Music Chapter: Finally! The new video is up on the music page at misssaigonfic. tumblr slash musicpost.
Preview: Every time he woke up from a nightmare - real or imagined, it was hard to tell - she would be there, with her mane of red hair spread over the pillow, breathing lightly, and he would drift off again.
Raindrops on Roses
Seventh Year Part 6
2024-25
~*-R-*~
~*-R-*~
Even though Rose wished it could have happened in a less terrifying and life-threatening way, once Scorpius got out of the hospital wing several days later, the three of them did seem to be a team again. Even if they did tip-toe a little around each other, not wanting to set off any unnecessary fighting.
Rose knew that Scorpius was still in pain, but he put a brave face on it. It might have been different, she thought, even encouraging, if whatever it was that had happened had caused some improvement. But he was still unable to do anything more than magic himself in and out of the chair. Privately she wondered if he wasn't starting to see the chair as his safety net, if he wasn't too afraid of the pain to push himself - not that she could blame him, and she wouldn't have dared say anything of the sort to his face unless she saw something convincing enough to warrant such a comment. Or if he said anything to her, of course, but that seemed more unlikely than ever. She tried not to think about that too much. Instead she spent all her time helping him catch up on his schoolwork, until he had picked up on everything he'd missed during his half term at Durmstrang. She told Jian that he was good enough at Transfiguration now to continue on without her. He seemed to accept this rather flimsy excuse politely and without complaint, and he said nothing at all about the incident in the library - which made her wonder if maybe Albus had had a word with him. She decided not to pursue it.
Scorpius spent all his free time reading, when he wasn't studying, or working on his NEWT projects. The projects were starting to weigh on all the seventh years - a couple of the Hufflepuffs had already had to see Madam Pomfrey for calming potions. Scorpius seemed to have his in hand, though, and he even let Rose look at his work, so that she didn't have to nag him. If anything it was Albus who worried her more. He was doing longer and longer hours at the hospital, when he wasn't at Quidditch practice or with Lizzie. The rest of his time seemed to be spent making sure Scorpius took all the right potions at all the right times.
"Oughtn't Madam Pomfrey be taking care of that?" she asked him once, as inquisitively as she dared. "She is the school nurse…"
"I'm closer," was all he said, in a tone that suggested the subject was not to be debated. "Pomfrey can't come up to the dormitory every night or find us at meals, or do you want Scorp rolling down to the hospital wing every three hours?"
She sighed inwardly. Knox trusted him to do everything right, and Scorpius didn't seem to mind at all, so she had to trust her cousin as well. But she did worry that he wasn't getting all his schoolwork done, especially when his 'study sessions' with Lizzie tended to result in him coming back to Ravenclaw Tower looking rather dishevelled.
There was a Quidditch game in the middle of November, against Slytherin, and neither Rose nor Albus were on their best form. It was a close call, but Ravenclaw finally managed to claw their way to victory, Albus stealing the game at the last minute by catching the snitch, bringing the score to 280-270.
"I don't suppose you want to be captain?" Albus sighed as they trudged back up to the common room for a victory party that neither of them much wanted to attend. Rose mainly wanted a shower and a long sleep.
She looked at him in surprise. "You're not quitting?"
"Not the team," he clarified quickly, "just... being captain. I don't feel like I'm doing the best job. Only I don't think anyone else could take over. The others are too young, other than Janey - "
"No thank you," Rose said, just as quickly. The thought of her dormmate being her captain was less than galling; Janey was nice, and responsible enough to be a prefect, but she could be irritatingly neurotic.
"Yeah, well. That's what I thought."
"Well, I don't want to do it either. You knew it would be like this, at the start of the year."
He sighed again. "Yeah, I know."
In the end, he didn't quit the captaincy, but their practices shifted into the evenings instead of weekends, so they didn't get in the way of daytime study. This wasn't hard to schedule, since no one ever wanted the pitch in the evenings in winter, but it was not a popular decision with the Ravenclaw players. It was icy cold, and dark, and the team muttered darkly to each other when their captain wasn't around. Rose didn't complain, although quitting the team would have given her a lot more time to do her own work. If she quit, it would be on more problem that Albus had to deal with.
