Chapter Three

Malfoy-Nott Townhouse

Muggle London, UK

Evening the day prior taking the Hogwarts Express

Lyra

Revenge really was Lyra's strong suit. She never let anyone mess with her or Scorpius without feeling her wrath. Now Rose Weasley was going to feel Lyra's wrath. She still hadn't decided exactly how she was going to do it though.

A hex that made her afraid of her own shadow?

Shampoo that made her hair fall out?

A love potion so that she fell in love with a boy she couldn't stand? Damian Flint would be an excellent candidate. The current captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team and Rose despised one another. She'd probably have to dose Damian as well, but sometimes sacrifices were necessary, not sacrifices on Lyra's part of course.

The options were honestly endless, but Lyra wanted to think of something really really special for that little bitch. It needed to be something that could not be traced back to her, because she refused to allow that sorry excuse for a witch to ruin Lyra's chance at being Head Girl.

Albus had spent the last week and a half of the winter hols at their house and had been angry and inconsolable by turns which meant that Scorpius was just as upset and hiding it in his usual Malfoy way. Lyra did not like alot of people, but she liked Albus, even if he had an awful name, and she loved Scorpius, even if he annoyed her at times.

She'd actually been surprised that Rose's mother had only told the Daily Prophet about Albus and Scorpius. She kept waiting for the cheap, trashy headline about Paige, James, and herself to appear. She was amazed that they'd held back on that juicy bit of gossip. Her parents' triad aside, they were still relatively uncommon and most certainly news worthy, especially when she was the Malfoy heiress and James was the Chosen One's first born son. Paige's parents had amazing amounts of their own notoriety, but the fact that they mostly stayed in Italy kind of took the shine off the gossip about them. Regardless, they'd certainly bring up the fact that Paige's mother had tried to give James' dad up to Voldemort. That was assuredly the kind of nonsense that sold papers, even though Aunt Pansy was now much better known for her fashion line. Bringing up drama from the second wizarding war seemed to be the only way that the Daily Prophet stayed relevant.

Lyra packed up her trunk for the return back to Hogwarts carefully, adding a couple potions that George Weasley had given her for her last birthday. He'd sent her mum a note apologising for his family and a sealed envelope for Albus that had been handed off.

Later Albus came back with his eyes red and puffy. Lyra still wondered what the note had said.

Albus

"I don't want to go back to school," Albus moaned. "Can't we just drop out and live off our inheritances?"

Scorpius laughed. "Aren't I supposed to be the melodramatic one in our relationship, Al?"

"I don't think that I agreed to that, honestly." Albus pulled a pillow over his eyes. "I don't see why we can't both be dramatic."

"No one will want to put up with us," Scorpius pointed out as he packed some of his new clothes into his trunk.

"No one wants to put up with us now," Albus cried.

Sitting next to him on the bed, Scorpius ran a soothing hand over his boyfriend's leg. "Hey, lift up the pillow." Once Albus lifted the pillow and met his boyfriend's kind eyes, Scorpius offered a sweet smile. "You know that's not true. My family loves us. And if we stay together and someday get married you'll be part of this family too. What's the matter?"

Albus tried to hold back tears, but they overflowed anyway. He pulled out the owl message that he'd gotten earlier that day. His hand shook as he handed it over to Scorpius. The words hurt so much it felt like they were embedded in his soul.

Albus Severus Potter,

I am beyond disappointed in you. Bad enough that you fancy other blokes, but a Malfoy?! This is all that mouldering old Sorting Hat's fault. I'm of half a mind to light it on fire!

I knew that I should never have let you spend time at that harlot's house. She always thought she was too good for us and now that's what you think too isn't it? Too good to spend the holiday with us, would rather be with your rich boyfriend and his family? Even writing the word makes me physically ill. You'll grow out of this phase, but now that it's been reported in the Prophet you may have a very difficult time finding a witch in Britain who will have you. Your grandmother is positively ill over all this you know; hopefully the stress of this doesn't put her in St. Mungo's! I can't believe that you ruined one of our family gatherings like that! If you are ready to come home we'll arrange for you to see a mind healer so you can get all this brainwashing sorted out.

Mum.

Scorpius

Scorpius read it twice, not certain that this horror show could possibly be real.

"Good gods, Albus," Scorpius exhaled, not even sure what to say about this.

"At least she didn't send a howler." Albus shrugged.

