Taming

When Scorpius awoke, Rose was gone. He was worried that he’d upset her too badly the night before, but a quick glance at the clock told him that it was more likely she’d gone down to breakfast. His emotions were all over the place, and he felt confused and depressed.

He wondered if he should try to find Rose, but he was scared of leaving the Tower. Scared of running into Albus, shagging some random bloke in the hallway.

And he was still worried that Rose was angry with him. Why had she let him sleep without even asking if he wanted to go to breakfast with her? He felt a fingers of dread spread through his stomach. What if she’d been up all night, thinking about what had happened and hating him?

He got dressed slowly, hoping that Rose would return, but she didn’t. In fact when she didn’t return after breakfast had been officially over for more than twenty minutes, he became even more uneasy. Normally, she checked on him after any time she had to leave him alone.

He had to go an find her. He had to explain. He had to apologize.

Before he could fret about it much more, however, Lily burst through the door, screaming his name.

“What?” he asked, feeling panic setting in already.

“It’s Rose,” she panted. “Hospital wing. Now!”

He didn’t stop to think, he just started running. He had known that something was wrong. He should have gone to look for her earlier.

“What happened?” he called to Lily who was running behind him.

“I don’t know,” she said, sounding panicky.

Scorpius skidded to a stop in front of the door to the hospital wing and pushed it open. He spotted Hugo sitting in a chair and ran over. Rose lay in one of the beds, covers pulled up to her chest, looking as pale as the sheets. She was eerily still.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded. When no one answered, he shouted, “What the fuck happened to her?”

Madam Somerset rushed over. “Mr. Malfoy, please. We have other patients here. We’re working on Miss Weasley’s case as hard as we can.”

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, trying to keep his voice down.

“Well, Professor Cogsworth has ruled at a potion or poison, so we think it may be a dark hex. Several of the professors are working on it. For now, she’s in a sort of… stasis. Are you familiar with the concept of comas, Mr. Malfoy?”
He nodded curtly.

“Well, that’s what this is like. As soon as her parents arrive, we’ll begin the process of transferring her to St. Mungo’s. She’ll be in good hands, and I expect she’ll be right as rain soon enough.”

His mind was reeling. He sank into the chair on the other side of Rose’s bed, opposite Hugo. Hugo was staring at Rose with a dazed expression on his face. Lily climbed into Hugo’s lap and started to cry again. Scorpius leaned forward and grabbed Rose’s hand from the blanket. It was cold and it felt tiny in his.

Before he knew it, he was crying too. This was his fault. If he hadn’t been so stupid and mauled her the night before, she probably would’ve woken him to go down to breakfast with her, and then he could have protected her from whatever happened.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. Wiping his cheeks, he rushed over to Madam Somerset. “Tell the Headmaster to question Mirabella Zabini.”

“About what, dear?”

“Rose! You think it was a hex, right? Well, Mirabella’s likely to be behind it.”

“And you have proof?”

He tried to stay calm. “Madam, first of all, Mirabella is unstable. She broke my boyfriend and I up on purpose by lying to him. I have proof of that,” he said, hoping no one would ask for it until he could verify his suspicions with Albus. “Rose is like a sister to me. Mirabella and I had a confrontation yesterday. A physical one. She was looking to hurt me. She already took my boyfriend. If she wanted to hurt me further, Rose would be the next logical target. Please, if you won’t tell the Headmaster, I’ll go myself!”

She looked at his tear-stained face and nodded. “I’ll alert him right away. Thank you for letting me know,” she said gently. He nodded.

He waited until she had written a note and dispatched it with one of the aides before he sat back down. He hoped he was wrong about Mirabella. Because if he was right, he was going to have to face the unpleasant reality of Azkaban,. If Mirabella had done this to his Rose, he was going to kill her with his bare hands.

With that thought, he dropped his face into his hands and began to cry again.

**********************

Scorpius wasn’t sure how long he sat at Rose’s bedside, but it didn’t seem like too long before her parents arrived. Ron and Hermione looked positively sick. Hermione rushed to her daughter and began to weep. Ron hung back a little, swallowing convulsively, and looking like he wanted someone to tell him where to aim his wand. He looked dangerous, and Scorpius was glad of that.

He knew in his heart that this was Mirabella’s fault. And he wanted Ron Weasley to remove her worthless hide in strips. And he wanted to help.

Hugo and Lily got up and gave Hermione the chair. Hugo put his hand on his mother’s shoulder, and Lily went over to hug her uncle, but Scorpius couldn’t move. He couldn’t let go of Rose’s hand.

