October 18, 2026

Rose was slowly creeping down the stairs. Each step she took was deliberate and decisive; she was not going to step on the rotted steps. No she wasn't.

Her heart was beating so fast so thought it was going to pop out. She just wanted to look at everyone in the meeting. She needed a visual of their faces and wanted to match a few voices. She wasn't good at listening for long hours. Scorpius was consumed by his writing; she knew she had a few minute window. He wouldn't even notice she was gone.

And Rose just wanted to see if Canwood was there, in the flesh. She'd been searching for this man for two months and she had not seen him yet. She just needed confirmation that he was alive – to see what he looked like and if The Reds Inconnu were correct in their depiction of him. . . and if she could somehow apprehend him right now, it was all the better.

It's stupid. You're stupid. This is a stupid idea, said Marta.

Shhh. Don't distract me. This'll be quick. And easy. I'll be back upstairs with no one the wiser, Rose replied.

Good on you, said Greg. You need to see this Canwood man. Just get a glimpse of him, make sure the blood bracelet isn't a total farce.

This was going to be quick – just a quick look and then she'd be back sitting by Scorpius and listening again.

Stop lying to yourself, said Marta.

Shut up.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the second floor. The meeting was at the end of the hallway. The floors looked a lot better on this floor, no rotted wood or holes. She still was careful as she started walking down the hall, creeping slowly and silently.

There were two lights on in the hallway, illuminating the old wooden walls and the dirty red carpet under her feet. A man suddenly came barreling out of the room and zipped by Rose – who flattened herself against the wall – and headed down the stairs.

Close one. Wand out just in case. Don't be afraid to throw elbows if need be, advised Greg.

I won't need to! I'm just looking. . .

She got to the door and peered inside, heart thudding like mad. There were about fifteen people inside, all in various states of clothes and seeming to come from all walks of life. The blonde haired woman (Rebecca something?) who Rose had seen before was seated cross legged with a smug look on her face. She was wearing a business suit. A man with brown combed hair had his arm around her chair and a large bag sitting on his lap. He was dressed in some sort a traditional wear from India.

Rose's eyes roamed past them and found almost instantly Randy Canwood, sitting in front of the window. He was incredibly large, larger than she expected. And the tattoo on his neck! She'd read his biography so many times that the facts were just coming to her. He was 250 lbs, only 5'6", Rose was much taller than him! and the scars – he was covered in them – they littered his bare arms, hands, and face. He was a killer. Rose was going to have no chance against him.

Don't think like that, said Marta, you can do this. If he's larger that means he'll be slower on his feet.

Won't catch his breath as easy, added Greg.

He was seated in front of the window. If Rose cast some sort of spell like bombardia maxima, it might expel him back far enough that he'd break and topple through the window. Nobody would expect it because they didn't know there were eavesdroppers on the meeting and Canwood would be knocked out from the process. Rose would race down the stairs and she could levitate him outside the apparition restrictions and she'd be home free.

Before she could so much as lift her wand – or think of all the reasons not to follow through with this plan – the roof in the room gave out, wood splintering, and there was a large crash as something large landed on the table. There were some screams and people ducking for cover. Two members of the gang were knocked out cold on the floor. Then the table legs broke with another large crash. Almost instantly everyone who was conscious in the room had their wands out and pointed at the table.

Rose could make out a wavery form roll off the table, crouching and shooting three spells in succession. One of them was aimed at the smallest man in the room, the other at the blonde Rebecca woman, and the last one at Canwood. Only Canwood was quick enough to deflect the spell and shoot one back that was deflected just as quickly.

This was Scorpius, Rose was sure. Though what the hell he was doing when they were supposed to remain hidden was a little worrying. Why would he come through the ceiling? Did he know she was gone? Rose felt a chill run through her at that thought but barreled into the room all the same for backup.

"Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!" shouted out Rose at the two nearest people to her. The man who lost his wand just picked up the wand of the person she froze and then Rose ducked as a blast of green light came towards her.

What's the point of Expelliarmus? Doesn't mean he's out of the fight. Damn Uncle Harry.

