Scorpius was relieved that Rose was the one to suggest they double check the Weasleys' inventory of Trackingbralls. If he'd suggested it George might've hexed him. Something dangerous had flashed in his eyes, an unsettling reminder that there were Black branches in the Weasley family tree. According to Grandmother Narcissa, Blacks despised being told what to do almost as much as they hated being told they were wrong.
After a tense moment, George relaxed. "I'll do it first thing in the morning."
Rose gave Scorpius a "your turn" look.
He said, "Now would be better."
Harry asked, "Is there a particular reason why?"
"Something you're not telling us?" Teddy added.
Scorpius repressed the urge to snap, "Of course there is, dunderhead!" He was a Malfoy, not a Black. He had self-control—and a feeling that only Severus Snape could say "dunderhead" without sounding like a twit. He asked Ron, "Would you help us, sir?"
Ron glanced at Rose and then told his brother, "I'll do the inventory if you want to go home to Angie."
"What about Hermione?" George asked. "Don't you want to go home to her?"
"I'll send my Patronus. She'll meet us at the shop."
"Teddy, Albus and I will come along in official capacity," Harry said.
George's eyes narrowed. "Are Ginny and Victoire going to show up too? Is this turning into another date night adventure?"
Harry's eyebrows rose. "I hadn't—"
"Right," George said. "I'm off to get Angie." He left the kitchen.
"Victoire's having a girls' night with her sisters," Teddy said glumly.
Harry's smile commiserated. "Ginny's writing an article with a tight deadline."
"Merry's recording a song with her father," Albus said. "Not that anyone asked me."
"It isn't a date night, anyway," Ron told them as he removed his wand from his pocket. "We're just double checking inventory."
Scorpius might have believed him if Ron hadn't transfigured his Cannons tee into a blue fitted shirt.
.
They gathered in the alley behind Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Hermione and Angelina both wore workout clothes and trainers. In an odd way, the wide range of attire from semi-formal to casual highlighted their seriousness. It was worth dropping everything to rush over and find out if lab security had been breached.
George waved his wand. The steel door glowed briefly. "No one's tried to force their way in." He reached for the handle.
"Wait," Scorpius said. "Has anyone countered the wards tonight?" Faces turned to him in surprise. He said, "You use a variation of Revealing spell." One his parents and grandparents cast whenever they returned to the manor after an absence, because there were ways to counter wards without using force.
"I've never heard of it," Hermione said, sounding slightly chagrined.
"You don't need it," George said. "Your house is Unplottable."
The shop wasn't. Scorpius told him, "The spell's simple. Point your wand, there's no flick or swish."
George held out his wand and repeated the spell after Scorpius. A pale green flame appeared above the door handle before flickering out. George cursed. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
Scorpius said, "The wards were countered hours ago."
"Teryn could have remembered that she left something at the shop and came back to get it," Ron said.
"She doesn't have a wand. She can't counter wards." George cast a spell and then opened the door.
"I always forget that," Ron mumbled.
"To your credit," Hermione said.
Scorpius stepped back to let the others enter. Rose took his hand. "We can't."
He said, "I know what they're going to find. We need to speak with Teryn."
"They may miss something," she said, "and if we leave now we make it obvious that we suspect her." Her hand tugged his and he reluctantly followed her inside.
The sound of urgent voices coming from the open door leading to the stockroom and testing labs reinforced Scorpius's belief that the Micro-Trackingbrall prototype George had been working on had been stolen. He kept walking when Rose would have stopped. "Let's check the shop." As he feared, the display of Incognito Potion was reduced to empty shelving.
Scorpius clenched a fist. Damn you, Edgar.
"She must have used a Capacious Bag," Rose said. "It doesn't make sense. Why steal when the potions could have been bought anonymously?" Her face paled. They both knew the answer. Teryn didn't plan on returning.
Albus walked into the shop. "There you are!"
Rose's smile turned down at the corners. "You seem relieved. Did you think we'd gone to warn Teryn?"
