Chapter 30- Replacements

Ruby spent the whole of the following weekend studying for her exam which was to take place on Monday afternoon. She arrived at Kyle's office on Monday with her textbook levitated in front of her face, she sat down at her desk and re-read the same paragraph four more times.

"Morning Weasley, oh and you must be Steven Walker?" Kyle said, entering the office, Ruby looked up and only then did she notice that the office was occupied.

"Yes sir, pleased to meet you." Walker said, standing up and shaking Kyle's hand.

"You too, has Ruby shown you around the office yet?"

"No, I'm afraid she hasn't even introduced herself" Walker replied, with what could only be described as a sneer on his face.

"Sorry, I was revising. I'm Ruby Weasley, nice to meet you." Kyle walked into his office and shut the door.

"You too, failed your exam did you? Not a good sign is it?" Ruby felt herself blush, this guy was a prick.

"No actually, it was rescheduled. I was injured."

"Good of them to reschedule."

"Would you like a drink?" Ruby asked, trying to control her temper.

"Yes, tea please, two sugars." Walker sat back down at the desk and looked around the office with a lazy expression on his face. Ruby made the drinks and then took Kyle his coffee and shut the door behind her.

"Thank you dear. What time is your exam?"

"Two o'clock sir, could I just run through one technique with you, I can't seem to get my head around it?"

"Of course, bring in the book. Give Walker this, tell him to read it carefully." He passed her the Emergency healing second year workbook and she walked back into the outer office.

"Healer Kyle would like you to read through this carefully." Said Ruby passing him the book.

"Oh, tell him I already have, I tend to prepare myself."

"Well, there's no harm in reading it again." Ruby snapped, grabbing her textbook book and walking back into Kyle's office, he appeared to have noticed the altercation.

"Problem?"

"Apparently he's already read it sir." Ruby said, sitting down opposite Kyle.

"I fear it will be a fortnight, Walker's father is one of the Hospital CEO's and his mother is a Senior Healer up on Bites and Stings, very well connected. Oh well, they can't all be like Mr Malfoy." Ruby smiled slightly and nodded.

"So, where are you having a problem… Ah Poison extraction, it is tricky, the key is to isolate the…."

Ruby sat back down at her desk half an hour later feeling much more confident. Kyle left to find some patients and Ruby flicked through her colourful revision notes trying to remain calm.

"Right, I've got a stab wound in seven, you can stay and study if…" Kyle started but Ruby shook her head and stood up.

"No need sir, I'm ready for the exam." She said, picking up her wand. Kyle looked at her shrewdly for a moment.

"Are you sure?" He asked, Ruby knew he wasn't worried about her exam, more about how she would react to another knife injury. She nodded her head firmly and followed Walker and Kyle out of the room.

They arrived in room seven and there was a young man with a knife sticking out of his left foot, he was howling in pain and the knife had gone straight through his foot. Ruby stepped forward but Walker spoke first.

"Good morning Mr Keller, I am Healer Walker…"

"Trainee healer Walker." Kyle interrupted, Walker gave a carefree laugh and then continued, Kyle glanced at Ruby and raised his eyebrows in apparent annoyance.

"Yes, could you tell me what happened?"

"I dropped a bleeding knife on me foot didn't I!"

"I see, when did this happen?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

"How did you get here?" Walker pressed, Ruby rolled her eyes, these questions could wait, Keller was clearly in agony and was losing a lot of blood. Kyle put his hand on Ruby's elbow to warn her not to interrupt.

"Me brother apparated me."

"I see, right well, I'll remove the knife and…" Walker reached down and pulled the knife out quickly, before Kyle could stop him. Keller screamed in pain and Ruby looked at his foot in complete horror, the blood was pouring out and dripping onto the floor.

Kyle was shouting at Walker and then looked back at Ruby and she tore her eyes away from the blood on the floor and looked at her supervisor.

"Ruby, concentrate!"