Another green spell came flying in her direction a second later and DUCK! Her instincts screamed and Rose ducked down again to avoid the killing curse.

"Stupefy!" she yelled, targeting someone who had their back turned. The woman dropped instantly. Rose felt a little guilty about it, but she was deflecting a jinx with a protego before she could give it much more thought.

She moved into the room trying to make her way closer to Scorpius. They slightly had an edge. They had disillusionment spells on them and caught them when their guard was down.

Three more protego's were shot from her wand. She couldn't even go on the offensive, there were spells coming from every angle.

The gang was shouting and arguing amongst themselves. That helped with the dueling for they didn't provide a unified front and everything was scattered.

Scorpius met up with her, but instead of them standing together to duel and take down Canwood, he shoved her back towards the door.

She tripped over her feet and stumbled into the door, but Scorpius was there, pushing her forcibly again outside as he shot another spell out of his wand into the room and blocked a few more incoming ones.

She went to protest but she was shoved again. He was relentless. But Canwood was in there! What was he – ? Scorpius slammed the door shot and performed some binding spell.

"What are you –" she started to say, but she could feel his wand and hand against her back, pushing her forwards.

"Get moving," he said roughly. He sounded like he was in pain, but that didn't lessen his movements as they raced down the hall and stairs as the door that Scorpius had bound crashed open with a small explosion and the gang members came pouring out behind them, still yelling amongst themselves.

The two thundered down the stairs and raced across the floor to get to the door. Scorpius stunned three more people who were on the main floor. He was shoving Rose forwards still, not letting up or stopping until they flew through the door and left the warehouses. But Scorpius didn't lead them to the alley where they were supposed to apparate to. A warning had already been passed around out and people were running towards the warehouse, wands at the ready. Rose and Scorpius turned the corner sharply, and sharply again.

They reached some sort of alcove in the wall and Scorpius performed some spell that caused two wooden doors to appear. He quickly opened them before gruffly saying, "get in. Now."

"What are – ?"

Once again, she couldn't finish her sentence before he was shoving her inside this dark hole, cellar type room. She couldn't even muster up some anger for the treatment. The adrenaline was finally running off and Rose was starting to feel a little scared. And nervous. She broke Scorpius's trust.

The full implication of that was beginning to dawn on her as she fell into the cellar and rolled to the side. Scorpius climbed in behind her and shut the doors, entombing them in darkness and silence.

Rose could feel the dirt beneath her hands and she pulled herself back against the wall. Scorpius's ragged breathing was the only sound around them.

"Scorpius, are you – "

"Don't talk to me."

She heard him moan faintly and shut her eyes. She was so stupid. How could she have left Scorpius without telling him? They weren't just at a coffee shop; they were in enemy territory.

Because you are trying to catch Canwood. You are trying to save your own life, said Greg.

But at the expense of someone else's?

Rose felt cold all of a sudden.

"Scorpius – "

"Don't," he said harshly. "Keep quiet and don't talk to me."

Rose curled up on herself, hugging her knees. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how long they would be in this hiding place, or even how big it was. She didn't know what to say to Scorpius.

And that was probably the worst part of it.

She ran her hands through her hair over and over, pulling it at the roots, trying to think of a solution to this horrible mess that was knotting her stomach.

Scorpius was breathing ragged still. Slow breaths that weren't very steady.

Rose lit her wand, taking in their surroundings. The best word for it would be a pit, an underground pit that wasn't much higher than her head when she was seated.

"Turn the light off," he growled.

Rose didn't listen and instead turned the light to him. Their disillusionment spells had worn off, Rose realised, when she beheld his face.

"Scorpius – you're face!" He averted his eyes from her. His face was dead white, and one eye was swollen shut in colours of blue, purple, and green. There was a nasty cut underneath that was slowly bleeding.

She crawled towards him. "Bloody hell I'm so sorry. I didn't know – here let me – "

She reached out to touch his shoulder for comfort, but he shied away.

"Don't touch me," he said a little more forcefully. He seemed to be cradling his arm. . . Rose's wand light wandered down as she checked him for other injuries. His right arm was cradling his left and when he shifted away from her again, she saw the rip of his black shirt sleeve and the white of bone.

