The splashing drops of cool water striking his left cheek snapped Scorpius back to reality. He had been reliving his hours of post-kidnapping interrogation with the Ministry’s Aurors. He heard the questions from Mr. Weasley about his grandfather:

What exactly had Lucius said to you and when? Who else did he talk to and what did he say to them? Did you know that it appears that a third group was in the Department of Mysteries? Did you know hundreds of special potions were were missing? Did he mention anything other than an antidote for the poison to you? Where exactly had they had been during his missing two weeks?.

He had told them the truth over and over, but they would wait and ask the same question worded with a slight difference in the phrasing. He knew that, before the kidnapping, they would have believed him, but something had changed. When he would finish his responses to the series of questions, Rose’s Dad would glance over at the female Auror, Broomwright. The concerned glance told him everything. They didn’t know if they could trust him, it was like he had been tainted by contact with his grandfather. He didn’t know who to be mad at the most. He had been the victim of a kidnapping, yet they looked at him like he was somehow guilty. He hated Lucius for what he had done to him.

More water struck his forehead; he reached up to touch where the fluid had struck him. Looking around, he found the source of the offending moisture. Beatrice Dragonherd stood across the greenhouse work bench glaring at him. Her face was all puckered like she had just bitten into a sour pickle, and her hands were dripping water droplets from the ends of her extended green painted nailed fingers.

â€�“Blondie, are you going to help me? Or would you rather explain to Professor Longbottom why all of the plants in the greenhouses died during our weekend?”

â€�“Huh?”

She dipped her right hand into the hole on top of the gray metal watering can, pulled it out of the can and flicked her fingers again, and two drops found him. The first drop hit his left cheek, while the second drop found the bridge of his nose, splattered, and landed in both of his eyes.

â€�“Stop that,” he shouted back at her as his left hand reached for the girl two meters in front of him and his right wiped at the moisture.

â€�“Make me, Blondie.” The fingers flicked, but this time he ducked the droplets. As she launched the droplets, Bea began to giggle.

The giggling infuriated him. He chased her once around the large rough-hewn oak work table before deciding to give it up. As he stopped his pursuit, the girl’s laughter became even louder and shriller in its tone. If he knew the silencing spell, he would have pulled his wand out of his work apron and used it on her.

â€�“That’s the most energy anyone’s seen out of you since you got back. I told Abby and Lily that I could get you mad. Malfoy, you’re such an easy target.”

The look of total triumph on her face almost made him restart the chase, but why? What would he do if he caught her?

The chase did seem to re-awake his senses. As he finished wiping off the moisture from his nose, he looked down at the plants in the tan, clay pots on the workbench in front of him. The table top contained the only six existing hybrid Alices’ Trueheart plants in the world. As he looked down at the closest pot, he noticed a small patch of brown on the pointy tip of the large red heart-shaped leaf. Scorpius reached out with his right hand and lightly brushed the end of the leaf with his index finger. The brown was not dirt! Using his left hand to steady the leaf, he carefully lifted the leaf and used the fingernail of this right index finger to scratch at the brown patch. As his finger scrapped across the brown, small scales seem to come off of the leaf like a scab from a scrapped knee. He brought the finger up to his eye-level and between his thumb and index he rolled the brown material. It did not go to dust but remained a solid brown ball.

â€�“This isn’t good! Bea, I need you to hurry up to the school and find Crystalline. Tell her, I think this Trueheart may have Le Fey’s rot, and I’m moving it away from the other five.”

For once, Beatrice did not argue with him, and she trotted out the door and towards the castle. After moving the plant to an empty table near the back, he washed his hands and performed a cleansing spell on both of them. He examined his fingers and nails to assure that he had removed all residue of the rot before going anywhere near the other pots. Not daring to touch the plants, he turned each pot slowly while looking closely at every leaf on both the tops and the undersides. The pot closest to the infected plant had a smaller touch of brown, almost like a freckle, so it joined the first pot on the quarantine table. He had determined that the other four were not showing brown by the time Bea returned with her big sister and trailing behind Crystal was her greenhouse partner: Mariel Trout. The two heads of the Herbology Club quickly donned their work aprons and began a thorough examination all six of the pots.

