Chapter 2
Lily Potter was a force to be reckoned with, Scorpius knew that. She was the top of her classes, seeker of Ravenclaw since her second year, and the Charms Queen.
She was also a prankster trouble-maker, just like her brothers. But unlike her brothers, she had never received a single detention during her Hogwarts years, from any of her professors, the prefects or the staff.
Teddy would play the teacher's pet card; he was a demon with the face of an angel. Who could believe that the friendly Hufflepuff prefect was the one who had completely destroyed the Potions classroom after one too many attempts by Slughorn to “collect” the son of two war heroes? Or that he was the one who had beaten that Gryffindor sixth grader to a pulp after he had called Victoire Weasley a mutt for having Veela blood? And being McGonagall's favorite also had its perks. Teddy would always leave the Headmistress' office with the minimum possible detention and a small smirk on his face.
Jamie wouldn't really give a fuck if he got a detention or not. He wouldn't try to hide the fact that it was him who was responsible, he thrived in the attention. He would do the things that he did, for fun. Never going as far as to bullying though, he tried to not make the same mistakes his grandfather did, only simple prank wars between friends and family.
And he knew when to stop, even if it had taken him the hard way to learn; with his siblings and cousins not speaking to him and downright ignoring him for three weeks straight, because creating a parkour in the Potter Home and forcing his family to compete on it with a slight mass hallucination, just because he could and because it sounded like a fun idea had been nothing short of going too far. And had caused several broken bones for several of the people involved. He could get a bit crazy at times.
Al would only get caught if he wanted to, if he couldn't resist it. Al had an addiction for fame you see, he liked to be known for the things that he did, he liked to have a reputation. His own reputation though, not his father's, or mother's, or siblings', or anyone else's.
But he didn't like the consequences of his actions. So, he had found a compromise. He would make it so everyone knew it was him who had done what was done, but no one could prove it. Of course, there had been times where he had fucked up; those times when he had used the wrong potions or spells, or the times where he had trusted the wrong people to be his partner in crime, or the times where he had taken a wrong turn in the dead of the night and quite literally collided with a professor.
But those times had only managed to teach him how to do better, how to use and choose the right spells and potions so that they couldn't be traced back to him. And how to not work with snitches. And how to know the castle like the back of his hand, better than the rest of his siblings, even Teddy who had also had the Marauders Map during his school years.
Yeah, nowadays Al only got caught if he was signing up for the consequences, if the reputation was worth the detention, and he couldn't get it without getting caught. But there had been times that he would fuck up and fuck up and fuck up, getting so many detentions he didn't have enough free time on his calendar to get more.
But Lily... Lily was a different story.
She wouldn't have a teacher's pet front to soften her punishments. She wouldn't be careless and say “fuck it” and not give a damn about the consequences. She wouldn't hide from them either, accepting the detentions only when she couldn't resist the fame of it and couldn't get it anyway without being caught.
No, she wasn't her brothers. Her thing wasn't dedication to her own morality and loyalty to friends. Or a thirst for fun and a careless boldness. Or an addiction to outsmart people with her cunning and an ambition to be known for the things that she was doing, which she could barely contain.
No.
Her thing, was talking and thinking.
She had a silver tongue in her mouth and a good head on her shoulders, and she wasn't afraid to use either. She wouldn't try to hide her actions, from her professors, or the prefects, or her family, or even the victim of her actions.
She would talk and talk and talk, until what she was saying was their truth and everyone agreed that she was actually innocent. She had been in McGonagall's office for more times than one could count –though she had, and it was 73 times– and left the room with a smirk and the satisfaction of not being caught –because there wasn't anything to catch! – every time.
Her thing, was bending the truth and finding the loopholes. Alright, maybe she liked outsmarting people too.
She knew she was going to make an excellent lawyer.
Scorpius knew all of that about Lily; how much of an icon she was and how she was famous for never, technically, breaking a rule. For being the demonic goody-two shoes that she was.
But nothing could've prepared him to actually meeting her.
The redhead entered the Hospital Wing with her bleeding left arm up in the air, her navy-blue Ravenclaw tie tied up tightly around her elbow, and her eyes trained on the pages of the book she was holding in her good hand. “Can someone please take a look at my arm?” She called out, without even lifting her eyes from the book. “It’s bleeding.”
Scorpius pounced.
“Salazar's slippers! What happened?!”
“An idiot in the name of Jacob Pucey managed to blow up the window beside me while trying to learn the simplest charm ever. Cistem Apario, box blasting charm.” She closed the book with a loud pop and met the blonde’s worried gaze with a flat look.
