Chapter 12
"This will definitely help you." With this sentence, Scorpius was referring to the book he had started researching. It included wandless magic, magical rituals, the history of wandless magic, and much more.
Scorpius hoped that he would find something in the book that Albus described exactly. Because then the two of them could work with the information and it would be easier because the first step would be behind them.
"Maybe." Albus gave Scorpius a smile before he felt two arms pulling him along. He landed in a dark little room and Scorpius closed the door.
"Lumos." Albus waved his wand before looking around and then frowning in confusion. "A broom closet?"
"Um, yes."
"And why?" Albus tilted his head. "I saw your father from a distance."
Albus' heart started racing, it was really uncomfortable.
"Excuse me?"
Scorpius shrugged his shoulders. He looked nervous too. "I thought the broom closet was best at that moment."
"No, it was a good idea," said Albus and nodded gently. "But what is my father doing here?"
From outside they suddenly heard footsteps getting louder, which made both of them hold their breath and their hearts beating faster.
Even though he was really nervous and his heart was racing, Albus thought that this was the best moment to try out his idea. He put his wand on one of the two cupboards that stood on either side of the room and took a deep breath.
Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly.
Albus now concentrated on the silencing spell. He thought about how he wanted the room to be spelled and thought about the spell name.
Suddenly blue-like rays of light appeared, which traveled around the entire room. Then they disappeared again.
They didn't hurt and they were almost impossible to see.
Scorpius' eyes darted around the entire room before a grin crept onto his face, which Albus returned.
"Shall we try it?"
"Oh yeah."
Albus and Scorpius both knocked over a couple of brooms when the footsteps were at their loudest.
The brooms were so loud that you would normally hear it outside.
But the footsteps continued to move normally as if nothing had happened.
"Oh by Merlin. It worked, Al!" Scorpius' body turned to Albus and pulled him into a quick hug.
They both laughed and then grinned at each other after they broke away from the hug.
♡
Albus and Scorpius were currently in the common room when the door opened. All of the Slytherins in the common room gasped and most moved towards Albus and Scorpius to tell them that Harry Potter was just entering the common room.
Although Albus and Scorpius don't interact much with their classmates and are mostly laughed at and ignored, they were more than grateful that the others had warned them.
The duo distanced themselves from each other, only to see Harry, who just nodded at Albus and immediately moved towards Scorpius. Albus wanted to intervene, but he knew that would not have been a good idea, so he left it at that.
Harry and Scorpius left the common room together, Albus looked after them worriedly.
"Do you know what's going on?" asked the jet-black-haired Slytherin who had defended Albus in the Great Hall the other day.
"No. What's your name?"
"Alaric Hawthorn. We're in the same year." A grin formed on his face.
"Sorry." Albus scratched the back of his head. Alaric gestured with his hand. "Everything's fine."
"Wait a minute, Hawthorn?"
"Yes, I know, very old Death Eater family. The last Death Eaters in our family were in 1965. But the Ministry of Magic and all the other families don't believe us. Your family probably doesn't either."
"You're right. Your opinion?" Albus wanted to know more before he started talking to anyone.
"I hate Death Eaters. Luckily, my parents aren't. My sister even married a Muggle-born last year. My parents were so proud of her. And so am I, of course."
In response, Albus nodded and sighed. "My family says they don't mind that I'm in Slytherin, but I still notice that they lie. They're really bad at it."
Alaric's look turned to concern for a brief moment.
"Oh man. You know, I think it's a real shame that you have to hide with Scorpius. But I can understand you somehow. It must be hard for you two. And I know you two don't really have anything to do with me, but I'm still here if anything happens."
"Like in the great hall? Thanks for that." Albus grinned.
"Oh, that was nothing. We're in the same house. I couldn't look away, it kind of upset me."
Alaric shook his head and sighed before looking at his watch. "Fuck, I missed my whole lesson! See you, Potter!" Alaric took his bag and ran out of the common room.
Albus grinned at that. Weird guy, but nice.
About half an hour later, Scorpius came back. The whole time, Albus was walking up and down and playing with his sweater.
"Scorp!"
Scorpius stood in front of Albus, who looked completely worried. "What happened?"
"It felt like Harry was interrogating me. He asked me about my father and grandparents, if they had mentioned anything about the dark side. Of course, he didn't mention that it was about a group like the Death Eaters, but he half-hinted at it. And he looked at me with judgment the whole time," Scorpius said, a little tired, and his voice became quieter and quieter.
Albus' hands clenched into fists and anger crept up inside him. He was about to walk to the exit of the common room, but Scorpius held him back. "Not a good idea, Al. You'll probably say things you'll regret later."
"But I can't let my family get away with this all the time. You didn't do anything to them. The fact that they're worried about your family is another matter. But you're involved in all this nothingness, you're not like them. They can't treat you like that." Albus' voice was seething with anger.
"I know. But it's okay."
"No, it's not."
Not if you mean so much to me.
♡
Harry asked Albus to come to McGonagall's office. Minerva wasn't in the office. She knew that she would probably argue with Harry otherwise and she didn't want that. Harry was so dear to her heart.
But so was Albus.
She didn't want to choose between the two of them.
"Hey, Dad." Albus got a quick hug from Harry before he asked Albus to sit down.
Which he did.
"How are you?"
Albus shrugged his shoulders. He was still angry about Scorpius.
He wanted to say something, but he didn't. He listened to Scorpius. He probably always would.
Harry cleared his throat and swallowed the lump that had been in his throat since he'd been waiting for Albus.
"Well, I'm feeling fairly well. You know, I just asked a few students. Auror stuff."
"Malfoy was one of them." Albus folded his arms and Harry nodded. "Exactly. Good attention, Al." Harry nodded approvingly.
"Dad." How many times did Albus have to say that he didn't want to be called "Al"?
Harry coughed briefly. "Sorry, I meant Albus."
Albus just nodded. "Have you seen James and Lily yet?"
His father shook his head. "No, not yet. I wanted to get the questioning over with first."
Albus and Harry both jumped when the door suddenly burst open. An indignant and angry Minerva McGonagall could be heard entering the office behind Draco Malfoy - who was dragging his son along.
"Draco! You can't just walk into my office!"
"Wrong," Draco countered, looking at Harry. Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look.
McGonagall crossed her arms and shook her head. She couldn't believe what was going on.
"I think we have something to discuss," Draco said with a slightly angry undertone.
Oh, Merlin.
That couldn't mean anything good.