When they finished looking at the first four plants, Crystalline conjured a pair of magnifying glasses. She and Mariel examined the two separated Truehearts. As they looked, Bea sidled over to him and joined his silent watching. Crystalline and her friend whispered for a few moments. Crystalline turned towards him and her little sister.

â€�“Good catch, Malfoy. I’m pretty certain that brown stuff is Le Fey’s Rot.”

The two girls re-huddled near the table. He and Bea both leaned in hoping to overhear the conversation. Finally, Mariel stepped away from Crystalline and headed out of the greenhouse door.

Crystal turned back to face the pair. â€�“She is going up to the Owlery to send an owl to Professor Longbottom. Le Fey’s is a bit beyond me, and since it is his special plant, he should have the last word on the treatment.”

Scorpius found himself nodding to what she said. Crystalline was looking at him like he was a prize pupil or a dear pet. For some reason, he didn’t like how it made him feel.

He felt compelled to set the record straight, â€�“The truth is, I only saw the leaf because I was chasing Bea around the bench. She deserves some of the credit, not much, but some of the credit.”

â€�“Hey,” Bea responded, and she bumped into his side with her shoulder.

Crystalline’s face broke into a big grin.

â€�“What!” shouted Bea, a heartbeat before he would have.

â€�“Nothing!” The grin continued to grow.

To escape whatever strange emotion possessing the older girl, he turned to Bea. â€�“I’ll give you a choice, you water the Merlin Grass and I’ll re-pot the Mandrakes, or you do the Mandrakes and I’ll handle the Merlin Grass.”

Bea turned her head bird-like at him and while shaking her mop of green hair said, â€�“I’ll do the Merlin Grass. Did you really think I’d pick the Mandrakes?”

â€�“No, I didn’t,” he replied and he had the satisfaction of seeing a confused look upon the younger girl’s face. He felt strangely satisfied by her confusion as he reached over to a hook on the wall for a pair of bright blue fuzzy earmuffs and headed into Greenhouse Number Three.

Scorpius placed the warning sign on the doorknob: Mandrake Replanting! Stay Out! He walked into the greenhouse, and he waved his wand, and the bolt slid over to lock the door and the shade extended to block the window. He did a quick checking of the noisy plants, but only found two that needed re-potting. He was done with the re-potting in about twenty minutes.

After he had finished, he checked the door to make sure the door was locked, and the blind was pulled down. They were. He turned and walked to the far work bench. Reaching down to the shelf below the table top, he pulled out an empty cracked clay pot. The pot was half full of soil. Looking over his shoulder to insure the door was still shut, Scorpius took the spade he had used for the Mandrakes and turned the topsoil over. Under two inches of dirt, he saw the item for which he had dug.

He pulled out of the dirt a small leather pouch. He brushed the dirt off and untied the red velvet rope that cinched the pouch. Inside the pouch, he saw that his treasure was still in its place.

Scorpius had maneuvered Bea into not doing the Mandrakes just for this. He knew that had only these last two weeks of the term to retrieve the pouch or risk it getting stolen or thrown away.

He reached inside and pulled out the necklace and the little hourglass attached to it. He held it up to the light and saw how the glass refracted the sunlight onto his face. He placed the time-turner in his left hand pulled the note from his grandmother.

I stole the spare one from Lucius. I give it to you for safe keeping and for a chance to protect yourself and those you love. Use it only in emergencies, if the Ministry finds out about you might go to Azkaban.

