Sins of the Fathers part three

[blamebrampton]

Title Sins of the Fathers 3/4 (I know, I know ... Let's face it, I lied about it all being done by now. And then it grew. But on the plus side, there's more! And I promise you that the final part is all-but done!)
Author blamebrampton
[Unknown site tag]Characters Scorpius and Albus, and pretty much everyone still alive at the end of DH, plus a few sundry extras working for scale.
Rating PG 13, Adult themes, language,
Words 9751
Notes Absolutely nothing to do with Jo Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic or any other media titans. But affectionately nicked from all of the above.
Completely thanks to sansa1970 , whose brilliant list of 20 Random Facts About Scorpius Malfoy is the entire reason this story exists. I did have to switch the order of facts 17 and 18, or else try to fit Scorpius's personal life into the last two weeks of June, which I thought was a but rushed, even for our golden-haired hero.

Without jadzialove this would be a mess of terrible typos and stupidity, and without anthimaeria I would probably still be looking at fandom askance. A world of thanks to both of you!

And if anyone out there is shipping Rose/Scorpius, enjoy it while it lasts, I'm afraid. Sorry.

Go here for part one
Go here for part two

XVI
Sometimes the castle laughs at Scorpius. He is never wholly sure why.

You are so young, I forget, it tells him. You know so much and so little at the same time.

"What are you talking about?" Scorpius is too amused to be offended.

The castle shows him in Al's Room of Requirement, swooping through the arches on his broom. Al is watching him with the intent and happy look he always seems to wear.

"Well." Scorpius tosses his hair in faux dudgeon. "If flying is considered youthful and foolish, I'd rather be a child." And he bursts into laughter, too. If anything, the castle laughs harder.

He goes downstairs. Lester is in the Ravenclaw common room again, ostensibly conferring with Mari on Head Boy/Head Girl business, but the whole house has known about their relationship from its inception a few months before. As he has been doing for months now, he makes a point of checking on Scorpius, too.

"I hear Mari wants you to take over as captain next year," he says. "It's a good choice, you have a good tactical brain."

"Yeah," Scorpius shrugs. "But I think that Laura Wadcock would be better. And her aunt might not cope if she leaves school without being captain."

Lester laughs. "Damn Quidditch families. It's the same in Gryffindor, James Potter is convinced he'll be disowned if he doesn't get the job."

"Al would do a better job," Scorpius thinks out loud.

"Yes, he would," Lester agrees. "But I think he'll follow your lead, as usual."

"He doesn't follow me, I follow him," Scorpius doesn't even think these words before he says them.

Lester looks at him, understanding. "I know you do, mate. Anyway, I won't see you much over the next few weeks, so I wanted to ask you about catching up over the holidays. I'm taking a year off, but I don't head for Spain until September, so you're more than welcome to come and stay with us, or I could pop by and see you one day."

Scorpius grins. "That'd be great. You should come and stay with us, Dad thinks the world of you, and Al's usually over for at least a week, so you can see both of us.

"That'd be good. I like your dad." Scorpius's father has stayed in touch with Lester through the course of the year, and has lined up several appointments for him when he returns from his gap year. He jokes about it being the only way he can do anything for Slytherin these days.

"And maybe you can all come and see me in Spain next year?"

"Yeah, that'd be good, too." Scorpius looks at him for a moment. "It's going to be weird," he concludes. "Not having you here. It's as though you keep a steadying hand on the school."

"That's because you are all tiny little munchkins in the face of my physical mightiness." Lester grins, looking down on Scorpius from his full six-foot-four.

"That and the fact that you have a mind like an Italian politician; Renaissance version, not the current lot."

Lester breathes an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin, I'd have had to top myself if you'd been suggesting I reminded you of the Ministero di Magia. Did they ever find their accountants?"

"No." Scorpius shakes his head sadly. "But I heard from Al's uncle that Gringotts were happy to provide some new identities in turn for being given the account."

"Sometimes I think we need a European Union as much as the Muggles ..."

They sit laughing for a short while, aware that this part of their friendship is near its end.

"Lester," Scorpius says, "Thanks. I know you hosed down a lot of crap for me this year."

"Eh," Lester shrugs. "I was more than happy to pummel Byford." They both know this is not exactly what Scorpius means. Lester looks at Scorpius seriously. "I'm counting on you, now. You can keep them all together once I leave. It can't go back to the way it was before the War, no matter how much bullshitting politicians indulge in. This has to be a place of learning and safety. Too many students died so that it would be."

There is a long pause. Lester is looking at Scorpius with great seriousness. Scorpius frowns. "I'm not you," he says, not sure Lester's talking to the right person.

"Malfoy, you muppet, you are, and this pains me, slightly smarter than I am. I admit that you are but a wee pasty creature, but Al hangs out with you all the time and he's handsome enough for the two of you. And I can't think of anyone in the school who doesn't like at least one of you. If you ask him, he'll help. Between the two of you, I'm sure you can manage as much as I did."

"Wanker." Scorpius grins at him. "But yeah, OK. We'll keep it up. I'm not sure you could have found anyone more inflammatory than a Potter and a Malfoy, though."

Lester winks merrily. "I know. That's why it's bound to work. People have too fine a sense of irony to tell the two of you about the War and its fallout."

"I fear for our world if you are ever in a position of power."

"Cheers, mate. Must dash, important Head Boy/Head Girl business ..." and the wink he gives before regaining Mari's attention is positively filthy.

Lester and the other seventh years are well into their NEWTs when Scorpius receives an Owl from his father a few weeks later. Which is frustrating, because Scorpius really wants someone older to tell him that his suspicions are all misplaced.

"I'm sorry, son, but we need you to come home alone for the first fortnight. There are family matters to discuss," it says, among pages of news regarding the gardens, Ministry changes and general chatter.

He asks the castle what it could mean. It attempts to cheer him up. The Manor has been made over into a research library and you are all moving to the Cotswolds? it suggests. Your father has taken to dyeing his hair blue in a bid to stay in touch with the younger generation?

