"Anyone fancy a butterbeer?" Raven asks as Orion and Scorpius walk up. They were standing outside the pub.
"How about a real beer?" Orion wonders, only party joking.
"Beer is disgusting." Michael Greengrass tells him.
"Yeah well, so are you." Orion shot back at him lamely. Michael rolled his eyes, and lead the way inside. Scorpius's heart dropped, his eyes scanning the room. There were very few guests. A waiter wiped tables and walked towards them as they entered. Albus, James, and Lily all sat at one of the tables. They hadn't seen them yet- but Scorpius wasn't going to wait around.
"We aren't staying." He tells them, softly grabbing Raven's arm. Raven follows his gaze to the Potter's.
"Four?" The waiter asks.
"Actually we're not staying." Raven tells him, and Michael scowls.
"Why? We just got here-" Michael begins.
"Orion!" James's voice announced that they had noticed their entrance. Scorpius groans. Here we go. The Quidditch team back together again. He couldn't hide his annoyance on his face. Orion turns to James, and his face lights up at seeing his teammate.
"James!" Orion greets, and James walks over to the group, doing some sort of handshake with Orion that Scorpius rolled his eyes at. Dorks.
"You're right. We should leave." Michael grimaced at James. James sent the older boy a slightly disgruntled look. Which made sense considering no one really talked or liked Michael when he was at Hogwarts- which was only last year. Everyone knew he was a creep, and was cousins with the Malfoys. Beyond that, no one paid him attention other than the occasional grimace that the boy usually enticed.
Michael wasn't exactly pleasing to look at. His dull hair that looked rather thin and lifeless. His tall gangly ness. Pale skin like paper. A crooked nose. Eyes that seemed to be a pit of emptiness. You get the idea.
He didn't like Quidditch players. He tolerated Scorpius and since their bond thing, they've gotten closer. But more because of forced loyalty. Not because their personalities clicked. In fact, Scorpius couldn't imagine someone who would click with Michael.
"No. Join us." James offers, even though he really was only inviting Orion. He looked at the Malfoy's. "I didn't know you guys all hung out now." James looked between Orion and the platinum haired twins.
"We live together now." Orion deadpans. Scorpius fought the urge to hit him. Perhaps a muting charm would work better. James's eyebrows shot up. "It's a long story." Orion laughs it off. Mother died. Draco died. Dark wizards attacked the manor. It wasn't that long of a story. But this was Orion shrugging off the details. Like he hadn't told anyone for five years who his mother was. And now none of them would know she was dead. Orion turns and looks at Raven and Scorpius, reading their expressions. "We probably shouldn't-"
"Merlin's tits. Raven Malfoy." Lily Potter came up, holding out her hand towards Raven. Raven looked at the younger girl, putting on a soft smile, and taking her hand. "I'm Lily." She introduces herself, flicking her long auburn hair behind her shoulder. Lily turns to Scorpius with a smile in greeting.
"It's nice to meet you. I follow you on Twitter but we haven't really talked in person." Raven slipped into her preppy girl mannerisms.
"You guys will sit with us, right?" Lily turned to Scorpius now. "Please?" He wondered how he could tell her no. "Come on, Scorpius!" She clearly knew that Albus and him weren't together anymore, but that didn't seem to stop her from wanting them to all sit together. Scorpius couldn't help but look back over to where Albus sat at the table alone, and he met gazes with the boy. Put on your face. So he slipped into a fake cool smile.
"Okay." He tells her, looking at Orion and Michael. Michael throws up his hands in annoyance. "Just for a bit." He tells James, who beams. The Potters tell the waiter that they'll all sit together, and then leads back to the table. Michael falls to the back of the group with Scorpius. "I know." Scorpius tells him in a low voice. "I don't exactly want to be here either."
"What? Why not? Aren't you and Albus like best friends or something?" Michael snaps at his rather passive aggressively. Scorpius looked at his cousin, and Michael's demeanor changed. "Oh. You're not?"
"Not exactly." Scorpius said softly, joining at the table before Michael could ask more details. He sat between Raven and Orion, who was by James. The waitress came to take their orders. "Just a butterbeer for me." Scorpius tells him.
"He'll have chicken strips too." Raven adds. Scorpius gave her a look. "You look thin." She scolds.
"He doesn't look that thin." Orion defends him.
"Yes, he does." Albus spoke up finally. James quickly changes the subject before Scorpius could snap It's none of your concern what I look like.