Scorpius led the girl to the closest bed and ran to get the needed equipment. “He blew up an entire window?” He asked as he went. “You’re lucky only your arm got hurt.”
“It wasn’t luck. I put up a shield.” The girl said with a raised eyebrow and a sharp tone. “Though I wasn’t fast enough. I’m mildly injured.” She grimaced and gestured at her left arm that was still in the air –to lessen the bleeding, the blonde distinctly realized– with an emotion that Scorpius could only call boredom.
“How are you so calm?” He asked, unable to help himself. “Are you in shock? Doesn’t it hurt?”
“No, it doesn’t. Professor Flitwick put on some numbing charms on the wound, I don’t feel my arm at all. And let me introduce myself, I’m Lily Ruby Potter.” The redhead –Lily, Al’s sister– extended her good hand to him. He shook it.
“I grew up with three dumbasses that I call my brothers –Teddy, Jamie and Al– constantly doing stupid stunts and almost dying on a daily basis. This type of stuff happened pretty often in our home. Though not to me usually. I preferred to read or dance or sing or bake while the trio of idiots were climbing to the roof or doing hand-stands on their broomsticks. Their survival is a miracle, honestly.”
Scorpius chuckled despite himself, yeah that does sound like Al, and got to work quickly. Only after cleaning the wound did he realize that it was in a worse condition that what he had originally thought. “Merlin’s pants.” He murmured under his breath, but Lily heard him all the same. Her head snapped towards him.
“What? Is it bad?”
“N-No, it’s not. It’s just that it’s worse that I thought, is all, but not bad.”
She stared at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow. “You’re a terrible liar.” She drawled dryly, and he sulked. “Maybe you should call Madam Pomfrey.”
“I’m more than qualified for a mildly deep cut to stitch and bandage up, thank you very much!” He said defensively.
“Then why are you so nervous?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” She was definitely smirking by now. As if playing with Scorpius like how an orca would play with its prey while he was trying to save her arm was the most fun thing she had done in weeks. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but she was smirking while having her arm stitched back together. That deserved some exaggeration.
“My patients usually aren’t as calm as you. Especially while half of the blood that’s supposed to be in their arm is on their clothes and the corridors. It’s weird.”
“Tell me trainee, do you always rely on your “patients” being tenser and more nervous than you, or can you actually do your job without forcing calmness on yourself by being the calmest one in the room?”
Scorpius looked up from his work, locked gazes with her mocking one, and glared. Her smirk grew. He looked back down. “It’s only my third month or something. I’ll get better with time.”
“Fourth.”
“What?”
“Your fourth month, not third.”
“And how would you know that?” Scorpius asked as he started wrapping the bandage around Lily’s arm. Honestly, he was a bit worried. Even he didn’t know how long it had been since he started interning at the Hospital Wing, hadn’t kept count. How did Lily Potter, a girl he had never encountered at all before, other than passing by in the hallways, knew it?
“Scared Malfoy?” Lily teased, reading his body language wonderfully and loving his fear. He tensed further. “I never told you my name.” They locked gazes for a second before Lily burst out laughing. “Rowena’s ribbons! Don’t worry Malfoy, I’m not stalking you!”
“Then how do you know my name and how long I’ve worked here?”
“Because of Al. Though your platinum blonde hair, pale royalty skin and icy grey eyes were also useful tips, for your name I mean.”
“Al?” Scorpius ignored the rest of her words.
“Yeah. You know, my youngest older brother? Raven hair, emerald-green eyes, about a foot or two taller than me? Slytherin seeker and team captain, hella good at potions and herbology, comes here every other day if not every day?”
“I know who Al is, that’s not what I was asking.”
“Then what were you asking?” She purred, still playing.
“I-I- He- He talks about me?”
“Ugh, all the damn time. He can’t shut up about you. It’s not even cute anymore, it’s just annoying.”
Scorpius felt his eyes widen as his cheeks burned a pink color. He hastily finished up Lily’s arm and gathered up his equipment. He got up from beside the redhead and turned tail, planning on running to the back and staying there for a good while until he was sure that Lily had left.
But she called out to him before he could get away. “You two talked before Christmas. You and Al. Right?”
Scorpius slowly turned around, there was something different with her tone. It wasn’t teasing anymore, more somber, more serious. It demanded his attention. “What?” He asked carefully, and because he honestly didn’t understand what was going on.
“You two talked, right?”
“Well, probably, yes. But I don’t even know which talk you’re referring to, he comes here almost daily, we “talk” every other day.”
