2024

~*-R-*~

~*-R-*~

Teddy did not offer any further explanation, no matter how much Rose asked. "I'll explain when we get there," he kept saying, even while he led them up the street to what seemed to be a bar. "Or someone will."

Rose did not understand how Scorpius could suddenly be in London. Had he escaped on his own? That did sound like something he might do, if things got desperate enough. Trust him to do it on the very day they came to rescue him!

The bar had a Floo point. The barman seemed to know Teddy, because he handed over the Floo powder and went back to his patrons without a single word being exchanged. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Teddy instructed Rose, offering her the pot.

"Aw, Teddy," Albus moaned. "Can't we just go home? Dad's going to kill me."

"Shut up," Teddy said shortly. "Just do it, Rose."

"Will this work internationally?" Rose asked, looking doubtfully at the fireplace. She didn't want to get trapped in someone's chimney forever. Gran had told enough horror stories when she was little to discourage any of the children from messing with the Floo.

"Trust me," Teddy said.

She hesitated a second before taking a pinch of powder. She tossed it into the fire and stepped into the flames, feeling their warmth tickle her chin and the ends of her fingers. "British Ministry for Magic," she announced, as clearly as she could. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement." The flames whipped up around her and she felt herself spun around like a top for several seconds.

She stepped out on the other side feeling queasy. She really preferred broomsticks to the Floo, even if it did take longer.

"Rose! Rosie!" She had just enough time to make out her mother's face amid a mass of bushy hair before she was being enveloped in a tight hug. "We've been worried sick," Hermione cried. "I came home and you weren't there, Hugo said you had gone to Harry's, and I Floo'd Ginny, and she said she thought Albus was with you - "

Albus was coming through the Floo now, and Rose could just make out Ginny descending on him in a similar fashion.

"Oh Teddy," Hermione breathed with relief as the final member of their party came through the fireplace. "Thank goodness. Where were they?"

"In Paris," Teddy said shortly. "Looking for you-know-who."

"Albus!" Ginny gasped.

"Sorry mum." Al looked sheepish. Apparently he wasn't even going to attempt his 'but I'm of age' argument.

"Oh sweetheart," Hermione said, looking down at Rose with a kind of pity that made her want to scream. "That's what I came home to tell you. Scorpius is... well..."

"What?" Rose demanded. "He's what?"

Hermione looked from Rose, to Ginny, to Teddy and back. "Well..."

"They arrested him," Teddy sighed.

"What?" Albus exclaimed. "Who arrested him? Dad? What for?"

"Smuggling," Ginny said.

Rose laughed. She couldn't help it.

"Rosie?" her mum was wide-eyed with concern.

"It's a joke," Rose said, smiling weakly. "Right?" There was a moment's silence. "Right?" she repeated, feeling her heart start to pound desperately in her chest. They all looked very, very serious. Perhaps it wasn't a joke. "Where is he?" she asked after what seemed like a lifetime of waiting for them to laugh. "I want to see him."

"Hey, Ian," Teddy called over to a man who seemed to be on his way out. "The kid they picked up at the raid, he still in interrogation?"

The man nodded. "I reckon so. Ron came through just now for Veritaserum. Guess he wasn't feeling too chatty."

Rose was still trying to process the concept of Scorpius has been arrested. It was Albus who rounded on Teddy. "You gave him Veritaserum?"

Teddy shrugged, looking disappointed. "They have to do that sometimes Al, if they can tell someone's lying. I told him to answer -"

"You can't give him Veritaserum!" Albus shouted, almost manic.

"Albus, calm down," his mother said, trying to pull him back, but he shook her off.

"Teddy, Scorp's allergic to Moonsilver!" Albus said desperately.

Rose started. "What?" she said, shaking her head. "He is?" Suddenly she remembered the incident in fourth year. She hadn't been there, of course, but Al and the other boys had told her. It hadn't seemed like a big deal at the time, and she had completely forgotten.

"It took us hours to wake him up after just touching it," Al said, waving his hands as if this would make someone do something, anything faster. "Veritaserum's got pure liquid Moonsilver in it, they could kill him!"

"Oh shit," Teddy said, eyes widening as he caught on at last. He turned and started to run, down a corridor flanked on either side by Aurors.

