In the Previous Chapter…
"You know I'm meant to be older?" interrupted Rose, "Can I see what I look like?" she asked curiously.
"We'll run back to the tower and grab some photos" said Lucy, grabbing Hugo so that he could go and retrieve photos from the Boy's dormitories.
"I think Rose has some photos in her room" said Scorpius. "Shall I run and get them?" He handed Rose over to Al before running up the staircase to his and Rose's rooms. He saw one photo on her bedside cabinet which was a group photo of all of her family. He grabbed it and brought it down to the common room before sitting back down. Rose scrambled to his lap so that she could see the photo. Scorpius pointed out who everyone was, except the slim, smiling redhead girl in the front row.
"Who's she? She's reeeeeeeeeally pretty!" commented Rose.
"I know, she really is, isn't she hun. I bet you can guess who it is though" said Scorpius softly.
Rose momentarily thought before asking quietly "Is that me, Scorp'us?" Scorpius nodded, smiling. Rose was so fascinated by this picture of herself. Her brother and cousin brought back a vast collection of photos from their dormitories; there were some more of Rose of her family, a few with Rose standing with one or two members of family, a few of her with her friends. At each one Rose would get happier and comment on how pretty she looked, but those comments soon turned into questions. What is she like? What is her favourite subject? Colour? It turned into a slightly twisted game of 20Q, except that Rose was asking about her future self. It felt slightly odd for Scorpius and Rose's family to answer all of Rose's simple questions.
The group happily chatted for the rest of lunch, but the bell signalling the end of the break sounded, so they all stood to go and face an afternoon of lessons.
Scorpius carried Rose to Transfiguration, and after being awed by people turning animals into tables or matchsticks into spoons, Rose began to get tired. Scorpius knew that it had been a busy day for the excited 5 year old, so lifted Rose into his lap. She presently fell asleep, so Scorpius politely asked McGonagall if he could be excused to take Rose back to the common room to sleep. McGonagall handed him extra work to catch up on before letting him go.
Once they were back in their living quarters, Scorpius gently carried Rose up to his room. He laid her sleeping body down on the bed and pulled the covers over her. Rose immediately snuggled into the pillow and began to softly snore.
Scorpius used the break from caring for Rose to finish his homework, for he knew that when Rose woke up, she wouldn't want to sit around whilst Scorpius set about doing his assignments.
About an hour later, Rose woke up and ran into the common room crying.
"I didn't know where you were!" she cried as she ran into Scorpius' waiting arms.
"Shhhh hun. You fell asleep in my lesson, so I brought you back here. I was just finishing my homework" Scorpius soothed the little girl. "I will never leave you anywhere, ever, understand. I'll never be too far away, okay?"
Rose slowly stopped sobbing and sat up on Scorpius' lap. "Can we go and see the rest of the castle now?" she asked.
"I suppose. We've got a bit of time to kill before dinner" said Scorpius.
So Scorpius sent the rest of the afternoon showing Rose around the school. As she had requested, he showed her inside each of the common rooms (as the Head Boy and Girl are allowed access in all four), the library, the Quidditch field, the Lake and other areas like the Astronomy tower and courtyard. Scorpius finally took Rose down to the kitchens, where the house elves said they could get them any food that they wanted.
Scorpius only allowed Rose to have a small amount of food, as it was nearly dinner, but nonetheless enjoyed himself as he and Rose sat in the kitchens eating ice cream. After their ice cream bowls were empty, the pair walked back to their common room. There was still a bit of time left before dinner, so Scorpius let Rose into her older self's bedroom. Rose had only been in there for a few minutes that first night when she woke up aged 5, so had not really seen anything. She was fascinated by all of the older head girl's belongings, and had to ask Scorpius what a lot of it was. Scorpius himself didn't know how to feel as the little girl went through all of the things in Rose's room. He was torn between curiosity at the sort of things Rose owned, and the feeling of intrusion at going through her private possessions.
