Thanks so much to: berliemcdonald, Colin Creevey, Judal Hiwatari and ChakraKitty for reviewing!
Author's Note: Worst chapter ever. I don't know how it is to read anymore but to write it has been a nightmare, this has gone through more rewrites then any other chapter I've ever written- maybe even all rewrites combined, its that bad, there's only one part that hasn't had at least one rewrite. It probably doesn't seem it but you have no idea how hard I've been trying to get this finished, its been a nightmare chapter and there's so much dialogue which is always the most difficult and most time consuming for me to write. I know this just sounds like whining which is why I don't like giving explanations as for why there are delays but considering the length of time its been I felt obligated to say something even if its probably not what you want or care to hear, I don't even want to say anything now as I'm aware every second I'm typing is one more second delaying me posting this and I feel like I'm saying nothing and everything anyway (which is how this chapter feels to write, weirdly). Its a long chapter too, there was just no good place to split it nor did I really want to so I hope the no people still reading after such an atrocious delay can enjoy that at least. Maybe. Right? I don't know, you don't care. Love it, hate it, least it exists for you to read write now and if it makes you feel any better, I don't expect and sincerely hope the next chapter won't take so long to get out. I thank you for your patience anyone still here and apologize for the delay, believe me no one gets more frustrated by my own delays then I am
Questions:
How did Scorpius not know what he'd do about it? Isn't it as simple as just- stopping Lysander from discovering?
Because that's not the point, Molly didn't ask because she wanted a practical answer of what he'd do with the future information she was asking because she wanted to know whether he would trust her judgement now he understood the consequences, basically she wanted to know to gauge whether or not he'd believe her next time. Scorpius said he didn't know exactly because his instinct would be to just act on the information and stop Lysander, still trying to save both which isn't what she really wanted to know and he doesn't know how he'd react to what she really wanted to know
Why did it not matter if Hogwarts fell after Scor's 7th year?
Hogsmeade is the only pure magical village and Hogwarts the only major wizarding school in the country, preserving as many of those lives as possible is pretty important. They know when the year would end so could plan for it, evacuate Hogsmeade while the students are safely carried away by train so there would have been a lot less casualties and captures
Was this (Sly and Whit) a baby genius reference?
Depends what you consider a reference, I got the names from that film but I used them because I thought they were fitting both for the characters themselves and as names their father would choose for them
Will anyone ever tell Cyrus his mother is gone?
The problem is most people don't know she's dead, only Gray do so none of the people Cyrus has contact with right now know to even tell him or they would've
Has Scorpios seen his parenrs yet?
Not yet
Scorpius returned into the house while Varanian went to go speak to Hermione, Molly had gone to her room and he thought it was best to leave her be. Leebin went back outside with his daughter to practice his swordsmanship, Myriam started on dinner and Scorpius found himself reduced to waiting once more with Lamb for company.
He took out his pocket watch, idly checking the time and running his finger over the cool metal. Savas' pocket watch, the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper. It still meant a lot to him though, after all it was a gift from Varanian. He was unaware of his ancestry of all, Scorpius didn't see any reason to tell him otherwise. His hand glanced over the inscription on the pocket watch and he froze, it was Latin so he didn't understand it but he had been meaning to get it translated…
"Hey Ephraim," Scorpius called out to the werewolf who'd been tidying up some of the kids' toys, causing Lamb to pause as he threw him a glance, "Didn't you say you knew Latin?"
"Y- Y- Yeah," Lamb answered, sounding unsure or maybe just confused, "W- W- Why?"
"Could you translate this for me?" Scorpius asked of him, standing up and crossing the room to hand him the pocket watch. Lamb took it in his trembling fingers, dark eyes skimming it intently.
"P- Per sangui-"
"Not what it says, what does it mean," Scorpius insisted impatiently and Lamb gave him another glance before sighing.
"It means 'th-through b- blood, we live f- forever.'"
Scorpius felt a strange chill run through his bones upon hearing Lamb's translation, it just struck him as so fitting for Savas that he could've read it right out of the twisted journal. Savas had mentioned blood quite a lot, not just in relation to his crimes but believing his son would be like him simply because it was in his blood… which was probably why said son seemed slightly paranoid about 'bad blood' from the little he'd seen of Enoch. At any rate, he just hadn't expected it. The real question was if it meant anything, anything relevant to learning of his experiments with soul.
"Sc- Scorp- Scorpius?" Lamb queried, drawing Scorpius away from his thoughts to see the werewolf was offering him the watch back.
"Thank you," Scorpius offered as he took it back and pocketed it, "Always meant to ask what that meant."
Lamb opened his mouth to say something else but they were both distracted by the door, turning he saw Hogan and Varanian had returned with Hogan quickly heading upstairs. It wasn't unusual, Oathan needed frequent medical attention from his injury but what was surprising though was that Varanian followed, Scorpius would've expected him to come speak to him about the alliance meeting.
Curious, he left Lamb to head upstairs after the two men, both of whom did go into the 'medical' room where Molly and Oathan were. Scorpius followed and found Varanian hovering in the doorway with his arms folded while Hogan was indeed working on Oathan at the closest bed, flicking his wand over the small unconscious child. He seemed to be struggling to breathe correctly, rapid scratchy breaths were rattling out weakly. Molly was on the bed beyond him closer to the window, she was lying on her side with her back to them. He wondered if she was sleeping.
"So did Hermione tell you more about the meeting?" Scorpius asked of Varanian and the metamorphmagus gave him a distant nod, he was much more focused on Hogan as if waiting to ask him something.
