Chapter 5: 5. Rune of the King
(A/N: I made a mistake in the first chapter. I failed to keep in mind that Bellatrix was in Azkaban at the time that Scorpius would have turned 7. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure how to fix that mistake, because it's kind of important that she was the one that hurt Scorpius and Cynthia. For this reason, in my story I'm just going to keep it the way it is, and say she went into hiding and then was caught later. I'm sorry if this upset any of you, but it's important for the story and I would ask that you look over my mistake.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!)
Bones covered the ground as they walked past what looked like snake skin, though Scorpius couldn't be entirely sure.
"Hagrid, what is all this?" He asked.
"Basilisk skin." The larger man said with a tremor in his voice.
They walked in silence till they came to a large circular steel door. It looked like a door that locked a vault, one side having integral snake patterns on it, while the other was sold steel.
They each walked through it, though filch stuck his hand out to Scorpius, who looked at him inquisitively.
"Well don't just stand there, you idiot! Help me!" He shouted. Scorpius rolled his eye and grabbed the older man before unceremoniously dragging him through the door. Filch fell to the ground in a heap and glared up at him.
"You poor thing." Hagrid's voice said. Scorpius looked to the larger man, seeing he was walking down a stone pathway wet with water towards what looked to be a massive snake.
"Merlin's beard…" Filch said, ignoring Scorpius.
The pair walked down the long stretch of stone to where Hagrid was now gently caressing the side of the snake's face.
"I know he had to kill it, but it's such a loss." The large man said, holding back tears.
"I mean, think of how lonely she must have been!" He said starting to choke up.
After a while of the large man mourning the loss of the great snake, he walked back over to his tool. "Come on, let's get this done." He said, wiping the tears from his face.
Scorpius couldn't help but admire the man's love for life. He walked over and picked up one of the large knives out of the bag, then walked to his original position next to the head.
"What now Hagrid, I'm not sure these knives can cut through the skin?" He asked.
"Oh, don't you worry about that lad. These knives are special. Able to cut through Dragonhide like it's nothing, so a Basilisk shouldn't be any trouble. These knives are used for harvesting things like this." Hagrid said, pointing to the Basilisk.
"And to answer your other question, we'll need what's left of the eyes, and a lot of the venom. You two get the eyes, I'll get the venom, then we'll move on to what's next." He said holding a large jar up to the basilisk's fangs. He started To extract the venom as Scorpius and Filch got to work on the eyes.
"Ouch! Son of a-" Filch yelped, shaking is right hand.
"What happened, you ok?" Hagrid asked.
"I'm fine, just cut my finger with the blade." Filch responded. "Where? I don't see nothin?" The larger man said, looking over to Filch.
"Doesn't matter, leave me alone." Filch said grumpily
Hagrid just shook his head and went back to collecting the venom as if nothing happened. Scorpius paid them no mind as he worked on the eye. He finally got it to pop out, and took it to the half giant.
"Oh! Put it in that jar there!" He said, pointing to one of the many jars that lined the floor.
Next they extracted the teeth, glands, and the gullet. Then a good portion of the meat, as well as some of the scales.
Finally done with the harvest, they made their way back out of the chamber before Hagrid blew a whistle he pulled from his shirt.
A rope was thrown down the long shaft they had come down, as Hagrid motioned for Filch to go first.
"In a world full of magic, they give us a bloody rope!?" the old man barked. He shuffled over to the hole and looked up.
"Oi! You better not be expecting me to climb this, or I swear I'll let the Weasley twins do whatever they want to your office!" He shouted, assuming it was Dumbledore that stood above.
No response was heard, so the old man started to swear as he grabbed the rope and started to climb pitifully. He was suddenly yanked up, giving a funny yelp as he flew upwards.
"You next lad." Hagrid said as the rope appeared again. Scorpius walked over to the rope and grabbed it by both hands. Suddenly he was jerked upwards, the tunnel blurring by him on his way up. Suddenly he was flung out of the tunnel, into the girls bathroom and caught by spell thanks to the headmaster.
Dumbledore gently set him back down on the flood before giving him a nod.
"Everything go well down there?" He asked.
"I believe so, headmaster. Though I think Filch cut himself, but he said he was fine."
Dumbledore didn't even turn to Filch as he made his reply.
"Oh, I'm sure he is."
He then turned back and flicked his wand out to catch Hagrid, who just appeared out of the hole. Dumbledore put the man on the ground and asked for the things they had gathered.
