Chapter 58

Scorpius moaned lightly as he swallowed whatever it was he was going to say, revelling in finally feeling her soft lips against his. They moved their lips against each other's passionately, as though committing the sensation to memory; every touch, every taste and every emotion. Scorpius had never felt a kiss in his chest more. It was like a wonderful heart burn of feelings and heat that erupted in his chest the moment her lips touched his. It was unusual but nonetheless thrilling. Rose tightened her legs around him as Scorpius slid his hands down her body until they rested under her bottom. She moaned as he kneaded her cheeks and responded by nibbling lightly on his lip. After a few minutes, the kiss softened slowly. Leaning against each other's forehead, they caught their breaths. Rose finally pulled back and opened her eyes to look at him. When their eyes met, matching giddy smiles spread on their faces. They shared a quiet chuckle before Rose pressed her lips to his again chastely. When she leaned back to stare at him, Rose couldn't explain how happy she was to see his eyes so bright and shinning with happiness in the moonlight. What had happened hours earlier lifted from his thoughts briefly, for this blissful moment. However, the sound of Scorpius' mobile ringing broke through the silence and the cheerful buzz between them. Rose immediately detached herself from him as he lowered her to the ground. Without thinking anything of it, Scorpius took her hand in his and began moving back towards his Ute to answer the call.

"What in Merlin's name is wrong with you?" Lily screeched as she entered the room, slamming the door behind her. Just when Hugo thought he had escaped everyone, excusing himself to get a shirt, Lily cornered him.

"Leave me alone," Hugo groaned, rolling over on his bed, burying his head in his pillow.

Lily ignored him. "All she wants to do is talk to you. I have no idea why after the way you treated her, but she does."

"Leave me alone!" Hugo yelled, the sound muffled by his pillow.

"She wants to be your friend again," Lily continued, not phased. "What would be so bad about that?"

"FRIENDS ISN'T ENOUGH!" Hugo snapped, lifting his head out of his pillow and turning to face her. Lily's eyes went wide, shocked a little by his confession, but understanding exactly what it means.

"Hugo, I-"

"Just get out," Hugo cut across her, refusing to look at his cousin, his posture looking completely defeated. Lily hesitantly left the room, this time closing the door softly behind her.

"Shit," Hugo grumbled.

Lily stood outside Hugo's bedroom door still in a state of shock. She couldn't believe she had never noticed; looking back now she could see it, it was always there, but back then she was too caught up in herself to really see it. Lily watched as Ella joined her cousin Lucy in conversation as if nothing was wrong, but she could still see it hidden just behind her forced smile. Lily didn't know if Ella had thought of Hugo as more than a friend, but now that the idea swirled around in her head she rather liked the idea of them being together. 'That will solve everything,' she thought.

"Hello?" Scorpius answered the phone without checking to see who it was, his eyes instead focused on Rose's anxious ones.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Albus replied. "Scorpius, I hope you're alright."

"Al, I am fine."

"Good, because you better get your arse here now. I charmed the healers as much as I could but they have protocol that they have to follow," Albus spoke sternly, but Scorpius could hear that he was concerned and slightly stressed with the whole situation. "If you are not here in the next five minutes, they're going to contact your mother about what happened." Scorpius looked over at Rose, who was wearing a concerned but caring expression. She had obviously heard what her cousin had said.

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute," Scorpius replied, before hanging up. "I have to go back," he said to Rose, almost as though he was asking her.

"You do."

"Come with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Okay," she answered with a smile.

Jacob and Alison had finally convinced Dominique to proceed without the three who were missing from Hugo's apartment. Everyone had gathered around as Dominique and Jacob stood up at the front and announced their engagement. There was cheering and hugs of congratulations all around. James was whistling at the back, near where Hugo stood watching on as Ella gave Dom a hug before returning to her seat beside Lily. Dominique then went on to explain what she wanted for her wedding. Everyone was immediately taken with the idea, thinking it was perfect. Hugo wasn't really listening; he tuned them all out as he moved from where he was leaning against the wall sulkily and made his way into the kitchen. Somehow over all the excitement, Ella heard the clink of a whiskey bottle. She turned her head and watched worriedly as Hugo sculled Firewhiskey straight from the bottle. She knew that it probably wasn't a good idea for her to go over there, but she was still concerned. So instead Ella lightly nudged Lily, who was sitting beside her, in the side. When Lily looked over at her, Ella nodded in the direction of the kitchen. Lily looked over at Hugo and sighed. Lily nodded in understanding before she silently made her way into the kitchen, trying her best not to draw attention to herself or disturb Dom.