Love,

Narcissa

He thought back to the Hogsmeade Valentine Day weekend when a tiny Screech Owl alighted on his shoulder. He had been sitting alone outside of Honeydukes waiting for Albus and Rose for Albus to return with some trick candies for James and Kaitlin. From the bird’s talons, he plucked the small leather pouch. As he took the pouch, the bird took wing and disappeared into the February afternoon sky. He had opened the pouch and read the note. He quickly stuffed it into a pocket of his cloak. When he returned to his room, he had just stored it away in his trunk. The next Greenhouse weekend, he hid it away in the Mandrakes area just in case the dormitories were searched by the Aurors or Albus went through his stuff hunting for cakes or biscuits.

Scorpius put the letter and necklace back into the pouch and slid it into his work apron’s interior pocket. He brushed the apron to make sure no large bulge was caused by pouch and magically unlatched the door. As he left, he levitated the sign back into its spot on the workbench and shut the door behind him.

When he re-entered Greenhouse Number One, he saw Professor Longbottom, the Potions Professor, Kettlebaum, Crystalline, Mariel, and Bea surrounding the table with the infected plants. He heard Longbottom and Kettlebaum discussing solutions to the rot. The only sure cure was a certain potion. When Longbottom spoke the name of the potion, it sounded, to Scorpius, vaguely familiar.

Kettlebaum replied, â€�“It usually takes a whole moon cycle to brew that particular potion. It also requires more attention than I might be able to give it. I have exams all through the week. Besides, the rot will probably have spread to all of the plants by then. You need something now, I fear.”

Longbottom nodded, and it seemed to Scorpius that the air had gone out of his teacher. Scorpius knew that the Professor had created the red heart shaped flower to honour his mother, Alice. And last year, that he, the Professor, and Crystal had spent six months the hybrids, which had added a small white heart shape area within the red leaf for his daughter, Alice. Now the plants were threatened by the rot.

Scorpius cleared his throat and noticed all of them turn their heads to face him.

â€�“I think my mum keeps that potion in our greenhouse atop of Grimmauld Place. You might send an owl there or the potions shop to see if she has some to spare.”

Scorpius saw the Professor perk up. He thanked Kettlebaum, the girls and him for their quick action. Longbottom gave Scorpius a long handshake in appreciation for his spotting the disease and offering to help him.

Scorpius felt like a great weight had been lifted off of his chest. He had fretted all week about his Friday afternoon Arithmancy Final Exam. He had been right to worry. Professor Vector’s test had been extremely hard covering every section from the entire year. And even though he didn’t quite finish the last word problem on page twelve, he felt very confident that he had passed. He also knew that only Rose had finished the entire test, and she had finished only seconds before the gong rang signaling the end of the period. He felt certain that his answers, all except the last question, were detailed and correct. He was half way through his answer on the last problem when the Professor gave the ‘quills down’ to the class.

He may not have gotten an Outstanding, but he was reasonably certain of getting at least an Exceeds on both the examination and the final grade.

Athena Lay, Geoffrey Grindus’ girlfriend, broke into tears a few minutes prior to the period’s finish. When it came time to turn in their papers, Athena threw herself across the desk and refused to turn her papers in, and Professor Vector had to summon the papers magically from her grasp. When her papers flew across the room towards the teacher, Athena lowered her head back onto her desktop and began to sob. As they were about to leave the classroom, Rose tapped him on the shoulder and nodded her head back towards Athena. He trailed Rose over to Athena’s desk.

Rose bent down to the crying girl, â€�“Athena, it’s okay. It’s only one test.”

In between her sobbing, Athena gasped out, â€�“I’ve failed! Everyone will think, I’m a fraud. They might as well send me to Hufflepuff or something.”

Rose looked over the girl’s sobbing head toward him. They both shook their heads.

Athena looked up at Rose and said, â€�“I didn’t study as hard as I usually do. It was because Geoffrey was struggling with potions, and I helped him get ready for yesterday afternoon’s examination and I didn’t start my reviewing of Arithmancy, until last night.” Her talking about what happened had allowed the tears to slow.

