Lake water
Scorpius and Al were sitting back to back on the couches in their common room doing some light studying. They were only a few weeks away from exams and Scorpius was determined to get good marks. He was flipping through the flashcards Charlie had given him, which were a big help in his studying. He still hated the class, but the cards made understanding it a little more bearable. Al was making notes in his potions book and humming a song. Scorpius got a tingle in his spine feeling Al hum. The vibrations must have been causing them. He shifted his shoulders and lightly bumped Al.
"Didn't realize you weren't a fan of Ed. Sorry, I will keep it down."
"What?" Scorpius inquired.
"I can take the hint. No more humming muggle music while studying."
Scorpius turned around so fast Al practically fell into his lap.
"What are you talking about Gideon?"
Al looked up at him and smiled. His head was still on Scorpius' lap, but neither really took notice.
"I was just humming a song by a muggle musician and you bumped me. So I'm taking the hint to be quiet."
Scorpius scrunched up his face, "It wasn't... I didn't...." he sighed and found his words, "I wasn't bothered by the humming. I don't even know the song. Sheltered preblood remember."
"I remember" Al smiled up at him and scrunched his nose in a teasing manner then sat up, "My sister loves his music. Dad and Aunt Hermione like to show us kids muggle life so we don't turn out to be pompus famous kids with big egos."
"Well, from the three of you, I can tell it hasn't been working."
Al shoved him and Scorpius let the shove push him onto his side on the couch laughing. Al gave it a minute before he joined in.
"I think that is enough studying, lets go do something. The sun's out today, wanna go to the lake?"
"Sure," Scorpius said enthusiastically.
Both boys made their way down to the lake, taking the long route as the most direct one was over the memorial bridge, which Scorpius still hadn't had enough courage to visit yet, probably ever. Once they got to the water's edge, they pulled of their robes and flung them on a near by tree. Now, in their swim trunks, the two boys ran to the water. It was still cold, but with the almost summer sun helped, though Al still yelled some curses at the temperature shock. Scorpius laughed at him and splashed him with water.
Al shook the water from his black hair and gave Scorpius his signature crooked smile. He made his way towards a large rock at the edge of the lake and climbed it. Just as Scorpius figured out Al's plan, the young Potter boy jumped off the rock and cannonballed into the lake water, spashing Scorpius more than he had splashed him.
The boys laughed and swam a bit, diving for some rocks, making mustache's from the lake weeds, and trying to see who could make the biggest wave.
Scorpius jumped when he felt something thick and slimy slide along his leg and try to wrap itself around him. He ran towards the lake edge yelping, "Squid! Squid trying to drown me!"
Once he was on dry land again, Al was right behind him still ankle deep in water, laughing at him.
"Didn't realize you were so scared of the giant squid, Cori,"
Scorpius folded his arms, "Only when it is trying to drown me Gideon."
"Maybe it just wanted to play, or have a cuddle."
"Maybe it wanted blonde wizard porridge for dinner?"
Al waved him off and made his way back to the rock he jumped off of earlier. He climbed to the top and jumped off again. Scorpius chuckled to himself and stayed on the lake edge, still shook up from the supposed giant squid tenticle that had grazed him just a moment ago. He kept his eyes on the center of the ripple of the water waiting for Al to resurface.
But Al was still under.
Scorpius' heart rate picked up, slowly at first, then after a few more seconds of waiting it jumped. He yelled Al's name, hoping it was prank. There was no answer.
"Al, cut it out right now. It itsn't funny."
Still no Al.
The squid. It must have gotten him. It really did want to eat students. Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe Al had hit his head underwater and was now drowning.
Drowning.
That thought scared Scorpius more than he realized. Without thinking he rushed back into the water towards where Al had gone under. He dived under reaching around for Al. His hands brushed alge covered rocks, lake weeds, and even some of the lake fish, but no Al.
