Thanks to: Colin Creevey, Guest, SJV and RandomGerman for reviewing!
Questions:
Will Omega's words be enough for the birds to help?
Too spoilery to say
Who is in that one base?
Tobias Latimer, Heather Longbottom, Gerhard Rutherford, Prosper Blackbourne, Roman Rivers, Lorcan Scamander, Martha Seneca, Maximus Nott, Olivia Nott, Lydia Nott-Dursley, John Avery, Crystal Sanford, Agnes Wilson, Ivy Wilson, Bertie Wilson then Brutus Ashain and Omega Riddle are there as prisoners. Other characters drift in and out but those are the ones currently staying there permanently
Does Scorpius basically have two options? The mysterious man, or he himself dying and making Sal mortal?
Again too spoilery
What does he (Magnus) mean by that?
He just means it'll be even more changed, by the time Oathan wins civilization as we know it is already gone because Sal took over everywhere whereas right now magic is revealed but in not-Sal places the governments are still in place and stuff, one aspect is basically different now whereas everything is different with Oathan
How many chapters are there until the end of the book?
I honestly don't know, I don't have the entire book planned chapter by chapter and I'm so awful at gauging how long it will be compared to what I imagine that I couldn't even hazard a guess with any reasonable degree of accuracy
Will Michael stop snapping at everyone soon?
Maybe, too spoilery to say
"You can't just give up, Brutus," Scorpius complained to the Shadow Master's former lover but it was to no avail.
"It's not giving up to see the writing on the wall, and if you can't read it says 'we're fucked,'" Brutus pointed out bitterly, "This isn't even my fight, I'm not one of you."
"But what about your famil-"
"Maybe you should worry about your own family," Brutus interjected and Scorpius resisted the urge to roll his eyes in frustration, even his imprisoned enemies were somehow experts on his personal life too apparently. Wait, how would Brutus possibly know?
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it's only a matter of time before Sal goes after them, she has a strange love-hate relationship with your family- her family. I mean she killed your baby sister because she was jealous her cousin had a baby after our own just died, I'd be pretty concerned for your brother if I were you and your mother isn't a blood relative so Sal doesn't give a damn about her."
"You really think she'll go after my family?" Scorpius wondered with worry.
"I'm surprised she hasn't already," Brutus admitted, "It was always her plan when she started on England."
Scorpius opened his mouth to respond to this but closed it as they were interrupted by the entrance, they both turned to see Prosper had returned with Omega. The werewolf was scowling as he led the small child by the wrist back down the stairs, in contrast Omega was trying and failing not to grin.
"You're back quickly," Scorpius pointed out, trying not to let his disappointment show.
"Omega lost his outside privileges again," Prosper growled with a glare in the boy's direction as he let him go, Omega was unfazed and practically skipped cheerfully over to his father who put a protective arm around his son.
"We were done anyway," Brutus said and Scorpius wanted to object to this but he also didn't want to continue their discussion in front of the child.
"You are?" Prosper wondered in surprise, directing the question to Scorpius.
"For now," Scorpius agreed begrudgingly and Prosper gave a shrug of acknowledgement before starting to climb back up the stairs, Scorpius turned back to Brutus, "Remember what we talked about, Brutus, this isn't over."
"Sure," Brutus stated blandly.
"And don't tell anyone," Scorpius hissed in a quieter but more warning tone before climbing the stairs after the werewolf.
Molly read the letter then reread it again, then reread it again through several more times than leaned her head back as she let out a disappointed sigh. There was a lot to unpack there but none of it had been anything in particular she'd been hoping for in terms of useful Seer advice, all he really had was not letting her emotions interfere and she didn't think she was… was she? She wasn't sure where she stood with Scorpius but that didn't mean she'd given up on him defeating the Shadow Master, she hadn't given up on that.
She folded the letter back up and pocketed it safely, despite her disappointment she still thought it was special, so much so she wasn't even sure whether she wanted Flan to share in its contents. She leaned back against the wall tiredly and her eyes were drawn to something else, he'd left a crystal ball on one of the shelves. She hadn't used one of those in a while.