"Yes sir, F7 and blood-replenishing."

"Good girl, then we'll order an X-ray." Ruby moved over to the cupboard and started preparing the potions.

"What are you doing?" Walker asked, calmly standing next to her.

"I'll explain later." She snapped, moving over and injecting the potion in Keller's face and then holding the sobbing man's hand.

"It's alright Mr Keller…"

"Frank…"

"Frank, you'll be fine. The pain potion will kick in really soon… there can you feel it working?"

"Yeah… oh…" Ruby nodded and eased the man down onto the pillows. Kyle was working on bandaging his foot and then conjured at traction system to elevate it.

After a few minutes Keller drifted off to sleep and Ruby stepped back and put her shaking hands back into her pockets.

"Walker, come with me to the healer training supervisor, now! Ruby, go and have a cup of tea." Ruby nodded, staring at the blood on the floor but didn't move. Kyle stepped in front on her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Go on, you did good, go and find that Potions friend of yours and have a cup of tea." Ruby nodded and took a deep breath before leaving the room. She walked into a lift and was relieved to find it empty, she leaned into the corner and closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath.

Walker was a complete knob, who knows what kind of damage he could have done to Keller's foot!

Ruby walked to Alice's lab and was relieved to find her friend reading Witch Weekly with her feet on a stool looking completely bored.

"Alice, are you free?" Alice glanced up and then jumped up and looked at Ruby.

"Course, you alright? You look a bit shook up."

"Yeah, stab wound and a complete prick of a second year, Kyle sent me to have a cup of tea with you."

"Come on then, there's a quiz in here about whether you should wear a hat or not, that should take our mind off things!" Ruby laughed and Alice led her to the Potions staff room and made some drinks. Ruby took the quiz (apparently she was not a hat person) and then told Alice about Walker.

"Sounds like a first class prick."

"Yep, and his parents and big wigs upstairs." Ruby replied.

"Excellent, a protected first class prick. Well they can't all be like Scorpius!"

"That's what Kyle said."

"You still feel okay for the exam?"

"Yep, I need to get it out of the way, it's like a bit blot on my future that I can't see past."

"Well, in a few hours you can worry about less important things, like where to shag Scorpius later, and who will win the Quidditch final on Saturday, did you get tickets?"

"Yeah, Scorpius and I are sitting with my parents and Aunt Minnie, I think he's a bit nervous."

"I would be too, my Dad said your Aunt Minnie is Quidditch crazy!"

Ruby returned to the office half an hour later to find a large bouquet of flowers on her desk, she smiled and looked at the note.

Rubes,

Good luck for the exam (not that you need it), I'll pick you up later.

All my love,

Scorpius

a.k.a. The first year who wishes he was currently sitting across from you rather than sitting in a lecture on how not to get sued by patients.

Ruby smiled and sat down at the desk, she put the flowers to the side of her desk and picked up her revision notes again. Kyle's office walls were opaque, meaning that Walker was probably being ripped a new one inside it.

After ten minutes Walker came out looking slightly annoyed but still supremely arrogant and sat down at his desk.

"Ah, good you're back. Lovely flowers, for luck are they?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, from Scorpius."

"And they say romance is dead. Anyway, we've got some more cases, you take the lead Weasley, I think Walker's caused enough damage for one day." Ruby smiled and stood up, Walker blushed slightly but remained silent.

After a broken leg, a nasty case of food poisoning, and a child with a wand stuck up his nose, Ruby returned to the office and ate a quick but satisfying lunch before walking to her exam. As she was the only student it was held in the office of the Head of the Healer programme, Mr Graham, he waved Ruby in and indicated that she should sit at the small desk in the corner of his room.

"Excellent, you're here. Now, you've got four hours to finish the exam but you can have a ten minute break at any time. Any questions?"

"Umm… when will I find out the results?"

"Your supervisor, Kyle is it?"

"Yes sir."

