A/N: So sorry for the delay! Ended up that having my wisdom teeth out was a bit more painful than expected, and then getting back from Spring Break classes had more work than I had hoped. But weekly updates are hopefully back on track!

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Rain tapped lightly against the glass of window Rose was staring through. She watched the lights of Hogsmeade in the distance dance as water ran down the pain distorting the view. Her mind replaying the events of that morning over and over in the dark living room.

The fear she had felt. What was he going to do to her, she had seen in his eyes the hate, the lust in his eyes as he looked at her. It was all as clear as the small town in the distance. Visible though the glass right in front of her, but at the same time it had been distorted by his anger.

Frozen, Rose had frozen, cowering behind her desk like a child. She had hit Jack initially, but out of panic, not bravery. She hadn't even drawn her wand. Her parents were brave, they wouldn't have hid behind a desk. Scorpius was brave. Scorpius. She had let him take a beating for her, it wasn't right. None of it was. She was a Weasley damn it! As a Weasley she should have been brave, but then Rose wasn't a brave Gryffindor like her parents, like the rest of the Weasley's. She wasn't a resourceful Slytherin like Scorpius.

No, Rose was a Ravenclaw. All intellect, no fight. A boring girl who worked at a bank for three years, who's parent's were war hero's. For Merlin's sake her father is one of the owners one of the most successful wizarding businesses in the world, had been an Auror, and her mother was the Minister of Magic of Great Britain and Ireland!

How was she supposed to compete with that? She hadn't been brave enough to tell Scorpius to stay at the end of seventh year. To tell him that she didn't want to go out in to the world by herself because she was, is, so in love with him, because she, well... she was afraid. Afraid of going into a world in which she would be judged for who her parents were, who her family was. He knew that pain, perhaps it was what drew her to him initially?

The one thing they both wanted above any other was to just be. To live their lives and not the lives others expected them to live. Scorpius's way of doing this was to defy every notion the Malfoy name carried and so he become an Auror. To be brave, selfless, and above all else... good. Rose on the other hand had done the opposite. She had taken a job at Gringotts, away from people who had expected her to be a clone of her mother or a mold of her father. A bank job, in which one was thought to be greedy, petty, and boring, even if Rose did it for the history, for the meaning of the treasure.

It had only been since Scorpius's re-entry into her life that Rose had felt the need to be more than just a wallflower. He made her feel, he inspired her. The whole idea for the Weasley Wizarding Initiative had been Scorpius's... he talks in his sleep. It had been easy to put what she heard and what her father offered together. Scorpius had obviously remembered much of what they had talked about during those moments away from prying eyes and ears.

Rose use to talk about being just like her mother, but then Hogwarts had come and that notion had quickly disappeared and been replaced by one in which she just wanted to be a good person, her own person. It was truly amazing how easily people compared her to her mother, and to a lesser extent her father. Rose also had no doubt that her behavior at home had deteriorated to a nearly reckless level before her grandparent's had passed away, and that her soured relationship with her mother was the result.

Over and over and over they would weigh her accomplishments against those of her mother. It was a constant unending scrutinization of her every action. Rose was not her mother, she would never be her mother, and she had certainly proven that, at exactly the wrong moment in her mother's life.

It had been the summer before her seventh year, just after her grandparent's passing. Her birthday had been that June, and that meant she was now of age. For Rose that meant two things, freedom and the attention of the press. After her birthday she began to show up at the largest parties, the loudest concerts, and in turn became a press fascination. Without her knowledge her parents had managed to keep the press at bay for the most part, but then one night in early July that changed, and it had all been over nothing more than an innocent mistake.

Rose was been in Blackpool with Ryan Wood, just under the pier as they were walking along the beach. Albus had run back to their hotel and Dominique with him. It had been just the four of them out for the weekend. Dominique had just come of age the week prior this was their first vacation as adults, at least as far as wizards were concerned.

"You think Al is ever going to dump Claire? I mean she tried to convince him to bring her with." Rose exacerbated. "We haven't even been close since we were in first year. She got mad because I was getting everyone's bloody attention, because of my parents. Then at Dom because she is basically a miniature version of Victoire. I didn't even want the attention, I still don't!"

"If I tell you a secret, you can't tell anyone." Ryan said with a cheeky grin as he ran a hand through his long brown hair. His other hand was holding his sandals, and not that she had intended on noticing, but honestly she couldn't help but notice thanks to Dom's insisting that Ryan had gotten rather fit somewhere between last summer and now. And well he had. He was in light khaki shorts that came to a few inches above his knees, a simple white tee and a blue hoodie over it. His light brown eyes seemed to sparkle from the light of the sun, which hung just above the horizon over the water.

