Raindrops on Roses

Chapter 26: Fever Dreams

In the dream, he was in a forest. That much he could tell, from all the trees and suchlike. Normally he would have been annoyed by this, as no one could ever have accused him of being, well, woodsy, but it was very quiet under the canopy of branches. It was soothing. Peaceful, somehow. He sat at the base of an enormous tree and looked up at the gap in the canopy at the night sky. Somewhere far out there, the stars twinkled down at him. He wasn't sure how he had got here, but since it was a dream, he supposed he didn't have to know. He would just wait here until it was time to wake up again.

"You're lost," said a voice from somewhere, cutting through the peace of the forest.

He looked around, surprised. On the edge of the clearing there was a little boy, maybe ten or eleven, brown-haired and round-faced. He was dressed in Hogwarts robes that were slightly too big for him, including a Gryffindor tie knotted carelessly around his neck.

"Am I?" he asked the boy.

"You shouldn't be here. That's why they call it Forbidden." There was something oddly familiar about this boy, but he was a Gryffindor, and Scorpius didn't know many Gryffindors who weren't Weasleys. And he was almost definitely a first year in any case, and he really didn't know any first years. Had school started again without him?

"You're here though," he pointed out. He was so comfortable under the tree. He didn't see why he should have to move.

"I'm meant to be here," the boy explained. "So are they." He pointed away into the forest.

Scorpius turned again. Walking through the trees in the other direction were two small figures. From here, all he could see was that one of them had pale blonde hair.

Curiousity peaked, he got up and went to get a proper look. The boys didn't notice him as he drew closer, but since it was a dream he supposed that made sense. "What are they doing?" he asked aloud. "Why are they here?"

The boy, the one who knew he was there, came up beside him. "The dragon brought them," he said, sombre.

The boys were moving fast, stamping and crashing their way untidily through the undergrowth. One was blond and very pale, the other dark-haired and bespectacled. There was a dog too, Scorpius saw, skulking along beside them. Before them, on the forest floor, something shone, silvery and bright.

"That one's Albus," Scorpius said, pointing to the boy with glasses. The trees and brush didn't give him as much trouble as it gave the two boys. He seemed to be able to walk right past it all, as though it wasn't really real. "And the other... is it... me?"

"Do you remember being here?" the boy scoffed. "Look harder."

Scorpius wasn't sure he wanted to look harder, but he had walked ahead, now, and the boys were coming towards him instead of away.

"This is ridiculous," the blond one was saying. "When my father hears about this -"

"Just shut up and keep walking, Malfoy," said the other one, the one Scorpius had thought was Albus. But it wasn't Albus, he saw quite clearly now. This boy was smaller, skinnier than Albus had been at eleven. His glasses were held together with spellotape, and just visible under his fringe was the end of a lightning-shaped scar. And he was a Gryffindor, and the blond one was a Slytherin.

"Don't tell me to shut up, Potter," the blonde one muttered.

Scorpius wondered what they were doing here, together, especially if they were who he thought they were.

"The sooner we find the unicorn, the sooner we can go back," the one with glasses said, in a would-be-calm voice. "Come, Fang." The dog whined.

"I thought you said it was a dragon," Scorpius said, turning to look at the round-faced boy, but he was gone. In his place was a young man, maybe his own age. He had dark, overgrown hair and his robes were torn, and he was even more familiar than he had been before. Scorpius blinked at him. "Profe - I mean - Neville?"