“I don’t know which one I’m referring to either. I just know that Al wasn’t the same when he got home for Christmas this year. With dad. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a bad father. But with Al, he has had some problems. They have had some problems. Those are pretty personal so I’m not going to elaborate. The point is, things have always been a bit stilted and tense between them, even after they’ve made up. But this Christmas, Al was acting different towards dad. Better. Warmer.” She was speaking slowly and choosing her words carefully. Threading carefully.
“Now, I know that there is a lot of things that could’ve caused this change in his actions. But something in me is telling me that the change of heart in his demeanor, is thanks to you. And I know that I have a good gut feeling.
“I can’t imagine it being a casual conversation or an easy talk. I think it was a sensitive subject actually. Which is why I am not going to press or pry. I guess I just wanted to say… Thank you. You’re good for him Scorpius Malfoy. I hope that my brother’s friendship with you lasts long. Good day.” With that, Lily Potter jumped off the bed she was laying on, and left the Hospital Wing.
Scorpius Malfoy was standing in the middle of the room, frozen and shocked to his cores, for at least fifteen more minutes until a second grader entered the room with tears in his eyes, a friend by his side, and a large cut on his hand.
Because he figured which talk Lily had been referring to.
***
Scorpius hand-fed the sleeping potion to the bantered Potter lying in bed in front of him. He watched as Al fell into a deep slumber and his emerald-green eyes slowly closed. The redhead by his side huffed out her annoyance.
“I can’t believe this dumbass did that stupid stunt, just to win a stupid quidditch match.”
“I can, it’s Al we’re talking about. And he did win the match.”
“Whose side are you on?” Lily snapped at him in between trying to dry up her muddied quidditch uniform with muttered charms and spells.
“No one’s.” With that, he summoned a towel from the back and gave it to Lily, before starting to clean up. “You can leave if you want to, you know. Take a shower, eat something, take a quick nap. I can look over him while you’re gone.
“Really?” She asked, biting her lip. She was dying to be in some hot water, but she didn’t want to leave Al alone.
“It’s literally my duty to be here, to heal and watch over sick and injured people. You can leave, I can look after a knocked-out form-of-life for 2-3 hours, in your absence.”
“When will he wake up?”
“Not for the next three hours, at least. And Professor McGonagall wrote a letter to your parents too. They should be here soon.”
“Alright. I guess I’ll leave.” Lily relented and left the Hospital Wing.
The blonde sat down at Al’s bedside, summoned a book and began to read. He might as well do something fun while at it, right?
It wasn’t for another hour or so someone else entered the Hospital Wing. Two young men; a tall brunette with unruly hair and a crooked smirk, and a guy with three visible tattoos, lip and ear piercings, and blue hair.
They entered the HW and immediately headed towards Al’s bed. Scorpius put down his book and moved between them and the youngest Potter boy. “Can I help you?” He asked, not unkindly, but visibly defensive.
“Maybe you can.” The brunette answered. He looked familiar, especially his eyes, like he had just seen them. Though Scorpius couldn’t figure out where at. “We’re here to visit our younger brother. He had a little quidditch incident you see, and Minnie dearest sent a letter home.”
Scorpius’ eyes widened as he realized. “You two are Al’s brothers?”
“Yeah.” The blue-haired man answered. “And you must be Scorpius.” He extended his hand and the blonde shook it quickly. “Al has mentioned you once or twice. Pleased to meet you, I’m Teddy Lupin.” Teddy smiled a small smile and Scorpius returned it gratefully, if only a little red from the man’s kindness.
“Jamie.” The other guy introduced himself. It took Scorpius a moment to realize that he knew Jamie Potter from their shared school years and his quidditch achievements. (He had changed a lot, especially his taste in clothes. He had graduated last year and started playing the chaser position for Ballycastle Bats.) And his eyes from Lily’s, they were the same shade and shape. “So, what’s the verdict doc? How’s our little brother?”
“Uhm-” Scorpius stuttered for a second only before snapping back to his professional healer attitude and walking the two men through Al’s injuries. His broken bones, cuts, bruises and internal bleeding. Though alarming at first, they were quite easy to deal with for Madam Pomfrey and him; so, Al hadn’t been taken to the St. Mungos or any other hospital.
Jamie took his seat by Al’s bedside and Teddy pulled a chair next to him when Scorpius was done explaining. Sensing that he should leave the two men alone with their brother, the blonde went to the back and busied himself with re-arranging the medicine shelves.
Lily came and found him an hour later and gave him back the towel he had given her earlier, clean and dry. She really was the Charms Queen.
