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Chapter 12-Albus

This can't be happening.

The thought replayed in my head over and over, like a mantra. I tried to convince myself that this was all some weird and terrible dream. Rose was okay. She had to be. I dashed from the Slytherin common room to the infirmary, barely noticing that I was moving. However, when I got there, my resolve crumbled away as I saw Rose lying in an infirmary bed, half awake, half asleep. My legs gave out underneath me, and I would have fallen to the floor if it hadn't been for James and Fred.

"Are you all right, mate?" Fred asked. I could only shake my head in response.

"Good. Neither am I." James said. To my surprise he appeared close to tears.

"Who else is here?" I asked, turning to examine the room. Roxanne was facing the window across the room that looked down onto the school grounds. She was crying.

"Teddy is going to get Vic and Dom. They should be here soon."

Almost as if in answer to his words, the door to the infirmary burst open once again and our other cousins rushed in, followed by the twins.

"What's the big deal, leaving us out of the excitement?" Lysander asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"It's not excitement." I replied. I turned so that I was facing the wall. Anything was better than seeing Rose like that. "What can we do for her?"
"Nothing." Roxanne said. There was a steely edge to her voice. "We can't do a thing."

Then, I lost it. All the stress of the past few months had finally gotten to me. "Who keeps doing this to us? How did they hurt us here? I mean, this is Hogwarts! It's supposed to be the safest place in the world!" I glanced around at each person in the room, daring them to offer a suggestion or to contradict me. No one did.

Just then, Rose rolled over and began to speak, though her eyes were still closed. "Albus. Al…bus."

In a flash, I was at her side. "I'm right here, Rosie. How can I help you?" My heart was practically beating out of my chest.

"He wants…to kill us….all of us. Scorpius….Scorpius knows….." Just then, she uttered a loud, piercing scream that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and fell silent.

"Rose? Rose, what do you mean?" I practically yelled. "What do you mean Scorpius knows? What does he know? Please wake up, Rose!"

Hands gently steered me away from her. "She's delirious, Albus. She doesn't know what she's saying." someone said.

I knew she had, though. She knew something and she was trying to tell me what it was.

Madam Pomfrey put a hand on my shoulder. "Go and get some rest, Albus. All of you, actually. You're not going to do your cousin any good by worrying. I'll monitor her very carefully-if there's even the slightest change, you'll be the first ones to know."

I nodded and let James steer me back to the Slytherin common room. He seemed hesitant to leave me alone, as if afraid that I would do something stupid. "Are you going to be okay for the rest of the night?" he asked quietly.

"I guess. I just…can't believe it."

"None of us can. We're going to find out who did this, though-I promise. Okay?"
"Okay." I said weakly. I didn't really believe him though.

"Here. It's a dreamless sleep potion. Pomfrey said it might help you." James handed me a vial of purple liquid.

"Thanks." I downed it in one gulp and stumbled back to bed. Going to sleep meant a sweet and welcome relief from the mess the world had become.

I couldn't concentrate at all during my classes the next day. Most of the teachers took pity on me and gave me an extra day to finish my homework, though. Even in a huge school like Hogwarts, news travels like wildfire. All day, people shot me sympathetic glances and asked me if there was something they could do to help. It was nice of them, but I just wanted to be alone.

James sat with me at lunch. "You know, you should do your homework in the Gryffindor common room tonight-I think it's best if we all stick together."

"Vic has choir practice for a few hours, but Dom is coming to our common room. It's just safer, you know?"

"Yeah." And I did.

Name the three primary inciters of the goblin revolution of 1896 and what became of them.

I wracked my brain, but couldn't think of the answer. I knew we'd studied the revolution that day, but my mind felt slow and sluggish, like it wasn't working right. Normally, I'd ask Rose for the answer, but she wasn't around. I turned to Roxanne. "Do you know what the answer is to number three on our History of Magic assignment?"

"No. I haven't gotten there yet. You're welcome to look at my notes, though."
"Thanks." I took the sheet of parchment she offered to me and stared at it uncomprehendingly. The notes were there all right-along with pictures of hearts, dragons, and unicorns carefully drawn into the margins. The words were almost impossible to make out.

"Sorry." Roxanne said sheepishly. "I get bored during class."
"So I noticed."

