Scorpius Malfoy: A new beginning

Chapter 2

Scorpius spent most of his time in his room the next day. School had started on Friday and that meant two whole days for the students to catch up with their friends and possibly get less hyper. Scorpius had gone to the great hall for breakfast and everything, but he found the noise, the eager slytherins who had not met him yesterday surge forward and introducing themselves, the stares from the students and seemingly judgemental looks from the teachers, rather unnerving. He had afterall been home schooled and loved peace and quiet. But he knew he will have to get used to it all. The school had even allowed a welcoming party for the whole student body. Scorpius was not ashamed to say he had run away from it altogether.

Sunday was better with most of the students still in bed till noon, it was Scorpius's turn to wander outside. He had successfully managed to send Blaise along with a couple of new friends this very morning. They had wanted to see the Quidditch pitch. Scorpius loved Quidditch, but he was not really interested in seeing the pitch just yet. He wanted to explore the castle and he worked best alone.

So here he was, wandering the almost empty corridors at eight, keeping his head slightly down when he saw someone else coming along. It was a good thing he was good with self orientation, although anybody would have been if they had spent eleven years at the Malfoy Manor. He noticed a rather narrow and dark hallway and decided that this will be interesting.

There were no paintings and as he walked, he knew he should not be here. But he told himself he could always head back if something went wrong. Walking along the barren stone walls, he noticed a wooden door finally. Scorpius paused and listened for any kind of noise. Even when he pressed his ear to the door, he could not hear a thing. However, a smell of moisture soon met his nose which he wrinkled in protest. Scorpius lowered his hand to where the doorknob should be but then hesitated. The doorknob was rusty, but that was not why he stopped. Creative, he thought, winding his hand gingerly around the doorknob in the shape of a hand. The hand did not move as Scorpius half expected it to(he had his wand drawn and was prepared to blast it). It turned easily and the door swung open.

The room behind it was magnificent to say the least. But perhaps others will not share his opinion.  Daylight streamed through the large window, revealing that there were dust in the air. It smelled of old books, a smell he oddly, loved. There were tall shelves all around, filled with large books he doubted he could not carry long. He walked along the shelves to see how long the room actually was before he saw another door, very similar to the one he had used to enter this place. He paused to listen for any kind of noise. Nothing.

He bent down, getting on all fours and took out his wand. ''Invisibilia!''

A soft silvery white liquid slowly errupted from his wand and Scorpius drew a small circle near the bottom of the door. The very structure of the door seem to pale and disapear until it looked like glass. Scorpius grinned that the charm had worked on the door. It was advance magic. He could not help but be proud of himself, a little. The feeling died down when he saw more bookshelves. A diserted library. Well, what was he expecting anyway? 

'Hogwarts is a place for developing your intellect and not for adventures' the voice of his former teacher came back to him. Scorpius winced. Hopefully he will never see her again. Well, he would not for a whole year. The woman has traumatised him it seems. Now he is even think of her here.

''Finite!'' Scorpius muttered and the invisible hole sealed shut.

Scorpius got up and decided to explore this room for now and turned back to  the shelves.

Potion ingredients stored in little glass jars for what seemed ages, no centuries. There were spider webs all over them. Scorpius, curious, shoved some away and discovered that the things stored were not the usual ingredients he used for classes. He had seen pictures of some in the books of the Malfoy Library. There was a lily fairy preserved in a green liquid, gremlin ears, a football-sized heart, probably that of a baby dragon. They had a farm house in Romania and occasionally went there on holidays despite his mother's protests about how hot it got there. They went to see the new species of course and even owned an Amphisbaena - a serpent-like dragon with two heads. This time his mother had actually vouched for buying it. The venom was much help for her research. Not to mention that Scorpius had actually brought several baby Wyverns home after a trip and had set them lose in the forest next to the Manor two days before. They were really too small and will take thirty years to mature to make any damage at all.

''Hope this isn't from someone I know.'' Scorpius muttered, looking closely at the heart.

He moved on to the next jar, removing some thick webs wound around it. Leprechaun's foot preserved in a bluish liquid.

 "Yuck!' Scorpius let out, and then hastily covered his mouth. His voice had echoed. Were those foot steps he heard? He did not have time to hide. A head poked in through the doorway. It took a second too long for Scorpius to realise it was a girl, his own age.

They looked at each other for a second before she let out a nervous laughter. Scorpius could only manage a crooked smile in response.

''I didn't know there was someone here!'' She exclaimed.

Scorpius smiled more widely at her. Of course she did not. The empty walls probably spoke to her all the time at her home and she followed the voices the best she could.  But Scorpius mentally scolded himself for thinking sarcastically. It was a hard habit to kick.

She seemed to take his smile as an encouragement and walked a few steps inside, leaving the door half open. She looked around and when her eyes traveled back to Scorpius's she giggled again. Scorpius wished she would stop that. It echoed with the store's poor acoustics.

She thrust her hand forward for a handshake, ''Hi, I'm Scorpius Malfoy!''

Scorpius's smile faded slightly, getting confused. He saw that the girl had realised what she had said, and he could not help adding with a grin,''Me too.''

Scorpius immediately regretted the little joke when she started laughing loudly. Scorpius was not sure whether she usually laughed like that, or it was just bad because of the echo.

''What are you two doing here?'' A female voice sounded. Scorpius froze. He recognised her immediately as the potions master. Miss Crepsley.

Great. Detention...