Chapter 26
"McGonagall you said that I would only be expelled if I got into another fight with Rose, you said nothing about her cousin." Scorpius tried to say in a charming way.
Albus quickly shot up "He pushed her isn't that enough?"
"Mr. Potter that is quiet enough." Headmistress McGonagall said in a strict voice.
"I only pushed her to protect her from that lunatic." He argued to McGonagall, hearing Albus counter him in the background.
"I would never hurt her and you know it." Albus protested.
"Neither would I," Scorpius said through greeted teeth turning his head to Albus.
"Oh really and you think by being with her you aren't hurting her." Albus said in a hatful voice glaring at Scorpius.
"Enough!" McGonagall yelled. She looked over the two boys making sure that they weren't going to interrupt her, finally, she continued "Now I do not know anything about what is going on between Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley but whatever it is I can assure you that I will not have another incident like the one that happened today." She looked at both of the boys seeing the bruises that each of them had forming on their face. Thinking a moment she released a sigh. "Mr. Potter will you please step out of the room for a moment so that I can talk to Mr. Malfoy alone?"
Albus stood up quickly and walked out of the room.
Scorpius waited a moment after Albus left before he said quickly "Headmistress you have to know I honestly didn't mean to hurt her."
"I know," she replied. "Believe it or not I do happen to notice that my two brightest students are no longer at each other's throats any more. Although I must also say that what happened today was a bit of a disappointment."
"He attacked me. What was I supposed to do just sit there and not fight back?" Scorpius argued.
She waited a moment to think of what she was going to say next, tapping her finger on her desk she said. "How do you expect to get anywhere in life if you keep fighting back. You go on and on about how you aren't your father, and that you're more than your name, well then prove it. Fighting back with Albus Potter didn't solve your problems, if anything it only reassured why it is that people look down on the name of Malfoy." She eyed Scorpius "Your family hasn't had it easy the past several years, and I have watched you work hard to overcome that. It's a shame that you would let all of that work be ruined over a few precious minuets of fighting." She stated.
Releasing a low breath, she glanced to the report that was in front of her "You know if professor Jinggles hadn't pulled you off of Albus you would have broken his arm."
Scorpius looked down at his hands, knowing that she had a point. He hadn't meant to hurt Albus as badly as he did and he was very grateful that Jinggles had pulled him off Potter before he did anything that he regretted.
"I'm sorry." He said coolly. He didn't like to be scolded, but she did have a point. For the longest time he hadn't lost control of himself like that, and he had to admit that he didn't like the feeling of it. Looking back up to McGonagall, he asked the one question that he had wanted to know the answer to since he found out that Rose had been hurt. "Is Rose alright?"
McGonagall got a curious look on her face before she answered "From my knowledge she is awake and Madam Pomfrey is examining her head."
Scorpius, much more relieved exhaled a deep breath that he had been harboring since he found out about her. "Have you told my parents about what happened yet?" he asked out of concern.
"Mr. Malfoy you know that it is my responsibility to tell them about this." McGonagall answered shortly.
Scorpius bowed his head, this was something that he wasn't looking forward too. He had woken up that day in a great mood and he wasn't sure how it had gotten so bad so quickly. Looking back up to McGonagall he said quickly "You do know that you are signing my death sentence?"
McGonagall got a tart smile on her face "Mr. Malfoy I believe you signed your own death sentence seven years ago when all of this nonsense started,"
"Well can you at least not expel me?" he said softly.
"You know very well that I was never going to expel you or Ms. Weasley. You two are our brightest students and at the current moment you are the top of the class."
"That will last about a day." He commented.
"I just needed to get some sense knocked into those stubborn heads of yours." She finished.
"With all due respect headmistress I still ended up sitting your office facing punishment." He grumbled.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy but for a very different purpose. Today you hurt Rose Weasley out of protection, not out of hatred or ignorance." Eyeing him she finished "To me it seems as if you have matured great deal from the boy who sat in my office all those years ago."
Meeting her eyes Scorpius had the strangest feeling of comfort fall upon him. "Can you try and explain that to my parents?" he joked, knowing that nothing was going to save him from his current situation.
Rose sat up in the hospital bed wincing as Madam Pomfrey slowly moved her hair out of the way of the cut. Hugo was beside her, not paying much attention to anything. Rose tried to catch his attention a few times but he wouldn't look her in the eyes, finally out of a moment of annoyance she said loudly "What are you mad at me too?"
Hugo met the glare that Rose was giving him "Rose calm down," he said in his own annoyed voice "I'm not mad at anyone, a little freaked out maybe."
Rose's face relaxed a bit. She fumbled with the edge of her skirt listening to the clinking sounds of Madam Pomfrey's utensils "It's not as bad as we thought it was it seems that only half of the scar opened up." She said laying down a utensil. "McGonagall should have let me heal it properly two years ago instead of with stitches." She muttered grabbing a bottle from the side table.
