Twenty minutes or so later. It was over. Scorpius wasn't shaking anymore and his colour was returning to normal. I felt out of place and nervous. I gripped onto Scorpius' hand, my anchor.
Draco Malfoy opened his mouth again to question the story we had told about a million times by now. I had replayed it over in my head so many times that now it didn't feel real. That I was thankful for.
Astoria Malfoy stood up. "You're repeating yourself."
"I have to be sure, Astoria."
"Rose, you ought to go home. I can't imagine how worried your parents must be."
I blinked.
"Or did you forget, Draco, darling?" she said. "They are children."
"Mother-"
"Careful, Scorpius."
"You don't know what I was going to say, Father."
"Go on then, if it's so important." Mr Malfoy waved his hand at his son, a hand he had raked through his hair more times than I could count over the last twenty minutes.
"Rose has nothing to do with this Malfoy crap just let her go home."
I frowned, defensively. "I want to help, Scorpius." I also wanted to go home and wanted the three of you to stop speaking for me.
"This 'Malfoy crap' will get you killed, Scorpius."
"Draco!" Ms Malfoy jumped up from her seat on the arm of the chair like it had just burned her. "Do not speak to him like that!"
"It's the cold, hard truth," Mr Malfoy said coolly. "Scorpius has to learn to take it seriously."
"I know that," Ms Malfoy said with venom. "It's the way you said it. Scorpius, dear," she clasped her hands together. "This is becoming too personal. How about you show Rose out?"
"Fine."
"Wait." Draco put up his hand. "Weasley, you are not to breathe a word of this conversation, this meeting, to anyone."
Ms Malfoy didn't interject this time.
I could feel Scorpius roll his eyes beside me. "Of course," I said.
"Come on, Rosie." He helped me up. "You've done enough."
Ms Malfoy twisted her hands together. "Maybe you could join us for dinner another night." So that's where Scorpius got his kindness from.
"Thank you, Mr and Ms Malfoy," I said awkwardly as Scorpius and I left. Scorpius moved me forward, his hand gripping my arm. Mr and Ms Malfoy's voices started up again immediately.
"I'm sorry." Scorpius murmured again. "I suppose you're okay? Forget it. That's a bad question to ask."
"I'm fine," I said and chewed my lip for a moment. "I almost died…"
"I should've been more prepared." Scorpius pinched the bridge of his nose. "The hex I threw at him was an absolute joke."
"The leg-locker is-"
"Stupid."
"Scorpius, stop," I reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I was completely useless. I'm supposedly Hermione Granger's shadow yet my boyfriend has to fight for me. It was like I didn't even have a wand."
"Rosie, you blew up a building and it was freaking awesome."
"A wall not a building." I sighed. "You heard your dad I shouldn't have done that. I drew more attention to us."
"Father doesn't like flashy magic and he's being overprotective."
"We were attacked by death eaters," I stated. Scorpius winced at the sentence. "You could've died." I let go of his hand and placed my hands either side of his face.
"Rose, please, stop talking like that," Scorpius said, his silver eyes glinted with seriousness. "What's done is done. You're overthinking it. We're alive."
"But the death eaters are back."
"Don't worry about it. The Aurors will deal with it. Harry Potter surely has another miracle or two in him. In a month we'll be back at Hogwarts snogging by the Black Lake like nothing's happened."
I shut my eyes and leaned into him. "I hope your right." I rested my head against his chest listening to the reassuring thump, thump of his heart.
"I usually am."
I went to the Burrow first because I had a feeling that's where everyone would be and I really wanted to see Grandad and his unrelated muggle contraptions. My normal thinking was coming back, I had to be reasonable if Mum or Dad decided to check the history of our floo network and saw Malfoy Manor they'd probably seal off the floo network. And no amount of begging would undo it.
I was right almost everyone in the family was packed into the first floor of the Burrow. It was mostly the adults standing around in groups trying to avoid James and Fred's extendable ears. I stepped out of the fireplace, no one noticed me thank Merlin. But something dropped to the pit of my stomach. I was expecting Mum to be waiting, I expected a hug and her reassuring voice telling me everything was going to be alright.
I half-heartedly brushed the soot off my robes. By order of the Malfoys, I couldn't tell anyone. Anyway telling would mean explaining why I was wandering around Diagon Alley with anyone other than Abby and Kenny and who that special someone was.
The Weasley family would put a spin on it. I was smart enough to know that. 'Malfoy pushed her into danger' 'Malfoy thought he was helping the death eaters by kidnapping Rose too' and 'what would a slimy Slytherin boy want with a pretty Ravenclaw girl in a dark alley?'
I scanned the room for Mum and Dad. Nowhere to be seen. Probably in the kitchen. I hurried to the kitchen, forced to brush against about twenty itchy travelling cloaks. In the kitchen, plates with half-eaten lunches covered the table and muddy footprints marked the old floor. Grandma Molly was the only person in the room. She dabbed her bloodshot eyes with a checkered handkerchief.
"Rosie," she gestured for me to come to her. I was hovering in the doorway, unsure of what to do with myself.
My heart was already racing. My palms were sweating again. Something was after happening.
"Where's Mum, Dad and Hugo?" My voice cracked. I could barely take it. I was either going to cry or go back to the scene of the crime if Grandma Molly didn't tell me everything.
"They're fine." Grandma Molly wrapped an arm around me. She rested her round cheek against my head. "Hugo's in the other room watching the younger children. Ron and Hermione are at the ministry."
I sighed with relief.
"Hugo said you were shopping in muggle London with Abby or at her house. Did you see anything?"
I thought of Mr Malfoy's long interview. My mouth went dry. I had told him what happened in detail without much effort but I couldn't tell Grandma Molly, couldn't even open my mouth properly.
"No. I was at Abby's." I said through gritted teeth.
Grandma Molly made a noise that sounded like a sob. "Good… Do you want me to tell you? Or do you want Grandad to?"
"Just tell me."
"Don't worry, Rose," Grandma said squeezing me. "It hasn't been confirmed-"
"'Arry?!" The voice of Hagrid came. "They couldn't have taken 'Arry… That's a crime! A BLOODY CRIME!"
"Hagrid, calm down!"
Hagrid, seconds later, burst into the kitchen. He buried his face in his hands when he saw us.
"Molly, tell me it's not true."
I could feel Grandma Molly shake her head. I thought my heart had stopped, it hurt.
"Harry has been…" she choked out. "Taken."
Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews, reads, favs and follows. Thank you! As promised the first chapter of 'Draco Malfoy is not a Death Eater' has been posted. Hope you guys like it. That fanfic is rated M for future chapters.