As November turned into December, and the snow on the tops of the surrounding mountains started to creep down towards the castle, Rose remembered her promise to get Scorpius playing again. Unfortunately Albus had been accurate in his pessimism; every suggestion she made that he might like to pick up the guitar was met with excuses that he had no time, or he just didn't feel like it, and she didn't want to push the issue. She had a feeling it wouldn't do any good, and might even make him more determined to avoid the subject. Instead, she began to come up with an alternative plan. She didn't have much time to pull it off, but if it worked, she reasoned, it would be worth it.
~*-S-*~
~*-S-*~
The Christmas holidays could not have come too soon. For the first time, Scorpius was going to be spending his whole holiday away from the castle - now that Neville was his legal guardian, he was free to go to the Leaky Cauldron for the whole holiday. In fact, when he finally got up the courage to bring it up in casual conversation, Neville seemed surprised that he would even question it. Rose and Albus were also invited, and they both accepted, which triggered Scorpius' conscience a little.
"Won't your parents mind?" he asked as they discussed plans for the Potter and Weasley families to come to the Leaky Cauldron for Christmas dinner.
"They'll be busy," Albus said, shrugging. "I talked to Mum, she gets it."
"And I'm not ready to go home yet," Rose said, quietly, stroking Midnight curled up in her lap. Privately Scorpius thought that the rift between her and her dad was unlikely to heal if she kept avoiding him, but he wasn't about to point that out. He'd done enough damage there already. "Anyway I think we should all, y'know, stick together," she added, innocently, but not quite looking Scorpius in the face.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I really don't need the two of you babysitting me," he said.
"Did we say that's what this was?" Albus asked, raising an incongruous eyebrow. He was getting harder to argue with, Scorpius thought. He was starting to develop a distinctly Knox-like stubborn side that didn't seem to care what people thought. "People stay over at people's houses all the time, y'know. This is a thing that happens in real life."
"Yes, my mum stayed at dad's house all the time when they were growing up," Rose pointed out, triumphant.
"It's not my house though," Scorpius pointed out. Really, it was bad enough that he'd intruded on the Longbottom's Christmas for the last five years, no matter how much Hannah insisted they were happy to have him. Bringing a whole entourage for the holiday seemed like it was trespassing excessively on their hospitality.
"All right, fine. We're not staying with you, we're staying with Lizzie. You know, my girlfriend? Rose's friend, your… friend, sister, person…"
Scorpius gave up. They were coming, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Anyway, it would be nice to have one of those supposedly 'normal' childhood experiences before he really aged out of them, he thought ruefully.
They couldn't take the Floo through Neville's office, because of the chair, so they took the train back to King's Cross and the underground to Charing Cross Road, again. Hannah hugged them all when they arrived, saving Scorpius for last, and he breathed in the warm, comforting smell of baking, Butterbeer and pub food that lingered in her hair and on her clothes. It was 'home' to him, in a way that he couldn't put into words. "You look so much better," she said, taking his face between her hands. "I've been worried sick. But you're much too thin, have you been eating properly?"
"Course I have," Scorpius promised, flushing. It wasn't his fault he wasn't gaining weight. It wasn't as though he did a lot of exercise.
Hannah gave him a doubtful look, but she ushered them all into the kitchen for dinner anyway. A blur of pink ran past her and launched itself into Scorpius' lap. It hurt, but he was used to things hurting by now, so he bit back a wince as Alice threw her arms around his neck. "Scorp!"
"Hey, Ally-pally" Scorpius grinned, squeezing her just as tight around her small frame while she did her best to smother him with kisses.
"Alice Longbottom, you are not to jump on Scorpius like that," Hannah scolded. "You'll hurt him."
"I don't mind," Scorpius promised, cuddling the girl on his lap while the chair drove itself up to the table. "You've gotten so big!" he said.
"I'm nearly six," she said proudly.
"Not for another four months you're not," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes as she helped her mother set the table.
"Shut up Lizzie!" Alice turned her head and blew a loud raspberry.