"He should have them for you by the end of the week. The paper will be marked by four different Healers as well as myself and Robert, and then the average mark will be taken. A pass grade is 75 and above."

"Okay, oh I forgot my water bottle!" Ruby exclaimed, with so much exam information in her head it was only natural that something else would be pushed out.

"Don't worry." Graham conjured a jug of water and a glass. "Ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well, here's the exam, and your quill, there is supplementary information at the back. Good luck Miss Weasley."

Ruby took a deep breath, Aunt Minnie always told her it helped before an exam, and opened the paper, she could do this, she was going to pass this exam.

"And time, quill down please." Ruby closed the paper and put down her quill.

"And by the way I've just had a report from Kyle about the incident this morning with Mr Walker, could you write a statement about the incident?"

"Of course sir, now?" Ruby asked, her mind felt wrung dry and her voice cracked as she answered.

"Might as well, here you go, just write down what happened and date and sign it please." Ruby wrote the statement and the passed it to Graham.

"Thank you, off you go, I'm sure you have a relaxing evening planned…oh, before you go!" Ruby turned back, wanting nothing more than to be out of the office, and waited for Graham to file her statement before continuing.

"I've been read into your final year project, it sounds very interesting."

"It is sir, we're starting tomorrow."

"Well, I look forward to reading the results, your mother is a remarkable woman, you must be very proud of her."

"I am sir, of course."

Graham nodded and then waved her out of the office. Ruby walked slowly to Kyle's office, working out some kinks in her neck and trying not to think of the exam. She entered the office and was delighted and relieved to see Scorpius there, sat at her desk.

"Hey, how did it go?" He asked, standing up.

"I can't even remember, thanks for the flowers." Ruby said, stifling a yawn. Kyle walked out of the inner office with Walker behind him.

"Ah, you're back, how did it go?"

"She can't remember." Said Scorpius with a smile, Kyle chuckled.

"Well, I'm sure you did well. How was your first day back in the classroom, Scorpius?"

"Riveting, how not to get sued, sir."

"Hmm, Mr Walker could do with repeating that class, anyway off you go. Have a nice evening, I'll see you in the morning Ruby."

"Goodnight sir, night Walker." Ruby said, picking up her bag.

"See you tomorrow, Weasley, you took knackered, get some sleep!" Ruby straightened up at looked at Walker.

"Cheers, you should do some studying, you know, so you don't kill anyone." Ruby picked up her flowers and walked out of the office without seeing the amused look that passed between her boyfriend and Kyle.

Scorpius caught up with Ruby by the Apparation point and as they queued Ruby told her about Mr Keller and about Walker's impressive connections. Scorpius looked oddly triumphant.

"Well, I suppose anyone who follows me is going to be a let-down." He said before apparating and pulling Ruby with him.

They arrived at his flat and Ruby pulled of her robes and hung them up as Scorpius put his bag in his study area and then walked into the kitchen to make tea.

"D'you mind if I Floo a note to my parents?" She asked, calling through to him.

"Sure, there's some spare parchment on the desk, tell them I say hi."

Ruby wrote a short note to her parents, telling them about the exam and then sent it through the network. She then sat down on the sofa and pulled off her shoes, leaning back she closed her eyes but a doorbell disturbed her meditation.

"Can you get that, Rubes? It's probably the building manager bringing a parcel."

Ruby walked to the large entrance hall and opened the door, it was not the building manager, it was Lauren.

"Oh, hello Ruby. You look terrible, are you ill?" She asked, stepping past Ruby. "Where's Scorpi?"

"Kitchen." Ruby replied, walking ahead of Lauren and towards the kitchen.

"Who was…Lauren?"

"Hey Scorpi." Ruby felt her frayed nerves strain some more and Scorpius appeared to notice.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to catch up…"

"Lauren, for fuck sake I told you I was spending the evening with Ruby!"

"Did you?"

