2 2. Departure

Scorpius entered the small house that he and Cynthia used as their home. It consisted of a small dining area that doubled as a kitchen, then a doorway led to a bathroom with two small bedrooms on either side of it.

The two of them had become much closer in the time that they had spent together.

Though Cynthia had always seen him more as a little brother.

Cynthia had finished her work for the moment and had been able to come home for a while before returning to her work. She turned to him as he entered, and was as he nearly collapsed onto the floor. He was able to sit in a chair, letting himself rest as she quickly came over to him.

"Cruciatus again?" She asked fearfully.

He gave a weak laugh. "What else?" He said weakly.

She knew there wouldn't be anything she could do to help him, so in an effort to raise his spirits a bit, she walked over to The small kitchen she had been working at.

"I made you something to eat." She said, setting the bowl down in front of him.

"Is there enough for you?" He asked for what seemed the billionth time. She always put his needs before his own, letting herself go hungry without telling him. He only found out because she had collapsed while working in one of the kitchens of the estate, resulting in one of the estate overseers beating her.

Since then he always made sure that they shared everything, and that she always got what she needed.

"Come here, and bring a second bowl." He said, pulling out one of the chairs next to him. She reluctantly obeyed, and brought her own bowl to the table.

He took his bowl and poured more then half of it into hers, eliciting a protest from her.

"If we are going to do this whole halves thing, it's going to go both ways, do you understand me?" She said sternly, looking him in the eye.

"I understand my lady," he said in a mocking tone before continuing. "But I just had the Cruciatus curse cast on me, and I can't really eat anything right now for fear of throwing up." He finished, trying to lighten the sad mood, which ultimately failed.

She slapped her hand on the table as she looked at him angrily. "You know I don't like when you make light of what's happened to you." She said.

Now it was his turn to look sternly at her. "To us." He corrected. "What's happened to us."

She seemed to be reminded of what they had both gone through, and unconsciously started to touch her body in places she had been hurt. Her hands ran over the small scars that dotted her face and hands, and across her body. Lucius hadn't done anything to her, other than cast the Cruciatus curse on her multiple times. But Bellatrix was a different story.

Suddenly a knock on their front shabby door broke them both from their thoughts, making Cynthia flinch at the sound.

Scorpius got up from the table and slowly opened the door to reveal an old Man standing there.

The two residents recognized the man instantly.

"Albus too many names Dumbledore. Does lord Malfoy know you're here?" Scorpius asked with a hint of disdain in his voice.

"Ah, you must be Scorpius. Yes your father knows I am here and talking to you." Dumbledore replied.

"He is not my father. Do you understand me? He is a monster." Scorpius snarled, getting in Dumbledore's face a bit. The old man held up his hands in a placating manner.

"I didn't mean to offend, young man." He said and Scorpius stepped back a bit.

"How long have you lived here?" Dumbledore asked, looking around as he walked into the small home.

"Five years or so. What is it you want, old man? I've got work to do." Scorpius answered.

"I've come to take you away from here. I want you to come to Hogwarts with me." Dumbledore answered simply. Scorpius gave a snort of laughter as he looked up at the old man.

"And do what? I can't go to school, I can't even do magic. Why would we go with you?" He asked, including Cynthia in his words.

"I'm sorry young man, but this is only an offer for you, and you alone. And you wouldn't go to school. You would come and work with one of our caretakers, Argus Filch, who's a squib like you."

"Then my answer is no. I'm not going anywhere without Cynthia." Scorpius retorted. Cynthia herself gave a weak smile, but then looked over to Scorpius.

"Scorpi." She said quietly, using her nickname for him. He turned to look at her as she continued talking.

"I want you to go. Get away from here." She said as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"No." He said sternly, walking over and kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I'm not going to leave you. Either you come with me, or I stay here."

She shook her head as she started downwards, refusing to meet his gaze.

A moment later, his hands began to become wet with tears. She finally looked up into his one good eye.

"I can't. My family gave me to lord Malfoy to pay off their debt as collateral. If I suddenly disappear, he will go after them. And I'll be hunted down." She said in a whisper.

"wha-, what do you mean? When did you learn of this?" He asked, shocked to be learning this now.

"Bellatrix told me when she tortured me last." She said, letting her hand fall to her side, where the word "blood traitor" had been carved.

Scorpius' eye became dark as he looked back up at Dumbledore, still crouched in front of Cynthia. "There must be something you can do. You clearly know there is corruption in the wizengamot, which Lord Malfoy Is apart of." He said standing back up, turning to the old man.

"There are plans that I have set in motion. And one of those plans involves you coming with me." He said. "I promise you. If you do, you will be apart of your Fath-, forgive me. I mean Lord Malfoys fall."

Scorpius looked at the old man, looking for any hint of deception in his eyes. He was starting to feel like this might be a good opportunity to gain freedom for Cynthia and himself. And with a faint squeeze from Cynthia's hands he made up his mind. He turned to the old man.

"Fine, i'll come with you. But I have one condition. You must promise that she will be safe no matter what." Scorpius said. "I think I can arrange some help to make that happen." The old man said.

"Dobby!" Scorpius called out, still holding Dumbledore's gaze. A loud crack was heard as the house elf appeared. Scorpius took his eyes from the old man, before looking to the small creature in front of him.

"Dobby, I know you are a free elf now, but I need your help with something." He said to the elf, who walked closer to him.

