Of course, it wasnʼt enough to have to deal with the fallout from his screaming match with Mr. Weasley and both Rose's parents obvious and considerably resentment that Esme had actually backed him up. Scorpius's parents had to come see Rose - which he supposed made sense, when he found the energy to think about it.
"What are you doing here?" her father asked when he looked up and Scorpiusʼs parents peering into the room. His voice was hostile and cracked, and Scorpius didnʼt have to look at him to know that his eyes were still red and bloodshot.
He was afraid that his father would rise to the bait - he knew that theyʼd never gotten along - but thankfully, both of his parents seemed to be occupied with the rather more important matter of their sonʼs girlfriend lying seriously injured and unconscious in St. Mungoʼs.
"Weʼre not staying," his father said as his mother entered the room to put a large bouquet of roses, violets, and daffodils on a table along the far wall. "We just came to check in on Rose."
Roseʼs father twitched a little, but her mother put her hand on his knee, and he didnʼt respond. She turned to Scorpiusʼs parents and managed to turn the corners of her mouth up, though she wasnʼt able to manage a true smile. "Thank you for thinking of her. Itʼs very kind."
His father studied her for a minute before saying in the mildest tone he could manage, "Well, I donʼt know about kind. She's been with my son for four years - at this point, she's kind of family, isn't she?"
Neither of Roseʼs parents seemed to have any idea how to the respond to that, so they turned back to their daughter. Scorpius, on the other hand, felt his heart swell a little, and he was able to manage a small smile at his father. The difficulties Scorpius and Rose were having in their relationship really didnʼt have anything to do with Rose not being a good person, or even not a good girlfriend, and unless they actually broke up, he was gratified to hear that his parents felt that way. He knew that they liked her, but actually referring to her as family was a bit different than saying that she should come by for dinner.
"Scorpius?"
He dragged his eyes away from Roseʼs face to look up at his father. Her face had become endlessly fascinating and deeply frightening to him in the last day; her features were the same, but heʼd never seen that expression on her face before, not even when she was asleep. Rose was a very expressive person when she was awake, and she looked very peaceful while she was asleep. Sheʼd been like that for as long as heʼd known her.
Right now, she didnʼt look like either of those things. There was a faint grimace on her face that just didnʼt seem to be going away, and he didnʼt like that.
"What?" His voice came out as a croak, and his father sighed.
"Can I have a word?"
Scorpius glanced back at Rose and decided that he could probably leave her alone for a few minutes. He leaned forward, brushed his lips against her forehead, and followed his father out of the room.
Outside, he could see his mother a little further down the hall talking to Albusʼs mother, who was on her way back from getting coffee for Rose's parents. His father seemed to want to speak to privately, though, because he stopped him just outside the doorway and leaned against the wall.
"How is she doing?"
Scorpius looked down at the floor. "We don't know yet."
"And how are you doing?"
Scorpiusʼs first instinct was to claim that he was fine, but his father knew him a lot better than that, and he doubted he would be able to get away with it. "Iʼve been better. Merlin, Dad, I donʼt know. Itʼs hard, and I hate it, and this is the worst experience I have ever gone through." He groaned and let his head fall back against the wall. "I just want her to wake up and be okay."
His father glanced toward the open door and lowered his voice further. "Do they think she might not wake up?"
"They really don't know. We…" Scorpius steered his father a little further down the hall; he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing what he was about to say, because he was sure they'd crucify him for it if they knew.
Maybe even literally.
"We would know," he said softly. "There were potions and spells that we could have done that - we'd know she'd be okay, barring something unexpected. They got her here pretty quickly; once she was stabilized, it didn't need to be life-threatening. But I told them not to do them."
His father's eyebrows had raised slightly as Scorpius spoke. "I'm assuming you had a good reason?"
"She'd probably have lost her leg. She'd definitely have a limp. And she'd hate that."
"What was the alternative?"
Scorpius glanced around the hallway again. "Promise you won't tell anyone? Not even Mum, not yet?"
"I promise." His father was beginning to look downright alarmed; there were creases in his forehead now, and his eyes had narrowed slightly.
"What we ended up used instead are potions that - they'll let her keep her leg. If she recovers, she'll be good as new. Mostly."
"If?"
Scorpius shifted from one foot to the other, feeling very uncomfortable. "They're not likely to kill her, but there is a risk - she's not out of the woods yet. And - er…" He wasn't really comfortable talking about this - he didn't even know how to talk about it. "And the mostly is… well, if she decides she wants children - and she hasn't yet, I know that - it's probably going to be a lot harder for her to get pregnant and carry them to term. If she can at all."
