zeynel: You bet your butt I'm continuing this. It's too late to look back!
moonal: Thanks! The interactions between Draco and Scorpius were really fun to do.
WilsonIsMyHero: Thanks for reviewing! You gotta admit, the Harry Potter series had some pretty funky hair.
Desinere: Thank you so much!
Potions For Foxes: I am totally rocking out to your awesome, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Thanks for the advice!
clazertai: I think my ego just leveled up. Thank you, thank you...
Noontide: Thank you!
Silverone3: I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm glad ya like it!
To everyone else who read this far, many thanks to you, too. If you see anything wrong with this or something that should change, please don't hesitate to let your opinion be heard! Also... Cookies to whoever recognizes WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP who the twins are named after. Not even regular cookies- magical ones. You take a bite, you swallow, and all your dreams come true.
PART THREE:
IN WHICH PEOPLE COLLIDE...
MORE OR LESS
Albus felt as if he were in the stomach of some kind of beast, the long corridors of its body shaken by the clamor of a colossal heart. A shrieking animal, one that snorted thunder, screeched smoke, and bellowed steam. Every step he took was bringing him closer to The End, to inescapable doom-
He wanted to smack himself.
What was he, a three year old? This wasn't his first time on a train. He just... needed to be more confident. That had to be it. Gathering his resolve, he tried to look as if he knew (with the utmost confidence) precisely where he was going. He didn't pull it off very well.
In the first place, there were only so many places left to go on the train, and they were running out. In the second place, Albus nearly always appeared to be lost, even if he did know exactly where he was going. Maybe it was a posture thing?
He straightened his back and continued walking. Rose padded quietly behind him.
He swallowed and exhaled, the corners of his mouth drooping downward. It didn't matter what he looked like, did it? Feh. Well, all the compartments were full except for a few in the very back... but that was where James and his lot were sitting, so that was definitely out-
"Albus,"
He paused. Beside him, Rose looked at her shoes and spoke again.
"Um, Albus, maybe we should just-"
She was interrupted by a deep and terrible sound. It was beast like. Albus was suddenly faced with the unsettling thought that maybe hehad been walking towards his doom, after all. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. The door at the end of the aisle was thrown open. Something charged.
"MOVEIT, FIRST YEARS!" it roared.
As it got closer, Albus identified it as a vaguely female version of a troll. A livid expression lit her puggish face as she surged forward, her huge black robes billowing behind her like death. From the corner of his eye, Albus saw Rose quickly flatten herself against the wall, getting out of the way. He should do that too, he thought. He shouldbe doing that.
But he wasn't. Couldn't. He was frozen.
She, unfortunately, was not.
A thick pillar of an arm extended towards him in slow motion, and Albus watched unblinkingly as it came closer and closer towards him. He wanted- needed -to get out of the way.
But he was frozen. Paralyzed.
Suddenly her gargantuan arm was crashing into his chest, and he was being slammed back into the doorframe of the compartment behind him. A sickening little clack rang in his ears as the back of his head smacked against the surface.
The troll of a girl thundered out of sight. He swayed.
"Ohmy- Albus, are you alright? Albus?"
Rose started forward, arms held out awkwardly, ready to steady him should he lose his balance. He stared at her. Several vague versions of Rose had formed at her sides.
"Rose," he bit out, slowly bringing his hand to the back of his head- the appendage felt like it was shackled to thirty pounds of lead. The tips of his fingers seemed only to brush the tips his hair before fresh waves of pain rocketed through him, momentarily forcing the breath from him. His fingers came away wet.
"Hey," he tried, but cut himself short.
He bit his lip, exhaling furiously through his nose.
"Hey-"
Hey Rose, I think something's wrong with me. My head hurts. My head hurts. Am I bleeding? Kind of dizzy. Could you go get someone? To help? Please?
He tried to get the words out, but they wouldn't come. All he could manage was harsh breathing and hissing. Well, at least he wasn't crying... right? Well, maybe a little. He should ask Rose. If only she would stay still. Why was Rosie five places at once, anyway? She was lurching back and forth in front of him, her clones leaping in and out of his vision.
He swayed again; this time he couldn't catch his balance and tumbled to the floor. Rose was in front of him suddenly, and Albus saw her lips moving, but he couldn't focus on the sounds. The pain demanded all of his attention, sucking him away from Rose into a vibrant world full of darkness.
Scorpius stared at them.
It had been going on for approximately twenty minutes. He'd found an empty compartment- thank Merlin- and prepared himself for a long and peaceful ride during which he would quietly stew in anxiety and fear. All had gone according to plan... for the first five minutes, at least.
