Chapter 30
Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look and both knew they had to leave immediately. But there was no way out. There was no door they could disappear into and shit, there wasn't even a window they could climb through.
"The Dark Lord. What a surprise." came out of Lucius' mouth and another laughed coldly.
Heart racing, Albus looked up and saw a window that was high up. But together they should be able to do it.
Albus nudged Scorpius, who then looked up too and then looked back at Albus to nod.
He freed his hands and motioned for Albus to climb up. Scorpius helped him by pushing him up a little. Albus reached the edge of the wall and kept his hands there before taking a deep breath and gathering all his strength to pull himself up.
He braced himself with his elbows on the edge of the wall and damn how glad he was that he could create magic without a wand.
So he opened the window with his magic, then he reached out his hand to open the window all the way. Then he pulled himself up completely, and as soon as his knees touched the wall he breathed a sigh of relief. He turned around, leaned down a little and stretched out his right hand, and with his left hand he held on to the window.
Scorpius' gaze flew to his grandfather again before he shook his head and grabbed Albus' hand. This way Scorpius could also support himself a little on the wall.
Albus tightened his grip on the window before pulling Scorpius up.
Both of them literally fell into the room, but that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered at that moment was that they were safe. Everything else didn't matter.
"The Dark Lord?! What the... He's dead!" said Alaric, upset, and Jareth's mouth fell open when Albus and Scorpius had finished their story about last night.
"Apparently not. But my father killed him. That doesn't make sense," added Albus, grabbing his hair in despair. "Maybe he managed to survive somehow? Or did he use some dark magic?" Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows and Jareth nodded slowly.
"Maybe they were talking about another Dark Lord?" Jareth thought, but Alaric immediately shook his head wildly. "Never. He's definitely back."
"Aren't you supposed to tell your family if you see Lucius?" asked Albus, and Scorpius took a breath. "Actually, yes, but I don't know if I really should. They'll probably hide him. If he's on the run, the Ministry of Magic might catch him sooner."
"When he's right, he's right," Alaric's voice rang out and Albus frowned.
"We should tell your family," Scorpius thought and Albus thought for a moment. He was right. Definitely.
Because if the Dark Lord was actually back, that will cause even more problems.
♡
Now Albus finally found the time to open his mother's letter.
Hey darling,
I just wanted to let you know that it will probably come to the point where Hogwarts will be closed. It's already being discussed in the Ministry of Magic.
Unfortunately, I don't have any information on how far this will go. But I'll let you know as soon as I know more.
I love you,
Mum.
Albus's breathing quickened and he folded the letter before putting it on the bedside table.
Coldness crept over his arms and he felt as if he was being watched. He quickly turned around, but there was no one there.
He was alone.
-
Days passed and nothing happened. Everything was suspiciously quiet. Nothing strange happened in Hogsmeade and nothing strange happened in Hogwarts.
Slowly, the students and professors returned to their normal routine.
Until one day, Headmistress McGonagall stood at her desk and asked for attention.
"You all probably remember when it was decided that Hogwarts was under observation. This has been put aside until now, but the Ministry of Magic would like to continue with it now." None of the students clapped or did anything. They all just stared blankly at the professors.
"Yes, I see. Not very happy about it," McGonagall added.
"Who would be happy about it? I mean, when you're at school, you're kind of glad to have some distance from your family," Alaric whispered to the other three boys, who just nodded. Whether they had even listened was another matter.
"Well? How are things going in the perfect Potter family at the moment?" Avery's voice rang out and Albus immediately tensed. Scorpius turned his head to Avery and stared at him with a death glare.
"What are you having trouble with again?" asked Jareth, raising his eyebrows. Avery grinned cheekily.
Then the doors to the Great Hall opened and Hermione Granger came in. "Miss Granger-Weasley will take the first shift," explained Minerva, giving Hermione a quick hug before nodding and smiling.
Rose grinned when she recognized her mother. It was so obvious that she would start first.
"At least not my father," whispered Albus to Scorpius, who smiled slightly. "Don't jinx it, darling."
Alaric and Jareth's heads shot together immediately. "Did you hear that too?" Alaric mouthed and Jareth nodded. Then the two of them began to grin.
Albus and Scorpius didn't notice any of this. They were too focused on the other.
Hermione watched this from the professor's table, frowned for a moment before she looked down at the floor and then sighed.
♡
End of February
There was tension. In the whole magical world.
Albus couldn't even sleep properly at night because the Dark Lord kept him awake. He felt guilty. He should tell his family, or at least his parents, what he had heard that night.
But for some reason, he didn't dare.
Scorpius was lying next to him and Albus thought he was sleeping. His breathing was calm.
But he wasn't.
