Author's Note: Thank you lovestorylover2000 for your kind comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the story and liked how I wrote the story :) I'm sorry I took an awful long time with this one, I had to wrap up some stuff before going on an exchange program! Anyway, as always comment or leave any critics on the story, I would love to hear from you! Lot's of love to my beta Thewriterisme93 for helping me with the story! Sorry for the long AN,on with the story~
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all the HP characters!
Screndus entered the hospital wing to see his friends chatting vividly around Lukas, who was surprisingly still asleep despite the noise; he wondered why madam Pomfrey hadn't thrown them out yet. Screndus made his way to the group and pulled out a free chair and plopping down next to Blaire.
"Hey Screndus!" Roux smiled, "How was tryouts?"
"It was fine." Screndus shrugged. He would tell them all about Professor Krum's insane tryout session, but first he directed his attention to the girl sitting next to him. He quickly shifted though his bag and turned to Blaire to hand her the book she had left behind on the benches.
"Your book." Screndus spoke. Blaire reached out for it only for Screndus to move it out of her reach. "Hogwarts, A History, a little too advanced for you, don't you think? That's more a my level book." Screndus grinned cheekily as Blaire glared at him.
"Me thinks you should grow up." Blaire rolled her eyes as she quickly darted for the book to try and snatch it out of Screndus's grasp.
"Yeah, well...Me thinks you should have been in Hufflepuff!" Screndus shot back pulling the book further out of her grasp.
"You!" Blaire exclaimed.
Screndus grinned at her outraged face and looked down at his watch, "Look at the time Blaire, you should go and join your friends in the Great Hall, that is if you had any."
"You're despicable!" Blaire jumped out of the chair and stormed towards the door.
Screndus waved the book that was still in his hand at Blaire, "You're forgetting something Blaire Bear!"
"Don't call me that!" Blaire grumbled as she marched back and snatched the book out of his hands and whacked him on the head with it.
Screndus frowned as he rubbed his head, "And you wonder why I don't treat you like a lady."
Blaire sent him one last glare before marching out of the room. Screndus watched her leave with an amused grin.
"You know, you could always just tell her." Lukas's voice spoke causing Screndus to jump in his chair.
Screndus turned and frowned at Lukas, "You're awake? How are you feeling?"
"Don't try to stir this conversation into another direction."Albus said as he shared a meaningful look with Lukas.
Screndus looked at them blankly, "What'd mean? I'm not trying to steer the conversation in any direction".
"Yeah, what are you guys talking about?" Roux blinked. Albus and Lukas rolled their eyes at how oblivious Roux was.
"You know…" Lukas sighed, "Sooner or later, I'll have to give you the talk if you're going to date my sister."
"Blech! What gave you that ridiculous idea?" Screndus said as he scrunched up his face in disgust. They were insane if they thought that he liked Blaire! She was just his best friends's little annoying sister and absolutely nothing more! Sure, she was smart, though he hate to admit it and fun to hang around. They had a lot in common. And maybe, just maybe...you could possibly see that she was kind of cute when she got mad. But Screndus didn't like her that way! That was completely impossible.
Albus chuckled at Screndus who had the beginnings of a blush creaping along his cheeks, "Come on Screndus, It doesn't take much to tell that you lik-"
"Oh pah-lease!" Screndus scoffed, "Why, in the name of Merlin, would I like a…a…boring bookworm like her!?"
"Keep telling yourself that." Lukas rolled his eyes at Screndus and looked to Albus. 'In years to come, when those two are married, I'm going to bring this moment up constantly.'
Albus grinned as they both laughed. Each of the boys knew everything about each other; they had grown up together after all. Though their blonde friend was surprisingly good at keeping his emotions in tow most of the time, which seemed to be a Malfoy trait. He was never able to manage his emotions when it came to Lukas's sister. But even though Screndus's feelings were as plain as day to them, Screndus still seemed content to stay in denial.
"Woah! Wait! You like Blaire?" Roux exclaimed as he turned to face Screndus, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"NO, I don't li-"Screndus started, but was cut off by Lukas.
"Rouxy, Rouxy, Rouxy. I see it's obvious you inherited some of your father's best traits, slow to catch up on anything." Lukas laughed.
