They arrived at St. Mungo's in a swirl of shouts and demands. Draco was shouting commands at nurses, telling them to bring a gourney and to clear a surgery room. Scorpius's heart stopped when they wheeled her away, his father muttering things while rushing side by side with Rose in a room.

Hermione and Ginny showed up a few minutes later, both collapsing into their husbands.

Scorpius blinked away tears and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. His mum pulled him in a strong hug and for once he just leaned on her, completely dependent on her strength. James and Lily appeared in the edge of his vision and he closed his eyes.

"How is she?" Hermione asked Ron.

"Malfoy thinks she'll be okay." Ron said shakily and he didn't sound entirely convinced. "He thinks she has a pretty bad concussion, but we'll know more after the examination."

Scorpius looked at everyone, the Aurors, Harry, Ginny… he saw James looking around expectantly and knew immediately who the boy was searching for. He made eye contact with James and they didn't say anything.

James's green eyes pleaded with Scorpius and he eventually started shaking his his head in denial. Ginny pulled away from hugging Harry and looked around at the group that had returned.

"Where…" She didn't finish.

Everyone looked at the ground. It was Lily who finally let out a choked sob.

James didn't seem to be processing anything. "I have to… I have to owl Amanda. She'll want to be here when Rose wakes up. She'll want to see Attie when she gets back." James nodded absently and he turned away.

Harry reached out to his son, "James…" He said slowly, but James continued to shake his head.

"I have to tell Amanda…"

Ginny tried to hold him, but James pulled away and looked between his dad and Scorpius. He was looking for answers that Scorpius couldn't give him.

"You're back!" Albus ran up to them looking so relieved.

He looked between their faces and frowned. "Is Rose alright?" He demanded looking at Scorpius. Scorpius couldn't respond, the words were caught in his throat, and his eyes burned.

"Draco is looking at her now," Mrs. Malfoy seemed to be the only person who was capable of speech in that moment. Scorpius took a step towards his best friend and then hesitated. Albus looked around the crowd, but nobody looked at him. Except for his father.

Harry cleared his throat, "Albus, we need to talk." Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world's voice cracked on the last word. Albus backed away when his father tried to approach.

Instead he whipped around and punched a wall. Ginny let out a yelp and raced over to her son as he continued to drive his fist into the wall. It took Ginny, James, and another Auror to pull him away from the wall.

Eventually Albus let loose a roar and Scorpius went over to his best friend.

"Scorpius…" Albus said hopelessly. Scorpius put a hand on his shoulder and watched him completely break down. Sobs racked his body and he leaned his forehead against Scorpius's shoulders.

After that no one said anything. Everyone was waiting for Mr. Malfoy to come out and tell them how Rose was. The other Aurors dispersed, some needing medical attention. Albus was sitting in a waiting chair with the other kids, while Hermione paced back and forth nervously. Ginny had a hand on her brother's shoulder and Harry leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and glasses askew.

Scorpius was observing Albus carefully. He seemed to just be staring into space, no emotions on his face and no hope. When heavy footsteps pounded down the hall, Scorpius looked up. Amanda was racing towards them, her chest heaving.

She came to a jerky halt, bending over to catch her breath. Her eyes were bright and she looked around excitedly, until she saw everyone's expressions.

"Is Rose alright?" She asked urgently.

"We're waiting, but hopeful." Hermione replied tightly and then looked at Albus with a look of sympathy. Amanda nodded and let out a breath of relief, tilted her head back and smiled.

Scorpius let out a choked breath. "Amanda…"

She looked at him and the smile slipped from her face. "What's wrong?" Her eyes shot around and landed on James. James looked at his hands, his eyes bloodshot and Amanda looked around the room again, this time looking for something, or someone, in particular.

Immediately, her guards went up and she became stiff. "Where's Atria?"

She looked at Albus but he wasn't looking at anything, his eyes were unfocused and unemotional now. James stood up shakily and went over to Amanda, who backed away from him. He followed her until she was trapped between the wall and his body, then James wrapped his arms around her.

Amanda had no choice but to slowly sink into his embrace. She tried to pull away, but the emotion seemed to build to the point where she looked like she needed help standing upright.

