It was so relaxing. The sun was shining and its rays tickled her nose, leaving a warm feeling all over her body. Her wild auburn curls were shimmering in the sun, letting her freckles shining once more, before the sun would set. There was a light breeze coming from the water.
It was Mid-October, but still warm enough for Rose to sit outside by the lake without a jacket, reading a newly discovered book. Sometimes she looked up and wondered which sort of creatures lived in there. If there were any still undiscovered beasts or animals.
Her book was sad, really sad. So it was no wonder she started sobbing after a while.
That was why she didn't hear them coming. Why she didn't pay attention, why she wasn't prepared to defend herself.
And it is also why Rose was only seconds later dangling upside-down in the air.
"Who do we have here?", a boy with shiny white teeth and black hair full of gel asked grinningly.
"As if you wouldn't know it, Zabini!"
"Of course I know it, but to be honest, I am not sure which Weasley-prat you are. The one who always hangs out with Malfoy? Ah, Malfoy… he's a blood traitor, you know?"
"Leave him alone, you bloody bastard! I swear, if you touch Scorpius, I am going to…"
"Going to what, huh? Awh, little baby Rose is going to run to Mama, telling her all about the big bad boys at school. How cute! Look at her face." He laughed, turning towards the other boys, who were accompanying him, "her little face is all turning red."
"I swear, if you touch him, Zabini, if you dare touching Scorpius…"
"Don't worry, Weasley. We are touching what he admires most. See, if he thinks, he can tell us off, if he thinks he can run to his father, we will get him back."
"What the fuck? Is this still because the Quidditch Team, your bloody Quidditch Team humiliated him? You are so… all of you, all of you are just so sad!"
"Well, better stop talking, prat", he hissed, "Better save your breath. As I was about to say, we are not going to touch your precious Scorpius. We are touching what he admires the most. Which is going to be you."
It seemed like forever until Rose finally opened her eyes again.
At first, everything she saw was a bit blurry. There spots of red, a spot of white, spots of green, black and more red.
"Rosie?" She felt a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes again.
She could hear familiar voices, but couldn't really tell, who was there. Rose thought, just for a second, she heard Dominique's voice. But her cousin wasn't on Hogwarts anymore. But still, there was this feeling that she just had to be there! Like Lily had to be there, like Hugo had to be there. They were family and Rose wasn't feeling well at all. She didn't even know why. She remembered being at the lake, reading… hopefully her book didn't fall into the water! This thought scared her up.
She suddenly opened her eyes, looking around. Although everything was still blurry and she started to feel dizzy.
"My book is fine, isn't it?", she croaked, "It didn't fall into the lake, did it?"
Rose didn't even know whom she was addressing. Just some randomly chosen red spot, because red was her family.
"Your book is perfectly fine", someone answered her. It was a girl, definitely. Or Louis. He sometimes sounded like a girl.
"I took it up to your room, it is waiting there for you. Once you get out of the Hospital Wing."
"Why am I here?" It must be Lily who was talking. There was no other female Weasley-Potter-Child in Hogwarts anymore. Only her and Lily. And then there were Louis, Hugo, Albus and James. Everyone else was already gone. This realization hit her as hard as a rock. Out of nowhere, Rose started crying. Not only sobbing, no. She cried, because all of her other cousins had already left Hogwarts.
"Shht, Rosie, it's alright. You're fine." Now it was James. His voice was remarkable. She noticed him sitting down next to her, stroking her cheek.
"You're fine, Rosie. Nothing happened. We're gonna pay them back, I promise. Al and Scorpius and I, we already have a plan. And look, Dom is here. Dom is here, because she heard what happened from Louis, he was writing a letter to her when we told him, so now she's here. Everything is fine, Sweetiebell. Please stop crying… We're all here. Dom and Louis and Hugo and Al and Scorpius and me. Please don't cry anymore, you're fine and your hair will grow back, I promise. Please stop crying…", James begged her. He really couldn't stand any of his family crying. It was breaking his heart. Naturally, he was quite glad when Rose really stopped.
"My… my hair?", she sobbed lightly, "What happened to my hair?" With her hands trembling, Rose lifted up her hands to touch her head.
"I am bold", she whispered, "I am bold. James. I am bold. I have no hair."
"I know, Sweetiebell. But it's gonna grow back. Actually, once you are fully awake and healed, you will be given a potion. Then your hair will grow back."