"Mum has had an anti-howler ward set up since that article about Lyra and the rest of us was published before she started at Hogwarts. The hate mail was intense at first from both sides. The Purebloods were angry that Mum ended multiple Pure bloodlines and the old Order of the Phoenix called Mum a traitor and accused the dads of doing all kinds of awful things to get her to marry them." Frowning as he remembered those awful days, Scorpius looked over the note again. "So if she tried to send a howler it wouldn't have gotten through. Is she trying to send you to one of those bloody mediaeval mind healers that claim they can make gay wizards like witches?"

Albus nodded. "That's what it sounds like, isn't it? She can't really do that can she?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I don't actually know. Can I show this to my mum?" Scorpius squeezed Albus' knee reassuringly. "She'll know what to do."

"Yeah," Albus mumbled as he pulled the pillow back over his face.

"Don't suffocate yourself," Scorpius commanded, only partially joking. "I'll be right back." He grabbed his wand and cast the charm that would finish packing his trunk in seconds rather than the hour or so he had left to do it the Muggle way. He padded down the hallway looking for his mum.

He could hear her voice inside her bedroom and knocked lightly, discovering his mum and dad reading to Cassie on the bed. Tears were on Cassie's little pink cheeks and she was obviously about to have another tantrum.

"Cass, sorry to interrupt storytime, but I really need to borrow Mum for a bit. It's super important. Is that okay?" Cassiopeia nodded regally. "Thanks so much, I'll return her as soon as possible."

"You do dat, Scworpie." The littlest of the Granger-Malfoy-Notts crossed her arms looking every bit as intense as their father in that moment. Cassie was in charge when she was in residence in the townhouse and everyone knew it.

Scorpius could tell that his mum was fighting back laughter, as she rose kissing Cassie on the crown of her head.

"I promise I'll be right back," Mum told her. "Theo, just finish that book and I should be back and if not there's another one on my bedside table." Their dad just cuddled Cassie closer and continued wherever it was that their mum had left off.

Hermione

Hermione pulled the bedroom door closed behind her, and smiled at Scorpius.

"Your sister is having a really hard time with you all going to Hogwarts in the morning. Especially now that it's certain that she isn't going to get to go." Hermione wasn't sure how much longer they were going to be able to keep it a secret from those outside the immediate family that their littlest child was a Squib. Not that Hermione was embarrassed of her, far be it, but Cassieopeia was only five, she deserved some anonymity. Hermione had caved to Narcissa and allowed her mother-in-law to bribe the mediwitch at St. Mungo's who had diagnosed it. Narcissa had been right as much as it pained Hermione to admit, the Malfoys had to offer more than the woman could get selling the story to the Daily Prophet. Her magic had never gone haywire when she was pregnant that last time so it wasn't as though Draco and Theo hadn't discussed with her the possibility that Cassie didn't have a magical core of her own.

Scorpius nodded and squeezed her hand. "You're the best mum in the world, you'll figure out how to make her feel special instead of just different."

Emotion overwhelmed Hermione for a second and she had to choke back tears for a minute. Her only son was always such a wise little creature, an old soul her grandmother would have said. "Thanks sweetheart. I love you very much." Hermione managed to push the words through a throat that had turned thick. "What was it you needed though?"

Scorpius handed over a letter that he had in his hand. "Albus just got this from his mum, and gods Mum, it's awful."

Hermione took it and unfolded it, blanching as her eyes ran over the words. It grew worse with every line.

Disappointed.

Bad enough.

Harlot.

Too good for us.

Physically ill.

Ruined.

Brainwashing.

"Oh bloody hell," Hermione cursed, wiping away the tears that had overflowed as she'd been reading the hateful, homophobic message from Ginny Potter. "I need you to take this down to your father, he's in his office, and have him owl the solicitor. I'm going to go chat with Albus, okay?"

Scorpius squeezed Hermione tight around the waist, pressing his face into her like he did when he was young. It had been a number of years since he'd hugged her like this, so Hermione wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him back, trying to imbue every second with her overwhelming love and acceptance of everything about him. Her son was a treasure and she loved him with every fibre of her being and she was going to do everything in her power so that he knew that every day of his life. Forced to witness the conditional nature of another mother's love, Hermione swore to herself that her children would never feel the way that Albus must feel right now.

"I knew you would know what to do about this, Mum. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you so much."

Hermione held him when he started to cry and made soothing sounds until he calmed. Someday Scorpius would be a man, but for now he was still her little boy. Her heart broke for Albus all over again.