Preview:
"But -" he said, his heart sinking a little as he realised, "the Healers said… well… I'm not going to be able to…" suddenly the thought of Hogwarts made him feel a little ill. All those stairs. Would someone have to carry him up them every time he needed to move between classes? And Ravenclaw Tower was one of the highest in the whole castle. "I might have to move into Hufflepuff," he said defeatedly.
Raindrops on Roses
The Last Summer Part 8
2024
~*-R-*~
~*-R-*~
It had been a long few days. At almost the same time they got the news that Scorpius was most certainly going to live, the story of what had happened at the Oldham mill hit the press. The headline was "MYSTERIOUS SHADOW CAUGHT", and underneath, "DRACO MALFOY TAKEN AWAY BY AURORS", and then 'HARRY POTTER'S SON SPOTTED AT CRIME SCENE". It was not a very nice article. It mostly picked on Harry, saying that, since he knew Malfoy, he should have caught him a lot earlier, and that he was irresponsible for letting his son and niece into a building where a dangerous smuggler was hiding. Harry brushed this off for the most part, saying that he was used to ignoring people's opinions about him. "Though perhaps this time they're not completely wrong," Rose heard him mutter.
The story about catching the Shadow was the biggest news, but page three had a picture of Scorpius, and the headline "SHADOW KILLS OWN SON". That part had made Rose feel ill, even though she knew it wasn't true. She wasn't sure where they had got the picture, but it must have been from one of their classmates from Hogwarts. It had been cropped out of a larger image. She could make out bits of the lake in the background and he had his arm around someone - probably Albus judging by the lock of hair that occasionally drifted in and out of frame. The picture-Scorpius laughed and silently joked occasionally with whoever was taking the photo. It seemed like ages since she had seen him smile, properly, like that.
A decent portion of the rest of the paper was Shadow stuff, too. Someone had done a lot of research into the investigation, trying to say that Malfoy couldn't be the Shadow, based on his financial history and the fact that he didn't seem to have many accomplices. A scowling picture of Gregory Goyle with the word WANTED in big letters was on page nine, but no one seemed to think him very important in the grand scheme of things.
There was also a bit about the events at the Ministry that had let to Scorpius being first poisoned, then abducted. There were quotes from Aurors explaining away the poisoning, saying, more or less truthfully, that Scorpius had agreed to take the Veritaserum. The Prophet writer questioned whether that was a ploy by 'the young Malfoy' to get himself into St Mungos where he could be rescued by his father. Another writer in a strongly-worded opinion piece claimed that there was no evidence that Aurors hadn't forced him to sign the documents.
No one was sure even now why he had signed them. That question, however, was rendered more or less unimportant when, the next day, the Prophet found out about Rose's father, and the part he had played in the whole debacle. Predictably, the paper had a field day.
Her uncle Harry had explained, very solemnly, that Ron was being suspended from the Aurors for deliberately leaving the Potions and Poisons ward practically unprotected from magical attack. Rose hadn't quite believed it at first, but the look on her mother's face spoke volumes. Apparently he had come right out and admitted it, but that didn't make her feel any better.
She had never really believed people when they told her what would happen if she started dating Scorpius. Hugo had tried to tell her, so had Albus, so had Scorpius himself, come to think of it. How many times had he told her he was sure her dad hated his guts, and she had just shrugged it off as a silly exaggeration? She had always thought that, while her dad might be hesitant about accepting their relationship, once he saw how happy they were together he would come around. Never in her life had she imagined that her own father would, given the opportunity, put her boyfriend in almost fatal danger. He couldn't have known that he would only be kidnapped. Malfoy could have sent someone to murder him. Or Malfoy could have taken off with Scorpius, and they might never have found him, and he would have been lost forever. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
She hadn't spoken to her dad since, unless absolutely necessary, and when she had to speak to him she did so as shortly and blankly as possible. She spent as little time as possible in the house. Ron was more or less stuck there while on his suspension, especially once the Prophet got wind of the reasons behind it and started staking out the house. She went to the hospital, and sat with Scorp until visiting hours were over. They kept him on sleeping potions for days, but it made her feel better just to see him, just to watch the steady rise and fall of his chest. She brought some of his favourite books and read them to him out loud until she all but lost her voice. Then Albus - well, Cleo - had the idea of playing music for him to listen to. She had no idea if it made any difference, but she had to try.
