Weeks begun to pass in a blur. Between the busy life at Hogwarts and the social gossiping, Scorpius had little time for anything else. He spent breakfast and lunches with the gang- after school hours with Aries, and nights with Potter. The project in class with Daniel was smooth sailing so far. Other than light jabs in Scorpius's direction, more off-color banter than actual cruel comments, he was tolerant of Albus. He didn't even bring up the Cypress thing. There was still some moments where they all disagreed, and Scorpius thought he'd have to set his brother straight- but it never escalated. Not like it had in the past.

Slughorn had been a bit more overbearing now that Scorpius had "opened up" because he often checked on the Slytherin boy. Honestly, it was starting to annoy Scorpius. Albus asked why the Potions Professor was on his ass; so he had to explain the entire dementor situation. He hadn't really thought of catching Albus up to speed, and with Aries telling him more and more about her youth and Delphi- it's not like he could tell Albus. On that note, Scorpius did take Aries to Flourish and Blotts. He didn't go inside with her though, wanting to leave the girls to catch up by themselves. After all, Delphi didn't know he was her nephew- it might've been too shocking. Albus wasn't all that jealous of Aries since he and Scorpius were more... committed, so to speak.

They haven't really talked much about making things official. But neither of them felt like they were in a rush for it. Right now they were enjoying the flirting, stolen make out sessions, and shameless innuendos. Scorpius figured that Daniel was starting to suspect that Albus and him were a thing though, because it's not exactly like they try to hide the jokes in the dorms. Still, Albus didn't like Aries. He had made it his mission to avoid talking to her; and even weeks later still hadn't formally met her. Aries was under the impression that Potter hated her. Then again, she doesn't need validation from anyone, much less him. Scorpius didn't know what that meant, but let the girl be sour.

Girls were weird.

Ashton told Christine rather secretly that Albus and Scorpius had a thing. She kept it on the down-low, like Raven and everyone else- but still drilled Scorpius on it. He deflected every question, wondering if she was ever going to tell Xavier how she felt. Or rather; how dumb it was to fall for someone that played for the other team. She responded in a way that had him glaring; asking if he told Potter the same thing. Everything was normal; they were at each other's throats. Christine being a know-it-all, and Scorpius having a sharp tongue. He stopped listening around the time Christine suggested he stop skipping so much class.

Raven and Ashton were rather devoted to one another. They were only a couple months in but his sister couldn't shut up about him. Scorpius liked the goofy humor, dimples, and wide grin of the Aussie boy; but he didn't see what made him so special. Then again, people probably thought the same of Albus, and Scorpius felt like he was looking at the sun when he saw Potter.

James and Albus got into a massive argument about their father- and so they've been ignoring one another. Now that news of Harry Potter's affair had gone viral, so to speak, Hogwarts was buzzing with that gossip. Students were quickly scolded by Professors that overheard though, saying that was adult business and they shouldn't be talking about something that had nothing to do with them. But Harry Potter was a celebrity. That was like telling muggles to stop talking about Harry Styles; waste of breath. Rose Weasley would leave the table whenever Albus would arrive; an obvious display of being pissed at him for trivial reasons. And because Albus is Albus, he tried to excuse her behavior because 'her mom left her'. It resulted in an eye roll from his blonde-haired counter part.

There had been a few minor hazy dreams of Tom Riddle as well- which struck Scorpius as odd. Then he'd get a random one of Salazar Slytherin. They weren't monumental events. They were basic scenes. Of talking to a classmate, Dumbledore locking gazes with Tom from across the Great hall all those years ago- things that made Scorpius's stomach tie in knots. Then the visions of Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw, deep in conversation in the halls of Hogwarts. It was startling- to be taken that far back in time and see the castle. There were so few students, so little taught compared to now. Still, none of them had Scorpius waking in a cold sweat with his heart going a thousand kilometers an hour; which is the bar that Scorpius set for nightmares. When those memories started is when he'd actively try to find a way to end them. And he felt that they were coming.

Overall though, it hadn't been a terrible few weeks. Nothing can last forever though, can it?

