(no subject)
Title: Surprise Visits
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,487
Characters: Scorpius, Albus Severus, Lily Luna, Hermione, Ron
Prompt: 018. Emergency Room
Summary: Scorpius goes to see his friend in the Muggle ER and it turns into a reunion they all would have rather avoided. (#1 in a sort of "What Happens on Break" series)
Warnings: Alternative Universe of lumos_founders.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling.
Scorpius Malfoy burst into the hospital, lip curling with obvious distaste at the Muggles who were milling everywhere. Why couldn't he just have gone to St. Mungo's? he asked himself as he located the front desk of the emergency room. "I'm looking for Albus Severus Potter," he said brusquely, completely ignoring the nurse who was making eyes at him. She had to have been at least six years older than him and a Muggle besides. He got in enough trouble for liking a Muggleborn.
"Are you family?" the woman behind the desk asked, eyebrow raised.
My father would have my head. "Yeah, I'm his brother. Can you tell me where he is now? I'm on a schedule." One that dictated that he be well on his way back to the lodge by now. His mother would not be impressed if he showed up late for dinner again and he was starting to run out of excuses.
"Room 1104, right through those doors." Scorpius did not even bother to say thank you as he hurried through the doors. Normally he was a little more polite, even to Muggles, but he had other things on his mind.
The moment he walked through the door for room 1104 a girl with bright red hair flew at him and began to beat at his chest with her small fists. "You idiot!" she screamed at him. "This is all your fault, if you hadn't told him that it wasn't that different from flying then he wouldn't be hurt!"
"Oye!" Scorpius grunted, wrestling to get the girl off of him. "Get off me, Lily, it's not my fault! Your bloody brother's the one who wanted to try it, not me! Get off!" He held the struggling girl at bay and glared at the messy-haired boy propped up in the bed. "Al, would you tell her it wasn't my idea? I wanted to stay on our brooms."
"It's so much more fun to watch her try to kill you," Albus said with a grin, grimacing as he shifted. His right leg was in a thick white cast held up off the bed by a series of pulleys. It all looked terribly unnecessary to Scorpius as he stepped up to the bed, still holding Lily to make sure that she did not jump at him again. "Miserable, isn't it? Makes me wish that I had dad's old Invisibility Cloak so that the Muggles wouldn't have seen me go flying into the tree like that. Could've gone to St. Mungo's and been walking by now."
"You can let go of me, Malfoy," Lily growled, trying to tug free. Scorpius complied and the redhead went to the other side of the bed, glaring and rubbing at her wrists. "What're you doing here anyway? Isn't this a bit too Muggle for you?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Far too Muggle for me," he agreed. "But I can't very well let Al sit here with nothing but you nagging at him now can I? I'd be a terrible friend if I did." He flicked the thick cast, grinning when Al tried to swat him. "Come on, now, any of the adults could have that Healed in a blink."
"Aunt Hermione's on her way," Lily chirped in, looking a little too smug at the way Scorpius paled. "Uncle Ron might be with her, too."
Albus glared at his little sister. "Stop it, Lily, that's not very nice."
"I should be going anyhow," Scorpius said as he started towards the door. "I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow, Al, you'll be better by then and we can go explore the other side of the mountain. Father said he and mother are staying inside so there's no chance..." His voice trailed off when the door opened to admit a woman with bushy brown hair. "Ah."
Hermione Weasley stopped at the sight of Scorpius, a hand going up to cover her mouth. They stood staring for a moment before Hermione finally said, in a slightly strangled voice, "Scorpius... I didn't know you were here."
Scorpius ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, trying very hard to act like he did at school. "Yeah... thought it'd be better that way, what with the whole you being married and older and all." Holidays were always uncomfortable when it came time to face the older versions of the students he was used to seeing at his height every day. Especially not the one he had grown quite fond of.
"He was just leaving," Lily added in, squeaking as Albus reached out to cover her mouth. Neither of the other two seemed to notice.