Rose grinned, "I love secrets!"

"But promise not to tell anyone, you certainly don't want Al to find out I told you." Ryan said in all seriousness. Rose nodded. They stopped walking as they reached the other side of the pier. "He's dating Finnegan to make someone else jealous."

"What!" Rose said excitedly, grabbing onto Ryan's arms, which she found firmer than she expected. "Who? You have to tell me, Ryan!"

He chuckled and shook his head. "I won't say anymore than that."

Considering him for a moment Rose nodded. "Probably for the best." She paused than continued. "Besides trying to make someone else jealous is rather immature." Rose wasn't proud of it, but last term she had found Scorpius Malfoy's relationship with Julie Davies rather bothersome. Not least of which was because she shares a dorm with the girl.

None of this had been the problem though. That was absolutely something Rose was not prepared for, something her next words were not supposed to insinuate. Had the next incident not happened every problem Scorpius, Albus, her mother, the Thomas's and Lucy were facing wouldn't be occurring. Because if nothing had happened, there would have been no warrant for Scorpius to get, because he would never have felt the need to get Rose out of Ministry protection, which she would never have been in.

"I think if you have feelings for someone you should just express them, just let that person know how you feel. If they feel the same way then you'll know, if not, well you haven't lost something if it was never even yours to begin with, eh." Of course Rose was referring to her decision to show Scorpius her feelings the moment she got the chance, but that's not how it came across.

"You know I think you're on to something..." Ryan said then nodded looking at Rose. "Yeah, definitely." And without hesitating Ryan moved so that his lips were on hers.

A bright flash and the sound of a camera occurred at the same moment Rose pushed Ryan away, breaking his kiss. The sound of a bag opening and then closing made rose look over a confused Ryan's should. A man in a dress shirt and jeans with a fedora over his head and a camera bag over his shoulder looked back at her. With a sly grin he tipped his hat then apparated away.

The very next morning Rose was looking at a special edition of Witch Weekly. Her breaking the kiss with Ryan was on the front cover. His face was obscured, even as the picture moved. It was the act of her pushing him away that was enough for the story to suggest Rose needed a tighter leash. Apparently her mother had agreed because the next day Hugo and Rose were sitting in their mother's office, being introduced to the Law Enforcement Agents assigned to protect them outside of school.

Had that not happened the summer before seventh year, Urquhart would have never been able to cause the trouble he had, and Scorpius and Albus wouldn't be here in the Shrieking Shack. Hiding from the press and the possibility that Urquhart would use the opportunity to arrest them and skew everything further.

"That's what I've been saying. Where is the Minister in all this? It's been what, almost eleven hours now? I think that what we're seeing a breakdown of the Ministry leadership. It doesn't take much to see that." The sound wireless that Rose had turned on when she had finally calmed down at the window brought her back from her thoughts. She started to listen to the witch that was speaking.

"Minister Weasley knows that her insistence that the warrant against her by Chief Warlock Thomas was anything more than a friendly joke was clearly a cover for some form of black mail. Now did Malfoy make a deal that he would throw out the warrant by erasing it from the record, in exchange for a high level position in the Minister's office? I don't know, but it's possible. I think-"

"I must say I disagree completely Janine, if that was the case than why was Albus Potter up there too?" A man's voice cut in. "It's clear, at least to me this was a misguided attempt by Scorpius Malfoy to show the Minister his feelings for her daughter. Albus Potter is know to be close with Scorpius, and as Rose is his cousin, perhaps it was a way of showing support for Malfoy? Then we can't forget, especially in light of a recent article that Lucy Weasley is dating the son of the Chief Warlock. The families are very close, and I believe that there was no harm done in Thomas's support of Scorpius and Albus trying to end the Minister's mandated protection of her daughter, who is a free citizen just like the rest of us. Rose Weasley had a legitimate grievance over being in what amounts to protective custody"

"Are you then making the point that the Minister is in the wrong in all of this?" Lee Jordan's voice asked.

"I'm saying that no one is to blame alone and this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. The Post reporter who broke this whole story, Leonard Saville, is a known and outspoken advocate of the Minister. I believe that as he has a habit of doing, Saville wrote the story with a slant, making something out of nothing. Now perhaps there was no need for a warrant to have been issued, but I think that perhaps the Minister promoted Malfoy because she was aware of a possible relationship between him and her daughter. There were rumors that he was in charge of her protection. It might have been a way for the Minister to better know Malfoy and make sure that their was some space between the youngsters."

"Tom, that's very optimistic, but I think that the bigger issue is that the Minister hasn't even spoken after what happened today." Claire was speaking again. "All that her office has done is release a statement saying she is aware of the incident in the Press Office, but is busy dealing with national security issues involving Argentina. A comp out in my opinion to the-" Suddenly the wireless went out.