When he went back to the front and pulled out his transfiguration homework two hours later, Jamie Potter approached him.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt but, uhm, Al still hasn’t woken up. Lily told us that you said the potion would keep him asleep for at least three hours but it has been four and a half since you told her that and I’m-”
“Worried?” Scorpius offered, cutting off his rambling. “Yeah, I get it.” He smiled at the nervous man. “The potion is to put him to sleep and ensure that he doesn’t wake up for however long, according to the dosage. He can keep sleeping after it wears off. He’ll probably wake up by dinner time, when his body has decided that it has rested enough, like how it happens with a normal one-night sleep. But I can check his vitals and see if anything’s wrong if that’ll help your anxiety?”
Jamie smiled at him. “That would be great, thank you very much.”
Scorpius took a second to put away his essay and then followed Jamie back to Al’s bedside. He pulled out his wand and uttered the words of the diagnosing charm that came as a second nature by now. He waited patiently as Al’s vitals slowly appeared in the air before him. He scanned over them quickly.
“He’s completely fine.” He said after he was done. “And I can confirm you he’s just sleeping; he would wake up right now if you were to shake him awake. Don’t do that though, he needs the rest.”
He was about to step away when the raven’s hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Scorpius startled and flinched the slightest bit while Al opened his eyes groggily and looked up at him tiredly. “He is also very familiar with a certain Blondie’s voice and can hear and recognize it even in his sleep.” He drawled lazily, smiling up at the other.
Scorpius blushed and his heart stuttered, as Al’s siblings began shouting. “Al! You’re awake! Are you in pain?” Teddy was yelling. “You woke up to his voice and not your sixteen years of siblings?!” Jamie asked, scandalized. And Lily was one second from slapping him across the face. “If you do such a stupid, life-risking stunt ever again, Al Regulus Potter, I swear on Rowena’s name that I am going to smack the living shit out of you, no matter how injured you are!”
“Merlin’s bloody pants! Stop yelling, will you?! My head hurts enough as it is!”
“Your head hurts?” Teddy asked worriedly, and looked over at Scorpius. It looked like he was the mother-hen between the four siblings, despite his punk appearance.
“It’s to be expected.” The blonde reassured. “He fell fifty feet after all, slowing charms or not.”
“Where’s mom and dad?” Al asked, after scanning the room quickly.
“Mom was asleep on the quidditch article about Puddlemore’s new player that she was writing, and dad was still out, probably locked in the office, writing mission reports. We left the letter and a note on the fridge so that they can see it and come here when they have the chance.” Jamie explained.
“I hope they can come before you’re released though.” Lily muttered. Their parents did their bests to make time for them but there was only so much they could do as the most successful quidditch reporter of the Prophet and a full-time Auror.
“Oh, they can’t miss him, don’t worry.” Scorpius said. “His injuries are enough to keep him here for a week, at least. He’ll need a lot of rest before being released.”
“I’m not staying here for a week.” Al frowned.
“Yes, you are.” Scorpius replied.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” The blonde was getting annoyed.
“No, I’m not.” Al too.
“I’ll tie you to the damn bed if I have to Al, but you are not leaving the Hospital Wing without healing properly. Now shut up or I’m going to remove your visitor privileges and you’ll have to spend the next week here, alone.” His passive aggressive anger made itself more and more visible as he talked, and by the end of his monologue, his glare was enough to make Al back down.
This isn’t over.” The raven mumbled still, despite very clearly losing the argument.
“Whatever you say Sunshine.” Scorpius said, having no idea where the nickname had come from, before moving to get back to his essay. Neither of the two realized the other three staring at them with gaping mouths and wide eyes.
***
Ginny and Harry Potter could only tumble into the Hospital Wing at seven o’clock, right before the dinner time.
Scorpius was helping Al eat and keeping him company when they entered the room.
“Al!” Ginny yelled out. “Oh, my Godric, are you okay?!”
Scorpius moved back a bit as the parents of the patient took his place at Al’s bedside.
“I’m fine mom, it doesn’t even hurt.”
“Are you sure?” Harry Potter asked. “The letter said that you fell fifty feet. That’s a long fall, slowing charms or not.”
“I’m sure dad, I’m alright.” Al resisted the urge to chuckle at his father repeating almost completely what Scorpius had said hours ago.
The Potters only then realized the platinum blonde standing by the side and looking out of sorts.
“And you are?” Ginny asked, not unkindly. Even though she had a pretty good guess on the subject.
“Scorpius. Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy.” The blonde stumbled over his words. “Pleased to meet you madam.”
“Ginny will do, no need for madams and sirs.” She extended her arm and shook Scorpius’ with a smile. “May I ask what you were doing when we arrived?”
“Oh, uhm... I'm Madam Pomfrey's new healer trainee. Kind of like an intern. She's at the Great Hall right now, eating dinner. But I stayed behind, wanted to keep All company.” Scorpius bit his lip in worry and Al frowned. “I was helping him eat.”
