“I guess they’re desperate.” Desperate to find which students were involved in the Azkaban escapes. And if one of the students came forward with the truth, they could provide the Ministry with very important information about the prisoners’ whereabouts. “Leave?” Sylvie asked in surprise. “That would be silly. It’s not such a big deal.”
“Yes, though you’d think they’d know how to handle Azkaban break-outs by now. What is it, the third time in the past thirty or so years? Possibly less?” He looked at Sylvie and shrugged, “Isn’t it?” Scorpius folded his arms over his chest. “This school’s seen terrible times the last time an Azkaban break out happened. What’s to say parents won’t take precautions?”
Alice takes in another deep breath as she momentarily shuts her eyes, although that feels like a moment far too long that she lets her guard down. When she opens her eyes again, she’s scanning the room above and around her classroom rival. “Just… aurors,” which really wasn’t a lie at all, she was afraid of aurors coming up behind her, but she was also afraid of a thousand more things, demons, dementors, dark creatures sneaking up behind her and grabbing her like they do in her nightmares. “They’re getting creepy, standing quietly in corners all over the library. They’ve scared the dickens out of me several times just today.”
Scorpius lifted an eyebrow in surprise, but quickly regained some composure. “Aurors.” Scorpius repeated in agreement. He gave Alice a slight smile, though was unsure of how much a Longbottom had to fear out of an Auror. If anything, Scorpius figured that they’d be hesitant to give her a hard time. He shrugged and sighed, surveying the room around them before continuing. “They’re giving everyone the creeps around here. As if the Bloody Baron wasn’t scary enough, right?” He kept his voice down as he spoke, just in case there were any Aurors around. “Where’d you see ‘em? Maybe if we can figure out their frequent spots we can start avoiding them.”
“ You'll always be a part of me
You gave me a song to sing
Dancing in your room
Innocent and true
Elvis tattoo on your shoulder
We'll know better when we're older “
Changes | David Bowie
“ Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
How the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test “
Under Pressure | Queen & David Bowie
“ Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets “
Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd
“ Running over the same old ground
And how we found
The same old fears
Wish you were here “
The Man Who Sold the World | Nirvana
“ Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long long time ago “
Knights of Cydonia | Muse
“ No one's going to take me alive
Time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive “
The Scientist | Coldplay
“ I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart “
Dream On | Aerosmith
“ Half my life
Is books, written pages
Live and learn from fools and
From sages
You know it's true, oh
All these feelings come back to you “
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot | Brand New
“ Pale white, like the skin stretched over your bones
Spring keeps you ever close
You are second hand smoke
You are so fragile and thin
Standing trial for your sins
Holding onto yourself the best you can
You are the smell before rain
You are the blood in my veins
Call me a safe bet
I'm betting I'm not
I'm glad that you can forgive
I'm only hoping as time goes, you can forget “
“It would be surprising if he knew. I suppose the Ministry would rather keep quiet about it. Imagine the scandal - students from our school helping Azkaban prisoners escape. Think about the values they teach us here.” Hogwarts raising future criminals from a young age, obviously having failed to protect them. How was that even possible? “I didn’t, I know what my mother is like. But it turned out there was no need, someone must have told her, because she wrote to me about it. She is so not pleased.”
Scorpius shrugged, “I know my father. He has friends in high places. Besides, the Ministry can’t keep it quiet for that long, can they? Not when they’d made such and obvious spectacle interrupting a school-wide event.” Scorpius scoffed. Hogwarts had always taught saints and criminals alike. He looked back at her. “That hardly surprises me. Your aunt married a Weasley, and their family makes up practically half of the school.” He paused for a moment, “I wonder how many students will leave.”
It had been a hard couple of days for Alice, after being cornered and questioned by at least 3 different aurors all asking the same question. It was probably due to the notion that the children of professors had the most to rebel against, though, in truth, Alice did not think the aurors were smart enough to decipher that. Still, her dark side was slowly becoming more and more known, so each time she walked around the castle alone, she felt as though she had to watch her back at all times, as though a presence were always behind her. When the sun was going down and the halls started to get darker, Alice walked quicker, her Astrology notebook clutched to her chest, her grip growing tighter and tighter as she grew more and more frightened to walk alone. When a shadow came up behind her, she flinched and jumped around only to catch her chest with a sigh. “Oh… it’s you…” she breathed, blinking several times, “Sorry, I’m just a little… frazzled.”
