A/N Well, here's the next chapter - finally. It's been a long time in the works (almost a month - woops!) and definitely not helped by school. Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me, and welcome to any new readers! Without further ado, the new chapter Ladies and Gentlemen! ~MaryLouise1996

The Flower and the Scorpion

Rose was tossing and turning in her bed, unable to get to sleep, when Scorpius' Patronus arrived. The silver ferret bounded through the window to her dorm and spoke in his voice, but he sounded desperately out of breath.

"Rose, there's been an accident down by the lake. Please get help and come as quickly as you can. Please."

The final word had been desperate and, despite Scorpius' tendency to crack jokes and pull pranks, Rose knew that this was for real.

In an instant she was out of bed, her feet had been pushed into the first pair of shoes she could find and her school cloak had been pulled on atop her pyjamas. She dashed out of her room and across the corridor to Fynn's door. After a few bangs it was pulled open to reveal the bleary eyed Head Boy blinking at her.

"Rose, what's the matter? It's nearly one in the morning."

"There's been an accident down by the lake. I need you to go and get Madame Patil. I'm going to go and get McGonagall. Be as quick as you can; it sounds serious."

Fynn's eyes widened in surprise and he kicked into action, dashing across his room to pull on a t-shirt and his own school cloak. Rose turned on her heel and left the Head's Quarters, running through the silent corridors with her wand held aloft to provide light.

She burst through the huge wooden doors, McGonagall hot on her heels, and hurried to the lake's edge. What she saw took her breath away. Scorpius was desperately pumping a girl's chest the muggle way and, just as Rose caught sight of them, the girl choked up some water and started to breathe laboriously. As she neared the pair Rose suddenly realised that the girl was Alice Longbottom, a girl who was like a cousin to her in everything except blood.

What had happened to lead to this? Despite being a Gryffindor, Alice was quiet and reserved and was never known to be in the thick of things.

Both Scorpius and Alice were in only underwear and were dripping wet and as they reached the two students Professor McGonagall had the sense to conjure two blankets.

Alice was bleeding heavily from a cut on her temple and Rose could see that Scorpius' hands were shaking as he fumbled around trying to do something about it. Rose kneeled down next to him and gently took over the care of Alice, who was clearly the victim of the accident mentioned in the Patronus.

"I sent Fynn to get Madame Patil from the Hospital Wing. What happened?"

Instead of hearing a reply, Rose felt Scorpius' presence leave her side and she turned her head in time to see him collapsing to the ground and passing out.

"Oh my god."

Rose felt panic rising in her throat and fought the urge to retch at the thought that she was out here alone with two unconscious students-

"Miss Weasley. If you will tend to Mr. Malfoy then I will deal with Miss Longbottom."

Rose sighed in relief. She wasn't on her own after all.

"Get some sleep Weasley. You look terrible."

Rose's eyes snapped open at the sound of Scorpius' voice. She found him staring back at her, grey eyes dancing with laughter.

"I bet I look a darned sight better than you did last night."

"Probably, but you haven't just saved a girl from drowning in the lake. Have you?"

"No I haven't, you little idiot."

"Am I little though? Really?"

"What? Are you asking me to call you a massive idiot? Is that where this is going?"

"Oh… Good point."

Snuggling down further in the chair, Rose lifted her feet onto Scorpius' bed and felt a distinct calm settle over her. There was something about this – the banter she held with Scorp – that relaxed her and made everything seem better than it had last night. She realised that she'd missed it in the past month and felt a sharp stab of guilt that she hadn't made time for her friends.

"So, what? Have you been sitting by my bedside all night?"

"Something like that."

Loathe as she was to admit it, Rose had felt almost paralyzed at the thought of Scorpius being hurt and when Madame Patil had arrived and told her that he was just exhausted she had been so relieved that she'd stayed with him all night in the hospital wing. She'd helped out the school nurse where she could, but had spent the majority of the night just sitting by his bed. Sighing, Rose got down to the point.

"Scorpius, what happened last night?"

Frowning, the young Malfoy recounted the events of the night before. In return, Rose outlined what had happened after he had fallen unconscious. Both students had been rushed back up to the school and Professor Longbottom had been roused from his chambers. Frantic with worry, he had stayed by Alice's bedside until morning when he begrudgingly agreed to teach his classes for the day provided he was kept updated about her condition. Fynn had returned to bed while Rose remained in the Hospital Wing to help, and therefore was in classes today while Rose had been allowed the day off after a sleepless night.

Rose held the hand of her unconscious friend. Smoothing back her long hair, she took the chance to examine the red raw skin on her temple; the only remainder of the deep gash that had so recently marred the porcelain skin.

