Rose and Scorpius, A True Love

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I was running as fast as I could to get Magonagall, never stopping until I got to the stone gargoyles outside her office. "Password?" One of the ugly gargoyles asked. "MOVE!" I yelled urgently. "No need to be so rude!" And the gargoyles lept aside as a beautiful staircase started to spiral upwards, I ran. When I got to the office door I banged the door with all my might. The headmistress opened the door looking startled. "Miss Weasley! What is the meaning of all this racket?" "HE WAS HERE! Dolohov! He escaped again!" I yelled. At first she stared wide eyed, but ran into her office. "Ma'am?" I asked breathlessly. "I'm calling your Uncle and Father." Is all she said as she picked up a pot filled with floo powder. She threw the powder in the flames and stuck her head in it. After about five minutes she emerged again. "Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, I must ask you to return to your common rooms and tell the students to meet in the great hall. Go to the HB and HG dorm room and inform them of what's happened. I'll give you further instruction soon." I turned and saw Malfoy panting behind me, I forgot he was there. I started to run again down the stairs. "Oi! Weasley! Slow down will you?" Malfoy was yelling as he tried to keep up. "Your fit are you not? Keep up!" I yelled not bothering to slow down. I saw the double oak doors with the engraved HB/ HG on them. I banged the door endlessly. "Merlin Weasley, your going to wake the hole castle." Malfoy whispered. "That's the idea!" I whispered back. Soon the HB and HG were at the door in their night things looking sleepy. "What is it?" The HG mumbled groggily. "Get to the great hall now, if you see any prefects tell them to wake everyone in their house up and get everyone to the great hall as well. The headmistress will explain when we all get there." I started to run again, ignoring the confused faces of people. As I ran I remembered the map. I pulled it out, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" The parchment turned into the map again and I examined it once more. "Wait! Where did you find that!? And how did you learn to work it?" Malfoy yelled, startled. "It told me." Is all I said as I tried to look for Dolohov on the map. He was nowhere to be seen. "Damn it!" I yelled as I put the map back in my robes. "He's gone." I said as I continued to run. "Weasley shouldn't we split up?" Malfoy asked seriously. "Yes, go to the dungeons and wake the Slytherins, I'll go to Gryffindor tower." I ran all the way to the seventh floor, through the fat lady ("pork and gravy!"), and into the common room. A fire was still crackling, but the common room was deserted. I pulled out my wand, pointed it at my throat, and whispered "sonorous" "EVERYONE GET TO THE GREAT HALL NOW! WAKE UP! LETS GO!" My voice was magnified and filled the entire tower with noise. Soon I saw a few second years looking shaken and coming down the stairs. I told them all to wake their friends up, to wake everyone up. Soon the entire tower was in the common room, rubbing sleep out of their eyes. "GREAT HALL NOW!" I yelled. I led Gryffindor down to the great hall, and when we got there someone must have informed the teachers because they were all looking very worried. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and now Gryffindor had arrived. But Slytherin was still not here. After a few minutes they finally arrived. There was murmuring everywhere as the students tried to figure out what was wrong and why they had to be woken up at such a late hour. Then the doors of the great hall burst open and I saw the flaming red hair and black streaked with grey hair of my father and uncle. Everyone fell silent as they watched Harry Potter and Ron Weasley walk up to the front of the hall next to the headmistress. "I suppose you all would like to know why you were woken up at this hour." Magonagall said grimly. "Antonin Dolohov has broken into Hogwarts-" there were gasps and tiny screams from the students- "I have called the most trusted aurors I know, they will search the castle. Everyone must remain here tonight until further notice." I looked up at my uncle and father, they were in a deep discution. I don't know why I did it, but it felt like the right thing to do. I ran up to them, "He's gone dad. He's not in the castle anymore." I whispered. He gave Harry a quick look. "But how do you know for