Chapter 6
31th October, Sunday ‘21
It was cold, so so cold. It was the first quidditch match of the year. Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor, Ravenclaw meant Daphne had dragged everyone to watch the match. Okay that’s not true, Scorpius was the only person who Daphne forced to be there. Albus would have to be there since the entire Gryffindor team was just his family and Cassandra and Lyrin actually enjoyed quidditch.
It was 9 in the morning and it was freezing. Scorpius wanted to go back to bed, it was a Sunday morning for Merlin’s sake! He was getting very annoyed, the yelling, the loud commentary from Evelyn who did the commentary. He already felt a bit weak over the past few weeks. Some solace he got was the feeling of Albus’s head on his shoulder as he watched the game. Scorpius enjoyed the warmth and weight Albus added.
★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･
Around three hours had gone by and Scorpius was still bored, the match had gone on for way too long in Scorpius’s opinion, both seekers were having issues seeing the snitch or catching it. Evelyn was still yelling, getting worked up as apparently the match was “getting exciting” although Scorpius thought it was the same thing. Scorpius’s ears felt like dying, the very loud and uneven heartbeats of everyone.
“AND THERE GOES WALKER, DID SHE SEE THE SNITCH!? WHERE’S SHE FLYING? OH! IS SHE GOING TO GET RAVENCLAW THE WIN WITH A SCORE OF THREE-TWENTY TO ONE EIGHTY!? AND SHE JUST MISSED IT! ”
Scorpius was almost impressed how she still had her voice. His throat was getting dry from just sitting there. Daphne was cheering for Ravenclaw of course, that was Evelyn’s house and she wanted to get in good with her. Technically, everyone in Slytherin was on Ravenclaw’s side for no reason but the fact the only other option was Gryffindor, if it was Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff then Scorpius was certain Slytherin would be more divided.
“AND ONE OF THE WEASLEY’S GOT A GOAL, THE SCORE IS NOW ONE NINETY TO ONE SEVENTY, IS RAVENCLAW GOING TO CATCH UP? CAN THEY CATCH UP? STAY TUNED. OH NOIR GOT A GOAL! SCORE IS ONE NINETY TO ONE EIGHTY WAY TO GO NOIR! RAVENCLAW’S MVP STILL AT IT! OH AND WEASLEY NUMBER FOUR TAKES A SHOT AT THE RAVENCLAW GOAL AND SHEEEEEEE MISSES! BROWN IS ON HER A GAME, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE’S BEEN PUTTING IN THE WORK AT PRACTICE! AND DAVIES GOES IN FOR ANOTHER GOAL AND HE GOT A SCORE, THAT BRINGS RAVENCLAW AND GRYFFINDOR TO A TIE. ”
Scorpius let out a little woo as people cheered at the news. Scorpius was still bored as he watched the players zoom around. One of the Ravenclaw chasers looked over at the stalls, looking at their direction a little too long as he threw that weird red ball Scorpius couldn’t remember the name of.
“OH WEST THROWS AND GOALS, IT'S TWO HUNDRED TO ONE NINETY PUTTING RAVENCLAW IN THE LEAD AND WHAT IS THAT? OH THE GOLDEN SNITCH IS VISIBLE AND OH WALKER GOES IN FOR THE CATCH! OH OH AND POTTER NUMBER 3 GOES IN FOR IT AS WELL! OH LOOKS LIKE NOIR THROWS AND-”
The stadium let out a unified gasp as the red ball hit James Potter in the face, sending him back barreling down to the grass at the bottom of the field. Two of the Weasleys’ immediately bolted down to try and catch James. They flew out of sight and the people nearby immediately turned to look at Albus. Scorpius was expecting to see Albus in shock or panic but no, he was laughing.
Scorpius was honestly shocked before his attention was directed to a voice calling out.
“HE’S FINE!” A voice called from the bottom of the sea of fog. The stalls let out a collective sigh of relief. Albus was trying to catch his breath, as he finally stopped laughing. The other Slytherins in the stall were just looking at him confused. His older brother just fell out of the sky and he was laughing.
