Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other awesome things you may recognize in this spiffylicious story.

The Rarest Type of Seer

Chapter 6

The Christmas season always seemed to be a bit hectic to Scorpius. People running from here to there, forgetting whatever it was they were going to get and then running back again a few hours later. The hustle and bustle of frantic mothers and the sound of screaming children always seemed to fill the air.

Then there were the annual holiday parties that he would be forced to attend, not only at the Ministry of Magic, but also at his Aunt Daphne's home. (Who, it must be said, gave Scorpius the creeps.) He would also be expected to attend the Weasley family Christmas party, which he used to always look forward to, but now, with this whole 'Rose fiasco', he was rather hesitant to know if he would even be excepted back into the Weasley's home. He was rather surprised that Albus hadn't broached the subject with him again since the day that they found Lily in her parlour at Potter Place.

Then again…. he wondered if the reason why Albus had not said anything had to do with said littlest Potter. She did seem to hold a certain sway over her brother, even if he would never admit to it. Scorpius himself would never have even though it had he not seen it for himself very briefly. As it was however, things were still strained between the two boys and it was somewhat difficult to have all the tension going on in their flat.

It had been a few days since their shopping trip in Diagon Alley and Scorpius was sitting at his kitchen table going over the mail when a vaguely familiar owl flew through the, well, it was a closed window. (Apparently, it wasn't locked.)

The owl landed gracefully on the table in front of Scorpius and gave him a baleful look, as if to say 'You are far inferior to me, and I can't believe I am being used to deliver mail.'

It was a majestic looking owl, Scorpius would give him that. He was a snowy white color with gray tips at the end of his wings and black spots on his feathers. Whoever owned this bird had to be from a very wealthy family. Scorpius was sure of it. The owl held in its beak a small envelope that had to have had some sort of shrinking charm on it and after having a (what seemed like five minutes, but was probably only a few seconds) stare down with the big bird of prey, Scorpius finally spoke.

"Are you going to give me the letter, or are you just going to sit there and look at me?" He asked somewhat irritably.

The owl squawked loudly, almost dropping the envelope into the bowl of uneaten cereal sitting in front of Scorpius. It quickly regained it and instead, dropped it unceremoniously in the blonde's lap. Then it flew up into the air, circled around the ceiling a couple times, and zoomed at his head, nipping Scorpius's ear a little harder than was probably necessary, before flying back out the way he came.

"Ow!" The Malfoy scion grumbled, rubbing at his sore ear. He shook his head at the retreating owl with an indignant look on his face, grumbling about the evilness of all white owls.

"What's that you got there, Scor?" Albus asked walking in. His black hair was just as messy as always, though he was dressed rather impeccably in a pair of ironed slacks and a button down shirt.

"Going out somewhere?" Scorpius returned, ignoring the other boy's question.

Albus shrugged and grabbed a piece of toast off the table that his house elf, Elis, made for them earlier that morning. "I asked you first," he said giving Scorpius a grin. The grin itself lacked the good humor it usually held when the two boys bantered back and forth and Scorpius was sorry for it.

"Just a message, I'm assuming. I haven't enlarged it yet."

"Get on with it then. Let's see it." Albus was a little more interested in it than Scorpius would have expected, but he enlarged the parchment none the less.

It was beautiful. Awe-inspiring even. It took him back to a much simpler time when all was well in his world and there were few worries, other than winning the next quidditch match and how many inches a piece of parchment neede to be for his next class. Albus was speechless, and the only thought in Scorpius's mind, was 'How in the heck had the artist even known about this particular scene?'

He must have been at least 15 at the time. The painting showed him sitting in a blue and silver chair in the Ravenclaw common room. His tie was loosened from around his neck and his head was leaning back against the soft cushion of it. His eyes were half open, and in his hand was an open book. The shadows in the picture reflected the light that had to be of a warm fire off to the side, unseen by those looking on.

A little shaken from the walk down memory lane, and wondering how long it was going to be before he actually came face to face with his 'secret admirer', ( he refused to think of this person as anything other than that), the blonde re-shrunk the picture and carried it delicately to his room, where he put it in a very special jewel box.

Albus trailed behind him. "How...? Do you…..? What I mean to say is…."

"If you're going to ask me something, then spit it out, I do have some places to be today." Scorpius didn't mean to snap, but he had never let anyone know, not even Albus, about these pictures. They had always been something that was special to him, and he refused to let that be ruined by anyone. And if Albus knew about them, the it was a given that Rose would soon know about them as well.

Albus gathered himself together and asked, "Do you know where that picture came from?" At Scor's shrug, he continued. "It's just, I recognize the style vaguely and I was wondering of you knew who the artist was?"

Scorpius studied his friend closely, and then sighed and took the plunge. "I've been getting these pictures since I was about eight years old. I always receive two a year. One for my birthday and one for Christmas. The one this year came early, but I usually get them on the day of….,' but he was interrupted.

"NO WAY!" Albus shouted. "You've been getting these letters, pictures, whatever they are for over ten years and you don't have a clue who is sending them to you?" The tone of Albus's voice was perfectly incredulous, and there was an underlying disbelief that rankled Scorpius's already tied-up nerves. It was his next question, however, that sent a jolt of shame through the blonde boy. "And why is it, that I never knew about them? I would think that as your best friend, you would have at least told me something about them.

