The Year of Great Change

Chapter Three

A New Friend

Scorpius awoke the next morning bright and early with his father shaking him awake. Scorpius was surprised at how his back felt fine still. He began to wonder about how long the effects of what Emily did would last night. Scorpius left the infirmary and headed down to the common room so he could get ready for class. He was glad that Emily had already left the infirmary. He wasn't sure what he would say or do for that matter. Scorpius walked into the common room to see the normal hustle and bustle that was a first morning. Some were frantic as they walked around the dark common room trying to get ready. Others were more relaxed and not in a hurry at all. Scorpius noticed there was an immediate silence once he entered the room. Orion distracted the silence quickly enough before too many whispers could start with a loud announcement.

"Qudditch SIGN UP SHEET HAS BEEN POSTED!" he said, practically shouting, and that got a fair amount of commotion to travel over to the post board. Some went to sign up and others to see who was signing up. Scorpius used the distraction and headed to the boys' dorm heading deeper in, past the windows that observed the lake. Scorpius went to the quiet room filled with four poster beds and went to his trunk and got out his belongings that he needed for the day. He got his books together and changed his clothes and felt strange as he looked out the window into the dark water. He thought about the look on his father's face - the questioning, the pain, and stress over what could be happening to Scorpius. He wondered what had happened to his mother many times. She had become very ill and Draco had never been able to determine the cause. He wondered if that had been the partial cause of his career change. From all the digging that his father had done, the only thing that his father had said was that it was an intentional illness. That was their father's subtle way of saying that she had been poisoned or cursed by someone.

Scorpius knew it must have weighed heavy on their father, Draco. Scorpius's mind drifted back to one evening weeks after his mother, Astoria, had passed away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco was sitting in the den, which was more like a library. The room was filled with books and a small arrangement of black leather chairs. There was one small window in the room that was partially covered by books. He sat on the floor leaned against his leather chair. Scorpius had been unable to sleep and headed down to get a sip of water when he had seen the light of the fire from the den. Scorpius was peering in on his father who sat there looking at the fire. He watched as Draco lifted a glass from the other side of his leg and poured a tall bottle of what Scorpius placed immediately as fire whiskey. A flame lit within the glass for a mere moment and then Draco quickly gulped it down. His solemn face went to anger suddenly and he threw the glass into the fire, which grew for a second. Draco then took the bottle to his lips and starting drinking it straight. He kept the bottle at half tilt for a second then opened his mouth and smoke billowed out for a moment. He turned and looked to Scorpius, who suddenly felt awkward having seen this private breakdown. Scorpius could see tears in his eyes and the anger and sadness within. Scorpius was frozen with emotion. He had never seen his father this way. Even at the funeral his face had been sad, but there had not been any tears. His face looked even more rough due to the fact he hadn't shaved since the funeral. He wasn't a hairy man so his scruffy beard was patchy and still very short. His hair was disheveled and out of place. His lack of concern for his own appearance that he had once cared about seemed to make him even more strained looking.

"I lost her," Draco said his voice thick and slightly slurred from the fire whiskey. Scorpius felt his feet move of their own will into the den toward his father slowly. Scorpius could feel his own tears beginning to well within his own eyes. "I couldn't save her...they hated me so much that they took your mother," he said and took the bottle to his mouth again and took several long gulps and again let the smoke billow out of his throat afterward. Scorpius came and took a seat beside Draco on the floor. Draco looked to Scorpius in a way that made Scorpius uncomfortable with emotions so strong and undeniable. Draco loved Scorpius and his siblings. Draco was just never big on words. He had always had trouble. Scorpius's mother, Astoria, would gently remind him often to say things to remind the children of his affection for them. Her gentle whispers to him gently reminding him to add, "Good job, I am proud of you," or " I love you" to normal conversation. She had once explained he was like this due to his upbringing by his own parents and he meant no harm in his absent-mindedness. This kind of raw emotion from his father was overwhelming to say the least.