"Are you doing well?" Hermione asked, biting her lower lip. She lifted her hand, as though she were about to fix an errant lock of Scorpius's hair, when a tall redhead burst into the room.
"Would you look at that!" Ron Weasley declared, laughing loudly as he walked over to where Albus and Lily were still tussling. "My nephew went and got himself all bound up in a Muggle cast! 'Mione, you going to do something about this so we can get back to the cabin? Ginny and Harry are-" He turned around and the smile slid off of his face as he spotted Scorpius standing there. "Never thought I'd see the day when a Malfoy set foot in a Muggle hospital."
"Never thought I'd see the day when you thought anything," Scorpius shot back automatically, forgetting for a moment that this Ron was a good deal bigger than him, and older as well. "But don't worry, I was just leaving. Hope you get Healed up alright, Al."
"Thanks, Scor," Albus replied as Scorpius pushed the door open and left the room, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
Shouldn't be surprised, he told himself as he walked through the Muggles. I knew they were married... why shouldn't they go places together? Why shouldn't I eventually have to see it? But all of that did not make any of it easier, and he doubted that it was easy for any of the others at Hogwarts who found that they had fallen for people from a different time than themselves. "Scorpius!"
Surprised, Scorpius turned to find Hermione walking up to him. She looked different than he thought she should, taller than her seventeen-year-old self for one and definitely older, but her eyes were the same. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry for how Ron acted, he just... well, you know how he feels about Malfoys."
"Everyone knows how that man feels about Malfoys. Would've been funny to see his face if I were a Lestrange." The memory he had of Ron catching on fire their first year was one of his favorites, though their duel second year was close behind. Scorpius shrugged. "Anyway, I'm used to it. No love lost between me and him." Except on the matter of you... which he obviously wins. That thought hurt more than it had any right to.
This time Hermione did reach up to brush back a strand of Scorpius's hair, something she had been doing since the end of their second year. "It's harder for me than for you," she said quietly. "For you it's like everything just happened yesterday... not like that for the rest of us." Her fingers rested against his temple. "It's been more than twenty years since I saw you like this, except for pictures that I have."
"Like it's easy for me to go from walking around with you and then suddenly you're married to that git," Scorpius growled. "I was going to go back to school and give you-"
"This." Hermione held up a silver chain from which dangled a ring. Scorpius leaned in for a closer look.
"Woman, you're hurting my head," he complained as he realized that it was the ring he had left in his room at Malfoy Manor.
Hermione laughed. "I missed hearing you say that."
"You do hurt my head," Scorpius told her, but he was smiling as he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned up against the wall, forgetting for a moment that they were in a Muggle hospital instead of Hogwarts. "But I take it that you like the ring?"
"You'll have to wait and see my reaction, now won't you, Malfoy?" Hermione teased.
Scorpius laughed. "I'm pretty sure that you'll melt right into my arms at the sight of that opal, Granger."
"It's Weasley now," Ron all but snarled as he walked up behind Hermione, sliding an arm around her waist. "Thought you were leaving?"
A hundred different things to say popped into Scorpius's mind, but then he glanced at the ring dangling from Hermione's neck and he smirked at Ron. "See you at school." He sketched a bow over Hermione's hand, kissing it lightly before striding away to the sound of Hermione and Ron arguing. Maybe I should go to emergency rooms with Albus more often. Can't wait to tell the Princess about this one.
Title: Son of a Queen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,343
Characters: Luna, Lysander, Susan
Prompt: 032. Queen
Summary: Set during the summer break after fifth year when Lysander goes to Diagon Alley. (#2 of a sort of "What Happens on Break" series)
Warnings: Alternative Universe of lumos_founders.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling. Except for Thesus; he's mine.
