The Black Rose

Chapter 2: Back to the Past

Pillars of fire continued to burn around Scorpius as he stared down at Albus' unmoving body on the ground, his eyes closed. Scorpius's eyes watered at the sight of his best friend in front of him and felt anger bubbling from inside him as he clasped Albus' cold unmoving hand and brought it close to his chest.

"Al..." Scorpius whispered under his breath, reaching forward and stroking his pale thumb across Albus' rosy cheek, a single tear fell from his eye and landed on Albus' face.

Harry Potter smiled darkly from afar, watching the scene from where he was stood. A cold and remorseless smile played on his lips as he only laughed further at Scorpius mourning over his friend.

"Done saying your goodbyes, Malfoy?" Harry said coldly. "They're a waste of time anyway."

Scorpius looked up at him and felt his anger rising from the pit of his stomach. His hand slowly curled into a fist.

"After all..." The cold voice spoke again. "You'll be joining him soon..."

Scorpius gritted his teeth and his gaze on Harry hardened. He gave Albus' hand one last squeeze.

That's where you're wrong... He thought to himself. As if...

Slowly, he stood up and took Albus' wand from the ground. He shrunk the container of purple liquid and put it in his pocket. He kept his eyes locked onto Harry's crimson red ones before quickly looking away to his right to see Fred and George's shop still very much intact, apart from the few broken windows and the damaged signs.

The building is still standing... so I doubt he knows about the time machine. His gaze travelled back to meet Harry's eyes once again. If I'm lucky, I might be able to activate it and start it up before he realises... I just have to play this right...

Scorpius looked to the left this time, making sure Harry followed his gaze, trying to trick him into thinking he was looking for a way to escape... and it worked. Harry looked around to see if there was a way to escape as well, he wanted to make sure that Scorpius doesn't get out of this fight alive.

Harry turned back to face him.

"Funny... you have no chance of winning or escaping... yet you continue this resistance, knowing full well you cannot win... and you still won't back down." He laughed darkly, his eyes closed as he drew his wand. "How fitting that you, who are so much like your father are so fascinating in your flaws... it amuses me."

The two looked down at each other in the intense silence that followed, neither man moved an inch or took their gaze away from each other. It only lasted so long when Harry let out a dark chuckle yet again and looked over at Albus, lying on the ground.

"Don't worry..." He smiled evilly. "Soon I'll send you to the same place I sent the boy..."

That alone angered Scorpius even more. He gripped his fist tighter and gritted his teeth, his eyes sending daggers towards Harry. But he simply smiled even more at the reaction.

"If you had any sense you would know that your death is a mercy for you and this world." He chuckled. "Don't you see I'm helping you? Death is the ultimate blessing for foolish tainted wizards like you."

That pushed Scorpius over the edge. He let out an angered yell and fired a spell towards him, which he narrowly dodged and scratched the side of his cheek, leaving an open wound of red blood slowly dripping down. Harry simply laughed at the action and clapped his hands together mockingly.

"Are you talking about Albus?!" Scorpius said angrily, his voice rising. "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT ALBUS!"

He charged forward and fired a barrage of spells. Caught off guard by the unexpected reaction, Harry barely had enough time to react and was sent tumbling backwards by a powerful stupefy. Unaffected by the pain and the effects of the spell, he simply let out a crazy laugh as Scorpius continued to attack him with spells.