"She had extreme pain and I couldn't do anything, but watch. Forgive me, Scorpius. You Must Forgive ME!" he said, his voice became uneven and frantic at the end. Scorpius knew not what to say, but knew his father loved his mother and with all this emotion he felt no choice. He felt he had to just give his father whatever he wanted.

"I forgive you, Father. So do the others. Come, Father, you must get yourself to bed," Scorpius said and tried to put his arm around Draco to pull him to his feet. Draco quickly grabbed Scorpius and startled him with the force of his sudden grasp.

"Scorpius, you are the most like me. You will be targeted. You are the oldest and the wisest of my children. I know you are strong of mind and heart and that is why you will be targeted. You have your mother's heart. I can't let anything else happen to any of you. Your mother said someone came looking for something and she was attacked. I was working when I should have been here. I only thank God that you were all at school when they came. Promise me you will look after yourself. I can't be everywhere at once," Draco said slurring that last of his words, and he shook his head and tried to refocus and pay attention through the haze of booze.

"I will look after myself and the others. I always do," Scorpius said and tried to loosen the tight grip of his father's hand on his arm. Draco let go seeming pacified by that answer. Scorpius didn't try to move his father again and sat again by his father. They both just sat there and looked at the fire for a time. Every other minute or so Draco would drain on the bottle of fire whiskey. Scorpius sat there with him, both just letting the tears and pain flow out in the silence.

"Scorpius." Draco said, and his voice seemed calm and even with only the slightest slur of booze. "There are no words for how I feel about all of you, my children. Even if I don't say it like I should. Know this. And don't forget. I would do anything for you. I would lay down my life. I would kill for you," he said and then looked back to the fire. Scorpius knew not what to say, so he said nothing. He just sat there listening to the crackle of the fire. When Scorpius looked back to his father he saw his head had drooped and his body had gone limp. Scorpius climbed to his feet and pulled the plush throw off of the back of the couch and pulled the blanket up to Draco's shoulders. As he did so he saw his father's left arm fall to the floor his hand loosened on the bottle. The dark mark shown on his pale skin from this relaxed position; it was faded now with age and lack of magic from its source -- Lord Voldemort. Scorpius had of course seen this mark before, but somehow felt more connected to his father's past now. Perhaps it was that his past may have come back and taken from them, this mark a link to that same dark past that Draco didn't speak off. Scorpius looked at it intently then looked back to his father, his face looking older in this moment than he had ever seen.

Scorpius looked at his father and felt sad for him. The darkness he must have faced in his youth, the pressure and the overwhelming loneliness... Scorpius walked looking only for a moment more at the slumped man on the floor and wiped his own face and walked over to the fire waving his wand and the fire settled to a small flicker.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scorpius looked at himself in the mirror, bringing himself back to the present and feeling guilt for what his father must be thinking with Scorpius having an unexplained pain that had knocked him out. He took a deep breath and knew what he had to do. He would not let the pain cripple him that way again. He would hide this from his father to the best of his ability, at least until he knew what was happening. He would simply just have to look into it and be stronger than before. He would be stronger. "I will have to be," he thought as he headed from the quiet boys' dorm and headed into the corridor and for his first class of the year. He wore his uniform neatly as always and was dressed to impress with his new prefect badge pinned to his chest. Once he arrived to class the buzz of last night's incident about him and Emily Scamander being in the infirmary had died down with new gossip. Since they seemed to be fine and out everyone now seemed to lose interest with the news of the "Parkinson Twin Triangle," Scorpius began to set up his potions gear up and listened to the gossip.

"I can't believe they didn't know they were both dating Henry," Celia Wood said as she set up her gear next to her fellow Gryffindor friends. Scorpius thought about Henry and knew him to be a bit of a scoundrel. Sure he was nice enough and not mean, just a player, that was all. Celia Wood was a nice girl, but very serious and most of the time didn't talk about anything except Qudditch. Her father being a professional made her a little crazy and competitive. Scorpius could respect that.

