Chapter 18
Elle,
Meet me at the fireplace of room 222 on the first Saturday of March, at midnight. Tell no one. I'm being followed. I think they have eyes on you too.
All my love,
Mum
The second letter had been even shorter than the first, but Elle could not bring herself to be disappointed. She would see her mother in two short months. Every time she thought of it, she felt a jolt of energy up her spine. She could hardly sit still.
"Are you sure-" Rose asked for the thousandth time that Saturday. "Yes" Elle cut her off. "I'm sure I don't want to tell McGonagall." "But-" "Rose, we've been over this. It's clearly going to be a conversation by floo. No one is actually coming into Hogwarts. Hogwarts is safe." Albus answered, speaking over the nervous Rose. The same back and forth had been repeating all week, ever since Elle had presented the letter and they had had their first fervent discussion on its contents. "Okay" Rose said quietly. "Albus, we'll need the cloak that night. Someone will have to keep watch" Elle said, also for about the thousandth time that week. "Done" Albus said.
The seven second years looked around the circular library table at each other for a long moment. "So…" Sam asked, "what now?" Elle sighed. "For now, we wait. There's nothing else we can do." "Well…" Scorpius started, before petering off. It was too late though - everyone was now looking at him. Scorpius blushed slightly. "There's still Goyle. The letter says she thinks "they" have eyes on you too." Elle nodded thoughtfully. She had been so focused on the fact that she may be seeing her mother soon that Goyle had slipped her mind entirely. "It's got to be him" confirmed Albus. "He must have slipped the letter into Ruth's trunk, probably got news from McGonagall that yours was going to be searched." "He must know we're mates if he's been spying on you" Ruth affirmed, though she looked less certain.
"So how do we move forward?" Scorpius asked, "we've been spying on him for months and we haven't learned anything." "If only we could get into that meeting!" Elle exclaimed, immediately lowering her voice at the hushing of Madam Pince. "Wait" Albus said, "I've got an idea. It'll be bloody difficult though… Have you ever heard of Polyjuice potion?" "What!" gasped Rose. "Albus that's NEWT level potions." "Scorpius could do it." Albus replied confidently. "I would need your help!" Scorpius interjected, his ears flaming red.
Elle listened intently as Albus then went over the particulars of Polyjuice potion. "It takes about a month to brew, but we have to prepare first… some of the ingredients are really rare. I think we can order some of them special though, if we pool our pocket money… and of course we'll need somewhere secret that we can brew it…" Elle nodded along. It seemed very complicated, and about a million things could go wrong, but it was the best shot they had. As much as Rose protested, she was unable to come up with any viable alternatives. Rose's trepidation, however, was matched in Sam's enthusiasm. "We never did get revenge on Tobias and Esmond" Sam said, balling his hands into fists. "I, for one, haven't forgotten what they said on the train."
Elle frowned. Up until Sam brought it up, she had forgotten what Tobias and Esmond had said on the train. It was very unlike her to forget something like that. There had been the letter, she supposed, soon after the train incident. And then she had made the Quidditch team, and her days had been so full of studying and flying that she had barely any time to think at all. But Sam hadn't forgotten. And by the way Scorpius was pursing his lips and Albus was nodding vigorously, they hadn't forgotten either.
Suddenly, Elle felt a little sick to her stomach. Elle could hear Albus's voice echoing vividly in her head. "You can be so selfish sometimes Elle." At the time, when Albus had confronted her at the end of last year, Elle had needed to hear that. Even now, maybe she needed to be reminded. Elle swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling very dry. "I'm sorry" Elle said earnestly. "We should have dealt with Tobias and Esmond a long time ago." Scorpius shrugged easily. "To be honest, they haven't been too bad this year. I think you making the Quidditch team made us popular enough that they mostly leave us alone." "Do we really want to do all this then?" Isidre asked anxiously. "I mean, things have been better this year. If Tobias and Esmond catch us, it'll be way worse."
Elle's heart lurched. She remembered that Isidre had a rougher time than all of them, especially when he was alone in his cohort. She looked across the table. "This is…" she started and cleared her throat. "This is my fight. I don't want to bring you all into this if you don't want to. I won't think any less of you, honest. I know it's risky." "Don't be ridiculous" Rose said brusquely. "It's not just your fight. We're in this together." Everyone nodded, even Isidre (though haltingly). Selfish a cruel voice whispered in the back of Elle's mind. She forced a smile.
"Right" said Albus, getting up from his seat. "First order of business is ordering those supplies. Scorpius and I will go and grab some parchment. Cough up some galleons" he said, holding his hand out to Rose. Rose, grumbling only slightly, produced half of her Christmas allowance. Ruth, to his surprise, matched Rose's donation. Sam held his empty hands up apologetically, and Elle shook her head sadly as well. Isidre dug through his school bag, tongue between his teeth, and produced three sickles and a knut. Albus nodded. "Alright. We'll let you know if we can order everything we still need. I've got the potions book already in my dorm, thanks for the gift by the way Scorpius, please keep stealing random books from Malfoy manor and sending them my way." Scorpius grinned. "Anytime."