Scorpius thanks it for its efforts, he knows it means well. The Castle distracts him with a quick tour around the school. Look, there's Goshawk looming over first years. Did you know that Professor Flitwick had a long dalliance with an Italian soprano? On the topic of dalliances, the reason Professor Longbottom has stayed at school for the least three weekends is not that he is overseeing a complex experiment, but rather that two of his girlfriends found out about each other and he is letting things calm down before he talks to them.

"How many girlfriends does Professor Longbottom have?" Scorpius asks, intrigued despite himself.

I've only heard of nine. Here's the second year choir, they sound good, don't they.

"Yeah, they do. What's Al up to?"

He's with his brother and sister, they're talking about something in the Gryffindor common room. Would you like to see?

"That's fine, I'll talk to him later. The choir's nice." Scorpius drifts off to sleep listening to the music, and doesn't wake till his dorm mates tramp in hours later.

The next morning he breaks the bad news to Al. "It's just for the first two weeks, I can come to your place later, and that will mean you'll probably be at mine in the week Lester can make it, so he can Apparate us places, which will be great."

Al seems a little distracted. "That'll be good, yeah," he agrees. "Hope everything's OK."

Scorpius shrugs. "They're probably turning the Manor into a research library."

The remaining weeks of school rush by. On the last Hogsmeade weekend, Lester and Mari, free from exams join Scorpius and the Potter/Weasley contingent at the Three Broomsticks, in the lunch gathering that has become tradition among them since James invited everyone else along to Scorpius's lunch with Rose, reasoning they would need chaperones.

As always, James sits with Rose and she calls him a man-trollop. "If only there was a better word ..." she ponders.

"Mollop?" Mari suggests.

Lester offers "Chumpet."

"Town blike," suggests Lily, which elicits an "Oi!" and the raised finger of none of that language from you, young lady from her oldest brother.

"It is your fault, James," Lester consoles him. "I think Rose is the only looker at school that you've not gone out with. Which just goes to show you're mad, she's much lovelier than your usual bimbos."

Scorpius notes that Rose blushes to the tips of her ears at that comment.

"Don't be stupid, she's my cousin!" And with James's scoffing comment, Rose's blush disappears.

"You're the idiot," Lily interjects. "There's no law against going out with your cousins. Besides, none of our grandparents are closely related, so if we wanted to Hugo and I could get married and we'd produce beautiful, brilliant children and if the eldest ones ever picked on the littler ones, we'd lock them in a cupboard."

"You may not marry Hugo!" James says.

"Never did Dad much harm," Al says at the same time.

Rose waits for them to finish talking over each other before opining: "I would be aunt to the most irritating children the world has ever known. Don't expect babysitting."

"Anyway," James says in a lordly fashion. "It'll be Scorp and Rose, wait and see. You can't keep two megabrains like them apart for long."

Rose turns on James in a fury. Scorpius groans and drops his face into his hands. Al laughs and pats him on the back. Lester can be heard even above Rose's high-pitched declarations of James's stupidity. "That would be a genuine surprise ..."
 
At the end of term, his father meets him alone at the station. Scorpius looks about for his mother, but if he's being honest, he knows that this was inevitable. He stays quiet until they arrive home, then, as his Dad stands at the front door, trying to speak but only opening and closing his mouth, Scorpius puts his arms around him. "I know she's gone," he says. "Are you all right?"

His father holds him for several minutes. Then he steps back and looks at him. "It is entirely my fault," he says. "She wanted someone who was there for her every day. I was so caught up with work and politics that I forgot to be a husband."

"When I was sick ..." Scorpius has a sinking feeling about the timing.

"No." His father stops him. "We were broken long before then. She told me that it was the week she spent in France over Easter that made her realise she wasn't missing me. She loves you, and I love you, and she and I just don't love each other any more."

Scorpius pats his father's hand. "It's OK. Let's go inside. Sit down, have some food. It'll be OK. You two will work something out."

"Scorpius, we're getting a divorce."

A second passes. "Yeah, obviously. But you'll need to work something out about me."

His father laughs and throws an arm around his shoulders as he opens the door. "Of course. Actually, I have told Helene that she can stay here, the Manor's big enough for us to only see each other when we want to. You may have to start having two Sunday breakfasts every week, but that shouldn't be an issue for you since you only drink coffee and eat pain au chocolat."

"Well, if it means extra pastries, I'm not so upset ..."

In his mother's sitting room there is a letter addressed to him. His father leaves him alone to read it. She tells him she loves him. She tells him she has gone to her mother in Cap Ferrat. She tells him she still admires his father deeply as a person and that it is all her fault their relationship no longer works. She apologises to him for her many failings as a mother, and tells him she loves him again.

Scorpius sits and writes to her straight away. "You have never failed me. I love you." He signs his name, folds the parchment twice and calls for a house-elf to Owl the letter.

For the next week he amuses his father. They fly, and visit the cinema dressed in their most Muggle-ish outfits, which leads to some entertaining moments when three women and two men ask for his father's phone number. Then, on Saturday, his mother 'visits', and they all sit down to talk.

It is all so civilised.

She will take the apartment in London and live there during the school year, then occupy the west wing of the Manor during holidays. They will attend functions together when needed, and he will provide her with a settlement in addition to a monthly sum for expenses.  If the arrangement changes Scorpius will be involved in any decisions that concern his future.

Of course he should tell his friends, and there will be a discreet announcement in the Prophet, but they will act as all old families do and present a united face despite the divorce. Helene returns to France that night, but she will be back in a fortnight for Albus and Lester's visits.

Somehow, seeing them together acting so calmly as they rearrange his family makes it all so much worse.

Scorpius Owls Albus to tell him. He writes eight drafts. In the end, the letter simply says: "My parents split up. I miss you."

The next morning he receives a reply: "So did mine. I miss you, too."