Rose looked at Albus. His face was full of fear, the kind of fear she had been feeling all day but hadn't let herself show, magnified a hundred times. By unspoken agreement, they ran after Teddy. The Aurors, surprised, tried to stop them, but Al grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her past before they could even draw their wands. Behind her she could hear her mum shouting something. She hoped she was telling them to stand aside, not to go after them, but she couldn't be sure.

It wasn't hard to figure out which way they had to go. They just followed the shouting, taking a right, then a left turn before finding an open door that seemed to be the source of all the commotion. When they drew up to the doorway, panting, Rose saw Teddy arguing with her father. She only glanced at them for a second before she looked around to see her uncle Harry, wand out, muttering as he cast some kind of spell over Scorpius' prone body. "Scorp!" she screamed, lunging forward. Albus caught her around the waist and dragged her back. "Let me go!" she yelled at him, but he held firm.

"Rose, you can't help him," he said, holding her with a grip so strong she wouldn't have thought him capable of it. "Let them -"

"Rose?" her father looked shocked and confused. "What are you doing here?"

"What did you do to him?" she screamed, her hair twisting free from its plait and springing around her face as she struggled. "What did you do?"

"Harry?" Hermione had appeared, miraculously, behind them. She pushed past Albus and Rose and, drawing her wand, went to kneel beside the body. No, Rose told herself, trying desperately to think through the panic. Not the body. It's not a body. It's Scorpius.

"Oh thank Merlin," Harry sighed. Rose stopped struggling long enough to see that her uncle was sweating and pale. His dark hair hung limply over the rims of his glasses. "He's not breathing, Hermione. I've done everything I can but something's shut down his respiratory system completely. It's all I can do to keep his airways open."

"Moonsilver," Albus said, relaxing his hold slightly but not letting go.

"I'm fine," Rose said, slapping at her cousins's hands. "I'm fine." He let go, and she stood helplessly, watching.

"How long?" her mum asked as she knelt and took over the spell.

"Maybe two minutes," Harry replied, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. "Ron was going to go for help when Teddy came."

"Ron, go to St Mungos," Hermione ordered, without looking up.

"But -"

"Right now, Ron. Tell them we have a severe Moonsilver reaction, get someone from Potion and Plant Poisoning here as soon as you can and tell them to bring a return Portkey. Go!"

"Mum," Rose said quietly after her father had Apparated away. Scorpius' face was white, except for the dark circles under his eyes. He wasn't moving. She didn't want to interrupt, she didn't want to make it worse, but she had to know. "Mum... is he okay? Is he..."

"Teddy, get them out of here," Harry said, glancing up for a second.

"Dad!" Albus protested.

"Al, if you want what's best for your friend, take Rose out of here and wait for us at the hospital, understand? Apparate straight there. Go!"

Albus' expression twisted with indecision. Teddy came over and practically shoved them out of the room. "Come on," he said, and Disapparated. Rose closed her eyes, did a half turn, and followed him, ignoring the fact that she still wasn't legally permitted to Apparate. She opened her eyes in St Mungo's waiting room, and there was the crack behind her of Albus following. Teddy led her to a chair, and she sat in it.

She felt numb. The sight of Scorpius lying limp and lifeless on the ground kept playing over and over in her head. Her breathing would only come in short gasps. She couldn't speak.

"I don't get it," Al said, running a hand through his hair so that it stuck up ridiculously at the back. "They can't just give him Veritaserum. There are laws, and rules and things... how could this happen?"

"Ron said he agreed to it," Teddy said. His hair had gone a depressing shade of greyish brown, and he was very pale. "I was trying to tell him about the Moonsilver, and he said Scorpius signed the forms. Why would he do that if he knew..."

"...it could kill him?" Albus finished.

There was a horrible silence for a moment while the implications of that sank in. Rose stared down at her hands. She needed to do something but there was nothing to do.

"I better go and see what's happening," Teddy said after a while. "You two stay here."

Rose listened to him go without looking up. Albus sat beside her and didn't say anything else.

A few minutes later, Teddy came back with her parents and Uncle Harry, all looking grim. Albus stood up. Rose didn't think she could move at all.

