Obliviate

Chapter 13

Albus Potter had always had a knack for knowing when something was being kept from him. Some people called it curiosity, others nosiness, but Albus wore it like a badge of honour. He prided himself on prying loose the things no one wanted him to know.

Which was precisely why Lily and Scorpius found him staring across the library table with a look of grim determination, quill idle in his hand.

"You two are hiding something," he said at last.

Lily didn't even glance up from her parchment, pretending to be absorbed in an essay on mooncalves. "Maybe we just don't want to talk to you, Al."

"That's not it." His voice dropped low, too low for the students studying nearby to overhear. He leaned forward, green eyes flashing. "Scorpius, you drift off. Constantly. At meals, in class, walking down corridors. You look like you're somewhere else entirely. And Lily... you cover for him."

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably, fingers tightening on the book he hadn't turned a page of in twenty minutes. "You've gone mad."

But Albus didn't look convinced. If anything, his suspicion sharpened. "It's to do with the ex-Death Eaters, isn't it?"

The words hung in the air like smoke.

Lily's quill scratched one last word before she forced herself to set it down, her pulse thudding in her ears. Albus had gotten too close, closer than she wanted him to be.

"I think you're seeing things that aren't there," she said coolly, though her heart betrayed her with a stutter.

But Scorpius' silence spoke volumes.

By the weekend, Albus' suspicion had become a weight Lily carried everywhere. He hadn't confronted them again, but his eyes lingered too long, watching her and Scorpius when they thought no one noticed.

The Room of Requirement, however, still welcomed them.

They sat beneath the Tree of Magic, its silvery roots winding lazily along the stone floor, leaves glowing faintly as if lit from within. Scorpius sat cross-legged, shoulders tense, his jaw working like he was fighting words back.

"I don't like this anymore," he said suddenly. His voice cracked, startling Lily. "It's like... like I'm watching you drown in something I can't reach into."

She studied him carefully. "You said you couldn't feel anything before. That it was only me."

"I couldn't," Scorpius muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. "But now, now it's like something is pressing against me. My skin prickles. My head aches. It's as though something's there, just out of reach, and I can't... grab hold of it."

Lily's lips parted, but before she could respond, the leaves of the Tree shivered.

The floor shifted under her. And the world tore open.

She was not in the Room anymore.

She was on the Astronomy Tower. The night air was sharp, bitter with frost. The full moon gleamed overhead, casting everything in silvery-blue light.

Her breath caught.

Draco stood there, his wand raised, trembling in his hand. His pale face was set with determination and terror all at once. His grey eyes glittered in the dark.

And across from him was Professor Dumbledore.

Calm, unyielding, his voice rich and steady. "Draco you are not a killer."

Draco's chest heaved. His knuckles whitened on his wand. Behind him, cloaked figures shifted in the shadows, their whispers hissing like snakes.

Lily's heart raced. She glanced aside and froze.