(I do not own any of the characters, I am borrowing them. Any instances in the story that relate to J.K Rowling's books on the tri-wizard tournament or related to any Harry Potter series in general are not owned by me and simply borrowed for fun.)

Chapter 20: Sent to Azkaban

"Astoria, Darling, wake him up will you?" Scorpius heard his father speak lightly to his mother from downstairs, as he laid inside his covers, eyes wide open, staring out the chilly, frosted windows of his bedroom. Footsteps drew nearer as the door to his room slid open gently, and a tall young woman, pale skin and black hair emerged inside.

"Sweetheart, are you awake? It's Christmas, come – daddy's made breakfast." Her long, thin arm stretched out as the young boy with bleached silver hair jumped out of his bed, and reached for her hand.

As the two reached the bottom of the long, curved staircase, Scorpius broke out in a run when he noticed their large Christmas tree with a pool of presents underneath. Draco Malfoy approached the couch behind the tree, setting down a large tray of eggs and bacon, putting his arm around Astoria as she took place beside him.

Scorpius ravaged the brown paper that wrapped itself tightly upon the thin, long object – and to his surprise saw it was a broomstick. Scorpius' eyes fixed on the object as he read the label attached to the broom, "Beginners Broomstick".

"You're sure he's ready, Draco?" Astoria asked, looking worriedly at young Scorpius, throwing his leg over the wooden handle.

"The boy is six, best to learn when you're young."

Astoria shuffled towards Scorpius, holding him straight as the broomstick ascended lightly off the ground, just a small distance, and assisted him riding along the living room as if a boy learning to ride a bike.

Suddenly, this thought Scorpius had had was clouded by the last memory of his mother; a cold, pale, sickly woman. One who lost that battle, as death greeted her by sleep. His darkest feelings of pity and loneliness fled his thoughts as he stood beyond the cloaked thing.

Its long hand, reaching for the sides of the hedge hit the dim moonlight shining weakly inside the maze. Lengthy fingers, dark and scabby, brushed against the hedge, not making a single leaf move. Its cloak, destroyed from the bottom, ripped with holes hovering just slightly above the ground. It turned around slowly, gliding above the floor towards Scorpius, its face unknown for its hood created a black hole where its face would be.

Scorpius backed away slowly, as the thing got nearer.

"D…De-Dementors?" Scorpius said to himself, fear now trickling down his body.

He continued to walk backward, until he noticed an opening in the hedge and broke out in a run. Looking behind him he could see the dementor gliding hastily in his tracks. Scorpius' leg, twitching with every hard step it took as he ran from the dark, cold creature. He heard more noises of footsteps near him, thinking Gryffin or Klara were now being chased by dementors as well. He quickly ran in the direction of the footsteps, still they completely disappeared.

The dementor gained speed as it swished side by side along the path of the hedges to reach Scorpius.

Scorpius took a hard left and continued to run far away, through the dark labyrinth, till suddenly he stopped. The rattling of the branches and leaves swayed dangerously in front of him, though in the distance he could see a faint white light. He quickly ran, trying to reach the small tunnel through the hedge when abruptly, Scorpius was forced to stay still. His eyes slightly opened, dazing off as his skin chilled and his hair stood up. He collapsed onto the cold, hard soil; looking up at a second cloaked figure, its long scabby fingers reached towards Scorpius' weak body.

His eyes felt heavy, he wanted to get up . . . he wanted to run, or even move his arms and grab his wand. . . but his body wouldn't listen. His arms just laid there, his legs didn't even twitch. The only thing that seemed to move was his eyelids that dropped heavily as if his body needed a long rest.

Just as everything went dark, a bright light flashed through his closed eyelids, and beamed across to the two dementors hovering above Scorpius.

Scorpius' eyes lifted from their locked position, and he saw a small bright object from across the hedge. Its legs bent inward, and its ears pointed straight to the sky. It emitted a massive blue light that seemed to frighten the dementors away from its pray, scurrying away from his side of the hedge, and into the night sky.