The Healer was looking focused as he continued waving his wand in meticulously complex movements he didn't recognize, Scorpius really didn't know a lot about healing. Finally he seemed to finish whatever he was doing, letting out a relieved breath which seemed to iron out the frenzy of Oathan's own frantic breaths. Hogan flicked his wand seemingly aimlessly and Oathan's shirt unbuttoned readily, he finally lowered the wand and instead picked up a jar from the bedside table. It contained some pale blue ointment which Hogan took a glob of and started gently rubbing the salve over Oathan's horribly scarred chest, each circular motion seemed to gradually ease his breathing into a normal pace.
"Is he okay now?" Varanian wondered, seemingly having been waiting for Hogan to do this. The healer threw him a brief glare before going back to rubbing in the salve with slow circular motions.
"He's stable again," Hogan admitted rather begrudgingly, still focused on his charge.
"How soon until he wakes up?"
"A while."
"How soon until you think he'll be able to fight the Shadow Master?" Varanian asked and Hogan's jaw dropped incredulously, cyan eyes quickly flashing to anger.
"Never! Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Hogan snapped at him furiously, Varanian looked entirely unconcerned however, "He's a five year old child!"
"A child who can destroy souls," Varanian pointed out calmly, "That should be able to circumvent the Shadow Master's immortality, it did for Corvinus."
"His body is in pieces!" Hogan insisted and pointed to the boy's chest, like his elder half-brother it was covered in layers of words carved in from the Blood Quills but unlike said brother he had scars on top of them from whatever he'd endured at Corvinus Ashain's hands. He also had the Shadow Mark, the winding skeletal snake of the Shadows was twisted through the words with its two-pronged tongue sticking out. It was the area over his heart that Hogan gestured to through, there were two livid scars side by side like a pause button symbol, "His psychotic brothers stabbed him through the heart-"
"He was trying to kill them," Scorpius interrupted defensively.
"They stabbed the five year old through the heart!" Hogan reiterated each word angrily, throwing him a glare now, "It wasn't given enough time to heal before he was pushed into fighting, his heart was so fragile the massive amount of magic he used to destroy the lunatic's soul tore it apart, ripped the half-healed wound right back up, ripped open his heart. You get how fucking important the heart is, don't you? He'd be dead if you hadn't brought him to me, my magic is the only thing keeping the poor kid alive! It was a magical wound that can't just be healed, I have to keep knitting the flesh together as best I can and let it heal by itself. The simple beating of his own heart keeps tearing the wound – or part of it -back open and I already have it beating as minimally as possible! That's why he's healing so damn slowly! His body is a wreck, he's been pushed through exhaustion and starvation, left with barely healed wounds – leaving him fragile and weak – and given Vanharisk, fucking Vanharisk! Because that seizure inducing brain destroying monstrosity was exactly what he needed! He's too weak to even fight this, to fight anything right now. He doesn't even have the energy to give to his own body just to recovery and magic can only do so much, you have to give him time to heal. And by time I don't mean a few weeks or months then shove him out there, it will take years for him to recover from this, actual years- it will take so long the Shadow Master will already have won by the time he's ready to even try! And that's thinking of the best case scenario! Oathan isn't the answer."
"Not yet," Molly muttered from across the room, speaking so softly Scorpius wasn't completely sure he'd heard it.
"Great," Varanian sighed, speaking with hollow words as he turned and left. Scorpius hurried after him.
"Did you really think Oathan would be able to stop the Shadow Master?" Scorpius wondered of him as he jogged down the stairs to keep up, Varanian stopped to give him a half-hearted shrug.
"The Ministry are making a deal with us for our help in dealing with the Shadows, they're probably going to ask how we plan to stop the Shadow Master and I don't have an answer. She may be able to survive death but she can't survive losing her soul, in the cruelest twist of fate we actually have not one but two people in our grasp actually capable of such an impossible feat yet both either can't or won't for varying reasons!"
"Well I'm sure we'll think of something."
"Like what? The only person capable of actually matching her was her brother and he's dead," Varanian asked, sounding in genuine need of an answer. Scorpius had to bite his tongue, Calderon may be dead but he had his soul and when he found his body he could bring him back, "Brutus' plan was pretty sound though incredibly difficult to reenact and I can't see her falling for the same thing twice, I can't even change my appearance right now anyway. I don't have any tangible ideas and the fragments of ideas I have are all terrible, nothing works and no one has any answers."
"Like I said, I'm sure we'll think of something," Scorpius reiterated, trying to be encouraging, "We're making an alliance with the Ministry tomorrow – you might want to take a shower - not going into a last stand against the Shadow Master, we don't have to have an answer yet we just need to get through the meeting."
"Okay, you're right," Varanian sighed heavily but seemed to take on be taking it on board, he even sniffed at his clothing, "I'll- I'll go take a shower."
"Go for it," Scorpius urged him, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the bathroom and Varanian started to go towards it, "When you're done Myriam will probably be done with dinner so you should eat."
"Okay," Varanian called back over his shoulder.
Scorpius was left blinking in surprise at this, he stood by what he said but he still hadn't really expected blind agreement. He supposed Varanian was just wary after how bad he'd let his go recently and recognized he wasn't thinking completely rationally, pushing it out of his mind he went to go see if Myriam needed any help with dinner even though she'd probably just want to ask him about seeing his family but he wanted to make sure there was food for Varanian to eat lest he go off again.