Rose could feel as the women began to drop a liquid on to her scare. Even though the liquid was meant to fix open wounds the stinging was horrible. "Rose be still," She demanded. Rose did her best but this felt like fire was on her head. When the pain went away Madam Pomfrey said "That spot is still going to be very tender for the next few days, but you should be fine." Collecting her things Madam Pomfrey walked back into the storage room leaving Rose and Hugo alone.
Rose looked back into her brothers eyes "Do you think I'm a nutter for being with him." she asked slowly.
Hugo paused "I think that you are a bit insane, but I have always thought that." He joked.
"Honestly Hugo," She groaned.
"What Rose, I don't have an opinion on what's going on." He said quickly "All that stuff between you and Malfoy then and now I stayed out of. Not to mention I picked on the fact that you were with him months ago."
"No you didn't," She argued, although after one glance at the look that her brother was giving her she knew he had. It was a look that she hated to receive, a look that she had mastered to perfection but unfortunately her mother and brother were also masters of. It was the look that literally sais are you seriously going to argue with me on this? Releasing a sigh "How did you know?"
"Rose I'm not stupid." He almost couldn't help but laugh at her frustration "I tend to pick up on the fact that my big sister is studying with Scorpius Malfoy every spare moment of her life." Hugo smiled "Not even I study that much, and then Christmas and that letter" Rose's head quickly jerked up "You honestly thought I didn't see you cover it up?" That truly did make him laugh "Rose after that I just added two and two together."
"So you are okay with this?" She asked slowly.
"Rose I don't really care what you do, I love you regardless." He paused for a moment "Now mum and dad are going to have a few choice words with you when they find out, which I presume will be very shortly seeing as how no one in our family can keep their mouths shut."
Rose made a loud noise that sounded like a mix of a groan and a scream. "How did things become this complicated." She said in an agitated voice.
"You started dating me." Scorpius answered in a tired voice walking into the hospital wing, harshly throwing a bloody rag into a waist bin.
Reaching Rose, he kissed her on the forehead before taking a seat beside her on the bed. Personally he couldn't care if her brother was there, but he did make sure to sit far enough down on the bed so that he wasn't touching her. If Hugo was worried he didn't show it on his face.
Rose sat up straight, "Where is Albus?" She asked still fumbling with the edge of her skirt.
"In McGonagall's office with his parents." Scorpius said. "Mine are on their way," he waited a moment before adding "Along with yours."
"What? How did mine get dragged into this?" Rose asked a bit confused.
A smirk appeared on Hugo's face "Like I said no one in our family can keep a secret. I guarantee that it was Albus who told Uncle Harry who probably told mum… and you get the point."
"Yeah I get it," she mumbled.
"Not to mention that McGonagall wrote them telling them that you were hurt." Scorpius added.
Rose was so shocked by the information that she couldn't even think about it. Turning her attention to Scorpius she noticed how his face was bruised pretty badly. "Are you alright?" she asked momentarily.
"Rose come on you know this is nothing compared to the other injuries."
Rose let out a small chuckle, he had her there. Compared to all the broken bones she had given him, a bruised face was nothing. "What happened with McGonagall?" she asked.
"Well I spent a good bit of time arguing with McGonagall on why she shouldn't expel me." Rose's head quickly shot up. "I'm not leaving," he said gently "Apparently I hold the number one spot in our year and for that McGonagall felt that it could potentially hurt my academic standing to transfer so late into the term." Scorpius gloated.
"Oh that will last a day and you know it." She joked knowing that their positions for top of the class swapped back and forth on a day to day bases.
Scorpius laughed, then he looked at her with soft eyes. "How is your head feeling?"
"It's nothing compared to the headache I'm getting now," she said darkly.
"Rose it could be worse," Hugo added.
"How can it possibly get any worse than this?"
"Scorpius Malfoy," a strict low voice yelled from the entrance of the hospital wing.
Rose couldn't help but get a smirk on her face, it was one of those rare moments where everything was going so wrong that anything else that happened almost seemed funny. "I spoke too soon didn't I." she commented.
"Yeah," Scorpius exhaled slowly patting Rose's knee before he stood up to greet his father at the entrance of the room.
Scorpius couldn't help but bow his head to the ground. The look that his father was giving him wasn't new to him; in fact it was a look that he had memorized by heart. A stern tight lipped snare that was complete with eye narrowing. Scorpius' mother on the other hand had an odd expression on her face a look that suggested that she didn't know the boy that was in her son's body.
Walking out the door letting it shut slowly Scorpius continued to stare at the ground.
They stood in silence. This was one of the few times that Draco Malfoy was so shocked by his son's actions that he had no words. Letting out a slow and exaggerated breath, Draco tightened the fist that his hand had folded into. Slowly he formed words "W…Wha…" He paused to get a clear mind "What was that in there?"
