Hugo hadn't seen his sister in days but he'd heard enough to know she probably wasn't putting family first at the moment. As he walked alone to the dining hall, he planned the words in his head. He wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing, dating a Malfoy was certainly a first in their family and the likelihood of it being accepted by their dad straight away was, well... not likely.

"Hugo Weasley!" came the routine voices of Lorcan and Lysander Lovegood.

Hugo stayed facing the other way for as long as he dared, he was so close to escaping them this morning, only one more corridoor and he would have made it to the great hall without being ambushed.

"I heard about your sister and her new Malfoy boyfriend. Perhaps, she'll be the bringer of unity between your families",said Lorcan insightfully.

Hugo started walking faster. "Unlikely"

"Haven't their been affairs between the families already though? What about Harry and Dra-

"We don't talk about that", Hugo interrupted Lysander viciously.

"Right", said the twins in understanding.

By the time they reached the great hall, Rose was on her way out. Hugo spotted Scorpius sitting alone at the Slytherin table and since that boy was very rarely unaccompanied by a swarm of people- it was easy to assume they'd been sitting together. Hugo considered talking to him first but decided to pursue his sister first.

"Rose!", he yelled past the twins.

Rose's head flicked around briefly but she didn't slow her pace, obviously suspecting his intentions.

Hugo motioned for the twins to leave them alone and he jogged to meet his sister as she turned the corner.

"Rose, I need to talk to you abut Scorpius", he said seriously.

Rose stopped walking and put her hands on Hugo's shoulders firmly.

"I don't care what you have to say about us, I have enough pressure as it is. If you aren't going to be nice then please, for your sake, don't talk to me about him"

Hugo opened his mouth to protest but before he could speak she was walking again. He turned in the opposite direction, she'd given him no choice, he would need to be more direct and the only way he could do that was by going to Scorpius Malfoy.


"Rose, your brother is a sociopath", said Scorpius sitting down next to Rose in the joint common room.

"I am aware actually, what made you come to that conclusion?", she said, shuffling over to make more room on the couch.

"We had a... chat", he managed.

"What kind of chat?", she asked tentatively, though the look on her face told him that she already knew.

"He told me that he didn't think we should be going out. I told him that I hadn't officially asked you out and then he said that if I did he would write to our parents. I then told him that I didn't give a rats ass and he should take his big nose out of our business because it violates our rights of pri-

He was interrupted by Rose hen she jumped out of her seat and ran out of the room. By the time he reached the doorway she was at the end of the first corridor and he could only assume she was in pursuit of Hugo.

Tripping over his own robes, Scorpius followed the echoing of her footsteps all the way to the winding staircase that lead to the owlery. Just as he stepped onto the platform it jolted out of place and out of his reach, causing him to spring back in defeat. Rose had already arrived at the top where her brother stood with his owl perched on his arm and a letter in his hand. Rose lunged at him for the letter and missed. She tried again and again, forcing Albus to retreat further and further into the owlery in fear. Fuming, Rose pulled her wand out of her robes and pointed it menacingly in her brother's face, giving him one last chance to surrender the letter.

Hugo handed his owl the letter defiantly and stepped back as it flew out the window.

"Stupefy!", Rose shrieked.

Hugo was suspended over the railing in what seemed like slow motion to Scorpius. Instinctively he pointed his wand at Hugo's falling body just before he would have hit the ground.

"Erecto momentum!", he yelled.

Rose screamed, throwing herself down staircase to meet Scorpius at Hugo's side.

Tears spilled down her face as she looked over Hugo's stunned body. Scorpius had evidently only prevented the damage that would have been created by the impact of his fall, on the way down however, he'd hit the railing and his head was split open at the hairline, blood sprayed his face dramatically and his eyes stayed closed as Scorpius checked for a pulse.

"We have to get him to Madame Pomfrey", Scorpius breathed, not daring to look at Rose, afraid that he would break down too.

Rose nodded and they lifted Hugo's broken body together.


It had been three whole days since the accident and the rest of the school had their own ideas about how Hugo got put in the infirmary- none of which involving the truth. Scorpius had heard so many twisted versions by this point that he couldn't close his eyes without imagining himself in Rose's position, hexing Hugo over the railing in his rage. A box of semi-expired chocolate frogs sat on his dresser and he waited until the other boys in his dormitory were all sound asleep before maneuvering his way to the door.

Once he was out of the common room he lit his wand and started jogging towards the hospital wing. He could tell that the people in their portrait frames were beginning to wake up so he dipped his wand below their eye line every time he got close to one. This worked for a while but then, as he turned his last corner, one of them yelled out.

"Turn the bloody light out! We're trying to sleep!"

Scorpius broke into a full sprint and kept it up until he was through the door of the hospital wing. He closed it behind him and caught his breath on the other side. When he was ready, he pulled the chocolate frog box out from under his sweater and headed to the only occupied bed in the room.

Hugo's face was bandaged above his eyes, a red shadow suggested blood behind it. Scorpius lent down and placed the chocolate frogs with the other get well presents on the floor. As he turned back around to leave, the door flung open and he froze as he recognised the family standing behind it.

"YOU!", screamed Mr Weasley.

Hermione and Rose rushed forward to constrain him as he lunged towards Scorpius.

"I didn't do anythi-

"Save it boy!", Ron interrupted. "Your father will most certainly hear about this!"