III

Seriously dazed, Scorpius managed to get out from the fallen statue and with much struggle, he stood up on his feet. Fortunately, the statue took most of the impact, so he didn't get hurt. He only didn't hear anything for a couple of seconds, but he didn't care about it at all. With growing terror, Scorpius watched the mess that was in front of him. The classroom's door was ripped apart, and many paintings had fallen from the walls. Inside, the damages were even greater. All things were broken or shattered into pieces, dust covered everything, and most things lay at the end of the room, as well as two Ravenclaw students. Scorpius didn't feel the urge to go there and check if they had lost consciousness or… He looked in the opposite direction, where, under the wall, collapsed Potter. The impact of the explosion had thrown him at the wall, which was marked by the Gryffindor's blood.

More uncertain than he wanted to admit, Scorpius came closer and crouched next to the Potter. His hand trembled nervously when he patted the Gryffindor on the arm, trying to wake him up. The boy moaned quietly, but it was enough for Scorpius to feel relief - he didn't kill the greatest war hero's son. He could explain the attack on the Ravenclaws somehow, but killing Potter would be a completely different level of crime.

Scorpius stood up and, for a few more seconds, stared at an unconscious boy. Next, his eyes moved to the keys he still held in his hand. Suddenly, Scorpius felt disgusted at what came to his mind. He shouldn't have done that; it was a very low blow, and a pride wizard or even Muggle shouldn't do it that way. However, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a perfect solution in that situation.

He would be lynched for what had happened here, but young Potter probably would only be grounded, so Scorpius didn't have space for a moral dilemma. With one fast move, he placed the keys into Gryffindor's pocket and quickly turned around. As fast as possible, he ran from the place before the teachers could find him there.

The next morning, the chaos in school was hard to describe. Everyone spoke about the accident in the South Tower, and all the teachers tried to figure out what had happened there. Even the Headmaster McGonagall had seen the place and talked with those who had gotten there first. She also had visited the Hospital Wing, where old Madam Pomfrey healed three students who got hurt in the previous day's incident.

Paradoxically, the one who suffered the most was Potter, who had cast the spell and had been in the heart of the explosion. He had a few broken ribs, many cuts, and a severe concussion. The Ravenclaws were in better shape because when trying to fight the Symplonettle fumes, Backsing had broken the window at the end of the classroom, and at the moment of the explosion, he and Nash had sat there, where fumes density was much lower. The impact only befuddled them, and in the Hospital Wing, they healed only burns on their arms and heads. At the same time, Madam Pomfrey put on them various cleaning liquids and charms because they still smelled quite awful.

Of course, the question was what exactly had happened there. The Headmaster questioned both beaters, but their answers were incoherent and rather unbelievable, which could be an effect of post-traumatic shock as well as an attempt to hide their guilt. Certainly, they shouldn't walk there that late at night and, moreover, destroy the classroom, but what brought them there in the first place was still a mystery for the Headmaster and teachers.

Everyone hoped that Potter would put a little light on that case, but he had been unconscious for almost two days, and when woke up, he didn't remember anything from that night. He couldn't tell why he had come to the South Tower and why he had the keys to the old herbology classroom.

Of course, there were many speculations about what had happened, but the most popular said that it had been revenge for a too-aggressive play on the last Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match.

Scorpius didn't pay much attention to the stupid insinuation; he was much more eager to know if his name was present among potential culprits. But it seemed no one suspected him, at least for now.

However, he still had a bad feeling about it, mainly because of Potter. Scorpius didn't understand why the Gryffindor had come there in the first place. He wasn't there by accident, that was for sure. Potter had walked with too much confidence and had known what he had been doing. He had come there on purpose, but probably he hadn't known any details; otherwise, he wouldn't blow everything up.

The question was if he had known that Scorpius was involved in it and how he had found out about that. These thoughts didn't leave Scorpius, especially when he remembered how Potter had been watching him at the last Potions class.

Scorpius didn't have any idea how to verify his suspicions. He couldn't simply go to the Hospital Wing and ask Potter - it would be an admission of guilt. Even if someone would believe that Scorpius went there to see his friend - which was hardly believable - he couldn't ask Potter why he had been spying on him in the South Tower and why he had destroyed his perfectly planned revenge. It would be absurd.

Fortunately, the holiday break would start in a few days, and Scorpius hoped that everyone would have forgotten about that incident when they left the school. After the break, when students came back to Hogwarts, there would be many other interesting topics to discuss. With those thoughts, Scorpius counted down the hours left for him to leave as well. Not that he missed his home, but currently, he felt a little too much pressure and was far too much irritated that he didn't have the situation under control.