"He's going to be fine," Hermione said gently. "It might take a few days, perhaps a week. The Healers are doing all they can."

Rose heard Albus let out a deep breath. She wasn't sure what she should be feeling. Relief? It seemed too late for relief. Her stomach was all twisted up in knots that felt like they would never come apart again.

"How did you two get in, anyway?" Harry said sternly, switching to angry dad mode now that the immediate danger was over.

"That was my fault," Teddy admitted. "I went to find them, and it just seemed like the right thing to do to bring them back to the office. Sorry, Harry."

"Went to find them where?" Ron demanded suddenly.

"Ron," Hermione warned. "Don't."

Albus crossed his arms defiantly over his chest. "We went to Paris," he said.

"What?" Harry looked appalled.

Ginny put a hand on Harry's arm. "It's all right dear. They're fine. Teddy found them."

"Ted, you knew about this?" Harry asked sternly. Teddy looked sheepish.

"No, he didn't." Albus frowned. "We never told him. How did you know where to find us, Teddy?"

All eyes seemed to turn on Teddy. He sighed. "Scorpius told me, all right? He said he saw Rose outside the house."

"You went to Paris?" Ron demanded suddenly, rounding on Rose. "To that man's house? Do you have any idea how dangerous -"

"Ron!"

"Don't 'Ron' me, Hermione, they have no idea what they were walking into!"

"Ron, you're scaring her!"

Rose was only hearing the shouting as though from far away. She still felt numb all over, as though she were dreaming, except she couldn't remember ever feeling this physically sick in a dream. She heard her parents muttering together for a moment, and then her father came over, gingerly as though afraid she might explode.

"Rosie?" he said gently. He put a hand on her shoulder but she pulled away. "Are you all right? Do you need anything?"

With that the world seemed to come flooding back, and with it all the anger that had been held back by her fears for Scorpius. She wiped her eyes and glared at her father. "Yes, Dad!" she exclaimed, slapping her palm against the arm of the chair. "I want to know why my boyfriend wasarrested. I want to know what he did that was so terrible that you poisoned him!"

"It was an accident, sweetheart," her mum said, as though that would make her feel any better.

"Oh I bet," she said, feeling tears come to her eyes but too angry to let them fall. "Dad hates Scorpius, he's always hated him!" She put her head in her hands.

At this point the group, which happened to include the Harry Potter, had attracted a significant amount of attention from the other people in the waiting room. Ron started to say something, an explanation that Rose didn't want to hear, but Harry interrupted.

"Ron," he said. "We can't talk about it here."

Rose closed her eyes and tried to shut them all out. If she wished hard enough, really hard enough, would she be able to wake up? Could she start this day all over again? Would that even help?

"I better get out of here," her uncle was saying, muffled but still audible. "I'll go update the Department and check in with inventory and the task force. At least the whole day wasn't a complete disaster. Ron, go check security on the ward. No, that's an order. Ted, with me. Someone has to help me break the news to Kingsley. Gin, Hermione..."

"We'll stay," Ginny said. "We left Hugo at our house. James can look after him and Lily."

"He'll love that," Albus muttered. He sat down again, next to Rose. She peeked at him through her fingers, unable to help herself, and saw that his hands were shaking slightly.

The men left, Ron with a regretful backwards look. Hermione put an arm around Rose's shoulders. "Don't blame them, love," she said softly. "They didn't know."

"Scorp knew," Albus said darkly. "He knew. Teddy said he signed papers... he let them give him that potion."

"I don't believe that," Rose said, the words coming through thick and heavy in her mouth. "I don't believe he would do that. They must have made him sign... threatened him somehow..."

"Rose Charlotte Weasley." She looked up to see her mother, red-faced, looking at her extremely sternly. "Don't you dare accuse your father or uncle like that," she snapped. "Especially not in public, you silly girl." There was slightly less attention now there were four rather than seven people, but Harry's exit in full view of the crowd meant that eyes and ears were still on them. "Do you want that to be the headline of tomorrow'sProphet? Do you want to ruin your father's career? Not to mention you should never even think such things. Your father is a good and honourable man, and so is your uncle, and well you know it."