"Alice, that's enough," Hannah said, exasperated. "Honestly, that girl is twice the trouble of the other two put together."
"Thanks Mum." Lizzie made a face towards the others where her mother wouldn't see.
It was a relief to be back at the Leaky Cauldron, and the days were quiet. They all felt as though they had earned a real break. There were a lot of early nights and late mornings while the boys, at least, caught up on sleep. Rose went back to her old routine of sneaking into Scorpius' room at night, though neither of them discussed it. He didn't mind - quite the opposite. He might not admit it, but not having Albus there in case something went wrong during the night made him nervous. Every time he woke up from a nightmare - real or imagined, it was hard to tell - she would be there, with her mane of red hair spread over the pillow, breathing lightly, and he would drift off again. She was nearly always gone by the time he woke up, back to Lizzie's room to allay suspicion.
Not that anyone would believe there was much more than sleeping going on, Scorpius reflected to himself on Christmas morning as he washed and dressed, using the spells that had by now become so much second nature that he could do them non-verbally. He and Rose might as well be brother and sister for how far their relationship had progressed over the last year. It was Al and Lizzie they had to watch out for, he thought. He smirked a little to himself as he wondered whether Lizzie's room was actually entirely vacant at night. He wouldn't put it past the girls to have worked that out between them.
He didn't begrudge Al, not really. It was obvious that Lizzie made him happy, and Merlin knew they all needed a bit of an escape, lately.. It just bothered him that he couldn't share that kind of closeness with Rose. Physically, he thought he could still do it - he hoped he could still do it - but he knew he would never have the strength, and when he couldn't even get in and out of bed without pain, the idea of anything more was enough to send a chill of discomfort through him. The lack of intimacy didn't seem to bother Rose, but he knew there were a lot of things that bothered her that she wouldn't talk about, for his sake. He would have asked her, but he had no idea how to broach the subject, and other than nights, when one or other of them was usually sleeping, they hardly had any time alone together anyway. She seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of time Christmas shopping. She went out for hours at a time, sometimes two days in a row - it seemed excessive, but then he supposed she had a lot of cousins to buy for.
He did his best to put those thoughts aside. It was Christmas, and he was determined to at least try to enjoy it. Of course, it was also a special day for another reason, which made it rather hard to forget.
"Happy Anniversary," Rose said quietly to him, after he'd come into the dining room to a chorus of "Merry Christmas!" from everyone.
"You too," he said, while she leant down and kissed him. He couldn't even kiss her if he wanted, he complained to himself, trying not to let his thoughts show on his face. He had to wait for her, or ask for her to get close enough, which kind of sucked all the spontaneity out of any romantic gesture.
"I can't believe its been a year," she said, sitting in a chair beside him and squeezing his hand under the table.
"Yeah well," he said, making his voice as light and jovial as he dared. "There've been a lot of bloody interruptions."
Breakfast was served in the form of ham, jams and marmalade with hot buttered rolls, and then it was time for presents. Scorpius had never been there for this ritual before. The Longbottom family followed a tradition of youngest to oldest, so they all got to watch while Alice tore into packages containing books and toys. One package turned out to be a set of dull-looking, navy-blue balls. Scorpius recognised them instantly; he'd actually had a set as a child. He smiled as the girl inspected them with doubtful curiosity. "Throw them up," he prompted. "You have to try and get them to stay in the air."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Neville give him a surprised look, but he stayed focused on Alice as she experimented with trying to get her balls to stick to the ceiling. None of them went much higher than her head. "Come on, you can do better than that," he said. He had an odd sense of deja vu as he watched her fix her brow determinedly, and use both hands to throw the ball. It stopped just short of the ceiling, and clung to the air, spinning in place and breaking out in spots of light. As it spun, the lights whirled around the room like a storm of stars, and she laughed excitedly as everyone whooped and applauded.
Funny, Scorpius thought, Neville and Hannah giving their daughter a magic testing device. Had they been worried that she might be a Squib? He watched them, Neville clapping enthusiastically and Hannah drawing the girl into her lap and kissing her all over. It wouldn't matter to them, he told himself. Probably they just meant it to be a toy. But he couldn't help thinking the looks they exchanged looked rather relieved.
