Rose opened her eyes and groaned. She hadn't even got out of bed yet and every bone and muscle in her body ached. She blinked to clear her eyes and stared blankly in confusion at the scene around her. There were rows of beds on either side of her own and cabinets of various medicinal potions and plants. She was in the hospital wing, but for the life of her, Rose couldn't remember why.
There was the sound scuffing feet and suddenly her parents' faces loomed over her. "Oh Rose you're awake! How do you feel?" Her mum sat down on a stool next to Rose's bed and her dad stood next to her. "Sore," Rose admitted. "But - what are you doing here? What am I doing here?" She asked, and pinched, worried looks crossed her parents' faces.
"Don't you remem - " her mum started, but her dad cut in. "It's okay, Rose, you just gave us a scare, is all," her dad smiled weakly at her. "You - you fell off the astronomy tower," her mum bit her lip. "Do you know why you were up there?" Rose wracked her brains for the answer. She'd - she'd been going there with Scorpius to meet Al, hadn't she? But after that she could recall anything.
"I was looking in some of the hidden passageways for a painting with Sco - with Al, and, uh, we'd split up and I was going to meet him at the tower," she'd nearly slipped and told dad she was with Scorpius! Rose prayed he hadn't noticed her hesitation. Thankfully, his mind seemed to be on other things, but she was sure her mum knew something was going on - Rose had hardly ever been able to hide anything from her, and now was no exception.
"It's okay Rosie - don't push yourself. You got knocked pretty hard on the head, so just get some rest, yeah?" Her dad stroked her hair gently. "Okay," she nodded, and then groaned as pain flared in her neck. "Is Al here?" She asked. "If you want to talk to him, he's out there - with the rest of the family," her mum grinned. "Well, we'd best be off now, but we'll see you soon, okay?" Her parents kissed her goodbye and left.
No sooner than they were out the door when a group of red- and black-haired students rushed in and crowded around her bed. "Hey Rose, we brought you chocolate!" "How are you feeling?" "Falling off the astronomy tower? Awesome!" Voices came from everywhere and Rose winced as the sudden noise set her headache off again.
"Quiet, guys, or Madame Pomphrey will kick us all out!" Lily said quietly, but still managed to get everyone's attention. Rose smiled at her thankfully. A thought struck her. "Al - where's Felix?" She asked her cousin. "Hey, guys, let him through," Al called and the crowd parted to reveal Scorpius carrying Felix on his arm. The Phoenix fluttered over to Rose's pillow and started nuzzling her. "Hey, I missed you too," she scratched the feathers under his neck, moving slowly as not to exacerbate her aching bones.
"Ahem?" Rose looked up to see Scorpius looking wounded. "Yes, and you too," she rolled her eyes. Scorpius pushed to the front and sat down in the chair that her mum had recently vacated. "Rose, you said that someone pushed you off that tower," he said, his grey eyes boring into hers. "Wait - what?" She blinked. "When did I tell you - I don't remember anything after I started to write that letter to mum ... " she looked around her bedside for the package.
"Where is it? Did anyone find it?" Her cousins looked at each other and all shook their heads. "We found your wand at the top of the tower, but nothing else," Al said, and handed her her wand. "Wait," Scorpius frowned. "You don't remember anything? Yesterday you told me that someone attacked you, took your wand and the letter, and pushed you off the tower!" Rose's eyes widened. "I - I don't remember anything," she said finally. The group sat in silence for a while.
"Rose," Scorpius began, "I - no, we - think you're in danger. First that falling rock, and now this ... " he trailed off. "I thought you were going to die. I thought you had died." Rose tried to smile at him but couldn't bring herself to. "So anyway," Al clapped his hands enthusiastically, "we've decided that you need some people to look out for you -" "- and we think we're just the people for the job!" Fred chimed in from the foot of her bed.
"We've made these armbands," Al held his wrist up to show a silver amulet with a tiny Phoenix emblem carved into it. "We've all got one, and we made one for you, too," Lily slid a bracelet identical to Al's into her wrist. "If you're ever in trouble, just press the phoenix and think or say 'Felix', and everyone else's armbands will heat up."
Rose frowned. "But -" " - how will we know where you are?" James forestalled her question. "Al put a nifty charm on it so the amulets show a path to where you are," he explained. Rose raised her eyebrows at Al. "I didn't know you could do a Gemino charm." Al shrugged. "I had some help," her said, nodding towards Scorpius, who grinned.
"So it works both ways, though? Someone else could use it if they're in trouble, right?" She asked. "Yeah, which is why they'll be really useful anyway," Rose noticed that Roxy was there as well - in fact, all her cousins were there, except for Uncle Percy's kids, Molly and Lucy. She wondered absently how on earth they'd convinced Madame Pomphrey to let them all in.
"How did you come up with this idea?" She asked, amazed. "Well, we actually copied the idea off something our parents did in their fifth year," James admitted. "Except they used fake Galleons," Al added. Something stirred in Rose's memory. "You're not starting -" "- Dumbledore's Army?" Scorpius finished for her. "That's exactly what we're planning on doing."