Soldiers and Serpents //Scorbus

73 Darkness

"I won't kill anyone else." Selwyn tells Hermione. "If you leave us alone. The ministry is to leave us to our own devices. And if I get even a sniff of your interference, then your daughter?" He points to Rose. "She's not the only funeral you'll be attending. Next it will be your son, Hugo. And then Ron Weasley. And if I run out of family, I'll go to friends. And after that, co-workers. And... I think you understand, don't you?" Hermione nods.

"Fine. I'll do it." She agrees.

"Good. Thank you for your cooperation." Selwyn stepped over to Harry Potter. "Unfortunately, you cannot be allowed to continue. It's clear you see any change as something evil." He looked around the circle. "Thank you, for bringing Harry Potter to us. It's been hard to track him down. I apologize that you'll have to say your goodbyes like this."

Selwyn pulled his wand from his coat. Scorpius's throat burned.

"Avada-"

"Stop!" Scorpius interrupted the killing curse from leaving Selwyn's mouth. The grip on his wrists tightened, pinching his skin. He struggled in the grip until Selwyn suggested that Scorpius be let go with a wave of his hand.

"This has got to be good." Selwyn looked from Scorpius to Harry Potter, and back again. Scorpius sucked in a breath. It was time.

"Don't kill him."

Selwyn grins, and then laughs. His Zealots chuckle, like wondering where Scorpius grew his pair of balls.

"I'll join you." Scorpius dropped the bomb. "But you can't kill Harry Potter. You can't kill any of them." He kept his gaze on Selwyn, even though he felt Harry's and Albus's eyes on him. Scorpius couldn't look at them, or he'd loose his nerve. He had to go through with this. They tried; but it wasn't enough. Time for Plan B. The Plan B Scorpius had been thinking about for days. The one he hadn't spoken to a single soul. The one he knew was inevitable.

"No! Scorpius-"

"Shut up." Daniel cuts off Raven's words, gripping her harder by the hair.

"Scorpius please." Albus whines, his voice sounded like a panic.

"Why would I believe that you want to join me now, Salazar?" Selwyn walked towards him until Scorpius could smell him. He smelled like death.

"I want those I love to be safe."

"And you are willing to take my word for it, that I'll promise to not kill them?"

"No." Scorpius pulled a glove off. "But I'll believe you when you make the unbreakable vow." Selwyn grinned, and laughed, looking back to where Aries was standing.

"I wonder where he got this idea from." Selwyn gave the girl a pointed look. She looked away, nervously watching the scene unfold. "Why would you want to save Harry Potter?"

"Oh I don't." Scorpius forced his voice to remain indifferent and steady. "It's Albus who I'm protecting. No one else's parents are going to die because of me."

"Scorpius don't do this." Albus pleads.

"Be silent." Aries snapped at him, but she seemed just as alarmed at Scorpius's proposal as Albus was. Her dark eyes were staring at him, like he could give her an answer. But even his mind was closed to her.

"How sweet." Selwyn looked Scorpius up and down. "Maybe it's not worth it for me. You seem soft."

"I can speak parseltongue. Daniel can't. The prophecy you keep going on about is talking about me. Not him." Scorpius provoked. Daniel rolled his shoulders at the words, unsettled and probably irritated at the confidence. "If you still don't think you need me, then I ask you this. How's your search for the resurrection stone going?"

Selwyn studied him a moment. "You know where the stone is?"

"Take a guess." Scorpius invites. Selwyn narrowed his eyes.

"Bring her out." Selwyn orders. All their eyes are directed to a new arrival on the scene. A woman is dropped to her knees, her hair silver and blue. She looked traumatized, mad. A look in her eyes that was one of fear and paranoia.

Delphini. This was Daniel's doing.

Scorpius could see Aries jolt from his peripheral vision. She had no idea.

"Delphini just told us that she helped you find the stone. But she wouldn't say where you had it now." Selwyn reveals. "She might've lost all her memories at this point. The Cruiciatus can scramble some brains after so long, you see." Scorpius felt cold, looking at Delphini scan faces like she saw demons instead of people. She didn't seem to recognize anyone. She'd gone completely mad. Daniel had entirely broken her mind.

"You monster." Orion snarls.

"We are all monsters to someone else." Selwyn dismisses the insult. "Really it's a mercy. She doesn't seem to remember her fiancé. Or watching that fiancé die." Selwyn muses, meeting Scorpius's gaze. "Point is, I have a need for you after all."

"I'll give you the stone. You will make the unbreakable vow to leave them all alone." Scorpius decided.

"Very well."

"Scorpius, this is not a good idea." Harry finally speaks up.

"We tried, Harry. You tried. But it's very clear who's going to come out the other side of this alive. I'd rather be on the winning side, I'm sure you understand." Scorpius replies, offering his bare hand forward towards Selwyn. He takes it eagerly. Aries steps forward to do the magic, her eyes locking onto Scorpius's for a moment just before.

"Will you, Argulus Selwyn, vow to never kill those closest at heart to Salazar Black?" Aries asks.

"I do." Selwyn replies.

"Do you, Salazar, vow to give Selwyn the location of the resurrection stone? Do you vow to stand by his side?"

"I do." Scorpius felt his skin char with the magic. The burn hardly registered.

"Consider it done." Aries lowered the wand and the unbreakable bond was finished.

"I think we're done here." Selwyn grins at Scorpius. "Let's go." He makes a gesture, and before Scorpius can spare any departing words to his family, he's disapparated.

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1.7k words
(I know it's short but I had to end this chapter here)