Snowflakes in a Storm - [Scorose]

Chapter 24: Support

I was shaking I was so mad. I didn't even know why I was so angry – Rose had her reasons for telling the Aurors about my father, I understand why she did. If what she said was true, and they were going to take my memories, then who was I to argue with her decision? I just felt betrayed, and I was sick and tired of feeling like that. My father betrayed me and now my girlfriend – sure the spectrum of betrayal may not be the same, but I trusted Rose more than anyone.

Whether it was just the anger and the hurt from being lied to, and putting my faith in her, that was making me feel so anxious and emotional was a different question. I'd just talked to my dead mother, that's not something many people can say, and I had the resurrection stone - the actual resurrection stone that I read about in children's stories and myths and legends all my life and studied... and it was in my pocket.

I took some deep breaths before I walked up to the common room and said the password "pure-blood" and walked in. There were quite a few students in there. I looked at the first years laughing and the third years panicking over their first ever OWL exams. They all looked so happy and carefree and I was so jealous. What I wouldn't have given to be in their shoes.

I walked through the crowded common room and headed into my dormitory. I opened the door and walked over to my bed, laying down on my side and curling up as I reached into my pocket and gripped the resurrection stone tight in my palm. I felt a couple of tears fall down my face, dropping onto my bed. All I wanted was to talk to my mother again, but I didn't want to abuse the power of the stone – I didn't want to rely on it. My mother is dead... I needed to remember that.

"Uh... Scorp?" I heard and I sat up quickly to look and see Albus sat on his bed staring at me. I wiped my eyes quickly.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a class or something?" I said a little too harshly.

"I could ask you the same thing, why aren't you in the hospital wing?" He retorted sternly, crossing his legs on his bed in front of him and sitting with his hands in his lap.

"They let me out." I lied, still gripping the stone. I placed it in a drawer quickly to avoid Albus seeing it then took off my cloak, hanging it up. I pulled my jumper over my head then grabbed a clean one, putting it on.

"Okay let's pretend that's true." He said. "Two questions: One. Why are you lying to me? Two. What did you just put in that drawer so nonchalantly that you thought I wouldn't notice?"

"I'm not lying... and nothing."

"Scorpius, I've known you since we were eleven, I know when you're lying." He said, walking over to my bed and sitting down beside me. "Rose told me you're looking for the resurrection stone for your father... I can't believe he's behind this. I'm annoyed I didn't find out from you since I'm supposed to be your best friend and all but I'll forgive you since you've gone through a lot."

"Please, don't talk to me about all this." I said, stopping him abruptly. "I've just spent the whole morning with your father talking about this, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"You've been with my father?" He said and I sighed. I opened the drawer and pulled out the resurrection stone. Albus looked confused but when I handed it to him his expression quickly changed to amazement. "That... that's the... how the fuck... you have the resurrection stone?!"

"Your father took me to it. Turns out he lied about destroying it. He asked me to give it to the Aurors and let them deal with it but if I do I break my vow so... voila!" I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

"Wow that's... wow." Albus said, he was never great with words. "And you're going to give this to your dad?"

"Well..." I began. "That's the tricky part." I said, biting my bottom lip thoughtfully and reaching up to wipe away a stray tear from when I was crying. "My vow said that I had to tell my father and the Death Eaters about any plans I heard from your father or your auntie and uncle." I explained. "Which means if they're going to come with me to take this to them, it has to be my plan and my rules about how we do it... you know like a loophole." Albus nodded along as I spoke. "But I have no idea what to do."

"Scorp', you came up with the plan to go with the Aurors on the day we rescued Rose, you're smart enough to come up with something." He patted me on the back then looked down at the stone that was still in his hand. "Whatever you come up with-" he said, handing it back. "I'm here every step of the way." I smiled at him and gave him a hug. "Oh okay, we're hugging, cool." He said, hugging me back.

"It's been a long day." I said; my voice tired.

"It's only noon." He joked and I shrugged with a small smile. It was the first time I'd smiled for a while.

After a moment of silence I said "I saw my mother." while looking at the resurrection stone in my hand. "I spoke to her and she said she loved me." I glanced up at Albus and he clearly didn't know what to say. He rubbed my back reassuringly and I felt my eyes welling up. "Rose promised me she wouldn't tell anyone about my dad being behind these attacks. I wanted to try and make things right... try and save him from himself but now everyone knows that he's behind it all, they're never going to let me even try and reason with him. He's pretty much guaranteed a cell in Azkaban for the rest of his life." I said.

"Rose only told us because they were going to-"

"Take my memories, I know." I interrupted.

"She was hesitant at first, man. She didn't want to tell us, she knew it would hurt you but... they would have found out anyway."

"She promised me though." I said, hurt. Albus stood up and squatted in front of me as I sat on my bed. He looked up at me and smiled.

"She didn't want them taking your memories and going behind your back. I didn't want them doing it either."

"I'm just so sick of people betraying me... my dad, now Rose..." I said, beat.

"Dude, give her a break. She loves you and she was doing what she thought was best."

"Your dad said that too."

"Well then, you have to get over this blame thing. Everyone is scared at the moment. What those dark wizards... your dad... what they're doing is scary and everyone's trying to do what they can to keep the people they love safe. Rose is trying to do that for you."

"I might have... yelled at her."

"What?"

"On my way here... I bumped into her and it was just after I saw my mother and I was upset and... I still am."

"Well then we have to fix that." Albus said, standing up confidently and pulling me up too. I put the resurrection stone back into my pocket.

"What? How?" I asked, confused.

"We go and find her, explain what happened with your mother and why you were so emotional and before you know it, you kiss and make up."

"Yeah but... this is a big castle how are we supposed to know where she is?" I asked, biting my bottom lip anxiously.

"...Do you not know Rose?" He said, dragging me to the door of the dormitory and heading out. "We're heading to the library."