"A fawn?" Scorpius whispered to himself. The bright fawn lifted its head and walked towards Scorpius, disappearing before his eyes. He sat there in awe, his doleful face became appealing as his eyes wondered to the dimly lit white light in front of him. His arms shaking and weak from pushing himself off the dirt, his leg releasing the pulsing pain from earlier, he stood up and limped through the small tunnel to the light. The branches attacked him from the sides as Scorpius tried to quickly surpass the hedges that tried to swallow him. Roots began to grow from the softened soil, whipping its way around Scorpius' legs, but he took out his wand and weakly pointing it to the ground, "Incendio!" His voice sounded, shaking.

The branches became more violent and persistent, Scorpius gained speed, yelling incantations as the roots began to gain strength, when finally he tripped over the last root that exited him from the tunnel that closed behind him. He was in a tight space, no other entrance or exit, with a bright white object in front of him.

The cup stood proudly on top of a stone pillar. Gleaming in a beautiful white light that highlighted Scorpius' face.

Scorpius looked around him, in disbelief he had been the first to find the tri-wizard cup. He stretched out his arm, his hand moving slowly towards the handle till he finally reached the cup, and put a firm grip around it.

His body jerked to one side, the atmosphere changed as he could now only see fast moving colours – till everything stopped, and he was now facing the stands of the crowd. People began to cheer, and Professor McGonagall walked up to him clapping, along with Griffyn and Klara who were standing by the side with the nurse, getting bandaged up and were covered in dirt.

Scorpius' eye's scanned the stands looking for Harry Potter, but he was not there. He continued to look for his friends and professor Cormus, but they weren't there either. Scorpius couldn't help but keep a glazed expression; he thought finding the tri-wizard cup was an unreal experience; but finding two dementors inside the maze was even more interesting.

"Our winner for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Scorpius Malfoy of Hogwarts School!" Professor McGonagall spoke, amplified to the audience who continued to burst in cheers.

"Congratulations Scorpius, now go get bandaged from Madam Pomfrey, then gather in the great hall for dinner. You look a mess – might as well clean up before you eat." Professor McGonagall gave him a long smile and with a final squeeze of his shoulder, and grabbing the cup, she walked out as teachers ushered the students back to the great hall.

Scorpius watched as the students and teachers walked up the path towards the castle, and took a glance at Madam Pomfrey mending the two other champions on the side. He quickly, stealthily, ran in the other direction towards the Forbidden Forest where Rose was left with two wizards who were healing her.

He stumbled on some branches as his leg continued to limp and sting, he pushed some tree branches out of his way as he tumbled to the empty space where Rose laid. His hands fell beside the small puddle of blood left from her splinch, and rested his head against the tree.

"Rose… I hope you're okay…" Scorpius said to himself, holding onto his wounded leg. He rested there momentarily when sudden footsteps sounded near him. Scorpius quickly got up and pulled out his wand, facing it forward as he saw a tall man approach him.

"Expelliarmus!" Scorpius' wand was casted out of his hand, and on to the ground. The unknown man picked it up and held his wand out, walking slowly towards Scorpius.

"Are you Malfoy?" A deep voice sounded from the man who continued to walk with caution.

"Ye-Yes… Wh-Who are you?" Scorpius replied, backing up into a tree.

The face of the man grew clearer, his body large, his robes a dusty black colour, and wearing slightly broken glasses.

"Vepir, I work for the Ministry – Auror." He cleared his throat and stopped just feet away from Scorpius. His eyes analyzed Scorpius, his wand still pointing by his throat.

"C-c-could you p-put that away?" Scorpius cried, his head as far into the tree as he could to get away from the wand.

"Oh… right. Here's you go." The man lowered his wand and gave Scorpius' his. "Come." His large dirty hands grabbed the back of Scorpius' shoulder and pushed him towards the destination he wanted them to be at, which Scorpius realized was Hagrid's.