It was a strange dinner, not because of the food – which was still good, Myriam was an excellent cook and whoever wouldn't hire her due to her lycanthropy was an idiot – but because of how divided they were. Usually they ate together but tonight, he and Varanian sat alone in the front room where he was filled in on more details of the alliance meeting whereas Molly didn't come down at all and he thought Leebin kept her company but then some of them were also in the kitchen so… it was just a little different. Not surprising in hindsight, Molly probably wanted- no, needed more than a few hours away from him to think about everything and aside from the concern for his relationship he liked talking with Varanian, it seemed more productive than anything lately.
After that they turned in, again Varanian simply going along with his suggestion they rest and joined him, Hogan and Lamb in the front room like he had when under the Sleeping Draught. Hogan began his counting as usual which turned his thoughts back to the pocket watch, surely it had to mean something in connection with the journal, and it couldn't just be something Savas had believed. Heck, even if it was just something Savas had believed that didn't mean it couldn't be a hint as to what the key to reading his journal was. Was blood used to decipher anything in anyway? But that didn't seem right, others had tried to decipher it before him and it seemed like an obvious thing to try considering the importance of blood to Savas was evident from the legible journal portions.
He also thought maybe he should ask for help, Leebin had a better understanding of people's minds then he did so maybe he'd have a better idea of what Savas might've- His thought was interrupted by a particularly loud sigh of frustration from Hogan, who he realized had seemed pretty low in his count. Scorpius glanced to his right and saw Varanian had just shifted positions to roll onto his side, forcing Hogan to start his ritual counting from scratch again. Varanian also looked annoyed, Scorpius realized, and soon rolled back onto his back which again had Hogan restart, both looking increasingly irritated. This happened several more times and it dawned on Scorpius this had probably been happening while he'd been lost in thought, Lamb was luckily sound asleep by now.
"Why do you keep counting?!" Varanian burst out in frustration.
"I need to count to get to sleep!" Hogan exclaimed in exasperation as if it was self-explanatory, which Scorpius supposed was since he'd guessed that already.
"Well then count in your head!"
"It doesn't work if I count in my head!"
"How in the world did you survive Hogwarts?" Varanian wondered, sounding completely flabbergasted.
"Sleeping Draught."
"Well take some of that! No one can sleep with that incessant noise."
"I can't take that because the enchantments I have to alert me to Oathan crashing won't work through it!" Hogan insisted defensively, "You take a Sleeping Draught."
"Like I'm doing that again, you knocked me out for a week!"
"Well what do you expect me to do?! Go sleep somewhere else?!"
"Well… yes, I guess that'd work," Varanian admitted and even in the gloom Scorpius saw the anger flash on Hogan's face as he threw up his arms in exasperation.
"Fine! I'll go sleep outside, in my own damn house!" Hogan spat angrily, gathering up his sleeping bag and storming out, grumbling furiously under his breath as he did so and slamming the door behind him. Varanian blinked in surprise, somehow seeming to not have expected that while Lamb just jumped a little then went back to sleep.
Ironically, Hogan leaving didn't seem to help Varanian as he continued to toss and turn. Scorpius closed his own eyes though, deciding to take advantage of the soothing silence left without Hogan's counting, his worries would still be there in the morning. He felt himself drifting, his thoughts becoming foggier as the cloud of sleep crept over them-
Out of nowhere he jolted as a bolt of pain shot through him, his eyes snapped open but saw only blackness. He tried to gasp at the pain but he couldn't breathe, in fact he couldn't move at all. He was paralyzed, as if he was in the grip of a body bind curse. He felt the pain spreading through him, weaving its way through his body before tightening around his heart.
His paralysis broke as the claw clenched on his heart, the pain was so fierce his body jolted violently and his eyes were forced open. This time he could see he was in Hogan's living room - the ceiling texture above him was visible in the gloom – and the pain was gone as suddenly as it came, he lay there breathing heavily.
"What?" Varanian called out sleepily, Scorpius turned and saw the metamorphmagi was sitting up with his wand in hand. He was blinking his eyes into focus, seemingly waking up as his next words were sharper, "You okay?"
"Yeah…?" Scorpius answered unsurely, his eyes drifting to where Hogan usually slept as he could've appreciated the Healer's opinion. It was probably just a dream anyway, probably, "S- Sorry, just a bad dream."
"Oh right, its okay," Varanian offered more sympathetically, hastily stashing his wand back away, "Don't worry about it."
"I'm fine, don't worry," Scorpius brushed it aside quickly, making a show of rolling onto his other side to go back to sleep.
He lay there for a while quietly, listening to Varanian tossing and turning – he felt kind of bad for waking him since he had trouble sleeping - once more. There was no further incident though, in fact the more time passed the less he remembered what had actually happened. Eventually he fell back to sleep and didn't wake up again until the morning when Varanian shook him gently awake, if he had any more dreams he didn't remember them.
Molly was still avoiding him at breakfast and Hogan was in a foul mood which made him decide not to ask about a health reason to explain last night's episode, not that it mattered as Varanian very much had his focus once he got back from checking on things. After eating – which Scorpius had to remind him to do – Varanian went through all the names of the known spies and a brief summary of what they knew while Scorpius wrote it down, he wanted to be able to hand over the list of spies immediately so the Ministry could deal with them as soon as possible. Once done with that Varanian went through everything they'd already talked about, they still had time but Varanian wanted to get there early so they headed out. Scorpius held his hand out for Varanian to apparate them once they got outside, Varanian looked at his hand curiously for a second.