"Tell Dobby, young master Scorpius." the house elf said eagerly. "You've always been kind to Cynthia and I, Dobby. Something we won't ever forget. I'm leaving with Professor Dumbledore, and I need someone to watch over Cynthia here. Just while I'm away. Do you think you can do that?" Scorpius said to the house elf, Who looked between the three people.

"Master Scorpius and Mistress Cynthia have always been so kind to Dobby," the house elf said.

"I will do whatever I can to helps the missessess!" He said enthusiastically, jumping up and down.

"Do not let lord Malfoy know what you are doing, understand?" Scorpius warned him. Dobby gave a salute before cracking away once more. Scorpius turned his one eye back to Cynthia, who met his gaze with a mixture of emotions. Hope, and fear filled her eyes at the thought of him leaving her. Hope for the future that she imagined. one where they would be free from the torment and torture Of the Dark Lord's most faithful followers. Fear for being left alone to face her struggles, not being able to rely on his comfort and strength when she felt like her world was collapsing.

"Is this truly what you want?" He asked, looking into her deep crystal blue eyes.

She gave a fake smile and nodded to him. In reality, she wanted him to stay. Wanted him to be their with her. But she couldn't waist this opportunity. If he got out, there was a chance for freedom.

"You say the word, and I will tell him to leave and never come back." He said holding her gaze. She shook her head gently, making her long hair sway softly.

"Go… and live Scorpi." She whispered, pulling him into her bosom. She cried gently before bring his face up to hers and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, leaving him with a slight blush.

He backed away from her as he stood up, while still holding her hands. When she had defended him when he was seven, she had her wand broken as one of the many punishments. She had been forced to do all her work by hand, leaving her hands calloused and scared from years of work. He ran his eye up her arms, looking at the scars she had been given thanks to her countless beatings. He looked at her collarbone that had been branded with the letter M. One that he had also been given on his eleventh birthday, a crule reminder that he would always belong to the Malfoys. Her brand was mostly covered by her blouse that she was wearing, but he still knew it was there. Finally his eye traveled up her beautiful face that had been beaten and broken. Her nose was slightly crooked, just like his. She had a small scar on the right side of her lower lip, that she always tried to hide, along with the other scars and burns that spattered her face. She always tried to cover them up, thinking they marred her beauty, but to him… to him they told the story of a woman that had put a young boy crying for help, above herself. They told of a woman, who had given everything for him. Those were scars she had gotten for him, and he would never tell her to cover them.

He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead before speaking to her.

"Be strong. I WILL be back for you. I promise. We WILL be free." He said into the hair atop her head. He pulled away to look at her, only to find her tear stained face looking up at him. He took his hand and wiped her tears away, before turning to Dumbledore.

"I want a vow that you will do everything in your power to protect her." He told the old man.

"I vow on my magic that I will do all I can to protect, and keep Cynthia safe from Lord Malfoy." Dumbledore stated as he held his wand up and cast a lumos spell.

"Very well. I'll come with you then." Scorpius said as he walked to the old man. He turned to Cynthia one last time, to see her covering her mouth with a shaking hand while looking at him. He gave her one last comfort before her left.

"I love you." He said, then the two were gone.

Scorpius vision went black as he felt himself be wisked away, leaving his prison and the only person he truly cared about behind.

Suddenly appearing outside in front of a ginormous castle, Scorpius couldn't help bust gasp in shock, as the site before him was breathtaking. They had appeared a little ways away from Hogwarts, letting them see the black lake, and the sprawling hills and mountains leading to the castle, as well as in the distance.

"Come, lets get you settled and introduce you to everyone. I also have a vow to make good on, don't I?" The old man said in a jovial tone, leading Scorpius towards the castle.

It took them some time to get there, though the walk wasn't all that bad, as Scorpius had seen some of the wild animals and plants from some of the books he had stolen from Malfoys library. They made small talk as they walked, before Dumbledore asked the big question.

"What happened?" The next while was spent with Scorpius telling Dumbledore everything that had happened since he had turned seven. It was then Scorpius' turn to ask a question.

"What are your plans that involve me?"

The old man proceeded to tell him that he felt like his presence in the school would be good for the students, letting them interact and learn that squib were just like muggles.

Scorpius couldn't help but feel that was a very weak reason to make all this trouble about him, but felt that it was best to drop it for now.

In reality his thoughts were correct, and Dumbledore had flat out lied to him. His plans for Scorpius were much more grand then he let on. But Scorpius would learn of them soon enough.

After a while, they finally came to the front gates where a man was standing hunched over. He had a cat with him, and as they approached, it walked closer to her owner.

"So," the man barked out. "This is em then?" He asked as he looked over Scorpius, who did the same. The man was shaking slightly, maybe due to some illness or something.

He stuck his hand out for who he assumed was Argus Filch to shake.

"Put that away," Filch said as he turned from the pair and started walking away. "We don't have all day, and we have work to do!" He shouted back behind him.

Scorpius looked to Dumbledore, who simply motioned him to follow the man, before walking inside himself.

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you all for reading this chapter! I just want to say that I know the first chapter was super long, but this chapter is going to be a little shorter. Normally the chapters that I write are around 2,300 words. I know that not alot, but that's what I've got for the moment!

Please leave a comment letting me know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter. Also please let me know what I can do to improve my writing, as I take all constructive criticism very seriously! I'm always looking to improve my writing! Thank you all again!