After said five minutes, two tall, thin boys had marched right into his haven, bickering horribly. They had identical lean, laughing faces and bright cobalt eyes. They were already wearing their robes, and with their short, dark chocolate hair spiked up in all directions, Scorpius had gotten the impression that they had porcupines stuck on top of their heads.
One of them had tapped his wand against his thigh incessantly , causing a flurry of bright blue sparks issue from it. Scorpius had eyed it nervously.
"You're bloody nuts," one had snapped, glaring at the Wand-Tapper, "Dragonpox does not cause psychosis!"
"Yeah?" The other had returned the glare fully and dropped heavily down onto the seat opposite of Scorpius. "Well then, what about that bloke at St. Mungo's?"
"He was batty to begin with! I'm telling you, it's an old wives' tale," the Tapper had countered, plopping down next to him.
"Hey, he-" he'd paused, noticing Scorpius for the first time.
Tapper had followed suit, and Scorpius had been faced with two sets of bright blue eyes and matching smiles.
"Hallo, there," Tapper had said.
"Hello," Scorpius replied, fervently hoping the exchange would go no further.
The boy had offered his hand. Scorpius had taken it, and received an exceedingly vigorous handshake as a result.
"I'm Peregrin-"
"I'm Meriadoc-"
"-Pomfrey."
"Call me Perry-"
"-you can call me Ryan!"
He'd had to take a moment to process what they'd said.
"Are you twins?" he'd asked (for lack of anything useful to say).
They'd nodded grimly, as if admitting to a grave affliction. "What's your name?" Ryan had asked. Forget what Father said, a voice inside of him had whispered. Lie. He'd swallowed. He'd imagined their reactions, their faces contorted with disgust or hatred or, worse... pity. Lie! urged the voice. Lie, lie, lie!
"I'm Scorpius M-... I'm Scorpius Malfoy," he'd blurted.
Perry tapped his wand against his knee thoughtfully, light blue sparks frothing out. "Scorpius... like the zodiac?"
"No, like the foot fungus," said Ryan.
"Hey," Perry had snarled, "Who asked you?"
"Well, you did ask. He did, didn'e, Scorpius?"
"Well I wasn't asking you-"
"Yeah, but you didn't say that, now did ya?"
It went on.
Ten minutes had crawled by and the two of them were still at it. So far the argument had strayed into the healing properties of ice cream, the physics of snot, foot fungi, the possible (or impossible) lunacy inducing effects of Dragonpox, foot fungus again, and, coincidentally enough, ice cream once more.
He stifled a yawn. It would be rude, un-Malfoy like behavior, and Merlin he was getting tired of this...
Abruptly there was a loud thump. A pause followed, and then a furious pounding at the door. Scorpius jumped up from his seat, stumbled, righted himself, and pulled open the compartment door. It was the Potter-Weasley girl from Platform 9 3/4. She was stooped under the weight of an unconscious boy with dark hair, clearly struggling to hold him up.
He fumbled (again, very un-Malfoy, he thought distractedly) over himself to take some of the boy's weight, the twins rushing to help him. Together, they half dragged, half carried the boy onto a seat. He stirred for a moment, groaning, before sinking back into a stupor.
Scorpius blinked in surprise. Up close, the Potter-Weasley boy looked... well, different. His hair was just as messy, his face was the same slightly worried countenance he'd glimpsed at the station. So what was different? Scorpius wondered.
"Thank you," murmured the girl, panting a little.
He stood uncertainly by the door, wondering if he should go get help. But who to get?
There were no teachers walking around as far as he could tell. Who decided that was a good idea? He felt his lips tighten into a frown. Okay, so no teachers. Okay. Maybe he was blowing this out of proportion. He should calm down, assess the situation. What exactly was the matter with the Potter-Weasley boy?
He tried to get a better look at him, but he couldn't. The twins were blocked him from view, poking, prodding, and muttering.
The girl clenched and unclenched pale hands nervously.
"He hit his head," she said quietly, brown eyes wide with worry. "He's bleeding a little, I think..."
The twins appeared not to hear her. One of them held the boy's head in his hands in an uncomfortable looking position, and the other pulled a short, polished wand from his pocket, pushed it into the dark squalor of the boy's hair, and spat out an awkward combination of syllables that might've have been a spell. A dim blue light flickered from the wand and into his hair.
The boy twitched and continued to sleep.
The twins turned around, their expressions identically smug. "No sweat, he'll be fine," said Perry... although it might've been Ryan. Scorpius couldn't quite tell. "Obviously he got knocked out, but, 'cept for a monster headache, he'll be good as new when he wakes up. There was a nasty cut-" "-but we patched it up," finished the other.