"Hey we need to talk." Aries walks into the desolate girls bathroom, her eyes casting to Scorpius. He was standing on the stone bench, leaning his back against the wall. A cigarette in his hand. They'd usually meet here after classes, and then take off to some unknown destination. This time, Scorpius finally told Aries he was a parselmouth- which surprised her since Daniel and Cypress weren't. He agreed to open the chamber, if only to experience what Salazar Slytherin built under Hogwarts. He'd started to be a little more confident in his moves, more embracing of being who he was.

Which was good, he thought. "What happened? You never look this serious." Scorpius watched as she approached. The girl didn't just look serious- she looked nervous. She raised her hand, and he took the paper that was in it. It had been previously folded, so he stuck the cig between his lips and straightened it out to read it. Then he frowns and looked at her. "What is this? Greek? Hieroglyphs?" He joked. Aries realized suddenly it was hidden with magic and pulls her wand out.

"Aparecium." The charm made the ink change from weird unreadable shapes to English. Scorpius gave her a nod, and then looked down to read it.

Aries,
When spring is in full bloom, the dark will cumulate to see them. If the owl hasn't been tamed, bat will see to this regard. I'll have him one way or the other. Our mutt hasn't cracked, and the pig has returned to the world for the buck.
AS

Scorpius may as well have tried to read the Greek because it made just as much sense as jibberish. "Is this supposed to be... bad?" His eyebrows furrowed together. Aries snatched the note from him in anguish, like she expected him to understand their animal-code.

"You have until the peak of Spring to decide if you'll join them, because Daniel will be bringing you to them either way. You're owl, he's bat." She explains crumpling the letter and dropping it to the floor. It lights up in flames as it makes content. Aries's magic burning the paper to ashes. "Narcissa has joined us, she's been reprimanded; and she'll be going straight to the ministry. And because she's a Malfoy she'll be led inside like a damned Queen. The mutt- your father- is resisting Selwyn." Aries's tone suddenly made sense then. "'The dark will cumulate' means he's already calling on them."

"Them? My grandmother has been with Selwyn this entire time? How could you not tell me?!" Scorpius was yelling, he threw the cigarette down onto the stone, stepping off the ledge towards her. Aries wasn't intimidated.

"I didn't know. I've been here- I have no idea what they are doing until I get a letter." She retorts with indignation. "I'm telling you now- I've told you way more than I should have already, Salazar! Do you know what they'd do to me if they knew? If Selwyn even knew I said anything about Delphi I'd have been dead. Don't you realize that?"

"Then why tell me!"

"Oh I don't know! Maybe because I was under the bizarre impression we were actually friends!" She yells. Their voices bounced off the stone walls, echoing a bit in the empty room.

"We are! But friends aren't on the other side of things, Aries. What am I supposed to do with this? I will never, ever, join Selwyn."

"If you don't, Daniel will attack you and bring you to them. Dead or alive."

"Let him try."

"You listen to me, Salazar Marvelo Black, do not write me off when I tell you that you aren't a match for him." Her voice was harsh, quick and rude like a snake. She may as well have grabbed the boy and slapped him. "I don't care about your past with Daniel. But a few weeks of training with Selwyn doesn't compare to the years of small magic you've been doing forever. He will kill you."

"Daniel doesn't have the guts." Scorpius spat in rage. Aries grabbed his arm, and he would've shoved her off had it not been such an iron grip.

"I've seen him." She meets his gaze. "I've seen him do things you couldn't even imagine." The urgency in her voice had him pause for just a moment. "He's nothing compared to Selwyn, but his potential? Daniel has no control of his magic when he issues it, and that makes it impossible to predict. It almost doesn't matter if he was the sweetest person on earth, one slip up and he can kill you by accident. Haven't you wondered why he's hardly used any magic since being back?" Aries let's his arm go, pulling away. Scorpius started to think about it, trying to remember when the last time was that he saw Daniel do any magic. He couldn't even recall seeing his wand in his hand.

"Okay." Scorpius steps away from her, looking the girl up and down. "Why are you helping me? Don't pull the friend card- we both know self-preservation is high on your priorities- much higher than me." She held her chin tilted high, and inclined her head a bit towards him.