"Al!" Scorpius called out from down the hallway, as he and Rose moved quickly towards him, still holding hands. They had Apparated straight into St Mungo's and upon inquiry had been told where to go. They found Albus talking to a blonde woman dressed in a healer uniform. Upon seeing them, Albus turned back to the healer and said happily, "see, I told you he would be here." The Healer immediately turned to Scorpius.

"Sir, you're related to the patient?" she asked in a calm formal tone.

"Yes, I'm his son, Scorpius Malfoy," he replied. She simply nodded and then spoke again.

"Mr Malfoy, your father had several deep lacerations on his forearm and has lost a lot of blood, but he is stable." Scorpius let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding.

"That's good, right?" Albus heard Scorpius ask as something else caught his attention. He couldn't help but notice how Rose and Scorpius were still holding hands.

"Yes," the healer replied. "However, the skin had been severely damaged, so our best option was to remove it and administer re-growth potion. It is a very painful process, which is why he was given a sleeping draught."

"Okay, so how long until he wakes up?"

"Most likely in a few hours," she answered and Scorpius nodded in understanding. "Excuse me, sir?" she continued after a moment. "If you don't mind me asking, was it you that brought him here?"

"Yes," he replied, enjoying the feeling of Rose's thumb softly moving across his knuckles in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

"And so you just dropped him off and left?" she spoke very judgementally, immediately making Scorpius tense, while Albus' anger became very clear upon his face. He was just about to say something when Rose beat him to it.

"Excuse you," Rose spat, stepping forward slightly. "That isn't any of your business. It isn't your place to pass judgement on what family of patients do, more than it would be for us to question your healer abilities," she said taking another step towards the blonde woman as she tried to back away.

"Rose," Scorpius said trying to calm the fiery redhead down and pull her back with their joined hands. However, even he couldn't hide his smirk as he saw the look upon the healer's face.

"From now on, I'd think about what you say to people," Rose continued, but still allowed Scorpius to put a little distance between her and the blonde woman. "Otherwise, one day you could wake up with the words 'rude cow' across your forehead." Albus' outright laugh could be heard throughout the long white corridor, as the healer turned and quickly walked away from the trio. "What a-"

"Rude cow?" Scorpius finished for her with chuckle.

"Well, yeah," she laughed.

"Oh Rose," Albus said, still getting control of himself. "That was great. Did you see her face? Wait until James hears about this," he added to himself as he walked in the opposite direction of the healer, towards the row of chairs that sat against the wall a few metres away. Rose turned her attention back up to the handsome man next to her to find him smiling down at her. He shook his head and let out a little chuckle as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Come on," he said as he guided her over to the seats next to Albus.

"Hugo," Lily said softly, not wanting to startle her cousin, who was taking another swig from his treasured Firewhiskey bottle. "I'm sorry…you know, about before," she muttered, stepping closer to him. She noticed how he wouldn't look at her, as if he couldn't care less. His usually bright, innocent, joyful, blue eyes were dull and emotionless as they continued to stare down at the bottle in his hands. "I should have known you'd have your reasons...even if they are stupid and only make sense to you-"

"Stupid?" mumbled Hugo, but Lily didn't hear him and continued.

"-plus it's not very fair because she doesn't even know why you're behaving this way, but this," she gestured to the bottle in his hand, "will only make things worse." There was a silence between them as Lily waited for Hugo to respond in some way, in any way. Instead she watched Hugo lift the bottle up to his mouth and chug down the rest of the strong liquid. He let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a hiss after swallowing the last mouthful.

"At this point, I don't see how anything could make it worse," he practically growled, throwing the empty bottle in the trash can. "Look Lily," he addressed her directly, finally looking her in the eye. "We both know you already chose your side long ago so why are you bothering with this terrible attempt at sympathy," Lily stood shocked, slightly embarrassed and hurt at Hugo's words. "Just save your breath, go be with your friend… and leave me alone," he tried to say more harshly then it sounded to both of their ears. One sweep of his features would also tell you that he somewhat regretted his words already. Hugo also could hear it in his voice, so he didn't waste any more time and disapparated on the spot.