"You know I did, just go home and stay away from me. I don't want to see you except for in class, I don't want to talk to you at all, just accept defeat and move on!" Ruby looked between the two and was surprised when tears sprung to Lauren's eyes, crocodile tears perhaps.

"But Scorpi! I miss you, I love you! We were perfect together, everyone knew it!"

"No one thought we were perfect together, not even my parents!" Scorpius countered, throwing down a tea towel.

"Your grandfather loved me, he wants us to…" Lauren stopped talking suddenly and Scorpius' eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh, I see. Been talking to that old bastard have you? How much did he pay you?"

"I don't…"

"HOW MUCH?" Scorpius, his eyes wide with anger. Ruby edged towards him so that she would be closer if he needed her.

"HE JUST WANTS US TO BE TOGETHER, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?"

"HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU! HE JUST WANTS ME TO BREAK UP WITH RUBY!"

"OF COURSE HE DOES, SHE'S A BLOOD TRAITOR!"

"GET OUT NOW!" Scorpius said firmly, Lauren put her hands in front of her mouth, perhaps wishing she hadn't called Ruby a blood traitor.

"Lauren, just go, it's over." Ruby said, quietly. Lauren looked at her and then back at Scorpius.

"He… he said he'd sort out my exams… so I wouldn't fail…"

"Lauren, he was lying, he can't buy your way into Healing, not anymore."

"I'm…I'm going to fail…"

"Then fail Lauren, do something else, you only went into Healing because of your Dad, you know you did. Let it go, go into catering school, the one in France you always talked about. Don't sell yourself short, you can be whoever you want to be, whatever you want to be." Scorpius said quietly, he stepped towards Lauren and then blonde looked unsure for a moment but then nodded, tears rolling down her face.

"I'm sorry Scorpi."

"I know, it's not me you need to apologise to though." Lauren nodded and turned to Ruby.

"I'm sorry Weasley, I was desperate. I'm sorry about the blood traitor thing as well, my mom's half blood, I don't know what I was thinking."

"It's okay." Lauren nodded and turned to walk out of the kitchen, she paused at the doorway and looked back at Ruby.

"Take care of him, he's a keeper." Ruby nodded but didn't reply.

Ruby and Scorpius remained silent until they heard the front door shut and then Scorpius turned towards the kettle and gripped the sideboard tightly, the anger was rolling off him in waves.

Ruby walked beside him and put her hand on his, he didn't respond.

"Scorpius, talk to me, please." She said, softly.

He sniffed and she looked up to his face, he had a single tear rolling down his left cheek, Ruby reached up and wiped it away, as soon as her hand left his face he broke down and cried.

"I'm…so sorry!" He sniffed, trying to regain composure.

"Hey, it's not your fault." Ruby replied, firmly.

"I… I didn't think he'd do something like that…I…I'll be back in a bit, stay here."

"Wait, where are you going?" Ruby asked as he picked up his wand.

"Just stay here, I won't be long." He strode away from her and disapparated.

Ruby groaned in frustration and walked back into the living room and sat on the sofa.

Mercifully it was only five minutes until Scorpius returned, looking remarkably calmer.

"Where did you go?" Ruby asked, standing up and walking over to him.

"To talk to my parents, they didn't know."

"I never thought they did!" Ruby replied,

"I know, I just had to know, anyway my grandfather's away for a few days but my Dad's going to talk to him when he gets back. Mom was annoyed at me for leaving you here, sorry." Ruby smiled slightly and then Scorpius pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry about all of this, Rubes…" He whispered into her hair.

"It's not your fault, I love you Scorpius, nothing else matters." Scorpius pulled away and nodded and then leant down and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I love you too, dinner can wait." He pulled her into the bedroom and she ran her hands under his shirt as they walked.

"Dinner can always wait." She replied, Scorpius laughed and turned to her, kicking the bedroom door shut.

"What if we were having waffles?" He asked, his breath hitching as she ran her hands over his chest.