Rose patted Athena’s left hand as she said, â€�“Athena, you’re usually one of the class’ top students. Professor Vector will take that into consideration. So you get an Exceeds instead of an Outstanding this term.â€�“

He watched as it took Rose a couple of more minutes to get Athena composed enough for her to agree to leave the classroom. As Lay wiped her eyes, Rose loaded up the girl’s book bag with the quill, inkwell, and scratch parchments that remained on the desk. When she was finished packing, she, without asking, handed the bag to him.

After he had adjusted the additional load, he had to walk quickly to catch up with the two girls. As they moved through the corridors, Rose continued to console and to encourage her. They continued with Athena until they arrived at the base of the staircases that lead up to the Ravenclaw dormitory. As Athena took her bag back from Scorpius, she hugged Rose and thanked her for being a friend. Scorpius stood there waiting for thanks for his carrying of the bag, but the Ravenclaw ignored his 'help'.

When they got up to the dormitory, Rose walked over to the table in the opposite corner from the ‘Little Sisters’ and plopped down into a chair.

She looked up at him and said, â€�“We got about enough time before the evening meal to play a game of chess. As I recall, we’ve played nine times this year, and I’ve won five. Dare to try and break even?”

He looked at the table where they usually played. Once, he would have been keen to take up such a blatant challenge from Rose and show her that he was the better player, but he couldn’t find the energy to show Rose up. He just shook his head. He immediately saw the look of disappointment and concern in her eyes. It was the same looked that she has been giving him since he was released by his Grandfather and returned to school. He couldn’t take another second of it; he took his book bag up to his dorm and began to pack his school things into his trunk for the Saturday trip home.

At six o’clock, he joined Rose and Albus for the trip down to the Great Hall. In front of them walked the three ‘Little Sisters’ and the group’s unofficial member: Hugo. As they entered through the Great Hall doors, they noticed Lily separate herself from her friends and began to run towards the Staff Table.

â€�“Mummy!”

Albus looked up, he following his sister with his eyes. Sure enough, Ginny Potter was standing next to Professor Longbottom and coming out of the staff room talking with Professor Dawlish, a former Auror, was Harry Potter. Albus, Rose, and Hugo all followed Lily to the front. Scorpius stopped next to Abby and Beatrice and watched as their friends abandoned them for an impromptu family reunion.

The Great Hall quickly filled as relieved students, done with all of their exams, let out a week’s worth of tension in excited, giddy talk. Scorpius noticed that Albus was not taking part in the merriment. Albus kept sneaking peeks up at the Staff Table where his father pulled a chair out for his mother to sit on. As he watched his parents from across the room, a smile broke out on his face.

The conversations continued until Headmaster Flitwick spoke from the Staff Table. As usual the diminutive man’s voice was magically amplified to silence those still talking in the room and to get their attention.

â€�“It is so good to hear all of the happy voices in the Great Hall tonight. It must mean that all of your studying has paid off, and your teachers can expect nothing but Outstandings on all of your examinations.” After the comment, a few chuckles escaped from the audience, but some of the students looked a little self-conscience about their expected grades.

The Headmaster continued, â€�“No doubt many of you have noticed that we have two guests seated at the Staff Table. I’d like all of you to welcome two of our most distinguished graduates: Mr. Harry Potter and his wife, Ginny Potter. Mrs. Potter, the Captain of the undefeated Holyhead Harpies and formerly the Assistant Captain of the United Kingdom’s Under-Fifteen World Cup Quidditch team, has an announcement that concerns some of our students.”

Flitwick gestured to Albus’ parents. Mr. Potter gave a polite little wave to the applause. Mrs. Potter stood and walked around the end of the Staff Table and in the middle of the raised platform. She lowered her head for a second, exactly like Albus did before he spoke to a class, and began to speak unaided loud enough to be heard by all in the large room.

â€�“As you know, due to circumstances beyond our control, the United Kingdom’s Under-15 team was unable to compete in the round of four at the tournament. Last week, the Ministry got notified by the Junior World Champion Australian team that during their winter holiday, they are going to be touring Europe playing ‘friendlies’ against national and school teams. The ministry has asked if I would lead our team that would have played Australia last Halloween in the World Cup.”

