Chapter 12

J.K Rowling owns the things! I just added my own couple of characters to her genius. No infringement intended!!

Chapter 12

 

I woke up later than everyone else, and the house was alive with activity.  Kids were running around outside, screaming, Rose was nowhere to be found, and James and Scorpius were talking softly on the other side of the sheets.

“Man, that stuff is bad.”  James was saying.

“Yeah… I think she put something in it…” Scorpius replied.

“Well what were we supposed to do?  She’s part Veela, we couldn’t just say no.”

“Of course not!”  Scorpius said.

“Your hair looks beautiful in the morning light.”  James said, smoothing Scorpius’s hair back behind his ear.  I could just see them through the sheets in the light.

“Your eyes are so… beautiful.”  James’s hand lingered on his face.  Oh my god.  I thought to myself.  And before anyone could have stopped them, James leaned in and kissed Scorpius right on the mouth, and Scorpius kissed him right back.  I sat up, my best friends boyfriend… WAS GAY?  They were really falling into it now, and Scorpius had his arms up around James’s neck.  I couldn’t take it anymore.

“OH MY GOD STOP.”  I said, louder than I’d meant to.  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”  They turned, blushing.

“It’s… I’ve fallen in love.”  Scorpius caressed James’s face.

“We’re soul mates.”  James returned the favor.

“Yes, you’ve fallen in love… WITH ROSE.”  I couldn’t keep the contempt out of my voice.

“But that was before… When I saw him this morning, I could think of nothing else.  I feel like we were meant for each other.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”  James giggled.  Something clicked in my mind.

“What was it you said you were drinking?”  I asked, changing the subject.

“Oh,” James replied.  “Fleur offered us some wine this morning.”  He played with Scorpius’s finger.  “I’ve never really had any before.”

“And did you see her pour this wine?”  I asked.

“No.  Why?”  Scorpius replied.  “Is it not okay for a man to be in love?”

“Not if he’s going out with my best friend.”  I said, firmly.  “I’ll be right back.”  I left the room and walked down the hallway to the kitchen, where Fleur and Bill were standing.  Fleur had another glass of wine in her hand, which I never seemed to see her without.

“Fleur…” I said, nervously.  The liquid in her glass suddenly looked like blood again.

“Yes, Miss Sophie?”  She turned.

“Did you give Scorpius and James some of your wine?”  I asked.

“Why yes, I did.”  She smiled.  “Is there a problem?”

“Well,” I smirked, “I have a suspicion that you slipped some love potion in with it.  You did, didn’t you?”  She was smiling and trying not to laugh.  “That is just mean…”  I shook my head.  “When does the potion wear off?”

“Maybe a few hours, I didn’t put much in.”  She shrugged.  “They should come out here where I can see them.”

“Oh trust me,” I rolled my eyes.  “You don’t want that.”

 

But James and Scorpius had come out of the closet, anyhow.  They walked down the hallway with their hands threaded together and Scorpius sat in James’s lap on the couch.  They proudly proclaimed their love, but lucky for Scorpius, I’d already explained the situation to Rose.  They were still sitting in each other’s laps, gazing into each other’s eyes and holding hands when the potion started to wear off.  Immediately James’s eyes went wide.  At first Scorpius looked confused, but then his eyes went wide too.

“F**K!”  James shouted, shoving Scorpius on the ground.  “FLEUR!”  He stood up, his face redder than red.

“Bloody hell…” Scorpius muttered from where he sat on the ground.  Instinctively, I leaned forward and covered Lilly’s ears.  She let me, giving in without an argument.

“Fleur?  Why the hell would you do that?”  James demanded, standing up.

“I didn’t expect you to take it so far.”  She rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass.  “Besides, that ought to teach you to wait until your older to drink.”

“There was a LOT more than wine in that cup you gave us.”  Scorpius said, a chill racking his slim frame.

“Holy hell…” James sat back down on the couch as events of the morning rolled through his head.  “Bloody hell…”  He put his head in his hands.  In the kitchen, Bill was gently scolding Fleur, but it wasn’t worth it.  She’d have done it again in a second.

 

My time at the burrow had soon thereafter concluded, and I headed home to celebrate with family.  I was surprised at my mother, who bought me new robes and wizarding supplies again this year.  She was always surprising me.  My father, of course, was a stubborn man.  He still hadn’t accepted the fact that I was a witch and I wasn’t changing.  After Christmas was over, I boarded the train to Hogwarts and laughed at James and Scorpius, who’d turned their brief love affair into a joke.  Scorpius sat down on James’s lap as the train started taking off, and they spent half the ride joking around.

“Oh James,”  Scorpius mocked, “Your eyes shine like stars!”

“Scorpius, my love!”  James said, overly enthusiastically.  “Your hair is like a waterfall of sunlight in the valley of death!”

“Kiss me you fool!”  Scorpius said, laughing.  This ridiculous joking continued through most of the train ride.  Al quietly held my hand after our laughter ended, and I stared out the window at the passing scenery.  When everyone was paying attention to their own affairs and keeping to themselves, he quietly wrapped his arm around me, still holding my hand.  I smiled and leaned my head against his shoulder.  It had been the best Christmas of my life.  I remembered the way we’d kissed in the empty room, which turned out to be the Weasley broom closet.  My happiness continued as Harry Potter’s son sat next to me, his capable arm around my shoulders, his beautiful hand in mine.  Once we got to Hogwarts, though, and I was sent to the dorm to unpack, the key was getting hot again, and my happiness faded immediately.

I still had two more tasks to complete.