Rose was next, going by age, and she had quite a sizable pile of gifts, some of which having been sent by her parents. Scorpius hadn't been able to scrounge up money for anything other than a new charm for her bracelet, which she nevertheless thanked him for enthusiastically.
It felt very weird to open his own gifts in front of a room of people. Usually he got to do it alone in the dormitory. The pile was also bigger than he was used to. By the end of what was a very embarrassing ten minutes, he had a whole satchel full of new school supplies, three new Muggle novels and a gaming device - Hannah's inspired contribution - a new wand sheath, some dragonhide gloves and - from Albus, with no trace of embarrassment whatsoever - a package full of new socks and underwear. He flushed a little, but clearly people had been paying attention to what he really needed, and he could hardly argue because there was too much.
After presents, they packed away the dining table and communed in the sitting room while Hannah went to help open the pub for the Christmas crowd. "I got you another gift, too," Rose said, when Albus was enthusiastically showing Lizzie the anti-disguise glasses that Teddy had sent him. "You'll see later."
"I wish you wouldn't," he said, wincing. "I've already got more stuff than I can carry home."
"You won't have to carry it," she said, rolling her eyes, which peaked his curiosity a little. "Let me see the game thing. I hope it doesn't distract you from lessons."
"No mother. Homework first, I promise," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. She glared at him, but really, she'd deserved it.
All in all, by dinnertime he was in an unusually good mood. He'd almost forgotten about the combined Potter-Weasley families descending on them, until they made their way down to the pub to find the big table laid out and a host of variously redheaded people waiting for them.
"Mum!" Albus hugged his mother hard, and Scorpius saw a surprised expression on Mrs Potter's face as she put her arms around him and stroked his hair. He was taller than her by half a head, but it didn't seem to matter; the hug seemed to go on just a second too long, even by Scorpius' limited understanding of such things.
"All right, love?" he heard her say quietly, but he was distracted from hearing Albus' answer by Mr Potter coming up to shake his hand.
"How are you?" he asked, in his serious way. "You look…"
"I look like crap," Scorpius finished for him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm fine, though."
Harry seemed to smile despite his better judgement. "Good lad."
"Is there any progress on the trial?" Scorpius asked, unable to resist the temptation. "The papers aren't saying anything."
Harry shook his head slowly. "No, I'm sorry. I would let you know right away if there were."
"I know… it's just…"
Mr Potter patted him gently on the shoulder. "I know. I want it to be over as much as you do." Scorpius rather doubted that, but he let the subject drop.
Rose's parents came over, and he steeled himself, but Mr Weasley was polite in his greeting, and Mrs Weasley was very concerned. "You would let us know if there were anything we could do for you, wouldn't you?" she asked. Over her shoulder, he saw Rose's cheeks go red.
"I'm really okay, Minister," he said politely. "Especially after today - I think I have socks to last me about ten years."
"Oi!" Albus butted in. "Socks are important. Do you want cold feet?" He was clearly determined that his gift be regarded as genius despite its obvious necessity.
"Call me Hermione, please, Scorpius," Mrs Weasley said kindly.
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," Scorpius said quickly. Mr Weasley snorted, much to his surprise, and it might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn that Mrs Weasley elbowed him in the ribs as they went to sit down.
The large table could only be accommodated in the biggest open space in the pub, meaning that people were constantly moving in and amongst them, and the crowds only grew as the afternoon went on. Scorpius watched enviously as the pub staff whizzed around the tables, delivering the Leaky Cauldron's famous Christmas dinner, refilling tankards and whisking away empty plates. He knew that he wouldn't be expected to help even if he could walk, but it didn't stop him remembering sadly how carefree and happy he'd been, the summer before last when he'd been one of them…
Rose had sat herself strategically between him and her parents, and encouraged him in conversation with the adults. He did his best. It wasn't that he was shy of them - not anymore, anyway - but he just got the feeling that they'd be more comfortable if he wasn't around, not matter how carefully polite they were. Luckily, Lily and Hugo quite made up for his lack of sparkling conversation by complaining loudly about their OWLs to anyone who would listen.
