DISCLAIMER

Chapter Seven

Hours went by, and practice was almost over. Rose had decided against summoning a book and just watched them. Well, she more or less just watched Scorpius. Marc had flown by her and told her to wait for him after they were done. Great. She would've waited for him anyway, but the fact that he mentioned it wasn't good. He wanted something, and that definitely wasn't good.

When he left she watched him for a few seconds and then turned her attention back to Scorpius. His face glistened, and his cheeks were red from the cold. She had never seen him with any kind of color in his face, and she felt that admiration again. And again and again. When he yelled across the pitch to instruct someone, or to call a foul, she felt it. When he went through a play and let go of the broom to swing the bat with both hands, she felt it. When he and Al bumped fists, she felt it again. She was starting to think that if he was sitting down reading or asleep she'd have felt it then, too. She'd never get to know, though, since she'd never be around him again.

"One more play?" Al called, shaking his black hair from his eyes.

"One more play!" Scorpius called out, and everyone got in their positions. She could just imagine Marc's irritation at having to listen to what Scorpius said. Rose didn't really know why Marc hated Scorpius so much, but figured it had to be because of that fight they'd had a while ago. For all she knew, Scorpius and Marc had been on good terms before.

Albus blew a whistle after they'd run the play and everyone descended. Scorpius had caught the bludgers and was flying down to put them away. Albus had caught the snitch and was petting it before he put it away. One of the chasers had put up the quaffle. The girls on the team went to the locker rooms to shower, but the boys didn't bother. Typical. Everyone was off to put their brooms away except for Marc. He was down, waiting for her. Reluctantly, she hurried down to him. The longer they had to be alone, the worse. It was best to just get it over with.

"Hey," she started, but he stopped her from saying anything else.

"Come on." He said, grabbing onto her arm and pulling. She followed him as he headed to the broom closet. Everyone else was gone; she could see them walking across the grounds. Not good. Marc pulled her into the small room and closed the door behind them. It was dark, but a hole in the wood at the back let in some light. It was just enough light for her to see his fist coming towards her.

It shocked her, and her knees buckled. Her hands flew to her mouth and she felt something wet. When she licked her lips she tasted the blood. Well that wouldn't be very cute, would it? "I fucking told you not to look at him."

"Look at whom?" she said, trying hard not to sob.

"Look at wh-" he paused, kicking her hard in the side. "Get up."

There was a sharp pain in her side, so bad that she cried out. She shook her head, but he threatened to kick her again so she got up. He pulled her towards him and pulled up her skirt. Marc made her wear them; she still couldn't stand for so much skin to be showing. Rose tried to get away from him, tried to get to the door, but her blocked her way.

"Stop trying to run away. You're just making things worse for yourself."

"You don't have to do this Marc. I'm sure there's some dim girl who would shag you willingly."

Marc laughed cruelly, "Sure. But that isn't nearly enough fun."

He pulled her close and lifted her skirt again. She could feel herself crying as he fumbled with her panties, trying to get them off. He kissed her hard, biting down on her bleeding lip. She pushed him away and he slapped her. "Stop that."

All of the sudden there was light behind her; the door had opened. Marc was so shocked that it was easy for her to get away from him. She stumbled and someone dropped something and caught her. She looked up, and when she saw who it was she started to cry harder. "Please don't let him get me, please." She begged, wrapping her arms around his neck. He smelled honey soap.

"Watch out, Rose." Rose unwrapped her hands from around him, and saw the fury in his eyes. She'd never seen him so mad. Not even at her. "You worthless piece of shit." Scorpius picked up his broom, put it inside the room, and closed in on Marc. Rose didn't see it, but she heard a loud crack. She peeked inside, shaking, and saw Marc on the ground. Marc's nose was gushing blood, and Scorpius's hands were wrapped around his neck. He was going to kill him. Not that she really cared if Marc died, she just didn't want Scorpius getting in trouble.

"Stop." She said softly, because it was all she was capable of. "You'll kill him."

"If he does, it's nothing short of what he deserves." Scorpius voice was more of a growl than anything else.

"Scorpius, please."

He looked back at her, then released Marc's neck. After gasping for air he hissed, "I'm not done with you, bitch."

Scorpius stood up and kicked him in the side. "Shut the fuck up."

He walked out of the room and put his hand on Rose's shoulder. "You should have told me." He said, his voice low.

"I couldn't."

"Rose…"

"Behind you!"

Marc had raised his wand and was pointing it at Scorpius.

"Avada-"

"Petrificus totalus."

Rose sobbed as Marc fell to the ground, not because he was petrified, but because she'd been so close to being alone with him again. With no one to save her this time. She sat on the ground, her head in her hands and cried. Scorpius kneeled down next to her and put his arms around her. "Shh, it's okay."

"He-he almost killed you. If you died he would have tortured me."

"I'm hard to get rid of."

They were quiet for a while. What were you supposed to say after what had just happened?

"Are you okay to walk?"

She nodded, and he let go of her. She made to get to her feet, but the same pain from before forced her back to the ground.

"What is it?" he asked.

"M-my side." She said.