"I told them you wouldn't do that," Albus said. His gaze flickered between them. "Was I wrong?"
"We have to speak with her before anyone else," Scorpius said. "Come with us. It might be useful to have an Auror badge to flash around."
Albus gestured to his Puddlemere United t-shirt. "Because I look so official."
"You look like your father. That's all you'll ever need." Scorpius strode toward the front entrance.
"Come on, Al," Rose said. "Doesn't the fact that we want you to come with us prove that we aren't trying to subvert justice?"
"You're trying to undermine my better judgment." Al raised his voice. "This isn't Borgin and Burkes, Scorpius. Alarms sound if you open doors from the inside after hours."
"Then we'd better Disapparate quickly." Scorpius pushed open the front door. "Silent alarm?"
"Not in the lab or the MLE!" Al grabbed Rose's hand and sprinted to the door.
.
Scorpius Apparated to the pavement in front of Teryn's building a couple of seconds before Rose appeared with Albus. "They have to look up her address. We'll have a few minutes before they show up."
"Get on with it, then," Albus said. "If I'm going to be kicked out of the Auror program, I want it to count for something."
Rose rolled her eyes and went into the lobby, Scorpius and Albus close behind. When she knocked on Teryn's door, it swung open into the flat.
Al took out his badge and his wand. "Auror Office," he called out. "Auror Potter entering the premises."
Scorpius cast protection charms while Rose cast a Lumos spell with enough strength to light up every illumination orb in the flat if there had been any. From what Scorpius could see, the flat had been completely emptied. Rose's eyes were wide with distress. He controlled his own response. Emotions would only get in the way. "I'll cast curse detection spells," he said. "Rose is lighting the way. Albus, be ready to protect us."
The place was wiped clean. Edgar had been thorough. No fingerprints, no fibres that could be used in tracking spells, nothing. They were examining the safe room when the rest of the family arrived, shouting their names. Like guilty children who'd run ahead of parents to explore Diagon Alley, the three of them returned to the lounge. Tense faces greeted them. Ron, especially, resembled a volcano on the verge of eruption. Scorpius kept his back to the wall and Rose in front of him, which led to a new dilemma. With his emotions in check, his body urged him to do something about all the bare skin revealed by his partner's strapless dress. The spot where her throat curved was especially inviting. He wanted to kiss it, to rake his teeth against her skin and feel her shiver. He took off his dinner jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
Albus said, "We left the shop hoping to speak with Teryn and gain her cooperation, but she was gone when we arrived—along with everything else. Nothing was left behind." He recounted how they'd found the open door and the procedures used to enter and search the premises.
Teddy scoffed. "They put you in charge?"
"He's the Auror," Scorpius said. "Rose and I are merely concerned friends."
"Is that right?" Ron asked Rose.
"I'm more than concerned," she said. "Teryn's been kidnapped."
"I agree," Angelina said. "I've talked with Teryn loads of times. She's a nice girl, grateful to have friends and a job. She wouldn't steal from us."
"Not unless she was coerced," Hermione said firmly.
"By someone who liked her furniture so much they nicked it too?" Teddy asked.
Scorpius remembered his father's determination to leave the manor. "All it takes is Shrinking Spells."
"How would you know?" Teddy asked. "Cast any Shrinking Spells lately? Mind if we check your wand?"
"That's enough," Harry said. "We need to work together to find Teryn." Authority rang in his voice. "Albus, Scorpius, and Rose will return to Grimmauld Place. I'll interview you separately and each of you will give a written statement." As they started to move toward the door, Harry said, "I suggest we all leave through the bedroom window. Neighbours are gathering outside."
"The last thing I need to see is more New Trio photographs in the papers," Teddy said.
Scorpius drawled, "We could make it a quartet."
It didn't take long for Teddy to catch his meaning. His jaw went slack. Everyone else stared like they wondered if Scorpius was having them on or being serious. He was the first one to climb out the bedroom window.
.
Once inside the entry hall at Grimmauld Place, Albus said, "Let's go down to the kitchen. Kreacher can vouch that we didn't talk about what happened to get our stories to match."