Albus was back to laughing as he got up, “I'm- I’m going to check on him-” he said as he tried stopping his laughter. He simply left the stalls. Scorpius looked at the girls, completely confused at the situation.
“I- Is that normal for siblings?” He questioned. The girls just shook their heads, they looked just as confused and concerned as Scorpius was. Scorpius turned back to the stadium as Evenlyn’s voice called out “RAVENCLAW WINS, WALKER CAUGHT THE SNITCH!” There was a weak cheer as the crowd was still a bit shaken up from the incident a few seconds ago.
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Scorpius hadn't seen Albus until lunch. He didn't seem upset or anything, in fact, he had a small smirk.
“Is your brother okay?” Lyrin asked when he went over to them at the great hall.
“He's fine, just a bruise.” Albus said as he sat down. He looked around and leaned in. Instinctively the girls and Scorpius leaned in too, huddling into a small oval.
”I have an idea.”
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Albus’s idea was… a bit concerning. Scorpius couldn’t help but think it was a bit brilliant and reckless but it felt a bit overboard. Scorpius was pulled out of his thoughts when Lyrin called on him. “Okay so, smokey eyes or glitter?” She asked, pointing at two shades on her eye shadow pallet. She was wearing a long sleeved dull orange plain jumper along with a burnt sienna ankle length skirt and fake round glasses
“Is that really necessary? Isn’t this enough?” Scorpius had his hair down, he was in torn white robes, a white ruffled collar shirt with layered bell sleeves tucked into black trousers.. Lyrin insists on doing some light contouring to make him look more “ghostly” “Come on, it’s Halloween, have some fun, besides we’re going to the Ravenclaw after party, it’ll be more fun.” She continued to press.
Scorpius sighed, “Glitter.” he pointed at the sparkly silver eyeshadow on the pallet.
Lyrin smiled and immediately got to work. Scorpius sat there with Lyrin by the large bay windows that had a few of the Black Lake. The entire common room was packed and buzzing after Gryffindor’s defeat. Most of the upperclassmen were all amped up about the Ravenclaw after party and weren’t paying much attention to them.
“Lookin’ good.” A voice called out.
Scorpius opened his eyes and looked over to see Cedar Parkinson standing over them. Scorpius didn’t hear a word Cedar said afterwards as his brain almost combusted as he took in his costume.
Scorpius wasn’t sure exactly what his costume was but he looked good in it. He was wearing a palla, or at least Scorpius thought it was supposed to be a palla, it looked more like a darkish green-blue scarf with a gold ring enlarged to act like a belt and hold it in place. His arms were bare and so one half of his shoulder. Scorpius then made the mistake of looking up at his face. Scorpius noticed some light and dark stroked along the side of his face, wondering what they were before realising they were leaves. He had some around his eyes too . He was wearing a wreath made of needle leaves.what looked like needle leaves.
Scorpius had completely zoned out, he was brought back when Cedar walked away.
“Scorpius? You okay?” Lyrin called out.
“Y-yea, just, what was his costume? Couldn't figure it out”
Lyrin gave him an odd look, “He’s a dryad, he’s been going as one for years, it’s like his Halloween uniform.”
“Oh uh, that’s admirable… having loyalty like that, you know.”
“No, he’s just lazy” Lyrin commented as she dug through her cosmetics bag, “Ooooh want to try on lip-gloss? “ she said as she took out a clear cylinder tube with a black cap.
“Am I allowed to decline?”
Lyrin just smiled and shook her head as she was unscrewing the cap.
By the time Lyrin had finished, Albus, Daphne and Cassandra had come up from wherever they were hiding.
“Nice look.” Cassandra said as she leaned on the table.
Scorpius just nodded. While Lyrin was packing up, he looked over at the rest.