"My best chance of getting out is you." Her candor just about had Scorpius humbled. "Selwyn has to die, and I can't kill him because of the unbreakable vow; if I did, then I'd die too."

"So you expect me to kill him? You've got to be joking." Scorpius shook his head.

"No, but I know that he'll end up dead. That's what always happens. The one prejudiced and living in the past will die. It happened to the Dark Lord. It will happen to him." Aries sounded confident, even though Scorpius wondered if she really believed what she was saying.

"You know the magic that Daniel's been taught, right?" Scorpius asked. The girl hesitantly nodded. "Good. You have until full bloom to teach me. And if the coming conflict goes my way, I'll find a way to break your vow. One way or the other." He tells her. "You'll be free." Aries Carrow thought about it a moment.

"We'll start tomorrow. The Forbidden Forest. Legilimency."

"Daniel knows Legilimency?"

"No, he's unable to do it very well, hardly at all. But he also can't speak to snakes. We'll be working on that too." Aries says. "I wish things weren't like this." And that was her version of I'm sorry how fucked up this shit is.

"Don't think about it. I don't want to worry about any of it right now. We were about to have fun. The letter ruined it. We'll start lessons tomorrow and outside of the forest, in the castle, let's just pretend that we're normal." Scorpius let's out a breath.

—-
Normal? What a joke. Scorpius fell backwards hard, the breath driving out of his lungs with the impact. He gasped, sucking in air. He looked for where his wand had flung from his grip. After finding it and grabbing it again, he looked across the clearing at the girl dressed in black. Aries smacked gum between her lips. "If he disarms you, that's how you'll end up. Gasping, and defenseless. Now get up." Scorpius was aching all over. He slowly gets to his feet, raising his wand towards her. She was damn good at this- and wicked fast. He didn't know how he'd ever improve with her as his teacher. This felt like she was just beating the crap out of him.

"What happened with starting with Legilimency?"

"I changed my mind. I realized that if you are disarmed, that poses a huge issue since you can't do wandless magic."

"Aries, complete wandless magic takes decades to perfect."

"And you have less than two months. Put your wand away." She orders. Scorpius lowers his wand but doesn't make a move to put it away. "Put it away Salazar." Aries repeats, lifting hers.

"Expelliarmus." Scorpius slightly flicked his wand, but Aries immediately threw up her defense.

"Protego." She deflected it, glaring at him. "Put the wand away."

"I don't learn under pressure." Scorpius lies. Aries snorts, pointing her wand to the ground between them.

"Serpensortia." Her spell launched a live snake from thin air, and it curls for a moment between them. Scorpius took a step back, rather in surprise. "You said you're a parselmouth. Prove it." Scorpius was beginning to think he never should've suggested this.  "Engorgio." The spell had the snake growing in size, and Scorpius felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end at the length and girth of the reptile. "Are you scared of snakes, Sal? That's ironic, isn't it?"

"I'm not." Scorpius replies, taking another step back as the hissing reptile turns its head towards him. He felt a chill up his spine and knew it wasn't from the cold.

"You're the heir of Slytherin and you're afraid of snakes." Aries Carrow grinned, looking him up and down and then at the snake between them. "What are you waiting for then?"

"Flipendo." Scorpius's jinx sent the snake backwards a few paces. It hisses in rage.

"Oh now you've done it." Aries muses, walking over to lean against a tree, watching like this was an ordinary day for her. Scorpius's body pumps his veins full of adrenaline as the snake slithers towards him. His heart pounding in his chest.

"Stop." The language tumbled from his mouth involuntary. The snake paused, raising its enlarged head up a little to look at Scorpius. Gold eyes with pupils as slits, meeting Scorpius's grey ones like they were two ordinary people. It was a snake what the fuck.

"Salazar Gaunt." It hissed at him. Scorpius didn't breathe, still not believing that he was actually understanding a snake. "Your fear will come in your way of power." What was this? Divination class? Enough with the riddles already what the fuc-

"What is it saying?" Aries's eyes had gone wide, looking between the reptile and the boy. Scorpius felt his stomach churn.

"You don't even know me." Scorpius told it, holding his wand up and pointed at the animal.

"I know you better than you know yourself."

"Evanesco." Scorpius's spell made the snake disappear the same way it had appeared to begin with.