He surfaced for another breath and was now screaming Al's full name. He stealed himself for another dive and went under. As he swam around, straining his eyes to see under the dark murky water, he felt his magic reaching out around him. It was searching for Al too. But it didn't find him. Instead it found something else.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw lights floating in the water. They were moving as if they were dancing. He reached out to them, maybe he could grab one to help him see. They were just out of reach. Out of reach. The lights lit up a strange plant. It was almost like white sea grass but a lot thinner. He blinked and the lights and grass were gone. He felt his chest tightening and his magic coiling itself around something cold. It pulled and tugged until whatever it was got warmer. He looked around and still didn't see anything. He blinked again and the feeling was gone. His head was beginning to hurt and his heart was thudding in his ears. He felt his chest tighten, though a little differently. He realized it was his need to breath and kicked back up to the surface. He was slighly dizzy and spun around, trying to reorient himself. He found the shore with a figure standing just off of it in the water, it moved funny. He blinked a few more times and filled his lungs over and over very quickly with air.
He squinted, trying to understand the world around him. Then he heard his name being yelled. He looked at the figure and it came more into focus. It was waving it arms at him. He shook his head, his heartbeat still thudding loudly in his ears. He gasped in more air, and lost his momentum to keep himself afloat in the water and felt some water try to rush in along with his breath. He coughed and sputtered while trying to move closer to shore. The figure got closer to him fast and soon he felt arms grab onto him, helping to pull him along. He looked into the face of the figure and met worried bright green eyes.
It was Al.
Scorpius blinked again and felt his feet touch the bottom of the lake. He stood up quickly, trying not to slip on the rocks and pushed himself away from Al.
He was livid.
"Bloody Hell Albus!"
Al was breathing heavy from his quick swim to help Scorpius, as his cheeky smile faded, "Yikes`, real name. That isn't a good sign right?" He chuckled a bit and reached out for Scorpius, but he swatted his hands away and turned, marching towards the lake shore. Al called out to him with a laugh still in his throat but Scorpius ignored him with a huff.
"What Cor, no thanks for saving your life?"
Scorpius stopped as his grabbed his wand from his robe pocket. He turned on his heels quickly and faced Al, giving him an incredulous look.
"My life!?" He almost yelled, "I was trying to save yours!
"Why would I need saving? I'm the best swimmer in my family."
"Because," Now Scorpius was yelling and making his way towards his best friend, "You went under the water and didn't surface for minutes. I called your name and you didn't answer. I thought the squid had gotten you, or you hit your head and were," he couldn't bring himself to say the word. That word scared him.
Al just gave a loud 'ha' for a laugh and shook his head, "I swam to the other side of the rock. I was going to surprise you. And it wasn't minutes Cor, more like 45 seconds. My best record is 70 seconds though. I'm hoping to improve it this summer."
"45... improve... rock... UGH!!!" Scorpius didn't understand what was happening. "I was calling your name, constantly."
"Maybe you weren't loud enough." Al shrugged nonchalantly.
Scorpius saw red. He marched up to Al, who stood at the edge of the water, and roughly shoved him in. Al feel back onto his bottom and splashed up water.
"Hey-"
"Don't you hey me Albus Potter. I thought you were in trouble, or worse. And you were just standing here laughing at me. Then you mock me by saying I wasn't loud enough? You cannot be serious?"
"Nope, that's my brother."
Scorpius threw his hands up and turned back towards their stuff. He grabbed his wand and cast a drying charm on himself before putting his robes back on. He began walking towards the castle, ignorning Al's calls after him.
He was only a few meters from the path to the lake when Al caught up with him.
"Merlin, Cor, I didn't mean to upset you."
Scopius stopped and turned back towards Al, "I thought I had lost my best friend. And you are just making jokes out of it."
Al's face dropped. Scorpius felt more water on his face and sighed. He thought he had dried all. He pointed his wand back towards his face and dried it somemore.
"Cori, I'm sorry. I didn't realize how scared you were."
Scorpius stared at Al, breathing heavy and still hearing the rush of his heart beat in his ears. Al took hesitant steps towards him and reached out his hand. Scorpius turned his head away and felt his lip quiver as more water fell onto his cheeks. He huffed out another breath and cast another drying charm on his face. He felt Al's hand on his shoulder and he looked back at him.