"I know, Celia. It is crazy. What is even crazier is that I heard they have decided they don't care. They both want to date him even though...freaks!" Carry Finnigan said flipping her long black hair. She was a clumsy girl, but nice, to Gryffindors, at least. Scorpius went about setting up his vials as the rest of the class filled into the classroom. The Gryffindors sat on their side and the Slytherins on their own. It was quiet for a long moment as the students filled into the classroom. The Professor finally came in and Scorpius waited in anticipation for it. This was one of his favorite classes. He had dark black hair he kept short and his dark brown eyes were penetrating. Scorpius watched this man as he walked into the room. This man was new. Slughorn had finally retired for good, it seemed. Scorpius felt secretly grateful; he hated the way he looked at him and his siblings as if he was waiting for them to do something wrong. He looked at this young man and began to try and size him up. He looked young, almost too young. He didn't look any older than a seventh year, yet here he was, a professor. He went over to the board and Scorpius watched him spell his name out on the board. His movements were swift and skilled and calm, as if he had done this a hundred times. Scorpius wondered if this was his first class as a teacher.

"My name is Bowen. I am fresh and so are you, so we shouldn't have any problems getting our work done. Yes, I am young. Yes, I am smarter than you. Even when you graduate I will still be smarter than you. I am smarter than I daresay most everyone here. No, I am not arrogant. I am simply stating facts. I don't care who your parents are. I could not care less about who is dating who. So there will be none of that nonsense in my classroom," he said and looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention.

"Let us focus on the work at hand. Today we are going to be working on a potion called we will be brewing an advanced version of the Wiggenweld potion. This potion is called Sanando infirmos; you start this potion as you would a Wiggenweld and then you take extra steps. Turn to page fourteen in your books and we shall begin," he said and turned his back and began writing notes on the board. Everyone began to open their books and started the potion. As they did so, Scorpius could hear Albus Potter on the other side in the back of the classroom heave a heavy sigh. Scorpius stole a glance to look at them and saw Rose Weasley give Albus a look of impatience. Scorpius went back to his own potion. By the time class had ended summer homework had been collected and Professor Bowen looked at each potion, making suggestions to correct the potion. His suggestions were in clipped tones of impatience and agitation. He went around the class as if this was the simplest thing and everyone in the room were toddlers having to be told things over and over again. Finally Professor Bowen released them and everyone seemed eager to leave the dungeon. Even the Slytherins seemed annoyed by this professor. The Professor truly didn't care who you were or what house you were in so there no was kindred kindness to the Slytherins that they were used to from Professor Bowen, unlike his predecessors.

Scorpius and the rest of his classmates made their way out and to their next set of classes. Scorpius walked slowly and felt a grumble in his stomach, and remembered he forgot to eat breakfast and suddenly was not looking forward to his next class for he would be starving the entire time. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind and walked by himself, walking through the people, not paying much attention until he noticed her scent: the pine, subtly complimenting the vanilla and rose smell that just seemed to stay with her. He looked up knowing it was her before he looked. There she was, her long hair was braided into pig tails and her Hufflepuff uniform fitting her a little too well, it seemed to him as he looked her up and down. She was wearing reading glasses on the end of her nose and was smiling. She looked at Scorpius with no hint of any of the passion that had been there last night. He was glad, for that would make it difficult for him to concentrate on anything else. She seemed calm and smiled brightly at him and Scorpius couldn't help but return the smile. She was alluring still, but he found it easier to concentrate when he was walking. It gave his mind something to think about other than her.

"So..."she started, but hesitated. "How are you...doing?" she asked, her words having a deeper meaning. Scorpius thought about it and his back was sore, but only barely.

"I feel fine. Thanks again for...last night," Scorpius said and tried not to think about her night gown last night, her breathing and her lips being that close to him.

"Sure. I think if you need me to do it again, God forbid, but I think I can help better next time," she said, smiling and assuring him for some reason. Scorpius was taken aback by this. It hurt her too last time. Why would she want to help again and feel that pain like that?

