Chapter 10

Anger Management

Albus opened his eyes and blinked as the ceiling high above him swam into focus. His head pounded underneath a turban of bandages, and his throat felt as though it had something unnatural lodged in it. He looked around, trying to take in his surroundings, before feeling his stomach lurch, rolling to his side and vomiting all over the floor. Groaning, he lay back in his bed in what he could only assume was the hospital wing. White curtains surrounded the area he was in, and beyond them, he saw numerous shadows growing larger. The curtains flew back, revealing not only Madam Pomfrey, but his parents and Neville. He felt his face turn bright pink. "Erm..."

"Evanesco." Madam Pomfrey cleaned up the mess Albus had made on the floor and bustled over to him, checking on his bandages.

"How do you feel?" his mother asked, anxiety showing on her face as she sat on edge of his bed and rubbed a smudge off his cheek.

"Like I got kicked in the head," he said, half-heartedly pushing his mother's hand away. The memories of what happened leading up to his injury were swirling back into place. He looked past the curtains, and saw the sun peeking over the mountains through the window. "What time is it?"

"Almost six," Neville said, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. "Albus, we need to hear what happened. Stories from witnesses on the Astronomy tower range from you walking out of the door and Scorpius Malfoy jumping off the tower, to you charging at him and throwing him off. I doubt either one of those actually happened, so you need to tell us your version of events."

"He's fine." Madam Pomfrey interrupted, unwrapping the bandages from around Albus's head. "He can even go to classes today, if he wants."

"What? Are you sure? You never let me go to classes after an injury like this," his father protested.

The nurse shrugged. "He's not as delicate as you were." Albus couldn't help but grin, then wince as the act made his head hurt even more.

"Thank you, Poppy." Neville looked back to Albus, waiting. Albus looked up at his parents. His father nodded at him and gave a reassuring smile, while his mother continued to look worried.

Albus took a deep breathe, and began. "I was coming out of the loo when I thought I heard someone. Well, not so much heard, as, well... felt." He felt his face turn red as he realized his story sounded quite lame, but Neville nodded. "It just felt like somebody was there. I lit up my wand, and backed up the stairs. I didn't see anyone, but I - I..." He lowered his head and told the rest of his story to his knees. "I got scared. I slipped on the stairs, and ran. I got up to the top of the stairs, but when I got there, I tripped, and accidentally hit Malfoy. It was an accident, I swear; I didn't mean to knock him over - is he okay?"

Neville nodded. "He's fine. A few bruises and a bloody lip, but he'll live."

This didn't make sense to Albus. "What? He didn't have those when they pulled him back onto the tower."

"Yes, well, after he injured you, Rose tried to defend you from any further harm and got a little carried away." Albus's eyes widened in surprise. Rose was not one to attack somebody. "Who did you think was in the corridor?"

Albus was surprised by the question. "I - I don't know. It was just a feeling."

"Have you gotten that feeling any other time since you've been here?"

Albus bit his lip. He and Rose had agreed with Ewan and Olivia not to tell anyone else what had happened Sunday night, but obviously, things had progressed a bit since then. "Once."

"I see. Would this one time be Sunday night, when you and Rose were attacked coming back from the Owlery?"

Albus's jaw dropped. "Er..."

Neville nodded. "Rose told us everything after you got hurt. Several people said that you were shouting about someone being behind you, and she figured it would be best to come clean."

His father addressed him for the first time. "Al, why didn't you tell anyone you were attacked?"

Albus felt his face turn red. "We thought it was those two Slytherins trying to scare us."

"What two Slytherins?" Neville asked.

"I think he means Vilhelm and Vexibella Slair." Albus looked at his father, surprised.

"We got a letter from Hagrid on Monday evening saying that you had nearly gotten into a fight with them," his mother snapped, worry replaced with anger in the blink of an eye.

"It wasn't just me," Albus protested. "Rose was there, and so - "

"That's not the point. Why didn't you tell anybody?"

Albus stared at the wall, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. "We didn't want them to think they scared us."

Neville looked at him for a moment. "Al, we asked around after Rose told us what had happened. Multiple portraits said they saw the Slairs in the Slytherin common room all night Sunday."

Albus frowned, but nodded. It made sense. After all, they had been on the Astronomy tower with the rest of the first years when he had been downstairs. "Who could it have been?"

"I don't know, Albus, but this is very serious. We don't take unprovoked attacks on anybody lightly. We're going to investigate, but I don't know if we'll be able to find out who it was. If you had told us when it happened, we might've, but..."