Alice looked so peaceful and calm – from what Scorpius had said, it was a world away from the state that she had been in the night before. Rose couldn't help but wonder, what on earth had pushed her quiet, fun-loving may-as-well-be cousin to do something so uncharacteristic? This just wasn't something that Alice did. She was always there on these evenings – the completely-against-the-rules gatherings avec l'alcool out on the grounds. Heck, Rose was usually there! – but she never did this. She never got drunk like her friends; she just sat on the sidelines and laughed at their antics.

Rose couldn't help but feel like it was something big that had happened, to make her do this. As far as the teachers were concerned, an accident had occurred during an illegal night-time activity, but thanks to quick thinking the matter had been contained with minimum damage and all the remained was to punish those involved. Rose was determined to discover what was at the root of what had come to pass.

Rose snapped out of her ponderings as Alice's eyelids fluttered and the sleeping girl began to wake.

"Madame Patil!"

The nurse hurried over and cast a spell to check on Alice's vitals. Turning her attention the Rose, she offered a smile.

"Miss Weasley, would you please go and fetch Professor Longbottom? I promised that I would send for him as soon as his daughter regained consciousness."

As Rose quietly left the Hospital Ward and moved as fast as she could through the corridors, she hoped that her Uncle Nev would be on a free period. Otherwise there was a good chance that she would be asked to watch a class of rowdy third-years while he hurried to his daughter's bedside. Despite her easy-going nature Rose just didn't think that, after a worrisome night with no sleep, she would be up to controlling twenty excitable students.

As she had hoped, Rose had found Neville in his office with no class to teach, and she now watched him hold his daughter in his arms, tears shining in his eyes, as he half-heartedly berated her.

Respectfully withdrawing, Rose slipped around the curtain surrounding Scorpius' bed to find the blonde flat on his back, snoring slightly. Rose knew from experience – camp-outs and such – that this was not a natural sleeping position for him and observed the fiercely tucked in sheets surrounding him that had no doubt prevented him from rolling over as he slipped in to sleep. A sudden wave of exhaustion swept over Rose as she watched her best friend and she sank in to the chair bedside Scorpius' bed, propping her feet on the bed frame, and fell into a fretful snooze.

Rose left the Hospital Wing late in the evening, both Scorpius and Alice having been ordered to stay under Madame Patil's care for one more night, and meandered through the silent corridors, lit by torch light, towards the Head's common room. Her mind wandered through the events of the day and night before.

Unexpectedly, she turned a corner and came across and lone figure, walking quietly but with purpose away from her. Her heart jumped as she realised who it was, and she felt butterflies awaken in her stomach and her face lit up with a smile.

"Ben!"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice and looked flustered as he turned around to look at her.

"Oh, hey baby."

Noticing his reluctance, Rose stopped just in front of him without moving in for the hug she wanted.

"What are you doing out so late?"

"I had to run an errand. Where have you been all day?"

"Didn't you hear about the accident last night?"

"What, you mean down by the lake with that Malfoy boy? Why were you involved in that?"

Ben had crossed his arms into a defensive position and Rose unconsciously mimicked him, her back having been put up by his 'Malfoy boy' comment.

"Yeah, down by the lake. Scorp pulled Alice from the lake and she could have died. He sent me a message to get help."

"Why did he send you a message?"

"Because I'm Head Girl."

"Oh. Well, where have you been all day?"

"In the Hospital Wing. I've been helping Madame Patil tend to Alice and Scorp and stuff."

"Why? That's not your job. You should have been in lessons!"

"Ben, they're two of my best friends in the world! I was given the day off anyway, but nothing would have made me leave their bedsides until I was sure they were okay. What don't you get about that?"

"I don't know Rose. Maybe you should have let me know or something."

Rose felt all of the fight flood out of her in one go and she felt deflated and small. Her eyes filled with hot tears that threatened to spill over as she stared at the floor. She hated when she argued with Ben. The thought of them not being them scared her more than she was willing to admit and she'd lost count of the amount of times she'd backed down first from an argument. She spoke in a small voice.

"I'm sorry. I should have. I was tired."

She looked up in surprise as she felt a warm hand on her arm and found Ben's deep brown eyes looking at her in concern.

"Are you okay Rosie?"

"I guess."

"Come here."

He wrapped her in his arms and she relaxed to fit the contour of his body. She was stressed and worried and so tired and she lost herself in the feeling comfort that she felt from close proximity with her boyfriend. She wasn't sure how long they'd been standing there when she felt Ben murmur into her hair.

"Rosie, I promised I'd meet someone to tutor them in Transfiguration, but I can walk you back to you dorm if you need me to."

"No, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ben pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning and walking away down the corridor, and Rose was left feeling warm and with a silly smile on her face.

A/NWell, there you go people. Can't say for sure when the next chapter will be published, but lets hope that it's not as long coming as this one! I love you all. Thank you and good night. ~MaryLouise1996