Scorpius hadn’t meant to frighten Alice Longbottom. He’d been waiting outside of a classroom, about to walk in to argue an uncharacteristic poor mark on an assignment when he saw a figure skate by as if it were a frightened deer. He furrowed his eyebrows and almost called out, though a ‘hey you’ was probably a poor introduction. When he caught up she jumped, which made him jump. “Merlin - yes, it’s me.” Alice Longbottom, his classroom rival, seemed extremely frightened. Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head lightly. “What’s got you so upset? These are the same halls we’ve been walking for five and a half years.” He turned to look over his shoulder before turning back. “Is someone following you?”
amadeus had been trying to read his book in peace for quite some time now, but kept getting distracted because someone was being noisy. at first, he decided to just ignore them, but later on it got harder and harder to do so. finally, the lestrange had had enough and turned to the source of the noise. “do i have to remind you that this is a library? either leave or shut your mouth.”
Scorpius didn’t break his gaze from the book in front of him, but he smirked regardless and said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “Merlin’s beard, Lestrange. Don’t scare the poor Hufflepuff.” He flipped the page and continued reading, his smirk wider now. “And do try to be quite. Do I have to remind you that this is a library?”
“Did you speak with your father? About you-know-what.” Sylvie asked as she approached Scorpius, having noticed him standing among the crowds of students, all of them preparing for the upcoming Christmas holiday. “Since you said you would make sure he would hear of it.” Her own mother had already heard of what had transpired at the ball and she had grown so much with worry that she had insisted on Sylvie coming home, something which the young Delacour had refused to do.
Scorpius turned from where he stood with a few other Ravenclaws, discussing their plans for the upcoming holiday. He quickly bid them goodbye and leaned in closer to Sylvie, walking away from the group of his housemates. “Yes.” He said, trying not to sound frustrated. “I did. He is not pleased, but at the moment his hands are tied. There is not much he knows about the operation either.” He left it at that, frowning a bit. “I have a hunch that he knew before I told him.” He looked at Sylvie, “And you? I’m pretty sure the whole school wrote home about it, did you?”
Nesta nodded. “Look, I might have the quidditch thing going for me and my dad being who he is but people don’t really like me. I don’t have many friends and that last thing I need is to be the bitch who told on her classmate and lost our house over a hundred points,” she said lowering her eyes. “One of the boys was in Gryffindor and him getting in trouble would be a consequence for my whole house. It’d be like a punishment to me too for turning them in. So I’m not sure what to do.” she says. She glanced up at the blonde and then lowered her eyes again trying to wash away the image in her mind of how badly that could have gone for her. “I know. And I’m grateful you came over. I didn’t think anyone would.” she says her own eyes shining with tears of relief. She let out a small laugh and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah I’ll make sure I kick them right between the legs next time too.”
Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows. Having many enemies was something he avoided, and his family name was no help. How had this Gryffindor made so many enemies? He decided not to press the issue, especially after the night she’d had. A conversation for another day, he decided. “I could see how that may put a damper on things.” He said quietly. “If I hadn’t, I’m sure someone would have.” He tried to sound comforting, though he wasn’t sure if he believed it. The alcohol in the punch had seemed to make people less mindful of their surrounds. He was glad to hear her sounding a little more chipper. “Good, oh and you better let me know exactly when that happens so I can watch it all go down.”
Following his line of sight, an empathetic look took over her face as she watched the young student be dragged off. “Then maybe Hogwarts is the perfect place them. It’s an institution of learning, and those aurors seem as though they need someone to teach them how to make good decisions. And you know… Not petrify already scared students.” In that moment, it happened to be the auror’s jobs to interrogate people, it simply didn’t seem fair. “I don’t think anyone could blame her for not being too happy about the ball being crashed - the fallout seems like it’d be a logistical nightmare. Between dealing with enraged parents, pissed off students as well as the worried ones… It’s a good thing this didn’t happen right before exams. Could you imagine having to try and focus after all this?”
