Broomsticks and the Big Apple

Broomsticks and The Big Apple

Chapter 8

Scorpius fled the bathroom, leaving Luke behind. With his whole body engulfed in flames, he looked like a human torch running through the dance hall in search of his parents, completely in a panic.

“Dad! Help me!” Scorpius saw his Father first, chatting with two foreign Minister’s, a martini in his hand. Draco and Hermione both turned and then as if in slow motion, the lavish drapes of the hall caught fire. Wands were out dousing the flames as Draco threw off his coat and wrapped it around his son. Hermione was quick on her wand as a continuous spray of water doused her son. It just wasn’t putting out the flames. Draco burned himself several times, as he thought quickly and shoved his son towards the kitchen. He threw open the meat locker and shoved Scorpius into the freezer, closing the door behind him. There were hunks of cow and lamb on meat hooks. One of them caught fire as Draco continued to try to put his son out. Hermione threw the door open to the freezer and stepped inside. She shivered immediately.

“I got this! Merlin how did this happen?” Draco muttered, his eyes wide and in shock as he attempted to put his oldest son out.

“It doesn’t hurt. Don’t worry, I’m not going to die or anything,” Scorpius said.

“Your on bloody fire!” Draco shouted finally getting one of his legs and an arm to go out.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” Hermione said coming closer to her son, wanting to help.

“No, Hermione. Get back! I’ve probably got second degree burns on my hands. It may not burn him, but it burns us.”

“Stand back Draco!” Hermione shot water from her wand with a quick spell and this time, because of the frigid temperatures it put Scorpius out. He slumped down on the floor of the meat freezer. Hermione wrapped a blanket around him and hugged her son, unwilling to let go. She squeezed him against her, ash and soot smearing against her face. Her blond son looked like he had battled a five-alarm fire and lived to tell about it, his clothes were black and his hair caked in thick ash. In all the chaos, nobody had noticed that Luke wasn’t with them, until Scorpius’s eyes popped out of his head and he remembered.

“Where’s Luke? I’m gonna kill him!” Scorpius tried to get up but Draco held him still.

“Scorpius, you have to stay here for a bit. The guests are in a panic outside and until you tell me why you burst into flames, I can’t take the chance of igniting this entire hotel. Now, tell me how this happened.”

“Yes, Scorpius, boys don’t burst into flames out of the blue! What does Luke have to do with this?”

“Luke! Potion! I caught him taking a potion in the bathroom. I thought it was champagne so I drank what was left in his glass. Hermione looked at Draco and tore out of the freezer leaving Draco and Scorpius behind.

“Dad. Luke’s invisible. Mum left so quick I didn’t get to tell her. Dad did you see Persephone’s face? She looked at me like I was a freak of nature and then she ran.”

“Persephone? Scorpius, you just said Luke is invisible?” Draco decided that his son was traumatized and that he wasn’t making sense.

“Yes Persephone, my girlfriend! She ran when she saw me. She looked scared.”

“You were on fire Scorpius! Something like that tends to freak people out a bit. Hell, the French Minister looked like he was going to have a massive coronary. I am going to have to owl every Minister, explaining what happened here tonight. Look son, I need to go find Luke. Can you stand?” Scorpius bounced to his feet, no worse for wear. “Okay, stand outside the freezer and don’t move a muscle! And help yourself to the prime grade A cut of beef. It looks to be medium rare, just the way you like it.” Draco smiled and pat his son on the back. “I’ll be right back.”

Draco sped through the hall. Several of the skanks he had dated tried to stop him. He ignored them and ran past them, finally finding the men’s room and sliding into the bathroom at lightning speed. He could hear Hermione calling out to her son. She was standing outside a stall pleading. The door was closed.

“Luke, please come out. I won’t yell at you I promise.” Hermione shot Draco a perplexed look. Draco moved his wife aside and kicked the door open.

“I’m terribly sorry,” Draco said when he found one of the busboys sitting on the toilet with a frightened look on his face.

“That prat! I’ve been talking to him for five minutes, begging him to come out,” Hermione said. Draco was beginning to get peeved.

“He doesn’t speak English Hermione! Where’s our son? I’m going to whoop his arse so good when I get my hands on him.” Unbeknownst to them, Luke had heard every word. At that proclamation Luke slipped outside the bathroom and outside onto the The Strip.

