Albus offered uncertainly while she stalked off, "I said it before and I'll say it again, Ashain kids are weird."

"Aren't all little kids weird really?" Rose wondered while Molly and Latimer arrived from a Prefect meeting, Molly was looking oddly worried though.

"Michael, isn't the next full moon on Friday?" Molly asked of him immediately while Latimer sat down.

"Yeah," Michael confirmed unhappily, looking very much like he hadn't wanted to be reminded of it. At least he wasn't hurting himself but Scorpius retained his determination to become an animagi, "What about it?"

"Because the match is the day after."

"Oh yeah," Michael realized and scowled, "Damn. I guess I won't be able to play or if I do then the wind will probably be able to knock me off my broom."

"I'll talk to Krum about it, see it if we can change the date. They've worked around players hurt or with conditions before so hopefully we can work something out," Molly decided and left to go talk to Krum. And never came back, Scorpius was starting to get worried. It wasn't until dinner that she joined them.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted her with relief, "Where have you been?"

"Trying to work it out," Molly groaned as she sat, "Usually they'd swap the date with another match but since it's the last one, they couldn't so Krum thought to just push it to next week. We just needed to confirm it with Elwood - would you believe his password is The Boy Who Lived? - but next week is the last Hogsmeade trip so Elwood wanted a different day. The next two weeks is exams, OWLs and NEWTs which he didn't want the Quidditch in the middle of as a distraction. The week after that is another full moon so we're back to square one the week after that the school year ends so we had to discuss it to figure something else out, I think Krum very much wanted to wring his neck, Elwood is a very frustrating person to decide anything with. Eventually though, he seemed to realize that the weekend has two days to it - which we had been saying all along! - and decided to have the match next Saturday and just move the Hogsmeade trip to Sunday, which we'd suggested multiple times!"

"Well at least it's done with it," Scorpius offered as he patted her shoulder comfortably.

"If he's still Headmaster next year then I think I'll be alright with not getting Head Girl, it would mean having to interact with him slightly."

"He can't be that bad," Rose gasped, "Being a Head Girl or Boy is like the greatest honor. I can't wait to be a prefect next year."

"What makes you think you're going to be prefect?" Maurice asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Both my parents were prefects and I'm one of the best pupils in the year, clearly I'm the best candidate. Short of extreme bias from the apparently Harry Potter-worshipping Elwood, Scorpius will get the Gryffindor prefect boy's slot for the same reason. It's clearly obvious."

"I think I'll get prefect, I'm the best in the year."

"Maurice, that is so arrogant."

"It's the truth," Maurice shrugged casually before their attention was drawn by Elwood standing to tell them that the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match would not be next week but the week after on Saturday, the Hogsmeade trip moved to the day after the match which was June 4th so he still would be able to get Calderon a birthday present.

"Told you," Molly said when he was done with the announcement.

---

The carriage was much bigger inside, rows of blue velvet curtains that reminded him very much of changing rooms in some of the shops. The house-elf stupidly started talking to Maurice as he walked, it was extremely difficult to use his necklace as he walked because the words stayed where they formed so he had to keep looking back at where the speaker had been which made it difficult to keep up with what the speaker was saying now as well as pay attention to where you were going. It was near impossible when the house-elf was speaking French on top of that, until he stopped walking anyway. Maurice was led through one of the drapes to a small segment of room by a window for him, featuring a cushioned bench-seat with a blanket, pillow and a sleep mask if he wanted to sleep. Opposite was a table with a glass, a bottle of water, a bottle of some kind of juice and a few complimentary biscuit with the Beauxbatons logo for refreshments. There was a bell to ring to summon a house-elf if he needed assistance and a welcoming pamphlet for reading material, Maurice thanked - or at least he hoped he thanked - the house-elf as it left.

It was certainly different to his other school. He spent the journey watching the scenery outside the window, they stopped frequently to collect other students but it always felt a calm pace they were going and he found the motion relaxing. He tried to read the pamphlet but it was also in French and Maurice couldn't be bothered to try deal with it, he missed his old school and his own language. Why French? Why not Runic or Greek or Ancient Greek? Or even sign language, anything that he could already understand easily. What possessed Roman to want to go to France? Beauxbatons looked drastically different to his old school, which was a lone - albeit large - square tower from what he'd gathered but this place was... well a palace. Extravagant, pompous, richly detailed. Completely impractical, of course. The Abraxians set them down in the courtyard and the drapes abruptly opened, he saw people filing out from their own little rooms and joined the flock of blue robed children out of the carriage. They were greeted by a man who looked in his late thirties or early forties with wavy black hair who introduced himself as Professeur Moreau - Maurice recognized his name from the acceptance letter - before leading them inside, it was surprisingly bright inside with large and decorative stained glass windows around to let in a colorful array. The place looked pristine, it looked if it could've been built made yesterday, there wasn't a blemish or scuff anywhere.

Moreau took them to a vast chamber with high vaulted stone overhead and lines of desks, he had them sit down - Maurice had to sit at the front for his necklace to work - before explaining what was going to happen. They were taking some kind of test to deduce their current skill level from what Maurice gathered, in regards to basic things like reading, writing and numbers. It would've been so much easier if the test was in English, he flew through the numbers portion fairly easier as numbers were the same in French but the reading and writing portions were harder. After that, Moreau flicked his wand and summoned all the papers to be - presumably graded - and tapped the leaning pile which caused them to vanish - or rather transport to wherever they were being graded - before starting to talk to them about the school. His understanding of the language was still hit and miss but he learned they would be sorted into houses at random shortly, Maurice thought it was something to do with the sleeping arrangements. There were four of them, Cuivre, Argent, Or and Platine - in English: copper, silver, gold and platinum - and their robes would get a trim of their house color. There was actually ten years in Beauxbatons that were split up further, the First and Second Years were the 'Primaire' years, Third through Sixth were the 'Moyenne' years and the Seventh through Tenth Years were the 'Superieur' years.

