Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K. Rowling!!!!!!:)
The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as Scorpius sat anxiously at the Gryffindor table, toying with his food without thinking. He tried to eat, but couldn't. Scorpius glanced over at Albus and James, who were talking eagerly about a new prank that they just had to play on Filch. Frank Longbottom and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were strategizing for the next game, and the rest of the Gryffindors were preoccupied with making plans for the rest of the weekend. The Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws seemed to be talking about the same things—except perhaps about the pranks on Filch—but a majority of the Slytherins were missing from the Slytherin table.
And Rose hadn't come down to dinner.
Scorpius knew that girls tended to take forever prepping in the mirror, but this was ridiculous. It had nearly been forty minutes since Scorpius had seen Rose last.
Honestly, how long did it take to put on a new pair of jeans?
Scorpius looked over at the Slytherin table once more and his stomach churned unceremoniously. Something didn't seem right.
"Potter? Have you seen Rose?" he asked, jabbing James in the ribs.
"Ow!" cried James irritably, "I haven't seen her, mate!"
"I doubt she would have taken a seat anywhere else but next to you," said Albus, rolling his eyes. "So she's probably not here."
"Well, where is she?" demanded Scorpius. "Rose said that all she had to do was change her pants!"
"Relax," James said casually, "maybe she took one look at herself and decided that she simply had to take a long shower. You know girls. Or, come to think of it, maybe you don't…"
"She fine, Malfoy," interrupted Albus. Scorpius and the rest of the Gryffindors were still on a last name basis. "If it's worrying you that much then I'll go up and check."
"No," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes, "I'll check. See you around, Potter."
Scorpius walked out of the Great Hall and ran all the way up to the Fat Lady's portrait. He muttered the password, which had been given to him by the Gryffindors, and the portrait swung open. Scorpius dashed inside and glanced around the common room. There was nobody inside save for one red-headed girl reading a book. At first, Scorpius thought it was Rose and leaped forward in relief, but he realized that this girl's hair wasn't bushy. Scorpius gave her a second glance and found out that it was Lily Potter.
"Potter," Scorpius said quickly.
Lily glanced up and smiled brightly at Scorpius. "Hello, Scorpius. How are you?"
Unlike the other Gryffindors, Rose and Lily were the only ones who called Scorpius by his first name. Lily was okay…for a fourth year.
"Err…hello. Listen, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?" Lily asked, putting her book aside.
"Boys can't get up to the girls' dorms, so could you walk up and see if Rose is up there?" he asked.
"Sure," said Lily, shooting Scorpius a knowing look. "I'll go get Rose. You two are the cutest thing ever!"
"Umm…yeah…well, thanks."
Lily disappeared upstairs and Scorpius was forced to wait on a couch impatiently. Five minutes later, Lily reappeared, looking disappointed.
"She's not up there, Scorpius. In fact, nobody is up there. Sorry I couldn't help you."
"It's all right. I'm sure she is just…roaming the castle," Scorpius said more to himself than to Lily, but his tone gave his real thoughts away.
He darted out of the common room and ran about the castle frantically, checking in every empty classroom, secret passageway, and bathroom he knew of.
Rose was nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe she decided to get some fresh air," Scorpius muttered doubtfully. He quickly stopped talking to himself and scurried out the front door of the castle.
It was a cloudy night with the full moon hanging in the middle of the sky. Occasionally, a cloud would obscure the moon and Scorpius would be plunged into darkness. Scorpius muttered "Lumos" and the tip of his wand shone brightly. He hastily thought about his options.
The only place that he thought Rose could possibly want to go was either the Greenhouses (perhaps she had to do some extra work), Hagrid's Hut (it had been awhile since she had visited him), or the Quidditch Pitch.
Scorpius thought about the latter option and decided that she probably didn't want to go back to the Quidditch Pitch. Although that night he had spent with her at the Quidditch Pitch had been excellent, Scorpius knew how Rose felt about that place with the dreams she had been having. He decided to check out the Herbology Greenhouses first, Hagrid's Hut next (since Scorpius and Hagrid weren't exactly close), and the Quidditch Pitch last.
There was no activity in the Greenhouses, save for the occasional Mandrake letting out a ear splitting scream and Scorpius had had the sense to place earmuffs over his ears before he had entered.
Rose wasn't in Hagrid's Hut either. As Scorpius knocked on Hagrid's Hut nervously, the large, aging half-giant answered the door, looking confused.
"Malfoy?"
