Still Waters Run Deep

Toby

"I've never seen anything like it." Rose's voice filled Scorpius's ears.

"What exactly happened?" It was his father. Scorpius's eyes fluttered open, he was in the hospital wing, it was jam-packed.

"Something came out of his wand," Albus explained, he sounded terrible. "It was like a strong wind, it made all the Death- um all the- the, well, it knocked them out, they all fell to the ground at once."

"I call it, targeted group stupefying," Scorpius said in a low husky voice. Every head turned towards him.

"Well, your little stunt put you out for almost two days." Teddy laughed as he placed a hand on Scorpius's shoulder. He sat up. His eyes had now adjusted to the light and he could see all the familiar faces: his parents, his friends, James, Fred, Sirius, Lupin, Teddy and a bunch of other members of the Order.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked he was now clearly agitated. "Lucius-Did we beat him?"

"You did," Rose said with a slight smile as she walked closer to his bed. "It's over."

"Lucius is back in Azkaban," Draco said. Scorpius sighed, he felt the weight of the world being lift of his shoulders and all the muscles of his body relaxed at once.

"And all the others who were with him that night," Aurora added.

"So its really over?" Scorpius asked, he still couldn't believe it.

"Not quite yet," Sirius said. "There are still a lot of people we need to catch, but yes... You just prevented a big war."

"It's nice to hear that, huh?" Teddy grinned.

"That means no more schemes or plans or projects." Lupin pointed towards Scorpius, Albus, Rose, and Aurora.

"I think we had enough of those for a lifetime," Dominique said as she calmly walked into the Hospital Wing. Scorpius smiled, it was good to see her again. "You are a war hero now, Scorp." She threw the Daily Prophet onto his lap. It read:

The Fall of Lucius Malfoy, 

Grandson defeats Grandfather.

Underneath a picture from Scorpius's face, it looked like it was taken when he was in his fifth year. He rolled his eyes.

"We ways knew you were made for the spotlight," Victorie popped up. Everyone let out a chuckle.

There was a pause. The blond boy looked up at Albus, his eyes were puffy and red and he wore a sad expression, Scorpius felt his heart drop as he remembered what had happened that night.

"Toby..." Scorpius said softly. The mood took a turn as everyone's smiles vanished. There was a moment of silence.

Albus looked Scorpius in the eye and shook his head. He stood up at once and embraced his best friend. They hugged each other for a long minute, Scorpius could tell Albus was holding back sobs. Scorpius sat back down, at this point, a lot of the people had dispersed and the only ones left around his hospital bed were the friends that were with him that night, plus Caleb.

"The funeral?" Scorpius asked quietly.

"It was this morning," Marlene said, her eyes began to water as she spoke. "We tried to convince his parents to wait until you woke up, but they wouldn't budge. I'm so sorry you couldn't be there, Scorpius." He didn't say anything, instead, he felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt, yet again.

"He was buried on the grounds," Rose spoke, her voice was shaking a little. "Next to our tree by the lake."

Scorpius got up, his friends knew exactly where he was going and followed him.

As they approached the tree the tombstone came into view. It was a simple rectangular, marble tombstone, it had flowers and lit candles all around it. They all gathered close.

In loving memory of Toby Benjamin Lawson

2000-2017

Scorpius crouched down and put his hand on the tombstone, he felt tears come to his eyes as he remembered the bright smile his friend wore every day, he would never see it again. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

His friends watched him in silence, they slowly began to sit down one by one. Scorpius was the last one to finally join the circle.

"He was a good friend," Scorpius spoke.

"The best..." Margo said looking at the floor.

"He saved my life," Albus said. Tears started rolling down his cheeks. "He gave his life to save me." Everyone stayed quiet for a while.

"He died a true Gryffindor." Rose finally broke the silence. "If there is anything that defines a Gryffindor is dying for a friend- the courage to die for a friend."

"He was the most loyal person I've met," Roxanne said. "I'm surprised he didn't end up in Hufflepuff." She laid down on her back and stared up at the sky.

"If he had been in Hufflepuff we would never have won the Quidditch Cup," Lily said with a light chuckle even though tears were running down her cheeks.

"He was by far the best beater in school," Dominique said with a smile.

"I always imagined him going pro," Margo said. "And like, become the world's best beater or something."

"I bet he would be more successful than any of us," Dominique said. "He would be rich and famous. I swear cheeky people are the ones with the most surprising outcomes." Everyone slightly laughed. After that, there was a pause.

"His future was so bright," Aurora said. "It's such a shame." She rested her head in Albus's shoulder.

"We need to appreciate and cherish the moments we had with him, not mourn about the ones we can't have," Marlene spoke for the first time. "We got to be his best friends for seven years... We got to see him smile every day. He was happy and he was loved. It might have been short, but the time that Toby lived, he lived well, that's the most important." Everyone absorbed Marlene's words.

Not a lot of people knew it but Marlene and Toby had become very good friends ever since Marlene dated his older brother two years prior. Harvey, one of Toby's six older brothers (he was the youngest of 7) was in James' and Fred's year and dated Marlene for almost all of fifth year. During the summer coming into sixth year, Marlene unexpectedly fell in love with a french muggle. She and Harvey broke up shortly after they returned to Hogwarts and during that time, Toby was Marlene's biggest support, they became very close after that.

"Marlene is right," Scorpius started. "Toby wouldn't want us to mourn him and mope about it forever." He stood up. "Come on guys, we just won a bloody war, we need to celebrate that, for Toby."

Scorpius pulled out his wand and in seconds his broom came flying towards him. Everyone mimicked his actions and soon everyone had brooms in their hands. They each mounted their brooms and zoomed around the Hogwarts grounds, as a way to remember their dear friend that had brought so much joy and happiness into their lives.