"I wish I didn't have to take Potions to be an Auror," Lily sighed, cutting up her Yorkshire pudding a little too savagely. "Or I'd drop it first chance I get. It's so dull."
"I don't think it's dull," Hugo countered. Scorpius took the opportunity to regard Rose's brother properly. They had only spent a little time together over the last few years, and he sometimes wondered if he ought to get to know the boy better. He drew a sharp contrast to Lily, who was tall and slender with a sheet of red hair to her waist, and was, not that Scorpius would ever dare say so out loud, very beautiful. Hugo was stout, leaning towards pudgy, and had more freckles than skin. Where Rose's hair was thick and wavy on a good day, and frazzled on a bad day, Hugo had tight reddish-brown curls. He also had a natural rosiness to his cheeks that made him look permanently red-faced.
Not that you're any great beauty, Scorpius Malfoy, he chided himself. And he's top of his year in nearly all his classes, which is a lot more than can be said for you.
" You're just saying that because you're in love with Professor Patil," Lily smirked.
Scorpius half expected Hugo to blush and back off, but he came back with a sharp retort without hesitation. "Speak for yourself, Mrs Davies."
Albus groaned. "Oh, not you too," he sighed, giving his sister a grossed-out look. "Is every girl at Hogwarts in love with Davies?"
"I know one or two boys who are in love with him too," Lily giggled. James snorted unattractively into his wineglass.
"This is making me very uncomfortable," Neville sighed.
"I'm sure some of them are in love with you too, dear," Hannah teased.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Gross," Lizzie grimaced. "Can we change the subject?"
"Delicious dinner as usual, Hannah," Ginny said, overly-loud and grinning widely.
"Yes, lovely," Harry agreed, looking similarly amused, so that Scorpius couldn't help laughing along with the others. It was strange, he thought, seeing the man so relaxed. When he wasn't arresting or interrogating you, the wizarding hero looked positively normal. Other than the interested looks he got occasionally from people at the surrounding tables, you wouldn't have guessed at all that he had defeated a Dark Lord in single combat.
Dessert was a large pudding with butterscotch ice cream. Scorpius was enjoying it so much that he didn't notice the disturbance going on behind him at first until people around them starting looking a round and muttering to each other excitedly.
He looked over his shoulder, and frowned. The stage area, where he had used to play guitar in the summer, had been cleared. Two people were setting up a drum set - not just any two people, he realised, as his heart leapt into his throat. It was Trevor and Dave.
He turned back so fast that the motion triggered a spike of pain in his chest - he ignored it. "What's going on?" he hissed, looking between his friends.
Albus swore softly to himself, shifting down in his seat and running his fingers through his hair so that his hand hid his face. Cleo had just hopped onto the stage and was helping Trevor with his keyboard. The volume of the crowd increased, the excitement level building.
"Rose?" Scorpius prompted. She was the only one out of all of them - except perhaps Hannah - who didn't look surprised by this development. If anything she looked a little worried. "What's going on?"
Her eyes met his, and she smiled at him despite the hesitation on her face. "It's your surprise," she said.
His heart sank. Go up there? When he hadn't played in months? When he wasn't even sure if he could play, with the damn chair in the way? He imagined sitting there in front of all these people and he felt like throwing up. "Rosie, I… I can't…"
"Oh, no," she said quickly. Behind them Cleo tuned a guitar, not her bass, and Dave warmed up the drums while the crowd calmed a little in anticipation of the expected performance. "It's okay." She put her hand on his shoulder and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You don't have to do anything."
He frowned at her in confusion. He'd been certain that was her plan. "But…"
"It's okay," she said again. She got up from her chair, just as Cleo came over to them.
"Ready?" she asked cheerfully, flicking her dark hair and ignoring Albus while he all but tried to hide under the table.
"Yeah," said Rose, looking slightly worried again, and followed her back to the stage.
No, it's nerves, Scorpius realised, like a jolt to the heart. The look on her face was exactly how he always felt before he performed, even in front of people he knew. She's nervous.