Scorpius blinked.
"That's wonderful," he started cautiously, "but aren't you both first years...?"
He was certain of it, actually. Although they were wearing the standard school robes, they weren't wearing any House colors, and for all their height, they didn't look that much older than him. Logically, he concluded, they had to be first years.
One of them tapped his wand against his thigh (had to be Perry then, Scorpius thought) and nodded.
"Our Aunt taught us some stuff," he admitted.
"But he'll be alright?" queried the girl.
Ryan grinned at her, warm and friendly. Her hands relaxed. She returned the smile.
"Yes, he'll be fine. Just out of curiosity, though, who is he? And who areyou?"
Rose stared at him for a moment, as if she couldn't register the words. She shook her head and answered, tucking a wispy, wine colored strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm Rose Weasley," she replied, voice a little stronger, "And he's Albus Severus Potter."
Scorpius's eyes moved from Rose to the sleeping boy, to Albus Severus, taking in the dark hair, the closed eyes, and the partially opened mouth. So this was Harry Potter's son. He hadn't gotten a very good look at him at platform 9 and 3/4, and he was a little surprised that he looked... different from what he'd had imagined.
For starters, he didn't look idiotic, vain, or full of himself. He'd have to tell Father about this.
Peregrin snickered. "Albus Severus? Seriously? Hey, Scorp, I say we start a horrible name club!"
"Scorpius," Scorpius corrected.
He frowned in annoyance, although neither Peregrin nor his brother took the hint.
Well. The universe was against him, wasn't it?
He looked down at the Potter-Weasley boy and took solace in the thought that at least he wasn't the only one.
Albus felt warm and relaxed.
It was nice. He'd almost forgotten how it felt, being at ease like this. He sighed happily, enjoying it. Nothing but warmth and silence and-
-something poked him.
"Grrf Jmmsch," he grunted, wiggling away from the poke.
"Albus," someone said.
Go away, he thought.
"What?" he finally sighed, mentally saying his farewells to the comfort of sleep.
"Wake up and say hello," chided the voice.
Say hello?
To... wait...
Troll Girl. His head. His cousin...
"Rose?"
"Yep. Come on, say hello to everyone."
Oh. Well.
Albus gave a jaw cracking yawn and quickly sat up- which proved to be a pretty bad move. His neck was stiff, and cracked painfully as it straightened, causing the last half of the yawn to come out as more of a yelp. Feeling heat rush to his face, he hurriedly rubbed his eyes so he could see the people with whom he'd just made a horrible first impression.
He blinked. Rose was sitting next to him, and across from him sat a tall, spiky haired boy and what appeared to be his doppelganger. Both of them grinned at him, quick and wide, and one of them reached out his hand to shake. Smiling, Albus took it.
His arm soon protested the vigorous shaking it got. He forced a smile to keep himself from wincing and tried to concentrate more on the words coming out of his mouth as the boy introduced himself and his twin (not his doppelganger, apparently). Both of them insisted on shaking his hand, switching, then switching back.
They both put an inordinate amount of enthusiasm into their greetings. Rose seemed to get a tad too much amusement out of the situation. Oh, he would remember this.
Two and a half minutes into the introduction, his elbow was throbbing. He'd learned not only about the medical assistance Perry and Ryan had given him, but also about Ryan's (late) pet turtle, Mauve, why it was named Mauve (it was actually a peculiar shade of cobalt), the finer points of embalming a cobalt turtle, and, failing the proper embalming of the turtle, how to properly cremate said turtle.
Although he couldn't help but laugh at their antics, he felt a guilty bloom of relief swell inside of him at the thought that he had been the subject of one of their medical/magical endeavors and still had his head attached to his neck. They'd make wonderful healers one day, he thought- just not right then. Or any time soon.
"...and so we ended up just scattering 'er ashes in the Muggle park's sandbox," confided Ryan. Perry nodded. "It was her favorite place," he explained.
Albus flinched before he could catch himself.
Rose frowned, and the twins caught on. "Something wrong, mate?"
"Er, no," Albus murmured, suddenly uncomfortable.
Sandboxes. They just had to bring up sandboxes.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just. Um. Bathroom," Albus muttered, jumping up from his seat and sliding the panel door open, face flushing even as he entered the aisle.
Sandboxes. Filled with sand. Sand was okay. He used to love the sandbox, when he was little. Long time ago. He used to laugh at the way it slid through his hands like tickle-ly little bugs. Haha, fun, huh? Yeah. But. But- the sand wasn't actually supposed to be bugs. Especially not while he was still in the sandbox- a thousand little bugs, a thousand little bites-
Albus quickened his steps, growling at a sudden mental image of his brother.
