ROSE'S POV-

"Drugs?" I asked, completely and utterly shocked. "Well, technically it wasn't drugs. Just an illegal potion used to harm others." Said Scorpius. "So, drugs." I concluded. "Well, kind of." He replied. "So, like 24 years ago, before we were born and after the war, Lucius was like, a drug lord?" I asked. "I don't think he'd be classified as a drug lord. Just a maker of an illegal potion he forced into other people." He said. "Are you seriously sticking up for him?" I asked shocked. "No! I'm just saying the report doesn't associate him with drugs. It says he was involved with illegal potions." He said. "As you've said." I muttered sarcastically.

When we first opened the thick file dedicated to Lucius Malfoy we had no idea what to expect. The first 20 pages detailed back to his life as a death eater and small time spent in Azkaban. Then, in the very back, a burned and crumpled paper lie. After smoothing it out we figured out what had happened. 24 years ago, so in the year 2000, Lucius started to gather materials. At first no one knew what it was for. His family claims he would go on long outings and come back exhausted and very dehydrated. Nobody thought much of it until wizards and witches all across Europe started to disappear and drop dead. The death polls began to climb and investigations began. All of the murders had certain things in common. They were all done it extremely gruesome ways that left the wizarding world disgusted and scared. Each person was also found with a certain drug in their blood. A mix of several illegal ingredients and to top it all off, heavy amounts of pherenixon. Pherenixon is one of the most dangerous ingredients in the wizarding world. If anyone comes in contact with it they start to hallucinate vividly. Their throat closes up and their organs start to shut down. There's no way to escape it's tight grip and in minutes you are dead.

Pherenixon is very dangerous and only a few select ministry employees are in possession of it for investigation purposes only. When these murders started happening the employees were suspects. But when they started dying we knew it was something much worse. After almost 2 years of investigation things started leading back to Lucius. He was brought in for several different questionings. A factor that proved him guilty is his son and wife testifying him being constantly dehydrated. Pherenixon practically sucks all moisture from ones body. In order to work with it you need to be drinking liquids constantly. They also searched his house. After finding traces of the illegal ingredient near his living room floor boards were torn up. A secret room filled with the drug were found. He had been growing it and turning it into liquid form. After looking back at all of the connected murders it was discovered that after he hurt his victims he injected the pherenixon into there blood steams. He was pronounced clinically insane. There was a debate on wether he should be kept in St. Mungos or Azkaban. He was put in St. Mungos but killed 3 healers in one day. He was then put in Azkaban for life and all traces of the pherenixon were destroyed. It was decided that it should be totally eliminated. Ministry workers no longer experimented with it. It was torn off of the face of the earth. The article ended with recognition to junior aurors Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley for finding the actual lab in Lucius's house.

"Why didn't he tell me." Scorpius muttered to himself. "Who?" I asked. "My dad. We were tortured by this man and he didn't think to tell me about any of this?" He practically shouted. "I'm in the same boat as you! My dad discovered what he was doing and he didn't tell me either." I said trying to calm him down. "It's different for me. I already hate Lucius for hurting you. Now I find out the horrors of his past and my dad didn't even have the decency to tell me about them! Do you know how that feels?" He yelled. "No, I don't. But you don't have to take your anger out on me." I said trying to stay calm. "I'm not trying to. I'm just saying you don't know how I'm feeling." He snapped. All feelings of calmness were suddenly washed away. "Like hell I do! I hate Lucius just as much as you do. He turned my cousin against my family. He made Lily hurt my cousin. He hurt my best friend. He hurt you, and he hurt me. On top of that, my father never told me either. So you can stop throwing a pity party for yourself. It's pathetic." I spit. He looked at me shocked and we sat in a stunned silence for a few minutes.

Ignoring his gaze I grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. I started writing and Scorpius broke the silence. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Writing." I said as if he were stupid. "To whom?" He asked ignoring my tone of voice. "Al." I said. "What about?" He asked. "Do you ever stop asking questions?" I snapped. He looked at the ground trying to cover the hurt on his face. I sighed. "If you must know I'm asking him to casually bring up the case to his father. I want to see what he says." I said. There was a short awkward silence. "That's a good idea." He said quietly. I contemplated wether to be nice or not. "I know. But, thanks." I said. I finished writing the letter and tied it to the leg of Scorpius's owl which had arrived in the night. It flew away and and it was just the two of us. An awkward silence fell. I busied myself with straightening up various things. I couldn't talk to him or I'd say something I'd regret. I was just so angry! How could he possibly be so selfish? For him to think he was the only one who felt hatred for Lucius, or him to say only he felt upset because Lucius was his flesh and blood was incredibly childish. Lucius had hurt me and my family just as much as him. Figuring I'd start figuring out why this article was important I swiped the file from in front of Scorpius. "I was using that!" He cried. "You've been looking out of the window for almost 10 minutes." I said dryly. "I was thinking." He said. I scoffed and continued to take the file.