Cleo and Rose ascended the stage, and Rose stood in the center with her hands clasped loosely in front of her. Without her saying anything, the crowd went very quiet.
Scorpius looked around, trying to figure out what on earth was going on, but most of the people at the table were looking about as clueless as he felt. The only exceptions perhaps were Hannah and Lizzie. Hannah, he realised, would have to have been asked for use of the stage. It was hard to tell what Albus thought, while he tried to hide his face and watch at the same time.
When the room was silent, Rose gave Trevor a little nod over her shoulder. He played a few, simple chords, and then she took a breath, looked Scorpius right in the eye, and while he stared open-mouthed, she began to sing.
Follow my hands
I'll teach you how to play
I'll be patient with you
Someone was patient with me...
He'd heard her sing before, but only in casual fun, and in the brief, wonderful couple of months they'd had together before he'd been carted off to Durmstrang, they'd sung together once or twice on quiet evenings in the common room. This was different though, he had never heard her sing for an audience. She was clearly uncomfortable with the attention, but though she began a little hesitantly, her confidence soon picked up, and her voice rang out loud and clear.
There always be a chance that you could hit the wrong note
Everybody could laugh and make you think you won't grow
You don't ever give up, it's not the end of the world
He swallowed hard, but otherwise he was totally unaware of his own body, focused only on the sight and sound of Rose's song. The song was all hers - the band providing only the lightest of accompaniments. Later he would have the epiphany that this must have been where she'd been during those extended shopping expeditions, practicing, preparing, but right now all he could do was let her words wash over him.
You live and you learn
Even when you think that times get hard
It's temporary hard
All you got to do is make that call
I'll be there
Don't be scared
You don't got to lose it
Remember the music
He bit his lip hard, feeling hot tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. The words went straight to his heart. Suddenly he wanted more than anything else to stand up, climb onto that stage and sing with her. He wanted it more than anything he'd ever wanted. Rose's voice lifted again, and his breath rose and fell with her.
In the past it's been hard as hell
You'll never know how much pain I felt
But everybody's got a story to tell
Sometimes you got to face the music and play by yourself
But there always be a chance that you could hit the wrong note
Everyone could laugh and they don't want to hear no more
You don't ever give up, it's not the end of the world
You live and you learn
Even when you think times get hard
It's temporary hard
All you gotta do is make that call
I'll be there
Don't be scared
You don't got to lose it
Remember the music...*
The song ended with a single piano note, and the pub suddenly erupted in a storm of applause. Belatedly, shocked back to his senses, Scorpius put his own hands together, until he realised that there was a small circle of silence around him. Neville, Rose's parents and Albus were all staring at him. Albus' face was practically white - he didn't seem to care about Cleo seeing him anymore.
"What?" Scorpius asked, raising one confused eyebrow. Albus looked up at him with wide eyes. "What?" he demanded, annoyed now.
"You… you were…." Albus swallowed. "Mate, you were tapping your foot."
"What? Don't be - " Scorpius looked down. His right foot was on the floor, not on the foot-rest of his chair. When he looked up again, Rose was standing in front of him. She looked at him with so much hope in her eyes, his heart seemed to turn over in his chest.
He looked down, and with more concentration than he'd ever used in his whole life, he moved his left foot, stiffly and with agonising slowness, onto the floor.
~*-A-*~
~*-A-*~
"Albus, take note."
Albus shook himself out of a daydream, and picked up his quill, shaking out his wrist where his fingers had started to go numb.
"Raise the foot and aim to bring the knee to its furthest extension. Lean forward and attempt to touch chest to knee…"
Albus dutifully wrote this down, but the pained expression on Scorpius face as he bent under Knox's hands was enough to make him wince. "Maybe we should take a break," he said, using the proverbial 'we' like a shield. "You've been at this over an hour."
Scorpius sat up, breathing hard, and shook his head. "I don't want to stop."
"It's not like you'll go backwards if you take a ten minute break, Scorp."