"Oh come on, Sal." Aries groans.

"Why do I need to practice parseltongue? It comes naturally, and when will I need to talk to a snake? It's not like I'm going to employ a reptile to-"

"You won't, because you don't like snakes. But Daniel might."

"Daniel can't even talk to them, why would he use them?" Scorpius's eyebrows furrowed together.

"To catch you off guard maybe? I'm not leaving anything to chance. When he comes for you, and he will, you'll have to be prepared. Whatever edge you have, you need to use." She replies. He didn't see how parseltongue was really going to help, but he didn't argue the point further. He ran his fingers through his platinum hair, trying to tame it. Though it was getting a bit fluffy from the humidity in the forest. "Try Legilimens. Once you use the spell easily you can do it without it." She prompts.

"You want me to use that spell on you? What if it works? I'll be able to get into your head." Scorpius narrows his eyes, wary as to why she'd allow that. She heard that implied question and answered it.

"Yes, if it works."

"You don't believe that I can do it." Scorpius fills in the blank. "Then why bother having me try?"

"Well I never would've guessed you could talk to snakes either. Maybe you got the full package." Aries considers.

"I think you just like to waste my time."

"Of course I like to waste your time. Handing out minor inconveniences to people is my heroine." She was arrogant about it, provoking. Scorpius runs a hand down his face, and finally nods.

"Okay." He points his wand at her, trying to focus on nothing else. He tries to imagine her mind as a spider web, a maze to meander through and find the way to the center. Where thoughts and memories are stored. "Legilimens." The spell blasted across the space between them, but nothing happened. After a moment, Scorpius lowered his wand, breaking the connection.

"Try again." Aries orders. "People who avoid failure also avoid success."

"Did you come up with that?" Scorpius wondered, considering how good of a line that was.

"What do you think?" She answers his question with her own. He scoffed. Way to turn his own tactics against him. "Again. Try to actually mean it this time, hm?" Her words had the boy a bit annoyed, like he hadn't been trying before.

"Legilimens!" He shouted the spell. Immediately an image floods his mind, an image not of the forest and Aries in front of him. A memory. While it only was there for a few long seconds, it was alarmingly vivid.

The image was dark, a dimly lit street with yellow lights on tall posts casting a soft glow, just enough to see. Town houses lined the left side, and to the right was a body of water. Scorpius couldn't tell what it was, a river or lake, etc. Not in the darkness. Even the moon didn't hang in the sky. Movement caught his attention and he saw a black figure walking down the street, seemingly not worried about cars at this time of night. There was an arrogance in the walk, and that's how Scorpius knew it was Aries.

Her hair was long, though. Done in two black braids down the back of her head and falling down to her mid-back. She looked sickly pale in the dark, her features were more shadowed, sunken in. Scorpius looked around, seeing a recognizable silhouette in the distance, standing above the others. The Eiffel Tower. Paris. He wasn't surprised, Aries did tell McGonagall that she was a transfer student from France. Perhaps there was some truth to that. She wore a long black coat, and heeled boots. Aries turned to a house, approaching the front door and giving it a knock from her knuckles.

Scorpius watched as the door opened, revealing Amycus Carrow.

Like a wave crashing against a rock on the cliffs of the coast, Scorpius is yanked out of the image. It actually put strain on his head, like the pain of a headache but only for a few minutes. Aries must've felt it too because she was rubbing her temples. "It worked." Scorpius spoke first, feeling like he'd just taken a bludger to his face. But the pain was easing fast. Aries meets his gaze.

"What did you see?"

"Your father. In Paris." He answers. "Is that where he still is?"

"Who knows?" Aries replies, tucking her hair behind her ears. Scorpius took that as a Mind your business. So he didn't say anything else. "We're done for today. Five minutes to dinner, anyways." She tucks her wand into her black sweater. Scorpius brushes off any remaining debris from the forest floor from his black jeans and grey hoodie. He turns his phone back on, watching the screen light up and load.

"Tomorrow?" Scorpius verifies as they start heading in the direction of the castle. The overcast sky was beginning to grow darker. Aries nods, falling into step beside him.

"I think with some practice you'll do good with