Molly drew her wand and lazily cast Accio to bring it to her, catching it as easily as she would a Quaffle in Quidditch. That felt like such ancient history now she was almost surprised to catch it, she didn't even feel like the same person, she wasn't sure whether to envy or pity her.
She held the crystal orb carefully, gazing into it unblinkingly which was harder than usual due to her fatigue, absently she wondered if maybe she should've waited a bit longer after all. Mist started to form inside the orb, shrouding the future from those lucky enough to have an inner eye that stayed closed. She started to move her free hand over it, gently as if parting water around her which should in reality part the mist.
Except it didn't, instead the mist started to darken as if she'd poured in some ink and she was actually just mixing it into what had previously been clear water. The mist soured like pure white clouds becoming dark and stormy, she was so focused on staring at it that the dark was seeping into the vision outside the crystal, the black clouds inside the orb seemed instead to be all around her.
She started to hear sound, muffled voices she couldn't quite make out as if she was listening underwater. Images were trying to form through the clouds but they were blurry and buried in the clouds, she felt a strange, sharp and very distant pain followed by some kind of shout. Abruptly the images were severed by a blinding flash of light that obliterated whatever the crystal was trying to show her.
Molly found herself standing on the edge of a forest at evening, the cold sun sinking into the bloodstained sky off into the horizon. Empty land was stretched out before her and distantly she saw the ruins of what had once been some town or city, she had no idea what it had been called but it was just a pile of rubble now. They should probably try scavenging it for supplies, they'd have to start doing that because that was going to be their life now.
She didn't have the strength left to even sigh, she just finished putting up her protective enchantments and moved back into the forest. It was colder and darker in there, the tall trees spearing the sky severing them from the sunlight. Her movements were sluggish, her body ached and she was so tired she felt as though insects were crawling across her eyeballs.
Thankfully she didn't have far to walk and was soon back at the clearing, back at what she supposed was their 'camp.' She'd set up a small fire beside a felled tree, she had a tent but it was still in her bag of supplies by the fire though she doubted she'd use it until they got out of the country. They had to get out of the country as soon as possible, ideally they should probably not even be resting right now but they were only human. 'They' consisting of only two other people, there were more survivors then them – though still not many - but they couldn't be around Gray right now because Gray just wasn't good for Oathan.
She glanced at their last hope, no longer an adult vision but a living six year old boy. He was sitting on the log, warming his small hands on the flames. She approached him, though made sure to spare Flan a look as she sat beside Oathan, Flan was sitting on the stump further off and was holding his head in his bloodstained hands. It wasn't his blood.
"Did you finish putting up your spells?" Oathan asked of her almost fearfully, the fragile tone a far cry from the strength of his adult self.
"Yeah," Molly confirmed for him, holding her own hands out to the fire for warmth and noticed the flames reflecting off the metal of her charm bracelet. A wave of sadness hit her and she put her hands down quickly, at least one of them needed to keep it together right now or they would join… most everyone else they cared about, "We should be safe for now."
"Okay," Oathan muttered, his violet eyes shifting focus to Flan who hadn't moved and gave no indication of hearing them, "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah, we just need to give him some space right now," Molly offered equally quietly, even though Flan probably wasn't listening nor would care if he was, "His whole family is dead, he's going to need some time to grieve."
"Okay," Oathan said, his expression and tone both solemn as he hung his head.
"Are you going to be okay?" Molly asked gently, putting a comforting arm around him and he cuddled against her willingly, "We still have potions if you don't feel good."
"I'm just tired," Oathan admitted quietly, "I feel like I should be sad or worried but I just feel so tired."
"We all are, Oathan, we all are," Molly told him quite truthfully, maybe exhaustion was better than crippling depression, "I have some sleeping bags, we need to get some rest while we can. We'll need to get out of the country before its locked down completely so tomorrow is probably going to be a long day, a really long day."
"Okay, Molly, I trust you."
