Scorpius Malfoy and Freddie Lynch
Many people had questioned why Scorpius Malfoy had been placed in the Gryffindor House, for several different reasons. Firstly, there were the friends of his Father’s who had never even met him wondering how on earth a son of Draco’s could ever be placed in the house of his Father’s rivals. Secondly, there were the people that actually knew Scorpius. Gryffindor was for the house of the courageous and the brave, and yet Scorpius – an incredibly short boy of sixteen, with a graceful, skinny frame alike a bird, a cherubic, feminine face and large, brown eyes – appeared to be scared of everything. The slightest intimidation was enough to bring the young boy to tears, and he spent his days in fear of the larger boys in the seventh year who seemed to get a kick out of teasing him for being smaller, for being different. The truth was, it was brave for Scorpius simply to make it through most days when there was so much against him.
It had been a fateful day on Scorpius’ sixth birthday when the Dark Lord and his dreaded female accomplice Bellatrix Lestrange had appeared out of thin air with a time-turner wrapped around their necks. The two darkest magicians of all time had tortured Scorpius almost to the point of death. Whilst Draco and Astoria Malfoy had fully understood what had happened – the Dark Lord had travelled to the future back from the 1990s in order to shame the Malfoy name as punishment for Scorpius’ Grandfather’s wrongdoings – the Malfoy family had decided to cover up the incident and blame it on Scorpius himself for ‘messing around with his Father’s wand’. Miraculously, Scorpius had left Saint Mungo’s hospital alive, although he had a severe speech impediment and had been weak, tearful and dependent ever since.
Now in his sixth year at Hogwarts, Scorpius had found a group of loving friends to counteract the lack of love he received in his abusive childhood, where his parents hadn’t shown him any real love and affection. One of those friends was Freddie Lynch, a distant relative of his. Scorpius had lost count of the many times Freddie had been there to support him, making him laugh when he was struggling or simply being a friendly face when he needed it. Scorpius had a big heart to contrast with his tiny body, and he loved without discrimination. He didn’t know the extremities to which he would not go in order to make his friends happy, and at the moment Freddie Lynch appeared to need someone to be there for him. Scorpius hadn’t seen the Werewolf around the school for days, only occasionally in the common rooms where he appeared sleep deprived. Freddie was losing weight, and Scorpius was becoming worried and heartbroken simultaneously. Why was nobody doing anything to help the poor boy? Despite his limitations, Scorpius cared very deeply and was intent that he would show Freddie in any way that he could.
The mornings were always the worst time of the day for Scorpius. It was in the mornings that Scorpius struggled to utter even a single word, each syllable getting twisted and contorted upon his gentle tongue until he gave up. That didn’t stop him however from finding himself outside of Freddie Lynch’s dormitory at 7:30 in the morning on a Thursday afternoon, with a plate of hot food within his pale fingers. Knocking daintily at the door with his delicate hands, Scorpius wished he could even find the strength within him to call Freddie’s name. He just hoped, prayed, that the boy would answer his call. Even if he wasn’t much use now, perhaps some company would do him better than anything. Most people had learned to love and accept the tiny Gryffindor boy even when he was incapable of uttering speech. Scorpius had the sort of eyes that could portray any emotion deep within his heart and now they resonated nothing but sheer sorrow as he stared towards the door, knowing that somebody completely locked in despair was hidden behind it.