Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Rewrite

CHAPTER 12- Broken

THREE MONTHS HAD GONE BY SINCE ASTORIA'S FUNERAL AND SCORPIUS HAD MORE OR LESS RETURED BACK TO HIS USUAL SELF. The thought of that made Albus and Rose happy. They were walking back from Defense Against the Dark Arts when they heard a voice. They couldn't hear words but soft mumbles.

"That's James." said Albus, recognizing the voice.

"James? Are you sure?" asked Scorpius.

"I live with him. Yeah, I'm sure." said Albus. They heard a giggle and they headed towards James. They saw him snogging a red-haired Slytherin girl.

"James." said Rose.

"Audrey?" said Scopius at the same time. James and Audrey sprang apart.

"Oh, what the heck did I just see! I did not need to see that!" said Albus "I need to burn off my eyes now! Why did I need to see my brother snogging!"

"Stop over reacting, Albus." said James "It's really no big deal."

"You're dating a Potter?" asked Scorpius.

"You're dating a Carrow?" asked Rose at the same time.

"Yes" said James and Audrey said 'no' at the same time. After hearing that, James changed his answer to 'no' and Audrey changed hers to 'yes'. Finally they both settled on "It's complicated."

"Please don't tell anyone." said James "It's all very new and then there's family."

"Yeah, yeah, fine!" said Rose dismissively "How long has it been complicated?"

"A month I guess?" said Audrey.

"A month!?" exclaimed Albus "And it's still complicated!? Okay, now you both do exactly as I say. He likes you and you like him, so now both of you go to the three broomsticks and share a butterbeer and there, you are officially dating. Thank you very much."

"Yeah, I'll get him out of here before he says anything else." said Scorpius receiving a look from James. Scorpius dragged Albus all the way to the Slytherin dorms. Albus was about to collapse on to his bed when he saw an envelope tied with a purple ribbon.

"What is this?" asked Albus picking it up "There's one on your bed too." Scorpius took his envelope and opened it.

"I'm bored. Meet me in the Charms classroom at midnight. I want to play a game. Bring your Gryffindor girlfriend too." said Scorpius reading the letter inside the envelope aloud.

"Mine says the same except it says Hufflepuff girlfriend instead of Gryffindor."

"Do you think this is for us?" asked Scorpius.

"Of course its meant for us!" exclaimed Albus "You're the only Slytherin with a Gryffindor girlfriend!"

"Who do you think its from?"

"Katerina." said Albus after thinking for a while "It's got to be her."

**********

Albus, Lena, Rose and Scorpius snuck into the charms classroom at midnight just like the sender had wanted. They entered and saw Katerina in the room lighting a bunch of candles.

"Told you it was Katerina." whispered Albus to Scorpius.

"Glad you could come." said Katerina with a mischievous grin "Please, take a seat."

"Why are we here?" asked Rose coldly as all four of them took a seat on the table Katerina had made by re-arranging the desks.

"We're going to play a game." said Katerina "It doesn't have a name. It's just a game to see who's the most broken of us all."

"Why are you troubling us?" asked Scorpius "Did you run out of people?"

"I've troubled everyone in this school except you four." she replied "Just this one time and I'll let you leave. I have a reputation after all."

"What if we don't want to play?" said Rose through gritted teeth.

"Oh you're going to play, Rose." said Katerina "Although, I'm a bit curious as to why you don't want to play. Is it because you know that you're broken? I mean just look at you. The perfect combination of Hermione and Ron Weasley. You got her smarts and his quidditch skill, but you're dating a Malfoy. I can imagine it must not have sat well when you told your parents, after all his family is the reason your mother has a 'mudblood' scar on her hand. Oh, that's why I guess you haven't told them yet... because you know that what I'm saying is true."

"Don't listen to her Rose." said Scorpius. Rose didn't say anything but just shifted uncomfortably.

"Noble Scorpius, saving Rose." commented Katerina.

"What the hell do you want!" exclaimed Rose.

"Now that I think about it." said Katerina ignoring Rose "I think everyone knows why Scorpius is broken. He just lost his mum. Really sorry about that." Her voice lost its sneer and venom and instead turned into a genuine apology.

"Shut. Up." Rose and Albus said at the same time. 

"Albus, I almost forgot about you." said Katerina her hostility returning again "Albus Severus Potter. The first Potter in Slytherin. Just so different from his parents. Now tell me, how does it feel to be a colossal disappointment to your parents." 

"I don't know, why don't you answer that for yourself." spat Lena.

"Lena Delacour, or Deveraux, I forget which one you prefer. Nevertheless, you ran away from home at just the age of eleven! Your parents must be worried sick! Oh, wait, they want you dead. Amalie and Jean-Claude Deveraux want you dead."

"You're not so different from us." said Albus "You march around pretending like you have the perfect life. Don't kid yourself. You were practically raise by Scorpius's mum because yours was too busy with her work to look after you. You go around bullying people because you want to be known instead of ignored. You think that you getting attention here will make up for the lack of attention you have by your parents. I'm leaving because we found our winner." Albus got up and left the classroom.

"You alright?" asked Lena who left the room right after Albus. She placed her hand on Albus's shoulder and Albus held it there.

"I'm fine." said Albus "I just... I can't help but think that Katerina knows how to trouble someone, but she never lied. All the things she said were sadly true."

"No, she was lying." said Lena moving her hand to Albus's cheek "You are not a disappointment Albus."

"Sometimes I think I am." Albus muttered to himself "I didn't tell her about your... situation."

"I know." said Lena "She knew their first names. I didn't tell you that."

"She's also lying about me." said Rose who was keenly listening on their conversation "I did tell my parents."

"You did?" asked Scorpius and Rose nodded. Suddenly, they heard footsteps in the distance. Albus knew he had forgotten something and he remembered what he had forgotten when he heard the footsteps. He had forgotten his invisibility cloak.