He left soon after, which prompted the rest of them to leave as well.
"I don't get paid enough for this." Filch grumbled as they walked out of the bathroom.
-one month time skip-
One month had passed since the day Scorpius, Filch, and Hagrid had harvested the Basilisk. In this time, Scorpius had helped Filch with a number of things around the castle. They had also gone into the forbidden forest to help Hagrid with capturing some of his pets for his new class.
Hagrid had given Scorpius a crossbow, which he didn't need to use. Filch had complained the whole way, leaving the two others feeling frustrated.
Hagrid had found a number of creatures, including a hippogriff, which he promptly named Buckbeak.
Scorpius was now heading down to the boathouse to enter the water for his second rune. As he walked he thought of which rune he should get, but quickly decided on the Rune of the Giants.
He entered the water and felt the squid's tentacles wrap around him. He soon found himself walking into the Scriptorium where he would gain his next rune.
He looked down at the sword in the stone and contemplated his decision on the rune he had picked.
'Soon.' He thought to himself as he continued with his original plan.
He picked up the Rune of the Giants and placed it into the fire. He looked around as he waited for the rune to heat up, and came to the room holding the clothing and weapons. He found multiple swords, axes, knives, and even some wands. He also saw masks of different types, robes and armor of all makes and sizes. The room looked as if all of it had just been tossed into one of the corners, leaving everything in a large pile.
After inspecting the armor, weapons, and masks, Scorpius made his way back to the main study. He grabbed the Rune straight from the fire before sitting on the old chair.
He quickly rolled his right sleeve to his shoulder before stopping and taking a deep breath. He grabbed the Rune with his left hand, then grabbed the back of his head with his right, flexing his right bicep.
One more deep breath in, then he brought the Rune up to his bicep. He turned his head before he started, and with a jerk, he placed the Rune on his arm.
The pain again was excruciating, but euphoric in a sense. He could feel the power beginning to seep into his body. Unlike the first Rune, after a couple moments, he couldn't even feel the pain anymore. Just the feeling of intoxicating power being given to him.
Soon the process was done, and with it went the exhilarating feeling of power. The pain returned in full as he looked at the raw burnt skin. After a moment, it healed, and he felt the pain no more. He didn't notice it last time, but as his arm healed, the Rune on his chest glowed white as the healing took place.
Another thing he hadn't noticed last time was that the Runic stone crumbled in his hand. He looked to where he had dropped the Rune of the Dragon, and confirmed that there was a small pile of dust where he had dropped it.
Scorpius took his leave from the scriptorium, eager to test his new Rune. Walking up from the boathouse, he made his way to the forbidden forest.
As he entered, he failed to notice two sets of eyes on him. One being that of a man, and the other being that of a cat.
Scorpius found a clearing where he felt he was alone, and began to test himself. He first started by grabbing one of the smaller trees. He was able to wrap his arms around the whole thing and rip it from the ground as if it were nothing. It was as if he were holding a feather in his hand as he tossed it on the ground.
Switching to one of the larger trees, he didn't feel any strain from that one as well.
He started to feel some strain as he picked up some of the larger rocks that looked to weigh a couple tons.
He felt like he almost found his limit with the largest rocks, but the problem he ran into was that the rocks would shatter as he pulled them from the ground due to his grip.
As he continued testing himself, he felt something glance off of his back followed by a shout.
"Stop!"
Scorpius froze as he heard the voice, and slowly turned towards it. As he did, he saw a ground of Centaurs on one of the hills, all their bows drawn and pointing at him.
Most of them looked at him in fear, but the ones in front looked at him in anger.
"You dare destroy the forest!" The lead Centaur shouted in rage.
Scorpius had put his hands up as he saw the bows trained on him.
As Scorpius was about to speak, another voice yelled from his left.
"Wait!" The voice boomed, as Hagrid came into the clearing.
The Centaurs reared up, some of them startled by the interruption as they pointed their bows at the larger man.
"Wait!" Hagrid said again as he came to a stop. He held his hands up to placate the Centaurs as he began to speak once more.
"There's no need for bows, hows about we all just calm down, and talk about… whatever this is about?" He said.
"He was destroying the forest! A few of our scouts saw him, and as we came to the clearing we saw it with our own eyes!" The lead Centaur shouted.
Hagrid looked at him confused as he made his reply. "How was he destroying the forest?"
