Scorpius' life is about to begin tonight.
Yes, it will.
For eighteen long years he's pressed down like an unwanted crease in an otherwise perfect white sheet. Enough is enough. It's now or never.
Sweaty hands were wiped on his rich cardigan. Too soft. Too fluffy. Too perfect. Nothing is meant to be perfect anyway. Not in this house. Not in the world outside it.
That man makes sure of it. He's trying to become a vision of it. From the way that he runs the manor-- not a speck of dust in anything and everything-- not a smudge of fingerprint, not a hair out of place on his head or Scorpius'-- wax or oil it if it won't stay down, if it still won't then cut it-- you don't need it anyway. Scorpius was raised to cut down people when they don't agree with him or if they serve him no merit or if they will become burdensome in the future.
He tried to believe, always and always tried-- tried his hardest to to believe it-- but it simply isn't the kind of life he wants to live.
He doesn't want cold calculations, he wants genuine human warmth. He doesn't want merit and sustainable alliances, he wants friends. It was simple too. Much to simple really.
He has no need for all this grandiosity.
But then again, why not?
Rose.
Rose whose mother just died. Rose who hates her father. Rebel Rose. Rose whose hair is as red as her name. Wit shaper than a thorn but lips softer than petals.
Just the thought of her made his heart race even faster. When they first met it was only just pitter patter against the windows, noticeable but can still be hidden, but he let it brew and brew until it was full on electrical thunderstorms. She's everything and he belongs to her. Only her and not to anyone else and certainly not to him.
Rose told him that anything-- anything at all-- can be had if you simply have enough nerve.
So here he goes, into the old man's office-- his office-- about to get his key to the vault. His birthright, his heirloom. The riches that are rightfully his even though he never stood for what they represent.
The night is dark and the moon was a solitary porcelain plate in the banquet of the night. Scorpius felt his forehead dampen with slick sweat as he crept closer and closer to the formidable office. It was daunting even when he just has to pass it. Like a constant monster just about ready to grab him, eat him alive and suck on his bone marrows.
Just imagine the weight of fear on his heart now that he actually has to enter it with menace in his mind.
He's actually going against him.
Him.
It felt like all his life was leading up to this moment. This moment that he'd finally get ahead! Finally, finally! This is--
The doors of the office opened by their own accord.
Scorpius nearly jumped out of his socks.
"Took you long enough."
A gasp refused to let itself out from his throat.
Perhaps he was already spellbound.
Scorpius imagined his eighteen years of existence flash before his eyes.
But it was a mere imagination, he remained rooted to his spot and the old man on the throne behind the desk. Perhaps Scorpius was wrong, perhaps this is not the night that will begin his life. Perhaps it will be the night that will end it.
"Cat got your tongue, boy?"
The figure only illuminated by moonlight was still in his throne.
Scorpius was fear stricken. The icy cold fear and intimidation ran in his veins. It pierced everything.
"Well, do you want it to?"
A giant cat leapt out at him. Scorpius screamed in fear and drew out his wand in preparation for the attack but the cat disappeared as soon as the light of the moon got it. It was just a mirage. No more than the love child of imagination.
"You know that I've outgrew my fear of you!"
His statement got a chuckle from the figure.
"Well, of course. What do you fear now I wonder?"
Everything.
Scorpius is afraid that his fears grow bigger by the day. He fears his father but he fears losing his one chance of escape. He fears losing Rose but he fears losing himself as well. He fears losing his name.
"Nothing. You thought me well."
The old man is a coward. A slave to the coin. A slave to power. He does nothing if not for merit. He does not risk not anything for such frivolities as kindness and bravery.
"Good boy. Magnificent! What a wonder," Scorpius can see nothing of the old man's face. No expression as usual. Just the steely grey of his eyes, the same shade as his, like cut glass, the smile of the moon. And the fair hair. Like sun bleached hay. A shade like his own. If you come to think about it they were cut from the same cloth. He was just a younger, duller version of the old man.
Perhaps. Maybe. He wished with all his heart that this version will have a happier ending. With more laughs and smiles. With more warmth and love.
There was no such thing in the old man's version. He has lived in it long enough. Nothing but the glint of the coin. Scorpius might have been happy for his mother that decided that she'd rather die than live in a cold house. Covered in ice even in the middle of summer.
There is no summer in the Malfoy Manor.
"She's nothing but a half blood when it comes to it. Daughter of a blood traitor and a filthy little mudblood. She's nothing but a curiosity."
Rage was pumped into his veins, hot and throbbing, pushing away what cold fear that still remained in his system-- too sudden it made his head spin, "Don't you dare speak to her and her family that way!"
"I will do whatever I want in my house. You silly boy."
Scorpius dared to come closer. "I know all about it, you know."
Another laugh. "Oh, so he has yet another card up his sleeve. Pray tell us if it isn't as petty as sneaking like a thief into your own father's office."
"The muggleborn girl that you wrote all your letters to. Your schoolmate in Hogwarts that you--"
The slap on the mahogany table was like thunder. "You know nothing!"
But it is true all of it is. He saw the letters with the ruined name in a night like this one. It was a just a sliver of courage and he held on to it and explored the daunting place that his father spent most of his time in.
All of them were old. But so well kept that there never was a crease. The letters looked like they were thoroughly held. Read often. Scorpious would rather not think that his father spends all his time in this office just to read these unsent letters.
"But I do, father! You loved her and you're a coward! I don't know who she is but I'm bloody sure as the day that I was born into this family that you don't deserve her. You don't. You simply don't. She's lucky that she never knew just so she won't have to deal with the likes of you!"
A cloud hid the moon and there was total darkness.
When it floated away, Scorpius found himself face to face with the old man. He has grown a head taller but he still felt like the boy trying to follow footsteps in the snow only to be whacked in the head with a cane.
"You don't know anything, you greedy, lazy rat. What do you want? Answer me! What do you want? Are you so sure of my early death that you are already here to get your inheritance? Well, surprise! You are not getting any! It will all be buried with me! I will be golden forever!"
Scorpious took the harsh blows of his words, not because he is brave. Not really. But because he can finally understand. His father, in this castle of ice, is the prisoner. Not him. His father locked himself inside because he can't stand the sun. He doesn't want to melt.
"Father, I'm so sorry."
"You don't know anything. You don't."
Perhaps Scorpios really doesn't know anything but he really doesn't want to know.
And so he walked away. Away from his father. Away from the manor. Away from the life that he is to live. Away from the destiny that never will be.
Because some stories are never meant to be told.
No matter how great it might be, it just isn't meant to be.
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Yo! So, I'm back with the last chapter of this book as promised if anyone is still hanging around this story. :) Oh, and if anyone gets a bit confused with the pronouns, the ones that are in itallic are referring to Draco. The regular one's refer to Scorpius. Oh, and this ending is if Hermione died and Draco and didn't timetraveled.
Gif is Dane Dehaan because he is a babe and just imagine if he is actually Scorpius in the movies. I haven't read Cursed Child yet, btw. I just-- I can't. I can't. But Fantastic Beasts was the bombdotcom. I almost cried in the theaters and I was smiling from ear to ear from start to finish. 13/10.
Song up top is 'Happy Ending' by Mika covered by Cusanus Student Choir. It's so beautiful!
I hope we all meet each other again. :) Please do check out 'Dear Bright Eyes' and my upcoming Dramione fanfic.