"So what brings you guys to my side of town, huh?" James wondered, in that casual loud way of his.
"Maybe we just wanted to see if the butterbeer was any different here than Diagon Alley." Raven jokes. "Why you so nosey, James? Wishing that I came to see you?" She taunts, casually glancing him up and down. And it wasn't for his benefit, Scorpius realized. It was to keep the attention off him. Even if Raven blamed him, her first response was to make him more at ease. Regardless of the situation. Scorpius decided to stay quiet, not really feeling like socializing.
"Damn Raven. By all means, hit my ego while you're at it." James sends that same energy back to her.
"I never miss an opportunity to remind a Potter what their missing." She was being a little nasty now. Considering this was definitely not just directed at James. Albus sets his fork down on his plate with a clang, clearly catching that.
"So where are you guys living?" James asks, and then gestures to Michael- who had also decided to be quiet and sulk. James wasn't just asking where- he was curious why they were living together. And if Michael was living with them.
"Aren't you full of questions." Raven easily deflects before anyone else could respond. Orion gave a loud laugh.
"You guys are living together?" Albus caught it, his tone clipped.
"At the manor? I'd love to see the place." Lily jumps in, eagerly.
"Perhaps I'll show you sometime." Raven tells the girl, still evading the questions smoothly. "It's been updated a lot, but there's still some impressive features to the land." Lily listens intently as Raven explains the double staircases, and foyer where they host parties. The labyrinth that changes exits every quarter hour. How far back in the Malfoy family it goes. Raven's stack of knowledge about it was spilled bare. And while Lily was engaged in her words, and Orion shallowly listened, the other's minds were only concerned with their curiosity.
"That sounds like a castle." Lily finally says. Raven smiles at her.
"Well there's servant chambers but since father-" her voice cracked and she coughed softly before continuing. "-since he took over the manor we haven't had any. Mum found it a little too rich. She wanted us to grow up humbled." Raven gave a short laugh. "As if we could grow up as a Malfoy and be humbled." Scorpius felt his heart empty out, her words cutting a hole in him. They were orphans.
He urged himself to go numb, to just not feel anything. But like all the times he wished for it to happen, he couldn't.
Not here. Scorpius shook himself out of his thoughts. "Here's your butterbeer." The waiter sets the glass down, and then brings the food.
"Can I get the Daily Prophet?" Lily asks as the waiter makes his way around the table. He nods, and takes the coins she held up. He returns with the paper, and as they all start eating, casually talking about this or that, Lily's face contorts as she reads the front page. Scorpius put down the chicken tender in his hand, and grabbed a napkin, watching as she looked up. Tears in her eyes. The attack on the Manor was the front page. They met gazes across the table. Scorpius slowly shook his head, urging her to keep this to herself.
It's really not a good time to bring it up. And Lily definitely had more sense than her brothers because she didn't say anything. She blinked, and folded the paper up. "Can I have a look?" Albus asked.
"Get your own." Lily tells him, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. Albus just rolled his green eyes. Scorpius couldn't eat anymore after that. His stomach churned at the thought of taking another bite.
"I need some air." Scorpius tells Raven, and he stood up. Orion stood with him. "I'm fine." He tells him, waving off his worry. Scorpius steps out the pub, and walked over to where they had leaned their broomsticks outside against the wall. He didn't get a chance to have a moment alone because Lily followed him out. She walked up to him.
"Scorpius." She greets. He gestures for the Daily Prophet, and the younger girl hands it to him. The title was huge; Attack at Malfoy Manor. And underneath, labeling Draco's death and other casualties. "Is it true?" Lily asks, hoping that perhaps the daily prophet spun this whole thing as gossip. Scorpius controlled his facial expression, making it calm as he nodded. "Why didn't you tell them?" She wonders, clearly meaning her older brothers.
"Nevermind that." Scorpius turns to her. "Lily, can you do something for me?" She nods. "Forgive your Dad." Lily snorts. Scorpius smiles a bit.
"He betrayed my mother." She was set in her ways. An independent, strong-willed woman already.
"Yeah. He did." Scorpius acknowledges. "And I know how it feels to be betrayed. Probably more than you will ever know. It hurts. But all the parents I've ever had, biological and not- they're dead." Scorpius breathes out. "You know I'm not a fan of your Dad. Harry Potter's... entire life has been taught to me in a completely different perspective. You know who I am, everyone does. And your Dad didn't treat me like I was a criminal when he found out." She fiddles with the sleeves of her red top, like she was really weighing his words even though she hated the idea of forgiving him. "Some day he'll be gone. And no one knows when." Harry is being hunted by Selwyn, so truth is it's just a matter of time. "Tell me you'll try."
