Scorpius was doing his best to hide his growing boredom with the whole tour, but he had to mask his true feelings for two distinct reasons. First, he was alone with Rose for the first time in almost a year. Now when he thought about being alone with her, he was not counting the scores of Muggles, who surrounded them. He meant that he was with her without Albus or Kaitlin, and to him they were alone. Second, he had something to show her, and that was possibly a matter of life and death to the citizens of the Magical World. So he had to find a way to get her to listen.

He realized that she was pointing to a book on the shelf to their right and looking at him for some reaction. Hoping that she didn’t suspect his indifference, he smiled and nodded at leather bound book of poems. Rose’s expression changed slightly; he hoped he was not busted.

She sighed and gently took hold of his right hand and deftly steered him through the maze of numerous bookcases, down a narrow marble staircase, and out through the wooden front doors of the library. After stepping out into the overcast mid-August noontime, she weaved their way down an inclined walkway, through the large crowd, around the corner, and into the Fellows’ Garden. Up against the stone wall of the library, Rose led him to a wooden bench that faced the rest of the green space. She turned to face him as they sat down looking at each other.

He sat there comfortably on the bench that could seat about four and looked around. The seat gave them a commanding view of the whole Garden. The garden was a well-manicured piece of grass that was about half the size of Malfoy Manor’s front lawn. He looked around the Garden to see it was enclosed on three sides by buildings. A snaking gray flagstone walkway led across the Gardens to each of the three buildings. The garden walkways that afternoon were more filled with tourists and visiting parents than with actual students.

She had been excited when he had sent an owl to her to see if he could come and visit. She was even prouder to escort him through the Muggle college campus that dominated her hometown of Oxford. For his part, he had even feigned interest in a bright, white marble statue of some poet named Shelley and the non-magical book stacks of the library. The tour through the city and college had been the price he had to pay to show Rose what he needed to demonstrate to her.

Rose sat next to him on the bench, and half turned to face him before she began to speak. “Okay, we are here. Now, what was so urgent that you had to show me?�

Scorpius stood up, and Rose began to rise also. He shook his head as she arose. As she retook her place back on the bench, the blond boy reached down in the bed of flowers and retrieved two small stones. He walked across the walkway and deliberately set the stone on the lawn just beyond the walkway so they could both see them from their places on the bench.

Rose looked at the pair of resting stones across the walkway and back to him. “So?�

“Wait.� He raised his index finger as he looked down the walkway and saw two separate pairs of Muggles heading towards them. The first pair was a man and woman about his parents' age who were looking down at a brightly colored map as they walked along. The second pair consisted of two young women, and one of them was talking on one of the little Muggle boxes they called mobile phones.

As the map reading pair approached, Scorpius pulled his wand out of his trousers pocket and gave it a slight flick and swish. The rightmost stone rose up to approximately knee level and stayed there. As they walked by, the stone remained at the same height. He peeked over to see a confused Rose staring back at him.

“Wait.�

The two women walked between them and the stone. Although they partially blocked their view of the rocks, it was obvious that the stone dropped when the woman talking on the phone was in between the wand and floating object. When the women walked past, the Levitated stone shot up to waist height and dropped quickly to return to knee-high level.

Rose started to speak, but she withheld her comment. Instead of questioning him, she turned to check out the passers-by. Coming from the library were a college-age couple; the male was busily pushing on the screen of his box. Rose reached into her purse and pulled out her wand. She kept it in her lap, seemingly waiting for the two walkers to pass. She cast the Levitation spell, and the rock rose to about a half a meter above the lawn. As the pair walked past, the stone dropped to the top of the blades and quickly returned to its height as the man kept on walking and tapping on his box.

Rose turned to him with her face full of surprise. Out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius saw the stone fall into the grass. She shook her head from side-to-side once and turned to replicate the experiment. The results of her next two tries were the same as his had been.

“My grandfather Malfoy showed me this. He said that a pack of Muggles could surround the most powerful wizard in the world with their little boxes, and the wizard would be powerless to defend themselves. After he had shown me what I've just shown you at Lincoln, he let me go. He kidnapped us and killed all of those people just to show me this. Why?�

Rose shook her head in silence. She chewed the inside of her cheek. Scorpius could see her come to a conclusion, and she replied, “We must tell Auror Smythe, the Ministry or Uncle Harry.�

“I did tell them when I was being interviewed, after my release from St. Mungo’s Hospital last autumn. You remember when you and the rest visited me?� He paused and smiled at the memory of Rose and the team comforting him.

“And…�

“They just wrote it down on their notes and didn’t ask me any questions.� He looked into Rose’s face; she was perplexed by the lack of attention his announcement had received.

“Maybe,� she began. She paused a few more seconds before continuing. It was obvious she was choosing her words closely before she continued, “Maybe, they just thought your Grandfather had tricked you. What if they were waiting to test what he had told you?�

Scorpius hadn’t thought about that, and he gave Rose an appreciative smile. Maybe somewhere deep down in the chambers of the Department of Mysteries, there was an Unspeakable working on a solution. He hoped so. He didn’t fear bands of Muggles, like his grandfather had mentioned, but what if the criminals that his Grandfather led attacked his mother or Rose’s father using the boxes to counteract their magic.

