Back to work

Scorpius had to be careful in how he approached his return. Lehrer would have been spooked by what happened with his arrest, but he would also gloat over being able to get out of a tight spot once again. He shouldn't walk right into that bar again out of the blue. He needed to establish his return in other ways first. He worked out a way with some Aurors. They pretended to arrest someone who shouldn't be arrested. Scorpius then intervened, as Lehrer, making the men around whisper about his return. He then hung around the Alley, making sure to be seen. Hopefully, eventually someone would ask him what had happened. 

He heard a lot of whispers about Amerson. He had discussed it with Harry, and they both agreed that the truth about Amerson needed to be exposed. If everyone thought that that was the alias Scorpius had used all this time, it would also help keep suspicion away from Lehrer. Amerson would need to testify at the trial for the kidnappers, but Scorpius wanted to get Lehrer back into the world before that. He wanted there to be no correlation between his return and Amerson being exposed. The trial was set three weeks from now. He didn't look forward to it, but it was a small price to pay. He wanted to make sure the men that had hurt Fredericks were locked away forever. He had never been friends with Fredericks but being in the same year at Hogwarts they had shared some classes. He had been mean towards Al at times, but that didn't mean he deserved what had happened to him. No one deserved that. 

Scorpius was taken out of his gloomy thoughts when someone passed by that shouldn't be here. Dawson. Was someone else impersonating him, or had Harry sent him down here? Scorpius followed at a distance. Dawson seemed oblivious to how almost everyone in the Alley looked at him. They had all heard the news. What on earth was he doing here? Scorpius wondered if he should intervene and ask. But that might ruin whatever Dawson was here to do. 

Dawson entered the building where the Dark dungeon had been. What business would he have there?

Not two minutes passed before the entire building was on fire! Scorpius was not the only one suddenly backing away rapidly, fearing to be caught in the blaze. He worried that Dawson had been caught in the fire but then he saw him leaving the building, making sure the fire didn't spread. So, that was what he was doing. Making sure that nothing in that building could be taken by scavengers like Scorpius pretended to be and sold to others. There had been Aurors in that building constantly up until this point. A few people had taken the bait and been arrested. 

Scorpius noticed several people staring at him and made sure to give a sort of grimace, both for being unable to loot the riches in that building and for seeing the person who allegedly arrested him. Dawson caught his eye as he prepared to leave and winked at him. Scorpius sneered back, not entirely fake. He knew that it wasn't really Dawson that had hurt him, but seeing his face again was harder than he thought. He took out his wand, but before he could do anything, Dawson was gone. Scorpius ran forward and kicked the dirt where he had been in frustration. Maybe this was the opening he needed.

"Why did you hesitate, Lehrer?" one of the other people asked. "You could have had him, if you'd attacked at once."

"I don't know if you noticed, but there was a burning building in front of him. Besides, you know as well as I do that it wasn't really him that arrested me. That was what confused me. That Auror shouldn't know anything about me. And he showed no surprise in seeing me here. That was the final proof I needed."

"So, you weren't taken to that island the impostor had set up?"

"Island? He had a whole island? No, I was in Azkaban. Not recommended. First I heard about it being an impostor was when I was released. Me and some little young upstart who seemed terrified to let people know he was even there."

"Sounds like you've got off lucky then."

"Yes. I'm good at that. I don't exist, in the eyes of the Ministry. And though I need to be careful, I don't think they would dare to arrest me again any time soon. So, all in all, I can thank the impostor for getting me locked up, but also for actually reporting it, so that I was released when they were exposed. I even got some compensation for the trouble that he caused me!"

"Her."

"What?"

"It was a woman. Vane, they called her. She was apparently obsessed with Harry Potter and tried to remove anyone who was too close to them. Maybe you were taken out because you kept taking young James home."

"Ugh, don't remind me of the Potters. Much good that acquaintanceship did for me. They didn't even notice when I was arrested, and I was only targeted for being friendly towards James Potter. That's what he said anyway. The whole boat ride to Azkaban, he kept ranting about how the Potters were idiots keeping me around. At least it's now over and done with and the Potters probably owe me one. I'll collect if I need to." 

"Ever the opportunist." 

Scorpius decided that he had been open and friendly for long enough. Lehrer rarely shared personal information. 

"Was there something else you wanted to say, or did you just come to pry?"

The man simply lifted his hands and backed away. Lehrer did have a reputation after all. 

A few days later, about a week before the trial, Scorpius decided the time had come to get back to the pub where he had been arrested. He needed to thank the people there for not flipping on him. None of them had fabricated evidence against him, at least not as far as they could tell. Maybe a few had tried to come to Dawson with something, but he doubted it. 

The whole pub fell silent as he entered. Much like it had when he was arrested. But this time there wasn't an Auror waiting to assault him. He gave them an uncharacteristic half smile, then left a little tower of Galleons on the bar. 

"Tonight, the drinks are on me." He didn't need to say or explain anything else. Cheers broke out all over the bar.

He didn't notice until later that Tom Crickey sat in a corner. He tried to make himself blend into the wall, but when Scorpius finally saw him, he whimpered and almost spilled his whole drink. Why was he afraid of him? Had Rose told him to stay away from him? That wasn't necessary anymore, though it had probably been a good idea in the first weeks after he came back. Could he sit down and talk to him without it being weird? He had pretended that he was released at the same time as him, though not mentioning the name. He decided to sit down on the table next to him. Tom was shaking. 

"I'm not going to hurt you," Scorpius said in a low voice. "You have nothing to fear from me." Tom relaxed visibly. 

"If anyone asks, I was released from Azkaban at the same time as you. Can you manage to say that?" Tom nodded, though Scorpius wondered if it was genuine, or because he was still scared that Scorpius would hurt him. Before he had time to say anything else, a few of his associates sat down next to him. Scorpius smiled. Or at least, he gave the pleased smirk he did as Lehrer. 

"Did you miss me?" he asked. 

"That's a strong word," one of them said. "But I must say, not many people have been able to survive getting arrested, sent to Azkaban, and then being released with no charge. But if anyone could do such a thing, it'd have to be you."

"Seems I missed quite a lot. A pity I didn't get to check out that building that burned down at the end of the Alley. There was probably a lot of spoils to be had."

"So one would think. But anyone that entered did not return. I don't know if they've been arrested, or got a worse fate, but none have dared go there for three days."

"I noticed. How many idiots fell for that temptation? I suspect the Ministry had people inside there searching for the spoils for themselves. I was going to wait until they were gone. Pity they anticipated that. Still, there might be something left, once the place has cooled down."

"I would think you were smarter than that. Find the names of some of those who were members, go and see what you could find there instead."

"See, that is something I could have done, but I was sadly absent due to a bad case of being arrested. Now it is almost too late. But yes, I know a few people who were probably members whose houses might suddenly get unexpected visitors." 

He knew that was too late for that already as well. Searching the houses of the members had been one of the first things Harry did.