Chapter 16
They'd agreed to be friends. They'd told Al they could manage it, that they could all still hang out together.
Of course, they couldn't. The one time Albus tried to spend time with them together, the silence and tension had been impenetrable. Several times he'd looked to to catch one of them looking at the other, a bleak look in their eyes.
And so, after that, he was back to arranging his life around them, keeping them apart, not even mentioning one to the other. Back to square one, as they say.
"You don't have to do that. We can handle this." Scorpius told him, almost a week later, as the two of them sat alone in the library.
"You didn't have to end it." Albus replied evenly. "Your family, and ours, would have come round eventually. What's the point in you two being like this?"
"Like what? We're not like anything. We'd barely even started going out. We're both practically over it." Scorpius replied, a little too quickly, a little to forcefully.
"Really?" Al asked, raising his eyebrows and dropping his gaze to the parchment Scorpius was doodling on. "It's strange, then, that you've wrote her name a few times over, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Scorpius looked down at the parchment and regarded it as if it had somehow betrayed him. "I..." Scorpius began, then sighed. He crumpled the parchment, then met Al's gaze. "It has to be this way. It just has to."
"So you say." Albus muttered.
----
And so it continued, with the two of them not talking to each other, avoiding each other in classes, and in the corridors between lessons. Several times, they passed each other, determinedly not looking at one another. Once, their eyes met by accident, and silent apology passed between them.
"Rose, if it's bothering you that much, why not just go talk to him?" Allison sighed, as she sat at the table, playing with her dinner. "I'm sure your family can't have minded that much -"
"Allie, drop it, please." Rose sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."
"But -" Cassie tried.
"Rose, there you are." Lily interrupted, sliding onto the bench beside Rose. "I was thinking of going outside for a bit, ride my broom. Want to come with me? We can race and stuff."
"You only want to race 'cause you know you'll win." Rose replied, seizing the welcome distraction. "But yeah, OK."
----
Twenty minutes later, Rose was forty feet in the air, zooming from one end of the pitch to the other. Most people assumed she hadn't inherited the family love of flying and Quidditch; in truth, she had, she just hadn't inherited the family talent. But there was something about being in the air, fighting against the wind, something that made you feel invulnerable, invincible, as if nothing could hurt you all the way up here.
And the concept of being invulnerable was extremely welcome. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that real. Whereas there was little to hurt Rose while in the air, the ground below had the ability to hurt and break if it so chose.
And, of course, most things with that ability choose to use it often.
She shouldn't have dived. She'd think of it later, and remind herself she was pathetic at diving. She never should have attempted it, never should have suggested racing Lily to the ground.
She was winning the race. Only by a few inches, but she was rushing towards the ground faster, and she actually thought she may win the race. Rose wasn't exactly sure what happened then, only that one minute she was ten feet about the ground, hurtling too fast and the next she had attemped to slow slightly, rolled over, lost her grip on the broom, and fallen through the air so quickly she hadn't realised what had happened until she met the ground with a hard bang.
And then everything when dark.
----
"Al! Albus! Al!" James Potter was running up the corridor, yelling as though his life depended on it. Al, wondering up a staircase with Scorpius, jumped and turned around as James reached him, grabbed his shoulder so he could stop himself, and stood, breathless, for half a second.
"Rose is in the hospital wing." He managed finally.
"What? Why? What's happened?" Al demanded instantly, as Scorpius froze. "Is she OK?"
"She and Lily - outside, racing on brooms -" James panted. "Rose fell - Lily said it was only about ten feet - but she passed out - Rose, I mean, passed out -"
"Is she OK?" Albus repeated.
"I don't know." James replied bleakly. "Lily told me, sent me to get you. And Hugo. He's in the owlery - we have to get him, then get to the hospital wing - Come on, quick -"
"Go to the hospital wing now." Scorpius said quickly. "I'll find Hugo, tell him, and the others."
"Right. Here - take this -" James replied gratefully, and shoved the marauder's map at him. "Just send them all to the hospital wing, OK? Thanks, mate. Al, come on."
They both took off, running, and left Scorpius alone. "What have you done Rose...?" Scorpius murmured, then forced himself to look down at the map. He'd seen it a few times before, and so understood why James had given him it. It didn't take long to see the tiny dot labelled with Hugo's name, and then Scorpius was running too.
----
James and Albus reached the hospital wing and found Lily stood outside the door, her face tear-streaked.
"Madam Promfrey's still with her. We're not allowed in - I don't know if she's alright." Lily told them desperatly. "There wasn't anything I could do - she just rolled straight off - I tried to get to her before she landed, but I couldn't. I couldn't."
