He could feel his heartbeat through his neck into his ears, pulsing slowly as he calmed himself awaiting his death. He nodded to her and he noticed that indeed her hair shone like fire tonight.
Her eyes lit up and she nodded in final understanding. "I'm sorry." She whispered gravely and swung the sword down into her belly.
The screams around him quickly became background noise as she dropped the sword to the floor, her outstretched palms covered in blood. Her body trembled as she fell to the floor and the noises around them blurred further as the hooded figures scurried away like rats.
He pulled off his shirt, struggling against the wet friction, holding it against the bleeding area; her dress drenching in red. He whispered things, to her and to himself, to the skies above him but he couldn't hear it. The world felt muted. He could feel the wards fall down around him as their kidnappers ran off, magic sizzling away in the air like plastic film and so he scooped her up into his arms, tripping on the edges of her dress as he rose.
He aparated to Wizard London, that much he knew but all he saw was cobbled roads and dusty windows. Where else could he go? He ran with her in his arms searching for something he couldn't find. Somewhere he hadn't been?
He was running and Rose was fading, tears streaked his face.
He ran for what felt like a long time before bursting through a set of double doors. White-robed witches hurried to their side and he felt safer. He fell to his knees, his own body shaking with cold maybe.
He didn't want to let go but they took her away.
Scorpius woke up in his bed breathing evenly. These dreams were much easier than the ones that had persisted against him last year. These dreams were rough memories whereas the ones last year were conjured by magic to haunt them into easier prey.
There was noise around him but he didn't care, he just lay there like a starfish, feet hanging over the edges of the bed still enveloped by blankets. He remembered it more clearly in his mind than in the dream, he remembered such clarity and panic and dread, all the fear that crushed him.
He'd never been to 's until that day, which is why he found it so hard to find the place. He knew roughly where it was, which is how he aparated close by, but besides that nothing. It'd felt like a miracle when he'd gotten inside but when he did Rose looked so very dead already. He hadn't wanted to let her go.
He wanted to ask her why, he wanted to shake her and yell at her. "It should have been me!"
The hours that he'd spent at 's were difficult, the Medi-witches asked him a series of questions, and he answered as best he could whilst struggling through the vision of her plunging in the sword again and again.
"Rose Weasley."
"A sword."
"No. No."
"Rose did. There were men…" Scorpius had swam in his recollections for hours before her parents got word.
"YOU FUCKING GIT GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!?" Her father had pulled him by the collar out of his chair and thrown him against a wall.
"RONALD DON'T!" Rose's mother tried to calm him, but he was ablaze with anger.
"YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID 'ERMOINE, YOU WHAT THEM MALFOYS CAN DO!" Scorpius had flinched when had said it then and flinched at its memory now. Malfoy. Right…
"You don't know that he did it Ron! Talk to him, talk to the Medi-witches, Ron don't!" She pulled at the shirt on her husband's back, trying to pull him away from the conflict but it was useless.
"It's, It's okay M-Miss Weasley." Scorpius had stuttered, which he never did. He held onto 's wrists, trying to get him to calm down.
"Ronald Billius Weasley, you are an Auror and you have a certain code to live up to, do you really think that blowing up like this won't have its consequences?" In a steady, final sounding voice Mrs. Weasley had finally calmed him down with her renowned logic and Ron slowly let Scorpius down in to his chair once more.
"Fine," was all Ron Weasley said before escorting Scorpius into a utilities closet. He mumbled an incantation and flicked his wand lazily at Scorpius, whose hands immediately closed together as if they were magnets and a slither of magic wound around them before solidifying. Hand-cuffing him. "We'll settle this later."
Mr. Weasley had closed the door and locked him in there, letting Scorpius mope in the darkness.
"You alright mate?" Woods asked at breakfast.
"Yeah mate. Just some weird dreams." Scorpius chuckled, trying to brush it off.
Woods however seemed to go rigid like a board at the mention of dreaming. "Nothing like that mate, just some normal kind of weird" Scorpius clarified, Don's shoulders slacking instantly into calm.
"I got Care of Magical Creatures next, I should go." Woods explained, shoving a piece of toast into his mouth before collecting his book bag up onto his shoulder.
"I have Charms and then Herbology, see you at lunch?"
Woods nodded, and then left Scorpius to sit alone with his tea and crumpets.
"Excellent Scorpius! Yes, now peel the outer layer of dirt from the stalk… yes! You've done it!" Professor Stem cried, walking him through the extraction of Gurplump stalk removal. "Now, the Gurplump stalk can be cut up for potion making and the bushy leaves can be used to heal cuts in some breeds of hippogriff!"