“Harry Potter.” Harry also shook Scorpius' hand. “You want to be a healer after school?”
“Yes, sir. I hope to work in the St. Mungos or a similar, known hospital as a body healer one day.”
Harry nodded, before giving a small smile and turning back to Al. “I'm sorry we're so late, son. I couldn't come back home until 6.30 pm and your mom was still asleep when I did. We saw the letter and Teddy's note on the fridge at the same time and quite literally pounced.”
“It's alright dad, I know how busy you two are. Plus, Jamie and Teddy were here, Lily too. They made up for your absence. They're in the Great Hall, eating dinner right now actually. You guys can go join them if you want to, I bet neither of you had the time for dinner.”
“No, it’s alright.” Ginny assured. “We can wait an hour or so until your siblings come back, to go eat. They looked after you the whole day after all, it's our turn now.”
“You don't have to choose in between.” Scorpius said despite his nervousness. “We can ask some of the house elves to fix you two some food. I'm sure they'd be happy to help.”
“Really?” Harry lifted an eye brow. “Go on then, ask them.” He wanted to see how this boy treated the house elves.
Al rolled his eyes, his father was so predictable, really. He had guessed that he would say that.
Seeing how people treated their servers and the people below them, especially house elves, was one of Harry's most used ways to check the personalities of the people he met. It was a very subtle, yet very important test.
One could argue how that was unfair or stupid or whatever, but nevertheless, that test was one of the biggest impacts on how Harry shaped his relationship with new people. Of course, there were other tests too, like asking them which laws they found stupid, fishing them to say the Lupin law or the Blood law (basically every law about protecting werewolves or muggle-borns and half-bloods, the outcasts).
Al turned back at Scorpius with interest, he knew the blonde would treat the elves right, pass with flying colors; but found him as pale as the Bloody Baron. Al knew Scorpius good enough to read his body language, understand him without words by now; and he also knew that he could recognize a test when he saw one.
Scorpius knew exactly what was going on, or at least that he was being tested. And he was nervous. (Al suddenly wanted to strangle his dad, just a little bit.) The blonde took in a deep breath and tentatively called out. “Millie?”
The elf appeared with a loud crack. “Mr. Scorpius! Pleasure to see you sir, how are you doing?” That managed to bring a smile to the tense Malfoy's face, Millie had that effect on him. “I'm quite alright Millie, and you?”
“I'm quite alright too sir! How can I help you?”
Scorpius crouched down in front of her and explained what was going on and asked her for some food for the Potters. “That wouldn't be a problem, right?”
“Not at all sir! I'll be happy to assist. What would Mr. and Mrs. Potter want to eat?”
Scorpius turned to the Potters and relaxed at the lack of a judgmental expression on Harry's face. He had passed! Though he didn't know what he passed.
“Nothing too hard Millie, maybe some tomato soup and sandwiches?” Ginny suggested. Millie nodded eagerly and popped away with a loud crack.
Scorpius smiled awkwardly at Mr. and Mrs. Potter before turning to Al. “I'll be in the back doing my Potions homework.” Lie, he had finished it two days ago, with Al's help too. “I'm guessing you don't need me here anymore?”
“What? Of course, I do, where are you going, you're my healer.”
“Uhm... I just thought that you might want to spend some alone time with your parents. Call out if you need me.” With that, Scorpius bolted, to go to the back and hide in between the old medicine drawers.
Ginny was the one to realize his un-touched meal, long cold by now, still next to Al's half-eaten one. He had been too busy hand-feeding the stubborn raven to eat his own dinner after all.
She waited until Millie was back and bringing their food to ask her to heat up Scorpius’ dinner. The elf did so quickly and Ginny was on a mission to spot a head of platinum blonde in between medicine shelves with a food tray in hand, in under five minutes. She saw Scorpius with a sketch book and a pen, sitting on the floor and scribbling. No, drawing. He was drawing.
“Hey.” She called out. Scorpius startled.
“Is everything okay?” He asked kindly, after recovering. “Did you have a question?”
“I was just bringing you your food. It had gone cold so I waited for Millie to come back and asked her to heat it up. You shouldn’t skip meals.”
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was no problem.” Ginny said. “What are you doing?”
“Oh. Uhm… Drawing. It helps me relax.”
“Can I take a look? If that’s okay?”
“Sure.” He took the tray from her hands and put it away, patting the spot next to him afterwards. The redhead sat down by his side after giving him a small smile and Scorpius started turning the pages, showing her his work.
