The halls of Hogwarts where deadly silent and eerily dark. The only thing other than silence being their footsteps which echoed softly down the halls as Albus and Scorpius cautiously walked past paintings and armour displays, marauder's map in hand. Albus was gifted the map, after headmaster McGonagall had given it back to Harry. She had decided that in order to honour the map and those who made it, it must go back to the family it belonged to, though, Harry had said that she probably thought it best used for those who solemnly swore they were up to no good too, but wouldn’t say it outright. After Harry had gotten it back, he (in both Albus’ and Scorpius’ opinion) stupidly gifted it to Albus, also honouring its creators and purpose by giving it to a mischievous adolescent.
Before they turned a corner, they checked for a name, before speaking to each other, they made sure they were totally alone and unheard. They did this you see, because they forgot to steal James’ invisibility cloak from Gryffindor tower, and had to be extra cautious.
It had been Albus’ idea earlier in the day, to sneak into the forbidden forest and retrieve wolfsbane, since professor Sprout kept the potions supplies especially locked and Albus wanted some. When Albus first told Scorpius why he needed to get in the forbidden forest, it roused concern in Scorpius, but Albus quickly assured him that, no, he wasn’t a werewolf, nor did he plan to become one. Albus wanted the wolfsbane because he was curious, and the textbooks didn’t answer the many questions he had. Scorpius thought that, well, that wasn’t a good enough excuse to go wandering into the forbidden forest in the dead of the night, but Albus had looked so determined and excited. Plus, it was better than Albus getting bored, and definitely preferable to time travel. This is why Scorpius wasn’t bothered that they were going into the forbidden forest because, surely nothing is worse than time travel.
Scorpius quickly changed his mind when, in the depths of the forest, he began to see things moving behind the shadows. It very well could just be his imagination, but regardless of that thought, Scorpius kept close to Albus and kept his eyes peeled for anything he may deem too fishy for even the forbidden forest. However, nothing ever jumped out at the pair and the further in they went the more comfortable Scorpius became. The two talked as their eyes searched the ground around them, looking for wolfsbane. Scorpius and Albus both admired the beauty of the forest as they did their searching, but Scorpius let his eyes wander up the trunks of the trees to gaze into what star-speckled night sky he could see through the leaves of the thick trees. He became lost in the beauty of the complexity of the stars, and didn’t notice the sudden drop in the terrain, and Albus shouted for him to watch out just a second too late.
Scorpius only had time to let out a short but sharp yelp before he was tumbling down the forest hill. “Scorpius!” Albus shouted as he watched his friend roll to a halt at the bottom of the hill. Scorpius had tripped so suddenly and rolled down so quickly that he had finished rolling before Albus could even react, though that did not mean the trip down hurt any less.
“Owwww” Scorpius groaned into the forest floor. “Hold on Scorp!” Albus shouted down to his friend as he began to carefully scale his way down the slope, occasionally sliding down on his heels.
Aching pain rested in Scorpius’ right ribs from a particularly hard rock, along with a bleeding cut on his chin he could feel sting unkindly. He rolls onto his back with a great heave of effort and once he is fully turned, he lets himself lay there on the cool forest floor, staring up into the stars once more.
His stargazing is interrupted by an upside-down face, smiling that stupid, infectious smile at him. The smile that makes his heart hurt as it pounds faster in his chest, the smile that makes him queasy, the smile that makes him beam right back.
“Hey.” Albus greets over Scorpius, “Hi,” Scorpius says sheepishly. “You alright?” Albus asks as guilt builds in his voice. “Sorry I didn’t warn you sooner” Albus apologizes, reaching his hand down to Scorpius. Scorpius takes the familiar, warm and calloused hand in his and Albus lifts him up off the ground. “I’m fine, just a bit shook up. And don’t say sorry, it’s my fault, my mind was somewhere else.” “Well it’s a good thing you’re not hurt, I don’t feel like explaining why you are injured to Madame Pomfrey tonight.” Albus says squeezing Scorpius’ hand, “Yes, I think we have explained ourselves to her enough to last us a lifetime.” Scorpius states as he watches Albus bite his bottom lip and hesitate for a moment before bringing his free hand up to Scorpius’ scalp “You’ve um, you’ve got some leaves in your hair.” He says as he slowly runs his fingers through Scorpius’ hair. The touch is slow and tender, the kind of touch that lights a flame in your chest that slowly burns through every part of you, to the very tips of your fingers. Albus’ face grew a shade darker and he flashed an enamoured smile. “There, heh, all gone”.
Scorpius flushed and bowed his head towards the ground, searching for the words to express what he wanted to say. He seemed to think he would find the words on the forest floor, but instead, his eyes reached something else. “Is- is that- oo! Oh! Albus look! Wolfsbane!” He said eagerly as he pointed a foot or two behind Albus where the infamous plant stood.
A gasp escaped Albus as he spotted it behind him with the crane of his neck. “Yes Scorp! Clever eye!” Albus dropped Scorpius’ hand and squatted down to the ground to examine the plant. Scorpius shined with a grand smile and pride filled his chest before it dawned on him that, he had just ruined the moment between him and Albus due to his childlike nature. A huff escaped his lips and his smile was replaced with a sort-of pout. He looked once more to the ground for a solution, but nothing arose. However, something did seem to catch his eye once more. By the edge of his black shoe, just barely noticeable in the light hue on the moon. There sat a glimmering black stone, it was an awfully enticing thing, it seemed as though Scorpius could hear it whisper out to him, someone familiar calling his name. He picked it up and examined it in between his fingers. He must be imagining the whispers, a stone doesn’t whisper, or at least, none he had ever read about in any book at Hogwarts. So he listened with as much focus as he could muster. However, all he could now hear, was Albus rambling on about the wolfsbane as he stored it away in his bag. Scorpius must have been imagining it then. He smiled down at the little stone and put it in his pocket, as a way to remember this particular adventure of theirs.
However, what Scorpius couldn’t have known, and therefor should not be blamed for, was that the stone in his pocket was no ordinary forest-floor stone. It was the same stone that Harry potter had dropped in that forest so long ago as he walked to his death. The Resurrection Stone. Scorpius also didn’t know, that things were about to become fascinating, and to them, it was all ineffable.