Rose inhaled sharply. His arm was broken, the bone clean pierced through the skin by his elbow. His shirt was wet with blood and it dripped steadily to the dirt floor.

"We need to get you to the hospital," she said starting to reach out with her hands but then stopping. There would be gang members everywhere above them.

Scorpius shook his head. "I can't go to Mungo's. Once dawn hits, this fiasco will have calmed down and we can slip by the guards when the shifts change. We'll go to your cousins."

He put his head against the back of the wall and shut his eyes, trying to keep his breaths coming at an even pace to control the pain.

Rose didn't move. He would surely die of blood loss if they didn't do anything and waited the few hours before they could leave. She just stared at him, consumed by guilt. This was her fault. They had to get out now.

"Scorpius, we need to leave and get you help."

"No. Too dangerous."

Rose hesitated. "Your. . . your arm though. You're bleeding heavily. You probably have a high risk of infection because we're in this dirt pit. You're bone is clean broken! We need to get you somewhere now."

Scorpius pulled himself from the wall and reached out with his good arm to grab her wrist, holding tight. His good eye was fierce and cloudy. It hurt Rose's heart to see him in such agony. "We're not leaving, Weasley. That place is going to be swarming with people, looking for us. It's already enough of a risk that we'll leave at first light. If I was fine, we'd be staying here for the whole day and some. But I'm not and a few extra hours aren't going to kill me."

Well, it might.

Suddenly acting decisively, Rose pulled her backpack off of her and reached in for the small first aid kit. It was the smallest thing in the world, but it would help. Just a little.

"Scorpius, I'm going to clean up some of your cuts then. We'll wait until dawn to leave, but this is something that has to be done now."

"You've done enough already."

Rose frowned into her hands that were holding the little kit. She had done enough. But she wasn't going to just let him die in front of her. It was probably the most miniscule amount, but she could lessen some of his pain, hopefully.

She unzipped the first aid kit and pulled out some gauze. She held it up to his face and the cut that was bleeding below his eye. "This may hurt a little; I'm going to apply some pressure to stop the bleeding and then we'll bandage it up."

He didn't comment as she applied the gauze to his face. His good eye just stared at her through the whole process, the other so purple, black, and swollen that she couldn't even see his eyelashes. She focused on the gauze and avoided his eye.

This was real life. This whole looking for Canwood thing was real life. It wasn't some game where everyone would come out alive. This wasn't a group of people that would innocently laugh at them when they fell through ceilings. They could die.

Now would be a good time to tell him about your contract, Marta advised. If he understands why, he'll forgive you. And help you.

I don't deserve any help, said Rose bitterly.

She pulled the red gauze off and applied a new piece, keeping the compression constant. It was a shallow cut but was still bleeding heavily. In the muggle world, it would probably warrant a few stitches. If she had a needle and thread, she could attempt it, but she didn't.

The bleeding slowed down after a few more gauze pieces and Rose added some disinfectant to his face before bandaging it up.

Then she turned to his arm.

"I'm going to cut off your shirt sleeve," Rose said softly. There was a tiny pair of scissors in the little kit. By the time Rose got the sleeve off, it was more like hacking than cutting. She slowly pulled it away from his arm, exposing everything.

Rose had to look away and take a few breaths. It was not a good injury. Scorpius was breathing heavily. He finally shut his eye again.

"I don't know – I can't really do anything for your arm. But I'm going to wrap it up to try to control some of the bleeding and then I'll make a sling. This will hurt. If it somehow gets infected, it will make the injury much worse than it is now."

Scorpius gave an imperceptible nod. He could barely lift his broken arm away from his body for Rose to wrap the cloth around. She went over and over, trying to keep it tight so it could slow some of the bleeding. She couldn't look at his face. Tears were leaking from his eyes and guilt was gnawing away at her. She wrapped it all the way from his wrist to below his shoulder, creating a mini cast.

Then she created a sling from one of the extra shirts in her bag, tying the two sleeves together behind his neck.