It is a week before his father Apparates him to the Potter home. As usual, he stops at the gate and hugs him goodbye. "We'll see you both next week," his father says. "I'll bring in a stash of Honeydukes and 3W treats for Al, that will cheer him up a bit. And don't forget that we're all off to the theatre with Lester, so have Al bring something a little formal."

Al runs down the front path in time to wave goodbye to Scorpius's dad before he Disapparates. Mr Potter is a little behind him. Scorpius hears him mutter "Damn" when he realises Scorpius is alone.

Mr Potter looks at him and sees the quizzical look on his face. " I was going to ask your father inside," he explains. "It occurs to me he's never stepped inside the gate."

"You've never been to our house at all," Scorpius points out.

A wry smile flits across Mr Potter's face. "Actually, I have," he says. "But not for years."

Al drags Scorpius away before he can ask questions. They each fill in the details of their families' cracks. Mrs Potter has also gone to her mother's, but is due back the next day. She is talking about buying the house next door. Mr Potter is insisting he will move instead, and this, and this alone, has led to a screaming fight between them. Al agrees that the calmness is the worst. Any other emotion could have been cause for hope.

Lily and James return from the Burrow by Floo before dinner. Lily throws herself at Scorpius. "It's all so horrible!" she wails. He comforts her until she moves her hands too low and he leaps away with a tiny shriek.

"Lil! No using family tragedy as an excuse to grope," James rolls his eyes at her. When she pulls an appalling face at him, he breaks and starts to laugh. "All right then, no using it as an excuse on our friends. You can milk it for all it's worth once you're back at school."

James shakes Scorpius's hand and tells him he's sorry about his parents. Scorpius returns the sentiment.

"Post-traumatic stress," James pronounces. "They've all waited twenty-three years to go mad. What can I say? They're tough."

"Feeble humour will get us through this," Scorpius commends him.

"I have a limitless supply." James grins back.

"We know ..." the others chorus.

Late that night, when the rest of the Potters have gone to bed, Scorpius and Al stay up in the sitting room, talking about school.

"It's really just a matter of communication," Al says, leaning back on the cushions they have piled against the sofa. "So long as we're all talking to each other, none of the Houses can drift too far into the realms of paranoia or bigotry."

"We could convince James, Lily and Hugo to date more broadly," Scorpius suggests wickedly.

Al groans. "My brother is a bad influence. Encouraging him is bad. He is a bad person."

Scorpius laughs at him, and Al laughs, too. Then his voice catches, and his laughter becomes a sob. Scorpius puts his arms around his friend and holds him. Al cries for a long time and Scorpius holds him gently, until they are both too tired to stay awake.

Of course it is James who notices that the light is still on and comes to investigate. His bark of laughter wakes them both. Scorpius has a moment to realise that Al's head is on his chest and Al's arms are around him before Al realises where he is and sits up quickly

 "Sod it, Al," James rolls his eyes. "I swear you couldn't be any gayer if you tried. Let Scorp go and get some sleep, you can go back to being sensitive in the morning."

Scorpius is alarmed to see Al's hands ball into fists and his face flush deep red, but his friend simply storms past his brother without looking back.

"He's upset about your mum, and he can't tell any of you," Scorpius defends him.

James looks guilty. "I know. It's just ... he needs to be stronger. He's so tough on the outside and he's a little kid on the inside."

"He is strong, he's just different."

"Yeah, well ... I'll tell him I'm sorry in the morning. Get some sleep."

The next day Al is bright and cheerful.

He stays that way for the entire holidays.

After Lester and Scorpius drop him home at the end of his visit to Malfoy Manor, Lester turns to Scorpius. "What the hell happened between the two of you?" he asks.

Scorpius looks at him with eyes full of worry. "I wish I knew."



XVII
Narcissa Malfoy is waiting for Scorpius when Lester drops him home. "Both my fine boys, back again safe." She takes their arms and leads them inside, declaring that Lester should take tea before he heads off. "Your parents would be horrified if I let you Apparate all over the country without even a spot of cake to take the edge off," she says.

As she cuts a slice of torte for each of the boys, she murmurs that she has finally remembered what she has been meaning to tell Lester all week. "The amusing thing about Italy's Ministero is its historic links to the Vatican.  For example, did you know that their Head of Magical Law Enforcement is il Papa's third cousin? Isn't that charming? And it must be very comforting for them to be able to chat when they've both had such terrible times with fraud lately ..."

Lester grins broadly and gets to his feet. "Wonderful cake, thank you so much for having me, please give my regards to Mr Malfoy. I'll write, Scorp. You sort things out with Al, yeah? Cheers, Narcissa, you're the best."

After he has left, Scorpius shakes his head at his grandmother. "You're a meddler," he tells her.

"If I hear information that may be useful to a young man's career, who am I to hold it back?" she asks. She reaches over and takes his hand. "I have learned my lessons, you know. I use my powers for good these days. Besides, Lester is your friend, and I want your friends to have success."

"I know." He kisses her cheek. "And I appreciate it." He stands to leave, she catches his hand and pulls him to sit beside her.

"Albus," she says, and he cannot look away from her serious eyes. "Don't let him withdraw too far."

"I won't," he promises.

"Good boy." She kisses his cheek back. "Now go and play, I'm an old lady, I need my rest."

Scorpius doesn't see Al again until the first day of September, although they exchange Owls daily. Their letters focus on school, and ignore the fact that Al's parents' break-up has been front page of the Prophet seven times in the last few weeks.

Mr and Mrs Potter are both at the station to see the children off to school. Mrs Potter smiles pleasantly for three photographs, then pulls out her wand and, in a charming voice, tells the press to leave now or else see exactly how far her connections in the Ministry can save her from prosecution.

Mr Potter is laughing with sincere admiration, and Mrs Potter smiles ruefully at him. "It's almost worth getting back together at this rate, if I didn't know I'd kill you within the year."

Scorpius sees the millisecond of stillness on her face as she spots his family, but it's followed by a resigned smile. "Hello Malfoys. Come and join us, we can all be scandalous together. Scorp, I swear you get paler every year."