"Don't go into Knockturn Alley," Luna told her son when she let go of his hand. He may have been fifteen, but Lysander still let his mother hold his hand when she wanted to. "And be back here before dark, we still have to meet up with your father and Lorcan. Otherwise one of us might miss the train and we'll never find the Snorack." Lysander nodded, he definitely did not want to be the reason why they did not find the elusive creature, and hurried off. He had promised Lorcan that he would pick some things up for him in Diagon Alley if his twin got him some things from London proper. He was just about to go into the apothecary, they were both running low on a few things, when he saw her walking into Flourish & Blotts.
She was much taller, her dark hair done differently and there was definitely something about her face that spoke volumes for what she had gone through since graduating. If he had been anyone else, then Lysander would have just gone into the apothecary and not thought of it again, but he was the boy who went looking for things that no one else believed in. So the blonde boy made sure that his mother was not watching him and darted into the bookstore behind the woman. He caught up with her easily and tapped on her shoulder. When she turned he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her, grateful that she did not weigh much more than she had, up in a circle. "Hullo Susan," he said happily as he set her back down, grinning at her despite the startled look on her face. "How are you today, my queen?"
Lysander's smile did not falter as Susan continued to stare at him, flushing as she glanced around the store. "Lysander Scamander," she said at last. "It's been... I mean, I haven't seen you..." Her voice trailed off and she reached up to straighten her hair, not that Lysander could see anything wrong with it. He had never been able to see anything wrong with it. "Since I graduated and got on the Hogwarts Express that last time. I haven't seen you since then."
If not for all the time that he had spent around her, then Lysander would not have caught the strain in Susan's voice despite the smile that she was managing for him and the uncertainty in her eyes was plain. "But I'm here now," he said. "And you remember me!"
"Of course I remember you." Susan's voice was quieter and she was looking at a spot on Lysander's shoulder very fixedly. "I remember things that haven't happened for you yet, Lysander... like when you were born and your parents sent out the cards with pictures of you and Lorcan." The ghost of a real smile flitted across her face. "You were absolutely adorable... but a baby... and now you're how old?"
"Fifteen," Lysander said proudly, not sure of what Susan was getting at.
Susan sighed. "Lysander, I'm going to be forty soon."
Lysander shrugged and reached for Susan's hand. "You still look like a queen to me," he informed her. "And I still-"
"Don't say that," Susan said quickly. "Please, don't say that here."
"But I do!"
"I... I know you do. And I... I graduated over twenty years ago." Susan looked as though she were about to say something else but a young man appeared at her shoulder, giving Lysander a strange look. He had pale blonde hair, Susan's dancing eyes and a face that Lysander knew he had seen somewhere before.
"Hey, mum, have you gotten your book yet? I have to be back at the office in an hour and I want to make sure you're home before I go back," the young man said, still looking at Lysander like he was some sort of puzzle. "Whose this lad now?"
Susan was looking at the floor as she replied, "Lysander, this is my son, Theseus Bones."
The young man snorted as he held his hand out to Lysander. "And here I thought that my name was strange, but it looks like I'm not the only one. Nice to meet you, Lysander."
Lysander swallowed hard and took Theseus's hand, feeling for the first time in his life like he could not breathe. "A pleasure, Theseus... excuse me." He turned and all but ran out of the bookstore, collapsing in a small alley between it and the next sore with his face in his hands. It was not fair that Susan had a son, that someone else would get to be with her before he was even born...
"You're crying," a quiet voice said as a soft hand slipped under his chin and made him look up.
"I am," Lysander said as he looked up at Susan. "Mum says that there's nothing wrong with a boy crying, especially if there's a good reason. And I have one, I just felt all... I couldn't breathe." It had been rather frightening now that he thought of it. "You got married, I guess?"
"No."
"Whose his father? Someone we went to school with?" Lysander was not sure if he wanted the answer to that question, especially since he would have to go back to Hogwarts in a few months and face whoever it was with Susan blissfully unaware.
Susan looked away. "That's complicated, Lysander."