Lily runs fingers through her long straight hair, and then nods. "Fine. I'll try." She looked back to the pub, where their friends and siblings waited. "Albus is heartbroken, you know?" Join the club.
"I'm not ready to talk to him. When I am, he'll get a call." Scorpius tells her. Lily took that as a hint to not mention it, and so she gestures to go back in. They walk back into the pub together, and sit back at the table.
"-not what happened! She's obsessed with me, so I gave her a little attention." Orion was explaining, James was hysterically laughing and Raven was shaking her head in disbelief. "Rose thirsts after anything that breathes, okay?" As Scorpius sat back down he turns to him. "Isn't that right?"
"No, I'd say she's only attracted to cleverness and beauty. She's not that deep." The blonde says, making James laugh harder. Raven drinks her butter beer, giggling with the rest of them.
"There's a compliment in there." Orion muses. Scorpius shook his head, finding himself smiling.
"Don't think so hard, Orion. We don't want you to hurt yourself." He tells him. Orion holds a hand to his chest in mock shock, his jaw gaping open. Like he'd been shot.
"The attitude!" He exclaims. Scorpius tucked the Daily prophet under his thigh, keeping it folded and unreadable during the rest of the meal.
—-
As they returned to the House of Black, Michael grumbled something about hating people, and retired to his room. Scorpius put the brooms in the entry closet which he had to rid of doxies, and then joined Raven and Orion up in the drawing room. They spent the rest of the day quietly reading or online. Scorpius stroked Missy's fur as he read William Blake's compilation of poems, and Orion found himself engaged with the twins' owl Feyre. Who warmed up to him rather quickly. Missy watched the owl from across the room, the bird that was always too clever for her too catch and too big for her to eat. That never stopped her from trying. Cats will be cats.
"When I said I wanted to be on the front page of the Daily Prophet, this was definitely not what I meant." Raven sets the paper down after thoroughly reading the article. "Lily will probably tell them, you know?" Scorpius already figured she would, despite his pleas. The girl loved her brothers, understandably so. The Malfoy found it easy to love Albus, he figured as a sibling it might be easier.
"I know she will. I asked her not to. I give it three days." Scorpius pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, and pulled out a hundred euros. Raven watched as he set the bill on the table between the couches. One he sat on, the other Orion sat on. And Raven stood in between, having walked over from the desk.
"Fine." Raven pulls her wallet out, pulling out a hundred euros herself. She sets it on top of Scorpius's bill. "I give it twenty four hours." Orion watched them, and then realized.
"Are you two betting?"
"Of course." Scorpius flicks his attention back down to his book. Raven plops on the cushion beside him, and Missy readjusts at the movement. "You want in on this?"
"I don't have money to burn." Orion says, scrolling through his phone.
"Peasant." Raven tells him, and Orion grins. The corners of his mouth twisting upwards into his cheeks. "Mind if I hold onto it then?" She takes the two hundred euros. Scorpius waves at her dismissively.
"I'll be getting it back in three days anyways." He grinned. Raven put the money in her wallet and into her back pocket.
"How do you figure you'll win?" Orion asks. Scorpius sets down his book, picking up Missy and pulling the white feline onto his crossed legs. She purrs and leans into his hands. Raven leans back on the couch, watching her brother as he begins.
"Lily will take longer than a day to debate on honoring my request versus telling her brothers." Scorpius scratches Missy's chin. "There's a sort of moral dilemma she'll have to go through. She'll want to sleep on it. Probably a couple nights before she really comes to a decision. Gryffindors struggle with these kinds of decisions. Even if their family is concerned." Orion shook his head. "I would've immediately told Raven." Scorpius adds.
"Seriously? Even if someone asked you not to?" Orion clarifies.
"She's my sister." He looked over to Raven. "I probably would've said it right there at the table if the situation was reversed."
"I guess I can see you doing that."
"Well I don't think it'll take her long to tell her brothers. Not three days." Raven disagrees. "But you will have to answer your phone if Albus calls you. So that we know when he's told." She tells her brother. He nods.
"I know. I'm not exactly looking forward to the phone call, but now I have a hundred euros on the line." Scorpius gave a smile.