 

We had the rest of the day off, and a few hours before curfew.  I took the key in my hand and started wondering around the castle, feeling for the heat in my hands.  It got warmer and warmer as I reached the dungons.  The doors were locked, and there was a notice saying that all Potions classes would be moved to the third floor, left hand corridor “to the following numbered classrooms.”  I took note of where my potions class would be and tried the door.  Of course, it was locked.  I was just turning to go when I ran into the Bloody Baron himself.  He was a ghost, so I didn’t actually run into him, but I almost ran through him.

“Oh, hullo, sir.”  I nodded.

“Hello, Sophia.  What brings you down to the Dungeons?”  He asked, smiling.

“This key.  I have a feeling it goes to something down there.”

“So it does!”  He exclaimed.  “But you won’t be able to go in.  The other champions tried the door as well.  They tried an ‘alohomora’ spell too, but it was charmed against it, of course.”

“Can you open it for me?”  I asked.

“Oh no, miss.  I can go through it though!  I’ve been invited to participate in the events that will take place within.”  He smiled widely.

“What events are these?”

“Well, I’m sworn to secrecy so I can’t tell you much, but I can tell you that there are a lot of ghosts down there, among other things.”  He put a finger on the side of his nose.  “I’ll give you another hint.”  He flew closer, so his mouth was right in my ear.  “Boggarts.”

I rushed to the library, which had an hour before closing for the evening.  I looked up Boggarts in the Magical Encyclopedia of Beasts and Creatures.  They were meant to take shape of the thing you’re most afraid of.  A spell was mentioned to repel them; Ridiculous.  I didn’t understand why he’d given me the name of just one monster that would be down there.  There must have been multiple others; they wouldn’t stop at just Boggarts, repelled with a simple spell.  I trooped off to bed with a nod to the librarian, who knew me by name now.  I was a regular guest at her enterprise.

I fell asleep thinking about it, I hadn’t even said goodnight to Albus or Rose.  When I woke up in the morning, I was still thinking about it.  I ran through the meeting several times throughout breakfast, and could barely eat.  Finally, Al spoke up.

“You found something last night and you’re not telling me.”  He crossed his arms.  “I need to know, Soph.”  He said, less harshly.

“I took the key down to the dungeons.”  I explained, then recounted the meeting with the Bloody Baron.  When I’d finished explaining, something clicked in my mind.  “That’s it,” I whispered.

“What’s it?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it.  The next task is all about fear.”  I said, looking him in the eye.   “They’re going to try to scare us pantsless down there.”

“Well, they didn’t expect a couple of Gryffindors to be champions then, did they?”  Al put his arm around me.  “One does not simply scare a Gryffindor.”

With what little time we had left, which was less than a week, we prepped with defense spells and a lot of personal, somewhat difficult questions.  It was three nights before, and we were making a list of fears and how to overcome them.

“What are you afraid of?”  I had asked.

He sighed.  “Guess I better be honest… Flying on something I can’t control, guns, being cornered, and werewolves.  Your turn.”  I nodded.

“Crowded rooms, darkness, being followed, and blood.”  I finished writing them down.  “Unfortunately, those are just a few.”

“That’s all right… I guess loosing you would be one.”

“Same.”  There was silence.

“Maybe Fleur was right, being a couple during the Tournament was probably a bad idea.”

“It’s too late now…”

“True.”

“So what do we do?”

He grabbed my hand.  “We make the best of it.

 

The day came and we had thought ourselves ready.  We put on the red and gold sweat suits given to us, just like last time.  We arrived at the Dungeons, where the third task was being held.  The rest of the three schools waited for us in the Great Hall. 

“Welcome, Champions!”  Headmistress McGonagall called out.  “There will be no clue for your last task.  Behind this door, you will find a trap door which your key matches.  The passages beneath the Dungeons have been altered to create three separate routes to the Great Hall.  On my mark… Ready, set… Go!”

We entered on her call to find three trap doors were in a room I’d never seen.  Al raced ahead of me and stabbed our key in, giving it a twist.  I followed him down the dark, trap door, and into the dank-smelling depths of the dungeons.  We landed in something sticky and warm, but I didn’t dare speculate what it was.  It stayed on my hands, staining them.  “Lumos” I said, and my wand lit up.  Al copied me, though I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see what was around us.  We were in a tight corridor, and growls surrounded us.  I took a deep breath and we walked on next to each other in the tight hallway.  Red ran down the walls and dripped on the floor.  I forced myself not to think about it, or wonder how they’d collected so much of it.  Slowly, the hallway got tighter and tighter until we had to walk single file.  Al took the lead.

“AH” He shouted.  “RIDICULOUS!”  But his spell did nothing.  He fell back, something clawing at his face.  It was hairy and small with tiny wings, I didn’t recognize it.  I lashed out and gave it a kick with my foot.  There were a few tiny cuts on Al’s face, but he was all right otherwise.  I blasted a spell at the creature to blow it back and helped Albus off the ground, but it was tight, I couldn’t do much more than push him off the ground.  He lead on, his wand lit.  We finally reached a large opening.  It was so large that we couldn’t see the end to it.

“It’s like a sea of dark…” I whispered, my stomach turning.

For a moment, let me explain my fear of darkness.  First off, I don’t fear darkness like a child does.  I don’t sleep with a nightlight or anything… I’m afraid of what’s in the dark.  I’m afraid of the monsters and disgusting people who use darkness as a cover.

So there we were, inside of a sea of it.  I could tell it was charmed darkness, too.  We could barely see the floor below us, it was meant to hide something.

“So how do we find the door out?”  I breathed.  It was dead quiet in the dark space.

I barely saw Al open his mouth to reply when Harry Potter stepped out of the darkness.

Author's Note

A lot of things happened in this chapter. Who ships Scorpiames? Or Jamius, I guess... I thought it was kind of fun to write n_n Was it fun to read?
Just a few chapters left, hope you'll finish it! Have an epic day, gorgeous ;)