Once she was finished, she re-packaged everything and retreated to the opposite end of the pit. She could never be a Healer. She felt rather faint. Her wand was still lit and she hesitated to put it out. If she did, they would be in darkness once again.

But she couldn't stand looking at him right now.

It went black and they were silent as they waited, Scorpius's ragged breaths the only thing that filled the pit.

"Scorpius."

"Scorpius."

There was a small groan in response.

"What are your parents' names?"

Rose was curled up on the ground, lying in the dirt and trying to preserve some heat. The longer they stayed there, the colder it was. She already draped her two jackets over Scorpius. He needed the extra warmth. She could suck it up; she wasn't fighting for her life.

"Scorpius, answer me."

"'Storia and Draco," he mumbled out after a long pause. "Tired. Stop questions."

"No. Scorpius!" She crawled up and lit her wand, waving it around his face. He barely had a reaction. "Scorpius you need to stay awake. It's almost time to leave. If you go to sleep, you might never wake up again." She gave his shoulder a shake. She'd been asking small questions the past few hours, but he was getting worse and worse. He flinched away from her and his eye fluttered open. His look was vacant. He was in so much discomfort and agony.

She checked his watch. They had about fifteen minutes left before it was the optimum time to sneak out. Rose had no idea what was happening out there. Didn't know how it would look once they left their little safe haven.

Scorpius had told her the spells to unlock the door, lock it behind them, and hide the place from view again a few hours ago so she didn't have to struggle to find them out now when he was semi-conscious.

"Scorpius, we're leaving in ten minutes. I need you to crawl onto your knees."

It took basically ten minutes for him to do that, but Rose acted quickly. She wrapped the two coats around his shoulders, securing them even though they were too small. She performed the disillusionment spell for the first time in her life on them both; she was concentrating so fiercely it worked on the first attempt. For added safety, she pulled the invisibility cloak and draped it over him. He was going to make it. They were going to make it.

She unlocked the doors above them, the early morning sunlight streaming in, and crawled out of the hole. Scorpius was a little tougher to get out, but he didn't cry out in pain.

They took the long way around, skirting by all the warehouses along the river and coming up to the alley. Scorpius was slow and leaning heavily on her shoulder. There were extra guards around and everyone looked incredibly wary. Wands were out and with the smallest noise a death spell was shot, they passed by six dead rats. The running river managed to mask most of their noise and they made it safely to the alley.

Rose apparated away directly into her apartment.

"LUCY! LUCY!" Rose screamed as soon as they were there. She set Scorpius down on the couch and ran to Lucy's room and turned on the light.

Lucy was curled up under the covers. "Ereghh, I just got to sleep."

Rose was shaking her shoulder and basically crying – she didn't know where her resolve went at that moment – "Scorpius is injured badly. He needs help. His bone is sticking out of his arm."

Lucy was still in a sleep fog, but she threw off her blankets and grabbed her wand and ran out in her pyjamas. As soon as she saw Scorpius she gasped and was working instantly on him, undoing the sling and taking off bandages to look at all his injuries. She cut the rest of his shirt off his body and Rose saw some heavy bruising around his ribs. Everything starting bleeding again.

"Rose. Get Dom. She came in about a few hours ago. You might need to dump water on her to wake her up, she was a bit out of it. Also start the kettle. I need hot water."

Rose ran to the kitchen and turned on the kettle before grabbing a glass of water and running to Dominique's room.

She opened the door and gagged. It smelled like rotted food. There were clothes all over and spilled liquids and Dominque was on the floor, passed out.

Rose couldn't even comprehend this. She threw the liquid onto Dom's face and started shaking her shoulder.

"Dom! Scorpius is injured. We need your help!"

Dominique made a weird noise and hit Rose's hand away. "DOM, wake up!"

"ROSE, HURRY UP!" yelled Lucy from the living room. Dominique was unresponsive, Rose ran to the door. "She's not waking up!"

"What the hell!" Lucy exclaimed.

