jade_chan: Time to Flee (PG-13)
Title: Time to Flee
Author:
jade_chan
Rating: PG-13
Prompt Set: 100.1
Prompt: 057. Young
Word Count: 1,150
Summary: During the Christmas holidays, Scorpius meets up with Albus and brags about his knowledge of Knockturn Alley. The two come across two suspicious men (among many suspicious witches and wizards) in their exploration of the alley that Scorpius actually knows nothing about. The drabble picks up in the middle of the boys' spying.
Warnings: Mild swearing.
Notes: This takes place in the same time-line as my first short fic/drabble on here. It's just set later on during the Christmas holidays.
“We’re too young for this.”
Scorpius snorted. Secretly he quite agreed, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. He was too busy trying to lie to himself to risk ruining it all by admitting something like that.
“Seriously,” Albus continued in the same low, reasonable tone that nevertheless sounded on the edge of hysterics. “We’re eleven. They’re…”
“Older,” Scorpius finished, shrugging one shoulder.
“Y-es,” Albus agreed, shooting another glance toward the two men they were spying on.
Now that he had started, Scorpius couldn’t quite put the brakes on as his brain quickly provided other reasons why they should definitely not be where they were. “And more experienced at dueling, perhaps.”
Albus gave him a look.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. “Certainly more experienced at dueling. No doubt they’re dangerous as well. You normally don’t get the sort who adopt bunnies and small kittens here.”
There was a moment of silence as both boys took note again of where they were. They were ducked down a dead-end side street of Knockturn Alley. The side street was filled with rubbish, things Scorpius would rather not look closely enough at to indentify, and by a faint smell that mixed all sorts of rubbish until it made a person’s sense of smell shut down simply to spare itself the trauma.
It was nothing to the actual alley they were peering out at, though. The gloomy day had brought out all sorts in the wizarding world’s most notorious row of businesses. Hunched old witches and grizzly wizards had wandered past their hiding spot in ones, twos, and threes, but the two wizards they watched always remained just on the edge of their range of hearing. Obviously they were waiting for something, and Scorpius was curious about what it was.
His curiosity was melting away almost as quickly as Albus’ had, however.
Being in Slytherin did not automatically give you honorary boosts of bravery as Gryffindor supposedly did. It just told you when it would be wise to slip away.
“Father’s shop is just back around the last corner,” Scorpius muttered, his gaze never straying from the two cloaked men. They still hadn’t moved from where they were sheltering under an awning from the potential rain. And they still hadn’t said a word.
This adventure was getting both creepy and a little dull. Scorpius had only meant to show off how much of the alley he knew (all a lie - his father never let him stray past the doors of Borgin and Burkes), and he wasn’t very certain how they had ended up trailing the two men into hitherto unknown sections of the alley. Scorpius hadn’t even seen his father come this far.
“Right…” Albus muttered after a moment. “Let’s go before they see us. My dad’s going to be wondering where I am, and James’ll tell where I’m at as soon as Dad’s frantic enough for me to be in trouble.”
Scorpius nodded and moved to get up from his half-crouched position. His foot was asleep, but after a moment of murmuring silent swears, he managed to get to his feet and check one last time to see what the men were doing.
“Look.”
The voice was low, but it carried across the now-empty alley, freezing both boys before they could move out of the shadow of the side street.
Scorpius met Albus’ terrified gaze with his own. Had they been spotted snooping?
A muffled pop drew the boys’ gazes upward in time to see the shower of green sparks left over by a distant firecracker.
“It’s started,” the taller of the two men said more clearly, nudging his companion with his elbow.
As the boys watched, the shorter man rubbed ruefully at his arm and glanced up at the remains of what Scorpius assumed had been a signal for a parade or party or… something. As the shorter man looked up, his cowl fell back around his shoulders revealing that he had straight black hair that fell just short of his collar.
“Which ones ‘s the bosses wantin’ us to go after in this dingy spot, Blake?” the dark-haired one asked, slapping the side of his face. “Good god. Some toerag’s let some beetles get loose.”
The taller one - Blake - rolled his shoulders and ignored the other man’s comment in favor of the question. “Malfoy’s kid, innit?”