Just then, I saw that James and Fred were walking up to Scorpius Malfoy. Neither looked happy. I gently tugged on Roxanne's sleeve and gestured at the scene. She nodded and bit her lip worriedly.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" James yelled at him. I'd never seen him this angry with anyone-ever.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius stammered nervously. I couldn't blame him for being nervous. James is one of the tallest in his year and Fred was just selected to be a Beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team.

"Don't give me that. Rose is in a coma. WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER AND HOW CAN WE WAKE HER UP?" That was Fred.

Scorpius went even paler, if that was possible. "Rose is in a coma? I didn't do anything, I swear!" He was almost sobbing.

"Did you think that it would be funny? You threatened us last night. You obviously knew this was going to happen. DID YOU DO IT?"

"No, I didn't! I didn't know anything about this! I would never hurt Rose!"

"Did your father tell you about this?"
"No!"

They looked like they were going to beat him up-until Roxanne stepped forward. "Guys, how could Scorpius have possibly found a way into our dormitory? Boys can't get in to the girls' dormitories-and I don't think Scorpius of all people would have devoted any time or energy to find an alternate way in." Then she turned to Scorpius. Her eyes were almost blazing with fury. "If I hear that you were actually the one responsible, you were in any way involved, you knew this was going to happen, or something like this happens again and you're the culprit, I will personally kill you." She wasn't lying. Scorpius nodded mutely and tore up the stairs to his dormitory.

James collapsed into a seat near the fire. "What are we going to do?"

"Is Rose going to be all right?" Hugo asked. He was practically crying.

"Yes, she'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Fred exchanged glances with James. "How about we sneak down to the kitchens and ask the house elves for some s'mores?" Hugo nodded eagerly. "Who else wants to come?"

Of course, we all did. Roxanne was elected to go ask Lily and Molly if they wanted to go, but she didn't need to. They ran down the stairs to meet us, practically tripping over each other in their haste.

"Look what we found in Rose's bedroom!" Lily cried.

I recognized the wooden bird from across the room.

The next week was absolute agony. After classes, I took my homework to Rose's bedside so I could tell her about the day. I didn't see the point in that really, but it helped me feel better about the whole thing, and Madam Pomfrey said that it would help.

I was talking to Rose about the results of the recent Slytherin/Ravenclaw quidditch game when she came in. "You're such a good cousin, Albus."

"Thanks."

"Yes. There's always one of you in here. Rose is so lucky. Teddy, Victoire, James, Lily, Molly, Hugo, Dominique, Lorcan, Lysander, Fred, Roxanne, Scorpius…"

I felt like someone had just poured a bucket of ice cold water down my spine. "Wait-Scorpius Malfoy? He was…here?"

"Yes, just last night. He comes almost as often as you do, Albus. I'm surprised you don't meet up. Anyway, he was very concerned. Quite the little gentlemen, he is. I wonder why he doesn't have many friends."
"I don't know." I replied. "He's not that social. I just forgot one of my books in the common room. I have to….go get it right away."

I practically ran from the infirmary as fast as I could.

Why had Scorpius been to see Rose-and why did he care?

I caught up with Scorpius at breakfast the next morning. He looked scared when he saw me-he probably thought that I was going to deck him. "What do you want, Potter?" His nonchalance and annoyance were obviously forced.

"I want to know what you were doing in the hospital wing two days ago."

"I wasn't in the hospital wing. I haven't been there for months, actually-although I might have gone if your brother and cousin had beaten me up, as they so clearly wanted to. You must have me confused with someone else."

I decided to ignore most of his statement. "Madam Pomfrey told me that you had been there, Scorpius."

He sighed. "You're not the only one who's concerned about Rose, you know. I never knew this was going to happen, but I kind of feel responsible for it anyway. I guess I thought that if I hung out with Rose more, I wouldn't feel so bad."

"Why don't you help us find the attacker?" I surprised both of us with my words, but it was too late to take them back.

"Your cousins would kill me."

"Not if I tell them not to. We could use an inside man, you know. No one would suspect that you'd be helping us. Especially since you're a Malfoy-and Malfoys and Potters don't really get along."

He considered the prospect for a few minutes, but then nodded solemnly. "All right. For Rose."

We clinked glasses of pumpkin juice. "For Rose."
Next chapter: Research…and possibly another attack! Read to find out….:)