"Where's the bloody bathroom?" he muttered.
Scorpius frowned reproachfully at his reflection- the reflection stared, reproachfully, back.
He'd opted to change into his robes in the privacy of a bathroom, and he was not satisfied with the results. It wasn't that the clothing was too large or too snug; it had been fitted just for him. But now that he was on the train, wearing it, he felt... trapped.
The distant shriek of the train's whistle drifted into the bathroom, bouncing shrilly off the white tiles. Scorpius tugged at his sleeve and made to leave, reaching for the door-
WHACK
-before stumbling back, eyes screwed shut, clutching at his bleeding nose. It felt like a bomb had gone off in his face.
"Aw,Merlin- I'm so sorry," a voice gushed.
It would have been a pleasant kind of voice, Scorpius thought, if his brains weren't trying to drip through his nostrils. He grimaced. That was vulgar.
"U-uhm, I'll wet some towels," the voice continued, "I think you're supposed to tilt your head back- Or is it forward? Er, better tilt it forward. Uh, yeah- I'll just be a second!"
Scorpius took a breath.
He was a Malfoy. He would keep his cool. He would be composed. That was practically the Malfoy family secret: keep yourself together, or at least act like it.
He opened his eyes, squinting them against lights that had, just a minute ago, been appallingly dim. He watched, with as much poise as someone with a throbbing, bleeding nose possibly could, the dark haired boy fumble for paper towels, nearly drop them, and wet them. When he decided they were wet enough (they were quite a bit too soggy, in his opinion), he turned to Scorpius, the too-soggy sheets in hand.
"Here," he offered.
Scorpius blinked. This was not, he realized, a random dark-haired boy. He was the... dark haired boy. Er. The Potter-Weasley boy, in any case.
Harry Potter's son, he reflected, was offering him wet paper towels for his bloody nose. That he, quite frankly, had given him in the first place. But that was nothing, Scorpius decided, that a true Malfoy could not take in stride. He accepted the towels and gingerly pressed them to his nose.
When the blond boy took the towels, Albus felt immensely relieved. This lasted for all of three seconds, after which several things went through his head:
1) Wow, he looks familiar.
2) Wait a second.
3) Oh.
"Er... do you need anything else?"
The blond boy carefully shook his head.
A long moment of silence passed before he turned around and left the bathroom, leaving Albus alone, embarrassed, guilty, and kind of nervous (sandbox related thoughts lingered in the back of his head) in front of the sinks. That had been him, he was sure of it- the boy from the Registration Room.
Albus huffed and twisted the cold tap on. Cold water rushed out, and he splashed it around, letting the shock of the sensation clear his head. So he'd messed up. He had seven years to fix it, right? Or avoid the boy. Although that thought was a oddly depressing... He shut the water off and made his way back to the compartment.
"Aw, man, do you want any help with that?"
"No."
"Are you sure? 'Cause we could just-"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
Scorpius settled himself beside the twins. The damp material against his nose was beginning to itch, which was a slight inconvenience because he had no intention of just scratching it in front of them. That would be vulgar... it was also very tempting. Rose eyed his nose curiously.
"Are you going to tell us how it happened?" she asked.
Unforutnately, Scorpius thought.
"I was leaving the restroom," he began, "and-"
"-Hey, Rose, do you remember where we put the bags?"
They all looked up. Albus stood in the door of the compartment, his eyebrows raised expectantly. Rose shrugged and waved him over before turning back to Scorpius.
"You were saying?" she asked.
"I was... Careless. The door swung open and I failed to react in time."
Ryan and Perry burst into a fit of snickering, while Albus gained an interesting magenta color in his cheeks.
"Oh, what are you two laughing about?" Rose chided them, a small smile betraying her words.
"F-failed... to react in time... what a riot, this guy!" Perry laughed, slapping his thigh.
"Er... sorry. About the door. Thing. Again. Um."
He offered his hand to the blond boy, smiling awkwardly. "My name is Albus, and it's very nice to meet you. Again."
Scorpius carefully observed the hand and the smile. Would he pull a Pomfrey and try to break his arm off under the pretense of a handshake? One could only, Scorpius thought, uncomfortably aware of the soggy paper towel against his nose, take so much bodily abuse in one day. Suddenly, the image of Albus fumbling around in the bathroom came to mind.
He reached for the hand.
"My name is Scorpius, pleased to meet you."
Is what he began to say. He didn't make it past "Sc-" before a bright flash of orange light struck his nose, knocking the damp papertowel away.
"Sorry, mate," chuckled Perry.