His friend looked at him sternly, which was counteracted a little by the sweat beading on his brow and upper lip. In his rush to get to the hospital that morning he'd forgotten to shave, and there was the slightest suggestion of pale downy hair under his nose and along his jaw. "School starts again tomorrow," he said, unnecessarily. "I won't be able to come here every day, anymore."
"Oh, don't you worry about that," Knox broke in, waving a hand in dismission. "Albus will carry on the exercises with you, and you'll be standing on your own before too long, I imagine."
Scorpius sighed, and Albus could tell by the look on his face that he already wanted to get a lot further than standing.
After the performance at the Leaky Cauldron on Christmas Day, things had moved very quickly. Neville had taken Scorpius straight to St Mungo's - even though he protested that it wasn't as though he was ill, and it could wait until tomorrow - and Knox had been dragged away from his own Christmas dinner to watch him move his feet up and down. It was clear that even this much required a great deal of effort, but Knox seemed to forget all about his Christmas pudding at the sight and went into a great flurry of testing, recording and planning. They'd gone back to the hospital every day since, despite the holidays and even on New Year's Day, for Knox and his assistants to push and pull him into different positions and getting him to do repeated movements, over and over again. He got a little further every day. Albus went with him, because Knox was putting him in charge of Scorpius' care when they got back to Hogwarts.
"But he's just a boy, himself," Hannah had said, looking concerned. Albus thought this was unfair; he had after all been of age for a whole year, now. She exchanged worried glances with Neville. "Surely a qualified Healer would be better? I'm sure we could pay someone, for a while…"
Scorpius opened his mouth instantly to protest, but Knox had got there first. "Ridiculous," he said, in that tone that meant he had much more important things to do than get into a debate. Albus was used to it, by now, but Hannah looked highly displeased by his rudeness. "It would be a complete waste of time for a qualified Healer, when you have an apprentice right there in the same dormitory. I can assure you Albus is more than capable of this simple treatment."
Albus had felt all eyes on him, and had done his best not to panic. As much as he was desperate to help, to be doing something instead of just watching helplessly like he had been since August, the prospect of being so responsible for his friend being able to walk again was understandably daunting. It was all very well for Knox to call it simple, when Albus would only have a week and a half of proper training before school began again.
He took a deep breath. "I can do it," he assured the Longbottoms and Knox both. "I want to do it."
Scorpius had given him a grateful look, but Hannah still looked doubtful, and Neville wasn't exactly completely sanguine either. Both boys were insistent over the next few days however, and they could hardly disobey Knox's orders directly. Now though, Albus' nerves were starting to fray a little. He wondered how he was going to keep up with his NEWTs, Quidditch, a steady girlfriend and his hours at the hospital on top of an hour of physiotherapy a day. Maybe more, at the rate they were going.
When it was time to leave, at last, Albus' head hurt from concentrating, and Scorpius was so tired he was almost dozing in the chair. "You okay?" Al asked him as they made their way back to the pub.
"Who, me?" Scorpius blinked and shrugged. It might have been his imagination, but Albus thought it was an easier, looser movement than it might have been a week ago. "Yeah, fine."
"Right," Al said, shaking his head dubiously. "How much do you hurt right now, honestly?"
His face twisted a little as he finally let at least some of his pain show on his face. "A lot," he sighed. "Don't tell Rose, okay?"
"Like she can't tell." Al reached out to stop the chair, and looked his friend in the eye. "This is gonna be hard work, Scorp. For all of us."
"You think I don't know that?" Scorpius demanded. "I'm the one who has to do it."
"Yeah, course you do." Al sighed. "But listen. I know you can do this, and I'm going to be there to help, the whole time. But I'm not enough. We need Rose."
Scorpius looked for a moment as though he might argue, but then his face turned thoughtful. "She'll be there too," he said defensively.
"But she needs to know what you feel," Al countered, impatiently. "She needs to really know, Scorp. We have to be a team, instead of keeping secrets and pretending everything's fine, every day. That's how it all went wrong last time."
They didn't say much, after that, but he thought that Scorpius looked more thoughtful than usual, for the rest of the journey home.