With her words excited murmurs raced through the Great Hall, Scorpius saw James and Kaitlin stand on the table’s benches like they were ready to begin the game now. In his chest, Scorpius felt his heart begin to pound like it hadn’t since his kidnapping.

Mrs. Potter raised her hands to silence her audience. â€�“However, I’m currently the coach of Harpies and do not have the time to coach the team.” Scorpius began to deflate. â€�“I have found someone who will run the practices and be my assistant during the game. I would like to introduce my replacement as coach, Harry Potter.”

The Gryffindor table exploded in applause, James and Kaitlin began to bounce and ended up in a hug. By the time the applause died down, Mr. Potter had joined his wife.

He spoke, â€�“Our game with Australia will be on the sixth of August in the Forest of Dean at the Tutshill Tornado pitch. Team practices will begin in Holyhead in ten days.”

Scorpius caught Albus and Rose’s eyes. They would get their chance to prove they were the best. He saw the face of Bobby Devon; Coach Devon was smiling at him. Six months of guilt about what his Grandfather had done seemed to dissolve away.

As usual, they arrived in a large group at the platform. Scorpius was in a quandary. He felt like he had to ride back with the team to London, but he also wanted to ride back with his Herbology friends. His mother did have a small supply of the anti-rot potion on hand, but it was only enough to ensure that the rot would not spread to the other four plants. She and Kettlebaum were both brewing new batches of potion.

According to a meeting with Professor Longbottom on the final day of school, it seems that the Truehearts that he and Crystalline had crossbred under Professor Longbottom’s guidance may have a weakness to disease. They would be working to correct the problem. Scorpius wanted to be in on the next round of planning to make the flower heartier. Weirdly, he felt like the plant’s daddy or something.

As Crystal, Athena, Mariel, and Bea waited in the queue at the door of carriage two, he broke away from the team and walked over to them.

â€�“Listen, I’d like to go back with you and plan what we can to next for the Truehearts, but-â€�“

Crystalline looked up the platform at the loud Quidditch players entering carriage four and said to him. â€�“I understand. We’ll let you know what we and the Professor come up with.”

â€�“Thanks,” he gratefully answered. He was just about to turn away when he heard a familiar voice.

â€�“Hey, Blondie!”

He turned to face Bea.

â€�“Try not to get your stupid head knocked off by a Bludger, okay!” Bea said and immediately her face turned a deep red and the older girls giggled.

He nodded in reply and trotted up the platform to where Rose and Albus were waiting just inside of the door to show him to their compartment. As Scorpius started to step through the door, he noticed Bea and Crystal both waving at him from just in front of their door. He waved back and entered the train for the trip to London and the eventual victory over the Aussies.

He had awoken in the dark. It hadn’t been until he had tried to scratch his nose that he realized that he was not in a darkened room. He was inside a hood of some kind. Whomever that was watching him must have noted the movement, because as soon as he had finished the move towards his nose. He was pulled up out of his seated position and onto his feet. He was shoved by a strong hand in the back and while blindly running smacked into numerous walls. After the second collision, he lost track of the number of steps and directions he was lead.

Finally, he was shoved through a doorway and down into a chair. When his backside struck the chair, he lost his balance and was falling when he was stopped in his fall. He floated up to land softly upon the chair.

I heard no chanting! So, my capturers are not Vardoo, but they are Magical. Am I the prisoner of Harry Potter and his damnable Aurors?

He waited to see if those on the other side of the hood were friend or foe. He didn’t have to wait long. The mask dissolved and the light of the room’s gaslights blinded him. After a few more seconds, he saw coming into focus a smiling fur lined robed man with long bright blonde hair, he looked to be in his early thirties and he had vicious leer upon his face.

â€�“Ka-Sich Korogo, my name is Lucius Malfoy. I can be your ally or your executioner. The choice is yours.”