In the Previous Chapter…
"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 picked Scorpius up off the bench and threw him onto the floor in the middle of the hall, where his head smacked against the stone floor with a dull crack.
And it all went black.
The sound of Scorpius' head hitting the hard floor seemed to echo endlessly around the Great Hall. Everyone fell silent as all of the teachers rushed to the Head Boy, who seemed to be unconscious in the middle of the floor.
All of the Weasleys at in shock at what had happened, and whilst they were distracted, Rose had wriggled out of their hold and had run to Scorpius' side, where she was now frantically trying to wake him up.
"Scorp'us! Get up Scorp'us!" she wailed, anxiously tugging at his sleeve. When she realised that he wasn't going to respond she turned around to face her family. "YOU KILLED MY SCORP'US!" she screamed, charging straight at Al and Hugo. She punched them with her little fists, but it didn't hurt them at all. "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE NOT MY FAMILY, MY FAMILY WOULDN'T BE THIS MEAN!" she shrieked before collapsing on the floor in tears.
Lorcan, Lysander and Leo rushed over to their friend and tried to calm Rose, but she rounded on them too. "WHY DID YOU MAKE MY FAMILY YELL AT MY SCORP'US?" she shouted, "YOU'RE RUBBISH FRIENDS! I HATE YOU TOO!" she said, and lay sobbing on the floor, cuddling into Scorpius' unresponsive body.
Professor Longbottom crouched down next to Rose before whispering "Do you remember me, Rosie? It's your Uncle Nev" he said calmly. Rose recognised Neville and sprung into his open arms. He then carried her a few metres back, so that she wasn't too far from Scorpius, but wasn't close enough to see the trickle of blood coming from the back of the Head Boy's head.
Professor McGonagall was knelt at the boy's side, furiously instructing the teachers to do different things. One teacher sent a patronus to Madam Patil to prepare a bed urgently, and the others began casting spells to bandage Scorpius' wound temporarily and levitate him to the Hospital wing.
The eyes of the whole school followed Scorpius' limp levitated body out of the hall, with a crying Rose following in Professor Longbottom's arms. The doors banged shut behind them as they hurried up the stairs to the Hospital wing.
As soon as Scorpius was lowered onto the bed, Madam Patil set to work. She cast several complicated spells to stem the blood flow and remove any internal bleeding, another to stich the open wound, another to repair any minor brain damage and then poured a very strong solution of Skelegrow down Scorpius' throat.
The whole time, Rose was sat at the back of the hospital wing crying in Neville's arms. He was whispering soothingly to her, but Rose was very distressed. Her family had just badly hurt her Scorp'us. She thought he was dead. How could she forgive her family if they killed him? And his friends had turned on him too! Rose didn't want to talk to anyone, she just wanted her Scorp'us to be okay.
McGonagall walked over to the crying child and picked her out of Longbottom's arms and placed her in her own. 2My dear child," she said gently, "I need you to tell me what happened so we can sort this out" she said.
"Scorp'us said he couldn't sit with me at the Gryff'dor table 'cause he's a slyth'rin. I said he could sit there so he sat with me, but his friends didn't like it. They started saying mean things and my family thought that the mean things were right, so took me away from my Scorp'us and pushed him off the chair" she sobbed, "and then his head went crack and he started bleeding and I think he's dead!" cried Rose harder.
"Scorpius isn't dead, Rose, but he is very badly hurt. He will probably be in bed asleep for a few days" McGonagall tried to explain to the small girl. She couldn't really tell her that Scorpius might not be alright, and that he could be unconscious for over a week, but couldn't tell the little girl that obviously adored him that he would be fine in 5 minutes.
"Rose, you can't stay here with Scorpius while he gets better, so you have a choice. You can either stay here at Hogwarts and stay with your family in Gryffindor tower or stay here with your Uncle Neville. It's completely up to you" McGonagall said. In normal situations, she would send the child home to her parents, but she felt that Rose would want to be near Scorpius so that she could check on him.
"I never want to see my family again after what they did to my Scorp'us" said Rose, crossing her arms crossly, "So can I stay with Uncle Nev please?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course, Rosie" said Neville, picking Rose up and sitting him in her lap. Now, I need to quickly sort a few things, so I think it would be best if you sit here with Professor McGonagall" he said, before hurrying to his chambers to set up a spare bed for Rose.
"Can I see Scorp'us, Professor?" Rose asked quietly, yet pleadingly.
"I think he is okay for you to see him, but you have to remember that he can't hear you as he is fast asleep" said McGonagall. She stood and took the child's hand before walking her over to Scorpius' bed. Scorpius had a thick padded layer of bandages around his head, and had two black rings appearing around his eyes. The usually blonde hair at the back of his hair was tinged red from the bleeding and his whole body was limp and pale.
Rose slipped her hand into his and sat staring at Scorpius for a while, tears slowly dribbling down her cheeks, her lip quivering. McGonagall gently tugged the little girl's hand and opened her arms to give the girl a comforting hug. She then carried the subdued girl out of the Hospital wing to Professor Longbottom's chambers.
After the sad party had left for the Hospital wing, all hell broke loose in the Great Hall. Scorpius' friends turned on Al and Hugo, aiming punches at the faces. This turned into a massive fist fight between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. The brawl was stopped when Professor Longbottom stormed through the doors. He cast a mass stunning spell, and everyone in the hall froze.
"I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED IN ALL OF YOU!" he bellowed. "THE ENTIRE WEASLEY FAMILY AND THE THREE CLOSE FRIENDS OF MR MALFOY WILL FOLLOW ME IMMEDIATELY TO MY OFFICE. THE HEAD BOY IS SERIOUSLY INJURED AND COULD YET DIE FROM HIS INJURIES. 200 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN FOR STARTING A FIGHT. ANYONE WHO IS INJURED, GO TO PROFESSOR PARKINSON. SHE WILL CLEAR YOU UP. NO ONE IS ALLOWED INTO THE HOSPITAL WING." With this, he released the stunning spell. Everyone except the Weasleys and the three Slytherins sat back down. They followed Longbottom to his office, where he slammed the door behind them and turned to face them, red with rage.
"I hope you realise how serious this is" he angrily hissed. He retrieved a pensieve from a cabinet by his desk and placed it on the table in front of him. "Put your memories of the whole incident in the Great Hall starting from when Rose and Scorpius walked in. Now." He ordered. Everyone slowly put their memories into the bowl. Longbottom then moved it aside and faced the students. "Everyone except you five" he pointed to Al, Hugo, Lorcan, Lysander and Leo, "can leave. Return to your dormitories and stay there. You will all have detension with me every night, including weekends, for a month. Now go" he said, pointing to the door.
He then turned to the five left. "You five turned on the people closest to you and have ended up injuring both of them. You three Slytherins turned on your friend, accusing him of horrible things. And then you Gryffindors acted upon this by taking the already fragile Rose away from him and beating him to the ground. Then, you started a fist fight in the middle of the Hall, causing many more to be injured. I'm suspending all 5 of you for two weeks. Go to your dormitories, pack some basic belongings and be back here in an hour's time. I will contact your parents to come and get you. Make sure you come back in the right frame of mind" he said, before letting the 5 boys go. He then walked over to his floo network and fire-called first the Potters, Weasleys, Scammanders and the Notts, telling them to floo to Professor Longbottom's office, Hogwarts, immediately to collect their sons. He said that he would explain what had happened when they all arrived.