Scorpius was going to die - he could be certain of that. Why couldn’t he just play by their fucking rules?
He stumbled through the woods - he didn’t know where he was, really - with his father grasping him tightly by the arm. “We’re going to fix you, Scorpius. This is for your own good.” The other version of his father had insisted. Was it really true though?
After half an hour of walking, which went by like a blur for Scorpius, they made it to their final destination. Scorpius’ confusion only grew when he observed his surroundings, “Why are we at the Black Lake?” He asked his father.
“Because,” Draco tightened his grip on his son, which Scorpius thought impossible until then, “We’re going to fix you.” The boy began to grow frustrated at his own lack of certainty, but he internalised it as much as possible.
Draco stopped abruptly at the edge of the lake, still digging his fingers into Scorpius’ arm - the force of the pain made him want to scream. He felt his fathers grip loosen a little when he stepped back, leaving Scorpius dangling over the line of life and death.
“I’m sorry, son, but this has to be done.” Scorpius had no time to question his fathers words, because a hand suddenly appeared on his back and shoved him in the direction of the water.
He couldn’t stop it.
The moment he hit the icy water, he felt himself tense up. He couldn’t swim. He was too tired. His clothes were too heavy. He had no means of escaping his own pitiful death.
Another hand grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, forcing him back up to the surface. He gasped for air, desperately trying to gain some kind of energy.
There was a woman now, standing next to his father, that he hadn’t seen before. He made his eyes focus on her dark brunette hair, very similar to that of Albus’ own hair.
Albus. He had to get back for Albus.
“He’s not done.” The woman spoke so softly, yet so harshly at the same time. There was a kind of bite to her voice, sharp like a knife.
Draco looked at the woman in confusion, “Surely that’s enough, the boy’ll drown if he stays down there a second longer!” The woman didn’t waver in her place, though. She stood her ground, crouching down to Scorpius’ level.
“Look into his eyes, Draco. Does he look restored to you?” She grabbed the front of his hair tightly. He squirmed in her grasp, but she was strong - really strong.
He huffed and glanced at his father - maybe he would see sense, maybe he would help him. But no, he couldn’t. This woman, there was something about her. She had a sort of persuasive nature about her.
In the end, Draco nodded and took a step back, “Do what you must. I trust you know what you’re doing.” With that, the woman smiled a sick and twisted smile, letting go of Scorpius’ hair.
For a brief moment, he felt relief. Then, it hit him all over again. The tingling sensation of the water consuming him, the burning in his lungs, begging for more air. It was all too much.
He was drowning. He was drowning and he couldn’t fight back. All Scorpius could focus on was all of his feeling leaving his body, slowly and painfully. Then, he heard a voice. A voice he knew all too well.
“Mum?” The water muffled his speech, and he regretted the loss of oxygen, but soon, he saw a hand outstretched in front of him. It was definitely his mothers.
He reached out to take it, using all of his remaining energy to grasp ahold of it, but instead of meeting skin, his hand met metal.
Scorpius blinked, trying to clear the ringing in his head, and realised that his mothers hand had been replaced with an item - the thing that got him into this mess in the first place.
The Time Turner.
He smiled, snatching it from the grip of the water and bringing it close enough that he could see the small inscriptions on it. He turned the dials to the correct dates and felt the familiar, stomach-turning feeling of being whisked away through time.
***
He didn’t remember changing the tasks. All he could remember was the water - it was still all around him. It was all he could see, all he could hear, all he could feel and smell and taste.
Scorpius felt so alone as he drifted through the water, now lying on his back and staring into the sunlight tearing through this cold blanket.
The light disappeared, though, when it was covered by a silhouette. He could recognise that silhouette from a mile away - it was his Albus.
His lips curved into a soft smile - even if he would probably never see Albus again, it was a relief to know he was at least in existence.
Soon, more silhouettes joined the mix, blocking out most of the sunlight. Scorpius didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad, so he stuck to feeling… floaty.
He closed his eyes, waiting for death to take his hand and push him down to Hell, but no hand of death came to meet his. Instead, he watched helplessly as splashes of water rippled above him, the silhouettes moving closer to him with every passing second.
There were two of them in the water with him. It was hard to see who, since most of his vision was blurred as a result of his brain’s lack of oxygen.
He felt two hands latch onto his arms and drag him up to the surface. He felt like the living dead - like he was alive, but outside of his body in a way.
Everything went black before he could reach the surface.
***
His eyes shot open as he felt the water surge up his throat and out of his mouth, dribbling over his entire face.
A hand on his back - a helping hand this time, not a pushing hand - assisted him in sitting himself up, so he could clear out the remaining water in his system.
He groaned as he slumped backwards again, not having the energy to keep his body upright any longer. He leaned into whatever his back hit - a person, maybe?
His head hurt. His limbs ached. Everything felt fuzzy. It wasn’t until he felt the gentle hands of his dad slipping around his waist that he could zero in on the world around him.
“Where’s - where’s Albus?” He rasped, his throat still rough from the intrusion of the water. “I’m right here.” A voice beside him whispered, slotting their hand into his own.
Scorpius looked to his right to see Albus, his best friend in the world, who he thought he’d lost forever, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” His own voice crackled, though he still felt detached from himself, “Why are you crying?”
