Short Stories, One Shots and Contest Entries

She Should Have Died Hereafter

Title: She Should Have Died Hereafter
Author: Ash_Black
Type: Harry Potter Next Generation one shot
Reason: writing contest entry
Note: I have a writing contest up and the first place winner of each prompt gets their story featured in this book. This prompt was plot twists.

Introduction: Set in Scorpius Malfoy's sixth year in the heat of summer when his relationship with Albus seems to be falling apart. Here he touches on his thoughts about his mother death in the summer of 2019

*note: this is in another one of those alternate realities the boys create, so these are more my interpretations of the characters. All credits go to JK Rowling for her creation of this world etc.

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Scorpius sat, hunched, his green tie hanging loose around his neck and his head resting tilted sideways on his hand. It was a hot day- far too hot to be out in sun for long, and as it was Saturday afternoon, lessons were finished for today so Scorpius had managed to escape from the crowds and soon found himself here, in a clearing surrounded by a forest of tall, looming trees, perched on an old log spotted with fungi and lichen.

He liked the smell of the woods on a sunny day. He found if you closed your eyes and concentrated, you could smell everything; the dampness of the bark intertwined with a crisp, woody scent, the cold earthy smell of the mud, and even the fresh slightly lemoniness of the leaves that to him was the smell sunlight.

Only, now he struggled to make out any of that. Perhaps it was to do with the thick red slab of meat he held with forefinger and thumb in his right hand, perhaps it wasn't. He sniffed, running a sleeve across his nose and looked up, a small smile creeping onto his face. He watched her curiously as she bowed her head, snuffling along the ground, brushing the dead leaves aside with a gentle swipe of her beaked nose as she stepped forward tentatively. She swayed her head a little, not looking up to meet his eyes, before he gave in and tossed the meat to her. She sprung back and caught it with ease, wolfing it down. Now upright, she pranced aside as if to ask for more, her ghostly white eyes gleaming in the greenish light.

"I don't have any more," he told her as a few others entered the clearing. She flapped her black wings and snorted, dragging a hoof along the ground in defiance. He shook his head, grinning. They weren't exactly pretty, anyone could see that, but he had a soft spot for them. They made him smile when things were getting shit.

He'd discovered the herd here in his third year, when he was...struggling. He'd sort of already knew Hogwarts had a herd, but he'd never bothered before because there was no point if he couldn't see them. Besides, Scorpius Malfoy wasn't meant to like Care of Magical Creatures. He was meant to like DADA, potions, quidditch, girls, sex, firewhisky and everything else on the conformity list for Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. Sure, he did, but they weren't all there was to the world.

He used to wonder down here after it happened to get some space. Maybe he was trying to find them, maybe he wasn't; it was never clear. He just wanted to get away for a bit.

People could be so fucking loud sometimes, especially when you don't want them to. It had felt like he hated everyone back then, that they didn't understand, and they were too bloody oblivious to the fact that asking him 'Scorpius, how are you feeling?' Or 'I know it's hard, but you'll get through it' was the worst thing they could do; he hated it. For starters, no, they didn't know. They couldn't possibly know, and if they did? Well, maybe they would have left him alone.

She shouldn't have left then, not then, not there and not like that. It wasn't right, and it wasn't her time to go. He had been so angry in the days that followed he could barely look his father in the eyes because it made him furious. How could she leave like that without any real goodbyes? He supposed no goodbye could have been real enough for the reality he had to face, but back then it felt like she didn't even try, and he hated her for it. He couldn't possibly see how things would work without his mother, he couldn't imagine how it could get better.