"Please tell me that skull wasn't real?" James whispered as they closed the door.
"Of course not. But she will think it is. That will give much the same effect."
James wasn't sure he liked that. It sounded very similar to what had happened to him, that night so many years ago. Then he heard the scream from the other room as they passed it again.
"Don't worry, that scream isn't real either," Scorpius whispered. "It gets triggered every time someone passes that room, to make the victims fear what is to come. I'll explain more outside."
Well, that was a relief! But Scorpius better explain what this place was and how he knew about it when they were out of here.
With a brief nod to the man at the entrance, Scorpius left without another word. James made sure to be right behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he came out of that place. Even the relative darkness of Knockturn Alley was better than that.
"We can't talk here. Hold on to me again," Scorpius said. James took his arm and they Disapparated again. As they came to a hilltop near a small village, Scorpius removed most of his disguise and James took off the cloak. He had met Scorpius here before. It was one of the few places he was sure he would not be eavesdropped on by unfriendly people.
"Mr. Malfoy," the innkeeper said as they entered. "Mr. Potter. What a pleasant surprise! It's been too long since I've seen either of you. Well, seeing the paper yesterday, I understand why. I am glad to see you escaped that relatively unscathed."
Scorpius just gave a weak smile. James said thank you but didn't want to encourage the man to ask further questions. Luckily, he read the room and simply gave them something to drink.
"These are on the house," he said. "To celebrate your safe return." They lifted the glasses in thanks and went to find a secluded table.
"Now, speak up. What on earth is that place, and how do you know about it?"
"It is exactly what I said it was. It is called the Dark dungeon, and it is, or was, a place where Dark wizards could bring their victims to have their fun without being interrupted. It is disgusting, yet shutting it down only makes it reopen in another location. That has happened twice already. Much better to keep it open and know where we could find people, if we suspect anyone uses the premises for what they were intended to do."
"How can you say that?! How can you justify keeping a place like that open? Why haven't you told Dad about it, or at least Albus?"
"Shh, not so loud. I thought you understood. By keeping it open, I know where to look, if anyone is kidnapped or being punished. I've rescued three kidnapped victims from there already. Several Dark wizards start to think the place is haunted by previous victims, freeing their new victims. If I tell Harry about it, he will send in the Aurors, arrest the front men, like the guy we saw and burn the house down. But the place will be open again within months. Not the same place, but nearby. And it will take me even longer to gain admittance. As a Malfoy, we used to be able to get the knowledge easily, but my dad and I are no longer considered safe to give such information. Hence the need for another alias. He is even worse than Lehrer, in some ways, though he was never a Death Eater."
"I just didn't think such things still happened. Not in England anyway."
"They are rare. I don't know if you noticed, but none of the other rooms in there were in use. The guard may pretend that he has seen it all, but at maximum, someone uses those facilities once a month. It is not something I enjoy hearing or watching, but it is worth it to get someone out of that situation. This time though…"
James thought he knew what Scorpius wasn't saying. This time they had both come very close to enjoying it. He didn't like that feeling. He didn't think Scorpius did either. They probably shouldn't have done this.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
"I'm thinking of going back there either late tonight, or early tomorrow morning. Then I will receive a hasty message from you that means we need to take her back to the prison to avoid the escape being discovered. We will return her much the same way we got her out but pretend that we will come and get her at some later date. That way, she will spend her time in prison in fear of when we might come back and finish what we started. That is what she deserves, if you ask me."
James breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid Scorpius wanted to drag this out. He still thought this was a bit too much, but he didn't disagree that Vane deserved it. Her terrified expression as she realised who held her captive had been very satisfying.
"I just have one problem with that plan," a voice said behind them. They both jumped to their feet, wands out.
"Were you going to pretend to be me twice in two days?" Albus asked as he stepped out into the light. He had sat at the table near the door. Had he heard everything? James lowered his wand, ashamed. They were busted. What would Albus do now? Would he tell their father?
"Did you know," Albus said, looking at Scorpius "That anytime an Auror signs in to a high-security place, like a prison, a small notification is sent to their personal desk? It is a relatively new thing, yet another thing Hermione has discovered with her new Department of Technology. So, imagine my surprise when suddenly, I was told I had entered a prison that was miles away from my desk."
"Al…" Scorpius began to say, but Albus didn't let him say anything.
"Don't you "Al" me. Do you have any idea of what you have done, what position you've put me in? What if I hadn't been at my desk, what if dad saw it first, huh? What would he have thought? Did you even think about that, when you decided to impersonate me?"
None of them said anything. Albus sighed.
"Do I even want to know where Vane is right now?"
"No," James said in a low voice. He didn't want to think about where Vane was right now, and he had been kidnapped by the woman.
"I was going to bring her back unscathed," Scorpius said, though he didn't look Al in the eye as he said it.
"Were you? Would you really? I know how much restraint you have Scorpius, but I have also seen just how much this affected you. Just the fact that you took her out of jail into some place where Dark wizards torture people is enough to tell me that this is by far the worst thing you've ever done. And that includes when you had a sword over Aunt Hermione's neck. Because then, you didn't want to be there. This time, you created the situation. This was all unnecessary, except to satisfy your own desire for revenge. That is not who you are, Scorpius!"
None of them said anything for several minutes. James didn't dare break the silence. He hoped this wouldn't be the end of the friendship between Al and Scorpius. That would be very hard on both of them, especially since Scorpius was married into the family now.
Scorpius was the one who gave in first. He didn't say anything, he just sat down on the floor and started crying. Al sat down next to him without a second thought. James thought he should leave the two alone to figure this out.
He had just finished his second mug of mead when Al showed up in the doorway and motioned for him to come back. He didn't dare to defy his brother right now, so he jumped to his feet and went back. He wished he didn't feel like he was going in for a jail sentence. He didn't think Al would actually do that, but he had never seen his brother this angry.
Scorpius had apparently recovered. He still seemed sad and defeated, but at least he wasn't openly crying anymore.
"Okay, here is what we are going to do," Albus said as James entered. "After dinner, we are going back there and making sure that nothing bad actually happens to Vane. Considering where you've placed her, I cannot be sure that some other Dark Wizard won't get in there and take advantage of a woman in chains, helpless."
"It doesn't work like that, no one would ever…" Scorpius tried to protest, but Albus shut him down with a look.
"That is not negotiable. Since you've made this my problem, then I need to at least make sure that nothing bad actually happens to her. No matter how much she'd deserve it. If it had been anybody else, I would have made you go there and take her out of there right now."
"If it had been anybody else, I wouldn't have put them there," Scorpius muttered, but he didn't protest again.
"Then, as soon as you feel that she has been punished enough, or at the least before the night shift at the prison is done, we will sneak her back in the same way you took her out. No one will enter the front gate this time though. The Invisibility Cloak will cover all three of us just fine."
"You're coming with us?" James asked. It was the first thing he'd said since he entered.
"Yes," Albus said, without commenting further. "And if I ever hear about any of you doing anything like this ever again, I will report you. You understand that?"
"Yes," they both replied at the same time. James had never felt so rotten. Usually, only his parents had been able to make him feel sorry about his actions, now his brother did it too? His younger brother, though he didn't feel like the oldest at the moment. He knew this had been a bad idea.
As they left the bar, Scorpius said something in a pleading voice James had never heard him use before.
"Don't tell Rose. Please."
Albus sighed.
"I won't." he replied eventually. "But you should."