"Molly!" a voice cried out suddenly in concern and Molly's eyes snapped open, she hadn't even realized they'd been closed. It was Flan's voice she realized when more words followed, "Molly?! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine!" Molly called back immediately, wondering why he was worried and noticed she was no longer holding the crystal ball, her body had also slumped slightly. Had she fallen asleep? She picked herself up quickly, grabbing up the puzzle box and exiting the secret room to see Flan standing there with a look of concern, "Where's the fire?"
"This just rolled out from the wall and I got worried," Flan explained and held up his hand, the crystal ball clasped in his scarred fingers, "Did you pass out?"
"I… I don't know," Molly admitted, "I was trying to use the ball and I think I fell asleep, whatever I almost saw wasn't coming through clearly and then I had this dream, or a vision. It wasn't cryptic like usual."
"What was it about?" Flan asked, seeming to relax a little.
"You and me with Oathan, after the end," Molly told him though stopped herself from elaborating, she didn't feel like telling him in the vision he'd been grieving for his dead family, "I got the letter, we should get back."
"As you wish."
Scorpius hung around the base for longer then he meant to, he ran into Latimer again when going to leave and he convinced him to work on his apparation. Oliva Nott joined him as a mentor and they moved further off from the base where there were no anti-apparation enchantments, she settled on a tree stump in the shade with her four month old daughter, Lydia, also the child of his late friend Vern Dursley. Despite being in the year below him and having her education interrupted by the pregnancy and birth of her child, Olivia was quite adept at apparating.
He continued to fail however, her advice and encouragement about as useful as anyone else's had ever been. He found he didn't feel as bad as he usually did for his failure however, with everything Brutus had told him still rolling around in his mind he wasn't surprised he couldn't get it. It was also hard to stay in a bad mood with Lydia giggling every few minutes, thoroughly amused by the magical rattle she was playing with that kept playing different sounds. Olivia didn't seem mad at him either, though Scorpius wasn't sure if she was aware of the role his leaving had played or if she was simply being nice to him to be positive in front of the baby.
"D- D- Don't worry," Lamb offered encouragingly when apparating them back, "A- Apparation is tough, I'm sur- sure you'll g- get the hang of it."
"Thanks," Scorpius took the encouragement though remained dubious, becoming an animagi had been less difficult then this despite the fact few wizards mastered it and it was considered more difficult than apparation which most wizards mastered. They returned to Hogan's house and with Brutus' words about his family weighing on his mind, he knew who to seek out first, "Hey Myriam."
"Hey Scorpius," Myriam greeted him as he found her in the kitchen working on dinner.
"Need any help?"
"Yeah actually, if you could get some plates out. This is almost done."
"Can do," Scorpius agreed and started getting the plates, "It smells good."
"I should hope so, I have no chance of ever working again as a chef otherwise," Myriam told him, her tone pleasantly joking.
"I suppose not," Scorpius confirmed as he counted out the number of plates they'd need and laid them out on the empty countertop, "So… does your offer still stand to take me to my parents?"
"Of course, is your schedule finally open?"
"Well I do have to do this thing for Hermione, hopefully I can get it out of the way tomorrow. I'm not sure how long it'll take."
"Well if you're done soon enough we'll go tomorrow afternoon then, if not we'll just go the day after, that alright?"
"Sounds good," Scorpius agreed as she started dishing the food out onto the plate.
Molly wandered around the edge of the clearing, putting up protective enchantments with trembling hands. Ideally she'd prefer to give them a larger safe area but she didn't want to go too far from Oathan or drag the child along with her, ideally Flan would be here to stay with Oathan but… he hadn't made it. Despite not being the person closest to her that she'd lost, she found his death had shaken her the most. She'd expected to lose everyone if they lost, everyone but him. She'd felt the weight of the world on her shoulders for a long time but with his death, she felt as though she was shouldering the full weight alone for the first time and it was brutally crushing.
She lowered her wand and rubbed at her grit-soaked eyes, they needed to get out of the country but her body was so shattered she knew she needed sleep, especially if she was flying solo. She finished putting up the enchantments and walked back over to Oathan, the last hope they had. Her insides quivered with anxiety as she watched the little boy huddled over the fire she'd conjured, he was still weak and would be for a long time. Would she really be able to protect him by herself? And maybe something even more concerning, what did she know about raising a child? Let alone one that the fate of the world rested on? Being a Weasley, she was certainly familiar with children but that wasn't the same as raising them, Flan was the one with kid. And some kind of muggle degree in psychology.