"Boys! This is an infirmary, not a place to make such a ruckus!" Exclaimed the very loud and very angry voice of Madam Pomfrey. They all turned to see the nurse heading towards them, "You've overstayed your visit! Now please go back to your dormitories. Mr. Zabini you are free to go, just don't hurt your arm any further." She rushed them out muttering under her breath. Screndus swore he heard her mutter something along the lines of them inheriting their father's gifts to cause trouble.
xxx
"Scordius, Scorpius." Hermione said as she settled Soetira to the ground, "Watch your sister for me while I make you your sundaes alright?"
The aurors were still carrying out investigations in her office, therefore, she decided to take the day off and spend it with her children. They deserved a break from all the chaos that had happened over the past few days.
"I want sprinkles!" Scordius beamed as Scorpius asked, "Can I have a chocolate frog on mine?"
"I don't think that'll be a good idea sweetheart, you too are even worse when you have too much sugar." Hermione smiled as she ruffled their hair and headed towards the kitchen.
Soetira looked up at her brothers and smiled, "Scordy can we watch a movie?"
"Sure!" Scordius smiled as grasped his sister hand and led her towards their TV room, a room Draco decided to set up when he had fallen in love with the magic muggle box. He later converted it with the help of Arthur and the Weasley twins to run on magical power instead of electricity. It was also one of the best sellers in his company.
Scordius set Soetira down onto the sofa and asked, "Let's watch your favorite movie…Tangled?"
Soetira nodded enthusiastically while Scorpius frowned, "That's stupid! Let's watch Return of the Titans!"
Scordius nudged his head in Soetira's direction, who had a tiny frown on her face. Scorpius sighed in defeat as he went to retrieve Tangled, "Fine, I'll go put in the film.". Scordius grabbed the DVD and placed it in the magic box and hit play. He then sat down on the other side of Soetira and pinched her cheeks, "You're lucky you're cute."
"Scorpy!" Soetira beamed at him before turning back to the television as the film had began to play.
Suddenly the TV turned off by itself shocking all three of them. The room grew dark and cold as the door slammed shut with a loud bang, a window flew open with green light oozed in from it. Scordius quickly crouched protectively in front of his siblings and slid out a necklace from under his shirt. He pressed his palm onto the gem stone and felt it warm up in his hand.
Scorpius quickly placed Soteira behind him and stood next to Scordius, alert to whatever was at the window. Soetira trembled behind her brothers, her eyes flickering to the dark figure that was becoming clearer in front of the window. That's when they heard it, a high-pitched laugh that bounced off the walls, the voice then drawled out lazily in a mocking manner.
"The phoenix shall be in flames and death shall come to whoever dare taint the pure. Yes, those who taint the pure." The shrill voice let out another hysterical laugh.
"Scordius?! Scorpius?!" Hermione banged on the door, "Soetira?!Alohorma!"
The door shook under the spell but didn't open. The children could hear their mother screaming from the door "Alohorma! Alohorma!" but it couldn't cover up the booming voice of the dark figure.
"Mark my words, children!" The voice snarled in menace. Scorpius pressed Soetira to his back shielding her eyes from what was in front of them.
The figure moved in closer to the window. Then they saw her. Blood-shot red eyes that held a crazy glint in them, her wild black hair sprawled around her face giving her a dangerous aura. She let out another fearsome laugh before disappearing into the thin air.
"Reducto!"Hermione yelled and the door burst into pieces. She rushed in time to see the dark smoke thinning outside the window.
xxx
"Hermione?" Draco shouted in fear as he made sharp turns in the manor. He had never hated the size of the manor so much until now, he was anxious to see if his family were alright, if they were alive. An Auror and his father and mother had come to visit him today to inform him that a certain prisoner had broken out of Azkaban. The one family member he was too disgusted to admit that they were related.
They had just begun to discuss how she could have escaped when his ring burned him slightly, alerting him that his children are in danger. George and Fred gave the twins a necklace with their birthstone on it when they turned 5. The necklace was charmed to alert Hermione and him when the children were in danger and show them the location of the child.
"She couldn't possibly have gotten that far already…"Lucius had said with widened eyes. Draco couldn't take any chances as he quickly apparated to the other side of the manor followed by the others.