The day after they took him off the sleeping potions, she got up early and went back to the hospital without even catching sight of either of her parents. Hugo was avoiding her as well, apparently for no other reason than to bypass the tension that was now constantly in the air in the Weasley household.
"Hi Mr Knox," she said, at the entrance to the Scorp's room. The Healer smiled at her as he made his way out. It had taken a few visits for him to start recognising her, since he didn't seem to actually see people unless they were patients or fellow Healers. Knox was a bit of a… well, her dad would say he had a few screws loose. He cared about medical mysteries in almost the same way that Hagrid loved killer creatures. But he was nice, in his own strange sort of way, once you got to know him.
"How is he?" she asked.
"Feeling better, I believe," he said, cheerfully, but then, he was always cheerful about illness. It was kind of unnerving. "Go on in, go on in."
Rose hesitated. "Um, visiting hours don't start for another half hour," she pointed out, always the honest citizen.
"Tish tosh," Knox waved this away with one flamboyant hand. "Go in. I've heard that friends and family can help the healing process."
Rose smiled gratefully and moved past him, just about hearing the man mutter as he passed "…absolute nonsense, of course." She ignored it and made her way into the room.
Scorpius was already sitting up. He did look a little better than he had yesterday, but then, no one ever looked their best while being told they were going to be stuck in a wheelchair indefinitely. It had been terribly difficult to watch. "Hey," he said, on seeing her.
"Hi!" she said, putting on the brave smile she had almost perfected over the last few days. "How're you doing?"
He shrugged. "Eh, I've had better days," he said. "But at least now I can see more than just part of the ceiling." He winced and put a hand to his navel. "Ow."
"Painful?" she said. It was probably a stupid thing to say, but her options were limited.
"It's no joke," he said bravely. "Help take my mind off it?"
She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. It went on for quite a long time.
"Been a while since we've done that… without anyone watching," he said afterwards, with a slightly dazed expression on his face.
"While we were both conscious anyway," she replied, and he raised his eyebrows. "What?" she smiled impishly, sitting down in the chair by the bed.
He chuckled weakly and sat back in his pillows. There was a few seconds of slightly awkward silence. After a moment he shifted and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "You really okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she promised him. "I'm just so glad you're still here. I thought…" she shook her head, feeling that sick, terrible feeling she had been carrying in her stomach since she had realised she was kneeling in his blood begin to stir once again.
He swallowed and rubbed his chest gingerly. "Can we not talk about it?" he asked. "We can… I mean, later, but…"
"Oh, yeah sure," she said quickly, nodding.
"Great," he replied.
"Okay," she said.
The awkward silence was back. It was there even while they were saying words just to fill the void. They could sit close together, but the memory of the scene in the abandoned mill stood between them like a gigantic, ugly elephant in the room. Rose tried desperately to think of things they could talk about that might distract him from his pain. "Oh," she said suddenly. "Cleo gave me the CD of your song."
He looked up at her, his expression brightening slightly. "You mean your song?"
"Yeah." She flushed a little. She had listened to it several more times over the last week. She found it both heart-wrenching and comforting at the same time.
"You like it?" he asked. His voice was still slightly hoarse, but then, she supposed he hadn't had much chance to use it for days.
"Oh yes," she said quickly. "It wasn't anything like I expected, but… I love it, I really do."
"Good."
"Cleo's been here a few times, you know. With Al, mostly. You know they're going out?"
The expression on his face said he hadn't. "Well that's not really a surprise," he said after a moment's consideration. "How's that going?"