Ginny stared, completely stunned, as the identical drawings of the professors and the ghosts and the staff and the paintings and magical creatures and objects and views appeared on the pages, flashing past each other one after another. The kid was talented.
“I do ask for permission from the professors, the ghosts and the paintings before drawing them.”
“And the students?” Ginny found herself asking, she hadn’t seen any teenagers in school uniforms or daily robes on those pages. “Your friends?” Something wasn’t adding up.
“I don’t draw students.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“They’d say no if I asked. And I refuse to draw people without permission, it’s creepy.”
“Have you ever asked one of your peers before?” Maybe the kid was just shy. But Ginny had a strong gut feeling, and it said to her that something was off. Something was off about the boy beside her, something wrong, and she wanted to find out what.
“No.”
“Then how do you know they’d refuse?”
Scorpius didn’t answer.
There was a smile on his face. A sad one.
And there was a look in his eyes, melancholic
***
Harry’s job wasn’t really easy to get day off from. Neither was Teddy’s, for that matter. He had gotten time off to come visit Harry and Ginny –and Jamie too, because the heathen still lived with his parents and refused to move out, though said parents didn’t really have a problem with that– but his vacation days were coming to an end and he had to leave to get back to work. And Jamie had practice early in the morning.
So, it was well-established and easily-decided that Ginny would stay the night. It was significantly easier for her to get time-off as a reporter, than any of them; as a full-time Auror, a chaser of a successful Quidditch team, and a known Curse-Breaker for Gringotts.
Although the raven had resisted, it wasn’t enough to stop Ginny. He had said that he was a big boy now, and didn’t need his mommy by his side all the damn time, but the said mommy was relentless. She had been given permission to spend one night by her injured son’s side (if the injuries had been worse, she would have more than one night, but Al’s wounds didn’t request that) and she would be crazy to not take advantage.
Poppy assigned her the bed next to Al’s and left for her personal chambers, telling Scorpius to not take too long with the cleaning up he refused to let her do on the evenings he worked. The blonde nodded dutifully and fastened his pace.
Ginny sat in the bed given to her and started reading, though she couldn’t resist the insisting dropping of her eyelids and laid down not five minutes and two pages later.
But a conversation between Al and Scorpius stopped sleep from claiming her fully as she was dozing off.
“Long day huh? Falling fifty feet to win your team the match, and then waking up in the Hospital Wing?”
“Dealing with every single member of my nuclear family in less than a ten-hour span, is what you mean, I think. At least that’s what’s tired me out.” The boys gave huffing chuckles. “But, yeah, agreed. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired.”
“I should let you sleep then. Good night.” Scorpius must’ve been done with the clean-up then. Good, it was already late and no matter what the boy said or believed, overworking yourself was not a good way of learning.
But Al wasn’t done. “Why were you so nervous?”
“When?”
“When you were meeting my parents.”
“Oh. Uhm… It was just my usual level of anxiety when meeting someone new. Nothing special.”
“Scorpius, don’t lie to me. Please.”
The blonde sighed. “I was just- I didn’t know how they would react, because I’m a… a Malfoy. They certainly didn’t have many happy memories with my father. And not to mention that he was a… a Death Eater.” The words felt like sandpaper on his tongue, Scorpius had to force them out.
Ginny felt her heart break.
“And you thought that they would take out all of their anger against your dad; on you? His sixteen-years-old son? That is believing that they still haven’t managed grow up and let go of what had happened nearly twenty-five years ago, during their school years.”
“I don’t mean to insult your parents or anything.” Scorpius said, his tone panicked. “I just…”
“You what?” Al sounded more curious than upset. He was trying to understand, not scold. “I mean, I just don’t understand. I didn’t treat you like that, Rose didn’t treat you like that, my siblings didn’t treat you like that. Why did you think that my parents would?”
“Because everyone other than you, Rose and your siblings treats me like that Al.” The words were quiet, a whispered confession; but still harsh, bitter. Because it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all.
Six years at Hogwarts. Six years of being nothing short of kind and smiley and shy and respectful. And people still compared him to his father’s arrogant prick of a youth (his father’s words, not his). Still avoided and disregarded him. Or harassed and insulted. Still hated, with no reason at all.
It wasn’t fair.
Scorpius looked solely to the ground, and avoided Al’s eyes. He didn’t know what he would see in them, but all the possibilities disturbed him. Pity, humor, mocking, judgement…
He didn’t have the courage to find out.
“People avoid and ignore you because of your last name? They judge you before even getting to know you?”
Ginny was kind of proud of the way her son sounded so flabbergasted, like being prejudiced wasn’t even a thing for him. Though, it mostly hadn’t been growing up.