"It's better to know than to wonder," Lysander informed her, wiping the back of his hand across his eyes. "That's what father always says. I can't forget that I ran into you and your son." How could he even look at Susan the same way again, knowing that she was somebody's mother? And Theseus was not even an ugly boy, he was rather handsome and had Susan's eyes. Anyone who had eyes like that could not be all bad, no matter who their father was.
Susan looked over at Lysander, blue eyes teary. "Theseus is twenty-two years old," she said quietly. "He was born early in the year after I graduated, Lysander, when I was eighteen..."
"So?"
She actually laughed when she looked at him and shook her head. "Always the innocent, aren't you? Maybe I've missed that more than looking for blibbering humdingers... did you really look at Theseus, Lysander?"
"He has your eyes." Susan had missed him? A bit of the knot in his chest loosened at that realization. "And he looks like someone I've seen before, I just don't know who it is. Which is why I want to know who his father is, then I'll be able to figure out why I think I recognize him."
Susan reached out and took Lysander's face in her hands. "Listen very closely to me, Lysander Scamander," she said in the firm voice she so rarely used. "Under no circumstances are you ever allowed to talk about any of this with the me that you know... I mean, the me that's your age that you go to school with. Alright?"
"Anything you say, Susan," Lysander promised, a little confused. But he would do anything for Susan and she knew that.
For some reason Susan closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, trembling. "Theseus is your son, Lysander."
"He's older than I am." Was this some sort of joke? Susan did not have this kind of humor.
"He was born eight months after I graduated," Susan said slowly. "When it happened... well, we were seventeen, Lysander, and by the time I knew..."
Lysander thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "He's handsome," he said at last. "Very nice hair." He could place Theseus's face now, it was an older version of what he saw in the mirror. He smiled at Susan. "He looks like a prince." Then Susan started crying on his shoulder and his mother was there, closely followed by Theseus and it was like a strange family reunion where only two people knew that they were related. Lorcan will be so jealous.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,487
Characters: Scorpius, Albus Severus, Lily Luna, Hermione, Ron
Prompt: 018. Emergency Room
Summary: Scorpius goes to see his friend in the Muggle ER and it turns into a reunion they all would have rather avoided. (#1 in a sort of "What Happens on Break" series)
Warnings: Alternative Universe of lumos_founders.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling.
Scorpius Malfoy burst into the hospital, lip curling with obvious distaste at the Muggles who were milling everywhere. Why couldn't he just have gone to St. Mungo's? he asked himself as he located the front desk of the emergency room. "I'm looking for Albus Severus Potter," he said brusquely, completely ignoring the nurse who was making eyes at him. She had to have been at least six years older than him and a Muggle besides. He got in enough trouble for liking a Muggleborn.
"Are you family?" the woman behind the desk asked, eyebrow raised.
My father would have my head. "Yeah, I'm his brother. Can you tell me where he is now? I'm on a schedule." One that dictated that he be well on his way back to the lodge by now. His mother would not be impressed if he showed up late for dinner again and he was starting to run out of excuses.
"Room 1104, right through those doors." Scorpius did not even bother to say thank you as he hurried through the doors. Normally he was a little more polite, even to Muggles, but he had other things on his mind.
The moment he walked through the door for room 1104 a girl with bright red hair flew at him and began to beat at his chest with her small fists. "You idiot!" she screamed at him. "This is all your fault, if you hadn't told him that it wasn't that different from flying then he wouldn't be hurt!"
"Oye!" Scorpius grunted, wrestling to get the girl off of him. "Get off me, Lily, it's not my fault! Your bloody brother's the one who wanted to try it, not me! Get off!" He held the struggling girl at bay and glared at the messy-haired boy propped up in the bed. "Al, would you tell her it wasn't my idea? I wanted to stay on our brooms."
