Seventh-Year: The Next Generation

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, hopefully I can go along more speedily now. Anyways, here it is.

Chapter 23: No Use

Somebody tapped Scorpius on the shoulder. Scorpius's eyelids opened slowly, and he blinked away sleep.

It was dark in the room. Scorpius figured it must be sometime in the middle of the night. Lily was sleeping on the fourposter, and Scorpius--having decided that it would be distinctly awkward for the two of them to spend the night in the same bed--was on the floor, having made himself as comfortable as he could with a pillow.

A figure that was definitely human was bending over Scorpius, and whoever it was had his hand on Scorpius's shoulder. Scorpius didn't hesitate, but fired his fist up. He smiled smugly as his punch connected with an audible crunch in the dead-center of the person's face.

A long string of fine oaths filled the room as Scorpius's "attacker" --or whatever the person was--stumbled back, clutching his nose.

Lily, waking with the noise, shot straight up in bed. "What the hell?" she said in surprise.

"Get a light," yelled Scorpius, jumping to his feet and launching himself at his attacker.

"Where's my wand?" demanded Lily.

Scorpius didn't answer as he was now busy scrabbling about on the floor, dealing blows to the intruder who was desperately trying to get away from him while still swearing fiercely.

"Get- off- of- me!" bellowed Scorpius's victim, who promptly turned and struck Scorpius across the head. Before Scorpius had the time to respond his assailant kicked out and knocked Scorpius's feet out from under him, taking him to the floor once more.

Scorpius was slow to move, and suddenly had whoever-it-was pinning him to the floor. He struggled against the intruder, but it was in vain. His limbs felt heavy and unresponsive. A numbness seemed to have settled on his body during the night, and he didn't have the control over it--or the strength--that he was used to.

"Lumos!" said Lily, who had finally gotten a hold of her wand in the darkness.

Scorpius stared up in bewilderment to find a disgruntled and bloody-nosed Babcock sitting on top of him.

"Lily, hex him!" cried Scorpius.

"Wait, Potter, wait by God," yelled Babcock. "I'm on your side."

"And why should we trust you?" asked Lily.

"Yes, why?" asked Scorpius.

"Because," said Babcock, pausing and briefly releasing one of Scorpius's arms to wipe away blood that had been trickling down into his mouth, "you have no choice."

"Oh?" asked Scorpius. "The way I see it is that Lily could just stun you, and the two of us could just walk out the door and find our way out of here."

"Without setting off the alarms? I doubt it," said Babcock.

"You could be bluffing," pointed out Scorpius.

Babcock rolled his eyes. "Merlin, Malfoy, you're frustrating."

"I keep telling him that," said Lily.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Yes, this subject keeps tending to repeat itself."

"Look, if you don't want to hear me out, whatever. But why would I be here, in the middle of the night?" asked Babcock.

"Well, I'm pretty dashingly good looking, and your sexual preferences have always been a bit ambiguous," said Scorpius.

Babcock made a horrified choking noise, and leapt back and off of Scorpius. "You're disgusting," he said, clearly repulsed.

"I also keep telling him that as well," said Lily with satisfaction.

With as much dignity as he could manage, Scorpius slowly drew himself to his feet. "You blokes just don't know the meaning of the word," he said in an injured tone.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Who cares, anyway?" demanded Babcock. "We need to get some things straight so that I can get out of here. If I get caught being with you two it's the end of me, and mostly likely you Gryffindor idiots as well."

"Calling us idiots won't exactly insure cooperation," pointed out Lily.

"The vixen's right. Apologize and kiss our hands," said Scorpius, proffering his out.

"Yeah, right," muttered Babcock.

Scorpius gave his hand a little shake, as if it was waiting.

"Shut up, we need to move on."

"First we--" began Scorpius, but Lily decided she didn't want to risk what Babcock had said earlier.

"Yes, Babcock? So, what do you have to say?"

"First off, I'm on your side. If things come to a pinch, you can count on me. My dad should be in as well. I just need to...convince him."