Albus was certain his cheeks were on fire.

"How are you feeling?" His mother once again looked worried.

Albus thought for a moment. "Hungry."

His father laughed. "That's a good sign."

"You can go down to breakfast in about an hour, provided Madam Pomfrey doesn't have a change of heart," Neville said, getting up. "I'll leave you three alone, then."

An hour later, Albus was eating everything within sight at the Gryffindor table when Rose came flying in and gave him an enormous hug. "Are you okay?" She sat down on the bench next to him as Olivia and Ewan parked themselves across the table.

"I'm okay. My head hurts and I'm hungry, but other than that, I'm fine." He sneaked a peek at her hands. They were scraped and raw.

There was a minute's awkward silence where the other three exchanged hesitant looks. "So... what happened?" Ewan finally asked.

They leaned in as Albus told his story again.

"I'm so sorry, Albus, I know we weren't going to tell anyone, but, I thought..." Rose buried her face.

"It's okay, really. Neville said they're going to look into it."

Rose looked up at him. "I, er, also..."

Albus gave her a look. "What? Spit it out."

"She told us about what the Sorting Hat said," Ewan finished.

Albus sat back and rolled his eyes. "That Hat is falling apart. It probably doesn't have any idea what it's talking about!"

"But look at what's happened so far this week!" she protested. "We have to find out why it would put people in the wrong Houses!"

"No, we don't!" Albus responded in a louder voice than he intended, dropping his fork with a clatter. Several seats over, Kelly Faust and Quinn Olston looked over for the source of the commotion. "Look," Albus said, lowering his voice so the gossips couldn't hear. "It's just been a bad week. Nothing that has happened so far can be possibly connected to students being in the wrong House! I don't even know how you figured that; I thought you were smarter than that."

Rose recoiled as though slapped. Albus closed his eyes in frustration. "I'm sorry, I - "

"No, you're not." Rose swung her leg over the bench and stood up, making sure to kick Albus as she went. Kelly and Quinn dissolved into whispers and stolen glances.

Albus groaned, but knew she was right. He was sorry for hurting her, but he had told the truth: The Sorting Hat's deception and the accidents and injuries among the first years had nothing connecting them. Rose, however, needed the world to make sense. She needed logical answers for everything, and would resort to illogical reasoning to find them.

"Smooth," Ewan said, nodding appreciatively.

Albus gave him a dirty look.

"It couldn't hurt to go check it out, though," Olivia said. "I mean, it told you to go see it, so it must be important." She shrugged.

Albus picked up his fork and stared at his plate. "I still say it's mad." They sat in silence for a moment, Albus picking at his breakfast. His hunger had left him. He knew perfectly well the only reason he didn't want to see the Sorting Hat was because it might tell him he belonged in Slytherin. He wasn't about to share that bit of information, though.

"I'd be careful in class today, mate." Ewan was looking over Albus's shoulder at the Slytherin table. "The Slytherins look like they're up to something."

Albus frowned. He had deliberately chosen to sit facing away from the Slytherin table so he wouldn't have to see them glaring at him. "Who is it?"

"Looks like all of them. Even Sunshine and Giggles are in the middle of it, and they're actually talking, not just being miserable like they usually are."

Olivia scoffed. "What're they gonna do, shoot sparks at him?"

WHOMP

"What the - "

Albus looked up from the strange green plant he was rooting around in to see Ewan standing next to him, covered from head to toe in a blue-green paste emitting an odor reminiscent of horse manure.

He looked across the greenhouse to where the Slytherins were laughing, one of them suspiciously short a Stinky Petalplant.

"Crank!" Neville stormed over to the large boy. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I didn't do nothin'!" Mordecai Crank protested. "It was an accident. I tripped, an' accidentally threw the stinker plant at Greenwood. Actually, I accidentally threw it at Potter, but it hit Greenwood." He smirked.

"You may think you're impressive, doing something like that right in front of a teacher, but that was nothing short of stupid. That's fifty points from Slytherin, and I want an extra foot on your essay about the properties of the plant you just destroyed. And, we're going to see what Professor Moorehead has to say about this at the end of class."

The smirk on Crank's face faded. The Head of Slytherin House was not a pleasant woman to be around even on normal terms, and Albus knew he didn't want to see her when she was angry.

"Erm, Professor - " Ewan was still standing next to Albus, covered in the disgusting goo.