"But… why healed? What happened?"
"Oh Love, we thought you could tell us", Dominique sighed and sat down on Rose' other side of the bed.
"I need my hair, Dom. I need it. Because, you know, people with copper and zinc in their hair are more intelligent."
Scorpius chuckled. A typical Rose-sentence. Even when she was devastated, she still threw in some random fact she's read somewhere.
"Oh! Scorp! You're there, Cupcake."
"Sure I am, Pumpking Pie", Scorpius smiled, "Right next to Albus, behind James."
"Okay. Because, all of you, you must know, I really can't see you properly. You are blurry dots. Mostly red dots."
"Because most of us have red hair, Love." Dominique took Rose' hand in hers, "What happened? Can you remember anything? A little girl from third year found you by the lake."
"Oh, poor girl… did anyone give her chocolate to make her feel better?"
"Yes, she is fine. Do you remember anything, Rose?"
"I… Dominique! They… those fucking blokes! It was Zabini and his friends. I just remember being upside-down in the air and arguing with them and they told me they want to get revenge, because of Scorpius but they are not gonna touch him. Oh, I am so glad they are not doing anything to Scorpius!"
"It was them?" Scorpius inhaled sharply. "I am going to kill those bastards. No matter what plan we made, I am going to kill them, I am going to rip them apart, every single one of them."
"No, Scorpius. We agreed on the plan and we will stick to it", Albus reminded him.
"What is the plan? I want to help! They took my hair away, those fucking bastards!"
"Not only your hair", sighed Lily, "Also the bones in your legs, they sort of sliced your arms open and I guess they let you drop on the ground a few times."
"Sounds nasty. I still wanna hear your plan."
"Okay. Here it goes", James grinned, "because it's a damn amazing plan!"
The Slytherin's Quidditch tryout was a few days after Rose had left the Hospital Wing.
Of course Scorpius wanted to try whether they would take him or not. Because he wanted to and because it was part of their plan.
He shot a glance over his shoulder, relived to see a bit of red hair sticking out from under the tribune.
During the last year, the Potters and Weasleys really did become his friends. At least Rose and Albus. And he was on the best way to become friends with James Potter as well. Although he still had to get used to him talking about hair all the time. No matter whose hair, James kept talking about it. About how he liked his own hair, about how he loved Rose' curls, about how awfully styled Scorpius' hair was. But James actually asked him what shampoo he used, because the blond hair always seemed to glow, just like the strawberry blond of Dominique, Louis and Victoire. Scorpius had just smiled and told him the brand of his shampoo. James would figure it out eventually, Scorpius thought.
He took a last deep breath before he stepped onto the Quidditch field.
There they were. The ones who hated him and the ones he hated. But Scorpius loved Quidditch way too much to let the opportunity slip through his fingers.
"What do you want here, Malfoy?" Zabini practically spit his last name out.
"Everyone can have a go, am I right? So I am trying out for the position of seeker. "
"Good luck with that, blood traitor." The dark haired boy grinned and bent over the box with the Quidditch balls. He unleashed the Bludgers. Before he could even think about ducking away, both of the balls hit him hard in the face.
It was not really a pompous start of their prank. They didn't want it to look like one. Scorpius tried hard not to grin. He got on his broom quickly and was quite glad that he wasn't a Chaser, when the game began. It wasn't visible, but Scorpius knew, as soon as they hit the Quaffles, their hands would have invisible paint on them, only getting visible, when getting in touch with water. And it wouldn't get off with water. Or with anything else. Dominique really was awesome with spells.
And it continued. A Bludger knocking someone off the broom, the ring of a goal post seeming to small for a Quaffle to fit through.
At the end of the day, no-one could deny that something has been weird but even Zabini couldn't put his finger on what exactly has been wrong.
"Well, Malfoy, as you're the only Seeker trying out, you get the part. But better be prepared. If you ever tell us off again, we risk losing just to get you back."
"Do not worry", Scorpius grinned, "you know, we Slytherins, we are known for cunningness, not for being sneaks."
The next morning, Scourpius couldn't do anything else but grin, when he entered the Great Hall together with Rose and Albus. The Chasers' hands, everything and everyone they had touched were coloured in a bright pink. There even seemed to be glitter, when you looked closer.
"Your cousin is really a master in spells, Rosie. Tell her, I said it, will you?"
"Of course I will." She grinned at him and squeezed his hand.