“Malfoy? Bleedin’ hell - you didn’t think to tell me that ‘fore we got ‘ere?”
Whatever answer Blake made, Scorpius didn’t here. Instead of listening, he was focusing more on flattening himself to the wall of the side street and trying not to breathe. Despite his attempts, his chest rose and fell quickly to spite him.
“Oh Merlin,” Albus whispered beside him. The dark-haired boy had adopted a similar stance, and had actually managed to pale enough that he could have been in the running against Scorpius in a competition to see which one of the two could impersonate a sheet the most accurately.
His name - his family’s name, anyway… they’d said it. They’d said Malfoy’s kid. Aries and Libra were never allowed to come to the shop. Only Scorpius was allowed since he had turned ten. Ten was old enough to know not to touch certain items and to begin learning the business according to his father.
So there was only one Malfoy kid they could be talking about.
“That way,” Scorpius mouthed, nodding toward the far end of the alley. There was a pile of rubbish there that, even if they couldn’t climb up it to get onto the roof of the nearby building (Scorpius was fairly sure it was an apothecary according to the smell), they could at least find a good place to hide behind it. Much as he was loathe to get any of the rubbish on his clothes, he preferred it to being discovered.
Albus nodded numbly, and edged sideways, trying to move one way and look over his shoulder at the same time as if he would be able to see the men through the wall.
Neither of them saw the rubbish bin until it was clanging to the ground. The lid sprang off almost comically, and as they stared in horror, following it only with their eyes, it rolled lazily out into Knockturn Alley where it hit the opposite shop and fell over with a reverberating clatter.
There was a heart-stopping moment of silence, then-
“What in the name of…”
“Someone’s over there…!”
“They heard us, y’think?”
“Do you want to chance it, you think-skulled-“
Scorpius again didn’t wait to hear what Blake had to say. He simply pushed off from the wall and ran. He could hear Albus behind him, and he could hear the two men pounding along behind him.
The latter was enough to spur him into moving faster.
Athletics had never been Scorpius’ strong suit, but he was determined to change that today.
Author:
jade_chan
Rating: PG-13
Prompt Set: 100.1
Prompt: 057. Young
Word Count: 1,150
Summary: During the Christmas holidays, Scorpius meets up with Albus and brags about his knowledge of Knockturn Alley. The two come across two suspicious men (among many suspicious witches and wizards) in their exploration of the alley that Scorpius actually knows nothing about. The drabble picks up in the middle of the boys' spying.
Warnings: Mild swearing.
Notes: This takes place in the same time-line as my first short fic/drabble on here. It's just set later on during the Christmas holidays.
“We’re too young for this.”
Scorpius snorted. Secretly he quite agreed, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. He was too busy trying to lie to himself to risk ruining it all by admitting something like that.
“Seriously,” Albus continued in the same low, reasonable tone that nevertheless sounded on the edge of hysterics. “We’re eleven. They’re…”
“Older,” Scorpius finished, shrugging one shoulder.
“Y-es,” Albus agreed, shooting another glance toward the two men they were spying on.
Now that he had started, Scorpius couldn’t quite put the brakes on as his brain quickly provided other reasons why they should definitely not be where they were. “And more experienced at dueling, perhaps.”
Albus gave him a look.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. “Certainly more experienced at dueling. No doubt they’re dangerous as well. You normally don’t get the sort who adopt bunnies and small kittens here.”
There was a moment of silence as both boys took note again of where they were. They were ducked down a dead-end side street of Knockturn Alley. The side street was filled with rubbish, things Scorpius would rather not look closely enough at to indentify, and by a faint smell that mixed all sorts of rubbish until it made a person’s sense of smell shut down simply to spare itself the trauma.
It was nothing to the actual alley they were peering out at, though. The gloomy day had brought out all sorts in the wizarding world’s most notorious row of businesses. Hunched old witches and grizzly wizards had wandered past their hiding spot in ones, twos, and threes, but the two wizards they watched always remained just on the edge of their range of hearing. Obviously they were waiting for something, and Scorpius was curious about what it was.