Primaire Years were too young for 'Quidditch' - whatever that was - as they didn't even learn to fly until Third Year but there was a Moyenne and Superieur team for each house which a cup to win for each, they had the option of watching all the matches. There was also a dueling tournament later in the year - when they'd actually learned some magic - which they could enter, that sounded much more up to Maurice's speed. They'd compete against others in their house first then the winners would compete for best in the year, the best in the year then went up against the other champions in their section, in their case just the Second Year champion. There was also house points awarded for good work or good behavior and likewise could have them taken away for bad behavior which seemed fair enough, every term the house with the most overall won as well as the house winning in each section. Maurice definitely got the impression that Beauxbatons was rather fond of competition. Primaire Years had eight subjects, one of which was the basics they'd just been tested on although the amount of classes varied based on their individual needs but the idea was they'd be on the same level by the time they moved on to the Moyenne Years. They also had a language class but which language was up to them, they had a choice out of the five: English, Spanish, German, Italian and Latin. He would hand out the paper for them to vote when he was done speaking, Maurice intended to choose Latin. The other six classes were all magical: Potions, Histoire de la Magie, Metamorphose, Sortileges, Defense contre les forces du Mal and Bataille contre les forces du Mal. The latter two were often shortened to just Defense and Bataille.

Maurice wished they could just get on with classes. Moreau handed out the voting sheets next, Maurice chose Latin as he'd wanted. While they were doing that, a man... a boy? A part-giant boy, Maurice deduced as he was almost as tall as the teacher who was an average height for a man but clearly had the face of a child. He was dressed in Beauxbatons robes too, he handed the man four scrolls and was directed to sit at a spare desk at the front to vote himself. Why he hadn't been with them in the first, Maurice didn't know but he guessed it was either because of his blood status or had a professor for a parent like Viola did. Moreau collected up their vote sheets when they were done the same way and vanished them as well, he then announced he now had the lists of their randomly chosen houses. Three people joined him at the front of the room as he said this, they were introduced as the House Leaders. Oriana Beauchene was the House Leader of Or, a smiling - and rather beautiful - fairly young woman with blond hair tied back in a bun and a dark red dress. Jeanne Durand was the House Leader of Argent, she was the eldest of the bunch with dark gray hair and half-moon spectacles that hid sharp eyes, she was short too but didn't strike him as frail. Enzo Roche was the House Leader of Cuivre, he looked very much like one of the people who begged on the streets with scruffy attire and dusty dark hair that looked an absolute mess, he also looked incredibly bored and annoyed while the others looked at least somewhat welcoming. Moreau himself was the House Leader of Platine, clearly he was a busy guy.

Moreau said he was going to read off the names of people from Or, they would then go with their House Leader for a tour including to be shown to their sleeping quarters before the Welcoming Feast. He read off the names and the large group left with Oriana, Maurice was disappointed not to get Or for some reason. Moreau then did the same for Argent, the silvers all left with Durand and he was again not one of them. Moreau did he same again for Cuivre, people looked disappointed to get that house as they left with Enzo but Maurice was still not one of them nor was the part-giant boy. Maurice assumed everyone left were Platine, Moreau still insisted on reading out the names to make sure everyone was in the right place. Maurice was starting to get concerned that he had actually missed his name until Moreau read off 'Maurice Rivieres' as the very last name, which he assumed to be him. Moreau asked anyone whose name had not been called to stand, thankfully no one did so he instead asked for Maurice to raise his hand. Maurice did so with a scowl, wondering why he was being singled out and Moreau went over to him personally to ask him if he was deaf. At least, that was what Maurice thought he was saying.

"Yes. I mean, oui," Maurice answered him awkwardly, Moreau smiled kindly.

'I also speak English,' Moreau assured him to Maurice's relief, it was nice to not have to decipher after everything so far, 'I understand you have a way of reading speech, are you alright so far?'

"Yes, sir."

'Very good. If there is anything you need, don't be afraid to ask me.'

"As long as I'm within range, I'm alright. And don't walk and talk, that's really awkward."

'Got it,' Moreau nodded and stepped back to address the remaining students again to lead them on their tour.

Moreau did actually listen to him, aside from one word comments on where they were, he stopped whenever he was explaining anything in more detail and made sure Maurice was nearby before he started speaking. He showed them the grounds briefly, the classrooms they would be using, the Library, toilets, allocated lounges for Primaire Years to go to relax or study before finally bringing them to where they would be sleeping. The Platine Wing - like the other house wings of the Palace apparently - could only be reached through a special stone archway with a strange film obscuring the view of the other side. Moreau tapped the archway with his wand and muttered a spell that caused the film to glow with a platinum light, he told them to go through it and Maurice was one of the first to step through, it felt like he was touched with a gentle breeze. Moreau followed when they had all gone through, cheerfully explaining they now had a Platinum trim on their robes - a quick look revealed this to be true - which the archway would recognize in the future. They would just be able to walk through, they just had to be wearing their robes or else it would be like trying to walk through a solid wall. Even Moreau's robes had a Platinum trim and thinking about it, the other House Leaders had had their color trimmed on the edges of their clothes too, even the scruffy Enzo.

It led into a corridor with doors leading off it, Moreau explained they were the Platine staff quarters so if they were close by if anything happened. But they should knock and wait for assistance, going into staff rooms was forbidden and they were locked anyway. On the other end of the corridor was the door that led to the Platine Common Room, a large lounge with couches and tables, a warm fire and thick gray carpet. Three doors led off from it, marked 'Primaire', 'Moyenne' and 'Superieur'. He led them through 'Primaire' which led to a similar slightly smaller Common Room that was just for their year section, there was two doors leading off from this room, one marked 'Garcons' and one marked 'Filles' for boys and girls. Moreau mentioned it was the only time they would be allowed into the opposite gender's rooms as he led them up to the staircase to the girls' first, they stopped in the stairwell and he explained the Second Years' rooms were up the other flight before leading them through the door on that floor. The floor was lined with numbered doors, each led to a comfortable room with either bunk beds or two single beds and a chest of drawers with another door off that led to a room with a shower, toilet and sink. The boys' side was exactly the same except mirrored, Moreau explained they'd be paired up at random and next time they came their names would be on the doors so they'd know who was with who. He asked for any questions before taking them down to the Dining Hall, an utterly massive room with a stained glass ceiling.

