Seventh-Year: The Next Generation

Author's Note:

I know it took longer than normal for me to get this chapter up, but here it is. I've been really busy the last week, or however long it's been. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it, here it is.

Chapter 15: Tis Strange

He leaned on the parapet, letting the chilly night air tug at his dark locks of hair.

The stars were bright, providing enough light for him to see the lake, shining darkly below.

A sudden gust of wind cut through his clothes, giving him the sensation that cold, icy fingers were tracing along his skin.

He shivered, drawing his cloak tighter about him.

"Albus," called a voice softly, from behind him.

He closed his eyes wearily in trepidation.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"What if my answer was you?" said the voice.

Albus kept his eyes shut, his back to the voice. He could feel temptation clutching at him with its inviting, and luring touch.

"Then my reply would be that I do not desire you," said Albus tightly.

That beautiful, yet deceitful laugh trilled out behind him. That laugh he had come to hate so much.

"You can't even lie to yourself."

It struck Albus as kind of amusing that Lestraud always pointed out the same observations about him that Scorpius did.

"So, why not? You want it, I want it. Your not tied down, so that can't be your reason."

"Maybe because you're blackmailing me? Or does that not strike you as good enough?" demanded Albus, still staunchly refusing to turn around and look at her.

She laughed, again. The sound made Albus shiver.

"Hardly. Just give in to your desires. Forget everything for just one night. Forget that we even know each other in the slightest. Give into your instincts."

Albus felt nausea rising in his throat. He was disgusted. Both by what she suggested, and even more so, that he did want it. His body was screaming at him to just give in. Every nerve, pulling him, dragging him in her direction. But he wouldn't give in, he wouldn't.

Albus felt two arms slip around his waist from behind, and his eyes snapped wide open in horror. His whole body spasmed. He tore her arms off of him, spun around, and shoved her back.

"Get away from me." He shuddered, brushing at his cloak, as if he had just been touched by something dirty.

Her face was a pale blotch of whiteness between the darkness of her hair and her cloak. Her arms were crossed, and even in the dimness of the night, he could see her frown.

"Albus, why--"

Albus whipped out his wand, directing it at her chest. "Tell me why you called me up here, or so help me, I'm going to blast you to Kingdom Come." His tone was flat.

"You couldn't kill someone, Albus."

"You I can, want to bet?" he practically snarled.

For a moment she actually looked taken aback by his vehemence.

"I'm going to be there, when you break her out," she said curtly, all business now.

"What?" Albus blinked in surprise.

"I'll be there, when you get into Azkaban."

Albus bit his lip.

"Something the matter?" she asked.

"Then you'll need to know, I'm not doing it by myself. Scorpius is going to be there, I need his help; I can't do it alone."

To Albus's surprise, Lestraud wasn't angry, and didn't even question him for that matter. Instead, she laughed.

"That's kind of poetic, isn't it? You have more class than I gave you credit for, Albus."

"Hah, a compliment," said Albus. "Those are few and far between for the likes of me."

"You can put your wand away," said Lestraud with amusement.

"You try anything again, and you'll regret it," said Albus, sliding the wand into his robes, and leaning back against the parapet. "So what else? What more did you need to tell me?"

For a second, Lestraud actually looked confused. "More?"

"Of course," said Albus impatiently. "You didn't call me up here for something that trivial, did you? You could have written that in the note itself, so there must be more. Come on, spit it out, I'm sick and tired and just want to go to bed."

"There isn't more," said Lestraud simply.

"You're kidding me, right?" said Albus sharply.

"No, why would I do that?" asked Lestraud angrily.

Albus made some quick calculations in his head. Things didn't add up. Lestraud never called him to the tower unless there were several instructions she needed to give him. If it was something as simple as this, she would have just written it in the note.

Albus had a quick flash of insight, and it was so absurd, that he laughed, even under the circumstances.

"What's so funny?" demanded Lestraud.

"You are," he said, starting to control himself. "The fact that you act so tough and bad, blackmailing me, but really, you're just a lonely teenager with no friends."

Lestraud bristled. "You don't have the least idea what you're talking about," she snapped.

But Albus was already leaving the tower, still laughing, and rather manically at that. "Goodbye, Lestraud," he called over his shoulder. "Hope you don't feel to sorry for yourself, maybe you should try making friends with Babcock; I'm sure you two would enjoy each other immensely."

"You asking for it?" snarled Lestraud, but Albus was already gone.

***

Lily ran her hands through the long grass, plucking an occasional blade, and rolling it between her fingers, before letting it go and watching the breeze carry it away.

"It's getting colder by the day," said Monique, who was leaning back against a tree, her eyes closed.

Hugo made a muffled noise from where he lay face down, his head pillowed on his arms.

Lily shielded her eyes with her hand, as the setting sun burned off the lake like burnished bronze.

"There's something funny going on at this school," said Lily.

Hugo made another indistinguishable noise.

"Oh?" asked Monique.

"People are acting out of character. Weirdly."

"How so?"

Lily shrugged. "Albus and Scorpius are both clearly not as present as usual, they're more subdued than normal. And then of course there's Rose," Lily pointed out.

