A/N: Ok, here we go! Picking up right where we left off. I'm in a bit of a rut in the next chapter so I figured I'd post this while I'm waiting to decide what to do next so you aren't hanging in suspense.

Chapter 12

"Adrian, we need to talk," I snapped, barging into the Ravenclaw dressing room.

He looked up from the bench, where he was taking off his Quidditch boots. "About what?" He asked gruffly, returning his attention to his boots.

"You did that on purpose."

The whole stadium went silent as Scorpius seemed to fall in slow motion toward the ground. It took me a moment to realize that it didn't just seem like it; the teachers had managed to get their wands focused on him to slow his fall. After the first bludger connected with his wrist, another bludger hit him in the side, changing his course and making it more difficult for the teachers to get the right angle. I reached out without thinking, gripping Albus's hand tightly. He squeezed right back. It took me another moment to realize we were both on our feet. I wasn't sure when I even stood up.

The teachers lowered Scorpius to the ground gently before the school's healer rushed to examine him. A stretcher was conjured as the rest of the players landed and were shepherded off the field. I was barely aware of Al tugging me behind him as we weaved through the panicked student body toward the crowd slowly gathering around Scorpius.

"Albus!" Professor Longbottom called out, changing our course. "He's being taken up to the hospital wing. You won't be allowed to see him for at least the next couple of hours. I suggest you head back to Gryffindor Tower and wait. I'll come find you when you can see him, alright?"

Albus swallowed thickly, nodding. Longbottom rushed off to help with crowd control, leaving the two of us standing together in the middle of the chaos. It was nice of Longbottom, I mused to myself, to come find Albus and let him know what was happening. The professors knew they were friends, but it showed just how close the two were for a teacher to seek out Albus and assure him they would find him when Scorpius was allowed visitors. Coming back to awareness, I spotted Adrian through the crowd, glancing back over his shoulder with a cold expression on his face. Several things clicked at once and I released Al's hand immediately.

"I'll meet you up there, Albus, there's something I have to take care of," I murmured distractedly before heading off in the direction Adrian had taken.

"I don't know what you mean," he replied nonchalantly, but I knew him better than that.

"Don't play games with me, Adrian. Funny how you miss every single shot today, except the last one. That one hit exactly spot on," I accused, taking a few slow steps forward as I spoke, "Unless they weren't misses at all. You were aiming for Scorpius the entire game, weren't you?"

"It's my job to try to interfere with the play."

I shook my head, "Is that what you call it?! You spent the whole game attacking him, and then at the end you intentionally injured him! Who knows what's going to happen to him now!"

"Look, I didn't mean for him to get hurt this badly, but it needed to be done. People need to know that you don't steal Adrian Davies's girlfriend and get away scott-free."

I laughed bitterly, the last pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. "You have got to be kidding me. That's what this is about? I told you Scorpius wasn't the reason we broke up! Even if he was that doesn't give you the right to- to-" I broke off, unable to even put it into words.

"I ended things between us before the summer because I was scared, Rose," he told me, in a voice that shook slightly, "I was scared of what you were making me feel, and I didn't know what to do. Suddenly I was part of one of those couples that people just expect to stay together, you know? We were one of those 'power couples' everyone aspires to be. I never thought I could be one of those; it was the opposite of everything I'd done since I got to Hogwarts. Suddenly, my reputation was changing, and it was because of you. What scared me more was that I liked it, so I pushed you away. But over the summer I regretted it every day, and I knew I needed to fix my mistake. But Malfoy got in the way of that. He may not have been the reason we broke up, but he was the catalyst."

I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off.

"Don't play games with me either, Rose. I'm not as thick as you seem to think I am. I'm a Ravenclaw for a reason. As soon as you started talking to him you started changing. Everything about you was different: your opinions, your desires, even your outlook on life. You think I didn't notice that your little lovefest with Scorpius came to a grinding halt right before you broke up with me? But you know what? I decided to trust you. Merlin, I even convinced myself that maybe you'd cut him out of your life for me, Rose! I thought maybe you understood how much it hurt us, hurt me, and finally put a stop to it to make things easier. I defended you when Alex told me to watch my back! I told her to stop meddling when I should have listened to her."

He was now standing, too, so I had to lift my chin to look him in the eye. "I shouldn't have had to make things easier! This shouldn't have been an issue!"

"Really? You're going to stand there and lie to me? Look me in the eye, Rose, and tell me nothing happened. Tell me you felt nothing for him," Adrian spat through his teeth.

In that moment, seeing him red faced and seething, I couldn't summon the courage (or perhaps cowardice) to lie outright. "I-" My voice cracked and the words wouldn't come. Of their own accord, my eyes shifted away from his, studying the ground as I bit my lip.