It was dark by now but the now multicolored starlight shining through was rather dazzlingly beautiful, even if it again suffered from being impractical. Shattering the glass and weaponizing it to attack everyone inside was very simple, Maurice was eight and he would be quite capable of doing so. There were four long tables, each with a color-coded table cloth to mark their house and one smaller one horizontal to the four at the very end for the staff. Moreau said they could anywhere at their table and except on special occasions, sitting with friends at any table was perfectly alright. He encouraged them to do so as where others arriving, Maurice went to go sit right up near the staff table to be within range. He really hoped they could go to bed soon though, using his necklace so continuously was tiring and having to translate its seeming gibberish into French then recall what the French meant was giving him a headache. Not that Roman cared, he'd rather dump him in a strange school in a language he didn't know then let him go back to the place he'd lived all his life. Beauxbatons was severely lacking in the subject department. Instead he turned his attention to the staff table, sitting in a massive throne-like chair was an equally massive woman. She was also a part-giant clearly, a definite relation to the part-giant boy in his year, explaining the special treatment. The others around him started talking, introducing themselves but he didn't bother putting on his necklace to listen. He really didn't care who they were, he'd had enough of using the necklace for one day anyway.

It made him groan when the part-giant stood up and he had to pay attention again, she introduced herself as the Headmistress Olympe Maxime and gave them some kind of a welcoming speech. It was all a waste, they should have just arrived and been thrown into classes. Now an entire day had been wasted unless Moreau had forgotten to mention they took their classes at night, he'd zoned out to be irritated and hastily stood when he realized everyone was else was for some reason. It seemed pointless as Maxime told them to sit a minute later and suddenly the table was filled with food, Maurice was horrified. They were supposed to eat stew for dinner, he knew Roman had thinks weird but Roman wasn't a school. And schools had porridge for breakfast, broth for lunch and stew for dinner. That was the way it was supposed to be, despite how disgusting porridge was, it was the right way to do things. He thought it might be some kind of trick but everyone had started eating, he grabbed Moreau in panic as the man went to walk by.

"Sir, this can't be the right food surely," Maurice insisted desperately.

'What's wrong with it?' Moreau wondered in confusion.

"It's not stew. It's supposed to be stew, that's how it was at my old school."

'Well, here we do things differently. Enjoy the variety, I'm sure there is things you would like. There probably is stew somewhere.'

Maurice turned back to the table in defeat, the part-giant boy looked at him as if he was rather mad. He stubbornly scoured the table through the bizarre, fancy French foods to find some stew. That particular flavor was so disgusting it made him want to vomit but he ate it because that was what you were supposed to eat for dinner in a school, he wanted to go home. Not to Roman's apartment, not even to Roman's apartment in England but to his real home. His first school. He missed Pyrrhus and where things made sense, not all this strange stuff. He was glad when Maxime dismissed them, or rather stood and had them stand to attention before dismissing them when the dinner was finally gone. It would be gone faster if everyone got a measly bowl of stew instead of a three course meal, how did people even eat that much? To his surprise, the Headmistress approached his table personally but went straight for the part-giant boy to hug him. Apologizing - in refreshing English - as he would have to share a room due to their not being enough for him to one to himself now, Maurice walked away shaking his head. Clearly someone else was going to be exempt from using a blood quill tomorrow, they'd regret it when one of them knew how to kill everyone with that glass ceiling and one was failing miserably at making his wand light up. He went with the rest of Platine to the wing, fully ready for bed. Sure enough, they could just walk through and sure enough, pieces of paper with two names were lining the numbered doors. He started scouring the doors for his name, getting to worry again before he saw his name on the very last door, number seventeen. He must really be at the bottom of everyone's lists, the name with him was 'Corin Maxime-Hagrid'.

He really hoped the name was not the part-giant boy, Maxime could be a common last name. His hopes were crushed when the part-giant barged past him to get into the room, shooting him a dark look as he did so. Maurice rolled his eyes and followed, seeing their room was bunk beds and that his trunk was already there in the corner. The part-giant - Corin, Maurice supposed his name was - threw himself down onto the bottom bunk before Maurice could ask if he could have it, he very much just wanted to sleep. Corin folded his arms stubbornly as if daring him to argue, Maurice supposed he should be glad as Corin might fall through the top bunk and crush him if he had it. He clambered up the ladder and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, he didn't even think of changing before falling asleep in his robes. His strength sapped from his translator necklace, he could only hope that at least classes would be better.

---

The week passed uneventfully, just increased pressure about exams which they could do without as it made Michael anxious to think he was missing on hastily cramming due to his transformation. He'd actually have a Hogsmeade trip to himself as well, Sol was having a checkup in St Mungo's on Sunday as his parents had booked it before and couldn't change it to a near enough date to satisfy them. After what happened to Lyra - his parents didn't know she'd been murdered - his parents didn't want to take chances with Sol. He wasn't complaining, he should have plenty of time to find Calderon a really great gift for his Birthday and maybe even get to spend time with his girlfriend. They really hadn't had enough time together with exams, he may not be concerned but she was after all and he thought it would be nice to try out one of those new restaurants put up during the rebuild. His good mood was only marred by Professor Ashain's drastically worsening health, he should last until July though... Scorpius hoped, it had taken longer before. He wished he could just ask Ashylos but the spirit had made no more reappearance, unless you counted his name flickering with Professor Ashain's on the map again.

"So, this match," Molly began her pre-match speech nervously that Saturday as they waited in the changing rooms for the game to start, "Usually I would say something inspiring, or try to anyway. But this time I'm not going to. We're not having a great year, we technically lost both matches from not getting the Snitch even though we beat Slytherin on points still. I should probably be telling you to fly like crazy today, throw yourselves into it a hundred and zillion percent. But I'm not. This is some of our team's last game, Freddie, Caitlin and Louis on reserves are all graduating. Winning is great but it's not what Quidditch is all about, it's about having a good time, flying because it's fun. Did anyone try out because they wanted to win? Or was it just because you just wanted to do something you enjoy in your spare time? We've won the cup the past two years, winning again is nice but not important. This game, we're just going to go out and fly for fun for this final time together."

"The final flight of Fast Freddie Weasley," Freddie said seriously as he seemed to realize.

"No one calls you that but you!" a number of them chorused and Freddie only laughed, saluting Molly for... Scorpius didn't know.

"You've been a good Cap, Cuz."

"Since when did you call me either of those things?" Molly wondered.

"Let's play Quidditch!" Freddie announced and punched the air with his broom.

"Do you even listen to what we say?" Latimer asked of him incredulously, shaking his head but smiling in amusement.