"What's wrong?" whispered Scorpius and Albus was startled at first, which made Scorpius start to smile.
"I'm just worried. That's all," explained Albus, sitting up in bed.
Scorpius followed him and rested his chin on Albus' shoulder. He slowly wrapped his arms around Albus' stomach from behind.
Butterflies raged in Albus' stomach.
"Really?" Scorpius asked, his hot breath brushing Albus' neck, causing him to suck in a sharp breath.
"Yes," Albus replied, closing his eyes as Scorpius placed a kiss on his neck.
"Mhm," came from Scorpius' mouth before he hugged Albus tighter. Albus turned his head slightly to meet Scorpius' eyes.
Scorpius' eyes looked so beautiful - especially at night when the moonlight shone. Even though they didn't have much moonlight in the room down here, the little bit was enough to make the atmosphere breathtaking.
Albus' eyes wandered to Scorpius' lips and Scorpius did the same. "When was the last time we made out?" Scorpius whispered and Albus swallowed. "A week ago."
Scorpius started to grin. "Then we should change that now, don't you think, darling?" Then his lips were already pressed on Albus' lips. Albus sighed into the kiss, turned around in Scorpius' arms and Scorpius then pulled Albus onto his lap.
Scorpius' hands wandered up and down Albus' back before finding their place on Albus' hips. Albus had buried his hands in Scorpius' hair.
Their making out was just about to become more heated and passionate when suddenly a loud scream caused the two to separate from each other. The scream probably came from the common room.
They both looked at each other in alarm for a moment before they both got out of bed, picked up their wands and made their way to the common room.
All of the Slytherin students were just about to leave their dorms to see what could have caused this loud, frightened scream. The common room looked quiet and dark at first. A student from the seventh schoolyear used Lumos to create light in the room.
When the students saw what they were seeing, almost everyone started screaming.
One student was flying headfirst above the ground, his eyes wide open, his mouth hanging open. The person looked frozen and wasn't even breathing.
"Is the person dead?" The voice of a second-year student broke the silence, bringing everyone back to reality.
After that, Albus' heart started racing. Who could do something like that? Why would they do that to another person? Albus immediately shook his head. He shouldn't think about that, he should think about the fact that the person responsible could still be in the same common room.
"Someone has to get Professor McGonagall!"
"Are you crazy?! What if they don't believe us and we get blamed?!"
"We didn't do anything! What else are you going to do?"
"We'll hide the body. We'll dispose of it."
"What?" Alaric - who was standing to the left of Albus - turned to Avery. "Are you completely out of your mind now?" Avery's gaze flew to Alaric and he crossed his arms.
"Why should we do that?" Albus asked and Jareth nodded in agreement. "We should get McGonagall." Scorpius agreed and a few other Slytherin students agreed with him.
"Then it's our fault," came from Zabini's mouth and a fifth-year student groaned in annoyance. "It wasn't us, damn it! Someone here is probably dead! Or maybe the person is still alive if we finally get them to the hospital wing in time!"
"Good, I'll get McGonagall now. The others are right," Zabini's voice rang out again and he made his way to the exit. "Seriously?" asked Avery, narrowing his eyes. "Yes!" Zabini snapped back before disappearing into the corridor.
-
The incident spread very quickly. The very next day, everyone at Hogwarts - absolutely everyone - knew about it.
McGonagall cleared her throat. "Okay, the Ministry of Magic has now made a very important decision. Hogwarts will be closed temporarily."
That couldn't be true. Murmurs and louder conversations went through the Great Hall, Albus and Scorpius looked at each other in despair.
How were they supposed to get along without each other when they didn't even know how long they would be apart?
"We don't know how long Hogwarts will be closed. And that's why the Ministry of Magic has created groups, each with an Auror inside who has to teach. We professors send them the teaching material. If there are any complaints about the groups, the Ministry of Magic chose them at random. They didn't think about it for long and you can't change the group allocation."
While Minvera continued speaking, a few parents came quietly into the Great Hall. Ginny wandered over to the Slytherin table.
"Psst, hey, guys," she whispered and the four of them flinched. "You've been assigned to Harry. Alaric, your family is currently on vacation abroad, which is why they can't come to you at the moment. It's the same with your parents, Jareth. They're on vacation with Alaric's family. But with you, Scorpius, things are a little different. Your father and your grandmother have to stay with us because you're still a minor and not yet seventeen. If you were already seventeen, you could stay with us alone."
"But Alaric and I aren't seventeen yet either."
Ginny sighed. "The problem with you is that your family isn't in the country right now. And your families have sent us a letter in which they give us responsibility for you during this time because we're the only ones you can live with."