Al wasn't smiling, he seemd concerned. He felt the grip on his shoulder tighten and his breath shuddered. More water fell onto his face again and before he could raise his wand for a third time, Al's other hand reached up and brushed the water way. "You don't have to hide your tears Cori. It's ok to cry."
He was crying? Scorpius reached up his other hand and felt his face. The water was coming from his eyes.
His lip quivered again as Al grabbed his other shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Al let him cry for a moment as the two embraced. Scorpius faintly registered Al's hand on his back rubbing comforting circles.
Once he was done crying, and Al had appologized over and over, they made their way back up to the castle, with Al still drying off from their swim in the lake.
**************
Aniara laid on her stomach on her bed, kicking her feet behind her as she wrote to James.
J- So why isn't it a planet anymore?
A- Its a really small one, and slowly moving away from our solar system, so they gave it a different class. Its considered a dwarf planet now.
J- So it still a planet?
A- Sort of.
J- That's rude. Just because its small and drifting away doesn't mean it isn't a planet.
A- Its sort of ironic that it is named after the Roman God of the underworld who was basically dethroned and dismissed, only to be demoted and dismissed as well.
J- Not ironic. That's sad.
A- Then change the topic.
J- Wanna me to sneak you out and we can prank Rosie. I bet you are smart enough to figure out how to get into her dorm.
A- I doubt Pip would sneak me out to Hogwarts just to prank Rosie. And Rosie would stop talking to me if I pranked her.
J- How about you help me revise in the library. There are a few tables tucked away in corners so no one would notice you.
A- I thought that is what I was doing now? And how would you plan to sneak me to those tables in the first place Monkswood?
J- I have ways Snowdrop ;)
Aniara kicked her feet harder and put her face to the journal grinning. She liked it when he called her Snowdrop, her face flushed and her heart skipped a beat. The more she talked to James, the bigger her crush got. Not that she was really complaining. And the good thing about not actually attending Hogwarts was that she could stare at him constantly without him realizing her feelings. She liked the way his face always had a faint mischivous smirk hiding on it, and way one of his eye brows quirked up when he was surprised or confused. She was also growing to love his horrible cartoon doodles that almost got worse the more he tried.
She sighed, remembering the feel of his hand in hers as they danced. She had been worried that he would be able to feel her heart rate in her palm from how hard it was beating just being so close to him. And she desperatly wished she was able to use her family's pensive to not only see their birthday party again, but to relive his goodbye to her. She book marked the page in her journal from that night, re reading his words to her every night before bed.
She wondered if he liked her like how she liked him. He had called her cute, and had given her a flower when they first met. But Aniara didn't have much experience interacting with other people. She could read all the books she wanted but that didn't mean she knew how to read other people's feelings when they were directed at her. Maybe that was just how James Potter treated all his friends. She didn't see him with Claire enough, so maybe he had said similar things to her. He had danced with her at the party. Or maybe he wasn't even into "hers." Farris or Charlie might be more his type. He was really close to Charlie and seemed very protective of them. Maybe it was a Potter thing.
Impulsively, Aniara held her quill to the page to begin writing, "Do you like like me James," But caught herself.
What if he said yes. So what? Could they start dating? Was that a thing at this age? But they had only talked in person twice, and she was locked up in her house constantly. Pip wouldn't be willing to sneak her off to spend time with him. Althought the summer was aproaching and maybe they could hang out more.
But what if he said no? She would be mortified. Then James would probably stop talking to her because he would realized she fancied him. Maybe he would say he actually likes Claire or Farris and eventually start dating them. Then she would have to see them together while she projected and watching him with someone else did not sound like a fun way to spend her time. Or maybe he would just laugh at her and tell all his friends and they would all stop talking to her. Rose would laugh at her and then not want to talk anymore and there went her fragile social life.
She sat up on the bed quickly and fell backwards now looking up at her charmed ceiling. It has faint glowing stars and constelations that matched the position of the sky. It was a similar charm like the one in the great hall at Hogwarts, but less sofisticated and showed the stars during the day as well.
