Chapter 4
Harry Potter stood in his office in the Ministry of Magic with his arms crossed. Ginny Weasley stood in front of him, waiting for Hermione and Ron to come in.
Hermione said it was very important and should be discussed immediately.
At that moment, Hermione stormed into the office, closely followed by Ron.
"What happened?" asked Ginny, looking worriedly at Hermione, who hadn't even combed her hair because of the stress.
"We have a big problem." Hermione closed the door and cast a silencing charm over the room.
Then she turned back to the others. "There are suspicions that a dark wizard group is forming. At Hogwarts too. They say they want to put an end to what Voldemort was unable to do."
Harry took a sharp breath and Ginny froze - she was only thinking about her children at the moment.
"Rumors that they want to start a war?" Harry's voice didn't allow any emotion other than anger. If this group really existed and was growing, then Harry would destroy every single one of them.
There was no reason to finish what Voldemort couldn't.
Ron nodded. Ginny's hands clenched into fists.
"Yes."
♡
"Dad wrote to James and Lily regularly, but not to me!"
Albus was pacing. Three days after hearing that from Lily, he was finally ready to talk to Scorpius about it. He didn't want to burden Scorpius with it until he understood that Scorpius would hate it if Albus didn't talk to him about his problems.
So Albus was standing in front of Scorpius in the library. Scorpius and he had actually come here to prepare for the Potions test. The test was supposed to be a refresher, covering the material from the last school year.
They had also studied for a while - at least Scorpius had, Albus was busy staring - until Albus blurted out the subject.
"You know, I understand that I'm kind of the disappointment in the family. I mean, a Potter in Slytherin? Secretly friends with a Malfoy? How could I not be a disappointment? But do I really deserve this?" Albus' voice broke off at the end of the sentence.
Scorpius looked at him the whole time. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Albus had never done anything to his family.
He didn't deserve this.
"Albus. Please listen to me." Albus stopped pacing and turned his body completely towards Scorpius.
"You don't deserve this. And you are not a disappointment. Not in my eyes. You deserve better. They will probably be sorry for how they treated you at some point. But by then it will probably be too late."
Albus immediately calmed down when Scorpius' words rang out.
His heartbeat calmed down a little when he realized again that Scorpius would always be on his side.
Loud voices rang out and Albus sat down next to Scorpius again.
"Thank you." Albus gently placed his hand on Scorpius' shoulder and Scorpius melted into the touch.
"Always." He smiled briefly at Albus before turning his gaze away and looking down at the book. Albus took his hand from his shoulder and sighed softly.
"We need to talk." Rose threw her book on the table and then folded her arms. She looked at Scorpius with a skeptical look and narrowed her eyes briefly before looking at Albus, who was already rolling his eyes.
"Please." Rose's voice didn't sound as stern as usual at the moment. Sighing, Albus stood up and followed Rose. "I'll be right back."
Scorpius looked after the two of them worriedly. Albus had only just calmed down, which worried him.
"What do you want?" Albus folded his arms and leaned against the bookshelf behind him. Rose brushed a few strands of hair out of her face before hiding her hands behind her back. "I know we don't have the best relationship anymore... But don't you think it would be at least a little better if we pretended that everything was fine during the holidays? That would definitely calm our family down and Ginny and my mother would be happy that we're talking again."
Albus furrowed his eyebrows skeptically. "Do you even want to talk again? Or are you just doing this so that our family can be a real family again, like before Hogwarts?"
Rose bit her lip and then Albus knew the answer.
She didn't want any contact with him. She just wanted to pretend that everything was fine in front of the family.
"Why are you being like that to me?" Albus asked, his voice a little louder than he had intended.
"Why? Why? Seriously?" Rose's face twisted and she had a slightly angry look on her face. "Because you're friends with a Malfoy! A Malfoy, Albus! Have you forgotten what the Malfoy family did to our family? Why they keep telling us to stay away from them?!" Rose's voice was little more than an angry mess.
Albus grabbed his temple for a moment. "I haven't forgotten. But Scorpius is different. He's not like his family and you just don't understand that. You can't be angry with him when he wasn't even born! We weren't alive yet, Rose.
It's not his fault."
Albus looked around briefly to see if there was anyone nearby.
"That's the problem, Albus. I know he'll hurt you. He's from an old Death Eater family, though. He's manipulating you! You think he's good, but he's not, Al." Rose's voice was impatient.
"Don't call me Al." And you don't know him.
He didn't say the last sentence out loud.