James leaned back against the wall, cradling Amanda's head to his chest, stroking her hair with his hand. James seemed sturdier than before, like helping Amanda gave him strength.

A moment later, Mr. Malfoy came out of the surgery room with a relieved yet grim face.

Scorpius stood up on shaky legs. His father said, "She's going to be fine. She had some internal bleeding and a very bad concussion, but nothing that can't be healed. She'll be sore for a while on account of several bruised ribs and a fractured collarbone, but I expect she'll make a full recovery in a couple of weeks."

Scorpius looked around. Everyone seemed vaguely relieved but there was a cloud over this happy moment. No one seemed capable of smiling.

"Can we go in?" Ron asked. Mr. Malfoy nodded and smiled at Scorpius, who went over to his father.

"You should go in." His father said softly.

Scorpius's throat burned. "When will she be awake?" He sounded like he had just swallowed nails, but he doubted that was going to go away until Rose was up, talking, walking, and out of this stupid hospital.

"It's difficult to say. It could be in six hours or it could be in sixteen hours. She needs to sleep and they pain potion we've given her should help her relax." His father told him. Scorpius nodded absently.

"How… how much pain was she in?" His voice cracked.

His father hesitated, "Based on the concussion I'd say she was conscious for very little and the pain wouldn't have been overwhelming in her state."

"Is she going to be alright? Her brain, I mean?" For some reason it worried him that her brain might be damaged. That was Rose's most sacred part of her body and he couldn't imagine her without also imagining her intelligence.

"I think so."

"So much of this is up in the air." Scorpius groaned and thrust his fingers into his hair. Rose's family was going into the room and Scorpius watched them. Amanda was still leaning on James, and he lead her to see Rose.

"Go see her." His father urging and then went over to his mum.

Scorpius approached the door slowly and peeked in. Hermione and Ron we standing next to the bed and then Ginny was standing at the end of the bed beside Harry.

Albus's eyes were closed and his lips were trembling in an almost unnoticeable way. Hermione suddenly looked up at Scorpius and gave him a wobbly smile.

"Come closer." She urged and he took a few steps into the room. Amanda nudged him closer to the bed. Surprisingly, Ron moved over to make room for Scorpius. He wasn't sure what to think, but in that moment he was simply grateful to see Rose.

Bruised covered his face, cuts on her nose, lips and temple, and her breathing seemed shallow. Scorpius looked down at one of her hands that was lying outside of the bed sheets. He slowly ran his index finger over her hand, and then let all his fingertips brush her skin.

"Mom and dad are coming with Hugo," Ginny said quietly to Ron. "I think George and Dominique are coming soon as well. Everyone else is a bit farther away and preoccupied."

No one said anything for a while. Eventually Albus shook his head and left the room, like he couldn't bare it anymore. Ginny and Harry left to speak with family and Ministry officials. Amanda had fallen asleep in a chair and despite Hermione's protests about his leg, he carried her to a different room.

"We should go see Hugo and explain what's happened," Hermione said softly, brushing a piece of hair from Rose's face. Ron swallowed and nodded mutely, then looked at Scorpius and sent him a silent plea to take care of Rose.

Scorpius smiled in response. He hadn't moved from where he had been standing for the past half an hour. Lily followed the pair out and Scorpius was left alone with Rose. He continued to stand by her side.

"Rose," he sniffed, "I don't know if you can hear me, but… I need you. Please wake up soon, because I'm losing my mind. There's so many things I want to tell you, so many questions I have." He said quietly, running his fingers over her nose and her cheeks. "Mostly I just want to know that you're okay." He said thickly and released a breath.

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Alvarez came up to the family as they were discussing the situation, in the hallway.

"Congratulations on rescuing Rose." He said cheerfully and no one was quite sure how to respond to that. Obviously, this was not a cheerful time.

Ron cleared his throat, knowing something had to be said. "We're happy to have her back." He said in a neutral tone.

Alvarez smiled, "Yes, I hear we captured a Death Eater and dismantled their organization?"

Harry frowned, but it was Ginny who spoke. "Well, as I'm sure you heard it was not a Lestrange that was leading the Death Eaters."