"Mmmm," said Hugo.

"I don't really know any of them that well, so I can't say," said Monique.

"Come on, Hugo, you know Rose isn't herself lately," said Lily.

Hugo hoisted his face off his arms, just long enough to say, "It's true. I don't know what's up with ditching Scorpius for a sleazeball like Driscoll."

"And then you suddenly becoming a Diviner and all," said Lily, her voice hitching slightly on the word Diviner, but neither of her friends noticed.

"Yeah, I don't know," said Hugo, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows. "It sure would be nice if I could have a vision or some type of revealing dream. I really don't get how this power works at all, maybe it's just a mistake..." he said, trailing off.

"It's probably just something you can't turn on and off, or at least until you get more used to it," said Monique.

Hugo nodded. "If I really am a Diviner, I suspect you're right."

Monique smiled brilliantly at him.

"Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel," quoted Lily softly, under her breath. But Monique wasn't the only person on her mind as she said it.

"What's that, Lily?" asked Hugo.

"Nothing."

She sighed, and got to her feet, stretching her arms. "I just wish we knew what was going on, but Scorpius and Albus would never tell us, and Rose is acting too strange," she said.

"Too true," said Hugo.

"Where are you going?" asked Monique, though she didn't offer to move.

"Dinner's soon," said Lily simply.

"You're right, we should probably starting heading up there," said Hugo, leaping up.

Monique reluctantly rose as well.

The sun was now on the verge of disappearing beneath the edge of the world, and the last streaks of pink and red were fading from the darkening sky.

They started toward the castle, Hugo's hunched shoulders up ahead, Monique and Lily side by side.

Suddenly, Hugo cried out, dropping to his knees, his hands flying to his head.

"Hugo!" Monique fell to the ground beside him. "Are you okay?"

Hugo's eyes were wide and unseeing, and his hands were grabbing at the roots of his hair.

"Lily, get help or something!" yelled Monique, but Lily was just staring in awe.

Hugo was gasping and shaking now, as if he had just run very fast. His shoulders were rocking back and forth, and his mouth was forming unspoken words. He threw himself onto his back, and his teeth gnashed together furiously. His eyes were spinning and rolling in his head now, and his hands were scrabbling at the dirt.

And then it was over, his whole body sagged, as if the life had gone out of him.

"Hugo?" whispered Monique fearfully.

His eyes opened slowly-- they were back to their normal state. Hugo pulled himself into a sitting position, licking his lips gingerly. A small bit of blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with his sleeve.

"Are you okay?" asked Monique.

He nodded. "I just bit the inside of my cheek, is all."

He looked up at Lily, his eyes clear and focused.

"They're going to the prison. Scorpius and Albus are going to break into Azkaban."

***

"It's no use," muttered Scorpius to himself, surveying Rose from his spot at Gryffindor table. As usual, she was sitting with Driscoll.

Getting around his pride, Scorpius had actually partially taken Driscoll's advice. He had checked for the Imperius Curse by using a counter spell, but there had been no change in Rose's behavior. He had even gotten one of the House Elves, who he was on particularly good terms with, to slip a few drops of a liquid into Rose's pumpkin juice that was supposed to make the drinker turn bright blue in the face if they were under the influence of a Love Potion-- but there had been no change in the color of Rose's skin.

Either Driscoll was using some very powerful, very subtle and unknown Love Potion, or he had found some way to make someone go crazy for him that Scorpius knew absolutely nothing about, or, the last option, which Scorpius realized was probably the most likely at this point, yet was unwilling to accept, was that Rose actually did like Driscoll much more than she had ever liked him.

"I can have any girl in this whole school, except for the one I actually want," said Scorpius aloud, knowing that no one was close enough to hear him-- or so he thought.

"It is an ironic and cruel world," said Albus from behind him, coming around to take a seat by his side.

"That it is," said Scorpius, not thrown off-beat at all. "Sometimes I just tell myself that life is a meaningless lottery of chance, but then I realize that that would mean it was complete luck that I have the looks, wit, and charm that I have. And I refuse to accept that."

"Oh, but then what would it be if it wasn't luck?" accused Albus.

"Well, contrary to popular belief, I think that the universe is fair, and that it realized I would be insanely awesome, so it gave me the gifts I deserved to help me on my way through life."

"That is the most twisted way of looking at life being fair that I could ever imagine," said Albus, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You just don't interpret things the right way, Albus."

"And you do?"

"Of course, like the fact that when the meat goes bad, some one somewhere is messing with you."

"I don't know where you get it," said Albus in disbelief once more.

"It comes from my boundless stock of good lines that pop into my head without a moment's notice."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I've heard it before."

"Our first detention is tomorrow night," said Scorpius, switching topics.

Albus groaned. "On a Saturday night? How is that fair?"

"Ah, but this is one detention I don't think you'll complain about," said Scorpius.

"And why's that?" demanded Albus.

"Because this one involves me and you helping out dear old Professor Longbottom down at the greenhouses."

"No way," said Albus, gawking.

