In the Previous Chapter…

"I've missed you, Scorp'us" Rose grinned, pinching his nose playfully.

Scorpius chuckled slightly, pinching Rose's nose back. "I missed you too, hun" he said before hugging Rose close and giving her a soft kiss on her temple.

"Ewwwwww!" Rose squealed, before giggling and giving Scorpius a kiss on the cheek back. "You only get to kiss me if I get to kiss you too" she smirked before cuddling back lovingly into Scorpius' embrace.

Scorpius woke up groggily the next morning, feeling like he had something weighing him down. He slowly opened his eyes to find that he actually did have something weighing him down. Rose was sound asleep on his chest, cuddled into him, snoring softly. He lay there for a few minutes, running through what he remembered of the previous day.

After McGonagall and Madam Patil had left, he and Rose had laid talking to each other and messing around until dinner. Scorpius wasn't allowed out yet, so Rose stayed and ate with him in the hospital wing. Rose had started to show signs of sleep about an hour later, so Scoprius had scooped her up into his arms and had lay with her in his arms until she fell asleep. He didn't remember anything further than that, so assumed that he had soon joined Rose in sleep.

Rose gently stirred in his arms before meeting his grey eyes with her own blue eyes. "Morning Scorp'us" she yawned, smiling, before she sat up slowly. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Yeah, loads better" he smirked before sitting up carefully in his bed. Madam Patil came in soon after, carrying a set of school robes with her.

"As long as you feel better, you're free to leave, Mr Malfoy" she said, putting the clean clothes on the bed. She also laid a clean set of clothes for Rose to wear next to her. "If you get dressed carefully you should be able to go down to breakfast today." With that, she left the pair to get up properly.

"Can we go to breakfast, Scorp'us?" Rose asked, crawling along Scorpius' body to reach her clothes by his feet. She pulled the clothes towards her before looking up at the head boy.

"'course, hun" he said, before he too grabbed the clean clothes. They quickly got dressed and soon enough they were ready to leave. Madam Patil gave Scorpius a quick check over and handed him various vials of potions for him to take, before finally they were allowed to leave.

Rose hummed happily to herself as she skipped along the corridor by Scorpius' side, her hand closed around his. Scorpius had to go slowly for the first few days, so it felt like it took an age for the pair to reach the main corridor heading towards the Great Hall. Because they had to go carefully, Scorpius and Rose were once again late to breakfast.

Professor McGonagall stood as Scorpius slowly entered the Hall, a smile forming on her face. Scorpius walked towards the Slytherin table and sat down on the end, so he didn't have to walk too far.

"I would like you all to welcome back your Head Boy" she said loudly. "Mr Malfoy has recovered well, but he is still in significant pain, so I would like you all to be very careful around him" she smiled before nodding to Scorpius. The rest of the Hall gave Scorpius an applause with a few small smiles before going back to their post and food.

Scorpius started to load breakfast onto his and Rose's plates, but stopped when Rose tugged at his sleeve. She saw that she had turned around and was sinking into him for support. He lifted her into his lap before carefully swiveling in his seat, only to find almost all of the Weasleys standing behind him.

"We're sorry for what happened, Malfoy" Lily said. "Al and Hugo were being complete and utter dicks."

"Look, guys, it's fine, I understand why they reacted, it's just a bit of a shock to have everyone turn on me at once" he attempted to joke. He had watched McGonagall's rough memories of that morning yesterday afternoon, and understood what they'd been fighting about.

"But it's not fine, Malfoy" Louis interrupted. "Al and Hugo really hurt you and now Rosie doesn't trust any of us" he said mournfully. As if to prove his point, Rose grumpily crossed her arms and sat back in Scorpius' arms, staring at her relatives.

"Rose hasn't spoken to us at all. She avoids us all and if any of us tries to talk to her she yells at us to go away" Roxy explained. Scorpius looked down surprised at Rose.

"You haven't talked to them at all?"

"No. Because they hurt you, Scorp'us, and they wouldn't have hurt you if they cared for me" she muttered angrily, crossing her arms tighter to her chest.

"Rosie, hun, they were only trying to protect you. Your family doesn't really know me and thought that I would hurt you" he tried to explain.

"But you'd never hurt me, Scorp'us!"

"I know I wouldn't, hun, but other people don't know that."

"Oh...well, they were still bad."

"We're sorry, Rosie. We never would have hurt Scorpius if we had known how much he meant to you" Lily said sheepishly from the side. "We feel really really bad for what happened, Rosie. Please can you forgive us?" she asked.

"Only if you give me chocolate" Rose smirked before standing to hug her cousins. "Just never ever hurt my Scorp'us again" she threatened mildly.

"You've been claimed by Rose, Malfoy, good luck" Louis smiled before heading back to the Gryffindor table.

"Scorp'us? Can you help me back up?" Rose asked shyly, embarrassed that she couldn't reach to climb onto the benches. Scorpius chuckled to himself before bending down and lifting Rose back into his lap.