Scorpius's mother kisses the Potters, and passes on good wishes from her friend Gabrielle to them both. "She was meaning to see you while she was here, but Victoire was insistent they leave for Paris immediately, apparently her young man has a new job and her mother would not let her take a hotel room near him without a chaperone, which is absurdly hopeful on her part, but there you have it."

Mr Potter and Scorpius's father exchange wry smiles above their former partners' heads, Lily pinches Scorpius on the arse, James tells her she is appalling, and Al grins a hello. Things are very nearly normal.

As prefects, Scorpius, Albus and Rose spend the first part of the journey in the front carriage with James, Laura and the other senior prefects. The two new Slytherin prefects are both from their Quidditch team, Aconitum Jigger and Oonagh Quigley. Al sits with them and starts chatting about inter-House liaisons.

"Because we spot the bullying that happens in our own House, but we tend to miss it when it's between Houses, and I know that some of your juniors have felt that Gryffindors are just out to get them, and I'm more than happy to hand out detentions ..."

Acon and Oonagh look to Scorpius in a mute plea for rescue, but he is in the middle of a similar spiel to the two fifth-year Hufflepuff prefects. By the time the train arrives at Hogsmeade, plans have been laid and the sixth and seventh year prefects are in full support.

It takes the teaching staff several weeks to notice that they have fewer detentions to monitor, and when they do they are not wholly sure of the cause. At one of their weekly meetings Professor Goshawk congratulates Merewyn Rufford and Wilfred Thomas on their excellent leadership, and tells all the prefects they are doing a good job of maintaining order.

After she leaves, Merewyn turns to Albus and thanks him for his brilliant plan. "It wasn't me," Al demurs. "It was Lester Biggs. He was the one who came up with the idea."

Scorpius grins. It's a genius manoeuvre: the Hufflepuffs are already on board because it's a good and sensible plan; the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors feel they have to support him and Al; now any possible Slytherin opposition is doomed. And so typically Al to shrug off praise, Scorpius knows he could not have done the same so easily. But then that's Al, and he feels a wave of admiration for his friend.

"Look at you, all aglow," Rose nudges him with her elbow. "Thinking of Maisie Carrington? Or just happy to be back at school?"

"Maisie Carrington?!" Scorpius is horrified at the prospect.

"Lovely girl!" James chimes in from the other side of the Prefect's room. "Good kisser --ooohhf ..." His breath is knocked from his lungs by Laura Wadcock's elbow.

"I am banning him from Ravenclaw girls," she announces. "He's soiled goods."

"You love it," James manages to gasp.

"We'll take him," Oonagh drawls. "A few obliviating spells and he could be our own pretty little slave with no psychiatric scarring."

"Oi, oppressive!" James looks with horror at the various calculating female faces in the room, and notes the singular lack of support from the other boys. "I've got Quidditch practice!" he stalks from the room, pursued by a wave of laughter that only just waits until he's out the door.

The rest of the meeting breaks up properly, and Rose joins Scorpius and Al as they wander off to the courtyards. She takes their arms, and Scorpius realises that Al no longer does this, even when he is filled with urgent glee. " I heard that Professor McGonagall had you help with her advanced second years," Rose says to him. "That is so impressive, she barely lets the seventh years help."

"She's always been very kind to me, I think she feels some sort of debt, which I've told her is silly, but she won't listen."

Rose nods sagely. "From that time you found her when she was sick, yeah?"

"Um ..." Scorpius changes the subject: "Have you done your Muggle Studies homework?"

Rose blushes. "I was going to, but James wanted help with his Arithmancy ..."

"You can copy mine if you like," Scorpius allows graciously. "Here you go." He takes the scroll from inside his robes and hands it over to her.

"You're an angel!" Rose kisses his cheek and runs off to Ravenclaw Tower.

"She is always kissing you," Albus grouses.

"It's because I'm adorable," Scorpius grins at him.

"You're exasperating!" Al shakes his head and looks down.

Scorpius is worried. "Al?" He reaches across and takes his friend's hand. "Al, are we good?"

Al squeezes his hand, then drops it and looks up with a broad grin. "Yeah, course we are. You're my best friend. I'm just a bit ... you know ..."

Scorpius nods, relieved. "Yeah, it's a bit of a crap year all round, really. Feel like flying?"

"Race you to the field. And no transfiguring!" Al shouts the last word over his shoulder, having already set off at a sprint for the Quidditch pitch.

That night, Maisie Carrington sits next to Scorpius in the Ravenclaw common room and asks him for a particular favour.

Slightly concerned, Scorpius promises that he will see what he can do, but she needs to tell him what it is first.

"You know the Potter boys really well, don't you?" she asks.

Scorpius is relieved. "Yeah, but Maisie, James is just a flirt, you're going to have to move on."

"Oh I have!" she says eagerly. "I was hoping you could help me find some time with Albus, or put in a good word for me. He's much better looking!"

Scorpius is frowning before he can stop himself. He's not sure why he wants to tell her no, and he forces himself to nod and promise that he'll try. She skips away, beaming. He excuses himself and goes to bed early.

As he tells the castle about his day, the castle plays it back to him in glimpses, a game they have shared for years now. And Scorpius has a chance to see his own face for a few moments.

What is it? the castle asks as Scorpius grows silent.

"I have a very bad feeling that I'm an idiot ..." Scorpius tells it, but refuses to elaborate.

The Grey Lady drifts by at that moment. Impetuously, Scorpius calls out to her. "Miss Ravenclaw!"

She stops and looks at him curiously. "How do you know my name? Did that other boy tell you?"

Scorpius isn't sure who the other boy is, but he knows her story well. "I wanted to ask you something if I may?"

She nods graciously, so Scorpius continues. "How do you know when you're in love?"

And for the first time he hears her laugh, it is high and soft, like glass chimes. "You know because your heart is washed with feeling when you think of that person, because when they are beside you, they are the only thing that matters, because when you walk into a room, you always know where they are, because when you are filled with joy, you want to tell them first, and when you are filled with sorrow, you want them to comfort you."