"How you doing?" Molly asked of him gently as she sat her aching body down next to him, well aware she was sporting many minor injuries but she was too tired to care. Or maybe several months of torture had just upped her tolerance, "I have potions in the bag if you don't feel good."
"I think I'm okay, I'm just tired. Really tired," Oathan admitted, he looked it too but he tired very easily still with his fragile heart, "I know I didn't even do anything and I feel like I should be sad or worried or something but I just feel tired."
"It's okay, Oathan, I'm tired too," Molly told him truthfully and put a comforting arm around him, he cuddled against her willingly. She thought maybe the exhaustion was a blessing in disguise, she shouldn't complain her brain was too tired to dwell on the overwhelming loss. She had to be strong for Oathan right now or they truly had lost, everything everyone had fought and died for would be for naught. Damn the world was heavy, "I have some sleeping bags, we'll roll them out and get some rest while we can. We'll need to get out of the country before its locked down completely so tomorrow is probably going to be a long day, a really long day."
"Okay, Molly, I trust you."
Scorpius wasn't sure whether to be surprised that Varanian didn't come back that night, it wasn't uncommon of late but he had been a bit better at it. At any rate it was inconvenient, he'd wanted to ask him about letting his family into Gray. After all, if what Brutus had said was accurate then just seeing them wasn't going to help.
He was true to his word about what he'd said to Myriam, after breakfast he had Lamb take him over to the Embry's where he hoped to get those addresses from Hermione. With any luck she'd also have Rojer's address because he had even more to discuss with the old alchemist in light of the conversation with Brutus, if she didn't he hoped doing her errand would encourage her to do his. Thankfully, he located her fairly easily reading over some papers in the Embry's kitchen and nibbling on some crackers.
"Hey Hermione," Scorpius greeted her readily, "Did you get those addresses for me?"
"Oh hello Scorpius, and yes," Hermione said as she noticed his presence and gestured for him to take a seat beside her, which he did and her saw her frown as she withdrew a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him, "Unfortunately, I learned his paternal grandfather was killed in the most recent Shadow attack- I have informed Sebastian. That leaves him as the last Libra, the only other family he has is all maternal, the Selwyns."
"Sebastian's maternal family are the Selwyns?" Scorpius spluttered out in surprise he realized he shouldn't really feel, he knew them to be quite a large family, "As in related to the Shadow Selwyn?"
"Yes, the Shadow would be his uncle, though I doubt very much they've ever met considering Maverick Selwyn had been on the run since the Second Wizarding War. Though speaking of him, you should probably notify his father – Abel, I believe it was - of his death while you're there."
"I guess I can do that. So what family does he have?"
"We need only ask the immediate family who obviously aren't in jail so Sebastian's grandfather, aunt, uncle and great-grandparents. You'll actually only have to speak to three of them though, his aunt's husband works for the Ministry and I was able to ask him myself yesterday when finding out the addresses," Hermione explained and Scorpius glanced over the list of names and addresses briefly, there were too crossed out names he could only assume were the aunt and dead grandfather. He didn't see Rojer's name though, "As expected, he wasn't interested."
"What do I do if any of them are interested?"
"Tell them you'll inform the Ministry and they'll process their request, don't leave Sebastian with them even if he goes with you," Hermione shrugged it off dismissively and went back to reading her own papers, "Considering his circumstances and what his sister – who was in Selwyn custody – wound up doing, they'll need to go through a lengthy vetting process before they could have Sebastian. In the meantime, he'll be free to stay with Gray since we fulfilled our end of the bargain of attempting to reunite him. Though as I said, I don't expect any yeses."
"Noted," Scorpius confirmed, tucking the paper away to give to Lamb- the werewolf had stopped to speak to Hogan, "Did you get Rojer's address?"
"Ah, I knew there was something I was forgetting. Sorry, I'll get it for you later."
