A/N – Thankyou SO much to everyone that has reviewed this story :) It motivates me! Let me know what you all think of this chapter...
A week passed by at Malfoy Manor - I'd almost gotten used to never leaving the house. I often spent the day as follows; I would wake up around 10am for breakfast, study until the afternoon, then usually laze about -sometimes reading some of Astoria's muggle books- until it was time for dinner. I'd also gotten into a habit of chatting to Scorpius in the evenings, it was then that I would feel lonely. Night times were long and quiet without somebody to talk to. I hadn't heard much from home, only the brief reassurance from Mr Malfoy that my parents were fine and working tirelessly at the office, much like Draco himself who was spending progressively more time at the Ministry. I was under the impression that they were of the belief that the less I knew about the whole thing the better. I'd heard nothing from any of my cousins, I guessed that none of us were allowed to write, it was difficult not knowing how Hugo or Al were doing especially. I'd resigned myself to the fact that no news was good news and if anything terrible were to happen I hoped that somebody would think to let me know.
"Scorpius?" I asked the boy who was led on the crimson rug off my floor, flicking through a Quidditch magazine. It was normal now for him to be in my room before bed, in fact I'd find it strange if he didn't come and spend time with me after dinner.
"Rose." he said distractedly, his eyes focused intently on the article detailing a recent match.
"Are you not leaving the house because of me?" I'd begun to wonder this. Whilst I was encouraged not to leave the Manor for fear of someone recognising me and alerting whoever was behind the uprising, Scorpius did have the ability to actually leave the house but never did. "I don't want to ruin your summer holidays."
"Not really," he stopped reading the magazine, his silver eyes meeting mine. "I don't tend to go anywhere during the holidays, we sometimes go to France for a week but I doubt my Dad can take the time off work this year somehow."
"I meant with your friends," Scorpius was popular at school, I would have thought that he'd have a line of friends wanting to socialise with him. Girls, especially. "don't you ever meet up with them?"
"Do you always meet up with your friends?" Scorpius had an uncanny ability to turn the answers to questions that he didn't want to answer into questions themselves. I thought about his question all the same, did seeing Al count? He was my best friend after all.
"I see Al all the time" I said brightly, I would spend most of my days with Al doing something or other.
"He's your cousin," Scorpius' lips teased a smirk. "I meant friends."
"Al is my best friend," I said, slightly irritated by his implication that just because we were cousins meant he wasn't a proper friend. "my cousin can be my friend you know. I have plenty of cousins who I wouldn't count as friends."
"Okay," he resigned in the knowledge that he would never win that battle. "but do you see any of your friends that you aren't related to?"
"I sometimes see Lysander and Lorcan Scamander," this was partly true – yes, I did see them. Did I choose to? No. They just sometimes attended family get togethers because our parents were pretty close friends from way back when. The twins were the year below Al and I, and much like their mother were slightly...odd. I wouldn't say that were were 'friends' per se, but they were as much my friends as anybody else at school. Whilst Al got on well with the boys in his dorm, the girls in mine were much less friendly to me. The only conversations we ever had with one another involved whether or not any of my male cousins were single and if I'd put in a good word for them. I never did.
"No you don't," he smirked at me...again. "I can tell when you're lying. You're very easy to read."
"No I'm not," I huffed – as much as I enjoyed Scorpius' company in the evenings he didn't half rub me up the wrong way sometimes. I often wanted to aim a hex right between his eyes. "you still haven't answered my question."
"I sometimes see Danny," Daniel Turner is a Slytherin in our year; one of the tall, dark, moody ones that I've never actually seen speak. "he's a good mate but he's on holiday with his family in France all summer."
"What about your other friends?" the 'others' being the rest of his Slytherin pack that he was seemingly stuck to like glue. If I ever saw Scorpius around school he'd always be with a group of 6 or 7 Slytherins, a mixture of pretty girls and attractive boys, completely unapproachable and quite frankly a bit scary. "Don't you see them?"
"There's a difference between friends and people you talk to at school Rose, I'm very picky about who I call a friend," Scorpius sat up now, his face serious as he spoke. "Danny is my friend and funnily enough my cousin Luke is a good friend, he works in America now so I don't see him as much."
"You don't trust many people" I commented absent-mindedly, trying to analyse the suddenly quiet blonde boy. For someone who surrounded himself with so many people yet was reluctant to call any of them his friend, told me he didn't let many people in. I knew as well as anyone that you can be incredibly lonely in a room full of people. It was surprising to me that Scorpius and I had as much as common as we did.
"Neither do you," he laughed quietly. "you're the daughter of two of the most famous Wizards to have ever lived - there's no way in hell that having Al as your only friend isn't a choice. If you wanted Rose, every girl in school would be your best friend; you don't want them to be."
"Maybe I don't want people to be my friend because of my last name, I want them to be my friend in spite of that." What was I doing? Having a sharing and caring session with Scorpius Malfoy? My life had officially hit point weird. "I don't want to be something to write home about for someone, to be a trophy friend just because of who my family are."
"One day you'll have to take that risk, one day you'll have to let somebody in " Scorpius said, looking me directly in the eye before adding with a laugh, changing the mood completely. "because you can't marry your cousin."
"That idea is enough to make me want to be sick," I said with a scrunched up face, an image of me and Al stood at the aisle burned into my brain. It was a horrible, horrible vision. "so maybe I'll have to one day, but so you will you. I'm guessing you don't want to marry Danny or your cousin either?"