She floats closer to him and looks serious. "But beware, little one. Love is not kind. Better choose to be alone and alive." And with that she is on her way again.

"Bugger," Scorpius whispers to himself. "Oh, no, not bugger ... oh fuck ... oh Merlin, that's worse ..." He covers his face with his hands and wills himself to fall asleep.

When Ryan Timms comes into the dorm an hour later, Scorpius is up to three thousand, one hundred and twelve sheep.

For the next two weeks, Scorpius is extremely suave and subtle, so much so that he is genuinely shocked when Al asks him what the hell is up over breakfast.

"You jump at everything, you're avoiding meeting up with me and James at practices and you've got a bit of a twitch under one eye. You've got a new Quidditch move up your sleeve, haven't you? And you're not sharing!"  Albus punctuates his words with playful pinches of Scorpius's arm and chest.

Aware that at any moment he might actually implode, Scorpius says: "Maisie Carrington likes you. She wanted me to put in a good word. Aside from her awful taste in boys, she's pretty and funny."

Al frowns and looks across to the Ravenclaw table. Maisie spots him and waves. He smiles pleasantly at her, but shakes his head. "Friends, yeah?" he mouths.

She shrugs off the disappointment. "Sure," she mouths back, then returns to chatting with her girlfriends, only a mite less animatedly than before.

Scorpius puts his head to one side and regards his friend. "Not your type?" he asks.

"Not at all!" Al answers, laughing.

Two of the Gryffindor first years are looking at them intently. Scorpius thinks that the girl's name is Irene, and the boy's could be Nathaniel. Perhaps-Irene says: "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" Scorpius replies, half-relieved at the interruption.

"Are you Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Yes," he answers, noting that Albus shifts himself so that he is interposed between him and the children, in case he needs to shout at them. Scorpius's pulse is thrumming, he was unaware it could do that.

"That is so cool!" says the girl. "I told you, Ezekiel, he looks just like his dad!"

Ezekiel (not Nathaniel) grins and hands over a Daily Prophet. "Could you sign it for us?" he asks.

Al relaxes, and looks at the paper intently with Scorpius. Sure enough, there on the cover is the older Malfoy, newly appointed Head of the Department of Mysteries. As though on cue, Scorpius's own owl flies in at that moment and drops off another copy of the paper and a letter from his father. Laughing, Scorpius signs one Prophet for Ezekiel and another for the girl who turns out to be named Iris.

"That's brilliant," Albus congratulates him. "Dad said your dad should have been head of his department ages ago. He was so embarrassed when he got Law first."

"Al ..." Scorp laughs.

"Yeah, yeah, 'your dad's Harry Potter'. Cheers, got that. Got the matching hair and eyes, too. Luckily mine work. Still," Al glances at the letter from Scorpius's father, "is he happy?"

Scorpius looks down and then holds the letter so they can both read it. "Yeah, yeah he is." Al hugs him, and the morning is pretty much perfect at that point.

On the way to classes Maisie Carrington rolls her eyes at him. "Seriously, that was the best you could do? It's not as if he's getting anywhere with any of the Gryffindor girls."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologises. "I did tell him I thought you were pretty and funny, and he agreed, he just said you weren't his type."

Maisie is a little mollified. "Well, so long as you acknowledge my prettiness," she says in friendlier tone. Then she grins broadly. "Don't suppose I'm your type?"

"No, sorry." Scorpius smiles at her with good will and absolutely no invitation. She smiles back, and goes into Charms ahead of him.

Rose is giggling softly beside him. "Just who is your type, Scorp?"

"Smart, brave, gorgeous, the usual," he says, grinning.

She slaps his bottom playfully as she passes him. "Silly, you should have said! I'm sure we can come to some arrangement ..."

It takes him a moment, and then he takes refuge in the bad example that James Potter has been setting him for years: "Yeah, a. very funny, and b. oppressive!"



XVIII
Albus is already at their desk in Potions when Scorpius arrives. He is looking at Professor Oakeshott with horror.  "What'd I miss?" Scorpius whispers as their remaining classmates filter in behind him.

Al points at the board, where a long list of healing potions has been written. "He wants us to make all of those in the next ninety minutes. All of them!"

Scorpius sighs, and flips open his and Al's textbooks. "OK, let's take a look at all these and come up with a sensible division of labour ..."

Professor Oakeshott is running the late arrivals through the afternoon's task when Scorpius starts flicking pages backwards and forwards. A grin spreads across his face. He pulls out his quill and a scroll of parchment and starts taking notes. "Write these ones down!" he tells Al, shoving his text back to him and pointing excitedly.

Al complies, shaking his head at what will doubtless turn out to be another mad plan.

Scorpius puts the two completed lists on the desk and pulls out a bottle of red ink. He dips his quill into it and starts underlining. "See?"

Al starts to laugh. "Genius," he agrees. He shifts the many small cauldrons he's put in place to the far side of their desk and lifts a larger version front and centre.

Seventy-three minutes later Scorpius and Al approach their Potions teacher with nine small flasks, each carefully labelled. Oakeshott looks at them doubtfully, then looks at the flasks, then looks back to them with a face that is quizzical. He opens each flask in turn and smells it, tasting some and testing others with his wand and with reagent strips. Now he is beaming with sheer pleasure.

"Seven years I've been setting this class, and you two are the first to get them all done in the allotted period. Which means that you've twigged to the underlying lesson."

"It was Scorp, sir," Albus says loyally.

"Only because Al's drilled me in reading all the way through a potion before I start it," Scorpius shares the praise graciously. "When you look at all of them at the same time, it's obvious the first half to each is the same underlying potion with just details on top of it."

"Full marks to the two of you!" Oakeshott stops the rest of the class and has Scorpius and Al talk them through their process for the remaining quarter hour. At the end of their demonstration he gives the rest of the class a blanket pass, for asking sensible and productive questions. "And remember, that is the style of thinking that will see you do well in your OWLs! Anyone can pull out an A or even an E from rote learning, but if you want to achieve an O in this class, you'll need originality and perceptiveness! On that note, I feel twenty points each to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are in order."