"You still can't apparate?" Varanian wondered, half-asking really as he seemed to already know. Scorpius felt his cheeks burn in response, "We should really work on that later."
"Yeah," Scorpius agreed hesitantly, ashamed enough of his continued failure already, "No point working on it right now though, we have the meeting."
"I know," Varanian confirmed, taking his hand and apparating them both in an instant.
He felt his body forcefully compressed into nothingness and reformed in a field, vibrant viridian grass was stretched out beneath the shining sunlight. Though it was more like a kind of clearing, they were boxed in by trees on three of the sides with the fourth blocked by a river instead, a river with even more trees on the opposing side. The Forest of Dean, he'd been told, why Hermione had picked here he didn't really know. Evidence she had been here was very clear, the only non-natural thing there was a large cerulean blue tent put in place specifically for this meeting.
Scorpius glanced over at Varanian, seeing the metamorphmagi had wandered off with wand waving around in hand. Figuring he was checking on whatever protective enchantments Hermione had put in place, he left him to it and headed into the tent. It was cozy inside, the carpeted floor leading him to confirm it wasn't a muggle one.
Opposite him was another exit he expected led back outside, there was a dresser to the side that had an empty pitcher on it. Most notably there was a sizable ovular table in the middle of the room with six comfortable looking chairs spaced around it – two on either side and one at each end – two of which were occupied by Hermione and Mrs Koray. They were poring over some official looking documents, Mrs Koray scribbling away with a quill and nodding at whatever Hermione had said. There was also some blank parchment and a few goblets, presumably for if they got thirsty – scattered about the table. The pair glanced at him briefly, the former with a look of surprise though the latter seemed uninterested and went straight back to her writing.
"You're early," Hermione commented as he came over to them, recovering quickly from her surprise, "I'm guessing it was Varanian's idea?"
"Accurate guess," Scorpius confirmed as he took a seat opposite, she nodded in acknowledgement, "It's not a problem, is it?"
"No, we're just doing a little work though. There's a bathroom through there-" Hermione gestured to the other exit he'd apparently falsely assumed led outside "-if you need it, or feel free to help yourself to a goblet of water if you get thirsty."
At this she withdrew her wand, tapping it in the direction of the pitcher which immediately filled itself with water. Scorpius nodded and muttered his thanks, though he was capable of summoning his own water. The two women went back to what they were doing, talking quietly amongst themselves while he simply waited. Varanian returned shortly, wand still in hand.
"Nothing suspicious so far, everything seems fine," Varanian commented as he entered before catching sight of the women, quickly pocketing his wand.
"What were you expecting?" Hermione wondered incredulously.
"You can never be too careful," Varanian shrugged as he took a seat beside Scorpius, Hermione going back to her conversation after repeating the same information she'd just said.
Varanian then began drumming his fingers across the table impatiently, this seemingly wasn't enough as he also started fidgeting, then rocking on his chair and drumming with both sets of fingers. Scorpius was starting to feel uncomfortable sitting still just from watching him, the itch to move just oozed out of him. Either Varanian realized this or couldn't handle being stationary as he got up, taking to pacing around instead and poking his head in the bathroom. He hadn't been like this before, Scorpius could only guess he needed to be doing something to distract himself from his grief. Maybe he should tell him to drink some water and see if-
Scor?
Scorpius' slightly slumped body shot bolt upright at the sound of his name, the sound spoken by a voice inside his own head that he hadn't heard since… since before rescuing Molly actually, a month ago. It was Calderon. His cousin, the Shadow Master's brother, the man whose soul he'd attached to his own to keep him alive. He sounded tired though, uncertain, and maybe even afraid but he was still relieved to hear him. Scorpius' mouth moved uselessly, he couldn't say anything in front of these people.
"Oh, you're early," someone commented and Scorpius jolted again, this time standing and spinning as the voice wasn't in his head.
Two men now stood in the entrance, the Minister for Magic and the Boy Who Lived himself, though both looked like they'd seen better days. For all the similarity he bore to his son, Harry Potter also looked completely different and not just age or because he had the famous scar and bedraggled Auror robes. He was a bit taller and thinner for starters - both in frame and in the face – and while his messy hair continued to stick up at all angles, the jet black was now laced with a near equal amount of silver and the emerald almonds they shared were embedded in dark circles, hidden behind circular spectacles.
"You alright, Scorpius?" Harry wondered, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Fine," Scorpius answered quickly, briefly considering excusing himself for the bathroom to try speak to Calderon but the animosity flashing in both Harry and Varanian's eyes when they saw the other made him reconsider. You're just going to have to hold on, Calderon, Scorpius thought to himself, it wasn't like Calderon had responded to conversation as a voice anyway… though he also hadn't vanished for so long before, "Just a little lost in my thoughts is all, I'm fine."
"Good to hear," Alaric Layton commented, striding towards the table, "Considering we all deemed this meeting important enough to be early for, I think it would be best if we jumped right into it."
Scorpius had not seen the Minister for a while but realized at his approach that they were now of equal height, though Alaric held himself in a confident way that somehow made him seem taller. He looked the part of Minister too, dressed smartly with dark brown hair cropped short and neat. Even the smile he cast him showed immaculate white teeth, though it didn't quite reach his navy eyes. He was the youngest there besides Scorpius himself though his lycanthropy helped hide that fact, though he was still handsome. Or he would've been without the bags beneath his eyes, while he had plenty of reason to lose sleep Scorpius thought he might've still been recovering from the last full moon.
