Epiphany |Scorpius Malfoy|

Chapter Forty

The Slytherin common room was rather empty that Friday afternoon. It seemed like most students had decided to go for a walk, as after a long time, the weather had been not really cold. Others had chosen to stay in their dormitories instead and catch up there, and a few of them had decided to sit in the common room near the fireplace so as to stay warm.

Scorpius and his two friends, Albus and Effie had decided to follow the last option. So, they had stayed in the common room and were taking a break from their studying. Effie and Albus were in the middle of a game of chess, while Scorpius sat beside Albus, his attention on the fireplace on his right.

His eyes were glued on the flames, seemingly glinting in the dim lighting of the room. Half of his face was obscured by shadow, and one could even say that it seemed green because of the green lanterns that hung from the ceiling, while the other half of his face was bathed in the light that came from the fireplace. It was a peculiar sight for one to see, but a beautiful one nonetheless, as every angle of his face was seen, his sharp features easily distinguished.

He had raised a finger to his face and was trailing the length of his bottom lip as he thought, losing track of all that was around him. He had a lot of things on his mind.

What he always thought about these last months were his NEWTs. Now more than ever, he had to study and try his best. It was hard to maintain his image as Head Boy and at the same time not lose control or have any kind of a breakdown behind closed doors. There were lots of things he had to take care of and absolutely no time for him to do everything. His patrols were keeping him occupied for at least an hour every day and he had to excel in all his classes if he wanted to not have others questioning his title as Head Boy.

He always remembered that as a boy, he had been fascinated by the stories his parents told him of their time at Hogwarts. He had especially enjoyed the stories of his father when it came to his duties as a Prefect. It had been one of his goals when he was young to be a Prefect, and he had accomplished it. But once he'd become Prefect, he thought it would be a pity if he didn't become Head Boy too. And in the end, he did manage to become the Head Boy. He was the best boy in the school, at least when it came to classes. Now that he knew how it was like to be Head Boy, though, he almost wished he hadn't decided to be it when he was young.

There was nothing he could do about his past choices now, though. All he had left to do was get this year over with and then he could take any route he chose. The possibilities were practically endless. After lots of thought, he had decided that he would like a job in the Ministry. He hadn't decided which Department he liked the most yet, though.

Aside from his classes, he thought of Isabelle quite often too. She was quite the distraction, he would admit, as there was no way he would actually study in her company. She was far too distracting for him. It wasn't like it was her fault either, he was the one to blame. She was just so beautiful he couldn't resist looking her way as regularly as he could. As a result, he never actually managed to study when she was near. However, that didn't mean that she wasn't a distraction if she was away from him too.

Most days, he had trouble falling asleep as his mind liked to find ways back to her quite often. When he laid on his bed to sleep he finally had the peace and quiet he needed to analyse how his day had been, and almost always, she would appear in his memories and wouldn't go away. He supposed that was natural, but he couldn't afford to fail in his classes because he was thinking about her. He had to keep his personal life separate from his work, and he had to learn how to do that quickly.

Apart from Isabelle, though, there was another person occupying his mind. Soon, the end of March would come around, and with it, came a day that brought him much pain and nostalgia.