"Honestly? I don't really know. She's nice, but… well, they don't have a lot in common. Except their ability to snog for hours on end, apparently." She rolled her eyes.
His lips twitched. "They've been at it a lot, huh?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." She sighed dramatically.
He chuckled. "Well, he did used to complain about us, a lot -"
"Hey, at least we have some sense of common decency," she shot back. "You haven't seen them. It's enough to make you want to claw your eyes out."
He smiled, properly this time. "Well, good for Alby, eh?"
She made a face. "Ew. You are such a guy, sometimes."
"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment."
The small talk continued in this vein for a while, both of them carefully steering around the issue at hand. Rose understood why he didn't want to talk about what had happened. But it did make things rather uncomfortable. And, after all, they always talked about things, no matter how weird or awkward. But it would take time before he was ready to discuss it, and she had to tell herself that that was fair, that she oughtn't to pressure him into reliving it all so quickly.
Time, however, caught up with them soon enough. There was a knock on the door about an hour later, and Teddy poked his head in, his eyes widening at the sight of Scorpius sitting up in bed. "Cor, look at you," he said, grinning.
"I know, semi-conscious and everything," Scorpius replied. He looked genuinely pleased to see his cousin, though Rose could tell by the way he lifted one arm to wave that he was in a lot more pain than he was letting on. "Where've you been?"
Teddy's expression changed slightly into one of guilt. He had brown hair today, and was wearing his own face. He just looked pretty average, which Rose supposed was one of the reasons he made such a good spy. "Yeah, sorry I haven't been in to see you," he said. "It's been mayhem down at the office, because of… well… you know. Anyway I did come once or twice but you were asleep. I only just heard this morning you were up."
"It's okay," Scorp said quickly. "I didn't expect… I mean you didn't have to…"
"Oh shut up," Teddy said. "Anyway I've been busy tracking down your next of kin, among other things."
"Oh." Rose looked at Scorpius, concerned by his tone. Had he been quite so pale, before? "Um, you mean…"
"Your mum, of course," Teddy said, smiling. "Well, it took a while, 'cos I guess she moved, and changed her name, and I've been busy with other stuff, too - finding Goyle, for one thing, but that's another story… anyway, I found her, and she's going to come see you. That's good, right?"
Scorpius swallowed. He didn't look exactly pleased. "Er… yeah. Great."
"When?" Rose asked, unable to help herself.
"Today, I think. Three o'clock-ish. She has to go answer some Auror questions, first."
Scorpius started a little, and she heard him wince. "They're not going to arrest her, are they?"
Teddy looked surprised. "No, of course not. They just need to know if she knows anything more about this whole business, I mean that Mal - your dad - er - that he might not be telling us."
"Surprised he's talking at all," Scorpius mumbled, and Teddy looked suddenly guilty again.
"Well, that's not anything you need to worry about," he said, with forced joviality. "You just leave the investigating to us, eh? It'll sort itself out."
Scorpius looked unconvinced. Rose wasn't surprised. "Teddy," she said, as sweetly as possible. "Can I talk to you out in the hall for a minute?"
"Sure," he said, surprised.
She got up from the chair. "I'll be right back," she said to Scorp. He only nodded, clearly too preoccupied with his thoughts to take much notice.
"What's up?" Teddy asked once they were outside the room and the door was safely closed.
Rose put her hands on her hips and glared up at Teddy. "What on earth do you mean by just dumping that on him?"
"What?" he blinked, taken aback. "His mum coming? That's good news!"
"Ted, he hasn't seen his mum in…" she thought for a moment, "nearly three years! She basically abandoned him. And he's struggling enough with the truth about his father, and what happened to him… now he has to deal with seeing her again on top of all that?"
Teddy grimaced. "Okay, I see your point. But there wasn't really any choice. He can't stay in the hospital forever. His only other next of kin are his grandparents -" Rose snorted angrily. "Yeah… Neville sort of told us they might be a bad call," Teddy admitted. "Anyway, them or his aunt Daphne, and she doesn't want -" he paused and lowered his voice with a glance towards the closed door. "She doesn't want anything to do with him," he said, almost in a whisper. "She says her sister left her husband for another man, and she won't involve herself in her life or the boy's life any further. Purists," he added, shaking his head. "And after that it's only my Gran, and you know she's too frail to look after anyone but herself, now."