"Go get cleaned up, Greenwood." Ewan bolted for the door without another word.

Two spots down, Rose was shaking with anger. "That little jerk," she whispered. "He and his friends think they can do whatever they want, I'll show him - "

"Rose, it's okay," Olivia said. "He got extra homework, and he'll probably end up with more detentions than he can count. And all Ewan's going to have to do is go take a shower."

Albus tried to make eye contact with his cousin, but she ignored him, as she had been doing all class.

"Olivia, you don't get it, do you? They're not going to stop until they get revenge on Al." She interrupted their protests, still not looking at Albus.. "We know that he didn't do anything wrong. But they don't. And even the ones that do get it, they just want the chance to beat up on something."

Albus had to admit, she was right. He chanced a look across the greenhouse, and saw several Slytherins glaring daggers at him. Scorpius Malfoy, however, was determinedly digging in his Petalplant, bruises shining on his face.

At the end of class, all the students (minus Mordecai Crank) headed for their Defense class. Albus made sure to put as much space as possible between him and the Slytherins. Olivia and Rose kept pace, with some difficulty. He looked at them. "Look, maybe it's better if you don't hang around me for a little while. They're just going to end up hurting one of you."

Rose ignored him, but continued to walk next to him.

Olivia laughed. "I'm not scared of them. I can stand a little smelly blue stuff."

"You notice Ewan isn't back yet? He's probably still trying to scrub that junk off his face."

She scoffed at him.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Phinean was in a cheerful mood, and decided (much to everyone else's immense displeasure) that the time was ripe for students from opposing Houses to partner and practice Disarming Charms.

"Has he not noticed what's been going on all week?" Despite her claims not to be intimidated by the Slytherins, Olivia was not pleased with the arrangement. "Or does he just take some sort of sick pleasure in it?"

Albus was mercifully partnered with one of the Slytherins who didn't seem to be out to kill him, a small boy with glasses. They traded cries of "Expelliarmus," once in a while managing to successfully disarm each other.

Next to him, however, Rose had drawn the short straw, and was partnered with Isabel Parker. They were practically screaming at each other as they traded incantations, although neither one seemed able to disarm the other. Finally, Phinean came over, and told them both to take a few minutes to calm down.

"Expelliarmus!" Albus deftly disarmed the Slytherin boy, caught his wand, and tossed it back to him. As he braced himself for the return spell, he noticed Isabel Parker talking in hushed tones to Vexibella Slair. Uh oh. "Rose," he said. Rose finally acknowledged his presence with a sour glare. "Look." He inclined his head towards the two Slytherin girls.

"Thank, you, Al, I'm glad I have you here to point that out for me. If only I were smarter, maybe you wouldn't have to." She sniffed and turned away.

"Rose - "

"Expelliarmus!" He looked at his suddenly wandless hand in surprise, and realized he hadn't been paying the slightest attention to his opponent. "Gotta pay attention, Potter." The other boy addressed him for the first time, twirling Albus's wand. "You never know when somebody's going to get you when you're not looking."

Albus tried to appear confident as he walked over to him to retrieve his wand. "Is that a threat?"

The other boy looked solemn. "No. A warning." Albus narrowed his eyes, not sure what to make of the act, but the Slytherin boy just shrugged and raised his wand again.

"You ready to go, Weasel?" Isabel Parker was back.

"I've been waiting," Rose shot back, lip curling. Albus watched nervously as the two girls faced each other, wands drawn. Rose went first. "Expelliarmus!" Albus smiled as he watched Isabel Parker's wand soar out of her hand and into Rose's. Rose grinned as she tossed the Slytherin's wand back to her. Albus tensed up. Across from him, he could tell his partner was watching the action, also.

"Expelliarmus!" Albus let a breath of relief go, despite the fact that Rose's wand was flying through the air. Isabel caught it, then sneered as she raised both wands.

Albus felt his breath catch again. "Look out!"

"Repulso Maxima!"

Several people screamed as Rose was knocked off her feet and into the wall several feet behind her.

"Rose!"

"You nasty - "

Albus ran to Rose, while Olivia dropped her wand and bull rushed Isabel. The two girls fell to the floor, scrabbling at each other, while Albus pulled Rose into a sitting position. She was pale and her nose was bleeding, but she seemed otherwise okay. "I knew she was up to something," she spat. "She just didn't have the guts to do it while I still had my wand."