"Of course you couldn't, it's OK." James said quickly, putting his arm around her as he tried to look through the little windows on the doors.
"But it was my idea to go out there, to go on the brooms, it's my fault." Fresh tears casaded down her face.
"It's not." Albus told her. "It's not your fault Lily, OK? Rose'll be fine." Lily nodded, and closed her eyes.
----
"Hugo! Hugo!" Scorpius yelled, racing up the steps to the owlery as Hugo started down them.
"What do you want?" Hugo asked coldly. Scorpius had become used to the Weasley's collective attitude towards him of late, and, for once, the cold tone didn't bother him.
"Rose in in the hospital wing. She fell off a broom." Scorpius said, and watched the blood drain from Hugo's face.
"What? Is she -?"
"I don't know, just go. Al, James and Lily are already there."
"OK - OK -" Hugo stammered, and took off.
Scorpius looked down at the map again, and to his annoyance saw that Fred, Alastor, Arthur and Molly were all in the Gryffindor common room. It took him several seconds to locate Sirius, but when he did he was running again.
He was panicked. He didn't know if Rose was OK, how bad the fall was, and so while he tried not to panic Sirius as he explained, the younger boy's eyes widened.
"Everyone else is in the common room." Scorpius added. "You'll have to get in there and tell them - I can't -"
"Right, yeah, sure. Thanks." Sirius nodded, and turned to run up the stairs behind him. Scorpius leaned back again the wall and tried to even out his breathing. He looked down at the map and watched Sirius' dot enter the Gryffindor tower, and then exit, joined by the others. His eyes wondered over to the hospital wing, where Rose's dot wasn't moving, and madam Promfrey's was moving around her.
----
"Hermione, the message said it wasn't that bad a fall." Harry said, as he, Hermione, Ron and Ginny made their way up the road to the school, having apparated into Hogsmeade minutes earlier.
"Didn't appear to be that bad." Hermione corrected. "Appear, Harry. That is not the same, OK?"
"But -"
"Harry." Ginny murmured, and shook her head. "Leave her. You won't calm her."
Harry nodded. Few things could turn Hermione into a wreck. Threats to her children's well being was one of them.
"Are you OK?" Teddy asked Ron, who nodded, white face and silent. As he'd been with the four of them when the message had arrived, Teddy had insisted coming along.
"Hagrid!" Teddy cried, seconds later, as the gigantic form came into view. Waiting by the open gates, Hagrid waved.
"How is she?" Ron demanded, the second they were close enough to see Hagrid's face.
"She's fine." Hagrid replied. "Bump on the head, broken wrist, but she's fine. Come on, your lot're waiting."
They were, indeed. The corridor outside the hospital wing was packed with people, all of whom turned as the adults approached.
"They won't let us in!" Hugo complained indignantly. "Madam Promfrey just said it was nothing to worry about and we weren't allowed inside. We've been waiting for ages!"
"They'll let us in." Hermione replied, stalking towards the doors. Her son, nieces and nephews moved to create space quickly, all recognising the look in her eyes.
"I'll wait out here." Teddy said, seeing the tear-stained face of Lily Potter.
Hermione opened the doors, walked inside, and Ron, Harry and Ginny all followed; then the doors swung shut again.
"Are you OK?" Teddy asked Lily quietly.
"It was my fault. My idea to go outside. And I couldn't get to her in time to catch her or anything -"
"It wasn't your fault." Teddy told her firmly. "And I bet Rose would be annoyed if she knew you were blaming yourself, wouldn't she?"
Lily shrugged.
"Yes, she would." Teddy said flatly, and Lily nodded. She would never have admitted it, but she was still as devoted to Teddy as she had been when she was four, and he'd protected her from James and Al's teasing.
"She was diving, and she just rolled right off it." She told him quietly. Teddy sighed, and shook his head.
"She never could dive."
"I know." Lily nodded.
"She's fine, Lily. The message to Ron and Hermione said there wasn't even a need to come here and see her." Teddy told her gently. "They're just over-reacting, that's all."
Lily bit her lip, looked at the doors, then turned back to Teddy with a forced smile. "So, how's the wedding plans?"
Teddy grimaced. "Don't ask me. Victoire, Bridgette, Fleur, Molly and Grandma are arranging everything. I just have to turn up."
"You got to pick your own best man, at least." Alastor pointed out, causing Teddy to grin.
"And I suspect that's only because they knew I'd pick Harry."
"Yeah...Bridgette pretty much admitted that." Alastor agreed, referring to his nineteen-year-old sister.
"I knew it!" Teddy said, loudly and dramatically, and, as he'd hoped, Lily smiled.