Vepir knocked harshly on the crooked wooden door, "its Vepir." The door swung open and Hagrid was standing in the doorway.

"Finally – Scorpius quick, in-in, come." Hagrid moved out of the way and Scorpius tried to fit himself in a small room full of other wizards as well.

The two other wizards standing facing each other, engaged in conversation where Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. When Scorpius stepped foot in the hut, Draco looked at him quite alarmed.

"Scorpius! Are you alright?" his father quickly rushed over and squeezed his arms around Scorpius.

"I'm fine, father."

"No you're not, look at your bloody leg!"

"Quick, Scorpius" Harry now hurrying forward, "Tell me exactly what you saw in that Maze."

"Uhm I – I saw a troll…" Scorpius answered.

"Other than that…" Harry continued.

"Think hard, Son." Draco said.

"I saw a man… he was running through the maze… I followed the footsteps but I lost him; that's when I encountered it."

"It?" Harry and Draco both said.

"The dementor."

"Aha, I knew it. This is what we needed Potter." Vepir said with barely one foot out the door.

"Hold on Vepir!" Harry put a hand up, signaling Vepir to stay put.

"Anything else?" Harry continued to question.

"I saw a bright blue light… a… patronus. It scared off the dementors."

"Dementors?" Draco asked, giving Harry a worried look.

"Now we know where the two went, Vepir." Harry gave a look between Draco and Vepir.

"What should we do then?" Vepir asked.

Scorpius blocked out much of what Harry and Vepir were arguing; he heard shuffling of feet from the other side of the hut, and noticed to the right was a boy sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

"Christopher?"

"Yes… he helped us give information." Draco said between them.

"Hold on…" Scorpius said loudly, interrupting Vepir and Harry's conversation. "How did you all know… about all this…"

Harry pushed the glasses from the tip of his nose, and looked down at Scorpius. "James gathered the information from Rose, and sent it to us. We notified Albus our suspicions and he witnessed your story-"

"How?" Scorpius asked; suddenly the door swung open and Albus walked inside the crowded hut, along with two other wizards, James and the blue-haired boy he was with earlier.

"Hello Malfoy." James said, smiling leaning against the wall. "This is Teddy Lupin... He secured Rose while you were doing the last task."

"Hello!" Teddy smiled and waved brightly at Scorpius, which was odd for him to witness considering the events.

Albus took out an old piece of parchment and handed it over to Scorpius. Scorpius looked at its blank contents with confusion and noticed everybody staring at him intensely. Albus put his wand in the center of the page, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The papers contents began to appear slowly as if a reverse invisible ink spilled on to the page.

"The Marauder's map?" Scorpius said rather quietly as he opened the parchment to reveal the map of Hogwarts and the grounds. He looked at Hagrid's hut and found him, along with seven other wizards inside the hut with him, their names shown and a spot for where they stand.

"I don't understand, you can see dementors on this thing?" Scorpius asked, looking up at Albus.

"No. I used the invisibility cloak to follow you inside the maze, though I struggled with a few Pugna plants and you almost caught me running away. I followed you with the map, you see, it showed me where you were." Albus pointed at the spot where they all stood inside Hagrid's hut.

"Wait, you were the one who-"Scorpius began.

"Used the Patronus charm? Yes." Albus interrupted.

"Was this the gift from James?" Scorpius looked at James who was poking Teddy in the side with his wand, as Teddy played with some dangling chimes by the doorway.

"No." Albus explained, "I got the map from dad who sent it to me by Lily earlier in the year. I wasn't sure why at first… But James explained to me what dad's intentions were when he came to teach you to fly. I also used it to send you help at the Whomping Willow, and find Rose when she was splinched. The 'gift' from James was the invisibility cloak so I could perform this task without trouble."

"Rose told us what we needed to hear when Teddy mended her, which is why we have Christopher, scared out of his mind in the corner of the hut." James said, pointing to Christopher.