"Look around you!" The Centaur shouted. "With his bare hands!"
Hagrid turned and indeed saw a chunk of forest destroyed as rocks and trees littered the ground.
"Im… I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this. I mean, the boys a squib. Can't use magic, you see?"
"It doesn't matter! We saw him do this with his bare hands, not magic!" The lead Centaur retorted.
"How's this, I'll take him away, and you'll never see him again? He won't ever come back into the forest, you hear?" Hagrid said.
The lead Centaur stopped for a moment and thought. He had seen his arrow bounce off the young man's back, and knew they couldn't overpower him if his strength was anything to go by.
"You take that monster," the Centaur pointed to Scorpius. "And you make sure he does not come back here, or you will be the one to pay. Do you understand Rubeus Hagrid?" He said.
Hagrid gave a couple nods as he backed away towards Scorpius, then turned and grabbed the young man before running towards the edge of the forest. He practically threw Scorpius over his shoulder as he ran, and soon they were out.
"You. What happened. In there." The large man said In-between his heaving breaths.
Scorpius didn't know how to respond, not wanting to give away his secrets yet.
"I'm not sure, the forest was like that when I got there." Scorpius lied. He could tell the larger man didn't believe him, but he didn't ask anything else.
"How did you find me in there?" Scorpius asked.
"Filch saw you go into the forest. Came to me and told me he thought something was wrong. Good thing I found you in time, or you'd be a goner." Hagrid said, finally regaining his breath. "You be sure to stay away from there from now on, you hear me?" Hagrid said in a stern voice, to which Scorpius nodded.
The two parted ways as Hagrid walked to his hut, and Scorpius walked towards the castle.
-one month time skip-
Another month had passed since Scorpius got the Rune of the Giants. Now able to lift objects that would take hundreds of men, everyday life became so much easier. Not Much had happened, other than the fact that they were now preparing for the school year to start.
The house elves were in overdrive, cleaning, and making sure everything was ready for the coming year.
Filch was busy teaching Scorpius his duties for the school year. He taught him the routes he would patrol at night, as well as what to do when he caught students misbehaving. He would be able to hand down punishments, and detentions if he needed to, as well as enforcing student hygiene. Scorpius was confused as to how to do these things, as he had no real power to enforce them, but he just let the old man ramble on about it.
After his duties were done for the day, Scorpius walked down the long staircase leading to the boathouse. He jumped into the water and arrived in the scriptorium where he would receive the Rune of the King.
He lit the fire and waited for the Rune to heat up, then grabbed it and sat down in the chair next to the table.
He positioned the Rune over the back of his right hand, and pushed it into his skin.
Pain exploded from his hand, eliciting a scream of pain from Scorpius. He grit his teeth, and not long after, the pain left him as the feeling of euphoria enveloped him once more. The power of the Rune flooded his body, and he felt an overwhelming urge to go for the sword in the stone.
Soon his mind cleared as the pain returned, and the Runic stone in his hand crumbled.
The seared skin healed as he stood and made his way to the sword in the stone. He looked at the hilt, the leather looking as if it were petrified.
The second he gripped the hilt, he found himself standing in a large stone hall, surrounded by stone pillars. He was still gripping the sword in front of him, blade buried in stone.
A lone man was standing with his back to him, but slowly turned towards him.
"So, you are the next bearer of my Rune." The man said.
He was tall, and had short brown hair. He was well built and held the same sword that Scorpius was gripping.
"I must tell you. My Rune comes with many burdens, and is not meant for just anyone. If you draw that sword," the man said, nodding to the sword Scorpius held.
"You not only will carry your own burdens. But the Orders burdens as well." The man said.
Scorpius looked down at the blade. He was a nobody, just some random person that was lucky enough to find the scriptorium. He just thought this was some sword with a funny name, not some trial to become some bearer of burdens. And he said so to the man as he let go of the sword and backed away.
"I'm nobody, just someone lucky enough to find the scriptorium."
The man gave him a smile. "Of course you're nobody. That's all any of us are before we make a name for ourselves. I was nobody but a bastard born from a Kings lust. And now, my name rings across the land."
The man raised his sword before slamming the tip back into the ground. Magic flooded the area as ten other men dressed in armor appeared from the pillars and surrounded them.
"My name is King Arthur Pendragon. Lord of the Order of the Round Table." The man exclaimed.
"Scorpius Malfoy. Pick up the sword, and become Legend!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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