Given the fact that Scorpius had only really started to be nice to people recently, Hagrid's reaction wasn't unexpected.
"Hagrid," Scorpius said breathlessly, "have you seen Rose?"
"Rose?" he asked, even more puzzled. The half-giant obviously had no clue about Scorpius and Rose. Before, Scorpius had only referred to Rose as Weasley or some creative term that Scorpius had made up especially to insult Rose.
"Well…no, I 'aven't," he muttered. "But if ya see 'er, tell 'er to come by and see me."
"I will," said Scorpius, who was officially scared for Rose now. He tried to keep the fear out of his voice. He was about to run away, but Hagrid's voice stopped him.
"Malfoy, this isn't a joke, is it?" Hagrid asked. Scorpius turned to Hagrid and gave him a sad half smile.
"No…this isn't a joke."
The first thing that Rose was conscious of when she woke up was that she was not in her bedroom. With her eyes still closed, Rose knew that the voices she was hearing around her didn't belong to her roommates. Plus, there were way too many voices.
She wasn't in the Gryffindor common room either. Only a few of the voices she was hearing sounded familiar, but if she were in the Gryffindor common room, she knew that she would be able to place more of the voices.
Rose knew that she wasn't even inside for that matter. A light breeze was blowing all around her and the surface she was laying on had be grass. She opened her eyes a fraction.
That was a mistake.
"She's awake!" somebody yelled.
Before Rose could even process what was happening, two strong pairs of arms grabbed Rose's wrists and forced her to her feet. Rose cried out and glanced around, wide eyed.
She was in the Quidditch Pitch once again…but this time, it wasn't a dream. It didn't even feel like a dream like when she had come to the field with Scorpius. It felt real. And it was real.
Rose was surrounded by about fifty Slytherins, who had formed a large circle around her. They were all jeering at Rose and looking at her with hungry eyes. They all looked like they would love nothing more than to kill her.
The two boys holding her looked familiar—it was almost as if—
"You!" Rose cried out in alarm as she realized that the boys grasping her arms were the boys that had held her when Michael Baddock had tortured her. The boys glared at Rose and someone from the circle of Slytherins stepped forward.
It was Michael Baddock himself.
Suddenly, everything came back to Rose. She had met Scorpius's dad and her own father had flipped out. She went to get a new pair of pants from her room and then a group of people wearing black, hooded robes had ambushed her! And somebody had struck her over the head with a candlestick!
"Shut up, Weasley whore," Michael spat. He stepped forward and backhanded Rose as hard as he could. Cheeks burning, Rose slumped forward. If the two large boys hadn't been holding her up, she would have fallen from the force of Michael's slap. Several Slytherins cackled at Michael's cruelty and Rose's pain.
Michael moved closer and cupped her chin in his hands. He forced Rose to look at him. Rose chose to glower at him.
"Don't worry, Gryffindor trash. You're not the one we want. You're just the bait."
"Well, who do you want then?" demanded Rose, even though she already knew the answer.
"For a smart person, you're very dense. Think really hard, Weasley. Who do you think we want?"
Rose's bottom lip quivered and she tried to lunge forward, but the boys had a tight grip on her.
"Why are you doing this? What has he ever done to you?" Rose yelled hysterically.
"He touched you, that's what he did. He touched you willingly and with pleasure. And you're nothing but the daughter of a Mudblood."
Michael pressed his mouth against Rose's ear and whispered so quietly that not even Michael's two friends beside him could hear.
"Forget Malfoy…forget that Malfoy bastard and perhaps we could let you go. Why don't you come with me? I'm ten times the man he'll ever be."
Michael stuck his tongue into Rose's ear, attempting to be seductive. Rose withered away from him and spat at his feet, her cheeks flushed not only from the slap, but from pure loathing.
Michael straightened up and smirked at Rose evilly.
"Right then," he spoke loudly to the group. "Just because we're after Malfoy doesn't mean we can't have some fun with her first!"
He pointed his wand at her and Rose knew what was about to happen.
"Crucio."
Rose had braced herself for the pain but the pain felt even more unbearable somehow. She shrieked shrilly, her body rocking to and fro while being forced on her feet. The Slytherins must have put a silencing charm on the Quidditch Pitch rather than on Rose because Rose figured that she had never screamed so loud in all her life. Her throat was dry and scratchy, and every inch of her flesh felt like it was being set on fire and being stabbed all at the same time. Her body was now covered in cold sweat—the two boys had to grab on harder to keep from letting go. Rose could barely feel the warm tears falling from her cloudy eyes.