"Why would you do that? I don't understand," Scorpius asked, confused. He looked her up and down again as he waited to take in her response.

"Well, I like to think there is more between us than just... fellow students. I think we keep running into each other the way we do for a reason. True, it has been a small amount, but I think that there is something here. Between us, I am not willing to ignore it. I feel like I should be close to you as often as I can," she said, looking down, suddenly blushing. Scorpius looked away feeling nervous as well. He liked the thought of being around her, but he thought about his whole avoidance plan that now seemed null and void. What was he going to do? What if he did need her to help him with the strange pain that had hit him so hard, until he could figure it out what was going on? He would just have to get through the awkwardness over telling his father. He did feel that he should stay close to her too. There was something that did seem to be pulling them together. She too had her own pull about her like gravity. She was so alluring, with her smile and kindness that seemed to be outstretching to him for some reason, and her scent along with her beautiful body. He couldn't deny it. He felt like her. He wanted to be around her as much as possible as well. It was strange for a first day of school, but he figured why not -- a new year, why not a new friend? Scorpius smiled back at her and nodded and she smiled again looking down.

"I feel the same way. I don't understand it really, but I agree. We should be around each other as much as possible. I guess we are friends now," he said, unsure of the next step. She smiled back in response, this time not in the same shy way, but in a casual way with her slightly crooked full lips that seemed so happy and content. Scorpius smiled back, feeling more relaxed now. He had never really had a friend and this was strange feeling, but it was a good one. "So I guess we can walk to our next class together. What is your next class?" Scorpius asked and she looked to her eyebrows for a moment, thinking.

"Transfiguration, I think...yeah, Transfiguration. Then I would you like to eat lunch with me?" Emily asked. Scorpius smiled and nodded.

"Sounds good; I have Defense Against the Dark Arts, so I can walk you to class easily," Scorpius said, feeling good for the first time sense his mother's passing last year. He felt truly good with a hope of moving on and finding happiness and not being alone anymore. He walked with Emily to her class walking with her up the stairs and talking about this and that starting small with things they hated and stuff they liked about school. Scorpius stopped at the door and bid a casual farewell before heading onto go to his own class. He walked into his Defense Against the Dark Arts class feeling pretty good about things. He took his seat and waited for class to start. He sat there almost oblivious when suddenly the lights went dark. The room became completely dark and a girl let out a startled yelp.

"Attention, class. I welcome you to your fifth year and invite you to search your sense. Think about what you hear and feel rather than what you see," he said and Scorpius knew the voice to be that of Professor Conner. Scorpius knew his deep voice from the many lectures he had given over the years. According to rumor he had been the first professor in years to hold the position for longer than one year in over twenty years. Scorpius tried to focus his thoughts away from Emily and focus on his new task. He could see absolutely nothing and knew there must have been a spell on the room to keep it this dark in the middle of the day.

"Why are we doing this?" Scorpius heard a girl ask; he placed it as Rose Weasley.

"Rose, we are doing this to heighten our sense. We need to know how to defend ourselves not just in the light," he heard Albus respond with an annoyed voice to his cousin and friend. This information was obvious; however, it was annoying. Scorpius listened and he could hear something he could swear wasn't human. It was a strange staggered breathing, subtle, but definitely there. It was subtle and he could suddenly hear something whispering his name, "Scorpius," quietly. Scorpius looked around in a useless attempt to find the voice in the blackness.

"Can you sense what is in here with us?" Professor Conner asked, his voice now at the back of the room. He heard a couple people shift uncomfortable with the sudden sounds behind them.

"Scorpius, you know it will come again..." the voice whispered in a raspy tone. Scorpius quickly tried to deduct what could be in the room with them. What could whisper to him and only him? He knew no one else was hearing this, or the Professor or another student would have said something. His mind tried to rush through the list of creatures he knew that could read one's mind. "Scorpius, you know that being friends with her won't last. You don't know how to be a friend...not really," the raspy tone interjected again, disrupting his thoughts. Scorpius tried to shake his head of the thoughts that this creature was right. Finally the teacher turned the light on and sighed.