"I'll look after him," Rose insisted. The words came to her lips without even thinking.
Teddy looked at her sceptically. "At your parents' place? Yeah, that'll work. Anyway you aren't a relation. It's his mum, or we have to call the French Ministry to appoint a guardian."
"But…" she stared at him, her stomach twisting again suddenly. "But Teddy, if she gets him, she'll take him away. To France again or wherever -"
"Belgium," Teddy said, grimly. "She lives in Belgium."
"No," Rose said firmly. "I let his dad take him before, but I won't stand by and let that happen again, no way. What about you?" she asked suddenly. "Couldn't you take him?"
"Me? Rose, I don't even have a house; I'm out of the country half the time, and anyway I'm not even a first cousin. I'm sorry, but his mother's coming, and we can't change that now. You never know, maybe she'll just stay here. It's only until September, in any case."
"That's nearly a whole month! And look what happened last time someone in his family took him away."
"Rosie, as far as we can tell, his mum's never done anything illegal. He won't be in any danger."
Rose shot him her most cynical look. "You don't know that," she snapped. "You can't know that. French Ministry or no French Ministry, I'm not going to let them take him away again. Not when I just got him back."
~*-S-*~
~*-S-*~
"You all right mate?"
Scorpius blinked. Albus had been talking for the last five or so minutes, and he hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention. "Hm?"
"I said, you all right? You need a bucket, or something?"
He swallowed. "I'm not going to throw up."
"Well good, cos I don't want to deal with that any more than you do."
Rose had disappeared on some unknown errand soon after Teddy's news, and Albus had come to babysit him until she came back. That wasn't the word they used, of course, but Scorpius got the feeling that no one was comfortable leaving him alone for very long. Most of him was grateful for their concern, but there was just a little niggle at the back of his brain that kept wishing they would just leave him alone so he could wallow in the ruins of life for a while.
"How long 'til your mum gets here?" Albus asked, with forced enthusiasm.
Scorpius looked up at the clock for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "About ten minutes." He clenched his fists under the blankets and tried to look calm, though inside he felt anything but calm. He was practically shivering with nerves.
He didn't know how to feel about his mother coming to see him. On the one hand, it had been so long since he had seen her. On the other hand, she hadn't made any effort to contact him in over two years, since she had left his father and taken her new baby with her. He had written countless owls, even a few letters sent by Muggle post, but there was never any reply. He had thought the message was pretty clear. But now she was coming to England. So she must care a little. He started to think that perhaps she hadn't got any of his letters. Didn't Teddy say she had moved? Maybe he had been sending them all to the old address. Or maybe she had got some of them but she was too scared to write back. Or maybe Belanger wouldn't let her write.
He wondered what would happen. Would he have to go back to Belgium with her, like Rose seemed to think would happen? Or could they find a temporary place here, for the two of them? Or three, because she must want to bring the child with her. Maybe Belanger as well, though inwardly he hoped not. He didn't even know the man. Anyway it would only be for a few weeks, until school started. As long as he was allowed back to school, of course. No one seemed to be able to give him a straight answer about that. He wondered if he could write to Professor McGonagall and ask. But if he wasn't allowed back, then what would happen? Would he have to stay with his mother until he was able to walk again?
"Sorry," he said, trying to bring himself back to the present again despite the ever-present ticking of the damn clock. Albus had been unfolding his issues with Cleo for the last minute. "What were you saying?"
"I said, it's just that we don't have a whole lot to talk about," Al sighed. "I mean once we've exhausted Quidditch, and her search for a new flat. Because I don't know anything about music, really, and I can't even bring up NEWTs since she's decided not to do them…"
"She's looking for a new flat?" Scorpius interrupted, confused.