Albus winced as there was another bang, this time from Phinean, separating the two girls still fighting on the floor. "Class dismissed. You two," he pointed at Isabel and Olivia. "Stay. Potter, take Weasley to the infirmary."

Albus helped Rose to her feet and as he helped her out the door, chanced one last glance behind him. Olivia was still glaring at Isabel, shaking with barely restrained fury.

"Rose, I'm sorry - "

"Oh, Al, be quiet. I know you didn't mean anything by it." Rose touched a finger to her bloody nose. "And... I'm glad you came to help me, even though I was mad at you," she said, turning red and avoiding looking at him.

Albus smiled and squeezed his cousin's shoulders.

"I miss all the fun." Ewan slumped back in his chair and took a drink from the enormous mug in front of him.

"Sounds like yeh got yer own share of the fun," Hagrid shook his head. It was Friday evening and they were at Hagrid's hut, discussing the week's events.

"That wasn't fun! I was still trying to get the smell off me when the rest of them came back from Defense!"

"I'll tell yeh, Al, them firs'-year Slytherins may be really sore at yeh, but I can guarantee yeh the older ones are yellin' at 'em for losing all those points." Slytherin House was in the negatives, a feat Albus hadn't known was possible.

"We're not exactly the most popular ones in Gryffindor Tower," Olivia huffed. Her fight with Isabel had cost Gryffindor fifty points, putting them nearly back to zero. She had also earned a detention for Monday evening.

"Well, that's ter be expected. Yeh need to keep yer head, 'Livia. Yeh can't keep gettin' heated like that."

"Well, then people need to stop being stupid prats."

"People're goin' ter be stupid prats wherever yeh go. Yeh jus' hafter learn how ter deal with 'em. An' how do we deal with people like that?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "'We tell a professor, and we don't get into fights with them.'"

"Tha's right. Now, Al. 'Bout what happened up on the Astronomy tower." Albus swallowed hard. "I know yeh didn't mean to do nothin'. Most everyone does. Heck, I'll bet tha' even mos' of the Slytherins know it; it's jus' the ones that don't that're causin' all the trouble."

Albus nodded, wondering where this was going.

"But if yeh ask me, yer whole year needs ter calm down. How many of yeh were in the hospital wing at some point or another this week?"

"Nineteen," Rose said instantly. The others gave her a questioning look. "What? I started keeping track after the first day."

"Tha's far too many."

"I blame the Slytherins," Olivia declared. "They're all looking for a fight."

"An' tha's another thing. These inter-House problems hafter stop. We've been tryin' fer the pas' twenty years to get the Houses to get along, and we were doing well up till now. Yeh all come in, and one week later, ev'rybody's at each other's throats."

Olivia sputtered. "I don't have a problem with Slytherin House, I have a problem with people who think they can do anything they want and get away with it."

"An' what exactly were yeh thinkin' would happen to yeh when yeh jumped on the Parker girl?"

Olivia hesitated. "I wasn't thinking."

"An' if you had thought?"

Olivia looked at the floor. "I probably would've thought she deserved it and I shouldn't have gotten in trouble for it."

"Exac'ly. You need ter let the teachers sort it out. Now, I'm not sayin' that if you get attacked, don't defend yerselves! I'm jus' sayin', don't go makin' the situation any worse'n it has ter be."

Scorpius Malfoy pressed himself to his broom as tight as he could and passed through the center ring at the south end of the pitch in a neat corkscrew. He straightened out and slowed down. He had been itching to get out on his broom all week, and he finally had the opportunity after dinner on Friday. Focusing on the pitch below him, he dove back through the center ring, dipped down so his feet were skimming the grass, and accelerated as fast as the broom would take him. He looked up at his target: the center gold ring at the other end of the pitch. He tipped his broom up, pressed himself down on it - but before he passed through, he banked, coming to a stop in mid-air. "Arrrgh!" He still couldn't bring himself to do it at full speed. He just didn't trust himself yet.

He was glad the week was finally over. He was also (for reasons he couldn't discern) glad he was still at Hogwarts. His father had appeared at the school gates not long after he had regained consciousness on the Astronomy Tower. It had been an ugly few minutes as his father had shouted at and argued with the staff - but ultimately, Scorpius had expressed the desire to stay, and his father had begrudgingly conceded.