"No, it was a man, not her mother. I'm still a bit unclear on the details however…" Alvarez sighed. "But all in all, I think we can consider the mission a success." Albus's head snapped up and James grabbed Amanda's shoulders as she surged forward, no doubt to punch the idiotic man.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, no one was standing close to Albus so he got a few quick steps in before throwing a punched at Alvarez. Hermione gasped, Ginny turned away to hide a grin, and George outright laughed.

Alvarez stumbled back, looking shocked.

Albus seethed as Harry and Ron held him back. "She was family! Atria was my girlfriend and you're saying the mission was a success? We all loved her and she's gone because of your stupid mission! DO YOU EVEN CARE?" Albus shouted and Alvarez shrank back then quickly corrected himself.

"She was a Death Eater and maybe if she had come forward sooner-"

"You would have convicted her anyways," Lily said softly, but her eyes were burning with emotions. Everyone was surprised to hear the young girl talking so steadily. She took a step towards Alvarez, getting in his line of vision so that he would have to look at her. "You have no idea what she went through. Can you imagine having to hide who you are for fear of being persecuted? You would have skewered her simply to prove to the public that you were making progress.

"And that's exactly what you're doing now," Lily glared at the man. "You want to use her to prove a point. I bet you've already written up your statement to the Daily Prophet about how 'if she had come forward, she held the investigation back, she could have been hiding something'..." Lily mocked scathingly in a quiet voice. Alvarez glared back at her, while everyone else looked between them. "But you're not going to publish any of that." Her tone suddenly became pleasant.

"No?" Alvarez cocked his eyebrow.

Lily pursed her lips. "No. Because if you do, I'm going to the Daily Prophet and telling the world about how you basically sentenced a student, my sister, to death without a trial. You knew what the outcome of this would be and you urged it on. Then I'm going to say how she was afraid to come forward because of prejudice within the Ministry. And to top it off… the reason she's gone is because you failed in your duty to protect the people. If you had had more security at the ball, no of this would have happened. Rose Weasley was taken and beaten because of your incompetence."

Everyone stared at Lily and then looked at Alvarez. He was clearly trying to weigh his options and Lily saw that.

She smirked. "Do you really want to go against the Potter's, the Weasley's," she paused and glanced at Mr. Malfoy, "and the Malfoy's? You're trying to save face and we're willing to help you. After all it was you who sanctioned this mission, but it was Atria who led you straight to the lion's den. Everyone can come out clean… or you can come out dirty, your choice." Lily spoke so calmly that judging from her tone you would have thought she was simply making a comment about the weather, not threatening the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Alvarez's jaw worked and then he looked at the ground. "I'll release a statement saying that she was very helpful in ending our investigation." He gritted out.

Amanda pulled away from James, who was still holding her back. "And it might be nice to add in something about how prejudice works both ways. Mrs. Weasley is proof that muggleborns can be just as brilliant as purebloods and Atria is proof that purebloods can be kind and loyal. Despite how Atria was raised," Amanda took a deep breath, "she was a good person."

Albus jerked at Amanda's use of the past tense. Alvarez gave a curt nod and then stomped away. Hermione looked at Amanda and Lily.

"I am so proud of you both." She said with teary eyes.

"Pretty badass if you ask me," George agreed and Hermione laughed while quickly wiping under her eyes. "But I'm still very confused about everything."

"Me too actually," Amanda said questioningly.

They hadn't really spoken about the events that had occurred in the dungeon. Only that it wasn't Atria's mum, which Ron had told Harry as they were rushing to St. Mungo's. In fact, Ron nor Scorpius had actually clarified any of the details. In the hours while planning the attack, Atria had told Harry that her mum killed her father.

But Ron and Scorpius had yet to explain that wasn't true.

"We found Rose unconscious and the man knew we were coming. We were trying to get Rose away from him and sometime during that Atria came down into the dungeon. At this point, we didn't know that Atria's mum was dead-"

"Her mum's dead?" Amanda blurted.

Harry frowned, "This is the part I'm confused about… Atria said-"

"She didn't know." Ron interrupted. "She thought that her mum killed her father. But really… it was the other way around. She told you that her mother changed after that and she thought it was because killing changed a person, but her father had been pretending to be her mum."