He finally felt free. He didn’t mean for Scorpius to take the potion. He just felt stifled in this life and he wanted to disappear. He walked the strip, noticing that he really didn’t feel that much different. People almost bumped into him, but that happened anyway. When Luke was with his family in public, there was usually stares from the opposite sex at his father, or young girls whispered and giggled over Scorpius. Occasionally his mother signed autographs for war buffs. Luke was just plain old Luke, nothing special, just there. He often wondered if the rest of his family merely tolerated his presence and wondered what they would do should he disappear altogether. They would probably mope for a while but go on with their lives and forget all about him eventually. Suddenly his shoe appeared on the pavement in front of him. A young child in a stroller pointed at it and Luke knew that the potion was wearing off. He had to get to his lab so he could brew another potion. He ran, as a light mist began to fall, his footprints marking the cobblestone street . He raced to the dingy old wizards motel. He traversed the stairs and threw the door open. His lab was kept meticulously, a trait he had inherited from Draco, though in Luke’s eyes he had inherited nothing from his successful father. Worse then that, was the fact that he inherited none of his mother’s courage. He wouldn’t have minded looking the way he did, which was actually quite exotic and handsome looking, though he didn’t know it, if he had been more courageous. Hermione backed down from nothing and Luke admired that about his Mum. He felt the worst about hurting his mother. She had spoken so sweetly to him in the bathroom, pleading for him to come out and talk to her. He almost had, but then his father burst in, clearly angry with him for what he had done to Scorpius. He knew at that moment that he had to runaway. Luke was blinking now and he quickly looked at his watch and wrote down the time that the potion had worn off. Twenty-five minutes for a first effort was not bad and Luke was hopeful. A little tweaking and Luke could probably up the duration of the potion’s effectiveness so the invisibility disguise lasted longer. Ideally, he wanted to make the change permanent, but he was content to follow the scientific method. After all, all wizard potion master’s had to start somewhere. He was sure that his idol, Severus Snape, didn’t start by making invisibility spells at age thirteen. Luke had studied every book on potions he could get his hands on, but when he began to combine muggle science with wizarding potions, that is when his work gave him results. Luke retrieved a muggle cherry pie from a paper bag and munched into it, pulling the lantern light over to his notes. His notes looked like chicken scratch, an indecipherable list of ingredients and directions. He left the last ingredient of his potion off from the list, just in case that ruddy motel manager snooped around in his lab. Luke was very protective of his work. He stirred the new concoction and then waited.

“Will need more sea salt and belladonna,” Luke noted aloud as he shook the last remaining ingredients in a small vial. It was enough to brew this potion, but he would need more soon. He suddenly heard a banging on the door and he nearly jumped out of his skin, tossing the rest of his pie in the waste paper basket and looking out the peep hole of the shoddy room.

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“Did you have to say that? What if Luke heard you?” Hermione chastised Draco as they meandered around the hotel ground floor looking for their son. Scorpius was walking with them now too, calling out to his lost bother.

“So what if he heard me say that I’m going to kick his arse? I am going to kick his arse! He turned himself invisible Hermione!”

“Are you sure that’s all of it Draco? I mean, it wasn’t because he lit Scorpius on fire?”

“Just what are you insinuating, Hermione?”

“I don’t know…nothing. I’m just frustrated. We all are. Luke!” She shouted again.

“He isn’t here. I’m going up to the penthouse and take a shower and change,” Scorpius announced.

“Alright. I’ll be up to check on you. If Luke is there send your patronus down to us, so we know to stop looking. I want to know the instant that he returns home!” Hermione said reaching for Draco’s hand. Together they searched The Strip in search of their invisible son.

“We’ve been up and down this street twenty times. Let’s go home Hermione.”

“How can you leave our baby out here all alone? He’s out here somewhere Draco and we have to find him.”

“He doesn’t want to be found! He’s bloody invisible. I’m sure he will come home when he cools off.”

“I think you need to cool off too Draco.”

“You coddle him too much Hermione. You know, this doesn’t surprise me. Luke’s been so withdrawn lately. I tried on his birthday to get him to do something with me, just the two of us and he barely said two words to me,” Draco said, pulling his sniffling wife into his side and wrapping a protective arm around her.

“He’s just a baby Draco. I can’t fathom him spending the night out here alone. I’m his Mum. I’m supposed to protect him. Luke!” Hermione screamed again. Her voice was hoarse from calling his name.

“He’s as tall as me now and he just started shaving. But, I tell you what. I’ll stay out here and search and you go back to the room. Scorpius was traumatized over this all. He needs you too. Something about his girlfriend running away scared of him.”

“See, why doesn’t Scorpius talk to me about those things?” A somber look washed over her face. She started seeing that their family was probably not the perfect nuclear family that she thought it was, almost anyway. Draco and Scorpius had their own little boys club and she and Luke bonded over books. Aside from the smoking incident and ensuing argument, the trip to America had been a positive experience.

Hermione and Draco kissed and hugged on the street in the light rain. He held his wife tightly and then she left to return to the penthouse.

“Find him for me Draco?” Hermione said with puppy dog eyes, that were swollen and red and Draco nodded.

Draco lit up a cigarette and then descended into the seedier parts of town. He didn’t want to worry Hermione, by taking her down those streets. They were slightly creepy and he knew that Hermione would worry herself into an early grave with the thought that Luke was in any of those places. Draco tried to think about what he himself would have done in Luke’s situation when he was his age. Draco would have been hiding in Knockturn Alley, not Diagon Alley, so he crossed the street and huffed a big drag off his Marlboro Light and began a new search on Hellfire Hemlock Way. The name itself was enough to send Hermione into a fit of hysterics. He rather hoped he wouldn’t find Luke down there. There were some strange and dangerous looking wizards loitering on the streets, their wicked sneers illuminated by the streetlamps in the fog and mist.