He heard an odd tinkling noise and looked around. Nothing was there. The noise sounded again, and this time, he could tell it was coming from outside the pitch. Curiosity consumed him, and he followed the sound over the edge of the stands and out towards the Forbidden Forest. The noise was growing louder as he traveled, and it was starting to sound like music. As he got closer, he realized it was a voice. He knew he would be better not to try to find it, but for some reason, he just couldn't help himself. He reached the edge of the forest and dismounted. It was close, he could tell. Knowing full well he wasn't supposed to be in there, but unable to stop himself, he took a few tentative steps into the forest and knelt down in front of the source of the music. A small music box, the image of a beautiful woman printed on the front, was nestled comfortably in the crook of a tree. Scorpius stared at it for a moment, amazed that the sound could have traveled so far. A beautiful voice emanated from the box, filling the air around him, and he stood, transfixed. His reverie was broken by the sudden sound of leaves crackling behind him. He spun around, suddenly aware of the fact that he was by himself, in the Forbidden Forest, at twilight.

"Who's there?"

There was no answer. The music box continued to sing, the melody threatening to drag Scorpius back to it.

"I said, who's there? I heard you!" His hand trembled as he drew his wand.

The silence of the forest was absorbed by the gentle voice of the music box, and Scorpius couldn't help but turn back to it. He stared at it, rooted to the spot, until he heard the sound of a twig snapping. The spell was broken and he whirled around again.

"Lumos!" His wand lit up just in time for him to see a heavy stick hurtling at his face. It hit him square in the throat, and as he stumbled backwards, another blow hit him on the back of the head. He fell forward and landed facedown in the dirt, gasping for air. He rolled over and looked around for his attacker, but saw nothing, and heard nothing but the gentle beckon of the music box. Grasping his throat, he tried to call for help, but his voice wouldn't respond. The only noise in the forest was the soft tinkling of the music box, still sounding its sinister call.

"Where is the Headmaster?"

Neville Longbottom was reclining with his legs crossed in a chair by the staff room door. He glanced at his watch and sighed. The staff meeting had been scheduled to start nearly fifteen ago. Several of the staff were growing impatient, including himself. After all, he had a wife and small child to get home to. Not living at Hogwarts was troublesome at times, especially with his duties as the Head of Gryffindor House, but he couldn't leave Hannah and Dorothy alone for a week, let alone a whole year. So, he Flooed into his office from the Leaky Cauldron a few times a day as needed, and students and teachers contacted him at home via the Floo network when his presence was required.

"Nobody knows where he is?" Gwendolyn Moorehead was not a patient woman. Fortunately, at that moment, the door opened and Bernard Button bustled in, wiping sweat off his brow with an enormous purple handkerchief.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone. Must've lost track of time. Is everyone here?"

"Everyone but Hagrid."

"Alright, we'll get started without him. You snooze, you lose, eh?" He chuckled, but was met with a blank stare by the rest of the teachers. Neville shook his head, amazed. "Right, then. Er - I understand there have been a higher number of injuries to students than is typical this week, correct?"

Neville raised an eyebrow. "You mean, the fact that roughly twenty first years were in and out of the hospital wing at some point this week, they're attempting to curse each other in halls and in class with spells they ought not know, and their behavior is starting to sweep up through the years?"

"Yes, that. We should increase our efforts to teach the students proper behavior, and discourage them from behaviors that they should not be engaging in," he declared with a confident smile on his face. Neville closed his eyes and began massaging his temples, feeling a frustration headache coming on.

"And here, I thought we were supposed to be giving them all copies of 1001 Hexes," Moorehead said dryly.

Button's smile faltered. "What would you propose we do, instead?"

She made a small noise of exasperation. "It is not that simple. We have to figure out why hostilities are so high between students, and why so many injuries happened during the week. Not all of you may have noticed, but the majority of the injuries actually occurred before we had first years attempting to make each other erupt in boils. It was only after the incident on the Astronomy tower that tensions rose - fortunately, most of them are too raw to actually do any damage to each other."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Can all of the injuries during the first half of the week be attributed to growing pains?" Button asked, starting to cotton on. "Students accidentally harming themselves, or one another?"

"Some of them," Flitwick squeaked. "The student who nearly lost an eye in my class, that was the result of a levitation charm gone wrong. As for the two students in the next class who got sick... I don't know. That still baffles me."

"The cauldron explosion was an accident, also," Clarianna Caydarah spoke up. "An overzealous first-year thinking he knew more than he did."

Madam Hooch shrugged. "Just a bunch of clumsy kids on brooms in my class."