He was presently saved by the bell, announcing to the school that it was the end of last lesson, and time for dinner. Scorpius lifted Rose into a piggy back and started towards the Great Hall. The pair got a few funny looks as Scorpius took Rose over to her family. He lifted her down and plonked her on the bench between Al and Hugo. He knew that her family would like to spend more time with her, but not necessarily with him, so turned around to join his friends at the Slytherin table.
He was stopped, however by a tug at his sleeve. He turned to see a very distressed Rose staring up at him with her big, blue eyes.
"Where are you going Scorp'us? You said you wouldn't leave me!" she cried.
"Hun, I thought that you'd like to sit with your family. I would never completely leave you! It's just that I don't really belong at this table…" Scorpius tried to explain.
"But I want to sit with you and my family" sobbed Rose, hugging Scorpius' knees to try and stop him from leaving.
"Scorpius, just sit here" said Al. "You're Head Boy and you're caring for Rose. Despite being a Slytherin, you're welcome here."
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on the Lions" Scorpius frowned, worried as to how a Slytherin sitting with the Gryffindors would be taken by his fellow students.
"Well, I don't care if you're not allowed" said Rose passionately, "I'm saying you sit here, and anyone who doesn't like it can argue with me" she said bravely.
"Mate," laughed Hugo, "You better do as she says. She's just as stubborn now as she is when she's 17. Her say goes" he laughed, before moving over so that Scorpius could sit between him and Al.
Scorpius hesitated, but he was persuaded to join the Lions by the defiant look on Rose's face that told him that he wasn't going anywhere else soon, so sat down at the table. Rose climber happily into his lap and started eating her dinner.
Word soon spread that Scorpius had sat with the Gryffindors, and the Slytherins weren't very happy about it. Leo, Lorcan and Lysander hurried over to their friend.
"Mate, what are you over here for!?" cried Lorcan.
"Yeah, why aren't you over with us?!" cried Lysander, in exactly the same tone.
"Guys, I'm sitting here for Rose" said Scorpius. "Her family have okayed me sitting with them for Rose's sake" he tried to explain.
"Scorp, you've let a 5 year old rule over you!" laughed Leo.
"So what if I have?" said Scorpius angrily. "So what if I've decided to make a little girl my priority for a few months?" he asked bitterly.
"You're prioritising a Weasley over your friends?" gasped Lorcan.
"That's not what I said" Scorpius argued, but it was too late, the damage had been done.
"What is with you, Malfoy? What, are you like in love with Weasley? Is that why you're caring for her now? So that when she comes back to normal she'll remember exactly how you cared for her and fall head over heels for you? Is that your little scheme?" spat Leo before turning around and storming back to the Slytherin table.
Everyone had watched the argument, and everyone turned to see Scorpius' reaction. He was just sat there dumbstruck.
"Malfoy, if what he said was true…" glared Al from next to Scorpius.
"No!" cried Scorpius, "How could anyone think I'd do that? Rose is now only a child so she has to have someone look after her, and McGonagall picked me! I don't know why, but she did! As far as I'm concerned, looking after a small kid means trying to make their life enjoyable, instead of being selfish and making them unhappy by going against their wishes!" he said, shocked that his friends would believe such a thing.
"You better not be lying, Malfoy," threatened Hugo, drawing his wand and pointing it at Scorpius' face, "otherwise I swear that I'll…"
"Stop it!" cried Rose hugging into Scorpius. "He's done nothing wrong!" she said, bursting into tears. Scorpius immediately hugged her closer, but her family tore him out of his arms with looks of disgust on their faces. Rose was crying her eyes out and was screaming and kicking, trying to release her family's grip on her to get to Scorpius. Hugo and Al, however, picked Scorpius up off the bench and threw him onto the floor in the middle of the hall. Because of the force of the throw, Scorpius landed hard onto the stone floor, and smacked his head on the stone with a dull crack.
And it all went black.