"It just so happens we lucked out," said Scorpius, flicking a bit of imaginary dust off of the table.

"You can say that again."

"Yeah, oh, and I ordered us outfits for the break-in."

"What?" gasped Albus, spluttering pumpkin juice left and right.

"Merlin, that is disgusting," said Scorpius in annoyance, brushing at the new orange stain on his robes.

"What do you mean, outfits?" asked Albus suspiciously.

"If I'm going to be stuck in Azkaban the rest of my life, I want to go down looking impeccable."

"You do realize, no one's going to be around to appreciate it," pointed out Albus.

"I don't care, I want it, and I'll have it," said Scorpius, brandishing his hand in the air.

"You know I won't wear anything of the sort," said Albus.

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't."

"I'd like to point out that you won't be able to pull this off without me," said Scorpius, poking Albus in the chest with a long finger.

Albus sighed. "What type of outfits are these?"

"You'll have to wait and see," said Scorpius, grinning.

"If it's something ridiculous, I'll kill you."

Scorpius snorted. "My fashion sense is spotless, and you know that."

"True..." said Albus, trailing off.

"Anyways, I'm going to get some fresh air. I'll be back," said Scorpius, getting to his feet.

"Sure, whatever," said Albus.

Scorpius had only been gone a couple of minutes, when Baddock threw herself into the seat across from Albus.

"Where's Scorpius?" she asked.

"Went for some fresh air," said Albus, waving his fork in the general direction of the door to the Great Hall.

"Then I'll wait for him to get back, I guess," she said in annoyance, setting her elbows on the table, and twiddling her thumbs.

"I think he'll be awhile," said Albus, hoping that she would go in search of him; he didn't really want Baddock's company for the entirety of his dinner.

"It's okay, I'll wait," said Baddock, fixing Albus with a gaze that made him shift uncomfortably.

Albus went back to his food, but was finding it increasingly difficult to just eat nonchalantly with Baddock just sitting there, watching him.

"So..." he began, "you and Scorpius, huh?"

"It would seem so," she said.

"Then it looks like you got your wish. Rose lost interest in Scorpius, just in time for you to step in, isn't that right?" Albus had never realized it before, but now that it was said aloud, it did place Baddock at a position of suspicion.

Baddock's eyes narrowed on him. "What are you saying, Albus?" she asked, her tone cold.

"Nothing, Baddock, just merely observing some facts."

"I may do some low things, but I wouldn't try something like that."

Albus waved it away. "So you say," he said.

Baddock's green eyes sparked. "Watch it."

There was a few moments of silence.

"You know, Potter, if you took more care of yourself, you could be almost as good looking as Scorpius. Not quite at that level of course, but you'd be up there, at least," said Baddock.

Albus gawked at her.

"Stop looking at me like that," she snapped. "You're staring at me as if I just asked you to marry me, or something."

Albus closed his mouth with an audible crack.

Baddock shuddered. "Gah, that's bad for your teeth you know."

Albus shook his head. "You and Scorpius are exactly alike."

"I know, aren't we just perfect for each other?"

"If anything, I'd say that's exactly why you guys would never be able to stand each other for long," muttered Albus under his breath.

Fortunately for him, Baddock didn't seem to fully catch this comment, or if she did, she outright ignored it.

Baddock made a huffing noise. "Where is Scorpius?" she demanded.

"I told you he--"

"Yes," she said impatiently, "but how long does it take someone to grab some fresh air?"

"Maybe an overgrown leech grabbed his face, and sucked all his good looks away," said Albus stabbing a steak on his plate with delightful vehemence.

"That, would not be funny," said Baddock.

Albus rolled his eyes. "I think it would be quite amusing, and quite good for his ego, as well," said Albus dryly.

"It's bad enough already with that stupid scar on his cheek," said Baddock in annoyance.

"I think it looks kind of cool," offered Albus.

"But what you think doesn't matter," said Baddock.

"Mmmm, good point," said Albus. "Or maybe he had a sudden heart attack, rolled down and into the lake, and drowned."

"You think you're amusing, don't you?" asked Baddock.

"Only mildly so."

"Well, you aren't."

"Thanks for the encouragement, it really boosts my morale."

"You should take lessons from Scorpius, he has wit."

"As if I needed someone to point that out. He does a fairly good job of informing everybody of that."

Baddock rose to her feet. "That's it, I'm tired of waiting for him. I'm going."

"What, right now? We were just becoming so close," said Albus, rather relieved that she was leaving.

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to set apart some time to have another good old heart-to-heart in the future," said Baddock. "Keep well, Potter." She reached over and patted Albus on the head, before turning and leaving.

"Please refrain from doing that," said Albus, slightly annoyed.

Baddock laughed. "You're too much fun, Potter."

Throwing his eyes skyward, Albus grabbed his glass of pumpkin juice, and downed it in one go.

Author's Note:

Well, I hope you liked it. The quote "Tis strange..." is by William Thackeray. Anyways, thanks to lasalliann for reviewing, as always. ;) But it would also be nice to know what some other people think as well, don't hesitate to review please!