In the Previous Chapter…
Scorpius stared as the bandages on Rose's chest were cut away to reveal blue and purple bruising across most of her front and back. He was shocked that McLaggen had managed to cause that much damage by pushing her off the stairs, but didn't start up a fuss – he hadn't seen McLaggen since that fateful day as he hadn't been back at school, so was just biding his time until he could pummel his face in.
"So Miss Weasley, I'll take you back to your room and we can find you some crutches to practice with. You can take a wheelchair with you too if you like, but other than that, you should be discharged later today" the consultant smiled, before Rose, Scorpius and Draco went back to Rose's room.
Rose, Scorpius and Draco arrived back into Rose's room, only to find that the chairs were already occupied. Rose smiled as her parents turned around to face them as they came in.
"Rose, hunny, how are you?" asked Hermione, walking over to take Rose's wheelchair from Draco. Ron stood and curtly nodded to Draco before joining his wife to talk to Rose.
"Does he know about me and Rose?" Scorpius muttered to his dad.
"He's probably just as stupid as he was in our Hogwarts days, so I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't figured it out yet" smirked Draco quietly, "but I think Hermione knows, so it won't be long before the Weasel explodes" he chuckled under his breath. His chuckled became louder as soon as he turned to look at his son, whose face had paled significantly. "He'll more than likely kill me over you" he mumbled, "for letting you anywhere near his precious daughter" he smirked as Scorpius' face paled even more.
Scorpius looked up to his dad before replying grumpily "you're enjoying this, aren't you", scowling.
"Oooooh yeah!" Draco joked before shoving Scorpius towards the Weasley family.
As soon as Ron sat down, Hermione launched into discussing with Rose.
"We visited you in St Mungos when you were still there" she explained, taking Rose's hand. "We've visited you here as well. Of course, when Draco explained they wanted to move you into a muggle hospital there were loads of legal things to consider so we had to sort it all out at the Ministry and we…"
"Why did the ministry have to get involved" Rose groaned.
"Because there was the risk that you would mention something in your sleep" Ron explained sheepishly. "They had a whole session in court to decide if it would be the best way forward, as loads of questions would be asked" he explained.
"But anyway" continued Hermione, "We managed to persuade the Ministry to pass the motion on transferring you here, but the press took several approaches to that decision."
"The press?" Rose managed to weakly say. She knew what this meant, and her dad only confirmed her thoughts.
"They had a field day the second they found out about it. They've barely stopped talking about it. There are so many different versions that we found it hard to find out what actually happened. But Malfoy's boy explained what happened but never said why" he said, drifting at the end as if in deep thought about it all. At this point, Scorpius walked over and sat by Rose's side taking her other hand in his almost subconsciously. Draco watched as Ron's face clouded over with anger.
"Let go of my daughter's hand, Malfoy" he spat, standing up to face Scorpius.
"I would think my son is allowed to hold his girlfriend's hand when she wants support" said Draco smugly form the side, knowing what would happen next.
"GIRLFRIEND?" Ron shrieked before bearing down on Scorpius.
"Thanks, dad" muttered Scorpius. Draco heard and mock saluted his son before walking over to stand behind him.
"I'd say that my son is allowed to ask out anyone he likes" Draco said simply, smirking at Ron.
"Why…. How… when" Ron stuttered before turning to Rose. "Why him?" he asked exasperated.
"Because he's sweet, kind, cares for me and apparently didn't leave my side for the last 4 weeks" Rose said, glaring at her over reactive father. She gave Scorpius' hand a squeeze before continuing "If Scorp hadn't thought to send a patronus to McGonagall when he did, I could still be comatose, right Draco?" Rose asked a smirking Draco for confirmation.
"Indeed. You really did pick a smart girl Scorp" he nodded his approval to his son.
"Ronald, it is not up to you who Rose dates" said Hermione sternly from behind her husband, gently pulling him away from Scorpius and back into his seat. "Scorpius seems like a lovely boy to me, so I'm fine with this, Rosie" she smiled before glaring back at her grumpy husband.
"Fine, but I'm still not very happy" Ron muttered crossly, folding his arms.