"It's so much more fun to watch her try to kill you," Albus said with a grin, grimacing as he shifted. His right leg was in a thick white cast held up off the bed by a series of pulleys. It all looked terribly unnecessary to Scorpius as he stepped up to the bed, still holding Lily to make sure that she did not jump at him again. "Miserable, isn't it? Makes me wish that I had dad's old Invisibility Cloak so that the Muggles wouldn't have seen me go flying into the tree like that. Could've gone to St. Mungo's and been walking by now."
"You can let go of me, Malfoy," Lily growled, trying to tug free. Scorpius complied and the redhead went to the other side of the bed, glaring and rubbing at her wrists. "What're you doing here anyway? Isn't this a bit too Muggle for you?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Far too Muggle for me," he agreed. "But I can't very well let Al sit here with nothing but you nagging at him now can I? I'd be a terrible friend if I did." He flicked the thick cast, grinning when Al tried to swat him. "Come on, now, any of the adults could have that Healed in a blink."
"Aunt Hermione's on her way," Lily chirped in, looking a little too smug at the way Scorpius paled. "Uncle Ron might be with her, too."
Albus glared at his little sister. "Stop it, Lily, that's not very nice."
"I should be going anyhow," Scorpius said as he started towards the door. "I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow, Al, you'll be better by then and we can go explore the other side of the mountain. Father said he and mother are staying inside so there's no chance..." His voice trailed off when the door opened to admit a woman with bushy brown hair. "Ah."
Hermione Weasley stopped at the sight of Scorpius, a hand going up to cover her mouth. They stood staring for a moment before Hermione finally said, in a slightly strangled voice, "Scorpius... I didn't know you were here."
Scorpius ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, trying very hard to act like he did at school. "Yeah... thought it'd be better that way, what with the whole you being married and older and all." Holidays were always uncomfortable when it came time to face the older versions of the students he was used to seeing at his height every day. Especially not the one he had grown quite fond of.
"He was just leaving," Lily added in, squeaking as Albus reached out to cover her mouth. Neither of the other two seemed to notice.
"Are you doing well?" Hermione asked, biting her lower lip. She lifted her hand, as though she were about to fix an errant lock of Scorpius's hair, when a tall redhead burst into the room.
"Would you look at that!" Ron Weasley declared, laughing loudly as he walked over to where Albus and Lily were still tussling. "My nephew went and got himself all bound up in a Muggle cast! 'Mione, you going to do something about this so we can get back to the cabin? Ginny and Harry are-" He turned around and the smile slid off of his face as he spotted Scorpius standing there. "Never thought I'd see the day when a Malfoy set foot in a Muggle hospital."
"Never thought I'd see the day when you thought anything," Scorpius shot back automatically, forgetting for a moment that this Ron was a good deal bigger than him, and older as well. "But don't worry, I was just leaving. Hope you get Healed up alright, Al."
"Thanks, Scor," Albus replied as Scorpius pushed the door open and left the room, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
Shouldn't be surprised, he told himself as he walked through the Muggles. I knew they were married... why shouldn't they go places together? Why shouldn't I eventually have to see it? But all of that did not make any of it easier, and he doubted that it was easy for any of the others at Hogwarts who found that they had fallen for people from a different time than themselves. "Scorpius!"
Surprised, Scorpius turned to find Hermione walking up to him. She looked different than he thought she should, taller than her seventeen-year-old self for one and definitely older, but her eyes were the same. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry for how Ron acted, he just... well, you know how he feels about Malfoys."
"Everyone knows how that man feels about Malfoys. Would've been funny to see his face if I were a Lestrange." The memory he had of Ron catching on fire their first year was one of his favorites, though their duel second year was close behind. Scorpius shrugged. "Anyway, I'm used to it. No love lost between me and him." Except on the matter of you... which he obviously wins. That thought hurt more than it had any right to.
