Chapter Text
There is a shy knock on the door and Harry looks up from his paperwork. “come in” he calls out.
The door opens carefully and Albus head appears.
“Can I talk to you about something?”
Harry closes the files in front of him and nods. “Of course you can.”
As he slips in and closes the door behind him, Harry begins to wonder why his son is behaving so odd. Albus takes a seat in the chair in front of the desk. He remains silent.
“So what is it?” Harry asks encouraging.
“It’s…umm… it’s about Scorpius.” He answers nervously.
“oh yeah? What about him?” Harry thinks that his son is going to tell him, that he is in love with nemesis son and he can’t help but smile at the irony. Reading the smile right, Albus blushes.
“Dad, I’m not gay and Scorpius isn’t either. Besides that, there is a girl at Hogwarts that I like.”
Harry is grinning. “Ok, ok, but you know it’s ok if you where. And even if it was with a Malfoy.” He winks at his son. At the beginning he was very sceptical of the friendship between Draco Malfoys son and his own. But Scorpius was a very sweet little boy and had now grown into a polite, quiet lad. Harry is rather fond of him.
“I know it is Dad, it’s just not the case.”
“Ok, I let it drop. So what is it you wanted to talk about?”
Albus is fidgeting at the edge of his chair, obviously very nervous.
“So what is going on?” Harry asks again.
“Promise me you wont freak out.”
Harry perks up his left eyebrow. “This sounds rather serious.”
“It is. And I’m not ment to tell you, but I have to…”
“So then…tell me!” “….Scorpius he is..” he inhales sharply, “he is not well.”
Harry watches Albus carefully, there is guilt written all over his face. “What do you mean exactly?” Harry pushes softly. He senses that this was something serious. Albus takes another deep breath and then blurs out in a rush:
“he is hurting himself. He is doing it again and it just seems that he cannot stop.”
It was like a bucket full of ice had turned in Harry’s stomach. He looks into the wide eyes of his son. Albus is just at the verge of crying.
“Easy, easy Albus. Just explain it to me, please.” He tried to keep his voice calm and steady.
“What do you mean with hurting himself?”
“He cuts himself with sharp objects, that’s what I mean.” Albus nearly screams at his father.
“Ok Albus, calm down, you have to tell me everything, alright?” Albus sighs and then he nods.
“So how long has this been going on?”
“Don’t know really, I think about a year now.”
Harry is shocked. “A year?” Albus looks guilty.
“I think it might be, I’m not exactly sure. I just found out six months ago.”
“So how did you find out? Did he tell you?”
“No he didn’t, I walked in on him.”
“You walked in on him cutting himself?” Harry asks his voice about to crack.
“Yes, kind of. It was a free period and we were about to have Quidditch-Training but he was nowhere to be seen, so I went looking for him. When I came in the dorm room, the curtains around his bed where all closed, that seemed strange and when I called out his name he didn’t answer. So I walked over and drew the curtains back and there he was, starring at me, really panicked. He tried to hide his arms under the covers, but I knew something was up. I asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing and to leave him alone. He sounded so desperate. I knew he was hiding something, he was hiding something for months and whenever I asked he would say that it was nothing and that I was being ridiculous. So drew away the blanket he tried to cover his arms with. There was blood and cuts, they where fresh, and there where scars all over his arms. I was so shocked I couldn’t say anything. Suddenly he was really furious. He pushed me out of the way, griped his ropes and disappeared. I have searched for him, the entire castle and the grounds, but you know just how much space you have to hide at Hogwarts. I would’ve asked James for the Map, but he was playing Qidditch. So I waited for him, we both missed the training, Morgan was so pissed with us. But he didn’t came back, not even for dinner. I wanted to wait but then I must have fallen asleep. The next morning he was there, acting as nothing had happened. I said I wanted to talk, but he just brushed me of. Three days he was avoiding me and finding excuses not to talk to me. Then I told him I would go to professor McGonagall if he still would refuse to talk to me.”
“And why didn’t you tell McGonagall?” asks Harry.
Albus shrugs his shoulders “I just couldn’t. I wanted him to explain what he was doing, it would have felt like betrayal if I had gone to tell on him.”
“And did you talk to him?”
“Yes, he said that it looked worse than it actually was, that it wasn’t dangerous and he wouldn’t do any serious damage to himself. It would help him calm down and focus when he was upset. I should not be worried. He dismissed it so casually that I started to believe him. He told me he would not do it again if I was so worried about it.”
“And you wanted to believe him, didn’t you?” Harry asks his son in a low voice. Albus nods.
“And then three weeks ago, he cut himself so deep that he got himself scared, he asked me for help. He led me heal it. He was really, really scared. He said he would stop. He swore it to me. Now he is all secretive again. I’m sure he cuts again. I think he can’t control it anymore.”
The only thing Harry can do is nod.
“Do you know how this started?”
“I guess it’s these dam books.”
“Which books?”
