In the Previous Chapter…

Scorpius couldn't believe that McLaggen could be so harsh on Rose. "Where did he hurt you?" he asked softly. Rose lifted her face out of his chest for a few seconds before erupting into a fresh batch of tears. In that time, Scorpius could already make out a hand print across her cheek. Scorpius looked down and saw someone who he once thought of as a strong person at her weakest, and clutched her tighter to him.

"I won't let him hurt you anymore" he whispered. "You've got to report this, he's abused you for the sake of a stray rumour."

"He won't listen" she sobbed. "He never does."

"OH MY MERLIN!" came a shout from nearby. "WEASLEY AND MALFOY ARE TOGETHER!"

Rose whipped her head around. The doors of the Great Hall had just opened, letting students out after lunch, and the whole school was staring at them. Rose realised that she was still clutching Scorpius. Rose looked into the Hall in despair, seeing that her entire family had stood and were glaring at her. All of the girls were trying to hold back the boys, but only Lily was holding Albus back. Rose untangled herself from Scorpius' arms as Al broke loose and sprinted towards her from the Gryffindor table. But instead of running to Rose, Al barrelled straight into Scorpius, pinning him to the ground.

"What the FUCK have you done to Rose to make her upset like this?!" he practically screamed int Scorpius' face.

"I-I-I haven't done anything!" Scorpius spluttered.

"Don't lie, you little SHIT!" Al yelled before picking Scorpius off of the floor and slamming him against the wall. "What have you done to Rosie to make her cry?!" he yelled again, emphasising every word by bashing Scorpius against the wall.

"ALBUS POTTER!" screamed Professor McGonagall as she stormed down the aisle of the Great Hall towards the fight. "WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"

"He's hurt Rose, miss" said Al weakly, as he crumbled under McGonagall's glare.

"Is this true, Mr Malfoy?" asked McGonagall sternly.

"No!" Scorpius said, amazed anyone could think that he would hurt someone else. "It was nothing to do with me! Rose just came down the stairs in tears and barrelled into me!"

"A likely story!" yelled Al, unconvinced.

"Mr Potter, I have had quite enough of you. I understand that you and Miss Weasley are very close, but this is not an occasion for you to attack the Head Boy. 40 points from Gryffindor for abusing another pupil" she said. Al looked lost for words at losing 40 points for his house.

"Go back to the Tower and get ready for your afternoon lessons, Mr Potter" said McGonagall calmly. "I will deal with this myself. I am sure Rose will find you in a minute, but she's in a bit of a state at the moment" she whispered, before pointing to Rose. She had collapsed against the wall and was sobbing into her hands. Scorpius was by her side, trying to comfort her, but it was having no effect.

"Mr Malfoy, would you kindly escort Miss Weasley back to your common room?" asked McGonagall. "I will be along shortly." With this, she turned around and addressed the rest of the school, who had been watching throughout. "A further 50 points from every house for being nosy" she said before sweeping away towards the kitchens.

After Scorpius had set Rose down in the Sofa by the fire, he switched on the muggle kettle on one of the shelves. Rose told him that she had adapted it so that it worked on magic, so had brought it with her to make tea. Scorpius was slightly confused by the muggle contraption, but none the less managed to make Rose and himself a cup of tea before joining her on the sofa.

"Rose, you need to tell Professor McGonagall what happened" he said, gently tapping her shoulder. At this, Rose subconsciously leant into Scorpius, seeking warmth and comfort.

"I can't" she stuttered. "I'm scared he'll hurt me again" she said in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Rose, he won't have the opportunity to hurt you again if you tell McGonagall" he tried to persuade her.

"I'm sorry Al yelled at you" she said, changing the subject. Rose didn't want to tell McGonagall – Daniel had hurt her before, but she'd never told anyone, and every time he had threatened to hurt her family if she told. She couldn't take that risk. "He's probably the closest to me out of all my cousins, and I guess he was a bit angry at what he saw. I mean, it is a bit suspicious for the Head Girl to be sobbing in her old rival's arms, isn't it" she laughed.

"A tad" Scorpius agreed, "But don't worry about it. He was angry and I've seen you guys are pretty close" he said.

"Did he hurt you?" Rose suddenly asked, realising that all this time, she had forgotten that Al had bashed Scorpius against a wall several times.

"Just a headache" Scorpius smiled. "It's nothing I can't handle."

At this, Professors McGonagall, Longbottom, and Vane walked in. "I have brought your heads of houses along with me for this meeting" McGonagall stated, "as I believe that this is quite a serious situation. Neville, can you talk to Rose on the sofa while Romilda and I talk to Scorpius?"