Scorpius nodded as they both watched the poor student. It did seem that the message the Aurors were sending was more of a sinister one than a positive one. “Perhaps that’s just how they operate after, well, you know.” Talking about Voldemort and the Wizarding Wars had always Scorpius uncomfortable, especially considering the rumors and history his family was involved in. He shook his head, though the thought of going back to his room to study Potions and Astronomy was something of a comfort. “I guess we will just have to see what happens after tonight, won’t we?”
Nesta took the arm that Scorpius offered, looping her own arm through his and let him lead her away from that corner of the Great Hall towards some unknown location elsewhere. Let someone else find their drunk and stunned asses and deduct house points as a result. She didn’t care.”Hopefully not. I haven’t had much to drink.” she says to defend herself, even though she had sipped through a glass or two since she’d been at the Hall. Not that drinking was any excuse for anyone to come onto her when she’d been minding her own business.
“I uh.. I’d prefer not to really. I don’t want any trouble for that. They’ve got a lot of friends and people don’t exactly like me.. so I’d rather not draw any unwanted attention.” she says shifting uncomfortably not sure how to explain why she felt that way. Looking up at the other she swallowed and nodded. “Uh.. fine.. they grabbed me pretty hard, I’m worried I’ll have bruises or something, but just.. shaken up. I didn’t know what to do. I just froze up.” she ran a hand over her eyes and shook her head. “I should’ve done something.”
Scorpius stole one last look behind them as the pair of the two stunned students as they moved away from the scene. If they hadn’t been harassing someone much smaller than themselves, Scorpius might of felt sorry for how pitiful they looked. Of course, he had to admit that he felt a strange sort of pride mixed in with the dread of the possible consequences of the situation. “Good.” He said absentmindedly before focusing back on the Krum girl.
He frowned slightly at not receiving the answer he’d hoped for. “Are you sure? They’d lose each of their houses a few hundred points at least and hopefully a years worth of detention or longer.” He considered what she’d said for a moment. If he’d been the confrontational type, he’d talk to them himself once their sorry asses woke up. His throat tightened as she explained the things the boys did to her, and his jaw clenched as he thought of how the situation may have escalated had someone not stepped in. “Disgusting.” He breathed, “I can’t blame you for freezing.” He tried to soften his voice as he could see the girl was very shaken. “Well, it’s going to be better now. And next time you see them,” He held his fist up and lightly ran it into his other open palm. “Give ‘em one of theme, straight into the nose. That might drive the point home, yeah?”
rose offers him a secretive smile as she tucks her hair behind her ears, “other than the reason i’ve already given you? i can’t imagine why.” she conspiratorially leans towards him, “but i know why i do.” without offering anymore information, rose leans away from his form. her eyes momentarily shift to a nondescript auror leading a student away from the great hall before landing once more on his grin. it was strange, how friendly they were being after years of indifference. she shrugs the thought away before playfully punching him on the shoulder, “scary, awful, ridiculous – those are some words i would use. where do you think that glow comes from? clearly it’s from overactive sweat or oil glands, you’re free to choose.”
“what do i know?” she questions, eyes blinking rapidly the way it did when she encountered something she did not understand or simply felt uncomfortable. “how do you suppose we do it? should i distract that grotesque half-troll,” she says with feigned disgust in reference to the man standing beside their target, “while you snag the punch bowl and bring glory to your house?”
Scorpius raised his eyebrows and tried not to let his mouth hang open. “Why you do?” He wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but decided not to linger on it. He shook his head dismissively and quickly changed the topic. “Oh, you’re just being jealous because the glow comes from impeccable complexion. Even in my third year, I don’t think I got a single blemish.” He smiled, feigning an arrogant pride in the accomplishment. He wasn’t sure if it was the drinking or the comradary in a stressful situation, but their friendliness was a nice change of pace. He rolled his eyes playfully, rubbing lightly at the area she pinched him. “One, ouch. And two, very unfair, Weasley.”