"What does that mean?" demanded Lily. Scorpius just seemed to be pouting that Babcock hadn't kissed his hand.

"It means that he's had enough of this whole thing, just like me, but he doesn't think he'll get any pardon from the Ministry."

"And will he?"

"I don't know," said Babcock, hesitant. "I'm hoping that if we both help out, and try and come clean, that we'll both be let off. But we'll have to wait and see as to that. Anyways, I sent a letter to Potter."

"Albus?" asked Scorpius in surprise, forgetting--for the moment at least--his injury at not getting the apology and peck on the hand.

"Yes, that would be him," said Babcock dryly. "I gave him a map to the castle. Hopefully at this very moment he'll be on his way, and have a horde of Ministry officials and Aurors coming along after him."

"Let's hope," said Scorpius, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy. "Now, I want to know about this Culling Blade. Can you shed some light on the situation, seeing as you're the 'keeper' of the thing?"

Babcock bit his lip, and looked away. At last he said, "Actually, I'm not the keeper. I was supposed to be, once my dad and his colleagues got caught. However, it turned out I didn't have the stomach to do it."

"It's that blade Zabini cut me with? Isn't it? And he's the actual keeper?" asked Scorpius harshly.

Babcock nodded.

"And is that what's affecting me? Is that why I have almost no mobility anymore and have this searing chill all the time?"

Babcock nodded again.

"What's the end result?" asked Scorpius sharply.

Babcock refused to make eye contact with him.

"Babcock? Tell me, by God."

"The end result is that you lose your mind. You become Zabini's puppet. But not before a very slow, agonizing process of your body fighting against it."

There was a sharp intact of breath from the bed. Scorpius looked over in mild surprise at Lily, as if he had forgotten she was there.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" she demanded.

"There's supposedly a potion that cures it, but I don't have it. One of the others does, but I'm not sure who. Certainly not Bulstrode--he's too thick to be trusted with something like that."

"How much time do I have?" asked Scorpius quietly.

Babcock hesitated. "The later stages are already starting to set in. I'd give you no more than forty-eight hours."

Scorpius nodded, as if he had expected as much.

"I told Potter to make haste, hopefully he listened."

"Did you tell him what was happening to me?" asked Scorpius sharply once more.

"No, just that there wasn't very much time," replied Babcock, blinking in surprise.

"Hell," said Scorpius, as if he was commenting on the weather.

"Aptly put," said Babcock.

"So is this what all of you have been planning?" asked Lily. "To make an army with the Culling Blade?"

Babcock gave her a look of impressed surprise. "How'd you guess?"

"Seems like something the villains would do in a story," she muttered. Then louder, "Why can't you just show us out of here? If there are really alarms like you say, you can clearly get around them."

"I'm sorry, Red," said Babcock, and Lily thought he actually did look genuinely sorry. "But I can't do that. If I just let you guys walk away, there's no chance of pardon for me or my dad. I need to be responsible for bringing this whole thing in. It's the only way."

"I understand," said Lily quietly.

"I need to get out of here. Just be on the look out for something big, I wager you won't miss it when everyone arrives. It should be hell of a battle. Also remember that if something gets sticky, I'll do the best I can to help. If it helps out more at first, I might pretend to still be with them. That doesn't mean I'm not just waiting for the perfect opportunity to turncoat."

Scorpius simply nodded, as Babcock rose and headed for the door. Just as he reached it, Lily spoke up.

"Babcock."

"Yes?"

"Don't ever call me Red again."

The light from Lily's wand barely reached where the Slytherin boy stood, and his face was half in shadow. That didn't prevent Lily from seeing the ghost of a smile playing around his lips.

"Okay, Red." Then he was gone.

"I hope Albus got all those Aurors," said Lily.

"Yeah," said Scorpius, "I hope."

. . . . . .

It was dawn when Baddock and Albus finally set down on one of the towers of the castle. They had flown with essentially no stops, and luckily Babcock's directions had proven true and they had had no trouble in finding their way. Now there was just one trick: getting inside.