Al is jubilant, as that 20 points kicks Gryffindor into first place in the House Cup, not that there's more than 40 separating all the Houses, but every small success counts. "I see a celebratory period of hot chocolate and competitive flying before dinner!" he announces.

Scorpius agrees. They race to the Room of Requirement and have already set new records for a two-lap sprint and Wronski feint by the time a house-elf appears with a tray of hot chocolate.

"Thanks, Manny," Al tells the elf, and pulls a small book from his pocket. "I found a copy of the next in the Barnacles series in a second-hand shop, I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you always being so nice to me."

Manny smilingly slips the book under his woollen tunic. "We all want the younger Mr Potter to be happy!" he assures Al, before hastening away.

Scorpius shakes his head. "Shameless," he declares. "Happy to buy their affection and trade on memories of your father and aunt whenever it suits you."

"Yeah, you've caught me out. I have an unnatural fancy for the house-elves."

Scorpius realises too late the pain of freshly made hot chocolate administered nasally. "I take it all back, James is not the bad Potter at all!"

"Of course he's not!" Al laughs. "Haven't you met Lily?"

They flop down on their favourite sofa, feet tucked up and cradling their mugs to them as the evening cools the school and the warmth of exercise wears off.

"How's your Muggle Studies scroll going?" Albus asks.

"Good, you?"

"Yeah, not bad. I just keep thinking that there's more to it than we're seeing. I know that everyone makes comparisons between the rise of Grindelwald and the Reich, but no-one seems to talk about the differences in responses between wizarding and Muggle Britain. And they're huge. We panicked and looked for salvation in first the Ministry and then Dumbledore, they invented bouncing bombs and had singalongs in Tube stations ..."

Scorpius looks at Al with shining eyes. "That's exactly what I've been thinking about!" he exclaims. "They were so valiant about it all. We helped them so little in those years, yet they managed so well without us. Not knowing about magic, they relied on innovation, technology, fortitude and cooperation. They had no Department of Mysteries, and our Minister wasn't going to reveal the fact we did, so they built Bletchley and they did the whole job by hand, with cards and brains.

"And they liberated Europe. This tiny island of Muggles held out long enough to turn the tide of the war until help could arrive, and they used their strengths as diplomats to construct an alliance across nations that hated each other. We're always talking about we need to hide our magic from them, but I think we should be studying them and learning more from them, because for all that they can be bloody idiots, they're also amazing."

Al's eyes are dancing. "You're amazing," he says, and Scorpius forgets to breathe. Instead he watches the corners of Al's mouth curve into a smile and feels his own heart thump as Al moves ever so slightly towards him.

Scorpius puts his foot on the floor to shift his own angle on the sofa.

At last. Come quick, your father is hurt, they need you.

"What is it?" Al's face is worried, and there is pain growing in it.

"There's something wrong!"

"I ..."

"Outside. Can't you feel it? There's something happening."

"Let's see." Al takes the mugs, puts them down and leads Scorpius through the door. Less than ten seconds later they hear his name being called.

Emily Craddock is relieved to see them. "We've been looking everywhere for the last quarter hour! Don't panic, Goshawk says no-one's dead, but she wants to see you right away. You, too, Potter."

"How did you know?" Al asks as they run.

"I just did," Scorpius answers. Al takes his hand as they reach the headmistress's office, and Scorpius feels less frightened as he tells the gargoyle they are there.

Professor Goshawk opens the door herself. "At last!" she exclaims. "This school can be too large sometimes. Mr Malfoy, do not be alarmed, but I am sorry to say that your father has been hurt and is in St Mungo's. He is expected to make a full recovery, although I'm told he's a little battered at the moment. The Ministry have asked that you attend him, and suggested that Mr Potter would be a good choice to go along and support you. Given it's Friday, I've arranged for transport so the two of you can spend the weekend in London. Your mother will meet you at St Mungos and will see you both make it back in time for classes on Monday. Don't fret," she pats Scorpius's shoulder briskly, "I'm sure he's fine, I've spoken to his Healers myself."

Scorpius has often been thankful for the headmistress's practicality. As she marches them to the school gates, she tells them they are excused the weekend's homework and that clothes have been arranged for them. "So don't worry yourself," she tells Scorpius. "And thank you," she adds to Al. "Ah, here's your transport."

"Granddad!" Al says, surprised.

Arthur Weasley smiles at the two boys, and nods a greeting to their headmistress. "Right, lads. Percy and Bill both wanted the honours, but I told them they'd be better sorted making sure your father has everything he needs." This last he directs at Scorpius, who is relieved to see a somewhat familiar face.

"Have you seen him?" he asks. "Is he really all right?"

"I have, he's basically fine, just a bit battered around the edges. He'll be right as rain in a week or two."

"What happened?" Scorpius knows it can't have been a minor accident, he would have been told about it in a letter, the news framed in an amusing anecdote, if he was told at all.

"He asked me to let him tell you that, so I will. Hold on tight, boys. Cheers, Miranda." And with that he Apparates.

The foyer of St Mungos is as sterile and intimidating as Scorpius remembers from the time he fell off his broom when he was eight. Mr Weasley hustles the boys upstairs and into the private wing where he meets up with three more Mr Weasleys. Scorpius has met Rose's dad and her uncle Bill before, and has seen photographs of Percy Weasley in The Prophet, where they call him Percy the Powerbroker. There are three other wizards there, Al identifies them as Aurors who work with his Dad and Uncle Ron.

The buzz of talk that the boys could hear on their approach dies as they near the group. Ron Weasley smiles encouragingly at Scorpius. "He's going to be just fine," he says. "And you should see the magnificent black eye he's sporting. It's like being back at school ..."

Scorpius gives a watery smile in reply, and heads for the door to the ward. He pauses for a moment, Al reaches over his shoulder and pushes it open. "I'm here," he whispers, and Scorpius steps forward.