sure?" My dad whispered. I pulled out the map, and reluctantly handed it over. "It's called-" my uncle harry interrupted me. "The marauders map! Where did you find this? I've been looking for this for ages, I thought James took it when I wasn't looking." My uncle Harry said as he examined the map like a lost friend. "Wait- you know about this map?" I asked with wide eyes. My father smiled at the map, "Of course, how do you think Harry and I snuck around the castle at night so many times and never got caught? But- how did you figure out how to work it?" My father said looking confused. I shrugged my shoulders, "Malfoy had forgot say mischief managed, and when he dropped it I found it laying open." My father had gone red, but my uncle Harry chuckled. "I suppose Albus has been using it?" My uncle said as if it was a silly thing. "Malfoy, was using it!?" My father asked, his ears red. My uncle may have forgiven Draco Malfoy, but as far as my dad thinks, anything with the last name Malfoy is considered frog spawn. My uncle was looking over the map very intently, and when he looked up he sighed heavily. "She's right Ron, he's gone. Now the question of the hour is, how did he get in?" My uncle said, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Well someone inside the castle let him in! It's obvious!" My father said. I looked behind me to see the students walking around and whispering, hundreds of squishy purple sleeping bags scattered through the hall. Some students were pointing up at Harry and my father and whispering, some were giving me curious looks. I put my wand up to my throat, whispered sonorous, and my voice magnified the hall, "Alright! Enough talking and pointing! Stop being nosey, get in to your sleeping bags, lights out in ten minutes!" I yelled. I turned back to face my family to see my uncle and dad grinning at me. "So much like your mother." My uncle said with a chuckle. "Or Percy." My father said with a grimace. "Here, follow me. I better get Malfoy." I turned around to see Malfoy already walking towards me, I waved him over. "Alright, we can use the Headmistresses office, I already asked Mganogall." Malfoy said as he got closer. I nodded my head, ushered my uncle and dad to follow, and we made our way out of the great hall. As we reached the doors however, we were blocked by half the family. "Dad what's going on?" Albus was saying. "Uncle Ron, I'm scared!" Lily protested. "Uncle Harry, are you going to find him?" Roxanne asked hopefully. "Alright!" My uncle and dad yelled at the same time, silencing the Weasley/Potter clan. I saw Hugo in the back looking resentful. "Look- there's too many of you to take you ALL to the office. We only need Rose and Mal- Scorpius right now." My father said in a would-be-reasonable voice. "Of course. Thanks for saying Hi to yours kids by the way dad. Really shows you care." Hugo spat out bitterly. I gasped and clamped a hand over my mouth in shock. My dad stood stock still, looking at Hugo with wide eyes. My little brother pushed his way through the crowd of family and walked over to his fourth year friends at the other end of the hall. "Hugo.." I whispered as I tried to walk after him. To my surprise Malfoy grabbed my hand, preventing me from going after him. "He needs to understand..." I said quietly, my voice cracking as I tried to get out of his grasp. Malfoy got a firm grip on my hand, and pulled me towards him. "He needs space, Rose." He whispered. He let go of my hand and started to walk out of the hall, leaving me shocked still that he used my real name. My family moved grumpily out of the way, and back to their sleeping bags as my father, uncle, Malfoy, and I made our way to the office. My father kept shooting Malfoy cold glares, as if not trusting his motives for walking down the hallway. Soon we got to the stone gargoyles, "oh look! It's little miss rude thing, do you have a password this time?" One of them asked coldly. My uncle came up, "May we enter please?" He said politely. "Looks like someone gained some manners, we remember you alright, alright then." And they lept aside to allow us to enter, the beautiful stair case spiraling up. I walked up it and my father and uncle pushed the door open. Magonogal was sitting in her desk, waiting. "Come in." We all walked in. My father and uncle sat in the chairs infront if her desk and Malfoy and I stood near the door. My uncle waved us over, so we got closer to the desk. "Now, can you please tell us