She found scorpius just past her bed post and took in a deep calming breath.
Her mind had been exploding off on side tangents a lot lately. Maybe it was from growing up, or maybe it was because her and her brother both fancied a Potter boy at the same times and their feelings meshed together in confusion. Most likely the latter as her brother didn't even realized his feelings for Al. Thinking of Al, Aniara got slightly giddy. She had noticed more recently that Al was possibly fancying Scorpius right back, though he may actually realize his own feelings. She had questioned Rosie about it and Rosie concured that Al was acting more relaxed with Scorpius and she would catch his gaze lingering on her brother more and more when he wasn't looking.
Scorpius was obviously clueless to it all. Aniara blamed it on the fact he didn't read as many romace books as her and Rosie.
Once her thoughts had calmed down, she grabbed the book again to reply to James, rolling back over on her front, now facing her footboard. Before she began to write though she noticed lines being made on the side of her words from a minute ago. James was doodling. It started as a wonky circle, with a weird squiggle surrounding it. Then there were x's being made around the circle followed by smaller dots. It took a few seconds, but Aniara picked up on what he was drawing. It was a planet with a ring round it surrounded by stars.
It was his best drawing to date.
Aniara giggled to herself and got back to writing to James, complimenting him on his planet drawing. Then she reminded him to get back to revising for his exams.
**********
Scorpius was with Charlie in the library. He was confident enough in most of his classes for exams, but herbology and muggle studies were going to give him a run for his sickles. Charlie was quizzing him on caring for bizzlethin weeds and correcting him on his revisions for muggle studies. Scorpius was jeleous of Andy, Charlie, and Farris as they had a leg up in muggle studies, with Andy and Charlie being halfbloods and Farris being muggleborn. Although then Farris would really have two legs up as he spent the first 11 years of his life being raised a muggle, while Andy and Charlie both had one muggle parent but where raised around magic.
Scorpius had some experience with muggles. He understood muggle money, as all Malfoys had been taught from a young age, as well as having to sneak off to buy his sister books from muggle stores, but unless it had to do with finances, he didn't really understand muggle life.
"If the Prime Minister is like the Minister for Magic, then why do they need a Queen?"
"They don't really. The royal family is just a figure head, they used to have a bigger role years ago, but over time their power got shifted over to parliment. Now they just do ribbon cuttings and special ceremonies that don't really mean much in politics. So my mum says."
"And parliment is like the wizengamot."
"Basically." Charlie shrugged and made some more marks on Scorpius' mock herbology exam.
A fifth year boys walked by their table and knocked down Scorpius' books at the edge of the table. He chuckled and as Scorpius made to pick up his books, ignoring and trying not to rise to his antics he heard him spit, "Bloody Drip." Then he walked away without any hurry.
Eleesa had been right that day. It was only a few days later when he was alone in the library again when someone had called him a Drip and spit on his parchment. He ignored them then as he did now. They were usually very good at not calling him that when people weren't around, but Charlie must not have been important enough. He didn't meet their gaze he set his books on the other side of the table and got back to making notes on muggle studies.
"What did he say?" Charlie whispered in a shocked tone. Scorpius met their gaze and sighed.
"It's just a stupid nickname. It's not a big deal."
"Scorpius," Charlie only used his real name when they were talking about something important. Scorpius met their eyes and bit his lip, "I know that tone. Its the same one people use when they purposely misgender me or call me rude slurs, or simply 'it.' Its not a small deal."
"It is when it's stupid and doesn't hurt me. Most of the things they call me don't hurt me. 12 years of being the Malfoy heir means hearing things said about your family way to young and learning to live with it. I've learned."
"Scorpius, just because it doesn't hurt you doesn't mean its ok."
Scorpius rubbed his temple and shook his head, looking back down at the parchment in front of him.
"Drop it Char, I don't need Al hearing about it. It will only make things worse."
"Or make things better. We can tell his dad so he can quell the bullying."
"No." Scorpius said firmly, looking back up at Charlie suddenly.
"Scor-"
"I don't need the Potters fighting my battles."