He blinked, mirroring Rose’s reaction when he brought up the punch. “Hmm? Well it’s...” He paused, “Actually, never mind.” Had she really not noticed that the punch had been spiked? Scorpius always had a keen sense of taste, always able to tell an expensive wine from a cheap one, but if someone was able to miss that... He thought it best to let it go. He narrowed his eyes to the man who definitely resembled a troll and nodded. “Good plan.” He blinked, “And then what? Do... do you also want another glass?”
“Mhm, though it’d be easier to know for sure if we knew what they were looking for in the first place.” Felix was as suspicious of the ministry as anyone would have expected a kid in his position to be. Now the idea had been presented, he wouldn’t have been surprised at all if the Aurors were using foul play to try and get the answers they were looking for from the students. “You can go ahead, mate. I’ll happily test it’s affects on you. Forget the Aurors, there’s no way I’d risk being unable to lie in a hall containing the entire student body.”
Scorpius raised an eyebrow accusingly. “Oh? Got something to hide, Felix?” He maintained a serious face for a moment before he grinned and winked. “Kidding. Be back in a second, don’t let anyone steal my seat or I’ll have to hex them.” As he strutted towards the punch bowl, he realized how much he’d been needing to move. He nodded at a few familiar faces and felt the a few gazes lingering on him. It didn’t stop him from scooping a cup of punch into a glass, turning around and returning his stride towards his friend. When he returned he plopped down next to Felix, taking a sip of the spiked drink. “Easy.” He said, “Though I don’t believe there’s any veritiserum in here. Quick, ask me something and I’ll try and lie.”
“To be young and naive of the true horrors life has to offer.” Too cynical? Very likely, but fairly on brand for the blonde. She’d never been the most lighthearted of people, and with the disappearance of her brother two years ago, the darkness only seemed to consume her further. “You sound very family tv movie cliché tonight. Just promise me no hugging.”
He considered her words and shrugged. “Young and naive doesn’t last forever.” Scorpius grinned. “Hugging? And ruin the careful creases on this suit? Wouldn’t dream of it.” It felt nice to joke in the midst of the investigation. It’d been much too long of a night to be taking this completely seriously. Still, the tension in the room got to him, and his smile quickly dropped.
“Might want to ask the group of third years curled up in the corner,” Auden spoke up, nodding towards the students she spoke of before letting her gaze drop back to her book. Being forced into the social event hadn’t meant she’d actually had plans on socializing, and she was counting herself doubly lucky for her decision to bring the novel.
Scorpius followed where Auden nodded, smiling slightly at the pile of younger students passed out on the ground. “Cute.” He muttered, “At least they have one another to rest on.” He shrugged and felt a little silly for saying it. “It’s kind of all we’ve got tonight, isn’t it?”
victoire had to admit she was happy he understood it was only wishful thinking. “i’m sure we’ll be out of here sooner rather than later, as soon as they’ve determined we’re innocent kids we’ll be out of here,” victoire said assuringly with a smile on her lips, only hoping her tone sounded convincing. “yeah, they talked to me earlier, i mean they kind of knew me already since they work with my uncles, but i suppose it’s good they’re speaking to everyone,” she shrugged.
Scorpius squinted his eyes slightly, “The problem is, not completely convinced we are innocent kids. I mean, they must have some sort of lead, yeah? Why come to a school to search for suspects... I mean, or something like that.” He squared his shoulders, suddenly aware of how paranoid he sounded. As he listened to the Gryffindor, he blinked and looked at Victoire in piqued interest. “Oh yeah? What did they say?”
“I suppose they’re trying to do their job the “right” way.” But if they were really trying so hard, then why was there an Azkaban prisoner on the loose? It seemed to her that the Ministry were not that good at their job, after all. “But they could have definitely picked a better time for it. They can keep us here all night if they wish.”
“I suppose.” He nodded, interrupting a ball at Hogwarts was probably not the worst methods the Ministry had done, especially if there were likely suspects. Still, causing this much of a scene wasn’t something Scorpius thought they’d chose to do if they had a choice. He gave a long sigh and shook his head. “My father will hear of this...”