"That's what I thought," he snapped, turning to shove his shoes in his bag.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? Is that what you want to hear? I'm sorry I changed and I'm sorry I fell out of love with you and I'm sorry it took me so long to finally admit it to myself! That still doesn't make what you did right! It wasn't an accident! You hit that bludger intending to break his wrist! You know the bones in the hand are too small and complex to be fixed completely with magic! You knew he'd have to sit out at least one game! And that's not even taking into account the other bludger! Did you tell Harner to aim that one, too? Did you plan the entire thing?" I demanded, sure my face was red now, too, "You know what, it doesn't even matter. You knew the consequences but you still did it!"

Adrian was silent, but I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.

"You know," I finally said softly, "I used to think I knew you pretty well, maybe better than anyone. But standing here right now, I realize that I don't know you at all. Maybe I never did."

I made my way up to Gryffindor Tower slowly. This had been my fault, indirectly. The only reason Scorpius was in the hospital wing right now was because of me. If I had kept my distance like I was supposed to, I would still be on track, and Adrian and I would probably still be together. There would have been no need for Adrian to do what he did. Scorpius would be fine right now. In fact, he'd probably be better than fine. He'd probably be much happier if I would have just continued to hate him like I was supposed to.

I found Al sitting in his favourite chair in front of the fire with Ben, Dom, and Emily sitting on the couch beside him. No one seemed to know what to say.

"Where'd you go?" Dom asked, looking up at me as I approached. Al stared listlessly into the fire, his face schooled into a worried frown, seeming too far away to be listening.

"To sort out some things with Adrian," I replied shortly, sitting on the arm of Al's chair.

This seemed to spark his attention, "You noticed it too, then?"

I looked at him in alarm, "Noticed what?"

"That he was playing with Scor all game," he replied, "I know Quidditch, Rose, and I know Davies's style. He doesn't miss," he added when I looked confused.

I nodded, looking more into the fire than I did at Albus, "Yes, I noticed. I confronted him about it and he didn't deny it. He said it was repayment for his 'stealing me' or whatever, even though I was very clear it wasn't Scorpius who was responsible for our break-up."

This brought Al to his feet in indignation, "You've got to be kidding me! That slick git attacked my best mate over my cousin? As if you two would ever be anything he should be worried about!"

I caught Emily's eye briefly as I shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, as if."

Something seemed to register in Al's eyes at my answer, but before he could call me on it, Professor Longbottom emerged from the portrait hole. Al's attention was completely and immediately diverted.

"Albus, he's… well, he's resting. We've informed his parents and they're with him now, but they said you could drop by if you wished. He'll be allowed regular visitors starting tomorrow."

Al seemed incapable of speech, though the relief on his face was instant. He finally found words as Longbottom turned away. "Professor! Thank you."

Longbottom nodded briefly before continuing on his way out of the common room.

Albus dropped back into the chair with a heavy exhale. "I'm going to kill Davies."

I was pretty composed waiting for Albus to return from visiting Scorpius. I kept my anxiety in check pretty well, only tapping my fingers on the armrest of the chair. Dom was filing her nails with a magazine bewitched to automatically turn pages in her lap and wasn't paying much attention to me anyways, but Emily shot me knowing looks every few minutes.

As soon as Albus slipped through the portrait hole, I sat up straighter. "How is he?"

He sat down next to Emily on the couch, leaning back and running his hands through his hair. "He's supposed to stay in the hospital wing for the next week. He's got a cast on his hand to heal the bones they couldn't heal straight away with magic. They brought in healers from St. Mungo's and everything, but they said it's better to leave them to heal over the next couple of weeks than to force them back into place now. The second bludger hit him in the spine and caused some internal damage that they have mostly fixed, but he couldn't feel his legs when he first woke up. They have to fix it in stages over the next two days, but so far he said the feeling is gradually coming back so they're optimistic it will fully return by tomorrow with proper healing, and then it's just waiting for it to fully heal. Thank Merlin we aren't muggles," he relayed, exhaling loudly, "At any rate, he said he'd have to sit out their next match at least. He has to undergo some sort of rehabilitation-type thing for his hand, and the rest will be determined with time."

"Wow. It's hard to remember that magic can't fix everything," Emily commented, leaning back beside Albus.

No one had anything to say to that harsh truth. Sure, magic could regrow bones and make them disappear altogether, but the smaller the bone the more difficult it was to heal. With the amount of damage Scorpius's hand had likely sustained from being crushed by the bludger, it was reasonable that it shouldn't be an instantaneous fix. The whole spinal thing freaked me out, and I could tell Al was worried about it, too. I couldn't even imagine what it must have felt like to wake up and not be able to feel your legs. At least he had magic on his side, even if the complexity of the body's nervous system meant a longer healing period. Eventually he would be perfectly ok again. We had to believe that.