Charlie gave him a sympathetic look and reached out for him, "I understand that Ned, I do. But battles are not meant to be fought alone."
"They are when it isn't your fight?"
Charlie looked shocked by this. They opened and closed their mouth like a fish for a moment and pulled their arm back.
Scorpius narrowed his gaze at them a little before slowly turning his head back down to his notes. But then he heard Charlie whisper, almost too faintly for his ears to pick up, but they did anyway, "With friends, it is always our fight."
Scorpius didn't respond, he just wanted the subject to be dropped, it was beginning to hurt him. There was silence between the two for a minute before Charlie spoke up again.
"Why drip?"
Scorpius sighed and knew he was going to regret answering, but did anyway. He explained it was a acronym and what each letter stood for. Charlie's eyes got wide. Scorpius could tell they were appauled at the meaning.
"Please don't tell the other's about the name. Everyone knows not to use it around the Potters and Weasley's. I'm shocked they had the guts to say it around you. They only say it when I'm alone. And honestly, I don't have it the worst. The other kids they say it too have it said to their faces in front of their friends. So just let it go, ok Charlie?"
They nodded reluctantly and the two continued their quiet revising, only with a slightly more tense air around them than they had ever had before.
**********
Potter began the last dueling class of the year by spilting everyone off into groups of two and paring them with another group. Al was paired with a first year hufflepuff girl while Scorpius was paired with another first year Slytherin. Then they were to face off against each other.
Aniara enjoyed watching her brother's face scrunch up in fear for a moment at the prospect of facing off against his best friend.
"Remember, facing off against mulitple opponants is different than one on one. Just because you are in line of sight of one opponant, doesn't mean that is who will be firing off spells at you. You need to stay light on your toes and keep your head on a swivial... constant vigilance." Potter laughed to himself at that last line and directed the older students to watch over the younger to make sure no one got hurt.
Aniara stepped off to the side of her brother's duel. She practiced her stances and watched Al and Kegan's spell work, pretending she was dueling both at the same time. She tired to anticipate their spells and practiced the movements for defensive spells. She also tried to keep her voice low. It wasn't like she was actually trying to cast spells, she knew that was impossible, but she didn't want her brother to overhear and cheat.
She noticed Al was directing all his spells at Scorpius' partner Simon. Scorpius tried to make it seem like he was going to send spells to Al, but Kegan must have known that the two friends would never try to hurt each other. If someone was really paying attention, their duel, which was supposed to be two on two, was really a one on one as Al and Scorpius refused to fight each other.
'When are they going to admit they like each other?' Aniara chuckled to herself. She saw other boys that were friends be easily willing to duel eachother, fighting was what young boys did. Even James was sending a hex or two over to his friends duels. He wasn't even fighting them but was taking the opportunity to hit Claire with a jelly legs jinx, Farris with a mild stinging jinx, and Charlie with a tripping jinx. They all knew it was him and were trying to send some back, but they were having a harder time dealing with three people. James was having no trouble holding his own in his own duel and annoying his friends.
She watched Al's form while he dueled. While not as good as his brother, Al was having no trouble defelecting and disarming Simon. He must have taken some pointers from his older brother. Though while he was good at dueling, Aniara wondered why his chosen form of fighting was going straight to fists rather than spells like other wizards. Kegan was able to disarm Scorpius just a moment after Al had done to Simon, winning their duel. Scoprius didn't take the defeat hard. He congradulated Al on the win and clapped him on the back before grabbing his wand.
"Mate, you and Al coming to the lake later?" Charlie asked once everyone was dismissed.
"Nah," he answered, "A kid in Hufflepuff challenged Al to gobstones. I gotta make sure he holds onto his champion title."
Aniara laughed. There was no doubt Al would hold onto it. He was the best in the school, no matter how many older students challenged him. Charlie and Claire left for Griffindor Tower to gather whatever they had planned for the group's evening at the lake, while Farris and Scorpius hung back to wait for the Potter boys, who had been called over by their father. Andy and Rosie rushed off to the library for some last minute exam revising.