"Oh Merlin." Amanda closed her eyes, imagining what Atria must have felt.

"You should have seen the look on her face when she saw her father. She thought… I dunno, but she looked happy like for a second she forgot about everything. And then… she saw the corpse." Ron shuddered.

Hermione's eyes widened. "You mean…"

"Her father left the body in the dungeon, and it was pretty clear that the woman had been brutally beaten. Atria broke," Ron's voice cracked, "she was ready to kill her dad in that moment and… she might have, but then the house came down. She had told us to leave and we thought she would be right behind, but looking back… you could see in her eyes that she wasn't leaving until the job was finished, even if that meant…" He didn't need to continue, everyone understood the unspoken words.

And Albus crumbled. He sunk to the floor, Harry eased him down, and started breathing heavily, like there wasn't enough air in the room.

"Albus," Ginny went down next to her son.

He shook his head, "All I can think about is how much pain she must have been in." His throat burned and he knew he was tearing up for the second time in the last hour, but he hardly cared.

And for some reason all her could think of was that Christmas was ruined forever. Albus would never be able to get through another Christmas without thinking of Atria and regretting that he never told her how much he loved her.

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Seven hours later, Amanda and Albus were sitting with Hugo and the senior Weasleys, Harry and Charlie were looking at the statement that Alvarez had drafted, James was asleep in the waiting room and Ron and Hermione were speaking with Draco about when Rose could come home.

Scorpius was still sitting with Rose, he had dragged the chair over to her bed and let his head fall into his folded arms on the bed. One of his hands was linked lazily with Rose and he was waiting for her parents and his father to come in and tell them what was going to happen after she woke up.

He knew it was unreasonable, but not unwarranted, that he wanted to stay by her side for the next few days. Obviously she would either go home with her parents or go to the Burrow. Scorpius had overheard chatter about everyone staying at the Burrow, and he wanted to be there even though the invite probably didn't extend past the family.

He wondered what Amanda would do. He couldn't imagine her just going home and finishing winter break alone and he didn't want to either. Scorpius had the feeling that someone was going to need to keep an eye on Albus and it would have to be outside their family.

When he heard a long sigh, followed by an uncomfortable groan, Scorpius's head shot up. Rose's head was turning back and forth and her eyes were fluttering.

He gripped her hand tighter. "Rose?"

Her eyes slowly opened and she blinked several times. "Scorpius?" He hated how raspy and cracked her voice sounded.

"Rose, love, I'm here." He leaned closer to her and brushed his other hand across her cheek. She looked at him and then looked around, frowning.

"Am I… am I in St. Mungo's?" Her voice was so raw, it broke his heart.

Scorpius nodded and Rose suddenly looked alarmed. She struggled to lean upright, but Scorpius eased her back. "Rose, don't move so much!" He chastised her.

"No! I have to tell Atria… it's not her mum! It's her father," She breathed heavily, "he's… he's horrible and she needs-"

"Rose, calm down, we know it's not her mother." He said gently and thankfully she stopped trying to move.

"You know about her? She's Bellatrix Lestrange's granddaughter." Rose said quietly as if she was processing the information for the first time, but clearly Atria's father had talked to her. "He's a metamorphmagus."

"What?"

Rose cleared her throat, but it didn't help. "Her father. That's how he was able to pretend to be her mum and how he got into the Ministry."

"He told you this?"

Rose closed her eyes and sunk into the pillow. "Not at first… he got angry when I mentioned Attie. He was horrified that she would be friends with half bloods and muggleborns and he said that she was weak. It was really confusing at first, but looking back it all makes sense. He would refer to Isis Lestrange as 'her mother' and at first I thought he was talking about himself in third person, because he would refer to Atria as his daughter." She took a deep breath, as if talking had tired her out.

"You should rest."

"Later," Rose said and opened her eyes. "He said that Atria's love for her mum made her weak. That's why he killed his wife, because he thought she was weak and was getting in the way of the pureblood agenda." Scorpius pressed his lips together.

