2024

~*-R-*~

~*-R-*~

Rose knew Scorpius, and she knew that he was in more pain that he was letting on. It was the way he moved slightly slower and more hesitantly than usual, the way his eyes would occasionally widen or close suddenly, and then return to normal so that you weren't sure if you had really seen it. She knew he didn't want anyone to worry, or ask if he was all right, or fuss over him. She thought he would dislike fuss immensely. But it was hard to watch him wheel himself awkwardly away from the makeshift table, hard to see the exhaustion in his face and do nothing. "That was great, Hannah," he said. "You have no idea how good it is to have real food again."

"I'd be careful if I were you," Lizzie warned. "She'll really fatten you up if you give her half a chance."

Hannah shot her daughter a disapproving glance as she cleared the plates. "Thank you, Elizabeth. Don't you have any homework you should be doing? That isn't Herbology?"

"Oh mum," Lizzie sighed, and Rose saw Neville hiding a grin behind his hand. "You know Herbology's the only NEWT I really care about."

"No daughter of mine is going to deliberately fail three out of four NEWTs," Hannah said firmly. "Besides, after this summer I should hope you're all going to be doing better in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

The room fell suddenly silent. Rose immediately felt so guilty that she couldn't meet anyone's eyes. She knew without looking that Albus would be feeling the same. When she glanced at him, Scorpius was staring down at his lap, his fingers moving slowly and absent-mindedly over the textured surface of the wheels on his chair.

"Mum," Lizzie breathed, shocked.

"No, she's right," Albus said flatly. "What good's learning to stun people or do a shield charm if you can't do it in a real life and death situation? They don't teach you that stuff in school."

Neville was frowning now. "Be glad you haven't had much opportunity to practice," he said. "Still, I'm inclined to agree. You never know what could happen, even these days. I'll have a word to Professor Tufty about it."

Hannah was looking about as ashamed as Rose currently felt. "I'm sorry, dear," she said to Scorpius. "I wasn't thinking."

"No." Scorpius folded his hands in his lap and looking up at her. "It's fine."

"Let's test the stairs then," Albus said, in a desperate attempt to change the subject for which Rose was grateful. He took hold of the back of Scorp's chair and pushed it gently to the foot of the staircase. Scorpius looked up at the stairs with trepidation.

"I don't think I can -" he began, but stopped in surprise as the chair shuddered of its own accord. He gripped the wheels and swallowed hard. "What was that?" he demanded.

Albus grinned. "It's like my Phoenixer before a game. It wants you to tell it what to do."

Scorpius looked unconvinced. "If I say it, how do I know it won't shoot up and hit the ceiling?" he asked doubtfully.

Rose came around to look more closely at the runes engraved in the wooden chair frame. She could see the symbol for levitation there, among others that were indeed similar to those you might find on a broomstick before the marks were polished off. "Well?" Scorpius asked her. "Is it going to kill me?"

She smiled at him. "I doubt it," she said. "Just be gentle. Think it, as well as say it. Like your guitar, if you... if you had to tell it to play quietly."

Scorpius frowned thoughtfully, as if this comparison hadn't occurred to him. Then he sighed. "All right. I trust you," he told her.

"Hey!" Albus protested.

"No offence, Al, but I've seen that mad broomstick of yours nearly throw you enough times to doubt your judgement," Scorp told him. He was gritting his teeth slightly, and Rose knew he was preparing himself to take the next big step - metaphorically, anyway.

She drew her wand. "If you fly up, I'll be right here to bring you back down," she said. There was certainly no way she was just going to let him get hurt again. "I promise."

"Gently," Al reminded him.

"I've got it, thanks," Scorp growled. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second, then, while everyone waited in silent expectation, he said - barely audibly - "up."

Nothing happened.

Albus sighed. "Not that gently," he chided. "Come on, d'you want to get up there or not?"

Scorpius gave him an incredulous look.

"Well it's not going to work if you don't want it to," Albus said flatly. "That's how magic works. Try it again."

Scorpius set his shoulders and grit his teeth. "Up," he said firmly.