While lost in his reflection, he realized that he had not yet asked Rose the questions that his father had requested him to get an answer. He felt weird about what he was about to do, but his father said he needed the information. He repeated the question just the way his father had told him to ask him.

“Rose, how are you and Albus taking your fathers losing their jobs as the head of the Aurors? Is it true that Smythe has offered Mr. Potter a position as an Auror?�

Rose looked surprised at the sudden change of topic. He felt the need to add, “It’s just that we will be meeting them at Kings Cross in a couple of weeks.� He paused before continuing, “Well, they both did lose their jobs at the Auror Office because Mr. Potter chose to come to the Salem Institute to rescue us. And the kidnapping was all caused by my grandfather. I hope he doesn't blame us.�

After a pause of a few seconds, Rose nodded as if the explanation made sense to her. “Well, Father left to help our Uncle George at W-3 limit. It is true that Smythe did offer Uncle Harry a position. However, he is working with the Americans and Europeans to set up an international magical law enforcement team. Uncle Harry seems quite excited about it. However, Minister Lee claims that Uncle Harry was not speaking for the government but only for himself. They supposedly have threatened to arrest him for impersonating a government official.�

The idea of Harry Potter, conqueror of the Dark Lord, unemployed and maybe on trial saddened him. He knew it was all because of his Grandfather’s plotting. He wondered where Lucius was and how hard he was laughing at all his scheming had accomplished.

Scorpius slid the photograph out of the manila envelope that he had stored in his carpet bag. As he sat with his shoulder up against the carriage’s window, he handed the photo to his neighbor Albus Potter. Albus, who was still in his Muggle attire, took the picture from his friend and looked at what was in his hand. He laughed.

“What in the world is that blue thing on top of his head? Is it a parrot?�

Rose snatched the picture, from her cousin, examined it, rolled her eyes and pointed to the pictured bird to correct her cousin, “That’s not a parrot, it is a Spix’s Macaw. You can tell it’s a Spix because of the blue body and the white...�

Lily Potter reached from her side of the compartment and snatched the photo out from Rose’s grasp. Lily’s bold action both startled and silenced her older cousin. The surprised look on Rose’s face caused those already not laughing to add their voices to the merriment.

Lily looked up and down the photograph before she said, “Well, Jimber’s no longer my boyfriend! I'd never be the girlfriend of anyone who would ever be seen out in public wearing something that stupid.�

As she passed the photo to her friends, Abby Baird, and Beatrice Dragonherd, the three girls laughed and began to whisper to each other for a good half an hour. The trio kept handing each other the picture and adding newly whispered comments to each other. Each time the three girls traded possession of the photograph, Hugo Weasley would attempt to grab it from the holder. Finally, Rose pulled the picture from Abby Baird’s grasp and gave it to her frustrated little brother.

Hugo looked down at his new prize and broke into a fit of the giggles. He placed the photo on its edge with Jimber facing forward on the top of his head. “Squawk!� Hugo mimicked the call of the bird. The bird call triggered a new round of laughter.

Scorpius sat back and looked around in appreciation. It was hard to believe that it had only been eight months since the kidnapping, and at that time he worried if he or his friends might never be able to laugh again.

Leave it to Jimber to know exactly how to lighten the mood, even though he was thousands of miles away. The two envelopes had arrived from the Island via Tern Express delivery earlier in the week. One of the envelopes contained a letter that Jimber wrote for him to read, but the folder with Jimber’s photo with a bird on his head and a general letter had instructions on the envelope to open only when they were safely in a compartment riding the Hogwarts Express.

Jimber's private letter to him had been a very concerned one. He had been worried about the tone of the letters he had received from both Rose and him over the last few months. He reminded Scorpius that he was the victim of a crime, not the culprit. He also reminded him that he had Albus and Rose at school. He had finished the note with instructions written in capital letters: TALK TO THEM.

He heard an echo of Rose in the letter and wondered if she had written it for him. However, he knew Jimber would only write this if he felt this way.

Jimber had also written that re-opening of his father’s school on the Island had not gone well. Some of the students had family members who were supporters of Ka-Sich Korhogo and members of the Island elders who favored trying people like his parents for treason for leaving the Island. Jimber wrote that it seemed to him that the Island had been invaded by a tribe of Slytherins while he was in England.

He had answered back in a letter to his friend telling Jimber that if things got too bad that there was always a bed in the Gryffindor Tower for him, and if not, they'd make Albus sleep on the floor.

He knew that his last line would make Jimber smile. He missed his friend. Without Jimber, Hogwarts was not as much fun. He looked up and saw Rose look over at him. Her face had a smile, but her eyes were still full of the concern that had been there for over a year. Scorpius smiled over at her and repeated Hugo’s bird call. Rose laughed and the concern disappeared.