Tying Up Loose Ends
Gilderoy Lockhart limped forward just as Scorpius got up the nerve to ask, “Who are you?”
Lockhart gasped at the unintended insult. “I,” he exclaimed with an air of self-importance, “am none other than Gilderoy Lockhart!”
Scorpius was utterly baffled; the man was acting as though he should recognize the name. He couldn’t help but blurt out, “Who?”
Gilderoy could barely conceal his annoyance. “Gilderoy Lockhart! Not only was I the recipient of Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile-Award five consecutive times, I also wrote such well known titles as: Magical Me, Break with a Banshee,Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, and Year of the Yeti!”
“You left out Wanderings with Werewolves and Gilderoy Lockhart’s Guide to Household Pests,” added Rosie.
“Yes! Thank you! So not all of the younger generation has become illiterate,” replied Lockhart, giving a small bow in Rosie’s direction while twirling his wand. The momentary distraction was all the two Aurors needed.
“Expelliarmus!” shouted Harry and Ron together. Lockhart’s wand flew high into the air and Albus managed to catch it.
Lockhart’s smile froze and the colour drained from his face. “Now... let’s not be hasty... I was only joking when I said I intended to erase your memories...”
“Yeah, just like you were only joking last time you tried to erase our memories,” snapped Harry. Ropes shot out of his wand, effectively binding Lockhart.
Ron gave him a look of sheer loathing then turned to Harry. “Amazing. The gilded git managed to get his memory back and still can’t do a simple Shield Charm.”
Gilderoy bristled. “What I lack in the skill of defensive magic, I more than make up for with my excellent...”
Lockhart never managed to finish bragging as Ron used a Silencing Charm on him. Ron glared at his former teacher. “We won’t be lifting that until its time to question you.”
“We should really get everyone out of here,” added Harry, glancing around in case any more of his old Defence teachers made an appearance. Being face to face with Dolores Umbridge after everything else that had happened in the past week would simply be too much.
Ron nodded to Harry while hugging his daughter close to him. “You call for Hit Wizards to secure and search, I’ll send a message to Hermione.”
With a swish of their wands, Harry’s stag and Ron’s terrier Patronuses took off at a full run. Draco stood, retrieved his wand and crossed the room to Scorpius, putting a protective hand on his son’s shoulder. “We’d better let your mother know what’s happened to us, she’s likely going out of her mind.”
Having regained some of his composure, Draco turned to Ron and Harry. “Where should I tell her to meet us?”
Harry adjusted his glasses. “I suppose you ought to come with us to Auror Headquarters. You obviously aren’t under arrest though,” he added hurriedly.
Draco nodded his acknowledgement to Harry and then a large silver wolf burst from his wand and loped off through the wall. There were popping noises as Hit Wizards appeared around the room.
“No one move!” yelled a young Hit Wizard, his wand aimed at Draco.
“It’s alright, Brocklehurst; Malfoy’s no longer a suspect,” Harry explained rapidly.
Brocklehurst reluctantly lowered his wand as Harry continued with instructions. “I want Lockhart, Smith and Goyle brought in to be questioned by Ron and I. Keep them in separate rooms. Also, I want this place searched from top to bottom. Mr Malfoy, Ron and I will be escorting our children to Headquarters. If you’ll excuse us, our wives are probably very eager to see the kids.”
The Hit Wizards hurried off to their respective tasks. Harry picked up a ruined cushion from the charred sofa, muttering, “Portus.”
“Alright, now everyone grab hold on the count of three. One, two, three!”
Scorpius felt himself being jerked into the unknown. After a few moments, they were all standing in a modern office. Two women were standing there, with a little boy and girl. Scorpius recognized Mrs Weasley and guessed that the woman with red hair must be Albus’s mother.
“Rosie!” Hermione dashed across the room to hug her daughter, tears streaming down her face. Hugo and Lily ran over to join in a group hug. Scorpius noticed that there were tear streaks down Mrs Potter’s face too as she enveloped her son in a tight embrace.
“I was so scared; I thought I’d lost you!”
Albus’s reply was muffled in his mother’s robes. When he managed to squirm far enough away to be able to breath again, Scorpius still couldn’t hear him because there was a good deal of shouting outside.