Rose turned around to look at the device and found Alice removing her hand from it. "I was listening to that."

"It won't do any good listening to those idiots." Alice walked over to the couch next to Roseand sat, patting the spot next to her for Rose to join.

Rose took the seat, but rather than look at Alice, she glanced around the old house. It had been cleaned up, well the inside had, thanks to Teddy and Victoire. Once Uncle Harry had seen that he helped perpetuate the rumor the house was haunted, and made it a safe house for the Aurors and the family, though it was never needed. In fact this was the first time it had ever been used as such.

"Rose, what's going on." Alice spoke softly, just as she had the last four times, each of which Rose had replied that she was fine. "Don't tell me you're fine again, I know you aren't."

"I'm pathetic." She turned to Alice.

"What?" Alice asked confused.

Rose shrugged then looked away again. "I'm pathetic. I hid like a child."

"He assaulted you."

Rose shook her head. "I hid like a child, Alice. Nothing changes that. I wasn't brave, and because of that Scorpius got hurt."

"So it would have been better if you were hurt, or if Jack had taken advantage of you?" Alice asked. "Besides I fixed Scorpius up pretty quickly."

"No, but I should have helped Scor." Rose said then sighed. "He won't even speak to me."

"They've been waiting for that prat to wake up. Scorpius knocked him out pretty hard and the bloke hasn't said a word to anyone. Not to you, Al, me, or Williamson when he stopped by. He's focused-"

"But he hasn't ignored any of you." Rose cut Alice of, her voice harsh. "At least he looks at you every so often. I've been down here for the last ten hours. I've been here and he's come downstairs twice. He won't even look at me." Her arms crossed.

"You don't think he was scared of losing you?" Alice spoke after a moment of silence. "You don't think he would have kept you back even if you had tried to fight? He's just as shaken as you, and he's waiting like a circling hawk for the moment that bastard wakes up."

Rose stood. "I'm waiting here for him like a sad sorry little girl. I'm pathetic for doing that just like I'm pathetic for hiding behind a desk, behind Scor. If he wants to pretend I'm invisible I'll make it real easy for him." In a second, Rose had pulled out her wand and apparated with a loud cracking sound.

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Albus was leaning against the wall of the upstairs bedroom, the sound of rain hitting the roof left a constant white noise in the room, periodically interrupted by the occasional drip of water through the old ceiling. Scorpius sat in a chair, staring barely blinking at the bed where Jack lay in magically induced sleep. Alice had said it was necessary so that he was able to remember everything possible.

There was a cough from the bed, Jack started to wake, his eyelids slowly blinking. Scorpius stood immediately, his face hard and cold, his eyes unmoving from Jack. "Go tell Alice, he's up."

Albus took one look at Scorpius, unsure of whether or not he should leave him alone with Jack.

"Go!" Scorpius urged, still looking only at Jack. "The sooner he can speak the better."

With that Albus left the room, walking down the stairs to the living room, where he heard a crack. He looked in the extremely small kitchen then to where Alice was sitting. "He's awake. Who was that?" He asked referring to the sound.

"Rose. She just left." Alice looked from the spot where Rose must have just been to Albus's eyes.

"She can't just... What if... You need to go find her." Albus urged walking the short distance to Alice, who stood. "She could be in danger, we don't know how Urquhart's going to handle this."

"Okay, okay. Yeah... Let me just." Alice moved to grab her coat and scarf.

"Do I need to give the prick anything or can he speak?" Albus asked stopping her once she had pulled on her coat.

Alice shook her head. "Just some water."

"Alright." Albus nodded. "You need to find her. Go to Vince's place. He should be home, he'll help you."

"I love you." Alice said before kissing Albus on the cheek. "If you have a problem, send a patronus, and I'll come right back."

Albus nodded and stepped back. "You got it, love."

Then with the same cracking pop, Alice was gone.

Running up the stairs, Albus entered the room. Jack was holding his head where he lay, Scorpius hadn't moved from the spot he had stood. Walking over to Scorpius, Albus whispered in his ear. "Rose just took off. I told Alice to get Vince to help find her. We don't know how Urquhart's reacting to everything."

Scorpius didn't give smallest flicker of reaction, he just continued to look at Jack. "Did you here what I said?" Albus asked in a low voice.

It was as if Albus had said nothing of consequence, or even something pointless. Scorpius glanced at Albus with the same cold hard expression. "We need to start."

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A/N: Don't jump the wand yet! We still have no idea what is going through Scorpius's mind! Please feel free to review, and remember please stay positive! Well, at the very least be civil, until next week.