This time Hermione did reach up to brush back a strand of Scorpius's hair, something she had been doing since the end of their second year. "It's harder for me than for you," she said quietly. "For you it's like everything just happened yesterday... not like that for the rest of us." Her fingers rested against his temple. "It's been more than twenty years since I saw you like this, except for pictures that I have."
"Like it's easy for me to go from walking around with you and then suddenly you're married to that git," Scorpius growled. "I was going to go back to school and give you-"
"This." Hermione held up a silver chain from which dangled a ring. Scorpius leaned in for a closer look.
"Woman, you're hurting my head," he complained as he realized that it was the ring he had left in his room at Malfoy Manor.
Hermione laughed. "I missed hearing you say that."
"You do hurt my head," Scorpius told her, but he was smiling as he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned up against the wall, forgetting for a moment that they were in a Muggle hospital instead of Hogwarts. "But I take it that you like the ring?"
"You'll have to wait and see my reaction, now won't you, Malfoy?" Hermione teased.
Scorpius laughed. "I'm pretty sure that you'll melt right into my arms at the sight of that opal, Granger."
"It's Weasley now," Ron all but snarled as he walked up behind Hermione, sliding an arm around her waist. "Thought you were leaving?"
A hundred different things to say popped into Scorpius's mind, but then he glanced at the ring dangling from Hermione's neck and he smirked at Ron. "See you at school." He sketched a bow over Hermione's hand, kissing it lightly before striding away to the sound of Hermione and Ron arguing. Maybe I should go to emergency rooms with Albus more often. Can't wait to tell the Princess about this one.
Title: Son of a Queen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,343
Characters: Luna, Lysander, Susan
Prompt: 032. Queen
Summary: Set during the summer break after fifth year when Lysander goes to Diagon Alley. (#2 of a sort of "What Happens on Break" series)
Warnings: Alternative Universe of lumos_founders.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling. Except for Thesus; he's mine.
"Don't go into Knockturn Alley," Luna told her son when she let go of his hand. He may have been fifteen, but Lysander still let his mother hold his hand when she wanted to. "And be back here before dark, we still have to meet up with your father and Lorcan. Otherwise one of us might miss the train and we'll never find the Snorack." Lysander nodded, he definitely did not want to be the reason why they did not find the elusive creature, and hurried off. He had promised Lorcan that he would pick some things up for him in Diagon Alley if his twin got him some things from London proper. He was just about to go into the apothecary, they were both running low on a few things, when he saw her walking into Flourish & Blotts.
She was much taller, her dark hair done differently and there was definitely something about her face that spoke volumes for what she had gone through since graduating. If he had been anyone else, then Lysander would have just gone into the apothecary and not thought of it again, but he was the boy who went looking for things that no one else believed in. So the blonde boy made sure that his mother was not watching him and darted into the bookstore behind the woman. He caught up with her easily and tapped on her shoulder. When she turned he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her, grateful that she did not weigh much more than she had, up in a circle. "Hullo Susan," he said happily as he set her back down, grinning at her despite the startled look on her face. "How are you today, my queen?"
Lysander's smile did not falter as Susan continued to stare at him, flushing as she glanced around the store. "Lysander Scamander," she said at last. "It's been... I mean, I haven't seen you..." Her voice trailed off and she reached up to straighten her hair, not that Lysander could see anything wrong with it. He had never been able to see anything wrong with it. "Since I graduated and got on the Hogwarts Express that last time. I haven't seen you since then."
If not for all the time that he had spent around her, then Lysander would not have caught the strain in Susan's voice despite the smile that she was managing for him and the uncertainty in her eyes was plain. "But I'm here now," he said. "And you remember me!"
"Of course I remember you." Susan's voice was quieter and she was looking at a spot on Lysander's shoulder very fixedly. "I remember things that haven't happened for you yet, Lysander... like when you were born and your parents sent out the cards with pictures of you and Lorcan." The ghost of a real smile flitted across her face. "You were absolutely adorable... but a baby... and now you're how old?"