Once Al and James were back, James began talking to Al about plans for the summer for the four of them to hang out. Farris was giving his own imput on ideas. Al pulled on Scorpius sleave wanting to pull him along. He gave a quick glance at his sister while she stood close to James, eves dropping on his conversation. She caught him rolling his eyes at her and she stuck out her tongue to him as they walked out of the great hall.
**************
"Hey Al, nice job in there," Al and Scorpius were only a few steps out of the great hall when Gregory Higson walked passed them seeming to have hung back next to the big double doors, "Good to know that a Potter can still take down a Drip."
"What was that Higson?" Al said in a sharp tone. Scorpius felt his heart drop out of his body. It had to be the fact that there was only a week left of school, most exams were finished and everyone was excited for summer that must have given Higson the courage to use that word in front of Al. Eleesa was right, most kids were smart enough to not use that word in front of any of the golden kids. But Higson must have been hit with a confundus charm to not only call Scorpius that in front of one of his friends, but in front of Al Potter. Not only was he almost as good a duelist as his older brother, but Al didn't fight with spells, and everyone knew this. Over the school year Al had grown and not just in height.
Scorpius would usually try to be more subtle with his attempts to stop Al from fighting, but he knew this time he would need more force. He stepped inbetween the two boys and put one hand on Al's chest, "Al, drop it. He isn't worth it. Lets just walk away."
Al didn't look at him. Scorpius knew he didn't know what the word meant, but with the amount of venmon that came off Higson's tongue with it, he guessed his best friend had deduced that it wasn't a term of endearment.
"Yeah, listen to the Drip, Potter and drop it." Higson laughed at his joke and looked towards his other Griffindor friends that were already down the hall waiting for him.
"Al-" Al side stepped Scorpius and stalked towards Higson. Then he shocked Scorpius by using his words, Al was usually a punch first, ask no questions later kid.
"What did you call him? What does Drip mean Higson?"
Scorpius knew Al was passed the point of no return, but he still tried to stop him, "It doesn't mean anything Gideon, just a silly name, lets-"
Scorpius wondered why Higson hadn't bolted. Everyone knew that look on Al's face, it was the 'you are about to be hit so hard you will see stars for days' look. But Higson just crossed his arms, stood his ground and interupted Scorpius' attempts to stop Al.
"Its what your little friend is Potter. A death eater, rich, inbred, pureblood. A Drip," spit came out of his mouth as he popped the p. The next thing Scopius saw was Higson falling to the ground. This is usually where Al's fight ended. He knew how to throw a punch and put a look on his face so intimidating that no one dared hit back. But Higson must have lost some brain cells over the course of the year and quickly got back up, and was the first person to ever swing back at Albus Potter.
Scorpius felt his legs turn to jelly. He watched his best friend get hit in the face by another student, then Al was throwing punches right back. Higson wasn't as strong as Al, but he was quicker than him. Scorpius was yelling at them to stop, mostly at Al. Being some of the last out from the great hall meant there weren't many people around to witness, and Al had even scared most off with his intimidation towards Higson.
Al finally landed a blow hard enough to Higson that knocked him a few feet back. Al stood glaring at the boy, both of his fists by his side. Scorpius stared at the scene in horror. He had never seen Al like this and he hated that it was because of him. His ears were rushing and he couldn't hear anything going on around him. He was angry, upset, and hurt. He barely registered the tears falling from his eyes.
And then, as if time had slowed down, he saw Higson pull out his wand and fire a spell off at Al. Luckily for Al, Higson wasn't as accurate of a duelist and he was easily able to side step the spell and have enough time to pull out his own wand.
And a real duel commenced. Higson was firing off spells in anger, while Al was able to easily block them and fire his own spells back. But what Higson had lacked in aim, he made up for in his deflection reaction time. Logically the duel didn't last more than a half minute, but for Scorpius it felt like forever. His heart was beating loudly and he felt like his feet were stuck in the floor. He couldn't move and couldn't look away. He wasn't sure if it was in his head or if he was actually screaming out the words for them to stop. He barely registered his sister's presense next to him and while he knew she was trying to talk to him, he didn't hear anything she said. Another sound, maybe another voice, joined the fighting chorus and nothing made sense for Scorpius anymore.