"So what's going to happen to Adrian?" I asked into the silence.

"Both the Ravenclaw beaters have been suspended for their next match regardless of any intent behind the bludgers since he was so badly injured," Al supplied.

"And if it comes to light that Adrian acted to purposefully injure him?"

"I expect they'd re-evaluate, but where are we going to get proof?"

I took a deep breath, and chose my side. "From me."

I paused outside the hospital wing the next morning, wringing my hands and waiting for some sort of sign that I should actually go in. Sure, I had reasonable excuses to go visit him, but I wasn't there for any of those perfectly acceptable reasons. I was there because I needed to see him for myself. I couldn't be left to my imagination to picture him from Al's reports. Hearing voices coming up the hall, I got my sign and slipped quietly through the doors.

It was easy to spot him, considering he was the only one in the wing. I approached his bed slowly, trying to calm myself. At least he was sleeping. It was almost a relief, being able to just come and check up on him without him ever having to know I was here. With that thought in mind, I quickly took in everything I could before planning to make a hasty escape. His face seemed mostly fine, with just a couple of scratches. His right arm was resting outside the blankets, his hand and wrist covered by a shimmering cast that I knew was working to heal the bones shattered by the impact. The rest of him was covered by blankets, but nothing looked out of place. I breathed a small sigh of relief, intent on turning to go when I was stopped.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to stare?" Scorpius asked, his eyes still closed.

I jumped slightly in surprise. "I- er- sorry, I thought you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you. I'll just, uh, go…"

I turned to walk back to the door, silently berating myself for getting caught, when his voice stopped me once again. "Don't."

"What?"

I turned back to see his eyes were open now, looking at a spot just past my ear. I suppose I imagined the hint of desperation in his voice. "Well, you came here for a reason, right?"

I nodded mutely.

"So then what's the point of leaving when you'll have to come back?"

"A fair point," I conceded, returning to his bedside and dropping into the chair there. "I came to sort out patrols, and to apologize."

"For what?" He asked. I got the feeling from his voice that my answer would determine whether or not this conversation continued.

"Adrian aiming that bludger at you. I confronted him after the match, and he told me he did it on purpose as some sort of twisted retribution," I told him, looking at my hands in my lap.

"For-"

I cut him off, "I didn't tell him anything about… any of it. When I broke up with him, I mean. I didn't say anything about it to him, but he still blamed you anyways and this was his way of ensuring people knew he wouldn't put up with it, I guess. I already went to the headmistress."

"So you came to apologize for Adrian?" He clarified. I got the feeling I'd given the wrong answer. "Why is it that you can apologize so easily for the mistakes of others, but not for yourself?"

I had no answer for that, but luckily I didn't have to come up with one because the door to the wing opened. Or maybe not so luckily, since Scorpius's parents were on the other side. I shifted uncomfortably, pushing myself to my feet awkwardly. The Malfoys stopped walking the moment they saw me. Mrs. Malfoy looked surprised to see someone here, while Mr. Malfoy's eyes narrowed on my red hair.

"The highly esteemed Rose Weasley, I presume?" Mr. Malfoy said coldly. I got even more uncomfortable, if that was possible.

"Sorry, dear," Mrs. Malfoy cut over her husband quickly, "We didn't mean to interrupt. We can come back?"

I shook my head quickly. "Oh no, that's quite alright. I was just, er, leaving." I threw a tight smile at Scorpius over my shoulder before hurrying toward the door.

"Hey, Weasley," his voice drawled after me. I stopped, looking back. "I should only be out a week, and I switched patrols with Ben for those times, so you'll want to find replacements for his slots, not mine. Just so you don't have to come back here again to ask."

I swallowed, nodding and trying to smile, but I felt as though I'd been punched in the stomach. I understood his real meaning: he didn't want me to come back.

A/N: Ok, so this is considerably shorter than the chapters have been so far, but I felt this was a good place to leave it. Yes, I considered a grumpy Scorpius as a good place to leave it. You know, I was about two chapters ahead in my writing at this point, and when I went back to edit chapter 10 before I posted it, I was surprised at how friendly the two of them were a mere two chapters ago. It almost felt like I was reading a completely different story since I'd spent so long writing them in 11 and 12 as tense and angry. Anyways, there's my fun fact for this chapter. Please feel free to continue the fun by leaving a review with your thoughts! Next chapter brings Christmas vacation and some revelations and decisions for Rose. I just have to finish writing it first... haha!