As Lily stared at the empty place where her cousin had stood she felt a tear break its banks. She quickly swiped it away and sniffed, refusing to let any more breach. She knew that what he had said stung more because it was partly true. She had stuck with Ella back in Hogwarts when Hugo distanced himself. She hadn't even investigated or questioned why, she just thought he was being an idiotic male and that eventually he would apologise and everything would be back to normal. She had never felt guiltier. The sound of cheers and celebrations reminded her of where she was and she made her way back towards the gathering of her family. Everyone was standing up, cheering and clapping, taking turns hugging Dominique and Jacob. Confused, Lily made her way back to Ella and asked what she had missed.

"Dom and Jacob are having a baby," she replied excitedly, "She's pregnant."

"Wow," Lily said, making her way up to the couple to extend her congratulations. At this time, Ella turned back to the kitchen in search of a certain redhead. She was concerned when she could not see him anywhere.

"Where's Hugo?" Ella asked Lily quietly when she joined her again.

"Umm…I'm not sure," Lily replied nervously and watched as Ella's widened, knowing what that meant. "Look, I'm sure he'll be fine," Lily whispered before Ella could say anything. "He's a big boy, he can take care of himself," she added with a shrug, knowing that she was the last person Hugo wanted fussing over him.

"You're joking, right?" Ella scoffed as she grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her away from the others. "Not even three minutes ago, he was drinking whiskey as if it was water and all you have to say is that he's a big boy, he can take care of himself?"

"Well, what do you want me to do, Ella?" Lily argued, pulling her arm free from the blonde's grip. "He doesn't want anything to do with me and I don't know where he is."

"We need to find him," Ella stated, not even trying to cover up her concern. This wasn't unusual behaviour for the blonde, in fact Lily had always known that she is a very caring person and she had always shown concern for Hugo. However, now that Hugo had put the thought into her mind, Lily was wondering if this was the right amount of concern for a platonic friend. "I mean, what if he gets into some trouble or something happens to him? Then how would you feel, huh?" Ella added, now pacing the length of the kitchen.

"Ella?" Lily said catching her friend's attention. She took a hold of Ella's shoulders and pulled her around to face her. "He'll be okay," she said calmly. "He just wants to be left alone for a bit." Ella sighed and then walked around the island bench and lifted herself up onto one of the bar stools on the other side. Lily joined her and sits in the next on over. She considered, just for a moment, whether to ask Ella about what her feelings were for her cousin but decided against it. Instead, she reached out and took a hold of her hand, drawing Ella's eyes back to her. "He will be okay," she said with confidence. Ella just stared at her for a minute before she sat up a little straighter and nodded.

Rose could hear hushed voices but refused to open her eyes. She was so comfortable and from the musky scent she knew that she must have been sleeping on a certain handsome blonde's shoulder. Much too content to move, she just snuggled closer to him, just listening to what was going on around her as she felt his arm tighten around her, holding her to him.

"…just be careful, okay?" it was Albus' caring voice. "I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"I know," she felt Scorpius reply just as much as she heard it. "That's the last thing I want too." A silence fell between the two best friends, just the sounds of the busy hospital for Rose to hear.

"I guess I had better go," Albus finally said, "Alison would want an update and I'll need to explain and apologise to Dom."

"Yeah, probably best," Scorpius replied.

"Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, it will be fine."

"Do you want me to take her home?"

"No," Scorpius replied surely, "I need her with me." There was a brief pause in which Rose guessed the two men shared a look. "Yeah, I know that it's kind of selfish of me," Scorpius said, "but it doesn't mean it's not true."

"Okay," Albus said simply. "Keep me posted and let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks mate," Scorpius replied as Rose heard the sound of Albus' leaving footsteps on the tiled floor. A moment later, she felt Scorpius turn his head down to rest his cheek against her forehead. Absentmindedly, his hand stroked up and down her arm, sending warm content feelings through her. Despite all the problems and things they still had to sort out and discuss, all Rose could think, as she felt him lift his head slightly to lay a soft kiss on her forehead was that she could not remember being this happy in long time.

I hope you are still enjoying this story. What do you think about Hugo? And about Hugo and Ella as a couple? What are your thoughts about Rose and Scorpius' relationship changing?

Please leave me a review with your feedback :)