"Come in. Come in dear." Madame Hartley said, ushering Rose into the hospital wing and guiding her to the bed closest to the door. Rose let herself be guided, the shock of her splinch setting in. Her legs and hands were shaking uncontrollably and her head was spinning. 'My body was split in half,' she thought, 'Half of me was separate from the other half.'
Rose dropped onto the bed, glad for the chance to sit down as she wasn't sure if her shaking legs could hold her up anymore. Madame Hartley bustled off and returned a moment later with a warm, bubbling potion. "Drink up deary." Hartley said, handing Rose the glass. Rose took a small sip and felt a wave of warmth wash over her, instantly making her feel better. "Just stay here as long as you want." Hartley said, before shuffling off.
"Madam Hartley's potions always make me feel better." A voice said from a few beds away. Rose looked and saw a first year with dark skin and big brown eyes looking at her. Amita Patil smiled, revealing her pearly-white teeth. "They're like a warm hug from my mum." She said. Rose nodded and took another sip of her potion. "So what're you here for?" Amita continued. "You obviously haven't broken anything, and you're not bleeding..."
"I splinched." Rose cut off Amita before she could make anymore guesses. "I split myself whilst I was trying to Apparate." She explained, shuddering at the memory and taking a large gulp from her potion.
"Oh." Amita said, her mouth forming a small 'o'. "Well that doesn't sound like fun." She blabbered on. Rose lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, absentminded listening to Amita talking, she definitely wasn't the shy first year who'd talked to her in that first week. "Oh, I suggest that if you're going to stay overnight, you don't sleep in that bed. The light from the corridor shines directly onto it." Amita mentioned. Rose opened her eyes and looked over. "Thanks, but I don't think I'll be here that long" she said. Soon after she'd finished the last drops of the potion, Rose closed her eyes again and lay back, planning on lightly dozing for an hour or two, but when she opened her eyes later, the sky outside was dark and Amita was asleep, her small chest rising and falling steadily.
Seeing no point in returning to her dorm, Rose lay staring at the ceiling, unable to fall back to sleep. Lying there, she realised that Amita had been honest when she said light from the hall shone directly on the bed. A lamp lit further down the corridor cast a warm yellow light onto Rose's bed, illuminating her surroundings. Rose was just considering if she wanted to find Madam Hartley and ask for another of the potions from earlier when a pale, white light fell across her face. Glancing out into the hallway, Rose saw the silhouette of a tall, thin figure and the back of an unmistakable head.
Watching unnoticed from her bed, she saw Scorpius Malfoy come into view, a dim light emanating from the end of his wand. He walked quickly but silently down the hallway, glancing over his shoulder nervously. Rose spent several minutes debating over what to do. It seemed to her that he was up to something, but was her mind just making that up because it was the middle of the night? But surely he wouldn't travel this far from his common room just for a bathroom break. When the light from Scorpius' wand had almost disappeared down the corridor, Rose made up her mind. As quietly as she could, Rose slipped out of her bed and out into the hallway.