"Yeah mate, I already said that. She wants to move out of her mum's place 'cos she's got three sisters and its mad. And that's great, you know, 'cos then I could go there and not be at home all the time, and - "
"Oh yeah?" Scorpius managed a lofty smile. "And what do your parents say about you staying over at a girl's house?"
"I've… not brought it up yet," Albus admitted. "Anyway she hasn't found a place yet so it's a moot point."
"Look, if you're not getting on why don't you just break up with her?" Scorp suggested. It was hard to get into best-friend mode at the moment.
"Oh, we're getting on fine," Al protested. "I really like her. You know, she's really independent and everything, and that's cool, and she likes me, I think. She loves coming round our place..."
"Uh huh." Scorpius looked up at the clock again. Eight minutes to three.
"But… well, it's just sometimes I can't help wondering if -"
Someone knocked on the door, causing Scorpius to almost jump out of his skin. Albus sighed and sat back, looking annoyed. "Yeah, come in," he called.
"Wait -" Scorpius began. He wasn't ready. How could he be ready? What on earth was he supposed to say?
But it was Rose. And Neville and Hannah. And Rose's parents. Rose looked a little put out at the presence of the latter. Even more surprising than all this though, was when none other than Professor McGonagall came in behind them, walking with a stick but looking as stern and unmovable as ever. They all filled the tiny room so that there was hardly any room to move, but there was still no sign of Mrs Malfoy.
Scorpius' chest heaved with nerves, causing his wound to sear agonisingly, and he groaned. "You scared the bloody death out of me," he muttered to Rose as she came over to kneel beside him, since Al had the only chair. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," she replied innocently, brushing his hair back delicately with her fingers. It had just started to properly grow out again. "We just thought you might need a little support."
"This is… quite a lot of support," Scorp pointed out, as Albus respectfully vacated his seat for Professor McGonagall.
"We just want to make sure you're safe, lad," Neville said. "Since the Ministry obviously can't be trusted to do anything of the sort." He shot a dark look towards Mr Weasley, who did not answer. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and still managed to look intimidating despite the dusting of freckles over his pale face.
"My mother won't hurt me," Scorpius said. "I think," he added. After all, he had never thought that she would try to cut him out of her life, either. And he had never imagined his father capable of the things he had done. Maybe he just wasn't all that good a judge of people. He turned to look enquiringly at Professor McGonagall. "Er…"
"I am here as a representative of Hogwarts," she said primly.
"I really could have done that, Minerva," Neville pointed out.
"Some things one must do for oneself, Professor Longbottom," McGonagall said curtly. "And I should hope I am not such an ancient invalid that you should consider it unsafe for me to enter a hospital."
Scorpius looked from one to the other with confusion and just the slightest hint of hope. "Does that mean… I can come back?" he asked tentatively.
"Since the charges against you were dropped, I see no reason at all why not," McGonagall announced, apparently unaware of the enormous weight it lifted from his shoulders as she spoke.
"But -" he said, his heart sinking a little as he realised, "the Healers said… well… I'm not going to be able to…" suddenly the thought of Hogwarts made him feel a little ill. All those stairs. Would someone have to carry him up them every time he needed to move between classes? And Ravenclaw Tower was one of the highest in the whole castle…
"I might have to move into Hufflepuff," he said defeatedly.
"Don't be silly," Rose said quickly. "Of course you won't have to move to Hufflepuff."
"But I -"
"I've had a word to Healer Knox about the chair," Hermione cut in. "It'll all be fine, don't you worry."
Scorpius stopped and forced himself to calm down. He really wished people would stop telling him not to worry. He couldn't walk. Surely that was a bloody fine reason to start worrying. But the pain in his chest when he got himself too worked up was equally convincing. The spot just below his ribs where the curse had gone through was burning constantly. He hadn't even been able to bring himself to even look at it yet.