"Agreed," Varanian offered immediately, his voice sounding harsh in comparison to the smooth politician.
"So I believe we all know each other," Hermione spoke up in a formal tone much like Alaric and Scorpius glanced back, seeing she now stood, "Minister for Magic Alaric Layton and Head Auror Harry Potter for the Ministry, Pip Varanian and Scorpius Malfoy for the vigilante group Gray as we work towards a formal alliance. Mrs Koray and I will be serving as neutral parties, I'll serve as mediator and she's handling the paperwork side of things. If everyone would like to take a seat."
At this she gestured toward the table as she walked around and took a seat at the head opposite Mrs Koray, who was still seated as she scribbled away on some blank parchment now. Scorpius sat back down and Alaric took the seat opposite him, Harry by the Minister's side. Varanian came over with extreme reluctance to sit back down beside him carefully, almost as if expecting the table to leap up and bite him. Probably not helped by the fact he was opposite Harry who wore a look of severe disapproval, he and Varanian were both sitting further back from the table then the rest of them.
"We're looking towards an alliance that benefits both sides which in turn benefits us all, we're on the same side against the Shadows at the end of the day," Hermione continued, her words spoken as if rehearsed, "We just need to iron out the specifics so is there anyone who would like to open the floor for what specifically you seek to gain from such a-"
"I want the children in your care returned to their parents," Harry shot out immediately and seriously, cutting Hermione off.
"No," Varanian said firmly before Scorpius could object himself, Harry looked taken aback by this and Scorpius would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised himself, "Most children in Gray have parents in Gray anyway and last time I tried returning children to their mother they ran away from her and travelled halfway across the country to get back, they were injured in the process and one almost had to have his leg amputated. I'm not sending another away so they can die getting back. They want to be with us they can, better our protection then fending for themselves."
"I want my children back!" Harry demanded angrily, silencing whatever Alaric had just opened his mouth to say.
"Your son is too injured to be moved-"
"As soon as he's better then!"
"Your daughter is constantly around plenty of people willing to apparate her, if she wanted to go back to you then she would have done so already," Varanian continued coldly, folding his arms, "It's not my fault if your children don't want to return to you."
"Why wouldn't they want to return to me?"
"Because you wouldn't let them go back to Gray?" Scorpius guessed what he expected was the truth, this seemed to anger Harry.
"Of course I wouldn't let them go back to Gray! They're children! They have no place in-"
"Harry-" Hermione said warningly.
"Harry, I think you're straying a little of course here," Alaric interjected at the same time as Hermione did but seemed to cover whatever she'd been about to say as she went quiet, pouring herself some water instead, "We're making terms for an alliance not how to deal with your wayward children."
"It's not just my children!" Harry insisted while Hermione paused pouring to give him a warning look and he finally lowered his volume, "Holding kids against their parents' will is kidnapping which is illegal and I think we should address it, it's not even beneficial to the war effort because they're too young to fight."
"Not everyone in Gray is a fighter," Varanian pointed out, truthfully, "Some people are just under our protection or related to other members."
"I think we can allow them to keep the kids in their care," Alaric decided and if looks could kill them Harry would've skewered him, "As long as reasonable effort was made to reunite them with their parent or guardians I don't see why not, being under the protection of Gray is better than being at risk out on their own."
"Fine."
"I can't believe you'd agree to that," Harry complained immediately, glaring angrily between Alaric and Varanian, "You all just can't understand what it's like being separated from your kids because you're not fath-"
"We agreed to make reasonable effort to reunite them," Scorpius interrupted quickly, sensing Varanian tensing beside him and fearing another outburst, "Can we move on?"
"Of course," Alaric agreed equally quickly and Scorpius caught his eye, wordlessly acknowledging they were both the designated peacekeepers in this debate. He glanced at Mrs Koray who was scribbling away with intense focus, Hermione was guzzling down water and looking nauseous again while Harry grumbled under his breath something about questioning what that even meant, "What's a condition that Gray are seeking?"
"I want a pardon for all members," Varanian shot out immediately and not unexpectedly, folding his arms, "I don't want them punished for following me, they deserve a clean slate and their lives back when all this is over."
"Fine."
"You're just going to agree to that?!" Harry shot out to which both Alaric and Hermione looked exasperated.
"Did you really expect them to not ask for that? It's the most obvious thing. It'd make us look pretty stupid to turn around and punish the people who just helped us anyway."
"It should at least be limited to a pass for things related to the war effort."
"Is that acceptable?" Alaric asked, this time of Varanian.
"No, I want full pardons," Varanian insisted stubbornly, "Some people did bad things before switching sides, often forced to against their will by the Shadows and I want them to have a clean slate too, they deserve it."
"Full pardons it is then," Alaric agreed and Harry attempted eye-murder again, "I'll need a complete list of names when all of this is over so they can be officially granted reprieve and for what."
"Alright."
"What's something you want?" Scorpius offered, specifically to Alaric as it seemed his turn for something.
"Information," Alaric answered as swiftly and seriously as Varanian had for pardons, "We need to know what you know about the Shadows, most importantly are any names of spies within the Ministry you have identified. We don't stand much of a chance if they kill us from the inside."
"Give him the list," Varanian said to Scorpius and he obediently withdrew the list they'd written out earlier, sliding it across the table to an interested-looking Alaric who carefully picked it up with hungry eyes while Varanian continued. Even Harry begrudgingly gave it a glance, "Here are the names of everyone we know are Shadow spies, we've also briefly outlined the specifics of what we know about them- and that's yours to keep too, no matter what happens. Call it a token of good faith."