"Definitely not," he grinned widely, I giggled at the thought of Scorpius and Daniel Turner stood together in a church exchanging vows. "Danny snores terribly."
"I don't know if I even want to get married," I said honestly. I was never one of those little girls who'd had their wedding planned out in scrapbooks and dreams since they could speak, I'd never imagined what my dress would be like, where it would be and definitely not who my groom would be. When I was five years old Victoire showed me her wedding book, it was a tattered notebook with clippings and designs of dresses, cakes and fairytale churches filling the pages. I was almost certain she still had the book today, only much more full now and was simply counting down the days until Teddy plucked up the courage to finally propose and she could set her intricate plans into motion. Victoire and I were complete opposites; whilst she had her dream day firmly cemented in her future, mine was fuzzy, undefined. "if it happens, it happens I guess."
"You're not like most girls, are you?" he said, seemingly amused.
"Absolutely not," I said with a smile. "that would be awfully boring."
"Say, if you were to fall in love, would marriage not be a certainty?" Scorpius asked me. I knew he came from a long line of pure-bloods where arranged marriages weren't uncommon and often wizards were married very young, he'd told me that his parents got married when his father was only 19 – to me, that sounded like more of a life sentence than it did a marriage.
"Ask me then," I told him.
"What?" he asked, his fair eyebrows creasing together in confusion.
"Ask me when I'm in love." I answered with certainty. How was I meant to know the answer to his question now?
"Have you never been in love, Rose?" Scorpius asked softly, genuine interest in his voice.
"Nope," That was an understatement. I'd always thought that by the age of seventeen I would have at least had a taste of love, even of heartbreak. Hogwarts was full of people falling in and out of relationships, people would have new boyfriends and girlfriends every week. To me, that isn't what love should be about. Why waste my time on relationships that aren't going to last the month? I'm not a robot, of course I find people attractive, I'd had crushes on people but nothing to lose sleep over. I'd watched Al have the occasional girlfriend, each as unsuccessful as the last. Al would come to me utterly heartbroken over the girls that didn't love him back, that was his fatal flaw – he would give his whole heart to somebody who didn't take care of it. Maybe my problem was the opposite of Al's, I could never open my heart to anybody for fear of them being too careless with it. I hated the thought of being vulnerable, of not being in control of my own feelings. "have you?"
"I've never had a girlfriend Rose, I told you that." he said gently. "So, no, I've never been in love. Have you ever-"
Scorpius was cut off by Mr and Mrs Malfoy rushing into the room. I knew right away that something was wrong, that something had happened. The worst flooded my mind – someone hurt, someone dead. Both of them looked pale and sullen, as if they were waiting for the other to speak first as Scorpius and I stared up at them. I was simply waiting for someone to put me out of my misery.
"Scorpius, can you give us a minute," Draco finally said to his son but I didn't want Scorpius to leave. I'm not sure why but I wanted him to stay with me through whatever his parents were going to tell me.
"No, I want him to say," I mumbled quickly. "I mean, he can stay, if he wants to."
"Very well," the elder Malfoy resigned. "Rose, I don't want you to panic,"
Whenever somebody says that it is because there is a reason to panic.
"but there's been an ambush, at your house,"
Mum and Dad. There's something wrong with Mum and Dad. Merlin, they're dead aren't they. My parents are dead.
"your Mother was at home,"
Mum. I don't even remember the last thing I said to my own Mother.
"she's at St Mungo's, the Doctors say she's going to make a full recovery,"
Oh.
Is this what total and utter relief feels like? So relieved that it actually feels like your heart is going to burst straight through your chest.
"the uprising, they've been tracking your parent's goings in and out. We think they expected your Mother to be at the office as she has been every other afternoon, but she'd stayed behind today, your Father says she wanted to clean,"
Typical Mum. I could almost laugh if it didn't feel like if I so much as opened my mouth I'd burst into uncontrollable sobs.
"they attacked the house but soon left. We think they were looking for,"
Me. They were looking for me and Hugo.
"you and your brother. Our investigations Rose, they lead us to believe that they want you, your brother and your cousins as ammunition. You understand that your Uncle and even your parents are in such a position that if he were to get behind their campaign, the Ministry would have to adhere and they'd be in power."
They want us as hostages. We're the gun to our parent's heads.
"I don't want you to worry, you're safe here, we're on their tails Rose. It will be over soon. I hope you understand that we can't allow you to visit your Mother."
Astoria spoke now, moving to me, clasping her warm hands around my own. "We'll keep you updated Rose, love. Try and get some sleep tonight. We'll see you in the morning."
With that, the two Malfoy's left leaving Scorpius and I alone again. I didn't know what to say, what to do or even what to think any more. I was powerless here. I couldn't do anything to help anybody, not even myself, all I could do was cry. So, I did.
"Rose, it'll be okay, I promise," Scorpius had moved next to me without my noticing until I felt his arms wrap around my body, pulling me close to him, his warmth comforting me as I sobbed for everything I couldn't do. I couldn't see my Mum in hospital. I couldn't talk to Al. I couldn't help my Dad and Uncle with their investigations. I couldn't tell Lily that everything was going to be okay. I couldn't tell Hugo that I loved him, even if he was a little runt. "I'll look after you, I promise. No one will get you, I won't let it happen."
Somewhere in between my crying and Scorpius' reassurance I fell asleep in his arms. I woke up intertwined with him, both fully clothed, his arms still wrapped protectively around my body. It was the best night's sleep I'd had since I'd arrived at the Manor.