Scorpius said, "There isn't much to tell. We left the shop and searched Teryn's empty flat." He glanced at Rose. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.
"Kreacher is not able to vouch if no one comes down to the kitchen."
Rose didn't startle. She shrugged, which told Scorpius that after everything they'd been through, a disembodied voice wasn't alarming anymore. She took off his jacket.
"Keep it," he said.
"I'm not cold."
He gave her a meaningful look. "Neither am I."
"We have a coat closet." Albus pressed a hand against a side wall and a panel slid open to reveal a recessed space with a bar and hangers.
Scorpius headed for the stairs.
Kreacher was arranging plates of cake slices on a tray in the kitchen. Scorpius said, "You didn't have to go to so much trouble."
"Lemon drizzle cake and sherbet lemon tea always put Headmaster Dumbledore in good humour when he was out of sorts." Kreacher's sly smile implied the tea and cake improved Harry's humour too.
"Give him the largest slice," Scorpius said.
Kreacher's raspy chuckle became a coughing fit.
"Humiditatum!" The moment Scorpius cast the spell, water vapour turned the kitchen into a steam room. "Accio turmeric powder! Accio milk!" Albus and Rose walked as Scorpius caught the bottles and set them on the worktop.
"What are you doing?" Albus asked.
"Home remedies," Scorpius answered. "My father treated every cough as a medical emergency, so I know what works." He took a mug out of a cupboard, pouring and stirring before using a Warming Charm to heat the milk. "Drink," he told Kreacher.
The coughing stopped.
"Take better care of your health," Scorpius said. He tried to cheer with a little black humour. "You can't serve anyone if your head's mounted on the wall."
A tear slipped down Kreacher's wrinkled cheek. "Mistress always said that to Kreacher."
Of course she did. That's why the house elf still lived to serve the House of Black. Scorpius looked at Rose. Humidity had turned sleek waves of hair into damp curls. The fabric of her dress clung to flushed skin.
Albus cleared his throat. "I agree, mate, steamy looks good on Rose, but I'd appreciate it if you'd cast a de-humidifying spell before you see the kidney pie I had for dinner."
Scorpius cast the counter charm. Albus still looked off colour.
"He needs more air," Rose said. "Tepsesco!"
A magical breeze swept through the room.
"Thanks, Rosie," Albus said, breathing deeply. He rubbed a hand across his chest. "Brilliant! My clothes are dry."
Scorpius stared at Rose. Her windblown curls were beyond sexy.
Albus snorted with laughter. "Nice hair, Scorpius."
Even with strands falling into his eyes and across his face, his hair couldn't be as bad as Albus's Shocking Spell victim look. "Can't say the same about yours, mate."
Kreacher's chuckles abruptly stopped. "Master Harry is home."
Albus tried in vain to smooth down unruly spikes. Scorpius didn't care about his own appearance. He went over to Rose and ran his fingers through her curls.
She raised a hand to brush his hair out of his eyes. "Did you use Occlumency to block your emotions?"
He leaned down to kiss the curve of her neck. "You won't have to thaw me out in a hot bath."
"OK, none of us should quit our day jobs to become hair stylists," Albus said in an overly hearty tone. The underlying warning registered in time for Scorpius and Rose to step away from each other before Harry and George entered the kitchen.
"Teddy's questioning the neighbours while Angelina, Ron, and Hermione check to see what else is missing from the shop," Harry said.
"What happened to you three?" George asked. "You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backward."
Albus answered, "Rosie conjured a breeze. It was stuffy down here."
"Tea is served," Kreacher said.
"Al and I will take ours in the lounge upstairs," George said. "I'll keep you company until it's time for Harry to take your statement."
Teacups and plates vanished from the table.
"You're interviewing us together?" Rose asked after Albus and George went upstairs.
"No," Harry said. "Scorpius will wait with Kreacher."
"In his den?"
Harry gave Rose a reproving look. "Kreacher has rooms."
"I'd like to see them," Scorpius said.