“Looking for a date honey? You’re a fine one. I won’t even charge you.” A witch missing her front tooth clamored around Draco, cackling and groping at him.

“Piss off hag,” Draco said, his hands in his pockets, a swagger to his step. He really did get nervous now, thinking of his youngest son down here. He heard a din by a seedy motel, some domestic dispute he thought to himself as he passed by the motel.

“You’re late on your rent! I told you not to be late! Pay up now or GET OUT!” The manager yelled at Luke. Luke tossed the overbearing git a bag of gold galleons and the manager replied rudely but left. Luke poked his head out and saw the back of his father’s head on the street. He slammed the door shut, his heart racing. That was the last person he wanted to see. Luke collapsed into the dirty old mattress. The springs were missing in places but it was home for now, so Luke made the best of it. He curled up into a ball when he saw a huge cockroach scurry across the floor.

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Hermione waited for Scorpius to shower and dress before launching into a tirade of twenty questions.

“What did you say to him? Did you pick a fight with your brother today, before the party?”

“No! I didn’t do shit to the little Puke.”

“That’s what I’m talking about Scorpius. You can be too abrasive sometimes. Maybe you said something inadvertently. I know how you two go at each other sometimes.”

“Honestly mother, you are so unfair. Luke and I have been getting on swell lately. I mean, he doesn’t talk to me much, which is fine. I’ve had my own things going on. I can’t be responsible for Luke. He’s your son!”

“He’s your brother!” Hermione shouted. This was not going very well at all.

“Are you done yelling at me? Tell me when Dad gets back.” This was exactly what Hermione did not want to happen.

“Scorpius, please. I’m sorry. Come in here and sit down with me. Let’s talk.” Scorpius sighed and plopped down on the sofa next Hermione.

“I’m sorry. I want us to communicate better,” Hermione admitted.

“Without you yelling at me?” Scorpius raised an eyebrow. Hermione laughed, because his expression was dead on Draco in every way.

“What’s so funny?” Scorpius asked.

“You silly. You remind me of your father so much.”

“Really? I always thought Luke was much more like Dad. I mean, I’m no good at politics, like Father is. I hate potions. I’m not particularly good with numbers either. I’m good at quidditch like dad and I look a fair bit like him, and I was in Slytherin, but that’s where it really ends.” Hermione didn’t agree but she knew her son’s independence was worth a lot more and since she had obviously gone so wrong with Luke, she didn’t want to alienate Scorpius too. “Luke can level a person with his insults. He loves potions. He’s smarter then me and merlin, he’s vindictive. I’m still wondering if he somehow made me think that I wanted to take that potion. He told me he’d get me back for gluing his boxers to his arse when he was sleeping.” Hermione laughed, even though it was not terribly funny. That sounded like something Draco would have done back in his Hogwarts days. Still, the words Scorpius had used to describe his brother Luke, came as quite a surprise to Hermione. She had really pegged her son wrong. She decided to turn the conversation away from Luke. She gazed out the window though, wondering if Draco was having any luck. Every few minutes she would look at the door, as if wishing it to open, expecting to see her husband and her baby son walk through the door.

“So, tell me about this new girlfriend.” Scorpius blushed.

“She’s wonderful mother. We had our first kiss tonight and everything was going great until Luke and his blasted potion. Then she looked at me as if terrified and ran away. I’ll be lucky if she ever speaks to me again.”

“You know, if she’s a keeper then you will see her again. I’ll bet she was just surprised. It was a bit chaotic in the lobby of the hotel, people running away screaming fire.” Hermione patted Scorpius on the leg and the boy did something that he hadn’t done in years. He leaned over and laid his head on Hermione’s leg. She almost cried. This was her Scorpius, not the snarky rude boy that fought with her about everything. She stroked his hair as he continued to talk about Persephone.

“You know…that was pretty cool now that I think about it. I was actually on fire! I freaked all those people out, including some of the kids that go to my school. That could be a problem.”

“Well, you just tell me if any of them bother you. I’ll glue their arses to their Arithmancy desks,” Hermione said with a giggle.

“So I DO take after you!” Scorpius laughed. Hermione decided that it had been far too long since she had tickled Scorpius. With both hands on his stomach she went in for the kill until the boy was blocking her hands and laughing so hard he was about to explode. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Hermione tripped over the coffee table on her way to answer it, in whirlwind style. She was shocked to see a petite girl with brown wavy hair and eyes staring up at her with a smile.

“Is Scorpius here?” Hermione was elated. Scorpius’s previous girlfriends had all been rather loose girls with enormous breasts. She greeted Persephone and left the teens together in the living room. Scorpius was smiling from ear to ear, as she listened to the girl ask him how he was. She excused herself and made her way out on to the terrace, shallow worry lines beginning to form on her face.

“Where are you Luke?” The tears began to fall and she couldn’t stop them.

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