Rose turned back around to make Dom get up when something came soaring towards her head. Rose just caught a glint of glass in the darkness and blinked as an oil lamp exploded on her head.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. STOP FUCKING YELLING. FUCK FUCK FUCK," screamed a deranged Dominique, standing up with her fists clenched at the sides. Her eyes were black and hair was greasy and sticking up everywhere.

Blinding pain overcame Rose and she stumbled out of the room, her hands covered in blood as she held her face, trying to stem the oncoming pain. She could smell oil everywhere, her head and shirt were soaked. The door slammed so hard behind her it shook the walls.

She was in shock now. Dominique just threw a lamp at her? Did she expect Rose to block it in the darkness?

"Lucy," she cried out and went to the living room, holding her face. "She threw a lamp at me. Something is wrong with her."

Lucy gave a small scream when she saw Rose and all the blood coating her, Rose couldn't even see out of one eye at the moment. There were cuts all over her hands and on her head. Lucy stopped un-wrapping the mini-cast from Scorpius's arms and ran her hands through her hair in a moment of panic

"What is going on!" she said in a whisper that was so deadly.

Rose wiped blood out of her eyes, again and again. It wouldn't stop coming. She ignored the roaring in her head as she said, "I'm fine for right now. What do you need? Focus on Scorpius."

Lucy raised her hands in the air. "Bloody fucking hell. Okay. Scorpius needs a blood replenishing potion. Right now. We'll get other potions later. Cupboard at the end of the hall, top shelf at the back. It's labelled. Just. Stay calm. It'll be ok." She took some deep breaths and turned her attention back to Scorpius.

Rose found the potion, and with a blood slicked hand she grabbed it and took it back to Lucy.

They were both shaking him and trying to get him to wake up to consume the potion. He opened a blurry eye (the other one was patched now from Lucy), and gaped at Rose. He tried to sit up and reach out to her.

"What – what – happ – "

"Shut up and drink," said Lucy as pushed him back down and brought the potion to his lips. He drank most of it before he was passed out again. Rose brought Lucy the hot water and then she was washing his skin and chanting spells under her breath as his bone was mended and the skin being knit back over. She didn't stop until it was knit back up.

"Where's Molly?" asked Rose, when Lucy was inspecting the arm. The skin around it was blue tinged, but it seemed the danger had passed.

"Lorcan's. Scorpius will be okay. Let's lay him down and then we'll take a look at your head."

She was still bleeding, but there was honestly blood everywhere so she wasn't sure how much had come from her. Most of the cuts seemed rather shallow and she wasn't in danger of bleeding out. They laid Scorpius down on the couch and covered him up with a large blanket. Rose tucked it in around his neck, leaving some red handprints.

Lucy started removing the glass from Rose's head and hands, cleaning up the cuts with a few small healing spells and putting an ointment on others. "I'm sorry, I can't spell them all closed – I'm exhausted. But I'll do the worst now, clean up the rest, and finish tomorrow."

"I'm fine, save your energy!"

The largest cut, where the lamp had struck her head, caused massive swelling.

"She actually threw a lamp at you?" Lucy asked a few minutes later, still in a state of disbelief as she fussed over Rose.

"Yes. . . something is wrong with her. Her room was a mess and there was a rotten smell coming from there. And her eyes. . . it's not right."

"No. . . it's not. When she came in a few hours ago, she was acting weird. I don't even know how to describe it. She was saying things like 'the sky is falling, swim for your lives!' and other weird things. She didn't even recognise me. . . called me 'Captain Kinkerbotgen' or something. . . It was like. . . I honestly thought she was on drugs or something. She was in this weird fantasy world. But her eyes, yes. Something isn't right."

Rose felt a chill run through her. If she was on drugs. . .

She was spiffed, said Greg. Has to be.

But where would she have gotten them? It was Dominique! She would never take drugs! Rose could barely believe it as soon as it was voiced in her head. Dom who was the largest neat freak on Earth and who barely trusted potions and food she didn't make herself; Dom the potioneer! It didn't make any sense.

"What should we do?"

Lucy looked at her with gleaming eyes. There was no trace of sleep in them now. "We're going to question her right now. Before she runs off again – she hasn't been sleeping here in a while. And normally I wouldn't care. But now. . . "

Rose had a huge bandage on her head from the oil lamp Dominique had thrown. It seemed almost dangerous going back in.

