Raindrops on Roses

Chapter 29: The Last Summer Part 8: Mrs Belanger

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It had been a long few days. At almost the same time they got the news that Scorpius was most certainly going to live, the story of what had happened at the Oldham mill hit the press. The headline was "MYSTERIOUS SHADOW CAUGHT", and underneath, "DRACO MALFOY TAKEN AWAY BY AURORS", and then 'HARRY POTTER'S SON SPOTTED AT CRIME SCENE". It was not a very nice article. It mostly picked on Harry, saying that, since heknew Malfoy, he should have caught him a lot earlier, and that he was irresponsible for letting his son and niece into a building where a dangerous smuggler was hiding. Harry brushed this off for the most part, saying that he was used to ignoring people's opinions about him. "Though perhaps this time they're not completely wrong," Rose heard him mutter.

The story about catching the Shadow was the biggest news, but page three had a picture of Scorpius, and the headline "SHADOW KILLS OWN SON". That part had made Rose feel ill, even though she knew it wasn't true. She wasn't sure where they had got the picture, but it must have been from one of their classmates from Hogwarts. It had been cropped out of a larger image. She could make out bits of the lake in the background and he had his arm around someone - probably Albus judging by the lock of hair that occasionally drifted in and out of frame. The picture-Scorpius laughed and silently joked occasionally with whoever was taking the photo. It seemed like ages since she had seen him smile, properly, like that.

A decent portion of the rest of the paper was Shadow stuff, too. Someone had done a lot of research into the investigation, trying to say that Malfoy couldn't be the Shadow, based on his financial history and the fact that he didn't seem to have many accomplices. A scowling picture of Gregory Goyle with the word WANTED in big letters was on page nine, but no one seemed to think him very important in the grand scheme of things.

There was also a bit about the events at the Ministry that had let to Scorpius being first poisoned, then abducted. There were quotes from Aurors explaining away the poisoning, saying, more or less truthfully, that Scorpius had agreed to take the Veritaserum. The Prophet writer questioned whether that was a ploy by 'the young Malfoy' to get himself into St Mungos where he could be rescued by his father. Another writer in a strongly-worded opinion piece claimed that there was no evidence that Aurors hadn't forced him to sign the documents.

No one was sure even now why he had signed them. That question, however, was rendered more or less unimportant when, the next day, theProphet found out about Rose's father, and the part he had played in the whole debacle. Predictably, the paper had a field day.

Her uncle Harry had explained, very solemnly, that Ron was being suspended from the Aurors for deliberately leaving the Potions and Poisons ward practically unprotected from magical attack. Rose hadn't quite believed it at first, but the look on her mother's face spoke volumes. Apparently he had come right out and admitted it, but that didn't make her feel any better.

She had never really believed people when they told her what would happen if she started dating Scorpius. Hugo had tried to tell her, so had Albus, so had Scorpius himself, come to think of it. How many times had he told her he was sure her dad hated his guts, and she had just shrugged it off as a silly exaggeration? She had always thought that, while her dad might be hesitant about accepting their relationship, once he saw how happy they were together he would come around. Never in her life had she imagined that her own father would, given the opportunity, put her boyfriend in almost fatal danger. He couldn't have known that he would only be kidnapped. Malfoy could have sent someone to murder him. Or Malfoy could have taken off with Scorpius, and they might never have found him, and he would have been lost forever. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.