“I don’t care what you think your orders are; I am going to see my son! You have three seconds to get out of my way before I blast you and the door you’re blocking!”
With a stab of joy, Scorpius recognized the angry voice of his own mother. Draco chuckled before he informed Harry, “Unless you want your staff sent to St Mungo’s, I suggest you let my wife in immediately.”
Harry hurried over to open the door but it was blasted open, just as Astoria Malfoy had promised. The guard on duty was cautiously peering out from underneath his desk.
“Er, thanks Stan, but Mrs Malfoy does have an appointment,” Harry explained rather lamely.
Scorpius found himself being hugged and cried over as well; Astoria’s anger had vaporized into relief upon seeing her son safe. She asked in a choked voice, “What happened, Dear? The school told us you were kidnapped...”
“He wasn’t kidnapped,” Draco wearily explained to his wife. “He and the Potter boy used a secret exit from the school to try to rescue the Weasley girl.”
“WHAT?” demanded several adults, in shock.
“Well, we sort of were kidnapped,” added Scorpius defensively. He considered being knocked unconscious and subsequently locked in a room to be close enough to count as being kidnapped.
“What do you mean ‘sort of’?” Astoria questioned in her no-nonsense voice.
Scorpius and Albus exchanged glances and then began telling everyone how they went from being in detention to being captured.
“And then Merlin found us!” Scorpius explained.
“Merlin found you?” asked Ginny, completely confused.
“Merlin’s his owl,” Astoria clarified.
“How did your owl find you there?” Harry inquired.
“I guess when the tunnel opened, a bunch of snakes came out and Merlin likes to eat snakes. He probably caught some and then followed us; he had a dead snake in his talons when he found us.”
“That makes sense,” added Ron. “What I don’t understand though was why you didn’t send a letter to the Auror Department or even the school.”
“We didn’t have anything to write with or on,” Rosie explained. “Scorpius still had the ring from Mr Malfoy and we also had a goblet with the Smith coat of arms on it. I’d had it the whole time but I didn’t know it was the Smith crest; Scorpius recognized it right away and he said his dad would too. We had a few candles so we melted the wax for one and then gave it and the ring to Merlin to take to Mr Malfoy.”
Draco jumped in. “I’d just received a letter from Macmillan saying that my son had been kidnapped when a second owl landed on my desk with my old ring and the piece of wax. Scorpius was right; I did recognize the crest immediately and I knew the ring meant that he had left the school. I sent Potter and Weasley a message and then Apparated to the Smith mansion.”
“But how did you know how to do a Patronus message?” Harry asked.
For the first time since they’d arrived at the Auror Department, Draco began to lose his composure. His voice shook a bit as he answered, “I spent a lot of time under house arrest with Wormtail. He’d known for years how the Order of the Phoenix communicated and had made it known to the Death Eaters. I asked him to teach me.”
Draco’s voice became harsher. “I showed Mother once after I learned how to do it. When she saw it was a wolf she made me promise not to show anyone else. She thought it might associate us too closely with my cousin and her marriage to Remus Lupin. We had already fallen out of favour with the Dark Lord and couldn’t afford to fall further.”
Astoria took Draco’s hand in her own, her eyes once again filled with tears. After a few moments Hermione broke the increasingly uncomfortable silence. “It’s been a long day for all of us and I need to present to the Wizengamot tomorrow... How about we all meet tomorrow evening for dinner and then Harry and Ron can tell us how Lockhart and Goyle are involved in this?”
Ron gaped at his wife, unable to believe she’d just invited the Malfoys to dinner. Before he could protest, Ginny settled the matter. “How about we have everyone over to Grimmauld Place? I’ll send for James. We should be safe from being overheard by Skeeter there too,” added Ginny, making a face.
“That’s very kind of you,” replied Astoria. “We’d be delighted. I also have an idea that ought to prevent Rita Skeeter from writing about this; Mr Potter, could I have a word with you?”
A Fresh Start by Hypatia
Chapter Notes: In order to keep a bit closer to JKR’s interviews, Scorpius’s mother has been changed from Pansy Parkinson to Astoria Greengrass. Chapter one has already been edited to reflect this change and the following chapters will be too. No other major changes to the story are expected.