Unknown substance

Scorpius was anxious to see how Albus was doing. It would take a lot to hurt an Auror. And the fact that they hadn't been able to heal the wound at once didn't bode well. As he came towards the room, he found Harry and Ginny both there.

"How is he?"

"He's lost a lot of blood. Again." Ginny said. "Something is preventing the wounds from closing."

"And given the nature of the place, I doubt it's anything we've seen before," Harry said with gritted teeth. "At least this bandage seems to hold better than the temporary one we had in the field."

"I just sent a note to my mother to summarise what we did. I suspect we will find her here quite soon." Rose said.

No sooner had he said that, then Hermione came around the corner.

"How is he?" she asked. Harry repeated what he had told Scorpius.

"I came as soon as I heard. What do you need?"

"An antidote for whatever was laced on that axe," Harry said.

"Did you bring the axe back?"

"Yes of course. They're running tests on it now. But considering the place, I doubt it's going to be a known substance."

Unfortunately, Harry was right. The Healers came back apologetically and explained that they had tried many different antidotes, but nothing had any effect as of yet. Harry went back to see if there was an antidote among the items they confiscated. Rose and Hermione went with him. Scorpius felt useless. He sat with Ginny next to Albus' bed the whole day hoping that he'd at least wake up. There was no point in going home until he knew Rose was there and he knew she wouldn't go home as long as there was more items to go through. Scorpius ended up telling Ginny she should go home and break the news to James and Lily, and he could stay. He didn't have anywhere better to be. He had just got his best friend back, he didn't want to leave him right now anyway.

Scorpius ended up falling asleep in his chair. When he woke up, he heard several unfamiliar voices. He decided to pretend to be asleep for a little while longer. He thought he knew who these people were. Some of the people from the group he had been hiding with, one of them sounded like Piers' sister. The other one was probably the young woman who worked with computers. Still sneaking around in the shadows, preferring not to be seen. Had they learnt nothing? At least it sounded like they had made sure to not be seen by anyone else. Maybe that was why they were here in the middle of the night.

They talked for almost 15 minutes before the two women left. Scorpius considered whether to risk opening his eyes slightly, to confirm who it was, but decided against it. They might get scared away again.

"They're gone now, you can open your eyes," Albus said after a few minutes.

"How did you know I was awake?"

"Oh please, we shared a dormitory for 7 years. I know the difference when you're asleep or awake by now."

"Who was that?"

"How much did you hear?"

"Only the last 15 minutes."

"Most of it then. As you probably guessed, that was Mary Piers and Sophia. They heard I was injured and wanted to check up on me. They didn't want to meet my family though, which I can sort of understand. Especially since I was asleep and couldn't vouch for them."

"I can understand that they didn't want to encounter Harry, Hermione, or Rose right now, yes. But I'm glad to see that you're awake."

"Do you know what happened? What hit me?"

"According to Rose, it was an axe. They kept coming. And apparently it is laced with some unknown poison that they don't have an antidote for yet."

"Wonderful." Albus said with a sigh. "Did we at least find Yang?"

"No. We think he wasn't ever there and might still be with the Knocker. Why do you trust them so much?"

"They had several chances to hurt me or try to imprison me. Or turn me over to the Ministry for a reward. They didn't. They may not work entirely by the book, but they are good people. I think we need people like that. People that dare to think new, to experiment."

"The Ministry does that too."

"To some extent, yes. Especially with Charms and such. But just look at what Sophia can accomplish with Muggle technology! I would trade the entire Department of Technology just for her. And I suspect Aunt Hermione feels the same."

"I think so too. She seemed extra angry when she realised that this mess had made someone like Sophia turn away a chance to work for the Ministry."

"That wasn't what she offered. In fact, Hermione didn't offer anything at all in return for Sophia's help. She just assumed that Sophia would do it. That was what annoyed her most, I think."

Scorpius sighed as Albus said that. He thought he understood how this had happened now. Sophia probably blamed herself for the raid happening at all, and then they were all arrested. Why would she do the same thing again for no reward?

"Maybe she should give an official offer then." He said. Whether Sophia would take her up on such an offer was another question. She hadn't got the best impression of the Ministry so far.