"You're being ridiculous." He said. "How am I the ridiculous one?" I cried. "Well for starters you're acting like a child." He said. "I'm not acting childish. You're the one who who said I didn't know how you were feeling. Who said I didn't know what Lucius could do." I yelled. "It's just different for me." He said. "How?" I said determined not to look like an idiot. "He's my grandfather. My flesh and blood." He said seriously. "No. You don't get to pull the family card. If anything, I had it worse." I said realizing what I was about to do. "Yeah, right." He scoffed. Tears gathered in my eyes. "You think this is funny? When we were being tortured two out of four weeks you were unconscious. I thought you were dead. He told me you were dead. He taunted me with the fact that I would never hear your voice again. But still, when he cursed me I screamed for you. I hoped that you would save me. I prayed that you'd come and make sure I didn't die. But I lost hope. I didn't think you would come because as far as I knew you were dead. So you don't get to act like I haven't suffered. Because you were gone. You weren't there to save me." I said as my voice broke.

He looked at me with the most shocked expression I'd ever seen him with. "You never told me that." He stuttered. "I didn't want to." I said as silent tears streamed down my face. "Why? I could of done something!" He said. "No you couldn't of. And I knew it would just make you feel guilty." I said as I sat down next to him pulling my knees to my chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." He said continuing to stutter. "It's fine." I said wiping away my tears. "It's not fine. I should of been there. I should of helped you ." He said desperately. Tears were starting to gather in his eyes and I could feel myself getting chocked up again. "You couldn't of been. And you're here now, so it's ok." I reassured him. "It's not enough. I'm going to kill him." He muttered angrily. "Just calm down." I begged. "Fine. Can we just keep working?" He asked through gritted teeth. I nodded and sat the file on the table.

"Ok. So the first thing I noticed was that the file was burnt. I could barley even read it! Why would it be like that?" I asked. I could tell he was trying to stay calm and forget about earlier. "I don't know."He said as he ran his hands through his hair. "Ok, well maybe this is something to go off of. I don't think that there's ever been a fire at the library. Things don't just become burt." I said. He was silent and his fists were clenched under the table. "That means someone must of burnt it." I prompted. He was still quiet. "It could of been Lucius." I said. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this." He said. "Do what?" I asked. "Act like you didn't think I was dead. How could you not of told me!" He exclaimed angrily. "Because I knew this would happen. You'd be angry as hell then guilty. I didn't want to put that on you but I needed to prove my point." I said. "I just don't understand! Why would he of told you I was dead? Why would he taunt you, make you think that, when I was breathing in the next room?" He shouted. "Because he wanted this to happen. He wanted you to find out and be angry. And most of all, he wanted to break me. But he didn't and that's all that matters. You're alive, breathing, and yelling right next to me. And I'd rather you'd be alive and pissed then not alive at all." I said fiercely. He stood up and in seconds had his arms around me so tightly I could hardly breath.

"I'm sorry." He said. "It's ok." I reassured him. We stayed like that for a little while longer. "We should get back to work." He said composing himself. "Agreed. So back to the burnt article. Things don't just burn. Do you think Lucius did it?" I asked. "He could of. But why would he want to?" Said Scorpius. "It looks as if he was trying to destroy it. And when you want to get rid of somethings it's usually so someone else doesn't find it." I concluded. "Right. So why wouldn't he burn the whole thing? There's still enough of it for us to read it." He said. "Maybe he didn't want it completely gone. He could of planted it like this." I said. The sound of an owls hooting interrupted Scorpius's next sentence. We looked up and through the open window Scorpius's owl flew in with a piece of parchment attached to it. I grabbed the parchment. "It's from Al!" I said excitedly. I unfolded the paper and read it quickly. My brow furrowed in confusion. "What's it say?" Asked Scorpius. I passed him the piece of paper which read:

Hey Rose! I hope all is well with you and Scorpius. I don't exactly know why you need to know about the case, but I asked my dad anyways. Trust me, I was discreet. I asked if anyone had ever been arrested for making an illegal potion called Pherenixon. He said he'd never heard of anything like it and wanted to know why I was asking. I said Hugo needed it for a project and then I left. Hope I was able to help. Love and miss you!

                                                              Albus

"So, he doesn't remember working on the case?" Asked Scorpius. "Apparently not." I said not understanding the situation. "But the article specifically said he and your dad found the lab where he was working. And they were only junior aurors! That's a big deal. It doesn't sound like something he'd forget." He said. "Exactly! Maybe we could find some of the other aurors on the case and interview them. If they don't remember either then something's wrong." I said. "Ok. We can go back to the library tomorrow and find out some more." He said. "Ok." I said as I stood up. "I really am sorry." He said. "Yeah, I know." I said as I kissed his forehead. 

I walked into the other room to get some space. I sat on the bed and put my head in my hands. I felt like I was living in a giant puzzle. I had all, well, most of the pieces. I just didn't know how to fit them together. Lucius wants to go back in time. But for what? 20 years ago he had an illegal drug and used it to harm others. But nobody seems to remember the case. And then there was the case file. Why would it be burned? Things don't just catch on fire out of nowhere. Someone wanted the file gone. But who?

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. This chapter has just kind of dragged by but I hope you like it. I'm not going to have my phone for the next week because I'm going on a mission trip which means I can't update:( I get back next Saturday and I'll try to write while I'm gone. Please comment, vote, and keep reading! I love y'all!! XOXO