"Well that's much appreciated, thank you," Alaric admitted, sounding sincere and handed it to Harry who looked it over with interest instead of anger for the first time all conversation.
"I don't think we have them all but there's a spell I invented that detects the taint in Shadow wands, it's what causes the resistance to healing you've seen. Hermione knows the spell so if you do some kind of wand check you can probably weed out the ones we've missed, what gives them an edge in a fight also gives them away."
I don't understand
"We'll work it out when we get back, new priority," Alaric said, more to Harry then anyone really and Scorpius shakily reached for the pitcher Hermione had brought over to pour himself some water. Calderon had picked a rather inconvenient time to start speaking again. Hopefully the meeting would be over soon…
"That's what I'd consider the most pressing information they have to present right now, it also establishes the kind of knowledge they have gleaned," Hermione spoke up formally again while Scorpius sipped on his freshly poured water, "We can divulge other information of importance at a later date, this meeting isn't about that."
"Agreed."
"And the information will of course go both ways," Harry added as an afterthought, seemingly trying to be more fair but Varanian actually scoffed at this.
"What information?" Varanian wondered almost mockingly, joyless amusement in his tone, "You don't know a thing."
"We know plenty!" Harry insisted, his cheeks going a little red.
"Rooke's been feeding you false information forever, anything you think you know is a lie. How can-"
"Look, I just said we can discuss the specifics of the information at a later date," Hermione interjected, this time giving the warning look to Varanian. He looked unfazed, "Let's move on. I believe it was your turn to ask for something.
"Resources," Varanian stated at once and threw a sharp look at Harry as if expecting him to object but he didn't, "The Ministry naturally has more than we ever could, a government entity simply has that advantage. Like right now medical resources are pretty important, for example we have a teen amputee who needs legs-"
"Not Albus?" Harry interjected with a sharp panicked intake of breath, his face draining of color as if a horrifying thought had just occurred to him. Varanian threw him a dark look, "M- My son, h- he's not the one- the one who-"
"No, not Albus," Varanian confirmed and a flicker of relief crossed the Head Auror's face, replaced immediately by guilt.
"Well we're certainly more than willing to provide medical assistance to injured youths," Alaric assured him smoothly as if there had been no interruption, "Resources is a broad definition however, I can give you that we'll always try to accommodate your needs but it'll depend on the specifics of what you require whether we are willing or even capable of complying, our resources aren't infinite by any means after all and we can't compromise ourselves. It just has to be on a case to case basis, you understand?"
"I… suppose so," Varanian agreed slightly hesitantly, exchanging a brief look with Scorpius as he did so.
"We can work out the specifics of this at a later date," Hermione spoke up, "The details are too intricate and too subject to change to make part of the alliance agreement, much like the information it is best served to discuss this at a later date."
"Fine."
"Sounds fair," Alaric agreed and there was a brief pause as no one made to speak.
"Are there any other terms either party wishes to bring up?" Hermione inquired at the silence, glancing between them, "Excluding anything that fall under specific information exchange or resource acquisition which as previously expressed will be discussed at a later date."
"How about Lil-"
"Harry," Hermione cut the Head Auror off and Harry sighed heavily.
"How about agreement on a ceasefire then? I know it should really go without saying but even the most basic of points should be in this document," Harry said more calmly, a formal edge sharpening his tone which Scorpius was really beginning to see as the 'Ministry' tone. Or maybe simply politician tone would be more accurate, he was sure they probably talked like this all the time. At any rate, while he certainly understood the necessity it also made him very certain a Ministry career was not in any possible future of his, "Neither of us should ever deliberately target the other."
"Obviously," Varanian agreed, sounding like he was trying not to be annoyed with questionable results. He did not have a Ministry tone, "But if we're going to be stating the obvious, I'd like it down that we're not obligated to hand over prisoners into each other's custody."
"Of course, not like you'd have the resources to house a prisoner," Harry stated as if it were obvious to which Varanian gave a derisive snort.
"Do you have any prisoners?" Alaric questioned curiously, Varanian exchanged a look with Scorpius as if wondering whether he should tell them. Scorpius shrugged, seeing no reason not to when they were trying to build bridges with these people, "I'll take that as a yes."
"What prisoners could you possibly have?"
"Brutus," Varanian answered shortly, Alaric's eyes widened in visible surprise while Harry's jaw dropped, even Mrs Koray's quill scratching was temporarily quelled.
"Brutus? As in Brutus Ashain?"
"What other Brutus would I possibly be talking about?"
"Wha- Whe- How?!" Harry spluttered out in shock and Varanian gave an irritated sigh, shrugging vaguely, "He's the Shadow Master's lieutenant, he's the highest ranked after her!"
"It's a strange and long story," Varanian brushed it off with a flick of his wrist, sounding very disinterested in discussing it, "Does it really matter?"
"I… Well I guess not… Wait, and you're seriously not willing to hand over such an important prisoner into the appropriate authority?"
"Yeah, if I wanted him to escape then I'd just release him myself," Varanian commented almost acridly and immediately Harry's face flushed scarlet.
"That won't happen, our prison system is perfectly secure," the Head Auror insisted through teeth gritted in embarrassment, for some reason he also exchanged an odd look with Mrs Koray at this, "Anyone who says differently is being paranoid and any remaining Shadows who would threaten said security should be purged soon enough if your intelligence is to be believed, there's no reason not to have us hold on to such a valuable prisoner."