“Nice wig.” Scorpius commented on Daphne’s very clearly fake short blonde hair, she was in a white long sleeved with a blue collar, an orange scarf tied under it with blue trousers that Scorpius was half certain were just flared jeans. Albus was in a sage long t-shirt and with brown trousers, holding a small dog plushie that Scorpius assumed was Scooby. Cassandra was wearing a long sleeved purple dress with tights and a purple headband, Scorpius couldn't help but think purple suited her.
“Why thank you.” Daphne tipped her wig like a top hat. “Let’s head out then?” Daphne asked, Scorpius nodded, the two waving at their friends.
“Bye-bye!”
“Have fun!”
“See you.”
Scorpius couldn't help but think Albus's tone was off as Daphne dragged him out of the Slytherin common room and to the dungeons, where they started making their way to professor Slughorn’s office for his “Halloween party”, Daphne was humming as they walked
Scorpius and Daphne took off to professor Slughorn’s office for his Halloween tea or whatever it was. Daphne was humming, probably excited to congratulate Evelyn on Ravenclaw’s win. There were a lot of students running around the halls, some taking pictures in their costumes, others just walking and laughing.
After a bit, Daphne looked over at Scorpius. “Hey so… I know Albus is like your best mate but-”
“He was acting really weird this morning? Yeah, I mean I know he’s not the closest to his brother but laughing at him felt like a bit much.” Scorpius agreed, he couldn’t get it out of his head, the way Albus had laughed when his brother could’ve died.
“Well maybe he’s used to accidents, his mum’s a professional player.”
“Maybe…”
“Still odd… you know, when he first joined, James told us that he can get violent so we should steer clear.” Daphne shared.
“What? Really?”
“Yeah, but he never really did anything so we just kind of assumed that he was just messing with us, Albus told you how he was basically dead to his brother when he got sorted into Slytherin, right?”, Scorpius nodded, recalling the conversation he had with Albus about how badly his brother took it when Albus was sorted. “Yeah, James went around telling people that Albus was super temperamental and not to get too close to him.”
Scorpius was surprised by that, he didn’t think James would go that far because he was upset, sure James was a prick but isolating your own brother because they got into a different house? That seemed borderline cruel, suddenly the extremity of Albus’s plan seemed to line up.
Daphne seemed to notice, “I mean, James was like 12 or 13 back then, I doubt he thought that it would end up so badly.”
Scorpius let out a snort “Yeah right, like James Potter can think.” . That got a giggle out of Daphne, the mood lightened up a bit as they kept walking. “So… what do you think Evelyn’s going as?” Scorpius asked to keep the conversation going.
As soon as Evelyn was mentioned Scorpius heard Daphne’s heartbeat quickened by a bit “Oh I don’t know, last year she went as some muggle character, though she looked absolutely bloody beautiful in the blue dress she wore for the costume, of course her hair was longer and she was carrying around a knife, oh, if you only saw how well she could handled the knife, of course it was a toy knife but still, but-”
Scorpius listened as she continued going on and on until they reached the hall, it was nice honestly, seeing the pure joy and delight Daphne had in her eyes as she spoke and spoke about Evelyn. Scorpius did wonder what exactly made her so special, although he knew might never really see what Daphne did.
Daphne’s praises had run low as they entered the office which was appropriately decorated with cobwebs and paper bats that were flying around. A long table was pressed against the walls with plates of snacks as well as a bowl of punch. Scorpius wondered who exactly set these up. Could ghosts do magic? Did professor Slughorn hire students? House elves? Maybe the room just had a sort of enchantment to also get decorated for the season. Did Professor Slughorn or Professor Binn get paid? Do they have any family the money gets sent to? Well no, Scorpius was fairly certain the professor Slughorn didn’t have any children.
Scorpius was pulled out of his thoughts when Daphne had found Evelyn and immediately dragged him over.
“Evelyn! Hey! Congrats on the win!” She said excitedly.
Evelyn smiled and waved, she was in what looked like Lyrin’s wardrobe, a floor length deep purple gown with gold detailing along her neckline although the light green mesh robe over it seemed a lot up Daphne’s alley, her black hair seemed longer, the sides of it was up in a ponytail. “Daphne! Hi! Thanks!” She responded before noticing Scorpius, “Hello Scorpius!”