Freddie opened his mouth to reply but Molly abruptly shushed him as it was time to go on, they walked onto the pitch to the hail of cheering. Scorpius didn't feel bothered by the crowd anymore, he was playing and they could think whatever they want. Molly shook hands with the scarred Ravenclaw Captain, Fifth Year Sequoia Pentakel amicably before they kicked off into the air. Krum threw the Quaffle and the game kicked off, Latimer grabbing it before even Michael this time while Scorpius sped off to find the Snitch. Despite Molly telling everyone to play for fun, there was a clear amount of effort from Gryffindor. Everyone was throwing themselves into it, Freddie and Roxy firing Bludgers left and right, all three Chasers were barely visible blurs bouncing it between them like a muggle pinball machine and Molly wasn't letting anything go near those rings. Scorpius just had to do his part, he and Pentakel both spotted the Snitch a few times but dodging well-aimed Bludgers had them lose sight of it.

Scorpius had expected it to be easier, Pentakel's injuries from Hogsmeade had clearly been impeding his ability in his other two games. He had been recovering though, his game had improved the last match but he still hadn't on par with his previous skill. Now, however he was all but back to full-strength from the attack that happened almost exactly a year ago. The final time they saw both saw the Snitch together, high above and shot towards it at similar speeds - Pentakel had a Dart broom too actually now that Scorpius looked - from a similar distance. A Bludger shot towards Scorpius and he was forced to veer away to dodge it, he got back on track but the tangent had cost him any chance he had as Pentakel now had the clear lead. He still pushed his broom as much as he could, the wind whipped his ears but Pentakel got their first, reached out his hand and- He froze. He randomly stopped just inches from it, Scorpius reached him and also pulled back his hand in confusion from grabbing the uncaught Snitch. The gold ball fluttered between them, hovering around tauntingly while Pentakel just looked at it.

"Go on," Pentakel whispered, "Take it."

"You... You got here first," Scorpius pointed out, wondering if Pentakel had got hit in the head by a Bludger when he wasn't looking or something.

"I know but I can't take it," Pentakel told him as he hung his head guiltily, "You saved my life back in Hogsmeade during the attack, I thought I was going to die but you and Varanian saved me."

"It was nothing," Scorpius brushed it off, he hadn't thought about twice about it.

"It was my life. It's not nothing to me," Pentakel said seriously as he raised his head again, "I've been trying so hard to reclaim my previous ability and try be a good Captain but now... I don't want to beat you. Not after what you did for me, Gryffindor can win. It's a game, there are more important things."

"Its fine," Scorpius offered feeling embarrassed by Pentakel, it felt wrong to win like that, "You got here first, fair and square. Next time werewolves are trying to kill us, you can save me and Varanian life then we can call it even."

"Next time? Just take the Snitch, its staying here because it wants you to take it."

"It's staying here because it knows you deserve a win," Scorpius guessed, "Look, I didn't save your life because I wanted you to let me win at Quidditch. If I can't win on my own merit then I don't want to win, I'd rather try and lose then just have it handed to me. Take it, Sequoia, if you really want to make it up to me than just play normally. And normally you won so take it."

"Really?" Pentakel wondered nervously as if thinking Scorpius was testing him, he nodded firmly.

"ONE OF YOU GRAB THE FUCKING SNITCH! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! IT'S RIGHT THERE! BOTH OF YOU! IT'S RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE!" the commentator was screaming, they both laughed.

"I can't believe it is still here."

"I guess it just likes screwing with people," Scorpius joked with an unknowing shrug.

"Want to screw with everyone?" Pentakel smirked suddenly, "We compromise, and both of us just closes our eyes and grab it together. We don't know who wins, it's for the Snitch to decide and everyone else to worry about."

Feeling somehow foolish but certain at the same time, he closed his eyes as Pentakel did and reached out. He grasped the golden ball but also felt Pentakel grab it at the same time, which seemed a satisfying result for a bizarre game of Quidditch. They raised the Snitch jointly into the air, people cheering either because they were confused or because they'd thought their team had won. Scorpius didn't know or care as they flew back to the ground where the teams were also landing, the Gryffindors not looking concerned while the Ravenclaws just seemed confused.

"And Fast Freddie Weasley goes out on a strange note of confusion," Freddie commented to no one in particular as he put his arm around his girlfriend, "A fitting end to a fabulous career. Fast Freddie Weasley is Father Freddie Weasley now."

"And no one will call you that either," Caitlin told him with a smile, "Not even Charley."

"Party in the common room!" Freddie cried as he fist-pumped the air.

"Scorpius," Michael breathed quietly.

Scorpius scowled at being distracted from enjoying the odd moment, looking back to his friend. Michael randomly jerked his eyes to the left then back, as if subtly trying to tell him to look in that direction. Scorpius turned to glance and saw a man as if through tinted glass to the left, Ashylos. The spirit looked solemn as he raised his hand, making a lone motion to indicate he should come.

---

Part 3: Creepy, Scary and Dangerous

---

Scorpius and Michael got away from the crowd as fast as they could to follow where they'd seen Ashylos, walking all the way across the grounds with no luck. They were debating whether or not to go into the forest when the spirit appeared at the edge of it, he was still looking strange as if Scorpius was seeing him through some kind of filter even up close but it didn't detract from the grave expression engraved on a face that looked too young for it.

"We lost a part of the Scepter," Scorpius admitted guiltily, "I'm sorry."

"I am aware, Skorpios," Ashylos pointed out, looking saddened rather than disappointed, "I have just been staying away to try prolong the time we have before Atticus dies and I revive."

"Then why did you want to speak to us?" Michael asked worriedly.

"Because it does not matter, Atticus is fading fast. He does not have long, we need to go after the Scepter if we are to destroy it before his death."

"We have a plan to get the other parts, Varanian's working on finding the one the Shadows have," Scorpius explained, "In a few weeks, just after the year ends hopefully."

"Ou," Ashylos shook his head solemnly, "I do not think Atticus will last a few days, let alone a few weeks."

"Are you certain?" Michael wondered.

"One cannot be truly certain of anything in this life but I am quite sure."

"Well he'll just have to hold on, he's stronger than you think," Scorpius protested defensively.

"Perhaps but there is more to it then strength alone. Just be wary, one of these days he will slip into a sleep that he cannot be awakened from. When that happens, his time is down to days for definite and he will not last another week," Ashylos told him before fading away back to the other plane he was on or wherever he went, Scorpius wasn't entirely sure.

He did exchange a worried look with Michael though as they headed back, the Quidditch match all but forgotten. He took the opportunity at meals that day to study the professor, Professor Ashain was as visibly lagging as had been in class but nothing to indicate he was on the verge of slipping into a coma and dying. Scorpius thought Ashylos might just be overestimating how far along things were, he hoped so anyway. He went to ask Maurice, he thought he'd know the most about Horcruxes and he didn't want to have everyone anxious until he was more certain.