Rose leaned over him, no doubt to tell him once again that it was all going to be 'fine' - something else he was getting pretty tired of hearing - when there was another sound of someone knocking on the door. His stomach churned. He had almost forgotten what they were all here waiting for.
Teddy stuck his head round the door, looking very surprised to see so many people crowded into the little room, but recovering quickly. "Er… hi, everyone," he said, without hardly missing a beat. "This is Mrs M - er, Belanger."
The woman who came through the door was almost unrecognisable to Scorpius. She had dark brown hair, long and flowing over her shoulders with only a couple of pins to hold it out of her face. She was wearing Muggle clothes: a knee-length skirt and stockings under light pink shirt and brown fitted jacket. She was a little plumper in the face and around the middle, perhaps the result of her second child. As a disguise, it most certainly would have fooled most people. Scorpius might not have looked twice at her in the street, even if it was a Muggle street.
He stared at her. She stared back at him. The room held their silence for a long, long time.
"Hello mother," he said eventually, when he thought he just simply had to say something. "You look different."
"So do you," she said immediately. A sad sort of smile spread across her face as she looked at him. "So much older."
"That happens," he said. He did his best to keep any bitterness out of his words, but she sensed it anyway, and the smile faded. "I just meant -" he began, wondering how on earth he could explain the mess of feelings that were clouding up his head right now.
"No, you're right," she stopped him. "It has been a long time."
"I wrote to you," he said, faltering.
"I know," she replied. She didn't offer anything else.
Hermione made a soft hissing noise and motioned impatiently at her daughter. Rose reluctantly moved out of the way, allowing Hermione to conjure up another chair for Mrs Belanger to sit beside the bed. "Thank you," she said softly, sitting and clasping her hands over her knees. She looked as though she might be gearing up to say something but wasn't quite able. Scorpius knew the feeling, but didn't feel particularly inclined to help. She hadn't written back. Of course she hadn't. Instead, he decided to ask the question he most badly needed answered. "Did you know? About Father?" It wasn't hard to talk about that anymore - physically, anyway. Albus had told him that the information he had given Mrs Weasley about the secrets box had helped the Department to break the curse on both boys. Emotionally, the words still tended to stick in his throat. But he had to know.
His mother looked at him for a while, then looked down at her hands. "No," she said quietly. "At least… not the details."
"But you knew it was illegal," he shot back. "You knew it was all wrong."
"I didn't ask," she said, a hint of her old, biting tone coming into her voice. "At least, not twice. It was not my place to question his methods."
Scorpius didn't have any answer to that. He stared down at his lap, twisting the sheets around the ends of his fingers.
"Scorpius," she said, making him jump. "I feel… I should… it's only fair to explain to you… why I left…"
"I know why you left," he said shortly. "I'm not an idiot. I knew long before Father did."
Her eyes widened. "You did? But… how?"
"I heard you and Belanger talking about the baby," he replied, shrugging lopsidedly and ignoring her shocked expression. It hardly seemed to matter now, that secret he had only ever told to Albus and Rose. It didn't seem to matter who knew it anymore. "And then I came home and you were gone. Father said I was never to think about you or mention your name ever again. I thought something horrible might have happened to you." He looked up at her, accusingly.
Astoria sighed. "I had hoped," she said, quietly. "I had hoped he would tell you I was dead. That I had died… after bearing the child, and he… he with me."
Scorpius stared at her. "Why?" he demanded, feeling his wound get hot and painful again, but pushing the pain to the back of his mind. "Why on earth would you want me to think that?"
"Because I wanted a new life," she said, looking up to the ceiling, apparently for divine inspiration. "A fresh start, away from… all that. If you heard us… you know how unhappy I was…"
"You think I was overjoyed with my life?" Scorpius said incredulously. "That summer he wouldn't even let me out the house! And for weeks I thought you were dead, or worse! Do you have any idea what that was like?"