Scorpius waved “Hello Evelyn. Congratulations to Ravenclaw for winning.”
She smiled “Thanks, are you guys coming to the party in the Ravenclaw?”
Daphne nodded immediately “Yeah you bet!” She said a little too excitedly.
Evelyn giggled, a few seconds later she turned to Scorpius “So uh, what are you? I get that Daphne’s Fred but I don’t recognise you.”
“Oh, I’m the ghost the “Scooby-Gang” is after.” Scorpius explained, “so uh what are you?”
“Oh I’m Morgana.” Evelyn explained. Scorpius blinked, that is not what Morgana looked like on Albus’s chocolate frog card. Evelyn seemed to catch Scorpius' confusion, she added, “Not like the real life Morgan Le Fay, I mean like Morgana from BBC’s Merlin. Wait, do you even know what BBC is?”
“I do not.” Scorpius confirmed with a nod.
“It’s a muggle broadcast service, they have stuff like television shows. Radios, news channels and online pages,” Daphne immediately jumped in. Scorpius nodded along, he understood what Daphne said but he didn’t know most of those words meant together.
Evelyn looked at Daphne a bit surprised, “You know what BBC and a television are? No offense but I thought most purebloods wouldn’t have access to muggle stuff.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty into muggle stuff, you know, the whole technology thing is so cool.” Daphne said, trying to seem way more nonchalant than she was being. “I actually watched Melin, it’s such a good series honestly.”
Evelyn seemed to perk up as Daphne shared her love of this “series”, “Really?” Evelyn asked, more excited than skeptical.
Daphne smiled even wider at her excitement. Scorpius’s face hurt from seeing hers. “Yeah! I really liked it, I really like your costume too, where’d you get something so close to Morgana’s dress?”
“Oh, I asked Noir to transfigure it.”
“Noir?” Scorpius spoke up, the name sounded a bit familiar but he couldn’t place it.
“Samuel Noir,” Evelyn elaborated, “it’s the guy that threw the quaffle at Potter number one. He’s rather good at transfiguration, although he couldn’t pass a test to save his life.”
Scorpius simply nodded as Daphne and Evelyn went back to talk about the muggle series. The two went on, not that Scorpius understood a thing. Scorpius leaned on the wall, looking at the other attendants noticing a rather noticeable lack of Gryffindors. Scorpius thought back to what Daphne said, that James told everyone that Albus, a likely scared eleven year old who had to be completely alone in a house who he was told was “the enemy”, was violent and unstable, leaving him completely alienated.
Scorpius couldn’t help but feel extremely upset the longer he thought about it, maybe Albus wasn’t that odd for laughing at him. That’s when something caught his eye, Calix, in a similar costume to what Cedar was wearing. Scorpius momentarily forgot what he was thinking as he looked at Calix. Scorpius jumped a bit when Calix suddenly turned to him, he smiled and waved. Scorpius awkwardly mirrored the gesture. Scorpius then realised that Calix likely knew more about James than Daphne did. Scorpius awkwardly went up to him and his friends.
“Hey… uh Calix- I wanted to ask you something.” Scorpius said, trying to sound as not-timid as possible, it was not working.
Calix turned to look down at him, “Hm? I’m sorry I didn’t catch that?”
“I uh- wanted to ask you something.”
“Yeah, what is it?” Calix said in his caring upperclassmen prefect voice.
“It’s about James Potter-” Scorpius noticed the little twitch in his eyebrow.
“He’s fine, just a bruise from the quaffle, Noir hits hard.” He tried reassuring Scorpius, having assumed that Scorpius was worried about him, for some reason.
Scorpius shook his head, “No no, I understand he’s fine, Albus told us. I was uh wonder back during your third year, or Albus’ first year, when he got sorted into Slytherin… Daphne said that James went around saying… uh… a great deal of things of the defamatory sort.”, Calix seemed to realise what Scorpius was trying to ask but let him continue “Well… is it true, I mean, I know he’s not now, but back then I mean.”