"I guess none of you were just going to guess it. I figured it would bother your minds enough to realize what it was. We will work on this some more later about relying on our other senses. Anyway, in case some of you haven't guessed, this is a Lepim," he said, and gestured to a small brown squatted creature within a cage. Its skin was so brown and thick it looked more like old leather. Its ears were pointed long and floppy like a dog's and had horns like a billy-goat coming out of its head. Scorpius observed the creature and it peered out of the cage, looking at everyone with a smile that seemed to make everyone uncomfortable.

"Well, everyone. I like to touch base on Occlumency for everyone to learn to defend your minds. I will not teach you Legilimency because you don't need that. But I feel that Occlumency is important. We will use this Lepim to practice. I know he has nasty thoughts that he brings to the forefronts of your mind. Well, use that. Think about keeping him out hard enough and you will." They spent the rest of the class thinking hard about keeping the thoughts of the nasty small creature out of their minds. If anyone was successful they didn't say. Scorpius had great difficulty himself. Finally they were released to go to lunch. Scorpius found himself in a hurry, his hunger trying to engulf him from the inside. He hurried to meet Emily outside of class and they smiled as soon as they saw each other. He offered to hold her books and she smiled even bigger as she complied, handing over her books. They began to walk and talk again, picking up where they left off. Scorpius found himself walking very quickly and she kept pace with him easily.

"Hungry, are we?" she asked and smiled at him, looking down at his feet moving quickly. Scorpius smiled and nodded. Scorpius tried to make a conscious effort to slow down. He didn't want to be rude and just leave her behind.

"Sorry. I forgot to eat breakfast with being in the infirmary last night and everything," Scorpius said as his stomach growled loudly. She looked down and looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling and looking slightly mischievous.

"Well, let us hurry then before all the Weasley boys eat all the food," she said, and laughed loudly as she ran down the steps. Scorpius quickly picked up on the competition she set in motion. They raced down the stairs and down the corridors. He could have sworn he heard a professor yell, "No running in the halls," but he wasn't sure, and they were gone before he could look back and tell. His long legs carried him swiftly down the halls and her quick speed kept her in pace with him. He reached the Great Hall doors right before, but only by a couple of feet. They laughed and smiled at each other as she shoved past him, playfully rushing to the table. Scorpius hesitated before sitting next to her the Hufflepuff table. The moment he did he noticed a silence that spread across the Great Hall, followed by whispers. Emily looked around, confused ,and looked back to Scorpius.

"What is their problem? People sit at other tables all the time for lunch," she said and looked around at people, confused. Scorpius sighed and tried not to think about it too much.

"It is probably because I am a Slytherin and a Malfoy. We generally stay with our own house. Slytherins are not known for branching out that much," Scorpius said. Emily shook her head, then shrugged it off.

"Scone," Emily offered as she took one for her own plate. Scorpius took two, putting one partly in his mouth as he started making his plate. They ate ignoring everyone the best they could. They talked, and as this did everyone seemed to fade into the back and blur. They didn't matter. Emily and Scorpius were talking. He was talking with his friend. They talked about Qudditch and the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, along with his favorite Potions magazine, Potions Monthly. They found they both enjoyed Transfiguration for the Youth Magazine as well. They found they enjoyed a lot of the same things. This delighted Scorpius that he had someone to talk to about his passions and his dislikes. He sat there all through lunch enjoying this girl and what they could do together. They started making plans to have lunch every day. Scorpius felt excited like he had never felt before. He had something to look forward to. He had someone to look forward to seeing. Someone not related to him -- someone who didn't care about his house or who his parents were. She liked him for him and he liked her for her for who she was. He couldn't think of anything could go wrong. They were friends.