"You want to talk to him?" Orion wonders, curious. Scorpius met his gaze.
"No." He wondered if he was telling the truth. He missed Albus. And he almost didn't care what had happened. He just wanted him back. He'd lost enough. Maybe he wanted to hold onto what was left. What was alive. Orion seemed to know that, despite Scorpius's refusal. It's not like Albus killed someone, like Aries did. He made a mistake. Perhaps Scorpius could hear him out.
His chest aches, physical pain coming from everything that's happened. He pulls his phone out of his pocket as it buzzed. Oliver. Missy jumps off his legs, stretching and trotting away- presumably to her food bowl. "I have to take this." Scorpius excuses himself from the room, and answers the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey." His muggle friend's voice comes over the line. "Can you talk?" Scorpius walked down the hall and towards the stairs to go down.
"Yeah." He reaches the ground floor, and then walks back to descend to the basement kitchen. "What's up?" Scorpius puts the phone on speaker and sets it on the counter, busying himself finding a pot to warm some water.
"Nothing, I just got a weird feeling I should call you." Oliver tells him. "Albus hasn't been returning my texts so I wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"We broke up." Scorpius announced, realizing that pots and pans were hung up by their handles. He picks a pot off the hook, and fills it partly with water. Then sets it on the gas stove.
"Oh no, what happened?" Olly sounded concerned. Scorpius shook his head, and then realized that his friend couldn't see that.
"I don't want to talk about it." He said simply. Oliver huffs, like he expected that kind of answer. "But he probably feels weird texting you since you're my friend." Scorpius says. "It's nothing personal. Potter wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings." The sarcasm dripped off his words like honey. "How about you? Is your uncle driving you mad?"
"Not yet." Olly chuckles. "Are you deflecting? You don't really care about my uncle." Scorpius washes his hands in the sink, and dries them on a kitchen towel, looking around the large space. Where huge meals were once made with the intention of entertaining guests. "S?"
"On Monday, during my family's annual summer solstice celebration, my father- well, Draco- was murdered by a relative." Scorpius deadpans, emotionless. There's silence for a moment, like Oliver was processing what to say. "And since the Manor is uninhabitable due to the attack, Raven and I live in Islington. London. I guess I'm closer to you now." Scorpius's voice was dead, without enthusiasm for anything he said.
"You're living in Islington? That's not far at all. Perhaps we can hang out." Olly offers softly.
"Well, I'm kind of on house arrest. It's a long-"
"Wizard story?" He cuts off Scorpius sentence. The platinum snorts. Yeah. "Since when do you follow the rules?"
"I'm honestly not really up to any more company today. I'm living with Raven, my cousin Michael, and Orion." Scorpius tells him, and could feel Olly's curiosity through the phone.
"You've told me who Michael is. Who's Orion?" The muggle wonders.
"He's-" What was he again? "His mother died at the party. He's just staying with us." Scorpius evades the question. "He's a pureblood, goes to Hogwarts. He grew up well off but not rich. He's... who knows what he is?"
"He sounds attractive." Olly said. Scorpius's eyebrows furrow together.
"You haven't even met him."
"He's named after a Constellation, S. Of course he's going to be attractive." He pauses. "Do you like him?"
"What? Are you kidding? I broke up with Albus hardly over a week ago." Scorpius snapped.
"I was just asking." Oliver was defensive. "You're living with him."
"His mother died." Scorpius repeats. "We both know the last thing he's thinking about right now is-"
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me would you?" Scorpius nearly jumped out of his skin as Orion speaks from the doorway. He turns to him. "Who are you talking to?" Scorpius takes his phone off speaker immediately, and held it up to his ear.
"That's none of your business." Scorpius retorts, immediately wondering how long he'd been standing there. Orion grins, walking into the room towards him. Scorpius maneuvers around the table, keeping distance between them.
"He even sounds sexy." Oliver says into Scorpius's ear. The Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"What are you making?" Orion asks, looking at the water on the stove. Scorpius scowled at him.
"Can't you see I'm on the phone? Mind giving me some privacy? Why you gotta be up my ass?" Scorpius snapped. Olly laughs, and Orion heard it from across the room.
"You're talking to a boy?" Orion gasps. "Should I be jealous?"
"Put me on speaker, I want to say hi." Oliver orders into Scorpius's ear.