His dad exhaled a shaky breath from behind him. Scorpius rolled over the best he could and propped himself up on his knees to face Draco, “What is it?”
Draco slowly shook his head. For a moment, all Scorpius saw when he looked at his dad was the man from the Alternate Reality, who he couldn’t call dad after what he’d done.
But, the more he checked him over, he saw all the differences in them. The way his dad’s face moulded into concern differed greatly from the way Draco had stared at his son only with pity and maybe even a little hatred.
Scorpius had to remind himself that they were different people, who just looked eerily similar. They had no connection to each other whatsoever.
He cried out in pain when he felt the full force of something which could only be described as if a steel-toed boot was slammed straight into his ribs.
Draco immediately pulled his hands away from the area, hovering around him in fear of injuring his son further. “It hurts, it really hurts.” He sobbed, curling himself into his dad’s chest.
“It’s ok, son. It’s ok.” Draco stroked Scorpius’ head so carefully that you could barely tell he was going anything at all. Scorpius glanced up at his dad and immediately recognised the expression on his face - it was one he saw often around his mother, before her passing.
That one expression let Scorpius into his dad’s thoughts, showed him where his mind was taking him. That expression meant that he wanted to take all of Scorpius’ pain and do anything he could to destroy it. Hell, he would probably take the pain himself if it meant that Scorpius could have a moment of peace.
“What’s happening? Why does it hurt so much?” His sobs subsided into low groans every now and again - the violent shaking of his ribs when he cried worsened the pain.
“I’m sorry.” Albus gripped onto his hand tighter - so tight that Scorpius had to squirm himself out of his grip a little. “Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong.” He felt the tears cascading down his face again, this time without the shaking - almost as if these tears were full of numbness.
“He’s right, Albus.” Draco reinforced, “What you did was one of the best and worst things I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you, thank you so much.” His dad pulled Albus closer to them both, leaving Scorpius even more in confusion than before.
Scorpius’ gaze flitted between them both, still a little hazy from his fucked-up head, “Why are you thanking him?” The two exchanged a glance before his dad focused his eyes back on him, “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up?”
“I - what?” Scorpius squinted at his dad in even more confusion. “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up?” He repeated.
“Umm…” He thought, rubbing his temples. What was the last thing he remembered? All he could really focus on was the water. He tried to remember something, anything else, but his brain was too foggy for him to think of a single other detail.
“Water.” He zoned in on the puddle of water he’d choked up earlier, slowly soaking into the ground, “There was water everywhere. All around me. And - wait, there was more.” He bit his lip in concentration, but soon noticed that all he needed to do in order to remember was to look at the two people consoling him.
“You guys are soaking!” He tugged at the sleeve of his dad’s jacket, “Why are you wet? You didn’t get in the water, did…” His eyes flitted back to the lake, “You did, didn’t you?”
He squeezed his eyes shut tightly as the memories of what happened resurfaced, unlike he remembered doing. When did he get to the surface?
“You came down,” He recounted, “To save me. You swam down and grabbed ahold of me and dragged me back up. But I never - I never made it to the surface. No, I had to have made it to the surface because I’m here now. What - what happened?”
Draco sighed and positioned his son so that he was laid down again, his back against Draco’s front. “We weren’t fast enough.” He paused, “When we reached the surface, you’d stopped breathing. Your heart - it had completely stopped. You were dead.”
“No.” Scorpius shook his head, “No, I wasn’t. I didn’t die. I never died. I was pushed into the lake, almost drowned, found the time turner, used it to get back here and then… and then…” He faltered. Had he really died?
“You were pushed? Who pushed you?” Albus demanded, leaning in closer to him. That was the problem - it could’ve been a few people. It could’ve been the other version of his father, it could’ve been that woman. It could’ve been someone else entirely for all he knew.
“I don’t… I don’t know.” He stuttered, almost at a loss for words. “If I - if I died…” He looked up at his dad, “Then how am I alive?”
Draco glanced briefly at Albus and then back at his son. Scorpius cocked his head and awaited an answer, from either of them. “I brought you back.” Albus smoothed a thumb over Scorpius’ knuckles, “I did CPR on you. Well, chest compressions. Didn’t think giving you oxygen would help - it would just push the water further down into your lungs.” He let out a dry laugh, “I might’ve gone a bit hard on your ribs, sorry.”
Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows, “Albus, it’s fine. You saved my life! Anyways, CPR often involves broken or fractured ribs, you know I know this. I’ve researched just about every medical treatment there is.” His lips curved into a seemingly contagious smile, since Albus soon smiled with him. He could see his dad, but he had a feeling he felt the same happiness they were sharing.
“Thank you, Albus.” Scorpius pulled him in for a soft embrace - he may forgive Albus for the broken ribs, but he sure as hell wasn’t planning on worsening his condition.
Albus hugged back, doubly as tight as Scorpius, “You hardly have anything to thank me for, Scor. We’ve probably got detention for the rest of time and I practically got you killed.”
Scorpius grinned back at him, a real smile, not the forced ones he’d put on for the past 3 or so weeks in the Alternate Reality.
“I’m just glad to be alive.”