Three days after the explosion, the Ravenclaws beaters left the Hospital Wing, and Scorpius watched - with satisfaction - how other students avoided them. It wasn't something unexpected because the smell around them was still hardly bearable.

Moreover, Scorpius noticed they didn't look in his direction as they sought the one who caused their state. They searched for a culprit through older students because only they should know about Symplonettle and its attributes. Knowing that Scorpius wasn't going to avoid them, and with perfectly hidden enjoyment, he would watch as they ran through Hogwarts' corridors in a pointless search.

That day, when Scorpius walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, he didn't notice a shape that appeared right behind him. A moment later, he felt that someone caught him by the arm and pulled into the small room where the caretaker had his cleaning tools.

Scorpius froze when he spotted the end of the wand pointed right at his nose. The person who held it was James Potter, the older brother of Albus. The Gryffindor from the fifth year watched him with hate burning in his eyes, and his left hand was painfully clenched on Scorpius' right arm, preventing him from pulling his own wand.

"You'll pay for that, Malfoy!" Potter barked.

Scorpius looked at him with disbelief - it was obvious what he meant by that.

"What are you talking about?" Scorpius hissed, trying to cover his growing panic with anger.

"Don't play with me, scum! I know you were at the South Tower that night, and you are responsible for what happened there! You will pay for hurting Albus!" Potter wasn't even trying to restrain his anger; he looked like he wanted to rip Scorpius into pieces.

"Are you mad? What would I do there?"

"I don't know, but I'll find out! I will find evidence, and then you will regret that you even thought about attacking my brother. I won't allow the trash like you to taint Hogwarts again. Your father escaped justice, but you won't be so lucky!"

Scorpius wasn't sure when that discussion turned to his family, but he wasn't going to allow that.

"So that's the case…" he started with a poisonous tone. "You are trying to find a scapegoat, someone you can accuse and prove that you are as good as your great father - Harry Potter." Saying that he pushed away the wand that was still pointed at his face. "Sorry, but I'm not going to be your whipping boy. Come back when you get some real evidence; otherwise, your words are only stupid daydreaming."

Scorpius knew that in the situation when his word was against Potter's, he was in the losing position, but if Potter had something on him, he would be at McGonagall's office already. Instead, he tried to find out the truth by force, so it seemed he didn't have any real proof of Scorpius' guilt.

For the next moment, Potter scanned the mischievous smile on Scorpius' face. Then, he released him and went to the door. Before he left, he turned around and said:

"Beware, Malfoy. I know you were there, and if I find you near my brother one more time, you will regret it."

Scorpius didn't even flinch at these words, and he still looked at Potter with a challenge in his eyes. Furious, Potter left the room and closed the door with a loud thump. Only then, Scorpius subsided to the flood, rested his back on the shelf, and began to laugh hysterically. His father spent all his childhood fighting with Gryffindors, to the point when they wanted to kill each other. Scorpius also never had good relations with them, and currently, one of them wanted to skin him alive. It seemed history was about to repeat itself.

Scorpius felt relief when he jumped into the train to London two days later. Since the meeting with James Potter, Scorpius had the constant feeling that the bloody Gryffindor watched him somehow, even when he wasn't anywhere nearby.

Scorpius was almost sure that James spied his every move, and that wasn't a pleasant thought. However, it seemed Potter didn't have the manners of Ravenclaw's beaters and wasn't going to take his revenge without hard proof of Scorpius's guilt, but he was determined to bring justice; if not for hurting Albus, then for any other crimes that Scorpius would commit.

The fact that the younger Potter was still in the Hospital Wing didn't ease anything. It only encouraged James to take action.

That annoying feeling disappeared only when Scorpius left the train at King's Cross station. Then, after a half-hour break, he took another train to his hometown. The trip wasn't long; reading some books, he quickly spotted a very well-known landscape through the window.

Scorpius got off at the small station, where stood only one old building with a broken roof. He had heard from his mother that in the past, the butler with a carriage would be waiting for him, but that time was long gone, and he had to deal with it by himself. He had a long walk to the manor, but, fortunately, it wasn't snowing.

