Author's Note: This chapter (part II of previous) is told from Scorpius' perspective.
"Whatever," I snapped. My heart jumped at the puddle of blood growing on the floor. How was there that much of it? That fast?
I banged into Potter's shoulder on the way out abandoning my bag. I couldn't breathe in the Dungeons I had to get out.
I came through the portrait and spat out blood 'cause I made the stupid mistake of taking a big breath of cold dungeon air using my nose and my mouth.
"Not here, boy," the portrait snapped narrowing his eyes. "That's a disgrace. Someone call the caretaker."
"Shut up." I hissed at the portrait. That earned me another glare which I returned with a scarlet middle finger. I hurried down the corridor and out of the Dungeons into the natural light of Grand Staircase. A group of girls giggling at the bottom of the staircase shot me a disgusted look and hurried away. I finally pulled my hands away from my face. They were coated thickly in blood. My nose felt tenderly sore.
I cursed and started muttering to myself, "Do I know any spells? Do I know any spells? Did Rose say something about healing? What did she say? Why didn't you pay attention-"
"Mr Malfoy, shouldn't you be going to the Hospital Wing?" Professor Flitwick squeaky voice cried. He stood at the bottom of the stairs a pile of books in his hands. "Or is this some impracticial joke?"
"SCORPIUS!"
Oh shite. I clapped my hands back up to my face and turned away pretending I didn't hear her extremely loud cry.
"WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY? WILL YOU BLOODY FACE ME?!"
"Miss Weasley, will you please keep your voice down! Everyone in the castle can hear you!"
"Rose, stop poking me, you're getting blood everywhere." I protested but she persisted. I dodged Rose's attempts to move my hands away from my face to get a good look at the damage Potter's fist had caused.
"You need to go to the Hospital Wing," she declared ignoring how much of my blood was staining her robes. "Lily! Help me. You take one side-" she said trying to loop my free arm around her shoulders.
"It's my face, not my legs!" I said taking a step back from her.
"Oh, you really chose, your times, Scorp!" Lily tutted. "And wrecking your face before Valentine's day! Oh my Merlin, Rose, relax, he'll live! I'll gather my equipment together and you two can have a fun outing to the Hospital Wing. Professor Flitwick, I have this under control. Enjoy your weekend."
Professor Flitwick sighed, "Very well, Miss Weasley take Mr Malfoy to the Hospital Wing and please no more theatrics."
Lily replied, "Thankfully this happened today not tomorrow. Get yourself cleaned up, Scorp, red isn't your colour."
"Right," I replied, my voice sounding stuffy. "I'm going to the Hospital wing then."
"I'm coming with you," Rose said stubbornly linking her arm with mine and dragging me forward.
"There's really no need. You heard Lily, I'll live."
"You're as white as a sheet and I don't think I've seen so much blood in my life. I'm bringing you," she said. "Tell me if you feel dizzy and if you're going to puke don't do it on me."
"It's not that dramatic."
"What happened? Tell me the whole truth."
What had happened? It was a complete blur. All I could really remember was feeling on top of the world and then a pound on the bridge of my nose.
"Potter punched me in the face. As you can see."
"Please tell me you hit him back."
"I was a bit busy bleeding and telling him he wasn't a proper wizard."
"Were you drunk or something?"
"No, why?"
"That's what it sounds like. Who started it?"
"Why are you asking that? Potter, obviously. I'm the good guy." I swayed a bit and added. "Can I stop talking now my head's starting to feel… light."
"Like a balloon?"
"No, like when you have a cold."
"Heavy then?"
"Hmm, I can't tell the difference. Now it's time to be quiet."
Quiet time lasted all of five seconds when Rose burst out,
"What did he say to you?"
"I'll tell you all and more after the Hospital Wing."
Rose pouted, "Can I ask you yes or no questions? Nod you head for yes, shake for no."
I shook my head, "If you want to talk that badly just tell me a random story. Something that doesn't require me to think."
"Did I ever tell you about the time my mom found gnomes in our garden?"
"Mr Malfoy and Miss Weasley, back again." Madam Pomfrey scoffed. "What in heaven's name happened to you? Nevermind. Take a seat and I will be with you after I fix a first years arm. Exploding Snap with firecrackers. The students are starting to get stupider by the year…"
Rose led me over to a free bed. The blood flow had stopped but my nose still hurt.
"Let me see," Rose said for about the hundredth time. She made me sit next to her on the bed. Rose took my face in her hands and gently tilted it to get a close-up. "I'm not sure if it's broken but I'm not going to try anything in case I make it worse."
"How could you make this worse?" I said all stuffy. "Hit me with the charm."
"I've read about one wizard's nose falling off because the wand movement was done incorrectly."
"I haven't seen you do a spell wrong yet."
"Do you really want to end up looking like Voldemort?" She asked cheerfully. "Because I'm not going with him to Hogsmeade."