"Let me guess, our family is more than just angry about all of this," Albus' voice rang out and Ginny nodded before putting her hand on his shoulder. "I told them that this is solely the Ministry of Magic's decision and not even Hermione can change anything because it's about the safety of the students. And unfortunately the Ministry of Magic has ordered us to stay in the Potter estate. They fear that the Malfoy Manor could be attacked by Death Eaters."
Ginny's eyes scanned the room for Lily, she frowned. "Where are Lily and Faye?" Jareth then turned and looked over at the Ravenclaw table. "Lily is sitting with Faye in Ravenclaw."
Ginny nodded gratefully before making her way to Lily.
Albus sighed. At least he could stay with Scorpius. And his friends. He was grateful for that.
-
Before breakfast was over, all the students were told what to do. Immediately after breakfast, they were to pack their bags and then go to the Hogwarts Express, where McGonagall would count all the students so that no one would be forgotten.
There was an uncomfortable tension in the boys' compartment. Everyone was afraid of what was to come. Spending two weeks of vacation together at one of their homes was a different matter than if they didn't know how long they would have to endure it.
After all, they would be stuck with the Potter, Weasley and Malfoy families. That wouldn't be easy.
Halfway through the train ride, Lily and Faye joined them. The girls made the uncomfortable and unbearable tension a little more bearable.
Then the train stopped. With their heads full of racing thoughts, the group set off to get off and get to the station.
James said goodbye to someone the group couldn't see from the distance before James joined them and walked beside them.
"This time will pass somehow," James said, but that didn't help the group's nervousness at all.
It was very busy outside and it was a miracle that anyone could get through at all. Draco and Narcissa were already standing next to Ginny. Ginny had her arms crossed - it looked very defensive.
"Mum!" James called and waved to get Ginny's attention.
Albus and Scorpius exchanged another look to make themselves feel somewhat at ease. The other was there, so hopefully it wouldn't be that bad.
Narcissa looked at Albus and Albus tried to put on a slight smile. Narcissa nodded at him before walking towards Scorpius and pulling him into her arms.
"Everyone is here. We can go," Ginny explained, hugging James, then Lily and finally Albus. Ginny put her hand on Faye's shoulder for a moment before she set off to go home.
-
"I have to admit, I think your home is nice," Narcissa admitted and this time a smile even formed on Ginny's lips. "Thank you."
Ron's voice could be recognized from a distance. He was apparently arguing with Percy again.
Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to the group. "We could have at least spent the first day apart, right?" James shrugged. "You know what they're like, Mum."
"Um, Mum?" Lily asked hesitantly and Ginny looked away from James to focus on Lily. "Yes?"
"Now a very stupid question, but the boys have just had a test and Faye and I would like to know what grade they got so we can make fun of them," Lily explained quickly and Jareth turned to her in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Idiot," Alaric said, putting his hands on Jareth's shoulders just to push him out of the house.
"Yeah, sure," Ginny replied, narrowing her eyes a little as she watched the group disappear from the house.
"We didn't have a test," Jareth said suddenly and Scorpius slapped his hand against his forehead and then looked at Jareth. "Oh really?"
"That was a lie, Jay. I just wanted to be upset about that we could have at least one day at home alone today without cousins, aunts and uncles," Lily explained, a hint of anger in her voice.
Jareth frowned. "Jay?"
With that sentence, Jareth made the others laugh. He really wasn't quite with himself today.
An hour later, the living room was magically enlarged so that everyone had space. Hermione wanted to go through the lesson plan so that everyone knew their way around.
Harry watched everyone in the room very carefully. Most of all his Slytherin son and his three friends.
"Every day we go through lessons. Harry teaches James, Lily, Albus, Scorpius, Alaric, Jareth and Faye. I teach Rose, Hugo, Louis, Fred and Roxanne. The others are still being decided, because Molly and Arthur would like to take over."
"Okay, then we can all go home now," said Arthur, patting his knees before he stood up and moved to the fireplace.
The rest of the family said goodbye, Draco and Narcissa made their way to their rooms, which Ginny had shown them earlier. Lily and Faye had already disappeared.
"Alaric and Jareth, you'll have a guest room this time. Harry, can you show them the room, please?" asked Ginny, not taking any arguments. Harry just nodded and did what he was told - even though it was obvious that he didn't feel like doing it at all.
Ginny moved into the kitchen, leaving Albus and Scorpius alone.
"We should go to sleep too. Today was exhausting," explained Albus, to which Scorpius nodded. Scorpius looked around the room to make sure they were alone.
Then Scorpius kissed Albus on the lips, and Albus wanted to lock that feeling away in his heart so that it would never disappear again.
The two of them thought that no one had seen it, but Ginny did.
And a lightly smile crept onto her face.