Calix went quiet for a second, “Well… I wasn’t a prefect, obviously, and I don’t remember him doing anything… Hey! Aaron!” Calix called over the head boy who was talking to someone else. He went over and saw Scorpius.
“Malfoy, nice costume.” He nodded a bit and turned to Calix “What’s up?”
“Scorpius wants to know the whole Albus being aggressive rumors thing two years ago.” Calix explained.
“Ah, well no not really, just a little quiet.” Arron shrugged. “I don’t know much about him though. No one really fought James about Albus being aggressive though, Victorie Weasley would just tell James to stop it but never really said he was lying.”
“Victorie…?” Scorpius repeated, the name sounded vaguely familiar.
“She’s their oldest cousin. Graduated almost 4 years ago.” Arron explained. “You could ask Dominique Weasley. Red head over there.” Arron pointed to a girl wearing a black tattered dress and robes with a tall pointy hat. “That one over there.”
“Oh okay.. Thanks..” Scorpius mumbled.
“I guess the rest are with Potter or something.” Arron shrugged and went back to his friend.
Scorpius looked back at Dominique before looking back at Daphne, who was happily laughing away with Evelyn. Scorpius thought about it, he could go up to her and just say hi and ask, but there were a lot of people, what if they thought he was weird? What if he asks Dominique and she tells Albus and Albus thinks that Scorpius doesn't trust him? Or what if Albus gets upset and stops talking to him? What if the rest of the Weasleys hear and they think he's weird, James, Fred and Roxanne would only get more ammunition, and he real- wait what if Calix or Arron told Cassandra, what if Cassandra told Albus- No, stop. Scorpius told himself You’re being stupid. That’s not going to happen.. Scorpius looked down at his feet, he could do this, it’s just a question, no one’s going to murder him over it… right?
Scorpius was lost in his thoughts, trying to reassure himself that he should just ask. He jumped hard when there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Daphne with a lazy grin on her face “Hey! Why did you ditch me?”
“I’m sorry, I thought you’d prefer to be alone with her.” Scorpius noticed that Ryan had apparently appeared and took Evelyn’s attention.
“Yeah but her cousin decided to rear his ugly head.” Daphne shrugged, “Let’s leave before professor Slughorn’s guest comes in.”
“Professor Slughorn’s what?-”
“It’s an upperclassman who graduated and got recruited by the Appleby Arrows, the Professor invited him.”
Scorpius took a second to process that. “Oh, wait, why do you want to leave? I thought you liked quidditch?”
“I do but I called him a dog fucking cunt and broke his wand so I think we should leave.” Daphne said as he pulled Scorpius along.
“You did what-”
“Not important.” Daphne waved off Scorpius’s question as she dragged him off back to the Slytherin common room where Albus, Lyrin and Cassandra were at the table by the window, playing cards.
Lyrin was the first to notice them and waved them over. There were some other students hanging around the room. No one that Scorpius knew.
“Hey, you’re back early.” Cassandra said looking up from her cards.
“Yeah apparently Professor Slughorn invited William Greyson since he got recruited to the Appleby Arrows.”
The three immediately began snickering. Albus placed down a card, “You ran out the second you found out I bet.”
“What exactly happened?” Scorpius asked, still unsure what this apparently infamous incident is.
Lyrin giggled, “Daphne was being a sore loser about losing a wizard’s chess match.”
“She broke a wand over that?” Scorpius looked at Daphne, expecting her to defend herself.
Daphne simply huffed while crossing her arms, she probably got teased to no end for what happened.
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Around another two hours later, the group decided to head out to the Ravenclaw common room. They seemed to be walking forever to Ravenclaw Tower, having to go from the bottom of the dungeons to the fifth floor. Scorpius quietly followed along as the girls led the way while chatting. Albus was holding the Scooby stuffie under his armpit with his arms crossed. He seemed zoned out.
