"Rose, you're suppose to be the sensible one!" said Hugo, telling very loudly and nervously. "And nothing about this is sensible!"
"I'd thought you'd like taking risks," said Rose.
"Not when the idea is stupid!" protested Hugo. "and this is a really stupid idea!"
Rose, Scorpius, and Hugo were riding the lift back up to their flat to look for one of Rose's book of spells. Rose's idea was to change the hair color of Scorpius from white blonde to ginger red to make him more of a Weasley. This way, Scorpius would not be in danger and could be out in public without giving his location away. Also, maybe people who just mistake him as another Weasley and leave the family alone.
"Rose," said Scorpius, meekly. "Are you feeling alright? Seriously, your lack of judgment is really concerning."
"Of course I'm alright!" said Rose, annoyed at her bother and friend's lack of confidence in her abilities. "I've done this spell before with Nikki and it worked. Maybe if they see Scorpius with red hair, they'll just assume it's another Weasley. You could pass as Freddie."
"Anything's better than this wig," said Scorpius, who was wearing an awful ginger wig that was in Arthur's shed as well as some of Hugo's clothing.
The lift door opened and the three walked out into the hallway.
"This is so dumb, Rose," said Hugo, running his hands through his hair. For the carefree Weasley, nothing about his behavior was carefree at the moment. "Besides, the door is probably locked by magic or at least a new bolt."
"Let's try," said Rose, pulling out her emergency key. She put in it the lock and surprisingly, the door opened to the flat.
"You have got to be kidding me," groaned Hugo. "The bloody key worked?"
"That is...surprising," said Scorpius, not sure if he trusted the Aurors now to protect his life.
"Stop complaining, both of you!" snapped Rose. "Just be lookouts for me alright? I've got my wand just in case. I know where the book and I'll be back in a few seconds, okay?"
"Fine," groaned Hugo. "But when we get in trouble, I'm not covering for you. You're on your own."
"That's fair," said Rose. "Scorpius, you be a lookout on the inside."
"Sure," said Scorpius. "But I'm with Hugo on this, I'm not taking blame for any of this."
"You're not even related to us," said Rose.
"How you met your mother?" asked Scorpius. Rose walked to her bedroom, walking silently and slowly in case there were any traps set up. Once there, she began to look through her shelves for the spell book she wanted.
"Hmm...it's got to be here...this is where I keep all of my books..."
Just then, Rose felt a hand around her mouth, an arm arm her collarbone, and a wand on her felt her heart race and her breathing get heavier.
"You know you shouldn't be here, right?" asked a male voice. The man turned Rose to face the mirror and once Rose saw him, she knew exactly who he was.
"Is your brother here?" he asked Rose. Rose shook her head no.
"Don't lie to me, poppet," said the man, tightening his grip on her.
"Rose? Is everything - Let her go!" cried Scorpius, walking in and pointing his wand at the man.
"Expelliarmus!," said the man, taking the boy's wand. "Locomotor Mortis." Scorpius felt his legs locked up, but was able to hold onto his wig so it would stay in place.
"You a Weasley?" asked the man.
"Yes...I'm...Freddie Weasley," said Scorpius, lying right through his teeth.
"Tell your father that we're done with these games," said the man. "If he wants his precious little girl back alive, you bring the Malfoy boy to 115 Dover in London. We want justice for what his family has done during the Voldemort Reign. You got that?
"Please," said Scorpius, trying to negotiate with the man. "If you let her go..."
"Freddie, just tell Dad alright?" said Rose, managing to talk after tearing his hand away from her mouth.
"You heard her," said the man. "Make sure he gets the message." The man tossed the wand back to Scorpius and disappeared with Rose.
"No!" cried Scorpius. Rose was gone in a flash, and all because she wanted to help him, Since they were first years, all Rose wanted to do was defend and help Scorpius when he was bullied or knocked down. She was his protector for no reason, nor did Scorpius feel like he was deserving of her help. And now, because of him, she was gone.
"Damn it!" cried Scorpius, punching the wall nearest him. "Damn it..." as he knocked stuff over from Rose's dresser. "DAMN IT!" he cried as he kicked the dresser.
"Enough, stop!" said Hugo, holding Scorpius back. "That's not going to bring her back!"
Scorpius stopped for a second to catch his breath. "And where the hell were you?" he asked Hugo.
"Recording everything so my dad could hear it for himself when we break the news to him," said Hugo. "I know you're angry, but Rose is a hell of a lot stronger than you or Dad give her credit for." Hugo looked at Scorpius's eyes and saw he was heartbroken. Truth was, Hugo was just as angry with himself about losing her as he was because he was her brother. Hugo used to laugh it off when his father asked Hugo to protect Rose, but now, Hugo understood why he felt the urge to protect his older sister and frankly, his first friend.
"We're going to get her back, okay?" said Hugo, trying to bring Scorpius back down to Earth.
"Okay" said Scorpius.
"And now, we're going to do something we should have done at first," said Hugo, finding his father's number in his phone's contacts. "Hey, Dad? Yeah...we have a problem..."