Thorns: Rose and Scorpius Ch. 20

Chapter 20 – Scorpius

"Oh my God, his arm. Oh Merlin, his arm!"
"His arm? Look at all of 'im! He's like a stick figure drawn by a toddler!"
"Move! Move! Move! Do you really think he's comfortable with all of you just inches from him?!" Madam Pumphrey.
"Er, that means we win, right?" Scamander. Didn't matter which one.
"Lorcan! What the hell?!" Albus. And the prior was Lorcan, now.
"What?! It's something I'm curious about!" Damn you, Lorcan.
"Okay! All of you! Out, out, out!" I could hear forced shuffling of feet. Madam Pumphrey was such a hard ass, and yet she was the medic here. I would've shrugged if I could. She's the only one capable of doing what she does.
"Wha—Wait, Madam Pumphrey! Can't I--?!"
"No! All of you, out!" Before I heard the door slam, she muttered something, and a pair of feet walked back onto the tile of the room. A chair screeched a bit as the person scooted it closer to me.
"Hey…Hey, Scorpius. You awake?" Albus asked. I was a little, but I seriously didn't want to move at all. Everything hurt.
"Well," he continued, "If you are, it'd be nice if you could tell me what happened up there. We tried to get Lysander to talk, but he wouldn't. He looks terrified, and everything's gone all awry. I don't know what's going on but it feels…kinda scary. Is that weird? Damn it, I'm talking to my unconscious friend." He chuckled. I blacked out before he finished, unless he was finished when I blacked out. I wasn't sure.


I groaned. Everything started hurting again, including parts below my waist. This is awful. Kill me now, God.
"Scorpius?" I heard. Rose. I was joking, God.
"Mmm!" I grunted. I didn't care if I could've talked or not, I wasn't going to tell her what hurt where. She giggled.
"I'm sorry. That's not funny," she said, stifling her giggle.
I smiled, though my skin felt like it was being stretched across two razor blades.
"Oh, that looks painful." She stroked my face, tracing her finger along a gash I could feel that ran down the side of my face.
"Hmm" was all I could say. She smiled again.
"Either you can't talk or you're just teasing me," she said. I tried shrugging, but a shot of pain went through my left shoulder, and I winced. She sucked in a little breath and lightly touched my shoulder. I felt like a child who fell off the swing set and cried just to get the love and attention from my mother or something. It was humiliating, but at least it was just me and Rose alone.
"Say something," she half-demanded, "Say something…say…something." She smiled more each time she said it.
"Mwhy?" I mumbled. She giggled.
"Because you sound ridiculous." She grinned playfully.
"I know." The more I talked the better I sounded, so I played along. She sighed.
"I just…well, everyone's a little worried, and it's too stressful to find the answer out there, so I came to you," she said, eyes down, "Albus told me you couldn't really talk when he saw you, so I wanted to try. And if you heard him at one point, you'll understand when I say that I feel the same way…So, what—" The door was loudly thrown open, and just about the whole staff marched in, along with a few parents, including Rose's and her uncle. Professor McGonagall saw me first and led the march to my bed. All of them crowded around my feet and shins. Everything tensed up too quickly.
"Scorpius, what happened? Did someone push you? Was someone else there?" someone in the back of the crowd rambled on with the questions.
"Quit babbling, Sinistra!" McGonagall shouted. "Now, Scorpius, just tell us what you saw." She nodded at me to start.
"Er…well, I went after it into the clouds—" I started.
"Went after what?"
"The Snitch, Sinistra! Now please!" McGonagall nodded at me again.
"Well, I think Lysander followed me up there, because I saw him a little while later. We both saw the storm coming, but it was the Snitch that was important…" I was trying to remember what made everything change.
"And?"
"Dad! He hit his head from 30 meters up! Do you think you'd have a crystal clear memory from that?" Rose glared at Mr. Weasley.
"It's okay, Rose," I said, sitting up a little more, "…Then lightning flashed, but it wasn't regular lightning. It seemed like it was a different color. It was strange. I couldn't see Lysander anymore, so I assumed he flew off away from it, which was also strange since the Snitch went straight into the storm, and of course I followed it…and then everything seemed to get darker, and the temperature felt like it dropped at least 20 degrees. And the—aagh!" The pain surged through me again, but this time it was through my whole side. I moved as an instinct, but it worsened. I touched my side gingerly. It had started to bleed again.
"And the Snitch disappeared." I tried to get full sentences out of my mouth before wincing. "And then I saw Lysander on my right. And…we both saw the storm escalate. And then these…these dark forms started going through the clouds. Then they sort of circled around us, and I think they were…laughing. But I'm not sure if that's entirely sane, because some kind of spell or something knocked me off my broom, and I saw everything falling up past me. Then it all went black, and…" I trailed off. There was nothing else to say, although I could've said something to get Madam Pumphrey back; the bleeding was starting to ruin my bandage.
No one replied to my recall. I looked up at them, and they all wore the same face of dread. Lovely. Even Rose had concern written on her face. I hoped they understood that I was saying "What?" with my expression.
"Scorpius," Rose said, putting her hand over mine on the bed, "those forms…they were Death Eaters."
"What?" Suddenly it was just me and Rose in the room.
"Don't you remember? When Death Eaters Apparate but don't have an exact destination, they travel through the air in clouds of black smoke. Members of the Order turn into white smoke. Professor Lupin taught us that last Thursday, even though it was on our Charms O.W.L." She gave me an I-can't-believe-you're-so-silly look.
"I wasn't really listening. You weren't wearing stockings that day." Her face turned red and she looked at her lap.
"I couldn't find any that day," she muttered, embarrassed. Someone ahemed in the background, and we weren't alone anymore. Damn me and my subconscious wanting to be alone with her.
Everyone stayed in a hushed silence, waiting for someone else to speak.
"So…what happens now?" I asked.
"Well…" Professor McGonagall started, but her eyes went distant in contemplation.
"Well, we have to do something. Strengthen the barriers somehow," Mr. Potter said, deep in thought as well.
"We have to restore the Order," Rose said, "Bring in more recruits somehow." She looked at me, and we both made the understanding that we—including Albus—should join.
"No, Rosie. We have enough members already," Mr. Weasley finalized, shaking his head at our desire to join.
"Well, you need somebody," Rose retorted, "Why not us? We're old enough, and we know spells beyond our year. You know that of all people, Dad."
"Yes, you're brilliant, sweetheart, but it's not as easy as it looks."
"I never said it was easy. I said we were capable of being a part of it. We're not kids, Dad."
"Yes, you are. When you're seventeen, you can join the Order and decide who's allowed in at a certain age, but not now."
"Why not?"
"Because you can't, Rose, and that's it."
"That's ridiculous--!"
"Stop it! Both of you!" McGonagall put her hands up to make sort of "Halt!" signs. "I'm sorry, Miss Weasley, but your father is right, but you can do this for us: Keep it to yourselves."
"But what about—" I started.
"You can tell Albus, but the three of you are the only three students who should and will know. We cannot have parents getting scared and taking them out of Hogwarts again, probably the safest place they can be right now."