After what seemed like a thousand years of walking they reached the tower, to only be met with stairs. Ugh. After another century they found themselves in front of a large door with a bronze knocker shaped like an eagle. Lyrin sighed and knocked on it, the eagle seemed to wake up, surveying the five of them, it then spoke.
“The number four is half of five. How?”
Cassandra turned to Scorpius “You only have one chance per person knocking so yeah, be careful answering.” Scorpius nodded as he thought about it. The five of them racking their heads, at least the girls looked like they were, Albus didn’t look like he was paying attention.
Five
五
V
V
IV
Five has four letters, IV is half of that.
But that doesn’t make sense, why would four be in roman numerals but five be written out in english? Maybe it’s a math problem… no no that doesn’t make sense either.
Scorpius kept thinking it over, the only answer that made any sense was four being in roman numerals while five was written out. Cassandra said it was one riddle per person knocking, so that’s 4 more chances if he’s wrong. Scorpius let out a sigh, an attempt is better than nothing. He cleared his throat which got everyone’s attention.
He didn’t like the way everyone was looking at him but he just focused on the bronze knocker, “Four is a roman numeral, five is written out, IV is two letters, five is four letters, so it’s half of five.”
Everyone turned to look at the door knocker, the door then opened, whatever muffling charm that was casted on the room was broken for a bit when the doors opened.
The room was dark and massive although all the yelling and loud music didn’t give Scorpius a good view of the common room. Scorpius had an immediate wave of pain hit his ears, the music and the large crowd was getting to him and he hadn’t even entered the room. He followed the girls, Albus following behind him as the doors shut, although no one noticed them join the crowd. The song just ended as a new one started.
I'm a puppet on a string,
Tracy Island, time-travelin' diamond cutter-shaped heartaches,
The girls went off in different directions, Scorpius heard Albus say something about finding Jaiden and left too. Scorpius was alone in the crowd not sure where to go when he first noticed the large window, making his way towards the moonlight.
Come to find you four in some velvet mornin' years too late,
She's a silver linin', lone ranger ridin' through an open space,
In my mind, when she's not right there beside me,
There was a backless sofa pushed against the window that he sat down on, body turned and leaning on the window.
I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be
And satisfaction feels like a distant memory
Scorpius leaned on the window, looking out to the gorgeous view of the grounds at Hogwarts. He leaned his head on the window and looked out, trying his best to focus on the music instead of the blaring chorus of heartbeats. He could hear some yelling along the lines of “CHUG CHUG CHUG”.
And I can't help myself,
All I wanna hear her say is "Are you mine?"
Well, are you mine?
Are you mine?
Are you mine?
I guess what I'm trying to say
Is I need the deep end
Keep imagining meeting,
Wished away entire lifetimes
Unfair we're not somewhere
Misbehaving for days
Great escape
Lost track of time and space
She's a silver lining climbing on my desire
And I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be
And satisfaction feels like a distant memory
And I can't help myself,
All I wanna hear her say is "Are you mine?"
Well, are you mine? (are you mine tomorrow?)
Are you mine? (or just mine tonight?)
Are you mine? (are you mine? Mine?)
Scorpius was just sitting by the window, his hands over his ears as he looked out of the window. He jumped when someone tapped his shoulder, he recognised the face, it was the same face of the girl who led him around when he first got off the train, though he couldn’t remember her name.
“Hey!” She greeted with a small smile and held out ear mufflers, “You don’t like loud sounds right!?” She yelled over the music. Scorpius nodded as he took the mufflers, yelling a thanks back as she held up a thumbs up and left to join the crowd.
And the thrill of the chase
Moves in mysterious ways
So in case I'm mistaken,
I just wanna hear you say
"You got me, baby. Are you mine?"
She's a silver lining
Lone ranger riding
Through an open space
In my mind when she's not right there beside me
Scorpius felt better with the mufflers, not that it made a big difference. He turned back to look out the window.
