Chapter 11

Leaving Scorpius' room, Rose rushed to her own room to get ready. Quickly changing into more appropriate clothes for a Sunday, she went down to the Great Hall. She knew that by now, all her cousins would know what happened on her date with Lorcan. Lily, she imagined, would not understand why she didn't just let him kiss her. Her brother and Al would offer to beat him up. Her cousins would be right along the same lines of Al and her brother. The others would stay away from her, not knowing how to respond, but they would all be on her side. She just hoped that they all wouldn't make a big deal out of it. And she wasn't going to tell them about Scorpius. They was no way they would understand. And she could even talk to them without talking with Scorpius first. She wasn't sure what they were doing yet, or what their relationship was, Rose couldn't lie to herself and say that she wasn't worried about what her parent and family might think. They had seen her at Christmas, and it seemed unlikely that they would let Scorpius have anything to do with her soon after.

Walking into the Great Hall and stopping at the door, Rose mentally told herself to relax. No one would have known that she and Scorpius had spent the night. And even if they were suspicious, no one could prove anything. No one saw them walk to Hogwarts because they had all been in Hogsmeade. She took a shower, change her clothes, and left his note in his room. If they searched her or her room, they would find nothing. They would have nothing to prove. Rose knew that no one had seen them together last night. There was no way her cousins or anyone could know. At least, she hoped. She really hadn't been in the right state of mind in Hogsmeade, so her memory was a bit fuzzy. For a fleeting moment, Rose thought that she had seen a figure outside the gates of Hogwarts watching her and Scorpius, but she quickly dismissed it. She was half drunk and Scorpius would have never done anything if someone had watched them.

Still, walking up to her cousins and friends proved to be difficult. Lorcan was sitting with them. All her cousins seemed to be crowding around him, like he was telling them a funny, interesting story. Rose thought that her cousins, especially Al, would want nothing to do with Lorcan after what he did to her. She had been prepared to stand up for him and keep him within the good graces of her family. After all, it hadn't been his fault that she couldn't kiss him because she had been in love with Scorpius. However, now it looked like he was doing just fine on his own. She was somewhat hurt that her family had forgiven him so easily. There was no way that would have forgiven Scorpius if he was the one who tried to kiss her. The sound of laughter rose from their table, and Rose couldn't stand it. She had half a mind to walk over to them and slap some sense into their skulls. How could her cousins side with Lorcan against her? She took a deep breath, thoughts clouding her mind. Knowing that she wasn't thinking straight, that her cousins weren't siding with Lorcan over her, she decided to leave. Without anyone noticing her, Rose left the Great Hall.

Instead, she walked to the kitchens to get some food. She hadn't eaten anything since early in the afternoon yesterday, so she was starving. Her friends wouldn't miss her, and she wouldn't miss them. Later, when they saw each other, she could say she had gotten breakfast in the kitchens. They had no way of knowing that she had been with Scorpius. Tickling the pear, Rose walked into the kitchens where she was bombarded with smells. There must have been bacon and sausage in the Great Hall, because the kitchens smelt like bacon and sausage. Rose could see that there were stacks of food waiting to be delivered to the Great Hall. There was toast, pancakes, jellies, and jams just waiting to be called for. House-elves everywhere were running around, making more food.

A few house-elves came up to her to inquire what she wanted. "What can Muffy get the young miss?" one of the older house-elves asked. Rose recognized her from previous trips to the kitchens. Muffy also had a sliver star stitched on her clothes, indicating that she was the head house-elf of the kitchens.

"Could I maybe have some eggs and bacon with toast and some orange juice?" Rose asked politely, having been trained to treat house elves as her equal from her mother.

"Sure, sure, young miss,"Muffy said while the other house-elves ran to fulfill her order.

Soon, Rose had eaten her fill. "Thank you," she called to the house elves. A chorus of you're welcome from the house elves rang stood up to go, but then thought of something. "Excuse me," she said to the nearest house elf who almost dropped its platter of bread. Rose didn't recognize her, meaning that she was new and inexperienced. While that meant that Fern didn't do as much work as the older, more experienced house-elves, she still lived in the kitchens. Young house-elves also had more of a tendency to tell you things that others wouldn't tell. Rose hoped that this was the case, because she had some very important questions.

"Yes, young mistress? What could Fern do for you?" the house-elf said.

"Please, call me Rose. Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if anyone else came down this morning," Rose asked, hoping that the answer was yes. If it was, part of her suspicion could be confirmed.

"Yes, Miss. Rose. Fern did see a young gentleman here this morning at around five," Fern squeaked. "He asked us house-elves if we could provide him with a meal, even though it was very early in the morning."

"Did you? What else did her say?" Rose was now positive that this was Scorpius. How else would have been up at five a.m.?

"Of course, Miss. Rose. We house elves live to attend to the duties of the young mistresses and masters at Hogwarts," Fern replied, as if she had been stupid to ask the question in the first place. "He also used the fireplace here."

"Did he say where he was going?" Rose asked.

"He said, Miss. Rose, that he was going home to attend to some private matters, and if anyone but a girl with red hair was to come asking, we were to not tell them anything," Fern said firmly. "Fern believes that you are this young Miss Master Scorpius was talking about."