"I said dinner, not pudding." She replied. He smiled and pulled off his jumper, she started to undo the buttons on her blouse but he waved her hands away and continued, the last button remained but he just pulled the green blouse over her head and then unhooked her bra and tossed it on the floor.

Ruby undid the button on his jeans and reached into them and stroked him through his boxers. Scorpius closed his eyes and then reached around to her bum and lifted her up and threw her on the bed, he then climbed over to her and kissed her hard on the lips, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he thrust against her.

He then found and lifted up her skirt and pulled off her lacy knickers, she unfastened her skirt and he pulled it off her. She pulled his mouth to hers and started to tug his jeans off and sucked on his tongue. He groaned into her mouth and then pulled away to kick off his trousers, she sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and his eyes darkened in desire.

"Ruby Weasley, you're so gorgeous." She smiled and then felt his hand on her waist

"I missed you at work today, it didn't feel right."

"Good, I want it to feel wrong when I'm gone." Scorpius breathed before leaning down and capturing her lips again. Ruby pulled down his boxers and clawed his firm button and pulled him towards her.

"Fast or slow?" Scorpius asked, running his length over her centre.

"Fast, slow can wait." Scorpius smiled and entered her quickly, groaning and closing his eyes in pleasure.

Within a few minutes it was over and Scorpius rolled off Ruby and lay next to her, both breathing heavily.

The happy post-coital moment was disturbed by Scorpius' stomach rumbling loudly. Ruby laughed.

"Good thing I asked for fast." Scorpius stop up and pulled on his clothes and passed Ruby his dressing gown.

"I'll get changed…"

"No, I want you naked in my dressing gown while I cook, call me a feminist." Ruby laughed and pulled on the green fleece.

"You just want to see me in Slytherin colours, you do realise on Saturday you'll be in a family of lions."

"I know, but I'll be cheering the Slytherin's under my breath."

"It better be quiet, Aunt Minnie can hear like a bat."

Scorpius cooked a delicious dinner of Prawn Stir Fry and then he studied while Ruby insisted on clearing up.

As she put the plates away she couldn't help thinking about the situation with Lauren. Although relieved that the blonde would now back off Ruby was horrified by the thought that Lucius Malfoy had been that desperate to separate Scorpius and herself.

Later that night whilst she lay in bed next to Scorpius she decided to broach the subject, he did not take it well.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Scorpius…"

"I'm not talking about it."

"That won't make it go away." Ruby pressed.

"I can't deal with it at the moment, I need to talk to him first, he's back on Thursday."

"What will you say to him?"

"I don't know yet, Dad's coming with me to back me up. Oh and they got tickets to the final, Mom wants to sit with your family, show everyone that we can sit together. Will your family mind?"

"Some of them will but it will be fine, as long as we keep them away from Uncle Ron."

"Do your sisters know we're both going?"

"Yeah, they're surprised because me and Mom aren't great with Quidditch, we tend to get bored."

"Bored? Of Quidditch?" Scorpius asked, in mock outrage.

"Yeah, we'll both disappear into our own worlds, I guarantee it."

"I've got a match next Wednesday, will you watch that?"

"I will come to the match and watch you. I might not be able to tell you the score afterwards but I will be able to recall exactly how hot you look in your shirt perfectly." Scorpius smiled.

"Oh well, that's alright then."

A/N So I'm back! I will only be updating once a week because I'm trying to write a book, for the real world, so fanfiction will be a second priority. Take into account that I have been updating twice a week at least since the start of the summer, I have spoilt you! If I had a job and legs that allowed me to walk then I would be out in the world rather than stuck inside getting bored.

Next chapter; The Longbottoms treatment starts.

witchprincess33- Thanks.

xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Thanks.

Scorubes4life- Lol, thanks for the story! I promise we'll see Hagrid soon.

Reading Dorkk- Thanks, sorry for the delay.

LUG-14- Thanks, did the chapter make you feel better about Lauren?