I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be
And satisfaction feels like a distant memory
And I can't help myself,
All I wanna hear her say is "Are you mine?"
Well, are you mine? (are you mine tomorrow?)
Are you mine? (or just mine tonight?)
Are you mine? (are you mine tomorrow, or just mine tonight?)
Scorpius noticed someone walking up to him and he turned around to see Cassandra walking up to him with two butterbeers in hand.
“Hey, what are you doing here alone?” Cassandra said, offering him one of the glasses. Scorpius took it, even though he had no interest in it.
Arabella's got some interstellar-gator skin boots
“Loud, not a fan.”Scorpius said simply, as Cassandra sat next to him. “What are you doing here?”
“Yeah that makes sense” Cassandra said, “Where’s Albus?”
And a Helter Skelter 'round her little finger
And I ride it endlessly
Scorpius shrugged, “Somewhere with Jaiden.” He said as looked at her, still holding the cold butterbeer. “I know where Daphne is, where’s Lyrin?”
“Scouting.” Cassandra said briefly and took a sip of her already half drunk bottle of butterbeer.
She's got a Barbarella silver swimsuit
And when she needs to shelter from reality
She takes a dip in my daydreams
“Scouting?” Scorpius looked at her confused after a second.
My days end best when the sunset gets itself behind
“Scouting for a boyfriend, she’s been getting a bit boy crazy since summer started but her parents won’t let her date until she’s 14 and they need to put a stamp of approval so she’s been scouting out guys to show her parents.” Cassandra explained.
That little lady sittin' on the passenger side
It's much less picturesque without her catchin' the light
Scorpius didn’t say anything, he didn’t have much to say, mostly because he couldn’t think. THe music was blaring, he could smell some alcohol in the air, some upperclassmen, likely. He turned back to the window, looking at the top of the black lake from the top.
The horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes
As Arabella, oh
As Arabella
Cassandra sat next to him for a bit before she started talking to him. “Are you gonna join the pumpkin carving contest?”
Just might've tapped into your mind and soul
“Huh?” Scorpius said not hearing her clearing.
You can't be sure
“They’re doing a pumpkin carving thing!” Cassandra said louder over the music.
“Oh they’re doing uh-” Scorpius paused for a bit, thinking of what the word was, “Jakku ō rantan?”
Arabella's got a '70s head
But she's a modern lover, it's an exploration
She's made of outer space
“Yeah, yeah, Jack O lanterns!” Cassandra nodded. “You’re not going to join?”
And her lips are like the galaxy's edge
Scorpius shook his head, he remembered making some once, it was not a fun memory. Scorpius was holding back bile at the memory of the icky stringy texture of pumpkin guts.
And her kiss the colour of a constellation
Fallin' into place
Cassandra just nodded. “Yeah, can’t see anything in this light anyway.” She took another sip of her butterbeer. Scorpius could feel his hand going a bit numb from holding onto the cold bottle for so long.
My days end best when the sunset gets itself behind
That little lady sittin' on the passenger side
It's much less picturesque without her catchin' the light
The horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes
As Arabella, oh
As Arabella
Cassandra didn’t say anything more, neither did Scorpius. She finished her bottle and got up.
Just might've tapped into your mind and soul
“You okay on your own? I’m gonna go bug Lyrin.” Cassandra said over the music. Scorpius just nodded. Setting down his bottle of butterbeer on a stable nearby, turning back to look outside. She waved and went off into the crowd.
You can't be sure
(That's magic) In a cheetah print coat
(Just a slip) Underneath it, I hope
(Asking if) I can have one of those
(Organic) Cigarettes that she smokes
(Wraps her lips) 'Round a Mexican Coke
(Makes you wish) That you were the bottle
(Takes a sip) Of your soul, and it sounds like
Just might've tapped into your mind and soul
You can't be sure
.
Scorpius looked over at the crowd as the song died down before picking back up as a new song started. He spotted Albus leaning on a wall, laughing with Jaiden and some other person he didn’t recognise. He couldn’t help but think how off Albus was acting the entire day. He turned back to look out the window.