what happened? What you saw?" My uncle said calmly. Malfoy and I shot each other a look, but I spoke first. "Malfoy and I, we're in the corridor on the third floor-" my dad interrupted, "Wait- why?" My dad asked in a worried voice. "We were doing rounds, prefect duties." I said. My father relaxed, "We were doing prefect duties- um- talking about something, when Malfoy froze, he looked scared. Whenever I turned around I saw him, Dolohov. He looked at Malfoy for awhile but then looked at me. He kind of smiled, and then ran. I tried to chase him, but when I turned the corner, he was gone." I said quietly, careful not to mention we were arguing. My uncle thought about it for awhile. "How did he get in and how did he disappear so fast?" My uncle asked himself. "Isn't it obvious? Someone in the castle helped him! It wouldn't be the first time someone gave inside helped to a criminal would it?" My father said. "My money's on Malfoy." My father said coldly. Malfoy sighed heavily, he's always known that Ron Weasley never liked him. "Dad! It wasn't Scorpius." I said firmly, to my own surprise. My father looked at me, then to Malfoy. "And how would you know?" He asked. "Because he was with me the entire time, we were doing rounds together! He couldn't have helped Dolohov inside the castle if I was with him. Not to mention you didn't see his face when he saw Dolohov. He was terrified." I said breathing heavily. Scorpius was looking at me, his face unreadable. "It was very dangerous to chase him Rosie. You could have been hurt badly." My uncle said. I didn't say anything. "We will put extra security over Hogsmeid, as not to enter-fear with the school. Maybe we can even open Hogsmeid trips again? The kids have been through enough, they could use a good laugh outside of school. We can tighten security all over the village." My Uncle said to Mganogall. "I think that's a great idea Mr. Potter. But security must be everywhere." She said firmly. "Of course." My father and uncle stood up, and shook her hand. We all walked out of the office in silence, at least we did until my father yelled, "what did I do wrong? Why does Hugo hate me?" I felt a horrible pang of guilt. I should have paid more attention to him this year! "He doesn't hate you dad- he just misses you." I said quietly. "I'll talk to him." My uncle whispered as my father kicked the wall in anger. Malfoy and I walked down the stair case and into the corridor in silence. It's my fault. If I had paid more attention to Hugo, he wouldn't be so resentful, he would understand. Malfoy and I walked in silence, but I was slowly becoming over whelmed. My legs were shaking, and my heart felt heavy, and I felt to weak to hold it together anymore. I gripped the wall for support, I tried to breath, but it came out all wrong. "Weasley..?" I heard Malfoy whisper. I slid down the wall to my knees, I buried my face in my hands, sobbing. "It's my fault..." I choked out in between sobs. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around me, and I could feel Malfoy sitting next to me, holding me, comforting me... "No it's not. He's a teenager, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but they tend to get mad rather easily. Even more so if they come from your family." He said jokingly. I found my self laughing in between sobs, but I still continued to choke on my own tears. "I always wondered when you would break..." He said quietly. "You always tried to act so strong, you forgot to let out your stress." I wrapped my arms around his neck, still sitting on the ground, feeling like a little kid again, my face buried in his chest. Crying for comfort. "Shh" he whispered in my ear. I slowly regained control over my breathing again. I moved my head off his chest to look at him. His silver eyes had actual kindness in them. I didn't notice how close we were, and he was slowly getting closer. His lips were almost towards mine, but he stopped. "Do you want this?" He whispered. I thought about it, I wanted to close the space between us but-. He's a Malfoy... He's made my life hell almost all my life... I need to be logical about this. I shook my head slowly, forcing my eyes to look anywhere but at him. I felt his arms go stiff. "Fine." He whispered stiffly. He let me go, and stood up. "We better get back to the great hall. We need to keep watch." He said quietly. I was still looking at the floor, but I heard his footsteps grow quieter. I felt something odd inside me. I felt regret.