Chapter 9

A/N: Eh, sorry it took so long to update. I know I left you guys on a cliffhanger last time heehehe. But cha know, college apps, AP tests, last minute SATs, musical rehearsals, essay contests, and MATH HOMEWORK WOOPEE! Fun fact: Did you know that doing math problems triggers the same brain receptors as physical pain? Honestly….

Anyways, good job, everybody guessed the identity of the letter sender correctly :)

My life sucks.

James used to put Veritaserum into my juice every once in a while to get me to tell him who I was dating, and oh my God, I hated it so much. It's the worst feeling in the world – in your mind you're saying one thing and yet all this rubbish truth comes spewing out of your mouth and the harder you try to lie the more truthful your words become. It's terrible. I can see why James loved it.

And now Lily is making goo-goo eyes at Scorp, and won't stop oh-so-subtlety scooting closer to him. Funny how quickly that girl bounces back. I mean, one minute she's head over heels with some guy who's totally out of her league, and then she's moving in on the son of her father's sworn enemy. Personally, I've always thought my cousin was a bit of a masochist what with her high heels and her Potions obsession, but now I see it as clear as day. Masochistic. Good for you, Lily.

And Al, of course, is glaring daggers at Scorpius. Well, I don't blame him, I mean, he and Scorp always hated each other, and now that he's declared his undying love for his baby sister, he has even more reason to despise him. Plus, I think he thinks this is all Scorp's fault, mostly because after he came back from interrogation he looked straight at him and scowled, mouthing "This is all your fault". Scorp's determinedly avoiding his gaze, of course. Actually he's not really looking at anybody really. He's just kind of staring at the floor, his head hung low. If I didn't know him as well as I do, I'd say he's embarrassed about that whole little spiel he gave on his feelings for Lily.

Which he shouldn't be really, because she's like, all over him right now. It's kind of making me sick.

Jun's in for interrogation at the moment, and then it's Clara, and then it's me. Mai started with Hugo, which had me really worried because he was the only one who hadn't been captured with the rest of us, and therefore hadn't had any Veritaserum. Thankfully, it seemed as if they had run out or something, and Hugo lied to them, saying he'd Apparated in to try and save us. Then they took Lily, then Levy, then Albus, Scorpius, and Jun, and left Clara and I for last. I dunno why. Probably because I'm the leader. I just know villains love doing that for some reason.

They came for Clara, bringing a gagged and blindfolded Jun in tow. The bloke that had him floating along behind them flicked his wand lazily and Jun crumpled to the ground, groaning. I leapt up and rushed to help him as best I could – my hands were still tied.

"What'd they ask you?" I said, kneeling down beside him. God – even sweaty and dirty and with messy hair he was beyond hot. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"He's fine," Scorp said sullenly, rolling his eyes. "Look at him; he's fawning all over you."

"I just wish your dad and uncle would hurry up," Jun said, ignoring him. "I'm getting hungry."

"Oh, poor baby," Hugo said, sounding annoyed.

"Stop it, you guys, none of this is his fault," I shot back. "He said he knew nothing about Mai's Repercussionist ideals. And it's not like he's on their side either."

"You're only defending him because you love him," Scorpius muttered. "I know you've always been shallow, Weasley, but I thought you'd made some improvement these past couple of days. My mistake."

Strangely stung by his vicious tone, my voice caught in my throat as I opened my mouth to retort, but before I could say anything, some more cloaked figures silently glided into the room and picked up Clara by the arms, carrying her away down the hall and slamming the door behind them.

"Oh, shove it, Malfoy," Jun snapped. "If this is anyone's fault, it's yours. You're the one who knew she was a Repercussionist."

"No I didn't-" Scorp snarled, but was cut off by Lily's loud "ENOUGH!"

We all stared at her, amazed.

"I do believe Rose has a plan, if we'd all care to shut it for about two seconds," she said calmly. A faint bell struck in my head. A plan. That's right. I made one of those, not too long ago.

"When you were in the interrogation," I said quietly to Jun, paranoid one of the guards might hear. "Hugo told me he found a knife in that bush I stuffed him in. He's got it in his pocket – go on, show them Hugh."

"That's sort of impractical, what with the way I'm positioned and all," he said sarcastically. Well, he did have a point. I mean, having your hands and feet bound with magical rope is definitely not the best position to be in to get a knife out of your pocket.

"Well, whatever, you can see the end sticking out there, right?" I said, motioning towards my brother. A small sliver of metal poked out from his back pocket innocently. "They didn't confiscate it because it didn't show up on their Secrecy Sensors – it's not a magical object. And it got me to thinking; if a non-magical object like the floor can shatter a magical object, like a crystal ball, then wouldn't a Muggle knife be able to cut magical ropes?"