Scorpius remained quiet as he went to his closet. He pulled out an old weather beaten box and brought it over to his desk. "What is that?" Albus asked as he joined him. At first the Potter boy was absolutely certain his friend was not going to answer him. Scorpius hovered over the box with his hands barely grazing the sides of it. It was as if he were contemplating opening it in Albus's presence, (which of course, was exactly what he was doing, but Albus didn't need to know that.)

"Memories," was Scorpius's simple reply. The Malfoy scion sighed, knowing that if he didn't open the box now and add the portrait to it, he didn't know when he would be able to do it. He just didn't want Albus to see the contents of the box.

Albus gasped at the sight of the dozens of pictures that were in it. Every one of them had been framed in a type of ornate wood, and then shrunk down so that they would all fit inside. Some of the drawings were things that would only have a meaning to Scorpius and no one else, but there were others that Al recognized.

There was one that caught his eye and he was utterly entranced by it. Reaching in the box at Scorpius's complete dismay, Albus pulled the picture out and gasped at the absolute beauty and intensity of it. He remembered that night so well. Rose had barged up to the Ravenclaw common room and demanded her way in, then she cried on their shoulders about how Andy Loveless had stolen her cloak and hidden it in the forbidden forest. She had begged the two boys to go with her to get it. And, of course, they did. They had got themselves into a tight mess with the centaurs though, and Albus had been absolutely sure that they were about to be horse food, but then they heard one of the strangest sounds. It was almost like thunder, but with an underlying bell-like tinkling. The next thing they knew, the entire heard of centaurs had taken off in the opposite direction toward the sound and they found Rose's cloak sitting on a rock just behind where the centaurs had been standing.

The drawing showed the absolute delight on her face, and the stunned disbelief on the face of Albus and Scorpius. The shading and lighting and the colors that had been used made the picture come to life and brought the memory to the forefront of his mind.

"Whoever this artist is – they seem to know quite a bit about you ," Albus said. There was an edge to his voice now, especially since he was absolutely certain that he recognized the artist's style, though he couldn't be entirely sure.

"I know," Scorpius practically breathed.

"Sooo… Why haven't you told me about these?" Scorpius shrugged and added his most latest acquired painting to the collection, and carefully closed the lid.

"Wait! Just wait a second," the black haired boy stayed Scorpius's hand before the lid shut completely. He pulled out the most recent picture and looked closely at the bottom left corner. The tiny symbol there confirmed his suspicions and with a sigh, he put it back in the box, allowing his friend to close it.

"You're absolutely certain that you have no idea where these portraits are coming from?" He asked his friend.

"No idea," was the firm reply.

"Huh." Was all Albus said before he reverted back to a topic that neither boy really wanted to discuss.

"Are you going to tell me what happened with Rose, or are you going to keep that a secret as well?" The comment was so sudden and unexpected that at first Scorpius was unsure how to respond. To him, it was as if Albus was attacking him, and his response showed his displeasure at the insinuation that the break up was somehow his fault.

"I'm sure Rose told you everything you need to know about what happened between us," he replied somewhat bitterly. "It doesn't matter what I may say about what actually happened anyway, Albus. As I'm sure you're going to believe her over me no matter what. That's how it has always been, and I don't think it will ever change."

Albus had been told this same thing before by many people, ok mostly only Cham and Lily. But to hear it from his best friend, it seemed to strike a chord in him and he wondered if he really was as biased on Rose's account as all three of them seemed to think he was. He didn't give himself much time to ponder it, filing it to the back of his mind to think on later.

"It doesn't matter anyway, Al," Scorpius was saying, and Albus raised an eyebrow at him. "What happened between me and Rose is our business and nobody else's, and that includes you."

Slightly stunned at his friends declaration and the fact that he had pretty much just been told to mind his own business, Albus watched as his friend of forever grabbed up some clothes and other personal things and threw it all into an overnight bag.

"At the risk of being told to 'butt out," Albus began, "where are you going?"

Scorpius looked at Albus for a few moments before answering, "I have been summoned to Malfoy Manor and I don't know how long I'll be expected to stay," he answered. After he had everything he thought he may need, he gave a brief nod to Albus and left their flat.

Maybe it was for the best that he wasn't going to be sticking around for a couple of days. As he thought about it though, he groaned a little bit to himself, because there was absolutely no way that he was going to stay overnight at the Malfoy family home. 'Maybe, I can stay at Potter Place, and avoid Albus' He wondered.

-SLSLSLSL-

A/N:

HELLOOooooo…! Is anyone out there…..? (out there? Out there? Out there?)

*Waves really big* (cough, cough)

Hi Friends! Ok, so in most normal cases, I would generally have a much longer chapter for you guys and so much more going on in it and for it. (*dodges all tomatoes*) I also know that this mostly sounds like filler, and I hope that you forgive me for it. I had actually started on the next part of it, but I got sidetracked with school work, and since this is the last week of this particular class, I have to focus two very large projects. But you guys have waited so very patiently for this, that I wanted to give you something. I hope you enjoy, and as always, please leave me your thoughts in a review.

CHEERS!

~Jeni