He rushed into the TV room without even bothering to dodged the broken pieces of the door on the ground. He was greated with a sobbing Hermione hugging each of their children. Draco quickly strode over to them encircled his family in a tight hug. The guilt he felt was almost consuming him, this was the third time he hadn't been there to protect his children.
"Thank Merlin!" Draco breathed quietly; thanking Merlin that no one looked physically harmed. After a while of comforting the kids, Draco lifted Scordius onto his lap and looked at his son. As much as he wanted his son to forget about this whole incident, he needed to know what had happened. "What...what did you see, Scord?"
"…she…she had black curly hair…"Scordius squinted at his memory as he stumbled over his words, "pale skin and a really scary laugh that frightened me. She looked like…like the painting in the Drawing room."
At Scordius's words Draco furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.
Hermione and him had thrown all those insulting paintings of his ancestors into the drawing room and sealed it up when they had first moved into Malfoy Manor, not able to destroy it due to the dark curses on it. They had wanted to start fresh and forget about the evil that had once resided in the Malfoy bloodline. Amongst many of the paintings was his deranged cousin who was possible one of the worst in his family. She fit Scordius's description perfectly.
But Draco was at a loss to see how his sons had ever managed to get into the drawing room. He had put every spell he could think of on that door. Determined not to let his dark past free.
He looked up at his wife to see the same confused look. Scorpius then spoke pulling his attention back to his other son who was seated on Hermione's lap.
"She said… she said 'The Phoenix shall be in flamed and death shall come… to whoever taints the pure.'"
Heavy silence coated their room as Narcissa gasped, "It's Bella! It has to be her…S-she's back for revenge."
Lucius grasped his wife's hand and pulled her towards him. "She's not going to be easy to stop this time…"
xxx
Blaire ate angrily as she thought about what Screndus had said about her not having friends. She was forced to concede that she hadn't, in actual fact, made any new friends yet. But in her defence it was only the first week of school, not everyone made friends that quickly, right? The nerve of that boy to insult her like that, thinking about him forced her to huff aloud and squint her eyes in annoyance. He really was insufferable.
"Hi." A voice startled her out of her trance. Blaire looked up to see a black haired boy with enchanting blue eyes in front of her.
"Uh...Hi." Blaire smiled softly a little taken aback by his presence.
The boy pointed to the seat across her, "Is this seat taken?"
"No." Blaire shook her head as she watched the boy smile and sit down. But as he sat, she noticed the green and silver tie around his neck. "Aren't you supposed to be sitting in your house?"
"I don't think anyone would mind." The boy smiled at her as he sat across from her, "I'm Zach by the way, Zachery Higgs."
He stretched out his hand and Blaire smiled as she shook it, "I'm Blaire Zabini."
"Excuse me." A voice interrupted.
The duo turned to see a boy with tufted bronze hair, "What exactly is a Slytherin doing over here?"
"No, it's ok." Blaire said hurriedly, "He's with me."
Blaire knew that since the end of the war, the four houses had slowly started getting along better and Hogwarts was finally achieving house unity. Though prejudice against the Slytherins due to their part in the war had decreased measurably, there are still many wizards and witches that couldn't find it in themselves to forgive the Slytherin's wrong doing whether they were active supporters of Voldemort or not.
"I'm just messing with you." The boy laughed to Blaire's relief. He sat down next to Zach, "I'm this idiot's friend, Cory Goldstein."
XXX
"Come on!" Screndus said as he whacked Lukas on the head, "I'm starving! Stop sulking on the sofa!"
"Hey! Injured guy over here!" Lukas exclaimed.
Screndus rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had brain damages too. Let's go, Roux and Albus are waiting for us by the painting of the weird knight. "
They quickly met up with Roux and Albus and headed towards the Great Hall with Screndus in the lead complaining, unsurprisingly, about how they had kept him from starvation. But as soon as they entered the hall, Screndus froze as he looked towards the Ravenclaw table.
"Who the bloody hell is that wimp!?" Screndus exclaimed. The others followed his gaze to see Blaire giggling with their fellow Slytherin housemate Zach and a boy they didn't recognize.