Blind

As Albus and Scorpius came to the office the next morning, Scorpius was worried that Rose would be there and demand an explanation for his absence the night before. 

As it turned out, it wasn't her they should have been worried about. They never even made it to their own office. As soon as they entered the area for Law Enforcement, Harry flagged them over. 

"Potter. Malfoy. My office. Now." Harry said with an unusual amount of hostility. 

Scorpius tried to not appear nervous as they entered Harry's office. There was none of Harry's usual smile when he looked at them. 

"Can either of you please tell me where Romilda Vane is at this moment?"

Scorpius and Albus looked at each other. 

"She is in her cell in the prison," Albus said with confidence he didn't feel. How had his father found out about this?

"Is she now? That is good to know. What about if I ask you where she was about 12 hours ago?"

None of them replied to this. 

"Despite what you may think," Harry said. "I am not blind. In fact, I managed to hear about many things that happened in the Wizarding World before you started working here, Malfoy. What happened yesterday was WAY, WAY over the line for what I can allow. Do you have any defence for your actions?"

Scorpius noticed that Harry used his last name. He very rarely did that when they were alone. He must be really mad. But did he truly know everything? Or just parts? How on earth would he figure out what part he knew about without revealing the things he might not know?

"Despite how it looked," he said with a trembling voice. "I did not hurt her. I merely…"

"Merely?"

"I merely wanted her to feel half as scared as I felt."

"And for that, you felt you needed to break into a prison, take her with you to Knockturn Alley, then torture her?"

"I didn't torture her. I left her tied up in a dark room. Then I returned her to prison."

"So, you don't consider tying people up and leaving them alone in a dark room a form of torture?"

Scorpius didn't have a good reply to this. He looked down on his feet. Harry had not told them to sit down, so they were both standing. Harry turned to Albus next. 

"And why on earth did you HELP him do this?"

"Help? I didn't help him! I tried to stop them!"

"Stop them? It's your signature here, isn't it?" Harry said as he held up the prison sign-in log. Albus opened his mouth to protest, but Scorpius beat him to it.

"Al is right. He didn't help me. That is my signature."

"Your signature? You mean you impersonated an Auror in order to break someone out of a prison?"

Scorpius wilted down under Harry's stare. He had never seen him so angry. Or at least, never seen him so angry at him. But he couldn't let Albus be dragged down with him, so he nodded. 

"So, if it wasn't Albus, just you, then who did you have on the other side to… No, don't tell me. It was James, wasn't it? 

None of them said anything, but Harry seemed to take their silence as confirmation. 

"I'll deal with him later. For now, what on earth were you thinking, Scorpius?"

"I wasn't." Scorpius said, still looking down on the floor. He might have lost everything by doing this. All the trust Harry had shown him. Maybe even Rose's love. 

"Now, why don't you both sit down, and tell me everything that you did yesterday. I know some parts of it, but I would like a full report. I will also ask James to tell me everything later, so don't leave anything out."

Scorpius knew he didn't have a choice. He hoped Albus wouldn't get fired as well. He had just tried to prevent Scorpius from doing something even worse. So, he told Harry everything. He made sure to blame James for as little as possible and made sure to point out how he had been against the execution of the idea and how disgusted the Dark dungeon had made him. Hopefully that would lessen any punishment he might get as well. 

When he finished, Harry just stared at him for several long minutes. Scorpius didn't dare to break the silence. Had he completely blown it with his childhood hero? Would he get thrown out of the Ministry? Arrested?

"How long have you known about the location of that Dark dungeon?" Harry said after several long minutes of silence. That was not the question Scorpius was expecting. 

"I've always known of it; it was founded during the last war. It was only a few months ago that I was finally able to gain acceptance into it and learn the precise location. I swear, this is the first time I've used it."

"Yet you seem to know exactly what that skull would do? Or at least that it would not harm her."

"I recognised it. Lehrer sold it to another man a few months ago, who is apparently also a member. I've tried to get a hold of that member's list several times, but the guard is very vigilant." 

"That guard is also a psycho who seems to want to hear the screams of the victims inside there," Albus said. It was the first thing he had said since Scorpius started telling his story. "Because of that, he sometimes leaves his post, listening in the doors to hear the action. Since we didn't make any noise he could hear, he lingered at the door longer than he should. Long enough for me to get a copy of this." He took out a small, red book from his pocket. Scorpius stared at it wide-eyed. Had Albus sneaked out under the Invisibility Cloak during the night to get that? He was impressed. 

"There are a few interesting names in there," Albus said. "Including a few who work here, in the Ministry."

Harry reached for the book and started reading through the names. His eyes darkened as he saw some of the names.

"Well, then at least this hasn't all been a complete waste," he said. Then he turned to the last page. "Wait, what is this? Amerson is a member?"

Scorpius jumped at this. Harry didn't know about Amerson. Where had he heard that name?

"I didn't see that. Maybe this will help you find him as well then," Albus said.

"Why are you looking for Amerson?" Scorpius asked. 