"Hey Scor," Calderon offered and jolted him from his thoughts on his way to the Library, where Maurice was. Scorpius looked to him in surprise, seeing his cousin with a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Going somewhere?" Scorpius wondered.

"To the Ministry to test that potion again," Calderon explained with a shrug, "I saw you and thought I'd say goodbye, wish you luck with your exams."

"Thanks, good luck with your potion-testing," Scorpius told him and hugged the assistant tightly in farewell, he hoped Calderon would be back before his birthday or he wouldn't be able to get his really great gift. He'd also be gone, meaning it was prime Scepter-hunting time. He pressed the tip of his wand against the ring subtly when he was in a deserted part of the corridor, "Meet in Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

He got no immediate reply and so continued on to the Library to get Maurice, he had checked the Map to find him but he was nonetheless surprised. Maurice was sitting with that Lenore girl, very much alone with her. He was smiling, not his usual cold smile either but a warm genuine smile. She seemed to be looking at the hand not on his translator necklace, running her slender fingers across the scars.

"Maurice, I need you for a minute," Scorpius interrupted, Maurice glared at him, "If that's okay?"

"It's fine. I'll see you," Maurice agreed and left with abruptly, waiting until they were out of the Library before speaking again in a snappish tone, "You couldn't have needed me later?!"

"No," Scorpius said and scowled, "Why was I interrupting something date-like?"

"No!" Maurice scoffed, "We were just having a rather stimulating discussion and in fact the reason dating is bad was one of it."

"A discussion that involved touching your hand?"

"She was just looking at my scars, she's never seen blood quill scars before."

"Why was she even talking to you?"

"Well, she got this impression that I was looking at her for some reason so she came over to talk to me and we were talking," Maurice explained and his smile returned, "She's an interesting person and likes debating too, did you know that?"

"No, why would I know that? I don't know her."

"You should, she's amazing. And she doesn't like or understand the obsession with Quidditch either but goes along to matches from a political standpoint because its popular and she wants to be Head Girl to further the likelihood of good future career prospects," Maurice continued excitedly, "She's very politically minded like that and-"

"Well that's great," Scorpius interjected, wanting to cut to the chase and not really interested in listening to Maurice rant about some random girl. It was a very not-Maurice thing to do, "But I wanted to talk to you about something important."

"What?" Maurice asked, sobering and his smile fading as he became serious.

"About Horcruxes," Scorpius told him, "Do you think Professor Ashain is... close to death? Shouldn't he be sicker?"

"There's not actually really a warning sign, the victim has symptoms but they don't worsen after a certain point and it's just a matter of waiting for them to slip into a coma. When that happens, there's not a lot of time," Maurice answered, sounding much more like himself, "But I still wouldn't say he's close to death, Ashylos switched to this after Christmas and it tends to take longer than six months. Then again, I've never heard of a Horcrux switching from possessing the victim's body to just resurrecting the way that Ashylos did to Ashain so it might make it happen faster. There's really no way to know."

"Well thanks for that," Scorpius sighed, he had been hoping there were signs and he could gauge better how much time Professor Ashain said. Then again, Maurice probably would've mentioned earlier if there was something like that.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Why did you want to know?" Maurice questioned and Scorpius filled him in quickly, "Well, we still can't say for sure but Ashylos would probably know better than we do."

They parted ways and Scorpius went back to moping anxiously, he finally got a reply from Varanian later: Will try. Short notice bad though. He thought it was the best he could hope for, it was quite understandable really. He fell asleep surprisingly quickly considering his thoughts, his dreams were riddled with nightmares though and he woke feeling remarkably unrested.

---

"So you're really not going to go to Hogsmeade today?" James wondered of Carver, who was lying on his front on his bed with text books sprawled out around him. He was wearing just shorts as it was a hot day and he didn't seem to have much intention of leaving the dormitory, showing off his flawlessly firm muscles. James was very much enjoying the view, tracing the lines of Carver's perfect body into his mind.

"I'm really not going to Hogsmeade today," Carver confirmed in that gravelly voice James loved, he just wished Carver was more talkative because he could listen to that voice all day.

"Why?" James complained, he'd been looking forward to it, "You're not still hung up on Leslie are you?"

"Mia. And no. I just... I just don't want to be there today," Carver brushed if off, looking oddly worried, "You know, it's been almost a year since the werewolf attack and we have OWLs starting tomorrow so we should study."

"I'm not worried about OWLs," James scoffed, "I'm sure I'll do good enough and so what if I don't? I'm Harry Potter's son, that's more valuable than any OWLs."

"Not everyone is Harry Potter's son, Jay."

"Well still, since when did you care about studying?"

"Since I don't want to flunk out of Hogwarts," Carver pointed out, "I'd either be stuck at home or have to go join my Dad. Leebin was always encouraging me that it's my life and it is what I make of it so why not try for some OWLs?"

"Because studying is boring," James stated the obvious and resisted the urge to comment on his taking Leebin's advice after Leebin had just abandoned them, "And you needn't worry, I got your back so you won't be 'stuck' anywhere. Besides, I thought you liked your Dad?"

"I do but I don't want to go into his line of work."

"Please, can't you come?" James pleaded and Carver looked at him nervously, "It's the last Hogsmeade trip before the year ends and we already missed loads together when you were dating Wanda."

"Mia. And no, I really can't."

"Well fine," James grunted moodily, first Malfoy and Pentakel ruined the last Quidditch match and now Carver ruined the last Hogsmeade trip. Why did he never get what he wanted? "I'm going to go find that Slytherin and see if I can't get the little bastard good before I go."

"Can't you just leave him alone?" Carver sighed and stood as James turned to go, "He's eleven and you torment him daily as it is."

"You're not still on this Latimer thing?" James wondered incredulously as he guessed why Carver was still bothered, his friend said nothing but turned away, "C'mon, Carve, the guy's a freak and he gets picked on by more people than us. You can't possibly feel bad, it's not our fault he's pathetic and who cares if he dies anyway?"

"Does it really not bother you to think you might've driven someone to taking their own life?"

"Not someone I hate."

"Well it does to me," Carver admitted guiltily, "One of my brothers is suicidal."

"You have a brother?"