"Alright," Scorpius said as he stood, "I'll see you later then."
Scorpius left her in the kitchen and went back into the dining room turned infirmary, Antonius was still unconscious – though Hogan assured them he would waken soon – and Albus was being fussed over by Abby as usual. He would probably spend a little time with them before he left but first he wanted to see whether Sebastian wanted to come with him so he instead turned to the young werewolf, resting in the bed opposite Antonius was red rimmed eyes as if he'd been crying.
"Hey Sebastian," Scorpius greeted the boy kindly, he sat up a little straighter and wiped at his eyes, "You okay?"
"Hermione told me that my grandfather…" Sebastian told him timidly, trailing off as his lip started quivering. He still avoided meeting his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Scorpius offered sympathetically, realizing he actually could relate to the death of a grandfather.
"Thank you," Sebastian muttered, wiping at his eyes again, "Did she send you?"
"Yeah, I'm going to be visiting your family to see if they want you to live with them, wondered if you'd like to come. It's perfectly fine if you don't want to-"
"I want to," Sebastian interrupted, Scorpius supposed he might be keen to see them after just learning of his grandfather's death. He glanced guiltily over at Antonius though and also oddly Marigold, "Will… Will I be able to come back though? I'm worried about Anton, I don't really want to leave…"
"Oh don't worry, even if they say yes you'll have to come back here because they have to speak to the Ministry first or something," Scorpius explained and the boy looked relieved, "We also don't have to leave right now this second if you want to wait a bit, double check with Hogan too."
"Okay."
Oathan Loren lay on the ground in the ruins of some building, a threadbare blanket doing little to mask the hard ground beneath him. He was hardly alone here either, the surviving adults – and teenagers - had left the surviving children in here while they were in the other ruined room. Whether they were resting, discussing their options or something else he wasn't sure. It was hard to even care, none of the people he actually cared about had survived and he still had no idea if Vathan lived was even alive anymore. He wasn't alone but he very much felt it now, he'd only just started to shake the feeling.
Some of the kids were sleeping, either dropping from exhaustion or forced into it from the adults– some of them had been hysterical. Some were still awake, he could hear some sniffling as sobbing spells had come to an end and the blond girl – Cassia – pacing around the room. He thought they'd probably all be dead without her and her birds, of all the kids who'd stepped up to defend the others after their adult protectors died she had held out the longest before more returned from their loss.
He'd tried to help as well but… he was still weak, he felt like he'd barely done anything but had been drained of almost every shred of strength he had and his heart hurt so badly he thought he might be dying. A Healer had looked at him, given him something. The pain had eased but it still hurt a lot, he was aware of each and every painful beat of his heart. It was preventing him from sleeping so he was left weak and exhausted but unable to rest, just huddled uncomfortably on his side with his hand clutching at his chest. He almost hoped he would die, he didn't want to be here with these lunatics and his father's killer chilling in the next room.
He didn't have the strength to leave now though, he was trapped.
Scorpius almost regretted asking Sebastian to come as it put him off schedule, he'd much rather have gotten it over with to give himself time to go to his parents but Sebastian seemed content to take his time and it would be rude to rush him after assuring him he could take his time. He hadn't expected this much time though.
By the time he'd calmed down Hogan had left to – presumably – deal with Oathan and Sebastian wanted to get his specific okay, by the time Hogan returned and confirmed Sebastian was fine – or at least fine enough to travel – it was close enough to lunch that Sebastian wanted to wait for that then once lunch was finished, Sebastian insisted on helping with the clean up because he wanted to be useful now he was allowed to be on his feet again. After that Sebastian wanted to have a shower to be clean for when he met his family, he then spent far too long agonizing over what to wear out of the like three options the Embry's presented for him.
Scorpius wasn't sure if he was mentally trying to psych himself up to see his family or what, either way he spent far more time with his friends then he'd expected and unfortunately Antonius remained unconscious. Finally though, the three of them were on their way. Scorpius decided to save the grandfather until last since he also had to tell him about his dead Shadow son but opted to ask Sebastian if he had a preference between the uncle or the great-grandparents first.