"Absolutely not." Scorpius tells Oliver. Orion's eyebrows rose. "Not you!" He snapped at the boy. He looked amused.
"Is it Albus?" Orion wonders nosily. "Did Raven win the bet after all?"
"No, it's not Albus." Scorpius frowned at him.
"Put me on speaker, let me say hi." Oliver insisted.
"No, he won't like you." Scorpius tells Olly, who gasps on the other end of the line.
"Oh is he like Michael? Hates muggles?"
"Why would you say that! I like everyone!" Orion exclaims. Loud enough for Olly to hear, apparently.
"See? He'll like me just fine."
"Merlin's beard." Scorpius puts the phone back on speaker, feeling redness touch his cheeks. He sets the phone down. Orion leans over to see the caller ID. "My friend Oliver." Scorpius tells Orion, waving his hand over the phone like he was introducing them.
"Hello Oliver." Orion coos. Scorpius groans, walking over to attend to the water, blushing. He didn't like the idea of them meeting one another. Or explaining who they were to Scorpius.
"Orion, it's nice to meet you. Can we switch to FaceTime?" Olly asks. Scorpius turns.
"We aren't FaceTiming!" He interjects. Orion had already tapped the FaceTime option. Scorpius loudly groans, voicing his displeasure. Orion grins at him, and then sets up the phone so the camera would be on him.
"Holy shit, you are beautiful." Oliver said as the cameras turned on.
"And you thought I wouldn't like him?" Orion jokes. "I'm flattered, thank you." He tells Oliver. Scorpius walked over to Orion, coming into view. Oliver's face smiled at the screen as the platinum boy showed up. His hair was longer than last time he saw him, falling into his eyes which looked more brown in the soft lighting wherever he was.
"He doesn't need his ego stroked, Olly. Keep a lid on the flirting." Scorpius told him, not amused.
"Jealousy, Scorpius?" Orion winked at him.
"Piss off." Scorpius left the camera view, and back to the water that was just starting to bubble with heat.
"Scorpius said you two are living together?" Olly asks over the speaker. Orion nods.
"Yep, we're all up here and cozy." He jokes.
"Don't say it like that. This house is huge, we aren't cozy." Scorpius corrects. Orion stuck his tongue out at him, then goes back to Oliver on the phone.
"Not to be unkind, but who are you exactly? I've never heard your name brought up, and you didn't go to Hogwarts." Orion Black questioned, running a hand through his black hair as he leans on the counter where the phone was set up.
"Oh I'm not a wizard." Olly explains. Orion's eyebrows rose a bit, as though not expecting someone like Scorpius to have muggle friends. "We both grew up in Wiltshire. I'm his first gay experience." Scorpius choked on his own spit, coughing and recovering from that last sentence that came over the speaker. Orion starts laughing.
"Olly!" Scorpius exclaims.
"What? It's true!" The boy replies. Orion looked at Scorpius, who was red and flustered from the whole thing.
"That was like forever ago, don't." Scorpius demands.
"Okay I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Oliver says. "Our Mums were friends." Olly tells Orion. The black-haired wizard returns to look at the screen, nodding. "So we naturally became friends growing up until he went to that fancy magic school. A couple years ago he dropped me as a friend-"
"Oliver!" Scorpius exclaims. He laughs over the speaker. "You don't have to give him the entire history of our friendship." He fishes around for the tea bags.
"I want to hear it. I didn't know you kept friends other than Albus and that psycho chick." Orion offers supportively.
"You're his friend too, no?" Olly asks Orion.
"No, I'm just crushing on him. He doesn't like me." Orion tells him with a straight face, sending a mischievous look towards the blonde. Scorpius turns, teabags in his hands and fixes him with a glare.
"You flirt with everything that moves. Don't act like it's anything more than that." Scorpius scolds, putting the bags into the water and turning the gas off. Orion shrugs.
"S doesn't like anyone, don't take it too hard." Olly tells Orion, unaware that Orion took nothing hard. Took nothing seriously. Just went with the flow. "So you go to Hogwarts, what's your class?" Oliver pauses. "That's not right. Is it class?"
"It's house." Scorpius corrects.
"I'm in Gryffindor. I'm on the quidditch team." Orion says.
"Are all Gryffindors as beautiful as you?"
"Merlin just take me now." Scorpius mutters.
"No, but I would say they're as freaky as me. If you know what I mean." Orion winks.
"Okay." Scorpius walked over and shoved Orion out of the camera frame, giving him a glare. "Stop flirting." Orion whistles.