"Rose, there's something you should know." He waited for her to say something, anything to put off what she needed to know. Instead, she just waited expectantly, looking at him with her bright blue eyes. "When we got you out… well your dad and I were carrying you out of the dungeon, but Atria stayed behind to fight her father. She was furious…"

"Did she see her mother's body?" Rose whispered.

Scorpius nodded. "I've never seen someone so devastated. She told us to go. When we were leaving the house started coming down," his throat started to close and he had to pause to take a breath, "and Atria… she was still in the dungeon with her dad."

Rose's eyes widened. "What are you saying?"

"She didn't make it out."

Rose let out a choked gasp that caught on a sob. Her chest started heaving and tears spilled from her eyes. "This is all my fault." Her lips trembled and Scorpius put her hand on her cheek.

"It's not!" He said firmly. "This is in no way your fault. Listen to me," he forced her to look at him when she tried to pull away. "It's not your fault. There's blame to go around for everyone but you."

Rose's let out a breathy sob, "If she hadn't been trying to save me-"

"You were taken because of her mother- well, father, and she wanted to help you. Honestly, I think it was finding out her mother is dead that broke her. Her eyes… you could see that that was the end for her. It was her dad's fault."

She inhaled deeply through her nose, pressing her lips together to stifle the crying.

"What are we supposed to do?" Her voice cracked. "It's Christmas and… and I feel like I'm never going to be happy again. How are we supposed to go back to school without her?"

Scorpius didn't have an answer for her because he had been asking himself those same questions. He didn't respond, he only brushed her face lightly, swiping away some tears.

"I should get your parents," Scorpius started to pull away, but Rose grabbed his hand and then winced like she regretted the jerky movement.

"No, just stay for a little while longer. I don't feel like dealing with my family right now."

"Are you sure?"

Rose nodded and cleared her throat. "When I was in that place I thought about you. I wanted to see you and I knew you would come for me."

A knot lodged in Scorpius's throat and his eyes burned. "Of course I came for you. You… you're my best friend." He silently cursed himself. If there was ever an opportune moment for confessing his feelings that was it.

Rose smiled. "You're my best friend too."

He knew she meant it in a good way, but it was like a knife in his heart.

"Sal was working with the Death Eaters." Why did his brain think of the stupidest things to say. But Rose didn't seem concerned with his sudden topic change.

"What? But…"

"Apparently Atria and Amanda suspected it for a while. He was at Atria's house when we rescued you and it was very clear that he was in on everything."

"I feel so stupid." Rose crinkled up her nose. "Merlin, what did he want with me? Was it him who put the Dark Mark over the school and killed that second year?"

"There's still some unclear things. The Aurors checked his wand and it was clear, but Amanda said it was him who poisoned her. Or well… he made a joke about it and she pretty much took that as confirmation."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Rose gasped.

"Amanda said Atria didn't want you to feel like they were against him. Especially considering they didn't actually have proof. They didn't want you to turn against him and then resent them later if we found out he was just another bloke trying to get on with you."

"Someone should have told me!"

"I agree."

Rose took some deep breaths to calm down. "The whole world is falling apart," she whispered after a moment.

Scorpius sighed, "I'm really worried about Albus."

"Why?" Rose blinked and Scorpius's eyes widened. He had forgotten she hadn't been here when the news about their relationship broke. It was getting difficult to keep track of who knew what.

He cleared his throat, "Well, as it turns out… they were seeing each other."

Rose's jaw dropped. "What? No! You can't be serious!" A smiled played on her lips and for once, it was genuine and unforced, not tinged by sadness.

"Yep, apparently they had been seeing each other for a few months and were actually pretty serious." They both laughed for a few moments.

Rose sobered, "Oh, Al…"

It was heartbreaking that just when things were starting to come together, they fell apart.

"He… Merlin, his face was destroyed and broken. I'm scared of what he might do, I think everyone is."

"We're all hurting. This is too much to process."

"I think he loved her," Scorpius said quietly.

"We all do… did."

Scorpius pressed his lips together. "But it's different, being in love versus platonic love. When your other half is gone… it's like your heart stops and you forget what it's like to be happy. Everything only goes back to normal when you see them again." Rose stared at him and he gripped her hand.

"We'll help him get through this."

"Broken bones can be helped… but broken hearts aren't so easy."