The pain stopped after an eternity and Rose was now standing limply.
"Let go," Michael said tersely.
Rose fell forward like a rag doll, her face slamming against the ground. Michael came forward and grabbed Rose by her hair, making her face the audience.
"After I get a piece of her, who wants to have her next?" he asked.
There was a collection of snickering from the group, which consisted of all boys. Rose was too weak to stop Michael from touching her—in one swift motion, he had lifted her off the ground and he managed to remove sweater. He asked for assistance from his two sidekicks when he wanted Rose's pants removed. Now Rose was being lifted up against her will by the last person she wanted to have touching her and she was halfway naked and fully ashamed. To Rose's horror, Michael threw her to the ground and forced himself upon her. He unhooked her bra and threw it aside carelessly.
His fingers brushed the elastic part of Rose's panties. The Slytherins were growling in satisfaction. Then—
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!"
Rose knew that it was Scorpius who had come to her rescue before she even used her dwindling strength to look up. As much as she wanted to be rescued and as much as she appreciated Scorpius standing up for her, she wanted nothing more than for him to turn around and run back to the castle.
Could he not see that this was a trap?
"Scorpius…," Rose managed to gasp.
Scorpius was running at full speed toward the couple, his wand held out and his face twisted with fury. The circle of Slytherins made a small path for him.
"Expelliarm—"
"CONFRINGO!"
Michael had pulled out his wand as soon as he heard Scorpius. Scorpius hadn't had time to disarm Michael—Michael's spell had forced Scorpius's wand to explode in his hand. It shattered into a million pieces, rendering Scorpius defenseless.
Two other boys from the group ran forward and grabbed Scorpius's wrists. But as he struggled furiously to reach Rose two more boys ran forward and the four Slytherin boys managed to wrestle Scorpius to the ground, who was thrashing about wildly.
"LET GO!" Scorpius snarled. "LET HER GO! IT'S ME YOU WANT!"
Michael waited until he Scorpius craned his neck to face Michael and Rose. He proceeded to take off Rose's panties hastily. This made Scorpius writhe even more rapidly. Rose, whose whole face was burning with shame and embarrassment, somehow found the strength to cover her breasts with one arm and her private area with the other arm. She looked straight at Scorpius.
"Just leave," she pleaded softly. Scorpius scowled at the four boys on top of him, all of whom were crushing his body.
"I'm not leaving without you," he said stubbornly before one of the boys covered his mouth roughly.
Michael jumped off top of Rose and directed his wand at Scorpius.
"LEVICORPUS!"
The boys on top of Scorpius rolled off of him as Scorpius dangled upside down in the air as if an invisible force was holding him up by his ankles. He glared at Michael as if he would like nothing more than to strangle Michael.
"Let her go!" Scorpius said sternly. "She's done nothing to you! Take me! Please, just take me!"
"You're right—Weasley can't help it if she has dirty blood—but you're the one that betrayed the name Slytherin. You're the one that's going to suffer!"
"Don't hurt him," begged Rose weakly on the ground. Michael simpered down at Rose.
"Oh, no, Weasley…we're not going to hurt him. We're just going to allow him to have front row seats to the main event. It'll hurt him much more than any spell we could cast."
Rose didn't have to ask what the 'main event' was…she turned her head slowly from side to side and she could see about a dozen boys sauntering over to her. With tears streaming down her face, she looked feebly up at Scorpius.
He was yelling something, probably cursing, but Rose was too preoccupied with the thought of being handled by so many boys to hear or understand what he was saying. Her heart was racing and she tried to quell her terror by looking up at the sky and trying to be brave.
Her eyes widened.
Albus Potter walked through the portrait hole with James, laughing his head off. James had just come up with the most brilliant idea ever—the Potter brothers would sneak off tonight and put a spell on Filch's seat at the professors' table in the Great Hall. They would enchant the chair to stick itself to Filch's backside so that when he tried to get up to leave, it would be impossible for it to come off. In a way, Albus couldn't help but feel sorry for Filch—he was always the butt of all the Potter brothers' pranks—but Albus also thought that Filch deserved it. He was borderline crazy, always talking to his cat and wishing that the school still used corporal punishment on the students.
The two boys were making their way to the common room after dinner and most of the other Gryffindors were doing the same, obviously looking for a place to relax. But as soon as the boys stepped one foot into the common room, their little sister Lily rushed up to them.