"I had to go," his mother said, her voice shaking slightly. "I had to, he knew about me and Raoul as soon as our son was born, he would have killed me…"
"But you should have taken me with you!"Scorpius exclaimed. The intensity of his exclamation brought on a coughing fit that seemed to hurt even worse than anything he had felt so far. He groaned and clutched at his navel. Rose made a startled move forward and Professor McGonagall almost got out of her chair, but he waved them down with one hand while forcing his breathing back under control. "I'm fine," he snarled, clenching his fist in the sheets. "Fine."
His mother had not moved from her stiff position on the chair. "I couldn't take you with me," she said, when he had fallen back into his bracing pillows with a sigh.
"Why?" he demanded, without looking at her.
"Because you were never really mine," she said, almost inaudibly. "You were always his. The only reason he ever married was to have an heir. You were ten times more important to him than me. If I'd have taken you with me, he would have never let us go."
Later, Scorpius would think about this and know that she was probably right. Now, however, all he felt was the unfairness of it all. "Yeah, I'm really important to him," he muttered. "Real important. So important he tricked me into joining his smuggling ring, got me arrested, kidnapped me, tried to kill my girlfriend and shot a hole through my chest."
Astoria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I never thought he would hurt you. Please believe that."
Scorpius didn't think he could ever remember his mother saying 'please' to him. She was so different now, in more than just appearance. Gone was the woman who would take just enough time to snap at him to do his homework, or insist that he stay in his room while Goyle was in the house, or sit stone-faced through 'family dinner', lips pursed, without any attempt at conversation. The only time he had seen that woman show any emotion was when she was with Belanger. Now, she looked at him with an almost pleading expression, although perhaps it was desperation to get out of the room full of people which was gradually getting quite warm and stuffy. Not to mention the way Rose was glaring daggers at her. "I do," he said, eventually. "I believe you." She looked a little relieved. "And you… you're happy?"
"Oh yes," she sighed, the sad smile returning. "I live quite a different life now, with Raoul, and our boy. I help Raoul in the new Apothocary, and we live in a little house in a Muggle town…"
"But you hate Muggles!" Scorpius protested.
Astoria looked around nervously around. "I was… misinformed. Raoul is teaching me to put aside such antiquated thoughts."
"Oh." Scorp hadn't quite been expecting that. He had always thought both his parents shared their views on Muggles. But people can change, he reminded himself. I did. I forced myself to change, and so can she. "Er… good for you, then. That… sounds nice." Suddenly the idea of moving to Belgium for a bit didn't seem so terrible.
He just heard the little puff of air that was Rose's extremely disapproving noise.
"Rose," Hermione hissed, warningly.
"Well, it's not! Nice, that is. She just as good as told him she's heaps happier without him around!"
"Rose!"
"Well she did! She can wrap it up in all the fancy talk she wants, but that's what she's saying."
Scorpius stared at Rose. Was she right? Was all the talk of the Apothocary and the little Muggle house just a way of saying...
"You never had any intention of taking him, did you?" Neville said suddenly. Scorpius jumped - and then winced at the stab of pain through his navel. The Professor had been so quiet, and at the back of the crowd, that Scorp had almost forgotten he was there. He was very noticeable now, though, his arms crossed stiffly across his chest and his eyes shining dangerously with anger as he glared at Scorpius' mother. Hannah put a hand on his arm, but he didn't even seem to notice her presence.
Astoria looked at Scorpius. He looked back at her. "You… don't want me to come back with you," he said. It wasn't a question. There was a lump of something like cement in the pit of his stomach that told him he already knew the answer.
She put out a hand. He almost flinched back, but at the last second relented and allowed her to touch, just for the briefest moment, the side of his face. "My boy," she said, so quietly that he wasn't sure he had really heard it, and then her hand fell. "I… would like to see you again," she said then, standing up slowly and with a tone of finality that was very much part of her old self. "Someday, perhaps, when we… but I can't… I just can't…"
"Let me into your great new life. Yeah, I get it," he said. Where hope had been just a few minutes ago was now an ugly tangle of bitterness in his chest. The pain of his wound was almost nothing compared to it.
