Soldiers and Serpents //Scorbus

50 Ancestry

Orion looked up from his cellphone as Scorpius approached, and turned it off. "Scorpius." He greets with a cheeky grin.

"Orion." Scorpius responds, and looks back at the map he tilted towards his body and away from the Gryffindor's prying eyes. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the Gryffindor party?"

"I was going to meet someone, but I think they've stood me up." Orion reveals, giving a click of his tongue. "Oh well. What are you doing here? What's that?" He gestures towards the long parchment in Scorpius's bandaged right hand.

"I was just headed back to the Slytherin dungeons." Scorpius lies smoothly. Orion arched a black eyebrow, and gestured to the wall of the hallway they stood in.

"The dungeons are that way." He points out. Scorpius nods in agreement. Orion knew he was lying but didn't say anything about it, he just continued. "Well, I'm sorry by the way. About making Albus uncomfortable at lunch."

"You should apologize to him."

"I plan to." Orion nods. "I didn't mean anything the way he took it, you know."

"It seemed pretty clear to me." Scorpius said slowly, chewing on his bottom lip. How was he supposed to ask about Orion's last name without revealing the fact he had the Marauders Map?

"Did you want it to be flirting?" Orion catches him off guard. That's not where Scorpius wanted this conversation going. He snorts, shaking his head at the audacity of this boy.

"I know you like your ego stroked, but alas, I'm not the guy to do it. No, Orion." Scorpius replies. "You mentioned you had adopted sisters." He begins, easing into it. "Are you a half-blood or..." Orion looked him up and down, and Scorpius cleared his throat under the scrutiny. The boy smiled a bit.

"My mother adopted muggles. She's a half-blood. My father was in and out of her life, so Mum married a muggle after he left for good. Why you interested in my family, suddenly?" He asks, not regarding Scorpius suspiciously or with wariness- but simple curiosity. And he almost seemed... glad?

"Consider me curious." Scorpius shrugs nonchalantly. "So your last name Davis then...?" He trails off.

"Comes from my step-father. He legally adopted me when he married Mum, and she legally adopted his daughters from another wife before. So I took his name, more to appease my Mum than anyone else." Orion explains, leaning against the wall of the hallway as they spoke. Scorpius considered this, considering that maybe his last name was Black before. So he had his birth father's name? Scorpius burned with questions, so he finally just held up the map for Orion, extending it towards him. Orion takes it, and his eyes widen at first glance. "You have the Marauder's Map? How'd you get it?"

"Nicked it of course." Scorpius steps up, and points to Orion's name in the hallway. "Care to explain why it says your name is Black here?" Orion followed where he gestured, and then looked back up at Scorpius. Realizing the close proximity, Scorpius steps back to put distance between them again.

"My mother is Nymphadora Tonk's sister. But she... wasn't always a good one. So she took the name Black, finding it more pure than her father's muggle name." He says. Scorpius began to grow a headache. Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin had died in the war, and was the daughter of Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks (muggle). Andromeda was sisters with Bellatrix and Narcissa. And their father, Cygnus, was brother to Walburga- Scorpius's biological grandmother.