Rose felt her anger crumple like parchment in the face of her mum's glare. "I'm sorry," she said, unable to stop her voice breaking in her throat. "I'm sorry, it's just... I don't understand... I don't see why any of this is happening. Why did they arrest him? He's not a dark wizard. He wouldn't... he couldn't hurt anyone, not ever. Mum, I know him."

"I know dear," her mum said, softening in the face of her daughter's tears.

Ginny pulled out her wand and incanted, "Muffliato".

"Ginny," Hermione sighed.

"What? It's not illegal, as much as you'd like it to be." Albus' mum sat down opposite them. "I'm afraid we really don't know much," she said, low, under the muffling charm. "Harry and Ron went out on a raid this afternoon. They had intelligence that a Shadow delivery was going to be made to a shop in Wizarding London. They never expected Scorpius would be the one doing the delivery."

Rose felt her heart sink, even as a few things that had been nagging at the back of her mind started to fall into place. "Scorp... working for the Shadow?"

Albus made a weird sort of choking noise. Rose ignored him. "But he wouldn't," she said, wiping her eyes angrily. "I mean... he just wouldn't. How would he even know the... Shadow..."

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other.

"Oh my god," Rose said, tears forgotten in the midst of the cold possibility that suddenly filled her, like ice water. "The Shadow, it's -"

"Albus?" Ginny asked suddenly. "Are you all right? You've gone pale."

Rose looked at her cousin. He certainly was pale, and his eyes were looking somewhat panicked behind his glasses. "I... not sure," he said, swallowing. "Something's weird... I..."

"What on earth is it now?" Hermione muttered, pulling out her wand while Ginny held the back of her hand to her son's forehead.

"It's like... I can't think," Al said, as though he were forcing out the words. "I'm trying..."

"Well, we're in the right place for it," Hermione said sensibly. "Tell me if you're going to vomit, won't you?"

"I'm not going to vomit!" he exclaimed. "At least I hope not."

"I'll get a Healer," Ginny said quickly.

"I'm not sick, Mum," Al protested. "It's just..." He seemed to struggle for a moment before giving up and sitting back in his chair.

"I'm getting a Healer," Ginny repeated, firmly, and hurried away.

"This is very odd," Hermione said, waving her wand in front of Albus' eyes. "Has anyone done any spells on you lately?"

"Not that I know of," Al growled. "Except Rose's disillusionment charms."

"It's deep, whatever it is." She frowned and pulled some parchment from her pocket, conjuring a self-inking quill and scribbling madly.

"Whatever what is?" Rose demanded, looking with concern between her mum and her cousin. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, dear."

Rose blinked and sat back. She couldn't remember the last time her mum hadn't known the answer to anything. But how could anything be wrong with Albus? He hadn't drunk any dangerous potions.

Ginny came back with a women in lime green Healer's robes, who poked at Al with her wand for a minute and examined Hermione's meticulous notes. At first she tried to get them to wait, saying it was only a minor case, but Hermione flashed an important-looking piece of Ministry parchment at her and she balked. "Right away Ms Weasley," she said. "Do follow me."

She took them up to the fourth floor, Spell Damage, passing Potion and Plant Poisoning along the way. Rose looked down the corridor, in the vague hope of seeing some sign of Scorpius, but saw nothing but Healers. They found Al a bed in a ward full of people with weird maladies, including a man with what looked like a pumpkin for a head, and another with bat ears - a botched attempt at Animagery, perhaps. The Healer hurried off, promising to send in an expert. A man came in a few minutes later, did the same diagnostic spells, and frowned. He said very little, but promised to return after doing some research.

"Well this is just great," Albus sighed, falling back onto his pillows.

"Mum," Rose said when she thought they were finally out of earshot of anyone who might care. "When we were at the house... Scorp's house, in Paris... um, someone tried to curse us." Albus gave her an amazed look, as though unable to believe she would bring this up considering the trouble they were already in. "What I mean is," she added quickly, before anyone could interrupt. "Maybe it hit him. Maybe that's what this is."

"It didn't hit me," Albus said with confidence. "I felt it go past."

"All right, but what else could it be?" she asked.

"I know it wasn't that, because whoever was trying to get rid of us would have used something stronger than a weird icky feeling that only hits you three hours