"Yes, I do believe I was," Rose said faintly. Now it was certain that Scorpius had gotten out of the castle to speak with his father. Rose hoped that all was going well. She wanted to ask Fern if she Scorpius had told them when he was coming back, but she held back. He already said that he would be waiting for her in the common room at eleven. And besides that, Fern were teetering on her feet, looking anxious to return to work.

"Does that answer all of Miss. Rose's questions?" Fern asked, looking hopeful at the sign of returning to work.

"Yes it does," Rose replied. "And thank you, Fern." The house-elf bowed and then rushed off with the platter of bread.

With this information, Rose now knew that Scorpius had left from the kitchen and was going to return through that kitchens. That meant that the kitchen weren't being watched to see how flood in and out. This was useful information that Rose stored away for future knowledge.

Looking at her watch, Rose saw that it was only ten o'clock, but she started to make her way back to the Head dorms anyways. She did not want to be in the kitchens when Scorpius returned. Besides, in her dorm, there was plenty of things to do to keep her occupied. It was a Sunday, and she still had plenty of homework to do still. She just hoped that Scorpius wouldn't be late.

[-**-]

"Rose, honey. I'm back." Scorpius' voice ran through her dreams and woke her up. His sweet, smoothing voice calmed down her body, which was just suffering from a nightmare.

"Oh, Scorpius," Rose sighed. "I just had the most terrible dream. You had come back and said that we couldn't be together. I know that's not true now, but it scared me." Getting up from the couch where she had been sleeping in the common room, she ran over to him. The clock read 1:02. "You're late," Rose muttered. Rose threw her arms around him, and hugged him tightly. Scorpius, however, didn't hug back.

Taking a step back, Rose asked in a frightened voice, "Was my dream true? What's the matter?"

"I killed him," Scorpius said. "I had to. I had no choice." Scorpius' face was a sickly white, like he had just witnessed something her wanted to forget. "You have to protect me."

"What do you mean, you killed him?" Rose asked, her voice getting cautious and scared. "Is this some kind of joke, because it's not funny. Who did you kill?"

Scorpius leaned over to touch her, but she jerked away. But Scorpius was a lot stronger than she was and managed to push her back to the couch where she had been resting moments before. There, he held onto her so that her arms were pinned to her sides.

"Let go of me!" Rose shouted as she struggled to get free. Scorpius' eyes looked ragged and fierce, wild even, the sign of something gone wrong. "You're scaring me, Scorpius!"

"My father," Scorpius murmured, still keeping his iron grip. Rose could feel bruises starting to form where Scorpius was holding on. She whimpered. This wasn't her Scorpius. Something was wrong. Or maybe, this was the true Scorpius. The monster that everyone but her saw. Scorpius leaned forward, almost cutting off her air. Rose was struggling harder now. Scorpius had this wild look in his eyes, and it wasn't making her comfortable.

"But you believe me. You believe that I did nothing wrong," Scorpius was saying. "You believe me, right Rose? Right?" This was worse than her nightmare. At least she knew that she was sleeping and that she would eventually wake up. This was actually happening. Scorpius was the bad person everyone said he was. Oh, why didn't she believe them? Now she was all alone with him, and no one was going to come looking for her. Why didn't she at least tell someone about her and Scorpius and the reason they broke up. Draco was now dead, and Scorpius was crazy. Rose had never felt so afraid in her life.

"Let go of me!" Rose screamed, her voice getting hoarse. She wanted someone, anyone, to hear her. "Let me go!"

"You believe me, right Rose? Right?" Scorpius kept on saying that, drowning out her pleas of help. "Rose, you believe me. Right Rose?" She kept screaming, trying to drown out his words.

"Ms. Weasley! Ms. Weasley. Rose, wake up!"

Rose woke with a start. She was sweating and her throat felt parched, as if she had been screaming. Her dream, or nightmare, it had felt so real. Like it had actually happened. But looking up at the clock, it was only 12:30. In her nightmare, it had been one o'clock. Turning her head slightly, she saw who woke her up. Professor McGonagall, Albus, her uncle Harry, and her father were all standing over her in a half circle around the couch. She sat up quickly. Ignoring all the blood that was now rushing to her head, she looked around the room. Aurors were there, looking through all the desks, bookcases, and furniture in the Head's common room.

"What's going on?" She asked her father, her eyes still wide at the sight of all these people.

"First, Rose, I need to ask you a question," her father said. He leaned down so that he was at eye level with her. "And I need you to answer it truthfully. Have you seen Scorpius Malfoy yesterday or this morning?"

"No," Rose said quickly, praying that her eyes didn't betray her. She had no idea what was going on, but she had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. "Why? Is he missing?"

"Partly," her uncle Harry replied, taking over the conversation. He also knelt down so that he could look her straight in the eye. "More likely he is on the run."

"On the run?" Rose gasped. What was going on? What was he on the run from? Had he really killed his father, like her dream had said? A million questions shot through her head, but her throat could only ask one. "From what?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"It has been discovered that Scorpius Malfoy may have murdered his father, mother, and grandparent."

Rose felt the world go black around her as she remembered what the Scorpius in her dream said. 'You have to protect me.'