Chapter 15 ~ Just Like Old Times
Harry's POV
I was in the kitchen with Ginny, using my wand to put up the clean dishes in the dishwasher while she wiped the counters and the table with a rag. There had been some tension between us ever since Albus and Scorpius went missing. But things between us got worse when I told her that I wanted Albus to stay away from Scorpius. She didn't seem too happy about that.
"You shouldn't have done that, you know," she told me, still wiping the counters.
"It was the right decision," I replied, sitting down at the table.
Ginny scoffed. "You almost sound convinced."
"You told me to be honest with him, but I actually needed to be honest with myself, trust what my heart was telling me."
Ginny finished with the counters and threw the wet rag into the sink. She turned around and looked at me. "Harry, you have one of the greatest hearts of any wizard who has ever lived, but I don't believe your heart told you to do this." Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Saved by the door." She went to go answer it and had a confused look on her face when she opened the door. "Draco?"
Sure enough, Draco came inside and stood in front of the table, looking at me. "I won't be long. I just need to talk to you alone."
We looked at Ginny, who nodded her head and left the kitchen.
"What is it?" I asked him. I had a feeling that I already knew what he wanted to talk about.
"I'm not here to antagonize you. But I went to Hogwarts and talked to Scorpius today and he broke down in tears. I told him that I would talk to you about why you would keep Scorpius and Albus apart."
"I'm not keeping them apart," I lied.
"You threatened Albus and McGonagall. Scorpius is hurt and upset about this and I am as well."
"I was sure Max would tell him," I muttered.
"Tell him what?"
"That Scorpius should stay away from Albus for a little while."
"Oh, so you're dragging my wife in this now? You put her in a position where she had to go and tell Scorpius that he couldn't hang out with his cousin anymore. Why? Because his uncle was being a dick."
"Draco, I have to protect my son," I protested.
"From Scorpius?"
"Bane told me that he sensed a darkness around my son, a black cloud, and if that darkness is Scorpius--"
Draco let out a scoff. "Right, like that makes any sense whatsoever. You're going to believe the word of a centaur?"
"He said the same thing to Max about Scorpius."
"I think you're becoming a special kind of stupid now."
Frustrated, I slammed my hands on the table and stood up from my seat. "You know, I'm actually glad that Max left you."
Draco gave me a deadly look. "You take that back. Right now."
"Cedric would've made a better husband and father," I snapped.
Draco took his wand out. "Max might hate me after this, but I'm gonna have so much fun hurting you."
I quickly took my wand out and pointed it at Draco. "Watch it, Draco. Remember what happened in the bathroom during our sixth year? I remember the spell."
All of a sudden, we shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Our wands collided, but in a few short seconds they broke apart.
"Incarcerous!" Draco yelled.
I dodged the blast. "Tarantallegra!" Draco jumped out of the way before the spell hit him. "You've been practicing. Kind of shocking, really."
"Well, it doesn't surprise me that you've gotten sloppy, Potter. Densaugeo!"
I got out of the way and went behind the counter. "Rictusempra!"
Draco quickly grabbed a chair and put it in front of him. He threw the chair and shouted, "Flipendo!" He sent me flying across the kitchen, hitting the wall and then falling to the floor. Draco laughed. "Keep up, old man."
I stood up and began to pant. "We're the same age, Draco."
"I wear it better," he retorted.
"Brachiabindo!" I shouted, bounding Draco tightly.
Draco let out another laugh. "Is that the best you got? Emancipare." Draco released his own binds and then shot me an evil look. "Levicorpus!" I attempted to throw myself out of the way, but I wasn't quick enough. "Mobilicorpus! Oh, this is too much fun..." He began to smile as he was bouncing me up and down on the table. As I rolled away, Draco jumped onto the table and got his wand ready. But before he could shout another spell at me...
"Obscuro!" I screamed, blindfolding Draco.
Draco released himself from the blindfold in a matter of seconds. "Seriously, your dueling skills have gotten worse."
Before I knew it, I grabbed a chair and threw it at him. Draco got to the ground and pointed at the chair, slowing it down with his wand.
"I only left this room three minutes ago!" Ginny protested as she walked back in the kitchen. She looked around at the mess we had made, then saw the chair in the air. She used her wand to put them back into place. Sighing, she looked at me and Draco. "So, what did I miss?"
*******
The three of us put the kitchen back like it was before. Ginny got three glasses and a bottle of firewhisky out. She poured some in each glass and handed one to me and then one to Draco.
"Sorry about your kitchen," Draco spoke up, nodding towards Ginny.
"Oh, it's not my kitchen," she assured him. "Harry does most of the cooking."
Draco looked at me in surprise. "You cook?" he asked.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, do you?"