Of course, her and Harry had thought their kids to be observant, and how to make inferences; but never to be prejudiced. No, that hadn’t been allowed. And she was damn proud to say that they had been successful at doing just that, and raising four amazing children.
“That’s not the worst thing that they do.” That almost caused Ginny to snap open her eyes and demand an explanation –gently of course–, though her son had the same idea and she didn’t need to.
“What does that mean?” Al demanded.
The redhead had an idea, and it made her wince internally. Please, she begged to no one in particular. Please don’t let it be what I think it is. Bullying often didn’t seem like such a problem to most people.
Most people were wrong.
Bullying had long-lasting and excessive –yet sneaky enough that you couldn’t pinpoint the reason or even the problem sometimes– effects on the victim’s mental and psychological health, sometimes physical health too.
She wouldn’t want anyone to go through bullying; but after meeting Scorpius, having a conversation with him, warming up to him, getting to know him, and getting attached to him in less than an hour; it hurt her in a different way than it would’ve with a kid she didn’t know, to think of him being afraid of roaming the halls of his own school freely.
“It doesn’t mean anything. I need to go; it’s getting late and we both need sleep. Goodnight, Al.” With that, Scorpius sprinted out of the Hospital Wing, leaving behind his backpack and a raven calling out for him.
He would feel bad later, when his current reaction wasn’t to panic, and get out. He could feel the anxiety making an appearance in his chest and fear settling into his stomach. Oh boy, it was going to be a long, sleepless night.
The same could be said about Al and Ginny Potter though, who were both staring at the ceiling and willing the sleep to come even though they knew that it wouldn’t. Both their minds ran a mile a minute, what did Scorpius mean? Was it really what they thought it was? If so, to what degree? And for how long? And why did no one know? Why did no one stop it?
Al fell asleep after a while, sometime after the first hour mark.
But Ginny kept staring up at the ceiling, thinking. She had to do something, for the kid. She couldn’t just turn a blind eye, she had to do something. How, she would figure out the next day, but she was going to do something.
She would start by talking with Minerva. Yes, that was a good start. Minerva was the most capable person the redhead knew, and she would handle the situation with ease. Yeah, a good idea.
But for now, Ginny kept staring at the ceiling, remembering all the times Luna had been bullied, and Hermione had been excluded, and how Neville had been terrified of Potions classes and even had Snape as his boggart.
Ginny remembered, and promised to herself as her eyes finally started to drop after hours of her brain whirling on a loophole of painful memories, no more.
***
“What do you mean he said that’s not the worst thing that they do?”
“I mean exactly what I said Rose. He said that people do worse than just ignoring or avoiding him; which, in my dictionary, equals to saying I’m being bullied.”
“But- But-” Rose was speechless.
That was very important, because Rose was the kind of person to never let the last word go to someone else, and always have a repartee to say. Always the one to win the argument and make you regret ever disagreeing with her. She had sass –good sass– and she wasn’t afraid to use it. And she was never speechless.
But now she was.
“We need to do something.” Al was saying, and she had the distinct feeling that she was supposed to stop his train of thought immediately. Because Al’s description of “doing something” in this type of context usually meant doing something illegal; or something that would land them in a detention for the rest of the month, at the very least.
“Like what?” She found herself asking instead; no teasing or annoyance in her tone, just curiosity, like she was actually asking him for suggestions. Wow, she had really gotten attached to those stupid dimples and that cloud-soft hair and that sunny smile, hadn’t she? Okay, understandable and acceptable, expectable even.
The blonde was like a shy golden retriever after all, all coy smiles and genuine surprise for any kind of praise he got (though Rose knew the reason for that now, and that action wasn’t as cute as before anymore). And loud laughs and good snark once you got to know him.
Scorpius had grown on her in the past few months they have known each other; partly because he had become %90 of Al’s impulse control and kept him alive, and mostly because he could keep up with Rose academically and in the wits and the sass departments –even keep her on her toes sometimes–, and enjoyed her company even when she was going full geek or nerd about something. (He would usually just end up joining her on the topic.)
She was glad to have a friend like him. And she was pissed at what was being done to her friend.
She wanted revenge, she desired vengeance.
And she would get it. For her friend, she would get it.
She could tell Al was sharing the sentiment.
***
She didn’t mind it when the silence reached the thirty-second mark, most people had problems on where to start when speaking about something important. At the two-minute-mark, she started getting concerned. At the five-minute-mark, she was getting agitated. And at the ten-minute-mark, she finally broke.
