Worrying

The next day, Rose Granger-Weasley, Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy sat together in an empty classroom at Hogwarts. Since they were in different Houses, this is where they met when they wanted to talk in private or study for their N.E.W.Ts together. Their exams were only a month away, but today it was the latest edition of the Daily Prophet that they focused on. The news of the escaped Death Eaters and the sightings of Voldemort were of course on the front page and the subject of their discussion.

"But why haven't they said anything about this to us? The Death Eaters have been on the run for weeks, but we read about it in the paper?" Rose said indignantly. She hated not knowing. People often assumed that she, the daughter of the Minister for Magic, knew a lot of things the others didn't. The truth was, her mother rarely shared details about her work with her, even now that she was of age. She knew more about the newest products in Weasley Wizard Wheezes, where her father worked, than what happened at the Ministry of Magic.

"They probably don't want us to worry. My dad tends to not tell us the bad news," Albus replied. Normally, he didn't mind not knowing, but this was a little different.

"But this is important! We need to be prepared," Rose said.

"Why?" Scorpius asked. "We are at Hogwarts. Everyone agrees that this is the safest place in the world to be. Besides, what are we going to be able to do, being at school ourselves?"

"I don't care. We need to help. Or at the least, we need to know what's going on. We are all of age; we should be allowed to be part of it."

"Typical Rose, you always want to know everything," Albus teased.

"And what is wrong with that?" Scorpius interjected.

"Nothing," Albus replied with a small grin that only Scorpius saw.

"I still say that there isn't that much we can do from here. We need to wait until after our exams," Scorpius said. He honestly hoped that by then, this would all be over. He didn't really want to get involved in any of this, but he would never say that where Rose could hear it. He checked his watch. "It is curfew soon. We need to get back to our Common rooms." Scorpius said.

Scorpius' eyes followed Rose as she walked out the door to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room. They turned in the opposite direction, towards the dungeon and the Slytherin Common Room.

"You are hopeless," Albus said with a smile.

"I'm not," Scorpius retorted with a faint blush.

"Why don't you just tell her? Ask her on a date to Hogsmeade or something? You've had plenty of chances."

This comment caused Scorpius to blush even more. The very idea both horrified and excited him. But he had already tried that.

"I can't. She will just laugh at me again. She has half the school looking at her. There is no way she would go out with me. She only talks to me because I am your friend, and it took years for her to do even that."

"How can you know that if you don't ask? I think she likes you."

"Rose likes everyone. That is one of the best things about her," Scorpius said with a dreaming look on his face.

"You really are hopeless," Albus said with a laugh.

***

The escaped Death Eaters were of course the subject of discussion in the dormitory as well, but most of the other students didn't seem to be very worried. They all agreed that Hogwarts was the safest place to be and besides, Harry Potter was out searching for him, so it would probably all be fixed soon. Albus was always a bit uncomfortable when people talked about his father like that. He knew that his father was not infallible.

Scorpius waited until the others had fallen asleep before he voiced his thoughts about it to Albus. He knew the subject was a touchy one and didn't want to force him to talk about it in front of the others if he didn't want to, but he suspected Albus was as worried as the rest of them.

"Do you really think he is back Al? I mean, how is that possible? He is dead. They killed him."

"I don't know. I mean, he died once already, when he tried to kill my father when he was a baby, and everyone seemed to think that was the end of it. But then he came back. A second Voldemort. And now again; a third Voldemort," Albus was scared but he tried to hide it.

"Yes, but the first time he just disappeared. The second time, there was an actual body," Scorpius objected. "And why wait for so long to return? It's been more than 20 years."

"What if there were more Horcruxes?"

"There can't have been. Dumbledore was sure…"

"Dumbledore could be wrong. No one is perfect, not even Dumbledore or my father. What if they missed one?"

"That is a horrible thought."

They both lay in silence, considering this new idea.

"But if it was a Horcrux, wouldn't he have just disappeared again, like the first time?"

"Maybe, but no one really knows how that business with Horcruxes works, do they? I mean, Voldemort was the first to have so many…"

"It's no use for us to keep speculating about it anyway," Scorpius said. He didn't want to discuss Dark Magic, it made him uncomfortable.

Albus had another thought, but he wasn't sure how he could pitch it to Scorpius. He knew his friend probably wouldn't like it.

"Scorpius, do you know what we should do, if we are ever captured? By the Death Eaters, I mean."

Scorpius was startled. "Why would we be captured? We're at Hogwarts."

"Please, the son of Harry Potter, and a traitor Malfoy? We are instant targets. And Hogwarts has been breached before."

"Yeah, we wouldn't be captured, we would just be killed," Scorpius said, trying to stop the conversation. He did not like thinking about these sorts of possibilities.

Albus however, wasn't deterred. "Maybe, but they might hold us as hostages to lure out our parents. Or at least wait to kill us until they can make a big deal out of it."

"That's very comforting," Scorpius said sarcastically, though he had thought much the same.

"No, listen," Albus said, turning serious. "What we need to do is to pretend to join them."

Scorpius almost jumped out of bed. "ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"Not so loud. You'll wake half the house. Listen, if we pretend that we are going over to their side, we may survive. We may even be able to bring them down and protect others they might capture. Just think about it? I don't want to be any closer to the Dark Arts than I have to, but I also want to live."

Scorpius just sat there for a while, taken aback by Albus' suggestion. He had to admit, it was not a terrible idea. He sighed. "You may have a point," he finally admitted. "But I hope it never comes to that. My father would be very disappointed."

"My father would be angry too," Albus said. "But he would understand, eventually. I don't want it to happen, and I will most definitely not seek it out, but I just want to be ready, if we need to be."

"I suppose you are right. But I really, really hope we won't need that plan."