"Well, perhaps if you had not tried to make them all professional speed racers on the first day, there would not have been any injuries at all!" Neville could tell that Moorehead was not pleased with what she (and many other faculty members) deemed to be an extreme misjudgment of the definition of a 'sound idea' on Madam Hooch's part.

"Only two of them got hurt going through the course, and they were fine. A bump on the head and a few bruises."

"They were first years, in their first flying lesson, on the first day of school!"

"They were the advanced students! They could handle it!"

Button was wringing his fingers as he watched. Neville got the feeling he had no idea how to break apart the ill-tempered dispute between the two professors, the volume of which was rising by the second. The Headmaster was saved the trouble by the calm, quiet voice of Aurora Sinistra.

"I believe the next issue at hand was the matter of the Astronomy tower, and as I was the only one of us present for that, I believe I can address the matter adequately."

Moorehead and Hooch stopped their arguing, but the silence between them raged on.

"I doubt that Potter intended to harm Malfoy, but something had obviously terrified the boy. Maybe we should be looking into that, rather than blaming each other for the other, explainable incidents."

There was another moment's silence. A corner of Neville's mouth turned up. Sinistra didn't speak often, but when she did, her words tended to bring sense and order back to discussions that had strayed their path.

"Have you learned anything else about who tried to attack Potter and the Weasley girl last weekend?" Button asked Neville, who shook his head.

"No. Rose told me that she and Albus thought it was a pair of Slytherins, the Slair twins, but the portraits in the Slytherin Common room told me they didn't leave all night. Also, those two students were already on top of the Astronomy tower when the... incident... Wednesday night occurred. Whatever spooked him, it wasn't them."

Button looked at him for a moment, as though expecting more. When more was not provided, he turned back to the room at whole. "Okay - "

He was suddenly interrupted by the staff room door bursting open and Hagrid taking out a portion of the wooden frame in his hurry to get in. "Sorry, Professor, but - Poppy, come 'ere, quick!" He was holding a small, silvery-haired figure. Neville's jaw dropped slightly as he realized it was Scorpius Malfoy.

Madam Pomfrey hurried over. "Set him on the couch, here." Clarianna and Dennis quickly vacated the indicated couch and Hagrid gently set the boy down. "What happened?"

"I don't know! I was comin' up ter the castle for the meetin', an' I 'eard a noise comin' from the forest, like someone singin'. It took me forever ter find it, but when I did, 'e was layin' on the ground, lookin' like someone had clobbered 'im!"

"Who was singing, Hagrid?" Neville asked.

Hagrid's gaze darkened. "This was." He pulled out a small music box, painted with a picture of what Neville easily recognized as -

"A Veela. It was Veela music."

"He 'ad 'is broom with 'im. I reckon 'e was out flying, 'eard the music, and followed it. Can't blame 'im, I'd've done the same thing at 'is age. Whoever put it there was trying ter lure 'im in. Well, lure someone in, anyway."

"He's okay." Madam Pomfrey had been waving her wand over his throat and head. "He took a hard hit to the throat, and another to the head, but there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage."

Neville looked up at Moorehead. "His father is going to be out for blood after this," he said. "He's been hit by lightning, nearly drowned, dropped off a tower, and now beaten unconscious, all in the span of a week."

Moorehead swallowed and looked back at him, her usually stern countenance shaken. "This is not natural," she said. "The Ministry needs to hear about this." She turned to the fireplace and took a handful of Floo powder from a jar on the mantle. Button opened his mouth as though to protest the disruption of the chain of command, but quickly closed it, apparently thinking better.

"Ennervate,"

Neville watched as the Malfoy boy coughed, opened his eyes, and blanched at seeing the entire staff of Hogwarts staring back at him expectantly. He lifted his hand up and rubbed his throat, where a large purple bruise was appearing. Neville started as he realized the location of the bruise was exactly where Scorpius had kicked Albus.

"Are you okay, boy?" Button asked, crouching down. "Did you see who it was?"

Scorpius's eyes narrowed. A shudder passed through his form, though Neville suspected it was not one of fear. The boy opened his mouth and tried to talk, but only a raspy whisper came out.

"It's okay, son, don't try to talk if you can't. Madam Pomfrey, can - what?"

Scorpius was pointing at his throat. Neville knew in an instant that the significance of the location of the injury was not lost on him.

"What's he trying to say?" Button asked.

Neville took a step back and looked at the floor. "He thinks Albus Potter attacked him."