“You know how he is obsessed with all these muggel stuff? He is even worst than grandpa. About a year ago he found himself a couple of books on muggle-medicine. One of them was on mental health. I think he learned all about this from this books, I think he uses them as a instruction on what to do. He would go to sleep with these books and after Christmas break there where more, even muggle-novels about this kind of thing.”
Harry is to shocked to say anything. So they just sit in silence a couple of minutes until Harry speaks up again.
“You know that I have to confront him, this can’t go on, not under my care, especially with Lily in the house.”
Albus eyes widen, he hadn’t even thought about his little sister. He imagined her to walk in on scene like he had a couple of months ago. It was very unlikely to happen though, as Scorpius was very careful to hide all the evidences, but still…
“yeah” he said. He bowed his head. Scorpius would hate him for that.
“And I have to tell his parents.”
“Do you really have to tell them, Dad?”
Harry led out a sigh “I’m afraid so, this can not go on without their knowledge, you understand that, don’t you?”
“ Yes I do, but… he is never going to speak another word with me ever again.”
Harry looked sad “Maybe, but maybe he understands that you were only trying to help him.”
“I hope so”
Silence again.
“Well then, I have to go and talk to him.”
“Last I have seen him, he was in my room hiding away from me.”
Harry hesitates, he don’t want to do this, but it had to be done. His stomach feels like it is filled with stones. He goes upstairs and knocks softly at the door to Regulus old room, that now is Albuses, before entering. Scorpius sits on the spare bed, his long legs folded underneath him, reading a cheap paperback-novel. He looks up from the book his grey eyes piercing. In this moment Scorpius reminds Harry more than ever of his father Draco Malfoy. Usually he reminds him not at all of his school-enemy, though their features where much alike. He is also blonde, tall and skinny, his eyes are the same grey as his fathers. But normally Scorpius completely lacked the arrogant look and the typical Draco Malfoy sneer. Now he looks as cold and calculating as his father. Harry is taken aback a little. He knows that Albus told me, he thinks.
“I would like to have a word with you Scorpius.”
Scorpius rests the novel beside him an brings his knees to his chest hugging them tightly with his arms. Now all that Harry can see is shame and fear and a small boy who needs help. He seats himself on Albus’s trunk, facing the teenager.
“So Albus has told you, hasn’t he?” Scorpius speaks up desperately trying to keep his voice from breaking. Harry nods. Scorpius looks as if he is about to cry.
“It’s okay Scorpius. I’m not here to shout at you, I just like to make sure that you are alright.”
“I am alright, don’t worry.” Scorpius tries to sound reassuring.
“Anyway I would like to see your arm.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to see how bad this is. I am your temporary guardian and you are my responsibility.”
The boy looks panicked and clutches his arms even tighter around himself.
“No, please don’t.”
“I’m sorry but I have to. I promise I will not comment and I will not judge you.” Harry says softly.
Scorpius hesitates, then he held out his left arm. Tears are running down his face. Harry stands and takes one step closer to the bed where the boy is sitting. Carefully he rolls up his sleeve. There are three fresh cuts on his inner arm, just underneath the elbow. Harry is relived to see, that they aren’t very deep. Still they must have caused some bleeding. Around the fresh cuts there are scars, white outstanding scars allover. In the middle of his forearm there is a long, angry one. It is not tidily lined like the other ones but ragged and wild. It must be the one Albus healed. Harry downplays his shock. As he reaches for his wand and places it besides the fresh cuts, Scorpius tightly shut eyes flew open.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to heal them.”
Scorpius tries to jerk his arm out of Harrys grip.
“Please don’t.” he whispers.
“You don’t want me to heal them?”
Scorpius shakes his head. “No.”
Harry sighs, “Ok, but then I have to clean them and bandage you up.”
“But they are not deep, they don’t need a bandage.” Scorpius tries to protest.
“There are open wounds anyhow, so there is no discussion.”
Eventually Scorpius gives in. Harry accios the band aids. When he is done, he allows the boy to put his sleeves back down.
“Are you going to tell my parents? “ Scorpius asks quietly.
Harry looks at him with a sad expression. “You understand that I have to tell them, don’t you?” he says gently.
“yeah, sure, whatever.”
Harry stands up. “And Scorpius, please don’t be mad at Albus. He was just so worried and he wants to help you. So please don’t be mad, ok?” He flushes a little smile at the boy.
“I know that he only wanted to help.” Scorpius bows his head down in shame. “I’m sorry!”
“You don’t need to be sorry Scorpius, it’s gonna be okay, don’t worry.”
He leaves the room, letting Albus in, who was waiting just outside the door.
“Go in and talk to him, he is very upset now.”
Harry makes his way down to his study, thinking about the letter he would have to send to the Malfoys. He figures that he couldn’t explain such a delicate subject in a letter and had to ask them to come by this evening to discuss the matter personally. He sighs again. What a mess. Even though there were civil with each other, mostly for the sake of their kids, he still was not friends with Draco and he is feeling very uncomfortable that he has to bring something like this to his attention.
But this is not about him, it is about helping that poor kid.