"Uncle Eleazar," Sebastian answered immediately and started rubbing at the scar on his temple, a smile playing on his lips as if was trying to remember, "He used to be really nice, he… he used to sneak us sweets behind Mother's back and take us to a muggle park near his house."
"How lovely," Scorpius said despite the chill that gone through him at the mention of a muggle park, irrationally he wondered if this guy had been complicit in his abduction.
"His wife not so much though."
Lamb – who Scorpius had long since handed over the list to when he thought it wouldn't take them four hours to leave – put a hand on each of their shoulders once they were far enough from the Embry's house, apparating them before Scorpius could dwell on this further. They reappeared in a quaint cul-de-sac, the roads wide and curvy, and the front yards nicely spacious. Scorpius hadn't even finished taking in his bearings before he noticed Sebastian heading off towards a particular house, he and Lamb hastened to keep up behind them. As they drew closer, Scorpius realized he could hear the sound of children's laughter and playing coming from inside the house.
Sebastian stopped in front of the door, rocking back and forth on his heels nervously so Scorpius took the inactive to use the golden serpent knocker. After a few minutes and a hasty trampling of footsteps, the door was opened by a bedraggled looking skinny man in his mid-thirties, on his hip was chubby winging toddler trying to tug on his mop of raven-black hair. A hair color the girl shared though hers was tied in a neat purple bow, he tried to pry her hand off him and seemed oblivious to the dried vomit stain on the shoulder of his black robes.
"He- Wow, hi Sebastian," the man started when he saw the young werewolf, his bagged eyes widening in surprise.
"H- Hi Uncle Eleazar," Sebastian offered sheepishly, his gaze on the ground.
"Da-daaaa!" the toddler whined as he pried her hand off.
"It's good to see you're alive, I wasn't sure when I heard about Hog-" Eleazar started to say before seeming being distracted by the loud thundering of footsteps from inside, he turned back to inside the house briefly, "I just told you not to run in the house!"
"Yes, Daddy!" children's voices chorused from inside but they didn't seem to slow down.
"Sorry about that," Eleazar muttered while the toddler started trying to tug at his ear instead and started crying when he batted her little hands away, "Anyway, where were we? Why are you here?"
"To see if you want to take Sebastian in," Scorpius provided and the man glanced at him for the first time in surprise, he opened his mouth but was again distracted by his own house.
"Eleazar!" a woman's voice came in a tone of annoyance and even the toddler stopped crying to listen interestedly, "The children are bothering me!"
"I'm answering the door, dear!" Eleazar yelled back into the house before glancing back to them, from inside Scorpius heard howls of children's laughter, "I'm sorry, did you say you wanted me to take Sebastian in?"
"Yes," Sebastian confirmed and Scorpius noticed he had crossed his fingers behind his back, Eleazar looked sympathetic.
"Eleazar! Come deal with these brats!" the woman's voice yelled again angrily.
"In a minute!" Eleazar shouted back irritably while the toddler started playing with the collar of his robe, he looked back to his nephew, "Look, Sebastian-"
"Dad! I finished my numeracy, can I have my cookie now?!" a girl's voice interrupted from inside.
"Only if you get your siblings to stop bothering your mother!" Eleazar called back and there was a 'humph' of annoyance from the girl followed by stomping footsteps, he tried once more to address his nephew, "Look Sebastian, you know I'd love to take you but I can't. Your great-grandfather… well you know how he is, if I took you then he'd disown me and I'd lose everything, you wouldn't even be able to stay with me anyway. I have four kids to take care of and another on the way, I can't afford to upset him."
"That's pretty selfish of you," Scorpius complained of him, scowling irritably which Eleazar seemed to ignore.
"I understand, Uncle Eleazar," Sebastian said, despite looking disheartened.
"Look on the bright side," Eleazar offered, sounding as if he was trying to be positive and put his free hand on Sebastian's shoulder comfortingly which actually had the small boy look up hopefully, "Elias is old and he can't live forever, soon as he kicks the bucket I'll be the new patriarch and we won't have to worry about his rules anymore. Then I'll take of you, I promise. I-"
Smash!