"I've been trying to find him for months. He is the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Yann Fredericks."

"Wait, what?" Scorpius said. "But Amerson was the one who returned Fredericks back home, he didn't kidnap him!"

"And how would you know that?" Harry asked. "You didn't work on that case."

"Because… Because I am Amerson," Scorpius said. "I needed someone who was even more sinister than Lehrer. Lehrer would never gain access to places like that dungeon, he is too visible. Amerson is the smart kind of Dark wizard. The kind that is invisible."

"You mean to tell me," Harry said with anger in his voice again. "That I've been chasing a man that doesn't exist for months?"

"I didn't know you were looking for him! Why do you think that Amerson did it?"

"His was the only name that came up when we were looking around. Scorpius, this is exactly why I need you to tell me everything you do. You are not the one who needs to decide what information to follow up on or not. Do you know what happened to Fredericks?"

"Yes. I was the one who got him out of there. I sent him home and went back to deal with the kidnappers. Sadly, they got away before I could return. I tried to find their names, that is why I wanted to find that notebook. So, I don't know their names, but I will recognise all of them if I see them."

Harry rubbed his temples. "And why didn't you tell me that?"

"Because I couldn't reveal the location! I had only just managed to gain entrance, if you shut it down immediately afterwards, I would never be able to get access to those kinds of places again. I was going to tell you, but then the whole thing with the impostor happened."

"That was not your call to make. At the very least, you should have said that you were aware of what the people looked like. That could have saved me a lot of time." Harry took several deep breaths before he continued. "It is clear that this job, and other recent events, has had a strong negative impact on you. I don't want to see your face in this office anymore. Go away, Scorpius. For at least a month, or however long you need to truly understand what it is you've done. Go. We'll talk about what happens next if you return."

Counting himself lucky, Scorpius didn't say a word, just stood up and left. He didn't stop to see if Rose was in her office, he went straight for the elevators and was gone.

Albus didn't dare to say anything after Scorpius left.

"How did you get involved?" Harry asked after about 2 minutes of silence. 

"I got a warning that I had entered the safe location but forgot to give up my wand. Not that it would have helped me a lot to get that warning to my desk, if I was entering a prison, but in this case, it helped me to realise that someone unauthorised had used my credentials to get access to a prison. I got there just in time to see myself leave. I realised it was Scorpius, but he was very quick. He disappeared before I could even get my wand out. I waited to see if he would appear again, then I remembered that James had said he would be with Scorpius today. So, I Tracked James, saw them enter their standard pub and confronted them about what they had done. I overheard their plan in the pub. Maybe I should have told you, but the damage was already done, and I thought that by letting Scorpius complete what he had intended, within reason, I lessened the chance of it happening again. James was terrified through all of this; I don't think he fully realised what Scorpius intended to do."

"Do you think Scorpius would have hurt her?"

"I want to say no, that there is no way. But I honestly don't know anymore. The way he looked at her terrified me. I have never seen him so angry. It is justified, but I am glad that I was able to stop him. I don't think he would be able to live with himself if he had really gone through with what he threatened her with."

Harry sighed. This had become such a mess. He understood how Scorpius felt, he really did. He had himself taken things too far on occasion. He shuddered as he remembered how he had chased after Bellatrix Lestrange after she had killed Sirius. 

"How much of this does Rose know?"

"Nothing. Or at least, none of us have told her any of it. She may suspect that something is up, or guessed some of it, but Scorpius made me promise not to tell her."

"Well, at least he has some morality left. He knows that Rose wouldn't like what he has done, or he wouldn't ask you to keep it a secret."

"He knows that himself too. I think you're right; he needs a break. A long one."

"Did you know about Amerson?"

Albus looked indignant. "Of course not! I know you've been looking for him. I also didn't recognise Scorpius as Amerson last night, he didn't give a name then. I would have told you about that. But why didn't you tell everyone about Amerson? Scorpius really would have told you if you had highlighted the warrant. Or just asked if he had heard of him."

"It was just a suspicion, until after Scorpius disappeared, that is probably why he missed it. I should have asked Scorpius to go through the binder with pictures before he left, to point out the culprits."

"If I find out where he has gone, I can get it to him."

"Or it can be an excuse for Rose to go find him."

"You mean you are going to tell her?"

"How else do you mean to explain to her that her husband is missing again? She will worry either way. I will tell her. What you do, you must decide yourself."

"It may be better if you tell her. Where is she, anyway?"

"She's arranging a meeting between the two Crickey brothers. She seems to have sympathy with them, though I hope she won't take a page out of Scorpius' book and break him out of prison. That will only make things worse."

"To be fair, Scorpius didn't break in so she could escape."

Harry didn't reply. Then he took out a stack of papers. Albus didn't like the look of it.

"This," Harry said. "Is every report you've made as a full Auror that seem to me to be somewhat lacking. I need you to redo them. You are confined to your desk until they are done to my satisfaction."

Albus opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. This was his father's way of punishing him without making it official. He took the stack of papers and returned to his desk. How was he ever to get through all of this?