"I've told you before, I have a load of siblings by my Dad because he never met a woman his dick didn't like."

"Yeah but didn't you also say you never really see them?" James recalled and Carver frowned.

"It doesn't mean it doesn't bother me," Carver insisted and sighed again as he continued sounding desperate, "Please don't go to Hogsmeade, just stay here with me where it's safe."

"That's what you're worried about?" James realized in surprise, "Hogsmeade getting attacked again."

"Erm... Yes," Carver told him as he looked away then back to him, "Yeah that's exactly what I'm worried about, it has been almost a year. I don't want anything to happen to you, please just stay with me. We don't have to study if you really don't want to, we can just hang out here together and do whatever you want. As long as you're not in Hogsmeade in case anything goes wrong."

"Well..." James began as he met Carver's brilliant blue eyes, filled with concern, "Alright, I'll stay. But we get to go after Byron."

"Okay, deal," Carver agreed, seeming both reluctant and relieved at the same time, "I guess that's a fair trade. But nothing too awful, there's plenty of other Slytherins around."

---

The next thing Orous knew, his wrist was in agony. As if it was on burning, he would've screamed if his mouth was obeying him but even his lungs couldn't be bothered to draw the extra breath. The excruciating pain just kept searing, he would've cried but his eyes wouldn't obey him either and tears refused even form. He didn't know why it hurt so much, it didn't know why it was it as only on a select part of his wrist. He tried to move but his body wouldn't move either, he thought he was lying on his front. The last thing he remembered was passing out when that man put the cloth over his mouth, the agony stopped or at least diminished to something he could cope with. Fear replaced the pain, where was he? What was happening to him? He tried to open his eyes, desperate for answers but he couldn't and sleep claimed him.

He quickly learned that sleep was the only thing to look forward to and wrote the thing with his wrist off as a dream, probably caused by the tight handcuff slicing into his skin. Orous was actually quite convinced he was just trapped in a nightmare at first, a horrific nightmare but a nightmare nonetheless as it seemed too surreal that he went from his life looking up to being a prisoner. The reality of the situation soon kicked in though, dreams weren't so lengthy and constant or realistic. But he thought it was okay still, obviously someone would come to rescue him. He couldn't be there long, thinks like that didn't happen after all, not to him. His mum was a witch, they had been getting along better and she would save him surely. Hours dragged out into days, days stretched out into weeks and weeks added up to months. Orous came to realize that no one was coming for him. He was trapped.

He had two captors, Linden and his son Joel. Joel was outright violent, sadistic and cruel while Linden thought because he acted nicer that it made it all okay to hurt him somehow. He was kept handcuffed to the bed most of the time, they never removed the handcuff from him even when they freed him from the bed. They did this daily so he could use the bathroom, it was supervised so he couldn't escape even if there weren't bars on the bathroom window. Sometimes Linden also would handcuff him to himself and walk around the house so Orous could have some exercise, not that he felt much like exercising when he was so weak from being starved. He was given water daily but went days without food, longer if Linden didn't sneak him treats. Linden was also the one who'd leave the TV on so he'd have something to do when he wasn't being beaten, abused or crying himself to sleep.

Linden was actually quite chatty, mostly lamenting the loss of his youngest son - Marvin - to whatever unfortunate boy had been there before Orous. That boy had also been a wizard, Linden was well aware of what Orous was and knew about magic from his middle son being a wizard as well as having dated the boy's also magical mother. It actually gave him a strange sense of hope, if he could survive it and get away then why couldn't he? No one was coming to save him, Orous had to help himself. They were bigger and stronger than him so he had to be smarter, he tried to pick the lock on his handcuffs with a paperclip he swiped from the mess of things around during one of his exercise times but it wasn't as easy as they made it look on TV, he tried hooking the handcuffs around the bed to try pull it at the right angle to snap the chain, he tried holding the lamp over his wrist to heat it up to make the metal weaker and himself sweat to try slip his wrist out. None of those things worked though, finally he resorted to just bashing it with the lamp instead. He just wanted to go home, he didn't want to be there.

To his immense surprise and relief, it worked. He headed for the door only to discover it was locked, the strangest thing happened then though. He heard a voice in his head say a spell and his cuffed wrist seared with pain, magic shot through him though and the door opened. He didn't understand but he wasn't going to question something helping him, he thanked it instead. Maybe he was insane but he was so desperate that he didn't care, he crept through the house in terror at being caught but he wasn't giving up and going back. He'd never willingly go back. Linden seemed to be sleeping, Joel was on the phone but he decided to risk going for the door anyway. He was so close, if he could just get outside then he should be okay as surely someone would see and help especially if he was screaming for help. Unlike the attic, the door wasn't locked luckily and he felt the wind on his face for the first time in months. He almost smiled, he hadn't even realized he'd missed something as trivial as the wind. However, when he tried to leave he was thrown violently back. Tears streamed from his eyes, he couldn't fail now. He had to get away, he had to. There couldn't be something strange about the door, they were only muggles. He ran at it again but was thrown back forcefully again when he tried to get through the doorway, he felt the hope in his heart shattering. Especially when Joel grabbed him roughly from behind.

Joel brutalized him as punishment for trying to escape before dragging him into the kitchen to keep an eye on him while he wrote a letter to someone called 'Shadow Master', he was then dragged back to the attic and beaten into oblivion. Oddly, Orous then found himself in a bathroom with two men, talking about obelisks and Parselmouth and opening it and... What kind of weird dream had he landed himself in? One of the men hissed and there was a kind of glow, the sink sank to reveal a gaping pipe. Despite not speaking, he joined the conversation wanting to go before jumping down the pipe without Orous wanting to. Clearly, this wasn't the kind of dream where he could control his actions. He soon found himself trekking through the Chamber of Secrets apparently with the Parselmouth and the other guy, he really needed to be paying more attention. And then everything went wrong anyway, the other guy turned on them and forced the Parselmouth to activate the obelisk or he'd torture and kill Orous' dream self so the Parselmouth did it. The runes on the obelisk started filling with red, the Parselmouth seemed to be trying to get away but couldn't but the other guy seemed distracted. He said as much to his dream-self, he still wasn't quite sure what was happening but he was sure he didn't want the Parselmouth to die trying to protect him.