Then it hit him, literally. Scorpius felt a surge of magic hit his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the floor. He looked up a the celing and was trying to remember which way was up and which way was down. Nothing made sense. He felt pain in his back and chest and tried to take in a breath, but it hurt to much. He felt a wet warmth on his upper lip and then his left hand felt briefly numb.
When he sat up he was horrified by what he saw.
*************
Aniara wished her brother had said yes to the hang out by the lake. She knew her brother wasn't a fan the lake lately, but she was eagar to spend some time around James, even if it was through a projection. Ever since their birthday, it had been easier to spend down time around her brother and his friends. She watched her brother and Al leave the great hall and tried to stay back as far as she could to continue to hear James and Farris' conversation. She was almost starting to feel the familiar pull back towards her brother when she felt his emotions instead.
Fear. Sadness. Anger. Anxiety. Heartbreak.
Then she heard it. The grunts of fighting and the yells of her brother's protests. She quickly rushed to him to find Al fighting, actually fighting, a first year Griffindor. She couldn't tell who the other kid was, but she was surprised to see that unlike everyone else in the school Al had hit, he was hitting Al back. Scorpius was yelling at them to stop. He seemed to be frozen in fear, watching as his best friend was fighting a peer. Aniara looked around for anyone else that would step in and break up the fight, for a teacher, a prefect, anyone. But there was no one else around. She looked back to see James and Farris were still several feet away, walking quickly to see what the commotion was about.
Then she heard the other boy yell out a spell. Looking back at the scene in front of her, she saw the boy, who she now recognized as Gregory Higson, firing spells at Al. Scorpius had stopped his verbal protests, but she could hear his mind yelling at them still. He was frozen in fear and Aniara wished she could help him.
She watched Al easily manage to block Higson's spells and send his own jinxes and hexes at the Griffindor, but he had gotten up off the floor and was now easily blocking Al's spells. It was all happening so fast that she felt like the whole thing would be over before anyone in charge could get there in time. She tried talking to Scorpius, tried getting his attention to comfort him, but he didn't seem to be responding to anything around him besides watching Al fight. She brought her attention back to the two duelling students and wished she could stop them both.
Aniara could hear James begin to shout at his brother, but before anyone else could do anything, Aniara saw it. She saw the look on Higson's face as James was now in view, saw him quickly assess his situation and decided his next course of action all within a milisecond. His eyes landed on Scorpius, frozen in fear and with no wand out to deflect any incoming spells.
Her senses hightened and she saw the next second happen as if it were as long as a minute.
She saw Higson raise his wand towards her brother and send a stunning spell at him, the spell hitting him in the chest. Aniara saw him on his back, stairing up at the ceiling, with a small trickle of blood start to pool out of his nose. She heard Al shout in alarm and start to take a step towards his best friend.
Then she felt her instincts take over. Every logical thought left her brain as her older sister, protecive side took over and told her what to do.
She reached across her body for her wand, and stepped in between Higson and her brother. She pointed it at him and recited the same spell he had used on her twin. She felt a small spark inside of her, a feeling she hadn't felt in years. It spread from just below the left side of her ribcage up towards her chest and then down her arm towards the wand in her hand. Then the spark left her body and she saw Higson falling backwards, the spell hitting him in the chest as it had Scorpius.
Logic finally came back to her as she realized what had happened. She had actually attempted to cast magic, and it had worked. She stood there with her wand still up pointing towards Higson as he attempted to try and get up. His nose was bleeding just like Scorpius and he looked around to see where the spell had come from. He was looking right through her. When his eyes caught something behind her, they got wide and he scrambled up to hury away. She glanced down and examined her hand holding her wand. 'Did that really just happen?'
Then she heard James' voice behind her say in a stunned whisper, "Ani?"
Dropping her wand arm, she turned on the spot to see James, just two steps behind her with his own wand out but pointed towards the ground, and he was looking towards her... no, he was looking at her as if meeting her eyes. As if he could see her.