"So you all know about Professor Cormus?" Scorpius looked at everyone who nodded their heads, smiles faded from their faces.

"Apparently he bewitched that bloody Centaur during the second task too." Albus said, looking at Hagrid who was shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Father, you knew? About what Grandfather had done?"

"Yes, Scorpius. . . I knew most about what he had done, with the Ministry, to others, with Voldemort…" Draco's eyes filled with sorrow. Harry's hand comforted his arm, "You didn't go through with it – that makes you the better man." Harry said quietly.

"Alright Potter, if we keep this parade going, Cormus will be out of Hogwarts." Vepir yelled from outside the door, seeming as getting both feet outside the hut was an achievement.

"Right, Albus use the map and locate Cormus. Hagrid keep watch on Christopher. Scorpius… we'll need you as a part of our plan." Harry gestured him as they all began stepping outside of the hut, finally being able to stretch.

Harry explained to Scorpius the plan to find Cormus, and have Scorpius engage in conversation with him; trying to lure him for evidence to be arrested. "We'll all be there, so you won't be harmed." Draco continued.

"Right." Scorpius straightened his shoulders, his heart still pounding out of his chest, his motivation at this point was Rose. He wanted to make sure she was safe, and punish Cormus for putting her in danger during the second task.

Albus opened up the Marauders map, and scanned the Hogwarts castle, pinpointing with his wand where Cormus was, "He's… in the shrieking shack?" Albus said, looking up at his father.

"We'll take the entrance to the Whomping Willow." Harry said, with an approving smile from James and Teddy, looking mischievous as if they've done it many times before.

"Before we go…" Teddy said, as he pointed his wand Scorpius' leg. A light blue essence came out of the wand, and the sharp, stinging feeling Scorpius felt during the maze, was no longer there. "Right, we go."

They all hurried towards the Whomping Willow, James and Teddy ran ahead, poking the knot at the base of the tree, causing the large, thick branches to keep still where they were – frozen in midair.

"There you have it." James said, looking up at the statue like tree.

"On you go." Teddy continued, pointing to the entrance.

Albus hit James in the head with his map as he walked through the small tunnel, followed by Scorpius, Harry, Draco and Vepir.

They all rushed for what seemed like fifteen minutes, till they reached a tall staircase and a small wooden door.

"This is it, Scorpius." Harry said.

"Be careful mate." Albus whispered.

Scorpius walked slowly up the creaking stairs, and heard quiet muttering from the other side of the door. His stomach felt in a knot, and the colour drained out of his face. He slowly turned the broken handle of the door, and pushed it opened and walked inside. He looked around and saw a few tables, chairs and boxes in the corner. Scorpius caught sight of a picture frame in the corner of the room, and walked over. He picked up the picture, and wiped the dust off with his sleeve; the picture showed James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew in their Gryffindor robes inside the shrieking shack. Beside the picture was a stack of parchment and an old newspaper that dated before Scorpius' time. Like most wizarding pictures, the one on the front page moved, and showed a tired young man with short, black curly hair with the name Sirius Black underneath it. He was holding a sign that said 'Azkaban Prison' and the headline was, "Sirius Black Sighted."

"So this was Sirius…" Scorpius said to himself, but just as he put down the paper the door slammed shut behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Professor Cormus hunched over, with one hand on the now closed door, and his wand held in front of him. His head was dangling down, with his wet hair covering the front part of his face.

"Malfoy… So nice of you to join me." Cormus said with a taut voice. "How did you know I was here?"

"I… followed you." Scorpius said, shaking at the thought of his lie.

"You know why I had to run then don't you. You would have told everybody… considering you got away. Those dementors would have me if they didn't prey on what I promised them…" Cormus said, biting his finger nails anxiously.

"They'll have you anyways… You'll be locked up in Azkaban by tonight. I know where you're hiding, I know what you've done." Scorpius tried to mask his wobbly voice, and slowly put his hand around the band of his jeans, where his wand was being held.