"ELEAZAR!" the woman screamed so furiously that her husband actually flinched, there was another chorus of children's shrieks of laughter and a stampede of footsteps.
"Look, it's been great seeing you Sebastian but erm… I really need to go deal with that," Eleazar told him and quickly disappeared back into the house, "Coming, dear!"
The three of them turned and walked carefully away from the door, distantly inside the house Scorpius thought he could hear the woman's angry yells. He glanced at Sebastian, he was still hanging his head but considering his aversion to eye contact it was hard to tell if he was upset.
"I'm sorry about your uncle," Scorpius offered as they made their way back to the pavement, it was better to make sure they were out of range of any anti-apparation spells most wizards had to varying degrees on their homes.
"I expected it," Sebastian shrugged dismissively, "You ready to meet my great-grandparents? They're not as nice as Uncle Eleazar, Daddy used to tell me not to listen to them."
Scorpius said nothing but from what little he'd gathered about them from the uncle and what he knew about the high pure-blood society his family had stopped being a part of, he figured Sebastian's father had probably been a good man.
Lamb apparated them once more and this time it was not a neighborhood, it was a manor house out in the countryside. He was reminded painfully of his home and how much he would rather be seeing his family right now, maybe he'd still have time if all these rejections were so short. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, it was fairly common for pureblood families to have homes such as these and these people struck him as traditional. It was very regal and very dark but in an excellent state of repair he would admit, probably more than his own in fact.
They strode up the steps to the stone steps to the large oak doors, a particular crest was ingrained into them and Scorpius could only presume it was the Selwyn family crest. Once more Sebastian didn't knock but this time he was standing completely still, he also held himself upright and straight in a very formal way. Scorpius rapped on the wood with the serpent knocker to alert the inhabitants to his presence, the door opened much faster than Eleazar had but he was momentarily surprised to see no one. He looked around in confusion then down and saw a house-elf had opened it, which made sense. The house-elf was dressed in miniature dress robes, they looked very exquisite and even seemed to have custom embroidery if the 'T' on his right pocket was anything to go by.
"Yes?" the house-elf greeted him in a rather gravelly voice for his species, somehow managing to look down his nose at them despite being shorter then even Sebastian.
"Hey Tippy," Sebastian offered in recognition though the house-elf didn't look impressed, "We're here to see my great-grandparents."
"They are not here, Master Sebastian, they went to a luncheon with friends," the house-elf – presumably Tippy - explained readily, continuing to scowl at them despite his polite tone, "Tippy can handle any inquiries visitors have."
"We'd like to know if your masters would be interested in taking Sebastian in," Scorpius informed him, "Do you know when they'll return?"
"No need to wait for their returning, Tippy knows the answer is no. The Ministry already asked and the answer was no, Tippy's masters' minds have not changed on this matter. Tippy is most certain."
"Thanks Tippy," Sebastian offered.
"Well if they change their mind, let the Ministry know," Scorpius added, not really expecting them to but he wasn't sure taking an answer from a house-elf was satisfactory enough.
"Tippy will. Now get off Selwyn property," Tippy told them and snapped his fingers.
In a bang, Scorpius immediately felt his body launched through space and before he could blink was standing outside the fence. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the front door slamming shut behind them.
"Woah," Lamb said unsteadily, "Wha- Wh- What was that th- th- thing?!"
"House-elf," Scorpius and Sebastian answered in unison but it was Sebastian who elaborated, "Lots of pureblood families have them to take care of chores, we never did but my great-grandparents have a couple though one of them takes care of my grandfather."
"Why? Is he sick?" Scorpius asked curiously as they moved a little way from the Selwyn's property just to be on the safe side.
"No, he's just…" Sebastian started to answer and trailed off, scratching at the scar on his temple as he seemed to struggle to think of the right word, "Mother used to say he was too weak to take care of himself but its more like he's just… sad."
"He's… sad?"
"You'll see," Sebastian shrugged before Lamb apparated them to their final destination, as long as this didn't take long then Scorpius thought he'd definitely have time to see his folks.