In the past, all surrounding lands had belonged to his family, including the station and a small village near the manor. Currently, only the house and a little ground around it were in Malfoy's hands. After the Dark Lord fell, the Ministry of Magic took most of his family's fortune for the sake of after-war reparation. Lucius Malfoy, however, didn't end up in Azkaban. Instead, he went under Auror's strict wardship for the rest of his life, and finally, he went mad. He had constant visions of the return of the Dark Lord, and he had died not too long after Scorpius' birth.

Scorpius hadn't known him better than his grandmother Narcissa, who had also died when he was a child.

Luckily, they still had support from the Greengrass branch. His mother's family wasn't engaged in the last war, but they weren't rich enough to change Malfoy's situation.

When the fortune was gone, and the manor, without the housekeepers and necessary renovations, began to fall into ruin, Scorpius' parents had to take things into their own hands and go to work. His mother, Astoria - who was from a proper family and didn't have any correlation with the Dark Lord - found a minor job in Gringotts Wizarding Bank, but his father wasn't so lucky. As an ex-Death Eater and one who had tried to kill the previous Hogwarts Headmaster, he didn't have a chance for success in that matter. Nobody in the whole Wizarding World would ever assign him to the smallest job. So, he had only one option left - he had to withdraw his pride and prejudice and begin searching for something in the Muggle world. For a couple of years, he had been working in real estate; however, he never talked about his work and what exactly he was doing. Every time someone talked about it, he cut them off immediately, so Scorpius quickly learned that if he didn't want to enrage his father, he had to avoid that topic.

Drowned by these unpleasant thoughts, Scorpius at least came to the manor and opened an old, heavy door. Immediately, from one of the rooms, emerged his mother, like always, with a gentle smile on her face, flawless dress and neatly combed hair. She came closer and kissed him on the forehead.

"I was thinking you should come in a minute. How was your trip?"

"Without any trouble. I even managed not to mismatch the King's Cross platforms," Scorpius replied, allowing his mother's closeness to erase all his dark thoughts.

Astoria chuckled lightly.

"Please, come inside and change your clothes. You are frozen," she said and took him to the large living room, where a fire burned in the fireplace. "Draco should be here soon, so we can eat dinner together. Unless you are starving?"

"No, I can wait. I ate on the train."

With great pleasure, Scorpius took off his wet shoes and travel robe and sat down next to the fireplace. The heat quickly warmed his hands and feet and also improved his mood. When Astoria brought him a cup of hot chocolate, he finally felt at home.

Scorpius wasn't a person who had had a very traumatic childhood. Quite the opposite, in fact. As a boy, he had spent his time at the manor or wandering around with the village's kids. Only when he was eight he had understood that he wasn't like other children, that his whole family was different, and since he had gotten a letter from Hogwarts, he had known that everything would change.

When he had come to school, he had quickly seen the range of lies he lived in. He hadn't been the happiest child in the world, and he had learned the hard way that he would never be.

Scorpius never had much of an interest in the history of the world or his family. His parents also had never spoken much about it to him. Maybe they wanted to protect him from the awful truth, or maybe they were ashamed of it. Nonetheless, when he came to Hogwarts, he was full of childish ideas and dreams, so reality hit him even harder. He had quickly caught up with events that had taken place twenty years ago, and when he had come home on the winter holidays, he began to ask questions.

He would never forget that day.

Two years had passed, and he still remembered his very quiet mother, who didn't look at him, and his father, both angry and terrified by Scorpius' words - and many very ugly words had been said that day. Scorpius was so furious, the anger drowned him entirely when he had thought about every lie they had said to him. They had hidden all truths from him: the truth about his origin, about the last war, and the truth about his father - who he had been and whom he had worked for. Furious to the core, Scorpius had thrown heartless accusations, and he hadn't stopped even the cruellest statements. He had repeated many times how much he was sick of that, how much he felt cheated, and how much he hated them both.

It lasted for all of the holiday break, and finally, Scorpius came back to school, still full of anger and hate.

Sometimes, he still came back to these feelings, but he learned to hide them very deep under many layers of sarcasm, distrust or indifference. When the first wrath disappeared, he understood that he couldn't achieve anything that way. Whatever he did - how much hate he poured out on his father - it wouldn't change anything.

He wasn't a self-pitying person. Although he couldn't count on too much in the wizarding world, he promised himself that he would never allow anyone to bring him down. He would walk with his head high, and he would fight anyone who tried to humiliate him.

That day, Scorpius wasn't going to reopen these wounds and destroy his holiday. The next day, his grandparents would come, and they would spend that time together. Scorpius loved them and didn't want to disappoint them because of his vicious tongue - but he didn't do it for the sake of his father, but rather for his mother, who always worried about what happened in their home.