"Alright, how do we manage this?" asked Baddock.

"You're asking me? Aren't you supposed to be the Ravenclaw?"

"I've been following you; I figured you knew what you were doing."

"Well...that's interesting to know," said Albus, brushing a hand through his unruly locks. Baddock would go to her grave before she admitted it--at least at this point--but she thought he looked really cute when he did that. Dragging her mind off of that train of thought, she focused on the issue at hand.

"Babcock didn't mention how to get in?" she asked.

"You read the letter over my shoulder," pointed out Albus. "You know as much as I do."

"True..." she mused. "What an idiot. Bloody Slytherins. You would think they'd be pretty good at planning, seeing as they spend so much time trying to be cunning."

"Maybe it's because they try, but don't succeed at being cunning."

"Well, you can't say anything. Everybody knows that Gryffindors are Hogwart's way of killing off the excess population," said Baddock.

"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Albus.

"It means, that Gryffindors are a bunch of brainless macho men whose job it is to be heroes but really only end up die trying."

"That's encouraging," sulked Albus.

"Thank you," said Baddock, throwing a wide smile at him. He grumbled something incoherent in response.

A sharp howling cut through the air from somewhere far below. Albus and Baddock both looked over the edge of the tower nervously.

"What was that?" demanded Baddock.

"I bet it was one of the Culling Blade's victims," said Albus.

"Explain that."

Albus sighed. "Basically the Culling Blade turns anyone it touches into a mindless demonic being who serves the person who turned them."

Baddock whistled. "That sounds fun."

"I know, right. Especially in the hands of a bunch of demented Slytherins. Now, back to actually getting in to the castle. That's where I'm stuck," said Albus matter-of-factly. I didn't see anything that looked like an entrance as we came in."

"Me neither," said Baddock, looking thoughtful. "But I did see some windows, we could try breaking in through those."

"Eh, I'd prefer not to enter that way. Even if it would work. If we have to, I'm willing to try. I just want to make sure we have no other options, first."

"Well, let me know when you come up with something," said Baddock, leaning against the low parapet and crossing her arms, watching Albus.

Albus stroked his chin, attempting to make it look like he was thinking hard about it--when in reality he had no clue what to do. However, he just managed to make himself look quite comical in Baddock's eyes, but she was gracious and didn't make a comment on it.

"We could try the forest floor," suggested Albus. "There might be a door down there that we can't see from up here."

"And risk hordes of demonic who-knows-whats?" asked Baddock in disbelief. "I'd rather not."

"Well," said Albus, thinking of options once more. "We could do another fly around and see if we find a way in."

"That could be done," said Baddock, and for a brief moment of hope, Albus thought they had come up with a plan. However, his joy was not to be. "Or, that could just get us spotted, and then we'd be good as dead to Scorpius and Lily."

"Then you decided what we do," snapped Albus. "You're such a plan killer," he sulked.

"I think we should locate a window from where we are, that way we know exactly where we're going once we leave this tower. We make straight for it, and blast through it. Simple."

Albus grumbled indistinctly, but before either of them could do anything, a door appeared in the stone tiles between them. It swung open inward, revealing a dark staircase leading deeper into the castle.

They both stared at it, then Albus looked up and stared at Baddock. "What do we do?" he asked.

Baddock looked annoyed at him turning to her for aid. "I don't know. Seems suspicious to me. Why would a secret door just open, letting us in?"

"Maybe it's Babcock, helping us out from somewhere in the castle," pointed out Albus. "That would make sense, since he's probably around others and can't get away himself."

"If Babcock knows we've arrived, then it's very possible others could to," said Baddock.

"Well, in either case, we have a way in, and no plans as to how to find another. I say we take it."

Baddock shrugged. "You're the leader."

They promptly used a shrinking spell on their brooms, and stowed them in the pockets of their robes. Albus lit up his wand, before hesitantly making his way onto the first of the steps. As he did this, a torch leapt alight on the wall, making him jump a foot in the air.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, Merlin's right. You're as skittish as a kitten," said Baddock, frowning.