★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･
Everyone seemed pretty tired, except Daphne who was still beaming. The girls bid goodnight and left for their dormitories. The common room was mostly empty, the underclassmen were already in their rooms and the upperclassmen were still likely at the party. Scorpius didn’t feel well, his ears felt like they were hurting. Scorpius followed behind Albus who still hadn’t said a single word to him. Scorpius was too overstimulated to care about Albus being weird.
“I’ll brush my teeth first.” Albus said and headed to the bathroom in their room. Scorpius didn’t protest, heading to his trunk to take out nightwear. He brushed his hair, wiped off his makeup and changed into a plain white shirt and black shorts. He brushed his hair and tied it , laying down on his bed while waiting for Albus to finish. There was a knock on the door causing Scorpius to sit up and head over, opening it up to see the head girl, who looked down at Scorpius and offered a small smile. “Hello Malfoy, good to see you’re back.” before Scorpius could greet her back, a small wrapped package with a letter tied on top, “This came for you while you were out, it’s from your father I believe. I’ll head back, good night, don't sneak out,” She said with a light warning and left the boys dormitory.
Scorpius walked back to his bed and sat down with his legs crossed on his lap. He opened the letter on top of the package, the package was a smallish rectangular wrapped in a light brown paper. Scorpius saw the silver wax seal printed with the Malfoy family crest,
★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･★
31/10/21.
My Little Scorpion,
I’m sure by the time this letter reaches you the day will have ended, I’m sorry I sent it so late, work was hectic as usual, especially with the harvest season dragging on late this year.
Happy birthday, my star. Another year passes, you grow older and so does my love and pride in you. I remember the day you were born, the day I held you for the first time is the only memory that rivals the pure joy I felt when I married your mother. Even if she isn’t here with us, I know she felt the exact same.
I miss you terribly, I hadn’t expected I’d take your first birthday away from home so hard but I hope you weren’t too homesick. Your aunt, uncle and grandfather have sent you wishes as well as gifts. I was tempted to send you them all but I recognise it’d be a hassle for you, so I just sent a little care package instead. I’d recommend you open it in private.
Love,
Your father.
★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･★
Scorpius looked at the door to the bathroom, it was shut. Scorpius looked down at the box and peeled off the tape of the wrapping paper. After maybe a minute he got the wrapping paper off and looked at the box, seeing a bit of foil from a gap in the box, the box was a bit dented. Guess Scoups didn’t have the smoothest flight. Scorpius could smell it, something fatty. His father must’ve sent some food. Scorpius’s stomach growled at the thought of chewing on something again, sure he was fine on blood but it didn’t give him as much energy as meat or organs did.
He opened the box, the smell getting stronger, he could guess what it was, pig intestines, one of his favourite foods and he had to stop himself from ripping open the box and stuffing his face. He still had a month to go before winter holidays started and he wanted to ration his little birthday treat. He was almost 100% sure that his father had put a preservation charm on it but just to be safe he flicked the edge of the box
Serva.
With that, he put the box in his bedside table drawer. Just in time as Albus came out, face still wet from washing it. Scorpius took the cue and headed to the bathroom, washing his face before brushing his teeth and heading to bed. That’s when Albus spoke up.
“You are not going to believe what happened.” Albus started as he laid down in bed. Scorpius turned to face him.
“So today is the anniversary of my grandparents dying right. The dark lord killed them while looking for my dad.”
Scorpius just nodded, “Uh today was my birthday too.” He just casually mentioned.
“Cool, but we do this thing where it’s like a vigil I guess I don’t know but we call our parents by floo to talk to them, I thought we weren’t doing it this year because well James got his face busted right?” Scorpius nodded, “No! Mo, they did make the call But neither! James nor Lily bloody invited me or called me! Can you believe it?” Scorpius just shook his head and yawned. Albus must’ve seen it. He laid down and turned off the lamp.
“Goodnight Scorpius.”
“Goodnight Albus.”