Soldiers and Serpents //Scorbus

45 London

Oliver called him a couple hours later after Harry had left. And this time Scorpius answered. "Hello?"

"Hey. You've missed my calls." Oliver deadpans, clearly not in the best of moods. Scorpius sat on the grass on the Malfoy Grounds, his back leaning against the cold stone of his mother's grave. Missy was some distance away, nose to the ground like a bloodhound. Scorpius pulled the cigarette away from his mouth to answer.

"I haven't felt up to it." He responds simply, putting the phone on speaker so he didn't have to hold it up. Plus, no one was here but him. He rested the device on his thigh covered with black jeans. He'd swapped out the sweats for jeans when he decided he wanted to go out instead of staying inside. Even if it only meant as far as to Astoria's grave site.

"Albus texted me. Told me that you were avoiding him. He was really worried."

"He cares too much." Scorpius's tone was cold.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it over the phone." Or at all. Scorpius tried to dismiss it that way. But Oliver was resilient.

"That works out. Because I was just dropped at the bus station in Wiltshire. Meet me at the cafe. We're going to London today." Oliver decided. Scorpius's eyes widened. What? That's definitely not what he planned to do on his day off. He scrambled for an excuse to not do that. "I know that silence. Don't even try to blow me off S. I will show up to your house. I wonder what your father will have to say about that." He wouldn't be all that pleased. Scorpius groans. "I'll buy you a coffee." Oliver adds in a sing-song voice.

"Fine." He leaned his head back on the stone. "Just give me ten minutes." Scorpius hung up and got to his feet, brushing off the debris from the ground, putting his cigarette out. When he went back inside and changed into a tee shirt, pulling on his coat over it so that it would hide his wand better from curious muggles. He fixed his hair quickly, so it didn't look so bed-head. After he'd grabbed what he needed, he started down the stairs, and Draco was passing the hallway to his study right as their paths crossed.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Do I need to report my location to you?" Scorpius answered his question with his own, opening the front door. Missy sat at the bottom of the stairs, recognizing he was leaving. Draco watched him, a stack of paper in his hands.

"No. Just worried is all." He says. Obviously he was worried. Scorpius had been a shut in all weekend and now he suddenly wanted to go out and hit the streets? Anyone would find that peculiar behavior. Especially when the boy was still recovering from a minor concussion and a burn that was bandaged still on the entire lower part of his arm.

"Don't worry. I'm not flinging myself from the highest building. It's going to take a lot more than a little trauma to make me suicidal." Scorpius snorts. Draco didn't laugh, but recognized it was an attempt at a joke and just shrugged.

"Be safe. If you're going to be late, text me so I don't think something terrible happened." Draco starts down the hall again and looks over his shoulder. "Like suicide or something." He jokes, and Scorpius grinned. At least Draco recognized the dark humor as humor. Not that it wasn't a serious thing- Scorpius took mental health seriously, especially when it pertained to his friends'- but he was able to make a joke too. Albus probably would find something like that in poor taste, as many people would. But Scorpius was Scorpius. If he can't joke about it, he'd have a stick lodged so far up his ass he'd be brushing it with his toothbrush.