"The Shadow Master does have a habit of destroying prisons," Scorpius pointed out truthfully, trying to keep the discussion factual not personal.
"Then we can keep him in temporary holding!" Harry insisted, not sounding angry though just very sincere and determined to get his point across, "It's really not an issue, we have options and resources and the manpower to ensure he is secured. Past errors will not be repeated, its madness to throw away the factually better option in a situation that has never been direr and that's ignoring the fact from a legal perspective there shouldn't even be a debate. Aurors are highly trained, in addition to security we know to handle interrogation-"
"What?!" Varanian burst out incredulously and actually jolted upright, no doubt recalling his own 'interrogation' and Scorpius was sure something was going to blow up if they didn't change the subject, "Are you out of your-"
"Harry, I think Scorpius has a point," Hermione interjected diplomatically, probably also sensing this, "The Ministry has more security but that has a down side, it's so major with so many people it's hard to do anything undetected whereas a small group like Gray excels at this and they don't have the many other duties to divide their time between like we do."
"As long as Gray is sharing the information they obtain from the prisoner, I see no problem with it," Alaric offered in agreement and Harry gave an exasperated sigh, seemingly at being overruled again, "The less people know a secret the better, they've done fine securing the prisoner so far and if they need aid with interrogation later on the situation can change, the whole point of an alliance is to help each other after all."
"Of course," Scorpius agreed quickly, nodding in the hopes of moving away from this point.
"Brutus Ashain's imprisonment with Gray is now officially need-to-know information," Alaric added, more to the Ministry members. Presumably anyway, Gray already knew and all, "Is there anything else?"
"I want to have access to wherever Gray is located," Harry spoke up.
"No," Varanian answered swiftly and shortly, causing the Head Auror to scowl.
"Then I want to know where you are at least."
"No."
"We're supposed to be compromising."
"And sharing that information compromises the safety of my people," Varanian insisted defensively, Harry shot a look at Alaric as if asking for help but the Minister was looking over the list of names again, "We don't know where all of your locations are either."
"Then we should exchange that information."
"No."
"Var-"
"It's like the Minister said, the less people know a secret the better," Varanian interrupted seriously, "You never know when the Shadows are going to capture someone of their own for interrogation…"
"I'm not saying everyone should know, just a few select people."
"A few select people do know."
"Can I be one of those select people?"
"No."
"Is that everything?" Alaric asked while Harry heaved a heavy sigh, putting the list back down and Scorpius tried to think of anything they were forgetting that wouldn't fall into the exchange of resources or information categories.
"I think so."
"I guess so," Harry agreed more exasperatedly, making a dismissive gesture with his hand.
"Excellent," Hermione spoke up, cheerfulness injecting itself into her Ministry tone. Scorpius didn't blame her, he thought they were probably all keen for this meeting to be over with, "We'll take a short break while Mrs Koray and I go over the document to finalize it, formalizing it and making sure everything is accurate and in order. Its standard stuff so feel free to have a drink or take a walk, even use the restroom if you wish and we'll reconvene in a few minutes."
"I'm going to go stretch my legs then," Varanian said shortly, already getting up as he spoke.
"I'll go with him," Scorpius added, following quickly as he wasn't particularly eager to be alone with all those people.
Scorpius left the tent after Varanian and found himself once again embraced by the warmth of the beaming sun, it was strangely yet pleasantly surprising to him. He supposed it just felt like they'd been in there so long he expected it to be much later, the days were longer though as it was summer so it could just be later and not dark yet. He turned his gaze back to earth to find Varanian, seeing the metamorphmagi was pacing around near the tent, his gruff visage was rather out of place set against the pleasant scenery.
"It's good to be out of there," Varanian commented without halting his pacing, shuddering despite the sunlight and wringing his hands, "Reminds me how much I hate these kinds of things."
"You okay?" Scorpius wondered.
"I'm fine," Varanian answered very quickly, still pacing as he flexed his fingers.
"Are you sure?" Scorpius reiterated and Varanian hesitated for a minute.
"I'm just… a little on edge, I feel like spiders are crawling all over my skin... But its fine, I mean try sitting across from someone who tortured you with the Cruciatus Curse and not feel on edge."
"Ah don't worry, Pippy, it's not like he'd do anything," Scorpius said without thinking and Varanian immediately froze, Scorpius did the same despite not having even been moving. He had no why he'd just said that.
"Did… Did you just call me 'Pippy'?"
"No…" Scorpius lied, unnerved by his own words. There was also only one person he'd ever heard call him that… "I just said 'Pip.' I mean, that's what you prefer to be called right?"
"Well yeah but that's not what it sounded like, I could've sworn you said-"
"Well it's not, I know what I said and I know what your name is," Scorpius insisted and despite feeling kind of guilty for it added, "Why would I even say that? You just said you're on edge, maybe you're mishearing."
"I guess so, maybe..." Varanian muttered, only scowling more in confusion and Scorpius thought it was best to just get off the subject.
"Look, my point was just that there's nothing to worry about for so many reasons, for all we know he could feel bad."
"He hasn't even apologized!" Varanian pointed out, seeming to thankfully move on.
"I guess not but he wouldn't be here if he didn't want an alliance, right? And his boss is totally on our side anyway."
"I noticed, it's not hard to be on our side with how Potter's acting though," Varanian stated as he started pacing again, his expression switching to disgust, "I mean did you notice how he reacted to the prosthetic legs issue? As if it only matters if his son is the one who needs help, his other son is the one who tortured that poor kid!"