Albus glared at her, but then doused the light of his wand and continued forward. The staircase spiraled down and out of sight, making them blind to anything further than a couple feet ahead of them. As they went, torches would light up on the wall, and then go out again once they where a decent ways past.

At last they came out onto a large corridor that stretched before them and out of sight into darkness. They started forward together, wands out and at the ready. They passed many grand tapestries and painting as they went. Most depicted things that both teenagers would not have minded not seeing.

Each time they came to a door, they would slowly and hesitantly swing it open, wands at the ready. For the quarter of an hour or so, they only found abandoned bedrooms and sitting rooms. All furnished rather lavishly, and with walls adorned with more tapestries.

They came to the last door on the corridor, before the hallway took a sharp turn in two different directions. Just as hesitantly as before, Albus opened the door, hope twisting in his stomach that it might be what they looked for.

He was disappointed.

The room that was before his eyes seemed to be abandoned. It was a library. One of the largest libraries he had ever seen in fact. Bookshelves lined every wall and were stacked on one another all the way up into the darkness that stretched above them. There were great moving staircases that rolled back and forth along the shelves, allowing one to get to the books that would ordinarily be out of reach.

Large velvet couches were scattered about the room. Each having a lamp and a table nearby, so as to aid any studious comer.

Albus wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled, and stepped forward into the room. He half-expected Baddock to protest. But she didn't. She followed him silently, clearly as curious as he was.

Albus walked into the center of the room, Baddock right behind him. He stared up toward the ceiling, but there was none visible. Only swirls of darkness could be seen.

"Stupefy!" suddenly resounded throughout the room from many different voices.

Albus was not son of Harry Potter for nothing. He reacted on the instant, grabbing Baddock and pulling her to the ground with him as numerous jets of light soared over his head.

Suddenly figures started to emerge from the dark corners of the of the room, all with wands outstretched and pointed at the two teenagers that were almost completely encircled.

"Expelliarmus!" he bellowed in response, as he struggled to his feet, dragging Baddock with him. He was rewarded as he saw a wand fly from one of his attackers hands.

Albus shoved Baddock in the direction of the door. "Run!" he yelled.

Baddock did as ordered, figuring she would be no use if she was captured. As she sped toward escape she fired a spell over her shoulder. She turned back to the door only to find another assailant blocking the way. "Stupefy!" was the last thing she heard.

Albus ran to the side, dogging spells left and right. He jumped onto a couch, running along it as he fired spells at some of his attackers. Leaping the back of the piece of furniture, he landed in a run, ducking as a jet of light barely zipped over his head, ruffling his hair.

Another salvo of spells came shooting at him, and this time he had nowhere to dodge to, for there were too many.

A blue hex hit him in the side, throwing him into the air and crashing into a bookcase. He fell to the ground as he was showered in tumbling tomes. His wand spun from his hand and skidded across the floor, fetching up against the foot of none other than Babcock, who had poorly concealed disappointment all over his features. Lucky for him, no one was looking at him.

"Gotcha, Potty!" trilled Aubrielle, bounding over to gloat down at him.

"I hate you," said Albus, glaring at her.

Aubrielle giggled. "Come now, you don't mean that."

"Oh, trust me, I do" was the reply.

Driscoll Sr. emerged and looked down at him in disgust. "You and that Malfoy boy sure have been bitter disappointments, Potter."

Albus struggled to his feet, and to his surprise, they all let him.

Bulstrode Sr. came strolling over, the limp form of Baddock in his arms. "What do I do with this one?" he grunted.

"Put her with the rest, why not let them have a lovely reunion?" said Driscoll Sr. "Zabini, will you take this one, too?"

Zabini Sr. stepped forth out of the dark. "Sure. I'd be glad to." White teeth flashed briefly against his dark skin.

As Albus was dragged roughly out into the corridor and down the hall, all he could think was, I've let them down. I've let them down. It's all over now.

Author's Note:

Believe it or not, we're almost done with this story! Yay! =D