His curiosity was melting away almost as quickly as Albus’ had, however.
Being in Slytherin did not automatically give you honorary boosts of bravery as Gryffindor supposedly did. It just told you when it would be wise to slip away.
“Father’s shop is just back around the last corner,” Scorpius muttered, his gaze never straying from the two cloaked men. They still hadn’t moved from where they were sheltering under an awning from the potential rain. And they still hadn’t said a word.
This adventure was getting both creepy and a little dull. Scorpius had only meant to show off how much of the alley he knew (all a lie - his father never let him stray past the doors of Borgin and Burkes), and he wasn’t very certain how they had ended up trailing the two men into hitherto unknown sections of the alley. Scorpius hadn’t even seen his father come this far.
“Right…” Albus muttered after a moment. “Let’s go before they see us. My dad’s going to be wondering where I am, and James’ll tell where I’m at as soon as Dad’s frantic enough for me to be in trouble.”
Scorpius nodded and moved to get up from his half-crouched position. His foot was asleep, but after a moment of murmuring silent swears, he managed to get to his feet and check one last time to see what the men were doing.
“Look.”
The voice was low, but it carried across the now-empty alley, freezing both boys before they could move out of the shadow of the side street.
Scorpius met Albus’ terrified gaze with his own. Had they been spotted snooping?
A muffled pop drew the boys’ gazes upward in time to see the shower of green sparks left over by a distant firecracker.
“It’s started,” the taller of the two men said more clearly, nudging his companion with his elbow.
As the boys watched, the shorter man rubbed ruefully at his arm and glanced up at the remains of what Scorpius assumed had been a signal for a parade or party or… something. As the shorter man looked up, his cowl fell back around his shoulders revealing that he had straight black hair that fell just short of his collar.
“Which ones ‘s the bosses wantin’ us to go after in this dingy spot, Blake?” the dark-haired one asked, slapping the side of his face. “Good god. Some toerag’s let some beetles get loose.”
The taller one - Blake - rolled his shoulders and ignored the other man’s comment in favor of the question. “Malfoy’s kid, innit?”
“Malfoy? Bleedin’ hell - you didn’t think to tell me that ‘fore we got ‘ere?”
Whatever answer Blake made, Scorpius didn’t here. Instead of listening, he was focusing more on flattening himself to the wall of the side street and trying not to breathe. Despite his attempts, his chest rose and fell quickly to spite him.
“Oh Merlin,” Albus whispered beside him. The dark-haired boy had adopted a similar stance, and had actually managed to pale enough that he could have been in the running against Scorpius in a competition to see which one of the two could impersonate a sheet the most accurately.
His name - his family’s name, anyway… they’d said it. They’d said Malfoy’s kid. Aries and Libra were never allowed to come to the shop. Only Scorpius was allowed since he had turned ten. Ten was old enough to know not to touch certain items and to begin learning the business according to his father.
So there was only one Malfoy kid they could be talking about.
“That way,” Scorpius mouthed, nodding toward the far end of the alley. There was a pile of rubbish there that, even if they couldn’t climb up it to get onto the roof of the nearby building (Scorpius was fairly sure it was an apothecary according to the smell), they could at least find a good place to hide behind it. Much as he was loathe to get any of the rubbish on his clothes, he preferred it to being discovered.
Albus nodded numbly, and edged sideways, trying to move one way and look over his shoulder at the same time as if he would be able to see the men through the wall.
Neither of them saw the rubbish bin until it was clanging to the ground. The lid sprang off almost comically, and as they stared in horror, following it only with their eyes, it rolled lazily out into Knockturn Alley where it hit the opposite shop and fell over with a reverberating clatter.
There was a heart-stopping moment of silence, then-
“What in the name of…”
“Someone’s over there…!”
“They heard us, y’think?”
“Do you want to chance it, you think-skulled-“
Scorpius again didn’t wait to hear what Blake had to say. He simply pushed off from the wall and ran. He could hear Albus behind him, and he could hear the two men pounding along behind him.
The latter was enough to spur him into moving faster.
Athletics had never been Scorpius’ strong suit, but he was determined to change that today.