Scorpius liked Herbology. He was great at Potions naturally, but he'd always liked Herbology better. He liked getting dirty in a way he knew his father never would. He liked watching or even making things grow. He liked learning how to harvest the plants for their resources without harming them, he liked learning their secrets in a way he never liked doing in Care of Magical Creatures.
"Miss will this deteriorate like this? I know dried Gurlump stalk gets used in potions but what about fresh?" Scorpius asked.
"Ah, no. I'm sorry but like wine, Gurlump stalk only gets better with age. Researchers have shown that the acidity in fresh stalks ruins its magical potency in potions. I can give you copies of the research papers, they were in Herbology Now."
"Yes please, thanks." He liked Professor Stem, she was younger than most teachers and let him work on the plants afterhours, serving coffee for both of them when he did.
"You're good," a girl with wisps of dirty blonde hair stated, standing beside him at the greenhouse bench. "I mean, I need this for my exams but I am a bit shocking at this."
Scorpius smiled politely, turning back to his Gurlump plant, retrieving another perfect stalk.
"I'm Melinda, by the way, Melinda Webb." She offered a dirt encrusted hand, and he offered her similarly dirt one in return.
"Scorpius." He gave a taut smile, waiting for recognition.
"Oh!" She exclaimed. There it was. "You were top of our year last year for Herbology I think."
It caught him so off guard to be noticed for his own merits and not his last name that he kind of hung there strangely. She let go of the hand shake smiling, "I should stick with you this year if I want to pass."
Professor Stem brought him the research notes and he helped Melinda Webb extract her stalks, not really caring if she was using him for his intellect or not. He was just happy that someone had acknowledged anything about him other than his last name.
He had a quick meal at lunch, telling Don all about today's Herbology class. Don listening only moderately, he 'yeah?' and 'uh huh'-ed at all the right moments. Scorpius didn't care, he was in a good mood.
"I'll escort you to Potions, I have a free." Don announced. "I'm headed that way."
"Thanks," he gleamed.
Wait. Potions. Oh crap. Happy mood gone. Last week he'd had to sit through Jonathan Vayne putting the moves on Rose. It was obvious, he was obvious and also the loudest person in the room. Another class of that wasn't what he was after. They'd had theoretical classes since, but that involved a lot of writing and class-wide silence. Thankfully. Practical though, that would be torture.
"Mind if I leave you here?" Don asked, hovering at the beginning of the corridor that led to the Potion's dungeons.
"Don, are you meeting up with a girl?" It asked Scorpius suddenly. The idea leaving his mouth before really going through his mind.
"Ur, no." Woods answered too nervously for it to sound truthful but Scorpius left it, waving him on.
"Go on then," he smirked. Good on him. Bought time. That boy deserves a nice distraction.
Scorpius was scrolling through a list of potential girls he imagined Don to be hooking up with, none of them sitting right in his mind. Actually Don making out in general wasn't a pleasant thought. He tried shaking the thought out of his mind-
It happened quickly, he was hit in his middle, pushed right against the wall of the nearby alcove, wand pressed to his throat. Oh god, here it comes. His worst fear, the revenge of a student for his father's crimes. Punishment in all finality. He knew after the events of last year that he wasn't afraid of dying but the why he was would hurt him more. Opening his eyes, it was… Rose.
"What the fuck Weasley?" He spat.
"Shut up Malfoy," he flinched again. Not because of the name, but because she used it. She knew it upset him and she used it purposefully with venom. He'd hate to admit that it hurt him. He remained silent, panting from the air she'd winded out of him. 'How did someone so much shorter than him overpower him?' he wondered.
"I need you to stop!" She came in close, as close as her height could get to his ear. He could smell her hair. "Stop with the notes, we almost went crazy last year, how dare you do that to me again?" She yelled louder this time.
"What notes?" He let slip.
"Don't what notes me," She barked and digging into the pockets inside her robe, she threw a flurry of them in the air.
What? They fell to the ground, save a few, one of which landed on his chest near his right hand shoulder. He picked it up and pushed her off him when he'd read it.
"Rose! What the fuck is this?" He was seething, his eyebrows crossed. "I'm not sending you these, what the fuck are these?" He bent down and picked the rest of them up, "Rose! There are so many of them! Who is doing this?"
He looked up at her and watched her back away with a still porcelain-like face, the frosting of freckles that were so full in her flush of madness before paling against her skin, as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Rose." He breathed.
Her eyes, were wide as she drifted from him, realization hitting her. He watched her small curls trembled as she began running down the hall to class.
It wasn't till she'd gone that he realized, with a small blush, just how close she'd gotten up against him.