"If Christopher had finished what we started… It wouldn't be this difficult. I can't have you leave knowing what you know." Cormus' voice began to straight out, sounding orotund and low. "You'll just have to die here, Malfoy. You'll be the revenge I've wanted for over 20 years, since my parents death was taken by one of you." Cormus stood tall, his hair still covering half of his face with his arm stretched out as far as it could go, his wand pointing directly at Scorpius. "AVADA KED-"

Suddenly the door burst open and the room illuminated in red sparks as everyone yelled "Stupefy."

Cormus got knocked back and his wand slipped between his fingers and rolled onto the floor. Vepir picked up the wand, as Harry and Draco kept theirs directly above Cormus' face.

Albus, James, and Teddy walked over towards Scorpius in the corner of the room.

Vepir pointed his wand to Cormus' wrists and shackles began to form tightly around them.

"Another Malfoy huh?" Cormus' said, his faced screwed up from the spell casted on him. "I can tell . . . you look like your murderer father." He laughed slightly, his mouth twitched and his eyes gaping with a hidden terror-stricken look.

Draco pushed his wand closer, his eyes narrowing and giving off a very dark expression.

"Draco, it's okay – we've got him." Harry said between them. Draco lowered his wand and took a step back. Vepir and Harry grabbed the man on either side of his arms and lifted him off the ground.

"Durad should be taking care of the dementors now." Vepir notified Harry, then turning back at Cormus, "I'm sure they'll have a bone to pick with you, ay?" Vepir smirked.

As Harry and Vepir dragged Cormus out of the shrieking shack back through the small tunnel to the Whomping Willow, Scorpius met with his father just before following the others out.

"Scorpius…" Draco said putting his wand back in the pocket of his robes. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, I was afraid of you knowing-"

"It's alright, dad. Really, he's being sent to Azkaban." Scorpius said finally stepping out into the tunnel back to Hogwarts.

"You've missed the dinner ceremony. My son… won the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Now that is something I can tell everybody at work." Draco laughed trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess that feeling hasn't quite sunk in yet, given the events… and… oh! Rose! I've got to see her!" Scorpius said quickly.

"She'd be in the hospital wing, I'm sure." Said James. "Teddy dropped her off there, while the nurse was watching the third task."

"Go then, Scorpius. I'll see you at Kings Cross tomorrow." His father smiled and gave him a light hug before Scorpius broke off in a run through the tunnel and across the grounds.

The sky was black, the halls were empty, and the torches were lit along the deserted corridors. Scorpius' walked hastily around each empty corridor till he reached the two tall doors of the hospital wing. He walked in quietly at first, looking at each bed trying to spot Rose. He noticed a body rolled up in a blanket and darted for it.

"Rose! I'm happy you're- oh … sorry." He rolled over the unknown person in the cot, and noticed it was a younger Ravenclaw girl, who gave him funny looks – yet realizing he was the tri-wizard champion, gave him an odd sort of smile.

"You're such a creep, Scorpius." Rose laughed from the other end of the hospital wing.

"Oh, shut up." Scorpius made his way to the end of Rose' bed and collapsed on her with his arms around her neck, holding her tightly. "I deeply regret leaving you, I didn't want to. I'm so sorry for hurting you, I told you I couldn't apparate. I shouldn't have listened if it meant what had happened…" Scorpius spoke so fast his words jumbled on top of each other.

"Scorpius, I'm okay. Teddy healed me enough to stop the bleeding." Rose lifted up the small bit of her shirt where the splinch was and Scorpius noticed a long dark brown scar. "Permanent." Rose said, pulling her shirt down.

Rose turned herself to her bed side table, picking up a glass of pumpkin juice. Just as she turned around to take a drink, Scorpius leaned in and placed his lips on hers. For a moment, which felt like forever, the two shared a long awaited blissful moment that shone through all the dark events that happened lately.

"I'm just, really glad you're okay." Scorpius said, as he leaned his head back.

