Rewritten || Scorpius x Hermione Time Travel AU

9 | The Invite

For days, Scorpius waited, but he still hadn't heard any peep from the Golden Trio.

After their interesting meeting with Dumbledore in his office, Scorpius honestly thought they'd start warming up to him. Dumbledore loudly vouched for him and his loyalty, which made him tear up inside really, so he kind of expected that they would trust him now, albeit a little reluctantly. He understood it seemed weird that the Scorpion King they once knew had suddenly changed allegiances, but at least he was expecting some form of... acceptance.

Still, as the Slytherin breezed through his sixth year classes, the Golden Trio wouldn't give him the time of their day. Even Granger, who seemed to be the warmest of them all, hadn't thrown him a glance or two. He had reverently studied on Granger's table for days, but the Gryffindor never showed up. It was honestly annoying, especially now that he was anticipating to meet the DA Core.

Scorpius, therefore, busied himself with researching more about Vanishing Cabinets. Dumbledore finally gave him permission to scour the Restricted Section up to his heart's content. Madame Pince had been eyeing him suspiciously ever since, but he kept on waving Dumbledore's permission slip to keep her away from prying.

Thankfully, Voldemort hadn't summoned him ever since that disastrous night. Scorpius still had nightmares about unbearable pain and his Nana dying before his eyes, and it had called for more Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape.

'Snape,' Scorpius thought with a scowl. If there was one person in this whole school that knew everything about him, it would be Snape. Since he constantly used Legilimency on him, Scorpius knew he shouldn't be surprised Snape would finally find out everything about his life in the future.

There was a particular meeting with him, though, that had stuck with Scorpius until this very day.

A headache was forming and all of his energy was drained, but Professor Snape was relentless and had been wearing a disappointed frown on his pale face.

"The Dark Lord will not wait for you to compose yourself, Scorpius," he tutted as he glared at him.

"Merlin, Professor, have mercy," he lightly teased, easing himself up from the dirty dungeon floor. His knees buckled underneath him and he had to brace himself against the nearest wooden table. Pained, he started massaging his temples in hopes of easing the throbbing.

"Voldemort will not show you mercy," he snapped.

Scorpius flinched, his body reacting instinctively at the memory of his torturing under the hands of the vile monster. "I know," he murmured with a grimace. "I remember."

Professor Snape released a monumental sigh and tentatively strode forward. Scorpius almost smiled at the worried look on his face. The Slytherin Head of House always made it a point to look cool and menacing to everybody, and truthfully, he was successful most of the time. If only Snape knew how he was revered in the future, he'd kick up his menacing a notch just to overshadow the good deeds he really was doing behind the scenes.

"Fire away, Professor," Scorpius weakly said, spreading his arms out with a small smirk.

"Legilimens."

His mind protested at the added weight of another presence, but Scorpius desperately threw his walls up and projected false memories. He thought about mercilessly working on the Vanishing Cabinet, relentlessly searching for the proper spell to fix it. He imagined himself brooding on the Astronomy Tower, thinking about his life choices. He thought of hating Lucius with a burning passion – that he could imagine with ease because those feelings were actually true. He continued to think of more benign memories that would please the Dark Lord and at the same time not make him suspicious.