"We just have to be careful," said Lucy. "Arm yourself. And duck this time. I don't think her mood will have improved in the past half hour."

Lucy stormed down the hall and flung Dom's door open wide. She flicked on the lights and they regarded Dom on the bed, all twisted in the sheets. Her hands were at her eyes, holding them open and she was breathing heavily. "Dom, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lucy asked, distaste on her face as she surveyed the room. Dom didn't reply. Lucy picked up the sheet and started pulling it.

Dominique sounded like some sort of wild animal with the croon she made as she was flipped over and over as Lucy pulled the sheet from her. She had gained weight in the last few weeks, she was much larger than she usually was. Her shirt was ratty and stained with old food.

"What is happening to you? Why are you and your room a disaster?" she demanded, unrelenting.

"Bloody fuck. Get out of here," growled Dom. She had such an angry look on her face. Rose started picking some of the glass shards off the floor where the oil lamp had broken.

"No I will not."

Dominique's breathing got deeper and reached behind her bed, grabbed some book with a ripped cover, and chucked it at Lucy.

"THIS IS MY FUCKING ROOM. GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

Lucy barely batted an eyelash.

"Newsflash. I don't fucking care that this is your room." Lucy picked Dominique up by the arm and hauled her out. Dom was screaming and kicking and throwing a temper tantrum and ended up cutting her foot on some glass despite Rose's best efforts.

"Lucy her foot," Rose called out as she looked around the room. She went to the closest and peered in. It was worse in worse shape than the room, if that was possible. She gave a quick glance over for drugs of some sort, but didn't find anything

She could hear Dominique snarling and swearing in the living room. If Scorpius hadn't lost so much blood, he definitely would have woken up with the racket.

"You know what Lucy. NO ONE LIKES YOU. Everyone just takes pity on the younger, dumber twin," Dominique said loudly.

Rose poked her head out to see Lucy dump water on Dominique, her face white.

"Sober up from whatever you're on," she said quietly. Dom started hitting Lucy's arm.

"Nobody likes you. Nobody likes you. I FUCKING HATE YOU and nobody likes you."

Lucy filled up the cup with more water and dumped another one on Dom. She was spluttering, her hair plastered to her face. Her eyes were still black, no lightness seemed to reach them. Rose hesitantly joined the two out there.

"Dom, where did you get the drugs," Rose asked. "Where are they now?"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, slut. Nobody wants to hear a sob story about your messed up life. Nobody gives a flying fuck about it."

Rose froze. Her eyes were trained on Dominique.

"It's whatever she's on that's speaking," Lucy said. "This isn't her." Dominique started dancing her head back and forth between her shoulders, looking like a rag doll. "OF COURSE this is fucking me. You both are so PATHETIC. I don't need your help."

Dominique stopped flinging her head around and looked at Lucy. She crept closer and closer – hair still on her face, clothes in ruins – and said quietly, "'nobody could ever love you or be with you because you're so cold. So fucking cold, you're not even human'."

Lucy's eyes went dark instantly. "Get out of this flat. You're not welcome anymore." She roughly shoved Dominique away from her, towards the door, before she took off into her own bedroom and slammed the door shut, not looking at Rose.

Dominique went to the chair and picked the cushion off of it, throwing it at Rose. Wherever she stepped, there was a crescent shaped blood spot on the floor, it didn't even look out of place with how the room currently looked. Then Dominique walked to the door, punching the wall as she went and knocking everything to the ground that was in her path. Rose just stayed in the middle of the room watching the catastrophe happen.

Scorpius was knocked out on the couch. Blood was everywhere. Dom was psycho and on drugs. Lucy was locked in her room.

This was unbelievable. Rose sat down right where she was standing (her knees seemed to give out from under her) and leaned back against the floor.

Everything was such a mess.

A/N: Shout out to WhatsTheTimeMrWolf for reviewing the past few chapters, I appreciate it immensely :) Next chapter: A search mission and blood poisoning