Neville took Scorpius' place next to Rose and tried to console her enough to tell him what had happened. Scorpius however, faced the more daunting prospect of talking to McGonagall and Vane.

"Scorpius" asked Vane, "Please tell us exactly what happened from the beginning."

"Ummm… well, I guess I should start with last night. We agreed to be friends considering we are living together for this year, but someone overheard us talking and spread rumours about us. Its spread around the whole school and everyone was asking us about it this morning. Then we were put into seating plans for Transfiguration and Charms and were placed together because we work to the same standard or something and the rumours got worse. I don't know much after that apart from that just towards the end of lunch I was coming back here when Rose hurtled into me crying her eyes out. I think her boyfriend was really annoyed by the rumours and hit her and dumped her, professors" he said, practically whispering the last part. "She's completely torn up about it all, and I guess she's now worried about her reputation as she's just been found sobbing with her old rival and her cousin beat up the guy who was trying to stop her from collapsing to the floor" he said in a bit of a rush.

"Thank you, Scorpius" said McGonagall. "I will go speak to Miss Weasley now. I think you should stay and try to console her. I understand that you two have only recently established your friendship, but you are already quite close and I feel Rose will need someone there for her when we leave" she said.

Professor Longbottom had had no success trying to get Rose to tell him what had happened. Al that had happened was Rose had told him not to tell her Dad or Uncle Harry and fresh waves of tears. When he looked up to see McGonagall, Vane and Scorpius coming towards them, he was slightly relieved, as Rose might just reveal the mystery behind all of this fuss with Scorpius there to support her.

"Rose" said Scorpius, aware that every word he said was being heard by the three teachers, "are you feeling any better?" he asked, before sitting next to her. Rose again leant back into him before looking up into his eyes before saying "A little bit, thanks, but not very much" before sinking back into his chest.

"Rose, you need to tell us what happened" said McGonagall softly. "I know it hurts to talk about it now, but the sooner this is dealt with, the sooner everyone else will forget it happened."

Scorpius gave Rose's hand a reassuring squeeze before she turned to face the teachers.

"The rumours got on top of me and my boyfriend found out" she said calmly but quietly. "He got angry and physically abused me before throwing me out and slamming the door in my face" she whispered, getting quieter and physically more scared as she said more and more. "I ran into Scorpius and he was comforting me when the rest of the school found saw us. Al got mad and thought Scorpius was hurting me so came and hurt him to protect me. Please don't punish him too severely, he was just trying to protect me" she pleaded, worried for Al. His dad really wouldn't be pleased if he found out he'd beaten up Draco Malfoy's son, especially as he always reminded his children not the be overly horrible to slytherins.

"Albus had been punished, and it was not too severe. The points he lost will easily be regained, Miss Weasley, don't worry" she said. She then addressed both Rose and Scorpius and said "I have also punished the rest of the school for nosing in on the incident earlier. I am sure you are aware that more rumours will undoubtedly emerge after this afternoon, but rest assure, if I catch anyone spreading something that is not true, they will be punished" she said severely.

"If that is all, Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy, myself, Professor Vane and Professor Longbottom will leave you now. You can both be excused from your lessons this afternoon" she said before turning around and leaving with the other two teachers.

Scorpius turned to Rose as the teachers left. She may had put on a brave face while the teachers were there, but as soon as the door clicked shut, Scorpius watched as Rose fell back into him in tears again.

"Shh" he said soothingly, wrapping his arms around Rose's tiny form and pulling her closer.

"Scorpius, don't let him get to me" Rose choked through the tears. "He'll kill me when he finds out I told McGonagall" she cried.

"Rose, I know we've only been friends a few days, but I'm not about to let that bastard hurt you" said Scorpius

"Why would you protect me?" Rose whispered. "We've never really spoken to each other until yesterday and now over the course of less than 24 hours you're sat here comforting me as I cry. It's no wonder people are suspicious…" she drifted off.

"You're at your weakest, Rose. The one you thought you should be able to trust throughout everything just hit you and slammed you against a wall and no offense, but you're not really in the right state to be left alone. I just thought you'd need someone else to talk to, someone who might understand more" he mumbled in her ear.

"You've been really good to me Scorpius" Rose muttered, before sitting up and swivelling round in her seat so that she was facing Scorpius. "Well, considering you're stuck up to your elbows in my mess, we may as well get to know each other better...fancy a game of 20 Questions?"