"Just seeing you…" she whispered. "You look so like him. I look at you and I see the worst years of my life. I'm… so sorry, Scorpius." She looked into his eyes one more time, then, apparently unable to do so for longer than a few seconds, turned away and made her way hurriedly through the crowd, to the door. Teddy opened it for her with a lot less ceremony than he had on the way in, and shut it behind her.
"Well, good riddance," Rose said flatly, when she was gone.
"Yeah, you're better off without her, mate," Albus agreed, though the pity in his voice was almost too much to bear.
"But… she was supposed to help me," Scorpius said, suddenly feeling more lost than he could ever remember. He had been spending all his time worrying about having to leave again so soon, or imposing his crippled body on his mother's family. He hadn't ever really expected her to turn him down altogether. "I don't have anywhere else to go…"
"Yes you do," Neville said firmly. "I will apply to the French Ministry to be your legal guardian."
Hermione started and looked over at him in surprise. "Neville… are you sure…?"
"More than sure. I would have offered earlier but I thought the boy deserved the chance to be reunited with his mother." He said the last word as though he was doing his very best not to be sarcastic. Professor McGonagall made a harrumphing noise of agreement.
Scorpius didn't know what to do with his feelings. They had suddenly swelled so that his whole body felt fit to burst. "But… I can't…" he said, hating himself for having to speak the words. "It's too much work, and you have the pub -"
"No, Hannah has the pub," Neville said, waving his protest aside. "I've done everything I need to do for the summer, barring the greenhouse visits, and Lizzie can take care of those if necessary. You can have Tony's room, and I can easily keep an eye on you for a few weeks until school starts."
"We already talked about it, love," Hannah said, coming over to take his mother's vacated seat and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're coming to the Leaky with us as soon as you're well enough, and no arguments."
He looked at her, and saw all the care and concern in her eyes that he had wanted to see in his mother where there had been only pain. He felt his chest get uncomfortably tight, and he swallowed hard as his own eyes filled with tears. He wanted to say 'thank you', but the words stuck awkwardly in his throat. Hannah put her arms around him and he let out a choked sort of sob into her shoulder. He felt Neville's large, calloused hand patting his back. "It's all right, lad," he heard the Professor say. "It's been a long day. We should all let you get your rest, eh?"
People started trailing out of the room. Someone produced a handkerchief from somewhere and he was just wiping his eyes and wishing to Merlin that Albus wasn't standing there, not to mention Professor McGonagall, when he heard Rose announce - "Wait." He looked up to see her turning to face her parents. She took a deep breath. "I'm going with him," she said, in a rush.
Hermione's eyes widened and Mr Weasley's expression twisted into a deep frown. "What?" he said, low.
"I'm going to the Leaky Cauldron too, until school starts," Rose repeated. Her face was set, and Scorpius could tell she meant it. She turned to her father. "I love you, Dad, but… I just can't be around you right now after what you did."
"Rosie -" Hermione began.
"I'm sorry, Mum. I love you too, but I'm an adult now and this is my choice." She turned to look round at Hannah and Neville. "I can pay for a room," she offered. "I have some money saved up."
"Don't be silly," said Hannah, despite looking rather taken-aback. "I'm sure Lizzie wouldn't mind sharing for a few weeks. That is…" she looked questioningly at Hermione.
Hermione sighed. "Perhaps it would be best," she said, looking up at her husband. "She is of age… and you owe her this much, Ron."
Rose's dad hesitated. The man had been silent throughout the entire interview, and Scorpius had the feeling he had only come to protect his daughter from any further unforeseen danger. Now he looked over at Scorpius, and their eyes met. Scorpius only had a vague memory of the last time they had seen each other. He had only been half conscious, after all, and the details were foggy, but now the man's voice seemed to resonate inside his head as though he had only just spoken.
You weren't supposed to get hurt. No one was. You saved my daughter's life, and I'm not ignorant of that. I just hope you can forgive me.
Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded. Scorpius supposed that was the best he was going to get for now.