"Oh, you are jealous." The tall boy figures, walking back over to lean against the counter and cross his arms over his chest. He didn't bother trying to make it back into Oliver's view.
"Am not." Scorpius was getting annoyed. Annoyed and flustered. Definitely jealous. He turns to his phone screen. "As you can see, everything is fine here." He gestures to the tea to Orion, who complies and looks around for mugs. "How's it at the shop?" He asks Oliver.
"It's been slow. I've been hanging out with a few people who's transferring to the same college as me. It's been nice to go out, with people my own age instead of my Uncle." He explains. Scorpius nods. "Speaking of the shop, I should get going soon. I have to meet my uncle back there. But tell Orion it was nice to meet him, if he's still around."
"I'm here." Orion says, pouring tea. "It was nice to meet you too."
"Text me updates, and let's hang out when you can." Oliver tells Scorpius.
"I will." Scorpius promised, said their goodbyes, and hung up. As soon as he ended the call he looked at Orion with the face of a murderer. "Seriously?" Orion was startled, eyes widening like he didn't know what he was talking about. "Just once in your life can you turn off that- that-" Scorpius waves his hand to Orion's entire self. "Charm?" Orion grins.
"He flirted with me first." He defends.
"No excuses." Scorpius wasn't joking.
"Why are you so upset? It's harmless banter." Orion retorts, not angry but confused. "I'm not even remotely interested in a muggle, Scorpius. It has nothing to do with being better than them or whatever. It's just two different worlds."
"Don't flirt with him. It makes me uncomfortable."
"I can flirt with who I want. Why do you care? You clearly don't like him like that?" Orion was a bit upset now.
"Of course not." Scorpius answers. "He's just a friend." He pours tea into his mug, holding it up to his lips and testing the temperature with his lip.
"Then you shouldn't have a problem with it. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable. It's just how I am." He explains. Scorpius sets his phone down and palms his face.
"No, you're right." Scorpius shook his head, realizing how foolish he was being. Over sensitive, even. "Don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. Forget I said anything."
"Are we good?" Orion clarifies, seeming rather caught off guard at the entire thing.
"We're good." Scorpius agrees, grabbing his tea and phone and heading back upstairs.
—-
Scorpius tossed and turned in bed, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. His eyes rolled under closed lids, terror unfolding in his own mind. It was an endless cycle of nightmares. Vivid memories that were skewed slightly. Alternative options to what could've happened. Sometimes completely new situations he'd never dealt with in real life, that he was forced to deal with in his sleep.
Scorpius watched as the green flash hit Draco, casting him backwards onto the floor. If only he'd dodged, or been fast enough. Julian Malfoy's soft smirk as he successfully murders his cousin. After all the years of resenting him because Draco was the one holding the lands and title of the Malfoy's wealth.
Julian finally got his own twisted kind of revenge. Scorpius could feel that rage inside him grow, and instead of the instinctual magic spiraling out of control, this time he turned that rage onto Julian. He didn't hover beside Draco's body. He threw the same curse back. And Harry Potter wasn't there to stop him.
"Avada Kedavra!" The green flash as well as the enormous surge of pride and power bursted from within Scorpius as it hits Julian. And in the dream, he staggers over to the Malfoy, watching as the light leaves his eyes. And he deserves it.
Julian Malfoy deserved what he got. But before Scorpius could revel in it, Harry Potter is flicking his wand from his hand. Having seen the murder with his own eyes. The way he recoiled as Scorpius's eyes met his. Like he wasn't looking at Scorpius. But like Harry Potter saw him there.
After more than twenty years, he could see Tom's thirst and arrogance in the stormy eyes of Scorpius Malfoy. The boy he had pardoned. That scar on his forehead which had faded significantly with time, seemed to tingle once more.
Scorpius didn't move from his spot as Harry bound his hands with magic. The Aurors' version of cuffing someone. He felt ignited after killing Julian. It felt so good to put down someone who had wronged him, that it made him uneasy and sweat. He loved the feeling. And he hated that he loved it.
He could remember the expression on Orion's face as that killing curse reflected off his deflection charm. How he immediately felt guilt when he realized it was him who had been the cause of Lillian's death. Did he not feel like this? That electric charge in his veins, like Scorpius felt?
Was Scorpius turning into a monster?
And the dream is swallowed in darkness. And he's in Daniel's floating abyss again.
—-
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