"I'm still here!" The Ravenclaw girl waved her arms frantically, one with a large cast around it, looking slightly annoyed.

"Who is Teddy Lupin anyways? Remus Lupin's son?" Scorpius asked.

"Yea, He's five years older than James. He helped him get out of trouble once in his first year . . . been friends ever since. Doing stupid mischievous stuff." Rose rolled her eyes.

Rose and Scorpius sat on the Hogwarts express in an empty compartment, with their luggage above them and their door opened. Albus appeared holding twice as much luggage than what he started with.

"All hands on deck, I've got a shipment full of bags." Albus said, holding a load of baggage, and pushing some luggage in the compartment with his feet. Rose and Scorpius bent down to organize the luggage in empty spaces and behind Albus was Amabel Longbottom. Albus took a seat next to Scorpius, and Amabel next to Rose.

"Hello." Amabel said with a jittery tone.

The train continued to pick up speed as they crossed over a large bridge above a wide body of bright blue water.

"Anything off the Trolley?" The trolley witch asked as she got to their compartment.

"We'll take the lot of those, and some of those. . . Amabel, Pixie Puffs? Yea, those too." Albus took out a handful of gold and handed it to the witch. Sliding back inside the compartment he spread the candy among them on the seats, handing Amabel a large box of Pixie Puffs.

Scorpius reached for a box of Chocolate Frogs and opened the cardboard. "Oh rubbish, I've got about fifty of her…" Scorpius threw the box down and snapped his teeth on the chocolate. Amabel opened up a large newspaper, and shuffled through her bag. "Albus, can I borrow your reading glasses?"

Rose went to grab for another chocolate cauldron when she noticed the front page of the newspaper in Amabel's hands.

"Blimey, look Scorpius you're on here! Can I borrow this?" Rose grabbed the newspaper and straightened it out for the group of them to see.

"Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion:

The Tri-Wizard Tournament was held this year, for the first time since 1994, at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardly. Three champions including Gryffin Hunt from Ilvermorny School in America, Klara Nymann from Durmstrang School in Sweden, and Scorpius Malfoy from Hogwarts School locally. The three champions, who had to perform three different, difficult tasks of which included fighting a giant serpent, racing through the Forbidden Forest, and finding the tri-wizard cup in a creature infested labyrinth determined who the winner was to be named last night. Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy from Slytherin house in Hogwarts has claimed championship over the tri-wizard tournament in his sixth year."

"You don't look too excited here, mate." Albus said, pointing at the picture of Scorpius holding the cup next to professor McGonagall.

"I'd just been attacked by…" Scorpius lowered his voice looking at Amabel, "Dementors."

"Look here!" Rose flipped the paper and pointed to a small article about Professor Cormus being sent to Azkaban.

"Now he doesn't look too excited." Albus said, laughing.

Amabel got up and left the compartment, and Scorpius took a long look at Rose who was now looking out the window onto the green mountains.

"Promise to write, won't you?" Rose said, still starring out the window.

"I'll even deliver it to your house." Albus said jokingly.

"Not you." She looked at Scorpius.

"Of course!" Scorpius said quickly.

"I'm sure you'll be coming to many family events now. Better try and get used to the family." Albus nudged Scorpius' side.

"We'll be seeing Amabel there too, I bet." Rose said, smirking at Albus.

Scorpius smiled at the thought, and looking back at Rose, he saw she did too. He had a full summer of spending time with his father, and hopefully Rose and Albus. Scorpius' last adventure was two years ago with Albus when they used a time turner to go back to the tri-wizard tournament in 1994, this year he had actually competed in it. He'd only hope next year would greet him just the same, with a less threatening teacher.

The train slowed down with a loud screech and stopped with a small jerk. Scorpius looked outside the window and saw Harry, Draco and Ron talking to each other across the station. Scorpius didn't want to, but knew he had to… he had to say his goodbyes and wait an entire summer to go back to Hogwarts, and live at home in Malfoy Manor.