"I don't think that was what he meant but okay," Scorpius disagreed quietly, he thought he was being a little harsh on Harry but not enough to bother arguing the point, "The important thing is we gave them the list of spies like you wanted, it's nearly done."
"I know, just need to sign the paperwork to finish unloading my soul and hope they don't fuck up dealing with those spies," Varanian said acridly before halting suddenly, folding his arms and scowling darkly beyond Scorpius. He turned and saw Potter had emerged from the tent, "What do you want?"
"Just some fresh air," Harry answered defensively, seemingly taken aback by the hostile tone, "It's a nice day."
"Real nice," Scorpius spoke up to try keep things pleasant as Harry crossed his arms, Varanian seemed content to glower silently, "So how long does this finalizing the documents usually take?"
"Well this tedious bureaucracy stuff can take a while but in this case I suspect not that much longer."
"I'll go see how it's going," Varanian decided, heading back inside the tent which Harry didn't object to but watched him go intently. Scorpius debated whether or not to follow.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Harry commented and Scorpius immediately found himself regretting his hesitation, he didn't really want to have a conversation with Harry right now. The Head Auror was notably more at ease with Varanian gone, Scorpius noticed, as he stood more casually, "Would have thought there were other… older members of Gray to come instead."
"I'm of age," Scorpius shot out defensively, sensing that wasn't helpful though he added, "Besides, there have been some deaths recently."
"That's true," Harry mused sadly, probably thinking more generally then Gray, "So what do your parents think of this?"
"I haven't asked them," Scorpius shrugged it off but Harry's famously emerald eyes widened in surprise.
"You have told them, ri-"
"Look, I'll get around to it," Scorpius cut him off, feeling rather annoyed and kind of fed up having this conversation with people, "I have plans to see them soon."
"It's been a month since Hogwarts fell, you father must be worried sick."
"I'm sure my father will be fine."
"You know Draco is your father, right? Not Var-"
"I know!" Scorpius shrieked irritably, why did people keep bringing up this father thing? "I just said I'll see them, there's kind of a lot going on in this war right now if you hadn't noticed."
"And you should be with your family not dragged along into war by Varanian," Harry insisted determinedly, "While useful, he's not a very stable individual and you'd be better off safe home."
"Maybe if you didn't torture people with the Cruciatus Curse they would be more stable," Scorpius shot out, stalking back inside without bothering to spare a glance to Harry. He almost bumped into Alaric as he reentered the tent, "Sorry."
"It's alright," Alaric brushed it aside, "I was just coming to get you two, and we're ready with the treaty."
"Well Harry's outside," Scorpius offered, not in a hurry to speak to the Boy Who Lived anymore and went to rejoin the table to avoid the task. He slid back in beside Varanian, the metamorphmagi was reading from a roll of parchment, "So what's happening?"
"We're reading through this to make sure we're satisfied with the terms of the arrangement," Varanian answered for him, his mismatched eyes still skimming the rows of neat little letters, "Then we all sign it."
"All of us?"
"All of us," Hermione provided for him, "Alaric and Varanian are the ones entering their factions into a binding agreement so they sign first, you and Harry then sign as witnesses. Mrs Koray and I have already signed it, essentially proving the legal validity of the document."
"Sounds complicated."
"Well I apologize, I was trying to simplify it for you."
"Just read it," Varanian offered, sliding the parchment close to him as he reached the end, "It's basically what we talked about just written coherently and with fancier language, its fine."
Scorpius turned to the document, reading through as instructed and finding this to be accurate. It seemed to be anyway, he wasn't very sure what he was looking for and a lot of the jargon seemed unnecessarily complex to the point of almost going over his head. He thought reading it was akin to pouring milk over his brain, some got in the cracks but mostly it just washed all over him but he supposed that was how these things were. At the very least the quiet moment allowed him to calm down from everything that had happened outside, he also made a mental note to add Rojer to his ever-growing list of people he needed to talk to. This alliance should help with that, they'd know his address.
Harry had rejoined them and everyone was seated again by the time he finished reading, the bottom was a lot of spaces for people to sign with impressively miniscule captions. He passed it off for the other side to read, having no real complaints not that he got the point of having to read it anyway. Not that he was going to question it with how patronizing Harry had been outside.
"I have no complaints with it," Alaric commented when he had finished going over it.
"I do," Harry grumbled, probably still displeased over how dismissive people had been to his wishes, "But its fine, its serviceable."
"Excellent."
Alaric wasted no time in reaching for the quill which had been moved more centrally now Mrs Koray was sipping water instead of scribbling, the Minister signed it and offered the quill wordlessly to Varanian. Varanian took the quill very slowly and reluctantly, almost as if he expected the thing to suddenly jump up and bite him. It didn't, Hermione did point to where he had to sign though. He gave one last sigh before cautiously writing his name down in the allocated space, the name being 'Pip Varanian' Scorpius couldn't help but notice, not Philip or P and definitely not Pippy.
"It doesn't matter which line you two sign it as or who goes first," Hermione offered as Scorpius was taking the quill from Varanian, somehow he didn't think he'd want Harry to take it from him.
He signed his name, feeling the virgin signature was somewhat out of place compared to these big names. Especially when put next to Harry Potter, the Head Auror adding his name last very readily. Whatever issues they may have, it was still a name of unparalleled fame and universal respect. And just like that, Gray was officially in an alliance with the Ministry of Magic.