~*-R-*~
~*-R-*~
When she slipped into Scorpius' bed late that night, he shifted under the covers and one warm hand slipped into hers. She drew a sharp breath, but didn't pull away. "I thought you were asleep," she said, flushing even though he couldn't see. She'd wondered if he was even aware of her night-time visits. He always seemed to be fully unconscious by the time she snuggled in beside him, especially since Christmas, when the days at the hospital made him bone-tired even before he took his night-time potion.
"You're very sneaky," he said, ignoring her. "I didn't even hear footsteps."
She pressed herself a little closer, daring to rest her head beside his on the pillow. He smelled of soap and the shaving cream Neville had given him for Christmas. Apparently he hadn't been able to go to bed while looking like he'd been camping in the woods for three days. "You should be asleep," she scolded. "Why didn't your potion put you out?"
"I didn't take it," he admitted, keeping his voice low
"What?" she demanded. "But you - "
"Shhh," he interrupted her, and she had to try to remember that Neville and Hannah were asleep just across the hall, with the door slightly ajar in case of emergencies. "I haven't taken it yet. I'll take it, I just… wanted to talk to you first."
Rose's heart did a little skip-jump. "Can't we talk during the day?" she asked, as mildly as she could manage.
"No," he said flatly. "There's always someone else around. This is the only time we're ever alone, and I'm always too drugged up to do anything about it."
She shifted guiltily. Well, if he put it that way. She raised herself a little on her elbow so that he could see her properly while lying on his back. She wasn't sure what to expect, but just the sheer fact that he wanted to talk was somehow encouraging. It seemed that, lately, although there hadn't been any fighting or arguments, something was lying under the surface that neither of them were willing to delve into. "Okay," she said slowly. "What do you want to talk about?"
He took a deep breath. "You know how you keep asking me if I'm okay, and I keep saying I am?"
She hesitated. "Yes," she said finally, in a mild tone as she tried to anticipate what he would say next. She realised her heart was beating a little quicker, and squeezed his hand, just slightly, encouraging.
"Well… the thing is…" he coughed. "I'm not sure how fine I am. Some days are good, like today, even though it hurts like hell whenever I try and move." She saw his face twist a little even in the darkness, and tightened her grip on his hand. "And other days…" he went on, slowly, as though deciding on each word before it left his mouth. "It's not been as bad as that night we had to call Knox to school, but sometimes it feels like it might get that bad, if it goes on any longer." He bit his lip for a second. She waited for him to continue, though her heart was pounding impatiently and she wanted badly to just… to hug him, to kiss him, to do anything that might make it better even for a second.
"It's like… being stabbed, and burned, and skinned, inside... it's like… it's not as bad as the Cruciatus Curse, but sometimes it's almost as bad because it never stops. It hurts, all the time. And I want more than anything to… to get better, to be able to walk again, and I can - I'm going to do the work, it's just…." He swallowed. "I'm scared. I'm scared it won't work, or it'll be too hard, or it'll hurt too much… and I'll be stuck like this forever."
"Oh, Scorp," she whispered. She gripped his hand and raised it so that it was between them. Tears started to bead in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall, not yet. He'd been so brave, and so strong, and right now he needed her to be the strong one. "You won't," she promised, with only determination in her tone.
"You don't know," he said, his own voice shaking. We don't know... if I can ever walk, and even if I do… what if the pain never goes away? What if…" he shuddered and she saw the tears in his own eyes glinting in the dim light, though he was obviously doing his best to keep them dry. "I don't think I can live like that, Rosie. I can't do this forever, I just can't…"
"You won't have to," she said, lifting a hand and running her fingers carefully through his hair. His shoulders lifted and fell again as though he were trying to sit up, but he wasn't ready for that yet. "Shh," she said, soothingly. "You're tired, Scorp. But you're going to do this, and you will get better, just like I've been telling you from the start of all this. Because we're going to help you. I want to help, if you let me. Okay?"
Tears fell down his cheeks, and he closed his eyes and nodded. She felt a rush of emotion that was somehow hope and relief and fear and grief all at once, and she kissed him and put her arms around him. "I'm scared too," she whispered. "But it's okay. We'll make it."
*Remember the Music, from the Empire OST, Performed by Jennifer Hudson