"So this doesn't put you off Hogsmeade?" I asked. "Or me. All the blood and-"
"Nope," she replied. "I have a feeling it was for a worthy cause. This is memorable. I don't think I've seen someone bleed so much in my life. Tell me more about what went down with you and Al-Potter."
"Are you sure? You're not worried about someone seeing us so romantically close on a Hospital Wing bed?" I said trying to lighten the mood giving her nudge.
"Yes, I'm sure. And I wouldn't call it romantic since we're both covered in your blood." Rose said just then noticing the blood splatters all over her clothes.
"It can be on some freaky level."
She laughed, "Maybe, but I think you're as white as sheetness is ruining it. I can see some of your veins. I am 99% sure some of them weren't viewable before. And the scaring me half to death is a big mood killer."
"You screamed the castle down. I pretty sure the whole school knows now." I said teasingly.
"If anyone asks I'll just say I was scared by the blood and thought you were going to die like any good person."
"You really could've just done the blood stopping charm."
Rose laughed awkwardly and looked away.
"What?"
"It's- you can't tell anyone."
"Right another secret."
"Yes, a secret," Rosie said. She straightened it up, leant towards me and put her lips to my ear "I can't get the blood stopping charm right."
There was a pause, I waited for more. When no more came I frowned, "That wasn't as big a secret as I thought it would be."
Rose mirrored me and crossed her arms, "It is for me. And if you're not going to give a doxie about it…"
"But you always get spells. There's bound to be one that trips you up."
"It's easy, Scorpius, flick your wand to the right and swish to the left while incanting 'Belious'." She recited. "And don't say that so loud someone might overhear," she added, her eyes darting suspiciously to the hissing first year across the Hospital Wing.
"And what? Attempt to use your weakness to take you down?"
"That could happen."
"Practice makes Aurors. You can try it on me. If I give my nose a whack it will probably start up again."
"Don't you dare," she said utterly repulsed. "I think you lost half your blood. And when I cast the charm," she added quietly, "The blood gets thicker and flows like a river."
"How do you know this?"
Rose smiled innocently at me, "I may have practised one or two times on myself."
"That sounds dangerous. Have you told anyone else about your weakness?"
"Not a soul."
"I feel important now, but still a bit all over the place," I said waving my hand in front of my face to see if it would send my vision spinning.
"Maybe you should lie down."
I grinned wolfishly, "Are you trying to be subtle about something, Rosie? You're doing a terrible job at it."
Rose raised an eyebrow at me ready to retort. She was cut short by Madam Pomfrey arrival.
"Is it broken?" Rose asked immediately before Madam Pomfrey could even look at me properly.
"Foolish," Madam Pomfrey muttered looking at my nose way too close for comfort. "How did this happen, Mr Malfoy? You and Miss Weasley didn't duel again, did you?"
"No," I said wishing she would stop with the questions and just fix my nose it was really starting to become annoying. I tried to think of an excuse but I couldn't think past the first throbS of a headache flaring in my head.
"He fell." Rose inputted seeing my struggle.
"Down the stairs," I said at the exact same moment she said, "Into a door."
Madam Pomfrey's eyebrows shot up to her receding hairline. "That's not what it looks like. It looks like a fight, Mr Malfoy, like someone hit you." Her eyes went suspiciously over to Rose.
Rose protested, "He fell down the stairs and into a door while I happened to be walking by."
"It was painful," I added.
"I believe it's fractured." Madam Pomfrey said.
"But you can fix it?" I asked. My nose was long and big enough already I didn't need a bump or a scar empathising that.
"Of course, I can!" She tutted taking out her wand. She placed the sharp tip on the bridge of my nose. "Hold still. This will hurt."
"Hurt?"
"You can hold my hand if you want," Rose offered.
"What-"
"Espiskey." She muttered.
I cursed loudly as pain shot through my nose and that Merlin awful cracking sound sounded again.
"Language, please." Madam Pomfrey snapped. "This is a Hospital Wing not one of your quidditch matches."
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. I touched my nose checking it was still there. It was red hot but felt normal, no bumps or spikes.
"You look better," Rose said humour lacing her voice.
Madam Pomfrey forced an ice pack in my hands.
"For the swelling," she hurried over to a medicine cabinet and brought back a small vial. "And a blood restoring potion. Yourselves cleaned up and get out my Hospital Wing. Don't make even more habit of this."
Madam Pomfrey hurried over the lecture the next student, a fifth year who had come in clutching their stomach.
"Come on, Scorpie," Rose said pulling me up with her. "Let's get sweets, it'll make you feel better and you can tell me all about how you got that."
"Are you sure I'm allowed in here?" I asked staring at the bronze eagle knocker.