The sound of the opened door brought him back to reality, and when he turned around, he spotted his father coming into the room. Like always, Draco was wearing a black suit and had a small briefcase in his hand. Scorpius didn't remember the last time he had seen his father wearing any other colour, even when he was staying at home.

"Scorpius, I see you are early," he said with a tired voice.

Scorpius knew that, to some extent, his father was happy to see him, but after that horrifying holiday two years ago, they never came back to what was before. Between them was rather cold acceptance than any warmer feelings.

It was even worse when Scorpius came back home after a longer period. Then, it was very hard for them to speak to each other naturally. Everything sounded like fake kindness.

Scorpius got up from the floor and nodded.

"Mom's waiting with dinner."

A small smile appeared on Draco's face.

"So don't make her wait any longer."

Saying that he led Scorpius to the dining room.

"So, tell me, how are your lessons going?" asked Astoria when they sat at the table.

Scorpius didn't consider, even for a second, telling his parents about his lost Potions book. It would only sadden his mother, nothing more. She had always taken to heart any mentions of his not-so-good relationship with other students.

"I think it's quite good. I don't have any problems with Charms and Transfiguration. Potions are a little worse. I don't have enough patience for it," he answered with an even tone of voice.

"Maybe you are thinking too much about unnecessary things. If you are not concentrated enough, your potions will never be perfect," said Astoria.

Draco nodded slightly in agreement.

"One wrong move, and you have to start from the beginning," he added.

Scorpius knew that Potions were his father's domain. It was one more proof of how different they were - Scorpius never had the determination or patience for brewing.

However, Scorpius didn't want to speak about Potions, so he quickly followed to the next lesson. He told them how he got a good note on Herbology the previous week. Draco didn't even flinch when he heard about Professor Longbottom's work, even though Scorpius knew how low he thought of his abilities.

Scorpius also talked about Divination, which was a very strange lesson, and how Professor Trelawney was a really crazy person who constantly prophesied someone's death. His mother chuckled, hearing the last sentence. She said that there were things at Hogwarts that never changed.

"Like in Charms, I'm also very good at the Defence Against the Dark Arts," Scorpius continued. "These lessons have many common grounds. But in the last few weeks, I have been a little bored because there are so many students who don't get it at all. We should learn defences against a boggart, but I don't believe it will happen any time soon."

"So you should practise on your own," suggested Astoria. "You can ask your teacher for some additional materials. You shouldn't waste your time sitting and waiting. Better focus on improving your skills. You never know when it may be useful."

"With your predisposition, you should be more active," added Draco. "You have talents that shouldn't be wasted."

Scorpius looked at his father with hardly-covered irritation. He had a very snarky response in his mind – as a Malfoy, he wouldn't have any use of these talents. It didn't matter if he could learn new spells with ease (this talent he probably had from his great grandmother, who was a very brilliant witch) when he would work as a baker at Diagon Alley or as a gardener in another rich family home. It would be even less useful if he would work with Muggles like his father. In truth, that last option didn't sound so bad. When other wizards detested that kind of job, for him, it was more than attractive. In the Muggle world, he wouldn't have to live with the curse of being a Death Eater's son.

"It's hard to believe that Professor Willick would want to help me. He is Ravenclaw to the core," Scorpius said finally, but he couldn't cover a vicious note in his voice. "I can say that his attitude towards Slytherins is rather cold."

"A teacher shouldn't…" Astoria began, but Scorpius cut it out.

"He shouldn't, but in the end, he has much more time for Ravenclaws than any other students."

At that moment, he remembered the two particular students of Ravenclaw who had beaten him to a pulp. Did they still stink? That thought made him smile in a manner he shouldn't smile in the presence of his parents. The vile smile reflected the bad part of his nature, a part that could easily overwhelm everything else. For them, he still was a good boy, a student full of ideals, and a son that they could be proud of. Any of these was true.

"What is so funny?" asked Draco suspiciously.

Correct, it was his mother who still saw him as an innocent child. His father was more perceiving.

At one moment, he lost all his self-control. He felt completely sick of pretending that he was happy at Hogwarts. All that chatting about lessons and teachers was absolutely meaningless. Whatever he did, whatever talent he had, it didn't matter. He would still be only an evil Slytherin. And his parents were fully hypocrites if they didn't want to see it.

"I remembered one funny situation," he began, and when his parents looked at him, he quickly added. "A few days ago, I blew Potter up into the air."