She looked worried.
"Albus…James…"
"What's wrong?" asked James, alarmed. James may have been the one kid in the family who took things less seriously than others, but when it came to his little sister, he got very protective.
"Have you guys seen Scorpius?" she asked nervously.
James frowned. "Malfoy? We saw him at dinner. He was looking for Rose…" He trailed off, looking at Albus, confused.
"Why?" asked Albus quickly, "what's wrong?"
"He came looking for Rose over an hour ago and…Rose wasn't here and Scorpius took off to look for her and neither of them have come back."
"Oh, Lily," James said, clearly relieved, "they probably found each other long ago and went someplace to snog. They're fine."
Lily looked pale, but nodded slowly. "If you say so…"
She went back to the chair she was previously sitting at and returned to her book. Albus shrugged and took a seat at a table near a window. James joined him and began telling him about how gross it was that the seventh years were forced to write three scrolls about the mating habits of centaurs when something caught Albus's eye.
The Quidditch Pitch, which was illuminated by the moon, had quite a few dozen dark figures in the midst of the field. They were all walking around on the ground. It was clear that they weren't playing Quidditch. But the thing that got most of Albus's attention was the fact that there was a tiny red headed figure not dressed at all, lying in the center and there was another figure that was levitating upside down in the air.
Albus gasped. The red head was Rose and the person upside down was Malfoy!
"MERLIN'S BALLS!" shouted Albus, shooting up out of his seat. James looked at him strangely and the whole common room had gone quiet.
"What?!" James asked.
"The Quidditch field—look!" Albus commanded.
Not only had James jumped up to look out the window, but all the other Gryffindors had crowded around different windows, straining to see. James's face lost all its color.
"Holy hell…that's Rose!"
"No," replied Albus sarcastically.
"We've got to do something…but what?! I can't think under pressure!"
"Everyone!" Albus said, taking charge since his brother choked. "Grab your brooms and try to find at least one heavy object! It's time to teach those Slytherins a lesson!"
Scorpius could feel the blood rushing to his head as he dangled helplessly in the middle of the group of Slytherins, the girl he was deeply in love with about to be touched by all those sick, perverted Slytherins. Without his wand, all Scorpius could do was watch, wriggle around, and yell.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER! I'LL HEX YOU ALL TO HELL AND BACK! I'LL RIP YOUR NUT SACKS OFF AND THEN I'LL FEED THEM TO THE GIANT SQUID! ROSE! ROSE, GET UP AND RUN!"
But nobody was listening to him. They were all focused on Rose, who was too weak from the torture to move. Scorpius could feel hot tears of anger stinging his eyes. They rolled down his forehead and were absorbed into his hair. Detestation for every single boy in the Quidditch field filled his being as they were getting closer and closer to Rose. For a moment, Scorpius thought he was going to be sick, but suddenly, somebody from up above gave out a roar.
Scorpius twisted his body to look up and his mouth fell open. Fifty—perhaps sixty—Gryffindors, boys and girls alike, were flying over the Quidditch Pitch on broomsticks. Each person was carrying something—either a vase, a book, or a stone bust of a dead person—and as soon as they got close enough, they threw the objects at the unsuspecting Slytherins.
Some Gryffindors had missed their targets, but one third of the enemy went down immediately and didn't get up after being knocked unconscious.
James Potter flew by and yelled, "LIBERACORPUS!" Scorpius felt himself fall down to the ground with a loud thump, the wind temporarily knocked out of him. When he got up again, the scene in front of him surprised him.
All the Gryffindors were on the ground, fighting the Slytherins. Most of the Gryffindors were casting simple spells that wouldn't do permanent damage. A few Gryffindors had shouted "RICTUSEMPRA" which caused their victims to double over in a fit of giggles, obviously being tickled to death. Some had cast the Tongue-Tying Curse on the Slytherins so they couldn't speak properly to cast a spell. A few had managed to render their opponents defenseless by shouting "Expelliarmus" and they were now chasing the Slytherins, whacking them with their brooms. Scorpius's personal favorite was the spell that forced the victim's legs to dance uncontrollably.
Scorpius could see James casting the Jelly-Legs Jinx on a handful of bad guys and they stood uselessly in their spots. Albus had murmured "Aguamenti" and a huge jet of water sprayed out of the tip of his wand, which he used like a hose.