"Fifteen," Lysander said proudly, not sure of what Susan was getting at.
Susan sighed. "Lysander, I'm going to be forty soon."
Lysander shrugged and reached for Susan's hand. "You still look like a queen to me," he informed her. "And I still-"
"Don't say that," Susan said quickly. "Please, don't say that here."
"But I do!"
"I... I know you do. And I... I graduated over twenty years ago." Susan looked as though she were about to say something else but a young man appeared at her shoulder, giving Lysander a strange look. He had pale blonde hair, Susan's dancing eyes and a face that Lysander knew he had seen somewhere before.
"Hey, mum, have you gotten your book yet? I have to be back at the office in an hour and I want to make sure you're home before I go back," the young man said, still looking at Lysander like he was some sort of puzzle. "Whose this lad now?"
Susan was looking at the floor as she replied, "Lysander, this is my son, Theseus Bones."
The young man snorted as he held his hand out to Lysander. "And here I thought that my name was strange, but it looks like I'm not the only one. Nice to meet you, Lysander."
Lysander swallowed hard and took Theseus's hand, feeling for the first time in his life like he could not breathe. "A pleasure, Theseus... excuse me." He turned and all but ran out of the bookstore, collapsing in a small alley between it and the next sore with his face in his hands. It was not fair that Susan had a son, that someone else would get to be with her before he was even born...
"You're crying," a quiet voice said as a soft hand slipped under his chin and made him look up.
"I am," Lysander said as he looked up at Susan. "Mum says that there's nothing wrong with a boy crying, especially if there's a good reason. And I have one, I just felt all... I couldn't breathe." It had been rather frightening now that he thought of it. "You got married, I guess?"
"No."
"Whose his father? Someone we went to school with?" Lysander was not sure if he wanted the answer to that question, especially since he would have to go back to Hogwarts in a few months and face whoever it was with Susan blissfully unaware.
Susan looked away. "That's complicated, Lysander."
"It's better to know than to wonder," Lysander informed her, wiping the back of his hand across his eyes. "That's what father always says. I can't forget that I ran into you and your son." How could he even look at Susan the same way again, knowing that she was somebody's mother? And Theseus was not even an ugly boy, he was rather handsome and had Susan's eyes. Anyone who had eyes like that could not be all bad, no matter who their father was.
Susan looked over at Lysander, blue eyes teary. "Theseus is twenty-two years old," she said quietly. "He was born early in the year after I graduated, Lysander, when I was eighteen..."
"So?"
She actually laughed when she looked at him and shook her head. "Always the innocent, aren't you? Maybe I've missed that more than looking for blibbering humdingers... did you really look at Theseus, Lysander?"
"He has your eyes." Susan had missed him? A bit of the knot in his chest loosened at that realization. "And he looks like someone I've seen before, I just don't know who it is. Which is why I want to know who his father is, then I'll be able to figure out why I think I recognize him."
Susan reached out and took Lysander's face in her hands. "Listen very closely to me, Lysander Scamander," she said in the firm voice she so rarely used. "Under no circumstances are you ever allowed to talk about any of this with the me that you know... I mean, the me that's your age that you go to school with. Alright?"
"Anything you say, Susan," Lysander promised, a little confused. But he would do anything for Susan and she knew that.
For some reason Susan closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, trembling. "Theseus is your son, Lysander."
"He's older than I am." Was this some sort of joke? Susan did not have this kind of humor.
"He was born eight months after I graduated," Susan said slowly. "When it happened... well, we were seventeen, Lysander, and by the time I knew..."
Lysander thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "He's handsome," he said at last. "Very nice hair." He could place Theseus's face now, it was an older version of what he saw in the mirror. He smiled at Susan. "He looks like a prince." Then Susan started crying on his shoulder and his mother was there, closely followed by Theseus and it was like a strange family reunion where only two people knew that they were related. Lorcan will be so jealous.