The tips of Kreacher's ears turned pink. He shuffled toward his small door. Scorpius ducked to enter.
"Miss Narcissa sat on Kreacher's blankets when Mistress had to lock her in the cupboard." The elf pointed to a spot on the floor beside a stairway.
Scorpius imagined his grandmother perched on dirty blankets, unrepentant of her misbehaviour, vowing to curse her Auntie Walburga's eyebrows off one day. He climbed down the stairs to a room packed with boxes and trunks. Some were closed, but most were open to display their treasures—Black family memorabilia, from the look of the old-fashioned clothing and serpent candelabras. The centre of the hoard was cleared enough to hold two small overstuffed chairs and a low table. A tea tray appeared. Kreacher waved him to a seat.
"My grandmother mentioned pictures." The chair he perched on had a Sizing Charm, thankfully, although Scorpius felt rather like Alice in Wonderland and decided not to eat any cake in case he grew so large he struck his head against the ceiling.
Kreacher shuffled off into the maze of possessions and returned with a black wood box carved with the initials R.A.B. He handed it to Scorpius with the kind of care one would give to a holy relic. Scorpius opened the lid. The family photograph on top of the pile reminded him of the one the Greengrass relations took every Christmas, except that no one in the Black family portrait was smiling. It could have been a photograph from the Victorian Era, except it was in colour and the people smirked or frowned or—in the case of his grandmother and a boy with dark hair and grey eyes—alternated between sulking and glaring at each other.
"Is this Sirius Black?" Scorpius asked. The boy in the photograph sneered.
Kreacher nodded. "Young master Sirius dipped Miss Narcissa's hair into an inkwell," he said in a soft, nostalgic voice. "She slapped him so hard my Mistress had to use a Complexion Charm to fade the mark so the photographer could take the picture."
"Appearance is everything to Blacks," Scorpius said dryly.
"Yes." Kreacher sighed.
An idea sparked. Scorpius handed Kreacher the box. "Thank you. I'll return when I have time to appreciate these properly."
Kreacher trailed him up the stairs. "But young master Scorpius is supposed to stay with Kreacher until Master Harry calls for him."
"I can't wait."
Rose saw him exit the cupboard first. "I'm almost finished giving my statement," she said, while her eyes asked what was wrong.
He said, "I have to do something before I give mine."
Harry's sharp owlish gaze reminded Scorpius that owls were fierce predators. "What?"
"Talk to someone."
"No." Rose stood. "That's a bad idea."
Scorpius said, "Not if he thinks he's talking to someone else."
"You'll pretend to be Nathaniel Nott using the Polyjuice Potion I sent you," Harry said. "You don't need it for its original purpose now that we know Lucius was behind the Stop Snitching flyers."
Owls also saw more than people gave them credit for. "I'll return as soon as possible."
"I'm not letting you go alone," Rose said.
"You'd have to use a Disillusionment Charm and wait across the street."
"Albus and George will keep her company while I go to the Ministry," Harry said. "If you take longer than fifteen minutes they'll summon me, and I'll bring a team to arrest everyone in Goyle House."
Harry knew.
"Edgar won't hurt me," Scorpius said.
"Don't underestimate him," Harry replied. "He was clever enough to make everyone believe he'd ended his relationship with Teryn. He's clever enough to fool you too."
No fingerprints, no fibres that could be used in tracking spells, nothing.
"I'll keep that in mind." And before Scorpius saw Edgar, he'd visit Nathaniel.
.
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A/N: Merry Christmas! I know the November/December holiday season is hectic, so I appreciate reviews as gifts of encouragement and thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter: alix33, ctc, Fryron, fynnsmom, gyuhmi, Hope and Chocolate, Mme bookworm, Needle in a Haystack, nobodysperfect2133, siriusmunchkin, trinityblue76 and VandyFNP!
Special thanks to those who read my newly-posted Carol of the Elves. It's a poem set to Carol of the Bells, and Winky's pov isn't jolly, so your reviews made my holiday even brighter. :)