"Cori, you ok? Oh Salizar you're bleeding, lets get you to Madam Pompfry."
"I'm fine" Her brother's voice grabbed her attention and she looked over to him. Al was helping him sit up but Scorpius was pushing his arms away. She looked back at James and he hadn't looked away. She took a step towards him, "Jay? Jay can you see me?" Her brain was trying to comprehend what had just happened, and what was now happening. James could see her. She had done magic.
"Ani?" James breathed out her name and her heart lept. He could see her. The first person in 5 years that was actually able to see her. Aniara didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to think. Her mind was reeling.
Her gaze was torn from James as her brother yelled, "Get off, Al I'm fine!" She looked over at her brother and saw him whiping away the blood from his nose. He was standing himself up slowly, with an angry scowl on his face. She took a step towards him and tried to look him over but he walked away from them. "Ned, are you ok?" She asked and he swatted at her.
"Just leave me alone. I'm fine."
"You're not fine Cor, you got hit with a stunning spell and your bleeding. Lets-"
"Just go away!"
Al and Aniara stopped. Scorpius had never yelled like this before. She could feel his anger and had to remind herself it wasn't just her own. The problem was she couldn't descipher who he was angry at.
"Cory, just take a breath."
Scorpius turned to look at Al, glaring at his best friend. Aniara had seen them have arguments before, but not like this. Now she could see it. Scorpius wasn't upset or angry at Higson, but at Al.
"Scorpius. What happened?"
"It was fine. Everything was fine, I was fine! I had accepted my life for what it was. I had no control over how people saw me, and I learned to live with it. Understood that was how they were going to see me for the rest of my life. The lonely little blonde boy who's father and grandfather were on the wrong side of a bloody messed up war. So I learned to let it roll off. Their words don't bother me. At least they didn't until you came along."
No one said anything. Al's mouth was agape and his hands were by his side, slightly flexing into fists as he tried to process Scorpius' words. Even though Al was taller than him now, Scorpius was still in his face.
"Cor, I-"
"Ned plea-" They said in tandum, but Scorpius stopped them both.
"Shut up! Both of you shut up. I'm tired of hearing how it bother's you what people say about me. And I know that's a Potter thing and you probably can't help it, but being sneered at and being called names is something I can't help. So I learned to ignore it, to let it go in one ear and out the other. It didn't matter what they said, it never hurt me. But then Al Potter had come in and change all that."
"I wasn't... Cory its not" Aniara could tell Al was at a loss for words.
"And now, every time someone calls me a git, a traitor, a Drip, it hurts. It actually hurts me, because I have your stupid bloody voice in my head telling me that I don't deserve to be treated that way. That you care about what people say to me or how they treat me. And I hate it. I hate that you care about me Albus. I hate that you've made me care what they say. So just stop. Stop caring about me, because they will never stop treating me that way. Just like how you and your brother will always be compared to your dad. I wish we had never became friends. Just go away and leave me alone."
Scorpius' face was red from anger as he turned away from Al and walked away. Al was silent, but Aniara couldn't be. She couldn't let her brother walk away after saying so many things he didn't mean.
"Scorpius Hyperion. Don't you dare walk away from this. You know you didn't mean half of what you said. Don't walk away from him, from me."
Al finally started towards him and spoke up just as Aniara was finishing, "Scorpius, please stop. You didn't mean-"
Scorpius spun around fast and if looks could kill, all of Hogwarts would be dead. He was looking straight at Al, "I meant it, and I said to leave me alone." Then his gaze went pointedly next to Al towards Aniara, "Both of you! Go home Aniara!"
She opened her eyes to see her closet door.
Her head was spinning.
Her wand was still clutched in her hand.
She felt her stomach lurch and tried to hold back the bile rising in her throat.
Scopius had shut her out before, but never that forcefully. She couldn't feel his emotions anymore. All she felt was a numb ache in her chest and the faint beating of her brother's heart.
She couldn't reach him anymore.
And then she could no longer hold back the bile.