Very sincere, Scorpius fumed inwardly.
"We just couldn't let ya go around with a leaky nose," Ryan explained.
Grey eyes shut slowly, forcibly relaxed. He counted to ten. Composed, he thought. Their intentions were good. No reason to be angry. Everything is fine. You were introducing yourself to the Potter-Weasley boy, remember? Do it right. But first-
"In the future," he said conversationally, turning to the twins, "In the future, I'm going to have to ask you to keep your magic off of my face."
The last part of the sentence was very nearly growled, and his eyes sharpened into two points of steel. A heavy pause stifled the air. The temperature of the compartment seemed to drop to brumal levels. No one moved. Inwardly, Scorpius smirked. That was unexpected... and kind of fun.
"Understood?" he said.
The twins answered in unison, nodding furiously.
"Sorry about that. My name is Scorpius Malfoy. Pleased to meet you."
The boy- Scorpius -took Albus's hand and gave it a brief, polite shake, and sat back in his seat, a satisfied smile on his face. He blinked. This must be the boy from the Registration Room, he thought. There was definitely something animal in him. Beside him, Rose suddenly doubled over with soft laughter, gesturing at Ryan and Perry.
The twins, who'd been privately gathering their own little dark cloud of wounded pride and gloom, looked at each other, puzzled.
"You two," she gasped, "Should really stop sulking. You look ridiculous!"
Ryan rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly, while Perry crossed his arms across his chest in petulant defiance. "Hey, now, that hurt my feelings! I've always considered myself a top notch sulker, I'll have you know!"
"I don't doubt it," said Rose. "I just remembered we left our trunks in James's compartment. Why don't you two come with me to go get them? We'll be right back, Albus, and then you can go change. We should be near the school by now, I think." She stood up grabbed the twins by the wrists, and dragged them out into the aisle.
Albus smiled. If Rose wasn't careful, she'd end up as bossy as Aunt Hermione. The smile quickly faded, however, when he realized he'd been left alone with Scorpius.
He looked at his hands, and tried to let the rumble of the train distract him. It wasn't a bad thing, really. Not even awkward. But this was the perfect opportunity to say something to him, to really talk to him, and he couldn't think of a bloody thing to say! The Animagus thing might be too personal... but anything else was really just small talk, really.
He saw the other boy shift slightly out of the corner of his eye and frowned. Well, you had to start somewhere, didn't you?
"So, Scorpius. What House do you want to be in?"
The other boy opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it silently. "You know, I honestly can't say. My father went to Slytherin..."
Scorpius paused, staring searchingly at Albus. Albus smiled in what he really,really hoped was an encouraging manner. The corner of the other's mouth upturned slightly. Yes.
"...but from what he tells me of it, the kids there aren't very nice. Notbad, I mean, just... under pressure. Most of the kids there are there because they're ambitious, so there's always that pressure. I don't think I would want that. Too much stress. I just don't know what other house I would do well in. So I'm not sure."
He frowned, thoughtful.
"If it helps, I don't have a clue as to where I want to go, either," Albus offered.
Scorpius raised a brow.
"But you're a Potter. You probably want to go to Gryffindor, right?"
Albus chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I could say the same for you about Slytherin, couldn't I?"
Grey eyes blinked at him.
"Point taken."
"It's just that I have this brother in Gryffindor, and he really, really annoys me. Him and his friends. It's really stupid, I know, I just- people would only think of me as his brother, or talk to me because I'm his brother and Ha- Uhm..."
"Harry Potter's son?"
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"It's kind of the opposite for me. You... you know about the Malfoys, right?"
"Um. Yeah. They, uh, switch sides, during the Second War."
"Of course you do. Everyone does. I don't want that to be what people see me as. Just a Malfoy. I mean, I'm proud to be a Malfoy," he added quickly, "But I don't want that to be all anyone sees. So I know what you mean, about maybe not wanting to be in Gryffindor."
"Cool," said Albus, grinning. This wasn't so bad. "You know, I don't think you're going to have to worry about it too much. I mean, that's all in the past, right? And if they forget that, we'll just have to remind them. We'll just be in the same House, so we won't have to worry about it."
"How would that solve anything?" Scorpius asked, "And what if we don't end up in the same House?"
"Well, if we're in the same house, we could talk to each other, even if it was Slytherin and nobody else talked to us. And... Dad said the Sorting Hat listens to you."
"Seriously?"
Albus nodded.
"That sounds... like a very good idea."
Alot of the words I put into italics, once I popped them onto FF, did this weird "Hey, let me just run into the word in front of me," thing. Is it just me, or is anyone else running into this? Random, I know, but still. Review, please?