His dream-self took his advice and blasted the Parselmouth away from the obelisk, stopping the magic and saving him. Not that it seemed to be any good, the Parselmouth was still weak or hurt or something and his dream-self angrily snapped he didn't know any healing spells. His dream-self didn't seem to think it was a dream though, he thought it was his real life. Orous went silent, was it possible that this wasn't a dream? It was certainly becoming less and less like any dream he'd ever had, could it really be happening right now? He was randomly experiencing someone else's life? This only seemed confirmed when he spoke to his dream-self again later, the boy thought he'd been dreaming earlier when Orous had heard the voice and he also got the impression the boy was the same boy who'd been imprisoned before him. He was woken by Joel, the sadist liked him to be awake when he was hurting him. He wished he hadn't woken up, he was in agony from his punishment and his mind threatened to pass out if he moved his wrist. He thought Joel had broken it, even trying to twitch his fingers sent shockwaves of pain through him.

He would much rather be in that other boy's life right then, he was in so much pain. He buried his head in his pillow and willed himself out of there, obviously it didn't work. He thought he must've been drifting though because he didn't even hear the newcomer apparate in, they had to have apparated in. Joel was asking - or rather demanding - extra protection to ensure he didn't end up like his brother, the voice spoke to him again and Orous was even surer it was the boy from his not-dream. He was much more interested in the conversation between the two men at that moment though, his blood ran cold as Joel idly dragged his fingers down Orous' leg. It was the last thing he'd ever do though, he heard the Killing Curse and turned in shocked surprise to see a blinding flash of green claiming Joel's life. The monster thudded to the ground with sightless eyes, his body spasmed oddly which made him uncertain of whether Joel had just been killed. Maybe Orous was just losing his soul but he wasn't sad to see Joel die, he was afraid the newcomer would kill him though. He buried his head back into the pillow fearfully, thinking maybe he'd be left alone if the other guy thought he hadn't seen anything but he heard the floorboards creak as he was approached anyway. The stranger assured him that he wasn't going to kill him though, offering to take him away from there... Orous took the deformed hand, what did he really have to lose at this point? Things couldn't get any worse and if the man wanted to kill him then he would regardless. Shadows engulfed then and Orous felt like he was being swept away by an icy tide, hopefully taking him somewhere nicer.

---

"C'mon, Aurelius," Dom prompted her husband as he returned from his morning flight, taking his hand to lead him away, "I thought of something I want to test out in that room."

"Hey honey, how was your flight?" Aurelius asked her abruptly, almost making her pause in confusion but he noticed her bewilderment as he explained, "I'm being you since you didn't ask."

"It is great, very refreshing and no sign of people coming to murder us," Dom replied, almost giving him pause for confusion and smiled, "Since you're being me, I thought that I'd be you."

"Very good," Aurelius offered and returned her smile for a moment, "But you're wrong."

"I'm wrong?"

"That's not how it was."

"How was it then? It's a beautiful morning."

"One of the vultures is mad at me," Aurelius told her as they reached the section of wall that opened into the secret room, she let go of his hand so he could press his hand against it to open it. She flicked out her wand and lit it up as she did so while they went into the tiny dead-end room.

"So why is he mad at you?" Dom inquired with genuine curiosity while tapping her wand against the brick, she'd been reading about ways to hide entrances and sometimes a tapping sequence was used like to get to Diagon Alley. Getting it wrong enough times tended to make something happen, this would show her that she had the right idea at least. She wanted to do it quickly though, she knew Aurelius didn't really like it there and he was anxious enough with his father being a Shadow and his son being possessed by their ancestor.

"Because they don't like Father's creevil Shadow friends or Father, he thinks I'm spending too much time as a human and not enough as an eagle to be sure of my loyalty. And he bit me," Aurelius continued and she stopped tapping to look at his other hand, noticing for the first time it was bleeding.

"Why didn't you say?" Dom asked guiltily as she took his injured hand, he'd been nicked between his thumb and index finger. She wasn't particularly great at healing spells but she should be able to heal that.

"Because you whisked me away to test the room and- Don't heal it!" Aurelius changed his sentence abruptly and yanked his hand away from her wand, "We can test the walls to see if they need blood, that seems to be rather popular lately."

"Are you sure?"

"Faster we figure it out, faster we can stop worrying about it," Aurelius shrugged and cringed slightly as he pressed his wounded hand against the wall. Nothing happened. He tried again on the other walls and got the same result, "Well now we know it's not that."

"Yeah," Dom confirmed and tried not to feel disappointed, that had actually been a good idea.

She took her husband's hand to heal it, not thinking anything of it when blood dripped down and raised her wand. However, the second the crimson drops touched the ground, it vanished. They both fell abruptly down through the floor, ancient torches lining the walls lit up to reveal they had fallen onto a spiraling stone staircase. She looked up through some kind of translucent film where the floor had been, the staircase started down from the wall you entered from.

"Well I guess we did it," Aurelius commented and she finally took his hand to heal it, succeeding this time, "Let's go back now."

"Not yet, I want to see where this goes," Dom told him, she wanted to be sure before she told Varanian.

"Isn't it obvious where it goes?" Aurelius wondered as they got to their feet, eying the descending staircase anxiously, "Somewhere creepy and scary and dangerous."

"Then you wait here, I won't be a minute," Dom offered and headed down, keeping her wand lit just in case despite the torches lighting up.

"You see, I would but I don't think you'd come back because it goes somewhere creepy and scary and dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you," Aurelius pointed out as he followed her without hesitation down further and further, "But I do still want us to go back. Now. Preferably before one or both of us gets killed."

"I'll protect you," Dom promised as she took one of his hands with her free one, realizing he was trembling and squeezed it gently, "Don't be so afraid, if your brother could survive a trip down here then we can."

"I'm a Slytherin, we're supposed to be cowards. In fact, that's probably the only reason I was put in Slytherin. I begged the hat to put me there because I was so terrified of what my parents would do to me if I didn't get Slytherin like I was supposed to, if I wasn't a coward then I probably would've been... somewhere else. The hat hadn't been sure where to put me so I really couldn't say, you know it would actually be rather interesting to have a conversation with it now and see what it thinks of its decision in retrospect or see where it had been thinking of putting me."

"I didn't get a chance to talk the hat, it just yelled Gryffindor when it was barely touching my head," Dom recalled as they finally reached the bottom of the staircase and she let go of his hand, "See? Nothing bad has happened and we're at the bottom."

"Good, can we go now?" Aurelius pleaded while she looked around.