Rose gripped her wand tightly as the chair rattled happily and lifted a few inches off the floor. She heard Scorpius let out a short gasp, and then his fingers slowly released from their death grip on the wheels. Under his touch, they started turning slowly, and, with a delicacy she might not have thought possible of an old piece of furniture, the chair began to float serenely up the staircase. It was a tight fit, but the thing never even touched the sides.

"Cool," Lizzie said appreciatively. They watched as the chair reached the top step, and heard Scorpius say "stop! Down Down!." The three of them hurried up the stairs after him in single file as the chair sank reluctantly back down to the floor.

"That was great," Albus said, grinning as he helped Scorp push the chair into the living room.

Rose didn't say anything. Scorp had gone even paler than before, and she could see even the short trip up the stairs had tired him out. "Where's Alice?" he asked, in an offhanded way that Rose knew meant he had probably been busting to ask since his arrival.

"At Grandad's," Lizzie replied. "Just for a few days while you get settled in. Mum thought a hyperactive five year old might not be the best thing when you're trying to rest."

Scorpius looked disappointed. Rose didn't blame him; she knew that he loved Alice as if she was his own little sister.

"Come on then," said Albus. "Let's get you settled in."

They went together into Tony's bedroom, where Scorpius' things had been either put away in the wardrobe, or gently piled into his school trunk at the foot of the bed. His guitar had been taken out of its case for the first time in months, and leant strategically in a corner. As they came in, Rose saw Scorp's eyes widen and linger on it for a moment. "Do you want to play?" she asked. It might help relax him a little, she thought, or at least distract him for a while. "You'll probably have to tune it -" she reached for it, meaning to pass it to him, but before she could even touch it, he interrupted her.

"No," he said, almost harshly. She turned to stare at him and he shifted uncomfortably. "Not right now," he added, not quite meeting her eyes. "Maybe later."

She nodded, though his reaction still worried her a little.

"Time for your potion anyway," Albus said, checking his watch.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Trust you to remember all Knox's instructions. This St Mungo's thing should work out just perfectly for you."

"What's this?" Lizzie asked, frowning.

"Yeah, what St Mungo's thing?" Rose asked, and Albus, with a long-suffering look, explained his punishment.

"It's not too bad, I guess," he sighed. "Especially since Dad said the two of us could have been charged with interference in a major Ministry investigation." It wasn't the first time Rose had heard this - her mother had been extremely clear on the subject, in fact - but it still gave her a sick, twisting feeling in her belly.

"Rot," Lizzie scoffed. "The Wizengamot wouldn't dare bring you up on charges. The papers would have a field day if they arrested Harry Potter's son. Do you have to volunteer as well?" she asked Rose.

Rose shook her head . "This is the first I've heard of it."

Albus made a face. "Dad said you'd probably 'been through enough'," he quoted. "Isn't that nice. Anyway, I was the one who was cursed."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, really scary curse. It wasn't hurting you, was it?"

Al glared at her. "I'll get the potion," he muttered, and stalked out of the room.

"You two are on excellent terms again, I see," Scorpius said, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Oh, well," Lizzie sighed, sitting down on the bed with a whumph noise. "He's infuriating. And he waves that Cleo girl around in my face every chance he gets."

Rose blinked, surprised. She hadn't been paying much attention to anyone's personal relationships lately, but she thought she might have realised if Al was being particularly ego-driven. If anything, she thought he'd been quite withdrawn all summer, even before their ill-advised trip to Paris.

"Didn't you break up with him?" Scorpius pointed out to Lizzie, in defence of his friend. "You can't really blame him for going out with someone else, can you?"

"I was not," Lizzie protested. "Blaming him, that is, and yes I did break up with him, it's just that I wish they weren't so... so..."

"Obvious?" Rose suggested. There were times when she had felt more or less the same, to be honest, but if Al was happy, she had no right to protest. Particularly in view of the fact she was dating his best friend.

"Showy," Lizzie muttered.

"Cleo's just outgoing," Scorpius explained, in a way that reminded Rose how utterly clueless he could be sometimes. "She's nice really, once you get to know her."