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to get it out?" Jun whispered back.

"Hugo, do that flip thing I always see you do," I told him, and he flushed bright red.

"How do you know about that?" he demanded.

"I'm your sister. I knew all about your little kung-fu phase two summers back. Besides, you got really good at it, so go ahead and try it. The knife should fall out of your pocket and you can grab it and cut yourself loose, and then help everyone else out."

Blushing, Hugo sat up, and swung his arms under his butt and over his legs and feet, then rolled backwards and stood up. He bent down and grabbed the knife, slid it up into his fingers, and sliced through the rope with ease. Everybody stared at him in shock.

"Hugh – since when could you do that?!" Al said in alarm.

"Yeah, and can you teach me?" Lily asked enthusiastically.

"Alright, alright, focus," I said. "Hugo, get over here and cut me loose, and hurry up while you're at it so we can ambush the guards when they come back for me."

"Wait – what?!" Jun looked at me with wide eyes. "We're gonna fight them?"

"Well, what did you think?" Scorp drawled sarcastically. "That Rose would just sit back and take it all? If you knew her at all you'd know in an instant that she'll be the first one to charge at them when they come. That's just how she is. Walking the line between brave and moronic."

"Moronic?" I said, offended, as Hugo came over and cut the rope binding my hands. "I'm not moronic! Merlin's pants, Scorpius, you're sure in a foul mood of sorts. You've never called me moronic before."

"You are a moron, Weasley. For being such a brilliant genius, you're a blithering idiot. Can't see beneath the tip at all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly."

"Alright!" Al yelled. "Malfoy, we all know she's a bit of an airhead sometimes, but come off it. She did come up with an escape plan, after all."

"I wasn't referring to that," Scorp muttered, locking eyes with me. Oh, God, his steel-grey eyes. It was weird…I felt my chest tighten and a rush of heat to my face.

"Right," I said, looking away. "As I was saying," I reached over and cut Hugo's bonds. "We ambush them when they come back with Clara. They have wands and we don't. That's okay." I walked over to Levy and cut her free. "All we need is a distraction. Levy, you're the fastest runner, so you and Clara head straight for the interrogation room and grab our wands. Don't let them see you leaving. When you come back, you can Stun them and we'll make a break for it."

"But…Rose…" Levy said, looking at me fearfully. I felt my heart melt as I looked into my best friend's face: She was afraid.

"Levy, I've seen you at it. You're an amazing runner. Clara and I have been to all your track meets during the summer, and I have no doubt that you could be in the Olympics if you tried. Sans magic," I said, grinning. Feeling that it needed a little extra something, I crouched down and gave her a hug. "I know you can do it. I have complete faith in you. Those terrorists won't even know what hit them."

"Yeah, I know," she breathed, squeezing me back. "Of course; I'm in."

"And Jun," I said, releasing Levy and moving over to him. "I know you've never hit anybody in your life, and I'm sorry to ask you to do this, but-"

"I'll do it," he said firmly. I met his eyes and felt heat rise to my face. His hand came up and brushed a curl behind my ear. "I won't let any of them hurt you."

Rfkldjioaijfdafvdsfarhnviorv djkladg he's not letting any of them hurt me! Eeeehh!

I couldn't force the huge grin that formed on my face away, so I just turned around and began hacking away at Lily's bonds.

"Lils, I know you're pretty wand-happy most of the time, but do you think you can transfer all that energy into your fists for today?"

"I suppose," she said, looking down. "Listen, Rose – I'm sorry. I didn't know that you…well."

"No, I'm sorry," I said quietly, so that only she could hear me. I bent over and took her hands into mine. "It's all my fault and I should have told you before. And listen, I'm sorry about Scorp…if you don't feel the same about him…"

"Now, who said anything about that?" she said defensively. "I seemed to have misjudged him. He's a really good guy."

"Hm," I nodded, sneaking a glance at him. "Yeah. You're pretty lucky."

I felt her eyes on my face, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Looking away, I turned instead to Albus. "Get over here, Al."

"Rose, you know I'm no good if I'm not on a broom," he said worriedly as I cut his hands free. "I'll probably end up accidentally punching you in the face or something."

"Don't be so nervous," I said cheerfully, ruffling his hair. "I saw what you did to Montague last week – by the way, I'll have you know, he's spread the word around that it was actually a rogue Bludger that broke his nose and gave him that black eye."

"Really?" Al said, brightening up. "I gave him a black eye?"

"Yeah, he had it cured before he left the hospital wing, though," I said, winking. "Guess he didn't want it out that his thick hide is actually mortal. But don't fight too much, because I can't get you out of every detention you get into."