It opened up into a stone dungeon with the same gritty beige walls as the spiral staircase, a continuing contrast to the flawless and impressive marble in the rest of the mansion. The same torches lined the walls either side but opposite them was different, the chamber seemed to come to a fork with paths continuing out left and right. But that wasn't what was strange, the wall on that side was as it wasn't stone at all or even marble. It was a something strange, smooth and iridescent. And then she saw a familiar face, the beautiful face of someone part-Veela with the long silvery-blond hair her siblings had inherited and deep blue eyes. It was also the face of someone who had died. Dom was looking at her mother.

"Can you see her?" Dom asked of her husband in a whisper, not even sure what to feel as the wave of emotion tore through her heart and mind, taking rationality with it, "My Mum."

"There's no one there, Dom," Aurelius lied.

It had to be a lie, Fleur Weasley was right there, she could see her clearly. Dom couldn't take her tear-filling eyes from her mother, she missed her so much. Her mother smiled at her gently before turning, starting to walk with that gliding grace away from her and down the right fork. Dom's mind exploded into panic at the thought of losing her mother again.

"No!" Dom cried in fear as she tore down the chamber after her mother, who continued to walk away from her, "Mum! Come back! Mum! Mum! Don't go!"

"Dom!"

She felt she should know the voice that called after her but she didn't care, she had to get to her mother. Not that she understood why her mother was walking away from her, it didn't matter though. She was almost there, she was so close. She reached out her hand desperately grasping for her mother as she crossed into the fork territory, abruptly however she was yanked violently backwards and just in time as flames leaped up from where she'd been standing.

Dom tumbled do the ground along with her husband from the momentum of being pulled back so forcefully, not that she was complaining. A second later and she'd be burning, she could feel the searing heat from the inferno as the entire ground in the fork blazed just before her. Aurelius kept a hold on her as if afraid she'd leap up and jump into the flames at any moment, watching the fire with an expression as horrified as she was. She swallowed shakily and turned into him, his arms wrapping around her protectively.

"Are you okay?" Aurelius asked her gently with words laden with concern, she simply nodded as she buried her head in the crook of his neck for comfort.

"I thought I saw my mother," Dom whispered as tears leaked from her eyes.

"I know, dear. She wasn't there though, it was just some kind of illusion to trick people into an unfortunate fiery death I'd imagine. Probably one that just targets those without Ashylos' blood as I wasn't effected, all I saw was the strange wall," Aurelius told her and started rubbing her shoulder soothingly, You're okay now though, I've got you."

"You can say I told you so if you want," Dom offered as the flames stopped, pulling away slightly to wipe her eyes. She didn't want to cry, especially not when there could be more enchantments to kill her.

"I don't care about being right, you're okay and I'm okay so that's all that matters," Aurelius said as he stood, helping her to her feet as well. She smiled at him weakly before pressing her lips against his.

"We can go now."

"Not yet, I want to test this," Aurelius announced to her shock, already heading over to where the flames had shot up from.

"Aurelius!" Dom cried out desperately

The last thing she wanted was for him to be severely burned at best or to join her mother at worst, she didn't want to lose anyone else. She grabbed his arm but it was too late, he stepped across the line into the fork floor. However, flames didn't shoot up. She realized the stone slabs on the ground were covered in a pattern of black dots, only as the slab Aurelius stepped on revolved to become a regular stone slab like the first bit of the corridor.

"I guess that only tries to kill non-Ashains too," Dom pointed out as Aurelius stepped back to her relief.

"It looks like it," Aurelius confirmed as they started back up the corridor, she slipped her hand into his as they walked, "You have something interesting things to tell Varanian now though, I suppose. If I was you, I'd start with 'don't go down there.'"

"I think that's good advice," Dom admitted.

---

Cassia Ashain sat by the edge of the lake, trying - and failing - to skim stones. Her daddy had shown her how but she couldn't quite do it herself, it was still something to do to pass the time until they went to Hogsmeade. Normally she'd be excited but she wouldn't mind staying in Hogwarts, her daddy wasn't well and she was worried about him. They weren't going soon enough to going now but not late enough that she could really do anything, they were just waiting for the students to go first like they always did. The students, who would all be going with their friends. Of which she had none, apparently. No human friends anyway. What about her was so unlikable that she had no friends? Not in a muggle school, not in a magical school, not even with people they had gone into a secret chamber to steal some kind of important Scepter before the Shadows could get it. She had a scar on her hand now because of that. What was so wrong with her that no human in the whole world wanted to be her friend?

She supposed it didn't matter, it wasn't like she needed friends. She was fine all by her own, just like she was fine without a mother. It was probably Skye's fault that no one liked her, she wasn't sure how but Skye was always the one responsible for things wrong. Just because she was young, it didn't mean she was stupid or that she didn't remember things. She remembered perfectly well how Skye had made her perfect, wonderful daddy go away just because she didn't like magic. She remembered in excruciating detail how Skye had willing tried to get Soul Eaters rip the magic out of their souls, they'd be 'cured' but they'd also be dead. She remembered her brother screaming in pain, she remembered how he'd nearly died if they hadn't saved his magic in time and he would still have died along with her if Skye had had her way. Even then, her brother wasn't the same now and it was Skye's fault just as much as it was the Shadows. And then what does Skye go and do? Leave. She left them, after 'vigilantes' tried to murder them. She abandoned her own family. Skye didn't care about them, she only cared about herself.

Cassia didn't miss her. At all. Not even a little bit. They were better off without that bitch, she didn't care about Skye being gone. And if she could be fine without a mother, she'd be fine without friends. She didn't care that no one liked her. She didn't. She had more important things like fighting the Shadows, she hated them for hurting her brother and nearly killing her daddy and she wanted to fight, she was a soldier now after all. And ten years from then, she would be an Auror - her daddy said seventeen was the youngest age you could be an Auror - and twenty years from then, she would be Head Auror - her daddy said Harry Potter had been the youngest at twenty-seven - and the Shadows would regret the day they decided to be bad. She'd show everyone to not respect her because she was young and maybe then everyone would regret not wanting to be her friend, it would be too late then though because Head Aurors had no time for friends because they were too busy fighting the bad guys. Cassia just wished she was older now, why did time have to take so long?

"Thanks for making this so easy, choosing such an isolated place to hang out," a voice commented and Cassia jumped up, turning as she did so to see Viola Kalya standing there. Just in time to see the spell leaving the Shadow's wand but without enough time to avoid or even cry out, "Imperio."