His father winced. "You're sure you made the right decision?" He mostly succeeded in keeping the skepticism out of his voice - mostly. That confirmed Scorpius's suspicions - if even his father was having this reaction, there was no way he could tell anyone else about it.
Except maybe Albus.
"Yes. I didn't like it - believe me, I'd rather have a Rose that can't walk than no Rose at all, and I know that at least a dozen people would kill me over the kid thing if they found out."
Just underneath Rose's parents on that list would probably be Scorpius's paternal grandparents. They'd adjusted to the possibility that any future Malfoys would probably be halfbloods - he suspected that his grandmother had because she genuinely loved him enough to overcome it and his grandfather had because Lucius Malfoy knew when arguing would do more harm than good to his cause - but if they knew that Rose might not be able to have any kids at all, that restraint would go out the window.
And then he'd have to stop speaking to his grandparents, because he'd be so angry with them for making something that was so difficult that wasn't really about them at all all about them, and he liked being able to talk to his grandparents. It would be an annoying addition to everything else that was happening.
His father still looked a little conflicted. "Dad - that's the choice she would have made, and… I can't betray her. I just can't." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Fuck. We came pretty close to breaking up last night, you know."
"I didn't, no." His father reached out to clasp Scorpius's arm. The contact steadied him - just a little, but at this point, Scorpius would really take any improvement. He didn't know what was keeping Albus and James - he could use some support. It had been hours since they'd been allowed to go into Rose's room, and since Rose's parents had made it clear that they had no interest in speaking to him, he'd had far too much time to be alone with his thoughts. "How do you feel about that now?" his father asked. "Do you want to?"
Scorpius stared at him for a minute. He had not, in fact, made any conscious decision, but now that he was confronted with the question, he found he knew the answer.
"No." He sighed. "I think the only thing worse than this would be - well, this without being with her. The vision popped into my head this afternoon, and - that would be torture." Scorpius felt a shudder run through body. "God, Dad. I just - I love her so damned much."
"Do you want us to stay? Or will it do more harm than good?"
"No. They're already so pissed off at me. Did Albus's mum tell you about that part?"
His father nodded.
"I don't want to push it." He glanced down the hall. "Albus and James should be here soon. And Mr. and Mrs. Potter have been - er - nice. Considering."
His father regarded him for a minute before nodding and releasing his shoulder. Rather than step away, however, he held out his arms.
That proved to be too much. Scorpius liked to think that he was a pretty tough, capable person, but right now, all he was feeling was hollow and scared. There was a pit in his stomach that grew every hour that Rose didnʼt wake up, and closing his eyes just led to nightmares about them dragging him away from her and saying that it was too late, that they couldnʼt save her, that it was all his fault -
As he stepped into his fatherʼs hug, he could feel the tears starting to flow, but he was past caring.
When he reentered the room a short while later, Roseʼs parents both glanced at him, but neither commented on his eyes, which he was sure were looking quite red and puffy. It didn't seem to improve her father's demeanor toward him at all, though a little bit of the hostility in her mother's eyes seemed to dissipate.
Scorpius still didn't quite regret what he'd done - he knew that they absolutely could not find out about the decision he'd made - but he was beginning to wish he'd found the fortitude to handle it a little differently. He didnʼt need Roseʼs father - a man who heʼd come to like very much - angry with him on top of everything else, and he also doubted that Rose would want to wake up to her father and her boyfriend feuding.
Because she was going to wake up. She had to wake up.
If she didn't wake up, it would be his fault. That was the part that was killing him inside, more than anything else. He was still sure that he'd made the decision she would have wanted him to, but he was second-guessing whether he should have done what she'd wanted in the first place. Surely it would have been better for her to adjust to a different life than have no life at all - and while she'd been apathetic about children the few times it had come up, he knew that he did want kids eventually. Not now, but - eventually.
And he'd always imagined them being with Rose.
Scorpius was starting to feel like he'd shot himself in the foot. It wasn't too late to turn back - if he changed his mind right now, it was probably still in time to stop a lot of the lasting effects of the potions Lyssa was currently pouring down his girlfriend's throat.
He kept his mouth shut and watched them in silence, feeling his dreams about the future start to shrivel up and die.
A/N: Thanks to LoveLoganNiallGrey, twilightlover212, and Fugacity for their reviews on the last chapter!
So I know I said Friday, but I've been super excited all week to get you guys something totally new and continuing the story and so it's going up a day early. I hope you'll forgive me. ;)
So - what did you think? Is Scorpius's conflict and anguish adequately coming across? And I'm really curious - exactly how angry do you think Ron still is with Scorpius?
Thanks so much for reading!
Branwen