Hugo Weasley bravely rushed up to a few Slytherins and shouted, "Obscuro!" His victims were suddenly blinded by blindfolds that they couldn't remove. The Slytherins went running in random directions, their arms in front of them.
Lily Potter seemed good at casting the Bat-Bogey Hex—the Slytherins she hexed now had giant snot-bats chasing after them.
The Slytherins didn't take this all sitting down and they weren't casting nice spells against their enemies. The Slytherins had given the torture curse to several Gryffindors, who fell down promptly, the pain too much to bear. Some Slytherins were yelling "Furnunculus", which caused a number of painful boils to appear on some of the Gryffindors' faces.
Scorpius heard "Serpentsortia" being shouted and a number of snakes were slithering around, trying to bite the Gryffindors.
Albus must have inspired one Slytherin to use the elements as a weapon because there was now a stream of fire was coming out of the Slytherin's wand, much like a blow torch.
Scorpius suddenly looked around in the commotion for Rose. She was lying practically motionless on the ground. Hopping up, Scorpius darted toward Rose. He laced his way through the people running around and knelt down next to Rose.
She was deathly pale, as if all the blood had been drained out of her.
"Rose," Scorpius whispered as he threw his robe around Rose's bare body. He placed her head in his lap and looked desperately into her eyes. Tear drops from Scorpius's eyes fell onto her forehead. Rose blinked, as if just now comprehending that he was there then propped herself onto her elbows and put the robe on her body properly.
"Scorpius…what's happening?" she asked.
"All hell broke loose. But it doesn't matter. I just want to get you out of here."
"No…," Rose responded weakly, "I want to stay and fight."
"Not on your life," Scorpius said, helping Rose to her feet. "I thought something like this would happen—I just knew that they'd try to hurt you. I'm taking you back to the castle and we're going to get help from the professors."
Rose tried to protest again but Scorpius wouldn't hear of it. He draped his arm around her waist and helped her as she began walking.
"Leaving so soon? The party has just begun!" a voiced growled.
Rose was suddenly ripped from his arms. Henry and Richard Goyle had managed to escape the hexes and curses that were flying around and Richard held Rose once again, unharmed. Henry grasped Scorpius tightly. Michael, who had spoken to them, had a bloody nose and a bruised forehead.
"I'm going to finish what you couldn't. You clearly have no idea what Sectumsempra does…but I'm going to show you."
He pointed his wand at Rose, drool dripping from his mouth and his eyes wide. He looked like a wild animal.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
Scorpius felt a surge of adrenaline run through his body as he elbowed Henry as hard as he could in the stomach. Henry let him go instantly and Scorpius darted forward. The whole world seemed to be in slow motion as Scorpius threw himself in front of Rose. The spell hit Scorpius, knocking him backward into Rose and Richard. All three fell to the ground. Scorpius could faintly see Richard abandoning Rose and he looked up into Rose's face. She was sitting up now, her pain forgotten. Rose was bawling as she hugged Scorpius's limp body to hers.
Before, Scorpius didn't know what Sectumsempra had done, but as he lay on the ground, his body felt as if it had been stabbed by a very large knife or a sword. It was quite unpleasant, but all Scorpius could think about was how glad he was that he hadn't cast this spell on Rose.
"WHY?" shrieked Rose, panic-stricken. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
Scorpius could barely put together the words she was saying but he put on a small smile and raised his hand to touch Rose's cheek. Rose reached out to touch his hand, her own hand covered in blood.
His blood.
But Scorpius didn't care.
"I—"
Scorpius felt himself shudder and his hand fell from Rose's cheek to his stomach. He was unable to control his body now. There was a flash of light from the sky and somebody in the distance was shouting.
Then Scorpius slipped into unconsciousness.
The last thing he saw was Rose's beautiful, tear-stained face.
A/N: Yes, I know...don't kill me because I'm evil. Or, Michael is evil rather. Anyway, sorry it took me so long to update...I've had to look up a buttload of curses today so I could try to make a decent war. I wanted this war to be a lesser version of the war in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Plus, I had a ton of running around to do today. And about the Quidditch Pitch...it's overused, I know, but I wanted to do the whole repeated theme thing. Rose was afraid of the Quidditch Pitch because of her dream, but she willingly went over there to see Scorpius practice and play Quidditch. Then they had their "date" in the Quidditch Pitch and now they had their war. It's nearly 2:15 in the morning and I'm wiped out. This chapter took the longest to write so I'm going to bed. Thank you for the kind reviews! Have a great day!