His father is sitting up in bed talking animatedly to two journalists, one from The Prophet and one from The Quibbler.  In a chair on the far side of the room Mr Potter is sprawled with a look of impatient fury about him. As they spot the boys, Scorpius's father dismisses the journalists and Mr Potter stands up in a relaxed and friendly pose.

Scorpius's father holds his arms out. "It's all right, it's just bruises for the most part."

Scorpius throws himself into those arms. "I was so worried!" he exclaims.

"I told them all to tell you I was fine."

"Yeah, but you're not fine. What happened?"

Scorpius's father looks over his head at the journalists who have paused at the door. "One photo?" one of them asks, to cover up their prying.

Scorpius nods his assent. "One," his father replies with ill grace. Two flashes of light indicate the shots being taken, and Mr Potter ensures the press leave.

"What happened?" Scorpius repeats.

"It's going to be in the papers tomorrow, which is why I wanted you to hear it from me. There was an attack near the Ministry. They call themselves Magical Action and say they're an anti-Death Eater group, but what they're really about is acts of terrorism. Harry and Ron Weasley caught the two who planted the explosion I was caught in, and Bill's frozen their funds at Gringotts. The top Aurors are looking for the rest of the group, and Ron Weasley is convinced he can get the two we have to talk. So I don't want you thinking of these people as anything more than a handful of misguided fools."

"Anti-Death Eater?" Scorpius starts his question at the most appalling part of his father's story.

"I know, as if I'd wear a hood. It's an outrageous calumny."

Scorpius refuses to laugh. "Dad, this is serious. Were you the target?"

Mr Potter comes and stands near the bed. Scorpius's father looks to him for help, so he takes up the story. "Draco told me and Ron that there was something up, he's developed a new way of scanning for Dark Magic, or peaceful magic being used for dark purposes. When he saw the spike in his readings, he told us about it. Then he insisted on putting himself in danger so that we could catch the culprits. Except his readings underestimated the strength of the spells they were using and Ron and I were further away than we should have been."

"Yes, you were." Scorpius's mother is standing in the open door. She spares a moment to hug and kiss her son, then returns to scolding the two men. "And why you thought it was acceptable to risk the only man who truly understands half of the spells that your department now relies on is something I will never understand, and why he thought it was a sensible plan to put himself in such a position is another eternal mystery.  It is as though you are still stupid schoolboys." She drags Al into a hug with her spare arm. "Except that schoolboys are far smarter than that."

"I'm fine," her ex-husband assures her.

"Yes, now, but if Mr Ronald Weasley had not done some mediwizard training, you could have bled to death from your damaged spleen or punctured a lung with your broken ribs. You are a grown man with responsibilities, you should leave 'catching the bad guys' to these fools of Aurors with their leather coats and ready wands." Mr Potter moves his hand away from its habitual position near the wand pocket of his coat at her words.

She looks at Scorpius, who is startled to realise that his eyes are level with hers. "Your father is equally brave and stupid. You will have to compel him to be smarter, I no longer have influence." And with that she lets go of the boys, sits in the seat recently vacated by Mr Potter and pulls a slim novel from her handbag.

"Spleen?" Scorpius is now afraid. "How big was this explosion?"

"Big enough," his father says with a shrug. "We tried to contain it, but since the spell was designed for me, I wasn't as successful as the others were."

"Who did you arrest?" he asks Mr Potter.

"I can't tell you that yet," he replies. "But we are confident we'll have the rest in custody soon. We know it's only a small group, and they're not gaining in popularity. If anything, their actions have made some other activists too embarrassed to go on."

Scorpius turns back to his father. "Just, just stay inside, ok?"

Mr Potter pats his shoulder. "We have Aurors guarding him here, and more set up back at the Manor. Your mother will have a guard, too. I'd like you to have one until you go back to Hogwarts, too." At Scorpius's horrified look, Mr Potter smiles. "I know, believe me I know. But imagine how I'd feel if anything happened to you because my department let you gad about alone. If your dad didn't kill me, my son would."

"It's not true," Scorpius's mother calls from her chair. "I'd have dissected you long before they could get to you. They would have to content themselves with defiling your corpse."

Absurdly, this makes them all laugh.

The headlines in the Prophet the next day are sobering. Under a bold banner of MINISTRY BLAST there are two photographs, one of the gaping hole and wrecked cars left by the explosion itself, and one of Scorpius and his father in the hospital.

"Why an explosion?" Scorpius wonders.

"Dad thinks they're trying to create a climate of fear. Explosions usually take out lots of people, not just the one target. They were lucky your dad was able to mostly predict it, they had time to seal the area off."

"Your dad will catch the others, won't he?"

Al takes his hand and squeezes it. "Of course he will. He knows that it pisses your dad off when he's perfect, and who needs more motivation than that?

Scorpius laughs, but his worry does not dissipate.

When Scorpius's mother takes them back to school on Sunday night, with no progress made on the case, the worry congeals into a tight knot in the pit of Scorpius's stomach.

Albus organises Scorpius through the next month, and so he arrives at Easter holidays up to date on all of his schoolwork and well prepared for the exams they will be coming back to. Al is spending the break with his mother, so Scorpius devotes himself to his books, with only occasional breaks for flying practice, both on wing and on broom and chats with his parents and the Aurors who are guarding them.

When Rose Granger-Weasley appears one afternoon he is pleased to see her, but surprised. She seems a little wan as he invites her in for tea.

"I flew from the Burrow," she admits, leaning her broom against the outside of the Manor. "I just had to get away from James, that or kill him. Mum and Dad know I'm here, Dad says he'll come and pick me up later if that's all right."

"Of course it is." Scorpius leads her into the front sitting room and sends a house-elf for tea and cakes. "What did he do?"

Rose shrugs off the question and asks after his father, who, having heard voices, makes an appearance shortly after. Scorpius's mother joins them for tea and conversation revolves around exams and study for the next hour or so.