He was about to say something to Hermione when a movement caught his eye. Albus stood in the doorway, looking scared and Scorpius could tell he’d been crying. Without thinking, Scorpius opened his arms to Albus, who flew at him, sobbing.

Albus climbed into his lap and buried his face against Scorpius’s neck. Scorpius wrapped his arms around Albus and clung to him.
“Can we just… put things aside for now?” Albus whispered in a choked voice. “Can we pretend we’re alright for now? For Rosie? I… I need you right now.”

Scorpius gripped him more tightly. He found that he didn’t care what Albus had been doing or with whom. He didn’t need to pretend. They were going to be alright. He was going to see to it. “Of course,” he whispered back. “I need you, too.” His voice cracked. “What are we going to do? What am I going to do if she’s not okay? I need her, Albus.” He was sobbing now, too.

“She’s gonna be okay. She has to be,” Albus choked out. Then he moved to get up. Scorpius was hurt, but Albus walked over and hugged his aunt, and Scorpius realized that he had been being rude. Since Albus was still hugging Hermione, Scorpius moved to Ron and they embraced rather awkwardly.

“I’m sorry,” Scorpius whispered.

“Thanks,” Ron said softly, but he didn’t seem to understand that Scorpius was trying to admit guilt rather than express sympathy. But he didn’t press the issue.

He and Albus switched places and Scorpius hugged Hermione hard. She reminded him so much of Rose that it hurt. “Scorpius, I know from Rose’s letters how close you two have become. She’s going to be just fine, honey, don’t worry. She’s got a lot of powerful people around her who won’t settle for anything less.”

He nodded. “I know.”

Just then, one of those powerful people walked through the door. Harry Potter strode into the room, obviously also in Auror mode. He spoke briefly in a businesslike manner to Madam Somerset, and then walked over to where Hermione and Scorpius stood. He wrapped Hermione in a tight hug and kissed both of her cheeks tenderly.

“The transfer is all set. Ginny’s waiting at the hospital. I pulled a few strings and got Healer Singletary assigned to Rose’s case. He’s the master at things like this.”

Scorpius was a little taken aback at Harry’s manner. He’d always been cheery and laughing when Scorpius had seen him in the past. He realized that he was seeing the Harry Potter of old. The one who had killed Lord Voldemort. The one who had hunted down the last remaining Death Eaters after the war with a determination that some had called a mania. Harry Potter the celebrity and war hero who could have controlled the wizarding world. He had chosen instead to be a husband and a father.

But he was using his power now. For Rose, and Scorpius was endlessly relieved. Harry Potter wasn’t someone that should be trifled with.

Lily and Albus came forward to hug their father, and Scorpius found himself drawn to do the same thing. When Harry hugged him, Scorpius said quietly, “I think I know who did this.”

Harry’s eyes blazed green fire, and Scorpius nearly shivered. “Could we talk over there for a moment?” he asked Harry, gesturing to a corner.

“Albus hasn’t told you anything that happened between us lately, has he?”

“No. Is something wrong?”

“No, but…” Scorpius proceeded to give Harry a brief overview of what had happened. He neglected to mention that they’d actually broken up and instead referred to what Mirabella had “tried” to do. Then he explained why Rose would be her next likely target to strike out at.

Harry had that look on his face again. The face of the man who vanquished the most legendary dark wizard when he’d been Scorpius’s age. He thanked Scorpius for his information and walked over to Ron. The two men embraced for a long time, talking quietly.

Scorpius could tell from the look on Ron’s face that Harry was telling him what Scorpius had said. Ron’s face took on a look of such power and danger that Scorpius actually shivered.

Harry turned back around, and looking at the two of them standing together, Scorpius knew that he wasn’t going to get a chance to confront Mirabella. In most ways, it was a relief.

“Hermione,” Ron began in a dark voice. “We have to go to the Ministry for a while. Can you take care of Rosie when the staff arrives from St. Mungo’s to transfer her?”

“Of course. What do you need to do?”

With a gesture just like Hugo’s, Ron cracked his knuckles. “We need to go to Headquarters and use one of the interrogation rooms.”

She nodded, and the two men swept from the room. Scorpius nearly smiled. Mirabella, in her typical self-centered fashion, had overestimated herself and drastically underestimated her opponents. And now she was going to pay for that mistake. He had no doubt.

Albus came over to him and touched his arm tentatively. “Scorpius? Could we talk?”