The two boys took their leave from the library. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, and Albus was almost sorry to be heading down to the dungeons, if it wasn't for one thing. "Honestly, Scor, I'm disappointed in you." "Hmm?" Scorpius asked, pulling his gaze away from the window, where he had likely been thinking about the fair weather as well. Albus repeated himself. Scorpius' mouth twisted into a soft frown, his brows knitting in confusion. "What?" the blonde boy asked.
"I said what I said" Albus replied, huffing and pretending to be cross. "You really must think ill of me." Scorpius was growing more confused by the minute. "Why would you say that!" he said, sounding mildly hurt. "You really don't know?" Albus teased, putting an exaggerated stomp in his step. At this point they were turning into the dungeons and the air became draftier. Albus shivered, and in stroke of inspiration, kept his shoulders hunched. He spoke no more for several paces, purposely walking half a step ahead of his companion to hide the grin on his face.
It was only when Scorpius called out "honest. I don't know what I've done" with the sound of tears threatening his voice that Albus took pity on him. He opened the door to their dorm with a flourish and said: "you really thought I forgot your Christmas gift." He turned to see the colour rapidly returning to Scorpius' pale face. A small smile was forming on his lips. Albus tsked. "It's been a week, and you haven't said a word about it. Even though I told you that I wanted to give it to you at the castle." "I didn't want to ask…" Scorpius replied bashfully.
"Let that be a lesson to you then" Albus said with a fake air of chastising. "Good things come to those who ask. Behold!" and with that final word, Albus yanked open the curtain to his four-poster bed, revealing the assortment laid out on his sheets. Scorpius immediately approached, grabbing the nearest object and inspecting the label. "Muggle sweets?" he asked. Albus ran his fingers through his hair, nodding proudly. "I bought two of everything I could afford. There are fruit pasties, penguin bars, minstrels… you really ought to try this galaxy bar first I reckon. And check out these jellybeans. All of them are good flavours! No chance of getting dog food, so I reckon you can break your vow to never put another in your mouth ever again." "I… I don't know what to say" Scorpius said, running his fingers over the pile of sweets.
"Don't say anything" Albus said "your mouth should already be full. I've changed my mind. Start with the quality street. Pick a colour and tell me what you think it tastes like." Scorpius paused uncertainly, and Albus correctly read his features. "All good flavours again mate" he said with a laugh "muggles don't usually eat nasty stuff on purpose. And somehow purebloods think they're smarter."
It took more than an hour for the two boys to remember that they were supposed to be ordering some supplies for the Polyjuice potion. "Boomslang skin… that isn't anywhere in the Apothecary's order list!" Albus sighed in frustration. Scorpius looked up from where he had been studying 'Moste Potente Potions', the gift he had sent Albus for Christmas. "It wouldn't be… that's a really rare ingredient." Albus rolled his eyes and was about to comment on how unhelpful that was when Scorpius stood up and started digging through his book bag, shuffling some papers. "It's on this one" he said, holding up a standard order form from Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary. Albus took the parchment from Scorpius. "I've never heard of that shop" Albus said, frowning. "You wouldn't have" Scorpius replied. "It's in Knockturn alley."
Albus looked at Scorpius in surprise. "You've been to Knockturn alley?" he asked, incredulous. Scorpius blushed faintly. "I do a lot of my school shopping there" he said. "It's easier when I'm out with father to go there. Sometimes people will yell at us on the main streets. Or refuse to let us shop in their store." Albus tried to nod somberly but couldn't contain how impressed his was. "You know, my mum caught James trying to sneak down there once, and she pulled him down the street by his ear for three blocks." Scorpius let out a weak chuckle. "There's no ice cream shops in Knockturn Alley though" Scorpius said sadly. "Mate, you cannot possibly be thinking about ice cream right now" Albus groaned, rubbing his stomach. "We just ate half a sweets shop." Scorpius nodded in agreement, looking queasily at the pile of wrappers on Albus' bed, but he did not return Albus's laugh.
It wasn't until they had sent their orders off at the owlery that Albus managed to arrange the words he wanted to say in his head. "Scorpius" he said. The blonde boy looked at him, the soft cooing of owls all around them. He had been in a sad silence since his confession. "I know it's not the same…" he started. "But I've never had Florian's ice cream either. My dad tried to take us once, but we got mobbed. I remember, Lily was only three, and she started screaming. Everyone just wanted a picture, or to be eating ice cream on the same patio as my dad, or whatever. It was scary though. It's probably not so bad anymore. We're older, and it's been longer since the war. But I've never been back. Even walking by the place, I start to feel like the crowd is pressing in on me. Like I'm five years old all over again." Albus shivered. Scorpius rested a hand on his shoulder.
For a long while, only the soft sounds of the owls could be heard. "Do muggles have ice cream shops too?" Scorpius asked, finally breaking the silence. Albus grinned. "That might be harder to smuggle on the train…" "Good thing you've got a full year to figure it out" Scorpius said easily. Their laughter woke a few too many owls, and they had to run out to avoid their grumpy beaks.