Scorpius slowly raised his eyes to meet his father's dark stare "To what are you referring to?" He asked, not sure if they were a hundred percent aware of the circumstances or not.
"Don't play games with me Scorpius! Now you tell me right now what is going on between you and the Weasley girl." He almost yelled.
"I could ask you the same thing?" Another loud male voce said from behind him. Scorpius didn't have to turn around to know that it was Rose's father.
Scorpius body stiffened, and the only thing that was running through his head was that Rose was right she had spoken to soon, because things had just gone from worse to hell. He looked up at his mother's face whose look hadn't changed but her expression had softened a bit.
Rose's parents came to a stop a few feet away from the Malfoy family. Scorpius knew that all eyes were glued to him and he had no clue what to say. It wasn't until he heard the hospital wing door open behind him that he finally gained some control of what was going on.
"I thought I heard you daddy," Rose said softly staring into the eyes of her father. His expression was unrecognizable; it seemed to be a mixture of confusion and hurt, along with disappointment.
"Rose are you alright?" Her mother asked first eyeing her daughters head.
"I'm fine mum," Rose said softly still trying to find the words best to explain Scorpius to her parents.
"Obviously she is fine, she is walking," Draco spat in a snarky voice "What I want to know is why my son felt the need to push your daughter out of the way." He said sternly.
"Rose please tell me that it is not true." Ron finally said, looking into his daughter's eyes for the first time since he arrived at the school.
Rose couldn't handle her father's look, she felt her insides almost tear apart and she had to look away.
"Rose," her father said in a shocked tone, needing all the reassurance that he needed to believe that his daughter, who he swore to protect and take care of, was indeed seeing Scorpius Malfoy.
She still couldn't look up.
Ron looked the blond boy up and down almost sizing him up, by the color of red that Ron's face had becoming it was obvious that he was debating on hexing him.
"Daddy I…" Rose said loudly to snap her father's attention away from Scorpius, but when she saw the look that her father gave her she regretted it. Ron looked at Rose almost as if he didn't recognize her. There was so much disappointment in his eyes that Rose could feel her heart breaking in half. Rose had never felt ashamed of Scorpius before, she had never looked down on being with him, or ever felt like what she had chosen was a mistake, that was until now.
Ron almost felt sick to his stomach. His only daughter was dating the one person who had single handedly try to kill her on countless occasions, screw the fact that he was a Malfoy and just as arrogant as his father, he could live with that although he didn't want too. This was so much more than that. This was watching his daughter about claim that she was in love with someone who made him feel physically sick at the sight of. A boy who he had wanted to hurt on countless occasions because of the hell he had put his daughter and family through. And to stand there and have to watch his daughter, his Rosie, about to defend that boy was too much for him to handle. Shaking his head he turned around and began to walk away. Hearing his daughter scream after him not to leave he continued to walk.
"Daddy please don't go… Daddy it just happened." She sobbed attempting to go after him only to have her mother reach out and grab her arm, pulling her tightly towards her body.
"Just let him go," Hermione whispered in a soothing voice, coddling Rose as her entire body was leaning against her mothers. "He only needs some time to calm down." Hermione continued trying to calm her hysterically sobbing daughter.
"Mum," Rose wept into Hermione's shoulder "I didn't mean for this to happen," she continued to cry harder feeling that, if it weren't for her mother holding her up she would be unable to stand at the moment.
"Shh, I know love." She continued brushing back her daughter's hair.
Draco stared at Scorpius, he watched as his son's couldn't peal his eyes away from the two Weasley's in front of them. His son's faced showed concern and worry along with fear.
Scorpius was about to reach out for Rose until a voice stopped him.
"Scorpius," Astoria said softly "You should come with us right now."
"Mum I rather…" He was cut off.
"Son, I know you mean well but now isn't the time." She said nodding to Hermione and Rose, giving an all knowing look that said she had caught on to what was going on. "Come talk to me and your father right now."
Hermione tightened her grip to better hold Rose up as she shook aggressively under her. Balancing her chin on the tip of her head she locked eyes with Scorpius. The look that she gave him wasn't plagued with hatred, but it simply requested that he please not interfere with this.
Reluctantly Scorpius nodded his head and began to follow his parents, walking towards the direction opposite Rose and her mother. The only positive thing running through his mind was that his father was probably so shocked at the moment that he wouldn't have much to say… Right now that is.
A/N: First to all of you who are also reading my other Scor/Rose story Twelve I want to say thank you for liking this story so much that you trust me enough to read another, that means a lot to me. Second thank you to all who have been reviewing I really appreciate the feedback. I am a huge fan of constructive criticism, so please review because it helps me better myself as a writer. Thank you so much for reading.