Bab 19: Worried
"Al, have you heard from Scorpius lately?" Rose asked.
"Not for about a week or so, why?"
"I haven't heard from him in days. He usually lets me know when he will be gone for an extended time. There's no message from him either at home or at our desk. I tried asking Uncle Harry, but he hasn't sent him anywhere either. Do you think something has happened to him?"
Albus looked worried. Scorpius did usually tell them when he would be gone for several days, and as far as he knew, there wasn't anything going on that would require that now. And he would at the very least tell Harry where he would be going and ask him to relay a message.
"I'll go down to Knockturn Alley and see if I can find him. Or hear anything about what he has been up to lately."
Rose nodded. She had considered doing that as well, but she wasn't a welcome sight in Knockturn Alley. Whenever she had tried to go down there and look for James, or Scorpius, she had been attacked by a mob as soon as someone recognised her. The last time she had gone down there to retrieve James, Scorpius had actually had to change out of costume in a hurry, return as himself, berate the mob of people that had her cornered for treating a Malfoy like that, before hurriedly getting them both out of there. She hadn't tried again. She had considered creating her own secret identity, the way Scorpius had done, but now was not the time.
Besides, she had a lot of paperwork she hadn't finished. It felt like a never-ending stream. How did Albus always manage to be on top of it? She didn't even want to think about how much more paperwork her mother dealt with on a daily basis. She was probably used to it though.
She hadn't made much headway on the reports by the time Albus returned. She was too worried to concentrate.
"No sign of him anywhere. And people are more reticent than usual to talk to me. I think something big happened there lately that I missed."
"Maybe we can send in James and see if he can find out what that is."
"If he even wants to go."
"You know, it would be easier if you apologised to him."
Albus didn't reply. Rose sighed. The paperwork had been a bust for today anyway. She might as well go and talk to James. He was more likely to do it for her than for Albus. They still hadn't said a word to each other, since their disagreement a few weeks ago.
"Try to make it back for the family dinner tonight," Albus reminded her on her way out.
She had forgotten about that. Yet another reason to worry. Scorpius wouldn't miss those for no reason, especially not without leaving a message. He loved their full family dinners. Even the recent ones, where James and Albus pretended they weren't mad at each other.
Rose had been looking into the story James had told them. She hadn't been able to find Sam again, or his brother, which wasn't a good sign. Where could they have gotten to? What unpleasant task had Sam reluctantly agreed to do? Was it his brother's safety he had been threatened with? She didn't think it was actually Dawson that James had seen, but maybe someone that looked like him, on purpose or not. But who was really behind this?
Albus still refused to believe any part of it. It was pure stubbornness on his part, and it annoyed her.
James had finally moved out of the Potter house about two months ago, when he had been hired permanently in the Daily Prophet. He was delighted, as he had thought he could never hold a steady job with his mood swings. But he did the work he could when he could and basically functioned as some sort of secretary or janitor when he was able. Ginny seemed a lot happier as well, and James didn't have as many bad periods as he used to anymore. Maybe having some purpose in his life really did make him cope better with his mind issues.
Since he wasn't home, he was probably at work. She was just about to go to the Daily Prophet building to find him, when he came stumbling in the door, hands full of groceries.
"Oh, hi there, Rose. What are you doing here so early in the day?"
"I haven't heard from Scorpius in several days, I was hoping to get you to help me find him. I can't exactly go down and ask after him myself." She wondered again why she was so unpopular down there, and why Scorpius didn't want to explain it.
"Sure, I can do that. My job is done for the day anyway."
"Thank you. Most of his costume is gone, so it is likely that he is out as the Death Eater again, but whatever you find will be helpful."
"It won't be too strange for me to ask about him, we have interacted several times. I'll see you later at dinner to tell you what I found, okay?"
"Thank you, James."
"Hey, it's the least I can do. And don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. He probably just forgot to send a message or discovered something he wasn't expecting, and it took longer than he thought to sort it out."
"I thought so too, but it's been nearly a week."
"A week? That is unusual. I'll see what I can find."
Rose gave him a hug, then helped him with the groceries.
***
"No, I wasn't able to discover much. None of the casual crowd were there, apparently there was a big public arrest a few days ago and you know people usually stay away for a few days after that." James told her as they met up outside the Burrow later that evening.
A big arrest? She hadn't heard anything about that! She dragged James into the living room, so they could talk without the others hearing.
"Who was arrested? Where?"
"I didn't get a name; it was like they were afraid of saying it. They were surprised I didn't know about it already, as if I should have known the guy. They say an Auror came to the pub I usually hang at and basically jumped on the guy as he entered. Took his wand and tied him up good. Said there was a reward for people who came to the Ministry with evidence against him or something, but no one seems interested in doing that."
Rose didn't like this. A dangerous man arrested? Scorpius had mentioned how he pretended to not want people to say his alias's name. If he had been arrested as a Death Eater, that would qualify. But if he had been arrested, why hadn't she heard of it? And where had he gone after that?
She calmly asked Uncle Harry and Albus to go into the living room, leaving the others behind in the kitchen. James told the story again. Harry looked confused, Albus looked ashamed.
"I can assure you; we haven't arrested anyone in the last week. This must be someone pretending to be the Ministry."
"You're sure?"
"Rose, I check that list every day. There is no way I would have missed an actual arrest. In fact, we haven't convicted anyone for months."
Albus' voice sounded faint. "But what could have happened to Scorpius then? Who has taken him?"
Hermione came out from the kitchen. "I was about to say that the food is ready, but you look like you're not quite ready for dinner. What has happened?"
Harry quickly filled her in on the situation. Hermione looked shocked as well.
"The way the arrest is described is only done in the most extreme cases," she said. "And we generally try to avoid doing it in public like that. Not something that would have been done without either of us hearing about it."
"James, are you sure it was the Ministry that arrested him?" Albus asked.
"That's what they said, but none of them would have asked too many questions about it," James said with an angry glare towards Albus. "I wouldn't have made up something like that. It also explains Scorpius' absence. He usually tells us when he will be gone for more than a day. It's been almost a week."
"No one accuses you of making things up, James," Harry said. James looked towards Albus but said nothing.
"When was the last time anyone saw him?" Hermione asked.
"It was on Monday," Rose said. "We went into work together, but I was quickly called out to some issue out in Devon. It turned out to be nothing, but Scorpius was gone when I came back."
"And he didn't leave a message?"
"No, I don't think so. I'll go and check my desk again, to be sure," she said. She didn't think she could go in and have dinner and pretend nothing had happened after this. Harry nodded. "I'll go with you. See if anyone else has heard any whispers about this arrest or anything else uncommon."
"I'll go back to Knockturn Alley," James said, already on his way out the door.
Rose hurried after him with Harry right behind her. She knew that Scorpius often left excess messages on her desk if he was feeling extra paranoid. She hoped he had done that this time too and that she had just missed them.
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