The Next Generation

Under the Cloak

 "Hey, Rose! Could I have a word with you?" Albus was walking down a corridor, on the way back to his common room.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" she inquired.

"I was just wondering, is there a spell that makes someone freeze in mid action?" When she gave him an odd look, he added "I'm just curious."

"Well, there's petrificus totalus that does that. Well known as the body bind curse, it freezes the victim so that they are incapable of moving at all, except for movement required to breath." She was still looking at him with the same expression.

"And..."

"What?"

"Is there a counter curse?" She definitely knew he was up to something by now.

"That would be Finite," she replied. She looked suspicious, but didn't question Albus further. Without another word, she left, walking down the corridor in the opposite direction. He hurried back to the common room, then up to the boy's dormitory. He ruffled through his trunk until he found the invisibility cloak, and then stuffed it inside his robes. He went back down to the common room to wait for everyone else to go to their dormitories, so he could avoid questioning, before he set off once more. He had no need to throw on the cloak just yet, but dark was nearing, and soon he would no longer be allowed out on his own. Even now, he looked suspicious, heading in the opposite direction of the Gryffindor tower at nightfall. He was nearing his destination, when he heard shuffling footsteps. He froze in his spot, to find a frantic looking Rose hurling around the corner. She came to a halt, surprised, when she saw him.

"What are you doing?" she asked in an accusatory tone, still panting.

"I must ask you the same question!" shot back Albus.

"I was just in the library for some last minute studying, when-"

"Studying?" Albus cut her off, "This early in the semester?"

"Yes, studying," she replied in a matter of fact tone, "when I realized the time. And what are you doing this late, and by the looks of it, heading in the opposite direction of where your common room is located?"

Albus felt his face turning red. "Erm, last minute errand, really important."

"Hmph. Well, make sure you finish your errand quickly, so you can get to bed," she retorted with a frown on her face. For a moment, he thought of telling her what he was up to, but the moment passed quickly.

She'd probably just tell a prefect, he thought. The two of them headed their separate ways, Rose continuing her frantic run up the corridor, and Albus less frantically throwing on the cloak before walking the rest of the way to the broom cupboard. When he reached the old cupboard, he opened the door with a creek, and ignited the tip of his wand with the spell "lumos" before stepping inside. "Scorpius, it's me, Albus," he said as he moved the brooms covering his frozen body. "I'm going to unfreeze you. Finite," he said as he pointed his wand at Scorpius. And very slowly, Scorpius sat up. When he didn't speak, Albus explained to him how he had been sent to get an extra broom for his flying lesson, how he'd asked Rose for the information on the spell, and lastly, how he bumped into Rose on the way here. Finally, the pale boy spoke, and his voice came out all cracked.

"Thank you," he said, in a barely audible whisper.

"Wow, how long have you been in here?" asked Albus, concernedly.

"Nearly two days, I think," he replied.

"You must be starving!"

"And thirsty," he added.

"Do you know any spells?"

Scorpius nodded, pointed his wand at his mouth, and said "Aguamenti." Water squirted from the tip of his wand, and into his mouth. After a long drink of water, he said, "I don't know how to make food appear in midair, though." He looked at Albus hopefully, who just shrugged.

"Can't help you with that. Anyway, what happened that caused you to end up here?"

"Oh, I had a little disagreement with a few fellow Slytherins, you know," he said, in a would-be-casual voice.

"So they just decided to lock you away in the broom cupboard with no means of getting out on your own because of a 'little disagreement?'

He shrugged, looking uncomfortable, and said "well, yeah, pretty much."

"But Scorpius, it's been days! The spell lasted that long?"

"Well, not exactly. You see, at first they just stunned me and took away my wand. When I woke up, it was nighttime, and they had locked me in. The next morning, before enough people had woken up for me to cry for help, they came back and bound me with the spell Incarcerous. By the time I'd wiggled myself out of that one, they came back and hexed me, then stunned me again, then, most recently, petrified me. It's like a fun little game for them," he added bitterly.

"That's mad!" exclaimed Albus. "I mean, surely you didn't deserve all that! Did you?" he looked curiously at Scorpius. When the frail boy didn't answer, he said, "you owe me at least the truth."

So, reluctantly, Scorpius launched into story. "I had just gotten back to my common room after Herbology class to find a couple of fifth years teasing this kid that I had become friends with. I asked them what was going on, and the one kid replied 'Aaron here,' which is the kid's name, 'just let it slip that he's a mudblood.' And I was stupid enough to ask if parentage really matters that much. I told him he wasn't superior because of his pureblood status, and that he was a fool if he thought otherwise."

Albus interrupted, "that wasn't stupid, it was brilliant!"

Scorpius replied with "if you say so," but continued the story with a bit more confidence from then on. "So then he raised his eyebrows at me, and said 'I'm guessing you're a mudblood as well?' I answered truthfully and said, 'I'm not, but what difference does it make?' He then went on, 'I seriously doubt that. No self-respecting pureblood would raise a kid like you.' Then he cursed me, and carried me to this broom cupboard, where he hid me. He and his friends were going to leave me in the dungeons, but one of them pointed out that people were less likely to find me here, so that's what they decided on. Apparently people don't stick up to them often," he finished.

"That was brave, standing up to older kids like that!" Albus explained.

"Thanks," he said, blushing a little bit. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened on the Hogwarts Express, I don't know what I was thinking. I thought about it for awhile that night, and I regretted leaving the compartment almost immediately after I had gone."

"Don't worry about it," responded Albus.

"So are we friends now?" asked Scorpius.

"Friends," said Albus, smiling. And that was the last thing either of them said, for they both passed out a moment later, worn out from the day's events.

"Hey, what time is it?" Scorpius asked, waking Albus up.

"No clue," Albus said, yawning.

"D' you suppose we should check?" asked Scorpius. Albus nodded, and, as slowly as possible, cracked open the old door. The hallway seemed deserted, though light was shining through the glass windows lining the walls. Perhaps it was early in the morning, and no one was up yet. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a group of students rounded the corner, and by the looks of it, headed toward the great hall for breakfast.

One of them started talking. "Hey look, there's that old broom cupboard where we left that blood traitor Scorpius!" His friends laughed, and another boy called, "hungry, are you, Scorpius? We're heading to breakfast now, too bad you can't join us!" Luckily, none of the boys in the group were close enough to see the small crack in the door behind which Scorpius and Albus sat, holding their breaths. Albus glanced back at Scorpius, expecting to see a look of fear or disgust, but instead, he was smiling.

"Looks like Parkinson and his friends are in for a surprise when I show up in the great hall in a few minutes!" he said.Albus laughed, and the two of them left the broom cupboard at last to walk toward the great hall side by side.