“Is there a reason why you’re here Mrs. Potter?” Let’s keep it former and clean, she thought, she didn’t know what kind of conversation to expect after all. But then Ginny looked up and met her eyes and Minerva knew immediately what kind of conversation it would be. “Ginny, Honey, are you okay?”
The tears in Ginny’s eyes didn’t fall, she pushed them back and got lost of them, but Minerva could see that the nickname helped easing off some of the tension on the redhead's shoulders.
Ginny opened her mouth and started talking, and Minerva’s face hardened with every word of hers. She wasn’t there to complain about her son’s lack of self-preservation skills, or how it was Minerva’s fault that Al had fallen fifty feet and was to spend a whole week in the Hospital Wing.
(She didn’t object to those kinds of talks, they helped humble her down and make sure that she still was the headmistress she aimed to be after all. Lord knows that if Dumbledore had also had them once in a while, a lot of their ex-students would be much less traumatized. Or much less dead.)
Ginny, apparently, had heard a conversation between her son and Scorpius Malfoy the night before, and had been concerned. Apparently, what she had heard made her believe that the young Malfoy was being bullied by his peers.
“Ginny.” Minerva started. “Are you sure you haven’t misunderstood? Mr. Malfoy has never come to me, or any of his professors, with such a problem and asked for help. As much as I know anyways.”
“Yes, I am sure. I can show you the memory in the pensieve too, if you want. But I’m sure, that’s not the worst thing that they do, means, at least, verbal violence.”
Minerva let out an angry huff. “We have a no-tolerance policy for bullying. I will not condone to the disgusting activity if you are correct. The school that I run, will not be a place where some students are afraid to come back to after the holidays.” She gave a sideway glance to Dumbledore and Snape’s portraits, and then returned her attention to Ginny.
“What do we do Minerva?”
“Firstly, we would need to find out if what we think is correct. Then, we would need evidence of it, and hold a school board meeting. I will need to talk with the professors and ask them to keep an eye on the boy as a start.”
“Alright. Thank you.”
“No need for thanks Ginny,” Minerva’s eyes softened. “This is my job after all, I am the headmistress. And I would be a fool to repeat the same mistakes I made with- with Severus and the Marauders. And with Harry, Hermione and Ron; and Draco, Gregory and Vincent. And with Neville –and every other Gryffindor, and many more students actually– and Professor Snape. And with Luna.”
Ginny smiled.
Minnie returned it.
***
“Hey Al.”
Al woke up from his thoughts and turned to the door. His mom stood there with a small smile.
He knew that she would be leaving soon, and going back home. He had objected to her being here in the first place, but in reality, Al had been missing her terribly. He always missed his parents and older brother while at school. (That had recently been updated to parents and brothers, and Al had not been happy. He acted all tough, but he was a secret softie. And he missed even the dumbest one of his siblings.)
“Hey mom, how are you? Leaving yet?” He asked.
“In a bit. I was just with Minnie actually, we chatted, it was nice. How about you? Were you bored while I was gone?” She stalked closer and sat by him on the bed, tucking one of the longer strands of his hair behind his ear.
“Not really. I read for a while, but… Meh. Thank you for taking time off from work for me by the way.”
“You’re my son. I’ll always take time off for you.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back, but it was strained. “Is there something on your mind? Something bothering you?”
“Yes, actually.” He answered after a moment of debating.
“What is it?”
“Well, I-I just had a quick question. What did you think of Scorpius?”
Ah. So that was what this was about. She should’ve expected it honestly, her son had always been predictable in his own, unique way; and she had always been good at reading him like an open book. Just like with his father.
“I think he’s a nice kid. A kind, hard-working, smart boy. I feel like he would be a good influence on you, and a great friend.”
“And his father?”
“I thought you asked me what I thought on Scorpius, not Draco?” she asked, feigning slight confusion.
“Yeah, but- You didn’t think badly of him because he’s a Malfoy. Right?”
Ginny’s eyes softened. Her son had been sure that his parents wouldn’t judge his friend by his last name, but he needed reassurance. And reassurance, she would give.
“That wouldn’t be fair to the boy, now, would it? He’s not his father after all. Not to mention that as much as I’ve heard, and occasionally seen, Draco Malfoy had grown out of his prick of a persona, and matured.
“Like me and your father have also done, actually. There had been a time period where we would judge people by their last names, or houses, or parents; during our school years and childhood. But we’ve grown out of that, with time. Now, we don’t judge anyone on anything that they can’t control, only by their actions and choices and personalities. Scorpius is no exception.”
Al nodded and smiled gratefully at his mom, she always knew how to ease his stress and worry about a situation, how to give the satisfying answers to all of his complicated questions. The redhead smiled too, putting a quick kiss to her son’s cheek.