At length, Scorpius's mother declares that the day is getting on and that she ought to go and Floo for Mr Weasley. She waits pointedly at the door until Scorpius's father joins her.

Rose smiles after them. "Your parents are nice. Even my Dad thinks your dad's all right these days."

Scorpius smiles wryly. "It's amazing what getting blown up can do to mend bridges."

"James kissed me," Rose says suddenly. "And then he apologised, and when I said it was fine he told me I was an idiot."

"Oh." Scorpius can't help thinking that her romantic issues don't quite match up to his own.

Rose smiles at him. "I suppose I am an idiot. Why on Earth would I want to go out with James anyway? He's a mollop. Anyway, I just wanted to get away and chat with someone who just likes me for me. So thanks, Scorp." She leans over to kiss him on his cheek as usual. But at the last minute she shifts and kisses him gently on the lips. She smells of sugar and raspberry jam, and it's nice.

"If I was sensible, I'd go out with you. You'd just need to stop hanging out with Albus long enough to ask me," she says, smiling softly.

Her father's voice calls her name from outside, and they walk quickly out to meet up with him and Scorpius's parents, who seem to have managed a few minutes of pleasant small talk very well.

After she leaves, Scorpius wonders why only the wrong people kiss him these days.

It's a relief to be back at school, away from the slight tension between his parents, away from the changed reality signalled by the patrolling Aurors. He and Al are the first ones in for dinner and promptly fill each other in on the weeks' gossip.

"Rose thinks we should go out," Scorpius tells Al, who promptly chokes on his coffee.

Scorpius pours water for him and smacks him helpfully on the back. "She came to see me after she had a big fight with James. And she kissed me. It was all very odd, I certainly wasn't expecting her to say anything like that. I was just expecting to feed her tea and cake."

Al recovers quickly. "What do you think?" he asks.

Scorpius shrugs. "I was surprised. What do you think?" he asks, and he tries to invest the question with all that it really means to him. For a moment he thinks he's managed it. Al looks down, his cheeks are red.

"Albus," Scorpius's voice is soft. "Tell me."

Al looks up at him. And the naked expression that fleets across those green eyes says everything, everything he has ever dreamed, ever hoped. But the words he speaks are different.

"Yeah, sure, Rose is great. It's about time you had a girlfriend."

Scorpius suddenly recalls that he has an urgent meeting with Professor McGonagall.

He asks the castle where the Grey Lady is, and goes to sit with her on the roof of Ravenclaw Tower.

"Are you happy, little one?" she asks him.

He shakes his head, not trusting himself to speak yet.

"Is it love? Love always ends badly. At least nobody has been stabbed yet."

"Give it time ..." he jokes blackly.

By the time he goes back down into the common room, everyone is back from dinner and Rose is there, smiling at him shyly.

"Albus had a word with me," she confides.

"Of course he did," Scorpius sighs.

She puts her head to one side, and her long red curls tumble down over her shoulder. "He told me I was being selfish expecting you to do all the work when your mind is so full of bigger problems. He told me that I ought to just do this ..." Rose puts her hand on the back of Scorpius's head and draws his lips down to hers, where she softly but assuredly kisses them. The common room erupts in applause.

And standing there, with her stepping back and looking at him so hopefully, and all their House-mates laughing and smiling encouragement, Scorpius doesn't have the heart to do anything other than take her hand and ask "Rose, will you go out with me?"

Rose is an undemanding girlfriend. They spend much of the rest of term studying together, and she understands that Scorpius and Al's friendship is important, making sure that the two boys have time alone together at least once a day. She says that Lily told her clinginess is unattractive.

Albus accepts Rose's shift from friend to girlfriend without comment. Scorpius never quite works out how to broach the topic. Instead they all swot for their OWLs together and drink endless pots of coffee, but always in one common room or other. Scorpius never thinks to mention the Room of Requirement to Rose.

Professor McGonagall checks on Scorpius the day before his Transfiguration exam. "You will, of course, get an O," she tells him, but I'm not sure they need to see any personal research ..." She raises an eyebrow. "If you understand me?"

"I do," he assures her.

"Good boy. But feel free to add complexity to the transfigurations they ask you to perform, it's an easy way to score higher marks."

They chat amiably about what he can expect for a little while, and she wishes him luck. As she leaves, she pauses for a moment. "How are your parents?" she asks.

"They're fine," he assures her.

"That's good."

She is right, he does receive an O for transfiguration. And four others, he learns when the results are posted. Albus can't resist laughing over the fact that one of them is in Potions.

"You got the same mark!" Scorpius points out.

"Course I did, we came equal first. Oonagh Quigley's ropable. And Rose may kill you once she learns you beat her in Muggle Studies."

"Nah, she left me behind in Arithmancy, I only managed an E."

"You both made Os in Charms, that's all Flitwick will care about. Anyway, six Es isn't exactly crapping out, is it?"

"You should talk!"

"Yeah, not all good news there. Still, Mum and Dad can't complain about my  A in Astronomy, they both failed."

Scorpius laughs. "I think we're both in for parental praise, and possibly treats for being boy geniuses."

"Excellent news. Mum and Dad have both said they want you to come and stay for a few days, by the way. Will that be ok?"

"Yes, of course it will, so we fit in one more house through the hols, what's so different?"

"I thought you might want to spend time with Rose ..."

Scorpius has temporarily forgotten he has a girlfriend, so naturally she appears at that moment, pushing her hair up into a ponytail and peering at the results boards.

"I cannot believe you all let me sleep in today! I have the worst friends in the world! How the hell did you beat me in Muggle Studies? Albus Potter, there is no way on this Earth that you get the same marks as me, what's Scorp been doing? Downloading his brain into yours?"

Scorpius takes a step back from the boards and leaves Rose to find her six Os and five Es by herself. He smiles as she playfully pushes her cousin, and is pleased to see her happiness at her own success, and at Al's and his.

He wishes he could download his brain, but he's afraid that anyone looking at it would turn to him with an expression of abject pity.

Part four (in two bits)