Lizzie merely shook her head, her newly-cropped hair bouncing enthusiastically around her ears. "Well," she said, getting up off the bed. "Dad's put me in charge of the school greenhouses while you're here, Scorp, so I better go check that nothing's burst through the roof since yesterday. Tell Mum I'll be back before dinner?" she added to Rose.

"No problem." Rose watched her go for a second, then turned back to Scorpius. He looked back at her. "So."

"So," he said, with a tired sort of smile. "How'd your parents take you leaving, in the end?"

She shrugged. "Not too bad," she said, more or less truthfully. "Dad's not happy about it, but Mum kept reminding him that I'm of age, and he can't stop me."

Scorpius grimaced. "I bet that really improved matters."

"Not really," Rose agreed. "But I couldn't stay there another minute, honestly I couldn't. Mum and Dad had a huge row last night." She was surprised how easily the words came. She hadn't planned on talking about it at all.

"About me?" Scorpius asked. "Or you?"

"No, about Dad," Rose said. "Mum's hardly been speaking to him since we found out. She thinks he should do something to make sure he gets his job back. Dad just wants to wait it out, I think. He said he apologised to you. Did he?"

Scorpius nodded slowly. "Unless it was a hallucination," he joked lamely.

"Good. What did you say?"

"Me? Not much. It was all I could to understand what he was saying."

Rose glowered, feeling yet another stab of anger. "Trust him to try and apologise when you were only half conscious," she muttered. "He really ought to come here and say it again, properly."

Scorpius looked pained. "Once was enough, Rosie, really. As long as I don't get kidnapped again... I'll get over it." There was a slight bitterness in his tone that gave the lie to the words, however.

"You're a better person than I am, then." Rose shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair, making bits of it frizz up with static. She took a step closer and peered down at the chair again. "Is this thing even comfortable?"

"Surprisingly yes. I think it must have all sort of charms on it."

"The runes are pretty strong magic," she said thoughtfully. "I wonder how old it is?"

"You can do all the research you want when we get back to school," Scorpius sighed. "Make it a special NEWT project."

Rose looked up in surprise at the sudden bite in his tone. "Are you okay?"

He frowned for a moment, then his shoulders relaxed slightly and he looked away. "Sorry," he muttered.

She knelt down beside the chair and covered his hand with hers. "Look at me," she said, and he did, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "You're going to get better," she told him firmly.

"We don't know that for sure," he murmured.

"Well I do," she said. "I know."

"Are you a medi-witch now?" he asked, and it might have been her imagination, but she thought she felt his hand tremble a little.

"Knox can say whatever he wants," she said, not taking her eyes away from his. "I know you're going to walk again because you're brave, and kind, and special, and you saved my life, so I owe you a life debt and if its the last thing I do, I'm going to make sure that you get out of that chair. Okay?"

"But what if I don't?" he asked. There was a fearful yet resigned tone to his voice that she didn't like at all. "What if I'm stuck like this forever? We know its possible -"

"Then I'll still be here," Rose promised. It was all she could do, all she had to offer. "And Al will be here, and Neville and the others. And we will keep helping you until you're well again."

"But what if -"

"Stop," she told him, in the firmest voice she had ever heard her mother use. "You have to stop thinking like that. You have to believe that things will change or it won't ever happen. You're not going to get better until you really, truly believe you will."

Scorpius sighed. "You make it sound so easy, like it's some sort of... story. But it's real life - my real life - I can't help - "

At this point, partly to shut him up and partly because she thought he might really, really need it right now, she lifted herself onto one knee, leaned over and kissed him. He made a soft, surprised noise, but he didn't protest or push her away. As he relaxed and she felt the cool, gentle touch of his fingertips on her cheek, she realised that she might have needed this a little, as well.

"Merlin's saggy left - I can't leave the two of you alone for five minutes?"

Rose turned and glared at her cousin, who had appeared in the doorway with a small vial of bright green potion in one hand. "You can talk," she snapped. "Like I haven't walked in on you and Cleo a dozen times this summer."

"Maybe you should have knocked." Albus shrugged.

"I would if you ever remembered to shut the door," Rose muttered.

Scorpius was looking with trepidation at the potion. "Is that it?"

"This is it." Albus tossed the vial into the air and caught it again, making Rose's heart jump.