"Well he deserved it," Al mumbled. "It was my pudding after all."

"Scorpius," I said finally, turning to him and bending down. "Do you know what to do, or could you stand taking orders from a moron?"

"Of course I'll do what you say," he said roughly, not meeting my eyes. "What other choice do I have?"

"Good – then you can forgive me," I said, looking away as well. "I tried to stop talking, Scorp, but I couldn't – it was awful. I – I didn't want things to end this way."

He turned his face and met my eyes.

"But see? It all worked out for the best. We both got what we wanted. Lily really likes you, and now Jun and I can…why are you looking at me like that?" I blurted out, noticing his face was extremely close to mine. The others were too far away to hear what we were saying, so it must have looked very strange from over there.

"So you wanted it like this?" he murmured. My heart fluttered. My head spun. His breath was on my lips. "Everything's gone exactly according to plan, Rose?"

Merlin, Scorpius, don't say my name like that, you'll make my heart burst.

"Did you ever stop to think," he said quietly, his eyes dead serious. "About what would happen if what I wanted had changed along the way?"

I stared at him, shocked. No way. He couldn't mean…not in a million years…

The door burst open, and Clara stood there, flanked by at least six or seven other hooded figures. There was a heartbeat in which I could literally feel the room tense, and then I shouted "Now!" and all of us up and charged them.

Now, I've never really punched anybody to try and hurt them, but it's actually kind of fun. Like, yeah, your knuckles kind of hurt after the fourth or fifth blow, but you still feel pretty cool doing it. I think I managed to shatter a jaw or two when I felt a hand grab my wrist and pull it behind my back. I froze when I felt somebody's wand tip at my throat.

"Well, well, well, it's the little Weasley girl," the Repercussionist's voice rasped in my ear. "You're father's been quite the thorn in our side, you know. Of course, your family's always been a load of blood-traitors, but then he went and married that disgusting Mudblood-"

"Oi!" Roared my brother, and flung a very high kick, managing to knock out my captor. "I happen to find 'Mudblood' offensive. Please use the politically correct term, 'Mahwd-blawhd!'"

"Mum would hex you if she heard you saying that," I laughed, aiming another blow at an oncoming Repercussionist.

"Mum's not here," he said, performing another spectacular kick and ramming another Repercussionist into another.

"No, but I am," said a deep voice behind me, and Hugo and I whirled around.

"Daddy!" I squeaked, and threw my arms around him. "Dad! You've found us! What took you so long? Oh, Daddy, I was so worried…"

"Ron, we'd best get moving," came another voice, and I turned and saw Uncle Harry in combat with another Repercussionist, his wand flashing like mad. "I think they've called for backup."

"Eh, I think we can take them," said James. I gasped in surprise – hadn't seen him standing right next to me. "Hey, Rose. Why aren't you fighting?"

"Well I was, but you lot decided to but in," I said, looking around. Several other Aurors had popped in and were battling Repercussionists all over the place. "Where're Clara and Levy?"

"Who?"

"Here!" Clara cried, dragged along by Levy. "Rosie – catch!"

She threw me my wand and I jumped and caught it, rolled onto the floor to avoid a red jet of light, and began hexing as many hooded figures as I could. Clara and Levy ran off, handing all the others their wands.

"Who was that?" James said interestedly, Stunning a Repercussionist behind me that I didn't see coming.

"Which one?"

"The brunette."

"That's Clara Gutierrez, she's in my year."

"Has she got a boyfriend?"

"James!"

I had to duck away as another incoming spell grazed my hair, and ended up back-to-back with Scorpius, each of us facing a Repercussionist. I couldn't help it – my heart beat accelerated wildly.

"Doing alright there, love?" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah, brilliant," I answered, aiming a curse at the Repercussionist in front of me. I dodged are spell and ended up face to face with Scorp. Words failed me.

"Where's Jun?" he asked quietly.

"Lily!" Came Jun's voice, and we both turned, seeing Lily being cornered against a wall by four hooded figures. Her wand was twenty feet away.

"Lily!" We both screamed, and ran towards her. One them turned around and pointed his wand straight at me. I stopped dead as his spell hit me: it felt like the skin where he'd hit me had turned to ice, and that ice was slowly spreading to cover my entire body. I face-planted into the ground.

"No!" Jun screamed, and punched the one who'd just hexed me. Scorp gave a roar and body slammed another one, managing to knock him down. The other two moved in on Lily and he grabbed their feet, tripping them onto the floor. One reached for their wand and jabbed it into his face. I gave a silent gasp of horror as he rolled over and hit his head against the wall, unconscious.

Oh, Scorpius, I'm sorry, I thought as Jun and Lily fell upon the Repercussionist. It's all my fault. I'm sorry.