"Anyway, as we said a minute ago" Hermione continued, "we don't actually know the full story of what happened…" she said.
"McLaggen pushed me off the stairs" Rose said, her smile turning into a grimace at the memory.
"HE DID WHAT?" Ron jumped out of his chair again.
"He's been expelled, Weasley, so calm down" Draco said calmly. "There was a private court case a few days after the whole incident. That Cormack idiot tried to argue that his son tripped and accidentally knocked Rose, but Scorp's memories got his kid expelled and locked up" he explained smugly.
"What exactly happened then?"
"McLaggen got angry when me and Scorp became friends, accused me of sleeping with Scorp and cheating on him, spread loads of rumours round the school and abused me." Rose said hurriedly. "I had a go at him at breakfast the next morning and Scorp came and yelled at him as well for being a git" she smiled smugly, giving Scorpius' hand a squeeze. "We put McLaggen in isolation, but he escaped and came after us. He then pushed me off of a staircase and yeah this is what ended up happening" she said, hoping she'd covered all of the basics.
She looked up to see not just her parents, but also Draco, sat there staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Well, I'd only heard he'd pushed you off of the stairs, I didn't know that much detail" Draco said, stunned.
Rose turned to her parents, and saw her dad glaring daggers at Scorpius and slowly turning red. Rose realised what her dad thought and quickly added "I haven't slept with Scorp, dad, just a rumour". Her dad gently sat down and his face returned to a normal colour.
"Good."
"Draco, do you know when Rose will be discharged out of here?" asked Hermione, "It's just that Minerva would like these two to return to Hogwarts. Apparently there have been a few more rumours that she'd like them to settle" she said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
"What rumours, mum?"
"They're not nice, Rosie. Only Minerva and the rest of our family know what has been happening so the students have just jumped to their own conclusions" she slowly said. "You've been gone over a month, Rose, so a lot of people think you didn't recover."
"Great, they think I'm dead" Rose murmured. "Well, hopefully I can leave tonight so we can go back tomorrow" she said.
"You're going to be discharged tonight? That's brilliant!" Hermione smiled. "You can't go back tonight, so why don't you come home just until tomorrow?"
"I want to stay with Scorp, mum, I'm not gonna leave him when he's spent a month by my side" Rose said.
"Well, we have a few spare rooms, so why don't you and Scorpius come stay for the night?" Hermione said, turning to Draco.
"Scorpius can stay if he wants" Draco said, looking down at his son who was staring at him with pleading eyes, "But I'm afraid I'm working tonight, so I'll need to head back to Mungo's in a bit."
At this point, the consultant walked back into the room. "Ah, Mr and Mrs Weasley, it's good to see you. Rose is ready to go, I think, so I just need you to sign some forms and you can take her away!" he smiled cheerfully.
Ron and Hermione stood and followed the consultant out of the room to sign the various discharge forms, leaving Rose, Scorpius and Draco alone.
"If you don't mind, I should get back to Mungo's" Draco said. "I'll need to check up on you in a fortnight, so you'll see me soon enough. Scorp, don't wind Ronald up tonight – he's got a nasty temper" Draco smirked, remembering the Slug incident in second year, before exiting the room, leaving the two teens alone at last.
"We're going back to Hogwarts, Scorp" Rose smiled. "And my dad isn't that bad, your dad was probably just winding you up."
"You've got to keep that cast on still, haven't you? Because you can't fix it with skelegrow" He said.
"Yup, which means that I get to roam around school in a wheelchair and crutches. I'm a cripple for a while" she smiled.
"Well, cripple or not, you're still gorgeous" Scorp smiled before leaning over and kissing his girlfriend.
"Gorgeous as I may be, I haven't had a shower in weeks, and to the looks of it, neither have you" Rose giggled, childishly pinching her nose. "You, Mister, are only coming near me again once you've had a bath or something" she said, waving her finger at Scorp. Both of them burst out laughing and were still laughing when Rose's parents came back into the room. Hermione was carrying a pair of crutches.
"You've been discharged so we can take you both home now" she smiled. Scorpius stood and wheeled Rose out of the room. When they were a short distance from the Hospital, they turned into a side alley and apparated to the Weasley's house.