"Don't!" she cried.

He gave her a puzzled look. "What? I wasn't going to drop it - anyway there are like twelve more, downstairs."

"Oh, just give it here," Scorp sighed. "Don't throw it - not all of us have your reflexes."

Albus handed the potion over with exaggerated care, and Scorp downed it with a grimace. "Gross," he muttered, and yawned.

"That's how you know its good for you," Al said. "You better - er, I mean - do you want to have a rest, or...?"

Scorpius shot him a look that suggested he saw straight through the switch of approach as clear as glass. "Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do," Rose said, resisting the sudden urge to flick Albus around the ear. "You can do whatever you want."

"Yeah, right." Scorp winced and put a hand to his ribs, swallowing hard. "Hell. Knox didn't mention how hard that stuff kicks in."

"Should I fetch -" Rose began, but he shook his head.

"Just... help me out of this thing," he muttered, not looking at either of them but pushing the chair back towards the bed.

Albus took a hesitant step forward. "You want to get changed?" he asked.

"No. Once was enough for one day, thanks. No one's going to care if I'm rumpled."

Al nodded and looked at Rose. Their quarrel temporarily forgotten, they went around opposite sides of the chair and physically lifted him out of it and onto the bed. His body below the waist was very stiff under the paralytic charm, and would not twist from side to side, though his legs bent at the knee just enough to allow him to lie down. He was surprisingly, worryingly light.

He made a low, pained noise as they let him down, though they couldn't have been more careful if he had been made of glass. When they stood back, his eyes were scrunched up and his lips pressed tightly together as if holding back a cry.

"Sorry," Rose said helplessly. He let out a low grunt of acknowledgement, and then a sort of strangled whimper as his body spasmed. Rose looked up at Albus in disbelief. "Can't we do anything?" she demanded.

Her cousin frowned at her and beckoned her away from the bed. Reluctantly she followed him to the edge of the room. "He's in pain," she whispered. "Can't we do something?"

"The pain is the potion working," Albus pointed out. "It's regrowing his spine. It's bound to hurt. And he's not allowed a numbing potion till tomorrow... I don't like it anymore than you do, but if the Healer says it's okay..."

"Knox is a madman," Rose snapped in a low hiss, only just remembering to keep her voice down. "I don't believe he's ever had so much as a splinter in his whole life, or he'd have some sense of human -"

"Rose." Albus nodded towards the bed.

Rose looked. Scorpius' breathing had evened out, and one arm had fallen limply across the bed. He was still pale, but it looked as though the fit had passed.

"He needs to rest," Al said, when she would have gone back to him. She stopped, reluctantly. Lying on the bed, his chest slowly rising and falling, you might not have seen there was anything wrong with him at all.

She turned away and let Albus lead her back into the living room. "I hate this," she muttered, when they were well out of earshot. "I hate it. If I ever see Malfoy again..." she clenched her fists, fighting back expletives, and then rounded on her cousin. "And all you can do is joke around!" she burst out.

Al looked surprised. "Oh? And what am I supposed to do? Moaning and moping around is just going to remind him how much his life sucks right now. It's killing me, too, you know. You're not the only one who cares."

She was about to snap that of course she knew he cared, she just wished he would show it, but the look on his face made her hesitate. "This is our fault," she said, softly. "If we hadn't been there..."

"I know," he said, darkly, his expression suddenly as serious as her own.

"I should be in that chair," she said. She had had the same thought several times already, but saying it out loud made her realise just how true it really was.

"If he'd hit you, you'd be dead," Al said. "Knox was clear about that - Scorp was really, really lucky. The only reason it didn't kill him was because he was in the air, at an angle, and cos they got him back in time to give him back the blood he'd lost."

"I don't know if that makes it better or worse." Rose swallowed and sat down in one of the Longbottoms' living room chairs. She put her head in her hands and tried to gather herself. "So what do we do now?"

~*-S-*~

~*-S-*~

This time he dreamed that he had got in another fight with Jian Chung, and the Slytherin boy was looking up at him from the ground with an odd expression on his face - not malice, but something else... fear, perhaps? It was weird, not just because Scorpius couldn't