"Let me see." He got down to her level again and looked over his shoulder to make sure that Marc was still unconscious. He knew that he would be for hours unless someone revived him, but he wanted to be sure.

"No."

"Rose, I'm not going to hurt you."

She kept shaking her head, tears falling from her eyes.

"Please, Rose. I would never hurt you. I never will. I promise."

She looked down at her hands, and nodded slowly. For some reason she believed him.

"Which side is it?"

She pointed to her right side, and he made her lift her arm while he looked. He peeled up her shirt until it was just under her bra, and ran his hand over her side. His hands were cold, so it felt good. But still, she whimpered.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, looking down at the side, now. A part of her rib was pressing against her skin and there was a large, dark bruise that seemed to go deep down in her skin.

"It hurts." She said as he pressed softly to feel for her other ribs. It wasn't hard; they were right under the skin.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's your ribs; one of them is broken but the rest seem fine."

"Oh, god." She sobbed, and reached for him. He put her shirt back over her skin, not before he'd seen the creamy skin on her back. There were some old bruises here and there, probably from Marc. It made him sick that he hadn't figured it out before. How damaged was Rose?

"You need to go to the hospital wing. I'll go and tell McGonagall-"

"No!" she cried, "No, please don't tell anyone. Please. He'll kill me when he wakes up, I know he will."

"Rose, he doesn't control you anymore. He can't hurt you, I won't let him."

"He's my boyfriend, he can find away to get me alone…"

"Do you want to stay with him?"

"Of course not, I've been trying to find a way to get free of him for weeks, but-"

"Then you're not going out with him anymore. Simple as that."

Simple as that. It seemed too simple, to just not want to be with him anymore so she wasn't. Before, she hadn't had anyone who knew the truth, but now she did. Still, she didn't' feel safe.

"He'll hurt you. Then he'll find me. It's not fair to you that you have to be my body guard just because you're the one that found out."

"Sometimes I wonder how you got into Ravenclaw at all, Rose."

Sometimes she wondered the same thing. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He sighed, "But we have to tell someone."

"Please, please don't." she begged, starting to cry harder. "Please. I'll deny it, I won't let you."

"We'll talk about it later, Rose." He said, making to kiss her on the cheek, but realizing that it would be very inappropriate and unnecessary. "Do you want me to carry you?"

"Y-yes. I'm so sorry, I wouldn't make you if I wasn't in so much pain. I'm afraid I'm going to-" and with that she blacked out. If she hadn't been crying already, Scorpius would have realized that she was crying from the pain being so bad. If she hadn't been so upset, Rose might have known herself.

"Fuck." He hissed, picking her head off of the ground. "Rose, Rose answer me." Under different circumstances, he would tease her for being a girl with low blood pressure who fainted easily. It'd take a lot more than a rib to make him pass out, but then again he weighed almost twice as much as her.

After a while, he realized she wasn't going to come to and picked her up, minding her side. He closed the door to the broom closet, so hopefully no one would find Marc for a long time. If they were lucky, He'd freeze to death at night. As he walked out and onto the grounds, he tried to make sense of what had happened in his head. He'd told Albus that he'd meet up with him later and went to take a shower; he didn't like marinating in his sweat for too long. He hadn't wanted to put his uniform back on, but since he had nothing else, he'd had to. He cleaned it a bit with a spell him mum had taught him, and then he'd went to put his broom away. He almost didn't bother putting it away. Good thing he had. When he opened the door, he'd been disgusted at first. He thought they were just shagging, but when he saw Rose was crying, that her lip was bleeding, and that Marc looked pissed, he put everything together. He and Rose could talk about their own issues with each other later; for now he just wanted to help her.

He looked down at her in his arms, her head resting against his chest. He stopped for a moment and looked at her. His stomach twisted from being so close to her, and he couldn't help himself. He bent his head down and pressed his lips to her forehead. Did that make him a creep, since she was unconscious? He hoped not.

His heart ached at the thought of them staying how they were forever; her confused and damaged, and him pining and pathetic for all eternity. He doubted that she could every trust someone again after what had happened. Had it just been this once, or had it happened before? He was almost positive that, when he'd found her in the woods, Marc had raped her then as well. He wanted to kiss her, and hold her, and tell her that everything would be okay. To tell her that he would take care of her forever and never let anything or anyone hurt her again. Unfortunately, someday she'd fall in love. And when she did, it wouldn't be with him.

"Mm." she said, keeping her eyes shut. "Where am I?" Her voice was no more than a whimper.

"You're with me, you're fine."

"Don't let him hurt me, please. Please don't let him hit me."

Scorpius felt a pang in his heart. "I won't Rose."

"Are you an angel?"

He laughed and looked down at her, her face was ghostly white. She was so out of it. "Sort of."

"Don't leave me." She pleaded, new tears falling from her closed eyes. "Please don't ever leave."

She didn't mean it. He had to repeat that to himself all the way to the castle, through the halls, past the confused faces of their peers. She didn't mean a word that she'd said. "I won't, I promise. I'll always be here for you."

A/N: I thought about saying THE END at the end of this chapter just to screw with you guys, but I decided to be nice. Haha. Review :)