I had never been in Ravenclaw Tower in the flesh. I visited my imaginary version in one of my wild dreams. It was the result of eating too much sugar filled dessert at Christmas before Rose and I became a thing. In the dream, I was trapped in a bubble watching Rose, as she came out of the Ravenclaw common room and turned around to go back in. It played on a loop in my dream. All I wanted to do was join her and be in the loop even if it led to walking in and out of the common room until I was a pile of bones
Rose shrugged, "Maybe, Lily does it all the time. Who's going to stop you?"
"Teachers, prefects, the portraits and ghosts."
Rose pulled a face, clearly, she hadn't thought this through.
"Maybe," she repeated, her face screwed up thought.
"But it could be fun," I said thinking about how much I didn't want to go back to the Slytherin common room. I would live out the rest of my Hogwarts' days in Ravenclaw tower if I could. "I'm in my normal clothes. I can't be that recognisable without the Slytherin tie. I'll even wear my hood up." I flicked up the hood of my robes and pulled it over my eyes as proof. "And it's the weekend. How crowded could Ravenclaw tower be?"
"Okay," Rose said finally clapping her hands together in an 'I've made a decision' way. "You're right it could be fun. I think this is an acceptable occasion to break the rules. Polyjuice potion would be brilliant right now. Speaking of potions, you should have taken the blood restoring potion by now."
"It smelt disgusting, like if you mixed blood, iron and garlic. I'm not jumping to taste it." I said pulling out the vial from my pocket. "Unless you want to try it first?" I laughed at the thought but Rose does eat Bertie Botts in the fist full so why not?
She swiped the vial from me, uncorked and sniffed it,
"No way, medicine potions aren't supposed to smell or taste nice."
"Don't see why but maybe I could if you tried it."
"No, I don't want to end up back at the Hospital Wing because of this."
"So you admit it's poison."
"I admit that I could end up with too much blood in my system if I drank this."
"What about me?"
"You're still as pale as freaking snow. I think she should've given you two of these." Rose said handing it back. "Now drink up so we can sneak into the Ravenclaw common room without any fainting incidents."
"I'm warning you now, most medicine potions make me really hyper."
Rose pulled a shocked face, "Oh I've never seen that before!"
"Bottoms up then," I said and I downed the horrible liquid. "Merlin that's terrible!" I muttered launching into a coughing fit. Rose shook her head and patted my back.
"This is going to be fun," she said gesturing to the door.
"Shouldn't you warn your friends I'm coming in?"
"They like you."
"Fire away then bird!" I said ready to go. "If all of this goes wrong I'll blame Rosie."
Rose nudged me teasing, "No, you won't!"
"Wait!" I said first checking to make sure no one was coming before wrapping my arms around her waist pulling her into me. "There won't be another chance to do this," I said leaning in and kissing her smiling lips.
Rose flinched back, "Merlin that potion does taste awful."
"Now you can feel my pain," I said rolling with it and goofily kissing her again. How I went all these years without doing this I don't know. She was just so kissable. Holding hands was next to nothing compared to her lips. A couple of months ago, I imagined kissing her would be numb and wet. It turns out it was more than that. I had no imagination.
"Scorpius, I just thought of something." She said pushing me back. "And it had nothing to do that blood restoring potion you're trying to poison me with."
"Go on, Rosie."
"We change your hair colour. Your blondness is your signature look."
I laughed, "So you all of a sudden don't like it?"
"That not what I said. I like your hair a lot! But I know I few colour changing spells," she smirked proudly pointing to her trademark scarf.
"But aren't fabric dying spells for clothes?" I said suddenly worried. Taking a punch to the face and losing my hair on the same day, I wondered what the normal people in the castle spent their days doing.
"I know few neutral ones."
"I hope it doesn't turn out like your blood stopping spell."
Rose rolled her eyes, "Forget I told you that. Now come here."
"Is this permanent?"
"Temporary." She replied, wand out and ready. "I won't do anything to permanently damage your blonde locks. Now lower yourself."
"'Lower yourself' seriously, Rosie?" I said bending down anyway.
"Seriously. Colovaria." and she flicked wand at my head. I didn't feel like a hair on my head had been touched. Rose burst out laughing.
"What? It better not be blue or pink." I frantically patted my hair down.
"Brown hair is a really weird look for you but I think you have enough style to pull it off. It's just your eyebrows. I'll change them as well. I'll throw in a few freckles."
"Are you trying to make me the adopted Weasley?"
"DeMalfoying to the extreme." Rose grinned. "Plus freckles are the ultimate accessory."
"Pygmy Puffs are the ultimate accessory. Get me one of them and a stylish handbag to carry it."
"What planet are you living on? Colovaria and flick." She grinned stepping back to admire her work. "Brown hair and freckles. You look quite unnoticeable."
"Very Ravenclaw then?" I said giving the bronze knocker a tap.
"Yeah, Scorpie, you're a true Ravenclaw."