"Max and I take turns with cooking, but she's better at it than me."
"Doesn't surprise me."
Draco chuckled a bit. "I think she's a better dueler than both of us combined."
I smiled a little. "Yeah, I think so, too."
He cleared his throat, which indicated that it was time to be serious. "Listen, you're not the only one having problems with your son. Max and I have been having a hard time talking to Scorpius, too. I can't even begin to explain how our separation has affected him. But before that, it was difficult communicating with him. He talked to us a little, but it just wasn't enough. We can't talk to our sons and that's what all of this is about. It's not about Scorpius being evil, because as much as you might take the word of a centaur, you know the power of friendship."
I sighed. "Draco, whatever you may think--"
"You know, I always envied your friendship with Weasley and Granger," Draco cut me off. "And Max as well. I had--"
"Crabbe and Goyle," Ginny finished, nearly scaring me. I almost forgot that she was here.
"Yeah, them," Draco replied, taking a gulp of his firewhisky. "All I had was two lunks who didn't know one end of a broomstick from another. But you four...you four actually liked each other. You had fun. I envied those friendships more than anything else."
I took a swig at my firewhisky and sighed. "Max and I are twins. We have no choice but to like each other."
"You're more than just her twin. You're her best friend."
"I envied you guys, too," Ginny added, which surprised me a bit. "I mean, I had some friends, but you four were the talk of Hogwarts. But eventually, I had my own unique friendships that I made with all four of you."
"Yes, you and Max had a very unique friendship," Draco retorted. "I witnessed it in the corridors."
"We were both curious about being with a girl at the time," Ginny protested. "Our relationship wasn't anything bad."
"Still, it was weird."
"But, Draco, you didn't just have Crabbe and Goyle," I pointed out. "You had Pansy, Blaise, Theo..."
"Yeah, but Pansy and Theo were just as bad as Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise was okay, but I felt like he didn't know me as well as he thought. He sort of didn't understand me and what I was going through at the time. Only Max did. She understood me and saw sides of me that no one else did."
"She sure did," I muttered.
Draco rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
I looked at my glass, swishing it around. "There were times where I thought Max would just leave me forever and go to you, Draco. She loved you, even before she finally came out and said it. In her darkest of times, you were her light, more than you realized." I paused, then continued. "Despite what I said earlier, which I didn't mean to say, she'll come back to you. She always does."
Draco nodded his head. "I hope so. Do you think Cedric would've made a better husband and father?" he asked.
"You know I didn't mean to say that as well," I told him. "I think you're a great husband and father to Max and Scorpius."
Draco sighed and stared at me. "I'm sure Ginny here can say that you're a great husband."
Ginny nodded her head. "You are, Harry."
"And you're also a great father to your kids as well," he added.
"Well, I'm trying to, which is why I need to protect Albus."
"Most of the time, my father thought he was protecting me. I think you have to make a choice of the man you want to be at a certain point. During that time you need a parent or a friend, and if you've learned to hate your parents by then and you have no friends, then you're all alone, and it's hard being alone, we all know that. I was alone at one point. It sent me to a really dark place for a long time. You know who was a lonely child? Tom Riddle. You may not understand that, but Ginny and I do.
"Tom Riddle didn't just emerge from his dark place. He became Lord Voldemort. Maybe the black cloud Bane saw was Albus' loneliness, his pain, his hatred. Don't lose the boy. You'll regret it and so will he. Because he needs you and Scorpius, whether he knows it or not."
I sat there and thought about it for a moment. I looked at Draco, then at Ginny, who had her eyebrows raised at me. "I think we need to--"
"Go back to Hogwarts? I'm way ahead of you," she answered, smiling at me, then standing up from her chair. "I'll go get the chimney ready." She left the kitchen, leaving me and Draco alone.
I thought about what Draco said about being alone. I remembered feeling like that when Max and I weren't speaking to each other in fifth year. We were both in dark places at that time. It was that time in my life that I needed Max the most. In Draco's case, it seemed like he needed Max as well, whether he realized it or not. Now, she needed him more than ever, because after our last conversation, I had an inkling that she was feeling alone like before and planned on going back to her darkest self, and I didn't want that for her. No one wanted that for her.
"Draco?" I spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Did Max help you get out of your dark place?"
He nodded his head. "Yeah, she did, and I'm bloody grateful for it."
"Good," I replied, rising up from my seat. "So now maybe you can go and be her light again."
~~~~~~~
A/N: Ayye, I actually updated like I said I would!
So yeah, my birthday is today! I'm officially out of my teens! I'm the big 20!
Anyway, what do you guys think about Max? Are you worried about her? Do you think she'll give in and go dark like in fifth year?
Comment, vote, next chapter is back to Scorpius' POV. <3
-A
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